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 Posted: Sun Mar 22, 2009 10:22 am
The timeclock gave an accepting beep of his employee code as he leaned over to toss his jacket across a pile of boxes near the manager's office. He was surprised, really, that he'd not been accosted the second he came through the door for taking a sick day the day before....especially after having rolled in late so recently.
He was straightening the collar of his work shirt and about to head back into the main store area when, behind him, there was the sound of a door opening.
"Kendall?"
He felt his heart sink at the sound of Jody's voice as he looked over his shoulder.
"Yeah?" Maybe it was nothing.
"I need to borrow you for a minute." the middle-aged woman informed him, her expression kept perfectly neutral in a way he'd found disquieting since being hired. It was impossible to tell what she wanted to talk to you about until she actually had you cornered. It could be anything from simply asking if you were available to take some overtime, or it could be prelude to her throwing something back in your face you had done horribly WRONG on your shift at some point.
He had no doubt this was about his recent attendance track record.
"Erm...sure." he said, forcing himself to turn back to look at her expectantly.
"My office." she said, gesturing at the room with the cap of the pen she held.
s**t.
Despite all evidence pointing to the contrary he still tried, very hard, to convince himself that this was not going to be a discussion about his job as he brushed past her and into the small cluttered room. Inside there was a desk, several filing cabinets, an ancient humming computer, and two folding chairs.
"Sit." she invited, gesturing to the one in front of the desk as she took up the one behind it. Kendall sank into the chair, taking a deep breath as she got situated, and then drew a manilla folder out of a nearby pile of papers to place in front of herself. Was that....?
"How long have you worked for us, Kendall?" she inquired, flipping the folder open, allowing him to catch a brief glimpse of his name printed on the tab. ********, it WAS. She'd pulled his employee file.
"About four years, I think? Give or take..."
"Mm. And how would you say your performance as an employee has been?"
"Uhh..." He squirmed in his seat, watching her flip through papers. Dammit, were the mind games really necessary? Its not like they were dating or something... "I'd say I've done a good job, I think..." he ventured. "I mean..." Was the write-up he'd gotten when he'd first started working there for a customer overhearing him calling her a vapid hag to another clerk still in there? He hoped not... "....listen, is this about me calling in sick yesterday?"
"If you're asking if this is about the current status of your job, then yes. It is." she informed him. The words felt like a punch in the gut as he relocated his eyes to the floor. Images of filling out piles of applications, not being able to make his share of the rent, and sitting by the phone waiting for callbacks were already starting to fill his head. This, on top of everything else, was like the punchline to a really bad joke.
"Its hard to leave a position open when the store's already understaffed..." she began.
"Yeah." he muttered. Just drop the hammer and get it over with.
"...but given the circumstances, its really not looking like I'm going to have a choice."
Really? One day late and one sick day, and that was four years gone? Whatever...
"Okay..." He found he had to make a vested effort to unclench his jaw. "Did you want me to finish my shift, then? Or...just go now?"
"Kendall, have you ever given any thought to being a manager?"
....what? Wait a minute.
"I..." he faltered, giving her an expression of perfect perplexion. "....n-no? I can't say that I have..." She smiled, and he found that he equally wanted to scream and to deflate with relief. She'd played him like a piano on PURPOSE...!
"Well, that's why I wanted to talk to you." Jody said, leaning forward a bit and folding her hands neatly on top of his file. "My family has been going through some bad times. I got a call from my mother last night, and, long story short, my sister is going to be coming to live with me soon. I can't look after her -and- keep up with this job."
"Oh..."
"They were going to transfer in someone from another store to take over this one, but they don't have anybody to spare for another month at least. And I need to get my affairs settled by next week. SO...I told them I would go over the store's employees and see if anybody looked like management material."
"And....really? You picked -me-?" he asked, still a bit boggled.
"Well..." she said, trailing off to look back down at the papers before her. "I'm going over your file here, and, aside from Trey, you've been here the longest. You've only had three sick days since you started work, and the only time you've been late was just a couple days ago. And..." she added, shuffling the papers. "...the only documented customer complaint we have on you is from back when you'd first been hired."
He guessed it was true...little things like that really -did- follow you to your grave.
"So I suppose what I'm getting at is, if the job were offered to you, Kendall, would you want it?"
Would he -want- it...?? It took a vested effort on his part not to appear as excited as he suddenly felt. Had he been on the other side of the desk at the moment and his potential candidate suddenly went into a giddyfit, he would have rethought offering them the job.
((TBC when I get my muse back =P ))
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Posted: Wed Apr 08, 2009 11:42 pm
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Posted: Thu Apr 09, 2009 2:13 am
Kendall's AIM window HiddenEden: what was that? ONoItsKen is no longer idleONoItsKen: what was what? HiddenEden: don't try and tell me you didn't hear that. I had my earbuds in and I heard it. ONoItsKen: oh that. No biggie. HiddenEden: what *was* it, and I'll decide that for myself? ONoItsKen: does it matter? HiddenEden: It does now that you're being cagey about it. HiddenEden: wtf did you do? HiddenEden: you can either tell me here or I'll come down there and get in your face. It doesn't matter to me except I don't feel like getting up right now... ONoItsKen: the bed broke, that's all ONoItsKen: like I said, not a big deal.=P HiddenEden: ..... HiddenEden: how the hell did you manage THAT? ONoItsKen: It was getting old, probably. I've had it since I was like 12 O_o HiddenEden: uh huh... >.> ONoItsKen: ray... ONoItsKen: you can have a pretty lie or the ugly truth, which would you rather? HiddenEden: Will you cut the bullshit already? What happened?? ONoItsKen: okay... ONoItsKen: gimme a sec.... HiddenEden: I'm going to hate myself for asking, aren't I? ONoItsKen: So I came home from work today and Tourma was pissed off. Like REALLY pissed off. Somebody she didn't like got engaged to someone she did or something like that. I don't know. But I got the blame for it somehow. And she didn't even give me a chance to say hello, just came right at me with her guns a'blazin HiddenEden: O_o;;; HiddenEden: Is THAT what that was? HiddenEden: Ken...I'm serious, did she hurt you? And don't lie to me. ONoItsKen: and we got into a yelling match in the hallway over it. ONoItsKen: dude. look. you wanted to hear this, let me tell it HiddenEden: fine. ONoItsKen: and she started calling me gay, saying I was pathetic, all that happy horseshit. HiddenEden: chaaaaarming ¬.¬ ONoItsKen: I know, right? Pissed me right the hell off. So bad that I proved her wrong XD HiddenEden: what does THAT mean? ONoItsKen: uh, pretty much how it sounds? >>; HiddenEden: .....oh ffs, Ken, you didn't........ ONoItsKen: some guys get to remember their first time being prefaced by 'I love you', some get 'be gentle with me', you know what I got? HiddenEden: I don't want to know. thanks, this is exactly what I needed running around in my head right before going to sleep. ONoItsKen: you asked... =P HiddenEden: yeah... HiddenEden: so I'm guessing she broke the bed then? ONoItsKen: yeah. It wasn't her fault, though. She's kinda heavy. HiddenEden: nice to see you get laid once and automatically buy into the whole internet male thing. ONoItsKen: ?? HiddenEden: She's skinnier than *I* am, how the hell can you call her heavy? ONoItsKen: No I don't mean walrus-heavy. ONoItsKen: just heavy. ONoItsKen: skeleton-made-of-metal heavy. HiddenEden: I see... ONoItsKen: .....are you mad or something? HiddenEden: Why would I be mad? ONoItsKen: Because that's kind of the impression you're giving. HiddenEden: What do you want to hear from me? That I'm having a giddyfit my brother nailed someone before I did? ONoItsKen: Not exactly... HiddenEden: good. Because I'm not. Name me one person who'd be thrilled to be clued in on their sibling's sex life. Gross. ><; ONoItsKen: gee thanks HiddenEden: so what's that mean for the living arrangement, then? ONoItsKen: how do you mean? HiddenEden: I mean does this mean now I have to knock before I open every door in the house so I don't get a faceful of you two being naked and squirmy? Or was this just some awkward one-time deal and she's going to kick us out eventually because she's sick of looking at you or what? ONoItsKen: dunno. HiddenEden: how can you NOT KNOW?? ONoItsKen: its not like we exactly sat down and laid out ground rules about this beforehand.... HiddenEden: all right you know what? I'm going to bed. And I'm going to try very hard to forget you told me all of this. ONoItsKen: YOU. ASKED. HiddenEden: stop reminding me. HiddenEden is awayONoItsKen: fair nuff... Auto response from HiddenEden: I have just discovered that I have a head and a functioning pillow to place beneath it. brb while I figure this out... (Sleeping)
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Posted: Fri Apr 10, 2009 10:36 pm
Dear Diary.
Hi. Its been awhile, remember me?
Today I have learned a valuable life lesson -- when your son calls home to tell you he's gotten a promotion at work? Just let it go at that and be happy for him. Because if you decide to press your luck and ask him how his personal life has been....you're not going to hear anything you wanted to hear.
I don't know what I EXPECTED, really....I would've been happy to hear that maybe he'd finally gotten off of that damned computer and was going out more. Maybe that he'd made some friends. Maybe that he'd met a nice girl and they were going steady.
I do not know who Tourmaline is. After hearing what they've been up to, I'm kind of afraid to ask. I don't mean to sell Ken short or anything, but as someone who's known him his whole life and who knows that he'd rather entrust his biggest secrets to text on a screen than to anyone flesh-and-blood, I don't really deem him the best judge of people.
But, of course, its not my place to tell him what I think is healthy for him, and what isn't anymore. He's old enough to make his own mistakes and learn from them now. I was told once that the mark of a great parent was knowing when it was time to let go. If that's true, I am the mother of the goddamn year because I had no desire to touch the topic of Kendall's sex life with a fifty foot pole.
The funny part about all of this? Youko and I used to joke that Ken was the one we never had to worry about this topic rearing its head with. So we were going to save our fretting for Raven, and the first time she announced she was dating.
At least, I guess, they're ensuring their father and I never run out of things to discuss when we get together for coffee on weekends...
--Karma
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Posted: Tue Apr 14, 2009 5:26 am
It was easily one of the most quiet outings he'd ever had with his mother.
After putting him on the new payroll, they'd said he'd likely be seeing his first check in anywhere from three to four weeks. There would be enough in the bank to cover rent for the month, but as far as anything for himself, Kendall was out of luck until the checking department got everything in order.
And so, he'd done what had seemed most reasonable of someone who'd spent the last two days sleeping on a mattress laid out on the floor because his bedframe had been reduced to kindling.
He'd swallowed his pride and asked Karma for help with buying a new one.
"What about that one?" the foxcoon asked, pointing at a model that was displaying a metal frame.
"That'd work. Unless it warps in warm weather or something..."
"I don't think even Durem's summers are quite bad enough to melt one of those out of shape." she assured him.
"Okay..."
There was a moment more of silence, and then a sigh.
"You're really not going to tell me anything about her, are you?" his mother asked at last.
"Huh?"
"If it's a 'her', anyway...." Karma amended, allowing for the possibility that Ken had, at some point, decided he was batting for the other team.
"Yeah, mom, it IS a 'her'...." he muttered, stuffing his hands in his pockets. This was humiliating enough as it was, he didn't particularly feel like getting into the details.
"Oh." It was really all she could think to say at the moment. That answered -one- question, at least.....and in doing so eliminated many, many others. "....and where did you two meet again?"
"She's my renter. I met her online, remember?"
"Right, right, I forgot." Her mind was racing now, trying to bring a picture of this girl to mind. The internet already narrowed the playing field depressingly. Add into account that she had managed to BREAK THE BED and her brain was painting her some interesting pictures.
Mousey hair kept back in a ponytail, sweatpants and a t-shirt stretched over a mountainous heap of a body, and everything capped off with a spooky pair of glasses.
That was the face of the internet.
It made a shudder pass through her and the urge to grab him by the shoulders and demand to know why he didn't think he could do better for himself become overwhelming for a moment....
....but she refrained. It was not her place.
"Am I going to get to meet her?" she inquired.
"How about this one?" Ken said, pretending he hadn't heard her as he approached another display model. "Its not that expensive..."
"Ken..."
"What??" he growled, bristling irately as he turned to look at her, only to be met with a pair of red eyes that looked steadily back at him, one brow arching stubbornly. "Okay, look. Mom..." he began reasonably, leaning against the headboard of the bed. "....its not like I told you we're getting married or something. You don't need to meet her."
"What if I want to?" she pried. His being evasive wasn't winning him any points.
"What if I don't want you to?" he challenged.
"What if I don't want to help you buy a new bed?" Now she was fighting dirty. He gave a sigh of disgust.
Why was she pressing the issue? Wasn't SHE the one who'd said last time they'd talked on the phone that she had no desire to touch his personal life with a fifty foot pole and she would thank him never to mention it again?
"Well, that'll be kind of hard seeing as how she won't come out of her room." he muttered.
"Why not?"
"I don't know, because she thinks she's fat now, I guess..." he huffed.
If she's got enough heft to turn a bedframe to toothpicks, I'd say that was an accurate assumption. She wanted to say it. She nearly said it. She, once again, refrained.
"I would still like to meet her." she insisted. So I can at least tell you with certainty you could do better if you tried. "I'm not asking you to introduce her as your girlfriend or anything..." in fact, please don't... "But if she's someone you guys live with on a daily basis, and someone that you think is special enough to...." she bit the thought off before she could finish it. "Just....invite her over for dinner sometime, all right?" I will supply the bucket of krill.
It was, without a doubt, the pettiest and nastiest train of thought she'd been on in a long while, and yet she felt perfectly justified in it. She guessed as much as she and Youko had promised each other that, god forbid when the twins started dating, they would keep open minds about whoever they brought home, nothing could quite kill that sniping motherly voice that insisted NOBODY was good enough for her son/daughter.
"I'll ask her, but I don't know if she's going to want to." Ken relented at last, reaching up to scratch behind his ear. He tried to imagine what that would look like...assuming he even COULD coax her out of her room....to immediately ask if she'd like to meet his parents. If THAT didn't scream 'I'm a creepy loser', he didn't know what did.
"Fair enough." Karma nodded, deciding to let it drop, despite the fact she wanted to keep needling. She could only keep him over the barrel of being the one loaning him money for a new bedframe for so long before he'd just throw up his hands and resign himself to sleeping on the floor for a little longer, after all. "How about this one?" she asked, brushing past Kendall to examine a plain-looking frame done up in dark wood.
"I dunno, it kinda rides a little low to the ground."
"Yes, god forbid you don't have somewhere to stuff your dirty laundry when you don't feel like walking three feet to the hamper." his mother teased, making him flatten his ears. "C'mon, its cheap. And it looks sturdy. .....and I want to get the hell out of here as much as you do, because believe me you're not the only one who finds this awkward."
He felt heat rise to his cheeks as he relocated his eyes to the tiled floor. "All right." he said quietly, earning a smile from the foxcoon as she wandered off to find a sales associate.
Maybe, he thought, Tourmaline had the right idea. Because right now closing himself up in his room and never coming out again seemed like an awesome plan....
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Posted: Tue Apr 14, 2009 5:27 am
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Posted: Thu Apr 16, 2009 5:39 am
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Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2009 5:51 pm
A bright green Post-it note stuck in the middle of Ken's computer monitor. Hand written in neat, black script was a short message. Quote: Ken- Don't forget to buy 2 tickets for the midnight showing of Wolverine next Thursday. Thx, T~.
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Posted: Thu May 07, 2009 11:35 pm
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Posted: Thu May 07, 2009 11:36 pm
Dear Diary -
Well, I'm finally doing this. It's something I've considered for a while... or at least since Omi had her baby. That is something I never want to see again in my life, and I never want to think about it happening to ME. I've made an appointment at the clinic for myself, and I'll be asking Kendall to drive me there. According to the Doctor, I'll be in the hospital for a couple of days recovery, and will be on VERY light duty for a while after that. I've already let work know, and although Alicia understands, I still feel badly leaving her high and dry. She's convinced that I'm being hasty.
I don't believe I am. I've thought on this for a long while, and I'm not going to be talked out of it. I've also not told dad. I'm old enough that I don't need his consent, but I'm not about to tell Mr. Babylover that his daughter will never have kids. He'll likely be angry with me, but I do think that he'll get over it after a bit.
If I know this is the right thing for me... and I know that I won't regret it later... why do I feel like such crap NOW?
Raven
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Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2009 5:23 pm
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Posted: Thu Nov 05, 2009 6:03 pm
It was late. It had been a long day and Raven had been looking forward to collapsing into bed with a book and NOTHING to do for a few days. When her cell phone buzzed against the nightstand, she didn't think anything of it. She waited until she finished the chapter she was on, then picked up the phone, flipping it open and frowning when she read it. "Dad?" she asked, thumbing through the message. Why would Sei be asking about her father? Something was obviously wrong, but she didn't have much to go on. She called her father's number then, tapping a claw against the phone as it rang... and rang. "Dad," she said, almost in the tone of voice a parent would speak to a child as the answering machine picked up. "Call me as soon as you get this, okay?" He was probably out somewhere. Kaeru was generally gone on weekends anyway, and Omi couldn't hear the phone in her room. Not like she answered it anyway. So the foxcoon wasn't concerned for now. Then she looked at the clock. It was almost two in the morning, and Youko was never out this late. Not when Kaeru was notorious for needing rides home from wherever he got stranded. Now she was calling again and again, trying to get something other than the machine. "Dad, pick up the damned phone!" she hissed, once the beep told her that she was being recorded. "This isn't funny anymore and you're scaring the crap out of me! So help me, if you're sleeping through all of this, I'm icing your bed!" As she spoke, she was pulling on clothes. Sei had said he was going over to her father's house, and now she wanted to be there too. After borrowing a car, she raced out, driving in a manner that would be more suited to her brother. The Sound of Heaven Falling
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