tushanshu | [CONSOLE] video;

[Zanru looks irritable. This is nothing new. She also looks tired, and that makes the irritability worse. Whoever has been going around the city is focussing enough on Metal Sector that they've lost a bit of revenue and held up a few projects owing to, oh, vital components being filched.]

Right, listen up. Someone's been haunting the city, stealing things and leaving people bloodied. There's been rumours spreading, so let's clear some of it up.

Fact A: Yes, I know the perpetrator can use something that looks a lot like shadows. No, that does not mean the Old Nightmare is back. Think big, people. He wasn't so small-minded as this.

Fact A-dot-1: No, it isn't that Foreigner bloke who throws shadows about either. He's laid up and can't be in two places at once.

Fact B: The perpetrator can probably shapeshift and is probably not made of metal. Stop blaming the Foreigners for every petty thing, it makes us look bad. No matter how idiotic they can be.

Now, I don't care if people moonlight as a damned roof-hopper. What I do care about is knowing whether this person is involved in the crimes, stopping them, or just generally trying to build up some kind of morale game. Whatever the case, it's stupid and it's pissing me off.

The only competent investigators we've got left are Foreigners, so this is over to you: Get me the idiot who's playing up. I'm available on this broadcast for the next hour for questions and contracts. Anything after that I'll pick up as I've got time.

[ooc: Related to this plot here, but will not progress at any point beyond what Callaghan's mun stipulates. This is not an NPC plot, just NPCs reacting to things that happen.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[There was an approximately 3.4 second pause before Aya was able to fully process the pros and cons of her next statement.]

All circumstances will be processed with equal priority, regardless of relation. To proceed otherwise would risk producing false data that would deter from apprehending the culprits.

[Blank stare.]

Uh, yeah, that's the idea. I don't have anyone who's been tracking all the other stuff. That was the point of putting it to the rest of you.

[Why is it that half the time it's like they're hearing each other speak in different languages?]

[Well, she was the one who added the unrelated to my family condition. Which Aya would ignore, if it so happened that anything was proven to be related.]

[Just saying.]

You do not think it would be mutually beneficial to collaborate on such an endeavor?

[If she's putting it to the rest rather than suggest a team-up.]

[That phrase having meant 'thefts suffered by families other than the Metalworkers', rather than actually being unrelated. Zanru doesn't understand how that could have been misconstrued. She makes an annoyed noise.]

Look. I'm making a request, not leading a project. We've been looking into it for almost three weeks and got zip, and now I'm washing my hands of the process. You have access to any information we have that's related. You're the one putting it together with everything else. If you're looking to collaborate, collaborate with that skeleton bloke. I've heard he's a professional.

[There were many comments which could be made in response to that. Some of them far less pleasant in tone than others. Aya chose to go the more neutral way.]

I will add this skeleton bloke to my current list of potential resources, then.

His name's Skulduggery Pleasant. Have a blast. Bring me someone's head.

[The name was noted. The blast line had the potential to be taken literally, but that last part--]

Green Lanterns do not kill.

[Le sigh.]

You need to learn something about not taking things literally.

[Yes, she's heard that one before.]

Colloquialisms and culturally-relevant jargon do not so easily translate from one language to the next, regardless of the matrix program utilized.

It would be much simpler to understand if people were to say precisely what they mean.

[That makes Zanru laugh, and from the surprise in her expression she wasn't expecting it herself. Hasn't she always said she hates politics for that exact reason? It never occurred to her before that colloquialisms might be as much of an issue to someone who's been built. Aya is the only AI Zanru's ever known, and she's generally treated her like she's flesh and blood.

[For a very long moment she studies Aya's transmission, and when she speaks again it's actually somewhat calmer. Still terse, but less snappy.]

Fine. We don't have the expertise to adequately determine the source of the thefts. We're outsourcing to the Foreigners who do have that expertise to continue the process as they see fit, using any information we've provided and whatever other information they gather themselves. We're detaching from the investigation because we don't have time to pursue it any further and to prevent bias in the results.

And I don't need a head, just assurances the culprit has been stopped. Clear enough?

[Aya, too, was surprised by the abrupt laugh. Nothing she had said was meant to be funny, which meant either she had unintentionally stumbled upon a source of humor known only to Zanru, or--]

[But then, there was a noticeable change. In tone, and even in vocabulary. As if Zanru had actually listened to her and sincerely took those words to heart. Certainly, there was less snap and more objective facts. Short, concise, and with minimal room for error in translation.]

[...interesting.]

Understood.

I will proceed from here accordingly.

Good. That all?

I have no further questions at this time.