[DAY :043]

[nirsighted]

[Buzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Late in the evening, the pervasive thrum of Nirad's mental presence returns to Bearings. It winds higher - unwrapping, lengthening, widening: small flashes of silver, memories like the scales of so many fish glimpsed through the lapping water of some distance, unfamiliar water. A wet street reflects the glow of neon signs above it; a doorway, rain drizzling off the landing above it; a stream of traffic glittering through the half light--]

( Hi. We're back from following that Ahtaliah Ven guy. Aoba's head is hurting him so he's going to take a break I think but I guess I can tell you what we saw? )

[He doesn't sound hesitant so much as he does distracted.]

( Honestly I didn't see anything very interesting, but maybe it was a bad day for him? Maybe you can't be a bad guy every day of the week, right? Anyway, he worked pretty late then me and Aoba followed his car to a place where he got dinner. It's a nice car. He met with someone there. A lady. A friend, I think, but I don't really know. Maybe we should have followed her instead though because after they had dinner, Ven went home. So we have his address and how to get access to his building and I know which apartment he lives in and if we wanted to get in it seems like it might be pretty easy because he spends so much time at work, you know? I'm sure he's got some super high tech security at home but it's not like he owns the building so it's probably just inside his penthouse or whatever. Uh. Yeah. )

[BUZZZZZZZZZZZZ.]

Comments

[decommission]

( You guys weren't spotted? )

[ The part about Aoba's head hurting is a little bit concerning. ]

[nirsighted]

( Oh no I didn't say that. But he won't remember so it's fine. )

[decommission]

[ Welp. Aoba promised he'd only do that as a last resort, but there's a definite flash of discomfort on Steve's end. ]

( Who was it? )

[vocalis]

[ The man himself. ]

Ahtaliah Ven.

[ Aoba's mental voice chimes in, weak and riddled with pain, but he's here and listening. Some of that pain spills over and into the link. Sorry, Steve and Nirad. ]

Don't worry... I didn't hurt him.

[greentech]

[ Pidge's own mental 'voice' rises to meet them. It's sharper and a bit more insistent, but fast and rushing and splitting in a thousand different directions before coming back into a focused point. Glimpses of half-finished electronics, fingers tap-tapping across a keyboard. Sparks. ]

( I've been busy. What's the deal with this guy in the first place? )

[nirsighted]

( He's the guy behind Ven Diagrams - that company that makes all that tech and mental link chips and stuff. I mean it's not the only one that does it, but definitely one of the bigger developers I guess. Uh. A little while ago one of his warehouses-- )

[an image of an explosion, a flashes of media coverage, an image of a well dressed handsome man who wants justice and then-- nothing]

( We think he found out something about who bombed stuff and was keeping the information secret so we tried to get access to it but couldn't. So he might still know something about H+H1. )

[greentech]

( Mental link chips? Do those do what I think they do? )

[ Ha. Interesting. There's a ripple of curiosity. ]

( So you've just been tailing him? Why not actually ask him some questions? Or maybe we should try and break into his private files? )

[wrackful]

( You know, I wasn't going to ask, but: what's with the buzzing? )

[nirsighted]

[A hum like a mental question - ????????? - that flickers then recedes, the mental buzz undulating up and down and up-- it quiets abruptly. Not silent, just smothered.]

( Oh sorry. I think a lot. )

[wrackful]

( That's you thinking? )

[Weird. But his thoughts don't turn particularly judgemental about it.]

( You don't have to cover it over or whatever. )

[unfavoured]

[ WHERE'S THE UNFOLLOW BUTTON ]

[nirsighted]

[BUZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.]

[vocalis]

[ ENJOY YOUR MIGRAINE. ]

[circumspector]

[ Oh she - wants to tip a whole bottle of pain medication down his throat right about now. Trying to concentrate on programming with this constant ache pulsing at the back of her mind. ]

(Aoba... do you need anything? Is Nirad looking after you now?)

[vocalis]

[ He would probably do that if he could, and like it in more ways than one ugh why is he so gross ugh. ]

Don't worry Angel, I... I'm fine. Or I will be. Yeah... he brought me some medicine. I'm sure it'll clear up in a few hours, like last time.

[ The last time he used his powers, she probably thought the shared pain was hangover. It's definitely similar. ]

[circumspector]

[ Damnit, Aoba. ]

( If you're sure there's nothing I can do... )

[ fret, fret, fret, fret. Nirad you better be taking good care of him. Says the girl that can't even look after herself but still. ]

( The mission went okay, there weren't any complications? )

[adamance]

( Why would you choose to follow the woman? Did she seem of interest? )

[Is this Nirad being Nirad or did he, being himself, leave out critical information?]

[nirsighted]

( I... ) [A rolling, fidgeting sensation. Two hands twisting together, fingers nervously interlocking then coming undone.] ( Don't know. Maybe she knew something? Maybe she wasn't anyone important. But she and Ven were meeting after hours so maybe he told her something about something? Maybe if we'd followed her we would've been able to figure it out. But it seemed more important to stick with Ven, I guess. I don't know.)

[adamance]

( Did you manage to get any record of her existence? Something that we can input somewhere to look her up. Finding her identity may be useful. It may not be.

Regardless, we have to seek out why Ven has been cagey, and it's unlikely he would have explained that to someone in public. )

[Truthfully, she thinks the woman is a dead end, something that Nirad would get distracted by. But since they may have the resources to confirm that, they might as well use them.]

[sizeofyourbaggage]

[ Sam's paying attention to the rest of the conversations, filing all of the information away, but for the moment he focuses on that first bit. ]

( Will you tell Aoba that if it gets too bad, I'm around to help? )

[vocalis]

I don't need a messenger. I don't want your help, either.

I don't want your help ȩ̀v̸e͜r̡̕ ̛̕a̶̕g̢ai̸͡n̡.͜

[sizeofyourbaggage]

[ Well that's... different. Really different, in a way that sets Sam just a little bit on edge. Between that and the fact that he's pretty sure he hadn't actually done anything between the last time he and Aoba talked and now to piss him off this much, Sam's a little at a loss here. ]

What happened, man, what's wrong?

[shiro2hero]

(A headache? Is he all right?)

[nirsighted]

( Yeah I think he'll be okay. It happens to him sometimes. I think it's a side effect of the symbiote on his brain or something. Which is weird but his brain will probably adapt, right? )

[...right? There's a flicker, a jittering mental image of Aoba in a bed, a sheet like a shroud. He'd gone to sleep for a long time once, but had come back eventually. That was a good sign - wasn't it?]

[shiro2hero]

(Does that happen a lot? Having side effects like headaches, migraines? Other things?)

[That's. Not exactly the most reassuring of mental images. All the more reason to find out if people just drop from these 'side effects'.]