[Molly Quincannon] Ashley once mentioned a bar that catered to mages. Heaven only knows why Molly's at one, the mood she's in with the whole thing. Perhaps it's a 'safety in numbers' thing, or perhaps she just wants to remind herself that there are mages out there who don't think like...
Well. There's a vague attempt not to think about that. It's futile, given how Molly's brain works, but it all adds up to a Cultist in a dress shirt, corduroys, bow tie, tweed jacket and scarf striped in varying shades of red seated at a table with a bottle of very good whiskey, a pot of coffee, a bowl of sugar packets and a mug. Apparently, even when she really wants to be drunk, she is not going without her caffeine. She looks, frankly, somewhere between miserable, confused and near-homicidally angry, which goes at odds with the outfit, somehow.
[Wren Jacobs] Wren, on the other hand, wanted someplace that did not consist of a PC cafe, music store, or coffee house. Between the want to jack in or being stared at like she was some sort of exotic critter, the Adept had finally had enough and decided to go somewhere a bit more...dressed down. She was, as she liked to regard it, in pimptastic mode which included an actual cowboy hat (or she was told by the band drummer who had given it to her after a little bit of a fling), thick alcohol tinged rockstar shades, long sleeve fishnet shirt with PVC corset, wool coat with ruffled faux feather collar, and dark denim jeans. She liked to dress out, even if it was a bar. But today, there were no extensions...no exotic array of colors beyond dark tones to make her mocha tinged skin stand out. She walked in, about to just move for the bar after getting her drink but her hands paused.
It was hard not to notice Molly...she was the only girl that Wren could name who would go out of her way to make an amalgamation between the Doctors' dress style. She mulled it over, noticing the girl staring into her whiskey between sips of coffee before finally coming up behind her and leaning over to flick the tip of her right ear.
[Molly Quincannon] [[Awareness - do we feel Wren coming?]]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Molly Quincannon] For all she appears to be staring into her coffee and ignoring the world at large, Molly is apparently very Aware of her surroundings today. Enough so, at least, that the ear-flick meets a raised hand instead of an earlobe. "Hi, Wren," she says, without looking over. "How'd things with Ashley go last week? Sorry I had to bail so fast. Our hardware techs, I swear..."
Then, when she looks up at Wren, "...Nice hat." She does, at least, appear to mean it.
[Wren Jacobs] She gives a little bit out of a pout as it seems her ninja skills are lackluster. She moves to a chair, pulling it back, pausing for a moment as she moves to take her hat off.
"It went okay...we decided it wasn't the official interview, just eating out at a buffet. Girl can stuff away some food. Mind if I sit?"
She inquires first...not sitting down just yet though she did flop her hat down on an empty spot on the table.
[Molly Quincannon] "Eh, go right ahead, if you don't mind the shitty company." She gestures at the chair Wren's just pulled back. "And food is good, and yes, she can. Good conversation, too, if you get her on the right topics and in the right mood. And I didn't know there was an official interview; though I guess how I got into the whole House thing was ... um, as frantic and confused as everything else about me. So ... um ... anything new and interesting?" Funny to see Molly Motormouth apparently at a loss ... or maybe just trying not to dump whatever she's brooding over onto the heads of the unsuspecting.
[Wren Jacobs] "Not for now. Manager wanted me to come work back out in Seattle but I told him to fuck off. I like playing in the snow and cold as much as I like bratwurst....only when I'm shit faced or it's a beer fest like in Germany."
She smiled a little, crossing one leg over the other once she's sat down. She arched a brow at Molly, clucking a tongue on the roof of her mouth before she speaks.
"Don't know about shitty company...I'd say you rate in between geeky or crazy, maybe even Hackers-esque...but hardly shitty. Unless you had tacos...then I could see how that qualifies. So what's up? The princess was in another castle? Couldn't defeat Wind Man?"
[Molly Quincannon] The first bit gets a raised eyebrow. "You don't want to play in snow and cold ... and you decided to stay away from Seattle? Dude, you're in Chicago. You're in for a lot of cold and snow RealSoonNow."
Then comes the taco joke, which gets a groan, and the rest gets a swig of her coffee. "Oh, issues. Guy-related. I'd say Vdept related but apparently you don't all completely shun meatspace in favour of these neatly regimented plans that don't actually involve contact with anything that might be considered even potentially messy. I think I'm being lied to. I know I'm being sidelined because I'm too ... unpredictable? Messy? Alive? Something like that, anyway." Another swig of the spiked coffee. "And I'm about ninety-five percent sure I'm being a complete dumbass."
She drains the mug, pours another and, as she spikes it with whiskey, adds, "Oh, yeah, and to make matters even shinier, odds are high there are Mirrorshades in town. It never rains but it pours."
[Wren Jacobs] "Difference between doing a gig in the snow and cold and just having to deal with snow and cold. In a gig, I have to wear less than a jacket...in some cases, I might have metal stuff on as well...and that doesn't feel good against skin."
She paused a moment when Molly started to go on about guy troubles...somehow VDept but not quite in some Molly equation using inverted logic algorithms that likely only the Cultist knew the proper formula to solve. She pursed her lips but rather than continue that train of thought...the last little bit catches her attention.
"Oh lovely...my favorite group to hate and send virus bombs to...guess I'll have to include them in my Christmas list of naughty, nice, and fucking die."
She says the last with as much venom as Molly likely has ever heard in her voice.
[Molly Quincannon] "We have to find them first," is the sigh. "Unfortunately, first glimpse we got of them was ... in a bit of a stressful time. Their people were as fucked as ours. I've run some names on the basic scale, which got more or less nothing and an addition of some heebie-jeebie shit. Still looking, but I want to find out what they're up to before I do too much tripping around in all the wrong places. Yay for the Esoteric Probability Whiteboard Mambo. Hey," she adds with a slightly wan grin, "if it turns out necessary, how would you feel about hacking the DoD?"
[Wren Jacobs] Wren blinked, wincing a little at her.
"...are you serious? Why would you need to hit that database? I mean...I know they have their fingers in a lot of shit but they're not that far embedded from my experience. I mean...they have their own groups and pull....but that's just nigh....well...that's a lot of risk, Molly. I'm not that hardcore of a cracker and even I know the difficulty level of that. I'd rather try to break a Gibson on my own. What sort of information are you needing?"
She frowned a bit, biting her bottom lip slightly...the idea of the DoD mainframe was not big on her list of things to do. She liked the idea of not being cavity searched.
[Molly Quincannon] Molly looks at Wren and sighs, weary and a touch exasperated. "I wouldn't suggest it if there wasn't a reason. Basically, I hacked and slashed my way around the Fearless Space Marines that were with Doctor Freakin' Invisible and what leads I could actually ferret out pointed to the DoD. So if I want further information on what a bunch of freakin' Marines were doing wandering around an abandoned insane asylum that made Arkham look like Sunnybrook Farms back in the day, which happens to be standing on a freakin' node, that's the next logical step. Or at least, one of the few that's going to get me any information to speak of. And it's not like I planned to do it without serious enhancement of my faculties, a really good exit strategy and preferably someone on my six, though that's optional, I guess. Man, nobody lets me have any fun anymore."
Then she shrugs it off ... well, mostly. "Anyway, like I said, that might not be necessary. I've got an idea that's a bit less on the risk factor ... well, apart from the possibility of being slapped upside the head by the universe. Again. Though let me tell you, the nosebleeds get old after awhile."
[Wren Jacobs] "...I know that feeling. Try getting burst cappillaries all the time. If I run into defense systems and can't tango, I look like I went through a round with Ike telling Tina no."
She glanced over, raising her finger to order a drink before looking back to Molly as she contemplates.
"Well...take me step through step on where you did your information dragnet. Cause there is an easier method than the DoD. Sure, you get the answers at the top if you know exactly what you are looking for...but its also easier to crack into the communications of the local Marine camps around here. That's even assuming that this branch of 'Space Marines' are even registered military. Most black ops stuff won't even have records, even in a database."
[Molly Quincannon] "Oh, they're registered military. That's how I knew where to start looking." With that, Molly gives the run-down on exactly what she did, where she looked, who she hacked and how much nothing she actually pulled up. She has names, she knows they're Marines (Fearless Space or otherwise), but beyond the DoD hack, there is literally nowhere else she can look. Say one thing for her; Molly's thorough.
However, she at no time actually divulges the actual names she was digging; just a few military ranks and a Doctor that she could not for the life of her find any record of anywhere, at all.
In any case, after the run-down of thoroughness pulled entirely from memory, with no recourse of back-checking records, she finishes, "Seriously. I tried everything. The only things I didn't try is the DoD - which is a more or less last resort because I hear Gitmo's evil this time of year - and a bit of forward scrying on what tidbits I have about these people. I can probably get a hold of at least some trace resonance without sticking my neck out, and I might be able to extrapolate what the hell they plan to do during their stay in this lovely city from there. I need whiteboards, and to make squeaky with markers. My housemate's going to kill me."
[Wren Jacobs] She purses her lips for a moment, running it over in her head before she speaks again.
"...okay...they are 'registered' military...the unit exists. My question is that were the guys you got names or this Doctor...if they have no records...are they possibly black ops or..."
She pauses again for that little bit of drama.
"...is it possible that the 'crats are using the mundane unit's name while doing their operations to prevent civvie inquiries?"
[Molly Quincannon] Molly ponders, then shakes her head. "Not in those circumstances, no. Not unless they were ... ahahahaha, meet irony ... sleeper agents. Basically, they were all having their worst fears thrown at them. Even if you're borrowing names, if you're freaking out like that, you're not going to remember a made-up name unless it's been burned into your skull, and maybe not even then. I don't have details on exactly what happened because it was still too fresh to talk about, which I totally get, y'know? Having been through the mill myself? But I gather it was fucking brutal."
[Wren Jacobs] She thinks a bit before she finally reaches down, looking through pockets before she slid over a flash drive with an anarchy symbol stenciled on the side of it.
"...when you feel like it, give me an encrypted file...you can tell me the algorithm in person so it can't be broken easily. I'll work over the data, peruse it and see what I can find on my own as well. I still got a source of info I can hit up....if that's a dead end, then I'll do number crunching and see what I pull up. But I'll need more details before I can theorize and implement."
[Molly Quincannon] Molly nods. "I'm going to have a bit of a sneak peek trailer view first, but I'll get you the data as and when I can. It's been a nightmare of busy between quasi-adopted foster sister and apprentice - great Google, I have an apprentice, when the hell did that happen? - and ... gyah."
More of her whiskey-coffee goes down in a long swig. "I know I should be focusing on one thing at a time, but that's so not my way. So now I'm swinging wildly between pondernig the math I'm going to have to use for this little bit of whiteboard witchcraft and whether or not to dump a guy who is happy to have his girlfriend be literally tortured for as long as it takes to make sure his rescue mission won't involve actual contact with an enemy."
[Wren Jacobs] She blinks at that, staring.
"...jigga says what? What do you mean torture and boyfriend? I know you Cultists get kinky.."
She pauses for a moment when a waitress actually comes over, ordering herself a rum and coke before turning back to Molly and waiting til the girl was gone before speaking.
"You're gonna have to talk about that part. As far as the apprentice, good luck. I haven't had one yet though I imagine it will only be a matter of time before one falls in my lap....but 'depts do teaching a lot differently. We aren't really big on the mentor / student thing...its more a communal teaching."
[Molly Quincannon] Deep breath, another swig of her coffee brew, and then she says, "Yeah, well, I will when you have your drink. Talk about the torture thing, I mean. As to the other ... yeah, I know. I've learned Prime and Mind from some 'dept readme files. Well, sort of. Very basics. The kind I had to take apart and rebuild from the basics to work for me at all."
Wren's drink arrives, the waitress vanishes, and then Molly explains. "First of all? Why-Kay-Eye-En-Em-Kay. Or maybe more, Tee-Kay-Eye-En-Em-Kay. I never got off much on the ess-and-em stuff. Less so now than ever. Look, a few months back, I got shipped out on fieldwork duty investigating some dirty, Mind-fucked cops who were involved in some inter-cabal warfare. We thought at least one of them might have been Nephandic, but there was a meeting coming up to discuss and I thought some more intel would be a thing. So there I am, on my own because the boyf didn't want to back me up after the first cop I talked to - who was tailing me, in fact - stuck a gun in my face. This second one also stuck a gun in my face. Maybe you saw a news blip about some guy going psychotic at a bar down in Lake View, pulling a gun? That would have been him. Gun jammed in the bar but he got it working later and shot me a few times. I came to in a Nephandi dungeon, and spent two days down there, where they infected me with tainted, nerve-eating parasites to keep me from falling asleep or passing out while they did everything else to try to make me break and agree to walk the Cauls. For two. Straight. Days."
She drains her coffee and mixes another whiskey-and-coffee mug o'death. Then she goes on.
"At the end of the second day, three people - one of whom I had never even met - barged in there and pulled me out. The boyf was not one of them. The boyf, in fact, was more or less of the opinion that those who did pull me out should have waited until they had more information, so that maybe they could have done it - and taken out the Labyrinth later - without actually going there or taking any risks at all. So a man whose name had never passed my lips until after it was all over took two bullets and a buttload of nasty tainted Forces magic trying to save my life, while the man I touch the Lakashim with on a semi-regular basis sat at home and did jack squat. That's what I mean by torture and boyfriend."
Swig. Of. Coffee.
[Wren Jacobs] "Ah...sounds like you need to go Beyonce and tell him to the left..."
She really has no words to commend exactly what to do with that beyond referencing a pop song.
"I mean...I can never say I've been tortured by those types...I've had a few scraps with agents....been involved in real flame wars and viral bombings....almost got flat-lined during the White-Out. But I can't say I've ever been tortured...well maybe having to hear someone sing who can't...but that hardly qualifies to the degree you went through."
She sipped her drink quietly for a moment.
"But a boyfriend like that? They invent toys for a reason...at least those seem like they'd have warmth in comparison to -that-."
[Molly Quincannon] "That's the thing, though!" Caffeine plus alcohol plus sugar plus Molly equals overbright eyes, flushed cheeks and a heightening of that expression that wants to know - and tell, and do - everything, maybe all at once. "He comes across as everyone's best friend and sometimes he's capable of empathy like anything! Just ... not when it might get messy for him! I live moment by moment most of the time, so most moments are looking at him, or thinking about him, and word association goes, 'towel' or 'daisies' or 'Goonies' or 'laser tag' or any of the other hundreds of awesome little moments we've shared. But then there are the moments when I look at him and I think, 'you left me there to suffer' and ... while there was ... y'know, checking in the day after I got pulled out, when the wounds were healed and the parasites were out and I was okay beyond the nightmares and the flashbacks and the rampant screaming imminent freak-out? There was also this aura of 'I told you so' about going without backup. Which he did. In the same breath as he said that he wasn't comfortable with being backup, and a breath after telling me I was on fieldwork. Mixed messages much? Plus I know there's shit he's not telling me and there's a whole hypocrisy issue that I need to address there, but ... gah! How can that much awesome live in the same basic physical form with that much suck?"
The rest gets a wan sort of grin. "In a way I envy you. I always missed the scraps with agents with my first crew. I was the apprentice - the baby of the family - and they kept me out, mostly. Flame wars of the literal kind... Been there, at least. Man-eating garbage and Chinese cult guys in an opium den basement in Chinatown. Oh, and way-too-knowledgeable Sleepers, but that was throwing lightning."
[Wren Jacobs] "...mmm...there's not really anything to envy. I saw two flat lines when I was still. I was at the last days of the Ascension Wars...the last remnants before the White-Out. I saw people I looked up to suddenly disappear. Three of them were confirmed White-Out losses. The rest? I don't know anymore...I don't think I really want to know. There is definitely nothing to envy there. I miss the days that I knew who I was fighting but at the same time...I don't miss the losses we had either...or the constant constant fear. Not that its entirely gone...but nowhere near the level it use to be."
She chewed at the inside of her cheek slightly with her canines.
"...ultimately you have to do the math on this one, Molly. Do the awesome moments completely overwhelm the asshat moments....or are the asshattery moments a combo-breaker? Cause if so...you need to finish the relationship. Otherwise, keep playing the game, y'know?"
[Molly Quincannon] Molly ponders that. "I get you," she finally says. "Maybe 'envy' is the wrong word. It's a Cultist thing, though, sort of - we've got this whole thing about fear. It's kind of Muad'dib, y'know? Well, more 'transcend it but recall its wisdom' thing. I probably took it further to heart than most, but ... I just don't let it stop me from experiencing things. And, more to the point, making a difference where I can. Which is why I talk about doing risky shit on a regular basis, I guess. But I'm sorry for your losses. I know what it's like. Which is probably why I wish I'd been there. Maybe I wouldn't know what it's like, if I'd been there to help."
The rest gets another wan grin. "Eh, it depends on the day. Some days it's all about the awesome. Then the asshat hits me and ... well, ecstasy isn't all about pleasure, no matter what some people say about me and mine. There's a sort of transcendence to the kind of pain that comes when someone you'd die for has proven they wouldn't even come close to that for you. So I dunno. Sometimes I guess I just need to vent. Sorry," she adds, a bit sheepish. "I'm a venty-drunk."
[Wren Jacobs] She reaches over and flicks Molly's forehead.
"...its fine. I've heard worse. You have legitimate reason to vent. But every game has an ending, every experience has a fulcrum. There's no fun in letting go but its something we all have to learn...I would think your transcendence would give you that sort of insight."
She smirked a little before crossing her arms over her chest.
"...I've broken enough hearts to not let it phase me...mostly because well...I think its my rock star mentality....that I know it won't last...my fame wouldn't last, my music won't last, and most of all, the sort of guys who have been interested in me won't last. So I never try to dive into a relationship....mostly because I've never met someone I feel as an equal. I don't expect sonnets but I expect some level of creativity beyond 'woah...that's cool' attached to a sexy face."
She downed her own drink after a moment.
"...I guess I'm the worse sort of advice about relationships but if you don't feel love love to him...if its a sour thing that's marred by that experience....and he's doing nothing to fix or get beyond it? Yeah...fuck 'im."
[Molly Quincannon] Ah, in vino veritas ... which applies doubly so for whiskey. After rubbing her forehead where she's been flicked and pulling a face at Wren while trying not to laugh, Molly sighs and says, "Eh, maybe I'm anticipating the hurt that'll come to me if I say that it's over and he just doesn't care. I love everyone I've ever been with, and the only thing that would make that stop is ... abject betrayal. Which I guess you could argue that he's actually done, if only by inaction. So of course I love him. The question is whether I can ride the roller coaster. Sure, my transcendence of fear could probably shove me to that point, but I've also got this thing about boundaries and their breakage. Part of it's selfish. He's, like, the ultimate challenge. There has to be something beyond his firewalls and his caginess and his 'everyone's best friend' bullshit. I want to know what it is." She chuckles, sips her coffee and adds, "Maybe it's a stupid way to do something, but I should at least be mage enough to admit that it's how I'm seeing it."
[Wren Jacobs] "Mmm..."
She mulls over the thought of what she said.
"...or it could be selfishness. No one really likes being alone. A relationship allows someone to feel 'connected'...to feel more than just that. For us, some of us think its even more than that. I've heard plenty of thought. Conversation topic of the week for 2 am chatrooms sometimes, even amongst 'depts. Especially ones who haven't gotten laid beyond cyber realms."
She chuckled a little.
"...but it may be that letting go...you don't want the hurt, like you said, the lack of committal from him. You said it yourself...can you ride that roller coaster? I know some people can't...that they'll do anything to make sure they don't have to go through it. We're fragile things...humans. We can bend a network to our whim through a Fibonacci code but we can't truly make someone fall and stay in love with us."
She leaned her chin into her hand.
"...maybe....you guys just need to have a talk. A long one that doesn't involve pop culture. A Dawson's Creek moment."
[Molly Quincannon] That gets a snicker. "Oh, great Google, I'm not alone. There are people who make me feel way less alone than he does sometimes. I have a housemate who won't let me do any housework anymore and smiles like me like I'm God's gift to everything, an apprentice trying to repay me in clothes shopping and martini bar trips, a few best friends who have never failed to be there when I needed them... People love me. I know that. What I don't know is whether he's one of them. That's behind one hell of a firewall. Y'know the really stupid thing?" More of the whiskied coffee goes down the hatch. "The stupid thing is that he's not even in it for the sex. I don't know why he bothers with me and ... I need to know. It's a thing." She shrugs. "For the information I need to have, I could ride the roller coaster from here to eternity."
Then she tilts her head and looks at Wren. "What about you? I mean, I can't imagine that this ... lack of connection is a 'dept thing. You everfallen into the minefield of love? Or are you in it now?"
[Wren Jacobs] "...I thought I have...but after awhile, I realize its just another one night stand that should have only been one night rather than weeks or months. That's the way things go sometimes. I'm not really looking for it...I think the odds play in my favor of it just falling into my lap someday."
She set her empty drink aside as she eyed Molly.
"...in a way...the only love I have is my music. And that has its up's and down's just as if it were a person."
[Molly Quincannon] "A fickle muse, huh?" Molly's smile is understanding. "I'm not a musician myself - can't carry a tune in a bucket, actually - but I've had friends who are. They make sweet, sweet love to the muses and the instrument and the music itself. I admire it, though I can't ... experience it myself. Not at the moment, anyway. I honestly think I'm a bit tone deaf."
She sighs again and adds, "As to the thing with other people, I hope it happens for you. It's sometimes painful and confusing, but there's nothing like it in the world. Another Cultist thing; we sort of throw ourselves in it more than most. And it'll probably happen more than once. Just don't write it off just because it didn't really connect, that one-night-stand that you think should've stayed that way. It's just a different kind of love than the forever-kind, maybe?"
[Wren Jacobs] Wren just smirked, before finally setting down her money for the shot. She rises up, sliding her hat over her head, the other hand reaching out to poke Molly's nose.
"No more booze for you...you're already waxing philosophical....I'd hate to see poetry. I gotta head out otherwise I would stick around to see the 'I'm sorry' part before I'd have to hold your hair back. So gonna nip it in the bud before you get to that point. You got the number...you got the handles...ring me up if you need to talk....and do so before it becomes to a point where you need booze to deal with it."
[Molly Quincannon] Molly rolls her eyes and grins when her nose gets poked. "You don't know that isn't how I always talk after I get to know someone a little better. Ask Ashley sometime. And I can hold my booze, thank you. Please to be remembering my Trad. Anyway, catch you later, and I will do. And hey, Wren? ...Thanks."
With that and a slightly stronger smile, Molly goes back to her coffee. Her less doctored coffee. After a moment, the laptop comes out. Well, Websurfing Under the Influence isn't necessarily a crime...
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