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<text="Acquiring A Circus And Monkeys">
At first the tablet I had been handed made no sense - I could see patterns on the screen, but they were hard to make out through other auras and the patterns of the mechanisms and data manipulation. There was a feeling of Mephistopheles leaning in, as if looking over my shoulder, and it adjusted so that the other patterns and auras matched whatever was supposed to be on the screen - mostly legibly, and what didn’t resolve into a clear word or image was still understandable.
There was a handful of contract and other paperwork I was not oriented enough to try to go over, and a section of information with a directory, including personnel profiles that were probably written by someone in management that wasn’t directly involved in the bus.
Yi Sang - Somehow the warning about being hard to understand feels like a serious insult, and I’m not even sure yet why it’s so offensive. His presence seems like a damping, quieting cloud on everyone around him, but it’s also got a strange sort of flavor to it that is Concerning - like I need to look out for him carefully because he won’t look out for himself. Otherwise he actually seems pretty reliable as long as he’s sort of stable.
Faust - I am not surprised she has whoever wrote this over a barrel to the point of giving up, because that is a lot of thick fog that is definitely aware of when I’m glancing over.
Don Quixote - That’s… that’s a soap bubble made of titanium, very loud and bouncing onward like a rubber balloon without any purchase on its surroundings or any heed paid to gravity, and whatever’s under it is big and probably messy because you don’t get a shell like that for no reason. That’s a headache waiting to happen.
Ryoshu - And of course, the file is ominous about what is probably one of the calmest people here. She’s absolutely a pointy edged, spidery predator, but that’s about it; I’m sure she would be dangerous if someone stepped on her feet enough, but it also seems pretty easy to mind and figure out what would cause that.
Meursault - everything’s sort of rigid and jagged, but it’s pretty transparent, even if it seems to run at weird angles next to others - and have a lot of potential weight, just waiting for something to tip into momentum.
Hong Lu - whoever wrote these was either high or making shit up based on a vague commentary from someone else. Carefree my ass, that’s a lot of smoke and mirrors and misdirection trying to avoid being seen around a core that’s a ball of bleeding and jittering all over within a little cage, frantically cataloguing and rattling around.
Heathcliff - Okay, yes, ball of sharp edges and pointy bits, but somehow he feels LESS volatile than some of the others… probably because it’s less covered; more likely to go off and run out of steam than get pressurized, and whatever’s under it is less outwardly explosive and more like there’s some kind of weight dragging down, hollowing the bluster. Also some of the sharp bits are feelers, aware and calculating enough that I’d roll my eyes if I still had them at the report calling him “simple minded”.
Ishmael - what part of her looks stable to these people? There’s definitely a sense of experience and grounding - always watching, honed and focused, but I’m hesitant to call it “controlled”, and she sure as fuck isn’t solid on being connected to anybody else here, plus something running under the surface that’s deep and volatile.
Rodya - most of the concerns listed by the profile didn’t seem like the real problems at all - sure, I’d need to keep an eye on her getting into trouble, but there’s something high strung and agitated about her, like she’s an inch from climbing the walls at all times - nothing easy going or light hearted there at all, besides some very hollow tone or voice. I know my perceptions are drastically different, but she can’t be that subtle of a basket case, can she?
Sinclair - That is a whole ass teenage child, and whoever wrote these is more concerned with him being squeamish. He’s an anxious, high strung mess but most of its bottled inward, like shaken soda with a chance of explosives and a decent chance it’d explode inward as likely as outward.
Outis - … that is a ball of overwound rusty springs, barbed wire, and hair triggers. There is a pretty keen mind behind it, but she’s got a ways to go before I trust her judgment, and I completely believe I’ll need to keep an eye on her and find a way to keep her from going off leash that doesn’t just set off that crunchy outer shell of paranoia.
Gregor - the profile referred to him as easy to handle; he seemed friendly enough, but it felt like he’d fold under a stiff breeze as far as pressure from others went, to the point that I’d need to be careful minding him, both for keeping him functioning - because he probably wouldn’t say anything if something was wrong until it became catastrophic - and for figuring out how to get him having some initiative when it was eventually needed. I don’t know how much they bothered with; the “insectile tissue” was keeping a very wary watch on me, like an abused stray hissing from inside a carrier, and making peace with that is probably the bigger potential hazard.
So. The profiles are useless. The personnel files aren’t much better, anything that might be a clue what I’m dealing with where it’s important is redacted; getting this group to not self destruct is entirely on me.
I am going to be doing a shit ton of mediating and herding for a good while - none of them seem familiar with each other beyond passing, and there’s enough potential volatility for a lot of dumb pointless conflicts and headbutting or misinterpretation and reaction.
Top priority - I need to get Ishmael and Outis listening. That means I need to get both of them to trust me. Ishmael is probably just going to be a matter of time, listening to her, and being as transparent as I can while she’s getting a feel for things; she might start shit but it should be pretty situational. Outis is going to be more of a problem - she’s already been testing boundaries and doing little dominance-checks; I need to establish that I’m in charge, but if I’m not careful how I do it, it’s just going to spark rebellion and make her more of a hazard.
About the only way I can probably make it work is to keep her close and go over shit with her - I can’t give her any authority that isn’t heavily supervised, but I need to make sure she’s kept busy whenever possible so she doesn’t make her own “work” that will probably fuck things up, at least until/unless I can get a working understanding with her.
If I indicate she’s actually being second in command she will start acting on it and will destroy any trust or command I can manage, but I can probably get her on board with acting in an advisory capacity, which will also give plenty of opportunity to sort things out with her; I also need a voice anyway dealing with others, if she cooperates on that.
Getting Gregor’s symbiote to calm down is also a high priority, but will probably be a lot more straightforward and easier to navigate without worrying too much about how it ripples to everyone else, since I can communicate with it pretty easily and understand it.
The next big concern is the more immediate self-destruct risks. Sinclair needs some kind of stabilizers yesterday, but doesn’t seem like he’ll be that hard to get accepting it, at least. Don is…. In theory as long as I can translate things into Don-Speak and something that makes sense to her version of reality, it should be doable, but a leash seems like a serious potential consideration. Rodion and Heath I won’t be able to do anything about without getting them to settle down first, and figuring out how to get across that I’m not trying to take advantage of them.
Which is funny when they just got bound to me like that, but it wasn’t something I was planning on any more than they probably would’ve agreed to it if they knew the full implications.
The rest of it is going to be patience, mostly, and being mindful of the others who’re potential self destructs. Gregor and Yi Sang are probably going to act like they’re fine for a while even after I manage to get them used to me enough to maybe talk, and Hong Lu is going to take a long time and a lot of caution to get settling enough to admit to anything.
At least Ryoshu’s going to be easy.
Faust is a different matter entirely - she knows more about what’s going on here than whoever wrote the profiles for certain, and she’s definitely got her own agenda. At the same time, she bound herself to me the same as the others, except she definitely has the background to fully understand what she was doing. For all her professed ego, she doesn’t seem the type to gamble on pride alone. So, she has to be confident that tying herself to me like that won’t conflict with her goals; I may not know what her game is, but as long as she’s bound to me, she’s not going to do anything stupid about it, and probably already accounted for cooperating with my agenda. At worst, I have plenty of time to figure out what she’s up to.
Vergilius feels a bit more dicey; I know he’s not nearly as sanguine as he’s acting, but I also don’t know enough to figure out what to expect from him.
The documents I’ve been given access to fill in astonishingly little - it’s like the higher ups in the company want me to know as little as possible about anything to do with them or the job outside of this bus, including nothing to indicate what the mission even IS besides that they’ll have orders for us soon.
They’re probably lucky I’m not dumb enough to do anything right now; until I have a better grasp of the situation, I don’t have much choice but to play along.
At first the tablet I had been handed made no sense - I could see patterns on the screen, but they were hard to make out through other auras and the patterns of the mechanisms and data manipulation. There was a feeling of Mephistopheles leaning in, as if looking over my shoulder, and it adjusted so that the other patterns and auras matched whatever was supposed to be on the screen - mostly legibly, and what didn’t resolve into a clear word or image was still understandable.
There was a handful of contract and other paperwork I was not oriented enough to try to go over, and a section of information with a directory, including personnel profiles that were probably written by someone in management that wasn’t directly involved in the bus.
Yi Sang - Somehow the warning about being hard to understand feels like a serious insult, and I’m not even sure yet why it’s so offensive. His presence seems like a damping, quieting cloud on everyone around him, but it’s also got a strange sort of flavor to it that is Concerning - like I need to look out for him carefully because he won’t look out for himself. Otherwise he actually seems pretty reliable as long as he’s sort of stable.
Faust - I am not surprised she has whoever wrote this over a barrel to the point of giving up, because that is a lot of thick fog that is definitely aware of when I’m glancing over.
Don Quixote - That’s… that’s a soap bubble made of titanium, very loud and bouncing onward like a rubber balloon without any purchase on its surroundings or any heed paid to gravity, and whatever’s under it is big and probably messy because you don’t get a shell like that for no reason. That’s a headache waiting to happen.
Ryoshu - And of course, the file is ominous about what is probably one of the calmest people here. She’s absolutely a pointy edged, spidery predator, but that’s about it; I’m sure she would be dangerous if someone stepped on her feet enough, but it also seems pretty easy to mind and figure out what would cause that.
Meursault - everything’s sort of rigid and jagged, but it’s pretty transparent, even if it seems to run at weird angles next to others - and have a lot of potential weight, just waiting for something to tip into momentum.
Hong Lu - whoever wrote these was either high or making shit up based on a vague commentary from someone else. Carefree my ass, that’s a lot of smoke and mirrors and misdirection trying to avoid being seen around a core that’s a ball of bleeding and jittering all over within a little cage, frantically cataloguing and rattling around.
Heathcliff - Okay, yes, ball of sharp edges and pointy bits, but somehow he feels LESS volatile than some of the others… probably because it’s less covered; more likely to go off and run out of steam than get pressurized, and whatever’s under it is less outwardly explosive and more like there’s some kind of weight dragging down, hollowing the bluster. Also some of the sharp bits are feelers, aware and calculating enough that I’d roll my eyes if I still had them at the report calling him “simple minded”.
Ishmael - what part of her looks stable to these people? There’s definitely a sense of experience and grounding - always watching, honed and focused, but I’m hesitant to call it “controlled”, and she sure as fuck isn’t solid on being connected to anybody else here, plus something running under the surface that’s deep and volatile.
Rodya - most of the concerns listed by the profile didn’t seem like the real problems at all - sure, I’d need to keep an eye on her getting into trouble, but there’s something high strung and agitated about her, like she’s an inch from climbing the walls at all times - nothing easy going or light hearted there at all, besides some very hollow tone or voice. I know my perceptions are drastically different, but she can’t be that subtle of a basket case, can she?
Sinclair - That is a whole ass teenage child, and whoever wrote these is more concerned with him being squeamish. He’s an anxious, high strung mess but most of its bottled inward, like shaken soda with a chance of explosives and a decent chance it’d explode inward as likely as outward.
Outis - … that is a ball of overwound rusty springs, barbed wire, and hair triggers. There is a pretty keen mind behind it, but she’s got a ways to go before I trust her judgment, and I completely believe I’ll need to keep an eye on her and find a way to keep her from going off leash that doesn’t just set off that crunchy outer shell of paranoia.
Gregor - the profile referred to him as easy to handle; he seemed friendly enough, but it felt like he’d fold under a stiff breeze as far as pressure from others went, to the point that I’d need to be careful minding him, both for keeping him functioning - because he probably wouldn’t say anything if something was wrong until it became catastrophic - and for figuring out how to get him having some initiative when it was eventually needed. I don’t know how much they bothered with; the “insectile tissue” was keeping a very wary watch on me, like an abused stray hissing from inside a carrier, and making peace with that is probably the bigger potential hazard.
So. The profiles are useless. The personnel files aren’t much better, anything that might be a clue what I’m dealing with where it’s important is redacted; getting this group to not self destruct is entirely on me.
I am going to be doing a shit ton of mediating and herding for a good while - none of them seem familiar with each other beyond passing, and there’s enough potential volatility for a lot of dumb pointless conflicts and headbutting or misinterpretation and reaction.
Top priority - I need to get Ishmael and Outis listening. That means I need to get both of them to trust me. Ishmael is probably just going to be a matter of time, listening to her, and being as transparent as I can while she’s getting a feel for things; she might start shit but it should be pretty situational. Outis is going to be more of a problem - she’s already been testing boundaries and doing little dominance-checks; I need to establish that I’m in charge, but if I’m not careful how I do it, it’s just going to spark rebellion and make her more of a hazard.
About the only way I can probably make it work is to keep her close and go over shit with her - I can’t give her any authority that isn’t heavily supervised, but I need to make sure she’s kept busy whenever possible so she doesn’t make her own “work” that will probably fuck things up, at least until/unless I can get a working understanding with her.
If I indicate she’s actually being second in command she will start acting on it and will destroy any trust or command I can manage, but I can probably get her on board with acting in an advisory capacity, which will also give plenty of opportunity to sort things out with her; I also need a voice anyway dealing with others, if she cooperates on that.
Getting Gregor’s symbiote to calm down is also a high priority, but will probably be a lot more straightforward and easier to navigate without worrying too much about how it ripples to everyone else, since I can communicate with it pretty easily and understand it.
The next big concern is the more immediate self-destruct risks. Sinclair needs some kind of stabilizers yesterday, but doesn’t seem like he’ll be that hard to get accepting it, at least. Don is…. In theory as long as I can translate things into Don-Speak and something that makes sense to her version of reality, it should be doable, but a leash seems like a serious potential consideration. Rodion and Heath I won’t be able to do anything about without getting them to settle down first, and figuring out how to get across that I’m not trying to take advantage of them.
Which is funny when they just got bound to me like that, but it wasn’t something I was planning on any more than they probably would’ve agreed to it if they knew the full implications.
The rest of it is going to be patience, mostly, and being mindful of the others who’re potential self destructs. Gregor and Yi Sang are probably going to act like they’re fine for a while even after I manage to get them used to me enough to maybe talk, and Hong Lu is going to take a long time and a lot of caution to get settling enough to admit to anything.
At least Ryoshu’s going to be easy.
Faust is a different matter entirely - she knows more about what’s going on here than whoever wrote the profiles for certain, and she’s definitely got her own agenda. At the same time, she bound herself to me the same as the others, except she definitely has the background to fully understand what she was doing. For all her professed ego, she doesn’t seem the type to gamble on pride alone. So, she has to be confident that tying herself to me like that won’t conflict with her goals; I may not know what her game is, but as long as she’s bound to me, she’s not going to do anything stupid about it, and probably already accounted for cooperating with my agenda. At worst, I have plenty of time to figure out what she’s up to.
Vergilius feels a bit more dicey; I know he’s not nearly as sanguine as he’s acting, but I also don’t know enough to figure out what to expect from him.
The documents I’ve been given access to fill in astonishingly little - it’s like the higher ups in the company want me to know as little as possible about anything to do with them or the job outside of this bus, including nothing to indicate what the mission even IS besides that they’ll have orders for us soon.
They’re probably lucky I’m not dumb enough to do anything right now; until I have a better grasp of the situation, I don’t have much choice but to play along.
