Work Text:
Alvina was pacing anxiously outside The Interviewer’s office while he was ahem interviewing their most recent client. The case file she’d drawn up hadn’t raised any particular flags initially. It was only after she had done some filing and found some old photos that something seemed off. Their client, one Rob Golding, looked an awful lot like a client from 30 years ago, one Rubert Gadlen. The similar names also didn’t sit well with her. Sure it could all be a coincidence, but she’d been in this business just long enough to know that something was up. She wondered if it was the same person and if it was, how they had managed to fool both The Interviewer and Kozlowski. They usually kept each other fairly straight.
--
Hob had been coming to the agency for the past several fake deaths. He used to be able to do it on his own, but the digital age really messed with one’s ability to really disappear and resurface with the appropriate paperwork. Oh there were some magical means, but he tried to stay away from magic. It was also nice to have some people in his life that he could really talk to about, well, him. He trusted these folks to not turn him into an experiment. (Even if Kozlowski had asked quite nicely.)
He was just in the middle of telling Arthur about his latest plan for a new life when the assistant from earlier burst into the room with several files and photos that fell to the floor in the flurry.
“Alvina! You know not to interrupt me while I’m with a client unless it's to bring me cocoa!”
“Sorry, it’s just that, this can’t exactly wait? Rob, do you mind giving us the room for a few minutes?”
Hob looked a little bewildered. He knew Arthur didn't usually have an assistant, so he wasn’t sure of the protocol. He leaned down in his chair to gather up the fallen photos. He noticed they were of himself during the last death faking. Hmmm, he might know what this is about.
“Alvina was it? Whatever you’re thinking, you’re probably right. You work here, so you can obviously keep a secret.”
“I-yes that’s my name…” she stuttered. “Why are you asking for a second death?”
“Oh, Hob’s on his fifth death with us I think?” Arthur answered.
“His what !?”
“My fifth death, I’d honestly lost count. I tend to do that after being around for so long, not every immortal can have a perfect memory.”
“ Hob! ” hissed Arthur. Oops, seemed like Alvina wasn’t in the loop yet.
“Excuse me? Immortal? Ok, I’ve had to deal with a lot of weird while being here, but that’s definitely taking the cake. How do I know this isn’t some joke The Interviewer is pulling?” Ah, she was a skeptic, that would serve her well in this line of work.
“I don’t have any old objects on me to corroborate my story, so you’ll just have to take The Interviewer at his word won’t you?”
“I suppose…”
“Chin up Alvina, Hob was just telling me that his partner might join us later, apparently he has a thing for stories, and you know how I feel about stories!”
“Oh yes, he really is quite obsessed, he has the largest library ever, you know.” Hob was quite proud to call Dream of the Endless his partner.
“Right, and can this partner corroborate Rob’s story?”
“Oh yes, he was there when it all started, but that’s a tale for another time I’m afraid.”
