On the phone, she'd gotten a warm, amiable voice assuring her they'd be thrilled to have her. Quinn got the impression that they'd be willing to accommodate just about anything to get her on the payroll. All they needed was enough information to do a background check to be sure that she didn't have a violent history, and they were set.
She arrived at the Hands' station about half an hour before she was due, parked in the back, and waited twenty minutes before getting out. The building was about the size of a small library, made of russet red brick. There was a large, wooden placard hanging from the front, painted black with a red heart in the corner, and 'THE AMBASSADOR'S HANDS' stamped in red. The paint looked fresh. She imagined it was a popular target for vandalism.
Stealing a breath, she went inside.
At first glance, the welcome desk seemed unoccupied. Then she found the tip of white pair of ears. The small, bunny like monster peeked around the desk.
"Complaint or applicant?" she asked.
"Uh, applicant?" said Quinn.
The bun nodded. She took a sheaf of papers from her seat, waddled out from behind the desk, and started making her way down the hall.
"This way." she said, over her shoulder.
"Oh." said Quinn, and followed.
The bun led her to an office where an older bunny like monster was shifting through the papers on her desk. She wore a tank-top, and struck Quinn as someone who wouldn't be afraid of getting up to their elbows in engine grease.
"Applicant." said the bun, handing her the papers over the desk.
"Well, hiya." said the other, and Quinn immediately recognized the voice. "You must be Quinn. Thank you, bun, you can go."
The bun toddled off.
"I'm Cora," said the other, extending her hand.
Quinn shook it. "Nice to meet you, Cora."
"Nice to meet you too. Why don't you have a seat?"
Once they had, Cora leaned back, and said, "Well, Quinn, we'd like to have the luxury to make your first day all about settling in, but we can't afford to squander an ounce of your help. So, after orientation, we'd like to send you right off on your first beat. Could you handle that?"
"Yeah, yeah, that's fine." she said, at once. "I mean, the sooner I know everything I'm doing, the better."
"Glad to hear it. Now, all we need you to do is sign the Hands' agreement, and you can get started. Why don't you go ahead and take it into the other room? It's mighty important, so don't worry if it takes you awhile to page through it all. After that, I'll introduce you to the rest of your team, and then your trainer will take over."
Quinn crossed to a somewhat cramped room, full of filing cabinets. A pen was already waiting for her on the table. She laid the agreement out across it.
At first, she read everything attentively, but it all looked like the stuff that you'd expect. If your property is stolen on the job, we aren't liable, don't use violence on the job unless it's in immediate self defense, yada yada...
She said she wants me on the job today. They don't really expect me to read all of this, do they?
She started skimming through, pausing for the bolded areas, and empty information to fill out, like who to contact if she was injured. When she'd signed her way through, she went back to Cora's office.
"All done." she said.
"Good." said Cora, taking the papers. "Lets see...Yup, all seems to be in order. Welcome to the Hands, Quinn."
She smiled. "Thank you."
She wondered- not for the first time, or the last- what the hell she'd gotten herself into.
((AN: Something come up that's going to require all of my attention, so this story is being put on hold for a while. Should start up again somewhere in the first week of May.))