Homura's office isn't quite what she's used to. It's a bit of a step down from her old office in WPS, but it's still the classiest office on this floor. It's a fairly large room, almost large enough to hold a meeting in it if there was a table for that. Homura's office desk is made of mahogany, has a couple of monitors for a computer, a personal landline phone, a picture of herself with Madoka Kaname, and a chair that is a little big for Homura herself but just the right size for a couple of girls trying to snuggle.
Homura herself is on her computer, clicking with her mouse, tapping the keyboard. Across the screen scrolls spreadsheets and spreadsheets of important information. Resting on the desk is a folder full of reports that she's read through. Homura squints at her screen, picks up the phone, and dials.
"Sakada-san? Yes it's me. Can you double check me on the Tanaka project? I just need the safety inspector's report. Yes, E-mail is fine. Thank you."
Homura hangs up, stands up, and walks toward the wall-spanning window, overlooking downtown Mitakihara. She breathes in and breathes out, a hand on her hips. A sideways glance directs her eyes to a strategically placed concave mirror that shows her an image of her girlfriend's desk, just right outside.
Today has been a long day. Dealing with clients. Being on the phone between classes. She'd be stressed, but Madoka being nearby is always comfort.
She walks back to her desk, sits down, checks her e-mail and starts to read. Everything looks okay here. Good. Homura kicks up her legs to rest them on the edge of her desk, and puts her hands behind her head to look at the monitor. Is there anything else pressing? Any other engagements? Well, she could just ask her secretary.
Homura gets up and walks to the door to peek out of her office, and at Madoka. "Madoka-chan... is there anything left on the itinerary? I'd hate to forget something important in all of the confusion."
Madoka's desk is nice but simple, built of well veneered pine. A computer the same type as the one she uses at home sits in the center for ease of use and little knickknacks are set here and there to personalize it, a green little frog with it's arms held in a circle serving as a pen holder, while a pair of very small plushies, a spotted cat and a fluffy dog, flank a picture of Homura wearing her suit. A second picture, of her with her family, sits next to three stacked paper trays that serve as her physical inbox.
Her job as secretary is more than just honorary, of course, and while Homura is on the phone with Sakada Madoka is sorting through tomorrow's appointments so Homura can have a solid schedule planned, smoothing out a small conflict via email when she realizes one of her afternoon calls is likely to take up her entire break at school. It helps Madoka really appreciate her own job, being able to clear things up in a snap with a quick communication to their secretary!
She's tap-taping at her keyboard when Homura looks to the mirror, hair up in it's usual fluffy pigtails while Madoka herself looks nice and professional in a button up white blouse with a neatly folded collar, a black pencil skirt and dark stockings. After the schedule for tomorrow is resolved to her liking Madoka peeks over to the mirror, smiling when she sees Homura relaxing at her desk. Good! Things must have gone well.
She plucks up the item in her inbox, quirking an eyebrow at the envelope before reaching for a letter opener and carefully opening it up before replacing it. When she retrieves the contents she doesn't even get past the letterhead before dropping the thing summarily into the recycle bin. It's just about then that Homura peeks out, and Madoka looks over and smiles, "Nope! Your last official item of the day was the JDF follow up you took twenty minutes ago. I gave you a bit of extra time for that one, just in case."
To punctuate her point she taps a few more times on her keyboard, wiggles and clicks her mouse, and then reaches forward and turns off her monitor. Done!
She then picks up the small recycle bin that sits next to her walking over and holding it out to Homura as if for inspection, "Five inquiries from known Eclipse affiliated businesses today. It's going to slow us down, turning down opportunities like this, but I think we both knew that from the start."
The JDF followup. Right. Homura recounts it. "Yeah. They were pretty pleased overall. There weren't any complaints or anything. It was a smooth transaction, and I can't ask for better than that. There aren't many people who can provide what we do."
Homura watches as Madoka's monitor turns off, eyes darting to the screen but mostly resting on the girl. As Madoka brings her the recycling bin, Homura looks down into it. "Five today? Well, it's a good sign if we're getting that much attention, even if it comes from the wrong place." She takes the bin in hand, holding up one of the items and reading the letterhead. She frowns at it.
"I'm surprised they'd even bother, knowing who I am. Or maybe the majority of them just don't know, or care. Either way, you're right of course."
She walks toward her desk, sitting down in her chair, and feeding the first proposal into the shredder. It goes in whole one way, and comes out as thin paper ribbons the other. A simple yet thorough process of destruction, but more than that it's an outright refusal from the head of the company herself.
It's important, Homura thinks, to do this herself. Not out of spite, but to remind herself. She does not want to deal with these people. It's easy to say that in the comfort of Madoka's arms, but if they try to coerce her, or tempt her, or trick her, or use any other high-pressure methods to get her to comply, it's important for her to remember her choices, so that she'll stand by them later.
"It may slow us down, but haste makes waste. We enjoy a lot of independence because we don't owe them anything. We may not be as rich as WPS, but we're free. Free to be happy, and free to do good in this world, and free not to participate in their cruel intentions." Homura watches as the first piece of paper finishes being reduced to shreds, then she starts to feed the next one in.
"I bet there were no other people who could do what we did so soon. The Tenchi Maru was already docked at Tokyo, after all." For a moment she wonders if the expediency of the retrieval meant Homura was able to charge them more. Maybe it'll be something to bring up, a little later. Right now she doesn't know terribly much about the actual running of the business, but being right outside the CEO's door means she's learning fast.
Homura might get a look at Madoka's desktop before she turns her screen off. The background is a png format picture of the design she used for the container of Madokaloupe ice cream, complete with nutrition information and ingredient list. When Homura comments on the number of contacts Madoka shrugs lightly, "I think we made a bit of a splash retrieving the Choukai. Our smaller projects don't usually aren't very noteworthy, but between that and the charity ball we've put ourselves on the radar." Which as the letters themselves display is a mixed blessing.
Madoka follows Homura into her office as she sits down at her desk. She watches as Homura feeds the first one into the shredder, and upon studying her face steps around behind her, setting her hands on the other girl's shoulders and rubbing gently for a moment before starting to massage them to help relieve some of the tension.
'Haste makes waste.'
Madoka smiles to that, leaning in both to put a bit of extra strength into the massage and also to nuzzle her chin against the upper side of Homura's head, tilting her own to kiss the top of it. "We don't want to associate with people who we know do awful things, and we don't want their money either, if we can help it. We can do what we need to with clear consciences, but more importantly you're right. We'll be free to do what we like, and be ourselves."
She'll massage through the second, third, and fourth letters, but before Homura can feed in the fifth she does the other thing she knows she can to help ease Homura's stress after a long workday, stepping around the chair and settling comfortably into Homura's lap, gently wrapping her arms around her girlfriends neck. "You did great today."
The expediency helps, but also the lower travel time means less cost to Homura's business, which means that the JDF doesn't have to offer as much in order for the contract to be enticing. What it does is make them a preferred contractor, since it's cheaper and faster for everyone all around, and it means that Homura gets money by being the only game in town. She has something of a monopoly in that regard, and that might let her charge a bit more, but it's also wise not to push that too much. People who are forced to find a way around you will find a way around you.
The look of the Madokaloupe label does make her smile. She has that same container in her kitchen, just above the cupboards. It's like having a piece of home in her work, or another reminder of Madoka in her home.
"We have done a lot to put our names out there, and in a good way. The better our reputation gets, the easier it will be to do business."
The paper shreds, and Madoka's hands are on her back. Homura smiles, feeding the second letter in, and then the third, enjoying the touch and feel of her darling pushing her stresses away. Her shoulders are tight at first, but Madoka's working loosens them up. The top of her head is nuzzled and kissed, and though she doesn't slow in her task she does enjoy every minute of it.
"That's right. We don't want their money, or their time, or their business. There's no way my company is going to enable the kinds of thing that Eclipse does. Draining energy from bystanders, stealing what they want, whatever experiments they run... Not if I can help it."
Homura's lap is suddenly occupied by her girlfriend, and by now she is already quite relaxed and happy. As she feeds in the fifth and final paper into the shredder, Homura wraps her free arm behind Madoka, holding her close. "Thanks, Madoka-chan. So did you. I'm so happy to know that I can depend on you."
The sound of the shredder doing it's work is strange background music to their conversation. Luckily it's not so loud Madoka has to raise her voice. "It's neat," she comments, "the more people that know about us the more they can ask for our help, and the more business we get the more people we can afford to help. It's good incentive to run the company well; the better a job we do the more we can help all of those around us. Our customers, our workers, and charities too."
As Homura slips her arm around her Madoka leans against her, turning her head and looking at her happily. Even the momentary harshness of the conversation topic doesn't foul her mood, "We can stay away from them in the business side of things, and stop them when we see them try experiments like that. Not just them, either, but anyone who tries to prey on people and use them like objects or hurt them."
She smiles happily when told she did a good job and that she can be depended upon, leaning her head momentarily against Homura's shoulder. "It was a lot harder than I expected at first, but I had strong motivation to learn quickly and do a good job." She giggles then, twisting a little as she sits in Homura's lap, "I like being your secretary, though. It's neat getting to make sure everything is just right for you, and getting to see you work hard up close. This might be the happiest job I could ask for, getting to work with you all the time."
She takes in a deep breath and lets it out happily, "You're so good to me, too. Letting me be cute for you and letting me throw charity events." She looks up at Homura from her head on shoulder position, a sweet expression on her face and in her eyes.
A moment later she blinks, "Oh! Did I ever tell you the results? We raised enough to pay for fifty percent of Mitakihara General's damage past what their insurance covered, and also repair two hundred damaged houses and apartments, if you average out the repair costs." A small pause, "Well, two hundred at the price we charge for disaster repair work, so probably a good number less. It's not like we have the crews to do that much work on our own even if they did all want to use us."
Left unstated as obvious is how hilariously unethical it would be to assume your own company would get the contracts paid for by a charity event you hosted. It's almost inevitable that some of it will since merely hosting the event is great advertising, but Madoka actually went out of her way to make sure that wouldn't happen by inviting other, properly vetted, reconstruction company executives to rub elbows as well as explicitly telling the managers of the charities the funds would be going to themselves to avoid kickbacks, whether personal or business.
She looks towards the ceiling for a moment, "It'd actually have stretched a lot farther if people were still volunteering in large numbers, but most of those dried up after the initial cleanup effort." For other more urgent disasters or back to their families, she assumes.
Homura glances at Madoka, smiles, and then turns her eyes back to the shredder. "That's right. We'll be able to help a lot of people. The stronger our company becomes, the better we'll get at that, too. I really do want to run this company well, not just for the people who are working for us, but also for the people doing business with us, and especially for the people relying on our charity. We're magical girls, after all."
Homura nods, watching as the last paper is transformed into shreds. "That's right. We don't need to tolerate that, and keeping our hands clean and our consciences clear allows us to oppose them unimpeded. Maybe not all of them are that bad, but we have to draw the line somewhere."
Her hand now free, she wraps her other arm around Madoka, hugging her there and looking up at her as she slowly forgets the stresses of the day, and giggles as Madoka twists around. "You are so good at taking care of me. I don't think I could've ever found a better secretary, not one who understands me as deeply as you." She tilts her head slightly to the side. "I think a lot of the other workers like you, too. You brighten up every room you enter. It's like everything you touch turns to hope." Her grin gets just a bit wider. "You've been touching me a lot lately."
At the mention of charity events, Homura shrugs. "I'm more than happy to help you with those. I don't think they'd be possible without you. You're actually pretty good at it, managing all of that."
Homura blinks at the mention of the results, and the number of houses they'd be able to repair with it, then purses her lips at the thought of other companies charging more. "Maybe they will and maybe they won't. Their employees need to eat, too. We can offer decent prices, but there's no way we'd cover all of that. Not until we do a lot more growing. Still, it's good to hear about the hospital."
Homura leans back in her office chair, and pulls Madoka along as it rocks back. "We can't expect people to keep up the pace forever. It would have been nice if we were in a position to help back then, but this is how it is. The important thing is that people are getting the help they need, and the more money we pump into that the better it will be in the long run."
The smile gets one in return from Madoka, and while Homura is glancing at her Madoka looks into her eyes. She lets out a playful giggle at one of Homura's comments, "Magical business girls! Good to our workers, generous to charity, honest and hardworking for our clients!" Her arm looping around behind Homura's neck pulls away and she lifts her hand into the air, swinging her legs up playfully.
She relaxes back down as Homura hugs her with both arms, leaning into her again and enjoying being held in her arms, on her lap. "I enjoy taking care of you. I like knowing you're well taken care of." She smiles again when the other workers, her coworkers, are mentioned. "I hope so. It's neat getting to know them and finding out what they enjoy and how they hope to advance."
Then Homura mentions her turning things into hope by touch, and that she's been touching Homura herself a lot. She beams a smile in response to the grin, slipping her arm back behind Homura's neck while rubbing her other down Homura's shoulder and arm, only to rub back up to her shoulder and methodically slide her hand down Homura's side, stopping at her hip and lifting again to rest her hand at her girlfriends waist, giving a gentle squeeze. "I'll touch you even more if it makes you more hopeful," she says in a singsong voice, tilting her head from side to side as she speaks.
She flashes another happy smile to Homura when she's told she's good at managing charity events, "It can be difficult? But it's actually a lot easier than it looks. The important part is knowing what you wand and making sure the people you hire to do the actual work can pull that off and deliver. It's also kinda cheating, because once you find caterers and decorators that work well together you can just keep using them over and over." A bit sheepishly she adds, "I also had good connections, because Mama and Papa always brought me to events like that."
It's hard to overstate just how helpful having the family she does has been.
Madoka gives a nod as Homura purses her lips and responds, "You also made sure to hire people whose values are in line with our own. People know a lot of our profits go towards funding salvage and repair work that we do at close to cost. We were built from the start to be able to do it, so it's not really fair to expect all the other construction companies to fall in line. They still have to compete against our pricing, though."
When the chair is leaned back she lets out a playful squeal, though not too loud since the door is still open, and leans her weight against Homura, clinging to her with the hand on her side and the arm about her neck as her weight shifts. Once resituated she gives a little nod, "I know. I don't expect people to volunteer forever. It's really nice that they did so at all, giving up time and effort for people they don't even know."
She pauses then for a short moment, slowly turning her eyes to Homura's. "I was wondering, actually. I haven't really asked much about how we're doing. Salamander, I mean. We did spend a lot of money on the charity ball, and I know how much that cost us, but I don't really know how much we made off the JDF contract, and how much we're putting into the Contractors."
A soft blush sets on her cheeks, "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. I am curious, but it's your company. I'd like to, but I don't really need to know." She has no idea how confidential that stuff is, and not really much of an idea how rude it is for a CEO's secretary to ask, or a CEO's girlfriend, for that matter. It's not like she merely wants to be dazzled with large numbers, though.
Homura flashes a toothy smile at the term 'Magical Business Girls', and she continues throughout Madoka's cute reaction. "That's right. We'll spread our love and hope with our bank accounts as well as our magic. After all, even if our means change, our desires don't. I think we're providing a good future for those around us."
Homura nods. "It's nice having a bit of normalcy once in awhile. It's so easy to forget the struggles of normal people when we get caught up in our own magical battles, but it's nice to be reminded of those we're protecting."
She raises her hand to brush against Madoka's neck, her heart warmed by Madoka's singsong voice. "You do. Seeing you like this does give me hope. Hope that we'll have a future, no matter what happens. Not only that, but hope that we really can make a positive difference. I think for a long time I forgot what that's like, but you reminded me."
Homura listens to Madoka's explanation of running charity events, scratching behind her ear. "I see. Sounds a lot like picking a crew for the Tenshi Maru, or picking construction workers and supervisors. There's nothing wrong with continuing to use those who provide good business. I suppose if your parents were trying to provide you with connections, they did a pretty good job didn't they?"
Values close to their own. Homura considers, tilting her head up to look at the ceiling. "Well, of course we'd want to pick people whose visions align with ours. After all, as long as they work here they have to deal with me and I have to deal with them. They should be on board, or else they can't really be happy. I don't mind pricing our contracts low for charities, or to get into the game, but the salvage money will get more and more rare as time goes on, and we'll still need big contracts to stay stable, even grow."
Homura chuckles softly at Madoka's squeal, and holds her closer as weight pushes them together. The work day may be over, but they don't have to go right away. Well, at least Homura doesn't.
Madoka asks about finances, and Homura swivels the chair to bring her closer to the monitor. She turns it on, grabbing her mouse and opening up several graphs and pages full of numbers. "Here's the story. Right now, we're doing pretty well dealing with smaller projects. The Chiba household is... priced low because they're our friends, but even so it's paying bills. We've got a few suburban projects, building up neighborhoods that were destroyed. The city is paying for roadwork and other projects, and they're one of our biggest customers. We aren't quite at the scale where we can start building skyscrapers, even if we poured all of our resources into them, but this time next year I'm hoping that will be a different story."
She clicks another few buttons, bringing up a diagram of the Tenshi Maru and the crew manifest. "On the salvage side of things, the last of the five JSDF cruisers have been pulled up, and now they're trying to decide what else to clean up and what to leave behind. Some of the discarded buildings, or parts of buildings, that sank into the water are being left there as artificial reefs, since wildlife has already moved into them. Still, others need to be dredged up and we remain the most convenient source of salvage business."
Then Homura leans away from the computer, and puts her arm back around Madoka, because the information on the Contractors isn't on that computer. "Unfortunately, with the situation being as it is, the Contractors can't do a whole lot. The non-puella employees are keeping tabs on the city, and they have been sent to protect key areas like hospitals and so on. There was a bit of money put into it at first, in order to build our secret facilities, but aside from paying salaries not a lot is going into it right now."
Homura doesn't mind telling her, because this is something that she wanted to do with Madoka, even if Homura is taking the lead on it in major ways. "It's okay. As my partner, there's no reason to keep this kind of thing from you. We're doing well, overall. At least on the business front."
The comment on spreading love and hope with bank accounts gets Madoka giggling so much that she buries her head in the crook of Homura's neck, shaking her head back and forth and hugging onto her. She pulls away after a little while, smiling up to her, "It sounds silly, but you're right! We can do good with magic and with money.
Hearing Homura talk about the people they protect has her smiling even more, though it's tempered somewhat by the look of enjoyment that shows on her face as her neck is touched. "I'm glad you remembered." She leans in and kisses Homura on the cheek, tilting her head into her hand, "I'm glad I'm the one that reminded you, too."
"They did a great job. Mama even remembered which events were the best and why, so I had a really big head start." She gives a quick nod then, agreeing with Homura, "It is. I'd be out of my depths trying to cook that much food and pick out exactly what to serve to such an exclusive crowd, but with the right caterer they'll narrow down the options for you. Decorations are the same, really." Then a giggle, "The music was something completely different though. It actually wasn't the first time that holographic performance was used, but it was definitely the largest event it was used at. I'm really glad it turned out okay, I think most people got a real surprise!"
Madoka becomes more thoughtful as the slowing salvage operations are mentioned, "That's true. And as lucrative as they are I hope that's sooner rather than later, though the charity work is the same. I'll be really happy when everybody's homes are fixed and everything is back in place where it should be." Suffice to say she'd rather nobody's lives be disrupted in the first place.
When the chair is turned Madoka curls up a bit in Homura's arms, scooting further up in her lap to rest against her and sliding her arm around behind her. She curls enough so she can settle her head beneath Homura's chin, giving it a comfy, fluffy resting place if it's wanted and looking to the computer screen without turning her head. At the mention of roadwork Madoka gets embarrassed for some reason. After a few moments she explains, "It'll be a little embarrassing if any of the workers recognize me when I'm walking to school. I guess it's not too odd for someone going to Infinity to have business contacts, but I'm used to school and work being separate."
At the mention of skyscrapers she hums softly, "That will take a lot of specialized equipment too, won't it?" She goes quiet for a few moments, lips pursing slightly. "I wonder... I wonder if we can find a way to build them stronger. With magic, I mean. Walpurgisnacht might not be the only enemy that targets them directly. If they could be even a little bit resistant it could go a long way." She gives a tiny shake of her head, which with the way she's resting rubs against Homura's chin and presses her cheek and jaw into the center of her chest, "It probably goes without saying we'd want to be able to do that for our friends and families too, if we could."
A moment later her expression changes to embarrassed, "That... would probably be a really big deal though, and take a lot of money and research we really don't know anything about." And magic of some kind, probably.
She doesn't have much to say on the salvage operations though she takes in the information as it's given to her. The fact that some of the damaged buildings flung by Walpurgisnacht were turned into reefs do get her attention though, "Wow... so even something so destructive and awful can bring about new life. As horrible as everything else about it was and is, that is really neat. I like that. I might want to go look at it myself, someday."
She nuzzles back into Homura as she's held with both arms again, closing her eyes and enjoying the comfortable closeness. "That's good. It's kind of nice that we can in some small way help protect things even when we can't get very involved directly ourselves. Even if it's just giving support to people who'd do it anyway, it makes me happy." She presses herself into Homura, giving her a tight hugging squeeze, "You're so wonderful and good. This is such a good thing you're doing, that you thought up. I'm very happy to be your partner in it, and support you as best I can."
A bit less subdued she smiles and tilts her head up to press a small kiss to Homura's jaw line, "You're very good to me, too." Then, once more in a singsong voice, she says, "My partner~"