Paradise Threatened - Chasing Normal, Arc 2

Scene 7: Break's Over

Travis threw down her bag. The anti-intruder quacking started almost immediately. "Sorry," she mumbled as she moved her bag to her chair, and charged out of the workspace. Brice raised an eyebrow as she passed.

She followed the hallways back to the elevator that led to the hallway behind the arena, stepped in, and suddenly realized she hadn't paid close enough attention to the lines during her tour. Which one goes to the offices? By process of elimination, she decided to follow the blue line, which took her right into the hallway she walked through on her first day.

At this end, though, she was more likely to run across studio leadership than sarcastic techs, and she quickly found the door she was looking for. "Mr. Shiratori?"

He looked up from a tablet, "Oh, hello, Travis. Settling in all right?"

"Yes, sir." She had never been in an office before of any sort, and she was surprised at how small and sealed up it was. "I heard from Mom last night. She and Dad will be here next week."

"That," he set aside the tablet, "is great news. Don't want to get too far behind schedule, do we?" He smiled, but Travis didn't feel comforted.

"No, sir." She heard her voice pitch up at the end. They held up the production schedule for Mom? They must really want to work with her.

"Well, I won't hold you up. I'm sure Brice has things for you to do."

Travis left the office, but just stood outside the door for a moment.

"I think the door can probably hold itself up."

"Huh?" Travis looked up to find Will smirking at her. "Oh." She stepped away from the door. "Sorry."

He watched her for a long moment, tilting his head, "What's the matter? Find out your calorie-laden eggs really didn't have calories?"

Travis barked out a laugh, but bit it back for fear of being heard through the door. She started walking back toward the elevator, "No. They have every glorious calorie I claimed they did."

"Oh, good." Will fell into step next to her. "So, what's up?"

"Nothing," she blurted. She finally looked at him, "Where's your gear?"

Will's eyes narrowed, and then his face relaxed, "I was just headed up to grab them."

"What are you working on today?"

"Don't you look at the shoot list?"

"There's a shoot list?" She remembered she hadn't even logged into her workstation. She'd wanted to just deliver her message and be done with it.

"You're not going to last long around here if you don't keep up to date on what's going on around here," he taunted.

"It's my second week!" she protested, hitting the button for her floor as she stepped into the elevator.

Will laughed as he followed Travis onto the elevator without pushing a button. "We're getting ready to shoot some smaller scenes for the new series. That's the one I think your mom is in."

"Ah. Well, then it's a good thing she'll be here soon." Travis stared at a poster on the elevator's wall. The elevator jolted and began moving.

Will stepped away, "Whoa. Hit a nerve."

"What?" Travis' head snapped back toward him. "No! I mean..." Will just smiled. "I was enjoying my freedom."

"That sounds like an interesting story," Will leaned back against the wall, just as the elevator came a stop and the doors opened.

"Not really." Travis stepped out, but Will didn't move. "Aren't you coming?"

He reached out and pushed a button. "No. I actually need the next floor down."

"Then why didn't you--"

"You looked like you needed to talk. See you later, princess." The doors closed, and Travis still stood there, baffled. Strange guy.

She wandered back to the animator workspaces and logged in. The screen glowed blue for a moment, and then a daily agenda appeared. Travis scanned it. Convenient way to keep everybody informed.

"Travis, I have to go to a production meeting. Can you handle these clean-ups for me?"

"Sure!" A file appeared on her workstation several seconds later, and Travis opened it.

Several minutes later, the blue screen flickered back on, the company's logo slowly bouncing around. Travis stared at it blankly for several moments, and then shook her head, realizing she was staring at the screensaver. She waved her arm over the desk. As the screen faded back to her tools, she realized she hadn't even started working.

It's fine. You knew this couldn't last, and you've had more than you thought you were going to get. Get over it. And she started on the first of the clean-up notes.