A/N: I've made the decision to include other OCs to add more bullshit to the SoL chapters. If you came here from the Survival Series then these OCs will appear in it as well. If not, just treat them as extra side characters.
// 11:00 am, Kung Tong, Streets //
Never trust someone else to cook.
I sat down on one of the benches in this district, carrying a cup with a straw in it. I viewed the buildings far away from a distance, the shy sun shining from the back. It was a peaceful day. Something that I usually don't get with Penguin Logistics...
I inserted the straw into my mouth and drank the soda inside the paper cup. The temperature was blazing hot. Too hot for Lungmen. My back was sweating like a fountain even with a short-sleeved t-shirt. Normally I wear a cliche black hoodie I got for a 30% discount the time when Exusiai and the girls para dropped into a clothing store from the upper floors. I'm glad Vierren, that fucking egocentric brown-haired Lupo, at least had spare clothing for this weather. It was worth getting laughed at by him.
What's up with the weather these days anyways? Last day it was freezing cold, now it's a sauna. Is a catastrophe going to hit soon?
My phone hidden in the dark-blue pants' pockets vibrated on my thighs. I sat on the bench enjoying the free massage while slurping more soda to cool myself down. Eventually, I picked up the call and skimmed over the name of the person calling. It was the prankster Sankta. What does she want with me anyway? The penguin gave me a week's break after I requested so, with some additional bribery. I pressed onto the small monitor swiping towards the green cellphone icon and brought it up to my ears.
"Exusiai, what do you want?" I said with no changes in my pitch. The last thing I want is someone disturbing my peace at the moment. I hope she doesn't ask for anything major.
"Ain't time for jokes little man." It wasn't her. It was the rapper penguin who called me. How do his flippers manage to type in numbers?
I instantaneously disconnected the call with no doubts at all.
After a few seconds, the guy called back. If I keep refusing then he'll just keep calling, thus I gave in to his demands.
"Just tell me what you want and let's get this over with, pe-" I coughed realizing what I was going to say next. I still somewhat hate him, but now I have to call him boss because for some reason he said so. "Boss."
"Havin' trouble worshipping me aren't you. My bars are hot and spicy, just like the weather today. Want me to roast you!?" He started off with his usual pissy move of establishing his superiority.
"No thanks." I shrugged off the joking death threat. "As I said before. Let's get this over with, boss. I'm in the middle of enjoying my soda cup and I'd like it if you just tell me what your goal is for calling me. Also, why are you calling from Exusiai's phone?"
"Ours are getting their battery charged. Hol' up." The penguin grunted as he crash-landed onto the bar floor. His flippers made loud thumps as he walked across the bar to wherever he was bringing the phone to. I raised an eyebrow to the 'ours' word. The distant noise of panicking, fire extinguisher sprays and objects falling out from nowhere started to increase in volume. "Hey Sarkaz, take it!" He gave the phone to the person.
"What did you do this time Deevy..." I sighed as the imagination of the entire bar burning down started to bring concern to me.
"Look, look, I was just trying to cook food!" She pleaded innocent.
"And then made a mess out of the kitchen and now everything's on fire?" I ruled her guilty.
"Well... Not everything's on fire..." She nervously laughed, quickly recovering from the 'ehe'. "Texas, extinguish this one over here!"
Texas sighed and responded back with her cold demeanour, "Okay."
"My apple pie! I spent all day and night waiting for it and now it's gone!" The tears from Exusiai slightly bothered me. Not because I felt guilty. More like disappointed that she's crying over burnt apple pies.
Deevy intimidated Texas' sigh and brought back the phone to her ears as well. "Now the kitchen is inoperable, you can guess what I'm asking you to do right now."
"No, I can't. I'm not in the mood for riddles. The penguin just snapped back at me and my day is ruined."
"Could you please do us a favour and buy us today's lunch?"
"The usual? Exusiai with her apple pie, Texas and Sora with just ordinary food, Croissant with her big appetite and you?"
"Same as the Lupo girls. Once you come back I'll repay you the money. Remember to come back with the recipient."
"Alright, alright. I'll come back at 12 or earlier." I finished drinking the soda and I crushed the paper cup, giving it messy wrinkles. I was going to hang up the phone, but then she had something else to say.
"When's the next operation? Vierren told us it would be tomorrow right?"
"Let's not talk about him and the shady side job we have right now. Focus back on protecting the kitchen."
"Okay, I'll be wa- Exusiai, not the microwave!" She hung up.
I stood up switching to the map app installed on my phone. I'm still not used to Lungmen, so this app comes in real handy. I scanned through the nearby available stores and just went ahead to the nearest one.
It took me a couple of minutes to arrive at the supermarket.
(ParknShop or "百佳" is one of the largest supermarket chains in HK. I used to go to this place with my grandmother.)
The white text stood out from the blue background, it's Lungmen language name remained on the sides while the middle stated its English name. I knew a few supermarket chains in Lungmen and this is quite the big one, aside from Wellcome. It's quite famous in Lungmen. There should be some microwave food inside here.
I walked into the supermarket with its dozens of racks surrounding me. This was honestly the first time I've been here. It's shocking that a ton of supplies lay here for people to buy, ranging from household items such as bleach or sponges or window cleaners to snacks such as chips or pockys.
I just mentioned 3 household items all related to cleaning, didn't I? The cleaning jobs assigned by the boss always killed my back. They've been getting more frequent too. Why can't he go find the other girls to do so?
Getting the resentment out of my head, I searched for anything available. Swiftly making my way towards the food section I arrived there in just a few seconds. Tons of food wrapped in thin plastic film caught my eyes. I swept the usual food the 2 Lupos and 1 Sarkaz had and went to see if there was any apple pie in the supermarket.
I wandered around the supermarket searching for that one damned apple pie. It wasn't in the previous section so where the hell would I find one?
Turns out, they don't sell apple pie at all.
Am I seriously going to return to Exusiai saying that there was no apple pie?
Yes, yes I will. Because I'll just make that shit myself anyways.
Carrying the 3 microwave food in my arms I made my way to the self-register cashier. After all, Lungmen is quite advanced. Plus I don't want to waste time standing in line for another hour. It's always a pain to do so. My legs won't tire out, it's just that I get too bored.
I placed the food onto the cashier and tapped the yellow oval purchase button on the monitor right in front of me. It then told me to scan the bar code on the food, which I did. All was going well until it was asking for the purchase method. I shoved my hands into my pockets and found nothing at all.
Did I not bring my wallet?
No, I definitely brought it. How else would I be able to afford the soda earlier?
I retraced my steps thinking back to the time I obtained the holy soda drink to cool myself. Now that I recall it, it was for free. Given by some very passionate people looking out for their fellow citizens.
If I didn't have my wallet then I'd have to ask others...
Getting out my phone I dialled Exusiai's number once more, expecting the noisy penguin to pick up. I held it near my right ear while standing at the cashier seeming like an idiot who had to call someone else because they didn't know how to finish the purchase.
"Uh, boss?" I checked if the penguin was there or not.
"The boss went to grab more booze. What do you need?" It was the person who I called.
I had to hide my embarrassment of asking for Exusiai's credit card information. Why do I have to specifically ask her anyway? I couldn't buy her apple pie which would make a dent in her feelings and if I really did use her credit card to buy these food, she would go broke as usual.
"Uhm... Uh..." I didn't know how to do this at all. My body tensed up as I began to sweat more, making the t-shirt stick to my back. I couldn't do this, not to the precious angel. "Is Texas available right now?"
"She's still putting out the fire."
"What size is the fire?"
"As big as an apple pie."
"That's not big at all! Ok, what about Croissant?"
"She went out shopping. Bison is accompanying her right now, making sure she doesn't go overboard on spending money on new gear."
"So-" I was about to say Sora but then that would frame me as a horrible asshole. "Sorry, can you get Deevy on the line then?"
"Gimme a moment!"
She recovers quickly from crying. Impressive...
"What do you need? I'm in the middle of still putting out this fire with Texas!" Deevy slightly screamed at me.
"So... Uh..." I stumbled on my words, still not figuring out how to get the message of 'I need you to pay for me' across. "What's your favourit-?"
"Sir, do you need help with anything?" One of the helpers walked up to me and asked. This was a situation I didn't want to be in. "You can choose from the payment method above. Once that is done, the purchase should be complete."
"Uh... yeah... Thank you..." I frowned.
"Favourite what? If you say person, then..." I could feel her face heat up as she gulped, repeating the same 'then' a couple of times. Her breathing increased by the millisecond. "y-"
"Favourite 4 digit number. Fast." I instantly cut off what she was going to say. I needed to get the hell out of here, fast and I had no time for trivia.
"5122."
"What about the 2nd, 3rd and 4th?"
"Why are you asking me these questions right now? Is it because it's too hot out there?" She got a bit grumpy, although I don't know why.
"Just tell me, I'm in the middle of a survey." I blatantly lied.
"If you say so... 5078, 3012, 5015."
"That's a lot of 5s." I commented on her love for the number 5 and gambled.
Surprisingly, it worked. Is this a method of hers?
"Do you have anything else? No? Texas, can you carry this to another place? Exusiai, place back the fire extinguisher for us! Here's your phone too!" She disconnected the call. I took a free plastic bag and shoved all the food into it, then hastily walked away.
I feel like I forgot something.
// 11:30 am, Sunset Boulevard, "The Ends of the Earth" lounge //
I opened up the door entering the bar. There they were, just sitting on the couches pretending like nothing ever happened at all. The smoke was still coming out from the kitchen, although still somewhat see-through and not clumped up together. The red-haired angel didn't sit still as always, her legs swung back and forth with her hands wrapped around her head. Texas just calmly ate her pockys in peace and Deevy with her yellow long hair sat tightly with her fists clenched resting on her lap. She occasionally played with her hair, letting her finger spin around as the yellow silk lines weaved through.
"I bought the things." I placed the bag onto the table.
"Microwave food?" Deevy asked.
"Yeah, what else?"
Silence continued to spread throughout the bar.
"Well, the microwave... Ahahaha..." Exusiai spoke out. I didn't need to know the rest.
This is not something I'm dealing with.
At least, that was what I thought of until the others arrived.
U/N:
i went to eat sushi
there's a part 2
you can guess what deevy was trying to say