ref: a00feb029ddcea6188f4324169e5f2b6a389de4e
dir: /troff/aam-005.ms/
.ce .ps 14 .B 5 .SH ADMINISTRATIVE STATE .R .PP .ps 10 "Here, fill these out." .PP .ps 10 Maude let the big ream of paper drop solidly on her desk, just like a big ream of paper. Unsub was incredulous that so many signatures could be necessary, but gradually his training kicked in and he got down to business processing the paperwork. .PP .ps 10 The office smelled damp. .PP .ps 10 "Right here it asks for my social media handles. I'll tell you right now, I'm not giving you my social media handles," Unsub protested. .PP .ps 10 "Boilerplate. Corporate policy," Maude lamented sympathetically, but without budging. "Take it or leave it." .PP .ps 10 Unsub filled in all his social media handles. The ones with which he'd spent the last few years baiting randos from the opposition. There wasn't enough room on the form to list them all, so he limited himself to only those accounts with the highest visibility and the most followers. .PP .ps 10 Two full podcasts elapsed. .PP .ps 10 "All right, good," Maude said, when he was finally finished, and dropped the resulting ream of paper solidly into her waste paper basket, just like a big ream of paper. "Now, let's find you a space." .PP .ps 10 He followed her back down to the food court, where, counter to the logic of shuttered businesses, several of the restaurants had booted up their lighting, were preparing for the morning rush. He could smell the grease undulating, infusing the air all around him and mixing with the sharp tang of outgassing plastic facades. Mixed feelings. .PP .ps 10 On to the main gallery, Maude led him to a dilapidated space surrounded by potted palm trees and pink tiled trash bins. She stood in the center of what at one time must have been a fountain. Or perhaps the site of mass mall baptisms. He picked up a penny. .PP .ps 10 "We can remove the fixtures," she said, by way of apology for the unorthodox situatedness of his new digs. "It may not look like it now, but the place is filling up." She referred to the mall, not the fountain. .PP .ps 10 Maude pocketed Unbsub's fee and made for her Sears. .PP .ps 10 The skylights wheezed, quietly. .SH KAERU .R .PP .ps 10 To Daisuke all of this was intolerable. New tenants were not being held to the same standards as those unlucky enough to have contracted early in the mall's life cycle. Nowadays they weren't even subjected to the strict credit checks and tough physical conditioning of his heydey. No more punching one's fingers into the chests of unruly customers in order to simultaneously strengthen the digits and gage customer satisfaction. Nowadays it was all online surveys. .PP .ps 10 Even the contracts probably just ended up in the trash. .PP .ps 10 As Daisuke knelt in \fIseiza\fR and stared, another of his \fIdojo's\fR fluorescent light flickered and sputtered out. .PP .ps 10 He sighed. .SH ESME + ORORO .R .PP .ps 10 Esmé figured the new guy had potential, but Ororo said not to steal from him too often. New tenants were always quick to complain. It wouldn't do them any good to get banned from the mall. .PP .ps 10 "Ha. They're setting him up in a fountain," Esmé mused. .PP .ps 10 It was as yet unclear what the man was selling.