Jasmine contemplated quitting. In fact, she did quit. Then changed her mind, withdrawing her resignation from the digital contract between her and Arson.
“You okay?” asked one of the twins hard at work within the warehouse. The young boy was stuffing clothing into a large container, which was inscribed with basic runes mimicking advanced systems built into Arson’s watch, while his sister positioned herself at the opposing end, pulling the repaired and clean product from the chute positioned there.
“Yes, and no… we need more help, but all the interviews I have scheduled today start out fantastically, but end with orphans fleeing once they realize that they aren’t just working for me, but for Arson as well,” Jasmine expressed, frustrated. The twins shared a look before the brother of the pair spoke.
“What’s so wrong with working for Big Brother?” Jasmine looked around, gesturing toward all the mountains of clothing they were expected to finish cleaning in a rather short period of time before she responded.
“Well, his expectations are rather high, not to mention that his reputation precedes him. There were a few season cycles where he caused only pure havoc for everyone around him, myself included,” responded Jasmine.
“But aren’t we completing jobs faster than when you worked for Mr. Kim?” the female twin asked, doing her best to fold all the clean clothes she pulled out of the chute.
“Yes…”
“So how are Big Brother’s expectations too high?”
“Because taking on as many jobs as we have so far would be easy if we had someone to fold, someone to organize the cleaned product for each job, or even something to deliver the finished product more easily,” Jasmine blurted in a ramble, that made the twins snicker until Jasmine glared at them both.
“But didn’t Big Brother make it so that you were in charge of how many jobs we take on?” Jasmine didn’t want to admit that the boy was right, ignoring him as she looked over the long list of tasks she had to complete that day.
“Also, since you are the one that is supposed to hire more help, isn’t our current level of struggle due to your expectations rather than Big Brother’s,” the female twin asked.
“What are you two getting at? Are you trying to say all this is my fault?”
“Yeah, pretty much,” said the male twin.
“Yup, exactly, not that it's a bad thing, we seem to be making quite a lot of credits,” said the female twin with a smile.
“More than we’ve ever made for sure, but with a few extra hands we could be making an incredible amount of credits, but hopefully my new strategy of not talking about Arson during interviews will help,” said Jasmine with a laugh. Yet neither of the twins joined in, their similar facial features both crinkled in obvious annoyance at Jasmine’s words.
“What, what did I say now?”
“Nothing, you just seem not to care that Big Brother gave us an awesome opportunity. We love you for bringing us along, but you're constantly belittling him for being younger than you, sometimes makes us think that you think of us the same way,” said the male twin punching dirty clothing into the chute on his end of the container in frustration. His aggressive force feeding of clothing into the container would be an issue without the restorative properties installed into their cleaning device, as the sound of ripping could be heard often during his more angry moments.
“Agreed, just seems like rather than thinking of ways to help him after he helped you, you’d rather his reputation stay bad, while you hand out jobs that wouldn’t be there without him in the first place,” said the female twin, still doing her best to fold clothing as fast as possible.
“Well, whose side are you two really on here,” Jasmine yelled in annoyance. Yes, Arson was doing a lot but so was Jasmine. She may never have had an opportunity like this without Arson, but she’d always seen herself as not only entirely in charge of herself, even before the age of majority, but as a natural born leader. Her presence deserving of respect even though she wasn’t a Cultivator.
“Ha, you're funny, but there aren’t supposed to be sides in the first place. We all work for Big Brother, and you're our manager, so why are you looking down on him,” asked the female.
“I am not!”
“Seriously, you haven’t spoken a kind word about Arson since we started. I love you, big sister, but you have been full of nothing but complaints for days, Arson didn’t do this... Arson didn’t do that, but he’s literally younger than both of us and has already started his own small business. Does that not count for anything?” said the male twin aggressively, becoming even more forceful while shoving the laundry into the container.
“Well he—“
“You were about to do it again. Is it just Arson specifically that you don’t like, or his age? I’ve never heard you talk this way about Mr. Kim and he didn’t pay you as much as Big Brother, nor give you as much authority,” cut in the male twin.
“Authority, did I say that word right,” the male twin asked his sister and she nodded back.
“I, I… don’t know. I just can’t stand him, he does what he wants and never pays for the repercussion of his actions. He’s an absolute menace and can now pay me more than I’ve ever made in my life, and he works in a garbage dump. How is any of that fair?”
“How is it fair that you are getting paid more than you’ve ever made before and get to slander your boss for doing his best?” said the male twin.
“How is it fair that you’ve been given an opportunity with perks like free clothing, free food, and more that our young minds don’t understand, your words, not mine, and still you get to bash that individual, but not the old as dirt cultivator that worked you like a slave,” asked the female twin, now aggressively folding the clothes she pulled from the container. Jasmine looked away from her Flatscreen and looked between the twins hard at work before scoffing and glancing at the time. She rose to her feet, and almost opened her mouth to respond in the negative about Arson again, before a thought crossed her mind.
Am I being entitled…?
The thought consumed her momentarily. But a knock pulled her from her thoughts, and back toward the task at hand.
Jasmine quickly strode across the large expanse between herself and the front doors to the warehouse, assuming that her next interviewee had arrived.
“One moment, I’m coming,” Jasmine yelled once the aggressive knock came once more. Finally she opened the door to a familiar face she wasn’t expecting.
“Xani, what are you doing here?”
“I’m here to start work. Arson sent me a contract and a set of plans his mother gave him before his accident this morning,” Xani said before brushing past Jasmine, flanked by two Bookish that Jasmine didn’t recognize.
“Oh wow, what in the sparks is that?” Xani asked heading straight for the container Jade had put together for them to use instead of the laundry machines Arson originally wanted to gather from the dump and buy from Jade.
“It’s our entire laundry operation, with the exception of folding and organization, but wait did you just say that Arson had an accident this morning?” Xani glanced back at Jasmine giving her a nod, before her focus was consumed by the simple machine in front of her being used by the twins.
“Wow, didn’t think he had a working model when I received those plans this morning. Looks like a lot of our available funding won’t have to be used for research guys,” said Xani to the two Bookish that followed her.
“Hold on, is Arson okay?” Jasmine asked suddenly alarmed by the potential that her new job may be at risk.
“Yeah, I guess, his mom came and grabbed him from the orphanage, and says he’s sleeping. Let's hope that he wakes up soon,” responded Xani bent at the waist, already memorizing the runes inscribed on the side of the container. Jasmine looked between the twins who’d stopped working completely to listen to the conversation.
“So what does that mean for us, should I be worried for my job, what happens to us if he doesn’t wake up?”
Xani shrugged and righted herself, waving the Bookish who remained by the door behind Jasmine to come inside.
“I’m going to work until the money runs out, and I suggest you do the same,” stated Xani simply before looking between the container once more and back toward Jasmine, speaking up again before Jasmine could even complete a thought.
“I’m supposed to install a station table to this container, so that whatever is inside can be more easily managed, do you want me to concentrate on making the content folded, that shouldn’t be too hard?”
Jasmine absentmindedly nodded, without even really paying any attention to what Xani had stated, only to have her attention pulled away once more by another knock coming from behind her. She moved toward the door lost in thought, only able to draw herself from her tangle of fears when the door opened.
“Hey, we are here for our interviews,” said a kind looking young man in front of a group of five slightly less familiar faces. Jasmine nodded and let them all inside. The groups eyes widening at the mountains of clothing once more being processed by the dour-faced twins.
Jasmine looked between the twins' faces, and back toward the excited group of newcomers, feeling a weight of responsibility land even more heavily on her shoulders.
What am I supposed to do now?
The thought made Jasmine realize how often in the last few days she’d turned to Arson for every problem they came across, and her sense of entitlement grew further.
Here I am with practically everything I’ve ever wanted, and the moment my first true hurdle pops up, I fold… because I can’t ask for immediate help from the person I have been talking negatively about practically since I started.
She chuckled to herself in resignation that the twins' words may have held more truth than she was willing to accept.
So what should I do now?
Jasmine looked around at the group waiting for their interviews. A thought occurring to her the moment she’d nearly given up, a new perspective washing over her as the reality of adult life sank in. Either she would be able to support herself and those she loved, or she wouldn’t.
It doesn’t matter that that little brat gave me a chance, it matters that I do some good with what blessings I find myself a part of. Trash or not.
She glanced toward the windows, where mountains of trash gave off a sense of being showcased like stacks of gold coins, and filled her mind with an image of a rising credit balance on her Flatscreen.
“Well, give me a moment to direct the troops and I’ll be back with you in a moment,” said Jasmine slowly working herself up as she spoke.
“Alright guys, we have a lot to do and not a lot of time. These orders aren’t going to fill themselves. Xani, I’m excited to see what this table is going to do for us, but can you add making a few more of these to your plate, we’re going to need more,” said Jasmine with a glance toward the group behind her. Xani turned her head long enough to catch the slight gesture and returned a nod.
“No biggie. Shouldn’t take long at all, as long as we have enough station tables to connect to the containers we should be fine.”
Jasmine smiled and looked toward the twins.
“Hey you two, as our employees of the month, this fortnight you two get a nice credit bonus from the big boss directly, right?” Jasmine chuckled at their shocked faces.
“We do?”
Jasmine nodded at both and spoke to them again knowing that she’d already been given permission by Arson to do this, but felt she would give at least the first bonus from her own extra money, now that she is able to save for the first time in her life.
You may be a brat Arson, but I refuse to be ungrateful.
“You do. Just keep up the hard work and you two may get promoted and paid more when you train our new team mates behind me.” The twins smiled and nodded, both attempting to be more graceful in their work at Jasmine’s words.
“Hey, Xani, may I borrow one of your assistants for a brief explanation,” Jasmine asked rolling with what she’d been handed for the morning. Xani gave Jasmine a thumbs up, and whispered to one of her fellow Bookish.
“How can I help?” The young man smiled and approached Jasmine, giving a slight bow to the group in front of her.
“Nothing too crazy just a few questions,” Jasmine said receiving a nod of confirmation that she could continue.
“Our incredible crafting team is the reason why our boss's company is able to grow so quickly. As you can see around us, there is a lot of work, and that is because of how efficient our process is and will become," Jasmine explained before she looked at the young man beside her and spoke.
“So, how long do you think it would take a team of five to complete all the work around us,” asked Jasmine.
“Hmm, before or after the station table installs?”
“After.”
“With two people at the station table, two at either end, and one organizing the finished product, I’d say less than half of a morning, something like that,”
Jasmine nearly choked on her next words, stifling an exclamation of shock embodied in curse words, and nodded. Shifting what she intended to say with the information, not feeling the slightest bit of regret at her next statement regardless of it being an outright lie.
“You see, with that alone your group of friends here could form a team, and all work together. Our night shift completed a load larger than this without the use of the specialized upgrades you all will have access to, and they only have three members, unlike you all.” Jasmine omitted that she and the twins were that night shift, as well as that they’d only managed to complete that amount since they’d started as a whole and not in a single night as she suggested. The twins shared a look, but shrugged and went back to work.
“We offer many shifts a day and if you take on more jobs the more likely you are to be In the running for the next fortnight's favored employee bonus, just like these two experienced team members behind me.” Once more complimented, the twins near stage acting levels of presentation grew further. Their movements made to be even sharper, and more purpose was given to their every action as Jasmine continued.
“Most people go salary, but the twins behind me prefer the pay by the job employment option as there is a much higher potential for credits that way, but the option is yours. However, just as an offering of faith and transparent honesty, how much will our new team here make if they did for straight shifts at 250 thousand credits a job like the one around them currently, paid three thousand a shift taken, in a single day,” Jasmine asked the Bookish boy next to her. Jasmine was terrible with numbers and often shirked those duties, only growing slightly more accustomed to it after being forced to look over contracts over the last few days. Contracts that all equaled 250 thousand credits, rather than that a single job equaled that much as Jasmine had stated.
“The company would make a million and the team would make 12 thousand credits per member,” said the Bookish so quickly that Jasmine wondered if the young man was a walking talking station table. The young woman absolutely envious over his calculative abilities.
Not only that Jasmine nearly felt her soul leave her body at what the young man had said to her. If it weren’t for the contract she’d already worked out with Arson and the fact that he might be seriously be hurt, she’d be renegotiating her pay immediately.
Calm down, Jazz, you don’t know how much all of this is costing Arson…?
“Man, how’d you do that so fast, you like a math Cultivator or something?” The young man frowned at the serious face Jasmine shot at him, and slowly shook his head.
“Sparks, I didn’t even know we were making that much,” said the male twin.
“Bloody embers if I did either, brother?” Jasmine nodded and spread her arms wide, a huge smile on her face as she took in the shocked appearances of all the new comers. A sense of awe seen in the gleaming eyes of the entire group.
“So guys, shall you interview as individuals, or as a team?”