xp_logs | Log: Nathan and Monet. A sort of job interview. (Reply)

Backdated to the 11/12, a day after this log with Angelo.

Monet poked at the pile of papers on Nathan's desk. At least half of them were in languages she couldn't read. She fished something in French out of the pile and settled in to read about Vanuatu while she waited for Nathan to return from what had sounded like an urgent phone call.

Nathan hung up the phone, then eyed the young woman sitting across from him. "Monet," he said dryly. "Fancy seeing you down here." He'd been wondering how long it would take before she'd beard him in his figurative den, all things considered.

Monet smiled sweetly. "Did Angelo tell you he gave me a job?"

"He may have mentioned that, yes." And Nathan may have needed a moment to laugh - half in honest amusement, half in triumph. Stranger things had happened, and he did tend to look for... less conventional qualities in his employees. "You do realize it was an informal sort of offer," he said with a drawl. "I actually do the hiring. Or Joel does."

"And you want me, don't you? But, seriously, Nathan, I'm bored stupid and my docs say I have to spend at least the next semester on a half load. I'd be fine if it weren't for your stupid arsed drinking laws and the fact that Paris hates me because I slept with her boyfriend this one time, so I'm really not part of local scene. Besides," Monet waved a hand. "I'd rather keep this out of the tabloids and that means no parties till I'm all better. So, can I come play? Anyway, I might have to resort to fixing Cain's fashion sense and that takes more effort than I'm willing to put in."

"This isn't play," Nathan said, eyes narrowing - if in a very calculated way. He had to be careful about this. He wanted to see how much of his shit she'd take - it was, more or less, a job requirement - without scaring her off. "You're not winning points here, Monet. I'm not fond of providing work to stave off boredom, either - I don't think that's a great motivation."

"No, it's very serious. If I came in wearing a hair shirt and beating myself with sticks every time I saw a report oh, the poor suffering mutants, would I be a better fit? Or do I have to have a history of being injured by poor suffering mutants, because, hey, been there, done that."

Oh, she did have a mouth on her. He liked that. Nathan gave her a long, thoughtful look, and then went for the strategic - and temporary - subject change. "How's the physio going, anyway?" he inquired mildly. "Been there, done that myself..."

"Well, it could be going better... But they've also pointed out that it could be going a hell of a lot worse. Out of curiosity, what did you end up with it for? Or is it kind of ongoing, to sort of make sure your head doesn't fall off?" Monet put the papers on Vanuatu down and lent back to give him more attention.

Something of a smartass, too. I like the ones that talk back. "Broken back," Nathan said. "A couple of years ago, someone with powers somewhat like yours snuck up behind me and decided to fracture a few of my vertebrae." He actually had a great deal of sympathy for Monet's situation, not that he was going to come out and say it - she didn't seem like the type to appreciate the attempt to empathize. But he did appreciate what it was like to have a body that didn't quite do what it was told to do.

Monet blinked. "Holy fuck. Don't people normally end up paralyzed from that sort of thing?"

"Normally they do, yes," Nathan said, but didn't elaborate. "Obviously I move around just fine these days, although I'd be lying if my back doesn't remember it was broken more days than not."

Monet winced. She couldn't help wondering why he kept doing this sort of thing, considering his back. "That kind of sucks."

"It does. But I'm stubborn." He gave her a bland smile. "In the workplace, too. Stubborn and demanding... Angelo might have mentioned that?"

Monet smiled back. With almost anyone else at this point in a test, she'd have considered dropping her shields and listening in, to try to get the right answers. Even if there were no guarantees that she'd use them. With Nathan, that option was stupid to the point of suicide. Well, it wasn't like she couldn't find other ways to entertain herself if she got the wrong answers. "He may have. But you might have noticed that I'm kind of the same?"

"Yes, but it's a question of how the stubbornness is applied, Monet." He raised an eyebrow. "For instance, if I have you reading about Vanuatu from now until next Christmas, would you stick to it, or bitch that you expected this all to be more interesting?"

Monet looked at him and quietly disregarded the flippant answer. "I have no fucking idea, to be honest."

"If it's any consolation, I doubt there's much going on in Vanuatu," Nathan said. "But what we do can be very dull. It's a lot of reading, a lot of sorting through ambiguous information and trying to analyze it... the end result is meant to be good, but it can take a hell of a lot of time and frustration to get there."

Monet gave Nathan a brief smile. "I'm glad to hear that. I mostly found Vanuatu boring when we went there for school. Besides, I've got nothing but time at the moment."

They did need more help. The whole point of the Tel Aviv office was to have them out doing the bulk of the on-the-ground investigatory work, or direct project management. Having them stuck at their desks doing research any longer than necessary really sort of defeated the purpose.

"Why don't we call it a trial period?" Nathan said. "You give it a try, see how you like it. If you decide you're going to die of boredom, then the contract's not signed in blood." He gave her one of his less reassuring smiles.

"Yes, let's." Monet had the sneaking suspicion that getting out would prove rather more difficult than that. If nothing else, it would involve quitting and admitting defeat, things no St. Croix was ever good at. She gave Nathan a broad smile and reached over to shake hands. "I'll see you tomorrow morning then, I guess?"

"I'll have to leave you to Juliette's tender mercies," Nathan said, but did smile back as he shook hands. "Meeting with some folks from Amnesty International in the morning... but you need to learn your way around the office before you do anything else." His smile was perhaps just a shade overly benevolent. "There is rather a lot of paper."

"Does it ordinarily live in piles like this or is there some sort of system for it?" There was a certain wariness to her voice. "Anyway, I'll be back tomorrow. This should be fun!"