[Paragon Group] Cold Calling

[Legione Sumus]

EPHRAIM HAART

Ephraim accepted the compliments without comment, and watched the effervescent Mr Parker as he settled in his seat. He made a help yourself gesture at the table with the drinks, though doubted Sage would even notice the refreshment. He’d barely remained focused enough to eat the provided lunch.

At the proclamation of the tour being boring, Eph outright laughed. It had been part of the point, of course, though he privately doubted even if they had intended to dazzle Sage it would have actually worked. Aside from helping himself to the wifi, though, Eph was assured Sage hadn’t actually done anything to sate his boredom. According to Marcil that was not because he couldn’t, even with Paragon’s rigorous layers of security. It was because he'd evidently chosen not to. Restraint or respect, Eph wasn’t sure yet. But he was prepared to give the chance. Audaire thought Sage was too old for such attempts at tactful recruitment, that there was no loyalty to be won. But Ephraim didn’t require the sort of brainwashing Audaire toyed with on his projects.

Still, it was undeniably a gamble. One Ephraim was mostly prepared to take because of the 972 seconds it had taken before Sage had needed the relief of connection.

Sage Parker was valuable. As an employee or a test subject (and honestly, there was sometimes a fine line between those anyway). Ephraim could be flexible. And either way, he would make use of the opportunity in front of him. Sage got to choose how pleasant the experience was or wasn’t for himself.

“Aren’t things behind locked doors always more impressive? It’s generally why they’re locked,” he said with a chuckle.

“Interesting that you chose to reach out by rather more traditional means than your capabilities. But what made you reach out to us?”

A job was the most obvious answer. Nothing in the invitation had actually confirmed this was an interview, though it had come in response to Sage's CV. He asked mostly because it seemed Sage was happy to talk, and Eph was happy to listen. And he wanted to hear it from the man himself. So far, he didn't seem to possess the tact to lie outright about his reasons for being here.