A Change

After the candid conversation Erasyl had with Asta regarding their behavior at work, he gave them the weekend to make a decision as to how they would proceed. Would they quit, or would they finally start doing their job?

The answer was a genuine surprise to Erasyl. You see, in the few days he had had the pleasure (or displeasure) of knowing Asta, exerting themselves in any capacity just seemed antithetical to their reality and beliefs. They were always lounging on (his) couch, eating (his) food, casually scrolling through instagram and chuckling to themselves at whatever happened to amuse them for a bit. So it was shocking in many ways.

The first way was when Erasyl had come downstairs on Monday morning, prepared to make his own breakfast before leaving to go to the first filming site of the day, only to find Asta standing there, arms crossed and impatiently tapping their foot. On the counter sat a bacon, egg and cheese biscuit, a cup of hot coffee and a little bit of apple pie. His breakfast.

The second shock was Asta’s attire. Gone were the—frankly speaking— impractical spaghetti and tube tops, 5 inch skirts and heavy platform shoes they’d always worn. The clothes they worse still possessed that flair that was unique to Asta, but now they wore a soft pink cardigan over a lightly ruffled top, and a longer, more versatile skirt. To his shock, their shoes were not stretching up to the heavens, but only four inches!

But by far the biggest shock was the fact that Asta was actually quite skilled at their job. It seemed that they knew Erasyl’s schedule. What he preferred eating at what times. How to coordinate with other staff to make sure that things were seamless. Erasyl’s jaw was on the floor when he found Asta arguing with the director’s assistant in order to keep schedule and acquire all necessary documentation in time for separate evening photo shoots for a product advertisement.

At the end of the busy yet fruitful day, Erasyl found it appropriate to praise Asta for their efforts.

“You worked so well today!” He smiled.

“Yeah well, don’t get used to it.” Was their reply.

It could be regarded as an ominous statement. One that should inspire anxiety. If Erasyl grew too comfortable to Asta’s competency, and they were to kick up their feet and proclaim that they shall no longer perform their duties accordingly, it would be a disaster. And yet Erasyl could only smile wider in response, laughing a little.

“I won’t. But I’ll most definitely appreciate it when it comes. Mm, like rain in a drought.”

That was not the reply that Asta was expecting at all. They’d expected a dampening of emotions. Perhaps a curt reminder of their duty. Maybe even a little budding anger. And yet all they received was Erasyl murmuring to himself about wether that analogy was suitable or not, attempting to stitch others together as a replacement and failing splendidly.

At that time, Asta had known it, yet their belief was reinforced yet again. “He’s strange. Is he a unique flavor of intelligent, or is just he plain stupid?” It was a question that should have been easy to answer for them. But this human required a little more observation. A little more time. A little more prodding. Indeed, Asta felt that they had made the right decision by staying beside him in pursuit of that question’s answer.