Keep your head up, keep your heart strong

[Aaron Clarke]

Having been shepherded into Mr Holmes’ office in the law firm where he was starting his new job that day, Aaron felt a tad spaced-out in a head-cold kind of way as he was sat introducing himself to all of the firm’s partners and trying to make a good first impression despite the fact that he was feeling like a fish out of water. But casual questions and conversation about his interests, previous work and volunteering he’d done, and how he liked living in Manchester were at least familiar ground. He’d made the big move down to London the previous weekend, gratefully taking up lodge on the sofa that his old pal Douglas Pearson had offered him whilst he looked for his own flat close to where he’d be working. So it was an adjustment, sure, but he figured he’d been thrown into entirely new territory when he’d went to Zambia with Water Aid so, really, just moving jobs to a different law firm in a different city wasn’t all that scary. He was still nervous as hell though as he politely shook the hands of his new bosses and then accepted their offer of a tour around the firm’s offices to get his bearings and meet some of his new colleagues.

He’d already been side-eyed by some late 30something bloke in an expensive-looking grey suit wearing a tad too much hair product for one guy (and a little too much texting on his Blackberry for it to be truly work-related) so he was a little wary of meeting people, even if he was, by nature, quite an easy-going person overall. He was almost hyper-aware of himself then though as he was ushered into the main office area where some of said colleagues were stood conversing and Mr Holmes slipped off back to his office as he had another meeting to take. “Uh hi, I’m Aaron Clarke, the newbie trainee, slash almost-lawyer around here,” he introduced himself with a usual friendly grin and a wave of the hand ‘hello’.

((ooc: Not that it matters but he looks like that. Anyone welcome!))

[Hannah Schwartz]

Hannah popped up in front of The New Guy, almost as if literally out of the woodwork, to forcefully shake his hand. She 'conveniently' placed herself in between Aaron and Jason's line of sight -- she could sense there were some issues there, and she was determined to keep them at bay. "Hannah Schwartz. Going on my... fifth year here? Oh wow." She stopped by the coffee machine to get her (admittedly terrible-tasting) caffeine fix before turning back to Aaron.

"I hear you volunteered with Water Aid? That's awesome! Hang on, who haven't you met here?" she asked while standing on her toes and looking around the office. She'd decided to make it her personal mission to make sure The New Guy was acclimating. She tried to catch Zeke's eye -- but he, like Jason, seemed less-than-interested in talking to this shiny new do-gooder. "He's, er... he looks busy. Have you talked to Rachel?"

[Aaron Clarke]

“Hi! It’s nice to meet you,” Aaron smiled genuinely as he shook the woman’s hand, “It really creeps up on you, doesn’t it?” he commented light-heartedly in response to how surprised she seemed to be as she added up just how long she’d been at the firm. “So, quick question from a curious source, is the coffee bad in this office too? Because I’m ninety-five per cent certain it’s like that everywhere, must be an obligation of law firms to have nigh-undrinkable stuff, but I need to expand my focus group,” he continued conversationally, and pretty much jokingly, as Hannah moved over to the coffee machine to get herself a cup.

He was taken aback somewhat then as she seemed to know about Water Aid but his already polite, pleasant smile grew into a grin. “Yeah, I did. I went over to Zambia and India with them. They do some amazing work in rural areas and it makes such a difference to so many people's lives, it's something we take for granted here but it was... brilliant. Completely life-changing but I was just happy to have the opportunity to help to be honest.” He had to make an effort to reign himself in at that point; he was self-aware enough to know that he probably shouldn’t chatter away about charitable organisations and volunteering opportunities on his very first day of meeting people because, for some reason, it tended to make people leave the conversation pretty quickly. Odd.

Faintly embarrassed he looked down at her, “I… uh… well I- I haven’t met pretty much everyone,” Aaron replied with a bemused expression, his brow furrowing in barely-concealed confusion as he could have sworn the Blackberry-wielding, Prada-Suit Guy scoffed not too quietly as he moved past Hannah and Aaron to get to the coffee machine. “Rachel? Noooo,” he answered, turning his attention back to Hannah. Well, at least one person seemed not busy and super friendly to boot.

[Ezekiel Jones]

(ooc: Throwing Zeke in to do... something. Bitching with Jason?)

Zeke swept his coffee cup from the machine and darted back to his desk, pointedly avoiding Hannah's attempts to get his attention. Frankly, he was unimpressed by all of the fawning over this guy's volunteer work, and had to suppress an eye-roll at his heartfelt explanation to Hannah which he could only assume was a transparent ploy to get in her pants. In Zeke's (obviously completely unbiased) opinion, the whole concept of volunteering abroad just felt like a vacation, a photo-op and an excuse to delay career advancement until one's mid-twenties. There were plenty of people who needed help right here in London, but that wouldn't give you a nice pretty picture for all your Facebook friends, would it?

At least Zeke would still be the youngest fully-fledged lawyer they had, soon enough -- and with the highest exam scores, if he could help it. He tossed an empty Thai food container at the bin across the room and tried to get back to work, but found himself entirely unable to focus, and so he shot a casual, Get a load of this guy, right?! look at Jason -- the only person who'd understand his current plight, clearly.

[Jason Cullen]

Seeing Zeke’s expression, the man quickly filled his own coffee cup and strode purposefully past Hannah and Aaron, as though very busy, so busy that he couldn’t even spare a look their way. “Oh my fucking life, who the hell is this guy?” Jason murmured as he stopped by Zeke’s desk with a luxurious roll of his eyes as he moved so that his back was turned to the New Guy and Hannah and he was conveniently blocking off Zeke from their eye-line too; he’d already clocked Hannah’s hopeful attempt to catch both of their eyes and he didn’t fancy engaging in small talk right now. He also didn’t fancy standing too close to the New Guy. It was no secret that Jason had quite a large ego and he didn’t think standing next to a fresh-faced, shiny, smily, do-gooding, volunteering-bloody-saint would do anything positive for it. So he fell back on disdain, scepticism and slight bitchiness instead. A psychologist would probably say he felt as though is alpha male status amongst the pack was being questioned with the arrival of a new cub that could, in time, kill the father and take his place. They might be right – it was pretty far-fetched and deluded but that was Jason’s head.

Taking a sip of his drink he looked thoughtful, then in an undertone to Zeke, “Huh. Well. I give him a month before he quits this place to go save orphans in Uganda instead. Or else a month before he is finally corrupted by the real world and realises his volunteering efforts were just part of the clever myth of development which allows government to lord it over third world nations and impose their culture and ideology on them, as part of the on-going imperial and colonial discourse.” He moved to lean against the side of the boy’s desk, sneaking a glance over at Hannah and Aaron as she seemed to be introducing him to Rachel, “Aww bless,” he added in a very patronising tone, “You know it’s almost sweet how uncorrupted and blissfully unaware he is. We should probably do something about that.”

[Hannah Schwartz]

Hannah reached for the cabinet above the coffee machine and handed Aaron a cup. "Care to judge for yourself? If I can help to expand your sample size... I trained at Steiner & Steiner, where the coffee was unanimously terrible. I seem to recall the coffee at my father's old firm being nigh-undrinkable, but seeing as I was a small child at the time, trying to feel grown-up..." she trailed off and smiled up at him. "I'm sure it was incredibly rewarding! I only know a bit about what they do... my mother is a doctor; she volunteered with MSF," she explained.

She turned around and stared, disappointed, at the back of Jason's head. "That... was Jason," she muttered pointedly.

"See you later, Rachel!" she enthused after introducing her to Aaron (though Hannah had admittedly dominated most of the conversation, in an attempt to quell any lulls or awkwardness through sheer force of will). "Sorry, it seems like everyone is in a rush today! I'm probably just going to stay late. I get more work done once everyone's gone, anyway," Hannah admitted, the implication being that she didn't exactly have a rich personal life to get back to.

[Ezekiel Jones]

"Exactly." Zeke leaned back in his chair, leisurely flipping through one of the binders on his desk so it would appear that he and Jason were discussing something very important. He had a feeling they'd be on the same page, here. "He's not a bleeding saint, is all I'm saying. I'm sure if he'd eschewed volunteering to work for money like the rest of us, fifty other little idealists with slightly worse application credentials would have pissed themselves to take his place." He chewed on the end of his pen, squinting at the new guy. "Personally, I'm giving him a month before he tries it on with Hannah, but that's just me."

Zeke put the binder down and leaned forward, putting his hands on his knees and looking at Jason over the rims of his glasses. "What, you have an idea? Look, as someone who showed up here pre-cynical, I don't know what it takes to break these guys. Sad stories about puppies?" he suggested derisively.

[Jason Cullen]

“For fuck’s sake, YES. If we didn’t have to pretend to be talking about work, I would high-five you right now like no one’s business,” Jason agreed heartily with the boy on the matter of the New Guy. “But he’s all shiny and ‘special’ because he just really, really wants to help the world!” he exclaimed in a patronising, over-exaggerated tone that he imagined Aaron spoke in. He probably didn’t, Jason didn’t know, he didn’t actually listen at any point to the guy. His gaze had aimlessly wandered back over to Hannah and Aaron but he flinched, perceptibly, as Zeke suggesting this... crafty dick might try it on with Hannah within the month. “For real? You think so?” he asked, affecting an air of nonchalance about the whole matter but wholly disgusted with it in actual fact, the more he thought about it. Shaking his head as if to brush this thought away, stat, he disagreed, “No. No way. I’m thinking he’s the ‘holier than thou’ virginal type. You know, like he was too busy off hugging orphans and building wells and thinking he’s ‘selflessly’ helping others to get laid regularly?”

He absently fiddled with the cufflinks he wore before snorting softly in amusement at Zeke, “An idea, please. Jones, I have many ideas on how to take him down a peg or two, right down to the lovely gloom of cynicism we all occupy here. But I am open to suggestions if you’re feeling particularly proactive in someone’s destruction,” Jason commented reasonably. Anyone would think they were discussing actual work, the serious tone he used, rather than gleefully considering the possibility of ruining someone’s life-view. “Hang on though, if I’m going to do that, it might require actually talking to him. Ugh, the things I do for the good of mankind.”

[Aaron Clarke]

Aaron took the offered cup but didn’t pour himself a cup, instead just smiling, “I’m good, though thanks for the offer and the cup. I actually don’t drink coffee unless I’m really stressed or need the caffeine buzz, like cramming for exams, you know?” he explained as he reached up to put the cup back in the cupboard where she’d got it from. He chucked good naturedly then as she talked of herself as a small child drinking coffee to try and feel grown-up, “I did that too. I usually hung around my mum when I was younger and she worked in a hotel, terrible coffee in the staff-room there too. Maybe it was that formative experience that put me off drinking it regularly?” he suggested lightly.

“It was. But… mainly I’m just glad I got to help, even if it was just a little bit,” he murmured before his expression brightened, “Your mum volunteered with MSF? Wow, that’s brilliant, really brave of her as well. They do some amazing work, I mean the Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines for one… and especially lately in Libya,” he continued enthusiastically before realising and looking sheepishly down at her. “Uh sorry. I get carried away sometimes; people get caught in the stream of it occasionally!”

“Jason, right, cool. I’ll try to remember everyone, even if they’re… umm… too busy today,” he assured her as her comment seemed a tad pointed about Prada Guy as he moved past, and away from, them without so much as a word to either person.

With a polite smile, “It was nice to meet you, Rachel,” Aaron said as the woman in question went back to her work. Well, at least she’d engaged in conversation (which, admittedly, Hannah had led) with him and seemed pretty nice and welcoming. He wasn’t sure if he was imagining the growing feeling that the two guys, sat talking together, were talking about him. He quickly pushed the thought out of his mind, condemning it as horribly egotistical to assume his arrival had had that effect on someone. “Oh hey, don’t worry, it’s understandable,” he brushed away her apology with an absentminded wave of his hand, “And hey, look, don’t let me keep you from your work. I guess I don’t technically start until tomorrow anyway, Mr Holmes just wanted me to try to get my bearings round here today but I’m at a bit of a loss as to what to do to be vaguely productive whilst doing that. Set up my desk? I don’t know,” he admitted with a slightly nervous laugh.

[Ezekiel Jones]

"Professional handshake with high-five subtext?" Zeke suggested quietly, barely looking up from his random binder. "Naaaah man, take a minute to really think about volunteering. You're in close quarters with a bunch of other fit young people, halfway across the world. In terms of hookup potential, that's right up there with first-year university halls, hotel weddings and reality TV casts," he said while counting off on his fingers, speaking with far too much authority for someone who didn't actually know what he was talking about. "Then you come back, looking like a less-fucked-up war hero. It's going to happen. I'm telling you."

"Hey, I'm going to have to talk to him anyway," he reasoned. They were both trainees, sat close to each other and would presumably have to talk at some point. Zeke was strategic at heart and valued the importance of making connections; he knew it was in his best interest to at least play nice with this guy. "You need someone to put a plan in motion, I'm more than willing to take one for the team."

[Jason Cullen]

“I’ll take that,” Jason nodded in a sober, serious manner as he shook Zeke’s hand firmly, quickly letting it go as the other guy began to talk of Aaron again. “Ugh, seriously?!” he seemed disgusted by this thought of the New Guy hooking up with people whilst volunteering, “That’s a bit morally shit then, isn’t it? You go over to Namibia or wherever to save kids and install water pumps but really you’re getting your kicks with fellow volunteers in your free time. Bastard-” he murmured under his breath, sneaking an evil glance over at Aaron, though his back was turned and only Hannah could really see it. He probably wasn’t being as cool as he should be about the hypothetical, minute (surely?) possibility of Aaron and Hannah hooking up but the more he considered it, the sicker it made him feel. He chalked this down to feeling like an overprotective father figure towards Hannah. Yeah, that sounded believable, he reflected.

“Okay, well, I’d like to point out that you freely offered yourself up as a sacrifice. Remember that fact when you walk away from a convo with him and think ‘ugh, who the hell is this guy’,” he reminded Zeke seriously before shrugging, “Let me mull over the best course of action tonight and we’ll get started on the master plan for corruption bright and early tomorrow morning.”

[Ezekiel Jones]

"I mean, I don't think they're down there fucking in a well with an audience of adorably-faced orphans or anything," Zeke laughed dryly, giving Jason an odd look. He also thought Aaron was probably a dick, sure, but he couldn't care less about the guy's romantic life. His theory made Aaron seem slightly more likeable, actually. More power to him.

Zeke gave Jason another handshake as they cemented their plan (one with plenty of high-five subtext, natch). "Early warning, I'm going to lay a little groundwork here. I suggest you save yourself," he whispered like a soldier in a foxhole before wheeling his chair around to face Aaron and Hannah. "A-Man!" he shouted triumphantly across the office (it was almost impressive, how quickly he could go from plotting a man's corruption to friendly greeting). "Looks like we're both back here in the cheap seats!"

[Jason Cullen]

“Well no. God even my mind didn’t go that far!” Jason protested with a deeply disturbed expression twisting his features in that moment. He caught the odd look the boy shot his way and he looked uncharacteristically uncomfortable. “Look… all I’m saying is… well, you know what Hannah’s like, yeah?” he began in a carefully constructed tone that said ‘look I hate to be the bad guy and point this out but I’m just worried’, “She tends to… end up falling for people that she doesn’t know all that well but who seem like perfect, shiny guys on the outside. And most of them are twats so… I’m just concerned that the same thing might happen again, I don’t like to see her hurt,” he suggested reasonably. Yes, that was the right level of concern to have for a colleague who you happened to spend a lot of your social time with… right?

He grasped Zeke’s hand in a firm handshake to seal the deal, fixing him with the ‘serious mission face’ before reverting to a stern show of manly bromance he liked to think he’d seen in war films, “I will not let you sacrifice yourself, Jones, we’re all in this together, we’re a team!” he exclaimed dramatically. “I’ve got your back,” he murmured under his breath as he rolled his chair round and called out to get Aaron and Hannah’s attention. “See, you’ve already got yourself a nickname too, courtesy of Zeke here,” Jason pointed out to the New Guy with a tight smile that almost pained him to perform, and absentmindedly watched as they approach, “Listen, there’s no need for a gushing introduction of me, Hannah Banana-” he jokingly brushed aside what was sure to be a glowing reference from the woman in question (especially given the barely disguised scorn he’d been playing with a while back), “Jason Cullen,” he held out his hand to the New Guy in a show of politeness.

[Hannah Schwartz]

"Oh good, 'A-Man', looks like you can set up your desk and get to know Ezekiel at the same time!" Hannah spoke quietly and slightly sarcastically to Aaron while prodding him lightly, a bit suspicious of Zeke and Jason, but for the most part cautiously optimistic.

She walked over to the pair, arms crossed. "It's Schwartz, actually," she said coolly, giving Jason a look to indicate that she knew something was up and would not rest until he at least gave this guy a chance. "Zeke Jones, Aaron Clarke. Aaron, Zeke. Aaron, Jason," she spoke rapidly while motioning between all of the guys. "I believe you met the back of his head earlier. You seem busy today, Jason. What's up?" she asked sweetly.

[Jason Cullen]

Despite the New Guy politely shaking his hand (yes Jason even analysed that motion for strength, grip etc. but couldn’t find anything to take the piss out of the guy for later, shame) he still felt Hannah watching him as though he were about to say something horrible or snarky. Jason frowned in confusion at Hannah’s ‘look’, “What have I done now?” he murmured to her in a despairing tone, “I didn’t break the coffee machine, okay. I haven’t said anything overtly offensive to any clients. I haven’t rearranged the post-it notes on your desk thinking it would be funny,” he listed the times he’d irritated her in the past before sighing overdramatically as though it was all a big case of people assuming Jason had been a dick when he hadn’t even done anything.

“Well, I assure you that despite the calm exterior, I am always busy, Miss Schwartz,” he emphasised her surname heavily after her earlier response to what he considered a perfectly cute nickname for her, it rhymed and everything! “Zeke and I were actually just talking over the Gregson case again, Walker wanted all the prep done by tonight but I think we’re cool, yeah?” he looked to Zeke as if checking this with the guy before smiling innocently at Hannah and Aaron. “As you’ll soon realise, Hannah likes to keep everyone in check,” he commented, taking a sip of his coffee casually as if they were all having the most easy-going conversation around when really he felt the tension and awkwardness creep up again. Mostly because Hannah didn’t seem to buy his innocent act. Damn, she knew him just too well.