#fenixtj

***************

It’s not long after Tweak and family relocate to the formerly-Summerstrike barony that the announcement goes out: The barony will from now on be known as Albedo barony, and the baronial residence is Skyhook Freehold. The hold’s symbol, however, is still in the works.

This is of considerably relief to Jessica.

Already the near dreaming is tweaking, to use a pun, in the Albedo Barony. Reflecting it's new ruler more and more... and her will. The embrace of the almost lost space faring heritage mixes with dreams of grease and steel... the old dreams of propreity and authority shifting

There’s a growing sense of frontier-style thinking, a sense of testing the boundaries and challenging the norms. After all, isn’t that the kind of thinking that helped get mortals into space in the first place?

Indeed, the 'company' to mortal eyes, is going from white collar to more blue, from administrative to manufacturing and LOTS and LOTS of R&D. Which means some very confused employees among the mortal set.

"I'm sorry, Miss, " One mortal woman says with a look at her 'boss' "But this doesn't seem the best way to maximize our profits. As a financial consultant I'm obligated..."

“Yeah?” The ‘boss’ glares at the woman. “Tell me somepin...you think you any good at yer job?”

"Uhm.. Yes. Top 20% of my graduating class. And it was a big college." The woman looks alarmed.

Necropsis peeks in, "Yo babe," He eyes the Lady From El Norte, then looks to Tweak, "You want me to set up some bedrooms?"

“Let’s not get they panties in too much of a bunch too fast, Nick,” she says to him.

Unechanted, the portal woman doesn't realize that she's dealing with fae creatures, she only knows that somehow two folks who she'd never expect to run a 'company' are running it

Nick nods "The ones what got panties anyway"

Then back to the woman. “This here be what we call paradigm shift. You all been doin’ short term profits, an’ okay, that be a’ight, far as it go. But we lookin’ now at some cuttin’-edge shi....stuff, an’ I be a goddam visionary. So here be th’ thing...you keep on tellin’ me whatcha think we gotta do, an’ I prob’ly ignore you ‘bout fifty percent of th’ time. You can’t deal with that, you ain’ got a space here.”

Nick eyes her again, then holds up a hand, "If she needs reassigning to a horizontal position, you let me know."

"I'm sorry, who is he again?" She says

"Human Resources" Nick says without missing a beat.

"Right," Then she looks to Tweak, "It'll take some work but I can see what I can do to get some investors into this new R&D. You have to be careful though, it's a high risk field. Corporate espionage is rampant. International theft of designs ..so on."

“Been there. But how good you think you be at spottin’ that kinda thing?” She eyes the woman speculatively.

"I think you'll want to have some security changes to be honest." She rubs at the back of her neck. It's like she can feel the change in the hold, but that shouldnt' be possible

“Yeah?” A narrowed look. “Tell me what you be envisionin’.”

"Through background checks, at least as firm as you have on those with access to the finances. I'd recommend a computer security specialist as some theft is just data. As well as some well, alert security guards who know how to check on matters discretely without disrupting things. Ex Military Police maybe?"

“Huh. You know anybody like that what you c’n recommend?”

And as the woman replies, Tweak tries to kenn her, just to be sure....

"No, not really" she admits "Not personally. I suppose you'd want to talk to your new Human Resources director?" Protocal! The woman is under a protocal. Oh she's not lying, but that's why guiding her. She's 'behaving' all straight laced and the like. She isn't a kithian or she'd like to have popped

A surprised blink...and then a frown that has nothing at all to do with the words of the conversation. “Yeah...yeah, I get right on that. Hey, go do some money shit. Figger out...uhhh...how much this company done been spendin’ on gov’ment bribes, an’ don’ tell me they ain’ cuz we know they is. I gotta check somepin out.” A head tilt towards Nick, and she heads for the location of the balefire.

A blush from the woman, and a surprised look. "Ah, yes, we never called them that of course. " Properity "But I'll look in on it"

And she heads out.

NEc joins her, "What up?"

“Dumbass Gwyd done protocoled his mortals. They all behavin’ jus’ so. If’n I don’ break that, I ain’ gonna get nuthin’ but pushback from ‘em at every step.”

"You sure you aint' gonna get pushback if you let them out of it?" but he does admit "PUnk ass elf."

“Ain’ said I gonna let ‘em out. But I can’t ‘xactly work with ‘em if’n they gonna be all stick-up-the-ass.” She has a searching look on her face, as if trying to follow the source of a particular scent, as she tries to feel out the thread of the protocol, sense if she can...can make it hers somehow....

She's worked with holds before, but this is interesting. Damn, Summerstrike was a controlfreak... the Cantrip is so checked and double checked he's lucky it didn't snap. But yes, she could ease it, or even blend in a little chicanery. She can allow others to infuse a touch of glamour to it if she wants,. Meaning she can do more than have them behave 'just so' thoug hthat's the big part... but thanks to chicanery, have them ignore certain hang ups or what not. The protocal will be doing the heavy lifting, and she doesn't want to remove it entirely. Too useful, but she needs to visualize how she wants folks to feel free to act...and put a little velvet on the iron glove so to speak

So the problem is to get a clear vision in mind. She doesn’t want them all uptight like they are now, but she doesn’t want them turning it into whatever a hold full of satyrs is called. Might be fun, but not really productive. Nah...I need ‘em to be...imaginative...an’ flexible...an’ motivated. Gotta see new possibilities, an’ not be afraid t’ tell me ‘bout ‘em. But when I say a thing gotta be done, it gotta be done. She sets that notion in her head and when she gets to the ‘fire, she focuses and tries to weave that mindset in through the existing cantrip, redirecting it down new pathways and circuits.

Necropsis looks tempted to chip in.. and throws a bit of glamour in the mix "Oops"

A dubious look. “You fuck this shit up, I fuck you up, baby.”

" Sorry, can't hear you over the sound of my huge dick swinging in my jam jams"

“I be workin’ here, dipshit!” She swats him with the back of her hand as she closes her eyes again, focusing her thoughts on the flames, on the power, on the web of cantrip that must be weaving through every mortal here, and is even now humming at a different frequency....

That's when it stops being funny for Nec, as his trueheart wobbles a bit... Tweak feels dizzy, like she just sucked in too many fumes too fast for a second

“Whoa-fuck....” She puts an arm out to him, trying to steady herself.

Necropsis holds her "You crazy bitch if you die on me I am raising that kid to be just like you, that's a threat"

But his grip is strong and yet gentle as he holds her

And then Tweak feels it... the new 'protocals' are in effect...

“Th’ hell?” She blinks and then takes a deep breath. “Oh....oh, damn....” She looks at him with a toothy smile. “Think th’ shit done worked.”

really, to use the old joke, more like guidelines than rules... she can imagine all over the hold.. no, see... hear.. bits of ...it

A normally reserved woman trying to make the copier work just opens it, "No I don't care if we're violating warranty, they charge us to fix it every few months anyway... let's just fix it ourselves. You want to help or just bitch ?"

Another guy says "wait, if we're going back to manufacturing, why not reuse the damn plastic we're throwing away? We can get a tax write off on that or something right? FUck hell. I'm a genius!"

A deep breath, and she inhales the energy of that glorious moment when mortals remember that they’re competent individuals. They might not be experts, but they don’t have to be helpless as a result.

“Daaaaayum.” A bit of a shudder. “Crap, Crawley, this gonna work.”

"Yeah well... told you so" He says.