Prompt
The line for Santa is miles long and doesn’t seem to be moving. At the front, it appears there isn’t enough help to keep everything running smoothly. Suddenly you are tapped on the shoulder and turn around to find a woman dressed as an elf looking at you with panic in her eyes. “There you are! Where have you been? Why aren’t you dressed? Hurry up! We need more hands up there!” It appears she has mistaken you for one of the missing elves. Do you go along with it? Set her straight?
Christmas shopping was never anything fun for Alrik Rey.
In fact, the less amount of shopping he had to do, the better. Most of the time he did good just to get everyone something, even if it was simply a gift card. Mom, Dad, Pen - the main trio had always been the ones to get something, an occasional friend potentially a recipient if he thought of something clever or actually considered them at gift-exchange level.
This year, he had two more people on his list of people to buy for but even with five on his count, he wasn't planning on going to the dreaded mall for his shopping.
Which was a shame, considering he had to go to the mall practically every day since he worked there.
Sigh.
Today's lunch break was already getting cut significantly short, thanks in part to the busy hoard of shoppers also taking a break to try to grab food from the food court area. All the mall workers were forced to suffer, forced to be bounced and shoved around by a sea of people who normally didn't bother coming out until the season of sales and presents was about them.
He'd contemplated pizza (because c'mon, pizza) but Wendy's seemed like it would be quicker. And, with only a thirty minute break, he needed quick.
By the headcount of what he could see, there were... one, two... three, four.... thirteen people in front of him. Thir-freakin'-teen. If each of them took two minutes to order, then he'd already be out twenty-six of his thirty minutes for break time. What the hell.
Glancing around at the other food stations didn't seem helpful - all of their lines were equally as long, if not longer. Crap, crap, crap.
He was about to whip out his phone to b***h and moan to his local discord server (because everyone needed to hear his lamenting, since he couldn't PVP or comp play with them) when someone yanked on his sleeve - hard.
"Where the heck have you been? We've been short handed all morning and you're just now showing up.... here???"
Huh? What?
Glancing over at the offending party, he stared at a relatively cute little blonde chick. Or elf, rather. Decked to the nines in greens and reds, she looked the part of one of Santa's little helpers - only not so happy. "What are you talking about?"
"We're late. You're not even dressed. Did you remember your outfit? Your hat? You don't even have your pointy ears on!!!!"
Wait. Crap. Did this crazy think he was supposed to be dressed up like her?
"What? I don't know what... no. I don't have an outfit."
His eyebrows furrowed as she stomped her foot, clearly exasperated with him for his answer or lack of caring. "You know what? Fine. Fine. Don't bother coming back, Andrew. You're gone. Pick up your last check at the office on Friday - we don't use worthless elves."
Alrik opened his mouth to argue with the young woman but she'd already spun on her bell-adorned, curly toed shoes and stormed off in the other direction. All around him, people were staring and whispering with each other. Somehow, in all of the commotion, he'd lost an additional five minutes of time and the line hadn't moved at all.
Pissed off, he shrugged his shoulders and ignored the odd looking stares he was receiving. Storming off back to the store, he grumpily shoved his hands in his pockets as he shot ugly looks at random shoppers bumping into him on the way back.
"Whatever, wasn't hungry anyways."
WC: 597
