[RP] Character Complaint: Mary Louise Vellen

[Neinbox]

BYOND Name of complaint against: N/A

Your BYOND name: Neinbox

Date of issue and round ID: VERY late 2018 to present.

Reason for complaint: Unbelievable character. Constantly breaking corporate regulations and being denoted/suspended/terminated with high frequency, as well as the occasional brigging and generally causing a major disruption.

First, let me start off with the fact that this is NOT an attack on the player whatsoever and a complaint purely on the character they play. Being accused of holding a meta-grudge, I want to assure anyone concerned that there is in fact zero ill will to be had with them and is simply a disagreement on how a character is being handled. My character acts as he would ICly and is completely separate from how I operate OOCly and vice versa, and whatever grudge/drama players have been seeing between my character and theirs is purely built off of IC interactions. I can appreciate minor self-antagging, sure. Everyone can. It spices up the round and gives security something to do- but at this point the consistency and severity is really taking away from the experience and the character is more or less running amok, making things incredibly frustrating instead of enjoyable. In fact, my character who never goes off-duty did so because it was just them, and me/my character ICly and OOCly did not want to deal with it. Anyways, onto the actual complaint now. Apologies for the length.


I play Uwasv "Sid" Sidanelv, and every time Vellen was a coworker, one way or another (meaning with or without interaction from Sid), the department would be met with disaster at her hands. Now, to remind everyone what engineering is ICly, it is the heart and soul of the station and powers it through dangerous and experimental technology (the latter is debatable as I do not know the IC lore of the engines, but no one can disagree on the former). You have to know how to properly handle what you're working with unless you responsibly abstain from operating equipment you don't know how to use or that your character isn't trained/certified to do, and following SoP is a must. No matter how much you hate your co-workers, feelings must be set aside to coordinate and work as a team as it is an incredibly important to do so to tackle any engineering emergency that befalls the station. Failure to do so could very well mean death to the station and it's inhabitants. That's how important it is to be at least mildly competent in the Engineering department- at least, from an IC standpoint.

... I have experienced the exact opposite with Vellen. Every round she goes silent and doing a project that involves the presence of a destructive element of danger, be it Phoron or an experimental engine. I wouldn't be so upset at her doing the projects, but the biggest problem is that Vellen consistently goes behind command's and even her own department's back, displaying a severe lack of communication skills as well as an outright disregard for authority. When she is caught in the act, she is typically called out and confronted about it by commands in which she will defiantly continue to work on her project and outright ignore orders to cease and desist, argue with everyone including heads of staff despite threats of forceful removal or outright arrest just to stall the process and spite those involved, get detained and removed, get reprimanded by IAA, and show up the very next shift as if nothing ever happened and go right back to it and repeating the incident time and time again because they simply don't care. There's no real consequence, so why should they?

This character has held up the department for about an hour each time she creates an issue- sometimes the issue takes more than one to even be processed. One time the entire engineering department gathered when it was discovered that she had ordered a Singularity engine right under the nose of the Overseer and everyone else and was planning on setting it up on the surface of the planet Virgo 4. If anyone out there knows anything about the Singularity, that is a very, very bad idea. She attempted to lie about ordering the parts despite hard evidence, we argued about why it was dangerous for her to set it up on the surface of the planet, etc. We even had a vote at the end to state our confidence in Vellen, which did not end in her favor. It was more or less executed as a committee in judgement of Vellen's actions. It was kind of cool how the department came together, but it was very, very tedious and draining to the point of utter frustration.

The character herself from what I've gathered from my character's interactions is that she shows possible misandry (although not entirely a bad thing it may play a part seeing how the majority of CEs are males), openly rebellious against authority, overstepping, disruptive, and negligent. She has failed to execute orders time and time again (literally every time Vellen is on staff you are almost always guaranteed that she is ordering something from Cargo she shouldn't and setting it up), shit-talked staff and command alike, threatened command staff with harm, intentionally harmed another employee, resisted arrest (mostly by arguing and stalling the process and generally intentionally being a hassel), does not communicate with the team nor cooperates, and is incredibly rebellious. And I have a long list of players/characters who have dealt with Vellen as much as I/my character has that can can attest to all of this and I can either post logs or recall incidents if need be. But all in all, the above need to be completely fixed/removed from the character minus my first point, otherwise have the character herself outright removed.

I know that there will be players whose characters get along just fine with her and will argue with me against this complaint, but keep in mind that this pertains to Vellen working as a believable engineer and must ask themselves, who would realistically allow such a rebellious and disruptive individual to return to work in an important position with access to dangerous materials and technology when they have proven that they are not capable nor trustworthy? I have been playing my character for a short time since I've first joined not too long ago, and the sheer amount of times where they had to be detained and demoted is quite frankly ridiculous. Their behavior continuously breaks several corporate regulations, and it has gotten to an amount and frequency to which it must be addressed and handled in an OOC manner. My character Sid is a dick, yes. But he is smart and listens to his boss when they threaten him with losing a paycheck or his position. Vellen expresses no such fears.



I would like to see and/or suggest for the following to be done with Mary Louise Vellen:
- The character banned either permanently or for a LONG period of time from engineering to enforce a more permanent hiring do to their repeated negligence
- A positive behavioral change happen to the character whether immediately as a retcon or slowly as a an IC program for occupational/behavioral therapy so she can become trustworthy again and possibly allowed to return to engineering as a more responsible character if the ban is temporary



As this is a complaint specifically about the character Mary Louise Vellen and their position in the Engineering department, I would like for those who have dealt with the character specifically in said department, as Security, or as Command staff to come forth and discuss with me the matter to the player and staff. Although I cannot prevent it, I would much prefer it if those who do not have direct experience dealing with the character in Engineering/Security/Command to remain as readers to prevent a needless cluttering of this thread. If any of this is worded poorly, feel free to let me know and I'll address it. I wrote this when I was rather tired, and I thank you in advance.

[Nik707]

Alright so I wanna preface this entire complaint thread early, by saying I did much of the same shit as Vellen back when I joined the RP server. I built several dangerous, experimental engines that could very easily have killed everyone. I did it often without any permission, and I often ignored other situations to do so. Yet, I get praise for it. People talk about Ty's engines as a good thing, or something he should start doing again. I'd like people to really think hard about their issues, and make sure those issues aren't only an issue because they don't like the person being discussed. I rarely ever caught flak for doing basically the same thing as Vellen, but because a lot of people have a very hard time with social interaction, and taking the time to figure out how a character operates to mend a bridge is often too much work for some, they decide that things they do are not okay despite others having done it with no issue at all. I'll have more about this later, but this is a nice little thing to read before you comment.

[Neinbox]

To be frank, I was never aware of you doing so with your characters and honestly were it Ty doing this instead, I am most certain that I would have still made the complaint. I understand where you're coming from, I really do. But my gut tells me that this behavior isn't okay as they are constantly breaking the rules- and it's not solely the engine that's the problem. It's just the way of how they go about things. I'd be more okay with it simply if the character asked for permission and just let people know what they were up to because there's a lot of potential risk, but that's it. As for dungeons and forts, those are 100% fine as well as long as it's not in common areas. Hell, my character makes his forts without permission and has been becoming more and more devious with where and how he builds them.

All in all, this is not solely restricted to engines. Just the way of how things are executed.

[Allakai]

Hey thought I'd throw in my two cents into this.

I want to start out with saying that at times I do not have a large stigma towards Vellen. She is a fun and interesting character. Yet this does not excuse the many flaws. Flaws are of course a good thing, but when the flaws are actually a constant issue every single time the character is seen on the manifest, that is not a good thing. And the point (in my opinion, excuse) of "you simply need to get to know her" is not really a suitable response to downright awful behavior to fellow engineers, security team members, and heads of command.

Often at times my interaction with Vellen comes from my position as a command member and at times security (or both if I am HoS). Usually I play as Kaalii Rajaar-Akhii the HoP and Sajiid Vihtori Al-Shakoor the HoS, as well as some security officers. On multiple occasions there has been the issue of Vellen doing something to irritate someone and not in a good way. As Neinbox said, its always interesting when someone does something to give security and command something to worry about, that usually comes down to a misunderstanding or lack of communication from (usually true and unwitting) ignorance. In the case of Vellen, it is blatant disregard to adhere to the chain of command and downright refusal to listen to anyone in security or command when she is clearly in the wrong unless forced, which is met with even MORE resistance and needless hostility to authority figures. Which is completely baffling in from an IC point as well as an OOC view.

An example of which happened very recently in the last day involving security, an IAA, and the engineering team. Vellen was an atmospherics technician, while trying, for whatever reason, to work on the tesla engine while Sidanelv, who I believe was an engine technician or station engineer (cannot remember either/or), had repeatedly told Vellen to leave as it was not her jurisdiction and overstepping her bounds onto something she quite literally was not and is not allowed to touch. Security was of course involved because Vellen REFUSED to leave even when directly ordered by the Colony Director (I believe it was the IPC, Lucifer). Vellen had to be handcuffed and physically removed from the engine room because of her refusal to willingly leave. This entire fiasco only became more of an absolute nuisance way more than it needed to be when Vellen had requested if she can go eat, which was allowed as it wasn't a big deal at the time. The only thing she had to do was just come back to Security to either A. Pay a 500 Thaler fine, or B. Serve a five minute brig sentence. Let me repeat, this sentence was so minuscule and not threatening it's laughable. What was not humorous was that Vellen stalled for as long as humanly possible in the kitchen. She spent at least 20 minutes 'eating' in the kitchen. Despite several times, with clear annoyance, by an officer to return to security. And when offered to pay the 500 thaler fine, Vellen said (mostly paraphrasing because of her accent) "Sure, I will pay your fine." She then proceeds to flip off the said officer and found it amusing.

This of course was not found to be funny as this was wasting everyone's time, including her own, when physically grabbed finally and attempted to be forcibly be moved to security Vellen threw an absolute hissy fit and demanded that more than one officer come to escort her. This brings up another major issue I have with Vellen. She will begin using random and extremely vague or unheard of SoP regulations only when they benefit her so that she may claim to be the victim of a situation and garner as many pity points as possible. At the end of this entire soul draining and unpleasant experience and finally got Vellen to security, she refused a normal cell and for whatever reason demanded to be put into solitary confinement. To which, not wanting to deal with it anymore, was agreed to and she served five minutes in solitary confinement which again, was for whatever reason, completely requested by Vellen.

Onto an issue that Neinbox brought up involving the experimental engines. I will also agree, I do not mind engineering attempting new and unique power methods, as of course, its usually not my issue aside from Kaalii wagging her finger and saying "Don't hurt anyone". What I DO mind is security (or usually someone else) saying 'hey there's some kind of engine being built on the surface.". This of course completely blows everyone's mind as no one was notified or told, and not even my own cargo technicians tell me that someone had ordered Singularity engine pieces or tesla engine pieces and Vellen is usually found constructing said engine without telling anyone.

I will conclude the complaint part of this reply with saying that I whole heartedly agree that Vellen's behavior needs to be seriously adjusted by means of IC employee behavior adjustment program, or simply an OOC ban from Vellen being allowed as an engineer. The rampant refusal to cooperate with command and/or security and the inability of owning up to her mistakes needs to stop. She is an employee of a professional station and is often around some if not the most deadly things on station.

If anything is badly worded or by other means does not make sense, I am more than capable of giving more details. Apologies if at time I come off as ranting or going onto tangents, but this has become a serious issue that needs to be addressed.

[Kazkin]

Hi, I play Ahzrukhal Ahkeen, one of the command staff (Research Director) and felt I should make a post as recent events have shown that Vellen is...well, I'll put it simply here, she recently faced execution due to her actions in a canon mini-rev event that happened yesterday (2/12/29). This is just one of the many issues I've seen in only my short 3 weeks of being a research director and command staff.

To start, my first interaction with Vellen was her breaking into science to deal with solar grubs, then when Ahzrukhal unknowing of said break in yet, politely said hello having Vellen berate her angrily in front of the CD (Dane) before immediately fleeing before I could type anything and breaking out of science the same way she broke in, via hacking. I was amused OOC and later after discussion with Dane decided to speak with Vellen to give her a chance before slapping her with an infiltration charge. Vellen then proceeded, at the behest and order of Eunice, to "apologize" you'll see this is in air qoutes because it wasn't an apology. It was Vellen throwing a ten minute acting audition and saying cotton literally ever 3 words (I counted). Ahzrukhal still wasn't upset, in fact she was now amused IC because she has had a long history of dealing with violent and unruly explorers. She accepted the fake apology and simply told Vellen she didn't care about the break in or that shit talking, she only brought her there because if she wants to shit talk she shouldn't run away like a coward after she said her peace.

At this point Ahzrukhal became mildly interested in Vellen because her attitude reminded Ahzrukhal of herself when she was younger and knew what would happen if Vellen did not reign in her temper (as this request for a ban is evidence enough for Ahz being right). After that Ahz began to keep tabs on Vellen in an effort to get to know her and discover the source of her temper, with the goal of trying to get her to reign it in. Ahz was present when Vellen was stalling in the kitchens and flipped off the officer. Ahz was also on the command staff when Vellen aided a mutineering security officer by opening the head of securities door and disabling the cameras so the officer could hold the HoS hostage. Ahz informed Vellen she faced potentially losing her job permanently and that she may be executed as tribunal was being held. While I cannot confirm this Vellen then supposedly escaped security before being taken back there by force but this was hear say over the radio. The HoS then decided to exonerate Vellen of all crime by claiming she was held at gunpoint and forced to hack said doors/camera. This is entirely contradicting what the HoS stated earlier and what the AI and another officer said happened so that is up for debate.

Now, when Ahzrukhal messaged Vellen in a bid to warn her of her possible execution or permanent termination what was Vellen's response? Vitriol and insults, when Ahzrukhal was making a definitive bid, an undeniable bid, to both help her and get to know her. Ahzrukhal has gone out of her way in her attempt to understand why Vellen is the way she is and has been met with nothing but incredible antagonism. Despite this, she is undeterred and is still making an effort despite it very much seeming like the process is trying to take down a brick wall with just your forehead and a bottle of wild Irish rose.

In just my short 3 weeks I have no gone a single shift with hearing on the command radio every single shift Vellen being arrested, causing a problem, or doing some incredibly dangerous without authorization. The irony is if Vellen simply asked me, the research director, to help her build an experimental engine I'd be all for it because it is research. Yet I constantly see her acting like a complete and utter ass. To make matters even more silly. I have had 2 engineers who I won't name who both take shifts as chief engineer ask for upgraded tools and specifically request I do not give any to Vellen so if she builds something dangerous it will take her longer and give them time to stop her. Two different players, both of which who play CE, asked this on separate shifts.

I give all this background for this statement. I don't think Vellen should be character banned, but I do think she should be banned from playing engineering until she can prove IC she can handle being in that department. What proving herself entails isn't up to me, but it will likely take awhile. I have heard from multiple members of command, engineering, security, and even science that Vellen is an awful person who is universally hated. I have only ever seen Vellen have a positive interaction with one specific character. Her above posting saying "get to know me it gets better" is, patently, bullshit. Ahzrukhal has made that attempt and given her a huge allowance to open up or at least have some level of civil discussion. It has never happened despite multiple attempts, its always insults and cotton.

As an aside, since this is a player complaint, that accent Vellen has is so god awful it goes past a stereotypical southerner and is just patently ridiculous to listen to. As a linguist hobbyist (as evidence by Ahzrukhals own painfully thick Irish accent) your attempts at an accent is laughably bad and I suggest listening to videos on YouTube on how to recreate an accent. As it stands Vellen, yours is so bad its painful and your over reliance on saying cotton every other word borders unbelievable. Imagine if Ahzrukhal said bloody that often? How people don't shoot themselves listening to Vellen talk is a mystery.

[Kazkin]

As another note, as I've stepped away from my computer to ready for work. If Vellen ends up receiving a ban from engineering then I'd say come to science. I play RD alot and despite Vellen's actions the door Ahzrukhal has opened remains so. Harsh criticism aside, their is room for character development and within science Vellen could use the toxins outpost to experiment with her engine ideas as it is both safe and isolated. Approval from Ahzrukhal would be a trivial matter to conduct such experiments and would actually be encouraged. It would also give Vellen a chance to interact with the science team who may not be biased towards her, secondly, it would give her a chance to talk with Ahzrukhal and open a bridge towards the command team in allowing her to once again be an engineer. While insulting your characters accent was in poor taste, I shouldn't throw bricks in this glass house of mine, my other points remain entirely valid. Even on reflection I think a ban from engineering should be put in place until Vellen can prove herself able to rejoin the team. Secondly, I'm more than willing to help with this IC if Vellen/player of wants it.

[Snowfield]

I play Eunice. In her role as CE, she has been the supervisor of both Vellen and Sidanelv and been directly involved in several of the episodes described in the above complaint.

I believe that both Vellen and Sidanelv are characters with a passion, assertiveness, and abrasiveness that lead them into conflict with each other. My general view is that this kind of character-driven confict is good RP and one of the reasons that we come to this server. However, repetitive conflicts can create disruption. This complaint thread asserts that the conflicts surrounding Vellen go beyond good RP and rise to the level requiring a community response. I'll try to provide my point of view on the conflicts based on Eunice's experience with them.

It's true that Vellen has started engine projects without getting permission from command first. This led to a series of complaints by Sidanelv and other engineers, to which Eunice responded by securing Vellen's promise that she would seek permission from the CE for such projects in the future. When the CE has been on duty, Vellen has consistently sought that permission, and often received it. To date, no crew member has been harmed due to a design flaw in one of Vellen's projects, and I consider them to be the sign of personal initiative to improve her skills for the benefit of the station as a whole.

On the other hand, when no CE has been on duty, Vellen has initiated engineering projects that should have been cleared with the CD or Overseer. I consider this a matter for IC resolution in the way that we handle most SoP issues, and recommend that Vellen is IC required to secure both the role of Engine Technician and command approval for future engine projects.

More seriously, Vellen unquestionably has a temper. She has escalated insults to body grabs, and body grabs to blows. Examples of these are with Sidanelv in a conflict at one of her project sites, with Onarina in a conflict in Atmospherics, and with Eunice in a conflict in the CE's office. Each of these incidents resulted in Security's involvement and fines or brig time for Vellen (though I don't know if her adversaries also received punishments). In some cases, Vellen has been provoked by other engineers coming to her project site to criticize or question the legitimacy of her work, but this does not excuse violence.

Eunice has striven to get Vellen and Sidanelv to work together, even if they deeply dislike each other, at times trying to resolve arguments in her office before they escalate to Security matters. While these efforts have failed to end the conflicts, she believes that both Vellen and Sidanelv can be assets to her department and she wants them to coexist there. Eunice has counseled Vellen that she has the aptitude and drive to become a brilliant engineer, but may damage her career if she keeps losing her temper.

I believe that an IC response to the conflict between Vellen and Sidanelv is warranted given its repetitive nature and the element of violence. But I don't believe that the incident rises to the bar of an OOC response such as a character ban. I would recommend that something along the lines of a restraining order between Vellen and Sidanelv is issued, such that they stay away from where the other is working, save in case of an emergency.

[Neinbox]

I believe that an IC response to the conflict between Vellen and Sidanelv is warranted given its repetitive nature and the element of violence. But I don't believe that the incident rises to the bar of an OOC response such as a character ban. I would recommend that something along the lines of a restraining order between Vellen and Sidanelv is issued, such that they stay away from where the other is working, save in case of an emergency.

While I do not disagree that things should be handled ICly and I have been in fact handling it ICly with not a single Ahelp to admins from me, please note that this complaint is not directed to any one specific interaction between Sid and Vellen. Consider the above posts- it goes far beyond their (agreeably petty on occasion) conflicts and even extends outside of the engineering department, which I was not even aware of. While the nature of the mutineering is questionable at this point, no one can deny her interaction in science and generally being an absolute pain for security to deal with.

These issues are, as you can see, more than just a single conflict between two characters for a single incident. There are in fact several occasions where Sid wasn't even involved, let alone on the team. And you cannot deny that, as proven by the incident Kazkin provided. Were it just a handful of IC interactions that can be handled ICly, I would back you. But I cannot, and I stand by my decision to make this complaint and keep my thoughts on the character overall.

Without offense, I think your character is often too soft with Vellen, which is fine. It's a character flaw that makes things interesting; she has one person to back her up in the whole her-against-the-world fight when things don't go her way. But assaulting a head of staff is never okay without good reason, and as far as I can tell doing so over what I can assume was an argument- more or less mere words- is unacceptable, and Riik should have suspended her then and there if she did not.

[Neinbox]

An example of which happened very recently in the last day involving security, an IAA, and the engineering team. Vellen was an atmospherics technician, while trying, for whatever reason, to work on the tesla engine while Sidanelv, who I believe was an engine technician or station engineer (cannot remember either/or), had repeatedly told Vellen to leave as it was not her jurisdiction and overstepping her bounds onto something she quite literally was not and is not allowed to touch.

For the viewers, it was actually not the Tesla and instead the Supermatter that was the engine for that shift which is a good thing because if anyone knows Sid it would have been much worse if it was over the Tesla lmfao. "But why does this matter? The Supermatter is full of pipes and deals with gasses! It's Atmos' forte!" Vellen made the same argument but the main problem is that it was not in her job description at the time to deal with the engine nor other tasks with actual engineering staff present who do have it in their job description to deal with such things. It would be far less an issue were she an engineer as Sid hates the SM and would have gladly handed it over were she an engineer, but what upset him the most is that she abandoned her primary task of setting up atmospherics and bumrushed for the engine saying "dibs on the big sparkly". He found that irresponsible, done in poor taste, and done to spite him because it's normally him that does engine setup, which led to his calling to the Overseer for help.

Another shift they fought over the engine again I believe- she claimed the Tesla iirc which ICly killed Sid on the inside- but he relented without a fight simply due to how tired he was of dealing with her and simply stated halfheartedly (and honestly shouldn't have said out loud) that next time he was going to board as an engine technician so that she couldn't steal the Tesla from him again in specific as ETs get priority on the engine setup. I did so, and guess who did as well? Vellen. And at that point in time it was only us on the team.

It was well within her right to do so, it was all IC, but it was incredibly frustrating that it almost seemed to be a spiteful OOC choice and felt like it was as she had "dibs on the big sparkly!" ready to fire at the start before Sid could so much as open his mouth. It was at this point that ICly and OOCly it was decided that there was going to be no way that he could stay in engineering without blood pressure being through the roof, and so he was actually forced to leave the round to prevent stress no matter which engine it was. It was partially an IC decision, yes. But the aspect of having to deal with the character and knowing it would only bring frustration as a guarantee OOCly as well, I was influenced by the situation to make an OOC decision to pull him from the game and actually not play him, or anyone for that round to avoid the stress were it not for another player wanting an agreeably good interaction.

All in all, I was forced to make an OOC decision which led to my posting this complaint.

[Foxfoxfox]

Hey everyone,
thank you Neinbox and the rest for forming a reply. Before I address my own character and make an argument, I would like to address the arguments against M.L. Vellen first, as I find them to be lacklustre. A lot of the things written above are hyperboles, hear-say and skewed information, I won't point out every mistake, but I'm confident that should it come to log-digging that the truth is much more in Mary's favour than presented here by the stories made about her.

I want to point out a few of the cases above just to demonstrate the way my opposition approaches such an argument.

About the "singularity on the surface" scene, now Sid leaves out the part where the vote was deemed impotent, as no arguments against Vellen's competency could be found. It was a lot of bark, but no bite. The more interesting part I'd like to remind everyone about is how Mary's engineering team heated up: One engineer found her dragging the boxes into the department's storage and told it on the radio, contacting the CD almost instantly. Before even a discussion started, the narrative was set - Vellen is undermining authority, she isn't communicating, she tried secretly building a singularity. So eager and hostile was her team, that Sid can be quoted saying "I will do everything in my power to sabotage her efforts.", and he made that statement right after the discovery, before asking anyone for an opinion, not taking a moment to self-reflect, but taking the first reason to be toxic against Vellen and trusting its merit. So eager and hostile in fact, that no one even took the time to think why Mary dragged the boxes into the department in the first place, it crossed no one's mind that it would be the worst thing to do when attending such a project in secrecy, it is an unneeded stop when she could just go directly to the surface where nobody would notice and of course, when the Vulp claimed that she stored the boxes while getting the papers stamped most didn't listen, and those who did called her a liar. Why I'm putting an emphasis on this case is that the attitude of those who found a dislike for Louise is a following a pattern: eager to latch onto any catalyst to spite her, never asking, never talking, always going with the first assumption. This is likely why Neinbox believes that Clarke and Van Riik are "soft" or too protective of Mary, the reality of things is that they are the few that do things the hard way and actually look at the facts.

Another thing I would like to point out is the case that Allakai described, the one with the engine set up. The interesting part about this is that Allakai wasn't involved in this at all, the information they have is from hear-say, so it is questionable to begin with why someone would talk about a story they never participated in, perhaps they were told by Lucifer and are retelling their single perspective, but weren't there, they weren't investigating the case, and as such the information they provide is skewed like a rumour would be - but the notable part is, they still present it with confidence in this thread. Why is this important is that, again, the attitude of the opposition shows a pattern of latching onto any possible catalyst - if something bad was said about Mary, don't ask her for her opinion, just trust the word and spread it. Take a little note, there is an example right here in this thread, as Neinbox in the OP asks for other characters to step forth, but will not mention me, Mary's player, to step out and state my point of view. I'm going to come back to that part.

For now, I would like to try and debate the IC arguments. Frankly, to be bold, they are all fundamentally built wrong and thus can be dismissed. If your goal is to argue for an IC action, then argue from the perspective of CC, as Adephagia is not a community, is not a democracy, it is a workplace. And if any action is taken, it will be done from the perspective of the company. The folks above provide a good example: the mutiny. Now, no matter how your characters reacted to it, the final thing that was settled on is that Mary was held at gunpoint and that is the report that ultimately sticks with CC. This is a good example because it shows how the various coworkers can see Mary as a subjugator, while the company would actually see her as a victim. And ultimately it would be the company's decision, not the coworkers, to take any actions against her, if any.

If we went by the company's perspective, how would Mary Lou actually look like?

Pretty good, actually. She had several shifts where she set up everything on her own on a skeleton crew, always there to respond to engineering requests, she's a hard worker. There may be a big file cabinet with copies of all her cargo orders and believe me when I say this - most of them are in fact stamped and processed properly. None one of them have an accident attached to it either, Mary Lou has caused exactly zero deaths with her experiments. On the flip side, there is exactly one demotion filed and two low-level infractions. Remember how I mentioned how characters like Sid like to latch onto rumours? This is the result of it: the picture they end up with is far, far worse than the reality. They will claim several demotions, when one has taken place, they will claim that Mary undermines authority when in reality she gets her orders stamped most of the cases. I know digging through logs is disgusting, but I assure you, that if it should come to it, the truest version of Mary's CC record is this very paragraph.

So, ICly speaking, Mary is a very employable, profitable worker for her corporate overlords. And I beg to differ that the big suits on top care about Sid's and the rests hurt feelings when they see her run the station properly.

Should no IC arguments against Mary remain, then the only way to get a sanction through is through OOC ruling. I don't see anyone form any arguments of me breaking server rules here, however.

There is a mental posture I sense here, and hopefully I am mistaken, but it seems to me that Neinbox feels entitled for my character to provide them with comfort. Should that be the case, all I can say is "No.". Among many SS13 communities, a usual main rule is "Don't be a dick.", you could translate it easily into "Don't be bad.". Surely everyone will agree that it is an adequate rule of thumb when it comes to a sense of morality. This complaint reads to me like people are trying to push a rule through onto my character and say "Be good." instead. This is a fine line in the sand, but one worth defending regardless. Roleplay characters aren't written for your comfort, some people enjoy roleplay conflict, some people enjoy putting effort into relationships and frankly, as I explained above, most of the problems Sid caused for himself are the result of him looking for trouble.

(edit: just posted it and remembered that it was two demotions, both by Scry, one of which he apologized for afterwards. One additional demotion does not really change the core of my argument, though.)

Thank you for reading.