The mother nodded twice, once at the fact that Regan promised to be there, and second at the fact that she was going to be giving her the contact information for the school. Now that she was close, you could see the mixture of concern and weariness in her eyes… her daughter’s mutant genes had kept the woman awake more than a few nights, as some of the more traumatic emotions and events often happened when she was dreaming. The young girl giggled as she called herself ‘Miss Kitty’, and gave her an award winning smile and a big thumbs up. She was in a much better mood now than she had been, and let the tail go gently.

Jacob came back in the door about that time normally, using a clean rag to get a bit of the grease and grime off his hands, and looked towards the small group. “Your car is ready, Ma’am. I have Joe bringing it around front right now, and you will be on your way.” He then turned towards Regan, a smirk on her face. “When you ring her up, make sure she get’s the ‘Customer Loyalty Discount’ for choosing our shop to do her work. All the prices and stuff are behind the computer monitor on a laminate piece of paper. Use the barcode scanner, and it should ring up automatically.” That being said, he looked at the organization of the desk, and smiled at how quickly she was making it her own… she would be a valuable employee.

“If anyone comes in for a ‘walk-in service’, give my door a knock… I got to try to finish something. You handling everything OK?” He would wait for a moment, to see if she had any questions for him, but if not, he would smile and move to the steel door, using a key to unlock it from wandering children getting into his stuff… and then would proceed up the stairs to his home and personal workshop.

Regan gave Jacob a small smile as he came out of the back, she felt bad for not having gotten as much work done as she would have liked to, but she felt the need to take care of this woman and her child in the moment. They were clearly having a rough time, it was the least she could do to comfort them and offer a small amount of hope to them in the way of the school.

She nodded to Jacob as he told her about the price sheet and the discount and started to fish around for it behind the screen. While he spoke to the woman. Regan rang up the price, added the discount, and the 7% tax. She printed off the invoice and handed it to the woman with a small smile. “The price is on the bottom of your sheet. How would you like to pay today?”

Turning her attention back to Jacob she smiled and gave him another nod, “You got it boss!” She watched him enter the locked steel door and close it behind him. She then turned her attention back to the mother to finish their business transaction and give her the little card with all of the school’s contact information on so she could set up when to come to the school with her daughter and have a grand tour.

The woman approached the desk, smiling at the price, which was very reasonable for the work done when the discount was put in with it. She presented a Credit Card, and the credit card machine was right next to the register where it would print the receipt for her to sign, and a copy for the customer herself. Once they were all rang up and paid for, she gave Regan a good smile, the first time she had since arriving, and took the card with the information on the Mansion. The little girl gave her a quick wave. “Bye Ms. Kitty!!” she said excitedly, and they walked out of the door together.

For the next hour, Regan would be left to her own devices, able to organize, clean, and do pretty much anything she needed to in order to complete work until lunchtime. As 1130 neared, Jacob finally came back down the stairs, Regan’s sensitive hearing likely hearing him coming down the steps, even if he was very light footed. As he came back down, he had two metallic things in his hands… both looking like they were made of metal. One was a keyboard, and the other was smaller, and couldn’t really be seen in his big hand. “Plastic and your claws don’t really mix… so I made this for you…” He presented the keyboard, made of solid metal, not plastic, which gave it a bit of weight, complete with rubber nubs on the bottom to keep it from sliding around on the desk.

He then presented the second item. “And this, is so you can activate it with a carrier of your choosing and finally be able to call if you are running late.” He presented a small, metal, flip-open cell phone. Redone completely using Tungsten metal, it wouldn’t scratch or break unless you shot it with something pretty high caliber. Both were loaded and ready to go, and he handed the phone to her for her review and inspection. All the buttons were a bit larger than traditional phones, and the screen wasn’t all that big, but it wasn’t like she could use a touch-screen anyway.

Regan was glad to see the woman smile a real smile for once. She processed her credit card, gave her a pen to sign the receipt, and stapled her copy to her invoice. She was glad that she was happy with her service at the shop. As the little girl said goodbye, Regan stood up and waved goodbye to her. She was happy to have been able to help them and was actually looking forward to having them come by the mansion for a visit.

Finally being able to crack down on these damn sticky notes, Regan started making phone calls. She took the complaint of each customer and Googled it quickly to find out the estimated time of repair of each. She used the back of a pencil to dial the numbers on the phone as well as type on the keyboard. Claws were not great to have working a desk job. She managed to quickly get all of the repairs organized and into the computer’s calendar so that each job could be done in an efficient manner. She even assigned each mechanic to one of the jobs so that each morning she could print out the jobs and hand them to each mechanic as they came in. This way each one knew what to expect, when to expect their customer, and when they would have free time to work on other things or take walk-ins. This also let Regan know who would be available and when so that she could make sure customers were served quickly and efficiently.

As she was triumphantly removing the sticky notes off her desk and placing them into the trash, Regan heard soft footfalls coming down the stairs behind the door that Jacob had vanished behind. He emerged and was carrying a few things. She gave him a soft smile and curiously tried to peek without being too obvious. Regan gave a little gasp and placed a clawed hand to her lips as Jacob presented her with a metal keyboard that she could use more effectively and without the fear of destroying his keyboard. The cell phone made her gasp a little more, she had no idea what to say. She had never owned a cell phone before but it was quite amazing. She took it and flipped it open to examine it and was quite impressed at the craftsmanship that Jacob had but into it. She teared up a little and looked up at Jacob from her seat at the desk. “I don’t know what to say…… Thank you.”

Jacob watched her reaction carefully, as the way a person received a gift was something that gave a deep insight into how they were raised and their inner character. She liked the keyboard it seemed, but the cell phone was something that she reacted particularly strongly too… and while he wasn’t sure if it was a trick of his eyes, he could have sworn she was tearing up a little bit. After he presented it to her, he smirked slightly, and moved to the counter beside her, pressing the intercom button. “Joe, could you come to the front desk, please.” A moment later, the man appeared in the doorway, using a rag to clean his hands, his creepy smile turning into something a little lighter.

“Joe is a wizard when it comes to circuit boards and other electrical stuff, so he helped quite a bit.” That explained the creepy smile earlier, as he had known something about the gift, considering he was involved directly. That was when he chimed in. “We all use AT&T since Jacob has a discount through the company. If you choose them, then you can call or text any of us without using your minutes.” It was a simple enough suggestion, and the discount was pretty decent, but Jacob knew that it wasn’t the only factor.

“I would recommend doing a little homework and making sure you get good signal where you live, before choosing, but he’s right. I get a 10% discount for all employees for the shop through them.” After all, he did services on the AT&T Vice President’s car.

Regan held the cell phone in her clawed hands for a few minutes and just stared at it, she wasn’t sure what to do with it to be quite honest. She had never owned a cell phone before. She was still lost in thought when Jacob called Joe in and she didn’t even notice that he was now in the room with them until he started to talk. “Ummm I have no idea what a carrier is, or how I would know if I have a good signal. I have never owned one of these before.” She was clearly quite embarrassed by that statement and she looked down at the floor while she spoke. She wasn’t sure what to do right now, so she readjusted herself in her seat a few times.

Finally looking up she smiled softly at Joe and figured out why he had that creepy smile going on earlier in the morning. The thought made her smirk and she gave him a playful glare. There was just problem with this whole set up. If she was going to have to go into the city to set up her phone, there was no way she would actually go there. She would be having panic attacks from all of the eyes staring at her, and that could end up in big trouble for the innocent people that couldn’t help but stare at her. “Would someone be able to set it up for me? I can’t handle going into the city.”

Jacob listened to his newest employee, to include her plight, and was surprised that he didn’t think of that earlier. Of course having a physical mutation would have additional complications on going into public places… but then the thought crossed his mind on… How did she get here without being seen? It was the ‘City that Never Sleeps’ for a reason, there was always someone around just about everywhere… so how she got through the city to Jacob’s shop was something he was relatively concerned with. Still, there was something in her voice at the last sentence that hinted at dread… so he would work about it another way.

“We might be able to do that. Joe, can you get a SimCard, and we can activate it by calling them up?” A simcard was very cheap, but necessary, and they could have her set up within the hour. “Sure… I think I have one in my truck.” He walked out of the shop’s front door, moving to his truck and rifling through his glovebox, which would take a minute. Jacob took the moment of privacy to make a query… one that he thought was important. “So you don’t do well in public places… is it going to be something I have to worry about if we get really busy?” Jacob didn’t know the details, but something was there, and he didn’t want anything to happen that could be avoided.

But in order to prevent anything, he had to know what the ‘anything’ was.

Regan smiled and let a small sigh of relief escape her lips as the men figured out a way to set up her phone without her having to go into the city. She was grateful for that in so many ways. As Joe walked out and Jacob posed the question, she gulped a little in her throat and averted her eyes to the floor. She picked her words carefully as she spoke. “I should be fine here, I’m hoping. I just have some issues with people staring at me. I get panicky and uncomfortable. For the most part I can push it back if I need to, but if it gets to be too much, I’ll just step outside in the back for a bit of fresh air.”

She didn’t think that the shop would be too problematic given it wasn’t huge where tons of people would have their eyes glued to her the entire time she was working. There were only so many places to sit and surely not everyone that came in would be looking at her like a freak. She hoped that more people like Meranda and her mother frequented here instead of the ones that wanted her and her kind eradicated from the face of the earth. Looking up and seeing the slight concern in his eyes, Regan plastered on a smile and tried to look as confidant as she could. “If I’m having any problems, I will call you to the front and take a moment to step out and get some air, I promise.” Her word was bond. She never made a promise unless she could keep it, and she would know if she needed Jacob to come relieve her for a few minutes so she could get her wits about her again.

Jacob listened to the young woman, nodding in understanding as she explained how she would be alright so long as she had someone to fall back on. It was likely due to some prior experience of some sort… although he had no idea what, it wasn’t his business either, so he was not going to do anything but have an open ear on the matter. “It’s a deal, so long as you don’t hesitate to come and get me. And there is a strict ‘No Respect for Employees, No service’ Policy in here too, so don’t hesitate to tell them to stop if their doing something that makes you uncomfortable.” As if to emphasize his point, he pointed to a sign that was on the wall stating in a little more elaborate terms exactly that, giving the customers fair warning.

That was about when Joe came back in with a tiny piece of plastic and metal… the Sim chip. “Sorry about that… took me a minute to find this little bee-stard.” It was obvious he didn’t want to cuss, so he used a simple replacement word, which was fine by Jacob. The man, a little bit heavy set, rough hands from many years as a mechanic and about Regan’s height moved to the counter, popped the cellphone’s backing off with practiced skill, and slid the chip in, grabbing a post it note and scribbling down the chip’s number. He then replaced the backing, pulled out his own iPhone, and grabbed the sticky note and the phone, walking out the door again to get better signal as he called AT&T to get it set up. “The man obsesses about completing a project. He wanted to get this all done for you when we finished it yesterday, but I didn’t know if you would be OK with AT&T.” That said, he simply crossed his arms and redirected his gaze to the young Tigress. “So, how was your first day of work so far?”

Regan smiled a small smile as Jacob understood her needs. He mentioned and motioned to the sign on the wall stating that the employees could refuse to serve someone if they were not treated with respect. She liked that Jacob wanted to have his employees feel comfortable while on the job, it meant a lot to her. She nodded in thanks and stayed silent for the moment. She thought about the past, about being locked up in that cage and on display for all those eyes to judge her, to make fun of her, to look at her with fear. She wanted to be able to walk freely amongst the world, but that was a big step away. Working here at the shop was at least a baby step into that direction.

Regan snapped out of her train of thought as Joe came back in and got her phone chip ready. She giggled through her clawed hand as he tried to be polite and not cuss in front of her; he must have considered her to be a lady and not just a mutant cat, that thought made her smile. She watched Joe head back outside and turned to look at Jacob as he started to speak once again. She smiled and gave a little nod. “That’s alright, I don’t know anything about cell phones so I appreciate whatever you guys can set up for me.” She smiled again as he asked about her day so far. “It’s been pretty good, I got all of your clients organized and scheduled into the computer, assigned a mechanic to each job, and even made up a form for new customers to fill out while they wait so I can enter them into our database easier.” She sat quite proudly in her seat and smiled a big fanged grin hoping that Jacob would approve.

Jacob smiled as she seemed to appreciate the work they were putting in to ensure that she had an operational phone. She then went through and began to describe what she had done, but she mostly talked about the work she had completed. “You have certainly done an excellent job thus far… and I definitely think you are the right one for this job, but what I’m asking is how you are liking the job.” It was a personal opinion that he wanted… he certainly didn’t want her to be really good at a job that she didn’t like, and they hadn’t even discussed the salary or hours yet… but before any of that talk could happen, he wanted to make sure that she liked working here. Working at some place that made you miserable was never a good idea, as it usually led to something bad happening in the long run.

Jacob waited for her to reply, but before he could, Joe returned, a smile on his face, this time much more friendly. “You are all set up, but they are asking how you are wanting to pay for the service. Nothin’ is due until next month, but they need to know if you want to pay online through an email or if you wanted a paper-bill sent to your place.” It was a legitimate concern, and something that she would have to address. Jacob turned from paying attention to Joe for a moment back towards Regan, curious what she wanted to do. He could help her out, if she needed it, but he was curious how she would react to the situation.

Regan noticed the change in the question and smiled. “I am enjoying my first day so far. It’s been pretty eventful and it’s not even lunch time yet.” Regan giggled as she thought about the little girl and her mother and how she had helped them with their little situation. She was also really proud of her work, she had managed to organize a total disaster of random sticky notes. She was feeling quite comfortable here at the shop and the employees. Everyone here seemed pretty good about having her here and so far no one had treated her like a freak, which was refreshing.

It was about then that Joe had poked back in asking how she wanted to pay for her service. She wasn’t really sure and she tapped a clawed finger on her lips for a moment. “Well considering I don’t have a bank account or email address, a paper bill sent to the mansion’s address is most likely the best choice. Then I can send them the cash for it in the mail.” She grabbed another sticky note from the desk and a pen and scribbled down the address of the mansion for Joe so he could set it up with the carrier. She really hoped that this was going to be a good idea, now she had a slight paper trail in her name and she hoped that her paper work that her “Father” had given her would be legitimate in the end.

Jacob nodded, and made a mental note to find out what exactly was happening with Lunch. He was starting to get hungry, and usually what had happened was either something was brought in, or someone went and got something using the store card. Joe came back in with his question, and the larger man laughed a little bit, not in making fun of her, but at the fact that she was so utterly new to the way society worked. Jacob made a note to try to get her to understand how society was working in today’s world. “It don’t quite work like that, darlin’. You have to have a bank account… hell, you can’t even get paid without one, really!” Once again though, Jacob had a solution.

“It’s fine, Joe. Put it under the second guest bank account for the shop, and I’ll transfer the rights over to her tomorrow morning. We will go right when they open so there won’t be any people there, but…” he paused, looking at Regan directly, “you will have to go into a bank and sign some paperwork. I might be able to work it out so we can get a private room, and you can bundle up if you want. I got a few trench coats, if you need.” He was trying to cater to her needs, but ultimately, the direct deposit system with how he paid his employees required a bank account, so that had to happen if she wanted to work here.

But before that could go any further... Jacob moved to the shop door and opened it. “Hey Bobby! What’s for lunch today?” It took a moment and the sound of a roller from under a car could be heard as the older man slid out from under his current project. “That Subway guy is bringing a party platter today. He gave us a great price since you un-totalled his car for less than the insurance company gave him. Big Philly Cheesesteak, Turkey, Ham, you name it.” Jacob smiled, and gave him a quick “thanks!” and let the door shut. Some good Subway sounded awesome. He then returned to Regan, hoping she had used the time to think about what she wanted to do.

A frown crossed over her lips as Joe gave her a flash of reality. She had lived such a sheltered life so far, hidden from the world for her protection and for the world’s protection from her, but that left her in a rather sticky situation. Jacob said that he would sign over an extra bank account into her name, but that she was going to have to go into the bank and sign papers. This job was making her life very difficult right now and she really wasn’t sure what to do.

She shuffled in her seat and glued her eyes to the floor. “I guess.” Is all she could say to Jacob in a very small voice as he turned to shout into the garage and ask what was for lunch for the day. She heard another man shout back in about Subway but didn’t move. She just stayed slumped in her chair at the desk with her eyes locked onto the floor, trying to think about how she was going to manage going to the bank and being out in the public. It made her stomach tie itself into a knot and she wrapped her arms around herself, trying not to get so worked up that she’d get end up getting sick in front of everyone.

Jacob was slightly amused that despite her physical mutation, a frown remained very much the same on the feline mutant employee as it would any normal looking human being. Still, the effect, being the reason behind the frown, made Jacob slightly concerned… her anxiety about getting out and into society was so strong that it seemed that it was debilitating… and that was something she needed to work on. People could use that against her if they wanted, but nothing too fast, or she would shut down completely. “When I talk to him, maybe I can arrange for the notary and the banker to come here for the paperwork, if that is more comfortable with you, Regan. They are both nice people, and shouldn’t have any problems with you.” He left that much in her hands, to see if this small, baby step, was something she was comfortable with.

Jacob then looked towards Joe, who was wrapping up with ‘thank you’s and ‘goodbye’s. “You are good to go. If you ever have any problem with the phone, let me know. I got to try to finish somethin’ real quick before lunch gets here.” Jacob chuckled as the man handed the woman back her phone, and then scurried off back into the depths of the garage to finish a bit of work. He then turned towards Regan, and made a statement of fact, and it was easily reflected in his tone. “Eventually, you are going to have to get back into the world. You know I’ll help you any way I can, but it’s going to be on you to make that decision… but if I may…” he paused, locking onto her eyes for emphasis, “the sooner you do, the easier it’s going to be.” He watched her carefully for her reaction.