Communication skills, in their own way, are the crux of life as an adult, for from good communication skills stem good impressions, interviews, jobs, life, afterlife, and all that blah. As Kai discovered on the morning of his interview at JAAGER Worldwide, the Internet could be like an onion sometimes: too many layers, too many tears.

According to the Internet he was about to flunk, epically. But oh, was helpful interview website #589 in for a surprise.

It was downtown New York City with skyscrapers on all sides, and one towered above the rest. Sleek and modern, the clouds chased themselves across the reflections of the windows in the upper part of the building. That was where Kai was headed; he would have known without the giant lettering on the side of the building, but that was nice too. It was probably an advertising contest, who could have the biggest print on their office. Yeah, something like that.

Kai did not crane his neck to look up. In skinny black slacks, a purple button down, and his habitual curve of mouth made serious, he was ready. He stood on the curb like a girl on the prow of a ship as the traffic rushed by, blowing his hair about his face.

So ready, and a good pedestrian at that too, although he was pretty sure the blinking red light had been that way for at least the past two minutes... in any case, long enough for him to have folded the sheet with the address printed on it into a paper aircraft, and for said aircraft to have drifted its way onto a nearby patch of sidewalk stained with something, he wasn't sure. Perhaps a splat of vanilla from that ice cream truck down the street; he was so going to treat himself afterwards to a cone, because there was nothing better than a frozen treat on a fall day.

With a minute to spare the light was finally green. The teen plunged across the street and into the domain of JAAGER Worldwide. Enter: your soon-to-be intern.

"Kai Van Deusen," he confirmed to the receptionist.

"This is the saddest power I've seen in my life," Ambrose said, frowning at the folder. All applicants were now required to list their mutation in as much detail as they could so Ambrose's people would be able to counter it should another incident like with Víctor happen. This one apparently was incapable of looking at, speaking to, or doing anything basic human interaction required with anyone without working his mutation on them. That... sucked, to say the least. Especially since he was applying to be an intern here, which was a job that necessarily involved people skills. Well, JW prided itself on not discriminating and the boy certainly seemed smart enough to qualify, so this interview would determine whether or not JW had to put in the extra effort to accommodate him.

"It can't possibly be worse than that one for the trials last week who oozed pond scum nonstop," Madeline commented offhandedly, as she sat at her desk, working. Ambrose was, as per usual, sitting in front of said desk, but now he was reviewing the potential intern's credentials before going to actually meet the guy.

"All right, I stand corrected," Ambrose sighed. "This is the second saddest power I've seen in my life."

"That one who could cough up nothing but glitter and couldn't turn it off?" Madeline countered.

Ambrose glared at her. "Fine. This is possibly one of the saddest powers I've seen in my life. And now I'm going to go ahead and meet him." He stood up as Madeline gave him a wave that was more dismissive than anything else, leaning heavily on his cane. The part of his knee that wasn't entirely intact was bleeding intermittently at this point, considering he'd been shot there recently, but it had thankfully been as Jörmungandr, which meant the damage has lessened when he changed into human form. All it meant now was that walking was hard and his leg looked like it was on its period once in a while, but that was why he was wearing his darkest pants. (Madeline had taken endless amusement in that fact once she'd figured it out, even though dark pants were usually part of Ambrose's wardrobe.)

After the incident with Víctor where Panu had had to step in, mutant-proofing of much of the building had been underway. Nobody wanted an Adapted inside, because much of the building was mutants and none of them particularly liked having their powers arbitrarily disappear, which was why great efforts had been made to do everything short of hiring one. As soon as Ambrose left, Madeline would have gone down to take Kai up to one of the Yggdrasil rooms, all of which were pretty much indistinguishable from interrogation rooms, considering the amount of protection didn't really leave much space in the budget for decoration. The mirror really was just a mirror, though, and the only bit of decoration that they had decided to add, because something about lessening claustrophobia. Personally, Ambrose thought the decision had been made because the rooms were more intimidating and impressive when resembling interrogation rooms, and it wasn't as if he disagreed.

Each room was split into two parts - one was heavily reinforced, meant for a mutant, as JW interviews often asked for power demonstrations to gauge the applicant's control and whether or not they would be a danger to others in the building, while the other looked decently normal, ignoring the fact that it lacked a door. Interviewers actually communicated via a screen that would be projected onto the glass divider to further reduce the chance of risk. Said glass separating the two halves, bisecting a sturdy table, was also virtually indestructible - at the very least, it could hold a few super-strength-augmented punches, at least for enough time for backup to arrive. A tiny, almost invisible camera sat around nose level in the glass, allowing the interviewer to view the applicant, while a projector in the weaker half of the room showed the interviewer to the applicant. Ambrose was actually in one of the Norn conference rooms, where the interviewers could stay, as this Kai van Deusen seemed to actually be somebody that might benefit the company. So Ambrose was invested, and for that reason he'd be conducting the interview himself.

As he arrived in the room, empty but for a chair, a table, and a camera below a screen, he fell into the chair with a huff, rubbing his knee and making a little irritated sound when the fingers came away red. For the fourth time that day. He'd limped too fast, apparently. He really hated being injured.

At leas the bloodstain wasn't showing.

Kai had never been one to get worked up about occasions. Not this interview for the most prominent company working in mutant tech in the city, not anything. Still, it took all of his self control not to startle at the sudden shadow of the striped secretary that loomed over him- yes, having an attractive white tiger seemingly appear out of nowhere could do that to a boy.

A white tiger in a business suit, that was. And stilettos, and a distinctly fluffy tail. Madeline, her badge tagged her.

"Mr. Van Deusen. This way, please."

With Madeline's cardboard greeting, albeit punctuated rather effectively with glimpses of pearly fang, it didn't take Kai too long to catch on to her relative disinterest for the likes of him. Which... was hardly unexpected, seeing as he was probably one of a dozen who'd come in today seeking the same position, but it made for a long, long silence as they rode the elevator.

"Right this way. Mr. Jaager will be with you shortly." At least it seemed Jaager was somewhat interested, if he was meeting with Kai himself, right?

"Thank you," said Kai as she showed him in to what was, by all appearances, an interrogation room. It never hurt to be polite. Or sassy. His was a little of both, and this did not seem to escape Madeline tiger's notice. He smiled until she shut the door in his face, then turned to the more pressing issue at hand.

This interview room, though.

By the time Mr. Jaager finally limped in Kai had long satisfied his need to check the place out; there was very little to it, after all, just a mutant proof bunker with the bare necessities and a glass screen cutting the room in half and a mirror, as if someone had thought to add a decorative flair to the room. It had been a rather pathetic attempt, to be honest, but he was sure everybody appreciated the effort.

The entrance of the boss found the teen seated contentedly in the interrogation chair, his glasses placed on the table before him- there would be no need for those, today. "Thank you for the accommodations," said he, all sincerity. "I don't suppose this divider is soundproof?"

It was the first thing, the necessary prologue before they could get down to business.

Kai was already in the room by the time Ambrose arrived, looking far more comfortable than he should've in such an intimidating setting. Well, that was good, then - he didn't get intimidated easily.

Before Ambrose could even say anything, though, Kai spoke first. "Thank you for the accommodations," he said, rather politely. Ambrose's opinion of him was steadily increasing, considering the other interviewees had all been rather standoffish. "I don't suppose this divider is soundproof?" Well, that was an important question, considering the boy's power, but one that had been resolved already.

"Look more closely at the glass," Ambrose said, amused. "I'm not even in there with you. Everything I'm hearing is being transmitted, so your power won't affect me. Thank you for the concern, however." And now down to business. Ambrose opened the folder in front of him so he could see it as they spoke, and clicked open a pen, ready to take notes. "What position are you interviewing for?" He knew that Kai wanted to be an intern, but there was no option on the forms they had to fill out to specify for what department. Ambrose preferred to hear it from the interviewees themselves, and then he could pass his own judgement on the matter in his own time.

“Look more closely at the glass. I’m not even in there with you. Everything I'm hearing is being transmitted, so your power won't affect me. Thank you for the concern, however.” Jaager seemed amused, and Kai’s immediate reaction was to be sarcastic right back.

He buried that instinct before it ever made its way across his expression, of course. Along with the urge to take Mr. Jaager up on his word and rap his knuckles across that glass. Along with the urge to say, You’re welcome. That would have come off as mocking—as it was intended to be— and unprofessional, and ungrateful considering the fact that the CEO was taking time out of his schedule to interview a potential intern himself. As it was, the only acknowledgement Kai gave was a slight nod.

“What position are you interviewing for?”

“Internship,” he said, realizing only after the word had left his mouth that 1) duh, that was obvious and 2) he probably should have preceded it with an phrase like I’m interviewing for or at least an article adjective. Oh, well. Old habits were hard to break. Kai tried again, one corner of his mouth lifting in a seemingly unconscious, self deprecating smile. “I want to be an intern. I’ll work wherever I’m of the most use, although I do find myself interested in the development of the mutant cure and other mutant specific technology.”