01. video, webcam.

[betroth]

[ Good eve, Numbers Club. Say hello to a big pair of baby blues all up in the webcam's business for the two seconds it takes to scoot back and allow it to refocus.

A pocket-sized blonde sits on the other end! ]

Ah — ! You do work both ways! Thank goodness. I didn't think of this number for a long time, until I started to hear that awful buzzing noise just recently. I thought maybe it had an expiration date.

[ She lifts a hand to tuck some hair behind her ear and clears her throat. ]

A-anyway, hello, my name is Chloe... I've done what reading I can since I learned I could, um, connect. Things seem very... chaotic for everyone right now. [ Her look turns soft. Are you ready to be helped, are you. ] It's only natural to be wary, and I can't offer very much, but I want to help however I can! So please consider it. My family owns a little bit of property outside of Locke if anyone needs a place to stay where there aren't so many people. The buzzing is also quieter. I promise you wouldn't be imposing, but if you're worried about that, the upstairs of our barn has been renovated into a room since we had our new stables built. It's kept very clean. And I own a truck, if anyone needs help getting around.

[ SHE CAN TOO SEE OVER THE WHEEL WITHOUT A BOOSTER SEAT SHHHHHH SHOOSH just

getting that out of the way, okay.

There's a short pause as she chews on the inside of her cheek. ]

I have one more question! Since it seems like we can share memories among ourselves... does anyone have memories of flying? Or more precisely, being propelled through the air. It's — very unique.

Comments

[betroth]

I see. It'd be... logical, then, to attempt to draw a line down from what we already know about those in power. These "Gardeners", Thunder, the military, and the police, of course. But it gets complicated around Thunder and the military. How many directions that line branches in at those points is crucial, don't you think?

[ And also daunting. Tuning Towers, the art gallery, even the subways. It'd lead to dozens of lines, from general owners to contractors to construction workers and everyone in between. ]

However, I — ah, no, we — shouldn't ignore that there are innocent parties among them!

[ Which is what gets her most, as much as she wants to help. ]

[somesayinfire]

Yeah, there's got to be people who are just trying to 9-to-5 their way through life without realizing what their bosses are doing. We can't just paint them all with the same brush. And that's not even a "just following orders" kind of thing.

I don't know a lot about military strategy, or whatever, but it seems to me that we need to figure out who's heading the entire thing. If it's just one person or if it's a team or whatever, they're the ones who know everything that's dangerous to us. And we need to deal with them. [she tries to sound confident, but it's a weak charade.] And... hopefully everything else will just fall into place afterwards.

[betroth]

There's no denying that accomplishing that may... have consequences for us, and many others. A ripple effect. If our true enemy is as unreachable as what little information we have says, then we have to be careful. For the sake of those people.

[ She doesn't know very much about any of it in kind, but it doesn't stop her from pulling every string she's capable of to try and find the logic in it.

Mostly. ]

But I want to do just that! If we don't, things will just get worse and worse. Thunder — mm, I'm sure of it, Thunder Corporation should be our immediate concern.

[somesayinfire]

Yeah. That's the problem with going in guns blazing that all the movies seem to miss. There are always other people who get affected by what you do.

Do you think we could do, like, a reverse sting? Put somebody we trust inside Thunder and get them to second in command, then have them get promoted to manage the fallout after we remove whoever's hunting us down.

No, that's probably too complicated to pull off. Heh, here I am talking about movies never work and I give you the plot to the action movie of the summer.

[betroth]

I think I saw that one! [ Because all work and no play makes for an awful outlook on things. ] We're in an extraordinary circumstance that might require extraordinary ideas to make it through.

Still, not only can something like that be dangerous, but it almost seems like it'd take too long to accomplish. Time may be the thing we've been underestimating.

[ She smiles patiently, and haplessly. ]

But listen to me, when I don't even know the places to snoop about yet.

[somesayinfire]

Hopefully we at least have enough time on our side to formulate a plan at all. I'm not a huge fan of being struck down like a bolt from the blue.

[a thoughtful pause.]

They're called Thunder, so they might actually be able to do that. I just wish we had any more information on them. Forget stings, we need to start some kind of, like... information gathering thing. There's nothing illegal about doing research, as long as you define "research" right.

[betroth]

I should try to dig through the network a little to see what we've found. The information is very scattered and personal, so I feel as though I've only scratched the surface.

Would you like help?

[somesayinfire]

At some point, yeah. [she smiles at the very generous offer.] I want to lay some framework down first, if I can. Given how nosy the cops are getting, I don't know if I want to go snooping too much yet. You know what I mean?

Still, I really appreciate it, Chloe. I'm really glad there's so many people like you around here.

[betroth]

You're very welcome. There's other ways to go about this that don't put us in such immediate danger, and if we can... we should know what we're fighting as well as we're able.

[ Halting as she is, she is absolutely certain in her wording. ]

And of course. It's nothing so special, but anytime, Brooke.