Hire, Education

[Molly Quincannon] Molly had a few errands to run - which in a way was good, as she'd been holed up in her bedroom-and-lab-space for over a week, so the fresh air and so on was probably a good thing - but she made it a point of inviting Ellie out for coffee at her favourite place out on the Mile. So when Ellie gets there, she'll find Molly sat at a table towards the back of the coffee shop with two cups of coffee (one appears to be mocha) and a couple of pastries. The mocha and one of the pastries are obviously meant for Ellie. The point of the big manila folder on the table ... well, that's anyone's guess, particularly where Molly is concerned.

[Ellie James] Ellie paused just inside the door of the coffee shop to look around, and brightened when she spotted her 'target.' She wound her way through the tables, and dropped in the empty chair across from her friend.

"Hey, errands go well?" She pulled the untouched cup of mocha towards herself, and inhaled the sweet scent of chocolate and coffee. "You know how to spoil me," she glanced at the envelope, "And make me curious."

[Molly Quincannon] With a grin that blended sheepish and eager (an "I've got a see-cret" grin if ever there was one), Molly nudges the manila folder over in Ellie's general direction. "Oh, I think they went well, but honestly, a lot of the 'how it went' is going to depend on what you think of these. I know you're doing the whole job-hunt thing and that can be a righteous royal pain in the ass with the economy the way it is and everything, so I thought I'd offer another option."

In the manila envelope are a lot of brochures from community colleges in Chicago. If Ellie looks through them, she'll see some of the bits of paper, specifically the ones involving the actual paying for it portion, have already been filled out by Molly. Course options have, of course, been left for Ellie to fill out herself.

"It's not something you have to do if you don't want to," Molly says, "and you can obviously pick the school and the courses and whatever it is you want to do, and you're still welcome to crash with me while you study ... at least partly 'cos I love having the company and am glad of the help with the dishes and the cooking and everything. I just thought ... y'know, maybe you might want to ... try this. You seem like a smart kid, and I hear working as convenience store clerk or whatever sucks balls."

[Ellie James] Ellie nodded mournfully at the mention of the job-hunt-of-fail. "No kidding." She finally took a sip of her mocha, licked the whipped cream off her top lip, and then pulled the paperwork out of the envelope. She very carefully set her mocha down and looked up to gawp at her friend.

"I... you..." She kept looking between the paperwork and Molly, distantly feeling like a spectator at an internal table tennis match.

"I never thought I'd make it into college!"

[Molly Quincannon] "Well, it's only community college," Molly admits. "Not that it's a bad thing, but ... y'know, the standards are a little bit different. And according to your GED? You're a shoo-in for college. Sorry; I know that's all supposed to be a confidential thing but when I was trying to pull up your actual birth records and everything, it kind of came up. Your results are on the bottom of the stack, by the way. Anyway, when that came up, I thought ... why not college? I might not be able to get you into Loyola or Chicago State, but the community colleges are pretty good and if you find something you really like doing ... well, maybe you can get enough credits to transfer to someplace where you can get a bachelor's degree. North Central looked good." Then she blushes a little and says, "You know, if that's something you're interested in. I got a lot out of college - okay, I got a full-ride scholarship to Columbia and it's not entirely the same thing, but still ... I thought I'd put the offer on the table, is all. Just say if I'm being pushy."

[Ellie James] "But community college is still college, and still more than I thought I'd manage being a streetrat." She leafed through the papers, pulling out the brochure to the school Molly pointed out.

"I'm not worried about you seeing my GED scores, Molly. I know I did pretty well, because the letter I got said so. Didn't realize that it'd be good enough to get me into college." And she'd also seen the information filled out on the financial requests. "Are you really sure you want to pay for me to go to school? I mean, it'd take me years to pay you back."

[Molly Quincannon] Molly blinks, honestly surprised. "Um ... you don't need to pay me back. Look, my whole deal is the whole 'giving back to the world however I can' thing. And if that means sending a well-educated young woman out to be the best she can be, particularly when the young woman in question is a close personal friend of mine and I want her to be happy, then ... y'know, bonus. It's just money, and this way it's out there doing good. Look, I told you before - one day, you'll be in a position to help someone else, and that's good enough for me. So if you tried to pay me back beyond housework until you have your education and your own place, I wouldn't take it anyway. So nyah."

[Ellie James] "I know that's your thing, but this is bigger than crash space and clothes." She sighed, and blushed a little, looking down at the college brochures.

"Think we could set up a tour at a couple of these at some point? I mean, I'd trust your head better than mine looking at a college as something other than crash space." She sipped at her mocha, and then looked at Molly. "I'm not going to let you wash dishes for a MONTH if I actually get accepted. I want you to know that."

[Molly Quincannon] Molly grins and sips at her coffee, looking impish. Then she says, "Well, if you're happy with the idea, I've arranged for a tour of Olive-Harvey on Monday at ten, break for lunch, then Wilbur-Wright at two and Kennedy-King at four, which'll give us time to discuss them over dinner. Those looked like the three best options that didn't involve commuting. That okay?"

[Ellie James] Ellie stared at her for a moment, and then shook her head with a smile. "Should've known you'd thought of that, too." She finally got into her pastry, and pulled out the brochures of the three schools in question.

"Now I have to figure out what I want to do for a degree. I mean, again, never thought about it. I don't know that I'd be able to pull off a computer degree, even though I know that computers are probably a pretty good start to go straight to work after school. Oh, man... "

[Molly Quincannon] Molly beams at Ellie and munched on her own pastry as the girl started blue-skying. "Hey, I had to go through the entire thing on my own, with scholarship stuff and financial aid paperwork and everything. Even if my parents could have afforded to send me to college, they wouldn't have done it - despite a 3.8 GPA and an obscene SAT score, apparently they thought I couldn't excel academically because I am a poor helpless guuuuuurl who should be home caring for some man." This is probably the first time Molly has ever mentioned her parents in Ellie's hearing. "Not that my guidance counsellor was any better but waved it away as me 'going for my MRS'."

Then she shrugs. "Hey, there's options, and computers aren't so hard, at least not at a basic maintenance level. I mean, what kinds of stuff are you into? And keep in mind that if you do well at a community college and maybe get your SATs, you can probably make the jump to a Bachelor degree of your choice at another college later. So keep that in mind."

[Ellie James] Ellie gaped at her for a moment at the mere idea of someone telling Molly that she couldn't go to college because she was female. "Umm... think your parents were a little wrong with that idea." She made a face at the guidance counselor not being any better

Back on the much more cheerful topic, she chewed on her lip, and then transferred that to nibbling on her pastry. "The idea of the SATs scares me witless, just so you know." She swallowed, and then actually considered the question. "Umm... I like plants. I can do basics with computers, I like reading. None of that really sounds like something that's going to do me any good after school."

[Molly Quincannon] That first gets a face made. "Hey, my parents, my guidance counsellor, my teachers ... behold the irony of the soul and centre of sexist misogynist crap on the west coast being a town called Athena."

Then she wrinkles her nose. "Aw, the SATs aren't so bad. I can coach you, if you want. It's really nowhere near as bad as everyone makes out. And if you think that plants aren't going to help you with that kind of thing, you'd be wrong. Maybe try a Gen Ed degree? Spend a year on that, do the SAT and then see what the actual places that offer bachelor's degrees can give you. I mean, you could set yourself up as an aromatherapist, maybe? A lot of spas and even a few hospitals that deal with psychiatric patients have aromatherapists on staff. A friend of mine had to go into a psych ward for awhile and they had an aromatherapist come in and give courses on what scents might help their conditions. Or a specialist in herbal medicine at one of those upmarket health food places."

[Ellie James] "You grew up on the west coast? I thought the west coast was all liberal and whatnot?" She went back to flipping through the brochures, and then looked up at her.

"Really? I didn't know that. I thought at best I'd be able to work in a garden shop or something." She perked up at the idea of being an aromatherapist. "Holistic healing kind of thing? I mean, I remember a guy I hung out with got a degree or certificate or something in massage therapy. Maybe... don't most degrees require certain basic classes no matter what your specialty?"

[Molly Quincannon] "Oh, that's the rumour, but once you get north of San Francisco and east of the coast? Really, the west coast is pretty conservative. Think it feeds from the whole midwest stereotype. I grew up in this one-streetlight town commuter distance from Walla Walla, Washington. I hated it and ... well, there are reasons I turned down CalTech. I wanted to be as far as I could get from home. En-Why-Cee was as far as I could get without leaving the country."

Then she grins and nods. "Hence the transfer credit thing. They generally like you to take a bunch of gen ed classes at college for the first year before you really settle in, and that's sort of what community colleges are for. For the people who had a problem getting into university or got a GED instead of a diploma from a meatspace high school, so they can get into the whole swing of what they want to do and what they have to do to get that. And yeah, holistic healing's the kind of thing I mean. Aromatherapy, herbalism, massage therapy ... there's a real market for that kind of stuff."

[Ellie James] "Well, that's no fun. But yeah, I think you got pretty far, if you went all the way to New York. Chicago's not that close either." She poked through the brochures, looking for information on general education courses.

"I think I'd like doing something like that. I mean... fits with my... urrr... personality." As close as she was willing to get to anything mage-ish in public. "The public library may have to give up access to all of their herbology books for the foreseeable future."

[Molly Quincannon] Molly takes another swig of her coffee, then sighs. "Oh, I came here via many places. New York, Texas, the Gulf Coast ... a year in Des Moines I would rather not discuss... But yeah, never near home. I don't think I could look at that town without burning it to the ground by any means necessary. As for that kind of thing ... well, try for the Gen Ed thing and talk to whatever advisor you have over there. There's got to be one, to help you get to where you want to go, career-wise or whatever. Then we'll see how it all goes, y'know? Hey, if we're lucky, we can maybe get you in for the winter term."

[Ellie James] Ellie smiled a little. "Nothing wrong with traveling around a bit. And really, Molly, you shouldn't burn the place down. The paperwork afterward is a pain. Filing in triplicate, and the non-flattering photos, and those orange jump suits..."

"Never really saw much use in the guidance counselors at the schools I went to, but I guess they would be more useful in college, huh?" The idea of getting into college was really starting to light a fire for Ellie. "Think I'd be able to qualify for scholarships? To help pay for things?"

[Molly Quincannon] "Oh, please," said Molly, raising an eyebrow. "No one'd recognise me anyway. And if you think I couldn't avoid getting caught, you don't know me very well."

Then, after another bite of pastry, "Amen on the guidance counsellors in high school, but the career advisors I had at Columbia were actually worth their paycheques, so maybe you'll get lucky. And you can always ask; I couldn't see a way to get much financial aid through the community college with just a GED and the like, but with a year of a gen ed associate's degree course under your belt, don't see why you couldn't ask."

Another bite of pastry consumed, Molly tilts her head to look at Ellie a bit and asks, "So ... that's a yes to the community college thing, huh? Just so I know all official." She's teasing, of course.

[Ellie James] Ellie giggled at the raised eyebrow. "Well, those are problems for NORMAL people. I was just saying."

"You're right, I guess. The GED thing just isn't in my favor, huh? But I might find something. It'll make me feel better if I can help pay for my school." She beamed at Molly. "Yes, it's a yes! Molly, you really ARE the best!"

[Molly Quincannon] That gets a blush. "Thanks, but I think your praise is probably a little premature. You tell me how much the best I am when you're grinding out some term paper. But I guess if you can put up with the rattling around I've been doing in the workshop the last week or so, not to mention my cooking--" (which, in fairness to Molly, is always edible at minimum, even if it isn't always overly pleasant to look at. Her pizzas, for example, look a bit like Pollack paintings, as does the kitchen once she's done) "--I guess you must have the patience of a saint anyway. Just ... y'know, keep your room-area whatever clean and do your share of the dishes and we're all cool. And feed the ferrets now and again, even if Hardison decides that your hair's a jungle gym every so often. So! Now that we've had coffee and talked about school and all the rest of it ... there was one other thing I wanted to talk about, even though it makes me feel old as the hills."

[Ellie James] Ellie snorted, trying not to laugh too hard. "Saint my left hind cheek. You're the one who let me move in.... and the one crazy enough to name a ferret Hardison."

Easing the paperwork back into its mannila envelope and putting a possessive hand on the tan-colored paper, she tilted her head at Molly. "Now I'm a little worried. You're not old as the hills, and anything that makes you feel that way is kind of... scary."

[Molly Quincannon] Molly waves that away, chuckling. "Oh, nothing scary; it's just ... look, you've got the basics - place to live, food, clothes, and an upcoming education. But I tend to think that everyone needs a little bit of ... frivolity money. But I also know you, and I know you wouldn't feel right about taking ... y'know, an allowance or something unless you were earning it. Which I totally get. So what I thought is that ... well, maybe I could actually pay you for some of the housework you do, particularly if you took more of it on. I like the cooking and need the practice, but ... y'know, dishes and general cleaning, laundry, that kind of stuff. Extra if you're willing to clean out the ferrets' litter tray - and what is wrong with Hardison as a name for a ferret? Might also hire you to teach me some of the ... erm, esoteric skill set you've got that I don't, unless you want to do a quid pro quo arrangement where I teach you some of the esoteric skill set that I've got that you don't. Depends on how much of the household stuff you're willing to take on, but would you be up for talking about it at least? I don't want to step on your self-sufficiency entirely."

[Ellie James] Ellie's never had an allowance - all her money she earned doing things most adults didn't approve of. But what Molly proposed, earning a little spending money doing something approved.

"Molly..." She wasn't sure why this made Molly feel old, but it certainly made Ellie feel like Molly just adored keeping the teen on her toes. "I think I would rather go quid pro quo on the lessons, really. I know there's a lot you could teach me, and I can try to teach you some... But taking over the housework? I'd be willing to do that even if you weren't offering to pay, just because of the college thing."

[Molly Quincannon] "Well, I'd feel better about paying you to take on all the crap that I don't necessarily want to do, and in some tangible way," says Molly with a bit of a grin. "Y'know, in some concrete, cash in hand kind of way. So ... say fifty bucks a week for dishes, laundry and dusting once a week and a once a month scrub of the kitchen and bathroom? An extra fifteen a week if you're willing to do the ferret litter tray. As to the teaching, quid pro quo is cool; you can sit in on Isabel's lessons. She's been doing really well, and I'm starting her on ... let's say 'time management'." She lowers her voice enough to add, "Correspondence, Mind, Prime, Entropy and Forces also on offer."

[Ellie James] Ellie smiled. "I'm willing to do the ferret cages, too. Even without the extra." She drummed her fingers on the table thoughtfully, trying to figure out what she'd be most interested in learning. And what she was able to teach, which wasn't much. "I can really only go over some of the... holistic healing I already know. But time management would be useful... for now I'll stick to my cell phone for communicating."

[Molly Quincannon] That gets another laugh from Molly. "I'm not sure if my friends would thank you or hate you for teaching me that kind of healing. I think they think I'm bad enough at getting myself into trouble without being able to tell myself that if I get hurt, I can just ... y'know, fix it. And to be fair, communicating the way you're talking about is as useful as time management. Maybe more so. Means you can do whatever else you can do without a direct line of sight. It's useful, believe me. I have this thing where I can sort of ... bend light around me? Like Harry Potter's Invisibility Cloak. Problem is that because I'm bending the light away from me? I can't actually see anything because the light's not getting to me. That's when Correspondence comes in handy." All this spoken quietly, of course. "See, Forces isn't all about the kerboom. Basic physics is awesome when you bend it right."

[Ellie James] Ellie gave Molly an ever-so-slightly disapproving frown. "I can't teach you that part anyway. Basics, Molly, basics." She tilted her head, thoughtful. "I see what you mean. And... well... want to hear a silly secret?"

[Molly Quincannon] The ever-so-slightly disapproving frown gets another one of those sheepish-but-mischievous little grins in return. "Hey, from the basics grow mighty things. Everyone starts somewhere, and I'm good at extrapolating from basics. And yes; yes, I want to hear a silly secret if you want to tell me a silly secret. So long as you don't mind if maybe I decide for myself whether it's silly or not."

[Ellie James] Ellie couldn't help the smile and small shake of the head at Molly's grin. She licked her lips, and then looked a little sheepish.

"I got most of my forces ideas from the manga Full Metal Alchemist." She waited for Molly to start laughing at her.

[Molly Quincannon] Molly does not, in fact, laugh. "I'll be honest; I've never seen it. Still, it could have been a whole lot worse." She leans in closer and whispers, all conspiratorial, "It could have been Dragon Ball Z."

[Ellie James] "'To obtain, something of equal value must be lost. That is alchemy's First Law of Equivalent Exchange.'" Ellie quoted quietly, when Molly didn't immediately start laughing at her. And then Molly mentioned DBZ, and Ellie made a face better reserved for skunk scent or porta potties left in the sun. "Oh.. oh NO. Eff-Em-Ay at least had a little logic added in!"

[Molly Quincannon] Molly thinks about the First Law of Equivalent Exchange, then wrinkles her nose. "That ... I get that, but it gets limiting once you get to my level. I mean, sensing is one thing, but what happens when you want to ... well. For instance. A couple of months ago, I had to get through a door, and I couldn't pick the lock, so ... I kicked it down. The door was heavily reinforced with sheet steel. I kicked it down anyway, because I was able to amplify the kinetic energy from my kick beyond what it would normally have been, and make sure that the recoil wouldn't break my ankle. I didn't create anything new, but I obtained more than I had originally, and all I lost was ... well, a bit of comfort, for awhile, when the universe spanked me for being naughty and breaking its rules a bit. So how would you handle that?"

[Ellie James] Ellie propped her chin on her hands once her elbows were propped on the table. "I'm still working my way up to that part. But at the same time, you put some of your energy into making the change. And you did get kicked later. It doesn't have to be the same kind of energy exchanged. And besides, we are what we are because we bend the rules. It was just... something that helped me make sense of things."

[Molly Quincannon] Molly thinks about that, then nods. "Yes, but you said equivalent exchange. Equal value. And actually, the universe didn't spank me quite as hard then as it did another time. Though what I did that time was a little bit more ... erm ... impressive. So maybe you're onto something. But I've seen people teleport with less of a beating than I got once. Eesh. Anyway, I was only curious about the theory you used. Mine just seems to work on the principle of ... well, look." She pulls out her iPhone and taps on it a few times, then shows Ellie an obviously home-coded app that is entitled "ForceFeed". There's a menu - while it scrolls down, there are a few bits of app visible, with names like SparkyPenguin, AnotherBrick, SpectraSkew, KinetAmp, HeatAmp and ATWT. "I exert my will on the universe through the power of home code that Chuck keeps saying ought to fry my rig, and the almighty power of Apple products. At least where Forces are concerned. My other talents have other nifty gadgets. Like the thing I've been making while locked up in the shop all week."