Description: Ken and Eliza meet once again after a few months of silence.
Patiently, treading carefully, the woman waiting in the offices of Ken Masters sits quite still, occasionally casting an eye over the contents of the room while nursing a well steeped and cooling cup of tea and its companion saucer. The Chairman of the Neo Leagues offices, US national martial Arts Champion, wall are decorated with some of the trophies the owner of the office has collected over the years.
Once again the chairmans personal assistant enters to inquire if there is anything she can get her while she waits, the waiting woman thinks she can read some sympathy in the other woman and gives her a soft smile "I'm quite alright.. thank you." The woman will probably check on her again in the not too distant future if he has yet to arrive, Her visit being unscheduled and waiting as such was not unexpected, he is a busy man.. too busy. The waiting woman takes a sip of the cooling and overly strong tea and continues to sit quietly on a small plush office sofa. Photographs of the chairman with his happy young family dot the walls and sit framed on his desk, photographs that have as much a treasured part in her own heart as she hoped they did still in his.
Eliza Masters looks so happy in those photographs, holding their infant son and smiling beside her husband, smiling as he holds them both in his arms for another photograph. A family she wishes she hopes to bring back together, and so she waits.
Beaten, battered and bruised, Ken already knows he has a hell of a lot of explaining to do once he finally leaves the arena. Unfortunately for him, there is still a couple of things left to sign. The elevator doors open to the top floor of the arena, which is mainly just administrative offices, including the Chairman's own office, which has a very worried looking assistant pacing outside the door. A lone look at the assistant can speak volumes as to what waits on the other side.
"How long has she been waiting?" Ken speaks before the assistant has a chance to open his mouth, causing the poor person to stare down at the floor, mumbling something about twenty minutes. A slight nod comes from Ken who only scratches the back of his head. "If Ryu comes up, send him in immediatly. Let him know whats going on."
The Assistant nods their head, leaving Ken to face his fate with what lies beyond.
Ken's hand opens the door, slowly slipping into the office to stare at the blonde woman inside. "Hi Honey."
The smile is enough to melt her heart even if it were not delivered in such an awkward manner, Just like Mel, the Masters boys certainly knew when they were in trouble. Setting cup and saucer aside Eliza rises and crosses the floor to her husband, offering him a perfunctory peck on the cheek. The display lacks the display of passion the pair usually show one another but suitable for a greeting.
"You look tired Ken."
Worry is etched in her face now that she has finally gotten a chance to see how he is doing. Watching his matches on television was no substitute for being in the same room as him and sharing the same intimate knowledge they had of one another. This Ken didn't quite feel like the mad she had married, there was a new distance between them that she had to see for herself."You aren't pushing yourself too hard are you?"
At home he would be taken care of, eating right, made sure he was healed, fit and strong before he charged off for his next battle. She reaches out to touch his arm, still a strong and powerful man but she has been his wife for long enough to know when he is keeping things from her, it has been months since he had even come home. The contact doesn't last long before she lets her hand drop to be clasped together in front of her. She tries to work up to some small talk "It's been awhile since I was last here." (or have seen you) which she tactfully neglects to add.
The kiss is all Ken needs to truly know that he is in the dog house bigtime right now. A slow sigh is given as he tries to wrap his arms around Eliza. "It's been.. rough. There's been a lot going on, and it wasn't safe for me to come home.." There is so much he needs to tell her, yet the words really aren't there for him in his moment of need.
"I really don't know where to begin. So much happened right when the King of Fighters tournament started, and it just spiraled out of control from there. Everything is okay now, and I promise you that I'm not going to go gallivanting around the world without telling you before hand from now on. It's.. I'm going to stay home for a while. I don't want to go running around again."
Ken pulls away slightly so he can try to look Eliza in the eyes, knowing that right now she has every right to tell him off. "Eliza. I'm sorry."
Eliza turns her head away, she can't afford to get lost in his eyes or to forgive him quite so easily just yet. She focuses on why she was here, in this room at this time. She walks away form him to gather her thoughts, Kens remark about safety had caught her unprepared. There had always been some element of danger to her life since she began dating Ken but not usually enough that he would avoid his own family. She brushes at an imaginary speck of dust on one of the wall mounted photographs and carefully studies the happy family contained within its framed borders.
"I dearly want to believe you Ken."
She turns to face him but can't quite make herself meet his eyes.
"You've been gone for nearly six months. Our son is only two years old." there is frustration and sadness and anger all welling up inside but she is still doing her best not to cry in front of him, the anger helps with that "That's very nearly a quarter of his whole life Ken, you haven't been around for one fight or another."
She draws herself up and deliberately looks Ken square in the eye, her eyes a gentle bur resolve is firm "I can accept your apology on my behalf, but not on his." she turns her head to look back at the photo clearly visible to both of them, the small blonde haired child with a grin reminiscent of his fathers “You will have to try harder for his forgiveness and understanding” she smiles in a fond yet sad manner at the photo, she misses those times very deeply “A two year old can be notoriously difficult to reason with at the best of times, your son more than most.”
"There are things that even I can't explain in this world. The King of Fighters tournament damaged not just my life, but dozens of others. A cult was involved with organizing it.. and.. They did things. Things to make us change. What made it worse, was that in the end while I wasn't in control, I was no longer fighting it. I couldn't. It was addictive." Ken moves away from Eliza, only to lean against his desk, trying to find a way to make his wife understand.
The words are hard to find, especially in a way that wouldn't make like it was he was truly making excuses. "I can only say I'm sorry so many times, and I know it won't make it right. Just.. there was so much going on at once, that I was a dangerous to be around. I.. hurt a lot of people. People I didn't even know. Metro City's recent rampage? It.. was.."
Eliozas Skin is cooler to the touch than Kens as she leans her forehead against his upper arm as he leans over his desk, whatever he is going through Ken has never run from his fights or his family before. Dedicated enough to his family that he let a mundane CEO lifestyle begin to suffocate him as her tried to be a respectable family man, she knew that and had freed him from that dreary existance to pursue his interests. She knew his flaws inside and out the same way that he knew hers, and the battle she was facing was one disturbingly similar to that of her elder sister, the sacrifices her sister and niece made because of the duty and lifestyle of their husband and father.
"You never run from your problems, You face them head on. That's the man I married."
tShe lifts her chin and smiles for him, its a reassuring smile though there still tell-tale worry lines in her face, something that may give her wrinkles if I can't stop doing it so often. "I originally came here to give you an ultimatum. It's just four months until Mel turns three years old." she clings to his arm and injects an iron core into her words "On that day, Mel needs his father back. Ken Masters. But until then, The 'Crimson Dynamo' has many battles to fight and.. his family is here to support him through that." her grip tightens and eyes moisten despite the smile at calling him by the fight pseudonym "we always have been."
There is a soft chuckle from Ken as he turns to face Eliza, a warm smile resting on his face. "I don't plan on being the best and greatest anymore. Mel does need me, and so do you. So. Instead of giving me an ultimatum, I'm going to do this. You and Mel? You two are coming with me for a while, while I take it easy. How does that sound? I need to start slowing it down, and I want you two to come with me."
The words have a slight plea to them, as if this were truly what he wants. "So I want you to go home, pack, and then we will travel as a family. Come with me. Please."
Eliza smiles and nods, she cant stop a few tears coming to her eyes but at she is smiling radiantly, something she hasn't found herself doing in awhile. She slugs him in the arm weakly for making her worry so much and with that she can forgive him, at least for her own sake. Standing on tip toes she leans in and plants a kiss on his lips that lasts long enough that they are interrupted by the return of Kens personal assistant who coughs delicately into her fist.
Eliza blinks settles back down with her feet flat to the floor and adjusting her jacket to disguise the red in her cheeks. "Mel is staying with your parents at the moment, Your mother wanted to come with me and 'sort you out' but they were happier still to have Mel for a couple of days." They have a couple of days to themselves to reconnect a little and then go and pick up their son, hopefully together. But for now, Eliza Masters has a role to play "I wouldn't miss a chance to cheer my husband on, of course."
Log created on 16:14:53 11/25/2011 by Ken, and last modified on 20:13:01 11/25/2011.