With a job as demanding and secretive, you would expect that Rico would have no friends. That is where you are wrong. INTERNET pushes the idea of having a social life outside of work. It provides the company with several benefits.
First, happier employees. Many large corporations put the joy and mental health of their employees second. INTERNET understands that is a critical aspect as unhappy employees equal dismal results. In a job like this, one decimal point off can equal the reveal of the ancient stone octopus island and break our treaty with them. We would lose that war if it came to that.
Second, is the company''s secrecy. If you were at your local chillis and had to guess which of the two is part of a secret shadow organization. Bianca, a woman sitting at a table with a group of her friends, talking about how she was finally able to buy her dream car, or Stephanie. She is talking to her chicken strips about how her life is falling apart and how the relationship between the Stone Octopuses and human society is reaching a breaking point.
Yeah, Stephanie is looking suspicious. Even though the correct answer is Bianca, she has been working for INTERNET for 5 years and is quickly climbing the ranks. We don''t know how Stephanie knows what she knows, but thats something we will have Bianca look into later.
Third, it reduces the risk of S— extended vacations.
Taking all of this into account, you can take the blame off INTERNET as to why Rico has no friends outside of work. The great mystery he is trying to find is how you make friends outside of work when you are an adult and out of school?
Rico''s only friends are the two he still talks to from high school, his siblings (and that track is strained), and Aly. That is the person Rico speaks to on the phone during company hours. He knows no one will check up on him at the 24th division, and this conversation will go unnoticed unless Laurel is a spy herself.
Due to Aly''s work as a private investigator, she is parry to keeping a secret, and so is Rico. With this mutual bond of trust, they speak openly with each other. Aly knows she can be sued to bankruptcy if he spills the beans, and Rico would have his brain trapped in a jar in the 99th basement level of INTERNET or the BRAIN GRAVEYARD as the workers have dubbed it.
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ALY
So you''re in the basement now?
RICO
I was always in the basement.
The only difference is that it''s deeper
and colder, and I am alone.
Laurel blows a bubble.
RICO
Oh, right, except for Laurel.
ALY
Oh good, you''re not alone.
RICO
Well, she is a fish
ALY
Oh god. Thats weird.
RICO
Let''s ignore that.
Let''s focus on what matters.
How was the grand opening?
How did Don take it?
ALY
Dude! it was... weird.
RICO
Bad weird or good weird?
ALY
Good weird. You get how
it is with your siblings.
Rico is silent. It doesn''t take Aly long to recognize she might have hit a sore pot.
ALY
Want to talk about it.
RICO
Not now. Maybe later, just why
don''t you tell me what happened.
ALY
Honestly, it''s a lot, and I know
you are on the clock.
I wouldn''t want to hold you up at work.
RICO
Aly, you''re at work.
ALY
...okay, I''ll tell you about the case.
RICO
IT''S A CASE?
ALY
Yup, our very first case at the
Isebela Detective Agency.
I nicknamed it "A New Affair."