Torn

Pull it Together, Act Natural

'The entirety of our conversation earlier today felt incredibly awkward and stilted. It was physically fucking painful. And the damn Minireenas didn't help with that at all. I just want it to stop being so awkward.'

"Baby."

'It's been five hours since it happened and it's still all I'm thinking about. Like, stop that shit brain. It's super annoying.'

"Baby."

'I'm pretty sure everyone knows that I've been acting weird. But I can't stop doing it. I can't pull my shit together because I seem to have misplaced all of it.'

"Baby."

'Just like every great ringmaster does.'

"Baby."

'Really setting a good example, I am. Just giving off those good leader vibes.'

"Baby."

'By being a disorganized mess who just fucking radiates confidence and unwavering emotional strength.'

"Baby."

'The last two parts were a joke, obviously.'

"Baby."

'Wait, I don't need to explain that to myself.'

"Baby."

'For fucks sake. This is stupid. I should probably be paying attention to the staff meeting. I think I literally only paid attention for the first few minutes. Why did I decide that these things had to be held so late?'

"Baby."

'Oh yeah, it's because I didn't feel like death 24/7 when I started this job.'

"Baby!"

'Whose brilliant idea was it to hire me, anyway?'

"RILEY BABY WOODS COULD YOU ANSWER ME PLEASE!"

Baby snapped out of her thoughts, looking towards the amber eyes that were burning holes into her.

"Sorry, Foxy. Did you say something?"

"Um, yeah? I've been saying your name for the past five minutes! Are you high or something? Because I was pretty sure we confiscated all of Ennard's weed!"

Ennard coughed awkwardly, stuffing his hands into his pockets.

Ballora placed a hand on Foxy's shoulder. "Cool your engines, Star Fox."

They frowned.

"Sorry," Baby apologized again. "I guess I just kinda zoned out. What did you say?"

"I asked you if you had placed the order yet!"

"Oh...um, yeah. Totally." She nodded.

"You have no idea what I'm talking about, do you?"

"Not really, no."

Foxy sighed loudly. "THE ORDER FOR THE PARTY HATS!"

Baby thought for a moment. "Oh, yeah. I did place that order."

Foxy threw their hands in the air. "Thank you!"

"I think someone pissed in Foxy's Cheerios this morning," Bon-Bon whispered to Freddy.

They whipped around. "OR MAYBE I'M JUST ANNOYED BECAUSE OUR BOSS NEVER PAYS ATTENTION!"

Baby sunk so far into her chair that she was basically under the table.

"You're always annoyed with everyone, ya potato."

"I don't need sass from a puppet!"

'Oh god, not again'.

Freddy gasped and covered Bon-Bon's ears. "Don't c-call him a puppet!"

"What do you mean 'don't call him a puppet'? He is a puppet!"

"How r-rude!"

"C'mon, Ennard. Back me up!"

Ennard slung an arm around Ballora's shoulders and Baby sank even further under the table. "Sorry, Faxy. I'm not getting involved in this."

"Is it because I got all of your 'devil's lettuce' taken away?"

"Maybe, maybe not." 

"You can't hold that against me forever!"

Enard leaned forward and flicked Foxy's nose. "Yes, I can."

So much for not getting involved.

Practically everyone started arguing and Baby continued to sit halfway under the table.

Ballora leaned towards her, now free from Ennard because he was busy putting Bon-Bon into a chokehold.

"You doing alright down there, Red?"

"Yeah." Default response. "Just hiding from this war I started."

"You know, I remember when you used to physically break apart every fight and yell at us about how moronic everyone was being. What happened to that?"

Baby shrugged. "I dunno."

Ballora was about to respond, but got interrupted by Freddy body slamming Ennard into the table.

"Dang it, Freddy!"

She scooted a little closer to Baby so that she was further out of range of attack. "Goodness Gracious. Please stop them Before they break another table."

"I don't know, They probably won't break another. These ones are sturdier."

"Aw, c'mon. for me?" 

Baby looked away from Ballora, unable to maintain eye contact with her. She had another weird feeling in her chest, but it was almost different. Almost. She stood up, with actual motivation for once.

"Fine."

She walked over to the wrestling match in progress, picking up her brother and placing him over her shoulder. Once he was out of the way, she managed to separate Foxy and Freddy and pick them up by their collars. 

"Okay, the whole lot of you are acting like absolute idiots! There's no need to get physical with one another! The tables can only take so many body slams! Go to your damn rooms and chill the hell out!"

'Eh, could've put more into it. My mini-speeches used to be way more extra than that. Probably would have helped if I wasn't the main start of the argument. Whatever, I guess.'

Baby dropped them all off in their rooms, shutting the doors. She walked back to the room where they were having their staff meeting, standing near the opposite side of the table across from Ballora. 

"Um...I guess the staff meeting is over now."

"And that means we can talk now, yeah?"