Happy end of the world day! I figured I'd post a little something so that anyone who is bored and waiting for the mouth of hell to open can read something. :P
His hands frantically flew across the keyboard, a bead of sweat trailing down his pale face. Bright eyes scanned the computer screen, reading through the code and information that presented itself before him. Mary knew something was off by the lack of excitement in this project of his, it was work-oriented and it was taking up all of his focus. He hadn't left all night, she had worried and came around for lunch after getting a text message earlier that morning vaguely explaining his absence. There were assignments like these that existed, ones that kept him away from their apartment for a night or two. He was usually bubbly with anticipation to finish, Alex always took some pleasure in whatever work he did unless it was repetitively dull.
Mary noticed Charlie was very much in the same state, she barely noticed the hello sent her way before and delayed giving her response. Curiosity and suspicion flooded her veins as she stood behind Alex's chair, trying to pull his attention away from the computer.
"You need food." She insisted, "Then you can work some more."
He grunted, "This is important, Mr. Roman himself is calling me today for an update and right now I don't have much for him."
"Don't have much-really? You have found a trail, even if it is a bit iffy. I don't think he'll mind you getting lunch, he can't expect you to devote your entire time to this. You need to take care of yourself."
"I-"
"You last ate lunch with me." Her foot kicked the trash can full of candy wrappers. "This isn't food. Get up, get your jacket, we're going."
Alex sighed and released the keyboard, a hand rubbing his tired eyes as he got up. "Alright, sis'."
The duo reached the first floor, Mary laughed quietly as her brother stumbled weakly at the elevator halting. He steadied himself and straightened, patting down his hair that was still rather wild from a night of ruffling. He relaxed, pulling on his jacket as the elevator doors opened. Immediately what color had begun to return to his face faded, standing on the other side was The Boss.
A look of minor surprise took over Dick Roman's face as he looked over his employee, "Alex, hello. Going somewhere?"
"Uh, yeah, lunch. My sister," He motioned to Mary next to him. "reminded me I haven't eaten since lunchtime yesterday."
Dick studied the young woman a moment, "You were here all night?"
"Yes, sir." He replied, uneasy by the look he was giving Mary. It reminded him of a predator despite the friendliness he tried to display. It just reminded him that this was a businessman who wouldn't hesitate to get rid of him. Dick Roman was a shark. His sister narrowed her eyes a fraction, looking unimpressed at his boss as she remained silent during their exchange.
A smile found its way onto his lips, "Quite the dedication." He looked back at Alex, "I could use that in more employees, you know. Some are just so replaceable."
"Thank you, sir."
"Did you find anything?"
Alex shoved his hands into his jacket pockets to hide the slight shaking, "A few things, unfortunately nothing really remarkable."
"Any bit of information can help me. Hey, I have an idea, how about for your hard work I take you both to lunch and we can discuss what you found."
It made Alex hesitate to reply, he glanced at Mary who lifted her brow slightly. It was his choice, he knew, she wasn't bothered by the change unless it bothered him. Despite wanting to say no he knew that wouldn't earn him any favor with his boss, begrudgingly he nodded, "Sounds good to me, sir. Let me go get that file I put together so far. I'll be right back, sis'."
Mary stepped out of the elevator and watched her brother until the doors closed. Her gaze shifted to her left and up as green eyes met brown, standing beside her brother's boss a moment before she moved to the side of the elevator and out of peoples ways. The man didn't miss a beat following her to the side, giving a few smiles to employees that greeted him. Her brows furrowed slightly at the exchange, like her brother she couldn't place her finger on it but something was out of place with the man. The siblings grew up in the company of pretenders, it was easy to see a facade for them even if they didn't know the details on it. Whatever Dick Roman was about she knew it wasn't as grand as he flared it up to be, this fake behavior of pleasantries was a mask covering something else. If anyone knew about masks it was her.
His attention returned to her as he relaxed, body language becoming slack and casual once his hands slid into the pockets of his pants. "I didn't know Alex had a sister."
"We look nothing alike." She joked dryly, earning her a slight tilt of his head. "We're not blood relatives. His parents adopted me once upon a time."
He made a slight 'ah' acknowledgement before staring down at her, his gaze seeming intent on finding something. She glanced to the side a moment, despising how quickly this situation was becoming awkward. Inwardly she cursed her brother for leaving her to stay here with his boss. It was an abrupt motion that caught her attention, looking she noticed he extended his hand, "Dick Roman."
Mary looked at it a moment longer before glancing up at him where a smile of all teeth was plastered to his face, "Mary Reddenburg." She returned the introduction as her hand gripped his. She noted the way his fingers curled around her hand, it felt like a snake curling around a mouse as the life was squeezed out of it. Yet there was no pain in her hand, it was a firm shake and she watched as his eyes narrowed, the smile on his lips dulling a moment until their hands separated.
Whatever made him lessen his previous expression seemed to disappear, "Your brother is a fine employee of my company."
Great, the buttering up part.
"He likes his position." Mary replied, keeping it short. His lips quirked up a bit as a lazy smirk fell over his face by her lack of ability to care for small talk. "He's also good at what he does, determined, especially when challenged." She elaborated a moment later.
"Your brother is lucky, he's not easy to replace. Very much like Charlie in that regard."
"You should be lucky to have such competence willingly working for you." Mary replied with a slight frown at the idea of him replacing her brother.
Dick's smirk never faltered but his eyes seemed to harden as he stared down at her, this time Mary didn't break eye contact as she stared up at him. They didn't noticed the elevator doors open until Alex caught their attention.
"All set."
Dick narrowed his eyes at her for a split second before looking at her brother with a pleasant expression, "Excellent."
Mary sat at the table with her sketchbook open as her brother talked business. She bit her lip a moment as her pencil sketched across the paper, designing smoke coming from the furnace of the room she was drawing. From the furnace she added a stone path leading up to it, followed by large metal carts that lined the path. There was a table beside the furnace that she added details to, designed it to be of wood and metal. A combination she quite enjoyed putting into her artwork. Lightly erasing some lines she then added some random tools before moving on to sketching some bodies in the carts.
"You're really drawing that during lunch?" Alex piped up.
It caught her off guard. She glanced up at him and bit into her sandwich before looking back down and returned to sketching, "People die. Hell, they're dying while we're sitting here eating. Does it matter what time I illustrate a massacre?" Mary asked, slightly annoyed as she erased the line when he initially startled her.
"You're such a downer sometimes." He threw back in a lower tone, as if his boss wouldn't hear it. "I'm sorry, sir. My sister has a taste for the horrors of life."
Dick leaned on the table and looked at her drawing, his brows creasing as he still managed to smile, the expression contradicting itself. "Don't apologize, she has talent." At that Mary looked up, masking her suspicion. "You're one of those horror junkies, huh? Enjoy the slashers, Michael Myers and his hockey mask."
"It's Jason Vorhees that wears the hockey mask." She corrected, his smile faltered a moment. "Michael Myers is the psychopath child that snapped and was incarcerated for an extended period of time until he broke out to find his sister, and/or murder her." He made another 'ah' acknowledgement, "And yes, I do enjoy them."
Roman tilted his head at her, ignoring Alex as he leaned back in the chair with a heavy sigh. "You like watching people die?"
"No. I just find it fascinating what people are capable of doing, and what monstrosities they are willing to become." Mary replied evenly, "I accept that there's bad shit out there and worse shit to come, I don't throw myself through the loops of denial. The world will always be a chaotic place, the weak races die out and the strong thrive. No matter how intelligent the killer could be it's still a natural order by the end of it."
He rested his chin in his palm, the dark brown eyes seeming to blacken as they watched her a moment before looking back to her artwork. "Do you do a lot of architectural work?"
Her eyes narrowed, "Why?"
Dick grinned at her reaction, "You're very precise in designing the room even if it is a simple sketch and shade drawing."
"She actually studied to become an architect, knows all she needs to when it comes to designing a building. She's done a lot of work in that department."
"Really?" Dick inquired when Mary shot her brother a glare, the grin never lessening. "What kind of work?"
Once more her brother answered, "Small projects, mostly around the state or in the neighboring ones. She doesn't really like the spotlight."
"That's a shame."
"Not really, I just like creating things." Mary retorted with a scowl.
Dick lifted a finger and pointed it at her sketchbook, "Have you ever designed a slaughterhouse?" That question made her pause, not because of their previous conversation but because it sounded absurd coming from his mouth. "You see, I'm getting more into the food industry and am going to be needing some slaughterhouses built."
She nearly snorted, "I've designed a few."
"Realistically, of course." He countered, she glared at him and he flashed her a challenging grin.
"Plenty. Everything I design is made to function." She flipped to a blank page and began sketching blueprints. "Slaughterhouses are fun, they need to be simple to keep things flowing since they deal with live stock but also presentable when inspections come around. I prefer the warehouse layout, wide open floor plan for this type of structure. Keeping things organized is a priority." She murmured, more to herself as she went on as she drew out the first floor plan, designing the outdoors as well in a few strokes of her pencil. "Can't have blades around the corner, it would spook the critters." Moving down she began the lower level design, "But a man like you, you're bound to want to do some testing on your production." She sketched down another level and began designing more, adding an area for immediate testing. Mary began labeling the sections, "Slaughter, testing, growing, waiting, presentation..."
"No, I think we're fine. The check will be fine, thank you." Alex said to the waitress, a sigh leaving his lips as he watched his boss sitting on the opposite side of his sister, yet he watched her work intently. Almost quietly admiring the way details began to fill the blank page, bringing it to life.
"You're a man of show but not tell, at least not until you need to tell." Mary went on, glancing up at Dick who gave her another all teeth smile. Trying to appear friendly once more yet only succeeded in looking predatory. "That's why presentation for you would be important, especially because food isn't your original path. You'll need to earn the confidence of any inspections you get. That is, if you don't bribe them with your fortune."
He chuckled, "Already assuming the worse of me and we've already just met."
"We've already just met and I'm shittily designing you a slaughterhouse -for fun- Mr. Roman." She bit back.
"Please, Dick."
"Roman, much more fitting."
"I insist, Dick." She looked up and noticed the familiar hardened gaze. Mary didn't follow much on the news, but she knew enough through her brother and what she saw that this new title obsession came about only a short time ago. Why someone needed to reinvent themselves with the name Dick was beyond her.
"No promises." Mary replied as politely as possible which barely lessened the look on his face. She finished sketching a few details before spinning around the book and giving it to him to have a look.
Dick examined the blueprints with an unreadable expression, the businessman coming forth (though she doubt he even left) as he thoroughly read over her design. When he was done he looked briefly at her before to the side at Alex, her brother looked nervous though that wasn't out of the ordinary. Dick looked back at her and she leaned back in her chair, fingers quietly drumming on the table. A grin found its way onto his lips as he slid the sketchbook across the table to her, "Excellent! How about this, you get those onto graph paper and all legit looking and I'll swing by tonight for a looksie."It wasn't a question, she noted as he paid and got up from the table. "I'll bring you both back, lots of work to be done."
"I never accepted." Mary bluntly said.
He paused. Alex stood, mid-zip of his jacket. Dick looked at her expectantly, "What?"
"I never accepted whatever job you're trying to get out of me."
Roman looked her over once before placing his hands on the table, leaning over he said, "Consider it an interview, then."
"Maybe I don't want it." Mary replied, disliking the fact he was trying to control her and give her no option in the matter.
The smile he wore never faltered but his eyelids fell, seeming to become bored by her objections. "Maybe you do and you don't know it yet." He replied with a rasp, staring at her a moment before straightening up and fixing his tie. Life sparked back into his face, "Great talk. Let's get going, shall we?"
So they left in what would be a promising awkward car ride back just as it was when they drove there.