I followed Mr. Ofdensen to his office. He wasn't much of a talker, but he didn't have to say a word for me to know he was stressed out. He mumbled to himself, flustered with the lack of time and effort Dethklok was putting into the new album. I kept quiet as not to shake him from his thoughts, and closed the door behind myself as he took a seat behind his desk and checked his missed calls. One call in particular from the label head, who wasn't impressed with Dethklok's delay. "I need to get some of this sorted out… in the mean time here's this," Mr. Ofdensen handed me the user's manual to the recording equipment "and here's a dethphone for taking calls and organizing public events, press meetings, things of that sort, it should come in handy."
"Thank you." I replied taking the thick manual and clunky dethphone. I got up from my seat to give him some privacy while he spoke with the head of the recording label, obviously angry with Dethklok's delay.
"I know sir…yes…I'll just need a few more weeks," He spoke with his typical composure, but fiddled with his other hand nervously. "One moment," Mr. Ofdensen paused and directed his attention to me before I left "Get in touch with the organizers of Gotik Treffen." I nodded and left to go to the recording studio where I could read the manual and see the equipment in person. No use reading something if I couldn't make any use of it, or see what I was working with. The problem was that I had no idea where the studio was. I wasn't going to bother Mr. Ofdensen with a silly question, I could find it on my own. I clearly underestimated the size of Mordhaus. I made turn after turn and realized I was lost.
"Uhhh left or right? Maybe I shouldn't have gone up those stairs…" I mumbled to myself as I reached a split in the hallway. I stopped realizing I was only going to make things worse if I kept taking turns. I felt nervous, I hated the thought of not knowing where I was. I looked up again still puzzled as to the direction to take. I must have been too deep in thought to hear the footsteps behind me. It was then that I jumped and gasped, getting ready to make a run for it. A hand had grabbed my shoulder from behind catching me off guard. I turned to face whoever it was, only to find Toki.
"Ohs! I scareds yous! I Ams sorrys," Toki exclaimed, taken aback by my reaction.
"It's ok, I should have been paying more attention Mr. Wartooth." I said composing myself. Toki frowned at this, seeming disappointed somehow, and stepped away from me slightly.
"I ams Toki," he said looking away. There was a pause of awkward silence.
"Um…Toki I'm lost, could you tell me how to get to the recording studio?" I asked hoping he could tell me, so I could get something done. He lightened up a bit when I called him Toki.
"Here I show yous," Toki said and began to lead the way.
"Thank you! I have to learn how to use the studio equipment, but I don't quite know my way around Mordhaus yet."
"I coulds show yous…Miss. White." Toki offered.
"Oh no, no, really I'm sure you have other things to do," I didn't want to bother him. "You can call me Evee by the way." He smiled at this, I suppose formality made him uncomfortable, or perhaps he wanted to know my name… No that would be silly. Even so, It's best to lay low. The more invisible I am, the better off I'll be.
"I ams not busy, I show yous arounds and den you wonts get lost agains Evees." Toki was sweet and I his offer was kind.
"If you really aren't busy…" He nodded with a childlike smile and kept leading the way, explaining where everything was. I kept my full attention on every Norwegian accented word, making sure I would be able to get around on my own from that point.
"And dis is the recordings rooms." He stopped in front of the door for a moment, pointing at two more doors farther down the hall. "Dat's Skwisgaar's and dats mines," he told me.
"Well thank you Toki," I gave him a smile. "If you ever want to record I'm right here, or in Mr. Ofdensen's office." I told him this and went to enter the recording studio.
"Ohs yous be heres? Okey dokes den." He seemed a little awkward then and left for his room down the hall.
The studio equipment was more complex than what I had expected. I was absolutely exhausted which didn't help, my night was catching up on me. My eyelids began to fall slightly. WAKE UP. I shook myself knowing that getting sleepy on the job would be unacceptable. I decided to put off the manual and call Gotik Treffen's organizers instead. They were more than thrilled to get Dethklok to play, knowing it would attract more people than they had ever had. It would be coming up in five weeks. I hoped that Mr. Ofdensen was right in telling me to schedule without talking to Dethklok about it. I took the notes and would get them back to Mr. Ofdensen later on, I wanted to make sure I could at least do the basics with the recording system. I put away the clunky dethphone and sat down on the recording studio's comfortable red couch. I pulled out the users manual and made sure I knew how to adjust the volume, start, and stop the recording. The extras would have to wait until I knew I would be able to register the information perfectly (I was just too tired to sift through all that right now).
I tucked away the manual and headed to Mr. Ofensen's office. Thank goodness for Toki's directions, they really helped. I followed the hall and made a turn to the office door. I gave a light knock not wanting to disturb him in the middle of something.
"Come in," he called from his desk. I handed him my notes from the call with Gotik Treffen.
"That will be in exactly five weeks, hopefully that gives Dethklok enough time to prepare. Additionally I've learned some of the equipment basics," I explained to Mr. Ofdensen.
"Gotik Treffen is taken care of? Good." He let out a sigh of relief, clearly today had been awfully busy.
"I'll call the boys into the recording studio, to tell them about their appearance at Gotik Treffen, and hopefully get something recorded." I followed him out to the studio and waited for Dethklok's members to arrive.