"Hermes" was uncommonly crowded today. Lera virtually hopped into the busy office and beamed at everyone.
"Ciao tutti!" she blurted out, searching for a free hook on the coat rack.
"Hola!" Lena was the first to respond.
"Grüß!" The elfish Tasia replied after her.
"Hi!" miniature snub-nosed Alissa waved her hand.
Greetings in different languages came from all directions. Lera shook off the snow from her shoulders and tried to dust it out of her hair. Her mood was great. You bet it was! Today it was the last working day of the year and, let's face it, it wasn't really much of a working day.
Even half an hour before the start of the working day, it was impossible to find sufficient space to as much as drop an apple. Frankly, their work as simultaneous interpreters is done not in the office, but rather while travelling. And, generally speaking, freelance staff do written translations right from home. Therefore, usually, "simultos" appear in the office only for a short period of time, just to sign documents.
Well, sometimes Vasilisa can be found here, with her Greek, which is a very refined language but not very popular. Or Karina, who specializes in North Germanic languages could be here. Lera, on the other hand, rarely visited the office as she works with Romanesque languages. She simply never had enough time.
In general, two tables were usually more than enough for the entire staff. However, today, the stars aligned in such a way that almost every employee was gathered in the office. After all, with the end of the year approaching and the long weekend coming up, it was time to extend the fixed-term contracts. So, Irina Konstantinovna gathered everyone together in one day to, as they say, kill all birds with one stone.
"Salut!" their regular sylph, Sveta, exclaimed, a little out of breath.
Sveta's cheeks, chilled by the frost, turned rosy, giving her a fleeting resemblance to Degas' delicate dancers. The girl unwound her huge scarf and, standing shoulder to shoulder with Lera, carefully inspected the hanger filled with jackets, coats, and fur coats. The December day had turned out to be cold and the lack of a proper wardrobe had suddenly become very noticeable.