If Vlad had a hard time believing him before, that was nothing compared to right now. Someone was watching him? Someone actually cared about his life choices? It was almost laughable! Almost.
"Ah yes. That makes complete sense."
Or maybe it did.
He never said he cared, just that he enjoyed watching, for lack of better a word, his life unfold. Like some kind of soap drama. Once he made Vlad's life interesting again he would probably be gone.
"So, what do you plan on doing? You can try and force me to do things but it won't end up how you want, i will promise you that." He was no pawn in someone else's game. He was always king.
"Well… for now I think I will just stick around. So I can get an understanding for what your days are like, and why your life seems to have come to a halt."
Vlad glared at the ghost, not that he could tell, but it made him feel better.
"And if I refuse? If i send in ghost hunting experts to expel you from my office?"
Clockwork laughed. "Good luck, once I decide to stay somewhere, no force on earth could keep me away. If anything you will look quite foolish for seeing a ghost that really isn't there. Do you really want to tarnish your reputation over a guest who isn't causing you any trouble?"
"You mean no one can see you? Or hear you?" That was hard to believe.
"That is correct. I am only noticed by those I want to be. You should be honored really." He reclined back in the chair, it was obvious he didn't plan on moving and it looked like there was no way Vlad would be able to make him.
He sighed and turned back to his paperwork. It was silent in the office except for the ticking of a clock… or clocks... wait… ticking? He didn't have any analog clocks in his office.
"Where is that coming from?"
"What?"
"That ticking!"
"Well my name is Clockwork… take a wild guess."
The ghost did have ten different clocks on him but Vlad took them to be decoration. What the fudge did someone need ten different clocks for?"
After a few more minutes of trying to focus he gave an aggravated sigh and looked back up. "Well can you turn them off?"
"Do you want the world to end?" He was already going to turn the first one off, or at least pretending to.
"Butter biscuits, no!" He wouldn't seriously end the world, right?
He gave Vlad an innocently surprised look.
"Oh really? That's too bad then. I am afraid I can't." He reclined back in his chair again and seemed to rest his eyes. Vlad wasn't too sure about anything when it came to this one. He wasn't entirely sure this ghost was actually sane. Or if he was even in control of time. He decided to gather up his paperwork and go home. At least there he might be able to get some peace and quiet.
"Leaving so soon?" Clockwork asked as Vlad passed by him, he was right to suspect him of trickery.
"Yes, I am going home where there aren't twenty clocks ticking all at once."
"Ten, I have ten clocks. Don't get carried away Vladimir."
"Well either way I am leaving. Good night." He said quite pointedly and closed the door.
Vlad arrived to work the next morning in an irritable state. Since he took his work home with him he didn't get anywhere near enough sleep and to top things off his alarm didn't go off. He arrived to work in a frazzled state and rushed into his office.
"Good morning."
"Sweet butter biscuits!"
Well there went everything everywhere, his tea had soaked all his work from the previous day. He looked at the 'time ghost' with a murderous expression.
"I don't keep backups."
"Well maybe you shouldn't be so jumpy and this sort of thing wouldn't happen. Honestly, I was just wishing you good morning." He knew there was a chance that would happen but really, just how utterly ticked Vlad was really made it great. Human emotions were just so interesting and short sighted.
"I could fix it, but if I don't it will only take another hour, five minutes, and three seconds to redo. If you ask me I think you should just redo it."
Vlad phased what he could off the papers and got to copying. He had a meeting to get to in two hours and even if the ghost was right, and he didn't believe a single word the troublemaker said, he had wanted to get breakfast beforehand.
Once he had copied everything he looked up at the clock. Great, that was broken too. It hadn't moved since he last looked at it, and there was no way he copied ten whole pages in less than a minute. He was Vlad Masters, but even he had his limits. He pulled out his laptop and went to look at the time there, only to see the same time?
There was no way. Unless…
He peeked over his computer screen at the ghost.
"... did you…?"
"Did I?" Clockwork asked, acting surprised.
"I'm asking you that!"
"Oh my, it seems I did. Silly me." Suddenly the clocks started moving again.
Well now Vlad was ahead by two hours. That was… nice.
"I'm going out to eat…" He stood up, and hesitated. "Do ghosts eat?"
"We, in fact can." He shrugged. "But it's not a need."
"Do you want something?"
"Sure, I have always wanted to try a breakfast pastry, a muffin perhaps?"
"Yeah, sure… I only ask because you helped me by the way, don't think this is going to be a regular thing." He quickly left the office.
"Oh, I am sure." Clockwork laughed to himself once he left, this would most definitely not be the last time.
When Vlad did come back he had some kind of coffee in one hand and a bag with a blueberry muffin in the other. He set the muffin on the table next to Clockwork's chair and sat down at his laptop again. He had some time to kill so he decided to read through some of the emails he would have to sort out later.
"Where is your's?"
"My?" He asked looking over the computer again.
"Your breakfast."
Vlad lifted up the cup of coffee for Clockwork to see before getting back to his emails.
"That's not breakfast, that's a beverage."
"Oh, are you my mother now too? Breakfast is always a latte, well sometimes it's just coffee depending on how late I am running. Now if you don't mind…"
"But that is nowhere near sufficient for the needs of a human. You should be having something more than water with caffeine and milk in it."
Obviously he wasn't getting to those emails today. He sighed and closed the computer.
"I haven't died yet have I?" After a very pointed silence Vlad decided to reword his question. "Okay, I am half… you know, but I am in perfect health otherwise."
Clockwork still wasn't having it however. He took the muffin out of the bag and split it in half, setting the bigger half in front of the man.
"You aren't leaving until you eat it." He floated back to his seat and started eating his half. "Don't hide it either, I may not be able to see but i'll know."
Vlad huffed, just about to drop it in the waste paper bin when Clockwork mentioned that. He resigned himself to eating the breakfast. "You sure are a pain, you know that?"
"Yeah, I know. It's what the observants tell me on a pretty constant basis."
"Observants? You work with them?" Vlad was suddenly uneasy. The floating green eyeball gang he knew of, and they really didn't like him. In fact he wasn't so sure this ghost wasn't here to catch him and put him in a prison like they had done to Vortex.
"I do, but we do not work together all that well. I don't like doing their dirty work for them." There was a bitter tone that came with those last words that made Vlad wonder what exactly their relationship was.
"Are you here on business for them?" He finally asked.
"What? No! Of course not. Like I said, we don't work together well. I wouldn't be doing something like this for them. I don't like playing in deception unless it's necessary. Like I said before I am here for my own reasons, and no one else's."
Something about the way Clockwork said it made him believe the ghost.
"Okay, well…" He looked up at the clock, another ten minutes before his meeting started.
"I probably should get going… erm… i'll be back later?" He grabbed his briefcase and headed back out the door, finishing up the muffin. Today had just started, and even though he was already exhausted, it had been quite interesting.
