tushanshu_logs | [NPC] public

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[NPC] public

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.

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Aya was, perhaps, one of the few Foreigners who had not changed. Not physically, thanks to the semi-artificial nature of her form (which had barely seen rust, thanks to the care provided for her metal components for the duration of time her subconscious resided in the Dream realm). Not mentally, as her own Dream had left her in a somewhat cycle state of contentment in which she neither learned nor evolved...much.

In fact, were it not for the additional year's worth of "memories", including the final battle, Aya would have been assumed to actually leave Keelai for the year, returning from the same point in her universe.

Not that Zanru would have any indication of this. Nor would Aya have any indication of the depths to which she had lost her laboratory station at Stark Industries.

Until now.

"Hello." Aware of the proper social procedures, she calmly approached the main desk. "I would like to request an audience with the individual...in charge."

A strange statement to hear passing through her lips, given that that had once been her friend and colleague, Tony Stark. Or herself.

Aya being green-skinned, she was in some ways more alike to the kedan than most of the Foreigners were. At least, they were slightly more amiable--or perhaps just uncomprehending of the fact that Aya was, in fact, not kedan. So while the receptionist gave her a looking-over, she also at least smiled.

"If you don't have an appointment, you'll have to make one," she said. "For what reason do you need to see her?"

Zanru had ordered to be alerted if Foreigners appeared wanting an appointment and she happened to be in office. The receptionist was new--too new to realise that the petite green-skinned woman, just alien enough to set her apart from the other Foreigners, had once worked there as a Foreigner herself.

Nothing, if not patient (one of the few life skills she had built-in to her systems, to withstand the long hours of nighttime silence while those around her engaged in habitual sleep cycles), Aya was prepared to make said appointment. It was simpler than arguing.

"I have knowledge of this company's past management and business policies, and would take a great interest in opening what I believe to be a mutually beneficial discussion on the subject."

"You do?" The kedan looked at her uncertainly, and shuffled a few paper files, and then looked on the computers. That was strange. Everyone who worked at Stark Industries was a member of the family somehow, yet the receptionist didn't recall ever meeting anyone of this woman's description.

Unless--oh. Almost at once her expression soured for a split second before she rescued it with a less happy smile and reached for the intercom. "Take a seat. I'll see if Zanru is free."

Zanru was. Ten minutes later the receptionist, a little unhappily, directed Aya up to the offices--though not up to the official CEO's office. This one was a smaller one down the hall, with a view of Keeliai. Upon entering the first impression Aya would have was that the insides of a robot was strewn all across the floor and there was a kedan woman elbow-deep in the main part of the body.

To her credit, Aya's face remained fairly neutral as she scanned over the remains of what had clearly once been a machine of some kind. She felt a certain kinship to fellow artificial beings, yes, but without evidence that this one had been sentient, there was little she could say or do.

"Are you attempting repairs?" A safe assumption to make. If she was correct, there would be no harm or offense. If she wasn't...

...it would depend upon the woman's response.

It wasn't that it took three days for Skulduggery to remember his Bentley. He remembered it the moment he reached the city, after all, and felt forgetful for not remembering it even sooner than that. The problem was that he didn't like walking into situations he didn't have some sort of advantage in, and he knew absolutely nothing about the so-called Metalworkers. It didn't take a lot of detective work to find out Zanru had been seen in possession of the large, foreign vehicle, but it did take a little work to discover what she might have done with it - and, more importantly, why.

In some areas of Keeliai, people were more wary of her than they were of the Snakes.

Rather than go through the receptionist, and possibly two or three assistants beyond the receptionist, and either having to play at diplomacy or force his way past some guards, Skulduggery simply flew up to the top level windows of the building and checked each one to see if Zanru was inside. He had a vague idea of what she looked like, but he also knew how to look for the authority figure in any room - and flying gave any search enough thrill to keep it from being monotonous.

"Nope," said Zanru without looking up, reaching for a spanner. "I'm building." Sort-of. Mostly. It was a retro-engineering job, one of many. Zanru hadn't quite figured out how the software worked for the robots, so she was investigating the more mechanical functions first--like that lovely vehicle she'd been forced to trade to Yunxu.

Still, thanks to that vehicle Zanru was getting further than she ever had, and wasn't inclined to stop just because a Foreigner wanted to have a talk with her. Not unless the Foreigner had something worth saying. But when Zanru glanced up, she paused. "You're Aya. You worked here before, didn't you?"

Well, this could either be a pickle or a boon.

Zanru was busy doing the paperwork the company produced. It wasn't one of her favourite things to do, but in its own way it was satisfying. A business, put together right, was like a machine--also put together right. It had its pulleys and systems, and when it broke down one could usually track it to the source.

Sometimes those pulleys and systems didn't work. All it meant was a change.

She had paused to stretch and yawn and get up for a strong cup of caffeinated tea, and just turned around to find a skeleton at her window. To her credit, she managed not to jump, though she did flinch and reach for the weapon on the counter that she, according to Yunxu, wasn't 'meant' to have.

He was 'gracious', he'd said. He understood the need for the family leaders to protect themselves, he said. Arrogant ground-crawler.

Zanru stood there, sipping her tea and staring at the skeleton, and waiting for him to ... do whatever he was intending to do.

The sort-of answer was...actually enough to satisfy Aya on the matter. For now.

"You are correct." A nod. Clearly, this woman was more knowledgeable than the secretary she had first spoken to. That would make things easier. (So she assumed.) A pleasant smile appeared. "Soon after my initial arrival in Keelai, I was hired to work in the Science Department by an older Tony Stark, then head of the company. After his departure, I assumed leadership roles until such time when it was no longer necessary to rely on my skills alone."

Zanru waited a beat for Aya to continue, but when she didn't Zanru lifted an eyebrow. "Good for you," she said. "Is there meant to be a question in there somewhere?"

Oh, Zanru could well guess what that question was--or rather, what the order was. If Aya wanted her position back, she was going to have to ask for it, and even then Zanru was inclined to tell her 'no'--at least until Zanru could trust that any Foreigner working at the company wouldn't attempt a coup and would actually obey orders.

Tony strides up to the front desk of Stark industries, looking confident, determined, and a little bit riled up. He's not angry - yet - but he's prepared to get angry, if things don't go his way.

While he can't blame the kedan for taking over here in the foreigners' year-long absence, he can't help but be a little ticked off that a bunch of inexperienced amateurs have been messing with his stuff for all that time. He's dreading finding out what kind of state his lab is in.

"Hey." He nods at the receptionist. "I'm here to see... whoever's running things."

Without so much as batting an (artificial) eyelash: "Not currently, no. I only wished to inform you of my qualifications before putting in my request. It seemed the more logical order in situations such as these."

Again, Zanru waited another beat for Aya to continue, and then said, "What request would that be?"

Willingly oblivious? Yep. But the questioner controlled a conversation, and Zanru had no intention of losing control of the conversation.

The receptionist, with an air of vaguely irritated resignation, looked at him up and down and then asked pointedly, "Do you have an appointment?"

Zanru was in the building, and had made her orders clear, but still. It was as though the Foreigners had no concept of businesses running without their influence or encouragement, and assumed everyone else would be readily available to meet their needs at a moment.

So while the receptionist was under orders to call Zanru and let her know when a Foreigner wanted to see her as long as she was already in the building, she certainly wasn't going to let the Foreigners think everything would be dropped in a moment.

"Resumed access to the laboratory."

...and that was all. Resume, to serve as a reminder that she did, in fact, work in the laboratory at one time. Request so that it did not come off as a demand, but acknowledgment that permission would be needed.

"In return, I would be willing to assist you in any projects that may benefit from my multiple areas of expertise."

"Yeah. For right now o'clock," Tony says blithely. He might be serious. He might be joking. It's not really clear. But what is clear is that, one way or the other, he does expect to be seen right away.

Tony Stark is not accustomed to being kept waiting. Stane had liked to do that, to remind Tony of who was boss, back when he had snatched Stark International away from Tony. And, well... That had not ended well. Especially not for Stane.

"That's not a proper appointment," said the receptionist flatly, and she stared at him rebelliously even when she picked up the phone to call Zanru and let her know a Foreigner was present and wanting to talk to her. After having mistaken Aya for being kedanese, she had deliberately memorised all the Foreigners' names and appearances. No one was going to slip by her.

So she knew who this was, and told Zanru so, and a minute later hung up the phone. "She can see you in an hour. Take a seat, if you'd like to wait here."

She'd much rather Stark didn't, though.

That was pretty straight-forward. Zanru preferred that. She didn't have the luxury of subtlety and innuendo, and in her early dealings with Yunxu had decided to deliberately take people at face-value. In the first place, it was amusing. In the second, it was liberating to just not care about the stupid backhanders Yunxu like to throw into his conversations.

For a moment Zanru stood there, considering Aya and what she knew of the android. Zanru had worked more often at Wayne Enterprises up until a month or so before Malicant's defeat--so she didn't know Aya very well personally. But that was just personally.

Finally Zanru said, "Why should I give it to you?" She put her brown, greasy hand on the half-constructed automaton. "This may not seem like much to you, but after you all vanished we had to figure out how it worked. One moment we didn't much care about how things worked, as long as they did, and the next we were surrounded by things we needed to understand to make sure they kept working. No one helped us with that. We backwards engineered and broke things and fixed them and built them and figured it all out on our own."

She pointed out the window toward the palace in the distance. "Eshai said she was helping us and she took away a part of who we are. So the way I see it, maybe we're better off figuring things out on our own. I don't have any positions available right now, and even if I did I'd give it to a kedan. You don't need to eat or sleep, I assume, so you don't need the money, and there are kedan out there who do. You might know a lot more than we do, but there are kedan out there who want to understand why things work the way they do for the first time in their lives. They need the experience more than you do."

Zanru dropped her hand, but she held Aya's gaze, her expression crossed between passion and something close to rebelliousness. "And if it's not a job you want, just access, well, you know a lot more than us. What if you vanish--" Again. "--and suddenly we can't access half our systems because you're the only one who knows how they've been updated? How can I trust that you won't just reprogram everything so they only respond to you, until we're forced to give you anything you want? How do I know you'll recognise my authority and not just go around doing what you want? How do I know I can trust you to think about what's best for us, and actually care about our opinions?"

She crossed her arms. "So go on. Convince me. Why should I give you access?"

Well, it wasn't an outright 'no'.

It wasn't.

Which still made it better treatment than she had received from some in the past. But colder than the majority of her interactions in Keelai.

One thing that Zanru may or may not take note of during the entirety of her speech was that Aya did not interrupt once. Her expression did not change. There were no signs of guilt or remorse, because she had no reason to regret her actions. She had left, yes, for a noble reason. She had fought, and she had aided in a great victory.

"To start with, the subject and reasons behind our disappearances are irrelevant to this conversation. I was summoned here, to your world, without personal consent or prior warning to aid in a battle that would result in the freedom and safety of your people. To judge me for fulfilling this arrangement without protest simply because it did not take place where you could see would be...I believe the term is hypocritical."

And if it wasn't, then it certainly seemed so. Enough that, even as she stood here, now, with the request she was making, she had absolutely no qualms about making her opinion of the matter clear.

"Otherwise...it is as you have said. I seek neither basic necessities nor financial gain. My presence would take nothing away from those around me seeking employment. In fact, if you claim to struggle so in the management and technological structure of any piece of equipment here, would it not prove beneficial to you to keep somebody close who does not?"

The truth. She would not plead. She would not beg. In fact, her voice remained strangely calm with regards to arguing her case for access, especially in comparison to the defense of her mere presence in Keelai. The thought of being blamed for simply existing...it proved a far greater insult to her than rejection.

Which is why she also made no arguments towards the issue of trust. Trust was not something she would be able to prove with words alone. Any attempts to do so would be moot. She had only one argument left at her disposal:

"If you do not grant me access...I shall simply take my knowledge and abilities elsewhere."

It was not an empty threat.

In fact, she said it so neutrally that it was barely a threat at all.

"My preference would be to remain with what is familiar to me. To be able to use my skills in a way that would continue to benefit the kedan populace, which is why I chose to remain rather than go home just yet. However, I am not entirely reliant on the resource made available by Stark Industries alone."

"An hour?" Tony exclaims, indignant. He huffs out an irritated sigh and mutters, "fine," and plops sullenly into one of the chairs.

He spends a couple minutes waiting patiently, a couple minutes fidgeting, a couple minutes messing with his Pod, and then he finally gives up and turns back to the receptionist.

"Hey, do you still have the coffee and tea bar set up? Can I go grab a drink?"

Ah. There she was. The only office with only one woman inside, paperwork strewn about the desk, and an illegal weapon on the counter.

She reached for it, but she didn't pick it up; nor did she so much as put her tea down. Skulduggery tipped his hat in a friendly gesture to show he meant no harm, and then tapped on the glass of the window in an unspoken question.

Well, that was better than the alternative. Zanru considered. Flying skeletons weren't exactly common even in a place like Keeliai--although Zanru did recall a few of her younger and more impatient family-members trying to emulate the shape in the truly hot weather--as if it would stop them from feeling hot.

After a moment she unlatched the window and pushed it open, and stepped back again, her cup still in one hand but the other falling back to the pistol on the desk. Just in case. From all she'd heard, the skeleton-man was tricky. "We do have doors."

Wordlessly the receptionist pointed to the table against the wall, between two pot-plants and a water-cooler and thus potentially half-hidden from Stark's sight. It wasn't exactly a bar, but it did have tea and coffee amenities--just maybe not the good ones Stark was used to past the staff-only zones.

No way was she going to let him out of the reception area. Tu Vishan only knew where he'd get to and what he'd get up to--probably go and disrupt the class Zanru was teaching.

Tony turns and looks where the receptionist is pointing, and lets out a dissatisfied-sounding "hmph." Not really what he'd had in mind. Ugh, they'd better not have gotten rid of his coffee station! He'd had it set up perfectly - he'd even figured out how to mix something that tasted almost ~~but not entirely, quite unlike~~ exactly like a perfect caramel hazelnut mocha.

But it's not like he has anything better to do with his time, so he goes over to investigate the sad little tea corner. A minute later, he's put together a sugary coffee-like concoction that suits his tastes. It's no caramel hazelnut mocha, but it'll do.

"You want anything?" he asks the receptionist, simply out of habit rather than any attempt to ingratiate himself. The situation is annoying, but the receptionist hasn't been nasty or outright rude to him, so he defaults to casual amiability.

She maybe looks a little exasperated, but that's such a common sentiment when Tony's around that it barely even registers anymore.

"You're missing my point," said Zanru flatly. For a robot, Aya was being remarkably emotional, but in a cold sort of way. A selfish sort of way. As appealing and knowledgeable as the Foreigners were, all they seemed to care about was the individual. And, very often, themselves, about what they'd built, instead of what others could contribute. There was no recognition in Aya that Zanru had any right to feel the way she did--just threats and repetition. As though Aya's knowledge ought to be considered priceless, instead of the blackmail it was.

No wonder they'd bungled the war so badly. None of them could work in a team without tripping over each other's egos.

"I don't care why you left," Zanru told Aya. "Like you said, the reason for your disappearance is irrelevant. But the fact is that Foreigners have a tendency to up and vanish without any warning. It makes you unreliable. How can I ask anyone under my authority to accept a superior we can't even be sure will come into work tomorrow?"

Zanru snorted and waved a hand toward the city through the window. "Besides, where you would take yourself? Wayne Enterprises was bombed out in the invasion six months ago. My family owns everything technological now, and we don't force people into us-or-them situations like the Snakes do. You could always go to them, and Yunxu will sound very pretty when he's giving you everything you say you want, and then you'll find out all along he's been putting a leash around your neck."

The only things Yunxu was interested in on a technological level were how to make bigger and better weapons or ways of controlling people.

Zanru took a deep breath, and even though her face was hard and her mouth was tight, she made herself think logically. She didn't trust the Foreigners, she didn't trust they'd stay put even if they wanted to, and she didn't trust that people who knew so much more would be content with sticking at their pace. But she couldn't afford taking the risk that Aya would be proud enough to actually go to the Yunxu, or that Aya might actually agree with him.

So an offer. An offer that tasted bitter, but Zanru had seen what happened to people who were too proud, and she didn't intend that to happen to her.

"I don't like being threatened," Zanru warned. "And I don't like people coming in and telling me I should do things their way 'just because' they used to do it before me. But you have a point about being able to show us some things. So if you take some classes and teach some of the younger kedan, then you can get limited access to the network. You'll make notes about what you're teaching, including a plan and information for the whole unit, so that if you do disappear we'll at least be able to muddle to the end without blowing anything up. If you can prove to me you can be trusted we'll see about access to the lab. But if you're too proud to take orders from a lowly kedan--" The last was said bitterly, and Zanru pointed. "--there's the door. Have fun with Yunxu's pretty lies."

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[NPC] public

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Dec 15th

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toot toot everybody make way for the arrogant douchebag

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