Seamus woke up to find himself standing in front of a cashier's desks, with a line of people in front of him. With one person in particular, the front guy glaring straight at him.
" Whyat " said Seamus as he looked around, to see there were other people sitting on chairs drinking coffee and teas on the other side of the desk. He himself was surrounded by 3 people walking around him in a tight space.
He quickly reset his view upon the line of people in front of him, a brown haired suited man was first in line and his face was clearly growing in anger
' What the hell is going on ' Seamus thought
"Hello, Hey, I said a double late with no milk, and a syrup shot, a long black, a frappuccino, one decaf latte and a flat white with soya, oh! and a camo,just dip the bag in..don't leave it in….hellooooo, hey" said the brown haired man in an aggressive tone, bringing Seamus out his thoughts.
" I'm sorry sir, I'll just ring that up for you" Seamus fumbled through the process of taking the order with the till. He froze mid way through, feeling like he had been here before.
" Is there a problem?" The brown haired man asked
" No, not all just.." Seamus responded, a hand came in from his side and quickly finished the till process. "that will be 16.20 please, can I take your name for the order?" The voice of the hand said.
Seamus looked to see a man with ginger spiky hair, that was partially covered by a green golf cap, wearing a brown shirt, brown apron with a circular cream embellishment on the middle.
" Dean" The brown haired man responded sharply. A few of the people behind him had started to get fidgety in the line and were whispering away.
" Cheers Dean, it will just be with you in a moment " Seamus passed the order note to his fellow colleague James, who gave him a confused look.
" You okay man?" He asked, as he started working on a machine and pulling out takeaway cups.
"Yeh, I ju..just blanked out but I'm all good, thanks for the save btw " Seamus gave a small nod before turning back to the queue "Next Customer please " he shouted with a familiar ease, that made him shuddered.
After a plethora of customers had come and gone, Seamus took off his green cap and wiped away a layer of sweat that had formed on his forehead.
" Hey James, can you cover for me, I'm not feeling too good, I'm going to see the boss" He found James's name via the name-tag hanging on his brownshirt, a young boy with a quiet nature, Seamus thought.
" Cool, you look like shit btw " James quickly responded whilst moving over the cashier
" Bloody hell James!, that's your second warning this month, don't let me catch you again with that kind of language or you'll be outside sweeping the streets! I'll be havin none of that in my store " A roar came from behind from the duo. A tall man looking in his 50s with a buzz cut and a firm look appeared from a corridor leading to the back of the shop.
" Yes, boss" James said
" Seamus, come to my office, we need a chat" said the man as he wiggled his finger in a come hither motion at Seamus.
Seamus followed the man down the corridor and walked into his office, and sat down in front of a wood desk. The man closed the door and sat in front of him, leaning in with his hands together.
" You've been lagging behind the others today, care to tell me why?" The man asked whilst starting into Seamus eyes. ' Man do you know how to blink' Seamus thought as he looked back at the man.
"Sorry boss, I'm not feeling well but i.." Seamus replied but was cut off.
" Hmm, I like to run a tight ship here, I canny have an employee fainting at the till, so you're dismissed for the day bud..oh! before I forget, as the store reviewer is coming in tomorra, we canny have a repeat performance like the one I seen today"
The boss said whilst looking at Seamus up and down.
" bloodyhell lad, you look even worse than you did yesterday, you know what, take 3 sick days and come back Thursday….you'll work the weekend shift with bigdave… you deny get paid for sick days but look like you need it "
" Wait what? ...Un" Seamus replied baffled by the events occurring in front of him.
" What about what! 3 Sick days, that should be plenty…. a lad your age will bounce back like a deer… I'm being generous here, givin you a bit more ley way… if there's not anything else? close the door on your way out will ya " he said, finishing his sentence with a gesture towards the door.
"Why you still here?" He said whilst beginning to sort out paperwork in front of him.
"Unpaid? I don't need 3 days off Sir, I'm okay, just a little bit light headed, I can work tomm..." Seamus quickly replied
" Look! You're young, I get it, you've been out partying, getting smashed, taking drugs by the doozen on the weekend, that's all good, I was a young lad myself back in the day but we canny have you been unprofessional in my branch "
" Ah, Ah, wait, wait, wait, I've not been drinking or taking drugs sir, I was just coming to ask for the rest of the day off because I'm not feeling well " Seamus
" Are you saying I'm lying here? that my eyes deny work?" the boss refixed his gaze onto Seamus "I have been doing this Losta job for nearly tenyear, an for the first time, I took a shot bringing you in, an this is how you repay me! by calling me a lair and yar takin to take me for a mug so you can go shoot more " the boss said as he tapped his finger down on the desk.
" What,Losta? It's Costa " Seamus said with a confused face, as he started rubbing his forehead, trying to appease a growing thumping pain.
" And now you're implying I'm a idiot! it's goddam Losta!... Are you you drugged up right now? you know I will not be havin any of this! Out my office! Out! Now" the boss said slamming his fist on the table whilst pointing at the door.
Seamus felt an uncomfortable surging rage brewing up as the pain in his head intensified
" No! I'm not on drugs, why would you even.. what the hell is Losta! It's Costa! COS-TA" Seamus he stood up, knocking his chair on to floor and proceeded to walk out the office.
" How the hell are you still alive! You're God damn fired! No one talk to me like that, not in my branch, You ken forget about a reference from here! " he bellowed as Seamus slammed the door closed
"What a fucking nutbag"
...
The sound of keys jingling could be heard from inside a gloomy bungalow. The sound made a few mice scatter underneath a pink velvet hole filled sofa, or under a dusty box tv. The rest ran into the kitchen that was hidden behind a greasy topped island.
The front door opened with a bang, the sound drowned out a humming noise that came from the fridge. In the door frame stood a disheveled black haired 6 foot 1 male, wearing a brown shirt and black trousers; Seamus.
He quickly closed the door, ran ito the kitchen looking grab himself a glass of water, only finding one glass amidst a pile of dishes soaking in the sink.
After tossing the water into his mouth using his palms, he walked over to the holed sofa and slumped down. " Fffffffffffffffffffffffffuck!" The word was said with the accompaniment of a sigh. He proceeded to slap his cheeks, stand up and start pacing slowly in front of the island.
" Okayokayokay….we got Losta, Hamburger&Hamburger, Tamsung, Plord, X-tech, Zulu Search etc etc, so this definitely ain't earth, I'm not dreaming soo what am i working with " Seamus said to himself during his pacing as his face frowned and a slight sweat appeared on his forehead, his walk home had brought him a sense of dejavu
" breathe, we got this...Ive not been isekai'd cos I'm a fully grown man, nor did a meet a mighty being….have I been Tensei'd, is that the word? If I was I'd have the same bo.." Seamus paused and ran to the bathroom, putting himself in front of a slightly cracked mirror that hung over the sink.
"Holy shit, is this a joke, I look like the embodiment of death!" He was patting his face, left and right
" No wonder he thought I was drugs " withered lips, dry looking light golden eyes that looked slightly infected, hollowed cheeks and dull tanned skinned, topped with a black birds nest for hair.
He left the bathroom, whilst still give himself part down, only to find he was mere bones with his skin was holding on for dear life. ' This is me, but ' he thought whilst walking.
" It's a no and yes to the tensei, I'm guessing a parallel world or some matrix type thing or am I now awake …" His eyes strained as they widen and his lips formed a small smile as something clicked in his head
"...waaaaaaaaaaait a minute, muwahaha, oh please work, I pray to whatever being lives out there " Seamus took a knee, slowly exhaled and closed his eyes, he could feel his heart racing, ready to leap out at any moment.
With a lick of his lips and a shaky breath he said in a whisper "Status "
[ Host Condition: Re-calibration required ]
" huh" Seamus said as he looked at the information that popped into his head. His head pain turned into an intense heat, the last thing he saw was the room slowly turning black and the floor rising up.
…..
On a rusty yellow stool sat Seamus, in a pair of discoloured shorts and a baggy long purple shirt. Steam could be seen coming from the bathroom, his skin looked more human and his hair looked more tamed.
"Driver licenses but no car keys in sight, bank card, library card..condom card...ahhh really!....JustFit gym card…..Passport! Yes! " Seamus said as he was ruffling through a torn up black leather wallet and a black backpack that was filled with lots of high school papers and wage slips.
" Okay, Seamus Rysio Moench, aged 17, we got the same birthday, or is it I have the same….anyways,my birthday is still the same...his birth parents died, mined lived, I got ..had sisters, he has none... no details on my grandparents ... we still went through the orphanage etc etc….. " He was rummaging through the backpack looking for a writing utensils.
" but the major change is...he got left with an inheritance whilst I got picked up, leaving this place much earlier " Finding a pen, Seamus Seamus walked to wall that was plastered in paper and started writing his ramblings down.
" I died at 34...he,me... I died at 17 in this world...standing off all things…" He moved over to a new piece of paper and wrote 'SKILLS'
" I can draw, he can dance...I can sew, he can cook, I can code, he cannot clean for shit… wait aren't I insulting myself… whatever… he knowwws piano, I know bass, clarinet...he knows Spanish, German and French..we still have English. I know some basic ass mandarin, portuguese and to finish it, jewelry making from me, i'll put that under the other design skills … what else, I feel like I'm missing something …" Seamus said whilst rubbing his hairless chin
" If only I had a system that could help, when I said 'open status' " he said in a condescending tone. Rolling his eyes and walking back into the kitchen to look into his empty fridge that only had a pack of red onions.
[ Host Condition : If host went outside on a windy day, host may snap like a twig.
Overview : 56/500
Talents: 7
Mean Level: Novice ]
'Onion soup it is ' thought Seamus as he pulled out the onions and a couple of ingredients from the cupboards.
'It must have compacted the languages into one, HTML is hypertext markup language so that must be in there with the CSS and javascript. The other 6 'talents' should or will roughly match my wall, though it's basically telling I've got no talent in singing ' he thought as he cut up the onions.
He had no butter so drizzled about 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large pan, he found under sink. He added in the thinly sliced onions, frying them with the lid on until they were soft and sprinkled in some sugar halfway through.
About 20 mins later, after stirring the onions frequently, until they caramelised. They took on a golden color, looking full of flavour and soft with a slight browning on the edges.
Whilst he was waiting, he thinly sliced some garlic cloves, which he added for the final few mins of the onions' cooking time and then he sprinkled in 2 tablespoons of plain flour and stirred the pan, to thicken the sauce.
Seamus was surprised that the him of this world even had running water given the state of the bungalow. In his 'older' life, he had left this small town when he was around 13. He wasn't surprised to find no white wine, a moldy packet of beef stock and some dried bread.
Holding back some tears, as he was missing his old kitchen and food stacked fridge, he ladled up the soup into a bowl. ' Status' Seamus thought as he sat on the stool with the bowl in hand.
[ Host Condition : If host was to go outside on a windy day, a 5 year old would have better chances of surviving.
Overview : 56 / 450
Talents: 7
Mean Level: Novice ]
' Not even a point for the soup...Overview must be like my total combined exp or something… ….Novice across the board though, damn that hurts ' He cleaned up his bowl and surveyed his own apartment, he had cleaned it up a bit after he woke up.
He walked back to wall of papers, specially to a piece that had the word 'GOALS ' written in the middle. " I've got 8,580, left in the bank, should be able to go get me under a year of living alone with some to spare… money is the only goal then for now, along with rebuilding my body " the words money and body were written in bold on the piece of paper.
"But…. I could just look for a normal job…." He paused complicating this. " Nope, I just died twice doing mundane jobs, I need to rest and just take care of my poor little life…going by my luck, I'd probably die a third time if I ended up in a 9 to 5 again " he said whilst nodding away
" I'll be half way out of money in 6ish months… I need a decent income stream fast.... money making options ...the music is barely decent in this world, everything else is semi so-so or all over the place, barely any e-commerce, I could bring Amazon?.....nah thats too much work for now "
Using a dying PXaer desktop computer in his bedroom after his shower, he found that this world had its own creations, some creations from his world but was missing varying pieces from different industries.
no Jimi Hendrix, no Giuseppe Tartini, no Antonio Vivaldi, no Macdonald's, no Apple, no braun. Half the car brands sounded weird, no Alexander mcqueen, no Eames, Vogue was Vague, no frank gehry.
When he had found out his favourite team was called North London, Seamus had broken down and started weeping in the corner, forgetting about checking any other industry.
He feared he'd see Ratman vs Strongman in the comics industry, if he probed any further. After his slight mental breakdown, he had found himself cleaning up and eventually sticking papers to wall, trying to figure out what was going on.
After pondering his simple money making schemes, Seamus had settled on creating instrumentals and loops, placing them online with different licences for the time being, He could record them and watch the money slowly roll in, whilst working out his next move.
There weren't many instrumental selling sites in this world so for him, he had found a niche market to work with and with some website work he could out design the existing 1990's, mid 2000's looking sites.
Though, the first thing on his agenda was to get more food, he found they didn't have home delivery in this small town. so had to run to the nearest FoodHome, this worlds version of Walmart. Second, was to buy a new computer on his way home and grab anything else he could get his hands on.
….
In front of a monitor, past mini pile of books, some titled 'A to Z's of music theory' 'Beginners guide to FruitLoops ' etc and a worn out library card was Seamus with a mic in front of him and pair Tose headphones. He was unsure if this world music knowledge differed so took a trip to the library.
It had been 3 days since he was abruptly fired and was currently working on the second song to help bring attention and traffic to his newly made website.
" Con Los terroristista, Ta, ta, ta, ta, ta, ta, ta "
' May this world forgive me' thought Seamus as he continued to record the song. He knew went it viral, in the old world and thought it would be the best song to use to build traction in this world.
He came across YouTube in his second session of world research. To him it felt like a 2004 version of the site. Seamus had created an account under Moench with a link to his website.
Using a still of a mountain with some graffiti text and an audio visualizer, he had created a video to go along with the song.
" Title nammme: Meonch - Harlem Shake, descriptive text, and upload " Seamus doubted if the song would transfer well, but was also curious to see what heights it could reach.
He leaned back on his chair, letting the light of the sun warm up his face. 'Status'
[ Host Condition : If host was to go outside on a windy day, he might get blown away.
Overview : 59/ 450
Talents: 7
Mean Level: Novice ]