Leaving his new employee to the magazines, Hanatarou takes a quick, hopeful glance at the loading bay as he passes. He had hoped the milk would be there. It isn't. He deflates a little, small shoulders sagging. It's very strange for city milk to be so late.
He presses the buttons on the office door's code-lock carefully. The thing is older, Hanatarou thinks, than the building itself, and seems to resent anyone attempting to access the office. It takes a number of tricky manoeuvres and half-presses before the mechanism will admit him, but it's a movement he knows well.
The office itself is an almost suffocating space, filled almost to bursting with a computer desk, a filing cabinet, and a safe that looks unarguably to be the most expensive thing in the room. Its high price is usually rendered moot by the fact that Hanatarou often forgets to lock it, though it doesn't matter very much. The lock on the door serves its purpose - too well, some days.
He heaves the safe door open - locked or not, it's heavy - and slides out the single, lonely till that resides there alongside bags of change and bundles of notes. He had counted it the night before, but he counts it again, now, anyway, dutifully signing the slip that proclaims the drawer counted and stowing it neatly underneath the coin tray.
Another glance at the loading bay provides him only with a glimpse of a large, disheveled tabby.
He slips behind the counter to sit the till in the register, types in the code automatically and has to raise his hand and wave it a few times before he manages to get Tetsu's attention. "Ah, Tetsu-san?"
The magazines are all in place by the time Hanatarou comes back, and Tetsu is perusing through the headlines in today's newspaper (he's not stupid enough to try and read a dirty magazine at work). A story about a businessman's death and the post-mortem discovery of his connection to the Arrancar draws Tetsu's attention, eyes skimming through the article to see if anything stands out as odd. When Hanatarou finally manages to catch his attention he gives the guy a sheepish smile, straightening and moving behind the counter to watch him work.
"So, this is something you're going to be doing every morning, or am I gonna need to learn how to do it?"
Hanatarou hits a button on the touch screen and the drawer pops open again. He pulls out the slip of paper and holds it out to Tetsu. "Eventually, I'd like you to be able to open on your own," he explains, wondering if it's too early to push this on Tetsu. "Just count the till, write it all down and sign it... then put it here." He lifts the coin tray again and replaces the piece of paper.
"The register locks up after, um, a minute or two, I think, but you should always hit 'lock' when you walk away from it, just in case. The code to get back in is my birthday... zero, four, zero, one." He offers a sheepish sort of smile to Tetsu. It had been all he could think of at the time.
"The office is, ah, a little more complicated... for now, just unlock the door," he points to the tiny lock embedded in a pillar near the glass shopfront, and dangles the keys into Tetsu's much larger hand. "And set up the signs outside. You can keep an eye on the register while I call someone about the milk."
It all kind of makes sense. The words jumble a bit in Tetsu's head and he's beginning to think that maybe this job will require more brain cells than he had originally thought (and that he himself possesses) but he's determined. He's learned over 100 different drinks during the course of his time at the Brigand--he can learn how to operate this electronic nightmare called a cash register.
What's that his mom always used to tell him? You only have to be 10% smarter than the shit you're trying to work?
Taking the keys--and still not QUITE sure what to do with them--Tetsu moves toward the front door where Hanatarou had pointed, looking around in the vain hope that there's a neon sign blinking and indicating the location of these signs he apparently should be seeing. At the absence of his needed neon signs, he turns back to give Hanatarou a sheepish grin.
Hanatarou, already halfway through the door, grabs onto the frame to steady himself, blinking. The signs? The signs are right there, of course, right--
--right behind the news stand, which of course Tetsu cannot see from where he is standing. Hanatarou's sheepish expression returns. "Um, sorry. The signs are just behind the stand, there, leaning against the wall."
He waits until Tetsu has at least spotted the sandwich-board tucked carefully into the crevice, and then adds, "The lock's on the opposite side of the door - between the pillar and the first shelf, right next to the toffees." The toffees he should move; they fall off their hook every time he has to work his hand into the space beside them.
As he watches the other man, he smiles slightly and ducks forward to pull a bell out from under the register and set it on the counter. "Just ring this if you have any trouble, and I'll come out right away," he promises. He wouldn't want to be all alone on his first day, either, but that milk problem isn't going to solve itself.
Meanwhile, Hanatarou is biting his lip as he dials the number of the company that delivers milk to the entire city. He braces himself in the doorframe, receiver wedged between chin and shoulder as he grapples with the unweildy lock. He needs the door open if he's going to hear that bell.
The phone on the other end is ringing, at least, so he knows the company hasn't just closed for the day. They usually let him know if there's going to be a problem. He just can't understand it. He knows that he's paid all the bills; he's impeccably scrupulous about them. He doesn't want to cause anyone else any trouble, after all.
There's an inquisitive meow from the back door. Hanatarou smiles as he sees his favourite stray saunter inside the roller door, tail held smartly aloft. It's only half a tail, really, and the tortoise-shell's ear is torn almost down to her skull, but despite the scars and flea bites that cover her body, she has a startlingly sweet disposition.
He crouches to chuck his fingers, trying to persuade her to come closer - though he knows she's not really allowed inside - and right on cue, there's a tired, grumpy-sounding recording in his ear. "City Milk. Leave a name and number to have us return your call. To order, quote the product, amount in crates or units, and delivery account name. Thankyou. Beep."
"Yamada Convenience off Mercy Street," he tells the phone softly, but clearly, and watches as the chocolate and ginger-coloured cat pricks up her one remaining ear. She takes a few trotting steps forward, then thinks better of it and scampers back outside. "We haven't received our delivery."
He quotes the line number from the piece of paper on the wall; sometimes he stil ends up passing on the number of the store he used to work at with his sister. Not exactly with, though. More like under. Not that he minded. He doesn't like having too much in his hands. He's always nervous something will go wrong, and he's disappointed his parents enough, he thinks.
Replacing the receiver, and with a final glance at the fleeing cat, Hanatarou goes to see how Tetsu is doing.
(GAH. LONG. Let me know if you want to break that up a bit. XD;;)
By some grace of God the place is still intact, and relatively in order. Tetsu has managed to get the shelf back in order, and has settled himself behind the register for lack of anything else to do. Having completed the tasks Hanatarou had laid out for him, he leans against the counter and eyes the overly-complicated register. The one they have at the Brigand is a nice one--the only buttons on it are the numbers, enter, addition, subtraction, and other basic functions along the same vein. He likes that one. He can WORK that one without it spazzing on him.
THIS register looks like it's going to give him fits. For one thing, there's no keyboard. Just…buttons on the screen. What the hell? Since when did the buttons jump from the counter to the monitor? And there were so MANY of them. Just staring at it, Tetsu gets a gut feeling that he's going to break it. It's a good possibility. You don't put a drunk in a bar and expect him to stay sober. You don't put Tetsu around complex electronics and expect said electronics to survive.
It was just foolhardy.
Of course, telling Hanatarou this would probably jeopardize his summer career at this establishment, so he keeps his mouth shut.
Looking up as Hanatarou returns, Tetsu nods, straightening from his leaning position.
The tiny manager shrugs his shoulders a little helplessly as he approaches. "Answering service," he says by way of explanation, and smiles when he sees the signs exactly where he usually puts them, almost to the inch. Tetsu doesn't seem to be having any problems so far. He wonders if he's the only person in the world capable of destroying entire aisles with the careless brush of a finger.
Clasping his hands at the small of his back, Hanatarou searches for something to say to the taller man. What did you talk about with a man who went to college and worked in a bar?
He thinks about punched any drunks lately? and decides against it. "What are you studying, Tetsu-san?"
He offers a grin that's almost sheepish but not quite. It's not that he's ashamed of what he's going to be learning- far from it. He recognizes the need for nurses, and the benefits they provide for society. However, he doesn’t like those looks he always gets- the flabbergasted, slightly stunned looks when people hear a guy (especially a big burly tank of a guy like him) is going into something like nursing. A profession that is usually seen as feminine.
"Nursing, though at the moment I'm only taking Gen. Ed. requirements. Though my application for nursing school was accepted, so I start actual nursing school in the fall."
Hanatarou blinks. His jaw drops a little. "R-really?" A smile leaps to his face, eyes shining just a little. "I'm - um, when I go back, I mean, when I have time - that's what I'm studying, as well!" Although when he thinks through his subjects, he suspects he might be better off in physiotherapy than nursing, really. All the nurses he's ever met have been very confident people, and Hanatarou is... somewhat lacking in that regard.
His eyebrows jump up to his hairline at this, surprised at this rather unusual answer. Of course, if Hanatarou is interested in the same field of work then it makes sense that he would be interested rather than surprised. Of course, he knows very little about Hanatarou, having just really met him, so his lack of knowledge isn't unusual.
Some of Hanatarou's cheer fades at the question, what remains flowing into a small smile directed at the floor. "Well, I'm... mmm... it depends. My parents are trying to find a new manager for this store. I'm not very good at it."
He laughs under his breath, but it sounds forced. "With luck, I'll be able to pick it up again next semester." Luck and a few discreet miracles, anyway. His parents aren't too keen on nursing. Or physiotherapy.
"Really?" Tetsu's keen on the thought of possibly knowing someone in the program. Not that he anticipates having a great deal of trouble with the classes--it's a possibility, but not one he'll stress about just yet--but more that he would prefer to have someone to talk to. This past semester with Hitsugaya and Rukia had really helped to make his classes more tolerable. Or, at least, the math class. Though he doesn't get his hopes up just yet, as Hanatarou s`ounds a bit uncertain about his academic plans at the moment.
"Luck huh?" He thinks about that for a minute, waving to an older woman as she enters the store. "Didn't know luck had anything to do with gettin' into school. 'Course, my luck's always been a bit crap."
The hum of the door draws Hanatarou's attention for the few seconds it takes to call, "Welcome to Yamada's!" He smiles a little wistfully as the customer glances over, raising a hand in response to Tetsu's wave. He's been here long enough that he knows a lot of faces, but he's never really caught a name - they're never too interested, and he's always too shy to try to ingratiate himself with them.
He lowers his voice a little while there's a customer in the store. "Just luck finding a new manager," he confesses lowly. "It's hard to find people who're allowed into Mercy Street. Nursing school is about dedication, not luck."
He presses the buttons on the office door's code-lock carefully. The thing is older, Hanatarou thinks, than the building itself, and seems to resent anyone attempting to access the office. It takes a number of tricky manoeuvres and half-presses before the mechanism will admit him, but it's a movement he knows well.
The office itself is an almost suffocating space, filled almost to bursting with a computer desk, a filing cabinet, and a safe that looks unarguably to be the most expensive thing in the room. Its high price is usually rendered moot by the fact that Hanatarou often forgets to lock it, though it doesn't matter very much. The lock on the door serves its purpose - too well, some days.
He heaves the safe door open - locked or not, it's heavy - and slides out the single, lonely till that resides there alongside bags of change and bundles of notes. He had counted it the night before, but he counts it again, now, anyway, dutifully signing the slip that proclaims the drawer counted and stowing it neatly underneath the coin tray.
Another glance at the loading bay provides him only with a glimpse of a large, disheveled tabby.
He slips behind the counter to sit the till in the register, types in the code automatically and has to raise his hand and wave it a few times before he manages to get Tetsu's attention. "Ah, Tetsu-san?"
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"So, this is something you're going to be doing every morning, or am I gonna need to learn how to do it?"
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"The register locks up after, um, a minute or two, I think, but you should always hit 'lock' when you walk away from it, just in case. The code to get back in is my birthday... zero, four, zero, one." He offers a sheepish sort of smile to Tetsu. It had been all he could think of at the time.
"The office is, ah, a little more complicated... for now, just unlock the door," he points to the tiny lock embedded in a pillar near the glass shopfront, and dangles the keys into Tetsu's much larger hand. "And set up the signs outside. You can keep an eye on the register while I call someone about the milk."
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What's that his mom always used to tell him? You only have to be 10% smarter than the shit you're trying to work?
Taking the keys--and still not QUITE sure what to do with them--Tetsu moves toward the front door where Hanatarou had pointed, looking around in the vain hope that there's a neon sign blinking and indicating the location of these signs he apparently should be seeing. At the absence of his needed neon signs, he turns back to give Hanatarou a sheepish grin.
"Uh…what signs?"
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--right behind the news stand, which of course Tetsu cannot see from where he is standing. Hanatarou's sheepish expression returns. "Um, sorry. The signs are just behind the stand, there, leaning against the wall."
He waits until Tetsu has at least spotted the sandwich-board tucked carefully into the crevice, and then adds, "The lock's on the opposite side of the door - between the pillar and the first shelf, right next to the toffees." The toffees he should move; they fall off their hook every time he has to work his hand into the space beside them.
As he watches the other man, he smiles slightly and ducks forward to pull a bell out from under the register and set it on the counter. "Just ring this if you have any trouble, and I'll come out right away," he promises. He wouldn't want to be all alone on his first day, either, but that milk problem isn't going to solve itself.
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The phone on the other end is ringing, at least, so he knows the company hasn't just closed for the day. They usually let him know if there's going to be a problem. He just can't understand it. He knows that he's paid all the bills; he's impeccably scrupulous about them. He doesn't want to cause anyone else any trouble, after all.
There's an inquisitive meow from the back door. Hanatarou smiles as he sees his favourite stray saunter inside the roller door, tail held smartly aloft. It's only half a tail, really, and the tortoise-shell's ear is torn almost down to her skull, but despite the scars and flea bites that cover her body, she has a startlingly sweet disposition.
He crouches to chuck his fingers, trying to persuade her to come closer - though he knows she's not really allowed inside - and right on cue, there's a tired, grumpy-sounding recording in his ear. "City Milk. Leave a name and number to have us return your call. To order, quote the product, amount in crates or units, and delivery account name. Thankyou. Beep."
"Yamada Convenience off Mercy Street," he tells the phone softly, but clearly, and watches as the chocolate and ginger-coloured cat pricks up her one remaining ear. She takes a few trotting steps forward, then thinks better of it and scampers back outside. "We haven't received our delivery."
He quotes the line number from the piece of paper on the wall; sometimes he stil ends up passing on the number of the store he used to work at with his sister. Not exactly with, though. More like under. Not that he minded. He doesn't like having too much in his hands. He's always nervous something will go wrong, and he's disappointed his parents enough, he thinks.
Replacing the receiver, and with a final glance at the fleeing cat, Hanatarou goes to see how Tetsu is doing.
(GAH. LONG. Let me know if you want to break that up a bit. XD;;)
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THIS register looks like it's going to give him fits. For one thing, there's no keyboard. Just…buttons on the screen. What the hell? Since when did the buttons jump from the counter to the monitor? And there were so MANY of them. Just staring at it, Tetsu gets a gut feeling that he's going to break it. It's a good possibility. You don't put a drunk in a bar and expect him to stay sober. You don't put Tetsu around complex electronics and expect said electronics to survive.
It was just foolhardy.
Of course, telling Hanatarou this would probably jeopardize his summer career at this establishment, so he keeps his mouth shut.
Looking up as Hanatarou returns, Tetsu nods, straightening from his leaning position.
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Clasping his hands at the small of his back, Hanatarou searches for something to say to the taller man. What did you talk about with a man who went to college and worked in a bar?
He thinks about punched any drunks lately? and decides against it. "What are you studying, Tetsu-san?"
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"Nursing, though at the moment I'm only taking Gen. Ed. requirements. Though my application for nursing school was accepted, so I start actual nursing school in the fall."
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"And you got accepted? That's great, Tetsu-san!"
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"When are you planning on starting school again?"
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He laughs under his breath, but it sounds forced. "With luck, I'll be able to pick it up again next semester." Luck and a few discreet miracles, anyway. His parents aren't too keen on nursing. Or physiotherapy.
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"Luck huh?" He thinks about that for a minute, waving to an older woman as she enters the store. "Didn't know luck had anything to do with gettin' into school. 'Course, my luck's always been a bit crap."
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He lowers his voice a little while there's a customer in the store. "Just luck finding a new manager," he confesses lowly. "It's hard to find people who're allowed into Mercy Street. Nursing school is about dedication, not luck."
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