fandomtownies | Turtle & Canary; Monday [12/03].

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Turtle & Canary; Monday [12/03].

There was, it would seem, at least one place on the island where you could turn something and not get eggnog, because it would seem that not even the power of the holiday strangeness could overcome the pure persistence of the Squishy machine.

Of course, one could easily argue that what you were getting from that one nozzle wasn't a whole lot better.

And Astrid had, at one point during her shift, given into the temptation of combining the two, an experiment that did not end up well for her at all, but, at the same time, she did not regret a thing.

If anyone needed her, she was easy to find at the counter, filling her sketchbook with pictures of reindeer, coloring them with borrowed teal pencils and crayons.

Today's Squishy Flavors
Eggnog
Eggnog
Red

Turtle & Canary is open!

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Rufus set several bottles of water down on the counter.

Dark Nation needed water and eggnog was... not an acceptable substitute.

"Good morning," he greeted, which was about as polite as he ever got.

"Morning," Astrid greeted back, looking up dully from her sketches before grinning faintly at the purchases set on the counter before going to ring them up.

"I have a feeling we'll be selling a lot of these today."

These, and other bottles of things that may be clear but definitely weren't water.

"Yes," he agreed, faintly amused himself. "One of the reasons I came in so early. In fact, I wished to inquire about how one would make a delivery of water to the shelter today."

For one, Rufus did like animals.

For another, it would confuse Zack greatly.

"I think that'd be easy enough to do," Astrid nodded as she considered it. "Just let us know how much, and we can send it over. I"m pretty sure we've had Apu do deliveries like that before."

She'd ask him when he got out of the stock room, and if not, hell, she'd do it herself, she didn't exactly see the boss lady having an issue with getting water to cute animals.

"I highly doubt that the current lack of water will persist for more than a day," Rufus admitted, "but given the number of animals there, perhaps thirty cases?"

Especially as not all of it was likely to go towards drinking water.

"Would that be possible?"

Thirty cases would be a lot for her to transport by herself if Apu wasn't going to do it, but Astrid would still do it. It wasn't like she was doing anything else, anyway, and she never minded mindless work that just filled up time.

But there was the issue of stock, which she wasn't sure about, so her thoughtful expression had a bit of a frown in it.

"Hold on," she said. "I'm not sure what all we have available, so this one's gotta go to Apu. He's in the stock room anyway, so I'll just go find him real quick. Hold on."

And as she moved around the counter, before disappearing toward the back, she added, "Don't...steal anything, or something, we have cameras everywhere."

Not that she thought Rufus himself would be the type to steal stuff, he seemed smarter than that, but it just seemed like she would need to say it for her own defense if it turned out anything did go missing all because she wasn't manning the register like she was supposed to.

She didn't return after long, though, offering a nod. "You're good," she said. "We've got them, and Apu can deliver them when he's finished with whatever it is he's doing back there. Apparently, they keep an insane amount of backstock of bottled water for emergencies."

Which...made a lot of sense, really. More sense than most things did around here, which was probably why she felt mildly surprised about it.

He smirked at her parting words. Him? Steal something while waiting for answers?

If he did, it wouldn't be here.

When she came back, he was scrolling through a feed on his phone, leaning against the counter and looking like he had all the time in the world.

Rufus had several other things to do today, some markedly more important, but when it came to Dark Nation (and, alright, the shelter animals) he was a bit of a… soft touch.

"I'm impressed at the foresight," Rufus said, tucking his phone away. "Only because it's so rare here. Thank you for looking into this for me, I do appreciate it."

Would people thanking her or appreciating the fact that she'd basically only done what was expected of her ever not be awkward for Astrid? Probably not. So she just sort of shrugged a little as she punched numbers into the register.

"I mean," she said, "it is pretty much just my job..."

"There remains a difference between a job well done and a job done poorly," Rufus pointed out, a touch of dry humour in his tone. "I could pretend you were unsatisfactory, if you'd rather?"

It would definitely make more sense; she was much more used to that.

And she felt she fell more in the middle of that scale than anywhere near one of the ends of it, anyway.

"I expect a firm and angry letter to be sent in to my boss," said Astrid, honestly not sure if she was joking or not; self-depreciating humor was a funny beast, really, "complaining about my rude behavior and how each case had an inexcusable dent in the corner. And if there isn't at least one mention of how this has been the most despicable service you've ever received, well, then, honestly, I'm just disappointed in myself at that point."

"I'd have to lie," Rufus said, amused, "but I think I could manage something along those lines."

Summer was likely to be confused, but it would serve Astrid right, should he actually do this.

"Good," Astrid said with a nod. "I can't have her thinking I'm actually good at my job or anything."

Because that would just be weird.

"Then she'll expect me to just keep doing it."

Said the dutiful little worker bee who mostly did whatever she was told to do.

"That is the tragic thing about doing a job well."

Rufus was still laughing at you, Astrid, in his own way.

He studied her for a moment. "If you're concerned about such a thing, why did you take this job?"

The reason Astrid had taken the job was to help keep a clean rap sheet for herself, but she wasn't about to tell Mr. Buy-Thirty-Cases-of-Water-for-Helpless-Animals that. The reason she'd kept it seemed a bit more palatable.

Delivered, of course, with a shrug. "I like drawing all the signs," she said. "And a little extra money never hurts, either."

Or...any money, for that matter.

Mitsutada had several bottles of green tea that he set on the check out counter.

He looked just a wee bit flummoxed.

"Oh, Astrid, hello," he greeted, his expression warming quite a bit.

If Astrid was a betting type, she'd go find Apu and make a wager with him about just how many bottled beverages they'd be selling today.

"Hello, Mr. Mistutada," she said, nodding faintly and offering a slightly rueful smile as she went to ring up his purchases. "How are you today?"

Besides, she assumed, a bit thirsty.

"Oh, fine, fine," Mitsutada said. "Rather glad I am not in need of bathing today, as I do not wish to discover what it is like to be covered in nog. Other than that, a little melancholy over wrapping up the last of my class in these coming weeks, but otherwise I am well. Yourself?"

He was genuinely curious. She'd been one of his best pupils, after all.

Which would have been so weird for Astrid to think about, even if she had really missed his class and was disappointed that it hadn't shown up on her schedule again this time around.

"I'm okay, I guess," she shrugged a little. "Looking forward to the holidays, I think they're going to be...interesting around here, for sure. And then onto the next semester, right? Are you still going to be teaching about swords?"

"No more classes about swords," Mitsutada said. "The Saniwa has said she can't spare the energy for all the visits. So while I could just teach it all myself, I think I'm going to have to refocus on my primary mission again."

The mission he mostly tried to avoid, if not entirely neglect.

"Oh," Astrid, even though she already took the class and didn't expect her case worker or her mother to put her in the same class again, anyway, found herself surprisingly disappointed to hear that. Even if it did mean that, maybe, whatever else Mr. Mitsutada did decide to teach, there was a better chance of her winding up in his class again. So there was that.

"That's too bad," she said, head tilted slightly. "I really liked getting to meet all the different...personalities and learning all about them. I...actually really missed it this semester."

And she blinked a little in surprise after that last part, as she honestly hadn't expected to actually say it, but there it was.

"And, uh, it'll be ~~handwavey amount~~," she added, to push away any embarrassment she might felt with the reason they were both here anyway. "For the tea."

Edited 2018-12-03 19:17 (UTC)

"Oh," Mitsutada said, surprised to hear what Astrid had said. "Well, I would invite you to stop by this Friday, since it is the last time any will visit for some time. One of the five great swords, no less, so at least we end with someone fancy."

He provided appropriate payment for the transaction. "I may return to teaching some day, but for now it's cooking and searching for military resources."

"Well, the cooking part of that doesn't sound too bad," Astrid offered, and at least had the decency to not point out that perhaps he should teach that, because there was no way he could be worse than her current cooking teacher. "And..." She may have fidgeted slightly, bit her lip, but then shrugged it away. "I mean, if you don't mind, I think it would be kind of nice. I'd especially hate to miss if it was anyone fancy."

"He's one of the Five Swords Under Heaven," Mitsutada said with a little smile. "He's definitely something to behold. I look forward to your visit, if you decide to come."

"I hope you're ready to get lots of customers seeking other drinks, today."

Astrid snorted faintly as a laugh. "Yeah," she said, "I sort of figured those shelves'll look pretty empty by the end of the day. We even had someone come in earlier and buy a bunch of cases of bottled water, for the animals at the shelter, actually."

Which was...really considerate, the more Astrid thought about it, and she thought it was kind of strange how that hadn't really struck her or stuck with her until after Rufus had left.

"That was a very thoughtful act," Mitsutada said. "I can't imagine all of... whatever is in that would be good for them." He shook his head. "I don't even think it is all that good for humans!"

"You're probably not wrong about that," Astrid admitted with a smile. "But eggnog's not that bad. It's nice...in small doses. As the only thing to drink, though? Not so much. I take it you're not much of a fan?"

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Turtle & Canary; Monday [12/03].

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