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src/chapters/04-b-monsterseverywhere.tex

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+There was shouting just a few feet from where I was on the beach.  I'd gone
+looking for Lucere in hopes of sharing a few more intoxicating kisses.  Instead
+I'd found shouting.
+
+Upon inspection, I found that my boss was causing a scene.  Not that she wasn't
+justified in being absolutely pissed.  She was making a lot of good points.
+Its not like I even got a choice in being here.  It was either do this or get
+merc'd by a corpo security team.
+
+I should have kept my own bodily autonomy, like Marv presumably had.  Not
+getting an implant directly in my brain would have been a much smarter idea.
+But I supposed I was a bit too impulsive.  It was too late to worry about in
+any case.
+
+I heard a little chime in the back of my head.  It was different: more like a
+thought than an actual sound.  It was the notification bell I'd enabled while
+waiting for Vivian to collect herself.
+
+I opened the messaging application.
+
+\textbf{Manafed:} Can you deescalate that?  You're closer and I can see that
+Vivian already trusts you a lot more than me.
+
+I thought up a quick reply and sent if off.
+
+\textbf{Cantlin:} Viv is making some good points and I'm not sure I should
+interrupt the angry boss woman.  She's got a lot on her mind and y'all haven't
+exactly been helpful to her it sounds like.
+
+A moment of silence before the notification 'sound' chimed again.
+
+\textbf{Manafed:} Alright, fair.  I shouldn't be asking you to break up
+arguments between officers anyway.  They have rank over you.  I don't expect
+that'd be anything actionable here, but you may not be used to our culture yet.
+
+Yeah, Lucere could've said that again.  This place, despite being on the
+surface and anti-corporate safe-haven, was still a part of a corporate entity.
+That alone gave me the fuel for every nightmare I could think of.
+
+How was I supposed to be a runner?  How was I supposed to get Berdie's meds?
+How was I, working for an extension of a corp, supposed to exist as me?  This
+was the antithesis of everything I stood for.
+
+Do I just get into contact with Anna the Pale Goddess and like, convince her to
+say no to the corporate games?  But how would she create new mages without
+killing them?
+
+I'd heard of groups of runners that could afford such lavish facilities as
+this, but what then?  Wait until they got attacked by a corp?  Maybe even
+Eastern Hills?
+
+This was a complicated line of thought and the answers weren't always what
+you'd expect.  Nor what you could immediately think of, for that matter.
+
+\textbf{Cantlin:} Why don't you take care of it?  I think I have to seek the
+Pale Goddess and give her a piece of my mind.
+
+\textbf{Manafed:} You do you.  You'll find it helpful to go to your mind,
+though.  Its unlikely that she'd appear here.
+
+\textbf{Cantlin:} What, the goddess a bit shy?
+
+\textbf{Manafed:} No, she's just incredibly tricksy and a bit of a pain in the
+ass.
+
+Deities.  Figured they'd be problematic with their own set of rules.
+