Not long after Kanashima's introduction to her own personal information panel, Serafin too had to get back to preparing the shop. As it turns out, these so-called health inspectors had some truly ruthless expectations and guidelines, especially for business fronts for rebels or other illegal organizations. They might as well have been called nationalist inspectors with the measures they took with each establishment, and their job description would not change or mean anything different.
Cipher would also be wrapped up with the espresso bar up until the actual time for them to take off too. He was originally scheduled until six until their boss pushed up all of their agendas. In the meantime, she had a handful of hours to kill until their date to wherever Mirren was held up at. For some reason the name felt familiar, but she couldn't place it. She had been working at this front of a coffee shop for about a week or so, maybe she had just heard the name in passing or something.
Let's see here…
[Intrinsic: Daughter of the Void(2)]
[The Void has claimed you as one of their own.]
[Mark of the Void: A single shot concentration of energy, leaving a mark on the target.]
[Embrace of the Void: A coating of energy wraps around the user, universally concealing.]
The two at the end of the intrinsic name obviously pertained to the amount of abilities the perk was offering at the moment. Even if Serafin hadn't explained it to her, she would've likely figured it out by now. Mark of the Void was the first ability listed, and also the first skill that Kanashima had managed to manifest instinctually during that first encounter with the Nihility. After staring at Embrace of the Void for a few moments longer than the first one, she concluded that it was her little cloaking trick she somehow pulled off in front of Kory and Marinetti.
What do I look at next?
Scrolling down the barebones menu, the next esoteric name was attached to her bug, Miss Fortune. The only other bug she knew about was Cipher's, and honestly his didn't seem too bad. Being mistaken for something you aren't isn't the most pleasant experience, but any reasonable person should be able to remember the issue after once or twice. Besides, it turned him into quite the cute boy. Expanding her thoughts about her bug, she urged the personal display to bend and show more details.
[Bug: Miss Fortune]
[An aura of bad luck follows you wherever you go, lashing out at everything in proximity.]
That's it? That's all I get? How does a systemic AI even classify bad luck?
She didn't feel all too different from before, when her bug hadn't manifested yet and she was just drifting. The aura the virus claimed she had surrounding her also just wasn't noticeable at all, nor were there any sensory inputs to clue her in. Sure, she thought she was quite unlucky over and over again, but she always managed to get out of whatever sticky situation at least a bit alive. If it was truly active, just how much has this malevolent attribute messed with everything so far?
A quick knock at the break room door shook Kanashima out of her unlucky trance, announcing the third visitor for today, Cipher's scheduled shift partner. Entering with one of the porcelain mugs and a small matching plate, the short employee bumped the door closed with a boot. Giving a chaste smile, her lilac eyes glinted, studying the other inhabitant in the room.
"You must be Kanashima! The boss and Cipher would not shut up about you. Literally. Oh my God it was horrible. One would think they were getting fucked by you with the amount of times they said your name."
"...What?"
"Sorry, sorry. I'm Haze. I brought you some coffee, don't know how you like it though."
"I wouldn't know. Never had coffee before."
"Okay, fair enough, it's a vanilla latte, y'know, perfect for first timers!"
The bubbly girl couldn't help but giggle at her own poor attempt at some kind of dirty joke, shaking her head away, her laughter going with it. Setting the mug of light brown liquid on the small coffee table in front of her, the purple clad girl then took her own seat where Cipher was posted up anywhere from thirty minutes to an hour ago. The white ceramic plate in her hand clattered onto the table, joining the smooth drink. On top of the quaint saucer, a dark brown baked good presented itself to the world, adorned with some sort of white powder on top. Small wisps of steam floated through the area, wafting the chocolate smell to each and every inhabitant.
"Well, go ahead and try it! I made it for you!"
"Oh, uhm okay. Thank you, Haze."
"Don't even mention it! Heard we had a new blueberry among us, so what better thing to do than introduce yourself?"
Her smile is really… cute.
Pushing back her pastel purple hair behind her pointed ears, she made an open path for her little snack. With the steam still rising from the piece, she blew on it a couple times before taking a sizable bite. A small purple spark of light appeared on the corner just as it was being bitten off by the small mouth.
Haze's face flared up red, releasing hot air through her own teeth. Reaching to her side, red sparks shimmered as she summoned a tall cylindrical armament. Popping off the top of the canister, lavender hair tilted back as she emptied the contents of the bottle into her mouth. The container dropped back onto the couch cushions.
"Fuck, fuck, hot, hot. Not what I meant when I said I wanted something hot to melt in my mouth."
A bead of sweat dropped down Kanashima's forehead. That was a rather unlucky interaction, and that same purple spark that she had become so familiar with had made itself known again. Was it her fault that cute little Haze just burned her tongue? Were all the other flashes of violet light also the calling card for her bug? That was an immense amount of events that had been influenced if so, but none of them negatively impacted her, or did they?
Rather tame problem for a bug, and it didn't even happen to me.
Lilac eyes glanced at the gunmetal grey staring back at her. Waving one of her black gloved hands in front of her face, the coworker dismissed her questions with a lively smile.
"I'm okay, just burned my tongue a lil that's all."
"Sorry, I think… I think that was my bug?"
Going for a second bite, this time the chocolatey piece cooled down much more than before, especially now the steam had an opening to escape from. A smaller chunk of the baked good was taken off by her mouth as her eyes widened, turning to stare at Kanashima. Speaking with her mouth full, she shoved three quarters of the sweet morsel into her cheek.
"What? Makes people burn their tongue? I need this thing y'know."
"No. more broad. I have an aura of bad luck."
"Yeesh. I mean I know I don't really have it as bad as I could but that sounds like it fucking blows. Speaking of which…"
Good God, she makes a lot of dirty jokes. Is that just who she is?
Over the past couple of minutes, the steam wafting off the top of the mug in front of her waned significantly, begging to be drunk. Picking up the handle with her right hand, she raised it to her pale lips and took a sip off the top, a small bit of cream from the artistic piece on top adhering to her top lip. Soon, her sipping expression turned into one adorned by a soft and warm smile, matching the latte.
"You like it? That's great news, whew. I asked Cipher for some help, but we both didn't really know what you would like."
"It's great, thank you."
The two cafe employees sat together in silence, simply enjoying their store products together without any more mishaps or interruptions from Kanashima's rather unfortunate bug. By now in her Electrogen journey, she would recognize somebody pulling out an armament from anywhere, and Haze just pulled out some sort of liquid container from her storage. If her peer was also a victim of the virus, then she'd also have a bug, and likely more adjusted to living with it than herself, or even Cipher.
I think she even said something about having one?
"Excuse me, Haze, was it? You said something about your bug earlier?"
"Hm? Oh, yeah I did. What about it?"
"How do you deal with it?"
"How do I… well mine isn't really a big issue. I would just say that it matters who you surround yourself with. If nobody is willing to accept yours, then fuck em. There's people out there that will. These people here will for sure."
People that accept mine… who would want an unlucky charm?
Taking another sip of her gifted coffee, she proceeded to get lost in thought. No two bugs were the same, so of course it would be difficult for anyone to give precise advice for something like that, but Haze managed to keep it general and helpful.
Picking up her now empty plate, the bearer of gifts opened the door, waving her other gloved hand back at her. Smiling with both her mouth and her lilac eyes, she pursed her pale purple lips, making a kissing motion and noise in her direction.
"It was nice meeting you! I gotta get back to work, see ya!"
Waving back with her only good, battered hand, Kanashima stared back down at the half empty cup of brown liquid, swirling it around the porcelain. If she was going to work with Cipher on this next mission, he should probably know about her bug. After all, she already knew his own negative perk quite well from that night. Haze's last statement in her little stint of advice was actually quite reassuring, even though there were still doubts in her mind.
Damn, I forgot to ask for hers.
Staring back at the informative light based panel, she traced over the words again even though nothing had changed. Reading it four times over didn't mean anything different to her, it was still the aura of bad luck following her. The violet flickers of light must've been her bug lashing out at whatever around her, but if that were the case, wasn't it helping her in its own twisted way? Even though she didn't want it to, some of those instances of misfortune had resulted in a couple deaths that were absolutely her responsibility. She never wanted to kill anyone, but her bug, and the system as a whole, seemed to have different plans.
A double edged sword, and a ruthless one at that. Who would accept such an awful bug?
So far, her own bug was the worst one she knew, not that she knew that many Electrogens who were kind enough to share. Cipher's was hard, but overall fine if your loved ones weren't idiots, and she didn't have a single clue to Serafin's. Maybe she could inquire about her boss' bug, and maybe seek some extra tips and advice from her. Cipher too, he would probably have something both kind and insightful to say about it too, and she'd have a chance on the journey they're about to embark on together.
Polishing off the sweet caffeinated beverage, a wave of refreshing alertness settled into her very being. She was planning to sleep a little bit more before their departure time, but as much as she tried, her body was somehow now too active rather than the lethargy from earlier. At some point of her short stint at the cafe, she heard something about how the coffee would wake them up and keep them alive for the day, but she really underestimated its potency.
Huh, that is rather unlucky. Maybe it does affect me too.