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Post by Ylanne on Oct 5, 2020 12:33:28 GMT -6
"It'll grow on you, with time," said the old woman, chuckling a bit, the lines around her eyes crinkling with mirth. She was content to drink hers slowly, the better to savor its warmth, how it hinted of home. "You're welcome to join me for tea anytime you like - so long as you're not attempting to kidnap me and hold me for hostage again. It's rather rude, you know, especially as I'm retired - forcibly, I might add." There had been whisperings for a while within the Bureau about what it would mean for the old woman to retire from her position as director. Many had gone whole careers, twenty, thirty years at a time, with the old woman at the agency's helm. She was the Bureau. Some thought she'd only retire when she died. Only the old woman had truly accepted the inevitable end of her reign when the Justice Ministry had begun its maneuverings. Many of her people had been in denial. "Can you agree to that one stipulation, hard as it may be for you, Eyelet?"
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Post by demikara on Oct 5, 2020 12:48:19 GMT -6
"I still don't understand what retirement even is. But okay. I won't try and kidnap you again." She could have tea with her instead. Besides, she was rather stuck in the prison, unless they went through some effort. And she'd have to get better at shifting. She made an adorable dog, but that would not get her out like being a mouse would. Though if she practiced that small, wouldn't the guards know? There was no telling. They may not even think like that at all. "How do you even just...stop working?" She was still working, even if it was just as an analyst, while stuck here. She still had things to do.
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Post by Ylanne on Oct 5, 2020 13:52:10 GMT -6
"Only with great effort, for those of us for whom our work is a vocation rather than a mere profession," said the old woman. "I'm not entirely sure I've ever understood the concept either. Well, I suppose incarceration offers plenty of opportunities to reflect on it. I'm surprised, though, that you haven't been set to some task or labor while here. Perhaps in time." She finished the tea in her cup, and looked mournfully into the bottom, where it had stained the paper a slight brown color. She picked up the teabag and crumpled it inside the napkin where she'd set it, pushing both inside the empty cup for now.
"Count!" The officer's shout came from far at the end of the hall, announcing the mid-afternoon count. Those in their units for count time, as opposed to at work or classes elsewhere in the complex, were supposed to be by their cells for count.
The old woman gave Eyelet a pointed look. "You might do well to take better note of count times, my friend." She grabbed her cane, and with visible effort, pushed herself back to her feet. "It wouldn't do to cause undue trouble."
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Post by demikara on Oct 5, 2020 13:59:12 GMT -6
"I suspect that means I need to get back to my unit now." Eyelet sighed. "It was nice talking to you! And they still don't know what to do with us. They'll figure it out." She finished off her tea, put the cup in the sink, and shifted. "I should get going before I cause too much of a fuss. Are you okay to get back to your cell?" She could always help of course, before she left. She ran fairly quickly after all. Though she'd have to shift a few times to get back to where she was supposed to be.
This business of being counted was ridiculous.
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Post by Ylanne on Oct 5, 2020 19:42:29 GMT -6
"Really, I'm fine. There's no need to make such a fuss over me," said the old woman, dismissive as always, though she cast her gaze toward the table. "You might take the cups to the trash bin, though, if you're finished as well - else you could take your tea back with you, I suppose." She moved slowly toward the cells, the others in the unit already far ahead of her, taking their places in the cell doors for the count. She might not have been the oldest in the entire prison, but she was certainly the oldest in the unit. The cane, once it had been approved, helped a good deal. Her expression soured, though, at the reminder - before Andrade had taken her, she hadn't always needed one. And this was the last place where she would have wanted to have become dependent on it. "You'll come 'round for more tea, I'm sure of it. Take care."
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