//------------------------------// // Chapter 15: To Work Hard, Or To Hardly Work? // Story: We Three: With You In Spirit // by Eyeswirl the Weirded //------------------------------// Vote count as of 8/11/2018: Pursue Bulk Biceps- 2 Pursue Wiz Kid- 4 Pursue Flash Sentry- 9 When I think about it, there's a lot of reasons I shouldn't date Bulk. He's not bad-looking, but I'd probably get fed up with him breaking stuff and maybe even just hearing him speak, on top of the possible weirdness with him and the Rainbooms even if it works out. I hear dating in the workplace usually goes bad anyway. Wiz Kid sounds like an easy conquest, probably wouldn't even have to take my pants off to get him eating out of my hand, but other than Adagio's short description, all I know about him are nerd stereotypes. I don't even hate awkward, bumbling dorks, if he's one of those, at least when it's not every few seconds, but... Flash seems like kind of a dork too. Most popular guy in school, and definitely one of the best-looking. I know he's gotta like music even if he doesn't carry his guitar everywhere, and since I never hear anything about him hooking up with anyone, I really don't think he's using his nice guy reputation to score girls. No way in Hell those girls would all keep quiet about it if he did. Just "I banged/kissed/held hands with the most popular guy in school" has to give some kind of social prestige around here. ...Aaaand that's gonna be a bitch to get around if I don't want the entire school whispering behind my back about the second coming of the old Sunset Shimmer, but y'know what? Fuck 'em, I've been good, I've behaved myself, and I really do want the real dating experience, and if it actually gets that far, a lasting relationship. With my mind made up, I look at my waiting sisters. "Uhh... what about... Flash Sentry?" I thought I'd been doing a pretty good job of keeping my cool, but when they turn to each other in surprise before shifting to coy smirks and go "Oooo-ooh~!", my skin crawls with embarrassment. "That's two, perhaps three birds with one stone," says Adagio with an evil grin, "snubbing that boy and sending a message to the other Twilight Sparkle, possibly Sunset Shimmer as well; 'I have what once was yours.'" She cackles. "Where was this deviousness when I was still alive?" Sometimes, I think Adagio's world must be a really dark place. "That, uh, hadn't actually occurred to me," I admit with a sheepish shrug. "Ah, well," she says with only a hint of disappointment, "he may prove a suitable match for you anyway." "Sooo," asks Sonata while floating in an upside-down arc like some kind of confused eel, an impish smile on her face, "what're ya gonna do?" I cross my arms and look away. I know exactly what she's asking, that she wants details on how I'm gonna get his attention, but having only just settled on this, I don't have a better answer than "I don't know yet, okay? I'll work it out later." "I know how you could get him to notice you," she says with mischievous gleam in her eye, "remember that thing we saw in Dagi's closet? The red one with the belts and-" I'm arguably saved by the bell when my phone alerts me to a text message by pinging right next to my head. Ignoring my sisters' giggling, I see that the message is from Vinyl. [Hey! You coming today? We're all here and I think Trixie already misses you.] I feel a little tug in my chest when I read that, smiling as I look back at Adagio and Sonata. "Like I said, I'll work it out later." Adagio nods. "Life goes on. Would you like us to hover near Flash's table today, see if there's anything we can use?" "Uhh..." Tempting! But... "Maybe not this time." "Let us know if that changes." "'Kay, now-" "Now go, Aria," Sonata tearfully interrupts with an arm theatrically extended in the general direction of the cafeteria, "don't die unfulfilled like we did!" Adagio raises an eyebrow. "Unfulfilled?" Sonata sniffles, looking up with a surprisingly serious face as she raises a fist with her thumb between her middle and index fingers. "Every hole." I don't get to see Adagio's reaction to that, because I'm already out the door and hoping my face cools off before I reach the cafeteria. --- I don't have to say more than "I was on the phone" (technically true!) to explain myself and lunch goes by pretty normally, give or take Trixie's slightly loopy rant about Rainbow and the Rainbooms' especially kid-friendly magic. For someone that likes magic so much, I think she's got a problem with the kind that instantly wraps things up with Perfect Happy Rainbow Smiles, and my current theory is that it's because it's not as dramatic as the combative, fire-and-lightning type you see in this world's fiction. Octavia tells me that it's just a matter of someone having magic when she doesn't, but having professionally used and fed on peoples' jealousy myself? I can't shake the feeling that what fuels Trixie's borderline obsession is more than raw envy. Trixie's weirdness aside, I head to the mall again after school, finding Lotus while she's arranging what I think are colorful shampoo bottles on a shelf. "What? Earmuffs?" "Just while I'm doing my thing in the main room," I explain with a vague hand-gesture, "because it looks like all of you guys get a little drowsy when you go through there while I'm at it." "Hm. Well, I admit that it is distracting sometimes, but it has only been a few days, Bulk hasn't dropped things any more than he usually does, and I think we can all handle ourselves. I'm afraid we can't lose our hearing altogether; we need to hear our customers. Still, if you're worried, perhaps we could arrange for this to be a special service; put up a divider or two, bring in some soft furniture from the lounge, and make a private room? I can't guarantee you'd have patrons at all hours, but you could always perform as any other worker here in the meantime." Knowing that I do my best thinking in privacy with my two imaginary friends, I nod. "I'll think it over and get back to you." She smiles. "Let us know what you'd be most comfortable with!" I head to the locker room, Adagio being the first to offer her thoughts. "I suppose her idea, the private room, could work for your purposes, so long as you don't mind working here normally if no one wants audio therapy at the time. That kind of runs counter to your work-without-working plan, however." I shut the locker room door before responding. "Yea, I caught that part. And, I dunno, getting my own little room sounds sweet by itself, like I'm important enough to be a special service-" "Or a side-show freak," Sonata adds so frankly that it sounds less like an insult and more like Sonata just being Sonata. "Right," I reply through gritted teeth, "or that, thanks." "No problem!" "...Anyway, getting peoples' attention on me and me alone might be cool, but there's no way I'll always have customers, right?" I refuse to say it out loud, but I'm a little scared that I'll almost never have anyone drop in, and if that happened, I don't think I'd be able to come back here again. "So, I'd have to be ready to just work here, and that might not be so bad, but like, not everybody that walks in is a hot, young, late-teen-to-twenty-something with smooth skin, I've seen a bunch'a middle-aged fatties around too, and I don't really wanna get all touchy-feely with randos. Maybe I wouldn't have to do any kind of massages, maybe I'd just be bringing people hot towels and putting cucumber slices on their eyes, but either way, I guess I'd just be working normally sometimes." Unless my little side-show very important and dignified service gets super popular and I'm never hurting for customers to have me sing them into a trance, but I don't know what kinda juice I'd need to make that happen. It'd probably be best to just go at it normally, if I wanna keep that whole plausible deniability thing up. Adagio sighs, frowning. "I'm sorry this place doesn't seem to be working out, it was the best I could find in this enti-ack!" She's tightly hugged by Sonata. "Aww, don't worry about it, Dagi, it's not your fault and we know you did your best! Heck, I hardly even looked for a place she could work!" I almost laugh at how fast Sonata's bright smile turns fearful and sheepish under Adagio's cold glare. "You didn't even try?" "Uhh-" Not having expected much out of Sonata for that anyway, I vaguely come to her rescue. "Second on it not being your fault, Dagi, and this place might still be good if I play things right." "Well, thank you," she replies with a tiny grin before giving me a serious look, "but if it doesn't, if you do decide to quit and try again elsewhere, I'd recommend doing it soon. You haven't even worked here a week, let alone earned a paycheck, and unless you come up with some extra money fast, you may be flat broke before you can get paid in a new job." "I don't see the problem," Sonata says, "so what if the others get a little sleepy? They're big girls (and Bulk), they can take care of themselves, and you get to keep things easy. Why not just do that?" Not interested in explaining the last several minutes to her again, I roll my eyes. She's right about one thing, though; I could just keep going as is, not change anything, and let Lotus and the rest fend for themselves if they're still getting heavy eyelids when I've toned it down as much as I feel I can get away with. Or I could try getting that private room put together (something tells me they'll have Bulk do most of the work), sing without worries there when I've got customers, help out around here wherever I can when I don't. It's not like they're gonna ask me to do back-breaking labor or factory work or anything. Or maybe I just ditch this place; explain that I don't think it'll work out after all, look for a job elsewhere, and see about either nabbing a quick chunk of change to get by (I'll think about the specifics later) or... ugh... switch to school food for a while. I'd have a new problem to tackle that way, but I'd definitely be eliminating Bulk from my list of things to worry about. How do I wanna sort out my workplace issues?