#“ooh hey i know you're being tormented by demons but we're really short staffed today-”

[smaller-comfort]

WIP game, on Retail Hell?

Ding! You found some of the original stuff!

This was kind of a Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Scooby-Doo/X Men thing spawned by my unending distress over my own shitty retail job at the time. The premise: a bunch of queer misfit teenagers with psychic powers all hang out at a haunted music store, where most of them have part time jobs. They solve crime! Or, really, just the one crime, which is the murder of the girl who haunts the store.

It's very funny to look back at my old original work and see the character templates I'm still using. There's a scene where the main character and his love interest finally get together that hilariously looks like I cribbed it from gotta start somewhere. Gay idiots, man. An eternal weakness of mine, apparently.

Here's a fragment that doesn't involve those two particular goofballs together, but does involve some of the Retail part of the Hell.

"Oh my god, Rose, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"Shh, shh, it's okay." Rose patted Derrick awkwardly on the shoulder. She almost had to stand on her toes to do it. "Of course you didn’t mean it. Insurance’ll take care of it, I’ll just need your help cleaning up. You need a few minutes to freak out?"

Derrick’s face was wan and ashen, and he nodded jerkily, locs swinging violently.

Rose gave him a gentle push in the direction of the back door. “Go on, have a sit down and a bit of fresh air. Ian will mind the till for you.”

He nearly tripped over the smoking ruin of the vending machine in his haste to get outside. Rose shook her head and balanced the fire extinguisher on one hip. “Ian, love, do you need a few minutes to freak out? Because you’ll have to wait 'til Derrick’s back before you can take your fifteen. It’s not good to leave Michelle alone up front for too long.”

“Michelle?” There was something hysterical and sharp clawing its way out of his chest, and he didn’t know if it was a scream or a laugh or a toothy fucking alien, but at this point anything was possible. “You let Michelle watch the store?”

“She can mind the front door in a pinch, but it’s not like she’s any good on register.”

“Right." Ian covered his face with both hands and took a deep breath. "Right, of course, Michelle can't cover the register. She’s dead. Of course I can't take my break now. I have to cover for Michelle, who is dead, and for Derrick, who just set the vending machine on fire with his brain.”

Rose gave him a deeply unimpressed look. “No need to be rude about it.” She shoved the fire extinguisher into his arms. “You stay here and point this at anything burning, then. I’ll see if Robin wants to pick up any extra hours on short notice.”