[PRP] A Thing or Two

[Suudonym]

Around the middle of the day, the tech lab's engineering and robotics division was visited by a rare guest: an executive agent. The white-haired man stood near the entrance to the area with his arms folded loosely behind his back, smiling faintly as the department's grunts regarded him with nervousness and unease when they passed by. Eventually he decided he'd had his fill of making them uncomfortable and waved one down. "Excuse me," the executive said, "I'm looking for an Agent Faleen Ewell. Can you tell me if she's available at the moment?"  

[Blood_Goddess]

The Grunt, on his way toward the organized tool closet carrying a case that he had recently packed away with a number of highly sophisticated tools, paused when he was directly addressed by the visiting Executive.
looking for a moment like a Deerling caught in the headlights, the mousy haired young man shiftd the case in his hands, freeing one up and pointing further into the room off toward a collection of work stations and monitoring systems.
“Yes Sir, Agent Faleen’s at her work station… uh- the farthest to the wall; its… it’s the one under the big cooling tank.” He explained “Do… Do you want me to get the Agent for you Sir?”

He seemed to be no acceptation to anyone else in the room having no idea how to respond, or speak to someone as high ranking as an Executive rocket. Seeing as the only other rank who is more elusive being the boss himself.  

[Suudonym]

The executive responded with a smile and waved his hand dismissively, "Oh no, that's quite all right, I'd hate to take her away from her work. I'll just see myself there. Thank you." His one-eyed gaze lingered on the grunt just slightly longer than most would consider an average amount of eye contact, and then he advanced further into the lab, minding the work going on around him to avoid bumping into anything, towards the area that was described to him. Upon arriving at the proximity of the large tank, he peered around for the person he was looking for, "Agent Faleen Ewell? I'd like to speak to you for a moment about a project you're working on, if that's all right."  

[Blood_Goddess]

As the lengthened stare, the grunt shifted a little, looking a little uncertain as to what he should do with the stare until the Executive moved on.

Faleen would be found at her work station, per the usual her hair was pulled back, and she was in her white Agent's uniform. sitting at a work bench with her fingers gliding over a touch screen display, while her eyes rest on a small display of what would first appear to be small bugs, no larger then a house fly.
At the sound of her name the Agent pulled her eyes away, expecting to see another Agent, or Even one of her Grunts trying to get her attention.
While the uniform was white, it only took her a second to realize that it wasn't an Agent's uniform, and within the next second the Agent snapped up out of her seat and pulled herself at respectful attention in the pretense of an Executive Agent, arm first by her side, shoulders square and back straight.
Though there was a sense of surprise in her movements, she conduced herself further with great respect for the man visiting her department.

"Executive Agent, sir-" she spoke first in greeting "Of course, Sir, how may I be of assistance?"
Behind her, the Carvanha in the tank blinked and swam lower toward the ground to observe this newcomer.  

[Suudonym]

"Oh, don't mind me," the executive said, his tone casual and his expression friendly. "Please, go ahead and continue working. I'd hate to delay you."

The man looked to the tank and to the pokemon swimming inside, regarding them with interest. When he spoke next, it was without turning back to Faleen, as if to emphasize that he wasn't going to demand her full attention, "I came to learn a little about the project you're working. I've stuck my hand into the situation, you see, so when people started buzzing about a progress report, I volunteered to come check on things myself." He turned his head slightly to regard the agent, his visible brow raised amicably, "You get a better idea of things like these by seeing them than by reading about them in an e-mail, no?"  

[Blood_Goddess]

While it wasn't what she expected to hear, she couldn't exactly disagree with it.
"Yes sir, I do agree" she agreed, despite being released to return back to work she remained standing at a proper posture.
"I did not expect for a project like this to be of particular interest to the executives office however, sir." She admitted "Especially not at the tail end of its production."
It wasn't the first time she had worked on a project that had been utilized with great importance to the organization, but this WAS the first time any Executives had stepped foot in her labs with the intent of checking up on it.
They tend to leave the dirty work to the lower ranks.

Seeming to have caught the man's attention, The Carvanha all started to clack their jaws, the noticeably darker one with large swirled yellow eyes hovered between two larger ones as they swam around in a curious frenzy.
She asked nipping at the fins of her dark schoolmate as he swam by.
The dark red one retorted

 

[Suudonym]

"Oh, it's not really of much greater interest than any other high profile project like it," he explained with a shrug and a conversational twirl of his hand. "It's just that I've gone and made things somewhat personal, you see, so I can't help but be a bit curious."

He watched the Carvanha swim about and laughed lightly at their discussion, turning fully to address Faleen. "It seems your companions think you and I to be of the same rank. What do you say we pretend that they're right and drop the formalities?" He paused, as if stricken by a thought. "Ah, forgive me - hard to be informal when your company hasn't even given his name. I'm Ben; I'm the Director of Human Resources. A pleasure to meet you, Miss Ewell."  

[Blood_Goddess]

Her face ticked with a moment of curiosity when he mentioned that this was somewhat personal for him. only helping to make the situation that much more unusual.
As her Carvanha's chatter through the glass reached her, she glanced over with the intent of giving them a look to shut them up, only to have the Executive comment not just on them, but what they were saying.
The Agent's face flushed pink when it became clear that he could understand her Carvanha.

The Carvanha themselves were taken by surprise as well, but at the shooting hard look they had gotten from Faleen they scattered through the water






Faleen lowered her head a little, with a silent sigh, though the Executive was giving her his wish that she drop the formalities... uh... she supposed she should at least try.
It was an odd request to fill, but the Agent shifted her stance to face him, allowing her hands to move from her sides to fold behind her back.
"Not at all Sir, I'll apologize for my Carvanha's lack of knowledge and respect, I believe that we're all adjusting to being able to communicate so fluently with certain one another. Beyond that- Its my pleasure to welcome you to the robotics department, Executive Ben. I suppose I don't need to introduce myself."

She... didn't really know what to do about this situation, at least not entirely. If this was an Elite she knew the protocol, and what they expected, and what mattered to them and their work... but an Executive, a casual one. The only time she knew of that happening was with Lore, but he was the boss' brother, and as far as she was aware he was a Grunt now.
despite the slight pink of her cheeks, her demeanor remained professional and calm, for being as caught off guard as she had been... And still was.

"Director of Human Resources." Faleen repeated "Am I to assume that this project falls within your line of your profession?"  

[Suudonym]

The executive controlled his amusement but failed to withhold the wide smile that remained on his lips in response to the fish's antics. "It's quite all right," he dismissed. "They're pokemon, after all. We can't reasonably expect them to mind their tongues but so much." As Faleen moved to the next subject at hand, Ben moved with her, nodding, "Thank you, Miss Ewell - and yes, I must admit, I am guilty of peaking at the files of those I intend to speak with. Although even if I hadn't, your reputation well precedes you."

He hummed lightly in consideration of the agent's question. "Well... yes and no, I suppose," he replied. "The project is more relevant to Intelligence than it is to me, but the task of finding a suitable test subject for the technology fell to me. I've already met with him; he's thrilled to lend his services. We had a long, pleasant conversation, and I suppose the encounter left me quite a bit more interested in the project than I was before."  

[Blood_Goddess]

"Until our expectations are made more clear, perhaps not." Her Carvanha were not as well behaved as the rest of her team, that was true. Then again, seeing as she couldn't speak with most of the rest of her team, she couldn't know that for certain.

The fact that he had looked into her and others files before he met them didn't phase her in the slightest, it was met with arching eyebrows and a soft smile of understanding, the Agent couldn't help acknowledge the fact to herself that she in turn did the same thing when possible.
Of course not with an Executive, she wasn't privy with their information with good reason.
Faleen listened with polite attentiveness as he continued, her hazel eyes widening slightly at the admittance that she had gained a reputation surprised her.
With as low as she had been brought recently, she couldn't help but worry that it didn't mean entirely what she would hope it meant. With this last failure with her partner still digging deeply. still, her cheeks flushed a little darker and she acknowledged his words with a politely dipped head
"You pay me a great complement, Sir. I can only hope that it isn't for my recent short comings" she admitted with a great deal more humility. She wasn't about to pretend that he didn't know about the recent events with Izaya and her long term partnership with him coming to the most unfortunate of ends.

"Once its up and running I understand that intelligence will be taking over the project. In the meantime it would as much be in my own field as it would be in human resources... I'm aware of a test subject for the next phase of testing." Faleen loose her grip on her wrist, allowing a hand to move back onto the counter top where the small "bugs" were still skittering around in an unnaturally uniformed and calculated manner. "Considering the lethal option of this technology I'm surprised to hear that there was a volunteer rather then one of our prisoner as I was originally expecting to be a candidate...? If I am understanding right."

Her hand lifted from the counter top as she gestured to a work station "I am more than happy to show you the progress, Sir. If I am to be so bold; I'm quite proud of what we've produced so far."  

[Suudonym]

Ben laughed again, "Well, you know, everyone has their good and bad days, and word gets around for both." Rather than clarify, he left the words vague and moved to the next matter at hand. His gaze fell to the table, watching as the small machines moved. "Oh, no, I do apologize," he said, "I wasn't clear. He is indeed a prisoner. But you see, due to the nature of the trial, he'll have a lot more freedom than he has in a long time, so why shouldn't he be excited about it? In fact, it's that quality that makes him the best candidate! ...In my humble opinion, of course." The gleam in his visible eye that accompanied his smile hinted at the possibility that the elected candidate perhaps wasn't quite as thrilled as Ben made him out to be.

His features illuminated with interest, and he stepped a bit closer to the work station at Faleen's gesture, "Oh, I would love to see it, if you wouldn't mind. I'm familiar with the purview of the concept, but I'm so curious about how it will actually work in practice."  

[Blood_Goddess]

"To certainly be expected." she agreed, Having no disillusion herself. she could at least take solace int he fact that it wasn't the first time she had failed and still managed to get where she was now.
... For her anyway, not this prisoner.
"Ah, I see..." She couldn't help a feeling about this prisoner... though had no real proof that he was talking about who she suspected.
Either way it didn't matter, Even if it was Izaya he was talking about, If an Executive in his profession saw him as an ideal candidate, she had no reason to disagree or argue.

"It is your profession, sir, certainly not mine to know the traits of the best candidate." she made a gesture to the table "This is where my profession lies."
She reached a hand down, the small 'bugs' that upon closer look turned out to be tiny tiny robots, Micro bots.
As her fingers drew closer to them they stopped moving and parted out of her way, while she tapped a few lines on to workstation top, allowing a small platform to light up, displaying a tiny chip being held between a pare of tweezers.
"This chip itself is still in construction, but should be fully complete by the time the program." She had a look of pride on her face as she reached down to pick up the stand it was set on, holding out the tweezers to show the Executive. "Its still large enough to be able to support both the Porygon and the Programming we need to put in it, communicating with the eye unit, and small enough to be very difficult to find if someone manages to go poking around."
Faleen perked up "Speaking of the eye unit. We have that complete already."