OC snippets

Polybuis; In which a change cabinet does not store change.

"I was just curious, a friend of a friend works here and mentioned an issue with one of your change cabinets? I work at the Video Repair Store off Canary and Bensfeld, so I'm pretty knowledgeable tech-wise."

Her eyes drifted lazily away from the bat, and now shared contact with Leslie. She was quite possibly the most tired person she'd ever seen and how she was still standing at this point was a mystery. The circles under her eyes looked as if they'd been purposefully smudged with eyeshadow or something, darker than any others she'd seen. She wasn't exactly groggy, but her speech was slow and methodical, like she was making extra sure she didn't stumble over any words on accident. Leslie felt sorry for her. She wasn't exactly sure of the hours down at the small repair store, but nightshifts had always seemed like torture to her. Being bored in daylight is one thing, but being bored in the dead of night is another.

"I'm Beth, by the way. Bethany Rodgers."
She extended a hand shyly over the glass prize counter. Leslie tried not to notice the scars running down it.

The lady's hand idly shook a little. Tremors from a likely number of factors making their way down her wrist and coming out of her fingertips. Her hand looked so fragile, like a cracked piece of porcelain. As Leslie lightly made a grab for the small thing and took it, she made sure not to shake it too hard for fear that she might shatter the delicate artifact. Beth, however, did the opposite, parrying Leslie's grip tenfold.

"Leselliene Localine. Call me Leslie." She smiled, pulling her hand away from the death grip Beth had on it.

"I can read." Beth said dryly, pointing to the small name tag that read "LESLIE !!" With a number of hand drawn smiley faces on it pinned to the tall girls blue work vest.

"I'm tired, not stupid." The short woman laughed to herself a little, casting a look back at the teenager which made her want to cringe back into her own skin.

"Anyways," Said Leslie in the most casual tone she could muster, trying her best to gloss over her small oversight. "I'll have to ask my manager, but we normally don't get any customers until around 4. So if you need time we've got plenty. Do you uh.. want me to ask him about payment or ..?"

Beth looked confused for a minute, her expression unchanging. It was odd to see someone simply suspended like that for a moment. Like a buffering piece of technology stuck on a mistyped command. Eventually though, Leslie could see the disk skipping along in her head and-

"Oh. No. Um, I don't need payment. Not at the moment anyways. I appreciate the offer though. Just think about it as a.. charitable act from god or something. I dunno. Christmas is in a few months isn't it?" Beth said absentmindedly.
"It's August." Reminded Leslie, trying not to sound too condescending.
"..Ah. So it is."

A small, uncomfortable silence.

"Either way, you don't need to pay me. I wasn't hired so I don't see why I'd need compensation." Beth picked at something on her arm, winced, and shoved her hands into the small pocket her sweatshirt provided. She looked at Leslie, waiting for something to happen. Nothing did. Another pause, a longer one this time.

Beth pawed at her bangs, sliding them behind her ear into a position that allowed for better sight. Leslie mindlessly found herself doing the same, tucking a loose dark strand back into her ponytail. They looked at each other for a moment, and it seemed neither of them knew what to do. Beth began picking at her nails, eventually letting out a yawn. She was avoiding eye contact, which didn't really help Leslie feel any better about how this whole debacle was going so far.

Slowly, Leslie remembered what to say.

"I'll um. Go..check with my manager now. I'm the only employee here at the moment so I should probably let him know before I leave the prize counter." She managed a very sad attempt at a smile and a laugh, which Beth visibly tried (and failed) not to cringe at. With enough supplied to excuse her absence, Leslie walked as fast as she could down to the little door that read 'employees only, sorry!' In the far-right of the room, leaving Beth unsupervised in the small arcade.