Rising Shards

I wondered if it'd be rude to talk about a date to a coworker whose working relationship with me could best be described as disgruntled. I thought I was lucky picking one of the break rooms with nobody in it, but then Snowglobe walked in. She looked like she wanted to leave immediately, but sighed and sat across from me, quietly eating her lunch.

"I have a date tonight," I blurted out. Well, I guess we'd see how Snowglobe felt about that.

I swore I almost heard the cat Kanibari let out a low growl, gripping her tuna sandwich tightly. "Do I look like I'd care about that?"

"I don't know," I said. "No, probably?"

"You would be correct," Snowglobe said. She groaned. "Sorry. I'm in a mood today. And you never help my moods."

"Aw, I don't?" I asked. "But I'm so sweet and genuine."

"You're obnoxious and unpleasant."

"Phew, I thought you were gonna say phony for a second there, like the opposite of genuine," I said. "So I'm at least kind of genuine in your eyes?"

"Genuinely stupid, yes," Snowglobe said. She about flinched as the door clicked, thinking someone was coming in, but it was just a random door settling sort of click. "If our boss walks in, cut this shit out, OK? I'm trying to be a good worker here."

"Kay," I said.

Things were still rocky between us after my arcade machine borrowing and the various other run-ins we'd had, but whatever brought Snowglobe from running a business to working at a school seemed to mellow her out just a hair, like one of the fuzzy hairs on her fuzzy self.

"And in return I'll try to not be such an asshole," Snowglobe said. "So you got a date. Congratulations."

"Why thank you! I don't know how I pulled this one off, Pippi is so freaking cute and hot and so cool," I said.

"Sounds like you're really into her," Snowglobe said.

"Yeah, she's great!" I said. "She's in IT."

"Cool," Snowglobe said, taking a bite of her sandwich. "So is there a lot of that around here? Like teachers and staff hooking up?"

"Uh," I had to make sure not to blurt out that I slept with Kitty a couple times because that would be bad. "I know a teacher and one of the librarians are dating, but past that I'm not sure?"

"I just always wonder if it's like those shows about teachers where everyone is dating," Snowglobe said. "This is my first time working in a school. At my old job, I wouldn't let any of that shit fly. Not even PDA."

"I forgot Snowglobe could be kind of prudish about romance," I said.

"Was that supposed to be a thought that stays inside your head?" Snowglobe asked. I definitely heard a growl that time.

"Er! I mean! Well, you said it yourself, you don't like that at a job," I said.

"It gets in the way of work," Snowglobe said. "At least, when you're in a high stakes job like I was before. Here it seems a bit more relaxed, so I dunno."

"You think you'd wanna date a teacher?" I asked. "It could be fun!"

"I just got here, I think I wanna do a good job first before I even think about going around fucking my coworkers," Snowglobe said. "I'm trying to not be an asshole when I say this, but I imagine you've never put work before a random fuck."

"Well, not random! I like to have a connection at least," I said.

"Sure, sure," Snowglobe said. "You're lucky you have that weird charm about you. You're really annoying, but kind of in..." She trailed off.

"In what?" I asked.

Snowglobe's ears went back. "Forget I said that. I just said I'm focused on doing work before I think about any of that shit. Ugh, I gotta watch my language too, I said fuck in front of like five students and got chewed out by that Berin guy."

"Ah, yeah, that's a drag," I said.

"He's a pushover so it's like, whatever, but still," Snowglobe said.

My break ended a few minutes before Snowglobe's, so I bid her farewell.

"Peace out, Snowglobe," I said. "I'm relieved we were able to have a normal-ish chat."

"Sure, yeah, cool," Snowglobe said. "Have fun on your date."

I wasn't sure if Snowglobe wishing me well on a date was good luck or bad luck, but I took it anyways.

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