Traffic...
It's the sign of the city. A sign of business mashed with motion, matched with a little bit of...
"Hey watch it... I'm walking here"
Impatience.
Crea was out on the street, walking down the familiar city block B12 in West London...
The busy area was home to many small scale business and shops. Most usually seeking young workers; a suitable hunting ground for job seekers.
Currently, the 6 foot 6 tall, 210 pounds of pure muscle of a lady didn't know what job would suit her.
All she'd ever been good at in her life was gaming.
Getting a job wasn't impossible, just not something she focused on doing.
Last time she was a receptionist in a bar, before that a bouncer at some night club.
Now she looked from shop to shop, seeing if she would see a vacant notice.
Crea was dressed in a large hoody with sweat pants and a pair of sneakers. Her face had a base ball cap just under the hoody.
If one didn't look too closely, they'd think she was a very tall man.
She whistled a tune as she noticed a signboard just across the street.
VACANCY!!! RECEPTIONIST NEEDED
APPLY WITHIN
She looked at the store and read it's name
'The Ramshackled Hub: Internet Café'
"Oh, that looks interesting" she spoke to herself before going across the street.
She entered in, it's glass door slightly creaking as she scanned the interior of the Internet Café. It was mostly empty with about 20 PCs arranged in rows of 5, making a total of four rows. On the receptionist desk was a monitor screen facing the customers and one just next to it for the managers personal use.
"Oh hello, nice to meet you sir" a rough masculine voice came from a door that opened just behind the receptionist desk. A middle aged man walked in.
He had black hair with grey patches, deep brown eyes and small bags underneath his eyes; a symptom of lack of sleep.
He wore a black shirt tucked in grey trousers and carried and air of solitude and soothing calmness around him.
"Good morning sir, I... Uh..."
"You want to use a PC? It's 2 quid per hour. Pay before use"
"N...no need. I came to apply for a job"
The man was stunned for a second, then he looked up Crea closely. He scanned her height and even though she wore a large baggy hoodie, he still could tell that she was well built.
"Uhh! I think we didn't say we needed a body guard but uhmm..."
"No, that's not it. The receptionist job; I have experience working down at Wesley's mart a year ago"
The man was then stunned again, this time for a different reason...
Her voice
Her?
She?
'Thats a girl?'
"Uhmmm Miss uhh"
"Crea... Crea Larc sir"
"Yes Crea... The job can be demanding sometimes, needing you to take full attention of my small..." He pointed at the computers just in the room "abode... But are you sure. Bouncer duty quite fits you"
Crea smiled slightly and replied
"That was two years ago when I turned 18... It paid well but when they found out I was a girl..." Then she stopped, hoping the manager got the message.
"Ah, yes... For a young lady, you seem quite large for your size. Must be hard huh?"
"Not really. I've always liked it. Problem is you get bullied for just breathing at this point"
"I get you young lady. So since you're interested, why don't we discuss the details of your tenure here" he said as he pulled out an employment sheet.
Crea was confused...
"Wait thats it? No interview or ..."
The man waved his hand and cut her off.
"Not necessary. I already have a good feeling about you young lady"
Crea smiled slightly and nodded. She grabbed a pen and began scribbling her details on the sheet.
"Thank you so much Mr... Uhm I forgot to ask..."
"Connor Jefferson... "
"Mr Connor sir..."
"Call me Jeff..."
"...Mr Jeff..."
"That's the spirit. Now sign on here and you're good to go"
Crea's head began to spin as she was dazed by the eccentricity of the manager. He seemed like someone who'd start a conversation with anyone who walked in.
Crea sighed... Another extrovert in her life... Seems she was asking for trouble.
Tris was already a mouthful. Now she has a boss that wouldn't let her know peace.
At least she got the job...
***
On the street just walking down, a young man with calm eyes and a very young face was looking at his phone.
He was reading some news on an esport site for gamers, focused on what he was reading.
On it was an ad for a local tournament to be held during the weekend, just a three days away.
He looked at his clock and checked the time, it was about 12 noon, just a few minutes off.
He needed to hurry.
He walked quicker, taking larger steps while still looking at his phone, slightly oblivious to his surroundings.
Soon he reached an Internet café with the name 'Cosmic Radiance ICT centre', but what he saw discouraged him.
The place was packed out...
"Argh!!! I knew I should have left earlier... Damn it" he groaned as he ruffled his short black hair, almost causing his thick rimmed glasses to fall of his face.
He looked inside to see if there was any hope, but it seemed useless. Every single PC had been rented out.
"How am I going to practice now? I just can't catch a break"
Just then, in the corner of his eye, he noticed a small building just across the street a few hundred meters away.
It was small and inconspicuous, very easy to miss if one wasn't looking.
It was also an Internet café, a small one, but the customer count was...
None.
He couldn't see anyone using the café, like it was abandoned.
Usually, this meant that either the café was very new, or very unpopular.
Either way, the young man didn't care.
He crossed the road, hurriedly pushing the door as he entered the reception office.
He wasn't looking at all, his gaze back on his phone.
BAM!
He bumped into a large rock.
His glasses fell in a clatter.
"Ow, hey watch I..."
And he looked up and couldn't move anymore...
'She's.... She's... HUGE!!!' he almost gasped.
Before him was what seemed to be a woman in a T-shirt that read Ramshackles.
She was pale skinned with dark eyes and no makeup. She wore black lipstick and only one earring in her right ear.
She wore an unzipped hoodie to cover her arms, but he could clearly see her shoulders. She was jacked.
"Muscle Mummy!!!" He blurted out.
"What?" The woman replied, seeming not to comprehend what he said.
"I mean uh. I'm Dylan. I came.. to uh... Rent a PC"
The woman looked at him awkwardly before walking to the back of the receptionist desk.
"2 quid and hour, pay up before use, how long would you be using it for?"
Dylan had bent down to pick up his glasses. With it, he was able to see the woman more clearly. Although she looked bigger than most guys he knew, she seemed as feminine as she could get. The term muscle Mummy fit her quite well.
'Shit, I almost broke on her.'
"Sir, how long would you take?"
Dylan was brought back to the present with that question.
"Sorry about that. I'll be here for about 8 hours" he said, fishing out a card from his pocket.
The woman accepted his payment and gave him a key card to one of the computers.
"Have a nice game"
Dylan stopped and nodded
"Thanks" then he went to the PC with the key card tag and inserted into the system unit, causing it to boot up.
He shook his head to get the pretty but huge receptionist off his head and booted up the computer.
There he opened the game he had come to practice.
Arianis Legacy Online...
***
Crea was slightly amused by the flustered behavior of Dylan. Seems that's she left a good first impression.
Just an hour ago, She had asked the receptionist why the traffic to this café was very small.
"Ah that... That's because it's a new place. I had just move in here a month ago. And just across the street a few blocks, there's another larger one" he replied as he began to type on the receptionist computer.
He turned to her and gave her a serious gaze.
"Don't worry, when that one is full, we usually get the leftovers. Just get used to it. Heck you can even use the company PC to game and watch movies while you wait."
Crea had nodded quietly, she looked outside and watched the cars drive by. At least it was a job that paid quite well.
She'd made up her mind to do her best with whatever time she had here. At least they closed by 9pm, so she wouldn't miss her streams.
And so customers came and went, slowly even the shop packed out.
By 8:30pm, most of the people who came in had begun to go home.
Only one person still remained rooted to his chair.
Dylan. And he wasn't having a good time.
"No no nooo... Why are you guys so bad? I've literally done my best for you all, what else do you want for me?" He groaned as he slumped into his chair, defeated and tired.
Crea sighed, knowing the feeling. He'd been a roller coaster of emotions since his first match till now.
And Crea could guess what he was playing, even though his PC was facing away from her.
The finger on keyboard placement
The shotcalling
The timers between him being serious or relaxed
She knew all these signs, she played the same game too.
And as time began to draw near the shops closing, he looked tired.
Just then the manager walked out and whispered to Crea...
"Hey... Could you get that guy to round up, we're almost at closing time"
Crea nodded and went to meet the still gaming Dylan.
And what she saw made her chuckle.
This guy...
He's actually not that good.