Chapter 103 | Terrific tale

[At Goofy company - California]

Walking inside a little office which had the name 'Lucas Campbell' written on a silver plate.

"Is this it?" Ian questioned the lady who came to show him the room Ian was looking for.

"Yes sir, we've announced your arrival," the girl who was being polite the whole time said with a pleasant smile.

"Okay, thank you," Ian said and walked inside.

He was greeted by a man who ought to be in his late 20s. Tall, dark and had short hair. His facial features were prominent from the way he smiled.

"You must be Ian Renner, Renner Studio," Lucas said with a smile and extended his hand. "Pleasure to meet you, sir," He said.

"The pleasure is mine, please let's have a seat, Mr. Campbell. And call me Ian please," Ian said and sat in front of Lucas.

Lucas was surprised by how Ian talked. Lucas Campbell worked in Goofy as the VFX head for years. Years which had gone pretty bad for him.

The VFX department had its own history. Before being a department in Goofy it was a separate studio.

"Call me Lucas, too. That was like the first time a director called me with respect,"

The words left a bitter taste in Ian's ears. By looking at how tired Lucas looked, Ian felt as if something was going wrong in the department.

Since Ian mentioned that he wanted the VFX department to work under him for the next project that they discussed, Ian wanted to talk to the head of the department. Which was why he met with Lucas in the first place.

"You've been working as the head for quite a while now, am I right?" Ian questioned.

"Yeah, you are." Lucas sighed visibly. "Ever since they bought the company off my studio, I wasn't able to leave the position, and I've requested plenty of times already, trust me. Just that the contract I signed doesn't allow me to do so," Lucas said which caught Ian by surprise.

"What happened?" Ian questioned leaning to the front of the chair, keeping his arms on the table.

Lucas sighed again. "I've been working here for more than five years and five more years until the end of the contract. And how they treat people is just… so unacceptable." He blurted out.

"We are all overworked. Like, literally every one of the employees in my department. The head management refuses to even hire new employees for who-knows-what reasons." Lucas shook his head and closed his eyes while his head fell backwards.

"It sounds bad." Ian muttered with a 'tsk' sound.

Lucas sighed for the third time in a row. "In action, it's horrific. They are asking us to render thousands of terabytes of graphical data in a matter of a single month. Like THIRTY days?! We are humans. With that work in head, and the targets they're giving… nine am to five pm is basically non-existent for us."

Ian was shocked by the outburst. Goofy had a good reputation with the public. Their properties and working ethics were known to be number 1 in the world. Many companies are struggling hard by taking Goofy as inspiration.

The happy-go-lucky image they portrayed to the public as a company was a massive joke, Ian felt while listening to what Lucas was saying.

If it was someone else, Ian would not have trusted it, considering how good Goofy was doing. But from how Lucas looked—dead tired, and taking the risk of revealing the working way of the department, surprised Ian. And he trusted Lucas, for how he was present there, almost tearing himself up while talking.

"I honestly have no idea why they do this to us. And when we research around the other departments, it's just us who get to take homework, and this has been going on for over a year. The deals they made us sign clearly state we can't resign or remove ourselves from the position till we complete five years of work time." Lucas said.

"The directors say nothing too?" Ian questioned back.

"We are treated by our directors as expendable. Like the rude behaviour is generally an expected feature from movie directors," Lucas sighed for the nth time.

"Can I know why you're telling me all this?"

"Well, it's just… even I don't know, Ian. You're the first director who talked to me like this in forever. Nevertheless, forget about all of it. I got the news of how you'll work on your next project with Goofy,"

The rest of the conversation flowed from how Ian would need the help of the VFX department for the next movie. Ian explained the movie a bit and decided to talk about it in depth after making more meetings with Lucas. On the other hand, Ian wanted to know about what was going on inside of Goofy.

-

PERCY JACKSON AND THE LIGHTNING THIEF - REVIEW.

"It would never go wrong with fresh pages, fresh smell, and a fresh plot—"

Ian Renner, the director of Renner Studio, released his newest work of fiction, a fantasy—which also is my favorite genre. The review was a highly requested one, ever since the book got published.

Beginning with the writing style—what's great about the way Ian Renner has written the novel is that without realizing it the audience is being educated in Greek mythology to an extent if you think about it; I don't know about others who may have had a chance to read it but, personally, beforehand I never would have been able to name Greek Gods.

However, some may argue that you can't take it seriously, because, yes they do seem to be living in the USA, but that's the fun of fiction! It's a playground for our imagination, a chance to get lost, forget the world around us, and open our minds to completely alien realms or (like in this book) see our world in a mystifyingly different light.

In the book itself, Percy Jackson in his own words:

'I was just a normal kid, going to school, playing basketball, skateboarding. The usual. Until I accidentally vaporized my maths teacher. That's when things really started going wrong. Now I spend my time fighting with swords, battling monsters with my friends, and generally trying to stay alive.'

If that synopsis does not draw you in to read this action-packed book we are not on the same wavelength – but hey, that's fine because everyone's different. Basically as suggested by the title this is the book where poor normal Percy is accused by Zeus (God of the Sky) of stealing his lightning bolt.

This book for me was awesome! Jam-packed with bits of history, intertextual references to a lot of famous USA landmarks (making it easy to imagine battles), and the light-hearted humor between Percy, Grover, and Annabeth. We've got some mythological creatures tossed in there along with food of the Gods that I've heard of and now really want to try...

Look out for ambrosia and nectar and you'll get my drift. Romance may also be on the cards between Annabeth and Percy in future books if there are any.

If I was to put my English lit student cap on I'd say this book was about Percy's self-discovery and learning to accept who he is as well as what he's more than capable of.

I'd say it gives kids the message that believing in yourself, no matter who you are is vital; after all, if you can't believe in yourself then no one else can.

Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief is a terrific tale of friendship and heroism! It's got humor, light history, adventure, and action; the best part is that this isn't the end.

-Sue C. Grant

"Why do I have a feeling that the author is extremely biased?" Mason questioned after reading the little tabloid.

"Maybe my work is exceptionally good, I mean… It IS good," Ian said with a smile.

"We wouldn't have seen this if it's not for the Actus Website. They promote a lot of such good reviews, I think you'll be number one best seller," Mason said.

"Steven implied it too, the income from the book keeps increasing with time anyway," Ian said with a chuckle.

"Congratulations on that," Mason said, scrolling to read more reviews about the book.

There were already so many people admiring the book. This meant that not just for movies, people loved Ian for his writing too.

"In the morning, I went to meet the CEO of Goofy," Ian mentioned to Mason.

"Ah yes. How did it go?" Mason questioned.

"Well, as I mentioned the other day, I projected my regulations in the deal and he agreed. But there was another thing that happened and truly surprised me when I met with the VFX department head, Lucas." Ian said.

"What happened?" Mason asked again.

"The VFX department was an independent studio before Goofy bought them…."

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