《Ringing In My Ears》Chapter 6

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Ian was an intern at a small IT company. He did everything from brewing coffee to basic debugging. His boss had no problem with him bringing a friend along to 'job shadow'.

Tanset Studio's offices were a bit run down, but the employees made up for it with an unabashed amount of personal knick knacks, memes posted on the walls, and abstract art made from old equipment and cords.

"Is this your tag-along, Ian? Davin Cheng, nice to meet you." Violet smiled at Ian's boss and shook his hand, "Violet Kerrington, thank's for having me here today." Davin adjusted his glasses. "I'm going to warn you, Ian's gig isn't quite as exciting as you might be expecting, so feel free to bounce around and ask people what they're up to. We've got a problem solving meeting this afternoon that I think you might get some good insight from. You shadowing for credit?"

Violet shrugged. "Something like that. I haven't really declared a major yet, so I'm just figuring out my options."

"Fair enough," said Davin. "But, if you find a way to get some credits out of it, shoot me the paperwork and I'd be happy to sign it. Also there's a Slack group for any good Reddit links that you find, so feel free to contribute."

"Deal."

Davin had a point. Ian had to work on Tanset's website, and fixing broken links wasn't exactly what Violet had in mind for today. Violet made a few passes to the break room to talk to the more social employees. It was strange. There was a distinct lack of shadows in the office. As a red-haired employee made their way over to one of the desks near the break room, she saw a black blob materialize in to a butterfly and land on the desk. The two teased each other playfully. She watched it absently, forgetting she was stirring a coffee when Ian's voice roused her. "Having fun creeping?" She turned sharply, not realizing how close she actually was to him. The smell of mint hit her again. "Sorry." She shook her head. "There's just so much...not going on. You know what I mean. Those two are flirting under the influence, but that's like it. Ya'll are way too naturally chill here apparently."

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Ian leaned back. "Isn't that a good thing?"

"Things that are good can also be not helpful."

He closed a browser window. "Team meeting's in a few minutes, do you still want to go?"

She nodded. "If there's something fishy here, it'll show itself. Meetings tend to do that to people."

Except it didn't. Davin happily announced that profits were steady enough to finally open their new development division - apparently the reason it's a 'Studio' was that they originally intended to make video games, but strangely enough that wasn't enough to keep the lights on. They pivoted to IT support long enough to get on their feet, with the promise that employees could start splitting their time on game development as long as the company could remain stable. They would start transition a couple of their senior employees to spend a quarter of their time getting the program off the ground. Davin looked a Ian, "That might mean you getting some more of the day-to-day requests, but if progress stays good, we might get another intern to help out." Davin raised an eyebrow to Violet, but moved on to discuss the main issue at had - user interface testing for a client's inventory software upgrade.

* * *

"Not a damn thing?"

"Not one. I mean, if there's anywhere else you frequent, I can check that out, some of the venues and whatnot, but my guess is it's something to do with the band."

After work, Violet and Ian regrouped at a cafe. Violet made quick work of her Americano as Ian casually sipped a mocha. She ordered another one.

"Did you dream last night?"

"Yeah," she sighed. "Nothing specific, just some repeats of the same stuff. When can I meet the rest of the band?"

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She wanted to change the subject before the dream caught up to her and made her blush. She had a regular dream, not one of the visions he was referring to. She dreamed of Ian, in ways she didn't want to tell him about. About his laugh, about the way he looked to the side when he was nervous, of his neck when he swallowed, of his delicate, artful fingers clenched around a microphone. She wasn't surprised she was infatuated with him. The last few days have been filled with minimal sleep, visions, and digging in to the cracks and crevices of his life. It will pass she told herself, not believing it. Regardless, she couldn't pursue him now. There was real danger she had to uncover, and she owed it to Ian for being patient with her bullshit.

"Actually, Trevor and Manny are grilling this weekend, a bit of a Sunday Funday. Louis and Kelly should be coming, and maybe a couple of people, so that would be a perfect time. Eric's not back til next Sunday." He paused contemplatively. "Do you think he's in danger? Since he seems like our best lead?"

"Not while he's out of town. Proximity is a big factor in what I see, and if shadows were going to cause an issue clear in Vegas, I wouldn't have seen a thing about it."

A second Americano appeared. "So," he continued, "what do we do until Sunday?"

She took a sip, "Well I've got two shifts and three classes in between then, but if there's anywhere else you want me to check out, you name it."

"What classes are you taking?" He asked.

"Mostly gen-ed fillers. Biology, Social Psychology, Religion in Modern America."

He was bemused with the variety. "What the heck even is your major?"

"I mean technically undeclared, but only until I can figure out what college will take my transfer credits from the community college. Some sort of psychology or counseling likely."

"Seriously?"

She took another drink. "I've got to do something with," she couldn't figure out what to gesture to, so she just gestured to the ether "this."

"Don't you need a break?"

"Breaks make me anxious. There's stuff to do."

His mouth made an O-shape, but he thought better of it. "Have you thought about that from a psychologist's perspective?"

She rolled her eyes. "Yes I know that's not a healthy habit, no I haven't delved too deep in to it. Not ready to do that much naval gazing."

"Anyway...how about we go to Massey Park on Friday? I used to be one of those musicians on the edge of the shopping district looking for a dollar and a minute of your time, hey, here's a link to my EP! I still know a few who congregate there on Friday afternoons. Maybe you're looking for a different troubled artist besides Eric?"

"Fair enough. I've got a morning shift that day anyway."

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