Entry #A-3: "Ask" [Video] [Shepherd's Haven]

[numberedshepherd]

[It's getting easier to tell Ryuzaki and Lazarus apart; the latter looks significantly thinner and more unhealthy than the former, and instead of breaking into easy smirks, his face is placid and serious. The two share a Number, but little else.]

Regarding recent events, Saretha has given these aspects thought and is asking you to do the same. Please pay attention to what she has to say, whether or not you've missed these events in real time. It's all important.

I'm one of the people who was contacted by the informant from Thunder Corp, and I know of some others, but there's a question I'm very interested in at this time. I want to know if anyone was both contacted by this informant and approached by a representative from the company, and if there are any Numbered currently active on the Network who experienced neither of these things.

If you're not comfortable sharing this information on the Network, especially considering that I have a particularly destructive and untrustworthy doppelganger who can see even my private network messages and just took a job with someone I have a very bad feeling about, I can meet with you in person to discuss this regardless of your location, or speak with you on a private line. If you've agreed to help Thunder Corp, I'm not not here to judge harshly... at this point, I just want the data I've specified, and your answer one way or the other is something you're welcome to keep to yourself.

To reiterate: Were you contacted by Thunder Corp's rogue informant, or a recruiter? Were you contacted by both? Were you contacted by neither?

Comments

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[numberedshepherd]

[Concise it is, but that doesn't for a moment mean that it's any more comfortable. Lazarus hates thinking about his doppelganger creeping into aspects of his Other and wearing them like a skinned victim, partly in parody and partly to slyly insist that he's just better at being L than Lazarus ever could be.]

It's true. Our resources were downgraded significantly and we were at a disadvantage when it came to keeping track of certain people.

[He seems somewhat reassured at the seeming apathy Nathan's doppel had toward others, but... still.]

He's currently "dating" someone he's clearly just toying with, and his new employer doesn't seem to much care what he does with his free time. That alone raises a ton of red flags. Clearly he's not just been hired for data entry.

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[solvethepuzzle]

[Yes, he'd seen some of that on the network, with that poor naive boy. Nathan just frankly has no idea what to even do with that. How does one approach such a problem?]

It does. And that is without factoring in that I doubt he would be content doing a job that even I found boring. [That had actually been his job when he'd first become Numbered.]

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[numberedshepherd]

[One approaches it delicately, with a sensitive touch and an ability to understand human emotion with boundless empathy. In other words, it's something neither Lazarus or Nathan should really mess with expecting good results.]

It is not a job known for being tremendously stimulating, and stimulation is something that he craves in excess.

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[solvethepuzzle]

[Which is why for as bad as he feels for that boy, Nathan has done nothing to intervene. He simply cannot envision managing anything else than failing spectacularly and probably making things worse somehow.]

When did you lean of this . . . employment opportunity of his? The post that marked his re-emergence?

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[numberedshepherd]

[Lazarus pinches the bridge of his nose.]

That's the one, at the end of August. I could see the initial contact but they took it to truly private means very quickly. I tried to step in and speak with the would-be employer myself, but that didn't go well.