The Time Has Come

[bunny_hero]

WHO: Barnaby, Chloe, and Ciel. [Closed]
LOCATION: White Rose
TIME: At this moment.
WHAT: Barnaby is considering to quit his job. What will that lead to?
RATING: G, possible PG-13 for language?

Comments

[executionerrose]

A little harmless teasing just to get a rise out of Ciel. When he does respond Chloe merely smiles at him, fully aware of how to push Ciel’s buttons by now. Really he liked the kid and would do what was necessary to protect him if a situation where he needed protecting would arise again. Fortunately that hadn’t been necessary for some time.
But maybe a friendly adversarial relationship like theirs was difficult for the uninitiated to grasp or to feel comfortable with.

“Hadn’t you said before that you needed a break?”

Chloe had a good memory. He could recall the earlier conversation they had in which Barnaby had mentioned needing a break from his hero career. What had it been? A week or so? Surely he had meant to take a longer break than that.

That conversation, the entire crucifix incident in fact, was something that would be news to Ciel. Chloe was after all a very private person. Barnaby’s hero career, unless Ciel had some other way of suspecting it, would still have been a total surprise to him.

“I think everyone here has social skills, some are just more mature when it comes to ladies.” It was not impossible to catch glimpses of his fondness for Ciel as he was quick to rise to Ciel’s defensive when it came to his social skills.
The boy could actually be very charming when he wanted to be. They difficulty was getting him to feel comfortable enough in a situation to behave properly.

The prejudice bit Ciel would have to field himself though. It sounded like a conversation those two needed to have. Prejudice over Barnaby’s uniquely flamboyant sense of fashion maybe?

[no_souls_here]

Ciel had grown quite accustomed to Chloe's teasing and even though he was aware that that was all it was he always seemed quite unappreciative. Sure, if he wouldn't react so much the sport wouldn't be as fun but it was a two way street. There were time when he would reciprocate and say something snarky or sarcastic to Chloe as well. Although he didn't want everyone to think trying to purposefully irritate him was okay, he actually appreciated it in Chloe's case not that he would ever openly admit it. The words were harmless, save for the affects they sometimes had on onlookers, and he liked not having to put on airs for his business partner.

Chloe was the one who hired Barnaby in the first place, so he could only assume this "break" Barnaby required from his other job had been discussed prior to seeking employment at the White Rose.

Who has social skills? Barnaby kept slipping in little digs directed to the youthful Earl. This hostility almost forced a smirk to his lips but he refrained lest the tension in the room increased any further. The incidents between the two had not bothered Ciel as much as his employee, apparently. Yes, the costume issue... had offended his Victorian senses but it was something he could look past as he needed more willing pawns in play. Besides, it was not as if he never did business with more detestable people in his own world. Barnaby's indiscretions were relatively low on the irritation scale. He was a good worker and had shown to be more than capable of handling their clientele.

Ciel might not have had any idea to what Barnaby was referring to in regards to the heartless comment he was intrigued. Now was not the time to inquire further on that subject though. He clasped his fingers together, placed his elbows on the table and sat his chin about his hands. If Barnaby was as skilled with fighting the heartless as he was with handling the ladies then he might be more useful than originally anticipated. Having not much strength of his own, the Earl did try to surround himself with those who were strong.. ah but this person still had a chip on his shoulder.

The irony was, Ciel had seen Barnaby's arrival and should have had more suspicions as to the other profession the man mentioned but he'd never connected the two situations.. at least not yet. Plus strange occurrences were happening here more frequently so that some things he'd witnessed had just been shelved in the recesses of his mind.

Prejudices. This was rich. Imagine letting that one incident, that one idiotic thing that Barnaby did and the reaction that followed it color his whole perception of his employer. As if no other employer before him had ever tried to enforce a reasonable dress code. Ah.. but if there would be any salvaging this scenario he was going to have to keep those thoughts to himself and approach this more diplomatically. He straightened his posture after he heard what everyone had to say and placed his hands on the table. "If, for the most part, your employment here has been enjoyable I would advise against leaving it. There is always the prospect of battling the heartless during the off time and we can be flexible with schedules."

He... should address that prejudices thing.." You must also realize that given the various backgrounds and natures of those that have been assembled here are going to be different and so are their sensibilities. Not everyone is going to like everything that is said and done as it is unheard of in their own frame of reference... " Sigh. "That does not mean that we cannot reach some common ground". He tried to tell Barnaby in his own fashion that he was sorry for how his reacted but not for having his own opinion on the matter.

"You are a diligent employee and I would regret it if you left.. or more importantly if you left under the impression that it was on bad terms.."

[bunny_hero]

“…Oh? I am surprised that you remembered,” Barnaby was quite surprised to see Chloe recalling their previous conversation - which meant the incident had some weight in his heart, and Barnaby was fairly glad to see that.

Without noticing Ciel’s ignorance about his previous career, Barnaby casually explained the meaning of break to Chloe before moving on. “Well, my ex-colleague has been urging me to return to the hero business since… I arrived at this world? But I really needed time to adjust to the lifestyle so I rejected his offer. But now I think it might be a good timing to re-debut.”

What struck him more was the response from Ciel. He sounded like a desperate child who wanted to save his flamboyant employee (and lose some dignity) rather than working in the frontline dealing with ladies. No, by thinking in boarder terms Ciel proved himself a very mature boy in his age - he certainly knew how to run a business, at least, better than Chloe and him.

“…Of course. And here I would like to apologise for the previous incident, if I haven’t previously done so. I understand it could be a very uneasy set of values for some individuals to accept...” His apology was sincere, not just faking one out to please the other. The earl did his apology in a very aristocratic (read: authoritative/commanding) way, so it would be better for them to come into terms. “And thanks for the compliment.” He cast the young boy a smile.

“I didn’t expect you rejecting my proposal to quit, so I am not very certain about how it will work out…” He glanced at Chloe, wondering if he preferred staying or quitting. “It seems like majority of the heartless-fighting work that I am planning to enter involves patrolling in a certain location, but often times it might involve long trips to other worlds… Any suggestion to fix the problem?”

[executionerrose]

[Missing the subject line - Part 1 of 2. ]

Re-debut. An interesting choice of words that made Chloe smile a bit. Barnaby made it sound as if being a hero was some kind of glorious profession and from what he had been told of Barnaby’s world maybe that used to be the case but Chloe doubted the same would hold true here. Not that Barnaby’s efforts wouldn’t be appreciated by the people but the fanfare he was used to was bound to be significantly less. Heroes weren’t as highly idolized here and they certainly weren’t idols.

Chloe couldn’t help but look at the whole ‘hero’ concept with a touch of cynicism. Heroes of the kind Barnaby claimed to be simply did not exist in his world. There were people with certain advanced abilities, super strength and endurance, but they had been genetically altered by science and the power they had was destructive. Corrupted by the power these people began to think of themselves as superior to other humans. They began to act as if they could do whatever they pleased to the innocent people Chloe and his partners had sworn to do his best to protect. What was worse these people had infiltrated government and even the police themselves some times worked on the side of evil.

He wasn’t of the opinion the Barnaby had this kind of destructive nature about him, but what of the others?

There were a lot of ‘hero-types’ as Hades liked to call them but which group, if any, was the best one to align oneself with? Chloe had long ago decided against joining any one unless their motivations were clearly known to him. This, at least for now, was the philosophy he had also followed here.

A careful cautious nature was practically a requirement for some one in Chloe’s profession. It was this concern that made Chloe ask himself. Were the police really as good as they claimed? And what of the King? Sure he appeared to be Mickey Mouse and past childhood admiration said that Mickey would never be involved in any kind of misdeed, but… was that truly the case? With out a chance to speak to either the King or the Chief of police it was a little difficult to judge their motivations. It also made him worry for Barnaby. Would he be getting himself into a dangerous position by trusting either one of those two groups or did he have another plan in mind?

“Do you intend to join the police force or is it the King himself you plan to work for?” He paused before adding with something of a smirk, “Or do you intend to freelance?”

Freelance, or work outside of the law, just as Chloe had chosen to do. Maybe not as an assassin but heroes didn’t really seem to need permission to exercise their craft here. It was a possibility that Barnaby might take to fighting the heartless during his free time or vise versa… then at least he could remain as an employee of the shoppe as well.

[executionerrose]

Barnaby hadn’t expected his decision to quit to be resisted? It was true, it was a bit of a shock to see Ciel… well, for him this was practically begging or at least this was the closest he would ever come to pleading with some one to stay. In the short while Barnaby had been here he had some how managed to endear himself to Ciel and his presence certainly had livened things up a little! Ciel wouldn’t be the only one who would miss him if he did quit. The ladies who so often came to the shoppe to purchase their flowers would also regret not being able to flirt with him if he left.

And yes, Chloe too would miss having Barnaby around the shoppe. It was a different kind of feeling working along side Ciel and Barnaby but the brotherhood he felt with his former partners was something he was missing now that he was away from them. Back in England it would have been himself, Yuki, Michel, Free, Ken, and Aya. A group of men who all ran a flower shop together during the day and performed their missions usually at night. Those men hadn’t made it here, they had been lost in the darkness. Hopefully one day they would find their way back out again but until then… Maybe it was hopelessly sentimental but these two had begun to feel like a family to him just as those others had.

Of course since Chloe was predominantly raised in upper crust British household what he actually said was this:

“I would also prefer if you didn’t leave.”

A statement lacking all of the deeper emotions unless one knew to look beneath the surface for them. Coming up with floral emotion laced phrases was something he was adept at when it came to ladies but how could he really ask Barnaby not to go if his sense of justice required that he act as a hero again?

“But, if you feel this is something you have to do I do understand. It isn’t possible for people like us to stand by and do nothing to help. There is a chance if you sign up with one of these groups they will assign you to Disney Castle. I believe even this world does require people to watch after it. If that happens it would be easy for you to remain an employee here as well. But if they assign you to a world further away…”

What then? Something like that would make commuting to work difficult. Some of the worlds were close enough to make it possible but there were others very far away from Disney Castle.

“Perhaps you could continue here part time and for special events?”

At least with a compromise like that Barnaby would be around occasionally. Not like they wouldn’t still see one another but his presence in the shop itself was always a positive one. It would be missed if he was never around.