He then dug in his pocket and pulled his phone out, before switching it on and opening his messaging app. There was only one conversation with somebody called 'Starry Idiot' and upon opening the conversation bubble, he scrolled past a lot of unanswered texts to a particular thread.
'You have spent half your life being in an environment where you had to be inhumane to the point where you've probably forgotten what little social skills you had before everything went down, so pay attention to wisdom that I, your older, wiser best friend am about to impart on you!'
'But you're younger and dumber than me.'
'Not this again. They discovered us on the orphanage steps at the same time, the Director just picked YOUR basinett up first! Now hush.'
Evan, AKA SkyyStar, began lecturing Visuveus, speaking as if he were talking to a child. Visuveus scrolled down until he found the message titled 'Interpersonal Workplace Relations' and read that.
'When with your coworkers, don't do that thing you do where you keep to yourself, don't say a word, stare out into space and zone out – especially in cars or while eating! Talk to them! Ask them for tips and tricks, help, mess up a few times on purpose in order to get help! You're evil! They'll be scared to approach you, so YOU need to give them a reason to!'
Visuveus looked visibly annoyed as he read the message again, but the annoyance came from Evan being bang on about how he had been behaving, as if he had been shadowing Visuveus. Suddenly, his phone went off as he got a new message from Evan.
'Something happened, and now you're going through the Edict of Wisdom, aren't you?'
Visuveus switched his phone off without even responding and stuffed it into his pocket.
"Edict of Wisdom? What a stupid fucking name…" He snorted to himself before finishing his lunch and standing up, heading over to the others.
They watched him as he approached, but didn't really pay him that much attention as the debate over Bryant's music had started up again as they ate, with the other three going on about variety and volume. Visuveus eavesdropped on the back and forth, and as if Evan suddenly appeared behind him, he heard his voice almost whispering into his ear.
'Become his music ally!'
Annoyed at the fact that even his subconscious was taking social cues from his lame friend, Visuveus quietly made his way into the truck and waited for everybody else to finish and do the same. They all did just that, exactly on time as they still had quite a few collections to make. As the truck pulled off and B's music started, he started with the hip hop inspired gestures and movements – to absolutely nobody's surprise. What did surprise everybody however, was the fact that Visuveus was awkwardly doing the same movements – albeit a beat late – and much stiffer. Mouths were covered, reactions were stifled, and laughter was swallowed. Oddly enough, Bryant seemed to be buoyed by this, but not consciously. As the pair got more animated, the trio in the back kept shooting glances at each other, speaking through the glances.
As much as they were all acting tough around Visuveus, nobody wanted to be the one to set him off and make him revert to type, so they kept their mouths shut and just watched in continued disbelief at what was going on in front of them. Bryant bounced around and rapped, while Visuveus, stone faced as ever, did the same all the way to the next location. The moment they descended from the truck however, they were both cold and professional as Bryant approached the client and had them fill out the paperwork. There were more boxes than at the previous places, and they were larger as well. After B was finished with the customer, he signaled for the others to get started with packing the boxes. The trio of Ryan, Natalie and Morgannin appeared to be dying to talk about what had happened in the truck, and this was their chance as they targeted the larger boxes first. With Morgannin being the chunkier of the three, he grabbed a box by himself while Natalie and Ryan shared a large box.
"What the fuck was that?!" Ryan asked while trying not to shout.
"Did you see Evil Dude's face the whole time? He looked like he was dying inside!" Natalie answered.
"The way his head was bobbing about, he looked like a bobblehead!" Morgannin chimed in behind stifled laughter.
The trio moved with a level of synchronization that allowed them to keep talking as they moved. They reached the truck and were snapped out of their gossiping by Bryant, who was standing with his arms folded and glared at them.
"Are you three having a nice time?" He asked as he looked all of them in the eyes, but before they could answer, Bryant then caught something out the corner of his eye that gave him pause.
Visuveus was carrying pretty a ridiculous number of the very largest boxes with consummate ease. He shuffled his way around the four of them and set the boxes down before placing them in the back and sliding them into position carefully, packing them effectively. Once that was done, he skillfully slid his way around them again and making his way back to where the other boxes were. They all watched as he piled them up again, and loaded them in the truck, prompting the trio to look at the boxes in their collective hands and load them, looking rather embarrassed while they were at it. Bryant just shook his head as he watched them, and as he shaped to go help Visuveus, he saw that there weren't any boxes left. Visuveus had already climbed back into the truck and B just looked at the others before speaking to the client and climbing in after saying goodbye. The three just sat awkwardly inside as Bryant drove off, and played his music. Visuveus was stuck in a weird place, as he was back to staring out the window, but every few minutes, it was as if he would remember Evan's words and suddenly start with the gestures and movements, before settling down again and looking out the window.
This ended up being the trend for the rest of the day, with Visuveus carrying and loading far more boxes than everybody else, which resulted in the work progressing very quickly. By the time they were finishing the final scheduled pickup, Ryan, Natalie and Morgannin were looking pretty haggard and were slumped over in the back of the truck. As they drove off and headed towards the courier's depot, Bryant made a call.
"Yeah?"
"Hey Pop, we're on our way to the processing facility right now."
"Decided to hand in what you guys had before going back out to collect as much of the rest as possible?"
"Nah… we collected everything. We're headed there to turn it all in."
"Wait… what?"
"You heard me, Pop."
"How the fuck did you guys manage to get it all done so quickly?!"
"I'll explain it to you when we get there, Pop. Just be sure to tell those people that you know we completed the list they gave us."
"Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm not an idiot."
"Alright. See you later, Pop."
"Fuck off."
The call ended, and Bryant's music blared until they reached the depot, offloaded the boxes while B handled the admin, and before they knew it, the Dawn Logistics crew was en route back to the office. They arrived to Sonny standing in the parking lot, clearly waiting for them. As much as he tried to hide it, he was obviously masking a deep, intense happiness, which everybody picked up on.
"That old man and his love of money…" Bryant grumbled while rolling his eyes as he and the rest got out the truck.
"You. In my office to explain." Sonny said as he pointed at B, who nodded and followed the older man upstairs.
Visuveus and the rest made their way inside as well, and sat in the common area, with the trio flopping onto the old couches, looking dog tired. The ex con sat in an arm chair, one leg crossed over the other, back arrow straight and shoulders relaxed – maintaining excellent form and not looking fatigued in the slightest. After a period of waiting, Sonny came into the common area with Bryant in tow.
"Alright you lot, because of how you've pushed yourselves today, I have decided to generously sponsor dinner for you lot for tonight! Now, don't drink too heavily because we have work tomorrow, but… but…"
Sonny, who was being about as high energy as he had been in a long time, realized that the only person who was paying attention was Visuveus, because the others were practically asleep. He then looked at his newest employee, who was sitting upright with his arm raised and arrow straight, as if he was a child in a class with a question.
"…Vincent?"
"Could I get my share of the sponsorship added to my salary?"
"Why? You don't wanna hang with the rest of us?" Bryant asked, giving Visuveus the same look he had earlier during lunch.
"I have a curfew that I cannot break, lest I want to give Nisha an excuse to shove a cattle prod directly up my ass."