baronessekat | Weekly challange to me

I walked into the conference room with a sigh. I hated the monthly meeting. I didn’t know why we bothered to still have them since nothing ever seemed to get accomplished. But there I was, once again walking in to get a status report from every member of the team.

I looked around the crowded room and shut the door behind me. As I walked to my seat at the head of the table, those assembled more or less quieted down. I surveyed all the familiar faces and sat down.

“Alright, there are a lot of us here. So to save time, as I do roll call I want each of you to give me a status report on how things are going with you and if there is anything we need to address this month. I’m going to start with the gamers.”

I looked around and the majority of the group ignored me, a few nodded and a few others sighed in resignation. I couldn’t blame them. I wasn’t overly thrilled about being here either.

“Adam?”

A young man in his mid twenties looked up and shrugged. “Sousie is growing like a weed and starting to get into things at the Forge. I’m going to have to explain to her soon about the nightmares.”

I nodded. “Anyone have any suggestions for Adam?”

“Tie her to a tree?” a woman with long, straight, brown hair piped up from the back. Several of the others looked at her appalled. She blinked at them. “What? Kids are resilient. She’ll survive. Though one good burn from the forge fire will teach her. And she’s what? 4? And you’re her father, you don’t have to explain anything.”

I sighed. “Tasha I don’t think we can do that. If anyone has any suggestions, please contact Adam after the meeting. Next… Akilah?”

A woman with dusky skin, long black hair and haunting eyes looked up. “Nothing has changed.”

I nodded. I didn’t expect there to be anything new with her. She was competent and never complained. “Corri?” No response. I looked down and saw an empty chair. “Anyone know where Corrigan is?” No one could answer with a positive. “Right. One abscent. Moving along,. Cen?”

“Damn deathboards. I swear this is the last time Persephone gets me on one.” I looked up to see the teenager sitting in her seat, a pair of crutches leaning on the table next to her.

“Ankle?” I asked and made a note next to her name. She nodded. “Broken?” She shook her head. I nodded. “OK, you’re relieved for the month until you heal up.” She nodded and grumbled to herself as she slouched down. I moved down to the next name. “Is Danae still out on that dig in Zemtilia?” An affirmative came from someone and I made another note on my roster.

Looking down I made eye contact with a thin woman with shoulder length black hair, slightly pointed ears and a permanent scowl on her face. Her black leather trench coat creaked as she moved. “Elvelyn?”

She sighed loudly. “The roommate is developing a patch of scale rot, the cat is getting fat and the two-leggeds keep killing themselves.”

I smiled. “So status quo. Evan?”

A rather handsome man in his mid twenties smiled at me from across the way. “Other than still trying to figure out who my whisky girl is, I’m good.”

Akilah looked down at him. “Do you want to know who she is, really?” I watched the interaction. Akilah usually never spoke up at meetings and I was interested in what happened.

Evan appeared to think on it and shook his head. “Nah, it ruins the fun.”

I offered Akilah a smile and moved on. “Grandfather?”

A weathered man in his late 80’s looked up. “Things are quiet with the end of term now come.” He then nodded and I moved on.

“Griff?” I asked with a smile. The handsome gypsy man looked at me and gave me one of those knee watering smiles of his. What could I say, I’m a sucker for dark hair, blue eyes and the feel of exotic and mystery.

“The Clan is just about to pack up and head to the Summer gathering. I expect to see a few of the young men asking for the hands of some of the young women in the other clans. I will also be offering up a place in our Clan for those orphans and the like that wish to try something new.”

I nodded. “Thank you. Ivelisse?”

A strikingly beautiful woman sighed as she pushed her long dark hair out of her face, revealing her pointed ears. “It’s finally starting to get tolerable as far as weather temperature goes. My man is working too hard and I’m getting bored.”

Inwardly I cringed. A bored Fire Elf was not a good thing. “I’ll see what I can do to send you something to keep you entertained.” She offered a smile and a nod. “Next up, Jamison. How’s the job of Jr. Magistrate going Jami?”

The young man shrugged. “It’s long, dull hours, but not too bad. The main thing is, Mother is starting to pressure me into looking for a wife.”

I winced at that announcement. The Duchess was a determined woman when she set her mind on something. A snicker caught my attention and my gaze traveled to the end of the table. ‘Nick? You have something to say on the topic of Jami’s bridal hunt?”

A man with an almost animalistic aura about him smirked. He pushed his hair out of his eyes and looked at Jami. “Better you than me man. And if your Mother is focusing her attention on you and your bride-to-be, it means she’ll stop hitting on me when I’m trying to work.”

I marked down a note next to Nick’s name. “Do I need to have a talk with Her Grace again, Nick?”

He shook his head. “That’s OK. I’m due for leave soon and I and the Beast will just pack up and head for the woods for a couple weeks.”

Nodding, I moved down the list. “Kayla? How are things going with you sweetheart?”

A shy young woman with large brown eyes glanced up once and then looked back at the table top. “My classes are done. M’lord Jonas says we may be doing more traveling over the summer break.”

Several people offered her words of encouragement. We all knew about her agoraphobia and her shyness. “You’ll do wonderfully. I have complete faith in you,” I said and looked around.

I noticed several faces missing and marked them as abscent. Marzanna, whom I knew would not be coming since she never did, Nate, Tia, Turin, Zeb, Sanseveria and Nadja were all missing.

Supressing a sigh I moved along. “Kitt?”

“Aye!” came the response. “Things be goin’ jist fine.” I stopped writing and looked at her. I always had to focus on her since her accent tended to be rather thick and I had to concentrate on her words. “Exams be corrected and I think I’ll be teaching 2 classes o’er the summer. Pel’s finally got the Garvey fixed and should be going out ta sea within the week or so. Jason is growin’ and gittin’ inta trouble. Maybe I kin intraduce him ta Adam’s Sousie and set up a play date.”

I nodded and looked to Adam. He shrugged. “Can’t hurt.”

“Good,” I said and moved down my roster. “Kristoff. Has everyone had a chance to meet Kris yet? He’s still getting to know his way around here and I want everyone to be nice. That means you, Les and Denz.” Both woman sighed and returned their attention to cleaning their various pieces of weaponry.

“Kryi?”

“I have nothing to report for the Foster household. Though I am taking on more social engagements.”

I couldn’t help but grin. “Dorian must be loving that,” I said referring to her husband. She just smiled politely. “Lada?” My attention turned to the young woman in her late teens. Her fiery red hair shone in the light of the conference room. All her attention was on one of the young men. “Lada?” I cleared my throat. It wasn’t until Denz kicked her under the table that she looked up.

“Ow! What? Oh, my turn? Same thing different day. Though my Mystery Man is leaving town for three weeks.”

I nodded and started to make a notation as a voice piped up. “So in other words, while you are getting some, it’s not the same some as you always get. Must be tedious being a whore with regulars.” I glared down the table to see the source of the voice.

“Cadenza Minuet Coda!” I snapped. “That was entirely uncalled for. Especially since I know you frequent the Sheaf.” The tall thin woman looked up at me, though the knife she was now using to clean out from under her fingernails kept moving. She shrugged as she turned her gaze to the elves that were present.

“Things are the same for me,” she said out of turn. “And I still don’t understand why we have to have those damn Pointers here anyway.”

A throbbing started right between my eyes. Who’s idea was it to have an elf-hater sitting in the same room as a handful of elves? OH right, that would be me. “Denz, we have gone over this time and time again. They, like you, are part of the team. I am not letting them go, nor am I letting you go. You are all just going to have to learn to get along. Even if it’s only just long enough for our meetings.”

She mumbled something under her breath. I didn’t catch it but apparently Ivy did as the chair that Denz was sitting in burst into flame. I sighed. I knew either Quin or Kyri would extinguish the flames but that was going to be a little too late. I saw Denz leap over the table and start hovering in mid-air. Apparently Kitt wasn’t in the mood to witness a brawl either. Man I love telekinetics.

I sighed and looked over my roster to see who I had missed. Once again the Muses had been left out. Maybe next month I’ll start with them for a change. I felt a tug on my sleeve and I looked over to see a small, dirt smudged face.

“Mouse is Mouse,” she said. I smiled.

“Thank you Mouse,” I said, made a note on the sheet and rose. The conference room had erupted into total chaos. I headed out of the room and sighed. When the silence of the hall surrounded me I closed my eyes and said simply… “Wake up.”

And I did. I blinked a moment in confusion and yawned. A new day had dawned and it was time to get up and go to work.

It’s a sad state of things when you look forward to going to work because your Role Playing life and characters are just too taxing to deal with at times.

topic: Fantasy