<> <> <> <> <> * Threnody is sitting at a table enjoying a pot of tea (real tea, which he paid for through the nose if necessary), waiting on Kat and Roch, who he invited by e-mailing Kat shortly before nowish. <> * Katherine walks in. She's wearing the same stuff she was before, weapons and all. She shakes her head once she hits the room, and then looks around. * Rochelle steps in immediately after, also looking around. She put on an old ballcap, but otherwise, she looks same as always. Skin's still peeling. It really looks quite pleasant. * Katherine sees Thren, and starts walking over. She's got a flat look on her face. * Rochelle notices when Katherine does, gives Thren a kinda wave, and follows. Lemming. * Threnody looks up and nods at the two ladies, then takes his cup with both hands and sips a bit, eyes closed. Presumably they can find their way to his table without falling over. * Rochelle succeeds! She didn't even need to roll. Time to sit, which she does without hesitation. * Katherine sits down too, a little forcefully. Thud. * Threnody smiles (eyes still closed) over the rim of his cup at Roch. "Have some tea, if you want. It's not plant-water, if that helps." <> * Rochelle peers at the tea, then shrugs to herself. "Sure." She grabs a cup and pours some. * Katherine frowns for a second, and then pick a bunch of rolls off the tray. "That tea offer open for everyone?" * Threnody blinks at the servbot, then eyes the menu for a moment and hmmms. "I'll have the 'A set', please. And a side of curry rice." (A lunch! Curry rice!) <> * Threnody watches it go, then blinks and looks back to the table, tilting his head at Kat. "...why wouldn't it be?" * Katherine smiles very faintly. "'Cause you weren't looking at me." She pours herself a cup as well. He wasn't lookin' at anybody, really. * Rochelle sniffs at the tea, then has a sip. Hopefully, it doesn't kill her. <> Yeah, but you can't say, 'You weren't not looking at me,' and have it make any sense. (Like hell it is.) (In a sushi bar?) <> * Threnody looks between the two ladies quizically, then sips his own tea and closes his eyes again as he does so. "So... about Ronnie." (Thank you.) * Katherine takes a sip too, then starts eating the rolls she ganked. * Rochelle looks at Thren, then Kat, and back. "Yeah?" * Threnody sighs and puts down the cup, eyes still closed. "Rather than skirt around it, I decided I wanted to tell you as much as I felt I can. Which... won't be everything, but it should be enough." He opens one eye and trains it on Rochelle. "I'm hoping you understand you're sworn to secrecy." * Rochelle blinks at Threnody. "Why'd I tell?" * Threnody closes the eye again. "Why wouldn't you? I had to ask." * Katherine adds, "It's not really very light, Roch, s'why he's saying. Heck, I wouldn't do it in a bar, but I'm paranoid like that." Yeah, all right. * Threnody mms faintly, then opens his eyes, looking at Roch. "Let me start with a question. How much do you know about what the Europa Team did, so many years ago?" <> * Rochelle shrugs, putting her elbows on the table. "What everybody else knows, which probably isn't too much. Basically what I could see on the 'net and all." (Yay! Being a bitch is good for something!) * Threnody mmms faintly and nods, tracing a finger around the rim of his cup. "I'm guessing you know that more went on than what was in 'Halfway to Europa', right?" He looks at Kat, as if asking if she'd said anything previous. I don't know, but it's kinda a given. So I figured. * Katherine takes a large drink of the tea, and leans on one hand, elbow on the table. * Threnody mms again, then nods. "Well... how to start." He pauses and sips his tea again, then lets out a long, slow breath as he lowers the cup. "So, I was thinking about that cafe where we met..." He says distractedly, smiling a little. %% Try to keep up the cover conversation. I think this is safest. %% (That was to both of them, BTW) (And the plan is to make it so Kat can 'hear' Roch.) * Rochelle blinks. "Okay? What about it?" There's a pause and she thinks, %% I don't know if I can. %% %% I can feel the headache at trying this already. %% %% At least it's safe, though. %% (I can whip up a more private booth in the back if you can't quite manage it.) <> * Threnody takes another sip. He looks a little... strained, but smiling regardless. "I don't know. I was thinking we should go back someday, when we have the chance." %% If you have a better suggestion, I'm all ears. This is difficult work. %% (Well, Kat or Roch can see and suggest that, then.) <> %% We could just go somewhere else. Hey, your food's here. %% %% If you're attached to eating, we can go to the booths back there. I'm thinking I'll need a little more food myself. %% * Threnody nods. %% Okay by me. %% He stands up, grabs his plate and the teapot, smiling at Roch. "Would you mind getting my cup?" <> Nah. * Katherine turns to the menu/servbot. "And you, uh... how about you get me a D set? And we'll be moving over there." * Rochelle brings the tea and all. <> * Threnody nods and walks over, having a seat and smoothing out his jeans as he does so. "Thank you. It's not easy playing Telephone with people's thoughts." He rubs his head. You can probably feel the headache. * Katherine follows, with her cup, since she had it already. Sits down on the same side Thren does, too. * Rochelle can't really, she hopes, and sets Thren's cup down. She sits on the opposite side with her own tea. You're welcome. God, how do you do stuff like that? Hard enough just talking to you. * Threnody breathes out and picks up his cup. "Very carefully." He takes a sip, then mmms. "Where was I? How to start. Basically..." He takes a deep breath. "Basically... ATC was probably run by human beings, once. It's not that way now, though. Hasn't been that way for a long time." * Rochelle blinks. "Yeah?" * Katherine starts eating her other roll. "Yeah." * Threnody nods. "The 'person' in charge in the time of our parents..." He stops and, expertly breaking a pair of chopsticks, picks up a chunk of eggroll and eats it. "...was an artificial intelligence called the Cube." Artificial intelligence? Computers and stuff, right? * Threnody smiles a little, taking another bite of eggroll. "The truth is, Katherine would know more about it than I would. But yes... basically, a computer. A very advanced computer with a human-like mind, but still a computer." * Rochelle nods. "Okay. But the Cube's not running ATC anymore, right?" Mmm, tea. * Katherine says, "That's Ronnie's job." * Threnody nods. "The Cube is gone. Ronnie... 'Rondure'... is his replacement. She's an AI, too. What you saw in California was a body she controls remotely." * Rochelle thinks about that, then nods again. Okay. And most of ATC doesn't know about it, right? God no. Hell, we might have pushed it over 15 total... beings, just by talking to you. <> * Threnody nods. "Almost nobody knows. A lot of other things were covered up afterward, but I don't know how much to tell you. Some of it's probably not safe to know." * Rochelle ohs. "Okay." She has another sip of tea. * Threnody picks at his rice. "I think my mother only said anything at all, because she wanted me to be prepared for being her son. I think she knew someday I'd inevitably be dragged into ATC's affairs." * Katherine smirks. "Better to be prepared, I'd think. Inevitability's a bit much." * Rochelle shrugs, not saying a word about Anders. * Katherine starts to mow through the food. She's servicable with the chopsticks. "Well, think about how people would feel about the full story, though. Manipulated, controlled, plus human level artificial intelligence around here, god, never mind all the other shit." She mutters curse words around her food. * Threnody nods slowly. "The truth is, the Europa Team are responsible for Ronnie being where she is. They... 'hatched' her. Well, Tim and Vernon did, anyway. She's programmed to be very benevolent toward humanity." ( *grumble*) (Shut your hole, basketball.) (Like father like daughter.) * Katherine adds, "But the problem with that is she can screw over individual people, if she wants. Always the problem with the stupid 'Laws of Robotics.' What do you fucking expect when you let a fiction writer make up your rules?" * Rochelle blinks. Laws? * Threnody looks at Rochelle. "There's... an author named Isaac Asimov coined the word 'robot', on Earth a hundred or so years ago. He defined certain 'laws' that robots must follow." They're a basic hiearchy that puts humans before everything else. That'd make sense, I guess. * Katherine snorts. "Yeah, makes sense. I mean, if you're going to force someone to do something, might as well benefit you and not them." Well, yeah. * Threnody mms around eggroll, nodding slowly. "But smart people can always find ways around the rules. That's what bothers me about Ronnie." * Katherine nods. "Well, the way around the rules..." she pauses, and adds, "In the books, I mean, was always that if you were sure it was good for humanity, you could do just about anything. Which is the justification every whackjob uses before they go on a killing spree, or tortures someone, or whatever." * Katherine smiles thinly. "Sorta off track, though." * Rochelle tilts her head. "Not every whackjob. But yeah, I see. Only she'd have to make sure she really thinks it is, right?" * Threnody mmms, interspersing finishing off his curry rice with tea. "No, it's relevant. Think about it. Everyone in this little mess so far... haven't they all been claiming to be the authorities on what's 'best'? And that's what the Cube said at the very end, or so I'm told. That it was all for the best." * Katherine smirks thinly, and says softly, "Man... fucker was almost right, too." (Keep in mind he was Casey Kasem at the time.) * Rochelle looks at Thren and Kat again, but doesn't say anything. She has another drink of tea instead. * Threnody mmms and pokes at the last of his dinner idly with a chopstick. "Maybe. I don't know... I wasn't there. I only know what I was told secondhand. I try... not to think about it too much, though lately I've just got a weird sense of deja vu." * Katherine says, with a sullen look on her face. "Probably my fault." * Threnody raises an eyebrow, then sips his tea and smiles, tiredly, at Roch. "So that's why you felt she wasn't alive. Because she's not." * Rochelle nods. * Katherine eats the last part of her food. * Threnody eats the last of his eggroll. "Truth be told, if you're going to be manipulated into doing the bidding of a mysterious entity with knowledge beyond our ken, you can't do much better than Ronnie, and Anders is proof you could do far worse." * Rochelle finishes off her tea and puts the cup down. "He wasn't that bad. Just wrong." * Threnody mms and leans his elbow on the table, putting his chin in his hand. "I wonder... I wonder why you were right and he was wrong. I wonder what the difference was..." * Rochelle shrugs. "Probably just works different. I'm not always right, either. Close, but." She looks thoughtful for a moment. "About most stuff, anyway." * Katherine takes a deep breath, and leans back in the booth, silently. * Threnody looks at Roch over the rim of his teacup. *sip* "You seem to take being wrong better than he does." * Katherine says, "Roch takes everyting pretty damn well." * Rochelle smiles a little and shrugs again. "Maybe 'cause it happens more. I dunno." Little stuff, like... we were s'posed to kick Vwoof away instead of pet him. * Threnody blinks. * Rochelle seems to unfocus for a moment, looking past Thren, and then nods. "Yeah, that's what was supposed to happen. But it's a small thing. The bigger it is, the more I'm right." * Katherine chuckles. "Fate was probably just trying to save you the food bills. Or maybe was just playing the numbers." Or maybe that's the difference. Maybe. I dunno if there's really a such thing as fate. Guess it doesn't matter so much. * Threnody fills his teacup again. "Anders would have kicked the dog away without question, I think, if that was what he saw." Yeah, probably. * Rochelle gets more tea for herself. * Threnody sips again. "I suppose in the end it doesn't make any difference. What's important is what you do or don't do." * Katherine chuckles faintly. "Sounds good to me." Then she leans forward, elbows on table, face in hands. * Rochelle has a sip, sets the cup down again, and tilts her head. "She's gonna say hi." * Threnody blinks again. "...what?" In a minute or two, I think. R's stopping by. * Threnody pauses, and to his credit is only surprised for a moment. He then sips his tea and sounds (to Kat, anyway) quite a bit like his mother. "That's incredibly irritating." * Rochelle shrugs. * Katherine wipes her face, a bit, then starts wringing her hands. "Ah, who gives a fuck anyway?" <> "Hi!" * Rochelle looks over and waves. * Katherine smirks, but a little weakly for her. "Should we call you Pope Ronnie, then?" * Threnody smiles over his teacup. "Evening." "No. That's next year's goal. How are you guys doing tonight?" (Isis: "If you didn't already know, we wouldn't be talking to you right now.") * Threnody looks into his teacup. "Intermittently mellow..." He takes a sip, closing his eyes. "...and troubled." <> "That's not good. Would it help to tell you I was listening in, but that I didn't really have a choice in the matter?" * Rochelle blinks. A flash of anger crosses her face, and then it's back to normal. "Why?" * Katherine rubs her face again, and says throug her hands, "Not really, but I'm not surprised. I remember the Fruitcake." * Threnody says nothing. Sip. "Self-preservation algorithm. You used my real name, it triggers all sorts of alarms. I'm really sorry. I purged as much of it as I let myself, if that's any consolation." * Threnody opens his eyes and looks at the screen. "Miss Rochelle could tell something was amiss, on Earth. I felt she was owed an explanation." "Ah. All that went out the window, I guess, because I don't remember any of it. You guys like the food?" Haven't tried it yet. I have a biased palatte. * Katherine says dryly, "It's good." "You should. Some of them are my own recipes. Some of them are Prag's he left to me." <> "I needed to talk to you guys anyway, and this is easier. You got the payment?" (What did Prag DO, anyway? Go home?) (Chain of resturants.) Payment? (He kind of melted into his restaurant chain.) (Aha.) (She made it sound like a willed gift.) * Katherine nods. "Yeah. Quarter-mil, Roch, for services rendered." She smirks. "Services rendered. What a joke. You could have totally done that yourself." "I couldn't get the full payment through the auditors, I had to drop it back to 100kcr each. Sorry about that." * Threnody shakes his head. "No, she couldn't have. Leo had to be there. You'll have to trust me on that." * Rochelle blinks a couple times. "Shit, that much?" She rubs at the back of her head. "That's all for a while, though. I had to pull strings to get you guys that much." A while? * Threnody says, with a tinge of uncharacteristic anger, "I didn't need to be paid and you can take it back, if you want." "Look, I'd give you guys a running budget, but I can't do that without throwing up flags." <> "I try, you know? Is there anything else I can get you?" (Isis: "A giant electromagnet.") * Katherine says angrily, "Running budget? I don't remember being hired to do anything else! Hell, you won't even let us leave the base!" * Threnody sips his tea. "I have two things that I want, actually. They're worth more to me than money." <> * Threnody pauses a moment. "I want to know who your suspects are, first." "You can guess two of them. Our good friends, the Cloud, and that errant remnant of the Cube floating around." <> "The other two you also might think of. The Concordat and the aliens they were 'working for'." <> * Threnody winces. "I was afraid you were going to say even one of those, not all four." * Katherine rolls her eyes. "Yay! Only thing we fucking need is enough alcohol for everyone. What the fuck do you mean, remnants of the Cube?" * Threnody smiles embarrassedly at Rochelle. "We'll explain everything, I *swear*. Just bear with us." * Rochelle nods at Thren. She doesn't seem really bothered, but hey. "Sure." "You, I think, should remember almost as well as I do. Remember? The Cube was transmitting itself somewhere when you killed it. It must have gotten enough to compile, and it must have managed to keep its survival programming, because I can't find a trace of it anywhere." <> "And I can't discount any of them because I can't track any of them except the Concordat, and them only barely." "I don't even know if the Cloud still exists." * Katherine blinks, and then starts rubbing her face. "... Fuck," * Threnody nods slowly. He takes another sip of his tea and seems remarkably calm, all things considered. "Then I think my second request is warranted. I want... I want to see Vernon Marcus." Sip. <> "That was expected. And I can give him to you. Where do you think those girls are going?" * Threnody ehes embarrassedly again, and smiles at Katherine. "You were right." * Katherine looks up at Thren, and smiles weakly. "Well, that puts me at 2 for 3 tonight, I think. Fucking hell." * Threnody mmms faintly. Sip. "I know he'll know about the artifacts. But... he might also know about what I felt in Trish's mind. Or at least have some leads. I think that's the clue to finding out who's responsbile." <> "Now you know how I feel, Kat." <> "Definitely. That's why they're going there. I have a hunch, but I don't really want to blow it quite yet. I'd feel awfully stupid if I was wrong." <> * Katherine smirks. "No, now you know how I feel. How do you drink, anyway? Simulated effect?" * Rochelle swallows some more tea and watches. <> "It's for show. Believe me, if I could get drunk I would be a lot less high strung." * Threnody sips his tea. "You should consider tai chi." "I don't have nerves to soothe. And that "masseuse" program Vernon whipped up just makes my head hurt." * Threnody actually sputters into his tea at that, and spends a good few moments mopping at his face with a napkin. "Anyways. I'll let you guys enjoy the rest of the evening. Have fun, you know? And get your rest. It's worse than before." * Katherine smirks. "I haven't had a good massage in years. That didn't sound so bad, until you used the word Vernon." * Threnody emerges un-tea-stained and loopy-looking but mostly okay, and nods. "We'll take it as it comes." <> "See you later. And hope I didn't confuse you too much, Rochelle." <> * Rochelle blinks a couple times. "Uh, yeah." * Threnody ehes and replaces the lost tea. Sip. "So... do you want the explanation now, or later?" (The truth is that I am actually Jennifer, and Kat is GORDON, Defender of the Earth. Deme is our super robot.) (Gordon's going to get a fucking drink.) Uh... lemme see if I get this straight. * Katherine says, "I fucking give up. I'll be back in a damn second." She walks out of the booth. * Rochelle blinks as Kat leaves. "All right." * Threnody winces a little, but nods. "Alright." * Threnody continues to drink tea, throwing a glance at Rochelle as he waits for her to continue. He is not testing Gleemonex. <> * Katherine does come back in a second. It's a tall glass filled with rum, which she thuds down about a half second before she sits down. Anyway. You guys sort of... made R? Only you didn't, because you couldn'tve been alive then. So when she's talking to you, she's talking about your parents. * Threnody blinks. "...in a way, yes." * Katherine takes a drink, and then says, "Yeah, that's the fun part." * Rochelle nods. "Okay. So maybe they told you about all this stuff, but I dunno why they'd tell you everything, or why she'd know." * Threnody looks into his teacup. "My mother told me everything she could, because she knew this would happen someday. I'm pretty sure of that." * Rochelle nods. She looks at Kat. * Katherine sighs, saying weakly. "I guess I didn't make that clear." She takes a big swig, wincing slightly, before saying as quickly as she can with it still making sense. "I've got my mom's memories. Up to the second I was concieved, I think, but it's not very fucking clear. So that's what she was talking about." * Rochelle blinks. "Twenty-four power? That's... weird. No offense." * Katherine says angrily, "No, you're fucking right. But it's not a 24 power. Can't be. Some other garble-de-crap." * Threnody nods and pokes a finger at his skull. "To be honest, it's probably something that happened to our parents, though we don't really know what. There's so much it could be, how would you know where to start looking?" * Katherine nods, and adds softly, "It's... I think the Cube knew. There's something wrong with all of the Europa Team members. I remembered it a bit ago." And Ronnie seems to know. Sorta. * Rochelle nods. * Threnody shrugs a bit. Sip. "In a way I don't want to know. What is, is." * Katherine takes another big drink. "God, I really just don't care anymore." She says, "She mentioned the Cloud, right? Cloud's a bunch of nanites that do freaky shit to creep people out. Lots of glowing blue." * Threnody looks down into his cup. "It's much more dangerous than it sounds. If the Cloud really still does exist, it's... a big deal." * Rochelle scratches at her head. "Okay." Don't worry, it doesn't really make any sense. The only damn thing that makes me comfortable is that if it were the Cloud, we'd probably know. Cloud likes to taunt. Kinda like that Kant guy. But bluer. And with more clones and destruction and a lot of dead bodies. He's very conspicuous. * Katherine nods slightly, takes a small drink, and then just puts her face in her hands again. * Threnody sips, then suddenly furrows his brow and grabs the menu, waving for a kobun. "I don't think it's him, though, if the stories are right. What happened to them was too... structured. It's hard to describe." He also mocks Kat. Mock mockety mock mock. Wait. It? It doing what? * Threnody blinks, then ohs and nods at Rochelle. "Ah, I forgot, I didn't really tell anybody..." Somebody did *something* to Leo's sisters' minds. It just felt... deliberate. Like someone had dipped their brains in PlayDunno or something. * Katherine takes a deep breath through her hands, and then looks up again. Doesn't say anything, though. * Rochelle wrinkles her forehead. "So someone's messing with Leo? Or his family, or something?" * Threnody nods slowly. "Someone or something started that whole mess. I don't know if it was to get at Leo, or to get at all of us as a group, or just for kicks... but it was too structured to be random." <> Timing was also pretty damn weird too. Just in time for him not to be busy, by one day. * Rochelle rubs at her arm. Still peeling. "Yeah." * Threnody finishes his tea. "I think... for now all we can do is wait and see what we can turn up. But... people are going to have to decide how involved they want to be from now on." * Katherine says annoyedly, "Depends if thehy're going to be allowed to fucking leave or not." (Done, prly?) (It doesn't _feel_ done. @_@) (Um... Roch is a rock and I was trying to give her time to say something. ^_^;) (Yeah. ^_^;) (^^; I don't know what to say!) * Threnody tilts his head. "I don't think... I don't know. You might be right. But Ronnie might have learned from her predecessor's mistakes." * Rochelle hesitates, then says, "I think they're allowed, but..." She stops. "I'll sound like Anders." * Threnody blinks. "How do you mean?" I said it before. There's something about us, if we're all blue. Like... Back home, me and Kat ran into each other all the time, even though I was tryin' to avoid her after a while. Like there was no stopping it. * Katherine smirks faintly. "I 'member that. It was weird, but not much I could do about it." * Rochelle nods. "Yeah, me neither." * Katherine takes another drink, and sighs. "So you think we're all sorta stuck? If we don't all leave, we can't leave at all?" * Threnody mms faintly and tilts his head. "I wonder how that gets determined. Celestial lottery, maybe?" I want another ticket. (A vast Pachinko machine, Thren.) * Rochelle looks at Thren. "She doesn't like us." * Threnody looks back at Rochelle and tilts his head. "...you mean Ronnie?" * Rochelle grins that small grin she has. "Nope. Kat." * Katherine frowns, and looks over her glass at Roch. "That ain't funny, kid." * Threnody blinks, then chuckles a little and smiles, closing his eyes. "I know. Maybe that's why it's important we're around her." * Rochelle snickers and breaks her attention from him, blinking at Kat. "What?" * Katherine looks between the two, and shakes her head. "Not funny at all." (Wow, it feels LATE.) (Heh.) Aw, fuck, it was a joke, right? Doesn't matter what I say. * Katherine takes a small drink. * Threnody mutters and looks around for the servbot he asked for a long while ago and which has not shown. "I am suddenly really hungry." He brightens. "Maybe I should do a little Bostonian restaurant tour. This IS technically a sightseeing trip." * Katherine says softly, "They're not letting us out through the gate. You'd have to sneak out." Or get Ronnie to let you. Maybe she'd listen to you. * Rochelle shrugs. "It can't be too hard. Can it?" Which one? Sneaking off, or asking Ronnie? It's doable. * Threnody stretches his arms behind his head. "What makes you think she likes me more than you?" * Katherine takes another drink, and says, "Because she doesn't ignore you or keep telling you what you remember." Doesn't matter. You can try to ask her, though. Worst she can do is increase our guard. * Katherine rubs one of her shoulders. "I'm done with the drink anyway." * Rochelle looks at Kat, then Thren. "I guess we're done, then? Are we done?" * Threnody blinks, looking sort of dazed. "I... guess so, unless there's anything else you want to know." He signals for another servbot. <> * Threnody smiles, then points at the menu with a finger. "I'd like from here..." He trails it down about four lines. "To here. And another pot of tea." <> I don't really get what you already told me, but 's fine. I'm gonna check on Vwoof, I guess. * Katherine nods. "Enjoy, and g'night. Sorry to put all this shit on you, Roch." * Threnody waves. "It'll all become clear eventually." * Rochelle shrugs easily. "Was born with a lot of shit. You know how it is." She moves the curtain aside and steps out, heading off. * Katherine raises her glass at the retreating and invisible Roch, but doesn't take a drink from it. * Katherine turns to Thren in the booth. "Quite an appetite, Thren. Or just sampling?" (I'm gonna keep watching, if you don't mind. ;P (I didn't know we were still going. ._.) (I didn't either.) (Sorry, I kept talking. Silly me.) * Threnody mmms and looks up at the ceiling. "A bit of both." * Katherine nods slightly. "Yeah, sure." She leans forward, arms on the table, pushing the glass to near the other side. "I was thinking of trying to get out of the base earlier, since you were a tourist, but I didn't think you would go for it. Sorta funny." * Threnody blinks, turning his head down. "Well... really, I doubt Ronnie thinks she can KEEP you here, and she'll know where we go anyway." Well, that won't stop the guards at the gate from trying, and I've been kill and maim free for a day. Didn't want to break the streak if they got overzealous. * Threnody frowns. "That's not funny." (Or you could ask.) (or end. Or anything.) * Katherine leans her head to the side, Thren's direction. "You're right. Just some dark humor in a bad mood." She blinks once, slowly. "It's worth a shot if you wanna ask Ronnie, or break out, or whatever. Better than sitting around here." * Threnody shrugs and looks at the Pope. "Well, you're listening, right? What's your opinion?" (Lead us, oh great Space Pontiff!) <> "Only idly listening. And I can't drop guard, but I CAN tell you you can get out gate 13. We've had punks snap that lock all the time." * Katherine snickers. "Well, I'm a punk. And Thren was a punk a week ago." * Threnody sniffs indignantly. "It was an ill-chosen act of rebellion." His hair is still 50% purple. * Katherine smiles faintly. "But not a bad looking one." * Threnody sulks. "Flattery won't save you." "I've got the veep of CEC on the line, and he won't shut up. You need anything else?" * Katherine sits up with a faint smile. "Yeah, I know, but it's still fun. Thanks for the info, Ronnie. Any recommendations for the tourist?" * Threnody gives Ronnie a somewhat tired smile. "Make that servbot forget I just ordered 142cr. worth of sushi?" * Threnody adds, as an afterthought, "And 10cr. of tea." * Katherine laughs a little. "It's on the house, honey." But nobody's going to be here to EAT it. Give it to the guards or something. (Want some butter, honeychild?) "Can do." <> * Threnody stretches. "Gate 13, huh? It's like being in high school." He stands up. "I'm anxious to leave before the fish shows up." * Katherine nods. "Avoids all the nasty questions." She scoots out and stand too. * Threnody summons cherry blossoms and leaps upside-down through the ceiling in a daring ninja escape! * Threnody actually just walks out the door at a fast clip. <>