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Post by Panda on Jul 9, 2023 19:39:28 GMT
"W-well, I suppose this is the most reasonable option. Leaving it to our superiors to make the final decision," Andrea said. She silently gave a small prayer for Monty's safety as Enid left the room.
"I'm not all that worried about our safety, even if the Apostles keep working here. We deal with mind-controlled employees every so often anyway. Just another occupational hazard, ahahaha..."
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Post by Doctor Nanjo M.D. on Jul 9, 2023 20:29:15 GMT
“I can’t believe you all let that one apostle die when we could have chosen to do this in the first place,” Debra grumbles, annoyed to have blood on her hands.
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Post by pancakes on Jul 9, 2023 21:02:46 GMT
Carbon's head peeked out from a nearby air vent. He just stared ominously at Andrea for no real reason.
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Post by Panda on Jul 9, 2023 21:52:20 GMT
"Ah! It's here..." Andrea said, staring back at the strange creature.
A few moments passed. Then she remembered what Saber had said earlier.
"W-wait, that thing's a person!?" she yelped, recalling all the times she'd interacted with him like he was some kind of harmless animal
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Post by JoyTheBard (Slezak) on Jul 10, 2023 0:14:01 GMT
Josephine gasped, "Intruder! Get back!" She drew an old-ass-looking revolver, 'Solitude', aiming it toward the vent Andrea was staring at when she yelled. Josephine had never used a gun in her life, but this one just felt right in her hands when it was given to her. She felt no malice from the gun, so she kept it.
"Oh, it's just Carbon . . . ?" She kept Solitude trained on him, though she seemed to visibly relax.
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Post by honestiago on Jul 10, 2023 2:04:57 GMT
"You guys don't know how hard it is to find a group of B&B players who actually attend sessions... This sucks," Andrea mumbled to herself. "Unrelated to that EXTREMLY true comment I say we forgive them, no harm no foul but I also understand that people may desire restraining orders." Father Pliny says shrugging off the many and near constant murders these apostles had committed. and also the mob justice.
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Post by Kachu on Jul 10, 2023 6:06:40 GMT
"Hahaha, yes!" Saber laughs at Andrea's plight. But like, a friendly kind of laugh. "Carbon's one of us. Surprised you didn't know." Then, Saber made his way towards the entrance of the break room."Alright, it seems a little split but... I'll speak with some higher-ups and see what we can do about these guys." Saber gestures towards the group of four, previously five Apostles. It was five until Legion was violently executed but nobody really paid any attention to that. "You should all come with me. It'll be easier on all of us, I'm sure." Saber nods as the Apostles walk over to his side, each of them with a different look on their face. Some seemed sorrowful and apologetic, while Carbon... Well, it's hard to tell what kind of face they were making. "They'll likely get demoted, instead of terminated. Clerk work isn't pretty, but... I think I feel a little better about things ending up this way." "They won't be allowed to work with Abnormalities anymore, unless they somehow climb back up the ladder. They won't get to handle any sort of fancy equipment, they'll be overworked with little benefits... some of them might be transferred to other parts of Lunares. Parts where people can be more... disposable." Saber shook his head. "I can't say what their fates are for certain, but it might be better on all of you to leave that decision to someone else anyways. We don't need another thing haunting all of you." Saber turns his back to the group and begins walking out the door, before turning back suddenly. "Ah, and I'll see about some kind of reward..." Saber nods. "...Anyone up for a pizza party?" He smiles, glancing across those who remain in the room with everyone, keeping a close eye on the Apostles. "Either way, with how things are around here, some of you might want to go and get some mental checkups. Actually, I think we all should, after what that Abnormality did to each of us... It might cause management to shuffle us around, too. Changing shifts, switching teams, all that fun stuff." Saber scratches his chin after an awkward pause. "Right, so what I'm getting at is, this might be the last chance you'll get to say or do anything important. Not that it'd be impossible to see each other in this place, but with these Apostle guys it'll be less likely. Best not to keep anything to yourself if you have something you need to share." Saber leans against the doorframe, looking at the remaining employees, smiling faintly like he always does. (Sorry for the big slog at the end! This is the final phase. Every player is allowed to make one final epilogue post before Saber takes the bad guys away forever and they're forced to be unpaid interns for the rest of their lives. Then, life will return to normal at Lunares. Not that it was particularly disturbed in the first place, anyways. I'll leave this open for about a day to give people a chance to say anything they want before wrapping up the game! Thanks for sticking with it despite all the little (and big) bumps in the road!)
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Post by pancakes on Jul 10, 2023 7:11:08 GMT
Carbon panicked at the thought of losing his wages and sunk back into his comfy air vent. What a fruitless attempt to run away from capitalism.
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Post by Panda on Jul 10, 2023 10:30:17 GMT
Andrea sighed in relief. It was finally over.
Did she do her part? In the end, everyone survived. She'd managed to avoid repeating the mistakes of her past, back when she'd let her husband fight and die on the front lines while she flew around safe in a jet. It still didn't feel like enough, but it was something.
Truthfully, she wasn't even sure if she'd spared the Apostles out of kindness. She didn't have much of an attachment to her own life anymore, even if her instincts kept trying to protect her, so she truly felt no ill-will towards the people who had tried to kill her. Even still, a part of her felt satisfied seeing the Apostles marched out of the room with their lives intact. That had to be worth something.
These were small victories, but maybe the road to recovery was paved with such.
"Pizza... sounds nice," she said nervously.
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Post by Safy on Jul 10, 2023 17:32:18 GMT
The kitchen was a complete mess, smelling suspiciously of a strange type of meat. Not human though, I promise. The lone safety worker who decided to make a pit stop and prepare something for her new love, hummed a song to herself while mixing in what looked like cookie dough, uncooked potato wedges and raw meat with an unusual green tint, and an odd purple substance. “Erm… maybe….I should’ve uh….cooked all these separately….no I don’t think it works like that, it’ll get over cooked then…..” Enid found herself scratching the back of her head, adapting her usual anxious demeanor. She slapped the dough onto a cooking sheet and threw it in the oven. Looking over a box of a card game she had picked up, “So uh, this is that scattergories game Greg enjoys….. doesn’t seem too hard to pick up….hehe…I might join him next time to play…..” She sighed, thinking to herself about the events that had happened and what Vincent had last said to her, “Dearly loved huh…. By who exactly…..” She thought over the circumstances of her birth and muttered, “What a joke…I should’ve never been born…. Much less loved.” She then pushed up her sleeves revealing bloody bandages arms and took out the ….cookies? And wrapped them up. “Well this is place is a mess…….” A dark expression crossed her face, as she muttered, “Well now, I have two new friends on the cleaning team who can take care of that…. If they’re even able to after Management is done with them.” She took a knife and stabbed it through the counter with a surprising force despite her short stature and being underweight. “No matter! Enough thinking about that or I’ll just get more frustrated…. And I’m too tired for that. I need to find Monty to give these to him now, I’ve wasted too much time.” She smiled and winked, looking at the cookies she prepared. “I have to hurry though….I still have that…court mandated therapy with Josephine…what did she say she wanted me to…reparent myself…. Then I need to meet with my parole officer…. Oh and I need to give Debra her book back…. She kind of got scary at the end though….” Pot calling the kettle black. “Ah I should see when Father Pliny does his usual sermons I have so little experience with that sort of religion…. And I need to make sure Fran doesn’t get hurt getting pelted by paintballs…..Osborne makes the strangest stuff I swear…. But it’s pretty cool…. Thinking about it how does Andrea get such a clean shaven head, I should ask her sometime….” She smiled to herself, “I suppose…. While it was an extremely frustrating experience, in the end it did help me make some new friends finally…I never did have any of those growing up…or really ever….” She casually ignored the fact she might’ve terrified most of the people she just met with her sudden violent demeanor, “And I even found the love of my life…. So I suppose the experience wasn’t all that bad…. Maybe I…made the right decision in the end then…..” With that, she kept humming, skipping her way through the facility back to hunting (affectionate) Monty down to give him the cookies she had made.
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Post by Neotelenta on Jul 10, 2023 17:45:25 GMT
Before Vincent gets taken away, he goes over to Father Pliny and hands him the large cross weapon. "Brother, in the event that we don't see each other again, it was an honor being able to work alongside you and the others here. This is the heirloom of the Caglio family passed down through several generations. Considering the weight of my actions, it is better off serving you. The wages of sin is death, but we have been granted eternal life through our lord and savior Jesus Christ. (Romans 6:23)."
Vincent places a hand on Father Pliny's shoulder and smiles before giving him a nod.
He turns to Delta. "For what worth my words have left, it was genuinely a pleasure working with you. Hopefully they get someone to replace me that can handle the workload. I have the Abnormality-handling processes documented and in a binder in my room. Middle locker, top shelf. That should get anyone up to speed in less than a week."
He somehow manages to find Enid and peers into the kitchen, not drawing much attention to himself. His melancholy smile seems to fade. "..." Vincent goes to say something, but instead nods affirmingly to Enid and goes back to the group of people about to leave without disturbing her.
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Post by notbadplayer on Jul 10, 2023 18:34:11 GMT
Greg is staring at the apostles as they're leaving and is nearly frothing at the mouth. Demoted? They attempt to murder everyone EVEN AFTER BEING SPECIFICALLY ASKED NOT TO AND THEY JUST GET DEMOTED?!?!?!?! I guess if we don't like our jobs we should just kill everyone so we can get a new job? I should demote them to HEL-
The femtosecond Saber mentions pizza Greg goes "yay" and his face reverts back to the normal smile we all meow and love and he stops caring about the apostles. Those haters don't deserve space in his head anyways... Knowing he'll have to start work soon, he addresses the group one last time.
"I'm glad I got to get to know you guys... the way we used to teamwork to stop the bad guys was so awesome and brings a tear to my eye metaphorically and physically. We should all stay friends. We can all play Scattergories the next time we're in the break room again. Rounds are like 5 minutes, it would be easy to fit one or two in our 15 minute breaks. We could also play games during our L-Corp mandated Rest Time instead of sleeping. That would give us enough time to play Yahtzee. By the way I have Yahtzee too. And Splendor. And Coup. We could play Coup in the break room too those rounds are really short I would guess we could play like 3 or 4 rounds if we really wanted to. Do you guys wanna play Coup next time we're in the break rooms it's really fun it's like the card game BS but more fun. Oh I have a deck of playing cards too we could play ERS or something does anyone know any good card games. I have UNO too if no one wants to do a playing card game. I have Jenga too." He keeps going on like this, listing all of the games he owns (he has no one to wire money to so he spends all of his paychecks on board games(they aren't that expensive so he has thousands in reserve that he doesn't use for anything(if you have an mlm he would be a good target))) for roughly 3 minutes (the time limit of a Scattergories game (The phase of reading off results is about 2 minutes thus making each round 5 minutes)).
"We'll see each other again! Don't be strangers! :3"
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Post by JaytheBluPirate on Jul 10, 2023 18:55:38 GMT
Tanner was silent upon hearing what Vincent have to say.
"I'll be damned! You apostles really did researched the Lost Prophet behind our backs..." He commented, surprised by the fact. "This'll make working with the Lost Prophet so much easier! So, Vinny's room, middle locker, top shelf... Got it." He tapped his head to indicts that he got it memorized. "But I suppose Saber might want to take a look inside that binder first, though..."
"I'm gonna miss working with Vinny. But it was probably for the best, since what he did is unforgivable." He mumbled to himself before he looks to Josephine.
"I guess that when we're on our breaks, we'll have to figure out when we can have that therapy session." The man nods at her.
"Sooo, I guess that's pretty much what I wanted to discuss. Better get back to work." Tanner said as he puts the headphones back on his head. "See you all later."
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Post by JoyTheBard (Slezak) on Jul 10, 2023 19:19:02 GMT
As the Counselor has said a few times before, Josephine knew she had her work cut out for her due to their situation. She had returned Solitude to its concealed location on her person as Saber spoke up again.
She nodded and gave a weak smile reacting to the speculated fate of the remaining apostles. With a bit of forced enthusiasm, she responded, "Haha, yeah, a pizza party. Sure."
She gave an even more fervent nod to Saber's suggestion of everyone getting mental check-ups. Indeed, the Chief is going to have their hands full next time Josephine sees them. "For those who already see me, I want to continue having sessions with you despite this incident. In fact, for some of you, I want to discuss some things in more detail next time we meet. Heck, for those who don't see me or who see other counselors, I have set aside a couple hours a week for walk-ins. We won't necessarily get as much accomplished in those ten-minute sessions, but there's no barrier to entry besides making your way to the board next to my office and grabbing a card for a time slot if one is available. Oh, and . . ."
She addressed the apostles in specific, "I'm not backing down on my word. I don't know if clerks are allowed any EAP benefits, but you're welcome to take me up on the walk-in appointment offer as well. Make enough progress, and I'll put in a good word to have you restored to a full employee eventually. I can't guarantee anything, and don't even think about trying to take advantage of my generosity."
It's not often that actions don't have consequences of some kind, but in the apostles' case, Lost Prophet's time manipulation had reversed most of them. Josephine recalled all those who had died: herself, Fran, Osborne, Scott, Finn, Alune, Greg, Tanner, Debra, Tangie, Father Pliny, Enid, and . . . Monty? I guess he didn't technically die, but that throws off the timing of this paragraph, so . . . and how all of them had been given a chance at life once again. Truth be told, they had not necessarily been sent to an afterlife, and Josephine knew that it was impossible to truly know what the afterlife held for anyone who either dies outside this place or manages to escape the gravitational pull of sorts that keeps souls tethered to this station. What she did know is that as long as someone's alive and conscious, they can grow and change.
"Oh, right!" Josephine interjected after Greg's speech cut through her spacing-out time, this time focusing on the innocents who were still present, "Yeah, like Greg said, don't be a stranger! I'm just a normal human like everyone else here (I think.) I want to be better friends with you all, and maybe this incident will become a distant memory we can laugh about, genuinely or bitterly. There are things I find admirable about all of you. Alune, you're, um--" Stumped right out of the gate. Okay. "There are things I find admirable about most of you. For Andrea, it's your resilience. Even after . . . what happened, you refuse to go down without a fight and you sure keep fighting on! Also, the bald look suits you. Maybe I'll . . . try it . . . someday. Not soon, though. Sorry. Tanner, your initiative is inspiring. I hope to see more as I get to know your true self better. And yeah, I'll find you, and we can discuss a time to schedule a proper session. If nothing else, remember what I said about the walk-in visits . . . . For Enid, it's her dedication to . . . well, ousting those who mean to do harm. But society needs both lovers and fighters. Finn, your self-reliance. Fran, sometimes your willingness to take on others' burdens goes too far and I'm worried about how much it's hurting you, but learn to pare it back to a reasonable level, and you'll be a force to be reckoned with! Greg, your optimism and go-get-'em attitude. Monty knows when to be duplicitous at the right times; he's quite clever! Osborne, your art skills know no bounds and I can learn a lot about how to appreciate artists I would've never thought to check out. Keep being such a creative force! Father Pliny, you are righteous! And . . . honestly, kind of intimidating, not just in your athleticism but also with the way you approach your religion. I'll, um, be sure to attend a sermon or two. Saber, your penchant for gathering information knows no bounds. Even though I'm scared to think about what you dug up on me, let's continue to be good friends, alright?
"Well, now that that's all done, I really have to move. See you all later!" She waved to everyone, turned, and attempted to make her way past Saber and the apostles who were crowding the door. She had lots to get done before her next client showed up, and she hoped she would catch the Chief at a good time. She also hadn't had lunch, but she didn't think about that right then.
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Post by Planetbox on Jul 10, 2023 19:33:43 GMT
Osborne had seemingly been asleep this entire time and only woke up on hearing his name mentioned.
“Ah, yes, that’s me!” He shouted. “I do love pizza. But it’s a shame that it represents the end of this moment—perhaps the greatest work of art ever conceived. Are you all familiar with the Hero’s Journey, that cyclical structure used by lazy people who write only for money? Well, in all journey you’ll notice many of the key stops in the Monmouth: the Call to Adventure, the death and rebirth at the Abyss, the famous Scene Where Some Guy Gets Killed in a Random Wrestling Match. It’s all there. But the nature of the Hero’s Journey, is that it all must end.”
“But personally,” Osborne said. “I hate endings. That’s where I make art. It never ends, other than some performance art—it simply exists, and draws you in, and always tugs at the back of your mind. That’s what this moment will be, I think. Basically, the point I’m trying to make is that I have severe Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and will remember you all in my nightmares.”
Osborne continued rambling for some time, but no one was really listening. But perhaps, if you stopped for long enough, you could still hear him.
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Post by Bad Player on Jul 10, 2023 19:35:17 GMT
Monty is definitely too busy to say goodbye. Yes.
(Or maybe Enid found him. The truth is left to Debra’s imagination.)
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Post by dootdoot on Jul 10, 2023 21:18:21 GMT
Fran finally got to enjoy a nice cup of coffee during her break. She would later that day find out that Parker had been killed in a freak accident involving the breach of a shape-shifting abnormality after he failed to prove his identity by presenting his employee ID card. The abnormality is still at large. Please keep an eye out for any employee showing suspicious behavior.
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Post by Doctor Nanjo M.D. on Jul 10, 2023 22:40:45 GMT
“Well it’s been an awfully interesting couple of hours, but it won’t be as interesting as what I do tonight!” Debra says, somewhat scandalously as she eats her hard-fought slice of pizza. “Everything really resolved nicely though, didn’t it?”
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Post by Doctor Nanjo M.D. on Jul 11, 2023 3:27:22 GMT
The employee looks in the mirror, gazing at the face before them. An orange sweater and a grey wig sit nearby on a stool. A "corpse" leans against the wall. Outside, shuffling feet can be heard moving past the tiny closet nestled deep within the information wing. Had the employee done well? Poorly? It was something to reflect on. Work in the Information Department is difficult, multi-layered. 1. Her plot to be a part of every secret endeavor taking place in the station had been a rousing success. She infiltrated the apostles and worked with them, gathering much information that would have been lost to history had she not been there. On the other hand, that very team she joined had failed and partially because she had been too conspicuous. It was deeply embarrassing to even let a fragment of the truth slip in front of anyone 2. She had infiltrated the afterlife and gathered plenty of information on the nature of the soul and fish preparation. The information team will be speaking her praises for years to come with such excellent food prep tips in her notes. 3. When the apostles were discovered, she managed to reintegrate herself with the employees at large. It took some convincing and some notes would need to be scrubbed at some point, but no doubt she would get her hands on the records soon enough. 4. She successfully prevented the unlawful executions of her allies. Well, it was uncertain if her contributions had swayed public opinion at all, but the public torturing of a "human being" had made everyone in the room less comfortable in general. Plus, she had disposed of a no-longer-useful identity when she made a big show of executing that "person". 5. She had convinced the apostles to do [redacted] for her. And then she followed up with getting successful [redacted] from the employees. This of course, was an amazing bit of manipulation and something to be proud of. Her effort to do this had gone completely undetected. Well, no matter how she slices it, it seems she did a good job. She glances back up to the mirror. Bald. Efficient. Just like her. Perhaps she would have a chance to see her husband and boyfriend.
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Post by Doctor Nanjo M.D. on Jul 11, 2023 4:50:45 GMT
An employee taps away at the computer, a heavy magnet in one hand, and a black marker in the other. The office is quiet right now aside from the occasional buzz from the printer or shredder.
The employee in question is sorting through information. Some information belongs on an encrypted server, some belongs in a locked filing cabinet, some belongs only in the mind (of a trusted individual, of course), and some belongs somewhere that is itself a secret.
The atrocities present in the logs are all too familiar for the employee. They had been horrible in experience and spirit. Fortunately, they had happened in a different history, negating how horrible they had been in material. Even so, the scars run deep.
Only true justice can set things right. The employees were sentenced by their peers to spend the rest of their times in hopeless and toilsome internships.
But why? These employees had been pushed to do this by a broken system. A system that will only fail them worse in their new roles.
The employee carefully considers where they can send the employees that had participated in such criminal conspiracies.
Should it really be a job where they are powerless to fight the system?
The black marker quickly swipes through a few lines on the report, with a note scrawled nearby saying "REDACTED". The employee then photocopies the paper so that the redaction can't be read through. They then click a pen and write a new note in the report:
"Work great as a team. Disposition is highly favorable to corporate roles. Follow psychological disposition notes. While for normal interns, disposition is ignored, since these are valuable candidates for future leadership, be careful to tend to needs liberally."
"If you need further notes, I am being promoted soon. My current and future offices are attached."
Maybe the tweak to the information wouldn't make a difference, but the employee is determined to help them as much as they can, even if their spirits are crushed. The employee signs with the name "Saber" and sends out the report.
They then erase the hard drive of the computer using the magnet, grab their plate of pizza, and walk back to the pizza party.
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Post by Kachu on Jul 11, 2023 15:01:08 GMT
And so, just as quickly as it all seemed to begin, it ended. Life for everyone returned to "normal" not too long after that. It took a few days for some to settle back in after the incident, while others wasted no time and managed to fully devote themselves to their work once more. About three days after the lockdown, Saber invited everyone back for a little pizza party. There were two kinds, one with just cheese, and the other with green olives and mushrooms. When pressed, Saber explained it was always his mother's favourite toppings, and not having it didn't feel right to him. He'd later explain to the group that day that it wasn't easy to explain everything to someone higher up than him, but he got to pull a few strings. He was already suspicious of this group before they had anything to do with any Abnormality, so he at least had that going for him. Of course, not even everyone showed up to this little pizza party. They've already changed shifts, positions, or they were just far too busy to spend any time relaxing. Yes. (As if that'd stop him?) Things mellowed out over time, however, for the employees. Things slowly got better and better again, though someone was always around to remind them that this job is anything but ordinary. Even if nothing were to happen again soon, or even to any of them, it'd only be a matter of time before another incident occurred. But, everyone kept their spirits high. They deserved this! They've won against these traitors completely and totally. Through hard work, perseverance, and smart thinking, they've managed to cut the problem down before it could even fully blossom. And that, as difficult or easy as it might've been, was an impressive feat. GAME END: EMPLOYEE VICTORYThanks for playing!
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