Chapter Text
“And I want those reports on my desk by 5pm, Saparata.”
Fluixon doesn't even need to look up to know Saparata is already rolling his eyes. Fluixon chooses to ignore it.
He had to admit, he was pushing everyone hard these past few months. But they needed to close this deal or risk being under fire. The Sultanate was not going to be an easy company to woo.
“Okay everyone that’s all for this morning-”
Suddenly their conference rooms doors open without warning. A short girl in a leather jacket, and baggy pants walked in.
“Everyone out. I need to talk to Flux.” She demands.
The others look at each other in confusion. She stuck out like a sore thumb.
“I’m sorry, who are you? Do you have an appointment with-” Some poor kid tries to ask. Fluixon has to give him points for the effort.
She only raises an eyebrow at them.
“You don’t know who I am?” She asks icily.
A senior manager clears his throat. He clearly knew, even if the others didn’t.
At his signal, everyone else uncomfortably begins gathering their stuff. But that isn’t enough for the girl. She huffs a sigh and power-walks to the front of the room.
Then she immediately grabs their boss by his pressed collar.
Yes. This morning, Fluixon is subject to the unique embarrassment of his older sister crashing Aculon Corp, yanking him by the back of his neck after a meeting, and dragging him into his office.
The snickers of his team members as they passed did not do any favors for his mood.
“What are you doing?!” Fluixon squawks. They were making a scene.
“You’re gonna love this.” She offers no explanation.
They make it to his office. A room tucked into one of the walls, fully transparent glass windows. They liked to preach an “open-door policy” around here, much to Flux's discomfort.
“Sit down.”
Cynikka throws him into a leather chair and plops a laptop onto his desk.
“What are you doing?” Fluixon says again. “You can’t just barge in here-”
“What, you don’t miss me? I wanted to visit my baby brother on his first job.” Cynikka grins.
Fluixon certainly looked grown up. With his gelled back hair and tailored suit. That babyface of his didn’t do him any favors though.
Fluixon scowls in return. Brat. Now that didn’t suit this young sir.
“I’m doing fine. You don’t need to check up on me.”
“Yes, I’ve heard.”
Fluixon frowns harder. What did that mean?
“Cynikka. I’m really busy. I’m glad you’re back, but we can talk more at home.”
“C’mon. I got like… ten percent stake here? So that means at least ten percent of your time.” Cynikka stuck a hand on her hip. She had cut her hair short for the -nth time. Short enough for the ends to curl around her ears.
You don’t even go here anymore. Fluixon seethed internally. Don’’t you have somewhere to be? Making off on dad’s card doing artsy, hippy shit filming volcanoes?
“Dad said he wanted some extra publicity for the company. Something about trying to crack Forbes Best Employers to get better talent. So I decided to film this video on the trainees to juice up our Careers Portal. I want your thoughts.”
“What. Have you been making a mess of things?” Fluixon furrowed his brows. “This isn’t a playground.”
How had he not noticed Cynikka scurrying around the office? How long had she been back for? He must have been too busy being holed up in his office.
“Don’t worry. It’s going to be great.” Cynikka grins and types in her password.
A video in a google drive folder pops up. Fluixon can already feel a headache coming in.
“So what is this, you collected videos of our associates all crowing about how this is the absolute best place to be?” If so, he did not have time for this.
Cynikka hums noncommittally. “Ehh… You’ll see.”
-.-.-.-
She presses play. And after a few seconds of black, the video opens on Saparata of all people. His shirt is slightly wrinkled, and he sits upright on a chair propped against a wall. His grey eyes flicker nervously. Into the camera and at someone behind it.
“What the-” Fluixon says.
“Is this thing on?” Saparata asks. He squirms in his chair. His hair is a degree or two too messy for Fluixon’s liking.
“It’s rolling!”
“Oh crap. Okay. Hi! Um… I’m Saps. Saparata-”
“Classic.” Fluixon murmurs.
“And I’ve been working at Aculon Corp for about… two months now?”
The video cuts to a clip of Saparata sitting at his desk. His hands are curled into his white hair. He is rocking back and forth in his chair as he stares into a spreadsheet of indecipherable numbers. He is mumbling under his breath: “I love my job. I love my job. I love my job…”
“Yeah. I’d say I’ve had a bit of a learning curve here.” His voice plays over it. “Aculon definitely wants the best from their employees. Everyone runs super hard. The clients are pretty demanding.”
Another clip of Saparata aggresively flipping off his email.
It cuts back to Interview-Saparata as he shrugs. “But hey. It’s their money. And the salary is more than I can ask for. I can afford like… food now. And rent.”
“Cynikka, you made a mockumentary about my team.”
“Yep.”
The next person it flips to is Snowbird. Snowbird is fixing himself a cup of coffee at the pantry. The camera shakes a little as it trails his movement. He starts walking across the floor like he owned the place.
“I joined the management trainee program cuz an upperclassman said it was great.” He rolls his eyes as he stirs his coffee. “Boy, what a liar she was-”
The clip cuts again to Snowbird shaking his head. “I mean it’s awesome. Don’t worry about it!”
“Everyone here has been pretty nice. The trainees have it cushy. They treat us like royalty. Look what I got with my first paycheck.”
Snowbird rolls up his jacket and sleeve to reveal a shiny Oyster on his wrist. The watchface gleamed in the fluorescent lights.
Behind the camera, Cynikka’s voice teases. “Wow. You bought that yourself?”
“Yeah! I had to skip lunch for a month to afford it-”
The clip cuts again to various montages of their management trainees and new hires hard at work. Chatting. Hunched over laptops. There’s an obviously scripted part where a manager claps the shoulder of a kid for a ‘job well done’.
He definitely had a headache now.
“Cynikka, this is a PR nightmare. What were you thinking?”
“Shh! It gets better.”
The video now jumps to a tall, blonde lady walking through a hall. The camera tries its best to keep up with her.
“-What did I tell them?” She asks over her shoulder.
“Yes. You’ve convinced some of our trainees to join the program. You must have had some great things to say about it.”
Jophiel turns and smiles, not at the camera, but at the girl behind it. She looks like she could be in a commercial.
“It’s the highest paying fresh graduate role in the country. Who gives a shit about anything else?”
Damn right. Fluixon thought. They should’ve just led with that.
The video cuts to her organizing papers at her desk. It’s neatly arranged. With knickknacks. Photos of her on various travels. The jacket hanging behind her chair is designer.
“I’m set to graduate the program in 4 months. And they’ve promised a great landing role and a fast-track to D-level. I take their word for it. They work us hard but so far, they’ve made sure the benefits match.”
Jophiel looks into the camera. And it zooms to focus on her. “And if you get lucky, you get assigned to an excellent team leader”
The video then moves. Becoming shaking and grainy as it tries to zoom in on a suited, dark-haired man walking slowly through the office floor. It appears to be early, as the desks around him are mostly empty.
The man is juggling a few cups of coffee in his hands.
He unceremoniously plops one down onto the table of a white-haired associate who was napping over his laptop. The boy startles, sitting up. And the suited man appears to be scolding him, all while still holding the coffee.
He plops another one on the table for good measure, along with a bagel. And he walks along. Distributing food and coffee among the the other tables.
“Wait. That’s-” Fluixon frowns.
The camera cuts to a shot of the same dark-haired boy hunched over his work, inside a glass-walled office. Even when it was late at night and everyone had gone home. The only light source was his laptop shining cruelly over his tired face.
Then another one. A teary-eyed girl entering his office. Then a few seconds later, a clip of her coming out looking comforted. The dark-haired guy patting her shoulder and mumbling a few words of encouragement.
“In its DNA, Aculon is still a family-owned business. So it’s actually been a big comfort knowing one of their own is slumming it down here with us.” Saparata’s voice comes back over the videos.
There’s one of them having lunch in the pantry. Fluixon is obviously getting heckled by his team members. But he just scowls and doesn’t say a word.
“Flux gets a bad rap for being a nepo-baby. I’m admittedly one of the worst instigators of that.”
Fluixon rolls his eyes. But a weird shame and warmth is growing in his chest.
The video cuts back to Saparata sitting in his little interview chair. His eyes are dead-serious as he looks into the camera.
“But no one can say that kid doesn’t work hard. He does. Maybe twice or thrice what we do.” He says grudgingly.
“Ol’ Saps is just saying that because he finds the boss-man cute.” Snowbird’s voice floats in from somewhere off-screen.
“Snow-!”
“You heard it here folks.” Snowbird enters the frame. His lopsided grin fills the camera and he winks into it. “Want some eye-candy for your coworkers? You've come to the right place.”
The camera blacks out. White text is written on the screen:
Disclaimer: Aculon Corporation does not condone workplace romance.
Then it cuts at last to a clip of Fluixon giving an interview in his office. An actual interview, vetting somebody for a role. How the heck Cynikka managed to tap into his room, Fluixon has no clue.
Though the candidate's face isn’t shown, Fluixon remembers this kid. How she wanted a company that had a homey feeling and good “work-life balance.”
That didn’t really exist here. And he was at least honest with her when he said it. She ended up going somewhere else.
His voice fills the video. Fluixon cringes hearing it.
“-anyone who says their company is like family is lying to you. We’re all here for the same reason. To get paid so we can actually get out of here and do the things we want to do. And I’m not going to stop you from doing that.”
The Fluixon in the video leans forward. He was a little harsh in his words, but he was speaking the truth.
“But if you want to come here… you need to stand on your own two feet. This is the top wealth management firm in the country. You’ll represent it. That is something you have to be proud of. If. Only if you can keep up, there are very few places in this country that will sharpen you faster, pay you better, or open more doors when you finally decide it’s time to leave.”
Then the video cuts to black. And a link to their company hiring portal pops up in the center.
Fluixon’s slack face is reflected back at him in the dark screen.
.
.
.
He is speechless.
“...I hate it.” Fluixon says at last.
Cynikka slams the laptop closed. She looked incredibly proud of herself.
“Well that's too bad. Dad loved it. He said it was “punchy.” We’re uploading it on the Aculon Careers Youtube channel.”
“What?! You can’t!” Fluixon gets up, trying to grab the laptop, but Cynikka swipes it away at the last minute.
“It’s too late! I have higher authority.”
“Why’d you even show it to me then?”
“To make fun of you.”
“Cynikka, give it back!” Fluixon lunges at her.
Cynikka runs out of his office, cackling.