Disclaimer: I do not own Ah! My Goddess

-oOoOoOo-

Mara sighed as she reviewed another paper in an office that screamed 'I'm richer than you'll ever be!'.

'This is one heck of a gas guzzle. Japan favors small cars that are fuel efficient. Even I know that and I don't give a flying flip about cars, I just read gossip magazines,' Mara thought before she wrote a long and polite message that pretty much implied 'rejected on the grounds that it is stupid'. 'Sure hope Hild gets a solution soon, 'cause one more day of this and I'll scream!'

At that moment, Aoshima walked in, making Mara think, 'And there's the worst part of the day.'

"Well, cousin, I can see you're nearly done with all those various proposals progress reports, and all other bric a brac. In fact, I dare wonder if you've had someone help you speed through all of it," Aoshima said. "Soo... it's been years since we tried it, but perhaps we can separate Belldandy from Keiichi. I have something in mind that will devastate Belldandy into my bed."

"Oh, grow up. It's been a few years since we've been in the same building with them, but can't you get past the fact you'll never bed Belldandy?" Mara spat.

Aoshima blinked before he asked, "Sayoko? Is everything alright?"

"I have proposals to go over, like the adult that I am. I can't spent time like you to go after people that probably forgotten all about me," Mara snapped. A small part of her wondered if anything she said applied to her. 'No. Nope. I'm too awesome to be forgotten.'

"Surely I can convince the higher ups to let us take some leave," Aoshima said, seemingly regaining his smugness.

'I doubt it. I spent five minutes with them and I vowed to make the rest of their sorry lives a miserable wreck,' Mara thought as she glared at Aoshima. "How about spending that time on something useful, like scouting the colleges for girls braindead enough to fall for your flirtations into becoming secretaries here?"

Aoshima glared at Mara for a moment before he began to leave, but not before he said, "And here I thought you secretly wanted one great victory over Belldandy."

'I wonder how many nightmares Aoshima can endure before he goes mad? It'll be fun to find out!' Mara thought as she slowly grew a grin.

As if to prove the universe thought Mara as its chewtoy, Hild appeared. Mara asked with hope in her voice, "Lady Hild! Has a cure been found?"

When Hild began to chuckle, Mara frowned. Hild said, "No, I just came to let you know about Sayoko's progress at your job!"

"Horrible?" Mara asked.

Hild shook her head. "Nope! She's doing something I vaguely remember that you tried once. The slow chiseling method, aimed at Keiichi… though she's also taking the time to take shots at his friends and family when he's nearby. It seems to show promise. Already, his friendship with Tamiya and Otaki is shaky enough that they're spread word that Keiichi is a jinx... moreso than usual."

Mara's throat went dry. So as she drank some water from a nearby glass, Hild continued,"Of course, you seem to be doing her job as well as she's doing yours. Perhaps your true calling was in management?"

-oOoOoOo-

Notes from HotelKatz: I sometimes wonder where Mara might be successful, aside from genetics and biology.

I have my doubts it's management, though. Any of the spirits she's tried recruiting usually either betray her or flee the scene when dealing directly with the goddesses, prove to be incompetent, or both. Probably because Mara goes straight to the threats when meeting her underlings.

Perhaps if she used her dream controlling ability as positive incentive... though that'd be making Mara out to be like a drug dealer of sorts. A weird one, though. Would anyone accept her saying, "Hey kid, wanna have a dream with a supermodel in outer space while in a giant robot?"

I apologize for there being no Sayoko part, but I couldn't think of one, aside from her spying on Keiichi and the goddesses. I imagine that because Sayoko has better knowledge of human society than Mara, Sayoko coudl and would do more damage to Keiichi's life than Mara ever could... At least until Sayoko feels bad about it.