Hmm, since it's Sunday's prompt it can't be that you arrived at work and discovered the someone had 'borrowed' your chair, or desk, so... what's the inspiration behind this one?
And... I thought I was being careful enough, but clearly not; I've run over the character limit. So I'll post twice; sorry :)
Borrowed Fabian slept poorly after returning home; his first dream immediately dropped him into the Halls of Sunset where some force was compelling him to go around the statues of Esmaranth and adjust their clothing to be more historically accurate. The statues objected, of course, and so he found himself darting between them, dodging blasts of lightning and fire while crying out that the shade of blue of that kimono was two centuries too early and just needed to be fixed.... He woke from that shaking and sweating and had to get a drink of water to help steady his nerves, and the dream after that started with the Auditors pinning him down in his office and telling him they were here to investigate the loss of one small, tatty, stack of paperwork and just got worse from there. It was, therefore, a relief to get up, mutter a complaint about the brightness of morning sunlight, and struggle his way to the office and sit at his desk and wish he'd slept better. "Human resources," said Cass, not even bothering to knock as she marched into his office. "This has been waiting for two weeks now, and you're not getting out of it...." Fabian sighed inwardly, sure that this was her revenge for him going to lunch with Dread a few days earlier, but forced a smile on his face. After all, Cass was much less terrifying than the things in the Halls of Sunset, and much easier to manage. "Let's see the first one," he said, and had to turn his head away to hide a smirk of delight at the look of surprise on her face.
The Maestro appeared two days later with a stack of slightly tatty paperwork that Fabian first recognised from his dreams, and then only realised that it was the stuff he'd left in the Auditorium to cover their tracks when they'd borrowed the Staff of Five Elements. "Done," said the Maestro. He dropped it, and it just missed the desk and landed heavily, but neatly, on the floor. "I assume that woman put you up to this?" Fabian thought but the only woman that the Maestro was likely to refer to so impolitely was Cass.
"I'm not going to discuss internal staff matters," he said, leavening his words with a smile. "Bah! I know her handiwork," said the Maestro. "Though the gods only know why she thinks this is more important than the things we're finding in stasis. I saw she collared you as well with a stack of paperwork... have you ever considered hiring someone a bit less... frictive?" Fabian took a few seconds to work out that 'frictive' was the Maestro's way of saying 'causing friction' and then couldn't stop himself from laughing. The Maestro glared at him, but with no additional malice than usual, and Fabian shook his head. "Policy," he said, forcing himself to stop laughing and only just succeeding. "Imperial policy would require that she leaves herself, or commits gross misconduct, before we could replace her. So unless you can convince her to try stealing something valuable, she stays." "Bah," said the Maestro, turning to leave. Then he paused and turned back again. "Just so you know," he said, "the Staff that we found... it might have been used recently. Well, recently might be relative, stasis chambers are complicated things. It might be that it was used immediately before being put into stasis. But... if you wanted to increase security around the Museum for a couple of weeks I'd be happier." "I'll look into it," said Fabian. Icy fear gripped his stomach, making it feel like it was somersaulting. "Justifying it, without revealing the Staff's presence, is the tricky bit." "Hmm." The Maestro sounded as though he'd not expected that response. "Hmm. Good point. Well, it's your call, Director, but I'd not enjoy being the one who has to explain why that Staff was 'borrowed'."
Greg - someone did 'borrow' my chair at work, actually. I had to get another one because I couldn't find mine, since I was foolishly trusting enough not to put my name on it.
I'm not sure this prompt was inspired by that, but I also couldn't provide you with another reason for it, so... here we are.
Poor Fabian, never gets much of a break, and certainly not for long. Enjoyed both these interactions with his staff, by the way.
3 comments:
Hmm, since it's Sunday's prompt it can't be that you arrived at work and discovered the someone had 'borrowed' your chair, or desk, so... what's the inspiration behind this one?
And... I thought I was being careful enough, but clearly not; I've run over the character limit. So I'll post twice; sorry :)
Borrowed
Fabian slept poorly after returning home; his first dream immediately dropped him into the Halls of Sunset where some force was compelling him to go around the statues of Esmaranth and adjust their clothing to be more historically accurate. The statues objected, of course, and so he found himself darting between them, dodging blasts of lightning and fire while crying out that the shade of blue of that kimono was two centuries too early and just needed to be fixed.... He woke from that shaking and sweating and had to get a drink of water to help steady his nerves, and the dream after that started with the Auditors pinning him down in his office and telling him they were here to investigate the loss of one small, tatty, stack of paperwork and just got worse from there. It was, therefore, a relief to get up, mutter a complaint about the brightness of morning sunlight, and struggle his way to the office and sit at his desk and wish he'd slept better.
"Human resources," said Cass, not even bothering to knock as she marched into his office. "This has been waiting for two weeks now, and you're not getting out of it...."
Fabian sighed inwardly, sure that this was her revenge for him going to lunch with Dread a few days earlier, but forced a smile on his face. After all, Cass was much less terrifying than the things in the Halls of Sunset, and much easier to manage.
"Let's see the first one," he said, and had to turn his head away to hide a smirk of delight at the look of surprise on her face.
The Maestro appeared two days later with a stack of slightly tatty paperwork that Fabian first recognised from his dreams, and then only realised that it was the stuff he'd left in the Auditorium to cover their tracks when they'd borrowed the Staff of Five Elements.
"Done," said the Maestro. He dropped it, and it just missed the desk and landed heavily, but neatly, on the floor. "I assume that woman put you up to this?"
Fabian thought but the only woman that the Maestro was likely to refer to so impolitely was Cass.
"I'm not going to discuss internal staff matters," he said, leavening his words with a smile.
"Bah! I know her handiwork," said the Maestro. "Though the gods only know why she thinks this is more important than the things we're finding in stasis. I saw she collared you as well with a stack of paperwork... have you ever considered hiring someone a bit less... frictive?"
Fabian took a few seconds to work out that 'frictive' was the Maestro's way of saying 'causing friction' and then couldn't stop himself from laughing. The Maestro glared at him, but with no additional malice than usual, and Fabian shook his head.
"Policy," he said, forcing himself to stop laughing and only just succeeding. "Imperial policy would require that she leaves herself, or commits gross misconduct, before we could replace her. So unless you can convince her to try stealing something valuable, she stays."
"Bah," said the Maestro, turning to leave. Then he paused and turned back again.
"Just so you know," he said, "the Staff that we found... it might have been used recently. Well, recently might be relative, stasis chambers are complicated things. It might be that it was used immediately before being put into stasis. But... if you wanted to increase security around the Museum for a couple of weeks I'd be happier."
"I'll look into it," said Fabian. Icy fear gripped his stomach, making it feel like it was somersaulting. "Justifying it, without revealing the Staff's presence, is the tricky bit."
"Hmm." The Maestro sounded as though he'd not expected that response. "Hmm. Good point. Well, it's your call, Director, but I'd not enjoy being the one who has to explain why that Staff was 'borrowed'."
Greg - someone did 'borrow' my chair at work, actually. I had to get another one because I couldn't find mine, since I was foolishly trusting enough not to put my name on it.
I'm not sure this prompt was inspired by that, but I also couldn't provide you with another reason for it, so... here we are.
Poor Fabian, never gets much of a break, and certainly not for long. Enjoyed both these interactions with his staff, by the way.
Post a Comment