Recruitment 1.5
"Welcome back," Taylor called as Cindy entered the room. "What did you bring me today?" she asked gesturing towards the box where she could feel something crawling around. Based on its movement, she figured it was probably a millipede, but figured she'd ask. It was only polite, after all. "That doesn't feel like a beetle."
"I couldn't find any that'd be worth taking. So I got you an African giant millipede instead," Cindy replied. "You're not having any issues with it, are you?"
"No, everything seems fine," Taylor confirmed.
"That's good. Ready to continue with the contract?" Cindy asked, placing her laptop down on the table and handing Taylor the box.
"Might as well," Taylor replied ruefully even as she let the millipede out of its box. "It's not like I can get out of it by delaying long enough, right?"
"Pretty much," Cindy confirmed. "Even worse, if we take too long, PR will start getting pushy, and actually give us a deadline. Then we'll be rushed, and that's a bad idea when planning the next year of your life."
"Right," Taylor said resolutely. "What's first today?"
"Well," Cindy began, "we need to start working off what you owe. We'll be bouncing around a bit from now on as we try to get everything to balance out, so the question becomes, where do you want to start? Punishments, owners, or jobs?"
"Which do you suggest?" Taylor asked. "None of those sound all that fun to think about."
"I'd go with jobs first, personally," Cindy replied. "The jobs don't tend to be worth very many credits, but they can take up a large portion of your time and will be earning you money."
"Money is good," Taylor agreed. "Sure, let's look at the jobs."
"Alright." The redhead scrolled to the correct section of the document. "So, basically, there's a number of different jobs that you can work at, either full time or part time. Full time jobs will take between four and eight hours a day while part time jobs can be between two and four hours. You won't be able to work more than twelve hours a day, and you'll always have one day off each week." She gestured toward the page and continued, "Now, jobs range anywhere from being a secretary, to being a waitress, to being a maid, or an idol, a magical girl, or a model. Then there's the jobs I don't think you'd be interested in, like being a slave trainer, a cow, or a porn star."
"No," Taylor agreed. "I can't really see myself in porn." She paused for a moment before asking, "What do you mean by magical girl?"
"It's not the safest profession, but it does draw a decent number of viewers," Cindy began. "Basically, you use magic to fight off incursions from other dimensions. If you don't have any magic of your own, there are a number of options for getting empowered, and I understand that a decent amount of the job amounts to sitting around and waiting for something to happen or preparing for the next fight."
Taylor looked at Cindy intently. "So, what you're saying is that they'll give me training, experience, more power to fight with, and pay me to boot?" Cindy nodded. "Where do I sign up?"
"I suspected that would be your response," Cindy replied, "so I already talked with my boss and got him to authorize the full list of options. Now, keep in mind, I was never a magical girl, so I can only give you my opinion based off of what I've read."
Taylor nodded solemnly. "Got it. Now, what are my choices?"
"Right, so, the thing to remember is that each type of magical girl has its own strengths and weaknesses. Sometimes they don't matter particularly much and other times it's more important than you'd believe," Cindy started. "First we have the girls who use planetary mana taps. I'm not sure exactly how it works, but somehow they bind the mana production of a planet to your soul, or something. It provides some protection and a few elementally aligned spells. One of the issues is that there's only so many suitable planets and objects available, so finding an unbound one can be difficult. The power levels can seem fairly arbitrary as well. As far as I can tell, what you'd end up with is essentially a crap shoot."
"Next we have the girls who draw upon an emotional well for their mana," Cindy continued. "It's a fairly regimented process without too many surprises. Basically, you choose which emotion you want to draw on, like hope, joy, or benevolence. They don't like to talk about it, but you can also draw from negative emotions, but I'd suggest steering clear of all of that. Who wants to be angry or depressed all the time, right?" Taylor nodded shakily. "Anyway, they're a fairly diverse lot, though a lot of them share some of the same spells. Overall, they're probably the most balanced in terms of ability, so long as you don't stick them in a large battle with no ability to recharge for long enough. Most of them know to get out of dodge if it gets bad enough, and those that don't can usually tank whatever's attacking them, at least for a little while."
"Moving on, we have soul contracts," Cindy said, some disgust coloring her voice. "You basically agree to have your soul ripped out and placed in a gem to make yourself more durable and give you access to magic. Eventually, they run out of energy and get taken to Magical Girl Valhalla, or something. It's all a bit confusing, and I recommend staying well clear of it."
"I'll pass, thanks," Taylor agreed.
"Then we have two variations on the same basic theme. There's a system of magic that's basically nothing but math that almost anyone can use," Cindy began. "But since pretty much no one can actually do that level of math in their head, on the fly, they employ intelligent devices to handle the number crunching for them. Of course, the better your own math skills, the better they work. How's your math?"
"I've been academically sabotaged for a year and a half," Taylor noted bitterly.
"Probably not the best choice, then. That brings us to magical mecha. Basically, you'd be given a suit of magically powered armor to use. Disadvantages involve anything close quarters and being a bitch to maintain. For some reason, most of the ones we have access to also need you to be good at singing," Cindy continued with a shrug. "I don't get it, but thems the breaks."
"I'm not much of a singer, either," Taylor added.
"Right. Anyway, the next two are also fairly similar. You can either be possessed by a higher power or empowered by one," Cindy said.
"What's the difference?" asked Taylor.
"Basically? The amount of free will you have," Cindy bluntly replied. "When you're possessed, you're basically a meat puppet. Of course, being empowered leaves you at the mercy of the whims of a potentially fickle entity. I wouldn't want to be in the middle of a fight and suddenly find out my patron's on vacation or something."
"I think I'll pass on those two," Taylor noted.
"Well, we're down to the last three," Cindy said, "so we're almost done. You can be granted a bunch of temperamental spirits housed within easily lost artifacts. Up side, they're fairly useful and can act on their own to some extent. Downside, you usually have to track them down, and they can act on their own to some extent.
"You listed that under both columns."
"Yes, yes I did," Cindy replied. "It's great when it helps you, but is a pain when a spirit decides it'd rather not work with you. Moving on, there's a ritual that allows you to tap into your soul for energy to do pretty much anything. It's very versatile, but has a high risk of burnout. And when you burn out your soul… it's not pretty." She paused for a moment before coming to the conclusion. "Finally, we have getting adopted by a magical creature. The bright side is that you'll get an extra parent or two as well as somebody to train you in your new abilities. The down sides include potential inhuman features, if you aren't into that sort of things, and inheriting weaknesses, curses, and debts from your new parent."
"That's a lot to take in," Taylor commented.
"It is," Cindy agreed. "Feel free to take your time thinking about it."
"That emotional one you mentioned sounds like it has the least downsides," Taylor mused. "Is there a way to tell what I could use as a power source?"
"Yes. There is," Cindy replied, pulling a small ring with three set stones out of her pocket. "This is a magical mood ring. According to the directions, if you wear it, the stones will change color to match your predominant emotions. Want to give it a try?"
"Sure," Taylor said, taking the ring. She slipped it on and looked down at it intently. After a minute or so, she asked, "Do you know how long this is supposed to take?"
Reaching into her pocket again, Cindy retrieved the paper. "It says it could take anywhere up to five minutes. If, at that time, nothing has changed, you might not have any emotion strong enough to be of use, though that's apparently very rare and usually a sign of a sociopath."
"Oh, wonderful," Taylor griped as she watched the stones on the ring. Finally, the middle stone turned a bright red, followed by the stone on the left fluctuating between a blue and a yellow before turning a solid grayish blue, and the last gem turning a mustard yellow a moment later.. "It worked!" Taylor exclaimed excitedly. "What does it mean?"
"According to the directions," Cindy began, flipping the instruction sheet over, "those colors correspond with Will, Despair, and Obsession."
"That doesn't sound good," Taylor said, worrying her lip.
"It's not bad, per se," Cindy replied, "though it should mean you can choose whether you want to be a light or a dark magical girl." She shrugged and added, "I don't know enough about help you make any choices along those lines, though. What I can do is get an expert up here to help you make the decision."
"That'd be helpful, thanks."
"I might want to send up two girls, one light and one dark," Cindy mused. "Give you the full explanation so you can make an informed decision." She shrugged. "I'll see what I can do." Flipping to another window on her laptop, she shot off a short message before returning to the contract form.
"Thanks. So, think I should take a second job as well?" Taylor asked.
"Possibly, though if you do take a second job, I recommend making it a part time one," Cindy replied. "Otherwise you'll have no free time to yourself, and the jobs that you could do full time are ones I can't see you wanting to do, like being a porn star."
Taylor nodded. "I'm definitely not interested in that," she agreed. "So, I guess we'll put the second job aside for now and move on to whatever's next."
"The next bit basically modifies your employment somewhat," Cindy explained. "You can give yourself a substantial raise, though that'll cost quite a number of credits, you can have it set up so you can change jobs whenever you'd like, we can have them pay you throughout the year instead of all at once at the end of the show, and there's an option to donate nearly a third of what you earn to charity."
"Do I get to choose the charity?" Taylor asked. "Because if I could get some funds sent to a few charities in Brockton Bay to help keep people out of crime, that would be great."
"I'll have to check, but I don't think that'd be an issue," Cindy replied. "We're trying to expand into that part of the multiverse anyway, so working with or starting a local charity can't hurt our PR any. I'll bring it up with the execs and let you know."
"Thanks," Taylor said. "And it looks like doing that and getting the raise would get more money for the charity and me, while netting me more credits."
"Of course, if you want to spend that money over the course of the year, you'll end up spending more credits," Cindy added, "though that may be useful for you, especially if you want to set up a lot of terrariums for all the bugs it you want to collect."
Taylor looked at the costs of the various options and winced. "Yeah, that looks like it's a bit steep. Probably still worth it, though. Mark me down for everything but the resume. It doesn't look all that useful."
Cindy made a few notations on the screen. "And done. What do you want to cover next? Punishments or Owners?"
Taylor sighed heavily. "We might as well get the owners out of the way. Best to know what I'm getting into with them before choosing whatever punishments they can dole out, right?"
"That's… not quite how the punishments work, but it's a reasonable enough idea," Cindy commented. "Let me just scroll back up, and there we go. We've got about thirty-eight positions for you to choose from, with each category worth a certain number of credits based on how difficult keeping them satisfied is likely to be, how physically taxing it will be for you, and a few other factors. It's nicely listed from least to most credits. Where would you like to start?"
"We might as well start at the top and work our way down," Taylor decided. "I don't think I'll be choosing any of them until we get through the whole list."
"That'll work," Cindy agreed. "The first two won't get you any credits if you pick them, but they also won't expect you to do very much with them, either. First up, we have a Gentleman. He won't do anything too bad with you. They're a traditional lot and prefer to wait until marriage. They also leave messages for the contestants in order to make a good impression." She clicked on the photo of a well dressed man and frowned. "That's odd. No message. I've never seen that happen before."
"Figures," Taylor muttered dejectedly. Sure, she wasn't looking for someone to marry, but to not even rate a message? "Who's next?"
"Next is the Cutie," Cindy said. "They tend to be looking for friends more than anything else. They'd want to go shopping with you, visit amusement parks, things like that. Honestly, I think it'd be a good choice for you." She clicked on the photo of a cute girl in a fairly simple outfit. "Though this one looks a bit more restrained than most I've seen. Oh, and she left you a message. Here, I'll play it for you." She clicked on a small icon, causing a video window to open on the screen.
"Hello, Taylor," the girl began. "I know you don't know me and all, but I'd love to get to know you! When we heard about you at the Cutie meeting, everyone else was scared off by your bugs, but I like bugs!" She gestured towards a green splotch on her hair. "It'd be so much fun going around, finding new bugs while we have fun around the city! I've only just gotten back from Beelzajaab, where my father was filming a documentary, so I haven't really had a chance to make very many friends yet, so when I learned about the Cutie program I had to sign up. I'd really like to be your friend, so please pick me!" The green splotch unfolded its wings and the praying mantis flew off to land on her outstretched hand.
"Well," Cindy commented as the message finished, "she certainly sounds earnest. And if she's been on Beelzajaab for any amount of time and can still say she likes bugs, you won't have to worry about scaring her off if you start a swarm or something."
"I don't know," Taylor hedged. "My last friendship didn't go so well."
"She looks like she could use a friend, too," Cindy noted. "The documentary she's talking about lasted something like a decade, so she hasn't been around many people until recently. You'd probably be good for each other. Besides, if she wants to spend time looking for bugs, she'll get you out of your apartment more often. Hell, she might even be able to get her hands on some of the more interesting specimens you're not likely to find on your own." Sighing, she added, "Just think about it, alright?"
"Fine," Taylor relented, and Cindy made a note on the form. "Who's next?"
"Lets see," Cindy said, scrolling down slightly. "You can choose to have another contestant be your owner, which can be either awkward or great, depending on how well your personalities and preferences mesh. It's similar to the Cutie, but with much less certainty. They also tend to wait until the last minute to pick anyone, so there's no message. It's a bit of a gamble, especially for only five credits. Personally, I'd probably pass if I were you."
"Noted. Next?"
"Next up is the Girly Trainer," Cindy explained. "They basically try force you to act more feminine. It's typically for girly boys and futas. Probably not worth the effort. Let's see. I'm pretty sure we can skip Significant Other as an option." She paused for a moment to get confirmation from Taylor before continuing. "After that is opting for a hypnotist. As a bright side, they're all trained psychologists. Unfortunately, most of them have lost their licenses for various reasons. If you want a shrink, I'd suggest using some of your paycheck and hiring a decent one." She paused for a moment before adding, "Or use your advanced healthcare. It does cover mental health, after all. That way you won't wake up one day thinking you're a chicken or something."
Taylor shuddered. "No thanks, I'd rather not sign up to get Mastered."
"That's a problem back where you're from?" Cindy asked.
"Definitely," Taylor agreed. "There's a reason I didn't want to become telepathic."
"That's definitely good to know," Cindy replied, typing into another window. "We'll let the eggheads know and see if they can work anything out." Flipping back to the contract form, she continued, "Moving on, we have a futanari."
"A what?" Taylor asked, before taking a better look at the picture. "Oh, so that's what you call it. Is that common here?"
Cindy shrugged. "A fair number of people find it interesting enough that we have specialized punishments that revolve around the contestant being one. From what I understand, having both sets of genitals stimulated at once is quite the experience. Though most of the futanari in this group are that way naturally and are fairly embarrassed by it. They're much like the Cuties in that they're primarily looking for companionship, though they'd prefer it to be a physical relationship as well, if possible. All told, not a bad choice, and, if you have one as your roommate, it means you'll have a dick on tap when you need one."
"That's nice?" Taylor asked awkwardly. "Does that come up a lot?"
Nodding, Cindy replied, "More than you'd think, especially if you choose certain punishments. Want me to add her to the maybe pile? I know they won't give you much for choosing her, but I think you could use a few more friendly faces around."
"The maybe list sounds fine," Taylor agreed. "That's not really something I'm looking for, but if she's mostly interested in friendship, I guess that wouldn't be too bad."
Cindy made notation before scrolling the screen down a little more. "Finally, we have a nice married couple who can't have kids of their own, but want a daughter. They come in two flavors, incestuous and not." Clicking on the picture, she added, "And they seem to have left you a message. That's unusual." She clicked on the message, causing a video to pop up.
"Hello, Taylor," the man said. He gestured towards his wife and himself before continuing, "We're Edgar and Jean Marek, and we would be honored if you'd consider being our daughter for the ensuing year. Once we learned you controlled insects, we knew we'd be the perfect couple to take care of you."
His wife, Jean, continued, "You see, we're a family of beekeepers, so we have plenty of insects around for you to play with, and you could help us with our bees. Now, we know there's an option to have a pair of parents who will," she blushes deeply, "play with you more than the average parent would, and we wouldn't normally be interested in that arrangement, but, for you, we'd be willing to give it a try, if that's what you'd be interested in."
Edgar started speaking again, "We know you have your own parents back home, and we wouldn't want to replace them, but please consider us as an option." The pair waved cheerfully and the video stopped.
"Is it just me, or are most of the people who want to be my owner just interested because I can control bugs?" Taylor asked incredulously.
Cindy coughed into her hand. "Ah, that… I'm pretty sure when each of the groups gathered and chose who would be presented as potential… hosts… they included what you can do in the briefing notes. So, pretty much anyone volunteering is going to be fine with your bugs, unless they were volunteered, and will probably want you to know it."
"Figures," Taylor muttered. "Anyway, they seem nice enough, but I think I'll pass. I don't want to replace Dad, even for a little while."
"Fair enough," Cindy agreed. "Well, that takes care of the five credit owners. Want to take a break?"
Taylor stretched in her seat for a moment before ruefully admitting, "I could use another jog to loosen up." The two stood and made their way to the corridor to run a few laps around the station.
