Joy stands near the office entrance, just as she did in the hallway, small and still, eyes fixed on the adults. The room keeps arguing around her, but she does not look away this time.
Hunter McCready
She is watching everything.
At the doorway, the faint voice from the lane lines up with the clerk's call on the phone. The same pressure, the same clipped tone, now has a face attached to it.
Sarah
Yes, I have them here. The vendors are all in the office.
Joy glances up at Hunter, then back to the phone, as if matching the voice to the fear in the room. Her silence feels less like shyness now, more like she is learning what the office sounds like before it arrives.
Mrs. Gable
That voice again. So that is who has been circling the lane.
The vendors shift at once, the hallway suddenly smaller. Joy stays planted beside the entrance, intense and wide-eyed, while Hunter sees the child's quiet attention turn into recognition.
✓ Quest Accepted
Learn who is driving the office pressure
✓ Quest Accepted
Keep Joy safe while the office closes in
“I step between Joy and the clerk to shield her from the escalating tension.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Strength, rolled -1)
Hunter slides fully into the gap between Joy and the counter, his shoulder blocking the phone from her view. The hallway seems to stop moving for a second.
Joy stays put behind him, but her eyes lift past his arm, still following the clerk and the voice on the line. She is safe in place, yet she is not looking away.
Sarah
They are asking for the people who have been leading this.
Mrs. Gable
Then we know it is not random pressure. It is aimed.
Elias shifts his stance beside the petitions, jaw tight, while the clerk lowers her eyes to the phone as if the line itself has gotten heavier.
Hunter holds the line in front of Joy. The voice from the lane keeps talking through the receiver, and the clerk hesitates before answering it.
Quest Complete
Learn who is driving the office pressure
Quest Complete
Keep Joy safe while the office closes in