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Hi all, just checking in! After a month in Greece, I'm back in Brussels, where thankfully it's not frozen yet, and need to catch up on a lot of Bradburys!

Hey DT, good to see your pixels!

Welcome back, DT! ****** Just as he got to the edge of their little group, the glass doors slid open and Parnell entered.  Just behind him, Jun thought she saw the top of Red Impulse's head.  Before she could detach herself from the group, though, she noticed Parnell walking straight towards them. She tried to turn away as Parnell greeted the man with a handshake and a slap on his shoulder. "Take care of these interns, Kelly," Parnell said, his voice loud and echoing in the bare space.  "Remember you started out as one too." "Yes, sir," Kelly said, his smile frozen in place and did not quite reach his eyes.  "I'll do my best." "Excellent, excellent," Parnell said expansively, looking over the group.  "You're all the best and the brightest, the only kind of people we hire here at P.I. Stay with us and you'll go places.  Further than you ever dreamed you could." All the way to Galactor, Jun thought sarcastically just as she locked eyes with Parnell.  She instantly looked away, but she was not fast enough.  Parnell walked over to Jun, standing directly in front of her. "I know you, don't I?" he asked.  "I've seen you somewhere before."  Jun's heart was in her throat.  Would Parnell really call her out in front of witnesses, that where he saw her was at a strip club?  She did not think so and she was just about to deny it, claiming mistaken identity, when Parnell saved her the trouble.  "You're Jim and Sarah's girl, right?" Jun hesitated in answering, waiting for the real girl to come forward and speak up, but no one moved. "He told me you might apply for an internship here, and I'm glad you did.  We won't let you down," here Parnell gave her an exaggerated wink, then turned to Kelly.  "You take good care of Agatha, you hear?  This little girl is going places, I'm telling you." He slapped her on the shoulder as well, then headed off towards the elevators.  Before Jun could make her escape, she found Kelly thrusting a badge and a folder into her hands, a slightly hostile look on his generically handsome face. "Welcome to Parnell Industries, leaders of the modern world," he said automatically before turning to the next young woman next to Jun and handing her a badge and folder, greeting her in the exact same way with the exact same words.  Once everyone in the group had a badge and a folder, Kelly raised his hand to get their attention. "Before we go up into the offices, we just need to go over some basic rules.  Please make sure that your cell phone is either turned off or set to vibrate.  There will be no photos allowed anywhere in the building at any time and anyone caught tweeting, texting, Instagramming, or posting anything to a social media site will immediately be escorted out and the phone confiscated.  Your badge will only allow you access in the general areas.  Please refrain from entering any of the restricted areas unless you are with a full-time PI employee.  Now everyone follow me." As Jun moved with the group, she glanced over just in time to see the shock register on Red Impulse's face.  She smiled and gave a small shrug of her shoulders as she followed the group over to the elevators. Well, he wanted to just watch who came and went in the building, Jun rationalized, and he still can.  He never said anything about my not going up. *     *     * By the time Jun emerged from the building, she had developed very strong ideas of what types of positions she would never consider for a career.  In fact, the whole day had been so deadly dull, she vowed that she would never again complain about the more mundane tasks required of her at the Snack J. Like taking out the garbage, scraping the grill or removing chewed gum from the undersides of the tables. She stumbled out into the waning daylight with the rest of the interns, all of them blinking like moles emerging from their holes.  Once she was back in the foyer, she looked around for Red Impulse but she was not surprised when she did not see him right away. Jun went out the door, following the others -- Tiffany, Stew, Keiash, and a girl who insisted on being called Amanda Lin, but Jun was almost positive that that was not the girl's real name. At least, she hoped it wasn't. Jun took off the badge and stuffed it into her suit jacket pocket.  The fewer reminders she had about the day, the better.  Not immediately seeing Red Impulse and not knowing what else to do, Jun started to retrace her steps from that morning, but it seemed as though more than just eight hours had passed. She was at a curb, waiting for a light to change when out of the corner of her eye, Jun saw a man in a dark suit step up close to her.  Tilting her head down, she canted up a glance and saw Red Impulse impassively staring straight ahead, a newspaper neatly folded into thirds and tucked up under the arm that held his briefcase. He did not acknowledge her, nor she him, until they were back at their room. "I trust you had fun?" he said, as he unlocked the door and swung it open. "Oh, yeah, loads," Jun said, throwing herself onto the bed and kicking off her shoes.  She wiggled her toes, relishing the feeling of freedom.  "If I hear the phrases 'low-hanging fruit' or 'corporate culture' one more time, I'll scream.  How about you?" "Oh, just fine," Red Impulse said smoothly as he reached into the closet and hung up his suit jacket.  Jun frowned down at her own.  She supposed she should hang it up, but then thought it might just be fun to toss onto the bed and watch Red Impulse hang it up. "Did you see anyone that could tie Parnell to Galactor?" she asked. Red Impulse quirked a brow at her.  "Oh, now you remember what we were supposed to have been doing?" Jun felt her cheeks go hot at his not-so-thinly veiled accusation.  "No," she argued back, "I remembered just fine and when we have to go back tonight, I, at least, will know where all of the rooms are, including Parnell's offices." Red Impulse gave a small bow in her direction.  "My apologies," he said, which sounded like anything but.  "As a matter of fact, there were a number of interesting people he met with this afternoon at lunch.  It was a pity you couldn't have been there." The Tournon Blu!  She had been so smug about getting past the foyer, that she had completely forgotten about Parnell's lunch date.  Jun pressed her lips together hard to keep them from trembling. "You ate there?" she asked, hoping he would say no. "Of course I did," he replied.  "It would have looked odd to show up at a restaurant and not eat anything, don't you think?" Jun blinked hard and looked down at her shoes, lying on their sides from where she kicked them off.  She promised herself that she would not cry in front of Red Impulse, but it getting hard not to.  Especially when she thought back to her own lunch in the cafeteria, a rubbery sandwich of dubious origin.  Hardly even fit to be called food. While he ate at the Tournon Blu.  It was so unfair! "I suppose so," she answered, her voice tight.  She heard him rustling around in the closet, but did not look up.  She could not.  When he closed the closet door, he spoke once again. "There's one of their salads in the mini fridge if you're still hungry." By the time Jun picked up her head, Red Impulse had closed the door to the bathroom.  She heard water running. As if I would eat his leftovers, she thought indignantly.  Then her traitorous stomach growled.  Well, just a peek at a wouldn't hurt. She got up and went to the small battered refrigerator that was stuck in the corner under one of the end tables.  There was nothing else in it except for a white plastic bag emblazoned with the bright blue Tournon Blu logo on it.  She pulled out the container and gasped. This was no leftover; it was too elegant, as if it had just been made and not as though it had just been dumped into a container.  On the top of mixed greens, sliced vegetables were artfully cut and arranged in a pinwheel pattern, with strips of marinated grilled chicken nestled at the center. Another look inside the bag yielded a small lidded cup of salad dressing and a sealed packet containing a fork, knife and napkin. Jun settled back on the bed, gently cradling the salad on her lap.  With it balanced on her knees, she removed the lid to the dressing and sniffed at it.  A vinaigrette of some sort.  She stabbed a small piece of cucumber and dipped it in. Flavors burst over her tongue, each one individual yet complementary.  If only she could serve something like this at the Snack J, she thought with a sigh, carefully folding a piece of grilled chicken into a leafy green.  Of course, the guys themselves would vote against it; it was not finger food, which they claimed was the only food that should be served at a place with the word 'snack' in its title. Still, maybe she could sneak in a little salad.  She was halfway through the salad when a folded garment on the dresser caught her eye.  That was when she remembered -- they still one more item on their to-do list before they could finally rest. 

RI -- First off...

Originally posted by RIgirl "You take good care of Agatha, you hear?  This little girl is going places, I'm telling you."

*snigger!* For a very tiny (or should I say "Hootie"?) moment I could hear a really obnoxious backbeat..... Next, I hope he really did think she was this Agatha girl! There's still the chance he recognized her from the strip club or the cafe.

RIgirl: Phew, was worried about her getting back out of there. Maybe RI appreciates her quick thinking and infiltration more than he's willing to tell her!

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Interesting, the team members seem to be bonding. Starting to wonder how many of them are really doing this voluntarily. Aradia is definitely interesting, meep!

RI -- The plot thickens! And also becomes yummier -- your description of the salad had me running to the kitchen for a snack! EW -- The little group is certainly becoming more tightly-knit -- looking forward to reading about their exploits!

LOL, DT! Snacks are always good! EW -- while it is nice to see the false team bonding (nothing like a common enemy to bring people together!), they seem to realize that Jinpei isn't exactly like them, if they have to take a vote on it, which makes me wonder exactly how much they do know and aren't letting on. And their treatment at the hands of the "boss lady" does raise questions as to how they really feel about what they are doing. All I can say is that I'm glad I was holding onto my stuffed elephant while reading it -- I needed the comfort myself!

Yeah, that false swan is definitely creeping me out.... Yikes!

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Uh oh. I think I know where Joe's going with this...

Some times, we just keep digging ourselves in deeper ... poor Joe!

Hopefully Joe doesn't plan to video her with himself.

Well, Nambu did tell Joe to keep an eye on her! (hmm ... now that I think about it, maybe he should have been a little more specific about that ...)

Joe really doesn't learn...