quietmounds | (no subject)

(no subject)

WHAT In person or texting, I don't know, I'm not your boss
WHERE Wherever you'd be at night
WHEN Day 1, night
NOTES aj said i was allowed to make a new post

[So, you've survived your first—or fiftieth, or five-hundredth—day in Quiet Mounds. Tonight, it's raining—or, it's not. Maybe you're trying to get used to your new, quiet apartment. The electricity is buzzing in that way that's hard to ignore, a silence so loud it's deafening, in that poetic sort of way.]

[Or maybe you're one of the sad sacks still working at the 24/7 joints. Or their why-am-I-even-up-this-late customers. You're the reason why capitalism does this to people, you know.]

[☽ ☽ ☽]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[I.]

You're not wrong, but anyone who'd try it would be an idiot.

And while I could certainly look the part of a gorgeous young gold digger, my heart wouldn't allow it. I'm going to build my success in the world the right way.

By working sixteen hours shifts at a coffee house for someone who threatens to torture his employees?

Uh, big words coming from my direct supervisor. I'm at least as confident in my ability to not get tortured as you. Also, my kid drank an entire gallon of milk in one day. The whole thing. Just sucked it down.

Don't assume we have the same motives. I'm not very interested in 'building my success in the world the right way'.

And what's milk got to do with it?

Expenses! Right now I'm interested in making as much money as possible, as fast as possible. Without dating someone who will eat my skin if I break up with him. Maybe that mask is that guys ex boyfriend! We don't know.

I guess kids are expensive. But you don't even have to pay rent. He can't eat your entire paycheck.

I want to save up.

For what?

Geez, are you that worried? If I think I can't handle the job or the owner, I'll bring the issue to my manager. I won't bail out on you without proper notice, that's just rude.

[???]

What would I be worried about? I'm just trying to figure out why money is so valuable to you in a place like this.

I mean, you're obviously in over your head. You get shaken just by looking a picture of an actual slaughter. Have you ever even seen someone be tortured?

[rubs at his face, raising his eyebrows...]

I wouldn't call it "shaken." My young supervisor whipped out a photo of a slaughter. For a second my brain assumed it had to be a scene from a movie, but I recognized it was real blood, and from there I had to conclude that by saying you did "government work" you meant hardcore terrorist government work.

Not that the photo wasn't disturbing. Am I really going to walk in on someone getting tortured?

The terrorist part is recent. I work in research and experimentation on demi-humans.

Worked.

[lets his gaze drift thoughtfully.]

I've been thinking about it. He hasn't said he tortures people. But even though he hired me to be a manager on the spot and I don't think he even knows my name, I don't have a key to the back room. He immediately threatened violence if I were to be a less than stellar employee, and implied that anyone who continues to work for him after complaining about the hours is 'pretty durable'.

It's possible he's just the type to want to rule by fear, but unless everything about his personality is faked, I think he's too narcissistic to think it's anything other than reasonable to hurt people who dissatisfy him. You don't try to rule by fear to begin with if you value other humans. And this place doesn't seem to have any sort of social structure to enact consequences that might limit him in a 'real' society.

Finally, if people really can't die here, humans stop valuing that life pretty quickly.

So. You might not walk in on torture, since he seems to keep it out of the way. But yeah, he'd probably fuck you up.

[quiet. considering him, and listening. he taps his thumb on his jaw, then after a moment, puts his hands in his pockets.]

... This is the highest possible paycheck in the city. Ultimately, I want to open my own business with enough of a cushion to eliminate fear of monthly rent, emergencies, or pro bono work. The only commercial rental space here is in the mall. I need a year's rate of that, emergency funds, and I need to give Mob a comfortable life in the meantime. He's had a stable family until now, and he noticed we're tight compared to his usual life right away.

So, that's why I applied. I have nothing better to do with myself for sixteen hours of the day, this is the shortest path.

Now the owner is a psychopath, and your testimony isn't exactly encouraging. I could quit to "play it safe." But if Handsome Jack is a serious problem in this isolated, long-term environment, and there's no limiting consequences to his potential actions like you say, I'd rather get as much information on him as possible from the safest position. Which is definitely as his hardworking employee. Now we've had a conversation, and he already knows I work for him.

...Okay.

What sort of business?

The same as back home! Spiritual and psychic consultation. It's taken some time to get an assessment of the area, but there's definitely enough supernatural activity here to necessitate the service, and it's only going to increase over time. It's the best long-term investment for figuring a way out of here, too.

I don't think you can really prove that much. But I guess it's something to do.

It's familiar and stable for me and my employees, too, which is enough for a goal.

You already have employees?

Not while I'm not open. But they're here, and they want to work for me again.

Research and experimentation on demi-humans. What is a demi-human?

A human who can't die.

Your employees are here... as in. They happened to arrive with you..?

No, not with me. Individually.

Hold on. You have immortality where you're from?

It's very, very rare, and was only discovered about seventeen years ago. Also, supposedly they can die from old age. But otherwise, yes. Their body will repair any injury upon death.

So, individually, multiple people from your world and timeline, out of a supposedly infinite universe, just happened to also show up here?

That's right.

I can't tell if that means anything yet. Normally I'd think I was singled out because I uncloaked my energy dealing with that damn rich terrorist. The government noticed me because of that too, but they haven't done anything yet. So it's not like I wasn't keeping an eye out for something, but not... this.

Edited 2017-05-12 19:43 (UTC)

Hmmm.

Well, it's not like I really thought any of this was random.

You haven't met anyone else who knows people from their own place?