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Owner	Pose
Angela	The Watch gets a headsup as to when the Welfare Team (among others) will enact their plan as they have discussed with Berislav previously. Fox also sends Warpgate codes so that the Watch can help them! It's a risky idea, but all there is left is to see how it all shakes out. He has come too far on this to back out now. It began earlier in the day with little warning but it wasn't really apparent what was going on until Nonon broke her hand by punching out the Warmhearted Woodsman and the service...         Was clearly...                 Quite ......... Slow. The major ordeals haven't hit yet so there are still plenty of beds. People ARE getting treated but Welfare is taking their sweet time getting to new patients, claiming that they want to make sure everybody gets plenty of rest. It hasn't hit a breaking point yet but gradually the news that something called a 'Work Slowdown' is happening in Welfare and that they have ''demands''. Gebura is the first to react. She makes her way to Welfare, intent on pummeling the people there in submission but Chesed has bravely(?) cut Gebura off at the pass and is occupying her back in Disciplinary. Chesed talks to her about coffee for at least two minutes before Gebura loses her patience and starts chasing him around the facility. Then it makes its way to Angela and the Manager. The Manager passes down an order to Angela that this has to stop one way or another and Angela sends a message to Petra in turn. "Petra, could you please find out what is going on and put a stop to it?" Fox is an orange haired man with glasses in the Solitude EGO Gear, the BETTY/BECKY/BETSYs of the Welfare team all wear All Around Helper EGO Gear and seem to be suffering from being unable to... 'Help'. Ya-Boy and Baba are among those present from Lobotomy Corp participating in the 'Strike' that aren't strictly in Welfare as is Netzach and-- "Zzz...." okay they might have just fallen asleep there. Ever since their meltdown, they have been working harder but honestly not by THAT much. They seem to have turned to alcohol after getting themselves off of Enkephalin. Go figure. Either way, the 'Strike' seems to incorporate more than just Welfare even if Welfare is the backbone of the project (Baba is also asleep, though they ARE standing).
Rufus Shinra	HERE'S RUFUS! You can tell it's Rufus because he's got a name tag on now. He's now an employee! Face the fear, build the future! Go team! All that stuff. Today's work is... standing around drinking coffee, waiting for something to happen, apparently. Thrilling. Exactly the sort of thing he signed up for, sarcasm tone indicator goes here. "So," he says to Petra next time she passes by, whether that's on the way to the work slowdown or just in general. "It usually this quiet around here?"
Father Berislav	Berislav himself is also in Welfare. Not without his own medical talents, he has been providing assistance to the Welfare team himself--but, much like the Welfare team, his own assistance has been at a glacial pace, such that his presence there scarcely makes a difference in their operational time.      In truth, he isn't there at all to assist, even if he's good enough at it to keep pace, and stocked with his own supply. Rather, he is there as a sign of support for the slowdown, always ready with words of praise, encouragement or, as is the case now, scripture.      His voice is soft to keep from waking Baba.      "As Jesus was passing through a field of grain on the sabbath, his disciples began to make a path while picking the heads of grain," he says, pacing back and forth, his reading glasses catching an occasional glint as he looks up from his bible to smile at the employees gathered in the Welfare department.      "At this, the Pharisees said to him:" Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the sabbath?      "Jesus said to them:" Have you never read what David did when he was in need and he and his companions were hungry? How he went into the house of God when Abiathar was high priest and ate the bread of offering that only the priests could lawfully eat, and shared it with his companions?      Berislav pauses in his pacing, an index raised, "Then, he said:" The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath.      "Do you hear that?" he says, gesturing around with his index. "Silence, and so much of it. Unusual, for this place, isn't it? I imagine any minute now, they'll send someone to see what's the matter. Remember: this is an exercise of leverage. We needn't show our entire hand, so long as we don't fold."
Odette Raskins	Ever since hearing about Lobotomy Corporation, Odette's developed a morbid curiousity about the place. Just what kind of work is done there? Why is it at the center of so many stories? Why would something like a strike include a risk of death? She was hoping to find out about all these things eventually, but she certainly wasn't expecting eventually to maybe mean today and right now. Still, after hearing that the Welfare Team is finally starting to go through with their plan, she can't not show up just in case something bad happens! Thus, although her mind is with the team, her official reason for showing up is, as always, for official Company outreach. It'd be a good learning opportunity, allegedly. The space EMT just isn't sure what she's supposed to learn when she arrives in her standard blue jacket, jumpskirt, and cap uniform with the big white duffle bag bearing all her medical supplies. On the way to Welfare to see what's going on, she hears (but doesn't see) Gebura chasing Chesed around, and that gets her to pick up the pace and get there before anyone can really get hurt. Naturally, she joins in on listening to Berislav once she is there, even if she has no idea who or what he's actually talking about. Tapping away at her PDA doesn't help much, either, as it doesn't come with a proper spell-check, and she can't figure out how to spell Abiathar properly. "Like in a card game, right? Just enough to have defenses ready, but not enough to clog your side up..."
Petra Soroka	Petra's musings about unions started and ended that day a few months ago when she wondered about if a union would be able to make sure that Angela got paid. She is thus-- and through general life experience beforehand, though it was never much of a focus in her life-- familiar with the concept of a strike, but hasn't considered its application to Lobotomy Corporation specifically.     After all, why would she? It's great here! It's the best job Petra's ever had, unless you count the work she does for Lilian, and also Eggman, which altogether are all three jobs she's ever had. But she's quite happy with Lobotomy Corporation, and doesn't really know why anyone wouldn't be, besides Angela.     So she assumes something more benign is up. Wearing her EGO gear, since she's on the clock, Petra passes by Rufus when collecting something she hopes she won't need from Extraction. "Shut it. Next week you're on carrion duty. Anyways, Welfare needs some extra hands, or something." A tendril of morphmetal snaps out from the bottle on Petra's hip, automatically wrapping around Rufus's neck to drag him along, before she recoils it and uses it to give him a shove on the back instead.     Strolling into the blue, murkily-lit Welfare Department medbay with all the familiarity in the world-- before her promotion, she *did* spend lots of overtime just helping out here-- Petra doesn't seem to have any signs of alarm or sternness at all. In fact, she doesn't stop at any sort of strike line at all, and just maneuvers her way through any suggestion of people blocking her way, going right up to Fox. She flips open her compact mirror, not bothering to look at his face yet, all business while she pulls out her medical kit.     "So, like, you need extra hands, or something? What's the deal. A bunch of nurses got too much mental corruption to work?" Belatedly, Petra notices the oddly quiet atmosphere, and then double-takes when seeing Berislav.     "Huh? What are you doing here?" Squinting, she slowly scans the room, reassessing. "What's going on?"
Rufus Shinra	Rufus gets grabbed and dragged along by the neck. "*ack* - Hey!" "Inappropriate touching at the workplace is my schtick!" he complains, once he's let go. "Find some other way to casually abuse your power, will you?" In Welfare, he also doesn't see what the problem is. "Someone said you need extra hands?" And there's... Odette, who he doesn't know, and Berislav, who he also doesn't know. "They look like they're doing fine to me," he says to Petra. "I mean, there's new employees here, it looks like?" He gestures towards the two Watch members.
Hibiki Tachibana	LAST TIME:     Tachibana Hibiki, known terrorist and years-long agent of the Watch, did not know what a strike was.     Now, she's armed with the sage knowledge that it's as simple as workers trying to make some reasonable asks for themselves, like 'we'd like to not be in Lobotomy Corporation for our entire lives', and 'we would prefer to not be sent into the meat grinder that is the Titanomachia'.     This seemed extremely fair to her! She, too, would enjoy if the agents wouldn't have to go through any more suffering than they already do on a daily basis. NOW:     Joining Berislav and Odette in Welfare, Hibiki is notably less skilled in the medical field than... uh, either of them, probably. Still, it's not as if there's terribly much need for that, when the staff here could go much faster if they so chose to - but as them not doing that is the point, she contents herself with helping out here and there where she can, ensuring that nobody is actually going to be in any real danger or pain in the process of this.     "I'm not super great at card games, so I guess I'm followin' your lead," she mentions after Odette, leaning back against a wall to fold up her arms. There's a glance in Fox's direction, and then off towards the entrance to the department. "If Gebura shows up first, this'll get real messy though..."     Thankfully, it's not. Unthankfully, it's Petra.     Hm. This is complicated in its own way, for her. If she was smarter, she would've considered who Angela would be most likely to send. But when she rightfully questions this, Hibiki slowly speaks up towards Fox from just outside Petra's point of view, conveniently and (not so) dramatically announcing her own presence by doing so.     "...You wanna explain, Fox?"
Father Berislav	"Yes, Odette--if not... *quite* the manner of card game I was thinking of." He must not play many TCGs.      Petra enters, as does Rufus, unwillingly, and the priest does manage a smile for her. "Hello, Petra," says Berislav, with a mirthless little chuckle. "And hello," he says to Rufus, offering a polite nod of his head. "I don't believe we've met. I'm not an employee as such--I'm Father Waters Berislav, a priest. I'm here as part of my calling."      Returning his attention to Petra, he utters a sigh. "Maybe it's selfish of me, I'd hoped whoever they sent would be someone I wasn't fond of--or, at the very least, a stranger."      "Still," he says, with the tone of someone determined to carry through unpleasant work, "I believe the department has been very transparent about its demands," he says. He doesn't bother explaining that 'there is a strike.' Much in the same way that Petra maneuvered her way through any sort of blockade, Berislav treats the silence, the slowdown, all of it, as casual reality; people do not need 'how to breathe' explained to them, nor do they need verbal explanation on how to process light in the visible spectrum through their eyes. His tone says it all--that this is perfectly obvious information.      All that the priest does, otherwise, is step forward, to stand beside Fox in a show of support. There's the sense that he'd put his hand on the Agent's shoulder, if they weren't both working in the medical wing. "Go ahead, Fox. We're here for you."
Angela	Fox is sitting on one of the medtables and isn't actually doing much work at all. Instead he is playing around with that EGO Revolver of his, spinning the chamber, pointing it, spinning it across his finger and then pointing it. It's a small ritual that keeps his mind occupied. He listens to the sermon, but he doesn't comment on it. He gets the idea. The purpose of this project is for the people in the end and it pays to keep that in mind. His eyes settle on Rufus as he is pushed forward and he pushes up his glasses with an index finger, setting the pistol down between his legs as he leans forward. "Oh yes!! Dual Monsters... I love that game!" BETTY! says chipperly. Fox has no idea what BETTY! or Odette are talking about so he focuses on what Hibiki says--namely, telling him to explain the situation. "After hearing from Yuri about Unions, I decided to actually do my job as Captain of Welfare and look out for the wellbeing of the folks in the city." Nonon, sitting on a table with a busted up hand, complains to Petra. "He says if I go back out there immediately after getting my hand fixed up, it'll just break again--can you believe him?" "Berislav explained the idea to me so I figured we'd give it a go." Fox continues. "We're doing something Outsiders call a 'Strike' but we know the work's important so instead of not working at all, we're doing a slowdown to muck stuff up. You come to break us up, Petra?" He glances to Berislav for a moment, giving him a nod before turning back to Petra. "We're not asking for more money, so don't worry about that. What we want is to be able to leave the facility off our work hours and we want to know how much longer this is going to take. We know we're 'halfway there' but we don't know how long the other half is gonna take. Another year? More?" "This Jesus guy says this stuff ain't too greedy to ask for, I guess." He adds. "So I figure that's a good starting point for negotiations."
Petra Soroka	"Find some other way to casually abuse your power, will you?"     "Two weeks carrion duty. And you have to scrape those horrible toenail things off of the Mountain of Smiling Bodies too." "I mean, there's new employees here, it looks like?"     Petra is about to call Rufus a fucking idiot for suggesting that, before pausing and reflecting that he's probably never met those two before. "No, no way, that's Odette, and Berislav, and-- fucking *Tachibana*?!" *Now* she knows it's bad news. "Maybe it's selfish of me, I'd hoped whoever they sent would be someone I wasn't fond of--or, at the very least, a stranger."     Petra crosses her arms and frowns, shifting her weight off-center in a slightly thuggish, gatekeeper-y way just by habit, like a bouncer (who's a five foot four teenage girl). "Well, Jesus, good seeing you too, I guess. What the fuck's your problem?" "I believe the department has been very transparent about its demands,"     "Well, I don't fucking know who's *demanding* shit, besides the, like, dozen fucking employees who need some treatment." Petra taps her foot, annoyed, glaring at all the employees around-- including Rufus, like he's somehow at fault for this-- even though she's practically surrounded. "There's no good excuse to just be *lazy* in the sick bay."     When Fox starts talking, and Nonon complains, Petra starts looking more sincerely irritated, cutting Fox off to reply to Nonon loudly. "Well, that's just fucking retarded, isn't it? Should we just wrap you up in bubble wrap so you never get hurt? Is Chesed going to start ordering us to wear little helmets and kneepads in case we fall over and get a fucking bruise? Sure isn't fucking helping your hand feel better to just sit around and leave it broken, is it?"     Petra's brain slowly catches up to the situation, now that the actual word 'strike' has been placed in front of her. "Come to break you up? I don't really give a shit about that. I just need you to get your work done." Maybe she doesn't entirely get it, actually. "If you keep dicking around like this while any of the guys from Control or my team are hurt, I'm going to kick your ass, okay?"     "I don't know, dude, it's just Wing policy that you can't leave. I mean, you *get* that the City would execute us all if they knew what we were doing here, right? I mean, I'm not really against it on principle, but it's not, like, my call, and I'd really rather personally kill every one of you than risk making Angela go through a reset again."     At the other demand, Petra just hums and shrugs. "It's probably a good bet that it'll be a year, or a little less? I mean, it's halfway, half means half. Fuck around and it'll be longer, and you won't make it through the next loop if I have anything to say about it." Petra isn't particularly stancing up aggressively as a strike-breaking threat-- this is just her default, and she never really liked Fox anyways. She still doesn't seem clear about what she's going to have to do here, or at least, doesn't want to acknowledge it. "That it? You can, like-- I'm sure I could get the Manager to let you all go spend some time outdoors in Quicknest, if you really want. Get some sun, or something, without any risk."
Rufus Shinra	> "Two weeks carrion duty." "There we go! Now you're speaking like a proper power-tripping middle manager. We'll get you there yet." Rufus perks right on up. "Oh ho ho. A strike." "My co-employees on strike," says Rufus, clasping his hands together. "Interesting. I've seen a few strikes dealt with in my time. I know a few things. I could handle this pretty well, I think. But I do believe..." "... Petra, as management, this falls to you, doesn't it?" He takes a step back, and subtly starts tapping out a text on his phone. Very soon after, deliveries start pouring in through the warpgate. First is a dozen fresh pizzas (prepaid, with sides and drinks), and a bunch of flowers, all addressed to the 'Welfare Team Employees', and then... ... a bit later, a crate arrives, couriered directly into the Welfare department if the courier is let in. When opened, there's posterboards, markers, t-shirts and a t-shirt printing press (with some catchy strike slogans pre-printed), and at the pride of place: a set of megaphones, batteries included.
Odette Raskins	"I'm not super great at card games, so I guess I'm followin' your lead," "Yes, Odette--if not... *quite* the manner of card game I was thinking of." "Oh yes!! Dual Monsters... I love that game!" "Oh! R-right. Um. So you have limited slots to put your stuff down, and..." Odette sounds almost confident as she's about to start going over the rules and basic strategy of her chosen card game. Sadly, despite playing enough of these games to know the rules mostly by heart by now, her decks plain suck ass. Hibiki and Berislav will never learn the meta from her. BETTY! might be able to get some easy wins someday. When Petra arrives, Odette doesn't recognize her at first. She's only seen her once before, after all, but hearing her speak gets that fear reflex spiking briefly, tempered only by the fact that the height different between them still isn't as massive as she had once expected. The question about what people are doing here has her straightening up a bit, though, followed by Odette actually waving meekly in greeting. "H-hi, Petra. Hey, mister." She waves at Rufus as well, not really recognizing him either. Thankfully, Hibiki has the brighter idea of redirecting the question to Fox, although Odetter still feels the need to explain herself a bit despite that. "Oh! Uh. I'm here to... Help? The higher ups wanted me to stop by, so..." She jiggles her duffle bag briefly for emphasis, then breathes out alight sigh of relief at Berislav emphasizing the reason for their presence without stepping over the actual department involved. Fox handles the actual explanations instead, and she picks up on a few more familiar things as he does. "The conditions here sound almost like they were back home..." She comments aloud at first, then covers her mouth briefly before mouthing a quick, silent apology. Petra's response has her flinching as she often does, of course, but one particular bit sticks with her: "I don't know, dude, it's just Wing policy that you can't leave. I mean, you *get* that the City would execute us all if they knew what we were doing here, right?" That's enough to get Odette's attention, and not with a fear response for once. "Is it that unsafe out there? I-it didn't feel that..." She pauses, trying to figure out what that could actually mean. "Is whatever's happening here something they're really that scared of?" She doesn't know what exactly that work is, but she's not about to ask something so basic in this situation. "I'd really rather personally kill every one of you than risk making Angela go through a reset again." That, meanwhile, has Odette sliding over just a bit more to keep herself semi-behind Berislav, but semi-front of Hibiki. "H-h-hold up! Uhh. Wouldn't... Wouldn't having to rehire and retrain a bunch of new people be... E-even more of a reset? A-and waste more time and money? I-it'd be really inefficient!"
Father Berislav	There's no good excuse to just be *lazy* in the sick bay.     "Considering who *else* the company might have sent, I think this strike is anything but lazy." I'd really rather personally kill every one of you than risk making Angela go through a reset again. H-h-hold up!     Berislav smiles, his eyes shut as if Petra had made some pleasantry or compliment, instead of an open threat. He nods, holding out one hand before Odette to calm her without having to wash up again for medical work--kind of like what you do when you're protecting one person from someone else. I could handle this pretty well, I think.     "While you and Petra can certainly test my devotion to Christ at your convenience--and peril--you should know that negotiating with the union will benefit Angela as well," the priest explains.     Listing out the benefits starting with his index, "Happier employees are more loyal employees. Loyal employees work harder with less complaint. Loyal employees keep company secrets and sing its praises."     "Surely," he continues, smiling like a teacher striking at the heart of a new subject, "The work goes faster, with more people trickling through the door *and* more employee retention. If they are allowed to have lives outside of this place, you may be shocked to discover that the abominable mortality rate lowers, as well. People tend to take care of what's valuable to them."     His eyes open, slowly, and his gaze meets hers, as he removes his reading glasses, hanging them upon his clerical collar. "I know that the company is ultimately trying to make life in the City better. That's an *unusually* prosocial attitude for a company to have, especially in the context of the City, which is why we're having this conversation at all. I think that should be rewarded, and enabled. I'd like it for kindness to be easier and apathy more difficult, in this place. In every place, but here, especially, in this boil of a city." I could get the Manager to let you all go spend some time outdoors in Quicknest, if you really want. Get some sun, or something, without any risk.     "Provided of course that this is a regular occurrence and not an indulgence to be taken away at a whim. Fox, your thoughts?" asks Berislav, turning towards the agent to see if that's acceptable.
Hibiki Tachibana	and-- fucking *Tachibana*?!     "...Well, good seeing you too, I guess," Hibiki blandly repeats Petra's own words with a grimace, as the card game lesson is broken up early. It's not as if she particularly wants to get cross with her right off the bat - not when the last time they really spoke was the mind dive - but it comes almost annoyingly easy with an entrance like that.     She wishes it wouldn't. Whatever. She has to get it together.     Fox is given a nod as he explains the deal, although she has to remember to hold herself back from 'showing their entire hand' as Berislav put it; as natural as it would be for her to simply blurt out all of the demands they talked about before right from the get-go, this whole negotiation thing has an order to it. She thinks.     --but it's not, like, my call--     With some leftover and somewhat unintentional sharpness, "And that's why Angela and the Manager are the ones who'd be better to talk to about this. They're the ones who make the decision on what to do or if it's possible."     --and I'd really rather personally kill every one of you than risk making Angela go through a reset again.     Hibiki's frown visibly deepens, as if to emphasize this is why she thinks the decision shouldn't be (and isn't) Petra's in the first place.     Although she's very well attuned to the fact that so far this isn't anything out of the norm for Petra, which means this isn't impossible from the get-go. Or at least, she'd like to believe it's not. Hibiki can count on Petra caring about her fellow agents, on Angela not being as detached as she tries to appear, and on the Manager having (or attempting to have, when he's not balking) some care towards being better than Ayin--     Although she's not a hundred percent on how this might go if Petra comes to the conclusion shutting this down is the best way to protect Angela. God forbid if Gebura ever catches up.     "...It's not like the agents don't want to do any work at all or mess up the plan or anything like that, Petra. You should know what working here is like better than anyone, shouldn't you?"     After a moment, "What do you think, Fox? Compromise is part of this whole thing, isn't it?" Hibiki poses the question his way (just about the same time Berislav does) at Petra's mention of Quicknest, and on if that's all the demands. The glance she gives him pretty much implies support no matter what his thoughts are.     This is also just about when she glances back at... the order coming in. Her mouth falls open, and then she squints.
Angela	It turns out that BETTY!, BECKY!, and BETSY! are all very interested in TCG and get into an intense discussion about deck strategems and trap card placements that quickly devolves into essentially an alien tongue by those who are unaccustomed with Dual Monsters. What IS a Pot of Greed and is it tourney legal? The City may never know until K Corp becomes Kaiba Corp. "Hello! Mach Pizza Delivery!" Rufus gets on the phone. "Gotcha! Your order will be there in three real time minutes!" Nonon says, "Haha, I don't think Bubblewrap could stop me, Petra!" unhelpfully. "Nope, my hand's still hurting though they said I'd get painkillers eventully, ha ha!" ''If you keep dicking around like this while nay of the guys from Control or my team are hurt, I'm going to kick your ass, okay?'' "Gotcha." Fox says to Petra. "I get that." He says to Petra. "Hard to keep pretending that we're all just doing normal City work after what happened with Walpurgisnacht. None of us want a Reset either--not sure I know the full details of what that is but I can figure it from context. That's why we're doin' a slowdown instead of a...no-down? ... A nothing...down. It's why we're still working." Right now there's plenty of enkephalin." He does get something of an answer as to how much longer they'll be expected to work AT Lobotomy Corp. About a year, or a little less. Fox runs it through his head but one more year doesn't sound too bad--he no doubt imagined he'd be told something like three more, or five, or ten. He looks towards Berislav as he starts listing the benefit of happier employees. "Had one other thing but the Father said it shouldn't be an issue." Fox says. "We know we can't leave into the City, but right now every time we want to go out we have to sign up for it or it has to be for a mission--even if it's out to the multiverse. What we want is the ability to leave into the multiverse during our breaks. Other facilities let their employees leave when their work day is up. All we want is the same as that." Angela pipes in through the speakers. "Leaving the facility has to be tracked. Leaving the facility with EGO Gear present outside of missions is not allowed." Barring for Petra and some employees that the company seems to trust anyway. "...Petra is correct that if we are careless, this will result in the process taking longer time. It is safest to simply continue operating as we have been for the remainder of the time." There's some tension in the AI's words. She doesn't actually know how risky allowing this would be--it hasn't come up before. [ansi(+orange, "We don't need to go to the City, we don't need EGO gear.")] Fox says, though he doesn't sound--that happy with the compromise--he presses on this anyway.
Angela	Suddenly a short rotund man in a black tophat steps into Welfare, carrying a large stack of pizzas in one arm hand and a bag of sodas in the other. "Hello! Mach Pizza delivery! Here is your pizza pie, sir." He sets it all down in front of Rufus before departing. Three real time minutes, just like they said.
Rufus Shinra	> "While you and Petra can certainly test my devotion to Christ at your convenience--and peril--you should know that negotiating with the union will benefit Angela as well," "Oh, no no no, Mister... Berislav? Or would it be Father? Those who default to violence as a first resort and as an easy solution lack imagination." "It'd be a lot easier to, say, reassign everyone in the department. Split up the little collective you've got going. Shuffle things around. Get more loyal employees up here, put everyone here at the bottom of the totem pole in the other departments, and saddle you all with enough work that you couldn't even think about organizing." "We can also, let's say, tighten belts a bit. Up quotas, up timeframes. And up scrutiny. Are there any corners your little Welfare team has been cutting?" Rufus looks around, meeting each employee's eyes. "Little things that are against regulation, but... that 'everyone does'? Like, oh, that you're not supposed to carry your cups of coffee away from the coffee station. Nobody cares as long as you don't spill and dispose of the cup properly, but - suddenly, everyone *does* care. It's in the handbook you agreed to, after all." Is that actually a rule or not here? Rufus doesn't stop to let anyone question it. "And when it comes time to talk bonuses, merit increases, and - oh, penalties as well, it turns out that what you thought was exceptional performance... well, it wasn't, was it? Not on paper. Not in the database. Not in the magic quadrant. Not in the KPI's, the APR's, you aren't aligned, you weren't engaged, and here comes the PIP, and there goes the PIP - and there you're going with the PIP, right in the shredder, and if anyone asks we've got a paper trail for a proper trial and you've been properly tried and found..." Rufus holds up a thumbs-down. "Wanting. All without anything actually changing. All without management giving any sign that they're signing your dotted line and the time that you've got is-" "Oh, hey, pizza. Someone likes you." Rufus looks properly surprised at the sudden delivery.
Odette Raskins	Berislav's gesture, even without saying anything to Odette specifically, actually has the desired effect of keeping her from freaking out further. It certainly helps that he's laying out reasons to negotiate with the union far more intelligibly than she ever could, and she's even taking notes after a bit to try and retain as much of this as possible for future endeavors. She's taking notes as Fox speaks, too, trying to condense all of this into her own style of notes that she'll certainly recall days or weeks down the line, but... There's still plenty of other things occupying her attention. Hearing about how the Agents currently have to get permission to leave really does remind her of home, and she can't help but feel more of an affinity for them afterwards. BETTY!, BECKY!, and BETSY! are also really really good at distracting Odette since she actually recognizes what they're talking about, and it helps her mind drift just a bit towards her own (lack of) deck synergy. She just likes those cards, dammit. Angela coming in through the speakers suddenly, though, has Odette jumping a bit before breathing a sigh of relief at recognizing her voice. "Is it really going to be that dangerous for employees to leave and come back, though? I-I mean, if they leave their work gear here..." She trails off, already recalling what little, but important things she had seen that one time she even went into The City. Having to keep a sword around, the hushed meeting behind closed doors, all those ominous alleyways and street signs... "Wh... What if everyone left in groups? Y-you know, like a buddy system?" Odette hooks her index fingers together for emphasis, looking up at the speakers like Angela might be able to see her through them or something. "Then it's even safer for everyone. R-right?"
Petra Soroka	"... Petra, as management, this falls to you, doesn't it?"     Petra looks as grievously offended as anyone's ever seen her-- possibly without exaggeration. She'd be less mortified by a slur. "I'm not fucking *management*! I'm not some soulless fucking forty year old corporate desk jockey. I just *outrank* you, because I'm *better* and more *useful* than you, and it's my *job* both in here and outside to help Angela. I'm not *management*. I'm not *managing* shit." "Is whatever's happening here something they're really that scared of?"     Petra's not in the mood to smile and revel at Odette's fear, but her cowering does provide a little bit of catharsis. Petra gives her an absolutely witheringly hostile look, eyes glassily glaring through her like she's not even there as an individual person. "Really fucking genius of you to waltz in without knowing anything, huh? Are you actually anything other than a warm body? What the fuck do you even think you're helping?"     Petra heaves a sigh and turns roughly away from Fox to start pacing around the room. As she passes by people, her now-constant aura rakes beneath their skin like splintered glass fish hooks dragged semi-tangibly through flesh. "First off, if the Head gets wind of Angela being here, she's dead and the company's gone. Second off, the work we do here is illegal and it's literally *meant* to fuck up the City. *Third*, *you and I* aren't allowed here, because *dealing with the Multiverse* isn't even legal, aboveboard. So yeah, hello Arbiters two, three, and four, and goodbye fucking Lobotomy Corporation." "While you and Petra can certainly test my devotion to Christ at your convenience--and peril--"     "Jesus Christ, dude, I already know I'm going to hell, you don't need to say I'm the devil incarnate or whatever." "you should know that negotiating with the union will benefit Angela as well,"     As Berislav should know, though, that *is* the best way to get Petra to listen. With people passively clearing out of her way as she walks, from her reputation and the discomfort of being near her, Petra stops pacing with an open space between her and Berislav, one arm crossed and the other elbow resting on it to press her knuckles into her cheek.     "Okay. I mean. Hod can do a cost-benefit analysis of whatever the fuck, sure. But it's still true that it's dangerous, and most of the rules exist to make sure we're not all killed, and the company keeps meeting its quotas. Still, I mean, yeah, it's not like I don't want better for everyone here. Sun, time off, whatever, it's probably something we can figure out. But it's always, above everything else, about making sure *Angela* gets out okay." "And that's why Angela and the Manager are the ones who'd be better to talk to about this."     Without looking at Hibiki, Petra's morphmetal coils up out of her coat, circulating her in a wavy halo, to demonstrate that none of it is elsewhere. "Well, as long as none of you fucked with the cameras, they're here watching. *I'm* just the body Angela can act through." Not, of course, in the sense of carrying the Eggpack-- they're inside the facility, so Angela could just walk over-- but in the sense of violence if necessary.
Petra Soroka	"...It's not like the agents don't want to do any work at all or mess up the plan or anything like that, Petra."     "Look, I know!" Now Petra does look over at Hibiki, stomping her foot in petty annoyance, a gesture that immediately sends her back to-- "Obviously I'm not the agents' enemy! Do you have any idea how much work I do to make stuff better for them? Of course I want them to be happier, and shit! I feel like this all got off on totally the wrong tone!" "It's why we're still working."     Fox meeting her on her level of acknowledging that the work is important-- and that resets need to be avoided-- calms her down some. Her visibly readjusting her attitude when agreed with that way reminds everyone that this isn't some sort of professional negotiation between union and manager; it's almost the opposite. Petra is largely oblivious to the intentional abuses of capitalism despite weilding them, tremendously invested in individual welfare, a lethal threat in her own right, and highly emotional and volatile.     "Good. Yes. Maybe if you were just doing fucking paperwork or whatever, slacking off would be less of a problem, but you're actually hurting people I care about, you know."     "If Angela's fine with you guys spending time off in Quicknest, then I'm fine with it too. No EGO gear, no fucking around, it's probably no problem at all. I can even, like, put one of my bots by the warpgate so you can sign in and out when leaving the facility." Petra looks satisfied. Negotiation successful, and she was uniquely useful in solving it! "Wanting. All without anything actually changing. All without management giving any sign that they're signing your dotted line and the time that you've got is-"     Petra, who assumes this is pretty much open-and-shut already solved, looks over at Rufus in total bafflement. "What the fuck are you talking about?" "Oh, hey, pizza. Someone likes you."     Petra looks at the pizza, then back at Rufus. "What the fuck are you talking about? Who likes who?"
Father Berislav	Berislav listens to Rufus, waiting until the last strategy has been divulged. "Either is fine," he says, of the term of address. "'Father' is an honorific, but just as many people not of the faith call me that as 'Berislav' or even my first name."      "Thankfully for the workers here, that kind of obfuscation only works on people who have to respect it," He smiles.      "I don't," he says, gently shaking his head, his smile maintained yet steadily becoming less appropriate the longer he remains silent--until it's almost chilling. "'Management' can call a sword a 'performance improvement plan,' can render the cut so long and drawn out so that the blood doesn't flow until the victim is on their way out. But, you see, I'm not a human resources representative, who will permit violence as long as it's done with the stroke of a pen. Neither am I a judge who can be bought, or an officer of the law who will look the other way if the victim is an undesirable or a minority."      A breath through the nose, then, *finally,* after the tense silence which followed his answer. Long, like punctuation. "Of course, as an employee, you stand to benefit from the union's efforts, as well. I'm sure that you were only providing proactive information from past experience, so that your co-workers can be aware of the methods a hostile management team would employ. What a lovely thought," he says of that notion, turning to the pizza. "Please," he says, gesturing to the pizza. "Help yourself. I've already eaten, and work in this company is hungry work."      "Thank you for joining us, Angela," he says, with a little nod of his head towards the loudspeaker. Fingers interlaced, he answers her concerns about leaving the facility. "I'm sure that a weapon check for any departing employees is within the company's capabilities. A clerk could easily serve as a quartermaster, yes?" I can even, like, put one of my bots by the warpgate so you can sign in and out when leaving the facility.      "Even better," says Berislav. "Thank you, Petra. Thank you, as well, for your devotion to the agents, even if I'm sure you hear that often. Your name came up fondly several times, in the conversations I've had with them."
Hibiki Tachibana	Split up the little collective you've got going. Shuffle things around. Get more loyal employees up here, put everyone here at the bottom of the totem pole in the other departments--         --Up quotas, up timeframes. And up scrutiny--     --Like, oh, that you're not supposed to carry your cups of coffee away from the coffee station-- --Not in the database. Not in the magic quadrant. Not in the KPI's, the APR's, you aren't aligned, you weren't engaged, and here comes the PIP, and there goes the PIP--     Still squinting at the froth of words, "I..." Tense pause. "...didn't understand a a single word of that."     After a moment, Hibiki adds on, "But I know it didn't sound like anything good, and I also think I'm glad Angela's running things and not you. This isn't just about... making employees fall into line. The Abnormalities here that the agents have to work with-- they're things you need a strong body, or mind, or heart, or even all of 'em to at once to handle without terrible things happening, aren't they?"     "...So more than anywhere else, keeping your workers happy has gotta be a part of that to make sure things work out for the best. At least, that makes sense to me."     *I'm* just the body Angela can act through.     Hibiki doesn't react to the halo of morphmetal swinging out, or the implied threat, mostly because she's still seeing the usual level of Petra violence. What gets her more than that, is of course--     Now Petra does look over at Hibiki, stomping her foot in petty annoyance, a gesture that immediately sends her back to--     The flash of a memory gets Hibiki pushing off the wall, snipping back, "Well, /I'm sorry/ we didn't start this off right!" A second passes, and then another, before she slumps back and shuts her eyes like a blow was struck, voice lowering.     "...I am," she mumbles. "...And I know you do. We all want the same thing, so that's why we're here - to make sure it all can get talked out without any mess. ...That's all."     Despite normally having the appetite of five, she brushes off the pizza as a matter of course, glancing up towards the speaker as Angela's voice rings out.     "...Hey, Angela. You've been listening?" Well, maybe she heard that little speech she gave Rufus. Kind of embarrassing, if she did. "...That just means we gotta be careful about it, doesn't it? Everyone wants to see this to the end. And I know you do more than anyone. But I feel like the agents have gotta have enough to be able to hold up until then, too."
Rufus Shinra	> "I'm not *management*. I'm not *managing* shit." Rufus has found a new lever. He refrains from pulling on it right away. > "What the fuck are you talking about? Who likes who?" "Someone likes them enough to order them pizza on the picket line," Rufus explains. "Maybe someone in another department, as a way of showing solidarity. Might have some sympathizers around." He helps himself to a slice. > "Of course, as an employee, you stand to benefit from the union's efforts, as well. I'm sure that you were only providing proactive information from past experience, so that your co-workers can be aware of the methods a hostile management team would employ. What a lovely thought," "Yep. You got me," says Rufus, grinning. "Just trying to look out for my fellow employees and give them a leg up. Not a thinly veiled threat at all." This is actually kinda true, but Rufus is good at having a bad poker face. So. That's it. A mild work stoppage - no, not even a stoppage, just a slowdown - followed by a reasonable discussion- No. Not even. Followed *immediately* by a reasonable discussion, with practically no gap inbetween, during which the management representative listened patiently to worker grievances, proposed a reasonable solution to address it, and sensible restrictions were agreed to by both parties. It's wonderful. It's miraculous. It's... It's... ... terrible. Awful. Horrible - specifically horribly *dull*. Where's the chanting, the slogans? The signs being waved around, the tense terse confrontations on the picket line? The high stakes staredown meetings with one or more parties storming out of the negotiating room? There aren't even any scabs. Rufus is fond of scabs. The kind of man who'd become a class traitor for money is the kind of man he can work with (being that he himself has lots of money and no class). "I suppose that's everything, then." Oh well. Exciting disasters will have to happen some other time.
Odette Raskins	"What the fuck do you even think you're helping?" Predictably, Odette is still as easy to intimidate as ever, although she doesn't just curl up into a silent ball or something. Instead, she actually manages to will herself into speaking up several seconds later, albeit still hiding behind Berislav and avoiding direct eye contact. "I... J-just in case anyone got hurt over this, I could..." She raises her bag briefly, but clams up a moment later after her ability to so anything else is apparently spent. Plus, she can't really speak up when she feels those mental rakes making it all but impossible to speak up in a timely manner. It does help her listen further, though, as she starts getting some even more important context into so many other things she had no idea about before. ". . . most of the rules exist to make sure we're not all killed, and the company keeps meeting its quotas. Still, I mean, yeah, it's not like I don't want better for everyone here. Sun, time off, whatever, it's probably something we can figure out. But it's always, above everything else, about making sure *Angela* gets out okay." Despite that earlier fear, however, Odette's expression actually turns to mild confusion, then a sort of apprehensive hopefulness. "I-I don't think anyone wants anyone.. Um. Dead or hurt here, no. N-not even the employees. That means you're all already on a way better page than..." Chuckling awkwardly, Odette clears her throat a second later before letting out a vaguely recognizing noise at Petra mentioning Quicknest/another place she recognizes. "Oh, that's your.. Er. Your territory, right? That sounds way safer than the city! Th-then nobody has to worry about the Head or the City finding out." She's almost looking fully relieved now by the time she turns to Fox to see what his read of the whole situation is. She's also looking at that pizza, but Odette's self-control is going strong right now!
Angela	Angela is thinking how ridiculous it is for the employees to complain to her about not getting to leave the facility enough. She sort of wants to tell Petra to go ahead and kill them all but Berislav is right that this wouldn't really benefit the facility. The Welfare and Info departments require training beyond just teaching them how to deal with Abnormalities and while getting educated employees isn't too difficult, it would be quite the hassle. She is starting to feel like she's agreeing with Rufus on this matter and she doesn't care for that. She probably really shouldn't agree with Rufus even if that is her instinct because she definitely doesn't think Rufus has her best interests in mind, or the facility's. He stands to be at the head of a competitor for one thing, not that that is a specific-to-angela concern so much as it's a sign that he has other reasons for being here--perhaps reasons other than what he's shared! "...Hahn..." Angela sighs over the comms and doesn't say anything else for a moment. This is her fault, she thinks, for letting Berislav in just because he reminded her of Benjamin and she didn't want to piss off the Watch. ''Are there any corners your little Welfare team has been cutting?'' "Oh sure all the time. It's part of training that it's more important to get people back to work than it is to fix everything up perfectly. Doesn't usually matter too much because of the HP Bullets. Part of the problem, ain't it?" He looks into Rufus's eyes, daring to challenge him and-- --that quickly gives way to confusion as he speaks about KPI's and APR's and PIP and he says, "Wha?" Fortunately pizza distracts Rufus and pretty much everyone. Odette mentions a buddy system. "Hm..." It's not really up to even Angela. She'll have to go to the Manager but she knows how the Manager will react right now: 'Sure what's the harm?' because he's a fucking idiot right now and only like thirty percent Ayin at best. A brother, Dysnomia suggested, rather than a father. Someone suffering at the hand of some cruel predecessor. She grinds her teeth at the idea. It disturbs her because she can't so easily deny it. Soon it won't matter. This version will be gone and Ayin will return. It's a vacation away from himself, not a death of personality. Petra helpfully spells out the company concern but then, suddenly, Petra seems willing to negotiate--and the way to Angela's heart is surely through Petra.
Angela	''It's always, above everything else, about making sure *Angela* gets out okay.'' Fox, in a display of herculean will, does not roll his eyes. Angela, in a display of herculean will, doesn't emit a tiny little 'aww petra' out loud. Though Fox does feel a little guilty himself when Petra goes on about how much work she does. Every Agent knows THAT is true--and every Agent owes something to Petra. Even if she didn't personally save ''their'' life, she likely saved someone they knew and cared about, or made a job a little easier. That instinct to bitch fades. ''You're actually hurting people I care about, you know.'' "Hoping that some short term pain now will result in better lives for 'em later." Fox explains himself. "I'm new to negotiating too." Petra puts forward an idea. Fox slides off the med table to whisper to the BE**Ys in a soft tone. Ya-Boy leans in like he's just there because he likes being part of things which IS why he's there. Fox then looks to Berislav. He seems to be taking some cues from Berislav--no doubt because Fox is a little over his head here despite how he's acting. What he knows is that he's relieved that Hibiki said she didn't understand what Rufus said because he didn't understand it either. It's making him feel like an idiot. Is that why Rufus did that? He has a sneaking suspicion it was intentional and not incidental. He still takes a slice of pizza because he's only human. It turns out that when you don't have any Unions, Wings don't have to learn anti Union tactics. It's like something they've never occulated against--though it's absolutely true for most companies, the answer would just be a spray of bullets and a new set of hires tomorrow. It's because it's L Corp in particular that purports to have a positive goal in mind that any of them are still alive. "I cannot authorize this." Angela says. "...On my own, I cannot authorize this. I would have to speak with the Manager and it will have to get his approval but so long as we limit it between this location and Quicknest--it should be fine." It doesn't hurt that this will probably ensure the Agents are motivated to keep Quicknest under Petra's control. "But no EGO Gear when off the job and no going into the City. And nobody is going to QUicknest by themselves. Odette's...buddy system will be in place. Is this acceptable?" Fox exhales. Gebura could be coming by any minute. Chesed is not faster than Gebura. "All we can ask for." "Good. Get back to work and I will let you know if the plan is approved. Thank you Petra for helping de-escalate the situation." Is this...a win!? Depends on the Manager but this is as much as Angela can promise.
Father Berislav	"Thank you, Angela," says Berislav. "Even if you can't authorize it on your own, I do appreciate your consideration and willingness to speak with the Manager, as I'm sure the Agents do, too."      He turns to Nonon. "Here," says the priest, his hand dipping through a burning orange tear in space. When he retracts it and the wound closes behind it, there is an unmarked blister pack containing four pills.      "One, every eight hours, for the pain," he explains, before rolling the sleeves of his cassock up and heading over to a sink to re-sanitize his hands.      "There's no shortage of work built up," he says to Fox. "I'd be remiss if I didn't stay to help take care of it. Odette, if you don't have any pressing matters elsewhere..." He'd appreciate having another pair of hands, where his regenerative patches aren't enough.
Petra Soroka	"'Management' can call a sword a 'performance improvement plan,' can render the cut so long and drawn out so that the blood doesn't flow until the victim is on their way out."     Petra doesn't appreciate Berislav's smiling or poetry, and certainly doesn't appreciate the dawning recognition of when she's seen that attitude on him before. Veleres, for one. "Stop that. You're being creepy." "Well, /I'm sorry/ we didn't start this off right!"     Petra bristles up in an exact mirror to Hibiki's outburst, ready to retort back in kind, before the energy leaves Hibiki and she hesitates. Then she swallows and steps back, shoulders curling inwards in something halfway between a slump and a shrug, and looks away towards not-Hibiki. "Okay. Well. Then we're all fine, aren't we." "Maybe someone in another department, as a way of showing solidarity. Might have some sympathizers around."     Petra thinks about that for a long stretch of seconds, while also automatically going for some of the pizza (she's an employee! She doesn't see why she shouldn't). Then, after chewing and swallowing a bite, "But... no one's allowed to order food in here." "Th-then nobody has to worry about the Head or the City finding out."     Petra gestures at Odette abruptly, morphmetal around her spiking into intricately-small crystal-shaped droplets with the sudden movement. She's not threatening to attack or anything, she's just agreeing without wasting too much attention acknowledging that Odette's here. "See? It's that easy. There's really no problem. People buddy up, people check in and out, leave their gear behind, stay within the territory. Easy as that." "Hoping that some short term pain now will result in better lives for 'em later."     "Wrong. You don't-- you don't get to make the decision to hurt anyone I care about, no matter how little it is or whatever your goal is." Not that Nonon is particularly close to Petra's heart; she's a coworker, and Petra has positive opinions towards her, but there's no bond of devotion there. When Petra moves to put on gloves from her medical kit, and open up cabinet doors for K-Corp healing supplements for Nonon, it's mostly because she set her mind on performing a task in Welfare, and now that this interruption is dealt with, that previously-queued action needs to be followed through on. And besides, Welfare *is* behind, now.     "But I swear to god. I'll say it again. You leave Cinder's hand broken for thirty seconds longer than necessary and not even TimeTrack could put you back together again." "Thank you Petra for helping de-escalate the situation."     The day is saved! And Petra is praised for it! This turned out about as well as possible, and Petra will easily put the incident out of mind after this, as just another threat at L-Corp that was effectively neutralized before it could cause employee deaths.     While unspooling gauze to wrap around another employee's wound, redressing the old bandage, Petra chatters idly and cheerfully. "I feel like you guys kind of made a big deal about nothing at all."
Odette Raskins	With both Angela and Petra sounding like they're on board with the buddy system, Odette's rises to an all time high! She tries to hide her excited little grin by looking around the room instead of looking at the speakers Angela's voice comes through or Petra, although the upturned expression is kind of hard to miss even from the side. The fact that Angela's willing to speak to someone with (presumably) more authority about the matter also brings her a great sense of relief, and she almost forgets about how scared she still is of Petra in the process. The display with the morphmetal up close certainly gets her to stare right at that, though, but in an inquisitive way rather than her usual blubbering terror. "Pretty..." "I'd be remiss if I didn't stay to help take care of it. Odette, if you don't have any pressing matters elsewhere..." "Eh? O-of course, Father. I've even brought my own stash, just in case the tools here are..." She trails off, suddenly going slightly starry-eyed when she realizes... She'll get a chance to try out another company's (maybe) high-tech tools! "... Say. Um. Angela? Petra? Fox? Do the tools here work like regular-" She has no idea what regular is outside of her own context. "-tools? Wh-what about scanners? Or... I heard HP bullets mentioned a couple of times. Is that like a syringe launcher, or...?" She'll probably end up using her own tools to work on anyone's injuries, but she certainly won't mind learning and borrowing tools while she's here.
Hibiki Tachibana	Okay. Well. Then we're all fine, aren't we.     "Yeah. Didn't come here to start a fight or anything. So we're fine. Totally fine."     And it seems like (to Rufus' great disappointment) everything has gone over smoothly, even if Fox's demands weren't gotten one for one; it's good enough, and there was no need for anything close to bloodshed. No getting aggressive with Petra (beyond what'd be expected), no Gebura kicking down the entrance to Welfare with her sword in hand (yet), so it's just about as close to a happy ending as one could expect.     So she's not entirely sure why she doesn't feel as content with this outcome as she thought she would.     "Thanks for going along with this, Angela. It means a lot. Not just to the agents, either." Well, the occupied Quicknest being used for this isn't exactly optimal either, but it's a start. She's reasonably confident the Manager doesn't have any special reason to say no to this, so it feels as good as done.     "...Fox, make sure you don't do anything that'll get you shredded apart, yeah?" While Petra is busy eating pizza, she gestures to herself and then Odette and Berislav with a finger, as if to say, 'at least not without talking with someone first'.     And with her aforementioned lacking medical skills compared to her two compatriots, Hibiki pushes away from the wall and heads towards the door. "...Speaking of that, I'm gonna go make sure he's still alive out there." 'He' being Chesed, bravely sacrificing himself for the cause.     That'll give her a good chance to slip out quietly after the fact.
Angela	"Hrrrn..." is Angela's response to Berislav but she doesn't argue. Angela doesn't like deviations from The Plan not because it's strictly a bad idea but because every change is a potential cause for Reset. But it's hard to argue with Petra's plan. "Oh nice! Drugs!" Nonon takes the pills. She doesn't consume any of them...Yet. erislav offers to assist and Fox says, "Seems fair--" He glances to Petra for a moment. There is some chowing down on some pizza. "...Yeah... seems easy." Almost too easy, which makes him a little suspicious but he also knows better than to push for a bigger win than this. Petra also provides Nonon with K Corp healing supplements and injects her with the ampule. Now Nonon has OFFICIAL healing and healing drugs but also bonus drugs for later when she just wants to try something for a non-official injury. Today's great by Nonon standards. "...Alright, fair enough. Next time we'll make sure to only let the people you don't care about suffer." He says completely seriously. It's fine if he knows the rules. Any Fixer is like this--even if Fox wasn't a Fixer prior to going to LobCorp. ''I feel like you guys kind of made a big deal about nothing at all.'' Fox frowns. He is frankly wondering the same thing. MAybe Unions aren't even neccessary, if everything goes this easily--nevertheless, he cares more about the result than what it took to get there. "Well, still has to go through the boss man but we'll see. I wonder if Chesed's gotten pummeled by Gebura yet." He has. "Yeah don't worry. Don't intend to be." Fox says. "Though if I ever get the order..." Hibiki heads out to save Chesed. He isn't DEAD but well--this might be an adventure in of itself for Hibiki Tachibana...!