Chapter Text
Vine Staff
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Vine Staff stared out into the lobby outside of Thieve’s Rest. Even though they were closing up for the day, and no more customers were allowed in, there were still plenty of inphernals scrambling about the cramped and claustrophobic streets of the Outer Ring of Crossroads. In some weird way, it reminded her of the jungle she grew up in, in Thieve’s Den. With the sporadically and cobbled together architecture, and the diversity of the Inphernals who live here made it feel nostalgic to Vine Staff, in a way. If she daydreamed hard enough, she could turn the massive buildings into the jungle and coral trees she grew up with, and the chatter of hundreds of voices could transform into the chattering of the animals of the tropical forest.
Except most everything would not kill her if she touched or went near it, and there were more Inphernals here than she had ever seen in her entire life. It was homely and foreign at the same time. Shroedinger’s Cat, if you will.
It had been a long day at Thieve’s Rest, that’s for sure. Not that anything had happened specifically. More just that time barely seemed to pass as Vine Staff took charge of the cash register and served food and drinks to busy customers for five hours. At least now she was alone with her siblings again. It’s always much more peaceful when it was the three of them…except when Shuriken and Slingshot would constantly bicker.
Even if they argued and yelled at each other and promised to never look at the other again, in the end, they’d always be there for each other. Slingshot, Shuriken, and Vine Staff against the whole Inpherno. Well, maybe that’s how it felt to Vine Staff. It wasn’t important, anyway. She lived with her siblings now, and that’s all that mattered. She wasn’t alone anymore. It was a common thing she’d remind herself of now.
“Yo, Sling, got everything locked up now!” Shuriken called to his sibling from the front entrance. Vine Staff turned to where the voice came from.
“And you’re positive it’s EVERYTHING this time?” She couldn’t see him, but Vine Staff could imagine Slingshot rolling his eyes, as he did with practically everything Shuriken said or did.
“Obviously, Sling. I learned from yesterday.” Shuriken scratched the base of his neck.
“You only learned something from leaving doors unlocked because rats got into the pantry.” Slingshot finally came into view, as he padded his way into the front counter towards the cash register. He opened it, sifting through the cash they’d made that day.
“I forgot ONE door was unlocked. My sleep-addled brain forgot it was open. You can’t blame me for that.”
“Yes I can. You’re tired all the time for whatever reason, so don’t use that as an excuse.” Slingshot pocketed the bux, and grabbed his duffel bag (and the other two’s bags) from behind the front counter. He turned to his siblings, handing over the bags to them. “Anyways, you all ready to head home?”
“Yep!” Vine Staff smiled, as she grasped the strap of her bag firmly once she got ahold of it. Shuriken nodded, adjusting his backpack so it felt right.
“Good. Shuri, lock the door when we get out there, if you don’t mind?” Shuriken knew better than to argue, especially considering that Slingshot was giving him a look he was already way too familiar with. It was very clear that Slingshot was still upset at him for the whole rat situation. Shuriken nodded again.
“Sure, yeah, fine. Whatever.”
The three exited through the back door, Shuriken only stopping to lock it before jogging towards the other two to catch up. Slingshot took the lead in front of the others, but making sure he didn’t get too far out of their range of sight so as to not get lost in the ever-growing crowd. Vine Staff held onto Shuriken’s arm to make sure he didn’t fall asleep while walking, and/or he didn’t get left behind.
“So, how was work today, Vine?” Slingshot’s tone sounded much more calm now, Slingshot’s nerves clearly settling down after a long morning.
“It was exhausting, to be honest. Today felt longer than it should’ve felt.” Vine Staff sighed. “It wasn’t because of customers or anything. I guess today was just off. I dunno.”
“Well, I guess we all have our bad day-“ Before Slingshot could finish his sentence, his phone buzzed in his pocket.
“Oop, got a call. One sec, Vine.” Vine Staff was about to protest against getting interrupted, before deciding against it. It wasn’t worth the trouble.
Making sure he kept his eyes focused on where they were going, he pulled his phone out of his pocket and pressed the answer button, putting the phone to one of his horns. “Hello, this is Slingshot, owner of Thieve’s Rest, how may I help you?...Well, that’s one way of saying hi. Heya, Skate. Why my place, though? Special event?” Slingshot listened intently, trying to hear over the noise from around him.
“Whuh-what job? You’re unemploy-” An audible shush echoed from the phone speaker, even if it was faint. Nothing could be heard again for a bit.
Slingshot frowned and pinched the bridge of his cat-like nose. He sighed, before giving a small smile. “Sure, why not. It’s Friday anyway, so I got tomorrow off. When will you be over?...Alright, then. I’ll let Shuri and Vine know…K, see ya.” Slingshot hung up, and put his phone back into his pocket. “Uh, sorry about that Vine. You still wanna talk?”
“It’s fine, Sling. We’re almost home, regardless. I wanna change out of the uniform as fast as possible.” Vine Staff itched at her sleeve. She really didn’t like the texture of the uniform, but she had to make do with it. According to Slingshot, ‘they didn’t have the money to tailor a uniform with better fabric’.
“Oh, okay. After you get changed, would you mind helping me clean up the living room?” The blue-horned inphernal asked.
“Huh? Why?”
“Oh, Skate was on the phone. You know who that is, right?”
“I’m familiar.” She said. Vine Staff had seen Skateboard around. Mostly at Thieve’s Rest, since he was a regular. He’d also come over a few times with another inphernal(s) she couldn’t remember the name(s) of for the life of her.
“He and one of his friends, Boombox, are coming over in a few hours or so. Apparently there’s some competition that they wanted to watch with me while Skateboard was in town. I think it was something related to breakdancing? Something that has a lot of significance in Craterdust, I dunno. I wanna make sure I can get the apartment ready as fast as possible, since the condition the house is in right now isn’t…suitable for guests. Once we get home, I’ll take care of the snacks, and you and Shuri can clean up everything else. If you don’t mind.”
“Yeah, sure.” Vine Staff said out of habit. She didn’t really want to help. She wanted to rot in bed and not come out till Slingshot’s friends were gone. But if Slingshot wanted her to help, she couldn’t help but say yes. She wanted to make herself useful, somehow.
“Great! Shuri, did you hear all that?” Slingshot turned to Shuriken, still being dragged along by Vine Staff. He seemed to be almost half asleep.
“Huh?” He raised his head slightly, his eyebags still visible under his visor.
Slingshot sighed. “Nevermind, I’ll tell you at home.”
~~~
Vine Staff puffed up the last pillow on the couch, and adjusted the spare blankets that sat on top of the couch to be more noticeable. It had taken a couple hours to get everything presentable. It was easy to make a mess out of such a small apartment. Not to mention the time that was wasted on convincing Shuriken that he needed to at the very least take his throwing stars out of the walls before taking his second nap of the day.
“That should be good, Vine. Thanks for helping out.” Slingshot grinned.
“It was no problem at all. I hope the apartment doesn’t get as messy as it was just a few hours ago.”
“If only. Aaaaanyways, Skate and Boombox should be here any minute now. It’s probably gonna get loud, so I assume you’re gonna be in your room until we’re done, correct?”
Vine Staff’s shoulders tensed. She felt bad that she usually avoided people who weren’t her siblings, since she didn’t know how to interact with strangers very well. Not even Slingshot’s friends, who she knew were good people. But she didn’t want it to be like that forever. It sucked being by herself sometimes, and she knew loneliness all too well.
…So why not give it a go with this? Everything starts somewhere, after all.
“I mean, I can try and stick around for a bit.” Despite the clear uncertainty in Vine Staff’s voice, Slingshot grinned.
“Awesome! And if you get overstimulated, there’s always your, uhhh…greenhouse? Garden? Whatever you call that room.” Slingshot gave a thumbs up just as a knock came from the door. “Oh, they’re here.”
Slingshot walked towards the front door, unlocking it before swinging the door open.
“Heya, Sling! ‘Sup, man!” An Inphernal with red horns greeted Vine Staff’s sibling. This one’s Skateboard, Vine Staff concluded. She recognized the horns and signature red helmet. Oh, this was the inphernal that caused Slingshot to implement a “no skateboarding” rule…Why did she even remember that?
There was another shorter Inphernal behind Skateboard, but with green horns this time. If she remembered correctly, this should be Boombox. She kind of recognized him. Mostly just the green though. And the weird visor thing. It was hard to ignore, even from across a room.
“Hi, Skate, Boombox! Just in time, we got everything set up.” Slingshot let the two guests inside, before remembering that Vine Staff was just kinda standing near the couch. “Oh, this is one of my siblings, Vine Staff. I think you’ve seen each other around, since she works at Thieve’s Rest.” Vine Staff waved and gave a slight nervous smile.
“Huh. Yeah, I think I’ve seen you around Thieve’s Rest before! Nice to meet’cha! I’m Boombox, but you can just call me Boom!” Boombox waved energetically.
“I’m Skate.” Skateboard also waved.
Vine Staff could feel everyone’s eyes on her. She slowly tugged on her right sleeve to cover her cursed arm. She didn’t want that to be noticeable, for now. First impressions, and whatnot.
“I, uh, figured. I remember the time you tried doing skateboard tricks in the main lobby of Thieve’s Rest. We had to make a whole rule against that.”
Boombox snickered. “You got that right! I still don’t know what possessed you to do that.”
Skateboard elbowed Boombox’s arm playfully. “It looked like a perfect opportunity to practice some new tricks while I waited for our order to be ready. Nothing possessed me to do that!” The two burst out laughing, and even Slingshot gave a slight chuckle.
After about a minute, Slingshot cleared his throat. “Ok, now that we got introductions aside, how ‘bout we get set up? I made a snack tray, and Vine got everything else cleaned and set up. Make yourselves comfortable.”
“Sweet.” Skateboard and Boombox settled themselves into the couch.
~~~
Vine Staff regretted joining her sibling about an hour into the competition. Not because of Skateboard and Boombox themselves, more just that they got really, REALLY loud. Even Slingshot, who was usually more grounded and calm (except when Coil showed up at work), got invested in the competition as well. Eventually, the noise became way too overstimulating, and she excused herself from the living room.
Vine Staff knew that she needed somewhere to calm down. Thank the Swords she had her own room for a change, her designated “calm-down corner”. When the siblings first moved into the apartment, the upper floor of their apartment immediately caught Vine Staff’s attention. It was the only place in the entire house that was the most exposed to sunlight, but most importantly, had the best view of Outer Ring.
Over the years, she’d added decorations and many, MANY plants to the balcony, making it more personalized. Lanterns hung from the support beams, and blankets and pillows decorated the lounge chair to make it comfier and cover the texture from the chair since Vine Staff didn’t like it all that much. And to top it off, over a dozen plants hung and sat from both the ceiling, the planter box that her siblings helped her repurpose from the original window seat, and on the wooden floor.
Vine Staff slowly shut the door that connected the staircase to her room. She took in a deep breath. Vine Staff traced circles on the fabric that covered her wooden arm as she leaned into the chair, and covered herself in the fluffy blankets. She hadn’t been out for very long, but she already felt much better than she had a few minutes ago. She let her muscles slack, and she started to drift off, with the muffled noise of the city around her slowly morphing into what sounded like the bird of paradise’s calls, and the raindrops that plunked against the leaves of the tallest trees.
Well, only until she heard a knock on the door.
Vine Staff slowly got up as fast as she could, and begrudgingly slid open the door. It was Skateboard. What was he doing here?
“Uh, hi, Skateboard. Did you need something from me?”
“Oh, not really. Well, I guess, technically.” He itched at his cheek. “Me and Boom are about to head back to his place, but Sling fell asleep and we can’t find your other sibling anywhere. Since you’re the only one awake right now, we thought we’d tell you so you could tell your fam tomorrow or somethin’.”
Skateboard peeked over Vine Staff. “Oh, sweet, your set up’s awesome back here! How long did this take you to get it like this?” Vine Staff moved out of the doorframe to let Skateboard take a closer look.
“Maybe around, uh, a few years? Most of this I took from the house, like those orchids. That used to be in the kitchen as decoration. But some things like the lights and some of the plants I bought on outings with Shuri and Slingy.” Vine Staff answered.
“Dude, that’s peak. Gotta use things that are at your disposal, sometimes, y’know?” Skateboard said. Vine Staff had no idea what he was saying half the time, but she nodded anyway. “Do you mind if I look around for a bit? This does kindaaaa seem like a more personal space, so it’s totally chill if you don’t want me lookin’ around.”
“No, it’s fine. I don’t really mind.” Vine Staff said.
“Sweeeeet.”
Skateboard spent the next few minutes taking in all the small details, asking about where Vine Staff had gotten something, and gushing over the way the room looked. Eventually, he put his hands on his hips, and stared out at Crossroads from between the small trees and prismabuds.
“Look, I know I’ve said this, like, a bajillion times, but this is fuckin’ awesome. Like, the lighting’s cool, and the plants make it a lot more earthy. I like what you’ve done to the place.”
Vine Staff fidgeted with her hands, her face red from embarrassment. She wasn’t used to this many compliments before, especially about an area that she had curated to her liking. “...Thanks.”
“I’m curious though. What do you use this room for anyway? Sorry if that’s a stupid question…”
“No, you’re fine. I just use it for when I need to calm down. Sometimes I stay out here for a few hours after a long day at work. Working with plants helps me regulate.”
“Huh, that’s neat. I can see how this would be a chill-out place.” Skateboard looked around again before landing on the bigger tree-like plants that were planted in the far corners of the planter box. Apparently, he hadn’t noticed them yet. “Oh shoot, these are huge! I don’t think I’ve ever seen house plants this big! What kind of plants are they?”
“These?” Vine Staff walked over to where Skateboard was pointing at. “These are the sweet bay and smoke tree respectively. Or if you want to get technical with it, the cotinus coggygria and the magnolia virginiana. I’ve had these guys for a while now, so that’s probably why they’re this massive.”
“Dude, that’s so cool. Maybe I should try takin’ care of some plants like this. They could be nice decorations around my place, and it’d give me something to dedicate my free time to.” Skateboard’s eyes gleamed at the thought.
“It’s harder than it looks to take care of a plant though. Especially these plants. They’re native to more tropical areas, so it’s harder to keep them alive in an environment they don’t naturally live in. If you do want to take care of plants, it’s probably best to start off with something that’s easy to take care of. Like a monstera or a spider plant.”
“Would you teach me how to take care of ‘em?” For a few moments, the two of them stayed silent, and only the sound of the evening wind and the bustling streets could be heard.
Vine Staff? Teach someone how to take care of plants? Out of all the things she had expected Skateboard to say, this certainly wasn’t one of them. Was she even qualified to teach something like that? Sure, she’d taken care of many plants in her life, even in Thieve’s Den when she’d find a dying flower or bush here and there. But what if those skills couldn’t transfer over to teaching someone? Let alone someone she barely knows.
But…something about it seemed kind of appealing. She’d never met another inphernal who was interested in plants, even if it was just an initial infatuation with the idea (then again, she didn’t know many Inphernals). She wanted to have people in her life who were interested in the same things as her; to have some common ground. If someone was interested in learning how, then who was she to say no? But she probably should say no. She couldn’t decide.
“Um, you don’t, uh, have to. If you don’t want to. It was just a thought. Sorry.” Skateboard’s voice snapped Vine Staff out of her spiraling thoughts.
“No, no, it’s, uh-you’re good!” Vine Staff assured. “You’re good. Just, uh…give me some time to think about it, if you don’t mind.”
“Not at all! I don’t mind!” A faint sound buzzed in Skateboard’s pocket. “Oop, that’s probably Boom. I gotta go, otherwise I’ll get a stern talkin’ to.”
“Oh, okay.”
Skateboard stretched, before walking himself out. He hesitated sliding the door open, before turning around to face Vine Staff.
“I’ll see ya later, Vine Staff. Hopefully.” He waved.
“Goodbye.” Vine Staff waved back as he finally exited. Once he was out of view, she relaxed her shoulders that she didn’t even know were tensed. She sighed.
She was gonna have to sleep on this.