[September 13, 2020. Time: 2000 GMT] [Tim gets to Ari's door, I'll let her describe the scene if she chooses to open it.] (Can I use brackets of description? ^_~) (Sure. :P And go ahead and knock or something tim) [Start] (Aww. You're so nice. ^_^) * Tim stands for a moment in front of Ari's door, he's carrying a small portable comuter and a few scraps of paper in his left hand. Evenutaly he reaches up and knocks. [Ari's voice comes from the inside. "Who's there?"] * Tim calls back, "It's Tim, I finaly got that list of books I wanted you to look for together." Ah. I will be right with you, then. Right. * Tim shifts his weight from one foot to the other as he waits. (Argh. I was trying to find where in an old log I'd described Ari's computer room, and I can't find it.) (hey, the longer you take, the more awake I get. ^^;) (Just a moment) (Yay, I found it!) * Ari opens the door. Behind her is a small room filled with computers - some servers on racks and several (probably highly upgraded) desktop machines. A large screen takes up most of one wall, with a chair in front of it that currently has a keyboard resting on it. It's rather dark, and the only sound is the humming of fans. Oddly enough, it's also quite neat. (That all get through?) (Yup) * Ari is currently dressed in her typical t-shirt and jeans outfit, and her windbreaker is slung over the back of the chair. (if you ended with "Oddly enough, it's also quite neat." it did) (Yay!) * Tim waves with his free hand, "hello again, mind if I come in?" I don't mind at all. * Ari steps out of the way so Tim can enter. * Tim walks into the den of the dreaded sysadmin. (Tim steps into a loop of ethernet cable and is strung up by his feet.) * Ari shuts the door behind him. It is dark, though he is not likely to be eaten by a grue. "I believe there's a spare chair in the corner, although you might be more comfortable getting your own." She motions towards one of the corners. (* Teleports out, but blows his acrobatics roll and lands on his head and then falls in the open riser pit trap!) * Tim nods, "I might as well use the one that's in here, I don't think this will take too much time...that is if you've got enough to spair right now." * Ari picks up the keyboard on her chair, sits down, and sets it back on her lap, then wheels the chair to face Tim. "I do. You said you brought the list?" [Meanwhile, there is absolutely no evidence of hordes of ninjas sneaking around in the shadowy corners of the room. None at all, nothing to fear here.] * Tim nods and taps the laptop, "I've got it as a text file and as a print out, just in case." May I use the laptop? * Ari sets her keyboard on the floor. * Tim hands over his laptop, it's a few monthes old, and not the top of the line, but it's small, rugged, and has a long lasting battery...and it's system is nearly patched up to date. (Was it powered on already?) * Tim then reaches behind himself to spen the chair that used to be in the corner so he can sit down in it, "If I'm lucky it'll wake up with the right file open." ("asleep.") * Ari carefully takes the laptop. She then proceeds to grab a neatly coiled cable from one of the shelves and hook the laptop up to one of her systems. After a satisfied nod, she "wakes up" the laptop. "What's the filename?" It's booklist.txt. (and I'm suddenly realizing that I never did make that file. ^^;;;;) * Ari nods and copies the file to her system. She unhooks Tim's laptop and hands it back to him, then brings the file up on her own viewscreen. Tim gets a brief glimpse of her desktop, which is... black. Completely black, aside from a few icons. And, yes, she's a UNIX gal. (I see penguin plushies in her future :P) (Only if there's an Ard in this world. ^_~) (No lunix penguins? This future is deprived ;_;) (And first on the list is Percy Shelley's "Frankenstein.") Do you want me to locate physical texts, or would electronic ones suffice? Physical texts, if I just wanted the words, even I know enough to find electronic ones, and ones that are actualy for sale would be preferable as that way I won't have to give them back again. (What are the rest of the titles?) * Ari nods. "Does age matter? Do you prefer hardcover or paperback?" (There are a couple of old books on the Tarrot, and a few old but not actualy genuine books about magic) Well, for most of these there arn't such things as reprints or paperback versions, like I said, the people I got them from last time around were very happy to get them back. (That's all of them?) (yeah, about six books in total, but there's more stuff to come after. ;P) * Ari calls up a web browser and starts doing a search. (Give me a databases check.) [Ari quickly finds all the books, she finds some of the more common ones at a bit of a discount.] I believe I have them all for you. * Tim blinks, "That was fast! How much are they going for?" * Ari points at her screen. [73.50 pounds, including shipping and handling from a few different vendors.] Would you like to place the order from here? (...They might let you look at a copy of the first printing of Frankenstein for that >_> Ah what the hell, I LURVE TEH FUTURE! :P) Sure. (Oh, right, first printing) (Yeah, the one that was under her husband's name. MARY Shelley wrote it ^^;) (Another 100 pounds then. :P) (Actually, if it's another game, probably 300 pounds. :P I'll fix that later.) (Name) * Tim streaches and cracks his knuckes, "If I had known it was this easy to just up and buy... Nah, I probibly would have done it the hard way anyway." * Ari smirks slightly and hands over the keyboard. "Go ahead, then." [For the record, the copy Ari found was from a government impound.] * Tim doesn't take it and instead holds up one finger, "First teach me your operating system, then, after I've humilated myself a few hundred times, I shoud be able to." * Ari chuckles. "All right. I'll take care of it and just have you enter the relevant information." * Ari proceeds to do so, getting Tim's billing and shipping information when necessary. * Tim gives them freely, shipping is to a nearby P.O. box. * Ari finishes up. "There. Is that all you wanted?" Mhm... not quite. You remember this afternoon, when Red was talking about people trying to take advantage of you good nature and willingness to help? And how you need to be able to realize when somebody is trying it? * Ari blinks once. "Yes?" Good, let me run set of hypothetical questions past you. (Tim pulls a gun on Ari. "Put all those books in a bag." Doesn't work that way, in fact you used your credit card info. Damn.) All right. (Tim has no need of the gun, and he wouldn't bother to ask if he wanted to steal them again. ^^;) (Ooh, big man, with your superpowers. :P) * Tim sits back in the chair, "You are approached by a group of citizens, who are...upset about the way that SAB has been doing things. They have several legitimate reasons for knowing about us, and they want some reforms. But, they can't prove anything and nobody wants to listen to them. So they want you to give them some proof that there is a SAB that they can show to the world. What do you do?" (Shoot the hostage!) (That all go through?) (Okay, I'll stop.) (Yup) (cool) * Ari considers this. "I would direct them to someone else, I think. It isn't really my place to deal with such things." * Tim nods a few times, "It's few weeks later, they try again, but this time they bring out the sobbing widows and the angry siblings. They say that the person that you sent them too isn't doing enough to help and that you're the only one they can trust." I would tell them that I would go speak to the person I sent them to, and then go do so. * Tim grins, "Said person says that he thinks they're being funded by an outside party who wants to weaken SAB, but he needs more time to pinpoint which one. And soon enough they come back to you hoping for good news." Well, the news I would give them depends on what the person I spoke to has found. All he knows so far is that they had a large ammount of money donated shortly before they contacted you, and he's pulling out his hair trying to find out how they found you in the first place. In that case, I would do some investigating of my own. * Tim has quit IRC (Read error: Connection reset by peer ) * WeightofTaki has joined #sabtim * WeightofTaki is now known as Tim (Sorry, wireless network killed by microwave ^^;) (last I saw was In that case, I would do some investigating of my own.) (That's the last thing, yes.) (Ari feels sorry for your network. ;p) * Tim nods again, "And what would you tell them if you found out that they were just being used by one of SAB's rivals? Or if one of them was just using the orginization as a tax shelter and as a way to get back at the people who he blames for a death in his family?" The truth. * Tim nods, "That's probibly for the best. Next question: What can you tell me about the "Association of the Victims of the SAB?" * Ari looks genuinely surprised. "I have never heard of it." (afk for just a moment, keep going) That's the problem with not so secret sociaties, they have to be a secret. But, it's very hard to keep a secret these days as all the computers need to talk to each other, and you know how to listen. * Tim gestures to the room and at Ari during that last sentance. (back) * Ari eyes Tim. "So, this is something you have heard of, and you want me to investigate?" In a round about fasion, yes. It's quite difficult to get answers when you don't want to ask the questions, but seening you find things in seconds that I've spent a few weeks of off and on searching for... All I've got to loose is the respect of a few helpless victems. * Ari thinks. "All right. I will help you investigate this. Do you want me to start now?" If you would be so kind, there are probibly a thousand other things that need doing, but if this could get on the list somewhere, I'd be thankful. It is not a problem. I could work on it as we speak. * Tim gestures at Ari's screen, "off you go then. The only entire name I've got so far is one Dick Crake, but finding the last name of dead agent named Pierre shouldn't be to hard. And the address of their brand new office would probibly help too." * Ari starts typing. "That it would." * Tim unfolds one of the pieces of paper and reads it to her. Do you know anything more about Dick Crake? * Tim leans back in his chair while he thinks. (and RDM checks logs.) The other man you mentioned is Pierre Bodine. EU Special Forces sergeant, killed during one of our operations. * Tim nods, "They've got a Tom too, but I never found out much more than his total loathing of SAB...and everything I know about Dick can probibly be summed up faster by a picture and and a footnote saying *smooth talker and leader type." I don't suppose they have a Harry? * Tim snorts, "She was Harmony, lemmie guess Dick Crake doesn't exist." It's a possibility. I have found several Dick Crakes, but none with an obvious connection. * Tim nods, "Remember what I said about summing him up with a picture? Big burn mark on his face, right here." * Tim points at his own face and moves his finger around the edges of Dicks burn. Aha. None of the ones I found had such a mark. I could try and run search for men with that mark, but even for me it would likely take a while. 'Bout six feet tall, brown hair, caucasion, the axe he must have to grind against SAB should narrow it down a bit though. Possibly. * Ari types some more. If that comes up dry...try to find out where their money came from. There's definitely no Dick Crake who matches that description. * Tim lets out an overly dramatic sigh "Aww, and I was sooo hoping he'd turn out." Now we have to go looking for people who hate SAB and arn't smart enough to come up with good fake IDs. Well, let me see how they acquired their property. I won't stop you. There was a committee set up to fund them, but I am having trouble gathering data. I want to be especially careful. * Tim nods, "Good thing I came to you then." There's one Wendell Smith as well, though that might be another pseudonym. He must have missed the meeting. Meeting? I got myself introduced to the other three, and they've definatly got some information they shouldn't. How did they find you? Left a letter for me at a place I sometimes go for breakfast, and since I was playing meself down, I didn't ask about little things like how they knew who I was or about the last mission I was on. Although the fact that they even asked me tells me that they don't know much about my "family." (and yes the quote marks are just about audiable) Your aunt is quite a formidable woman. No doubt about that. Aha. Here is something. * Tim sits up, "What have you got?" Mister Smith appears to be involved with several different companies. The one he does the most work with deals with some sort of chemicals. All those subsidiary companies, however, appear to be involved with one Trever Franklin, a vice president at Vanguard Aerospace. (Trevor, rather) Huh, and what does this Trever Franklin look like? Or am I not that lucky. Actualy while we're talking about photos could you bring up Wendell Smith and the late Pierre Bodine's wife? Further interesting information. Mister Franklin used to be president of Alexander Industries, which was bought out by Vanguard seven years ago. Alexander performed paranormal research. That is interesting, and finaly brings us around to something that could be related to us. * Ari brings up pictures of Franklin and Smith. Franklin is a black man in his late fifties; Smith is a slightly tanned caucasian man in his late forties. * Ari works a bit more and is able to find Madame Bodine, an attractive woman in her thirties. * Tim blinks at the picture, and then facepalms. What is wrong? Either she's done something to change her appearance and loose ten years somewhere, or the one person who even attempted to be somebody else failed miserably. * Ari smirks. "Not terribly intelligent of them." * Tim looks up again, "Now, if I was paranoid, I'd start to wonder if they actualy are this bad, or if they're trying to make it look like somebody else is this bad." [The picture was at Pierre's funeral, for the record.] The other thing I found out about Mister Smith is that he's done some work involving Indonesia. Which would put him in the right place to hear about that mess. Exactly. * Tim blinks, "You know...with what they've shown of their skills so far... I wonder if there might be some interesting fingerprints on things, as I think I've got a buisness card that belongs to our scarred and currently nameless friend." * Tim pulls out his wallet and then the offending card out by it's edges, "now of course it's hoplesly smudged but it's a better clue than him having a burn. You probibly don't have the equipment for this hidden in a corner do you? Because if you don't it'll be something for me to do while you keep looking into what an areospace company is doing with a supernatural research company." (And both of you give me a soul (luck) roll.) * Ari shakes her head. "I do not, but I can give it to someone who has, and they will have the results in an hour." * Tim flicks his wrist and another piece of paper appears in his hand, "Have them check this one over too." (Another luck roll from both of you.) (These don't have any immediate effects.) * Ari looks for something to put them in, and settles for making an envelope out of a piece of paper. Drop them in here. [They arrive in the envelope without Tim crossing the room.] * Ari smiles a little. "Thank you." I'll take them as soon as we are done here, and give you the results next time I see you. I do what I can. Now, Vanguard. (Just as awarning Vanguard has a fair amount of stuff, it'll merit it's own standalone research if you're broad.) (Hmm. Maybe I should go that way, then.) (Tim?) (Unless it turns up very quickly that they were responcable for the attack on the crown jewels, Tim'd probibly suggest following up on other leads.) (as that's somewhat of a tangent to what he's after right now.) (If there's a connection to the crown jewels, he won't find it quickly.) (then he'll get bored and ask that she look else where for now, there'll be time to look them up later.) * Ari hmms softly. "You know... to do in-depth research will take a while. Is there anything specific you are looking for?" * Tim counts off on his fingers, "I want to know who these people are, what they want with some SAB stationary, and why a huge areospace company would pick people who seem this incompetent to try and get leads in SAB." Stationary? I should say that they were after official SAB records. * Ari shakes her head. "Not good. What kind of records?" * Tim thinks, "Probibly incident reports of us messing things up." And they expected you to give those to them? Of course, I the poor betrayed recruite, who was shocked into horror at the callus actions of my teammates, why, I would do anything to keep that from happening again! Which while nearly true, isn't enough. Otherwise I wouldn't be here talking to you. * Ari smirks briefly as he says this, but then it turns into a genuine smile. "I am glad you did." I will work on this for you, but even fufilling your requests will take a while. * Tim grins back, "If it takes time, it takes time. I don't want you to rush in and miss something. And thank you." You are welcome. I will let you know what I find as soon as I am done. * Ari holds up the envelope. "First I will drop these off." [And for the record, there was a valid print on the business card, but it wasn't linked to anyone in the criminal databases. There's a few prints on the letter, and one ties to a Ms. Elizabeth Browning, who had one brief police encounter for disorderly conduct, charges were dropped but her prints are on file.] * Tim stands up, "And if something big shows up, tell me before you're done." That I shall do. (End?) * Tim sends Ari's chair back where it came from, and vanishes. (end) [End!]