The Clairmont Ledgers - RPLOG
Participants
Date
30/12/2017
Log
Zophah is standing in the lobby waiting on volunteers, wearing her usual flame-patterned bikini under a lab coat. "Going to make this quick. There are piles and piles of paperwork here that can benefit the Surivalist economy, but it needs to be copied over and packed up. To be clear, no one is being payed for this, this is a community service. Everyone sound off and then we can get started."
Mokou knew the drill by the time she had gotten there. Twas almost becoming familiar with it nowadays. Arrive, offer help, do what you can, leave, drink, sleep. The little fennec brushed her shorts briefly as she nodded, cracking a faint smile to Zophah in turn. "Got it. Sort, Copy, And prepare to move." A glance was spared behind her to the lot of them, a familiar face or two evident... but none enough so to group. With a sigh, a shake of her head, and a slow pace over the thinly-carpeted room, she gestured a bit briefly to the corner offices. "So, where's the work to be done? And... where are we aiming to take this lug of stuff?"
Arthur had some trouble finding his way to the bank, as it was his first time around Clairmont. Good thing he was well prepared and dressed enough to manage the cold, thick denim pants and a leather jacket, setting off early, arriving in time to get briefed. Papers. Papers everywhere. The man really missed computers right now, could make that job so much easier, instead of working like it's the 1970's again. "Um, just one question, do we have some machine to help with the copying?"
Ayaka followed behind Arthur, trusting him to guide her the correct way. She's wearing a comfortable blouse and some black trousers, herself, though the latter had to be specially modifier to account for the riot of tails that trail the kitsune wherever she goes. She looks around the bank and nods. "O-okay, copy things, then." She turns to Arthur and smiles. "Should I go find and sort things while you copy?"
Fenris stands at attention, though his current wardrobe is a bit odd for this sort of assignment. He is wearing a thick, leather harness strapped over his broad chest and thick, round belly. Over that he wears an open, leather vest with the words "Big Daddy" embroidered across the back. The outfit is topped off with a billed, leather cap that his furry round ears peek through. Otherwise, he wears nothing but a contented smile, his fat tail waving slowly behind him.
"All set!" he says amiably, "I can write stuff down or do the heavy lifting. Just point me where you want me."
Zophah replies to everyone while she leads everyone into a room with desks: "Sadly we have to use papers and pens for copying, as nothing stays fixed long enough to use. And don't worry about who is taking it, there are already others who will be taking the crates." She indicates the small empty wooden crates against the left wall, then points to some salvaged filing cabinets and stacks of papers against the right-side wall. "Not everything needs to be copied over, and some files already have copies. Once you clear a file put the copies in the crates. I'll try to help where I can so everyone pick a desk and let's get working."
Slowly following Zophah towads the office... Mokou practically wilted at the sight of it. No clean and organized office space for them. Heavens no, seems like twas more a workplace disaster than anything resembling... good. She shook her head though, a faint... sigh falling from her. "Well, works for me then. Looks like... Well... Will be a bit more writting than expected..." A slight smile was offered back though, moving one of the boxes to the side and sitting down upon its rim. A ledger raised and set before her, paper in one hand, the ledger in the other... And set to it.
Rather though... attempted to set towards the task at hand. Handwritting that looked like it had been penned by a quadruped, numbers that moved and blended together more than any words had any right to... It was... She grumbled quietly after a time, her paper more chicken-scratch than legible information. A glance up... and a brief smile shot back to the others... "How... Er... you all doing on these?"
For a moment, the angelic looking man thought if getting an extra pair of arms would help. Probably not, given that he's not even ambidextrous, so he quickly discarded that option. Nodding to the kitsune Ayaka, he replied, "Sure, if you need help, just come back to me, I'm sure you'll manage to get things right this time!" Arthur was confident in her abilities and sat down on one empty desk. Well, empty of an occupant to work the papers, because there was a pile there already. Stretching himself, he got ready to copy and sort statements and whatnot. Boy he could already feel the cramps coming...
Time seemed to crawl at a snail's pace for the nephilim. Sort things a bit, remind Ayaka of what she's supposed to do, copy the text, stamp it, put in the proper pile, remind Ayaka again... Some 2 hours later, he could feel the cramps on his right hand and forearm, as well as some headaches. Taking a deep breath, he got up from the desk and walked towards Zophah, his voice a bit woozy, "Uh, can I, can I take a break? Just, uh, fifteen minutes, I think..."
Ayaka sorts through the stacks of documents with some difficulty, having to bank extensively on Arthur to help her with some of the work. In fact, she ends up consulting with him quite a bit, putting her seemingly boundless energy to use as she bounces back and forth between her assign desk and his. Her 'copying' is sloppy, but legible, given that she seems to be putting a lot of care into copying each individual word almost exactly, as would someone tracing a drawing. She perks up at Mokou's question halfway through her stack of work, and beams a bright smile her way. "Doing good! I think.. assuming I drew everything right." She looks over at Arthur and giggles. "A break? Why for?"
Fenris seems to be doing quite well. Despite his appearance, he is rather well suited to the task at hand, copying the printed pages in elegant, neat handwriting. The fact that he adds little fanciful curlycues and monsters like an illuminated manuscript is just a bonus.
Every now and then, the burly tanuki takes a break to stretch and wander around to look over the others' work. "That is a seven," he points out helpfully over Mokuo's shoulder, "Not a one." He manages to point out a few little mistakes like this over the course of the slow hours.
Zophah gives a strained smile in return to Mokou's question. "Part of the reason I put out the call for volunteers is because I couldn't make heads or tails of any of it." She tries her best to fetch things for eveyone to keep things organized, including a carafe of hot coffee, which Arthur needed. This goes on for four hours, and the crates are only half full. "Lets keep going. Does anyone want me to fetch dinner from New Ireland?"
While Zophah had neither heads nor tails of what was going, as Mokou looked back at her work... looked as though she had... err... maybe a thumb? Or a forefinger... Or perhaps the metaphore was running away from her. Probably, no doubt about it. Actually, probably a foot about it if it was running... She shook her head, grumbling quietly. Metaphores and paperwork. Her favorite. The fennec sighed though, offering a wane smile back towards Ayaka, eyes peering over their work. Man. That was legible! Could work and everything! Glancing back at hers... looked more like she'd dipped drumsticks in ink and hit the page. A pause, and she stopped druming her pen against it. That... might help. Even the little help that was provided to her... twas nice. A smile and a note of thanks always offered back... And quickly correcting the three to a seven. How he saw a one... well... actually..
Finally though, The lass looked back up to Zophah, a silent look of grace and thanks offered at their recomendation of food. "You know, that sounds absolutly lovely. Please." A pause... and a brief shuffle of her feet, eyes shooting daggers back at the paperwork. ... Pretty certain it hissed back. "You know what... Think I'll ah... help you with that. If'n... that's alright."
Arthur shook his head at Zophah's offer, instead he asked for directions to the nearest cafe. "I need. I need... Fresh air, coffee, I think" He replied to the energetic kitsune, wishing he had her energy. It did take him quite a while to get back, carrying one large cup of coffee on each hand, the cold weather was probably working in tandem with the mental tiredness, given how it got so hard for him to focus when he was sitting by the desk again.
The nephilim seemed to have divided his time equally in 3 parts: 1 part for drinking coffee, 1 part for sighing and breathing, 1 part for actually working. At least this time his work went better. Somewhat better than before the coffee, anyway, which is something! He had too much coffee, though, he had to get up for a quick bathroom break.
Ayaka continues her work at an energetic, even frenetic pace. Her inability to rely on Arthur for help given his exhaustion proved fatal, however. In being forced to work on her own, her pace outstripped her ability to keep her copying accurate, and by the time she had nearly finished with her second stack of work, she realized she had been making a serious and recurring error while copying trade balance ledgers. "Oh no.."
She went back a third of the stack, then another third, and then back to the beginning, and found that same mistake several times over! By the time dinner had arrived, she'd barely made any gains, having ben forced to go over her previous work with a fine comb to fix the same stupid mistake. Finally done, she staggers over to Arthur just as he gets up for his break, and stands around thinking of what else to do now..
Fenris is growing weary. It is not often he is called upon to sit around as aggressively as all of this. There has been no call to use his sword or spear, no doors to break down, no army of sex-crazed mutants to talk down.
In short, none of the things that make everyday life fun.
The tubby tanuki looks up from a dragon-snail he has been drawing in the margins of a particularly dull sheet at the mention of food! "Yes!" he grins, "Please, oh please yes. They have pecan pie! And these sandwiches on rye bread that are worth dying for!"
With everyone needing a good break, Zophah leads everyone down to the eatery at New Ireland, and even agrees to pay for everyone's dinner (within reason, of course). Then with everyone filled up, it's back to the work... "Looks like we are nearing the end."
Food. A precious break in the doldrum that was paperwork. A small sandwich was more than enough to provide some manner of delight, some breif repast away from the terrible terrible paperwork. A vain delusion rose then, perhaps it would be easier? Perhaps with a clearer mind and a more open thought, she would be able to partake and do what she needed to with the paper? With a smile upon her lips, and a touch of hope straightening her spine, she wandered back in, setting down upon the paperwork... and lifting her pen.
It was a lie. It was easier perhaps, but now it was more upon her to do it. Numbers swam in her mind, but they did not mock her now. Now it was simply the monumental task of compounding them. Determing what would need to be, how it was to go. Transciption was not her art, and she was as graceful as a floundering whale in the written word, but damned if she didn't try for it. Hard to keep it together, difficult to read the work... but it was at least in some manner... legible. Or perhpas she was just getting used to it? Difficult to determine... But words and numbers flowed regardless.
Arthur managed to endure the rest of his average salary worker adventure after those short breaks, though he felt it came at the cost of part of his sanity. Hell, even his black wings were hurting from sitting there, hunched over a nearly endless pile of papers. He was quiet throughout, but he never stopped wishing for a computer, a printer, all those things that were so plentiful before p-day decided to fuck things up. At times, he almost felt like chuckling or laughing out of sheer stress when a new pile arrived at his desk.
Still, he survived! He managed to finish his workload and let out a loud "FINALLY!" when things were tidy in his desk. "No wonder they employed armies of people back then to deal with these things..." He mumbled to himself afterwards.
Ayaka was uncertain what to get, and ended up copying her food order from everyone else. Good thing too! Mokou's taste in sandwich is commendable, and by the time she's devoured her meal she's looking bright and eager again. She digs into her work without bothers Arthur anymore, noting how distressed he seems to be, and though she has to take it slow, she ends up finishing her stack to what she believes is an acceptable degree.
She carries the final box of papers onto the growing pile in the middle of the room, and drops it with a huff before collapsing onto a chair. "I agree!" She says, towards Arthur. "This is hard work!" She smiles at him. "But we did it, so that's all that counts!" She looks over at the others, checking on how they're doing so far.
Powered by a sandwich, or possibly three, and half a pecan pie, Fenris makes a new effort on the remaining paperwork. The tubby tanuki blasts through his remaining pages and goes on to pick up the slack where others might be lagging a bit. "No offense," he says, "But this job was worse than even my last trip to the sewers!" It is a good thing he at least got a good meal out of this drudgery. He takes one last look at his stack of illuminated copies of incredibly boring financial sheets with a snort. "Glad to be done with all that," he says, "I'll take dragons and vampires next time, please."
Zophah did what she could to help everyone after dinner, taking the finished stacks and packing them to the crates. "Well done everyone! With this people will be able to create a better economic system in Fairhaven. I'll let them all know what you did here so your metaphorical sacrifice will not be in vain." A few porters come in to start gathering the crates, and Zophah gives a bow in thanks.
