Chapter 3: Meetings (Part 1)
Starfire bowed her head down in defeat. Could her first week of work in the city have been any more terrible? Well, at least she didn't get herself fired, but then again, if she had, she would probably be in a better state at this point. She would have an excuse to go home, after all.
Where should she begin?
The week had already begun in bad terms. After Blackfire's crazy, boisterous party, it had been quite late in the night. At that point, Blackfire had just realized that she did indeed have a guest in her home, her sister, Starfire and with the party and all, she had completely neglected to clear out the guest bedroom for Star to sleep in.
Thus, Star began her first morning with a sore back from sleeping on the cold, ceramic floor. The bed in the guest room was far too filled with clutter to allow any sort of comfort and the sheets on it didn't look quite sanitary enough to sleep in.
"Starfire! You just got up? We are gonna be so late. Come on!" Blackfire yelled as she saw her sister get out from the sleeping bag. Blackfire grabbed her sister's wrist and was practically dragging her out the door. "Please, sister…I have not yet changed out of my night garments." "Oh! All right! Hurry up!" Blackfire sighed and impatiently stared at the clock as she waited for Starfire to get dressed. Some people could just be so irresponsible.
Work, however, was not any better than her morning. Though Blackfire's company was located in a very building complete with its own grand fountain and lovely ice ("Yes, that's real ice. We have one rebuilt every winter" Blackfire reassured) sculptures, appearances were deceiving. Inside, the building was filled with cubicles filled clutters of manikins, some half dressed in rather skimpy looking clothes, while others were dressed in torn and old looking dresses and people rushing about, typing up documents, sketching, or sewing. Starfire had secretly hoped that Blackfire was not responsible for designing the clothes on the manikins. They were rather ostentatious and revealing, clothes Starfire would never wear.
To her dismay, she watched her sister head over towards one of the manikins with the horrible clothes and smile brightly. "Great work over here Bridget! I'll guarantee a spot for this one for sure next season." 'Bridget,' who was heavily laden in makeup and would look like the type of person who would try these clothes on, winked at Blackfire. "Great company party last night, huh?"
People like that work at Blackfire's company? Starfire's heart sunk a bit. This wasn't the job she had imagined she would be doing.
"Oh, no time to waste, sis. I have a meeting with the Board of Directors today. We'll decide on a formal position for you later…I just have so many workers. But hey, no prob sis, you can be my personal assistant. My last one quit last week and it's been horrible trying to schedule out everything."
"All right, Blackfire…I shall look forward to…" Starfire stopped shortly as they reached the meeting room. "Ok, just don't say anything that would embarrass me." Blackfire said a bit sharply as they entered the room full of the directors sitting around a round table. They seemed to be waiting for Blackfire.
"Hey everyone. Nice to see you all here. Mr. Grisman, how's the accounting going? Oh and Sam, great designs last week. Ok. I promise I won't be wasting your time today. I've chosen out some potential suits for our bathing suit line, here" Blackfire motioned Starfire to pass out the folders on the table. "Oh and by the way, this is my sister, Starfire. She's new in town and she'll be my new assistant for now."
"Hm…can't wait to see how long she lasts." Starfire turned around as she continued passing out the folders to see one of the gentlemen smirking.
Starfire sat to the side. She had caught glimpses of the bathing suits and though she would rather not say this, she wondered why anyone would wear such clothes. The board, however, seemed to be quite pleased with the clothes chosen.
"Hey, Starfire, be a dear and get us some coffee. The usual, guys?" The directors all nodded. "That would be six mochas, two dark, five regulars with a pack of sugar each?"
Blackfire had just expected her to find the coffee room on her own. Just like old times. Starfire thought. She had tried to block out all the thoughts of her sister from the past, trying to hope that she had changed for the better…
When she had finally found and gotten all the coffees, the directors were all impatiently waiting. "Took you long enough." The gentleman (who had smirked at her earlier) remarked. "I am sorry. I did not know where coffee room was located." She mumbled and in a rush to hand out the cups has tripped over one of the chairs and had spilled most of the coffee in the cups. One of the cups had haplessly spilled into the man's lap and he stood up angrily. "These are new pants! Do you even know what the heck you're doing?" And in a fit of rage, he left the room. Starfire began to apologize profusely, for his clothes, the coffee, the dirty table, and for disturbing the meeting as she tried to clean up the mess.
"That's it! Star! You've done quite enough for today. I'll deal with you later." Blackfire motioned her to the door and then continued to address the directors in an saccharine voice. "Now where was I?"
So that is how Starfire was stuck with the most tedious job in the company: entering numbers for the company's earnings into the computer. Her sister had not yet looked at any of her sketches. She had been quite steamed at Star after the meeting incident. All in the first week, she sighed.
Star had tried to avoid going home early lately. She found more joy in wandering around the city. Her sister was of no comfort in the home. Today, she found herself staring into an empty restaurant with a stage of some sort. The neon colored sign "The Misfits" flickered on and off.
"I suppose I shall go in. There is nowhere else to go." She convinced herself to enter the store. It seemed subtle enough. The stage was dusty and there were seats and tables scattered around the room. There were few people in these save for a few grisly looking old and middle-aged men and a girl with lavender hair? This was definitely a place that Blackfire would not be caught dead in. And she enjoyed that. It was a bit of freedom, a bit of rebellion.
When the red-haired girl first approached her, Raven was a bit surprised. She had not expected any other people her age to willingly be in this run-down place. She wasn't exactly here by choice either. It was for yet another article, though she didn't mind this one as much. With Jinx on a two-week vacation, she was temporarily in charge of the "Entertainment Section," meaning she would get to rate and write a few reviews for some restaurants. She had chosen the Misfits to rate…the atmosphere was a bit musty, but it felt like home…somewhere she could belong.
"Hello. May I sit here and have some repast with you?" The girl asked holding a tray of French (formerly freedom) fries.
Seeing no excuse to object, Raven nodded. Weird. She must not be from around here. Raven mused.
"This is an interesting place, is it not? What are you writing?" The girl had noticed Raven pen and note pad. "I'm just taking down notes for an article I have to write about for this paper I write for, The Muckrakers."
"Oh, you are a reporter?" She asked with genuine curiosity. Raven nodded. The two continued to sit in silence when the girl spoke up again. "Oh, many apologizes. Where are my manners? My name is Starfire. It is nice to have met you." "Raven." Raven introduced herself. "You don't seem to be from around here…" Starfire nodded. "It is that obvious?"
A.N.: Wow. Thank you. Being bombarded (at least for me) by reviews is pretty darn cool. Keep it up!
Next chapter: Meetings (Part 2) I shall try to avoid doing these 2 part chapters. This chapter wasn't supposed to have two parts…it just turned out this way. I had most of the Raven and Starfire meeting part done, but not the other half of the original chapter and it's been a pretty long time since I updated this story, so I decided to post what I had. By the looks of things, I think that this will be a very long chapter fic lol. So do try to be patient.