Outbox

Sender: Senior VP’s office
Origin: ReginaPro, Minneapolis office
Received: 20 September, Sunday

Dear Mother and Father,

It was a delight to speak to you yesterday. Again, I apologize for the timing—it was an ugly enough hour even without taking the time difference into account, and despite your assurances to the contrary I do feel confident that we disturbed you at an inopportune time. Of course, I am sure you understand that I called on one of the few occasions when we were both available to make the transmission.

I can hardly overstate how busy I have kept myself since I arrived here! Between the business reorganization and planning for this wedding, my every waking hour is accounted for. I wish frequently for your advice and insights, but it is quite the learning process to manage so much on my own, and in conjuncture with my fiancé. Luckily, most organizations I deal with among the humans seem quite well-managed and efficient.

I miss you both terribly, but it won’t be long until the wedding and I look forward to seeing you then. It will be such a momentous experience—I am counting the days until the joyful event. Until then I remain

Yours only,
Da’arshlenne


(Embedded encrypted message reads:)

Mother, I saw how weakened Father was when we spoke. I hope he isn’t storing up an excess of his strength on my account. I chose to honor the betrothal with full knowledge of the dangers I might face from my future in-laws. Father knows full well that he cannot, cannot do anything traceable to help me. I know how protective he is, how it pains him to leave me to my own defenses, but he must—and I am far from helpless.

I fear saying too much, even here in secret, but I have discovered a tool that may very well be the key to our family’s survival and allow me to save this city from terrible destruction. I regret that my plan puts an innocent human at great risk—though a human whose ancestors share our lineage, at least. Using her stores of power (which are deeply buried but significant) will give me an advantage that might propel this conflict into my favor.

The ends justify the means—I remind myself of this constantly—but I worry terribly about the kind of person I am becoming, using such tactics.

I also fear my plan being discovered, for if any in my fiancé’s family suspect that I have found a way to foil their plans—indeed, if they even suspect that I am trying to work against them—so much more than our good name will be forfeit.

I fear, but you need not. I will not fail you.
Your only one.


(Continue to Brook's status update.)

Encrypted message

Sender: unknown
Origin: unknown
Received: 11 September, Sunday

Decrypted message reads:

Mother and Father,

I am sorry it has taken me so long to write you. I hope that the cursory, guarded messages I have sent since I arrived assured you at least that I am safe and have been treated well. I have been under heavy supervision since I last left your presence three long weeks ago. In that time I have tried to establish a fixed enough pattern to make my watchers lose interest, and this was the first time I felt confident that I could write honestly to you.

It is even worse than we feared. The whole city is in terrible danger, and they will be in a position to act even sooner than we thought. We cannot wait for the conclave—it will be too late then.

If I have to act alone, do not fear that I know which risks are worth taking and which are not. I will seek out tools that I can use against this threat, and I will not needlessly sacrifice myself. Still, the lives of millions of our human cousins may be forfeit if I do nothing.

All I can do now to alleviate your fears is to ask you to trust me as you have so faithfully in these past few years. Rest assured that I will come to you if I can think of any help that is within your means to provide.

Spies and traitors surround me. I must make all choices with great care, but I am ever on the lookout for any tools or aids that might assist me in the inevitable coming struggle.

For now, I am safe. I am being well cared for and so heavily pampered that I might go mad. I miss you both, and in my heart I shine only for you.


(Continue with Chelsea's post.)

Outbox: Re: Introduction

To: Brook Haupenstaat
From: Darcy Ages
Subject: Re: Introduction

Hi Brook.

I must say, I am very impressed with your qualifications! Your resume looks like a perfect fit for ReginaPro.

For my personal intern, I’m looking for someone I can bounce ideas off of, someone able to give me a fresh but professional view. My assistant may be privy to an unusually high level of proprietary information and the job will sometimes be physically demanding (you have a current passport, right?), so I have some very high standards. In past years I have left the position unfilled rather than make do with anyone “almost right.”

With all this in mind, I hope it seems reasonable to you that I require a background check and a physical for all applicants to the position. I am attaching all of the documents you will need to fill out and return to the firm, as well as the contact info for my personal physician. If you still wish to complete the process, call to make an appointment with him asap and send the completed forms to HR by close of business tomorrow.

I look forward to meeting you as well, and I promise that even if you do not have all the characteristics I am looking for in an assistant, I will still be very excited to welcome you into the ReginaPro family.

Thanks,
Darcy Ages

Attached: backgroundchecktemplate.pdf, personalinfotemplate.pdf, drtyler.doc,



(Read the email from Chelsea and Brook's father.)

Inbox: Introduction

To: Darcy Ages
From: Brook Haupenstaat
Subject: Introduction

Dear Ms Ages,

I wanted to write in and introduce myself. I’m Brook Haupenstaat, one of the interns who will be working for ReginaPro Marketing this fall. HR called earlier today to say that having looked over my resume, they had decided that I was one of three possible applicants for the position of your personal assistant. I hope that by telling you a little bit about myself, I can give you a sense of my qualifications for the position.

First of all, I am very excited about the prospect of working for ReginaPro. I am a junior at the University of Minnesota working on a fine arts major with a minor in business management. My long-term goal is to become an art dealer and own my own gallery. My grandfather is a collector, and my fondest memories from childhood were of going with him to private collections and gallery viewings and listening to the experts identifying and discussing the merits of certain pieces, the telltale signs of great art.

Over the years this interest has allowed me to acquire a sharp eye for subtleties and aesthetics, which I believe would make me a valued assistant to someone who is frequently making final and semifinal decisions about high profile ad campaigns.

But I understand that designing product for mass media is a very different skill from collecting great art. My father is the photographer Henri Haupenstaat. He frequently produces works for National Geographic, and his photos have also appeared in Vogue and In Style, among other noteworthy publications. Last summer I accompanied him on a month-long publicity shoot for Alaska Cruise Lines, and from that experience I understand some of the great effort and deep thought that go into the seemingly simple choices that make up an advertising agency’s approaches.

On top of all those other qualifications Ms Ages, I am also enthusiastic, proactive, responsible and professional. I am a full-time student, but rest assured that your needs and the needs of ReginaPro Marketing will be of very high priority to me in this upcoming year. I am certain that HR has already sent you my resume, but I am attaching another copy to save you the trouble of looking through your inbox. I will be coming in on Tuesday for the general orientation, and I look forward to meeting you some time shortly thereafter.

If you have any questions or desire further information, please feel free to email me or call me directly.

Regards,
Brook Haupenstaat
555-555-5555
brookhaupenstaat()gmail.com

Attatched: bhaupenstaat-resume.doc


(Story continues with a text message.)