Hermes - Office Communication

"Hello?" Hermes said as he made it back to the sitting room and stood in front of a woman's desk, watching as she typed away on a computer. It was irritating- not because he was being ignored, mind you. Hermes was well-versed in this particular flavor of office dismissal, where a focus on work took precedence over human interaction, as it rightfully should. Hers was actually fairly impressive, with the right tones of passive disinterest mixed with a laser-focus on whatever idle work was present on the screen positioned perfectly to be unreadable from the countertop. What's more, there was something else in her eyes when she glanced up at him the requisite instant to confirm that yes, there was a human there, without actually having to engage said human in any kind of actual contact. There were notes of disdain in her performance, as if she was better than every plebian that came to speak with her. It wasn't the casual racism of the barista, it was something more material. It was the subtle aroma of wealth, so thick in this building that he hadn't noticed it until he'd looked much closer. Truly, the woman's bureaucratic dismissal was some of the highest art Hermes had ever seen.

"Excuuuse me ma'am," Hermes said with a practiced tone of accidental annoyance, the pace of his words set perfectly to hit the pitch that caught attention in an irritating manner while seeming purely incidental, as if he hadn't intended it at all. While Hermes was far from a social engineer or master manipulator, in the area of office conversation he was quite the savant. Despite his meek background, Hermes was at home here, among files and folders and endless miles of red tape. He knew what to expect, and he knew how to get what he wanted as quickly as possible, like no one else in the Scrambleverse could even comprehend. With a confident smile, Hermes stood firm and stated his business as politely and clearly (and cleverly, heyoooo) as he could.

"I'd like to make an appointment with Mr. Trump," Hermes said. "For right now."

***

Round 3.5, FreestyleKneepad