Boys of Ice and Fire

Meeting Zoe

Shaun walked casually through the rows of work desks on the third floor, with Ethan in tow. Having been wandering around or working in small companies in the past years, Ethan had never seen so many people working together, typing away on their computers, as if nothing else in this world mattered to them.

After what looked like a stretch of about 100 meters, past snack vending machines, printers, soundproof booths for making quiet phone calls, and glass-windowed meeting rooms, Ethan had arrived at a corner of the floor, under a giant glass window looking out onto the bustling street below. This area where Ethan would be working was an open space of about 100 square meters, filled with desks, computers, and workers, just like other parts of the floor, isolated from the rest of that floor's workspace by a narrow aisle.

Ethan shrugged off his bag and dropped it on the desk assigned by Shaun, and looked around with keen interest. His would-be co-workers were either making storyboards, drawing illustrations, or animating these illustrations with software (Later Ethan learned that this software was called Spine). Since Ethan had worked in China Film Animation for a year, he was familiar with all these processes, except that Shaun’s group was making 2-D animated films while China Film Animation was in 3-D. Since no one seemed to be writing a script on Word, Ethan assumed he was the one picked by Shaun to fill the gap.

“You can sit here,” said Shaun, in his usual, bland tone. “And this is Zoe, your colleague who is also working as a script writer. She will take you through all the processes you need to know.”

Following Shaun’s eye line, Ethan found himself looking at a Japanese-style young woman who looked barely 25 years old, dressed in light green, with short straight hair in the color of chestnut. Zoe nodded and smiled in a business style, so Ethan could not tell what she was thinking, whether she liked him or not.

Plagued with a lack of confidence about his looks his whole life, Ethan had trouble meeting people for the first time every time he went to work or study in a new place. But since he was 34 years old (even though still with the naivete and innocence of a 20-ish youth), he had already got used to this sort of social discomfort. When a discomfort is persistent, it becomes hardly perceptible. That’s the kind of theory Ethan often used to comfort himself when faced with such occasions.

“Since it’s noon now,” Shaun continued to make the introduction. “Zoe will take you to the place where you can have lunch.” With these words, Shaun walked away in a hurry to take care of his own business.

How can he walk away just like that? I’ve come so far for you! Ethan was perplexed, but social decorum didn’t allow him to have more reaction, so he followed Zoe in a silent and polite manner. It was already 12 o’clock, and most artists in Shaun’s group had gotten up from their seats, stretching their arms as they did, and got ready for lunch.

Following a throng of people, Ethan and Zoe, joined by Zoe’s friend Rosie, also a member of Shaun’s group, walked towards the elevator. Rosie was a plump girl with wavy short hair who seemed rather quiet, always locking Zoe’s arm and following closely behind her, in a state of perpetual fright.

When they arrived outside the lift, a large crowd of around 50 people were waiting. But it was a cheering mob, for most of them were young men and women less than 25 years old and were enjoying the best of their times. Even waiting for a lift would be a fun time if you were with your friends. To ease the discomfort of meeting for the first time, Zoe tried to strike up a conversation.

“Shaun told me you are from Peking University,” said Zoe with her typical polite smile. “It’s such an envious position to be in!”

Ethan was used to getting such a reaction from his co-workers, so he just smiled politely and nodded. To return the favor, Ethan also started his typically embarrassing small talk with Zoe and Rosie.

“What’s your hometown then?” said Ethan, looking at both his new-found co-workers.

People from all parts of China converged in Beijing to find a high-paying job, so it was a frequently used opening line for small talk with someone you just met.

“I’m from Guangxi Province.” said Zoe.

“Henan Province,” said Rosie, still in her sheepishly shy manner, but her voice was sweetly appealing to the ear, though.

“Do you speak Cantonese then?” Ethan asked Zoe. Ethan had studied and worked in Guangdong Province for 2 years from 2010 to 2012, and he had a romantic affair with one of his students there, so the Cantonese dialect had always been a sort of bridge for him to connect with people coming from that area.

“Sort of,” said Zoe. “But we have a different accent that makes our version of Cantonese different from that in Guangdong Province.”

With this, Ethan had stepped onto the lift with the crowd.

“And I know Liu Haoran (a top movie star in China) is from Henan Province,” said Ethan, turning to Rosie. “What a cute actor he is! I'm a huge fan. It's such a cool place you’ve come from!”

Ethan knew this province used to receive unfriendly comments from people, accusing it of being a province full of swindlers, based merely on the fact that some of the famous criminals of this sort that made the headlines came from that province, so he tried to say nice things to Rosie lest she felt uneasy.

Rosie chuckled, fidgeting with her work card.

“And what’s your position in the group?” asked Ethan, looking at Rosie, all smiles.

“I’m an illustrator,” said Rosie, still not stopping her movements with the work card. “I draw all the illustrations for the animators to make them move.”

“That’s so cool!” exclaimed Ethan. “I’ve always wanted to draw something myself since I was very young. But I’ve never been the type with any talent for colors and lines. Can’t even imitate anything in primary school art classes. So I gave up early on that.”

To that Rosie made no reply. Ethan was sincere, though. Since young, he had been an admirer of people with artistic talents. And he believed it’s because people always admire their peers with qualities that they themselves don’t possess and can hardly acquire.

Now the lift had opened, unto an empty corridor, which was soon filled with Monkey Education’s workers. Through another maze of hallways, they spilled onto an underground food court, where workers from many surrounding companies gathered for lunch and supper.

“And this is where we eat,” said Zoe. “What do you usually eat, Ethan?”

“I can eat anything,” said Ethan, gawking at the multicolored neon-lights that lined the different food shops. “I’m not a picky person when it comes to food.”