Welcome to Gaia! ::

The store was relatively quiet and filled with sunlight that had Todd squinting long enough that it turned into basically just sleeping while standing it up. The television behind him wasn't playing any strange or surreal late night shows. It was playing the news. The TV was talking about things like traffic and it was terrible. There weren't even any querulous drunks or hyper teenagers or scary people in costumes. They were all out living their day lives, leaving Todd in what felt like the twilight zone.

Without opening his eyes he accurately booped the customer's drink and hit the total key. Slowly, like an ancient statue coming to life, he opened his eyes to see the total and then slid his gaze to the customer. "It's just lack of sleep, not, y'know. Coma-itis. Thanks, though."

Todd gazed at her for a solid ten seconds then gave a small shake of his head and quiet huff of laughter. 'Your family's bakery sounds nice. But I'm just working am extra and didn't sleep well the yesterday. The guy who was supposed to be working today went out last night and did get into some trouble, so it is what it is. The pay's good and I'll have you know," he tapped his chest, "I'm the most accident free 7eleven employee in Destiny City. Anyway, dayshift is pretty much the safest. So Everett can have his hospital stay, I can get overtime pay, and you can get your slurpie. Nobody needs to report anything."

A little more engaged with the waking world now, he cashed her out and handed back her change, "But it's cool that you care enough to say that." He shot a finger gun at her, "Not everybody sees the person behind the counter."

For the most part, he preferred the safety of casual anonymity, but he also felt it was important to encourage like, general decency when he saw it. Somebody giving a s**t deserved high-fives, or at least acknowledgement, even if Todd himself wasn't exactly great in that area. It was a little like cheering on athletes from the lazy comfort of an arm chair.

In the background, the television had switched from traffic to the weather and Todd could feel his sense of reality trying to melt away again.

"Huh," Todd eloquently stated, as he thought about it. Those worries made perfect sense to him. "You're right, I really should get a ride home today." Pulling out his phone he sent a quick text to his now ex-ex boyfriend. The guy owed him some sleep anyway. "You've got a good head on your shoulders." He'd ask if she wanted a job but a family bakery seemed like a pretty nice gig, And, in all honesty, she'd probably want to call out the boss on OSHA violations within the first five minutes.

After a considering pause, he added, "We're adding a super limited-time secret flavor next week on Tuesday, Raging Rambutan. If you're in the area, you should stop and try it while we have it." It'd probably sell out in a couple days. The boss liked to give people a heightened sense of FOMO when it came to slushie flavors. Nothing like a low stakes sense of urgency to add some spice to life.