NOTE: A PRO Meer story
AUTHOR:
WARNINGS:
DISCLAIMER:
Failure – Meer's Story
By: Hades.Throne.Heiress
Previously on chapter 3:
"Are you busy right now?" Sara asked in a noticeably quieter voice.
"Uh, not really…" Meer hesitated slightly, not knowing where this will bring her.
"Can we talk? Somewhere else? In another, quite room maybe?" the blonde asked again.
"S-sure…?" Hesitation now laced Meer's voice heavily. 'Sara' had intentions, Meer knew that much, but what did she want from her, a normal, plain, average girl?
Chapter 4 - Black
Sara brought Meer into a vacant room, fairly big for only two occupants. She ushered Meer to sit down on one of the many chairs and pulled out a neatly stapled, thin pile of paper from the folder which Meer hadn't noticed her carrying before. The poor confused girl was given a pen and was told to complete those papers.
'What is it? First page… multiple choice questions… second page, the same, third, fourth… how many pages are there?! And why am I the only one here?' Meer wondered what the 'quiz' had to do with her.
Meer looked up to the elder lady, "Ms. Sara," she began, but was smoothly cut off.
"I'm a volunteer worker for the government, we do the little things that they don't really notice; and lately we're taking random citizens to do surveys. The purpose is to know what the PLANT population think of our current leader, Chairman Gilbert Durandal, and how much his people are willing to chip in to help our nation." Sara explained, "And you, Ms. Meer, is a lucky duck! Now you'll be able to voice your opinions."
Sara's smile was disturbing to Meer - no exact reason as to why, it was just… somehow disturbing. It was like she knew something that she's not willing to share, and it had to do with her.
"Will you help us Ms. Meer?" Sara spoke smoothly, in a very persuasive manner.
The noir haired girl tried to smile a bit, "…Of course, it shouldn't take too long…" and she started to answer, question after question.
Meer ended up finding out that the 'survey' didn't only consist of multiple questions, but word answers as well. The writing part took the longest; it seems as though the 'survey' is more about her loyalty to PLANTs, and nothing about the government. Meer had been expecting a wider variety of questions, not all of them something like," Your family, your race, the current chairman or PLANT? Choose one only."
'This is absolutely ridiculous, why would I ever think of this? But I'd rather choose PLANT; my family wouldn't even care if I weren't there.' Meer rolled her eyes at that thought, thinking back to their family gathering.
When Meer finally finished the survey, it was already early evening. Sara would be meeting her tomorrow at the café near the building, but on the other side of town, where it was more secluded, for the second part of the survey.
Hades.Throne.Heiress
That was one hell of a survey. I thought there'd be questions like: "Do you think the government uses money wisely?" "What do you think of the community services?" or "How often do you use the public utilities, such as public libraries, swimming pools, ice skating rinks, community centres, et cetera?"
Lady Luck must've hated the hell outta me for having such a scary woman be my 'surveyor.'
Hades.Throne.Heiress
Meer's POV
As I was told, I met Ms. Sara at Le Café de Chanson at noon. Surprisingly, she wasn't the only one there waiting for me. What made it exceptionally awkward was not only the fact that her company was a dude who was dressed in black from head to toe with huge dark glasses in a dimly lit café, but also the fact that he wasn't seated like any of the other customers in the coffee shop. He was standing behind Ms. Sara like a bodyguard. It didn't even cross my mind that Ms. Sara was so… rich and famous that she'd need a bodyguard.
Ms. Sara must've felt me staring, and waved me over.
"Good afternoon, Ms. Meer. This is Krane," Ms. Sara spoke first, introducing the guy who could be camouflaged in a pile of coal.
"Good afternoon. Nice to meet you Mr. Krane," I thought that out of respect I should shake his hand, but when I started reaching out, he cut me off when he turned towards me and gave the slightest of a nod, then turned back staring forward… at nothing. I suppose it's some bodyguard formalities.
Nuh… "Crane" isn't important right now. Ms. Sara suggested that we eat lunch first before doing the rest of the so called survey.
I don't think the café was really for full meal eating purposes. The dishes were small, almost like it was a café for little get-togethers – where people visit for homey, comfortable cafés and dainty drionks and snacks. At least the atmosphere in there was nice.
"Krane," Ms. Sara spoke to Mr. Krane without even taking her eyes off the menu. She really did have some status… "Why don't you go for lunch while I enjoy mine here with Ms. Meer? I'll call you when we're finished." I saw Mr. K nodded and left through the front door, where the little bell attached to the hinge tinkled. Yes, Mr. CRANE, flap, flap and fly away.
Only then I noticed how Ms. Sara had a way with words; the things she says would be an inquiry, and it 'seems' like she's allowing you to reject, but then again… it doesn't really give you a choice to answer with what she doesn't want. How come I always notice people with this quality yet I don't seem to have it?
"Have you chosen Ms. Meer?" this time, Ms. Sara's already put down her menu and looking at me.
I nodded and tried to smile, "Yeah, but please, just call me Meer, Ms. Sara," I put my menu down as well.
"I will if you call me just Sara instead. I admit, Meer does sound better than Ms. Meer," Ms. Sara told me while catching the attention of a waiter. The fact that she doesn't always look at people when talking intimidates me. It seems like she has so much power…
After the waiter bowed and left with our orders, Sara suddenly seemed friendlier. She was smiling and looking at me when speaking. "Now that there are no guys around, we can have a girl to girl talk." It seemed a bit weird with Sara talking to me like this, but she was only trying to be friendly, right? "You seem to be so hesitant with me around. I hope I'm not scaring you." Gee, Sara sure was smiling a lot…
"No… of course not, it just seems a bit strange having lunch with one of the judges that would marking my performance later," I explained, as nicely as I possibly could.
"Don't worry about it, I do this with almost everyone I survey, to make it seem more natural. So it's more of a girl talk than this being marked down. If on paper I asked you about your favourite celebrity, you'd probably answer with someone civil, but in person, you could probably answer comfortably with a porn star's name," Sara laughed, she seems like such a nice woman now that I know her a few hours longer.
I couldn't help but tell her that my favourite public figure was Lacus Clyne.
"See? Talking like friends can get me easy and honest answers."
This woman was a genius with word! I didn't even notice she got that outta me. Right after she pointed out her way of doing things, I fell for it.
"You're amazing at your job," It was a wholehearted compliment from me, which is rare.
"That's how I get paid, darling," she laughed. "Lacus Clyne is a worldwide icon, whoever doesn't know her must live under a rock... You joined the singing competition, I'm guessing you like singing?"
"…I like it," It was a bit embarrassing to admit this, since I've never been recognized for my voice, "but I'm not sure if I'm good at it."
"Dear, you wouldn't have made it so far if you were any less than good," I wasn't used to such praises, and it wasn't from Adhara either, I know she might tell me this cuz I'm her best friend, but I barely know this woman… I must be something if she's complimenting me like this…
"Have you ever thought of becoming a pop star? You joined because you want to be something like your idol, right?" Sara asked seriously, like she was a close friend of mine.
"Well, my friend kinda pushed me into joining… But, being a celeb isn't something that could happen so easily. No, I haven't thought of that before." For a moment, Sara's words evoked images of me, on a stage. Holding a microphone and loved by fans… it seems utterly impossible.
"Just a wandering thought Meer. I used to dream of becoming a kung fu actress, if you've seen those old movies. When I was little I'd think I could replace one of those stars with myself. I used to have long hair, just like those girls, and I was blonde and physically fit, so I thought I could become one of them. But later on I found out, it wasn't all real kung fu, and there went that dream." Sara shared her ex-dream happily with me. "Imagination was a good friend, I suppose you weren't and still aren't as wild as I was. Seven part good and three part bad," Sara is indeed a very nice person.
When we finished our lunch I realized how Sara's able to make me feel comfortable, but whenever I thought of her purpose, I wonder how much she got out of me? I did spill a lot of things… that was her talent, but how much did I spill?
To my surprise, when the bill came, Sara put down two crisp bills and started getting up, saying it was her treat. I tried to pay her back, but there was absolutely no way she even considered taking my money, I started feeling bad and ask how I could repay her for lunch, she replied with a mysterious smile and a 'follow me.'
She phoned someone – Krane I presume, and Krane's car came in two minutes flat. I knew it was his car 'cuz like how he dressed, was also black, the windows were so tinted I wondered if people could see from the inside.
Krane came out and opened the backseat door for us, Sara didn't tell him where to go, but they seem to have something planned already. The windows were so dark I had a hard time looking through it to see where Sara was bringing me. The only place I could see through was the front, but Sara was preoccupying me with chatting anyways.
When the car stopped, I looked out the front glass, the only place light shone through. We seemed to be in front of a building. Krane opened the door for us and once I was outside, I saw that save for the half a dozen sleek black cars and a limousine - the parking lot was vacant. Everywhere around the building looked unfamiliar to me as well, and there weren't any street signs. Sara isn't a kidnapper, is she…?
"C'mon, let's go. They don't like waiting," Sara waved me to follow her confident strides while Krane locked the car as well as setting the alarm.
"…Um, Sara… who's 'they?'" I asked, but I'm not sure if I really wanted an answer.
Sara stopped walking so unexpectedly that I would've bumped into her if I didn't skid on my heels. Turning around, she smiled brightly, something I was slightly unease about. "To see if you really are good." The reflection of the sunlight in her sunglasses blinded me as I looked at her; she turned back around and continued walking swiftly.
As we entered through the front doors Krane held open, a lady who looked not much older than me bowed lightly from behind the reception desk, "Good afternoon, Ms, Sara."
Sara only nodded, not even looking at the girl, "Our guest, Ms. Meer Campbell," her thumb pointed over her shoulder, directing at me. I nodded and smiled nervously, Sara was back in her intimidating mode…
We approached a pair of double doors with two guards standing on each side. As we approached, they put on a look that even with their ridiculously dark sun specs on I could tell it meant "Halt."
Sara stopped about a meter from them, reached into the pocket of her skirt and drew out something that resembled an identification card and passed it on to the man on the right. With an aura of status, Sara raised her hand and tilted her head slightly downwards and drew off her sunglasses. With a flick of her head, she flipped the bangs of her blonde hair aside and rested her shades on top of her head. Just as she finished that movement, the guard gave her back the card and they both opened the doors, "Good afternoon Ms .Sara."
Sara nodded, again without looking at either of them.
Who's inside the room that needed such tight security? I was nervous, no doubt…
"It is the nature of desire not to be satisfied, and most men live only for the gratification of it." - Aristotle
AUTHOR:
Post Date: Aug. 17th '07