MERC

[Reinholdt]

[Dena's Office]

"We don't need a neutral judge. This isn't some million dollar bet. You're overthinking this." Neutral judges are for people who don't trust each other or for high stakes. Reina pouts. "I still think a flirt off would be far more fun." Two girls throwing themselves at a buff guy to try and see who he pays attention to more can only end well, right?

"But I suppose your idea works. He's not going to lie if you're asking him about your snakes bugging him in a professional office setting, as far as I know. And I guess it avoids unnecessary personal issues down the line..." Reina sounds so sad and defeated. Where's the thrill in not getting wrecked by the consequences of your own actions? "I'll just turn into a cat and be under your desk during the meeting. It'll be impossible to know I'm there and I can listen in."

[Morty]

[New Recruit]

"So far it's your basic gunpowder cannon. Put in powder, a ball, light, boom."

"That's what Frigate's old cannon looked like. We figured we'd start with it and add our own ideas."

"I wonder if Flinshka would be interested." Kuvesh looks over at Jerick and clarifies. "She's an alchemist in the larger crew we belong to."

"A southerner, though. They're touchy about using non-goblin alchemy."

[Shadowcaller]

[Dena's Office]

"I do overthink things." Dena admits with a sheepish shrug. "But yeah, I think he'd be in his right to file for sexual harassment if we both starting flirting with him over a bet. Especially if I'm right." While willing sexual advances seemed to be all the rage in MERC these days unwilling ones were still as frowned upon as in any other office setting.

"But you turning into a cat is a good idea." Though she imagined someone else listening in to a personal conversation like that over a bet would still be frowned upon. Especially over something as silly as this. Yet it was innocent enough, right? It wasn't like she would be asking him some deeply personal questions here.

...

"...just try to not listen in if we happen to get into some heavy subjects though. Not that I'm expecting any but you never know what someone got buried up inside."

[ForTheGnomes]

[New Recruit]

"So far it's your basic gunpowder cannon. Put in powder, a ball, light, boom."

"That's what Frigate's old cannon looked like. We figured we'd start with it and add our own ideas."

"I wonder if Flinshka would be interested." Kuvesh looks over at Jerick and clarifies. "She's an alchemist in the larger crew we belong to."

"A southerner, though. They're touchy about using non-goblin alchemy."

"Okay..." Jerick reached down and took a piece of chalk out of one of his pouches. He found a blank space on the floor and began to draw a diagram of the cannon as it was. He then began to draw something at the mouth of the cannon. It looked like an extension of the curve that is already at the mouth of the cannon, but had a multitude of different things protruding from it. "There we go. That should do. The extension will provide a multitude of different uses for the cannon while still only needing one type of ammunition."

[Reinholdt]

[Dena's Office]

"It's only harassment if it's unwanted and repeated," Reina says. "You get one flirt and if they say no you gotta stop." Reina's tail flicks teasingly.

"What're you thinking? He's terrified of snakes in general? That snakes killed his parents and he swore to take down all the slithering mafia and is snakeman at night, becoming the very thing he fears?" Reina shakes her head and stands up with a stretch. "I think... you're projecting your own fears and making excuses. You'll see. You're a catch."

The catgirl shrinks into a beautiful blue-grey furred kitty and slinks against Dena's leg as she moves to get under the desk. "Besides, I doubt I will hear anything more personal than what I see lying in bed and staring at the ceiling nowadays." Reina's done her best not to overshare but some things you just can't unsee as a seer and what counts as personal starts getting fuzzier and fuzzier.

[Shadowcaller]

[Dena's Office]

"I think he just got a boring ol' phobia at most. More likely, he just don't like snakes in general." Dena remarks, not being one for fancy theories. "Since don't you think I'm self-conscious over my looks now." She wags her finger at Reina. "I'm probably just not enough minotaur for him, that's all. The lack of a snout and all that." The gorgon gestures towards her face. "Or any other factors. Point is that I'm not feeling awful cause someone doesn't find me attractive. I mean, Dippy doesn't think either of us are, y'know?" She smiles as she suspected Rein's reaction to that statement.

But then she pauses as the the cat(tier) Reina slinks in between her legs.

"Hey, by the way, how weird would it be on a scale from 1 to 10 if I petted you while you're a cat?" She had a feeling Reina didn't really mind but the concept still seemed weird.

[Morty]

[New Recruit]

All three goblins lean over the drawing with interest.

"Curious. How does it work and what materials are we going to need?"

[Reinholdt]

[Dena's Office]

"Ugh. Dipsnig just lacks taste in general. He picked the frozen mountains for the base just cause it was convenient for his goblin tunnels and there's a live wolf den here. And it smells. I don't trust any of his opinions that aren't purely professional." Reina's tail flicks and she licks a paw.

Reina pawses as Dena asks about pets and she tilts her head as she gives it due consideration. "Mmm... 3... no 4... no 3. Depends on how heavy on the butt you get and whether or not you're sitting in the office chair menacingly while discussing interviews or something... the latter makes it less weird." You gotta accept that sometimes you're a prop for an evil villain and just get the pets.

[Shadowcaller]

[Dena's Office]

"Sadly I can only agree." While she did find the wolves cute a den for them really didn't seem like something you should add to your work place. Dipsnig didn't want them hurt so why were they at a center of a business dealing with violence? It wasn't like anyone else had such pet privileges in the base and unfortunately the wolves couldn't really keep up with other kinds of transportation.
"I'm personally thinking he's just keeping the wolves around to keep Magtok at bay." She reaches down to tentatively pet Reina's head. "And maybe the Rein's too. Think there's anything to that theory?" The gorgon smirks a bit.

[Reinholdt]

[Dena's Office]

"Hmph!" Reina scoffs. "He'll need to try harder than that." She doesn't clarify as to who Dipsnig needs to try harder to keep away. Reina's head is very soft and infinitely pettable. She doesn't duck out of the way, but Dena's going to have to do a little more to get her purring and nuzzling the hand. A few more pets at the very least.

"You gonna call Krayger in?" Reina asks.

[ForTheGnomes]

[New Recruit]

All three goblins lean over the drawing with interest.

"Curious. How does it work and what materials are we going to need?"

[New Recruit]

"It is a multi-element weapon enhancer originally designed for my crossbow. It infuses different energies into the ammunition as it gets fired out the cannon, with eight of those energies for different situations. Fire, frost, lightning, acid, poison, positive energy, negative energy, and gravity, which acts as a force amplifier."

Jerick says all of this very fast as he tends to do when he's talking about this kind of stuff.

"As for what we'll need, a good amount of metal, especially one that is able to easily resist many different conditions without breaking, cracking, or otherwise under the stress, as well as one that is flexible and easily molded into shape. As for the rest, I'll get it. I've got a store of elementals in my room at Trog's Tavern. Very helpful, mindless monsters that can be bound to machines to enhance their function or provide new ones."

[Morty]

[New Recruit]

"A multi-element crossbow? Sounds like the boss' weapon."

"Not that he uses it much these days. But I hear he was quite the crack shot back in the day."

"Metal... well, we've got quite the trove of metal scrap here. We'd need to go diving into it to find the right kind, though."

"That's the first time I've heard of elementals being bound to machines, though. I know of some elves who wouldn't like hearing about it..."

[Shadowcaller]

[Dena's Office]

"Hmph!" Reina scoffs. "He'll need to try harder than that." She doesn't clarify as to who Dipsnig needs to try harder to keep away. Reina's head is very soft and infinitely pettable. She doesn't duck out of the way, but Dena's going to have to do a little more to get her purring and nuzzling the hand. A few more pets at the very least.

"You gonna call Krayger in?" Reina asks.

[Dena's Office]

"Evidently." Dena remarks while she's giving Reina a final pet. Then she gets up from her chair.
"Yeah, but I'm going to go out and find him first. I think this calls for a more personal touch after all. Not one you should do over the phone." She makes her way over to her office, though isn't in any hurry. "Just make sure you're hidden once I get back alright? Then you can listen in however much you want. If he sees you I'm going to act surprised, 'kay?"

[Reinholdt]

[Dena's Office]

"Hmmm... I guess. You're just calling him to the office." The personal touch happens in the meeting, not outside it! Though it isn't really official business, so maybe it's better to ask him to visit in person so he doesn't get the wrong idea.

"Pfft. I'm already a ghost. You can't even hear me...." Reina waves her paws around as spooky as she can, but she has to stand on two legs to do it so it just looks like she's going to cute pounce on something. Once she's done emphasizing how stealthy she is, she retreats to under Dena's desk like planned.

[Shadowcaller]

[Dena's Office==>Finding Krayger]

"Alright then ghost-cat. Just don't spook him while he's in here." Dena calls back before disappearing out the door.

She will soon find Krayger, wherever he is, and once he doesn't appear too busy she will approach him. "Hey, do you have a few minutes, Krayger? Wanted to discuss some personal business." Dena gestures in the direction of her office.

[Keeper]

Finding Krayger

Finding Krayger is really easy. He has an office now.
He can be found there, working on the mountain of paperwork his new job has provided him with. It seems he's finally caved and bought glasses, though he puts them away as the conversation starts.
"I mean, sure. What's up?" he asks, getting up and following her.

[Shadowcaller]

Finding Krayger

Dena talks as they walk. "Well, I wanted to check up how your new position was working out for you. Looked like you've taken up some of my work load." She hadn't been able to ignore the pile of paperwork on his desk.

They will soon be in her office but he will have enough time to answer her question.

[Murkus]

Reporting

Fettina flies on in here, returning from a pretty long flight to Hell Bend. She's looking for someone in charge. To those around, she looks like a genuine winged angel sheathed in polished chrome.

[Keeper]

Finding Krayger

"It's been fine. After all, with Valerie working the front desk most of the time I haven't sat behind one in some time. I had some field work time to get it out of my system. Though it all does make me feel a little silly to have been so worried about staying useful in my old age that I went and learned magic only to get promoted anyway. It's fine, though. Everyone needs hobbies."
And knowing how to knock people over with your mind is just useful in general.

[Morty]

[Reporting]

Tina will be directed to Dipsnig's office. As is often the case, a wolf is here. This time, it seems, hardly older than a cub.

"Fettina. How did things go in Hell Bend?"

[Shadowcaller]

Finding Krayger

"Yeah, Val is a real blessing." Which was exactly why Dena often decided to look the other way whenever she got hints that Val could be violating of the office's decency guidelines. Krayger, and probably most of her other coworkers, likely never noticed it so she couldn't exactly call Val brazen.

Dena sits down behind her solid metal desk. "But your skills would have been wasted at the front desk. You got real talent in bureaucracy and some people skills to boot. In particular when it comes to dealing with more troublesome visitors." Like Arne.

"So I'm relived to hear that you're handling it well. And don't let that age-paranoia get to you, we all have ways to handle getting older." The boss had a freaking powered armor these days after all. "And if it made you discover a talent for magic? Even better. That sort of things are always useful as in this line of work you never know when you're going to get called into fieldwork. I'm still evaluating newbies despite all this." She gestures at her desk and office.

"Anyhow, there was something else on my mind regarding our shared space of work. Since I know that some people feel uncomfortable around snakes. It's a relatively common phobia actually. I've read that even some gorgons had it which seem pretty awful, yeah?" Dena grimaces. "Part of why it's commonly used as a curse I'm sure." Turning someone with a fear of snakes into a gorgon did seem like quite the way to hurt them.
"But with that in mind I realized that I never really checked with you how comfortable you are with these guys." She gestures at one of the snakes that made up her 'hair'. "Kirk and Tina I know are fine with it." Tina had found it weirdly attractive even. "But with everyone else I can only guess. Since there are simple ways to cover them up a bit and I'm trying to figure out how people feel about that."

[ForTheGnomes]

[New Recruit]

"A multi-element crossbow? Sounds like the boss' weapon."

"Not that he uses it much these days. But I hear he was quite the crack shot back in the day."

"Metal... well, we've got quite the trove of metal scrap here. We'd need to go diving into it to find the right kind, though."

"That's the first time I've heard of elementals being bound to machines, though. I know of some elves who wouldn't like hearing about it..."

[New Recruit]

After Jerick returns from Trog's Tavern with jars of elementals in hand and Olvisin and company find suitable scrap metal, Jerick gets to work. He welds the scraps together, forming a framework for the cylindrical extension. After making the frame, he attaches gems the size of his fist. He then takes the jars, one at a time, and shakes the elementals out onto the gems. The gems seem to absorb the elementals like a sponge. "Most gnomes back home do the elemental binding different, but it takes much more time. But these synthetic elemental capsules work just as well in a pinch and last a long time, about fifty years to a century, at which point they'll begin to crack. When it comes time to replace them, just come talk to me and I'll get it done."

Jerick begins to fill the gaps in the frame with some of the more resistant scraps, forming a shell around the frame while letting the gems be visible. He then begins to work on the inside of the cannon extension, making what looks like release mechanisms on the walls of the cylinder. "Now these are where the elementals will release their energy and infuse it into the ammunition as it gets shot out the cannon."

Finally he adds buttons, gears, and other components to the outside and inside of the cylinder. After he is finished, there is one button under each gem. "There we go. A finished multi-element cannon extension. After it is attached to the cannon, all you will have to do is press the button beneath the corresponding elemental-bound capsule, then fire the cannon."

[Keeper]

Finding Krayger

"Oh don't worry. It's been handled." Krayger says with a smile.
He certainly seems taken aback by her question, though. He's never imagined Dena to be self-conscious in the slightest.
"Well, I mean. It's weird to me, Dena. Just like it's weird that no one here is the size I grew up being used to. Or that we employ a sassy talking cat." He's actually talking about Xun, as I don't think he's aware Reina has a cat form. "And our receptionist has wings, just like your titanium friend who flies in sometime. And I am a two-meter tall bovine engineer. Don't tell anyone I used the 'b' word." We are an exceptionally strange company."
MERC employs a few, but the rest mostly operate out of the Riverside office.
"My advice is to not bother covering that up. None of us are changing what we are any time soon and the faster people get over that the better it'll be for everyone. Don't sacrifice your comfort for anyone else's sensibilities."
Krayger, naturally, says this despite for almost ten years religiously showering to make sure he doesn't give off a barnyard smell.

[Shadowcaller]

Finding Krayger

So two sassy cats in the same office. How did the rest of them endure?

"It's not like I'm self-conscious about it." Dena feels like pointing out quickly as she got that vibe from the way Krayger answered the question. "Crossed that bridge a long time ago. Nor is it really about 'weirdness' since I don't think you would be here if it was. I was more trying to gauge wherever you had something akin to a phobia or not." He clearly didn't have a phobia of snakes. If that had been the case she would have noticed much sooner. But he could still have felt a a strong discomfort which wasn't as plain.

"And I'm guessing the answer there is no which is good to know. Since..." She taps her chin thoughtfully. "You know Laela, right? Little brown skinned girl with pink flower hair. She shows up here every week or so for dance lessons with me." Krayger might have seen her at least once.
"Well, her mother, Sakura, has an actual phobia of fire. She can barely be in the same room as an open fireplace. So the fact that this friend of Laela's, Cora, got hair that looks like fire is something she can't handle. Which is why she has to cover it up with this beanie. Since otherwise they just wouldn't be able to interact normally. In some cases it's not just about someone's sensibilities it's an actual medical condition that they can't help."

She clears her voice. "Now, none of that applies to you obviously. But my point is that in this kind of office we sometimes need to try to meet halfway. Since the line between sensibility and condition can be pretty thin at times. Though obviously if it had been something less practical to hide it would be a different matter. In that case I would have recommended therapy or something." Dena shrugs.

"Anyhow, you don't happen to know any co-worker with that sort of issue do you?"

[Morty]

[New Recruit]

The goblins participate in gathering materials with enthusiasm, then observe Jerick's technique. They cheer when the cannon is finished.

"Now we just need to present it to Frigate," Olvisin says. "He should be here in the HQ somewhere."

[Keeper]

Finding Krayger

”I mean I would still recommend therapy in that case personally. But no, I don’t know anyone with a phobia of snakes.”
He supposes as a personnel manager these are the kind of questions that he should be expected to ask. But he can’t think of anyone running in terror from Dena.

[Shadowcaller]

Finding Krayger

"Therapy is long and complex process and it's not really something you should just casually recommend to people you barely know unless they clearly have serious issues." Dena remarks. "Besides, for all I know she's already going through therapy or something like that. It's not my business how she handles it really."

She shrugs.

"But yes, that's the answer I was expecting. Still, I had to make sure as I picked up some vibes and since I'm in charge of person resources it's something I need to investigate."

[Keeper]

Finding Krayger

”I didn’t mean her. I meant someone who wants to do mercenary work and has a crippling fear of something that will easily interfere with their work. But that’s not the point.”
He waves a hand.
”Well, I’m glad I could help.” He’s not sure what vibes she’s talking about but he’s not going to press the issue.

[Shadowcaller]

Finding Krayger

"Oh yeah, then I'm definitively the one to make that call. Still, not an easy decision to make." Since there were coworkers that had quirks yet at what point did a quirk become an issue? Like, there were members that could get into questionable situations at work. But was it just a quirk if they never let it influence their duties?

"But yeah, good talk. Good to know that you've taken your promotion well. Do tell me if there are any issues though, alright?"

[Arkhosia]

[News???]

"Okay, yeah, I get it. Sorry, I was trying to put a positive spin." Valerie puts a finger on her chin. "Well I'm sure Astrana and I can offer lots of advice. Maybe even some extra baby clothes. They grow out of them so fast, and we have an extra set even with three on the way."

[News???]

"No, no uh, I- I appreciate it," Leis tries to assure, suddenly awkward about putting a damper on Valerie's happy mood. "A-and um, yeah. Yeah, it'd help a lot. Having to deal with all of this alone is scary, y'know? It's... nice, knowing I can rely on you two."