[ANNI-24] Scramble (Loss)

“What do you mean we LOST A MERCH TRUCK??” 

The intern—some new mig Raven had never seen before—flinched at his yell. “There was—an accident on the freeway. With it and a-another truck.” Raven finally noticed how they were trembling slightly, but it only deepened its glare in response. The intern looked terrified before adding a quiet “I-I’m sorry.” 

He kept glaring, before an aggravated sigh escaped from him. God, this was going to suck. There were so many crabs in there, a design he was actually pretty happy with—AND they had to deal with this publically. A complete nightmare in every regard.

“What’s the damage?” it asked harshly, shoving his hands into his hoodie pockets and clenching his fists.

“About 70% of the merchandise is undamaged, but…” The intern suddenly looked even more scared. A long silence filled the room.

“Spit it out, I can’t read your goddamn mind!” Raven hissed.

They flinched, before continuing unsteadily. “…All but one of the crabs escaped.”

Raven heard the words, but they didn’t…register. For a moment. 

Until it suddenly hit him that—he was fucked. He was fucked!! A wave of panic and rage crashed into him soon after the realization, and it all came spilling out in a screeching yell.

“Do you KNOW how LONG IT’LL TAKE to get that amount of crabs again??” He stomped towards the intern, who let out a squeak and brought up the clipboard to shield themself. “How the hell could the driver be so CARELESS—and they’re COMPLETELY unaccounted for too!! They’re NEW, they don’t know how to find good hosts or how to connect back to me or do ANYTHING!!!” 

He was breathing heavily, but finally took a moment to (vaguely) calm down. It stepped back towards its chair, and plonked down onto it. The silence was almost deafening. 

“Can we sue whoever the other driver is?” he finally asked.

The intern’s face paled. They started to slowly scoot away from Raven, towards the door, which only made his stomach sink. 

When they were right in front of it, they finally choked out, “The person driving the truck with your merch caused the accident.”

And then, as quickly as they could, they opened the door and fled before the hyperpop artist’s scream of pure frustration could reach them.