OOC: Happy Halloween! =)
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Legs frowned, "APDs don't work like--"
"--but we got Nemo an' s'a scanner! An' Legs knows his way 'round an APD better'n anyone," Ottilie interrupted, turning her head to give the decipede a hopeful smile. He rolled his eyes, "even supposing their eltag hardware and OS are compatible with ours and could give Nemo the boost it needs to scan for Jerin on a superior level there's no guarantee the infrastructure of one or both units wouldn't be damaged in the process. And it's not like I've got a workshop where I can do repairs if something goes horribly wrong, kitto."
"F'it works, though--"
"--we still couldn't rely on the data being accurate across platforms, especially when Jerin's low body temperature already makes for a difficult scan."
"Could ya please jus' try? E'en f'ya can't find Jerin maybe ya could hunt up one o'the others...?"
"Nemo doesn't have any of their heat signatures on file, though. All it'll tell us is it's picking up mobile forms that give off heat, which could be anything: other travelers, animals, robots, etc."
"Well, what 'bout Junk, or--"
"--yeah. Lets have Nemo, connected to our APD containing all our personal information, attempt to locate Junk, a notorious hacker, via a potentially unencrypted, untested connection. Why don't we just tell Jerin where all our contacts and hideouts are," Legs chattered sarcastically. Ottilie blew some hair out of her eyes, "jus' look at what Kevins workin' with 'fore ya write it off. S'all m'askin' fer. One teeny look. An' I'll think up other things in the meanwhile 'case yer right." Legs made a noise that resembled that of a garbage disposal, but ultimately crawled down her arm, "Nemo. Come on." She smiled, arms crossed loosely, "yer the absolute best, Genius."
"More like the absolute sucker." The insect grouched, Nemo pinging cheerily behind him as he leapt to land at Kevin's feet. Looking up at the gerbil, he pointed at his eltag, "is there any way you could open that up so I could take a look at the parts? Maybe by comparing Nemo's hardware with your eltag's we can determine if they're at least similar enough in that respect to make establishing and sustaining a reliable connection a possibility." While Legs addressed Kevin Ottilie moved to stand by Toby and Henry. Glancing at them, she spoke quietly so as not to disturb the others, "don't mean ta pry, but there's sumthin' I been wonderin'. When we met, ya didn't look nearly so old as ya do now, Henry. S'it common fer kits ta age whole years within a few hours where y'all're from...?"
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"I suppose," Dirac grumbled, "you'd have done better to start with that. Wasted so much time now I doubt we'll catch her 'fore she reaches Miss Ottilie. 'Less she got sidetracked by the Complex again."
"That the little bugger we're waitin' on?" Burnu asked suddenly, nodding at Jack Frost breaking through the canopy overhead. Droning a greeting, it descended to Ball's jubilant reply and Junk's flickering eye, "you are very late," Jerin's primary robot chastised. Twisting, it prodded the back of Jerin's neck with its plug-like tail, administering the equivalent of a static shock. Jerin jumped, blinking, "sorry...?"
"The PIA's agent, master," Junk reminded him. "Probably doesn't matter since odds're we're not gonna find her 'fore she finds Ottilie," Dirac repeated. Jerin frowned, shifting a reel so he could scratch the inside of his wrist, "indeed. And Ottilie can be surprisingly shrewd. Even if we managed to attach Aurora's device to the agent's frame without O's notice I'm not sure how long it would stay that way--"
"--you got all that?" The human interrupted. Jerin seemed just as confused as he, "what...? Didn't you?"
"No, I--"
"--if you weren't paying attention I'm certain Aurora could go over the particulars again."
"No, I was paying attention. I thought you weren't."
"Ah, you were. I was. Wonderful. Moving on." He quickly turned to face Aurora, "as I was saying my dear, although I am fond of Ottilie you have certainly noticed that she is--occasionally--inclined to indulge the more acerbic side of her personality around me..." he looked down, shoulders slumping, ears drooping, "...sometimes I think she reserves it for me exclusively, but I'm digressing. She seems to like that unpleasant girl for whatever reason, and my fear is this: if Ottilie were to discover your manipulation she would surely suspect me of it, and knowing her as I do I believe no amount of saying otherwise would dissuade her from the thought." Jerin paused and ran a thumb along the watch chain round his neck before continuing forlornly, "I'd...rather not give her any more reasons to...to dislike me..."
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"An orphanage--" his tone made Locke snap his APD shut abruptly, "--mind your words, please. My brother and I were orphans and this isn't a Charles Dickens* novel." The other twin appeared, motioning with the now hair-filled vial. Locke nodded, taking it from him, "or Lemony Snicket*, yes." Twitch brushed his hands off and made another series of gestures, "the one on Fleet Street is lovely. Father hasn't taken any from there in ages," his brother agreed, tapping the glass with a claw so the hairs inside sprang apart. "You know...if there was someone to take her here there wouldn't be a need." Dirac looked away, "...don't know anyone who would suit her in this place."
"I'm aware you've two daughters, Mr. Griess, but a salary from any one of my employer's bidders would make caring for a third no trouble at all. Financially speaking, of course," Locke said, his words nonchalantly suggestive, "you seem fond of her." He peered over his glasses at him, "or have I misinterpreted?" The human avoided his gaze. Truthfully he'd have loved to adopt Slug. His wife already considered her a part of their family (though he'd never told the girl) and Pertelote would adore her as the sister nearer her age that she'd often clamored for. But Dirac was too much of a pragmatist to believe in happily ever after. As long as Houiri was alive he would do everything in his power to make certain Slug and Dirac weren't. If both were taken far enough away the situation might be salvageable, but if she was with his family who could say they wouldn't get caught in the crossfire? Who could say they wouldn't be attacked due to what Houiri would surely view as Dirac's own 'betrayal', making his household the last place in the world Slug'd be safe? Who could say whoever took her, good or bad, wouldn't meet with similar misfortunes? More than that though, if he confirmed he was fond of Slug and by extension would like to adopt her Houiri would probably have him beaten that very night for 'plotting against him' or some similar charge. So pushing the other stuff aside Dirac focused on the present and the beating he wanted to avoid, answering accordingly, "like I said, guarding her numbers among my easier duties. I'm fond of that." The doctor pocketed the vial, "my mistake, then." He turned to leave...
*Both have written books about terrible things happening to very nice children, many of whom are orphans (the most famous debatably being Oliver Twist or David Copperfield in Dickens's case, and Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire in Snicket's case). This isn't a bad thing, I'm very positive on Dickens and Snicket/Handler =) Locke is just trying to make a point.
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Legs frowned, "APDs don't work like--"
"--but we got Nemo an' s'a scanner! An' Legs knows his way 'round an APD better'n anyone," Ottilie interrupted, turning her head to give the decipede a hopeful smile. He rolled his eyes, "even supposing their eltag hardware and OS are compatible with ours and could give Nemo the boost it needs to scan for Jerin on a superior level there's no guarantee the infrastructure of one or both units wouldn't be damaged in the process. And it's not like I've got a workshop where I can do repairs if something goes horribly wrong, kitto."
"F'it works, though--"
"--we still couldn't rely on the data being accurate across platforms, especially when Jerin's low body temperature already makes for a difficult scan."
"Could ya please jus' try? E'en f'ya can't find Jerin maybe ya could hunt up one o'the others...?"
"Nemo doesn't have any of their heat signatures on file, though. All it'll tell us is it's picking up mobile forms that give off heat, which could be anything: other travelers, animals, robots, etc."
"Well, what 'bout Junk, or--"
"--yeah. Lets have Nemo, connected to our APD containing all our personal information, attempt to locate Junk, a notorious hacker, via a potentially unencrypted, untested connection. Why don't we just tell Jerin where all our contacts and hideouts are," Legs chattered sarcastically. Ottilie blew some hair out of her eyes, "jus' look at what Kevins workin' with 'fore ya write it off. S'all m'askin' fer. One teeny look. An' I'll think up other things in the meanwhile 'case yer right." Legs made a noise that resembled that of a garbage disposal, but ultimately crawled down her arm, "Nemo. Come on." She smiled, arms crossed loosely, "yer the absolute best, Genius."
"More like the absolute sucker." The insect grouched, Nemo pinging cheerily behind him as he leapt to land at Kevin's feet. Looking up at the gerbil, he pointed at his eltag, "is there any way you could open that up so I could take a look at the parts? Maybe by comparing Nemo's hardware with your eltag's we can determine if they're at least similar enough in that respect to make establishing and sustaining a reliable connection a possibility." While Legs addressed Kevin Ottilie moved to stand by Toby and Henry. Glancing at them, she spoke quietly so as not to disturb the others, "don't mean ta pry, but there's sumthin' I been wonderin'. When we met, ya didn't look nearly so old as ya do now, Henry. S'it common fer kits ta age whole years within a few hours where y'all're from...?"
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"I suppose," Dirac grumbled, "you'd have done better to start with that. Wasted so much time now I doubt we'll catch her 'fore she reaches Miss Ottilie. 'Less she got sidetracked by the Complex again."
"That the little bugger we're waitin' on?" Burnu asked suddenly, nodding at Jack Frost breaking through the canopy overhead. Droning a greeting, it descended to Ball's jubilant reply and Junk's flickering eye, "you are very late," Jerin's primary robot chastised. Twisting, it prodded the back of Jerin's neck with its plug-like tail, administering the equivalent of a static shock. Jerin jumped, blinking, "sorry...?"
"The PIA's agent, master," Junk reminded him. "Probably doesn't matter since odds're we're not gonna find her 'fore she finds Ottilie," Dirac repeated. Jerin frowned, shifting a reel so he could scratch the inside of his wrist, "indeed. And Ottilie can be surprisingly shrewd. Even if we managed to attach Aurora's device to the agent's frame without O's notice I'm not sure how long it would stay that way--"
"--you got all that?" The human interrupted. Jerin seemed just as confused as he, "what...? Didn't you?"
"No, I--"
"--if you weren't paying attention I'm certain Aurora could go over the particulars again."
"No, I was paying attention. I thought you weren't."
"Ah, you were. I was. Wonderful. Moving on." He quickly turned to face Aurora, "as I was saying my dear, although I am fond of Ottilie you have certainly noticed that she is--occasionally--inclined to indulge the more acerbic side of her personality around me..." he looked down, shoulders slumping, ears drooping, "...sometimes I think she reserves it for me exclusively, but I'm digressing. She seems to like that unpleasant girl for whatever reason, and my fear is this: if Ottilie were to discover your manipulation she would surely suspect me of it, and knowing her as I do I believe no amount of saying otherwise would dissuade her from the thought." Jerin paused and ran a thumb along the watch chain round his neck before continuing forlornly, "I'd...rather not give her any more reasons to...to dislike me..."
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Boss Houiri's Territory, Rithm, 8 years ago, continued...
"An orphanage--" his tone made Locke snap his APD shut abruptly, "--mind your words, please. My brother and I were orphans and this isn't a Charles Dickens* novel." The other twin appeared, motioning with the now hair-filled vial. Locke nodded, taking it from him, "or Lemony Snicket*, yes." Twitch brushed his hands off and made another series of gestures, "the one on Fleet Street is lovely. Father hasn't taken any from there in ages," his brother agreed, tapping the glass with a claw so the hairs inside sprang apart. "You know...if there was someone to take her here there wouldn't be a need." Dirac looked away, "...don't know anyone who would suit her in this place."
"I'm aware you've two daughters, Mr. Griess, but a salary from any one of my employer's bidders would make caring for a third no trouble at all. Financially speaking, of course," Locke said, his words nonchalantly suggestive, "you seem fond of her." He peered over his glasses at him, "or have I misinterpreted?" The human avoided his gaze. Truthfully he'd have loved to adopt Slug. His wife already considered her a part of their family (though he'd never told the girl) and Pertelote would adore her as the sister nearer her age that she'd often clamored for. But Dirac was too much of a pragmatist to believe in happily ever after. As long as Houiri was alive he would do everything in his power to make certain Slug and Dirac weren't. If both were taken far enough away the situation might be salvageable, but if she was with his family who could say they wouldn't get caught in the crossfire? Who could say they wouldn't be attacked due to what Houiri would surely view as Dirac's own 'betrayal', making his household the last place in the world Slug'd be safe? Who could say whoever took her, good or bad, wouldn't meet with similar misfortunes? More than that though, if he confirmed he was fond of Slug and by extension would like to adopt her Houiri would probably have him beaten that very night for 'plotting against him' or some similar charge. So pushing the other stuff aside Dirac focused on the present and the beating he wanted to avoid, answering accordingly, "like I said, guarding her numbers among my easier duties. I'm fond of that." The doctor pocketed the vial, "my mistake, then." He turned to leave...
*Both have written books about terrible things happening to very nice children, many of whom are orphans (the most famous debatably being Oliver Twist or David Copperfield in Dickens's case, and Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire in Snicket's case). This isn't a bad thing, I'm very positive on Dickens and Snicket/Handler =) Locke is just trying to make a point.
