Chapter Text
Eve's eyes shifted behind her sunglasses, taking in the grandeur of the office she has been led into. The strap of her carryall creaked under her hand, her leather boots softly thumping on black marble flooring. A man she didn't recognize gestured for her to sit across from him. She complied, her mind speeding through everything that had happened in the last hour, quickly piecing together how she had accidentally stolen this meeting.
"You've passed the first test, congratulations. We prefer having employees that can hold their own here." The well-dressed man wore a thin smile. Until your escort corrected him.
"Boss, she didn't beat me in a battle."
The man - The Boss - snapped his gaze to the larger man who had led you here. "What, exactly, does that mean, Phillippe?"
The large man - Philippe - stayed steady under The Boss's amber glare. "She claimed she had no pokemon to battle with," Technically true. "And you had high hopes for this resume."
Thank Arceus, a job interview. I can work with this. Eve's hand moved from clutching her bag to resting in her lap, fingers lightly tapping on the back of her other hand.
The Boss lifted his glasses to pinch the bridge of his nose. "Philippe, I told you that my secretary needed to be a trainer. They don't have to match the rest of the Syndicate, but I need someone who can handle themself."
Before Philippe could respond, Eve lifted a hand to interject. "My apologies, but it seems that there has been a mistake on my end that has ended up wasting your time." The Boss dropped his hand to his lap, focus turning to her. Eve mirrored him, gently folding her hands together. A hook. "I came to Lumiose to meet up with an old acquaintance of mine, who said he would have someone at the train station to pick me up. It seems I found the wrong escort." Eve noted the mounting incredulity on The Boss's face. Lean in."While I do not meet your requirement of being able to participate in pokemon battles, I do happen to have experience as a secretary. To make amends for having accidentally taken your time, I could send you my resume?" She gently tipped her head to the side, accentuating the question.
The Boss and Philippe openly stared at her, the silence of the overly spacious office chilling the sweat that was pooling underneath her turtleneck. Crap, did I push too far-
A bark of a laugh escaped the man seated in front of her. "Is talking like that part of your secretary experience?"
Eve leaned back, relaxing her raised shoulders. Match his stride. She shifted her legs to a more comfortable position, the purple denim rising and falling in her field of view. "Being aware of how to talk, as well as when and how much depending on the person being spoken to, has been an invaluable skill in my previous experience."
The Boss smiled, sharper this time. "On the point of how much to speak, how would you handle having to hide certain information?"
Take the lead. "While I am not fond of lying, there are certainly ways of speaking around sensitive information without the other party noticing." Eve kept her eyes on his face and her hands on her knees, her messenger bag untouched next to her.
"Well answered. Will the resume you send over have references, or will you be supplying them separately?"
Got him. "They are a separate document that I can send with the resume."
The Boss stood, reaching a hand over the table. "Thank you for not wasting my time."
Eve uncrossed her legs and stood, accepting the handshake. "Thank you for giving me a chance to not waste it." She pulled out her Amusing-Joke-Business smile to put a cap on the impression.Take a bow. "Eve."
"Corbeau."
~~~
Eve squinted down at the small paper Philippe had handed her, deciphering the directions for the location she had asked for. Once the image was properly filed away in her mind, she looked up at the building she had just left.
A job interview with the fucking mob? The moment I step foot in the city? Eve shook her head. She flipped over the paper scrap, pulling out her rotom phone to type in the number. I let myself get carried away for five minutes, and I turn right back into an Arceus-damned coincidence magnet. Resume and references sent, she followed the new map in her mind. Hopefully, I was nothing more than an amusing distraction, and I can take a train out of here tomorrow.
An hour later, Eve stood in the entrance of an overgrown courtyard, trees gently kissed with a beginning-of-autumn yellow. At the end of the path stood an old-age hotel, having gone a few years past quaint and crossing into rickety. The murmur and rattle of the city had fallen silent, not even fletchlings or flabébés lingering in the space. Eve was halfway down the pathway when the hairs on her neck rose. If any more 'coincidences' want to bother me, they're going to have to be more active about it. She hurried her pace, determined to not look behind her. I already amused fate once today, and that was one time more than I said I ever would again.
The door creaked as Eve opened it. The inside of the building was surprisingly tidy compared to the state of the exterior. Not that she spent long admiring it, her focus immediately locking on the giant of a man behind the front desk.
"Hello, AZ."
~~~
Corbeau returned to his desk as his unexpected guest was led away by Philippe. He dug through the papers strewn across it as the elevator closed at the far end of the room, eventually finding the resume of his intended appointment and throwing it in the trash. He leaned back in his chair, taking off his glasses and wiping at his face.
It had been a while since he had seen someone read a room so masterfully. That girl - Eve - had been in the city for less than an hour, in his building for less than five minutes, and had walked out unscathed, with a potential job offer. Corbeau chuckled, seeing the moment play again in his mind when she had played her first piece, right before she had stolen the rhythm of the conversation from him.
His rotom phone beeped, and he put his glasses back on to see what had come in.
Her resume was fine enough. Relevant skills, no heinous job hopping. It only went back five years, but not everyone works before they're 18. Corbeau swiped over to the references and just blinked. Who is this girl?
Agent Looker. Professor Sycamore. Diantha?
The elevator doors opened, and Philippe approached Corbeau's desk.
"Boss, it seems the acquaintance she came to meet is AZ."
"How on theme to her references." Corbeau's rotom phone spun to let Philippe read the document. "Are you sure you picked her up on accident?"
Philippe sat on the question, recalling the day's events. "She was the only one at the station who was looking for someone. When I tried to battle her, she seemed genuinely confused. And if she was trying to trick us, why would she not hide her connections?"
Corbeau steepled his fingers in front of his face, brow furrowed. "She's an anomaly, Philippe. And you know how I feel about those." His fingers tapped against his nose, weighing out the possible plays and moves that could come from this moment.
"Bring me the contract. If anything, we need to keep an eye on her."