ofelia zhou deals in secrets. (consultancy) wrote in emillion, @ 2013-11-13 22:37:00 |
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She didn’t know what to do. And that was a very rare sensation indeed for Ofelia Zhou. The knock at the door broke her from her stunned and confused reverie, prompting the woman to wade her way towards the office entrance with the ocean of puppies winding around her legs. (Through the frosted glass, Azalea could hear the faint sound of barks and yipping.) Nudging them back with one booted foot, Fee managed to crack the door open an inch. “Oh, good,” she said, “you’re here. Help.” Her face was pressed into the crack while a writhing mass of bodies moved at their ankles. The machinist did not bother to suppress an amused laugh. Motioning for Fee to step back, Lea slipped through the sliver of space with a dancer’s ease. As she shut the door behind her, an eager puppy began to paw at her leg. Not particularly fond of animals, Lea raised her eyebrows at the creature—and its eleven siblings. “Ajora, you weren’t kidding.” “I’ve been narrowing down the list of suspects.” Fee tried to swim her way back across the room, but each step meant more dogs piling onto her shoes, chewing on her laces, draping themselves over her insoles. “Must’ve been someone with intimate access to this office, which is not many, but more than recognise my apartment. Both you and Phi are on the list, naturally.” She plucked up one of the more troublesome puppies, sweeping it into her arms as she finally made it to her chair, settling onto it with a grateful sigh. The small dog started licking her hand, and Ofelia absently patted its head. “There’s no such thing as assassination by puppies, is there?” “I could imagine a couple ways.” The machinist settled herself comfortably on the seat across from her friend’s. In spite of her earlier sentiment, Lea reached down to scratch one of the puppies behind the ear. The pup yawned then, so fetchingly that the woman could not keep from picking it up and setting it on her lap. “You’ll have to scratch me off the list of suspects,” Lea continued good-naturedly. “Not a dog—or anything furry, for that matter—person at all. Who else is on the list?” A beat. “And what do you plan to do with them?” “Possibly mutually-assured destruction by same method. Bombard them with canines. Haven’t made up my mind, though.” Fee’s legs drew up onto the chair, folding themselves beneath her. She couldn’t sit in this position quite so easily anymore (not for the last fifteen years, at least), but it would do for now. “The rest of the usual suspects include Audrey, Mag – she’s a frontrunner for pure mischief – or Kiernan, Foxe, Lavitz – he has a dog – or Fumi or possibly Cian.” Then, as if she’d realised the length of the list she’d rattled off, Ofelia’s nose wrinkled. “Clearly I’ve let myself slip. That’s far too many people. I should abandon the office, go underground.” “Hm,” Lea said. “Not Fumi or Cian or Lavitz, wouldn’t get you mongrels. Too much declassé, not enough ‘noble’ or ‘crimelord’. Foxe, now, he’ll probably save the surprise for elsewhere.” She waggled her eyebrows suggestively. Fee winced. “Audrey, Mag, Kiernan—much more doable,” Lea went on. “And let’s be honest, honey, Mag and Kiernan? Probably too busy with each other.” The other woman laughed then, the movement jostling the puppy from her lap – it disengaged itself with a wriggle, dropping to the floor clumsily and facefirst. “Alright, good point. And in all honesty, we both know she was the prime suspect to begin with. She has the most experience with my office, she’s seen where I keep the spare keys, she’s also a dog person, and she presumably has the connections and money to arrange the acquisition of twelve puppies. I’ll have to figure out what to do with my apprentice.” And just like that, the list had been carved down to size. The two of them tended to strategise like this, turning their heads to each others’ professional problems, whittling down issues until all that was left was a solution. Azalea and Ofelia’s system had worked for twenty years, so why fix what wasn’t broken? “Case closed!” the machinist chirped. At her feet, the puppies yipped delightedly. “How does the EKP go on without us?” “A mystery to us all,” Fee said. Another puppy was attempting to paw its way up Azalea’s pants. With an exaggerated sigh, she expedited its journey. A bemused glance was cast down at her lap: and now there were two. “You’re not keeping them, are you? As far as I recall, cat and dogs do not a combination make.” “Part of me does genuinely wish I could, but.” Perched in her chair, Ofelia watched the room like a queen surveying her domain—and her kingdom was currently completely overrun, teeming and seething with small dogs. “Dogs are lovely, I enjoy playing with the ones belonging to friends. But they’re needy. Dependent. And like you’ve pointed out, not entirely compatible with an irascible cat at home. They’ll have to go back to whichever shelter they came from, of course.” She looked down at the floor, a little sadly. The silence stretched out between them, punctuated only by the yips and half-barks. The women exchanged a glance. “—but then again. We don’t have to send them back immediately,” Ofelia conceded. Shoes were removed from their feet and tossed in the corner, jackets draped over the back of the chair. The gambler and the machinist soon set up camp in the middle of the floor, the thought of elegant birthday cocktails swiftly forgotten as they sat with crossed legs, puppies clambering over their knees, laughing as the dogs licked Azalea’s chin and chewed on Ofelia’s sleeves. |