Relieving Stress, Saving Lives [Job/Juliana]

[b]Job: [b] Hostage Negotiator
[b]Rank: [b] D
[b]Player Requirements: [b] D-rank and above.
[b]Job Requirements: [b] Minimum of 5 posts of 150 words per character. Talk the stressed worker that he should not kill his boss and fellow employees. Failure results in an explosion.
[b]Job Location: [b] Capital Crocus
[b]Job Description: [b] Rune Knights have a current crisis in their hands and require a skilled negotiator to go talk a stressed worker that recently got fired. He has strapped enough Lacrima explosives to himself that he is able to level an entire office building. Attacking this man is too risky and thus they hope a 3rd party negotiator can end this confrontation. This is officially a free job and the jewels come from the people inside the office that thank you with their salary.
[b]Reward: [b] 200 Jewels

“Did you hear?  There’s a crazy psychopath threatening to blow the office building on Lamia Street to little bits!  That guy’s crazy, man!”  After obtaining her passport despite the heavy shudders of cold which had wracked her body, Juliana had been rather distressed to realize that in order to fly around freely in the atmosphere of Fiore, one had to have a registered flying permit!  She doubted that the punishment for fleeing by taking to the skies would be very heavy if one was in acute danger, but it seemed a bit over the top, considering one was supposed to apply despite the manner in which that person rendered himself airborne.  This meant that magical means of levitation were subject to equal close inspection as mechanical flight-inducing inventions.  Julia sighed, as the entire mess of technicalities was beginning to make her head pound, but at the moment, it seemed as though there was a more important matter at hand.

Speeding up her pace until she was hustling along as fast as she possibly could without breaking into a full, dashing sprint (as that would likely attract further attention of passerby or induce panic, both of which were undesirable), Julia finally arrived on Lamia Street, named for the famous guild which had its gathering hall settled in the bustling Hargeon Town.  A jumbled mass of people had gathered, surrounding the building in a loud, jeering mob.  She immediately recognized that this would only make the situation worse, if the “psychopath” was indeed only a simple working man who was under too much pressure, as she had heard from multiple whispers in the edges of the crowd.  Therefore, the first task the girl did was to disperse the unruly citizens who were creating an aura of fear here near the office building.  Calling for the man’s head was not doing a single thing to assist in ridding the confusion and anxiety which littered the atmosphere here.

Once this had been done, Julia swayed on her feet slightly, tired from the great deal of moving around and talking to strangers, both of which were not quite the most comfortable things for the girl to partake in doing.  She was then accosted with praise by a small group of Rune Knights who, while on their break from duty, had noticed her attempts to help out.  As her cheeks tinged even redder than usual, she was dragged off to their commander, despite her protests.  However, upon arrival, it became clear that her help was necessary, as the man refused to respond to any sort of attempts of the law enforcement to find middle ground or a peaceful solution.  Julia was more than happy to oblige them, as it would be awful if anyone got hurt; then, Lissy spoke up and berated the child for agreeing to help the soldiers.

“You’re only a little girl!  Why are they putting you in so much danger?  Perhaps it is true that because you are so young, the bomber will not fear you... but that is still insane!  Ehh?  Are you listening to me, Jules?”  The purple haired mage was unfortunately not listening to quite literally the voice inside her head.  Instead, she had chosen to approach the entrance, her hands raised on both sides of her head with her palms facing forwards.  This being the international sign for “I come in peace,” or “I surrender,” both of which would hopefully be acceptable to the man within the building, was the position Julia had chosen to use so as to not invoke any fear.

To her and the onlookers’ surprise, the electrical lock on the glass and steel door was disabled temporarily; it seemed that the man inside was allowing her to enter.  Still quite filled with trepidation, Julia stepped inside cautiously, her movements very hesitant and almost sluggish.  Once she was inside the building, she set about reaching the top floor, which, according to the reports from Rune Knights, was the location of the hostage holder.  However, she was stopped immediately on her way to the elevators by a young man with a disheveled appearance.  He promptly fell to his knees and begged her for forgiveness.  Julia was surprised, to say the least; it seemed that this was the former employee, but where were the hostages?  Upon gently questioning him as to their whereabouts, he admitted that when he had seen her enter the building, he had immediately let them all go, through the back door.  Apparently, the Rune Knights’ finally resorting to using a child to communicate with him and touched his heart and realized how he had gone too far.  With an understanding smile, the girl patted him lightly on the shoulder and led the stranger outside, where she explained the entire story and asked the Rune Knights to be just and fair with his punishment, considering his surrender and good deeds at the end of the incident.

The other employees were more than grateful for the help, and each paid her a minuscule amount of jewels that added up to one of their own salaries.  Due to her desire to not offend the kind people, Julia accepted the offering, although she was truly hesitant to do so.  On her way back home, while Lissy criticized her willingness to put herself into danger, the mage simply smiled wistfully and replied internally that it was her job to help everyone else.