Break time
Nannaras X
June 25th YC 120
A screech rings out in the office as Monden pushes his chair back “Alright that’s it, I need to get something to eat already before I pass out. You coming?”
Looking up from two holosheets in his hands, Akels gives his father one brief look before looking back down at his work “Nah, I want to get through these requisition requests while I’m still focused.”
The office the two were in was warmly lit from the sunshine peerongin from the open balcony to their left. Inside everything that could realistically be made out of wood, was. From the chairs and counters to the very desks they both had.
Monden slowly arises from his seat, he stretches his right arm across his chest for a moment before switching for his left. “I don’t get why we just hand the damn stuff off to Viokoro, who else is requesting material?”
“The Ohrions have made plenty of requests for samples to aid their research.” Akels says as he continues to read the digitized text in the holosheet. It took the kid awhile to read though it on the account if it being written in a secondary language, that being Napanii. An intentional handicap Akels applied himself as getting a version of the document in a language he was familiar with was as simple as asking for it. He put himself though this for the sole purpose of getting more familiar with the grammar.
Placing both hands on his lower back, Monden pushes them forward to stretch. Monden closes his eyes as tension releases from his aging back “Do they ever say what kind of research?”
“Sometimes, but I see more uses of “classified” than I do explanations of their request.”
Monden straightens his posture back out “Always with the secrets…”
Akels looks up from the sheet in his hand “Well they’re doing sensitive work, pops. They don’t gotta leave paperwork detailing their projects around here…Well, holowork rather.” Akels holds up the holosheet in his hand for a brief second.
Monden folds his arms “With all the trust expected out of us, I’d imagine it be returned in kind. I don’t even get the point of this process you’re caught up in now.”
Akels puts the document aside “Whatchu mean?”
“Don’t be so naive, boy. You’ve been handling those requests for so long, yet you don’t realize how pointless it is?” Monden’s arms drop to his side
Akels, being honestly unsure of what his father was talking about, tilts his head and squints at him.
Monden sighs “Have you ever rejected a request made by the Ohrions? Or Salvaged Fortune Industries for that matter?”
“Uh…Can’t say I have?”
“Right, because the moment we reject one is the moment some Yaken knocks on our door just to veto our decision. So I ask, what’s the point with the requests? Why not just take the damn stuff if our refusal won’t matter?”
Akels sits back in his chair “Well I’d rather ask the question of why we would refuse a materials request in the first place.” Monden rolls his eyes, but continues to listen “Whatever they are working on is worth our material. Material that we dig up for the Zaibatsu to utilize in the first place.” He raises both hands up and aims them at the surface of his desk “All this? Just to make sure everything is neatly in order, so we know what were went.”
“Just comes off as pointless busy work to keep us distracted.”
Akels smirks as he looks back down at the forms “Well speaking of being busy, weren’t you about to go get some food?”
“I was, you don’t want me to bring you anything back? They got containers down there you know.” Monden says pointing over his shoulder.
Akels looks back up at him with a raised eyebrow “They do? Well alright, I’ll have a–"
“Wait, wait, let me write this down…” Moden bends over his desk and opens up a drawer on the left. “The moment I get down there I’ll forget whatever you ask for.” He pulls out a small notepad and closes the draw back up. He then picks up a black pen out of a cup of the surface. “Alright, whatchu want?” he asks as he brings the two items up to his chest.
Akels utters a noise in confusion before coming to an answer “…I’ll take that grilled rockjaw with the fried rice and lemon slices.” Monden doesn’t reply, just not down the order on the tiny slip of paper “You know, you look like a waiter the way you do that.”
Monden looks up from the notepad with a puzzled look “Do what?”
“Y-You know, the way you got that notepad up to your chest.” He mimics the pose in his seat “You just got the posture of someone asking for my order at a restaurant.”
Monden looks back down at the notepad with a small chuckle escaping him “You’d be interested to know my first job was waiting tables “
“Get out!” Akels joking says with a smirk on his face.
Monden lowers his arms and puts on a smile “Is it hard for you to believe that? As soon as I was old enough to enter the workforce I went out and got a job. Started at the bottom before I went on to start Lucrative Excavations.”
“Where did you work at first?”
“Sloopy Jod’s diner and tavern!” Monden announces proudly with his smile now showing teeth. The expression fades as he continues “Food was good, but had a bit of a Fedo infestation. No idea how that place never got closed down other than the owner maybe being friends with the health inspector for that district.”
“You ever spit in anyone’s food before?”
Monden slides the notepad into his suit as he answers “Once – Immediately felt ashamed of it and never did it again.”
“Good! So I don’t have to worry about you spitting in my food.” Akels says with a wide grin.
“Oh Har-Har, I’ll be back in thirty.” Monden says as he moves towards the door. It was a slide door that was mostly made of foggy glass with wooden trims to hold it together. Akels doesn’t respond audibly, just acknowledges his departure with a quick gesture before returning to his work.
Sliding the door open, Moden slips out and carefully slides it closed. He was always cautious and fearful if one day closing so hard that the glass would shatter, despite how damn thick it was. Once out of the room, Monden takes a moment to tend to one of his needs, sticking his hand back into his suit he pulls out a small tin flask. As you could imagine, this contained an alcoholic substance. He begins walking down the hallway as he unscrewed the cap, to his right was yet another balcony overlooking the colorful scenery outside the building. Monden found the Zaibatsu’s obsession with nature to be a bit obnoxious, everywhere you had some reference to nature like “Look! Don’t you see how zenful and pretty this world is! Look! Look!”. Jst as Monden brings the flask to his lips and takes a sip, one of these said references calls out his name.
“Mr.Searbier!”
Startled, Monden clutches his neck as he chokes on the warm liquids. He breaks out a short coughing fit before leaning up against the nearby wall for support. He looks over to where the voice came from and spots a woman with amber hair dressed in a long slender green robe, Monden was about twice her age.
“Apologies, I didn’t mean to scare you.” She spoke confidently and calmly.
“No, no, no, you didn’t do that…Okay well you did but…” It clicks to him who this was “…Suha Raibuya?”
A small smile appears on her face “Correct! I’m flattered that my reputation precedes me.” How could it not? After her recent news appearance with ZANIE she became quite popular with the residents in this colony.
“Um, what can I do you for ma’am?” Monden asks as he slowly returns the flask to the inside of his suit.
“Well for starters you can do away with calling me ma’am, just call me Suha, Mr.Searbier “ Jerry tone was void of any offence, she spoke as if she was Monden’s friend.
“Monden, call me Monden”
She nods “Very well then, Monden. It is an honor to finally meet you in person.” she places her left hand over her chest and dips for a bow.
Monden, half-asses the bow in turn, but only due to his back being to out of shape for it. “Might I ask why you’d want to meet me?”
“Well, you’re one of the chosen individuals the honorable Patriarch selected to help lead the Zaibatsu. That to me is a position worthy of great respect” Once again, smiled warmly at him.
Monden puts his hands in his hip “Please, I’m just a drunk that digs through the dirt for something of value.”
“You uncover valuable resources left for us by the Maker. Resources that can be turned into a multitude of things. Don’t think so little of yourself, Monden.”
Monden sighed internally as she began tossing out her Wayist rhetoric, he could had sworn the Caldari kept this more to themselves “Well, the Maker sure makes it a pain in the ass to get to them.”
Suha bursts into laughter at Monden’s remark, which initially baffles him, but found it more pleasant to make her laugh than leave her offended. She soon gains control of herself “Without trial there would be no value in the reward, no?”
Having spent years toiling in some barren dune world digging though scraps of paydirt level metals to make ends meet, an urge to chew this girl out enter Monden, but contained it “Yeah…Look, I was on my way to the cafeteria an-"
“Ah! That’s on the way to where I was heading”
■■■■
With a straight face, Monden asks “Is it now?”
“That it is, I need to consult with the wise Matron of the Conglomerate. She’s on the same level currently and I was just on my way. Might I accompany you there? Would be an excellent moment to get to know one another better.”
Monden contemplates what would happen if he blows her off, but ponders if this women would speak of nothing more than her spirituality, thus causing Monden to lose a bit of his sanity. A choice presented itself…
How should Monden respond?
- Blow her off
- Accept her company