“Welcome to Dollar General!”
After one of the most boring interviews of its life, Leslie had landed the job at Dollar General! They were quite excited about it, especially considering they were going to be working with Natalie.
Speaking of Natalie, she was the one showing Leslie the ropes!
“You know what a cash register is, right?”
“Of course I do!”
“Ok, good, ‘cause I’m gonna teach you how to use it.”
& so, Leslie’s official cash register training began. Natalie explained the various parts of the cash register to Leslie, like the till drawer, the buttons & how to use them, scanning items.. all of this & more. The till drawer has to be opened with a key, which is usually kept in a drawer near the cashier’s side of the checkout station. In order to check out the sales total of the day, Leslie had to turn the register key to “X”, whereas turning it to “Z” would reset the sales total of the day.
Leslie never knew listening to someone explain how cash registers work could be so interesting. Although.. Leslie probably wouldn’t be paying attention if it were anyone besides Natalie. Natalie’s voice was just so captivating, Leslie couldn’t help but listen to what she had to say.
“Did you get all that?”
“Huh? Oh- Yes!”
Well, listening to the information didn’t necessarily mean processing the information.
-
It was quite a joyous day for Kalani, for his job application at the deli place he applied to had been accepted! She was now officially a waiter, & her first shift was tomorrow, at 4 PM.
As Kalani celebrated his new job, there was a knocking upon his door. She opened the door to find Cherry standing there, with her hood pulled all the way over her hair.
“Hey, ‘Lani.”
“Cherry! Come on in!”
Cherry took a step inside Kalani’s dorm, shutting the door behind them.
“So what brings you to my lovely abode?”
“Well..” Cherry hummed. “I need your help with something.”
Cherry pulled off the hood that was previously obscuring her hair. Instead of the long hair that Cherry had had her whole life, it was now shaved short, right below her ears. Kalani was shocked.
“Oh my goodness- You SHAVED YOUR HAIR?!”
“Yup! Surprise..!” Cherry grinned, doing jazz hands.
“It suits you so well, oh my god! Why didn’t you do this sooner?!”
“Well, I would’ve, but.. you know my family. Now that my mom’s officially cut me off for good, I think I can finally.. be myself.”
“That’s awesome!!”
“It is! & I know exactly what drastic decision I’m going to make next!”
Cherry pulls something out of their hoodie pocket. It’s a box of black hair dye.
“Oh, this is probably what you need my help with!”
“Precisely.” Cherry nodded. “You’ve dyed Leslie’s hair & Juni’s hair before. You’re the only person I trust with this, ‘Lani.”
“Well, Cherrypop! I won’t let you down!”
-
“Here we are!”
Nora was quite busy yesterday, so this was the earliest time in which she could show Sorrel where their next job would be. She parked her car as the two of them hopped out.
“Welcome.. to the home of those puppets who tried to kill us!”
Indeed, the two of them were standing outside of Alph’s Amazing Animatronics. Nora saw a job posting online for a door greeter, & while she wasn’t particularly interested in that type of job, it could be perfect for Sorrel.
“Wait- they tried to kill you?!” “Long story. I’ll explain later. Let’s just get in & get you a job application.”
The two of them entered the shop, only to be greeted by none other than..
“..Sotry?”
“Oh.” the puppet snarled. “One of Juniper’s little friends.”
“I.. had no clue you worked here!”
“It’s.. a long story. I'm sure Juniper would love to explain it to you in detail.”
“Why would Juni-”
Before Nora could question him further, Juniper stepped out of the shop’s bathroom, with a mop in hand. The three of them stared at each other in shock.
“Juni??”
“..Nora! Sorrel! What a.. pleasure to see you here!”
“You never told us you got employed here of all places!”
“Listen- I was gonna tell you all eventually, but then all the Juno stuff started happening, &-”
“Are you two going to buy anything or not?” Sotry interrupted, turning his head to look at Nora & Sorrel.
“Oh! We’re here for a job application, actually!”
Sotry seemed quite upset at this news, but he got out an application anyway & handed it to Nora, who promptly handed it over to Sorrel.
“Wait, Sorrel’s gonna work here?”
“If they get hired, yeah.” Nora shrugged. “They've gotta move outta my dorm eventually.”
“Well, having a coworker who hasn't tried to stab me would be pretty cool.”
“Seriously, you two need to tell me that whole story.” Sorrel said, filling out the application. “You can't just say you almost got stabbed by a puppet & not elaborate on it.”
“Maybe one day.”
-
“Alright, Cherrypop! Take a look in the mirror!”
“Woah..”
After a couple hours of nonstop gossip & hair-dying, Cherry took their first glance in the mirror & got a proper look at their new, black hair. It was absolutely stunning. Cherry felt like a whole new person now.
“This is.. amazing, Kalani. Thank you.”
“Anytime!” Kalani grinned. “So what are you gonna do first as the all brand new Cherry?”
“Well..”
Before Cherry could get another thought out, her phone buzzed in her pocket.
“Well, I guess the first thing is checking my phone,” they chuckled, taking out their phone to check the notification. It was an email from the café she had applied at. Kalani peeped over Cherry’s shoulder as they read the email aloud.
“It is with great pleasure to announce that your application has been accepted, & you have officially been.. HIRED!! I GOT HIRED!”
“Woo!! Let's go, Cherry!! You get it, girl!”
“This is so exciting! But also so nervewracking- I've never had a job before!”
“You'll do great, Cherrypop! I’m sure of it!”
Cherry set her phone down on the kitchen counter, sighing. “Are you sure?”
“Of course! If you can fight off a horde of bananas & get the goddamn SUN & MOON back together, you can totally be a barista!”
“Well.. fighting bananas is way different from making coffee, ‘Lani.”
“Just imagine the coffee machine is like that Pim guy, & the coffee that comes out is the.. yeah, this metaphor doesn't sound as good as I thought it would.”
“Not a metaphor, since it uses ‘like’ or ‘as.’ You fucked up the simile.”
“Ah, you're right! But my point still stands, Cherry. You'll do fine. I believe in you.”
“..Thanks, Kalani.”
-
It was quite late in the afternoon now, & the whole group had now gathered at Arby’s, to eat some food & discuss a plan.
“Juno hasn’t been bugging you guys too much the past few days, has he?”
“I mean, it was kind of annoying when she broke down my door that one time, but other than that...”
“Juno broke down your door?!”
“Well, yes, but that’s not what we’re here to talk about. We need to find a way to freeze him.. somehow.”
“Oh!” Leslie perked up. “Kalani & I broke into The Auction House yesterday & we found out that the freezer in there still works!”
“You two broke into The Auction House?!”
“Well, I wasn’t gonna do it alone.” Kalani shrugged, taking a bite out of his food.
“Wait, this is good news, actually! If the freezer in The Auction House works, then we can use that to stop Juno!”
“True! But.. how do we get Juno into The Auction House?”
“Do you think he’d respond well to us asking if he’d like to be turned into a statue?”
“Proooobably not.”
As the group deliberated on what to do, Kalani was trying to come up with a plan in his mind. Juno was quite the threat, the Celestials made sure the group knew that. If none of them could come up with the perfect plan to stop Juno, then the entire multiverse as they knew it would fall apart.
She thought back to just last month, when The Auctioneer had tricked the group into getting into The Auction House’s freezer room. They had led the group on a scavenger hunt for it & everything. Kalani thought... maybe he could trick Juno the same way The Auctioneer had tricked him!
“Guys, I think I have an idea.”
“What’s up, ‘Lani?”
“What if we tricked Juno into getting into the freezer room?”
“..& how would we do that?”
“Let me explain.”
Kalani grabbed a napkin & pulled out a Sharpie, & started drawing something out on it.
“The idea is simple,” he said. “I will get Juno to come to The Auction House with me, under the impression that this is where we’ll get her to the Castle. Once I convince him to go into the freezer, Cherry - who will be hiding behind the freezer door - will shut the door & lock it, so Juno can’t get out.”
“What about the rest of us?”
“You three will be there for backup, in case Juno tries anything.”
“Sounds good to me!”
“Yeah, I’m down for this.”
“Quick question,” Leslie perked up. “When are we doing this?”
“Oh, uh..” Kalani hummed. “Let’s say.. tomorrow? Not tomorrow, I have work tomorrow... Sunday?”
“What’s up?”
“Not you, Nora. I meant the day.”
“Oh! Yeah, I’m free on Sunday!”
Everyone appeared to be in agreement, so they decided Sunday would be the day. Until then, the group would just have to finish their meal & make it through Saturday.
They could do that, right?
-
“& how are the heroes doing?”
Sun, along with Good & Evil, sat in Time’s throne room. It had been a few days since Good & Evil had delivered those letters to the heroes, & Sun was quite curious as to what they had been up to.
“Fate has informed me that the heroes have devised a plan.”
“Oh, goodie!” Good & Evil both cheered, in sync with each other.
“That is good news indeed, but..” Sun hummed. “Whatever they have planned, I truly hope they can enact it soon. The stress of Juno possibly coming back is really affecting Mr. Moon & I, & I can tell it’s taking its toll on you as well, Time.”
“Fate seems to have confidence in the heroes. It's almost as if she knows they’ll succeed.”
“The heroes haven't failed us yet!” Evil perked up.
“Yeah! You should've seen when Kindness used their scythe to get that device out of the banana’s hands!”
“Oh, that was so cool!”
“I know!”
Time cleared xyr throat, pausing Good & Evil’s conversation. “I've seen the heroes in action. I've watched them with Fate, after all. They have ended up quite strong, but.. Juno is a special case. I’m not sure if they’ll be able to do it.”
“We’ve all got our doubts surrounding the situation, Time, but if Fate is sure that everything will be fine, then it’ll be fine!” Sun reassured Time.
“Fate was also the one who let Juno into the castle 2000 years ago, & we all know how that ended.”
“Well, it’s not like Fate could’ve predicted Juno shooting Sun! Who knows how he even got that gun in the castle to begin with!”
“I’ll bet you 20 human currencies that she snuck it in under her toga-”
“Will both of you stop that?!” Time raised its voice, glaring at Good & Evil.
“Eep!”
Good & Evil both shut their mouths as Time sighed, looking wistfully out of the open wall in their room. “I’m just worried.. Humans are imperfect creatures, Sun, & we both know that first-hand. They’re going to mess up somehow & then Juno’s going to-”
“Time. Listen to me.”
Sun took a hold of Time’s hand, looking into xyr eyes. “It’ll be fine. I promise. Bit ironic how I’m the one telling you that, huh?”
“It’s.. very ironic, yes.”
“It is! But.. if your worries do get the best of you, & you feel the need to go to Earth, then-”
“I.. am not going to Earth. I can’t go to Earth. That’s against the rules.”
“We went to Earth!” Good & Evil said, in unison.
“Well, you two have an exception, because Fate specifically told you to go to Earth. I cannot go to Earth, for that is a direct violation of the rules Fate has set, & I am not one to disobey my girlfriend.”
“You would not believe how worried I was at first when I found out Spring & Storm had gone to Earth,” Sun started. “especially considering, you know... but everything turned out fine! The heroes found them, kept them safe, &.. you know the rest of this story, I’m sure. The point is, if Spring & Storm haven’t gotten in trouble with Fate for going to Earth, then neither will you!”
Time sighed, taking this in & thinking about it. Sun made a very good point there, about how Spring & Storm had not been punished for their escapade down to Earth. Mr. Moon had reprimanded them after everything was over with, but that was it.
“...Fate said the heroes were enacting their plan two days from now.” Time looked back at Sun.
“That is when I will go to Earth.”