Illicit Inqiuiry
Moon
- Joined
- Aug 25, 2024
Jason Hughes did not have the best childhood in the world. He was born with pretty bad vision and had to wear extra thick glasses ever since he was young. That, coupled with a small speech impediment, made it so that he was picked on quite a bit as a child and into middle school. That all seemed to change in high school where he had his first major growth spurt, going from 4'8" to 5'11" in the span of a year. His new found height and more fashionable glasses made it so that the bullying based on his appearance seemed to stop all at once. Things were looking up for Jason. The problem was that bullies don't just pick on the kids they think are worse off than them, they also pick on any possible threat to their authority. To Luke Fields, that threat was now Jason. Luke was two years older than Jason, and despite being a very handsome senior he felt threatened by Jason because he caught a girl Luke liked laughing at one of Jason's jokes. That was really all it took to make Jason Luke's newest target.
Luke's final year of high school was about tearing Jason down, about making sure that Jason never took any girls that Luke was interested from. In hindsight people could say Jason was a target because he was a witty and good looking kid who Luke felt threatened by. Jason wouldn't be able to look at it that way, because in spite of Luke seeming like an obvious bully, his tactics worked. That girl who laughed at Jason's jokes soon was laughing at Jason whenever Luke pushed him around or made fun of him. Maybe it was because high schoolers want to be around the perceived strongest kids in the school, or they didn't want to be targets themselves, but people joined in on Luke's bullying instead of helping Jason.
This set Jason back, but he was grateful that Luke was barely able to make it to some state college where he was able to attend a private university out of state. In a new environment, Jason got his confidence back, and he began to enjoy life again. It was near the end of college that he met his future partner, Dakota Burns. She was smart, gorgeous, and just a joy to be around. The two hit it off and were soon dating. They helped each other through college, and Jason supported Dakota in her career by getting a marketing job to pay the bills while Dakota finished her education. From there, Dakota returned the favor as Jason decided to go to law school. Having experienced bullying first hand, Jason had a strong sense of justice. In law school Jason dreamed of working at a big firm that prosecuted criminals.
After he graduated, he was able to land a job at Cooperton & Fields. He did not think much of the name through the interview process, Fields was not the most uncommon name in the world, and it had been years since he encountered his bully. So when he landed the job and showed up that first day with donuts for the entire office, he was shocked to see Luke sitting behind the desk that belonged to his new boss. It didn't make sense, it made Jason freeze up at the sight of his bully now in a position of power at such a young age. The worst part was, when Luke saw Jason, there was a hint of recognition in his eyes. His bully remembered him as well.
The problem with a career as a lawyer was that it was not just for the smartest people or those with a sense of justice. Assholes could become excellent lawyers. Luke was confident as hell and able to manipulate others with ease, add in his desire to obtain money and power, and he was a natural born lawyer. While Jason tried to ignore Luke as best as he could, he found out from his coworkers that Luke had apparently become a lawyer just a year earlier than Jason. Yet in his first case he pulled some insane tactics that every said shouldn't work, only for him to win a massive case and be promoted to partner on the spot.
Luke, for his part, took notice of Jason right away. The reason he didn't say anything at first was because he wanted to look into Jason. Luke had no remaining grudge against Jason to give him reason to bully him. Instead, Luke continued to be a bully for the same reason he had always been a bully, it made his life easier. He learned early on as a partner that you didn't have to do any real work. Partners were just able to assign themselves the flashiest cases and make the new hires do all the work, then at the very end, he would take credit and the money. So after seeing that Jason did pretty damn well in law school, he called Jason into his office to let him know that he was 'kind enough to take Jason under his wing.' That would mean that for the next three weeks, he would make Jason's life a living hell. Extra work, late hours, coffee runs, everything he could think of to make his life easier and Jason's harder, he did.
Jason tried his best, but after every day of work he would crawl into bed and complain to Dakota about the day he had. Dakota would hear how Jason loved the law but hated his boss. How he wished he could quit but knew that in this profession if you couldn't make it a single year at a law firm then you couldn't find work at any other firm after that and you would be labeled a quitter. He complained that if only Luke got off his back he would have some time to breath and actually make a name for himself. Jason was not normally a complainer, but it appeared that Luke was pushing him to his very limits. That past night, when Jason thought Dakota was asleep, he even found himself crying to sleep for fear of what the next day would bring.
Luke of course, didn't notice this at all. He had made others suffer, and when other employees quit he just told himself that they were not 'tough enough' for the law. That was why he was able to head into work that day with a guilt-free conscious. He showed up at the office at 9:00 am. The 6'3" man wore a tailored black suit, even putting on a black dress shirt as if to show off he knew exaclty the kind of boss he was and didn't care about how he was perceived. He knew that most of his employees would show up at 7:30 this morning and that they would all be in their own offices or cubicles doing busy work until noon. That meant that Luke could just lay back and relax on his sofa in his large corner office and wait for an email from a friend or a woman he was dating to occupy his time as the others did his work for him.
Luke's final year of high school was about tearing Jason down, about making sure that Jason never took any girls that Luke was interested from. In hindsight people could say Jason was a target because he was a witty and good looking kid who Luke felt threatened by. Jason wouldn't be able to look at it that way, because in spite of Luke seeming like an obvious bully, his tactics worked. That girl who laughed at Jason's jokes soon was laughing at Jason whenever Luke pushed him around or made fun of him. Maybe it was because high schoolers want to be around the perceived strongest kids in the school, or they didn't want to be targets themselves, but people joined in on Luke's bullying instead of helping Jason.
This set Jason back, but he was grateful that Luke was barely able to make it to some state college where he was able to attend a private university out of state. In a new environment, Jason got his confidence back, and he began to enjoy life again. It was near the end of college that he met his future partner, Dakota Burns. She was smart, gorgeous, and just a joy to be around. The two hit it off and were soon dating. They helped each other through college, and Jason supported Dakota in her career by getting a marketing job to pay the bills while Dakota finished her education. From there, Dakota returned the favor as Jason decided to go to law school. Having experienced bullying first hand, Jason had a strong sense of justice. In law school Jason dreamed of working at a big firm that prosecuted criminals.
After he graduated, he was able to land a job at Cooperton & Fields. He did not think much of the name through the interview process, Fields was not the most uncommon name in the world, and it had been years since he encountered his bully. So when he landed the job and showed up that first day with donuts for the entire office, he was shocked to see Luke sitting behind the desk that belonged to his new boss. It didn't make sense, it made Jason freeze up at the sight of his bully now in a position of power at such a young age. The worst part was, when Luke saw Jason, there was a hint of recognition in his eyes. His bully remembered him as well.
The problem with a career as a lawyer was that it was not just for the smartest people or those with a sense of justice. Assholes could become excellent lawyers. Luke was confident as hell and able to manipulate others with ease, add in his desire to obtain money and power, and he was a natural born lawyer. While Jason tried to ignore Luke as best as he could, he found out from his coworkers that Luke had apparently become a lawyer just a year earlier than Jason. Yet in his first case he pulled some insane tactics that every said shouldn't work, only for him to win a massive case and be promoted to partner on the spot.
Luke, for his part, took notice of Jason right away. The reason he didn't say anything at first was because he wanted to look into Jason. Luke had no remaining grudge against Jason to give him reason to bully him. Instead, Luke continued to be a bully for the same reason he had always been a bully, it made his life easier. He learned early on as a partner that you didn't have to do any real work. Partners were just able to assign themselves the flashiest cases and make the new hires do all the work, then at the very end, he would take credit and the money. So after seeing that Jason did pretty damn well in law school, he called Jason into his office to let him know that he was 'kind enough to take Jason under his wing.' That would mean that for the next three weeks, he would make Jason's life a living hell. Extra work, late hours, coffee runs, everything he could think of to make his life easier and Jason's harder, he did.
Jason tried his best, but after every day of work he would crawl into bed and complain to Dakota about the day he had. Dakota would hear how Jason loved the law but hated his boss. How he wished he could quit but knew that in this profession if you couldn't make it a single year at a law firm then you couldn't find work at any other firm after that and you would be labeled a quitter. He complained that if only Luke got off his back he would have some time to breath and actually make a name for himself. Jason was not normally a complainer, but it appeared that Luke was pushing him to his very limits. That past night, when Jason thought Dakota was asleep, he even found himself crying to sleep for fear of what the next day would bring.
Luke of course, didn't notice this at all. He had made others suffer, and when other employees quit he just told himself that they were not 'tough enough' for the law. That was why he was able to head into work that day with a guilt-free conscious. He showed up at the office at 9:00 am. The 6'3" man wore a tailored black suit, even putting on a black dress shirt as if to show off he knew exaclty the kind of boss he was and didn't care about how he was perceived. He knew that most of his employees would show up at 7:30 this morning and that they would all be in their own offices or cubicles doing busy work until noon. That meant that Luke could just lay back and relax on his sofa in his large corner office and wait for an email from a friend or a woman he was dating to occupy his time as the others did his work for him.