Sheepgirl Quest
You ponder for a moment. What to write? You definitely want to encourage him, but what would you even say?
Maybe something in binary? Nah, you don't know binary, and even then, you're not sure if he'd enjoy something so tied to his work.
Maybe a hang in there poster? You chuckle a little at the thought. But as you think, it turns into a frown. You're basically painting a motivational poster onto his food. He probably sees those every day, and again, it would probably just remind him of his situation.
So if not a hang in there poster, then what? He needs something to keep him going, that isn't tied to his work, and isn't going to depress him. Hm. Okay. You think you've got it.
You grasp the ketchup bottle and turn it over. Squeezing, just a little, you begin to write in the fanciest way you can. Long swipes, little loops, and a little heart at the end. There. That should do it.
"Your today isn't your tomorrow." He reads.
"Ah, one moment, I need to cast the incantation!" You quickly interrupt.
"Love, love, sparkles and shine! Make this food taste better than wine!" You wave your hands for flair.
You motion to the food. "Alright. Now, you may eat."
You look at him. The rims of his mouth try to tilt upwards, and they do oh so desperately try. But you can tell that it wasn't enough. Still though, the fact that he's trying at all is an improvement.
His chopsticks scoop up a bit of rice. He lifts it to his mouth, ever so slowly, and bites down on his chopstick, having dropped the rice on the plate.
He tries again, and this time, pays attention. Into the mouth it goes, and his lips try to tilt up again.
Poor boy.
Your eyes meet his, and for once, you're the one being read. Still, you try to flash a smile in reassurance.
He goes back to eating, and slowly. So slowly. And he eats in such small bites, only a small clump of grains in every scoop. Almost like a tortoise eating lettuce, but not funny or cute in any sense of the word.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, he puts his chopstick down. His plate is only half finished, but he at least ate your message.
Silence.
"I'm full."
"Alright." You nod.
Still more silence.
"Well, I guess I'd better get going." He makes to leave.
"A-ah, wait one second, you still haven't had any drinks!" You try to interrupt.
"It's-fine, I'm not really thirsty anyway." He says, not so sure of himself.
"Are you really sure?" You move in, getting a little into his personal space. "Really, really sure?"
"I-" He sighs, and shakes his head. "Yeah."
"Thanks for the food, I appreciate it." He walks to the door.
Are you really going to just let him go like that? Ha, you don't even need to ask that question, you know the answer already. You go to him.
"Just one second!" You grab his wrist, and feel around in his pockets. You silently note his fluster as you grab his phone.
Bringing it to meet your own, you turn them on and swipe, exchanging contacts. You offer his phone back to him, giving a look.
Shaking his head and coming out of his stupor, he accepts and nods.
"Thank you."
And like that, he's gone. He'll be back soon though, you'll make it so.
Done with that, you turn away from the door. You try to put your mask back on, but what you've just gone through was a little much.
You'll need a minute.
And so, you head to the breakroom to take your minute. Go through the kitchen doors, brush past Mima, pass the never inhabited Manager's office, and here you are, in front of the break room. Opening the door, you find a little chair to collapse on. It's a nice, soft chair.
You let out a sigh that you were holding in for far too long to be healthy, resting all that tense muscle.
You put your hands to your face. God, that was terrible. You should've done more. Why didn't you do more? What could you have done?
You sit up and consider the question. What could you have done? Where could you do more?
You go over the situation. He came in, you greeted him, he wasn't really taking a seat when you prompted him so you had to pull him, he ordered Omurice. He didn't really seem very sure about Omurice, but you went with it anyway. After that, you asked him what's wrong, he told you, and you kinda just gave him a stock anwer. That might've been it. All you said was just a remark about how they didn't train him, and that he should be looking for other opportunities. Yeah, that was probably condescending wasn't it? God you're such an idiot. You couldn't even figure out what to say. You can't even figure out what to say right now and you're already out of the conversation! You have hindsight and you still can't make out the obvious answer!
You shake your head, shaking yourself out of the spiral. No, not yet. Don't break down yet, you still have work to do. Don't break yet, there's still an entire day to get through. Just last for a little longer.
With a creak, a gap is opened between the door and the wall. Two baby blue eyes and two buttery brown ears can be seen peeking out, along with the rest of the concerned face.
You realize you weren't quite as quiet as you wanted to be when coming in here, and now you've got to face the consequences.
"Lyra, are you okay? Mima said that you looked sad and you just kinda brushed your way past her without saying anything and wanted me to check on you." She pushes open the door more.
You turn to her, and are given another reason to hold on.
"Ah, don't worry about me Dylecha, I'm fine now." You wave. "It was nothing."
Dylecha furrows an eyebrow. She knows something's off.
"Are you sure? If there's something wrong, I can help ya know."
You wave and smile. "Oh, no really, I'm fine. You can go."
Dylecha gives you a scrutinizing look, before shrugging.
"Alright, but if you need anything, just call me." She says as she turns. Idly, you wonder if you made the right choice.
The click of the door brings you out of your manufactured calm, and you let out a sigh. Alright. Lyra, put back on your makeup. You look terrible with all that mascara drip.
The rest of your workday seems to blur together, your mind entangled within the growing thicket of this morning. As you greet and greet, you wonder and wonder about how you could change.
Eventually, the workday ends, and you are face to face with Mima, who asks you about how your day went, and what that epiphany you were talking about from this morning was.
"So, what was that thing you were talking about from this morning?"
[ ] "Oh, it wasn't really anything special, just finally decided to follow through on some childhood convictions of mine."
[ ] "Hm, well, I realized that maybe the way I could get what I want would be to give others that thing first."
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Heyo, It's been an actual month since I wrote a chapter. I would've beaten myself up over it, but then I realized that all 45 of you don't actually care. Anyway, happy Lunar New Year, and a prosperous year to you all.
