[NPC] public

[forgediron]

Characters: Zanru, possibly Xuiyu, and others.
Date: Month of February, ‘2016’.
Location: Stark Industries, the tram-line construction outside the city, potentially console construction-sites
Situation: Catch-all post for Metalworker NPCs.
Warnings/Rating: None thus far.
NOTE: Please don’t tag in unless we’ve planned it beforehand or your character plans to approach one of the Metalworker NPCs for something plot-related (metaplot, player-plots and NPC backstory-plots all count, but if you're unsure, PM me). Due to tag loads I won’t be able to thread out spontaneous slice-of-life type CR with the NPCs.

Zanru was irritable. Zanru was irritable above and beyond her usual blunt aggression, to the point that only those kedan oblivious to things such as ‘emotion’ and ‘personal issues’ went near her with anything other than company-related items. There were whispers going and Zanru knew it, but she seemed to have no desire to confirm or deny any of them, even the ones that contradicted each other.

Mostly, what she did was throw herself into new projects, and as such she could frequently be seen inspecting the tram-line site looping the city. Fortunately for the employees at Stark Industries she seemed to be aware of her mood and spent more time elsewhere than she ordinarily would have—though where, precisely, remained to be seen.

As a happy side-effect, everyone was working efficiently and to their utmost, and in spite of the worsening weather work on all fronts was proceeding briskly. For the beginning of the month, at least--the extended surveyors would begin having trouble as mid-month approached and the flash-freezes begin.

Comments

[forgediron]

Of all the people Ayin expected to see, Tony Stark wasn't one of them. "Um ..." Ayin blinked at him for a moment and then consulted her ledger. "Well--she has a few hours this afternoon, but she's, um." She lowered her voice a little. "You might not want to see her. She, er, she's having a bad month."

Ayin didn't have the details. Some people said it was the gambling at the race. Some people said it wasn't. Whatever the case, Zanru was avoiding Xuiyu, who was usually the person to talk her down.

Adding to the mix the Foreigner who'd been such a pain? Probably not a good idea. Even though Tony was on contract, Ayin knew he hadn't made a private appointment with Zanru since before the contract had been made. She'd been relieved by that.

[highprofilerichkid]

Tony smiles wryly. "Is there ever a good time for me to see her?"

Zanru doesn't like him, and she's never happy to see him. It doesn't matter if she's in a good or bad mood before he shows up: she'll be in a bad mood as soon as he walks into her office. "Now is fine - if she'll see me."

She might refuse, in which case Tony will just... vibrate into a new dimension with all the nervous energy wound up inside him, probably.

[forgediron]

"Um." Ayin blinked at him. "Well, maybe not a good time, but there's better times and ... worse times, and this is a worse time, and ..." She sighed and picked up the phone. "Your funeral. Just don't--don't get all het up at her like you do. Just don't."

Zanru was aggressive but she was usually pretty even-handed when it came down to it. This was ... really strange, and worrying.

"Is it to do with the contract?" Ayin asked as an aside. Just for clarification.

[highprofilerichkid]

"I won't," Tony promises solemnly. The receptionist is obviously uneasy, but Tony doesn't let that shake his resolve. The worst Zanru can do to him is yell a him some more.

He hesitates at Ayin's question, but truthfully answers, "Not exactly. More of a proposal for a new contract."

[forgediron]

"Oh ..." At that Ayin looked even more nervous. Would that be bad, or would that be an excellent distraction that might pull some of Zanru's focus in the right direction? Ayin wasn't sure, but since Tony was insistent ... better his hide than hers.

Though Tony wouldn't be able to hear Zanru on the other end, her voice is curt enough that he might catch the tone as Ayin winces. "Yes--ma'am." She put down the phone. "In her office," Ayin told him, and then added, "please don't let anything blow up."

Whether she meant Zanru, Tony or some gadget in-between was left unsaid.

[highprofilerichkid]

"Thanks. I'll do my best," Tony says, with a touch of humor. Normally he might laugh, or smirk, or make some joke, but he's not feeling very chipper right now, so that's the best he can manage.

Wary but determined, he enters Zanru's office and nods respectfully at the kedan woman. "Thanks for making some time for me. I know you're busy."

[forgediron]

"Yes, I am," Zanru said, snappy instead of brisk as she normally would be. At first she didn't look up from where she was signing her paperwork, as if she could push Tony out by sheer force of will; then she looked up anyway, and her gaze was cutting, as if she was expecting something and had already decided how to respond to it. "So make it quick. What do you want?"

If he so much as mentioned her daughter ...

[highprofilerichkid]

As promised, Zanru is in A Mood. Tony braces himself, and gets right to it.

"A couple of consoles for the Welcome Center. Jack's finished the major construction, but he wants some consoles for the new arrivals to use. Foreigners are still coming. We don't know how to stop it, and as long as they keep showing up, we want the Welcome Center running."

[forgediron]

Short and to the point. It was vindicating and irritating at once, as if he'd pulled the rug out from under Zanru's feet by not providing the opposition she'd expected. She demanded, "What do we get out of it?"

[highprofilerichkid]

"Me," Tony says simply. "I'll pay for them with labor. However much you think is fair. I can help with the tram, or help your engineers draft plans for any new projects you have in mind, or... I might be able to show you how to reproduce some of my tech."

He won't offer to do free work on the broadcast setup, because he doesn't want to set a precedent of renegotiating contracts. But he'll do pretty much anything else, within reason. Anything but weapons.

[forgediron]

Okay. That was something of a change, and perversely, it irritated Zanru even more. She knew it was a matter of contributing factors, but the fact it was Stark, and Stark was the one Xuiyu had been gossiping to--anything the boy did was rankling. Especially right now when he wasn't even giving Zanru a fair outlet for her frustration.

She glared at him and rifled almost violently through her blueprints, and tossed one at Stark. "Shield generators you idiots had left over before you buggered off. We can't figure out how it works. You teach my people about them so we can reproduce them on our own once we have the resources and it'll be a trade."

[highprofilerichkid]

Tony looks briefly surprised: he'd written the shield generators off, assuming they'd been lost or melted down in the year he'd been gone.

"Absolutely. I can do that." Tony's not going to argue with her, despite her nastier-than-usual mood: the shield generators are as good as any idea Tony could have come up with. They're purely defensive, it's unlikely the kedan will be able to modify them to do harm, and they'll help the Metalworkers protect themselves from the Snakes. Tony's not a fan of the Metalworkers, but he dislikes the Snakes and their de-facto martial law even more, just on principle.

[forgediron]

"Fine," said Zanru shortly. "Get down to the translator and have Xuiyu draw you up a contract." Her tone when she said her cousin's name was bitter. "Is that all?" That had better be all.

[highprofilerichkid]

That was... a lot easier than Tony expected. Any other time, he might try to push the advantage and bargain for more - regular lab time, maybe? - but he's not in a gambling mood. If he pushes Zanru too far, she'll take it all back, he's sure.

Before trying to negotiate for anything else, he'll wait until she's cooled off and he's built up some social capital with her by making the shield generators. She's given him what he asked for, and that's enough for now.

Anyway, he's eager to get out of here - he much prefers dealing with Xuiyu.

"That's all. I'll go see Xuiyu right now. Thank you."

[forgediron]

Xuiyu was a lab to next door, and the researchers in the room with the translation computer directed Tony there. She was, currently, swearing at a blob of goo--the sort to be found in the consoles--that wasn't congealing right in its tub under a light that wasn't quite UV but close.

[highprofilerichkid]

Tony watches the goo-coaxing with intense interest for several seconds - he'd love to know more about how the consoles work, but the kedan have so far kept that information locked down like Fort Knox - and then (with regret) clears his throat to let Xuiyu know he's there. After getting this far, the last thing he needs is to get kicked out for spying.

[forgediron]

"Oy." Xuiyu looked up, shoved up the goggles and pointed at one of the other engineers. "Take over." She strode over to Tony with a mismatched rhythm of 'clunk CLUNK' every time her false leg hit the floor. "You've got a death-wish," she said bluntly, loud enough to be heard all over the laboratory.

Be seen having a private conversation with Stark? Nope. Not looking to get punched again. Everything they say was damn well going to get heard, as far as she was concerned.

[highprofilerichkid]

"Apparently," Tony agrees, with a crooked grin.

He's not here for chit-chat, though. "I came to ask Zanru if we could get some consoles installed in the Foreigner Welcome Center. She said she'll do it, if I show you how to make my portable shield generators in exchange. She sent me to you to work out the details."

[forgediron]

"And you're not bleeding. You can learn, boyo." Xuiyu motioned for him to follow her and left the laboratory to head for the one next door. "We can do it," she said. "How many consoles are you after?"

Something about the situation was off. It wasn't the contract itself. It was the way it was coming about. Xuiyu peered at Tony. "While we're at it, who sucked the spark outta you?" she asked bluntly.

[highprofilerichkid]

"Three would be good." Two will work, but he wants to leave himself a little bargaining room.

It takes him longer to answer the personal question - he's honestly shocked that she gives a shit.

"Milyn has a way to let us see our futures when we get home. I did it." He shrugs. He doesn't feel like elaborating. It's not relevant to the contract.

[forgediron]

"In exchange for the generators, eh? Fair enough." It was a good deal. The generators had been a nut the engineers couldn't crack, and they'd come back to it again and again. Three months ago they would have thought of it as 'their' project and objected to the help. Now? It was just a nuisance.

"And you died or what?" Xuiyu demanded as they moved down the hall. She'd heard it was possible, for Foreigners. It had been a point of contention. Something had to have happened, for a boy usually so mouthy to be reserved enough to escape the brunt of Zanru's wrath.

[highprofilerichkid]

"No," Tony says dully. "It just... brought up a lot of old stuff." Like the fact that he's dating an international war criminal who has a bad habit of trying to kill people and then lying to him about it. He doesn't want to talk about it, okay?

He does give Xuiyu an odd look, though. It's not like she cares about him; why does she want to know? Is she just being nosy? Or is she actually trying to be friendly?

Probably just nosy. The Metalworkers don't like him - and honestly, he hasn't given them a lot of reasons to.

[forgediron]

"Looking for distractions, are you?" Xuiyu asked then with that keen sort of knowing as she pushed open the door to the next room. "Willing to walk into the lion's den just for the sake of getting your bloody mind off all this 'old stuff'?" She snorted. "You and my cousin are a right similar pair of twits."

[highprofilerichkid]

"That must be why we get along so well," Tony says sarcastically. Xuiyu is hitting every nail on the head, and it's making him uncomfortable.

He looks away, not wanting to meet her eyes. "I just want some work to do."

[forgediron]

"Uh huh." Xuiyu stopped by the door, holding up a hand so he stopped with her. "Fine. We'll draw up a contract for the consoles and if you still need something to occupy your head there's one or two projects I could use a consult on. The weather's not really helping with our construction lately, anyway." Which was probably why he had come here, instead of tried to bury himself in the work he was already getting paid for.