823/Like a House on Fire

Like a House on Fire
Date of Scene:	29 November 2023
Location:	Obsidian Tower - Board Room
Synopsis:	Sunbreaker comes across Ryoko setting up for a board meeting, and gives her the good ol' Obsidian welcome.
Cast of Characters:	Ryoko Gushiken, Hinoiri Kirara

---

Ryoko Gushiken has posed:
Ryoko Gushiken hated her new office job. She was a woman of action. She was meant for combat and espionage, not administration. She was the Grim Queen's second-in-command and here she was collating presentation packets and setting up table tents around the board table. There was to be a board meeting in an hour and Hokori-sama was going to be laying out her plans for the rest of the board, and as her executive assistant it fell to Ryoko to make sure the presentation was flawless.

At least the new job afforded her the opportunity to show off her fashion designs. Today she's dressed in a hand-sewn, three-piece velvet pantsuit in burgundy. The jacket hangs open revealing the plunging neckline of the vest, and its contrasting white buttons. The slacks fall down to her feet, uncreased and just a little billowy. On her feet she's wearing a pair of black and red Louboutin stilettos, with a gradient from toe to heel.

She has several stacks of paper in front of her and is collating packets and then stapling them. It is 2023 and there are printers that can do this work for people, but why would Obsidian buy those printers when they could just make people do it? Ryoko hates her job, but it's not like she has any choice.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Sunbreaker glanced by the room when she passed and then... stopped short. She cocked an eye and looked the girl over. Huh. New Ted? Stuck doing the paperwork? Oof. That sucked. She crossed her arms and watched for a few moments before stepping into the room.

"You look like you're having fun," Sunbreaker said. "You know, they have magic for that." Well. SHE had magic for that. Because you didn't become the princesses star pupil without doing a lot of paperwork.

Unless you had a like, assistant. Who could be a dragon or something. Who could then do all the paperwork for you so you never felt the need to learn how to do it yourself but what were the chances of that?

She flicked her wrist and one of the packets just... poofed, before appearing in her hands. Unlike a lot of the fancy suited people, she... was wearing a spiked leather jacket, black top, fingerless gloves... she looked more like she belonged in a biker gang and less like an office worker.

Aside from the literal horn on her forehead and the fact she was ON FIRE. Still, the pamplet didn't burn, so that was good. She flipped through it, before giving a light hm. "There's a typo on page three. Two e's in regressing. Unless you intend to... avoid 'regreesing'. Which, admittedly, while not a word? Is probably something you'd like to avoid." The pamplet then disappeared, reappearing back where it was.

If she had actually managed to read all of that, then.... she was the definition of 'This entire meeting could have been an email'.

Ryoko Gushiken has posed:
It had only been a few weeks, but Ryoko had already grown accustomed to the wide variety of coworkers she had at Obsidian. So a unicorn biker girl didn't even register until she stopped and actually looked her over. It's not like Ryoko tunes her coworkers out, no, she's paying attention to everything, especially while doing such boring work. It's just that a passing Oni or darkling isn't going to rise to the level of her actually caring. This bitch, though?

"I assure you this is not fun," she says, almost immediately, her voice deadpan. She knows Sunbreaker is being sarcastic, but words are words. She stands there waiting for an introduction and instead she gets, well, Sunbreaker. It's a good thing she's not in henshin, or when the pamphlet was put back on the table, the entire stack of papers would have burst into flame. Instead she just grabs the last packet. The final packet she'd just stapled, and flips to page three, looks right to where she knows the word is and stares. There it is. The typo.

It is Ryoko's responsibility to make sure this presentation is flawless. Hokori-sama will not be kind if this typo is in the packets the board sees. Ryoko shudders to think of what her boss would do. She needs to edit and reprint the documents and then re-collate the packets, and she had other things left to do after that. She has less than an hour to do it in. She's fucked.

Or is she? This...girl in front of her seems useful. Ryoko suppresses her anger into a tight ball of roiling rage deep inside, and looks at Sunbreaker with a slight grin.

"Thank you for volunteering to help me with this," she says. Then she grabs all the papers, and briskly walks up to and past Sunbreaker, grabbing hold of her arm and tugging her along. "I'll reprint them, and you can collate."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Sunbreaker couldn't help it. When she was 'voluntold' she actually snickered. When she was grabbed and tugged? She... didn't move. At first.

But then she did start to move, going along with the other girl. A clear sign to let Ryoko know, more or less, she found this amusing and was going along with it because SHE chose. Not because she had to. Buuuuut, more importantly... she'd seen that look. That moment when the typo was seen. When she felt that shudder.

That was a reaction she knew well. The moments after spending hours getting something perfect...

Only to realize. At the last moment. Something. Was. Wrong. That panic. That fear. 'This is going to the sovereign, I CAN'T ALLOW IT TO NOT BE PERFECT!'

The raw terror at being seen as NOTHING but a hack. Useless. Pathetic. A failure.

But, then, she didn't know Ryoko's story. She let the other girl lead her along and when she started printing... her fingers moved, purple magic gathering the pages up and organizing them in the air telekinetically. "You know... most printing programs have a collate program. I've only been in this world a few months and even I know that."

And yet she still struggled to use a laptop and even google. Document printing was about the only thing she could do well. "Guessing not a big computer user? Sunbreaker, by the way. And you are...?"

Ryoko Gushiken has posed:
It was less about being seen as incompetent and more about being the target of the Grim Queen's sadistic fury. It is very painful to mess up in her employ. Very very painful. Thankfully, Ryoko doesn't mess up that often, and she's not going to mess up today because she recruited help. She's very good at recruiting help. It's unfortunate that most of the helpers she finds are insufferable. Other people are the worst. She hates other people.

"No, I am not a big computer user, but I do know about the collate function," Ryoko sneers. "If only the IT department had provided me with such equipment." They had, she just doesn't know how to use it. Obsidian's computers run the most needlessly complicated and byzantine software.

She looks at the stack of papers after Sunbreaker magically collates and staples them and smiles slightly. She is at least as useful as Ryoko had expected. "Ryoko Gushiken, executive assistant to Akari Hokori-sama," she says, her chin raising a touch and her back straightening. She hates her job, but she's proud of it. "Thank you for helping me," she says. It's important to show gratitude toward subordinates some of the time, to motivate them.

Then she turns and starts walking back toward the board room, calling out over her shoulder, "Now grab the papers and follow me back to the board room."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Sunbreaker cocked an eye. Well, she couldn't help feeling mildly amused by this. She'd seen this. She'd BEEN this. But the reason it was hilarious to her?

Was she knew how to use the collate function on the printers. But oh, she wasn't going to sayyyy thaaaaaat.

"Mmmm hm. Akari Hokori. Never heard of them. Guessing she's new here? Oh, of course she is. Otherwise you'd have used Ted for this," she said, still carrying the papers behind her. "Sooo. My first guess was going to be mundane office worker, but oh no. While you've got the whole... angry froofing secretary thing down, if they're one of the higher ups their mundane secretary would at least know how to better operate the printer. Definitely not youma-that-looks-like-human. You can actually cobble two words together. So, guessing you're a... mmmmm. Wow, we really need a name for the obsidian sparkle skirts. I'd say competent but I've met most of my coworkers."

"I'll be honest, though. When I first saw you I thought you might be one of those Witches 5 I heard oh so much about. Buuuut... No. As useless as they are at magic, they're pretty good with the computers."

For now, though, she was following the other girl and helping, so even if she was annoying, at least she was helpful annoying.

Ryoko Gushiken has posed:
"Yes, we just joined the firm," Ryoko says with a nod as she walks. She moves on those stiletto heels with ease like they're just a natural extension of her body. Her head held high and her shoulders back, she projects an air of authority, even if she doesn't really have any. "It's been brutal. We don't have a staff yet, and so it's all fallen to me. And I have to go to that stupid school and live with an annoying, cute roommate." The word cute dripping with disgust.

She doesn't comment on whether or not she's magical. Even if it's obvious, that's just not something she talks about. Besides, she already gave Sunbreaker her gratitude. She doesn't owe her anything more.

They step back in to the board room and Ryoko grabs the papers from Sunbreaker, walking around the table to set them down at each place right behind each table tent. "But she'll be the least of my worries if this doesn't go perfectly, so thank you again."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Sunbreaker shivered. "Ohhhhh. I know exactly what you mean. Some of the people here are obnoxiously adorable. Enough to make you gag, really. Just wait until they start trailing glitter everywhere. Then you'll know the true horror of the sparkle skirts." At least HER roommate only pretended to be cute. She wasn't actually...

.... Okay, so Dianora was adorable and Double Trouble was precious. It wasn't like she WANTED that. But at least she could put that to use.

A second thank you? My my. At least this girl seemed to understand the value of appreciating those who helped you. She could appreciate THAT, at least. "Hmmmm. So, scared to disappoint your boss because you really admire and respect her? Or terrified because of what she'll do to you if you leave even the slightest thing out of order? Cause... there was another typo on page five."

No there wasn't. At this point she was just messing with her because she was sure she wouldn't get an actual answer... but a part of her wanted to seeeeeeeee.

Ryoko Gushiken has posed:
Ryoko Gushiken places the last packet at the last place, and then goes about organizing the last few things in the room that need to be just right for the meeting that is twenty minutes away. She doesn't even look at Sunbreaker when she speaks. "No, there is not. I checked the entire document before I reprinted it, just to make sure," she says. As if she'd trust a practical stranger when it was her neck on the line.

With everything done, Ryoko finally has a moment to breathe. She walks around the table toward the doorway and puts her hand on the door as she faces Sunbreaker. It's almost like she's hinting that Sunbreaker should leave. "So what about you? What department do you work for?"

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Sunbreaker couldn't help but snicker then. Oh my gosh it was like looking at a less competent mirror! Well. Less hot, less competent, less magically--

... Wait. Was this like, Hinoiri from this world? With a different name? That made her actually shudder a little, her smile wavering.

"Freelance. So I work for a lot of departments, depending on what I'm looking for at the time." If Ryoko was hinting at it... Sunbreaker wasn't doing it. In fact, she seemed entirely content to just stand here, arms crossed, smirking at her. "Your whole dust stuff looks interesting. We had something similiar back home. I'm always keeping an eye out for interesting arcane talents."

Ryoko Gushiken has posed:
Ryoko Gushiken hears the snicker and sees the smirk. It is clear this girl thinks she is better than her. Ryoko knows better. She knows just what she is capable of.

In her mind's eye, she sees Sunbreaker impaled on both of Nightfall's blades in front of her, coughing up blood from her pierced lungs. It brings a smile to Ryoko's lips as she looks at the other girl. "Oh. Freelance," she says, her nose wrinkling. "Have you been here long? Surely somebody as competent as you would be recognized by the higher ups. Wonder why nobody wants to hire you."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Sunbreaker couldn't help it. She grinned even wider. "Ohhhhh. Excellent comeback. You really have this whole 'noble bitch' thing down. Backhanded, a little subtle, just enough of a compliment that if I got annoyed by it I'd seem crazy. Absolutely magnificent. Freelance by choice though. A few departments have tried to procure me, but honestly? I don't really... do well dealing with management. I get enough results that the Big Boss doesn't care if I'm not directly under anyone else and it gives me a lot of space to operate with... well... any department I want. Without having to deal with things like... collating reports."

Though, a part of her wondered if, maybe, the whole incident with Hematite wouldn't have happened if she wasn't freelance... but then, the idea of letting others take credit for HER work? Ugh. No. Or worse. Being like Takashi and having to answer to someone like... Mimette. Shudder.

Ryoko Gushiken has posed:
Ryoko Gushiken read the employee manual on her first day. She knows that there would be consequences if she murdered a coworker, especially if she did it in the board room fifteen minutes before a board meeting. Besides, she's not in henshin. So, she settles for just imagining the carnage. She has to keep a smile on her face somehow.

"Oh, I see. Well, that must be nice for you," she says, and looks Sunbreaker up and down. "So, what is it that you do, then?" She considers for a moment. "Collections?"

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Sunbreaker actually full on laughed at that. "Ohhh, yes. Collections. Acquisitions. A bit of demolitions. Promotions. You know, a bit of everything. Sooo. I tell you what. I'm going to give you a little bit of advice. Chill. I get it, your boss is going to get mad, crush you for failure, for the slightest thing being out of place."

"But it's going to happen. Things are going to break. You have no say in the matter. Because people here are going to fuck with you. They're going to drive you mad. They're going to sabotage you. And they're going to do a lot to make sure you look as terrible as possible. So try not to worry so much about what's going to make you look bad."

"Focus more on what you're going to do to make sure all they remember is your successes. Look me up when you decide to go out into the field, maybe I'll give you a hand. For now? Ciao," she said before turning and walking out the door... then pausing. "Oh, right." And flicked her wrist.

And all of the pamplets promptly burst into flame.

.... And then a moment later they were entirely fine, only a hint of smoke in the air, but no actual damage done to them, or the room. Sunbreaker was being an ass, but she wasn't entirely merciless. She could, at least, understand the struggles of a student desperate to make a good impression... She'd been there once herself, after all.