Lacey walked in to the unemployment office for the first time in years and found that it hadn't changed much. It had been a month since she had been fired. She had looked in newspapers and job ads, but nobody was hiring. She hated taking charity, but her rent was due in a week and she had very little cash saved up. She needed the money. It was either this or try and find another apartment with rent control that didn't smell like BO. Lacey wasn't broke yet, but she had a feeling that finding a job would be harder this time than when she was younger and inexperienced. After she paid the months rent she would have just enough money to buy some food for the week.
The line moved up an inch and someone from behind jostled her 'til she was forced to take a step forward. She grumbled something rude under her breath and bit her lip to keep from yelling at the lady with the baby that wouldn't stop crying. It wasn't the babies fault Lacey realized. The baby was probably just hungry and by the looks of things it looked like the woman's other three kids were too. Lacey rolled her eyes heavenward. 'God get me out of this place.' The line moved forward again and Lacey let out a pent up breath.
An hour of waiting and she was about ready to explode. 'Why the hell did that woman have to have so many damn kids? Didn't she ever hear of birth control?' For crying out loud they were making her nuts. One kid was climbing on the poles that marked out the long path the people in line had to take and another was running in circles making noises like cars and airplanes, she didn't know what. The third brat was hanging on his mom's dress yelling at her that he was hungry. His voice kept getting louder and louder and the mother wasn't doing a thing to settle them down. The baby was the only one not crying and Lacey wanted to smack the mom for feeding her baby in public. The woman didn't even have the decency to cover herself up and the three year old was trying to latch on to her other breast as though that were normal.
"White trash slut." Someone behind her grumbled irritably. "People like her living off the state make me sick. It's people like her that make the rest of us look bad." Lacey couldn't agree more, but she decided to say nothing.
Her head was pounding by the time she got to the counter. She leaned on it and placed her fingers on her temples. "Can I help you?" Lacey looked up, her eyes staring fixedly on the arrogant woman behind the counter. "Look its nearly closing time." The girl waved at the clock behind her head. "So what can I do for you?"
Lacey sneered at the girl's demeanor. "I've been standing in this line for over two hours listening to screaming kids and smelling all sorts of God knows what, and you give me attitude?" The girl gave Lacey an unapologetic look.
"Sorry ma'am, but if you insist on talking to me that way I'll be forced to ask you to go to the end of the line."
Lacey's jaw dropped. "The end of the line? You wouldn't dare."
"Please go to the end of the line." The girl replied. "Next." Lacey was shoved to the side by a man that smelled like stale cologne and sweat.
"No way!" Lacey elbowed the man in the gut and shoved her way in front of him. "I just want to sign up for job placement assistance and unemployment before you close. Tomorrow is the weekend and you're not open until Monday and my rent can't wait that long." Lacey didn't care if the man behind her was staring daggers into her back.
"Actually maim, Monday is a National holiday so we're not open until Tuesday." The girl looked at her watch. "Its five o'clock. Time to close for the day." She put a little 'CLOSED' plaque on the counter and turned her back on the expectant crowd.
The man behind Lacey said something about women with breasts like hers should be working at Hooters not standing in line here.
"Wait you can at least give me the papers to fill out!" Lacey flung an arm out and grasped the girl's sleeve.
"Security!"
'Oh shit!' Lacey thought as she collected herself and stepped back from the counter. The others behind her were starting to file out of the building, knowing the routine by heart. "Uh...um..." Lacey saw a big man in a blue security guard uniform approach her from behind. "Can't you give a lady a break and just hand me the papers. I'll fill them out really quick. I promise." She pleaded.
The girl huffed, but something in her demeanor had changed. She flounced out of the room for a second and then pranced back, holding a small stack of forms. "Here." She handed them to Lacey to fill out and dismissed the guard. "Hurry up, while I lock up."
Lacey watched the rest of the Unemployment officers grab their coats and leave. She grabbed a pen and wrote her information down quickly. 'If only she had been able to work so quickly while she still had a job, she wouldn't be in this mess now.' She thought irritably. "I'm done. Now what?"
"You'll get your first payment in three to five weeks. You'll have to call in every week to verify that you're looking for work. The number is free, but if you miss a week then you miss that week's check."
"Why three to five weeks?"
"Because the government has to verify that your claim to benefits is valid and that you really are unemployed. You receive back payments on previous weeks once everything is substantiated."
"If I was employed do you think I would be standing here all day?" Lacey quipped.
"It sure beats the hell out of working all day." The girl replied and led Lacey out in to the street.
"Easy for you to say." Lacey mumbled and walked down the street to her apartment that was only seven blocks away. 'Good thing I need the exercise.' Sure she looked fit enough, but it had been a while since she had been out walking anywhere. Mostly she sat at interviews or sat at home trying to draw or watch TV and that surely wasn't healthy.
At her apartment, Lacey pressed the blinking button on the answering machine.
"Hi Ms Keegle, I'm calling you to tell you about our great new offer..." She quickly cleared the message. "Hi lacey, it's Janice. I was calling to see if you wanted to go out tonight. Sort of a girl's night out. It's been a while since we've last talked. If you're not too depressed we can get a few drinks. Yea I know you're not really a drinker, but I'll pay. Come on Lacey you know you want to. I guess I'll call back later." Lacey looked at the machine and erased the last few messages all of them were from telemarketers trying to get her to buy stuff.
The phone rang again just as she slipped her shirt off and tossed it on the floor. Her apartment wasn't as tidy as it used to be. She listened to the answering machine as it told whoever was calling to leave a message at the beep. "Hi again, it's me Janice..." Lacey nearly crashed into the coffee table in her rush to answer the phone.
"Hello?"
"Oh hi Lacey. I was just leaving you another message. Since you're there I guess I don't have to." Her friend giggled. "Are you OK? You sound sort of out of breath."
"Oh yeah I'm just great I just had a run-in with the coffee table that's all. So, how are you doing?"
"That's what I'm supposed to be asking you." Janice laughed. "So are you coming with me?"
"It sounds great actually. I could use the cheering up and company. Today was just awful."
Janice interrupted her. "Tell me about it later when we get to the bar. I'll be going to the bar on Elm Street. The one with that funny looking dog on the front. Don't worry about the cash. I'll be paying for all the drinks. I have a surprise for you." They said their goodbyes over the phone and Lacey quickly got ready.
Finding the bar was easy. Janice was waving at her from just outside. "Hey Lacey!"
They began the night of drinking with soft fluffy drinks with very little alcohol in them and Lacey was starting to enjoy herself. After spilling her guts about her day and all the previous days, both girls ordered something with more kick. Lacey felt herself floating. She giggled at Janice when she couldn't stand up.
"I need to go to the ladies room." She giggled and Janice helped her on her wobbly feet. "Good thing I didn't wear heals." They both laughed. "Hey Janice, what's that surprise you told me about on the phone?" Her mind cleared a bit as she walked in to the brightly lit restroom. "I feel a little drunk."
"HEHE. Me too." Janice squealed. "My surprise? Oh yeah! I got a promotion." Janice rinsed her hands in the sink and splashed a little water on the back of her neck. 'Boy I feel hot.' She froze when she saw the look on her friends face in the mirror. She turned around and placed her hands on her friend's shoulders. "I'm sorry Lacey. Mr. Moorley gave me your old job."
Lacey sat on the toilet for a minute, stunned. She hadn't known that job had meant so much to her, but apparently it had. "I feel sort of sick." She wasn't a heavy drinker and had never drank this much. Before she knew what she was doing she flung the seat of the toilet up and vomited into the bowl. Janice held her hair for her. She threw up a couple more times before she felt good enough to stand and flush the toilet clean. "Lets get more to drink boss lady." Lacey wiped her mouth on her sleeve.
Janice nodded quietly and followed her out in to the bar. They stayed until last call. Janice and Lacey walked home together. Both women were stinking drunk. They sang a few songs, but by 5am Janice admitted she had to get home to work on a new ad over the weekend for Monday. Lacey nodded incoherently and Janice left.
When Lacey woke up an hour later, she was in bed with nothing but her bra and panties on. Her head pounded dully. Janice had left her fifty bucks and a short note. "Pay me back when you get a job." She thanked Janice in her mind and put on some shorts and a t-shirt that were laying on the floor. They smelled a bit since she hadn't washed any clothes in a week, but she didn't care. She would get some drawings done.
Weeks passed and she still had her apartment, but just barely. Janice visited less and less since she was so busy with her new job at the ad agency. Unemployment checks came every week and every week Lacey looked for work, but to no avail.
On one particular night she turned on the TV for some background sound and fell in to a fitful sleep. She dreamt in cartoons. Waking in a daze she found her pencils and began to draw the people she had imagined. They came out strangely attired and not at all as she had planned, but she continued to draw until morning.
The sun peaked over the horizon as she slumped forward and fell into an almost coma-like sleep, Drool dribbling from her lip.
Lacey awoke with a splitting headache. It was some time in the afternoon and she needed to head in to town to wash some clothes and buy some food. With the money Janice had left her in her pocket, she rolled her best clothes into a used sheet and went down one block to the laundry mat. She carried the clothes on her back like a heavy burden, bumping into people and being cussed at for taking up the sidewalk. Her apartment wasn't far from either the laundry mat or the grocery store, but after stuffing the washer full of her clothes and dumping in a box of pre-measured soap she shrugged. Pushing the over-filled washer closed with her shoulder and quickly turning it on, she left to go for a walk. She was sure the economy sized mega washer could do all her clothes at once since she only had a few dollars to spare on getting them washed.
It didn't take her long to find the art supply store. She looked around a bit and shuffled through the aisles not really interested in anything until she realized she was in a part of the store she had never noticed before. Sure she had been in this store hundreds of times while she had been working or when she just needed to draw, but now she had found something totally new.
Noticing the layers upon layers of dust and cobwebs she now realized it wasn't something new at all, but something very old, nearly ancient. Her senses alert for the first time in weeks, she found herself hunting for something in particular that drew her forward, but she didn't know what she was looking for.
In a dark, musty corner on the bottom shelf was an ancient looking box. She crouched and picked the box up, running her hands over the carvings on the surface. She studied it carefully. Turning it over in her hands she found some scratches on the bottom of the box. Lacey stood up carrying the box with her she went towards the light. The scratches were as old as the wooden box itself. She couldn't make them out, but she figured it was some foreign language. Chinese or Japanese? She didn't know since she didn't speak either language.
Without warning the lid popped open and several wooden cylinders fell out. Each one landed with a snap on the tile floor and broke open. Nothing came out of them, but when Lacey went to put the cylinders back she noticed that they were cylinders filled with dried watercolor paint. Each one was as brilliant in color as the day they had been made and by judging the age of the box she was sure these watercolors were very old indeed. She placed them carefully back in the box along with the few paintbrushes that had fallen out. Just as she was going to put it back on the shelf and forget about it, she hesitated. 'Why not ask how much the paint kit was? It wasn't like she could afford such luxuries anyway.'
She kept her eyes on the paint kit in her hands as she walked up to the counter, like it might disappear if she didn't keep a constant watch on it. Something about the box drew her and she couldn't help but be a little afraid of something that felt so right in her hands.
The clerk looked up from his magazine and fumbled with the box, looking for a price tag or barcode. He shrugged when he didn't find any. "Sorry lady there isn't a tag on this. I can't sell it without a price."
"Uh it was on a clearance rack." She lied easily. "The tag must have fallen off. I think it said a dollar?" That seemed to do the trick.
The clerk shrugged again and smiled. "Fifty cents for this junk. Clearance today is half off." Lacey dug in her pocket for the fifty cents and quickly left with her purchase, not even waiting for him to bag it or give her a receipt.
She made it back to her apartment before she remembered she had left her laundry at the laundry mat and she had no food in the cupboards or refrigerator. She sat the box down on her desk and went out again. Her mind hadn't felt this clear in a while.
Reaching the laundry mat, Lacey was accosted by the owner. Her things were shoved at her and she was told to leave. Apparently when she had over-filled the washer she had 'really' over-filled it. The washer had banged and rocked like someone had filled it with cement. The laundry mat owner was notified by one of the customers and he had come out to find it overstuffed and fallen on its side.
He had opened the washer to find her clothes in it. At first he was confused about who would do such a thing, but then he was mad because the expensive washer now needed replacing. Grumbling he took out the soapy soaking sack of clothes and waited for their owner to return. When she returned he threw the bundle at her, the mess knocked her off her feet into the gutter. She felt guilty for ruining the machine, but what could she do? She didn't have any money to compensate him so she simply left, dragging the soggy mess home.
Lacey dumped her clothes in the tub and left them there to soak after she had filled it with hot steamy water. Sitting down with her newly acquired paint kit she took out one of her recent drawings and began to fill it in with color. She giggled at the drawing of a man with silvery hair and strange markings on his face like a crescent moon and slashes of color on his cheeks. After filling in the colors for his picture she left the rest for later and sat the drawing in the sunlight to dry. Hobbling to the couch she flipped through TV channels with the remote and found something funny to watch.
For a moment she wondered what there was to eat and remembered all she had was a box of cereal and no milk. Electing to eat the cereal dry, she got up off the couch, but only made it to the phone. Janice was calling her. She picked up the receiver of the phone listening as her friend spoke. "Lacey!"
"What's got you so riled up Janice?"
"We need to go out and celebrate." Janice replied. Lacey had to pull the receiver away from her head. Her friend's words were excited and louder than normal.
"What are you talking about?"
"Didn't he tell you?"
"Who tell me?"
"Umm..." Janice sounded hesitant. "Mr. Moorley has to tell you. I can't ruin the surprise, but call me back right after he does. We'll go out to eat and see a movie. I wonder what's playing at the theater tonight?" She rambled on for a few more minutes before saying goodbye and hanging up leaving Lacey completely confused.
Lacey was sitting on the couch with a handful of dry cereal in one hand and the remote to the TV in the other. Her clothes were drying on a line she has strung up through the apartment. The kitchen and bathroom were outlined in undergarments while the living room area was shirts, skirts, and pants. She had decided to wash all her clothes in the tub since she really couldn't afford to go to the laundry mat and really wasn't welcome there anymore. They were drying about as fast as one could expect since the sun had gone down an hour or two ago and Lacey had the heater on to dry them and the windows open to cool off the apartment. The hot air from the heaters and the cool air from outside were conflicting with each other and doing battle in the small apartment.
The phone rang and Lacey jumped. She had almost fallen asleep. Her eyes widened at the cereal spilling on the floor. Lacey winced and tried to straighten her neck. 'That's what I get for sleeping on the couch.' The phone rang again cutting off her thoughts as she lifted the speaker to her ear. She yawned.
"Ms. Keegle?" Lacey nearly dropped the phone. "I know its late Ms. Keegle, but I have been in meetings all day with the Japanese." He paused for dramatic effect. "I'm sure you've heard from one of your friends here that the Japanese have decided to allow us to be their new ads managers. The thing is they liked your family oriented stuff so much they wanted you to…" He coughed. "Work with them on some new merchandising ideas." Lacey's head was reeling from all the information he was giving her. "Tomorrow I want you to come in to my office and we'll go over some plans together. From what I was told, you're to go to Japan and meet with their artistic director within the week."
"OK." Lacey hung up the phone and turned around in a daze. She didn't know how to feel. She was surprised and shocked that Mr. Moorley had asked her back, but at the same time she was sort of mad at him for firing her in the first place. Everything in her head jumbled around until it was all a blur. She picked up the phone again and dialed Janice. She just had to tell her about her conversation with Mr. Moorley.
Janice told her that the Japanese had insisted on her being included and would work with no others on this proposal. When she was done on the phone, she cleaned her apartment as fast as she could. Janice would be there any minute to take her to the hottest dance clubs in town.
While Lacey went out partying with Janice, a faint breeze came in through the open window and blew her drawing of the strange golden-eyed demon lord onto the floor. It was one minute after midnight and the full moon lit the room with an iridescent glow that made everything look ethereal and unnatural. The heater clicked off and the cooler night air crept through the partially opened window. The curtains fluttered slightly and a breeze stirred the piece of paper that now danced on the floor with the slightest touch from the air. The wind picked up speed and wound around the drawing manipulating it, making it float this way and that, only to rise again like a kite. Out of the clear night sky, a star winked fizzled and faded black. The paper drawing halted its ballet as if held by an invisible string. It slowly turned up-side-down and sparks of green, gold and bluish-silver began to rain down out of the paper. Colors flooded steadily out of the paper collecting on the floor in pools of moonlight. A figure formed from the pools of light and watercolors. It was a perfect replica of the drawing Lacey had finished earlier, a perfect watercolor drawing. Electricity rippled through the air and rolled over the watercolor demon. Where the electricity touched...turned fleshy and tangible. Supple skin mastered pigments of paint, flowing silver hair shed the thick choppy strokes of ink, and silk and iron replaced the painted representation of clothing and armor. The eyes turned heavenward and blinked.
Lord Sesshomaru surveyed his surroundings before examining his body fully. The room was simple for the time, but a lot of the things in it confused and surprised him, although he wouldn't for his new-found existence, tell anyone that. His lips twitched into a smirk. Everything was perfect, even under his kimono. A living specimen of what was ancient and best forgotten with Bigfoot and sea monsters. That was less painful and easier than he had thought. 'What a perfect spell.' He surmised. The look on Inuyasha's face when he had sucked up in the time void was well worth it.
He remembered just what had happened on that fateful day.
Sesshomaru had been traveling on the border of his land, looking for any errant youkai that wondered on to his property. A few lesser youkai had trespassed and he had let them know they were trespassing before slicing them open with his poison claws and displaying their bodies on pikes for anyone else who wished to roam where they were not wanted.
The old witch woman had snuck up on him while he was washing any traces of blood from his claws. The fact that she had snuck up on him was a surprise since this Sesshomaru was never taken unaware. What was more surprising was that this witch woman wasn't scared of him at all and in fact smiled benignly. She was just a normal human he could tell by her scent, but something about her made Sesshomaru suspend killing her right away.
She watched the lord of the western lands with interest. She was sure he was wondering about her presence as well. Stepping closer, she noticed how very tall he was and how very strong he was in comparison to her withered and hunched old body. She wouldn't be much fun to kill. All the life had drained out of her many years ago. Age had taken its toll on her. She was alone in the world. Ninety-five years had gone by and that was a feat in any century. She hobbled forward on brittle bones and looked the youkai in the eyes.
"Your insolence is compounded by your presence and your boldness." Sesshomaru's eyes narrowed. He still wasn't sure what she was doing here or why he hadn't just hacked the old woman in half. The old woman laughed once and brought out a box he hadn't even noticed she carried. 'I must be going blind not to have seen that.' He growled at his own thoughts. "What do you want old woman?" His irritation was getting the better of him.
She didn't speak, but kept on with what she was doing. She placed the opened box at his feet and slipped the lids off the cylinders of watercolors. He could smell them now. When she straightened he could see her crooked grin. From her sleeve she pulled out a razor thin knife. Her eyes glittered dangerously. She intended to attack him with that?
"Incredulous!" He spat. He knew he could kill her with ease, but he just stood where he was waiting for her to attack him. Sesshomaru wanted to know how a woman so old could think of attacking him and surviving? "Hmmm." Maybe that was why she was here? Maybe she wanted him to kill her? That made no sense.
"Don't worry I don't plan on kicking the bucket today." She said the words like she had read his mind. "I have other plans for you." With startling speed she raked the knife down his forearm, leaving a gash the length of it down to his wrist. "Bleed you youkai bastard!"
Sesshomaru was paralyzed he realized too late. His blood rained down from the quickly healing cut she had inflicted and drizzled into the paint containers and stained the grass. The woman cackled and raised her fist at him shouting incoherently. "Like a daisy cut from the wild. HAHA. Beautiful the one day but dried up the next." She picked up the box holding the cylinders of paint and blood. She stirred each one individually, making sure the drops of blood that clung to the sides were actually absorbed in to the paints. Her bony fingers twisted the lids on tightly. "You'll see all in good time."
"Witch woman what have you done?" His voice wavered a bit and he felt the pull of her magic dissipate. He did not know how forcibly he had been held until he was released. Somewhere along the way she had negated his fleeing instinct and had even hidden the fact from him with curiosity.
"Curiosity killed the cat, or in this case the dog."