(no subject)
Continued from here.
Fred swallowed a bit before Willow led her into the science lab. All the other department members were there, so her friend quickly did a round of introductions. Five of them were immediately very friendly, offering to show her around if Willow needed to get back to work, and Fred had a feeling that working with them would be fine. The sixth one, however, was a bit surly. Fred recognized him as one of the ones who had been published and wondered if he was being this way because he knew of her own work or because he thought that he should have been the one to get the department head position. She decided just to wait and see what happened.
After Willow showed her her office and got her logged into the computer network, she had to excuse herself, so Fred spent the next twenty minutes at her new desk, checking through the schedule Andrew had set up for her for the day and looking through some of the documents that were already sitting in her inbox. She found herself briefly wondering what Rupert was doing but knew that she couldn't just sit there daydreaming like a lovesick puppy.
The meeting with her department went just about how she expected it to, her earlier assessments of the others bearing out. She asked all of them to brief her on what projects they were currently working on, things she already knew about from the dossiers and documents she had received in preparation for taking her position. The five who had greeted her warmly gave straight-forward reports, answered her questions and offered to show her their work. The sixth one - Martin - gave a rather condescending version of his report and evaded answering her questions. Then made a comment about his work that set off alarms in her head. Looking at the others, she pressed her lips together, trying not to show her annoyance with him, but when the meeting was over, she asked Martin to join her in her office.
"So," she said when she closed the door behind them, "what did you do with the burning rubble of the table you've been working at for your project?"
"Excuse me?" Martin asked, crossing his arms and glaring at her.
"You said you're working on finding an antidote to Enverenti poison. Enverenti poison happens to be very unstable when mixed with mercury, which you said you tested as a possible antidote. Now, considering that it's pretty common knowledge in demon physio texts that you don't mix those two things ever 'less you want a big mess, I'm thinking this means one of three things - one, you don't know anything about the Enverenti and you blew up one of our tables before I got here; two, you think I don't know about Enverenti and are trying to make me look dumb in front of the others; or three, you haven't actually been doing the work you've been assigned to do. Any three of those come close?"
Martin's eyes widened at her words. "How--how do you know about the Enverenti?"
"I've been researching and battling demons for the last two years. Before that, I was able to observe some in pretty close quarters for five years," she told him. "I'm not an idiot. There was a reason I was given this job. Now, I didn't want to confront you about this in front of the others because, unlike you, I don't believe in making people look stupid in front of colleagues. This particular incident can be excused as me just not ever having heard of the Enverenti before. However, you ever do something like that to me again, and I won't hesitate to call you out in front of them and then have you escorted from the building, you understand?"
"Yes," he said, swallowing a bit.
"Good. Now, how about you show me what you've really been doing. Having an antidote to Enverenti poison would be a great breakthrough, and I'm sure you've been doing some great work, given that article of yours on DNA washing I read last year."
The rest of the morning went more smoothly with Martin showing her his work. The fact that she seemed to know his work seemed to help, and he was doing some good work.
By the time noon came around, Fred was ready to get out for a while and spend time with Rupert and get something to eat. She hurried down the hall to his office, knocking on the door and then slipping inside, closing the door behind her.
"Hey, there. I understand that the boss around here gives us an hour for lunch. I believe we had a picnic planned?" she asked, walking over to the desk and reaching out to touch his temple. "Are you all right? You look like you've had a hell of a morning."
Fred swallowed a bit before Willow led her into the science lab. All the other department members were there, so her friend quickly did a round of introductions. Five of them were immediately very friendly, offering to show her around if Willow needed to get back to work, and Fred had a feeling that working with them would be fine. The sixth one, however, was a bit surly. Fred recognized him as one of the ones who had been published and wondered if he was being this way because he knew of her own work or because he thought that he should have been the one to get the department head position. She decided just to wait and see what happened.
After Willow showed her her office and got her logged into the computer network, she had to excuse herself, so Fred spent the next twenty minutes at her new desk, checking through the schedule Andrew had set up for her for the day and looking through some of the documents that were already sitting in her inbox. She found herself briefly wondering what Rupert was doing but knew that she couldn't just sit there daydreaming like a lovesick puppy.
The meeting with her department went just about how she expected it to, her earlier assessments of the others bearing out. She asked all of them to brief her on what projects they were currently working on, things she already knew about from the dossiers and documents she had received in preparation for taking her position. The five who had greeted her warmly gave straight-forward reports, answered her questions and offered to show her their work. The sixth one - Martin - gave a rather condescending version of his report and evaded answering her questions. Then made a comment about his work that set off alarms in her head. Looking at the others, she pressed her lips together, trying not to show her annoyance with him, but when the meeting was over, she asked Martin to join her in her office.
"So," she said when she closed the door behind them, "what did you do with the burning rubble of the table you've been working at for your project?"
"Excuse me?" Martin asked, crossing his arms and glaring at her.
"You said you're working on finding an antidote to Enverenti poison. Enverenti poison happens to be very unstable when mixed with mercury, which you said you tested as a possible antidote. Now, considering that it's pretty common knowledge in demon physio texts that you don't mix those two things ever 'less you want a big mess, I'm thinking this means one of three things - one, you don't know anything about the Enverenti and you blew up one of our tables before I got here; two, you think I don't know about Enverenti and are trying to make me look dumb in front of the others; or three, you haven't actually been doing the work you've been assigned to do. Any three of those come close?"
Martin's eyes widened at her words. "How--how do you know about the Enverenti?"
"I've been researching and battling demons for the last two years. Before that, I was able to observe some in pretty close quarters for five years," she told him. "I'm not an idiot. There was a reason I was given this job. Now, I didn't want to confront you about this in front of the others because, unlike you, I don't believe in making people look stupid in front of colleagues. This particular incident can be excused as me just not ever having heard of the Enverenti before. However, you ever do something like that to me again, and I won't hesitate to call you out in front of them and then have you escorted from the building, you understand?"
"Yes," he said, swallowing a bit.
"Good. Now, how about you show me what you've really been doing. Having an antidote to Enverenti poison would be a great breakthrough, and I'm sure you've been doing some great work, given that article of yours on DNA washing I read last year."
The rest of the morning went more smoothly with Martin showing her his work. The fact that she seemed to know his work seemed to help, and he was doing some good work.
By the time noon came around, Fred was ready to get out for a while and spend time with Rupert and get something to eat. She hurried down the hall to his office, knocking on the door and then slipping inside, closing the door behind her.
"Hey, there. I understand that the boss around here gives us an hour for lunch. I believe we had a picnic planned?" she asked, walking over to the desk and reaching out to touch his temple. "Are you all right? You look like you've had a hell of a morning."