Chapter 11: No Backing Down
A/N: Hey everyone! Hope you all are enjoying yourselves.
Now that Lana agreed to do Scarlett's banquet, she's gotta see what the weapon's specialist has in mind for this dinner. Couldn't be too crazy, right?
I was planning on doing another one shot for this series and wanted to know your thoughts on it. Would you like to see one? If so what would you like to see?
Anyway let's get on with the story!
Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy 7; I just own my characters.
Enjoy!
/
Millie stared at Lana. The chef was flopped on their kitchen table with her head pressed into the wooden surface. She had been in this zombie like state ever since she got back from her blindsided interview for Scarlett.
Now that she had agreed to take on the weapon's specialists' banquet, she knew she had to figure out how she was going to do all of this without her work finding out.
"Soooooo, what exactly were you smoking when you agreed to take this on cause I'll need a hit for my next shift at work" Millie said.
Lana lifted her face up and gave her roommate a look.
"It was stupid, I know!" she said.
"But if I say no now I have a feeling I'll be used as a target for Scarlett's new weapons"
Millie groaned and held the bridge of her nose.
"You know what? I feel like this is my fault. When I said you shouldn't pass this chance up for a promotion, I didn't mean you take this whole thing on by yourself"
"It's not like I'm doing this whole damn thing on my own. I'll have the kitchen staff from Shinra helping out as well"
"That's like saying the watchout team will have the kids from the orphanage help with patrolling the sectors. While that sounds sweet and helpful, it's actually a useless job. You're doing this on your own"
Lana rolled her eyes.
"I've had to fill in for three people at once at work. This shouldn't be any different. It's not that big of a banquet" she said.
Millie sighed and shook her head. She admired her friend's headstrong, 'take on any challenge' attitude. But she knew one of these days she was going to burn herself out bad by not backing out on things.
"So what are you going to do about work? You can't really tell them that you need a few weeks off cause you're working somewhere else"
"I have vacation days I haven't used all year. I'm just going to tell Jeremy I need to take some time off to catch my breath after that fiasco with Vivian. He can't chew me out for needing personal days" Lana said.
"And what about Rich Boy? What are you going to do about him?"
Lana made a face. She had totally forgotten that by taking this job on, she would have to be in the same building as Rufus. It was bad enough he bugged her at her work but now she would be at his home base. Oh joy.
"Can't really do much since his father owns the building. He's got to work too so I'm sure he'll leave me alone. I'll just deal with it until the banquet is over"
"Hopefully he'll get tired of bugging you and find someone else" Millie offered.
Aunt Millie was clueless to how dad's mind worked. How could he possibly get tired of mom when every day she surprised him? Even to this day he's still amazed by her and how she lives. It's what made their marriage last for so long. Well, aside from loving each other of course.
/
Staring at the keycard Scarlett gave her, Lana took a deep breath. This was no big deal. It was just a temporary position and she could go back to working at her old crappy job. There was nothing to worry about. She didn't have to stress out over cooking for one of the most important women in Shinra. It's not like she could be fired or black listed for making food that wasn't up to the woman's standards. No pressure, right?
"If this fucks up, I'm taking Reeve down with me" she promised herself.
Knowing there was no point in pushing this off even more, she dragged her feet up the steps. Like yesterday, the secretary was at her desk typing away at her computer. She looked up when she saw Lana approaching her desk.
"You're back again?"
The tone in her voice showed that she was surprised and confused. Lana made a face and held up her keycard.
"I'm here to see Madam Scarlett" she said flatly.
The secretary scanned her card. It read 'accepted' showing it was legit.
"Huh, not every day that someone from the lower plate get's to see one of the directors" the secretary commented.
Lana gritted her teeth and put a fake smile on her face. She just had to deal with this until the banquet was over.
"Guess I'm one of the lucky ones then. Now can I go?"
The secretary gave her the keycard back and gestured to the elevator.
"She'll be in her office on the 62nd level"
Lana headed for the elevator and scanned her card on the keypad. The elevator closed and went up to the higher levels of the building.
Since there were a few levels until she reached near the top, this gave Lana the chance to think about what her conversation with Scarlett would be like. She knew that woman was tough as nails and wouldn't take no for an answer. If she requested over the top options, she had to be careful with what she would say. She might have been a hard worker but she wasn't desperate. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity but she wasn't going to be walked over.
The elevator reached the 62nd level. Stepping out, she followed the same path she went yesterday and reached Scarlett's office. Steadying her nerves, she firmly knocked on the door and waited.
"Enter"
Entering the room, she saw Scarlett was once again sitting at her desk going over some papers. The weapon's director looked up and raised an eyebrow.
"Ah, the Slum Chef. You're here early"
'And your overpriced boob job is sloppy' Lana said in her head.
"If you're early, you're on time. If you're on time, you're late. Just following basic work ethic" she said.
"Least you have more common sense than most people here" Scarlett said.
She motioned for Lana to take a seat by her desk. She set her file down and leaned back in her chair.
"Now then. I have a specific vision for how this banquet is to play out"
Lana pulled out her notebook and went to a clean page.
"What do you have in mind? How many people will be attending this banquet? Are there any dietary requests I need to be made aware of? Are there certain foods some of your guests can't have? Any allergies?"
"I'll be having at least 120 people at this banquet. It might be small in comparison to some of my other parties but that doesn't mean it should be not as impressive" Scarlett said.
"My clients have given me a list of what they can't eat so I'll give you that later. Now for what I have in mind for my banquet. I'm trying to promote my weapons so I want the food to be themed off of that. Since we're the only company that can harness Mako into useable energy, such as Materia. I want the food to be themed off of that"
Lana nodded and jotted some notes down.
"That idea could work. Since there are different elemental ones I could make dishes off of that. You can have spicy, savory dishes represent fire Materia. Foods that are sharp, sour and have a lot of citrus flavors could be used for Lightning. Chilled desserts like ice cream for Blizzard, or organic healthy salads for Cure. That's just a couple of ideas"
"Those sound good. I was also thinking to really impress my clients, I'd like you to use some of our Materia to create these dishes" Scarlett added.
Lana froze mid-writing when she heard that part. Scarlett didn't seem to notice and leaned back in her chair.
"I want them to see our Materia could be used for just about anything. We're the best of the best when it comes to creating it. I want my clients to see that-"
"Absolutely not"
Scarlett glared at Lana and dug her fingers into her armrest.
"I beg your pardon?" she spat.
Lana didn't back down and returned the nasty look to Scarlett.
"Materia cannot be used on products that are for human consumption" she said.
"Materia is processed Mako energy that is formed into a sphere. When you use Materia of any kind to releases bits of Mako energy into the air. Much like when you use a gun there will be traces of gunpowder left over. Materia can be used to start up stoves and other equipment that is needed to prepare food but it must not be used directly with food. If you cook a steak using a fire Materia that piece of meat will be coated with small traces of Mako. If someone were to ingest tiny bits of Mako, they'll get sick. It won't kill a person but it'll make them very sick and they could wind up in the hospital from it. That's why there are super strict regulations in the food industry when it comes to Materia products or anything that deals with Mako energy"
Scarlett drummed her fingers along her desk and gave Lana a hard look. She hated it when people talked down her ideas. She was one of the top brass of Shinra so obviously she knew better than most people.
"Are you saying my vision is garbage?" she spat.
"Of course not. The theme is perfect it's the execution of it that's a red flag" Lana said.
"You go with that idea, the only way your clients will strike a deal with you is if you pay for all of their hospital bills and offer hush money to prevent lawsuits"
At the mention of lawsuit, Scarlett quickly changed her mind.
"Very well. You make a valid point so I'll agree with it. Plus I don't want it to seem like I'm promoting household appliances"
"I'm so glad we've come to an understanding" Lana said flatly.
"So what else did you have in mind?"
/
Two hours later, Lana felt drained as she left Scarlett's office.
"Be here tomorrow morning. I want you to meet the kitchen staff here so you can tell them what I want" Scarlett said.
"Sure thing"
She made some progress with the banquet ideas. As she predicted, Scarlett had some over the top ideas. A few she was able to work with but others she had to reason with the Director on why it was not a good idea. She was worried that Scarlett would lash out for disagreeing with her but she seemed impressed that the chef listened to her ideas and explained why it wouldn't work and offered alternatives to make the banquet perfect. Scarlett was a hard ass but at least she listened.
Now that she had a full notebook of ideas and requests, she could spend her evening figuring out dishes that would fit the theme for the banquet. Not how she wanted to spend the rest of her weekend but it's not like she had anything better to do.
"Miss. Denbrough?"
Lana turned around to see Tseng in the hallway.
"Oh! Hello Tseng"
The head Turk seemed puzzled to see her in the Shinra building.
"What are you doing here?"
Lana held up her notebook to show him the notes she took.
"Madam Scarlett hired me on to cater for her banquet that's coming up. She asked me to stop in so she could tell me her ideas for the meals"
Tseng nodded in understanding.
"I heard that she found someone to tend to the dinner. Didn't realize it was you"
'Word gets around fast here' Lana thought.
She quickly thought of something.
"Is Mr. Pain in my ass here by any chance?" she asked.
Tseng knew right away that she was referring to Rufus. He bit back a smirk but nodded.
"He came in to get some paperwork done but he should be leaving soon. Did you wish to see him?"
"Oh no, I don't want to bother him. I just have something that I wanted to return" Lana said.
She opened her messenger bag and pulled out the outfit Rufus loaned her the other day.
"If it's not much trouble, would you give this to him? He let me borrow this yesterday"
Tseng's eyes widen a little when he saw the outfit.
"He gave you Giselle's clothes?" he asked.
"His sister? Yeah I had to borrow an outfit cause his pet ruined my outfit. I didn't think his sister would appreciate a stranger taking her clothes so I just wanted to give them back. I got them cleaned and everything"
Tseng took the outfit and stared at it for a moment. When he didn't say anything, Lana tilted her head.
"You ok?"
Tseng quickly composed himself and went back to being professional.
"I'm fine. I was on my way to see him so I'll give him this for you" he said.
Lana smiled a little with relief.
"Thank you so much! Well I'll let you get back to work. Hopefully you'll get to enjoy what's left of your weekend"
She hurried off and made it to the elevator. Tseng stood in the hallway for a little while and stared at the outfit in his hands. He gripped the fabric hard as a sad look washed over his face.
/
There were a million other things that Rufus could have been doing on a Sunday. Being in the office filling out paperwork for his father was not one of them.
He swore that man didn't know the term 'day off'. If he didn't work, he didn't make money. Even the old man's vacations consisted of doing business with others. He was more devoted to his company than he was with anything else-including his family.
Signing the last piece of paper that was in his basket, he set his pen down and rubbed his tired eyes. There was no point of him doing this. He really had no power or pull with the company. The only reason he had the title of Vice-President was so his father would remind him that he would always be beneath him. He didn't show his son what was expected to run this company, never told him what he needed to do when he became President. He just gave his son an empty title to show how much he thought of him.
I know dad tended to go overboard when he showed that he loved me. He went to all of my school events, all my competitions, showed interests in my hobbies, helped me when I struggled with something, hugged me when I was scared, wiped my tears away when I cried. Even when I didn't need him around he always reminded me that he would always be there if I ever needed him. He never got that when he was a child. He made sure I knew that I was loved.
He was pulled out of his musings when someone knocked on his door.
"Enter" he said dully.
Tseng stepped inside and headed for his desk. Rufus raised an eyebrow when he saw an outfit in the Turk's hands.
"What do you have there?"
Tseng set the outfit on his desk.
"I ran into Miss. Denbrough on my way here. She said you loaned her this and she wanted to return it" he explained.
Rufus perked up at the mention of Lana.
"She's here?"
"She was. I believe she said she was leaving a meeting she had with Scarlett. Wanted to discuss about that upcoming banquet" Tseng said.
Rufus heard him but at the same time he didn't. All of a sudden he didn't mind that he was in the office on one of his days off.
"Is she still here?" he asked.
Tseng raised an eyebrow at how eager his boss sounded.
"She was on her way out when I left. She should be-"
Rufus was already out of his office and at the elevator. Tseng poked his head out to see Rufus quickly scanning his keycard to take him to the lobby.
He had never seen his boss act that way before. It seemed ever since he met Lana, he was not as self-destructive as he usually was. He hadn't dated another scandalous woman, he didn't make a scene, do anything to embarrass his father. All he seemed to have been doing was see Lana. He didn't know if this was a good thing but he was glad that he wasn't being reckless anymore.
Well, Rufus would be reckless still-just in a different way.
/
Lana grumbled as she looked at the dishes Scarlett wanted to have. They weren't hard to make, it was the fact that some of the ingredients were hard to get and couldn't be found here in Midgar.
"How does she expect me to find some of this stuff? Half of these are on the other side of the world" she muttered.
"Wonder if Sam still has connections to his Chocobo wrangler buddies? He might know how I can get some of this stuff. The next question is how do I get this stuff here soon without it going bad?"
She walked outside of the building and just focused on her little problem. She hoped that Tseng was able to give Rufus that outfit back.
'Wonder how he's doing?' she suddenly thought.
Her eyes went wide. What did she just think?! Why did she care if he was doing ok or not? He was an annoying prick!...well, maybe not a prick like she thought-but he was still annoying! She quickly pushed that thought down. She shouldn't care about him. He just found her fascinating because she wouldn't fall for his rich boy charm and she was his current source of entertainment.
He'd get over her when he was bored. That's what he did with all of his past girlfriends anyway.
No way was he into her.
"Lana!"
Lana's eyes went wide when she heard that familiar voice. Turning her head, she saw Rufus sprint down the steps of the building and made it to her. He was breathing heavily as if he had ran all the way here. Did he seriously come all the way from the top of the building?
Rufus was glad that he managed to catch her in time. When he saw her, for some reason he felt his sour mood vanish.
There was no way he was into her…
Right?
/
A/N: I think we all know the answer to that. They need to figure that out still.
Lana has some balls telling Scarlett off and getting away with it. Just because she's one of the top brass of Shinra, doesn't mean she's always right and can get what she wants.
Hope you enjoyed this little chapter.
Please review and tell me what you think!
Take care!