"Do we Have a Deal..?"
A man lugs himself to a last resort contact after months of no results trying to help out family. He knows the guy personally, which is exactly why he waited to the very last minute to ask for his help, even though Mic knows Thorn would be the guy to do what Mic couldn't on the first try.
Every once and a while my brain let's me write something but only if i can do it in one sitting.
Enjoy A short one-shot peek into the types of business Thorn gets up to.
Will this go anywhere? I don't know, that's up to my brain.
I like to think this song goes well enough with this.
Very minimal editing has gone into this!!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Alright, alright. So let me see if I got this right…" He said, smoke billowing from between his crimson lips.
"What your mother is actually bitching and moaning about, is how you've been going behind her back to try to set your sister up in the entertainment biz, is that right?" Said Thorn, reclining wide in the sofa he was sat in, a steady gaze hidden behind the reflective lenses of his shades.
His red petals blew ever so slightly in the breeze of the air conditioning just above.
The glint of a half ragged, microphone-headed man in his ill fitted suit shone in the reflection of the sunglass lenses.
It was an image that the microphone tried not to notice, as the realization of how tired and frazzled he looked made him feel like a sick prey animal in the middle of an open field.
Jammed in a monochrome room with a high profile individual who had a hell of a reputation, along with his very stern assistant who had one of his own- it left a hanging chill in the air for Mic.
Mic tapped his foot, his hands gripping the suit fabric around his knees while Thorn has finished summarizing the situation as Mic had explained it. Then the assistant- Mr. Flower, chimed in to finish it all off.
"…And the only reason there were claims of you… "whoring out your own sister" is because your religious zealot of a mother happens to think the entire entertainment business is a product of the devil?" He said, deadpan as he hovered behind the couch Thorn sat in, clipboard in hand and an eyebrow quirked.
Mic nodded, tense,
"Ah yeah, that about sums it up…" He said, leaning forward with his elbows propped on his knees as he seemed thoughtful yet frantic.
"Defamation of character aside here, I'm at the end a my rope. We've been meetin' nothin' but dead end after dead end, and I-… I just…" The microphone headed man took a sigh, as if to calm himself before he continued on. "Listen, I know it's cut throat out there and I'm under no illusions that there aren't a lot of shady people in the business who are gonna ask for more than what the fine print will tell you." He began, his tone shifting slightly, "but I would never- and I mean NEVER do any of those things my mother has claimed." Mic assured, his voice becoming much steadier and firm as he went on.
Mic paused for a moment, reaching for the glass of water on the table to take a long gulp of before setting it back down.
He wasn't sure what sort of things were going on in Thorn's mind- if he accepted Mic's story or not. It was the truth of course.
He had been struggling for months now to get his sister into the acting scene like she had dreamed of since she was a kid, but there was always something getting in the way. Sleazy director's who couldn't keep their hands to themselves, Hollywood bigshots who would steal the role last minute or some nepo baby who's daddy owned an agency.
It was starting to become hopeless and Mic hated seeing his sister so down in the dumps about it. She had what it took and that wasn't just Mic being the doting big brother he was. His sister was genuinely talented! The problem was finding the right people to give her a chance.
If nothing else, Thorn must at least sense how desperate Mic was, and yet, as Mic thought back on all the rumours he'd heard of Thorn, coupled with his own experiences with the man, Mic really wondered if showing any sort of desperation around the monster was a good idea at all.
Mic seemed to shift uncomfortably in his seat as he grappled with the words he wanted to bring before Thorn.
He didn't really have much of a choice in the matter at the end of it all.
He didn't exactly come to Thorn expecting to get out of it all unscathed, but knowing that he didn't know what to expect was almost worse.
Mic sighed and watched as Thorn leaned forward, putting the last of his cigarette out on the ashtray at the centre of the coffee table. "Look" Mic started again, "I've always been a family first kind of guy. I take care of them, I take care of my friends. But there's only so much I can do. So I-… I…"
There was a pause as the man seemed to struggle to find his words, all the while Thorn dug into the inside breast pocket of his suit jacket to retrieve another cigarette from the box inside.
The sounds of Mr. Flower scribbling notes onto his clipboard filled the cold office air, along with the flick of Thorn's lighter as he lit himself another smoke. Then he leaned in, ready to address his client.
"…And that's why you came to me, I get it." Thorn said, taking a drag of his cig while the smoke poured from the corners of his mouth, "Though I'm a little hurt that I was your last resort and not your first call, Mic." The man said, a slight smirk as he spoke. A sentiment that seemed to make the microphone squirm a little.
He loosened the collar of his shirt.
"Ah- well, ya know, it wasn't like I didn't think of you first or nothin'" Mic laughed nervously- an attempt to cover the fact that he could feel his own voice getting caught in his throat. "I just- I know you're a busy guy and I know you do good work I just-"
"…Don't trust me?"
Another pause as Mic froze in place, watching those sharp, jagged teeth come slowly peaking out from a knowing grin.
Well shit, how does one steer the conversation out of this pit?
Mic was silent, but as Thorn casually chuckled, returning to a reclined position on the couch, Mic allowed himself a minute to breath.
Though it was more to brace himself for whatever was about to come.
"You know my price, Mic." Said Thorn, plainly. "And you know that whatever you ask of me, I can deliver." He went on, and Mic nodded. That much was true.
Thorn was the first guy to go to if someone was desperate for anything.
If you needed something, Thorn could get it. If you had a ladder to climb, competition to crush, Thorn had connections. If you were in any kind of tight situation, Thorn had the money to throw your way.
But there lied the rub to begin with.
You had to be desperate.
"Yeah, of course. And I'll pay anything!" Said Mic immediately without thinking and of course, immediately regretting his choice of words the moment they left his throat.
Mic's fists tightened around the cloth of his pants.
At that, he could see Thorn's smirk widen and Mic could swear the billowing smoke of Thorn's cigarette had almost enveloped the room while the temperature seemed to rise.
While Mic could not see what was going on in Thorn's eyes, there was definitely something in the quick glance that Mic had happen to catch from the quiet Mr. Flower. He was first and foremost, an observer though. Mr. Flower had always been as long as Mic knew him, so if there were was any sort of warning behind that glance, Mic would never know the full extent of it.
Not verbally. Not at this point.
"You know Mic, I'd like to think we're friends, yeah?" Thorn asked, not waiting for answer. He rolled his lit cigarette between his gloved fingers and Mic could have sworn he caught a flash of Thorn's wild spiral eyes from behind his darkened lenses. "Uh- sur-"
"And like you said, you take care of your friends, just the way I like to think I would too." He went on, taking a drag of his smoke before standing up.
Mic tensed, unsure of what to expect or how to respond to whatever was happening.
He watched as Thorn slowly stalked around the coffee table to approach the microphone creature, one hand buried in the pocket of his dress pants.
Thorn's various accessories faintly clacked and jingled as he walked, the rosary beads hanging from his wrist and hip, just barely poking out from beneath ebony cloth.
Mic always wondered about those…
"How about we make a deal?" Suggested Thorn, stopping just a few steps shy of Mic who was still sat and was made very uncomfortably aware of the sheer size difference between a monster of the void and your average void creature.
Despite trying to hide his nerves however, Mic's discomfort was betrayed by an audible gulp. But if Thorn noticed it, he made no attempts to show that he did. Not that he needed to.
Mic could hardly breath under the amount of smoke filling the room, and he could feel the sweat beginning to form across his body as he could swear the room was becoming very, very hot and stuffy. Like there was a fire raging in one of the nearby offices. Though if that were the case, surely the emergency sprinkler system would have gone off by now.
No, this was something else and it had Mic's limbs trembling long before the anxiety began to well up in his throat.
"I- uh, a deal?" He stammered, looking up at Thorn who's smirk widened.
He lifted his hand, directing Mic's attention towards the coffee table. A pristine, lengthy contract sitting there neatly printed with Mic's name at the top, beneath which was a mountain of text with little time for Mic to even glance at any of it.
Where had that even come from..?
"I'll set your sister up with her dream job just like you both wanted, and she won't have to pay a penny!" Thorn explained, the enthusiasm dripping from his words much the same way toxic sludge drips from the rim of a rusty drainage pipe.
If Mic had eyes, they would have certainly widened at that prospect- and if he had eyebrows, they definitely would have knitted together incredulously at this point.
"But…" Mic said, knowing there was more. He just wanted to know what.
Thorn's grin softened to a smile, but it was by no means any more comforting than the jagged grins Mic almost preferred at this point. And it didn't help matters at all hearing Mr. Flower writing down things at a much more consistent pace than he had ever been doing during the entire meeting.
"But!" Thorn began, "I do require recompense for my services- a sort of equivalent exchange. Doesn't have to be money, but… You know this." Thorn said with another widened grin and a shrug, all said with the tone of a man going through another routine Friday night. And as far as Mic understood, that is exactly what this was to Thorn, yet to Mic himself- as he stared at the suddenly appearing contract on the table in front of him, he couldn't help but feel… afraid.
Mic tried to think back to every previous sucker who he had brought to Thorn in the past and what had become of them.
Good gods, what had become of them? It had only now occurred to Mic that setting up a meeting for those previous clients was the last he'd ever personally heard from them, and while that wasn't entirely uncommon, he would think he'd have learned of what became of them through word of mouth. Especially when working under Thorn.
Mic felt like he was about sign onto something far bigger than what he had ever asked for. But his thoughts ran back to his sister, her tired form dragging herself up the ramshackle staircase of her shoddy apartment for the fifth time in a week while he went to check up on her.
The way she held back tears while filling her brother in on having just come back from another audition that had gone nowhere.
The sounds of her teary, drunken sobs still echoed in the back of his mind.
She was tired, far more tired than he ever was.
Mic bit his lip, surely their friendship meant a more promising outcome, yeah?
"What do I need to do?" Said Mic.
Much the same way the smoke in the room seemed to thicken, Thorn's grin deepened. There was some kind of flash behind those shades of his but Mic couldn't be arsed to dwell on it. The room was suffocating and he wondered how Mr. Flower could just stand there casually like he wasn't choking.
Mic was ready for this to be done so he could leave.
Did he not notice it? Was this just Mic's stressed and anxiety ridden mind just fucking with him?
As if Thorn had almost ready Mic's mind, the creature could hear a chuckle from the man. "Don't you worry your pretty little head about it, aside from a few special requests, anything you'll be doing for me won't be all that different from what you're used to." Thorn assured the creature, who attempted to stammer out a response but Thorn was quick to speak over him.
"Sign the contract, Mic and we'll get started. And don't worry, I'll take good care of you and your sister."
With that, Mr. Flower approached as well, wordlessly placing a pen next to the contract. He didn't even spare Mic a glance this time, just quietly took his place next to Thorn who stunted even Mr. Flower's height- and he himself was at least a good six feet tall.
With a moment of hesitation, Mic reached a shaky hand out to scribble his signature on the line at the bottom of the page. Not a moment after he finished, the contract lifted from the table, as if suddenly caught up in a violent breeze, almost disintegrating into a flash of flame and rose petals. Not a trace was left behind except for the pen, now covered in a thin layer of ash.
"Good. We'll get started next week. As for your sister, tell her to expect a call within the next few hours."
He exited the room, the sound of his heels thudding dully over the grey carpet while Mr. Flower followed suit.
The moment they were out of the room was when Mic could see them exchanging words, but the glass deafened Mic to anything that was being said between them.
The creature leaned back onto the sofa, staring at the ceiling.
What in the world did he get himself into?
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If I get to continuing this ever, I really, really wanna do it from Mr. Flower's perspective.
I think his thoughts on stuff like this would be fun to draw from.
Plus i get to focus on him and Thorn. <333
my bbz
But i feel like I've done a lot of vague drawings of Thorn- mostly with Mr. Flower and with very little idea of who Thorn is and what he's like most of the time.
He's... kind of a different person when it's just him and Mr. Flower, and as much as I love that about him I also want to focus on you know, the rest of him?
This was just a small interaction that cropped up in my head that i meant to just jot notes down of and it turned into a whole thing.
So, if you read this thanks for making it this far. ; v;
Enjoy a nice healthy cigarette on your way out!!
