Things in the store were, it had to be said, pretty quiet. Despite having been open pretty much all day so far, barely anyone had come in. But, to be fair, this was exactly how Aria liked things. Quiet, and with nobody around to bother her. The middle Siren sister was, at this moment, busying herself with some of her regular duties around the place. Specifically, she was currently on her knees, emptying a box of socks onto one of the shelves on the far wall of the store, making sure each one was set in pairs and clearly displayed. It was simple work, but she was content with it, and after emptying the entire box, she got to her feet before turning around, heading towards the front counter. But, it was at this point that her employer, an older woman, emerged from the back rooms, and was in the process of getting on a large coat, prompting Aria to raise an eyebrow.
"Going out?"
The other woman smiled, nodding slightly before zipping up her new garment.
"Yep. I need to head on over to the post office. There's this delivery that's getting stuck for some reason and they need me to sign a few forms."
Aria nodded back, walking around the counter.
"Got it. Look after the store until you get back, right?"
Again, the woman smiled.
"Right. Though I doubt you'll be all that busy today. Still..."
She headed over to the front door, pausing slightly before looking back to the Siren with a smirk upon her face.
"...do try not to burn the place down before I get back."
Aria rolled her eyes and let out a brief chuckle to this, but otherwise said nothing as her employer finally left. The door closed with the usual bell-ring, and after a few moments of watching the woman walk further and further away, Aria started to look around the store. Everything was where it was supposed to be, and nothing really required her attention, so for the time being, she let out a sigh, placing one hand upon the counter.
"Wow...a real whirlwind of customers today, eh?"
Then, as if fate itself had heard her, she was caught off-guard by the sound of the nearby door opening yet again. But, to Aria's surprise, it was not her Boss, but rather a man, just a few years older than Principal Celestia from just a casual glance. After glancing around, his eyes fell upon her, and he smiled.
"Good morning, Miss."
Aria nodded.
"And you, Sir."
After a brief pause, during which the man let out a nervous cough, he eventually got right down to business.
"So...shirts?"
Aria nodded, pointing him in the right direction.
"Right over there, Sir. We've got a special offer on those ones on the bottom shelf. Only a dollar today."
Naturally, such an offer caught his interest, so he hurried off in the direction she'd given him. Aria watched as he rummaged around a few of the shirts on display, before settling on a simple blue one. After bringing it back to the counter, he spoke up again.
"So that's a dollar, right?"
Again, Aria nodded, prompting him to get his wallet out.
"Okay now...do you mind if I pay in...you know...?"
Peering into the wallet, Aria understood his meaning, as there were numerous small coins that he clearly wished to use. As much as she wanted to sigh right now, she resisted, instead giving a nod of approval, to which the man looked to her with a smile before starting his counting. And so he began getting out each individual coin, speaking aloud as he did so.
"Alrighty then...one...two...three...four..."
Aria waited for quite a while as he did this, watching him get out coin after coin as he carried on with his counting.
"...seventy-seven...seventy-eight...sev...wait."
He let out a groan of annoyance.
"Ugh! Sorry! I did that wrong. Hold on...one..."
As before, Aria resisted the urge to slap her forehead with frustration over this, and so waited yet again until, finally, the man finished.
"...and...one hundred! There we are!"
Forcing a smile, Aria nodded to him.
"Very good, Sir."
She took his money, which, thankfully, she'd been counting herself as he was doing it, just to make sure she wouldn't have to do it twice, before getting it into the register, after which she handed him his purchase.
"Thank you for shopping with us today."
The man smiled, taking his new shirt and making his way out of the store. Only when he was gone, however, did Aria finally exhale deeply.
"Uuuuurrrrgghhh!"
But, it was a short-lived reprieve, as the door opened yet again, prompting her to stand straight once more. This time, her customer was a girl around the same age as Sunset and Aria's other friends, probably from the city, since she didn't seem familiar to her. The two said nothing to each other, and instead, the other girl just started browsing. Aria kept her eyes fixed on her the whole time, watching as she stopped in front of one shelf in particular. A smile crept onto the girl's face, and she picked out a pair of long skirts, one red and one pink, before hauling them over to the counter.
"I'll take these!"
Aria nodded, then got the assigned price up on the cash register.
"Okay, that'll be eight dollars."
But here, the girl looked confused.
"Wha...but...the sign said they were two-for one!"
Looking past her, Aria saw that there was indeed a sign in the general area where the skirts had been picked up, with "Two-for-One" written in bold letters. However, this did not appear to concern the Siren.
"Yes, Miss. However, that sign refers to the shorter skirts on the shelf above where you got these ones from. So I'm afraid these skirts here are the same price as always."
To that, the girl narrowed her eyes.
"That sign said no such thing!"
She turned, stomping off towards the shelf yet again.
"I'll prove it!"
She stopped in front of the shelf, her hands on her hips, and stared at the sign in question. Her eyes drifted down from the bolder letters on the top to the smaller print just below, which, while certainly less prominent, were nevertheless just as clear to read, and not in any way obscured. There was utter silence as she did this, during which, Aria retained a stoic look, knowing full well what was to come. Eventually, the other girl turned to her with a frown.
"Well...they should make it clearer!"
Then, just as Aria expected, the girl did not return for the two skirts, but instead simply walked off towards the door, leaving without even saying a word. Aria shook her head, turning around and approaching a small piece of paper that was nailed to the board on the wall behind her. There were a number of tally marks there, which she soon added to after getting a pen from her desk.
"Okay...so that's seventeen of those ones this week."
Turning back, she left the pen on the counter, before picking up the now-unwanted skirts and getting to the business of putting them back where they'd been before. But, no sooner had she put them there when the door of the store opened up again. This time, it was an older man, about sixty or seventy years from the looks of him. As soon as she saw him, Aria got back around her counter, putting on her usual customer service face.
"May I help you, Sir?"
The man grumbled slightly before entering the store in earnest, and it was here that Aria noted that he was carrying a bag. After reaching her, he rummaged around in the thing before pulling out what appeared to be a coat, before unceremoniously slamming it on the counter.
"I want a refund!"
Aria looked down, and saw that there was indeed a receipt for the coat stapled to it. She glanced back up to him before speaking.
"May I ask what's wrong with it?"
The man pointed angrily to it.
"My wife bought it the other day, but it's too small for her! She had to be somewhere else today, so I came in instead to get our money back."
Aria nodded, then took the nearby receipt into her hand, looking to it carefully. However, upon further examination, she found that there was a slight issue.
"I'm sorry, Sir. But I'm afraid that I can't refund this."
He glared at her.
"What?! Why not?!"
Holding up the receipt, Aria pointed to it.
"Because this isn't the store you bought it from."
He paused, looking to her as if she'd said the most idiotic thing in the world.
"Are you serious?! Of course this is the right store!"
But Aria shook her head.
"No, Sir. See?"
She pointed to one piece of small print on the receipt.
"It says here that the shop you bought it from was Clothes-Land, whereas we..."
Raising a hand, she pointed to a number of banners and other identifying marks around the store.
"...are Clothes-World."
The man looked carefully to the receipt, then around him to all of the markers that had been pointed out to him. He then stared angrily at Aria, who simply remained as quiet and composed as she had been all day. Then, rather abruptly, the man snatched the ticket out of her hand, gathering up his coat and leaving the store entirely, grumbling all the way, all while Aria watched. And, thankfully, it was exactly at this moment that her employer returned, having just moved out of the way of the man before entering the shop herself.
"Hey there, Aria. How'd it go without me?"
Aria let out a sound that seemed to be equal parts sigh and chuckle all at once.
"Susan, I can honestly say that I've never been happier to see you."
The other woman raised an eyebrow.
"Oh dear, that bad, was it?"
Aria nodded, only to then gain a curious expression.
"So how'd the delivery go?"
At that, Susan let out a groan.
"Ugh! Don't even ask! Turns out we have to wait a whole other week before we get it in!"
Aria folded her arms.
"Sheesh!"
Susan nodded.
"Yeah, tell me about it."
But, moments after, the older woman smiled to her.
"Still, at the very least, this is your last day before your week off. Any plans?"
Looking down at the counter, Aria looked, for lack of a better word, contented, as she thought hard on days to come.
"Well, on my first day, I plan to stay in bed for a few hours longer than usual...and then spend the rest of the day relaxing in a nice, warm bath."
The older woman let out a dry laugh after hearing that, approaching the Siren and gently placing a hand upon her shoulder.
"Aria...welcome to my world."
