#phoenix days

[gentechlabs]

Sammy Lawrence

That one extrovert in a group of friends?

Yeah, that’s him

A good 80% of anything said in their little friend group is said by him

Boy yells a lot too

Surprisingly, not much of it is in anger

As much as the interns believe it, he doesn’t actually hate or dislike Wally

But there’s only so many times you can have someone come to you because they lost their keys

He’s kept track of Wally’s record

It hit 5 in a single day, once

Proud first recipient of the Befriended-Norman-Polk Award

Probably because they both happened to have offices close to each other

Actually only became best friends with Henry recently

The interns say that’s a massive lie

He may like the more classical songs, but lord knows he loves the fast, upbeat ones even more

The more chaotic, the better

The local pun master, in addition to being the music director

Poor Jack

So many puns in one song that he’s had to remove or veto entirely

Also the one guy that drinks like seven cups of coffee a day

In fact, the entire coffee bean incident was because of him

Also, the only one THAT CAN COOK ANYTHING EDIBLE GOOD GOD

Anything that doesn’t look the slightest bit burnt or undercooked and is more complex than pasta is made by Sammy

Master baker though

Cakes are to die for

Norman once got a massive encyclopaedia cake for his birthday

Turns out Henry can draw with icing too

Incidentally, Sammy’s also in charge of the office Halloween party

The sole reason every intern was cowering in the corner of the animation department one year

May or may not have tossed Joey into a pool of ink when he yelled at an intern when she broke an instrument

She completely skipped her break just to get her part of a song right, so Sammy felt it was completely warranted

Totally doesn’t have a crush on Susie

hahahawhatareyoutalkingaboutNormanI’mtotallynothidingfromherHenry

Totally doesn’t screech quietly whenever he’s super flustered or anything either

No way

5’9”, but super frustrated about it

???

[gentechlabs]

Norman Polk

Quiet as all hell, but also the one with the most mischief and sass.

Which is saying something when considering one Joseph Drew and one Walter Franks work there too.

Totally has an engineering degree, and is actually quite intelligent.

But he willingly chose to work as a projectionist.

Why?

Tends to be more sensitive to light and sound than other people

espECIALLY AFTER TRYING TO OVER WORK HIMSELF, POLK

The times when it get too bad is when Sammy and Henry go dad mode.

They just drag him over to the closest office, turn off all the lights and toss one of the blankets Henry’s claimed as his own over him.

Sammy’s scrounged up enough for a pair of headphones too

It may have taken a Papa Wolf Henry kicking Joey out to let them take a break a few times, but its nap time then.

Practically a ninja, otherwise

He’s the one that everyone goes to for gift ideas during Christmas

Also has prime blackmail material

Like that time Wally fell asleep waiting for a few of the animation interns to finish up, ended up falling into a bucket of water and got stuck with it over his head.

He thought no one saw it because everyone had been busy that day

He was wrong

Or the time Joey found a squeaky plush Bendy and proceeded to squish the hell out of it for a solid half hour

Whenever someone is being particularly annoying, he’ll take their favourite snack or drink from the break room and stick it somewhere they can’t reach

Only for a bit though and only once. He’s not that petty, thanks

It helps he’s the tallest in the entire studio.

6’1” and ready to rumble, baby

Strong as hell, too. Those projectors ain’t made of cotton candy, that’s for sure.

Also deals with making each episode’s reels and syncing the music and vocals to it.

Everyone in the studio agrees that he’s definitely the second most deserving person to get more money.

Helps he’s a pretty cool guy, too

Still not paid more, though.

Then again, who is

[gentechlabs]

Henry Shaw

Almost identical to his real life counterpart. Except Mr. Stein was significantly more mischievous and extroverted.

Both are complete dads, though. Even to the interns and the others in their department

Was first only good friends with Joey until a few months into the studio opening.

They’d been friends since middle school so

Almost immediately became best friends with Norman. Sammy came a bit later, but it was hard not to after a week or so.

He may be a really nice guy, but that’s not stopping him from poking fun at Joey when he admitted he got a bit jealous one night.

Usually draws with guidelines, but with looming deadline on the horizon, he just ignores all that.

May have gotten a massive cramp the day the first christmas episode was finished

That was also the day he forced himself learn to draw with his left hand.

Completely ignores Joey’s, Norman’s and, on occasion, Sammy’s pleas to stop trying to draw 100 panels in an hour, dammit even if you can draw with both hands.

Doesn’t mean he can do anything else left handed though.

The interns’ idea that he’s a nice, quiet guy is instantly shattered when they hear yelling from the break room

At first they thought it was Sammy and his office was flooded with ink again

It was not

Let it be forever known that the local head animator is almost as dramatic as the local music director

All poor Norman did was shove the coffee beans a little too far back

“How could you betray your best friends like this, Norman” “I thought you loved us”

The poor man had the blankest expression on his face as he ever so casually slapped the bag off the shelf

Henry caught them, obviously, but the intern that witnessed the scene swears he saw the projectionist smirk.

Said intern also claims he saw said projectionist fling both the music director and head animator into a pool of ink after they both tried to overwork themselves. No one believes him though

It was true though. Norman had a hose on hand nearby, though. And a spare set of their clothes that everyone keeps in the studio.

The threat of ink flooding the studio and drenching everyone is very real.

A perfectly normal 5’10”, thank you very much, DREW

[gentechlabs]

Susie Campbell

The runner up for Office Sweetheart

One of the band members was dozing off in the break room and she draped a blanket over her

Said intern sleepily replied with “Thanks mom.” before snapping herself awake and frantically apologizing

Susie just laughed it off

Hell, Wally called her mom once too

May be a sweetheart but man can she be savage at times

Forever banned from prank wars because of this

She almost tar-and-feathered a perfectly innocent Norman once

She felt so awful she got him all the books in his favourite fiction series

He was confused that day, safe to say

A++ Fashion

Somehow manages to be beautiful and cute at the same time

Probably because she’s small

5’ even. Smol

But surprisingly shy

Beautiful singing voice, but can’t dance well even if her life was on the line

She may have found out Sammy could, though

It was also the day she discovered his quick temper

She hid just in time though, surprisingly

Best aim in the entire office

Shot down a spider that tried to crawl away into the ceiling once

Made Joey scream thanks to it

An entire box of chocolate chip cookies went straight into the garbage that day

She eats like a demon possessed her

Poor Sammy found that out when they went out for lunch

Not on a date obviously hahahawhatareyoutalkingabout

Sammy’s just her friend

(And they actually are pretty good friends. It just went past that)

Living squeaky toy when flustered

Only to be further emphasized when she’s around Sammy

Which Norman and Henry find hilarious

“Just ask him, Susie” “Noooo! But what if he doesn’t like me back?”

Henry has never snorted so loud before

She still remains ever so clueless

Somehow

[gentechlabs]

Joey Drew

Faceplants at least one a day

That’s not counting the times he’s slammed into a wall

How is his nose not destroyed yet

It’s all the ink’s fault

Technically his own, but mostly the ink’s

Sometimes the floor is still wet after Wally’s cleans it

There was once a day when Henry got him a pair of special Bendy socks

Joey’s accident count shot up to double digits that day

He also managed to get his hands on a Bendy puppet

For the rest of the day, he only spoke in a high pitched Brooklyn accent

The puppet was no where to be found the next day

The embodiment of already landing to conclusions

He means well but sucks at communication

Henry’s really the only one with actual patience to deal with him

Also the least forgiving

One of the animation interns swears she saw Henry whip an eraser at him

It was hard enough to make Joey stumble back a bit

Incidentally, he can’t find his cookies anywhere

Sucks at drawing figures but his backgrounds are beautiful

He pouts at Henry regardless

He was rather interested in the occult during high school

Henry says it didn’t go anywhere

Maybe

The entire cause of the entirely true rumour that the studio becomes a haunted house during halloween

He’s only second in the most hyped about Halloween category though

The creator of the “Norman Polk’s emotions are cryptids” rumour

Every intern believes it

May or may not have given Norman the idea to get Sammy a kazoo for his birthday

Either way, the music director loved it

5’9”, so you got no grounds to call people short, DREW

[phoenixrenegade]

☱ ^____^

> A journal entry about Ben

One of the new Phoenixes worries me. A lot. I've been keeping my eye on him ever since he showed up a week ago and every time he so much as twitches an alarm goes off in my head.

He's happy. Too happy. Ridiculously happy, over everything. If someone asks him to do something, he throws himself into it without hesitation. He eats like he's never seen food before. I have plenty enough questions about Cerberus' practices but Ben's behavior is adding a few more to the list. I can't help wondering what the hell they did to him to make him so ecstatic about the library.

There's times where I just want to hug the kid until the haunted look behind his smile goes away. Tell him that he's among friends now and he can stop worrying about whatever's lurking in the back of his mind. Instead I've tried to SHOW him by making it a point to spend time with him, take him around the station. We made a game out of seeing how fast we could chow down a protein bar without drinking any water first. Kid almost beat me too.

He's a slippery one in the training rooms, too. We had an obstacle course set up for the new guys to show off a few non-biotic skills and I swear Ben moves like a little cat. I was concerned that his small size would hinder his ability, but after watching him in training I'd put money on him being able to top my scores in simulations within a year. It would hurt my pride if he weren't so likeable.

I like this kid. He'll do well here. I'm not excited by the prospect of him attending his first baiting party though. Either they'll think he's a joke or the best 'toy' they've seen yet. Neither one appeals much and I don't think I have enough clout to keep them away from him.

I still just want to give the little cat a hug. He'll have a good family here, I only hope he sees that before … I don't know what, but I want him to see us as a family before it happens.

[phoenixrenegade]

☱ (take your pick)

> A journal entry about Mason

I hate physical therapy.  Before the surgeries I could run a mile in five minutes, no sweat.  Now I'm lucky if I can shuffle down the hall in five minutes, and it tires me out, and the stupid nurses just give me this sugary-sweet 'Oh you're doing so well!' like I'm some kind of invalid.

I thought Cerberus was supposed to make me stronger. Not weaker.

That wasn't fair.  The nurses aren't stupid, and Cerberus is making me stronger.  It just takes time.  It'll be worth it.  I just know it.  Humanity is not popular in the galaxy and there are way too many aliens out there who would love nothing more than to see the planets we've colonized handed over to them on a silver platter.  In the case of the batarians, it's even worse.

That's what I'm trying to explain to this kid. (Kid.  He's the same age as me, or close enough.  We're both kids playing at being grown-ups, trying to impress our sometimes overbearing parents so they'll finally be proud of us.)  Mason's a nice guy, from Earth.  Maybe that's why he doesn't get why Cerberus is so important, why he seems so naive about everything.  I grew up on a tiny colony in the middle of the Terminus -- I've seen, first-hand, what batarians will do if there's nobody around to fight them.  I've seen the dirty looks humans get from a turian.  Those lizards still aren't over the war.  Somebody has to fight for humanity.  Someone has to watch humanity's back and fight the battles the army and the navy can't (or won't).

But sometimes I wonder if Mason's the one who's right in all this.  He says there's no way Cerberus is the nice-guy organization I've been saying they are.  He's dead certain there's a horrible price to be paid, that they're spying on Parliament, that they're responsible for some pretty horrible things.  I can't look them up from here because they've got some tight restrictions on extranet access, but I do wonder sometimes.

It can't be as bad as Mason says.  They've already sunk a million credits into us here, maybe more.  Why else would they be doing this if they weren't trying to help humanity?

Now I'm second-guessing myself again.  This is what happens when I let myself sit around too long during the day.  I don't have enough to do so I go a little stir-crazy.

I like Mason.  He's fun.  Maybe a little too serious sometimes.  I gotta work on that.  His room's next to mine, I'm sure I can think of something amusing to keep him on his toes.  He needs to laugh more.