Subject: Rina groaned and buried her face in her hands.
Author:
Posted on: 2015-05-03 02:16:00 UTC
"Fine," she said. "Why the hell not? Half of HQ believes it already, it seems, so go right ahead!"
"Um, I think she's being sarcastic," Zeb said.
"Ya think?"
They could tell something was up, she knew. But they didn't know she was good at hiding. She'd managed it for four years before in her old life and she could do it here. She wasn't crazy, though. She wasn't. She wasn't.
She wasn't.
"Don't worry," Zeb said, raising a paw in a promise. "I'll see to it she goes."
"Yeah, sure. I'll go," Rina said, putting a lot more effort into her voice and trying to even feel convinced. If any of these Pokémon could smell like Zeb— and then, of course, there was the Gardevoir— she had to convince herself before she could fool them.
- - -
((Is this character flaw going to go somewhere? You betcha.))
The Zorua was holding up his nearly-full sheet of paper-- but one word was circled many times. "Doubt."
"You're such a cynic," mouthed Victoria. The Zorua shrugged and used a paw to point out a couple of words. "Acting. Evasive." Tacitus then moved close to Zeb, pulled him aside for a bit, and showed him the words again. He patted the Luxray on the shoulder and nodded solemnly.
Victoria sighed and looked around. Out of the corner of her eyes she could see Benoît and Meryem about thirty metres away, busy haranguing Owen. Benoît seemed to be particularly agitated, waving his arms and holding his head as he talked. Meryem simply stood there, one hand cupping her chin. She looked at Benoît and said something. The aspiring Ranger straightened himself, looked at his partner, and nodded. He held out a hand towards the Lucario. Victoria breathed in a sigh of relief. Oh, good. They've made peace.
Owen removed his kevlar vest, handed it to Benoît, and allowed himself to be escorted by Meryem through a portal that she had opened. Benoît followed the pair, raising a hand to his personal radio. As the portal closed, Maxwell and Victoria's radios crackled to life.
"Benoît here. Wrap up your business in the Courtyard and meet us at DIA Central. Meryem and I have decided to suspend Owen."
- - -
((Still going to continue to participate but with only Tacitus. He needs a little more hammering out before I'm satisfied with him.))
Zeb was eyeballing her in a way she really didn't like.
"Is everything alright?" Zeb asked anxiously when he heard the radio message. "Owen's not in trouble because of me, is he?"
- - -
((Almost feel sorry for the guy. And yay more Tacitus! He's interesting. :) ))
Meanwhile, Maxwell looked as if he was going to explode. The Jolteon dashed to and fro, whimpering. "Omisoshomigoshomigosh what's going on? Why Owen? Is he leaving for good? Nooooo! What's going to happen to him, Victoria?" He danced around nervously until Victoria picked him up by his modified K9 vest's rappel loop. Maxwell's legs frantically wiggled in midair. "Vicky! We gotta do something! Owen's gonna get kicked out!"
"Ben and Meryem told us to meet them back at Central," said Victoria, digging around her utility pouch for her RA. "We're gonna meet them there and get to the bottom of this, okay?"
"Okay, mom." Maxwell froze. "NO, I DIDN'T MEAN TO SAY THAT!"
Victoria laughed as she entered the coordinates for DIA Central in her RA. "I'm sorry but we have to go now," she said to the group. She looked at Rina and Zeb. "You two take care, now. Zeb... keep an eye on her. And don't worry about Owen's breakdown, okay? It was entirely his fault, not yours." To Tacitus, she said "Same time, same place." The Zorua nodded. Without further ado, she carried Maxwell through the portal as he continued squirming and yelling about how he didn't mean to say "mom".
When the portal closed behind the DIA officers, Tacitus grinned and flipped to a new page. "So many interesting developments. Madam will be pleased. On that note, may I interest you in buying some intel? Ask me anything: Madam knows everything. Continuity Council of Gallifrey meetings, Board of Flowers activities, secret traders in the PPC, the actual best restaurants in New Caledonia... ask and you shall receive. All for the right price of course; information isn't free."
"Why on Earth would we need information on any of— did you say Continuity Council of Gallifrey?" Zeb asked, his tone going from bewildered to excited in an instant. "Oh, Rina, maybe they could—"
"No," she said immediately. "I looked into them and the Notary and the Librarian both serve on the Council. Wouldn't go near there with a ten-mile pole." She looked at Tacitus. "Considering all the crap that went down after Rose Potter, I think it'd be best if Zeb and I just kept our heads down for now. And that includes not prying into others' business."
- - -
((Tacitus is starting to remind me of Tom Nook from Animal Crossing. How he knew to shift into the Librarian earlier, though, I have no idea.
And no, I don't know what I'm doing up at this hour.))
Tacitus flipped though his notebook, scribbling dialog on a detached sheet of paper as he consulted his notes. "My notes tell me that you've been in frequent contact with one Emiranlanoamar, aka the Guardsman from DIA. He talked weapons with you-- something about a high-powered staser rifle if I recall correctly. With something like that at your side I imagine that you would sleep quite soundly at night. I'm going to offer this bit of information for free since we're friends and all. An Assassin has two mark sevens for sale, dirt cheap. She doesn't normally work in Doctor Who and thus has no idea of the real value of the weapons. They're going to be gone pretty fast..." The Zorua looked at Rina.
"Let's make a deal. Give me something good and I'll tell you where to find the seller."
"You've been talking to a Time Lord?"
"He's shown me some stuff," Rina mumbled, tugging nervously on her ponytail. "But as for the weapons thing, I turned him down. No point—"
"No point?" Zeb asked. If he had eyebrows, he would have raised one. "Considering the Flowers seem rather fond of sending us into Doctor Who fics now, don't you think it might be a good idea to look into that?"
Rina hesitated. When the Guardman had mentioned getting stasers before, she hadn't thought she and Zeb would be handling so many Who missions. But Tacitus wanted information, and likely personal information at that... Then again, it seemed like he'd just find out anyway, and it would be nice to at least know what sort of information he'd be getting, since it would come straight from them... And he'd said the stasers were cheap. Cheap was good.
"What sort of information do you want, exactly?" Rina asked warily.
- - -
((Wow, this feels like a Deal With the Devil.))
"I remember telling you that Madam is attempting to put together a dossier on the Notary. Information on her is scare, though. Fortunately for us, we have you. You are the only person in HQ to have come in direct contact with the Notary's mind. I'd like you to write down what you saw in this notebook. Quantity: two highly advanced weapons' worth of information, please. Don't try to lie, either. I can always tell when someone is BSing me."
- - -
((Well, Tacitus is a Dark-type.))
Rina's eyes went huge. She looked around nervously whispering, "Are you crazy? The Notary would know who gave that info, and she hates me enough as it is, thanks!" Her voice took on a slightly hysterical edge, and she forced herself to calm down.
"They, um, have a bit of history," Zeb explained to Tacitus. "Not very much history, mind you, but..." He winced. "It was bad."
- - -
((Hmm, wonder what he'll do to try and extract the info...?))
"Are you going to let yourself be bullied by her until the end of time? Besides, there are witnesses at Rudi's who have already sold tidbits of information about Lola to Madam... but like I said: we don't have the full picture." The Zorua scribbled a note to himself in the margin and wrote another message for Rina. "What you'll write next will be absolutely confidential: we don't sell everything that comes to us. The Notary will never know. Besides, you already owe us a favour." Tacitus nodded towards Zeb. "Benoît's team retrieved multiple feathers from Cresselia for Madam. She saw fit to send you one as a gift. We just hope that you might return the favour."
The Zorua pushed his notebook and pencil towards Rina and cocked his head to the side, watching her carefully.
"You got a Lunar Wing?" she asked.
Zeb nodded and pulled the feather from his bag. It didn't look bedraggled in the slightest. "Owen..." He sighed. "Owen said it was a present from the team. Keeps away bad dreams. I thought I could share it with you." He glanced at Tacitus. "He never mentioned this 'Madam' person was involved. Not once."
"Do you think Owen is the type of person willing to admit that he is owes his life to a near-complete stranger?" wrote the Zorua. "Acquiring the feathers was his way of settling the debt. Madam sees great potential in both of your careers in the PPC. She would like to consider you as..." Tacitus thought about his wording for a moment. "...friends. Many agents already use Madam's services to obtain rare gear or to keep themselves posted with the latest news in the PPC. Why shouldn't you?"
The fur on Zeb's body was standing on end. "Collecting information on agents to be sold later on down the road—"
"Zeb, what's the point?" Rina said tiredly. "I'm not saying I disagree, but let's be realistic here: in this job, it's literally kill or be killed, and I'd really rather not die again. Face it, we're gonna need every advantage we can get." And with that, she reached out a hand for Tacitus' notebook. "May I?"
- - -
((Seriously, this feels like a deal with the devil.))
He tapped the words "Don't try to lie" with his paw before putting his pen down on top of the notebook. The Zorua watched Rina intently with his blue-green eyes.
- - -
((Oh, don't worry. While some agents run errands for Penny Madam in order to pay for favours none of them actually put their souls on the line... most of the time.))
Concentrating on making her chicken-scratch handwriting legible, she wrote down every last detail of her encounter with the Notary's mind. There really wasn't any question of whether or not she could remember.
When she was done, she all but flung the notebook and pen back at the Zorua. "There. Now then, you said something about stasers?"
Zeb lay his nose on his front paws and sighed. This was going to bite them later, he was sure of it.
- - -
((I'm sure that would be a great comfort to know. XD))
Satisfied, he flipped to a new page. "I appreciate your patronage-- as does Madam, of course. As promised, the seller." He wrote an RC address and a name on the sheet of paper, tore it out of his notebook, and offered it to Rina. "As far as I know, nobody except you knows where this seller is at the moment. Just don't take too long to pick up the stasers." Turning to Zeb, he wrote: "I'm sure you'll see the benefits of the information trade some day. Just remember: if you give, you'll receive. Play your cards right and you'll walk out with a net profit."
"You'll forgive me for being uneasy. It feels like we're helping... I don't know, like we're invading others' privacy."
"Yes, because the Notary would give a damn if she were in our position," Rina muttered, glancing at the paper before balling it up. She looked at Tacitus. "And you do promise anonymity?"
"This information will never be sold. Madam will understand: some secrets are to remain secrets." To Zeb he wrote: "And the myriad gossip magazines in print in HQ don't violate others' privacy? At least we pride ourselves on ensuring our information is correct."
- - -
((Last post for the night.))
"Okay, I will grant you that."
Rina glanced at what Tacitus had written and groaned. "Yeah, I hope you do. I'm sick of people thinking I destroyed Gryffindor tower!"
"I still can't believe that's what bothered you so much about the article," Zeb muttered.
"It's good for business," wrote Tacitus. "As the Multiverse Monitor and other tabloids go mad and publish false reports we start getting more and more people buying the truth from us. We should encourage these rumours. Profits will go up!"
"Fine," she said. "Why the hell not? Half of HQ believes it already, it seems, so go right ahead!"
"Um, I think she's being sarcastic," Zeb said.
"Ya think?"
"I'm sure you'll understand," wrote Tacitus. "Now, if you'll just excuse me..." The Zorua shook himself again, this time dislodging a pocket watch from his vest. He checked the time and scooped the watch back into a vest pocket with a few contortions. "Excellent. I'm now off-duty from Madam's work. I can now allow myself to indulge in-- as people are fond of saying around here-- 'shooting the breeze'." Tacitus stood still for a moment, looking down at his piece of paper, then at Zeb and Rina. "I must admit that I have no idea what to do. I don't normally spend time with other people. What do you do in your spare time?"
Then they burst into laughter.
"Pffft, spare time, that's a good one," Rina said, dabbing at her eyes. "Wish we had more than an hour at a time."
"Well, we do," Zeb pointed out, chortling, "but most of it, I spend sleeping and you read or whatever." He jabbed his tail at her. "We've got so many books in our RC now, it's ridiculous."
"I read fast," Rina said defensively. She tightened her ponytail, readjusted her goggles, and glanced at Tacitus. "But yeah, last time we got any free time, outside of today, was... back when Zeb first arrived, I think? He had to spend a week or so catching up on most major canons."
"I wouldn't call that 'free'," Zeb muttered.
Rina shrugged. "It was for me. But anyway, going back to your question— waitasecond, should we be charging you for this info or something?"
"I am off-duty at the moment; believe it or not I do have a life outside of DoI and Madam's work. Any interactions from this point on until tomorrow morning are mine and aren't on behalf of anyone else," wrote Tacitus. "So. What do people with friends do outside of work?"
- - -
((Last post for the night.))
"Usually, Zeb and I like to go to Rudi's, but we heard today was supposed to be nice out in the courtyard, so we decided to come out here for a picnic."
"And it was going great until Owen and Buck started fighting," Zeb said, sighing.
"I'm no psychologist," wrote Tacitus, "but he seemed to be under a lot of stress all the time. Living under that kind of pressure has a way of twisting people. Now listen well, Dives. I don't mean to beat you over the head with this, but if you don't get help you might pull an Owen." He looked from Rina to Zeb. "Time Lady you might be, but I think you're no match for a Gleam Eyes Pokémon. Especially when he has Thunder Wave down to a science. If you snap, Zeb will stop you. I dread to think of the consequences."
"How many times," she began, voice shaking and fists clenched, "do I have to say I'm fine?"
"You know we're just worried about you—" Zeb began.
She rounded on him. "You stay out of this!" she yelled. "After "Purity", I did exactly what you said and you saw how well that turned out! You can take your goddamn advice and shove it, you hear me? I can take care of myself!"
"Rina!" Zeb cried. "Please, just calm—"
"Leave me ALONE!" Rina screamed. She stood, trembling, for a moment before turning on her heel. "Leave me alone," she repeated, more quietly this time. "And don't follow me." She took off, heading for the safety of HQ's corridors. She didn't know where she was going and didn't really care.
Zeb danced on the spot. "Oh, no..." he moaned, debilitating whether or not he should listen to her.
He beckoned at the Luxray before tailing Rina through the tall grass.
The hunt was on. The Zorua-- an expert at moving unseen around a hypervigilant target by virtue of being a DoI operative-- allowed Rina a generous head start. No point in following her too closely: even if he was downwind the Time Lady's senses were probably sharp enough to blow his cover. When Rina made it to HQ's hallways he waited for a few seconds then emerged from the tall grass disguised as a nondescript human male agent. Tacitus stopped and looked behind him to check if Zeb was following him.
"I don't suppose you have a D.O.R.K.S. on you, do you?" he asked, peering through the walls in an attempt to follow Rina's progress.
- - -
((She's probably going to end up either outside Rudi's or the Canon Library.))
He then shook his head harder. A D.O.R.K.S disguised as a spare notepad fell out of the dense tuft of hair on Tacitus' head and clattered to the ground. Leaving Zeb to manipulate the Kostume System by himself the DoI operative continued following Rina, staying outside of her peripherals by sticking to dooraways and ducking behind the occasional passerby.
Tacitus frowned. It wasn't like him to meddle in the affairs of other people outside of Madam's work. Come to think of it, why was he concerned with this girl's plight? Her story was exactly like countless others in the PPC. She was nothing special compared to the rest. Perhaps it was his need for a thrill that prompted the hunt. Arceus knows how difficult it was to hold back from eliminating a Suvian at the end of an intel run. There was no kill here-- just like in any normal intel run-- but the excitement was there: the danger of being caught and the swiftness of the case. Tacitus felt alive.