ShanDeRad
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Chapter 1
🕑 Added 2024-04-20 17:04:13 +0000 UTCFridays were generally a good day for Shaun, the same for everyone else that worked a 9 to 5 job, they indicated the end of the work week and the start of 2 days away from the city, not to mention the people in it. Shaun made a habit of leaving the moment his day was done every Friday and heading straight to his car, which had already been packed with all of his gear for a weekend out in the mountains. He had been doing this since the first week he started his job nearly two years ago.
Sitting at his desk at work Shaun was watching the clock, it had just hit four o’clock in the afternoon and nothing had been out of the ordinary for him so far, he had focused on his work all day. Working as an analyst wasn’t the most exciting job in the world, he would pull together data on a company that his own was wishing to acquire, analyse said data and send to his manager the insights and findings for it to be passed up the chain for others to probably glance over or ignore completely, not that he minded. It was a job and it paid the bills.
Just one more hour and I am free. Shaun thought to himself. His plans for the weekend, like he did most others, was going to involve some hiking through the mountains which were just a few hours north of the city and maybe even get in some rock climbing. He had always felt more comfortable being outdoors, being surrounded by trees rather than people which had always had an impact on the way he interacted with others. Shaun wouldn’t call himself a loner, even though he really did prefer being alone, he just had a hard time connecting with people which lead to him purposely trying to blend into his surroundings rather than standing out. This wasn’t hard for Shaun, although standing at 6 foot with short blonde hair and piercing blue eyes he still came across as average, forgettable even, thanks to purposefully not making eye contact with others and walking the other way when people approached him.
“Hey Shaun, hope the day has gone well. I have some good news for you.” Turning around Shaun saw Michael walking up to his desk. Michael was Shaun’s boss and the complete opposite of him in almost every way. Michael was one of the most charismatic people he knew, always had a smile on his face and every time he spoke to you it was like speaking to a friend you had known your entire life. At over 6’3 with dark hair, broad shoulders and a body that showed off hours being spent in the gym he always stood out in a room but never let this go to his head. He was a nice guy and a good boss but Shaun had trouble spending much time around him as people seemed to flock to him which in turn meant that they would inevitably be around Shaun. “I am letting the team off early and taking everyone down for a few drinks to celebrate all the hard work everyone has been putting into their work lately.”
The last thing Shaun wanted to do was go to a crowded bar on a Friday afternoon, “Hey Michael, I can’t today, I have plans.”
“Shaun I know you don’t like spending much time with us outside of work but it would be good to get the whole team together and have a little fun before the weekend, it a great way to finish the week!” Michael said “Even if you come with us for an hour you will still be able to make your plans, you can leave when you would usually leave work, no harm in that is there?”
The last time Shaun had agreed to hang out socially with the team had been 6 months ago and he had spent most of the time sitting in silence nodding along to their conversation awkwardly wishing he could leave. Since then he had turned down every other invitation he could, coming up with any excuse he could find and Michael knew it too, if his grin was anything to go by. Knowing he wasn’t going to get out of it this time Shaun looked at Michael “I will go, but only for an hour like you said.” This was going to suck.
“That’s the spirit, now pack up and we will all meet at the elevator in 5 minutes, everyone else is nearly ready to go and we can head down together.” Michael said. Sighing Shaun packed up his things and reflected back on his day, wishing he had known about this beforehand so could have just faked being sick to leave early or even just not come in that day and gotten an early start to his weekend, anything to get out of going to a social event.
Walking over to the elevator Shaun saw the rest of his team, standing with Michael was his assistant Jessica and his fellow colleagues Danielle, Richard and Gabriel. They were all standing around waiting for him, looking excited to be getting off work early and ready to get to the bar.
As they were going down to the ground floor Gabriel nudged Shaun, “So Michael finally convinced you to come back out with us huh?” he said with a chuckle.
“You know its hard to say no to Michael and when he really wants something he will find a way to get it” Shaun said just as the doors opened and they all stepped out to head towards the bar right across the road from their office building.
Walking inside they managed to find a table, Michael went to the Bar with Jessica to get everyone a round of drinks, at least he wasn’t going to have to pay for them he thought. Sitting down at their table Shaun waited patiently for the hour to come to an end, while vaguely listening to his colleagues, he looked around the bar and people watched. After a a drink he made sure to sip slowly, knowing he was going to be driving, and some stilted conversation with his coworkers the hour was nearing its end and Shaun was ready to say his goodbyes and finally head to his car until he felt something wet drip down onto his back as if someone had spilled their drink from behind him.
Turning around Shaun looked at the person who was standing directly behind him, wanting to see who had spilled their drink on him. When he saw who it was he thought again how he really shouldn’t have come to work today, as standing there with a smirk on his face was Trevor Rule. Trevor worked for the same company as Shaun and although they never had any need to interact with each other, from the day that he started Trevor made it his life’s mission to look down on Michael and his entire team. It started small with little comments and soon escalated to him taking any chance he could to make the entire team look bad. The guy was just one of those people who got pleasure out of making others look bad to try and make himself look better, Shaun had known his kind since he was a kid, nothing but a bully with self esteem issues.
“So this is where you spend most of the day, is it Michael? Drinking in a bar and pretending that you and your team are doing such great work? Wonder what your boss would say if they knew you couldn’t get through your day without a drink?” Trevor said with a sweeping look over Shaun and the rest of the team.
“Trevor, how good to see you. You know how it is, after a busy week the team deserved to be able to come out for a quick drink to finish off the week. Seeing as you are here with your team as well I imagine we had the same thought.” Micheal replied, smiling at Trevor like he was greeting an old friend. “Although it looks like you lost your drink there on Shaun, might want to slow down, not a good look for you to spill a drink on someone and not even apologise.”
This is why I avoid people. Shaun thought to himself while trying to blend into the chair he was still sitting on, Nothing good every comes from these things. Looking at the time the hour was up and Shaun should have been free to go but instead was stuck sitting there with a wet back, annoyed that he was now going to have to go home and shower before heading out of the city. If he got up and left now, in the middle of whatever Trevor and Michael had going on, it would look like he was running away from his team and in some way proving Trevor’s point. I really wish this would end so I can leave.
“And why would I apologise for him being in my way, it's his fau……..”
*Initiation of planet EA-9487 commencing. Stand by for further instruction*
What the hell is that? Shaun thought as he looked at the blue words that were hovering in front of his eyes. I haven’t had that much to drink, have I been drugged?
Looking around the bar we could see everyone else also looking equally confused. “Anyone else see this?” Gabriel said who was sitting across from Shaun.
“Clearly this is some practical joke” Trevor said “only people like you are going to believe…”
* Initiation completed. Welcome to the Multiverse citizen Shaun Clermont. Starting tutorial sequence.*
