Scene #8656: HamHamPangPangChitChat

Owner	Pose
Wonderlab Trio	Branch O-5681 is, compared to the headquarters of Lobotomy Corporation that many Elites are familiar with, much less imposing. It rests aboveground, a few bus-trips away from the District 15 Warpgate, with wide sliding doors into its fairly normal lobby and the company logo hanging up above, practically showing off that the need for secrecy that HQ has isn't shared here. That's not where you're going, though. Instead, the place that Taii directed you is slightly down the street from the massive warehouse-shape of the aboveground section of Wonderlab, just a few buildings down; a sandwich store named HamHamPangPang. Their message, primly-professionally typed but still burbling with suppressed excitement, was an invitation for nothing more complicated than a casual dinner meet-up, to properly socialize with Elites without the threat of an ALEPH Abnormality killing all of them. HamHamPangPang is a cheery little storefront, nestled between and below larger, less distinct buildings in typical urban compactness, with a bright yellow piglike mascot sticker smiling on the windows. The door jingles when opened, making Taii jump up from their chair with a clatter, rushing over to greet the arrivals. Catt sits in the booth opposite where Taii was, elbow propping up their head against the wooden siding, and Rose is engaged in a conversation with the worker behind the register, though they do turn and wave. "Hi everyone! Thanks for coming! The, uh, food isn't out yet, but Rose put in an order for a bunch, so you'll have something to choose from!"
Angela	Angela is naturally not going to be going to HamHamPangPang! But Agents HAVE visited Branch O-5681 before and if Taii is putting out an invitation, Agents from HQ simply have to put in a request for visitation and get it approved before it's too late to show up! In this case, they went through Chesed who passed the question on to the Manager who gave the all clear because he's depressed and because the Agents in particular are in good standing with the company. So it's Captain Nonon and Random who are making their way into HamHamPangPang. "Haha, no worries! We just got here! Happy to get to meet folks from other branches, especially after you pulled our ass out of the fire with that last job!" She grins. Random is actually from this District in the first place, hench their willingness to quickly throw aside their previous plans in order to get support to coming to the local HamHamPangPang. Random isn't a captain but they tend to keep their head down and do their job, usually acting as Justin Rook's assistant. Random smiles at Taii and Catt, "Happy to meet other folks from my home District. Not too many folks from O work at HQ." Nonon grins, smacking Random in the back one level too hard. "Hahaha, I just wanted to have a good meal!" She grins. "Thanks for the invitation! Didja know they have a multidimensional branch now? Wild!"
Aya Shameimaru	Today, it's an invitation to a cafe. It's a nice change of pace, and it's a chance to see the City at a bit of a broader scale than just around L-Corp. Aya appears wingless today, with a very cute black cardigan and turtleneck combo, along with a dark skirt and leggings to go with her Mary Janes. She's a very neat dresser even when not trying, and she's trying today. The tokin hat's still on her head, though, with the pom-poms. "Thank you for inviting me," Aya easily smiles to Taii and Catt and looks around. Well, the concept is familiar enough from places like Geidontei, but it's clearly from a different era. "Hello again, Nonon. Shajo is not here today?"
Wonderlab Trio	Strangely for outside the facility-- at least, strange to anyone familiar with the City's rules, or the agents' behavior in the hunt for Nothing There-- Taii and Catt are wearing their EGO gear, a pink suit and a black skirt with suspenders, respectively. Rose is wearing a pressed white shirt and wine-red cardigan, androgynously toned down with black pants and a tie. When Aya enters, the worker behind the counter gets noticeably more nervous, quickly wrapping up the conversation with Rose before slipping into the back of the house, and Rose joins the others after tutting sympathetically. "Oh!! Agents from HQ; I'm Taii, Disciplinary agent, level two! Um, don't worry about talking about the work or anything, this place is affiliated with the branch, so a lot of us come here after work." As an unconscious, explanatory motion, Taii gestures towards the corner of the dining room, where a security camera identical to the ones in the facility hangs. There's one in every corner, in fact, for excessive overcoverage of the fairly small restaurant, and peeking through the door to the kitchen when the employee scurries through shows there's similar surveillance inside. One of the cameras clicks and whirs into motion, sliding in an arc to linger on Nonon and Random, and Catt's distracted expression twitches. Their wide black eyes flicker up to the camera, then they look over at Random, still leaning against the back of the booth, lips pressed in a tiny pout. "You. Catt met you before. Accompanying the little slug on their silly mission." Another look up to the camera, and they roll their eyes to look away from Random, staring into the corner of the room. "You're still alive." Rose pulls a table over to stick to the side of the one Catt's sitting at, extending it, before sliding into the booth beside them. They fold their hands in their lap and lean forwards, beaming at Aya. "You've met before? Agents from HQ really get around, don't they? I look forwards to more of that myself, too. I'm Rose, this is Catt, our Captain."
Angela	Nonon's attention is drawn by Aya and she says, "Oh not today! Shajo's training some new Disciplinary Team Members. Says I can only go too easy or too hard on them, HAHAHA!" She looks at the hat with the pom-poms for a moment but ultimately has to tilt her head down to get a good look at Aya. Or really anyone here. Random waves a hand to Taii. "Oh! That explains why it wasn't that hard to get clearance." Random says. "I'm in Control but Nonon's from ''our'' disciplinary department." They dip their head to Taii and look up towards the camera--the fact that it's a COMPANY security camera is more relaxing than the alternative, really. There is some shit they can't just let the City know about. But it isn't relaxed, exactly, either. There's some things Random is uneasy about saying where L-Corp can hear it either. Random tries not to focus on the camera and instead ends up focusing on Catt, then towards Rose, then back to Catt. Random remembers Catt. They say, "Captain Catt." with careful neutrality on their face. But Nonon smacks Random in the back. "Be friendlier! It's lunchtime!" Random manages a smile. "Yeah you got me. I remember you too, Captain. Have they visited again?" Are they still alive? "For now," They confirm. "Team's had pretty low turnover since we started hiring Outsiders--" They really mean Petra specifically but don't want to draw extra attention on that fact. They wave a hand to Rose, smiling at them. "Yeah, yeah, a Magical Girl from the Outside wanted to visit Wrath, not sure why they approved it but HQ seems to want to keep on good terms with Outside Worlds--" They aim to sit down at the table that Rose pulled out before Nonon looks to Taii. "Need us to order?"
Aya Shameimaru	Aya is not a tall woman, though sometimes she cheats with extra-tall geta sandals. "I see..." Taii also mentions that they're a disciplinary agent. The tengu does get curious as to what exactly they discipline, but they're off hours now, and if there's something she hates doing, it's asking people about their work when they're off-work. That said, the nervous look from the worker isn't missed; at this point, she's also familiar enough with security cameras to know this place is heavily monitored. Why is that? The City certainly does seem to have its share of crime, so is that it? Still, the best way to deal with surveillance is to pretend you didn't spot it; it might give you an advantage later. "By Captain, I assume you don't mean a ship captain, right...?" Aya doesn't really have any frame of reference for military hiearchy. "No, it must mean a team leader." There's a pleasant look to Rose as she nods. "Captain Nonon was present when I first stepped into the Station. My name is Aya." Still going surnameless. Is she ever going to become Shameimaru again?
Wonderlab Trio	"'Hiring'?" Catt tilts their head at Random, attention caught. "Outsiders as agents?" They consider this for a few seconds, pouting in thought and looking up out of the corner of their eyes. "Did they run out of fresh meat to harvest from the City?" Something about the thought seems to bother them, and they scoot slightly away from Rose so they're no longer touching, tucked into the corner. Rose looks briefly disappointed, then turns to Random with their eyebrows raised, giving Catt their space. "It's that effective, is it? They did seem strong in action, though many of them seemed unfamiliar with how the company works." They smile and close their eyes, nodding a little to themselves. "That's wonderful. Maybe we can work on employing Outsiders in other branches too, so the company-wide mortality rate goes down." "Catt is the Captain of Disciplinary Team." Catt themselves isn't quite aware of what a ship captain is, so the miscommunication goes both ways. "The strongest agent, next in line to be the Head of the department. The little mice work beneath Catt until they die." The Captain's bleak wording doesn't seem to phase Rose, and they tilt their head happily, letting their long hair flow down onto Catt's shoulder. "I told you, Captain, we're not dying! And listen to Random, working with the Multiverse means being safer! You'll be less cold after you get some food inside your belly." Rose gestures for them to sit down, and Aya too, though the question of food is briefly displaced. "A magical girl? The visitor before Hibiki--" "The little slug." "was one too?" Taii chimes in, sitting beside Rose, and then furrows their brow as they continue. "Ah, they must mean the one Flower met too, called Chevy. Um, Flower called her Chevy, I looked it up later, and her name is Chevalier Vermillion. Between her and Hibiki... they keep saying they're not like the Abnormalities, but it's a little worrying that they keep getting drawn to the Servant of Wrath. You know what happens if the Magical Girls all get together, don't you?" Oh, and don't worry about ordering! The staff are... a little nervous, still, about Outsiders, so I ordered a spread of food for us. It should be..." Rose looks over to the kitchen door, trailing off as if they expect the narrative timing to perfectly slot into their sentence. There's an awkward beat of silence, and then their wish is granted, the same cashier coming out of the kitchen with a tray piled high with paper-wrapped sandwiches. "There! It's ready. Thanks so much." Rose smiles reassuringly at the cashier when they nervously put the tray down before scurrying away, then plucks one sandwich off the top to offer to Catt. "Beef for you of course, Captain. And for the rest of us... there's beef, ham, mustard, and chicken."
Angela	Random answers Aya, "Oh, yeah, no. It's more like...a Team Captain? We do a lot of fighting but it's not like it's only fighting--depending on department--and it's definitely not a military, it's just helpful to have someone who is in charge on the ground than not having one. My captain's Justin Rook but Nonon's from Disciplinary which... Is a lot more fighting-centric, yeah." ''Did they run out of fresh meat to harvest from the City?'' Random tries to figure out how to put it and it takes them long enough that they don't quite get it right. Instead they look at Rose when they approach the matter a little less aggressively. Random relaxes a bit but it still takes them a moment. "Yeah, I mean--some of them do. We've someone working in Control who is practically immune to any Abnormality Mind Game Bullshit. AND she figured out how the company works real fast." They pause and admit, "Others have been slower. And some are bleeding hearts who probably shouldn't be helping out but HQ hasn't given up on them yet." This isn't something that makes Random feel at ease though because they are real concerned at who will be paying for those mistakes. While management has been assuring them that the situation has been better than normal, Random has no way of verifying that... "My guess from seeing them in action, their inability to understand the Abnormalities so well doesn't entirely offset just how strong some of them can be." Random bobs their head, "Yeah they're magical girls... I don't know if they're really like OUR magical girls? Some people we thought were our kind of magical girls were actually pretty different..." They frown. "But they were able to like... tame a couple Abnormalities? Apparently Tamamo was involved but I don't really know the details. Tamamo's visited HQ a few times." They don't know what it was ABOUT but apparently they've been to nearly everywhere in the facility, places where Random isn't even allowed to go to themselves. "Yeah, Meika or--Chevalier Vermillion. And her sister is Chevalier Cobalt.--wait Hibiki visited too?" Random scratches at their neck, looking at Taii too. They ... remind them what happens when Magical Girls get together. There's only been one time it's gotten that bad but Random was there for that. Their expression darkens. "HQ hasn't given us orders to retrieve them...but right now King of Greed is still with us in our facility and Wrath is in yours, so they probably figure they are, at least, seperated from each other...though I don't know how they'd react with the Chevaliers." Random smiles at the mention of food, "Now THAT sounds good." Nonon laughs, "Now that's what I'm talkin' bout!" She looks back to aya and adds, "Don't worry about this stuff, it's just a lot of boring work talk, nothin' you need to worry about." She looks back to Catt and says, "Next in line to be a Dept Head? You must be really skilled. Wouldn't think of it from looking but..." She grins. "...Nah, you got good insight for that stuff, it's not really about muscles."
Aya Shameimaru	Well. Being polite about not talking about work is one thing, but these people are particularly inclined to talk about work, so Aya won't worry about it anymore. She doesn't really have a stake in the ethics of hiring Outsiders for work in L-Corp, though; she knows it's a highly dangerous job. Once, she would've jumped on this and spun it as a highly sensationalist story... "Magical girls, huh..." Aya muses quietly, glancing out the window for a moment. A lot of Gensokyo's residents could be considered that. Even Aya. But it's not quite the same, is it? Terminology is treacherous. Random gives an explanation, and then there's a quiet nod. This is a private organisation with its own structure... it sounds like 'Magical Girl' might be a dangerous term here, though. But right now, it's nothing more than something to file away inside her own head. She looks to Nonon and says, "Oh, I'm not worrying about it. What do you people do... off the clock, though? I'm curious what the City has to offer." There's a glance to the sandwiches, and Aya quietly blanches at the chicken sandwich, hiding the mild terror inside very well. "Ah... is the mustard sandwich vegetarian? I think I'd like something without meat..."
Wonderlab Trio	Rose starts to respond to Random, but when Catt speaks up, they immediately defer to them, stopping before they talk. "An Outsider agent with high Prudence isn't more sane." Catt can't conceptualize Intrusion Immunity··· right now. Catt closes their eyes, making a small derisive noise, and frowns slightly. "An Outsider who's immune to the Abnormalities... that kind of person can't understand the company at all. You have to be a little bit insane to understand this kind of place. Someone who thinks they're above it all, just visiting from outside, is nothing more than a tourist." Catt continues rambling, but Rose finally cuts them off, holding their sandwich up to their mouth emphatically. "There's no need for a 'bleeding heart'--" "Oh, be quiet and eat your sandwich, Captain. You'll feel better when you do. We're here to meet the others, not fret and complain. That goes for you too, Taii, you can relax." "Ahaha... sorry..." Taii takes a sandwich off of the top and unwraps it, taking small bites between responses to Aya. "Oh, of course, outside of work! I'm sure we've been boring you with all this work talk. Rose and I both live outside the dorms, so we spend most of our time off work out in the City. What it has to offer... I like to read in various locations, whether it's in a cafe or a park, and sometimes if I get a day off, I'll take a train to the beach. There's also the night markets, which can get a little rowdy, but sometimes I sleep through the day so I'm up all night, ahaha!" "Oh, are you interested in District Fifteen, or the City as a whole? I can recommend some interesting locations, if you'd like." Rose takes a sip out of a can of a sweet drink they picked up, smiling placidly at Aya. "As for recreation, I like to go see movies, particularly emotional ones. Cinema imported from District Ten is particularly heartwrenching, it always makes me feel like I'm in the world with them. If that's not your style..." "What do you like, Aya? Are you curious about the City, or just making conversation? I'd love to hear what you're interested in, too." Catt's eyes flick to Nonon impassively, scanning her up and down. Their gaze lingers on Nonon's arms, then they look away with a frown on their face, and murmur to themselves, "Disciplinary Team..." "Catt is strong. If you can tell from a glance, you're better than most of the meat sent Catt's way." They finally straighten up and pick up their sandwich, looking down at it instead of meeting Nonon's gaze, though there's a moment where they glance up at Nonon's hands again. "... You also, seem strong." Flustered at Aya's request, Taii reaches for a mustard sandwich themselves, picking it out and holding it towards Aya as if she couldn't do it herself. "Ah--! Are you vegetarian for a religious reason? Yes, there's no meat, but I, um, don't know if it touched meat while they made it, or maybe if it was unwrapped near it..." Catt adds, not understanding the issue (though Taii's grasp of vegetarianism doesn't seem perfect either), "Meat is tasty. If you've never had it."
Angela	Random says, "Well she's not totally immune they can still kill her..." softly because they know too well that the real trick of the Abnormalities are the ones that get in your head or manipulate how you think or strike directly at who you are, your soul, or have weird rules that are hard to predict. The ones that are just a fight, well, sure they're dangerous but nothing more than what a normal Fixer would have to do. They do not reassure Catt that Petra is a little bit insane. But in Random's mind, you have to be a little mad to work at L Corp because otherwise you'd be somewhere else. Random tries not to think about what that means about Random. They look to Aya for a moment as she asks what they do off the clock. "I don't have a lot of free time, if I'm being honest. I try to take a lot of exterior missions because it means I get to go outside and explore the Outside Worlds a bit before having to go back. There's usually a lenient time frame before they expect me back at HQ. Tennant's gotten me into movies so I'll watch one now and then, but I don't really see the appeal of action flicks. They never really get it right. If Justin came with me, we usually just grab a bite somewhere and talk for a while..." They fold their hands together, looking at their sandwich. Rook's been having a rough go of it lately and they haven't been able to help. Or tell them... They eventually give in and start chowing down on their sandwich. Nonon laughs, "Yeah yeah! We can't control how things end but we can enjoy ourselves while we can! We're off the clock! Me, I used to work in District U before I ended up around here, but I did a lot of bodybuilding, first it was so I could be tough for any fight I ran into, then I just kind of enjoyed it for its own sake." Nonon is almost polar opposite Catt despite having the same job. She's real cheerful. Almost TOO cheerful. Nonon nods to Catt, "Yeah, I'm one of the top agents at HQ. Got some real good EGO too. Good enough apparently they're sending Shajo and me over to Rita's world to fight sea monsters." Nonon frowns a little, thinking about it. It must be dangerous, from the way it makes someone like her frown, even if it doesn't linger for long. "But it's gotta be done because apparently if it gets real bad, it could wreck a whole bunch of neighboring worlds. It'll actually be nice to risk my life for something that actually helps someone instead of for energy margins." Nonon smiles again. "Met some little mice of my own over, heh!" She's totally cribbing off Catt's way of talking.
Aya Shameimaru	Having to be a little insane to understand a place... somehow, Aya can relate to that. Perhaps Gensokyo is a place for those who just can't accept the end, in a way. That's perhaps a very cynical way to look at it, but she can somewhat relate. ... at the same time, the normalisation of danger is always a slippery slope. Too many youkai behave that way. "No, no, it's been interesting to listen to your work, honest," Aya reassures Taii. "Especially from the perspective of an Agent." Taii explains how they enjoy reading in various locations, a cafe and park... and a beach-- "Oh..." Aya finds herself a bit surprised. Then, noticing that she's surprised. "That's right. I could see an ocean for once in my life, can't I...?" She does nod to both Taii and Rose, though. "Movies? I've only seen one from a very old projector, once. I think I might really enjoy them." There's only a stone's throw between a photograph and a film reel, after all. But what does she like? "Hmm... well, I do enjoy scenic views, but I can do that on my own power easily enough," Aya admits. "I also don't mind a drink or two, once in a while." Catt's relationship to strength doesn't seem surprising to Aya, given their earlier comment. It's also a viewpoint that's not very alien to her -- it's a very youkai way of seeing at things. Random explains what they enjoy off the clock -- movies, or just grabbing a bite to eat with a colleague. "Hmm... cinema does seem to be a common pastime here." Aya pointedly doesn't say she understands the appeal of just grabbing a bite to eat with a colleague because she has NO FRIENDS. What's that white-wolf tengu doing now...? Probably playing go with her friends... hmph... "Body building? Like strength training? I see," Aya nods to Nonon. "The idea of being able to measure your progress, little by little... it's an appealing one." The little kerfluffle over the sandwiches has Aya waving her hands gently, appreciative at Taii. "Oh, no, I just don't prefer meat, that's all. Thank you, Taii." She doesn't bother explaining how as a crow, the idea of a chicken sandwich is a bit morbid to her. She accepts the mustard sandwich and takes a bite. Perhaps she'll go see a movie next... that'll be a nice way to pass the time.