![[info]](https://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
![[info]](https://www.insanejournal.com/img/community.gif){kind=small}
Jul. 7th, 2020 at 12:08 PM
CASSIDY MARSH + CODY KING
welcome to 8-Bit Emporium
welcome to 8-Bit Emporium
backdated to JUNE 19th - 7pm-ish | 8-Bit Emporium | PG-13
Life really did have a way of surprising you when you least expected it.
For Cody King it had started off with discovering that the supernatural was real then finding out that there were others who were curious the same way he was and then coming face to face with Asher Beckett before managing to make a good impression on the “Big Guy”. Enough of one to land himself a job, full time and everything, which meant no more working his ass off on construction sites.
Tonight was actually one of his first shifts and it looked as though somebody else was going to be on hand to show him the ropes so currently he was waiting, resisting the urge to pick up a nearby pen and fiddle with it.
Standing still had always been a challenge for him and some things didn’t change it would seem. Yua had always joked about him having way too much energy especially for the crack of dawn because well, how many times were you going to get to see Japan? Had to make the best of it.
Of course thinking about Yua came part and parcel with a bunch of happy and not so happy memories. He honestly had his own dumb self to blame, should have just listened and respected her privacy.
Cassidy flew through the front door, a few minutes late, but with a large white convenience store bag filled with snacks. “I’m here! I’m—” Ah Hell, what was the use? Big Guy didn’t much care about him being a few minutes late - not when he had been working at the shop since high school. That and he was an understanding boss, if not a little absent at times. Things happened, traffic happened - although in this case Cass’ hold up had been trying to decide between which flavor of potato chips he’d wanted.
“Hey! Welcome to the club,” he said as he saw Cody standing behind the counter.
Rather than walk the few feet around to the little cut-out entrance, Cassidy instead took a running leap to jump up and slide over the counter - his feet touching down on the other side. “Alright well that worked a lot better than I thought it was going to,” he admitted — just before his bag, that had ripped on the edge of the counter, spilled its entire contents onto the floor.
“Aw snacks, no…”
Cody’s eyebrows lifted considerably as Cassidy took a running jump at the counter and actually made the slide and descent kind of smoothly though the bag holding snacks definitely disagreed.
“Well, it was cool up until that point,” he assured the other man with a chuckle before he crouched and went about picking up the scattered snacks. “I won’t tell anyone if you don’t about the whole unfortunate victim or uh, victims here.”
There were such things as secrets between workmates after all.
It was a move he had practiced on many a slow night at the store, although this was the first time he had a bag in tow. A lesson for next time, surely. “Thanks,” he grinned from both the approval and the help in gathering up the packets of gummi worms and sour candies and chips and things. “I will deny it all if you don’t,” Cassidy joked in return.
“Besides these are for you, too,” the Men of Letters trainee insisted. “I figured if your first night went kind of slow we could just sit in the back and play games.” It happened more often during the school year, but a slow summer night wasn’t unheard of. Usually it was during the day that tourists crowded the shop as they made their way through town.
“Did Big Guy show you around and all that?” he asked curiously, already reaching for a package of green apple sour punch straws and opening them off, offering Cody first pick.
All in all? That idea? Did not sound half bad. Cody had a score to settle after all given that Cassidy has basically owned him during their first run of Mario Kart. There was revenge to be had and the sooner the better, screw that revenge was best served cold crap.
“Uh, no,” he said with a shake of his head as he dipped in and helped himself to one of those candy straws. “Said something about how you could show me the ropes, ease me in or something to that effect.”
He shrugged. “I got the feeling he had somewhere else to be.”
“Yeah he kind of just comes and goes as he pleases,” he explained with a haphazard shrug. “It’s always been his thing.” Ever since he first started, really. “Great boss, though.” And in truth, he couldn’t say anything bad about him.
Cass took a couple of the straws out for himself, hastily taking a bite. He opened the half door gate that kept kids from running behind the counter, getting all their sticky hands all over everything, and held it open long enough for Cody to follow him. “So the left wall has video games and it extends to one stack, the rest is all comic books with the newest on the right side wall,” he explained, his hands waving about to signify the general areas. “You collect any titles?”
Cody trailed out after Cassidy and took note of the different locations of things as it was explained. Pretty straight forward thankfully, but it definitely didn’t hurt to have a tour with somebody who’d worked there longer.
“Uh, no. Not comics anyways. Games? Definitely. I like Bioware’s stuff in particular. Stuff like Mass Effect, Dragon Age thought I gotta say I am partial to Call of Duty, Metal Gear Solid, Gears of War.”
He shrugged. “Not that I could bring any of that with me given the whole backpacking trip around the world.”
“Well help yourself whenever you want,” he said, motioning to the stacks. “Big Guy doesn’t really care much if we read while working but if you catch anybody just reading everything you’re kind of supposed to ask them to make a purchase,” he shrugged. “Honestly if it’s a kid and said kid is quiet, I don’t say anything.”
“Call of Duty is an essential,” he nodded in approval. “And Gears of War is severely underrated.” Cassidy led Cody toward the transitional area of the store where the shelves stopped and everything opened up to the gaming area.
“Ouch,” Cassidy said, his hand momentarily over his heart as if hurt badly. He could only imagine dropping literally every world-building game he’d started. “Are you sorta passing through then or planning to set down a couple roots here in Seven Devils?” he asked curiously.
He would definitely do that. Cody had always been interested in comics but he never had the time or didn’t know where to start. Maybe having so much choice so freely on hand would help him find the time and narrow down his choice.
Cody smirked at Cassidy’s mock display of pain. “Yeah, I mean, it was rough. Luckily for me my friends are back home so it’s not like I’ll lose anything but still…” He grimaced and shook his head.
“Uh, that’s a good question. I’m not sure yet so I’m sorta taking it one day at a time. Sort of how I live my life, really.”
It was admirable, really. Cassidy wasn’t sure if he’d be able to move from place to place — he craved structure and familiar faces. “Well kudos because I’m not sure I’d be able to do the same,” he admitted.
His lips curled up in a little smirk. “I’m still gonna kick your ass again at Mario Kart, though,” he informed Cody. Obviously he didn’t need to show the other man where they held the tournaments on designated game nights - but he did go ahead and motion to the row of retro arcade games. “Twice a month we have a retro gaming night. Asteroids, Tetris, Pac-Man, all the classics. It’s probably our most rowdy night, though,” he explained with a chuckle.
“You have ten year olds playing against forty-somethings and the insults start flying.. It can get pretty nasty,” Cassidy told him. “Usually we just order a couple pizzas and everyone is happy after.” It really wasn’t hard to work at 8-Bit Emporium, you just had to know how to manage the crowd sometimes.
Cody did a lot of things that were pretty scary for most other people. He’d never really enjoyed the safety net of knowing how things would be from one day to the next, it was like he’d been born to test the limits and see how many bones or norms he’d have to break before it was too much.
“You just wait.” He wagged his finger in Cassidy’s direction. “One of these days you’re going to think you’re winning and then I’m just going to sneak in there with the win.” Probably not but Cody could hope, couldn’t he?
Retro gaming night sounded fun even if it involved ten years olds against forty-somethings with insults included. He imagined it would make for a fun Tik Tok video.
“Pizza makes everybody happy or it should.”
“Only way you’re taking me down is with a Blue Shell,” he laughed, knowing Cody had given him a run for his money and likely would again. Try as he might, it was his weakness though - avoiding the particular spiked Item in Mario Kart. Cassidy knew they were avoidable but he could never get the timing down right.
“When that fails it’s time to offer free play,” he chuckled, shrugging. “Nothing ever gets too out of hand though. The tabletop gamers can get a little loud but that’s it.” It was a nice job, there was no arguing that.
Cass motioned to the gaming couch so they could sit. “Most nights I get schoolwork done so you’ll have downtime if you want it. Does a week of training sound alright to you or do you think you’ll need more?”
Cody followed Cassidy over to the couch and settled himself down onto one edge with an arm outstretched across the back. “I think a week should be more than enough and I mean if I get stuck there’s nothing to say I can’t holler for help.”
And he was not ashamed of asking for help even if his folks didn’t believe in it.
“Any other advice?”
“No definitely holler if you need to,” Cassidy agreed and he sat on the other couch cushion. “There’s a little cheatsheet by the register with my number as well as Big Guy’s.” And really, he’d probably stop in the first few nights Cody was alone, just to make sure everything was running smoothly.
Cass ran his hand loosely through his jet black hair. “The woods at night? I wouldn’t suggest it alone. Other than that I’d say try not to get weirded out by town but if you’re a fan of Asher’s stuff then you’ll probably like it here.” They had a unique history, to say the least. Tourists tended not to notice but anyone who put down any sort of roots tended to catch on after a while.
“There’s a pretty big archive in the college library, if you ever get curious.”
Cody made a mental note about the cheatsheet just in case he needed it but hopefully he wouldn’t, fingers crossed. “That’s definitely a given,” he admitted with a chuckle. “Though admittedly I didn’t think the things that Asher discusses on his podcast actually existed but I am definitely more enlightened than I used to be.”
He didn’t naturally gravitate to libraries but if there was as big of an archive in the college library then he would definitely need to swing in.
“Any people I should watch out for?”
Cassidy nodded eagerly in reference to the podcasts. “You’ll find this town is way weirder than anyone cares to admit.”
Cody’s question was a good one, and actually made the Men of Letters pause thoughtfully. The town itself didn’t have too many harbingers of evil, that he blatantly knew about, but he had realized the correlation of more drastic events whenever tourist season rolled in.
“No offense to you, you’re pretty cool, but really it’s just some of the new ones you have to watch,” he admitted. “The tourists.”
Cassidy leaned forward to turn the N64 console on and reached for one of the controllers to unravel the cord. “It’s a lot harder to make trouble in your own home town versus the one you’re just passing through,” he reasoned.
He paused.
“Actually I take that back. Mrs. Mathers is one to avoid. Cat lady, highly religious, wears mumus all the time… She’ll try to pinch your cheeks and invite you in for lemonade but don’t fall for it,” Cass warned, semi-serious about it.
Cody shook his head. “None taken.” He came from a country which was known for its onslaught of tourists which had only increased in size after the whole filming of Lord of Rings there. Thankfully not in his town, but they still got enough of them.
As Cassidy made a move for a N64 console Cody did much the same, grabbing the other controller.
“So, creepy cat lady in a mumu, offering lemonade, is a big no no.”
“I mean, unless you want to end up on this town’s version of Dateline,” Cassidy replied with a laugh, unable to help himself.
“Maybe she’d let you listen to your own missing person’s story on Asher’s podcast from her basement,” he shrugged innocently, teasingly, as the game booted up and the starting menu popped up on the screen.
“I really hope you’re yanking my chain,” Cody muttered as a distinct shudder ran the length of his spine and resulted in a full body shake. “Is it weird that I find the idea of being locked in some crazy cat lady’s basement way more terrifying than I dunno coming face to face with a vampire?”
Probably and if he’d ever met a vampire he wouldn’t know it because look at Yua, he’d had no idea she was a werewolf.
“But less talk about creepy old ladies and more play.”
Cassidy flashed the redhead a wide, mischievous grin to let him know he was, in fact, just joking. Although, he sort of wanted to mention the chances of running into a vampire in town were pretty likely - but he didn’t want to completely spook the guy into thinking every new person he met was either going to lock him in their basements or drain their blood.
What kind of employee trainer would he be if he did that?
“Right, right,” he nodded. “Round two has officially begun!” Cass pronounced enthusiastically in an official-sounding tone of voice.
At some point they’d take a break and go get the snacks - maybe clean up the shelves a little, before returning to the gaming couch.
Tags: cassidy marsh, † cody king
