#i read the It (Re)Started In The Cafeteria fic and something inside me clicked during the Sally POV chapter

[benadrylcandlewhack]

Hey is there a 12 Year Old Sally Acorn Hater to 16 Year Old Sallicole Shipper pipeline bc I think I'm in it

[artificialqueens]

Galactica, Chapter 6 (Group Fic) - TheDane/Veronica

A/N: Hey there darlings! Click here if you’re looking for previous chapters (or here if you’d rather read on AO3). 💫

Last Chapter: Fame’s email about a collection reconceptualization had everyone in a panic.

This Chapter: Pearl does her boss a solid, and then the dreaded meeting occurs...

***

Pearl Liaison wasn’t a genius, but it didn’t take one to figure out that today would be a rough one.

The company was in quiet chaos, everyone trying their absolute best not to alert their superiors that they were freaking out, her own staff included, but Pearl could see it on them easily.

Pearl had spent the morning putting together a deck of research based on current trends, her and Trixie emailing back and forth as her best friend tried to keep his department under control. By the time she handed the flash drive to one of the marketing interns to print out, it was almost 1.

Pearl could have gone to the cafeteria, but instead, she skipped out and took a trip to Max’s studio. The Brit wasn’t in, but Pearl unlocked the door, walking past all the equipment and out onto the small rooftop terrace that was connected to Max’s workspace for the instances when he needed natural light.

Pearl dumped down, lighting a cigarette, and closed her eyes, the late summer sun shining down on her.

She felt her phone buzz, messages ticking in one after the other.

My office now

Please

Hello?

Pearl why are you not answering your messages?

Pearl smiled and rolled her eyes. She texted a quick ‘on my way’ as well as a winky face as she got up, popping a piece of gum before she made her way back into the building.

Violet was gone from her desk when Pearl got back to Fame’s office—the woman no doubt setting up the same meticulous way she normally did. Pearl sauntered into Fame’s office, a smirk on her face as she closed the door behind her.

“Finally,” Fame said, a bit of a testy edge to her voice.  She was sitting behind her desk, and Pearl could see from the pink of her lip that she had been chewing it. “I’ve been calling Patrick, but his assistant says he’s unavailable because they’re going over the settlements for the month, can you believe-”

“A pleasure to see you too.” Pearl locked the door. “So, I assume this isn’t another official meeting?”

Fame sighed, a little crease appearing between her eyes.

“Fame? Pearl asked, a bit more gently. “Are you okay?”

“No, of course I’m not okay.” Fame leaned back in her chair, groaning. “We’re about to re-do the whole collection, start from scratch, and what if it’s a disaster?”

“No one is forcing you to change anything-”

Pearl was cut off as Fame raised a perfect brow.

“All I’m saying is that we could just use the collection that you approved last week.”

“I know we could, but it’s not good enough. It needs to be transcendent.”

Pearl gazed intently at her, blue eyes taking in her beloved boss—unable to understand why she always put such tremendous pressure on herself, but admiring her all the same.

“Anything I can do for you, Miss?” Pearl asked, adding the sleepy drawl to her voice that she knew Fame adored.

“Please,” Fame pushed away from her desk with her bare foot, and she realized that she hadn’t even seen when she had slipped out of her shoes.

Pearl’s mouth turned up in a lopsided grin, walking forward and sinking to the floor.

“Hello.” She dropped a light kiss inside Fame’s knee. Fame’s skin was always perfectly smooth, always a little cold to the touch, and her smell was intoxicating.

Fame lifted her hips slightly, allowing Pearl to reach under her skirt and pull her panties off, spread her thighs. She ran her hands through Pearl’s hair, tangling her fingers into the unruly blonde tresses and then pulling her forward.

Pearl pushed her skirt up, letting her fingers graze over Fame’s pussy until her breath hitched. Her mouth moved to Fame’s inner thigh, placing a soft butterfly kiss against her, feeling fists tighten in her hair.

“Will you hurry up? The meeting is in fifteen minutes.” Fame punctuated her statement with a sharp tug on Pearl’s hair, causing her to giggle.

“Yes, Miss.”

Pearl suppressed her urge to torment her with soft, gentle kitten licks until she squirmed in pain, and got down to business. Her tongue swirled around Fame’s swollen clit, humming lightly, enjoying the dizzying pressure of Fame’s thighs against her ears. She reached up, hands slipping under Fame’s blouse to find the soft lace of her bra, pinching her nipples, making her gasp with pleasure.

It took a shockingly short amount of time before Fame was on the edge, biting on her fist to keep quiet as Pearl’s tongue worked its magic. She clasped Pearl’s hands to her chest, aching with need as she tried to push the girl’s hand down.

“Fingers, please,” Fame choked out, and Pearl complied immediately, sliding two fingers easily inside her, curling forward just so, pausing for a moment to look up at her, gray eyes dark and liquid, before stroking her from the inside.

Fame fucked down against her fingers, heart racing, body tight like a coiled spring. And when Pearl began to suck on her clit, the vice grip she had on her hair tightened even more, her other hand covering her mouth as she did her best to stifle her moans.

She came hard against Pearl’s face, giving her a surge of pride, tongue continuing to swirl until she whimpered in pain.

Collapsing back against her chair with a deep sigh, Fame took Pearl’s face into her hands, tilting her chin up, admiring her own glistening mess for a few moments before handing her a tissue.

“You should go clean up. The meeting’s starting in five minutes,” she told her affectionately.

“Maybe it’ll even start a few minutes late?” Pearl asked, laying a cheek against her thigh. “Give me a chance to grab the decks from my office?”

“Are you asking me for special favors?” Fame said, feigning shock with a hand pressed to her chest.

“Sorry, Miss. It won’t happen again, Miss,” Pearl said with a sparkle in her eye, rising to her feet.

“Although, you know, it’s possible for me to be slightly delayed, I suppose.”

Pearl laughed and pressed a kiss to her forehead, giving her a cheeky wink as she left the office.  

***

Luckily, Fame wasn’t the first one to arrive in the boardroom, Trixie was.

Violet hated meetings where Fame didn’t follow her schedule because Fame was always on time, everyone else was simply too late or too early.

Trixie had brought two stuffed rolling racks filled with sample pieces from the design department, and armfuls of sample cards with different fabrics.

He had smiled gratefully when Violet had come to help him, the two of them quickly spreading out the best of their current collection so everyone would have a chance to share their input.

What little hair Trixie had was sticking out in all directions, his hand running through it again and again in what Violet could only assume was frustration.

“Are you okay?” Violet wasn’t generally one to ask how others were doing, but Trixie was a kind man, and it seemed like he needed the support.

“My entire department is in a panic.” Trixie groaned, “but it could have been a lot worse. Without you, and without your warning, we would have been seriously screwed.”

He sat down, crossing his arms.

“Who gives a six hour deadline for an alleged complete collection change, anyway?”

Violet bit her lip. She didn’t like going behind Fame’s back, but the look of extreme gratitude in Trixie’s eyes had convinced Violet she had done the right thing for the company, even if she had betrayed Fame’s trust.

The next one to come in was Alaska, who waved at Violet with a smile on her face, followed by Raja and Alyssa who were deep in conversation, while Pearl strolled in as the last one in an entirely new outfit from when Violet had seen her earlier that same day.

Violet quickly took her spot in the corner, the role of an assistant to disappear whenever she was not spoken to.

Fame would be there any minute, and Violet was fiddling with the bottom of her dress, absent-mindedly tugging on a small piece of thread.

It was one of her worst habits, nervous energy always settling over her like a suffocating blanket, and Violet couldn’t help but do something, anything, with herself to distract from the feelings she had inside.

At last, Fame arrived, closing the door behind her. “Where are my sketches, Violet?”

Everyone turned to Violet, and she wished the earth would swallow her up. “Right here Miss!”

Violet grabbed the big folder she had forgotten on the drinks table, taking two long steps to give it to her boss.

Fame had given Violet a stack of sketches after her meeting with Raja, the stroke of the pencil absolutely Fame’s, and Violet couldn’t believe that she had been lucky enough to see an original sketch for her bosses hand, Fame barely ever drawing anymore.

“Did you copy these?”

“Yes Miss.”

“Divide them.” Fame snapped the folder closed. “That’s all.”

Violet nodded, quickly doing as she was asked. She stood for a moment, her eyes meeting Raja’s, and with a short nod from her.

Violet had never been so happy to be sent on a coffee run, but as the editors buckled down, she couldn’t wait to escape the room.

***

“And see this color?” Fame held up a shirt, showing it off to the boardroom. “In the sketches, it was youthful and an interesting statement, but with this lace it looks like we’re catering to age fetishes. The Galactica customer is an adult woman who has her life together.”

Pearl sighed. They’d been at it for hours. Going through the collection piece by piece, Fame happily tearing most of it to shreds, only a dress made by April and two jackets from Betty surviving into the “maybe” pile.

“I don’t hate this skirt...“

Pearl drummed her pencil against the table. It wasn’t that she disliked these meetings, wasn’t that she didn’t like watching a good panic, but she was both frustrated and bored, and Violet wasn’t even there for her to look at or flirt with.

“But the print just isn’t right,” Fame sighed, “This isn’t it.”

“One of our vendors in Italy sent us this floral fabric-” Trixie reached over the table, grabbing one of the sample cards that Gia had come up with.

“Florals,” Fame raised a brow. “For spring? Groundbreaking.”

Pearl bit her lip. She could see the genuine hurt on Trixie’s face, could see how he got burned by Fame’s quick and harsh dismissal of his idea.

“Anyone have a different suggestion?”

No one said anything, and Pearl couldn’t blame them—after all, most of the suggestions anyone had made so far had been immediately shot down. And Fame’s catlike eyes scanned the room, poised to pounce on anyone who dared to open their mouths.

“Did anybody come to work today? All I ask for is staff who know how to deliver, and so far all I see is unwearable prints and tired, reductive suggestions.”

Raja coughed, stopping Fame from going off completely.

“All I ask for is a little bit of some extraordinary brilliance.”

Pearl sighed. She loved Fame, she did, but it was borderline psychotic to ask for brilliance.

“I want something fresh, something different, something—” Fame waved her hand. “We’re not being innovative enough.”

Pearl picked up Fame’s sketches, leafing through them slowly as Raja started speaking, everyone else immediately listening to the authority in her voice.

“Maybe we should go the Victorian route,” Pearl suggested, looking up at Fame questioningly.

“Did you hit your pretty head? I asked for innovation.”

“Wait a second,” Trixie said, jumping up and pawing through the rolling rack of new, proposed looks. He began to pull out a few pieces, tossing them onto the table.

“The aesthetic is coming back, I swear,” Pearl said. “At least among the fashion students.”

“So what do you suggest? Long sleeves and sexy ankles?” Raja asked.

“Long sleeves, high necks, knee length skirts. If we focus on materials like chiffon, silk and lace we could meet the aesthetic.” Pearl knew that this idea might very well get shot down, like all the others, but she was determined to at least give it a fair shake.

“Look,” Trixie said, holding up the pieces he’d found. “Imagine this skirt, but with the hem dropped 4 inches? Or this jacket, but over a high-necked chiffon blouse. Or this pant...it seems like the Victorian idea is already on the designers’ minds. Pearl is definitely onto something.”

He’d seemed to perk up considerably at the idea, grabbing a pencil to make a few quick sketches.

“It wouldn’t be the same old Victorian stuff we always see. It would just be like, using the Victorian lines and detailing in a modern way.”

“Let our customers look and feel the part of prudish power,” Pearl enthused, wiggling her brow.

“I don’t hate it,” Raja said, and everyone at the table looked at Fame, waiting with baited breath to see what their CEO would say.

After an excruciating pause, she finally said, “I don’t either.”

A huge sigh of relief rippled through the boardroom, but it was short lived, Fame making sure they knew that they weren’t done.

“But we need a new color story,” she said. “Something that sets it apart.”

“We have this pink fabric on—” Trixie picked up one of the sample cards, only to have Fame immediately shake her head.

“We used that same pink two years ago, Trixie,” she sighed. “Just when I started to think that maybe your brain had finally joined us, there it went. Out the window.”

Trixie closed his mouth, dejection written all over his face.

Raja sorted through the sample cards, pulling one out and drawing on it.

“If we go to the jungle, use some gold, I think we could be onto something with this palette.” Raja held up the card, mostly rich greens with pops of gold and a smattering of other colors.

“What’s that?” Fame asked, looking at her sketch.

“A Melati Putih. Indonesia’s national flower. It’s cream-colored with vibrant green leaves.”

“It’s beautiful,” Fame stated, looking almost disappointed at her inability to find anything wrong with the suggestion.

“Trixie, can you do something with this?” Raja asked, a note of uncharacteristic kindness in her voice.

Trixie nodded, taking Raja’s sketch, already searching on his tablet for pictures of the flower.

“Alright…” Fame said slowly. “I suppose that’s an interesting direction...”

“Thank fucking Christ,” Pearl muttered, biting her lip when she realized that she’d accidentally said it out loud.

Fame looked at her sharply. “Really, Pearl.”

“I mean...it’s just so great that you’re happy, Miss,” Pearl said with a flutter of lashes.

“I don’t want anyone to think that this is the end of the discussion. Trixie, I’m giving your team two days to work with this new concept and then we’ll have a presentation on Thursday morning. Think big, bold, exciting. Alaska, work closely with Trixie’s team and make sure we’re coming up with at least 3 new eyeshadow palettes that compliment the color story. Alyssa and Pearl, pull together as many Victorian-styled campaigns as you possibly can. I expect comprehensive pitches for the new campaign from you both on Monday next week, including labeling and artwork for the makeup line, once we have a clearer idea of how the clothes look. And all of you will be expected to give a full report of your new budgetary needs to Jaida by Friday, including where you can cut to make up for the expedited timeline.”

Everyone nodded, noting down their individual instructions.

“...But for now,” Fame continued, “I guess you’re dismissed.”  

***

“Violet girl, you don’t know how much I love you right now.”

Violet laughed. She had returned right after the meeting had ended to clean everything up and collect what Fame had approved and would need.

“It couldn’t have been that bad. Fame was smiling when she came into her office.”

“Oh, it was that bad, I swear I nearly shat my pants several times over. Who does that to people on a Monday?”

Violet giggled. Trixie was being dramatic, but Violet knew how much Fame valued him.

“You definitely saved my life, but most importantly my sanity. If she wasn’t so brilliant, I’d hate it when she changed her mind, but because of the results, it’s almost worth the shitstains.”

***

“Cheers!” Violet yelled, lifting her glass and gesturing to the people who were sitting around the table. Alaska, Max, Kim, Shangela, Jaida, Katya, Trixie and Pearl were all there, and Violet was on her third gin and tonic, feeling amazing.

Pearl had insisted that everyone had to go out and celebrate the fact that they were still alive.

Violet had wanted to go home, but Pearl had touched her arm and asked her to come, and she couldn’t say no.

The rumor that the design department was going out for drinks had spread throughout Galactica and the bar was filled with their coworkers. Violet had never expected that a bar could be this full on a Monday night, but the rumor of a Galactica party had traveled through the city, and now everyone who tried to be anything was there.

“To Violet!” Trixie said, a smile on his face.

“To Violet!” Everyone else agreed, glasses clicking as all of them drank.

“I-” Violet could feel herself blush. “Thank you-”

“Come dance with me!” Katya smiled, and Violet couldn’t resist as the blonde Russian dragged her towards the dance floor.

Katya was a fabulous dancer, completely unashamed of herself even as she made moves that had Violet doubling over in laughter. Violet and Katya had attempted vogue-ing, which had released one of the hyena laughs from the blonde that Violet was becoming addicted to, making the night even more perfect. Trixie came out, joining Katya in what could only be described as a dance-off between idiots. Violet retreated a little, letting the music decide how she danced, sipping her drink and swaying to the beat by herself.

It still felt strange to dance, still felt weird to let the music guide her without any rules, without someone looking at her, but she was getting better, less and less alcohol needed every time she gave herself over.

Pearl came over, her arms sneaking around Violet’s middle, and they had danced together, the music deciding the rhythm of their hips.

She knew she was into Pearl, had been since the first time they met, but lately she had felt something shift between them, Pearl paying her more attention than she ever had before.

“You’re beautiful, Violet.” Pearl smiled, and Violet could smell the rum on her breath, their faces so close together, their dancing making her wetter than she had been in years.

“Thank you.”

Pearl laughed, pulling Violet even closer, a hand on her hip. She could feel her breath against her face, the two of them so closely together.

Pearl reached up, pushing a bit of Violet’s hair behind her ear, and then, they were kissing.

Violet felt her stomach burst with fireworks, her fingers twitching. Pearl was an amazing kisser, her lipstick sticky in the sexiest way, her grip on Violet’s hip tightening.

Pearl had complete control of the kiss, and Violet wanted to disappear into her forever.

They pulled apart, Pearl’s blue eyes filled with mischief, and Violet felt a rush of heat at the sight of her lipstick smeared all over Pearl’s face.

“Hey-” Pearl smirked, clearly leaning in for another kiss, and Violet wanted to lean in, she did, she really did, but then, Violet felt her hand move on its own, pushing on Pearl’s shoulder, her mouth opening without her consent.

“I have to go to the bathroom.”