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Post by DanteMGalileo on Dec 28, 2018 14:17:06 GMT -5
"Close enough. He's dumb enough to roll with whatever." Will nodded at Ryan, shooting a nervous glance at the room where Max was. "And yes, I'm certain Max will catch on to our little lie. ... Okay, our not-so-little lie. Just so you know, Lydia, if this goes wrong, I'll, uh, complain. Loudly."
"Hey guys, what's up?" Percy popped up, the smell of pizza strong and munching on a slice. Will jumped, barely managing to contain his scream. The brunette was oblivious to the fact that he had possibly scared at least ten years off the blonde's lifespan, and whatever he was talking about with Ryan. "Pizza?"
"You think pineapple on pizza is good, so my sympathy for you is very low right now, Perce. ... Is that bacon? Okay, I'll take a piece'a bacon pizza."
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Post by Pink Moon Wolf on Dec 28, 2018 18:42:58 GMT -5
"I'm aware of how sharp Max is," Lydia grumbled between spoonfuls of pudding. "I'm in deep enough as it is with her. Can't exactly dig any deeper."
She perked an eyebrow, flicked her eyes back and forth in contemplation, then swallowed another bite of pudding. ".........That came out wrong. ...As did that. What I mean is she's already plenty pissed off at me. At least this way she can feel like she's helping me without all of us having to deal with the worst of that drama. And if you could just learn to keep your cool while she's around, we could keep that drama to a minimum."
Lydia stared solemnly at her monitor as Will looked to the room Max was in. "I'm not ready to face that again. Not like this."
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Post by ParamountKeymaster on Dec 28, 2018 19:00:43 GMT -5
"Mm-hmm... Yeah, I can do ten-thirty," Max stated, holding her phone to her ear with one hand while writing something in her notebook with the other. "Oh, that's no problem. I can find my own means of transportation. And you're sure the company won't be an issue? ...... Oh, no sir, they can all keep a secret. Wouldn't be in this business if they couldn't, right? Heheh. ...... Yes, that sounds great. Again, thank you so much! I'll see you tomorrow! Buh-bye!"
Max ended the call and snapped her notebook shut with a bold grin. Then she stood up off the bed and march out into the living room, offering that bold smile to the three young men gathered into the hotel room.
"Well! We may have screwed the pooch when it came to taking the easy route..." It was easy to tell who Max was looking at when she said that. "...but I may have just booked us a pass for the next best thing! You're welcome!"
She sat down on the couch, pulled up a picture on her phone, and held it up for William, Percy and Ryan to see. The image showed a young man who looked to be in his early thirties, sporting fluffy, intricately-styled blond hair, blue eyes, glasses, and a lab coat over typical business attire.
"This guy? His name's Andrew Kent. He's one of the heads of research at LunArc's northern lab. And we have an interview with him tomorrow morning."
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Post by ColArana on Dec 28, 2018 19:13:54 GMT -5
Ryan gave a satisfied nod at that, and glanced over at Percy. If he knew what Lydia was saying, he might have told her that Max was still helping her even if she knew the truth. She might be even better at helping if she did. But he didn't. He had no way of hearing her at present, so there was little he could do about it. Besides. It wasn't like he wasn't hiding something himself. ....Oh. ".....Well. Maybe I can relate after all." He admitted to Will and Lydia, almost as an afterthought, just before Percy rejoined them. "Welcome back Percy." He stated, his own heart in his throat for a brief instant. At least I can still freak out like a normal human...
It seemed they wouldn't get a chance to spill the deal with Percy though as Max came and rejoined them. "Max, you got an interview with that guy!? Seriously?! You're amazing!" He exclaimed. "You might just be a life saver! Whereabouts tomorrow?" He asked, eagerly.
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Post by DanteMGalileo on Dec 28, 2018 21:04:17 GMT -5
"... I still have no idea as to what's going on, but this is good, right?" Percy glanced at the photo, nodding. "So, what's the plan next? Get some sleep so we can kick down the door tomorrow without blacking out?" The brunette noted the looks he was getting, shrugging. "It works for me!"
"D'you mind if I get a closer look? 'Fraid I don't have one of them fancy phones (or a phone thingamajig at all)..." Walking closer, Will seemed to be trying to absorb every little detail. "... Hmm... uh... I'll just make sure Perce doesn't go Rambo on him, I guess? Wouldn't wanna ruin all your hard work, ye?"
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Post by Pink Moon Wolf on Dec 28, 2018 22:28:16 GMT -5
"Good thinking, buddy. Hold it right there."
As William took a closer look at the picture of the man on Max's phone, Lydia pulled up a keyboard and started typing away. "Don't turn your head. Let me snap a good image of this for myself."
With the simple push of a button, the image that William's eyes recorded was saved to Lydia's computer. An automated process started mapping out the contours of the man's face. As she watched this, Lydia couldn't help but chuckle and murmur to herself, "Wow. Guess I'll have an excuse to use this thing after all." Too bad the program's creator wasn't around to see it...
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Post by ParamountKeymaster on Dec 28, 2018 22:53:05 GMT -5
"I have my moments," Max cheekily, teasingly stated to Ryan as she offered her phone to William for study. "A friend of mine at Lacuna let me in on a soon-to-be-declassified project that LunArc is working on right now. Something about a robotic super suit. So I'm going in to talk to Andrew about it tomorrow, and I told him that I would have a couple journalism students shadowing me. Sure, the project may or may not prove to be relevant to our predicament, but it'll give us a chance to search the place for any trace of Lydia."
Once William had gotten a good look at Andrew's picture, Max put her phone away and continued, "Interview is at ten-thirty tomorrow morning. We'll have to leave early and get ourselves up north, so for the sake of coordinating at the crack of dawn with any sort of efficiency, I think it might be best if I crash on you guys' couch. If that's alright with you. Not much else we can do until then besides rest and get our sh*t together, right?"
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Post by ColArana on Dec 29, 2018 18:32:46 GMT -5
Ryan smiled at Max. "Robotic super suit huh.... Interesting. Sounds good to me." He stated. Will was gonna have to run the show once they were there. Will and Lydia. Ryan himself only had a very vague idea of what exactly they were looking for after all. "But Max, you said 10:30? Then we'd better rest up, right?" He suggested. "If you want the couch, I'll be fine with a chair." He noted. Afterall... Ryan didn't exactly sleep much anymore. The physical act of lying down didn't really do anything for him anymore. He only even sat down for his sleep mode for the purposes of normalcy anymore. He could very well have "slept" standing up if need be.
Looking over at Percy, Ryan sighed. "Percy, we're going to try diplomacy first. We'll figure it out after that. We umm.... Well, We'll work something out if it doesn't go well." He looked over at Will now. He wondered if Lydia realized that Max was risking her life for a lie. He bit his lip in frustration. When Max found out.... Shit. He hoped he was well clear of that nuclear meltdown when it happened. "Anyways.... Umm... Unless someone has something we should bring up now, should we start getting ready for tomorrow then? How are we going to question this guy? How can we scout this place out? I mean. I know a few tricks but..."
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Post by DanteMGalileo on Dec 29, 2018 19:05:29 GMT -5
"Okay. I get it. If diplomacy fails, you're just gonna let me go bananas on them until we get Lydia or some clue of where she is, yeah? I can do the fighty thing if nothing else." There was an awkward silence as Percy tried to get the general plan. "... I really don't get it. Oh well, maybe I'll get it when I'm rested. Night!" Without any further regards for social niceties, Percy jumped into the nearest room and closed the door. Snoring could be heard mere seconds later.
... Will allowed himself to sigh and slump slightly, placing a hand to his face. "Oy vey..." Looking up, the blonde nodded at the other two people left on the room. "You can take the other bedroom. I'll take the couch. 'Sides, I'm more used to a harder surface than a bed..." Oh gods, there's the delayed headache. "I'm just gonna hope for the best and get some sleep. Maybe this talking fever will go away overnight anyway..."
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Post by ParamountKeymaster on Dec 29, 2018 19:23:13 GMT -5
Max awkwardly grinned as Percy disappeared into his bedroom, letting out a stiff chuckle and murmuring in a lightly teasing tone, "Not much for etiquette, this ensemble." Then she turned back to Ryan with a shrug. "Yeah. Rest is probably best. I think I've said my peace. Only other thing I can think is... Will, maybe you and Percy should think about going in disguise. If Mr. Stone was after you, there's no telling if the rest of LunArc's staff knows about you. If nothing else, though, just promise you'll at least try to be on your best behavior tomorrow. Most important thing is not to look too obviously suspicious."
After standing up off of the couch, Max knelt down on the floor, opened up Lydia's suitcase and started rummaging through it. "If you say so, I guess wouldn't mind taking the bed. Definitely could use a good shower, at least. Might as well see what Lydia packed in the ways of toiletries and nightw-"
She went silent for a moment. Her expression was one of reserved surprise and curiosity. Slowly, she took on a sad, contemplative smile as she pulled a black and white plaid shirt. "Heh... Wow. This... This looks like the shirt that... Lydia wore on our first date."
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Post by Pink Moon Wolf on Dec 29, 2018 20:06:38 GMT -5
Lydia's eyes slowly trailed away from her computer monitor to her visual feed monitor, watching as Max sifted through her suitcase and pulled out that old black and white shirt that Lydia had almost forgotten about. A low chuckle escaped her wistful smile as she leaned in for a closer look.
"Hah... Well... not really our first date. It was the night you agreed to go out with me," she mused as if Max could hear her, her finger tracing the outline of Max's face on her screen. "We were at the club. You'd just finished an interview, I was just... there. We bumped into each other... I bought you dinner and we talked until three in the morning... and... then I got drunk and threw up and... fell down a manhole walking you home..."
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Post by ColArana on Dec 30, 2018 20:39:08 GMT -5
"Sounds good Percy! But not until then, okay!?" He suggested, then looking at Will. "Well. Sleep well then man." He said, going to a chair and having a seat, before leaning back. Seeming as if he were making himself comfortable. "Sorry Max. I probably should know better etiquette myself." He agreed with a small smile, before shutting his eyes for a moment, and sighing deeply. He heard a small thump and his eyes opened again to see Max rummaging through Lydia's suitcase, before pulling out the shirt, and making the note about it.
"Max..." He began looking at her with a frown. "...Sorry." He said.
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Post by DanteMGalileo on Dec 31, 2018 13:03:42 GMT -5
"Heh... old flames, eh?" Will walked over to the couch, looking at the shirt Max had pulled out of Lydia's suitcase. "I think she mentioned something about a breakup one time? I don't think she's fully over it yet, despite whatever she might have said..."
Well that was awkward. ... Wait who am I kidding this entire situation was awkward to begin with. If anything this might actually be LESS awkward.
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Post by Pink Moon Wolf on Dec 31, 2018 13:08:30 GMT -5
"Oh, will you knock it off?!"
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Post by ParamountKeymaster on Dec 31, 2018 13:55:19 GMT -5
"It's alright," Max sighed, offering Ryan a shrug and a halfhearted grin. "Not like it's you guys' fault this happened."
She looked up at William, then down at the shirt again with a meek blush, her reserved bashfulness a sharp departure from her usual bravado. She knew Lydia wasn't over her. Last night's argument was evidence enough. Of course, Max couldn't act like she was totally over Lydia either.
After gathering whatever other items she needed from the suitcase and piling them on top of the shirt, Max stood up and shyly looked between the two boys. "Does she... talk about me much?"
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