nextgenerationmarvel | Job Interview (Xavier Institute, might be open)

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Job Interview (Xavier Institute, might be open)

Alisa left ahead of schedule from her Manhattan apartment to the Xavier Institute. She was worried about traffic on the Taconic parkway, as well as her ability to get up the stairs of the school and make her interview in a timely fashion. But she managed to make it with fifteen minutes to spar. She parked in the visitor's parking lot in her Shelby Cobra. It felt good to be able to drive her car again, and without a single issue regarding her leg!

She got out of her car casually, grabbing her portfolio that rested on the passenger seat, along with her references, degrees, and other things needed to prove she was able to teach Art. Ashe she was turning over a new leaf, Alisa actually changed her wardrobe. No longer was she wearing black and white clothing with pin stripes. She wore a pink blouse with a brown belt around her waist, and a flared red and pink plaid skirt that went to the top of her knees.

"Feels good to finally do what I want for once. She thought to herself as she made her way to the main building of the school. It took her awhile to get up the steps, but she made it carrying everything she had brought with her. Eventually Alisa found one of the school's sectaries (rather whoever was working for the day), and was instructed to sit by the administrator's office to wait until she was called for her interview. The drive here was not so bad, the wait, however, was nail biting.

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Rachel wasn't sure what the interview penciled on her schedule was for. She didn't remember which staff member had been her secretary that day. She could have used psychometry on the bloody paper, but she didn't particularly want to.

At the appointed time, the doors to her office opened with a thought. "Next," she beckoned without looking up from her desk.

She was putting the final touches on a construction plan.

Once she heard "Next", Alisa walked into the room carrying everything she brought with her. There was a nervous smile on her face as she took a seat in front of Rachel's desk.

"Hi, I'm Alisa B. LeBeau an' I'm here for an interview to teach art at de institute." She spoke in a tone that was somewhat happy to be here. Her hands leafed through the papers she brought with her before handing them over to Rachel. "Dese are my High School Transcripts, my College Transcripts, my actual degrees, my teachin' certificates in de State o' New York and Louisiana..."

Rachel looked up from the construction plans and blinked. This was not quite what she had been expecting. She set the pen in her hand aside.

She was handed a stack of papers, which she promptly set on the desk without looking at them. "Whoa, whoa. Hold on there, Ms. LeBeau."

"Oh! Sorry, Mrs. Ramsey!" She managed to look somewhat embarrassed as she sat in the chair before Rachel. "I suppose you are wonderin' what dis is all about. Well, you told me if I cut ties wit' Sebastian an' Alistaire Shaw, den I could talk to your secretary about settin' an appointment for a formal interview."

"That I did," Rachel said slowly as she tried to remember the conversation in question. She looked the young woman over.

"So, you cut ties with the living male Shaws?" It was a question to buy time to get her thoughts in order.

"Oui. Sebastian Shaw fired me himself, an' I haven' dared to speak to Alistaire since." Alisa was honest about that, after-all, Rachel was a telepath. "If Sebastian Shaw wants a first class ticket to Hell, he can go by himself. I ain' beggin' to go along for de ride. As for Alistaire Shaw, he's gotta learn to walk on his own two legs. I ain' gonna carry him no more."

Her unusual eyes looked out the window of the office before she spoke. "My whole life, I've been taught not to t'ink for myself, really. Dat no matter 'ow smart I am, I'm only good for t'ree t'ings. Bein' a thug, bein' a servant, an' bein' married off. I realized I'm too good for dat kinda life. I want sumt'ing better, legit."

"So Alistaire has not has his ... input on the leaving. I see." That Sebastian took a hand in ending the employment said something. Rachel was trying to mentally suss out exactly what. Though that did lead into a standard interview question. "Why did Sebastian Shaw fire you from his grandson's employ?"

"Because someone decided to us all for fools and Sebastian Shaw didn' wanna hear it." Alisa's face looked a bit angry at this, but not why Rachel would think. "There was a "false" vote o' confidence about Stephanie's roll wit'in' Sebastian's fold. De vote was not in favor o' Stephanie joinin' de Hellfire Club due to fears o' anoder Shin'obi Shaw, someone who would resent Sebastian and create an inner war. When I told Sebastian o' de vote, he wasn' very happy. Hell, if looks could kill, I'd be dead a hundred times over by now. It wasn' until AFTER I revealed dat information I started discoverin' de damn vote was a set up for sumt'ing. It placed doubt about my abilities, made Stephanie look weak, and pissed off Sebastian. What for? I still ain' 100% sure, but it could be a distraction for sumt'ing."

Alisa shook her head as she continued to speak. "I tried once again to warn Sebastian dat someone was playin' us, an' he refused to hear a word o' it. Instead he t'rew what I 'ad unintentionally done to Stephanie in my face and I told him I would never do anyt'ing to hurt her like dat, but t'ing was seriously up. He said he lacked confidence in my abilities, fired me, said if I fought de firin' it "wouldn' work out so well for me", an' hung up. What he didn' tell me was dat he virtually made me unemployable in de City as a final partin' "gift" for ALL de hard work I did for his Grandson"

"Believe it or not, I an' mad at de firin' so much as I am mad for bein' stripped o' everyt'ing I worked hard for. I'm more mad dat Stephanie mus' hate my guts, now. She's a good person an' didn' deserve what dat false vote caused. An' I can' make it better, dat's de most painful part o' it all."

Rachel quirked an eyebrow at the explanation. She placed pieces of information together from what she knew about the players in question.

"So," Rachel started evenly as she thumbed through the papers sitting on top of her desk, "I'm guessing none of the references or recommendations here are from Stephanie."

She sat back in her leather chair with a small creak. "Also, which is it, Ms. LeBeau? You want to prove you're something more than the very little you've been taught to be or you want to be angry at being stripped of that life?"

"Unfortunately, no. I haven' contacted her since.... I'm honestly scared to." Alisa admitted as she watched Rachel lean back in her chair. "Miss Ramsey, I don' know if you will believe a word I say or not. I'm willin' to let you go inside my head if you ain' satisfied by what I am gonna say. Oui, I am angry. I'm angry at myself for bein' a fool. Am I angry at de "life" stripped from me? It wasn' much o' a life. I was jus' de "property" o' a selfish, thoughtless man. I'm jus' mad dat de good t'ings I done in my life, art appraisals, authentications, restorations... t'ings dat 'ad nuthin' to do wit' dat were taken from me. Art was always my escape, an' to lose de ability to see an' admire it hurt. Art was my life, not de Shaws."

She leaned over the side of her chair and set a book from her briefcase in her lap. "I don' really need to prove dat I'm more den a t'ug. I know what I am. De world don' , 'owever. I don' wanna sit here an' pity myelf, I don' wanna sit back at my loft an' eat a bunch o' cookie dough. I want to teach art an' do sumt'ing good for once. To do somet'ing dat I want an' dat is me... even if it sounds selfish."

"Stephanie is not her father. Though contacting her right now is probably not advisable." Though Rachel would drop in to check on Miss Shaw and Mr. da Silva after he was released from the hospital. She took a breath and let it out slowly.

"Though your explanation does raise a behavioral flag to me for someone who is applying for a job to work with teenagers. You found out something not good about someone. Instead of talking to that person, you went to her father. That she is an adult as this happened is probably galling to Stephanie. We work with teenagers here. They live here on campus, away from their parents. They have to trust us. Trust us to work with them and treat them like the adults they're growing into."

"Which I completely understand. An' I shoulda done dat, I really shoulda. But I learned, an' dat was de important part." Alisa paled more as she sat there in front of Rachel. "We all make mistakes, no matter 'ow old we are. Dat was one o' de biggest ones I made, an' I am truly sorry for it! But I can' undo what was done! All I can do is try an' learn from it an' do better!"

"I also understand I am workin' wit' teenagers an' dey gotta be able to trust me." She was holding herself back from begging, pleading, or even crying. She felt so destroyed and that this was her last hope of any redemption. Of any way to get out of the life she was molded into. "Mrs Ramsey..."

"This is not your last hope. Don't grab onto it like it is." She hadn't actually probed like offered, but the girl was bleeding thoughts and desperation all over her office. Rachel sat forward and placed her arms on the edge of her desk.

"I currently have an art teacher on staff, and I'm not looking to replace him. When I suggested the interview to get me to think about hiring you, you skipped over the suggestions I made that could have you helping people and getting a new perspective from the ashes.

"Skipping the one about Stephanie is understandable. However, you rushed out of the city and right on by the mutant shelter to pin your hopes on a long shot. Even if your affiliation with the male Shaws is cut, your affiliation with the Thieves Guild no matter how angry and tenuous gives me pause. If I was running the X-Men field teams, you would have a shot with getting on one of them.

"However, I'm not. I'm the headmaster of a school for mutants. I have to be particular about the staff teaching my students. You have fine credentials." She placed a hand on the stack of papers. "None of us here are swayed by Sebastian Shaw, and you'll find not all of New York is beholden to him either. He may cast a big shadow, but the city is even bigger than him."

"I know dis was a longshot, an' I don' want you to fire de teacher you got. Even if I was a teacher's aide, it would be a step in de right direction." Her eyes looked to the side before looking back over at Rachel. "I want away from de city. While Shaw ain' as big as it, it's still wearin' me down. Startin' to feel like Atlas wit' de world on my shoulders."

"Please, Mrs. Ramsey. I will take any job you give me. Even if you got me pickin' up trash around dis place. I want a shot at redemption an' out o' dat City. I will even leave de Guild, because I can' take it no more. Too much backstabbin' . Dere is no honor amongst Enforcers or T'ieves." Plus with the "failure of the Shaw contract, the Guilds have been whispering about what she be done with her. And right now, it's leaning back towards an arranged marriage. That was the LAST thing she ever wanted.

"That's because you put the Shaws at the center of your world and don't seem very willing to get rid of the idea they belong there. They're becoming your excuse, valid or not," Rachel observed coolly. This girl was falling apart.

"I am not going to offer you any job here dealing with students. You are definitely too unstable. I will protect them and you. Them from these wild vacillations, and you from being eaten alive by teenagers. In a mostly non-literal sense." She wasn't aware of any consumptive abilities, but she would have new students by fall and could not be sure.

"And past experience tells me even if you leave the Guild, they aren't going to let you go easily." Considering she had a student with ties to the Guild on campus, she was going to be very careful about what outside the X-Men politics got on her campus.

"You want a shot at redemption? You earn it. It's not going to be handed to you or given because you plead for it. You are taking steps in the right direction, but I'm not seeing follow through."

"Dey won' let me go easy, no." She agreed. She was Jean luc's adopted daughter, after-all. "I am tryin' to earn redemption by takin' de right steps, oui. An' de Shaws ain' part o' my world anymore. I don' want dem or de guilds in my world. I don' want to be part o' dat world anymore!"

She cringed at Rachel's assessment that she was too unstable to work at the school. She understood it, but it still hurt. It hurt hearing the truth.

"You'll protect me? You don' know me all dat well an' yet you'll protect me? Dat's perhaps de nicest t'ing someone ever said to me." Just as nice as what Ryan once told her. "T'ank you, Mrs. Ramsey. I jus' don' know what to do. It's scary."

Doug, who had been working down in the computer lab, had been growing increasingly concerned by the emotions he was feeling with the psychic rapport he shared with his wife.

You okay?

"We X-Men protect a world that fears and hates us," quoth the former Phoenix. "Fellow mutants who need help, too. But we aren't going to hand you the things you think you need."

She heard her husband's mental sending. She tried hard not to wince that he felt some bleed through their rapport. Not quite. Please remind me Brooke is and should be my only patient.

"It is scary being in the world on your own, not being told what to do. But that's where you find yourself, prove you're more than what they say. Not moving from one protector to another."

"I'm not lookin' for a protector." Alisa spoke softly. Her hands were shaking as she started to put her book back in her briefcase. "After-all, all I ever did was protect people. No one protected me so why look now? But why do I keep wanting to belong somewhere? Why do I always feel like the outsider looking in, still?" she thought to herself, after Rachel spoke. "I've come to a point I do not know what to do anymore. I don' want to continue on as some thug for hire, some tool people jus' use an' t'row away when it's broken."

She started to get up, making sure her briefcase was locked. "I'm sorry, I once again wasted your time. But hey, I get out jus' in time to miss de traffic back... home I guess!" She was pained and doing her best not to show it. "You can shred up dat copy o' my resume an' samples o' my work if you want."

Brooke is definitely the only patient you should be worrying about right now. What's going on?

"Alisa, find what makes you happy and your peace of mind will be there. Take your time, and don't rush into it. But make it dependent on you, not someone else." She gathered together the papers and slid them into a file folder.

Alistaire Shaw's former bodyguard is having a breakdown in my office. I am so going to need a back rub tonight. Which she technically could have done with tk, but that took all the fun out of it.

"Get yourself in a better frame of mind. And if you need help of the non-employment variety, contact us here at Xavier's." Rachel easily pushed herself to her feet.

"T'ank you." She sounded rather gracious with her thank you. Rachel was right, she needed to find what made her happy and just own it. She gave rachel a gentle shake of the hand, seeming to be worried about her strength output for the moment. "If I need non-employment 'elp o' any sort, dis place will be my first call."

She turned to leave, but not before stopping at the door. "Is it true Remy LeBeau's kid is a student here? If so, tell my niece or nephew de Guilds ain' worth joinin' or bein' apart o'. Dey'll only lead to ruin an' dis school is a better future den whatever de Guilds got to offer."

T'will be my happy duty, m'lady.

"You're welcome, Miss LeBeau." Rachel's return handshake was firm.

It better be. Also, you better not be wearing anything but a pair of really tight, really short shorts. It could never be said Rachel didn't know what she wanted.

She blinked at the question. She smoothly covered it with a "I'm not at liberty to discuss who is enrolled at the school. But if I run across a student like that, I will relay the message."

"I would appreciate day, Mrs. Ramsey. De Guilds are no place to grow up, an' ain' for children. Not ones wit' futures anyway." She shrugged her shoulders and finally made her way out the door. It took her awhile but she made her way back to her car in the guest parking lot.

"What do I do now..." She asked herself, her hands tapping along the steering wheel. "Got a few paintings I could finish. maybe work on dem... find out what makes me happy."

Carefully, Alisa put her car in reverse and left the school. Places like this were just dreams, and facing the reality was a bit harsh. She needed to work on herself, somehow.

Yes, ma'am.

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Job Interview (Xavier Institute, might be open)

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