xp_logs | Callie and Angelo: Work and Guidance (Reply)

Callie stops by the Elpis office for her internship update. She and Angelo get to talking about the organization, and he offers guidance.

Callie managed to press the lock button on her car keys even as she struggled to balance the stack of papers in her arms before heading into the building where Elpis was now being housed. Since the NGO had moved out of the boathouse, she had worked out a deal where she would come in Friday afternoon to drop off one load of research and do a bit of work at the office before heading back to the mansion with another week's worth of research to conduct. She couldn't compare it to any other internship, but it was enjoyable and didn't interfere with any of her other school work, so Callie was happy with it. Especially now that she had her long overdue Sweet Sixteen present.

"Angelo," she called out as she entered the office. "Nate? It's me?"

"Hey, Callie", came the response as Angelo stepped out from behind a filing cabinet. "Nate had to go to a meetin', but he left your stuff for you. How's things?"

The nearest desk became home to her folders bursting with internet printouts, highlighted with color coordinated tabs. "I'm fine. Classes are going well," she responded as she flipped through the papers, making sure everything was in order. "There are a few years of data missing from Brazil, I couldn't find them in any of the databases. So there's a break there, but everything else should be here. A couple of anomalies, which I highlighted." Callie turned back to face Angelo with a wide smile on her face. "How are things here? It seems more unpacked since the last time I was here."

"Yeah, we're gettin' there." He grinned back. "Kind of hard to do any actual work when it's all still in boxes."

"Yay!" She glanced around the office for a minute. "Commute is a pain though. I mean I'm glad you guys are letting me only do one day a week; I don't know how you do it every day."

"Nate doesn't", Angelo pointed out easily. "An' me... yeah, it is kind of a pain in the ass. Which is why John an' I've been lookin' at apartments."

Callie nodded. "That's probably a good idea. Cut down on gas consumption, mass transport is better for the environment, etc etc. Sooo," she rubbed her hands together in anticipation, "what fun things do you have planned for me today?"

"Ah, let's see..." He turned towards Nathan's vacant desk and picked up a labeled pile. "How's a housing project in Nigeria strike you?"

"Hmmm..." she pondered this. "Nigeria doesn't have some of the best records, but I can give it a shot."

"Don't worry if you can't find stuff", Angelo advised her. "We know sometimes the data just isn't there t'find... but a challenge could be fun, right?"

"Housing projects in Nigeria it is then!" Callie beamed. "Is it weird that I like data mining? It's very zen."

"People should enjoy their work", he said with a half-shrug. "An' someone has to do the data minin', so it's good we've got you to do it."

She shrugged in reply. "It's interesting. Don't know if I'd want to do it the rest of my life. But I really like the work Elpis does, you know helping people, just maybe in a different way? Sorry, I should probably be talking to one of the counselors about this stuff. You're probably busy with stuff."

"Not so busy I can't take time to talk if you want to." He smiled at her. "An' yeah, Elpis is good work. There's a whole lot of ways to change things an' like you say, this is one of them."

"It is," she leaned back against the desk. "Housing projects, and DDR, and everything is really important, I just don't think I would be interested in them if I wasn't doing this internship."

"Which is fair." He wandered over to his chair, sat in it, and rolled it out from behind his desk. "What do you think you would be interested in?"

Another shrug. "I don't know. Medicine, agriculture, sustainable development?"

"...you know, I might have just the person to put you in touch with, if you wanted to learn more about that stuff when you finish at Xavier's. Mariana Machado, she runs a communal living movement in Brazil. Definitely on the sustainable development front."

Callie knit her brow, confused. "Wasn't she, like, the target of an attack in Central Park last year?"

"...yeah", he had to admit. "But I promise you, that is over an' done. The threat's dealt with."

"I hope so." Callie wasn't so naive to think that the world was without conflict. And it always seemed like it was the people who were working for good that were targets. "I think I would like that. Once I graduate."

"Can't promise there won't be other people after her for what she does", Angelo said frankly. "But the ones who attacked at the park... them, you don't have to worry about again. I'll get in touch with her."

"Nothing good was ever obtained without a struggle." She nodded. Her father probably wouldn't approve of her putting herself in danger, she knew, but it was her life. "Thank you. I'll try to focus on Nigerian housing projects in the interim though, I promise."

Angelo laughed. "You haven't let us down yet."

"Well I don't plan to start." Callie smiled. "So what do we need to know about this new project?"