Welcome to Gaia! ::

Todd gave the familiar face that hadn't been seen in awhile a friendly bob of the head and was going to give a semi-joking I got my eyes on you gesture when she approached the counter with that look. A fight or flight instinct not unlike the one he felt for people in costumes had him freezing in place, a terrified but customer-friendly smile across his features.

By the time she'd finished talking, though, the cashier relaxed. Like, this was a lot? But also it wasn't like, an emotional demand. Instead it was a situation he was semi-familiar with. Not the CPS and foster stuff (******** rough, kid) but the struggling to survive part he understood and could even, without too much awkwardness or commitment, help a bit.

"Okay, that's a lot," he drawled, not bothering to hide that opinion. "So you shouldn't tell people, especially older guys, what sort of vulnerable situation you're in now. Just stick to, like, I need a deep discount on food. That sort of thing."

It was hard to ignore how small, young, and trying her best the kid was. There were hotcase things she could have at the end of his shift. And some expired, but still decent, shelf items in the back she could take. But a week's worth? And then what would happen the week after this one?

With a deep sigh, he asked, "What do you know about couponing?"

She was way too confident in her ability to judge people, but it's not like Todd could argue when, this time at least, she'd been right. Scowling like she hadn't just given him a pretty nice compliment, he tapped the counter with his index finger, truly showcasing its chipped paint and doodle tattoo glory. "You can have one after we're done talking."

His tone was lazy as usual, but holding a more serious edge than he usually bothered with, "You're thinking in the short term, and I get why long term doesn't feel realistic. But if you don't get out of that mindset, this is a situation you're going to find yourself in again and again."

Lecturing a starving child? Possibly an orphan? Who'd just asked for help and claimed to trust him was...not the greatest feeling. "I can give you some under the table work, odd jobs and whatever. However often you're able...but only my shifts, okay?" The rest were way more prone to accidents of some sort or another, except Morgan, who 1) barely showed up and 2) always felt like an accident waiting to happen to someone else. "I don't really have much in the way of cash to pay you, but you can have the stale hotcase stuff when we refresh it. And I can give you an envelop of coupons and tell you how to get a week's worth of groceries for under ten bucks."

He paused and added, "If you need a place to stay...mine isn't available. But there are some empty apartments in my building, if you don't mind the cats or the lack of electricity." it wasn't the best, but just in case she was living in a tent or, god forbid, a cardboard box in the winter.

Writing down his schedule on the back of paper sale sign, Todd replied, "Allow isn't really the world for it. Ignore as long as you make yourself easy to ignore is more the vibe." He added the building address along with the numbers of the empty apartments he knew of that weren't next to the building's skeevy types, and his own apartment number labelled ONLY in case of emergency.

And then, finally, he started pulling the stuff from the hotcase, including the hotdog she'd been eyeing. It was an hour early to pull stuff but like, whatever. It's not like he'd lose Employee of the Month over it.

Todd scanned the barcodes as outdates and put everything into a plastic bag, all with his typical sleepy apathy toward life, the universe, and orphaned children. He put all his psychic energy into emitting that he wasn't doing anybody any favors and absolutely was not a nice person who helped people.