Vic Mulciber (fromdefeat) wrote in disorderic, @ 2017-10-06 13:44:00 |
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As a Death Eater, Vic wasn’t great at large gestures. Her big ideas were often weighed down by details, convoluted and difficult because Victoria Mulciber was far too emotional and impulsive for measured and simplistic. Easy. It was another fault reflected back at Vic with her mother’s every thin lipped ‘hmmm.’ She had no subtlety and was a painfully bad actress. What she was, however, was self aware. Manipulation didn’t have to be charming. It just had to be convincing and self-serving. Vic was accomplished at self-serving. So Vic scowled as she always did, rolled her eyes when the admin at the DMLE stuttered directions to Chelsea Corner’s desk, and breezed into the room with all the annoyed disdain she possessed. Chelsea knew her through Briony well enough. She would expect nothing less. “Corner,” Vic cleared her throat, awkwardly crossing her arms over her chest. “A word?” Chelsea looked up, startled out of her work by the voice that called her name. Of all the people she expected to see, Victoria Mulciber was one of the last. She wasn't sure if she even ranked on her list of people; they had never gotten along very well, but most of all, they barely ran into each other. She couldn't imagine why she was here. She held back a frown and pushed aside her papers. "Over what?" she asked. Vic did her best to look uncomfortable being there, which she was, and risked a casual look around the office as if whatever she was about to say was better said in private. “I need to speak to you about your Dad.” Almost immediately, Chelsea's back straightened and her mind jumped to ten thousand conclusions at once. Her dad wasn't a troublemaker. He stuck to a routine, even moreso since her aunt and grandparents had fled town, and kept his head down. She loved her dad, but he was boring and liked to keep it that way. "What happened?" She tried to keep her voice calm, but there was a hint of panic towards the end. "Is something wrong? Is he okay?" “Relax, he’s not de —” Nope, dial it down, not helpful. Vic stopped shortly and inhaled deeply. Try again. “Listen, I don’t particularly like you. You’re like sunshine and other irritatingly peppy things. But your Dad was a good manager when I first joined, he was nice to me when I could be a bit of a cow, and patient when I was trying to learn everything.” All true, except for the part where she felt like she owed him anything, or cared. “Which is why I’m coming to you. He’s been making mistakes,” she said seriously. “A lot of mistakes, and I don’t want to see him get reprimanded or worse just because he’s clearly going through something.” "I'm sorry," Chelsea said, confused. "What kind of mistakes?" “He’s been forgetful. He’s missed meetings, missed deadlines for important debriefs,” because Vic had changed his schedule. “He lost paperwork on important floo connections,” because Vic had taken them, “and then he mixed up the locations of two other connections. Connections right in the heart of muggle London. That could have been dangerous for us.” Vic shook her head. “He seems so distracted. He mostly talks about you and your brother actually, and he clearly doesn't trust the DMLE. He never says anything to me, but I hear him talk to the others.” But that didn't make sense. Her dad was meticulous to a fault — he kept a detailed calendar, he kept track of his things, he had never even been written up for anything before. The only time he'd deviated from this pattern was when her mother had died — Chelsea shook her head. "What does he say? Has it been a while? He hasn't said anything about being stressed or distracted!" “I’ve noticed it for the past few weeks, sometime around all the DMLE’s changes,” Vic said dismissively. “But I’m not sure how long it’s actually been going on for. He’s always on top of things Corner, which is why a few of us are worried.” Vic shifted her crossed arms, drawing them tighter against her stomach. “He talks about Hogwarts a lot, which is nothing new, we’re always talking about the bloody floos at Hogwarts. But he seems a lot more concerned about how safe it is. If it’s safe for…” fuck what was his name? “Michael.” Chelsea tensed; if possible, her back straightened even more. She only just stopped herself from wringing her hands together, and in the process, one hand went to her hair, tucking some behind her ear while the other fell uselessly onto her desk. The quiet noise it made sounded loud to her. "He… he says that?" The last time she'd tried to talk to her dad about Michael, he'd told her not to worry because it was Hogwarts, because it was better than being here, where anything could happen. He must've not wanted her to worry. There was a part of Chelsea that wanted to ask Vic more questions about what she'd heard, but she didn't want it to make whatever was happening with her dad more serious than it already sounded. It was best to fix things before they got worse. "I'll talk to him," she said, hurriedly. "It's just been a stressful time lately, I guess, and I'm sure other people have been having problems too — not that anyone in the department is, or like, you, or anything…" Chelsea tried to smile and only managed a weak grimace. "There won't be anymore trouble, I promise." Vic looked dubious, studying Chelsea as if weighing the sincerity of the words. “You’re right,” she said with a shrug; it was best not to make things too suspicious by singling Corner out further. “It has been stressful, I guess we’ve all been a little tense. Not me of course, but others.” Vic gave a curt nod. “Alright well, good. I meant it, your Dad is one of the best in our Department. I know the Ministry has been more...hands on than it’s been before, and I didn’t want something like this to….fuck it,” Vic exhaled shortly. “You get it. This has been incredibly uncomfortable and I hope that we never have to talk to one another again. If you could also keep it to yourself that I even came over here to tell you all that, that’d be great.” She cleared her throat as if embarrassed by her concern. “I have a reputation to protect.” "I — oh, right." There was an awkward moment where she stood up, intending on doing something, but then realizing that a hug would be too much and a handshake would be weird. In the end, she did nothing but stand there with a grateful smile. "Thanks for talking to me about it though. I really, really appreciate it." Vic looked pained, the momentary horror that flashed through her eyes when Chelsea stood up had probably been obvious. “Sure. I just hope your Dad starts feeling more like his old self. Feels better, I mean.” Without much of a proper goodbye, Vic turned on her heel and stalked out of the Department in the same annoyed manner she’d come in. She waited until she was safely in the elevator before she rolled her eyes. Merlin, Chelsea Corner was unbearably nice. What a fool. But what was the harm in letting her try to fix her Father’s little mistakes, he would remain as confused and anxious about his supposed actions as he had for the past week, and their immediate supervisors as perplexed, concerned, and increasingly annoyed. And in a few days, they would be far more than that when it was discovered that out of fear for his children and mistrust for the Ministry, Callum Corner opened an unauthorized floo in the DMLE breakroom. Vic smiled at the thought and wondered if she might have some skill in acting after all. |