The young girl stepped out of the car along with her parents. Her father went around to the trunk and pulled out a large wagon along with a few heavy boxes. He set them down gently and passed her the wagon’s handle. “Alright sweety, you’re good to go. We’ll pick you up at sunset.”
“I know you’ll be fine on your own, but call us if you need anything,” her mother reminded her. “We’ll come pick you up right away. Oh, and we gave you a little extra money for lunch. Just remember, things might not go quite as you expect, and that’s okay.”
“Don’t worry mom, I’ve got it all figured out,” the girl stuck to her convictions. After watching her parents drive away, she started pulling her wagon slowly down the main street of Bisomote. She walked past all the shops that were just now opening their shutters for business, ignoring all of them, because she was on a mission and wouldn’t allow herself to be distracted.
The girl stopped briefly at the gates of the Fiends For Hire compound, her eyes sparkling with anticipation at the untapped silver mine. How clever she was to think of this idea. She’d blow her competition out of the water, even if it was supposed to be just a friendly fundraiser.
Her name was ZjoZjo from Huddle #816 of the PrePioneers, an organization of youth groups across Rathe who dedicated themselves to helping their communities and learning skills needed to be successful and gracious later in life. But ZjoZjo had always been a bit competitive and aimed to be at the top of her peers. She’d sell the most muffin tops out of every PrePioneer Huddle across the world and win the coveted Silver Solicitation Sticker. And she’d do it all from this one single spot.
She had a fleeting moment of hesitance right when she was about to cross the compound’s threshold. The girl had done a bit of research into the group and knew about the literal barrier to entry. But if things were as the rumors said, then she should be able to pass freely to at least part of the compound. That first step was the hardest, but after she made it past the gate, she picked up her stride and wheeled her wagon all the way to the headquarters building.
“Greetings and Solicitations, madam,” ZjoZjo shamelessly went right up to Deborah once she got inside.
“Uhh, did you mean ‘Saluatiations?’” Deborah tried to correct her, confused by the small child’s presence.
“I certainly did not,” the girl held strong and then introduced herself. “My name is ZjoZjo, and I’m part of the PrePioneers. With your permission, I’d like to set up a table outside of your front door for our fundraiser. We’re hoping to be able to raise enough money to make a notable contribution to building a learning center for those with special needs in our town.”
“I’d like to offer you a sample of our product,” ZjoZjo slid a box of muffin tops onto the desk, the premium ones that were always everyone's favorites—a clear bribe.
Deborah gave the box a good glance before eventually muttering, “I don’t know… I—”
ZjoZjo had anticipated this and had prepared an inexhaustive list of refutations and reasonings as to why she should be given permission. And it was clearly working too. The girl didn’t give up the pressure and quickly dismantled all of Deborah’s reservations and excuses. She knew this was the biggest hurdle towards her goal, so she couldn’t afford any hesitation. Just one final push and…
“What’s going on here, Deborah?” An ominous shadow suddenly loomed over ZjoZjo’s shoulder. She tisked her tongue and whirled around to find the one person she didn’t want to see: the caretaker of the compound and known despiser of children, Mallea Dulip—the hardest sell of the entire group.
ZjoZjo had hoped that she could have firmly planted her position before running into this hardass. If she had well established her permission and a few sales first, then it would be much harder to deny her privilege. This was the worst possible eventuality, but the girl still had to play it cool. She faced Mallea, gave a respectful bow, and then repeated her initial proposition word for word.
“I see…” Mallea had listened attentively and had given it due thought. “Absolutely not! We do not allow solicitation of any kind, especially from a human. Now then, I will see you to the front gate.”
ZjoZjo was forced to tote her wagon back down the drive as quickly as she’d come. Mallea loomed behind her every step of the way, watching like a bird of prey to make sure that she didn’t do anything stupid. Only when the girl had made it back to Bisomote’s main street did the butler finally turn around and return to her duties.
But this wasn’t the end of ZjoZjo’s ambitions, and she clung to one particular word from Mallea’s statement—human. She had expected that this might be the case and had come prepared. Disguising herself as a Fiend would be too difficult, especially since she’d already revealed her true nature. But luckily, there was an easier path. She dug into her PrePioneers official backpack and dug out a pair of contacts and a temporary tattoo.
One simple disguise later, and she was once again shamelessly trotting through the compound’s main gate. But she didn’t return to the headquarters building this time. Instead, she veered left and headed down the walkway that led to the gymnasium. From what she gathered, the foot traffic wasn’t as high as the HQ building, especially the restaurant, but she should still see a lot of visitors from the town.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
Selling sugary treats directly outside of a health facility could be seen as distasteful. So she instead set up shop about halfway down the path, just far enough for customers to escape any sense of guilt. The girl pulled a small folding table off her wagon and set it up right next to the sidewalk. She then pulled out a few boxes of muffin tops and stacked them perfectly in an eye-catching display. Lastly, she knocked her wagon onto its side, turning it into an impromptu seat.
It didn’t take long for her to get her first visitor. And while it wasn’t a big fish she would have preferred to catch, ZjoZjo still sold two boxes to townswoman who had been using the gym. A small start, but a start nonetheless.
“Oh, a PrePioneer,” a much bigger fish was snagged just minutes later. The girl pretended like she didn’t know who Tize Scound was, smiling at him like any other customer, having to hold back the tinge of greed.
“You know, I did some events with your organization. I even encouraged some of the youths I worked with to sign up. They do good work. Write me down for an order of 100 boxes, mix and match the variety.”
“Well thank you very much, dear customer,” ZjoZjo pulled out an order form. “Your purchase will greatly contribute to our donation towards a learning center for those with special needs. Given your predisposition to helping those in need, may I be so bold as to add an additional two zeroes to your order quantity?”
“Hahaha, not bad, kid,” Tize couldn’t help but smirk at her confidence. “Since it’s for a good cause, and since you so kindly asked, one extra zero. Can’t say I should be eating so many sweets, but I’ve got some old army buddies who will go nuts for them. I’ll ship whatever I don’t want to them.”
“And here is confirmation of your order, sir,” the girl handed him a receipt. “Please, take a box with you. While your delivery will be swift, you shouldn’t have to hold off on your enjoyment until then.”
After that, ZjoZjo only got a few more minor customers, who at most only bought up to a dozen boxes. Nothing compared to that one single transaction. She had sold more in that instance than most other PrePioneers would sell during the entire fundraiser. It had assuredly put her firmly in the top percentile. But it wasn’t enough, her voracious appetite had only been roused, and she was far from being satiated.
Yet even the biggest ambitions are often met with roadblocks, and a familiar shadow loomed once more from behind. “I see you didn’t quite take my warning to heart, or you’re just too stupid of a child to understand the meaning of the word ‘no’.” Mallea had returned to put an end to her operations. But when ZjoZjo turned around, the woman hissed, “Those eyes…”
“Yes, it was horrible!” The wicked girl immediately jumped into fib mode, ready to spin her tale, making sure to wave her hand with her fake Curse Mark a few times. “After you turned me away, I started to walk home, but then I was jumped by some evil man! He pulled me into the alleyway, I think to steal my muffin tops! But thankfully I had my trusty PrePioneer multitool on hand. I was able to fight him off, killing him in the process.”
“Oh, I was so inconsolable after that. I didn’t know where to turn. And then I remembered the gracious Fiends For Hire who would never turn away a Fiend or Lesser in need. But I didn’t know what to do when I got in here, so to calm myself down, I turned towards selling my wares. It’s really helped get me through this!”
It was a terrible, overacted lie that wouldn’t fool anyone, but ZjoZjo wasn’t expecting it to. All she was trying to do was create reasonable doubt. Even if Mallea believed she was spinning a load of horsezjik, the girl counted on the idea that she’d be forced to prove that fact. One of the bits of information she’d dug up during her research was that all applicants had been forcibly injected with a Fiend Detector during their interviews.
Hopefully, Mallea would insist that she too had to prove her race, unless the woman would be so crass as to try and dig the girl’s fake contacts out herself. ZjoZjo just needed to get an audience with literally anyone just a smidge more compassionate. If that happened, she was confident she could tug at their heartstrings enough to get permission to continue her solicitation. The fact that they had a human on staff who had attempted a similar stunt is really what gave her the confidence to attempt it.
“Oh my, that’s so horrible!” The butler gasped in sympathetic anguish.
“Ehh, huh?” ZjoZjo felt like she’d been punched in the face, so taken aback by Mallea’s reaction. The girl hadn’t expected this at all, and she genuinely didn’t know how to compose herself to deal with it.
But Mallea kept going, quickly sweeping the little PrePioneer up in her pace. “Of course we’ll help you, dear girl! …The body! First, we need to deal with the body. If we just leave it for someone to find, it will only cause a commotion and tempers to flare.”
“Once it has been secured, then we will go to the police and file a report. This was self-defense, yes? We don’t want to give them a chance to think anything else, and we’ll prove your innocence without a shadow of a doubt. After all, we wouldn’t want some stain that’s not your fault to haunt you for the rest of your life. When that’s all done, we can see about taking you in if you truly have nowhere else to go.”
“Come quickly now. We want to get ahead of this travesty. And bring your things!” Mallea began packing them up of her own accord. “You said he was trying to steal them, right? That means they’re crucial evidence, so we can’t leave anything behind.”
In seconds, before ZjoZjo could really process what was happening, Mallea was toting her wagon while hurriedly guiding the girl back to the front gate. Just as they were about to cross the threshold, Mallea handed the wagon back over and stopped dead in her tracks.
The moment the girl took one single step outside, her entire demeanor changed. The compassion and panic in her eyes immediately swapped to cold contemptment, and her face dripped with displeasure. “Take your zjik lies, and your zjik products elsewhere. Farewell, you insufferable child. I wish you ill in all future ventures.”
Mallea turned around and walked away immediately, not even sticking around to make sure that the girl left. “Now wait just a- Ow!” ZjoZjo had started to voice her complaint and took a step after the butler, but she was met with a face full of barrier. That should have been the end of her plans and ambition. But no. The soon-to-be bearer of the Silver Solicitation Sticker would not give up so easily.