It's always worth remembering that there's no rule that New Year's Resolutions have to be positive for other people. If you want to resolve to burn down more orphanages in 2022, then that's your prerogative!
Vision Fabian was in his office an hour early the next morning. He woke up with the sun just peeking in through the windows, considered how warm his bed was, and then considered that getting in early might mollify Cass and make it easier to talk her out of her crusade. The bed and the noble intent warred briefly and the bed lost. He wasn't sure, still, if that was a good thing. His email inbox was quite manageable, though he rarely got asked things that were especially difficult through email. His biggest problems always seemed to arise out of meetings and chance encounters in the corridors, and visits from the Assessors or other Imperial departments. This morning though there were three emails that immediately caught his eye; all from other Director-level appointments around the Empire and all referring to Cass's proposed Tour of the Halls of Sunset. A tour of the Halls of Sunset would be a wonderful idea, said the first, as I don't think they've been open to the public in years. The second was more guarded but still felt that a tour would be a wonderful opportunity for the Director to showcase his vision for the New Imperial Museum. After reading that three times Fabian re-checked who had sent the email and was only slightly dismayed to realise it was the Imperial Auditor. "Damn that woman," he muttered to himself. The third email informed him as he opened it that it would self-destruct in forty seconds, but thankfully it consisted of one brief paragraph: Fabian, whosever idea this is, it's not a good one. The Auditors are unruly of late and this is unlikely to help calm them down. Talk to this Cass person and make them see reason. "Dread?" murmured Fabian, but the email sender proved to be an alias called Counter-insurgency group A which meant nothing to him. As he stared at it, wondering how bad an idea it would be to try and find out more about it, the email disappeared first from his screen, then his inbox. "And what does unruly mean, anyway?" he muttered, moving on to more mundane things.
An hour later his door whooshed open with a gust of air that scattered the paperwork he'd laid meticulously out on his desk all over the floor. "Be more ca--" he started, but Cass, standing in the doorway and shaking with what he soon realised was rage, shouted over him. "They've said no!" She actually stamped her foot, startling Fabian into silence. "They had the cheek to say no to a tour of the Halls of Sunset. That we practically own!" Fabian could feel how wide his eyes were and he desperately sought for words, finding none. "I have ways though." That was a snarl. "And there's a fire drill due in a couple of days. I've been trying to delay it but they've caught on. Full evacuation, timed, counting the number of employees, checking for Fire Marshalls and then a sweep of the building to see who would have burned to death and how many of them would be our fault. Just so you know!" She stamped out of the doorway and down the corridor, with Fabian wincing with each footfall, wondering how much damage her heeled shoes were doing to the floors. "Well that was a vision, to be sure," he said when he was sure she was out of earshot. "Let's pick all these papers back up then...."
2 comments:
It's always worth remembering that there's no rule that New Year's Resolutions have to be positive for other people. If you want to resolve to burn down more orphanages in 2022, then that's your prerogative!
Vision
Fabian was in his office an hour early the next morning. He woke up with the sun just peeking in through the windows, considered how warm his bed was, and then considered that getting in early might mollify Cass and make it easier to talk her out of her crusade. The bed and the noble intent warred briefly and the bed lost. He wasn't sure, still, if that was a good thing.
His email inbox was quite manageable, though he rarely got asked things that were especially difficult through email. His biggest problems always seemed to arise out of meetings and chance encounters in the corridors, and visits from the Assessors or other Imperial departments. This morning though there were three emails that immediately caught his eye; all from other Director-level appointments around the Empire and all referring to Cass's proposed Tour of the Halls of Sunset.
A tour of the Halls of Sunset would be a wonderful idea, said the first, as I don't think they've been open to the public in years. The second was more guarded but still felt that a tour would be a wonderful opportunity for the Director to showcase his vision for the New Imperial Museum. After reading that three times Fabian re-checked who had sent the email and was only slightly dismayed to realise it was the Imperial Auditor. "Damn that woman," he muttered to himself. The third email informed him as he opened it that it would self-destruct in forty seconds, but thankfully it consisted of one brief paragraph:
Fabian, whosever idea this is, it's not a good one. The Auditors are unruly of late and this is unlikely to help calm them down. Talk to this Cass person and make them see reason.
"Dread?" murmured Fabian, but the email sender proved to be an alias called Counter-insurgency group A which meant nothing to him. As he stared at it, wondering how bad an idea it would be to try and find out more about it, the email disappeared first from his screen, then his inbox.
"And what does unruly mean, anyway?" he muttered, moving on to more mundane things.
An hour later his door whooshed open with a gust of air that scattered the paperwork he'd laid meticulously out on his desk all over the floor.
"Be more ca--" he started, but Cass, standing in the doorway and shaking with what he soon realised was rage, shouted over him.
"They've said no!" She actually stamped her foot, startling Fabian into silence. "They had the cheek to say no to a tour of the Halls of Sunset. That we practically own!"
Fabian could feel how wide his eyes were and he desperately sought for words, finding none.
"I have ways though." That was a snarl. "And there's a fire drill due in a couple of days. I've been trying to delay it but they've caught on. Full evacuation, timed, counting the number of employees, checking for Fire Marshalls and then a sweep of the building to see who would have burned to death and how many of them would be our fault. Just so you know!" She stamped out of the doorway and down the corridor, with Fabian wincing with each footfall, wondering how much damage her heeled shoes were doing to the floors.
"Well that was a vision, to be sure," he said when he was sure she was out of earshot. "Let's pick all these papers back up then...."
Greg - I shall... keep that in mind.
Oh Cass. There really is no stopping her.
That Mission Impossible email is interesting. Not from Dread, surely, but who then? Hmm, hmm, hmm...
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