#I just think my overworked fluffy twinks are neat

[cryptidcalling]

Comparing Vesper and Horace a bit in how they treat working and resting

I'd like to begin this post with a helpful diagram

The simplest way they differ is that Horace is contantly creating more work for himself even when, realistically, he could just take a break and still be ahead. It's a sortof frantic feeling that he always needs to be working on something, pushing towards a goal, because science is never rally finished. He's always finding something new to try because he doesn't want to stagnate. Plus he is genuinely deeply passionate about all the work he does even if he ends up stressing himself out.

Vesper, on the other hand, deligates work at almost every opportunity and still had piles of things to deal with every day. And because she's so dedicated to her job and the empire as a whole she gives it priority over other things she might rather be doing. She'd like to spend the afternoon doing physical training instead of reworking a blueprint for the fifth time, she'd like to go sit on her balcony and watch a firework show, she'd like to have a few hours to put on music and relax as she tinkers with a personal weapons project, that just isn't typically on the cards for her.

Horace willl very frequently put off self care or forget self care entirely (eating, sleeping, brushing his hair, etc) in order to keep working. He sees it as a frustrating interruption of his process. He WANTS to keep working. When people try to help him, tell him he's been working too long and needs to take a break, he'll either brush them off or reluctantly agree. Usually he's able to relax and be less grumpy after sitting and resting for a bit. Some days he's still high strung, anxiously waiting until he can justfy going back to that project. Vesper will typically try to set a schedule. She'll decide to take a break and eat at 1:00. But then at 12:30 someone brings her a treaty that needs to be revised and sent out for approval by 1:15, so lunch gets pushed off to 1:30. Then in the middle of that project Panza will send her some files and ask her to research a certain group or planet and get whatever information she can to him by 2:30. Lunch gets pushed off to 2:45. She finishes the treaty, is well on her way to finishing the research, when a communications officer informs her that they have a transmission coming in from a diplomat and they need her to answer it right away. She answers the call, gets permission to submit the research at 3:30 instead, and when she returns a set of blueprints has been placed on her desk and need to be revised for the engineering team by 5:30. Lunch is no longer happening, but she plans to have dinner at 6:00. When 5:45 comes around Bakins comes in to ask her a question about one of their operating protocols. She's tired, she's snippy, she's harsher with her answer than she needs to be. At 6:00, Bakins and Beyett come in with fresh food from the Citadel's kitchens, and Vesper stops everything she's doing to sit and eat with them. (This doesn't even include the part of her job where she often has to stealth her way off planet, through cities, and into the bases of criminal organizations to take them out and reclaim any contraband or rescue any ESR hostages, or when she's required to go with Panza to diplomatic affairs, or make TV, Radio, and online appearances, or go to training facilities to work with the lower-level millitary personell there, train troops, sort out promotions, etc).

Horace could easily justify taking a few days off. If he did nothing would really change. His students could complete their courswork online and email him if they need help. Their grades would still get in on time, and he'd still be on track to collect whatever data he needs for his current experiment. He just chooses not to, instead choosing to keep fixating on his work. If he were to take a day off (some times is forced to when he's unwell enough for Baxter to notice) he doesn't really know what to do with himself. He'll read a book, watch a documentary, do a puzzle, but it all feels like he's just wasting time that he should be spending doing something more important. Vesper would like a day off. She's usually able to justify one or two a year when things are especially slow. She'd eat some nice meals, work on some personal projects, dance a few routines instead of working out properly. But most of the time she just can't justify doing that. There's too much to get done and not enough people to actually do it. She's always deligating things to her LTs to get done, but she doesn't want to overwhelm them. She usually sticks them with the things she really can't stand, like meeting with delegates or doing financial paperwork, while doing the bulk of the remaining work herself. She'd give them more if she thought they could get it done without skipping meals or staying up late into the night, but she knows that's just not realistic. There is another part of it too that deals with her fear of being replaced. If it WERE easy for her to just pass off all her work and take a day off whenever she wanted, then what good is she to keep around? Eventually someone would notice that things run fine without her. At least being constantly busy proves that she's still valuable.

#Long post #vesper tag #horace tag #I just think my overworked fluffy twinks are neat #Meanwhile Fen is like 'eppy <3<3' and takes a nap in the sun whenever he wants #Sorry for typeos Tumblr doesn't have an autocorrect for me anymore