Chapter Text
Jax's nice dream is interrupted by his alarm clock, 7:00!!!!, which he quickly turned off. He dragged himself to the bathroom, where he brushed his teeth in exactly 3 minutes and 47 seconds, maybe a bit too quick, but he has no time to waste. He stuffs one whole sandwich he made yesterday before preparing to leave. In an casual white shirt and pants, he brushed his dark brown hair down until he was satisfied. Which meant 3 seconds.
Without wasting any time, he ordered an Uber (after seeing that the alternative, 99, was slightly more expensive), and waited...
It always ended like this. His initial rush of adrenaline died down and he was waiting. The car had gotten to the street of his apartment, but then stood at the red light in the end. He cursed it for the 164th time this year (it was the 12th of June), before the driver finally came up.
He checked the car plate like 3 seperate times, before entering the white BYD. The driver gave him a simple 'Good morning', which Jax returned. And the drive to the station was easier. He checked if his train tickets were actually bought. They were, but he forgot it too many times to not worry.
The driver dropped him off at the station. USP Leste (east). The train and metro system in the metropolitan areas of São Paulo (the city) always fascinated him. I mean, it wasnt perfect, the quality rose and fell in certain areas, and lots of them passed by favelas (which werent the greatest areas to be around). And some stations were in disrepair and shady to be around in.
Thankfully Jax's route almost never took that area. It was an rather short path to it. Only from USP Leste to Tatuapé, two stations down. The real issue was walking. The rest of the way was purely by walking and a bus that goes from the station to like a mile from work. Wasnt that easy to get to with the recent increase in crime and stuff. He tends to just take the route closest to an large road, with lots of eyes and businesses. Helps him stay safe.
After finally arriving, a bit exhausted already, and 15 Reais down the drain, he enters the building. Now this tech startup wasnt anything special. It was an app called ARfy that gave an augmented reality view of your house. You could use it to customize things, play with your children, and do a bunch of stuff. He wasnt specifically an programmer tho. He was just part of the marketing team. Not as tech-y, but still related.
For an modern app with an very Gen Z esque view, you'd think that the marketing would cater to that. Modern and sleek, with the times. Really it was the opposite, and it was all because of Jax's boss and team leader. Ragatha.
Proud Millenial and graduate of Marketing from the University of São Paulo, right beside where Jax lives, she is, as respectfully as he could put, a pain in the ass. She was strict on everything, gave the whole team barely any time, and would constantly berate and complain about anything that she felt would 'break the company's reputation' or 'wasnt in the image of the company'. Sadly, it did seem to work. She oversaw great growth in the company, and a surge of new users.
And sadly he was the main target of her. He tried his best, but he would sometimes get late. Even if thats the only relevant flaw of him within his work, she would use it as a way to make his life worse.
He looked at his watch. 8:01- shit, he was a bit late. It was enough for her to complain, so he quickly rushed inside, and waited as the badge scanner took half a minute to open the door. When he was let in he quickly rushed to the third floor of the small complex, that served as their headquarters.
The elevator was extremely slow for some reason, but he then finally heard the beep of it arriving. It was 8:03. Maybe he would survive.
The door opens, and Ragatha was literally walking past it. shit.
"Late again Jax?", her voice was a bit more tired today. She always gloated about how she was so hard working, going from here to her university to get a second degree in Administration and then back home to study more until the late night. Like that was even healthy at all.
Jax didnt have much of that. He got into a private university somewhere in Tatuapé, since he didnt have enough skill and always got an meh amount in the ENEM. His recent study efforts have been in getting a better grade to get into atleast a decent public university, but it takes a lot of his free time.
(lore time: Brazil's school system is split in 4-ish tiers. Fundamental (1 goes though 1-5th grade, 2 goes through 6-9th grade), Medium(its counted separately, so 1-3rd but its the equivalent to the 10-12th grades most american schools have, and Superior, which are universities. The ENEM(National Exam for the Medium Grade? [Or teaching idk]) is the national exam that allows for entrance in many public universities.)
Jax only gave an shy nod in return to her statement, before going to his spot. It wasnt an cubicle office, but it was pretty much that, without cubicles. Three massive tables stretched through, with a bunch of monitors and cables. They used company laptops to do their work, so it was decently useful to have the equipment. Really all it did was change the seating every time, so he couldnt get accustomed to one spot every day. He'd have to search for one. In this case it was right beside Ragatha and Pomni.
Pomni was a new hire from about a week ago. She was an antithesis to Ragatha's philosophy, and always tried sneaking in her own style and appeal, despite it always being complained about by Ragatha. Pomni was also a very tough woman, not really budging at her boss's complaints, and constantly fighting. Today she seemed just as unsatisfied as him with having to be even close to Ragatha at all.
The others usually listened tho. Bazooble (which likes to just be called Baz instead) would just shut up and work, and usually never interacted with anyone other than Ragatha when absolutely needed. Orbsman was just as angry as Ragatha most of the time, didnt really help that he usually fought with her the most.
Regardless, they had to work. So Jax booted up his laptop, skipping the annoying animation and looking at his daily assignment. Despite this usually being a marketing job, there are times where some statistic work is required. Today was an counting day, where we would look into the probably two thousand reviews to find relevant things to add to the marketing campaign. Ragatha usually needed them to just read all of them and note down the relevant points. It was a snorefest.
Whatever, he said. He opened the app that showed all the reviews. He prepared for like, 1k or so. But then it actually loaded...
14K...
Right in cue, Ragatha returned from whatever she went to go do, slightly panicked. "Well shit, this counting day has a lot more reviews than usual. Ill split the team in two to get through it more efficiently. Pomni, Orbsman and Baz do one half and me and Jax will do the other half"
"Arent you gonna get absolutely overworked? Its three people to two, cant you call someone to help anyways?", Orbsman objected.
"Not really. Caine's been bothering my ass about it, and the tech team was going to code something for these, but they havent updated me about it... so we just do it anyways"
"Okay then"
Jax could only panic as he started blitzing through some of them while Ragatha continued to make an plan. Instead of reading every review, they would filter ones that have the same and bundle them into one. That already cut it down to 10.2K, a little more manageable. She estimated that if they want to finish it by deadline (next thursday), they could do a thousand a day. Not usual when before it was doing two of that in a week. But, according to her, 'difficult times require difficult measures'.
Jax had already zoned out on the 40th-ish when Ragatha finally stopped talking and took her seat beside him. "You know the deal, bla bla bla dont be late. I have to note you down every time"
"The train is weird sometimes. And the uber"
"... What if ya come down to the office, like 30 minutes earlier, you get a bit of time to chill and get your mind together. And theres actual coffee, not the remains"
"Huh... i thought the building only opened at 7:50"
"7:30, for the early janitors and stuff"
"Okay... i guess ill see what i can do"
Ragatha nodded before booting up her laptop. It was visibly different than the rest of the work laptops. Not because of the maybe 20 different stickers of a few different pop culture shows and games. But it was bigger, and seemed to be stronger. He couldnt figure out why, she was just the marketing lead, nothing needed extra performance. They could run their editing software and stuff in a potato.
Whatever the case, he continued his work. It was going decently well, the notes were on fire, and he mostly skimmed through the longer ones. He wondered how this wasnt automated already. In the heat of AI and the annoying over-implementation, you'd think this would be the first one to be automated.
After the 150th, he decided to play whatever music he had on last time.
"The mornin' light is turnin' blue, the feelin' is bizarre"
"The night is almost over, i still dont know where you are"
"The shadows, yeah, they keep me pretty like a movie star"
"Daylight makes me feel like Dracula"
"I know that song...", Ragatha's whisper took his attention off the 4-paragraph essay he was skimming through.
"Its uh", he turned on his phone to look at the Spotify overlay, "Dracula by Tame Impala"
"Right, i was almost remembering"
"You even listen to music?"
"Why wouldnt i? I know im a workaholic but im not an monster"
"What do you listen to then?"
"I dont know. Just anything Spotify throws at me. Buncha everything"
"Same"
The song switches over, but neither of them really bother keeping the conversation going. The reviews werent really anything that you think of. Mostly useless ones that are ignored, and some which are used. Really, out of like the few hundred he had gone through, maybe 40 of them were longer than 3 lines. And about 200 were actually usable.
Really the only thing that made it worth it was the money. Despite being an internship, it payed minimum wage, which for an 21 year old that barely spends anything, is somehow enough. R$1700 is like not enough for decent living, but it was decent. Ragatha even gave everyone a slight pay increase after the user boom, due to 'reallocated resources'. Despite how much he hated her, she did try her best. She is close to getting them all into the company not as interns but as actual employees, and worked a lot to get the gigs they had.
After what felt like days, the extremely quiet day ended, as 11:00 hit, everyone instantly disappeared. Grabbing their backpacks and leaving, without a word. Ragatha stayed of course. She went off deeper into the building, probably for an meeting or something.
Jax looked at his phone, which is what he usually does. An uber back to the station was pretty much the only way due to weird traffic spikes around this time.
He had one notification. Of his brother?
Usually he barely talks to his family at all. After moving out, they mostly stayed on distant contact. His dad continued the same as always, not terrible but very unhealthy. His mom was a bt better, but slowly healing from her recent drinking addiction.
His brother rarely talked to him, mostly to update him and talk about his life issues. Hes nearing the age to do the national exam, and its been consuming him. Last he heard of him was three months ago, celebrating 6 months of his mom being sober.
So having an notification like this was confusing.
James
Jax
Jax
Jax
Jax
Jax
Jax
Yeah?
Quick, we need you back here. Dad is in the hospital, not sure what happened. He needs you.
Jax's heart sank in an instant, he asked for an location, and he ordered a uber as quickly as possible. All the way to nearby Guarulhos.
When the uber arrived, he didnt even bother with his triple check of the license plate, just went for it.
"Good morning", the driver greeted, but quickly noticed Jax's worry, "Something happened, mano?" (Imagine mano being the equivalent of bro or mate in english)
"Yeah, i need to go quick, my dad's in the hospital"
"Oh shit, dont worry ill go as fast as i can"
The driver definitely broke some traffic laws while speeding over. It took about 20 minutes to reach the general hospital of Guarulhos, and Jax sprinted away the second the driver stopped at the road.
He reached the counter, dealing with the slow employee at the front, before finally being allowed to enter and visit.
James
Where are you?
13th floor, room 146
Okay, ill be there soon
Entering the elevator and clicking the floor, he waited as the slow elevator took another half a minute to reach the 13th floor, before looking around in the floor for the room. After finally finding it and opening, he noticed it was locked. Then someone opened it.
"Thanks for getting here so quick", James let him inside, and he hugged his mom, which was also there and worried.
"What happened to dad?", Jax asked to her.
"Uh, the doctors said it was an stroke. Not sure what exactly but its his third"
"What? You didnt tell me?"
"You were very far. Your brother couldnt contact you. And we could handle it"
"I know, i just wished i could have helped"
"Well, you get to help now"
Jax sat down on one of the seats, his mind empty and depressed. Without option, he opened Gmail and started writing an email to Ragatha about it.
Ragatha.
Due to personal issues regarding my father, i'd like to request a few days off, to handle my affairs here. Perhaps until Tuesday, June 16th
Dearest regards
Jax.
"What'cha doing there?", James peeked over, as Jax hurriedly switched apps, "Youre a sneaky boy, you know that"
"Not right now", Jax points with his eyes to his dad, currently passed out and under a bunch of tubes.
"Dad should be fine? The doctors said he was very lucky, usually the third stroke means certain death"
"Oh, it does?"
"I have hope he'll live. Even if i dont really believe in fate"
"I hope too"
"But seriously, who were you talking to?", James sneakily snatches his phone and switches to the same tab. Jax was sadly a bit too short compared to the absolute build James had at only 17. "Ragatha huh? Thats a nice name"
"Thats my boss"
"Is she a good boss?"
"No, i kinda hate her"
"Eh, foda-se" (Basically 'screw you'), "You know that im beating you right? I got a girlfriend already"
"You'll find out pretty soon that getting an partner in the situation im in is very hard"
"You just aint tryin' enough. Not even an 'i can fix her' mentality? Or you into men?"
"Shut it, im straight"
"If thats what you say. Good luck with Ragatha there. Your room is still vacant in the oldy house, if ya need somewhere for spicy time"
Jax gave him the middle finger.
And an notification pops up on his phone.
Gmail:
Jax
Take the rest of the week off. Caine allowed me. Until Monday, 22nd.
Ragatha.
The next few days were very depressing for Jax. His dad didnt improve past, and right as it seemed like he would recover... 9:30 AM, June 17th, his heart stops. An peaceful death, but an sad one regardless.
Jax couldnt help with the funeral financially, but with the help of his mom he was able to set one up. Not many people showed up. In his later life, his dad stopped being that great with his extended family, and only a few cousins and Jax's grandparents showed up. James spent the whole day mourning, and Jax hated how he couldnt do much. He wasnt really present anyways, due to his distance and work.
After it, his mom told him to go back, saying that 'she needed time alone, and you need time alone too'. For safekeeping, they traded phone numbers so they could stay in contact.
And Jax returned home. It was stupid, maybe he didnt even need the leave.
Ragatha
The predicament that made me ask for a few days off was resolved. My father died, and i feel better. I can return Monday if needed, and i should be fine.
Jax
In less than 20 minutes, he received an message back.
Jax
Dont worry about work until Monday. Take your time, i know how painful losses can be. Your break is approved anyways, Caine cant revert it now. See you Monday.
Ragatha