[Littleton] Gone is the blissful flirtation with springtime weather. Gone, too, are the flirty hemlines that dance around her knees and leave calves bared to the warmer air. Emily is wearing jeans again, and a wool sweater (soft to the touch [warm, comforting]). She's sent Chuck a text message on the walk from campus down to the Mile. It's a simple thing, a place to meet, an acknowledgment that she's on her way. She doesn't think much of it.
There's a coffee shop, currently on the downswing of the in-fashion hot spot cycle with the other college kids. And it has free wifi. The former makes Emily happy, the latter will make Chuck happier than he'd otherwise be. She orders something and takes it to a table in the corner where she's set up to wait. And so there's Emily, on a public network, looking something up on her computer whenever he wanders in.
[Carmichael] He comes in, actually sans electronics today but for his 'berry, which is so very, very modded that it makes stealing gold from Fort Knox look easy. Better safe than sorry, and all that. He is alert [aware] and has his eyes wide open. And of course he ignores the stares, the people who come to him with questions. He's Uncanny, and accustomed to this.
Even the cute barista-girl flirting with him as he orders and gets his coffee is more or less ignored - he's as amiable-affable with her as with anyone else, but does not flirt back. Soon, he's coming up to Emily's table and there, the scrutiny gets particularly intense.
[Per + Aware, first! Live magics. +WP, cos cute apprentice is srs bznss.]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 7 (Success x 4 at target 6) [WP]
[Carmichael] [And, base sphere scans, extended, going for Corr, Entropy, Mind and Prime.]
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 6, 10 (Success x 2 at target 5)
[Carmichael] [Roll 2!]
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 2, 8 (Success x 1 at target 5)
[Carmichael] [One more for good measure]
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 4, 5 (Success x 1 at target 5)
[Littleton] There's a balance to walk, between a thing protected and a thing kept. Emily has not, will not, be kept by anyone. Not even affable, lovely, adorable Chuck. So there is a look when he enters, up from whatever she's working on, over the top edge of her laptop. It follows him while he (fails to) flirts with the barista, gets something of his own to enjoy. By the time he's at the table, she's closed the computer. It's going back into her messenger bag when that deeply intense scrutiny begins to scour over her.
And she tastes like magic. It clings to her in thin threads, barely noticeable now that time has passed. The resonance in her own, calm and steady. Reverent. No other. The thin thrum of Home around her neck has not been called forward (nothing trying [nothing upsetting]), so it is nestled close gainst her skin, kept (as she refuses to be).
Away the computer goes, and she sets her bag down beside the legs of her chair once more. The notebook remains, and a slender blue-inked pen. There are words and numbers on the page before her (homework). Emily looks up with a warmer smile (nothing wrong) and less of a Look now that he's near.
"Hey," she says, affable and familiar. Perhaps it will soothe him, somewhat, that she is hale and unmarked. Though he's not soothing, now, and Emily is a bit more Aware of her surroundings now as a result.
((Up to something, Carmichael?, Per + Aware, dif 6))
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 2, 3, 5, 6, 9 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Carmichael] And there's magic there, too - subtle, coincidental, but so. very. progressive, simply for the sake of being so. Chuck [of Best Buy] is a pusher of boundaries, a breaker of barriers, and happy to be so . . . in the digital realm, anyway, and the magical. In the physical and personal, not so much. He keeps his distance there, and takes his time. (He's the boy everyone wants to take home, the boy all parents love.)
Smiling [relieved] he slides into the chair across from Emily, brushing a hand lightly over her shoulder as he goes. Today it's jeans and a t-shirt that says 'without IT, nothing works', though the Chucks are ever present and today, are black printed with what looks like a motherboard. Yeah, he springs for the custom Chucks on occasion, or other people do for him - and he's a geek.
"Your friend's alright, I hope?"
[Littleton] There's a smile, then, softer (more like what Kate saw in her when she answered his message). Warm. When Chuck's hand alit on her shoulder, Emily reached up to touch his fingers lightly with her own. Then she took a sip from her coffee, waiting while he got settled.
"Not entirely," she said, but her tone was light (careful) and the smile didn't faulter (much) in a public place. Emily's glance slid away from him, to the side and down (things remembered [things hidden]). "She's better than expected," this is offered with an odd lilt, strange pause to it that implied more (but did not specify).
She shook her head a bit (no), frowned slightly and went back to her coffee for another small sip.
[Carmichael] ".....right, so we'll finish our coffee and go for a drive?" Somewhere private, anyway, away from ears they don't want to [witness] hear whatever it is that she's not telling him here and now. Because of course there's something, and were this a purely [selfish] personal meeting, he'd let it go or try to puzzle it out himself, but it's not. This is about something that could have effects on all of them, not just the Orphan apprentice.
Not entirely and better than expected could mean a lot of things, after all.
"For what it's worth, it seems like you're still secure." Which is, of course, why there'd been that magic (fresh) hovering around him when she opened perception to it.
[Littleton] Chuck was being very srsbznss about this and Emily ... wasn't. Not openly, at least. She didn't wear her concern on her sleeve, or seem as tense as she'd been in other situations since her Awakening. It was an odd juxtaposition. (Or perhaps there was nothing to worry about.)
"Alright," Emily said, easily, and her eyes caught his for a moment. Not seeking, not trying to say anything overmuch. Just caught, and held, long enough to be purposeful. "Though she said that the hospital took very good care of her. She's worried about the truck driver, and hopes nothing too bad happens to anyone involved."
This much Emily can say on record, to whatever might be overhearing or listening in. There's more, of course. There's always more. But Chuck thinks her dad's a spy, or something, so it's likely that the calm, unaffected Emily is somewhat expected.
"I dropped off her homework. Nothing happened. She can't talk about it much." And here's the tell: an eyebrow, slightly raised, the subtle hint toward a non-disclosure arrangment, the way she now (just now) looks away to her notebook... which is calmly withdrawn from the table, tucked away (out of sight) and into her messenger bag.
"I can go whenever you're ready," she says. And nothing here would be terribly untoward if anyone from the Chemical Company was listening in. Emily was just the girl's TA. And the girl was better than expected, well taken care of, and not talking.
[Carmichael] Chuck is - perhaps surprisingly - srsbznss about a lot of things, particularly where possible security issues and his friends (of which he considers Emily one) coincide. He's a security guy, when he's wearing his white hat. When he's wearing is black . . . well. He can do bad things. Has done bad things. But, to be fair, most of them have been in the name of progress, of expansion.
(Entire races die out in the name of progress, of expansion.)
Regardless, he sips his coffee [still hot enough to burn his tongue] and nods. "Yeah, let's go. Anywhere in particular?"
Standing first, and out to the car, where he opens Emily's door for her before slipping into his own seat and starting it up. There's music that appears to be ambient noise (chosen carefully to some end or another, no doubt, because of course Chuck is not nearly as bumbling as he often seems) more than anything else - still pleasing to the ear, but . . . a distraction. It's a little odd (or perhaps perfectly normal), how the security guy tends towards the paranoid. He slides out of the spot and into traffic and goes for a bit before he speaks again.
"So, what's up? For real, I mean."
[Littleton] He asks, and there's a long quiet. Long enough for Emily to reach up and unwind the loosed spiraled knot her hair had been in. Long enough for her to exhale slowly, heavily, and take a moment to collect her thoughts. Chuck wasn't so bumbling (no surprises here) and Emily wasn't so innocent (no surprises there). He'd stumbled upon it in her before. The cool, collected way she'd asked for his help with Enid's new phone. He was discovering it in her again, now.
"I'm sorry I didn't wait for you," she said, but it wasn't achingly apologetic. "She had time this afternoon, and I went. It's better though, because I doubt she would have said so much if there'd been two of us." They could debate the wisdom in this later.
Emily kept her eyes forward, watching the ebb and flow of traffic. It helped with recall, to not be distracted by his reactions. She reached up with her outside hand and worked at a knot on the back of her neck while she recounted her meeting.
"There's something wrong with her pattern. And the spill wasn't HCl. She said it was grey, and that it got on all of them. Had to be neutralized at the hospital. She's got a broken leg and deep lacerations, but they're healing too quickly and ... the odd thing is that I can't place what's going on with the wounds. There's something foreign in them but it's aiding recovery? I couldn't tell you more. I was trying to be subtle." And she didn't have the right spheres to poke further.
A little breath, Emily shifts in the seat beside him, drops her hand back to her lap. "She mentioned three companies: Blue Horizon, Blue Sun -- possibly a connected biomedical group--, and Barnes-Leibowicz United Engineering. Some recruiter implied there'd be a job offer down the line for her at the Engineering firm." Emily sounded skeptical of this. Deeply so. "She's a freshman," Emily added. This freshman thing was underscored by their recent argument.
There's another pause, and Emily's features tighten. Her voice is more constrained, openly worried. "She signed an NDA. If anyone goes digging, we have to keep her out of this. I don't like what might happen if a company like that thinks she's broken a contractural agreement..."
[Carmichael] He's thoughtful for a moment, and then says, "Or a recruit. Nathan said that someone else was pulling Blue Horizon's strings in the email he sent me, trying to tempt me into coming to him - why he needs me there, I don't know, since I can wardrive the wifi almost anywhere - but that's about all I knew. I'll look into the other companies, though; we can swing by my place and grab my 'top and head somewhere else. I know a few places where we can go that, even if I do get tracked somehow, we'd be alright and whoever did the tracking wouldn't be able to get past that point. Hubs with way too many spokes." That's with a shrug, and all of this is matter of fact - as if he's done this sort of thing before.
And, who knows? Maybe he has. He doesn't talk about his past, much, other than the occasional college reference or mention of parents or temple or such things. There's usually a reason when people do that, as Emily knows well enough herself.
"I guess it's alright that you went alone, though if you're going to do that, you really need to make sure someone else knows who you're with and where, just in case. Someone should know where to start looking if something happens, you know? And things happen. The war may not be the same as it was, but it's still there. Even if the Techs do think most of us are bumbling idiots."
There's a pause then, and once the car's in the appropriate gear and he knows he won't have to stop for a while, Chuck's hand finds Emily's, squeezes it briefly before returning to rest on the gear shift. "Anything else I should know?"
[Littleton] Or a recruit.
That's sinking in while Chuck talks, while he reaches over to squeeze her hand lightly and Emily's fingers catch his briefly (reflexively). Her teeth catch the corner of her lip, and she looks at him sidelong for a long moment.
"... I offered her a letter of rec?" She wasn't sure she wanted to see Chuck's reaction, but Emily watched anyway. "And she thinks we're dating." Oh, but she doesn't wait to see the reaction to that. Emily looks away and blushes (hard) despite herself. "It seemed better to let her think that than try overmuch to dissuade her." Security reasons, sure. That's why she'd let that thought stand.
"Do you really think she's being recruited?" Emily asks, feeling her stomach churn anxiously at the thought. Her expression is pinched again, worried. "Maybe we should see what Nathan wants..." The thought trails off, noncomittally.
[Carmichael] I offered her a letter of rec?
He looks at her for long enough that it seems like he may well slam into the car in front of them, and then shifts his eyes back to the road and slips around said car instead. This little bit of news hasn't made him happy, or so it would seem - in fact, there's a sudden tension heretofore unseen about him, in the way his fingers tighten around the knob at the top of the gearshift, in the way his posture changes. But it's not that he comments on.
"Are we?" That, he can be calm on. That doesn't make him angry, though it does surprise him - the dating thing. "Does she think I'm the old guy, or the rebound one?" Then, a blink as he pulls into a parking spot. Not his usual, but one on the street, easy to get out of. "Stay here, I'm just grabbing my 'top. And my screwdriver." One can never be too prepared, and given the references he's made, she likely knows he means the sonic one.
"And I'm calling Ashley."
[Littleton] Chuck didn't say anything, so Emily didn't respond. But he got rigid and she folded her arms across her middle. There's a tension between them, and he jaw sets. It's aiming for an argument, all over again. But he hasn't rebuke so she can't riposte and it's just there, an elephant in the backseat. Narrowed eyes and squared shoulders.
And it passes. Unspoken to, unmarked. Emily chews on her lower lip before responding to the next question.
"Only my labmates knew about Jarod," she said, and it's prickly. (A button [an ache]) "None of my students did." A line, drawn firmly between some sectors of her life. Most of the magi didn't know, either. But Chuck did. "And I don't know, Chuck, are we?" It bristles, because she's cornered. "I answered a message and I must have been happy to hear from you, because she asked after my boyfriend and that's all it was."
Rebound. Her mouth twitched when he said (accused) that.
Then he's out of the car, off to gather his things, threatening her with the Hermetic and Emily... folds forward in the passenger seat to rest her head in her hands for a moment. Spews silent invectives where no one can hear them. Waits out the tremors (unbidden [unwelcome]) and frustration, and fights to be calmer, friendlier, when he comes back.
That she's there at all when he comes back says something.
[Littleton] ((edit: and *her jaw sets))
[Carmichael] It was not an accusation, but honest appraisal [as Chuck sees it, from where he stands, however he might wish it were different]. Regardless, he's in and out quickly, and his laptop bag is tossed (gently, carefully [you break it you bought it]) into the back seat of his Fusion. There's a resolve there and he, too, is calmer and friendlier when he gets back to the car.
"We're meeting Nathan at a place I know. Pizza and beer for dinner sound good? And I couldn't get Ashley." It's wry, amused. "So you're safe for now."
Then, it's back towards the mile but not to it exactly - a couple blocks off, closer to campus, where there's a little hole in the wall place called Bilbo's.
And yes, it's Hobbit themed - leave it to Chuck.
Emily's hand is caught, held as long as she allows, as they move through the door and towards stairs that lead down - there are signs that read 'free wifi' and 'live music Saturdays' all over the place. It's downstairs they go - where it's darker, where the stage is . . . but where it's emptier, for now. This is where they're meeting Nathan - it's safe, neutral, and there's food and beer. It's a good place to meet anyone, really.
[Nathan Spriggs] Nathan had received a response from Chuck, name and address of a place, it actually improved his opinion of him. He wasn't trusting enough to accept visiting his place so this discussion, so they were meeting at half-way. Tonight, he wore the same as always, a light brown trench coat which was obviously new given his last had been torn to pieces by a crazy possessed woman with a sword. Again, he wore body armor and guns out the ass tonight, it was becoming habit.
He had a few good nuggets of information to add to what he'd told them before at the park, before it became a mess and Ashley nearly exploded in a fit of anger that is. Entering the shop, he looked around for a sign of Chuck, seeing him a few seconds later and heading over.
[Littleton] The chance to step back from the edge does them both good. They're both calmer, friendlier when he comes back. The building tension in Emily has found a break in the pattern, a release, a way out of her taut shoulders and pinched expression.
"It was an empty offer," she explained, now. "I lied." And that's the meat of it, bold-faced and unobfuscated. "But it would have looked odd to seem excited for her and to not offer." Because Emily lied so well (innately) that it was as often about what was subtly redirected as what wasn't said at all.
She left the (not) dating thread alone.
"Fine by me," was all the response she offered to meeting up with Nathan. It wasn't terribly commital in either direction. Chuck knew Emily had no lost love for the Cultist, but there wasn't open animosity between them either.
Her hand his caught; his is held. So they enter together, hand in hand, easily so from what Nathan can tell. And the subtext about greater (deeper) implications is lost to the darkness. She slid into the booth next to Chuck, which would leave the bench across them empty and open for Nathan.
Tonight, again, Emily is not drinking with them. She asks for a water (Still [What?] ohne Gas [??] Ah, nevermind) instead.
[Carmichael] Nathan actually has to ask for Chuck, and is directed down the stairs; from there, it requires more looking but not as much as one might think, given that the first thing Chuck's done once he sat down was to pull out is laptop and boot it up. (The sonic screwdriver - working in some ways, not in others, and untested in still more - remains hidden in the case for now. It's unlikely he'll need it here, after all.)
It was an empty offer, Emily says, and, I lied, and not for the first time Chuck wonders if he's swimming in deeper waters than he should - on a purely social front. He doesn't make empty offers. He doesn't lie [except about his very existence, his name, his everything]. He doesn't know how to deal with this, let alone with someone who does so, and with such ease. "Alright, then. You don't want your name on those lists, trust me. Ever, if you can help it."
The waiter asks for drink orders and Chuck asks for a pitcher of Dragon's Treasure Red or something similar and water, please, and a large 'Elven Favorite' with a family sized 'Bilbo's Salad' before he wanders away, to ensure as little interruption as possible.
"Alright, Nathan," he says once the drinks have been brought and the waiter's disappeared again, "what've you got?"
[Nathan Spriggs] Nathan sat silently, staring from Chuck to Emily for a moment before returning his gaze to Chuck. He leaned back on the chair, not all that amused with how straight to business this went, he had a few things to say before that. "First off, I'm gonna assume this means alarms are going off about the leak. What do we know so far? I've learned a lot of important stuff, not all directly related to the leak, but I want to know where things stand before I repeat things you might already know."
[Littleton] Chuck's typing away at the laptop, but when Nathan is stingy with information Emily's mouth purses a bit. Her accent, harder when she's perturbed, is more prominent again.
"There's no danger in repeating things, Nathan. If we can confirm a bit of information from multiple, independent sources, it's more likely to be true." Or planted exceptionally well. Emily is younger than them both, by years, but her chin is tipped up just so... and she is proud, and unwilling to be an understudy (Something Chuck well knows).
"This is more of an I'll show you mine if you show me yours than a one-sided exchange." A little pause, and she doesn't even look to Chuck for support before she adds, "Or I'm out."
They're both manipulative, Emily & Nathan. And that can lead to sparks, or rub people the wrong way. Today, here, the mutual sniping and drawing out of information -- it's not going to fly with her.
[Carmichael] "Okay, whoa, dude. Stop the ride, I'm getting off."
This is impatience. This is amiable-affable Chuck with a furrowed brow, his brown eyes going darker (difficult to tell in the dim light anyway), the corners of his mouth pulling down.
"Power plays are great, really, but fuck that noise. Nathan, you asked for me, so if you're wasting my time when I could be . . . I dunno, figuring out other things, I'm gonna be a little ticked. Emily, sweetness, you're awesome. You know I think so, at least, and so do your labmates and lots of other people. But butting heads in a pizza place when we all want the same thing? Not helpful."
He falls quiet for a moment, hands already having moved to the top of his laptop in preparation of shutting it again and taking off.
"So, if you want quid pro quo? All I've got is what Emily gave me anyway, and my concern is with the safety and well being of my friends. So, if you don't want to give up what you've got and your other issue has nothing to do with that, there are blues we could be shooting. Or zombies. Or any number of other things."
[Nathan Spriggs] Nathan shook his head, he wasn't going for a power play but saying that at this point was... pointless. "You misunderstand, I have no intention of hogging information. I simply don't want to be cut out of the loop." With that, he shot a glance at Emily, there was more to this than imaginary power plays, she'd been different since she overheard the discussion between himself and Ashley.
"Also, I thought we were meeting, Chuck, you never mentioned bringing anyone along. Backup maybe? Seems positions sure do flop around a lot when things are overheard." He looked back at Chuck with those words, it was a calm and collected look, no sign of hostility but he was obviously not happy about it either. "I don't know what you think you know about what Ashley and I discussed, but if you're gonna be mistrustful and hostile over it, grow up. If you're gonna hate me, do it for something I earned and did that you actually know the details about, not something you heard and probably misunderstood."
He was a bit pissed now, probably the most emotion he'd shown to any Awakened short of Kaya so far, he always maintained the same indifferent attitude externally even when affected. Now it was just plain obvious he was annoyed by how this had gone. "But that's not why we're here. You don't have to like me, you just have to trust, or at the very least, believe me. What do you know about Blue Horizon? Or rather, Blue Earth Manufacturing or Blue Skies Security Services and Blue Water Waste Disposal for that matter." He dropped a bit of information here, to move the conversation along, hopefully his rant wouldn't have made them walk out before he got there but he couldn't leave it at that.
[Littleton] Oddly enough, when Chuck told the Orphan to stand down... she did. Which wasn't something Nathan had necessarily seen in Emily before (not that he had seen overmuch of Emily before). She seemed to often be downstream of Nathan's influence on the drama d'Jour, though, so she was less than charitable in her baseline assumptions of what was going on.
"If you two want me to leave," Emily says, when she is being notably excluded or pointed out as the problem by Nathan. It's a tight thing, her voice smooth and even (not unlike Ashley's sheathed steel [silk over...]) in that moment. Deadly, cold (frustrated [contained]). It's empty, though, unless Chuck motions for her to leave. Then it would be acted upon, with a nod and a tight smile...
Emily adds her own azure-themed note to the litany of corporations than Nathan puts on the table, "Blue Sun, either biomed or medical research," but leaves the Engineering firm that does not share the thematic color out for now. Chuck might excuse her from the grownups table, yet, for being grouchy.
[Carmichael]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 4, 10 (Failure at target 6)
to Littleton
[Carmichael] Nathan gets looked at, and for a moment, it seems Chuck might say something. He might even be . . . impolite? . . . about it. But then Emily speaks, and she gets looked at. And looked at. And hands come away from the laptop so that one can tap her shoulder. And, when she looks at Chuck? There's a goofy grin, and then a kiss. It's brief, doesn't linger, but there's considerably more behind it than would be behind a little peck.
Yeah, Nathan disappeared for a few seconds, there.
Then, his attention goes back to his laptop, and he starts typing. Blue Sun. Blue Earth. Blue Skies. Blue Water. And, of course, the mystery fifth company that Emily'd mentioned earlier. No, his cheeks and ears aren't pink at all, why are you asking?
"You're staying, Em," he says, eyes on his screen, and then to Nate, "She's staying. She was with me and has information, and if we're being juvenile enough to look at it that way, she's not getting cut out either. I don't give a shit about what you said to Ashley, though if you being an asshat gets her or any one else I consider in trouble, you'll have a hard time finding someone to protect you from the fucking over I can give. Which won't be physical."
[Nathan Spriggs] [WP gogo!]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 3, 6, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 3 at target 7)
to Littleton
[Nathan Spriggs] Nathan smiled an eerie kind of smile at Chuck, shaking his head again at his words. "I never said she had to leave. I asked why you didn't inform me she'd be here. Again it seems I'm misunderstood." He closes his eyes for a moment as they kiss, trying to calm down. And then Chuck goes and does it. He goes and threatens a man who's seen things he couldn't even begin to imagine in the past few days, who has been sleeping next to a corpse who smells progressively worse. Who's at breaking point right now and barely keeping calm.
Another smile, this one actually succeeding in hiding the malice in his eyes, it just seemed 'oh well', because he was that good and his willpower kept him calm. But he had something to say alright. "First off. You... never threaten someone who's saw 3 horrible murders in 2 days, who is the one who got stuck on the shitwagon because someone decided to change the conditions without warning. Who is having a very bad week. Now that we've settled that!" He looked around and edged in a bit closer. Recalling his info word for word.
"Blue Horizon Chemicals. Founded in 2001 in Detroit, MI. Subsidiary of Blue Earth Manufacturing. They mainly provide chemicals for manufacturing processes. They're also the main transportation arm for any toxic or dangerous chemicals or components for their parent company. Mission statement: 'To safetly provide the highest quality chemical solutions for industrial manufacturing.'"
"Blue Earth Manufacturing is a one stop shop for earth moving equipment, mining, production of mining equipment, and the software and electroics that go with it. They also handle some contracting on rare minerals, geology, etc. Mission statement: 'Providing sound methods for production and allowing heavy industry to operate in an environmentalist climate.'"
"With me so far? Right, the owner of these lovely corporate shitholes is known as Barnes-Leibowicz United Engineering. But that's not all, or even the tip of the iceberg. It gets better." Nathan looked at them again, waiting for a response.
[Littleton] At the breaking point: There was a lot of that going around. Nathan was pulled thin, stretched like a mummy's skin over a scaffolding of frayed nerves and nervous twitches. Emily was hollowed out, aching and emptied and building back her Hope (Faith [happiness]) by design, every day. Chuck was... probably in the best position to be stable, right now, but there'd been a lot on his plate (placed on his shoulder) of late. Not the least of which came from Emily herself.
So they were all tense. They were all a little worn down, out, used, broken -- pick your metaphor, it all means the same thing. Maybe that's why Emily didn't seem to relax when Chuck kissed her, even if there was something softer to her expression for a moment.
"Let's not sit here and compare psychological wounds. I haven't the patience for it; and you're not the only one battling back things you wish you hadn't seen." Her tone could have been cold, angry, but here it wasn't. There was sympathy in it, mild concern. A white flag, waved feebly across the table burdened with too many heavy things. Emily was capable of compassion, even for Nathan, and it is outstretched here. (Stretched thin [resonant] unbreaking).
Now that we've settled that... indeed. These thoughts are entertwined and interleaved. So Nathan offers what he knows, and Emily adds to it.
"One of the people injured is a member of my physics section," here she shows less ownership, does not offer names. It is politeness and not misdirection, but there is a deficit. Clearly. "She has signed a nondisclosure agreement, so anything I tell you must be kept in confidence to the best of your ability. She's young, and mixed up in all of this, and already wounded. I don't want to see anything happen to her because we're too busy picking at each other to respect her limitations and boundaries."
Unequivocal. Emily will not bend on this point. They could be asshats to each other, but not to Kate. Not even accidentally to Kate.
"In return for the NDA, they offered her experimental treatment from Blue Sun and implied an internship or placement with the Engineering firm you just mentioned would be availabe when she graduates. This is an extraordinary offer, considering she is a first year student--however bright."
Emily pauses here. Purses her lips, and thinks on something. There is time for Chuck & Nathan to reply now. But there is also more to say.
[Owen Page] The door above them opens, there's probably a little bell, or chime built into it so the guys flipping the pizzas, or the pert young thing at the counter who only does this job to pay for school knows when to quit filing her fingernails and look something more than bored senseless. It chimes, the door opens, and footsteps resound. Not in and of itself an oddity for a local restaurant; local take away joint.
Voices. An order called out.
[Stealth mode activated -- just in case he's headed downstairs.]
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 2, 2, 2, 5, 6, 6, 6, 8 (Success x 5 at target 5)
[Carmichael] Chuck is actually quiet for the moment, and still typing. Tap, tap, tappety-tap typing. He's looking for something, and has his srsbznss face on, much as he had earlier.
For now, it's a basic info hunt - Chuck wants to know more than he's being told.
[Wits + Comp, applicable specialties ftw]
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 2, 3, 3, 4, 7, 7, 9, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 6 at target 6) Re-rolls: 2
[Nathan Spriggs] Nathan doesn't miss the change in Chuck's expression, or the fact he's typing quickly. He forgets Em's words momentarily. His expression changes, he's not tense, pissed or really angry anymore. He's genuinely worried, about Chuck, about himself, about his sanity. A quick glance at Emily trying to convey the fact that something very bad could happen before he turns to Chuck to make sure. "You're not trying to get into their system are you? Seriously, if you are. Don't. Not yet, this needs preparation. Two days ago, I saw a fully equipped Virtual Adept with all his stuff ready try to hack into the Engineering firm's system. You know what happened? He got fried, not 'ouch' electrocution, burnt to a fuckin' crisp fried."
[Littleton] It was hard to get too upset about Nathan talking about death or violence. Really. She was worn out on that arc. The first time she'd met him, he'd regaled her with the gory details of Dylan's demise. Almost every time since she'd heard him talk about one murder or another. Either he was a very odd homicide detective, a novelist of some gruesome genre, or damned unlucky.
So the look Emily gives him is a little less than outright panicked. "I doubt Chuck's going to hack their mainframe from the pizza parlour," she says, calmingly. Perhaps warningly, too, given how her hand (out of sight) tightens gently on Chuck's leg.
"I bet he's more looking for information right now." She glances over his screen to (try and) confirm that's all that's going down. Not that Emily would know.
"Who was the Adept, though?" Concern bends her features as she looks back to Nathan. "Anyone we know?" Because that might be Riley or Jon, a thought that tightened a knot in her stomach uncomfortably.
[Carmichael] "Actually, I chose this place because the security's impeccable. And also because there's no way it can be traced to me once we leave here," he says with a shrug. "And also for the good pizza and beer, which is . . . right there," he adds, nodding towards the approaching waiter.
"And I'm not stupid, Nathan, but thanks for the vote of confidence. For the moment, I'm just looking for more information."
And all through this, he's been typing, though the squeeze of his leg gets a light bump of Em's shoulder with his own, and a smile that she only sees in profile.
[Owen Page] Maybe they're too caught up in what they're discussing. Maybe they get distracted when the pizzas they ordered arrive -- Owen, incidentally, orders something called a Dragon Feast topped with sausage, smoked ham, herbs and pepperoni -- that they don't realize that someone is descending the staircase to join them in their little den of conspiracy theorizing and planning.
The figure hears things like burnt to a fuckin' crisp and Virtual Adept and pauses, mid-step; there's a navy coat covering the man's upper body, jeans on the lower and workman's boots laced on his feet. He pauses, the Chorister with the intent, midnight-blue eyes -- but he doesn't so much as make a whisper of sound. It's unsettling how he manages this. To simply be in any given place without notice.
Especially when Chuck has just finished noting that the security is impeccable.
[Nathan Spriggs] Nathan looked at Chuck for a moment, before sighing and deciding to say one last thing on the matter. "It's not about confidence in your ability, it's about knowing their security is out the ass. If you want to go ahead and risk it, I warned you so that's that." With that, he turned to Emily and answered her question instantly. "No, it was a guy by the name of Renegade, with 3s instead of Es."
He decided to go back to telling them the information instead of arguing with Chuck, though he took a step back just in case something happened. He also focused solely on Emily now, if Chuck started screaming and oozing blood, he'd just turn around and walk away. "So back to the information..."
"The clean-up crew was contracted out by two companies called Blue Skies Security Services and Blue Water Waste Disposal. My contact heard that Blue Skies has been involved in operations, foreign and domestic, for 'national security', in Iraq and Afghanistan, as ARMY base security professionals and so on. He's heard they're tied to some parent company called, guess?! Barnes-Leibowicz United Engineering."
"They're involved in everything, military, government, financial world, everything. Also, as I said, they apparently have Awakened on their side. Am I the only one who is putting two and two here?"
[Littleton] Nonplussed. It was the safer expression between nonplussed and frustrated to the point of clenching her jaw. Emily went for the nothing phases me anymore end of the spectrum, but it didn't loosen her fingers on the V-dept's leg.
"Putting two and two together and coming up with Technocrats?" she asked, still not entirely up on the security lapse that speaking the devil's name aloud promised. And this is the part of the conversation that gets back to Owen. Her voice, tight and controlled (wearied) speaking that word. It's a warm welcome, isn't it?
"We threw that idea around in the car," Emily says. But, for now, she's less excitable than Nathan. She has every reason to be scared witless, but it's not showing. Yet.
[Littleton] (( By request: Manip + Subter, dif 6 ))
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 3, 6, 7, 7, 8 (Success x 3 at target 6)
to Nathan Spriggs
[Carmichael] "Yuck, creepy shit on the biomed front." That's with a shudder, and then a glance up and over at Emily that has a hand pulling off of the keyboard for long enough to wrap around her shoulders and pull her close. Friendly, that (and more). He hasn't yet noticed Owen, and mentioning impeccable security hadn't taken meatspace into account, but the guards on their wifi connection; it's a student hang out, sure, but not only students are here. "I mean, some of mine would get off on it, sure. Better living through technology, whatever. If I get hit by a car and am paralyzed or something, leave that shit alone. No crazy exoskeleton for me."
And then, "Em's right. Two plus two doesn't necessarily equal Techies, though it's certainly a strong possibility from what we know, especially considering your friend. Who I've never come across, so I can't vet him. How do you know he was V-dept?"
Arm comes back to himself, and there's more typing. More information to be had, no doubt.
[Nathan Spriggs] [Subt + Perc in response]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 7, 7, 7, 8, 8 (Success x 5 at target 6)
to Littleton
[Littleton] The hug helped. But only for so long. Then Emily's nudging him with her shoulder, all but making grabby hands at the laptop (I need to know this) as she gets into his space to look at the screen over something he'd said.
"Crazy exoskeleton?" It piqued an odd curiousity, just this side of alarm. That much was not hidden from either of them.
[Nathan Spriggs] Nathan nodded, at their words, but his gaze seemed to scrutinize Emily's expression, trying to tell what she felt. He knew something was off but he couldn't grasp where, still he shrugged it off and turned to Chuck. "I never said it was Technocrats, that's the two and two you think I mean. Mine's just the fact the accident is no accident. Though nice to know you consider the possibility too." With that, he leaned back, looking at the computer and then back at Chuck.
"Any chance of showing us or telling us exactly what you found on the matter?"
[Owen Page] Owen takes a seat across from the gathering; he's not directly in everyone's eye-line but he can overhear what they're saying without a great deal of fuss. He glances at them in passing, especially when he recognizes Emily's voice, and the tone implied by it. His hands still in the act of pulling some texts from a bag; but then resume the transaction.
He throws open a book, and braces his elbows either side of his body; reading, but also listening.
[Owen Page] [Perception + Awareness, anything on this frequency? anything? Bueller?]
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 2, 5, 9, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6) [WP]
[Littleton] Owen might pick up on the faintest threads of resonance that clung to Emily, like stray cat hairs or forgotten thistle down. It's eased away from her over the space of a few hours, so it's less palpable and clear. An odd note for an Orphan, Reverence: clear and plaintive (static).
There is also a tension. Worry. Concern. Something shouldered that she could not carry on her own. She is out of place at that table, between Chuck (to whom she has warm feelings) and Nathan (for whom she feels something shy of scorn). Whatever game is played between her and the Cultist displeases Emily.
to Owen Page
[Carmichael] He's already moved on from there, but there's some clever keystroking that brings him back to that screen to show Emily what he'd seen as he says, "Each of the Blues picks up from their fields, obviously - not tons of talent, but a handful of the best and brightest from all over the place. They actually seem like a pretty good company to work for if you want that sort of thing, but I'm firmly of the belief that if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Also, no one smiles that much at work, or even on their company's campus. It's probably stock photography."
[Owen Page] The blend of emotional flavors at their table is nothing short of staggering; it's a wonder the Orphan can even stand it. Owen is studying the page he's reading with a set jaw; a muscle ticks in it and he gives in after several moments of re-reading the same sentence to the desire to check the dynamics again between the trio.
His features are again drawn into what will, if he's not careful, be renown as Owen-is-brooding-over-thoughts expression. Then his pizza arrives; and all bets are off if he wished to remain unnoticed; not with the rich smells wafting as the waiter sets it down.
[Littleton] Emily pours over what Chuck's brought up, clearly with some sort of directed search in mind. She's looking for something that links (that explains) what she saw in Kate's pattern to the research Blue Sun is doing. But it's not readily apparent, and she releases Chuck's laptop back to him with a creased brow and a frown shaping her lips.
There's a shake of her head, and then the moment passes. Whatever she'd been looking for wasn't there; concerns unfounded (unconfirmed).
She settles further back into the cushion of the booth, keeping close to Chuck on their side of he table, and is (finally? [blessedly]) quiet for a moment.
[Carmichael] Blue Sun has come out with several advanced robotic systems to help amputees. Including attachable exoskeleton rigs that help to take the place of lost limbs. And special brain-body interfaces, to help replace lost ears and eyes. There are some mentions of research into the replacing of certain brain functions by computer chips, but it says it's in the hypothetical development states so far. Vaporware. Stuff not built yet. There's no mention of nano-tech, specifically, but they do mention some development of genengineered retroviral immune system boosters and things like that.
to Littleton
[Nathan Spriggs] Apparently he was cut out of the loop after all, or at least considerably as he wasn't allowed to see what Emily saw. It annoyed and aggravated Nathan more than slightly, enough so that he made a hidden fist inside his coat pocket that was so tight his nails bit into the skin. He looked calm on the outside, nothing was wrong, he'd been honest, he'd told them what he knew. They on the other hand, for all their complaints about power plays, were keeping a hell of a lot close to the vest.
"Any information into the database or infrastructure? Anything to give us any ideas? Or have you not gone that far in?" His voice was calm and steady, the opposite of his current mental state, but he couldn't possibly show it or they'd be all over him with their annoying drama again.
[Littleton] The quiet doesn't last long. Between the topics at play, her conversation with Kate, and the drama that kept spiking at odd (awful) intervals, Emily was feeling a little light-headed (no booze necessary). The smell of pizza wasn't helping, either. It didn't mingle well with talk of crispy friend Adepts or biomedical engineering (on friends).
She slid to the outside edge of the booth, offering them both the same small smile. Uneasy, but covering.
"I'm going upstairs to get some air. I'll be back in a few." There's no lingering touch for Chuck, no scornful look to Nathan. Just Emily, a little less than centered, looking for a patch of moonlight and crisp air to take the edge off of everything.
Her footfalls took her up the stairs and back toward the door. She likely wasn't going far, though, as her coat stayed in the booth beside Chuck. And her things were in his car.
[Carmichael] "Weren't you the one who was worried about what might happen if I went in to deep, like, five minutes ago? I'll do it, sure, but if I'm gonna, Em, I want you to sit somewhere else. I'll tell you what I find."
And he will - she knows that without having to look any deeper into his posture or inflection. Chuck is, for the most part, an open guy. That he's somewhat irritated with Nathan is obvious, as is the fact that he really. fucking. loves what he does. Now, a beer's poured from the pitcher that had been set down with the as yet untouched pizza (a damn good pour, that), and Chuck sips it before cracking his knuckles and pulling out his 'berry to sync something up with his laptop.
[Mind + Corr, leave no trace, fuck yeah, +WP, diff 5 for coincidental, -1 for focus, -1 for taking it slow, extended]
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 1, 4 (Success x 1 at target 3) [WP]
[Nathan Spriggs] Nathan nodded at Chuck's words but didn't comment on Emily's leave, again keeping calm outwardly, he was nowhere near as transparent as Chuck. "I was, then you reminded me you're damn good at what you do. So I figure, if you're gonna do it eventually, I might as well not miss it. Mind if I port some... assistance in, in the form of magic to increase your luck I guess? For lack of a better description." They only got one chance after all.
[Carmichael] "Got it covered," Chuck says. "Just gimme a bit."
[CYA, roll 2!]
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 2, 5 (Success x 1 at target 3)
[Nathan Spriggs] Nathan sat back, looking at Chuck for a moment but concentrating on something else. In his mind, he was throwing dice, playing poker, Russian roulette, those kinds of things. He was looking beyond, at the currents of Entropy, at chance itself. He was looking at how good Chuck's luck today was, to get an idea on if he'd interfere without permission in the end or not.
[Entropy 1; luck-o-vision! diff 5 (-1 resonance, -1 foci)]
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 3, 10 (Success x 2 at target 3)
[Owen Page] [Per + Aware, cuz ... yikes.]
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 2, 3, 5, 7 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Carmichael] "I would suggest," he says without looking up from what he's doing, "that you turn that rather intent look elsewhere before I get distracted."
[CYA, roll 3!]
[Carmichael] [with dice!]
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 5, 5 (Success x 2 at target 3)
[Owen Page] There's enough. Enough for the hairs on his arm to prickle, and his eyes to lift as first Emily passes by, looking slightly green and then for the tell-tale feelings to leech out of the booth, picking up strength the longer they lasted. He hasn't touched his pizza yet; and the pie begins to cool as the Chorister pushes out of his booth and rises; headed for the staircase in the Orphan's wake.
He'd noticed her coat, still slung over the booth. He leaves his book open on the table; and his bag beside it. There's clearly nothing in it Owen Page is afraid of falling into the wrong hands. He takes the stairs easily, with the competency of someone who took care of their body. He approaches the Ladies, but doesn't go so far as to rap against the door. He just takes a seat; and waits it out.
[Nathan Spriggs] Nathan turned away from Chuck, playing cards instead on the table, he decided not to chip in, not to assist. If he was going to be arrogant and idiotic about it, fine. But when he failed, if he did, Nathan would make sure to make him eat it. He was putting everyone at risk with his arrogance, not accepting outside help to smooth things over. There was no such thing as a safe place, if he failed, they'd be tracked down, no doubt about it.
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 3, 3 (Success x 2 at target 3)
[Carmichael] Just a little more fidgeting. A wee bit more. The focus is astounding, really - given how caffeinated and bumbling he usually [seems] is, and all.
[CYA, roll 4!]
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 2, 10 (Success x 1 at target 3)
[Littleton] It's not long before the door to the rest room opens, and Emily steps out with her head down, clearly not expecting to see anyone in the hallway. Especially not Owen, seated in a nearby chair. She's running her fingers through her hair, and still looking a little unwell.
She stops, though, when she sees him. Emily's expression is not as soft and unguarded as it had been in the Church. It is colder here, and though she smiles (faintly) in greeting the warmth of it doesn't truly touch her eyes.
"Hey Owen," she says, even as she's moving past him. Emily expects that he's waiting on someone else, and she fully intends to find a place to stand that does not smell like charred anything-flesh or overly gooey cheese.
[Nathan Spriggs] Still playing with his cards, minding his own business as the oversensitive VA kept on truckin'.
[Carmichael] And from there, one more thing - enhancing focus and concentration.
[Mind 2, diff 5, -1 focus, -1 slow cast, +WP]
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 3, 9 (Success x 3 at target 3) [WP]
[Owen Page] Owen gets to his feet when the door to the rest rooms opens and Emily steps out. There's something gentlemanly about the manner he does it, too. Like it's something his mother might have taught him as a little boy. You get up, Owen Page, when a lady enters a room, you weren't raised in a barn like a piglet.
Hey Owen, she says, not quite as warmly as before and he's stepping in time with her, making it clear she's the reason he's up here. "I saw you downstairs," Abrupt, but not rudely so. Merely a sort of quiet conciseness. "Noticed you leave, are you alright?" His dark eyes probe her face, concerned, but not prying. There's no demand in body language or voice.
[Carmichael] And now! Now, for the serious stuff. With a glee that's born of doing something he truly loves, Chuck dives into the hacking, spidey senses on high alert for if he's caught. And, being a cocky SOB, he goes straight for the big dogs.
((Which will require a mini-scene with Rage tomorrow, so! We shall say it got done and results will be somehow gotten to the people here who need to know. Because that sort of hacking takes several hours, anyway.))
[Littleton] When it's clear that he's come upstairs for her, Emily's footsteps slow. They're near the door now, and the cold coming off the big front windows is calming (somewhat). His look is returned, deeply blue eyes (only dark in this half-light [unnuanced, unshaded]) skimming his features without reading too deeply.
"I'm alright," she says, repeating his choice of words, broadening that small careful smile just enough to show good will. "My head's just a little light and I wanted to get some fresh air," she added, explaining her exit (stage left).
Emily's arms folded lightly across her middle while they spoke, in quiet tones and off away from the rest of the pizza parlour patrons.
There's a pause, and then she asks, "How's your night going?"
[Owen Page] [Why Miss Littleton, are you LYING to this nice young boy?]
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 2, 2, 6, 8 (Success x 2 at target 6)
to Littleton
[Littleton] ((No sir, Mr. Page, I most certainly am not.))
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 4, 4, 6, 8, 10, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)
to Owen Page
[Nathan Spriggs] Nathan gave Chuck a card with an address on it for the info dump on his part. He'd rather get it directly than wait for answers whenever Chuck found something out. With that, his business here was done and he was off for the night.
[Carmichael] (And I'm out. Thanks for the play!)
[Owen Page] They might start to wonder, at some point, about where she's gone and why that person sitting over at the other booth [tall, dark hair, taciturn sort of disposition] is also gone. Maybe that's weird. Maybe at some point when he's not preoccupied Chuck is going to frown and go, wait a minute -- or, maybe not. Maybe there are just too many damn maybe's at play.
Upstairs; Emily is alright, but Owen is scrutinizing that face and deciding for himself that even if that's so emotionally, she's clearly still not feeling a hundred percent physically. So he nods toward the front door. "If you still want some, I'll come stand with you." She asks him how his night is going, and he seems surprised that she asks, it throws him a little, enough that a corner of his mouth hooks in a crooked smile. There's something boyish in it; a throw back to earlier days when maybe he was just a boy and he looked at girls that way to make them flutter or just smile back at him.
"Middling, I'd estimate. I stopped by to order a," he laughs, and raises a hand to scruff at his hair, gesturing at the themed menu. "Tolkien fashioned pizza, I'm a little embarrassed to admit."
[Littleton] She laughs a little, at the Tolkien pizza comment. It's a tigheter sound than usual, somewhat faint and less resonant, but it's free enough. "I'm not keeping you from your dinner, am I?"
This is asked as she pushes open the door to let them both out. Emily doesn't wait for Owen to open it for her (etiquette fail), like a proper young lady might. There are still notes of headstrong youth threaded through her early adult persona.
Outside she finds a cold wall to lean against, letting the chill bleed through her sweater and into her bones. It helped, almost as much as she'd expected. She leans her head back until it, too, rests on the wall, and looks up at the sky (tempestuous [fair chance of rain]).
"How much did you overhear?" Emily asks, her features unperturbed and somewhat calmly comported. She doesn't ask if he overheard, but rather how much he did. After a moment she tips her head and casts him a sidelong glance. Owen is sneaky, tricksy, and Emily knows her way around half-truths and dimple deceptions.
[Littleton] ((edit: *simple deceptions)
[Owen Page] Okay, confession. He's a gentleman, but there are limits to it. Or maybe he's just not thinking that standing outside might be refreshing for a moment, but freezing after a few of them and he should take his coat off and give it to her. Maybe he's not considering that not opening the door for her is rude, and lacking chivalrousness.
"You are," he admits without hesitation as they step into the chill, and Owen's hands unerringly find his coat pockets. "But that doesn't really mean I mind being kept from it by speaking to you." From another guy, that might have sounded cheesy, from Owen, in his calm, straight-forward manner -- it's nothing but the truth. She asks him how much he over-heard, and he again admits without waiting. "Pretty much everything from charred bodies onwards." A beat, he glances at her.
"Ashley came by the Church to see me. She wanted to check me out." Now his eyes dance, like he knows exactly how that sounded. "Make sure I wasn't a bad influence."
[Littleton] Owen's eyes dance and Emily's mouth turns upward in a more familiar expression, a lightly wry smirk. "And are you?" she asks, brow raised, eyes nearing dance-like amusement, too. But not quite reaching it. There is something serious (troubled) there, easily caught in the moment of that playful exchanged.
"You missed the meat of it, then," Emily said, easily and without reservations. "I'm not sure I'm the best to fill you in on it, but there's something odd about the accident near campus..." She lets the thought die out before it gets to ominous, to foreboding. "Chuck and Nathan are looking into it. One of the injured is a student of mine, so I sort of am as well."
Emily picked her head back up, rolled her shoulders against the cold. Curled inward a little from where she leaned against the wall. It was helping, but she wouldn't be able to stay out here for long. "We should talk about it, maybe, but not tonight."
A pause. "I'm..." Alright, she'd told him, but that was clearly not the case, "A little worn out." Seemed like a fair enough (honest enough) way to sum things up. Emily hid less (or hid fewer things intentionally) from Owen than the others.
[Owen Page] And are you?
There's an element of flirtation to this exchange, a playful little intermission in their separate lives that lasts only as long as it takes for Owen to breath out a breathe of laughter and lower his head a little. "I was," he confirms, and glances back at her, his smile at once wistful and warm. "I was not so long ago."
And now, Owen Page?
What were you now?
One of the injured is a student of mine. Instantly, he's focused again; quietly keen on her expression, each one that's writ into the lines of her face. A hand emerges from a pocket to briefly, briefly touch her arm at the junction of elbow. "I'm sorry that she was hurt," a beat, he nods. "You need to rest, take a break from all this." He nods over his shoulder, toward the downstairs; his cooling pizza, Chuck.
"I'll let you go, talk to you soon." He turns to pull open the door, stops. "I moved, by the way. Ashley has my address, if you ever need a friendly face." With that; he ducks back inside.
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