[NPC] public

[forgediron]

Characters: [NPC] Zanru, OPEN
Date: December 8-15 2015
Location: Stark Industries
Situation: Studying the returning Foreigners.
Warnings/Rating: N/A

It was impossible to miss that the Foreigners had returned. Thus far it seemed they had only given Yunxu trouble--of course, Yunxu was troubled by anything he couldn't control--but Zanru was aware of her current position. She was aware that most of what the Foreigners had once owned was hers. Though too many of the Foreigners had left over the years for Zanru to know any of the current ones personally, it was nevertheless the bulk of her family who staffed their offices. Soon after they'd disappeared no one had wanted to touch the Foreigners' technology. No one had dared, except Zanru.

For all they had been her allies in the past, Zanru had no intention of simply handing over everything for which her family had worked. If the Foreigners couldn't even be obliged to stay after building such large companies, then Zanru was damned if she'd let them have them back after a year's disappearance. It would be the height of irresponsibility to let some of Keeliai's largest industries be run by people who couldn't even guarantee they'd be there to run them.

That being said, the returning Foreigners provided an ... opportunity. That was why Zanru had asked her assistants at Stark Industries to tell her if any of them came to the building to ask for information. Sometimes, she wasn't there and the Foreigners were turned away. She wasn't going to make things easy for them.

But, when they were fortunate or had managed to arrange an actual appointment, there were times when Zanru was in Stark Industries office, diligently overseeing the paperwork and the research under her care.

Comments

his entire canon can be summarized as "people take Tony's stuff and he throws a tantrum"

[highprofilerichkid]

Tony acts like the world revolves around him because he's used to the world revolving around him. The idea that he wouldn't be entitled to anything with the Stark name on it - whether it was made by him, or his dad, or an alternate universe version of himself - is alien to him. Ah, the foibles of the obscenely wealthy and privileged.

"It makes it mine a hell of a lot more than it makes it yours," Tony retorts.

Her next complaint about Eshai is valid; Tony just doesn't care. "So what?" Like seriously, what does this game of misery poker have to do with literally anything. Why is this relevant to him getting back stuff that is his.

"So, we all got screwed over - and you're not the only ones getting spiritually vivisected, either." The fact that the foreigners get their memories wiped when they return home does not sit well with Tony. "Sucks to be all of us, or whatever. What I'm not getting is how that gives you the right to just take everything the foreigners left behind for yourselves. I mean, if we're operating under the law of 'finders keepers' now, why shouldn't I go down to the labs and fly off with whatever I want? It's not like you could stop me."

It's not so much a threat as a— okay, yeah, that's totally a threat.

[forgediron]

Zanru straightened and turned, and her expression was cold when she looked at him. There was definitely annoyance and anger there--she didn't pretend to be emotionless--but it was controlled. She spread her arms. "You're right. You've more powerful tools at your disposal and you're smarter than me. I can't stop you. But if you do that you're just proving my point. You can't stand the idea of someone else dictating terms to you, even when they do benefit you. You just can't stand not being the one in control."

She snorted. "Your things? Everything in this building should rightfully belong to the people as a whole, and you come in here demanding things that belong to you, an individual? You're too old to be acting like such a child. Everywhere you go, you represent your people. You're a Foreigner. And you're doing a pretty piss-poor job making me want anything to do with any of you."

Zanru pointed out the window toward the Foreigner's hotel's sector entrance. "But in the end, when you come in here and take what's yours by breaking and entering and theft instead of negotiation, you're the one who'll have to go back to the other Foreigners and explain why the Metalworkers want nothing to do with a family group that cheats and steals just to get their way."

sometimes I forget that Tony is a corporate capitalist pig, and then I remember

[highprofilerichkid]

"How does everything I built at SI getting stolen benefit me? But, no, I get it— 'the people as a whole,' meaning 'everybody except the foreigners', right? Sure is nice redistributing wealth when you only have to redistribute it to your friends, huh?

And you know what? You're doing a pretty piss-poor job of representing the kedan, if you ask me. Because all I'm getting out of this is that it's bad when the foreigners steal and cheat, but it's totally okay when you do it. So why should we care if you want anything to do with us? Obviously you've already decided not to treat us fairly."

He turns on his heel and starts stalking towards the door.

"Have fun with your cute little choo-choo train and your little AlphaSmart computers. Give me a call when you decide you need a real engineer."

Zanru's not going to forget

[forgediron]

Zanru rolled her eyes and didn't stop him, but turned around to pick up the phone to have someone go through the inventory receipts and figure out what Stark might have bought or brought into the building himself--though Zanru doubted it would be much. Anything they could find records for--or not, as the case might be, since anything that was his wouldn't be on company record--was all he was going to get, and that was if he bothered to come back and ask nicely.

"Foreigners," she muttered as she put the phone back down. "Did any of them even have families before they got here?" Few of them seemed to have any idea how to be polite or how to handle being in a group of people who depended on one another, and that was twice now that Foreigners had thrown around their own intelligence as if that was a merit all on its own. Aya at least had had a point with being able to help--all Stark did was whine as if being intelligent meant he was owed things.

Things had been much simpler a year ago, before there was ambition to drive politics. But simple didn't mean better ... even if it usually meant easier. Shaking her head, Zanru went back to sorting paperwork.

nevr 5get

[highprofilerichkid]

Tony is almost hoping she'll have a retort so he has an excuse to turn back around and continue the argument, because he's still coming up with more things he wants to say. But she doesn't, and he's committed to his dramatic exit now.

So he storms out of SI without a backwards glance, and as soon as he's in the street he armors up and starts flying back to the hotel. He's going to get SI back, and he needs to start making plans.