Betsy and Hope: At Work
Sep. 12th, 2020 07:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsBetsy and Hope work to gain some information from the politician Hope is interning for.
"You over there." Hope stalked forward, her eyebrow raised as she surveyed the mess in front of her. "Go get a broom. You a mop. On the double. I want this mess gone in ten minutes. People will be coming through in fifteen.”
Her first reaction was to either smirk or squirm at the tone, but Betsy managed to suppress it and went to fetch a mop as she had been told. She’d need a bucket as well. And some soapy water, right? Finding everything took a few minutes, but at least she managed to carry it back without spilling anything. Success.
Rolling her eyes, Hope moved away from the mess and reclaimed her clipboard from one of her fellow interns. "That leaves the bar and the canapes... if they do not end up on the ground... Can you find the head bartender for me, Danica, and check if he has all he needs? Especially the champagne and glasses for the toast later on?”
Mopping floors was not something she was accustomed to, but Betsy did do her best with the task. Going undercover seemed more lackluster than she had expected, although she couldn’t argue with the logic - after all, she had attended events like this from childhood and could not recall ever paying attention to the waitstaff. She wondered if someone had been playing a similar charade in any of the parties she had taken part in and made a note to herself to at least keep an ‘eye’ out for any unusually loud thoughts coming from that direction in the future. In the moment she slimly avoided hitting the harassed looking intern with the handle of her soppy mop.
Hope checked her phone, a quick satisfied smile playing on her face and glanced over her shoulder, then she whirled around. "You there! Do you want people slip? You are not here to create a slip and slide." She scolded as she moved closer. "Properly wring that mop!" 'Just got conformation Arturo is with Senator Mace and will be here in ten minutes.' She added telepathically.
Betsy committed the face of the politician from Hope’s communication to memory. And wring the mop? Oh yes, that would make sense wouldn’t it. With the now much more effective tool in hand, she went over the wet patch again a few times before deciding that the floor was now both clean and dry enough and she better put away the cleaning supplies before the important people could be scandalized by something so unsightly.
Danica returned and Hope quickly marked the champagne as sorted, just like the canapes. "Okay, everyone clear out. Arrival in ten minutes." She quickly slipped her earpiece back into her ear. "Band, as soon as I give the signal, you start playing.”
Jean may have been unhappy with her but as she wasn’t here Betsy decided it would be OK to just quickly peep at the other waiters’ thoughts to figure out what to expect next. Mostly it seemed to involve just standing around looking pretty until the canapes were to come out and… Oh. ‘Hope, I think we have a problem. It seems I may not be the only waiter here with an agenda.’
'Do you have any idea what they want? And who is it?' Hope replied as she tucked her clipboard under her arm and pushed one of the floral arrangements back a few inches as not to impede the group arriving.
Betsy sent out a picture of the waiter in question. 'His name is Anthony, and I think he’s a photographer? I didn’t look too closely, yet. He’s definitely here for a purpose though. Nobody is planning on doing anything particularly scandalous here, right?'
'Not that I can think of, but press is tightly regulated tonight. He might just be looking for his chance for a good shot?' Hope replied mentally as she acknowledged the signal that the Senator had arrived and were now making their entrance as well. 'Can you keep an eye on him till they are inside?' Quickly she moved to stand just outside the entrance of the main room and when she saw the grouping making their way down the hall she commanded: "Music!"
‘His last gig involved hiding in the bushes outside a house to get a shot of some actor and not-their-wife so I do not think quality is what he usually goes for,’ Betsy answered, wrinkling her nose. ‘I’ll try to keep track of him though.’ She wasn’t exactly sure what she could do, apart from maybe spill something on the other impostor. She began fidget, trying to subtly position herself between them and the door the group would enter from.
'Great, protecting Mace with one hand and stealing from his buddy with the other hand... Any chance you can make the dude think he has really bad diarrhea or something?' Hope snorted mentally as the group entered and made it's way to the small stage up front. "Get that champagne out there." She instructed the bar crew in her headset. "The toast will be after his introduction in a few minutes."
‘Well, technically I could make him think that. I don’t know if that would be any less disruptive though.’ Betsy added a mental shrug to her reply. She wanted to know what was going on in the other room and since she’d already peeked into the waiters' heads it wouldn’t make much difference to have a look through the eyes of one of Hope’s underlings, just to keep up.
'Good point... I can see how that would get messy... how about he remembers his bathroom got flooded and he needs to fix it?' The guests in the room were now standing and applauding and with relief she saw the bar wait staff moving quickly and efficiently through the crowd with the champagne flutes. When the group reached the stage, the band stopped and someone stepped forward to introduce Mace.
Betsy hid her smile. ‘He’s just realized he somehow forgot to pack any of his gear, and is totally failing to remember how to use a camera in any case,’ she communicated, while watching the senators arrival from the viewpoint of a bored intern. ’Someone had tipped him out though, so we might want to stay on our toes,’ she added more seriously.
+++
'You have the suitcase?!?! Good!' Hope discretely started making her way to a small anteroom. 'Think you can get it over here?’
Convincing the staff that she had been assigned to move the suitcase to a “more secure coatroom” had only taken a teeny bit of persuasion. This was easier than she had expected. ‘That should not be a problem, assuming I don’t run into any of the Senator’s people,’ Betsy replied, peeking around a corner while hugging the suitcase close.
'We should be done with it quickly.' Hope quickly pulled out one of the elegant pins in her hair and flipped off the cap. Two slender picks dropped into her hand with a minor tap as the door opened and Betsy entered.
Betsy watched Hope work on the lock with interest. “Unfortunately this part is quite outside my skillset,” she said apologetically. “Now, had they used a combination lock…” She shrugged, then cocked her head as if listening to something outside the room. “Someone seems to be coming this way."
"That does seem to be the theme of the evening." One final twist and the lock popped open. "Any idea who it is?" Hope quickly grabbed the portable scanner from her purse.
“One of Arturo’s assistants,” Betsy grimaced. “I could just direct him out but he’s forgotten his phone in here by the looks of it, so he’ll probably be back.”
"Lovely." Putting down the scanner, Hope tossed some stuff over it to hide what she was doing. "Does he know where the damn thing is or do he need to search for it?”
One of the benefits of telepathy was that since none of the other person’s memories were relevant to you, it was easier to sort through things without thoughts like ‘i-can’t-believe-i-was-so-stupid’ and ‘i-really-hope-i-won’t-screw-this-up’ getting in the way. “It’s in his coat pocket, he’ll go straight there.” She nudged the memory of the phone slipping in the pocket and his fingers tapping the case to the forefront of the man’s mind.
"Time for us to be doing something else then?" Hope flashed Betsy a picture of what she was thinking of. "If I lean into the coats, he should be unable to recognize me.”
Betsy blushed slightly, then pushed the suitcase behind her and out of sight with her foot. 'Well, that would definitely make him too embarrassed to linger I suppose,' she sent in reply to Hope’s scenario.
Now Hope could hear the footsteps outside the door. "Come on. He is here." She hissed as she leaned back into the various coats and pulled Betsy to her. The coats neatly obscured their faces as their lips met with only Betsy's wig clearly visible.
Even knowing what to expect, Betsy was caught off guard. She made herself a mental note that she’d really need to get better at this whole spy business, then committed herself into making out with Hope with semi-theatrical measures of enthusiasm. She heard a startled gasp from behind her, then an ‘excuse me’ with equal levels of embarrassment and arrogance as the assistant quickly reached for his coat and fumbled for his phone. ‘I’m pretty sure he’s bought it,’ she communicated, pushing Hope further back to hide the suitcase between their legs.
A few moments later Hope heard the door close and Betsy stepped back quickly. Hope winked before bending down and continuing with the suitcase. "Let's get this wrapped before we have to put on another act.”
“Yes, let’s.” Betsy positioned herself to better monitor the door; while she was likely to sense most people that might come past she didn’t want to take any chances. She glanced back at Hope. “How is the lock?"
"Just this one wiggle..." With a snap the lock opened again. "And it's time to get scanning." Hope retrieved the handheld scanner, handed it to Betsy as she sorted through the papers. "I check, you scan?”
Betsy nodded and readied the scanner. “I’ll keep an ear out for any more interruptions. This would be more difficult to hide away in a jiffy."
With the two of them working together, the scanning luckily went pretty quickly. "Not as much information as I had hoped though." Hope sighed as she started to reassemble the files as carefully as possible. "But with a bit of luck we have what we really need.”
“I hope it’s enough to make this,“ Betsy made a vague overarching gesture, “worth the effort?” She watched as Hope snapped the lock back shut, then picked up the suitcase gingerly. “Now we just need to get this back to where it belongs without running into any errand boys.”
Hope quickly checked her phone. "We timed it well... Mace is actually about to give a speech, so everyone should be focused on that. I'll go out first and see if the way is clear, then you come?”
Betsy swapped to telepathy. ‘Sounds good.’ She tried to think of a waitering-related task she could pretend to be occupied with while covering the case as much as she could. Maybe more mopping?
Hope slipped, pretending to check her watch and nodding approvingly as she saw Mace making his way to the stage. She quickly tapped her ear as she checked if everything was going well, while sending to Betsy: 'Everyone is distracted by Mace giving his speech. Let's get it back in it's place.’
"You over there." Hope stalked forward, her eyebrow raised as she surveyed the mess in front of her. "Go get a broom. You a mop. On the double. I want this mess gone in ten minutes. People will be coming through in fifteen.”
Her first reaction was to either smirk or squirm at the tone, but Betsy managed to suppress it and went to fetch a mop as she had been told. She’d need a bucket as well. And some soapy water, right? Finding everything took a few minutes, but at least she managed to carry it back without spilling anything. Success.
Rolling her eyes, Hope moved away from the mess and reclaimed her clipboard from one of her fellow interns. "That leaves the bar and the canapes... if they do not end up on the ground... Can you find the head bartender for me, Danica, and check if he has all he needs? Especially the champagne and glasses for the toast later on?”
Mopping floors was not something she was accustomed to, but Betsy did do her best with the task. Going undercover seemed more lackluster than she had expected, although she couldn’t argue with the logic - after all, she had attended events like this from childhood and could not recall ever paying attention to the waitstaff. She wondered if someone had been playing a similar charade in any of the parties she had taken part in and made a note to herself to at least keep an ‘eye’ out for any unusually loud thoughts coming from that direction in the future. In the moment she slimly avoided hitting the harassed looking intern with the handle of her soppy mop.
Hope checked her phone, a quick satisfied smile playing on her face and glanced over her shoulder, then she whirled around. "You there! Do you want people slip? You are not here to create a slip and slide." She scolded as she moved closer. "Properly wring that mop!" 'Just got conformation Arturo is with Senator Mace and will be here in ten minutes.' She added telepathically.
Betsy committed the face of the politician from Hope’s communication to memory. And wring the mop? Oh yes, that would make sense wouldn’t it. With the now much more effective tool in hand, she went over the wet patch again a few times before deciding that the floor was now both clean and dry enough and she better put away the cleaning supplies before the important people could be scandalized by something so unsightly.
Danica returned and Hope quickly marked the champagne as sorted, just like the canapes. "Okay, everyone clear out. Arrival in ten minutes." She quickly slipped her earpiece back into her ear. "Band, as soon as I give the signal, you start playing.”
Jean may have been unhappy with her but as she wasn’t here Betsy decided it would be OK to just quickly peep at the other waiters’ thoughts to figure out what to expect next. Mostly it seemed to involve just standing around looking pretty until the canapes were to come out and… Oh. ‘Hope, I think we have a problem. It seems I may not be the only waiter here with an agenda.’
'Do you have any idea what they want? And who is it?' Hope replied as she tucked her clipboard under her arm and pushed one of the floral arrangements back a few inches as not to impede the group arriving.
Betsy sent out a picture of the waiter in question. 'His name is Anthony, and I think he’s a photographer? I didn’t look too closely, yet. He’s definitely here for a purpose though. Nobody is planning on doing anything particularly scandalous here, right?'
'Not that I can think of, but press is tightly regulated tonight. He might just be looking for his chance for a good shot?' Hope replied mentally as she acknowledged the signal that the Senator had arrived and were now making their entrance as well. 'Can you keep an eye on him till they are inside?' Quickly she moved to stand just outside the entrance of the main room and when she saw the grouping making their way down the hall she commanded: "Music!"
‘His last gig involved hiding in the bushes outside a house to get a shot of some actor and not-their-wife so I do not think quality is what he usually goes for,’ Betsy answered, wrinkling her nose. ‘I’ll try to keep track of him though.’ She wasn’t exactly sure what she could do, apart from maybe spill something on the other impostor. She began fidget, trying to subtly position herself between them and the door the group would enter from.
'Great, protecting Mace with one hand and stealing from his buddy with the other hand... Any chance you can make the dude think he has really bad diarrhea or something?' Hope snorted mentally as the group entered and made it's way to the small stage up front. "Get that champagne out there." She instructed the bar crew in her headset. "The toast will be after his introduction in a few minutes."
‘Well, technically I could make him think that. I don’t know if that would be any less disruptive though.’ Betsy added a mental shrug to her reply. She wanted to know what was going on in the other room and since she’d already peeked into the waiters' heads it wouldn’t make much difference to have a look through the eyes of one of Hope’s underlings, just to keep up.
'Good point... I can see how that would get messy... how about he remembers his bathroom got flooded and he needs to fix it?' The guests in the room were now standing and applauding and with relief she saw the bar wait staff moving quickly and efficiently through the crowd with the champagne flutes. When the group reached the stage, the band stopped and someone stepped forward to introduce Mace.
Betsy hid her smile. ‘He’s just realized he somehow forgot to pack any of his gear, and is totally failing to remember how to use a camera in any case,’ she communicated, while watching the senators arrival from the viewpoint of a bored intern. ’Someone had tipped him out though, so we might want to stay on our toes,’ she added more seriously.
+++
'You have the suitcase?!?! Good!' Hope discretely started making her way to a small anteroom. 'Think you can get it over here?’
Convincing the staff that she had been assigned to move the suitcase to a “more secure coatroom” had only taken a teeny bit of persuasion. This was easier than she had expected. ‘That should not be a problem, assuming I don’t run into any of the Senator’s people,’ Betsy replied, peeking around a corner while hugging the suitcase close.
'We should be done with it quickly.' Hope quickly pulled out one of the elegant pins in her hair and flipped off the cap. Two slender picks dropped into her hand with a minor tap as the door opened and Betsy entered.
Betsy watched Hope work on the lock with interest. “Unfortunately this part is quite outside my skillset,” she said apologetically. “Now, had they used a combination lock…” She shrugged, then cocked her head as if listening to something outside the room. “Someone seems to be coming this way."
"That does seem to be the theme of the evening." One final twist and the lock popped open. "Any idea who it is?" Hope quickly grabbed the portable scanner from her purse.
“One of Arturo’s assistants,” Betsy grimaced. “I could just direct him out but he’s forgotten his phone in here by the looks of it, so he’ll probably be back.”
"Lovely." Putting down the scanner, Hope tossed some stuff over it to hide what she was doing. "Does he know where the damn thing is or do he need to search for it?”
One of the benefits of telepathy was that since none of the other person’s memories were relevant to you, it was easier to sort through things without thoughts like ‘i-can’t-believe-i-was-so-stupid’ and ‘i-really-hope-i-won’t-screw-this-up’ getting in the way. “It’s in his coat pocket, he’ll go straight there.” She nudged the memory of the phone slipping in the pocket and his fingers tapping the case to the forefront of the man’s mind.
"Time for us to be doing something else then?" Hope flashed Betsy a picture of what she was thinking of. "If I lean into the coats, he should be unable to recognize me.”
Betsy blushed slightly, then pushed the suitcase behind her and out of sight with her foot. 'Well, that would definitely make him too embarrassed to linger I suppose,' she sent in reply to Hope’s scenario.
Now Hope could hear the footsteps outside the door. "Come on. He is here." She hissed as she leaned back into the various coats and pulled Betsy to her. The coats neatly obscured their faces as their lips met with only Betsy's wig clearly visible.
Even knowing what to expect, Betsy was caught off guard. She made herself a mental note that she’d really need to get better at this whole spy business, then committed herself into making out with Hope with semi-theatrical measures of enthusiasm. She heard a startled gasp from behind her, then an ‘excuse me’ with equal levels of embarrassment and arrogance as the assistant quickly reached for his coat and fumbled for his phone. ‘I’m pretty sure he’s bought it,’ she communicated, pushing Hope further back to hide the suitcase between their legs.
A few moments later Hope heard the door close and Betsy stepped back quickly. Hope winked before bending down and continuing with the suitcase. "Let's get this wrapped before we have to put on another act.”
“Yes, let’s.” Betsy positioned herself to better monitor the door; while she was likely to sense most people that might come past she didn’t want to take any chances. She glanced back at Hope. “How is the lock?"
"Just this one wiggle..." With a snap the lock opened again. "And it's time to get scanning." Hope retrieved the handheld scanner, handed it to Betsy as she sorted through the papers. "I check, you scan?”
Betsy nodded and readied the scanner. “I’ll keep an ear out for any more interruptions. This would be more difficult to hide away in a jiffy."
With the two of them working together, the scanning luckily went pretty quickly. "Not as much information as I had hoped though." Hope sighed as she started to reassemble the files as carefully as possible. "But with a bit of luck we have what we really need.”
“I hope it’s enough to make this,“ Betsy made a vague overarching gesture, “worth the effort?” She watched as Hope snapped the lock back shut, then picked up the suitcase gingerly. “Now we just need to get this back to where it belongs without running into any errand boys.”
Hope quickly checked her phone. "We timed it well... Mace is actually about to give a speech, so everyone should be focused on that. I'll go out first and see if the way is clear, then you come?”
Betsy swapped to telepathy. ‘Sounds good.’ She tried to think of a waitering-related task she could pretend to be occupied with while covering the case as much as she could. Maybe more mopping?
Hope slipped, pretending to check her watch and nodding approvingly as she saw Mace making his way to the stage. She quickly tapped her ear as she checked if everything was going well, while sending to Betsy: 'Everyone is distracted by Mace giving his speech. Let's get it back in it's place.’
