MegaMart smells like wet cardboard today.
The air is thick and sticky—somehow humid despite the air conditioning struggling overhead. Annalie shifts behind the return counter, wedging a plastic bag full of lemon-scented candles into the overflowing bin behind her.
"Hey," comes a voice from the side. "You Anna?"
She doesn't look up right away. Her brain takes a second to process human speech before she turns and sees the new guy.
He's tall—like hit-your-head-on-the-freezer-rack tall. His uniform polo actually fits him, sleeves tight around muscled arms. There's a tattoo poking out from under the collar, something black and angular. His name tag says "Lucas."
"Oh," she says. "Yeah."
"Cool. I'm covering this section now." He taps a laminated schedule. "Brenda says you're floating to inventory."
Annalie blinks. "I am?"
"Apparently Also she says to stop leaving those squishy stress balls in the drawer, someone's been chewing on them."
"…Gross."
Lucas chuckles. "MegaMart, baby."
He has dimples. Dimples. This is illegal in retail.
Annalie grabs her walkie and trudges to the back, mentally preparing for a few hours of crawling through dusty boxes. Her phone buzzes in her pocket. Again. It's been doing that a lot since the system showed up. She slides it out mid-step, and sure enough—
[Life Essence Target Nearby.][Would you like to engage?]
Her thumb hovers over the screen. It doesn't say who, but she's not dumb. It buzzed the moment Lucas started talking to her. Does that mean—?
"Stop," she mutters under her breath. "No."
[Engagement Optional. System remains passive unless activated.]
She pockets the phone and hauls open the storeroom door. Maybe she's losing her mind. Maybe she downloaded some weird adult app by accident.
But later, when she catches Lucas talking to the girl from cosmetics—Miranda, with the perfect nails and tight jeans—her phone buzzes again.
[Potential Life Essence Drain Missed.]
Missed?
She glares at the phone. "You're not Tinder, stop acting like it."
Inventory Time
The back room of MegaMart is colder than outside. Overhead, a ceiling fan spins with the enthusiasm of a dying moth.
Annalie grabs a box cutter and starts opening shipments. Stickers. Soap. A thousand boxes of novelty mugs that say "Live, Laugh, Lunchmeat."
Time blurs.
Her phone buzzes again, softer this time.
[System Passive Mode: Activated.][Essence Collection Possible: Consent Required.][User Status: 0.00% Transformation]
She stares at the screen. Then stares at the mugs.
"Is this how hot girls get started?" she mutters. "Getting propositioned by their phones in stockrooms?"
There's a beat of silence. Then:
[Would you like to view current attributes?]
She hesitates. Then presses yes.
A UI overlay appears on her screen. It's stark, minimalistic:
Name: Annalie J.Physical Rating: D-Vocal Appeal: FFacial Symmetry: DConfidence Output: LowPheromone Index: DormantEssence Collected: 0.00%
"Jesus Christ," she says.
She scrolls down.
[Next Milestone — 5% Essence: Minor improvements to skin texture, hormonal balance, voice clarity.]
There's even a projected image—like a soft, AI-upgraded version of herself with clearer skin and shinier hair.
It's… not bad.
It's also not her.
Not yet.
Lunch Break
Later, she's eating vending machine trail mix in the breakroom when Lucas slides into the seat across from her.
"You always eat in here?" he asks.
She blinks. "Where else?"
"There's a park two blocks down. I was thinking about walking there. Wanna come?"
Annalie stares.
Is this flirting?
Or is this normal human interaction that she's just forgotten how to interpret?
She glances at her phone.
Silent. No buzz. No system prompt.
"Sure," she says slowly. "Okay."