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josselinRemember the warnings, please.
Alien 3.2
by Josselin Kohl
At his office, Brian barks at Cynthia, ignores questions about why he’s late and where he was yesterday, and stares at his laptop, pretending that he can actually see what’s on the screen.
That afternoon, after he snaps a disparaging insult at a client in the middle of a meeting, Vance corners him in his office.
“What are you doing?” Vance asks exasperatedly. “I can’t believe I’d even have to tell you not to antagonize a multi-million dollar client.”
“The client’s an idiot.”
“Who cares? After you missed all the meetings yesterday and insult them today, they’ll be an idiot client signing with Greenland and Frith in New York. I want to know what’s going on.”
Brian doesn’t say anything and stares at the wall.
Vance tries another tactic. “Where were you yesterday?”
“Out,” Brian says shortly. “It was an emergency.”
“Well, is everything all right?” Vance’s tone is a mixture of exasperated and puzzled.
Brian’s silent for a moment again, and then he clears his throat. “No,” he says, and stalks out of the office, ignoring Vance and Cynthia’s calls trailing behind him.
Vance turns to Cynthia. “What’s wrong with him?” Cynthia can only shake her head and shrug.
Brian disappears from Vangard for the rest of the week with no explanations, but he reappears at five in the morning the next Monday, and begins to catch up on his work. Some tweaks on the proposal and some serious ass-kissing to the other less idiotic members of the client delegation even save Gardner’s account from switching to G & F.
Vance is somewhat mollified by this, but still disturbed by the flakiness of last week, and wants some sort of explanation about what happened, and an assurance that it isn’t going to happen again. He goes to try to talk to Brian again that afternoon at around four, only to find Brian snapping his briefcase closed and shutting down his laptop.
“Where are you going?” Vance asks—in vain, because Brian doesn’t respond. “Look, we still need to talk about the Carter account.”
“I okayed the changes,” Brian says. “If there’s any problems leave it on my desk and I’ll deal with it first thing in the morning.” And he slings his suit jacket over his arm and is out the door before Vance can say anything more.
This becomes routine, though. Brian arrives at ungodly hours of the morning and works brilliantly through until exactly four o’clock, at which point he leaves the office. He refuses to stay later for meetings or client dinners, and delegates any traveling to the execs under him.
Vance doesn’t understand any of it, but questioning Brian seems to get him nowhere, and eventually he’s just glad that there’s a pattern he can count on.
To Be Continued
Alien 3.2
by Josselin Kohl
At his office, Brian barks at Cynthia, ignores questions about why he’s late and where he was yesterday, and stares at his laptop, pretending that he can actually see what’s on the screen.
That afternoon, after he snaps a disparaging insult at a client in the middle of a meeting, Vance corners him in his office.
“What are you doing?” Vance asks exasperatedly. “I can’t believe I’d even have to tell you not to antagonize a multi-million dollar client.”
“The client’s an idiot.”
“Who cares? After you missed all the meetings yesterday and insult them today, they’ll be an idiot client signing with Greenland and Frith in New York. I want to know what’s going on.”
Brian doesn’t say anything and stares at the wall.
Vance tries another tactic. “Where were you yesterday?”
“Out,” Brian says shortly. “It was an emergency.”
“Well, is everything all right?” Vance’s tone is a mixture of exasperated and puzzled.
Brian’s silent for a moment again, and then he clears his throat. “No,” he says, and stalks out of the office, ignoring Vance and Cynthia’s calls trailing behind him.
Vance turns to Cynthia. “What’s wrong with him?” Cynthia can only shake her head and shrug.
Brian disappears from Vangard for the rest of the week with no explanations, but he reappears at five in the morning the next Monday, and begins to catch up on his work. Some tweaks on the proposal and some serious ass-kissing to the other less idiotic members of the client delegation even save Gardner’s account from switching to G & F.
Vance is somewhat mollified by this, but still disturbed by the flakiness of last week, and wants some sort of explanation about what happened, and an assurance that it isn’t going to happen again. He goes to try to talk to Brian again that afternoon at around four, only to find Brian snapping his briefcase closed and shutting down his laptop.
“Where are you going?” Vance asks—in vain, because Brian doesn’t respond. “Look, we still need to talk about the Carter account.”
“I okayed the changes,” Brian says. “If there’s any problems leave it on my desk and I’ll deal with it first thing in the morning.” And he slings his suit jacket over his arm and is out the door before Vance can say anything more.
This becomes routine, though. Brian arrives at ungodly hours of the morning and works brilliantly through until exactly four o’clock, at which point he leaves the office. He refuses to stay later for meetings or client dinners, and delegates any traveling to the execs under him.
Vance doesn’t understand any of it, but questioning Brian seems to get him nowhere, and eventually he’s just glad that there’s a pattern he can count on.
To Be Continued
no subject
Date: 2003-12-11 01:18 am (UTC)--
Do you believe LJ ate my first reply---
Anyway, thanks for the explanation. I think my origination in the X-Files fandom was showing because "there is no way the ever resilient Justin would go insane from bright lights and a good high. The more experienced Em must be in denial."
But then on the other hand, Justin must be insane because all true XF-ers know that MUFON-ers appear quite sane since they know better than to talk about the takings in public. So maybe Em is a repeat abductee and maybe Brian shouldn't have kept this so quiet?
But then I re-read Alien 1 and Em is quite clear that "no, Justin honey, it was all due to bad drugs."
So you're right (how dare the author be right?!) Justin's brain has been fried by too many drugs and Brian kept it quiet for quite a few days while he tried to help on his own but now the inevitable psych stay has happened.
But I expect Em's story will come out since now Jenn knows and Justin's committed and it's all due to the bad drugs Em bought from Anita.
Oh, that's where Em's at -he's tracking down Anita while both hide from Brian!
And let me end with how in awe I am of your imagination and prolificity--in like 6 months, you've give us grocery fic, quicky fic, queer survivor fic, tons of snippets including lottery fic, several unfinished pieces etc etc. And all have been both literate and enjoyable. Thank you so much for sharing with us!
no subject
Date: 2003-12-11 11:56 am (UTC)You're welcome! And you're right, I have written quite a lot in the last six months--it really surprised me, when I archived at my site, how many hundreds of pages I had written without realizing it. Thanks for letting me know that you like me work--I always love comments from my readers.