InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "oops!"

daughter2 (daughter2) wrote in jh_corporation,
@ 2008-03-07 23:08:00

A quick lesson in how to love (John)
Of all the Kings and Important men
Never did they touch my heart
as deeply as my
Holly sat in the big chair in her fathers office. And prim she was. She sat with her feet flat on the floor, her hands were folded in her lap, and she sat waiting for her father to make an appearance. He was running late. That usually happened. Maybe she should have picked up a magazine or brought along a book but she hadn’t and now she was doomed to sit and stare at the various things in John’s office.

It was immaculately kept. The decorations weren’t many but they were well made. There were pictures of her. Things she recognized as having made when she was younger. His office was decidedly manly. She couldn’t understand why she fancied being here. There wasn’t anything that would have usually affected her interest. It was probably because it was his and his alone that made this little sanctuary so comfortable.

John She thought his name. But it didn’t have the same effect as saying it. The jah sound was what made that name particularly lovely she surmised. “Jah-ohn” she said softly. “John” She repeated. “John Evans” Now she thought about her name. Holly “Hah-lee” She wondered what it was about her name that made her parents choose it. “John Evans and his daughter Holly” She didn’t think about her mothers name at all. It didn’t even pass through her thoughts. Even if her mothers first name was her middle name- it didn’t matter. For Holly there was only her father. The one person she felt most attached to. The only person she had ever “loved”

Sparks. Security. Her mind wondered to him when she was in a serious state of being. Thought mechanics related with his familiarity and brought together his face most often in her memories. John Evans was Holly’s maker in more ways than one. He was her savior in all ways. He was her daddy.

And there he was. He passed through the thresh hold, his handsome face made her smile instantly and she popped up on her feet in celebration. Of course there was her instant sputtering of , “Max!?” She couldn’t help it. “you should have told me.” both hands went to her hips in mock anger but she wasn’t really upset that Max was now her body guard. She was happy not to have a stodgy old companion following her around. But still! He should have said something about it.

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ceo
2008-03-10 05:45 pm UTC (link)

Late? Never. Time was a vast and unrelenting illusion. Imposed and created by men to control, persist and make men like John 'late'. Forever. And anytime it'd seem as if he were actually ON time, instead of beside it or underneath, it'd wriggle free by the slippery nature of it's oily skin and flail it's arms, cackle, naked and crazy. It's never cause his tie to not be perfection. Purple and yellow and bright and picked out by Holly. The dark blue of his suit the envy of a starless sky to match, was freshly laundered and smelled like the lace of a steampunk's midnight invention. A manly smell, a tasteful smell. A smell of mechanics, ideas, and futuristic faery tales.

Her voice was small and familiar, musicial but did not echo as it should in some empty corners. It made his ears feel content and full. John looked to an invisible watch and ignored what she'd said, saying in place of explaining. "Am I late?"

John stopped a few paces in front of her, furrowing his brow toward his desk; Cassandra had put down his apple fritter and black French Roast. Well, he must've been late then... oh well.

"I wanted to surprise you." he'd said, turning back to her. He found her eyes and grinned softly. "In a way that didn't involve Disneyworld. I'm getting too old for that." John opened his arms and broke the distance between them, tenderly bringing her nearer to him with the embrace he'd wrapped around her.

"And so are you. Besides, you like him right? He's a nice kid?"

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daughter2
2008-03-10 07:32 pm UTC (link)

She wrapped her arms around and did so tightly so her hands clasped behind him and her arms completely circled his waist. She snuggled her cheek to his chest and breathed in deeply, felt the warmth of his skin through his shirt, heard his heart beat running tick tock before she let him go and looked up and smiled. "Max is very nice." She agreed and finally let go of him. "He's sort of shy. I think he's scared of me." She admitted.

Then Holly fidgeted slightly. She had to wonder if Max had given John a full report of their exploits. Not that their exploits had run too wild. He did everything he could to steer her away from letting her get into an out of hand situation. Letting Her She wanted to scoff! She knew it was all for her own protection but she shouldn't need protection. She shouldn't need to be followed or trailed or watched over. And more than that! If she had a target on her back, what about her father? What would she do if she lost him? What would happen to the company? What would happen to her?

The older she got the heavier the burden of knowing how many people hated her father. How could they hate him? Nothing he did was evil. Nothing he did should demand condemnation! How dare they hate him! Why wasn't she angrier about this?

"Will I need a body guard forever? I'll never be too old for a Guard right daddy?" She moved away from him, picked up a metal sculpture of a spider made of wire. She held it up to him, lifted an eyebrow and shook her head softly. It was her way of saying, What is this? Why do you have this? This is horrible. Spider </a>

"What if Max is killed?" Her other body guard was. What if she got attached to Max and then suddenly he was dead and gone because of her. How could she handle that? Then what? She'd get a replacement. It scared her.

She set the spider back down with a click clack of metal on wood. "I don't want to like my body guard. The problem IS that Max is nice. " She pouted slightly, her arms crossing over her chest, "Why couldn't you have hired some prick with a bloated sense of loyalty?" She sighed.

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ceo
2008-03-11 01:41 am UTC (link)

While she toyed with his decorations, he watched and examined the way she spoke to him. Listened to her questions and concerns. The way that she held the spider in her small hands, the way she'd stared up at him. Even the way that she made her expressions convey messages the way an ingenue does in a film noir. She had grown up to be such a lovely young woman. In some ways her hair was as impeccable as her mothers, as smooth and immaculate and well-kept. And in other more subtle ways, he feared the waves and curls at the ends and at times the nape of her neck, was something that she'd inherited from him. Though he rarely wore his hair long, washing it almost always gave it a kink, made it an ever-evolving mass of messes.

At the moment it was only half-heartedly styled, dry and professional looking enough to pass for sane.

"Your lack of faith is disturbing." he'd said in his own voice, though he'd done his best to express that darkness Darth Vadar had by only whimsy. "Holly," he sighed finally, brushing his fingers through his hair. He didn't want Max's life on his already full-to-the-brim guilty conscious. He didn't want to imagine anything bad could happen to him, at all. In fact, he hadn't even considered it as an option in the multiple choice of Murphy's Law until his dearest mentioned it just now.

John leaned back against the front of his desk and folded his arms over his waist. Body language for conviction and a faint defensiveness. He didn't want to argue his judgement with her, but he also didn't want to encourage any attachments. Sparing her pain whether emotional or physical was obviously his main goals.

"It's only for your protection. And I think Max has enough loyalty. I think he has a lot of potential. I chose him for many reasons. The largest, obviously, being he is a good fit for your personality. I don't want someone that would constantly irritate you to be the one walking you around, since I'd be the one hearing about it. But next time I'll be sure to consider a prick, since we all know pricks love a sense of humor like yours."

He paused, a ghostly sensation in his fingertips calling him like a siren's song to the apple fritter caused them to twitch. It beckoned with it's glazed goodness, and his hand half-danced to scoop it up.

"He won't die."

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daughter2
2008-03-11 03:27 am UTC (link)

Star Wars. He was forever stuck on Star Wars. But she appreciated that he was trying to lighten up the mood. You know...since it was a light hearted conversation about death and dying.

"If you have to protect me everywhere but outside ourselves then at least be honest with me daddy." If he wasn't going to die then why did she need someone at all? If everything was rosie sweet then why was it her father was constantly worried about her.”You’re the one person I trust more than any body else. I know you want to believe that I am oblivious to the ways of the world but….” she knew that he would rather her stay a child forever. It was easier when she wasn’t privy to the horrible thoughts people had for him (not all surely, but many). And she liked him hopeful and happy.

And he looked like that now as he eyed his fritter and got his hands sticky while living out his gooey chewie fantasy. “We should go to Disney World. You could use a break…We should go somewhere.” It didn’t occur to Holly that most girls her age would hate to go on a vacation with their fathers. Never mind suggest it.

Maybe she could get Max to quit. Then the problem would be solved…

course she didn’t say this out loud.

You loook handsome today.” She told him with a grin now that the glaze had made a crusty clown sugar smile around his lips. She was instantly by his side to scoop the napkin off his desk. She dabbed at his face and then handed him the white cloth. “You wear yourfritter well.”

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ceo
2008-03-11 06:35 pm UTC (link)

The fritter was set down on it's blue paper napkin with purple, flowery depictions of far away places, yellow butterflies and winged women. The coffee called to him in a seductive voice, but he ignored it's sour charms. He also was sure to take in the full measure of her angelic face while she was close. Handsome? He scoffed as if she'd called him a brute instead of a hero, the way an adventurer would in the face of a deity that promised shield that could tame a monster who turned men into stone with only a glance.

There was a snow globe at the corner of his desk. A settled, metalic haze of a Gotham-like New York City during Winter time. As she spoke, he imagined miniature people walking down those microscopic streets. Tiny dots as black ants - as far away and out of sight as the ones he could see right out of his window when he stared long and hard enough. Trust? Issues of trust. Issues he'd rather do without; issues a consistent portion of his lifestyle. Trust was thing a creature as him relied heavily upon, and his inwards crumbled when she brought it up only, because she was probably the one thing on this Earth he'd prefer only to fully give his trust to.

His index glided across the polish glass top of the globe. "Disneyworld - haven't you been there enough times?" he'd asked, tapping the glass to produce an almost hollow sound. The water wafted snowy flakes across the bottom of the gray painted street enclosed within the circle.

"I'd love to take a vacation with you, sweetie, but there's some stuff I've gotta handle here before I can take off. As much as it's what I'd prefer to business any day, if I don't solve this problem there'll be more, and more until there's a mountain of 'em. And I never was much of a climber."

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daughter2
2008-03-13 10:32 pm UTC (link)

Holly stood there, close to him, waiting for him to take the napkin but when he didn’t she set it back down on his desk. It was then covered by his pastry delight and she crossed her arms back over her chest in a posture that was mothering as much as it was daughterly, ”No.” She said stubbornly, “Since when have I ever had too much of a good thing. “ Disney World was fun. It had rides and food and it was clean and people in costumes came out and signed autographs and danced jigs. Sure. They’d been to London and France and saw peoples underpants. But Disney world had London AND France at the world pavilion. And you couldn’t ride the Maelstrom in London…or Test Track…and then jump a monorail ove rto the Magic Kingdom and go down Splash Mountain. But, she’d just about take anywhere other than this grey tinged winter laden city. Palm Trees and drinks with umbrellas sounded delicious. It was freezing here. She wanted bathing suit weather.

And she wasn’t blind. She could see the crinkle in his forehead become deeper and deeper as stress after stress was slung up across his shoulders. If there was one thing she had learned about big business it was that none of it was easy. He was responsible for worlds of people, their families, their well being. And she loved him for being worried about it all. But really. If you didn’t find time for yourself you were useless to the ones that depended on you.

“If it isn’t this problem it’s another. We go through this every time Daddy.” She scolded. He needed someone to bring him back sometimes. She liked to think she was the one person that could- from time to time. “Well…if you won’t take me to the castles of Romania or a safari in Africa then you can set aside some individual attention for me this weekend. You can buy me a bucket of popcorn at a movie and dinner at the Russian Tea Room “ She grinned, “and that’s final.” She sage nodded and scooped up his fritter for a bite. A HUGE bite. It was amazing how she could get that much fritter in her mouth at once, chew it and then swallow it. All of which she did with a stifled cackle.

Now she turned his attention to the prank she had played this morning in the lobby. “ I put a faux dog poop by Henry’s station this morning. Henry was the front desk security. She’d heard him complain about how them “rich bitches” never bent over and cleaned up after their dogs. Of course he didn’t mean her. She hoped. She always cleaned up after Vincent!! ” I think he was going to have a coronary. He stared at it for a whole minute.” Then she hiccupped with laughter, “and then do you know what he did! He didn’t even pick it up. He called down PHIL. The poor kid. “ Phil was one of the Janitors in the building. A scrawny guy with thick glasses. His pants were always falling down because he was so skinny none of the belts he bought had enough notches.

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ceo
2008-03-14 08:09 pm UTC (link)

As a father to a girl who never broke his heart with foul behavior or the vicious words of some unwarranted ire all women are capable of, that cut as much as they cured, his heart broke. It was already broke years ago. She broke his heart in moments that yielded him the opportunity to see through her, and what she said. When it was apparent as a black fly in cherry koolaid that she was innocent, acquitted of any blame in the world. When it all came into focus that she deserved every whimsy he could manage, or a bright pink genetically engineered unicorn if she so fancied.

It was invisible, how his heart broke. Just a little shard off the mirror of his soul, and fell into the garbage at the bottom of his stomach. It was a weighty burden to love somebody so much. How he could put that into words to convince her that Max was and appropriate measure was alien to him.

The mention of the Russian Tea Room made his cheeks just slightly shade a Russian Red. Why? It warmed him to think of tea and think of that place. It also humored she'd mentioned Africa and Romania. Where others longed to see places boring and typical as any european island, Holly wanted something exotic and exciting underneath her adventurous feet.

Like her mother always did.

He nodded and agreed with her, grinning at her cleverness.

The entirety of the prank story was spent stifling his laughter. Really, he should not be condoning such behavior. But wasn't everyone a little secretly delighted that Holly brought them laughter in a weary, weary desk job? She was the muse of comedy in the bleak area of humdrum.

"Did you watch the whole thing?" he asked, "What'd Phil do when he came down?"

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