Anomaly

You really, truly, cannot be bothered to care. Currently staring blankly at a Karen who is actively yelling at you, has been for a while, since frowning is apparently illegal now. Fuck you for working in customer service, I guess. You sigh, continuing to ring her up as she continues to yell over you. "Ma'am, your total is $56.68."

She glares, huffing at you. "Well! For your incompetency and inability to SMILE for the customers, I DESERVE a discount. Get me your manager."

You slowly blink at her, nodding as you grab your walkie-talkie, "Hey boss, got someone askin for you." The radio buzzes with an affirmation that they are on their way. "Give them one moment ma'am." She huffs, tapping her foot. Thankfully your boss—a lovely deer monster—is quick to come out.

"Hi ma'am! I'm Lyra, the manager here. I will be able to help you, but I ask we move to the side to continue--"

"No. Get me the real manager. Now."

"I- I am the manager, miss. If you want help please step off to the side." Lyra lightly nods, motioning to the wall closer to her office. "Please follow me and allow me to help you."

The customer huffs angrily, "No. I will not be talking to one of you—disgusting creatures." She stares, pulling her phone out and starting to record the monster.

"Then we need to ask you to leave ma'am." Your boss grimaces, nervous. "And we request you stop recording us, but we cannot force you to do anything." 

The customer grins, shoving the phone into Lyra's face. "No, I will not stop recording you—in fact! If You do not get me the real manager, I will be calling the cops on you—both of you!"

You just continue to ignore them, playing on your phone. You tilt your head to look at them, spotting a blue hoodie in the distance—it seems as its walking towards the little scene. You huff in amusement before shaking your head and logging out of the register. You take your water bottle and give your manager a look as you walk away, hoping she understands that you are taking your break.

You quickly grab your backpack and a bag of pretzels, opening the pretzels as you walk outside. Thankfully empty bench is there waiting for you. You sit, popping an earbud in as you continue to munch on your pretzels. The loss of all the people in the store is nice; it's quiet and peaceful. Someone? Something? In a blue hoodie appears next to you, watching for a moment before speaking, "she's left."

Startled, you rip your earbud out and spill your bag of pretzels on the ground. "Holy shit dude-any warning would have been nice'." You stare at the monster, unamused. "Who even are you? Can't see you under that hood of yours."

He removes his hood, letting you see the entirety of his face. He has pinprick lights for eyes instead of an actual organs, no skin on him at all, and an easy going grin on his face. "Colus. Colus the skeleton." He puts his hand out for you to shake.

You shake your head in amusement, a small grin on your face. "Uh-no thanks on the handshake but Colus? Like the font? Next your gonna tell me you have a sibling and their name is Futura or Futura." Giggling to yourself, you pull your legs up to sit crisscrossed.

He just stares at you, amusement dancing on his face. "uh- actually yeah. my sister's name is futura." He's fidgeting with his hands in his pockets, refusing to look right at you. "how'da guess?"

You blink rapidly, shocked and a tad confused, "Are you serious. That's amazing. I love whoever named you." You're smiling now, hands moving in excitement. "Actually, the name Colus is from Latin? I think it means, uh, without? Sorry but your name is literally the best name I have ever hear."

"really now."

"Yup, something about Latin words being names is just so fun-"

"why did the latin verb break up with the noun?"

"Sorry, what?

"they couldn't agree in gender, number, or case." Colus just watches you now, a smile

You snort, hand flying to cover your mouth, "That was awful, uh… yeah, no I'm not able to come up with anything actually."

"knock knock."

You raise an eyebrow, a smile still dancing on your lips. "Who's there?"

"greece."

"Greece who?

"aren't greece and oil the same thing?"

"I- okay, all done. I might start laughing and crying at the same time." You continue to giggle into your hand. You check your phone, noticing a compilation of texts from your manager. "Shit- sorry dude, I ran over my break. I gotta go back inside. It was nice talking to you though. Thank you so much for the laughs. " You give him a light smile before packing up your bag and swinging it over you shoulder. "Come back and visit sometime, maybe help kick out another karen for us?"

Colus nod, making a shooing motion with a smile on his face. "stay safe, kid. if you need me, just throw me a bone."

You laugh one more time before leaving him to his own devices. You walk yourself back inside, dropping off your bag in the break room and clocking back in to your shitty customer service job. Only three more hours of getting yelled at and verbally abused, yay.

Colus watches you walk back inside, tense as he walks far enough away to take a shortcut without drawing more attention to himself. He feels his bed against his back, sighing in relief for finally being somewhere more normal to him. His room is a mess, clothing and food wrappers strewn around the room like a tornado came through.

He rummages around his pockets for his phone, sending a quick, home, text to his sibling before beginning to call someone. He sighs, pinching his nose bone. "hey, i think i found our anomaly."