The Capps - Chapter 1
(If you haven't, read the PROLOGUE first.)
Goneril was sitting at her new office desk, seemingly completely engrossed in the papers in front of her, with a hand on her forehead keeping her gaze away from what was on the left. She sat like that for a while, even though she wasn't actually reading anything, before throwing her pen across the table and jerking her head to the left.
She was done avoiding eye contact with a picture - her irritated gaze was now fixed on the framed photograph across. Cordelia calmly and steadily gazed back from the photograph. As always, her unreadable face made Goneril uneasy. It was the lack of judgment, she supposed, what made her most uncomfortable. While others never shied away from letting their judgment show, Cordelia either masterfully hid it, or genuinely didn't feel it, keeping Goneril perpetually unsure whether she was worse or better than all the rest of them. Goneril wanted to get up and put the photograph somewhere out of sight, but it stood there for so long that anyone who'd enter would notice it's gone right away. What would they think? Nothing good, that much was clear. No, she would have to share this office with it, learn to block out the unceasing gaze.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door. This will not be pleasant, she thought.
"Come in," she said to her siblings as she put on a blank face.
There was no point in beating around the bush once the pleasantries were exchanged.
The only thing Goneril could do is present the full gravity of the situation their family business was in, and hope her siblings would remain reasonable. Goneril's choices were not pleasant to hear, but Regan and Kent both understood had to be made. She paused before presenting her last point, hoping against odds her luck wouldn't change and her siblings would remain as understanding.
"And lastly, I think you will both agree that we are forced to freeze all funding to Kent's research for the time being."
For a moment the room was silent.
"Are you firing me?" Kent was dumbfounded.
"Of course I am not firing you! I might be president, but this is our company. I am very sorry that we can't afford to fund you at this time, but with Consort gone I was hoping you'd take his position."
"But I'm a scientist, I don't know anything about running a business."
"Kent, you have two PhDs, you'll learn this in a week."
"Is this bitch for real?" Regan was almost too resigned to be angry. She should never have listened to damn Cornwall - sister or not, the only thing any of them could get out of working for Goneril was get screwed over.
"Despite what you might think of me, Regan, I do not enjoy being the one forced to make the hard choices."
"Of course! How inconsiderate of me!" This was too much for Regan - not only did Goneril get everything, screw over everyone else, but she actually saw herself as a victim. "Poor Goneril, always getting the short end of the stick!"
Goneril willed her every muscle to stay in place place - she would not let Regan turn this meeting would into yet another fight.
Goneril's composure only enraged Regan more. She inhaled audibly, ready to speak, but exhaled instead, closed her eyes for a moment, and said as calmly as she could, "I give up Goneril. It's all yours. I'm done with all of this." Then she left the room.
Kent shot one last look of contempt at Goneril before leaving without a word.
Goneril stood up and approached the window. She saw entire Veronaville underneath her, where everything looked somehow smaller and crummier than before. The view depressed her and she let out an irritated sigh before turning away from the window. Cordelia stared at her from her photograph.
"What are you looking at?" she shouted, finally loosing composure.
Without a second thought she stepped forward, grabbed the frame and flipped it over.
------
Outside Regan was venting.
"Oh. God. Fuck! Can you believe that fucking bitch! Can you believe this fucking day!?"
"I can't. I fucking can't."
Regan looked at him and burst into laughter. Even with everything that's happened, Kent swearing was a hilarious sight. She laughed and laughed, but when she finally stopped, she felt only more drained than before.
"You should laugh a bit too," she said anyway.
"I'm jobless and homeless. I'll laugh some other time."
"Oh, right. I forgot you were living at the lab. Well, you can stay with me for a while."
"Are you sure?"
She shot him an unimpressed look. "Let's go home, I need a drink."
------
Once home, Regan started pouring them drink after drink, and soon enough they were both quite drunk.
"Can you believe she expected me to just give up on everything I worked on for years to do some brain-dead administrative job father did?"
"'Brain-dead job!'" Regan exclaimed. "You know mother only gave him that job to get him out of her hair?"
Kent found it hilarious, "Yes! 'Consort dear, here's something for you to keep you busy,'" he imitated their mother's voice.
Regan laughed, "Like giving a… what's it called? That thing… the toy for babies, the one where you put things in holes?"
"A toy where you put things in holes? I don't think that toy is for babies, Regan." They laughed even harder.
"The shape sorter?" Kent asked once the laughter subsided.
"Yes, that's it!" This time Regan started imitating their mother, "'Here, have a shape sorter Consort dear, sit quietly on that blanket and amuse yourself.'"
"Imagine father playing with a toy on a blanket!"
"In a diaper!"
They both laughed hysterically.
All of a sudden, Kent stopped laughing and walked over to the sofa without a word.
He sat down and turned to his sister, "I still can't believe Goneril wanted me to do that job. Me, the one person in this family who knows absolutely nothing about the company. What was she thinking?"
"But, Kent," Regan sat beside him, "you've heard her - you could learn all about it in a week. A week! I mean, I'm doing it, how hard could it be? The fact that it took me years of studying and hard work to get where I am only proves what a complete idiot I am." Realizing what she'd said, Regan paused in defeat, "Where I was; it was hard work to get where I was."
Kent gave her a sympathetic look, "I am sorry, Regan. Mother should've chosen you."
Regan smirked bitterly. "Don't you know? Spending years working in the company could never prepare me for running it. If only I had spent those years procreating instead. Then I'd have what it takes to do the job."
"Regan, what are we going to do now?"
"I don't know," she started rubbing his back, "maybe sleep on it for a start?"
Kent nodded, "It's funny, I feel so drained, I think I could fall asleep right here and now."
Regan stood up, "So sleep."
Kent put his glass down and rolled over on the sofa, "I'll just lie down for a second."
He was fast asleep before Regan poured herself another drink.
------
"You're home already!" Cornwall said as he walked in.
"Stop shouting, Kent's sleeping," Regan whispered and motioned to where Kent was asleep.
"Alright," Cornwall whispered back after seeing Kent. "Why is he sleeping at our house at 2 pm anyway?"
"He needed a place to stay, I told him he could stay at our guest house."
"We don't have a guest house. If you're referring to that house," he pointed at the small house beside theirs, "that is my office."
"Be quiet," she hushed him, "I don't think you'll be needing an office any time soon anyway."
He ignored her request for quietness. "What is that supposed to mean?" he said annoyed, "And why would Kent even be staying here?"
It started dawning on him that the meeting had gone much worse than he'd hoped, "What did you do?" he asked.
"I quit."
"God, Regan, we talked about this, you promised you wouldn't do anything stupid!" he shouted.
"I didn't do anything 'stupid'!" This time she was the one shouting. "If you want to be my sister's lackey, be my guest, go ahead and beg for your pathetic job, but don't dare tell me I'm stupid for not jumping-"
"Alright, alright," Cornwall cut her annoying tantrum off, "just… just pour me a drink. We'll deal with this when you're less…" 'out of your goddamn mind' he thought, but he knew Regan too well to say it aloud. "We'll talk about this when you're less drunk," he said instead.
Regan looked at him blankly for a moment, then poured them both a drink. "A toast. To new beginnings. No, to family. And sisters. No, wait," she raised her glass even higher for her final choice, "to marriage."
"To marriage," Cornwall repeated bitterly.
[read the next chapter]
a/n: I'm sorry for the incredibly long wait. For the reasons see my previous post. I promise that won't happen again (at least not any time soon), as I've got 3 next chapters already done, precisely so this kind of thing wouldn't happen again.
For those willing to read my pointless ramblings, carry on. :D These first chapters are mostly just making sense of what we've been given by Maxis (like Kent loosing his job and living with Regan, Regan wanting to go into business on her own, etc.), so they're not the most interesting, but it should get better once the introduction part is out of way. Also, if Capps are Maxis' pathetic attempt at making a matriarchal family, all I can say is they failed miserably. They killed Contessa (who was also unemployed her entire life!), the eldest daughter was pressured into having more children than she'd wanted, the younger married a man she was never in love with... As I said - pathetic. As I really like the idea of them being a proper matriarchal family, I'm making some slight adjustments to make it so (like interpreting the fact that Contessa was unemployed to mean she owned the whole business, not worked a proper job in one). Also, Capps are all in business career track, so I'm taking it to mean they have some kind of family company.