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star_glinda (star_glinda) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2013-03-17 22:29:00

Who: Glinda and Elphaba
When: Friday 15th March
Where: Elphaba’s office
What: Money talk
Rating: Low
Status: Complete when posted



Glinda parked her car and headed for the elevator up to the floor she had been told Elphaba’s office was on. She’d managed to avoid this meeting for quite a while but had finally been pinned down to a time and date. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to meet the other woman it was more that Glinda always found meetings about her finances to be so incredibly dull that she’d rather be anywhere else.

Entering the office, without knocking, Glinda appeared in a whirlwind of pink and noise as she placed the coffee she had in her hand down. “I wasn’t sure what to get you so I got a few different ones, anything you don’t want we can give to your assistant” she said before frowning, “Where is she? There’s nobody out there” she added as she sat down opposite the other woman.

Elphaba looked up over her glasses from her work, first at the woman, then the door behind her. “Umm...hello...” Elphaba cleared her throat as she sat up, glancing at the time on her watch, then back up to the other woman. Looking over at the tablet she had docked to her right which displayed her appointments. “You must be Glinda Upland and you won’t find an assistant out there because there isn’t one,” Elphaba tidied away the papers she had been working on and put them to one side then leaned down to pull out Glinda’s file from her drawer and lay it on her desk.

Glinda laughed delightedly, “Of course I am” she agreed as she plonked her handbag on the desk in front of her, “Did you not want one? You can have one you know, my old accountant had one” she added with a smile, “You’re much prettier than her though, I’m sure we’re going to get on. Though if we could do this quickly that would be great. My favorite little boutique get their delivery today and I’m dying to see the new collection”

“I would love one, however our budget currently doesn’t allow for one,” Elphaba said off-handedly. “Which is why I told your agent we needed to have this talk,” she opened up the file and set her glasses back on the bridge of her nose and pulled her ponytail tighter before leaning forward on the desk. “Your expenditure is currently far out-weighing your income. I’m afraid it’s simply not sustainable, Ms Upland,” Elphaba told her seriously.

“It’s Glinda” she told the woman off-handedly, “And what do you mean out-weighing my income? Aren’t you supposed to be making the right investments to ensure that doesn’t happen? I’m fairly sure your job is to make sure the money keeps coming” Her other accountant had said much the same thing, which is why Glinda had fired her. The woman obviously hadn’t been doing her job properly, Glinda hoped she hadn’t been stuck with another one the same.

“Yes, but I can’t do that if you’re spending it faster than I can invest it,” Elphaba explained. “Take last month,” she flipped to a page detailing her expenditure last month. “Do you realise how much it cost to rent that movie theatre out? Then adding on the rights to the films you wanted, the food, drink, staff, valet,” she leafed through receipts as she spoke. “Then along with the manicures, haircuts, clothes, shoes, handbags, hats...”

"Then you obviously need to do a better job" Glinda replied, "I'm really not sure exactly what you expect me to do. Stop shopping?" She laughed at the very thought, it was just too funny.

Elphaba stopped and simply looked at the other woman in disbelief over the top of her glasses, hoping she was kidding.

Glinda raised one perfectly plucked eyebrow "Well, what are you going to do?" she questioned, the look going right over her head.

Slap you? Was Elphaba’s first thought. She shook her head, amazed that this woman didn’t seem to see the connection. Elphaba sighed, “Ok, fine, you want to be obstinate about this, go right ahead, but at the rate you are spending, in two months time you could very well be declared bankrupt and when that happens you can wave bye bye to the hats, shoes, parties and whatever else you decide to blow your salary on this week. Look, you need an influx of cash, give me something to work with and build your portfolio up again.”

Ah, Glinda thought as Elphaba practically ranted at her. They had done it again, Glinda had been supplied with an accountant who disapproved of her life. She had to give this woman credit though, she was being a lot more honest from the start than previous employees.

“If that happens you can also wave bye bye to your job so you might want to factor that into your calculations” Glinda pointed out calmly, “Your employer, W.I. Zard, won’t take too kindly to having their biggest client go under.” This woman had clearly underestimated Glinda if she thought for a second she was going to buy into this bankruptcy story, Glinda - and her family - had enough money to last multiple lifetimes no matter how many shoes she brought. So something else was going on here.

“I guess that shows how often you check your bank account,” Elphaba replied off-handedly. “I suppose you haven’t realised that your old accountant let those investments fail and the only reason you still have money in that account is because your parents keep topping it up,” Elphaba watched the other woman over the rim of her glasses to gauge her reaction. “Understand?”

“Don’t be ridiculous, my old accountant wouldn’t do that” Glinda replied, “Honestly you are ridiculous. I want you to know I’ll be writing to my parents about this” she informed the other woman, standing.

‘Dearest darlingest momsie and popsicle’

“My dear father...” Elphaba surprised herself by singing after Glinda, looking up at the woman, a little alarmed.

‘There’s been some confusion,
In this office in the OC’ they sang together, Glinda looking startled but realising it was vaguely familiar.

“But of course I’ll care for Nessa,” Elphaba couldn’t stop herself from singing it seemed.

’But of course, I’ll rise above it’ Glinda actually found herself getting into it as they continued together.

’For I know know that’s how you’d want me to respond,
Yes.
There’s been some confusion for you see this woman is’

Glinda continued alone regarding Elphaba with a critical eye,

‘Unusually and exceedingly peculiar,
And altogether quite impossible to describe’

Elphaba raised her eyebrow at the other woman’s scrutiny, giving a slight shake of her head in disbelief and seemingly unable to stop herself from responding: ”Blonde!”

’What is this feeling,
so sudden and new?’ Glinda found herself moving around the room, acting now as well as singing.

”I felt the moment I laid eyes on you!” Elphaba stood abruptly, pointing her pen at Glinda.

’My pulse is rushing Glinda felt her pulse with her hand as she sang.

”My head is reeling!” Elphaba tossed her pen on the table in irritation.

’My face is flushing Glinda put her hands to her face before joining Elphaba in singing.

’What is this feeling? Fervid as a flame, Does it have a name?’

Elphaba narrowed her eyes at the other woman, ”Yes.....”

They came together to sing in unison again and Elphaba could only describe the feeling she had for this woman that was bubbling in her stomach: ”Loathing! Unadulterated loathing!”

‘For your face Glinda sang looking directly at Elphaba as she did.

Elphaba rolled her eyes, something she usually tried very hard not to do, especially with clients, ”Your voice!”

‘Your clothing she sang looking at Elphaba’s outfit judgmentally, the woman needed to go shopping.

’Let's just say - I loathe it all
Ev'ry little trait, however small
Makes my very flesh begin to crawl
With simple utter loathing
There's a strange exhilaration
In such total detestation
It's so pure, so strong! They sang together again moving around the office like they knew the correct choreography.

Elphaba came to stand in front of her desk, hands on her hips, slightly insulted by Glinda’s comment about her clothes. It had taken Elphaba a long while to find this outfit with her sister! ”Though I do admit it came on fast, still I do believe that it could last! Still I do believe that it can last, and I will be loathing, loathing you my whole life long!” Elphaba could feel some real venom build up in the last phrase they sang together.

Dear Galinda, you are just too good
How do you stand it? I don't think I could!
She's a terror! She's a Tartar!
We don't mean to show a bias,
But Galinda, you're a martyr! voices seemed to come out of nowhere causing Glinda to look around in confusion before continuing.

‘Well; these things are sent to try us’ she sang, rather impressively if she thought so herself.

Poor Galinda, forced to reside
With someone so disgusticified
We just want to tell you:
We're all on your side!
We share your background singers returned from out of nowhere.

“What is this feeling, so sudden and new?
I felt the moment I laid eyes on you!” Elphaba turned away from their duet and put a hand to her forehead, closing her eyes as the woman continued to irritate her.

“My pulse is rushing,
My head is reeling!
What is this feeling?
Fervid as a flame,
Does it have a name?” Elphaba looked back to Glinda, the feeling in her chest rising again as the woman sang with her.

“Yes. Ahh” The song seemed to intensify as the background voices returned.

“Loathing Unadulterated loathing
For her face, her voice, her clothing
let's just say - we loathe it all
ev'ry little trait however small
makes our very flesh being to crawl
AHHH!”

Elphaba was getting more and more frustrated as the song progressed, almost blaming Glinda as the background voices sang underneath them. Elphaba turned back to Glinda, focusing her attention on the annoying woman, hands on her hips.

”Loathing!
There’s a strange exhilaration,
In such total detestation!
Its so pure, it’s so strong!

Glinda was finding she was enjoying herself more and more as the song progressed, singing with someone was actually more enjoyable than by herself.

”Though I do admit it came on fast
Still I do believe that it can last
And I will be...”

Elphaba narrowed her eyes at Glinda, and they circled each other like two lionesses fighting over territory.

”Loathing for forever,
Loathing truly, deeply,
Loathing you!
My whole life long!”

Elphaba crossed her arms and turned away from Glinda before she thought of something else.

“BOO!” She shouted and made as if to pounce on Glinda, laughing as the other woman flinched away from her. Feeling an immense amount of satisfaction, she proudly crossed her arms in front and stood next to the blonde.

“Argh” Glinda jumped as Elphaba shouted at her. Well that was definitely different, she’d sung before but not accompanied by anybody. It was an interesting if unnerving experience.

“So...” Elphaba looked across at Glinda, a small smirk at how pleased she was by her own performance during the random song tipping the edges of her lips up. “Willing to come to a compromise yet?”

Glinda tossed her hair over her shoulder, “To make investments on my behalf what do you need me to do?” she asked, trying to remain haughty.

“I need you to take an interest on what’s going on with your money,” Elphaba came back round to sit at her desk and picked up some papers. “Do you realise that your old accountant had your money spread across several pharmaceutical companies, some of which have had some decidedly dodgy histories and run ins with the IRS?”

Glinda sat back down crossing her legs, “IRS? Is that a new fashion house?” she asked, completely seriously.

Elphaba literally couldn’t reply to that, instead gaping at her client. “Are you serious? I can’t...are you?” she gave her a suspicious look, quickly deciding that no...this girl did genuinely not know what the IRS was. “I...” she took a deep breath and released an exasperated sigh. “Right...the IRS is the government who tax all of your earnings as well as a sizeable amount of the investments your idiot of an accountant made before you fired him.”

"Oh I know what tax is" Glinda told her somewhat proudly, "I learnt that from Google after watching the news" she added to explain. "So what does it all mean?" she asked.

Elphaba shook her head, Google had a lot to answer for in her opinion. “It means that I want your opinion on what you want to invest in so that I can do my job to the best of my ability. Do you want your money in pharmaceuticals where they’re potentially testing on animals and dodging tax or do you want it in something you’re actually interested in? What you fund influences your publicity, for example, bringing on new designers in the industry while supporting established ones can only be good for your career and hence your bank account, right?” Elphaba didn’t want to ramble on, but she really felt like they were making some good progress here. ’We could be the greatest team there ever was,’ she thought to herself, something about it sounding familiar.

Glinda made a concerted effort to listen and understand, she had a feeling this woman wouldn’t like to repeat herself or to be asked what she may consider silly questions. Thinking she had the jist of what she was being asked she nodded, “Of course” she replied, “Fashion is the obvious choice for investments, I have a number of new designers I’ve met recently” at parties though she didn’t tell Elphaba that part. “What do I need to give you? Contact details?” she asked, not entirely sure how this investment thing actually worked.

“Yes!” Elphaba grinned, thrilled that Glinda seemed to be getting it. “Exactly, names of who you want to support, phone numbers if possible, anything that you might like your money going to support,” Elphaba sat forward in her seat, clasping her hands together and pointing with her two index fingers as she spoke to Glinda. “I can do checks on their background, advise you if it’s a good investment and we can start making money. We could even call it something like...the Haus of Glinda,” she stopped and thought about it, wrinkling her nose at the idea and waving her hands in front of her as if to wipe the idea away. “Never mind, the point is, this could be really great!” she gestured to the portfolio in front of her and looked to Glinda for some feedback.

Glinda was also thrilled, but she was thrilled to see some excitement coming from Elphaba. She was actually very pretty when she smiled and wasn’t being so stern and bookish. “Okay, I can do that” she grinned laughing lightly at Elphaba’s short lived name idea. “Do you truly think so?” Glinda asked, “I would love to be involved in something great” she said in wonderment.

“Of course! If we get this right, you could be as good as...” Elphaba struggled for a designer name for a second. “Louis Vuitton or...Jimmy Choo! Get me those names and just...try and hold back a bit on the spending?” Elphaba asked warily, hoping not to set back all their progress together. “Just until I can get these contacts sorted out,” she held up her hands defensively. “A week, maybe two at the most of no big spends so I know how much I have to work with,” she smiled.

Glinda held back a laugh as Elphaba obviously struggled with a designer for a moment. She was about to object when Elphaba held her hands up, causing Glinda to listen and, somewhat reluctantly, nod in agreement. “Fine” she agreed, “I’ll hold back on the shopping for a while” she promised.

“Thank you,” Elphaba couldn’t be sure, but she didn’t think she hid the relief she felt from that acceptance very well. “Right, so here are my contact details, just email me in the next few days with those names and I’ll start on making some connections,” she handed over her business card.

She didn’t hide it very well but Glinda found she couldn’t muster up any real annoyance about it. Instead she took the card with a nod before standing, “I will” she replied, “And Thank you for this meeting” she added graciously.

“Anytime, just give me a call if you would like to go over anything,” Elphaba stood as well, coming around her desk to shake Glinda’s hand. “I’ll call you to set up another meeting in a week or two and update you on my progress, ok?”

Glinda shook her hand and smiled, “That will be fine” she replied in agreement.

“Great, well, thank you for coming down,” Elphaba guided her to the door. “I think we’ve made some excellent progress and this is going to be an amazing business venture!”

“I agree” Glinda replied, “It was very interesting meeting you Elphaba” she informed the other woman before sweeping out of the door.

Elphaba closed the door between them and sank back against it in relief, feeling suddenly very tired from the encounter. The next few weeks was going to be interesting...