Unfamiliar Territory

[Harper Flint]

**Assume it's a Monday.

Age and position aside, sometimes it was weird the way situations worked around here, particularly speaking of the tavern. Whatever anyone had to say about him, Roma obviously brushed off with a friendliness he was often associated with. He hired, and people knew this though not who matched what situation, people who were at their worst place in life. Homeless. Ex-convicts (with reason). Prostitutes no longer in the seedy business. People knew, yet, while some talked, the reputation he gave their tavern overruled all of the talk.

Enough people liked the crowd and the food and drinks to keep coming back, eventually disregarding the talk or forgetting about it altogether. Harper appreciated the old man more than anyone for it. He was practically a father figure he didn't have. Harp was still allowed to live in that back room after all.

While shuffling around to get orders in and set up for opening, he watched the clock to make sure he was ready for the interview when the guy came in. Nearing eleven, he unlocked the door to let customers in and turned on the open sign. He felt nervous, despite interviewing the other bartender when he replaced the other one they had who left. People made him nervous, now more than ever, since, well, that time when Jeje came.

He was a good pretender, luckily.

Interviews were easy anyway. Harp would ask some questions, listen, basically have a small conversation to gauge how well he would fit and after any questions he himself had were answered, they were basically done until a decision was made. They were in serious need of a bouncer so it was lucky someone jumped on that position, and he likely didn't have much competition.

The staff were also... mostly fae, besides one person so far, and while that wouldn't change anything, Harp worried about problems arising over the whole staff being supernaturals.

Over the entrance door, the bell chimed, shaking excitedly to announce the new entry. Harp turned to greet them with a polite smile on his face.

(Lmao he never asked for Gregg's name but I guess I imagined he did in my mind.)
Batty I had to. :P

[Greggory Lennox]

(LOL well he must have his name if he put in an app, right?! And background check??)

This was the first time in all of Gregg's entire life that he had put in an application and gone in for an interview for an actual, real life job. Hunting paid the bills, in the way being a mercenary paid the bills. Where there was blood, there was money to be had. Giving up the hunting life wasn't all that hard; Gregg had always been on auto pilot when he worked, not really giving it any deeper thought than it required to get the job done.

He didn't know why this job in particular caught his eye. Maybe because of his size and weight; he had the muscle to do it. And the place was the kind of place he normally would have frequented as a hunter, to listen for leads and to hunt. Now he was coming in for a job. Somebody was going to ask him questions and judge him and based on that, he would either be rejected or accepted. The whole thing felt so strange to him, when his old line of work had none of that.

"Hey," Gregg said, by way of greeting. He wasn't sure what else to do and he was delayed by a few seconds before realizing that he ought to put out a hand to shake. He did so, adding, "I'm Gregg. Here about the job."

[Harper Flint]

(Definitely! For sure!! Otherwise he'd never be in charge of this again and Gregg would probably already think weirdly of him pffft.)

Thoughts of problems with fae were pushed to the back of his mind to be dealt with later when the possible new worker showed up. He was a pretty big guy, especially in comparison to Harp, who was shorter and skinnier. Dancers had muscle for sure-- he wasn't entirely a twig-- but they had lean muscle, so still looked skinny in clothing that covered their arms and legs, and even without that, he didn't look like much.

Shaking his hand, he nodded, "Nice to meet you, I'm Harper, the one you were texting over the phone."

Harper tried to gauge any sensations he could pick out from Gregg, but nothing was coming to him. He could hardly tell his own kind, so of course differentiating any other species was highly unlikely. For all he knew, Gregg was only a human. Roma was always here and none of the staff thus far had been problematic regardless of what they were, so he tried not to let the anxiety of not knowing affect him.

"We can sit outside to do the interview, since it'll be more convenient." he put the rag he was cleaning the counter with away before leading them to a table outside. There weren't many customers this time of day, usually the ones who wanted a bite of food without the booze, but the seating outside would have them out of the way of those few people.

[Greggory Lennox]

"Sure."

Gregg didn't care whether the interview took place inside or outside. As long as nobody was listening in on them and even then, it wasn't as if Gregg had anything groundbreaking to share. All he was trying to do was work. There had to be a way to be a productive person in this place without resorting to hunting. Hunting... That would be better put behind him. Eyeing the man who was conducting the interview, he wondered. Was he one of them? Then he pushed the thought away; that wasn't his job anymore.

Once they were outside, Gregg took a seat at the offered table.

Then he sat there, and he wasn't... well, he wasn't sure what happened next. Applications, resumes, and interviews weren't a part of his old job. He wasn't nervous, per se but he did want to make a good impression.

"So..." He cleared his throat. "What do you need to know?"

[Harper Flint]

"Don't worry, just a few questions and some more detail than we talked about over text." he smiled pleasantly.

"It's more of a formality, since this is a position harder to fill for us." Friendly as he may be, Roma was a big dude with a sort of rough and deep accented voice and people tended to be... at least somewhat wary in his presence. This made it pretty difficult for people to express interest, intimidated away by the already giant owner. He didn't know whether Gregg was nervous or anything, but honesty was a good way to build trust, even when it seemed odd to say something like this to a possible new employee.  They didn't lose anything telling him, and if he starts to get cocky, Harp would notice the change, so...

"So, to start, tell me a little about yourself-- what you do with your free time and such." He had the resume Gregg gave him on a clipboard, on his lap resting against the table. The bigger questions he would ask were answered over the text-- why he wanted the job, prior work experience-- no need to ask those again.

[Greggory Lennox]

Gregg's resume probably wasn't all that special. He hadn't lied on it but he did write that he worked freelance for a long time. A freelance security type. He wondered now if that made him sound like a gangster. Maybe he should have thought it over more, how to word it. The problem was, Gregg was short with words and that didn't change when he wrote.

Sitting stiffly across the other man, Gregg ticked through his hobbies. There weren't many of those, either. He wasn't much of anything if he wasn't a hunter. His entire life revolved around that life for so long that he forgot how to be anything else. Aldon was helping; Aldon was his rock. If it weren't for him...

"Read," he said after a moment. "Exercise. Work out."

He wished he had something more to add. There were things he thought about learning how to do. How to draw, maybe. How to make something instead of breaking things. How to create instead of destroy.

[Harper Flint]

This wasn't all that unusual, to be fair. The Old Man was notorious for what crowd he let in the tavern, and even let work there. Probably, none of them would have jobs if it weren't for him. After all, who hires random homeless people or ex-gangsters in their store without being a little different than the rest.

Gregg didn't seem all that talkative, but he didn't need to be. As long as he did his job well, he didn't need to be some kinda most-popular-kid-in-class type. Harp could go with the flow here, anyway.

Well, he looked pretty bulky and was tall, and liking exercise benefited the store, since they needed someone strong to be a bouncer-- er, obviously.

He nodded, smiling so Gregg didn't think he was taking his answers without actually listening to them. "What do you think you can get out of this job, and why we would benefit hiring you?"

[Greggory Lennox]

He didn't understand why this was still going on. Was this how real world job interviews worked? Not knowing left him in the dark, fumbling around for responses. Somehow, it was easier to be a part of the hunter network, where he knew how everything worked. He'd been there a while, after all. It seemed like he was late, learning all this at his age.

"I'm strong," he said. "That's what the job needs, right?"

He wasn't sure what else to say. How would they benefit--he could do what they needed... Was there anything more to it? The other part, he didn't even know. What did he want to get out of it? Just...

"Honest work."

Nothing more, nothing less.

[Harper Flint]

Short, simple answers were all Harper was getting out of Gregg. That was fine. He wasn't talkative either-- only forced into controlling this type of work because he was the most suited besides the Old Man, having spent a lot of time here and...

The Old Man mostly wanted him to have the experience, realistically.

"Yes, it is."

Harper smiled. "I know, these must sound like unnecessary questions. They're just a part of the formula; it's more about seeing what kind of person you come off as and whether you'll fit with the job." The most important questions were answered in the Resume and over text before.

Normally, they reviewed all the Resumes and possible options to decide who to hire, then called to let people know, but this was different. No one else had really offered for this, and the Old Man wasn't interested in formalities as much in some instances.

This was one of those instances.

"Alright. We don't need to stretch this out a lot, so if you don't have any more questions, we can finish the interview here."

"If no one else shows interest in the job in the next few days, you'll likely have the job and we'll start the process of getting you used to it." It didn't seem likely, but just in case. "I'll call you to let you know what the result is."

[Greggory Lennox]

"All right."

He had no idea what else to say so as he stood to leave, he shook the man's hand, the way he had been taught to and he said, "Thank you."

He was pretty sure he was supposed to add something about opportunities and all that but all he could do was show up, be himself, and try and get the job based on his merits alone. As far as he knew, being a bouncer in a club hardly meant having a skill set other than being strong and unmoved by people who tried to con or flirt their way inside.

Gregg left feeling unsure about whether he was a match for the job. Only time would tell.

[Finished]