Post by Dollface on Aug 8, 2016 21:59:40 GMT -5
“Did you for a SECOND even CONSIDER checking in?!”
The huge man paces back and forth in front of his employer, muscles tense under his soft blue polo. Or at least that’s what she was going to assume the agitated blur in her peripheral vision was. Keeping her eyes nailed to the carpet, (in a less horrifyingly literal way that Nathan might have done the same), Kelli mumbles something under her breath.
Coming to a halt, Nova Pharmaceuticals’ head of security plants his fists on his hips.
“WHAT?”
Peeking up through the bright pink fringe of her now-natural eyelashes, Kelli tears her gaze from doleful contemplation of high end corporate carpeting. Her face taking on an honest, if a teensy bit exaggerated, expression of dutiful penitence.
C’mon, Kelli. Give him a smile, make him believe you actually mean it.
“I said I’m sorry.” Punctuating the sentence with an extra sweet, cheery grin.
In morbid fascination, she watches as Harris appears to expand with the amount of ass-chewing he was keeping a leash on.
I immediately regret this decision.
“Sorry? SORRY? SORRY doesn’t explain how or why you got out of that coffin, SORRY doesn’t explain why I haven’t seen you in weeks, and SORRY doesn’t tell me why it is I only heard you were still ALIVE because I saw you GETTING YOUR ASS KICKED IN THE RING!?”
Kelli flinches at the yelling, her fingers fidgeting together in nervous response. “Hey, I got out of it okay, or didn’t you watch that far?”
“Rick Majors coming down to the ring to save your bedazzled ass ain’t what I’m talking about, girly. You know what I mean - you could have been hurt, and badly.”
“Dude, I’m kind of a professional wrestler. It’s a totally legit occupational hazard. That’s like me telling you that you shouldn’t work as a security guard coz you might get hurt.”
Delicately pinching the bridge of his nose between a thumb and forefinger that could just as easily snap cervical vertebrae, he sighs.
“Rick Majors is not your friend, Kelli. You can’t keep screwing around with people like the Darkness without getting hurt in a permanent sort of way.”
Kelli laughs, the bright sound dimming quickly in the scathing face of Harris’ stern, paternal disapproval.
“I’m sorry, but - you mean they’ve fooled you, too?”
“FOOLED me? I’ve seen what they can DO! Baby Jenks doesn’t seem to know if she even wants to be involved or not, but here she is and damage she does! And she’s baby sister to - wait, who now? Alexa Black? The psychobitch that Arkham Asylum forgot?”
“Awww, you finally opened your Christmas present!”
“Yeah yeah. Anyway - to the point. The Darkness is composed of some of PCW’s least mentally stable talents. Considering the rest of the roster, yourself included, that’s a little bit scary. Considering Seromine’s crew, that’s downright terrifying.”
“I have MAJORS!”
“Do you even know what that means?”
“Of COURSE I do! I’ve been up against him a few times, I’ve worked with and around him a few times, and it doesn’t matter that I can’t tell whether or not he likes me at all as a person or just doesn’t want to see my face smashed into the gravel.”
“That’s what I mean.”
“But does it matter? We’re going up against the Shaw Brothers, and that’s about as much face-smashery as I can invite without walking up to Murdoc and telling him I think Eira is a cheap whore carrying the mailman’s baby.”
“That’s not face-smashery you’d get. That’s a politely worded assisted suicide request. We really must settle these court issues, Kelli, your legal concerns are -”
“Oh, forget those.”
“But Kelli, these proceedings are of VITAL importance. This could be your entire future!”
“What future? I go on making pills that don’t help people and hundreds of workers, regular folks who only did as instructed, lose their jobs? I can’t DO that, Mark, you KNOW I can’t.”
He rubs at the back of his neck, twisting it this way and that to ease the tightness. Taking a deep breath - and releasing it, and taking another deep breath - Harris tries again.
“I know what you’re saying, but what recourse do we have? Shut down the factory and EVERYONE is out a job?”
...even me...
The unspoken words hung there for all of a second, Kelli filing it away to deal with later, but extending her hand out to touch him on the shoulder in reassurance.
“I have an idea, I promise I do, and it’s one that will make sense even to YOU. But I have to work out a few more details before I even consider mentioning it, okay?”
“Kelli, please, I…” Mark lifts a hand in vague question, Kelli waiting patiently.
“...what?”
Shaking his head, he shoves his hands in his pockets. “Nothing. Listen, I know you have about thirty ways to contact me when you need me, but would you please do a guy a favor and just CHECK IN with me?”
She smiles a bit. “Yeah, I’ll try. I’m sorry, Mark. I hadn’t meant to leave you in the dark, I was just busy handling business, you know how it is.”
“I do, because I’ve been handling yours.” Her face falls back into lines of worry. “Don't make that face - that’s part of what I’m here for, Kelli, but I do need you to work with me. If you just blow off these appointments, nothing is going to get done. Not only that, but they could hold you in contempt of court and things would go REALLY sideways.” He frowns. “More sideways than they’ve BEEN going since you took over, anyway.”
Her expression freezes in place, a flash of real hurt behind her eyes.
“I swear I’ll go to the courthouse tomorrow morning and, really… Mark?” A fat tear rolls down her cheek. “I’m sorry. I really am sorry. I never wanted to look like I had taken on too much, to let everyone down.”
“Who says you have?”
“To my face? No one. Otherwise? Probably almost everyone. I came striding up after Daddy died and told them I could take care of it. Even reassured the investing founder, no no no it’s okay I’ve got this.” Her chin trembles, a dull, angry red flushing her cheeks. “And I didn’t have it! I tried, I swear to fuck I tried, but it was way more than I was expecting. Just everything all at once and still all of LIFE is still happening!”
Mark pulls her into a firm, comforting hug. “Relax. You’ve got an entire team to help you, and if you think you can keep this place from shutting down you just tell me what you need me to do.”
She sniffles miserably, pulling away and nodding.
“First things first? I need your help hanging my mirror up in my closet.”
“Your closet?”
“Well, all my clothes are in there, so…”
Because answering “my portal into another world is my mirror and I think someone was checking out my be-thonged ass the other day” would create way too many questions.
“Alright, sure. And while we do that, may we talk about the Shaw brothers?”
“Fuck ‘em. I got Rick Majors, and they’ve only got each other.”
