Dante Lot (unseen_miami) wrote in olympian_rewind, @ 2009-12-04 19:45:00 |
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Entry tags: | children, dante lot, hades, npc |
Who: Dante (with Julie & Employees, along with children)
What: Happy Festivus
Where: His office
When: Dec 1, 2009. Around 9:30 AM
Warnings: none besides a huge Seinfeld reference throughout.
It was 9:30 AM.
It was 9:30 AM at the US branch office of Call Up Consultation and two of the three paid employees were in.
It wouldn’t be a problem if Dante wasn’t waiting for the third. He sat on the top of the pool table that dominated the main office just outside his private one, fixing the cuffs of his suit jacket that barely obscured the Manchester United t-shirt beneath it.
Raven, one of the two employees present, after a long period of relative silence only broken by the mewing sounds of his toddler sons discussing in their own way whatever was their topic today, spoke up, “She must be stuck in traffic. This isn’t like her.”
“Nah, she’s banking on me not strolling in until at least ten.” Idly, Dante glanced at his daughter walking across the green felt of the table, putting the balls into each pocket by hand.
It was time for the other employee, Odofeck, an incredibly imposing African-American man… or would be if he wasn’t wearing an Invader Zim shirt this morning, to speak up in their absent comrade’s defense, “Boss, that would be –“
“Incredibly clever? Agreed.” Dante interrupted, hefting his little girl up and depositing her to the floor when she had finished clearing the table, “Know I would., but her horrible habit of not paying attention to dates got her this –“ His words broke off as the door opened and the redhead strolled on in, stopping dead at the sight before her. “Oh. Glad you decided to join us today, Julie. And only thirty-two minutes late.”
The other two employees made themselves scarce at their desks. There was nothing they could do now and Dante’s tone had been almost clinically cold. But whatever had driven them off only bought Julie closer, pulling off her wind breaker with a smile, “Yer one to talk, mate. When was the last time ya saw the office clock with its hands on a nine?”
“Thirty-two…” Dante pulled out his pocket watch. Bless his pocket watch; it was perfect for dramatic effect, “Thirty-three minutes ago, lass.” He then pushed off the table with ease, dusting himself off as he did so.
“Why?” Julie looked over at her desk and shook her head. The calendar was tastefully left on November 25th. “What day is it? What special day did I forget now?”
“It’s the first of December.”
Julie lit up a little and began to look around. Dante easily held back the smile at the sight just as easily as he ignored the other two employees relaxing more and more as the moments passed. The redhead then turned to him fully, “Where is it?”
Dante merely motioned over his shoulder at the empty Christmas tree stand and a ten foot aluminum pole. “Tradition is tradition and for the last couple of years, I’ve been bad about it so off you go.”
The young woman continued to smile as she picked up the plain aluminum pole and put it in the Christmas tree stand. “Twenty-two more days until…” she paused as her hand accidentally smoothed over a very minor dent in the pole. Curiously, she turned it around only to find a faint discolored patch and it made her stare over her shoulder back at him, “Is this the Festivus pole from Manchester?”
He nodded a little, bridging the gap between them, amused at her surprise and her continued smile. As the months and years of this life continued on, he grew more and more accustomed to the ability to make someone happy and yet it never lost its novel feel, “Yeah. Had Jonathan ship it over. Makes it feel more like home.”
“Sentimentality didn’t force the homey feeling the last two years. Getting mushy in yer old age? Shouldn’t ya have gotten a reprieve on that considering that scandal?” Julie lightly half questioned/half teased, joining him now in ignoring her paid comrades at their desks completely.
The other two were unimportant right now. Let them observe a conversation and a moment that more often happened in his private office. “The concept of home means more to me now, I guess.”
Clearly, the response made her snicker lightly, “And yet, you bring it to your office…” Her smile then fell a bit, “Yer not livin –“
“No.” It was a quick, blunt correction. Dante couldn’t blame her for her assumption though. Not one bit. He had lived in this office one too many times since coming to Miami. He had had one too many downward spirals since reaching the American coast. It was a rational conclusion for the young woman based on past precedent. It made him frown a little is silent dismay. At least the others in his life who had to endure him understood, for the most part, all the downturns. This woman had to endure them in partial ignorance. It didn’t quite seem fair, but that was what this was for. “Home is more than a house or things in it. It’s the people and memories. That pole means nothing to anyone outside of this room…”
“This is your warning,” the redhead said softly and Dante made a point to brace himself just in time for her to throw her arms around him in a hug. It was brief, but it was enough for Raven and Odofeck to exchange glances. Dante Lot was not a hug-y man, unless the hug was coming from his children.
But he didn’t protest it. After all, he had been warned. “Wish I didn’t say this so much to so many people, but you put up with enough of my nonsense. Might as well pretend to be a decent thoughtful human being in gratitude.” That sentence amused him more than it probably should have. It even made him crack a smile as he gave the redhead a brief half-hug in return, “Have a Happy Festivus this year.”
And then he turned away, checking off his good deed for the day, only to then clap his hands to get his children’s attention/snap his other employees out of their blatant eavesdropping. “C’mon, children, back to my office. These employees have to at least feign work if they expect me to pay for a week’s vacation for the lot of them.”
The children followed behind their father and his purposely heavy footsteps as he returned to his private little sanctuary. He was done here for now. All he done in the last year was confuse, confound and concern his poor assistant, but now maybe he had made up for a little bit of it and given her a pleasant start to the Festivus season.
And he was suddenly, doubly glad that he could weasel out of being subject to her Airing of Grievances.
As he shut the door behind him, allowing his employees to talk amongst themselves freely, he glanced down to his children staring up at him, surrounding him. They were curious little ones, bright eyed and wondering what all that was about. Dante shrugged, “Suppose yer all old enough to be taught about the holiday of Festivus. It’s on December 23 and is a holiday for the rest of us…”
Summary: Dante wanted to share a holiday tradition with Julie like they did in Manchester, England, but due to her lateness he was made to wait.