It had taken some time, but finally Liv had convinced Johnny to take Alexei and Maria off to Hatton Point in Arcadia to explore the park and zoo there. It wasn't somewhere they had visited before, but the heat was starting to get to Liv a little as her bump rounded out, and she needed a day off to recharge. That, and there was something else on her mind, too.
"Peace at last," she sighed happily, sinking down onto the couch next to Fliss, who was disconsolately picking at the label on her bottled soda. Liv eyed her eldest with faint amusement for a moment, before giving up on subtlety altogether. "All right, then, out with it."
Fliss looked up, startled, amber eyes finding her mother with something that might almost have been panic. "Out with what?"
"With whatever's been bothering you," Liv said gently, reaching over to tuck a hank of golden hair back behind her daughter's ear. "I know you, Felicity. You were wonderfully excited about this internship at WHAM, but over the course of the week, you've got more and more irritable. What's wrong?"
Fliss sighed, leaning back against the cushions. "It's ....I don't know, it's just ..."
Boring. That's what it was. Her first week interning at WHAM 101.1 had evolved from a terrifying and humiliating experience on the first day into boring monotony that was verging on mind-numbing.
The first day had been okay, in a pants-wetting, worrying, trying-to-find-where-she-fit-in kind of way. There had been the other interns to contend with, to begin - six other kids around her age, one other girl and the rest boys, all of whom seemed to know exactly how a radio station worked and looked down their noses at her because she wasn't wearing the latest designer sneakers, or whatever their problem was. She could ignore that, though - so what if they didn't like her" She had Lucas, and her family. She didn't need stuck-up townies to like her.
Then had come the handing out of jobs for the week. As it turned out, six of them meant six departments that would have a rotating schedule of interns for six weeks. Fliss had watched in a paroxysm of excitement and dread as their own personal rotas were handed out to them, and listened to the squeaks of delight from the others as they read their own first week's assignment. They'd all been started on actual jobs in the station - shadowing broadcast assistants, radio producers, even the receptionist. And then there was her. She was classed as a runner, which meant nothing to her.
So they went their separate ways, and she found herself in the care of a bubbly, if stressed out, halfling named Mags, carrying an armful of clipboards and paperwork, and wearing three pagers. And that was when she found out what a runner was. Dogsbody, teagirl, odd-job person. The one who makes the tea, and signs for the equipment taken out of storage; the one who herds guests to where they are supposed to be, and makes them tea; the one who has to run all over the station, and sometimes the city itself, to deliver messages by hand. Vital to the running of the station, no doubt, but generally treated like some kind of second-class citizen by anyone and everyone they came into contact with.
The first day had been fine, if a little humiliating. She'd been shadowing Mags, learning the layout of the station and watching how things were done. She'd encountered a couple of the other interns, who all seemed to be having a lot of fun, and who seemed to delight in ordering her to make them a drink just because she was there. There had been a couple of close calls with salt instead of sugar, but she'd restrained herself. Humiliating it might have been, but in the course of a single day, she'd learned where everything was, and her little hand-drawn map - given to her by Mags - was covered in helpful notes.
The second day, there was no Mags. Fliss had been declared officially a runner, and she was entirely on her own. Humiliation galore. She'd signed for something she had never seen before without reading the shipping manifest, and ended up with a room full of blow up dolls she had to try and somehow get rid of before anyone realized what she'd done. She'd tipped a tray of tea all over one of the guests waiting to be interviewed, only to discover to her horror that said guest was actually one of the station's board of directors. One of the DJs had denounced her on air as the worst example of Rhy'Din's youth ever to visit WHAM after she put half a spoon too much sugar into the man's coffee. It had been horrible, and all through it, the other teen interns had been sniggering and picking at her because she was "just" a runner.
The rest of the week, she hadn't had many mess-ups. The other runners at the station - five in all - had proved to be very helpful, handing her their various pager numbers to contact them if she needed any help at all, and suggesting the best places to hide if she needed a minute to get back on track. Some of the technicians had taken pity on her and spread the word to be nice to the stressed out runner, which had thankfully taken a lot of work off her back. But without the constant stress of always having somewhere to be, always having something to do, without the to-do list as long as her arm, she'd grown incredibly bored. Yes, there was the occasional excitement of seeing a celebrity from the city - and one sighting of DJ Zazzy herself - but mostly it was taking orders and doing what she was told as quickly and as quietly as she could.
"I can see how that would be very boring for you," Liv said quietly when Fliss had stopped speaking. "But, sweetheart, it's only one week. And all those horrible children who have been smirking and poking at you? They'll get their turn to be a runner over the next five weeks, while you'll be shadowing everyone else who seem to have jobs that will perhaps excite you a bit more."
"You really think it'll be better?" Fliss asked a little hopelessly.
Liv laughed, reaching over to pull her into a hug. "Love, I'd be lying if I told you that somewhere out there is a job that will excite you every minute of every day," she told her warmly. "Everyone, no matter how much they love their work, has days when it annoys them, or irritates them, or bores them. But most of the time, they love their work, and it shows in the quality they produce. I have no doubt that if one of these jobs you're about to get a taste of really excites you, you'll want to do more of it, but I also have no doubt that you're going to have at least one bad day a week, regardless of what you're doing. Because you're new, and you don't know how it all works, and you will make mistakes, just like everyone else."
"You don't make mistakes," Fliss pointed out in a slightly belligerent tone.
Liv sighed softly, shaking her head. "You're dead wrong there," she told her daughter. "I don't make big mistakes very often, but when I make them, they are awful. My worst mistake almost got Vicki Granger killed."
The teen's eyes went wide, shocked to hear that her ever-efficient mother could ever have made such a terrible mistake that it had put someone's life in danger.
"Everyone makes mistakes," Liv repeated gently. "And everyone was new once. Not everyone has the fortitude to keep going despite their mistakes, not everyone is stubborn or determined enough to push on and learn what they need to learn to fit in. But you are not everyone. You are a very special young lady, and you've survived the first week of your internship with the worst job they could have given you. It can only look up from here."
"You really think so?" Fliss asked, her head on Liv's shoulder as she hugged the bump affectionately. "You really think I should go back."
"I absolutely think you should go back," Liv insisted. "You're better than those others, and you've proved it by plowing through this week without a squeak of rebellion. I will bet you anything you like that at least one of those others will drop out of the program after one day of being a runner."
Fliss snorted with laughter, thinking of Marcus, with his slicked back hair and designer shoes. She could very easily imagine him dropping out after an hour of Mags' cheery, hectic company. "Well, next week does kind of look like more fun," she admitted, pulling her schedule out of her pocket.
Liv took it, reading over the list in front of her. "Looks like you'll get to do an awful lot more," she agreed. "Broadcast journalist ....so you'll be arranging the news programs, and if you make a good impression, you might be invited out to create a news report with the reporters." She smiled, handing back the paper as she kissed Fliss' golden hair. "I think you've done awfully well, sweetheart. I started out as a runner, after all."
"You did?" Fliss had never heard this before, lifting her head to look into her mother's grin incredulously.
"Mmhmm. At 21twelve Studios, I was one of about ten runners until Lelah Rivka chose me to be her personal assistant. And it was horrible."
The look on her face was so comical that Fliss burst out laughing, cuddling close to her mother. It was good to know that she wasn't alone in hating the lowest of the low job at the station, and to know that Mom had done it herself. After all, if her mother could do it, then she definitely could.
Maybe WHAM 101.1 wasn't so bad, after all.
"Peace at last," she sighed happily, sinking down onto the couch next to Fliss, who was disconsolately picking at the label on her bottled soda. Liv eyed her eldest with faint amusement for a moment, before giving up on subtlety altogether. "All right, then, out with it."
Fliss looked up, startled, amber eyes finding her mother with something that might almost have been panic. "Out with what?"
"With whatever's been bothering you," Liv said gently, reaching over to tuck a hank of golden hair back behind her daughter's ear. "I know you, Felicity. You were wonderfully excited about this internship at WHAM, but over the course of the week, you've got more and more irritable. What's wrong?"
Fliss sighed, leaning back against the cushions. "It's ....I don't know, it's just ..."
Boring. That's what it was. Her first week interning at WHAM 101.1 had evolved from a terrifying and humiliating experience on the first day into boring monotony that was verging on mind-numbing.
The first day had been okay, in a pants-wetting, worrying, trying-to-find-where-she-fit-in kind of way. There had been the other interns to contend with, to begin - six other kids around her age, one other girl and the rest boys, all of whom seemed to know exactly how a radio station worked and looked down their noses at her because she wasn't wearing the latest designer sneakers, or whatever their problem was. She could ignore that, though - so what if they didn't like her" She had Lucas, and her family. She didn't need stuck-up townies to like her.
Then had come the handing out of jobs for the week. As it turned out, six of them meant six departments that would have a rotating schedule of interns for six weeks. Fliss had watched in a paroxysm of excitement and dread as their own personal rotas were handed out to them, and listened to the squeaks of delight from the others as they read their own first week's assignment. They'd all been started on actual jobs in the station - shadowing broadcast assistants, radio producers, even the receptionist. And then there was her. She was classed as a runner, which meant nothing to her.
So they went their separate ways, and she found herself in the care of a bubbly, if stressed out, halfling named Mags, carrying an armful of clipboards and paperwork, and wearing three pagers. And that was when she found out what a runner was. Dogsbody, teagirl, odd-job person. The one who makes the tea, and signs for the equipment taken out of storage; the one who herds guests to where they are supposed to be, and makes them tea; the one who has to run all over the station, and sometimes the city itself, to deliver messages by hand. Vital to the running of the station, no doubt, but generally treated like some kind of second-class citizen by anyone and everyone they came into contact with.
The first day had been fine, if a little humiliating. She'd been shadowing Mags, learning the layout of the station and watching how things were done. She'd encountered a couple of the other interns, who all seemed to be having a lot of fun, and who seemed to delight in ordering her to make them a drink just because she was there. There had been a couple of close calls with salt instead of sugar, but she'd restrained herself. Humiliating it might have been, but in the course of a single day, she'd learned where everything was, and her little hand-drawn map - given to her by Mags - was covered in helpful notes.
The second day, there was no Mags. Fliss had been declared officially a runner, and she was entirely on her own. Humiliation galore. She'd signed for something she had never seen before without reading the shipping manifest, and ended up with a room full of blow up dolls she had to try and somehow get rid of before anyone realized what she'd done. She'd tipped a tray of tea all over one of the guests waiting to be interviewed, only to discover to her horror that said guest was actually one of the station's board of directors. One of the DJs had denounced her on air as the worst example of Rhy'Din's youth ever to visit WHAM after she put half a spoon too much sugar into the man's coffee. It had been horrible, and all through it, the other teen interns had been sniggering and picking at her because she was "just" a runner.
The rest of the week, she hadn't had many mess-ups. The other runners at the station - five in all - had proved to be very helpful, handing her their various pager numbers to contact them if she needed any help at all, and suggesting the best places to hide if she needed a minute to get back on track. Some of the technicians had taken pity on her and spread the word to be nice to the stressed out runner, which had thankfully taken a lot of work off her back. But without the constant stress of always having somewhere to be, always having something to do, without the to-do list as long as her arm, she'd grown incredibly bored. Yes, there was the occasional excitement of seeing a celebrity from the city - and one sighting of DJ Zazzy herself - but mostly it was taking orders and doing what she was told as quickly and as quietly as she could.
"I can see how that would be very boring for you," Liv said quietly when Fliss had stopped speaking. "But, sweetheart, it's only one week. And all those horrible children who have been smirking and poking at you? They'll get their turn to be a runner over the next five weeks, while you'll be shadowing everyone else who seem to have jobs that will perhaps excite you a bit more."
"You really think it'll be better?" Fliss asked a little hopelessly.
Liv laughed, reaching over to pull her into a hug. "Love, I'd be lying if I told you that somewhere out there is a job that will excite you every minute of every day," she told her warmly. "Everyone, no matter how much they love their work, has days when it annoys them, or irritates them, or bores them. But most of the time, they love their work, and it shows in the quality they produce. I have no doubt that if one of these jobs you're about to get a taste of really excites you, you'll want to do more of it, but I also have no doubt that you're going to have at least one bad day a week, regardless of what you're doing. Because you're new, and you don't know how it all works, and you will make mistakes, just like everyone else."
"You don't make mistakes," Fliss pointed out in a slightly belligerent tone.
Liv sighed softly, shaking her head. "You're dead wrong there," she told her daughter. "I don't make big mistakes very often, but when I make them, they are awful. My worst mistake almost got Vicki Granger killed."
The teen's eyes went wide, shocked to hear that her ever-efficient mother could ever have made such a terrible mistake that it had put someone's life in danger.
"Everyone makes mistakes," Liv repeated gently. "And everyone was new once. Not everyone has the fortitude to keep going despite their mistakes, not everyone is stubborn or determined enough to push on and learn what they need to learn to fit in. But you are not everyone. You are a very special young lady, and you've survived the first week of your internship with the worst job they could have given you. It can only look up from here."
"You really think so?" Fliss asked, her head on Liv's shoulder as she hugged the bump affectionately. "You really think I should go back."
"I absolutely think you should go back," Liv insisted. "You're better than those others, and you've proved it by plowing through this week without a squeak of rebellion. I will bet you anything you like that at least one of those others will drop out of the program after one day of being a runner."
Fliss snorted with laughter, thinking of Marcus, with his slicked back hair and designer shoes. She could very easily imagine him dropping out after an hour of Mags' cheery, hectic company. "Well, next week does kind of look like more fun," she admitted, pulling her schedule out of her pocket.
Liv took it, reading over the list in front of her. "Looks like you'll get to do an awful lot more," she agreed. "Broadcast journalist ....so you'll be arranging the news programs, and if you make a good impression, you might be invited out to create a news report with the reporters." She smiled, handing back the paper as she kissed Fliss' golden hair. "I think you've done awfully well, sweetheart. I started out as a runner, after all."
"You did?" Fliss had never heard this before, lifting her head to look into her mother's grin incredulously.
"Mmhmm. At 21twelve Studios, I was one of about ten runners until Lelah Rivka chose me to be her personal assistant. And it was horrible."
The look on her face was so comical that Fliss burst out laughing, cuddling close to her mother. It was good to know that she wasn't alone in hating the lowest of the low job at the station, and to know that Mom had done it herself. After all, if her mother could do it, then she definitely could.
Maybe WHAM 101.1 wasn't so bad, after all.