Chapter Text
Beep beep beep, Jabber's alarm on his phone went off.
"Mh... eight already," he sighed as he sat up in bed, his bonnet slightly falling off. He turned off the alarm on his phone, sat up slowly, giving himself a second to breathe before getting up, and walked over to his large snake tank. "Mornin' pretty lady," he watched his snake climbing on a log and stretched. "Sleep good girl? I did..." He leaned against the glass as he yawned. "You're so much more active than I ever am in the mornin'," he laughed to himself before taking some steps across the room to his dresser to grab his clothes for the day. He slid the top drawer open, digging through it. "Hmmm, let's see..." he muttered to himself as he dug through clothes to find an outfit for today. He put on a black tank top, some baggy gray-blue jeans, and a black stud belt. Then he slid on his Converse. He looked over his shoulder. "Lookin' good, right, Mankira? Eh, you wouldn't know," he giggled.
"Ah, breakfast!" He stretched one more time before lazily walking to the kitchen. When not around people he likes, he's pretty mellowed down and relaxed; he doesn't want to disturb Mankira and stress her out anyway. He walked into the kitchen; he didn't have much to eat the reality of being a young adult and being broke. He cooked some instant ramen and washed some dishes while he waited for the familiar beep of his microwave. He was starting to get impatient, thinking about Mr. Bad Attitude and how he could make Zanka make that angry face and do that cute eye twitch again maybe even punch Jabber. How that would be amazing for him! His daydreaming was cut short by the beeping of the microwave; his ramen was done. He opened the microwave, hit by a warm stream, and let out a relaxed hum as he pulled the hot ramen out. He didn't mind if it burnt him; he liked the pain anyway, but it really wasn't that hot. He walked to his fridge, grabbed a water, and sat down, setting the ramen on the table and quickly eating it while checking his phone for the time. It was about time to head out for work. Once he finished his ramen, he threw away the container, grabbed his backpack, and left the house, locking the door behind him. Jabber lived in an apartment complex only a small walking distance from his workplace, which meant he walked there every morning at 9 am.
"God, it's cold today..." he sighed as he walked down the sidewalk. His eyes lit up as he watched Zanka walk into the pet shop. "See ya soon, grumpy boyyy," he smiled to himself. (I honestly don't know if this is really canon, but I feel like he's more talkative around people he likes/enjoys.) He opened the reptile store door, the small bell going off. "Hii, Amo, how ya doin'?" he smiled slightly as he leaned against the counter. "Amo is-" Jabber cut her off.
"I am*" he corrected. Amo had asked him to help her fix her speaking-in-third-person problem. Amo stared at him for a second. "Don't talk over Amo." She huffed. "Yes ma'am!" Jabber chuckled. " my day has been okay," she said proudly. "Mhm, yep, mine too! Now excuse me; I gotta go feed the boa." "Amo seems to see you're rushing the conversation!" she yelled behind him, still behind the counter. "I've got work!" he said as he walked over to the fish tanks.
He grabbed some fish food and sprinkled it in each tank. "Eh...that's enough," he watched the fish for a second before walking over to the snakes again. "..oh right...boss said I could set up some reference tanks for people." He couldn't help but smile. "That kid, Jabber, got a little play timeee," he said enthusiastically as he grabbed a tank and something to set it on. After the whole corn snake thing, he sent a text to his boss asking if he could set up a reference tank to help people get an idea of what theirs needs to be, and he said yes, so that's what he's doing. He went to the back and grabbed hides, topsoil, sand, moss, and some other things. He spent a while on it until he got interrupted.
"Hey, Jabber, Amo has a question," Amo said as she caught his attention as he passed the reception counter. "Yes, little lady?" he asked as he wiped the dirt off his hands. "Can Amo do your makeup?" she asked, using that cute sibling look that you can't refuse. "My makeup...? I don't even wear makeup. Never mind that. Why are you asking?" He looked at her for a second, a little bit surprised. "Amo just wants to try." Jabber knew it was probably deeper than that, but he wasn't going to push, no matter how much he liked to annoy Amo, because he knew better than to actually make her sad.
"Fine, but you better make me look pretty." He rolled his eyes while still smiling slightly as he plopped down into the chair behind the counter, and Amo stood in front of him. For being as weird as Jabber, he sure didn't like being "tickled" by things. "Hold still," she frowned. "Look, I'm tryin', but I can't when you're shoving that thing in my eyes!" he pouted like a kid. He was just poking at her, but deep down, this was uncomfortable as hell. "Ow, watch the brush!" "AMO SAID SIT STILL!" She purposely poked him more. "Amo thinks you look good with pink lipstick," she smiled.
"Mhm...ya massacred my face, little lady." The makeup was, uh...definitely something. Jabber could have sworn Amo knew how to do makeup. I mean, look at hers; it's already good the orange eyeshadow and everything. It made Jabber wonder if Amo just wanted to mess with him. "Hey now, don't tell at me you did this on purpose!" he laughed. "Good game, good game!" "Amo doesn't know what you're talking about." Pew! Let's take a break from whatever is happening there. Now what exactly is going on a few stores down at the pet store? Well...
"Ugh! Zanka, get his muzzle back on," she said as she was trying to shave the dog's fur. "What does it look like I'm doing, Riyo?!" he said, getting more frustrated than he would like to. They were dealing with a new dog who didn't like grooming. "Calm down, Zanka; you're stressing the dog out!" Riyo said. "I am calm!" Yeah, safe to say this place is a hot mess as well "Riyo, keep your eyes on your clipper; you're going to nick him!" Zanka said as he clipped the muzzle back on the dog. "Well, stop making him move!" Zanka's eye twitched, but he calmed himself down. "Let's take a breath and let the dog take a breath." Riyo nodded in agreement. "Yeah, put him in a kennel. I'm going to sharpen my scissors and charge the clippers." Zanka unclipped the dog and walked him to a crate. "Here, you take a breather."
He was saying that more to himself, but no one needs to know that. Can't show weakness, right? He grabbed some water and poured it into a bowl, setting it in there with the dog. He got himself a water bottle and took some sips as he waited for Riyo. It took a little bit before she came back. "Okie, Zanzan, you ready?" she asked. "Yeah... let's try this again, I suppose." He walked over to the crate, clicking the dog's leash back on. It took a while to get the dog comfortable to get on the stand again, but they managed. Zanka gave the dog treats, trying to keep him calm. Maybe 30 minutes later, they got the dog done. Riyo stepped back, admiring her work. "That was a lot of work," Riyo chuckled. "Yeah, tell me about it..." Zanka sighed. "I'mma go back behind the counter; I think Follo clocked out." "Alrighty, I'm going to get him ready to go home," Riyo said as she helped the dog down. Zanka walked back behind the counter, sitting down for a second, tapping his foot a little and biting his nails... bad habits.
"Hey, sleeping beauty must have kissed ya because you're awake this time." Zanka slowly turned around at the voice that appeared out of nowhere behind him. "AH! Riyo, THERE'S A MAN-EATING CLOWN IN THE STORE!" Zanka launched up out of the chair. "How do you know it's man-eating?!" Riyo responded, still messing with the dog from before, "DON'T BE A SMART ASS!" Zanka yelled. "Whoa, Mr. Bad Attitude, didn't know you could move like that!" Jabber smiled. "Oh God, it's just you... what happened to your face?!" Zanka pointed a finger at him. "Wa? Don't like my makeup?" he twirled. "You look like a clown..." Zanka looked him up and down. "Ow, you hurt me," Jabber acted like he got stabbed in the heart. "And what did I say about going behind the counter?!"