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Team Timekeeper	Everyone receives an e-mail, or failing that a printed letter, or failing *that*, a voicemail sent to your phone. Whatever the medium, it's addressed from the 'Commonwealth Multiversal Sophont Resources Department', and it's peppily littered with emojis surrounding the blandly unchallenging corporate speech. To our valued problem-solvers across Sector Zero,     Hey there! <3 Thanks for all your hard work out in the field every day! In this crazy messed-up multiverse we all live in, your efforts are valued and important to the project of the collective good for all people!     Did you know that, behind the scenes, there's a lot of people supporting your work and cheering for you that make all of this possible? That's right! We're the Commonwealth Communications Team, or the COMMs Team for short, and we'd like to let you know that you can rely on US as much as we rely on YOU!     The crossworld radio system is a miracle made possible by everyone's collaboration, and we're here to make sure it stays helpful, peaceful, and sane each and every day. So we'd like to give you a chance to collaborate on some new baseline expectations for broadband behaviors, to ensure that everyone can stay comfortable no matter their race, species, cultural practices, gender or sexual identity, or political beliefs!     Our statistics department tells us that the quick emergency response times enabled by all this radio infrastructure saves thousands to TENS of thousands of lives every year! And that's something we can all get behind! In order to keep all those good things working, you're invited to a presentation that the Sophont Resources department prepared in order to get all of us on the same page about what behaviors are, and aren't acceptable in this shared resource space! Looking forward to seeing you there!     COMMs Team
Team Timekeeper	You're given visitor's passes when crossing the warpgate into Aegis Astray, if you need one. Someone's more than happy to escort you through the professionally-touristic courtyard and the public areas in order to get to the office wing of the castle, where the conference room on the ground floor is set up for the meeting. It sits exactly on the boundary between the slick public-facing Paladins image, and the drab but functional inner workings of the institution, prettied up for foreign diplomats or journalists, or Elites like you.     One of the walls is a massive window that opens up to the mountain-framed sea beyond the walls of Aegis Astray, with a sliver of the docks visible. That latter location is where Shockwave's enormous form has the space to enter, among the hundreds of ships passing in and out of the harbor. He's guided by a very polite drone to the window of the conference room, where the terrain outside slopes down into the beachside cliffs, allowing him to sit and have his head at eye-height with the room.     For everyone else, it's a very normal-sized room. Slightly bigger than a classroom, with a presentory arrangement of cushioned green seats aimed towards the podium at the front, each one has a little table that folds down. It's still small enough that voices carry comfortably across the room without raising them, but not every seat will be filled today.     At the front of the room is a trio of women, two of whom are in the olive and off-white Paladins bureaucrat uniforms, and one who's in another uniform entirely, with a guest pass primly clipped to her chest. The latter is the only one who's likely familiar to anyone here, being the orange-haired Chief Investigator of the St. Pavlov Foundation, appropriately uniformed, conferring with the other two as if she's in the Paladins rather than the Watch.     Once people are seated, the younger of the two Paladins bureaucrats claps her hands to get everyone's attention. Sonetto hurries over to the windows to crank one panel open for Shockwave, then greets him with a pleasantly neutral, "Hello, Mr. Shockwave. Please tell me if you would prefer a different window opened."     "Heyyy! This is everyone, right? Well, welcome, guys, gals, and nonbinary pals; first of all, thank you all so much for coming! I'm so glad we got this chance to get together. So, today's topic is *workplace behaviors*, and we'll be sharing some ideas, developing new skills, and then agreeing on what our next steps will be, okay?"     "But first, let me introduce myself! I'm Dolores, the People and Culture Champion here at the Sophont Resources Department, and that's Sally, our Broadband Employee Relations Partner. Assisting with the presentation today is Sonetto, from the St. Pavlov Foundation, and some of you have had the pleasure to know her already, so I hear!"     "Yes, hello." Sonetto, at the podium, nods agreeably at this. It's hard to tell at a first glance, but she may actually be the only person who's excited to be here. She looks over at the third person-- Sally-- and the smart screen at the head of the room lights up to show a slideshow.     The first slide is titled 'Building Respect Through Workplace Culture', and has a stock picture of a very encouraging and welcoming-looking Eryl Fairfax. "Let's get started. This presentation will help establish and clarify what a respectful and productive workplace atmosphere over multiversal communication bands looks like, and equip you with a small selection of skills to lead this change in culture by example."
Flamel Parsons	It's Aegis Astray. He's not exactly welcome here. That's why Flamel passes under a poster of himself, which says, "SEE HIM? SAY SOMETHING." The photo on the poster, a slightly blurry shot of a psychic spy in a crowd that looks sort of like something from the Zapruder Film, is an exact 1:1 mirror of his own clear appearance, posture, friendly smiling expression, and outfit, while he walks by. God, someone get this guy out of here.     Nobody got this guy out of here, of course, because he has a visitor pass and it's very, very not-counterfeit, dangling in a way that is somehow sincere around his neck on a lanyard. His seat is near the front of the room, his smile is rated for front-of-the-room, and his pleasant little fingerlace only breaks to wave when welcomed, as the type of guy who would elevate his voice when saying 'good morning' after someone said 'Aw, that's so quiet, let's try it again!' Or something like that.     He's soooo happy to be here.
Riku Asakura	Riku was here today because he was forced to show up as a member of the Paladins for a (what he assumed was) Paladin HR meeting.  It quickly becomes apparent that it wasn't that, and instead seems to be... worse.  He has a feeling- not a bad feeling, but a feeling that this was going to get much worse before it got better.  He also thinks that the reason they were there is likely Petra's fault somehow. Once he enters the room, he quickly notices Shockwave outside, now VERY curious as to why he was there at all... especially given all of the lack of caring he has for things like this.  Oh, and then there was Flamel, which just seems like a bad idea, but he's not paid to actually say anything.  Especially since he has the visitor's pass.   He's actually only mildly surprised by Sonetto.  It figures this would be something she's very excited for, but... a member of the Watch leading this seems... No, Riku, don't think about the details.  This is already going to be a huge problem.  Say nothing out of line, do nothing out of line, and maybe you'll get through this! He takes a seat and rubs his face with his hands when he notices the title.  Oh God, it's about the radio.  This is DEFINITELY Petra's fault somehow.  Maybe like one percent his fault.  Maybe.
Holly Asturias	EARLIER     "And so you see, it's about saving lives and... etiquette? Something like that. It sounds fun." Holly says to Nicole, on their walk from the Sanatorium to the Warpgate.     "Huh-uh... and you don't see how this might be more about the... behavior and comfort part?" Nicole unhelpfully points out, to deaf ears.     "Well if it is then I'll still learn something now won't I?"     "Holly, if you..." Nicole stops to think.     She decides to simply smile.     "No, no, you must be right. *Do* tell me how this went." NOW     It's exceptionally easy to get Holly to go places.     You just ask her to!     The now-and-again recurrence of her removing the long half-skirt usually worn over her pants means that she's treating this like a fancy little gathering, or that she's been gently nudged into looking a bit nicer by hr ever-so-helpful assistant. It only serves to draw out her shape more, the six foot tall Revenant always clad in blacks, purples and gold, and the abundance of shadows around her red eyes serving to funnel further stares there.     She is all too happy to take her seat by Flamel's, after giving him the unasked-for and almost-uncomfortably-tight hug that she's always so inclined to give everyone she knows. Flamel's certainly seen worse from her.     "Oh my, you too?" "Let's get started."     "I have a question!"     Hand up, like it's a real classroom and all.     "Is this about Lilian's..."     Fluid? Discharge? No, no, those words were banned.     Tamamo seemed quite upset...     "... not-blood?"     Okay that works.
Shockwave	Shockwave arrived by the warpgate, his towering frame stepping through with a resounding *THUD* of his mechanical foot, and then another. The cyclopean head swivels and moves, scanning the location. The faceless panel of his "face" gives away zero sign of any emotional or intellectual expression. Soon, a local drone appears and suggests guiding him. The magnanimous purple Decepticon rises from the surface in a hover by means of antigravitational fields and small thrusters, following the drone to the location off the wall-sized window. His 30+ meter frame settles onto the surface outside.     Shockwave's frame does not sit on the ground. Instead, he pivots and aims his left arm, its cannon pointed to the ground, and a fast-charging WHUM-WHUM-WHUM courses along the conduit from his back to the arm for a few moments before the barrel emits a brilliant blue broad-beam array of energon that instantly begins formatting into a chair the size and structure suficient to house himself. Settling into the oversized seat, his right hand remains loose, fingers curled over the edge of chair's arm, while the left cannon sits precisely along the length of that side's arm, pointed forward, though powered down - for now.     As a panel opens, his head tilts down to a redheaded organic. He intones with zero inflection, his voice a synthetic monotone...     "This vantage point is adequate to view these proceedings. You are dismissed and may convey to your superiors that you have achieved appropriate satisfaction of hospitality appreciation."     His head lifts... and then he watches through the panel... silently.     <-o->     No doubt, security has the Cybertronian under heavy surveillance.     The glaring yellow optic flickers for a moment as if eyetwitching as the same redhead moved to the podium and brought up the presentation.
Flamel Parsons	Flamel, invasively doing telepathy to Riku, says, "Yeah, probably mostly." About a thought Riku didn't voice and, in fact, likely didn't want anyone to listen in on.
Riku Asakura	Riku looks at Flamel, realizes what he's talking about, and then... well, he doesn't look shocked because he knows what Flamel means.  Instead, it's more exasperation.  He's at least glad he didn't just blurt it out in front of god and everyone.   "Uh... yeah," he says; the thanks for discretion is implied.
Tamamo	Tamamo didn't need to bring her battle gear (twelve-layered dress with mystic implications) here, and... she didn't! She's wearing, instead, a cream-tone knit sweater that looks a few degrees too warm for the time of year in any temperate latitude and, somehow, a pair of mom jeans. They do fit. This meeting is among the least likely of all circumstances to talk about fashion, if anything goes according to plan.     An introduction is made.     "It is pleasure to meet you, Ms. Dolores." She sounds so sincerely pleasant, if not excited. Tamamo takes her seat with the kind of practiced poise that doesn't suit her legwear.     Sonetto is introduced.     "Oh, Ms. Sonetto! What a nice surprise." As if she hadn't recognized her immediately on entering the room.     Flamel is here.     Quietly, "Mm, yes, he would need be called in."     Shockwave is here.     Slightly less quietly, "My, well, that is rather surprising. I suppose remote attendance was deemed less productive."
Ru Li	Ru Li is never late. He *can* be early, as he isn't a wizard, but he is *never, ever* late.      In this instance he is *precisely* on time. He takes pride in that sort of thing - so the fact that he was even *moments* away from being late is *incredibly* out-of-character. He vaults directly over the usual security checkpoints (there is a deep sigh from several security folk as Ru Li's identification pings on their scanners - when the god is in a rush he never bothers with this sort of thing, and the polite 'pardon me!' is never enough to make up for the sudden gust of wind). He sprints through the courtyard. He jumps from standing straight past Shockwave and up to the roof, lands on it, rolls, grabs the door, and runs inside.      A janitor holds up a hand and says, "Evening, sir."      Ru Li holds up a hand over his shoulder. "Good evening, Theodore! I apologize, but I am in a hurry! I hope your husband is well!"      The janitor doesn't raise his voice. He knows Ru Li can hear him fine. "He is, thank you very much. You gonna come to poker tomorrow?"      As Ru Li rounds the corner, he calls, "YOU ONLY WANT ME THERE SO I CAN LOSE MORE MONEY!"      Theodore chuckles. "Got that right."      Ru Li skids to a halt at the door, through which he can feel, see, hear, and smell with absolute precision everyone inside. This is it. Perfect. He clicks the door open and walks in as if he wasn't just sprinting at a dead run from the Warp Gate to the meeting inside three minutes flat.      There are only two ways to tell that he was almost late:      His hair is messier than usual, and he's tying a ribbon around it to get it back under control.      He is, for the first time *anyone* in this room has seen, wearing a casual black tee-shirt, jeans, and sneakers. It looks *alien* and *wrong* on the god, undignified and undecorated, as if he was just part of the normal world. Except for his heavily-muscled arms tinged with light silver and electrum under his skin, the bright color of his eyes, and the almost mechanical beauty of his face, he looks like a normal person.      And it's so damned weird.      He bows at a polite twenty-degree angle to the room and offers a, "Hello! I am Ru Li Cheng, ninth of nine Ru Cheng gods. A pleasure to meet those of you I have not!" before he sits down next to Riku.
Chuyao He	Chuyao arrives in his white and black-trim shenyi robes for this occasion--having received a formal invitation, he must of course dress the part.     "How exciting," he remarks to himself, "This, this... will be my first visit to the Aegis Astray since my induction, and of course, for such an auspicious reason as ensuring propriety..." Steeling himself past the gate, he nods once and adjusts his traveling pack. "I, the ineloquent scholar, will do my best to live up to the expectations set by such an invitation." He doesn't know, and has no immune response for this type of nonthreatening, mass-mailed corporate blather.     In the conference room, he is quick to make introductions. "I, Chuyao He, the scholar of the late generation, respectfully greet our hosts. May I know how to address you?" This is also the greeting he offers to anyone else in attendance whose acquaintance he's yet to make.     After the round of introductions, and some greetings for those he's met before (Flamel's is perfectly polite), he takes a seat and folds out his table. His inkstone, the inkstick, and a small bound notebook are each pulled from his pack, followed by the lacquered case where he keeps his two calligraphy brushes. As it happens, Sonetto is not the only person excited to be here. Is this about Lilian's... not-blood?     Chuyao clears his throat and shakes his head subtly in Holly's direction. Not to say, 'no, it isn't,' but to say, 'you shouldn't ask that.'
Regulus	Regulus has come along to support Sonetto since she's going ahead and helping set this whole arrangement up. There is literally nothing making Regulus come to this event otherwise but she's pretty sure she's going to do great at this. She is SO POLITICALLY CORRECT. With her is APPLe who is a little more worried about how this will go down because he's accompanied by Regulus. "You look pleased as punch, love! I'm here to learn all about how to be the most appropriate Regulus I can be so we'll go from being the best of the best of teammates to the bestest of the bestest of teammates but don't worry--" Regulus tells Sonetto, still totally confident that she'll manage to handle this without any problems whatsoever. "I've seen enough out there to know how to start things off, at least! You start out with a gifts to the people teaching you so they know they're appreciated. Like an apple! I used to give apples to APPLe after his lessons, see...." She reaches into her bag and withdraws a bright red apple which she offers to Sonetto. Then she looks to the other two presentors. Her bag, which she has brought along, clatters and clinks ominously. "Er," Regulus wasn't really expecting there to be three. She mulls for a moment and then reaches into her bag, eventually drawing out two items. 1xJar of Sewer Weed 1xJar of Lawn Weed She hands over one of each to the two remaining bureaucrats. "There you go, they're not apples but they're still plants!" She then slips into a front row seat, still confident that she's nailing it as she dips her sunglasses low and winks at Sonetto, smiling as brightly as the stars and as confidently as a brave lion. "Wow..." Regulus says. "We're future leaders, how about that! I knew it was a good idea to come here." She leans back in her chair, bringing her arms up behind her and resting her head against them. ''Yeah, probably mostly.'' ''Is this about Lilian's...'' "Woaaah, sounds like you two are already doing stuff that'll get us in trouble, fortunately I'll bring up the grade average up, don't you worry." Regulus fingerguns both Holly and Flamel and goes 'pow pow' at them.
Rita Ma	Rita, as far as she's explicitly admitted in public, is not in the Watch.      Sure, she's living with an open Watchman. And vocally supportive of their activities. And occasionally implicated in their covert operations. And identifiable by assorted ex-members. Pretty much every long-term elite knows she's in the Watch by now; so do the depths of the gossipy internet. But the thinnest of pretenses remains.      So, reading the letter that's arrived at her family's house on Apple Tree Island after she forgot to check her email, her blood runs cold. Commonwealth Communications Team? The Aegis Astray?      Do... do they know? Oh, god. If she's not supposed to be there and they don't know- but turning it down would look so bad-- and after just assuming about Ember can she really afford to--      - - - -      Rita Ma is a blonde young lady dressed extremely respectably and unterroristly, beige jacket and charcoal skirt looking much more mature than the rest of her. Her visitor's pass is displayed so so prominently on a lanyard. They didn't even give out lanyards.      On entering the conference room, she gives Shockwave a slightly startled wave through the window; then the three women up front a quick shallow bow; then Lilian and Tamamo a passing smile; and finally gives Holly a... a slightly lingering stare.      Hm.      "Um, it's good to meet you! Sonetto, Dolly, Solor-- I mean, Sally and Dolores," she says, sorting herself out while sliiiding towards a chair and clumsily fishing a little notebook out of her bag. "Is this an 'asking questions' kind of presentation, or a 'sitting quietly' kind of presentation, Ms. Dolores?"      Whew. She's so smooth.
Natsuki Nuki	Natsuki Nuki, Concord Partner, had been served her letter from SR summoning her to the meeting delivered on minion-palm, offered as a great and terrible missive. She was not pleased. "Who do they think they are? The police? Is there some terms of service to that call line?" Natsuki asks, glaring angrily at her suited minion who was just delivering a paper to her. Angry, she rips the paper from the minion's hand and spins chair annoyedly to scowl more broodingly as she reads it. It was important to make people understand her anger at being subpoenaed by the phone company and someone else not dealing with it. She is assaulted with emojis. It's too new for her 2005's self, like being glitter bombed by someone trying to get to 'her level' and 'her level' being business emails actually. "Am I aware? Yes, I run payroll. Preaching!" She complains, skimming the first few paragraphs. "No matter their race, species, culture... It's going to be three really similar people talking to me about diversity. You," She points imperiously at the messenger who hadn't run off. "Bet me that it'll be three really similar people. Now." But the minion shakes their head and backs away while warding away danger with their hands. Rolling her eyes, Natsuki returns to her scowling contemplations of the letter. "Aren't acceptable? Oh this'll be great. Three of the same person are going to tell me what to do." --- Now, Natsuki enters the Astray's conference area at a mosey, an Osakan woman with long blonde-white hair, round tiger ears sprouting from the top of her head, and a pronounced dark eyemask pattern around her bright red eyes. Wearing a neon-electric yellow jacket with stylized zipper runs and an interior black mesh that's revealed as it breathes, a red silk shirt with the top few buttons left daringly open, and white leather low-ride pants that her shirt half askews over and half tucks into, ending in black platform boots. Her visitor badge hangs looped into her belt such that it slaps against top of thigh as she walks. Having been seated, welcomed, and leg-crossed before they call the giant robot in through the window, Natsuki for the first time realizes this *might* not be about her and she might be able to get through this meeting adding nothing. Unfortunately, 'Is this about Lilian's... not-blood?' "If you have to ask why we're all here, you've added something to the agenda, Holly." Natsuki sotto voices to her fellow Partner, holding the extra dashes of snarling due to standing. She got one. "Be smart about this." She might believe the phone company can threaten her. There are several ludicrously wealthy telecom zaibatsus...
Swords of Justice	Shirou getting the email for this is one thing, Medusa also getting the email means that it's probably important that they attend this meeting. Not that either of them wouldn't have, Shirou's got so many ideas to contribute, and Medusa has... An idea. Of course, by the time they're shuffled in, given their passes, and all of that, Shirou's already forgotten most of what it is he wanted to say. Or maybe he really didn't have much to say to begin with, and it was all just empty idealisms? Medusa, on the other hand, has continued to firmly grasp onto her idea without her mental grip letting go for even a second, because the people need to know.      "Hey, isn't that Fairfax-san?"      "Quiet."      Shirou whispers to Medusa to confirm his suspicions when the first slide pops up, though Medusa is quick to shut him down. After all, you're only supposed to talk in these sorts of things when given permission, otherwise you're interrupting.
Shockwave	Shockwave is observing the new arrivals, taking notes of Ru Li, with whom he has met directly, now in clearly different attire. Others, his internal scanners were already correlating the facial identities with their communications signatures. Some who had met him upon his awakening...     Like Flamel Parsons.     The cyclopean optic shifts back to the screen of the presentation and the Cybertronian can be heard 'muttering' with a low-decibel monotone:     "Illogical imperfect anatomical imagery. The hand is inverted. Incompetent organics."     The muttering isn't sufficiently loud enough to interrupt the presentation.
Lilian Rook	It is possible that Lilian has misinterpreted the premise of this invitation. It is likely, if one assumes by her groaning about it in the Paladins private comms, equating the message to a 'polite, compulsory demand', and skimming past the content to read a nonspecific reprimand into it instead. It could perhaps be said that her desire to keep her job is a merit that she displays by showing up anyways. It could more easily be said that perhaps she shouldn't have, because her attitude at seeing Sonetto, from the Watch, at the head of the room is only exceeded in its quiet foulness by seeing Flamel Parsons in the room at all.     "You're joking." says Lilian, three steps inside the room and already staring at Shockwave's giant glaring optics leering in from outside the window. Having brought her wife along, as either a passive-aggressive declaration of war, or as a desperate grasping for emotional handholds in preparation for the odeal, Lilian turns to Tamamo, says "Do I have a fever? Am I hallucinating?" and sits down anyways.     'Is this about Lilian's...'     Also torn between delcaring war and being an excessively good girl in the fashion regard, Lilian chose today to show up in the outfit she's going to wear to her shareholders meeting in two hours anyways, about as uncriticizable as a CEO presenter's ensemble tolerable to Lilian Rook can be. What she can't (yet) do (very) much about is the little constellation of tiny, sharp shards of black metal that stubbornly orbit the back of her head, which is about a million times better than their behaviour just last week, and still enough to shoot Holly a glare.     God. Look at this crowd. Rita? Natsuki? Shirou? Regulus? Surely this is a fever dream. Or a simulation. Or a curse. Or--     'Heyyy! This is everyone, right? Well, welcome, guys, gals, and nonbinary pals'     "Ah. I see." Lilian says, understanding, and not inside her head. "You've finally had enough of me. Today is the promised day where all the Elites of Sector 0 come together at last to try and make me kill myself."
Tamiel Luxis	It's Tamiel's frist step inside Aegis Astray--a step that she's very grateful is allowed, given what the Watch's history in this place last was. She was polite enough to not try to look where she didn't belong. (Though her shadow did like to peek behind corners) She hadn't been intending to go--be instead of being sent to her room at the Atheneum, they'd sent it to her mother's--one thing led to another, and now she was here, in her white tunic, halo sparkling and wings tucked as small as they could go behind her.     One of her wings scrapes across the interior of the door, as she steps inside, with a sharp, grating noise, and Tamiel has to draw her wing back, grimacing at the others in the room. "Hello Sonetto, Sally, Doriel. Ehem. Tamiel Luxis. Daughter of High Seraph Ananiel." She looked a little more tired, saying that, twirling a hand idly through red hair.     A hand goes up, immediately. "Isn't the broadband a little...Decentralized?" Her head tilts, slightly, and she looks toward Sally. "Do you have...actual standing for...any of this?" Her mother had asked it a little less...Uh...Tamiel smiled, uneasily, only to find her attention stolen immediately by...     "Is this about Lilian's..."     She claps her hands over her mouth, loudly. Said like this! Right here! In front of Lilian's wife! Her eyes darted between the goddess and the vampire, desperately, waiting for the moment in the telenovela where someone pulls out a gun or reveals a secret child.
Rita Ma	Rita, thankfully, is here right now to soothingly pat-pat Lilian on the shoulder. "I don't want to make you kill yourself, Mrs. Rook," she says in her Befuddled But Supportive tone.
Foundation Scions	'To our valued problem-solvers across Sector Zero,'     What an incredibly strong start! Here, on Matilda Bouanich's desk, is a letter from an organization she's only heard of in passing bulletin, saying that she, the great, excellent, talented, Matilda, is valuable? She's made it big! How exctiging! Surely, this is some manner of think-tank, in which her opinion, educated by education and divination both, will be asked, and policy will be passed on it!     Oh, how exciting! She's dreamed of the day that she'll have this manner of sway within the foundation, for the numerous personal gripes she has with such organizational expectations and behaviors!     Nobody is there to see it, of course, but upon reception, and cursory (mis)reading, Matilda scrunches the letter to her chest and squeals."Comme c'est incroyable!" . . . 'Looking forward to seeing you there!'     Mesmer Jr., meanwhile, upon receiving, and reading, the exact same notice, writes down the time and location, sighs, and promptly shoves the letter into a shredder. If HR meetings had any effect on her she wouldn't be here. . . .     "Hein? Investigator Sonetto? You, were asked to present at this-" 'HR meeting' isn't really in Matilda's familiar lexicon as much as it should be, the term she goes with, is "-Meeting of the minds? Hm! Congratulations to your appointment- however, surely, I will impress you here today!" Good luck Matilda! What possible way will you do that!     She's come prepared, dressed as best to represent herself- with her (finally, properly tailored and still kind of large) blazer-and-skirt grey, white, and checkered investigator uniform, and she's brought notebooks, pencils, and pencil-sharpeners!     Despite having a Paladin ID, she's also been given a visitors pass.     "Ahem. Junior Field Investigator of the St. Pavlov Foundation, the one and only Matilda Bouanich. Please mark me present andaccounted-for!" Surely an automated system and a faces-and-names clipboard has already bypassed the need for her to say this! She still has to. 'This presentation will help establish and clarify what a respectful and productive workplace atmosphere over multiversal communication bands looks like,'     Quiet, "Huh? But, I already know this very-well?" Even more to herself, "Hmph. J'aurai une excellente note."     Mesmer Jr. arrives late to the room, without anything about her person even resembling a notepad. In a horrifying admission to the intent and inappropriateness of her every-day outfit at the Laplace Rehabilitation Center; Mesmer's terrible little chrome-vinyl minidress, finally, has an underlayer of tights- no, a bodysuit, of plain black latex. She'd surely say it's a matter of practicality, or due to the shift in seasons. Evil.     She also looks visibly queasy. 'Is this about Lilian's...'     "Whatever you're going to follow that up with, you shouldn't. I don't want to hear-" Holly says it, and Mesmer sighs, even queasier-looking, "About her emissions right now." Someone's gotta kill Mesmer. 'Today is the promised day where all the Elites of Sector 0 come together at last to try and make me kill myself.'     Mesmer decides she will be sitting next to Lilian Rook. She doesn't ask anyone to condone this ahead of time. In dusting off a desk and a chair, she says, faintly queasy, faintly tired, "If you're experiencing such psychological distress, there's emergency measures that can be taken." What the hell does she mean by this.     Quieter, "HR meetings aren't deadly. I'm sure it's just procedural. If it isn't, you have lawyers, don't you?"
Ru Li	Ru Li, sounding *very* puzzled and slightly distressed, says, "Mrs. Rook, it would bring me very great distress were you to do something like that."      The pure formality clashing with his tee-shirt and jeans just makes the juxtaposition weirder.
Regulus	"Oh nice! You're here Rita!" Regulus, obvious Watch agent, chirps merrily. "With you here, we're gonna ace this for sure. We'll show 'em what we've got...!" She pumps her fist into the air dramatically, blocking the vision of anyone sitting behind her. She is, at least, not wearing her pirate cap today. "I was too busy remembering to bringing the apple that I totally forgot to bring a notebook, can I borrow your notes later?" She looks over Rita's fit. "Wow, you look real professional! You went all out." ''Ah. I see. You've finally had enough of me.'' r"Oh you're worrying too much, Lilian, I totally came prepared. Except for a notebook, I forgot that, but everything else. You'll survive for sure. And since we're ''teammates'', I'll look out for you too!" She beams encouragingly. This is also the first time she's seeing Matilda since HER DEADLY ILLNESS. "Wow Matilda! You look like a million bucks, glad you recovered!"
Flamel Parsons	"It's my job as, part of a global conspiracy, to 'deny you the mercy of suicide', I think, if that helps with the conspiratorial framing you're using today!" Flamel speaks up, waving in a friendly way to Lilian Rook.     He gestures to the slideshow, explaining to Shockwave, "That's called 'clip art'. It's a type of art you use to make informative presentations. By keeping aesthetic beauty out of it, you can avoid distraction. It's sort of a culture-less information structure, you know?"     For Tamamo's commentary that he 'would need be called in', he just has a big beam. "I try to consider myself an example. Or an exemplar! I've got a really well-known history in the workplace." Well-known *how*?!
Ru Li	Ru Li doesn't look at Flamel, but, "Erm...well-known...how?" is clearly addressed to him.
Flamel Parsons	"Among the mental health community." Flamel says to Ru Li, beaming happily.
Holly Asturias	"Woaaah, sounds like you two are already doing stuff that'll get us in trouble, fortunately I'll bring up the grade average up, don't you worry."     "Oh? But isn't it important to know?"     It's so important to bring it up.     Not for the right reasons. Rita.     A lingering stare is normal!     It's really more that this is someone Holly *hasn't* met that draws her attention, because she's had the luxury to meet quite a lot of people already, and *talk* to quite a lot more, but Rita? Not Rita.     Holly is all too happy to scoot just a seat over, hush-hush whispering like this really is class.     It might be odd that the smell of blood emanating off her has a much stronger metallic tint to it. Gold, not iron! The crown-hat coming out of her head is basically hardened blood, and couldn't possibly smell more like it. But on her breath, and her clothes, does linger the good old smell of blood, freshly drawn, freshly fed.     And yet her chipper voice and smile is *nothing* like the smell.     "My, hello! I don't think we've met? I'm Holly, and you are?" Right to it! She's so happy to be here and meet people. "You've finally had enough of me."     "They float!"     The Revenant tilts her head, the little chains on her golden headdress making soft little sounds as they move and dangle. "If they keep growing we may yet have a matching set! Are you thinking of keeping them behind the head, or all-around? Free-floating, or assembled into a accessory?" "About her emissions right now."     "OH!!"     Holly does a happy little clap.     "Emissions is *such* a good word!" "If you have to ask why we're all here, you've added something to the agenda, Holly."     "But is it not a most important topic? Our dear Lilian is one of the Commonwealth's most important members, and she has clearly been *most* uncomfortable of late."     You see?
Riku Asakura	Riku is surprised by Ru Li.  He figured he'd be the last person summoned to this thing!  Also, this is Riku's first time actually meeting Ru Li... and his appearance surprises him a little.  Given Belial's history and reputation... no, that's not fair, come on, Riku! "Oh, uh, nice to meet you, Ru Li..." he says, offering the man a bow because that's polite.  "I'd ask some more questions, but I don't think it's the right time..." he says right before... 'Today is the promised day where all the Elites of Sector 0 come together at last to try and make me kill myself.' Riku looks horrified. "What?!  No!!" he declares.  Though he doesn't feel that much different after Holly's comment about the 'totally not blood' substance Lilian was apparently leaking.   Also, Mesmer is here.  The walking HR violation.  Matilda is also here, who Riku still isn't happy with.   This is just like a grenade that's primed to explode, isn't it?
Shockwave	Shockwave slooooowly swivels his hexagonal cranium for his singular optic to land on Lilian.     "Negative, Lilian Rook. My purpose here is not to antagonize your person to the levels of inducing suicide. I require your agreed collaboration. To antagonize you directly at this juncture would be illogical."     The head turns to Flamel Parsons and he just 'blinks' - the optic - dimming until blank and then brightening again - sloooowly at the description of 'clip art'.
Tamamo	Tamamo gives her greetings to others quietly as the room fills, unwilling to be too much of a distraction as the presentation is beginning.     Holly speculates.     Tamamo's smile does not falter. "I am sure we will be told the reasons for this timing, presently."     Regulus expresses a desire to be appropriate.     "Are you giving up piracy?" Not that Tamamo is aware of Regulus doing anything piratical... other than tying people up on a boat that one time. The boat she lost. Will she return to tying up and kidnapping people if she gets another boat? Hm. That's worth some consideration.     'Do I have a fever? Am I hallucinating?'     "No, dear. That was him on the warning poster."     '...to try and make me kill myself.'     Tamamo breaks office decorum to the extent of reaching under the table and squeezing Lilian's hand.
Flamel Parsons	Flamel chimes in on the not-blood situation that's slowly developing. "Emissions is not a good word. Believe me, nobody likes emitting. Being an emitter is objectifying. The best thing to do for Lilian Rook's situation is completely leave it without any discussion in public at all, actually! At least, according to my pseudotulpa internal simulation of her."
Tamiel Luxis	"I've got a really well-known history in the workplace."     "Erm...well-known...how?"     Tamiel's eyes narrow, seeing an opportunity to pounce. "Once, he planted a telepathic alarm in my head I didn't know about that showed everyone the same awful thing that broke him, until I crushed it." She looks to the three presenters, volunteering them in the moment as judges. "Is THAT good for the workplace?"     "...according to my pseudotulpa internal simulation of her."     "See?! SEE?!" She points, as he keeps talking.
Ru Li	"Oh, yes, of course!" Ru Li says cheerfully, "You may ask me anything. As your godfather it is important for me to help you with that sort of thing."      He adds, "But this is indeed not the right time. I am very excited!"      Oh *God* is he here for *fun*?      "I have never been to, or even heard of, an SR meeting before. I am looking forward to seeing this sort of thing in action! Mortal bureaucracy is so interesting when it comes to handling things like this."      Oh God he's here for fun.      He's here voluntarily.
Flamel Parsons	Tamiel gets a funny little headtilt, but no break in the smile. "I really am never going to understand why people hate my telepathic proxies. You guys have answering machines and pet dogs and 'blog'." Flamel says, plaintively shrugging. "I'm withholding them for workplace meetings either way, don't worry!"
Natsuki Nuki	'Today is the promised day where all the Elites of Sector 0 come together at last to try and make me kill myself.' "Please don't." Natsuki says, including the please and everything. "Not only would it change the course of people's lives, or whatever, but also we'd then have to add the suicide prevention module. I've already taken it! It's why there's a cage around the roof on schools, too. Meetings like this." An exasperated Natsuki carries on. She's far less worried about the lifechanging events then having to sit through suicide awareness, again. She's Japanese! She's aware. 'But is it not a most important topic? Our dear Lilian is one of the Commonwealth's most important members, and she has clearly been *most* uncomfortable of late.' "Then *why am I here*?" Natsuki demands, planting a finger to palm. "I haven't talked at all about it. I kept out of it! It's not my business!" A beat passes. Long enough for Holly to start in on something, even. "Don't answer that. If you do it's going to be added to the agenda."
Rita Ma	Rita, now seating-pinned between Lilian on her right (thank goodness) and Holly on her left (oh no), has her gaze gravitationally pulled leftwards.      Her eyes can't decide whether to settle on the golden blood-reeking crown, or about a foot and a half lower. It's really impressive to see her pupils go from dilated to pinpoint-constricted and back that fast!      "Ah, um," she says, clearing her mouth very wetly. "It's great to meet you, Holly! I'm Rita. I'm, um..." Her shoulders shrink in as her hands ball tightly in her lap.      Blood-drunk via contact high, her surface thoughts are so full of aching hunger ripping and guzzling and choking down the bones and wow she just has a window cut for each breast?? eyes teeth even the hair that it's kind of a wonder she can form coherent words at all.      "... I'm here. Now," she finishes with big wide eyes, after either five seconds or half a minute.      The next words that struggle out of her mouth are: "You should really take a shower."
Lilian Rook	'I don't want to make you kill yourself, Mrs. Rook'     "Thank you Rita." Lilian says, soggily. She can bravely withstand a shoulder pat. For HR.     'Whatever you're going to follow that up with, you shouldn't. I don't want to hear-'     §Get me out of here right now. Mesmer is here. Mesmer Junior is complicit. I have to get out. I've got to get out of here. She's wearing latex tights and I'm going to-- get out of here as fast as physically possible or I'm gonna--§     'About her emissions right now.'     Lilian shoves her face into both hands and politely muffles a scream. This gives Mesmer the window to pull up a desk and sit, which reminds her that the single most important in life is to never show a moment of weakness or emotion.     'If it isn't, you have lawyers, don't you?'     "I have a wife." Lilian groans, face still-in-hands, clearly not even listening. Even the little bits of metal following her around droop lower, as if hanging on a curtain of loosened strings.     'It's my job as, part of a global conspiracy, to 'deny you the mercy of suicide', I think, if that helps with the conspiratorial framing you're using today!'     "That makes sense." she sighs, sliding her hands halfway down so she can blink over the tips of her fingers and stare around the room. "Sector 0 needs me too much. You'd be lost without me. Everything fundamentally runs on too much of my labour. You haven't figured out an exploiturbine yet and this is the best you can do."     'Oh? But isn't it important to know?'     "No!"     ansi9243,'They float!')     "Silence!"     'Are you thinking of keeping them'     Lilian pitches shrill "I going to call--!" You can see the very instant she realizes that everyone is already in HR.     'Emissions is *such* a good word!'     Lilian squeezes her fingers into fists so tight that her knuckles turn white. The black shards have spiked up in a vaguely hostile radial design, too, out of her field of vision. This is the worst day for this possible.     'Wow Matilda! You look like a million bucks, glad you recovered!'     "Oh! Oh goodness, I nearly forgot!" Lilian straightens up and swivels in Matilda's direction. "Congratulations on your discharge!" she says, cheery, then flinching, then pokerfaced. "Hopefully your coworker didn't come down with the same thing." she says, worriedly eyeing queasy Mesmer.     'No, dear. That was him on the warning poster.'     Lilian giggles for one and a half seconds, then sighs. To some nonspecific thing happening under a desk, she says "Thank you." wearily.
Chuyao He	You've finally had enough of me. Today is the promised day where all the Elites of Sector 0 come together at last to try and make me kill myself.     "Surely not," Chuyao says, shaking his head. "The coins did not advise of such an outcome, and furthermore, an endeavor of this nature is destined to fail, given the impropriety of suicide compared to the Dame Commander's well-known virtue."     "Junior sister Matilda is recovering well?" he asks, glancing briefly her way. Emissions is *such* a good word!     "Ah, of course, one must not play the guqin for a..." He clears his throat. "Sister," Chuyao offers Holly a strained smile. "In fact it is a most improper one, as there is no polite way to discuss a matter so implicitly private. If the purpose of this meeting should happen to be lost on you or sister Mesmer, this ineloquent scholar would be happy to send over his notes thereafter."
Foundation Scions	'To antagonize you directly at this juncture would be illogical.'     "Here, of all places, someone that prioritizes logic and rationality. I'm surprised, and relieved." 'Incompetent organics.'     "You're correct, but you shouldn't say that," says Mesmer Jr., who is very clearly an organic. Matilda Bouanich (who isn't seated anywhere near her colleague) perks up, too- "Mesmer! You, were also consulted to attend this? Why?" "I won't speculate." "But, erm, your attitude on such matters is... Bad?" "Thank you, Matilda, but I don't need your speculations either. This is a punishment, possibly not one that's targeted." "Hein? What? No, surely it is because-" "So. Why are you here, Bouanich?" "I, er- I will not speculate, either!" 'Emissions is *such* a good word!' 'Emissions is not a good word. Believe me, nobody likes emitting.'     Mesmer Jr. pinches the bridge of her nose, and puts a lot more effort into breathing carefully than usual. Slowly, tense, "Words don't have any value apart from their specific meanings. However- stop saying that one. I've been nauseated all morning. In fact, I'd appreciate if the general volume level here today lowered. It's uncomfortable and distracting." 'I have a wife.'     Mesmer crosses her legs over one another at the thigh, and leans past Lilian to look at Tamamo. To Lilian, "We've met." 'Congratulations on your discharge!'     Matilda, a little distant, calls out "Merci beaucoup! I feel very-much better, now-" "Don't say 'discharge'," "Hein?"     Mesmer, then, to Lilian, weirdly reassuring-toned, says, "She wasn't contagious. This ailment is your doing."
Lilian Rook	'Not only would it change the course of people's lives, or whatever, but also we'd then have to add the suicide prevention module. I've already taken it! It's why there's a cage around the roof on schools, too. Meetings like this.'     "At least I can count on your concern for being genuine." Lilian moans.     'Then *why am I here*? I haven't talked at all about it. I kept out of it! It's not my business!'     Catty and irritable now, Lilian says "Perhaps for your betting pool on my sex life." and then instantly regrets it. "Fuck." she whispers. "That's on the agenda now too, isn't it?"     'You should really take a shower.'     "We're never getting out of here. Trapped for all eternity."
Flamel Parsons	"The exploiturbine?" Flamel tilts his head at Lilian Rook again, then shakes it, clarifying in a serious-workplace-discussion tone. "No, we know how that works. Thanatorotational torque from spinning in your grave only functions if enough of the multiverse continuously and sincerely says things that disappoint you badly enough, and besides the ethical issues, I think you'd be, well, disappointed that they could never keep it up at reliable levels!"     He also leans over to Rita. <Hey.> He tele-whispers. <Do you want some of my spare censors for that? I brought extra.> He offers her a psionic dark-and-vivid-red mosaic filter to help if she needs it, to render Holly as a sort of pixelated mass for a bit in sight and smell.
Swords of Justice	"You've finally had enough of me. Today is the promised day where all the Elites of Sector 0 come together at last to try and make me kill myself."      "I hope that isn't the plan. If it is though, I'll do my best to protect you."      It only dawns on Shirou after that Lilian probably doesn't seriously mean that, but it's too late to take what he said back. How would he take that back actually? It's not like he can turn back time. Well, it's not that much of an issue other than it makes him seem a bit silly, he guesses.      Literally Everybody Else      "The sanctity of this HR meeting is seemingly already ruined. Excellent."      It's hard to tell if Medusa's disappointed or indifferent given her flat delivery, though as she says that, she quietly pulls out her phone and hides it underneath the desk to watch it. At the very least, it's clear she's already given up on this meeting.
Regulus	''Oh? But isn't it important to know?'' Regulus successfully resists thee urge to spin and stare at Lilian's triangles. Besides, she already caught a glimpse when she went to talk to her just a second ago. It's all good. "Um, it is? Why is it important?" Regulus is successfully being led to talk about it anyway despite being cdetermined not to be! "Wait, don't answer that!" She brushes her her forehead with the back of her hand and 'whews' faintly. ''A line of censored text from Flamel.'' Regulus raises her hand. "Miss Teachers, Flamel is relying on bleepcensoring out his dialogue in an effort to get away with saying things he's not supposed to!" ''Are you giving up piracy?'' Regulus immediately forgets what she's doing to focus on Tamamo. "Huh? No? What does that have to do with anything. This is just about talking proper on radio, what you actually do in life is basically totally unrelated and there's nothing wrong with being a radio pirate anyway." ''You should really take a shower.'' "Is that okay to say?" Regulus wonders aloud. "To just say 'hey you stink' to someone?" She sniffs a few times in Holly's direction. "Hmm... I'm not getting it myself." ''Oh! Oh goodness, I nearly forgot!'' Regulus leans back, smug in her success! ''Perhaps for your betting pool on my sex life. ... That's on the agenda now too, isn't it?'' "Hang in there, Lilian." Regulus says before stumbling and adding, "I mean good luck! We got this."
Chuyao He	Words don't have any value apart from their specific meanings.      "Sister Mesmer is mistaken. Words have implications and associations as well as specific meanings; this is the foundation of the art of poetry, of <little writings | unofficial accounts | novels>, and of communication itself. I, the lowly scholar, may elect to use 'fruit' when the more specific 'plum' would do, depending on the message intended in my work, for example." The sanctity of this HR meeting is seemingly already ruined. Excellent.     "Respectfully, sister, this lowly scholar is not prepared to allow this to occur uncontested--more importantly, it is unlikely that our hosts would, either. Surely, they are aware of the tendency of those who use the radio to offend the heavens, and have clearly come prepared to address these improper rites."
Tamamo	Oh, thank goodness Chuyao is here. There's a voice of reason. Tamamo thinks that without having an opportunity to thank him for it.     She's not sure what Flamel just said. How did he manage that? Her hearing's usually so sharp, too. It must have been something too egregious to be spoken plainly. Maybe Natsuki will get through to Holly instead... but perhaps not.     Matilda is here. Brightly, "I am glad to see you well, Ms. Bouanich."     Mesmer is here. Poisonously sweet, "Could you not put your disinterest into practice? It is less productive as an unsupported claim, where action fails to follow words."     'This ailment is your doing.'     "What?"
Lilian Rook	'I hope that isn't the plan. If it is though, I'll do my best to protect you.'     "Wonderful." Lilian deadpans.     'The coins did not advise of such an outcome, and furthermore, an endeavor of this nature is destined to fail, given the impropriety of suicide compared to the Dame Commander's well-known virtue.'     "That goes without saying." Lilian huffs. "Greater men have tried and failed. I can handle it."     'The exploiturbine?'     "No no no. You can't trick me. We're not discussing the sauce, or the milkbeast, and nobody is going to ask me about milkgirls. This is a Resources meeting."     'Here, of all places, someone that prioritizes logic and rationality. I'm surprised, and relieved.'     "The government surgically removed his emotions. Be nice to him."     'I've been nauseated all morning.'     'She wasn't contagious. This ailment is your doing.'     Spikeys again. This time two random points do indeed bleed deeply unnatural condensation, seemingly related to Lilian nearly slamming both hands down on her desk, halting herself just an inch from putting her fists through it, and hoarse-half-shouting "For Christ's sake it's still the first slide!"
Shockwave	Shockwave turned his head to swivel his singular optic upon Mesmer Jr. It f-l-a-r-e-d for a moment when he perceived what others might have taken as a complement.     "Another entity who prioritizes logic? Interesting. Query: Can I get your number?"     But, from the same person came the '..you shouldn't..' within a phrase regarding his speech.     The monotone synthetic voice now rose a decibel higher: "I do not comply to the opinions of others unless such arbitrarily benefits my objectives. I will suffer no oppression of freedom ever again."     Then, he looked away back to the podium...
Holly Asturias	"I am sure we will be told the reasons for this timing, presently."     "My if it isn't about that I cannot begin to imagine what it is! I've had so few dealings with the Commonwealth, come to think of it?" Directly, at least. With members? Completely untrue. "Emissions is not a good word."     "No? But it's so *descriptive*." "Then *why am I here*?"     "Well, I couldn't begin to guess if it isn't that. Perhaps as a neutral arbitrator, if you're the only one here who hasn't spoken of it?" "You should really take a shower."     It's proximity that allows Rita to tell that the gold and black ribs over her dress, and flowing from her neck like a massive gorget of some kind, aren't part of the dress, which means the boob window is in fact a normal, not separately cut one!     This isn't really relevant.     Holly can infer poor Rita's name from Lilian saying it, and ascribes her behavior to... perhaps being shy? It's quite the crowded room, after all. She'd best do something to make her more comfortable?     "Ah? I apologize, I work at a hospital - though most people can't pick up on the smell? It usually takes a Revenant's nose, and the smell is so... common that most don't remark on it?"     She blinks, smiles, and waves the matter away dismissively. "One moment!"     She snaps her fingers, and a bit of blood gushes out of her wrist and palm, forming into a nice red-and-pink perfume bottle. She gives a brief spray on her neck, notes of red wine, cherry and earthly herbs ultimately doing so very little to overcome the blood-scents.     But she tried something?     ... by pulling an object out of her blood-hammerspace. "I going to call--!"     "Lilian! Lilian look! They are doing something! That's incredible..." Variable blood-clothing...     Lilian would single-handedly upend Revenant fashion. "However- stop saying that one."     "But you used it! My the list of banned words is growing *concerningly* large isn't it?"     Who's fault is that?? "Ah, of course, one must not play the guqin for a..."     "I would love your notes after the fact! ... you don't think there'll be a *test* do you?" Oh. That's scary.     Holly shudders. "No no no. You can't trick me. We're not discussing the sauce, or the milkbeast, and nobody is going to ask me about milkgirls. This is a Resources meeting."     "Milk is a resource, though?"     What is it about milkbeasts? Petra kept saying that, too.
Flamel Parsons	Flamel smiles wanly at Regulus during the tattling, blinking confusedly behind sunglasses and sort of emitting a "???" type of general energy. It looks like he's un-responsive to what's happening there!
Foundation Scions	'Query: Can I get your number?'     Mesmer Jr., loudly enough for anyone to hear, rattles off a telecoms number that directs to the Laplace Scientific Computing Center, which is publicly listed- "Ask for the Mesmer and I'll see a notice that you called. I won't be giving my personal lines in this present company. It isn't personal- I'd be harassed over it."     With that, she glares at the presenters on the stage, as a little dare-to-do-something. 'I will suffer no oppression of freedom ever again.'     "Are you an American? Fascinating." . . . 'Nobody is going to ask me about milkgirls,'     "Excuse me?" Genuinely sickened-sounding, "Can we please stop speaking of fluids?" 'For Christ's sake it's still the first slide!'     "What? I don't know what that has to do with anything, Lilian." Staring at the sharp-spikies, "- Oh. They're acting up. Interesting."     She takes a deep breath and finally, actually looks at the screen. "I suppose it is the first still. I'd assumed I'd already missed the start."
Team Timekeeper	"You are dismissed and may convey to your superiors that you have achieved appropriate satisfaction of hospitality appreciation."     "Okay, thank you." Sonetto's briefly spoken to Shockwave in the radio before, and surely there's documentation on each of the attending Elites to make sure none of the presenters were blind to their attendees. Still, at the window, she stares for a bit to try and grasp the full size of the robot, before nodding and ambling back to her stand.     Beside Shockwave, the floating drone whirrs around, very likely keeping an eye on his actions while being a helpful little attendant. <For the comfort and safety of all visitors and staff, please remember to undo all large-scale terrain alterations before exiting.> "There you go, they're not apples but they're still plants!"     Regulus hands over two jars(?!) of what is surely immediately identifiable as buds of weed to two Paladins bureaucrats. They look down awkwardly at it, and Dolores goes, "Oh... I'm happy to see you be an, um, enthusiastic participant in the meeting today! You know what, you bringing *you* to the table is a great gift already!"     Sonetto, apple in hand, accepts both of the jars from the other women as if she is part of a bomb squad. "Do not worry. I will attend to it."     The jars are placed on a chair in the front corner of the room, and Sonetto withdraws her glasfeder to quickly encase them in a protective ward, making a ribbon of light that hovers around them. "Thank you for the apple, Regulus. I hope you can learn a lot today." "Is this about Lilian's... ... not-blood?"     Dolores's peppy expression freezes rock solid in an ironclad attempt at masking the horror and dread at what Holly's choice of noun might be. When she chooses what could be charitably interpreted as the best option, of a question that still shouldn't have been asked in the first place, she un-sticks and clasps her hands together in front of her chest.     "Well, um-- Doctor Asturias, right? Great question, and I'm *so* glad you're already thinking about this productively, but our *goal* today is really to take a step back and holistically assess *all* behaviors over the radio, not to single out anything in particular. But that's a good thought to be having!" "Oh, Ms. Sonetto! What a nice surprise."     Sonetto bounces on the balls of her feet, just a little tiny bit. "Hello, Mrs. Tamamo. It's good to see you." Despite the disaster that's already begun to unfold, Sonetto seems perfectly content to treat this as if it'll be a normal, productive, and friendly meeting, more tolerable than most for the presence of friends. "I suppose remote attendance was deemed less productive."     "Ah! Well, Mrs. Rook, what a great observation! Part of our new inclusivity initiative since updating our department to be 'Sophont Resources' rather than the anthrocentric standard previously, is to make Aegis Astray more accessible to those of all bodily formats and sizes! Of course, remote attendance is supported as well, but the Paladins values insist that we strive to make everyone as included as possible!"
Team Timekeeper	"Is this an 'asking questions' kind of presentation, or a 'sitting quietly' kind of presentation, Ms. Dolores?"     Yes!!! Yes! It's all under control! The majority of people here are such polite darlings and no fights are going to break out and no one's killing themselves. "There will be time for questions, don't worry! And you won't have to sit quietly for long, because we'll be having group activities soon!" "Investigator Sonetto? You, were asked to present at this-"     "Hello Matilda. Yes, I was requested by Madam Z to act as the Foundation's contribution to this meeting for smoother interpersonal relations. Ah-- though, as a temporarily acting Sophont Resources assistant, I will not be expressing personal favoritism in any form for the course of this presentation." Nothing about her behavior towards Matilda changes. "Today is the promised day where all the Elites of Sector 0 come together at last to try and make me kill myself."     "Hello, Dame Rook! No, today is the day we are discussing appropriate behavior in the multiversal communication bands in order to create a less inappropriate environment. The planned presentation will, if successful, reduce rather than increase the suicide risk among Elite personnel."     Sally, the older and less excitable of the pair, writes something down on her notepad after Lilian says that.     Now having successfully greeted and or pulled away from the ledge to each attendee, the presentation can finally proceed in earnest. The projector rolls to the next slide, which appears to have no functional purpose at all, so it goes on to the next, which, somehow, also appears to be completely superfluous.     On the next, there's a list for 'Today's Agenda', and the first point directly segues from Tamiel's question, which Dolores is clearly just pleased as punch to answer.     "What a good question! Yes, it's definitely true that the multiversal communication system is decentralized! Private communication *is* encrypted, and the cross-factional usage of the radio is wholeheartedly embraced. But, see, *how* does this system work across countless worlds through all of Sector Zero? What *is* a radio, anyways?")]     The next slide is titled exactly that. "As you can see, without the Concord's broadcasting and R&D companies, we wouldn't have the setup for faster-than-light radio communication at all! And without the Paladins to oversee its usage, it would either be taken advantage of by bad actors or seen as a legitimate political battleground, *or*, the community might take a turn for the worse, making it inhospitable for another reason! That's why all of us work together, and also the Watch, to make sure we all feel equally welcome, for the good of everyone in the Sector."     "Now, we've been saying 'acceptable workplace behavior' a lot, but how do we properly identify that?"
Team Timekeeper	Dolores passes it off to Sonetto next, who shuffles around some papers-- likely transcripts and notes-- on the podium. "We have developed a selection of anonymous, hypothetical scenarios derived from trends of behaviors seen in the broadband lately. We will ask you to break into small groups and discuss them, identifying what the unacceptable behavior is, and how you might do better."     The list, presented on the slide, is as follows: ¤ During a conversation, one party repeatedly talks another party, interrupting them or restating their contributions more loudly. ¤ After repeated requests to stop, colleagues continue to make comments that overstep boundaries set by another person. ¤ During an argument, voices are raised and dismissive comments are made. ¤ Someone shares private personal or medical information about another Elite with people who don't need to know, inciting gossip. ¤ Someone volunteers their own private information in a public forum, potentially making others uncomfortable.
Swords of Justice	"Respectfully, sister, this lowly scholar is not prepared to allow this to occur uncontested"      "Respectfully, brother, you fight the strongest perverts in the entire Multiverse. Your battle will not be easy, in fact, I fully expect you to die. I will weep and remember your valiant struggle as the one person who believed in the importance of HR meetings."      Unlike her previous statement, she responds to Chuyao with a bit of amusement in her voice. At least someone is still taking this seriously. Perhaps she should too, honestly, though when she pulls her gaze away from her phone and quickly looks at Flamel and Mesmer, she goes back to watching whatever it is she's watching instead. Even if she's just as reckless as her master, albeit in different ways, there are situations that give even the bravest of soldiers pause. She'll just wait until suggestions are allowed and say her piece. It's safer that way.
Holly Asturias	"But that's a good thought to be having!"     "Oh thank you! I'm so glad." The list, presented on the slide, is as follows:     "I have another question!"     Hand raised and all.     "Is this a magical slide that updates in real time with what we've been saying and doing, or are you very good at prediction? Perhaps you had (the great) Matilda's help to divine what to put on there?"
Shockwave	Shockwave noted the communications frequency and, if he were emotional and rational, the silence from him might have been a haughty scoff.     "Very well. I shall leave a... voice-mail."     And the question: "Are you an American?"     ...had his head swiveling back so fast at her that it might have snapped right off...     "Designation Mesmer, I am Cybertronian, a synthetic sentient, sapient species. I am -NOT- American."     Shockwave listened to the drones about the terrain modification and he spoke clearly in response, "The energon will be reabsorbed. I shall restore the terrain topography afterwards from the presence of my frame's weight."     Shockwave absorbed the content of the next slides being presented. His optic flared at the second parameter.     "NEGATIVE," his intoning boomed, "The second parameter is too restrictive for security purposes requiring the use of psychological operations of misdirection and information dispersal, including PSYOPS propaganda, espionage tactics, covert encrypted verbal communication between two actors, to list the initial three. My processors are aggregating other causes and curating them into a full list."
Regulus	''You know what, you bringing *you* to the table is a great gift already!'' Regulus is touched! Stars in her eyes she says, "Gosh...thank you." As Sonetto gives the jars of weed dmg dealt +15 percent and DMG taken -15 percent along with a +10 percent penetration rate, Regulus smiles at Sonetto, snapping a salute in her direction. "I'll do my best!" She'll do her best! "I want you to know, by the way, that that's a SweeTango Appple ranked by known Applest Brian Frange to be the holy grail of apples. "Honeycrisp used to be the holy grail." APPLe complains. "Don't worry buddy," Regulus assures him. "You're still a top ranked pie apple and also--the best of the best friend apples." "Oh...captain...!" They take a moment to embrace one another in a big hug. Well, okay, Regulus is being careful not to squish APPLe and APPLe has really thin stick figure arms but they're doing their best. ''The third slide.'' "Woooh!!! Way to go Sonetto! Ceremony Ambassador!" Regulus applauds loudly. ''Click to add text.'' "Um." Regulus says, cheer fading away. "Sorry, sorry to interrupt, but it seems like you forgot to add for the Watch there, it says 'Click to add text', still. Um, Dolores?" She points at that part of the slide repeatedly to try and draw attention to it. "You know, the Watch actually is having a really big radio project coming through, Radio APPLe--the return--it'll be marvy as all out so you can add that in for next time, okay?" ''The list!!'' Oh no, Regulus has had arguments over the radio! Maybe if she doesn't bring that up she can still get a great 'grade' for this class. ''Or are you very good at prediction?'' "I feel like if they spent, like, a week on the band they'd probably have gotten most of those just from that."
Lilian Rook	'Lilian! Lilian look! They are doing something! That's incredible...'     '- Oh. They're acting up. Interesting.'     'What?'     Lilian was, up until this moment, personally still on the fence about how much the triangles (now internally referenced as Hysteria Shards after one ironic conversation with Petra too many) (one) actually constitute a 'body part' versus 'a temporary indignity that will be solved in a month'. Now, the combined attention of both Holly and Mesmer Junior has catapulted her from a sense of nobly ignoring a silly little curse to feeling like she walked into the room with her metaphorical dick out instead and that everyone is ogling.     She vigorously smushes her face back into her palms again, only to show that her ears are turning red. An unfortunate drop hits the desk and dwindles to nothing in half a second. Another several follow abruptly at the stress of hearing someone scribbling on a notepad. Because she can hear that from the back of the room now. The iron-ozone-charcoal scent disappears quickly.     §At least almost everyone else is being way, way more embarrassing. All I have to do is keep it together and let those people dig their own graves; then they'll see that I'm one of the good ones and leave me alone forever. I mean Regulus just walked up and handed them drugs for Christ's sake!§     The slides beginning is a mercy. The mercy is short-lived.     'We will ask you to break into small groups and--'     "TamamoJianyaRuLiMedusa!!"
Ru Li	Ohhhhh, that's what this is.      Ru Li's look of enlightenment is kind of adorable. It's a mixture of excitement, fascination, and curiosity, not unlike someone knocking gently on a tank full of lizards to see them move around and being delighted when they do. His expression looks very much like he's looking in from the outside, too, since, indeed, none of these topics really apply to him, as far as he can tell. He's polite, he's cheerful, he's well-mannered, and he never volunteers private information unless someone directly asks about it, or he puts his foot in his mouth and immediately realizes it and becomes deeply embarrassed.      But no, no. It doesn't matter if they apply to him personally. What matters is the experience of observing this fascinating set of rituals. Chuyao He has already promised to keep the rites observed, which just brings a brighter smile to Ru Li's face.      "This," he says, with some degree of delight and awe, now less like a child knocking on a tank of lizards and more like a child who has a new toy and is ignoring it in favor of the cardboard box it came in, "Is about categorization."      His hand goes up. He wants to play with the cardboard box. "Ah, please do excuse me. May I ask - is the identification intended for classification of behaviors for the purpose of identification, or examination of behaviors for the purpose of avoidance?"      He pauses.      "That is, is the intent of the definition categorical? How strictly should the behaviors be scrutinized? Should labels be placed upon them for future use as shorthand over the radio, or for the purposes of efficient ?"      The look of *absolute* delight on his face is almost assuredly the first time any member of The Team has ever had to deal with someone *happy* to be in an SR meeting.      And, indeed, a *very small* part of him is delighted to, for once, be the most reliable person in the room when it comes to dealing with exactly this kind of situation.      Then Lilian calls him into her group without thought and the delight goes from the delight of a small child playing with a cardboard box to the pride of a student who just had a teacher praise them in front of the class.
Riku Asakura	'But this is indeed not the right time. I am very excited!' Oh, was Ru Li excited to answer his questions?  That's nice... wait, no...he continues to explain.  He's excited for the /meeting/.  Oh God, he's actually /excited/ for an HR meeting with Sophant.  Why is he here for fun?!   'The meeting turns into less agreeable chaos' Riku just places his hands on his face and shakes his head.  This is just turning into a mess already.  He can't keep track of how badly things are going.  He barely hears Rita asking Holly to shower, which means... well, no, that makes sense given Rita AND Holly.  But then Holly does a thing with blood.   Riku can only stare in horror. Chuyao tries to manage the chaos, trying to keep things at a functional level.  Riku appreciates the effort, but feels his efforts are akin to pushing a boulder up a mountain.  Forever. Regulus gives weed to the Sophant people. Riku is just waiting for the explosion to happen at this point.  Or that they'll never escape this meeting. 'The planned presentation will, if successful, reduce rather than increase the suicide risk among Elite personnel.' Petra still isn't in this meeting... so the likelihood of this is very low, Riku thinks. Oh, good, the slides are starting.  Maybe there is something at the end of this?  Riku looks blankly at the second slide.  The next one is the obligatory 'who we are' one.  And then... right... This is like that training he had to do back in the day.   Riku... slowly raises his hand at the next slide, after the explanation.  "Um... how come there isn't any text under what the Watch does for the radio?"  It'd be funny if he wasn't so clueless! "Hey Ru Li, would you like to..." 'TamamoJianyaRuLiMedusa!!' "...Oh, well, that's fine." Shoot, he's not sure who to ask.  He really doesn't want to be on either Mesmer or Matilda's team... he looks around, and his gaze settles on Flamel.  And then Shiro.   "Uh, Flamel and Shiro?  Want to break into a group?  I think we need one more..."
Ru Li	Ohhhhh, that's what this is.      Ru Li's look of enlightenment is kind of adorable. It's a mixture of excitement, fascination, and curiosity, not unlike someone knocking gently on a tank full of lizards to see them move around and being delighted when they do. His expression looks very much like he's looking in from the outside, too, since, indeed, none of these topics really apply to him, as far as he can tell. He's polite, he's cheerful, he's well-mannered, and he never volunteers private information unless someone directly asks about it, or he puts his foot in his mouth and immediately realizes it and becomes deeply embarrassed.      But no, no. It doesn't matter if they apply to him personally. What matters is the experience of observing this fascinating set of rituals. Chuyao He has already promised to keep the rites observed, which just brings a brighter smile to Ru Li's face.      "This," he says, with some degree of delight and awe, now less like a child knocking on a tank of lizards and more like a child who has a new toy and is ignoring it in favor of the cardboard box it came in, "Is about categorization."      His hand goes up. He wants to play with the cardboard box. "Ah, please do excuse me. May I ask - is the identification intended for classification of behaviors for the purpose of identification, or examination of behaviors for the purpose of avoidance?"      He pauses.      "That is, is the intent of the definition categorical? How strictly should the behaviors be scrutinized? Should labels be placed upon them for future use as shorthand over the radio, or  for the purposes of efficient documentation?"      The look of *absolute* delight on his face is almost assuredly the first time any member of The Team has ever had to deal with someone *happy* to be in an SR meeting.      And, indeed, a *very small* part of him is delighted to, for once, be the most reliable person in the room when it comes to dealing with exactly this kind of situation. For once - for *once* - all the other Elites in the room can rely on *him* to know all the things.      Then Lilian calls him into her group without thought and the delight goes from the delight of a small child playing with a cardboard box to the pride of a student who just had a teacher praise them in front of the class.
Regulus	''TamamoJianyaRuLiMedusa!!'' Shit, Regulus thinks, she's missed her shot for the best team! "MatildaMesmerAPPLeTamiel!" Regulus shouts immediately after, for some reason assuming this will work for her.
Foundation Scions	'We will ask you to break into small groups and discuss them,'     "Mesmer, Mesmer- I think, it would be prudent for us-two to form a group, in order for me to speak with you about your long-standing behaviors-" 'TamamoJianyaRuLiMedusa!!'     "I'm already here, so I'll join this group as well. I apologize, Matilda, but it's quite large already." Mesmer, isn't there someone you forgot to ask? 'MatildaMesmerAPPLeTamiel!' "I'm already in a group, Regulus," "Hein? Er- I suppose, I can join-in to discuss with you!" A pause, and a slightly dejected sigh, "You would be much in need of my guidance, after all! Please, thank me afterwards, for this favor I will be doing to you!"     Matilda then gazes, again, at Mesmer, and the other people around her who she's actually more fond of, grouping up without her. "C'est la vie..."
Flamel Parsons	Oh, but Riku is so kind and invites Flamel! He's not picked last. "Wonderful! One more for a group... What about..."     ---     A giant die is rolled inside of a containment chamber, trying to politely generate a random selection. It has peoples' faces on its sides, instead of numbers! And it lands on... Shockwave!     ---     "...to fill out our group? If they're not picked yet."
Tamiel Luxis	Tamiel huffs, at Flamel's answer, crossing her arms, "I don't even HAVE a blog," as if it were relevant to anything. Her shadow made a rude gesture with both hands, not knowing or caring that they were in the midst of an HR meeting.     "Oh, thank heavens." She murmured to herself, as the interns agreed. Tamiel had known that her mother's paranoia wouldn't have been founded, but it was so good to get a solid 'no' right out the gate. She looks at little green, though, when they go on to explain how much they try to accomodate different sizes. She doesn't need to know that. Tammy reasoned, biting at her lip. It'd just distract her anyway.     "Uh--" Tamiel blinks, turning toward Regulus as her name is called, not totally uncomprehending what was just said. "...O-okay?" She says, mostly glad she's not left standing alone at the end after everyone's already found a group. Again. It's a new feeling!
Lilian Rook	'Respectfully, brother, you fight the strongest perverts in the entire Multiverse.'     §Don't try to be funny. Don't ironically claim that none of them compare to you. Don't listen to the voice of Petra. This is practice for the meeting later.§     'Is this a magical slide that updates in real time with what we've been saying and doing, or are you very good at prediction?'     §Shut it! Shut it shut it shut it! You're just admitting to it! Wait no, keep going! Keep going until you get arrested! Get arrested and lead out of here in handcuffs so everyone comes out with the hidden cameras and reveals that they're so so sorry for ever doubting me and they award me a medal!§     'You know, the Watch actually is having a really big radio project coming through, Radio APPLe--the return--it'll be marvy as all out so you can add that in for next time, okay?'     'I feel like if they spent, like, a week on the band they'd probably have gotten most of those just from that.'     §Yes! Fuck it up more! I'm so good! I'm so well-behaved! I'm a good, well-behaved, married woman, and the wheat will be separated from the chaff within the hour!§     '...Oh, well, that's fine.'     "With apologies, Asakura, I don't want to be in any proximity to serious discussion of intentionally traumatizing your gay fathers." Lilian says, making paranoid shooing gestures as if he were made of live uranium.     'I'm already here, so I'll join this group as well.'     "Why?!" Lilian leans back in her chair. Then, because she is a well-behaved married adult, actually, she decides on the sublter tactic of clearing her throat and saying "Let's begin with example number four. It's a very easy one, after all. Everything about it is obvious unacceptable."     "not just from the perspective of breaching patient confidentiality, or from the perspective of informing everyone in a workplace of an employee's health condition, but for disclosing information that might obviously be used to harm the individual as well. When it inevitably finds its way into the hands of personal enemies and generalized bad actors within the Sector, it compromises Elite readiness and response. Health conditions and biometrics are considered classified information in every Commonwealth-recognized workplace at every level, and more or less the entire civilized Multiverse."
Natsuki Nuki	'At least I can count on your concern for being genuine.' "What do you meeean?" Natsuki long-yowls back as spritz to her expression, looking askance at Lilian. "That's so genuine! It's personal interest! Don't die, Lilian! It'd suck for you, and other people, and also me specifically! That's so positive actually?" She retorts, at that sad-offended tone. 'That's on the agenda now too, isn't it?' Natsuki, crossing her arms and tucking in her shoulders, leans in and sighs. "It's on the agenda now. I've been very tasteful about that, too. All but dropped it. You wanted something backing your reminder, I was amused to back it. If you're annoyed by it, don't bother yourself about it. I don't need you holding it against me." She grumbles, clearly at the 'you're no fun at ALL!' point of the annoyed pout. 'The sanctity of this HR meeting is seemingly already ruined. Excellent.' "Sanctity? If you want sanctity call a priest. This is a rules meeting." Natsuki grumbles. "What were you expecting, us to gather together and pray?" 'Perhaps as a neutral arbitrator, if you're the only one here who hasn't spoken of it?' Far softer, albeit partially because Natsuki had given up on Holly getting it and wanting to shield her from having to fully learn by maybe playing this very smart and not adding too many more action items, Natsuki tries to gently advise her fellow Partner. "No, honey, you're sweet, but no." She simply has to rest on for a moment. "They're here to tell me to be different, too." 'but our *goal* today is really to take a step back and holistically assess *all* behaviors over the radio, not to single out anything in particular. But that's a good thought to be having!' "Oh so we're getting everyone, okay, good expectation setting." Natsuki engages faintly, sitting half-crossed in her seat and looking at the slides. 'There will be time for questions, don't worry! And you won't have to sit quietly for long, because we'll be having group activities soon!' Natsuki pulls a pack of cigarettes and a lighter out of her jacket pocket, getting one out with a quick flick and tap to fit between her lips unlit. "It can't be helped." She deadpans. "A group project." It is in that form that Natsuki looks to her left and right, reaches for Medusa and Shirou who are nearby, and scoots one chair closer to them with a quick motion. "Group project time, lady. Your pet can help us, maybe he's good at quizzes." She rolls, low, before squinting at the questions. "Anyone else? Group?" She offers vaguely, before throwing out statements in order: "First one needs more context - what if there's someone snivelling in a meeting? That can't happen. For the second... Why is this a question? Escalate until the behavior ceases. Ask, tell, demand, force. A simple, direct path to fix it. For the third --" Natsuki looks up, standing to address the heads of the table. "Have you argued before?" She asks, bluntly, before dipping down. "There's no bad behavior there. The challenges that aren't met will be retracted or answered. It's easier that way." She sighs. "The secrets things, fine, but 'gossip'? Is this about private medical information or about talking on the radio?" She's apparently fighting for Medusa??? Exhaustedly breathing out, Natsuki rolls her eyes. "Shouting dibs, huh. Honor will decide." She decides, and looks to Medusa.
Shockwave	Shockwave had just blurted out against the whole thing right before Flamel Parsons' little gadget points to the Cybertronian as his visage lands face-up on the die. The synthetic cyclops swivels its head to Flamel and it stilled for a long, unnerving moment, before his sonic vocabulators narrowed their scope and beam to project in a cone directly at Flamel and others near him in order to overcome the din of the room without blowing out eardrums.     "It is logical that I enter this experiment to understand the process, despite disagreement of parameters, to ascertain its full pipeline and scope of results. Nevertheless, my frame is significantly beneath the ceiling height of the interior room. Gather at the window, if we are to speak covertly. I accept."
Regulus	"Oh okay. Have fun, Mesmer." She looks to Rita. "Hey do you want to join us? I figured you would be snapped up by Lilian but.." She sees Holly. "Oh okay, you got someone! Shucks! May the best team win, Rita!" She smiles at Matilda and Tamiel. "Alright!! That's the spirit Matilda! Lead us to victory! The competition may be fierce, but we won't let them underestimate us!" She offers Tamiel and Matilda hifives.
Lilian Rook	'ghueh?!'     Lilian looks at Rita apologetically, with 'I'm so sorry Rita, but, you're drooling' in her eyes.     'C'est la vie...'     She looks to Matilda, also a little sympathetic, and yet her steady gaze says 'You might say 'the French understand' about something you weren't supposed to see and I can't risk that right now' for her.     'What do you meeean?'     Lilian puffs out her cheeks, awkward-upset-embarrassed enough to sulk through "Okay. Fine. I apologize."     §Wow. Now that I think about it. everyone at this meeting is a pervert except me.§
Rita Ma	"I work at a hospital - though most people can't pick up on the smell?"      "yeahg." Rita's fingers are digging scratches into the table. When she opens her mouth to speak, there are actual strands of drool visible between her teeth.      Holly's gold-blood incites her constricting pupils less than the iron-blood of humanity still lingering on her, and so while her gaze laser-follows the hammerspace opening, the perfume is sort of a net wash.      "i'm. gllrhck. a little sensitive. that's all. miss holly," she says, looking like an extra in a horror movie who's badly hiding a zombie bite. "sowwghy."      The drop on her chin might be either sweat or drool.      "TamamoJianyaRuLiMedusa!!"      "ghueh?!" Betrayal from Lilian!!! Fuck!!! At this rate she'll be stuck with--      MatildaMesmerAPPLeTamiel!"      "Hhhgh-- hey--!!" Regulus too!!! She's going to be stuck with Holly. Holly the bloodbag. Holly the milkgirl. Warm sweet stupid rippable evisceratable Holly--      <Hey. Do you want some of my spare censors for that?>      Rita's head whips around to Flamel when she tears her attention away and she nodnodnods sharply. This might be the only circumstance ever where she'll unhesitatingly accept something he offers.      A moment later she straightens up, takes a deep breath, takes one peek at the now censored Holly, and wipes her chin in relief.      "hhhgah. Okay. I'm fine. The perfume helped," she lies. Thank you, Miss Holly!" She's normal now. She's so normal.      "I have another question!" Hand raised and all.      When Holly puts her hand up, part of the mosaic filter jiggles. Rita stares again. God.      That leaves... "Um. Me, Ms. Holly, Ms. Natsuki, and... the man with red hair?" She means Shirou. Rita stands up from her seat, walks over to sit by Natsuki, and smiles in only slightly still-delirious fashion. "It's, um, nice to meet you. The person I haven't met before. Besides Holly. Um."
Foundation Scions	"The first one is simple. It's inefficient."     "The second one, also, is simple. It leads to conversational inefficiencies for individuals to be upset- that incites irrationality and distraction. Speak calmly and civilly."     "The third, again, is simple. Raising voices only escalates irrational tempers. Avoid it." 'Let's begin with example number four. It's a very easy one, after all.'     "Of course it's easy. Medical privacy guidelines are to be abided in professional circumstances. Breaches of that are improper." A pause, and an awful little posture-shift to cross her arms and stare, "It's made appropriate by the redaction of identifying information. That's all that needs to be done; it's a simple correction that bypasses each one of the concerns you've brought up, and it's the recommended protocol."     That's fine, if hypocritical, were Mesmer to just stop there! However, "Unless of course it's a matter of public well-being. Then, guidelines can be waived. Not to say that I have a specific example in mind of what could be considered a matter of public well-being worthy of that course of action." Another pause. "Vertin's condition seemed worthwhile to speak on at the time."     "Fifth is simple. Refrain from speaking about non-professional conduct, and you avoid discomfort and inefficiency."     She's a husk. Her morals are gone. Her reasonings, atrophied. This is a quick time event that she's slamming skip through, by being queasy, sleepy, disoriented, and still trying to say as many harrassing things as possible, while staying near Lilian, and posturing around with her awful mannerisms. This is just another Wednesday! She has the day off!     "Who is it that's expressing a large volume of impulse repressive cerebral-electromagnetic fluctuation-patterns on the-" Mesmer is too queasy looking, ambiently, to dwell on that. "Everyone present should have eaten before coming here. That's it, that's all. Parsons, this is your fault, isn't it?"
Ru Li	Ru Li holds up a hand at Riku as he stands. "We will speak later, of course! I will be happy to tell you about all manner of things! I have been studying *many* books on all the subjects a young man should need to ask for!"      Oh no.      Oh no.      There's no possible way Riku could traumatize Ru Li when Ru Li's doing such an efficient job of traumatizing Riku by accident.      Ru Li moves over to Lilian's group and sits down brightly next to Chuyao He. "This is so interesting, is it not?" No, Ru Li, it is not. Not at all. "I had never imagined mortals handling this sort of thing this way! It is pre-emptively disciplinary, but handled by the people who are being pre-emptively disciplined, with a test implicit in the categorization but a pre-emptive test! That, then, implies that the people who are being disciplined are *aware* of their own need to be disciplined, and that the categorization itself is only one part of the discipline!"      He claps his hands together in delight. "It is so inefficient, yet purposefully so! I have never seen anything like it!"      He's like *one step* from saying 'it's adorable,' but he doesn't. Instead, he gets down to business.      "Well, of course, the first one is simply a showing of poor courtesy. That seems very simple and straightforward! But these are not separate scenarios at all, are they? They are all entwined together. It is very observable behavior from several Elites!" He does not name names. He is too polite to name names.      And he has already internalized the power of Sophont Resources being pre-emptive guilt-filtering.      "One leads to the next to the next to the next! The conclusion is thus to cut the head off the snake at the beginning, metaphorically speaking, yes, and encourage such a discussion to be solved through blows instead of public argument! That way, all parties are satisfied, and frustrations can be worked out without someone needing to change the topic by mentioning something uncomfortable or volunteering unnecessary information!"
Riku Asakura	Riku, sadly, can not recruit Shiro because he's Medusa's pet or something.  Which means he's on Natsuki's team.  Or Holly's team?  Or Rita's team?  Probably.  That's something, at least!  Also, thank you, Regulus, for picking up Matilda, and sorry, Lilian, for having to deal with Mesmer... 'I don't want to be in any proximity to serious discussion of intentionally traumatizing your gay fathers.' "But... you want my Father's first host?" Riku's only somehow barely keeping up with this topic.   'Gather at the window, if we are to speak covertly.' "Oh, okay.  I can come over there..." Riku says walking over (hopefully with Flamel) to sit next to the window so they can work on these with the rest of the group. On the first one... "I am not sure I've seen this before... uh... I think that interrupting and being loud about the second part is the problem here." The second one... "I am sure this happened last week with Mrs. Rook. But uh, overstepping the boundaries and keeping bringing it up is the problem..." He side-glances towards Holly.   The third one... "This just happens literally all the time.  People are kind of rude on the radio.  Uh, so definitely the raising voices and being dismissive..." On the fourth one... He just immediately turns to side-eye Mesmer.  "Well, obviously leaking the private medical knowledge and the gossip." Then, on the final one, he glances at Mesmer a second time. "Probably shouldn't overshare about yourself, right?"
Tamamo	Tamamo is already seated next to Lilian, so she hardly has to move. She certainly doesn't move when Mesmer leans around to look at her -- and then still not answer her.     'Why?!'     "Obsessive behavior, undoubtedly."     'Health conditions and biometrics are considered classified information in every Commonwealth-recognized workplace at every level, and...'     Tamamo nods along. Lilian is so right. Naturally. Mhm mhm. "There is no need to be sharing medical information with those apart from a healer. Naturally, there is even less need if there is no action that can be taken. It is only idle musing, then. Is it not commonly criminal behavior, and oathbreaking, in modern medical workplaces? Of course, this applies to doctors, nurses, and other staff who may have access to such information." It's all so very obvious. Why even need speak of it?     "We were asked to consider that which may be done better, but the answer of, 'do not do this' does seem rather simplistic. Shall we examine it further, then? Perhaps the reasons that one might engage in such behavior deserve examination. One may feel a need to leverage privileged information for a feeling of power over another, even if there is no effective exercise of power in merely spreading the information aimlessly. One might be unable to properly identify such things as 'private' or 'medical,' owing to their lack of socialization, having not integrated with what is commonly thought of as civilization. One might be suffering some rare perversion and attempting an exercise in humiliation through deniable means, unwilling to address their proclivities."     She goes on, "Now, as to the case of one who ignores repeated requests, there might be a great deal of overlap."
Lilian Rook	PHONE: Rita Ma texts, "i forgivbg youu" PHONE: Rita Ma texts, "you hafd to save yourslef" PHONE: Phoning Rita Ma, Lilian Rook texts | Thank you. I really can't risk anything right now. PHONE: Phoning Rita Ma, Lilian Rook texts | Almost everyone here is a potential hazard. It's not your fault. Dr. Asturias is the worst. PHONE: Rita Ma texts, "yehga" PHONE: Rita Ma texts, "goodo lu" PHONE: Rita Ma texts, "godluc k" PHONE: Phoning Rita Ma, Lilian Rook texts | I'll buy you dinner after this. PHONE: Rita Ma texts, "ilike yoru new nubblise though" PHONE: Phoning Rita Ma, Lilian Rook texts | I'm not buying you dinner. PHONE: Rita Ma texts, "thatnk yoNOOOO" PHONE: Rita Ma texts, "IMSO RRY IMOSORRY"     Lilian sighs and puts her phone back down.     §Matilda might act like a cute little creep. Rita might talk about maid dresses. Regulus might say something about 'free love'. Riku might say something implicitly homophobic. Parsons might say something systemically homophobic. Luxis might say something explicitly homophobic. Natsuki might outright proposition someone any second now. Asturias propositions someone every second she breathes. Shockwave might start screaming about the irrelevance of dicks at any second between those. Emiya will just repeat whatever someone else says and say 'explain further'. This is the safest bet. This is the only way I get through this.§     'Vertin's condition seemed worthwhile to speak on at the time.'     There's no point to keeping her mouth shut. Lilian can cross her arms and try to disappear into her chair, but she can't keep the silent scream out of her eyes.
Chuyao He	I would love your notes after the fact! ... you don't think there'll be a *test* do you? I will weep and remember your valiant struggle as the one person who believed in the importance of HR meetings.     "But of course," Chuyao says with a serenely confident smile. "Propriety is tested every day, in public and in private, by its very nature."     After briefly grinding his inkstick in circles against the inkstone on his desk, he uncaps one of his brushes and swirls it in the reservoir. Chuyao's handwriting is far too beautiful to be wasted in this environment, and the tragedy is that he doesn't even know it. Disciplined brushtrokes nevertheless happen swiftly, as elegant characters the Understanding can sort-of-parse combine to form his thoughts. - The Concord < understands and delegates | makes the advances apparent | conveys clear-sightedness> and <manages the maintenance | supports the preservation | grasps and binds together> of the radio - The Paladins grant the radio <the quality of service | the energy of accomplishment | the character of merit> - The Watch     Chuyao's brush lifts, and his brow furrows. - The Watch < selects a place to put in calligraphy | elects a spot to subjoin numerals | chooses an appointed time to increase certain natural phenomena>. Further reading is necessary. Sorry, sorry to interrupt, but it seems like you forgot to add for the Watch there, it says 'Click to add text', still.     "So it appears at first, but is this the only meaning which may be inferred? Perhaps sister Regulus would care to research the meaning and complexities of this statement with this ineloquent scholar at a later time."     His note-taking is paused, and his brush capped, when it comes time to join a group. TamamoJianyaRuLiMedusa!!     Chuyao smiles brightly, still pleased to be here, and nods. "It would be this lowly scholar's honor to work together with the Dame Commander, Lady Rook, Ru Li and sister Medusa."
Chuyao He	¤ During a conversation, one party repeatedly talks another party, interrupting them or restating their contributions more loudly.     "Of course, this is impolite, and not constructive towards a productive conversation." ¤ After repeated requests to stop, colleagues continue to make comments that overstep boundaries set by another person.     Chuyao chuckles. "Ah, a new and yet unseen occurrence, to be sure. Indeed, this is neither collaborative nor proper. The <superior person | lordly person | gentleman> need not be reminded of another's boundaries, nor asked to stop any more than once. The proper way forward is, of course, to apologize after the boundary has been transgressed." ¤ During an argument, voices are raised and dismissive comments are made.     Chuyao frowns a little guiltily. "This ineloquent scholar owes brother Flamel and apology." ¤ Someone shares private personal or medical information about another Elite with people who don't need to know, inciting gossip.     "This is never proper and cannot easily be undone." He resists the urge to glance Mesmer's way, but only just. "The Dame Commander is knowledgeable in medicine, is this not so? And Lady Rook is a healer, besides. What is the proper way to amend this offense?" ¤ Someone volunteers their own private information in a public forum, potentially making others uncomfortable.     "Hm... it is best to speak to the potential for how such an action may affect others directly and without rancor. 'While elder brother's trust in us is appreciated, these details are perhaps best kept in private.' How does that sound?"
Ru Li	"Learned Scholar, your calligraphy is immaculate, and the ink you are using is very fine," Ru Li asides to Chuyao He. He hasn't peeked over the scholar's shoulder or even looked his way, but, then, his sensory abilities are fairly public knowledge.      He claps his hands together. "Oh, I very much like the last one. It is very clean and very simple."
Holly Asturias	"They're here to tell me to be different, too."     "Does that happen to you often?" Natsuki does *not* look like she takes shit from people, though? So if it does, it must end very poorly each time. Or very very poorly!     "This doesn't seem so bad. It's food for thought! Though I suppose I *could* stand to tone it down just a little bit, sometimes."     She knows she does it!     She just...     It's coping, right?     It's what draws attention away from the wound.     "Come to think of it, Natsuki, we've barely ever talked much, have we? How do you feel about hot springs?" "i'm. gllrhck. a little sensitive. that's all. miss holly,"     "Oh! I'm so, *so* sorry," Holly says, genuine, heartfelt, and suddenly a shade paler with concern. Which will definitely not help matters.     "Is this a... medical sensitivity, like an allergy, or a psychological one? Trauma? No, no, I shouldn't be asking, it's your business after all. I suppose in the interest of transparency I should explain that I am a Revenant? Or the word vampire might be more familiar?"     She frets, and she edges closer, straining the pixelated censors like a buttoned shirt three sizes too small.     "If you're sick, I'm sure I have something? Not to worry, nothing in my blood. Medical Formae. Ah... spells?"     Spells is close enough. "Anyone else? Group?"     "Oh! A group project... how wonderful, I've never had to do one of those." She was homeschooled. Obviously.     With SHIROU dragged into the pile, Holly smiles wide, to give him the warmest welcome possible. "Hello! Why that's so many new faces here today? My name is Holly Asturias, but Holly is fine. My you have quite the healthy physique don't you?"     But surely they should be talking about the slides instead of whether Shirou lifts or not? "Propriety is tested every day, in public and in private, by its very nature."     "Propriety..."     Is she not behaving? She's only hugged *one* person. So far.     "Why then yes, I'd love to go over your notes afterwards." Okay well also it's an excuse to MEET PEOPLE YAY and that's really all it's about.
Team Timekeeper	"Is THAT good for the workplace?"     Dolores is a bureaucrat, and thus only acquainted with the supernatural in the form of guidelines and rules. She's familiar with certain radio-based transgressions-- that time Eggman sicced robots on someome by tracking them in the radio, or the constant threat Hiromi poses if she's not filtered-- but, like, she wasn't *in* the field. She glances over at Sonetto for elaboration, who, helpfully, was actually there.     "Ah... Sophont Resources does not have the authority to dictate or assess behaviors performed in the field by and to non-Paladins members. Neither Mr. Parsons nor you are a Chevalier, and the incident occured in Chicago, not over the radio. My apologies." "Our dear Lilian is one of the Commonwealth's most important members, and she has clearly been *most* uncomfortable of late."     "Yes, that's right! Chevalier Rook's well-being is a high priority of ours, and we'd hope that no one in this room today is intentionally sabotaging it!" Dolores's smile is so strained. "But, in everyone's interests, let's keep discussions of Chevalier Rook's body outside of the workplace! Comments like 'emissions' really aren't appropriate, and I'm rrreally glad we're establishing that shared understanding now." "You should really take a shower."     "In fact, let's not comment on anyone's bodies! Even observations that are meant to be compliments are potential for making someone uncomfortable. Now, Rita, how would you rephrase that observation in a productive, respectful way?" "Query: Can I get your number?"     "Ah, no. No thank you, please do not have this conversation here. There will be a section later on in the presentation about making advances on coworkers in work environments, and the pressures implicit in such an interaction." Why is she suddenly so receptive to that energy now?! "I going to call--!"     Sonetto, like a sedate farm animal, looks between Lilian and Holly and Mesmer and every other person making comments on the goop. She, personally, already resolved her opinions about the goop, so the resurgence of this distressing behavior mystifies her slightly. At Lilian's outburst, Sonetto clears her throat, trying to be helpful.     "It appears frustrations with interpersonal conduct are already building in this meeting. Dame Rook, would you like the floor to discuss your perspective on the comments being made about the arcane material linked to your body, and to communicate your boundaries clearly to your coworkers?"
Team Timekeeper	"Perhaps for your betting pool on my sex life."     Scratch, scratch, scratch, from the back of the room. "Ah, please do excuse me. May I ask - is the identification intended for classification of behaviors for the purpose of identification, or examination of behaviors for the purpose of avoidance?"     Sonetto and Ru Li are on a perfectly synergistic wavelength about today's meeting, though Sonetto lives and breathes this exact type of bureaucracy. She adopts the exact same tone as if Ru Li was this excited about a science presentation.     "Our hope today, though it may take some time for behaviors to naturally adjust over the community, is to identify categories of unacceptable behavior, by working up from individual examples, so that every Elite can be educated on what behaviors to avoid, and to call out in others. Categorical examples such as 'harassment', 'unprofessional tone', or 'hostile environments' should be takeaways from this presentation, because external moderation of the broadband is not done." "Um... how come there isn't any text under what the Watch does for the radio?" "Sorry, sorry to interrupt, but it seems like you forgot to add for the Watch there, it says 'Click to add text', still. Um, Dolores?"     By habit, Dolores points out Regulus's raised hand, and by this point she's circulating around the room to be available for everyone's small groups. Peppy and completely substanceless, "Well, Regulus, that's because the Watch's decentralized nature means contributions are attributed to *individuals*, whenever they come up!"     "Regulus, the establishment of Radio APPLe is taking advantage of existing infrastructure, not building it wholecloth. You are a radio pirate. The Commonwealth Communications Board overlooks disparate small-scale Watch access to the radio in order to keep the peace, and because enforcement would be very costly, similar to the British Broadcasting Company of the 1960s." "Is this a magical slide that updates in real time with what we've been saying and doing, or are you very good at prediction?"     "Wowwwww! You've really got a high opinion of us, thanks for the compliment! No, these behaviors are very predictable and commonplace!" "The second parameter is too restrictive for security purposes--"     Dolores jumps when Shockwave raises his voice, then awkwardly laughs it off, facing towards the window from the stage. "Actually, Mr. Shockwave, it's a policy of Sophont Resources to not try to manage the official *conflicts* between Elites in the course of mission objectives! Obviously, we don't endorse psychological warfare tactics in usage among Chevaliers, but you're not under our jurisdiction for that. We're only concerned with interpersonal behavior-- actually, what a great time to give an example! Sonetto, could you come present a scenario with me?"     The two of them stand facing each other, while Dolores talks over her shoulder to the audience. She mimes walking, and then stopping in front of her. "So let's say Sonetto and I cross paths in the office every day. And when I see her, I say something like... 'looking good, Sonetto! It looks like you've lost weight!'" "Ah, thank you." "Um, in this scenario, you should set a boundary." "Oh. Dolores, I am uncomfortable with comments made about my body. Please compliment my hair instead." "See! Now that's establishing a boundary! And now let's say I refuse, because... 'what, it's just a compliment!', or instead, next time when we pass each other, I touch her hair without asking." ". . ." "Let's say I touch her hair without asking." "Oh-- no, please don't do that. I'm not comfortable with that physical contact." "Now, if I kept it up, I'd be in trouble! That's when I'd get called into this room again, and no one wants that!"
Foundation Scions	'There is no need to be sharing medical information with those apart from a healer.'     "A doctor, actually. A nonprofessional 'healer' has no assurance of ascribing to policy on privacy and ethics. I can't recommend their usage, let alone confidence." Oddly prickly! That's arcanist medicine, or close-enough to the wording! 'And Lady Rook is a healer, besides.'     "Her doctorate isn't in medical practice," Mesmer says, about the wrong Mrs. Rook. . . . 'Point One'     "People should avoid doing that! It feels very badly to be talked over! Especially one such as I, who has useful and astute things to remark on, only! To wait properly in turn, and listen to all who have spoken, clearly- that is what I would advise the younger students at the SPDM when they misbehave! It is the same." 'Point Two'     "Again, that is quite rude! I can recall moments of this!" A little huffy sigh, "It is the same, that people ought to be listend to, promptly and completely! Hmph." 'Point Three'     "Je ne converse qu'à un volume très modéré." She's getting a little bit upset to be here! "Regulus, you know this to be true! I'm quite nice, and helpful, and smart, and even-tempered! Everyone always says this about the polite Matilda Bouanich!"     "You are instructed and asked-politely to agree with me. Merci beaucoup." 'Point Four'     "Hein? Who has been doing that?" She's caught onto the dynamic of the meeting by now, at least. "Surely, it is uncomfortable and a violation of privacy, which, is very rude! Do not do this!" Matilda missed Mesmer's tirades, on account of Mesmer hogging her one broadband radio! Chat, she doesn't know! 'Point Five'     A little more relieved, "Je ne fais pas ça. Phew!" A hum, and a desk pencil-tap, "It is important to keep in mind, that many uncomfortable things, discomfort others! One should ask before sharing stories of grisly, or, over-friendly content, no?" That sounds like what's written in handbooks! She brought Foundation handbooks to study, but... ran out of time. Ah.
Shockwave	Shockwave just stares at the response to his query and he intones:     "We are not cowokers. Your categorization is, even by my cold logical standards, absurd."     A pure logical swift answer to the proposed bureaucracy. His explanation of the restrictions of the 2nd parameter had been overlooked, but that was what he expected of the organization of organics.
Lilian Rook	'This is so interesting, is it not?'     "It's Hu-- It's Sophont Resources." Lilian sighs. "It is what it is."     'I had never imagined mortals handling this sort of thing this way!'     "The mortal who imagined it is most certainly burning in hell." says the woman who might frankly benefit the most from it here. "Don't call it disciplinary, or they'll get cross at you, by the way." Huh?     'Who is it that's expressing a large volume of impulse repressive cerebral-electromagnetic fluctuation-patterns on the-'     "Could we please avoid literally Thought Policing here today?" says Lilian, already deeply exasperated by Mesmer's presence. Then her eyes blink wide open as she realizes that Mesmer is being sickened by the usual mental nosie that she's learned to tune out from Rita years ago, and that's why she's behaving so queasy, and-- "Oh thank god." Lilian whispers.     'We were asked to consider that which may be done better, but the answer of, 'do not do this' does seem rather simplistic. Shall we examine it further, then?'     "Absolutely. That sounds just perfect to me." says Lilian, who now gets to smugly agree with her wife. The improvement to her mood is so immediate that she even giggles as Tamamo starts mocking Mesmer in a barely even deniable way. "Naturally, one wonders what can be done about the inclusion of such a personality, resilient to reprimand and correction, in an otherwise functional work environment. Perhaps it would be constructive to discuss steps by which we might all come together as a community to minimize the impact of such highy motivated bad behaviour. For instance . . ."     Lilian pauses to think. Touching her nail to her chin, she stares at the mountain peaks across the beautiful lake through the gorgeous panoramic window, unaware of her triangles forming a thin black halo that rotates like a loading spinny behind her. At the moment they collapse, making a noise like a snapped finger, she blinks and says "Wow, all five of those examples have happened to me multiple times before. Is there any point to anonymizing these?"
Ru Li	As Sonetto falls into proving that Someone Else Is As Excited About This As Ru Li, Ru Li *almost* forgets that he's in a group. Sheer delight leads him to, "Excellent! I was hoping for exactly that answer!" He beams. "You are very good at this! I am so glad I was able to attend today!"
Flamel Parsons	Flamel immediately dives into conversation as he brings his chair over, making sure to sit astride it leaning over the back to make sure that the conversation *keeps it real*. - During a conversation, one party repeatedly talks another party, interrupting them or restating their contributions more loudly.     "There's a certain psychohazard we deal with about this! We call this the 'Main Character'." Flamel explains his input as he chatters with Shockwave and Riku. "It's actually not the interruption itself, but the implications, you know-- you're saying, 'my personal input must be the driving force of the discussion', in an unstructured way, but broadly, 'I'm the main character of this topic, my internal mental world matters most.'" He beams. "And it disobeys timing rules of improv, to boot!" - After repeated requests to stop, colleagues continue to make comments that overstep boundaries set by another person.     "A boundary is sort of like an interesting toy! If you discover another person has a kind of button you can push to cause an effect, certain minds become tempted to push that." He wags a finger informingly. "It also gets seen as a violation of autonomy. An assertion that someone *thinks* you'd do something inappropriate if you went somewhere, so you become tempted to show that it's not all that bad. Very bad psychic patterns! It's only polite to do it telepathically, and only with the license." He smiles so wide. "That's where the boundaries can psychically attack you for doing it!" - During an argument, voices are raised and dismissive comments are made.     "Yeah, that one does happen all the time. That's why I make sure to *never, ever* scream, actually. Most of my voice-raising faculties are kept offline and suppressed, unless I'm in a pretty bad way." - Someone shares private personal or medical information about another Elite with people who don't need to know, inciting gossip.     He leans in with Riku and nods several times. "Yeah. It's rude! That's why I always redact a lot of the records about mind dives." - Someone volunteers their own private information in a public forum, potentially making others uncomfortable.     "I don't know about that. That sounds odd. There's no such thing as too much sharing of internal information and secrets and things like that, as long as they're not abhorrent. Any secrets about yourself you've discovered recently you feel like sharing?"
Foundation Scions	'And when I see her, I say something like... 'looking good, Sonetto! It looks like you've lost weight!''     Being vry quiet, because Matilda Bouanich has enough tact to know that murmuring this in an HR meeting is Bad, but still aloud, because nothing ever comes of anything, "Quoi? A-t-elle perdu du poids?" Intent Staring, and then lets out a dreamy sigh, "Quoi qu'il en soit, elle est la personne idéale..."
Natsuki Nuki	"Hey. Rita, right?" Natsuki greets, vaguely remembering, fingerwaving with thumb, index, and middle fingers as 'her' group gathers. "I didn't shout names, but it looks like we've gathered anyway. Still, these questions are a little inane, right? Like some of them are trick questions." Natsuki drawls, having been assigned or gathered a Team. There's even some partners! And a boy with huge pecs? Jeeeeeeeez! Natsuki leans in to Shirou to flutter-laugh ask: "Are you a [Corn Fed Cow-Boy]?" she asks in syllabic engrish, grinning. The SR ladies aren't doing observation. It's fine! She's saying he's farm equipment but in a positive sense. That's fine, right? 'My you have quite the healthy physique don't you?' "I know, right? He's so..." Lurid, for a moment, in her potent pausing, and the way her eyes saccade down and back up as a dewdrop of meaning. "Well-built. I'm surprised." She says this under the discussion about what people can do better about not saying personal comments. She doesn't give a fuck. Or, rather, she does specifically, and that's the problem. It is as Lilian feared.
Swords of Justice	"'TamamoJianyaRuLiMedusa!!'"      Medusa turns off her phone, stuffing it back into her coat pocket as she stands up. "Alri-."      She's about to move to over to Lilian, but is grabbed by Natsuki. There's a very brief moment it feels like she won't budge as she widens her stance and leans forward, but she realizes that a contest of strength probably isn't the best thing to be doing in a classroom and just lets herself be pulled along instead. Some might consider it nice to be wanted like this, Medusa just considers it a curse. She just adjusts her hat and sighs.      Shirou meanwhile, raises a hand at Riku and Flamel only to also be stolen away. He can't do anything, but you can be sure that there's an entire novel's worth of internal monologue about how screwed he is and all of his options are worthless in the face of this Herculean trial. But perhaps, his indomitable human spirit will- Not work. Damn.      "Group project time, lady. Your pet can help us, maybe he's good at quizzes."      "We're equals..."      Medusa thinks this, though she doesn't say it out loud. It's funnier to her when people assume this even if it's wrong.      Questions      Medusa, at some point during her kidnapping, had grabbed a piece of paper and a pen, having already written down her suggestions, using the pen in her hand to point to each answer as she went over them.      "Context doesn't matter. This is how you should deal with these problems. For the first one, kill the individual as a warning and make it clear that obnoxious parroting is not to be tolerated. For the second one, kill the person overstepping boundaries as a warning to other people to make it clear that one's personal space is important. The third one is tough, but I choose to interpret the dismissive comments as coming from a third party, which means they should be killed as an example that you should keep out of problems that are not your own. No comment on the fourth one. For the fifth one, kill the oversharer as an example, those kinds of perverts should not be tolerated." Shirou just kind of looks at Medusa in horror. There are a lot of things he could say, but instead he just kind of murmurs.      "You can't say that at HR..."      Medusa frowns, before quickly correcting herself.      "Replace all instances of 'kill' with 'unalive'."
Flamel Parsons	Mesmer said, "Everyone present should have eaten before coming here. That's it, that's all. Parsons, this is your fault, isn't it?"     "Not it!" Flamel calls from the other side of the room. "I'm normal, I don't have any high-volume impulses to repress. Society largely approves of just about every psychic signal that comes from my heart, *or* stomach."
Riku Asakura	Shockwave seems actually uninterested in the scenarios... well, it's not like they can MAKE him participate.  Why did he bother agreeing to the group in the first place?   'We call this the 'Main Character'' Riku has a few ideas of who might consider themselves a 'Main Character' around here, but he's careful not to actually think them out loud in front of a telepath.  "Uh... right.  I just think a lot of people do this." 'A boundary is sort of like an interesting toy!' God, that is such a weird thing to say.  "How about we just... you know, respect boundaries?  Also, don't think of them as 'toys'?" He's really beginning to regret falling on Flamel. 'That's why I make sure to *never, ever* scream, actually.' Well okay, that's... true.  "Not even when you're alone, or like... walk into another room to just let out some steam?" Are we sure this is healthy?  This really seems unhealthy. '<CENSORBAR>' "I still have no idea how you say that," Riku admits.  "Also, I sort of don't want to know." 'Any secrets about yourself you've discovered recently you feel like sharing?' Riku tilts slightly at Flamel; you can almost hear the grinding of machinery when he does it.  "Uh.  You shouldn't share everything with everyone.  That's very uncomfortable, you know?  Oversharing is probably as bad as undersharing."
Rita Ma	"Um... it's... just sensory, Ms. Holly," Rita lies, while her eyes are fixated a foot below eye level. The mosaic-censoring over Holly's Hollies is starting to give way in little flickers. Fuuuuck.      "There's... past experiences! Not that you, um, being a vampire bothers me. Or that it ought to bother anybody. I'll be okay. I promise."      . . .      "Mmm! It's nice to see you again, Ms. Natsuki," Rita says, with a bit of only-half-artificial pep. Finally, she can scribble in notebooks and talk about group activities. That's normal. And it's someplace else for her eyeballs to rest.      ¤ During a conversation, one party repeatedly talks another party, interrupting them or restating their contributions more loudly.      "what if there's someone snivelling in a meeting?"      "If they were invited to the meeting, their feelings are important, Ms. Natsuki. Everybody ought to be heard. Let's ask the first person to please stop interrupting, and ask the second person why they're snivelling."      ¤ After repeated requests to stop, colleagues continue to make comments that overstep boundaries set by another person.      "Escalate until the behavior ceases."      Rita reflects guiltily on nubblies. "Um, yeah. That could work."      ¤ During an argument, voices are raised and dismissive comments are made.      "There's no bad behavior there."      "Mmm. Sometimes friends and family fight, I guess, but this is about treating 'elites' as coworkers, right? Is it a good workplace if people yell?"      ¤ Someone shares private personal or medical information about another Elite with people who don't need to know, inciting gossip.      No comment. Rita looks even guiltier, then glances aside to project her guilt onto Holly.      ¤ Someone volunteers their own private information in a public forum, potentially making others uncomfortable.      Oh god. Even guiltier still. "The fifth one's... probably bad, yeah..."      Finally she takes notice of the existence of a boy. Taking inspiration from Sonetto on-stage:      "Mister Shirou? Are you... comfortable with these two calling you a 'corn-fed cow-boy'? How do you feel?" She narrowly avoids calling him a 'milkboy', thankfully.
Tamamo	'It is so inefficient, yet purposefully so! I have never seen anything like it!'     Tamamo, who hadn't had anything like the spare time to consider this, says, "Is it?" Then, "I am unsure whether 'disciplinary' is... no, I suppose this sort of thing is... 'one cannot say that we did not make an attempt.'"     '...such a discussion to be solved through blows instead of public argument!'     "Ah? Through violence?"     'It's made appropriate by the redaction of identifying information. That's all that needs to be done.'     Tamamo waggles her finger in front of Mesmer, metronome to a tongue-clicking that isn't actually audible. "No! That is incorrect, Mesmer Junior. That is a mishandling." Her arm only now retracts. "Information that is not protected in itself becomes protected should it be accompanied by other information that allows a linkage to be made. The context, as it were, counteracts the redaction. If one can ascertain that a report speaks of an individual based on the one who is speaking, or on statements made prior, then the individual is not anonymous, you see?" All of this is true, if only in jurisdictions that more than half-ass it.     'Vertin's condition seemed worthwhile to speak on at the time.'     "What improvements to public well-being were brought about by this?"     Just enough of a pause for one to consider an answer, and then, conspiratorially low but not whispered, "Have you yet apologized?" That wasn't on the slides.     'What is the proper way to amend this offense?'     "Trust, when broken, is difficult to regain, even if one should make an earnest effort. The most common punishment for such a thing is delivered whether by an individual or by an authority, in that one will no longer be trusted with that which was abused. This means, of course, that no amending of the offense does occur. As you say, Jianya, it is not something easily undone. Where law is concerned, it becomes instead a matter of avoiding further harm. In lesser cases, one may consider further instruction sufficient."     Tamamo pauses, thinking. "Consider, however, the prior case, of one who does not heed requests to cease. If such a case is also occurring, then instruction will not be accepted. Is there any course of safety, then, but to remove the offender from their position? There is nothing that can be offered that is equal in value to another's secrets, including one's own."     'A doctor, actually. A nonprofessional 'healer' has no assurance of ascribing to policy on privacy and ethics.'     "No, Mesmer Junior. 'Healer' is the correct term. A 'doctor' is an expert in some field, which may or may not be medical."     'Her doctorate isn't in medical practice.'     "Have you forgotten my name?" There's no hostility in tone.
Shockwave	Shockwave stared at Flamel for a few moments after listening. The words made absolutely no sense whatsoever, thus he filtered them as swiftly as possible through encryption codes. Nothing. Then he realizes that it is a summarization filled with embellishments and subversion tactics to sway opinion.     That was when Shockwave STOOD UP slowly, the energon-chair that he had produced earlier being absorbed effortlessly back into he barrel of his armcannon.     His head swiveled to Mesmer Jr. for a moment before looking back to Flamel's group.     "Good cycle."     That was as best he could output.     "What I have seen is sufficient. I terminate my involvement in this experiment before it properly begins. Results intentions are bias. I recuse."     The decepticon pivoted and then began to hover, emitting gravitational waves that restored the terrain where he had modified it, as well as carried him through the gaseous atmosphere back down to the security area and through the warp gate.
Lilian Rook	'Yes, that's right! Chevalier Rook's well-being is a high priority of ours, and we'd hope that no one in this room today is intentionally sabotaging it!'     Lilian glances over at Dolores when hearing her name. Her stare is worried. Her expression is troubled. DC 10 Sense Motive: Wait how much do you know?     'But, in everyone's interests, let's keep discussions of Chevalier Rook's body outside of the workplace!'     "Nearly eight years . . ." Lilian sighs.     'Dame Rook, would you like the floor to discuss your perspective on the comments being made about the arcane material linked to your body, and to communicate your boundaries clearly to your coworkers?'     Lilian murmurs, only half-quietly, "I made some grand promises about the suicide, but lord does Sonetto have hands." She clears her throat like she doesn't think half the room heard that. "No, presenter, I don't believe that will be necessary. Presenter Dolores has already established boundaries I find perfectly acceptable. These boundaries have been repeatedly communicated in past." Unwisely, she adds "It is what it is." with a defeatist smile, in an attempt to be friendly and reassuring.     Oh god please not the notepad. It makes her triangles sweat.     'Ah, thank you.'     '. . .'     'Oh-- no, please don't do that. I'm not comfortable with that physical contact.'     Lilian gets out her phone again and opens up her incredibly cluttered reminders program. In front of god and everyone, she types a tab for 'WORRYING: Discuss with Sonetto / Subject: Strangers taking advantage of permissiveness' and hits enter.     'Of course, this is impolite, and not constructive towards a productive conversation.'     Chuyao is literally the one person in the room Lilian can expect to get free points for working with. Anything flirty she says to her wife will be forgiven, and anything Ru Li says will be excuses as naÏvete, but Chuyao can simply do no wrong. Even if he did, he's a guy!     "It may perhaps be useful to consider informing the interrupting party that the community wishes to be able to hear what the interrupted party has to say, and that their input has already been heard and acknowledged."     'The proper way forward is, of course, to apologize after the boundary has been transgressed.'     §Apparently the proper way forward is an HR meeting.§     "Indeed."     'This ineloquent scholar owes brother Flamel and apology.'     "You're a saint, Jianya. But I think all of us know that certain arguments, over certain very important topics, will inevitably become heated, and that apology and correction is all our responsibilities."     'What is the proper way to amend this offense?'     "Well, ordinarily the employer immediately fires and revokes the license of the person responsible." she says, over Mesmer's confused protest. "Otherwise, I suppose it may be best to limit the individual's radio access until the victim chooses which charges they wish to press, or remedial action is otherwise undertaken."     ''While elder brother's trust in us is appreciated, these details are perhaps best kept in private.' How does that sound?'     "Marvelous!"     §Elder sister. It's always going to be an Elder sister.§
Foundation Scions	'Could we please avoid literally Thought Policing here today?' 'I'm normal, I don't have any high-volume impulses to repress.'     Outwards to the room- (sorry, Lilian, it isn't that,) Mesmer states, "I've been ill all morning, and it's not assisted by the- leaking, that's occurring."     A pause, to seal away nausea with a deep breath, "I'm not pointing fingers at anyone else in particular. I feel put-upon and distressed by the ambient intensity of these thought-patterns, and I would appreciate more internal moderation. That's actionable, and polite. Thank you."     She actually looks to Sally and Dolores- and Sonetto, of course and especially, hoping for approval in this statement. Loser.
Regulus	''That's because the Watch's decentralized nature means...'' "But those aren't listed there either...!" Regulus whines before looking to Sonetto for support only to get taken down in a super finishing move. "W..well..maybe it should say the Watch ''stealthfully helpfully infiltrates' the radio then...?" She'd be totally distracted by this side-topic if it wasn't for Matilda ending up on her team. ''Matilda's Point One'' "That makes sense." Regulus says. "But there's like a hundred people on the radio or something, that kind of makes it hard not to talk over people doesn't it? You, like, start talking then someone else starts talking and then everybody is talking at the same time--" ''Matilda's Point Two'' #-1 INVALID ANSI DEFINITION: 1783 "Oh, yeah, I definitely recall a lot of moments like that." Regulus says, apparently assuming this is referring to other people. ''Matilda's Point Three'' "Um, I didn't... I didn't say you raised your voice." Regulus is starting to sound uneasy like she just stepped on a landmine by inviting Matilda on the team, but she likes Matilda, even if she's only in Matilda's top ten list of best friends and not top five like she'd hoped! "Everybody...does seem pretty delighted to have you on the band. I remember when you weren't on the band for a while everybody got worried, and then again when you were sick. Don't worry, Matilda! I agree!" She offers her a thumbsup, though her smile is looking a little strained. ''Hein? Who has been doing that?'' Don't look at Mesmer, don't look at Mesmer, don't go 'Obviously Mesmer' who else has mentioned someone else's private medical information over the band? Gahhh she can only keep thinking about Mesmer it's stuck in her head she can't come up with anything. "I'm uh... I'm sure that it's only there for completeness..." Regulus lies through her teeth. ''One should ask before sharing stories of grisly, or, over-friendly content, no?'' "You know, actually I do have an example of that one. Sometimes APPLe offers to let me eat him should we run out of food and I'm like 'nooo' but..." "C..captain!" APPLe says. "I assure you I'm only worried about your wellbeing!" "But when you offer yourself up like that so often it makes me feel a little uncomfortable, you're my best mate! I don't want to eat you." She looks over to Rita. "I mean, take Rita for example. Hey Rita! You wouldn't like it if your friends offered themselves up to be eaten by you at the first sign of hunger, right?" She's clearly imagining like a chicken dinner Awakened or something. "Oh Captain... I didn't know, I just worry..." "It's okay, love, I love you you're my best mate, and my best first mate, but this seemed like the right place to get in on it--" "Captain...!" "APPLe!" Tearfully they embrace each other and spin around in their chair.
Riku Asakura	'Shockwave leaving.' Riku just stares blankly at the now-moving-away Shockwave.  Why did he agree to be on a team with them at all?  What is going on here? "Why did he agree to be on our team?"
Flamel Parsons	Riku said, "How about we just... you know, respect boundaries?"     "Yeah, absolutely. Those things can bite really hard and just, shake, you know, until bone breaks. Trust me, I've had one clamped on hard, their jaws are like bear-traps." Flamel is nodding agreeably. He bounces a hand in an excited explanation. "I've actually seen an agent try to look into someone's bad divorce and just get ripped apart by a pack of them. Took an astral leg off, the works."     Riku asked, "...walk into another room to just let out some steam?"     "Oh, god no. 'Venting' is a scam invented by big emotion to sell more emotion."     Riku said, "I still have no idea how you say that."     "Mouth."     "Oversharing is probably as bad as undersharing."     "I don't think that's true. Isn't that the premise of 'blog'?"     "Good cycle." Shockwave said.     "Good cycle!" Flamel beams. Then, briefly, he leans out of the group and whispers at the SR staff, "Um, for Cybertronians, are cycles, are those time, or people?" He leans back into the group and gives such a cheery wave! "I know that bias! Say hi for me, I still owe him a beer and several lengthy answers to hypotheticals that are both dangerous and inexcusable." And there he goes.
Swords of Justice	"Are you a Corn Fed Cow-Boy?"      "Kon...feddo... Kauboi???"      The gears of Shirou's brain starts turning as while the Multiverse makes him understand what Natsuki said, he's still got to work backward a bit to decipher just what she meant by this. It doesn't take that long to figure out, though. He just sighs, rubbing his brow in frustration.      "No. Japanese Fed Cow-Boy."      He could explain how he messed up following some guy's combination workout and cooking blog, but he feels like that'd take too much time. Instead, he just shakes his head and solemnly belts out his response in engrish to Natsuki.
Chuyao He	Chuyao's decision to call on Lilian and Tamamo as part of example number four's clear relevance to Mesmer has the intended effect. For now.     Unless of course it's a matter of public well-being.     A warm smile is given Mesmer's way. "One must, of course, be prudent and circumspect in deciding whether another's health is a matter of public safety," he says, index helpfully lifted, "For once the information has been disseminated, it is difficult to contain after. It would not do to allow personal notions of another to influence such a decision--indeed, few would seek out a healer who makes frivolous decisions based on biases. I, the ineloquent scholar, hope these thoughts will be received in the spirit they are given, to ensure such incidents do not occur in the future." Now that's establishing a boundary! And now let's say I refuse, because... 'what, it's just a compliment!', or instead, next time when we pass each other, I touch her hair without asking. Wow, all five of those examples have happened to me multiple times before.     Chuyao watches the demonstration, nodding along. "The examples set forth by our hosts, and the experiences of the Dame Commander, have been most illuminating. Does sister Mesmer have any thoughts on how to observe the boundaries of others and contribute to a collaborative atmosphere?" For the first one, kill the individual as a warning and make it clear that obnoxious parroting is not to be tolerated.      "Sister Medusa's thoughts are also illuminating," Chuyao says civilly. "This approach... it guarantees compliance, but fosters resentment. The rites will be observed, but not sincerely. This leads to a continued need for correction, because they are not understood. Surely, sister Medusa has better things to do than to be an imperial executioner?" It may perhaps be useful to consider informing the interrupting party that the community wishes to be able to hear what the interrupted party has to say, and that their input has already been heard and acknowledged.     Chuyao notes this down eagerly and with a grateful nod. "Ah, a most considerate and reasoned response..." But I think all of us know that certain arguments, over certain very important topics, will inevitably become heated, and that apology and correction is all our responsibilities.     "The Dame Commander's counsel is most appreciated. This lowly scholar will take it to heart."     Complimented on his calligraphy, he looks over his shoulder to meet Ru Li's gaze with a smile. "Ru Li is very kind to say so. It is reassuring to know that my education at the Five Virtues School did not altogether go to waste. Perhaps at a later time, we could match couplets? This lowly scholar's true passion is poetry."
Team Timekeeper	Natsuki pulls a pack of cigarettes and a lighter out of her jacket pocket,     Unprompted, but with exactly as much enthusiastic helpfulness as if she was asked, Dolores informs Natsuki, "Smoking area's just out the hall and to the right, the last doors on your right before the stairs!" "Everyone always says this about the polite Matilda Bouanich!"     Sonetto, also doing circuits around the room, happens to pass by Matilda while she's demanding that everyone in her group listen to everything she says. Like a teacher, she knocks on Matilda's desk to get her attention.     "Please leave room for all of your colleagues to respond. We will be doing a listening exercise soon, which may also prove to be useful." "You are very good at this! I am so glad I was able to attend today!"     "Thank you! I am not typically in the position of employee behavioral management, but I have read the St. Pavlov Foundation human resources guideline books three times through, so I am glad to hear I was well prepared." "Good cycle."     As Shockwave leaves, Dolores makes a briefly disappointed expression. Under her breath, she mumbles, "Aww. That was our only robotic attendee."     And then, with the group discussions winding down, it's time for the next activity! This slide appears to contain nothing of note at all, but Dolores and Sonetto act as if there's a bunch of really important information contained within those circles.     "Alright! Next up, we'll be doing a listening exercise! When it comes to personality clashes on the radio, there's many cases where those two people would get along just fine, as long as they heard each other out! But in such a fast-paced and emotional environment, we often don't give each other the space to just speak, and be heard."     "For this activity, please return to your groups. Each of you, in turn, express a mild frustration you have experienced in an interpersonal context, for sixty to one hundred and twenty seconds. During this time, groups members should practice listening skills, not interrupting or distracting from the frustration, and then prove their attentive listening by summarizing the conflict and the emotional response. Ask one open-ended question to elaborate on feelings or solutions, then switch roles."
Holly Asturias	"But, in everyone's interests, let's keep discussions of Chevalier Rook's body outside of the workplace!"     "Even though it's quite the stunner."     Is that how you say it?     She's almost sure it is. "Um... it's... just sensory, Ms. Holly,"     "Oh! And here I've been making it worse."     Now she feels bad!     But anything she does would assuredly make things worse, not better. And so in the same wind she asks Natsuki about whether she likes hot springs or not, her reflex is to flip that to Rita too.     "Ah, on the subject of hot springs. As apology, perhaps you'd like to spend an evening in some? I happen to have a number on my property," she says, trying to be just a bit more formal to impress her apology, "Which are also charged with healing Formae. In other words, they'll rejuvenate more than just your mind. I'm, I admit, always looking for a bit of company these days, but if you'll permit this invitation to make up for my indiscretions?" She wants to apologize!     ... and the matter of the slides...     The way people talk about it.     Lilian up front and center.     She might owe Lilian an entire week's worth of access to the hot springs. Oh! But then if the research pays off... a lifetime membership. "For this activity, please return to your groups. Each of you, in turn, express a mild frustration you have experienced in an interpersonal context, for sixty to one hundred and twenty seconds."     "They've put so much work into this..."     Holly ponders, and ponders, and finally settles on something for Shirou, Natsuki and Rita. "Hmm... once, someone came to my hospital and acted quite critical of the whole installation. I hadn't--" She stops. She looks at Rita. She sweats a bit, and tries to get around having to say she was starving. "--erm, well, I wasn't feeling well, to begin with. I'm afraid in my frustration I used that person's trauma against them. It was *terribly* unprofessional of me. I did apologize, but, I suppose it stuck a bit."     Oh wow she's capable of being serious for a second?     Maybe two whole seconds?
Natsuki Nuki	'Context doesn't matter. This is how you should deal with these problems.' "Oh? She's got a vision?" Natsuki asks before sickos yes'ing through the entire line. "Oh wowww, you're so right? Even if I'd say a little birdsong's more than fine, it's a sudden yet fair verdict. Escalating all the way to the top *is* escalation, and it just works for all these problems!" Clapping and huyu-huyu giggling around the flutter of birdsong caught in her throat, Natsuki settles only after a few moments to enjoy her mood. 'If they were invited to the meeting, their feelings are important, Ms. Natsuki.' Natsuki sighs and nods slowly. "I should reduce the headcount of the meetings. You're right. Less snivelling." A beat passes. "Oh is this just about the radio? I like Ms. Medusa's answer more - execute the parrot. If someone is snivelling on the radio I know why." 'Is it a good workplace if people yell?' Natsuki thinks on that for a moment, and then shrugs and points back. "Is it a good workplace if they can't at all? Raising your voice can be necessary, carve through issues, or snap circumstances loose. If nobody can *ever* express distress, ever use their upper range, never roar, does that recognize and hear them?" 'No. Japanese Fed Cow-Boy.' "Ohh! A Kobe boy?" Natsuki asks, dapping Shirou on the shoulder and laughing some more, before letting him off with that. A warning!! 'Smoking area's just out the hall and to the right, the last doors on your right before the stairs!' "I didn't even light it!!" Natsuki protests, like she can ward the cops away with facts and logic. She *did* get out a lighter - and then put it away. She is given to the Mild Vent challenge. Natsuki begins? By listening!
Riku Asakura	'Trust me, I've had one clamped on hard, their jaws are like bear-traps.' Riku stares blankly at Flamel for a few moments.  "Or... perhaps we respect them because we respect other people and instead don't respect them because you might get psychically mauled." ''Venting' is a scam invented by big emotion to sell more emotion.' Riku just stares at Flamel like he's grown a second head.  "There is no such thing." 'Mouth.' Riku cringes like Flamel said 'moist'.   'That was our only robotic attendee.' "Apparently you can't just categorize them like that," Riku says, a bit dejected.  Not because he made this mistake, but because it might have caused someone harm. 'Each of you, in turn, express a mild frustration you have experienced in an interpersonal context, for sixty to one hundred and twenty seconds.' He swears this is more busywork than actual exercise.  Still... might as well do it and not get in trouble or have to stay in this corporate hell for all eternity. "Alright, I'll go first..." he says to Flamel and then turns to him.  "A mild frustration I have had..." Hmm... "Well, I have had a mild frustration about a certain someone," Matilda, "About not fully grasping something that I felt needed to be done.  Instead, they seem to ignore its significance and perhaps even profit from doing anything but confront the issue."
Chuyao He	Each of you, in turn, express a mild frustration you have experienced in an interpersonal context, for sixty to one hundred and twenty seconds.     Chuyao, in his group, lifts his hand, and waits until acknowledged to share his interpersonal frustrations.     After clearing his throat, "There is someone who routinely transgresses the boundaries of others, from behind the veil of polite pleasantries, and, almost strategically, waiting for the cover of more blatant bad behavior from others to do so. His manners are insincere affectations, and because they do not come from a sincere desire to be respectful, he resists correction by means of the path of least resistance, apoligizing after the damage is done, only to do more damage the following week. Most recently, he cast a blatant aspersion onto the personal life and aspirations of a respected colleague, which is emblematic of his habitual impropriety. Seeking and maintaining respectful atmosphere is frustrating and needlessly difficult in light of his efforts to avoid it."
Ru Li	Sunnily, Ru Li says to Sonetto, "You are very prepared! May I borrow a copy of that guideline book at some point? Oh, and any others you may enjoy! I would like to read them. I will return them to you in the same condition they were loaned, of course!"      >Please express a mild frustration you have experienced in an interpersonal context      "I sat in-"      No, the Chamber of Divinities is not *mild* frustration.      "I had to-"      No, explaining to a gigantic energetic god-boat and a somewhat undignified assassin how radios work is not interpersonal conflict even if you wanted to punch both of them by the time they finally figured out that the light meant 'on'.      "I-"      No, that's not interpersonal conflict, that's fond teasing, and he reciprocated in kind.      "There-"      No, Riku isn't a conflict, Riku has been listening to him. He's not frustrated with Riku at all.      Ru Li genuinely sits there as everyone else talks, thinking. The quiet sound of ticking inside his body accelerates very slightly as he tries to come up with *something* that would be called 'mild' frustration.      "...people are very hostile to each other over the radio. Sometimes I worry that it will hurt people I care about in ways other than simply physical. Sometimes I worry that the people I care about will come to blows more emotional than can be healed. It is very stressful, to be on the outside of these things, unable to intervene lest I make the problem worse or cause myself harm in the process."
Flamel Parsons	"There is no such thing." Riku had said.     "That's just your feelings talking."     "Alright, I'll go first..."     Flamel's engagement with this is actually rather sincere. He waits, he listens. Hands are clasped. He's still doing his keeping-it-real backwards-sitting thing, nodding along. I mean, this is sort of a gimmie, Flamel Parsons has actually *never* had trouble listening to psychological insight, in a sense. He even gently tunes in on the *target* of Riku's feelings, which is a bit too much, stop glancing over at Matilda, Flamel. But he patiently nods. "Mmm... Mhm?" He prompts Riku to kleep going until he's at the end of his explanation...     "What sort of thing were you hoping to have done? Profit... So, do you think it's less about discomfort paralyzing her, and more about an inappropriate self-interest messing with her judgment?" And he taps his chin... "Do you think more people should be backing you up and helping you when dealing with her? Or do you think, the only way to fix things would be if *she* changed, herself?"     It's sincere interest and prompting, but, uh, he *is* clearly saying 'she' when Riku said 'they' because he picked up thoughts to go with the words.
Riku Asakura	'That's just your feelings talking.' Riku squints at Flamel.  What did he expect?  To actually get anywhere? 'Her' "I specifically avoided saying he or she and used 'they'," Riku immediately states in a partial objection. To the first question, Riku crosses his arms and thinks.  "That they'd advocate for the majority instead of only thinking of their own personal gain." He says, thinking about it.  To the second, "It's definitely self-interest." To the next question, he shrugs, "Maybe?  But I also understand wanting to put it behind them and move forward.  Though sometimes I feel like I am the only one actually concerned about it.  I do feel if they themselves changed, it'd make the situation better, but..." he shrugs.  Like he doesn't expect her to change. "Oh, uh... I guess it's my turn to listen?"
Swords of Justice	"Surely, sister Medusa has better things to do than to be an imperial executioner?"      "I would rather solve the current problem in a permanent fashion. This gives me more time to do 'better things'."      "Each of you, in turn, express a mild frustration you have experienced in an interpersonal context, for sixty to one hundred and twenty seconds."      Shirou doesn't have anything he's willing to share. What would he say? Oh yeah, I really didn't like it when I was raked over the coals by my friend when I said another friend of mine should act more womanly several years ago? How about the priest that he hates that got under his nerves just by talking? Sure, he was a monster, but he didn't like him before that. So what does that leave? Being confused and exasperated at being called 'WcDonalds boy' or spending a year trying to protect his manly ego when he was called a 'fatass'? No... He's good. He just gives a sympathetic nod at Holly's story and lets out a pained yelp at Natsuki's slap.      Medusa meanwhile, takes all of five seconds to think about something that bothered her.      "There was a time that Parsons admitted to creating simulations of the people he meets inside his head and subjecting them to experiments. While I do not personally care what he's doing to the me inside his head, I wish he didn't share this information because I don't know what I'm supposed to do with it."
Lilian Rook	'Even though it's quite the stunner.'     "For the thousandth time--!" Lilian whines, red-faced, only to cut herself off because she figures she's probably just feeding the fire at this point.     'What improvements to public well-being were brought about by this?'     "Absolutely none, of course. In the fist place, the observations provided information that only incited others to belligerence, fostered anti-Foundation sentiment, and emotionally upset Ch-- ief Investigator Sonetto. The correct approach was as Miss Sonetto did at the time."     'Is there any course of safety, then, but to remove the offender from their position? There is nothing that can be offered that is equal in value to another's secrets, including one's own.'     "I wonder . . ." Lilian sighs, unhappily.     'Have you forgotten my name?'     "I think she's just being a bit stupid this time." Lilian says, half-heartedly, squeezing Tamamo's hand back now.     'Replace all instances of 'kill' with 'unalive'.'     Lilian barely passes a save not to bark a laugh. "A bold suggestion." she says, to someone in another group, because she dibsed her. "But Jianya is, I believe, correct. Though we live in a moment where people don't observe the rights at all, we must aim for the future where they do sincerely, and not a 'good enough' measure between."     'Smoking area's just out the hall and to the right, the last doors on your right before the stairs!'     Lilian openly stares at Mesmer and silently prays. The shifting metallic constellation unconsciously orbits doorwards, due to a shift in some lagrange point.     'Alright! Next up, we'll be doing a listening exercise!'     Nope. No matter how long she stares at that slide, she can't really make sense of it. "I'm taking notes." Lilian murmurs to herself, already jotting down ideas for how to half-ass her slides for quarterly wednesdays.     'For this activity, please return to your groups. Each of you, in turn, express a mild frustration you have experienced in an interpersonal context, for sixty to one hundred and twenty seconds.'     Lilian sighs. Still with the groups. And the COMMs can't be trusted to drag Mesmer away from her. Very well then.     'here is someone who routinely transgresses the boundaries of others, from behind the veil of polite pleasantries, and...'     Lilian is extremely unhappy for about four seconds, before she realizes Chuyao is obviously venting about Flamel, and then she wonders why she could possibly have assumed otherwise. "So the conflict is that this individual has established a pattern of behaviour where he is able to freely interrogate, criticize, and inappropriately opine on and antagonize others, whilst adhering a superficial act of politeness that dissuades the incurious and makes it rhetorically difficult to inarguably describe what he's doing wrong, so that he can maliciously comply with the letter of correction in ways that change nothing. Is that correct? It sounds as if you're unhappy with his behaviour, offended on behalf of others, and frustrated that he escapes correction on such a thin pretense, while also being personally offended that he manipulates the rites to do so-- and in doing, insults everyone's intelligence."
Regulus	''Each of you, in turn, express a mild frustration you have experienced--'' "W-wait with like each other? In general? In general right?" Okay whew, she thinks she can get away with vagueposting about it, but she has to think--what is something that bothers her mildly and not like extremely or not at all? Regulus tilts her head up to the sky as she tries to think about this, letting go of APPLe in the process. "Sometimes I feel like I am seen as an accessory to Regulus and not my own person." APPLe begins. "But this APPLe is actually very educated and it bothers me when I am referred to as a familiar, I admit..." "Oh no, APPLe...! Is that really how you feel?" "I am happy being your first mate, but sometimes it would be nice to be asked for as just APPLe..." "Oh I'm so sorry! I love you, APPLe!" They embrace each other again after a few more back and forths like this. "Let's see... As for me, sometimes I feel like I'm not taken seriously. I am a bit silly sometimes, sure, and I'm a pirate, sure, but sometimes I feel that people don't even give me a chance, instead just treating me as an easy punchline without actually considering the context of the situation or what I'm actually doing or saying. I don't mind if I'm the butt of the joke sometimes, I like to joke and I can take it, but I guess to put it more generally, I think people are really keen to bare people down to simple forms so they are easier to talk down about, and I'm not so keen on that. They still got feelings."
Lilian Rook	'people are very hostile to each other over the radio. Sometimes I worry that it will hurt people I care about in ways other than simply physical. Sometimes...'     §This sucks. I called the actual snowflake good boy over to my table and now I have to listen to how his beautiful virgin soul is an unblemished masterclass in precision engineering. God.§     "So, as best as can be called 'the conflict' in 'an interpersonal context'," Lilian says, because she will clear this assignment come hell or high water. "You feel concern on behalf of people you care about, because the atmosphere of passively permitted emotional violence that they have to exist in makes it easy to imagine them being permanently harmed over something totally unnecessary, it it makes you feel helpless to be able to do nothing, but also personally ashamed for not knowing how to protect anyone in specific or improve things generally."
Ru Li	"Yes, that is correct."      Ru Li nods vigorously, unaware of the internal monologue Lilian is having about him (and he would be thoroughly confounded by the words in general).      "It is the powerlessness that frustrates me."      He shifts a little. "...and I did not have anything else to offer," he admits after a moment with a mild laugh, "All of my other frustrations are *much* more major than mild, and I wanted to clear the assignment. So, I suppose, in a way, I was not being as respectful as I should have been, but if I talked about any of my other problems they would take far more than the allotted moment. I am taking it seriously, after all."
Tamamo	Tamamo spends a little too long watching Sonetto. Rather, watching Sonetto and Dolores is the appropriate and expected thing to do in that moment, but she's going to need to spend a little more time thinking about Sonetto after having done so. "Hm. Yes. I see."     Chuyao speaks, and Tamamo dutifully turns herself and her attention to listen. It takes only a little time for the flash of recognition, which shows as far as her eyes before she can feign polite ignorance. She certainly doesn't glance toward anyone else.     "I see. You are frustrated both by the repetition of poor behavior, and by the insincerity that marks it. That is, it is frustrating for its offense on a moral level, separate from the damage it causes directly, and the difficulty its correction poses." She seems about to go on, but decides that this qualifies better as 'summary' than if she did.     Oh, yes. An 'open-ended question.' Tamamo's a little less clear on this part of the exercise. "For the very same reason, it is difficult to ask, 'and what might be done of this?' It is the difficulty in answering this, a challenge already known, that creates frustration."     Ru Li speaks, and Tamamo listens again. "...it is succinctly so. This frustration, too, comes about from a lack of paths forward to remedy itself, or rather, it comes from a lack of knowledge of what this path might be. Different than that of which was just spoken, which was something that denied repeated attempts at resolution, here your feelings are brought about by hesitance to first act, lest that first attempt be harmful."     'For the thousandth time--!'     "They are so--" Lilian knows the rest of the line, and it's not just about Holly.     'I think she's just being a bit stupid this time.'     "Mm, perhaps." Tamamo's going to have to lean on Lilian, but these conference chairs weren't made to allow that kind of contact. The architecture has shifted a degree toward the oppressive.
Tamamo	Tamamo thinks about mildly frustrating things, and about things that happen on the radio system, and tries to find the overlap. Then, she separates out the things she can't talk about due to how revealing they'd be of other's secrets, the things that would be revealing of her own secrets, the things that would be overtly disrespectful, the things that would be whining or preaching...     ...Hm.     This is a bit difficult, after all.
Chuyao He	It sounds as if you're unhappy with his behaviour, offended on behalf of others, and frustrated that he escapes correction on such a thin pretense, while also being personally offended that he manipulates the rites to do so-- and in doing, insults everyone's intelligence. For the very same reason, it is difficult to ask, 'and what might be done of this?' It is the difficulty in answering this, a challenge already known, that creates frustration.     "The Dame Commander and the Lady Rook have inferred correctly," Chuyao intones regretfully. "Often, this ineloquent scholar ponders what might be done, and things have reached such a state of affairs that the coins must now be consulted. It is, at least, a relief that this frustration should be understood, despite the obfuscation at work." I wish he didn't share this information because I don't know what I'm supposed to do with it.     Chuyao listens, hands folded on the table, nodding attentively. "To this lowly scholar's understanding, brother Flamel expounded at length over the inner workings of his mind, and this bothers sister Medusa--not because the thought is disconcerting in and of itself, but because it was shared without any interest in your input, or any consideration for how you might react."     He frowns, reflecting on her perspective, eyes briefly closed. *One would imagine that conducting such 'experiments' would confer the necessary knowledge to avoid such a social blunder--evidently, one would be mistaken.*     "In this case, did sister Medusa tell brother Flamel her feelings? I, the ineloquent scholar, have known you to be sincere and open--if indeed you have done this, and made brother Flamel aware that you found it inconsiderate..." Chuyao sighs. "Then, he will at least not make the *exact* same transgression twice." He laughs for exasperated lack of any better emotional response and shakes his head. "May this lowly scholar ask, what would sister Medusa *like* to do with brother Flamel's statement?" ...people are very hostile to each other over the radio.     "This is so," Chuyao nods in agreement. "It is good to hear that another is concerned about the precedent. Civilized conversation is difficult when the forum itself is hostile. Ideas with genuine merit may be shouted over, or else not spoken at all, for fear of inviting a personal attack. The Dame Commander is correct that certain topics are bound to be heated. Whether these topics are at the fore or not, the best that we can do, as she has said, is to correct, and, should we forget ourselves, to apologize."
Rita Ma	"Japanese Fed Cow-Boy."      "O-oh. Um... good job, Mr. Shirou," she settles on telling him. Being shameless is an achievement!! So's being fed.      "Is it a good workplace if they can't at all?"      "Mmm. Maybe not, but..." She taps her lip thoughtfully and turns the idea over before answering Natsuki. "'Escalating' and yelling usually means things go the way of whoever likes to escalate and yell the most. People who aren't as loud or strong or brave should be heard, too. Otherwise the workplace is only working with half its brains, right? So there have to be other ways to settle things sometimes."      "Hey Rita! You wouldn't like it if your friends offered themselves up to be eaten by you at the first sign of hunger, right?"      Rita, thankfully, is facing away from Regulus. Regulus can only see her back stiffen up; Shirou, Natsuki, and Holly can see Rita's face blanch too as her hands white-knuckle her own skirt.      "N-- no! No, I wouldn't want to eat Mr. APPLe much either!! Even if I'm sure he's juicy or something!! Thank you though!!" she panics. Topic over? Topic over. Thank god.      Whew. Soft relieved exhalation.      "Ah, on the subject of hot springs..."      "Oh, that sounds kind of nice, Ms. Holly. Thank you lots! I do really like swimming. And... I guess that solves the hospital thing by itself," she says a little sheepishly. "I'll give you my number, and see if I can make time?"      If Rita knew that hot springs entail 'not wearing any clothes' she would be more nervous. Thankfully she's an idiot.      "once, someone came to my hospital and acted quite critical..."      Rita smiles a little tiredly, oblivious to Holly's hunger coverup. "Yeah. You shouldn't have tried to hurt their emotions, but... there were ways to stop things before it came to that point. You were feeling attacked too because they criticized something you're proud of, right? I think it can be okay to say 'I'm not looking for criticism right now, you're being rude'."      . . . When her turn comes to relay An Incident, she has to think for a long moment. It's not clear if she's struggling to recall a time she's ever been mildly uncomfortable, or a time she's ever been mildly uncomfortable, or a time she's ever been mildly uncomfortable that she's okay sharing.      She finally looks down from the ceiling, and picks her way through the words squirmy-vague.      "... Once, someone who used to be my friend did something really mean to me, and she wasn't sorry. Everyone saw it, and I think everyone knew it was mean," she says, with a slightly drawn-in posture.      "I was really sad for a few weeks. But afterwards, it seemed like nobody who saw the mean thing wanted to acknowledge it even happened. They never talked to me about it. And they kept on trying to be friends with both me and her, like they didn't want to 'take sides'."      "It... made me like all of the 'bystander' friends a lot less. I still do. It felt like they, um... just wanted their peace, and they wanted me to shut up and go away, so I wouldn't remind them that the mean thing happened or make them feel guilty."      "I don't want to pick a fight, but I didn't like feeling 'alone' like that either. What should I have done?"
Foundation Scions	'No! That is incorrect, Mesmer Junior. That is a mishandling.'     "That's not my opinion, that's a policy." Tone immediately a lot stiffer, "I'd prefer to keep this as a collaborative conversation. Please don't label my statements 'incorrect' or 'correct', 'good' or 'bad'."     Exhaling, "It hardly qualifies as 'redaction' if the context is revelatory. I didn't assume that needed stating." 'What improvements to public well-being were brought about by this?'     "I expect I misjudged. I haven't noticed any." 'Have you yet apologized?'     "This isn't appropriate." 'Does sister Mesmer have any thoughts on how to observe the boundaries of others and contribute to a collaborative atmosphere?'     "None, besides the obvious, of listening to logically-founded preferences." 'There is someone who routinely transgresses the boundaries of others, from behind the veil of polite pleasantries,'     Mesmer quite visibly tenses up. Sure, that doesn't actually apply to her beyond the 'transgression of boundaries' part, but she's a little bit expecting this to be the rag-on-the-Mesmer segment. Unfortunately, at 'His', when it's clear she isn't the topic, she doesn't really look more at-ease. She just adjusts her posture, and keeps her lips tightly together.     Quiet, deliberate, "And so, it would ease the frustration where he to-" A pause, uncertain, "Be less respectful? Is that the conclusion you'd prefer? I'm afraid I don't understand."     "'Mild interpersonal frustrations'. It's a frequent and frustrating occurrence that my statements to discomfort are disregarded, despite being spoken clearly, and founded on logic, rather than hollow sentiment- especially pretaining to cleanliness, bodily functions, and obsession over the disgusting for 'humor'. I've seen no improvement in it, amongst 'Elites', nor other organizational networks. That's all." A pause, "You're permitted to skip the summarizations." . . . 'Please leave room for all of your colleagues to respond.'     "Hein? But, I was! And I was providing helpful instruction as to how they should do so!" 'Next up, we'll be doing a listening exercise!'     "It, is a minor frustration," More than, really, "When a co-worker of mine ensured- by accident I assume, though, not without notification of the issue, and, a lack of immediate rectification -that I would have no access to multiversal broad-band radio for quite a long time, at the simultaneous ongoings of many stressful occasions!"     She takes a breath, and then rushes, because her time is running out- "I did not like it because it was unpleasant and lonely to be without communication lines. That is all. Merci."     "Atch, ach, can I take my choice of topic back? I want to speak of the frustration as to how, despite my excellence, people forget to take me in due seriousness, or- Atch! The many kept-grudges, and how frustrating and demeaning that is-" Her time's up, though! Ding ding! 'Well, I have had a mild frustration about a certain someone,'     Matilda Bouanich sighs, and starts to scribble-doodle on her notepad. "C'est la vie." 'I think people are really keen to bare people down to simple forms so they are easier to talk down about, and I'm not so keen on that.'     "Ah! Je comprends! You are often quite-silly, reckless, rude-and-rowdy spirited, or downright unbelievable, and people forget that you on-occasion can be other, and it is not fun to be taken un-seriously!" Come on Matilda. "Have you tried behaving other ways, in order to influence their perception, Regulus?"
Team Timekeeper	"That's actionable, and polite. Thank you."     Sonetto gravitates over at Mesmer's distress, but seems to not understand *how* it could be actionable. Missing most of the context, and being Sonetto, she only understands a fraction of what's even going on, and tries to take a professional middle line about it.     "Please refrain from creating a hostile environment during this meeting." That could either be on Mesmer's behalf, or about Mesmer. "Perhaps at a later time, we could match couplets? This lowly scholar's true passion is poetry."     "You're interested in poetry?" Sonetto has appeared by the group with Chuyao and Ru Li as if by magic, positioned behind the two of them with her reminder cards in hand. "I believe we have encountered each other before, but never spoken at length. I'm also interested in poetry." "May I borrow a copy of that guideline book at some point? Oh, and any others you may enjoy!"     Sonetto tilts her head. Ru Li can practically see the invisible dog ear flopping to the side, and her tail wagging behind her at the sound of her favorite words. "Regulatory documents only? Or would you be interested in other books? I have many collections of poetry that I am fond of." "Even though it's quite the stunner."     "Excuse me!"     Sonetto, for the first time, raises her voice. Animate for a moment, in a way she hasn't been for most of this seminar, she plants a hand on her hip and frowns at Holly.     "This is an example of repeated transgressions of boundaries. Dame Rook's preferences have been stated--" Sort of! It would've been better if Lilian actually said them! Then Sonetto could simply refer to her words as doctrine. "--And your overstepping of them has already been pointed out twice. It is inappropriate to continue this discussion."     "Please apologize immediately, and refrain from this behavior in the future. I will send you-- I will request that the Sophont Resources professionals send you official documentation for you to sign indicating your awareness of this breach in conduct." This might, upsettingly, be the extent of their enforcement ability, or Sonetto's still being gentle.
Team Timekeeper	And then after a little while, the listening exercise comes to an end, and it's time for the next slide!     "Like a lot of you have mentioned during your breakout sessions, conflict and arguments *are* inevitable! There's a lot of people around, and you might have very different opinions from the person you're speaking to! And that's why we need to practice some techniques for making sure those disagreements don't turn into all-out fights!"     "Firstly: even if you disagree, try not to shut your colleague down! Next, communicate your feelings without putting blame on anyone. These are called 'I-statements'! Rather than saying, 'you make me upset', try saying 'I feel upset when you...', and that way, no one will be put on the defensive in the conversation! When your colleague is getting upset, try not to minimize their feelings or talk over them, and when sharing your counterpoint, start off by saying something like 'I understand that this makes you feel distressed, but...'!"     Everyone's been sooooo good about following through on the tasks! Except a few people, like Shirou refusing to participate at all, and several people openly naming others in the room as the target of their irritation to gripe about them in a context where they can't get in trouble! But it's fine. Dolores is winning, and she's so cheerful, and it's all almost done. There hasn't been one single slur or death threat this whole day, and she'd prepared herself expecting the opposite.     "Right! So we'll return to our groups one last time, to practice those skills with a fictional scenario. Now, this one comes up a lot in the radio, so I'd like us all to be equipped with the tools to handle it. Say, someone has become frustrated or irritated, because of a real or perceived insult! This escalates into that person, who you know doesn't actually mean it, threatening violence or even death towards you! How would you use these conflict deescalation steps to manage this situation?"     Ever so helpfully, Dolores holds her hand out to gesture towards Flamel. "If you're uncertain, or think this example seems extreme, I encourage you to ask Flamel for advice! He's consistently a *great* role model for conflict deescalation, by his attentiveness to other people's feelings, and never raising his voice himself."     Once that's underway, and the last remaining slide is a completely meaningless quote about teamwork in an unreadable font, Dolores has just one last announcement to make. "And, after all of this, I really want you to know: Sophont Resources isn't your enemy! I'm really glad we got to meet face to face, and I hope you can all go out and be great role models to your colleagues, and to the people you meet out across the worlds! I hope that if you ever encounter an issue, or you feel uncomfortable or uncertain about how someone treated you in the radio, you feel like you can reach out to us for help! Really, I mean it, please talk to us!"
Lilian Rook	'Yes, that is correct. It is the powerlessness that frustrates me.'     Lilian sniles so sneetly. "Then would those feelings be improved if you were able to command those people to stop?"     'The Dame Commander and the Lady Rook have inferred correctly'     Lilian smiles so wearily. "Would it make you happier if he learned to be sincere, or simply learned not to offend?"     '...Hm.'     Lilian is worried. You can project it on the vague flattening of the triang-ular line, downward and backward.     'It's a frequent and frustrating occurrence that my statements to discomfort are disregarded, despite being spoken clearly, and founded on logic, rather than hollow sentiment- especially pretaining to cleanliness, bodily functions, and obsession over the disgusting for 'humor'. I've seen no improvement in it, amongst 'Elites', nor other organizational networks.'     Now Lilian is kind of mad. The abstract nuance of the queasy, wounded, guilty-hostile squirming she feels is rather lost in the steady hourglass drip from the shards angled low on one side, slid from those higher on the other. The sound isn't even wet. It's like a soft ticking. "If you'd prefer to skip summarization I will do so. My question is if you could happen to name any amongst the group who are especially bad or especially good-- privately-- to see if your claim of 'no improvement' is realistic."     This impulsively decides the course of her end of the exercise. She charges ahead with a little too much frustrated heat to be prim. "I recall experiencing moderate interpersonal frustration along similar lines, in fact. It stemmed from a situation in which it was necessary for a medical examination to be performed while I was unconscious, whereupon an individual engaged in behaviour that I would ordinarily consider to be predatory in a sexual sense, but which I was reassured was not what it appeared to be, and not intentional."     "The frustration in particular remained for months afterwards, where in order to avoid accounting, questioning, or reconciliation, the individual weaponized their low status to cast ambiguity over the nature of the interaction and project fault towards myself instead, knowingly and manipulatively inducing stress and guilt while holding a frank discussion of the interaction at arms length as an incentive. As this was an individual who was well outside any sort of official or otherwise responsible framework for investigation and reprimand, the conflict went unresolved for a considerable length of time, whereupon I was repeatedly insulted, harassed, and humiliated, involving multiple attempts at blackmail, including the designing and commissioning of-- . . ."     Lilian trails off as the initial surge of anger dies down. She looks around the room to reasses and recalibrate. What is everyone else talking about?     'I was really sad for a few weeks. But afterwards, it seemed like nobody who saw the mean thing wanted to acknowledge it even happened. They never talked to me about it.'     'About not fully grasping something that I felt needed to be done. Instead, they seem to ignore its significance and perhaps even profit from doing anything but confront the issue.'     'Atch, ach, can I take my choice of topic back? I want to speak of the frustration as to how, despite my excellence, people forget to take me in due seriousness'     §Get out of here.§     "Oh goodness. I've gone over the two minute mark. Well, there's no need for questions about that either. Let's allow our presenters to move on."
Flamel Parsons	Flamel Parsons adjusts his sunglasses, standing right where Dolores needed him to be as an Exemplar, or perhaps an Example, grinning in such a positive, friendly way, and maybe sort of mentally emitting a starburst of demonstrative, colorful, corporate-memphis streams of pride. He never raises his voice. He always negotiates aggression down. He's *so* good at dealing with people saying they're going to kill him with knives and hammers and magic spells and throwing him into outer space.     "Just try to imagine what I would say, any time someone's trying to kill you. If you want a complimentary pseudotulpa to consult any time you'd like to, just ask! But," He claps his hands together once. "The core part of it is... To remember, the winner in the room is the one who stays gentle. Mercy is the domain of the strong, and that means, whoever can always stay nice, they're the strongest. Shouting, threats, as long as you think of those things as a sort of admission of defeat, you can reorient your thinking into something positive, and always force a ceiling of aggression. I've seen aggression myself, it burns itself out fast as long as it doesn't have a partner to feed on. It takes two to tango, so if you keep from ever approaching the dance-floor, you'll always be in the right."     Someone has to kill this fucking guy.
Tamamo	'That's not my opinion, that's a policy.'     "You have practiced it incorrectly, as I have now explained to you." Possibly! Tamamo doesn't know the Foundation's own policy, but she's all too ready to label it as culturally primitive for being stuck in a prior century, if needed. Her opinion of the 20th century in general has been pretty low, which is only partially Mesmer's fault.     'Please don't label my statements 'incorrect' or...'     "If I did so, would your listening would improve?"     'This isn't appropriate.'     "It would be appropriate to apologize for your actions."     'Let's allow our presenters to move on.'     Tamamo glances at her phone, presumably to check the time.
Lilian Rook	'Excuse me!'     Lilian jolts. Her hand presses down over her racing heart. The stupid triangles jump with her, unfortunately managing to look like startled cat ears for a squash-and-stretch frame.     §Oh god oh god oh god oh god that was so scary why is Sonetto yelling so scary?§     "Goodness. You startled me, Sonetto." Lilian exhales, laughing nervously.     'Say, someone has become frustrated or irritated, because of a real or perceived insult! This escalates into that person, who you know doesn't actually mean it, threatening violence or even death towards you!'     §I knew it!§     Lilian breathes in very sharply, and forces a smile.     §I knew it! You fuckers! This was all about me! This is just one giant passive-aggressive convoluted charade just to complain about me! To my face! And as usual, they have everyone here to do it! They just contrived this scenario to smugly talk down to me where I can't say a word in my defense! Oh my god I'm going to kill--§     'I encourage you to ask Flamel for advice! He's consistently a *great* role model for conflict deescalation'     "Him?!" Lilian squeals out loud in total disbelief. It's too late to cough about it now. "Did you perhaps mix up the names? He escalates every conflict he's in!"     'And, after all of this, I really want you to know: Sophont Resources isn't your enemy!'     Bullshit! This is bullshit! This is a farce! Lilian slams both hands on her desk and jumps up! "In what way?! Where was this department when Elites were breaking into my house and hacking my phone and stalking me at school and rummaging through my PC and staring up my skirt and forcing me into dresses and making up weird names for bodyparts and groping me and tazing me and calling me slurs and send me death threats and calling me a traitor and petitioning that I should be put down by a rabid animal?! Funny that you people only seem to want to move when a little flirting with my wife offends some snowflake!"
Regulus	''What should I have done?'' Regulus can't help but look over to Rita. She doesn't think she's ever been in that kind of situation herself, but she has an opinion anyway! Because it does, sort of, remind her of something else that isn't quite the same thing, but is similar in her eyes--enough to chat about it. "Um, you weren't asking me but... in my opinion... I think you shouldn't let 'em keep their peace! Maybe they don't wanna have a tough chat, but tough! They won't know how much it bothered you if you don't force the issue--nobody wants to pick between two friends--but at least you'll know where you stand with each other after the tough talk. Maybe they just want peace, and I'm all about peace, but it's not really peace if you're not a part of it right? You got the right to demand what they've got, whatever it takes, love. And it's not right to force you to hold onto a grudge because you can't even talk about it." She offers Rita a thumbsup, "And if I'm completely off the mark, just ignore me!" She isn't really sure this is going to help at all. ''It, is a minor frustration...'' Regulus nods along, having absolutely no issue with agreeing with this. She'd be upset if someone took away her band access too! She's a radio pirate, she needs access to the radio! Of course, part of her thinks maybe Matilda was lucky having missed all that, but on the other hand maybe Matilda could have made it suck way less? "Yeah you shouldn't be leftt--" ''Atch, ach, can I take my choice of topic back?'' Regulus spreads her hands to the side as if to say 'go ahead'. Of course, then shortly after Matilda hits her with like 4 arrows. Regulus goes 'erk! ack! oogh! Ugh!' at each one before slowly dropping her arms. "Well yeah, of course." Regulus smiles. "But that doesn't always change the perception, yeah? And when you try to be real and people treat it as another joke it's like ... rather make my own jokes, you know?" She sighs. "Well, I feel like it's been getting better, so maybe s'long as I keep at it I'll figure out my way. And I'm sure they'll see just how serious and capable you are soon enough. 'Cause you're making your honest effort for sure."
Lilian Rook	'Excuse me!'     Lilian jolts. Her hand presses down over her racing heart. The stupid triangles jump with her, unfortunately managing to look like startled cat ears for a squash-and-stretch frame.     §Oh god oh god oh god oh god that was so scary why is Sonetto yelling so scary?§     "Goodness. You startled me, Sonetto." Lilian exhales, laughing nervously.     'Say, someone has become frustrated or irritated, because of a real or perceived insult! This escalates into that person, who you know doesn't actually mean it, threatening violence or even death towards you!'     §I knew it!§     Lilian breathes in very sharply, and forces a smile.     §I knew it! You fuckers! This was all about me! This is just one giant passive-aggressive convoluted charade just to complain about me! To my face! And as usual, they have everyone here to do it! They just contrived this scenario to smugly talk down to me where I can't say a word in my defense! Oh my god I'm going to kill--§     'I encourage you to ask Flamel for advice! He's consistently a *great* role model for conflict deescalation'     "Him?!" Lilian squeals out loud in total disbelief. It's too late to cough about it now. "Did you perhaps mix up the names? He escalates every conflict he's in!"     'And, after all of this, I really want you to know: Sophont Resources isn't your enemy!'     Bullshit! This is bullshit! This is a farce! Lilian slams both hands on her desk and jumps up! "In what way?! Where was this department when Elites were breaking into my house and hacking my phone and stalking me at school and rummaging through my PC and staring up my skirt and forcing me into dresses and googling porn of me while I'm talking to them and making up weird names for bodyparts and groping me and tazing me and calling me slurs and sending me death threats and calling me a traitor and petitioning that I should be put down like a rabid animal?! Funny that you people only seem to want to move when a little flirting with my wife offends some snowflake! Goodness! My oh my!"     Lilian pulls up her phone and starts angrily texting, then moving towards the door.
Flamel Parsons	Flamel snaps his fingers.     He turns aside, to the camera. "In a situation like this, what do you think is the correct de-escalation approach?" A soft chime. "Is it:"     "A: Try to tell her that her feelings are incorrect?"     "B: Try to give her some type of help or appeasement?"     "C: Reorient the scenario towards actionables?"     "..."     "The answer is, 'C'. In a strictly literal sense, no feelings can ever be correct. And as an individual rather than an institution, you're not really capable of helping her. The correct answer is C, because it drives the interaction towards larger institutions that can handle high-intensity needs like this, through structures of leadership and accountability. When encountering something like this, try replying like this:"     Chime!     He turns back to Lilian. "Hey, I'd like to help make sure things like that don't happen again in general, actually! Maybe we could go together, or I could find a friend to go with you, to the Sophont Resources, so we can discuss the right reporting paths and start a good accountability process."
Lilian Rook	'Hey, I'd like to help make sure things like that don't happen again in general, actually! Maybe we could go together, or I could find a friend to go with you, to the Sophont Resources, so we can discuss the right reporting paths and start a good accountability process.'     "How stupid do you think I am?!" Lilian yells, storming towards the door. "You've already got your precious little humiliating institutional win! Don't be greedy! You're not getting seconds!" She throws him the middle finger on the way out of the room, still angry-texting. PHONE: Tamamo says, "I understand why they asked us to name only mild frustrations." PHONE: Phoning Tamamo, Lilian Rook texts | This is all a bullshit charade to get everyone to complain about me. This whole thing was about me from the beginning. PHONE: Tamamo | There is surely only one person here complaining about you PHONE: Phoning Tamamo, Lilian Rook texts | theyre all in on it and some of them just dont have the cuts PHONE: Tamamo | Sonetto would never PHONE: Phoning Tamamo, Lilian Rook texts | sonettieo is just their human shield PHONE: Phoning Tamamo, Lilian Rook texts | they know im not gnna vegt mad at her so theyre hiding behind her PHONE: Tamamo | Are you sure it was not prompted by everyone being horribly inappropriate recently PHONE: Tamamo | I think they may not know anything that happens off the radio PHONE: Tamamo | But why Parsons... PHONE: Phoning Tamamo, Lilian Rook texts | if they cared about that thiey wouldnt have FLAMEL PARSONS sas the smiling shitfuck in chief up there as the OBJECTIVELY correct establishment scmbag PHONE: Tamamo | A very confusing choice PHONE: Phoning Tamamo, Lilian Rook texts | chyuao s just here to be the perfect superman for them to tap tandn point at when i say a swear PHONE: Phoning Tamamo, Lilian Rook texts | i bet ruli is in on nit. look at his smug fucking grin PHONE: Tamamo | Ru li wears his heart on his sleeve PHONE: Phoning Tamamo, Lilian Rook texts | he wears his pussy there too PHONE: Tamamo | By that I mean literal steam when overwhelmed PHONE: Tamamo | He could never play cards PHONE: Phoning Tamamo, Lilian Rook texts | yeah and hes SOOOO cool and level jheaded and normal today so gwhat does that tell yu? PHONE: Tamamo | Did he seem so ? PHONE: Phoning Tamamo, Lilian Rook texts | im leaving. ou can gome ctoo
Lilian Rook	PHONE: Tamamo | He semed childishly interested and then childishly saddened PHONE: Tamamo | Just a moment PHONE: Phoning Tamamo, Lilian Rook texts | whatever m the only one whos goning to get written up afor theis at the end of the day it literally doesnty matter consequences dont exsity for anyone else but me PHONE: Tamamo | Wait for me at the door PHONE: Phoning Tamamo, Lilian Rook texts | okay PHONE: Phoning Tamamo, Lilian Rook texts | sorry for yelling PHONE: Phoning Tamamo, Lilian Rook texts | i love you PHONE: Phoning Tamamo, Lilian Rook texts | I love you. PHONE: Tamamo | I cherish you PHONE: Tamamo | My one and only PHONE: Tamamo sends a string of different hearts and then an accidental dot-pound. PHONE: Phoning Tamamo, Lilian Rook sends her specific variant of the sparkling heart emoji where the corner sparkle is lily-shaped.     She shoves her phone in her pocket, crosses her arms, and does, indeed, wait at the door, angrily staring at the clock instead of anyone else.
Regulus	Regulus startles when Lilian starts shouting. She hadn't been paying TOO much attention to what was going over in that group since she figured she had it in the bag with her super group of people who don't get in trouble on the radio, but now she's yelling and seems upset and she's sharing personal details she probably wouldn't be if she wasn't so upset! What could have happened?? She had the perfect group of well-behavers!! Could it be, that like Icarus, Lilian flew too close to the sun? Perhaps she needed to pick a troublemaker to be on her team so she wouldn't get burned? Jesus what can she even say? She can't say anything. To even speak is to just add to the 'humiliating institutional win' right? But to say nothing is to not support a fellow member of Team Timekeeper. Ahhhh, but she can't yell at the presenters here, Sonetto is one of the presenters! And suddenly Regulus thinks of what Rita had just said earlier about the bystanders. Sometimes, Regulus thinks she's a bystander, no matter what she wills, it's why she tries to make her actions as big as possible. But no matter how big her action, she cannot be bigger than that. She doesn't have that dog in her. "Yeah!!" Regulus shouts, standing up and knocking over ONE chair. "That's right! Flamel does escalate everything! Where was the system when all that happened? Let Lilian flirt!! Free love for everyone! Freedom of expression!! We won't wear what THE PLANT KINGDOM wants us to wear without fear of ogling!" She hops up on another chair and says, "Oh captain my capt--yyeeek!" The chair slips out from underneath her and she tumbles to the ground. "Urrrk...We won't be ... so easily defeated...! No chair, nor desk shall chain us..."
Team Timekeeper	"Where was this department when Elites were breaking into my house and hacking my phone and--"     Dolores looks like she's been gradually shrunk into a sad wet bug over the course of Lilian's outburst. There is no image that could possibly be worse for a Human Resources hire at the Paladins than having the single most iconic Paladin shout, in front of Elites from other factions, during a generic workplace attitude meeting, that she's been let down continuously by the organization allowing her to be abused for her entire career. Anyone in this room could say one word to the public and have Dolores executed in the street. In an instant, this has transformed from a tense but ultimately survivable seminar, to the razor's edge upon which the future of the entire Commonwealth is balanced.     "Ah... um, that incident was... those behaviors aren't, actually, acceptable at all, and if you'd like to come speak with us in private at some later date, then I'd be more than happy to arrange that." "Funny that you people only seem to want to move when a little flirting with my wife offends some snowflake!"     "Huh? Was that said somewhere?"     Sonetto was alarmed by Lilian shouting, and even more distressed by the content of it, but she's unable to square her closing assumption with the rest of what Lilian shared. She glances around, from Dolores to Flamel, to see if anyone has any insight on this or will explain to her, but finds nothing.     "Um-- Dame Rook, I believe it is partially my doing that this meeting was called. I utilized the FDMO's channels to submit a review of my concerns over conduct in the radio to the Paladins, and several weeks later I was requested for my role here. I do not believe there was any issue taken with your relationship with your wife."     A little soggy, but mostly sympathetically, "I am sorry. I'll look for other means to help." "Let Lilian flirt!! Free love for everyone!"     The presenters have entirely lost control of the room the moment Lilian raised her voice, so no one even moves to stop Regulus. Sonetto rotates to look at her when the chair limply bangs to the ground, files this miniature riot into her mental database, and then ambles over to help pick Regulus up after she tumbles.     Meekly, Sonetto also raises up her hand, channeling a sort of rainbow corporate spirit bomb for Lilian. "I also believe in free love for everyone."     Somehow emboldened by this battle cry, she goes on to add, "And, I find the affectionate words and gestures between the Mrs. Rooks to be very sweet and I enjoy their company professionally and personally. The radio would be much more unwelcoming without them. That is my official stance, as an Elite rather than a temporary assistant to Sophont Resources."