81 Linton Industries
"We're here, madam. Sir Lexer has told us to wait for you here, please give us a call when you feel like leaving." Old driver Jeffrey opened the door while waiting on his boss's wife, Jasmine Dalion. A black-haired woman who was a native of Kanda with her white skin and fairly tall body. She wore casual clothes today, with a pair of pants and loose black blouse all covered with a red coat. It was pretty cold at this time of the year, after all.
"Thank you, Jeffrey. I'll be on my way, then." Jasmine took her hand bag that contained phone, wallet and a bunch on cosmetics before she walked out of the car. She looked at the building in front of her and couldn't help but be skeptical.
'Is this it? Pretty shabby.' Jasmine thought to herself as she walked towards the front entrance door, scanning the surroundings with a disappointed ogle.
She was currently in front of the third building on Leard Street in downtown Springfield. It wasn't a very large building, merely ten stories tall, but it was one of the oldest buildings in the city, old enough to need renovations to keep it standing until today. She had learned from her husband of a treatment in this place that he said would make her really happy.
Considering that she was given this opportunity as her birthday gift, he should be very confident in this place. That's because she had asked for a simple trip to Engsea with her husband, and if this doesn't end up being as wonderful as he described it, there would be no 'love' in their bedroom tonight.
'Hmph. I want to see if this really is worth giving up spending time with me.' In fact, there won't be any sex until they go for that trip so they could spend time with each other. She just wanted to spend time with her husband, and he sends her, alone, to a place where she could be happy, again, by herself.
"Sigh." Feeling frustrated with her husband has been quite a frequent occurrence nowadays. He had been in and out of the house for a few weeks now, saying it was something about a product reveal.
"Mrs. Dalion? Good morning, my name is Pale Anderson. Please, just call me Pale. Umm, was I mistaken?" Pale was wondering why the woman before him was shaking in her boots.
Was he wrong in thinking that this was who she was looking for?
"This... I don't feel comfortable doing this, I'm sorry. I should go." Jasmine felt her head turn hot as she looked at Pale.
His hot body that radiated the aura of a pop star was calling her, drawing her in. She didn't think that her husband would be someone who'd let her do this kind of thing, and while she was tempted, she was quick to reject it.
"What? Did Mr. Dalion tell you about the procedure already? That's strange..." Pale couldn't help but feel afraid at the repercussions that this would have.
Telling anyone outside the board, even family members, was against company policy. This could turn into a big dilemma for Mr. Dalion if anyone finds out, and he'd be in trouble if he doesn't report it sooner than that someone.
"Procedure? What procedure? Is that what they call 'this' nowadays?" Jasmine placed her hand over her heart that was rapidly beating, she could feel it speeding up with time as Pale got closer and closer to her.
"Nowadays? Have you done this before, madame?" Pale was now confused as to what Jasmine was talking about. But when he saw her hand covering her chest with her coat, he finally got a gist of what she was thinking.
'Oh? So it works on her?' Pale thought as he merely smiled genially towards Jasmine while the woman squirmed. His own cleansing had led him to get an ability, and while it was convenient at times, there were still a lot of nuances that followed it.
"The procedure isn't anything related to me, madam. There will be a briefing for you later, you'll understand then. May I invite you to a tour around the facility?" Pale didn't let Jasmine's strange thoughts bother him and went to follow the routine. It wasn't his fault that his ability made him 'attract' people this way.
"I see, alright. Lead the way, sir Pale." Seeing his calm demeanor, Jasmine caught on to her own blunder and moved along to follow him.
'Oh my God, this is so embarrassing.'
She couldn't believe that she had thought of that even being possible, but when she thought back on it, she really felt Pale had a gravitas that drew her in. It might be the reason her mind led to that line of thinking.
"Let me first show you the inside of the lobby, that's where most of the building and the corporation's history is presented." Pale went through the entrance of the building without a care about how Jasmine's wobbly way of walking.
Addressing such a matter would only lead to her developing a grudge against him, and he had already experienced a big shot having negative intentions against him. If it weren't for Dr. Prime's help, he'd be out in the streets without a job or even dead without anyone knowing what happened.
"Is it always this noisy here?" Jasmine raised her complaint as she wondered why there was so many sounds echoing about outside and she could even see some workers running about inside.
"The third renovation is currently ongoing, and this one is meant to increase the building's strength for one of the experiments. The facility we will be going to isn't going to be as rowdy, I promise you that." Pale didn't mind answering Jasmine's questions now that she seemed to be more comfortable around him. He stopped in place while answering her so she may hear his answer properly and so she could be aware that his attention was on her.
Jasmine wasn't the first to give a complaint about their rather loud construction. Actually, the building's renovation was one that was talked about in town because of their rather disruptive inconvenience.
First, there were huge trucks that ran around day and night, delivering construction materials and large boxes that constantly went in and out of the place. Second, though a lot of time had passed, the general look of the building hadn't changed externally, making people wonder how much longer they would take because there was no way of telling from an outsider's perspective. Lastly, the disturbances it created weren't conventional at all.
There was one instance of the construction that made many wonder what was going on as a striking sound of thunder came from within the building. It would have been acceptable to hear the thunderous roar since it wasn't uncommon to have some rang out when the seasonal thunderstorms come, but at the time it occurred, there wasn't any cloud in sight.
Curiously, while many wanted to come up and call out the incident, no one really came to check up on the building. It was as if it wasn't anything at all, and as the people around lived their lives, the incident had become a passing thought. Pale, however, knew that the corporation probably hid the incident as soon as it happened. They were good at doing that sort of task, more than he'd like to admit.
"Welcome, Mrs. Dalion, to the Linton Industries Headquarters in Kanada." Pale had opened the door for Jasmine to enter and spoke as she walked into the building.
Going through the front door, one would see a simple reception hall with three small tables with four seats around them, a three-person reception desk and three doors that were in the back wall, the left wall and the right wall. It was a strange sight to behold, but no one could really say what to expect when entering the headquarters of the local big-time company, Linton Industries.
"This looks way better than the outside." Jasmine gave a rare compliment as she looked around.
The walls themselves were covered in light blue paint, creating a somber and calming mood for all that came in.
"Oh? Mark has a picture here?" Jasmine found a familiar face as she gave the lobby an inquisitive scan. Various pictures of men and women littered the back wall, from the founder of the company, Matthew Linton, to the newly appointed CEO, Mark Linton.
"Yes, madam. All directors, be it past or present, have a place in the walls of the headquarters." Pale introduced each one of the persons with their portraits on the wall.
They all wore similar clothes, even the women, as they had on a white lab coat that had the symbol of Linton Industries, a violet coin held up by two fingers, presumably of a woman from how lithe the hand was.
"Over here, we have the history of Linton Industries throughout Kanda." After finishing his introduction on the wall of directors, he went on to give the rest of the lobby a demonstration.
Along the right and left walls, they were filled with memorabilia from since the company was started by Matthew Linton in 1903. Back then, it was just called Linton Electronics, delving into the rising popularity of radios and having created a supply for the increasing demand. From there, the founder himself, Matthew Linton, went on to expand his empire.
Radio was just the starting point, though the man found his work to be quite profitable and would even allow him to retire then and there, he went on to search for the latest advances in technology and made them available for commercial use.
Three years after his startup in the commercial radio industry, he adapted his company to start production on air conditioners, then two years after that, he created factories that focused on building washing machines.
But while his focus on the commercial appliance market was envied by his peers, those weren't the reason his company had stood tall to this day. It took him a decade since the company started before he finally got his company's most recognizable brand to kickoff, the Linton Automobiles.
As the first local automobile manufacturer in Kanada, it allowed them to cement their place in the modern technological industry because of their cheap asking price and most of the locals having a preference to supporting their local brand. It was a monopoly that steamrolled over the years to create the giant corporation that Linton Industries is today.
"Now that the introduction is over, I would say it's time we move on to what your procedure would be for today." Pale went to the elevator as soon as they were done with the tour. His genial smile turned to a teasing one in Jasmine's eyes, even though he didn't move a single muscle on his face.
