person man, person man, hit on the head with a frying pan

[jacksonian]

WHO: Mark and whoever
WHERE: Everywhere!! But mostly De Chima and Maurtia Falls
WHEN: Throughout November
WHAT: Catch-all for November with stuff. Hit me up!! Please!!! Open prompts below; PM me if you want something that isn't these things.
WARNINGS: Mark's life sucks; I'll edit this header if any particular suckiness comes up.


1. dog dog dog dog dog dog dog; De Chima/Maurtia Falls
[ In De Chima or in Maurtia Falls, you might find a rather strange sight: a small stocky man walking an enormous stocky dog. This is Mark walking his dog Captain, a scarred and warlike pit bull that pulls at the leash and constantly wags his tail. Mark's expression is still a forbidding glower, but Captain's doggy face is open and bright-eyed and happy; there's no one he doesn't want to make friends with.

And Mark, unfortunately, doesn't know good leash technique, and also (in spite of his own roundness) doesn't outweigh his dog by that much. And so when Captain wants to make friends, Mark is dragged along behind him. And that is why, if you're walking around, you might be approached by a dog trailing a very sour-looking little man who's hissing - ]

No, don't - stop - heel -

2. come make $$$$; Maurtia Falls
[ PKE, LLC, up in Maurtia Falls, is beyond luxurious. The office is appointed with a sort of brushed-steel-and-pine classiness, like it's furnished from the expensive part of Ikea; the receptionist out front is attractive and aloof, and people who are waiting get offered mineral water from glass bottles.

There are any number of reasons that you might have ended up here: you might have received an advertisement in the mail, or a random notification on your phone, or you might have seen the advertising that targets imPorts. All of this advertising will have offered help in investing, getting rich, or opening a new business - generous funding to get everyone a little bit wealthier.

Mark, sitting at his desk, smiles a smile that can generously be described as oily when you're shown in. And he purrs - ]

Please, sit down. Tell me about how you'd like to make money.

3. kicking some grass; De Chima
[ Mark doesn't like to practice where he can be seen. Definitely not. So when he's worked up and anxious, he goes out far away from his family, far away from the people who know him, out into the forests of De Chima. On the unlikely off-chance that your character happens to wander by, they'll be treated to a very strange sight: a small fat man vigorously practicing a judo kata, face miserable, before punching a tree. He turns as soon as he hears them, though, eyes flashing with anger as he snarls - ]

What the hell are you doing here? Go away.

4. fuck it; anywhere
[ Mark's eating ice cream. Come have ice cream. ]

Comments

[komarran]

You're going to need to make a few changes.

[ Ignore the fact that he's writing more than a few notes. If this is the career path Mark truly wants to travel down then Duv is damn well going to make sure it's done right.

Dryly, ] This reads like a business expenditure report.

[jacksonian]

Yeah?

[ He gives a small shrug, shifting from foot to foot uncomfortably. ]

There's nothing wrong with expenditure reports.

[komarran]

[ He keeps his tone even as he continues to work, seemingly ignoring Mark's fidgeting. ]

Not when you're writing them for a business perhaps. Has Imperial Security been explained to you?

[jacksonian]

[ He doesn't fully get what Galeni is asking, and so he looks at him like he's grown a second head. ]

Obviously. I know everything about ImpSec.

[komarran]

[ Mark can stare all he wants, Duv is unphased. He's had worse looks leveled at him on Barrayar proper. ]

Then you should remind yourself it's a government agency and run like one, not a business.

[jacksonian]

[ That's...a fair point. Although: ]

Why are you saying that like it's a good thing?

[komarran]

Because I've seen the trouble an all-business controlled government can cause.

[ Thanks Komarr. ]

[jacksonian]

[ That makes Mark fall silent - though he is not, of course, thinking of Komarr. He's thinking of Jackson's Whole. Still, he rouses himself after a moment, asking - ]

Okay. So what do I need to do differently?

[komarran]

You can start by rewriting it, [ he replies bluntly. He takes the first few pages and passes them to Mark so he can see the notations for himself. ]

I left comments. Your grammar could use improvement. How much writing have you done before this?

[jacksonian]

Uh.

[ He shifts awkwardly from foot to foot. ]

I've, uh...Not much. [ A beat, and then he offered: ] There were a few virtual classroom sessions on writing. [ Back at the clone-creche, when he was getting the bare bones of his education. Those hadn't been lessons that had interested him much - not in comparison to more exciting lessons like history and xenobiology and five-space math and everything else. ]

[komarran]

That's all?

[ There's another glance down at Mark's report and Duv rubs the bridge of his nose. All right, perhaps this was going to be more work than he expected. ]

I suppose my father had other interests beyond bare-bones education, [ he mutters with no small amount of bitterness before continuing more clearly. ] You'll have to practice. A good portion of this assignment is writing clear reports.

[jacksonian]

[ By some heroic effort, Mark contains his flinch at the mention of Ser Galen and turns it into a mere twitch. ]

Yeah, but that's clear. What I wrote. I mean, even if there are a few commas misplaced, you did understand what I meant to say.

[komarran]

By reading between the lines, [ he admits as he hands the rest of the report over. ] Your terminology needs to be changed entirely if you want this report to be acceptable by Imperial Security standards.

[jacksonian]

I -

[ A slightly mulish, Miles-ish look comes over his face for a moment...then, just as quickly, fades. Unlike his brother/progenitor, Mark's sin of choice has never been pride. If his work isn't good enough, he's not going to fight to prove that it is, dammit, he's going to try to figure out how to make it less terrible. ]

Okay. [ He doesn't sound happy, but he's not fighting. ] What words don't work?

[komarran]

[ That's a nice change from the man's brother. If Mark wants to learn then Duv has no qualms teaching him. ]

The business terms and slang mostly. You should keep your reports concise with no vague language or you'll have it kicked back quickly with several inquiries.

[jacksonian]

Uh. So - [ He thinks - ] Assassin, rather than capper.

[komarran]

That would be a start. Not everyone is familiar with otherworldly slang and it has no place in an official report.