Arknights story · Operator Records
Starting Anew
After falling under the mistaken impression that Rhodes Island is firing her, Pinecone resolves to form her own work team. Even once the misunderstanding is cleared up, she remains set on doing so. She is a grown worker now, with a new path to walk.
1 scenes, 166 lines
1. Interlude
166 lines
Ederson, uh, sorry, I got to the cafeteria late an' there wasn't much left on the breakfast menu. These are all I got.
It's okay, Mina. Don't worry about it.
Oh, did you hand my resume in? What did they say, the Engineering? Gonna be coworkers real soon, right, you and I?
Well...
What? I don't get why you're giving me that look...
Di... Did I get rejected?
...
Mina, you were supposed to tell 'em we're from the same town! I came here just to crash with you! My background's spotless! I'm not some shady nobody!
I grew up around work sites! I practically lived with the site workers! I lay bricks, I stand beams, I take measurements, I rig scaffolding... I do it all! Hell, Rhodes could try me for a while, for free...
Ederson. We'll head back in two days. To Columbia.
We?
*hic*... They cut me too.
...
...
So... Pinecone's gotta leave.
When?
ASAP, really.
Just like that?
Just like that.
B-But... why would they wanna fire you?
You said in all your letters, right? Your dad always showed 'em to us! All like, you'd never dreamed you could work at a place like Rhodes Island, right? Good benefits, good pay, a place where people are people...
Yes, but Rhodes Island is still a company.
Sometimes it needs workers, sometimes it doesn't. We know how it works. It's the same story all over Columbia.
(Wiping tears) C'mon, Ederson. You eat breakfast, I'm goin' to work. Bridge overhaul's down to the wire. Engineering could use my hands today.
Mina, doesn't it make you mad? You don't have to take this from them...
Not like Rhodes treated me badly while I was here.
And besides, it's my job. I'm gonna finish it.
I need to find Kafka and straighten things out anyhow...
Kafka!
Hey, Mina!
Sheesh, talk about puffy eyes. You sleeping bad? Hey, c'mon, cheer up... Oh, uh, I gotta see Aciddrop about a thing, I'll catch ya on the flippy.
You—you...
Whassamatter?
You don't got stuff you wanna say to me?
Uh, later I will, alright, Mina? Just gimme a li'l bit...
Hey, Mina, you gonna stand there all day?
Coming.
You've got your nailgun and nothing else on you? You leave your toolbag in the dorms again?
This is far from the first time, you know.
Just last week you left your spare batteries on site in the training grounds, and only remembered right before the grounds were closing down. The whole ship watched you run back panting and wheezing...
If it's not this, it's that. If it's not that, it's something else. We remember it all!
Alright, just use my toolbag for now.
Lemme double-check the assignment logs. You're handling the left side, I'm handling the right, and we need to finish servicing the whole bridge by today.
Why the rush?
After this, we've gotta run maintenance on the middle decks, the lower decks, and critical areas like the ship's Catastrophe warning system and mining modules. We're doing as much prep as we can before we break the whole ship up.
B—Break the whole ship up?
We're just taking the whole landship and...
I was wondering why everyone seemed so busy lately...
What's on your mind?
I understand.
When I was young, Dad told me, Mina, every day Columbia gives birth to countless new companies and construction teams, but the number of 'em hasn't changed much...
I didn't know what he meant at the time, but when I grew up and started roving from one work team to another, I started to understand.
The land's ruthless. Companies are just as fragile as people.
I can't say I know where this is coming from... Eh, well, it's beyond me. Engineering only got the order not long ago, so let's just knuckle down and finish this last job, Pinecone.
Oh, and once you clock out today, remember to go through the logs at Engineering.
...
No wonder there's layoffs... And Rhodes Island was such a nice place...
Come on, Mina. Not like you can do anything about it...
Hi. The bridge is all serviced. I'm here to check the assignment logs for this period.
Oh, Pinecone. Could you wait a sec? Just give us a moment to finish up on this task.
...Sure.
Is that all of them?
Yup.
Let's see...
Notices of Approval from the Columbian Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Arts Units, and Originium; the registration for our collaboration with Rhine Lab in the pharmaceutical industry; and registrations for other partnerships in the energy sector...
The thickest file here is on Rim Billiton... Rhodes has dozens of high-risk mining operations in Billy under its belt thanks to us at Engineering and some individually named operators.
The Victorian stuff is over there... Leithanien... Kazimierz...
You know, Engineering's literally never been busier. Are we really meant to just sit here sifting through old documents instead of helping the others out with the ship?
This is important work too, friend.
If you say so...
Once the ship's dismantled, our branch offices are gonna get a whole lot busier.
These documents aren't just souvenirs from where we've been and what we've done.
They can prove to others, and to ourselves, what we can do.
...You're right.
...
Oh, Pinecone, I signed off on your assignment logs for you.
What do you need?
I'd like to obtain every assignment log of mine since I began employment here.
Mina! You're back. Finally.
Mm-hmm.
You hash things out with 'em?
Nope.
Ederson, there's been a wrench in the works. I—I don't really know best how to explain...
Well, what's happening to you? What happens with us?
...
Mina, you're one of the strongest people I've ever known. Always have been.
You made it through your dad's accident, you made it through your family's whole thing. I heard you even helped out the Simons' boy at Mansfield State Prison...
You had to flee the country, you had to come all the way out here, and you still found a great job. But in the end, you're just gonna... go on back to Columbia?
The Pioneer project pushed our town out even further away from the nomadic cities. It's a dead-end back there, I'm telling you. Plus the whole business with Mr. Simon and your dad...
And our old foremen and our old bosses. And whatever else might trip us up.
...I know. I know.
And that's it? You're just gonna go from one site to the next, begging your way through life one employer at a time?
...
Are you even listening to me, Mina?
Mm...
And what is that? You've been flipping through it ever since you got back...
All my work logs since I started employment here.
1,372 assignment logs.
Accident rate: 0.7%.
Work completed above spec: 42%.
...
Three years, nine months...
Didn't realize it'd been so long already...
Didn't realize I'd done so much...
Ederson, that's not gonna happen.
Whatcha mean, Mina?
Maybe I'll take you back to Columbia, maybe Columbia's still the same as when I left, but... I'm not gonna let any of what you worried about happen.
But first of all, I need to see someone.
Hey! Mina! I was just gonna head to your dorm!
*huff* Kafka, I was looking for you.
Hear me out.
Kafka, I know you're worried for me. I dunno how I should put this. / Mina, this is kind of awkward for me. I dunno where to even start.
I know the truth already. The company's laying us off. I've seen it plenty of times myself. / I had no idea skateboarding was THIS MUCH fun until Aciddrop taught me how to kick it.
Back when the big guy referred me here, all I wanted was a stable job. / I mean, kids who grew up on the streets NEED skateboards just like cops need crossbows and white-collar dumbasses need coffee.
At first I could only handle assistant stuff, helping the Engineering crew while they did the big things... / So Aciddrop says the biggest skateboarding series is kicking off in two days, and Terra's best, ALL of Terra's best, are headin' there to grind wheels and make history.
Rhodes has been a swell company, and a swell home. It's changed me in a lot of ways. / And you mark my words, for a newbie boarder like Kafka, this series'll be LIFE-CHANGING.
It's been over three years, and I still forget my toolbag when I head out... / But see, that's the thing, I know you and I have an urgent Engineering assignment.
But my job title kept on evolving anyway. In fact, I've led a number of projects and teams along the way. / It's important, we've gotta get to the Rhodes branch in Columbia as soon as we can...
Kafka, you oughta look at me and see a grown adult, a grown worker! / We've gotta set up a local taskforce for Rhodes so if the future throws hands, we can catch 'em.
I'm an adult who's not scared of leaving home, I'm a worker who's not scared of making a living in the barrens. / I've been tyin' myself into clown balloons the whole day about this, Mina, but I figure I'm gonna hafta ask ya to go on ahead while I, uh, yeah.
I've made up my mind, I'm heading back to Columbia, I'm setting up my own work team! / But I'm gonna catch up with ya in a week at most!
And if the right moment comes, maybe I can come back and help Rhodes Island through a sticky spot! / So just for the next coupla days, you're representin' the Rhodes Island Engineering Department solo!
I know I can do this! / I know you can do this!
...
Rhodes branch... Work team... Bwuh?
Hold up, Mina, I think you might be on a different page than me?
This morning in the middle deck corridor, I heard you an' my colleague from Engineering talking...
...
So I mentioned before, Rhodes Island is set to kick work on the local branch offices into high gear. You two are from Columbia, and you know your way around the whole Pioneer craze. Effectively, this is a long-term field mission...
Roger dodger.
So, you've gotta leave, Pinecone's gotta leave.
When?
ASAP, really.
Just like that?
Just like that.
...
Look, I know about the skateboarding league thing—I'm a bit of a paragliding fan myself—and while I do wholly believe Pinecone could handle the early stages by herself...
How about this. You and Aciddrop skate off, and if you can win three points against her, I'll consider it essential that you participate in the upcoming series.
Also...
Also, I hafta be the one to convince Pinecone.
...
...
So, did you take three points from her?
I—took—FOUR!
Jeez, I am SO sorry about this humongous misunderstanding, Mina, I musta been putting you through hell...
It—it's alright. Didn't go through nothin'...
Maybe I'm just not much of a thinker, I s'pose. Goin' on four years at Rhodes Island, and I never really stop to ask myself how I'm doing, except when I write letters to Dad...
Got my hard hat, my nailgun, my toolbag, my nice soft pillow... I go to work, I eat, I sleep, I get my pay, sometimes I go up on the deck an' sing with everyone... I'd think my life never changes.
But really, truth is... I changed long ago. Well, in a good way, a really good one.
Yannow, all this time I've known ya, and this might be the first time I've ever heard ya say so much in one breath...
Uhm. I—Is it?
Mmm... nah, don't matter.
Kafka. I dunno how exactly we got to this point today, but I think, uh... it works out the same anyway?
I'm gonna take Ederson back to Columbia and register at the branch office. Then I wanna visit my hometown again for a bit, and see Dad... Maybe there's some people we could really need there.
You can go report to the Engineering now. You convinced me.
...I think you're the one convincin' me, Mina.