POV: Angela

It has been ages since I moved with purpose other than simply moving as a piece of paper told me. More so, to try and… help a Sephirah.

They confused me. In great part, I could blame them for what I had to do, but a smaller 'voice' that I didn't know I had told me they weren't to blame. Not completely, at least.

That didn't mean I enjoyed being their caretaker, or that I liked any of them… Malkuth is tolerable at best, and Binah is simply herself most of the time, and I guess that makes her less of a migraine to deal with.

Not that I could get a migraine. One of the boons of having a mechanical body.

Then why am I looking for Hod? She is… a person who doesn't seem to understand the meaning of personal problems or that drugs aren't exactly a solution but rather a tool to calm down others.

Coupled with a slight ego problem, and the result is an insecure child trying to pass off her very clear misuse of everything handed to her as 'helping' and that she is entitled to receive praise for it.

If there was one reason I could think of to even bother with her… would be Trigger. If those two were to meet, complications would arise no matter what.

So I took it upon myself to deal with the issue, to at least ease Hod and avoid an outright conflict between the two… perhaps even gain another ally.

From the door of Training, a man I recognized as Joo walked out, a haggard and frustrated expression on his face. He bumped into me and unsurprisingly went stumbling. Turning around towards me, he seemed to eat whatever he was going to say upon seeing who he bumped into.

Walking away from that amusing event, I went inside. I see Hod fumbling around her antenna, moving side to side as if to express her inner struggle, "Hod, I need to talk about your counseling." Now it was moving fast enough to be a blur.

"Lady Angela, I assure you it has progress, but Tiphereth A suddenly said that the Enkephalin would be distributed by her and I don't ha-" I rose one hand to stop her ranting. She can be such a child when things don't go her way…

Slowly pulling my arm down, I stared at her in her single eye, "I've come with some ideas that could help with your problem, and Tiphereth A was instructed to limit the Enkephalin on Malkuth's behalf, which I approved." She flinched and played with her fingers.

"But… without it, they don't focus on my words." She mumbled. How annoying.

"They only came for the drug. Tiffany Brown made it quite clear how ineffective your approach has been." I was a bit surprised she didn't commit suicide this time, but I shouldn't have been. Trigger is a perceptive person when it comes to emotions and must have noticed her problems.

Hod lowered her gaze and I had to suppress a sigh, "I've seen someone deal with emotional problems, his approach is quite blunt, but it seems to be effective. Have you ever tried simply asking if they wanted to go to counseling?" The Sephirah fidgeted in place.

"I… didn't. They would just deny it." I nodded once.

"Then do not force yourself on them. They would simply see it as an order rather than a gesture of good will." Being blunt seems to do wonders in a conversation… Binah could learn from Trigger.

Hod nodded slowly, "Umm… where did you get this idea from?" I paused and wondered if I should lie.

Seeing as Trigger and Hod would meet no matter what I do, I see no reason as to do so, "Trigger. He has proven to be quite adept in dealing with the psychological woes of others." Hod froze up for a moment.

Her antenna stopped all movement and flopped down, "Oh… I see. I've heard high praise from many clerks and agents, amongst other things." Ah, yes. I do know of those that speak ill of him, as if he had personally offended them.

And I'm sure he knows of them too, not that it bothers him. I'm more interested in Hod's rotten reaction towards him, "Is there a problem?" My question was met with a moment of silence.

"I… just wish to know how he does it. I'm trying my best, but he makes it look so easy…" I knew it was a bare-faced lie, she only wanted the praise that came with helping.

You both are not the same.

…

But this could change. He is one to get involved even in what he shouldn't, "Perhaps you can ask him, the Manager will inevitably move him to your floor." As he seems to like doing every time another department is open.

Hod didn't perk up, but she straightened her posture slightly. At the very least she wasn't a sight for sore eyes anymore, "I think I'd like that. Thank you, Angela." She seemed to retreat, I know she didn't have anything to do at the moment. Should I call this running away?

It may not have been an outright success, but it wasn't a failure either. Progress is progress.

POV change: Trigger

"Tiffany, is it really that hard to believe I know my way around music?" I asked with my arms crossed. Work was about to start, so I was passing the time with Jeremy and Tiffany in Safety.

Tiffany thought it was a good idea to start pestering me about my singing, "It's just… well, you are you, and I've seen you be an absolute beast. It's a bit hard to believe you could be… well, a sappy guy." I'm going to dope slap you.

Jeremy hummed, "That's just you being stereotypical. I actually really like Heavy Metal music myself." Me and Tiffany slowly turned towards Jeremy.

"Really?"

"Yup."

"Huh… how about that..."

Shaking my head at that interaction, I rose one brow when I saw Justine walking towards us. My expression shifted to a smile, but I kept my eyes focused on her… something is different.

Abnormalities always had something… well abnormal to them. Justine's overall appearance didn't change much aside from her small and content smile. The darkness in her arms seemed more like gloves rather than seemingly being part of her flesh, and the biggest thing of all was that the other half of her face was visible now, along with the rest of her hair that was covered by what once was a patch of black.

Seeing Tiffany tense up, I was prepared to intervene. Jeremy beat me to it, "Relax, Management agreed to this. Placated Abnormalities by Trigger here are allowed to work with us." I gave him a thumbs up before walking up to my tall friend.

"Surprised the Manager agreed to this, but hey, at least you are allowed to leave now." I spoke with confidence. Justine nodded down at me, before opening both of her eyes. Yup… still like stars, very real stars.

Her gaze focused on the glove Joy had given me, "Oh? It seems she worries about you." Tilting my head slightly, she elaborated a bit more.

"This glove was her only armor, if you will, and reduced all manner of physical damage by a fourth. Let me enhance it for you." Wait, this thing reduces physical damage by a 25%? And you are just going to make it better?

She grabbed the side of my cheek and quite literally removed the tear tattoo on my face, before placing it on the glove, and a glow not unlike that of a star in the night sky appeared.

Justine moved her arm out of the way. I looked down at my glove with curiosity… it didn't change much, except for two things. The gem was now shaped like a tear and inside its golden color, I could see moving stars inside, "Right… what does it do now?" Because I have no clue what just happened.

She chuckled to herself, "It will now apply that same defense I spoke about towards mental attacks. I hope this aids you in your journey." I smiled up at her. Yeah, this is gonna help a lot.

"So… you now have a gauntlet that blocks Red, White and Black damage... that's fair." I heard Tiffany grumble with no heat whatsoever.

Justine glanced at her, "That last one isn't part of the protection, I'm sorry." We all looked at her, if only because that made no sense.

"But you said it blocks physical damage." Said Jeremy, staring at Justine like she grew a second head.

"Indeed."

"And then said it could block mental damage."

"True."

"So by that logic, it should block both at the same time."

"No."

Jeremy glanced at me with a 'what' expression, I'm right there with you buddy, "I think we need some kind of explanation here." Justine nodded once.

Before pausing, as if she herself didn't know the answer, "It is… categorized as a different type of attack?" She sounded unsure herself.

"That… makes no sense." Tiffany said with a smile full of bewilderment.

Justine closed her eyes and shrugged slightly, "I'm aware of this fact." Wow… she actually sounds embarrassed.

Time to chime in then, "It's not like L Corp hid that fact. I just didn't know the differences were that big. Thanks for the help, Justine." She smiled down at me, and I could feel Tiffany's expression changing slowly.

I glanced behind me once, "Yes, I gave her a name." My blunt response seemed to stop anything she was going to say.

Jeremy lightly shook his head, "You really need to learn tact…" He said while glancing at Tiffany.

"Then I must go. My… 'Test', is going to be held by the one you call Yesod. I can tell he doesn't like me that much." I rolled my eyes at her worried tone.

"Yesod's a hardass, but he isn't a bad person… do keep an eye out though." Giving my two cents, she nodded down at me before walking away.

Tiffany walked up to me, "She seems a lot different from the info we got on her entries. Hard to believe she wanted to even kill anyone." I glanced at her once.

"They aren't that different from people, you know. Just needed… a bit of a push in the right direction." Speaking from experience, since I'm basically the one that gave said push.

Jeremy chuckled, "Well, no one can judge the results… except Yesod, but he judges everything." That's completely true. I wonder if that guy ever relaxes?

"All Agents prepare for Work."

Time to do our stuff then, "You didn't say who is working on whom, Jeremy." I said, my empathic sense could tell me Amelia was already on her way towards us.

Jeremy shrugged, "Netzach said he'd take the lead today."

…

I should be happy about that, but I'm kind of tense just by hearing that. Tiffany seemed to share my thoughts, "That's… interesting." She says with a complete lack of confidence.

Jeremy glanced at us with exasperation, "I know he isn't a very lively guy, but he is a good boss." He defended Netzach and I kinda just shrugged.

Not that I know enough of that Sephirah to actually judge him.

"Trigger… start Repression work with Der Freischutz."

Hearing Netzach loud and clear, I hummed to myself, "Seems like I have a job to do then. Later." I said while waving at my coworkers.

Meeting the guy that almost took my head with his bullets… my life sure is messy.