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Posted: Wed Nov 01, 2017 11:22 am
Wednesday night dinner had become something of a staple event at the Ellis apartment. In the months since Chase had returned to them, it became a well-choreographed dance, a last shred of willing routine in a sea of work, mandatory patrols, and meetings with a physical therapist, mostly because it was the one thing about her world that she could readily control. School and therapy and the Negaverse were constants in her world, none of which Suri would really choose to change, but it was different to have such simple agency as driving herself to the store, selecting exactly which vegetables she wanted for a hearty autumn meal, choosing what spices to use and when to preheat the oven and which candles to light on the counter. It was a reverent, solemn affair, setting her apartment for company to the tune of some old grainy guitar piping out of her record player, but it kept her hands busy and her mind at ease.
She was never quite sure why Chase indulged her in these little moments of humanity when they both knew what they were, but she'd taken to the role of caretaker with utmost seriousness, filling idle hours with research on what recipes to use for sensitive stomachs, asking her mother things she'd never particularly cared to know about wine pairings and ambiance. For a moment, she'd managed to inspire hope in her parents that Suri might finally be nesting, settling down for somebody special, at least until they heard it was for that Chase Black boy that she was seen with from time to time. Suri never bothered to explain the purpose of their weekly dinners to her parents. It didn't matter if her mother thought it was inappropriate.
What mattered was that Suri was a considerate officer, a loyal second in command, and even if the other wolves had scattered in Labyrinthite's absence, she remained, silent and unassuming. She'd heard rumor of the general's more violent outbursts, perhaps seen that gleam in his eyes herself, but she marked it as a point of pride that he'd never turned that anger on her. And why should he? She was steadfast and obedient, and she didn't ask painful questions, no matter how they begged for answers in the back of her mind. She hadn't done him the service of getting herself promoted in his absence like some of the others, but she knew her place. She'd always known her place.
"Door's open," she called to the rapping at her threshold, stirring at a bowl leveled on one hip. The apartment had already collected a number of lingering smells that pointed to impending dinner--butter, bacon, freshly cut onions, staples of a southern kitchen. On the island in the center of her kitchen Suri had already arranged a series of half-cut potatoes, their innards scooped away to make little potato canoes. Suri didn't look up to acknowledge the door, placing her bowl on the counter opposite her island so she could scrape green onions into the white mash she'd been beating. Her hair wasn't quite long enough to tie up, so she had it pinned back by a series of star-shaped barrettes that held little tufts of bleach blonde out of her face.
"It's a little early, but there are snacks in the fridge if you are hungry," she added, wiping her hands on a pumpkin-embroidered towel. There were still holdovers of Halloween decorating the shelves of her apartment, small figurines that she hadn't bothered to take down just yet. "I was thinking twice-baked potatoes, baked chicken, some cider."
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Posted: Thu Nov 02, 2017 2:58 pm
Since he had been back Chase had been forced to take things slowly because his recovery was a slow one. Physically he was back to normal, for the most part. There was still muscle and weight that he had to regain and eating hadn't gotten any easier, outside of being able to keep food down eight out of ten times. Unfortunately he had developed behaviors that made interactions...difficult and his ability to control himself and his responses to things was so erratic.
It was exasperating.
This dinner thing with Suri, a person who brought about different responses from him for situations that others before the incident with the Rift, had become a routine that he found somewhat easy to manage. For the most part when he couldn't actively feel the chaos thrumming in his veins, the beast he kept locked up seemed to be complacent. Occasionally, if he was already irritable and moody, the threads of control would slip and the gate would swing open while he was Chase.
Collateral damage proved to often be his stubborn girlfriend because both he and his beast were too presently aware of what her magical identity consisted of.
Blood, the beast would rasp in his ear during those times. We call for blood.
Some days he could fight back the beast, others he could feel himself caving beneath the weight of it's demands. The outcome always varied but Prissy was still at his side as loyal and proud as ever regardless. This dinner routine with Suri seemed to help settle him, which was why he always showed up on time or a few minutes early. Today was such a time and at her call he pushed the door open and shuffled inside.
In his hands were to-go cups with his name scribbled across one and hers on the other. If he didn't arrive with flowers, he brought the first beverage. Coffee for him and a specifically picked tea blend for Suri.
"I can wait," he announced, striding towards the kitchen to deposit her cup and find a seat as he watched her work. He made no offer to help her, if only because he knew that he was useless in the kitchen. They had discovered such a few dinners ago when he had managed to set a pot of water on fire.
How he had survived before moving back into his parent's house when he was younger was a mystery. "You know you don't have to do so much, right?"
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Posted: Mon Nov 06, 2017 1:28 pm
"Of course I do," Suri retorted as a matter of fact, reaching across the counter to pull the beverage into her work space. She lifted the cup to her lips for an appraising taste with closed eyes, then nodded with a hum of approval before she set it back down and continued with the work of restuffing the potatoes. "It's Wednesday, when else am I going to cook like this?" She said it with an air of selfishness that wasn't entirely untrue--Suri knew her predicament, that for everyone's promises she was still a single slip-up from ruin, that all of her hard work was precariously balanced on her ability to demonstrate good behavior. As a captain in her state, there was only so much she could do to ensure her quotas were properly met, and she wasn't shaped for combat anymore, so first-most of her duties had become finding something to soothe the madness in her General's chest, to ward off the dark rumors of a reaper without restraint.
It wasn't much, but by Suri's estimation it was working so far.
"It shouldn't take too long," she added, trading one tray for another in the oven when it let out a shrill whine. The smell of cooked chicken wafted into the living room, and it drew the attention of a pool of shadows that shuffled to the front of its hiding place to stare intently at Chase with unblinking yellow-green eyes. Maverick was not known to be a friendly cat, and Suri had warned Chase once upon a time to mind the temper of the cranky Siberian. However, especially in the months since Chase's return, the cat had cultivated something of an interest in the man, and he seeped out from his hiding place with his body crouched low, tail flickering as he inched slowly closer, closer.
"Maverick," came Suri's low warning as she crossed the threshold of the kitchen, one hand on her tea and the other brushing the edge of a hip-height railing that had been installed along the edge of the entire apartment. Matching his ward, Maverick responded with an equally low yowl, and then continued his gradual pursuit. He wiggled once to join Chase on the couch, leaning his weight across the man's torso so that he could sniff at whatever beverage he had clearly brought as an offering.
"Maverick, no," Suri insisted, and the moment she stepped far enough into the room to relinquish her hold on the railing the cat paused to look up at her, ears flat but behavior otherwise unchanged. They exchanged long stares, and then with a huff the cat relented, shuffling into loaf form beside Chase with a look that said 'I'm taking my beverage the moment you look away'.
"Sorry, he's...not usually like this," Suri frowned, taking the concession where she could. She was quick to retreat a step back for the safety of her railing, and followed it with light fingers to the loveseat opposite the two where she could sit among hand-embroidered pillows with her tea in hand. She crossed her ankles under her, the right one shielding the metal of the left from view so for a moment she looked mostly the part of effortless and well-groomed. Suri had been raised to be a polished and posh member of the elite, but it was her eyes that always gave her away, amber and wild even under the shelter of tired lids. Some days she was predator and others she was prey, but today it seemed she hadn't yet decided.
"How goes everything with the acquisition?" she started, sipping her cup softly with her eyes still on Maverick for signs of treachery.
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Posted: Tue Nov 07, 2017 12:19 pm
When Suri wasn't looking, Chase allowed the barest hints of a genuine grin grace his lips. Next to Priscilla, Suri had been the most proactive about tending to his issues and what recovery from his time away meant now that he was back. He had yet to hire a personal chef to fill the fridges with easily reheatable meals or to provide him with dishes when he was home and that meant he had reverted back into the bad eating habits of his youth.
When he had first returned, the woman had brought over meals that she watched him eat and it had shifted into weekly meals that he attended without a fuss. It was, after all, the least he could do around someone who's mere presence seemed to sooth the rattling of the chains within. Prissy could only do so much for him and currently...his relationship with Regan was in shambles. Silk was as steadfast and as loyal as ever for his general but he wouldn't be surprised if there was a slight strain between them because of his inability to control himself around his own.
As for Katrina, he hadn't seen her since his appearances at the races. Her offer was a steadfast one always present in the back of his mind but he was a proud creature, this ailment he faced was his alone to overcome. Besides, he didn't think that at this time there was much for the cat to do for him at this point. Until he was 'better' it was hard to say what he needed and who could help him in what ways.
What he did know, however, was that Suri was a specially carved space in his veins that had been present since they bonded when he was a captain and she a lieutenant. Like Alkaid, she brought about things that others did not. Therefore, it didn't surprise him that these dinners with her soothed the beast within.
Maverick's approach was watched with a careful eye, Chase already resigning to the fact that yet again, for god knew what reason, a cat had deemed him 'worthy'. He did not push the creature off of him when he laid upon his torso and made eyes at his coffee but he made no move to appease it either. When Maverick moved, he adjusted how he sat to sit straighter, casually watching the cat from one eye as he sipped at his beverage. "It's fine," he replied, gruffly.
One hand lifted to wave away her concerns.
"Things are proceeding as expected. Banks has untangled my assets from the hands of legal and the offer has been drafted. I expect to visit Levi in the upcoming weeks once the purchase is confirmed. There are matters to attend to, such as the current CEO, but he is practically doing the work for us. With the footage from the festival and several other encounters with senshi documented, we'll have all the evidence we need to kick him from his seat and replace him."
Of course, he still needed to discuss such things with Levi but the devil was in the details.
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Posted: Thu Nov 09, 2017 10:34 am
Suri nodded along with Chase's discussion, polite but intrigued nevertheless. There was a time when she would have been expected to manage similar funds on behalf of her father, but she lacked patience for the minutia, the people between the numbers that always tried to bend things one way or the other. But that was where the magic happened, wasn't it, pulling the strings on the people that could be changed instead of toying with the figures that couldn't? It was her mother's game, which disgusted her, but it was Stroud's game too, which was delightful to watch from a distance. There was something satisfying in feeling like an exception to the rule, watching everyone else fall to the woman's ploys while she herself remained immune.
Chase was just adept enough at it to appear sincere sometimes, and that made him the most dangerous, even when he wasn't Labyrinthite. It was the reason he led the team, and the reason she would always be a right hand. Chase knew people. Suri knew her place.
But it wasn't a perfect fit--even now, she had questions about his return clawing in the back of her mind, demanding the satisfaction of being asked aloud. Where had he gone all those months in the Rift, how did he survive, why did he leave the pack with nothing to hold them together, why didn't he tell her? But these answers weren't hers to have, or Chase would have offered them, and in light of the strain it put on the other pack members Suri had long since resigned herself to never asking, lest it be construed as insubordinate on her part. Let the others have questions and doubts, she was beyond such little things, even if they sometimes burned in the back of her throat and threatened to escape.
"That's good," she responded, drowning out the hunger for answers with a long sip of her tea. Suri tried to think of easy topics to replace them, but discussing family was a no-go with Chase, given his history, school was thoroughly mundane, and she didn't care to talk Negaverse business when they were calming down for dinner. Her research with the European branch was always churning in the background of her mind, but it was still too fledgling a project for other people's ears, too new and fragile to be presented to the public.
"The headmaster is trying to get me to head the operations for the Winter Festival again," Suri groaned into her cup, settling on school as the least offensive topic, and one she could readily complain about while still feeling. "She says that the person who took over for it last year did an ugly sweater theme, which sounds atrocious--"
Suri paused in the middle of her thought to grimace, a hand fluttering to her chest. She coughed, shook her head, then glanced back to Chase with a perturbed look. "Sorry, that almost felt like--"
The air around her quivered, and Suri ceased to exist, tea and all.
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Posted: Wed Nov 15, 2017 11:33 am
He spoke of nothing; too many things were still up in the air from his return. There were too many variables to consider and his grasp on things was far too shaky to risk loosening by admitting his follies. Those that asked were free to, but he would give no answers. There was no one, save for the traitor who knew where he had been and why.
If he were honest, he would admit that even he had not expected to return even if every part of him screamed and ached that he survived. Survival, at least, proved to be a steadfast strength of his. He had been tested and he had persevered, Chase (and Labyrinthite by extension) were stronger for it. Even if they still struggled in the aftermath.
Perhaps one day he would be more open with his secrets, but today was not such a day. Instead, he wanted to focus his sights on the future and everything it had to offer him.
"Do you remember the time when one of the General-Queens gifted each of us--" His sentence was cut off by the notice of Suri's grimace. He didn't ask how she was, but offered a raised brow in question instead. By the time his mouth did open, Suri seemed to flicker and then disappear all together.
Ah, she had been summoned.
But for what?
He let curiosity idle in the back of his mind as he sipped at his coffee and carefully ran his fingers along Maverick's spine. "How long do you think she'll be?" He asked, expect no response. Maverick was a mundane cat, like Momewrath, at best he'd get a cat stink eye or be ignored completely.
Chase simply hoped that she returned before dinner was set to be pulled.
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Posted: Thu Nov 16, 2017 4:21 pm
In response to the sudden pop in air displacement, Maverick's claws dug deep into the couch beside Chase, letting out a low growl of disturbed warning. Being a cat, he had no interest in whatever strange Chaos dealings they might have had when they were outside of their apartment, and as such these arcane disturbances were filed away with other such grievances as 'My Food Was Not Replenished On Time' or 'My Pet Human Is Trying To Exist In a Room That I Am Not Currently In'. He stared sharply at the chair where Suri would have been, but allowed the other human acquaintance to pet his back if it so comforted him. After a moment, he might have even purred.
Long minutes passed in silence, except for the hushed rhythms of Suri's apartment--the soft exhale of the heater, the ticking of a cat-faced analog clock in the living room. Some time later, the timer on the oven screeched in the absence of the person who knew how to calm it, and Maverick slipped away to the retreat of some shadow under the couch.
Time passed.
The air didn’t flutter when she returned, nor did her boots click on the soft plush of her carpet. She simply wasn't there and then she was, like she’d stepped into the room from a door that didn’t exist. Expression blank, she glanced down to watch her hands turn over, like at any moment the dark trim of her sleeves would cease to be real.
“Chase,” she murmured, a voice that was distinctly not Suri’s but perhaps more familiar. When Zircon slid off her goggles to examine them, she looked enough like Suri in the light of her living room, but there was something different about her hair, her expression as she thumbed over the new metal features surrounding the lenses. She looked up to Chase, and in her amber eyes the uncertainty she’d carried for years withered away.
“I forgot to mention, my thesis went up for review last week,” General Zircon explained, the wild spark in her eyes spreading to a self-satisfied smirk. "I think they approved."
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Posted: Fri Nov 17, 2017 2:11 pm
Time ticked on in the wake of Suri's absence and it impacted Chase very little. Since his return from the rift, his sense of time had been left askew and while he was indoors, in an apartment who's lighting wasn't provided by large windows to tell him day from night, he didn't notice the way time kept ticking.
He busied himself by sipping his beverage, rising from the couch when the paper cup was empty. Despite the frequencies in which he visited her home, Chase was not familiar with her kitchen or where she kept things. He remembered important details; where the bathroom was, where she kept the cups and teas, and sometimes, where the garbage can remained. For one reason or another, or perhaps it was the simple fact that Suri was not there to direct him once she realized what he was looking for, it took him a few minutes to locate the bin in which he could discard his cup.
From there, he meandered around the small living space and kitchen, idly gazing at things as he passed and, right as he returned to his seat beside Maverick, the shrill sound of the kitchen time went off. He paused, hovering just above the couch cushion, uncertain of what to do.
Eventually, he returned to the kitchen and rifled through drawers until he found oven mitts or suitable towels. Carefully he retrieved the meal and set it on the stove top. There, he remained awkwardly in her kitchen, mitt on one hand and towels in the other, staring at the food like he didn't know what to do with it.
He didn't.
Suri was in charge of all meal related things, he handled clean up because that was simple.
Right as he began to wonder where she had been or when she would return, she reappeared and he turned slowly to face her. Her voice sounded like Suri's but when he looked at her he had trouble recognizing her immediately. He knew Zircon, but glamour was a funny thing that could best even the most seasoned of soldiers.
His tongue pressed against his cheek as he looked her up and down. "Congratulations, General," he offered, corners of his eyes crinkling with pride even if the rest of his expression remained impassive. "Enough fanfare, we don't want to draw attention to your complex." He seemed almost dismissive, until he continued. "We can celebrate properly after dinner."
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Posted: Sat Nov 18, 2017 1:12 pm
Zircon drank in Chase's appraisal, reveled in it, but the wild look in her eyes faded the moment he chose to write off her moment. With a scrunched up expression that was tellingly Suri, she sighed in exasperation and crossed her arms. Of the two people assembled, she hadn't been the one to take a six month leave of absence and then return to Destiny City half-mad and riding a greater youma. "You should know that it's incredibly frustrating to be told to show restraint from you," she huffed, but powered down all the same, the shock of her purple scarf sliding away from her throat and leaving the science teacher behind, a little wobbly on her feet now that the thrill of chaos did nothing to mask the ache in her starseed. In the last few minutes, the dark burning sensation of a General-King's hand in her chest had started to fade, but in its absence she felt a phantom itch that had taken root in her sternum and started to curl outwards to all of her extremities, begging to let the Chaos in again.
Suri did not negotiate with the wants of her starseed, however urgent they might have been. Chase was right. Dinner first.
To get to the kitchen, she had to navigate around the fluid body of her cat, who had taken to leaning on her legs now that his pet had returned from the mysterious nowhere and there wasn't that terrible stranger in her place anymore. "Did you--" she started, cutting herself off when she saw the cookie sheets on the counter, dinner looking on the whole unburnt and ready to eat. "...oh. Thank you." She patted Chase on the arm as she passed him by, and in the steps between him and the counter she fell back into her routine, reaching up for plates, then down for cutlery, setting everything else out in neat, orderly stacks for two. Her hands didn't shake until she noticed that they weren't, and then they quivered the entire time she set to pouring her drink, less from old aches and more from the buzz in her hands.
"Please, help yourself," she said, voice subdued like her faraway gaze. "Have as much as you want, I'll pack up whatever you don't eat for later." Later meant after they had celebrated, of course. Maybe it meant much later. She didn't know how much havoc she'd have to wreak to get the itch out of her veins.
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Posted: Fri Nov 24, 2017 11:29 am
Chase nearly snorted in response.
There was a hint of an amused smile on his mouth when he looked at her. At least he had the decency to appear apologetic. "Apologies Suri, but safety comes first especially with me." But the woman was an agent not a senshi and his reactions around her were incredibly subdued in comparison to the lapses of control he had around both Dia and Adamantine.
Still, his second obeyed despite the sass and he found some of the tension that started to build subside.
When she wavered, a brow arched and he almost stepped forward with his hand twitching at his side because he wanted to extend it to her. He shrugged at her question, glancing over at the oven and the dinner that sat atop it. "Can't cook but I can at least take things out when the timer goes off."
Chase knew that if he tried to apply himself when it came to kitchen related activities he would likely excel, he did with most things he applied himself to, but there had never been an interest and for a long while there hadn't been a need for it. He could hire someone to cook for him, so why bother?
He came behind her to collect a plate and utensil, placing food on it sparingly because he never knew how much he could stomach until he tried. "It's appreciated Suri, haven't had the time to properly look for a replacement cook after the incident."
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Posted: Sat Dec 02, 2017 11:40 pm
"You wouldn't need a replacement cook if the rest of your team knew the first thing about caring for a sensitive stomach," Suri bristled, but when she looked away to put food on her plate she smiled. Being appreciated was more than just a compliment--it was a mark of exceeded expectations, a trophy that on this day she had done something more than grade papers and it was good and right and meant something to the write people. To be appreciated was to be given value, and it was her lifeline in an ocean of turbulent waters surrounding her injuries and how they might impact her career. If she could just be appreciated, then she didn't need alterations or tweaks or improvements. She could be herself and only herself, with no youma parts.
Suri collected her plate and a glass from the fridge and sat down but did not eat, knitting her fingers together so she could hide the quaking line of her mouth. "They want me to think of a practical application for the theories on spectral impedence," she said after a moment, scratching her cheek with an idle thumb while she looked away. "It's going to take resources. Time. There are so many tests that I still need to do before I can even consider actually trying to apply it to a device, or a weapon--"
Her brows wrinkled and her voice fell away, fading from her with the contact high of her promotion. Now that they'd given her this responsibility, she had to run with it, produce something of value, be more appreciated or else. All at once, the game was bigger, the stakes higher, but Suri only had her same mind, one that worked well with numbers but didn't care much for people. The potential for her project unfolded out in her mind, but there were too many tasks to complete, too many roles to fill. She'd have to delegate to lieutenants and captains if she wanted any chance at anything in her life not strictly related to the Negaverse. She'd have to share.
"I'll have to leave the school," Suri breathed out, shaking her head. Sharing was not an option, not when she'd worked alone on this for so long. "I can resign over the break, that should give the faculty plenty of time to shuffle things around. I'll tell my parents that I'm pursuing a master's program abroad, they'll be supportive, even if I have to downsize." Her mouth twisted under a scrunched nose--she disliked the idea of leaning on their charity, even if they had always extended the offer. While they may have paid off her car and handled her medical expenses and funded a few trips to Italy, Suri was a self-made woman, and would have been just as successful with or without their contributions. She couldn't bear to think of the alternative, that the only reason she hadn't yet sunk was because she was held aloft by the safety net of Mommy and Daddy's checking account.
Unraveling her fingers, she reached at a fork and poked idly at her food. How typical it was of her, to let business creep in before she'd had a moment to enjoy herself.
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Posted: Wed Dec 06, 2017 8:14 am
Suri had a point, but Chase didn't know if he fully agreed with her.
"It shouldn't be their responsibility to make up for my shortcomings in the kitchen." He looked thoughtful as he considered his words. "Not everyone is as proficient in such areas like you Suri. I can't expect them to learn if I too am not making the effort." And he didn't have the time, or energy, to direct it into something trivial like cooking.
One day, perhaps, but not now. Not when he was struggling to reign in his darker tendencies, manifested in a hungry beast who's appetite would never be satisfied if let freed to feast. Not when he had a company he was gutting and restructuring and a plan to follow through.
"At the moment, it is easier to hire someone already an expert in such things than go through the trial and error of anyone but you cooking for me." Perhaps it was his privilege talking, Chase had grown up in an environment that taught him, if he lacked the time to learn he at least had the money to pay someone else to do it for him.
As much as he worked to be self sufficient, he could do his own laundry after all but preferred not to, there was still room for growth in many basic aspects.
He picked at his food, slowly taking small bites here and there, while he listened to her speak. "I don't see why you would need to downsize," he pointed out, glancing around her apartment. "The company I inquired will need a lead researcher, you'll take the position, which would pay more than your salary at the school, and provide you with all of the tools necessary for your research."
It wasn't an offer, it was an expectation for her to say yes to the role.
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Posted: Sat Dec 16, 2017 10:30 am
"If you insist," Suri shrugged as a way of bowing out of the argument, cutting at her food but making no effort to actually eat. She followed Chase's glance around her apartment, already imagining his distaste. It would be so much easier for her to move under his roof, wouldn't it, where he'd already made her a room in his lavish estate. She wouldn't have to worry for her simple comforts, and he could keep better tabs on his pack. To that front, she could also live perfectly comfortable in the lap of her parent's checkbook, in a larger house with better considerations for her mobility, with multiple rooms, a backyard, something closer to the country. But Zircon had spent so much time yielding that Suri had likewise dug her heels into this modest apartment as a space that was solely hers, and while she'd been polite enough in the open invitations from others, she knew in her heart that she wouldn't be leaning on someone for something as simple as her lodgings. If downsizing was what kept her standing on her own, then so be it.
She considered his offer with an incredulous frown, her eyebrows lifted. "I thought you were getting a media company?" She thought about adding some quip about him snooping around to find her salary, but held her tongue to avoid starting an argument she knew she would be losing. Besides, working for Chase was not the same thing as receiving a handout, not when she'd already worked for Labyrinthite for years. She didn't have to think of it as one of the special concessions that he made for his team, because she had earned the right to this research, hadn't she? It wasn't a gesture he extended out of favoritism, or worse, pity.
It nevertheless grated on her that he was so casual about all of the sudden changes she would need to make to accommodate this undertaking. The only thing more frustrating was that she was sincerely interested in the opportunity anyway, that they both knew that she wasn't going to say no. "Lead researcher does have a nice ring to it," she admitted dourly, finally taking a bite of her dinner. It was plain, but it was hers, much like everything else.
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Posted: Wed Jan 10, 2018 10:02 am
Con tray to what his rather lavish current lifestyle would lead anyone to believe, Chase remembered what it was like to have something that had been achieved on his own. He had been eighteen, the cusp of adulthood and finally free to live life as he saw fit and he had taken the opportunity to run.
Of course, it had been possible because of the means that his frugal, money smart and rich father originally provided but he'd done the work to not live beneath the man's thumb. Jobs had been acquired, a place had been found -- even a roommate and for the months that it was his it had been glorious. But such things were shattered so easily and had he known how Suri wished to dig her heels in and demand that she kept what she worked so hard on, he would have understood.
Or tried at least.
"It was," he replied, fork spearing another bite of food. "Still is, technically, but we hope to branch out, expand." Become an empire. "Levi handles most of the media related business, I'm here for the other side." The control, the leadership, the authority, and ultimately the growth and expansion. "Research is always needed, for any company to thrive successfully. To limit ourselves to one avenue is foolish." He shrugged, teeth sliding over metal prongs as he ate his food.
"When you are ready for the switch, let me know. Sooner is better, but I understand if you need time to adjust."
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