Amazon Warehouse and Coffee Shop, Sunday

[texted3times]

Another day, another dollar at the Amazon warehouse and coffee shop.

Eric--shirtless because there were no union regulations here because The Man refused to let workers unite and so Eric was being exploited and also he looked better this way--was back behind the counter ready to help all customers with their various package needs.

Not dirty.

Unless it was also dirty. Which Eric was also okay with.

Comments

[hurt_em_hug_em]

SweetAngel03 hadn't really left the site of her magnum opus much this weekend. Why should she? It was beautiful. And exploitative! All the viewers were really going to understand the terribleness of capitalism now!

"We really should get someone in here to hug you," she mused. "Shirtlessly." Obviously.

(Preferably while Eric was crying.)

[texted3times]

Eric grinned. "I'm up for anything."

He was an excellent character that way.

[hurt_em_hug_em]

"But your puppy just died," SweetAngel03 said, frowning. "You're not up."

[texted3times]

"She did?" Eric said, eyes going big and sad immediately. One perfect tear welled up to trail down his cheek. "Was it another rickshaw accident?"

[hurt_em_hug_em]

"OSHA is being really negligent about this island." Emily had no idea what OSHA really was or what they did, beyond a retweeted copy-paste of a Tumblr post she'd read on Twitter, but that didn't matter. "I'm so sorry."

[texted3times]

"She's in a better place," Eric said because apparently this version was religious or something.

[hurt_em_hug_em]

"I think you should go hug Jaskier about it," SweetAngel03 said, nodding. "Or Summer. Or, uh, Jaina. Oh! Or maybe that tall Skywalker guy who's a big bag of problematic issues."

She hadn't really solidified all her OTPs yet.

[texted3times]

"Isn't that all the Skywalkers?" Eric asked.

[hurt_em_hug_em]

"The redhead isn't that bad," SweetAngel03 replied. "He's more of a woobie."

[texted3times]

"That's true," Eric said even though he only had the vaguest idea of what a woobie was. "He's a little young though."

This weekend, at least.

[hurt_em_hug_em]

"Maybe you should go for the one in the middle," SweetAngel03 said. "He's only got like, tons of unexamined toxic masculinity to work on."

[texted3times]

"You know I love a challenge," Eric said.

[hurt_em_hug_em]

SweetAngel03 nodded.

Then she said, "OMG, your three minutes of daily break are over right now, Eric."

[texted3times]

"That makes it time to lift heavy boxes and move them around, right?" Eric checked.

[hurt_em_hug_em]

"Yes," Emily said, nodding. "Go forth and be exploited."

Shirtlessly.

She was absolutely going to wind up a venture capitalist once she got over her anti-capitalism phase.

[texted3times]

Eric glanced down at his abs. "Am I oiled enough?"

It was an important part of the exploitation.

[somethingwithturquoise]

Summer sighed as she clocked in for yet another day at the Amazon warehouse; the time off yesterday had been nice, but it was back to the grind again, in another depressingly accurate reflection of reality. She would much rather be at home, painting her GIRLFRIEND Tisarwat's fingernails or something equally scadalous, but mama had bills to pay, and yesterday had clearly depleted all of her remaining PTO.

[texted3times]

"Summer!" Eric said, grinning her with a cheerful, shirtless wave. "It's a great day to be working Sundays, right?"

[somethingwithturquoise]

"Sunday funday!" Summer chirped back in an echo of words literally just said to me ohgod killmenow. "How are you, Eric? How's the day so far?"

[texted3times]

"Another day, another dollar," Eric said with a semi-despairing giggle.

[somethingwithturquoise]

Summer laughed a little at that, with a sigh for how they had so much fun here, and then said, "Oh, by the way, I wanted to thank you for letting me have yesterday off for the graduation." Or was it the wedding? "My BOYFRIEND Prompto and I had really enjoyed it."

Had she even talked to Prompto at either event?

She had now, apparently!

[texted3times]

"I'm so glad you had fun and that you will be taking the entire Christmas shift," Eric said. "You betcha."

He was still from Minnesota, dontchaknow.

[somethingwithturquoise]

"Oh," Summer twitched beamed, "for suuuuure! Gotta love that sweet holiday pay!"

[texted3times]

"That's why I saved it for my favorite employee," Eric said.

[hurt_em_hug_em]

"Hi Summer," SweetAngel03 called. "Are you okay right now?"

Surely something terrible had happened to her recently! This warehouse was the home of SweetAngel03's fanfic epic.

[somethingwithturquoise]

"I meaaaaan," said Summer, "I'm here, aren't I?"

So was that a good thing? Bad thing? Both? The world may never know.

"Uh," did she know this person? Was she new? God, she hoped she wasn't stuck training someone and they didn't even tell her, she thought she made her thoughts on that clear with management! Welcome to my IRL trauma dump thread. "How are you?"

[hurt_em_hug_em]

"Oh, I'm good," Emily said, waving that off. "I'm trying to figure out who Eric should be hugging in his break. Are you sad? I need someone sad."

[somethingwithturquoise]

Summer's eyes went for a moment toward her very shirtless boss/manager/whatever.

"I can be sad," she decided.

"Just don't," she added a beat later, "tell my GIRLFRIEND."

-s.

Or her BOYFRIENDs.

Or SQUIRRELFRIEND.