Oliver Brix took the stage, he retrieved a tablet from who-knows- where and began an introduction. He mentioned the important people within the room after everyone was done with their meal. He went on a lengthy history of Stragenah as a business and made sure everyone was on the same page as to why the imptomptu meeting was being held.
"Now then, I'd like to officially introduce you to the chairman of Stragenah Co-op, Mr. Talbot Voss!" The hall went silent and after a while, a shy clap began from somewhere and thus, like dominos, the walls echoed in applause.
From there on, the many businesses housed within Steagenah building were introduced to Talbot while he scrolled through a pad he had been provided. Everything was documented, and with unmatched speed, he got an understanding of the people and the businesses they led in his building. From their annual revenue- to their losses- to their expenses- to the embezzlements they confidently thought they had hidden well- to the amount of staff and their personalities and contributions.
Everything was bare before Talbot, and like a sponge, he sucked up information of the 'innocently smiling' entrepreneurs trying to score brownie points with him. He had to admit, whomever came up with this archive was a patient stalker. Talbot discreetly glanced at the well dressed statues flanking both his sides.
Raven and Swan perfectly fit such assumptions as they were the ones who slid the pad before Talbot. They just stood there, backs straight and gazes ahead of them, unbothered by the events unfolding around them.
'What an interesting pair,' Talbot mused as his eyes resumed to print the graphs, statistics and images from the pad and into his memory.
He had a panel dedicated to constantly update whatever he was reading, he could feel the knowledge piling at a corner of his mind, but he would require Herculean effort to bring the newly acquired information to the front queue of his thoughts. He sighed at such a disadvantage; he really ought to hastily upgrade his tier and unlock that Library. Talbot had a feeling that that feature would be essential in organizing his thoughts.
Time dragged on and Talbot decided it was time to leave, he was not used to the ass-kissing he was receiving from the business people. The six members of the B.O.D kept to themselves for now and awaited a much 'quieter' environment to have a chance and engage their new member and Leader.
Talbot rose from his throne and made for the exit. His Lawyer followed up, with a bottle of wine tucked under his arm. As they were halfway through the hall, Talbot halted and turned his head back to stare at the ducklings tailing him. Of course, the B.O.D was following him, that he expected as he too wanted to get to know them better for a smoother cooperation in the future. But, there was another addition to this, and this duo was literally, a step behind him.
His hazel eyes studied the unwavering pair of deep blue and a set of dark red eyes. Raven and Swan respectively; held his gaze unwaveringly. Talbot took a moment and contemplated the situation he was in, he now had two shadows. Would this be a temporary effect until he left the hall, or would he now have to adjust to the duo's presence? He did not know, neither was he against having the two tail him from henceforth. Coming to such a conclusion, Talbot shrugged and continued while the two matched his stride silently, studying the new overseer.
"Oliver, do I have an office assigned to me?" Talbot broke the ice and this piqued the interest of the Board trailing after him.
The Lawyer raised an eyebrow and groaned,"Come on man~ you want to do more work? It's 9:30, let's go pop this wine and waste the night!"
"I need to take care of something first before I call it a day," Talbot washed over Oliver's enthusiasm with a bucket of cold water.
"Damn workaholics!" Oliver made his contempt known as he switched his demeanor to a more professional setting and led the group to the lower floors.
Now, Sarah had been through a laborious afternoon. More work was suddenly dropped onto her hands as the seniors and most important staff left in a hurry to who knows where. Albeit only 30% had been excused from duty, these were the literal backbone of their workforce; as they were more experienced. Thus, when the superiors left all dressed up for heaven, all the workload had to be taken care of by the likes of Sarah.
By some miracle, the day came to an end and she was preparing to clock out; she was on her last bar of energy due to the increment on her quota, Sarah did not have the opportunity to slip off and laze around as she had gotten used to. But before she could get out of her work clothes, she was made aware of that the higher-ups had made a summon for her.
Grudgingly, she dragged herself to the 22nd floor. On her way, she had met cliques of her fellow colleagues who were descending; they were jovial- a contrast to her slouching figure. Arriving before a blackwood door with golden accents, Sarah knocked and paused, then stepped in.
There were already people spread out in the lush office. A group of men were by a round table working through bottles of wine; Oliver was amongst them and when his gray eyes met hers, he smiled. This somehow rejuvenated Sarah, her back snapped upright and her generous chest pressed forward as she returned his smile.
There was a group of about 7 people lined up before of a sleek desk, blocking the view of whomever was seated on the other side. Sarah walked closer and began to hear voices, a discussion of sorts, she rounded the file and stood at the left end of the line besides people she had seen around the building.
Her breath hissed when she witnessed the scene before her. Leaning against a desk was an older woman that easily brought up the addage 'aged like fine wine' and Sarah gulped. Being a young woman in her 20s, she felt so out of her league when compared to the lady before her; something about a mature and experienced aura that held onto the woman in front of Sarah added a beauty that felt unreachable.
She had a tablet on her delicate hands and occasionally chuckled while talking to the one ahead of her. As if noticing the new entry, she turned and her piercing brown eyes registered Sarah for a second before turning back to the one on the seat.
Getting off the desk, the mature beauty stretched and spoke in a husky voice, "Well now Talbot, seems like everyone is here already, get done with them so we can pick off from where we left."
"Sure thing Althea," a chuckle replied and Sarah strained over to see the owner of that oddly familiar voice.
On a plush chair sat a man with warm brown skin in a grey sweater; he had long hair graciously styled. It gave off a vibe of those long-haired warriors with imposing braids. Although in this case, they were on a slim man. But the most eye catching factor were the two masked people behind the seat. She had at first mistaken them for background ornaments until the blue eyes of the man in a black suit confirmed otherwise.
'No, am getting distracted,' Sarah reeled in her thoughts and got to the most glaring part of all this situation, 'Is that Jacob!?'
Indeed she was not dreaming. Jacob was seated behind the desk and surprisingly, he did not at all look out of place, he seemed to be in control of everything his hazel eyes gazed at.
"Now then, I'll get straight to the point, all of you are here to be relieved of your duties." Talbot declared, ushering in a silence that threatened to extend for an eternity, but a laugh broke the ice.
Sarah could not believe her ears, and with a smug look, she blurted out, "Is this revenge for earlier? Grow up, I don't know how everyone here allowed a delivery guy like you to let this prank go on for this long but you should know you-"
"Be Quiet!" Swan's voice sliced the room into a suffocating silence.
"Thank you Swan," Talbot nodded her way, "Now, let us use you as an example Sarah, you have been spotted slipping out of duty on more than one occasion- at least change locations when you're lazing around.
"And many more little loopholes you have found within the ethnics of Stragenah. But the most glaring factor is how you present yourself to the guests- I made this observation through my own experience," Talbot finalized, his eyes boring into Sarah's soul.
Talbot was not a petty man to fire her just because of a grudge, no, he was now a wealthy man with the best interests of his people and business at the top of his priorities. Thus, he will be nipping certain problems at the bud and allow the next flower to replace it be more vibrant.
"Hence, you are now suspended for the next 3 months and will have to check up with Stephen within that time period for the lessons you shall be retaking on Customer-service."
And with that, Talbot was done with her and directed his gaze to the others lined up beside Sarah. She actually was having her punishment light, some of the accused were charged with embezzlement and would be fined heavily. Oliver shone as a Lawyer in this meeting, he spout out clauses that made the accused gladly accept the 'unfair' conditions Talbot had set up for them.
And into the night, Sarah witnessed the judgement passed on to her partners as well as herself. Some of the listed actions were outright crimes against the company and the six members of the Board were fuming. They wanted nothing more than to strangle and fire the bastards...but, they came to acknowledge that their way of 'punishing' such subordinates was mild and utterly childlike compared to what the Chairman was sentencing these poor souls into.
Talbot, being backed up by the (threats) logical and lawful clauses his Lawyer spouted, was like a persuasive devil handing out enslavement contracts that the accused could not wiggle their way out of. With 'tears of joy', they accepted the terms presented to them whilst being allowed to retain their jobs.