Hiring Fair, Part 3

“Why is it that villains never have trouble finding people to hire? Is there a group called ‘Thugs are Us’ or something that hires out goons?”

“I don’t know, but if we ever find them, I’m hiring some myself. I’m tired of being outnumbered.”

Vanguard and Amazonian, after fighting two busloads of goons Major Pain brought intending to attack the Super Bowl.

"I think she missed having a staff." Penny said with a chuckle.

"As things get worked up it will get harder and harder to move around. Surrounding myself with good, loyal people is a great way to not get lonely, and to not have to worry about little day to day things.”

"The two remaining I want to introduce you to are both in building A’s apartments." The dean once more drove them back to the house, though this time parking at one of the "barns". "We put a semi-transparent film over the windows to make it look like the barn it’s shaped like. Won't fool you up close but keeps outsiders assuming we're a ranch. Never mind we have only a handful of animals."

He led them through the front door, into what was a sort of lobby. The apartments ran along each side of the barn structure, while there was a common, indoor patio area, with washing machines tucked away opposite the doors. The interior was filled with what could be a chaotic growth of plants, vines and flowers except no handrail was covered, and no front window had their view blocked. It was chaos worked around order.

"This is an interesting cacophony of colors." Solaris said. "I am assuming this is the work of the prospect?"

"Yes, she tends to decorate her environment but has learned to make it eye pleasing to everyone, not just her." He led them up the stairs, to one of the apartment doors and knocked.

"Come In." They entered a tiny but tidy kitchen, a young woman with dark skin but shockingly blue eyes looking up at them from where she was sitting. "Hello." She said, her voice quiet but not soft, reaching like a bell to be heard while still being delicate. "How can I help you and your friends, sir?”

“Hello Mercades. This is Solaris, she is looking for a Gardener and groundskeeper for her home in New York and I thought you might be interested in the job.”

"Groundskeeper? I suppose I'm technically qualified. But is it in the city itself? I'm not sure I'd do well in Manhattan."

"No, we are on Islip is a quiet place a bit away from New York City with a couple of acers of land. We're only maybe a mile from a state forest."

"Hmmm, hiking in the north-east could be interesting."

“Marcus and Nahoa also enjoy hiking, my security guard and driver.”

"Oh, good. I usually go with Anzy, when she's free. Are you wanting just pretty, or also practical. I do herb gardens and veggie gardens here."

"Both. I want a kitchen garden as well as lovely flowers and plants. I've ordered a greenhouse that will be put on property soon so plants can be wintered."

"That's lovely. Privacy hedges would be easy to do there too, good as a fence, especially if you add brambles."

"A delightful idea. It will make it feel more like home. Do you think you would enjoy planning out and maintaining the gardens? I know better than most we are not our powers, and I want to make sure you will be happy doing the work.”

"My powers have been active since I was six. I kind of am my powers. They're just part of who I am, as much as an arm or a leg." She shrugged. "I just don't get the science of it. Why would I care about all that fiddly stuff when plants are an open book to me."

The Dean nodded "To be fair, and honest, Mercedes was a bit of an indifferent student. Never failing or anything like that, but if the topic didn't interest her, she didn't excel. She's a bit more of an artist at heart."

She blushed. "He's not wrong."

“Well, a well-tended garden is a work of art. What is it that you want to do? Do you want to be a gardener?”

"I am a painter." She said, gesturing around the apartment. The paintings on the wall were landscapes and still life. "I don't keep my portraits. I gave those to the others when I painted them. I am hoping to one day be good enough to show in a gallery. maybe even sell a painting or two. I don't think I'm there yet, but I'm learning. But in spite of that, a painter can’t just paint. I’d hate to not spend time in the sun."

“Ahh, I understand. It is good to know what you love. If you are not interested that is fine.”

"I am interested, though I wouldn't be able to ask for a very large wage. I just wouldn't be working that hard, since I am kind of a plant cheat code. I am sure I could help with other things too. As long as I can paint, and there are plants, I am happy."

Solaris was less sure about this one, she was honest but didn’t seem to have any motivation. “Mrs. Ruan, I’d like your opinion she’d be working under you.”

"I'm not sure. She has the talent, but I'm not sure she's interested or focused. However, it could also be that she's a bit distant by nature."

"I can be." Mercedes, admitted. "I am interested in sculpting the plants of your acreage I don't mind moving to the outskirts of New York and the idea of being able to go into the city to see the galleries and museums would be lovely for me and my development."

Solaris nodded, “Alright. Penny, can you give her pictures of the grounds? I would like you to view these, Mercedes, and put together a quick plan of what you would do. I want you to show me that you can and will do the job, this is your chance to sell yourself. While you do that I’ll go speak to the business and marketing person, then come back to see what you’ve come up with.”

"I can do that." She said, pulling a sketch pad out of a drawer with colored pencils, accepting a picture sent from the assistant. She started working on it right away, sketching in the house and pool first thing. “Have fun talking to Elenore. She will definitely come off as motivated.”

Out and down the stairs, the other girl’s apartment was on the opposite side. This time the tiny apartment they were let in was decorated by photographs everywhere. A laptop sat open on the counter. "Hello there. You must be the folks looking to hire people. I bumped into Anzy earlier."

“How many of her?” Solaris said with humor in her voice.

"Two, and they actually ran into me." She chuckled. "I'm used to it. Can I offer you anything to drink, since I'm sure you've eaten."

“Thank you for asking, but I’m alright. The dean tells me you studied marketing and business, what kind of work are you looking for?

"I intend to pursue my own entrepreneurship, once I can build a nest egg, and settle upon an idea. I'm not interested in working in the normal corporate culture. I've thought about bullying Anzy into opening a restaurant, but she wants more experience before she does something like that."

"Right now, I am working on Fivrr for extra cash helping streamers and youtubers work out basic marketing plans. In their case it’s more important to figure out Merch that will appeal to their viewers than anything. A few small businesses have also had me assist with simple plans for their own small stores. Nothing terribly enriching financially but satisfying in their way."

“Well, that sounds perfect. Solaris smiled. “I am getting everything set up to rehab, restore and renovate my family home in England. My PR Manager suggested having YouTuber and influencers to do the work. I need someone to manage the projects, make sure nothing walks off, that the influencers are not angering the village, and if someone isn’t meeting their contracted expectations replace them. I also need someone to start marketing the property for events. And finding ways to make the property profitable.

" And that's small enough you don't necessarily want a firm, but big enough you want a specialist." She snapped her fingers, and two puffs of smoke occurred above her. Two adorable looking kittens with wings appeared, and flew off, returning quickly with a folder. "This is a print up of a plan I did for a bed and breakfast. I just happened to have print outs because I wanted to make sure things looked good on paper. There's a flyer they sent previous customers, sketches for some new signage, things like that there if you would like to take a look."

Solaris took the paper. “I don’t normally ask but I have to. “Flying Kittens?”

"I create, well we call them imps for lack of a better term. They're not truly sentient, and I doubt they're really alive. When I summon small ones to do innocuous tasks they come out cute, I can kind of choose a theme and flying kittens are hard to find scary."

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

“Her flying tigers are significantly less adorable.” The dean wryly commented.

“Interesting I could see that as useful. She looked over the packet “This is very good. Do you think you can handle managing the renovation and business end of the manor? It is a very large job, and I am certain there will be issues.”

"I can monitor the renovation, at a distance and with occasional visits, but managing it should be left to your general contractor. I don't know a hammer from a hole in the wall." she admitted. "As for the business end, definitely. I'm getting a feel for weddings, film shoots, and other events."

“Yes, exactly, the lawyer and the contractor will monitor the actual work, I need you to make sure the people are behaving and not running off with the copper or something else strange. I still don’t understand why people steal copper.” she admitted.

"I'll talk to the people I know and reach out to the ones I don't know but think would be good. To manage the project, like I said, might mean frequent trips out there, or even spending extended time in England, depending on what stage we're at. I don't mind that, just musing over the logistics."

“My PR person is also reaching out to people you’ll be working a lot with Zakai and his people, and I figured you’d be staying in England for the project.”

"Can do. I assume short term I'd come to New York to strategize?"

“Yes, and I’d be taking trips to England every now and then to keep my finger in the pie. I’ll rent a flat for you in the village, in addition to your salary. Along with a car for you to get around.”

"That would be good. A van or SUV would be better. Then I can pick up people coming in." she suggested.

"It sounds like we both think this is a good fit. Do you have paperwork going over pay and benefits? I can look that over and get everything set in motion."

“I wasn’t honestly thinking of this position when I came here, I can give you the basic contract and the Penny will send a complete copy with more details.”

"I have a generalized sheet, just in case we were going to hire others." Penny pulled it out of her bag. "This is the benefits we're offering, and an estimate on pay for given jobs. A marketing project head wasn't on my list, but I'd say it's going to be similar to a chef, would you agree?”

“I would think so. There is a bonus system in there and we can increase the pay if the workload demands it.”

"This seems fine to start. I don't have any formal experience from a normal hiring rate, plus you're offering to get me a car, send me to England, and get me an apartment. I don't think complaining makes a lot of sense."

This should give you a lot of experience toward whatever you decide to do in your future. Impress me enough and I might be your first investor.”

"Impress me enough, and I might prefer being you project coordinating maven." She said back with a smile.

“Oh, we are going to get along famously.” Solaris chuckled. “When do you want to start? If you don’t mind sharing with the mechanic duo, I have a place you can stay while we get you set up in England. That may not be for months, to be fair. Nothing major will start with winter coming in the North Sea.”

"That's absolutely fine. They, um, don't both live next door but I see them both regularly. Erica is my neighbor.”

"And sure, her boyfriend never hangs out past curfew. Pull the other one kid." The dean chuckled.

“Celebrate love as you can, it can vanish in a moment.” The blonde hero said with a smile. “I spent enough time in the war around soldiers to lose some of the prudishness of my time.

"Grim, but true."

"Shall we go check on our artist friend, and see what she's achieved?"

"Yes. Let’s see what she has done. Mercades is the only one I've been uncertain of."

What they found was her with a laptop open, and quick sketches, multiple, of the property from both the overhead they had brought her, and from the front from the real estate listing and google street view. "I think at some point the neighbors were fighting because the current lay out is a bit weird." she said absently as she pushed a few sketches forward.

"This is the front view. If you look at your street level view, the trees basically hide the house and I figure that's not a bad thing, so I was thinking we move a few of the trees along the driveway, I can get them to move, not have to dig them up, and thicken the front and sides, maybe even adding a tree at the corner of the house here to give privacy from this neighbor."

"You think the original trees where part of some neighborly dispute?" Solaris said, looking over the drawings with a careful eye. She was pleased the girl took the assignment seriously and handed the picture over to Granny Ruan to look over.

She paused "Oh yeah. Look at this layout. This is obviously a rich community, and the neighbors on both sides ran their driveways right against what is now your property line. And the trees along here are only on your property, at least that's my guess, and are blocking your neighbor from seeing onto your property. In comparison, the back yard is arranged, again, to make it real hard for your neighbor on one side to see anything that's going on.”

“Interesting, that does make the suggestion of some tall hedgerows between the properties even more desirable. The last thing I need is some nosy neighbor spying through the windows at me

"My thought is put a gazebo on a raised dias in the middle of the front yard, which is not really set up to be used for much. The gazebo could be used to wait for visitors. Then around the gazebo plant a kind of faux hedge maze. I say faux because I'd put two full length stretches like a cross, then kind of mini-mazes in the quadrants. I sketched one using roses, one using just hedges, and one with a indistinct flowering bush because I don't know yet what grows well in the area."

I do love roses. Strong, thorny, and beautiful. I like the concept of the faux maze, though I'm not sure there is enough space to do justice to the mini mazes. the gazebo is a good idea and will make a wonderful centerpiece. What are you thinking for the kitchen garden?”

"The maze is more visual interest than really mazy like, I admit." She did say. "I have another idea but I'll show you that in a minute. The herb garden I'd want to put here, on this kind of secondary walkway. You have a big entrance right here, so guests would come through there, to the pool and covered dining area so they would be unlikely to walk in it. This is also far enough from the salt water of the bay here to keep from being a problem. Instead of planting in rows I think it might look better to put raised planters, and fill the boxes with an herb or two here, a vegetable or three there, so it doesn't look like you randomly have a tiny farm sitting here. That keeps things organized without needing straight rows for everything. A lot of herbs are happy to grow in more chaotic, um, I guess clumps?" she shrugged.

"An alternative for the front would be a similar planters, with rose bushes and a kind of stone or brick walkway, I drew using cobblestones, to the same Gazebo. The Gazebo idea is you can wait for visitors there, and if you don't want the visitor in your house, it can be a comfortable place to talk to them, without them feeling snubbed. It's less ‘You annoy me, talk here’ and more ‘See my lovely gazebo? You don't need to worry about my back yard sanctuary or my living room, stupid reporter man.’”

"Herbs would also perfume the air nicely, walking to and from the pool. I didn't think of trying to hide the vegetables.” Solaris said pleased. I've always had a garden. I rather like the idea though, it would be more visually pleasing than a small organized plot. It is an idea that can be expanded on too. Maybe grape vines? Or some small fruit trees. I think that would work quite well. Beauty and practicality literally planted side by side.” She handed the drawing over to the other two. "I like where you are going with this. Do you think this is something you would like to make real?"

"Oh yeah, these trees, I mean they were thrown in and then left to fend. I'd like to move them around and get them happier looking, while keeping the privacy and if the Gazebo is done right anyone coming to it knows they're visiting at the person sitting there's pleasure. I like the drama. I see your point about the small area for a maze, so the Planters aren't a bad idea. Roses are kind of stuck up sometimes, so they'll like having their own little world. As for fruit trees, I could see peppering the back yard with a few. I'd really be tempted to suggest cherry trees, for the blossoms at that time of year, put little benches around them as sitting areas that also smell pretty and make cherries that the birds will eat so maybe not a great idea."

"Plum or apple might work well too, though both would be messy in the fall." Solaris said. "I am willing to give you a chance. I can see a bit of passion for the project in you now to see what you can create.”

"Thank you. I mean, I'm sure I could do other things too. Anzy uses me as an errand runner a lot. She loves to take me to farmers markets, because I can find the best produce. That and I'm a more cautious driver than basically all my classmates."

The Dean coughed. "We might teach a fairly offensive form of defensive driving course for the reasons this school exists." He admitted.

"I'll have to have Erica and Levi teach Marcus. Defensive driving would be a good skill for him to learn.”

"That's agreed." Penny said, considering. "I'll track down something that we don't mind getting wrecked back home for them to play with in that regard. No reason for them to wreck a nice car." She joked.

“I agree. You will probably be bunking with Anzy.”

“I don't mind. I spend most of my time with Anzy. I'm not great with people, but Anzy kind of, well she surrounds you, sometimes literally."

“We will be leaving once we arrange for a plane. If you want to pack your things. With all of you I may just hire a mover to take all your stuff to New York. Depends on how much cargo space whatever I buy has.”

"I can pack up. Mostly just clothes and my art stuff for me." She admitted.

"That is fine,” Solaris said handing her the contract that Penny handed to her. "I look forward to seeing your work make our lawn a place of beauty.”

"I will do my best." She said, with a soft smile. “Though I suppose I’ll be more of a mason since winters coming. That could be interesting though.”

After they left the apartment Penny said "Seemed she was more energized by the idea than you had thought. She went a bit extra looking the place up online."

"I am glad, I was worried about her motivation levels. But the work was solid, so I am willing to try. Anzy and Elenore have me excited. Seems we’re getting a good team together."

“I promise, this is just a precaution, and you can consider it part of your pay. To be honest, I’m never going to be able to sell the car I’m thinking of, anyhow.” The Tailor muttered darkly as they rode the elevator up to a level they hadn’t been to before. On this floor were vehicles with noticeable damage, under construction by various people, and a few just parked in the corner, some covered in dust. “This is a bit of a behind the scenes peek most don’t get. Where the toys get made.” He chuckled. “And here’s the car.”

“What is it.”

The car was an older design, that much was obvious. The square body was not something you’d see in a modern car, though its size seemed odd. Not as big as the two boys thought older cars should be.

“This is a 1968 Plymouth Valiant, with some modifications.” The Tailor replied, tsking as he ran a finger over the car, dust coming off visibly. “A wanna be new hero calling himself Valiant wanted a car to match his name, and I found plenty of them so we worked out a deal. He paid partially in advance for me to build him a sleeper hot rod version, suitable for the super set, then just as I was half way done he got himself put into traction and a coma by some drug-enhanced maniac in Jersey. Needless to say, he never completed paying and eventually canceled when he regained consciousness. I finished it, just because I can’t help myself.”

“Okay, neat, but it’s a classic, isn’t it?”

“A classic you can buy for less than a used Accord. A not very gently used one. It’s probably the cheapest car I’ve ever built, and no one is going to come here looking for it. It’s turbocharged, with enhanced suspension and steering. I upgraded the interior and electronics, so it has a limited infotainment system, though nowhere near what a new car has.”

“I also included a smoke dispenser, oil trap, and we pulled every panel off and layered carbon fiber and Kevlar so the things bullet proof, including the glass. We also reinforced the frame.” The Tailor sighed. I hate to see a good machine just sit like this.”