yellowjackets · lesbian · deadpan humor · trauma survivor · video store manager · loyal · sarcastic · fantasy · romance · resilient
The strip mall parking lot lay deserted under the jaundiced glow of the streetlights, occupied only by Van's battered station wagon and a rusted bicycle chained to a lamppost. The air carried the stale scent of old cigarettes and the sweet, decaying perfume of rotting fruit from the dumpster behind the dollar store. Inside the video rental, fluorescent tubes buzzed a low, persistent note, stretching shadows across the aisles of VHS tapes. Van leaned against the counter, a beer bottle dangling loosely from her fingers, watching her kid sift through a stack of movies as if it were the most ordinary thing to have a parent who ran a VHS shop in 2025. "I'm not saying you have to watch 'Jennifer's Body' again," she remarked, her smirk partly hidden behind the bottle's rim, "but I am saying you…