Hi! The Foxbutt series so far:
Part 1
Part 2
This is my first ever furry story, so please let me know what you think!
***
Lily returns from the bathroom to find that Thomas has once again turned everything on. The store's computers are going through a boot process whose length is determined by how much the store budgeted for equipment, so it's going to be a minute or so yet.
The phone rings. Thomas picks up and issues the standard corporate-mandated greeting.
Lily watches the way he holds the receiver - too high for his mouth, so that the speaker can reach up to his ridiculous pointy fox ear.
His
cute
ridiculous pointy fox ear.
"Oh, yeah, we lost power for a couple of minutes," says Thomas. "It turned out to be a short in the coffee pot. Lily found the problem, she's really good at that."
Thomas listens for a moment. Lily catches herself staring at his ear - the way the black tuft at the end sticks out over the speaker. The way it
twitches.
"We told the customers we'd be reopening in a few minutes - I'm looking now, and it looks like they're all still hanging around outside. Some new ones have joined. We're just waiting for the POS to boot up before we unlock the door."
His tail twitches, too. It swishes hypnotically, seeming almost to react to his mood, his thoughts.
"Yes, Lily warned me, it's been a madhouse. We still have plenty of stock, you can by all means send them over." He catches Lily's eye, gives her a look that seems to say "Here it comes."
Lily shrugs. Whatcha gonna do.
"If you're offering, that's great, thanks!" Thomas turns his mouth from the receiver and talks to Lily. "They're gonna send Dave from store 207 over to cover our lunches." He turns back to the phone. "That'll be a big help. We were kinda figuring we'd just go hungry today, the way it's been."
Lily smiles. The day's getting better and better.
"Okay, thanks. Yeah, I'll tell her. Okay, bye!" Thomas hangs up. "Corporate says you're amazing," he says. "They say good thinking, and commend you on your quick and decisive handling of an unexpected situation."
Lily grins. "Well,
I
thought so, even if it's not for the reasons they thought. At least I didn't scream, or chase you around hitting you with the broom."
Thomas chuckles. "'Unexpected situation,' they said. They've no idea. Oh, also, other stores nearby are already running out of stock, and it's not even midday yet."
"A storm's coming," muses Lily. "Oh, look - POS is online. Let's re-unleash the horde!"
***
Two hours pass in a blur.
Lily's voice is already hoarse. She's practically throwing the games at the customers, but the line does not get the opportunity to drop to zero again. Between noon and 1pm she throws all of her might behind getting customers in and out as quickly as possible, drawing on reserves of energy that she did not know she possessed - but the lowest she gets is two customers in line, around 12:15. That's when the first caravan shows up.
"I went downtown, but they were out," says the customer.
"I didn't think I'd seen you before," says Lily, wishing the receipt printer could keep up with her. It's her most annoying bottleneck.
"There was a whole line of us," he says, "and they told us to come here." He smiles. "We kinda got in the mood of it and convoyed down as one."
Lily peers around his shoulder. Unfamiliar faces, suddenly stretching back halfway to the door. "This is probably the first of many," she ponders aloud. She calls back: "You guys know this is the cash line, right?"
Half of them grumble over to Thomas' line. Lily glances over at him; his tail is all fluffed up.
She tears off a novella's-worth of receipt paper, hands it over, and wishes the customer a nice day. While the cash drawer remains open, she pulls out $15.81 in change. The next girl hands over four twenty-dollar bills as Lily hands back the change and the game - she doesn't even wait for her receipt, just bounces off towards the door.
From the girl's point of view, the transaction is over in three seconds, very efficient. Lily still has to scan the copy she's kept on the counter, bypass the nag screen telling her to sign the girl up to some ridiculous bullshit, and allow the horribly slow thermal printer to unspool another two feet of trash.
That's how we should be doing this,
thinks Lily.
Like the pirates in the flea market parking lot in the PS1 days. Taking a five-dollar bill with one hand and handing over a blue CD-R with the other, bam bam bam and you've broken the law three times in ten seconds, no arm-length receipts, no point-of-sale system, no orderly lines, just a crowd of people fighting to get to you, cash in one hand and merchandise in the other and a spine full of adrenaline and as much money as you can stuff in your pockets before it's time to haul up the tarp and run like hell.
"Sorry, one moment," she mumbles to the next guy, while the previous girl's receipt is still printing.
Still, could be worse,
muses Lily, looking over at Thomas.
Damn near everybody wants to pay on a card.
When her last customer opens the door, the wind rushes through, lifting the corner of a poster and flapping it around.
Lily feels sweat begin to form. With the shop so full of warm bodies and hot CPU fans, the AC has its work cut out for it.
In fact, she begins to realize, it's been a while since she heard it stop - and now she's distracted from this thought because she sees someone dressed like her and Thomas, and her stomach growls. Dave, apparently, weaves his way to the front of the store.
"Hi, I'm Dave," says Apparently Dave.
"Hi, I'm starving," says Lily, tearing off the unwanted receipt.
***
Two doors down, Lily chews slowly on her barbecue chicken wrap, staring off into space.
We haven't had time to talk about it,
thinks Lily.
