You look a little… stressed. Who: Sam Winchester and Percy Weasley When: Early February Where: Weasley and Winchester Offices What: Work and stuff Rating/Warning: Low/None Status: Complete
Sam was behind his desk. Again. He’d been in the courthouse all morning, filing paperwork, meeting with other lawyers, and judges, and delivering memos. He came back to the offices for lunch, but didn’t have time to do anything besides eat at his desk while working on the computer and taking phone calls between bites. They had a great contract with Stark Industries, so Sam was seriously starting to wonder why they were working their fingers to the bone on all these other cases.
Maybe it was time to trim the proverbial fat. Cut a few clients loose? Or bring in some more new talent. It was wonderful having Padme around, but maybe they needed another lawyer around to help with the excess.
Percy never quite noticed when work was getting to the point of being in excess -- he was the sort who just plowed on and thought that having an overflowing plate was perfectly normal as well as desirable. Wilson said something about him having a Type A personality, but he didn't quite know what to do with information like that.
Every now and again he'd wander from his office and into the little break room for a refill of coffee or tea and a reason to stretch his legs.
"Alright, Sam?" he asked, on his way back from a tea-refill, steaming mug in hand. "You look a little… stressed." Like that wasn't normal for the both of them.
“Yeah, I probably do.” Sam said, looking up from his desk and putting on a smile. He was tired. And though it didn’t affect his work, it probably shone clearly on his face. “You look a little stressed, too,” he said, then motioned for the seat in front of his desk, offering it to Percy so he could sit and take a breather.
"I always look a little stressed," Percy said, but sounded faintly amused over it even as he wandered farther into Sam's office and took the offered seat. "I know what you're going to say," Percy said, ever prim, even as he settled his mug of tea down on Sam's deck on one of the rare free spots. "And you're probably right."
Sam smirked. “As long as you’re comfortable with it.” He said, then set his pencil down and leaned back a bit in his chair. “You do, do you? Well, good. We don’t have to argue over it.” Not that they did much arguing. The two of them were reasonable, logical and sensible. They seemed to have really similar ideas about growth and both long-term and short-term goals. It made them excellent business partners.
Huffing out a little noise of amusement, Percy leaned further back into his seat -- was this chair new? It seemed a bit more comfortable than usual. Hm.
"Well," he said, thoughtfully. "We could probably stop taking on pro-bono cases for a while. I don't know anything is going to make us bigger in name than the help of Stark." The redhead picked his tea back up and stared into the mug for a moment. "Maybe… more interns?"
“More interns is a good idea,” Sam said, nodding. He lifted a hand to scratch under his chin. Even though he was clean shaven, he had a strange, four o’clock shadow - like itch under there. “...maybe another junior partner? Padme is wonderful, but I’m worried we’re working her too hard.”
Percy nodded and looked like he was fully considering that. It wasn't a surprise to anyone, he was sure, to know that he didn't trust many people to do the quality of work that he expected. But he supposed he would have to get over that eventually. "We could put some feelers out for that," he agreed slowly, because it did seem pretty unfair to overwork Padme. "Do some interviews…."
“If we put out feelers, and bring some kids in for interviews,” Sam knew that they couldn’t hire anyone older than they were to be a ‘junior partner’ or ‘associate,’ “there’s no law saying that we actually have to hire one. It’d be a good way to get an idea what talent is out there. And with our Stark funds, we can pay whoever we do hire--if we decide to hire--what they’re worth.”
Right. Hiring older people would be a little awkward, since Percy and Sam were both so young. No need to make anyone else look bad. Right? Right.
"You're absolutely right," the redhead said, with a thoughtful little nod. "I suppose we could make a post about it on the internet. Maybe put a sign up at the courthouse bulletin?" The newspaper was a thing of the past, at this point.
Sam nodded. “We could ask Padme if there were any of her classmates that she might recommend. Or talk to the local law schools. They must have a… placement program for graduates?” He thought aloud. “Getting someone fresh from school could be a good idea.” Less likely to be older than they were for a start. More energy, less jaded by time and the hard, cruel world pushing down on their dreams.
...that may have gotten a little dark. Sam cleared his throat. “You want to put the feelers out tomorrow and I’ll put together some interview questions?”
Yeah that was a bit dark. But it wasn't exactly untrue. Lawyering wasn't exactly a shiny happy position, after all. Sometimes there were disappointments no matter how hard they tried for them to be otherwise.
Percy nodded, biting his lower lip thoughtfully at Sam's ideas. Seemed as good as any. It wasn't as if there weren't a ton of people around willing and with resumes. Certainly he'd been one of those people not even seven months ago. "Seems like a plan," he agreed, standing. "But for now, I suppose we should both get back to work."
“True. Back to work.” Sam said. He sat up a little and lifted his pen once more. “There’s not enough coffee in the world, man.” He added, giving Percy one more small smile. “Don’t forget we’ve got that meeting with Stark at four.”
Percy laughed a little, knocked slightly against the wood frame of Sam’s doorway. “I remember. Plus side, he’s got good coffee.” Silver linings were very important some days.