[color=007236][b]Level 72, Office. outside Jessamine’s cubicle[/b][/color]

Keeping Jess's sunny smile and exuberant demeanour seamlessly in place, Uthaleia listened to what Rie had to say, as well as observing her expressions and body language to pick up upon what she did [i]not[/i] say. She was, it appeared, a rather nervous soul and one not at ease with enquiries that could lead to confrontation, or confrontation itself. That perhaps wasn't too surprising given her species, or the place she was currently working and it could be just that. Nevertheless, Uthaleia made certain she wasn't, by chance inattentiveness, giving off some subtle signal- be it cadence of voice, body language or facial expression- that would cause the bunny girl to pick up on a predatory vibe from her. That was by no means the easiest thing to do, since the girl's not-so-subtle movement of one hand behind her back to the tranquiliser only served to reinforce, to Uthaleia's gut instinct, the virtues of eviscerating any individual in medical attire, performing questionable actions, before they completed said actions. Behind the beaming smile of Jess, Uthaleia noted the length of the bunny girl's arm, the angle at which her wrist- and thus her hand- was turned to grasp the object behind her back, and the way she was trying to be discrete about gazing at Jess's neck, looking for a spot to land the blow. Uthaleia had little doubt she could duck or sidestep the girl with little difficulty and even make it look chance; an accidental evasion that was the consequence of a coincidence of timing and action. Fortunately for both of them, she was spared the necessity of any action at all when Rie suddenly received a fresh set of instructions. Observing that the girl looked discomfited by a deviation from routine, Uthaleia listened as Rie spoke to her again.


“It’s been requested I escort yourself, Mr Westing, Miss O’shea and Mr Weaver to the Director’s office,” she explained, looking around anxiously, forcing a pursed smile when she looked back to Jess. Almost as if staring straight through her amber eyes.

“Are you going to come willingly, Jessamine Halecourt?” Rie almost demanded, rather than requested.


Inwardly, Uthaleia took a note of that, finding it significant that the meeting-time had been abruptly brought forwards... and that those flagged were all in the very same office as herself. What had they been doing, she wondered, that had earned them the Director's attention? With Xell, perhaps bringing his own medication was the answer? That certainly had the potential to throw the so-called 'medical trials' the company was running. Was there anything beyond that though? Xell did seem to be constantly on edge, so perhaps there were other little indiscretions he'd made, without being quite as careful as he'd imagined? Then again, perhaps skewing the results of the medical testing was enough? Uthaleia considered the other names on the list. It was hard to iagine what Rey could have done to be flagged for the Director's office... maybe he'd been so wrapped up in his art he'd forgotten to fill out a form or two, leaving vital information on drugs testing results undisclosed? Maybe he'd just not interacted enough with other employees, though Uthaleia considered that to be a highly unlikely reason for a flagging; as long as workers were well-behaved drones, they were unlikely to draw the Director's attention at all. Maybe his art had recently had some content to it of which the Director disapproved? It really was quite a puzzle as to what Rey might have done. Next, Uthaleia considered Athena.

It was somewhat easier to guess what might have put Athena on the list of the flagged. If it wasn't flirting with Rey, it was probable that her other vocation, thanks to drawing the eyes of other workers and perhaps having a potentially negative impact upon the reputation of the company as a whole might have got her flagged. Then again, given the words that Athena had spoken to Xell as she 'found his 1K pen' it was possible she might have been flagged for having 'brought her own' to work in addition to any of the other possibilities. Inwardly, Uthaleia consdiered that the trip to the Director's office might be very enlightening indeed- be it for good or ill. On the heels of that thought, she responded to Rie, giving an answer to everything the bunny girl had asked of, and said to her.

"You thought I was telling you it was a social gathering?" she asked in Jess's sparkling tones, a look of bemusement on her face, before smiling widely and reaching out to gently, playfully flap the bunny-girl's ears, "honey-bunny," she continued, "you have got to use these big, beautiful ears of yours a little better!" Pausing only momentarily, to take in Rie's reaction, Jess continued to speak with her usual, bubbly, overflowing enthusiasm.

"You asked me if I saw anything unusual sweetie," she elaborated, "and I told you what I saw that I thought was unusual. Like I said before 'anything unusual' is a bit of a vague term don'cha think? It's, like... whaddya call it... subjective depending upon what a person's opinion is of what's unusual. I mean, to me, Athena posing like a model in the office, Xelly and Crispin hugging whilst Rey looks on seems a bit unusual 'cause, like you say, it isn't a break time yet and normally no-one's that happy, this early in the day except me! If there's something you saw which you think's unusual," she continued, "you should maybe just say, 'hey Jess, I thought I saw this, did'ja see it too?' I mean, that way we're on the same page and it saves us talking at cross purposes right?" Pausing just long enough to see how Rie was processing her words, Jess then answered the other question Rie had asked.

"Oh, honey-bunny, you should really relax a little!" She exclaimed, still softly stroking the girl's ears, "you sound waaayy too formal for someone bearing good news! Of course I'm coming, all you had to say was, 'hey Jess, I'm supposed to take you to the Director now, are you ready?' The way you said it, anyone'd think you'd come to tell me the guillotine was ready for me or something. I mean, a trip to the Director's office is hardly gonna kill me after all! You just lead the way honey-bunny," Jess concluded, moving to stand alongside the bunny-girl, "and I'll go along with you, don't you worry about it! Like I'd miss an opportunity to see the Dirtector face-to-face... especially since he wants to talk to me!" 

With that, Uthaleia gave Rie one of Jess's most winning smiles as she stood alongside the bunny-girl, having unobtrusively, but definitely moved just far enough outside the extent of Rie's reach, that the tranquiliser would no longer be an easy option. Uthaleia highly doubted that the girl beside her would want to sedate such a seemingly naive and willing attendee to the Director's summons, but at the same time, as nervous and uncertain of the situatuion as she seemed, Uthaleia couldn't guarantee that Rie wouldn't want to try and sedate an overly-cheerful employee she wasn't sure how to handle. She kept an unassuming, but vigilant eye on the office around her, to see how the others would react when Rie came to them, and how Rie herself would react to everything Jess had just said.