[The Delve] 07/01/16: A Visitor In A Strange Land

>Follow your Iboss to the situation asap

Technically Ibris is your co-worker not boss, but he is meant to show you around the house and introduce you to your tasks, so he might just as well be. He is your delve technician - a glorified phone operator really - and even though you have experience of going under with only one other before him, he does not exactly fill you with confidence.

Turns out that the biggest hurdle of reaching over to the Great Beyond was not the laws of physics, but bureaucracy. In order to travel to the land of the dead one must be escorted by a consortium-sanctioned, licensed spirit animal (or face being sued for copyright infringement), and with what those being in short supply they hire anyone they can get.

Like Ibris.

>Apologize profusely, you're sorry you're sorry you're sorry you're sorry. It'll never happen again!

Much like your father you have never been in the habit of saying sorry - when you make mistakes you seek to improve instead of apologizing. Looking back that quality was the main cause of all his troubles, and - much like your father - yours too.

You have slowly started to suspect the quality of his wisdom.

>Blame your delay on the secretary drone.
>That jerkbag robot is fulfilling its duty to obstruct my obligation to fulfil my duties.

Consequently, you do not like shifting blame on others. While it is true that you were delayed by the droid, and that it treated you super rude, it was only fulfilling its programmed tasks. Jerkbag or not, the entire episode would have been avoided if you had not forgotten your ID tag. Maybe you should start wearing it on your body, as an accessory?

>Ask what's the situation?
>Don't forget to pick up your stuff. You've already done that once today ._.

“Slow down, what happened?”
“We got a judicial assistance request from the Earth government this morning. Cops, Aino, they’re cops! They want us to take a look at one of their recent cases to make sure that there is no foul play involved!”
“Yes, I saw that on my feed, it’s the one scheduled for afternoon. What’s wrong with it?”



“The approval came through the channels faster than expected, and they re-scheduled the delve! Into the morning slot! Two hours earlier!”
“Oh that’s not a problem, we still have plenty of time-”
“I have been panicking ever since! I checked and double checked everything, and when I could not find anything wrong I re-wrote the protocols just so I could re-check everything again!”
“Ibris darling breathe. I’ll get changed real quick, and then we can begin, alright?”
“Oh woe woe woe…”

The elevator hums silently as it careens towards the lab floor, the motion carrying satisfying weight in your body accustomed to living near zero-G but your lurching stomach makes you regret skipping breakfast. Ibris cannot hold still but tiptoes to and fro, his slender claws tapping a nervous staccato against the plaststeel floor as the small space slowly fills with the smells of acrid bird sweat mingling with crisp phthalates. Now that he has worked himself up he keeps fretting wild-eyed about new and ever more improbable failure scenarios, showing no sign of calming down. He is not going to be of much use like this, and you really, really would like to get this over with before lunchtime. What to do?

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Haha delays! I moved to a new town and started a new job, but I hope I can get updating more regularly from now on!