Just another day.
She wakes up to the sound of her niece calling out to her loudly, like it has always been when she had straight hours of work duty. Groggily she pulls herself up, gives her a pat on the head and proceeds to cook what remaining eggs they had, reminding herself to buy some groceries to last for at least a week.
"I have two shifts covered today so don't wait for me and sleep early. Don't open the door to anyone, not even to ones you already know, unless it's Norma, you got it?"
"Aye aye captain!"
"I should tell Norma to decrease the amount of pirate shows she lets you watch."
"But I love those! I'm going to be a pirate and sail away with you and then we can go look for treasures!"
"Alright dear, of course we will, but for now I gotta go to work. Make sure to eat your veggies as well."
"Take care!"
Seeing her little wave she smiles and gets her bag, though quite scratched and a bit torn on the edges but still usable, she hurries to the next capsule train scheduled to leave in a few minutes.
The town is already bustling with life despite it being just a little past four in the morning, but it has been a norm ever since she can remember things and it's become part of her routine now, seeing hundreds of people going their own ways and working.
Like the office worker that she is.
She hops into the 4:15 capsule train, packed like a can of tight sardines as always, and hugs her bag tightly in front of her, quietly forcing herself to be alert despite the tiredness. One of the passengers screams when another one pulls her bag away and acted as if he did just not steal from her, but nobody bats an eye. A usual occurrence. To each man his own.
And she looks outside, trying to drown down in her mind the sound of argument filling up the small space, quickly moving out when it reached the next station.
Reaching the office with hair disheveled and hands gripping tightly to her bag, she still smiled to the fellow workers who, thankfully, did not ask how her morning travel went.
Sitting on her spot, she decided to forego going to the restroom and hold it in until the assigned breaktime happens, as the amount of water used, and the times used to go there also takes up a portion of their salaries.
And so, the day begins.
"They made me tend to that garden on my own and that's the only points I get out of it? 20? 20?! You bitch better not be stealing from my account!"
"Sir, let me repeat that I do not have access to transferring labor units to where it is not supposed to be deposited in, therefore I assure you that I am not capable of stealing, and would not choose to do so, and the amount you get is what you were assigned to before doing the task given to you."
"You fucker that's not even enough for a day to be reduced from- you motherfuckers! You lock us up together with those monsters and you still treat us worse than them! You fucker!"
He reaches out to her, hands gripping her collar, but she remained stoic and proceeded to not fight back. As what her company policies stated, or risk being deducted.
"You will be credited with 20 labor points as I have mentioned earlier. Will you put it all together to your sentence dues or would you have a portion converted to Perin?
Instead of an answer all she receives is a resonating slap, while the other workers just look in pity and proceeded with scanning the worker IDs of the other citizens. Only thin frames of glasses separating them from each other.
The line gets longer and the other workers behind the complainant pull him away and let the guard drag him outside, his points being accounted as null due to the act of violence conducted.
"Sorry about that, a lot has been sensitive these days, especially after the news on the workers brought into the new rehab facility, together with those, you know, monsters brought here as well. Does it sting?"
The voice of the next worker has been quite calming, but not enough to make her respond in the same way. She knows how cunning many of them can be. Taking their good side expecting that they can get something out of them. When all they can do is scan their IDs and transport the points into the designated account.
A bunch of criminals.
And monsters. Literally.
Though she is also branded as one. Just by being a child of dead criminals. She had hoped either one of them would fall under any beings out there just to have more leverage than the others but no, they've left only records and no abilities to feel more at ease from.
Though being human and having no personal documented crime, it did help her in some way, being able to get an official job from the capitol center instead of running around scouring for all types of jobs just to earn points. After all, despite being considered stronger in comparison, those considered different are feared, that's a fact, and it's like putting a label on you to be also outcasted.
And to survive in a cell city is to be able to blend in with the crowd and be as unnoticeable as possible. Or you either get hated on or used and discarded afterwards.
"Place your ID on the counter and I'll start the scanning."
"Oh… okay."
The bell on her desk rings, signaling the start of her designated break time, which is rotated all across each employee so that the operations do not get frozen throughout the day. She hurries up into the restroom and gets a little amount of water that she can just enough to wash the little cuts from the nail of the attacker earlier. With this act she hears her phone beeping. And another one after using the toilet, signaling deduction from her points account.
She hurries back to her counter before the cameras see her away from it, minutes before her breaktime ends. Being electrocuted for being off for a minute was not an enjoyable time and she doesn't want another experience of it.