Quentin Coldwater (
magician_king) wrote in
lastvoyageslogs2021-01-17 05:40 pm
Entry tags:
workplace wonders
Who: Quentin Coldwater and open
What: Common workplace hazards breach post
Where: The office, the diner, the bar, a park
Warnings: Referencing alien abduction
Quentin Coldwater, junior reporter, arrives before the workday starts and leaves after most workdays end, and if he's not at his little corner desk during the time in between he's out pounding the pavement, trying to interview sources. He's right under one of the fans that keep the room from turning into a furnace in the summer, so spends a lot of time reflexively setting coffee cups and staplers and things down directly on top of the papers he's working on, even if it's currently January, and the air system (such as it is) is currently off. Perils of being the new guy, and a tendency not to break habits.
He has lunch at the bar of the diner across the road one day a week, never anything more adventurous than a BLT and a cup of coffee. He has gin and tonics in the bar where all the reporters drink, Fridays and odd Saturdays.
He reads their newspaper almost every day, usually on a preferred park bench near his divey little appartment- works on the classifieds with a red pen, circling today exterminator, plus a couple of other rental listings.
Above all, he thinks to himself, it's time for a change.
Also, he publishes!
What: Common workplace hazards breach post
Where: The office, the diner, the bar, a park
Warnings: Referencing alien abduction
Quentin Coldwater, junior reporter, arrives before the workday starts and leaves after most workdays end, and if he's not at his little corner desk during the time in between he's out pounding the pavement, trying to interview sources. He's right under one of the fans that keep the room from turning into a furnace in the summer, so spends a lot of time reflexively setting coffee cups and staplers and things down directly on top of the papers he's working on, even if it's currently January, and the air system (such as it is) is currently off. Perils of being the new guy, and a tendency not to break habits.
He has lunch at the bar of the diner across the road one day a week, never anything more adventurous than a BLT and a cup of coffee. He has gin and tonics in the bar where all the reporters drink, Fridays and odd Saturdays.
He reads their newspaper almost every day, usually on a preferred park bench near his divey little appartment- works on the classifieds with a red pen, circling today exterminator, plus a couple of other rental listings.
Above all, he thinks to himself, it's time for a change.
Also, he publishes!

Thursday
Hey. You alone?
[It's clear from his tone that this is not one of those phone calls. He sounds both tense and exhausted.]
Re: Thursday
[Says Quentin, dropping into his chair, having just caught the phone in a dash from the door.]
The office is quiet. But I don't know how much I trust this line- d'you want to meet at my place?
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But I thought I should warn you first -- I got into it with a couple of cops at one of those so-called training exercises yesterday. They got some good hits in.
[AKA, don't freak out when he comes in looking like someone beat him up.]
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[Wow, he's not okay with this news.]
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Calm down, Q, I'm fine. William got me [out of jail] home last night, and it looks worse than it is.
I'll be there in half an hour or so, I just didn't want to surprise you.
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[He closes his eyes, and takes a deep breath in, then lets it out, and gives in and asks;]
Can you come meet me at the diner first? I've got some other shit going on I'd like your advice on, I think it'd be good to do this outside of the office.
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Yeah. I'll see you there.
[He probably doesn't look as bad as Quentin might be dreading by the time he turns up, but he doesn't exactly look great: there's a dark bruise high on his cheekbone and another disappearing under his loosened collar, and scratches along his brow and jaw -- not to mention around his wrists, where he must have been cuffed. His right hand is bandaged, as well.]
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You look exactly like you lost a fight with a bunch of cops.
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[He flashes a quick smile and shakes his head, sliding in across from him.]
I was in a damn war, Q. I promise, I'm okay. What's going on?
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[He glances up as the waitress approaches, smiles, and accepts coffee. While she pours, his hand slips up to cradle his shoulder, the one that very few people know is a pitted, scarred mess.
It isn't until he remembers that Larry is actually on that very short list that he forces his hand back down.]
You've read the paper?
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He waits till she leaves before turning back to Quentin, something uneasy settling on his bruised face.]
Every morning. It has been a hell of a week.
[Maybe literally.]
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You're gonna think I'm crazy. I just don't know who else I can talk to about this. I trust your judgement. I trust you to know what I should do, and to tell me if you think that might be 'quit,' or 'take stress leave,' or 'get the fuck away from me' or whatever.
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Wednesday afternoon
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The folder is tossed to the side of the desk. The original label has worn off and, in lieu of a proper title, Jake has simply written Bullshit across the top.
"What are you seeing out there?"
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Slow and steady, he sinks into the chair in front of Jake's desk.
"Mass hysteria? An entire city losing their collective god damned minds?"
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"People been losing their minds forever. Now it's just all at once. What are you workin' on?" he asks, though he doesn't hide the fact that he's leading up to something.
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Glancing down at his notes. Whatever Jake wants to say, he's not sure he's ready to hear it.
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He gestures a bit to his general surroundings.
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He says, ears going lightly red- through Larry, he doesn't say. That's a secret he's been mostly able to keep around the office, and he wants to keep it that way.
"Why?"
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He shakes his head. "Impossible shit."
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"Sure. Crackpots."
His voice comes out impressively level.
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He says, voice even quieter than usual.
"I don't ask, and I generally don't let people tell."
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE––
CIRCLE TO NOWHERE!
Crop hoaxes no joke, say farmers
Daily Voice Press Service –– Quentin Coldwater
Farmers across the great state of California are complaining about the latest hippie fad. Crop circle hoaxes are on the rise, and destroying hundreds of pounds of plants a month around the state. A crop circle is an indentation in a farmers field, traditionally made my dragging a board on two pieces of string behind a truck, bending and breaking the plants in a symmetrical pattern to create an image when viewed from above. Although they traditionally turn up in corn and wheat fields, there has been a dramatic rise in similar vandalism reported by fruit growers in the state of California, with more than ten instances reported already in the month of January alone.
"These city types think they're trying to be cute," said Mark McGee, head of the Association for Orchard Management, "but when they come make these patterns and cut these trees down, production suffers. They want to make a bunch of squiggly lines to commune with whoever, but what are we going to do when we haven't got oranges to ship?"
Local law enforcement will be stepping up patrols of back roads to try to cope with the problem.