Firstly, I know things were a little bit confusing in the first chapter, though it was more of an introduction than anything else. Hopefully, as the story progresses, things will become a little bit clearer, though chapter five is when things are really beginning to be explained.
A quick thanks to Pitbulllady for informing me on my last question- this will really come in handy later on in the story.
Oh, and someone asked why Randall and Zephyr were owning a shop in the first place? Well, it's a way to earn a living, isn't it? grin
Chapter 2- A Bite To Eat
Another stack of paperwork was brought into the cramped and overflowing office, plopped onto the growing pile before the current CEO of Monsters, Inc., and left for the tired monster to complete when he could manage to spare a minute.
"Thank you, Grace," James P. Sullivan said quite absentmindedly, resting his head on a hand for a moment as his trainee assistant left. He sighed, gazing up at what he was going to be spending the next three and a half hours doing, and slowly picked up his trusty old fountain pen, buckling down to his work.
The next time he looked up at the clock on the wall, the time was just about one 'o' clock- almost lunchtime. Realising just how much time he had spent, (or rather, wasted) on that dratted paperwork, Sulley closed his eyes sadly, the stress that he had been receiving for the past few months getting the better of him for a moment or two, and pressed a little red button on his telephone.
"Hey, Grace. Could I have...honey and ketchup today? Brown, thanks. Yeah, that's great. See you in a minute." He let go of the button, then peered around at his office thoughtfully, awaiting the arrival of his much-needed lunch.
The room was a reasonable size, though it didn't appear to be at first sight- it was filled with paperwork, and examples of the new version of Laugh Canister, and books upon books of the history of the company, along with the employee's records and the new copy of the Employee Handbook,(adapted for the changes in energy source) and post-its littering the floor and every other space that wasn't covered in dust and...was that yesterday's lunch rotting under the desk?
No, thought the CEO as a sickly stench reached his nostrils. He had bent down to pick the half-slice of baguette up, but thought better of it as...something green and gooey attached itself to one of his fingers. It's from three weeks ago...yeuch.
He lifted his head back up again, taking a deep breath to settle his rumbling stomach, and managed a smile at a knock on the door.
"...Sir...?" came a quiet voice, shaky and high. "I-I've brought you your lunch..."
"Brilliant, Grace. Just pop it on my desk," came the reply as Sulley carried on with his work, trying to look busy.
There was a horrible silence for a few seconds as Grace, wringing her wrists with her bottommost set of hands, scanned the desk, panicking. She wanted to put Sulley's lunch on his desk- she had to, really, as he had just told her to- but couldn't manage to find any space and, not having come to terms with the fact that her new boss was actually quite lenient when it came to small details, didn't dare ask where she should put it instead.
"Grace?" Sulley said after a few moments, looking up from his paperwork. And there the monster still stood, not flicking her long, golden hair or making her thin, blue tail writhe like she usually would, but instead standing stock still, with the exception of twiddling her fingers. "Oh..." Sulley looked at desk, understanding why Grace hadn't done what he had told her to, and smiled. "You can just put it on the floor- if you can find any space."
Grace nodded, leaning down and leaving Sulley's lunch next to yet another pile of paperwork, and also making sure that the box lined up accurately with his desk before going out the room and shutting the door softly behind her, not wanting to disturb the CEO any more than she had already.
Sulley had always thought of Grace as a strange sort of girl; she never really made an effort to start up a conversation with him, instead opting to treat him with the respect and, let's be honest, utter fear, which most everyday tyrants deserve. But, even with her friends she chose to be very quiet, only adding her own opinion once everyone else had voiced theirs- Sulley had been watching her in the canteen, once upon a time when there had actually been a canteen, and when he actually had had time to go there for his lunch.
Yet another sigh escaped Sulley's mouth as he thought about all of this. These events seemed to be an eternity and a half ago, and going through them just reminded him of what Monsters, Incorporated had once been, and the company's great success with the new form of energy; laugh energy. But this success had been painfully short-lived, and now random executives from all over the country seemed intent on making the bad situation worse. Sulley had never thought that he would think this, (well, not at work. At home, lying in bed in the middle of the night, not able to get to sleep, maybe, but not at work) but sometimes he found that he had just taken a little bit too much on, becoming the company's CEO.
It should've been easy. It should've been straightforward. It should've worked. But the fact was, it hadn't, and though it wasn't his fault, Sulley was the one that had been left to clear up the mess.
If only he hadn't discovered Laugh Energy. Sure, the world might be in a major energy crisis, but at least he wouldn't be found responsible for it. And, saying that, there had been times when he thought that everything that had happened was too good to be true. But that was when everything was fine, everything was perfect.
And now it wasn't, and because things that weren't perfect just didn't happen in Sulley's life, all of this other stuff had come as a shock, almost leaving him without a company to be CEO for.
Sometimes, Sulley would wish a wish that he knew he shouldn't be wishing. Sometimes, Sulley would wish that Boo had never managed to escape into the Monster World, that Waternoose hadn't told his old fellow workmate, Randall Boggs, to build a machine which could extract screams from humans in a very efficient manner, that he hadn't gotten involved with the whole thing. The truth was that he had, though, and if he hadn't, his life would've continued normally, as it always had been, simple and boring.
But did he really want that? Or was the path that fate had chosen more suitable?
Sulley shook his head.
It might've been for him, but for others...
There was a sharp knock on the door, and Sulley, though knowing that it most certainly wasn't Grace, (she was more of a polite rapper) was at a loss as to who it might be. Whoever it was, though, didn't seem to have knowledge of basic manners, and opened the door roughly, sending a few spare pieces of paper flying in the slight wind.
"James Sullivan, CEO of Monsters, Incorporated?" demanded a low voice.
"Yes, hello!" replied Sulley, suddenly nervous. A thought floated across his mind- one which would've been a lot more useful about, say, an hour before.
No! The meeting! His eyes flicked up at the clock. The meeting which should've started...an hour ago...
"Yes. The meeting." The monster who had just barged in along with several cohorts, as they seemed to be, read the anxious look on the CEO's face easily.
Sulley had a sudden urge to fire his trainee assistant.
And, as though she were reading Sulley's mind, Grace ungracefully toppled in through the office door, panting. All of the room's occupants turned to look at her and, as a reaction, she smiled nervously, tucking the hair that was covering her face messily behind an ear, and adjusted her glasses, steadying her own breathing. Then, making a terrible decision, she introduced the one person in the room who REALLY didn't need to be introduced.
"The Head...of the Associated Board...of Directors, sir..."
"Yes, Grace," Sulley breathed, rubbing the back of his neck, then holding the same hand out to the positively displeased monster standing before him, remembering his own manners and standing up himself. "Good morning, sir, I'm so sorry I forgot the meeting- I've had a lot on my mind lately-"
"Firstly," began the Head of the Associated Board of Directors stiffly, "you most certainly should be apologising. I have just spent the last hour waiting for you in the Conference Room and, upon the realisation that you weren't going to be attending the meeting, I chose to come and find you myself. And secondly," he carried on, the already deep frown across his forehead lowering even more so, "it is afternoon."
Sulley forced an uneasy chuckle, but no-one else seemed to find any trace of humour in what the Head had just stated. He stopped quite quickly.
"Sir, have a seat. Candy?" Pushing a little plate of a local delicacy, made out of ingredients that most humans wouldn't really want to know about and shaped into little black blobs, like flies, Sulley sat forward in his chair a little, and straightened his tie at the stern look Herman gave him at the suggestion.
But Herman did accept the offer of resting his three feet for a while, and sat down whilst his two lackeys stayed loyally by his side. They soon went though, at a sharp nod of the head.
Sulley studied the expression on Herman's face as a frightening silence ensued, hoping to figure out what sort of a mood he happened to be in. (As though he needed to...) The deep, heavy eyebrows which usually made Herman's eyes look terribly shadowy were furrowed, making him appear downright nasty, and the three curling horns atop his head seemed to scream threatening messages at Sulley every time the two monsters would meet, like some kind of a plastic action figure with five different phrases that kids would annoyingly make the toy repeat, over and over.
Today's message was as follows;
'I am angry. Therefore, I am not happy. This, in turn, means that I am in a bad mood, and you know that I can do a lot of damage. Hee hee.'
Nothing unusual- those horns always seemed to have a very mocking stance, and what they were saying today, (not literally, of course) was scarily true.
"I'm not happy with the company's progress," Herman said, digging a hand into the inside pocket of his jacket. "Yes, there is progress, but everything's happening much too slowly for my liking. Much too slowly..." A cigar pack was revealed, along with a lighter with the words You're the boss. Never forget it. Love Mummy engraved on a side. "I want to close this particular branch of Monsters, Incorporated down." He said the final word as though just saying it would automatically shut the whole place down single-handedly, in its pure heaviness.
"Sir-" Sulley began, ready to put his own case forward. He was, of course, interrupted the moment his mouth opened, leaving him looking like a dazed fish.
"You have already exceeded your time limit. I've given you much too much mercy, and you haven't seemed to have done anything with it."
"Sir, please, give the company another chance! I'm sure that if I, I get my employee's morals up a little more, convince them to spend more time here at the weekend, we'll be able to turn things around! And lots of people have already decided to spend the next few weekends here- it'd be pointless to give up now! All we need is one more chance!"
"No, Mr Sullivan, what would be pointless is giving you that chance. You've had enough opportunities, and I hope you haven't forgotten about that particular case of gross unprofessional misconduct...?" Sulley shuddered at the mentioning of an event he'd much rather forget about. Herman, taking another long draught from his crumbling cigar, resisted the urge to smile. He had the CEO right in a corner- exactly where he wanted him. "Exactly. Which is why I wouldn't be pushing my luck any further than you already have, if I were you. Just let the company die in peace."
"No! No, I will not let something that I've put so much effort into-"
"It's over, James. It's over." Sulley licked his lips, looked down at his desk and the stacks of paperwork upon it, and lowered his head.
"Yes, sir." The words had escaped his mouth before he had truly acknowledged them, but something in his mind was telling him that the Head of the Associated Board of Directors was right. It was over.
"Now, we must start talking about the company's shares- we've got to sort all of the little details out if we're going to close the place down properly. Firstly, I would like you to consider the option of-"
The door slammed open, a green ball rolled through it, and a whole lot of noise filled the room. The green ball suddenly sprung open, revealing two arms, two legs, one eye, and a very big mouth.
"And now, everybody sing the happy song!" blasted the CD player in hallway, an annoying jingle adding to the atmosphere of this very...unusual scene. The green ball, looking like an overripe and very round avocado, sung along to the song and did a little dance with it, then eventually revealed a package. But, by the time the present was shown, Mike had stopped singing and dancing. Actually, he had pretty much stopped moving in general.
"Everybody...sing the happy song...Heh..." He looked up at Sulley, narrowing his eye. "You never said you were having a meeting at lunch!" he muttered quietly, annoyed, and, facing Herman, tried to think of a logical thing to do.
All he happened to come up with was bowing, but as the large, slimy monster gave him a look devoid of any emotion, he thought that he had better shut up and get the hell out of there. Just as he was turning to leave, switching his CD player off (it had been playing the 'Happy Song' all the while) he heard another noise, not from his CD player or himself, but from the monster behind him. It was applause, and not just any applause- it was, dare I say it, enthusiastic applause. Mike's eye widened at the sight of the Head of the Board of Directors, usually known to be a stern man, laughing.
"That, my son, was most certainly a glimpse of sunlight on an otherwise cloudy day! Bravo!"
"Thanks!" responded Mike, trying to get used to an audience that actually seemed to appreciate him. "I do birthdays, bar mitzvahs-"
"You can go now, Mike." Sulley, on the other hand, didn't look too happy about all of this.
"Hey, Sul, I got you a present! Thought you might need some cheering up-"
"Not now," Sulley insisted, giving Mike a patronising look. Finally, the Cyclops managed to get the hint and left, rejected and showing it, forgetting to close the door behind him.
Two seconds later, a little green head popped round the door.
"I guess you don't want your present..."
"Mike, GO! NOW!" The little monster jumped into action, hurriedly closing the door and leaving the two business monsters to it. Sulley smoothed the standing up fur on his arm slowly, and stared directly at Herman, pursing his lips. He didn't want to have the conversation that he knew would follow this distraction.
The real problem was that the conversation he was expecting to have with the Head wasn't going to pan out as he originally anticipated.
"So, Mr Sullivan, what were we talking about before that brilliant interruption?" Herman said in a surprisingly cheerful manner.
"Closing down the company?" Sulley replied reluctantly.
"My boy, whatever for?! I distinctly remember us conversing about giving Monsters, Incorporated another chance!" Sulley blinked. Was it him, or was the Head of the Board of Directors suddenly very...happy? "Surely you don't want the company to be closed down!"
Now, here was a question. Should he remind Herman that before the 'interruption', they were, indeed, talking about how they should go about shutting down the company, or should he just continue as though nothing in the mood of their dialogue had changed?
Well, let's just say that even Sullivan wasn't as stupid as to pass up this kind of opportunity.
----------------------
"So, how'd it go, honey?" Mike groaned noisily at this question, peering up at his fiancée.
"Not as expected...Sulley was halfway through a meeting or something, but it's not as if he'd tell his old best buddy about these kinds of things, is it? NOOO!"
"Oh, my Googly Bear! Well, maybe Sulley forgot to tell you? He has had a lot of things on his mind lately." Celia bent down, caressing the Cyclops's face comfortingly.
"So have I, but I haven't forgotten the meaning of the word 'best friend'!"
"As a matter of fact, that's two words," came another voice, smooth and sarcastic.
"Oh, really? WELL, I DON'T CARE!"
"Tsk, tsk, you really shouldn't be loosing your temper over such small things. Mr Sullivan is the CEO of the company, remember, and whatever surprise you had planned for him, no matter how...charming, is probably at the very bottom of his list of priorities. Work is a lot more important than friends, don't forget." The monster smiled, then turned away, narrowing his eyes. "Especially friends like you," he added in a sour undertone. "Anyway," Andy continued, taking a few steps back, away from the Reception desk. "It's lunch-time now, and Mr Sullivan will probably be working straight through. Do you fancy accompanying me and a few others of the 'gang' for something to eat- we're heading over to a new café that's opened just down the road, and that substitute cafeteria food turns my stomach."
"Err..." Mike chuckled uneasily- he had become quite close friends with this new guy over the past few months, and didn't feel like letting him down. Nevertheless, he decided that paying a visit to an older friend of his was more important. "I'm sorry, buddy, but, y'know, I really should see Sulley- I mean, Mr Sullivan. He's been pretty down lately, what with everything that's happened in the company, and I still wanna give him his present." Mike shook his head, jumped up to grab the package from the Reception, and clicked his tongue, pretending to aim a gun at Andy. "Catch ya later!" And the little green eyeball was soon out of sight after blowing a quick kiss goodbye to his Shmoopsie Poo.
Andy watched the monster who he had deemed 'that putrid green moron' (behind his back, of course) disappear into the crowd until he couldn't be seen, and went to fetch his friends.
------------------
The front of the shop was decorated in a depressing shade of black, but the golden letters spelling out the shop's name, 'Storm In A Teacup' stood out very well against its background, gleaming in the early afternoon sunshine- it was a pleasantly warm day, with blue skies all round. The weather, though, did not help with the shop's image- it looked cramped and stuffy inside, and was, indeed, unbearably hot.
This didn't bother Andy, though- he was here for more than just a bite to eat. He led his friends deep within the shop, folding his devil-like wings to their tightest formation just to be able to squeeze into its narrow isles. As he walked almost the length of the shop, managing to resist the temptation of looking at all of those interesting objects and books, (although his friends didn't- the little music box in the corner that sang Elvis Presley songs once opened was just so beautiful...) one of its owners came into sight.
"Morning," the monster greeted, smiling. "And welcome." Andy blinked in an acknowledging sort of way, and turned his head round, feeling his friends' presences- they had finally dragged themselves away from all the pretty objects in the shop, drawn by their own rumbling stomachs.
"Thanks," he finally muttered, not really meaning it. "C'mon, guys...Guys?"
The other monsters had finally seen the owner, and the shocked expressions on their faces said it all.
