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 Posted: Sun Jan 04, 2009 9:32 am
Tick Tock Tick Tock
The air smelled of burning incense, with a fading hint of citrus furniture polish. The ticking of clocks could be heard, and they lined the walls in a great majestic fashion. Grandfather clocks and wall hanging clocks alike. All hand carved with care and love, and ticking away, all in perfect unison. It might almost come across as unnerving. In the background, music could be heard faintly. Classical music, which upon furthur investigation would prove to be Bethoven. The air was almost uncomfortably warm. But not quite. The air seemed a bit thicker, denser somehow, as if in a dream. Drapes cut off most of the light from the huge glass window, but let through enough to cast an orangey rose glow over all the wood surfaces. But the light did something else as well. It cast a silhouette of a desk, threw it in shadow when the rest of the room was light. It was at this very desk that the figure sat. Small noises of pen on paper could be heard, to accompany the tick ticking of the clocks, and the subtle classical music which seemed so far off.
Lance drummed her fingers on the desk, eyes narrowed slightly in a tad bit of frustration. She was trying to write something, but feather pens proved unreliable, and often messy. This was the third time it'd run ink. That was not acceptable. She emptied the pen of ink, and slipped it into a jar full of other trinkets from humans. Writing implements like pens and pencils.
From a modern standpoint, her office looked old fasioned, to say the least. Wodern furniture galor, requiring polishing and care to maintain its state. But why should that bother her? For that was the brilliant thing about power. She could get someone else to polish it for her. Get someone else to wind her clocks. She only need sit back and enjoy them.
Book cases lined nearly the entire left wall, filled with books of various shapes, sizes, and colors. Leather-bound, hard cover, and paperback. All the pages tainted yellow with age, some stiff and deformed from water, some missing pages, some half burnt. But Lance kept them anyway. For she...she strove to understand the ideas of humanity. Or at least, one of them in particular. That oh so fickle religion. But it was good. It gave her motivation when nothing else did. Gave her purpose where she might else wallow in luxury. For surely all these old fashioned human implements were anything but luxurious. But they kept her close to what she was working for. And besides...she really did like the music. And the clocks. The Grandfather one particularly. She knew you could count on one hand the number of Grandfather clocks that survived the destruction of humans. She just so happened to posses one of those few. She absolutely refused to get replicas of human artifacts. She liked the real deal. Which was why, upon inspection, one could often find scratches, burns, or chips in the furniture. It was rather old, after all.
Lance folded her hands and rested her chin on them, closing her eyes. It was stressful to be head of CCorporation, to be sure. But to see her products in action...made it all the worthwhile. Particularly the one she was about to see. The other scientists...they saw Kaosu as a failure. Lance...saw him as an asset. He possesed not that sense of honor and virture held by other Daruma. He did what she asked. Period. One could hardly buy that kind of service these days. You had to make it. And that's what she did. And it was this very Daruma in question she had sent summons for. He was to have a meeting with her, in less than half an hour of human time.
Hopefully he not forgotten their appointment. Lance did not tolerate tardiness well. Nor anything else that she viewed as an inconvinience. She was a very busy Daruma, and wasting time was simply out of the question. Brilliant indigo eyes flitted about the room. Surveying with pleasure her office decorations, a mark of her stature. Not even museums had as comprehensive a collection as she. She found her gaze constantly flicking towards the clock, as she tried to instill patience within herself. He wasn't late yet. He still had a few more minutes.
She sighed, and reached into one of the drawers. Glass clinked as she poured herself a small drink, rotating the glass cup in her hands. It burned like fire as she sipped it, and she found herself, as always, both entranced and disgusted by the taste. She stared at the ceiling, which was a dull rust red, matching the wall paper and the lush carpet on the floor.
Tick Tock Tick Tock
The clocks counted down, as she tried to find a way to busy herself as she waited. For his sake and hers, she hoped he got here soon.
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Posted: Sun Jan 04, 2009 1:49 pm
 Omnigenus was the center of the world.
People lined every street and every surface. Crowds circulated through the concrete walkways. Vendors ripped off tourists and new arrivals while countless seasoned ship workers navigated the docks. The entire area teemed with life and energy. Buried amongst so many nameless faces, sights, and sounds, Kaosu could not bring himself to hurry. His flight into town had been several hours late, and he needed to head to Business District for an appointment with the CEO. However, he had never been one for priorities. The tigris had only been to the capital a few times in his life, and every visit had always been painted with excitement. Why not enjoy himself? He had come a quite a ways from Torva.
Time clicked away diligently as he meandered through the port. When he finally reached the foot of CCorporation's towering glass skyscraper, he already was several minutes behind schedule. Unconcerned, he casually stepped inside, walked past the front desk (as he technically did not work there and was considered a private visitor), and slipped into the executive elevator. Over one hundred floors later, he entered the hall just outside of Lance's office. Here he was intercepted by a receptionist. 
"There you are! We've been expecting you for over twenty minutes now! You should know better than to keep the CEO waiting." There was a pointed harshness in her tone. Most employees of CC disliked Kaosu. Not only did he ignore the rules of society, but he also had caused one of the company's greatest scandals. He was a failure, a monster, and an arrogant jerk all at the same time. They only tolerated him because the higher ups wanted to keep him around. Noting her hostility, Kaosu nodded and smiled, "But my plane ride was so tiring! If you don't mind, I'll hang around for a little while. Surely a few more moments won't hurt?"
He really had no reason to delay his appointment any further, but the fact that the woman objected to his presence amused him. Chuckling as she glowered at him from behind a stack of papers, he bluntly grabbed a nearby chair and dragged it over to her desk. He settled himself in, leaned back, and shamelessly put his feet on her table. The poor lepus female tried to ignore him, but he could tell she was growing more and more annoyed. How entertaining. Maybe she would snap on him and lose her job?
Peacefully, he listened to the grandfather clock in the next room ticking. When he had counted out an additional thirty minutes, he decided that he ought to abandon his game for now. The secretary had suffered enough and the CEO would be unbearable if forced to wait longer. Stretching, he finally stood and sauntered over to the door. Then he turned the old fashioned brass handle and stepped inside the office. It took every ounce of self control he possessed to smother his urge to grimace. The familiar stench of incense and polish assaulted his senses. He had no idea how his fellow could endure the smells all for the sake of a handful of human artifacts.
"Why hello, Miss Lance! It's been a while, hasn't it?" Kaosu announced conversationally. He chose to ignore the fact that she was his superior whom he had just severely inconvenienced. Hopefully she was accustomed to his random behavior after so many years and would not be too upset with him. Without waiting to be offered a seat, the tigris planted himself in an expensive chair directly in front of her. "I hear you wanted to speak with me?" Pushing his luck further, he absently toyed with one of the trinkets on her desk. "Do you have a 'mission' for me? That would be fantastic. I have been ever so bored these days..."
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Posted: Fri Jan 09, 2009 10:09 pm
To say Lance was irritated was an understatement of epic proportions. Though she wouldn't willingly betray it, there was a certain tenseness to her, her fingers gripped the desk a little harder than necessary. Subtle clues to a more annoyed interior. But when Kaosu entered the room, it was greeted with a smile that teetered on a smirk, and a slight nod of the head, to welcome him. She didn't bother with trifles like handshakes unless it was someone she needed to impress. And Kaosu, while one of her most excellent...'employees', was by no means viewed as an equal. She made him for pete sake! She sat patiently and watched him, but a little twitch, the way her eyes followed every movement as he messed with her things, gave away that she was not quite so easy going about her things as she let on. At least she could torture him with the smell of the room.
When she couldn't take it any longer, she reached across the desk, and politely but sternly took back her trinket, yanking it out of his hand, and lay it back on the desk. Treating him much like one might treat a child. Such expensive things were not to be messed with so casually. She stared at his hand for a moment, as if reveling in the fact that she could make something so wonderful, before looking up to smile at him. One of her ears twitched a little, and she raised a hand. In the background, the music stopped.
She waited a minute to speak though. She leaned back in her chair, folding her arms over her chest. She simply watched him, observed him, with the sort of gaze a predator might observe prey. Looking for flaws, and finding none. This sort of meeting only served to boost her ego. Oh he annoyed her to be sure. He wasn't as reliable, as exact as she would like. He was smug and didn't respect authority like herself. But it was that that made him genius. He was no machine. He was a Daruma. And a damn good one. At least, when it came to getting things done.
"Ah, Kaosu. I must admit, the waiting was a tad bit of a bother." She drummed her fingers together. "But I guess I should come to expect that when dealing with you." as she spoke, she dug through one of the drawers of her desk, pouring out two glasses of scotch, so that Kaosu could have some if he wanted, or she herself could have two glasses. She couldn't recall if she'd ever actually offered him drink before. Much less something so old fashioned. But that wasn't the main point. Her speaking was a delay as she pulled out the real prize. A paper scroll, rolled and tied up neatly with a ribbon. This she lay on the desk, for him to take. "I feel you will be quite satisfied for the task I have in mind. I need you to...procure, a few materials for me. Materials only found heavily guarded by a few other corporations...I trust this shall not be a problem?" She swung back and forth in her chair a little as she spoke, smile growing as she spoke. Kaosu was the best for jobs like this, when reliable Daruma were hard to find. He really was a blessing and a curse.
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