The one with Seamista + Huntara
"Thank you for coming, and may I say that you will have the most adventurous time on the river with your new kayak! One of our staffs will help you to load it into your vehicle, and I do very much hope to see you two here again for anything else you might need."
The customers, a pair of women, smiled, though it seemed rather strained and very uncomfortable at how loud and energetic Sea Hawk was as he rang them up at checkout. The two were fairly quick to leave Salineas as well once they had their change.
Mermista groaned as she came over, dressed in the uniform smock of her dads store. "Can you, like, not scare the customers off?"
"Why I'd never!" Sea Hawk responded with an offended gasp, though there was no bite behind it at all. "They love me, Mermista, and I have to give it my all for each and everyone of them so that they come back here and not to any other store!"
And by any other store, he was really just referring to the sporting goods that was right across from theirs. Sea Hawk even moved to look out through their glass front to glare at the store. His glare shrunk back when Huntara, who had been adjusting the hiking gear one of the mannequins, noticed him staring and looked to him and Mermista.
Huntara had only started up her store, the Desert Rose, four years ago, having been working various different jobs to get both a license and enough money to start off. In all honesty, both Mermista and Sea Hawk were both impressed by what she had done. She was only twenty-eight and she owned her own rather well-off store. If anything, the Desert Rose was the go-to sports store in the mall.
Crossing her arms, Mermista leaned against the checkout counter. "It's not that big of a deal if people go there or not," she drawled out. "They have variety and crap for all sorts of things. We're a specialty store. Of course people are going to go to Desert Rose when they need stuff for like… basketball or something. It's not like we're rival stores or anything."
"Nonsense!" Sea Hawk argued, pushing himself from the cash register. There were enough employees milling about that he felt he had no need to tether himself to the register, not when there was more he could do to draw in more customers. "People are always going to the Desert Rose for everything, and she's taking away our customers, I'd say she is very much our rival. We must do something to bring more people to us!"
"Whatever your planning. No."
"What? But why?"
Mermista crossed her arms over her chest, scowled and groaned. "Last time you tried something extravagant to bring people in, you nearly set the mall on fire with your flaming kayak. You're lucky my dad didn't fire you for it."
The flaming kayak had been an…interesting event last summer. At first Sea Hawk had it under control and the fire contained, but as usual, he lost control of the situation and the kayak became a problem. The fire department had been called in, but by the time they'd arrived, Huntara had already put the fire out. If anything, that just got more people going to her store after her hour of heroics.
Mermista's father had been beyond angry. Even with Sea Hawks track record of being Employee of the Month most of the time, it hadn't done anything to ease the rage. He had almost been fired. But, Mermista may had talked to her dad in private and convinced him to let Sea Hawk stay.
Not that anyone knew that she had a part to play, oh no, Mermista wasn't letting anyone know she put in the work and effort to help Sea Hawk keep his job. It'd ruin her whole aloof persona.
Though, just because Sea Hawk hadn't been fired didn't mean he wasn't on thin ice. Mermista doubted that if he set another thing on fire she would be able to keep her dad from firing him.
"Let's just let it be. Huntara's store isn't going to affect ours at…what the Hell?!" Mermista bristled as she stared at the Desert Rose, at the group of customers leaving.
The five people who had just left, probably a group by how close-knit they looked, were carrying out several life jackets and a boxed towable tube for boating. She couldn't make out what kind it was, but it almost looked like they had an Airhead Blast. They looked so happy, chatting and laughing with their new purchases.
Purchases they just got from Huntara.
"They did not," Mermista clenched her fists. "They went to the Desert Rose for that, and not here? The store specifically for water activities? What the Hell?"
"How dare they!" Sea Hawk gasped, offended not for himself but for Mermista.
Huntara noticed them watching and she just smiled and waved, acting as if she hadn't just stolen their customers from them, acting as if she wasn't moving in on their product territory.
"Sea Hawk," Mermista didn't even look at him as she spoke, "Do what you can to get people coming. We're not losing to Huntara. Just… don't set anything on fire this time, okay?"