Zoisite

         Aina dropped a quick look at her watch, she was doing okay for time no stopping for chit chat but she would be at work on time. Dodging past slower patrons of the train line she emerged into the bustling heart of the city. There was a beauty to the city in the morning, like a new born, renewed everyday. Unfortunately today she couldn't take the time to enjoy it like usual. Bounding up the steps to city hall she pushed into the expansive entry.
         "Good morning Aina!"
         "Good morning Shalene, see you at lunch?"
         "You bet!" She grinned at waved to Shalene as she followed a group getting on the elevator. Hearing her floor get called out she wedged herself in and watched as the doors slid shut. As the elevator ascended there gradually got to be enough room she was able to see her coworkers Marianne and Katie.
         "Morning." They greeted one another in unison.
         "So nice evening last night Katie? Come on and tell us all about it." The short, black haired lady grinned and looked down at her shoes.
         "It was lovely." Aina nudged Katie with her elbow.
         "Details, was he as cute as his picture?" Just as the words finished leaving her mouth the elevator doors opened and they exited to their floor. Katie got ahead and opened the door to their office space. The night crew was gathered in the meeting room and they waved as they headed to their desks. Flynn was already nursing a coffee at his desk and she patted his shoulder as she passed.
         "You need one already?" He let out a deep sigh and set the cup down.
         "Only after being an amazing uncle and letting three of the most amazing nephews stay up way past their past bedtime." She sat in her chair and turned the computer in one smooth motion.
         "Your sister-in-law's must be loving you right now." He gave her a roguish grin, then picked up his notepad and coffee.
         "They love me. You coming right away?"
         "Right behind you." Unlocking the drawer she grabbed her notepad and got up to follow him. The night staff were settled into the nicest spots in the meeting room and looked partly asleep. A glance between them and Aina flipped the light switch. The moans of the night staff was enough to bring a smile to her face.
         "Rise and shiny, not bedtime just yet." She took a seat and put her notepad on the table.
         "That is correct Ms. Vintner, thank-you for your usual cheery outlook." The director of media relations entered the room and took a seat at the head of the table. While she organized the items she had brought in the rest of the day team filtered in taking all the seats at the table. As the last person entered the director started.
         "Good morning everyone. Was there anything big that happened overnight?" There were shaking heads and murmurs of no. "So there's quite a bit of construction happening on the level two west expansion, there's a number of transit detours adding time to people's commute, there are a couple of accidents right now, keep on top of emergency services updates and we need to pickup our response rate for general inquiries. Anything else going on?" when there was nothing brought forward the director stood. "Well then let's get the day going." Aina got up and returned to her desk. The computer was finished logging on and she typed in the password to the city's message boards. The list on the left side of the screen filled up with the logged on personnel and she gave it a quick glance before looking at the message boards.

         She had just nicely returned from lunch when she got an in office message from Jennifer.
         Aina, can you take the travel review sites for me for the rest of the week?
         Sure, summer cold doing a number on you?
         Unfortunately, thanks catch you next week.
She had barely finished opening up the comments tracking tool and selecting the travel website button when another message popped up on her screen. It was from the user rjthe3rd, he or she for that matter seemed to have made it their mission to report every little not normal activity that occurred in their neighborhood. Sometimes she passed the message on to other departments at other times all she could do was recommend some solutions and file the complaint for reference. Opening the message she read through it feeling the corner of her lips twitching upward the further she got into the message.
         "That your special friend?" She glanced over at Flynn.
         "I have many special friends you'll have to be more specific." He laughed and came over to look at the message.
         "Oh that one. What you going to do?" She shrugged, there wasn't much she could do at least directly, the construction that was being complained about was simply a hazard of a growing city and the inclusion of the train system through that quarter.
         "What I do best, diffuse the situation." She clicked on the reply button and began to do what she loved most to do, ask questions and listen to the concerns. Halfway through calming rjthe3rd a notification came up from the travel comment tracking, and she opened it to check the comment. All was well in the world of travel though it seemed with nothing but a rave review of a local hotel and its staff. A comment came in to the city website about a damaged street pole and she sent it down to the maintenance department. rjthe3rd didn't seem to be so willing to accept that construction was going to be a way of life for the next six months, she in as kind of words as she could told him/her that once construction was done the trains would be much more accessible cutting the commute time for a large number of people living in the area. A note came in about an emergency call out and she completed the form message and posted it to the website. More comments from the travel websites came in and she looked through them, a few disappointing reviews however nothing that the city could have corrected or fixed, instead she noted the names of the businesses and the complaint into the business licensing system for their review. rjthe3rd was not to be deterred from his/her mission to get the construction vehicles out of the neighborhood, she sent another response inquiring into the time that the vehicles were making the most noise. Giving a quick check on the time she worked to finish the conversation with rjthe3rd so she would be ready for the ride home enquiries.

         Aina leaned back in her chair and hummed happily.
         "Great I chose the wrong food again." Her friend Marianna grumbled from across the table. Giving a short laugh Aina leaned forward to stab a bite of the vegetable casserole Marianna was poking at. "Stay on your own plate!"
         "Why cause I'll find your food as delicious as mine?" She threw her best grin out and sure enough Marianna couldn't hold her scowl.
         "Well thought's?" Popping the bite into her mouth she chewed slowly as she assessed it.
         "Okay this time your right, texture is good but cardboard could be made to taste better with only the use of ketchup."
         "Thank-you." Marianna pushed the plate to the side and leaned against the table. "Guess I'll have room for dessert today."
         "Lucky you." Aina popped another piece of steamed asparagus into her mouth and contemplated her plate. If she only ate half she would probably have room for dessert but it was really good so stopping at the halfway point would be so hard.
"So back to my story, the courier arrives absolutely gorgeous as usual pulls out the scanner and asks me to sign for the package so I do and he hung around and asked me what I was snacking on, it was that nut bar stuff you made for me."
         "Bought I'm not that great a chef."
         "Uh huh, he asks to try it so I give him a piece and he asked where it came from which I don't think you told me. I said I'd find out and he said next time he's nearby he'll stop by and grab the info. Soo..."
         "This is further evidence of the he likes you theory."
         "Yes, don't you find that a little flirty?"
         "Sounds like he was hungry and found good tasting food." Marianna sat back in her chair and pushed out her lower lip. Aina let the silence linger while she finished off her roast potatoes. Actually she preferred the silence to the love-crossed stories. Aina pushed aside her plate and leaned forward. "Look I want you to be happy and I know finding a man is important but you always stick with one until you get to know him then you decide you don't like him. Maybe you should get to know him before you fall in love is all that I think." Marianna continued to pout and Aina sighed. There wasn't going to be any winning tonight. The waiter arrived and inquired as to if she wanted to take her food home, which she did, and said he would be right back with the bill. The rest of the short time between finishing and paying the bill was spent in an awkward silence. As they left the restaurant Aina made another attempt at soothing her friends hurt feelings.
         "Want to go check out the art in the park? I hear that floral is the theme this month and there are some beautiful pieces."
         "I have to get home."
         "Okay. Talk to you later." Marianna waved and started walking away. Aina watched her go then slowly turned toward the corner. Her forehead furrowed in thought she turned over the night and the conversation. Janice was going to say 'told you so' which she couldn't really avoid. The harder part would be re-establishing the relationship with Marianna. Entering the park she pulled out her phone and opened the art park app. It popped up with a pirate map and the edges of her lips curled in amusement. Following the instructions she followed the path to the playground then walked six steps past the post of the swing set. Hanging from the trees were differently shaped pieces of glass, the evening sun glinted off them showing their hues of green, white and purple. She took a picture and added it to the app, receiving a puzzle piece. If only there were a way to show Marianna how destructive her relationships with men tended to be.
         "Flower?" Her head jerked up to be confronted with a rose. "Got stood up on a blind date, someone may as well enjoy it."
         "Oh. Well thanks." The guy nodded and walked away, she moved back to the path and headed for the train station feeling a little uneasy. It didn't make much sense, it was a flower after all. The relief she felt being back in a lit, peopled area made her roll her eyes at herself. So what if it was a little weird, she hadn't been followed so he couldn't have been that big of a creep.


         It was just as lovely a day as it had been yesterday. Wrenching her gaze from the window Aina forced it back to reading tourist reviews. She had a class on hospitality training shortly after getting the job with the city which she found herself glad for at times like these; some people did not understand what hospitality services were.
         "Flynn, you wanna look at this review. I can't tell if their serious or not." Flynn obliged, coming over and leaning on the back of her chair. He hefted a deep sigh before retreating back to his desk.
         "Treat it as serious though it smacks of someone being ridiculous." That was what she had thought. Pulling up a form to send the information on to the various departments that would need to be alerted to look into the complaints she sighed. The restaurant being busy was not an actionable problem, though a dirty interior was, a hotel not having a room wasn't something she could help with, but a hotel that refused to honor a reservation with deposit was, the weather could not be helped even though the area noted was completely beneath the third level, that she could check and incorporate an explanation about how the weather is simulate.
         "Tyron is out and I need someone to talk on camera." Her hand shot up as she bounced to her feet.
         "I'll do it!" The director nodded her acknowledgement as her gaze cast around the room.