1320/A Meeting of Human (

A Meeting of Human (
Date of Scene:	20 March 2024
Location:	Obsidian Tower - Human Resources
Synopsis:	The magical members of Obsidian's Human Resource's team have a meeting - after all, there have been some major changes. For one thing, Beryl's nuts. For another, Taro Yamada is a new hire.
Cast of Characters:	Fuyuko Yuuhi, 178, Taro Yamada

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Fuyuko Yuuhi has posed:
It's quiet in the HR office, with the majority of the staff focusing on their work and desperately hoping to avoid the attention of their leader, the 'assistant' director. Fuyuko Yuuhi has been on a tear since her fight - if it could be called that - with Beryl, and her team has already realized that they need to keep their heads down if they don't want to be as punished as the recipients of every memo that she's been sending.

Ko-Enshaku, of course, is a different matter. The HRmor is an unusual being and a loyal employee, and given that she's recently brought in another magical employee, it's time for her to have a talk with Ko-Enshaku.

Sitting in her office, with the blinds low to dim the light of day - Fuyuko leans back in her chair and sighs as she signs off on another termination order. Sixteen employees trimmed for falsifying payroll information, and more to fall.

"I can't believe I'm keeping that brat," she mutters to herself. No one's making her do it, but she is.

Ko-Enshaku (178) has posed:
Ko-Enshaku is indeed an odd one...if only in that he seems immune to the prevailing mood, politely going about his duties...at least some of which are delivering said termination orders...at least in the case of employees likely to get aggressive...as the massive suit of animated armor generally ignores efforts to 'kill the messenger', as it were.

Thus, when he turns up at the office, he's quietly steered to Fuyuko's office as soon as possible by his co-workers in the department...apparently they're hoping his odd genial cheerfulness will get her to stop looking like she wants to murder anyone she looks at.

A few moments later, there's a knock at Fuyuko's door and Ko-Enshaku steps inside, "You wished to see me, Director!?"

While his co-workers had to explain to him that greetings do not need to boom throughout the floor and that doing so is somewhat counterproductive...just his normal voice has a tendancy to project.

Fuyuko Yuuhi has posed:
"Assistant Director," Fuyuko corrects, as she has before and surely will again. "And yes. I've hired a new minion - you'll have the chance to meet him soon; he's probably lurking around here somewhere, I sent him to get me a coffee like half an hour ago."

She sent the poor boy out not-quite ten minutes ago, but DarkBucks is a crowded place and Obsidian Tower is a heavily populated area.

"He's given us the name Taro Yamada and he likes to try and stab people with pointy objects." Given them the name, because Taro Yamada might as well be John Doe for all the good it did in identifying a specific person.

"I want to talk to the two of you about some shake-ups coming down the line."

Ko-Enshaku (178) has posed:
Ko-enshaku nods, "I am glad to hear that, Director."

There's a slight pause, "And as long as he does not attempt any unapproved stabbing of fellow Obsidian staff, I am sure he will be a fine addition to our edeavors to hasten the End of All That Is."

That said, he steps more fully into the office and moves off to the side a bit, "Shake ups? Is there a restructuring in the works, or is this another effort to update the internal systems again?"

Absently, he reaches down, grabs one of the plates hanging from his hip and pulls it open to reveal a filing cabinet drawer that he begins to absently check the sorting on.

Taro Yamada has posed:
The door creaks open behind the two of them; Taro stops a moment and stares up, up, up at Ko-Enshaku, who towers over even Taro's height, before shaking it off and placing the cup in front of Fuyuko.

"One Visit to the Hat Man, as asked for," he says, five shots of expresso filling the room with an enticing aroma.

Taro's cleaned up some, wearing slacks and a black blazer, but he has yet to tame the way his bangs flop over his eyes or the intial encroach of a mullet. It's almost enough to hide how he looks back up at Ko-Enshaku and straightens his back, spreads his shoulders, trying to emulate the armor's stance. "How are we shaking things up?"

Fuyuko Yuuhi has posed:
"For one thing, I hired you," Fuyuko says dryly, knocking back her horrible coffee; as usual, it tastes like disappointment, bitter and strong. Sour, too, like pain - all the pleasure of an expresso's foam traded for the maximum amount of caffeine stuffed into a single cup. When she wants to enjoy coffee, which is never, she has a coffee flavored liquor.

When she wants to stay awake, however, there's nothing better.

"But aside from that, no, we're not having a restructuring, or an update to the internal systems. Thank god. The last payroll update almost cost me my life." She drowns the memory in another sip of terrible coffee.

"This situation isn't expected to last long, but the fact that it's happened means that things have changed." She's still being vague. She sets the cup down, sighs, and says bluntly, "Director Beryl has frozen Sunbreaker, one of our consulting agents, into a crystal in her office. As you can imagine, this isn't how we prefer to handle staff disciplinary issues; she didn't even ask first."

Ko-Enshaku (178) has posed:
There's an almost audible blink from Ko as Fuyuko says this...and the giant suit of armor shifts slightly.

After a few moments, he pushes the filing cabinet sticking out of his left hip back in, then opens a panel on his right hip to reveal another filing cabinet that he quickly shuffles through.

How he does this with huge gauntlet fingers is one of those questions that persist around him.

He then pulls out a personnel file with Sunbreaker's name on it and quickly flips through it, "...no, she certainly did NOT file the proper paperwork for that."

Some more flipping is done, "...she would have had to file a form HR-57/b in triplicate before freezing anyone, let alone someone from another division."

The folder gets re-filed and the drawer closed, and there's a bit of a pause, "...how do you intend to handle this, Director? The code of conduct is a bit vague when things are at the interdepartmental level."

Taro Yamada has posed:
Taro watches the two of them through his bangs. It's all very businesslike, no screaming or shouting... Nothing like working in restaurants has been. There's no being on his feet all day, he's in far less of a rush; he could get used to this cushy job.

"And you won't regret it," he tells her, trying to look as adult as he can. Because he is basically an adult. Very employable.

"Do you want to handle this above board so that we avoid being frozen?" taro guesses. "Or should we start planning for contingencies?"

Fuyuko Yuuhi has posed:
"There isn't a code for interdepartmental conflict at this level," Fuyuko says grimly, "This is when we get into the 'assassination in the workplace' training, and I don't think any of us are in a position to successfully assassinate Director Beryl. As such, we won't be trying."

She looks sternly at Ko-Enshaku as she says this, and then even more sternly at Taro, who still needs to get enrolled in school of all things. Why did she take this job? Right, it was this or lose the entirety of her identity.

Great.

Ko-Enshaku's grasp of paperwork is appreciated, though Fuyuko already knew there wasn't any paperwork in place for it.

"Sunbreaker doesn't have a department. It's part of the consultant package. I expect Easter to raise a complaint, if she's gone for too long - she's been fairly essential to their operatiions. For now, we're waiting it out, but Ko-Enshaku, I need you to be prepared to offer appropriate training and support to the rest of Beryl's staff - those nachos will be popular, I think - and you, Yamada, I need to stay the fuck away from Beryl. Do not catch her attention. She's seven feet tall with red hair to her waist - if you see her, turn right around."

Ko-Enshaku (178) has posed:
Ko-enshaku pauses...then says, "Let me know when the complaint comes in, Director and I will be glad to go collect Consultant Sunreaker. She has some paperwork that still needs to be filed."

There's a pause as he thinks for a moment, "...and housing a prison of a size sufficient to contain her in even a Director's Office goes against Workplace Safety guidelines."

Another pause, then he goes on, "Director, I find this very confusing. Consultant Sunbreaker has been quite effective. Is this what you humans call 'jealousy'? Does Director Beryl not see how doing this does nothing to hasten the End of All That Is?"

Taro Yamada has posed:
"If I see any scary redheaded women, piss off before I piss her off. Got it." Taro quiet likes not being frozen in ice! He would like to continue not being frozen! This is within his skillset!

He looks up to the suit of armor thoughtfully. "I don't think it's jealousy. I bet she's pissed some plan of hers failed, so she's hurting this Sunbreaker brat to cope." A pause. "You were never human in the first place?" Another, more urgent pause. "You're ending the world?"

This isn't a mecha anime, people don't just want to end the world. Do they? Is that what the people here are like? He would have thought their Darkbucks would be more chaotic if they were like that...

Fuyuko Yuuhi has posed:
"Kid's right; it's not about jealousy, it's about failure and mouthing off. Sunbreaker's good at her job, hates to fail, and is bad at keeping her mouth shut. In the line of work we're in, with the kind of people we work with, that's a bad combination of traits to have."

She sympathizes. She's pissed about Sunbreaker's capture. But.

"We're not doing that. Director Beryl may not have gone through the proper channels, but Sunbreaker took an assignment from her, and the higher ups will defend her right to punish a failure, because none of them want us to have a chance to check their power. We're going to file the complaints necessary, and we're going to make sure Sunbreaker and her teammates are in good condition - and that's all we're doing."

And then of course Yamada has to ask, because Ko-Enshaku is just like that...

"Some people here want to end the world, yeah. Some want to rule it. The rest of us are just here for a paycheck." And to train idiot mahou.

Ko-Enshaku (178) has posed:
Ko-enshaku is, indeed, 'just like that'.

Something that all his closer co-workers have just come to understand.

It would probably worry people more if he weren't always looking out for co-worker's health and wellbeing.

And having no problems delivering bad news to Departmental heads who have a tendancy to blast things when they're annoyed.

He nods along with Fuyuko, "Very well, Director." There's a beat, then he goes on, "...though..."

He trails off, then looks over at Fuyuko, "...her file doesn't mention...but does Consultant Sunbreaker have a favorite food? Having some on hand will likely help her recover faster once we are able to secure her release. Also, am I to assume that I will be on document delivery duty for Director Beryl's division for the forseeable future?"

Taro Yamada has posed:
Huh. "Is the world that bad? Or is it like, for fun?" Taro asks Ko-enshaku. He can certainly understand wanting to destroy something that sucks, or causing mayhem for fun. He's never pondered it on that scale, though. It'd be hard to eat if all the rice was on fire.

And back to Fuyuko. "If he's getting food, I can add shopping to my roster of duties. If neccessary."

Because he's the strongest vamp - er, the strongest employee in Japan!

Fuyuko Yuuhi has posed:
"Some people have too much power and too much time on their hands," Fuyuko says bluntly, "So you start seeing people with dumbass ideas like burning the world down for the hell of it. But I don't know what her favorite food is; check with Riventon - the two of them have been working their latest assignment together, so he might be a friend of hers. One of you can get on figuring that out; honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if she puts into work from Easter's offices, or even off-site once she's out."

She doesn't know Sunbreaker well, but the kid has an ego a mile long, and probably as fragile as glass, the way she goes around boasting. Being not just defeated, but utterly diminished, reduced to nothing but an office decoration, would probably be brutal for an ego like that.

(That Fuyuko isn't struck by lightning for commenting on someone else's ego is proof that the universe is ever uncaring.)

"And yeah, Ko-Enshaku, I want you assigned to document delivery in most cases. Not with Beryl. I'll be handling everything to do with her personally."

Like she'd let that witch think she was defeated!

Ko-Enshaku (178) has posed:
Ko-enshaku looks over at Taro, "All That Is will End. Sooner or later."

And that's all he really seems to have to say about that. Apparently, Ko regards 'The End of All That Is' as something of a 'would be nice to have and a bit of a goal' kind of thing rather than 'I Will Pursue This With Every Fiber of my Being!' kind of thing.

Then he nods his head slightly, "...and to answer your earlier question, no. I have always been as I am now. And there is no need to shop. I have a plentiful supply of nachos..."

As he says this, the large suit of armor reaches up, grabs it's chestplate on one side and pulls...and it hinges open to reveal a large container that's apparently heated and contains several packages of nachos kept at a pleasantly warm temperature.

Then he closes the panel, reaches with his other hand to the other side of his chestplate and swings it open in the other direction...this time revealing a refrigerated space filled with bottles of water and sports drinks, "...as well as drinks so that employees can stay properly hydrated."

He then turns back to Fuyuko and nods, "As you wish, Director."

Taro Yamada has posed:
"You'll get it eventually. Everything dies," Taro shrugs. IF it makes him happy? It's not an ideal Taro understands, but his coworker seems to like it. And his coworker seems tolerable. He's not human either, and he's big, and he's full of delicious nachos. Definitely someone to keep an eye on. For 100% employment reasons, not something silly like 'I want nachos' and 'how do you look so cool can it be taught.'

"Got it. We'll hold the fort, boss. Show Beryl the power of the HR department!"