ᵇˡᵃᶜᵏ ʳᵒˢᵉˢ

“i didn’t know that.” luke looked at the woman curiously. “but thank you for the information. you learn something new every day.” he sat across from her at his desk, pulling his laptop out of his briefcase. “i hope you weren’t waiting too long, my meeting went a lot longer than i had thought it would. you know how it is, someone says something that someone doesn’t like and they can’t shut up about it.” he rolled his eyes as he thought about it. they didn’t get anything done in that meeting. they’d probably have to schedule another one, and he was already in a sour mood just thinking about it. “so – what’s up?”

“I’m glad to be the bearer of unnecessary information. Just call me Siri with a not-so-monotone voice.” A small smile spread across her face just then. “No worries. I got paid for all the sitting around so I can’t complain.” Adri’s eyes glazed over him as she examined his actions. She shifted her legs into a diagonal position so she wasn’t still taking up the majority of the desk. “Man, tell me about it. Or when everyone is seconds away from freedom, you get that one person who asks the most stupid question their pea-sized brain could think of. That’s another five minutes of your life you’ll never get back. Some people are just exhausting.” Adri huffed audibly as she placed her phone face-down on the desk. “Other than the fact I’m bored and you’re the unfortunate victim I’ve chosen to torment? Not much.”

“umm — do i know you?” it appears as if the woman was waiting on her, but sierra was sure she’d seen all of her appointments for the day, and she didn’t recall setting any meetings or lunches with anyone besides the people she’d already seen. her eyes flickered to the woman’s feet on her desk and tried to hide her annoyance, which was an obvious fail since she dropped her bag quite loudly on the table. “how can i help you?” she completely ignored her last statement – because she really didn’t care about that.

“You don’t know me but I know you,” Adri stifled her laughter as she twiddled her fingers together in an attempt to look as creepy as possible. Examining the woman’s actions, she could almost feel the annoyance radiating from her. That was accompanied by the loud thud of her bag landed on the desk, the suddenness of her action causing Adri’s body to involuntarily flinch. “The stars aren’t aligned for me to move and your chair is pretty darn comfy. Unbelievably comfortable, actually,” she acknowledged, shuffling slightly in the seat. “Did you have to screw someone to get a chair this good?”

𝐉𝐔𝐃𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐋𝐋 𝐇𝐀𝐃 𝐅𝐈𝐕𝐄 𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐒 𝐎𝐅 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐊 𝐓𝐎 𝐃𝐎. at least. he was determined to finish them hopefully before his watch switched from p.m. to a.m., but it was at the point of the day where he was feeling lazy. his tie was already off and the first button of his shirt already loosened. when the office cleared out completely he’d put on his office slippers. he had been taking a walk around the building, desperate to get blood flowing in his legs for the first time in hours, when he caught site of adri and she began talking to him. “ what ? no way, ” jude said, moving closer to look at the article she was talking about. well. it was too bad he wasn’t practicing criminal law; this would come in handy then. although he couldn’t ever be too sure in the idea that no one at masters would try to fake their death – he hoped not, though, ‘cause that’s more work for him and he already had a desk full of it. “ may i ask why you were looking at how to fake your death ? ”

Jude’s presence was most certainly a welcome distraction from her current state of doing... absolutely nothing productive. Another five minutes of Adri perusing WikiHow could have resulted in something truly disastrous. “Right, I’m gonna be honest with you here which I know you’ll appreciate after being forced to endure all those years at law school. I can’t even begin to fathom the amount of bullshit you’ve heard. I must say I’ve got a ton of respect for you by the way because that must have been hell.” Adri gritted her teeth, internally shuddering at the thought. “Anyway— back to your question,” she paused momentarily. “I wish I had something more exciting to say but the answer is boredom. Complete and utter boredom.”

For someone who technically didn’t even work at Masters, Xavier sure did seem to be spending a lot of time there. Between visiting his roommate, chasing pretty interns and looking for excuses to get out of the apartment, he found himself at the Masters building nearly every day, slowly making his way through the different departments, exploring every nook and cranny of the place. He was exploring yet another previously undiscovered floor when he caught glimpse of a familiar face - it was that girl he met out on the street a couple of days ago after her less than glamorous fall. “Hey,” a big flirtatious smile immediately shot across his face, “Are you suggesting we fake our deaths and run away together? I’m in.”

His words elicited a chuckle from Adri’s mouth almost instantly, a mischievous grin curving at the outlines of her lips thereafter. There was something about Xavier that prompted the brunette to take an instant liking to him. His talent of perfect timing was most likely a contributing factor. The first time they crossed paths, he was saving Adri from her own stupidity and now he was providing a distraction from her current state of ennui.  “Oh, Romeo—” she drawled, unable to suppress a chuckle. “You read my mind. As much as I enjoy your company though, can you please preface our runaway fairytale by telling me it’s a total coincidence you’re here and not because you’re secretly Joe Goldberg?”

Despite being warned about someone waiting in his office, Chris was most definitely not expecting a girl with her feet kicked up on his desk, acting as though she owned the place. He was usually more than delighted to find girls in his office, but this wasn’t quite up to his liking. “A whole what?” his heart dropped to the pit of his stomach - why would she bring up faking your own death? Not that he had ever faked his own death, but still - why would she bring up faking your own death? “I mean, when has WikiHow ever failed us, right? Must be a good success rate, if it’s on there,” he chuckled, a bit too nervously for his comfort, “anyway - is there something I can help you with?”

“I know, right?” she responded enthusiastically, turning her phone round so Chris could catch a glimpse of the article. “Look, it’s only eleven steps long. That’s impressive as hell.” Adri noted his bout of nervous laughter. It prompted her eyes to narrow ever so slightly, highlighting her concern. She brushed it off though, not intending to read too much further into it. “The first rule of WikiHow is never trust WikiHow. I followed a guide on flirting once which almost got me a slap in the face. And I’ll have you know, I dodged said slap. Wish I recorded it because it was freakin’ badass. I mean, have you ever seen anyone dodging a slap? I should write a WikiHow on that.” Adri was almost out of breath after that anecdote. Inhaling for a brief moment, she tilted her head to the side. “I need a dose of sanity. You have no idea how many idiots I’ve encountered today. Masters really needs to update their vetting procedures.”

James weighed up her point, it was true that she’d be accused of sleeping with the clients the second she spoke to one of them but there were plenty of rumours already flying around the office and no one seemed to be particularly hurt by them. He thought that some people even seemed to be benefiting from the notoriety it gave them. “I think it’s brave of you to think it would take more than ten minutes for the rumours to start.” James kept his mind focused on his work and his work alone while he was in the office so when she spoke about the gossip being she was only there by daddy’s virtue he was a little surprised, he hadn’t gotten that vibe from here even if she had just been trying to scam a months paid vacation. “If it helps, I haven’t heard that you’re only here because of daddy’s connections? There’s a few people that come to mind when I think ‘how the hell do you work here’ but I wouldn’t have you near the top of it.” His comment was supposed to be reassuring but when paired with the fact he knew almost nothing about Adri it might have read as almost condescending. “I say this kindly, and with the upmost sincerity.” He looked her dead in the eye, smoothing his expression into one to match his serious tone. “If you come near me when I’m working to sing at me I will not hesitate to throw things at you.” His demeanour quickly changed back to a smile. “And, if you waste a good bottle of whisky by breaking it on my head I will never, ever forgive you. I think it would actually be classed as a Scottish hate crime and I wouldn’t want that on your record.”

Adri couldn’t help but let out a laugh at his statement. “That is true,” she acknowledged. “Ten seconds is more believable in this place.” Her eyes lit up when she processed what James had said aloud. “Well, that’s reassuring but you’re not exactly the type of person I’d expect to indulge in the gossip scene. Unless eavesdropping is your secret talent.” Not that Adri had ever caught wind of the gossip herself. But it was a thought constantly dwelling in her subconscious. For someone who seemed so willing to disregard other people’s perceptions of her, it sure did weigh on her mind—more than she would care to admit. She blamed it on her intuition. Her ability to guess someone’s innermost thoughts was both a blessing and a curse. For one, it worked wonders in countless social situations. However, the potential margin for error was often unparalleled due to the regretful fact she wasn’t psychic. “Oh wow. I doubt your boss would condone such behaviour.” Feigning shock at his words, it required every single shred of strength Adri possessed to stop her lips from easing back into a grin. “What a shame,” she stated sarcastically. “Screw the whisky. If anything should be classed as a Scottish hate crime, it’s wearing a kilt. Tradition or not, your ancestors’ fashion sense was truly awful.”

COCO: i’m sure the media will also love it! 😊

ADRI: oh yes i can see the headlines now

“i think twenty years of practice would beg to differ. though kung fu isn’t exactly my style. i find the spirituality aspect of most martial arts distracting from the point, i’d rather just get to hitting someone.” he smacked hard on the down arrow on his keyboard, skipping down a few lines to get to the source of another problem. “i’m absolutely delightful to be around. i make such an effort to be. perhaps i’ll find this guy and be delightful with him. right through a wall.” he stabbed down on the backspace key to eliminate a chunk of mis-written code. how long had this thing sat in their database waiting to be pushed to live? far too long. “to what do i owe the pleasure of your company today? more bad news like knowing this man is still alive and not even in jail?”

“Ouch,” she teased, a smirk finding its way onto her face. “I think if either of us end up making the dreaded trip to HR, it will most likely be you with those... violent tendencies. If that poor sucker ends up dead in a ditch, I’ll know exactly who to blame.” She narrowed her gaze as she examined Aiden’s actions. Her curiosity overpowered her better judgement as she soon found herself treading behind his desk. She folded her arms and rested them on his chair, her eyes trailing over the screeds of code on the monitor. “Just thought I’d satisfy your Adri withdrawals and brighten up your day at the same time. If only I’d known how content you’d be fondling your keyboard, I wouldn’t have bothered.”

“—Even if it doesn’t work you can just find me in the IT floor.” Lucy smiled at the other, giving her hand to shake. “Just say you’re looking for Lucy and I can help you out with the Monday blues.”

“That requires movement though,” she sighed dramatically in a joking manner. “Guess we’ll have to wait and see if my charm works on the head of my department.” Adri took hold of Lucy’s outstretched hand and gave it a gentle shake before loosening her grasp, allowing her arm to drop back down to her side. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Lucy. I’m Adri. Also known as the chick who can’t walk properly after twenty five years on this earth.”

𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐋𝐃𝐍'𝐓 𝐇𝐄𝐋𝐏 𝐁𝐔𝐓 𝐋𝐀𝐔𝐆𝐇, 𝐒𝐇𝐀𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐃. 𝐒𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐓𝐄𝐍𝐀𝐂𝐈𝐎𝐔𝐒. “ sounds like wall-e, ” he said, because if he was at the point where he was using virtual reality to get in his exercise then he couldn’t be too far off from being stuffed into a ship in space and squeezed into a red jumpsuit. he watched her, fascinated, as she reacted to his mention of the Christmas drinks at starbucks. “ well. at least you’re being honest about using me solely for my holiday drinks money, ” he had to give it to her. jude was very well aware that a lot of people were probably being fake friendly towards him in hopes his habit of getting people he liked food came out on them, but he wasn’t ever mad about it, really. “ he’s not little, ” jude shook his head, grinning with childish amusement, “ and he hates being called a pony. he’s huge. you’ll see him right as we leave. ”

“Oh, no, no, no—” she objected, her eyes widening. “Don’t speak of Wall-E. Think how long that poor little guy was all alone on earth, all because humankind are absolute savages. It was almost as heart-wrenching as Racing Stripes. I cried for hours when I was a kid. Still haven’t plucked up the courage to watch it since.” Slightly out of breath after her incoherent rambling, she took a deep breath in order to regain her composure. “I’d like to think being straight-up is one of my more attractive qualities. Might not work in my favor if I ever commit a crime though.” Her voice trailed off slightly as her mind wandered. God forbid the day Adri ever wound up in court. Now that would be a sight. “If you don’t think I’m going to start performing the My Little Pony theme song as soon as I see him, you’re sorely mistaken.”

“You say that as though it’s a bad thing,” he chuckled, not in the least offended by being compared to a superhero - one that was basically a super athlete at that. “I wouldn’t call them poor, for starters,” he rolled his eyes, only to hit her with that famous smolder of his the moment after, “what, you mean this bad boy? Please, even cold-hearted piranhas aren’t immune to this pretty face right here.”

Adri struggled to control her smile as it spread across her face. “Oooft,” she expressed, cooing in admiration at his facial expression. “You should be appointed Rolfe’s personal model just so he can look at your smolder all day long.” She paused for a moment, pondering in her thoughts. “—Wait, screw that. You can sit in my office all day instead. I’ve just gotta convince my boss it will boost my productivity. Should be a cakewalk if I blast out the charm.”

“Sounds rough” Lucy smiled apologetically, she was glad somewhat that lines of code weren’t as hectic as whatever other people did here. “I wish I could help you more, but I’m not sure of how much help I’d be.” 

A genuine smile formed on Adri’s face. “Having a conversation with someone who hasn’t made me want to tear my hair out was helpful enough. Honestly,” she emphasised that last word in a bid to showcase how truly grateful she was for Lucy’s actions. “I’m tempted to move your desk to my floor just so you can give me some sanity once in a while.”

“I definitely understand,” Kitley replied, remembering how long winded his mother could be and how often he dreaded picking up some of her phone calls– especially when he was busy. That’s usually when she ended up talking the longest, too. “I walk into them all the time,” He paused, thinking. Well, that didn’t make it sound any better. “I mean– um– Usually I run into the doors instead of smacking other people with them,” Not much better, Kitley, come on. Foot in mouth syndrome much? He shook his head a little, opening his mouth to speak again. “I mean– uhh… I don’t know if it’s possible, but it  certainly feels like it sometimes. I’m Kitley, by the way,”

“Some people never know when to shut up. It’s baffling.” Those words were slightly hypocritical on her part, especially since talking was practically one of her favorite pastimes.  “I’m Adri,” she responded. “You work in the art department, right?” One thing Adri prided herself on was her high level of perception and impressive memory. “I’ve seen you around. My friend works on the same floor which is where I spend a regretful amount of time trying to hunt them down during my breaks. So if you’ve ever seen me acting stalkerish, that’ll be why. Not just a creep, I promise.”