Work Text:
First the mannequin buzzed.
Then it jumped.
Then, it began to transform.
Glitching between shapes, characters, colors at overwhelming speeds, not one form staying much longer than the last. Finally, the smoke settled, and all that was left was the grinning white and red face of ƎNA.
The hub was still during the mannequin’s episode, even the local vampire/penguin (?) and irritable frog had ceased their arguments to watch. Finally, the amphibian spoke out,
“Oi… quit being so unprofessional, people will get the wrong idea!”
ƎNA hadn’t moved, her smile still plastered blankly on salesman’s side, her body partially limp against one of the Hub’s vacant buildings where the mannequin once sat. Froggy carefully stepped over to the entity, waving a large hand in front of the woman’s face.
“ENA? Oi, ENA! Get up already, we can’t have customers thinking that the employees of this damn place are just as incompetent as their boss, come on, we have work to do!”
He snapped his fingers and gave her a light shake. When she remained unmoving, the frog balled up a large fist and jabbed it to her head.
The polygonal woman began to sputter, limbs darting in a multitude of directions, her mouth spitting out a mixed bag of noises and words.
“Your call will resume shortly- WHAT IN RUNA’S HELL- Nice weath- conspiracies- LAY OFF THE MITTS YOU IGNORANT SON OF A BITC- Good day dearest coworker! What more awaits my ever so busy schedule today?”
ƎNA had finally defaulted to her red side as she sprang up to her feet in front of her associate, her red hand flying up to her cap in a sort of salute.
Froggy heaved an almost relieved sigh. “Ah, there you are. When the Lonely Door closed and you hadn’t come back, I nearly thought you had seen the last of it. Good to see you’re just fine.” Froggy tipped down the girl’s hat by the brim, an irritated growl emitted from underneath. “Now that we got you back, we need to get a move on in finding the Boss- but…” he took a look at the visibly darker eyebags on the woman’s two-toned face that weren’t as prominent before. “Ehhh, I say we take a bit of a break for now. Good job on clearing the smoke, ENA.”
ƎNA seemed to snap awake as Froggy set off to the dock. “Eh? You want me to lay off work? I AIN’T NO LAZY-ASS FREELOADER! IF THERE’S WORK TO BE DONE THEN SO BE–” but Froggy waved her off.
“Ahh, you’ve already done enough today. Take a rest, collect yourself. I need time to plan our next move anyway, and that might take a while.”
ƎNA began to interject, but Froggy had already left. Meanie grumbled. ‘ Take a rest’ hmph. Suppose she had no other option. It seemed her best bet for now was to see if any of the other patrons of the Hub required her assistance. ‘Now that’s a plan!’ she said to herself as she spun her limbs and body parts on an axis, restarting herself. Now what opportunities awaited her?
Dratula could immediately be taken off that list. Hard pass on taking a job from him. His only purpose of being here was to spit out the Boss’s location, and if he really pissed Froggy off all that much, it was a wonder why he was even still there. But of course, they couldn’t have this windbag blabbing off their plan elsewhere. So, her other options remained– huh?
ƎNA could feel a sort of sensation coming down her back, a feeling that she found familiar but… odd, this time. She was being watched, and by someone other than the huge eye in the sky.
***
Coral nibbled at her fingers while she tried to focus on the documents at hand.
She was really trying, but she felt like everything, and everyone was counting on her to perform this task with the highest of scores. But, in addition to the minor migraine caused from the stack of papers flying out of her scalp (and the interaction between her and a certain extremely noisy interviewee ) aching her in and out of focus, that frog and penguin (?) were loudly arguing up a storm over what she could only deem as something futile.
Coral groaned under her breath, running a hand through her hair. She was questioning again (for what it seemed like the umpteenth time this day) why in the name of Runas she even took up this job in the first place. Dragging her exhausted eye over the ink markings on the white sheets of paper, she sighed and dismissed these thoughts.
Inconvenience or not, it was too late to switch to anything else. Every other job opportunity she was offered was turned down in preference to this. If she were to quit so soon just because of the thin layer of pressure, she would have zero options for who knows how long, leaving her to survive with the miniscule amount of savings she had. With the current state of the job market, she could bet that she would have nothing to bet off of in a couple of months, leaving her in a state of anguish and desperation. The inevitable dominoes of failure, all because she couldn’t take an hour or four of light irritation.
As if Coral would even have the mechanical insides to resign in her first few hours, that alone would be a colossal disappointment, and even more so, she would be a disappointment to that new genie of the Horse Door. Her coral throbbed at the thought. Oh lord, to be despised by a genie, a feat only the most lowlife and despicable entities of this world could aspire to achie–
Coral had been so twisted in her own worries that she hadn’t realized Froggy and Dratula had gone silent with the rest of the Hub. She took the excuse to finally point all attention away from her work and to the haywire mannequin, glitching from a somewhat familiar face to the next until the form had landed on the smiling face of ƎNA.
Her eye widened, and her coral managed to settle down a bit. ‘Ah… so she made it back then?’ She knew it was a tad rude, but she had overheard that Froggy saying to her on call that the door she was in was about to close and that she could potentially be trapped inside if she didn’t get out of there soon. (hey, it wasn’t her fault that nobody here knew the meaning of an “inside” voice) So just out of awareness for an associate, she might’ve kept an eye on the door to see if she made it out… just out of curiosity- and looking out for a coworker. Because that was a responsible thing to do, not like she-
“LAY OFF THE MITTS YOU IGNORANT SON OF A BITC- Good day dearest coworker! What more awaits my ever so busy schedule today?”
She was knocked back to focus on the polygonal woman at the sound of the outburst. Froggy was saying something that Coral couldn’t quite comprehend despite shuffling considerably closer to the commotion, but a change in the woman’s multicolored face gave her the impression that what he was saying didn’t stand well with ENA. That guess was solidified by the sound of her voice breaking through the open air once again. But Froggy was already heading off, leaving ENA on her own.
The Hub seemed to have returned to its previous environment once the commotion had ceased, Froggy gone for the dock, Dratula was flexing his nonexistent build to that cat made of chocolates, and ENA silent against a wall. Coral still lingered, watching.
She still had documents clenched in her sweaty hands, all plans on doing something with them wiped. There was just… something about that woman, (could she even refer to her as that?) her double-faced demeanor, how her body spun and jumped with her words, how no matter how much she studied, she could and would never understand what those triangular eyes were trying to convey–
…Eyes. She had been looking at the back of her head before, but now those eyes were staring right back at her .
Her breath caught. Oh, G0D she was staring right at her. Coral immediately averted her gaze, hoping she was able to look away before magenta, blue, and yellow hues spilled over her cheeks. What a peeping creep she was, there was no reason to be staring at her like that! But ENAs face had imprinted on her mind… She had her white and blue side on front but… she didn’t seem angry. Maybe a little shocked? From watching her have all those conversations with the patrons of the Hub (Runas, she really WAS a creep), the mean side was only brung out for the use of screaming in someone’s face or the occasional sarcastic remark. Nothing else other than anger or annoyance. Well, it seemed like she apparently had yet to see the true range of emotions that woman could possess–
“How's the new day’s crushing workload been treating you, my newest associate?”
Coral nearly shot out a few documents from her head. “O-oh, it’s you…”
ENA seemingly appeared right behind Coral from how quiet she had made her way to her. The sneaking entity looked up at her with salesman’s smile stretching from where her meanie side began, to the bottom of her pointed eyes, not a single sign of shock on her face that Coral had the moment to witness. The polygonal figure cocked her head as a way to restate the question.
“It’s been alright I suppose…” Coral mumbled, eye taking every other detail of the Hub that wasn’t ENA’s face. “Business could be better, I’m still in need of the blood sample of the entity who’s to organize the welcome party for the new genie–”
ENA tilted her head the other way as she put her hands together in a kind of praying motion. “But whatever happened to the one I sent your way? She seemed to be promising!”
Coral made a face. “Oh, her? I just- I don’t know, I could hardly keep track of what she was saying at all, let alone her “language”, and her resume was just a sort of psych eval from her therapist? If I were to conclude on anything at all from it, I would say having at least 24 mental illnesses is somewhat remarkable at the least- if not a bit worrying.” She lightly scratched her cheek with one hand as the rings on her coral began to speed up.
“Ah, well, I’d say I have a knack for picking up on those aspiring to join the wonders of the workforce, but if she isn’t a fit for the position, I’ll have her disposed, immediately. That’s a promise my dear.” ENA tipped the brim of her hat and gave a wink.
Coral felt her face begin to burn, thus she practically slammed the papers she was holding directly in her face, making it seem like she had reversed her ignorant behaviors of the last half hour and suddenly taken interest in whatever the documents had to say. Did she just call me- “Dear- yeah, that’s fine–!” That’s probably just something she calls everyone, probably– “Wait, what do you mean by disposed–” she peered over her papers for the last question, but ENA had already decided to continue, bringing out her lighter side for the first time of them interacting.
“Besides, from what a particularly pissed birdie told me, you happen to be a professional, eh? I’m sure there’s gotta be some ugly-faced brute who’s just dying to be at your service, you’ll find someone willing to take the job eventually.”
Coral took a moment to respond from how ENA’s mean side had just gone an entire two sentences without a hint of malice– directed to Coral, anyway. She put a hand to the back of her sweaty neck and responded, “Mmm, I’m not sure I would say ‘professional’... I’ve just been doing jobs like these for a long while, so I guess I’m well rehearsed in the ropes…”
ENA smiled, switching back to her red side. “But you’re good at it, no? You wouldn’t be hired if you weren’t… I think you’ll make it out alive from this, if not missing an arm or a leg. Though arms are more likely to go for a greater value, in my experience.”
“Uh-uhm… Thanks, I think..? I’ll take whatever support I can get.” Coral returned what she hoped was a polite smile, and not just her showing off a bunch of misshapen teeth with an awkward grin.
ENA’s face suspended, bearing the same blank smile she had offered Coral. Not a peep emitted from the girl. Shit, did I do something wrong? Did I say something wrong?? Coral mentally panicked, but luckily her reaction only lasted no more than a few seconds before ENA broke eye contact and hid her hands behind her back.
“Ahem, uh- you know… we could perhaps, hmm, chat sometime? Over work of course. We could share- uhm… business strategies! I seem to already have your contact code, but you could maaaybe receive mine? If you want.” ENA dragged her feet alternatively through the dusty ground, her arms switching positions every few other words. A red hand resting under chin, to her polygonal claws landing on the hips, to both performing an wacky choreography causing her torso to spin along. Meanie had also managed to sneak in and utter the last line so softly, Coral nearly missed it. All the while ENA refused to look Coral in the eye.
The latter blinked. She wants to give me her number? It shouldn’t be a big deal, really, but Coral took the decision into consideration. It was unclear that whatever response she gave could be completely harmless, or something she would take years to forget. This entity behaved so odd, even more so with her , she couldn’t help but be so wildly curious. Nothing was making the slightest ounces of sense, starting from the environment here in this zany workplace to the girl before her. Maybe if she really went forward with her chance, she could learn something new out of it. A business strategy or three. Maybe something more. She would never know unless she tried. Conclusion reached, Coral took a breath.
“Sure, alright. Here, you can just write it in the corner there.” she answered and pointed to one of her abandoned documents. ENA hesitated, but withdrew a pen from her shirt and scrawled down an arrangement of numbers in messy handwriting. Once she had finished, she glanced back up at Coral, causing their eyes to lock in place. Coral could’ve sworn she saw ENA’s lighter side deepen in color similarly to her other before she tipped her hat down in a saluting motion.
“Well, I suppose we will continue this engagement on a further date, but for now, I hope to hear from you soon, miss…” ENA’s expression fixed in place as a sound similar to a computer error played. “Ah… how dreadfully embarrassing, but I seem to not have catched your name, dear–”
“Coral.” she stuck out her hand. “-Glasses. But Coral alone is just fine.”
ENA paused before reaching. “Are handshakes a part of the job description now?” she inquired teasingly.
“Uh- I just received word that the description has changed. Company policy.” Coral answered, trying not to focus too hard on the contact and feeling of ENA’s hand. Don’t start getting weird about this now.
“And it’s, uh- ENA, right?” Coral hoped that she didn’t butcher the pronunciation.
“Hm- yes. Always at your service.” ENA saluted with another wink. “Well Miss Glasses, I hope to continue our chats in the near future. Good luck on the hires, I’ll go see if that amphibian friend of ours has organized his thoughts enough to provide me with the next phase of our plan to meet with the Boss. And if he just sent me away so he could sit on his ass in peace, I’ll be making sure he never has another moment to himself again.” ENA positioned herself to leave… but didn’t move. Coral still swore she could see traces of color spilling over to her grey side, but maybe it was all a trick of the light.
“See you later.” Meanie finally muttered, turning away to head off downstairs.
Coral waved awkwardly, knowing that ENA didn’t see it. She probably didn’t need to. It all felt strange, the first hours of a weird new job, and talking with a weird new coworker. Associate. Friend? It was probably too soon to call it anything like that. They exchanged numbers to share “business strategies” in her words. A professional and work-related relationship, Coral reminded herself that she was hired for a completely different department than whatever ENA’s position required. But that wouldn’t stop them from chatting from time to time, perhaps a few coffee breaks… maybe ENA could come over to Coral’s new apartment sometime to..- work on… business tactics–
Coral slapped a hand to her scalp, hoping that it would knock out the heat that had surged through her face (it didn’t).
No more slacking off. She needed to get back to work.
***
ƎNA found herself crouched in one of the vacant downstairs hallways to the Casino, laughing quietly.
Great Holy Runas above, what was that? Was she really able to do that? Did it even happen? Somehow, she had managed to keep her composure all throughout their conversation, but now that she was alone again, it took every last fighting strength left in her not to scream bloody murder while flailing on the floor until someone found her and knocked some sense back.
She was only adding more fuel to the flame as she replayed the significant bits of the interaction in her mind, reviewing all the details on everything she said, everything SHE said, every last little thing about her . Her contorted figure, those sweaty hands, that crooked smile– something in her chest clawed ferociously, begging for a release of some sort. It was embarrassing, it was horridly unfamiliar– but maybe that didn’t mean it was a bad thing. What it actually meant, she had no clue, but maybe it wasn’t something to dwell on now.
What she DID find out, though, sent her mind through somersaults. During every minute they conversed, she anticipated the casual berating, the off-hand insults, the “hints” , but not only was there none of that, Coral willingly welcomed her to future interactions. Coral had looked so displeased when she arrived back at the Hub, but throughout their conversation, she seemed… more than tolerant? What was this woman’s deal? Everyone knows the sins of an ƎNA, don’t they? Could- could this lady really not have a clue? How foolish. Meanie would’ve cackled in amusement, she wasn’t currently driving the imminently doomed machinery.
But ƎNAs were everywhere, the recurring scums. Any environment is bound to carry one, there’s only the tiniest sliver of doubt that Coral has gone her entire pitiful existence without coming close to one of these entities until now. But maybe , an unknown voice echoed in her head. Maybe… she just trying to be–
…ƎNA wouldn’t know. She shouldn’t get her hopes up. Coral was a coworker, ƎNA was here to provide. Whatever happened between them was strictly professional, and all that ƎNA saw was just herself making things up. But…
It couldn’t hurt to dream.
She stood up, dusted herself off, and straightened her cap. The frog must have a plan for her by now, she didn’t spend all this time slacking off for nothing.
She needed to get to work.