Jessica stared at the mob gathered in the gymnasium. And turned back to the sneering principal. Some guy named 'Snyder'? "Why are there so many?"

He snorted. "Because your part time job listing had a typo on it. Claimed you were going to pay them something like $8 an hour."

The man gave her a glare! "And you can't get your money back from posting that flier despite the typos! All job posting fees are non-refundable, the fact you didn't bother to check your own damned advertisement first is YOUR problem!"

…Uh. "What do you mean?"

The guy grinned at the slowly dying hope in the eyes of these young men and women. "Whoever wrote up your flier ALSO didn't limit the number of applicants. Not at all! These idiots think they ALL have a chance at your imaginary positions!"

The asshole chuckled when a few of the younger ones started to tear up. "If nothing else, this will be a good life lesson to these reprobates to not believe everything that paper scraps tacked to a wall says as the gospel truth."

Lovely. "Well, thank you for your time and… Assistance, but I will handle it from here."

Eyes filled with cruelty flickered back toward the crowds. "You're not going to go easy on the brats by trying to 'let them down softly' or such rot like a hippy, are you?"

Jessica ignored him.

The man grunted. "Whatever, I got better things to do anyway. YOU DELINQUENTS BETTER STAY IN LINE! UNDERSTOOD!?"

A series of nods and weak 'Yes, Principal Snyder's came from the crowd.

He nodded. "Good. And you two get detention for attitude. Also you in the back, because you look suspicious. Now MOVE!"

Jessica watched him stomp off with three gobsmacked students.

…How charming.

One of the younger girls was sort of pushed forward by her friends. "Miss? Is what… I mean, is the flier wrong?"

Jessica blinked. "I mean, clearly I am missing something here." After all, $8.00 hadn't seemed THAT high of an hourly rate, not back home or… OH.

Right, despite fast internet and advanced TV's and stuff, this was NOT the current time period. Crap. "Anyone know what the minimum wage is supposed to be?"

One of the scraggly bookish boys adjusted his glasses, his voice resigned and attitude far less optimistic than the multitude around him. "For the state, on average, $5.00 an hour is supposed to be the minimum wage. Locally though, it varies… Some places offer less than $4.25, a few up to $7.50 or so… But those postings tend to be more connection based or nepotism related."

He sighed, giving a look towards his nearby friends. "I TOLD you it was too good to be true."

The girl glared at the guy. "Well, some of us really need a chance, and we will work extra hard compared to those entitled jerks!" She turned back to Jessica with some despair and a LOT of hope in her eyes! "Even if we can't earn that much, could you still hire some of us?"

Huh. "Right uh… First of all, maybe I should clarify some things."

The tension in the room ratcheted up drastically.

Right. "First of all, the $8.00 an hour is the BASE pay amount for this. Positions with more authority, such as management or working with money, those require actual experience and stuff but people who get them will end up getting paid more."

Ignoring the shock, she waved a hand. "This is due to a boost thanks to hazard pay. Our new place, Doe's Park, has a bunch of security staff and stuff… But the neighborhood around it is VERY rough. It should be better now that we fixed up the streets leading into and out of the place, and I'm going to stop by the mayor's office to get the bus routes adjusted to include a safe method for coming to work, but…Well, you'll earn that pay I think."

The concept of deadly risk had… Very little impact on this crowd. One of the larger football guys snorted. "At least you PAY for sending us to a risky location… Dan got stabbed delivering furniture last year and got docked wages for not being able to work his hours while recovering. Almost fired too, had to go back with a sling on his arm and work extra shifts."

The murmur of agreement felt depressing. "So technically your Principal was right I guess… The amount of pay offered on the flier is incorrect as it will be a bit low for a good portion of you, especially if you work these new jobs long enough to get promoted. Moving on!"

She started walking back and forth as the crowd almost visibly cheered up at the confirmation of wage amounts. "Secondly, as for the number of jobs available for filling? It's a lot."

Jessica pulled a document from her Inventory, missing how that alerted a number of specific individuals in the crowd. "There are four major operating facilities in Doe Park: Safe Harbor, which is an indoor underground series of swimming pools; Fleeless Market, which is an underground grid of shopping stalls that can be rented for locals to sell goods and services; Doe's Dough, a bakery owned by my little brother and me, along with some entertainment facilities… Apparently…"

Seriously John, when did you add a nightclub and a theater to this mess!? We had NOT talked about this!

…Whatever, she needed to do more paperwork and get more permits today anyway. Better to get them all done at once. "...And finally, the Relaxing Retreat, which will be a fairly large hotel with an apartment building below it all."

Also: John needed her to buy a few properties around there because he had accidentally constructed a bunch of stuff WAY DOWN below those buildings and didn't want to get in trouble for that.

Sigh. Just tack it onto her list of things to do. "Anyway, each place will need people. LOTS of people, I'm hoping some of you have friends and family members who need work that can help us get this mess straightened out."

The young spokeswoman seemed set back by this rush of information. "Lots?"

Yep. "The hotel may only have 100 rooms for rent, but that will still need something like 140 employees eventually, plus 110 indirectly supported support staff, not counting anyone needed for the Employee Housing on the lower levels. After that? The theater setup will need around 40 workers alone, while the pools may only need a few lifeguards per level and the club and bakery and other odd staff will need around 15 or so…"

Wait, was she missing something? Oh! "Also, janitorial work! All that custodial stuff that keeps things running! That will be a part time job, split into three groups. One for bathrooms, one for trash, one for maintenance like sweeping and stuff. That's another 50 or 60 people…"

Hmm. "So I'd say we need somewhere between 350 and 400 people right now? More eventually, most likely… My brother is the one who keeps expanding the size of this project. And since we can't hire half your high school without messing up all your free time and your education and stuff, I am really hoping you guys help spread the word that we need workers later on."

The growing murmur of whispers and excitement didn't hold back the skeptical bookish boy from speaking up again. "You mentioned Employee Housing?"

Oh! "Yeah, that came up while we were looking around town and researching the competition. We discovered the local hotels were… Not exactly sanitary, secured, or safe. Same with some of the roads and side streets as well."

A wry and understated chuckle of dark humor swept the room.

Jessica nodded. "It shouldn't be an issue for areas around Doe's Park, thankfully. But even considering all that, there are almost NO places in this town with both affordable pricing for rentals AND good quality."

Mostly because rented rooms lacked a Belief of ownership and thus didn't have a strong threshold to keep out the hungry things in the night. Especially not the cheapest ones.

So she held up one of the Restful Retreat pamphlets. "That's why we have low cost employee housing options and free underground parking for all of our workers! We are hoping to tempt your various friends and family to leave whatever jobs they are unhappy with and help us fill out our drastic labor shortage with a few benefits like that."

Jessica kept retrieving copies of the pamphlet as John's Pocket automatically Crafted them up and began handing them out. His whole System had been FAR more intuitively helpful since they had gotten their [[Home]], so it was a near instinctual act by now to just assume that what she needed from her Inventory would be there when required.

One of the more goofy looking young men with a VERY bright Hawaiian shirt seemed suspicious. "So what's the catch? The pay alone is enough to get most of us in on this, forget the rest of this stuff."

She turned toward him, missing the stunned looks from the people who were reading over the pamphlet pricing ranges, square footage, and provided amenities. "Well, first of all there is a heavy restriction for anyone and everyone working at our place, one that applies to everyone who wants to be a visitor or customer."

And the crowd was suddenly tense again.

Which was fair. "Nothing harsh, not for most of you… But we have a fiercely enforced rule in place: No Hostility."

The tense atmosphere was now clouded with confusion.

Again: Fair. "You can argue, or feel furious… You can even 'dope slap' or give heavy back pats or whatever! But if anyone has any active Hostility towards our facilities, our customers, or your fellow employees? If they intend to actually harm or hurt anyone? Security will eject them from the area. If it is an employee being Hostile, you'll have a chance to attempt to explain the circumstances or defend yourself of course… But Doe's Park, despite being in a rough part of town, is going to be a safe place. Period."

The Hawaiian kid seemed skeptical. "How would that even work?"

Jessica shrugged. "My brother set up some magical iron golems that detect Hostility and stop it." Remembering some of those sexy iron women with deadly weapons, she winced. "VERY forcefully if you attempt to escalate. If you or your friends have demonic heritage or magically enhanced weaponry, the ability to cast curses or manipulate reality… Do NOT assume these advantages will let you do what you want there."

The uncertain giggles and laughter quickly died off when they noticed she wasn't joking… And stopped entirely when many students realized certain classmates were taking this VERY seriously.

She blinked at the looks the crowd was giving her. "Wait, everyone here knows about the supernatural and stuff going on in this town, yes?"

A few children were looking more and more shocked as they realized how many OTHER of their friends ALSO seemed to know something…

Shit.

Jessica mentally wrote a note and sent it to her brother. "Hang on everyone, let me check something please! Just… Stay calm for a moment."

JOHN! WHAT THE HELL!?

The paper response was instantly pulled from her Inventory into her hand, causing a few of the less aware students to gasp at her ability as she read out loud. "Let's see… 'Hey sis, still building the underground walking park and fake ocean…', blah blah blah, here we go! 'Sunnydale has a town wide magical field that smooths memories and encourages the acceptance of impossible events as normality and unremarkable. This field encourages apathy and lax suspicions, while escalating naivete and misunderstandings.'"

Oh dear.

She read further, narrowing her eyes. Hmm. "Right, long story short! Unless you have a powerful or terrifying experience with something very much outside the norm, it will eventually be glossed over by everyone. Anyone here have parents that just ignore your concerns or worries?"

All hands went up. Just… Great.

Then again, teenagers. "I don't just mean that they don't listen to you, I mean do they ignore people transforming or massive glowing objects or something alien looking hiding in your basement? Stuff like that."

Half the hands stayed up. "Damn. Well, uh… Damn."

No WONDER it was so easy to claim all that dead grandparent money. "This must be why Bills have such an easy time hunting here."

The Hawaiian dude blinked. "Bills?"

Oh shit, she said that out loud…

She looked at the now concerned mass of students.

Fuck it. "My brother ran into a homeless guy with a messed up face called Bill that tried to drink his Soul, so we call all those types of jerks Bill and Billette now because they are more like creepy cannibals than what either of us consider to be vampires. I mean, from what we can tell they can't turn into bats or mist or… Anyway, that's not the point."

Jessica shrugged at the suddenly VERY attentive crowd. "Anyway, drinking my brother's Soul is a VERY bad idea, so Bill exploded, but then we found out that this whole town is like… SUPER dangerous. And annoying to shop in. And I'm pretty sure half the evil crap going on in this place is being accidentally permitted thanks to this stupid 'Everything is Fine' field that apparently covers this whole mess."

A thought had a huge wooden table Crafted and then pulled from Inventory into the room, and covered high in pamphlets. "So my brother is making a place where you can be safe from Bills and other monsters, I'm running around making it legal and easy to access, and we need workers to keep this place going after both of us eventually move away."

The sudden appearance of a MASSIVE table and hundreds of documents seemed to have shaken some of the most fervent deniers hidden in the crowd, at least. "Everybody come up, grab a pamphlet or three, and sign the document at the end if you are interested and willing to work. Or, if it's not your cup of coffee, then just grab a pamphlet and come visit sometime."

What else?

Right! They were teenagers. "Hang on, let me set up another table for snacks before you go. Free samples to show you why everyone should come visit our bakery at least, even if you don't end up choosing to work for us. My brother's Cookies and our Milk is damned astonishing and I have a lot of them, so everyone feel free to dig in!"

She held back a grin as a group of high schoolers visibly shifted attitude from 'Growing
Existential Horror' straight into 'Free Food!' at breakneck speed.

Yeah, that seemed about right.

The Hawaiian dude apparently resisted the snacks and ambled his way over to her. "So… Iron security guards that fight bad guys, huh? I don't suppose you have a few extra of those lying around? Sounds like they'd be pretty useful keeping people safe, and I know I'd be interested in extra backup in risky situations."

Unfortunately she was distracted when she responded. "What, like hiring them out for bodyguard work or something? Maybe at some point, but since so many of them are shaped like sinfully sexy women I'm worried that parents or the public might… Uh."

Oops. "Don't mention that bit to anyone yet, alright? I managed to get the most triple X rated ones hidden away in one of the Adult Only swimming pool areas, but I want to get all the legal work done quickly before the public sees our Security system."

The kid stared at her. "Your powerful security team of iron robots are shaped like sexy ladies?"

She gave him a glare. "Hypothetically… Maybe."

He didn't even flinch. "Sold! Xander Harris, pleasure to be working for you! Assuming you aren't gathering innocents for some demonic ritual or monstrous sacrifice, of course." The boy began to shake her hand before he paused. "For various degrees of 'innocence' in several cases, I grant you, but you know what I mean."

She snorted as she shook his hand. "Jessica Doe, older sister of my crazy brother, John." Years of experience had her notice a few things though. "By the way, I noticed you seem very unsurprised by the whole magic/Bill/supernatural thing earlier. And that you are armed with several knives and… A spike?"

Xander grinned, checking that everyone else was distracted by the free food, before twirling a wooden stake. "I may not have been a boy scout, but it's always good to be prepared these days."

Hmm. "And would an informed local like yourself know how I could contact less obvious organizations that may have influence over the area? At least when it comes to paperwork and licenses since I have so many addresses and offices to visit."

Then the young man examined her as a threat rather than a person, and gave a nod. "If you don't mind a short walk… Have you visited the library yet? I'll be honest, you feel like you are on the up and up, but it would really help my nerves if you met the G-Man first."

She blinked. "Can we meet somewhere else? I'd rather not visit a library when there's a Hellmouth under it."

Apparently, THAT caught his attention more than the magically appearing food and impossibly good job salary. Which was logical. "Yeah, that's a fair point, I guess… Let me go talk with Giles and find a few friends, and I will meet up with you here?"

She glanced at the nomming crowd of happily chattering children behind them both.

"Oh dear LORD this peanut butter chocolate chip crisp is life changing!" "How am I supposed to eat off brand oreo's NOW!?" ""How is this stuff still warm!?" "Forget that, how are these Frozen Hot Cocoa Cookies still chilled?" "Don't care, give me another." "Did that cookie change flavor when she picked it up?" "Don't know, don't care… Mmm!" "Fine, magic is real, aliens are real, Santa is real, WHATEVER! Just pass me more of those cookies, thank you."

Jessica chuckled. "Yeah, I'm probably going to be stuck here a while anyway. Good plan."