Topic: Comeuppance

Ali al Amat

Date: 2009-01-26 23:46 EST
Ali got the news at nine from the humanoid resources department that the transfer had finally gone through. He instructed them not to let her know for whom she'd be working, merely that the offer was being made. He was cheerful right through the next hour, and hovered around his office, waiting for her. It wasn't often that he was able to deliver to someone their just deserts, profit handsomely in the process, and win that person's loyalty all at once. Though she'd never info-dumped him as badly as she had on his first day, she'd teased him at every opportunity, seeming indifferent to his charm and uncaring of his position within the hospital. He liked her. Therefore, he'd have her working for him, and that was that.

Two hours later, his waiting paid off. He heard a high-pitched squeal from the smaller office next door. "Okay, I get that I've got this mystery transfer option, but you haven't...oh my God, are you kidding me"! This is mine" This is my office" Shut up! Are you lying" You're lying!" Lorelei Ashcroft, his nemesis from the reception desk, squeaked. He could almost hear her spinning in place, trying to take it all in at once. He got to his feet and walked to the door separating both their offices, timing the opening of the door for the perfect moment:

"Okay, okay, I really have to think about this," she was saying, "Oh, God, I want this so bad, but you haven't told me who I'd...be..." Her big blue eyes fixed on his smiling face as the door swung open. "Oh. Oh, no."

"Oh, yes," Ali said, the pleasant smile becoming an outright grin. He folded his arms, leaned against the doorway, and waited for the fireworks to begin. She didn't disappoint him.

"No. No, no no no no no." She spun around to face the HR minion, who was looking a tad surprised at Lorelei's instant denial. She pointed an accusing finger at Ali. "He's bribing me! This is bribery! I demand to see a lawyer!" The minion began to visibly panic.

"I'll take this from here, thank you so much," he told the minion. After the man left, Ali continued, "You told me that there was no way you were going to assist me every day. I just wanted to prove you wrong. Isn't this a fine office" Have they mentioned the pay raise?"

Lorelei's expression wavered between doubt and avarice. "Pay raise" How much?"

"Fifty percent."

Avarice won. "Okay. Okay." She looked around the office one more time, and nodded. "Okay. There is no freaking way I'm calling you Mr. Al-Amat. And you have to take me to lunch. Today. I like sushi."

"Of course."

Ali al Amat

Date: 2009-02-19 15:29 EST
It wasn't until two weeks after her promotion to administrative assistant that Ali learned why Lorelei was so immune to his charm.

It was becoming easier between them, the sharper edges fading into a comfortably teasing byplay. Her mind was astonishingly quick, he was discovering, leaping from one subject to another such that he had to work, sometimes, to keep up with her. She moved and carried her tiny self like a bird, all swift darting movements, her hands always moving to emphasize whatever it was she was talking about. Her eyes, he'd realized at some point, were irised in starbursts, from a near-white at the pupil, rayed outward through changing shades of blue to nearly black at the rim. Her hair was always braided, sometimes simply, sometimes in elaborate crowns that must have taken hours. She was fond of catty little business suits and heels.

She ate like a bloody horse. She'd demanded weekly sushi outings as part of her acceptance of the position. The tiny sushi bar crammed into an equally tiny space downtown was always packed, but neither of them minded. His sushi bill, between the two of them, was staggering.

"So, okay, have I told you about Bruno?" she was saying, jabbing her chopsticks at nothing in the air. They'd run a little late before lunch this time; the dull roar of the office crowd was fading, and he had no trouble hearing her.

"No, who's Bruno?"

"Bruno! My baby!" she beamed. Before he could ask how many children she had, she continued, "My honey darling pookie pie!"

Well. That answered that question. Cautiously, he asked, "Pookie pie?"

"Yes!" There was more general glowing happiness, and a grand sweep of chopsticks across the table that nearly beheaded the chrysanthemum nodding in its miniscule vase. "We've been together for six months now, and I think he's the one! We're going to talk to Doctor Valkonan after the wedding, because we really want to make some babies, see, but I don't know how easy it's going to be, because he's, um."

"Um?"

"Yeah, so, I'm an elf, right?"

Still treading cautiously, Ali replied, "That had been my assumption, yes."

"Okay, well, he's a troll."

"A troll?"

"A bridge troll!" Lorelei announced.

It transpired that Bruno was not merely a bridge troll; he had recently been elected the head of the Local 707.

"Local what, now?"

Nearly bursting with pride, she explained that her pookie pie had helped to organize a local chapter of the Interdimensional Brotherhood of Toll Collectors, and now was the chapter's president. Not only that, (here Lorelei clasped her chopsticks to her breast, apparently to keep from exploding with joy) but he was in training to take over the toll collection and maintenance of the bridge on Main, the one that spanned the river into Rhydin's downtown.

"Yes, well, good luck to you both," he managed semi-gracefully. "I hope to meet him someday. He's surely fortunate to have you."

"Oh, jeez, Boss, you have to meet him! We'll do dinner sometime, okay?"

He escaped to the men's before his watering eyes gave him away. Hours later he was still chuckling at it. Only in Rhydin...