@tonnrre said: ❛ you don’t wanna go in there , trust me . ❜
She flinched, as if the sudden jab of a voice cut more than just the air between them. Her hand instantly lost the door handle it had been about to push and she spun around, the breath caught in the back of her throat ever since she had entered now trashing to get out, though she did not lose a single sound.
It was not the first time, though there have been surprisingly few, that she has been caught in the middle of the act. Not even the first time at the institute either. But while in the past she had suspected the illegal breaking and entering into a government operated secret archive to win her a lifetime behind bars, Vicky was now certain that forcing her way into the dining room of her boss would result in Balthazar personally cancelling her life subscription. No amount of slave labour (because let’s face it, that is what this was, no matter how good the benefits) he could squeeze out of her would make up for such betrayal, and Vicky doubted that any claims of worry about his personal well-being - honest or not - would make a difference in that.
Her only hope, and it was a slim hope indeed, was that whoever she had managed to disturb did not sound like Balthazar at all. That they were kind, had a soft spot to appeal to, and the weakness to fall for the face of a small, fragile young woman staring up at them with the fear and innocence of a newborn deer. ...Or, alternatively, a broken leg and a terrible memory. Vicky decided to put her money on the former.
“A-Ah...” God knew she wasn’t good at sweet talking. It was one of the things she appreciated about her new line of work. Vengeful ghosts and shapeshifters and Wendigos didn’t care much for compliments and pretty lies either, and those who did were free to talk to Adelaide or one of her more social compatriots instead. Right now, however, she was alone. Alone with an absolute beast of a grown man towering above her. Just this once she wished to channel her mother’s ferocity. It would do a lot more to save her dignity than the strategy she had picked out instead.
“I-I guess... I’ll leave it be, then.”, Vicky muttered, her eyes not straying from the stranger for a moment. She could feel the handle of the door digging into her back quite uncomfortably. “Who... who are you?”