Full Immersion [for what it's worth]

> "Hello, I'm Jarod and am currently the LEAST qualified person to answer either of those questions."

> "Are you sure you want to know?"
> "You're in a basement science lab. The experiment was a success."

"Er--w-well, my name is Jarod, n-not that I think that'll mean much to you..I, uh, d-don't really think I'm the right person to..a-are you sure you want to know?"
"Just--answer!" It should say something about his personality that Jarod is readily intimdated by a person who currently has no weapons and whose legs are actually still strapped down.
"W-well, uh, ah, this is a basement sc-science lab, not mine, and, I g-guess the e-e-experiment was a success?"
"What experiment?" She seems to be adapting to her voice a little better, though the hoarseness is still in full force.

"You were dead, Jikkai*," says the queen, moving next to the reconstructed woman and turning her head to face her. "Now you're not."
The woman's response is to look at the woman next to her for a long moment in surprise, possibly awe, for a good several seconds before exclaiming, "Majesty! I thought I'd never see you again!" Her tone is totally different, the threat and confusion entirely replaced by the excited happiness of a child meeting a parent who'd been gone for a month on a busniess trip. She embellishes this impression further by reaching and leaning with all her might at the queen to get her closest approximation of a hug, which Zettai returns one-handedly.
"Er...excuse me, did she say 'Majesty'?" says the old man, looking a bit nervous.
"Uh...yeah." The Numeral removes her hood, which reveals her face, and half-turns to face him.
"Gah!" At the sight of her, the old fellow jumps a foot or two higher than it seems he should be physically capble of. "Uh--err...th-that is...am I, in trouble?"

"Well, you did take a few corpses without permission," she says, taking a single step closer to him. He squishes against the wall behind him and his eyes around nervously as if hoping to find some place to run. "But I've always been taught to judge things based on the results, and you've more or less given me one of my best agents back. You weren't planning on imprisoning the person once they were put together, were you?"
"Well, n-no, of course not--I mean, not any more than--you know, t-to get used to..."
Zettai nods. "Rehabilitation. I understand. I see no reason to distrust your intentions. How about you work for me?"
"Um.." The old man is dumbfounded by this suggestion.
"I can get you better facilities than this, and some help. You could get the kind of parts you need to do this through the proper channels. I'd expect you to document the process well enough for someone else to repeat it."
"W-well, I..uh, this was more of just a hobby.."
"Let me put it another way. Legally, now that I know you stole corpses I can't not punish you for it. It would make it harder for me to stay the queen." She takes another couple of steps toward him as she speaks, with roughly the same result as the first one. "But I have the privilege of deciding your punishment. How's community service sound?"
"U-um, j-just fine! I, I would be pleased to serve you, your majesty.."
"Great!" she turns back and moves closer to Jikkai again, waving her hand at the leg-straps to undo them.

Zettai's tone has been nothing but conversational and friendly this entire time, but nonetheless that conversation gave Jarod numerous chills down his spine and left him feeling about as terrible as the old man looks after it. He tries his best to maintain composure once she's looking in his general direction again, however. Jikai manages to stand up but looks really unsteady on her feet. The queen gently lifts her up in the air psionically and drifts her toward the stairwell where she can lean against a wall. "Jarod, can you help her up the stairs? I'd like to hammer out a few details here before we go back up."

"Um..s-sure." Without being asked to, the reconstructed woman puts an arm over his shoulder and starts shuffling out the door, which forces him to follow along.
Once they start up the stairs, she says, "Jarod...huh. Don't think I've heard of ya. Are you new?"

>

*jih-kah-ee; the j sound is softer than in "jay" but not quite a "sh", and the last two syllables bleed together as more of a diphthong.

SpoilerShow

I guess if I had to summarize the Numerals' general sense of ethics in one phrase, it might very well be "the ends justify the means."

Funny thing: I was trying to come up with a name and my brain spat out the pronunciation "jikai" at me. I don't know Japanese at all, but when I did a quick google search (as I often do with a name I'm hoping to use) I found out it actually is more or less romaji for a word that means "next time" or "the next meeting". WOW.