Interview [CLOSED]

[hinoto_ri]

Who: Junko Tanako & other City NPCs, Cloche Leythal Pastalia
Where: Hinoto-Ri's City Hall
Summary: Cloche is introduced to City Hall.
Warnings: Nothing.

Nine in early morning. Hinoto-Ri was a city that could never afford the luxury to sleep fully, and its City and Police task force were no different. At Cloche's request, a date had been given for a meeting. The woman that stood at Hinoto-Ri's City Hall's front doors was probably familiar to her if she had at least seen and remembered the disastrous Grand Prix. It was hard to ignore someone who had shoved the Mayor aside at the near-cost of her own life. When she saw the Visitor arrive, the woman pushed the glasses higher up her nose before speaking. She didn't really smile for the most part, her face in a neutral, serious expression; not judging, but also hard to guess what she might have been thinking.

"Miss Cloche Leythal Pastalia, is it?" she extended her free hand, after giving her a small head bow as per tradition. Her other arm was warped in a small sling, holding a brown dossier. It was the only remaining sign of when she had been shot during the Grand Prix.

"My name is Junko Tanako, the Honorable Mayor Kazuki Sakahagi's Secretary. I've been assigned to show you around and to complete your interview regarding your interest in a government-related position."

Comments

[pastalishe]

After Cloche had received word that she had been scheduled for an interview, she immediately made plans for that morning. From the exact route she was going to take on the public transport system to the last detail of her clothing, Cloche made plans for everything she could possibly think of.

On the morning of the interview, Cloche woke up bright and early at 6:30 to get dressed and ride the aerial tramway to City Hall. She arrives fifteen minutes early, dressed smartly in a white business suit with her hair twisted up into a bun. Although it's not exactly what *Hyun-ae recommended, Cloche hoped that it was a suitable compromise between the business standard and the flair of Metafalss fashion.

Junko was a familiar name and face to Cloche, although she hadn't had the chance to speak or see her at the Grand Prix. Junko's actions at the Grand Prix had taken care of that.

"That's correct," Cloche said, as she accepted Junko's hand and after she had returned the bow. "It's an honor to meet you face-to-face, Ms. Tanako."

Cloche's own expression, like Junko's, was carefully neutral. For this interview, she was relying on a lesson that her mentor, Alfman, had taught her long ago: present only what you want others to see.

[hinoto_ri]

It was hard to tell how much judgement and analyzing Junko was doing right now, with the tinted sunglasses hiding most of her eye movements in the light, but at least the body language didn't seem to translate at disappointment either. After a few seconds of silence, she suddenly spoke up.

"Hold please."

With precise, timed movements, she brought out a small cube from her upper coat pocket and placed it on top of Cloche's COMP watch, were it stuck there, swirling a few colors before she removed it.

"There we go." She placed it back where it had come from, pushed her glasses again, and continued to walk forward. "The information downloaded to your public network profile includes a map of the government facilities, business hours, public information about the current ruling council, and your own private business mailing address, cloche@hinoto-ri.gov."

As they neared the end of the lobby's corridor and turned right , she spoke again. "I advise you to use it for anything relating to your work here, or to contact city officials. We are a large organization, thus it is the preferred method of private communication. Before I begin, is there any questions you would like to ask me regarding anything involving the government, or what employment you seek to gain with this interview?"

[pastalishe]

At Junko's request, once she realized what the other woman meant, Cloche held out her arm. She watches the process, fascinated by the method of data transfer and Junko's movements; from personal experience, she knew that that much control took practice. She mentally made note of the data that was transferred to her profile so that, later in the day, she could study.

"Thank you," Cloche said, after Junko's explanation. "I'll make sure to review that as soon as possible."

As they walked, Cloche kept close step with Junko. She listened attentively to her message while keeping a careful eye hallway and rooms around her. She simply nodded in reply to the information about her new mailing address; it's only common sense to use a work address for work-related communication.

"I'm quite curious about the internal structure of the government, actually," Cloche said, raising her hand up to thoughtfully touch her chin. "That is, how the four departments work together with the council and the mayor to govern the city. As for my own employment, due to my position at home, I have had a hand in many areas of governing, particularly in public relations, domestic affairs, and drafting legal documents."

[hinoto_ri]

"An understandable question," she replied, pushing her glasses again, continuing to lead her down the corridor. Most of the doors to the different areas were closed, but Cloche could clearly see the signs etched on the doors. Paranormal R&D, Terrorist Combat, Business Licenses...it went on.

"I do not know if you are familiar with the government structure in Japan traditionally, so allow me to explain. The Japanese parliament is normally called a 'Diet'. It consists of the House of Representatives and the House of Councillors, for a total of four hundred eighty members, along with the Prime Minster. However, once we awoke from our Catastrophe, unable to remember what had exactly happened, that connection to the central government system was completely cut off, leaving us to fend for ourselves with the city's own government. At first, we tried a similar method, and what we had with numerous departments; but with the city's dangers, and the need to...improvise would be the only proper method to assure our survival. You just understand that the first two years saw the lost of countless citizens and deaths of many innocents. Even now, our birth to death ratio is eight to sixteen for every thousand citizens."

In other words, for every child born, two people would die for ever thousand citizens present in the city. Considering there were over a million right now...

"It may seem like a terrible rate, but considering what it was ten years ago, or even two years ago, a massive improvement. We hope that your arrival will continue to slowly pushing the ratio so that one day, it might even-out...or even have positive growth."

She waited as the elevator came down, and also to let Cloche think about what she had said. Junko would wait to continue when the other would tell her to go on.