DarknessDawning

E:\cyberpunk\the_deadliest_question.exe

@pugbutter

Edit done... on my phone. I'll check it again when i get home.

E:\cyberpunk\the_deadliest_question.exe

K. I'll fix mine.

E:\cyberpunk\the_deadliest_question.exe

Sorry on the one way mirror room thing. I can fix that if you like.

This person is the first applicant that she called from the lobby.

E:\cyberpunk\the_deadliest_question.exe

The dual click of footsteps on the sterile looking floor echoed as the two women made their way silently down the hall. Ona opened a door and held it, waiting for the girl to catch up and quickly slip inside. The room was blank, stark and unmemorable save for the stainless steel table in its center. There was a single chair on either side and Ona waved her free hand towards the chair in the back. The girl sat down quickly, silently cowering as though she was about to be interrogated for murder. It was the first time Ona took a good look at her... young, just barely legal to work. Probably her first job. Thin, but not as thin as Ona, and taller than Ona naturally. Her hair and eyes were brown, her face common. She was perhaps one of the least memorable people Ona had ever seen.

Ona stepped out and closed the door, leaving the girl alone momentarily. She stepped to the observation room and opened the door to find Jules waiting inside. Ona shot Jules a quick glance that was a little slow to soften and brighten in to a smile. It didn't look mean or angry, just slow to the punch... like her mind was occupied. The layer of makeup on her face was a little thicker than usual leaving her smile sticky and creased. "Oh good morning Jules... thank you... that's so sweet of you.

She set the folders on the table in front of him and adjusted the bottom of her blouse to ensure that she wasn't accidentally exposing herself. "The front desk girl was late this morning... I had to wait for her to get everyone checked in. Probably cost us half an hour." She put as much of a fake growl in her voice as she could muster, not wanting anyone to take it too seriously and actually be mad at the girl who most likely wasn't actually late or in the wrong. She pulled the first file off the stack, sliding it over to Jules before flicking open the cover. "Would you like to lead the first one, or shall I get us started?"

LF Long term, multi chara partners (Mature 18+)

bumpy! 1-2 more please :)

E:\cyberpunk\the_deadliest_question.exe

Each tap of his knuckles against the wood was like an earthquake tearing through the serenity of her vacation. Her eyes shot open with a start, and for a moment in her groggy confusion she wasn't sure where she was. Her heart was racing and she could hear the blood pounding in her ears. The left side of her face ached from the pressure of laying on the hard desk for so long. When she raised her head her skin stuck to the wooden surface, peeling off like a worn bandage and snapping back in place. The papers in her hand crumpled as she put her weight down to help steady herself without even realizing their existence.

The world worked its way in to focus and before her mind could catch up with why she was in this location, it recognized the location itself as her office. Dizziness rolled through her. Shaking her head, she released her grip on the papers and began to check herself, quickly putting the pieces together... she was in yesterday's clothes... she hadn't gone home last night. The knowledge made her feel sick. Her eyes darted to the clock... 7:36. People would already be arriving for their shifts that started at 8. Her heart sank... Jules always arrived a little early. Her groggy dizziness left her as swiftly as the snow melted when it touched down in the polluted waters of the river. She cleared her throat, shooting up from her chair and trouble shooting what she needed to do... immediately... 10 minutes ago. She moved to the door and opened it just enough to peek out and ensure that the hallway was empty.

When she felt it was safe, she darted to the women's restroom. Once inside she looked over herself quickly. She had to make her outfit different... she had to look fresh. She quickly pulled off and apart the leather wrappings that had served as her top yesterday. There was nothing she could do to change the materials that she was wearing, but perhaps she could make it different enough to fool anyone out of thinking they were the same clothes. She stripped out of her pants and took a minute carefully analyzing the clothing. After dispelling several ideas that came to mind she began wrapping the leather straps between her legs and around her hips, once it covered her crotch she wrapped it around her thighs then up over her bum. Once she got to her hips she tied a bow and had created somewhat questionable, but decently covering leather shorts complete with a front bow accent. She then examined her pants for an extra minute before taking the geometric headdress off and sliding her arms down the legs of the pants with the waist opening folded carefully to her chest. She fastened the headpiece to one side of the pants using the belt loop, then stretched it across her back and fastened it to the other side. The end result was a midriff bearing over-sized backless bubble shirt of sorts. She examined herself in the mirror. It was certainly a bit more abstract than usual for work, but it was passable. She took a minute to arrange her hair up in to a high, slick pony tail that fountained off the back of her head and poured down her spine.

A few minutes of checking and adjusting her makeup in the mirror and Ona was as ready as she was going to get without going back to her house. She took a deep breath, staring at herself in the mirror and trying to convince herself that she'd done a good job at disguising her horror of a morning. She gargled some water quickly to clear her breath then set out for the lobby. On her way she stepped in to the break room and grabbed a cup of the stiff, bitter coffee that was offered by the company... at least it would brighten her eyes and cover up any nighttime breath that still lingered. She stepped in to the lobby and glanced at the front desk girl. "We're ready... go ahead and send in the first, then you can keep them coming one after the other til noon... then we'll start again after lunch." The girl nodded and looked over at the collection of bodies in chairs that was building in the room. Ona disappeared back down the hallway without waiting for the first on to follow her closely enough to have a conversation. Along the way, she ducked in to the office and grabbed a large stack of folders to take to the interview room. It would be strange that they weren't already there, but she couldn't fix that now.

E:\cyberpunk\the_deadliest_question.exe

Ona didn't so much as glance in the rear view mirror as she pulled away. Her mind was already in other places. The only was to drown out her self-loathing was to constantly immerse herself in other things. Most often these "things" were work related, occasionally it was shopping or dressing or makeup. She was so utterly lonely and yet allowed herself no time to ever attempt to meet or speak to other people. She was petrified of it really. Her mind constantly played out all of the ways that she could be rejected by every person she met or even saw. They all judged her. She knew it was so, and it drove the cycle back around to suffocating herself in meaningless busywork that drained her very soul every second of every day.

She went straight to work. A fake smile spread on her face as she greeted those she passed, explaining at the desk that Jules had made it on time and not needed any assistance, so she thought she'd come in and get the files ready. No one cared. To everyone else, Ona was there because Ona had nowhere else to be. No one had ever heard of Ona going out with friends, or going on a date. No one ever saw Ona outside of work. Ona worked, and people assumed that she slept sometimes... and that was about it. The girl at the desk smiled and nodded, politely responding to Ona's story despite her eyes screaming for Ona to shut up and leave her alone. Ona made her way back to the meager office that she shared with Jules for desk work. It was cramped and the files took up more space than the desks and chairs. The surface of her desk was almost indiscernible under the new stacks of folders.

She closed the door as she stepped in, pausing and letting her meager weight fall back against the cold surface. The chill of the wood dulled where the straps of leather wrapped her torso. For a moment she felt as though her entire chest might cave in if she opened even one more folder, read one more name. Her throat tightened and she struggled to breathe, imagining herself crumpling to the floor and ceasing to exist right where she stood, but nothing happened, and the files stayed there, so she pushed off the door and moved to sink in to her chair. Once there, the robotic habitual behaviors kicked in. She opened each file, read and re-read. She organized them... categorized them. She shifted them again and again, based on the most minute of details.

In the closet sized office with no windows time stood still. Outside the hours passed, people wrapped up and left, the janitors came in and cleaned, and the lights were shut off and the doors locked. No one bothered to check on Ona, no one cared. No one so much as batted an eyelash at the one last vehicle sitting in the parking garage. Somewhere in the middle of the night, the exhaustion got the best of her and she fell asleep with her face on her desk and a file in her hand. She was surrounded by papers with brightly colored flag markers sticking out of them. The lights stayed on, and her computer gave off a soft humming sound. It was perfect. Ona dreamt that she too had gone on a beautiful tropical vacation, only the water was clear and the sky blue. She was beautiful in a bikini bathing suit. She could feel the warmth on her face and shoulders. It was perfect.

E:\cyberpunk\the_deadliest_question.exe

Ona's sweet smile returned to her face. She was always good at that... putting on a happy face no matter what was going on. It was a wonder that she ever smiled though really. Certainly she knew that smiling would eventually cause wrinkles. The smile never quite reached her grey blue eyes either. There was a sadness to those eyes that never seemed to fade or falter. She followed his gaze to her drink and half laughed, waving him off. "I barely touched it Jules... really I'm fine."

She gave herself one last check over before gracefully accepting the open door and heading towards her car. She could consider the ways and reasons why this interaction went wrong, but her mind had already shifted to her work. It was always best to drown herself with work rather than face unpleasantness. She would review the files, prepare a preliminary report, and categorize them based on initial assessments. Then when Jules came in tomorrow he would find that they were all ready for review, which he could do while she contacted them in order to call them in for interviews. Yes, the idea that she could complete all of this single highhandedly, even on a day off, gave some form of satisfaction that was enough to keep her returning, keep her in line. She was perhaps the last person on any potential list of converts or deserters that may have existed. She had nothing left but the company.

As they approached her vehicle to the light ticking sound of her heels tapping the smooth floor of the parking garage she paused and turned to wish Jules farewell. "Thank you for having me. I shall have to return the favor sometime... perhaps next weekend. Get some rest. I'll see you tomorrow." She leaned in to give him one of those strange, cordial hugs where nothing but their hands really touch you. The space between them grew somehow colder than the air around them. She placed the lightest of kisses on the edge of his cheek before turning to the car.

E:\cyberpunk\the_deadliest_question.exe

Lol. You're funny. Sorry for the delay. This past weekend was CRAAAAAAZY. Last week of classes then I'm off til 1/9 from school. Then my last residency and two courses followed by comprehensive exams and I'm ABD (all but diss) and in my dissertation >_<. Internally I'm freaking out a little.

E:\cyberpunk\the_deadliest_question.exe

Unfortunately passive aggressive was almost the only type of aggressiveness that Ona knew. Perhaps Jules wouldn't have been so offended if he truly knew how little Ona thought of herself. The standard that she held him to was certainly not that critical in comparison. She blinked mindlessly at the drink... it was an empty question, met with an empty answer. "It's a bit strong... but they usually are when you make them."

She looked up and smiled politely, picking up the glass and taking another sip so minuscule that the level in the glass didn't even seem to lower. She set it back down, taking a deep almost sighed breath as she slid her heeled feet back to the floor, being careful to balance on them before putting her weight down. "Thank you for the drink... I really should get to the office though. I've got a lot of files to go through and get organized before tomorrow." Her head bobbed slightly, silently agreeing with herself that the answer to all awkwardness was to drown herself in work. "You should get some rest. You've had a long flight."

Regardless of the tension in the room, her face was soft and calm smiling outwardly to him. Any interaction gone wrong was always nothing more than a way for Ona to work on improving herself for next time. He needed rest, she needed to distract herself with work... everything would be normal tomorrow. That's how it worked for her. She picked up her keys and attempted to nonchalantly run her hands down her hips to ensure that her outfit laid back out smoothly after having been seated.