2018.11.24 Hypnagogia: Best Laid Plans

Hypnagogia: Break In
Vertigo invites some friends over whom she believes can help Bieta with the object in her mind.
IC Date	Nov. 24, 2018
IC Time	19:00 p.m.- 21:00 p.m.
Players	Bieta ST, Amethyst, Johnathan, Ross, Serenity, Valentina, Vertigo
Location	Vertigo's Home
Spheres	Mage

Vertigo's Home

Vertigo's home sits atop a hill that looks out over the beach. From the outside, it appears like someone with some affluence would live here. The yard outside is pristine with a small flower garden, patio, and a couple of small trees which bloom violet in the spring. The house itself is a ranch style home, colored a simple white with a beige roof. The windows facing the quiet street are covered in black-out curtains. There is a garage connected to the house, which is kept closed at all times and has a light red pull-down door.

The inside of the home is kept simple. The living room is fairly large with clean white carpeting. A couch and old comfy chair face a fifty inch TV, with an end table between them littered in tech magazines. To the right of the living room from the front door is the kitchen, which is also kept simple and has a few brand new pans and pots hanging. The only things in there that seem to get any use are the fridge and microwave. In addition, there are two bedrooms, one of which is a messy nightmare of clothes, and the other which is kept clean and is little more than a bed, dresser, and small television. There is only one bathroom, but it's rather sizable. There is enough make-up in the bathroom to start a cosmetics boutique.

Vertigo has Johnathan drive and gives directions while she explains the situation to him. She'd have him park the van in the garage, and let the second arrival do the same. She has the rest park in the driveway. She closes the garage door. She makes sure EVERYONE takes their shoes off before walking onto her carpet! "Mi casa es su casa. Drinks are in the fridge, probably some pizza left, too." Johnathan would takes off his shoes and of course having skull printed socks beneath "I can "jack" as you call it, I just can't delete though. Not that strong yet" he offers to Vertigo.

Ross brings in a hard shell plastic toolbox, as well as a cardboard box with some uars of small components and such. "This is good for a start," he muses, slipping his shoes off in turn before heading further in. "Vertigo, how's your stereo system? I could use the resonant frequencies, help sync things up."

Val had gotten her motorcycle, the old low rider, a shotgun, and well herself. She sighs upon instructions to take off her shoes, but has them off within five minutes. "Just tell me what we are missing, I can probably make a trade, but....I will need every mirror we can get our hands on and a shitload of pot."

When she hears people arriving and Vertigo's voice, Bieta steps out of a bedroom into the hallway. She is holding her daughter's hand and Kasia is rubbing her eyes. Bieta's and Kasia's clothes are wrinkled. Even though Bieta sees a few familiar faces, Bieta says, "Vertigo, what is happening?"

Amethyst is the weirdo, and takes her own ride. Some jacked up motorcycle of doom, looks like someone got ahold of a Ducati Superbike and lit it up with deep purple LEDs. The slim woman, LED bracelets a-glitter, slips off her bike, sets down her helmet, and follows the entourage inside. She is VERY CAREFUL to take her sandals off, and get the required slippers on. Protocol, and all that jazz. It occasionally looks like she's scritching air over her shoulder, about owl-height. Weird. Dreamy. Smart cookie, just odd. "Anything I can bring in? Dunno whatcha need, but I can grab stuff from lots of places, not very hard." This is said at large to all present. This isn't Ame's show, she's just here for backup. A pause. "And as for medicine, I probably have like a pound in my motorcycle. It's the /good/ stuff." She pauses, and looks to the new voices entering.

Vertigo chuckles to Ross. "Dude, I'm a DJ, my shits off the chain. I'll bring it out. I don't have a lot of mirrors, just the bathroom one and a full length in my room. There's a hardware store down the street though. Don't have pot either." She states, looking to Bieta. "Hey, B. Now that the proverbial poop has hit the fan, we have to get this situation taken care of. So we're gonna have to go at that data you have and get you free of it." She motions to Amethyst. "This nice lady here is good with kids, she offered to watch Kasia for a bit."

Ross nods to Vertigo. "I look forward." Then to Bieta. "I'm thinking it'll probably be easier to just make it look like it's gone. But we'll see. Speaking of Kasia,how much does she understand about all this? Because it'd probably be a /lot/ easier in the long run if she was brought up to speed, like, tonight at the latest. Before the /next/ crisis hits."

Serenity took the offered ride of the van with Vertigo and John; just listening to others and doing what the romans do. She carefully slips her shoes off as requested upon entering - setting her beige ankle booties to the side and neatly making an arranged pile of the footwear so it looked orderly. With a small wave she offers a friendly gesture to Bieta and Kasia - while others begin gathering materials.

Johnathan looks to Bieta "We are here to help" nodding to her with a warm smile and looks to Vertigo, this was her show. He knew how to delve into the mind if needed be but he was not sure how to proceed with all of this looking to the others gathered.

"Just tell me if we end up needing something." Val notes, sighing a bit as she steps to the side to just stay out of the way for now. "Personally I'm apt to go break into some agents apartments and draw dicks in the bathrooms, but if we are going to do brain surgery with a monkey wrench..."

Bieta looks at everyone in the room and says, "Good Evening." She looks at Amethyst and offers her a hand, saying, "Dr. Elżbieta Dymna is a name by which I am called." Kasia stares at everyone in the room. Glancing to Ross, Bieta says, "Could you wait one moment for me to..." Bieta looks from Johnatan to Val when Val says 'if we are going to do brain surgery with a monkey wrench..' and pauses.

"I'm pretty jacked up, and to be honest, yalls programming is weird as shit to me. I'm going to put up a firewall to keep anyone from detecting what y'all are doing in here. So I'll be in another room letting you do your thing and running interference." She (Vertigo) walks over to Kasia and pats her on the head, smiling a touch, then looks up to Bieta. "You're gonna have to trust these guys to be able to get this done. That or buy you some japanese to english dictionaries and get used to eating rice at every meal." With that, she heads into her room, dragging out her speakers and DJ case. She starts to set everything up in the living room while the others talk and prep. "I do love drawing dicks, but that's for later." She does off-handedly comment with a chuckle.

Ross promptly cuts Val off with a hand gesture. "We are /not doing brain surgery with a monkey wrench/." Vertigo gets a slight nod, then he turns his attention back to Bieta. "Doctor. About Kasia. How much does she know? Because I'm okay letting her stay and watch, the question is are /you/ okay with it."

Johnathan smiles "Johnathan Oneiroi" he offers and nods to Ross agreeing that they have to decide what to do when it comes to the child. "We are here to help, our friends... terminology does not represent what will actually happen. Now as what will -actually- happen" looking over to Vertigo "I am still rather unclear what we intend to do, merely retrieve and see what they are after or compartmentalize it, or remove it. I myself do not have the skills yet for such a deep delve, I can locate it or even mindscape it if need be.." looking to the rest of the Mages.

Vertigo sets a folding table up and puts a laptop and controller on it. "First, determine what the information is. It might be something we can use. If it's too deeply encrypted just delete it, better the suits don't get their hands on it. Might be a weapon plan or something worse. If we can access it and it's worth anything to us, we should make a secure copy and then delete it from her dri-mind. If y'all can't delete it, put it into backup storage, but I'd like to free her and the kid up from all this bullsh-stuff for good. They were willing to break the stalemate to try and take her." She sighs a bit. "Maybe I should have just killed that agent instead. I didn't want to spark a war, as fun as that sounds, we're not in a condition for it." She turns to Ross. "You know how to use this stuff or just want me to set up a playlist?"

Bieta clears her throat and tries to steady her voice when she says, "The pleasure is on my side, Ms. Wickward...Mr. Oneiroi." Looking at Ross, Bieta says, "I do not think I want Kasia to see this." Kasia stares up at Amythest with her multi-colored hair and tells her, "You're pretty." Bieta kneels down to her daughter's level and hold's Kasia's hands, saying, "Kasia, will you stay with Ms. Wickward for a little while. I need to do some grown up stuff righ now." Kasia nods her head and looks over at Amythest. Kasia waves her hand at the woman before offering her small hand to Amethyst.

Ross shakes his head to Vertigo. "I probably /could/ figure it out, but you know it like the back of your hand, you go ahead." He waits for Kasia to clear out, then looks around for a place to start taking stuff out of the equipment box and setting it down. "Okay, Vertigo and Amethyst are occupied, that leaves the four of us, I guess. Raise your hand if you know any mind magic at all? Johnathan, I know you said you do. Anyone who doesn't, I guess can watch dials and make sure nothing's overloading, or if you think of something else useful then go for it."

Waiting to see if the child Kasia would be staying or not - Serenity reassures the young one that they would not have to consist of a diet of rice for the rest of their life as much as Vertigo might suggest it. With a sweet and pleasant voice she kneels to speak at Kasia's eye level. "Hi, I'm Serenity Lee Young. I am here to help your mom. Try not to worry about these last few days. The world is a confusing and scary place at times. But all these people have came together to help her. Very smart men and women. It will all work out in the end. You just gotta believe it, ok?", offering a small goodbye wave to the girl as she took Amethyst's hand. Brushing herself off to standup straight, Serenity looked to the others. "Suffering is often the cause of desire and wanting unfulfilled. If you remove the desire - you remove the suffering. How many know about this ... sacred knowledge? Perhaps if everyone forgot it existed like a form of arcane? The problem might resolve itself?", the singer asked curiously. Brain-jacking seemed like a scary proposition.

"I can only work in potential Ross. Has to be an action." Val notes, eyes moving to the equipment. "Also, as far as I know, that is a toaster."

Amethyst's got this. "SOooo Kasia. I've got about a billion movies and video games in my phone, no joke, and a projector. Wanna try one out? Or we can just watch some Disney movies..." the woman's voice trails off as she leads Kasia into another room. Ame's warm, amicable chatter goes straight into aunt mode, or maybe just overgrown kid mode. Assuredly, there has to be a room in the house where a child can be kept out and away from the working and stuff and kept entertained. The Adept isn't far away if there are problems. Johnathan looks about to the rest "I am not aware of your skills or knowledge in Mind nor if our paradigms might find overlap. I am Disciple using standardized terminology. Who else would be able to delve?" looking between them all then back to Bieta "Might I inquire how all this happened? Do you know why they are after you? What you might have gotten or seen?" he removes his victorian jacket to get abit more comfortable.

Vertigo plugs everything in and clicks around on her laptop. "Alright, you have a certain playlist in mind, Ross, or you want the house special?" She asks, blinking a few times and moving closer to her laptop screen to read it. Now she knows how her grandma felt when she had cataracts.

"House special is good. Of course it's a toaster," Ross adds, glancing toward Val, "you got a safer idea for a portable heat source?" With the toaster not yet plugged in, he attaches some extra wires to it with little alligator clips. "Bieta, put your hands on this panel over here? It's insulated, don't worry, it works through magnetic induction patterns instead. Johnathan... yeah, I dunno, we could try if it comes to it, but maybe it'd be better if you just double checked what I get?"

After waiting until Kasia leaves the room with Amythest, Bieta says, "Mike taught me a little bit of mind magic, not much. I do not know how much help I can be. What I do know is that my Mother must have put this in my head for a reason. Whatever it is, she trusted me with it. She may have died trying to protect this. I know this is an inconvenience to everyone else. This is something different to me. I...am not comfortable with the idea of destroying it." Bieta looks at the panel which Ross indicates.

Well...well there you have it. Vertigo mentioned where the drinks were, and that meant the kitchen. Val takes herself that way, coming back with one of the sodas, and two slices of bread. She loads the toaster. Worse comes to worse, well at least she will have toast. "Best I could do is call up a me that knows how all this machinenary works, but...I don't think you want me to do that Ross, it is most likely her."

Vertigo messes with the EQ a bit and then hits play, starting up an industrial mix she prepped for a club gig. "Okay, give me five then y'all can start doing your thing." She states, shooting a grin to Bieta. "Don't worry, everything will work out." She promises, fistbumping Johnathan as she passes him and heads into her bedroom. From there she'd go through her SUPER SECRET DOOR and head down to her lab. ( https://youtu.be/e3M3an0SKyw )

Johnathan accepts the fistbump and watches what Ross is doing for now the Cultists not quite sure what he is trying. Technomancy never was his thing, technology fine.. but jamming magic into it.. was just odd. It of course had its merits but not something he could wrap his mind around.

The clipped wires lead to a set of oscilloscopes, which trace out different patterns as Ross fiddles with the exact placement of some things. "Okay, there's our payload. Now this next part, if the glass breaks, don't worry, it's supposed to." As he speaks, he sets up some glass jars inside metal boxes, lowering the bare end of one wire into each. "Also, Bieta? I know you won't wanna hear this, but it's /possible/ that your mom did a dumb thing. Anyway, keep sitting tight, this'll take another minute..."

Taking her jacket and scarf off - Serenity occasionally touches her left wrist as she closes her eyes briefly and tries to calm her breathing. "Om Mani Padme Hum...", she whispers in a soft repetitive chant to herself. The occasional turning of a prayer bead as she communed with her divine. Those soft pale eyes of hers merely watching others as they used various foci and paradigms to work their magic. What was the most compassionate thing to do? - Bieta still valued her memories and did not seem to want them erased. Others desired what she had. "... Om Ami Dewa Hrih...", Serenity prayed with a beautiful mantra. Thoughts and the belief of undying compassion filling the young woman as she channeled her energy and belief for a better state of being in Bieta.

At Ross's comment, Bieta opens her mouth and then shuts it. Glaring at Ross and clenching her jaw, Bieta resists the urge to remove her hands from the panel. When she slows her breathing, Bieta says, "don't speculate things about someone you didn't know. I'm sure my Mother had her reasons."

Meanwhile, down below in the Bat Cave, Vertigo sits in front of a bunch of monitors and computer systems, the same playlist blaring through the echoing cavern as she codes the firewall, stringing it through the speakers and electronic devices of the house as well as the satellite dish she's already tinkered with in case of emergency. Once she has the grid set up it's just a matter of setting it to a script and letting it run. Once it's going, she slides off her chair and slowly moves to the twin sized bed, tugging off her wig and goggles and laying down, closing her eyes and groaning a bit. "Man I hope they don't blow up my house. I just got this thing." She says aloud to herself.

Let it goooo... let it goooo... there's obligatory cartoons playing and kids shooooows.. somewhere in the background. Amethyst has probably borrowed a blank wall and set up movies for the munchkin in another room. Not all technology has to be magical or beyond mortal means.

Thank $DEITY for Vertigo's speakers drowning /that/ out. Mostly. Ross looks up and shrugs. "Everyone has their reasons. Just because it's possible doesn't mean it's like--" Before he can finish the sentence, though, two of the jars straight-up explode within their containers, while the third continues to just bubble and glow with Cherenkov radiation. "All right, yeah, looks like removing and erasing are off the table, either one would take you with it. /Maybe/ one of the masters could get around that, but I sure couldn't. Probably not Jonathan, either, I think we're around the same point after translation. We should be able to pull off the fake-out, though."

Val watches, mainly just in case something /is/ about to explode. That she could help deal with. But for once in her life she is silent, letting Ross and the others work while she watches. Well until shit starts glowing blue. "Ross, is that Cherenkov? Like...is that nuclear?"

Bieta looks back and forth between Ross and Vertigo, she swallows hard when she hears Vertigo mention the word nuclear. "Can I...take...my hands...off this...thing...right now?"

Ross waves a hand at Bieta. "Yeah, go ahead, I gotta think a bit anyway. Val, it /is/ Cherenkov but it's not nuclear, it's just the same side effect you get from nuclear. And those boxes are part lead, anyway, so..." He leans back and rubs his eyes. "Okay, if we're gonna put a shield up, best if we can get all hands on deck. Wait till after Kasia's gone to bed?"

Val seems more impressed that Ross has things breaking the light barrier in a liquid medium using a god damn toaster. Speaking of wich. Pop! Aha, Val's hand swipes out, taking her toast with a few little hops of hot bread in her hands. "How we going to pull that one off?"

Bieta snatches her hands away, blinks and says, "I'm sorry. Does that mean gamma radiation?" She looks over at the toaster as it pops out toast and then at Val.

Ross turns and squints at Bieta. "No, Doctor, no one is turning you into an enormous green rage monster. Cherenkov is just what happens when charged particles go through liquid. Nuclear reactors are /one/ thing that produce those." By this point, the thing has stopped glowing, at any rate. "Well, the basic concept is, the same type of signals that I was reading there? We'd need to set something up that gave off false signals at the same level of complexity. The idea is, if they check her and it looks like the thing is gone, /maybe/ they'll quit risking their own people to try and grab her. And if we're wrong about that, then we think about a plan B."

Johnathan shakes his head "That would require getting her in their hands though... and to be honest I would consider that a no go, specially at this point. Given time, techniques and what not they can get more then just the 'payload'. Even if we hide it or remove it or extract it or whatever we do. The play is to let them know. We can't play a finitive game, when they are playing an infinate game. It doesn't stop just cause we fix this. It either stops when they find out its gone -or- it continues forever".

"And so we continue a war we lost." Val shrugs her shoulders. Toast! She takes a bite, a moment to chew, then swallow. "Can we falsify the pattern? Give them something that looks like it was in there, but isn't it?"

Serenity is a bit startled by the exploding containers but continues the little mantra in her head. The turning of the prayer beads stopping briefly as others discuss radiation and health concerns. The young faithful girls thoughts still on healing, compassion, mercy and tolerance. "Bieta - how are feeling. Is there anything I can do to lower your stress? Would you like to try some aromatherapy for a calmer state of being?", Serenity offers while looking to Ross. "Let's not stress the patient.", she offers with a minor pout that changed to a smile as she asked Ross a question or two. "Can we ... add to it? A temporary overwrite to mask the ... file type? It's encrypted but couldn't we spoof harmless data and junk mail. The idea is that the information is valuable... if discovery reveals it's useless. Wouldn't the hats lose interest?", Serenity asks curiously.

Ross scratches at his chin, considering Serenity's idea. "I guess we could, I don't know if they'd buy it, though. Who would go to all that trouble just for junk? Val, you're right, that'd be ideal-- give them something that isn't connected to her at all, but scans as if it was. Next best is if they scan her from a distance, like they were doing at first. No one's suggesting we just hand her over."

Vertigo sits up and stretches, putting her wig back on. "Well, nothing exploded, time to see what's up." She states to herself, heading back upstairs and coming out of her bedroom. She looks around to make sure there's nothing intricate going on before she speaks up. "Yo, so what's the deal?"

Looks between the others discussing her situation and focuses on Serenity, "I am not a patient, Serenity." She calms her voice before saying, "I do not want aromatherapy right now." She looks at the others and tries to find words. "I am standing right here. Could you please not talk like I am not even in the room."

Somewhen, the slow thrum of cartoons stops, and Amethyst reappears out of the side room, only to go to the kitchen. Presumably, Kasia is asleep at last. Brief glances are spared to the goings-on, to make sure nobody is dead, unconscious, or bleeding out. There's a surge in something, once back out of sight within the kitchen, as Amethyst's Arete rises to meet her will. If anyone present is actively monitoring for what she's doing, holler. The slim jeweltone-haired woman does reappear, her bracelets set in a lightning pattern, melting through pale to deep blues. Quietly, she watches on, assessing the situation.

Ross rubs his eyes as he turns back toward Bieta. "No one's suggesting we just hand /you/ over, Doctor. Val's idea is to give them a fake 'removed thing', so they don't feel the need to approach /you/ again at all. Does that sound like a good idea?" Val reaches out, her arm outstretched. She hands Vertigo a piece of toast. "To use the words of my life partner, this is a bit out of my wheelhouse. Sorry Doc."

Vertigo takes a bite of the toast like this is totally normal. "So y'all can't get it out safely then?" She asks Ross before looking to Bieta. "And you alright? Still remember your name and all, right?" She asks with a little grin, which is forced since she's in more than a little head pain.

Bieta looks at Ross and nods. She sighs and says, "Yes, it does." Bieta walks over to the sofa and lowers herself down onto the cushions. Clasping her hands in front of her, she stares at everyone present and waits. Bieta looks at Vertigo and a crease forms between her brows before she says, "Yes, I remember my name."

Johnathan looks to Bieta "You are not a patient, but any solution has to be applied to you. Currently we are trying to find solutions, we or at least I am not talking over you, I am adressing all in the room including you. If you have any ideas or wishes then speak so freely. We must however find a strategy which will bring you out of harms way and out of their sights. Now how we manage this is problematic at best. Will they be satisfied with a mere scan? Will they not wish to look into it deeper even if they can't casually scan it? The pivot is to bring them out of this and I doubt they will accept any information offered on our part. Currently all I see is unsactisfactory end states."

"I've been deep-scanning you /while/ you have a possibly booby-trapped thing in your mind," Ross points out, "so it's a fair question. So, the real thing is written into your mind Johnny Mnemonic style, near as I can tell - no silicon chip or anything like that - but the fake copy can have whatever form factor we want. It'd be a 'copy', after all. And we'd still need to put a shield on her, because yeah, they might decide to double check."

"Linnete made no mention of what is in my head when she broke into my house last night. Instead, she told me she was in love with me...that she would die for me...and a bunch of stuff I did not understand. After I told her I was not romantically interested in her, she screamed at me, calling me a deviant, and shot me with rubber bullets in the back," Bieta pauses. "This may be a little more complicated than...just..." Bieta trails off.

Vertigo chuckles. "Wait, Agent Bitch was after your ass, not your brain? I thought that was more of a guy thing?" She asks, sitting down on the couch and holding her head. "This all could have been solved by some hardcore girl and girl. See? This is why I preach the gospel." She looks up. "Seriously though. If we cloak the data they might still try for it. If they can't break through they might try to force her to help break it. Like through threatening Kasia. It's...how I'd do it if I was in their position."

"You find some great signifigant others, you uhhhh may want to change your luck there. Seriously that is some creepy shit." Val nods just a little, her nose crinkling in distaste. "Can you point out this Linette to me? Assuming she is the primary case worker I can likely buy some time so you can figure out where you want to go from here Doc, and then everyone can help you impliment a solution."

Amethyst is pretty quiet, head tilted slightly, listening to all present. But the mention of love, and bullets, and screaming.. she just shakes her head slowly. "You can disguise it all you want, but they are patient, they are ruthless, and we are less than nothing to them. Even the best concocted walls and shields can be worn down by the patient and tireless automatons they have at their disposal. Underestimating them is a bad idea. You /do/ mean the MIB, right, just to be clear? Our lives, our safety, our Avatars, mean /jack/ to them. Anything you do, is buying you all time. How much time, is unclear, because I don't know precisely who's after you and what resources they've allocated to the pursit of this." Pretty precise, analytical words for what should be a dreamy pot-headed shaman girl.

"I--" Yeah, /that/ is not something Ross expected to hear. "I think it's probably a good idea to /not/ take her story at face value. She might've been trying to work her own effect to make you fall for her and come with her willingly, something like that." As for Vertigo's comment? "And yeah, I don't want to make it look hidden, I want to make it look /gone/. That's the one thing that might make them stop grinding, is if they think they've already found what there is to find."

Johnathan blinks "Right... that does indeed complicate things, how are we sure they even know about this data slash memory thing? Wounded pride is not something that is going to go away. If she has personal beef in this options are getting very very limited and not at all revolving around the info." he sighs and shakes his head.

"Linnete is the same woman who gave me photocopies of police files on murder cases, which included those photos of heavily maimed victims...told me 'they' had been looking for someone to babysit Kasia for some time...that I should call them...she did this when her breath smelled like she was drunk. I said something to the police about what she did and they put me in touch with a lawyer, who told me he was going to get a restraining order against her for me," Bieta say. "It is possible she lied. It would not be the first time someone who told me they loved me lied to me about who they were and..." She looked down at her hands.

Vertigo scratches her head. "So...has anyone ELSE been after you other than this one agent chick with the obsession?" She asks, finishing her piece of toast.

"I apologize, Bieta. I did not mean to insult or demean you by calling you a patient. I will be more mindful of my words. I meant to state - we are merely trying to care and treat you within the best of our ability.", Serenity says while biting her bottom lip. "What about the original source? The first file transfer to our doctor? Or does she have the only attachment downloaded in her head?", Serenity asks trying to think outside the box for various understanding or solutions.

Bieta takes in a deep breath and releases it. "Soon after I heard about my father dying in car accident, I received an email which said it was from my mother. It said the attachment was something she left for me as part of an inheritance which I was to receive at the time of her death." She looked up at everyone else in the room. "I remember clicking on the icon and not much else afterwards."

Ross shakes his head. "You know, I never asked myself 'how could the Technocrats get /even worse/', but I guess 'turn into goddamn cowboy cops' counts as an answer. If we don't have /any/ idea what their real motive is, then... man, the only thing I can think that ought to work for sure is to 'disappear' you and Kasia, basically a Witness Protection type thing. Be a huge pain in the ass, so it's a last resort. Or we stick to the original plan, and hope we were right all along and all that other crap is just a smoke screen."

Val pauses, and she give Bieta a slow, perhaps understanding nod. Her eyes then move to Vertigo, brows raising. "Dicks on bathroom mirrors? Sugar in the gas tank? Porn full blast on the TV speakers? We have any sort of address?"

Vertigo chuckles. "Well, I might be able to find her if she doesn't have countermeasures up. But I don't think talking to her is going to work. I mean...this is a crazy thought, but maybe we could talk to her supervisor. I mean, they can't like the idea of one of their agents risking violence and war with us over some kind of schoolyard crush. Because honestly...I'm starting to wonder if they actually KNOW about this data or if we just think they do because of this one crazy bitch."

Johnathan smirks "I am certain declaring your love for a reality deviant isn' it? is not what high command would call standard procedure" shruggings some "Still need to keep very careful if you intend to do that kind of maneuver"

Bieta looks at Vertigo and says, "There were the two men Mike showed me. He told me they probably had been following me for awhile. They have not done anything like what Linnete did though. Also, Mike found some information about where my husband was...we followed the lead to Rhode Island. Before we got a chance to talk to him, a sniper blew his brains out," Bieta blinks back tears and her face reddens. "We did not get a chance to ask him anything." Bieta looks towards the room where Kasia is sleeping then back at everyone else. "Mike did tell me that Tomasz told him that Tomasz had to leave because he went rogue. Tomasz had been given orders that he was suppose to kill me but could not do it because he loved me. Mike and I led ... them right to him...whoever them is..." Her voice grows quiet, "I got my husband killed."

"Assuming we can figure out how to contact her supervisor in the first place," Ross points out. "But yeah, I wouldn't rule that out either, considering. There's a reason they don't just go scorched-earth on us constantly, they seem to think it's not worth the trouble."

In all this, Amethyst wonders why someone didn't just piece together the guy's body again. It's all Code. Even if he's gone... copy-pasta the Spirit, grow a new body, re-attach it. The slim technoshaman's imagination is -not- limited by mortal assumptions, as her cognition and comprehension slowly inch towards Master levels. Perhaps it would be the complexities of copying over a Mage's personal code, hmm... Amethyst looks rather thoughtful, though her expression doesn't betray her inner thoughts. Avatars, much harder to Code than anything. Maybe if the guy was just a sleeper... Yet, remembering there's someone grieving here, brings her back. "Y'know. We can talk to dead people. We can go there, peer back, talk to Spirits that were there. Can rewind, and witness whatever you wanna see, wherever you wanna see it. Infinite possibilities. But, don't go blaming yourself. You didn't pull the trigger, shit happens. We recover as best we can, save the living as best we can, and keep going." A pause. "Technocracy would not be happy to hear about some crazy-ass bullshit going on like this. They're like nerdy masters of self control and torture in the name of their pursuits. That would be 'unbecoming' and 'unseemly', what I'm hearing. You can't negotiate with them. You'll reveal yourself. THAT would be BAD." Obvious statement is obvious, but Ame still feels it needs to be said. Her voice is kept soft, so as to not wake the child in the other room.

"Why waste the resources? We are no longer a threat." Val rolls her shoulders into a shrug, sighing out as Vert ruins her fun. "They have bigger projects now that need attention. Well, unless something like this comes up."

"Hmm, girl has a point." Vertigo nods. "I mean, I have the entire universe on TiVO if I want it. They don't actually do TiVo anymore, do they? Now I gotta look that up. When I was a kid we used to-sorry, nevermind. Not important. But yeah, that might be better than trying to talk to them. I tend to leave gay porn on their computers and send the FBI tips that they are into child porn. I think they might want to bury me somewhere shallow. This really isn't my forte, whatever Bieta would like to do, I'll help out with. Ultimately it's her decision. Her mind, her choice."

Bieta looks at Amethyst and does not say anything right away. "Eilonwy...when I met her at Roasters, Eilonwy said Kasia and I would not need to leave our home. I do not want to have to leave either. Even relocated and living under different names, if someone wanted to find Kasia and I bad enough, they could do it. Mike is working on program designed to remove records of me from their system and any future records entered relating to me." Bieta sniffles and wipes tears from her eyes.

Serenity perhaps looks a bit green about the gills. For a person of supreme compassion it was very difficult to hear such horrors and tragedies about people being murdered for such little consequence. But for the new mage it all seemed so big and violent - while she was so small and pacifistic. "Perhaps this is not my calling. I am so far out of my depth here and I believe everyone in this room can assist you more than I can. Sadly, I am limited in my own capabilities and existence. I am at a loss on how to help you or progress... which I apologize profusely for. However there are those in this world that are within my powers to heal and help nurture. I do not wish to abandon you in a hour of need, but I do have obligations to others I must help. I should probably excuse myself - as I am a AA sponsor and promised to do a check up on a friend tonight. I am sorry.", Serenity says with welting tears in hers eyes as she thought it best to excuse herself. "If you need me. I gave Vertigo my number. I will pray for you and reflect on your situation. But I must go.", the Buddhist said feeling helpless in this transpiring event and wanting to go somewhere else - where she could make a difference for someone else's life. "I believe you are in good hands. I am sorry for your lose and I wish you find a comforting peace of mind with you and your daughter."

Well, it's already been demonstrated that Ross's bedside manner is journeyman level at best, and this is no different. He does offer Serenity a handshake before she heads off. "Well, out of your depth or not, thanks for coming anyway. Maybe next time you won't be. And--" Back to Bieta again. "Yes, of course no one /wants/ you to have to leave, and even if you did, it's not a complete guarantee. I don't know Mike all that well, but I hope he pulls off what he's trying to. I don't know what it'd do for Linnete, though, doesn't she know enough to track you down again and fill in the gaps?"

Vertigo upnods to Serenity. "Peace out, girlie. Maybe it's best we all take a breather and think on things. B and K can stay here for a while longer, they're safer. We can meet back up when things aren't so emotional. I'll ping everyone with my new number, I had to nuke my other phones last night."

"Thinking time is likely for the best. I can handle the agent if needed." Val raises up her brows, pushing off the wall. She pauses for a second. "You going to need something to help you sleep Doc?"

"No, Val. I think I will be fine. I do want to call a few people though. Mike for one. He is probably very worried. The police," says Bieta. "I am so tired right now. Maybe some sleep will bring fresh ideas."

Amethyst toys with the bracelets on her wrist, gaze unfocused for a moment. Probably thinking. Her stomach grumbles a bit, and she reluctantly indulges in one of the Ramune sodas. "Tall order. Eilonwy's right, you don't need to leave, but we do need to make sure you're safe. I'm /hoping/ she, like, said that part." Her blue-green eyed gaze falls to Serenity. "Hey. Hit me up, too, okay? Phone number's listed under Raven's Treasure Box in the yellow pages. We got lots to talk about 'n stuff. Don't panic. Just keep breathing. You /do/ make a difference." She glances back towards Ross. "What do we need to do to get a fake packet up and running, or, to pull the fake-out intended? That -will- buy time, until we can get more answers." The shaman refocuses to the task at hand.

Ross thinks a bit. "The police-- it's a good idea, but the Union probably has some plants there. I probably would, useful to have that kind of authority in your toolkit. I'm not saying don't call them, but I'd keep a scan running, or have someone else do one. If it reads like the Union's listening in, bail in a hurry."

"That's fine, the phone I gave you is clean. Use it for whatever you want for now." Vertigo offers. "If you want Mike or someone else to come by that's cool. Just give me a heads up, especially if it's someone I don't know. I don't usually invite people over, this is a weird situation." She upnods to Amethyst as well before getting up from the couch and making her way to the fridge for a lychee soda. As for Amethyst's question, he gestures toward the equipment again. "Good question, long answer. We can go through it when we get back together?"

Amethyst quirks a brow at Ross. Maybe she missed something in the other room? "So, you're gonna leave her with a data packet in her head.. that /they/ want, without giving it at least an invisibility cloak, to buy time? Or did I like toooootally miss that butt-covering act of awesomeness?" She sips her soda. "Hey, whatever. I'm on call, though, just give me a ping, I'll cheshire-cat in wherever. Distance doesn't mean much anymore, neither does the thin barrier between the seen and unseen. Like I said. Hats are all our problem. Want me to bring in the big guns? Or you think you got this?"

"It was a pleasure to meet you all. I hope to speak and meet again soon.", Serenity says while shaking Ross's hand goodbye and waving to others. Her eyes briefly on Amethyst, "I will contact you later. Safe journey and peace befall you all.", the young Buddhist says before looking back to Bieta. "I'll come visit you again.", she stated while heading out and gathering her jacket and booties. "We will find a way."

"You miss the part where V says she has them safe for now?" Val comments, her hands moving into her pockets, brows raising a little. "Bit prone to trust her, at least as much as the boss man." A tilt of her head. "You end up needing anything to get you through Doc, V can find me."

Ross looks to Amethyst and shakes his head. "I'm pretty sure you-- right, that," he adds, nodding to Valentina. "While you were keeping Kasia busy, and thank you for that, by the way. Anyway, my understanding is the whole house is shielded, at least for now. We'll work on something that'll travel with the Doc soon enough."

Bieta's eyes track to Serenity and she says, "Good evening, Serenity. I hope to see you again at a better time." She looks at everyone else when she says, "I may just be tired but making it 'invisible' might make them want to grab me and ask what happened to it?" Bieta looks to Val and says, "Thank you, Val."

Amethyst nooooods slowly, once. "Yep. I missed it, probably somewhere in emo ice princess singing. Kid's shows steal my sanity, or what's left of it." Her wrist shakes, just a bit, causing the motion-sensitive LEDs to go off. Maybe it's a tic, or a habit. "Alright. If you're sure. Til next time."

The next evening...

Bieta comes in through the front door of the apartment dressed in different clothing. After Bieta shuts the door behind herself, she sits down on the sofa.

Vertigo looks up as she tosses the phone on the coffee table. "Y'all left out? I should have had you pick up takoyaki. Would have saved me the delivery charge." She states flatly as she clicks through channels. "Everything okay?"

"I have Mike taking care of Kasia this evening. He made a way back here for me to use when I finished making a police report about what happened with Linnete at Officer Black's home. Originally, Mike had wanted to go to Roasters because it was the only 'neutral ground' he knew. However, the police department wanted me to come into the station. Before we made it to the station, I found a note in my pocket giving us a different place to go. Mike checked out Officer Black's home before I went inside. Hopefully, I will be able to get a CCL after what Linnete did," Bieta says. She leans back against the sofa.

Vertigo nods and grunts in response, stopping her relentless remote clicking and just letting the station sit on some weird Japanese game show. "Well, I'm sure Mike knows how to handle things. Cops aren't going to really do jack shit though. Suits can walk in all day every day flashing everything from FBI to CIA badges and take jurisdiction. Cops are only useful in the short term, like to create a diversion because suits won't go ham if sleepers are around." she explains, yawning into her hand. "Never pictured Mike as the kid friendly type."

Bieta shrugs and says, "He likes Kasia." Bieta adds, "I don't intend to keep going to the police indifinitely. I just want to get a CCL from the Sheriff's office. Now that Linnete has actually attacked me and tried to kidnap me, they should have no reason to deny me the license. What time are the others supposed to get here?"

"Shit, I could have forged you up a CCL, would have taken like ten minutes. Documentation is just a way they track you. But, whatever this is liberal ass California." She (Vertigo) chuckles, shaking her head. "I don't carry a gun anyway. Never really found the need. Anyone who tries to shoot me is just going to shoot themselves, anyway." She winks.

Bieta frowns. "Well, I..." she sighs. "At least, I hope not every other Mage out there can make me shoot myself if I try to defend myself." Bieta looks at her hands.

"The trick is to not let them know you're coming. Don't do life like a video game. Don't stand in the road firing shots at people. You want to be unseen, sneak up and BAM, headshot. Or just avoid the situation entirely, usually the best option. Fighting is pointless when you can win in better ways." V explains, getting up off the couch and walking over to the fridge to get an energy drink. "Like I could have killed that agent that was after you. But the goal was just to keep you out of their hands, so I got you instead. I avoided a violent confrontation that would have surely led to a full scale witch hunt to find out who I am and where I am. Yeah, I'm elite and they'd never find me, but it would have still been a pain in the ass."

Bieta nods and says, "Others could be found and harmed in the process of them looking for just one of us who..." Bieta frowns and covers her face with her hands. "I don't want to be thinking about that if I have no other way to protect myself or my daughter." Bieta looks at Vertigo and continues, "It is really amazing some of the things I can see but that is all I can do right now. All that means is that I can see what is coming but can do little else unless it involves doing something that is not magic."

"Eh, my people have been on the Techs radar for a long time. I dunno if you had any history lessons, but we used to be Technocrats. But they weren't cool enough to handle us so we bounced out. So really, they are always after me, just not directly. If they knew how to take me out, they would. In a heartbeat. The trick is to turn their attention somewhere else." Vertigo sips her drink as she sits back down. "Right now going after you interests them. Have to make it a low priority in their eyes and they'll go do other shit."

"Well, what kind of thing would count as a higher priority than coming after me?" Bieta says. Bieta gets up to move to the kitchen and find herself something to drink.

"Probably a shit ton of stuff. Remember, they don't care about you, save for one obsessed weirdo. They just want that data, or us to not have it." Vertigo sets her can down on the table. "You need to just unlock it. Your Mom put it in your head, you're the key to it. Ross and the E Street Band might be able to brute force through the security protocols, but you have the key. I think instead of trying to push in we need someone to guide you to it."

Vertigo checks her phone. "Ross is on his way. Delivery dude should be here in a min, too. Lemme go throw some pants on or something. I'm not used to dealing with people." She gets up and burps loudly as she walks to the back bedroom to get dressed. "Hey, if the delivery guy comes just sign for the food, it's already paid for!" She calls out from the room.

Bieta blinks when Vertigo belches and then says, "alright." She moves back into the livingroom and sits back down on the couch. While waiting for either the delivery guy or visitors, Bieta tries to get the glass bead of a ramune bottle to punch into the neck of the bottle.

Thirty minutes, guaranteed, or Uncle Enzo will personally come to your house and apologize! While that clock continues to count down, though, Ross arrives with Val in tow. "Hey, are there any /women/ in this house?" he calls out from the other side of the door.

Bieta gets up from the sofa and peeks through the eyehole of the door. She says, "That depends on who is asking," through the door. There is the sound of the chain being undone and the door being unlocked before the door opens. Bieta stands in the doorway with a ramune bottle in her hand and says, "Hello, Ross. Val." She steps aside and gestures towards the inside of the house and says, "Please, come inside. Vertigo will be out in a moment."

"Ross, while I can't speak for V, I know Bieta doesn't have a tally whacker." Val speaks out in that lazy tone. "You could have at least gone with Blazing Saddles." A small nod, and a smile to Bieta. "Holding up alright?"

"I'm not dark enough for that," Ross points out, inclining his head to Bieta in turn. He's carrying the toolbox from the other day, and a different box of components. None of which are glowing.

Vertigo eventually emerges dressed in a pair of black baggy cargo pants with a tight black long sleeved shirt. She took about a half second on her makeup, just putting on some liner and otherwise just not giving a shit. She at least runs a brush through her hair a few times before she comes out. "Sup." She greets, walking back over to the couch and sitting, picking up her half finished energy drink and downing it. "If I had a dick I wouldn't be here, I'd be in Roppongi banging sluts."

A crease forms between Bieta's brows and she says, "Not dark enough for that?" She shakes her head. "Sorry, I do not get this." Bieta's face grows pink at Vertigo's comment. "I'm just going to go sit back down on the couch."

"Old movie Bieta." Val notes, stepping in some. Her eyes move to V, pausing there. "Fucking weeb." The words spoken without malice. "So, on a more official note, we need to decide some things, well Bieta does, this is all her decision. I may have a way to get the data, but that just gets us the data, doesn't solve us the problem. Me, I am a bit prone to just let them have it. There is a small child in this house somewhere, and I am getting real antsy about her getting hurt over this damned war. But it /is totally/ not my call, and I will go with whatever is decided."

Ross sighs, running his fingers through his hair and dropping the movie references for the time being, since Bieta clearly isn't going to get /any/ of them /ever/. Med school must have been super super busy all those years. "So, wait, you found the unlock codes? It didn't look like those would actually disarm the booby trap, I mean I don't think I could create a trap like that but it matches what I've read about conditionals. If this, then kablooey."

"Pfft. Bitch I'm not a weeb, I don't want to be asian, I prefer being a white girl all the bitches wanna get cozy with." Vertigo scoffs with a smirk as a car pulls into the driveway. "Well, that's either the food or suits here to kill us. I'll go deal with it either way." She stands up, heading to the front door and going out to get the food. The young delivery driver does not try to kill her. She comes back in with two big bags of food and sets them on the coffee table. She then hits up the kitchen and grabs some plates, bowls, and silverware, coming back in and setting them down also. "Get your grub on. Then we discuss the options."

"Kasia is not here right now. She is with Mike. I thought it would make things easier if we needed to do anything else tonight which might include something a sleeper should not see." Bieta looks over at Vertigo and says, "Just before you two arrived, Vertigo was telling me about how the Virtual Adepts were once part of the technocracy and how she thought doing something to make the technocracy shift their priorities so I was no longer such a priority would fix things." Bieta gets up and goes into the kitchen to get some of the food with everyone else.

"Don't need to Ross, we already have them. Or well one of us already has them. And if we already have them, we already extracted the information." Val waggles a hand in the air, then nods to Bieta. "Good couple ways to do that, but we may need to find out what is written first, if it is for example just something embaressing to the technos, could just release it, no need to spend the resources then. Less of an option if it is say nuclear launch codes." Her body moves, towards the smell of udon. "It isn't physically or mentally hurting you, it being there? In and of itself?"

"Except maybe being what their 'radar' is still searching for," Ross points out, starting to fill up a plate for himself. "Unless they aren't, and this really is just what's-her-name looking for love in all the wrong places. But I figure we gotta plan as if it is."

Vertigo pops a takoyaki ball into her mouth then sets herself up a plate to munch off of. "I think we went about the whole thing backwards. We've been thinking of how we can get to the information ourselves, and ignored the facts. B's mother put this shit into her head. Would you put a bomb in your kids head to kill them if they accessed it? I think maybe if Ross can guide B to the data in her own head, like jacking into her personal matrix, she might be able to just walk up and access it with the passcodes." She slurps down some noodles next. "As far as getting their attention, I'm working on that. You'd be suprised what you can accomplish with a couple thousand internet trolls."

Bieta releases a short strained laugh in response to Ross's comment, as she helps herself to some Udon and tries to keep the takoyaki she already put on her plate on her plate. "I am willing to give Vertigo's idea a try. If she thinks she can get the technocracy off me...plus, Mike is planning something too. Maybe...together...they can make it happen. What would be left would be deciding what to do about Linnete...who might wind up serving some time after what she did. I want to meet with my lawyer and see what I can do using the legal system."

"Oh, I can deal with her. I mean if you want we can take the legal route." Val shrugs her shoulders softly. "But to be fair Ross, V very well may be onto it with that one."

Ross shakes his head. "We're making a whole lot of assumptions there, about someone who's no longer around to answer any questions. If it's something she swiped from the Union, maybe /they/ left traps in it and she missed them. Because they were still dormant or whatever. That's separate from running the decryption, though, I think she /did/ intend Bieta to have access to whatever's in there."

"I could run a simulation to see what the most likely outcome might be. I should have enough data at this point to at least get a rough idea." V offers, shoving more food into her mouth like she hasn't eaten in a week. "Ross could start setting up while I do that. I'm sure there's going to be some prep involved. If I see a high percentile chance of us all blowing up, I'll make sure to stop you before you get it going. I don't think a mother is going to risk killing her child over some data though. I don't care what that data is."

Bieta tries to get better hand control with the provided chopsticks. She seems to be doing fine, pinching a few noodles and them sucking them up into her mouth but she keeps dropping some of the other items on her plate. Bieta takes a deep breath and sets her chopsticks down for a minute. She looks at Vertigo and says, "How exactly does all this work? You mentioned showing me how to access this thing...I know Mike and you both know way more about computers than I do. All of what you are talking about now sounds really difficult." "Don't feel to bad Bieta, they start talking like this and I am just as lost as you." Val notes, stuffing noodles into her face as she talks. "And well, I don't think anyone expected easy."

"That's not what I'm saying," Ross answers Vertigo, "I'm saying she probably didn't /know/ she was risking that." Or-- no, don't mention the alternative out loud, no one wants to hear it. "Yeah, I'll get started in a little bit, the idea is still to make it look erased if anyone looks. Right?"

"If we can't access it, yeah. But my thought was you go into her mind with her and walk around in there, get her to the door, and see if she can get inside to see what's beyond it. It's that or we spend months teaching her to do it herself." V shrugs a bit. "I'll be in my lab seeing the probability of everyone exploding from trying this."

"Do you really think it is a good idea to do more than just hide this thing right now? We could be creating a new problem by opening this door right now. If it is so well protected that the technocracy could not get in there, then whatever is in there has great value. Once the door is open...how will whatever is in there be protected to the degree it is now?" Bieta picks her chopsticks up and spears a piece of food onto one of the chopsticks before squeezing it and sticking the food into her mouth to chew.

"That is a risk Bieta, and one you have to make the call on." Val nods slowly. "But you have to weigh it against the fact that I at least agree that your mother wanted you to have it, and that it may hold the key to getting them off of you."

"Well, I'll run it through my shit and see what I come up with for our chances." Vertigo grabs some more food onto her plate and heads towards her room. "Get everything set up in the meantime." She calls out as she closes the door behind her.

Once she empties her mouth, Bieta says, "alright. What if we go ahead and hide it for now. Then we let Mike do his raid and see if the charges I am placing against Linnete put her in jail and she stays there. Either Vertigo, Mike or both can teach me something more about computers besides what I learned in college several years ago. That way, the probability of success is greater of accessing this and also of protecting it if it turns out to be something that is exceptionally dangerous to have."

"Mmm, don't take it the wrong way, but it is your body, and mind, and... really don't know what to call it." Val nods, leeaning back in her seat. "We are sort of bound by that decision. All I can ask is you weigh it against risk, but in the end do what is best for you." Ross is down to half an egg roll by this point, or he thinks it's an egg roll at least. "All right, let's see," he muses, starting to rummage through the components. Headphones, first up, he had some time to prep his own playlist this time around. Then a set of squares, clamped together to form a decent sized breadboard. "Hold this?" he asks Bieta, handing her one end of a jump rope.

Bieta wipes her hands on a napkin before taking ahold of the end of the jump rope which Ross offered. "Alright. What is next?" The technomancers were working, and that meant time for Val to beat feet. She gives Bieta a nod, then makes her way into the back yard, to find a place to smoke, and to avoid any explosions.

Vertigo would return a few minutes after Ross is done with his rote, munching on a piece of mochi. "Alright, so I'm seeing about a 91 percent probability that if Bieta accesses the data the failsafes won't go off. I don't know if she'll be able to understand the data, but I know she can safely open the door. And I didn't see Ross' head explode so I'm going to determine to the best of my ability that they should be able to at least access and work on seeing what that shit is. I don't know about trying to move or delete it though."

Time passes. Ross shares lots of technobabble, whether Bieta wants him to or not; it's mostly so he can keep track of his own stuff. And snags some more of the spicy food, now the first batch has worn off. Anyone with basic electrician training would realize that that rig /should/ just form a set of inert loops, but he seems to be coaxing it into ignoring that inconvenient fact.

Bieta does not eat anything more now that it seems she has been volunteered for holding things. She says, "What all are you putting together here, Ross?"

Ross squints, putting down a pair of needlenose pliers. "Do you want the 'I'm making it look like it was erased' version, or the 'this is the general case I'm using where Maxwell's equations are just a special case where most of the variables stay at zero' version? Because it looked like the second one was losing you in a hurry. That's not a value judgment, I mean when Val is doing her thing, I only understand about five percent of the 'how'. Vertigo, ten, maybe."

Vertigo pffts. "You don't even have a clue how to work my swag." She smirks, reaching down to grab another mochi ball, taking a bite out of it. "Well, B, looks like you have the potential to get at this data yourself. Just need to get your head around it and get it all figured out. So...how the fuck do I even word this...Ross, go get Val, maybe she can explain how B can upgrade her clock speed to easier figure out this password shit."

Bieta narrows her eyes and says, "I'm tempted to ask for somewhere in the middle and to drop your jump rope on the floor because that Mochi icecream seems like much nicer idea right now...maybe even finish my dinner. After all, if there is a small percentage I might die, who would want to do that on half empty stomach?"

"Smoke a shitload of pot and get laid." Val's voice comes in from the outside. Well there you have it. Traditions.

Ross blinks once. "You're still--? Oh yeah, sorry, you can put that down now, I just needed it for like the first half hour to get a trend line on your biofeedback. It's looking pretty good so far, I still want to do some fine tuning, though. And Val, if she's not an Etherite, then she's /really/ not a Cultist. Pretty sure she's the exact opposite." Pausing another moment, he peers at Bieta. "How /do/ you do things, anyway? We've been so focused on Project Get The Union Off Your Back..."

"Holy mother of fuck that is both the dumbest fucking possible advice and the most awesome at the same time." Vertigo states, going into the kitchen for a Ramune. She leaves this attempt at explaination to Ross for now.

Bieta drops the jump rope on the floor and sit back down at the table. She sticks a bite of her dinner into her mouth just as Ross asks her his question. She takes a moment to chew and swallow before and then says, "I think Mike teaching me a little bit of mind magic was the first time anyone else really taught me anything. I mean, I could see more things after opening my Mother's email than I could before opening it and I do not mean just whatever this thing was making me see when it was triggered. For the longest time, I did not say anything because I did not want to be diagnosed with schizophrenia like my Mom had been. I was afraid I had schizophrenia." Bieta smiles a little and says, "as it turns out, I was misdiagnosed with epilepsy and given drugs to keep this thing in my head from triggering. Mike thinks the drugs were effecting my ability to use Magic too. Soon after I was misdiagnosed with epilepsy, Tomec, my husband left Kasia and me. Later, Mike and I found out...Tomec wasn't who he seemed."

"She asked." Val notes, her head peeking in back through the back door. Her head nods a little, and she looks to Bieta. "So the computer let you do it or....?"

Ross glances over to Val and waves, then turns back. "Yeah, that was a bunch of stuff that /isn't/ your jam. What /is/ your jam?"

"Well, Veterinary medicine is my chosen occupation. It is not just a job for me. I enjoy managing and maintaining a permacultural food forest. I suppose I have other hobbies I enjoy like most other people but I don't think you would find many of those by opening any of the books in Eloise's library back at Roasters," Bieta says.

Vertigo just shakes her head with a sigh and goes back into her room for a bit while the three talk.

"Ok, confusion has set in." Val raises up her brows some, with Veritgo gone she re enters, after taking off her shoes, to raid the fridge for drinks. "He is asking how you change the world. See, for every one it is different. But often similar. Why I asked about the computer, there is nothing to say you are going to be like your mom, but there isn't anything that says you arn't. So if you can do things with a computer that no one else can keep up with..."

Ross nods, gesturing to Val. "Right, right. You mentioned Mike teaching you mind magic. Were /you/ able to do it? /How/ have you done whatever you've done? That might help us all figure out how you can use your mom's thing."

"Yes, I was able to sense Mike's feelings. For the mind magic, Mike had me use meditation and music," Bieta says. She takes another bite of her food which has gotten somewhat cold on her plate.

"What kind of music?" Val asks, pushing the marble down into the soda with a grunt.

Speaking of? Ross has had his earbuds hanging around his neck for a bit, but now he clips off one of them and wires it onto the board, a sequence of LEDs lighting up red and blue in response. "Well, that's good, at least. If any of those turn green, shout at me, that means it hit a chaotic attractor and I gotta dial that iteration back."

Bieta shakes her head and says, "I don't remember. Does it matter? It was something he had on his computer. I had never heard the group in the past."

"It can." Val shrugs her shoulders. "And in the end it is pretty personal. I mean we do tend to share a lot of foci. That would be the meditation and the music there. But beyond that there is a core. Ross builds things that work in ways normal folk can't keep up with. Me? I see potential, time, every action that could possibly be taken, and can weave those timelines together. Vertigo... I actually don't know what she does."

Ross nods, even as his gaze remains on the wiring, swapping a few connections around and then putting some of them back. "What did you /do/ with the music, how do you get from 'music' to 'magic happens'?"

"It was more the meditation than the music or perhaps the combination of the two...Mike may have turned the music on because he needed it. I used the meditation mainly to clear my mind of everything else but what I wanted to focus on doing and that was picking up Mike's feelings. I suppose you could say I willed it to happen from there. I did it once. For all I know, it could have been just pure dumb luck. I know it worked...it was hard for me to keep my feelings seperate from his," says Bieta. Her face looks a little flushed. "Odd." Val notes, then shrugs her shoulders. "May just need more practice to figure out how to put it in words."

"So it might be a matter of getting your emotions in the right state," Ross points out. "Something to try, at least, see if it keeps working for you. If not, you know to look for something else."

Bieta nods and says, "I'm sorry I can not describe it any better. All I have is my experience though and the knowledge that it happened." Bieta pokes at the last remaining piece of food on her plate.

"Eh, it is a lot to take in, and you have had other concerns." Val nods slowly. "But it is about time for me to crash."

Vertigo comes back out with some print outs. She hands them to Bieta. "All right. These explain how a computer is overclocked, how the ram works, shit like that. And I added an article on psychology that explains how the human brain works in a fairly similar fashion. I don't know how better to explain things. Maybe one or the other or both will bring you to some kind of understanding about how to get your brain to speed to crack some codes and get your life in order." She explains, shrugging. "Or not. It's only ink and paper. I'm not really the teaching type."

Bieta takes the paperwork from Vertigo and says, "Thank you very much Vertigo." She begins scanning the pages. "I think Mike would disagree with you on not being a teacher. You've been teaching him." Bieta glances at Vertigo over the top of the papers in her hands.

"Well, he already gets it. I just fuck with him online and get him to DO the shit. The knowledge is already there he just has to access it. I don't teach him, I just help him teach himself." Vertigo explains, sitting down and picking up the remote again.