Set's Links
"Celeuxe can't stop challenging my authority. He doesn't ask questions. He just wants to start a fight. I used to be like that when I was younger. I understand how annoying I was, now."
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Even though Set understands where Celeuxe is coming from, it doesn't stop her from being irritated every time Celeuxe acts out in order to try to "prove" himself to Set. She doesn't want to actually hurt Cel -- and the fact that Cel is constantly trying to get her to fight as viciously as she does when she's on missions isn't helping. Sometimes she'll critique him or criticize him a bit more harshly than she does with the others, just to put him in his place. (She'll praise him highly, too, whenever he does do something right. Maybe the positive reinforcement will get through his head, one day.)
"I can't fucking tolerate her. There's nobody else in the world more -- more strict and nitpicky and fucking infuriating the way she is! I know she's not fighting me the way she really knows how to. Does she think i'm too weak to beat her?!"
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It's hard for Celeuxe to resist the urge to start arguments and fights with Set, given how strict Set is as compared to how rebellious Cel is. Cel wants to prod and provoke Set into using her full strength against him, knowing that Set's always holding back every time they spar (or even when they actually fight) and seeing it as a sign that Set doesn't think of him as highly as he wants to be thought of. He often shows off in front of Set, secretly relishing any praise that Set gives him and genuinely being impressed by how strong Set is, compared to even Jaime. He'd never admit to it, though.
"Needs training. Sharp, but she doesn't think that highly of herself. Or she does. Sometimes she says things that hint at how sharp she can be. She'll make it."
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While Set's somewhat flattered by the fact that Yumeno so obviously looks up to her, she doesn't always want to be protecting her whenever they're on missions together -- and so she makes a point out of pushing Yumeno harder than she pushes Jaime and Celeuxe, forcing him to keep up with them whenever they're training even though she knows that Yumeno doesn't have as much fighting experience as they do. She finds it a bit annoying whenever Yumeno tries to hide behind Set or refuses to take a risk that Set knows is in Yumeno's favor. How does she expect to improve, like that?
"I... I really think she's cool, I... she's good at everything she does, I mean, I can't think of anyone as... as scary as her, which is so cool, everyone always respects her... I want to be like her..."
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If Yumeno could, she'd copy exactly what Set did at every moment of the day, wanting really badly to eventually be as cool and intimidating and skilled and strong as she thinks Set is. She really values Set's praise, sometimes writing it down or playing it on repeat in her head so that she can remember it whenever she feels down about herself. At the same time, though, she can be more nervous than normal whenever she's performing in front of Set, always trying to do what she can to impress her -- even though this ends up embarrassing her, sometimes.
"I appreciate how strong she is. She takes orders well. I'm sure she's popular with her friends. Friendliness is a good quality to have. Just keep it separate from the work we do."
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Set's bemused by how friendly Jaime is towards her, never having had a subordinate or coworker ever treat Containment like a friend group, before. She can be annoyed, sometimes, given how unprofessionally Jaime can act -- but her performance outshines Celeuxe and Yumeno's (for different reasons), and so Set can't complain that much. She doesn't particularly mind taking too many pictures with Jaime, as long as she doesn't post them online. It does perturb her a bit, though, to be filmed while she's training, even though Jaime insists that it's just for her personal reference when she's practicing for herself.
"Well, for once, I agree with Cel. Set needs to come out with me one of these days. Being that tense can't be good for anyone, you know? I'm sure I'll be able to break through that shell, one of these days!"
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It's hard for Jaime to see people as authority figures, rather than friends, and Set's no exception. She takes way too many pictures with her, talks to her way too casually, and has invited her out to the mall one too many times, given that Jaime's genuinely just an intern that Set could fire at any moment. With all that being said, Jaime genuinely does admire Set for her hard work and for how good she is at fighting. She takes a lot of tips from Set -- even if she balks a bit at how violent Set can be, when things really get down to the wire. She's sure she'll convince Set to give her her phone number, eventually.
"It was a shame that he had to change divisions. I enjoyed working with him. He knew what needed to get done and how to get it done right. He just needed to keep himself off of Nikolai. At work."
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Set can admit that Lucius was an effective, efficient head -- readily conceding the fact that Lucius was just straight-up better than her at reacting to sudden changes during missions and giving orders on the field. While most of her memories of him are relatively positive, she was never able to convince Lucius to stop messing with their subordinates. Flirting with a coworker? At work? On work hours? Fucking ridiculous.
"Perfectly fine. She works herself to the bone, but... well, to each their own. I'm sure she's been doing fine as the head of my former division, even without Nikolai and I. I don't envy the fact that she's been saddled with a group of college kids, that's for sure."
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Lucius likes Set surprisingly well: he knows that she's not the type of person to hide anything, after all. Even though he didn't agree with /everything/ that Set told him to do (particularly in relation to his "relationship" with Nikolai), he fully approves of Set being made the head of the Containment Division in his place after the Outbreak Incident. There's nobody else on his team that he'd have rather picked for the job.
"Loyal. Acts quickly and efficiently. Knows how to use essence better than I do. He doesn't waste words. He wastes his time, instead, on the stupid fucking thing he has with Lucius."
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Nikolai was always easy to work with; Set appreciated the fact that he was always doing things to try to make their training sessions smoother, even if she couldn't fully sympathize with his constantly self-sacrificial behavior whenever they were actually out on the field. She hopes that Nikolai, by now, has actually recognized the fact that Lucius is playing him for a fool -- even if, from what little she sees of him, he hasn't quite given up on their relationship yet.
"I'm glad that I got the chance to work under her. I know she wasn't a smoker... I feel a bit bad that Lucius and I would always leave her whenever we needed a smoke break."
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During his time in the Containment Division, the fact that Set would always thank him every time he set up a training schedule and visit him whenever he was recovering from a mission was more than enough for Nikolai to start considering Set a friend. While he was reluctant to leave Set for the Investigators, he knows that Set's more than capable of running the Division on her own. (He does, admittedly, feel a bit bad that he didn't treat Set with as much respect as he feels like she deserved -- especially given his smoking habit and his "thing" with Lucius, after all.)