Nice Work If You Can Get It

Both Bunny and Yura had come to the club early that day. Obviously, Yura was there to interview Nerina, while Bunny had come to make some minor adjustments to some of the costumes. Bunny was the one to take Nerina to Yura’s office, and had fawned over how cute she was.

“I’m sure you’ll do great!” Bunny encouraged her before sending her into Yura’s office. “Yur-er-Miss Bengall can be a little intimidating at times, but she’s actually a great boss. Good luck!”

She allowed Nerina into the office, where she introduced herself to Yura. Yura was sitting at her desk, but rose to greet the newcomer.

“A pleasure, Nerina. I am Yura Bengell.” Yura replied, getting a good look at the girl as she took the resume in her hands. Well, she certainly passed the ‘attractiveness’ test to work in the club. That little lacy dress she wore was lovely, and the way it accentuated her figure was flawless. She could even look past the inappropriate footwear and slightly mussed hair.

Sitting back down once again, Yura looked over the resume. Certainly not the most professional resume she had seen, but she wasn’t too worried about it. “A jazz singer…interesting. Jazz would go well with the atmosphere of the club,” she murmured as she read over. Once she had absorbed the most important information, she placed the resume down on her desk.

“What is this health condition you have?” Yura rested her hands against the desk and leaned toward Nerina slightly. She had a very piercing glance beneath her glasses—the kind of look that could see beyond the surface of someone. She was very careful to take in body language—her eye contact, the way she moved, the way she spoke. “How many nights would you be able to work?”

She liked the presence of this girl. Friendly, but not as hyperactive as Bunny. She would fit in well with the club—it was just a matter of whether she had the right talent for singing. The presence of the club was extremely important to Yura, and she could get very picky about who she hired.

“When we’re working: it’s Ms. Bengall. In private: Yura is fine,” she replied with a small shrug of her shoulders. In the public eye she maintained a very controlled persona, but in private she was willing to be a touch more casual. At least, as casual as Yura could possibly manage. She still tended to be a bit stiff regardless.

When Nerina mentioned the other music styles she was skilled in, Yura pulled out a pen and wrote them down in the margins of her resume. “Very nice. I don’t believe we have anyone else skilled in those areas.” Plus, they had Bunny to bust out the pop songs during karaoke night—and as far as Yura was concerned, they did not need any more of that.

Then Nerina mentioned her chronic fatigue. No big deal—Yura was willing to work around it. But, then she mentioned the full moon. That caused her to raise an eyebrow.

“Is your chronic fatigue supernatural in nature, then? You can tell me if it is…” Yura leaned back against her chair with a small smirk on her face. “I’m hardly human myself.”

And why hide it? They were on an island full of supernatural, after all. Having spent most of her life with large wings that were impossible to hide made Yura fairly unsubtle about her inhuman nature.

She waited patiently as Nerina eventually revealed that she was part mermaid. It was certainly obvious that Nerina was some water-based being judging by her resume. Yura was not at all fazed.

“Ah, a mermaid then,” Yura murmured as she jotted more notes down on Nerina’s resume. “I am willing to work with the cycle of the moon, then. You will certainly have a consistent schedule.” Satisfied with the information she had on Nerina so far, she put her pen down and once again trained her eyes on Nerina.

“Weird?” Yura chuckled a little. “Hardly, dear. I don’t even know what I am, so you are surely one step ahead of me at least, right?” And she left it at that. She had a habit of not being subtle of her supernatural status, and yet rarely outright stated exactly what about her was supernatural. After all, her blood was an invaluable commodity for many—and the last thing she needed was people trying to draw every drop of blood from her body. Not that she expected Nerina to be interested in such things, of course.

Yura then rose from her seat. “Well, so far Nerina, I am intrigued by you.” She then headed over to her office door and opened it. “However, I would like to hear a sample of your singing before I make a commitment. I’m sure you saw the stage as you came in. I have the microphone set up for you.”

Before Nerina had begun singing, Yura had called Bunny in to listen as well—which she was more than happy to do. Bunny was not dressed for work yet, so she wore a simple sky blue sundress and had her long pink hair thrown up into two buns.

The two sat in front of Nerina as she demonstrated her singing abilities. Yura shifted her attention between Nerina, and jotting down notes. Bunny was very enthusiastic and clapped when Nerina finish the song.

“You are soooooo good!” Bunny said with a big grin on her face. Bunny dabbled a little in singing herself, but pretty much only during karaoke night at the club. She had thought about taking lessons, but her self-confidence constantly wavered on the idea.

“I’m so jealous,” Bunny bumped her head against Yura’s shoulder as she whispered to her. “If I took singing lessons, could I be as good as her?”

Yura patted her on one of her hair buns. “You two have very different voices, Bun. But I do think you have potential.”

Bunny lifted her head, beaming at the compliment. “Thank you~”

Now that Bunny was placated, Yura turned her attention back to Nerina.

“Very nice, Nerina,” Yura said as she took of her glasses for a moment to clean them with a cloth she kept in her pocket. She was pretty confident that hiring Nerina was going to be the right choice at that point, but she decided she wanted to hear just a little bit more.

“Could we just hear one more song? Something more on the…hm…soft, soothing side?”

The next song was just as lovely as the last. Yura found herself shifting her attention from Nerina to the club itself. She imagined the club on a busy night, and is Nerina’s voice was right for the club. Yes, she could picture it perfectly. Nerina’s style was both classy and fun—just right for her club. Her decision was made absolute at that point.

Bunny pressed her head against Yura’s shoulder again and started whispering ‘hire her hire her hire herrrrrrrrrrr’ over and over. Yura pushed her head back up.

“You’re hired, Nerina.” Yura said simply. Her point was absolute before Bunny’s begging.

“Yay!” Bunny bounced out of her seat, raising her arms up in celebration. “Welcome to Club Gambit, Nerina!!”

Yura rose from her seat and approached the stage. “A few things: since you will be an entertainer, I will not expect you to wear the themed costume I have the servers wear. Of course, you are welcome to if you want.”

“We always have extra costumes in the back!” Bunny quickly added.

“You are welcome to invite others to perform with you,” Yura continued, rolling her pen between her fingers as she thought of all the usual things she needed to tell new employees. “I can also hire musicians to back you up if you please—just let me know ahead of time so I can make the arrangements.”

Yura adjusted her tie as she thought to herself for a moment. “This is less likely to affect you than is it the servers, but I always want to be clear on this: we are working in an establishment that serves alcohol and is full of rather attractive people, so every once in a while we may get, well, rowdy or inappropriate customers.”

The light of the stage hit her glasses as she pushed them up slightly. “I do not tolerate such behavior in my club. If someone is making you uncomfortable, you tell me immediately. If I am not in the general vicinity, then you tell one of the servers. We all look out for each other here, and I personally will take care of kicking out anyone who goes against my rules.”

Bunny hopped up and sat on the edge of the stage by Nerina’s feet, looking up at her with a big grin. “Yura takes this stuff super seriously. She takes real good care of us. And if you need anything, don’t hesitate to ask me either! Like she said, we all look out for each other here!” Although in Bunny’s case, it wasn’t entirely true…a lot of the servers wanted nothing to do with her. But she looked out for them, even if they hated her.

“Do you have any questions, Nerina?” Yura asked.