Work

The elevator chimes and the double doors slide open to reveal two drenched figures covered in seaweed. Ari flicks algae off of her chestnut hair as they turn to their coworker, Fei, and declares, "No more aquatic missions for me." They trudge towards their apartment, both soaked to the bone. Fei wipes his wet glasses and retorts, "You'll be lucky if we get any more jobs after your stunt." 

"Whatever," Ari barks back as they enter their apartment, dripping water on the hardwood flooring. At the breakfast table in the middle of their combined dining and living room, Ari questions, "Do you think they'll know we failed the job?"

 Gloomily, Fei responds while picking kelp off of his black cotton suit jacket, "With our luck, they'll invite us to be fired." Soon their doorbell chimed, echoing throughout their small apartment, and Fei opened the door in a panic. There stood a lengthy android, with blue eyes and fair cheeks, clearly dressed to impress.

"The boss wants to see you." 

Ari and Fei, still soggy from their oceanic misadventure, straightened their suits and fixed their hair in the elevator mirror. "'It's all your fault, Ari,"' Fei accused.

"Yeah, right, you're the one who picked the assignment,"' Ari snapped back.

Upstairs, the robotic messenger awaited their arrival. "'IDs, please,"' it ordered. Fei grabbed both Ari'ss and his own, he then handed them over with worry etched on his face. "'Proceed,"' said the robot. Through the grand double doors, two stone-black droids surrounded them, their geometric shape reflecting the faint red-tinted glow that shone from their triangular tempered glass eye. "Don't worry, they're supposed to be here," a cheerful voice assured them. 

Giovanni Castello, stood from his deep blue embroidered velvet chair, pushing it back a little towards the wall-length bookcase that wrapped around half the room. Over his varnished oak desk, he extended a hand. "Please, have a seat," he graciously said. His extended hand guided Ari and Fei'ss' eyes to the leather seats that sat on the opposite side of the regal desk. Standing tall, his gray cashmere suit fitted him in pristine condition, Fei turned to Ari searching for reassurance, she continued to walk by Fei unfazed by Giovanni's presence; as they approached the desk at the end of the room, Fei reached out his hand in response "Good evening, Mr. Castello," Fei greeted, shaking his sturdy hand. "Please call me Gino, Fei, it's not our first meeting!" He replied with a chipper smile, his dimples barely showing.

"So, what brings you two to my office today?" Gino inquired, pulling his rolling chair from behind him closer before he sat down.

"None of your business," Ari snaps, barely sitting down after Fei follows Giovanni.

 "Ari!" Fei yells as he whips around to cup her mouth shut. In retaliation, Ari licked his hand. An "ewwwww" erupted from Fei.

 "Very funny Ari," Gino replies with a small chuckle. "But that's not the answer I'm looking for." "This is the 4th time you've been called to my office in the past 3 months due to failed assignments. It's brought up many concerns from our department heads," Gino exclaims.

 "Yes we're aware, but this time it was just a faulty assignment," Fei desperately stumbles. As he wipes his hands.

 "Buahbuahbauh, no excuses for you two this time," Gino chirped. He looked at the pair for a while, before saying with a generous smile, "Check it out, I got gifts for you guys!" He presses the intercom on his neat desk to the right. "Elenor, bring it in please!" 

As the door opens, the messenger robot, E.L.E.N.O.R, walks in with a little box. "Here you go sir," she says as she hands Gino the box. Her mechanical hands floated above Gino's desk without moving an inch. 

"Thank you Elenor," he said, happily back. Gino places the box on his desk and slides it over to the duo.

As Ari and Fei opened the box before them, two shiny IDs read Ari #M87645 and Fei #B67345 "Ohhhh what are these?" Ari asks sarcastically as both Agents pick up the IDs, Gino explains, "Congratulations guys! You both have the privilege of being transferred to civil work!" He says with delight.

 "What?" Both Ari and Fei say with shock and disappointment in their voices.

 "You heard me right, Civil!" Gino said expressly. Ari stands up quickly causing a stir,

 "You've got to be kidding me!" She yells and Fei tells her to sit back down. Gino chuckled, unfettered by her tantrum.

 "Your new ticker maid, routes, and weekly assignments will be assigned tomorrow morning," Gino informed them.

 "Well- What about our data collection?" Ari demandingly asked.

 "All of your data collection will be transferred to the diligent hands of Mark's team," Gino informed the angered Ari. 

"Great, that idiot." She says in a stern tone. 

"I don't appreciate that tone, Ari, maybe once you can prove you can handle simple assignments without trouble, you might be moved back to data collection, or even do something with higher skill," Gino explained to Fei and Ari.

 Fei sat there painted with a disheartening look. "We understand, sir ." He said politely, his shoulders dropping. 

"Perfect!" Gino exclaimed. Fei's head turned with a sad smile to Ari, catching a glimpse of his expression, effectively stopping her next tantrum. As Ari took a deep breath in, Gino stood up.

 "It's been a pleasure catching up with you two, but I have a meeting coming up in 10 minutes, Elenor can escort you two out," Gino proclaims. 

As Eleanor guided the pair to the doors, Ari and Fei exited from Giovanni's office and entered into the elevator. Once the elevator doors closed the two turned to stare at each other and began to bicker.

 "You just had to kick the guy running the seaport? " Fei backhandedly quipped to Ari. 

"It's not my fault he called me stupid!" She snapped back. 

"You know what?"Fei said as he rubbed his temple, "Right now is not the time, let's go get dinner and we'll figure this out afterward." Fei spoke, his sorrow filled the space of the elevator. 

Ari rolled her eyes but reluctantly agreed as she shifted her weight and turned to the elevator mirror.

 "I heard Mark picked out the band playing in the dining hall today day." Began Fei, desperate to make conversation.

 "Perfect, let me guess it's some lame-ass classical orchestra he picked, I don't want to hear any more about him," Ari replied. 

"Too bad!" Fei teased, causing an annoyed expression on her face. As the pair entered the dining hall, classical music spread throughout the lengthy ceiling and the wooden decor, which hung on the cider support beams. There lies in front of the stage where the Quintet plays, a group of four: Perry; Penople to the right; Lily to the left; and in the middle, Mark sat boastfully on the couches. 

They grabbed their food and went to a secluded table by a window, where the rain had started to coat the glass windows that showed the courtyard gray from storm clouds covering as it made its way through the city, covering the evening sun. Ari wastes no time, immediately scarfing down her meal. She tuned out Fei's attempts at conversation, for she only listened to the droplets hitting the glass as the rain grew. However, She found herself lost in thought following the patterns that adorn themself outside of the agency. but a surprise visit from Lily caught back her attention. Lily chatted with Fei. In response, Ari suddenly turned to them, and stared at them both, with furrowed brows. 

"I heard about your guy's transfer," she said, as she faced only Fei; her almond-shaped eyes taunt Ari.

 "Yeah, and what's it to you?" Ari barked. 

"Don't be rude," Fei mutters to Ari, as she rolls her eyes. 

"Mark and the rest of us wanna have a little chat to sort some work stuff out if you don't mind," Lily said politely but sternly towards Ari while playing with her lengthy blonde hair. 

"Sure, we'd be glad to," Fei responded, as Lily turned and smiled a gracious smile at him.

Fei pried Ari from their table and followed Lily to the couches. Ari glared at everyone who stared. "Good evening you two," Mark bellowed. "Cut the crap," Ari ordered back, to which Fei responded with a stern glare. They moved to the edge of the couch, and Mark looked at the pair, 

"I understand there's a few things we require to take off your hands," he said. Fei sat next to Lily, he apprehensively spoke out, 

"Yes! Mainly data of our recent data collections for the Agency, I believe."

 "Perfect!" Mark responded confidently, 

"Once you go back to your room, we'll send our trustful Lilly to pick up your data cubes and such." He smiled. 

"Great, looking forward to it." Ari retorted as she arose, cutting off what was left of the short conversation. She proceeded to walk out of the cafeteria, and Fei began to follow suit, but Mark grabbed his arm. 

 Fei turned around to Mark, his grip relaxed once he secured Fei and stood from his seat, he began to speak.

 "You don't need to feed into her childish behavior." Fei looked up at Mark, disoriented.

 " I don't understand what you're trying to get across, Mark?" Fei questioned, respectfully. 

"Think about her actions today, what did it cost you?" Mark interrogated Fei.

 "Okay…Thank you." Fei responded with a lump in his throat, he pulled his arm out of Mark's grasp. Walking out of the cafeteria he shyly waved Lily goodbye, until he turned the corner and ran to catch up with Ari.

The morning was upon them, the new daylight shone through the curtains and over the bed, hitting Ari's face. A small groan emitted from her as she pulled the covers over her head, she knew the noise that disrupted her sleep every night was coming next. Underneath her bunk lies Fei, a hand over his alarm awaiting for the chime to go off signaling the start of the day. The moment his ears caught the sound he lowered his hand to turn off the alarm. 

Shifting from his bed, Fei arose, grabbing his glasses and putting them in as he scratched his dirty- blonde hair. He turned to look up at the top bunk. "Wake up Ari, we gotta be there on time to get our assignments!" He exclaimed too enthusiastically for 5 in the morning. Ari let out a huge groan before slipping down from her bunk onto the floor, her feet covered by her Pajama pants, and shivering from the cold wooden floors. She stretched like she did every morning. As Fei headed towards the bathroom,

 "Scuse me" Ari spoke as she dashed by him pushing the tired Fei out of the way of the door leading in. Too tired to deal he turned and headed to the door leading out into their main room and kitchen to start breakfast.

Partially cloudy from the storm last night, sunlight shone through the agency from the windows that furnished the high walls that made up the agency's first, of many floors. 

A light hit Fei's face. He didn't mind the light beam especially when it was from a good sunrise. Meanwhile, Ari walked slouched. Lifting her left arm to Cover the bright light with her black suit jacket as much as she could. 

Trying to fill the silence during their walk to the ticker stand, Fei spoke to Ari 

 "What did you think about breakfast?" 

"Edible, Like it is every time you make eggs," Ari scornfully spoke as she hid deeper. 

"Well if you want to make your breakfast, be my guest." Fei retaliated to Ari "Now stand up straight, the last thing we need right now is to make a bad impression on our new ticker maid."

The ticker stand was busy as usual, the constant ringing of calls coming and going. Civil, S rank, and sanitation, like picking up their assignment. 

"Daphnia Katz," Fei read off the projection from his data cube. "Code, #K37445."

"Hey Ari, she's in the same division as us!" Fei jabbed Ari with his shoulder as he joyfully said his tidbit of information.

"I don't give a damn." Ari quickly shut down Fei. Fixing her posture, the pair strolled up to the front of the tickermaid stand. Ari bent and leaned over the counter while Fei stood beside her, putting his data cube back into his top jacket pocket that sat alongside his phone. A trail of heels hitting the floor from behind the counter came towards the duo, a hand slammed down on the counter, inches from where Ari leaned against her arms. 

Ari, still half asleep, looked up, raising an eyebrow.

"You got a lot of nerve coming here," the lady spoke spitefully. Her hair, which was up in a high ponytail, whipped over when she turned, catching Fei off guard. 

"And you-" pointing at Fei "-don't you dare think it was my fault you idiots failed that assignment." 

 "Jessica," Fei pleaded, "I'd never blame you, Ari and I take full responsibility." 

"I don't!" Ari blurted. 

"Butt out of it Miller." Jessica shot to Ari. "Cut the crap Fei, Giovanni, came to me telling how you said it was a 'faulty assignment'"

"Jess-" Fei was halted by Jessica's hand, signaling the end of their conversation.

"I feel horrible for the poor new girl they hired recently, having to put up with y'all." Jessica scornfully said to the pair.

 She began to walk off, her heels clicking against the tile mixed with the ringing of the phones annoyed the high hell out of Ari. She stopped midway. 

"Before I forget," Jessica spoke with an irritating smile towards Fei. "You still owe me your half from dinner."

"Drama Queen." Ari scoffed, her orotund voice reaching Jessica's ears, causing her to flinch.

"Crud!" Fei said looking at the clock that resided in front of a mountain backdrop on his phone. "Where is Daphne?" He questioned. Tapping his foot he looked over to Ari, staring at the counter. 

"What do you want?" Her words spiteful

"Nothing-"

He was soon cut off by the sudden sound of tennis shoes squeaking against the tile. "Howdy, hey!" A voice chirped. Before pulling out the rolling chair that resided at eye level with Ari, Daphne sat down and placed her insulated coffee cup down next to her.

She extended a joyful hand, "I'm Daphne, first year! So sorry I'm late, I'm gonna be your new ticker maid!" Her cheerful voice made Ari gag. 

"Glad to meet you!" Fei happily responded, reaching for Daphne's hand to shake. "I'm Fei, and this is my partner Ari." 

"Hiya Ari!" Daphne chirped as she lowered to meet Ari's level.

"Put a cork in it, Katz."

"Ari!" Fei yelled at her.

"I'm not wrong."

"You shouldn't be treating people like that."

"I could care less."

Fei turned over to Daphne still in shock from Ari's reaction.

Following Fei's multiple apologies was Daphne's numerous, "it's all rights". Daphne opened the drawer next to her chair full of data cubes with today's assignments.

"Since you two are just starting, you've been assigned pretty simple tasks." Daphne handed FeiGei the small data cube, small enough to barely make up 1/3rd of his pinkie. 

Daphne explained, "just a route through the Civic square." 

"Perfect! We'll get on it!" Fei responded.

Fei grabbed Ari and the pair headed out the front to their assignment.

"This is stupid." Ari spat out, making their rounds through the square."Maybe you should've thought about that before you kicked that guy." Fei responded, sifting through the data cube projection.

"He deserved it."

"No, he didn't."

"If he called you stupid wouldn't you have kicked him?!" Ari and Feis' voices kept getting louder and louder.

"No. No, I wouldn't Ari. I'd ignore him, and get the job done."

"Yeah the job YOU picked!"

"I DIDN'T PICK IT, ARI, IT WAS THE LAST ONE ON THE FREAKING LIST!"

In his temper, Fei threw his data cube onto the concrete sidewalk. With the micro sound of the data cube's glass hitting the concrete the usually busy square full of people started to look over at their commotion. 

"Crap," Fei muttered to himself before he bent down to pick up the cube and dust it off. "If I broke this thing Natalies going to kill me," he mumbled swiping up to turn on the projection mode.

"Whatever, it's just a stupid piece of junk!" Ari snapped back, still stuck in their squabble. 

"Look," Fei sighed and ran his fingers through his hair as he adjusted his glasses. "I'm sorry, Ari, let's just try and get through today." He spoke loud enough for her to hear as he turned to face her.

She scowled at him, shrugging her shoulders. She went to cross her arms and kept walking down the sidewalk leaving Fei to catch up.