Tempest Duer-oh yes it is, even if it's completely silly, and i'm dressed as a guy, and she's actually a friend of mine since elementary school. It's still fun. And thanks, i appreciate the cool words.
screeminguitar-hey marrie, yeah i have more owies, but eh, i complain too much, and it's getting better. thanks for the electronic kiss, i guess. well the play went normal, i was just challenging another player, a friend actually, and stepped in the wrong spot. And yes, the play went really well, we're to finish up this weekend.
No, no, no, i don't kiss the girl, although in
this Shakespeare play she really wants to kiss me cause her character falls in love with my character dressed up as a guy. (The lead women cross-dressed alot for Shakespeare for some reason i still don't get.) In fact, quite the opposite of the smoochies you're thnking of happens; i'm forced to kiss the guy who i fall in love with in the play.
And well, i didn't mean to literally break a leg...however, at least this time, i escaped that joke from my parents; they didn't want to joke about my 'pain'. so that's good. Cool you got Anya too....i'm not confined to home anymore...but now i regret not being able to stay at home...thanks again, marie.
Note: Umm....the explication and further evilness of Anya will be happening later i guess, for now....just fun evil ness...and i guess a semi-cliffhanger. Enjoy! (or not, if you prefer....just no vegetables thrown my way please...)
Chapter 30
“So the end result has been an increase in production, as well as better service for our customers, which you should have read in our report, and also a general boost up in all things we’ve invented lately.”
Willow had been giving Anya the tour of the WAMK building for the past 2 hours, like she always did, finishing up with the loading area. Anya seemed less and less interested as the tour went on, but insisted she see every corner and piece of the building, not that she hadn’t seen it several times before in her past visits. “The duty of the Prime Inspector is never done.”
But, Willow knew what she really meant to say was, “I’m not letting you or your company out of my sight until the janitor forces me to leave.” If only Anya had just given up the charade, things would be so much easier. Willow knew that her company was one of the most efficient (if not the most) ones in the nation and Anya knew that Willow wouldn’t ever do anything worthy of a write-up. And yet, she persisted in staying in Willow’s company as long as possible. It was starting to exasperate Willow too. Having someone walk around pointlessly making checks and scribbles that would mean nothing, signify nothing, and yet at the same time seem to be full of sound and fury just annoyed her after a while.
“And how about the shipments?” Anya said looking over the boxes; nose up, almost sniffing suspiciously. “Down Fido,” Willow thought irritated.
“They have also increased, since the mailmen have started coming due to my guard dog’s death,” Willow said sarcastically.
“This is not a time to joke, Mrs. Rosenberg,” Anya said making checks on her pad, investigating the outer surface of a specific package that seemed clean. Too clean. Perhaps a rouge to make her think it was harmless. What illegal object could be in this box if it was so well kept? There could be drugs. Or perhaps fur. Fur was a very popular smuggle-good these days. Damn rabbits deserve it too.
“I’m afraid I’m going to need more evidence of what comes in and out of this company,” Anya said slowly, convinced there was more than met the eye to this seemingly, ‘hp desktop 990cse’ box.
“Anya, we’ve just been over this, you’ve seen this company from top to bottom. You do every time. It hasn’t changed. I swear, I’m not smuggling anything, never have, never will, and NO there are no hidden rabbits in those boxes either,” Willow began to slowly rub circles on her forehead. She had heard the absurd argument before. And could see it forming in the woman’s eyes, again. But this time, she wasn’t going to take it from the Inspector. It had been too often that she had been bullied into proving her legality. If Anya found anything that wasn’t up to scale or legal, she would willingly go to jail for it, if it meant getting away from this insane woman.
Anya wasn’t expecting the redhead to not back down. Nor did she have anything to force Willow to show her the boxes’ contents. So she gave in, just this once though.
“Well, I’ll let this go, just this one time. But, if I wish to come back to see what I was first alerted to today…?”
“You can search the whole building for all I care,” Willow said exasperated.
“Thank you, Mrs. Rosenberg, for the tour and for your time,” Anya said as if reading it off her paper.
“You’d think she’d actually try to act human,” Willow thought waiting for the moment of her escape.
“But, I might want to check your staff, ask them questions, and see if they are just as happy as you claim,” Anya smugly said, making one more check on her paper.
“Why? You’ve heard their reports, read their own opinions in the company file, and have seen the open offices where almost everyone works, why would you need to spend more time on this?” Willow whined.
“Mrs. Rosenberg, if you are so inclined not to have your employees’ voices be heard, I might as well listen to them as soon as possible. It is not a good company’s policy to be unkind to their workers.”
“Fine. Interview each and every person who works here, take them away from their job, stay as long as you wish for all I care!” Willow gave in.
“Alright, I will,” Anya said completely ignoring the redhead’s flopping hands and infuriated gestures. “Okay, so maybe she just failed the social-services part of her test altogether when applying for the job.” Anya began moving up the stairs again, making her way to the cubicles.
“I think I’ll start with him,” Anya said pointing out a nebbish of a male specimen. He was balding, short, and furiously typing away at his computer. His moustache seemed to move along the screen with every new word, similar to the movement of a typewriter. Willow knew this man; she also appreciated his work, and treated him kindly for it.
“Bob? Our top editor?” Willow asked incredulously.
“Sounds like a good place to start,” Anya said walking towards her unsuspecting victim. Willow took time to grab a coffee just before watching Anya stalking her pray. She walked up to the man, who seemed unaware of her presence until she said in a syrupy voice, “Excuse me, Bob Lebowski, isn’t it?”
“Yies,” came the reply. The man looked up to see a towering, beautiful blond gazing with a fierce grin down at him.
“Hello, I’m doing a bit of a project on your boss’s company here, and I just have a few questions to ask you,” She said shaking the rather confused man’s hand, while gently patting Willow’s shoulder.
“Yies,” Bob replied again. He didn’t understand why she was sitting so close to him. Why was she talking to him? This was the Willow Woman’s friend. This was her job. He wasn’t supposed to talk to strangers, at least that’s what his therapist told him.
“Mr. Lebowski, do have any problems with your work conditions? I can see you have a whole heck of a lot of papers there,” Anya said preparing to check the box on her paper that Willow could see read, ‘unreasonable work conditions.’
“No,” came the short man’s reply. He didn’t like this woman. Perhaps the Willow Woman would take her away if he passed this ‘test’. This was worse than gaining American citizenship though. At least they didn’t hide their cruelty.
“Are you sure? You can tell me about anything that bothers you,” Anya said pulling her hand down to gently stroke Bob’s hand. Willow practically spat out her drink, gagging on the fringe of the cup. Anya caught this as well, and decided to be oblivious to Mrs. Rosenberg’s actions.
“Notting, there’s notting wrong at all,” He said pulling his hand away. He didn’t like the way this woman looked at him. Like she could cut out his heart in an instance if it was so wished.
“For an editor you have quite an accent there, Mr. Lebowski,” Anya said giving up on the nice approach, “You’re not possibly new to America, are you?” Perhaps the IRS could be called in for this one. Possibly this one was fresh off the boat, or maybe another smuggler off the black market of bunnies?
“I have bin livingk in America for twenty years, and have studied English Language and Composition for 10 years, I also have a degree in English Literature,” Bob said firmly. This is the first time Willow had heard him speak more than 10 words at a time. She looked up surprised at this comment; she had never been more grateful for his sudden change of character. This seemed to shut Anya up for a second to regroup.
“So you would understand me when I say that you should ‘not talk to me of a name great in story; the days of our youth are the days of our glory—‘ Anya said but was then cut off by Bob’s squeaky voice.
“’And the myrtle and ivy of sweet two-and-twenty are worth all your laurels, though ever so plenty.’ Yies, I do adore Lord Byrrron as well. He is a good read on some occasions, although I prefer Robert Frost to the romantics nowadays.” Anya was in shock. She stared blankly, while Willow suppressed the urge to howl with laughter.
“Now, if you ixcuuse me, I have some tings to take care of in edeeting,” Bob said rushing out from under the grasp of Anya the Tormentor. Anya hadn’t noticed that her prey was missing. One moment she had a short man ready to be destroyed, next, he was gone.
The little bastard hippity-hopped out of her talons like a rabbit.
It all came back to the rabbits.
Willow, however, was beaming from side to side; never had her hiring skills come back to help her so much before.
“Well, Anya, are you satisfied?”
“Not quite, no,” She said briskly filing away her papers to began a new search for fresh meat.
“Ask anyone who works here, I’m not an overbearing ogre. I know it’s hard to understand, but I don’t believe in bad work conditions and low pay,” Willow said trying to get back to Anya’s original plan to leave.
“I still wish to check another employee; you might’ve deliberately placed this man here for interviewing, how am I supposed to know there aren’t other workers who are discontented with their current employment?” Anya said regaining composer, taking control of the situation once more.
“Fine! Ask anyone! Anyone!” Willow said throwing up her hands in defeat.
“Thank you, Mrs. Rosenberg, I believe I will,” Anya said walking in a beeline towards another desk. She had passed this desk before, and had recognized Willow’s soft tone to this worker before. The last time she approached one of Willow’s friends/employees, she had had a field day with Buffy. That was all too much fun, and she wished very much to repeat that same incident. She’d get a bad employee on the spot yet.
She approached the figure from behind, tapping lightly on the person’s shoulder, then smiling brightly, waiting for Willow’s arrival. Willow saw where Anya headed, and was immediately sick to her stomach.
“Willow, introduce us,” came the syrupy voice again. Willow walked over with a plastered smile on her face, hoping her eyes would betray what she was actually thinking.
“Anya Jenkins,” Willow began and saw the same panged look on the employee’s face as well, “meet Tara MacClay.”
“N-n-nice to m-m-meet you,” Tara said quietly extending her hand.
This was going to be fun.
Cool.....thanks for reading, oh, hey, last night i did a sketch of Tara the way i imagined her in the beginning of this fic....similar to her in season 5....and umm...would you guys like to see it? i'll try to get it visible online in yahoo like the pic of me...(if i can that is)...but let me know...i forgot to mention i'm an avid sketcher-person-thingymajig....
thanks again for reading!!
-elizabeth
Last night in sweet slumber I dreamed I did see my own precious jewel sat smiling by me.
And when I awakened I found it not so; my eyes like some fountain with tears overflowed.
by Washi » Wed Nov 12, 2003 12:29 am 
I had a feeling it was Anya, but I won't lie and say i knew it or anything. She's scary, I had a feeling she could be scary if she had power. You prove it. Hope things are going better for you! I eagerly anticipate your next update! 
Pax! -Bev
Thanks Liz... I'll put some pictures up in the pictures thread after everything's over, so everyone will see how lucky I am.
Sorry you hurt your knee. Hope it gets better soon.
Take care!
Edited by: allykat at: 11/13/03 1:19 am
Elizabeth 
I knew it was going to be Anya. 
Only she could be that, that Anya! 
has the best timing in the world. 
I wonder if she told 
about Anya yet? 
Can't wait to 
more. Update soon, please? 
, some Brightman, and Mary Fahl, yes I know she isn't really opera .. but she does have beautiful Mezzo Soprano. 
--more kisses to make ya feel better
)
, can't wait for the update!! 
