Ooo, a guilty look! Well did Ruth Ann recall the looks of guilt she had inspired in the past, and with them in mind, she decided that this one was one to go on the books - she hadn't even been forced to resort to the puppy dog eyes! Or the Patented Bishoujo Stare, but then she'd never been particularly good at that, for the simple reason that she just wasn't a bishoujo.
"They're not telling you anything?" Ruth Ann asked. "Yeah, they never tell me anything, supposedly because I'm just an intern still, but I think it's really because they suspect me of not being entirely there, i.e., they think I'm off my rocker. Silly, really, but that's where one or two practical jokes will get you sometimes, I suppose."
Georgie nodded, because it mostly was the truth. She just had a feeling if she told Ruth Ann about the mysterious man, it would not end well. As in losing job not ending well, and Georgiana did like her job, interest in mystery men and secrets aside.
"I don't think you're off your rocker." Georgie supplied, hoping to divert the conversation away from what she did and didn't know. "A bit over excited, yes, but not crazy."
"Well, damn. There goes my plot to convince the entire Ministry of my insanity, slowly taking it over from the inside while they search for a culprit capable of rational thought and logic," Ruth Ann said cheerfully. "Unless, of course, you want in on those plans of Ministry, and later world, domination?"
She toyed with her fork for a minute, humming quietly to herself before suddenly looking up and fixing the other woman with a piercing stare. "Seriously though, Georgie. If you need someone to talk to, you can vent at me. I know I don't always come across as the most... together of people, but I know when to keep my lips sealed." Her eyes flicked out to take in the room for a second before returning to Georgie, and Ruth Ann gave a rueful grin. "Not that I'd recommend you venting here, of all places."
Georgie's sigh was not particularly violent, or very noticable, but it was there all the same. Not that she'd ever admit this outloud (or be particularly surprised if people didn't know this) but she didn't really have people to talk to, not properly, not unless she wanted to talk about the report that was due this week, or what was going on with Smith and Jenkins down in HR. It was nice to have the offer. Definitely it was.
Georgie just had to wonder if she knew how to share anymore. "It's like you said," She said with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes, "Here is not exactly the best place in the world to vent."
"Exactly," Ruth Ann said with a nod of her head, snapping out her napkin and laying it on her lap. This was nice, really - it wasn't often that people took her seriously, and it was very satisfying to find herself being treated as an (almost) normal human being.
"But," she added, reaching out to cover Georgie's hand in a friendly gesture, "there are other, more private places, should you ever feel the need to talk."
As Ruth Ann's hand covered her own, Georgie had to try very hard not to pull her own hand away, or stiffen or flinch or something. Physical contact ... touching other people, letting them touch her, it just wasn't something she did very often, especially because she didn't have friends to talk to, let alone people who were willing to touch her.
"Thanks." She tried smiling again, though it was muted by the fear and uncertainty in her voice. Get a grip! She was yelling at herself, Calm down and stop acting like an idiot! Ruth Ann was just being friendly and Georgie had to go and freak out like this. She turned her head towards the kitchen, pretending to be interested in when their lunch would arrive. "Thank you, for the offer."
Ruth Ann gave Georgie's hand a quick squeeze before letting it go, and smiled again. "It's always nice to have a friend in the workplace, even if you're in a different department," she said cheerfully. "I mean, I could definitely do with a friend on the ninth floor - someone to watch for supervisors while I- er." She smiled innocently, pretending she hadn't even mentioned that. "Someone to help me with stuff and give me someone to talk to while I work."
Georgie looked back to Ruth Ann and wondered why it was taking her wine so long to arrive. This plan of her being not very sober when she returned to the office was failing quite hard core and that was not pleasing at all. Sober!Georgie made for a borin afternoon of work.
As Ruth Ann spoke of the benefits of being friends (and Georgie was very inclined to agree that she did have a point, and being friends with Ruth Ann would be nice) she couldn't help but be intrigued with that unfinished sentence.
"Am I to be your fall-guy?" She asked, wry grin turning up the corners of her mouth.
Having pulled a pen from some hidden place in her hair, Ruth Ann looked up from where she was doodling on her napkin. "Fall-guy? Naw. For one thing, you're more a gal than a guy - unless those are fake," she indicated to Georgie's chest with her pen, "and anyway only lackeys are for taking the fall. I think you rate minion, at least, if not higher. I mean, you're smart. Smart people make poor minions and even worse lackeys," she explained as she drew a caricature of Georgie's boss on her napkin, adding some quick cross-hatching as she hummed a little song to herself.
Georgie raised an eyebrow and smiled and reigned in the urge to make some sort of crude comment about just how real her breasts were. But she didn't because she was sure that would probably be very inappropriate and Georgie was trying to keep her inappropriate thoughts to a minimum.
"Oh you're too kind," She couldn't help layering her voice thick with sarcasm, as Ruth Ann gave her the rank of at least a minion. "Here I thought I was going to be helping you take over the world..."
"Hey, don't be like that," Ruth Ann said, frowning as she noticed that the ink had bled through her napkin and left a few small stains on her robes. Bah. "Minion is a prime position - and really, I think you're much higher placed than that. Like a general, or something. Lackeys are canon fodder, minions sometimes get captured but are usually ignored, generals get to set off minor doomsday devices," she explained.
"Here," she added, tearing off the square of napkin that held the caricature and passing it to Georgie. "What d'you think? A decent likeness?"
Guilt was not something Georgiana liked to let herself feel often and yet when Ruth Ann chided her she couldn't help a light shade of red that crept over her cheeks and the gravity that seemed to push her down into her seat a little.
But all appeared to be amended as Ruth Ann handed her the napkin and Georige laughed. "It's brilliant," She smiled sincerly, inspecting it once more before tucking it carefully into her pocket.
And then someone was beside her with the wine she had ordered. "Excellent."
"Thanks," Ruth Ann said happily, flushing slightly. It was always a little embarrassing when people complimented her on her pictures, though she couldn't think of why that was so - really, she should be used to it by now.
Her face lit up when someone arrived with their drinks. "Excellent indeed," she said happily, accepting her own glass with enthusiasm. "There are few things in this world that cannot be made better by adding a fizzy orange drink," she said solemnly before taking a long sip of her orange soda. "Mmmm...."
Georgie watched Ruth Ann as she drank her orange drink, wrapping her fingers around the stem of her wine glass. She was already toying with the idea of getting the waiter to bring out the whole bottle.
"You're making me look quite the alcoholic, you know," She informed Ruth Ann, lifting the glass to her lips, "Drinking all alone on my lunch break. What will my superiors say?"
"Dunno, I'm not your superior yet," Ruth Ann said truthfully. "If it'll make you happier, I wouldn't mind a wine cooler after I'm done with this. Really, I dunno how you can drink white wine straight - it's so bland. I can do reds straight, but not whites." She made a face and took another sip of her glass before putting her napkin on the table and starting a new picture.
Georgie couldn't help but let her eyebrow raise as she set her glass back down on the table. Ruth Ann was definitely ambitious and for some reason, Georgie found herself believing completely in her. She really didn't doubt that one day she'd be working under Ruth Ann. Perhaps because all the aspirations she'd once had for herself had died when she found herself in this job.
"It's an acquired taste," She replied, running a slender finger around the rim of the glass, looking slightly interested in what Ruth Ann was sketching. "Used to absolutely hate it when I was younger, but I'm allergic to the preserves in red wine and it makes my mother so angry to see I'm drinking muggle alcohol. So I taught myself to drink it." She grinned at her companion and lifted the wine glass to her lips again, to prove a point.
"They're not telling you anything?" Ruth Ann asked. "Yeah, they never tell me anything, supposedly because I'm just an intern still, but I think it's really because they suspect me of not being entirely there, i.e., they think I'm off my rocker. Silly, really, but that's where one or two practical jokes will get you sometimes, I suppose."
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"I don't think you're off your rocker." Georgie supplied, hoping to divert the conversation away from what she did and didn't know. "A bit over excited, yes, but not crazy."
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She toyed with her fork for a minute, humming quietly to herself before suddenly looking up and fixing the other woman with a piercing stare. "Seriously though, Georgie. If you need someone to talk to, you can vent at me. I know I don't always come across as the most... together of people, but I know when to keep my lips sealed." Her eyes flicked out to take in the room for a second before returning to Georgie, and Ruth Ann gave a rueful grin. "Not that I'd recommend you venting here, of all places."
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Georgie just had to wonder if she knew how to share anymore. "It's like you said," She said with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes, "Here is not exactly the best place in the world to vent."
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"But," she added, reaching out to cover Georgie's hand in a friendly gesture, "there are other, more private places, should you ever feel the need to talk."
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"Thanks." She tried smiling again, though it was muted by the fear and uncertainty in her voice. Get a grip! She was yelling at herself, Calm down and stop acting like an idiot! Ruth Ann was just being friendly and Georgie had to go and freak out like this. She turned her head towards the kitchen, pretending to be interested in when their lunch would arrive. "Thank you, for the offer."
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As Ruth Ann spoke of the benefits of being friends (and Georgie was very inclined to agree that she did have a point, and being friends with Ruth Ann would be nice) she couldn't help but be intrigued with that unfinished sentence.
"Am I to be your fall-guy?" She asked, wry grin turning up the corners of her mouth.
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"Oh you're too kind," She couldn't help layering her voice thick with sarcasm, as Ruth Ann gave her the rank of at least a minion. "Here I thought I was going to be helping you take over the world..."
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"Here," she added, tearing off the square of napkin that held the caricature and passing it to Georgie. "What d'you think? A decent likeness?"
Reply
But all appeared to be amended as Ruth Ann handed her the napkin and Georige laughed. "It's brilliant," She smiled sincerly, inspecting it once more before tucking it carefully into her pocket.
And then someone was beside her with the wine she had ordered. "Excellent."
Reply
Her face lit up when someone arrived with their drinks. "Excellent indeed," she said happily, accepting her own glass with enthusiasm. "There are few things in this world that cannot be made better by adding a fizzy orange drink," she said solemnly before taking a long sip of her orange soda. "Mmmm...."
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"You're making me look quite the alcoholic, you know," She informed Ruth Ann, lifting the glass to her lips, "Drinking all alone on my lunch break. What will my superiors say?"
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"It's an acquired taste," She replied, running a slender finger around the rim of the glass, looking slightly interested in what Ruth Ann was sketching. "Used to absolutely hate it when I was younger, but I'm allergic to the preserves in red wine and it makes my mother so angry to see I'm drinking muggle alcohol. So I taught myself to drink it." She grinned at her companion and lifted the wine glass to her lips again, to prove a point.
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