Write Away (Cole)

[MACKENZIE OAKLEY KING]

If there was one thing that Oakley hated with a passion more than her parents, it was paperwork. Especially paperwork for botched jobs, like this one she was handing in. How else was she supposed to explain to the Fordham higher ups that the guy she was supposed to be distracting noticed that something was off and their whole operation was blown? She couldn’t explain it well in proper paperwork terms, which made filling out those forms a little harder for her. If nothing had to sound so pretentious, Oakley would’ve told it like it was like in her journal.

Once the forms were handed in and thank goodness too, since she swore it was starting to burn her hands, she walked away from the clerk and immediately found a couch to sit down and pull out her journal. It was black and it was all battered up since she refused it leave it at home even during her missions. She had this paranoia that someone would try to open it and read it if she left it unattended. Some of her darkest thoughts and secrets were in there, so it was better off if she kept them on her person at all times.

She curled up in the corner of the couch, unlocked the journal, and flipped through the pages. She used it a lot in her last six years at Fordham since she started writing in it once she found out that she was being replaced by her parents having another child, a girl no less. She flipped towards the end, mentally noting to herself that she needed a new journal pretty soon. Then she pulled a pen out of her pocket and started writing down in her big, loopy handwriting.

Where do I begin? The mission totally failed. Like it was on a struggle boat and it crashed into the iceberg of fail. Yeah… I guess that’s a good way to describe how it went. She continued writing down everything she felt about that mission. The pain and humiliation… nobody was going to be happy on either ends of Fordham that it failed. She sighed to herself as she jotted down more of her feelings so she could get them out without having others see them.

[SUNSHINE COLE IRIS]

Another day, another trip to Fordham's office building. It seemed to Cole like there was an awful lot of paperwork in being a spy. Part of her hoped in vain that it might just be during the settling in period, but then, considering the number of people she saw on her visits, she doubted the paperwork would end just because she finally took off the training wheels.

She'd finally finished with a long and boring debriefing session. She hadn't even started doing full missions yet, and somehow there were already debriefing sessions, although these seemed to be practice as well. They'd go over the mission in some detail, like a regular debrief, but then she'd have to do stupid things like point out flaws and things she could have done better. Cole didn't like that; it felt like admitting she was wrong, and she didn't often agree that she was. But the only way to get out of the room was to go along with it. Even if things went smoothly, there was always room for improvement, or so they told her.

Cole was more careful now to avoid the off-limits areas, since she wasn't so green that anyone was likely to buy her 'I'm new and didn't know' excuse... Not that it had even worked for her in the first place. But now she was surely expected to know better than that. It didn't mean, however, that she couldn't wander those hallways and floors that weren't off-limits, so after she was finished with her meeting, she opted to do just that rather than rush back to the apartment and hang out alone. She didn't really mind being alone, but there was no sense in rushing home for it.

Wandering the halls then, the sight of a young woman curled up on the couch writing frantically caught Cole's eye, seeming a little out of the ordinary for this place. As she caught the woman's sigh, the girl became more curious about what had her writing so passionately, but not tucked away in an office somewhere.

Figuring she had nothing better to do, Cole began to move closer, seeing how near she could get before she was noticed. She wasn't really trying to creep or spy on what the girl was writing -- although she might have been if she'd realized it was a journal and not an official file -- but it didn't occur to her that it might appear that way anyway. It was just that people here were more observant than she was used to, and she needed to practice if she was going to up her own game.

[MACKENZIE OAKLEY KING]

Oakley always felt better after spilling her guts to her journal. She never confided in anybody about anything. Not about her true feelings and not about what was going on with her life. Yes, people could guess her feelings, especially concerning the court proceedings making her legally dead, but she never told them. She never told anyone about her feelings since she found out about her parents replacing her with Savannah.

However, when she was writing in her journal, she wasn’t completely unaware of her surroundings. It might have been her training or the fact that one of her friends and colleagues liked to sneak up and have pop quizzes. That was the nice way to put that he would randomly attack fellow agents to see if they were on top of their game at all times. That’s why she noticed the slight sound of someone sneaking up on her. However, it wasn’t her friend, since he always snuck up from behind and this person was sneaking up from the front.

Oakley glanced up from her journal to see who was approaching her when she froze. It was a young girl with blonde hair and blue eyes. She could’ve been mistaken for what Oakley’s younger sister would have looked like in a couple of years, but it wasn’t the right shade of blonde. She blinked a couple of times before she set her pen down, closed her journal, and locked it. She didn’t need prying eyes looking at her deepest thoughts.

“You’re new,” Oakley said flatly, as she tucked her journal away. “I haven’t seen you around here before.” She was no way being rude or mean, just stating the facts. Then again, she was just away on her mission and ballet practice was taking a lot of her time when she wasn’t busy being a spy. She shifted slightly and straightened up so that she wasn’t hogging up the couch completely. “And I’m assuming that you’re with the teen division.” She smiled brightly at the girl as she patted the seat next to her. “Have a seat. I’m Oakley by the way and you are?” Mostly, Oakley couldn’t stand little kids, but she managed to be okay with the teen spies. They happened to be a lot more mature than other kids she knew around their age.

[SUNSHINE COLE IRIS]

There had been a few therapists and social workers along the way who had suggested Cole keep some sort of diary or journal herself, especially since she usually refused to speak with them. Maybe it would have done her some good to confide her feelings in something, even if it was just a book. But Cole had always dismissed those suggestions with a snort. Diaries, to her mind, were for little girls to doodle unicorns and puppies inside, and writing down her thoughts just meant they were lying about for someone else to find. She had no delusions about the security in foster and group homes.

Still, if she'd had some idea of the comfort it could bring her, she might have envied this young woman and her journal. As it was, she just found it somewhat curious and worth a second look. Unfortunately for Cole, she didn't manage to get all that close before the woman somehow became aware of her presence. Clearly the girl was going to need to work harder on her sneaking skills -- but she'd expected nothing less.

She stopped her slow creeping forward as Oakley looked up, but didn't bother to hide the fact that she'd been watching the woman. Such attempts would be futile and just make her look like a silly kid. And if the woman was going to react badly to being spied on, Cole wanted to know from the outset.

As reactions went, the flat greeting wasn't nearly as bad as Cole had expected. As was her norm, she just gave a little shrug in non-answer. She was new, sort of, yes. It hadn't been a question, so she figured she didn't need to confirm that information. "Well, I'm not a midget," she said by way of at least confirming the woman's assumption about her being with the teens. She wasn't really being snarky, albeit a bit wry, but her tone was mostly modulated to match that same flat one she'd been met with.

While being noticed hadn't surprised her, what did catch her a little off-guard was the offer to sit. She hesitated just long enough to show her wondering if this could be a trap, but then she drifted forward to close the remaining distance and folded herself onto the couch, perching towards the edge of the cushion. "I'm Cole," she offered as she was asked. There was a pause and then she added, "I wasn't trying to read what you were writing." A bit of preemptive defence, just in case Oakley was gearing up to get angry about that.

[MACKENZIE OAKLEY KING]

Oakley smirked a bit when the little girl mentioned about not being a midget. It was not really politically correct, but who worried about political correctness as a spy? Only when they were undercover on an operation that required them to be politically correct, but Oakley did not worry about that. She just watched the girl for a few moments. She was definitely new, if the shoulder shrug was not enough of an indication. And there was no way that Oakley felt threatened by this girl. She liked to think she was one of the more laid back agents in Fordham. Or at least way laid back compared to her friend who liked to spring those pop quizzes on everyone every once in a while.

“Cole’s a pretty name,” Oakley commented as she continued to watch Cole. She saw and sensed the hesitation in her movements. “Don’t worry,” she said as Cole finally sat down on the couch next to her. “It’s not a trap or a test or whatever.” She chuckled as she shook her head before looking at the girl beside her. “I’m not that kind of person. I prefer not being a tricky person. Other people in the agency…” She let her sentence hang as she shook her head again. “Let’s just say they don’t feel the same way about that like I do.”

Then Cole admitted to not trying to read Oakley’s writing and that made the twenty-two year old chuckle a bit. “I know,” she said, her tone a lot warmer than it had been when she first greeted the girl. “Because you would’ve come from behind and probably been a little bit quieter.” She pointed to the piece of flooring that the girl was just on moments before. “And just for future reference, that part of the floor has this squeaking sound. You don’t notice it when you’re new, but all the old-timers like me know it by heart. Avoid that if you’re going to sneak up on someone anytime soon here.” She didn’t know why she was giving this girl useful information, but felt obligated to, like an older sister or something. “Just don’t do it around Jackson, unless you want to have a couple of broken limbs.”

[SUNSHINE COLE IRIS]

Cole wasn't really one to worry about being politically correct. Hell, sometimes it was fun to say things just to get other people up in arms, but so far around here, she hadn't been quite so inclined to stir stuff up just for the sake of seeing other people react. For one, no one here had yet earned her real ire, and for another, she wasn't so sure she was the cleverest one here anymore.

"I guess," Cole replied when Oakley complimented her name. She couldn't see any reason to say thank you, since it wasn't like the girl had done anything to earn the particular name, except perhaps by choosing it over her given first name. "It's better than some of the alternatives." And boy, did she know. "Oakley's not so bad either," she added after a moment, like she was just remembering her manners.

Cole's eyebrows went up slightly as the woman assured her this wasn't a test, but then she smiled just faintly. "But would you tell me if it was?" she pointed out keenly, mostly just joking, but not about to completely let her guard down. She was getting the feeling you were always being tested around here, even when you weren't. She gave an understanding nod then, glancing briefly around the hallway to see who was in their immediate area. "Some people here are real jerks. But not as many as I'd expected." Which had been, by her earliest estimates, everyone. That a place like this could turn out people who weren't complete assholes had proven a pleasant enough surprise.

Cole was glad at least that the young woman believed her about not trying to spy on her writing. She had no idea whether the writing was professional or personal, but she didn't think in either case would people around here like their correspondence being snooped on. For all she knew, it could be something classified -- although this woman didn't seem the type to be stupid enough to write classified information out in an open hallway.

Rather than question her about the writing, at any rate, figuring that she'd get no answers anyway, Cole looked over at the indicated noisy spot on the floor. "I'll keep that in mind. Not that I'm going to make a habit of sneaking up on people," she amended. "Well, outside of work," she amended her amendment. But no, she had no real plans to keep sneaking up on her coworkers... Although it was tempting to try it until she succeeded.

"Which one is Jackson?" she asked, trying to think back over the many people she had met already in her short time in this organization. She didn't want to get the wrong one and end up with loss of limb, that was for certain.

[MACKENZIE OAKLEY KING]

“Probably not,” Oakley said with a smirk when Cole asked her question. That, of course, was a lie. There was no telling if Oakley would’ve told her or not. She could’ve easily been one of those people who tricked the newbies, like Cole here and Oakley told lies as smooth as the truth. She gotten good enough that she could fool a lie detector, which was an accomplish that most spies couldn’t brag about. She didn’t want the little girl in front of her to know that. There was just some things that just should remain a secret. And Oakley didn’t really practice her lying skills unless she was on an op. She needed to stick to her cover someway somehow.

“Some people have to be jerks,” Oakley said as her smirk grew a little wider. “It’s kind of a survival skill you learn or don’t learn. Some people lie, some people learn to live as little as possible.” She shrugged. “And being a jerk is, unfortunately, one of them. I would think it would be quite the opposite of a survival skill. The more people who dislike you, the more likely you’re going to be their next target.” Oakley knew this from experience, especially with all the time she spent being a distraction. If people liked you, they would think twice before calling the cops or pulling out that gun. Those few seconds were all Oakley needed to get away and survive. That was all Oakley did was survive, except this time it was life or death, not worrying about being returned to her parents.

“Jackson’s a big guy.” Oakley used her hands to show how tall; taller than what her arm can reach sitting down. “And he’s built. Like he should be in the Olympics for weightlifting or something. He’s not someone you should mess with.” Then again, it did make sense that his cover was a personal trainer at a gym not too far from Fordham headquarters. “And he has a big scar right here.” Her finger went to her face and traced an imaginary scar from the inner corner of her eyebrow, across her nose and partially down her cheek. “You can’t miss him. Besides,” she said with a chuckle as she shrugged again. “I don’t think you want to sneak up on him. He scares me sometimes with just the way he looks. You’d have to be stupid to try anything with him.”

[SUNSHINE COLE IRIS]

Cole gave a small nod, feeling at least somewhat vindicated. You could never trust someone who said they weren't lying. In a way, it was easier to trust a person who admitted to lying... even if they created a sort of logical black hole. If they were lying about lying, then they'd be telling the truth; but then they would be lying... Cole tried not to let her mind go wandering off on that puzzle. Really, the reason it all worked was because people lied at least some of the time, but hardly anyone lied all of the time. Cole found it easier to just assume most people lied most of the time and go from there.

"I lie when I need to lie," she replied, which was sort of the truth... but not the whole truth. She also lied sometimes when she wanted to lie, or when it suited her to lie. "But I try not to be a jerk. Unless someone's a jerk to me first, then they'll get what's coming to them," she added with a proud tilt to her chin. Oakley didn't seem like she was going to try to bully Cole -- and there was little Cole would have been able to do about it anyway -- but the girl figured it didn't hurt to make sure everyone around here knew she wouldn't just be an easy target. She might go down, but she would go down fighting.

"But I'd rather make... friends," she said, pausing just slightly before adding that last word. Friends sounded so childish, but allies sounded too cut and dried. She needed people on her side, if she could find them, and in return, she would be on theirs.

Pale eyebrows arched as she considered this description of Jackson. "No, I don't think I would have snuck up on him even if you hadn't warned me," she concurred. "I don't think we're going to be friends, but I don't want to get on his bad side either, from the sound of it. But thanks for the head's up anyway. I'll keep an eye out for him." And then decide whether it was best to keep a wide, wide berth around the burly, scarred man who scared this young woman.

[MACKENZIE OAKLEY KING]

Oakley chuckled a bit when Cole said that she was only a jerk to those who were jerks back. She remembered having that attitude when she was younger, but she mostly grew out of it. “I’ll remember that for later,” she said with a smile. “I try not to be a jerk most of the time, but when somebody is trying to take me out or botching my op in some way…” She smirked as she shrugged her shoulders slightly. “There’s an exception to every rule.” And that always seemed to be true in the spy world. There were always exceptions and loopholes and they were trained to exploit every one of them. That is why most of their missions were successful, up until late, but that was another matter.

She nodded her head when Cole said she wanted to make friends. Oakley knew that it was not the word she was looking for, judging by the slight pause mid-sentence. However, she did not know what word was more appropriate. Allies? Companions? Comrades? The last one reminded her of being in a war, which she was technically. However, it was in her own backyard. Spies did not have to travel overseas in order to be at war with one another. “I understand,” she said as she nodded her head. “Networking is kind of important, you know? It’s good to start young.” It was only because her connection through Fordham that Oakley managed to get her good education and her spot with the ballet company. “You’d be surprised what networking can do with you, even if it seems like a pain in the butt to start out with.” She had no idea why she was giving all this advice like an older sister or something. Maybe it was because she was seeing more of her sister Savannah on the news that Oakley was starting to wander what being an older sister would look like.

“Good girl,” she said with a head nod. It did not occur to her that Cole might have taken offense from implication that she was possibly an obedient dog. “It’s just a rule of thumb here that you just stay away from him at all costs. The last guy who didn’t listen ended up…” She knitted her eyebrows as she tried to remember a few years back. “A broken arm in three places. It was not a pretty sight, since it looked like he had a rubber arm.”

[SUNSHINE COLE IRIS]

Cole shifted in her seat, bending a knee up to rest upon the couch, with her other knee hooked over that ankle. It made her look a little more like an actual kid and a little less like some sort of walking, talking doll. She tilted her head to one side and gave Oakley a thoughtful look. "Yeah, you don't seem like much of a jerk to me," she granted. She'd give the woman the benefit of the doubt, but she was still aware that around here, not everybody might be what they seemed.

"No one can blame you for being a jerk when you need to be." No, that wouldn't really be fair. If people got in your way, you had the perfect right to get them out of it, Cole figured. "Especially if someone's trying to kill you," she added. That was still a new idea to her world. She'd been bullied and beaten up before, but foster kids didn't usually try to straight-up murder one another. She knew some had gotten involved with gangs and stuff like that, but she'd always steered clear of those kids.

"Networking. Yeah," Cole concurred, seizing upon this new word, since it sounded a lot more accurate than 'friends.' She didn't really question why Oakley was helping her out so much, but she took the advice readily, filing it away. "There wasn't really a lot of that where I come from. I mean, you had people to watch your back if you were lucky, but... That was more about keeping safe than getting ahead." She brushed some of her blonde hair back behind an ear and glanced around the hallway. "But I want to do good here." The irony of that statement was lost on her. She meant 'well', not 'good'... there would be no good done in this criminal organization.

A pale eyebrow arched just slightly as she was spoken to like a dog, but after a brief hesitation, she decided it wasn't worth getting offended over. She wrinkled her nose at the idea of a guy with an arm so broken it looked rubber. "Yeah, he doesn't sound like a guy I really want to spend a lot of time with. This Jackson guy, I mean. Maybe the guy who crossed him too." Sometimes making the wrong friends could be as bad as making the wrong enemies.

[MACKENZIE OAKLEY KING]

Oakley chuckled to herself when Cole commented on appearing not to be a jerk. She would take that as a compliment, considering that she came from a family of jerks, except the nanny. Then again, she went through so many of them that it was hard for them to be jerks to her. She just shrugged as she looked at the girl. “Let’s just say…” she said as she carefully picked her words. She was never one to reveal her true feelings; especially to a younger girl she met earlier. “I’ve had some bad experiences in the past before I joined Fordham so that’s why I’m not a jerk unless you’re trying to kill me.” Then again, it was only a matter of time before word got around to Cole about Oakley’s past. Oakley never really wanted to talk about it to anyone, especially if it was none of their business. However, the legal proceedings to declare her dead were gaining national attention, just like her disappearance. People were going to talk, especially if it was someone that they knew or thought they knew.

“I didn’t really have networking options either,” she reassured Cole. Even if she did, she couldn’t exactly use them now. She was supposed to be dead and a supposedly dead person trying to make contact would cause more headlines. That would mean even more fame for her parents, which she was sure they wouldn’t mind, but that also meant that Oakley would be thrust back into her old life. She couldn’t really exactly explain to her parents that she was a spy the past six and a half years. They would have none of that. And to be honest, she felt completely at home at Fordham.

I want to do good here. That struck Oakley as odd, but she didn’t want to correct her. She knew she was part of a terrorist organization and she knew that she was helping it with its plans with just being a part of it. However, she wasn’t in this organization to terrorize other people. She was in it to get revenge on her parents. Fordham gave her access to tools that she would never get on her own. It was only just a matter of time

[SUNSHINE COLE IRIS]

Cole listened to Oakley thoughtfully as she tried to explain why she wasn't a jerk. The girl's head tilted slightly to one side as she considered that reasoning. "I don't know. Lots of people let bad experience be their excuse for acting like jerks," she pointed out. She'd seen that more often than not during her years in state care. Adults down on their luck taking it out on kids, those kids in turn taking it out on smaller ones. "It's good that you don't, I think. I don't think jerks get as far ahead as they think they do." She'd given it some thought over her few years on earth.

She didn't ask about Oakley's past, but no doubt she'd find out about it, and probably sooner than later. She was a spy now, after all, and Oakley had caught her interest, meaning she'd pay more attention when things came up.

Cole found herself a little surprised that Oakley had also been bereft of networking options too. She just seemed to Cole like the type of person who would have an easy time making friends. Still, she supposed nothing around here should surprise her. "So how did you work from nothing?" she wondered, obviously looking for some ideas on how to get started herself. Not that she was doing terribly badly with approaching people at random around here, but still... if there was a better way to do it, she was curious to know.

"It's hard, when you're new," she admitted after a moment, not really one to need to rush and fill a silence but instead just stirred to make that observation. It was hardly groundbreaking, but still. It wasn't often the young teen even admitted to having a weakness, since she'd learned over the years to hide them lest someone exploit them. But Oakley was, by her own admission, not a jerk, so Cole figured it would be all right to reveal just a little, almost like a test to see what the woman would do with it. And, well, perhaps she was feeling just a little lonely. She'd never been one to collect many friends, but at least before she'd been around long enough to know people, and to be known.