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[personal profile] lady_mab

Lionel Darcy

I sit at my workstation, fingers drumming on the edge of my desk in an agitated rhythm. On the other side of the wall, visible through one of the security screens, I watch Liala pour over her math homework. I'm supposed to be off soon, but I want to stay for a little bit longer to avoid having to go out and talk to her.

It's not that I'm angry at her for ditching me on our birthday. I'm glad that she got to hang out with someone else that isn't me for once. Now that more and more people have been worming their way in our lives, it's become glaringly obvious just how cut off we've been from everything else.

She's sitting outside now so she can walk home with me. She had gone out to get coffee with her friends after class while I came to work. Now she's waiting instead of going straight home.

"Fuuuuuck," I mutter, lifting my hands to press the lenses of my goggles into my eye sockets. I'll give myself even uglier red rings, but it serves as a decent distraction at least.

"I thought you were trying to stop being bitter?" Rain moves into the back room, dropping his bag of equipment next to his stool.

"Shut up. I don't want to talk."

"At me or in general?" I can hear him settling down onto his stool, fussing around with his bag for the tools that he needs. "Hey, do you have an extra micro driver? I can't find mine."

A drawn out sound works its way from between my clenched teeth. "Uhhh... Maybe. Doesn't Russ just leave his sitting on the table all the time, though?"

I don't pay attention to his response, focusing instead on the screen before me. The program could be finished in no time at all. Just a few more lines, and then viola. Testing time for someone else to deal with. Only that would mean that it's time for me to go home and worry about something else.

A thought occurs to me, and I push away from my desk and swivel around in my chair. "Rain?"

He jerks in surprise, nearly dropping the micro driver he had been looking for back into the jumble of pieces that makes up our coworker's work space. "Jesus, did you practice your villainous chair spinning before I got here?"

I wave a hand to dismiss the idea. "No, it comes naturally. Have you been able to get anything from that message?"

His glare is partially obscured by the lenses of his glasses. I know that he's better with hardware than I am, as opposed to my skill lying in software. But he's not without his own strengths, as loathe as I am to admit it. "No. I've only really tried the conventional routes."

"I was thinking... is it related to the blog, do you think?"

Rain draws back, considering this question. "I don't think so. I don't know who runs the blog now, but I'm pretty sure that not even they have this level of security that this email has."

"Wait. What do you mean 'who runs it now'?"

"The original Lady and the Ghost aren't..." His expression goes distant, and a darkness taking over the plains of his face as he tries to work his way through this conversation. "I mean, I'm not a hundred percent certain what exactly happened to them, but they're no longer participating in the game. That's about all I know."

I am pretty sure there is more, especially with the way that he seems to be dancing around the subject. But it's a seriousness that I'm not used to seeing on him, so I don't want to push the topic.

"Alright, so either way. They don't have the level of technological security that this email manages. That narrows down the list by like one possible suspect."

"Joy. I'm sorry I can't be of more help, but once you get past the basics, it's a foreign language to me." Rain pulls his stool back from the table and slides into place. "By the way, why is your sister in detention in the lobby?"

My eyes flicker back to the security feed, watching Liala stretch her hands over her head and roll her shoulders. I've seen her do it so many times that I can imagine the faint groaning of bones and the relieved sigh that escapes her mouth.

She's my twin, literally my other half. I suppose I'm the one that started the rift between us, what with creating Lianel and not telling her about it until it was too late. I never thought that it would go this far. It's a good thing, I try to tell myself, while the back of my brain argues that no, it's definitely a bad thing.

"She's not in detention," I finally say. "This is sort of the employee only section. She's not allowed back here."

Rain nails me with another glare, this time aiming it over the rim of his glasses so the effect is dramatically improved. Still, he also knows better. He shakes his head, pulls his goggles on over his glasses and allows his focus to slip into the screen that provides the data feed of his equipment.

Before I can copy him and swivel back to my desk, I catch sight of additional movement on the security screen. There is no buzz to indicate a customer wanting assistance, even though the newcomer is lingering by the chairs in the lobby.

I can't tell who it might be, because all I can see is a long pair of legs while the rest of the body is out of view of the camera. As I watch, the newcomer leans down so her head is level with Lia's knees and she waves and smiles directly into the camera.

"Hey," I say, unable to tear my eyes away from where Lia is chatting with the young woman.

Rain doesn't respond, so I have to force myself to call out louder. He still doesn't turn around, so I pick up a scrap from the rubbish bin by my feet and hurl it at his back.

The tiny piece of plastic bounces off the back of his head, and Rain whirls about with a wide eyed look of surprise. It's only then that I notice that he's wearing his headphones when he yanks them out with a bit more force than I think is completely necessary. "What the fuck?!"

I don't bother apologizing. I jab a finger up at the monitor bank on the corner of the room, where Mia and Liala are visible in one of the screens. "What's she doing here?"

Wary, unwilling to turn his back on me again, Rain shifts his gaze to the screens and his look of annoyed confusion just turns to a deeper shade of frustration. "Mia? She can do whatever she wants. She's my teammate, sure, but you don't see me complaining whenever yours show up randomly."

'Mine' only consists of Rhys, Lia, and Kaito, and they have never come on Meliora related business. Only Lia ever comes with any consistency. This is the first time that I've seen Mia in the store.

On the screen, Mia holds her phone up to her ear and grins at my sister. Her lips are moving, but I have no idea what she is saying.

Seconds later, Rain's phone rings.

Grumbling about the constant stream of interruptions, he digs through his bag to pull it out. "What the hell, Mia? I'm at work." He pauses, frown deepening, and he glares at her image on the screen. "Yeah, I know, I can see you. No, you can't. Well, why don't you go bother Raj about it and we'll meet up in six hours--"

He falls silent, mouth hanging open, half-formed sounds of anger leaking from him. "No! The sign says employees only for a reason!"

On screen Mia points at something that can only be the door to the back room. Her hip is cocked to one side and she continues to grin as Lia laughs in her seat.

"Alright, fine. I'm coming. Shut up. I'm hanging up now." Rain tosses his phone down onto the table. He pinches the bridge of his nose as a heavy sigh echoes from deep within him. "She decided that she wants to gather a bunch of information to deliver to the Lady and the Ghost."

"I thought you said you didn't know who runs the blog now. And what about your disapproval of their security?"

"I don't, but Mia knew Lainey -- er, the titular 'Lady' of the blog. We only found out who ran it after the fact. But then whoever has taken over it now has obviously upgraded their security.” Rain visibly hesitates, but pushes on with the explanation. “I was given an anonymous email address to send information to for other posts, or whatever we think might be important. The message said it was in thanks for December twenty-second, when Raj and Mia were the ones to find Jun."

"Huh," I muse as Lia tenses in her seat. Neither of us have found out exactly what happened to the other teams. "Why didn't you say something earlier?"

Rain shakes his head and pushes the door open. "It didn't seem important at the time. Mia and Raj wanted to feel a little more important, so they chatted up other teams to gather some information. It's not exactly your skill set, so I didn't say anything."

"Fair enough..."

He stands aside and waves a hand at the door. "Would you like to help me rescue your sister from the clutches of Mia?"

I slide out of my chair and follow after him back into the lobby. Mia is perched on the edge of a chair, leaning in close as she talks to Lia -- who giggles at words we can't hear.

She springs to her feet the moment she hears us, all grins and sunshine. I'm pretty sure she could combat the gloomy weather outside through sheer force of will alone. "Oh, you both came!"

"I'm only here to tell you to go home. We're not having a jolly info meeting here." Rain maneuvers around the counter and catches onto her shoulder with surprising ease.

"C'mon Raaaaain!" She attempts to squirm out of his grip, but his arm shifts and slips around her shoulders so he's practically holding her in a headlock. "Don't be jealous. You're still my number one."

"I'm not jealous. I just wish you would keep it in your pants."

I have no idea what they're talking about, but Lia blushes and Mia grins and does her best to shrug. "You know that I have a thing for blue eyes."

"Wait..." I say, holding up a hand in an attempt to make the conversation stay still long enough for me to catch up. "Are you flirting with Lia again?"

Mia throws her hands in the air. "I can't help it! She's so cute."

"We look exactly the same."

From her spot in the lobby chair, Lia rolls her eyes though her blush doesn't dampen in the slightest. "We do not."

My eyes jump to the camera in the corner. I wonder that, if anyone was in the back office, what they would think. How similar would Lia and I look when standing side by side? So much has happened recently that I haven't even really thought about what might have changed.

I just accepted the fact that, at one point, we looked close enough for everyone to confuse us.

Rain releases Mia and she plants a kiss on his cheek in thanks. "Have you gotten some good information to turn in to the blog?"

"Liala and I were just talking about that." Mia is a mess of long limbs as she drops down into the chair back at Lia's side, kicking out her legs to try and trip Rain as he moves toward the counter. "The meeting at the end of January was a completely different kind of dramatic than what happened at the Halloween event."

I cross my arms over my chest, pondering my brief time at ALICE on the fourth to try and work my way through the message. "Everything about the email is a dead end. I tried everything I could think of to work backwards through the code to find the sender or a bounce-back address, but nothing worked." I fiddle with the ties of my hoodie, twirling the cord between my fingers. "It was eerily quiet."

"What do you mean?" Rain leans against the counter, fingers tapping restlessly on the Formica surface. "What was quiet?"

"ALICE. Everything about them. I went to their offices awhile ago, and I know it was a Saturday but... Only Mary Ann was there. And..." The confession that she addressed me doesn't make its way out of my mouth. I told Rhys, and later I told Liala, but I don't know how I'm supposed to share it with the others. I don't know what it even means to myself, much less what it would mean to others.

Mia hums and folds her arms behind her head. "This has really thrown them off their groove, hasn't it?"

"It was certainly enough to rock the careful balance that they've been projecting this whole time," Rain concedes. "The question still stands: Who sent it?"

"Could it have been a participant?" Lia asks, hands folded between her knees as she looks at me. "You've been able to do a lot with the app and emails that they've sent over. Do you think you could work something out on that level if you had been better?"

I don't even bother being offended at the idea that I'm not the best. If there is one thing this game has shown me, it's that there is so much more going on than my narrow view. "I don't know. Everything leaves a trace of where it came from. There's technology out there that you could use to erase your digital footprint completely, but it's not easy to get your hands on."

Rain scratches his chin in thought, staring up at the bright lights on the ceiling. "True. Set up an anonymous, shifting IP and then cover the trace of it with that software? Switch the account each email sent out. There was only like, what, somewhere over a hundred of us at that last meeting? It wouldn't have taken that much effort."

"But was it limited to people who were at the meeting? I received one of the messages and I wasn't there."

Lia makes a small sound, and we all turn to look at her. "Our apps are linked, right? If I check in, you could see it load on your app as well?"

"Yeah, something like that. We're both registered with different numbers and the same name. But everything has been sent via a standard data carrier insofar."

"Sent the text via email. Rules for erasing the tracks still apply."

Lia hunches her shoulders, the way she does when she's embarrassed and doesn't want to be the center of attention. She glances nervously between me and Rain. "Perhaps... if it was sent from someone at ALICE, they would have used the app to track everyone who checked in. And then from there, the numbers associated with it."

Rain and I look at each other.

"An employee involved with the game that doesn't agree with their methods?" Mia taps a finger against her lips, then springs to her feet. "That's pretty brilliant!"

"It is, Lia," Rain agrees, and my sister beams under the praise from the two of them. "Would certainly explain how they would be able to get their hands on the high tech software needed for it."

I make a small sound in the back of my throat. "What I wouldn't do to be able to get my hands on some of their tech. Did you see the app they were using that time back in December? I didn't. I had to hide."

Rain and Mia give me an odd look, but then they notice Lia sitting there and don't press it. "It blocked any use of the phone whatsoever. It was fascinating," Rain finally admits.

"Man. That would be so cool to see the coding behind it."

"Maybe we can request that in our information package at the end of this game."

I laugh despite myself. "The amount of things I want to investigate of theirs would take way too long. I'd have to stay behind."

Mia hums softly to herself. "Kaito mentioned you're going back to Ireland?"

"Hopefully," Lia says, pushing herself to her feet so she can stand next to me. She's a fraction shorter, I notice, but otherwise we still have the same petite build.

"So, alas, no playing with tech for me."

Rain smirks. "I'll take it all apart and tell you how much fun it all is."

"I hate you."

"It's seven fifteen, aren't you supposed to be off by now?"

I grumble to myself. "Yeah."

"Are you done with coding?"

"Nearly."

"Go finish. Then get out of here. Mia, send him the email address for the blog, will you?"

She salutes. "Aye aye, captain."

Rain rolls his eyes, and I follow back after him into the employee work area. When the door closes behind us, he turns and levels me with a very serious expression. "Be very careful about this blog. I've done my best to set up security for Mia, and maintain what you built for them, but I know that things are a lot more rocky for your team."

I don't know how to respond to Rain being perfectly civil and somewhat concerned for me. "I know."

"If there really is strife within ALICE, and they're using this level of tech to cloak their steps, then we don't know what we can trust anymore."

"I know," I repeat. "And as much as you're worried about Mia and Raj, just know that I'm even more worried about Rhys and Lia." I hesitate, uncertain if I want to say the next part. But try as I might, the words don't want to remain unspoken. "We're family. They're all that I have."

He reaches out, and for a moment I think he's going to ruffle my hair the way Kaito and Rhys do. But he clasps me on the shoulder, tight, and forces me to look him in the eye. "Then remember that you're going to have to watch out for your own team first. Keep being the selfish you that we all know and adore." Despite the sarcasm of his tone, his grip tightens in seriousness. "You have to think of this game in absolutes at this point, and your team is your one priority."

"Is this how you view the game?"

A flicker of hesitation darkens his face, and he draws away. "Knowing what I do, yes. Mia and Rajesh are why I was dragged into this, and so I will do my best to ensure that they're dragged back out the other side."

There's something else that he doesn't say -- something that keeps the thought from feeling complete. He doesn't finish, so I shrug it off and return to my desk.

It only takes me another ten minutes to put the finishing touches onto the code before I save it on the company drive and pack up my computer. "I'll see you later, Rain. And... Thanks." I don't know exactly which bit I'm thanking him for, but he accepts it all the same.

"Good luck, Lianel Lions," he says to me, and the weight of his words rest heavy in my chest.


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M.A.B.

September 2020

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