A peek inside my mind

Lana didn’t even bother to look up from her spell at the condescending words. She didn’t have to. She had heard similar statements so frequently that she could picture the disapproving expression, the gaze filled with part concern but more disdain, extremely clearly in her mind. She continued muttering the incantation under her breath, a familiar headache starting behind her left eye.

“Didn’t anyone ever show you how to perform magic without one?” The voice grew louder and more annoying.

Lana still didn’t react. By her estimation there was still a roughly twenty percent chance that the speaker would go away on their own if she ignored them. The muttered words grew more feverish, a cold sweat breaking out on her forehead from the strain.

At the tip of her battered wand, a faint glow began.

“Hey, I’m talking to you!” The young man, not getting a response from her, stepped closer with a scowl. His magical power rippled out unknowingly from his skin, responding to its owner’s emotions.

“Don’t.” Lana whispered desperately in between magical cadences, hoping against all hope that he would move away.

But it was too late.

Food.

A deep growl rose from within her soul. Lana tried to push it down, but it casually brushed aside the attempt. Formless, yet immense and terrifying, it stared hungrily at the unwitting victim that stood in front of them.

Young, about her age, nineteen or so, he wore the standard Academy uniform, but with enough expensive decorations added to it to announce that he was from a Family.

Which meant he would be missed.

“Run!” Lana abandoned her magical attempt, clutching her wand like a lifeline, and forced out the warning with the last of her spare energy, all of her focus on the battle within.

“How are you still at this school?” The young man, ignoring her cautionary shout, leaned forward. The magic drifted from him like a heavy perfume, stirring the force within her to fight even more fiercely.

Prey! Food!

“I’ve heard about you.” Unable to hear the invisible predator inches away, he smirked. “The daughter of the most powerful witch and wizard in the realm. The one who should have been a force to be reckoned with, a new world power.”

I must feed. Let loose the chains so I may eat!

“Instead she never graduated from using a practice wand. A tool for children.”

Lana took a deep breath, gathering all her strength to imprison the beast roaring hungrily deep within her. She gained ground, with a flash of triumph, and finally had space to speak.

“You don’t understand, and I cannot explain everything to you here. Just know this… Magic isn’t what we think it is. It is far more ancient than humans, and will feed on our fossilized corpses long after we are gone.” She gestured with her wand. “The more powerful something is, the more control is needed to prevent disaster. So please… while I still have that control… please go.”

She stared at his face for a few tense seconds, hoping for a positive response.

Instead he laughed.

“What a pathetic excuse for a witch.” He reached out, grabbing her wand and tossing it to the ground. “Grow up and learn to use magic like an adult….”

FREEDOM!

The voice ripped out from her body, soundless yet deafening to the both of them. The young man turned pale as he sensed the danger, falling backwards as he scrambled to put distance between himself and the now perceived threat.

But it was too late.

An invisible claw tore out through Lana’s chest, causing her to scream in agony. It grasped the student, tearing something from deep within his body. Terrified and painful gasps filled the air, but he was too far gone to do more. The invisible appendage retracted, bringing a bright light with it.

As it exited the young man, his body collapsed in on itself, turning into dust and scattering on the breeze. The beast pulled the light within her, leaving no visible wound for the extreme pain she had been forced to endure.

Lana collapsed to the ground, barely breathing. The beast, which some called Magic, consumed its prey happily within her soul, before becoming dormant once more.

Shakily, after what felt like an eternity, Lana reached out and grasped her battered practice wand. Feeling the extra lock slide into place she sighed with relief.

She stood up, and brushed off her robes. With sad expression she looked at the empty space where not long ago a living, breathing human had stood.

“I told you to run.” She whispered painfully.

With that, she abandoned her spell and headed back to the dorm. She thought of the glances, the words, the gossip that would await her. The daughter of the strongest, dependent on a wand to use even small amounts of magic. But they didn’t know. They didn’t understand.

But she did.

She would find a way to destroy Magic. Destroy the beast.

Before it became strong enough to escape.

Very much did in the sense that I literally do not know where my job is at the moment. But, for the time being I haven't been let go because nobody else including the store owner knows where it is either.

So, I don't wanna risk doxxing myself by posting pictures but goddamn am I tempted because this is not a believable event. This is a cartoon problem. For looneytoons.

But yeah, so, I work(ed?) at a kiosk selling boba tea, right? Freestanding kiosk in the mall with full water and electrical hookups and multiple fridges and sinks and a mini kitchen and the works. Fully functional tea shop. Very important to note that it was there last night, The work chat was discussing another issue last night at closing time. I'll get back to this.

It's been showing signs of being on the way out with how business is being handled lately and I've been considering other options, which is probably why I'm not as torn up about this as I should be, but maybe it just hasn't set in yet, but that's not the point. The point is there's been a lot of shit breaking and not being replaced and nobody mentioning anything about it until I walk into work in the morning and have to figure out why shit like the fucking cash register isn't there today. So I'm kinda used to having to ask questions about big things that nobody bothered to update me on. I was out for two weeks recovering from a surgery, so I came to work this morning assuming there'd be some kind of bullshit, yeah?

So, the question I had to ask the chat this morning was:

Not a text I ever thought I'd have to send in sincerity, but there it is. Because what I found instead was a fenced off patch of discolored tiles and a few holes in the floor where my entire place of employment used to be.

And the answer? Nobody knows! It was there last night when the mall closed, and every single trace of the structure and all its contents including drink making supplies and our safe and cashbox was gone when it opened again. And when I say nobody knows, I mean everyone from last night's closers to the actual (former?) owner of the store jad no fucking clue about this until getting that text from me this morning. For once I am actually the first to know. 🎉.

So. I guess I didn't so much lose my job as had it stolen. Not by AI, but good old fashioned hands-on human beings picking it up and carrying it away somehow. All mall security would tell me was that they were instructed not to tell me anything and have us contact our management. Who also don't know anything. And later on I came across some construction workers around the gravesite of the kiosk discussing filling in the holes, asked them about it, and was told that they "weren't at liberty to say".

So, not only is my job gone in the most literal physical sense of the word, but it was taken in some kind of super secret kiosk extraction in the dead of night without any warning or witnesses and nobody is allowed to speak of it. The store owner said she was gonna figure it out 10 hours ago and still no word back.

My mother in law thinks the FBI took it.

Not any of the other stores around the state. Just the one little kiosk.

Why? Because she loves a conspiracy and is just a little bit extra.

Also because she was around for the massive crackdown on Yakuza-owned businesses in Waikiki (in her homestate) that did actually involve the FBI seizing stores (no confirmation of making kiosks cleanly disappear in the middle of the night though).

Still no word from my job on what's actually going on, but the most likely theory so far is that maybe the kiosk was on lease and got repossessed? The mystery continues

According to the owner, based on what she's been able to find out, the kiosk was not removed legally and they're starting a potentially long process of legal action. I hope she gets to sue the shit out of whoever did it but for now at least I know for sure I'm unemployed.

Really hoping for more details in terms of who/why/how, so I'll keep updating if I learn anything.

For now the summary is: An unnamed entity that is most likely mall management (on account of mall security cooperating with them) stole an entire kiosk and all the contents including money and machinery with barely a trace in the middle of the night grinch-style, with zero warning or explanation, and ensured the silence of both security and the construction crew, in an action that was definitely preplanned and illegal, and as far as I know nobody knows its whereabouts.

Enjoy the unintentionally funniest text I've ever sent in my life

Aaand a close-up:

HEY HI HELLO THIS ONE'S MY FAVORITE

Still haven't heard back from the unemployment office, but a few days ago I ended up telling this to the SNAP caseworker, who absolutely lost her shit and then put everything on hold to go investigate this herself out of a sense of justice and Needing To Know More. World's most nosy angel who helped me out a lot in general (in case she ends up seeing this: I appreciate her so much).

While she didn't find a facebook listing for a used kiosk (yes, that post is just a coincidence, I'm sorry), what she did find was the actual kiosk for sale. By the owner. On a reputable website.

Now, there are a lot of funny conclusions to be drawn from this, but I'm afraid it's not quite that wild. I asked a friend in management about it and turns out the listing is from months before the disappearance, it wasn't kept a secret, it just wasn't relevant. She had been trying to sell it for a while without much luck, wasn't selling the entire business, but just the kiosk with that branch included (the listing advertised that it would include the equipment and drink recipes and retain the current staff). It also said the lease with the mall was active until some time in 2027.

So, no, as funny as that would be, the owner did not heist her own kiosk. However, what this does tell us is:

She must have owned the kiosk outright, so the only way this could be a repossession is if she had a mortgage on it? I guess?

It definitely isn't about the lease being up. So any eviction would legally require like 30-days notice and, presumably, a valid reason like a violation of the terms. (this is how it works with renting homes in my country, and I've never rented a business location, so I can only guess that it's similar)

The store was not financially beneficial enough to keep. This could just mean that she was focusing on other ventures like she says in the listing, but it could really also mean that she was having money trouble and couldn't afford to keep the location.

SO. This leaves the most likely scenario being that the owner was behind on rent, and the mall manager (who has a history of being outta control and pulling shit like this, as well as harassing asian businesses and our shop specifically) decided to illegally remove the entire kiosk about it.

Still no confirmation at all about anything, but I remembered the listing today and realized it gave some additional clues.

Xoxo

-Designer

ALI IMMEDIATELY LIVING UP TO THE BALLDS SUNG ABOUT HER.

it’s called a Hawser and is the thick cable or rope used for towing/mooring a ship

This is a line designed to hold in place a moving object that can be easily in excess of 10000 tons. AND THEY CAN BREAK FROM THAT TENSION ALONE.

You’ve heard of the term, “Going haywire,” right? Ever spared a thought to why that term exists?

See, time was there was a prototype automatic hay-baler. But this was in that magic period juuust before we really got into standardized sizes. So calibration of the machine was handled manually - a mix of guessing and learning from the results of guessing. If you’ve read Raising Steam by Sir Terry Pratchett you know that many people don’t get to learn from the results of their own guesses, due to being dead.

A poorly calibrated hay-baler had the mechanical strength to smush the hay into a tight bundle, wrap the wire around it, and tie that wire off to maintain the bale’s form. But the pressure of the over-packed hay was a constant outward force. Each bale made by an over-tight baler was potential energy in physical form. We have a word for “potential energy in physical form” and that word is “bomb.”

So sometimes, a man would toss a hay bale and it would land with a twang and the man who’d been reaching down to pick it up where it landed was dead.

-but my house has a porch on the second story that affords me a terrific view of my neighborhood and the Colorado Front Range and I was partaking of some peace before the 4th Of July Finger-Loss Festivities begin, and I have had a

~*Spiritual Experience*~

I just watched my neighbor try to unload an actual wooden pallet that had to have been forklifted into the back of his insecurity pickup worth of fireworks.

Except that he does not have a forklift in his garage.

He does have so much sports memorabilia and cardboard boxes of unsold MLM Merchandise and patriotically themed camping gear and posters of women in bikinis and flags of suspect political organizations in his garage that there is only BARELY enough space for the fireworks and certainly none for his truck.

So he had to unload the individual boxes of recreational explosives from the back of his truck and stack them in the minimal space he had cleared by hand. This is a tedious and time-consuming process as this neighbor has purchased a wide variety of recreational and locally illegal explosives instead of many of just a few types, so the individual boxes are rather small.

He begins, and this is crucial to what happens next, by cutting apart the industrial-grade saran wrap his explosives dealer had so carefully wrapped his merchandise in, and discarded it unsecured on his lawn.

Where Outdoor Conditions sometimes happen.