| [IC] A July Trip |
|
Hejerr "Qwerty" Opalen rushed through the departure hall. Winair flight 6558 to Ciria, departing from gate 68. Last call. The ridiculously calm computer voice annoyed Qwerty. He was usually not this late, but last night he had had an inspiration for a new feature for his beloved Stream. Even though he had stayed up all night, he still had not had the time to finish his new code. He had wanted to finish so badly he had missed several buses. When the first "back-up bus" was about to leave the stop below his window, his normal consciousness had overcome his programmer consciousness. He had of course missed that bus, but the buses were frequent, and he had managed to catch the very last of his "back-up buses".
"Jui... Qw... I mean... Are you boarding, tevv*?" The woman at the desk by the gate was starstruck, seeing one of the most famous Sedunners just pop up in front of her, and had just barely avoided calling Opalen by one of his characters' names, and his nickname. Qwerty had to catch his breath before answering. A simple "yes" was all he managed while exhaling loudly. The woman checked his boarding card that he held in front of her with great effort. "Enjoy your flight" she said with a ridiculously large smile. Qwerty reluctantly started to walk, and slowly boarded the plane. Deprived of one whole night's sleep, he almost immediately dozed off as he sat down in the comfortable seat. * Tevv is the Sedunnic equivalent of Mister or Sir, and is used when the person's title or occupation is unknown or impractical to use.
Remiro Nwikha-Khumo, the Sityaro Jukhirs arem, literally 'the Angel of Beautiful Things' and more commonly translated as Minister of Culture, was sitting in the back of his private car outside the front of Terminal 2 of Ciria International Airport, staring at his watch. The hands seemed to move more slowly than they should, but he was sure that Opalen's plane must have landed by now. He lowered his wrist, tapped the leather seat cover and gazed out through the tinted glass at all the many people of many different colours and nationalities (although they were mostly Erinoran) and wondering where they had just come from, or where they were going. A crowd of Sedunners, so different in complexion and build to the smaller, darker Erinorans around them, exited the terminal building and hailed a taxi.
He must be coming soon. "He'll be out shortly, sir," said Lerwo, his assistant into the leather-drummed silence. "I know," Remiro sighed, "I know, I do it's just that... well, this could be really big for us and if I can secure a deal..." "It'll go a long way to legitimising the tax relief for international film companies utilising Erinor and Erinoran actors and crew in their films. If you don't mind me reminding you, you've said all this already. This 'Qwerty' seems like a nice enough guy. Just let it play out how it will." "Next cabinet reshuffle I think you'll end up in my job," Remiro remarked with a smile. "Alright," he continued, "I'll try to be patient." There was a flicker of movement by the terminal door. "Is that him?" Lerwo merely sighed.
Qwerty was the last passenger to exit the plane. He had been reminded three times that they had arrived at Ciria, but he had been so close to finishing his new code. After a final battle with the compiler and a test run, he was satisfied. At last. Now he could focus entirely on what he had come to Erinor for: film making. Just as he got off the plane, he saw the passenger coach accelerating towards the terminal building. A new lovely tradition in the making, he thought to himself and started to walk there himself. Halfway there, a man in a strange looking vehicle rushing towards him from the terminal building told him to get on. He was driven to an entirely different place than he had been walking to. After having made clear he wasn't a terrorist, he was taken to the a conveyor belt where his bag was waiting for him. Lovely. He grabbed it and headed towards the terminal exit.
The terminal door opened with a hissing sound, and he decided to wait just by it to see who was there to greet him.
"It must be him," Remiro said, his anxiety turning to frustration as he watched the figure standing on the other side of the terminal doors, "but why isn't he coming out?"
"Perhaps he's expecting someone to greet him there?" Lerwo said a little sheepishly. "I might have been a bit vague on the details." "I take back what I said. Well, then, get out and greet him!" Lerwo gave a sharp nod and then hopped out of the car to stroll, confidently enough, towards the terminal building. Should I get out too? No, it's better if he's led here to me, like stepping into an office... Outside, Lerwo approached the main doors, caught the gaze of the man standing just inside and gave a warm smile.
It wasn't the minister, but by the way the person had approached him, and judging from the car, Qwerty assumed that the smiling man belonged to the staff. He presented his hand.
"Good day, sir. From the Ministry of Culture I presume?" Qwerty's voice was unexpectedly light, despite being a strongly built man. He spoke with slight Sedunnic accent.
Lerwo nodded, smiled and offered a slight bow as he replied, "Mr. Opalen, it is a genuine pleasure to meet you. My name is Lerwo Sirea-Orusyo and I'm the assistant to the Sityaro Jukhirs arem, the Angel of Culture. Sityaro Nwikha-Khumo is waiting for you in the car," he added, gesturing towards the limousine. "If you'd like to follow me..."
Qwerty sat down in the car. His larger bags had been packed in the trunk, but he wouldn't let them pack his computer. Holding it steady on his lap with his left hand, he presented his right hand to the Minister.
"Sityaro Jukhirs arem, it is a pleasure! I am sorry for my slight delay. Airport security, you know."
Remiro smiled and said, "I know just what you mean," before reaching over and shaking Opalen's hand. "I can assure you, however, that the pleasure is all mine. It is rare that we get an opportunity to meet with one as multi-talented as yourself."
He leant forward and tapped the glass separating the rear compartment with the driver's seat and, at once, the car pulled out into the steady flow of traffic leaving the airport and began the journey toward the city centre. "So," Remiro continued, "how was your flight?" He glanced meaningfully down at the computer on the other man's lap. "Do you get much work done on journeys like this?"
"Work always finds me. The world is full of great opportunities that I just can't miss out on. The last few hours were particularly fruitful, actually. Tell me, Minister, do you use Stream?" Qwerty asked, already knowing the answer.
"I have an account, but I don't actually log on to it very often, I'm afraid. There's always the fear that if I post something carelessly it will reflect poorly on the government, or on Erinor itself, and that tends to make me reticent. Fortunately, the ministry has an excellent social media team and Lerwo, here, also serves us well with his regular updates on Stream." He smiled at his assistant, who nodded.
"I spend far too much time on my phone," Lerwo admitted, "but, since this is actually part of my job now, it still counts as productivity!" His laughter was light and genuine and Remiro felt himself relaxing more at the sound of it. "Indeed," he agreed, "it really has been invaluable to have someone so savvy as my assistant. Social media has become so important just about everywhere, these days. It can be dangerous to allow oneself to be left behind entirely." He paused, then asked, "Has Stream's global success been a surprise to you at all?" |
![[+]](/images/collapse_collapsed.png "[+]")
OOC:![[Image: C5xhL3j.png]](https://i.imgur.com/C5xhL3j.png)
![[Image: xpCtQTW.png]](https://i.imgur.com/xpCtQTW.png)
![[Image: snqZrFA.png]](https://i.imgur.com/snqZrFA.png)
| Users browsing this thread: |
| 1 Guest(s) |