Chapter VI - H.Q. 2 (Meals and Points)

A strange silence settled over the room as the young lady entered with a cheshire cat's smirk. Then a grin lifted the corner of a hardened mouth and a hand rose from a table near the back. "Lenore, over here!" Three scars stretched out over his face at various places, but he was still attractive enough if not slightly intimidating. At 6'3" he was oddly tall, especially for a mostly Japanese-blooded male. Several others sat with him, though the strangest part was that the two nearest tables to them were completely unoccupied.

In fact the cafeteria tables were almost overflowing with folks trying to get food and seats, though this group of folks was completely sequestered from everyone else. She sighed and walked over, then slapped a file folder against his face. She snickered softly as he sputtered from the impact, as a few of his companions emitted various noises of surprise and humor. "Your team botched something again, Koji. Remember the bus incident from two weeks ago?"

When he stayed silent, she sighed and sat down next to him and another of the group before stealing a few fries from his plate. "Briefcase man? He mentioned two others from the bus detail? Guess who's here and now wants us on babysitting duty until the youngest one can make a choice?" Her eyes looked at the others as they all froze, suddenly looking uncertain of what was happening.

"Your team is now doing triple duty. Part of your group will be handling the tour and facility training of the new recruits. Another group will be in cycle to guard the girl, so probably a team of three or four if you can spare it. The rest of you get to try and handle the shifted workload that you all usually handle as a team. And no, you don't get to dump any of this onto the Doctor. We need her here for any issues that crop up from standard field missions. She may also wind up with one of the new members directly under her wing."

Koji's eyes slimmed slightly with embarrassment and frustration, but he nodded slightly to Lenore. Arguing with a lead of the company was a bad move unless you were looking to challenge any of them for a shot at the top. He wasn't that desperate, especially since she and Caleb had saved his life before and given them all the offer of employment. He led his troupe, and others led the company. He wasn't aiming for much more than where he was, and getting to bust up monsters and madmen for food, housing, hygiene, and money was nothing to sneeze at.

Hopefully the others felt the same. He didn't want trouble like five years ago. He looked around the table, then arched an eyebrow motioning for a vote. "The vote is for who gets which job. There's a good amount of us, so I think we can handle this. And after training, we can break down the last two jobs a little more equally to help everyone relax."

He drew three circles on the table with the shadows nearby, then marked each one with a gap in the shadow that formed a letter. "Team 'T' gets training and tour duty. That means at a later date, they get divided between the other two teams. 'O' is our original workload group. 'G' group is for guard duty. I feel safe in suggesting that team members can swap off as necessary, especially to handle giving all of us some needed days off down the line. Hands in which circle you wish to participate in."

He watched as each of his team thought for a moment, knowing they'd each go to what they had strengths in and especially if they were on the same group. Some of them could easily amplify another's skills by just being there. They'd been through enough together to learn all of that. Eight hands went to cover the three circles, and he sighed and nodded as his hand was the eighth to move.

Meriel and their youngest couldn't be part of this due to being so critical to the medical group. His right hand man and other two original crew were in the standard workload group. The blood siblings and their somewhat wild last group addition were on guard duty. That left himself and his pink-haired partner of several levels on touring and training. This would be interesting, if not a strange break from the normal fuss and fight they usually dealt with.

"It looks like we have our teams. Shion and I will take touring and training duty. Yami, Fukada, and Ritsu have the original workload. Sam, Rina, and Nate have the last detail on watching over the kid. Will that meet your needs, boss lady?" He snickered, settling back and wiping the table clean of the shadow circles before eating once again while listening for Lenore's response. He was no slouch, but someone had definitely screwed up this last job. Good thing he was now answering for it on the Guard duty detail.

Even better, with Sam and Rina watching him in shifts, he'd have fewer chances to mess this up. Nate was their last loose cannon, but a good enough guy if it came down to needing to fight. Beyond that though, his only other skill was in frying anything around him to a cinder, be it a microwave that hadn't cooked his burrito properly or a game system and surrounding spectators when he screwed up on it and got into a rage fit over the loss. Good kid, but his emotional control still had a long way to go to succeed.

Lenore hummed and studied the people for each group, then nodded softly. "Alright. Also since the issue was in your group, I'll leave it to you to handle the punishment for the individuals involved in the mistake. I need to go see Caleb and get the paperwork ready for the three new additions. Please finish eating quickly so you and yours can be ready to start by the time they are. You should let one of the others go and tell the medical team of the additions as well, so no mistakes can be made during the tour and training." She stood and took a few more fries, them waved to the group of eight before walking away.

She felt the eyes watching her and the group she'd just left behind, but decided to ignore them all for now. Strictness was her brothers' specialty and delight, not hers. She'd handle this issue at a later date when it became necessary, but for now the eyes were the only offending issue. Commanding people five, ten, hell even forty years her senior surely pissed a lot of them off. Still, no harm no issue. She smiled coyly as the doors shut behind her in the elevator, eating the fries thoughtfully as the floor slipped by comfortably and quietly. It was almost time...but not quite yet. Not just yet, indeed...

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Caleb looked over the files and then the three recruits sitting in front of him within the office. "You set up your rooms, so I'll cover a quick explanation of how meals and funds work here before you go to finish getting ready for the tour. Much like a school cafeteria, we set up a few items to choose from at each meal station, and after getting your permitted amount everything purchased after will cost you directly. Free meals are fine, but we still have a budget to maintain after all."

He licked his lips thoughtfully, before nodding as each of them seemed to understand the situation in a general scale at least. "Next up is personal effects and items of interest and decorative or downtime usages. The beginners budget covers furnishings, after which you are allowed to select a few items up to the cost of two-hundred dollars a month. Upon upgrading from beginners to official associates, the amount increases to five-hundred. Top-ranked associates get between one-thousans and two-thousand five-hundred. Senior associates, lead positions, and folks that head departments like Lenore and myself get up to ten-thousand on the top ends. And that's not even our paychecks or work-related expenses."

He smiled lightly as the numbers rolled over the trio, though he noticed that 'Duke' seemed to be deep in thought over the digits presented to them all. He supposed it made the biggest amount of sense that he was going to be the most reserved about the numbers, having been in numbers-related jobs before now. "Bigger pay means either more work, or more dangerous work. Isn't that right sir?" He sighed, but had to give it to the guy. He was definitely going to be the most difficult to avoid giving information to.

"You're right, of course. I suppose you realize that means that folks like my sister and I will have the brunt of it. You all will be on the small end until a later date. ...For now though, I think that concludes the necessary details. The more work you do, the higher a point scale you have for spending without the use of your actual funds. Anything else will be covered in your tour of the facilities and training. Go wash up and enjoy dinner. You might even see your teachers there, though you won't recognize them outright just yet. A lot of folks to see, so that'll muddy your perceptions." He smiled lightly, before waving them out to tend to themselves.