Creative Business (Houdini x Atzura)

She smirked. "You know nothing about my personality. And I don't assume. Most men around worth that kind of thinking time spent." She said, somewhat coldly. She exited the vehicle and entered the building with him, the two taking the elevator up towards their floor, and as soon as the elevator door opened, her face changed. No smirk, no rosey cheeks, just a straight, cold, hard, yet attractive face. The woman who pays you entered. There was not even a slight chance he'd pull off a joke then. She was like a bomb waiting to explode. The elevator doors opened and she walked out quickly, the entire staff pretty stunned at her late entry. Much more with Jim walking in right behind her. She left her coffee on a random employee's desk, and powerwalked towards her office where a young man was waiting. "Sorry I'm late. We'll start this interview now." She said, turning, glancing at Jim as she slammed her door shut.

Jim observed Seranda carefully as they entered the building. Not to ogle her assets, but to see firsthand the change that everyone knew the boss went through as she came in each day. As if there were some force field at the front door that transformed her. And not that she was warm, or even pleasant, to him while they were in the car. But at least she showed some traces of human emotion. All that changed, however, once they walked through those office doors. While he might have felt half comfortable making some casual conversation with her before, not now.

He was a little happy to be the center of attention for a moment. Jim knew that everyone was curious to know why they came in together. And sad as it was, that was probably the most exciting thing that had happened to him in a week. He did, however, catch a split-second of eye contact with Seranda as she closed the door to her office, and that gave him motivation to get to his morning schedule, running through his pending mail, faxes, emails, and voicemails in less than an hour, wondering finally what Seranda was up to. He assumed he'd have to stay until whenever she went home, since he was her ride. A little bored, he loaded up his favorite downtime hobby, and read through the progress so far on his story.

Things seemed to proceed as usual. The hours were long and the work itself was nothing too exciting. Seranda exited her office a while after she walked in, the young man's face blaring red. It was unknown whether it came from frustration or embarrassment, but whatever it was, he left the offices quickly and quietly, Seranda moving to see what the workers were doing. She scanned the room and was pleased with what she saw. "Marcus, how are we doing in stocks?" "Um, we've had a small increase. Nothing grand, but certainly better than a decrease, right?" "Absolutely. Keep an eye on AVIAD. They are probably going to hit rock bottom soon, and I'd like for us to capture the majority of what they owned." His eyes had long wandered down to her chest. "Marc... all four of my eyes, are here." He looked up at her following her finger's gesture and laughed nervously. "I'm sorry. It's just... so... you know. I apologize." She took her coffee from a nearby desk, her things always seemed to be scattered. "Whatever. Don't do it again. You don't see me staring at anyone's penis do you?" She stood up and walked towards her office, again, tossing another glance at Jim.

Jim mired through another routine day as well. He had caught Seranda's glance, though, flashing her back a half-smile. Finally, in the late morning, Warson came over to his desk, the one designated to find out why Seranda came in with him. "Let's go take lunch at the sub shop down the street," Jim suggested, not wanting to get into it at his desk, although there wasn't really much to get into. Walking outside and half a block down on the cool afternoon, they ducked inside and ordered their sandwiches. "She called me early this morning, and said her car broke down," he told John while the sandwiches were being made. "So she just asked me to pick her up. That's about all there is to it. Oh, and we stopped and got coffee on the way."

Moving to their seats, John said: "I wonder why she asked you. I hope it's nothing bad," Jim just shrugged, picturing Seranda coming out with the coffees, eyes blazing, and breasts bouncing. He really was kind of hypocritical when he had told Seranda that he was insulted she'd lumped him in with all guy pigs. He couldn't help taking in an eyeful whenever he could, either. Heading back to work, Jim nestled himself in his cubicle in the back corner, finishing his assignments around 3:00 PM, fiddling around after that, anxious to see how the afternoon was going to play out with the boss.

Marcus sighed when Seranda left, several minutes later, his little job time girlfriend walked over, and she was all but happy. "What the fuck Marcus? You just sit there staring at another woman, while your woman's right here staring at you?!"

"Hey hey, fucking relax April. It was just playing around."

"Fuck that, I'm so pissed off right now, you don't even know...."

"Ape... shut the fuck up. It's alright, I'm not doing anything with Seranda..." He chuckled, "That's like impossible anyway."

"Fuck you Marcus!"

This was disturbing everyone. Not that it mattered, the only one that mattered was Seranda. At Jim's desk, he got beeped in through intercom. It was coming from office 20. Seranda's office. "You have six minutes to shut those two up or I'm firing them both."

Jim hung up the phone, having received the order from Seranda to take care of it. Marcus and April were usually full of drama in the workplace, and everyone usually just rolled their eyes at their lover's spats, but if Seranda said it had to stop today, it had to stop. Chewing someone out wasn't Jim's favorite thing to do, and to be honest, he was a little surprised that Seranda hadn't done it herself. It was, on the other hand, one of her favorite activities. He zipped away from his desk, approaching the battle scene.

"Hey guys. HEY YOU TWO," Jim said, getting their attention on the second attempt. "You two need to calm down and get back to your work stations. One of you needs go outside and take a breather if you can't calm down. Seranda isn't happy about your little distraction. And I agree it's not appropriate in the workplace."

"Who made you her fucking enforcer?" April shot at him.

"See, Ape, he's probably the one doing her, not me," Marcus said in his own defense.

"Shut up, Marcus."

"Just break it up. I'm serious. Seranda's orders," Jim said, standing there until they went their separate directions, and finally headed back to his desk, wiping some sweat off his brow.

"What the hell did Jimmy have to do with April or Marcus... that's not his place to be telling them what to do like that..."

"Shit man, just shut up, here comes Seranda."

Seranda walked out of her office, like a villain in a video game or something, it was almost as if everyone was on their guard as she approached them. Jimmy especially, with his little erotic writing going on, he'd be crucified if caught. "April... someone just called in."

The young brunette looked up at her, "What do you mean?"

"Your piece. Your fucking earpiece was still on while you bitched to Marcus. And you know what... the customer you thought hung up was still on the line..."

April remained quiet as Marcus chuckled, "Hoh... shit..."

"So this complaint went up to the board directly. It was too detailed and now they think we sit here having orgies. Now as appealing as that may sound to you, for the majority of you, I'd have to be stoned, drunk, blindfolded and beaten half to death before spreading my legs. So..." She turned towards Jim. "Jim here... is going to be taking over a position which up until now has been vacated. To me he is but a little assistant. To you, he's your director of operations. When I am not here... you answer to him. If I'm here, and he tells you to do something, you do it, because if you don't, I'll fire you. Think of it this way. That man, as manager of accounting, has done more work than all of the other departments combined. Which is why the accounting department will be receiving a raise and a bonus of twelve hundred dollars each."

Everyone was shocked.

"Jim. Pick one of your people to take over your department. You're going to be running a much bigger show. As a result of this complaint I've been asked to terminate both of you. But you guys know me..." She smirked. "I hate firing people. Which is why, I begged them so hard to keep you guys. They said no. And we negoatiated to remove one. Since I was in my office the entire time... I don't know what happened. So, Jim. Please fire one of these guys as your second function after you select someone to run the accounting department. Then I need you in my office. We need to hire two new people and the boy from earlier had good stuff to bring to the table. Hurry up. You have two minutes." She turned around and walked back into her office. Marcus, although still facing termination, had to take a look.

Jim was awestruck as he processed all the information Seranda shot out of her mouth at a mile a minute. First, he just was promoted. Second, he had two minutes to make two important personnel decisions. As Seranda walked back into her office, Jim took a look around the hushed crowd, himself being as awestruck as they were. "All right, let's try to stay calm, guys," he said, motioning downwards with his hands to emphasize this. "This is as tough for me as for all of you, but the decisions have to be made." Looking around, he stopped with his attention on April. "I'm sorry, April. I understand why you were angry at Marcus, but you started the escalation of the argument. Everyone has to bear responsibility for not keeping their emotions in check. I'll have to let you go."

As April sunk her head down, before raising it up again, and storming out with a final "Fuck you all", Jim turned his attention to the cornrowed John Warson. Warson was the only one he could trust with anything important, so that was an easy decision. "And Warson will be leading the accounting department. Thanks, guys." Turning his back to the crowd, he walked into Seranda's office, a new confidence suddenly about him. "Hi Seranda," he said, opening the door. "April is out, and Warson will be running accounting," he said matter-of-factly.

"Hm..." She lit a cigarette already pushed through her lips. "I would have done the same. April's slept with too many guys here anyway. One of her fucks looks at someone else, and she flips a shit. What an insecure bitch. Sad too, she was a pretty good worker." She placed another smoke on her desk and flicked it with her finger, letting it slide towards Jim. "If you don't smoke, start. Let's talk about what we're going to do here." She started giving off the feeling of more of a crime boss than anything else. It was a bit uncomfortable. But her looks, combined with the enrichment of it all, made it a pretty interesting moment.

Jim flipped the cigarette between his fingers and lit up. He was surprised Seranda smoked in the building, but then again, she was Seranda. He didn't smoke by himself, but occasionally had a smoke with a friend at the bar or whatever, so he didn't mind lighting up, although it felt funny to do in the office. The vibe that Seranda was giving off was decidedly sexy. Normally she looked sexy, but didn't act sexy. Today, he wanted to throw her and her huge tits on the desk and fuck her then and there. He wasn't sure if it was the power going to his head, or what. But, he reminded himself, he still wasn't even close to Seranda in terms of power within the company. "Yeah, it's a shame April had to go. But being a slut, combined with her temper, it was no good for the office morale, never mind what the customers might have heard." Jim wondered for a minute if with his change in position, someone from IT would have to come and move or work on his computer. He had better get his little stories off there before they got him in trouble, he thought. "I don't know too much about this new position," he said to Seranda after taking another drag. "What are you going to expect me to be responsible for?"

She looked up at him with a smirk. "Never heard of a D.O.O. before?" She chuckled, "It's a pretty high position. Higher than any department manager. With this, you are easily in access to the board of directors. All you need is the nod from me, and they are yours. As Director Of Operations, you are responsible for everything. You will run monthly or bi-monthly audits, you will be in charge of hiring and terminating. If a department has a problem, they will come to you. With personnel, workload, guidance, you will be their man. Basically, you are taking seventy-five percent of my work, and making it your own. Trust me, you can do it, and you'll be paid the part. Today is..." She looked at her calendar. Some sort of environmental imagery being displayed, in this case, a huge green forest somewhere in South America. "Thursday. So for the duration of today, and tomorrow... you'll be working at your cubicle still. By Monday, you should have your new location. Although that's not really decided. We don't know if we should give you a smaller private office near mine, or, have you move in with me, so to speak." She blew out a cloud of grey smoke. "You can actually choose either or. It makes no difference to me. You'll be seeing a lot of me, my red hair, glasses and big tits though. So I hope that in the very least, I don't look as hideous as everyone knows I am." She smirked. "Whiskey?" She turned to walk towards her baker's rack, the only way to see it was to enter her office anyway, it was well placed, with an assortment of acoholic drinks.

Jim felt like he was in some old-time detective show, what with the smoking and alcohol in the closed-up office, and the veiled flirtatious references. He felt like he should be making some cheesy, manly remark to Seranda or something. "I see," he said to her with a nod, once she had explained the job to him. Of course, he'd heard of the position, he just didn't know what she expected from him. She tended to make her own rules, anyway. "Sure, I'll have a drink, but only if you are," he responded cautiously, accepting the shot she poured him. "Well, not to be cocky about this, Seranda, but I know I can handle the position. In fact, if.a little office near yours could be managed, I think I could be most productive there. You certainly don't look hideous, and I think you know that. In fact, that's why I think my own office would be best. Despite what I said in the car this morning, I probably couldn't concentrate on my work if we shared too close of a space." As he finished off his cigarette, he added: "Don't take it the wrong way, okay, Seranda? I'm just being honest with you, so we can stay professional."

"Not at all, I absoutely and completely respect that." She poured some of her favorite whiskey into glasses as Warson, literally barged in. Seranda stared at him and he at her. "Close the door please."

He closed the door and Seranda returned to her business. He almost tackled Jim. "Jim... what the fuck's going on? April's fired... you got a promotion, and... I'm head of accounting. And is she smoking!" He asked, Seranda rolling her eyes as she got another glass for him.

"What is that, whiskey? Who are you? What did you do to my boss Seranda?"

"Give him a cigarette please. He's winner today."

"Hey, Johnny boy!" Jim exclaimed, locking his elbow around John's neck playfully. He flipped open the pack of cigarettes so John could take one. Jim threw back a mouthful of whiskey. "Yeah, we're just talking about all the changes going on around here. Congrats, man." Warson lit up and accepted his drink with a smile. "You, see," Jim added, "our boss isn't all work and no play. She can be a lot of fun if you treat her right," he said, throwing a devious smile in Seranda's direction. "Isn't that right, Seranda," he asked, a little emboldened by the relaxed, bar-like atmosphere Seranda had created.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever he says. Congratulations Warson. You deserved that much. However things are going to change somewhat dramatically here. We are going to be the top of our market. We are going to outclass all of our competition and I need you two to be on top of your game to achieve it. Warson. Warson! You're staring at my chest again."

Warson snapped back, "I'm sorry, I just... didn't think I'd ever get to just have a drink with you like this."

"Like I said, you're a winner today. Winners get to celebrate. Losers get to leave my building."

"I like that attitude." He said with a smile. "I have to ask you. This seems like the only time I'll ever be able to. Are those things real?"

Seranda laughed, almost finished with her cigarette. "Yes Warson, very real. They started growing when I was very young. Hell, they're still growing."

"Shit... if only my fiance had..."

"Shh. We are drinking and smoking, so what the hell, I haven't been felt up in a while now. You get a chance to touch em. Not a long time though, these things are part of the reason I am who I am. Go ahead." She looked over at Jim, nibbling on the edge of her cigarette.

"What? For real? Not turning that shit down." He walked up to her and rubbed under her right breast, immediately sinking his fingers into her flesh. "Holy shit. It's softer than a baby's ass. Shit. I can't believe I'm touching Seranda's tits right now." He chuckled. "It must feel great under the clothing."

"You bet it does." She seemed bored with the entire experience, that actually turned Warson on.

"Well, maybe I should find out." He reached inside her shirt and brough his fingers into her nipple, rubbing her as her face immediately went angry. She took the cigarette and pressed it against his wrist.

Warson snapped his hand back, howling in pain. "Ough... shit! The hell!! Seranda, you said I could touch them!"

"Yeah, but not inside my shirt. I'm not about to let some random man touch these tits. Jesus, you're engaged. Moron."

He shook his hand in pain. "You know what, you're right... I'm sorry."

"It's okay Warson. You got excited. Go back to work, manager."

Warson nodded, turning and looking at Jim. "Thanks for the promotion, boss." The burn mark was live, a heavy price to pay for not listening to her.

There wasn't much that Jim could do but watch in absolute amazement as the interaction went down between John and Seranda. He couldn't help but hold back a spurt of laughter when John asked if they were real. Of course, everybody in the office wondered that. Jim, however, felt that he had a pretty good eye for a woman's assets, and he had always been almost completely sure they were real. He never stared at them shamelessly like everyone else, but he had taken enough brief glimpses over the years to have a good idea of the ins and outs of his bosses' chest. Jim had always subscribed to the old adage that nice breasts are like the sun; It's okay to take a quick glance, but staring too long will only lead to trouble. And John Warson had just learned that the hard way.

Then, when Seranda had burned Warson with the cigarette, he almost fell off the chair. This was drama that you couldn't find in the movies. And comedy, too. All rolled into one, here in the manager's office. "You deserved the promotion, John," he answered his burned friend, as Warson left the office, clutching his hand. "Good luck, man, okay?"

Turning his attention back to Seranda, Jim didn't know what to say. He threw back the rest of his whiskey, more out of getting over the shock than anything else. "So, boss, while no question is off limits, there's one I'm dying to ask. Have you ever let a guy touch them for real? What does a guy have to do in order to do that? Without getting his skin burnt off, of course."

"What do you mean? Warson got a full frontal grab. All he had to do was ask. If you mean something else, then you need to be my boyfriend or fuck pal. I've had two and one, respectively. Meaning... Wow... 26 years old and I've only slept with three guys. Shameful. Anyway, I feel it's the right thing for you to get your own office."

Her phone suddenly rung. "Seranda speaking..." She paused to listen. Her face about as serious as it gets. It really sucked to be cock blocked by a phone. She glanced at him and nodded towards the door. She didn't even have to say it. Get out.

Jim grinned at her answer. He'd only been half serious about his question, and wasn't sure what was more surprising: That she'd openly admitted how many guys she'd slept with, or that she'd had a meaningful relationship at all. He nodded as she agreed to give him an office, and then stared him out the door.

There were still a remnant of people milling about outside the office, one of whom was Marcus.

"Hey Jim, you made the right move getting rid of Ape, buddy, thanks for doing that.."

"Shut up Marcus, you deserved to be fired as well, to be honest. April just deserved it more."

"Uh... yes, sir...,"

Jim wondered what got into him there. Was he actually feeding off Seranda's management style? As he continued back to his desk, he kept wondering about those two boyfriends of Seranda's. Were they guys with no spine whatsoever who actually liked getting ordered around? Or was it possible, that arrogant as she was here, she was actually more compromising or submissive in her personal life? He blurted out a little laugh to himself at the thought of Seranda and 'submissive' in the same sentence, as he sat back down in his familiar cubicle. He really didn't feel like doing his old work. Warson had that now. And there weren't any audits or personnel moves due. So he decided to load up anything he didn't want discovered on his computer and start moving them to a flash drive to be safe.

As the day came to a conclusion, workers began to leave, according to their schedules. "Night guys, see you tomorrow. Friday at last right?"

"Night Johnny. Congrats on your promo."

"Okay, so tomorrow I am off... you do remember that I spoke to you about it right?"

"Night guys, see you in twelve hours."

"Who's up for a beer? Or two..."

One by one, the entire staff emptied itself out from the office. Most people didn't say anything to Seranda, she'd hardly answer back anyway.

She cleaned up her office-bar, drinking what she had offered Warson, who still had the burn on his wrist.

She exited her office after actually doing some paperwork.

"You probably got to sit around and not do anything huh?"

Jim had actually been waiting around for a little bit, after wishing everyone else a good night, wondering when it would be time to go. He would have left already if not for the fact that he was Seranda's ride.

"Uh..." he stammered for a second. He had actually gotten to sit around and not do much. "I wouldn't say nothing, Seranda," he said to her with a grin. "I was cleaning up some of my stuff a little bit," he suggested, which was actually true. "And I was plotting out how I'm gonna be able to do seventy-five percent of your work and keep my sanity. So you ready to roll?"

She shrugged. "If I'm doing all of it now, you can do a portion of it." She looked at his computer. "What's that document you have up?" She said, starting to walk over to his computer.

Jim bit his lip and blushed a little at her inquiry. "Oh, that's really nothing important," he dismissed it. Reaching out with his right hand, he closed the window with his mouse. Running his fingers through his wavy hair, he tried to change the subject. "So what do you usually do with your free time after work, anyway?"

She looked over at him and shrugged. "Um... I sleep. I drink liquor. I sometimes play on my console. You know, online... yeah. Fighting games... and shooters too. I watch some porn sometimes, but it doesn't get me off. I can get more excited from reading a romantic book. So sometimes I do that." She fixed her glasses. "What... that's not what you expected?"

Jim swiveled around in his chair as she spoke, finding himself almost face-level with her pendulous breasts. Looking up at her, he shook his head. "To tell you the truth, not really," he answered. "Maybe the fighting games. You're an aggressive girl; I'm sure you don't need me to tell you that. I've always doubted you get all your energy out in the office, so the games do that for you, I'm sure. But I'm a little surprised you watch porn and read romance," he thought out loud, with a grin. "I guess I thought you got all the 'release' you need by shredding people to pieces. Maybe it's just hard to think of such a dedicated professional as having a sexual side." The thought actually crossed his mind of telling her about his stories. Maybe she'd actually like them. But in the end, he decided against it; after all, they were on his work computer.

"I learned some martial arts when I was younger, so I guess I could shred people to pieces after all... Well, if we are finished here, would you mind dropping me off at my place? My car will likely be out for some time... and for me to take these crowded buses and trains... I'm just asking for trouble." She started to walk back to her office to lock everything up. "I just hope you're ready. I promise you, this work will be very difficult."