[ShadowStitches]

(I forgot the Letters you put for specific Things (like violence etc)if the RP could be/is pretty much guaranteed to be mature (at the very least for language). And given the nature of The characters, probably a lot worse things.
just a fair warning.)


Savin Ashfield

A dark grey, sleek looking car wound its way through Aldrects business district, reflecting the fancy, modern alabaster colored buildings from its high polish flinish.
It was a nice car no doubt, sporty looking, but at the same time low key and classy enough. In it sat Savin Ashfield, and tried to push down a new wave of headache. The bloody aspirin was not exactly what it was years ago. or maybe his body slowly grew immune to it effects. He did not now. Frankly, he couldnt have cared less.

//off to a fantastic start// he thought while pulling into the underground car park. Grabbing the suit that was hanging above the back seat (fresh out of the expensive Laundry shop and with a protective sheet covering it, of course) he made his way towards the elevator. The thing was made purely out of glass with only the door acting a sub par mirror, and as soon as it passed the underground levels, provided a view into the big, bright entrance hall of the company. It too had a huge glass front, and currently was bathed in bright sunlight, stinging his eyes. While his elevator was swooshing by, he gave his best smile and a subtile hand raise  to the entrance lady behind her desk, who
smiled and waved back way too enthusiastically. As soon as  he was sure the small glass capsule was out  of her sight, he dropped the smile //dear god, what drugs did they give you today lady?//. Checking his reflection in the mirrored door, he was surprised to see that he was looking quite presentable. Not his best, but okay.

According to the small schedule on his phone, the day promised to be more or less low key. They just recently wrapped up a big deal (one that he directed, and one that put one of his collegues, Jason Utman, right back into his place. served him right. Slimy little punk). So final wrap up conference, sighting new possibilities, paperwork aaand the one big meeting in the late afternoon. //could be worse, could be much - oh F-!/  
The doors of the Elevator opened with a soft 'bing' to his floor. And to Jason Utman just...standing there. "Oh! good morning Jason!" He blurted out, not being able to hide the slight bewilderment in his eyes. What the hell was the guy doing standing right infront of the door? Jason was a a broadly build, tall man with short blonde hair, Working mostly in HR.He  seemed somewhat smaller today. A detail that did not pass unnoticed. "Morning Savin. Doing good?" He rumbeled, without directly looking at him. Bad sign. or for Savin, good sign.
"Ah yeah, just a little startled to be honest. where-" "Going to talk to the finance department. you know. Jim and the bunch" "Ah.Is there financial planning for the new deal already?" Savin asked. Jasons eyes met his for a second, before trailing off. "Something like that." He was about to shuffle into the Elevator "Hey. Jason? are you okay?". The bulky man turned around to him. The two standing next to eachother was a odd sight, with Savin being a head shorter, but much slimmer then Jason, having dark hair and bright eyes, and looking as best as he could hope to look, while Jason was not only blonde and big, but also looking like he had pulled and allnighter. "You look a little pale is all" Savin wore his innocent, concerned smile like a second skin. something flickered in Jasons eyes, before he
straightened his back "I'm fine. thank you." "all right. Take it easy, good luck!"
The elevator doors closed, and there was something devious creeping into the corners of Savins mouth.
Maybe the day would not be so shitty after all. Jason had been a thorn in his side for several reasons and for a time now. Seeing this was...refreshing.

He managed to make his way to his office with no more interaction with peers then he absolutely had to.
Slipping behind his smoked glass door felt like slipping under a protective blanked. His office smelled of coffee. If there was something he really liked about his secretary/assistant, it was her looks, and her ability to brew good coffee. The personal office was spacious, elegantly furnitured and with a nice view over the park.
One could say that he made it pretty far. But there was always more air above. why not soar higher?
He was about to close the door behind him, when something of vague interest drifted overt to him.
A conversation between his secreatry, Meleena, and one of the junior managers. Rouby or...something.
"Kid is rising like crazy. have you seen her stuff? its a bit weird though, isnt it? just so sudden and all"
Meleena smirked "Psh. I'm sure she has...other qualities that help her. she must have found someone to share them with recently" His ears perked up slightly. now that sounded interisting...

(sorry for the long ass post :/ also the title :/)

[Pyris]

.:Valenna Avirril:.

Dark red nail polish always suited her fingers best. With a halo finish, they danced in the light, and for whatever reason, always brought a smile to Valenna's face.  It really was such a silly little thing to be happy about.  Even if her hair was a nest, her nails always had to be perfect.  However, it was easy to say that today, her hair was quite lovely.  Her auburn strands were long and looping down one shoulder in a way that just made her feel like Marilyn Monroe.  Appearances speaking, she was totally on point this morning.

Even the clack of her heels on the tiled floor to the elevator was satisfying.  Valenna Avirril could feel it in the air: today was going to be a really good day.

She had heaps of work to do, like always, but she loved her job.  She got to see, speak, and breath art every single day.  She and her team took something ordinary and made it beautiful so that the next team could do their jobs to the best of their abilities.  After all, only the best materials made the best outcome.

The elevator pinged at her before the doors slid open, revealing her paradise.  This was her domain and she had fought tooth and nail for every inch of this space.  Good morning, everyone.  Who's got something good to show me today?"

Zachary was waiting for her just to her right.  She had never once regretted hiring the man as her secretary.  When she took the next step up, she was very seriously recommending him for her job.  Honestly, the man was nearly on her level.  "Morning, Director," he greeted, echoed quietly by the other, seemingly invisible staff.  "You're schedule is pretty focused today, so we need to keep on task as much as possible," he said with a faintly apologetic smile.  He offered her the coffee waiting in his hand, turning to the tablet in his other as she took it with a grateful gleam in her green eyes.  "You have about three hours to review artist work before we have some meetings to attend," Zachary said simply, swiping something on his tablet before showing her the screen.  

One meeting with the boss, two client meetings, and a wrap-up meeting with the sales department.  She gave him a small frown, but nodded just the same, and the tablet disappeared... as did her secretary.  

"Director, I'm done with this, can you check it?"

"I've got the samples for the Advertisement Team in the corner desk, could you double-check them after you're done?"

Valenna grinned at her people; she was home.  "Yes, Yes, I'll get to work then."

((I tend to expect long intro posts... *guilty of them, like, always*  I'm also 27 and pretty much okay with anything short of, like... well, there really isn't much I'm not okay with.  o.O  I was genuinely amused by the title, though.  XD))

[ShadowStitches]

(eh, I'm garbage with titles XDD)

His short hesitation got unnoticed. As interested as he was, he was not one to openly gossip with his secretary and...that junior woman. He kept his biting comments mostly to himself, or maybe a night out with the collegues in his league. He would not say he made...friends here per say, he mainly joined to keep possible rivals in check and to keep opportunities open. But he had to admit, the gossip and remarks that where thrown around in these circles someties where comedy gold.

He closed his door behind him, and walked over to his desk. Sitting down in his leather chair, he quickly
logged into his account, looking at the more in depth schedule.
Okay. so obviously things had been moving around a bit, but the big meeting in the evening still
was where it belonged. That was a plus. Not a minute later the door was slid open, and Mereena stepped in.
"Morning Savin. There has been quite a bit moving around in the shedule, things just..."
"Morning, I can see that, thanks for the heads up though." he said calmly, making Mereena shift
her weight unconfortably. "lets get to it then, sit down, take a coffee."
The woman slid into the chair in front of him, her movements slightly stiff, but with purpose.
"is there a short version you can give me?"

"ah, yes. First change is that right after the wrap up, there is meeting up with one of the the sales agents, Mr. Brey to discuss strategies for a new pitch towards KLI (a pharmacy concern). after that there is some research and planning on what media to use for them. then.. . Looking at the new samples from the art department. and..." the corners of her mouth wandered down. " and last but not least, two hours before the big meeting this evening... a meetup with Henso Industries" . That last one made him clench his fist unvoluntarily. "fuck." he hissed.  One of his team, Lennard Snyder, and he had worked quite hard to keep this fish on the hook, and they where on the verge of skipping of, for...reasons  Savin was not sure of, and that made him uneasy. and Lennard just pulled his head out of the noose like he always did. "I know." she tilted her head carefully. "Should I move Mr. Brey to tomorrow?"  "no I...I'll deal with this. Research time has to be shortened though. Tell Lennard that I want to join him for lunch . okay?" Mereena nodded and made a little note. "Anything else of interest?" His secretary made her 'thinking hard' face. "Not...really. oh."

The same, mean glint she had in her eyes when he passed her in the morning was there again.
"There has been a lot happening in the art department. Valenna Avirril is skyrocketing." his brain
jumped to attention. "Avirril?" he echoed, mentally scrambeling and trying to sort a name to the face. "Jeah, I dont know how she did is. you can look her up in the reckords". Meleena knew just too well how important it was for Savin to be...up to date. "all right, thats all. Thanks Meleena" and with that, the petite woman slipped out of his office.

[Pyris]

Coffee in hand, Valenna walked over to the draft artist who had called out to her first.  He held up the board and lifted the desk light so that she could better view the piece in question. "It's decent, but I don't like this... thing here?" she muttered as the pointed to an out of place shape she couldn't identify.  "What the heck is it supposed to be?"  The nice thing about drafts was that they didn't have to be the prettiest thing in the world; it was just a mock up of an idea.  This made it perfect for rookies like Rhys.

Rhys blinked at her for a moment before nearly jumping to hover over the draft himself.  "It's....oh, dear.  I don't know how to fix that," he admitted, not sure how he'd messed the shape of the product up that badly.  "What should I do?" he asked, hazel eyes wide and worried.  "Scrap it?"

She mulled it over in her head, finally deciding that Jessica probably had time to give him a little help and knew she would give him sound advice.  "Go visit Jessica's little cave and she'll help you out.  I think the concept is good, though, so keep trying."  Rhys' shoulders shrunk as he looked at the corner of hell that the Director considered 'a little cave.'  Jessica was indeed the best at correcting errors and always knew how to fix them, but her personality was... scary.  Zachary had even called her a dragon lady at one point.  She was the team's eye before the final drafts hit the Director's desk.  Slumped with his draft, Rhys headed glumly over towards Jessica's chaotic area.

Watching him move with amusement obvious on her face, she turned instead to Lauren, her ambassador to the other departments.  The relief in Lauren's eye told her that she'd seen the anomalous polygon as well, but wasn't sure how to approach it without making the newbie have a breakdown.  "Let's see," Valenna said as she took the small stack of images she'd been handed.  "Throw that away.  I told him I didn't want to ever see that shade of yellow again.  This one is good. This one, too.  Pass on this one unless they demand more samples." She paused, eyes landing on a proposed ad that just seemed to glow off the page.  "This one wasn't in the stack that I looked through two days ago.  Who did it?"

Lauren hesitated before glancing over the image as well.  "Oh, that's the freelance artist you wanted offered a job to.  You said it'd been a long time since you'd seen talent like this."  Valeena glanced at her briefly before nodding.  

"The sketch artist.  I remember it now.  It wasn't finished when I saw it before."  She handed her back everything she had decided to keep, placing the freelancer's piece on top. "Push this one first.  If they don't like it, then you can push that purple and gold one that Jessica starred for me.  Also, make sure the artist's name doesn't reach the client.  I want him in my office and it'll be harder for me to do that if someone else snatches him first."

Lauren nodded, stacking the samples neatly together.  "I'll head on over, the--"

"AHHH GROSS!" a shriek that was distinctly Jessica's came from her area, causing both women to look up.  Rhys had apparently worked himself up so much that he'd managed to trip into her lair and smack his nose against her desk.  Upon removing himself from it, blood had proceeded from it.  "GET OUT!" Jessica yelled, foot pushing against the poor boy's butt as she ejected him from her work space.

Valeena glanced at Lauren, who grimaced in turn. "I've got clients, so I won't be able to help him." She glanced down at her white shirt and gave the other girl an apologetic shrug. "If you get anything on your clothes, I'll buy you new ones from that boutique you like down the road."

"Okay!" she replied brightly, starting forward before remembering the samples on her desk.  "But these are due in half an hour...and I'm guessing that amount of blood might take a while to stop...."  

"I'll have Zacahary-- Oh, he just went out to get those colors I wanted...Here," she said simply, holding out a hand to receive the pieces.  "I'll take them."  The samples were handed to her carefully as Lauren hurried to Rhys, instructing him to pinch the bridge of his nose.  She chuckled for a moment, amused at how often his lack of grace cause him injury in such an ordinary place.

She smiled, heading towards the elevator to head towards the Advertisement Department.  They had plans to run this particular campaign in a couple weeks, so they would need to approve the design today to get it on time.  

Stepping out of the elevator, she glanced around wondering if she had found the right floor.  She'd never actually been in this section before.  Every time she met with anyone from this department, it had been in a management meeting or over the phone.  She was pretty sure this was the place, at least.

She looked around for where the secretary should be before approaching what was hopefully her desk.  "Excuse me.  I'm from the Creative Department."

(( Feel free to ask me to edit some of this.  
This was WAAAYYY longer than anticipated and I am SO sorry.  

In case you'd like to read her profile.))

[ShadowStitches]

(Haha, no worries! I think its good the way it is)

Savin had obviously skimmed over the profile of the 'art girl' as soon as he felt comfortable enough to do so.
What he saw made him raise his eyebrows slightly. //hate to admit it, but that is quite impressive//
Without a doubt, she had to have offered some favors here and there. What bothered him, aside from her speed climbing the ladder, was from where she started. //a lot of favors. poor thing really// but despite
his snide thoughts, he could not completely push that little detail way.

He himself did not start at the bottom. Not very high up either, but his spotless education carreer and the good reputation he earned in his former job landed him a nice postion in the advertisement department, before him taking the lead and the carreer ladder by storm. Compared to her though he was just that tiny little bit less ...effective.

Pushing these thoughts aside with a dismissive //will keep an eye on that//, he activated his  phone via a click on his desktop, and called the number for the Sales department. Not long after, the voice of Mr. Brey was filling his office. "Brey speaking?" " Good morning Mr Brey, this is Savin Ashfield.  how are you?" he asked in his default strong, not overly friendly but respectfull voice. One of the many ones he had. The job required you to be more of a actor then anything at times it seemed. "Depends on wether or not you are trying to put an other nail in my coffin. Uiless's demands are just...." he stopped rambeling. Uiless was not in Savins projects, therefore Savin did not care. Brey knew this, so he stopped wasting time. "what can I do for you"
The other man's voice sounded oddly dry and crackly. "I just wanted to check if there is anything more
you need from me before our meeting later" Savin answered. There was a short moment of silence "No, there is not much to gather from them yet anyways. Weird guys they are" "allright. see you later then"

Great. so this would be an other research heavy project. His eyes wandered over to the clock to the top corner of his desktop. Still about an hour and a half to go before the wrap up meeting. He would chug a huge portion of the research part to Rouby. She could work for her money for a change too. He did not waste time getting worked up over her lack of output. she would not last long here, he knew that from the moment she set foot on his floor. But before her fall, she might be good for something.
Savin typed up a message to her, which contained something along the lines of how much info he needed, in 3 hours latest, so she better get going.
--------
Mereena looked up from her computer when a woman approached her desk. It took her a second to register
her face, but when she did, she seemed to somehow perk up "Ah! yes, of course. Valenna is it? Mr. Ashfield should be free for review." Her smile was showing too many teeth when she picked up her phone. "he will be here in a minute"
-------
a small alert sign popped up, and his office phone rang. Furrowing his brow, he picked it up. "yes?" The somewhat hesitant voice of Mereeda rang through the silence. "Savin, the Art department just brought their drafts." he blinked "well, great for them,but arent they a bit too early? put it in the folder and  we will take a look later. I'm kind of busy here"  "yeah well...its just that ...the Director is here personally. I am sure she would appreceate a first feedback."
Savin scoffed. the hell was she thinking she was doing? .Thinking about it though, he could not deny that this was a good opportunity to take a closer look at that woman. "I could ask Lennard too if you are..." "No." His answer sounded a bit too sharp "all right. Tell Erin and Jules to move their butts to
conference room 2. Its free right?" "uh" a short clacking of a keyboard. "yes." "good. I'll bring here there, be out on a scond"

His headache reached a new spike, and he cringed. Erin and Jules, both Quality assurance, where undoubtedly already beelining towards the conference room. He turned his head towards the front desk of his deprtment, fogged out by his glass wall, so that he could only make out two indistinkt blobs. Rising from his chair, he made his day over to the door.
------------------
"he is on his way" Mereena chirped.
Savin moved towards them slowly, taking his time to give this...apparent wunderkind of the creative department a once over. She was good looking enough, and seemed confident. There was an aura to people who got far and fought for it he recognized quite easily, and it made him in turn even more vary. From the few seconds he saw her, the way she carried herself, she did not seem to be the type of person who spent more time in bed with certain people then in her actual office.  He could still be wrong though. after all, it was just the first few seconds...
"Savin Ashfield" He said, offering his hand to Valenna. "Nice to meet you. I hope this is not too inconvenient."
He made sure to look into her eyes. Not staring, of course, but with...carefull curiosity maybe.

(psssht very guilty of long posts myself :/ sorry. I think you can move it along (with them going to the room and her showing her stuff? i did not give you too much to work with I am afraid  a short, better physical description on the bottom ofthis  post)

[Pyris]

Valenna watched in silence, one eyebrow quirked slightly at the secretary's less-than-subtle conversation.  She was obviously delighted to see her, though Valenna knew they'd never met.  This girl was likely one of the gossip mill, which was probably how she'd identified her.  She offered a polite smile as the woman made two more phone calls to Quality Assurance.  

Disrupting someone's workflow just to get some attention from someone just as busy as she was wasn't exactly how she operated.  She only hoped that switching their schedules around wouldn't hurt their team.

She had no idea how her turning the samples in changed anything whatsoever and hoped that the manager she was about to meet hadn't assumed she expected special treatment simply because she happened to be the only one with a flexible enough schedule to turn them for Lauren.  With a quiet sigh, she pulled her phone out and sent Zachary a few quick words.  She knew that meant he'd probably want to be in the meeting and would have loved the opportunity to bring Rhys along to such a thing.  Maybe if it went over well, she could ask the manager if she could set up a time for the next deadline with the Quality Assurance staff.  It would at least be a good opportunity to find out it's feasibility.

She overheard the secretary call them to Conference Room 2, which was a good thing because she seemed a little distracted with her apparent scheming.  She didn't say or do anything strange, aside from assume things that people expect (which she totally intended to speak to Savin about), but she did have that.... expression on her face.

She glanced at her phone as it vibrated with a sigh.  Zachary was definitely pouting, but he'd agreed to look over artist work for her when he got back.  This gave her about forty minutes to go over samples.

It didn't take very long for the door to the office to open, a man just barely older than herself, if at all stepping calmly out of it.  As he walked towards them at a precise pace, she wagered he was sizing her up.  He didn't leave his gaze on her legs or chest (like she'd endured plenty of before) and looked at her directly, if a little cautiously.  Deciding that it was only fair to also gather what information she could while he approached, she took in his features carefully.

He was thin, nicely dressed, and very, very clean.  Possibly a perfectionist and definitely ambitious.  He had a faint scar over his lips, which she felt added nice character to his features.  His brown hair was meticulously styled and he walked with his back straight in long, even strides.

As he reached her that both their height and eye color were very close, which she found a little amusing.

"Savin Ashfield.  Nice to meet you. I hope this is not too inconvenient."

Valenna took the hand with a genuine smile; she felt like she would enjoy his professionalism most in this meeting.  It was more than refreshing to her usual interactions among peers.  "The pleasure is mine; Valenna Avirill" she said, taking his offered hand, shaking it firmly, but not excessively so.  Her father always told her that a handshake was the most important first impression for men.  A man would treat you the way you shake his hand.  If you shook it like a dainty lady, they'd treat you like one.

She was not a dainty lady.

"Your secretary certainly sprung a surprise on me, but my own is quite capable of handling it for a while.  I do hope this impromptu meeting hasn't disrupted your schedule too terribly."  He seemed the type to be able to read between the lines, so she left it at that.  "Conference room two, yes?"

She headed towards the door, speaking softly as she walked.  "We had a small incident with one of our less graceful employees," she explained, "I asked Lauren to take care of him when she informed me these were due shortly, so I offered to bring them here." He hadn't asked, sure, but she knew she would have been curious if he'd suddenly shown up in her office instead of his liaison.

Entering the conference room revealed the two Quality Assurance employees, whom she'd met briefly before when discussing a project, but couldn't remember their names.  She knew they were fairly competent, though, and that one of them had an exceptional eye.  She wouldn't mind that kind of eye in her office, but was glad that the Advertisement team had one as well.

She didn't immediately sit (she'd always felt that art was better viewed standing) but instead started setting samples out in a way that they would hopefully all be able to view them.

"I would recommend using this one as your focal and these two as it's support.  I also brought these," she said, laying out a set of fifteen other images below the first three, "So that you had plenty of variety to work with."  Upon laying out all the pieces, she met the eyes of each individual in the room politely.  "If there's anything you would like us to add or alter, feel free to let me know."

She was rather confident about this group.  Her main artist, Cody, had really outworn himself cranking out the two support choices.  Her other artists always required more assistance than he did and he was overall the most passionate.  He did require a day off after a deadline, though.

(( Maybe we should just accept our long-post disease.  
I watched the trailer for Kill Your Friends and was curious whether or not Savin would commit actual murder or if he had a limit.  *is okay with either, honestly*))

[ShadowStitches]

(heh, yeah, the trailer makes the movie look much…more stressful then it is really.
there’s mostly a lot of witty banter. Book is, as always, better (seriously, if you like dark comedy I think you will enjoy it), but I thought the movie kept close enough. Book is just a little…’funnier’ I thought. equally as dark, but a better pacing.  

As for Savin committing murder.
Errrr…maybe? I think he will try to pull every register he can think of first, and would only go to such extremes if pushed beyond his breaking point. I’d also say that he is more the kind of guy who would, say, poison someone rather then attacking them with a knife XD.  

So. not entirely sure yet. He certainly has the potential though. )

He did not miss the fact that she was analyzing him too as he approached, and that they where, quite literally, almost at eye level was as mildly amusing as it was...unnerving. He was used to these kind of encounters, a first 'butt sniffing among wolves' if you may. She seemed a little more genuine then the people he usually delt with though. That paired with her firm handshake cemented it further into his brain that this auburn haired woman was not a pushover. Shame. But really, for now, he could tolerate all of this.

As much of a competitive being as he was, he focused his strenght on people in his department(usually at the least), or who could be trouble to him. For now he had no reason to assume that she would be any problem. And other then some of his collegues he had not much trouble with her being a woman either. A lot of men had this weird habit to overact if they where feeling threatened by the other sex, making them seem foolish and stiff. ...well. okay. it was  defenetly something that dented his ego further, but he would certainly not let that show.  

Valennas remark made the small hair on his neck rise involuntarily for a second. He only smirked and shook his head slightly to indicate that he, of course, was not going to get trouble with his schedule, and that he heard her comment. loud and clear.  

Mereena  instead had not picked up as much as she should have. She watched from behind her desk as Savin interacted with the woman and vanishing with her towards the conference room shortly after. She cursed inwardly that the damn thing  was sound proof.

She thought she did the right thing for Savin. Obviously motivated out of her selfishness, but
surely he would appreciate a way to take a first look at Valenna as much as she did.
This train of thought derailed into a fiery inferno when she caught his glance.
Savin had let himself fall just a step behind Valenna, almost too subtile to notice, and his eyes  met hers for a split second. It was enough to let her know that she messed up royally.  

Savin was good in focusing his underlying anger into productive and for the most part positive energy. That was not to say that he was forgetting what just happened. Not only did Mereena embarrass herself, she also indirectly put him in a bad light for having her employed as his assistant Things would have a ugly aftermath, mostly for her. He was lucky that the people of his department where not in earshot. Mereena making decisions over his head would have undoubtably cause massive backlash if anyone of them witnessed it. At the very least, it was a flaw in the first impression he was trying to give.

For now though, he would focus on the here and now. No more slip ups.

Valenna answered his unasked question of why she was here in the first place.
He tilted his head slightly as they walked towards their destination. “That sounds...unfortunate.Ihope that your colleague is okay then?” he asked, rather then //wait. what could possibly happen to someone  in the artist department? Almost-lethal papercut?//  

Both of the QandA staff looked a little confused when not only Savin, but also Valenna entered the room. This sure was uncommon, but they gathered their barings quick enough and did not bother to ask questions. After a quick re introduction from Savin, the three of them started to look at the samples.  Erin was the afformetioned 'eye' of the QA. short, round and with choppy, wild hair, she seemed to be a  rather pleasant person. Her partner, Jules, was so thin that he made Savin look buff next to him, with strawberry blonde hair and wide eyes, giving him a distinctive 'deer in the headlight' look. He had his notebook with him, and quickly started to scribble down first notices.

The Company Valenna and her team had created drafts  for was  advertising their new perfume. It was a client they had worked with before, but with a all new product. The output of the team was impressive, but anything short of it would have raised eyebrows. there was a reason why they where working for this company after all...

There was a short while of silence, with everyone taking in the artwork, before Erin lifted her eyes and looked at Savin. "yes, please go ahead" he offered. Erin shifted her focus on to the Creative director,smiling " I for one really like what I am seeing. It goes very well with the theme of the perfume. And the quality, especially of the centerpiece, already is very nice." Erin, despite her very sharp and analytical eye,was a firm believer of positive re-enforcement first. "I do think that the color scheme of the three might be a little too...stark though. If you could make them a  little lighter it would fit the product better"Jules, as usual, was scribbeling down notes and pretty much agreed what had been said before. Savin focused closer on the artwork. Like Erin, he had a good analytical eye. Well, obviously he had to.he might not give eye to eye reviews as often anymore though. He walked around the table to get a closer look at the centerpiece, before giving the 15 alternate drafts a second glance, and looking back up towards Valenna. "I agree with Erin. Did you have an other artist working on the center piece? I...think the left supporting piece is not quite working with the rest yet. Center and right one are good, the left one is...compositionally breaking the flow for me. " he gave s short pause, looking at the drafts again " I think the composition in the draft number 11 would possibly do better. "

[Pyris]

Valenna watched Savin's expressions carefully, knowing about how the QA people would respond.  She was vaguely surprised to see him taking it seriously, looking over each image carefully before going over the entire lot again.

She listened to the comments easily, offering a small smile when her private wager seemed to pay off.  Rotating the cards to estimate his eye had given her more confidence in his skill.  She leaned over the table to move the original back, happy that they had agreed with her initial choices as well.  "I can lighten the color scheme on the set if you'd like, or add a highlight to these areas," she said enthusiastically, pointing to the areas on the bottle where light started to fade into shadow.  "That will make it a little more prominent as well."

She wasn't usually so crafty, but she felt that Savin might take something less subtle as an outright challenge when really all she intended was to weigh him out.  She glanced at her watch; she had about twenty-three minutes left.  

Valenna looked back to the centerpiece, admiring it for the art that it was.  "He's a freelancer I'm hoping to draft for my team.  We offer them commissions when we are short-staffed and looking for talent," she explained calmly, impressed he'd been observant enough to notice.  He hadn't seemed like the type to notice how art 'felt.'

((I'm so tired, so it's short.  x.x))

[ShadowStitches]

(haha, its cool, I think we dont always have to write novels when replying )

the ever shifting and hectict sheldule of both his and the creative department  rarely gave Savin or any of his peers time to give full on face to face reviews. Which was why art was often either reviewed later that day alone with the QA, or via  liaisons running drafts and feedback between eachother. It was therefore no wonder the staff of  Advertisement Management more often then not was not as versed in art, or simply interested, as they  definetly should be.

Savin himself was not exactly what he would call an art enthusiast. But a disitinctive incident 2 years ago, where his then higher ranking collegue misstepped fatally made him invest a lot more time to sharpen his 'designers eye'. After all, you could practically see aformentioned deal in the past fall apart, and all because the lack of any understanding of art whatsoever of his collegue. Savin was good in learning from mistakes others made for him.

Having a somewhat good eye for art prooved to be a good asset for his profession, and in his mind, it made sensce and was nescesarry. If he was beging honest, he was also showing off a tiny bit. In general he would make the QR do more work, but he still made sure to always have a good look at drafts for projects when they landed on his table.

He picked up on the fact that he just played the little switch around game a lillte too late for
his liking. All though giving the impression, he was not 100% here. The schedule shift, especially the Henson dilemma, was worrying him enough to impair his usually impackible senses. It was nothing that was...bad really. if anything, it showed her that he had a good grasp on what to look at, so it was a win-win situation. And it was a game that was played often enough, usually a little different though. Artists pushed their least favorite piece first and acting as if it was their top pic, in case the client or boss had a 'boss complex' and chose the second, better one, just to show dominance/supriority, in turn playing back into the hands of the artist.

He simply did not like the situation of being manipulated, even of it was for the better of the
team. "That sounds good, keep the highlights subtile though." He said. It was both a harmless, if almost joking jab  at Valenna (obviuosly she knew how to handle these sort of highlights) , as well as carefull steering. They had seen it time and time again, even with highly talented teams that people got a little overboard with their highlights. The comment was therefore a wierd mixture between inside joke and instruction.Innocent enough.

He nodded. It made sense that the creative department was operating this way. It was somewhat simmilar to the Management hiering consultants if they where stuck. "A good choice" He said simply "we'll contact HR, should he agree to work in house for us" He would really have to keep an eye on her. Not only was she herself evidently  capable in directing her team, but also apparently cunning and good in picking affiliates. The phone in his pocket vibrated angrily once, undoubtedly a message from either Meleena or Mr.Brey. Time to wrap this up. "All right. We still have 3 weeks untill our pitch. We should shedule a meeting to review the changes in about...5 days to 1 week, if possible. After that we should be good to go into final touch ups and presentation. Are there any more questions or remarks?"
(also a bit shorter. sorry, have to get going )

[Pyris]

Valenna gave Savin an amused smile, nodding simply as she collected the samples.  She was fairly certain he'd picked up on her ruse, but had played it off as though he hadn't.  She hadn't been interested in an outright dog fight with him; he actually had potential to be a serious player in the Game, after all.  If there was one thing Valenna refused to do, however, it was endanger a project by trying to mark territory. She knew that if Savin hadn't picked up on the errant piece, Erin would have.  In fact, she'd wager that Erin knew something was off in the very beginning when she had set the first three samples out.  After all, the pair had been looking at the art of her department's work under her lead for a little while now.

She made a mental note to apologize directly for being crafty later.  

Glancing down at her watch, she grimaced a little.  She had less than ten minutes to meet back up with Zachary before her schedule really became tight.

She wasn't entirely certain she wanted him anywhere near her new hopeful hire, but gave him a polite thank you just the same.

Once he was finished speaking, Valenna tapped the samples together neatly before tucking them neatly in the groove of her arm.  "That's plenty of time for minor alterations.  Thank you for your time, Mr. Ashfield.  I look forward to working with you," she answered, reaching out her free hand to offer the usual handshake at the end of a meeting.

The things she needed to do were already listing themselves in her head as her cell phone began to discretely buzz in her pocket.  Once every minute.  Zachary was getting impatient a little early, it would seem.

((And I have to get back to work!  XD))

[ShadowStitches]

(heh, I think after this one my posts will get a little shorter as well...)

In hindsight, he thought while watching Valenna gather the drafts together, he should have changed his mindright before wrapping this up. just to mess with her a bit. She had measured him, and he did not counter.this was not like him...//well. time is short as it is. playing stupid games just to see who can pee further is not exactly called for right now.// or...so he tried to hammer into his brain. It would have still been interisting to see her reaction though. Missed opportunity, but certainly not the last one he would get.

Taking her offered hand he gave a short nod and a small smile. " I look forward to working with you too, Mrs. Avirril. See you in a few days"

Savin waited for everyone to exit the room, before closing it behind him and looking at his phone.
Not before noticing Erin raising one eyebrow subtilly  at Valenna when she passed her by, indicating that she indeed noticed something.
furrowing his forehead, he turned his attention towards the display

Lennard agreed on meeting you for lunch. at 1 pm at "Berny's"
-Meleena

He scoffed. Of course Berny's. Gosh that guy did not even have taste in food. But, at least that was somewhat good news. It was sometimes quite hard to arrange a meeting with his collegue, even more so then with others. Not that he looked foreward for this one...

---------
Savins day, up to the lunchbreak, had been picking up quite a bit.
The meeting with Mr. Brey had been short, to the point, and...so dry it was almost dusty.
he had to hand it to them though. The Finance guys did not dick arround, and he respected them for that. All though the research  efforts Rouby made on KLI where almost completely useless, Savin still got a good feel for the company and was confident enough that they could make a good deal with them. The wrapup meeting was pure formalities and a good way for the higher ups to give eachother bellyrubs and shoulderpats. Moronic, but not the worst way to waste time.

This however, he thought while sitting at one of the 3 white iron tables outside in the sun, was terrible. And his mood was not lifted by the man sitting in the chair across him, smiling broadly at him while munching on a soggy looking sandwich. "So, hows your day been?". Lennard had this weird 'buddy buddy' thing going on, that tended to irritate Savin on a very primal level. "It was...interisting" Savin stated, before adding "But pretty okay" "ha, same here. so. what did you want me to talk about?" Lennard was a good looking, muscular man with a tan that could only be fake, and a set of white, glittery teeth. He was the kind of guy that, for whatever reason, managed to get pretty far by looking good and being a agreeable yes man. that alone was enough to make Savin loathe him, but what was worse that the guy had, at least to him, very little actual talent. He was one of the few who got lucky, had close friends who helped him out, and worst of all, was geniounly nice and freaking clueless. At least Savin did not think he was putting up an act, and he was very good at figuring people out. Especially people working in his department. The only plus side to this was that, once there was a good opportunity,it would be easy to outflank this guy .And this looked like one that was almost too easy.

"I just wanted to go over our stragedy for the Henson Industries meeting today. Thingsare a bit tricky" he said, keeping his voice non-chalant, but with a tiny bit of urgency mixed in. The glittering teeth disappeared, and instead his 'partner' frowned. "Ah yeah, they are really starting to worry me. Ever since Copec chimed in they seem to avoid giving any clear answers” Savin nodded. Yes, Copec was a problem. They where one of their biggest rivals, and given that Henson industries was quite wealthy, they did not take long to make an counter offer to snatch them.“I looked into that a bit, seems like Hensons is trying to vager out where to get the better deal, or the better campaign.But is even more vague towards Copec” he leaned back slightly, unwrapping his own sandwich. “so we just have to play our cards right.” // no shit Sherlock// “thats the idea”.Lennard beamed again. “I just got the feeling that they where pretty much ready to jump off.”

well, at the very least Lennards senses where not non existent. In fact, he was not half bad at times. He just was a weak link. someone who always wriggled his way out of uncomfortable situations, someone who backed out and did not want to get his hands dirty. Again, to Savin it was a miracle how this man rose to the position he was in now. Well. There where a few unsavoury rumours of course, it was not that only the female staff had to deal with these kind of accusations. They where fewer and further between though, and circled around either sexual favours or some childish fantasies about them working with some crime lord..
In Lennards case, he was not overly hesitant to believe the first variety of rumours. Shooing away impending, disturbing head cinema, Savin took a bite of his lunch.
“They are just harder to pinpoint then others.” He tilted his head slightly. “you gathered some more material on them?” Lennard placed a folder on the table and opened it up. in it was their team effort of gathering more information on the company, and he switched through the papers. “hm…” he made, before meeting his partners eyes again. “They have a lot of this
Nature-y stuff, was there marketing scheme since forever. You know…those cameras that make high definition macro-“ "I know of them” Savin leaned forward a bit again.
“Copec has pitched an other approach, somewhat more artsy. like…slow motion
shots of ruffling feathers and vibrating membranes of speakers. bullshit like that”
“really?” “yeah, I know, disgusting. I personally think we should pitch them something more in the direction they already have. don’t bend what is not broken too far. keep it safe for now.” Lennard nodded
Safe and easy sounded fantastic in his ears.

What a complete idiot. First off, even Copec was not stupid enough to pitch something as cheap as that.
Also, how the hell should he know of copec's camapin plans. even he was not that good. second… Savin was planning on pitching a completely different approach.
But by feeding Lennard, who was apparently falling for it, these ideas, he made sure that he would pitch them first. when things would fall apart, he would chime in and pull the car out of the mud. Doing his own research, he figured that the company wanted to appeal to a younger audience, with their cameras being able to handle high speeds and where quite sturdy.
He was planning on a more fast paced campaign, most likely sports (like dirt biking or snowboarding or…whatever looked dangerous and thrilling). It was a gamble, especially with a
company as old and rich as they where. But the simple fact that Lennard had, as expected, done zero work on the topic and therefore had no idea about how he would figuratively faceplant later this day made the whole situation so much sweeter for the other man.

that was, until Lennard opened his mouth again. “Sounds good man. Oh, by the way. I got that
Creative director in this time...uhm..Vanella I think was her name. She’ll join us directly in the meeting. Seem quite good at what she does, doesn’t she?” Savin almost dropped his sandwich. //what?// Not good. not good at all. Not only that there all of the sudden was a serious competitor thrown in a mix, Savin was unaware of what she had planned, if anything. So there was a chance that someone would steal his show. Plus the overlooming fact that, all though he was certain his idea was not terrible, Hensons was very tentative and a candidate that required a lot of maintenance and tact to reel them in. Hard enough as it was,and he wanted to have his name under that deal. //god fucking damnit//"yes she...certainly does" he said, with what he hoped to be no wavering in his voice. "do you have any more questions or info? Anything I should know?" The other one took a second, before answering "Nah, I think thats all" "Okay, I've got to go, there's still quite some stuff to do. see you later then" Lennard looked confused.
"ey, you dont want your sandwich?" "ahm...no, not hungry" and with that, Savin took off, leaving a slightly concerned looking Lennard behind.

The sinking feeling in his guts did not leave for the entirety of the time leading up to the Hensons meeting.
At the very least, he had managed to squish in a small ' bathroom stop' a few hours ago. The short, agressive buzz of the first minutes was gone, and his little helper left him more focused and awake in turn. One would have to look very, very closely to recognize that he was under the influence of something.  Suited up and waiting hallway infront of the conference room, Savin checked his watch. 10 minutes to go. Where was his partner? If that idiot was late again he would... nope, there where footsteps closing in.
He took a deep breath. //focus.//

(dear god, what a monster post. got a little carried away with Lennard, I'm sorry XDD. Anyhow, if you want to, feel free to
take the part of the Henson representative, Or i can. Or we both, honestly, I dont mind XDD

Like I said, I think shorter posts from this point on, and a closer interaction of the two just wanted to get that whole thing above out of the way XDD)

[Pyris]

As Valenna entered her office, she mapped out the area of her immediate staff.

Zachary was scowling while speaking with someone very tersely over the telephone.  His eyes met with hers and she knew that his entire schedule for the day had needed to be rearranged and he was not happy about it.  That meant something other than her impromptu meeting with Ashfield had come up.  Zachary's glower seemed to only get darker by the second, indicating a likely impending fight among corporate competitors.

Lauren was busy organizing a few stacks of work before she rose her head and spotted Valenna.  At once, she was by her side, asking about the adjustments to the pieces and idly commenting about the misplacement of some of them.  Rhys had a wastebasket full of tissues and a swollen nose, but had gone back to sketching and going over the redlines Jessica had given him.

Finally, Zachary all but slammed the phone back into it's dock, muttering to himself as he smashed his fingers against the screen of his tablet.  "Pleasant phone call?  What's changed?"

After a sigh, he pinched the bridge of his nose before turning the screen her way.  "Some idiot decided to throw you into a dog fight for Henson Industries.  Today.  Apparently they've been teetering on the fence for a camera project."  He muttered many things under his breath before continuing.  "I've pulled up everything I could on such short notice."  He dropped a folder full of paperwork on the edge of his desk.  "I wasn't sure what kind of approach you'd like to suggest for the campaign."

Valenna sighed, but picked up the folder just the same.  It held past advertisements, company goals, target audiences, and many other miscellaneous things that would be needed to sway them.  "We could go for a canyon climbing angle.  Have you seen landscape shots from the angle of a rock climb? Phenomenal.  I wonder if they also have the equipment needed to rig it to a line.  If so, they could advertise an entire set in one go."  

Zachary was giving her one of those looks that said he was trying to figure out where the ideas in her head came from, but she couldn't tell any more than he could.  "You have to get to these two meetings, but after this one," he said, pointing to the second one, "You'll have to make a beeline for the Henson meeting.  You only have enough time to make it there.  I can send Lauren to finance in your stead, so  you can probably cut ten minutes towards the end of the second meeting to make it there a few minutes early."

The two meeting had gone off seamlessly, Zachary handing her everything she needed at just the right time.  As she left the second meeting, bound for the Henson one, Zachary paused.  "This fight isn't about you.  I'm pretty sure one of the Ad Managers is planning a take-down of his partner.  Make sure to stay out of it."

With a nod, she was off, heels clacking against the tile as she turned the corner to the meeting hall.  Standing before the door she saw Savin glancing down at his watch.  She stepped up to a polite distance to greet him.  "Mr. Ashfield.  How unexpected to see you twice in a day."  Something seemed.. off about the man, but she wasn't sure she could put her finger on it.  In the meeting before he hadn't seemed quite at his best but the sharpness to his gaze had been very clear.  Now it seemed just a little more dim.  She smiled just the same, face not showing any notice of the barely perceptible changes in Mr. Savin's demeanor.

"Shall we, then?" She said as she entered the room, finding a seat towards the end of the table where she got a good view of everyone.

((I think we could both use him, but I'll let you make any turning decisions?  I'm going to stop here so we can actually make smaller posts now.  XD))

[ShadowStitches]

So it was not his partner. Well, at least she had a concept of being punctional.
He inclined his head slightly “Ah, Ms. Avirril. Surprised to see you too. I did not expect them to invite you into this…situation on such short notice” .  He felt like her gaze lingered a millisecond too long ,but her face did not show any sort of indication of her picking up anything. Good enough for him.

He straightened his back slightly before entering the conference room behind her.
The figure waiting next to the door was the secretary of the CEO, indicating that the man himself was not available. Fine by him, but the woman gave him the creeps. All though good looking, she was always clad in elegant black clothing, and sported a notepad and her rectangular glasses. She rarely spoke and had only one, stern expression it seemed, monitoring everything around her with mechanical precision. There was a reason why she was called 'the vulture' behind her back.

The Representative of Henson Industries, Mr.Collins,  was an other familiar face. Short man, in his 50s, clean cut, with a professional but calm, almost kind look in his eyes. With his age, there came a big load of careful finess and wagering of options however, that made him a hard nut to crack.
And by the sound of it , Lennard just barely made it in time and closed the door discretely behind him.
Savin gave him a short nod, before greeting the representative and introducing Valenna to him, before placing himself almost at the opposite of the woman, close to the laptop that was set up for them.
He left the stage open for Lennard to take his first shot. By now, Lennard seemed a little nervous.
It was hard to tell if it was because of  this crucial situation, or because he might, by now, smelled that something was wrong.
Savin usually was more then happy to introduce their projects first. For him to sit back and make him take the first step was unusual.

Never the less, Lennard was capable of giving a good presentation. Going over first ideas, which where the most boring things Savin had heard in a long while, with believable enthusiasm.
He really though that his idea of keeping the tradition going was going to carry fruits with this company. Savin was ready to chime in with an other ‘ optional approach’ as soon as Lennard finished.
He let his gaze briefly wander to the other people in the room, taking particular interest in Valenna.
He was wondering what she was making of all of this… and he was not the only one it seemed.

The short presentation was over, and Mr. Collins smiled briefly. “Thank you Mr. Dawson.
I do think this approach is-“ He paused briefly //as exciting as cardboard?//  “- one way to go. I am particularly interested on hearing your thoughts though, Ms.Avirril, before we move on“. His voice was soft and warm,
not something you would expect from a official representative.
Savin’s eyes snapped back towards her, not entirely able to hide his surprise.
Now. that certainly would get interisting.  


(hurrrr...well it is shorter then the one before XDDD sorry)

[Pyris]

Valenna greeted the representatives politely, shaking their hands and exchanging the typical pleasantries.

The show that unfolded made her unconsciously arch a brow.  She knew after the first few enthusiastic lines that commenced from Lennard's mouth that he had most definitely been set up for this.  She had a little trouble believing someone was actually gullible enough to accept that it was a good idea in the first place.  She and Zach had been right; she'd stepped into a dog fight.  

"I am particularly interested on hearing your thoughts though, Ms.Avirril, before we move on."

She gave a mental sigh; she really didn't want to get into the middle of... whatever Savin seemed to have planned for his unfortunate.... companion.  She also didn't want this meeting to tank, so she smiled at the older man and glanced almost apologetically at both Lennard and Savin.

"I think cameras are one of the most fun projects a person in my position can have," she started light-heartedly.  "While I think Mr. Lennard's ideas themselves aren't terrible in and of themselves, I also firmly believe that one cannot move forward without trying new things."

She tapped her fingernail lightly against the table, briefly debating whether or not to throw her idea out there, knowing it very well may put her in an awkward position. "When I was going through college, I started rock-climbing.  I used to love reaching the top of the wall and looking down at the others below..." She smiled as she remembered her younger self briefly.  "When I scaled a canyon for the first time, it took my breath away.  I had brought a camera with me to take pictures, but it didn't come with a rig clasp, so I ended up dropping it halfway through the climb." Valenna chuckled, remembering her tantrum over dropping the camera and watching it fall for minutes.  


"I remember being more upset at losing the pictures than the camera."  Come to think of it, her camera at that time had been one of this companies products, but she'd refrain from informing them that one of their beloved products lie shattered on a canyon floor.

[ShadowStitches]

It could have been so easy...
Lennard had played along nicely, but, as he had feared, Valenna came in and...well if he handnt been so annoyed (to put it mildly), at the whole situation, he would even admit that the idea was quite good. The way she described it would definetly Make a good topic for a campain. But that was not the point. The point was that she, effectively, just took the wind out of his sails. Because her idea and his idea where, all though different, simmilar enough that she would be seen as the initial idea giver, no matter what he did now, he would ride her coattails. Not what he wanted to get out of this meeting. At all.

He caught her short apolegetic smile, and he smiled back, not letting his dark thoughts show through. Savin did not like this at all. He briefly considered shooting her idea down with the old 'think about the finances/risks etc etc/ talk. That would defy his own idea though, and it would throw them back to square one. Even more problematic in front of their costumer, who would get a very bad picture of them if he thought they where not all on the same level here... No. He decidet to cut his losses and throw his idea into the mix, see where things went.

Mr. Collins though seemed to be mildly interested. Not one to get enthusiastic over things for sure, but he still nodded his head slightly. " I do think this approach holds some promise. It is something new for sure. Do you have something to add, Mr. Ashfield?" Savin leaned forward slightly, catching a short glimpse on Lennards face, who could not quite hide the mildly pleading look in his eyes. //aw...sorry partner// "I think Ms.Avirril has a very good point. We should thrive to move foreward and evolve. I do think we could go even further though. With the new line of your cameras having High speed lenses and a very good video function, we could include other sports like snowboarding or parachuting for example, appealing to your growing younger audience." He watched Mr. Collins face carefully. Again, he was well aware that he was appearing to ride Valennas idea right now, but he had little other option left really.

(sorry, gotta go. I think, if you want to write him it in the next post, Mr. Collins would tend mre towards Vanellas idea. I can post the last 'call' for him though if you prefer )