Episode 82
Gerald sighs and gradually rolls his head side to side on his pillow. Closing his eyes, he stills himself and drifts his mind away from the background conversation filling the small bedroom. Samantha paces down the middle wood plank walkway in the upstairs space and draws a plotting grin across her face, pivoting towards the threshold leading to the balcony. "We've GOT to do something with this new strife between Chad and Veevi, Howie!"
A distant chuckle sounds out, and Howard's voice resonates into the room from Samantha's aetherphone. "Oh, I agree. I got the feeling this was going to happen at some point... But, didn't quite expect it NOW. BUT... We can definitely use this to our advantage."
Samantha smiles with an evil tinge, lifts a plotting eyebrow, and ponders out loud. "I know. We haven't even pulled out the usual tricks for triggering a little drama this season. I could do some tweaking on their lodging arrangements, and get two three-person rooms instead of three two-person rooms."
Giggling with sinister glee, she steps with an extra spring across the room. "Veevi facing rejection with her emotional fragility... Let's put her with someone who actively hates her AND someone she desires. That should lead to some show-worthy moments."
Howard speaks up from the other side of the call with an agreeable tone and pushes forth suggestions. "Yes. Good. And, Chad might get some backing from the other guys to break off his relationship with Veevi. Hence..."
With an excited hop in place, Samantha's tone squeaks out eagerly. "Ooo! Fresh exes having to work with each other AND live in close quarters. And, Veevi on the rebound?! Oh, that's going to make things interesting!"
A sly smirk graces Samantha, and she tosses back her brown shoulder-length hair. "SO much potential there. But, it honestly might take some time for it to... Cook... Properly. In the meantime, any progress on the Modoran haters front?"
An uncertain hum sounds out from Samantha's aetherphone, and Howard hints his intrigue. "A little. I've gotten the community forums people using their fake fan accounts to goad them into saying more, and some are trying to get on their good sides. But, no solid information, yet."
He drags out a groaning sigh from the other side of the remote conversation, the rap of fingers on a desktop peaking over the background noise. "Despite how much they despise Modoran, it seems the whole thing about keeping outsiders out of Evuukian House politics is still one thing they stick to. They are very tight lipped about any specific details. The forums people still don't know exactly what Modoran did to piss them off. About the only thing they've come up with is that Modoran MIGHT have been a member of a house."
Samantha's eyes widen briefly, and she cocks her head to the side puzzling. "Really? I wouldn't be completely surprised. But, if he was a member of a house, he certainly doesn't advertise it like most the prominent house members do."
Narrowing her stare off to the side, she twists her mouth. "THAT would explain quite a few things."
Gerald slowly opens his eyes, furrowing his brow, and comments towards Samantha. "Yeah, that would. I thought it was REALLY weird the looks a lot of those evuukian nobles were giving him. Some nasty glares at the archery competition."
Searching her mind, Samantha sorts through her memories and gradually nods in agreement. "Yes. I remember that. And, he definitely seems to know A LOT about evuukian politics. But, what house? There's so many major and minor ones out there. I'll have to dig deeper on that one."
A contemplative twist colors Howard's tone over Samantha's speakerphone, and he suggests. "Yes... Actually, have the crew review all the footage with him in it and see if there's any hints in what he's saying-"
He pauses a long time. Samantha narrows a confused stare at her aetherphone, the call time indicator continuing to increment. Many seconds later, a quiet chuckle grows forth into an evil, bellowing laugh, sounding out fully into the room. Drawing a long breath in, Howard's voice adopts an ill-humored tinge, and he plots out loud. "Actually... I have a better plan. Let's have a poll... An anonymous poll... One of those goofy ones..."
Lifting his head up from his pillow, Gerald blinks perplexed. "Okay... So, what's the poll about?"
A verbal smugness exudes from the phone in Samantha's hand, and Howard triumphantly calls out. "What Evuukian House would each member of the Flames of the Phoenix belong to?"
Gerald glances around in confusion, sorting through the logic. Samantha quietly pauses and grins ear to ear mischievously. "Oh... That's good, Howie. A little fan involvement, and that definitely could make Modoran sweat."
Howard ponders out loud, instructing the two. "That's part of it. There's another part. While it will take a while to get more details, I'm going to tell the aethersite and community team to require forum registration to submit a vote. And, while it's publicly anonymous, we'll track who casts which vote."
With a hint of a dark chuckle, he states. "I get the feeling our Modoran detractors will vote."
Gerald blinks, the logic settling in his mind, and nods in agreement. "Yeah. They probably would. Hell, that might work better than you could ever get by asking them."
Rolling his dark brown eyes dismissively, he groans out an incredulous retort. "Well shit, you might as well set up a fan poll about which crime each member would likely be guilty of while you are at it."
Howard's voice goes silent on the other side of the aetherphone call, and Samantha blanks her face in contemplation. Moments later, Samantha pivots, facing Gerald with a devilishly delighted grin, and aims her voice towards the phone. "Did you hear THAT, Howie-"
A prompt reply sounds out, Howard chuckling eagerly. "Already on it! Thank you, Gerald. We could definitely use that and similar to help the researchers out."
Gerald grits his teeth briefly, releasing a regretful sigh, and turns his head away, rubbing his forehead. "No... problem... Anytime..."
Whispering to himself, he grimaces. "Gods, I'm SO sorry, you guys..."
Gerald sits up on the bed and slides himself onto his feet. He quietly escapes the room out onto the peaceful balcony. Samantha and Howard hash out future polling schemes.
Flying underneath the scattered clouds above, Lagi's front wings minutely adjust to the stirring air currents, his back wings propelling huge gusts of wind behind. With calculated movements, his fanning tail sways, stabilizing himself, and steadies his position in the thermals above a huge parking lot below. Kaleb motions between a number status screens floating in the holographic display in front of him and drums his fingers on the saddle. Leaning forward, he pats Lagi's side and sighs into the microphone in his helmet. "Just a little while longer. Took a lot of really high resolution pictures and the client wanted them uncompressed."
Lagi flutters his bright green eyes back to awareness, eyes back at Kaleb, and grunts out an acknowledgment with a purr. Closing his eyes, he adjusts the facing of his armored head and eases back into a chill trance upon the winds. Kaleb chuckles to himself, settling back securely on the saddle, and sorts through the different messages on the translucent screen. A few minutes later, a final prompt flashes up, and Kaleb stretches his flight jacket covered arms out. He waves across the screen, and the holographic projection fades away. Leaning down upon the saddle, he grips hold of a pair of handholds tightly and calls out. "Finally! Upload is done, and they just sent confirmation of receipt. Damn, that took long even being this close to an aether tower. Oh well, let's head home!"
With a powerful downwards swing, Lagi breaks away from his midair coast and launches himself forward faster with each flap. Pitching down slightly, he trades altitude for velocity and soars above the roadways of the small town commercial district. He flies with the afternoon sun to his back, piloting through the air towards a familiar destination, and occasionally glances down upon the ground, spotting the landmarks.
An elaborate chime sounds out through the drone of the wind around Kaleb, and he taps the side of his helmet. "Yes, my love?"
Shadeesa's voice sounds out in Kaleb and Lagi's headsets with an inquiring tone. "I'm feeling like cooking a few of my grandmother's dishes for dinner tonight. What do you think?"
Shrugging his shoulders, Kaleb leans over, noticing Lagi licking his lips in anticipation. "No objections here. We just finished uploading the photos for the guild contract and are heading back."
Traces of concern color Shadeesa's worried hum, and she pries. "Oh, damn. How far are you from home? I want to do proper emin cooking, for once, but I'm fresh out of the right seasonings. And, you know it won't taste right if I substitute too much."
With a comforting laugh, Kaleb pats the side of Lagi and directs Lagi's attention towards a large superstore on the horizon. "Doesn't matter where we're at. For good cooking, we'll make the trip. And, Lagi seems in the flying mood today anyway."
Tilting his body, Lagi gracefully swings around, reversing his direction, and cuts through the air with his wings and tail. A happy chirp sounds out through the air and over the radio headset. Shaking his head, Kaleb chuckles. "We just were near the super center in town. Just message me the list to my phone, and I'll go get it."
Shadeesa's voice warmly rises from the call, and she delights. "Thank you! If they don't have it all there, you might try the import shop. But, they can be a little expensive..."
Kaleb warmly reassures, pointing out towards an open field next to the parking lot ahead for Lagi. "Don't worry about that. We're getting paid for this job, so we can live a little tonight."
A little pause later, Shadeesa sighs lovingly and giggles softly. "Well... See you two soon. Love you both."
Lagi purrs out, and Kaleb nods. "Love you, too."
Kaleb taps the side of his helmet, pats Lagi's shoulder, and glances down at the empty field far ahead. "Okay, let's head to the store. There's going to be some good greasy pans for you to lick clean tonight."
The large dragon excitedly chirps and powers his wings against the air towards the vacant grassy lot.
In front of the large super center, a young man with slicked back hair wanders between entering and exiting customers with a pamphlet and bucket. Presenting a concerned smile, he shows a flier to a passerby. "Hello, my name is Marcus, I'm representing People for Dragons Rights. Would you like to make a donation to our cause and take a free pamphlet about how you can help let these beautiful creatures fly free?"
The emin man in overalls furrows his scrutinizing brow at Marcus, slowly shakes his head, and walks into the super center. "I'll think about it while I'm shopping."
The emin man walks away, and Marcus fails to keep a bright grin, it fading off his face. "Not a problem. Keep us in mind if you have change you don't want after you've checked out."
In the lull of foot traffic, Marcus slumps his shoulders and slowly plods towards an old van. He knocks on the sliding side door and sighs. The door opens up, and a young woman with dark gray skin and braided red hair peeks her head out. "Hey, Marcus! Any luck?"
Slowly shaking his head, Marcus pushes the van door fully open and sits down on the floor of the vehicle interior, passing the bucket of sparse change over. "Not really. Gods, I don't know, Cind. We might need to head back to Amaranth. Don't think people here care about dragons at all."
Cind pats the back of Marcus's colorful t-shirt and smiles encouragingly. "Don't say that. I'm sure people care."
Rising from underneath a blanket, a young emin man with chipped and broken horns yawns, and greets the other two. "Yeah, man. Don't count them out yet. They might just not have a lot of money to just give away..."
Scratching his shaggy beard thoughtfully, he shrugs his shoulders, pondering out loud. "I don't know... Maybe we should, like, really give merchandising a chance. Nothing big. Maybe some cool t-shirts and airbrushing. We could totally get some cheap stuff, spray some cool looking dragon stencils on it, and totally get some money."
Cind blinks with an eager grin and cranes her head around, glancing at Marcus. "Kell is right! I mean, people might not give away their money freely. BUT, we could totally sell them on arts and crafts!"
With a long sigh, Marcus rests his chin upon his fist, propping his head up with his arm contemplatively. Rocking his head side to side, he huffs out his frustration and grumbles. "I guess. Dammit. I thought we were doing good when we released all those whelps at that show. I mean... We planned it out. It went perfectly. And, it got noticed! I really wanted to do another big thing before we have to go back to college."
Laughing with a goofy, reassuring grin, Kell stretches his arms out. "Aww, don't beat yourself up, man. It's been a fun trip. Kinda nice to know we can get it together this much. And man, you got to stop being too focused, else your chance might pass right by you."
Marcus groans half heartedly and rolls his dark brown eyes. His gaze briefly shifts upwards. A shadow casts down upon the surrounding area, and a low rushing, thump whooshes past. Blinking back to attention, Marcus quickly searches the area and watches the dark spot upon the ground quickly grow, zipping across the parking lot towards an empty field. Cind's bright blue eyes widen, and she points up into the air. "Look at that!"
Shifting his stare upwards, Marcus gawks at the large dragon quickly dropping altitude for a landing. Kell squints his purple on black eyes, grins happily, and nods his head. "Whoa... That's a big boy right there. He's got to be pushing a fifteen meter wingspan-"
He reflexively points out. "Dude! He's got the second pair of wings, too! Oh man, he's a rare one. That's too cool."
Shooting up to his feet upon the pavement, he glances back over his shoulder to Cind and Kell. "Well, it looks like he's landing over there. Let's check this out!"
In the middle of the open field, Lagi folds up his wings, kneels down, and tilts to the side. Kaleb unbuckles himself from the saddle, swings his leg over, and slides off Lagi, landing on the ground. Brushing himself off, he stretches out his back and pets Lagi on the side of his head. "Okay. You stay here. I'll try to be quick. You want anything?"
Narrowing his eyes in thought, Lagi darts his gaze around his mind and emits a series of clicks, chirps, and purrs. Kaleb scratches his chin, mulling over the request, and starts to walk away. "I'll see what I can find. But, you are going to have to ask your mother if it's okay for you to have tonight."
Sitting upright, Lagi nods and watches Kaleb jog off towards the superstore. Seconds later, the breeze picks up over the tall grasses, and he sniffs the air. Tracing a faint smell close to the ground, he carefully steps around the field. Following his nose, Lagi pushes through the taller grasses, halts abruptly, and purrs contentedly. His large maw opens, and he clamps down on a large mass of plant life with loud crunching.
Marcus, Cind, and Kell trudge through the thickening grasses and stand near Lagi in awe. Marcus glances over his shoulders at Cind an Kell, plotting. "Okay. The rider is away. Let's see if we can get close and get that saddle and gear off of him."
Nodding hesitantly, Cind studies Lagi from a distance and starts to approach. "Let's see if he's friendly. Looks like he's eating something."
Kell narrows his stare at Lagi and the riding equipment and shrugs at Marcus. "Sounds good, man. But, there isn't that much gear on him. Actually, it just looks like the saddle and a few other things. Probably got some kind of tracker and stunner gear underneath."
Marcus leads the approach, the trio moving closer to Lagi. In between stretches of munching on another mouthful of flora, Lagi's bright green eyes dart back, observing the approach of the three people. Watching them attentively, he returns to sniffing the ground, hunting. Cind walks around towards the front of Lagi and notices the mass of blackberry brambles in Lagi' mouth. The dragon crunches down casually on the thorny vines, and she grimaces uncomfortably, puzzling. "Why is he eating blackberry plants?"
Dropping her gaze down, she finds a nearby patch full of berries and observes Lagi licking the mashed berry juice off his mouth. Cind gingerly picks a handful of fruit and approaches the dragon. "Hey. You want the berries? Here! That way you don't have to fight the thorns."
Lagi's attention slides quickly over to the hand of berries in Cind's hands, and he steps close to her. He opens his mouth, waiting patiently. Cind tosses some of the fruit into Lagi's anticipating maw. With Lagi munching happily on the fruit, Cind distracts the large dragon and sneaks out a signal to the others. Kell and Marcus slink towards Lagi's side. Kell pulls Marcus's attention towards a few harness points. The two try to reach out, and Lagi side steps away. Backing away, Kell and Marcus cautiously approach again, making another attempt. Lagi's wing shifts down and brushes the two away. Stepping back, Kell scratches his head and shrugs his shoulders at Marcus. "I don't know, man. He seems pretty against us touching that. And, you know..."
Kell squints his purple on black eyes at the gear on Lagi. "I'm not seeing a bridle anywhere. Or actually, like, any restriction devices on him."
Summoning up his determination, Marcus dons a casual facade, gazing away, and peeks out the corner of his eye. Cind tosses another handful of berries into Lagi's maw, and Marcus rushes over to Lagi's side and grips the support strap buckle tightly. A loud, reverberating growl echoes out into the area. Freezing in place, Marcus slowly turns his head and meets the glaring bright green eyes of Lagi. He slowly releases his grip and gradually steps back under the cold stare of the dragon, holding his hands up.
Parting through the small crowd at the end of the field, Kaleb glances around with two bags of groceries in his hands and squints at the three people around Lagi. Rolling his light brown eyes, he shakes head, marching over, and grumbles to himself. He stops short of the group between him and Lagi, draws a long breath, and calls out. "OKAY. What THE FUCK are you people doing to him?"
Marcus narrows his stare, puffs out his chest, and points to Kaleb. "WE are members of the People for Dragon Rights! And, WE are trying to LIBERATE this dragon from your slavery!"
Blinking in surprise, Kaleb cringes visibly and drops his head of short dirty blonde hair down. "Of course... They would fucking find US."
He draws in a long breath, furrowing his brow unamused, and leans his gaze around Marcus and Kell, calling out to Lagi with a series of clicks, whistles, and growls. Lagi glances over, munching upon another handful of blackberries, thinks a moment, and replies with a chain of purrs, chirps, whistles, and a particularly low growl. Kaleb nods in understanding, sighing. "Listen, we got to go. I need to go home and help with dinner."
Crossing his arms defiantly, Marcus stands up straight and narrows a glare at Kaleb, loudly proclaiming to the crowd. "Oh! So YOU get to go home and eat good. But, your poor dragon is left to graze the fields and munch on the pitiful scraps of vegetation!"
With an annoyed groan, Kaleb cringes, glances up to the skies above, and shakes his head mumbling to himself. Focusing his gaze ahead, he spots Cind struggling to pick anymore berries from the blackberry brambles and Lagi's drifting attention. "Lagi! You done getting fed organically grown blackberries? Ready to go home to eat nice home cooking?"
Lagi lifts his head up, sitting up straight, and purrs, flexing out his wings. Kaleb quickly sidesteps wide around Marcus, snorts humored at the trio, and walks to the awaiting Lagi. He stows away his groceries in the saddlebags at Lagi's sides, pulls himself quickly into the seat, and secures himself for flight. "Nice talking to you and all, but... WE really got SO many better things to do."
Excitedly unfurling his wings, Lagi stretches out his wingspans, fans out his long tail, and widens his stance. Halting mid process, Lagi coughs. Smacking his mouth, he hacks hard. Kaleb leans over, examining Lagi's face, and rolls his eyes with a shake of his head. "Didn't chew enough before swallowing. Come on, take a deep breath and get it up."
Straining his neck and opening his maw wide, Lagi repeatedly hacks and coughs, the long process quickly growing wet, thick, and messy. In a final gathering of strength, he draws in a large amount of air and expels it. Turning his head sharply, Lagi releases a sticky mass right at Marcus's chest. The blob of congealed phlegm, sharp brambles, and dark purple berry leftovers splatter powerfully onto Marcus, and he stumbles onto the ground. Kaleb blinks in surprise and narrows an accusing stare at Lagi, whispering. "Okay, now THAT was obviously on purpose."
Glancing back, Lagi shrugs his shoulders with an indifferent grunt. He bounds off, gaining escape velocity. With a few power flaps, he and Kaleb lift off into the skies. Receiving the mix of the crowd's snickers and cringes in the background, Cind and Kell rush over and check in on Marcus. Both wince at the sight of Marcus covered in purple speckled, viscous goo, and painfully clingy, thorny bramble bits. Gradually, Marcus sits up. Cind and Kell attempt to carefully remove the sharp branches, and Marcus huffs quietly to the two. "We are going to FREE THAT dragon."
Plodding along the hardwood floors of the hallway, Aristespha rubs her eyes into a pinch of the bridge of her nose and draws in a long breath with her aetherphone pressed to her very long, pointed ear. Twisting her mouth, she grimaces with the voice on the other side of the phone call and gradually releases a long sigh. Regaining her composure, she rests her back against the wall and blinks unamused, her tone remaining positive. "I apologize, I know it is hard work. We all do greatly appreciate your efforts and what you have done."
A disheartened tinge sneaks into her voice, and she drops her head forward slightly, letting her silvery blue hair hang forward. "We were just hoping for more to go off of. But, what you have provided us is still very helpful. It will give us an idea of what to prepare for."
Summoning up a bit of hope, she straightens her posture, stepping away from the wall, and walks towards the hallway archway into the living area. "Thank you. And we will try to be ready to act upon any more information you find out."
With a final goodbye, Aristespha slowly shakes her head at the aetherphone, slips it back into her shorts pocket, and glances around the room. Cideeda narrows her emerald green eyes at the screen of her laptop upon the tabletop and sits back in her chair at the dining table, tapping the fingertips on both hands together. Her furry ears flick and perk with her plotting thoughts, and she grits her teeth briefly at the spreadsheet of statistics and unit points value calculations, the latest rules errata open nearby. Dretphi folds up a shirt, places it upon one of the few stacks surrounding her on the couch, and reaches into a nearby hamper. A dramatic scene of a grath show plays out on the television, and she pauses, watching the tension peak. The camera shifts for the surprise reveal, and Dretphi blinks into an incredulous shake of her head with frustrated mumbles of grath.
Aristespha's violet eyes settle upon the empty, inviting recliner. She swiftly passes in front of the coffee table, plops down into the plush couch chair, and pulls the side lever. The chair back tilts, the leg rest extends out, and she melts into the cushions and sighs. Sebastian's ethereal form drifts in from the hallway, floats above the couch, and lands next to the recliner. Kneeling down, he presents a comforting smile to Aristespha and calmly inquires. "So... How did the call with Hackle go, dear?"
Contorting her face between different emotions, Aristespha settles upon an unsatisfied smirk and weakly shrugs her shoulders. "Not terrible. But... Not great, either."
Sebastian chuckles lightly, rolling his translucent blue eyes playfully. "So, about the usual for us, then?"
With a quick snort, Aristespha slowly nods and parts a gradual smile on her ivory face. "Yes, Sebastian. Typical."
Lifting a curious brow, Sebastian releases a ghostly sigh and glances over to Dretphi and Cideeda. "Want to reveal the details?"
Stretching out on the recliner, Aristespha sinks deeper into the cushions and ponders a moment. "Of course. But, I just wanted to relax a bit and collect my thoughts a little first. Plus, might as well wait until Bach and Sotalia get done with practice."
Sebastian glances out into the sunny backyard and nods in agreement. "Yeah. They'll probably be in soon enough. Looks pretty hot outside."
An ambient drone rises up in the background, and the air conditioning hum speeds up. The gust of air from the wall unit spreads outwards, blowing a few stray strands of Aristespha hair. With a twitch of her long, pointed ears, she closes her eyes and relaxes with a long exhale. Sebastian and Aristespha exist quietly next to each other. Cideeda clicks a few keys on her laptop, studying another set of figures. Dretphi sneers at the developing drama on the television show.
Minutes later, the sliding glass door opens. Bach steps through with a guilty grin and a faint trail of frost mist wafting behind him. Following behind, Sotalia narrows an accusatory stare at Bach, pointing at him. "Okay! You PURPOSEFULLY let those frost blasts hit you. I KNOW you can dodge better than that."
Glancing over his shoulder, Bach shrugs simply and reveals a satisfied smirk. "Yeah... I lost the match... But, I totally won the war against the heat."
Sotalia furrows her brow, rolls her golden eyes, and steps off to the side of the coffee table. Sliding into the breeze of the air conditioner, she pulls open the neckline of her sports bra down and tosses around her damp, fiery orange, wavy hair in the cooling wind. "Well, you could have returned the favor, at least."
Bach pulls a chair out from the dining table and thinks a moment, hiding a humored grin. "Well, you said, use your best attacks. So, I went with the ones that'd give you a challenge. I mean, I'm not the best with throwing elemental attacks around."
Sotalia shifts her weight with a sway, resting her hand on her hip, and stares incredulously at Bach. "Right..."
A sly grin graces her light tan face, and she lifts an examining eyebrow towards Bach. "Maybe you just wanted to see me sweat."
Bach blinks blankly and glances over to Sotalia, puzzling. He awkwardly averts his gaze away from light tan and dark gray skin tone patterns of Sotalia's perspiration coated back. Quickly sitting down at the dining table, he drops his focus over to Cideeda's laptop screen of calculations and rules. Sebastian glances over at Aristespha expectantly and motions towards the rest of the team. Aristespha nods, resets the recliner back up, and stands. Stretching her back out, she hems loudly and addresses the group. "I got an update from Captain Hackle. There is some good news, but not as much as I would like."
Bach, Cideeda, Dretphi, Sebastian, and Sotalia swing their attention over to Aristespha. With a mildly frustrated frown, Aristespha relays the news. "They are still tracking down Noxian. But, the few confirmed sightings of his vehicle put him heading towards Perimeter. They do not know if that is his final destination. He has been avoiding the main highways, so they only have so much information to work off of."
With an annoyed sneer of her upper lip, Sotalia crosses her arms. Cideeda's furry ears droop, and she groans weakly. Dretphi snorts out a sigh and shakes her head. Aristespha draws in a long breath with a sympathetic smile. "I know. Captain Hackle is contacting Captain Hays, since he has more jurisdiction in Perimeter and the PWZ. The GAA authority runs thin out there. So, hopefully, they will confirm he has at least been to Perimeter."
Sebastian ethereal form nods appreciatively to Aristespha, stands up straight, and explains. "I don't think we should make a move until we at least confirm he was recently in Perimeter... Or, at least confirmed to be somewhere for some period of time. I think we've all had our fill of wild goose chases and hoping to hit it on crappy odds."
Around the living area, everyone musters their own agreeing expressions, hints of stale frustration forming. Sotalia rests her hands at her hips, sighing reluctantly, and shrugs her shoulders. "As much as I want to chase him down, Perimeter is really far to just randomly visit on a hope he might still be around there. Gods dammit..."
The collective mood dims in the room, and the team idles in disappointed silence. Aristespha measures the morale, stepping towards the dining table, and calls out with a grin. "I think we need something to cheer ourselves up. I want to try that dessert place down from the game shop. Anyone interested? My treat."
Chuckling to herself, Sotalia walks to the hallway archway. "I'll take a little emotional bribery right now. Let me get into something more presentable... and less soaked."
Dretphi perks up with a smile, finishes folding up a pair of shorts, and digs into the laundry basket. "Allow me to find socks."
Flicking her furry ear towards Aristespha, Cideeda grins toothily and stands up. "Definitely need to stop by the game shop. See the latest units..."
She gazes at Aristespha with an inquiring lift of an eyebrow. "Maybe price out a starter army for someone?"
Aristespha laughs and shrugs shoulders. Bach glances over to Aristespha with a thankful smile. "Hey, uh, thanks for the treat. You sure you want to pay for all of us? I mean, I got my own money... for once."
Gazing down at Bach in his seat, Aristespha shakes her head appreciatively, rolling her violet eyes guiltily. "Technically, it is the compliments of the Evuukian Territories government. My monthly citizen stipend finally got processed out of my government account."
Pondering a moment, Bach blinks with his memory and nods. "Oh, right. Yeah... I forgot they have a basic income system. Always seems weird that such an oligarchic government would allow that to exist..."
Aristespha shrugs her shoulders and sorts through her thoughts with her violet eyes. "It is a complicated issue. To say the very least. But, it actually serves as a bit of an insurance plan for all the oligarchs. Citizens with money tend to spend it. And, when most of the houses are centered around goods and services, they see the returns."
With a long sigh, Bach stretches his neck out side to side, grimacing. "Okay, that makes sense. Kind of wish other governments did that. Would have made it easier to handle rent and bills a number of times."
Blinking at her memories, Aristespha crosses her arms and nods. "It has certainly helped me. Along with the citizen credit system, I have stayed out of too much financial trouble. But, admittedly, since I am not a current resident in the territories or working a job paying territory taxes..."
She snorts dismissively, tugging at the corner of her mouth. "It's not THAT much."
Lifting a curious eyebrow, Bach pries. "How much?"
Aristespha smiles with a chuckle. "Enough to take friends out to get a few treats. Or, a bus ticket back into the Evuukian territories."
Narrowing a distant stare, Bach thinks for a moment and shakes his head. "Still surprised that some politician hasn't figured a way to screw it up."
A smirk cracks out from the corner of Aristespha's mouth, and she perks an amused brow at Bach. "They occasionally try. Usually, it is some new member of a minor financial house that proposes it. Does NOT go much further than that. They usually get REMINDED of what happened the last time a financial house was allowed to dictate any important policy."
Bach furrows his brow and focuses his gaze at Aristespha. "Which was?"
Aristespha chuckles lightly, shaking her head. "OH. A massive crash of the economy. A bunch of financial houses cooked up some scheme, and it COMPLETELY backfired. The remaining houses forced the government to nationalize banking, insurance, and investment organizations."
Blinking in surprise, Bach scratches his chin, narrowing his intrigue upon Aristespha. "Damn. I bet those financial houses weren't happy about THAT."
With a foreboding laugh, Aristespha rolls her violet eyes and rests her hands on her hips. "They were not. But, there were not many financial houses with active members left at that point."
Sebastian drifts next to Aristespha, listening in on the conversation. Pausing in thought, Bach cocks his head to the side slowly. "Wait... Active members?"
Aristespha grins darkly, giggling. "Exactly. Active members. Those living and willing to run the house. Turns out a lot of the financial house members quit, died, or just went... Missing. For very strange and suspicious reasons, too. Only pieces of some were ever found."
Bach blinks away, turning his head towards Sebastian, and slowly shakes his head. "Seriously. Is there not a chapter of Evuukian history that ISN'T filled with sociopolitical strife and questionable events?"
Gritting his teeth briefly, Sebastian twists his mouth and grumbles at a loss. "Uh, not really, bro. It's pretty drama-filled and crazy. It just gets deeper the further you go into it. There's some crazy stories in just the investigations about even crazier things."
Aristespha smiles wryly and perks her brow, punctuating the point. "We tend to season it with splashes of bloodshed and steep it in unsolved mysteries, too."
Leaning closer to his brother, Sebastian contorts his face uneasily and slowly shakes his head. "Seriously, bro. I read up about this one trade union guy and NO ONE... STILL... NO ONE knows what happened to him. Even stranger kinds of magic couldn't figure anything out. It's fucking creepy, man."
Pondering a moment, Aristespha grimaces, humming in thought. "Yes. Him. I believe the rumors state that someone dumped him into the foundation of a government building somewhere. At least, that is the best theory I have heard."
Sitting around the coffee table in the living room, the Flames of the Phoenix team sifts, sorts, and studies documents sprawling over the surface. Chad taps a pencil down a handwritten check list, pacing around, and points at Tassilda. "Okay, Tassilda, any word from Daedrican?"
Nodding, Tassilda scrolls through the long message on her aetherphone and narrows her light blue on black eyes. "Yes. It seems like that particular area is really close to where we got attacked when traveling with their patrol. Strange..."
She leans over from her seat on the couch, searching the map with a finger, and taps a spot. "The predicted crash site is here. And, we got attacked..."
Sliding her long, thick black nail down the printed out map, she stops at a spot along a road. "Here. So... Not too far away."
Chad grimaces out his concern, inquiring further. "Anything else?"
Searching through the message, a bit of relief appears on Tassilda, and she pulls a reserved smile. "It seems that Appaland made a sweep of the area after the attack. Daedrican doesn't know any details. But from the rumors he's heard, they cleared out any trouble in the area."
Nodding at the statement, Chad flicks the pencil, scratching a checkmark on a bullet point. He searches around the room and settles his gaze upon Trakenthin. "Anything strange in the mission information?"
Trakenthin flips through a few more pages, rests the packet down next to him, and picks up a sheet of notes. "Significant mentions of spirit activity. Not surprising. Weird zones in the area."
Deedri's furry, tufted ears perk up. Blinking to attention, she smiles eagerly, searching for her aetherphone. "If that's a possibility, I know someone who could give us advice on such. At least, she'll know what we need to read up on."
Chad smiles appreciatively, confirming with a quick nod. "Any wisdom they could provide would be useful. Please check with them."
Navigating through a few menus, Deedri brings up her contacts, slides through the list, and taps open a new message, Aristespha listed as the recipient. Modoran stretches his arms out, settling back into the couch, and rubs his eyes. Chad turns his head to Modoran and queries. "Um... Anything new on your end, Modoran?
Modoran blinks back to awareness, nonchalantly glances over to Chad, and shrugs his shoulders. "Nothing too exciting. Still trying to figure out the best way to get out there and the supplies we will need. If we get lucky, we won't be out there too long. BUT... If this thing went too far off course or got dragged off by something, we could be out there for a while. I hope we do not need to do a resupply run, BUT... That is a possibility. So, I am charting out a few options, just in case."
Hovering his pencil near the bottom of his list, Chad writes out a few new notes and nods. "Yeah. Thought that might be a possibility. We shall see."
Surveying the room, Modoran glances over at Trakenthin, Tassilda, and Deedri. He settles an investigative stare at Chad and casually motions him over. "Hey, could you look at this route and tell me what you think?"
Stepping over next to Modoran, Chad kneels down and studies the highlighted roads, comprising a few possible route options. "Yeah... I think one of these could work just fine. I don't think there's too many options to get out there."
Modoran nods in agreement, leaning closer to the map, and sneaks a whisper out the side of the mouth. "Where the hell is Veevi at?"
Chad eases out a defeated sigh, rolling his eyes, and gradually shakes his head with a quiet reply. "She's still fucking hung up on being voted down. Still refusing to leave her room for anything apart from show related shit."
Working through the discomfort on his face, Chad draws a long breath in, presenting a positive tone against waning confidence. "Maybe... She'll be better once we are on the road..."
He eyes off to the side with a faint hint of faux hope. "Maybe..."
Modoran glances over briefly at Chad and pats him lightly on the back, nodding. "We, at least, appreciate the effort."
A weak smile emerges from the corner of Chad's face.
Staring out distantly, Nash eases back into his office chair, a long metallic squeak grinding out, and grumbles into a groan. His eyes scan over the long list of unread messages on his computer display. His attention wanders over towards the stacks of paperwork upon his desk. His gaze tries to escape from the impending work, finding no relief upon the row of wall mounted monitors with scattered warning alert messages. Sinking into his seat further, he deflates at the surrounding, building work.
From the office door, a knock sounds out, and the door opens. Harvos reflexively ducks his head down, his horns clearing the doorway, and steps into the room, surveying the scene. With an awkward smirk, he shakes his head and snorts with a commiserating tone. "So... You too?"
Nash slowly shakes his head in silence. Harvos steps over, pulls over a rolling chair in front of Nash's desk, and sits down. Leaning back in the seat, he draws in a long breath and groans. "Good gods. Those investigators have been practically camping out in my department."
Nash laughs and grumbles, hints of frustration slipping out. "Fuck me. If they keep on researching any more of the databases, I might consider offering them residency. I mean, they've technically done more research than most of my graduate candidates at this point."
The two sit in silence, wearily idling, and drifting off into their own thoughts. A minute later, Harvos rubs his temple, drawing in a long breath, and inquires. "Relayed anything more to Aristespha?"
Shaking head, Nash rocks the back of his office in repetitious, faint creaks sounding out, and sighs. "Nothing more really to say. Plus, at this point, I'm pretty sure the investigators know more than me."
Harvos closes his brown on black eyes, rubbing his forehead, and grumbles to himself. The two quietly commiserate in the academic background of the office, the soft sounds of hallway traffic filtering mixing with barely audible drone of desktop computing equipment. A chime rings out from Nash's computer. Squinting at the screen, Nash cocks his head to the side and furrows his brow, puzzling. He opens the latest message, reads the text at the top, and springs his pale blue eyes wide in surprise. "Well. Okay..."
Getting up, Harvos steps around the desk and leans over, checking out the screen of interest. Nash clicks through a few programs, opens up a collection of maps and data dumps, and ponders out loud. "This is from my friend at that one aetherphone network company. Since he got legal clearance to dig deeper, he's been sorting through the rough data logs they collect from the providers using their towers. He found something strange..."
The two study a familiar map of the area with an overlay of wide, color paths approximately following the roadways. Nash slowly pulls his head back, an uncomfortable realization dawning upon his face, and tenses his shoulders. "Oh... Shit..."
Harvos's confusion grows along with his suspicion, and he fights emerging discomfort coming from his subconscious, manifesting into tension throughout his body. "There's something unsettling here. I can feel it. What is it, though?"
Tapping his finger on the screen, Nash gazes at Harvos and explains. "The logs don't contain high resolution position data. It's just what the towers can triangulate. So... Just general area tracking."
He points out the three different colors of highlight and the map legend to the side. "My friend tracked three phones. The two suspicious ones and mine. Now the suspicious phones only came online consistently that day when they got on campus. But..."
Nash's finger circles the colors of the overlay upon points of interest on the map. "Look at the areas they traveled."
Narrowing his analytical stare upon the display, Harvos visually sorts through data and gawks in surprise, the realization solidifying. "What. The. Fuck? One of those phones followed almost the same route as your phone."
Nash nods and taps an end point of the wide, approximated path. "Yeah... We were riding with Dr. Dawkins during that trip."
Blinking in thought, Harvos pulls the free chair around the desk and plops down. He glances over to Nash, worried. "You don't think that Dr. Dawkins is...?"
Nash shakes his head uncertainly, mulling over the idea between moments of hesitation. "No... Not willingly, at least. But... What if Isaac had been keeping tabs on his old boss? Maybe caught wind of him coming over?"
Slowly rocking his head with the theory developing in his mind, Harvos eases out an uncomfortable breath, processing out loud. "Yeah... Isaac sees the opportunity. Gets his accomplice to follow Dr. Dawkins and us. Keep an eye out. Be the lookout for him. Then, Isaac runs in, grabs the whatever he was looking for when no one is around, and clears out. A clean enough operation. That wouldn't have been discovered if it wasn't for those two students."
Both settle back in their seats, working through surges of unease, and grimace in unison, contorting their faces. Nash flutters his eyes in disbelief, shaking his head. "Damn. That's so fucked up. Oh. Shit..."
He glances over at Harvos and furrows his brow with fresh concern. "We really need to check on Dr. Dawkins. Maybe he's noticed something weird at his house lately?"
Harvos nods quickly, scratching his chin thoughtfully. "Yeah... Isaac knows how to use a few of our old cracking tools. I wouldn't be surprised if something of Dr. Dawkins’ has been compromised. He does live on the outskirts of town, so probably no one would notice Isaac spying on him. He lives by himself. So, any time he left would be an opportunity for Isaac to tap into some system or sneak around. Real possibility right there."
Nash studies the map again, grumbling. "Fuck. I wish they kept better logs for tracking data. Too much of a margin of error on the tracking to really nail down specific positions at exact times. Oh well..."
He pauses a moment in through and lifts a thankful eyebrow. "At least... We didn't run into Isaac."
Blinking at the idea, Harvos cringes and shakes his head. "Gods, I wouldn't know what to do in that situation."
Furrowing an amused brow, Nash snorts. "Fuck. That. My fat ass would RUN. Probably have to change my underwear afterwards, but I'd be alive to do so."
Harvos nods in full agreement and continues staring dumbfounded at the data on the screen.