Penny #26
Title: “A Sorting Out”
Author/Artist: Scriptator
Fandom: Concarnadine (original)
Rating: Probably PG
Prompt:: None
Warnings:
Disclaimer: Everyone in here is an Original Character. Please ask before borrowing.
“Thank you for all your efforts, Penny. And you will be pleased to know that Miss Indiset and Miss Bhaskar have been able to return to the Frencham, and that Mr. Mens will see you at your convenience. Other than that, take a day or two to recover, and then we can work through what you’ve found out.
“Don’t you need me to go through things now ?” Penny asked.
Adrian LeGrange smiled: “No, my dear young lady - your daily reports were excellent and Max and I have been keeping up to date. Georgia Bathanna will be flying out over the weekend to Belarus, to make arrangements there, and I will be following her, while Eleanor keeps the lid on, here in London. So, you’ve played your part for the moment.”
“Except as far as our … little sideline … is concerned,” Max Levin said. “Go and see Solme as soon as you can. Here, this is what you’ll want, and you’ll find he has a small cheque for you.”
“How much ?!!!” Hallie Indiset was incredulous.
“Apparently the market has been ‘volatile’,” Penny replied.
Nanesha looked at the value of the cheque and gasped, too.
“Look, do either of you have anything on this evening ?” Penny asked. “Only I think we should have an evening out - see a magic show. I know I can get us tickets.”
And so it was “decided” - Penny rang the Durbar and four stalls seats (Bella Kugelmann was to be included in the invitation) were booked.
“And we’ll have a meal first,” Penny said: “My treat.” She waved the cheque. “No arguments. I’ll go and get Tiger and settle him in at home again, and I’ll be back here at five-thirty.”
And, just after five thirty the three of them (Bella having pleaded a headache and a previous engagement) set off, for a chop house just round the corner from the Durbar Theatre.
Where the food was excellent, and the company, once they had got round the issue that Penny couldn’t (or wouldn’t) talk about Bruges - well, she would, about the city, and what she had seen there, but not about what she had been doing there for Adrian Le Grange - was as comfortable as it had ever been. Nanesha had some amusing stories about commuting to and from Croydon, and Hallie, as well as wanting all the Tiger-related news, had some news about a couple of Adrian’s clients.
The somewhat dishevelled man who forced his way over to their table was a little frightening, but then Penny recognised something about him in time, and her smile disarmed the potential confrontation, and all that he had actually wanted to do was to deliver their tickets, “to save yer time at th’office-desk-thing”, and then he’d shambled off again, and the chop-shop had been reducing the bill by twenty-five per cent for the “inconvenience”.
The seats were excellent (as if they would have been anything else). There was one moment when a middle-aged woman and her two children seemed to think that the seats were theirs, but Tremair, the theatre manager, turned up and guided them to seats slightly further forward (to the children’s joy, since to them the nearer to the action the better).
And Penny found the performance quite good as well - a lot of it was *real* theatrical magic, legerdemain and misdirection rather than any use of Talent. It was of no surprise to her when first Hallie and than Nanesha were subtly targeted for attention: both of the girls appeared unaware that they had been picked out, and the wristwatch and bracelet with which they ended up seemed both genuine and acceptable to them. Penny herself was careful to stay out of overt sight as she didn’t want to get involved, but about two-thirds of the way through (just after the illusion with the three young men in bathing suits, and the grape jelly) she heard Utru-ab’s voice in her mind (“It’s all right - they won’t pick on you. But you are all invited back-stage afterwards.”) She mentally thanked the sphinx, just in time for it to make its appearance at the climax of the show, and to send the two children into paroxysms of delight when it successfully divined (or appeared to) their mother’s plans for a wonderful birthday party for them.
Penny found little difficulty in steering her two friends towards going back-stage: like many of the people she knew, they considered the theatrical profession a jewelled (or at least be-sequinned) preserve into which Ordinary People were rarely invited - given the opportunity to pierce the curtain, they took it with only a little less glee than the children would have.
“Penny,” Elizabeth Stellamer (or Eve Starr) said, sweeping her into an embrace: “It’s good to see and. And these are -- ?”
Penny introduced Nanesha and Hallie and then, subtly, eased herself out of the limelight, to simply stand and watch on the fringe. Where Borin found her.
“ ’ow’s things ?”
“Fair to middling,” she replied, in a phrase she remembered from her grandmother.
“ ’ear you w’re on th’Continent.”
“In Bruges,” Penny replied.
“They ’ave good rats there,” Borin commented. “But I don’ suppose … “
“I’m sorry - it wasn’t part of what I was doing.”
“ ’s all right - we’ll be over there soon enough. ’e likes the Low Countries for the odd week,” Borin said, jerking a thumb to indicate Concarnadine, presently engaged in making flowers appear from parts of Nanesha’s attire.
About ten minutes later, with mugs of tea being served all round, as the stage-hands completed their tidying up of the backstage, and the theatre began to quiet, Elizabeth found Penny.
“Can you make time to come to Chelsea in the next couple of days ?”
“Has something happened ?”
“While you were away -- we’ve been looking into a few things. I don’t want to be too specific here, but you may want to know what Rayner Mortimer has found out.”
“Intriguing.” She thought for a moment. “I could probably do Sunday, if that’s convenient.”
“Very - I’ll tell C to keep the day clear.”
The phone went while Penny was engaged in a wrestling match with Tiger and a knotted length of twine.
“Penny - it’s Eleanor.”
“Miss Co-- that is, hello, and what can I do ?”
“Adrian wondered whether you could make time to meet him for lunch. Say, one o’clock, at the Monument, and we’ll walk down to a restaurant on the river. “
Penny didn’t feel that she could demur, even if Saturday ought to have been a day off.
“Then we will see you then: I shall be there, and so will Miss Bathanna, if that is all right.”
The restaurant was on the top floor of an office building which faced the Thames. Penny selected a green salad and settled to listen.
“Thank you for coming, Pen. And, once again, thank you for what you did in Bruges. The business at the end was no fault of yours - I may have to reconsider the extent to which I let people like Rudi work within our overall operations. You’ll get a small bonus for that - Max’s firm suggestion, to which I agreed. He’s in Belarus at the moment, finalising details, and sends his apologies for not being here in person.” Adrian beamed a smile round the table, sipped his wine spritzer, and turned to Georgia Bathanna.
“Georgia, in Max’s absence, I think the next bit falls to you.”
The lawyer nodded and turned to Penny: “Most of the work was Max’s, but the substance is that Mr. Maclvennie will no longer be troubling you. Whilst you were in Bruges, a Master in the High Court dismissed his claim against LeGrange Associates, and the police warned him about approaching you personally. Nothing direct, just a warning that if you had reason to complain, then a serious investigation would follow.”
A weight, of which Penny had not been sensible till now, fell from her shoulders.
“In light of that, I’d like you to go back to the Frencham for me,” Adrian said: “Hallie has been all very well as team leader, but I should like to have your expertise back. Hallie will become lead researcher for American and Australasian projects, and Nanesha for what Asian and African work we have. I’ve asked Bella Kugelmann to give you two of her people, who will support all three of you, and who will concentrate on European work, which is where the main burden will be.”
Penny’s face must have reflected the confusion she felt, at having these things dropped on her without warning, because Eleanor Copressley leaned forward from her half-consumer soufflé.
“Don’t worry, Penny: I’ll see to it that you get a formal minute confirming all this by start of play Monday.”
“And I’ll copy the High Court Master’s order to you,” Georgia Bathanna said: “He didn’t mention you by name, but he did reflect in his judgment that Maclvannie admitted that it was he who made the first approach, through you.”
“Well,” Sandy Miniver commented, while Tiger played nicely with Thomasina the grey Siamese, “you have been living an interesting life. I wish … no - no, I don’t: I like the quiet life too much.” She laughed and Penny refilled her glass of New York Tea.
“And how has it been here ?” Penny asked.
“Nicely quiet - I got most of my proof-reading done, and I’ve got another two firms interested.”
“Good.” Sandy had worked for a publisher’s, until she’d had a (literal) brain-storm, which had meant having to give up work for six months. After recovering, on her doctor’s advice, she had gone free-lance as a proof-reader, to let her manage her work-patterns more flexibly. Initially she had been worried about getting enough work to support herself and Thomasina, but it sounded as though things were going well for Sandy.
“Oh - these are for you.” Penny produced a box of chocolates.
“Ooh - thank you. But you shouldn’t have.”
“It’s one of the specialities,” Penny explained. “Bruges seems to be some soft of a chocolate-maker’s centre - on some streets half the shops sell them. And so they do all sorts of special offers. Anyway, enjoy them, and if I ever go again … “
“By the way,” Sandy said: “While you were away someone came looking for you - a girl, or a young woman … about our age, I suppose. She seemed to think that you want to listen to her, once you heard what she had to say.”
“No idea what that’s about - but thanks for the heads-up, Sandy.”
Author/Artist: Scriptator
Fandom: Concarnadine (original)
Rating: Probably PG
Prompt:: None
Warnings:
Disclaimer: Everyone in here is an Original Character. Please ask before borrowing.
“Thank you for all your efforts, Penny. And you will be pleased to know that Miss Indiset and Miss Bhaskar have been able to return to the Frencham, and that Mr. Mens will see you at your convenience. Other than that, take a day or two to recover, and then we can work through what you’ve found out.
“Don’t you need me to go through things now ?” Penny asked.
Adrian LeGrange smiled: “No, my dear young lady - your daily reports were excellent and Max and I have been keeping up to date. Georgia Bathanna will be flying out over the weekend to Belarus, to make arrangements there, and I will be following her, while Eleanor keeps the lid on, here in London. So, you’ve played your part for the moment.”
“Except as far as our … little sideline … is concerned,” Max Levin said. “Go and see Solme as soon as you can. Here, this is what you’ll want, and you’ll find he has a small cheque for you.”
“How much ?!!!” Hallie Indiset was incredulous.
“Apparently the market has been ‘volatile’,” Penny replied.
Nanesha looked at the value of the cheque and gasped, too.
“Look, do either of you have anything on this evening ?” Penny asked. “Only I think we should have an evening out - see a magic show. I know I can get us tickets.”
And so it was “decided” - Penny rang the Durbar and four stalls seats (Bella Kugelmann was to be included in the invitation) were booked.
“And we’ll have a meal first,” Penny said: “My treat.” She waved the cheque. “No arguments. I’ll go and get Tiger and settle him in at home again, and I’ll be back here at five-thirty.”
And, just after five thirty the three of them (Bella having pleaded a headache and a previous engagement) set off, for a chop house just round the corner from the Durbar Theatre.
Where the food was excellent, and the company, once they had got round the issue that Penny couldn’t (or wouldn’t) talk about Bruges - well, she would, about the city, and what she had seen there, but not about what she had been doing there for Adrian Le Grange - was as comfortable as it had ever been. Nanesha had some amusing stories about commuting to and from Croydon, and Hallie, as well as wanting all the Tiger-related news, had some news about a couple of Adrian’s clients.
The somewhat dishevelled man who forced his way over to their table was a little frightening, but then Penny recognised something about him in time, and her smile disarmed the potential confrontation, and all that he had actually wanted to do was to deliver their tickets, “to save yer time at th’office-desk-thing”, and then he’d shambled off again, and the chop-shop had been reducing the bill by twenty-five per cent for the “inconvenience”.
The seats were excellent (as if they would have been anything else). There was one moment when a middle-aged woman and her two children seemed to think that the seats were theirs, but Tremair, the theatre manager, turned up and guided them to seats slightly further forward (to the children’s joy, since to them the nearer to the action the better).
And Penny found the performance quite good as well - a lot of it was *real* theatrical magic, legerdemain and misdirection rather than any use of Talent. It was of no surprise to her when first Hallie and than Nanesha were subtly targeted for attention: both of the girls appeared unaware that they had been picked out, and the wristwatch and bracelet with which they ended up seemed both genuine and acceptable to them. Penny herself was careful to stay out of overt sight as she didn’t want to get involved, but about two-thirds of the way through (just after the illusion with the three young men in bathing suits, and the grape jelly) she heard Utru-ab’s voice in her mind (“It’s all right - they won’t pick on you. But you are all invited back-stage afterwards.”) She mentally thanked the sphinx, just in time for it to make its appearance at the climax of the show, and to send the two children into paroxysms of delight when it successfully divined (or appeared to) their mother’s plans for a wonderful birthday party for them.
Penny found little difficulty in steering her two friends towards going back-stage: like many of the people she knew, they considered the theatrical profession a jewelled (or at least be-sequinned) preserve into which Ordinary People were rarely invited - given the opportunity to pierce the curtain, they took it with only a little less glee than the children would have.
“Penny,” Elizabeth Stellamer (or Eve Starr) said, sweeping her into an embrace: “It’s good to see and. And these are -- ?”
Penny introduced Nanesha and Hallie and then, subtly, eased herself out of the limelight, to simply stand and watch on the fringe. Where Borin found her.
“ ’ow’s things ?”
“Fair to middling,” she replied, in a phrase she remembered from her grandmother.
“ ’ear you w’re on th’Continent.”
“In Bruges,” Penny replied.
“They ’ave good rats there,” Borin commented. “But I don’ suppose … “
“I’m sorry - it wasn’t part of what I was doing.”
“ ’s all right - we’ll be over there soon enough. ’e likes the Low Countries for the odd week,” Borin said, jerking a thumb to indicate Concarnadine, presently engaged in making flowers appear from parts of Nanesha’s attire.
About ten minutes later, with mugs of tea being served all round, as the stage-hands completed their tidying up of the backstage, and the theatre began to quiet, Elizabeth found Penny.
“Can you make time to come to Chelsea in the next couple of days ?”
“Has something happened ?”
“While you were away -- we’ve been looking into a few things. I don’t want to be too specific here, but you may want to know what Rayner Mortimer has found out.”
“Intriguing.” She thought for a moment. “I could probably do Sunday, if that’s convenient.”
“Very - I’ll tell C to keep the day clear.”
The phone went while Penny was engaged in a wrestling match with Tiger and a knotted length of twine.
“Penny - it’s Eleanor.”
“Miss Co-- that is, hello, and what can I do ?”
“Adrian wondered whether you could make time to meet him for lunch. Say, one o’clock, at the Monument, and we’ll walk down to a restaurant on the river. “
Penny didn’t feel that she could demur, even if Saturday ought to have been a day off.
“Then we will see you then: I shall be there, and so will Miss Bathanna, if that is all right.”
The restaurant was on the top floor of an office building which faced the Thames. Penny selected a green salad and settled to listen.
“Thank you for coming, Pen. And, once again, thank you for what you did in Bruges. The business at the end was no fault of yours - I may have to reconsider the extent to which I let people like Rudi work within our overall operations. You’ll get a small bonus for that - Max’s firm suggestion, to which I agreed. He’s in Belarus at the moment, finalising details, and sends his apologies for not being here in person.” Adrian beamed a smile round the table, sipped his wine spritzer, and turned to Georgia Bathanna.
“Georgia, in Max’s absence, I think the next bit falls to you.”
The lawyer nodded and turned to Penny: “Most of the work was Max’s, but the substance is that Mr. Maclvennie will no longer be troubling you. Whilst you were in Bruges, a Master in the High Court dismissed his claim against LeGrange Associates, and the police warned him about approaching you personally. Nothing direct, just a warning that if you had reason to complain, then a serious investigation would follow.”
A weight, of which Penny had not been sensible till now, fell from her shoulders.
“In light of that, I’d like you to go back to the Frencham for me,” Adrian said: “Hallie has been all very well as team leader, but I should like to have your expertise back. Hallie will become lead researcher for American and Australasian projects, and Nanesha for what Asian and African work we have. I’ve asked Bella Kugelmann to give you two of her people, who will support all three of you, and who will concentrate on European work, which is where the main burden will be.”
Penny’s face must have reflected the confusion she felt, at having these things dropped on her without warning, because Eleanor Copressley leaned forward from her half-consumer soufflé.
“Don’t worry, Penny: I’ll see to it that you get a formal minute confirming all this by start of play Monday.”
“And I’ll copy the High Court Master’s order to you,” Georgia Bathanna said: “He didn’t mention you by name, but he did reflect in his judgment that Maclvannie admitted that it was he who made the first approach, through you.”
“Well,” Sandy Miniver commented, while Tiger played nicely with Thomasina the grey Siamese, “you have been living an interesting life. I wish … no - no, I don’t: I like the quiet life too much.” She laughed and Penny refilled her glass of New York Tea.
“And how has it been here ?” Penny asked.
“Nicely quiet - I got most of my proof-reading done, and I’ve got another two firms interested.”
“Good.” Sandy had worked for a publisher’s, until she’d had a (literal) brain-storm, which had meant having to give up work for six months. After recovering, on her doctor’s advice, she had gone free-lance as a proof-reader, to let her manage her work-patterns more flexibly. Initially she had been worried about getting enough work to support herself and Thomasina, but it sounded as though things were going well for Sandy.
“Oh - these are for you.” Penny produced a box of chocolates.
“Ooh - thank you. But you shouldn’t have.”
“It’s one of the specialities,” Penny explained. “Bruges seems to be some soft of a chocolate-maker’s centre - on some streets half the shops sell them. And so they do all sorts of special offers. Anyway, enjoy them, and if I ever go again … “
“By the way,” Sandy said: “While you were away someone came looking for you - a girl, or a young woman … about our age, I suppose. She seemed to think that you want to listen to her, once you heard what she had to say.”
“No idea what that’s about - but thanks for the heads-up, Sandy.”