Scarab was by all accounts a workaholic.
He'd tried during his early years to justify his late hours and string of abusive bosses with the idea that he just had a strong work ethic. That he spent so much time at the office simply because he took it so seriously. Wanting to climb the corporate ladder and earn more.
In truth, all he really had was an empty house. He did have a cat named Cake (Named such after he was told they were easy to take care of.) and with his bank account that was true.
Still, going to work was about all the socializing he got to do. But even then, his position at work didn't award him any friends. He was hired to be the axe that hovered over everyone's head. Given the authority to hand out reprimands and firings if employee's weren't working at their absolute maximum.
Most of his time was spent hovering over shoulders and scrutinizing time and turn out. Even then, somehow, he remained busy at his desk.
Largely due to his boss entrusting him with some important work that was related to the job position he really wanted. He wasn't a fool. He saw the correlation between Orbo dropping a new load of paper work on his desk and then being gone the rest of the day to go 'golfing' with the higher ups.
So that's why he turned up to his work early every day. Cake would be asleep in his home for some hours still. He would swing by the house mid day to check on her as his one and only permitted break.
Still, he cherished these early morning hours as no one else was around and he had the ability to just work without being expected to look over everyone's shoulders or hear coworkers spitting vile curses about him when he's not (presumably) in ear shot.
A hot cup of coffee in hand and his office door open wide, with dark windows to act as a back drop. It made for a nice atmospheric work day.
The sound of the front office door opening and slamming shut disrupted that.
Scarab jolted in his seat when he heard the door open and then slam soon after. Confusion flooded his mind. Was his internal clock off?
He checked the clock on his monitor and it showed that there was still another hour before any employee's were due to start showing up. Why would anyone be here early?
The sounds of a baby crying reached his ears soon after, along with a hasty muffled voice.
sh*t. Someone must of wondered in to tend to their baby, probably a houseless person if he was to guess. He had no clue how he was going to handle this. He wouldn't put a parent back out on the street when it was getting into the cold months. sh*t.
Scarab stood up, palming his cane as he passed and grabbing his coffee more out of habit than anything else. He peered out of his office door towards the front entrance about 10 feet away. It was dark, making the sound of the baby crying seem all the more sinister. Pair that with some amorphous creature standing in front of the door, and it seemed like a scene from a horror movie. The blob was attempting to bounce the child in one arm to try and calm it.
"Excuse me. Do you need help?" Scarab tried, stepping out and hoping he didn't come across as intimidating. A bit of a first for him.
The figure turned to him and then stood straighter, unfolding much taller then Scarab first thought. For one heartbeat of a second, Scarab felt the blood run cold in his body. This was again reminding him of a scene in a horror movie before the main character was attacked.
"Scrabby? Why are all the lights off?"
Scarab felt a warm rush of relief at the familiar voice and now familiar height of the amorphous blob. It was just Prismo. The offices local giant, light bulb changer, snack grabber, and who worked in advertisem*nt.
"Prismo, what are you doing here so early?" Scarab demanded moving over to the light switch, "And is that a baby I hear crying?" He flicked the switch and the main room was flooded with light. Scarab blinked against the new brightness and took in the sight before him.
Prismo looked a mess. Well, he always looked a mess but this time it was so much worse. He looked haggard and worn down, still in his sleep clothes, with his jacket being the only thing that appeared day worthy. He had a bulging back pack on his back that seemed to be baring down on his spine even more then his usual slouched posture gave him. He had another bag in hand that dangled closer to the floor and looked to be a baby bag. His face bore patchy stubble and his eye bags were the heaviest Scarab had ever seen. The man looked as if he hadn't slept in three days and made to run a marathon the entire time while also going through the horrors of College final exams all at once. And there, tucked in the crook of his arm was a little scrawling blanket burrito.
"Prismo, where did you get a baby?" Scarab asked, completely perplexed. Granted he never wanted to know or learn about his coworkers sex lives. But Prismo with a baby was just kind of unthinkable. Maybe if he found it in a dumpster or left behind at one of his parties. Maybe.
"My Ex dropped her off. She's only a few months old. Say hi to Fionna." Prismo replied with a tired and almost faux cheer.
Scarab peered down to see a little face pinched red in distress and shifting about uncomfortably.
"Dropped her off? Prismo, what happened?" Scarab couldn't make sense of what he was being told. His ex? Prismo had half a dozen of those and some of them even worked for the same building. Hell, he was the reason they had a no dating coworkers policy.
"Oh, you know..." Prismo yawned loudly. "Just a typical weekend when I hear a knock at the door and my ex girlfriend...Maren dropped her off and just left. Said something about her being my problem now and to eat crap or something. I don't know. I don't know a lot of things. Did you know SID's was a thing? That gave me nightmares and I couldn't sleep at all." Prismo laughed and it sounded a bit manic. "Not that I got much of it with this little one around. "
Prismo jostled the baby slightly who let out another cry.
"Prismo would you like me to take something off your hands so you can sit?" Scarab offered. This was completely out of his wheel house. He was at a complete loss for what to do or how to react or what was socially appropriate. His coworker was dead tired and had an infant dumped on him. Ugh, he could feel his dyed red hairs turning naturally white.
"Oh yeah, sure. You can hold the baby if you want. You just gotta ask, Scrabby." He moved forward so suddenly that Scarab's hands flashed up to support the neck and take the little bundle into his own arms. Instinct told him to bounce the baby, rocking his form gently side to side. The little girl shifted, limbs pushing against him as if making a lazy attempt to shove him away before surrendering and just settling while making distressed little noises. Almost like she was threatening to go into full screaming mode at the slightest provocation.
"Ugh that feels so much better." Prismo sighed dropping his arm and taking in the sight of the cup of coffee still miraculously in Scarab's hand.
"Oh, coffee." The cup was plucked away and before Scarab could make a half hearted attempt to save it. Prismo chugged it down with a few deep swallows. Well, it did seem like Prismo needed it more.
"Glob I feel so dead right now. I feel like I could sleep for a millennia." Prismo laughed, tossing the empty cup into the trash can.
"Why don't you come into my office and take a break?" Scarab offered, "We can talk more about what happened.”
"Oh, for sure. Great idea Scrabby." Prismo moved past Scarab and dropped his two bags off in Scarab's office before heading off to get his bean bag. It was shoved in a corner on the far side of the collection of desks that made up their coworkers office area. Not really cubicles as people were encouraged to talk and exchange info quickly. Prismo’s bean bag was shoved into the far corner next to Cosmic’s desk. Scarab wondered distantly how Prismo got that approved but it was hardly important now.
Scarab didn't notice he was humming and swaying until a sharp sting of pain went up his hip. He looked down to see Fionna with her face pressed close to his chest and snoozing away peacefully. Scarab felt a flutter of pride in his chest before quickly dismissing it. Absurd.
Prismo dragged the beanbag into Scarab’s office and the auditor followed after, closing the door behind them. Again taking in Prismo's barely awake state, and instructed him to put it behind his desk and off to the side so it wouldn't be in the way. He had a growing suspicion that it wouldn't be moved again any time soon.
Once the bean bag was settled into a nice comfortable spot. Prismo collapsed into it with a world weary sigh. Scarab took his seat at his desk, shifting to resting his child baring elbow on the armrest while using his feet to rock the entire seat. Scarab would later learn that the baby preferred rocking motions over being bounced up and down. For the moment the child is on the back burner and Prismo has all of his attention.
"So how did this occur. You having a child." Scarab clarified.
"Well, Scrabby when a man and woman get drunk enough, they find a room and--" Prismo began but Scarab swiftly cut him off. "I'm not interested in your sex life Prismo. I mean, after your ex dropped off the baby what did you do?"
Prismo blinked tiredly, he tried to keep his head up and maintain eye contact with Scarab but he quickly lost that fight and allowed his head to lay back against the back of his bag chair and stare up at the ceiling while blinking his eyes slowly.
"Well, she uh, just showed up like some days ago. What day is it even? I don't know and it doesn't matter. Anyway, she, uh, just stopped by. Shoved all Fi's baby stuff into my arms along with her and said, 'she's your problem now.'. Gave me a peace sign and walked out."
"Have you tried contacting her?" Scarab asked next. Pushing down on that angry feeling in his chest over a baby being abandoned so suddenly.
"I would have but, after I break up with my girlfriends I tend to delete their numbers from my phone."
"Well, Prismo, you're going to need to get into contact with her. Not to mention all the legal hurdles you will have to jump through, also deciding how you will care for her and signing up for any support systems that you may need for her and--" Scarab stopped his ramble at the sound of deep and loud snoring. He turns to see Prismo fully relaxed and passed out in his bean bag chair, dead to the world.
"Prismo?" Scarab scooted closer and nudged him. He didn't respond and after a few shakes realized that Prismo was a very deep sleeper.
Scarab scooted back and looked down at the baby in his arms. Still snoozing away just as dead to the world as Prismo and then turned to his computer monitor still filled to bursting with work. It dawned on the auditor then that he might be down an arm, and today was going to be a busy day. In fact, there was a meeting planned.
"Well, sh*t."
