How could IIII make a workerrrrrr out of YOUUUUUU

[lazygurl]

Man...Karina wanted something cool, like fashion model or one of those guys you see standing still like in downtown New Orleans. Or a mattress tester. Not what she basically did back home. Though part of it was automated, so that was better. Sort of.

Unfortunately, their mindsets were still backwards. Like when Karina suggested they work to empower consumers in order to do everything themselves? Shot down. Nonetheless, She took a job at the checkout isle, given that she couldn't (or wouldn't) do much heavy lifting. There was much pouting as she scanned their groceries. Silent, parenthetical pouting. They even had a computerized option where people could scan their own items, but nope! Her bosses stressed the importance of customer service and how people liked interacting with other people, and would it kill you to smile at people instead of snore, and some other stuff she didn't really listen to.

Naturally, they wouldn't have put in a position at the job fair if they weren't understaffed, so people were using her aisle. A lot. Or at least, some of them were, until the hecklers let them off that the only reason her line is so short is because she takes so long. Karina is, of course, happy to direct them to the automated option should they find her customer service less than satisfying.

If one more rube puts a dang watermelon on the belt, she is sooooo trying her luck again. Tomorrow. After a nap. Maybe.

Comments

[mouth_breather]

Starship captains don't ordinarily go shopping for groceries. Technically it might be considered "grocery shopping" if they authorize orders for supplies to be picked up at the nearest orbital space station...but not really.

Jim couldn't remember the last time he'd burned cooked a meal. His mother had always cooked when they were kids, and when he matured into a teenager with a bottomless pit for a stomach, he remembered eating a lot of sandwiches and fast food.

So naturally, he had a bachelor's basket of groceries: frozen dinners, bread and lunchmeat, canned chili...anything that he can't possibly bungle up himself. When he got to Karina's line, he paused, noticing the necklace she wore. "Oh, hey, you're one of the foreigners here too?"

He still felt weird about wearing the necklace. It seemed a little feminine, so he kept it tucked under his shirt whenever possible. The chain still glinted at the sides of his neck just the same, but he could live with that. One by one, he transferred his purchases from the basket on his arm to the conveyor belt. "Been here long?"

[lazygurl]

Oh no. Oh nooooo. Now she'd get more people in her line.
Wait. Maybe oh yes? Talking beats the heck out of working. And no one can gripe at her taking forever if she's just chatting with customers. And he is kind of cute...

Working all that out caused her to enter a blank stupor for a few seconds. Snapping out of it, she spoke. "No, just a few hours...(feels like forever)" While she spoke, the groceries piled up at the edge, unwanted and unloved.

[mouth_breather]

Uh. Well. Kirk did kind of want those groceries. Man's got to eat.

"You look exhausted. You feeling okay?" Little did he know that Karina looked that way all the time. He looked down at the groceries, and gave the block of sliced ham a helpful nudge toward the scanner. Beep please?

[lazygurl]

"Yeah...(for a given value of "okay")." Karina eyed him helpfully nudging his stuff. Maybe...

Her tone perked up considerably. "Oh, are you going to do that yourself? (captains should take charge over their things, after all)"

[mouth_breather]

"Uh..." Wow, she looked so hopeful. What a strange girl. "It's a little hard, being on this side of the counter, you know? But I'll tell you what, how about I hand them to you?"

There was something to be said about the value of teamwork, right?

[lazygurl]

Yeah, how about you make her do her job. What an idea. *sigh* Begrudgingly, she dragged the things across the counter, scanning the barcodes one by one. Apparently, it wasn't meant to be. Might as well prolong it as long as she could with conversation.

"Yeah, teamwork (I hate half of that word). So...what brings you here?"

[mouth_breather]

"Oh, well..." He passed her a loaf of bread. "It's been a while since I've had a chance to eat anything that didn't come from a replicator." A package of lunch meat followed. "Not sure if you're familiar with those or not." It was hard to tell. Her clothing was unusual, but it wasn't exactly archaic, and she did seem to be working a cash register with little difficulty.

[lazygurl]

Karina's ears were always attentive to the thought of new technology. She wasn't what one would call scholarly, but she did know that tech was all about saving time on menial tasks, something which interested her greatly.

"Replicator..." Karina browsed her mental dictionary to guess what that meant without putting forth the effort of asking. "So like...could I put myself in there, and then another Karina would come out, and then I could make her do your groceries while I stayed home and slept in? (it sounds too good to be true)"

[mouth_breather]

"Ah, you're probably thinking of something more like a cloning machine, but it's a good guess," Jim chuckled. "It's a recycling system most ships are equipped with in order to manage long voyages in space. Matter molecules are rearranged to create food and drink for the crew. You tell the machine what you want to eat, and it makes a copy of it. It's pretty close to the real thing." But there was always something just...'off' about it. Not bad, but it just didn't seem quite real.

[lazygurl]

He made her work, then laughed at her crushed dreams. There was but one thing left to salvage. Karina didn't really expect Juane to make her cook, given that she was good at making only rice balls and nothing. But even so, taking the labor out of the kitchen sounded nice.

"You don't happen to have a spare, do you?"

[mouth_breather]

"It's not really portable," Jim smiled, finishing up the last of his groceries and moving to pay for it with his credits. "But they might have something similar in Nova City. The stuff they have there is more in line with the technology I'm familiar with."

[lazygurl]

That does it. Karina swipes the card from his hands and into the reader, finishing the transaction without ceremony. With barely restrained frustration, she says "Thanks you for shopping here. Have a nice day."

Then she folds her arms and buries her head in them. Just once she'd like to meet a magician or a space man who could actually make life easier. But no...

[short_n_sweet]

[Oh. Wow. Cute. Cutecutecute.]

[That girl looks so cute! Jaune couldn't stop thinking about that - he's just a teenager after all. Sure, she looked a little... tired, but there was a certain charm in that... right? Well, it was time to lay on the confidence! Girls like that sort of stuff, and if Jaune's lucky, he might really hit it off. So he approaches the checkout to start unloading his things onto the belt.]

Well hey there~ I haven't seen you here before. [Milk. Eggs. Bread. Frozen Pizza. Macaroni and Cheese. A buncha microwave dinners. Some apples.] And trust me, I'd remember a face like yours. What's your name? I'm Jaune.

[lazygurl]

Karina was a bit confused here. Juane was being charming while making her work...how does that even...man. Talk about mixed signals, guy.

"*sigh* Karina. Nice to meet you. (somewhere else would've been nicer)". Karina faintly detected the scent of chivalry about him. Maybe she could make him scan his own?

One hand propped her head while another took the laser, washing over One. Thing. At. A. Time. Hope you got nothing else planned for today, Juane.

"Aren't you that guy who lives in the secret base?"

[short_n_sweet]

"Oh, no, I don't live at the secret base... I voted to have one put in because... Well Captain Hammer's a super hero. And super heroes need bases, so... Well I thought it was a good idea. I actually live at Tupelo Alley - you know, on the corner of Oak and 8th? It's pretty flashy," Jaune answered in a winded sort of explanation. Karina probably doesn't even care about half of it.

He watched though as she scanned one thing at a time, bit by nit. His eyes followed her hand as it moved back and forth to grab one item after another, and he wondered if maybe she could speed up... but then, he didn't have TOO many things.

"Uh, so... What about you? I guess you saw me at the Pizzeria, but I totally missed you," He meets her eyes and tries to distract himself with conversation.

[lazygurl]

Yeah, she's basically stopped at scanning completely. Not even a pretense now. Clearly, this conversation was more important.

"Oh. (a secret base would've been cool.)" She twirled her hair. "I've actually been looking for a place to stay...do you live alone?" She wanted to, but filling out the application was too much work, so she slept outside for now. Sure as the sun will rise, she's definitely not living on her own and paying all that rent by her lonesome.

[short_n_sweet]

Ohhh hold on... It looks like with that one, simple question of Karina's, Jaune's brain shut off. Did she just ask to move in with him? Twirling her hair like that too, the signals the young man was receiving were likely far, far from the truth of the matter.

"W-W-What? You want to... move in with me?" Jaune blinked a few times, asking even though he'd heard her right. "... We just met! That's, uh... that's..."

Consider Jaune's confidence debunked, for the moment.

[lazygurl]

Karina smiled at Jaune's flustered behavior. So he was nervous guy, eh? Gonna have to milk that for what it's worth.
"I mean, you already filled out the paperwork, right? (applying is such a pain). And then we could get to know each other better."

Or you could get to know her better here, at the checkout line. Forever. Karina smiled dimly; she clearly had all day.

[short_n_sweet]

Not only was Jaune nervous, but he's a good guy, as frustrating as that could be at times. He couldn't out-right deny her.... but he would probe for some more questions.

"So, wait, if you've been homeless where have you been sleeping?"

[lazygurl]

Karina yawned, as if to suggest that merely saying that word summoned her fatigue. "Oh, you know. The bay, a park bench...I even snuck a few winks in half an hour ago when my manager wasn't looking. (don't tell him though please)."

In a strange attempt at conversational parity, she replied "So, uh...where do you sleep? (is it comfy?)"

[short_n_sweet]

Jaune blinked a few times when he heard that. "But... Karina... it's winter. It's usually snowing out there," He said, as if she were crazy for even doing what she did. But all his words do is convince him that he can't just let this cute girl sleep out on the street.

Her question, though, blocks his acceptance. "I... sleep in my bed, at my home, in my pajamas. It's... comfy I guess?"

He then shakes his head, "That doesn't matter. Listen, uh... If you really need a place to stay, you can stay at my place... I mean, the place is big enough." He then takes a moment to look around the store, "... And as long as you can help pay the rent."

[lazygurl]

"Yeah...the cold makes me sleepier than usual." It was hard to tell whether Karina found that agreeable. Her eyes seemed to go off in space as he talked more about sleeping, away in his room, which sounded so nice...

Oh, right. Work's not over. She smiled upon hearing the acceptance, then frowned at the condition. Gotta save the worst for last, don't you Juane? Well, no one else was offering.

"...All right." She got one handout. Sort of. Time to double down. "Hey, can you pick me up after work? Or take my place while I have a nap? I'm exhausted."

[short_n_sweet]

Karina never ceases to amaze him. She's all but stopped working and now she's asking him to take her place? He was shopping! He had things to do! He had his own job to look for!

"I'll pick you up after work," He says with no small amount of uncertainty, "But I can't work FOR you, come on..."

[lazygurl]

"Why not?" Karina seemed genuinely curious as to what philosophical suppositions were in place to say that no, Juane could not, in fact, work for her.

Then she saw her manager looking her way, and she decided to drop it. "*Sigh*. Nevermind." Picking up her scanner with moderate pace, she released Juane's groceries from hostage. With her best professional intonation, she said "Thanks for shopping at...whatever this place is." So close, and yet so far.

[short_n_sweet]

Jaune couldn't help but laugh a little bit when Karina tried to thanks him for shopping. That was always a half-hearted pitch, but she really swung for the fences when it came to lacking enthusiasm.

"Sure, thanks for ringing me up," He says, taking his bag and smiling to her, "So I'll come back later tonight and show you where to go." He then looked to the line that had formed during their conversation and he smiles again to her, albeit apologetically. "Good luck!"

And then he's off, groceries in hand.