Meliora - Emanate - 19

[lady_mab]

Liala Darcy

I have to keep backtracking through the crowds of students as Lionel falls behind. “Keep this up, and we’re going to lose our teacher.”

He grunts, unimpressed with the threat.

The tour comes to a halt in the middle of a quad, and the guide gets up on the planter and cups her hands around her mouth to talk to us.

The teacher we have been assigned for our group, one of the two Literature Comp instructors for our year, stands meekly to the side as the university student talks animatedly in the front of the group. I can’t hear her from our spot in the back of the staggered cluster. Being in the open quad as students mill about is far from helpful for her tiny stature. Our teacher isn’t much better, and I suppress the sigh that is threatening to escape.

Lionel, tired of standing around, drops into a crouch and fidgets with the hood of his sweatshirt. Then he props his cheek up with one hand and starts scrolling through his phone.

I think the teacher is trying to explain the process for lunch to us when suddenly my hood is yanked over my head. A startled yelp escapes me as I flail about in the unexpected darkness.

An accented man’s voice I don’t recognize says, “Oh, I think you bagged the wrong one,” and one that is vaguely familiar swears in apology.

Then the hood is yanked back off and I’m blinking at my classmates’ confused faces.

“Jesus fuck, Rain,” Lionel snaps, jerking back to his feet. “Seriously?”

“Sorry,” he says, and now I recognize the voice as one of Lio’s coworkers. “I didn’t notice you sitting there. I mean, you’re so short--”

Lio lurches a step forward, but the arrival of the tour guide stops him.

“Everything alright back here?” She makes her way where we’re hiding in the back. She eyes Rain, even though the question is aimed at me.

“Peachy keen,” the tall girl leaning on Rain says, flashing an ‘ok’ symbol with her fingers, at the same time Lio grumbles, “There seems to be some idiots interrupting the tour.”

The tour guide glances between all of us, so I smile in a way that I hope reflects the cheer on Rain’s friend’s face. “We’re good. Sorry.”

Lio snorts disapprovingly.

The tour guide continues to eye us skeptically, but in the end she lets it go with a heavy sigh in a way that means they don't pay me enough for this. That is, if they even paid her at all. "You have one hour for lunch, but we'll meet back up here. If you're not back in that time, you'll be left behind."

It’s probably a bit more harsh than she intends for it to be, but she at least doesn't flinch from her own words. Just allows a slight frown, and then pushes her way back to the front of the gathering cluster.

"Oh goody, one hour to not do anything before resuming the torment," Lionel mutters and scoops his backpack up off the ground. "C'mon Lia."

He starts to move away, but Rain catches onto Lio's hood and yanks him to a stop. "Hold on. I want to talk."

"I don't." Lio tries to struggle out of the grip, but he is no match for his coworker.

"He looks like a bedraggled cat," the other man mentions, hip cocked to one side as he regards my brother with an amused smirk. When he catches me looking, he allows only the briefest moment of surprise before holding out a hand toward me with an overly dramatic flourish. "I see that you were the one to get all the charm between the two of you."

"You haven't even met me," I say without thinking.

He laughs and snatches my hand in his own. "No, but I have met your twin."

It's my turn to laugh, and I accept the handshake. "I'm Liala."

"Rajesh. And this is Mia." He waves a hand at the tall woman, who towers over her two companions by a good two inches or so.

It's her turn to shake my hand, an act she performs with far more enthusiasm than Rajesh. "Pleasure to meet you, Liala."

"You two are the Participants, then? Rain is your Informant?"

There is a brief moment of silence as everyone freezes in place. Before I can ask if I've done something wrong, Rain and Lio cease their bickering. Lionel regains his footing and pulls smartly at his sweatshirt.

The other team exchange a series of glances, although Mia is by far the most expressive while Rain could rival Lio in the 'cold glare of disinterest' contest. She seems to exist only in the extremes -- height, enthusiasm, expression.

"Actually," Mia begins in a singsong voice. "I wanted to talk to Mr. Programmer here about a favor..."

"Ask your own fucking programmer--"

Rajesh shakes his head, though it is hard to tell how serious he is as he presses a hand to his chest and leans against Rain. "Alas, but ours refuses to help."

"I've already told them I don't condone their idea," Rain says. "And I don't think you should either."

Lionel tilts his head in a clear invitation to a challenge. He opens his mouth to say something, but Rain holds up a hand to stop him.

"Don't listen to them just to spite me, shithead. This is serious, and they're asking for all of us to put a lot at risk." His cold eyes jump to me as he says this, and I can't help the startled shiver that races down my spine.

Mia says something that I can’t understand, rubbing her hand over her mouth to disguise whatever expression sits there. Her brows are drawn, but there’s not a complete absence of amusement.

"We plan on keeping it within the Participants and Informants only!" Rajesh protests, his smile strained at the edges. "Not like those bloggers."

"What bloggers?" Lionel and I ask at the same time.

The other team pauses in their own argument long enough to look at us. Mia's eyebrows lift, and Rajesh rubs a hand over his chin.

Rain takes a step forward, though I can't quite figure out if it's to cut us off or to block his teammates. "No--"

Mia ignores him. "You haven't seen the blog post? By the pair calling themselves the Lady and the Ghost?"

Lio has his phone out before Mia even finishes her question -- fingers tapping across the screen as he searches for the post. An uneasy silence drops around us, despite the commotion of the quad. Lionel's brow pinches darkens. I don't bother trying to read over his shoulder. He'll explain it if he wants to, or I can look it up later.

"This..." he starts, lifting his phone. "Seems very unsafe."

"No security on it whatsoever," Rain confirms. "Well, they've at least put enough of a block on their identity. But it’s just posted on the internet on an unprotected space."

"You've already looked?"

"A cursory investigation. It's my job, after all." Rain shoves his hands into his pockets and manages a rueful grin. I wonder if he means his job as a programmer or as an Informant. The expression quickly drops from his face altogether. "It's information hinting at the game for all to see."

Rajesh leans in to tap a finger against Lio's phone. "Conspiracy sites have been all over it. Biggest theory is that this is a LARP. But it's still up."

"Do you think the Program Manager doesn't care?" I glance between the others when their attention swivels over to me. "Why else would he leave it up?"

Mia purses her lips but eventually responds with a shrug. "It's not entirely our concern, because it's just a template of what we're not allowed to do."

“Which is why you shouldn't be thinking about doing it in the first place," Rain snaps. She drapes an arm around his shoulder and presses a finger to his lips, which he accepts with sullen silence and a glare.

"What is it that you plan on doing, then?"

Mia leans over and pats my cheek with a grin. "We want to send information, not post it."

Lio looks at her, then at his phone, then at Rain. "You refuse to set up a secure server for them to process their information through." He didn't even need to make it a question.

Rain stands with his arms over his chest, mirroring the stubborn exasperation of an older brother that I've grown used to seeing on Rhys. "Correct."

"Why?"

"I don't condone this sort of public behavior."

Lio and I glance at one another, but he looks away first. I keep studying him as he returns his attention to Rain. "What do you define as public behavior? Is this not public?"

"I'm your coworker. I know you from outside of the game. You and your sister are touring the college campus with the rest of the eleventh years." He jerks a thumb in my direction and that's the extent of my participation in their conversation. "This isn't public in the way that they want to go."

Mia shifts to my side and drapes her arm around my shoulder. She's half a foot taller than I am with long, thin limbs -- but she manages to make them move together with some semblance of grace. "What Raj and I want to do is to try and convince the blog to host information from other teams. What sort of events they have gone on, what sort of theories they might have. And then just share it among ourselves."

Lio’s expression doesn’t shift. He’s thinking about the possibilities, weighing the pros and cons of either side of the argument. The challenge would appeal to him, that much I know, but the question is how much of a philanthropist he is willing to be versus how much he wants to spite Rain.

“I mean, people already think it’s a LARP,” Rajesh continues. He sounds far more casual than Rain looks. “But we’re just want to at least adhere to the request from the Program Manager to not involve non-participants.”

"Please stop, both of you." Rain pinches the bridge of his nose, another motion that I'm more used to seeing on Rhys. Is it the burden of those acting like an older brother? Is that why Lio doesn't like him so much?

As if picking up on Rain's irritation, Lio crosses his arms over his chest to mirror Rain's posture and says, "I'll think about it."

Rain sputters out a surprised "What?!" while his two teammates cheer. In a desperate attempt at pulling the situation back under control, Rain turns to me -- like he wants to appeal to my better judgement. "And you're going to let him?"

I'd much rather not, but I also feel like Rhys and Kaito would want something like this to happen. They would be worried, just like Rain is, but the ends justify the means and they would be willing to help set it in motion. I look away so I don't have to see the disappointment on his face, scuffing my toes against the walkway. "With the right security, I think it would be worth it. This is what Kaito is trying to do, anyway."

"And you don't think that the Assistant Program Manager wouldn't easily crack through Lionel's security measures in order to see where all this data is mined from?"

"He never said we couldn't share it among ourselves," Rajesh points out. "Just not with those on the 'outside'." He places heavy air quotes around the word and his voice drops to a stage whisper. "So, you know, the exact opposite of what the Lady and the Ghost are doing."

I make a note to look up the blog post after our trip. "Then I don't see why not."

Rain mutters something under his breath before tossing his hands into the air in defeat. "You all seriously lack a self-preservation instinct."

"You have no concept of fun," Rajesh immediately replies, pushing a finger against Rain's cheek. "But we've already learned to accept this about you."

This only serves to make Rain’s frown deepen. He pushes Rajesh away and waves a hand in the space between us. "When it comes down to it, remember that I've warned you." Mia salutes, but Rain cuts her off with a shake of his head. "No. No more. Get the details from Lionel, but I don't want to hear this anymore."

Lionel takes down Rajesh and Mia's numbers. While my brother starts listening to Raj’s ideas, Mia turns to me.

I blink back at her expectant face. "What?"

"What's your number?" she asks, all grins.

I blink again, before glancing at Lio for backup. He frowns, but doesn't say anything. "What?" I try again, certain that I didn't hear them correctly the first time.

"Phone number," she enunciates, then shakes her mobile before me. "You have one, don't you?"

"I--I do, but..."

"Oh, c'mon, we'll go out for drinks and complain about our little computer nerds." Her thumb is moving across the screen on her phone before she patiently holds it out toward me.

I take the offered phone without thinking and notice that she's already added my name into the contact field, along with a ヾ(๑❛ ▿ ◠๑ ) alongside it. "I'm underage," I manage, and she giggles at some unknown joke.

"Then we'll get coffee until then." Mia offers a knowing wink.

Lionel steps back in next to me. "Did you just ask my sister out on a date?"

She presses a hand to her chest and feigns an innocent look. "That's not a problem is it, Big Bro? I'm sure Rajesh can invite you out if you're feeling jealous--"

"That's not--" Lio sputters, confused, and turns to stare at me. His face is pale, shock and surprise evident in the way that he sucks in his cheeks and the pinch around the corners of his eyes.

Meanwhile, my face is warm and I can only imagine that it's a bright red compared to his. My lips are struggling to suppress a smile as I pass Mia's phone back to her. "Apparently we're not as identical as we thought we were."

Lio's mouth opens and closes a few times, but nothing comes out of it. Then, like Rain before, he tosses his hands into the air in defeat.

This draws another burst of laughter from Rajesh and Mia with no explanation.

"Our class is starting soon, so we should be going." Rajesh drapes his arm back around Rain's shoulders and hooks his other arm around Mia's. "We'll see you around, kids. Consider that offer."

My twin grumbles and doesn't offer up an additional response. It's barely the span of a breath since they leave by the time my phone chimes from the side pocket of my backpack.

I struggle to pull it off and fetch the phone -- still working around the embarrassment that clings from Mia's words.

The text message that greets me consists of yet another little face, this one with a victorious (•̀ᴗ•́)و. A second one follows closely behind with, this is mia btw say hi to kaito for me!!

"We're identical," Lionel says. I look up, thinking he's reading the text over my shoulder, but he's frowning in the direction that the other team went.

"You frown too much." I poke the corner of his mouth after saving her number. "Let's go get lunch. I'm hungry." I replace the phone in my bag and start to head towards where I can see several of our classmates.

Behind me, Lio's frown eases into a pout, and he shoves his hands into his pockets before following.