Plastic has a minion!

Squib the Octice

BRRRRRRING! BRRRRRRING!
she ran frantically across the hallway into the kitchen to pick up the receiver before the dreaded answering machine was able to play its recorded message. she pulled her still-foamy toothbrush from her mouth and cleared her throat before answering.

"hello? oh, it's just you. yes, i'm going to be there. i still have, like, ten minutes before we open. yeah, i'm walking out the door right now. bye."

sighing, she hung up with a resonant click and resumed brushing her teeth, sauntering back to the bathroom. she spat in the sink and looked at herself in the mirror.

imogen bea oculus was late for work. she always was. that was just one of her many endearing qualities. also, seven o'clock was a ridiculous time for an animal shelter to open. no one ever showed up to adopt anything until at least nine. so why hurry? she pulled her hair into two pigtails and slipped on her shoes. on the way out, she picked up the bag sitting by the door and slung it over her shoulder.

the shelter was just across the street, so she ran across like she did every day, weaving through the stalled line of cars waiting at the red light. when she finally entered, she instinctively reached for her time card, smiling when she saw that she had already been clocked in.

"thank you, gabe!" she called out in her sweetest voice, which was answered with a grunt, and unsurprisingly, a mumble of 'shoulda been here ten minutes ago'. she shook her head and began to prep the shelter for opening by sweeping the floor. a phantasmic form of a puppy floated by her head, and she dropped the broom, grabbing the pup out of midair.

"hey now, you know you aren't supposed to be in the lobby!" imogen brought him back to the room he belonged in and placed him on a plush bed beside a headless puppy. a cyclops dog yapped from across the room, and a three-headed pup snapped at her ankles. "play nice, we're opening soon."

as soon as she resumed her sweeping, the bell rang when someone walked in. imogen turned her head towards the stranger and smiled politely. "we don't open for another five minutes, but feel free to look around to see who you're interested in adopting."

"oh, pardon me," the stranger began. "i'm actually looking to volunteer here part-time. i saw your ad in the paper." she smiled at imogen and nodded. "i'm erin."
erin was tall, and her eyes were glassy and her hair short and silvery. she had two impressive horns curling back on her head, and sort of greyish skin.

"oh!" imogen blushed, laughing embarrassedly. "sorry! i'm imogen." she set her broom aside and grabbed a stack of papers off gabe's desk, handing them to erin. "just fill these out, and you should be good to come in tomorrow, as long as you aren't a felon or anything."

erin laughed. "let's hope not, plastic."

"plastic?" imogen blinked, confused at the new nickname.

"yeah," erin nodded wisely. "'cause you're as pretty as a doll."

erin winked and walked across the room to a bench and began filling out the paperwork. imogen smiled to herself, blushing as she picked up the broom again. it was really dumb, but she liked the nickname her new friend had given her.

all she knew is that erin would be here every weekend, all summer. and she had plenty of time to give her a cute nickname too.

x by Marisa