Scene #9232: One Final Interview For Audrey

Owner	Pose
Yuuki Kuran	The Grand Dorado is a whole luxury metropolis, a sanctuary site of the Concord, built to service the dealings of the elite with the elite. Simply sending in an application to join the partnership isn't the sum of the effort: it is the first part in a long a involved interview process for outsiders. There is nothing so simply as being stamped 'approved' past a system of chance and paper evaluation - those that dream of being accepted simply for what they are might be insulted at how involved and process based the whole recruitment becomes. While memberships can be sponsored by other Partners, being friends with one member doesn't just get you in. Part of the selection is very social - if they chose simply on combat power or simple 'monsterhood', where would the scientists, the royals, and the magicians go? The dreams for belonging and the forms of excellence within the Multiverse meant that there was simply no way the resume summed onto a piece of paper or readable medium could convey. Sometimes, applicants attached prophecies about their accepted applications. Those were always incinerated, because while the oversight committee had a sense of humor and honor, they also did not like to be presumed upon. During part of the selection process, applicants were invited to retreats, where 'classes' of candidates for lateral hire into the organization rubbed elbows or appendages with those that followed the internal tracks. It was there that many candidates were weeded out: it was important for each member of the Concord to comport themselves in a way that did not so singlemindedly incorporate one world-view into their own. If members from outside couldn't tolerate members brought up from inside, then classes would be created. If members from inside never saw those joiners from the Multiverse abroad, they might develop an insular elitism. To make the retreats interesting, members of the recruitment committee moved among the classes under assumed identities, seeing how potential members engaged with each other in various scenarios from heated to heavy to hardly a problem - all with the open assumption that anyone met during the retreats could be a Partner, or simply a hopeful. It kept things honest. The Concord loved honesty . . . to a point. Final round interviews were always conducted at the Elysium Apex, usually at the personal office of the senior Partner within the luxury tower. Audrey is invited such, issued a day-badge at the incredible bustle of reception and allowed to buzz into one of the gold-and-glass tube elevators. She has to wait a while, after buzzing the card into the transit terminal, and a particularly central one, flanked with black marble columns, opens to invite her in. The only people who even use these elevators are Partners and Partner-hopefuls, and the one Audrey is drawn within directly services the top suites. Swept up-up-up, she reaches the penultimate floor, an entire thick slice of the Multiverse's ivory tower and can step out into another, almost-silent reception area. There's only one elevator, elegantly set into a wall. Flanked by floor-to-ceiling windows that look out through a misty curl of clouds over the yellow lights of civilization and the sprawl of glitter and luxury lightly obscured by clouds, the main reception has a single L-shaped desk against a back wall across from the elevator and a double door leading deeper. At the desk is a man in a charcoal grey collared shirt, black tie, and a toasted foam off-white sweatervest over top, typing at a computer terminal. Blonde, with pale ice-blue eyes, his short crop of boyishly tousled hair bangs over his temples in a mid-part. His age is hard to determine, like someone who's been in a boy band for either two or twenty years. "The Director will see you in a few minutes. Please sit down." The blonde at the desk directs, gesturing to a couch near the window. A sitting table near it has a thoughtful scatter of finance & wealth magazines.
Audrey Basque	A long process, but one worth the effort. Although she didn't initiate the joining process - one could thank her father and some members of the school administration board for that - its nature certainly meant that she had to want it, and she had to put in the work. And if she's familiar with anything at all in this world, it's putting in the work, feelings be damned. ... not that her feelings were especially against her, when she'd first laid eyes on Grand Dorado. The Phantom Circle is nice, her school is nice, but this is right out of a story book. The Circle was gaudy, and comfy, and fancy but practical in the way a final military refuge for the wealthy could be, but this is a city of gold. It hits different. Especially, being called to meet the Director. It's not her first time meeting a Big Shot, but it's her first time meeting this much of one. It's alright, it's always the same formula. Deep breath, put a smile on, and just do what you always do. As her presence and acceptance was a matter of school pride, she'd been strongly urged to come wearing the uniform, and not some bland ballroom dress to impress. The red, white and blacks of the Nova Heliosanctus uniform aren't anything out of this world, but they're elegant, and might even be recognized if anyone had the luck to see Lilian in her uniform before. "Thank you," she beams to the receptionist, sitting down as instructed. Rather than the magazines, her gaze moves over to the windows, to take in the sight of the city from this high up. "Ah... I'm certain you've heard this one before, but you certainly have a nice view from here. It's beautiful. Do you normally receive all of your applicants here, with the Director in person?"
Yuuki Kuran	The process of making unknown unknowns a lot more intimately known was a whole semester, almost, because without the spotlight moments of getting-to-know that going to war alongside people brings, some people - most people! - have to become understood normally. There had been a buzz of activity about her when she had been among the crowds, questions and jousting and seekings that had been ever-so curious. Before, the game had been to be revealing but not too revealing, honest without being too honest, powerful and graceful both - socially, mentally, and in some cases subtly physically. Many of the applicants to the Concord had particular ideas of the Partner program, aspirations for what happened when they were (almost always) inevitably accepted. Audrey, applied for, had to be learned about as-herself. And she had many questions to the effect! The unexpected question comes from Audrey herself -- Hanabusa Aido is not used to getting chatted up by people before these meetings. Of course, unbeknownst to Audrey, he usually doesn't receptionist for these meetings at all. Aido is sitting at an unfamiliar desk, diffusing his usual prettyboy charm and oozing charisma by being scrunched into a chair for a man slightly taller than him and having his legs dangle just slightly. Yuuki had given her usual secretary, a Mr. Zellerbach, two weeks off for a vacation period and still needed someone to screen her calls and take visitors. Zero was handling the Hunter's organization, and Yuuki couldn't work her own desk, and so... Immiserated so, he continues to remote workstation on a document for his own projects, only expecting the one interview today and quietly thankful that he could get some work done. 'Ah... I'm certain you've heard this one before, but you certainly have a nice view from here.' Aido looks up, paused mid-keystroke, and looks out the same window as Audrey, reconsidering the color and glow that lit the room with underglow from the metropolis about. "Second best in the Multiverse. The view from the First's level is even better, but only a little bit. There's a balcony, in the back, that looks out over the whole Dorado, and when the sky darkens completely, you can really understand why it's the 'Grand' Dorado." But that's not the answer to Audrey's question. "Some." He restrains, the faint smile of knowing what he's doing painted over by the professional mustering of a long-term noble affecting calm. "New members are met by one of the First or the Director often, as part of orientation. Some are recruited in the field, but she thinks it helps people understand." Aido returns to his screen with a few keystrokes. "The Director wanted to personally handle some of the applications this cycle. Yours was. . . lucky." And, as it's known, the First prized lucky applicants over the undestined. The storied paper incinerator that burned half of all intake by sheer chance was a wall that demanded scheme or dream to pass. "So--" The doors rattle, and one opens. A short woman with red-brown eyes and a pale-fair complexion framed in the long bangs of rich-bright chestnut brown hair. Much of her hair's length is bound up in a falling braid tied with a black ribbon at collar-level. She wears a black dress with a distinct mass-of-feathers texture that would be lethal to be rendered by an inker on the cover of a tankobon issue, mesh leggings and black slippers. Cross earrings and a silver coil of a rosebloom over her right ear are her accessories, and the earrings jangle-hang as she leans out of the doorway. "Audrey?" She asks, looking at the couch-sitting mage and smiling pleasantly. "Hello! I'll see you now." Yuuki greets, stepping forward into the reception area to smile and receive Audrey. "I'm Yuuki Kuran," The fearsome vampire queen and Director declares at a warm cheer, and walks up to be in flats...
Yuuki Kuran	Eight inches shorter than Audrey. She's looking up pleasantly, contemplative serenity tinged with a hint of worry. "I hope you didn't wait long, I know some people come very early for their interviews. Would you walk with me, it's a little trip to my office. Then we can get to know each other!" She grins, knowing. "And before we start, is there anything you'd like for me to know?"
Audrey Basque	Countless questions, always met with the same smile and passive demeanor. Audrey had been told, but really didn't need to be told, to be on her best behavior. Demanding as the Concord's processes were, and continue to be, they were worth the investment. "That must be quite a sight then. I hope to be able to see it later," Audrey nods in thanks for the answer, before looking back up at Aido for his second reply. She doesn't have time to say anything before Yuuki arrives, which of course causes Audrey to rise and bow politely without hesitation. ... which accidentally puts her at Yuuki's face level. She knew Yuuki was the Director - basic research - but hadn't expected her to be small. Er. Smaller. "Ah, no, no, it's quite alright! You must be very busy, and besides, I'd just arrived, so..." Walk, right, yes. "Of course. Thank you for seeing me, Director Kuran." She straightens up, ready to follow. "Questions? ... I wouldn't know where to begin. It's one thing to read about the infinites of the Multiverse, and to know you should expect anything and keep an open mind..." Audrey considers her words; the streets of the city alone on her way in had exposed her to more new things in a hour than the first two decades of her life. It'd be an insane culture shock if not for her world having Unified long enough ago that things have bled in. She smiles, settling on: "Perhaps a hint on what's to come might be appreciated, if that's allowed."
Yuuki Kuran	Audrey goes down for the bow, and Yuuki waits. She expected this, and when the young mage's eyes go down, she's still at eye-level with the Director. She thinks about the height difference and gets a little light up in Yuuki's red-brown eyes. "Should I have worn my heels?" She asks, a note of amused honesty. The quirk of her dark brow arches a curious question towards Audrey, and of course, there is one in turn! Is the Director already reading her mind? Research into the topic would suggest that her eyes glowed when she used certain powers, and that the Concord was rife with mind readers and powerful psychics of every sort, but her Wikelite discussion page was heavily moderated and featured more Union-era speculation than Concord-era hard details. She was popular, though, and so Audrey had a few advantages available to her as someone trying to cruise through to the end. In truth, Yuuki has just been short her whole life and is used to people dipping and thinking about it. The look was obvious, after a while. "Busy? Oh, I've found some tricks for it, but I suppose I do keep myself active. And, today, I've made time for you." Yuuki responds to the polite return, leading Audrey with a gesture alongside-and-at-her-wake through to the suite proper. "It's not often we get institutions that aren't already a part of our Concord sending in applications for their members." The trip back through the hallway behind the door only takes a short bit. A few steps through the doors, down a short hall with a few side doors - coatroom, slightly adjar, large suite restroom (external), a copy room, and a staff room for the front reception area with some overnight bags that might be Aido's left past another adjar door, and... Artwork appoints the room that only exemplifies the aesthetic of the Apex - black marble, gold trimming, tasteful luxury, elegantly refined lines and curves. At some points, there are hard lines, like the desk Yuuki leads towards in an open-plan office that centers the indoor palace. Glass lines the farthest walls, an impression of one-wall (towards reception) out to flying openness in every direction but straight up. Beyond the open plan office there's a walk-out balcony featuring a half-circle deck and a tall silver tree. There are metal blooms all over, like some kind of strange vineyard or metallic botanical garden, among more normal plants and accoutrements, and butterflies in dark lilac and pale blue flutter about. The air is a little sweet but it's hard (or very easy, with a little deduction) to place why. Yuuki is almost at a trot when she approaches the big desk, pulling aside a big chair to gesture Audrey into and hopping back to sit atop the front of her desk and cross her legs. This way, she's a bit taller in profile, and can sidesit most casually and composedly both - a fair compromise for her mood. Audrey can see - easily - on Yuuki's desk is a copy of Audrey's resume and the full text of her application. There's marks, dog-ears, and post-it notes all through the supplementary materials; it's been well gone over. And Yuuki sits in front of all that, the pens and stationary, and leans back to rummage out a bottle of wine from a drawer and a pair of clean glasses with an inelegant extension back over her workspace. Ending with two glasses of red wine poured and one offered across to Audrey, Yuuki waits to toast. Audrey can take the initiative, or even spare it, with the wineglass. The Director has a question.
Yuuki Kuran	"Audrey - may I call you Audrey? It's what on your application, but I understand these things can be complicated. As I said - I'm Yuuki." Not 'Kuran,' not 'Director', not any other thing. Very direct. Very clear. "I know what the Concord can do for you. I know what your school has dreamed for you. What does Audrey want?" Yuuki challenges. Winking an eye, she leans over her wineglass with a faint slosh-and-lift. "There's as many answers as there are members of our Concord, but we don't make Partners who want 'the same as someone else'. So. From yourself, to myself - why?"
Audrey Basque	'Every conversation,' Audrey's father intones, quite gravely for someone giving his young daughter some quote unquote life advice, 'Is a game of chess. Pawns are information. Rooks are emotions. Knights secrets. Bishops motives. The queens actions. And the kings the goals. And if someone ever gives you the impression they also know the rules? That's when you have to be the most careful.' "My apologies, I didn't mean to stare. It has been... a very involved process. It is actually quite reassuring to see you in person like this." Her tone shifts, a bit more formal now. She follows, eyes wandering now and again to the decor - there's a lot of taste on display here, but it doesn't feel as... conceited as the Circle does. This is dressed to impress, but it feels honest. She sits in front of Yuuki's desk, as instructed; when she's handed the glass of wine, she picks it up with the pointed practice of someone who's been to too many fancy dinners where the goal was to impress, to the point she politely waits for Yuuki to take the first sip - or to offer a toast, before she does anything else. "It was the school's idea, but... I cannot deny the usefulness. My field of study would benefit greatly from seeing the broader Multiverse, and though many of my peers have their own trips and exchanges planned, I... suppose my grades meant they would aim higher for me." She wasn't told the reason, really. "Audrey is fine. Thank you, Yuuki." Quick to adapt, at least. "My goals... I would not want to come across as some of my Enlightened peers do, and say that I belong on top. There are things I seek to understand, people whose actions I wish to understand. Selfishly, I may even seek your knowledge to further my own." The resume addresses this, of course. "Those who study Unified Celestial Theory, like me, are at an impass since the last few years. It is well and good to understand our own world's stars, to read the future in the movements of planets and to predict impending calamities on the ill winds of a distant star. But our world, being one of a million millions, is only a small piece of the theory now." She directs her glance out the window. "As mages, of course, it is our bloodsworn duty to further our fields. But as students, we're now expected to take the Multiverse into account, in places where it factored very little but years ago. There is no better place to do this than the Concord. And I should want, very much, to do my school and parents proud, while getting to see more than my school's halls day in and day out."
Yuuki Kuran	The look towards her face - at level! - is forgotten quickly, it seems, laughed off with the same quiet serenity that Yuuki hangs about herself, stands with, moves within. She's familiar in the space and unhurried through it. She has all the time she'll need, and is leading someone uncertain through the tasteful appointment of her regality-in-space. "You're very considerate of your surroundings and those in them. It's a positive trait, of course - but it's always interesting to see how people move." The metal-tinged foliage drifts in a faint simulacra of life - the butterflies are very alive, several lazily flapping through the air towards Audrey's chair and settling on the back while Director and applicant sit across from one another. Audrey toasts, and Yuuki joins, closing her eyes and tilting head to take an indulgent first sip -- smooth and bright, it's summery for a red, and blended for drinking-ease. "The school's idea." She repeats, and shifts the glass to her side, setting it on the desk and placing her hands across her lap in a casual curl-together. She makes it seem like a Wrong Answer, a fade of her whimsy at the 'oo' in school. "We've had members come from all sorts of places, but you're not representing your school, Audrey. You're representing yourself." And so, quick to adapt, Audrey does. Unitary Celestial Theory, a goal to be supplicated to - even to be used for. Yuuki seems pleasantly impressed at the name, eyes widening. She draws up her glass, and takes a second sip, but there's a . . . Boredom, that comes over her. The wine, she enjoys. The answer... "It feels like a transaction, doesn't it, Audrey?" She asks, breath over the wineglass making a 'woon' noise. "You've gotten all the way here, in front of me, and I can make anything happen for you." One hand dangles to her side, the other shifting wineglass, tilting it forward to 'point' it at Audrey. "I'll let you try again. I'll let you work this out with me, because, I'm still curious." Shifting glass aside, once more, Yuuki leans in, and down a bit. All her height advantage from sitting on the desk rather than a chair disappears. Eyes-on, red-browns interestedly gazing on into Audrey's if she'll meet her gaze, and boring into the sides of her face, chasing if they won't be held. "Your school has suggested you, so, I'd believe someone believed in you. They wouldn't make such of a proud issue of sending you with all this support if they expected it to fail. There's not a problem with you. I'm sure you'd be a fine, average Partner. So." "Not as a candidate. Not as a mage. Not as what you're not - never what you're not. Not what you've been taught. Final exam." There's a tiny bit of knowing-what-she's-doing amusement in putting the schoolgirl-to-be-Partner to a challenge like that that Yuuki wears - a 'huu' amusement, a faint smirk that shows the flash of tooth. "I'm asking Audrey. What does Audrey want? Why should should she and Yuuki be Partners? Because it'd make your parents happy?"
Audrey Basque	"Yes," Audrey says, too quickly, too perfectly on queue, and then she just kind of... stops, and thinks, and... "No. I guess... that's not really it, is it?" A vampire. Much older than her. Who got to this position. What was she thinking, thinking she could just spew the same kind of rhetoric that gets the noble uncles and parental friends swooning about what a perfect girl she is. Rooks and pawns forward, and Yuuki barely had to try to get around them. Now it's bishops forward, or everything stops here. "I... wish to prove myself. I wish to undo the harm done to my school. I wish to reach heights that I cannot reach alone, confined to my school, confined to my world, and show everyone that there's nothing miraculous about it. It's not special. It's just... hard work." It's something like that, isn't it? There's a name she can't bring herself to say, but she looks at Yuuki directly in the eyes. It betrays the fear behind her face, and behind her words. Yuuki spooked her into giving the real answer, the answer that isn't curated to get good grades and recommendations. "It's complicated, you see? I do want to make the school and my parents happy, but it's not the whole story. We've been wronged, and it's my responsibility as the top student," she says factually, not quite as a brag but as a statement of burden, "to fix it. I don't want to just excel like they want me to. I want to reset the standard. Back to what it should be." She's telling the truth, but she's telling it with words she's never used to tell it before. She's never had to put it into words, and she's clearly struggling with it. Her head sinks a bit, and she averts her gaze in shame. "Have you ever felt like the world placed unfair expectations on you? That it asked you to excel, but not by being yourself, by being someone else? That you are only valuable for your ability to follow in someone else's footsteps? I... want to break that. Not just for me, but for everyone else being crushed by that weight. And I've not told this to anyone before this, so..." The unspoken request for secrecy.
Yuuki Kuran	'Yes,' sounds out, and Yuuki frowns. The 'No.' that follows her facial motion doesn't shift her expression back. 'that's not really it, is it?' "No. It's not really it. I'm not asking you the 'right' answer, I'm asking you what your answer is." Yuuki refines, and waits. While the Concord is quite proud of having a dragon goddess and the queen of vampires as its scythe wielding ladies, there's a bit of puffery about age for Priscilla, and a mildly eugenics-sounding bit about how incredibly powerful Yuuki's bloodline abilities are. Ancient vampire, right? 'Much' older, Audrey might learn, only means 'in her late twenties' for Yuuki even if she was among the most veteran of the elites in the Sector. There's a bearing there, that she's actively using on Audrey, to gunbarrel the novice fresh out of school with her large and expressive eyes and ask-or-demand an answer. She eases off when Audrey starts answering, seeming amused by something specifically but not rising to a laugh. Audrey is explaining, and Yuuki's highest concern is this emotional truth. "Hard work!" She repeats, and nods. "Hard work. Because. . ." She doesn't finish. Audrey seems to fill in, because, you see, it's complicated. She wants this thing, and that thing, and there's a name there-- Yuuki's eyes glow over her sipping at the bottom half of a wineglass, imagining. She thumb-and-forefinger rolls the glass-stem in hand, leaned on one arm for support and staring at Audrey - listening, waiting, less than serene. Interested. "You want to be the new standard, because you want it more? Or to show what wanting it more means? Well. . ." She toys with it. There's some amount of clear 'she's batting around the topic', and more of actual this-or-that calculations that runs behind the eyes - her neck, the way her collar is, the fall of her hair, the hundred ways she's chosen how to dress, and even the way she drunk. She's about to say something -- Audrey leads with a question. Yuuki closes her mouth, the faint 'of' of her lips framed with white fangs. Then her mouth closes, and her lips purse, and a lot of the interviewer-terromantle drops away like a curtain from her and her eyes return to dreamingly present. "Yes." Yuuki decides, after a glass-draining gulp that sets her goblet aside one final time. Back on Audrey, she returns a less-fixed gaze. "A while ago. People absolutely precious to me, people who I love but never got to know, willed with their whole selves that I'd live as myself. And despite that, footsteps." Yuuki smiles wryly. "And, instead, I had to find my way back to being 'myself' in a world where the light doesn't welcome me. It's possible. I had 'every advantage', some might argue, and many penalties, others would. I think I had it better than most people in the Multiverse. But... it took a while." Blinking, the smile fades, and the Interviewer Terror Field returns at quarter-strength. "The average Partner can expect every kind of enhancement available to them - and the most shocking statistic is how few take more than financial aid and the promise of elite assistance. Those we say yes to, and projects we invest in, succeed. Have you considered what success will mean for you? Or are you still wondering if you'll be allowed to set the standard?"
Yuuki Kuran	'And I've not told this to anyone before this, so...' Yuuki nods, eyes moving from dimming back to bright as she blinks, slides off her desk perch and reaches to take Audrey's hand in hers, gently lifting her from the seat she was planted in. It's fine when Audrey's a bit taller than her. It's expected. "You know, Audrey," There's a motion of butterflies all around the pair, a swiftly-gathering swarm that tumbles closer and closer to Audrey's perception-- Her spatial senses might help her understand the shift, as does the light and surroundings, but the one heartbeat they're in Yuuki's office, and the next, back at the penultimate floor's reception area. Aido is spooked, popping out of his chair and swaying back his hands in a note of shock that has cast a keysmash across his text document. "Audrey, when you can answer me more completely, I look forward to talking with you some more. I'm interested to see the standard you set." Yuuki directs, drawing close to whisper a tone to ear, a bright drip through her skull. Do you always think about chess when you're in interviews? Then Yuuki pulls back, and speaks with her real voice: "Aido, get her badge made downstairs and send her to orientation." Aido, eyes flashing red, starts manipulating his workstation at pace, before shaking his head out and looking angrily at Yuuki. "Yuuki, I'm not your secretary! I'm filling in!" "... Oh. I'm sorry. Could you call the front desk?" Aido sighs, easing back over to get to work. Everything clicks into place when he gets better orders. "Yes. I can do that."
Audrey Basque	Have you considered what success means for you? There's a single, strong image in Audrey's mind. It's masked, it's not whole, it's concealed and blurred by simple thoughts that scream the simplest of answers. 'Success means a better life.' 'Success means people can be happy and free of pressure.' 'Success means fame, and being the new...' But the image that's there, is Audrey standing over another girl's body, beaten down into the mud. The image breaks when her attention snaps back to Yuuki rather than the question, especially after that direct-to-skull messaging. She lets Yuuki finish speaking to Aido - causing Audrey to regain some colors, and seemingly some life too. Her heartbeat even slows a tad. "Thank you, Dir-- Yuuki." She considers, of the three dozen topics, which is worth broaching still; or if she should, simply, not waste any more of Yuuki's time. The butterflies were certainly A Thing Above The Others, but everything else... She'd simply not met someone like Yuuki before. She was an open book to her, clear and simple. It's one thing to lead random people and schoolmates on with a nice smile. Yuuki was something else. Audrey chooses to address the easiest to answer thing, then. "Chess... well, my father enjoys it a lot. He liked to teach me things using chess as a base. It... wasn't always useful, and sometimes it came across a bit forced. I'm not as good as I should be, sadly. Or, maybe you're simply that much better that comparison is pointless." She can ask about the butterflies and the seemingly psychic powers some other time, maybe over a less stressful lunch or dinner and not a (for Audrey) life-or-death interview.