Haland, Prydania
Day Twenty-two
Stækar Tollefsrud frowned as he looked at himself in the mirror of the HM Hypermarket staff room. He was fully in uniform but he couldn't get his hair to sit right. The twenty-two year old licked his palm and tried to slick his hair back but it wasn't working. The problem, as it was, was that his hair was in an awkward spot between short and long, not really short or long enough to be stylish, but just long enough to be kinda awkward. That and the store made him shave. He hated it. It made him look twelve. Giving up on his hair, he adjusted his nametag and straightened the collar on his blue polo uniform shirt before heading out. The store opened in half an hour.
His annoyances at the facial hair policy aside, he didn't mind working for HM. He was only part time, but had moved to temporary full time for the holidays. Which was perfectly fine. The extra money for Christmas gifts was nice, and he had the time to work since he'd planned ahead and finished his first term projects at Nyhett Tech's satellite campus at the University of Haland. And that meant he could commit to a full time position until the holidays were over. Cha-ching.
He made his way out to the main floor of the store. It was looking sharp, with the new HM Hypermarket rebranding fully in effect. He still hadn't gotten used to this store being this... lively. Even half an hour before it opened, it was more alive then when he was a kid.
Apparently this location was previously a HvietiMart before the Syndicalists took over. He didn't remember that, he'd been born a year after they'd seized power. For his childhood this place was just a grey, poorly maintained, poorly stocked Syndicalist "Community Market," which was the regime's term for a state-run store that pretended to be a community effort. He could still see the run down walls with the grimy Syndicalist artwork on the walls, and the shelves that never seemed to have enough, even if his mother did manage to have enough on hand to buy what she needed for him and his brother and sister. He could still see that, from his childhood... and he could see a few years later... this same space full of FRE soliders, aid workers, and the like trying to keep order as they used it to distribute supplies.
And now it was a modern, clean, freshly painted, fully stocked, retail store. He could turn the pages in his mind as he looked around, and it was wild. He was twenty-two. It wouldn't be that much longer before more people couldn't remember that stuff. That was a good thing. It was also humbling. Still, Stækar didn't dwell on it other than a brief thought. The staff lounge emptied into produce, but his department was in electronics and toys. He passed the display for the new Tóki's Cola rollout. Apparenly it was a new flavour and new logo? He wasn't much of a pop drinker, so he'd not paid attention to it. Apparently it was a big deal. They'd announced it at a big press event in Býkonsviði.
Stækar got to his section. Electronics. TVs, computer accesories, and just across were toys. There were also toys directly next to the electronics... well they weren't toys, but "adult collectables." Fancier packaging, and an extra x65 to the price. He'd not gotten any, but since transfering to this section, he'd checked some out. The were some Santonian imports here... some super detailed Captain Saintonge figures, along with his Prydanian sidekick, that he was sure why this assortment was sent here. He looked through a couple of the figures and shrugged. Maybe if he had some extra cash to spend on himself after he'd bought Christmas presents for everyone. It still floored him that something as luxury as an adult collectable toyline was being sold here in the same place where Syndicalist People's Militia would harass you if you tried to buy "too much" food at once. However they chose to quanitify that.
He checked his watch. That half an hour flew by. The store should be opening soon. He got behind the counter in electronics, and sat down, leaning back. The clock on the computer turned to 8:00 am. He had time to realx. People wouldn't be filtering in for a bit. And then...
"Stækar? Could you come up front?" His walkietalkie crackled. It was his friend Leidolf, who was a few years older and an assistant manager.
"Roger roger," Stækar replied through the walkie talkie. He didn't have to, but he'd grown up seeing the War, and he looked up to the FRE soldiers who'd liberated Haland back when he was ten. And how they all seemed so cool as they communicated via their own walkie talkies. It was dumb but it was a habit.
He strolled from the electronics and toys section in the back to the front of the store, but his liesurely pace was interupted when there seemed to be a bit of a comotion. There was everyone on staff today, just sort of watching... something outside. He walked up top the sliding glass doors, next to Leidolf.
"What's up, Lei?"
"This is NOT the shit I wanna be dealing with, with Christmas right around the corner," Leidolf muttered. There was a crowd of people outside. There was one guy, who looked middle aged, in a plaid shirt. Not uncommon here in Austurland, even in Haland, the city. He was standing under a banner that read Old Cola Drinkers of Prydania and was holding a two litre bottle of the new formula/new logo Tóki's, and pouring it out into a sewer grate in the parking lot as people around him cheered.
"What the fok is going on?"
"Some nuts upset about the new Tóki's logo or something," Liedolf muttered.
"Did they pay for all of that?" Stækar asked as some people in the crowd handed the man a twenty-four pack of cans as he started opening one by one to pour it out.
"Já, as soon as they store opened, came in, bought a bunch of pop and now they're doing this."
Stækar cocked his head, confused as the crowd cheered as the man in the middle of this poured more pop down the sewer grate.
"Hey man, what's going on?" he asked as he stepped into the crowd. There was a bit of unease in his voice. He remembered from his childhood that crowds of angry people could be very, very dangerous.
"We're taking a stand against the terrible new Tóki's formula," the man said. He didn't seem angry or loud! Just... really insistent.
"Ok, but... what? Is it that different?"
The man looked at him like he'd been living under a rock the last twenty-two days.
"They took their mascot, a proud Prydanian, off of the logo, and they made the formula too sweet!"
"I mean... it's pop, it's supposed to be sweet," Stækar replied.
"Not this sweet! They changed it. Over a hundred years and a bloody Civil War, and classic, real Tóki's is done in by a bunch of suits in Býkonsviði! It's downright unpatriotic!"
Stækar didn't know how to respond. He'd never considered cola a matter of patriotism, but just as he was about to answer a van bearing the RÚV logo pulled up, and a reporter and a cameraman disembarked.
"I'm Trude Boen," the woman said, as the cameraman got her and the demonstration in frame.
"And I'm here reporting for RÚV Haland, at a HM Hypermaket where Old Cola Drinkers of Prydania are making a stand against the new Tóki's."
Stækar couldn't believe what he was seeing. He rolled his eyes and turned around.
"Lemme know if these jokers cause any problems, I'll help out," he told Liedolf as he headed back towards his section in electronics. Along the way he pulled a can of new Tóki's out of one of the refridgerated displays and popped it open. He took a sip and let it slush around in his mouth as he walked back. He sat the can down at his desk in electonics and sat back down, shrugging as he swallowed. He could barely tell the difference.
Day Twenty-two
Stækar Tollefsrud frowned as he looked at himself in the mirror of the HM Hypermarket staff room. He was fully in uniform but he couldn't get his hair to sit right. The twenty-two year old licked his palm and tried to slick his hair back but it wasn't working. The problem, as it was, was that his hair was in an awkward spot between short and long, not really short or long enough to be stylish, but just long enough to be kinda awkward. That and the store made him shave. He hated it. It made him look twelve. Giving up on his hair, he adjusted his nametag and straightened the collar on his blue polo uniform shirt before heading out. The store opened in half an hour.
His annoyances at the facial hair policy aside, he didn't mind working for HM. He was only part time, but had moved to temporary full time for the holidays. Which was perfectly fine. The extra money for Christmas gifts was nice, and he had the time to work since he'd planned ahead and finished his first term projects at Nyhett Tech's satellite campus at the University of Haland. And that meant he could commit to a full time position until the holidays were over. Cha-ching.
He made his way out to the main floor of the store. It was looking sharp, with the new HM Hypermarket rebranding fully in effect. He still hadn't gotten used to this store being this... lively. Even half an hour before it opened, it was more alive then when he was a kid.
Apparently this location was previously a HvietiMart before the Syndicalists took over. He didn't remember that, he'd been born a year after they'd seized power. For his childhood this place was just a grey, poorly maintained, poorly stocked Syndicalist "Community Market," which was the regime's term for a state-run store that pretended to be a community effort. He could still see the run down walls with the grimy Syndicalist artwork on the walls, and the shelves that never seemed to have enough, even if his mother did manage to have enough on hand to buy what she needed for him and his brother and sister. He could still see that, from his childhood... and he could see a few years later... this same space full of FRE soliders, aid workers, and the like trying to keep order as they used it to distribute supplies.
And now it was a modern, clean, freshly painted, fully stocked, retail store. He could turn the pages in his mind as he looked around, and it was wild. He was twenty-two. It wouldn't be that much longer before more people couldn't remember that stuff. That was a good thing. It was also humbling. Still, Stækar didn't dwell on it other than a brief thought. The staff lounge emptied into produce, but his department was in electronics and toys. He passed the display for the new Tóki's Cola rollout. Apparenly it was a new flavour and new logo? He wasn't much of a pop drinker, so he'd not paid attention to it. Apparently it was a big deal. They'd announced it at a big press event in Býkonsviði.
Stækar got to his section. Electronics. TVs, computer accesories, and just across were toys. There were also toys directly next to the electronics... well they weren't toys, but "adult collectables." Fancier packaging, and an extra x65 to the price. He'd not gotten any, but since transfering to this section, he'd checked some out. The were some Santonian imports here... some super detailed Captain Saintonge figures, along with his Prydanian sidekick, that he was sure why this assortment was sent here. He looked through a couple of the figures and shrugged. Maybe if he had some extra cash to spend on himself after he'd bought Christmas presents for everyone. It still floored him that something as luxury as an adult collectable toyline was being sold here in the same place where Syndicalist People's Militia would harass you if you tried to buy "too much" food at once. However they chose to quanitify that.
He checked his watch. That half an hour flew by. The store should be opening soon. He got behind the counter in electronics, and sat down, leaning back. The clock on the computer turned to 8:00 am. He had time to realx. People wouldn't be filtering in for a bit. And then...
"Stækar? Could you come up front?" His walkietalkie crackled. It was his friend Leidolf, who was a few years older and an assistant manager.
"Roger roger," Stækar replied through the walkie talkie. He didn't have to, but he'd grown up seeing the War, and he looked up to the FRE soldiers who'd liberated Haland back when he was ten. And how they all seemed so cool as they communicated via their own walkie talkies. It was dumb but it was a habit.
He strolled from the electronics and toys section in the back to the front of the store, but his liesurely pace was interupted when there seemed to be a bit of a comotion. There was everyone on staff today, just sort of watching... something outside. He walked up top the sliding glass doors, next to Leidolf.
"What's up, Lei?"
"This is NOT the shit I wanna be dealing with, with Christmas right around the corner," Leidolf muttered. There was a crowd of people outside. There was one guy, who looked middle aged, in a plaid shirt. Not uncommon here in Austurland, even in Haland, the city. He was standing under a banner that read Old Cola Drinkers of Prydania and was holding a two litre bottle of the new formula/new logo Tóki's, and pouring it out into a sewer grate in the parking lot as people around him cheered.
"What the fok is going on?"
"Some nuts upset about the new Tóki's logo or something," Liedolf muttered.
"Did they pay for all of that?" Stækar asked as some people in the crowd handed the man a twenty-four pack of cans as he started opening one by one to pour it out.
"Já, as soon as they store opened, came in, bought a bunch of pop and now they're doing this."
Stækar cocked his head, confused as the crowd cheered as the man in the middle of this poured more pop down the sewer grate.
"Hey man, what's going on?" he asked as he stepped into the crowd. There was a bit of unease in his voice. He remembered from his childhood that crowds of angry people could be very, very dangerous.
"We're taking a stand against the terrible new Tóki's formula," the man said. He didn't seem angry or loud! Just... really insistent.
"Ok, but... what? Is it that different?"
The man looked at him like he'd been living under a rock the last twenty-two days.
"They took their mascot, a proud Prydanian, off of the logo, and they made the formula too sweet!"
"I mean... it's pop, it's supposed to be sweet," Stækar replied.
"Not this sweet! They changed it. Over a hundred years and a bloody Civil War, and classic, real Tóki's is done in by a bunch of suits in Býkonsviði! It's downright unpatriotic!"
Stækar didn't know how to respond. He'd never considered cola a matter of patriotism, but just as he was about to answer a van bearing the RÚV logo pulled up, and a reporter and a cameraman disembarked.
"I'm Trude Boen," the woman said, as the cameraman got her and the demonstration in frame.
"And I'm here reporting for RÚV Haland, at a HM Hypermaket where Old Cola Drinkers of Prydania are making a stand against the new Tóki's."
Stækar couldn't believe what he was seeing. He rolled his eyes and turned around.
"Lemme know if these jokers cause any problems, I'll help out," he told Liedolf as he headed back towards his section in electronics. Along the way he pulled a can of new Tóki's out of one of the refridgerated displays and popped it open. He took a sip and let it slush around in his mouth as he walked back. He sat the can down at his desk in electonics and sat back down, shrugging as he swallowed. He could barely tell the difference.