Chapter Text
On the first Monday in December, the head of the practical research department, who had been living for some time on prepared and instant food and instant coffee, suffered a misfortune. The 24-hour convenience store closest to her apartment suffered a roof collapse during a severe overnight storm and was forced to close for lengthy repairs. This was a disaster in terms of saving time on the way home from work, because the next closest 24-hour one was further away from the apartment, adding about ten minutes to the total walking time. Glados already hated her life during the holiday season enough to include walking in the wet, cold snow into the overall pattern of hatred.
She ran into the shop with the green sign like a bat out of hell and began to stamp furiously in place, shaking the melting pieces of ice off her boots. There were almost no customers.
"Good evening", - came from behind the cash register. Glados nodded irritably in response and rushed to the shelves with colorful packs. Everything was a little blurry from fatigue. - "Today is a special offer for cookies "Softpaws"", - that voice spoke again. - "Three packs for the price of one".
"I don't eat expired food", - Glados muttered under her breath. The cashier laughed.
"No, no, they just went bankrupt and are closing next month. So they're selling everything".
The scientist turned her head. Behind the cash register stood a tall, fit girl in a visor in the company colors, smiling as if she was paid fifteen times the minimum wage.
Glados snorted.
"Then definitely not".
The cashier shrugged and leaned over the counter. The woman wandered between the shelves, scooping up a whole tape of instant coffee and three packets of noodles into her bent elbow. She lingered briefly at the newsstand, even holding her hand up over a Sudoku issue for a few moments—but she didn't have time, and pulled her hand back.
Glados dumped her purchases into a pile and began rummaging through her bag, looking for the store's discount card. The cashier gave her a quick, interested glance and quickly scanned the purchases, after which she took out a bag without asking any questions.
"Fourteen ninety eight", - she said. Not finding the card, Glados took out her wallet in irritation. Meanwhile, the cashier, with practiced automatic gestures, stuffed the woman's purchases into the bag one by one, then quietly took something out from behind the counter and dropped it inside through the hole in the bag's handles.
Glados slapped three fives on the counter, snatched the bag from the cashier's hands, and stormed out of the store, not caring about her two cents in change.
---
On Tuesday, a slightly less angry Glados walked into the store with the green sign, clutching ten dollars in her hand.
"Good evening", - the cashier greeted her. This time the scientist looked at her.
"Um, miss..." - she glanced at the cashier's badge. - "...Chell. Anyway, it seems like last time I accidentally... It seems like you didn't check one of my purchases".
"Really? We didn't have any shortages at the cash register".
"Yes, I..." - Glados handed her the banknote. - "I found a Sudoku puzzle at home that I didn't take".
"Didn't you take it?" - the girl at the cash register made a genuinely surprised face. - "But you looked at them with such desire! Are you sure you didn't just forget that you took them?"
Glados narrowed her eyes. She thought she saw a mocking glint in the cashier's eyes.
"I haven't gone crazy yet", - she muttered and dropped a tenner into the tip jar. - "One way or another, my money will stay here".
"Well, since you came in, you probably wanted to buy something, so sure!" - the cashier smiled again. The scientist turned away and headed toward the shelves with colorful packages. - "We're still having special on "Softpaws", by the way!"
Glados glanced at her, trying to put all the skepticism left over from work into that look, but the girl had already leaned over the counter and was not looking at the visitor.
The woman took a tape of instant coffee and brought it to the cash register.
"I don't need a bag for this, thanks", - she said. The girl straightened up, sliding a book under the top panel of the counter, and in one fell swoop punched the entire tape of ten coffee bags.
"Would you like to take something to eat?" - the cashier nodded towards the fruit counter directly across from the register. Glados only winced. - "Got it. Thank you for your tip! Are you sure you don't want to take anything else?"
"I, um..." - the scientist looked around. The girl behind the counter calmly rolled up a tape of coffee, folding the bags in pairs, and fastened them with a rubber band to make it easier to carry home. - "No, I don't think so".
"Got it", - the cashier gave her the coffee. - "Here, ma'am".
Glados paid, put the rolled-up coffee in her pocket and left.
---
On Wednesday, Glados peered into the window of a store with a green sign and winced as if she had a toothache when she saw the same cashier. She probably started her evening/night shift around the same time Glados got off work.
She had to go in, however.
"Stop making stupid tricks", - the scientist said from the doorway, raising her hand with some colored papers in it. The cashier smiled.
"Good evening, ma'am. Oh, these are our coupons!"
"The hell were they paperclip'd onto the coffee for?" - Glados tried to raise her voice so that maybe the store manager could hear. Or at least the security cameras.
The girl behind the counter, however, was not at all frightened by this.
"Oh, I have no idea, ma'am", - She shrugged her shoulders quite sincerely, and yet Glados thought that there was a glint of mischief in the cashier's eyes. - "Maybe you pinned them so you wouldn't lose them?"
"Me?!"
"You!" - the cashier looked defiantly. - "Sorry, ma'am, I can't tell you why you forget certain things".
"I know very well what gaslighting is", - Glados pursed her lips and placed the coupons on the counter. - "Okay, if you wish. Please be so kind as to collect the products for them yourself".
"Oh, but I have to stay here, ma'am", - The girl looked out from behind the counter. Despite the fact that the shop was located almost in the middle of a residential area, there was almost no one in it yet. - "Well, okay. But if someone comes, you'll have to continue on your own!"
Glados just rolled her eyes. She took the coupons, flipped through them like a brochure, and walked along the shelves under the bright white light of the long ceiling lights. The scientist followed her so that the cashier would not do anything strange again.
The girl walked down the aisles, picking out items in attractive packages (or perhaps with a specific expiration date, since she checked the seals on the seams several times), and handed them to the customer along with coupons. The scientist, already tired, had to keep a close eye on the girl. Although this became more difficult as the stock of products eligible for coupon promotions grew rapidly.
Finally, the girl took a pack of muesli with raisins from the top shelf, but she caught its corner somehow unsuccessfully, and the cardboard box slapped on the floor.
"No, stay here", - Glados commanded as the girl almost bent over to pick up the muesli. - "I'll do it myself. Otherwise with your tricks I'll find lottery tickets in the box".
"Okay", - the girl smiled. Glados quickly bent down, and several coffee bags fell out of her arms. The scientist almost gritted her teeth. - "Do you need help?" - the cashier asked kindly, but Glados didn't deign to answer. - "Oh, well, as you wish".
The woman somehow grabbed the fallen food and suddenly felt a strange touch on the collar of her jacket.
"Hey!" - She straightened up abruptly, and the pack of cookies (not "Softpaws") fell out too. The girl quickly pulled her hand away.
"Sorry, I thought you were going to fall and break your nose", - The cashier hid her hands behind her back and smiled. Glados squatted down, not taking her angry gaze off the girl, picked up the cookies and hugged the purchases closer to herself. - "Shall we go to the checkout?"
The girl took her place at the counter and picked up a barcode reader. She also readily took out a bag and showed its empty insides to Glados with a quiet laugh. She began to hand the girl the food one by one, carefully watching her hands. The cashier scanned the purchases with a calm smile, without removing her hands from the counter or panel, without taking anything out of the pocket of her work apron, and even moving deliberately slower than before.
Then she started punching coupons.
"Well, with coupons you get twenty-one dollars and fifteen cents", - the girl handed her a bag. - "Card or cash?"
Glados grabbed the bag and placed a twenty and a five on the counter.
"Put the change in the tip jar", - she grinned. It seemed the cashier hadn't managed to fool her this time.
But the girl's smile didn't get any smaller.
"Thank you very much for the tip, ma'am", - the girl put the money in the cash register, took out a few coins and dropped them into a jar with a slot. Glados lifted her head to look down at her.
The girl's eyes were laughing. Glados shuddered and left without saying "thank you" or "goodbye."
---
It was snowing heavily on Thursday. Despite this, Glados showed up at the store in a coat and hat, without a hood or scarf - but at least in a sweater with a narrow, high collar.
"Good evening", - the cashier straightened up behind the counter and smiled serenely. Glados, to her shame, felt her face begin to burn. Mostly because of anger, but also a little with... embarrassment. - "Please do not drop snow on the newsstand".
"You probably think this is very funny", - Glados muttered, shaking the snow off her shoulders and stamping it off her boots. - "It's because of you".
"How am I always to blame?" - the girl made the most pitiful face Glados had ever seen. - "I was just helping you pack your groceries!"
"Yeah, yeah..." - The scientist turned to the shelves with tapes of cheap coffee. - "And the bag of jelly beans materialized in the folds of my scarf when I straightened up too quickly. Young lady, I work in a science lab, I know how matter transformation works".
"Oh, you may have accidentally brushed them down your collar", - the girl laughed. - "If I had a penny for every time this happened..."
"You would still owe two bucks", - Glados walked sideways along the shelves, trying not to let the cashier out of sight. She simply shrugged and leaned over the counter, again. But this serene, innocent look was deceptive.
Glados set aside several packs of "Softpaws", still on three-for-one deals, and picked up a large bag of crackers and some cereal in packets. Then she reached for her coffee.
The tapes weren't where they had been before. Glados looked around and saw them on the shelf above. The cheap coffee wasn't hanging freely as it had been all those days before, but was carelessly dumped on the highest shelf of the rack, among the bags of chicory, where Glados could only reach with her fingertips.
"Hey, um..." - the scientist searched her memory, mentally reproduced the cashier's badge and cleared her throat. - "Miss... Chell, right?"
"Would you like some "Softpaws", ma'am?" - the girl straightened up. The scientist pointed to the tapes of coffee. - "Ah... What? I don't understand, what do you want".
"I want to get a coffee".
"So take it", - Chell smiled. - "You can take items and bring them to the checkout for free!"
"You-u-u", - Glados rolled her eyes, - "you understand perfectly what I mean. Help me get the coffee off the top shelf".
"Oh, I..." - the door swung open and an old woman with a cane shuffled into the store. The cashier's smile instantly widened. - "Good evening, madam! I'm sorry, ma'am, I can't leave the cash register while someone might want to approach it".
Glados gritted her teeth and tried to reach the end of the coffee tape. But if she reached any further, she risked falling right onto the shelf, and she didn't want to make a scene. The scientist stood for a few seconds, looking helplessly at the cheap coffee and feeling her head begin to hurt.
Meanwhile, the old woman took some crackers from other shelves and slowly made her way to the rack around which Glados was hanging around.
"Oh, my dear, have you seen any bags of chicory around here?" - she asked, squinting weakly, trying to make out the inscriptions on the price tags. Glados glanced at the old woman's cane, and an idea came to her.
"Yeah, I've seen them", - the woman smiled unctuously. - "Only I can't reach it. Can I borrow your cane?"
She pointed to the shelf with coffee and chicory. The old woman looked up, stood there for a while, as if focusing her gaze, and gasped joyfully. She nodded understandingly and handed the cane to Glados, then took a few steps back to hold onto another shelf.
Glados adjusted her grip on her cane, holding it up with her hand hook, and jabbed it into a pile of coffee tapes.
"Ma'am, you..." - she heard the cashier's voice and jerked her cane to throw off at least a small part of the coffee. Instead, the end of the stick caught on the edge of the rack, and Glados barely had time to notice that it was leaning over.
The girl at the cash register jumped over the counter in one leap and stood in front of the scientist, holding the shelving unit that had fallen on her with both hands. The old woman gasped. Chicory bags, coffee strips and snack packs fell to the floor.
"Ouch", - was all Glados could say. The cashier looked back, and for the first time her face was angry.
"Ma'am", - this time there was no smile or mischief in the girl's voice or eyes. - "Please calm down before you get crushed. Madam, what did you want to get?"
"Chicory", - stammered the slightly frightened old woman. The cashier took a pack of chicory and five tapes of cheap coffee from the shelf.
"Here, please", - she handed the chicory to the old woman with a pleasant smile, then turned to Glados - without it. - "Ma'am, would you be so kind as to return someone else's property?"
The woman handed the old lady her cane without looking at the cashier. The girl, in turn, silently handed Glados a coffee and returned to the cash register.
"A-and shouldn't you start cleaning up this mess?" - Glados's voice, deliberately brazen, wavered toward the end of her sentence. But the girl merely shrugged.
"I'll check your purchases first".
---
On Friday, Glados didn't dare go into the 24-hour store.
---
On Saturday, Glados overslept. She couldn't bring herself to drink a single bag of coffee she bought. And anyway, she didn’t even want to look at the coffee.
As a result of a bad morning, a bad day and a far from great evening, Glados found herself near her apartment only close to midnight. Not midnight, but almost. It was a good thing she had Sunday off.
Thinking about the mountains of coffee tapes she wouldn't be able to use unless she showed up at the store, Glados sighed and trudged through the snow.
She didn't think the girl would be there. Glados slowed a dozen steps from the front door, looking out the wide glass windows beneath the green sign.
Chell was there, of course. She was standing in an empty store behind the cash register, leaning over it as if she was reading something. Maybe she was actually reading something. The last time the cashier scanned her purchases, she wasn't smiling.
Glados shrugged uncomfortably and headed for the door. When she entered, the cashier looked up, did not smile, but said calmly:
"Good evening, ma'am".
Glados felt a little better, and she became angry. At herself.
"Good... evening", - she said. Chell straightened up behind the counter. - "Hmm. Sorry, I distracted you..."
"I'm at work", - the girl moved her reading behind the cash register counter panel. - "Rather, I am distracted from it when there is no work".
"Got it", - the scientist looked around the former crash site. The hall was clean, just like every other day before. - "I... I hope you didn't have... any trouble?"
The girl shrugged her shoulders with a calm face. Glados looked away and walked along the shelves.
The cheap coffee tapes hung in the same place they had been all day, but the scientist didn't even want to look at them. She walked around all the shelves. She didn't really have anything to buy, in fact - yesterday, consumed by strange feelings, she ordered delivery from the supermarket. But she didn't want to leave either.
Chell bent over her reading again. The long lamps hummed steadily. Glados suddenly thought that she had never noticed how bright they seemed because they were so white. And that she hadn't noticed that the store wasn't playing its usual store music today. Maybe they turned it off for the night?
"Can't find something?" - Chell suddenly asked. Glados sighed.
"I, um..." - she looked around the shelves. Some things had indeed changed. - "Yeah, um... Where are these... "Softpaws" of yours?"
"What a question", - the cashier chuckled, and Glados felt a little more comfortable in her existence. - "The last pack was taken from the shelf yesterday".
"Ouch", - Glados took hold of the ends of the wide scarf. - "Damn it. Just when I was thinking of giving them a chance".
"They won't be produced anymore anyway", - the cashier shrugged and turned the page of her mysterious book. - "You didn't lose much".
"Ah..." - the scientist rubbed her forehead. - "I would still like to. But oh well".
She picked up the first chocolate chip cookies she came across and returned to the register. Chell sat up straight.
"Is that all?" - she looked at Glados point-blank. The scientist saw a glimmer of a smile in the girl's eyes and felt her face begin to burn.
"Not really, I..." - Glados sighed. - "Sorry I knocked over the shelf. I really wanted some coffee".
"Yeah, I thought so", - the cashier glanced at the remaining untouched coffee tapes. - "It's... not really good. And you take it in really large quantities".
"I work a lot", - Glados covered her face with her hand, - "it's the end of the year. Close all the reports, finish all the projects that are possible..."
"How about not getting a heart attack until next year?" - Chell shook her head and took the cookies from Glados's hand. - "Okay. It's not for me to judge you. I'm just standing behind the cash register".
"And read", - The scientist chuckled quietly. - "Um, if it’s not a secret, what do you even read?"
Chell picked up the book and showed her the cover. It was a textbook on human-machine interface programming. Glados even knew the author - he used to work in the same laboratory.
"I won't even ask what you expected to see there", - the girl's eyes finally began to laugh with the familiar sparks of mischief that Glados knew.
"Unusual... hobby".
"I am studying to be a software engineer", - Chell put down her textbook. - "By correspondence. I'm a bit of a night owl... a big of a night owl. Night work is the most normal option for me".
"Oh", - Glados stared at the cashier. - "Scholarship too, I guess?"
"Of course", - Chell leaned against the counter. - "I'm a smart girl".
"I... do believe you somehow, considering your extraordinary talents", - Glados glanced at the periodicals stand. There wasn't much left, but there were still some relatively recent sudoku and scanword puzzles. - "Especially in transforming intentions into matter".
"Ah, this", - the girl laughed a little. - "Sleight of hand and no trickery. The magic happens not where you look. As in my future job".
"I understand", - Glados remembered her work and picked up the sudoku. - "Hm. Okay. It's still a shame there aren't any of those cookies left. You recommended them so much..."
"They taste average, actually", - the cashier hid her hands behind her back with a sly smile. The scientist mentally prepared herself to see some trick again. - "But if you really want to..."
"Aha-a-a", - Glados handed her a large Sudoku puzzle. Chell took it in one hand, snapped her fingers with the other, and the scientist was momentarily distracted by the sound. She managed to notice some movement, of course, but the girl really was fast.
"Attention..." - Chell picked up the Sudoku with both hands, tapped the edge of the book on the panel, and pulled out a package from behind the puzzles that had the stylized inscription "Softpaws" on it. - "Presto!"
Glados couldn't help but laugh. Maybe she just wanted to sleep again.
"Bravo, bravo", - The scientist waited for the cashier to scan the purchases and put them in a bag, paid, and lightly touched the girl's fingers as she handed the bag to her. - "Huh. That is interesting. Software engineer, you're sa..."
She was interrupted by the loud buzzing of girl's phone. Chell gasped, shoved her hands into her apron pocket, and glanced at the screen.
"Midnight", - the girl laughed. - "Well then... Good night, ma'am?"
"Huh", - Glados felt a little warmer from this laughter. - "Yes... Good night. And until what time do you work?"
"From four in the afternoon until two in the morning", - Chell leaned against the counter again. - "There aren't too many clients after midnight, so there's time to learn a little".
"Aren't you afraid to walk home alone at night?"
"I run really fast. Why?"
"Um..." - Glados hesitated. She had actually had the crazy idea of asking such a nice girl to go for a walk. At least to her own house at night. The scientist, however, decided to keep this thought to herself. - "Have a good... successful journey".
"Thanks. ma'am", - the girl opened the textbook. - "You too".
Glados nodded and left the store. She could easily stay late next week, too, so that she could arrive at the store just before two in the morning on Sunday.