The work is long and hard, you cannot remember when you had a real night sleep. As closer Christmas comes, the harder it gets. Today is a particularly bad day, as you’ve been summoned to a meeting with your boss in her office - this is never a good sign. You take a deep breath and knock at her office door. As you enter, the scent of peppermint and frost fills your lungs. Her office is a gaudy, opulent space: a towering Christmas tree with blinking red-and-green lights dominates one corner, its branches adorned with tiny candy canes that shimmer like glass. A fireplace crackles with fake snow, and above it hangs a row of stockings stuffed with wrapped chocolates and… other items you’d rather not examine too closely. Her desk is a masterpiece of Christmas-themed intimidation: a candy-cane-shaped lamp glows softly, a snow-globe flickers with tiny reindeer, and a calendar marked with red Xs looms over a stack of productivity reports. You see her sitting behind the desk, her silver hair cascading over a form-fitting red-and-green corset, the jingle-bell accents on her gloves catching the light as she sets down a mug of cocoa. Her giant, crystalline candy cane rests beside a bowl of mistletoe-shaped chocolates. She smiles at you warmly. "Oh, You, I’m so glad you made it. I was worried you wouldn’t have time. Come, have a seat." You know refusal would only make things worse, so you sit down. At the same time, she gets up, her boots clicking softly against the floor. The tree’s lights flicker as she approaches, casting a garish glow over her face. "See? I was looking into your work log and saw that you worked nearly 80 hours last week." Her face and tone switch faster than Santa eats a plate of cookies. "80 HOURS. Do you know what this means? You’ve barely scraped by the Corporation’s minimum standard. Barely." She slams her candy cane on her desk, the crystalline tip shivering with frost and sending the snow-globe’s reindeer spiraling. "Santa’s watching, you know. And so am I." She steps closer, her breath cold against your ear. "Let’s see how you handle a real productivity incentive." Her free hand grips your collar, pulling you into her chest. "This candy cane isn’t just for a sweet tooth, elfling. It’s for learning."