Chapter Text
RIIIIINGGGGGGGG!!!
Squiddo stared up at her ceiling, having been awoken by her alarm. She only had 5 seconds, now 3, until the phone started playing “DIE IN A FIRE”… Why did she even have that set as her ringtone?!?! Especially for a 6 AM alarm?!
“I HOPE YOU DIE IN A—“ The phone started to blast, resulting in Squiddo rolling over with an annoyed huff, pulling her pillow over her head.
“SQUIDDO TURN THAT NOISE POLLUTION OFF!!!” Her brother screamed from his room across the hallway, somehow up early this morning. He probably stayed up all night.. or the alarm woke him up. It was more probable that the former occurred though. “CAN YOU HEAR ME?? TURN IT OFF!!!”
“FINE!! Just shut your mouth, Wemmbu!” Squiddo hollered back, turning to face her bed table and fumbling around with her hands until the phone was in reach, then she turned it off. “BETTER???” She called out, with no response. He probably fell asleep.. whatever.
Guess it was time to wake up! What a wonderful day to be an adult with a job. (Wait.. job?! DID YOU NOT CENSOR IT???)
Squiddo sat up in bed, reaching for her glasses on the bedside table. They were large and tinted with pink and orange, basically blocking out her eyes.
After the glasses were on, Squiddo decided to start off her morning, dragging herself over to the closet in the corner of her room (not very big at all! It was only about 9 feet by 10 feet. However, the ceiling was at least 7 feet tall.. which resulted in no jumping on the bed without bumping her head. Stupid.)
Her favorite orange cardigan was staring back at her after the closet opened, so she grabbed it along with a white button up, orange bow, and some jeans. This was close to her usual outfit, just more suitable for her workplace. (she still had to wear a uniform anyways, so it really didn’t matter.)
Work… right. She had only an hour and a half before she needed to be at the retail store. She, for some reason, worked at her local target…. How were the bills paid? No clue!
Speaking of bills.. those needed to be paid by the end of the month…
“I can’t do this anymore dude…” Squiddo grumbled to herself, walking out of her bedroom and into the hallway. She passed by Wemmbu’s room, then the living room, eventually reaching the kitchen. “Do we even have any food?” Squiddo opened the fridge and stared at the few bottled coffees, half a jug of milk, and a few cucumbers… “I need to buy more food too…” Well, screw her life.
Squiddo grabbed a bottle of coffee and exited the room, walking back down the hallway to Wemmbu’s room. This purple obsessed gifted child. “Wemmbu! Get up or i’m coming in!”
Dead silence.
She tried again.
“WEMMBU!”
Nothing again.
Squiddo gritted her teeth and pushed open the door.
The room was an absolute MESS. Clothing inside of his laundry basket, overflowing slightly, closet halfway open, energy drinks scattered all over any surface, and all of his hobbies crowded in a corner.
Wemmbu wasn’t a regular student, he was a gifted college student, participating in orchestra, theatre, track, and other clubs like debate. He was truly brilliant…
But he didn’t right now. He looked like her stupid younger brother.
Curled up in his pitch black sheets, hair tangled beyond belief.
“Wemmbu wake up.” Squiddo called out, crossing her arms and leaning against the door frame.
“Broooo whatttt… what time even is itttt???” Wemmbu groaned, pulling a pillow over his face and made it hard to hear him.
“Its 6:30. And its Saturday. Aren’t you supposed to meet with your friend Egg in the library at 7:30?” The lady replied, watching Wemmbu with a half amused face. If he didn’t get up soon, she planned to make him walk to the library, which was across town.
“Dudeee.. It’s in an hour, I’ll be fineee..” He sat up and yawned, purple eyes meeting Squiddo’s glasses.
“And if you’re not ready in 20 minutes i’ll leave you here so you have to walk.” Now that woke Wemmbu up.
“Fineeee.. I’ll be out in 20.” Wemmbu sat up, and Squiddo took that as her sign to leave.
She closed the door behind her, and opened the coffee.
A few sips had her awake and ready for the day, and next thing she knew she was sitting on the couch, remote in hand, and turning on the news channel.
“TODAY’S BREAKING NEWS: SUN KNIGHT, OUR LOCAL HERO, SAVES OUR CITY FROM ANOTHER ATTACK ON INNOCENT CIVILIANS LAST NIGHT. INSIDER REPORTS AT 8 AM!” The news lady rambled on, talking about the most popular and prominent superhero in all of Moluna.
The Sun Knight was an anonymous hero, saving Heart Shatter city at nighttime from whatever dared to threaten it, and in turn had inspired many new heroic figured to pop up. (Because the Sun Knight is just so freaking epic!!!) However… more villains also appeared.
A particularly notable one would be The Fallen, as called in media.. which was a rather stupid name, in Squiddo’s humble opinion!!! He was known to be the possible director of many destructive incidents across the city, and just happened to be the biggest pain in the ass for the Sun Knight. At least as documented in the news… and also in Squiddo’s head…..?
“SQUIDDOOOOOOOO!!! Lets go bro, didn’t you say we needed to leave???” Wemmbu walked into the living room, his arms crossed as he carried a satchel with random pieces of paper falling out. Squiddo wouldn’t say anything about it though, if Wemmbu didn’t want to keep his papers safe and lose that homework then so be it— not her issue!!
“Yeah sure. I’ll meet you out there.” Squiddo picked up the TV remote and turned it off, grabbing her keys and following Wemmbu closely behind. She locked the door and got into her black car, Wemmbu sitting in the passenger seat doomscrolling on his phone.
“Squiddo, did you see the news about the Sun knight?? Totally sick, right?” Wemmbu smirked, reading out some news headers that he saw.
“Sure, dude.” The mentioned rolled her eyes and drove the car, weaving it through traffic with minimal traffic lights and even less people honking at her.
“Sun knight kicks evil out of town— Who even came up with that??? There’s so many other villains in this city, defeating one won’t do crap.” The boy murmured, taking his long amethyst hair and pushing it over one shoulder, looking at his sibling to see her reaction.
Which he started laughing at, even though she had no reaction. He knew something, both of them did.
“What are you laughing about?” Squiddo looked over, then looked back at the road. They were pulling into the library parking lot. “Okay, get out. Your friend Eggchan is here.”
That made Wemmbu snap out of it, with him quickly unbuckling his seatbelt and grabbing his bag.
Outside, Eggchan walked over to Wemmbu’s side and opened the door, hoping for his friend to get out quicker. The boy’s hair was long and white, slightly curly and had red streaks, while his bangs were blue and black, covering his eyes, making it hard for Squiddo to gauge what he was feeling.
“Hey Eggchan. Could you watch over Wemmbu for me please? Make sure he doesn’t cause any issues and actually studies?” Squiddo said in a slightly teasing voice, wanting to tease Wemmbu infront of his friend for the love of the game.
“Mm? Oh, sure bro. I’ll make sure he stays in line—“ Eggchan started to speak before Wemmbu interrupted.
“Bro Squiddo leave me alone I can handle myself! And let’s get away from this old lady, Egg.” Wemmbu got out of the car and grabbed Eggchan’s ear, dragging them away from the car and up the stairs to the library.
“Bro-“
“Whatever! I’ll be back here by 7 to pick you up! Behave!” Squiddo yelled with a smile, then locked the doors to the car and checked the time. 7:15. She had to get to work very soon otherwise she was fried.
What a boring life.
…
Squiddo arrived in the target parking lot, turning her car off before just staring at the wheel. Why was she working at target? Was she predetermined to be a bum?
No, no. She couldn’t POSSIBLY be a bum, after all she was taking care of her brother and still being decently socially active.
No matter, Squiddo had to go attend her stupid shift with her even stupider co-workers who couldn’t seem to FOCUS.
If anything, those two were bums. They didn’t have any relatives to take care of and just goofed off during their shift. They all worked restocking and other jobs in certain areas of the store.
Squiddo worked in the tech section of the store! It honestly wasn’t that bad, besides the Karen’s that sometimes came in— but they were few and far between— no worry for someone as awesome as Squiddo. (At least in her opinion, which is all that matters!!)
The cars hum eventually faded out of her ears, and the radio she didn’t even realize was on— Wemmbu probably turned it on but drowned it out with his loud mouth— eventually also subsided, leaving her alone with her thoughts.
What should she make for dinner tonight? Should she do takeout so she could leave early for her nightly duties?
That should work. Wemmbu was complaining about not having a burger in a while, so on her way to pick him up she could get food, maybe she could even be kind and let Eggchan stay the night if he wanted.
She really just wanted to be a good sister for her brother, especially after they lost their parents in middle school. Wemmbu never really knew them because they were always ignoring him, but it still affected him.
That’s why she always tried to give him more affection than needed. Always better to have an excess of love rather than a drought.
The girl smiled to herself, staring at her dashboard with fondness. She probably looked like a weirdo to people outside, but that doesn’t matter!!
.. fuck. She still had her shift.
“… crap.” Squiddo grabbed her keys from the keyhole and grabbed her uniform from the backseat, scrambling out of the car and across the parking lot to the entrance. She looked like an idiot, with a few people pointing at her with raised eyebrows, who even needed something from target that bad??? Certainly not her… maybe.
She needed that glorious paycheck, after all.
…
Squiddo arrived to the break room, clocking in on the computer before changing into her uniform. It was a white long sleeve button up, red apron (which she tied in a bow in the back! So cute!!) with the Target logo on the front, and black flared pants. She planned to embroider the edges with purple flowers, she wasn’t sure why, as it clashed with the rest of her outfit, but it just… struck her right. Not because of her stupid purple brother, no, but.. there was a draw to it for her, okay???
“Squiddo!! Hey! You were almost late, I don’t think we could’ve survived without you!” A voice called to the orange haired girl from behind, seemingly just have entered the break room. Squiddo turned around and saw her co-worker, Jumper. “Cube and 4C almost refunded someone’s entire order earlier! They only wanted one item.. it was sooo stupidddd..” Jumper sighed, raking a hand through her hair before walking closer.
Jumper.. her ‘work wife’ as the others liked to joke the two were married, practically keeping the store together. Squiddo smiled and pushed up her glasses a bit before meeting Jumper in the middle. “Really?? Again?? Didn’t they like, almost do that last week or something?”
Jumper took that as a sign that they could start walking out, because being in the break room for too long while clocked in almost always resulted in a talk with the manager, which no one wanted. “Yeah, it was actually from the same department too, aka the clothing section. They really need to learn how to work in that area because one, it’s the biggest, and two, you and me can’t always come by because we work across the store!!” Jumper rolled her eyes and looked at Squiddo. She was slightly taller than the ginger.
“Who’s going to send them back to training..” Squiddo pushed open the door and let Jumper walk out first, now they were walking to their work stations.
“Probably Clown, he’s the only manager ever on duty anyways.” Jumped walked with Squiddo down the aisle, between the clothing section and furniture, which seemed pretty messy.. someone should clean that up soon.
Customers had just filed in, messily put together outfits blending into the background as they searched for the items they desired, most going off to the toy and furniture section, which means Squiddo would (hopefully) be left alone. Days that started off like this often spelled out trouble, but what was a little trouble to Squiddo? Absolutely nothing! (Unless it came from the hands of a few bratty teens.. ugh.)
Suddenly, they were at the book section of the store, where Jumper left to work at her post. Now Squiddo had to turn around and walk back to the technology center, which wasn’t far but she really should have just stopped earlier. Well, at least she got to spend some more time with Jumper, because recently with 4c and Cube’s behavior, she didn’t have any downtime.
The walk to her station was actually pretty peaceful, almost too much so. Only a few customers looked at her, and none approached her with issues! This was the least amount of issues she’s had all week, so she was in a good mood when she finally settled behind the counter.
At the front of the store, however.. a small group of teens, about three, spilled into the Target with eyes like hawks. They were searching for something, and as everyone knows, teens won’t stop until they’ve achieved what they want!
So… Squiddo’s peace was shattered as the three children headed to her section. One bounded in front of the others, a wild grin spread over his face. The next tried to keep pace, calling out to the energetic one to calm down. (with no results, of course, that child was practically on a sugar high!) And lastly, a much taller child strolled behind them, complaining about how fast they were walking, something about it being too early for all this commotion- which the retail worker totally agreed with, what were these demon children even doing?!?!
“MISS SQUIDDO!!! HIII!!” The booming voice of the front child called, rapidly approaching her desk. A few heads turned at this, and the ginger couldn’t help but mentally groan to herself, great, another issue for her to sort through with management.. wasn’t Target supposed to be a regular job?!
“Sorry about him.. hello Miss Squiddo..” The second child mumbled, barely enough to hear, as he followed and stopped at the counter. He was a kind child, but still as chaotic as the others.. just not around adults, which Squiddo was thankful for.
“Hey Miss,” The final child said in an even tone, boredom seeping through his tone while he approached last.
“Hey boys…! What could I help you with??” Squiddo put on her best customer service tone and straightened her posture slightly, even if they were kids, she didn’t want to get chewed out through the security cameras…. There went her lovely, beautiful chance at a peaceful day..