Act Your Age

I get up from my desk to go look for Rae, but to my surprise, Luck doesn't get up to follow me. She seems to be thinking about something, though what it is that's going through her mind is anyone's guess.

"You coming?" I ask.

"As much as I'd love to see what kind of fun you're about to get up to, I'm actually thinking about tailing Audrey for a bit to see if I can learn more about her," Luck explains.

"I don't know if I like the idea of you wandering around here without my supervision," I respond.

"And is there anything you can do about it if I decide to go anyway?" Luck asks as she stands up and puts a hand on her hip smugly.

You've got to be kidding me. It appears that yet again, Luck has me beat. I wish there was some way I could have a bit more control over her, but as far as I can tell, that's impossible. Even though I've agreed to let her do what she wants, that still doesn't mean I trust her to go off on her own. Still, it's clear I don't have a choice. I mean, I guess I could go with her to spy on Audrey, but I'd rather not deal with what would happen if I got caught in that situation. Not to mention that I just don't have time to be constantly babysitting Luck 24/7.

"Fine... Just be careful. And don't try to make a move on her! At least not before doing whatever it is you're going to do to her," I warn.

"No need to worry. I can handle myself," Luck assures me.

She's not the one I'm worried about...

After one last goodbye, Luck disappears to go do her thing. And as soon as she vanishes, I immediately attempt to put what she's doing out of my mind. If I don't I'm just going to be stressing myself out, which is something I already do more than enough of. The best way to not think about Luck and Audrey together is to distract myself with something else, and since I was already about to go look for Rae, I decide to focus on that for now.

As I walk through the office looking for Rae, my mind can't help but circle back around to whether or not Luck really did put her back to normal. I mean, she said she would, and she hasn't been one to outright lie about something, at least not as far as I can tell. But then again, she seems really insistent on using her powers on everyone I know. Would she really just put Rae back to how she was? It's hard to say. I guess the only way to know for sure is to see her for myself.

It actually takes me a while to find Rae, and when I do, she's in the last place I would have expected: her desk. I think it says something about her work ethic that it didn't even cross my mind to look for her at her desk until I ran out of other possible options. Hearing me approach her from behind causes her to turn around to face me, where I finally get the answer to my question.

I'm honestly shocked when I see that Rae looks like her old self. Well... kind of. While she does have her original body back, something about the way she's standing is unusual. The second she makes eye contact with me, she becomes visibly nervous, fidgeting around with her top. I'm not sure if she's really aware of the fact that all of that fidgeting is resulting in her constantly flashing her purple bra at me. And speaking of her outfit, I don't know who is dressed less appropriately for their job, her or Audrey. Similar to her blonde coworker, Rae is also wearing a small crop top that exposes her midriff, this one black in color, but she's also wearing a pair of jeans, giving her a way more casual appearance than she should really have in an office setting.

"H... hey, Kyle..." she whispers in a meek tone.

Okay, now I know something is wrong. Normally, Rae is pretty confident, not caring what anyone thinks of her. Yet right now, she acting weirdly reserved. It's as if she's trying her best to not upset me or something. Not to mention that she hasn't made any rude comments or teasing remarks. Usually she tries to get those in as soon as possible. Despite the fact that Luck returned Rae to her more petite frame, it's clear she didn't do the same with her brain. In retrospect, I probably should have seen that coming. Luck does seem to love technicalities.

"Alright, Rae. What do you want?" I ask plainly. Even if she doesn't appear to be her usual bratty self, that doesn't mean I suddenly have more patience for her.

But that's when something I really didn't expect happens: Rae's eyes begin to fill with tears. Her breathing becomes heavy, attempting to draw in more air as she start hyperventilating.

Woah! What the hell is going on? Nothing I've ever said before has elicited this kind of reaction in her. She normally has impenetrably thick skin. But now, she's about to burst in to tears from just a few words. I didn't even say anything that harsh. This also doesn't make any sense given what I know about how Luck changed Rae. Yesterday, when Rae was acting like a loving mother, she still had her typical confidence for the most part, it was just redirected. Now, that's totally gone. She suddenly seems much more frail and uncertain. That must mean that Luck altered her mind again, in a completely different way this time, although I'm not quite sure what she actually did yet. One thing's for sure though: if I don't get Rae to calm down, it won't be long before someone shows up asking what I did to her.

"Okay, okay. I'm sorry, Rae. I didn't mean it. Please don't cry," I plead with her.

And just like that, it stops. Rae still seems very emotional right now, but the second I ask her to stop, she suddenly makes an effort to keep herself together. She sniffles a bit as she looks down at the ground.

"I... I'm sorry... I didn't mean to upset you..." Rae says quietly while starting to fidget even more.

It's really weird seeing Rae in this state. While I usually couldn't care less about her, something about seeing her act so weak and subdued almost makes me feel like I need to protect her. Huh. I'm not sure if I like that feeling...

"It's fine. You didn't upset me. Now, will you just tell me why you wanted to talk with me?" I ask, this time in a much more timid voice.

"I just wanted to say that I'm sorry about what happened yesterday," Rae begins to explain. "I really messed things up. You could have lost your job because of me. That was a really mean thing to do."

As if this interaction wasn't confusing enough. You know, it's interesting: when Rae was acting like my mom yesterday, she offered to help clean up, but I don't remember her ever actually apologizing for what she did. But now, she genuinely seems sorry for her actions. It's almost like that version of Rae was more responsible and caring, while this one is more submissive and needy. Both opposites of the original Rae, just in drastically different ways.

I feel like I'm onto something, but I still need more information if I want to fully figure this out.

"Well... just don't do it again," I say firmly, hoping to draw out a reaction.

"Y-yes..." Rae responds immediately before mumbling something under her breath.

"What was that?"

"N-nothing. Shut up!" she quickly yells as her old personality briefly comes back to the surface.

Hmm... Okay, I think I'm starting to get a better idea of how this works. Let's try this...

"Rae? I thought you were trying to apologize to me. Is this really the best way to say that you're sorry?"

Rae momentarily tenses up. I can see an internal debate occurring within her as she tries to determine what the best response is. For a second, it looks like she's about to tell me off, but at the last second, the more meek side of her wins out.

"No..." she answers, once again trying to whisper something right after so I don't here it. This time, I just silently stare at her. After another few second, Rae shrinks down even more, putting her hands behind her back before repeating herself. "No, D... No, Daddy."

Aha! So that's what it is! Now she sees me as the parent. Luck must have interpreted my issues with Rae's changes as me not liking her being maternal. So she flipped it around so that Rae would consider herself the child in this relationship. Which I guess would make me her father in that case...

Oh, I don't know if I like that thought. Me as a father. Maybe it's because my dad was so horrible (still is horrible, just not my dad anymore), or maybe it's just the idea of having to take care of someone the same age as me, but something about this makes me feel gross. I can tell that Rae feels similarly, as she cringes to herself once she realizes what she just called me. I'm going to have to talk to Luck about this...

Now that I've sorted that out and heard what Rae wanted to say, I assume the conversation is over and turn to leave. But just as I do, I catch a panicked look from the redhead out of the corner of my eye.

"Wait! I wasn't done yet!" She calls out. I turn back to her and raise an eyebrow, causing her to immediately back down. "Right. Inside voice. Sorry. I just... I wanted to know if there was anything I could do to make up for what I did..."

"What do you mean? You already helped me reorganize the storage room," I point out.

"Yeah, but... it doesn't feel like enough..." Rae responds. "And also... I don't really know what I'm supposed to be doing right now anyway. I was hoping you could give me something to do..."

I have to admit, hearing her say that does pique my interest a little. While I'm still not sure how I feel about this dynamic, I do like the idea of her being willing to actually do some work. Maybe I should take advantage of this rare opportunity.

"Well... I guess Audrey did give me some emails to respond to..."

"I can do them!" Rae quickly offers before realizing something. "Or at least I can try... I don't know if I'd do that great of a job since I haven't done too much of that stuff before. But if it means you'll forgive me, I'm willing to try!"

She might have a better idea of what to do if she had actually bothered to do her job before now. Despite her inexperience, I can't deny that it would be nice to finally get her to do her fair share. Although, I can't afford to give her all that work. If she messes up, I'll be the one who gets in trouble for it.

"How about this? I'll give you a few of them to start out, and I'll do the rest," I explain to her. I'm used to doing the work of two people, so even off-loading just a bit of it would be a huge help. "If you can handle that, then that will make up for what happened yesterday."

Rae's eyes sparkle and a huge smile forms on her face when I explain my idea. She quickly agrees, so I tell her to stay put while I go get the list that Audrey gave me. When I return, I find Rae standing by her desk in the exact position she was in when I left. Wow. Whatever suggestion Luck gave her must really be working for her to be that dedicated to following my instructions. Anyway, I transfer a small handful of names off the list onto another sheet of paper, which I then hand to the petite girl. However, when she reads it over, she frowns a bit.

"That's it? That's all you want me to do?" She asks, sounding almost disappointed that I didn't trust her to do any more.

"That's all you have to do," I confirm.

"Well, is there something else you want? Come on. There has to be something else I can do to make you happy," she starts to beg.

This is so surreal. 24 hours ago, Rae had no issue shoving all her work onto me. Now, she's trying to get me to give up more of my work so she can do it. But like I said, I just don't trust her to do it properly.

"No, that's it for now. I'll let you know if anything else comes up," I tell her.

"Oh. Okay Da- Kyle. I meant to say 'Kyle,'" she blushes.

Alright. Seeing her cheeks get all red like that is kind of cute, I'll concede. Rae has always been such a bitch, it was hard to have any sympathy for her. But seeing her so helpless like this makes me want to give her a bit of a hand. Is that how she saw me yesterday? What a wild concept. I think I need to chat with Luck at some point to sort this out.

For now though, I run Rae through the basics of what she's supposed to do before setting her off. As I leave, I notice that she seems determined to prove herself to me. And hey, if that means she might actually starting doing some quality work, I'll take it. Though perhaps we can find a way to make that happen without all the "Daddy/daughter" stuff.