Business as Usual (Susan & Rui)

"Ah. Yes. That." Rui actually had a great deal of time to think of an explanation. While he had given this explanation before, it was both rather long and unorganized. Largely because he had been asked to explain on the spot. However, a great deal of time had passed between that explanation and this explanation, providing plenty of time for him to organize his thoughts. The stern glare Julius gave to Rui worried him, but not openly so. One major business tip he had learned was that the worst thing to ever do was to look or act guilty, even if one was totally guilty. "I believed it would make Cadet Groves less emotionally and socially uncomfortable."

Rui left that statement hang for a bit, before he gave a more organized version of his previous explanation, "Cadet Groves seemed to ask about an incident in my past. I assumed she asked for the last time I was trapped in an enclosed, dark space. I explained part of it. She then seemed emotionally agitated. She also said something about a joke not being funny. I did not remember a joke, so I must have clearly missed her joke."

Rui was thoroughly a joke obscurantist. He didn't believed a joke should ever be explained, except in very dire circumstances. Admittedly, this qualified as one of those circumstances. In addition, this all tended to make him assume that jokes existed...when people were being entirely serious.

"The situation seemed very awkward. And she seemed agitated. Thus, I put two-and-two together and became worried that she believed she had offended me or re-opened up some kind of trauma. By telling a joke I did not laugh at. Thus, in order to disprove that belief, to calm her down, I decided to pantomime the incident. On myself. In order to show that I was not hung up about it. That there was nothing for her to feel bad about."

Rui in fact believed that it was always necessary to broadcast one's energetic emotional detachment from horrible circumstances. Or else, people would inquire. People would worry. And worst of all, people would start to restrict you out of fear. His attitude to society and public order was quite similar in fact. The only thing to fear was fear itself - but fear was the most fearful thing of all - the captor of all. He had oddly never asked himself whether past incidents had any emotional impact on himself. After all, even contemplating such a question seemed like surrendering. Seemed like a form of being trapped by the past. No - no, the only way to deal with any such incidents was to thoroughly ignore them, sweep them under the rug, and slap a bunch of smiles on them.

Rui began to finish his explanation, "Obviously, if I were 'hung up' on an incident, I would not be able to do pantomime it on myself. Thus, I figured doing so would cheer Cadet Groves up. And lighten the mood. Anyways, do you have any additional questions, Sir?"

Rui listened to Julius's proposed punishment...and it actually surprised Rui. His eyebrow modestly went up. Simply because...it didn't really sound like much of a punishment to him. It seemed natural that junior Cadets should be supervised by senior Cadets. His first thought was that Julius was acting very reasonably, figuring out that events like this were inevitable when you let brand-new Cadets run around totally unsupervised. He was interested in why it was Cadet Maria in particular and not every Cadet of her rank, but then he concluded that she might be the only Cadet of her rank. After all, she was allowed to personally accompany Julius. She had to be very senior indeed.

"Understood, sir. That is...a good idea." Rui flashed a smile at Maria, who he was likely going to become much better acquainted with in the near future. The entire thing reminded him of an apprenticeship style education, which he thought was a fine model.

The more the newcomer Cadet continued to speak, the more he felt as if he was slowly beginning to understand him. Jokes or the lack of it, the Prince understood he utterly lacked any familiarity of social cues. This was going to be troublesome. Cadets were all meant to be team players to back each other up. Having and maintaining a good relationship with each other was vital. Or at least, practicing some form of tolerance of one another enough to not compromise teamwork. He was already beginning to see more of the potential downsides his existence in the corps presented to him, aside from what just happened in the Domain. What was he to do with this... odd fellow? "If you are to be a part of this Cadet corps, I need you to understand general social norms. You don't go around surprising people by breaking your own neck for the sake of a joke. There's a difference between telling a morbid jest and twisting your head unnaturally and suddenly. Do you understand?"

He was firm on this. A few exchanges and banter wasn't unheard of in any society. Hell, Alex bantered with Claire and Chris when they were around. Even Julius had some few moments himself, which he was secretly proud of. But this was just extreme. He felt sorry for Maria who stood there stone-faced at Rui. Out of all people, she would have to deal with him somehow.


"It's... a pleasure to meet you, Cadet Terui. You can find me in the Class Zero building so you can make your daily report. If you need anything else from me, please contact this number." Maria made her introduction with a hand out holding a business card towards Rui. On it were the phone number and address to the Sunlake Palms Church. She seemed hesitant about the whole thing. Sure there was Maverick who was a bit of a rebellious pain in the neck. There was Susan who kept being a nervous wreck. And now a complete weirdo graced their presence to her. It's almost as if she really can't catch a break at all, huh?

Julius noticed her anxiety. Perhaps she was reaching her limits standing there and it was about time to leave. He made a cursory glance at his watch before addressing the District Head. "I have some matters that require my attendance. I will be making my leave."


"Ah, duty calls and obligations beckon. Shame you couldn't stay for some small talk. But I won't tarry you any longer, your Highness." The District Head said with a dreary sigh. There were so many topics she wished to broach with him and yet so little time to even engage in chatter. She commanded the head guard. "Greg, if you would please."

Greg would immediately come to life from his completely still posture and open the door back outside. He would begin to usher them to leave. And Julius was one to not waste any time as he began to walk towards the exit. But not before giving his farewells and gesturing his Cadets to follow him out as well. "Until next time, Avaritia."

"Until then, your Highness." the District Head reciprocated with a smile as she bowed down her head.

Disbelief was an apt word for the situation. The more Terui spoke the more concerned Susan became. Concerned and agitated and a little fearful. She did not agree with her Captain, this had to be something that stemmed much deeper than unfamiliarity with social norms. Susan did not believe this man sane. His lack of affect, completely foreign responses and behavior, and what she believed was a significant detachment from reality happened to be far more serious than someone who simply could not communicate effectively or had quirks. It was the basis of mental illness. Someone who chewed their fingernails too much had a nervous habit. Someone who chewed them until they bled and kept going to the bone had a psychosis. And in her mind it ran wild. She held a basic fear, this was true, his behavior and basic interactions mimicked what she had seen the night before and yet everyone else thought this was a joke gone wrong. They could not see it from her perspective. It made the businesswoman question her own stance and interpretation of events and neither result was pleasant. Should she be right there was an obvious threat before them that only she was taking seriously. Should she be wrong... it meant she was severely losing her grip on her situation, and that alone was more frightening. Losing control of herself.

Susan remained still as a statue while trying not to flinch as the Prince raised his voice. But it would all be over quickly. She would not move until shown out by her Captain and walked quickly, giving a customary and professional goodbye before she did so.
"Have a pleasant day, Director." The frazzled woman took the position expected her as she left, following and not leading but maintaining some semblance of her stoic facade and more than an arm's length from Terui.

As much as she tried to hide it something her stilted stride and quaking breathing belied her own problems. She appeared cold and irritated but in all reality she happened to be incredibly upset. Whatever good favor she had earned in the mission the night before had been lost, her credibility shattered, and she would never earn back that level of trust. And it kept happening, this was not the first. Everywhere she had gone, even within her own company Susan had been the special snowflake. Someone intelligent and valuable to the cause but someone who did not belong, who had to be handled with special considerations and rules. The Cadets were no different, it seemed. She would not be looked upon as a capable agent of the government anymore, an officer of law and order. Never a true leader, never a true Cadet. She would be filtered out of missions she was not considered suitable for and would not be given the same opportunities.

She had proven herself fundamentally ill-fitting. Defective in her position. So she would be cast aside into her own specific little box as she had her whole life before this moment.

It was a... defeating thought. No matter how hard she fought to prove her competence weakness always reared its ugly head. She was too socially awkward, too shy, too inept to ever prove herself in a major way. It was difficult to keep fighting at times like these... when the writing was on the wall...
Susan would not say a word until they group exited First Capital Bank. She was aware that there would be eavesdroppers and wished not for them to hear her.

"I apologize that this situation has inconvenienced you both," she spoke softly, "This occurrence will not be repeated. ...I do not wish to be insolent but I must take my leave, I have reports to draft. Sir, Officer Woodsworth, have a pleasant day." With little more pleasantries Susan would turn on her heel and march away toward her car, purposefully leaving Terui out of her farewell. Her eyes did not even glance over him as she left, not so much as a glare or look. For the time being he was not assigned to her and she doubted he ever would be. She doubted anyone would be. An empty rank for an empty Cadet, Class Two became meaningless to her. It's authority meant nothing but to ensure that she could not be used by those who did not know how to use her. So his presence meant nothing in the grand scheme of things.

There was still much yet to do, and as Susan marched to her car she ran down her mental checklist of what she would need to accomplish. There was her mundane work but her reports took priority, of this incident and others. It would not be repeated but she would work to ensure it would not and this began with planning and execution of programs and structure. If only it could prove herself. She doubted it would. When she stepped into her Audi the weight finally caught up to her and she sunk her head into her hands for several minutes in a vain attempt to let go of the world around her. But the world never stopped, that was always clear. And she would always be herself, making the same mistakes she could not avoid. She did not cry nor did she display much of anything at all, only sulked for an uncomfortably long time in the parking lot as the existential fatigue rolled over her. But she would not get anywhere this way. Susan had to keep moving forward, despite how little she saw the point of it. She turned her key in the ignition and shifted her car into drive.

Rui's mood had significantly improved, which meant he had to restrain himself from telling another joke about snapping necks in response to Julius. Much to the credit of his own relatively improved ability for self-restraint, he managed to respond only to Julius with nodding, having now gained a general understanding of the type of behavior that Julius expected and clearly was not getting.

He was trying to get a grasp of the other woman in this play, the Cadet Susan Groves. Her strange mix of extreme boldness and extreme reticence actually fascinated Rui. And although Rui didn't actually want to get within arms-length of her ever again, he was interested in what drove her. To him, it seemed like her alternation between aggression and reticence were simply part of one phenomenon - two sides of the same coin. The way she struck at him, was it from determination, fear, or both? Could the two be distinguished? Then again, was Rui any different? His ability to cycle between upbeat chirping and a clearly flat affect were probably also linked to the same phenomenon.

He was actually surprised that the other young woman, his obvious superior as a Cadet, presented him with a business-card. Finally, easily rehearsed social interactions. He flashed her a grin as he gave her a quick bow and handed over his businesscard in return, his chirpy voice making a now completely jarring contrast with his previous lack of affect.

"Glad to meetcha! Will do, Boss! Also, feel free to call me whenever too! Work, recreation, random whim? All good!"

He was going probably to get farther better acquainted with his senior Cadet, so he had long since decided that it was of the absolute importance to be on the friendliest possible terms with her.

Rui gave Avaritia a cheerful wave good-bye with both of his hands, before following the rest of the Cadets out and nodding at the man keeping the door open, "Oh, thanks Greg."

Now, the hard part began. He was probably going to spend some time trying to research his new supervisor. He had a new relationship, that he was going to have to try his damned hardest not to mess up. He mentally noted not to engage in any strange body contortions in front of this Maria woman. After all, while not openly reflecting it, Rui did seem to understand what Julius was getting at.

[EXIT]