(Arknights) Lupo Negotiation

Part 4

[Red]: "Ah doctor, how about we sit side by side while we discuss? Sometimes I have a hard time speaking up."

[Austen]: "Oh, uh, yeah sure."

As soon as they sat down, Red immediately started making her move. Scooting as close as possible, she makes sure it's subtle enough that it doesn't cause obvious discomfort, but also that their personal bubbles are overlapping by just a bit. Austen, however, immediately picks up on this.

"Wuh, she moved quite close to me... sniff sniff... Ah, is that perfume?" Austen thought in his head. "Whoo, she smells like fresh apples with a hint of hibiscus flowers... the tangy scent is definitely there, but not too strong that it makes you gag. She looks sweet and smells sweet too... AUGHHGHG I want her to stay forever. I gotta cherish this because I probably won't see her ever again."

Red's ears picked up on the sniffs.

[Red]: "Oh, you must have noticed my perfume!"

[Austen]: "Wha-WHA? Oh, uh... yes, I apologize, that was terribly rude of me and nosy of me."

[Red]: "No, no! It's not rude at all! In fact, women want men to notice their fragrances! You must not know a lot about women, do you doctor~"

[Austen]: "W-wha- No-Y-yeah, I mean yeah, I guess I don't..."

"I'm a 26 year old divorcee, no shit that I'm not good with women, but she doesn't have to know that." Austen felt a pang of sadness, but instantly recovers when he hears:

[Red]: "Ehehheheh, then after this is over, you should take me out and I can teach you a thing or two about girls~."

Quietly giggling with her hand over her mouth, her face turns a light pink.

"Oh my god, did she just ask me out? She just asked me out didn't she... Oh. My. God. I have not gone on a date for a year! Today might just be my lucky day! Hopefully I can politely reject her job proposal and still go out with her." Austen mentally crosses his fingers.

[Red]: "Okay, how about we start now."

[Austen]: "Go ahead."

[Red]: "We Rhodes Island, are the number one research facility for cures to oripathy. Rhodes Pharmaceuticals hire all kinds of potential employees, regardless of race or their status as Infected. Unfortunately, we have a couple... 'rivals' who try to hinder our progress. Instead of working together, they acted selfishly in their own interests to knock down the only good things in this world of Catastrophes and political turmoil."

Nervously, Austen's eyes darted around the room. "Oh god, I feel like Crownslayer is about to lunge out from wherever she is hiding and pounce on Red and shred her up."

[Red]: "Here is the part where you come in. I'm going to be honest here... we have been keeping tabs on you for a while... eheheh..."

Red gave a bashful look and twirled her hair around her finger while looking away from Austen.

[Austen]: "It's fine, but you really shouldn't do that."

[Red]: "Eheheheh, we don't do this normally, but you are special, doctor. After observing you, your expertise in medicine exceeded our expectations. That was when we knew you belonged to Rhodes Island, where your talent can be put to improving a world where oripathy induces fear and instigate discrimination."

[Austen]: "Ahhh, now you are making me blush... I'm nothing, really."

"Not gonna lie, I'm kinda angry that my privacy is non-existent. How do they even find out so much about me? Oh god, they planted cameras in my bathroom too, didn't they... Sigh, She's too cute, I can't be mad at that endearing little fluff ball."

[Red]: "So, with that out of the way, I'll explain why we need you in Rhodes Island. You are Infected. You are also a physician. You can use your expertise to monitor your oripathy progress which makes it easier to access crucial information."

[Austen]: "Wait what, so I'm just going to be a test subject?"

[Red]: "Well... sort of...You can become a doctor inside Rhodes Island. We have a clinic that has the best medical technology. You can treat wounded operators that just got back from a mission. If you want, you can join a squad and fight on the frontline as a medic."

[Austen]: "Hmm...That does sound ideal for a physician like me (not the fighting of course), but I have very limited knowledge when it comes to the oripathy disease."

[Red]: "It's fine! We just want you to keep a biweekly log that records any changes to you or any symptoms that are maybe related to your infection. Of course, Rhodes Island will treat you when you start reaching the final stages of the disease. To be truthful, we usually give people oripathy treatment as soon as possible, but because of that, we have scarce information on the final stages of oripathy except knowing the person infected dies and origininum shards start covering their body."

[Austen]: "So I'm just a test subject risking his life for your experiment."

[Red]: "Y-yes, there is a dangerous amount of risk involved, but it has to be you, doctor. We usually run monthly checkups on our Infected operators, but you will be able to observe your oripathy 24/7. Think of all the uses this information will bring us. Your contribution to the cure for oripathy would be heroic."

[Austen]: "W-well, I-I don't know... it still doesn't sound okay with me..."

"She is really making it hard to reject."

[Red]: "It's okay, I will give you some time to think about it, but here is some information you should also read over."

Red takes a thick binder full of papers and puts it in front of Austen.

[Red]: "If you don't want to be part of the experiment, you can still be a normal Rhodes Island operator. This binder has everything you need to know about this job. We will go over it together, c'mon!"

Red moves herself dangerously close to Austen. Now they are shoulder touching shoulder, thigh touching thigh. Red leans in front of Austen to open the binder and immediately starts reading out and explaining it.