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"Yoo hoo, earth to goody two-shoes? I need your help stocking my inventory. I wanna leave early ."
"Mm-hmm."
"Sayeon."
"One moment."
"SAYEON."
Ryujin hurled a bag of taki's from the store's display straight towards Sayeon's head. Immediately hitting the taller girl and knocking her off the stool and onto the cold, hard ground. Sayeon thought about using her gift to rewind time and dodge the attack, but Ryujin would definitely be able to tell she had used essence. Isuel and Min wouldn't question a thing. But Sayeon could tell that something about Ryujin was different; she wouldn't believe the lies and false motivations that so easily fell from Sayeon's lips. Best to lie on the ground like an idiot, she supposed.
Ryujin's strength (though never used for her job) was striking, Sayeon thought. Just how could someone that short pack so much muscle? Had she been placed in the Aberrant core from the start, perhaps she-
"Jesus Christ, Glasses. Did I really knock you out on the first try?" Ryujin stalked towards Sayeon, trying and failing to hide her interest in the dorky girl's level of injury.
Sayeon adjusted her glasses. "Well, considering I am lying on the floor, that would be my first thought."
"Ha. Ha." Ryujin snapped with a click of her tongue. "Why do you always have to push my fucking buttons?"
Because they're just so fun to push. "Because I don't think you're working up to your potential, Ryujin! If we do well here, our lives could change for the better, including yours! We could earn a chance to join the corps–"
Ryujin pressed her foot to the top of Sayeon's stomach, ignoring the stomach-churning black of her eyes as they peered back into her.
"Then what? We can join the corps? Die in the bottom of some gutter? Leave everything we know and love behind to fight for some pricks who hate us? Fat fucking chance. It's bad enough they have us working in this shitty fucking store all day."
Sayeon let out a sigh and got up, taking a moment to peruse her alien surroundings. Working at a convenience store was not her dream, and it definitely wasn't Ryujin's (if her constant complaints hadn't clued Sayeon in already). There was no denying that they'd both been dealt a bad hand, but why not make the most out of an unpleasant situation?
"Well, I'm sure with that attitude, Ryujin, you'll get promoted in no time." It was bitchy, even Sayeon could hear it. But the faster Ryujin accepted reality, the less miserable they'd both be.
"God, you're the worst. But anyway, enough spacing out, are you gonna help me or not?"
Truth be told, Sayeon really didn't feel like it. Inventory was a beast of a job, and helping Ryujin would likely put her behind her own schedule. Not to mention, she was still a bit pissed from being sniped off the stool. But an opportunity to gain trust from her most selfish coworker? She couldn't pass that up.
Sayeon knew she couldn't just afford to do well at this job; she had to excel. That meant boosting store sales and reducing store incidents. Ryujin had been the cause of 3 incidents already, not even counting the ones she'd inflicted towards Sayeon herself. And despite her best efforts, Sayeon couldn't manipulate Ryujin into behaving. Ryujin wasn't satisfied with playing Aberrant Corps cashier? Fine. Sayeon could work with that; she'd have to. Even if it did mean sacrificing her stock of… she glanced at the label to reread it, male enhancement supplements.
"Alright." Ryujin didn't smile, per se. But a satisfied smirk and a pep in her step were motions that Sayeon would declare small victories regardless. She mindlessly followed the short girl in front of her. Enjoying each devastating scowl Ryujin gave to the aisles. Eyeing each as if each one had somehow personally wronged her.
"Okay, so they've got me stocking this, like, god, I don't even know we sell such garbage here. They're like chips some u-vuber makes." Ryujin (gently) threw towards Sayeon, with Sayeon suspecting the goal for her actually to catch it this time.
"I'm super behind, so we're gonna have to go fast. Is that alright, Glasses?"
Sayeon grinned. "I have a name, you know."
"Didn't ask. Is that alright, Sayeon?" It was no doubt a gesture to get a rise out of her, yet Sayeon felt electricity shoot through her spine. Ryujin had said her name, even if it was to mess with her. PROGRESS!
"Might as well get started then, Ryujin." That one earned a smile. Not an eye roll, or a half-ass smirk, and an honest-to-God smile. Nothing good would come from helping Ryujin slack like this more in the future, Sayeon thought, but if she got to see that smile again… Well.
She grabbed a bag of "A Salt and Battery™" chips and placed it on the empty shelf in the slot next to Ryujin's. The process went steadily for a while, the two not speaking but feeling no need to fill the silence anyway. Sayeon briefly wondered whether Ryujin's gift would speed up the process; after all, she was the only one who hadn't revealed it to the other team members yet.
"So, could you use your gift to help us with this?" Sayeon could instantly tell it was the wrong question to ask. Ryujin's hazy eyes darkened. The light in them now replaced with something darker, more twisted. Sayeon idly wondered if Ryujin's expressions looked similar to her own.
"Do you really always have to fucking know everything?" Bad. She seemed even angrier now. Sayeon wouldn't let the time they had spent "bonding" go to waste.
"You're right, I'm sorry." Sayeon smiled at Ryujin like she always did. Too knowingly, too methodically, like a soldier assembling a rifle. With a snap of her fingers, Sayeon set time back by a minute.
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Silence.
Silence, excluding the hum of the lights, the swirling of the slurpee machines, and the hypnotic crinkle of bags of chips being placed on shelves. Sayeon had turned back time again for, well, whatever time it was. She glanced towards Ryujin, the shorter girl looking as bored and irate as she usually did. Yet still far less angry than when Sayeon had asked her the question.
Conversation could definitely be dangerous, but Ryujin's trust would be invaluable to the store's success. Sayeon would bring Ryujin to the top, whether she wanted to be there or not.
"So… what are you leaving early for?" Sayeon asked. The question was met with an immediate huff of annoyance. Not great, but from Ryujin? That might as well have been a standing ovation in comparison to her last answer.
Ryujin rolled her eyes. "It's really none of your business." Sayeon took another risk and threw a bag of "Chips don't lie™" chips at her.
"Hey! What's the manager gonna think if she comes in here and sees us messing around?"
Sayeon laughed and threw another bag of chips at Ryujin.
"That's it, you're asking for it!" Ryujin grabbed three bags of chips and sprinted to a different aisle. Sayeon chased after her, but it was clear Ryujin definitely had her beat when it came to physical mobility. Before she could even stop to form a strategy, a cream-filled doughnut was hitting her in the head. Thrown over the aisle divider and right into her hair.
"Ooo. Sorry glasses. Hope you don't have a date soon." Sayeon didn't have to see Ryujin to know the smug expression probably plastered on her face
"Like you've got any lined up!" She ran towards the slushie machines, filling up two cups. Usually, Sayeon would be against wasting store product, but desperate times call for desperate measures.
"More than you for sure, Glasses." Sayeon narrowly dodged an open pack of snowballs as she ran towards Ryujin. Being extra careful not to spill the slushies in her hands as she ran.
"Oh, is that why you wanted to leave early, Ryujin?" She outmatched Sayeon in nearly every way, except when it came to strategy. Sayeon would have to get bold.
Ryujin was outrunning her, likely to get towards the freezer section to lock herself in for a while and sneak out the back early, knowing Sayeon would have to clean the mess up if she wanted to stay in the good graces of management. Ryujin was planning… good. Excellent! Sayeon could feel energy pumping into her.
She upped the pace, nearly slipping on the tile of the floor as she turned corners. Green and red slush just slightly peeking over cups and spilling onto the ground. What on earth was she doing? She couldn't say so herself. Sayeon was the last person to endanger store products. She had never been late for a shift even once, and now she was chasing a girl who had been nothing but a thorn in her side since the first day they met.
Ryujin's back hit the door's main entrance; if she wasn't careful, she'd fall backwards and end up outside. Sayeon clutched the slushie in her hand. Such was a perfect opportunity, even more perfect than she could have expected. She could force Ryujin to reveal her gift. Knowing if it was just useless would have been enough, but when Sayeon stared at the girl before her, her uniform stained, and her expression teeming with life in a way that Sayeon had never seen, she hesitated. Even though she could turn back time, she hesitated.
Ryujin gestured towards the slushies in Sayeon's hands. "Come on, Glasses. Take the shot."
"Oh? A glutton for punishment, are we?" Sayeon let out a laugh without any mirth.
"No use delaying the inevitable."
Sayeon stepped closer. "It really is a shame, Ryujin."
For what Sayeon suspected would be the final time this evening, Ryujin rolled her eyes. "Listen, if this is some lecture after we just had fun, I don't want to- OOF."
Ryujin yelped as Sayeon tackled her out of the door, a mix of slush coalescing on the two of them, but mainly hitting Ryujin.
Sayeon burst into laughter as soon as they hit the ground, not even bothering to get off of the girl below her (who surprisingly didn't shove her off).
"YEAH. YEAH. Laugh it up. I'm sure this is really funny to you." Ryujin barked from below.
Sayeon took her index finger and swiped some slush from Ryujin's face. Popping some into her mouth to see if her slush-tackle concoction had any culinary merit. "You definitely don't make for a good slushy."
"Oh, you think?!"
"I know." Sayeon grinned again, finally getting off the girl straddling her.
"God, I'm never getting out of her on time, I look like I just swam in that stupid fucking machine."
Sayeon felt the slightest twinge of guilt. "I'm sorry, I know you had plans for when you finally left." And she had been the one to keep Ryujin no less. It would mark the first time in 18 years she had ever caused anyone to be late.
"S'fine, it was a stupid date anyway." Ryujin actually had a date? With who? Ryujin didn't date. She didn't seem like the type to date. Not that it bothered Sayeon, of course, an external motivator could be good for Ryujin. Anything that would make her more responsible had its merits.
"Are you going to go?" Sayeon asked, despite her best judgment.
Ryujin looked at her then, really looked at her. Dreamy violet eyes boring into abyssal onyx ones. After it felt like an eternity had passed, Ryujin finally spoke up again.
"Nah. Don't need to."
"I'll find you a towel." Sayeon turned around, determined to get the slush off her before their shift ended.
"Thank you. Sayeon." And Sayeon didn't have to turn around to know Ryujin was smiling too.