The News Floor

[Alan]

It – probably anyway – was a commendable desire, to want to keep close to your sister. He’d read the books, watched the movies, and even though Clark Kent had been an only child, Lois Lane had a younger sister. In some incarnations anyway. From what he could remember of the sister, they’d shared a sibling rivalry, and mentally Alan made a note to ask Iris where she and Poppy stood in trying to out do each other in friendly ways in order to further his Superman comparisons. Another time when he wasn’t trying to get Iris out of the office and into her own life and yet during a time when they were relaxed enough so he could ask without seeming to pry.

“Well, now is as good a time as any to get some recreational photography. I hear night time gives it own set of challenges.” Alan offered, concerned a little if it really had been a few months since she had taken photos of things she wanted. It wouldn’t do to let Iris carry on in the same vein, if that meant eventually she would lose all enthusiasm for commissioned work. “Just promise me you’ll stick to the more populated areas if you go outside.” It may have been a couple of weeks since she had been attacked but Alan wasn’t going to forget about it in a hurry. Nor was he going to forget that he had sent her out into the night.

[Iris]

She and Poppy could have their bouts of sibling rivalry, though what it was over seemed to widely vary. It was almost always something silly and inconsequential, but those were the things to have a rivalry over. They got along well enough these days to not make it over anything serious; they knew how to put their heads together and work through anything major that might come up. It was that that made the rivalry actually fun sometimes. Letting herself act younger than she was and getting into competition with her sister could be extremely amusing if the situation was right.

“I supposed you’re right.” She honestly didn’t have any desire to go out and take photos that she didn’t have to, but she was hoping that once she was actually out in the city, inspiration would strike. If not, then she would start getting worried about her passion for the art. Perhaps she had just been working so much lately that it only felt like the passion had left her. If she took up the opportunity to go out and take photos away from what she needed for her job, she would get that spark back. It was something to hope for, anyway, because her love of photography was something that she desperately didn’t want to lose.

With the decision made that she would at least make an attempt to do some recreational photography- likely after she stopped at her apartment to change and get Casper since the little dog always enjoyed it when he got to go along- she started clearing up her desk, preferring to come back to a reasonably ordered desk in the morning. Iris was rather touched at his concern and nodded. “I promise, populated areas only while I’m out and about.” She didn’t break her promises, so she would keep to the populated areas, even if people did tend to get in the way when she was trying to take photos.

[Alan]

The key to remaining young was to feeling and acting young. If her young sister could inspire the sort of fun sibling rivalry that kept Iris from becoming too boring and serious, then more praise her. Alan didn’t want to think about how old his body was constantly reminding him he really was, much preferring the lies his coffee and Superman pleasures could bring him. Whenever he was feeling really old, there was nothing like loosing yourself in some make believe world to delay the unpleasant reality, if only for a little while.

“I’m always right,” he joked. Tonight at least, Alan would prefer it if Iris did things that kept her safe and hopefully ensure a little bit of enjoyment in the world of photography was kept alive as opposed to her throwing herself into any kind of harms way just to get a good image. While he might find that an admirable trait while on the job, when sometimes you had to take a couple of risks in order to make sure the true news got out, he wasn’t keen on it happening on a night out. At least she was finally clearing away her desk, which meant she really was taking his advice.

[Iris]

Iris occasionally felt older than she actually was, but she was lucky in that she had her sister to help her get over it when that happened. Poppy likely didn’t know how helpful she really was sometimes, something Iris though she should remedy when she found the right opportunity to do so. She knew that she often needed to be reminded to lighten up and have a little fun, especially since her attempts to do that herself didn’t work as well as they could have.

“Of course you are, sir.” She finished cleaning up her desk, knowing that there would always be other late nights during which she could finish up her organization project. That was one of those things that she could always count on. She would stay late sooner or later; usually sooner when it came to her. There always some reason that came up that she needed to.

[Alan]

He would venture a guess that there was a lot either sister didn’t know about the other. As close as you could get to another person – and throughout his marriage to Eleanor that level of closeness had varied, from feeling as though they were part of the same soul, to almost strangers sharing a bed – there was always a hidden part of you, parts that you kept closed off or parts that you never realised effected other people in the way it did. It hurt him a little to know that his wife would never know everything he had felt about her, or that Alan would never know the real truth of her feelings. He could only hope that Iris wouldn’t be left with such regrets in her life.

It was a good thing she knew the way the world worked but if Alan didn’t know better, he would have accused her of making a joke out of it; but then that would have been silly, to accuse her of believing he was anything other than all right, all the time. Now that Iris was going home, there remained the question of how he was going to spend the rest of his evening. Like the photographer there was things he needed to do, boring admin work, forms to fill in and the tiny niggling tasks that were never completely urgent but could never be wholly ignored either. Alan would have to think about it, to see if he could face getting more of it done or if he could face going home to his empty flat. “I’ll see you tomorrow Iris.”

[Iris]

Iris knew and understood that there were things about Poppy that she was unaware of, just like there were things about her that Poppy didn’t know. It was simply the way life was and there was nothing wrong with that, but she did know more about her sister than she once had. She did know the important things about her younger sister (at least, she thought she did) and she never hid the big stuff from Poppy. There were some things that siblings needed to know about one another, just like there some things that were simply none of their business. She didn’t know what sort of regrets she would accumulate in her life to add to the ones she already had, but that was the sort of thing a person just couldn’t know beforehand, no matter how much someone might wish they could.

Naturally she knew how the world worked: agree with the boss unless it was absolutely imperative to do so or they crossed the line, the latter of which (and to an extent, the former) she knew that she didn’t have to worry about. Alan was one of the good guys, the sort of person the world could use a whole lot more of in her opinion. There were other good people of course, but there would never be too many.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, sir. Have a good night.” As she headed towards the door, she found herself wondering where to go once she got Casper. Maybe she would just leave the car in the complex’s garage and they would walk. There were more possibilities of her finding something worth taking pictures of that way.

Continued at: Iris’ Apartment

[Alan]

Agreeing with the boss was a way of playing it safe, and while Alan tried his best to be a person worthy of loyalty, believing in leading by example and doing what was right, even when it was hard, that didn’t mean he expected those who worked for him to blindly follow him. He picked his people carefully, giving as many as he could a fair chance and then keeping on those he felt had backbone, not only in getting the job done but, if needed to stand up to him as well. So long as they weren’t out of line, Alan believed it was important to stand up for things. And while working for a paper might not be considered as important as a doctor or a solider, in his own mind, it was. What they wrote, took photos of and edited together reached a lot of people and influenced a lot of thoughts, even on the subconscious level. It was a grave responsibility and Alan wanted the best working for him.

“Goodnight Iris,” Alan replied, watching her leave towards the door and then no doubt to the elevators and parking garage. Once again, the floor was quiet with only the sort hum of the fans and his own breathing. He glanced around the dimly lit area, a marked change from its day life, with sunlight steaming in the window, computer screens lit up all over the place and even desk top lights on, in case they needed to examine something close up. It was amazing really, how a location could change its mood and feeling so drastically. Now it felt almost peaceful, relaxed. Safe, even alone because he knew this area, knew it as well as he knew himself. With a faint smile on his face, Alan began to move, drifting between the unoccupied desks, mind busy with plans for tomorrow and his paper.