InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "EAT THE MEAT"

Drake Adair (bound_drake) wrote in bound_rp,
@ 2014-07-09 13:09:00

Entry tags:

casey reynolds, drake adair, gabriel thorne, in progress, private

first days, first impressions
Date: July 7, 2013 (Monday, Backdated)
Time: 9:00 AM, on the dot
Location: Adair Financial Counseling, Financial District
Characters: Drake Adair, Gabriel Thorne, Casey Reynolds
Description: Casey and Gabriel's first days
Status: private, in progress

Drake had gotten up at seven, as always, and been at work at eight, as always. It was a bit odd feeling to have actual employees, and he decided that he was going to have to invest in a larger coffeemaker. But he set the coffee to brewing, and by 8:30, he was sitting at his desk sipping from a polished black mug.

His desk was neat as a pin, and he gazed at his calender, deciding as he looked that he might re-schedule his two morning meetings, with two new clients, for next week. His afternoon schedule was fairly light, and he was certain that once he made a few phone calls, he could clear those out, too--because the business could be easily handled over the phone.

On Casey's desk, she would find a duplicate desk calendar, identical to Drake's, each appointment noted in his neat, precise handwriting. Over the weekend, he had had some new office furniture brought in, a comfortable wheeled chair, filing cabinets filled with the files that Drake knew she would need, and he himself had polished the desktop with Murphy's Oil Soap. There were pen holders, in and out trays, all sorts of bobbles and bits that any good admin would need. A three-line telephone, exactly like Drake's, sat on the corner, and just because he was trying to be a nice man, he bought a little green ivy-type plant in a decorative planter and placed it on her desk as well.

Because they were a "storefront office," so to speak, there was not a huge amount of offices in the building, but Drake had taken one of the smaller side offices and made that into the computer room. There were two Sun Oracle servers, cable boxes, several laptops, and the office's wireless internet hub. Right across the hallway from it was another smaller office, which at the time had had nothing in it, but Drake had opened it up Sunday, so that they could air out and ventilate the area. A second desk had been brought in, and he had not furnished it any further because he did not know what Gabriel might want.

His last ambling check had him wandering past the tiny kitchen, where he'd split the fridge into thirds, giving himself and Casey and Gabriel each a shelf. There were six coffee mugs--five, really, since Drake was drinking out of one--and six clear plastic drinking tumblers for the water cooler on the shelves, along with coffee paraphernalia--powdered cream, sugar, sugar substitute, coffee filters, stirrers. There were some utensils and dinnerware in the cabinets, too, and a microwave.

At ten til nine, Drake was back behind his desk, sipping coffee and watching to see who would arrive first. He'd told both Casey and Gabriel 9 AM, although he'd also told Gabriel he was free to come in whenever he liked.

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bound_gabriel
2014-07-09 07:50 pm UTC (link)

If there was one thing the City taught you, it was to be early in, and late to leave. Gabe had actually been to the office at 7:30am already, perpetually paranoid about not being able to find it, but decided that an hour-and-a-half early was perhaps a little too keen. So, instead, he'd made his way over to a branch of Starbucks - one of a handful of chains in this town, he'd surmised so far, which while he always thought that would be great, was actually a little eerie - ordered two or three overpriced and thin coffees, and sat there catching up on the markets and the news with his iPad.

Or at least, that was the plan. Mostly he was going over The Plan, the one that would see him, Richard and Samuel break into City Hall this week, a move that would see him and Talia off the radar and with a little more breathing room, at least. And now that he'd landed the gig with Adair, he was going to redouble his efforts to free up their bonds and investments from the hold they were under.

All of which came with the unpalatable conclusion that he'd have to access a law enforcement computer, which was linked to the national database, which in turn was linked to Interpol, which in turn was linked to the UK authorities and... you see how the daisy chain goes.

At 8:45am he finished up the froth at the bottom of the cup - by which point had already congealed into something vaguely resembling marshmallow, but somehow less palatable - and made his way over to the office. He buzzed through, and strode through the door with nine minutes to spare.

"Morning boss," he said. They'd been on first-name terms over dinner, of course, but that was dinner. This was work, and the parameters of the equation could have changed. "Let's get started, shall we?"

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bound_casey
2014-07-09 10:28 pm UTC (link)

Casey caught the door before it fully closed, squeezing her and her backpack inside. Her hair was in a loose bun and slightly windblown from the bike ride. She wore a plain dress that no one would ever guess she’d picked up at Goodwill the day before, and yes, she biked there with a pair of low heels on. That put her slightly taller than the new boss-man.

She didn’t know who this man was other than the context clue he gave her, but she also couldn’t tell you why she said what she ended up saying, hardly a beat after Gabriel spoke: “Yeah, boss, let’s get started.” It did sound intentionally and completely inappropriately sarcastic. Blame it on the unconventional working relationship she had with her Producer at the station. Pausing somewhere between the door and her new desk, the look on her face more or less said did I just say that out loud?

"I-mean-good-morning." Totally deadpan, her eyes ticked between the two men.

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bound_drake
2014-07-10 05:56 pm UTC (link)

"Good morning," he said at once, letting one greeting speak to the both of them.

Both eyebrows elevated in surprise, both at being called boss--which was unexpected, despite the fact that's what he actually was--and the obvious and obviously unintentional sarcasm. He had to fight a bit of a smile and he cleared his throat to push back the quiet laugh that would've brought. "I think everything will be easier if you both simply call me Drake," is the only concession he made to things.

"Casey, make yourself at home, and organize your desk as you like. The bottom drawer of your desk locks, in case you wish to lock your personal belongings in there, and for foul weather, there's an umbrella stand and coat pegs behind the door."

He turned then to Gabriel. "Let me show you the way around, not too difficult, but you'll need to tell me what you want in your office because I was afraid to furnish it much past a desk," he offered with a little shrug.

Then to both of them, again. "Forgive me, there's coffee in the kitchen, help yourselves. Cream, sugar, Splenda, and there's honey and milk in the refrigerator. If you've brought a lunch, there's space in there for the both of you."

It did occur to him that, now that he was reeling all the preparations off, that he might have gone a bit overboard in getting things ready and explained. Ah, well. "One more thing, Fridays are considered casual days, so you can wear what you like, so long as they're not ripped or torn. Otherwise, I don't mind. Business casual is acceptable, don't mind me." Because he wore suits every single day that he came into the office and most days that he didn't.

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bound_gabriel
2014-07-14 06:50 pm UTC (link)

Gabriel raised an eyebrow at the new arrival, and her somewhat flawed delivery, before smirking.

Americans. They never could do sarcasm properly. Or appropriately for that matter.

"Gabriel," he said by way of greeting, as he extended his hand with his eyebrow still raised. "Master of computers, wizard of all things technical. Part-timer."

His attention went back to Drake, and he folded his arms behind his back as he nodded.

"Good stuff," he said, giving himself a quick once over self-consciously, having worn jeans and a button-down shirt, with a lightweight jacket instead of formal businesswear.

But really, have you tried fiddling around with the back of a server stack in a suit? It doesn't work. Still, he thought, he might actually end up being client-facing, if indirectly at least, in this place. There wasn't a vast technology department where he could lose himself in and completely ignore the end users where possible - it was a small office. He'd have to work at presentability, given his impression that most of the clientele would stop in at some point.

"Got it," he said. "I think it's best if I start with the server room, then I can take a look at your systems and your connectivity. Do you have much on today? Only I might need to flush-and-refresh a few times."

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bound_casey
2014-07-15 03:39 am UTC (link)

It hit her, suddenly.

Not a shifter. But nothing immediately dangerous.

The very second that she'd taken too long just staring up at the man offering her his hand, Casey finally spoke up and returned the pacing of the conversation to normal: "Casey." But she didn't take his hand. Or even acknowledge there mere existence of it. The twinge of paranoia she was used to feeling, present some times more than others, was dialed up like Gabriel had twisted the volume knob. Luckily, her shifter-sense look was a lot like her disconcerting stare. It was just so damn hard determining when her paranoia was actual instinct. If either of them really were a threat.

She was over at what seemed to be her desk moments later, already pulling open the locking drawer for her backpack as she mouthed the words foul weather. The key turned with a quiet click like maybe she wasn't actually involved in any more of the conversation.

Her attention was piqued at the mention of casual Fridays, but all she gave the pair of them was a single surreptitious glance up and down the IT guy. It definitely didn't look too terribly different from elevator eyes.

While they did their thing, Casey minded her own business and began poking around the kitchen to see this supposed laundry list of things meant for their convenience.

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bound_drake
2014-07-15 04:13 pm UTC (link)

Drake kept an eye on Casey as she puttered about, making certain that she didn't... mess things up too much. Chances are, he'd be tidying after everyone went home anyway, because things had to be just so. Not that he was OCD or anything, he just liked things to be orderly.

His attention, however, was on Drake. "The server room is also our computer room," he said, with a hint of an apologetic tone. "But it's right this way, and your office is right across the hall from it."

Then he turned to Casey. "I'll take care of rescheduling the two late-morning meetings myself because they're new clients; I've got three this afternoon that I'd like you to call and reschedule. A copy of my appointment calendar is on your desk, so be certain and mark the new appointments you make and let me know when you make them so I can add them to mine."

Which led to a question for Gabriel. "Is there a rather easy-to-use appointment tracking software package that is compatible with what we are going to be using?"

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bound_gabriel
2014-07-15 05:59 pm UTC (link)

"Depends what you're using mate," he said, poking his head around the corner. "Er, boss. Drake. I'll get it eventually."

He glanced questioningly at the... receptionist, he guessed, and once they were out of earshot, murmured under his breath.

"She seems, well, not exactly public facing. Not that I can talk." She hadn't taken his hand, which he didn't care about all that much, but it left a bit of a sour taste. And although the presence of all these electronics was distracting his senses a bit, he thought that something seemed a little off about her. He knew the flavor of what he tasted in her presence, he just couldn't place it for now.

"But yeah, scheduling packages. I mean, it really depends how busy you are. Often it's best to stick with tried-and-tested stuff, like Outlook, if you can. At least there are ready fixes for bugs. But over the next couple of weeks I'm going to try to break down the silos, you know? I'll get that accounting software installed, maybe look into your front ends and your middleware, see if we can't get some sort of super-duper enterprise type shebang on the go. Through here?" He questioned, pointing at the door to the computer room, although he already knew the answer. The electrostatic buzz was already reacting to his brand of magic, causing it to prick up. That and the slightly nerdy excitement of having what he already assumed would be a right mess to sort out.

"Nice meeting you, Casey," he called out, knowing full well he might not be out for a few hours, once he got started.

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bound_drake
2014-07-15 07:52 pm UTC (link)

He heard Casey call out "Sure!", which was not his favorite acknowledgement, mostly because it sounded rude and unconcerned.

Which was a concern swiftly echoed by Gabriel's response. "Well. She was the only applicant, outside of yourself, and so I agreed to take her in on an probationary basis. I sincerely hope that after a few days, she might get more acclimatized to dealing with other people as well."

He listened carefully to what Gabriel was saying, though some of the more technical explanations stretched his understandings. "I have been using a hand-written calendar for myself, as far as that goes, but as Casey will be handling some, if not all, of my scheduling, I'd like something we can both view and update. I have not checked into what is available; I was waiting to ask for the advice of the IT expert, which is you."

He nodded, and reached into the waist pocket of his vest and pulled out two Yale keys, and handed both to Gabriel. "They are marked, office and server, each one is lockable. When it was just me, I didn't bother locking anything up, but with new employees and the hopes I have for expansion, I thought it might be best to put a lock on the doors to keep out curious clients and employees who don't know what they're dealing with. Your personal office, of course, is up to you how you furnish it or if you choose to keep it locked."

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bound_gabriel
2014-07-17 04:14 pm UTC (link)

He shrugged, holding his hands up.

"Not judging, boss, just saying," he looked back into the room. "Surprising how many people with communications in their CVs and job titles can't, point of fact, communicate."

He grinned bashfully at Drake's obvious discomfort with the subject matter, and felt like he was beginning to get a view on the man. He'd met a hundred like him - guys who, and this was completely fair, focused on their core competencies of adding more zeroes to existing zeroes. They didn't know about technology, even as the markets around them became almost purely about technology, and less about esoteric structures of finance. He felt a bit sorry for them in a way, they were the last of a dying breed, the men who walked in bowler hats across London Bridge on their way to the City every morning, unaware that the future belonged to the people who built the bridge.

"Alright, I'll put something in place and schedule you both on training," he said, emphasizing the dual nature of that role. Not just because he didn't want to be answering silly questions about it, but let's be honest, if the girl out back didn't last, he'd only have to repeat himself.

"Great," he said, taking both keys. "I'll be around here if you need me, and I'll give you some notice if things are about to go dark. Or um, explode."

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