Scripts and directions

-“ As per tradition, the First Brand...", he stopped, visibly irritated by the name that followed-" Samuel basically will provide a script we should act in our media presences. I'm the presenter...again."

-" I still can't tell if he likes you or not Robert, " Priya said in a teasing manner.

-" He likes to make fun of me, I want to slap him down from his stupid, hovering chair. We are...just...the best of friends, " he relayed in the most frustrated and defeated tone possible. 

-" Back to business. The next thing to discuss is the novelty of this year. Elina, since this is your patient, please tell us more about this…volunteer C.E.”

-“ Oh, sure. Thank you, Robert, sir. " Her avatar appeared as a tall, confident, cat-themed costumed woman, but her mousy voice ruined the image. After swallowing a nod in her throat, she continued:

-" The C.E Seven Four is a remarkably long-keeping C.E, to be honest. It has 25 years of recorded working time and one in the processing line, so it’s one of the oldest ones. They worked in 6 departments, for three brands, but they have been the longest with us, for 13 years now."

-" Correction", intervened Priya. "11 from when I lead your Brand, and 2 with you. That is all."

-" Right, my mistake. Nothing else stands out, to be honest. Most of their work was done by the book, exactly how they were instructed. Never went out of line, they simply did their job satisfactorily. And that’s it. Besides this sudden interest in the competition and their volunteer resignation, they didn’t exactly seem out of place.”

-“Eh, maybe it is an age thing. We could use them to attract interest in the first few rounds of the competition since they will probably not make it past the second or third round. Which C.T.D did you set them up with?’, asked Joni.

-“We, Uhm, well actually decided to go with a theme this year and used one of the older sets-”

-“Oh, did you now? You know, you could just admit that you went for the cheap investment, deary. C'mon, I helped out here, you can't hide it from me.”

-“The theme is one of experience”, interjected Elina - “ They both have years of living through the toughest of times and greatest of moments-”

-“And one is taking part for free, while the other has a dirty cheap entry fee-”, remarked Priya

-“Yes, but you see they both would compliment-”

-“ I must admit, it’s not exactly a poor decision on your part. They will be the novelty at the start, and if you're lucky, the publicity you will attract might bump your Brand up two places on the leaderbord”. His compliments were actually added only so that the meeting wouldn’t devolve into a -“pointless, childish, match. I don’t enjoy babysitting them. If we bully her too much, this will never end.”

-“ Afterwards you can just use your favour in the third round to hinder the patient of the 7th Brand, and just like, you get to remain CEO while the games get a bit interesting for the public,” added Pryia, after she understood what Robert was trying to do.

-“ Well, yeah, that is the plan, to be honest. I just, I, I wanted to make the presentation a bit more interesting, though.”

-“ Ah, don’t bother. Let me tell you something, Robert did some similar schemes when he was CEO of the current number 7. They were bumped to number three back then, and I wouldn’t call his then patients winners if you know what I mean”. Joni didn’t grasp his peers' intentions but was genuinely trying to cheer Elina.

-“ Kinda. I somehow got a full cyborg candidate to remove augments during the race. She was feeling guilty or ashamed, or something. I really can’t remember, but I do recall that she was easy to trick. The girl died afterwards, in like, four days, I think”, said Robert, for the first time, in a calm tone. He quickly raised it back, though, as he recalled another moment- ”Oh, yeah, then there was that time another candidate got a prototype laser gun and tested it on my guy. They both died in an explosion since it malfunctioned during the first shot.”

-“ Anyway, Elina, we played this song and dance before. All of us had to deal with embarrassments, but most of the time if they succeeded in boosting a Brand’s name, then nothing else matter. So use the gimmick, but be prepared for all of us to go after them after the second round.”

The skittish CEO couldn’t say anything as a rebuttal, as every year the CEOs would choose a target for elimination from the last three patients. She joined in while 6 and 7 were hunted in the last two races, and now it was her time. All she could muster was a simple ” But why?”, in a meek voice to herself.

-“ Always so mature of you Robert. If you ever get bored of your current work, just let me know, I could use someone like you”, said Priya, giving him a wink in her maroon eyes. 

-“ As for why, Elina, well two reasons. Because it’s simpler for us, and because C.Es are built a bit differently from humans. We are trying, in the end, to showcase some products to sell to people, right? We didn’t exactly design them with C.Es in mind, so that might complicate things a bit”. Robert and Joni quietly gazed at the two, and silently agreed with Priya.

------

The jawed man was getting a bit bored, though, by the direction of the talks so he added a new topic, more interesting to him- “Oh, I understand that there are only two unemployed this year? They usually fill half of the rooster list.”

-“Yeah, I know”, responded the virtual man. “ It’s just that they get harder to find in the megacity as time passes on. I think many try to fleet it as soon as their contracts are terminated. Some disappear even before security can talk to them.”

-“ Wonderful, just great. The rumours are that they are daring the wastelands, right? I mean, besides the playgrounds and a few private lands, there isn’t anywhere else they could go besides the County. And I can definitely say that all the exits, entrances and any holes are heavily secured, so what gives?”, ask a ‌now irritated Joni. He exhumed a surprising amount of calmness for the entire meeting, but this was the first time he actually became volatile.

-" Did you talk with the Family about this?", they asked him.

-" Yes, the Captain is on it. And to find out more, he sent me one of his sons to act as this year's mediator for us and investigator for him. If something is going on in the Playground, he will be there to find out and stop it."

-“ Alright. I understood from Alvara that Milla's Second Brand is working on a story to explain this. We will probably use the C.E novelty to distract the viewer's attention, focus it on the contest a bit and also say that we are simply trying new formats this year. The rest of the theatrics are in the works, so we shouldn’t worry about it. Now, before we go, do any of you want to try some roleplay?