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Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2021 4:41 pm
While not quite the architectural marvel and landmark as the Feather of Ma'at, the White Building was still a fairly well put together piece of modern engineering, that had seen several renovations over the years to ensure that it was always up to code. The heart of the corporate branch of the White family that made their home in Mayet, it's current owner was Richard White, the father of Delilah White, and "Uncle" of Mathias White. The later of whom now waltzed into the lobby with the takeout bags from O'briens, the brown paper bags featuring the bold orange letters of the bistro, only rivaled the bold scent of the delicious food within. Food that Mathias had not yet partaken of, and regretted not at least giving his own a nibble before making his way over to the building. Reaching into his wallet he pulled out the white RFID card he'd gotten from Delilah a few months back, she'd called it a family card, and he'd realized after playing around with it a bit that it limited his access to the building to the lobby, the main conference room on the second floor where a lot of "family meetings" were held during certain times of the year (Mostly Christmas and other holidays), and the C-Suite at the top of the building. All the fun and exciting stuff, like R&D and anything that could actually get him in trouble - wouldn't let him in. Sensible, but no fun. He waved at the guards as he passed by the front desk, and through the turnstiles, swiping his card to make them beep and allow him through. "Special Delivery for the Princess," He chuckled. "She peeled out so fast I was worried I was also going to have to bring her a shoe." "I suspect something's on fire upstairs," The guard on duty joined in the chuckle. "She was doing 95 when she came through the turnstile, thought she wasn't going to get her badge out in time." "Yeah, I don't doubt it," Mathias shook his head. "Say hi to the kids for me." "Will do Mr. White, they're still talking about that picture you did for their birthday, don't suppose I might could get another this year?" The guard smirked in reply. "I'll put it on my to-do list," Mathias grinned. "Always happy to do a piece for fans." With that the guard waved him off and it was off to the elevators, hitting the button for the topmost floor - the C-Suite - land of the executive. He watched the numbers climb, and climb, and climb, until the elevator dinged and let him out on a rather lovely view of the city from almost 30 floors up. He waved at the assistant secretary - what with Emily being with Richard today, and headed straight for the one place he knew Delilah would be. He knocked once on the door to Richard's office before he let himself in, holding up the bags to show his likely frazzled cousin. "So, humpty dumpty back together again, or do I need to send out for horses?"
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Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2021 5:36 pm
Frazzled was a nice way of putting it. Richard's office was clearly the CEO's, being large, open, and light with the floor the ceiling windows along one side. In front of it was a small couch and two matching chairs made up for more comfortable, small grouped meetings. The larger clearly took place at the long table that sat running the center of the room. While elements made it modern, Richard had always preferred old-world, well-made items lending the room to a more down-to-earth feel. It framed a man like Richard White well. A presence that could be our friend or one of your hardest enemies. Delilah looked out of place in it though. Where her father was grounded, she was more suited to light and airy items. So when Mathias would look in, he would see her small frame sitting behind her father's desk, his computer up and running, and her own laptop to the side. Gone was the poise from lunch and with her hair up in a rushed messy bun, she was all business. "I swear I'm going to risk civil war and remove family access to anything in the database." Delilah cursed twice as she put the pen she was holding between her lips and quickly tapped away at the keys on her father's computer. "I don't know how they did it." She muttered, attempting to talk through the pen. Taking it from her mouth, she glanced over at Mathias. "How do you reboot an entire system from a guest access code? They know they can't get into R&D but oh they tried. Did they try..." Nearly growling as she looked back at the screen, her eyes danced over the information. "If this window opened, Humpty dumpty would have had a bigger fall."
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Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2021 5:49 pm
"My knowledge on technology starts at being able to use my smartphone semi-effectively, and stops when you start using words like database," Mathias offered wryly before bringing the bags over to the desk and setting them down. "Eat, take a five minute break and shove food in your face-hole. That's an order." He could tell she was shot. Frazzled wasn't even the right word. Whatever their idiot cousins had done had her ready to commit murder, and as much as Mathias would enjoy a front row seat to a pair of defenestration's - he knew she wouldn't do anything on the account of said civil war. Richard on the other hand... Well that was the difference between heir apparent and patriarch wasn't it? But Richard was at his meeting with Emily - and he knew Delilah was going to want to put this fire out before her father got back - just to prove she could. "But my guess is they tried to bypass your security using said guest code," He said, grabbing a chair to sit across from her and start to extract the food from the bags. "Which I'm sure is what set off all the bells and whistles and probably has your IT department scrambling around like it's World War Three."
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Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2021 6:08 pm
Reaching over to her own laptop, she turned it slightly so he could see the screen. Half of it was a chat log and half was clearly the IT department working like the building was on fire. In a way, maybe it was. "They are working to get the system back up and running after they correct the damage." She leaned back into the leather chair, lifting a hand to rub her eyes. When did she last blink? "I have the secondary system online so everyone can keep working but we won't know the damage until this evening." "You know what's funny Mathias," She muttered, slouching now in the chair as she glanced at the computer once more. "The code they used was the one assigned to Grandpa. Like that isn't a flag?" The man didn't even own a computer! The code was more as an inclusion thing than any real threat. "So all this damage was done in the five minutes it took to flag it." Reaching up to pull her hair from the bun, that long jet black mane dropped back around her shoulders. "I know they want to know what Dad is working on but come on. If they weren't family I could have them thrown out but...UGH!" Her hands slammed down on the arm rests. "Is it really that hard not to screw something up?" Look who she was asking.
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Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2021 6:17 pm
"Okay, so they were being extra stupid and wanting to cover their tracks," Mathias offered, placing food in front of her even as his eyes shot to the chatlog that he was sure was some poor guy wondering if he was going to have a job come the end of day. Wasn't their fault, and if it only took five minutes for the odd login to be flagged - well it was better response time than most places. "Which brood are they?" He asked. "It's possible someone decided to be extra nosey, and asked their offspring to go nosing around where they couldn't ask openly. Which is stupid." But not uncommon - or unusual. That was the downside of the business branch. A whole hecking lot of (would-be) leaders and not a lot of followers. Chefs, kitchen, you get the metaphor. "As to that last bit well," He shrugged, picking up a fry from his to-go box and munching it slowly. "You'd be surprised how easy it is to drop the ball when you don't realize it's covered in butter. We both know they were destined to fail from go with this little game - it's a question of was that the goal or not."
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Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2021 6:49 pm
No jobs were at risk. That wasn't how her father ran the company as much as some members believed one slip out was enough to cost ten people their jobs. Everyone made mistakes. What mattered was how they corrected them and if they learned from them. With a huge sigh that moved her entire body, Delilah moved closer to the desk to reach her own lunch. Spinning the box to face her, she opened the lid and reached for a fork. Roasted beet salad, add chicken. Simple. Clean. And she could munch like a rabbit and work. "William's." She answered, dumping the dressing over her salad. "In town visiting their mother and wanted to be useful." A look was shot over the desk at Mathias that said 'useful' was not the word she would use. "Since Phyllis claims she has nothing for them to do at her office, she sent them to their father's family." There was a reason Phyllis never got custody of her boys... Even as young men, their visits were short and with a purpose.
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Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2021 7:02 pm
Mathias winced. That particular familial schism had been fairly ugly as he recalled, and to this day there was still some level of bad blood between Phyllis' maiden family and the Whites - but most everyone were polite enough not to bring it up or discuss it around William - or the boys. "So more of the former than the later," Mathias said with a sigh. "Curious about what they can do to be... helpful, so they go digging for clues." The boys had always been... nosey. Mathias wasn't fond of them anymore than Delilah was - but that had a lot to do with the fact hat he wasn't really respected or looked up to by most of the family - and that extended to the offspring. "Lovely..." He huffed out. "Well, hopefully the damage is... minor."
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Posted: Sat Aug 28, 2021 2:14 pm
"At first glance." She offered, nodding towards the system running through. She wasn't working with the IT department but more keeping an eye on things should they need the White access codes to break through some of the security walls. Lord she hoped the boys didn't get that far. "But at first glance, it looks like several departments lost a day, if not two, of work. Minor things but it depended on the department. Marketing and Branding losing a few days is a headache but R&D? Accounting? Even the PR department. How much did we cost them? There was a project in the works that while most would consider it just 'good will' and an annual donation, could have been huge. Did we loss it?" One hand ran across her face as she looked back at him. "They hate that Dad has shut them out but there are reasons. Huge ones....ones that if they let out would cause more damage than two brats busting a system."
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Posted: Sat Aug 28, 2021 2:24 pm
"Everything has its season," Mathias nodded. He knew all too well that an early reveal or release of anything the company was working on could either tip their hands to competitors, or worse, clients, that something might be changing or coming down the pipeline so instead of a smart, easy rollout you'd have people chafing at the bit to either beat you to market or be the first one to get the new toys. Nothing new under the sun, as the saying went. But people also didn't need to know just how much the White family did charity either. Richard was one of the better ones one the business side, and the company funded a lot of different societies and other charitable organizations. Again - if word got out about specifics though, it wouldn't take long for someone with enough time and money to start digging through things and find out just exactly what the Whites were up to with their money. Well - Richard anyway. No good. "I take it they've already had a talking to, and at the very least booted back to where they should be or sent home?" Mathias offered. "Or do you need the scary cousin to shake them down a bit?"
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Posted: Sat Aug 28, 2021 2:49 pm
"Not a single word." Delilah punctuated the statement when she clicked her fork against the takeout box. The sound of cardboard and plastic was a low thud only annoying her more as she looked away. "They took one look at my face and took off. I'm pretty sure they are making themselves scarce for a while, at least until they can find my father and plead their case." "After all, who will he believe: his headstrong daughter or two innocent boys who were just trying to help." Sticking her tongue out, Delilah took another bite of her salad with a little more force than she should have, wincing as she bit the inside of her mouth. "But if you can find them." She licked her cheek. "Then they are all yours. I condone nothing at this point. They need to grow up and realize Daddy won't always be there to protect them." William wasn't horrible, not like Ned and his spawn anyway. He had just been stupid with women and that had resulted in two boys who had hardly heard the word 'no' in their lives as Daddy worked to give them a better life. "They leave Saturday so not too much longer."
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Posted: Sat Aug 28, 2021 2:57 pm
"I'll make it a point to swing by the mailroom and pay them a visit on my way out," Mathias said. "After all, I haven't seen them since what... Last Easter? A friendly chat is well overdue." Of course they ran off as soon as she showed up like a rolling thunderhead. He wouldn't be surprised if they hadn't paled completely at the sight of her before dashing off at a full tilt to try and get the hell out of there like they were exiting stage right pursued by bear. Mathias had his own opinions on William, his ex-wife, and the two spoiled princes that he was going to give a proper tongue lashing to, but he knew better than to air them directly to Delilah unless he was really feeling like explaining for the third time that for once he actually valued his father's fashion of discipline and the boys could have used more of it - contrary to his usual opinion on the subject. "I'm just the big-bad-wolf that heard they inconvenienced my favorite cousin," He chuckled before taking a large bite out of his sandwich and swallowing it down. "I'll just huff-and-puff a bit."
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Posted: Sat Aug 28, 2021 3:11 pm
"You know," She admitted, casting him a look. "What you do after you leave this office, I don't know anything about until I look at the security cameras or the guards drag you back up here." It wasn't a threat but more of a warning. Acting out in the building wasn't taken lightly and the last thing she wanted was him to get thrown out and access revoked.
"But if the little bigs do give you too much trouble, I don't mind a house or two being blown down. They could use some manual labor to clean up."
And she would admit nothing. Maybe that was part of their relationship where one could get away with murder because it was expected of them while the other...
...put on the perfect smile.
"Sorry for interupting your day further though. Only had planned an hour and now it seems I've delayed our search for a new wall."
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Posted: Sat Aug 28, 2021 3:16 pm
"I will attempt to not cause TOO much of a ruckus, plausible deniability and all that considered," He amended, knowing full well that she would disavow anything he did if he got in trouble - in so far as that it was obviously not her idea. And it wasn't. Was he doing it FOR her sake? Sure, but he idea was all his and hand been from the start. He was the miscreant, she was the princess. Their relationship functioned as well as it did because they both leaned into their roles a bit too well sometimes. But it tended to work out in the end. "It's really not a hassle," He said waving it away. "I was planning to do some scouting, sure, but nothing of Uncle Ned's for a bit - Going to see if I can do some actual urban renewal." He always tried to track down the owner of a property when he did these sorts of things - and it was one of the rare occasions where a no was actually accepted and upheld.
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Posted: Mon Aug 30, 2021 12:38 pm
"I'm sure they don't know what to make of you when you come out and ask directly." Delilah pointed her for at him. "A graffiti artist politely asking if he can paint their exposed wall. Not something that one normally expects." She turned her fork to take the bite as she glanced back at her computer screen. The scrambling had slowed which meant they were getting close. Good. "I was serious though." Turning her attention back to him, Delilah jerked her head back to a painting Mathias had done for her father that hung on the sidewall of his office. "You tell me what Gallery you want to try for and we will pull some strings."
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Posted: Mon Aug 30, 2021 12:46 pm
"I'll text you my short list," Mathias nodded, his own eyes flicking toward the art. "Maybe some steady work will do me some good." If nothing else, it might actually give him some inspiration. He'd had a derth of that lately - barring the incident that had nearly gotten him hit with a coin between the eyes - or in the eye. But aside from the one drawing he'd been disinclined to do more art of his new pseudo-muse. Didn't feel right to do it without her permission - or at least knowing her better. There were things he could guess about her of course - but that did not a good piece of art make. Besides one could only live on handouts for so long without feeling... stifled. At least he couldn't. He wanted to create and sell his works - not necessarily become famous for it - but just do well enough to get by. Either in this - or in his fighting. Polishing off his sandwich he closed his box and leaned back. "Will be worth it if it makes Ned do a doubletake."
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