Sunset arrived back at home after her little outing and took a seat on her couch. She looked over at the small mark on the metal that turned into her mask.
She sighed and picked it up, looking closely at the mark. “I almost died.” She muttered to herself as she stared at the mark before letting the metal drop to the ground as she put her face in her hands. “I almost died.” She repeated.
That realization hit her hard. Of course it’d been a possibility she’d known about and even planned for but it almost actually happened. She was inches away from it. It wasn’t like being suddenly crushed by a building or whatever usually happens here. She saw the gun pointing at her, quipped and felt the impact as it hit the edge of her mask.
She was scared of that possibility. She hated to admit that, but she was. She didn’t see her life flash before her eyes or anything. Only the cold metal barrel of the gun pointed at her. She was simultaneously ashamed of herself but she also thought that anyone else would have no choice but to understand.
She caught herself as she was shaking. She hated feeling like this.She hated feeling scared. She hated feeling anxious.
“Dammit!” She cursed as she stood up “Why am I so scared?! I am Sunset Shimmer! Student of Princess Celestia! Destined for greatness! Why am I so- so pathetic?! I’m not meant to die here!” She ranted, breathing heavily before stopping in her tracks and taking a deep breath.
She ran her fingers through her bangs. “Ugh… that was pathetic. I’d rather be in Tartarus than have anyone know what just happened.”She grumbled to herself as she walked back to the couch and picked up her mask. She sighed as she walked it to the file cabinet she kept her outfit from last night in.
Once it was locked again she sighed. She knew what happened. She had been careless. She’d thought it would be enough to rob a stupid gas station that no one liked. There were so many hints as to it’s true nature. The fact it stayed in business despite how little people wanted to use it. The high prices were just a way to fleece anyone who was unlucky enough to have to stop there. The rude employees were mobsters. They didn’t have any fear of getting fired and didn’t fear getting robbed because they had guns and no scruples about using them.
But she’d been overconfident. Didn’t do her research. She was a fool. “I’m better than this.” She muttered before making her way to her cheap laptop before stopping. She’d have to go out if she wanted to research anything. Living in an abandoned building and not having any sort of ID made it pretty hard to get internet installed. Besides, She wouldn’t want anything she looked up directly connected back to her.
~~~~~~
The next day Sunset found herself at the same little cafe again. But this time instead of getting a coffee, she got a tea. She didn’t need energy. She needed to focus. She was just glad this place knew how to brew their tea. It was still cheap leaves but they knew how to handle their water. She once went somewhere that didn’t know how soft and hard water worked with tea and it just tasted like bitter water.
She held the cup up to her nose and took a deep breath. The smell of tea was always so relaxing. Something of a holdover from her time with Celestia. One of the few good things that came from it.
Meanwhile she was looking through local places: mostly gas stations as she planned her next heist. There were a good few places that seemed to fit the bill. But she was more… if anyone asked she'd say cautious. But, if she were honest with herself, she was scared. She didn't want to risk something like that again. Who would?
That "caution" made her mark off a few places. Ones that served suspicious or too close to gang territory.
The bell rang as someone new entered the café. Sunset ignored it as she had multiple times already. The voice of the newcomer was harder to ignore, however.
"Heya! What's Crack-a-lackin'?" His voice was a bit nasally and often cracked.
"Ah. BB. They have you on coffee duty again huh? Who'd you piss off this time?" It seemed the owner knew him pretty well. Good for him. Sounds like he's a trouble maker too.
"Wha-? Me? Piss someone off? Come on. It's like you don't know me. Everybody like me! I just uh… lost a bet." Sunset was already tired of listening. It made looking through her targets annoyingly difficult.
"I'm sure that's the case. Just the usual for everyone?"
"Yeah, yeah." There was a blessed moment of silence before his voice picked up again and to Sunset's horror it was aimed towards her. "Well hello there~"
Once he decided to take the open chair near her for himself Sunset finally knew who it was and she could feel the hairs on the back of her neck raise. Beast Boy. A member of the foremost group of superheroes in the city. The Teen Titans. Even someone living as far under the radar as she was knew about them. She took a moment to close her eyes and calm down before slowly moving her gaze up. "Can I help you?"
"Heh. Yeah. Your number would be great to start."
She felt her eye twitch and she sighed "so what would you put my number under then, hm? Asking for a number before even a name doesn't seem like a very good way of getting to know someone."
"Well...I was gonna put it under "Babe from the coffee place" but since you're offering~"
"I'm not."
"Ouch. Ya know, you remind me of a friend of mine. You have this whole unapproachable feel to ya."
"I feel like I would get along with them a lot better than you then." Sunset grumbled. She was honestly getting annoyed now. She didn't enjoy being hit on in the first place but he didn't have that slimy feel that most who did it had. Which made it harder to dislike him, which in turn made her more annoyed!
Lucky, she had a well tested way to get out of this. "Look. I'm not interested."
"Aw, come o-"
"Not just in you. In men in general." It was mostly true. She hadn't found any "men" attractive. Or "women". Or any humans since she arrived. It just wasn't something she'd given any thought. She'd been far too focused on survival. Even back in Equestria she couldn't really remember anyone she found attractive. It might have been she was far too focused on her own thing. She didn't have anything against dating or whatever. It just wasn't really something she could see herself doing. She'd never exactly been normal.
"Oh." That seemed to throw him off. Hopefully that meant he'd leave her alone now.
"Well, alright. But you still seem pretty cool. I mean, there's only a handful of people in town with skin colors like us."
Sunset felt her eyes twitch. "It's a skin condition." She almost growled.
"Ah, yeah. That makes sense. Hey, what are you up to anyway? Also, I don't mean to brag-" she doubted that. "- but I know quite a few girls. Maybe I could introduce you. Maybe you could introduce me to any single girls you know, huh? I'm a pretty good wingman." He said as he literally turned his arms into wings.
That show of a super power did a good job of calming Sunset's anger and annoyance. It was a strong reminder of who he was. Strange and desperate as he may be, he was still a member of the Teen Titans. She couldn't blow up at him. So her best route was to humor him.
"I'm job hunting and as for friends, I don't really have any. Kinda new to town. So I'm just trying to get situated before I start socializing."
He seemed a little let down that his "wing"man joke didn't get a reaction as they changed back into arms. "Ah. I mean, yeah. That makes sense-"
"BB! Your order is up." The woman behind the counter called out.
"Thanks!" He replied before looking back at Sunset. "Well uh. Good luck."
Sunset's only reply was a simple nod as he finally left her alone and left the building.
She began to groan one she was finally alone, only for the woman from behind the counter came over. "Hey. Sorry about him. He's a good guy, it's just he's a bit much. I hope you weren't too uncomfortable."
Sunset raised a brow in surprise. She didn't expect her to come and apologize for him. "It's whatever. He didn't push too hard so I suppose I can look past it."
"Great." She said before extending her hand "I'm Clara. The owner."
Sunset reached out and shook her hand "Sunset Shimmer. The customer."
That got a little chuckle out of Clara. "Nice. Hey… look, I couldn't help but overhear that you're looking for a job."
Sunset cursed herself. She didn't expect her excuse to bring more attention. "You offering?" She decided to lean into the excuse. It would make it easier to keep coming here if she thought she had a good reason like this.
"Sort of. I can't exactly afford to hire a whole other employee."
"That's...a strange way of wording it. I wouldn't exactly be able to apply anyway. There's issues with my paperwork."
"Ah. Gotcha. No worries. There's enough weirdness in this city that it's not too surprising. You wouldn't believe some of the stories I've heard here. There was apparently one English guy who ran circles around the Titans." She said with a giggle "but anyway. All I'm offering is that the last hour of the day you help out cleaning. I'll pay you each day so you have enough to buy more than just the cheapest coffee we have."
Sunset frowned a little. She didn't expect that Clara would be quite so attentive. "But there's still the issue of paperwork."
She shook her head. "Don't worry about it. You'll just be helping out as a favor. It's not like you'll be working anywhere near enough for anyone to be suspicious. All I ask is that you don't turn this place into some battleground."
Sunset sighed. She could use the money and if she's gonna be here for a little each day she might as well get paid for part of it. She reached her hand out "I accept and if it's in my limited power I'll keep the battlegrounds to the street. Or something like that."
Clara took her hand and gave it a hard shake. "Glad to hear it. Don't actually worry about that though. If someone comes bursting through the window or something, you just run and hide."
"Ha. Honestly? That was my plan anyway."
Clara chuckled and shook her head "I like honest help. Come by around nine if you're not still here. You won't get a uniform but I'll let you put your stuff in the back."
"Thanks." Sunset had to admit, this turned out better than expected. It might only be like ten bucks, if that per night but it was something. She wouldn't have to dig into her reserves then. Not that she had much left.