Joey double checked his location before looking for the building he was supposed to be interviewing at. He'd sent an application to Green's, a small store selling mostly food products. It wasn't any bigger than a convenience store, and it seemed to act a bit like one as well. But with fresh produce and bread. There were a couple in the city and Joey had been called to this one to talk to the manager.
He took a breath and opened the door. There was no superhero craziness going on today. Everything was normal. This would be fine. Hopefully Green's would decide to hire him.
Inside, a couple of people shopped while a tired-looking girl slouched at the register. Joey took a glance around and walked up to her, since he didn't see any other employees.
"Excuse me, I'm here to see Ms. McClain." The girl looked up, almost scowling.
"One minute please." She pushed a button by the register. "Crystal, someone here for you." The girl then jerked her head, indicating Joey should sit and wait.
There wasn't anything resembling a seat other than a short stool, but he sat down, making sure to keep his back straight. His mom had fussed once again for twenty minutes about his outfit for the interview so nothing about his appearance should have been out of place. Hopefully this would be the last interview he had to do.
Before long an irritated-looking woman came out of a side room and walked up to the cashier. The girl pointed at Joey and as the woman - probably Ms. McClain - looked at him, he met her eyes and stood politely.
"You the interviewee?" Ms. McClain asked sharply.
"Yes. My name is Joseph Queen. We've been in contact via email." He held out his hand for her to shake, but she waved him away.
"Right. Let's get this over with. Follow me." She led him to a different side room, her heels clicking sharply as she walked.
The back room wasn't overly spacious. It had just enough room for a table, three chairs, five lockers, a fridge and a microwave. Ms. McClain sat at one chair and gestured for Joey to take another.
"Joseph Queen, huh?"
"Yes. Though most people just call me Joey."
"Well, Joseph, what made you apply here?" Ms. McClain looked at him sharply.
"I've been searching for a job for the past couple months. I saw your ad and thought I would make a good fit for your team." Joey did his best to project confidence, but the way the manager glared at him made him want to wilt under the table.
"That's what they all say. Really, I just need to know a couple things. First off, are you willing to work for minimum wage? With salary increases for superior performance of course."
"Of course," Joey replied. "At my age, I don't - "
"Don't need to hear it. These are yes or no questions, Joseph." Why did she insist on calling him Joseph? Joey forced himself to smile pleasantly as she continued. "Secondly, are you available evenings and weekends? In addition to days of course."
"I'm available pretty much anytime."
"Yes or no questions. Third, are you willing to do some manual labour? Hauling boxes of fruit and stuff."
"Yes." Joey decided not to elaborate since Ms. McClain kept telling him to shorten his answers.
"Great. You're hired. I'll send you the paperwork and you'll be here at six in the morning on Monday. Justice will be training you." Ms. McClain stood and walked out of the room, leaving Joey somewhat stupefied.
None of his other interviews had been that easy. What was going on here? After puzzling over it, he decided not to question it too much. He had a job. That was what was important. A vibration from his phone alerted him to the email containing the paperwork Ms. McClain had promised.
Trying to mask his elation, Joey left the room and walked out. The girl at the register stopped him.
"You starting here?" He paused and nodded.
"Monday."
"Good luck, kid. You'll need it. Name's Anahi. I'll probably see you around. Pro tip: Show up ten minutes or so early so you can get your uniform and stuff sorted. Crystal hates it when people clock in late. As in you'll get a mark for it. Even if it's literally one minute. And don't even think about clocking out early either."
"Got it," Joey said slowly. "I'm Joey. Thanks for the advice, Anahi." She shrugged.
"Don't thank me. You're the one walking into this hellhole. I'm just interested in making sure we're not gonna remain understaffed."
"Well, thanks anyway." She seemed to notice his hesitation, as Anahi laughed shortly.
"Scared now? Too late. You're one of us." Anahi grinned devilishly, a stark contrast from the bored expression she'd been wearing earlier.
"I look forward to working with you." Joey offered a handshake, but Anahi shrugged him off like Ms. McClain had. He was really starting to feel out of his depth.
"I look forward to having someone else to run the store. Doing it by yourself is awful. Hopefully we get a few more suckers in the coming weeks. Now you run along home and rest while you can." Anahi waved him out of the store and Joey complied. At least it was an excuse to escape that conversation.
Had he gotten himself into a really bad situation here?
"Joey! How'd it go?" Ned asked almost as soon as Joey had walked in the door.
He let out a long sigh as Ned's face fell.
"No good, huh?"
"No, I got the job," Joey replied. "I'm just not sure if it's a good job. Anahi - one of my new coworkers - said some...interesting things."
"Like what?" Ned followed Joey up the stairs to their rooms.
"Just ominous stuff. Like don't be late under any circumstance or you'll get marked. She called the store a hellhole. Something about being understaffed. And I might have been called a sucker."
"Yikes." Ned looked visibly disturbed at the information. Joey shrugged.
"I've got some paperwork to do, and I start at like six a.m. on Monday." Suddenly he registered that time and felt like he'd been punched in the gut.
He was supposed to meet Lightning at that time! How could he contact her and tell her he couldn't make it now? Ned seemed to interpret his sudden silence differently.
"That's early. You're good to work and stuff, right? You're not still healing?"
"No, I got cleared a while ago," Joey said. "They're surprised at how quickly I recovered everything." It probably helped that he'd been given a Miracle, but nobody had to know that part.
"Just making sure." Ned paused and Joey turned to look back at him.
"Something up?"
"Not really."
"Something's up, Ned. You can talk to me." Even if I don't talk to you. The hypocrisy left a gross feeling in Joey's gut.
"Really it's nothing. I just..." Ned paused for several moments while Joey waited for him to finish. "I'm scared about you disappearing again. I don't want you doing stuff if you'll end up reinjured."
"No worries there, Ned. Doctors have given me the all-clear and if anything feels too strenuous, I'll avoid it. I'm not gonna fall off a bridge and break everything again." Not that he would even if he did fall the entire height of Arx. Probably.
"I know. At least, I should. But sometimes I remember when I heard you fell off that bridge, and..."
"It's not gonna happen again, Ned." Even as Joey reassured Ned, he felt like he was lying to him. Achilles had nearly been killed a couple times, and Joey himself kept getting into dangerous situations. He pushed down the thought of how his family would react if the military brought his corpse back home.
"When you're done your paperwork, wanna play a game?"
"Always." Joey grinned and Ned seemed to brighten. "What game today?"
"A new indie came out. It looks pretty cool, and it supports up to four players if you wanna try it?"
"I'm in if you want, but don't we have like two games we still need to beat?"
"Fine, we'll do one of those." Ned rolled his eyes. "But I'm saving the new one for you too. I don't have anyone else to play it with."
"Then we can make it next on our list." Ned nodded before ducking into his room. Joey headed into his own to fill out the forms Ms. McClain had sent him.
This job would be good for him. He just had to keep telling himself that.
