Illyana and Jay - Interview

[xp_icarus]

Jay meets Illyana and has an interview both for and about Worthington Industries


Illyana was dressed casually as she always did for portal duty, sturdy boots and and one of the giant hoodies her brother had left behind over a tank top and leggings. Comfortable for the inevitable quiet of her shift, but easy enough to change should her sword become necessary.

Her sword never became necessary, which was honestly a pity. Demon incursions were a great excuse for getting Jones off the phone when he inevitably called whining about his next meeting with Warren being shoved back two days and cut in half. He didn't need a whole half hour for whining, and it annoyed her and Warren both to listen to the petty complaints. And they both needed the spa day.

The shuffle of feet caught her attention, and her head snapped up from idle doodles and the calm scratch of data recording. Drawn inward, a little hunched, almost tangible sadness. Her new coworker, then, according to Warren. "I am Illyana," she said into the quiet, "and you are Warren's new hire Jay. He was correct about sadness so likely correct about wings also. Come, sit. We will discuss duties, finish contract. Start training if you have not run screaming by then."

"I ain't his anything yet," Jay corrected her. His wings were out, so Illyana could see the teal-green vet tape on them. They did look bad, though better now that they had been set properly. He still had to go through PT. "Thought I made that clear to him," he grumbled slightly before coming to sit with Illayana. He spared a second to listen to the wormhole and its faint, whistling serenade. It wasn't quite the same song he had heard before.

He held out his hand to her, treating this formally. He even had the best of his shirts with the backs taken out on, even if it wasn't the collared shirt he would have worn to a nice interview. "I'm Jay. It's good'ta meet ya. What he said to me was I'd talk to you about job duties then have about a week to look the contract over with a lawyer or someone before anything was settled either way." he held firm to this. It was easier not to be imitated when Illyana was in a sweatshirt.

Illyana stood and shook his hand, then sat back down with a leg tucked under her. " Is nice to meet you Jay. First thing you will learn about Warren is he hears what he wants sometimes, but he does understand no. That is not concern with him." She thought for a minute, then conceded, "Maybe with wings it is concern, he would like yours to be healthy and in good condition. Is good to indulge him in this one thing. Second, come sit, there are stools, do not have to stand and be awkward. Work duties. You would be executive assistant for charitable arm, I am executive assistant for rest. Things we cover include schedule, being mean person for people who try to barge in or overstay welcome, telling Warren no if he is too ridiculous. You will also do this for head of charity. Salary and benefits very good, hours are weird. I am always on call, you would probably not be except during event or big media thing."

The contract was pulled out of her folder and placed in front of Jay. "There are three lawyers at mansion. Matt Murdock, he is eXcalibur teammate of mine and was down here during problems in District X recently. You will need electronic or braille copy for him because he is blind. I can provide this. Angelo Espinoza, he is easy to find, is the one with stretchy grey skin and French husband. Darcy Lewis is last one. She works for Snow Valley, does a lot of travel. Would suggest one of them for looking."

"I'll be honest with you," Jay said as he sat on one of the stools. "I ain't at all qualified for this, but I'm good at managing time 'n people if you don't mind me braggining a moment. Just don't see what your boss is thinkin' with hirin' me as an executive assistant right away." He took the contract from her though, and started to look it over before it became clear that he really would need a lawyer to translate all the legalese. Instead he left the contract beside him and decided to interrogate Illyana.

"So it's all just scheduling and saying no?" He looked around him, rubbing the back of his head in sheepish shame. "I don't even have a high school degree," he said, feeling the burning embarrassment- even if he would have probably chosen the same decisions if he had to make them again in the same circumstances. He had his pride, but Illyana was a very professional business woman. People like that looked down on people like him. "I need to know what I'm getting into here."

"You think I am qualified? I am piss-off-father hire." Illyana gave him a sharp smile. "I have high school degree because first time I come here, I am young teen. Did not have choice about doing school. Was kidnapped as small child, did not have more than maybe one or two years of "proper" school." She shrugged. "Paper is too important to some people. You will learn what Warren needs on job or you will decide this is bad fit for you, take money you have earned trying, and do something else. I do not think you are idiot who cannot learn. If you want degree? GED thing, whatever it is called? I will introduce you to Kyle, he will help you finish."

She sat back, letting out a puff of air as she blew hair out of her face. "Will not lie. Some people will be assholes. There is line they cannot cross, but they will be snob of highest order. Most of those people only have job because parent got them hired. They are minimally useful, so they are kept in areas they can fuck up least amount of company. Second, too, will be asshole. He is that way, only other old money men worth his time, and barely that."

Jay decided, in that moment, that he quite liked Illyana. He gave her a hard smile back, one that spoke of the assumed similarities of being taken for something you weren't, taken for granted and overlooked. He had a feeling she got it. "Might take the GED slow," Jay said with the assurance that this is a job where you easily could learn on the job. "I'd reckon it'd drive enough folks wild to be told no by someone like me."

And he has forgotten that he was in New York- close to New York City, New York. This wasn't like home where there were about five jobs and you clung to whatever you had- Illyana had a point. He had the opportunity to say it wasn't working now.

It was all so overwhelming. It was hard not to feel a little bitter in his mouth about all he was gaining here and the fact he couldn't have it where he wanted it- at home.

"So what'd'ya do in a day for him?" He asked, because he still wasn't gonna let himself be convinced right away.

"General day? If I am in office, desk is outside his office. I maintain schedule, deflect calls, handle travel, deal with people he manages directly. Make sure he is prompt for actual important meetings, and not overly late to others. Sometimes sit in meetings, take notes. Currently I am learning how to make sure petty funds are correct. Some is cash for things like tipping drivers and delivery, but also funds for things like staff lunch or treats, birthdays, similar. Clothing fund is similar, we get certain allowance and occasional bonus treat out of it, also money for good dry cleaner." She pulled up her work calendar, made sure there was nothing overtly sensitive showing, and slid it between the two of them while leaning forward. "This week, I am in office two days, work from mansion for rest. Red meetings Warren cannot afford to miss. Those days I will be in office. Green meetings are usually short, efficient. I might go, Warren might go. Blue blocks are for mansion work, we try to coordinate those times but it is not perfect system. I'm down here unless magic people have meeting, he is nosing around X-Factor and annoying Hope. Black is things with Bobbi. We do not interrupt Warren during those unless it is actual emergency."

"So it's a secretary," Jay said, nodding. He'd never thought he'd go into secretarial work, but he wasn't too prideful for it- especially not at the money Warren was offering. "I'm not the best with math, but I think I could do all those things." It'll be good to get out of this place a few times a week, he told himself. He had been physically aching from being stuck. Maybe going into the city wouldn't help but at least it would be a different hurt.

"Will teach you the math, do not worry. Program does most of it, we are just extra eyes. Catch things that should not be there. Do not know what you might do for charity, possible you will help evaluate if project and amount makes sense. You are not rich person." It was a matter-of-fact statement. "My family is also not rich. Farming in Siberia, mostly enough to put food on table and trade some with neighbors for meat, fish. We are reasonable. There is time for just throwing money at, like repairs in District X, and time for thinking, being reasonable. If we are not sure, we ask others. Fianceé Bobbi is reasonable. Sooraya. Hope Abbott, though she will tell you correctly that is not her job." Here she gave Jay a sly grin, switching to lightly accented but grammatically correct English. "Hope will take you shopping if you say yes to the offer, and Warren will give you a clothing stipend. My dress... it is a show I put on, much like my English struggles. I do not like unnecessary words, but people also treat me like dumb girl fresh off the boat for Warren to stare at if I am not trying. It is easy to treat dumb girls like part of the paint. Hope can help you figure out what you want to say at work with your clothing."

Jay nodded. "It's like a performance, then. I can perform. What's you recommend for what I should be wanting to say? I'm reckoning reasonability is part of why I was picked for charity."

"Cannot decide for you, yes? Being reasonable, approachable but not doormat is probably a good start. Will need to have a balance of caring but ability to look behind surface stories, make sure need is real instead of scheme. Get you out into community sometime, see needs firsthand. There you can just be another mutant or new to area, visible or not. Baseball cap, maybe. Jeans. Shirt adapted for wings. Megan–Pixie–she is teammate on Excalibur. She can help modify shirts to cover chest, still allow wings out. May be able to modify clothes to hide as well. It is worth asking." Jay was already talking like he'd accept the job, and Illyana was pleased to possibly be gaining a coworker who actually seemed to get it. "Do you have other questions for me? Job there, work here–" she waved an arm at the portal. "If not, I will give you copy of contract to be looked over, then get you snack from vending machine. It does weird snacks, we keep a log."

Jay had more questions about the portal and it's haunting song, but wanted to collect his thoughts for the wording of the questions before he asked them. Besides, waiting to ask them until the next time he visited Illyana down here would give him another excuse to hear it, and maybe figure out what it was. "If I could have your permission to come visit or text or email with more questions, I'm thinking I'm about good. I-" he paused. "This could be good for me. For my family. Thank you, Miss 'Yana."

"Am fine with answering your questions in any form, yes. No need to call me miss, do not think I am that much older than you or I will have to have talk with Warren about hiring laws for minors." Illyana gave him a small smile. "I will email you calendar for next two weeks, so you know when I am not available for seeking out. Mostly meetings during the daytime. If I am not here, I am probably in suite on 2nd floor with roommate Madin. Am not sure if you have met them yet."
"I've met 'em," Jay confirmed and nodded at not calling Illyana "miss"- they likely were the same age after all. "Thanks for all this," he said. "I think I might go for it, if the lawyers you suggested don't see nothing concerning. I... like to keep busy," he said, rather than explain if he stopped treading water he sunk so deep he couldn't get out by himself and he owed it to his older siblings to not have to drag him up again.

"You are welcome. And Jay? It is nice to meet you. Unofficial, welcome to Worthington Industries."