Something was different than usual. Charlotte could feel it in her bones, and it made her slightly uncomfortable.
When she'd come into the office today just slightly late, Hudson had already been there and only left her a note which told her to 'just do her job properly for once'. She had needed to ask someone to read it to her-to her immense embarrassment.
Now Charlotte sat in her dingy office that seemed to get smaller with every passing day, highly tempted to just smoke here and then. God only knew how bad she needed a cigarette. Charlotte decided she didn't give a crap-she'd fucked up enough times already that she didn't care anymore- and as she took the first drag she mused if she could get fired for that kind of action.
She really hoped so.
When she was at her second one, she still had done nothing and at this point had decided that she really didn't care. If this finally got her suspended than she'd welcome it thankfully. Maybe than she'd finally get the chance-she was aprubtly interrupted in her musing when the door was opened quite forcefully. She heard hasty but light footsteps that stopped just inside of her small office and the female grim-reaper heard the door closing softly.
She raised her eyebrows when she heard two or three sets of footsteps running by her office, the men shouting frantically. When they vanished around a corner, Charlotte raised her eyebrows even higher and set her gaze-not that she could see anything, she mused sarcastically- on the person that now stood in her office.
"What're you doin' in here.", she asked flatly, taking another drag. When she got no immediate answer she sat up a little straighter and frowned.
"When you don't have any business with me, I highly suggest you leave."
When she still didn't get an answer she squinted in the direction she believed the unwanted intruder to be and glowered in her unfriendliest way.
"I know you're there. If this is supposed to be some kind of prank, it doesn't work. I may be blind, but I ain't stupid.", she sneered slightly, trying to intimidate the person on the other side of the room into submission.
Then, finally, she heard the light shuffling of feet towards her desk. She bristled when she more felt than heard the unfamiliar person pushing themselves up to sit on her desk. In the process of doing so they brushed against her propped-up feet and seemed to be happy to just settle next to them.
Put on guard by the lightness and swiftness of the steps of her counterpart Charlotte leaned back slightly. More wary than cautious, she peered up at the vague spot where she believed their face had to be.
"I have to say, I'm disappointed, Miss Barnes.", the voice crooned from above her. Charlotte stiffened slightly and glowered at the voice she'd by now successfully identified as male.
"What for?", she hissed, bothered by the still identity-less male who just barged in and sat on her desk like he owned it.
"When I heard one of the best people in the Retrieval Division had an office here, I expected a bit more than that. You are aware of the fact that your whole desk is covered in ink?", he asked, and she could nearly feel his smug grin pouring over her like something she definitely didn't want in her office.
"I am fucking well aware of that. If it bothers you, clean it up.", Charlotte snarked, still leaning away from the other grim reaper as far as she could.
She felt him shift again, now using her legs as some kind of armrest. Annoyed, she roughly shoved his arms away and finally took her feet from the desk, taking another stack of paper down with her.
"What do you want.", she asked flatly, wishing he'd just vanish back to wherever he'd come from. All she got as a response was a way too cheerful giggle.
"Look, if you just came here to annoy me, then, congrats, you succeeded. Now I would be most happy if you'd just make yourself scarce. Thanks a bunch.", Charlotte said, suppressing all the insults that she would have preferred to spit at him.
"Now, now, no need to get offended. I was merely hoping to be helpful.", the man said, and she felt strands of his hair sweeping across her face when he moved again.
"I came here because a little birdie told me you'd be here", he continued, and she felt a puff of air from where his hands fluttered right in front of her face.
"And what do you want from me?", Charlotte asked again, half of her mind already on the many different ways she could possibly make him leave. Her cigarette sizzled forgotten on the table, adding to the many burnholes already on it.
"I just wanted to see if the rumor about your prowess were actually true. But seeing you here I do think I have my answer.", without waiting for a reply he scooted from her table and by the sound of the door clicking the female Reaper deduced that he'd left.
She finally let loose the sigh that she'd been holding in for quite some time now and let her head sink onto the table. "What a fucking joke I am.", she muttered into the wood of the table surface. Prowess, my ass, she thought angrily. all she could do these days was drinking and smoking.
Maybe fill out three applications a day.
For a second she allowed herself to dream about the field again, with her fighting demons and collecting souls like she should be. Well, she mused, not being tricked by a demon and then, consequently, not getting her eyes cut out would certainly have helped to prevent her current situation. Charlotte stared in the vague direction of the little window the office had. It had only been roughly two months but she found that she already couldn't really remember what the sky looked like. The very faint blurry shapes she could make out on a good day were in no way comparable to actually seeing the colors in all their vividness and vibrancy. Sighing again, Charlotte lit another zigarette and waited for Hudson to show
up so he could taunt her again, her only recurring event these days. She oddly looked forward to it.
The mysterious man returned the next day. And the day after. Everytime he turned up he just sat on her desk for a few minutes, making conversation, and then just vanished again. This repeated itself for over two weeks and Charlotte found that she was starting to look forward to their daily interactions. They had fallen in a routine where the male taunted her for her inability to do anything, and her shooting back some kind of insult before they'd fall into an almost comfortable silence until the male reaper left again.
Then he suddenly stopped coming by.
When he didn't show up three days in a row, Charlotte grew restless and decided to go looking for him.
Halfway on her way to the building of the Retrieval Division, it occured to her that she didn't even know the male grim reapers name. She'd figure it out somehow, she decided, and made her way over to the small reception every building had.
"I'm looking for a tall Reaper with very long hair", she told the woman sitting at the reception and immediately felt foolish for even considering this to be a good idea. Her mouth already half open to apologize and just go back to her office, the other woman beat her to it. "You're Miss Barnes, right? I'm very sorry for what happened to you, everyone heard, it was quite tragic after all.", without giving Charlotte the time to even think of a biting reply, she carried on. "This is a very vague description, but I'll try my best to help you. We were in the same Division once, after all."
Charlotte heard the rustling of paper and then the woman talked again. "Could you maybe describe his voice for me? We don't have that many males with long hair, that might help further narrowing it down.", she said kindly. Momentarily stunned, Charlotte scrambled for an answer. "Uh…he has a deep voice, but not too deep. And he likes to laugh a lot.", she said, feeling awkward with her inability to describe him better than that. Surprisingly, it seemed to be enough, for the woman sucked in a sharp breath, and began mumbling to herself.
"Could it be? But what would he want from someone like her? She's even uglier than that stupid girl from two offices down…", the reception woman trailed off, raising her voice again, not aware that Charlotte had just heard everything.
"It could be that you mean the Silver Fox. He would certainly fit the description. He does like to laugh a lot.", the woman's voice turned a little dreamy, and Charlotte decided to intervene.
"Could it be possible for you to tell me where he is right now?", she asked through gritted teeth, trying to sound as polite as possible.
"Of course, he should be in his office right now, it's the fifth door on the right side if you take the left wing from here.", the receptionist replied, and then, sounding hesitant, asked:"Do you need help getting there? I can guide you if you want.", she said, and it took all of Charlottes will power not to slap her in her anger.
"No thank you. I'm very much capable of walking on my own, thanks.", she returned, trying to smile but grimacing more than anything else, and took to the left.
When she deemed she was at the right office, her nervousness suddenly spiked up again. What if he just laughed at her? Maybe he'd at last grown tired of her and wasn't showing up anymore because he found her annoying? In a short bout of bravery Charlotte decided to screw everything and ripped the door open with much more force than necessary.
For a moment, she just stood in the door, squinting and trying to determine if he actually was in the room. Seeing a fuzzy shape that resembled a human being, Charlotte came to the conclusion that he indeed was here.
After a short moment of awkward silence on her side, she settled for: "You didn't visit me since three days ago. I thought I'd check if you were still alive."
Now, she'd expected everything but the sudden exuberant hug she got. Suddenly he was right before her, invading her personal space and throwing his lanky arms around her with a loud cry of joy.
"You missed me?", he exclaimed while letting her go just as abruptly as he'd taken hold of her. Then he took her hand, dragged her over and sat her down on the chair he'd sat on before.
"Don't you worry, I just was on a mission that took slightly longer than I expected.", the other explained, joy still resonating through his words.
Charlotte found herself to be oddly relieved.
But also completely overwhelmed with his sudden proximity.
"Right. I just wanted to check, good to see that you're still alive and kicking.", she said awkwardly, already trying to find a way to escape this situation.
"It's nice that you care.", the male answered in a soft tone that had her perking up a little. She filed that information away for later, now, she had a much more urgent question. "You know, you never told me your name.", Charlotte said, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible.
"Oh? Right. That's true." The other grim reaper giggled.
"But didn't anyone ever tell you that names are power?", he asked, suddenly much closer to her face than before.
Charlotte could practically feel his breath on her nose. As subtly as she could, she scooted back a little.
"Well, you do know my name.", she retorted and he nodded, his hair swishing into her face.
"That is true, so I assume it would only be fair to tell you my name as well." He moved away from her face a little, only to just come even nearer than before.
"But you must promise me to only call me by my name when we're alone.", he said, suddenly sounding vaguely threatening. Charlotte could only nod, stupefied.
"Everyone calls me Silver Fox around here, so that's what you shall be calling me in public. However, my real name is…", he paused in his dramatic speech for a second, swishing more hair into her face and making weird sounds that faintly resembled wind blowing. "Adrian Crevan."
Charlotte just stared at him. "What? Are you expecting me to clap, or what?", she asked amusedly when he didn't move for a few seconds.
Her answer only caused him to fall down dramatically, while whining:"Come on, I just bared one of my secrets to you! Be a bit more considerate, please!" As she gave him one very sarcastic clap that had him exclaiming his disappointment once more, she finally couldn't hold in her laughter anymore, and began giggling.
And she found that for the first time since a long while ago, things were fine.