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thatdarncat ([info]thatdarncat) wrote in [info]silverage,
@ 2011-07-30 17:53:00

Previous Entry  Add to memories!  Tell a Friend!  Next Entry
Entry tags:!log, lily evans, selina kyle

Who: Selina Kyle and Lily Evans
When: Morning of Lily's first day
Where: Sterling-Cooper secretarial pool
What: Selina shows Lily the ropes
Rating/status: PG - some suggestive themes / Completed



All the girls in the pool thought that she was just a raging alcoholic. It was a fair assumption to make, Selina would grant them. She came in late near every day, usually banged up and exhausted. She made no efforts to correct them. Better that they assume she was hitting the bottle rather than what she was ACTUALLY doing those long nights. The excuses really wrote themselves.

Still, the girls all wondered how she could afford her habit and such fabulous jewelry. They figured she had some Wall Street cat wrapped around her finger. That was equally plausible.

So Selina, needless to say, didn't often interact with her fellow secretaries. Joan tolerated her, seeing her as above the chirping, giggling masses. And Selina was always a fantastic source of gossip, able to predict which ad executives were cheating on their wives, which ones weren't. Which were headed for divorce, which were merely headed for an extended vacation to Hawaii to repair their damaged marriages. And the jewelry, of course.

So she was surprised and a little annoyed when Joan, in a fit of some kind of passive aggression that Selina had yet to find the reasoning behind, informed her that she would be showing the new secretary around the office.

"And then we can talk about making you a personal secretary, Miss Kyle,"

So this promotion hanging over her head, Selina crossed the room to shake hands with the (incredibly skinny) redhead before her.

"Miss Evans? It's nice to meet you. I'm Selina Kyle,"


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[info]thatdarncat
2011-07-31 12:24 am UTC (link)
Selina adjusted herself, giving Lily a brief glance. Jeez, was she ever young. Probably younger than Jane when she was working here. She didn't think Roger could outdo his own sleaziness, but they were in the art of one-upping themselves, after all.

"Right this way,"

Selina led Lily into the pool, already clacking with typewriters and hazy with cigarette smoke. Phones were ringing, girls were chattering, and Selina was already getting a headache.

"So this is the secretarial pool where you'll be. It gets very busy as the day wears on - don't let it intimidate you. The boys will be coming through here barking orders at you, Joan - you've met her? - will be doing the same, and with any luck-" Selina flashed Lily a look of worn pride, "I'll be doing the same, shortly,"

She punctuated this with a sarcastic giggle, and moved on.

"So you'll be here by Mister Campbell's office," she murmured, leading Lily to an empty desk with a single typewriter, covered by a black sheet, "He's a fairly easygoing man. I can't imagine he'll bother you much. He drinks bourbon, typically, but he's certainly prone to changing his mind."

Selina glanced back up at Lily. "You don't have any typing experience, I understand?"

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[info]just_lily
2011-07-31 12:32 am UTC (link)
Lily had a very genuine moment of panic as she followed along. As Selina started talking, it was as if things suddenly became real, and she was for a moment utterly overwhelmed. A swarm of what-ifs washed over her. What if she couldn't do it, what if the offer had been a fake, what if, what if, what if.

She swallowed and nodded slightly, trying to make her eyes be not so very wide. But this was all new, all strange to her. She wondered why she needed to know what the man drank, then she supposed she might be asked to ... what? Make his drinks? Fetch his bourbon? Of course a job like this entailed certain things on paper, but then there were the unspoken expectations.

Oh dear lord she was going to die.

"No," Lily replied abruptly when she realized she'd been asked a question. "Nothing professional, at any rate. I've used one before, but for personal projects." She also fully intended to charm the damn thing if anything went wrong. She had no desire to call undo attention to herself -- either for being exceptional or for not being good enough. For now, she'd be content to just get by until she was more comfortable with things. She, after all, was still harboring the idea that she'd wake up in her own bed some morning and not be here anymore.

"Is there anyone I report to specifically then? Or is it just ... attend to whatever tasks wind themselves on my desk?"

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[info]thatdarncat
2011-07-31 12:48 am UTC (link)
Selina raised her eyebrows. Personal projects? What, was she writing socialist manifestos or something? What project could she be doing that would ever involve typing? And to own her own typewriter...Selina found herself almost jealous.

"This shouldn't be too difficult for you, then," Selina said, pulling the sheet off of the typewriter. "It's just addressing envelopes, filling out forms, the usual. Though there's talk we're getting Selectric typewriters in soon. Heaven knows what new technology those will be,"

Selina lit a cigarette, offering one to Lily.

"I'm not sure what they call it in England, but here it's a 'pool'. You take whatever winds up in your inbox, though most of your projects will likely be coming from accounts, seeing as you're so close to Mr. Campbell's office. Wait, you don't know him from Adam, do you? Or anyone, really," Selina rubbed her forehead, "Up for a tour of the whole floor?"

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[info]just_lily
2011-07-31 12:54 am UTC (link)
The usual. She had no idea what the usual was, but she also trusted she could catch on quick enough that she wouldn't need to embarrass herself by asking for anything more specific. She had an idea of it anyway from the things Selina had already listed.

Lily almost laughed aloud at the mention of new technology, but she managed to catch the laughter before it crossed her lips. She had absolutely no desire to explain why she found that amusing, but it did relax her expression a little.

She shook her head to decline the cigarette, and she wondered if she was going to take up smoking eventually. She hoped not; it wasn't a habit she was a fan of.

"Of course," she agreed to the tour. She'd rather have at least a vague idea of where people were so she'd know which direction to head in if she was told to go to someone's office for whatever reason. "If ... we have time," she amended, though she imagined they'd make time for something like this.

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[info]thatdarncat
2011-07-31 01:03 am UTC (link)
Selina waved her hand and blew a quick raspberry. "We've got plenty of time. If there's one thing I love about working under Mr. Draper, is that he comes in even later than I do," she let out another cynical laugh, and began leading Lily around again.

"So this is Mr. Campbell's office, as I said. He's out of town right now - vacationing in Greece, the lucky dog. He'll be back pretty soon, though," she passed his door and moved on to the next, a much larger room, "This is Roger Sterling's office. He's in a meeting right now, but he's clearly an important guy here, if you couldn't guess. He's recently married to Jane," Selina stopped walking, "By the way, on your lunch break, if you could buy a bouquet of - shoot, what are they - daffodils. There's a florist on the bottom floor,"

She continued walking, taking a deep breath, "Anyway, Mr. Sterling probably won't use you often, but when he does, his needs come first. He drinks martinis, so I'd say have some gin on hand in your desk.

She rounded the corner, and gestured left. "This is the conference room. Don and Pete and Ken and Roger will meet in there, oh, not every afternoon, but most. You won't ever need to go in there,"

They stopped in front of a door marked "Don Draper". Selina took a drag on her cigarette.

"This is my boss, Mr. Draper. Creative. Nice enough," Selina gave Lily a look over her shoulder, "But very odd,"

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[info]just_lily
2011-07-31 01:12 am UTC (link)
The news that Don came in late, strangely, didn't surprise her in the least. Her lips pursed slightly, emerald eyes narrowing briefly in something that might have been read as annoyance at the mention of Mr. Draper.

"What am I doing with the daffodils after I buy them?" She prompted. While she assumed the task was somehow related to Mr. Sterling, she'd rather be safe than sorry. Maybe there was a specific vase she should use or a specific place they needed to go, or some other specifics that were simply a given around the office but a mystery to her.

She was a little pleased to discover she'd been correct about the whole drink making thing, and she wondered how badly she was going to screw that up. Men in charge, she reasoned, had a way of simply assuming their thoughts were projected and women were there to bend to their every whim. Lily frowned upon deciding that was probably a little closer to the attitude here than she'd like to consider, but ... well, what were her options, exactly? Learn the ropes and deal with the attitudes, or take her luck out in the wide world that so far hadn't been interested in employing her.

"Are there cues I should keep an ear out for? Like when a bloke says this, he really means that, and I should hop up and do something about it? I imagine they all assume we're psychic, and I'd just as soon have as few misunderstandings as possible." Mostly because she'd likely get assertive over misunderstandings and she couldn't imagine that being much appreciated.

Lily decided she had nothing to say about Selina's description of Don. After all, if you didn't have something nice to say, it was best to simply stay quiet. Besides that, if she got started she wasn't certain she'd stop, regardless of what she might owe him for her position here.

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[info]thatdarncat
2011-07-31 01:22 am UTC (link)
"They're for Mr. Sterling to pretend like he got them for Jane," Selina explained, exhaling smoke, "So just leave them wrapped, but take the price tag off. Leave them on Mr. Sterling's desk,"

Selina turned around and leaned against her desk as Lily began listing her questions, her mouth slightly agape. What in the world did this girl think was going on? It seemed obvious enough to her but, then again, Selina had grown up in this city.

"I'm...not quite sure what you mean, Lily," Selina finally said. "Men aren't very obtuse. 'I'd like a drink' means 'I'd like a drink', 'no calls' means 'no calls'. Or are you referring to, ah..." Selina cleared her throat, "-more untoward requests?"

It was an unfortunate fact that these kind of things were pretty rampant in the office. Selina never put up with them, even when Ken Cosgrove threatened to get her fired after she slapped him at the New Year's Party. It made her very unpopular, of course, but Don never said a stray word to her, and that was all that really mattered.

"If that's what you're worried about, don't be. These men can only think with one head at a time. They don't cloak their intentions in much mystery around here," Selina finally said, sticking her cigarette back between her lips.

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[info]just_lily
2011-07-31 01:32 am UTC (link)
Ah. Of course. That sort of thing. She nodded, and managed a little smile; she could certainly handle those sorts of tasks.

She wondered why, oh why, she hadn't thought to consider that there might be untoward requests. She closed her eyes and parted her lips before she shook her head. "No, I'm quite certain I can handle those. I just ... well, as long as they're straight forward about their mundane requests, I imagine I'll survive."

Well, she had some concerns about her survival here, but she was certain it would seem less overwhelming after a week, and she'd become more at ease with the job as time rolled on. If she was even here that long. Still, until she knew for certain that she wouldn't be able to get home, it was best to pretend this was long-term and her life now. "I imagine I'll catch on," she assured Selina with a smile.

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[info]thatdarncat
2011-07-31 02:36 am UTC (link)
"I certainly hope so," Selina said a touch sardonically. She had seen so many girls get hired here, only to leave in tears a month later. This office ate girls up, and Lily was definitely a doe-eyed little thing.

"If you can roll with the punches, you'll be fine. The pool isn't so bad," Selina started walking again, cigarette between her fingers, "But it's busy. I hope you're a gal with some energy, because you're not going to get a moment's rest - especially since you're the new girl,"

She motioned towards the row of doors on their right. "Peggy Olson's office - yes, the first female copywriter since the war, at least here at Sterling-Coop. Lane Pryce's office - he's from England, too. And Harry Crane, head of the television department. Very sweet guy,"

Selina rounded the corner again, bringing them back to the lobby. "Want to see the art department?"

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[info]just_lily
2011-07-31 03:41 am UTC (link)
"I suppose we'll see," she replied. She liked to think she was a relatively high energy individual, but she also supposed there were different sorts of energy.

Lily did her best to commit the names to memory, but at least the doors had names, and she'd learn them as it became necessary. It would be easier once she met people face to face and had that association as well. She didn't honestly expect to retain everything she learned today, but she had time. She assumed, at any rate. She'd certainly do her best to behave, but she did have a temper and was occasionally easily provoked.

Either way, it was bound to be interesting. "If you don't mind, yes," she replied. If it was something she'd eventually have to be concerned with, she'd at least like a glimpse of it.

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[info]thatdarncat
2011-07-31 04:06 am UTC (link)
"Not at all,"

Selina ushered her up the decorative stairs on the side of the lobby, smiling at people she passed. Though she wasn't terribly popular with the girls of the office, the men she hadn't slapped or insulted very much liked her. She would point to Lily, say "new girl" and move onwards. Men would turn their heads but say little. Women wouldn't even turn their heads.

"So here's Bert Cooper's office, or the outside of it anyway. I can't imagine you'll ever have to go in there," Selina led Lily through a small door, into a much darker and dingier hallway, "This is the art department. Salvatore-...no, I'm sorry, Marty is head of art now. If you see a man hunched over a drawing desk, that's Marty,"

Selina paused in the hallway, smiling at two stray artists. "This is Lily, the new secretary," she explained, as they gave murmured "hullos" and moved on.

"So who'd you interview with? Joan?" Selina asked.

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[info]just_lily
2011-07-31 04:16 am UTC (link)
Lily offered smiles, nods, and hellos to the people they passed, whichever greeting seemed most appropriate. Once again, she felt the overwhelming sensation of being in over her head, but she reminded herself it would pass, and she'd be fine, because she was Lily freaking Evans and she could handle anything life threw at her. If she had to break down somewhere, she'd do it as quietly and privately as possible, and then carry on.

She did freeze a little at the question. She could lie, and say yes, but she was a rubbish liar and people talked, so it was bound to come up that that hadn't been the case. She didn't know how unusual it was for Don to handle interviews, but if their altercation in his office was what they were counting as an interview, then ...

"It was Mr. Draper, actually," Lily replied, rather pleased she'd managed to keep her voice on the pleasant side of neutral. If it was unusual for him to handle interviews, as she imagined it likely was, she'd let Selina speculate as to the reasoning.

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[info]thatdarncat
2011-07-31 04:28 am UTC (link)
Selina's eyebrows shot up, and she drew her cigarette back to her lips. Don Draper? Well what a tangled web this office did weave...

"Oh," Selina finally replied too chirpily, and she began the tour again. She led Lily back through the hallways, but now her mind was racing. Don Draper interviewed this girl? That must've been either one helluva interview, or this girl was flat out lying to her. Either way, and Selina did feel a twinge of guilt about this, Lily had just sparked one hell of a rumor mill.

"Anyway, the art department, pretty uneventful. You won't be down here much. Probably just to deliver memos and such," Selina led her back out the opposite end of the hallway, back into the brightly lit main office room, "Oh, you have to meet the gals at the switchboards. You won't deal with them much in the pool, but if you're ever a personal secretary, they will be either your best friends or worst nightmares, depending,"

Selina paused just outside the door of the switchboard, and placed her cigarette back in her mouth, "I'm sorry, you don't have any questions so far, do you?"

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[info]just_lily
2011-07-31 04:37 am UTC (link)
Oh lord. The expression spoke volumes, and the follow-up 'oh' all but confirmed it. She should leave. She should just march right out and give this whole thing up as a bad job. Thank them for their time but it really wasn't going to work out. Her lips parted as she tried to find some explanation, but short of spilling the entire story, there really wasn't one. She just hoped like hell it didn't come around and bite her in the arse later.

Rather than linger on that particular issue, Lily let the conversation flow past it. So she nodded to the explanation of the art department, and tilted her head at the mention of the switchboards. "Why is that?" She prompted. She didn't fancy the idea of anyone being her enemy, but she imagined she'd take whatever came and handle it as well as she knew how. She liked to think she was a fairly likable person, but she also knew she had her moments.

"Nothing that I haven't already asked or hasn't already been covered," Lily murmured. "I'm certain I'll have some once I get started working, and after a week or so I imagine I'll be comfortable enough to simply start using my own judgement on things that I have questions about."

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[info]thatdarncat
2011-07-31 04:53 am UTC (link)
"Let's just say that if you make enemies with the girls at the switchboard, whoever it is you call 'sir' will not be getting some very important phone calls," she sighed with a cloud of smoke. "Ready to meet them?"

Selina didn't wait for a response. She opened the door and entered into a wave of noise. It was a small room - the size of a closet. Three women in headsets sat in front of a massive switchboard, plugging and unplugging cord after cord after cord.

"Ladies!" Selina had to shout to get their attention, "This is Lily Evans! She's going to be in the steno pool by Pete Campbell. She's a great gal!"

They barely paid attention to her, glancing occasionally at Lily between their tangled cords.

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[info]just_lily
2011-07-31 05:02 am UTC (link)
Lily nodded slightly, but she wasn't unfamiliar with the catty world of female warfare. She wasn't terribly familiar with it, but she understood it. It was just a little disturbing it carried into the workplace. But why not? Apparently everything else did. "I'll be sure to try to stay on their good sides then," she murmured before she stepped to the doorway so she could see and be seen.

She offered a wave and a hello to them, tilting her head a little to study the complicated setup of wires. It was enough to make her glad she hadn't started out here; she like as not wouldn't have lasted a day. That, and they looked too busy to explain, and she smiled a little at the thought before she backed into the hallway so Selina could close the door and they could continue on.

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[info]thatdarncat
2011-07-31 05:26 am UTC (link)
Selina sighed. "Most of them go deaf by the time they're thirty," she announced. "So I can't blame them for being a little crabby sometimes,"

She led Lily back to her desk, and leaned against it. "Well, that's basically the whole operation. The break room is just to the left there. There's a fridge. Lunch cart comes through at about 11:30. Nothing special, really. Sandwiches and chips. Or, sorry, 'crisps'," Selina grinned.

"You'll want to buy some bandages. Needle and thread. And a small bottle of bourbon, like I said. The gin I wouldn't worry about, most girls have that stashed away someplace. One last thing," Selina finally added, lighting another cigarette and rolling her eyes, "I'm not happy about it, and I hate saying it, but the 'unspoken' dress code here is skirts above the knee, blouses buttoned just above what seems appropriate," Selina shrugged, taking a drag.

"You'll find some cute things. Gimbels' is great," she added helpfully.

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[info]just_lily
2011-07-31 05:35 am UTC (link)
Lily followed Selina back to her desk, and she smiled a little at the correction. Upon hearing the proposed shopping list, she arched her brows slightly. Bandages? Needle and thread she supposed she understood -- emergency repairs on clothing. The alcohol was also understood. She wondered if the men often wandered in in need of bandages, but she supposed she'd figure that out in time.

She also wasn't terribly surprised about the suggested dress code. "Well, I'll see what I can manage," she replied to that. She wasn't exactly rolling in money just now, but she'd work something out. After she'd been paid, she'd look into further diversifying her wardrobe, but she'd find something to work with in the meantime.

"Thank you, for the tour," she replied, offering Selina a smile. There was an awkward moment then as she wondered if she was simply supposed to start working and ... what exactly she was meant to be working on, but she imagined that would be explained momentarily.

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[info]thatdarncat
2011-07-31 11:00 pm UTC (link)
"Not a problem," Selina said, giving Lily another once-over. She seemed a little bewildered, which was fair. Lord knows Selina was overwhelmed when she started working here - but then again, she doubted that Lily had quite the colorful background Selina did. Or, if she did, she hid it well.

"Anyway, Mr. Campbell will probably be in in just a few minutes, and I'm sure he'll have something for you to get started on. Do introduce yourself once he arrives. In the meantime, why don't you sort out your desk, and get yourself acquainted with your typewriter. And if you have any questions," Selina extinguished her cigarette, "Don't hesitate to ask me or Jo-...well, why don't you just ask me? I'll be right in front of Mr. Draper's office,"

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[info]just_lily
2011-07-31 11:10 pm UTC (link)
There it was. Sit down and look busy until someone dropped something on her desk. She could manage that, and she'd be grateful for a quiet couple of minutes to get herself together.

"I'll be sure to do that," she promised Selina with a little smile. She also reasoned someone would be by to check on her a time or two throughout the day, and she hoped she'd be fine. Well, if she wasn't fine today, she'd be fine eventually.

"Thank you, again," she murmured before she eyed her own desk curiously, wondering if she'd make it a week. A month. Any longer than that, and she may well be resigned to the fact she was truly stuck here, and that this was her job. At that point ... well, she guessed she'd see how she liked it and if she wanted it to be her life, or if she was going to move on to something else.

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