They Mostly Come In Cutscenes. Mostly. [Open]

[Gunnar Frey]

The only day the Ark was closed was on Thursday’s, giving the weekday staff a bit of a breather and time to restock the store before the rush of the weekend. It worked out well. Everyone on rota came in early in the morning, worked to get all the jobs ploughed through quickly, then had the rest of the day off to themselves. The animals were still cleaned and fed and the shelves restocked ready for Friday, but by eleven thirty pretty much everything was done so Gunnar and everyone else could lock up and head home or to whatever they had going on.

Except that Gunnar never went straight home. There never seemed to be much point; what did he have going on there? He didn’t really go out anywhere or do anything, so there seemed to be little point in rushing home at lunchtime like everyone else did. Instead, he did what he usually did. He went upstairs into his office and fired up his computer, launching the game that he had finally got around to installing.

Gunnar had been looking forward to Alien Isolation for months but hadn’t played it yet due to so many other games being released around the same time. He launched it and got into playing it, the time ticking away, but the more he played on the more frustrated he was getting. An hour and a half into the game, and all he had been doing was sneaking around and avoiding getting shot by the humans and hiding in lockers. If he wanted a Locker Inspection Simulator he’d have played Outlast again! And to add insult to injury, the only two times he’d even glanced at the Alien had been in cutscenes. To say he was disappointed was an understatement.

Saving the game with a frustrated sigh, Gunnar shut down the computer and glanced at the clock. Crap, it was still only two thirty. He really didn’t want to head home just yet; he’d only end up on the computer there. Instead he headed back down into the main store, unlocking the front door and raising the shutters, turning the little sign over to say ‘Open’. Perhaps someone would turn up and alleviate some of his boredom. Taking a seat behind the main counter, Gunnar grabbed a drywipe marker out of the stationary box and began idly doodling a Xenomorph on the countertop.

[Odion Martins]

Odion was planning on visiting Lani today, but not before bringing some treats along for the cats. The last time he visited the place seemed void of anything fun for the three felines to do. But that was perhaps because the toys they did have were collecting dust somewhere underneath the couch. It wouldn’t have been difficult for Lani to retrieve them, what with his telekinesis and all, but it wasn’t like cat toys were expensive.

The redhead decided to try out a local downtown shop he had heard was quite reputable, and although they specialized in reptiles and amphibians, they still had many a cat related items in stock. Feeling quite admirable today, Odion wasn’t even planning on shoplifting a thing today. Well, other than the forty dollars he had nabbed from some fool on the way here. But the sales associates wouldn’t care, nor would they ask.

Strolling in, Odion took a quick survey of the new environment and eventually made eye contact with a man behind the counter. The redhead gave a quick smile and tucked his hands into the pockets of his new obtained leather coat, which was faring well against the chilly weather. He didn’t need any help procuring the items he had in mind just yet, but he was of the curious sort.

Instead of going straight for the small mammalian section, Odion went to take a peek at the creatures for sale, lit up by various lamps and surrounded by greenery. It was clear they were well taken care of. If not, Odion would’ve walked right out.

[Gunnar Frey]

Gunnar was not the best artist in the world, that he would freely admit. He didn’t draw a great deal any more and he was a little rusty, but he knew he wasn’t bad either. He’d done a lot of concept art for albums back in the day that had been met with some approval, and whilst the Xenomorph slowly evolving on the counter was hardly perfect, it was still pretty decent and easily identifiable. Not bad for a doodle at all.

Even though the store was usually closed on a Thursday there still appeared to be people out and about, and any sales at all would not be a bad thing. It did perhaps look a little eerily quiet inside, with no sales assistants or customers milling around, but the soft noises of the larger mammals moving around, the birds chattering and the bubbling water from the filters in the fish tanks broke the silence. It was rather serene, in an odd little way, and Gunnar idly pondered coming down and spending time in here more often when the store was closed.

Gunnar was etching in ridges along the Xenomorph’s spine when he heard the door go, brown eyes glancing up at the young man that entered. He met the eye contact and gave a small smile. “Hi, welcome. Let me know if there’s anything I can help you with.”

From where he was sat doodling Gunnar couldn’t see the whole store, but he wasn’t overly bothered by that. The kid couldn’t get to any of the animals without getting past the key-carded or locked doors, and security cameras feeding into the monitor on the desk beside him would let him keep a casual eye on things if suspicions got stirred. For the moment though he was content to carry on with what he was doing.