Ainsley joining the media relations department is great news, as Meredith's been a little...
It's great to have help, that's all. When the new gal shows up in the MR office, she's greeted by the sight of another blonde, her hair pulled back in a tidy tight ponytail, dressed in business casual attire. She has a cane in one hand, the handle brass, but otherwise seems fairly unremarkable, if very well put-together.
"Welcome to the team. I'm Meredith, and I've been here for over half a year. If you have any questions, I'll be glad to answer them."
First day in a new office and.... she hates it already, honestly. Not because of the job or anything, it's fine. Media relations? Yeah, that's where she's been for years, but it feels like a massive backwards slide from the star news anchor she'd become back home.
Alas.
Dressed in business casual attire of her own, she holds a hand out for a proper introduction, "Ainsley. And I don't even know where to start. I barely feel like I understand what's going on."
Sure, she went through Orientation and her brother has given her some pointers about a few things he's experienced, but it all just sounds like some terrible B-rated horror movie she would have watched in college.
Meredith's handshake is a little loose, and Ainsley may note the ring splints on her fingers (on both hands), but she smiles warmly and maintains confidence despite this.
"Okay, right, that makes a lot of sense. This place is a lot to deal with, especially early on. So if you want to start with some questions for me, or if you want to hear a little about what's gone down, I'm here for that."
Early on for Meredith almost feels like forever ago, now. She almost wonders what it'd be like to go home at this point, when she's become entrenched in ADI and her found family.
She does notice, but she has enough decorum about her to not ask, her smile well-practiced.
"Yeah, maybe that would be a good place to start... What's the biggest story happening here lately?" They were media relations, after all, stories to report on were where they lived. They were where Ainsley lived, at any rate.
As she speaks, she sits down at her desk, gesturing for Ainsley to join her at the computer.
"So, a lot of the time, media relations means bullshitting to people about the cause of weird events. 'It was just a gas leak', 'mass hysteria', 'stray dogs or coyotes'. That kind of thing, to minimize the fear people have of actual entity-aligned phenomena and people. We're not reporting the truth, because the truth is going to endanger people, and our lies keep them safe. There's no good that comes from 'kelpies are kidnapping people and turning them into selkies to hunt down for their amusement'. You know?"
She's a little nervous that this is going to be a problem, for an actual reporter. But this is the job at hand.
Ainsley doesn't hesitate to join her, genuinely interested in all of whatever is going on.
"Wait..." She frowns as she listens to the explanation of the job. "we're lying to people?" She shakes her head. "That doesn't make sense. Well-informed is well-armed, why would we keep the truth from people? How does that protect them?"
Something burns bright and hot under her skin at this whole thing suddenly. This is exactly what everyone had done to her for months, how could make herself do that to innocent people? And for what? Their safety? She doesn't understand how lying to them helps keep them safe. If there are dangers, people should be aware of them, they should be able to prepare for them. "Keeping people in the dark keeps the vulnerable."
"So the entities that are the root cause of all this are empowered by fear. If we tell people--and make them believe--that the things that go bump in the night can actually harm them, we're doing our enemies' work for them. In this case, ignorance reduces fear, and that's better for everyone involved."
Meredith looks Ainsley in the eyes, not ashamed of the work she's been doing all this time. "We need to consider the big picture here. I'm not saying I always agree with all of ADI's method, but the secrets we keep aren't a matter of pulling the wool over people's eyes. We do work to make sure that people are safe--warning them away from Dogtown and keeping them out of other trouble areas. Our job is protecting people just as much as anyone on security or who goes out to deal with problems with a gun in their hand."
She leans her arms on the table, hands both bracing across her eyes, definitely a stress-move as she tries to take in everything Meredith is saying.
This was supposed to be the easy thing. Media relations is already her job, this was a shoe-in position. But now she isn't so sure. This goes against everything she's built her entire career, her entire life on, and that doesn't even begin to hit all of the gaslighting, lying, and manipulation she's barely gotten out from under herself.
She lowers her hands and lifts her head to look Meredith straight on again. "Tell me the parts you don't like about how things are done here." If she was going to agree to something that felt like it went against the entire core of herself, she needed to know all of the dirtiest truths of what she was signing on for.
"The sense of control; our choices are to live in ADI housing--or out at Bonnie's, where an associate of ADI is still in charge of the living quarters. The way information is concealed or obscured. The way they let even young off-worlders go on dangerous missions; we're talking literal teenagers. Yes, I know some of them have been basically child soldiers back where they come from, but that doesn't mean they need to be cannon fodder here."
She's ticking these off on her fingers as she goes.
"I'm sure ADI knows something about what happens to the people that disappear, but we're all supposed to just move on when they do, anyway. Let's see, what else? The counseling department is small, understaffed, and I don't care what training that pink cow has had on his world, he's not actually a therapist. Now, ask me why I haven't parted ways with ADI. Ask me why I don't just take a bus and head to Delaware, and try to make a new life."
That is a whole lot of negatives, there, Meredith. But the fact that she handed them out, counted them off on her fingers even, is so many points in her favor with Ainsley already. Flattery may get you places with some people, but this kind of unbridled honesty gets you more with Ainsley.
"What's keeping you here?" Which is a much more succinct version of her questions to parrot back at her. Tell her everything, Meredith.
"Shorter list, maybe. But top of it's the people--not ADI as an entity, but my roommates, my friends, people who have stood beside me and had my back for more than half a year of hell. Second, logistics. I don't have a legal identity here, and I need the health insurance. Not as a just-in-case, but I will be in too much pain to move and falling apart at the seams without medical care."
She takes a deep breath before the last, her righteous indignation softening a little.
"Three...three, I think there's something I can do here to do some good. To help people. Maybe it's just making sure my roommates eat food--or that the one has food he can eat. Maybe it's making sure the big guy who spent his life back home being treated like a weapon has a reason to actually smile once in a while. Maybe it's beating back the fear entities by lying to people. But I have a chance to actually do some good, here. And I'm going to try hard as I can to live up to it, because back where I come from? I don't. I didn't. I was...complacent. In some things. Okay?"
(Ask Doctor Strange about that particular chip on his shoulder.)
He's supposed to be out on a task for Security: a part-time addition to his main distraction of I.T. Security keeps odd hours, though, which is fine by Tim. It's not like any living thing in B1 knows what a healthy sleep schedule is anyway.
Anyway.
Ainsley Whitly will receive the following attachment at 3something A.M.]
[The phone it sends from sports an area code from Michigan. Any response will be met by a highly confused older gentleman asking huh who is this one of his grandkids.
...look, Ains, it has a lil sweater and the resemblance is uncanny. He simply couldn't not.]
[At this point, she gets a phone call from a man who could only be said to have a 'very grandpa' tone about him, very confused about the texts he received from a strange number. 'Emily? That you, Sugar? You know your Pop-Pop doesn't know how to do all this new-fangled texting you kids do, just call me.'
Ainsley apologized, claiming she had the wrong number, and that she was not Emily, and blocked the number as soon as she got off the phone with him.
She frowns at the text still in her messages and mutters to herself: ]
[will you look at that? it's something like begrudging respect beginning to bud, but of course all Tim can do is pepper in the latest Fish Fact in his latest message.
Another pause, followed by (a riveting)] hey, my brother went to nyu!
[the true miracle is the use of exclamation point. This is a thinly veiled cry for help.]
[joke's on him for almost looking forward to it. Tim would like to blame Malcolm for all this fantasy of fishing ever being cool.]
Come on, live a little. Soak in the sun. Explore the great outdoors. Have cursed rocks spell out your greatest insecurities. Skip a punctuation mark, ignore capital letters. This isn't a letter to your boss's boss.
[...]
how is work going, by the way? Are you still working with Meredith?
Wolf Pen sure is something. Tim's got enough notches on his belt when it comes to roughing it, and it's not like staying at a good hotel is strenuous by any means, but he's still left wondering how Ainsley is taking it. Yeah, yeah, there's the supernatural dangers of their new professions, but this is the chick who fully admitted that Jersey was too much for her. And she's now found herself in West-freakin-Virginia.
It's kinda funny.
Tim makes it a point to steal glances her way when they end up in the same spaces, now and then, the way nosy co-workers sometimes do. He just needs her in one piece, on account of Malcolm's mental health and everything.
Incidentally, that leads to this: Rae has given her regularly scheduled scolding to her underlings, and Tim's spidey-senses began tingling. He made some quick work of figuring out roommate accommodations for inn, and it's late, but not late-late. And he rounds a corner just as Ainsley Whitly reaches to turn the door to her room.
'sup.
"I'm not stalking you," he leads with because he's an idiot. "But I do need to talk to you alone, so it works out."
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branchandroot
Action
Date: 2022-03-14 12:09 am (UTC)It's great to have help, that's all. When the new gal shows up in the MR office, she's greeted by the sight of another blonde, her hair pulled back in a tidy tight ponytail, dressed in business casual attire. She has a cane in one hand, the handle brass, but otherwise seems fairly unremarkable, if very well put-together.
"Welcome to the team. I'm Meredith, and I've been here for over half a year. If you have any questions, I'll be glad to answer them."
no subject
Date: 2022-03-14 05:10 pm (UTC)Alas.
Dressed in business casual attire of her own, she holds a hand out for a proper introduction, "Ainsley. And I don't even know where to start. I barely feel like I understand what's going on."
Sure, she went through Orientation and her brother has given her some pointers about a few things he's experienced, but it all just sounds like some terrible B-rated horror movie she would have watched in college.
no subject
Date: 2022-03-14 05:22 pm (UTC)"Okay, right, that makes a lot of sense. This place is a lot to deal with, especially early on. So if you want to start with some questions for me, or if you want to hear a little about what's gone down, I'm here for that."
Early on for Meredith almost feels like forever ago, now. She almost wonders what it'd be like to go home at this point, when she's become entrenched in ADI and her found family.
no subject
Date: 2022-03-14 05:28 pm (UTC)"Yeah, maybe that would be a good place to start... What's the biggest story happening here lately?" They were media relations, after all, stories to report on were where they lived. They were where Ainsley lived, at any rate.
no subject
Date: 2022-03-14 05:37 pm (UTC)"So, a lot of the time, media relations means bullshitting to people about the cause of weird events. 'It was just a gas leak', 'mass hysteria', 'stray dogs or coyotes'. That kind of thing, to minimize the fear people have of actual entity-aligned phenomena and people. We're not reporting the truth, because the truth is going to endanger people, and our lies keep them safe. There's no good that comes from 'kelpies are kidnapping people and turning them into selkies to hunt down for their amusement'. You know?"
She's a little nervous that this is going to be a problem, for an actual reporter. But this is the job at hand.
no subject
Date: 2022-03-14 05:56 pm (UTC)"Wait..." She frowns as she listens to the explanation of the job. "we're lying to people?" She shakes her head. "That doesn't make sense. Well-informed is well-armed, why would we keep the truth from people? How does that protect them?"
Something burns bright and hot under her skin at this whole thing suddenly. This is exactly what everyone had done to her for months, how could make herself do that to innocent people? And for what? Their safety? She doesn't understand how lying to them helps keep them safe. If there are dangers, people should be aware of them, they should be able to prepare for them. "Keeping people in the dark keeps the vulnerable."
no subject
Date: 2022-03-14 06:04 pm (UTC)Meredith looks Ainsley in the eyes, not ashamed of the work she's been doing all this time. "We need to consider the big picture here. I'm not saying I always agree with all of ADI's method, but the secrets we keep aren't a matter of pulling the wool over people's eyes. We do work to make sure that people are safe--warning them away from Dogtown and keeping them out of other trouble areas. Our job is protecting people just as much as anyone on security or who goes out to deal with problems with a gun in their hand."
no subject
Date: 2022-03-14 07:38 pm (UTC)This was supposed to be the easy thing. Media relations is already her job, this was a shoe-in position. But now she isn't so sure. This goes against everything she's built her entire career, her entire life on, and that doesn't even begin to hit all of the gaslighting, lying, and manipulation she's barely gotten out from under herself.
She lowers her hands and lifts her head to look Meredith straight on again. "Tell me the parts you don't like about how things are done here." If she was going to agree to something that felt like it went against the entire core of herself, she needed to know all of the dirtiest truths of what she was signing on for.
no subject
Date: 2022-03-14 07:49 pm (UTC)She's ticking these off on her fingers as she goes.
"I'm sure ADI knows something about what happens to the people that disappear, but we're all supposed to just move on when they do, anyway. Let's see, what else? The counseling department is small, understaffed, and I don't care what training that pink cow has had on his world, he's not actually a therapist. Now, ask me why I haven't parted ways with ADI. Ask me why I don't just take a bus and head to Delaware, and try to make a new life."
no subject
Date: 2022-03-14 07:55 pm (UTC)"What's keeping you here?" Which is a much more succinct version of her questions to parrot back at her. Tell her everything, Meredith.
no subject
Date: 2022-03-14 08:03 pm (UTC)She takes a deep breath before the last, her righteous indignation softening a little.
"Three...three, I think there's something I can do here to do some good. To help people. Maybe it's just making sure my roommates eat food--or that the one has food he can eat. Maybe it's making sure the big guy who spent his life back home being treated like a weapon has a reason to actually smile once in a while. Maybe it's beating back the fear entities by lying to people. But I have a chance to actually do some good, here. And I'm going to try hard as I can to live up to it, because back where I come from? I don't. I didn't. I was...complacent. In some things. Okay?"
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From:April 3, anonymous text
Date: 2022-04-03 09:04 am (UTC)(Ask Doctor Strange about that particular chip on his shoulder.)
He's supposed to be out on a task for Security: a part-time addition to his main distraction of I.T. Security keeps odd hours, though, which is fine by Tim. It's not like any living thing in B1 knows what a healthy sleep schedule is anyway.
Anyway.
Ainsley Whitly will receive the following attachment at 3something A.M.]
8e96e418792450461142f3d168e780eb.png
[The phone it sends from sports an area code from Michigan. Any response will be met by a highly confused older gentleman asking huh who is this one of his grandkids.
...look, Ains, it has a lil sweater and the resemblance is uncanny. He simply couldn't not.]
no subject
Date: 2022-04-03 02:08 pm (UTC)Who is this?
7:12am
Hello?
[At this point, she gets a phone call from a man who could only be said to have a 'very grandpa' tone about him, very confused about the texts he received from a strange number. 'Emily? That you, Sugar? You know your Pop-Pop doesn't know how to do all this new-fangled texting you kids do, just call me.'
Ainsley apologized, claiming she had the wrong number, and that she was not Emily, and blocked the number as soon as she got off the phone with him.
She frowns at the text still in her messages and mutters to herself: ]
What the hell?
un: timjdrake, idk
Date: 2022-04-26 05:22 pm (UTC)alive.
and suffering.]
does your brother know he can average 172 wpm? has he ever tried to rap
@blondeambition
Date: 2022-04-26 05:46 pm (UTC)But to answer your question: Probably. He's neurotic as all hell and he knows it, and will admit it out loud with his mouth to people on occasion.
[...]
Has he been talking your ear off about the wonders of fishing, too?
no subject
Date: 2022-04-26 05:55 pm (UTC)[does that make a lick of sense? no. does he have the brainpower to care?
considering the recent stay at the medical wing and subsequent treatment... also no.
there's a pause between texts, where no doubt there's some back-and-forth about trout in B1's kitchen table.]
did you know stripers are considered the best game fish of massachusetts? I'd have thought cod.
no subject
Date: 2022-04-26 05:57 pm (UTC)I have never thought about Massachusetts in my life before ending up here, so... no.
no subject
Date: 2022-04-26 06:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-04-26 06:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-04-26 07:18 pm (UTC)Another pause, followed by (a riveting)] hey, my brother went to nyu!
[the true miracle is the use of exclamation point. This is a thinly veiled cry for help.]
wait, no. B did yale. I got confused by the y.
we should go fishing
[they should not.]
no subject
Date: 2022-04-26 07:41 pm (UTC)Absolutely not.
no subject
Date: 2022-04-26 07:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-04-26 07:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-04-26 08:47 pm (UTC)Come on, live a little. Soak in the sun. Explore the great outdoors. Have cursed rocks spell out your greatest insecurities. Skip a punctuation mark, ignore capital letters. This isn't a letter to your boss's boss.
[...]
how is work going, by the way? Are you still working with Meredith?
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From:First week of June (cw; stalking)
Date: 2022-06-17 05:08 pm (UTC)It's kinda funny.
Tim makes it a point to steal glances her way when they end up in the same spaces, now and then, the way nosy co-workers sometimes do. He just needs her in one piece, on account of Malcolm's mental health and everything.
Incidentally, that leads to this: Rae has given her regularly scheduled scolding to her underlings, and Tim's spidey-senses began tingling. He made some quick work of figuring out roommate accommodations for inn, and it's late, but not late-late. And he rounds a corner just as Ainsley Whitly reaches to turn the door to her room.
'sup.
"I'm not stalking you," he leads with because he's an idiot. "But I do need to talk to you alone, so it works out."