Working at a Small shop When a Situation Develops

At twenty four years old, Natalie had a good life. She'd moved out of her parents home when she turned eighteen, her mother and father had been extremely surprised that she'd managed to get the money together for something like that so soon, but money was no problem for Natalie. She simply demanded it of the world, and it came to her. Now, plenty of new age supernatural gurus and self help books will tell you that if you don't expect something from the world, you're very unlikely to get it. But that is mostly a clever way of telling people that they need to go out and get what they want, not wait for it to come to them.

In Natalie's case, it was a bit different.

She had powers, you see, and had had them for a long time. Along amongst her class, and everyone she knew, Natalie had the ability to read the minds of others, to translate their thoughts into words, and even to reach in and change those words and thoughts, she could take someone, and then twist them, doing away with everything she didn't like, and leaving only what she wanted. It in theory, it probably made her the most powerful human alive, at least if there were no more like her.

But she didn't like to do that. it felt wrong to dive into another's mind and warp them, making them into a mockery of the person they used to be. Because she could feel the thoughts changing, because they slipped and flowed around her, and through her, it was impossible to fool herself when it came to just how evil it was to change someone so totally forever. She felt them change, second by second, seeing the person they were slip away into the void.

So Natalie, who could have been the most powerful person in the world, lived instead in a small apartment, using her abilities only to effect temporary change, though even then, she had to admit she sometimes wondered about the morality of it. She'd gotten herself a job at a local shop, selling clothes and accessories, and it paid well. She used her powers to ensure that she never was in danger of running out of money or food, never behind in her rent, but other than that, she was mostly content to live her life the way that others did as well.

...mostly...

Because Natalie had another use of her powers too, and had used it since she first turned eighteen. Natalie was a shameless exhibitionist, and submissive. She loved to be humiliated, stripped and toyed with. She liked to feel helpless, to be at the mercy of someone else. Thanks to her power, she was able to do this in ways that most people could never even imagine. She could create scenarios for herself that would push her to the edge of her limits, experience the world in a way that no one else could. And the best part of it was? When she was done, she could easily just set things back the way they were. No one was hurt, no one was abused, no one would remember except her, usually on dark nights in bed when she felt a little like reliving the memories.

Okay, so admittedly, there were probably some moral problems with the whole thing, but Natalie had been doing it most of her life by now, and she wasn't about to stop. Everyone had their own little foibles, she told herself, and everyone had their own kinks. She wasn't the worst by far, she made sure that it was all forgotten when it was done, and no one was really hurt. Compared to the things she _could _be doing, it was practically saint-like!

Her thoughts were interrupted when the door chime sounded. Natalie looked up, as did two of the other staff who were on today. It was a slow day, so there were only three of them manning the ship. Natalie, an assistant, Lyra, who was the same, and Jake, who was on the till.

"I wonder who that could be?" Natalie said to herself. She hadn't been expecting anyone in for a while. The shop was small, and its clients were elect. It wasn't the sort of place you usually got walk ins. Curious, she extended her thoughts, allowing them to flow along the distance between them. Lyra, she could sense distantly, the same curiosity as her. Jake was working on something and hadn't noticed yet. As for the visitors...

There were three of them. Two guys and one girl. Natalie couldn't sense much more from just their surface thoughts, but there was other things... Her eyes widened as she felt the emotions radiating from them. Hostility, greed and disregard for empathy.

The three were robbers.