ɢᴀʟᴇ (traps) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2016-01-04 19:24:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, elsa of arendelle, gale hawthorne |
Who: Gale & Elsa
What: Adventures in being a PA for the county's best television guru
When: Today, Monday
Where: Arendelle Network
Rating/Warnings: Naaaaah
Status: Complete
Two years ago, if you asked Gale about whether or not he saw himself in a personal assistant role, the answer would have been a snort of a laugh. But oh, how the tables had turned - and he was finding that it actually wasn’t too bad, now that he dove headfirst into the world of weather forecasting, of television stations in general. Elsa was a pretty big deal, at least to him - she was out there giving the people their forecasts, so it was an important job, right? Plus, her family owned the network - so honestly, he hadn’t been sure what to expect. Personal assistant jobs could either be ‘fetch my coffee, run to make copies’ or potentially giving a trusted employee the keys to the banquet hall - Gale found that it was kind of in the middle for him. He had a lot of responsibility but not much clout, and that was certainly okay, in this line of work. His main objective was to do a good job for Elsa - so he scheduled and booked all her appointments, kept her organized, made sure she was caffeinated. Sometimes he also got to mess with the teleprompter or the lighting boards during live broadcasts too - and that was pretty neat, getting more into the production side of things. Now his tall and imposing self was folded into a chair, waiting for her to finish with her weather forecast in the morning. With him he had Elsa’s coffee just how she liked it, in a to-go cup, and also a stack of folders stuffed with the things she’d need for today. He planned to keep this job, alright, and be excellent at it - he had nugs to help feed, damnit. It was actually a bonus that he was used to following orders and the drill sergeant way of things - helped with keeping on schedule. Honestly when Elsa offered Gale the job she hadn’t known if she truly had a need for an assistant or not, she’d been managing everything on her own but as soon as Gale had started she knew it had been a good decision. Now she was reliant on him and couldn’t be happier that he was there for her. It helped that they got on so well, he’d been one of her very first true friends when she’d moved back to the OC and she treasured him. He was very good at his job, there was no denying that and had he mentioned wanting more clout she would have happily given him it. She trusted him and encouraged his interest in the production side of things, it was something Elsa knew little about. She knew about the finances of the company and was involved in new show ideas and of course made sure she still got in one forecast a day but anything else and she was at a loss. There simply weren’t enough hours in the day to learn everything but she had a good board of directors who each knew their own area well. “Well, I’m glad not to be giving out snow warnings anymore” she said as she made her way over to him once she’d completed her forecast, “Back to service as normal for a while” “For awhile,” Gale echoed, with a laugh and a crooked grin. He handed Elsa her to-go cup, first and foremost - he’d gotten to Baxter’s pretty early this morning, since supporting local businesses was good and she liked the coffee from there. Plus, he’d ordered it enough times to the point where it was kind of a known thing already. “Until the next apocalyptic storm falls across the land.” He had to roll his eyes a little because seriously. Sometimes all of this shit was a lot to deal with - especially on days like Christmas morning, when Leli woke up an arrow pincushion. “Oh, so I’ve got your scripts done for tonight’s forecast - I wrote them myself, so hopefully they don’t suck but I figured you’d want to check them over,” he said. “Also, a list of meetings for today and the talking points - one with the network gurus this afternoon, then another with the people who run your Twitter account. Or who want to run your Twitter account - apparently you need more of a presence on social media.” “Mmm thank you, you really are the best” she said taking the cup from him and inhaling the amazing smell. There was nothing like Baxter’s coffee and she had it much more often thanks to Gale. “Okay, I am sure they’ll be perfect” she assured him, he had a way with words after all though why he’d needed to do it when they had a department that should she’d need to check. She didn’t want anybody taking advantage of him. “Urgh social media? Really? They already tried to show me Tumblr and I got so confused by the whole thing” Tumblr? Yeah, Gale jokingly winced at that - he was right there with Elsa, he didn’t get that platform. But at least Twitter was...manageable. More so than whatever the fuck tumblr was. “That’s like driving the Indy 500 when you should start with neighborhood streets,” he quipped, beginning to walk back toward Elsa’s office - she had a nice one too, probably came with being the Arendelle of Arendelle Network. Now that she was kind of in charge, it was a lot of stuff. But he color-coded everything nicely too - there was a white board in there that he wrote her day’s schedule on. Diligent, always the soldier. “I think Twitter’s less...whiny social justice and more about reaching out to connect with little media blurbs?” he shrugged. “Facebook too, it’s less annoying. So it might not be too bad.” Elsa laughed, “I think you might be right, it made no sense to me at all” she admitted, it had just seemed pointless and she’d never heard of it before. Twitter and Facebook however she had. “So you think it would be useful? Something I should do?” she asked, valuing his opinion. Her office was a lot more tidy now that he was there and she had to admit she loved the whiteboard, she had the largest office - it had been her fathers but she’d had an additional desk installed by the door for Gale. Having his own desk (and computer!) was pretty awesome, Gale thought. It was still kind of sparse, but he did have a framed picture of Leliana, the nugs, and Bella Nutella on there - the whole family, except him (because he was the one taking the photo, thanks). He set things down and jiggled the mouse, waking up the sleepy contraption. “I definitely think you should do it,” he said, and sat to do some browsing - strategic browsing, that is, he had a purpose. “I just saw this article about how to best utilize Twitter, you know, for business purposes - it’s good if you’re an entrepreneur, you can learn how to write up the best blurbs using that 140-character limit or whatever. I’ll print it out for your meeting today.” Now he was off and running. “There are also tools that determine the best time for tweeting and help you better sift through hashtags. I mean, if you want me to take the reins on it, I totally can.” Not that tumblr wasn’t awesome and all (it wasn’t) and he was usually all for social justice - but #upperclassteenagewhitepeopleproblems was basically all of it in a nutshell. Elsa’s own desk didn’t have an awful lot on it, a picture of her and Kate on their wedding day and then various shots of friends and family - the people she loved. And a new work mug thanks to Anna which sat pride of place now with her photos. The computers were all up-to-date and her IT department were quite proud of how well everything ran. “Thank you” she said, always kind of amazed by how much Gale knew about such a wide amount of topics, it was definitely a handy skill for a PA to have and when he didn’t know he went and found out. Elsa would never retain it all, most of her brain was taken up with weather knowledge. Her degree had been her passion and running the network didn’t quite have the same feel. “It sounds like you already have a better grasp on it than I do. Come to the meeting with me and we’ll get you working with the team” Or in charge of it, she thought. Gale was like an excited puppy - he grinned pretty widely when Elsa asked him to come to the meeting with her. “Sure thing.” Hey, she was the boss! He did what she said. Though he couldn’t imagine a better boss, really. And he was actually coming to discover that he was good at this - he had a lot of ideas, and a keen eagle eye (not just for grammatical errors), so that’s why he would review scripts and interview questions, that her team put together. Then suggest changes. Or re-write things. But it worked, so people trusted him. It was nice, earning that trust over time. Ratings hadn’t gone into the crapper yet. “It’s my goal to help make your network number one. To the stars,” he chuckled. “Oh, and I was also thinking...for that meeting, I can run and get some cookies from Peeta’s bakery or something? It’s scheduled for the afternoon, so people might need a sugar rush to combat the tiredness slump.” Elsa grinned, “Thank you Gale, you know I’d honestly be lost without you now” she told him honestly, he really had been a godsend. And his input was very much welcomed in all aspects of work within the company. He cared and that went a long way in her book and in many others. “I think cookies and things would be very welcome, perhaps we should open an account with the bakery” she mused, Gale already had a company credit card that she had given him free reign to use especially after he’d started getting her coffee in the mornings. “Oh, yeah, sure, that’d be awesome.” he nodded - making a mental note to talk to Peeta about it. “I work there sometimes, like, I’m learning how to bake too?” It was almost strange to consider, because in what world would Gale ever think he’d end up with a talent for desserts - but he wasn’t too bad. Definitely not as good as Peeta, but he could handle the simpler things, like cookies or cupcakes. “So I can talk to him about it.” It was nice to have the company credit card too - not that he bought anything major with it. Necessities, like office supplies and things Elsa might need, or whatever was required for the actual broadcasts - fancy chairs for interviewed guests to sit in and stuff, aesthetics were important. “I think I’m probably better at this though. I’ll leave the baking mostly to him. Though I was thinking of going back to school at some point,” Gale added. “Since Reserves lets me have the time for it. There’s not an overabundance of training exercises there.” “Learning to bake too? You really are the best PA ever you know, but I’m glad to hear I won’t be fighting Peeta to keep you with me” she told him with a grin. She’d hate to lose him now, she wasn’t sure she could go back to being on her own again. “You know I’ll support you in whatever you want to go back to school for” Elsa told him, Gale was an intelligent man and he deserved to do whatever he wished to do. That was truly kind of her, he appreciated Elsa’s support more than he could say. Because Gale was going through a lot of changes, sort of trying to find himself or whatever that meant - and it was daunting, sure, but to know he had friends with him through the whole journey was more than someone like him ever dared to hope for. “Thanks, Elsa,” he smiled, stacking the papers he’d printed. “Alright, I’ll run out and grab those treats for later. And give you time to look over the Twitter stuff.” There was already a lot of scheduling in his head, figuring out his next steps - that was how he went about his day, from one step to the next. But he’d get shit done. #efficiencyforthewin - thanks for the lesson, Twitter. |