Public Relations [Closed] - Printable Version
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RE: Public Relations [Closed] - megs - 07-23-2017
Julianna found herself smiling as they walked, which sort of ruined the reputation she had been trying to set with her usually neutral expression. But between walking close to Renton and knowing about the general’s secret crush on him, she found herself in a pretty chipper mood. She only hummed, as if she didn’t know what would have gotten Owen all concerned over his injuries. Julianna hadn’t yet decided if she was going to tell him what she’d discovered. She chuckled as he whined, lifting her free hand to push waves of hair over her shoulder. “No, you don’t have to, but he would be willing to train you personally,” she sang this as if the offer was particularly enticing. Chuckling again she quickly added Owen’s conditions. “If his schedule allows it.” Julianna lowered her tone and made a stony face that could almost rival the brigadier general’s. She was clearly poking fun at him. “He also said that I should take them, too, since you and I are so close.” Julianna’s smirk when she said the was entirely due to the jealous way she remembered Owen pointing that last bit out.
When the reached the cafeteria, Julianna followed suit, joining Renton at the salad bar. Her intentions, however, were wildly different from his and her bed of lettuce only ended up as a vehicle for cubed ham and shredded cheddar and a creamy Caesar dressing. The bottle of spring water she bought, by no means made up for it. Salad and belongings were abandoned on the table, and she smoothed her skirt behind her knees as she sat. Immediately, the lunch was forgotten in favor of work emails that blinked notifications on her tablet.
“So, what do you think the brigadier general,” she asked Ren, gaze flicking up and away from her tablet to level on him briefly, before dropping down again.
RE: Public Relations [Closed] - saronym - 07-25-2017
Renton brightened at the mention that Owen might teach the defense course himself and that Julianna might be his fellow pupil. Now that sounded like something he might be interested in. He nudged at her with his elbow. “I could fuck with that.” He laughed suddenly a little too loudly. “Can you imagine though? The two of us getting beat on by that grumpy general? The three of us in a room together and a license to strike?” He waved his hand as if the notion was ridiculous. “That would be too much.”Sitting across from her, Renton watched Julianna arrange herself prettily before going in on her food. He imagined that they made a nice looking pair with matching outfits and similar but individual meals.
A flash of white toothed grin was the preamble to his answer of her question. But first he served himself a bite of leaves.
Then he gestured casually with his fork before stabbing at a tomato. “I’d let him fuck the shit out of me, honestly. But -” he popped the red vegetable into his mouth and pushed it to the side before saying, “-that’ll never happen. You can have him if that's what you were like trying to get at. If you’re interested you should probably know that he went through a nasty divorce recently if the rumors are accurate. He doesn’t talk about it.” He shrugged. "Or so they say. I'm not really in his inner circle. So." A sly smile spread across his face. "I could find out for you, though. Getting someone's texts and voice mails isn't that hard."
RE: Public Relations [Closed] - megs - 08-08-2017
“I could imagine,” she agreed. Julianna had been thinking about Owen’s offer to run them through defense modules since he’d mentioned it. Not out of any particular affection for the idea, but because she didn’t know how she’d been sort of roped into them as well. Her cute almost-date idea for Renton and Owen had been turned completely upside down. “It’s up to you,” she pointed out, withholding a dramatic sigh. “You don’t have to take them, obviously.” At this point she almost wished he’d decline so she didn’t have to go. Julianna kept her eyes on her tablet, letting Renton eat as her question settled between them. Her stomach was clamoring in demand of the food she had prepared for herself, but she was drowning in emails that needed responses.
A chirrup of laughter escaped her when he finally answered. It was a shocked sort of sound because that had not at all been the answer she was requesting or expecting. The follow-up thereafter was also way off mark. Closing the cover over her tablet she pushed it to the side and replaced it with her salad. “No, that’s not at all why I was asking,” she replied, tone still laced with chuckles. Her ears made a flat plane off either side of her head, and her tail swayed where it fell off the chair.
“No digging,” she instructed, making a pointed gesture at him with her fork. “We have enough on our plates without you rifling through the Brigadier General’s personal history.” Julianna picked a piece of ham out of the bed of lettuce and nibbled at it. “Besides, that’s not why I was asking. I was asking because of his obvious crush on you.”
RE: Public Relations [Closed] - saronym - 08-14-2017
Renton managed to purse his lips while also taking a long drink of water while he watched Julianna over the plastic that sparkled with the clear liquid inside. He set the bottle down and only rested the cap on top. “What are you kidding me? We’re taking these classes sister. Just you and I and that hot general.” His nose wrinkled cutely when he snickered at her. He couldn’t help but roll his eyes and nodded like a petulant child being told by their parent not to steal snacks before dinner. “Fine. Okay. No digging.” He said with a huff of resignation while his hands spread showing that he was harmless. It was just a silly suggestion.
Renton stabbed a tomato with his fork and deposited it into his mouth. He was washing down the tomato with a swig of water when he choked at the suggestion that the general in question had a crush on him. He wiped self-consciously at the liquid that ran down his chin and gave her a withering stare.
“He most certainly does not -omigod he’s right behind you.” Renton segued frantically from denying Owen’s crush to warning Julianna of the presence of their topic of gossip. His face went to a sort of look of surprise mixed with fear mixed with admiration
Indeed, Owen had entered the cafe. Though he had claimed to Julianna that he was taking a working lunch, that was not entirely true. Well, it wasn’t true at all. He’d made the excuse so as to not have to suffer anymore suggestions as to his romantic inclinations from the shrewd public relations woman. He was only now venturing to the cafe to secure some milk for the sorry protein powder shake lunch he’d brought for himself. He clutched in his hand a shaker with the powder already distributed inside awaiting a liquid to mix with it. When he entered the cafe, his eyes lazily passed over the faces sitting at the various tables that dotted the room as he worked his way through. They settled by complete luck on Renton’s blue-eyed gaze then flicked to the back of his lunch partner’s head. Undoubtedly Julianna if those Veridian ears and that curly hair were any sign.
Owen nodded curtly to Renton given that their eyes had locked and almost returned to his mission but he was stopped when Renton raised a hand and waved him over.
“I’m going to wave him over.” Renton was explaining to Julianna even as his hand motioned to Owen.
The grumpy general stopped in his tracks and closed his eyes for a brief moment. He pinched the bridge of his nose right between the eyes as if mentally preparing himself for the interaction to come. Owen lurched into motion and crossed the room to where his crush beckoned.
“Agent Bell. Miss Maxilion.” He greeted politely if somewhat cold. “Is there something you needed, Bell? I was -”
“I would like to accept your offer to teach myself and Julianna personal defense.” Renton chimed at Owen brightly and gazed up at the tall general with that crystalline gaze.
Owen’s glance flicked to Julianna and back again and he shifted on his feet. He looked as if he were about to back out on some ill advised deal he made. “I’m glad you’re interested, Bell. However, I informed Miss Maxilion that I would consider teaching the course should my schedule allow. And -”
“I’m sure your assistant can work it out. Besides Julianna and I were really excited to have the best teach us. Right?” Renton looked to Julianna to back him up.
RE: Public Relations [Closed] - megs - 08-17-2017
Julianna’s lips parted with the beginnings of a quick retort; she wouldn’t stand for him telling her that she was wrong that way when she had just spent time confirming it during her interaction with Owen that morning. However, the announcement that he was behind her caused her mouth to shut so quickly that her teeth snapped together. Her ears pushed to high attention on top of her head and she resisted the urge to turn around. She wanted to confirm that he wasn’t simply saying it so she would shut up, but she didn’t want to be caught scoping him out and make it all the more obvious that they were talking about him. She was fascinated to watch, in real time, the way Renton’s expression changed when gazing over at the brigadier general. The bright-eyed veneration and fearful sort of excitement. It only confirmed her ideas about pushing the two of them together.
“Yeah, sure,” she permitted, shrugging her shoulders passively to the idea of Ren waving Owen over, she turned her attention back to her salad. She began to actually eat it instead of just picking out all the best bits.
Pushing the remains of the food away from her, Julianna smiled as the general approached. Before she could return his greeting with a warmer one, Renton was interjecting and accepting an offer he hadn’t quite made. Her ears swiveled backwards, before falling to either side. Julianna looked up at Owen in time to catch the flicker of his eyes in her direction, before they both turned their gazes to Renton.
Julianna, of course, found herself at an impasse. Renton wanted her to attend the class and she wanted them to be alone. Maybe she could get them alone in some capacity if she just went along with training as well. Her brief moment of shock quickly lifted back into something pleasant. Ears up, and a smile on. She could work with this; figure it out along the way. “So excited,” she agreed, with enthusiasm that managed to sound genuine. After her teasing, it was likely that Owen knew that her excitement was more about forcing him to spend more time with his crush, and not at all about defense modules. “Shall I speak with Ms. Tiesel?” she offered, sweetly. “See what sort of schedule we can arrange?”
RE: Public Relations [Closed] - saronym - 08-18-2017
As was expected Julianna provided the requested reinforcement to Renton’s insistence on defense modules that apparently now needed to be taught expressly by Owen himself. The universe in that moment seemed to have flipped the script on the general, who, hours earlier figured that getting Renton to attend such courses would have been akin to pulling teeth. And yet here he was himself the one resisting the proposition. Owen’s lips pressed together into a thin line that was meant to keep his face neutral although it betrayed his annoyance more than anything. “I can speak with my own assistant.” He barked sharply at Julianna before he checked his tone and abandoned the aggressive line he was taking with her. He remembered the tenuous rapport they had just established earlier and wasn’t quite ready to spoil it. Not especially if they were to work together on Renton’s mess with the casino. And certainly not if he was going to actually get roped into these defense courses with her in attendance. No. It was better to try to maintain civility. Owen inclined his head and softened his voice. “Thank you for the offer.”
Renton’s hands clapped together once as if to signal the finality of the agreement though nothing really had been agreed upon. He could obviously sense the tension in the general and wondered if it had something to do with Julianna’s revelation that she had teased him earlier during their meeting. His head cocked thoughtfully at the general while his mind worked quickly at how he could prolong their interaction. His eyes followed the sharp line of Owen’s uniformed shoulder and down his arm to where his hand gripped that shaker. “What’s that?”
Owen’s concentrated hard stare of warning at Julianna was disrupted. He was somewhat thrown by Renton’s curiosity and lifted his own hand questioningly as if he wasn’t quite sure just what it was he was carrying. “Oh - uh - protein powder. Lunch.”
Renton’s expression was skeptical as he made a show of looking at the measly protein shake and the large general that towered over their table. “Tell me that’s not all you’re eating.”
Owen blinked slowly patient under Renton’s examination. “No yeah. This is it today.”
Renton scoffed, “You really need a woman, Owen.”
For a second Owen looked taken aback before he concocted his face into something more severe. “Excuse me, Agent Bell?”
Renton quickly shoved a bite of salad into his mouth and tried to look innocent. He chewed and rolled his eyes up to regard the blonde through his eyelashes. One hand delicately blocked any view of half chewed lettuce as he spoke around his mouthful. “Or a man. You know someone to take care of you, uh, sir. I don’t want to assume…”
It was unclear whether the general was offended or amused. Owen seemed at least pleased that the plucky technician had been easily intimidated into calling him sir. Owen very much liked being called sir. Especially when someone pretty did it because Owen looked scary.
One eyebrow arched towards his hairline and his lip on the opposite side also pulled upwards. “I’ll take your offering into consideration then.” Owen said as he rapped his knuckles on the table. The gesture seemed playful.
He then turned his head slowly to stare back at Julianna. He stared investigatively at the woman as if trying to glean whether she had shared the secret of his crush with Renton and whether that was the reason for the technician’s humorously offensive outburst. “What do you think? Do I need a woman or a man to take care of me? In your expert opinion.”
RE: Public Relations [Closed] - megs - 08-18-2017
The general snapped at her and Julianna’s ears fell towards her hair. She had more control over them then not, but she simply didn’t like his tone, and it was evident in the automatic way the appendages pinned backwards. Her smile dimmed, before it faded completely and she met cool grey eyes that displayed a note of cautions with her usual and neutral mask. The end of her tail twitched near the floor, and even though he was already policing the way he was speaking to her, she’d clearly been bothered. Julianna backed out of the interaction that Renton was still attempting with Owen, by turning her attention back to her lunch. Though her ears popped upwards again, and it was obvious she was giving Owen a cold shoulder of sorts, but she was still tuned into the conversation the two men were having.
The fog of tension thickened with Renton’s comment. The PR agent finished off the last of her salad and pushed the bowl and fork to the side. While her hands worked to bring her tablet back front and center, green eyes tracked between the two men. There was no subtlety in how invested she was in the conversation. Feeling the general’s eyes on the top of her head, she lifted it and her gaze upwards to meet Owen’s once more. Pursing her lips as if in thought, she hummed once before replying, “both.” She was smiling again. “In my expert opinion, I’d say you’d benefit from having one of each. It’d be so much fun that way, no?” Her eyes fell away from him and she glanced at Renton. “Besides, who wouldn’t enjoy twice the attention?”
RE: Public Relations [Closed] - saronym - 08-18-2017
Owen scoffed almost violently at the suggestion of ‘both.’ The derisive sound exploded from the back of his throat expressing exactly what he thought of the clever suggestion. Or did it? The sound was oddly followed by an almost licentious smirk that suggested he might enjoy the prospect of possessing both a man and a woman at once.“Sounds like twice the work for me.” He countered despite the expression on his face.
The general had noticed her deflation earlier in the conversation. The way his tone had caused her ears to slump away from him and how she had occupied herself almost sourly with her salad. He managed an amused smile for her.
“But you’re the public relations expert, right? You know people.”
Renton had laughed out loud at Julianna’s remark finding it rather brilliant in the way it livened up the general. “As enjoyable as this little diversion has been,” Owen said somewhat sarcastically to put an end to whatever direction the conversation was going. “I am going to find some milk for this and go back to work.”
He started walking away from the table but doubled back after a few paces. “Both of you send your availability to Miss Tiesel and copy me with the subject line: personal defense modules.” His instructions were given with a general’s coolness and expectation for compliance.
Renton brightened up and nodded. “Yes, sir.” He agreed enthusiastically to Owen’s already turned back.
When the general was out of earshot, Renton leaned towards Julianna. “Both.” He repeated her earlier answer. “You are too much.” He leaned back in his chair and stabbed lazily at his salad that he seemed less interested in now. “So what was that? He seemed a little bit mad with you? I thought you two were all buddies now conspiring about my future in secret. Or did I miss something?”
RE: Public Relations [Closed] - megs - 08-18-2017
“The work is most of the fun,” Julianna replied without missing a beat. She held his gaze. “And so much more… rewarding at the end of the day. Wouldn’t you think?” Ears twitched to the sound of Ren’s delighted laughter and Julianna nodded her curt agreement. “I do know people,” she agreed, pointedly. Reminding him of their previous exchanges. Not only that she knew of the secret crush that he harbored, but her observation of the way he had interacted with Juniper and his mother. Her tail swayed, catching the smile he was presenting for her. At this point, she knew his face well enough to noticed the strained edges of it, but he was trying and that was a win.
She mumbled polite farewells as he began to walk away, but then watched as he walked right back. “Of course, Agent Hart,” she said in time with Renton’s yes, sir. Though their rapport was lighter, Julianna had yet to resign to falling below the bare minimum of respectful.
When he was gone she rolled her eyes over to Renton, because she knew he would have something to say about her near devious answer. Julianna shrugged at him, trying to play it off, but there was a smug smirk pulling at one corner of her mouth. “Well, I’m not wrong,” she replied, reaching for her bottle of water. “That man is super needy and should accept all the attention from anyone that can suffer through him.” She took a long drink from the bottle, so she could avoid Ren’s other questions while she mulled them over.
“He’s mad that I told you about his feelings for you,” she predicted while screwing the cap back on her water. “Or because he thinks I told you. Which I’m not surprised he does given the way you were talking to him and looking at him all doe-eyed. Other than that... “ Julianna held her hands up in a universal sort of I don't know gesture.
RE: Public Relations [Closed] - saronym - 08-19-2017
Renton pursed his lips thoughtfully at Julianna’s description of Owen as ‘super needy.’ While he found himself to generally be a good judge of character that was not the way he saw Owen. At least not until she had said it. Then several things about the man’s personality clicked together instantly for him. “Wow. I never noticed that about him before, but yeah, I think you’re right.” He glanced over his shoulder as if looking for the man in question who was waiting to check out with one of those little cartons of expensive organic milk the CAF sold.
He turned back around and shrugged at Julianna. “I guess he is kind of needy. Poor thing.” His lower lip jutted out in a sympathetic pout. "Needs someone to feed his ass."
Renton began gathering his trash from the lunch that seemed quite over. “Well I just don’t see it. This whole crush claim of yours.” He rolled his eyes as he stood and then waited for her to do the same so they could walk together. “It just doesn’t fit. Frankly, I think he thinks I’m annoying. And I wouldn’t blame him if that was the case.”
Renton shoved his garbage into a receptacle and walked with Julianna back out of the cafe and towards the elevators. “Well thanks for lunch.” He said politely even though she hadn’t actually bought his. More a thanks for the company.
RE: Public Relations [Closed] - megs - 08-22-2017
Julianna grinned at Renton when he reviewed her assessment of the brigadier general and drew the same conclusion. Her ears twitched, entertained, atop her head. She had already known she was right, but having a second opinion didn’t hurt. It was exactly the reason the C.A.F paid her a ridiculous amount of money to manage people, because she was good at them. “Don’t feel too bad for him,” she replied, leaning back in her chair, she didn’t need to look to know that Renton was seeking out Owen who waited in line somewhere behind him. “He’ll figure it out, probably. Until then, I guess he will be single and grumpy.” She shrugged her shoulders again, before retrieving her own trash and belongings from the table and standing with the technician. She moved with him through the cafeteria.
“It’s not a claim,” she defended, keeping up with him, so she didn’t have to speak too loudly. His accommodating movements made it much easier to do so. “It’s a fact. Do you not remember the way he touched you this morning.” Julianna pushed her trash into the bin while maintaining steady eye contact with Renton. She was giving him a very pointed and sort of know-it-all look. “Besides, you didn’t talk to him today about what we’re going to do. He was very invested in making sure nothing happened to you. And he turned bright red when I suggested he teach the classes.”
The agent listed all of these things as if her words were actually punctuated with bullet points. Somehow, it seemed, she had managed to give this a lot of thought between her meeting with Owen and lunch with Renton. Though, convinced, she sighed dramatically when they reached the elevators, because she knew they were about to depart with him still doubting her. “You’re welcome,” she replied, one ear falling off of her head. Her tail swayed back and forth behind her shoulders. “I have some calls to make, and then we can talk more about this casino business.”
RE: Public Relations [Closed] - saronym - 08-22-2017
Renton listened with obvious interest to the points of observation that Julianna made concerning the case of Owen’s crush on him. He had pressed the counter-argument expressly because he was interested in hearing more of what she had to say without expressly asking for it. He wanted to avoid coming off as desperate or too-interested. Plus it helped to maintain the mindset of skepticism lest he work himself up even more about the brigadier general just to end up disappointed as was so often the case for him, for whatever reason.“It is a claim though. Every piece of evidence you’ve provided is circumstantial. He touched me because he was surprised and interested. The man is in the military okay? He probably has some morbid interest in wounds. Second, of course he is interested in keeping me from being sent back to prison. The projects he oversees directly benefit from my work! As for his redness, for all you know he has some high blood pressure. He is a high stress, anger management case. The only definitive way to tell if someone is interested romantically is for them to kiss you on the mouth. That's my measuring stick.”
Renton folded his arms over his chest and popped his hip as if all of his counterpoints were just as valid as her first hand observations. The elevator dinged it’s arrival and signaled that the conversation was coming to an imminent close.
“That’s fine. I’m swamped so no rush. And it’s not like my fate is in my hands so I don’t necessarily need to be in the know right at this moment...” He trailed off with a sigh wishing this seemingly endless workday would come to a close. He was feeling exhausted after the previous evening’s events and with the day’s workload. As they rode the elevator together, he leaned against the back wall of the elevator and let his head fall down to her shoulder.
RE: Public Relations [Closed] - megs - 08-27-2017
Though Renton was playing it cool and aloof, Julianna was perfectly fine ticking off the points to her argument even if he didn’t seem interested. He fought against her and she huffed, sighing sharply through her nose and spreading out her arms in a gesture that looked like defeat as she followed him into the elevator. He didn’t want to believe her? Fine. He’d see it soon enough for himself. As far as plans went she didn’t have one. Julianna never would have considered herself particularly good at matchmaking (to be honest she had never tried), but certainly her professional people skills could totally be applied to this situation. “Alright,” she said, situating herself against the back wall of the elevator next to him. “I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens.”
Julianna left the conversation with Owen at that. She’d contact the general’s assistant and get them all set up to get beat up on by the grumpy officer. She wasn’t looking forward to it, but she’d endure for the sake of this romance she was cultivating.
Silver ears popped to attention, caught off guard by the weight of Renton’s head on her shoulder. Her tail swayed near the floor and she looked down her nose at the top of his head. She traced the fall of perfectly styled black locks with her eyes. In that moment, she felt a sudden and unexpected affection for him. It latched on to the protectiveness she had felt towards him the night before. Her gaze skirted back upwards and she focused instead on her own reflection in the elevator doors.
“Would you like to stay with me, again, tonight?” Renton still came off to her as worn down from the previous evening’s events. She thought he might like the continuation of her company, until the matter was more settled.
RE: Public Relations [Closed] - saronym - 09-08-2017
When she issued the invitation for him to stay another night at her apartment, Renton lifted his head suddenly from her shoulder. He didn’t know if he wanted to contiue to come off as weakened or defeated by the casino fiasco. He shrugged one shoulder and his eyes rolled away from her to the floor. “That’s a sweet offer.” He said noncommittally.
The elevator dinged its stop at his floor and he took a few steps toward the door as it began sliding open. He turned and flashed his typical sparkling smile at her.
“I think I’ll be okay though! I don’t want to impose on your privacy.” Renton winked at her and stepped out of the elevator.
RE: Public Relations [Closed] - megs - 09-09-2017
He declined her offer and her ears pinned backwards for a moment. She felt a brief embarrassment for thinking he would need to rely on her for further comfort. “Well, the offer will stand if change your mind,” she heard herself say as her ears popped to attention and her eyes tracked his movements towards the front of the elevator. She waved to him with her free hand, and something about that wink had her blushing as the doors closed. The rest of her workday was uneventful. Julianna spoke with Lilian Tiesel, Owen’s assistant, and provided her with their respective schedules. There was something strange about the interaction, that Julianna couldn’t quite place. Ms. Tiesel was polite, but there was a methodical coldness from the other woman that almost read like jealousy.
Julianna didn’t think too much of it, and the topic was forgotten by the time she returned home. After a bit of yoga and a shower, she dressed in satiny short pajamas and treated herself to greasy Chinese take-out and a few glasses of red wine. Settling onto the couch with her lo mein and her tablet, she coudln’t decided if she wanted to read a book or keep working.