my life is trapped in these lines, that's why i'm packing these nines

[suninhades]

Who: Princess Nuala, Integra Hellsing, and everyone who's made an appointment for a job interview at Hellsing.
What: Job interviews.
Where: Hellsing Guild Hall, Sobek Croix.
When: Various times after this post.
Notes: If your character has an interview just start a new thread! You may get Integra, you may get Nuala, you may get both. If you have a preference, say so in your subject line or harass one of us, we are easy to find.
Warnings: Bureaucracy?

In the midst of rising tension in the city, Hellsing is busier than usual. New blood (ha, hah) is always welcome, but especially so these days. The guild hall is perhaps oddly quiet, though it's only because most agents are out on cases. Those with appointments will be seen promptly.

Comments

[kiss_evilgoodbye]

Buffy arrives for her interview, dressed in her normal patrolling gear, but a little nicer. This is still an interview, as far as she's concerned, and she still wants to look presentable.

She also has her scythe. If anything is needed to prove she's a bonafide vampire Slayer, that's it.

She makes her way into the into the Hellsing building, just looking around and getting a feel for the place. It's a pretty nice set up, something she hasn't seen before, and there's a part of her that's a little excited for this. This could be really good for her.

When she arrives at the interview room, she gives her name, and then has a seat to wait. Here goes nothing.

[suninhades]

The aide who greets Buffy and shows her into Integra's office gives the scythe a bit of an intense side-eye, but lets it go without objection. Everyone in the guild hall is wearing sharp black suits and red ties, but they're clearly cleric staff, moving about with focused diligence. (The atmosphere in the city means that field agents are out and phones are ringing, constantly.)

When Integra arrives, she seems a little rushed but calm despite it, and moves to greet Buffy first of all. "Ms Summers, thank you for coming. I hope you weren't waiting long."

[kiss_evilgoodbye]

"Not at all. I was just getting used to the place. You have really nice digs."

It reminds her a bit of her old castle in Scotland, but less with the feeling like she had to be General Buffy all the time. It is homey. She could do with a bit of homey, even if she wouldn't actually be living there.

[suninhades]

Her smile is faint and brief, but present - "Thank you." Renovations of certain areas are still underway, but that's hardly relevant to Buffy at this immediate moment. "Please, sit down." Integra gestures to the chair before her desk, and moves to take her own seat behind it.

"I imagine this sort of organization isn't something you're used to seeing."

[kiss_evilgoodbye]

" ... No. Not really." She pauses for a moment. "I mean, I was part of an organization kind of like this. Sort of. We weren't really so much organized as together and training and going on missions, but -- we weren't really ... official."

Another beat.

"That is mostly my fault. I was the leader. I'm not so good with the organizing. Or the officiating. It was mostly me rolling with the punches and in the end -- "

She takes a breath and shakes her head. "Anyway. Enough about me."

[suninhades]

"I'd actually like to hear more about you," she says, mildly amused. "What you've done, what you can do." Integra notes most of all that Buffy was in a leadership position - Hellsing has had trouble with agents coming in suddenly refusing to cooperate out of issues of ego, an endangering civilians. It's definitely something she will ask about, and seriously.

"Hellsing is a paramilitary organization." As she speaks, Integra picks out files she may need for later, her voice steady. "In the United Kingdom, in my home, we operated outside normal society, as a classified government agency. It was founded by my great grandfather, Abraham Van Helsing, who was also a vampire hunter." Among other things. "Here, we monitor, investigate, protect, terminate. It is unpleasant work, but I'm sure you're familiar with that aspect of the lifestyle."

[kiss_evilgoodbye]

"I am. All too well." She takes a breath before nodding. "But I've actually worked in the UK for a little while. So I am familiar with the area. Which ... is not relevant to here. God, I need to stop rambling."

She pauses for a moment to try and drum up the appropriate place to start on her story, as it were. Her fingers tap lightly against the arm of the chair before she speaks.

"Okay. Where I'm from the vampire Slayer is more of a mystical calling. It was started centuries ago, in Africa, where a group of medicine men kidnapped this girl and forcefully tied her essence with that of a demon. She gained superior strength, speed, reflexes, and even to an extent, prophetic dreams. She was then turned loose on the vampires and the demons, and she continued to slay them until she died. Then the Calling got passed to the next girl, mystically chosen, and she'll also be given the memories of the previous Slayers before her. And so on and so forth throughout history, one girl in all the world with the speed and strength to fight the forces of darkness."

So that is the origin story. Now to the meat.

"Eventually, there was a council of people that called themselves 'Watchers' who appointed themselves to train and hone the Slayers instincts so that she can better fight evil. Oddly enough, they were very British. I got called when I was fifteen years-old in Los Angeles, California. I later moved to a small town called Sunnydale, which was sitting on a Hellmouth, so -- naturally I had a lot to do. I worked there for about seven years, until something called the First Evil started sending it's henchmen to kill off Potentials -- girls who would be called next if I happened to kick it. They were all brought to Sunnydale for me to protect, but in the end, what I really needed them to do was fight."

[suninhades]

Integra listens, of course, but she doesn't exhibit any particular reaction - either she's just that cold of a bitch, or she's seen enough that she's jaded to even the most horrific of tales. (Spoilers: it's the latter.) In her head, she's taking notes.

"You have enhanced abilities," she begins. "And you operated as an agent with an overseer for many years until this crisis, at which time you began to function in a leadership position. Am I interpreting you correctly when you say you're more comfortable in your previous context?"

[kiss_evilgoodbye]

"Yes. Much. But I ... did a bit more than lead." If Integra wants to know all the details of Buffy's failed venture into leadership, this is the time to get them. "I gave them my power. I gave them a Slayer's powers."

She pauses for a moment, before picking up and balancing the scythe in her hand. "This isn't just a very pretty weapon for killing vampires. It's mystically connected to the Slayer, and is, in a sense, an extension of her abilities. A very powerful wicca friend of mind used the scythe to cast a spell to activate all the potential Slayers. So I didn't just have an army of girls, I had an army of Slayers, plus all the ones out there who we hadn't found yet. Once we defeated the First, I had to bring them together somehow. So we used witches to find them, and we got them together in a castle in Scotland, and I started training them. Just because the first was gone, doesn't mean the monsters went away."

She pauses for another beat, and then puts the scythe down again. "And then I screwed it all up." Her eyes close. "I thought I was leadership material, but even after the smoke cleared, I still couldn't pull everyone back together. Maybe I am still good at leading, but not in that large a scale."

[suninhades]

After a noteworthy pause in which to take all that in, Integra says: "If you are amenable to being a field agent, I can always take time to show you how this organization is run."

It's not a platitude; she's not going to tell Buffy she's sorry that she's been through all that - Integra just isn't the sort. It seems far more productive to work towards mutual goals.

[kiss_evilgoodbye]

"I like field work. In fact, I think I'm best at field work. Me and research were never really the best of buds." She appreciates the lack of platitudes, and it shows in the way she picks herself up. "And I'd love to find out how the organization works. I like to know where my lines are before I start."

[suninhades]

She nods, and pulls out paperwork about the different departments, the payment and services plans, and so on, passing them to Buffy. "As a field agent, you'll be expected to take open cases and be available for emergencies. We've been dealing with an increased number of hauntings and possessions lately, but there's been no decrease in the standard fair."

Integra pulls out a folder full of what she thinks of as example cases (terrifying but not classified, well-written, documented) and opens it facing the other woman. From slaying run of the mill sunlight-weak vampires to deep crow to many-faced monsters who cut their way through entire neighborhoods; Hellsing is always busy. "There is no rehabilitation center or prison for offenders of this nature. We give them one warning, and no more. I ask my agents to shoot to kill. Is this a problem for you?"

[kiss_evilgoodbye]

She takes the folders from her, looking through the paperwork with mostly a glance. She'd read it through more thoroughly later, but for right now, she's just trying to get a feel for it.

She looks up at her last question though. "Not at all. That's how I usually operate."

[suninhades]

"Good." Goddamn, but she does get tired of these bloody hippies wanting to redeem everyone.

From there on, Integra explains in more detail how Hellsing works, the benefits, the requirements - Buffy will certainly not be wanting for something to do, considering their usual work load. The paramilitary aspect of the organization, she details, is most apparent during city-wide crises, during which agents need to be prepared to drop everything and attend to immediate orders in the event something like the creature invasion or mind-control spore incident happens again (files on that, too, are available).

"Your co-workers will mostly human, though I do also employ a number of non-human individuals, which include my fellow department heads. It's unlikely Alucard will socialize, but Princess Nuala, due to her capacity as a diplomat, is very involved with organization personnel. What rehabilitation we handle is overseen by her."

[kiss_evilgoodbye]

Buffy nods, taking it all in. She might need a refresher course a little later, but for right now it all sounded pretty good. A much better package than her usual Slayer deal.

"How non-human are we talking? A mix of vamps and demons, or something a little more out there?"

[suninhades]

"Vampires mostly; Princess Nuala is a daughter of the earth - I believe you might recognize her as Irish high fae. While we have a number of other diverse individuals I believe most of them would rather represent themselves, though rest assured, anyone I employ is someone I trust." She's thinking of Hellboy there, mostly, whom she knows doesn't like going into the d-word if he can avoid it. There are also her aids, several of which are from planets beyond the earth itself, and so on.

[kiss_evilgoodbye]

Buffy has actually met Hellboy, and they seemed to hit it off pretty well. Not that Buffy knows he's with Hellsing, but it probably won't be a big deal when she finds out.

"No, that's good. Trust is good. You don't seem the type to hire people you don't trust anyway."

[suninhades]

"I make the effort," she says wryly. "I hope that the trend continues favorably." (So don't betray her trust, Buffy.)

"I think that's about all the preliminaries," she says. "Unless you have any further inquiries?" If not, that leaves paperwork, a tour of the facility, and the hope that everybody survives their first week at work.

[kiss_evilgoodbye]

She shakes her head. "No, that's about it for me. Can't promise that there won't be questions later, but -- for now I'm good."

There are always questions later. Buffy is actually rather close to being a questions machine.

[suninhades]

"Of course." Integra doesn't always have time to hand-hold, but for a fellow woman in the business of vampire hunting who needs pointers on leadership, well - can't hurt.

[ OOC: holy shit I'm so sorry about flaking on this, I had major rp brain death. We should probably call this wrapped, y/n? ]