Deus was momentarily disorientated as she felt the time lines dividing. The nature of this realm was very strange indeed. Every so often, reality would fracture and go off in different directions. It was part of the reason she wanted to be here, to find out what it was like for herself.
She had watched the people at Wilko, their friends and their families play out their lives in so many different ways. Now she was actually part of it.
She knew the mortals around her were blissfully unaware of it happening. She wondered if they were actually in denial as the process made a mockery of the 'free will' they were so obsessed with.
She focused on the present and discovered another mortal was now in the office with them.
"This is our newest member of the team," Emma told Natalie as she pointed her hand towards Deus.
The staff supervisor looked at Emma quizzically. This was the first she'd heard about any new employee but Emma was in charge so Natalie knew better than to mention it, especially with the new member of staff standing there. In addition Emma's new youthful look hadn't gone entirely unnoticed by Natalie either, although Deus's magic reduced her awareness. Natalie and everyone else who saw Emma, just thought she looked unusually healthy rather than being twenty years younger.
"Hi, I'm Natalie, staff supervisor," she said as she shook the small woman's hand.
"I'm Deus," she said with a smile.
"Like in tennis?" Natalie asked.
Deus sighed, "A little, it's D-E-U-S," she said, once again spelling it out. If she knew it would cause this much trouble, she would have considered her mortal name a little more carefully.
"Take her through the induction, will you?" Emma asked Natalie.
"No problem. Follow me," Natalie said in a friendly voice.
Emma watched as the two of them left. She quickly started compiling a list of things she wanted Deus to do for her, using her powers.
—
"That's not a Yorkshire accent is it?" Natalie asked, making conversation as they walked down the corridor.
"No, I'm new to the area," Deus confirmed. She was determined to keep to the truth as much as possible.
"Where are you from originally?" Natalie asked.
Deus's plan of sticking to the truth went out the window almost immediately. She picked a random place name from the mortal realm. "Dorset."
"Mmmm, I hear it's quite nice down there. Whatever brought you to Rotherham?"
These mortals love to talk. thought Deus. "I sort of retired from my last vocation and wanted to try something new," she said.
"Retired?" a surprised Natalie asked, "You seem kind of young to be retired." Natalie figured Deus was no older than about twenty five.
"I'm older than I look," she said.
They started to descended the stairs. It was still a bit baffling to Natalie for someone so young to retire. "I've got it!" she said a bit louder than intended, "You played sport. A lot of sport players retire young, don't they?" Looking at Deus's body, Natalie figured she was perhaps a gymnast or a sprinter.
Deus gave a small chuckle, "No, I did not play sport although my job was very physically demanding at times," she said, thinking back to some of the more epic battles of good versus evil she had participated in.
"So have you found a place to live yet?" Natalie asked.
"Lodgings?" Deus hadn't really thought about this sort of stuff. At times mortals seemed so simple and at other times they seemed hideously complicated. "No, not yet."
"Staying in hotels is quite expensive, you should ask around, maybe someone is looking for a flatmate," Natalie said helpfully.
"Flat? Mate?" The word seemed meaningless to Deus.
"Or do you prefer living on your own?"
Deus understood now. She had been a loner most of her life perhaps it was time for a change, "I used to but I think having a 'flatmate' would be interesting to try."
They reached the door to the shop floor. Natalie stopped before they entered. "Okay, word of warning. The rest of the staff are generally a good bunch but when a new female member of staff appears, some of the guys can get a bit, well, over-friendly. If you catch my drift," she said with a wink.
"If they attempt to act inappropriately, I shall punish their transgressions," Deus said. Natalie of course was completely unaware of how devastating Deus's 'punishments' could be.
"That's the spirit. Just make sure if you are tempted to knee one of them in the balls, make sure I don't see you and keep away from the CCTV cameras," Natalie said with a smirk.
"I shall keep that in mind," Deus said seriously.
—
Natalie spent the next half hour on the staff induction. She showed Deus the different locations in the store, the fire exits, how to clock in or out and so on. All the minutiae that came with starting a new job.
They were both watched keenly by the other staff as they wandered around the store.
During a brief quiet period a few formed a huddle.
"Did you see her hair? It looks amazing, I wonder how she gets it to make it reflect colours like that?" Emily asked. She'd been trying to do something interesting with her own dark hair for years.
"I'm sure she's got some interesting tattoos too," Jade commented.
"Where?" Emily asked.
"They are pretty well hidden but I've got a kind of sixth sense when it comes to ink. I bet she has some nice artwork under those clothes somewhere. I wouldn't mind seeing it," Jade said just before she realised how bad that sounded, "If she wanted to show me that is."
"I don't know what you're all getting excited about she doesn't seem to be anything special," the famously work-shy Liam stated as he watched the woman get shown around by Natalie.
Ellie eyed him cynically. "And we know why you don't find her special, she doesn't have huge boobs or a big bum." she said.
"Actually, from what I've seen, I don't think she has any boobs at all and I always thought Claire was flat chested," he said, resulting in many negative reactions from his female colleagues, "Look I'm not having a go, just stating facts. I'm sure even though she doesn't have a figure and is built like a bloke, it won't stop her getting attention," he said in attempt to justify his earlier comments but he dug himself in deeper.
"Piss off Liam," Jade said angrily in response, "she has a figure, it's called athletic. Not all women are the same shape, you know."
Ellie added, "And as for attention, I'm sure it will be the wrong kind from the usual creeps."
"Okay that's enough guys," Steven, the assistant supervisor said as he interrupted the rapidly developing fight. "I'm sure Deus will become a valued member of the team and you'll all get an opportunity to speak to her at some point but right now you've got your own jobs to do." He said, suspecting his efforts to be ineffectual.
It worked though and the group slowly dispersed, many of them grumbling to themselves.
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