~The Shy and The Stubborn~ (the santa clause)

Chapter 4: tinsel football

With a rather loud, exasperated sigh, Bernard entered his office and shut the door behind him, heading over to his desk with the clipboard that'd recently been in his scribe's possession and taking his seat.

He'd started to question why exactly she was selected for the job. I mean, she was so ridiculously clumsy and bad at making professional interactions with others. And the irritating, oddly specific questions she'd ask were beginning to get on his nerves. At this point, he was about to push her out of the job and do it himself, like he always did when he was unsatisfied with the way someone carried out a task.

Bernard's eyes scanned the first page on the clipboard, and slowly, his irritation began fading to astonishment. The first thing he'd noticed was her hand writing. It was perfect. It looked as though she'd written the sheet up with a type writer. And given he had no issues with her speed, he took it that she was a quick writer. Upon closer inspection, he noticed that her spelling was also perfect. And what was also notable was the fact that she'd written things Bernard hadn't even said, and even things that he'd missed. Small, nit-picky details which wouldn't of been an issue to overlook for the time being, but were best known before they caused any major issues.

Needless to say, he was impressed, cursing himself for judging her based on something she couldn't control when she had a whole other layer to her.

So as he began putting the papers into one of his filing cabinets, he thought of her.

~

The elves of the writing department rarely ever ate outside of their room. The whole lot of them weren't exactly the most social bunch in the factory, but in saying that, the only one who was shy was Justice. But, they always promised Jamie that every Thursday, they'd have lunch outside to watch the silly tinsel football games with him, not because they were engaged in the game but instead enjoyed watching to make fun of anyone that got hurt.

Everyone in the factory seemed slightly tense, most likely from the recent call of elfcon 4 for a plane flying overhead the factory. The writers never really panicked at this, their room was safe, secure, quiet and dark. And even if the North Pole was found out, there was always back up plans.

Of course, as the group walked through the factory, they got all kinds of looks. The whole lot of them were a lot taller than the average elf that worked within the factory, and wore much more modern clothing compared to the reoccurring Christmas theme all around them. Iris got the most looks, due to her very unique style. Lucinda got a fair share because she was beloved by most of the male employees. Tobias because he was tall, Kory because of his albinoid hair, Max because she was well-known in the factory, and Justice. Justice was an unfortunate one. She got stares because she, of course, was the notorious clumsy elf of the factory.

It didn't take them long before they all met Jamie at the bench he'd saved for them, along with a few of his other delivery boy friends. Justice couldn't exactly say she was friends with these boys, but she was comfortable enough with them that she could engage in a bit of small talk and not feel stressed or intimidated. These boys all had generic names: Michael, Harrison and Luka. Justice was only able to remember them because she was a writer, but otherwise they were easily forgettable names.

"Oh! Justice, you're still alive!" Jamie cheered as the writer elves approached the table, Justice huffing as she crossed her arms and sat down.
"Barely. Bernard was acting like he was about to crucify me," she sighed, placing her paper bag onto the table before her and opening it up as everyone else also sat down.
"He bruised her arm!" Maxine exclaimed, grabbing the arm and holding it up so Jamie could see it.
"Jeez, that's harsh," Jamie cringed at the sight, Justice lowering her arm as she shook her head.
"It's not that bad, Max is just making a big deal out of it," she demurred as she rubbed her arm.
"Hey, he's not gonna get away with hurting my favourite homegirl," Max said, wrapping an arm around Justice and squeezing her briefly, "he hurts you again I'm dropping him on his tushy."
"Nice alternative," Tobias noted, in reference to the fact that she didn't use the word 'ass' like Justice usually would, "Justice, take notes."
"Ha, ha," Justice nodded lethargically as she pulled her lunch out of it's brown paper bag, "But no, this is fine. He's just a busy elf with an efficient pace that I need to learn to match."
"And what part of efficiency involves bruising his underlings?" Jamie asked, cocking a brow as Justice sighed and began eating her chicken salad wrap.
"Look, don't even worry about it," she said, muffled by the food in her mouth, "we're done with this topic. End of discussion. Period."