I sighed wearily while staring down at my food, while I was more familiar with Mexican cuisine, that doesn't mean I didn't know how to prepare other miscellaneous stuff, like onigiri (Japanese rice balls).
Cooking was one of my hobbies, and it helped me with stress, this time I went with a salmon filler for the onigiri... and just like every time I cook, I had to teach the chefs how to do so. Thankfully, some of them had been familiar with the dish, so it was way smoother than the last one I tried here.
Putting that little thing aside... Dakota was scarily similar to Red in some ways, to the point that she was starting to handle the E.G.O weapon without much trouble, aside for the two times she tried to chop my head off while calling me 'Cunning Bastard'. Not that I mentioned those small bumps to Dakota, who must have suspected something happened anyway.
I looked around the table while taking a bite of one onigiri, just training my friends one by one would take a while... but before I even think of doing group sessions, I have to get them all up with the basics. So I'll wait for everyone to have their individual classes before bringing that up.
Rober and Dakota were happily shit talking each other, but there was hardly any heat on their insults. BongBong, ever the enthusiast, was next to Rober and seemingly agreeing to whatever his... 'probable' love interests says about Dakota.
Gonzales was trying to get Amelia to get into a drinking contest with him, while Amelia exasperatedly tried to explain to him that we didn't have any alcohol in hand. He just laughed that off and said they should find out who could drink more water, I was half-sure Amelia had considered murder at that point, but she managed to chill... after punching Gonzales in the gut.
Malkuth didn't show up this time, she sometimes does... but she told me something that appalled me, 'I have to finish the Joint Command investigation before work. It won't take long for Angela or the Manager to start asking about it'.
Now, I didn't say anything, but my face at the time conveyed my feelings pretty well. Malkuth probably knew what was going on inside my head and told me really bluntly to 'Blame 'A''... and she is right.
WHY do we need to investigate joint command? Because our communicators are only accessible to the Sephirah that supervises us and the Manager. With this, all Sephirah can ask for help from other Sephirah.
This whole corporation makes the weirdest decisions sometimes...
Wonder where Bethany is?
"So... we kinda have been waiting for you to bring it up, but the wait is killing me, show me the goods." Amelia turned away from the smiling Gonzales, that hardly seemed to be winded from the punch he received minutes ago.
Now all attention was on me... from more than one place, a good chunk of the employees in the dining room were staring at me, but that hardly deterred me from doing as I was asked. Butterflies came from the coffin carrying Solemn Penitence, which I caught with my left arm while finishing my last onigiri with my free hand, "I can't let you touch it, doesn't seem like it likes it... neither did the Manager." I warned, still not sure why the Manager was fatigued after holding this bad boy.
Gonzales whistled while looking at it up and down, "That... is a thing of art, not something that is just done, comrade." Well that's the lowest I heard his voice reached, color me impressed.
Amelia nodded once, "So... if I hold it, I'll get fucked up?" I nodded slowly, it didn't seem to have any horrible effects on the Manager, but sudden bursts of fatigue must be a bitch to handle.
BongBong was happily clapping along while Rober just looked at me and nodded once seriously... why do I have a feeling he talked more than his differences with Malkuth?
Of course Dakota already saw it, but she still had to ask, "How did the Manager handle whatever it did to him?" I could tell she wanted to know, if only to have something to laugh towards a man she really dislikes... mainly because he makes us work here.
"Like a drunkard handles hangovers." My words made everyone at the table to snort. No one here liked the Manager since they never met the guy but at the same time, the only one's with real animosity towards him are Rober, Amelia and Dakota... for obvious reasons.
So the amusement wasn't unexpected, still I sadly have to get going, Yesod is a hard ass with time and I should be there before he starts nagging me, "Well this was nice, but duty calls".
Rober rose one brow at that, "Yesod?" This guy gets it.
I gave him a brief nod and said my goodbye's while walking out of the dinning room and putting Solemn Penitence inside the coffin. Still haven't seen Beth... maybe she is already in Information?
My walk was about to take me towards the elevator to Yesod's floor... only to find a very peculiar sight.
Beth and Angela having an... interesting conversation, "No Angela, I'm pretty sure I would know if Hippos were so damn evil." Beth said with what sounded like exaggerated worry.
"They have been known to threaten infants of their own species as rivals... yes, you can tell where I'm going with this." Angela, even if she had her always serene expression on... couldn't hide this slight mirth that I know she was trying and failing to suppress.
Angela was enjoying this talk, that is... really good. She always seemed so secluded from everyone else, so this is just an improvement for her.
"Aren't they herbivores? Because that doesn't sound very herbivore." Beth replied with a frown of confusion.
Angela rose one brow at that, "Where does 'herbivore' translate to 'non-hostile' and how can I find it to correct such rubbish?" Was that... is she actually just having mindless fun?
Beth rubbed the back of her head and laughed childishly, "Well books for infants do leave out the more... gruesome details".
In other circumstances I would have let them continue, but Beth would also catch flack from Yesod if she didn't hurry, so I moved, "Beth, Angela, seems like you are having quite the lively chat." Angela stared at me for a moment and seemed to huff.
"I was simply correcting Bethany on her flawed knowledge about fauna." So you say, but you seemed pretty entertained there... my smile was telling and Angela frowned slightly, annoyed by my reaction.
"She is just doing this to me for our talk about Dad jokes and why they suck." At Beth's words I glanced at Angela who... was looking away.
Being unable to hold myself back, I snorted, "Didn't know a highly sophisticated lady such as yourself had such tastes in humor. I'll keep that in mind the next time I see you, I know a couple of knock-knock jokes myself." Beth gasped loudly, an obvious over exaggeration.
"My word! Trigger what kind of example you are trying to show to Angela!?" Her fake outrage was just the best and I let out a small laugh, Beth just outright laughed and Angela... had an honest small if a bit annoyed smile.
"I see, it'll be a shame when Yesod asks where you two are, and I'd have to... show some recent reports." Her words sounded almost serious, ruined by the same small and annoyed smile I noticed on her face.
Beth sighed at that, "Thanks for the warning, let's go Trigger, later Angela." Beth moved ahead of me while I gave Angela a small nod.
"See you later, this was quite the nice talk." As I moved past her, I could tell how... slightly miffed she seemed when we left along with slight confusion, guess this is pretty new to her...
Well it'll become normal soon enough, it'll be nice to see her smile like that more often.