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Post by Jubilee on Aug 12, 2007 9:32:43 GMT -4
There was not really any such thing as a dead news day. Not around Guido Carosella's media network. Always jumping, always busy. Being the only outlet of news left, that probably helped. And if you wanted to be involved in journalism, the best way to do it was get in good with the only game in town. It was crooked, but...
Yeah, sometimes you just did what you had to.
Jubilee rolled the lollipop in her mouth, clicking the hard candy against her teeth as she hurried back up to the main journalism areas from the news room. Mmm, raspberry. Blue raspberry, to be precise, and it was currently turning her tongue and possibly her teeth a few rather alarming shade of blue. The satchel bag with her laptop thumped against her side as she walked, the little 14 inch exceptionally portable and greatly suited to her need for being able to move and set herself up anywhere.
After all, junior reporters, even the up and coming ones, were expected to be on the bounce. Available to whatever senior reporter needed someone to do some digging. Which didn't mean she wasn't working on her own stuff as well. Having an edge, getting that foot in the door, that was what got a person noticed. Got their career advanced.
What else was she hanging around here for?
"Still nothing," she muttered out loud, taking the sucker out and twirling it around her fingers. Sometimes things just didn't come together as they were meant to. But she'd really thought this would work. "Nnnn. I wish I could swear properly."
It was almost a defect of character. But she couldn't manage it. Besides, it was really much more imaganitive not to. Anyone could cuss. It took much more effort not, and convey the same effect and feelings.
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Post by Bobby Drake on Aug 13, 2007 16:04:34 GMT -4
Bobby heard a voice outside his 'cube', and leaned back in his chair. He had his computer on, and was playing some kind of video game on some site that he probably wasn't supposed to be on in the first place.
But he had the art of minimizing the windows at the sound of approaching footsteps down to a science. And nobody had louder footsteps than Guido Carosella.
Standing outside his cube was a little Asian girl. He couldn't remember if he'd seen her around here before, but she was probably someone's daughter or something. Well, she wasn't that young, and would probably be a'ight whenever she grew up.
Not that it mattered.
Deciding to be funny, he cleared his throat and tried to look all important as he stood. The Hawaiin shirt unbuttoned and untucked with the white T-shirt that had a chocolate milk dribble on the chest did something to belittle his efforts. As did the fact that he had no shoes on. Or socks.
"Excuse me?" His brows were raised and his voice tried for important. "You must be from the temp agency," he said all belittlingly. "Good thing. I have some files that need..." What? "...filing."
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Post by Jubilee on Aug 13, 2007 16:49:07 GMT -4
Possibly drawn by her mutterings, a complete slob of a guy stepped out of one of the cubes. He was wearing a Hawaiian shirt, the definitition of bad taste wear. And it wasn't even clean, he'd spilled something on it at some point. He had that look of selfimportance on his face, which could come from actually being important, or an inflated sense of his position at the studio. Jubilee tilted her head to the side, spinning the sucker in her fingers as he cleared his throat.
"Excuse me?" His brows were raised and his voice tried for important. "You must be from the temp agency," he said all belittlingly. "Good thing. I have some files that need..." What? "...filing."
Oh he di'nt.
"You're so excused," Jubilee said sarcastically, wondering where he'd got the idea that she was a temp. She definitely wasn't wearing office-y clothes. Every admin worker she'd ever seen wore that kind of stuff. Oh, that's right. She was young and female - obviously she was the temp! What a jerk. "And I'm not the temp, so I don't think I'll be doing the filing."
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Post by Bobby Drake on Aug 13, 2007 18:56:38 GMT -4
"You're so excused," the little girl said in a way that almost seemed to have a bit of a head bob to it. Ooh, a live one! Bobby thought he was up for the challenge. "And I'm not the temp, so I don't think I'll be doing the filing."
Crossing his arms, Bobby leaned against the cubicle wall, forgetting (again) that they were never designed to hold any amount of weight. The wall leaned inward and something inside of his cubicle made a very loud crash.
He was afraid to look.
So he cleared his throat again instead. "I...didn't know it was bring your kid to work day."
BURN!!
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Post by Jubilee on Aug 13, 2007 20:01:58 GMT -4
Somebody thought they had an excess of cool, that was fairly obvious. Ugh, could you say lame? There was nothing more uncool then someone who thought they were just all that and a bag of potato chips, while actually being nothing but a lamezoid. Sad. Very, very sad that someone could be so delusional. Jubilee hoped whatever had gone crash in his office was expensive and hard to replace.
"I...didn't know it was bring your kid to work day."
Jubilee’s eyes widened briefly in shock that he’d gone there, and then narrowed again. If that was how he wanted to play it...she wouldn’t quite stoop to his level, but he so had a verbal smackdown coming. And she was just the girl to deliver it. Hopefully, he wasn’t important enough for her to worry about consequences. He didn’t look it, that was for sure.
“I didn’t know there were no laundromats in New York, but your shirt says maybe I was wrong,” she said, poisonously sweet and her eyes flicked from his face to the stain, then back up to his face. Making it more then obvious what she was referring to. She really hoped he hadn’t realised till now that he’d done it; the resulting paranoia about who had seen it and not commented would be just another layer to what she was doing. “Or is that just too difficult for you, buddy?”
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Post by Bobby Drake on Aug 14, 2007 5:38:42 GMT -4
Bobby went from the cool smile of 'this is kind of funny' to the wide eyed fearful look of 'oh crap, what have I done'. Not too long after he uttered the jibe, the girl's eyes narrowed to angry slits and Bobby took an step backward unconsciously.
“I didn’t know there were no laundromats in New York, but your shirt says maybe I was wrong.” He clutched at his shirt, but didn't dare take his eyes off of her yet. “Or is that just too difficult for you, buddy?”
The temptation was too great, he snuck a peek.
"Aw man! I just washed this one!" A couple of days ago. Laundry wasn't ever just clean or dirty. There were various stages of clean and dirty. He had a whole system, and it was surprisingly complex.
"Hey, that was jerky of me," he said as he rubbed at the stain. "But it's one of those things where the older you get the younger you want to look." Or something. "And I think you're going to be a happy old lady."
Yeah, that's what he was saying.
"Anyway...I'm Bobby. Reporter. You work here?"
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Post by Jubilee on Aug 14, 2007 6:40:11 GMT -4
"Hey, that was jerky of me," he said as he rubbed at the stain. "But it's one of those things where the older you get the younger you want to look." Or something. "And I think you're going to be a happy old lady."
Maybe, Jubilee thought as the guy continued to dig himself deeper and deeper into the pit of her dislike, he just couldn't help it. Maybe he had a mental problem or something. Some deep issue about his mother. Maybe he'd just been dropped on his head when he was a baby. There was no way someone was this clueless, constantly, without there being some sort of reason behind it.
"Anyway...I'm Bobby. Reporter. You work here?"
"Yeah," Jubilee said honestly, still eyeing him a little suspiciously. Mostly she was waiting for the next stupid thing to fly out his mouth. She'd thought she was bad sometimes. She had nothing on this guy! If he was a reporter, then she was going to move up the ranks no problem. There'd be no hassles with getting what she needed if all of them were like this. "Something about giving chances to the young and talented for a bright career in the media industry. Sort of like a journalistic internship, only not."
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Post by Bobby Drake on Aug 15, 2007 7:04:12 GMT -4
Bobby did a good job of pretending not to be all surprised when the girl said she worked here. He at least was 18 and out of school. She looked like she was still a Freshman or something! He didn't want to point it out. Even though he thought it was funny that if she was 40 and he said she looked 32 she'd probably love him for it.
"Something about giving chances to the young and talented for a bright career in the media industry. Sort of like a journalistic internship, only not."
Crossing his arms again (mainly to hide the stain), Bobby nodded his head. "Journalistic internship." He nodded some more, processing. "You must be smart. I mean, you look smart." Except for the rain jacket. It hadn't rained in days. He looked confusedly at the jacket for a moment before shaking it off.
"HEY! Wanna see a cool game I found on the computer?"
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Post by Jubilee on Aug 15, 2007 7:15:10 GMT -4
"Yeah, it's not that big a deal," Jubilee said defensively, pointing the lollypop she'd been sucking before at him. Then she blinked, realised what she was doing and popped it back into her mouth. Still frowning at him with annoyance.
Man, if everyone here was like this, she was going to go nuts. Absolutely loco. And then she'd have to blow everything up, no help for it.
"HEY! Wanna see a cool game I found on the computer?"
This guy was a lunatic.
"Sure, why not? I don't have anything better to do, not at the moment..." she said around the lollypop, tucking it up into her cheek while she was speaking before rolling it back down onto her tongue. Until a reply from her letter came in, she really didn't. All she could do was wait and hope. Watching this guy selfdestruct could be fun. As long as she stayed out of the blast perimeter. "What's your name, anyway?"
She gave him a wide-eyed look while sucking on the lollypop.
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Post by Bobby Drake on Aug 15, 2007 16:57:47 GMT -4
"I'm Bobby!"
He said it loud and proud and at least three people nearby rolled their eyes.
"Bobby Drake."
For a moment it looked like he expected her to have heard of him. But then he just grinned widely again. "And I'm really good at reading people and guessing their names. Is that cool? I mean, do you mind if I try-"
He squinted his eyes at her and put his fingertips up to his head like he'd seen psychics do before. Jean Grey didn't really do it very often, but it was great for effect anyway. "Wait a minute...it's coming...I'm getting something..."
He was getting a headache.
"I got it!" He said snapping his eyes open. "Yolanda Buford!"
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Post by Jubilee on Aug 15, 2007 22:59:40 GMT -4
"So not," Jubilee said in disgust, shaking her head. Man, so far off the mark! Whatever his power was, it definitely wasn't any kind of mind power. Thank jeebus for that, because this guy? With telepathy? Oh, there were not words.
"I'm Jubilee."
She really didn't want to get into the whole Jubilation thing. Parents. Besides, if he didn't know it, it made things easier. Because she really hated being called Jubilation. Really, really hated it.
"So, what kind of game is it?"
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Post by Bobby Drake on Aug 17, 2007 4:42:36 GMT -4
Something about the way the girl was shaking her head and scowling told Bobby that he might be on the slightly wrong track. Something about her reply let him know she didn’t appreciate his efforts either.
"I'm Jubilee."
“Jubilee?”
"So, what kind of game is it?"
Bobby filed away the name to contemplate later, and perked up with a huge grin again at the mention of the game. “Step in my office (cubicle) and have a look.” He spun the chair around and popped a squat with excitement.
“I found it on this bored at the office website or something. See? Check it out?” On the monitor was a birds eye view of an office, replete with cubicles, and a water fountain. “The goal is to stay out of your cubicle...you know, not have to do work. But the boss...oh there he is!” On the screen was a larger person, walking around and trying to make sure everyone was working. “If he finds you then you lose three filing points.” Bobby leaned over, “He looks like Guido.”
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Post by Jubilee on Aug 17, 2007 21:36:31 GMT -4
"So what's your highest score?" Jubilee asked, hanging over the back of the chair. Maybe he wasn't so bad. Crazy, but she could deal with crazy. She just had to make sure she wasn't too close when the explosion happened. She was sure it was going to, sometime.
"It doesn't look that hard, but then again, some games look easy until you start playing them and then they're all tricky...I do pretty well though, I love playing computer and videogames, it's a good way to pass the time..."
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Post by Bobby Drake on Aug 18, 2007 14:36:12 GMT -4
Bobby's tongue was sticking out of the side of his mouth as he pushed the arrow buttons to try and get his guy away from the Guido boss character. "Oooh, come on!" He looked over at Jubilee briefly, he was actually sweating a little with the concentration. "Yeah...pass the time. I mean, usually I'm pretty busy...COME ON!"
Someone knocked on Bobby's cubicle. "Hey uh, Bobby...would you mind keeping it down just a little..."
"Shut up, hoser, I'm in a meeting!"
The guy shook his head and moved along. "Da Costa," he said with a shake of his head. "That guy is always buggin' me." He looked at Jubilee thoughtfully for a moment. "In fact...why don't I write down a list of names of people you want to watch out for right now. It's a good thing you ran into me first."
He took out a piece of paper that said 'IMPORTANT MEMO' on it, and eyeballed it. "Not sure what this is, but this will work. "Okay," he said as he started to write. "There's Da Costa. He's harmless, but kind of a fruitcake." He tapped the pen against his lip. "There's...Guido, of course. Betsy Braddock. Tiffany, pretty much everyone on the third floor..."
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Post by Jubilee on Aug 20, 2007 1:52:03 GMT -4
Oh man, this guy was selfdestruct in a box. And sometimes, she really was just in it for the lulz. It was going to be hilarious watching him, and besides, he was like a training video in action. What not to do in the office. How to avoid becoming a success. So you don't want to be a corporate executive...
"So everyone except for you, huh?"
A stunning plan for success. She might be a kid, but she wasn't stupid. At least, she didn't think so and her past experience would prove her assumption to be correct. Jubilee rolled her eyes and crunched down the last of her lollypop, before chucking the white stick in the bin near his desk.
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