THE MOMENT
"I'm sorry," Hilda shook her head, but she did at least muster the courage to face Scarlet's sapphire eyes across the desk. The two women were in Scarlet's office at the end of the workday. They were on the 35th floor, and the sun was already dipping below them and into the horizon beyond the glittering metropolis below. Hilda wasn't normally one to run away from problems, but it'd been officially too much for her to handle. But, at least she braved a return to face the consequences. "I know you took a big chance on me, and you even warned me it was a lot, but I insisted I was ready to handle a position in a fantasy world. But... he just .. he plopped the head on the counter, and it stared at me with dead eyes. That was... enough..," she said. "I know I walked out, and I of course don't expect to keep my position with the company," she said. "I just wanted to apologize to you directly," she said. "You introduced me to Chroma Corp. and gave me a fair chance. I'm sorry I didn't live up to your expectations."
It wasn't a step Hilda had taken with any other job. Mostly on account of never feeling like she messed up quite that badly, but also because she never felt any sort of personal obligation. She did a job and got paid for it, but Chroma Corp. felt different. As much as she hated the phrase in interviews, she had to admit the company did feel like a family. A large, scattered family, but welcoming nonetheless. Every single employee she met made her feel like a valued member of the corporation. People asked for her opinions and gave her helpful advice, and she'd only been a bank teller for a month. And now she ruined it by abandoning her post and client just because some dead orc looked at her funny. She sincerely felt like she'd let down every other employee she'd met to some minor extent.
"Oh my goodness...," Scarlet shook her head with a stern expression. "If you're this beleaguered by what happened earlier today, I'm afraid I'm the one who needs to apologize to you. I obviously haven't done enough to explain Chroma Corp. to you, and now it's got you filled with worry," she smiled.
"You've only been there for a month, and honestly, you did better than I thought," the half-dragon woman with red scales on her cheeks replied. "I thought for sure the skulls and zombie flesh would be too far out of your comfort zone. You're from a normal, mundane Earth in the 21st century," she giggled. "But you actually persisted quite well. A disembodied head would be a lot for most people not expecting it."
"Thanks," Hilda nodded. She didn't know what else to say, and she was just waiting for an official termination of some sort.
"So, go ahead and take the next couple of days off... to get your head right," Scarlet winked with a giggle to further put her at ease. "You can start fresh on Monday in a normal human bank," she said. "There should be a lot fewer unexpected oddities going forward."
"Start Monday... at a normal.... I still have a job??" Hilda asked.
"Well, sure," Scarlet nodded. "I hired you to be a banker for Chroma Corp. But like... we have, I dunno.. trillions of banks. This is what I guess wasn't clear about our company," Scarlet nodded. "You can keep trying."