Bugs In The Circuits

[Molly Quincannon] [[Perc + Aware, for shits and giggles]]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 9 (Success x 1 at target 6)

[Wren Jacobs] Perception 3 + Awareness 2 (Check)
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 3, 3, 4, 5, 10 (Success x 1 at target 6)

[Molly Quincannon] An invitation aboard the Lafette involves a little bit of a roundabout series of pickup points. However nervous Wren may or may not be of the river, the initial meet-up starts at a coffee stand in a riverside park and involves a move towards an unconsidered bit of half-destroyed dock, where a little boat best described as a 'runabout' is moored. It's fairly comfortable inside, if a little utilitarian (apart from the fuzzy D20s hanging from the ceiling due to a lack of rearview mirror). Then, it's a few minutes of boat ride until the runabout reaches what looks for all the world like a WWII destroyer, cruising along the river with no one noticing.

As Molly puts it? "It was marketed to me as the safest place in Chicago. So far, it's lived up to its reputation. And it's comfier than it looks." Which is also true, once they get inside; the steel floor is mostly carpeted, there's wallpaper, and the whole place has a Victorian steampunk-ish look to it, down to the clear glass pipes that line some of the walls. Molly's living space is no different; her ferrets are contained in a similar HabiTrail set-up to the one she had in her old garage, but the furniture is more matching-up; all mahogany and brass and velvet ... which goes at odds with the Doctor Who duvet cover and the plushie viruses.

Molly feels different, though it might take awhile to put a finger on exactly how. There are new notes to her Resonance now; it's not just Frantic but a Frantic, Searching Tenacity. She really does feel like a last-minute Christmas shopper looking for the must-have gift item now. She's been Seeking ... and apparently, she's found something. "So," she says, gesturing to a plush armchair and sitting down in its twin, "how've you been, anyway? I haven't really had a chance to ask, one thing and another. I should've checked sooner, really. Seems everybody had a thing or five going on, and there's a lot of news. But first - tea? Coffee? Snack? I get to show off Zoing, which I like doing, though he still needs a defrag in the worst conceivable way."

[Wren Jacobs] Wren herself was subdued, not just in looks (which were her attempts to be incognito) but mood. She didn't seem down or moody, just disconnected...not all there. Now and then she would drift off during the boat ride. It wasn't falling asleep, just her attention seeming to not be all there. The Adept though was at a loss for any words, however, once she stepped onto the Lafette. She didn't really ask questions beyond who owned it..though once Molly even remotely mentions Atlas Mason, that same 'not-quite-here' tone returns to her voice.

Once within the confines of Molly's habitat, eyes taking in the ferrets she hadn't seen in awhile, she took a seat. She glanced around briefly before giving a slight nod.

"Oh...right...um...I'll take some tea, I suppose. No snacks though...I haven't really had an appetite lately."

[Molly Quincannon] Through a doorway off to the left comes a little squeaky mechanical voice: "Gottaeeeeeeeeeeeeat".
Molly sighs. "Oh crap, now you've got him started. Zoing!" This in the general direction of the doorway. "Tea ball theta, coffee, plate on non-work-surface alpha, please..." Then, as an afterthought, "And remember the mugs!"
"Heek." There's some whirring and a few bumping noises as Molly says, "You do have to eat something, though. I mean, Israel's appetite snapped back after a couple of weeks. You coping okay? I mean, I have ... a very vague idea of what happened and all, but ... y'know, I haven't wanted to press and I'd suggest talking to Atlas but I think he's asleep right now. He's not bouncing back as well as Israel seems to have either. I'm not doing a very good job at all this, I sometimes think. I want you all to be okay and don't know how to fix it without being a pushy bitch so all I'll say is that I'm here if you want to talk and I have some interesting good news and--"

From the doorway comes ... well, it's a robot of sorts. It's an old-fashioned vacuum cleaner, without the hose attachments and with a couple of claw-arms and what look like antennae. The body has been painted blue, and it's wearing what looks like an orange overcoat and hat. A webcam has been installed. "Mekkatea?" It carries a tray in its little blue-clawed hands: two coffee mugs (Alliance logo, which contains a tea ball, and an oddly-stained one that reads "Chasing the White Rabbit") sit under the overhanging antennae, and between the mugs sits a tray of chocolate-chip cookies. "They're there if you want them," says Molly of the cookies as hot water pours into the Alliance mug and strong-smelling coffee pours into the White Rabbit mug. "This one got jacked by my Avatar the other day. Maybe. Probably. Possibly. Dumped coffee in my new half-built speakers. I'm having to rewrite the AI completely, I think."
"Nodisassemblenumberfive!"
"Shush, Zoing."

[Wren Jacobs] Wren barely keeps from snerking when Zoing squealed almost about not being disassembled. Wren arched a brow to Molly as she took her own mug, cradling it into her hands...despite the heat waves and heat losses, she enjoyed the feel of the hot porcelain between her fingers. She sipped at it a little, eying the machine and then glancing to Molly.

"...sounds like you let it get access to 80s movies."

She paused for a moment.

"I've been eating...just not hungry today. Its coming and going. Sometimes I have great days, other times I feel...just not there. But...I was having this feeling while I was there. I think I've been spending too much time in the Web....its caused me problems as of late of associating reality and virtual reality..."

She took a chocolate chip, nibbling on it for a moment.

"So..what's the good news for you?"

The Adept squinted a little at the robot again, just to see if the robot would finish it.

"Los Locos kicks your ass...Los Locos kicks your face..."

[Molly Quincannon] "LosLocoskicksyourballsintoOUTERSPACE!" squeaks the robot.
Molly facepalms, setting her glasses askew on her face. "Okay, so I might have got a bit of quotehappy in my AI. So shoot me. I thought it was cute and funny and it is but then all of a sudden I realise that it might be kind of embarrassing but ... eh, whatever." She looks up, adjusts her glasses and grins. "I considered Terminator quotes, but it didn't quite work."

To the rest, she listens carefully and then says, "Well ... maybe you need to unplug for awhile. I get dissociation, weird as it sounds from someone like me. I find that meatspace is the best cure for feeling ... not-there. Company and companionship and possibly cotton candy. I was thinking of doing Six Flags now that the weather's getting nicer; you could come with if you wanted. Maybe a bit of adrenaline might help?"

Then the bit about good news, and that gets a grin. "Well, I had a long AIM conversation with my Avatar - Enki is a dick, by the way - and seems I got more in tune with the universe. And it seems like we won a bit of turf back from status-quo consensus. There's a patch of Chicago where vulgar magic without witnesses doesn't get you hit with any 'dox at all. We're still doing testing on how far that goes, but ... even a localised consensus shift in our favour is pretty awesome, no?"

[Wren Jacobs] Wren listened a bit, grinning at Zoing as she sipped at the tea. She seemed to consider the mention of Six Flags but finally shook her head.

"Wish I could but due to my 'disappearance', my agent has me booked for three different opening acts outside of Chicago. It sucks but I gotta go to 'em or I'll soon be unable to pay the bills."

She nibbled again on the cookie for a bit.

"But thanks for the offer. And actually...I have been getting some meatspace time. New Adept...or rather old adept but new for me showed up into town so now I have a new shiny person to toy with and play vider games and give illegal mp3s to.."

She beamed just slightly for a moment, sinking into the chair.

"Beyond that...all that does sound really good. Glad to know some things were going on that didn't involve the Shadow trying to eat me."

She glanced towards the robot again..

"...when this baby hits eighty-eight miles an hour...."

[Molly Quincannon] "..........Riley?!?" It's the logical first name to pop into her head. Wren heard too much about Chuck not to mention if he was back in town. "Riley Poole? Kinda Italian-looking spitfire chick?"

Shaking that off, she says, "Well, the offer's open, anytime you're free. Dude, I'd live in amusement parks if I could. Or other stuff. Shit, I have to go shopping at some point. Israel's wedding is coming up and there has to be a dress and I suck at that kind of thing. But hey, that's more good news, not everything is going to shit and ... well, I'm just glad we got you back. We kicked the Sending's ass, by the way. Hardcore. I gave it the guilt trip of the millennium, I'm telling you."

"...you'regonnaseesomeseriousshit!" is Zoing's response.
"Dude," says Molly, giggling, "you're not going to stump him, you know. And he's not a parrot."
Zoing then starts bumping into Wren's ankles repeatedly. "Eat. Eat. Eat. Eat..."
"Zoing!" That gets another sigh. "Blame Enki. Like I told you. Dick. He's not supposed to do that unless someone's passed out on the floor."

[Wren Jacobs] "Yeah...that's the name. She met me in the Web while I was chilling out...a few weeks after we got back in fact. We talked...she's getting acclimated and such but she is back in town. Seems cool enough."

Wren arched a brow at the challenge of stumping the robot, then squinting when it starts to ram into her ankles.

"Alright alright...jeez. Like the R2D2 of Molly's place....bugs in the circuits."

She finishes off her cookie as she drank the tea down before nudging it back with the tip of her foot.

"I know its not a parrot...I'm checking its repertoire of quotes! Let's see if it knows this one..."

She hums a little..

"You know, there's going to be sex, drugs, rock-n-roll... chips, dips, chains, whips..."

[Molly Quincannon] Molly lets out a noise best phonetically rendered as "*squeeomgeeheeheeawesomeagh!*" at that news. "Must email her! Oh, awesome, she's back! Woo!" Then she chuckles and adds, "Yes, she is definitely cool. We took on man-eating garbage together when I first hit Chicago. She's a phenom, no doubt about it."

Zoing's antennae droop a little when he gets nudged, but the quote thing gets him perking right back up. "Youknowyourbasichighschoolorgytypeofthing. Imeanuh--"
"You have made your point, Zoing!"
"Heeek."
Molly just laughs. "You could ask for something that isn't 80s movies, you know."
"Donotfistthemales. Theyarepoisonous."
Facepalm again. "Can you bitch-slap your own Avatar?"

[Wren Jacobs] "Awesome...yeah...we talked twice so far. I told her how I'm looking to put together a group that's only job is really recon and harassment on the Technocrats once people are situated...a tech emphasized group since most of the Traditionals want to ignore it or not utilize it nearly as much as we do."

She set the empty mug down onto the tray, sliding a knee up to her shoulder, hugging it slightly.

"She said she wanted to learn a few things but she's not looking for a teacher..which I can sorta understand. Either way...should see more of her more than likely."

She glanced the little bot and grinned.

"Nah...I'm satisfied for now...besides...what's wrong with 80s movies?"

[Molly Quincannon] "Nothing's wrong with 80s movies, but there's more to life, y'know? Like, for instance ... Zoing? The Elements."
The little robot bursts into robotic song at that point: "Theeeeeeeere'santimonyarsenicaluminumselenium
Andhydrogenandoxygenandnitrogenandrhenium
Andnickelneodyniumneptuniumgermanium
Andironamericiumrutheniumuranium..."
"Okay, thanks, Zoing!"
"TheseartheonlyonesofwhichthenewshascometoHarvard
Andtheremightbemanyothersbuttheyhaven'tbeendiscovered"
Zoing then bleeps out a mechanised 'shave and a haircut, two bits' and falls silent. Molly gives a 'ta-da' sort of gesture and giggles.

The bit about the group that's recon and harrassment of Technocrats gets a nod. "Well, if you want to do a sort of info-share thing, let me know. I figure my own cabal remit's going to end up tripping over Mirrorshade shit more often than not, and knowing what's out there both on the ground and on the 'net would be a good thing, yes-no?"

[Wren Jacobs] "Sure sure...otherwise, I was going to see if you'd like to hob knob between both or moonlight...like a police officer on a NCSI crew or the like. You could be the Gabby to my Gibbs...oh...wait...no..she's part of the staff. Um...that one guy from NCIS spin off...he's a liaison officer. "

She blinks at the machine and grins.

"I know one like that as well..."

She starts to hum a little beat to herself before intaking a lot of air and singing..

"...United States...Canada...Mexico, Panama..."

...by the time she is done, she has named off the world almost entirely by every country there is in a song...that rhymes.

[Molly Quincannon] Zoing joins in on the song, in point of fact, and Molly just giggles at the duet (lords know she can't sing worth beans). "Oh, man, I should so stick you two dueting on YouTube."

To the rest, she just nods. "Liaison sounds good. Half the problem with people around here is a total lack of communication. I'd like to fix that. Not to mention the Chantry. Yes, it's moving and they're getting a bit less draconian about access now, but I'm still working on an ... alternative. Not even really a Chantry house so much as a ... crash-pad. A leave-your-politics-at-the-door kind of place. Somewhere more ... inclusive. Enough security to be getting on with, but not so much that it's under constant lockdown. Seriously. Though the earful I got from Solomon over that ... yeesh."

[Wren Jacobs] "Oh...Mr. Ward...have met, don't want."

She chuckles some.

"He just has this 'I'll talk down to you' tone...despite the fact that I equal him as far rank...at least outside his position in the chantry. On another note, I haven't really gone by there since then....not really big on trying to interact with folks who don't give me some respect just because I happen to use computers for my working."

She gave a shrug.

"But the crash pad sounds good..."

[Molly Quincannon] Molly sighs. "I don't think he means it that way. It's just ... how he comes across. How the hell I managed to earn his respect when the first time he saw me I was a tortured mess in ... well. Since then ... well, put it this way. At the last Council meeting? I told him point blank to stop treating me as though I was stupid. It didn't go over famously, but he did back down the ... it's not even arrogance; it's just that whole Crusader deal in that overly formal voice of his. I don't know, but ... I like him. He challenges me, even if he does come across a bit dickish sometimes. But then, I can't exactly dislike someone who went through the shit he did to save my life. Anyway, I don't think he is anymore. He got the same kind of upgrade I did, and he was ahead of me to begin with."

She swigs her coffee, then, and grabs a cookie of her own. "It is. Or it will be. So far we've got a warehouse space sorted out and I'm working on the electrics when I can. It's a shithole, but with the skills we've got, we can build it into something ... more or less awesome. If you want in, I'd be happy to have the help."

[Wren Jacobs] "...we have the technology...we can make it better, stronger..."

She grinned a bit, stretching.

"So...what is this upgrade you're blabbering on about...you become Borg or install some cyberware inside yourself?"

[Molly Quincannon] "Nooooo," says Molly, chuckling. "I see you're not a fan of Freakangels. You should read it sometime; online comic with serious awesome, sadly coming to an end, woe. But I mean unlocking the secrets of the universe. Levelling up, y'know? Freakangels refer to it as 'upgrading the package'. You may have noticed my vibe has changed. Man, I feel weird. Good-weird, but weird anyway. And I received mystery mug, and Zoing going more than a little nuts on me. It's a thing."

[Wren Jacobs] "Indeed."

She glanced to her cellphone as it warbled...staring at the text as she sighed.

"And that's the agent. Looks like I'll be going to catch a plane soon. Mind giving me a lift back to shore?"

[Molly Quincannon] "No problem," is the response. "Zoing, mind taking those back to non-workspace alpha? Thanks."
"Heek."

So off wheels the little 'bot to do whatever chores a little 'bot does, and Wren gets a lift back to shore ... and some apple turnovers to take away with her. Because apparently, feeding people when they need it is what Molly does now.