You would think that this prompt would make it impossible for me to continue Fabian's tale, wouldn't you? But it doesn't, it just requires a rather odd bit of background detail :-D
Italy Cass tapped on the meeting room door and pushed it open without waiting for a reply. The nameplate on the door, which Fabian had completely ignored when trying to remember the name of the room read Italy, a place she only knew for it's association (gli Azzurri) with the colour blue. To her surprise the four people in there -- the Director, his friend from the Navy, the Maestro of all people, and the little elf friend he seemed to have -- were sitting quietly and absolutely silently on opposite sides of the meeting room table. She noted briefly that the Maestro hadn't taken the seat at the head of the table as he usually did, but that wasn't why she was here. "There have been reports of shouting," she said, in the tone that Fabian associated with severe disapproval. "Very loud shouting, in fact. Coming from this part of the Museum." "We're not shouting," said Fabian in such a quiet voice that Cass almost came into the room to hear him better. "Quite the opposite, we're trying to have a quiet meeting about exhibits and spiralling costs and the possibility of sourcing some new artefacts if a budget can be found and stuck to." Cass hesitated, wanting to say that the complaints all triangulated to this meeting room, but Fabian was the Director and he did seem to be implying that they weren't the ones responsible. She thought a little longer: the Maestro got angry but he was far too old and doddery to shout, in her opinion. The elf barely spoke anyway and the idea of him shouting was ludicrous. That left the Director and his friend... her confidence that this was the source of the noise started to ebb away. "The problem isn't sticking to the budget," said the Maestro in what she thought of as his 'reasonable' voice. "It's sizing the budget correctly to begin with. People here have a tendency to take the first estimate as the upper one, and it never is. We have decades of proof of that." Cass decided to keep looking for the source of the shouting. A mundane administrative meeting never got people riled up enough to shout; as an HR specialist she knew exactly how to run a meeting to annoy someone to the point where they'd do something natural, but actionable. Technically they were taught that so they could recognise other people doing it and prevent it, but sometimes, when expediency beckoned.... "Let me know, please, if the shouting starts up again," she said. "I'll keep looking for the culprits." As she left she almost noticed that Fabian had never mentioned being disturbed by the shouting, but she was quickly distracted by someone disappearing quickly around a corner and she hurried to find out who was trying to hide from her.
Inside the meeting room the Maestro sighed heavily. "She'll come back if we get angry with each other again," he said. Fabian felt a slight shock that the Maestro sounded so reasonable. "I still think that you two," and he pointed with a gnarled finger, jabbing it hard at Fabian and Dread, "should have been a lot more open about all this from the start. But I'll go away and consider what you've said. You'll have an answer tomorrow morning." Rystin stood up. "I'm not comfortable either," he said. "But that's because I don't think I understood how deep the exploitation of the elves goes in the Empire. I don't think you do either, but that doesn't make me happier. I'm still in, for what it's worth, but... I have thinking to do too."
2 comments:
You would think that this prompt would make it impossible for me to continue Fabian's tale, wouldn't you? But it doesn't, it just requires a rather odd bit of background detail :-D
Italy
Cass tapped on the meeting room door and pushed it open without waiting for a reply. The nameplate on the door, which Fabian had completely ignored when trying to remember the name of the room read Italy, a place she only knew for it's association (gli Azzurri) with the colour blue. To her surprise the four people in there -- the Director, his friend from the Navy, the Maestro of all people, and the little elf friend he seemed to have -- were sitting quietly and absolutely silently on opposite sides of the meeting room table. She noted briefly that the Maestro hadn't taken the seat at the head of the table as he usually did, but that wasn't why she was here.
"There have been reports of shouting," she said, in the tone that Fabian associated with severe disapproval. "Very loud shouting, in fact. Coming from this part of the Museum."
"We're not shouting," said Fabian in such a quiet voice that Cass almost came into the room to hear him better. "Quite the opposite, we're trying to have a quiet meeting about exhibits and spiralling costs and the possibility of sourcing some new artefacts if a budget can be found and stuck to."
Cass hesitated, wanting to say that the complaints all triangulated to this meeting room, but Fabian was the Director and he did seem to be implying that they weren't the ones responsible.
She thought a little longer: the Maestro got angry but he was far too old and doddery to shout, in her opinion. The elf barely spoke anyway and the idea of him shouting was ludicrous. That left the Director and his friend... her confidence that this was the source of the noise started to ebb away.
"The problem isn't sticking to the budget," said the Maestro in what she thought of as his 'reasonable' voice. "It's sizing the budget correctly to begin with. People here have a tendency to take the first estimate as the upper one, and it never is. We have decades of proof of that."
Cass decided to keep looking for the source of the shouting. A mundane administrative meeting never got people riled up enough to shout; as an HR specialist she knew exactly how to run a meeting to annoy someone to the point where they'd do something natural, but actionable. Technically they were taught that so they could recognise other people doing it and prevent it, but sometimes, when expediency beckoned....
"Let me know, please, if the shouting starts up again," she said. "I'll keep looking for the culprits."
As she left she almost noticed that Fabian had never mentioned being disturbed by the shouting, but she was quickly distracted by someone disappearing quickly around a corner and she hurried to find out who was trying to hide from her.
Inside the meeting room the Maestro sighed heavily. "She'll come back if we get angry with each other again," he said. Fabian felt a slight shock that the Maestro sounded so reasonable. "I still think that you two," and he pointed with a gnarled finger, jabbing it hard at Fabian and Dread, "should have been a lot more open about all this from the start. But I'll go away and consider what you've said. You'll have an answer tomorrow morning."
Rystin stood up. "I'm not comfortable either," he said. "But that's because I don't think I understood how deep the exploitation of the elves goes in the Empire. I don't think you do either, but that doesn't make me happier. I'm still in, for what it's worth, but... I have thinking to do too."
Greg - hah. I'd expect nothing less from you.
Hrmm. The figure lurking in the hallway is rather concerning. I suspect Cass is rather capable of taking care of herself though.
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