Serious Plots 6: Srs bsns

[Recaiden]

[Helix Honey]

"Yes!" Patience laughs. She seems like the kind of person who laughs a lot.
"You've done good work here."
"I'd like to talk about your future at the company."
She leans forward over the desk, but not too much. Not putting her elbows on the surface or anything.

[Deathkeeper]

Helix Honey

That's...reassuring. Very, actually. Wait, is this an official job offer? That would be so great.
"Yes! Uh, I mean, I'm happy to talk, Ma'am. What did you have in mind?" she asks, a smile breaking across her face.

[Recaiden]

[Helix Honey]

"I had in mind extending the offer of a permanent position here."
A chuckle.
"It wouldn't be exactly the same tasks, of course. But quite similar. Is this actually the work you want to be doing? We've evaluated what you've done so far, and it seems you're cut out for it. Doesn't mean you belong here."
She tilts her head slightly, listening for the response.

[Deathkeeper]

Helix Honey

Penny shakes her head vigorously.
"Oh, don't worry about that, Ma'am! I don't know about belonging, but I'm sure I'd be happy doing this sort of thing as a full job. What uh, position did you have in mind?" she asks, barely containing her excitement. Finally! She wasn't sure anything would come from this internship, but it's finally paying off.
Her boss having bug eyes was kind of freaky, but it's not like she's going to judge for something silly like that.

[Recaiden]

[Helix Honey]

Patience's smile grows moderately more fake.
"Of course, we were considering you for a position in marketing, possibly in the department that handles our more specialized products."
"You've shown you're qualified for the job technically, but it remains to be seen if you would be a good fit."

She leans back and draws a manila folder from her desk and skims the contents.
"Remind me why you originally wanted to work here?"

[Deathkeeper]

Helix Honey

That's a hard question. It's always a hard question.
"Oh, well marketing and business has always been what I'm good at, at least from what I think. I wanted to work here because it was a local business that was selling something I could understand and get behind. I think I'd have a lot of trouble trying to sell someone on like, magical nanobot technology. They have those, you know. Honey is a lot easier to understand."

[Recaiden]

[Helix Honey]

Patience nods with a chuckle.
"I do! What if, say, you were working on magical nanobot sales pitches? You want to understand something before you start working around it, am I right?"
Penny can probably gather that this is going badly - from the tone, the slight pauses, the difference in how she's laughing. The owner is disappointed in her.

[Deathkeeper]

Helix Honey

Penny winces.
"Well, if you told me that I would go home and do all the research I possibly could, Ma'am. But I didn't apply to a place like that in the first place is because I wouldn't want to slow everyone down by getting into a field I'm not properly trained for. It wouldn't be efficient, and that's the most important part of a business. And maybe I was wrong to think that; I could have probably been fine if I put in the effort to do my own research, but I still feel like I have to make sure that I don't drag anyone down. Workers have to make a business better." she says resolutely. She's not letting this one slip away!

[Recaiden]

[Helix Honey]

Patience purses her lips.
"You're hired."
She giggles and goes to exchange the folder for a different one.
"Pursuant to these terms, of course, if you find them agreeable."

Full time employees are paid differently, have responsibilities, more obligations, more company secrets that they can't give away. You know how it is. The paperwork is slid over to Penny.

"But let's clear something up - the most important part of a business is to be profitable. Efficiency is good, but sometimes what matters is volume, or speed. Workers simply have to work. However, it's clear that you want to be more involved than just any worker."

[Deathkeeper]

Helix Honey

Penny nods, skimming the paperwork and checking for anything she has to sign.
"Yes, now that you say it that makes sense. As long as there's profits you can work to make it more efficient and even more profitable later. I'll be involved as you say I'm ready for, Ma'am. You're the boss."

[Recaiden]

[Helix Honey]

Sign that you won't suddenly leave, sign that you won't give away company secrets, sign that this is your name, sign that you'll actually work.
"Perfect. Now, I think it's best to show you what else the company does. It isn't all honey, you know."

[Deathkeeper]

Helix Honey

Penny raises an eyebrow, curious.
"All right, Ma'am. I haven't heard about any other business ventures by the company recently." she says.

[Recaiden]

[Helix Honey]

"Exactly. Technically, when I say it's not all honey, I'm talking about wax and various culinary initiatives."
Patience chuckles and draws out a diagram.
"But actually...I'm assigning you to the Department of Experimental Theology, marketing division, and then you're being transferred as per Non-Agreement 7-17 to our mutual associate with Eclipse Violet LLC, Joneleth & Selm Realty. Don't worry about the name; I understand it's mostly magical nanomachines that they work with."

She sets down the diagram, which displays an interconnected web of companies that mostly don't do anything, with Helix Honey at the center. A tap and motion of the finger shows Penny moving from here to there.
"Do you care about the history or would you just like to know where you're going from here?"

[Deathkeeper]

Helix Honey

Penny pales just a little bit. She's officially lost, but she's determined to hide it.
"Well the latter might be the more important of the two but I'll take the history of it'll help me understand better." she says slowly.

[Recaiden]

[Joneleth & Selm Realty - Helix Offices]

Patience giggles and nods, before crumpling up the corporate map and tossing it in the fireplace. Of course there's a fireplace (well-ventilated though).
"That might help. Helix was founded after disagreements about the direction of Eclipse Violet, based on, well, basically excessive momentum. The core of it is that they didn't have anyone like me, so they never thought to do the work they should be doing."
Raises up a hand.
"It was a gardening business, sold plants and seeds, and their edge was a stable time-portal to a specific displacement from the present. We don't do any of that. Helix makes money through apiculture. And I suppose vespiculture. Honey, beeswax, jelly, a few related novelties like chewing gum. Etc. etc."
"But, hehe, we've pretty much got that down. Hives, bottling, distribution, advertising. So we support some other endeavors too. Conservation. Research. Everything in its own neat little legal environment."

[Deathkeeper]

Helix Honey

Penny sinks a bit into her chair.
"I see. So you're transferring me out of Helix and into J&S, so I'm not really going to be working here at all, am I?" she asks, and might be interpreting the previous explanation incorrectly.

[Recaiden]

Patience laughs and shakes her head.
"Not here here, but we do - their office where you'll be is actually, logistically, contained within our operations here."

"Anyway, congratulations. Let me show you where you'll be working."
She rises from her desk and heads for the door.

[Deathkeeper]

Helix honey

Penny raises an eyebrow, pretty confused by all of this, but gets up and follows her boss anyway, leaving the office and its many jars of strange jellies behind.

[Recaiden]

Patience shows Penny to a tiny office, sandwiched between her old room and the overflowing storage space at the end of the building. But it's an office! Not a cubicle or a table in a crowded wider room.

And, you know, they didn't leave all the strange jelly behind.
"And now, heheheh, we'll be going on a field trip."

[Deathkeeper]

Helix Honey

Penny looks up (or down? Not sure on height) at Patience, confused.
"But, I thought you said that the place was housed here." she asks.

[Recaiden]

Patience nods, tittering at the uncertainty Penny has.

"I did! And it is! But it's not for you to start working. It's educational."
"Follow me!"
To the parking lot! It seems the fancy hovercraft is the owner's vehicle.

[Deathkeeper]

[Helix Honey]

Penny hops into the hovercraft, much more confidently. Mostly because she's always wanted to ride this thing.
"I always was sure that this thing had to belong to one of the higher-ups." she says quietly to herself.

[Recaiden]

Plush seats. Very comfy. Very clean. Gratuitous crystals on the dashboard.

"Right you were."
And shortly, the thing lifts a little bit up and a great deal away, zipping off along the roads. It's remarkably quiet. Must be at least a little magic. They're heading out into what's best described as the countryside.

[Deathkeeper]

Helix Honey

It's very nice. Penny smiles and relaxes, sinking into her seat.
"So, uh, where are we going, Ma'am?" she asks.

[Recaiden]

"Where this all started."

They pull up to a decrepit crumbling old mansion. Two decades ago, it was dilapidated and crumbling. And that was before that terrible business that left it empty. A tall curious tree shades the building, growing up in the backyard. Its leaves are dark, dark. There is a faint buzzing.

Patience parks in the dusty gravel driveway and gets out, taking something which was lying next to her seat. A sheathed sword? With a laugh, she waves for Penny to follow.

[Deathkeeper]

Old mansion

Penny gulps but hops out of the vehicle.
"Uh, is that a sword, Ma'am? Are you planning on being attacked?" she asks hesitantly.

[Recaiden]

Patience laughs, delighted, as she straps the sheath on and shakes her head.
"Why yes, Penny, it is. And no, I do not expect to be attacked. But I never know when it might be necessary. Don't look at the windows."
The glass will be looking at you. You shouldn't meet its gaze.

She heads around to the back yard, where a heavily leaning wooden fence has a shiny new latch mechanism on its gates.

Back there we see the tree, a row of hedges, a number of flowerbeds, and quite a few beehives. Wasphives? Of all sizes and construction techniques.

[Deathkeeper]

Haunted? Mansion

Penny can't help but look at the windows after that statement, though she quickly looks away again.
"Oh, uh, okay. Aren't you supposed to uh, have equipment for being around hives?" she asks, eyeing the strange structures.

[Recaiden]

The windows are artfully done stained glass, depicting things that can only be in nightmares. The suffering of those tiny, brightly colored figures is inexpressible. Even in the brief time Penny looks at them, she could see them move. It should leave one with a feeling of pointless loss.

Patience giggles; what a silly question.
"Normally, yes; you are in no danger with me here."

Several of the hives are the standard industrial boxes. Others have the classic hive shape, or look like birdhouses, or are concentric shells of paper and resin.

"As far as we've found, there's nothing else like these plants in the world."

[Deathkeeper]

Old Mansion

"You mean these flowers and trees? What's special about them?" Penny asks, sliding a bit closer to her bug-proof boss in the process.