Bai mops the floor of an empty aisle, listening to pop music, peacefully humming to the tune.
"I QUIT!"
The shout breaks her peacetime as an employee stomps out of the room. Zhizhu chases them, "WAIT! YOU CAN'T JUST- UGH!" Zhizhu covers her face with her hands as she takes a shaky breath, "It's ok, Zhizhu. You can do this." She continues mumbling to herself, Bai taps her arm, "Uh, Zhu-Zhu, you okay?" Zhizhu sighs, "I don't know. Another employee quit." Bai winces, "Oof, that's the fourth one, ever since the Ping Pong incident."
Zhizhu pinches her nose, "I'm screwed. Inspection's coming in today and I've lost a majority of my employees." Bai panics, "Inspection!? Today!?" Bai goes to grab her mop but is pulled back by Zhizhu, "Bai, I'm not making you clean to whole shop. I-I'll figure something out."
Bai thinks to herself, "Alright, Bai. Zhizhu is stressing that, inspection's coming and we're out of employees. To prepare for the inspection, we need to clean up. To clean up, we need employees. But to get employees, we need..." Light bulb. "AHA! Zhu-Zhu, I think I have a solution!" Zhizhu gives an awkward look, "Oh, Gods... What is it?"
Bai pulls out her Scythe, "HERE COMES..." Bai taps the floor with the Scythe handle, a glowing blue circle appears from the floor, mist covers the area, and any remaining customers are pushed out by the gas. The air clears to reveal Bai with three others behind her...
One had Zhizhu's work uniform with black tights and a dark long-sleeve shirt under the uniform. She tied her hair in a tight ponytail, with not a single strand out of place. She also wore closed black shoes.
The second had an artist apron over a plain navy t-shirt and black cargo pants. She tied her hair in a messy bun with a pale blue headband holding back bangs. Her eyes were pale white, with bags underneath them. Her face was covered with splotches of blue and pink paint.
The third wore a black, unzipped, cropped jacket. Her hair was tied in a ponytail with a small tuft on each side of her head and a blue back-tied bandana that wrapped around the top of her hair. She had blue-tinted glasses with a fanged grin.
Bai presents the three, "THE BONE KIDS!" Zhizhu's jaw drops, "No..." Bai smiles, "Yes." Zhizhu does a 180 and heads to the exit, Bai blocks her, "Zhizhu, come on! You said you needed more employees, so I got you some!" Zhizhu leans into Bai's ear, "I didn't mean these three. Especially the one in uniform. She spooks me." She side-eyes the clone.
Bai pats her shoulder, "Zhu-Zhu, we don't have much of a choice. Look, I promise to keep an eye on them, just give it a shot." Zhizhu gives a bit and sighs, "Fine. But if any of them act up, please poof them out." Bai nods and walks up to the clones, "Alright Bone Clones, inspection is coming at some point today, we need this place clean and settled."
All three nod, Bai grabs name tags and a marker, "To make it easier for all, Imma write down nicknames from all." She places a tag on the clone with the apron, "You'll be Artsy." Then the one in uniform, "You're... um, Employee." And finally, "Number 3, you're now, Party."
Party looks down at her tag, "Nice. Can we touch it up?" Bai lightly giggles, "Yup, go nuts, as long as we can see your name." Party and Artsy get coloured markers, they scribble and doodle all around their apron. Employee looks down at her tag and adds a mini love heart. Bai smiles, "Alright, clones are set! Now... what jobs do we need, Zhu-Zhu?"
Zhizhu ponders, "Well, I need someone to stack shelves and someone for customer service." Bai snaps her fingers, "Aight! Party, you stack shelves! Employee does customer service!" Party gives a thumbs up, "I gotcha, OG!" Employee just nods. Artsy raises her hand, "Then what do I do?"
Zhizhu scratches the back of her head, "Well, you can work on arranging some items, just making it look neater." Artsy grins, "Alright!" Zhizhu sighs, "Great. Now, I'm not sure when inspection is coming... but we should start now."
