Escalation, Sci-fi nonsense Options

[Olen]

Nice part though it struck me as odd that having just broken into some large government type place and hacked it (or failed to) then got caught they managed to fall asleep. And LAVI don't seem overly bothered...

But I'm sure all will be revealed.

[jack cloudy]

Lol, yeah that's odd. I think I should do a handwave here. ALL DEAD PEOPLE ARE CRAZY BY DEFAULT.

But nah, there was a point to all of it even though a lot was horribly convenient. I'm thinking of turning the bold text above into a major plot point, would provide a nice contrast. Oh, and there's the return of an old character in this update. Can you spot him/her/it?



Moustache clapped his hands.
“Ahem, while I always appreciate the trading of useful information, could we get back on track? I believe we had a criminal activity to discuss? Namely, the illegal hacking of a governmental facility?” He commented. I shrugged.
“I guess. Do your worst.” I said. Liqqil literally jumped out of her seat and slapped a hand across my mouth again.
“Don’t pay any attention to her! She’s just really cranky today! About the hacking, there are circumstances!” She jabbered and then coughed.
“Namely, according to the Ibliss judiciary system, all actions performed by an AI, are the responsibility of the owner. This means that the hacking is neither my responsibility, nor Emmy’s here. Rather, she’s responsible for a double case of illegitimate entry instead.” She continued.

“Double?” I repeated softly. Liqqil cast a thin smile.
“Oh, didn’t you hear? I got sold.” I freaked out right then.
“Sold? What in the…WHY WOULD HE DO THAT?! YOU’RE HIS FREAKING DAUGHTER, BY THE SEVEN BLAZING HELLS! HE’S GONE NUTS! WHO BLACKMAILED HIM INTO THIS?! WHO BOUGHT YOU ANYWAY?! I SWEAR, I’LL GO RIGHT OVER THERE AND KICK THEIR…” I screamed, absentmindedly batting away the hand covering my mouth. The skeleton clamped his hands over his ears while Moustache tugged at his moustache.
“Ahem, could you keep your voice down, please?” The latter requested. Liqqil now burst out laughing.
“What’s so funny?!” I squealed still in a frantic panic.
“You are. Go ahead, kick yourself right now. He sold me to you, silly. So hello, master.” I freaked out even more, though this one wasn’t the loud version.
“Wha…ho…weh…?”

Liqqil turned her back on me and I slumped back into my chair. I was totally out of it, only capable of listening to the remainder of the conversation between Moustache and my sister.
“So you’re claiming that she is your legitimate owner now?” M began.
“Yes, that’s what I’m claiming.” L.
“Then why only claim guilty for the illegitimate entry?”
“Because, at the time of the hacking, the transfer of ownership had not yet been processed, which means that my former owner is still responsible for any actions I have committed at that time. Therefore, I plead illegitimate entry. And I plead neglect on your case in letting us pass the iris-scanner. If you are so smart, then why let that thing get bugged in the first place?”

M had really gone in the habit of tugging his facial hair. It looked rather painful, but he didn’t show any discomfort.
“I see. Charon doesn’t seem to have any arguments to counter yours at this point, so illegitimate entry it is. Normally, this charge would lead to roughly a month of volunteer work for the victimized party. Yet in this case, the victimized party is a top-security branch of the governmental forces, which leads to a more severe penalty. Twenty years of forced labour minimum, unpaid. Each.” For once, Liq seemed to be quiet for a moment. Up till now, I knew she’d been processing things at her highest speed. So for her to be quiet for a full second, that was seriously bad news. As in SERIOUSLY BAD.

Before the second had ended though, Moustache leaned forward and opened his mouth again.
“Of course, there is also a clause that grants us the right to administer an alternative punishment. Of course there is an element of risk involved. Care to hear about it?” He asked.
“Fire away.” Liqqil replied instantaneously. I had my third freakout in just as many minutes right then.
“WHAT?! BUT YOU HATE RISK!” I didn’t know what else they’d said, because someone had the guts of installing a tranquilizer gun in the ceiling and that same someone had decided to try it out right then. I bet it was the cute little skeleton.



“Pelez vesten seazbelz bevore take-off” I blinked with my eyes and yawned.
“Eh, what? Who is yabbering? The curtains are still dark, too early to get up.” I mumbled. Then my eyes shot open as I remembered what had happened. I looked out of the nearest window, which was a little round sheet of plastic to my right. It really was dark, but not because of the curtains.
“Eep! Where are we?!” I yelled and threw my head the other way. Liqqil was sitting right next to me, in some weird blue seat with a plastic cupholder on the armrests. She was reading a magazine and had a pair of earphones in. I tapped her on the shoulder and she looked up.
“Oh, awake?” She merely asked.

“Awake? Don’t you have anything better to say? Such as, where we are? How long have I been out? Why is it so dark outside? did someone pull a sheet over the streets and turned off all the lights?” I replied. She snickered.
“One question at a time, please. Well to start with. We are on an airplane, parked at Schiphol airport in western Europe, economy-class. You’ve been out for just over half an hour.” She began but I held up a hand to cut her off.
“Wait a sec. What’s an airplane?” I asked.
“An airplane is a flying thing. Think of it as one of your beloved HGMs, only shaped more like a bird in shining armour than a man in shining armour. They use wings for lift, are slower, less manoeuvrable, a lot wider and generally less state-of-the-art.” She explained.

“Pelez vesten seazbelz bevore take-off” I heard it again and this time I deduced it was coming from the woman with the miniskirt standing in the walkway next to Liqqil’s seat. There was a second pair of seats on the other side. And a whole row of them in front of me and behind, I noticed when I peeked between wall and headrest. I looked at the woman in confusion.
“Seazbelz?” I repeated.
“She meant seatbelt. Next to your left hip, connection slot is at your right hip. Also, you may notice that the variants of Global being spoken from now on are somewhat different from your own.” I jumped out and bashed my knees against the seat in front of mine, painfully.
“Wah! There’s a voice in my head!” I yelped. Liq glanced up from her magazine.
“Don’t mind her. She’s a bit weird. She’ll get her seatbelts on.” She told the woman who walked away with a big frown. I felt at my ears to see if I wasn’t wearing earphones, but no.
“Vizal, you may want to introduce yourself. I’m busy reading an article on eighteenth century steam engines.” Liq advised and put her earphones back in. I sat down, fasten my seatbelt and rubbed my knees while wondering who the hell this Vizal was.
“Just what happened?” I then remembered something else.
“Wait a minute! What was all this about getting sold?!”



PS: I think I should have mentioned this earlier, but the curtains at Emmy's appartment change colours. During the day, they're white. At night, they're black. It functions as a simple clock since Ibliss has so much light-pollution, the darkest it can go is a soft reddish glow.

[Olen]

Well things are moving now. Not quite sure what's happening (might have been easier to say rather than use white room but thats your choice of course...).

I'll await the next part to see whats going on.

[jack cloudy]

I'm sorry, but you'll have to wait a bit more. I'm a bit confused myself about what I want to do, so I just decided to whip up a Zephyr in the meantime to clear my mind.

Apart from being a fun experience, (Giant robots, whee!) it also helps me to set the technologybase in stone. For example, I have finally figured out what an ARC-LIGHT is. Basically, it is an antigravity device shaped like a wing that gets real hot and transmits a lot of light as a result.

This her is a generic overview. None of the parts are really finished yet. All of them still require more detail and a smoothing job. Oh, and I haven't done the railgun yet. I need to finish the arms first.

This shows a close-up of the head. For the most part, it resembles the description I gave of it, though it does add something new. Flak-guns, two of them.

And here's a picture of the rear, which also helps appreciate the size of the wings. I'll have to think of something to put in the groove between the wings. At first I thought of a regular thruster, but the lack of thrusters is a distinguishing feature.

The model itself is just under 10.5 metres tall, excluding the wings. (which can fold down) This is kind of funny, since I've always described the Zeph as 'just under ten metres', rather than 'just over ten metres'. Looks like I'll have to retcon a few things.

[jack cloudy]

Ok, update time. Olen, I did plan on just explaining at first, but I figured that either I would reveal the whole plot on the LAVI-side of things too soon, or I would end up giving too little information for the two girls to act on. With the white room, I can do both things. Emmy has no idea what the hell is going on, but Liqqil does. After all, the latter is an Interactive Doll (robot) with a customized frame, sentient AI and a big load of gadgets. I figure she would just be allowed to hook up to the mainframe and download all the information she'd need in less than a second.

Also fits with the 'you've been out just under half an hour'. Even with the resources and capabilities a super-organization as the LAVI has, getting onboard a plane takes time. Hacking half the world is easy, getting anywhere physically is a tad harder. Anyway, let's roll.




Liq tapped me on the mouth with a finger and continued reading.
“It’s just as I said. Doll got sold to you. And don’t bring up any awkward subjects, will ya. We’re in a plane, about to fly over earth’s magnificent oceans.” I sank back in my seat and stared at the ceiling.
“Now you’re in my head as well? Why did you refer to yourself as a Doll? You hate being called that way! And what’s this about earth? You mean, we’re actually there now?” I thought. The proverbial lightbulb lit up now.
“Oh, I get it! I have to be careful about what I say, or people will figure out I’m dead! That could seriously mess up the local religions.”
“And before you start screaming again, put on the seatbelts, ok?” The voice added. I did that while waiting for whatever was going to come next.
“Ok, an explanation, please. I’m not known to be a patient girl.” I muttered once I was done. It was the voice Liq called ‘Vizal’ that replied.
“Very well. Please relax and close your eyes. Remember, keep your expression neutral, don’t say anything and in general, don’t move.” Don’t…move? That gave me a very bad feeling.

“I am Vizal, V 2.0, an AI built into the blue teardrop you’re wearing around your neck. Current AI-ranking, eight. Assigned as your ‘commanding officer’, you might say. In regards to your mission, there is a need-to-know-basis and all you need to know is this: The LAVI is conducting an investigation. The Doll has been temporarily recruited as an information analyst. You are that Doll’s protection in the event of a compromization of the operation.” I squeezed the teardrop between two fingers and fought the urge to do more than that. Solid, not quite as crystalline as it appeared to be, but more with the feeling of plastic.
“Yes? Am I right that your attempts at crushing my structure are because you have questions? I can’t read your mind, so you must speak. And please relinquish your hold on me. I’d rather not be eliminated right away.” Vizal asked.
“Could you use...normal speak?” I whispered. Seriously, it was a voice in my head, why couldn’t it read my thoughts? All I figured out was that it wanted me to let go of it, and even then it was only because of the word ‘crushing’.
“I will try. In case anything goes wrong and the Doll is threatened, you are supposed to protect it. That is all your task entails.” I rubbed my eyes and sighed.
“Crazy. We’re talking about Liq here, the most riscophobic person anywhere. Why would she be in danger anyway? She avoids risk like a vampire gharlic.” I muttered.

“Because I’d rather run some risk for about three years than having forced labour shoved down my throat for the rest of eternity. Damn those governmental lawyers with their escape clause of national security. They can turn the minimum-punishment into anything they want just like that. Besides, the risk is pretty low. It’s as big as the chance a meteorite lands on my head. And with those nukepumped lasers the local warmongers put into orbit, that’s a pretty low chance.” Sis said, also in my head. I sighed again.
“And I didn’t have a choice in it?”
“No.” Both Liq and Vizal said simultaneously, the latter in my head, the former by speech.
“Ok, ok. I get the point. NOW CAN WE PLEASE CHANGE THE SUBJECT?!” I snapped. The guy on the seat ahead of me turned around.
“Could you keep it quiet?” He growled before returning to whatever he’d been doing. Just about half the mob in this airplane did the same. I stared at the ceiling and sighed.
“Well, there ya go. First impression you’ve made on the living folk, and you went mouse on helium. Dangit.” I thought. I scratched my back. It was itching now. Probably a sign that it was healing, I figured.
“With all the trouble it brought me, it danged better well heal.”

The whole airplane trembled as whatever it used as an engine got going. I looked out of the window and could just barely make out the backend of one wing. It was all I saw beyond a couple of lights in the distance. It was really dark outside. There were these big cones hanging under it. Engines? No ARC-LIGHTS, that was for sure. We hadn’t even moved a hair, and they were already making a racket like Satan dancing on hot coals.
“It’s a low-tech world, huh?” I muttered.
“In some ways, yes. In others, no. In this case though, we’re flying an old vehicle, sixty years old or so. It is a cheap flight, due to the lack of proper service. The plane is powered by four jet turbines, running on Kerosine. It is not too stable in air-turbulence and requires constant manual supervision of its trajectory.” Vizal said. I clamped my hands over my ears but then removed them as I realized how silly that looked.
“Stop yapping, you creep. I never asked for jewelry that bumps around inside my head. How do you do it anyway?” I hissed sharply.
“There is a data-port implanted into your chestbone below the skin for diagnostic purposes. I can jack into it using the nano-scale plugs I am equipped with and stream bursts into your neural net, redirect them to the correct portion of your brain, thereby creating the il…” I shook my head fiercely.
“I said, stop yapping! Especially overly long technobablitus, it gives me a headache!” The guy in front of me turned around again but didn’t say a thing this time.
“Ah, she hears voices. Over-active imagination. Have a nice flight, sir.” Liqqil quipped and dove back into her magazine again right afterwards. I sank deep away in my seat and just hoped for everyone to leave me alone and be quiet.

“There’s a dataport in my chestbone? Eeeewww…why didn’t the doctor ever tell me I had one of those?” I thought with disgust. Letting people mess around with my body this much in a single operation had been a big step for me, but letting them do things with me without letting me know was a new one. The plane finally began to move, or maybe the row of lights outside were moving. The constant vibration caused by the engines, coupled with the fact that there was nothing for me to do, nothing outside to see, it all made me drowsy. Or maybe it was an aftereffect from whatever they injected into me.
“I’m going to sue them for that. They could have given me a warning at least, instead of drugging me just like that. This is a violation of my rights as a human…err…near-human being.” I mumbled, yawned and began to doze off again.
“I would like to run a series of diagnostics. Do I have permission?” I shot up again, fully awake.
“Ugh…do you have to ask me? I thought you were this bigshot turn-the-law-to-play-by-your-rules type. Fine, go ahead. Just stop talking and let me take a nap. I swear, you LAVI folk keep getting on my case.” I whispered to the possessed necklace.
“I suggest you do not talk about our organization in the presence of third parties. As for your nap, accessing configuration-file for slumber-mode.” I held up an asking finger.
“I’ve got a slumber-mo…?” I was gone before I could finish the sentence. The only thing that was quicker than my tongue were my thoughts.
“What else is there I don’t know about me?”

[Olen]

Another interesting update. Only one thing - how did she get on a plane while unconsious without anyone questioning and wouldn't long hot green hair cause a little of a stir?

I assume this is set a bit in the future if jets have been replaced?

Still I like the idea of slumber mode... sounds useful.

[blockhead]

I just caught up ... read everything in one session, actually. Hadn't read it until now because I was planning to read it like a real book: all at once after it was finished. The suspense was too much so I had to read it today.

Fascinating. It has the breathless pace of the cyberpunk movement in the mid to late 80s ... but different.

if one is an AI and one is a resurrected human ... how can they be sisters?

I also wonder how a green-haired comotose girl is going to be put on board a commercial aircraft without permission ... especially if said hair is radiating heat noticably?

I assume that they are in "current" times on earth via time travel? So they are in the start of the 21st century or the very end of the 20th?

Sucks that she can't fly a mech any more ... wait : have her plug into the mech's cooling system? to late for that, I guess ... they're on earth.

[jack cloudy]

One session? You do realize that is something like fifty pages in word, do you?

Anyway, about the 'how did they do it'. I had that covered already and was going to explain it this update, but I kind of got sidetracked so it will be the next update instead.

Oh, and follow this link to the latest render of the Zephyr. link So yeah, it's got two railguns instead of one. Hmm, foreshadowing?




Chapter 11: Hiding in plain sight.

Up, down, up down. Bobbing up and down, gently all the time. I giggled.
“See? Told ya you would enjoy it. That’s good old Sal after all. She may not be a full-blood Arabian speed-demon, she may not leap like a bird, but she’s solid as a rock and with a gentle heart. Perfect for the beginner.” I looked to my left. The black stallion was a lot more restless than my brown pony. But his rider had no problem whatsoever keeping him under control. He looked somewhat out of place, dressed in a tuxedo and with shades cloaking his eyes. When he smiled, two perfect rows of perfectly white teeth shone at me.
“Say, want to go to the beach, Emmy?” He asked.

“I’d love to….but I’m not wearing the right kind of clothes for that.” I answered and giggled nervously. Again he smiled. Oh, that smile of his could make anyone melt.
“You look great in everything you wear, Emmy.” He said. My head felt like it was going to explode, so hot was my blush.
“Ah, I love it when you say thinks like that, Metz. You're the best!”
“The pleasure is all mine.” And just when I was starting to really enjoy things, I woke up.

I moaned. My head was on fire or freezing, and it was not as pleasant as it had been in my dreams.
“Agh, painkillers, the lot of them, now.” I muttered. I vaguely noticed that I was still bobbing up and down so I opened my eyes. I wasn’t sitting on a horse. Rather, some bald guy was carrying me. I looked closer.
“Hey, that’s the arrogant dude from the skyscraper’s lobby.” The bald guy instantly stopped.
“Arrogant dude? Hey, I’ve been carrying you all over the place. And not a word of thanks!” He grumbled. I frowned.
“Carrying?! Eww, pervert! Stop feeling up my legs! Put me down, put me down!”

The bald guy glanced left and right, then put me on my feet. Said feet instantly buckled under the weight and I ended up sitting on the floor.
“I can’t feel my legs. That, and my head hurts.” I complained. The bald guy threw his eyes skyward.
“It’s situations like these that would make me religious. Alright, I’ll carry you again. Just stop yelling.” He grunted. He hoisted me back up from the floor and began moving again. I chose not to make a ruckus. This was embarrassing, but less embarrassing than sitting on the floor in the middle off…
“Where are we?” I asked.
“Atlantis airport.” Liq replied. She was dragging a suitcase on wheels. I looked behind me. So was the bald guy, two in his case.

We stopped again. I looked up over the bald guy’s head and saw four lines, each ending at a gate. The gates themselves were the only way to get past a fence that blocked off the whole corridor. Except, I didn’t see why you couldn’t just climb over it. I looked a bit closer at the uniformed men and women who were standing at the gates.
“Oh, crap. Detectors.” I muttered. The line moved on and we followed. As we got closer, I became more nervous. I didn’t know why.

A red light blinked on one of the gates.
“Sir, please put all your metal objects in this basket.” The nearest uniformed guy ordered loud enough for me to hear, quite a ways back. Now I knew what made me so nervous. I drummed on the bald guy’s head.
“Hey, stop it!” He whispered urgently.
“But those things. I’m….you know. And so is Liq. We can’t go through there, bald guy.” I whispered back. The bald guy sighed.
“Look, first of all….My name is Dean! Geez, raise a girl for twelve years and they still can’t remember your name!” He then said, quite loud. I frowned again. Twelve years? My experiences with him were about five minutes in total.
“Secondly, we’re just going to pass through it, no problem. Don’t forget to duck your head. As your uncle Vizal once said…” He added and fell silent. Uncle Vizal?
“What the hell is it with these familial bonds you’re suddenly throwing on me?” I muttered to myself.

The line came to a stop again and the bald…Dean, put me down again. This time, I kept standing perfectly.
“Huh?” I said and wagged one foot.
“Funny, I can feel my toes again. Must have been one of those temporary glitches again.” I thought. I rubbed my forehead.
“I wished my headaches were a temporary glitch.”

“So, sis. Think those things will start screaming the moment we move through?” I asked. Liq looked at the gate at the end of our line and then nodded.
“Well, we don’t have any real quantities of metal or other reflective materials, but that won’t work. Our skeleton is simply too different. Especially yours. You’ve got some extra bones to support your guts and all. That would be messy if it appeared on a screen. Soooo….” She whispered and held up a hand. I looked. Something black, hairy and yucky sat on it.
“Eww! A fly! What are you doing with that thing?!” I squeaked. Liq giggled.
“Cool, isn’t it?” She replied. The fly flew up from her hand and soared off to who knew what.
“Even more cool if you consider that it is a high-tech piece of hacking equipment connected to my system with a wormline. It will make us all look normal to the gate’s computer. I swear, they’ve got like a hundred years of experience with electronic detection devices, and they still don’t cover up their glassfibers between gate and computer with a solid metal box.” She then whispered in my ear. Now I began to giggle as well.
“Where did you get it from?” I whispered back. Liq shrugged and glanced at Dean. That told me everything.
“One trip, all-inclusive, awesome.” I said and promptly clutched my head.
“Except the painkillers, we forgot the painkillers.”

“Not quite. I have come to the conclusion that there are some serious complications. Painkillers would not be able to aid.” My mood dropped. Vizal.
“Ugh, not you again. Out with it. Now, before I succumb to the urge to throw you through a window. I’ve just noticed that we’re like three floors up and I am known for moodswings.” I said to the invasive AI. I honestly didn’t like the idea of a voice in my head that wasn’t my own. It felt like being…..I put a finger on my chin and gave it a thought. Yeah, it felt like being raped or something. I grimaced. The sooner I got this over with, the sooner my brains were all my own again.
“I have taken a look at your structure and quite frankly, your medical team has done quite a sloppy job. Improperly connected joints, cooling fluid being leaked into your skull cavity, extensive dataloss in the neural net. Muscles that are not well secured and tear themselves apart at the slightest movement. There are also many missing nerve-ends on your back. This caused some unforeseen complications when I wrote the slumber-program. Notably, every cell in your structure shut down. I’ve been busy most of the last few hours trying to revive your body.”

The line moved forward a step.
“So basically, you’re saying that I’m an irreparable wreck? I thought you were a rank eight AI, shouldn’t you be smart enough not to give me a heart attack?” I put my hands on my hips and sighed.
“Brilliant, the guarantee of quality became void if I made any extensive trips. I’d say several tens of thousands of lightyears count as extensive tripping. There goes my money.” I complained to no one in particular.
“Freddy’s money, you mean.” Liq pointed out.
“Oh yeah, sorry.”
“Let me remind you, I am not used to full rebuilds. While superficially similar to a human, you are in fact as similar as a wooden board over a creek is to the spacering. Undoing a full shutdown is not easy, especially when the tools capable of reviving you are working off the wrong blueprints and need to be reprogrammed continuously.” Vizal said. His voice was neutral as always, but I still felt as if the AI had gotten defensive.

I kept quiet as the line moved on. Dean didn’t say a thing either, Liq was busy hacking the crap out of the local security so that a pair of mostly artificial beings could walk past and Vizal, he was probably poking around in my innards in a way that made me feel very uncomfortable. I made an effort of ignoring the sneaky invader built into my new piece of jewellery. Instead, I tried to focus on some more interesting subjects. Such as….the security that would stop both of us if we tried to move through without hacking. Say, what if Liq wasn’t such a hotshot first-rate hacker with several terabytes of self-written invasive software spilling out of her ears? We would get caught. What would the security folks think of us? What in the case of Liq? She wasn’t a plastic item anymore with obviously fake flesh. Nope, we’d made sure she was as real as could be, up to the point of having an organic structure that requires real food to be maintained. They’d probably think she was some kind of alien invader.

I snickered. Alien invader, that was a good one and just about the truth. But what about me? Apart from some structural differences, much higher density and general details that were supposed to enhance my physical performance, I looked exactly the same. They’d probably draw the same conclusion in my case, even though I was once a full-natural human.

We finally got to the gate. Liq and I moved through one after the other, no buzz. I let out a silent whoop of joy, and made an effort of not screaming when my head protested against it. When Dean walked through, there was a buzz. With a casual shrug, he dropped a big wristwatch in the basket and walked through again. No buzz. They gave the wristwatch back.
We then followed the bald guy, till he brought us into a restaurant.

“The food on the airplane was probably unhealthy, so I decided to skip on it. Anyone hungry?” He asked. I became instantly aware of my own stomach which rumbled like a herd of elephants. We sat down and I made a quick grab for the menu. I flipped through it as the waitress approached.
“May I have your orders, please?” She asked in the professional tone of waitresses all over the galaxy. I was still flipping through the pages.
“Got any cockroaches?” I asked. I instantly let out a yelp afterwards and glared at Liq. She’d kicked me!
“Insects are not considered a delicacy here.” Vizal told.
“Just kidding! Squirmy little things, hate them!” I quickly lied.
“Three big portions of French fries, four burgers king-sized, a salad and two strawberry icecream for dessert.” I added. The waitress noted it down on her pad and turned away.
“We’ll bring your meals in ten minutes.” She said and began to walk away.

“Excuse me.” Dean said and the waitress turned around again.
“Yes?” She asked. The bald guy looked apologetic.
“I haven’t placed my orders yet.” He said. The waitress looked flustered.
“But…three port...” She began when I waved a hand and cut her off.
“Those are my orders! Not theirs.” If anything, she looked even more flustered after that.
“I’d like one small portion of French fries and a burger, lilliput-sized.” Liq giggled.
“One medium portion of French fries and a normal burger for me.” Dean added. The waitress staggered away. I wouldn’t be surprised if she was going to swallow a handful of pills to calm down.

“You’re pretty much a resourcehog, aren’t you?” Dean commented. I blushed.
“Don’t say it like that. It makes it sound as if I’m fat.” I blustered. The guy gave a smug grin as he realized he had me backed into a corner.
“Well, you are heavy. Seriously girl, you’re like the one person who went on a diet, became all anorexic but then found out she’d merely shunted all of her weight into an invisible balloon of fat.” He laughed.
“Hey, it’s not nice to make fun of a girl’s weight. I’m really light, for my build. If I’d gone with old-style materials, I’d weigh five times as much!” I hissed angrily. Dean put the menu away and folded his arms, still with that grin.
“Heh, I bet you would. And after that meal, you’ll have doubled your weight. If you can eat it all.” I looked out of the window, just so I wouldn’t have to watch him.
“Hah, you try to survive on a normal meal when you’ve got over fifteen times the normal concentration of nanites swimming around inside you. You can’t maintain this body on tapwater, you know.” I grumbled.

My own comment had brought my mind back to the sorry state I was in. For all it was worth, I was pretty much a failure. But there was a solution to that.
“Yo, Vizal.” I whispered. I’d rather have that no one heard. Pathetic, really. Liqqil had learned herself how to lipread when her ears broke down a week after she was born, while Dean was a military commando-type and probably knew how to lipread in five different languages.
“Yes?” The AI replied.
“I’ve got nanites tasked with maintaining and repairing my structure, aren’t they doing their job?” I asked.
“They are, but the blueprints they’re using are not detailed enough to do the job effectively.” I closed my eyes.
“When I get back to Ibliss, remind me to pay an unscheduled visit to my doctor with a mallet bigger than myself. A titanium mallet.” I snapped, somewhat louder than I’d planned.
“We don’t pay your lawyer.” Dean warned. I glared at him for a moment.
“Shut up, this is none of your bussines. Vizal, I know you’ve been raping me all this time, so you’d better make it worth it.” I snapped.
“Excuse me? I am physically incapable of such improper acts.” The AI objected.
“Argh! You’re a voice that comes in my head without asking! How do you think that feels?! Now just shut up and see if you can do something to fix all these problems you’ve been so eager to list!”

This post has been edited by jack cloudy: Jan 5 2008, 06:10 PM

[Olen]

This is good though quite what's happening is still a bit of a mystery. Its interesting that she's broken though, that puts a slightly different spin on the whole superhuman thing...

Eating that much food must get expensive...

[blockhead]

One session? You do realize that is something like fifty pages in word, do you?

I am a fast reader. When I was kid, I often read a novel a day.

Question ... Atlantis airport? As in the supposed lost continent? When does this story take place again?

This post has been edited by blockhead: Jan 7 2008, 12:10 AM

[jack cloudy]

Agh, I still didn't get to explain! Ok, forget about a schedule. I'll explain how they got onto the plane without attracting any more attention than a green-haired, kneelength ultra-frilly skirtwearing girl gets all by herself. I'll explain it somewhere in the restaurant scene. Somewhere.

Ok, one thing I can explain. Emmy's hair. Believe it or not, it's not that noticeable. Hair dyed in unnatural colours was conveniently in fashion at Atlantis a few years earlier and there are still some people doing it today. It also isn't that hot. Under normal conditions (rest), it merely feels warm and won't be noticed unless you practically dump your face in it. (which will get you a screaming Emmy) So the only way to get it noticed under normal conditions is with a thermal scan. Which aren't found on the airport.

And Atlantis is not the lost continent, but a new one some rich billionaires decided to build. They thought the name was fitting and romantic. They'd better hope that their Atlantis won't follow in the footsteps of the older one too directly. The current date is 2056, no timetravel on either side. Ibliss was just lucky enough to have a much better technological progress due to circumstances. And now for the story.




I grinned sheepishly at the others.
“Err, nothing to worry about. This doesn’t concern you at….just stop staring at me, will ya?” I stammered. I then ended up staring myself, at the fly that had landed on the table.
“Ew! Go, get lost, you buzzing monster.” I hissed. The fly instead walked to an edge of the table where Liqqil scooped it up and put it inside a little black box, the kind the hero puts his ring in when he proposes to his love in films.
“Don’t get your head in a knot. It’s just the gadget I used earlier. Besides, I thought you like bugs.” Liq said.
“But it’s gross! How can I not freak out? The bugs I like are all fried, toasty and not hairy at all.” I half-choked. Sis pushed the still open box across the table towards me.
“Oh, come on. It’s a state-of-the-art gadget that wouldn’t look bad on the big screen. You’re always in love with those things.” She teased. The fly wasn’t moving anymore, which was not a real improvement to me.

“Get that dead fly away from me! High-tech needs to be pretty. This thing…it’s just revolting!” I squeaked. I was getting close to mouse on helium again. Uh oh.
Liqqil leaned in closer with a weird expression on her face.
“Pretty? Like me?” She giggled. I pushed my seat back a bit more.
“Ok, sis. Now you’re just creeping me out.” I replied.

Dean had been following the back and forth banter with interest. I could see his head going from left to right from the corner of my eyes.
“Are you two even mentally sane?” He now wondered out loud.
“Excuse me? Could you shut up? Can’t you see that we’re having a little sister-to-sister bonding here?” I snapped back. The bald guy drummed on the table with his fingers and gave me the disapproving stare but he kept his mouth shut, for now. Liqqil didn’t. She was still leaning over to my side and now she was adding even more fuel to the fire.
“Oh, bonding. I’m good at that. Say, how about you me, one room, all alone? Care to drop by later? I could make it very pleasant. So, what do you say, babe?” She whispered seductively and winked. My first reaction was my mouth falling open in shock. Next came the struggle to regain coherent speech.
“Wha…? No….wait….it’s no…..but you…….CAN WE CHANGE THE SUBJECT?!” Mouse on helium, how often had I freaked out like that in the last two days? This was so weird.

Liqqil finally sat normal in her seat again instead of nearly putting her head in my lap.
“She’s sane.” She concluded dryly. I rested my head on the table.
“Stop doing that. You’re giving me a heart attack.” I whimpered. Liq’s eyes widened and she clapped her hands in excitement.
“I do? Alright, I knew it! Best use for those old lines ever!” She whooped. I let out a moan.
“Damn you, Liq.” I whispered. I wished she would just drop the whole thing already. For a joke, it was simply too creepy and I’d rather forget about it. The she’d just spoke to me, it brought back memories. Bad ones.

Dean wasn’t much of a help here. He just had to stick his nose into other people’s business.
“Wait a second. Did you just propose….it to your sister?” He asked. I was beginning to prefer Vizal to him. Sure, the AI was constantly butting in on my private grounds but at least he was all business and left the private emotional stuff alone. I wasn’t in the mood to lash out at the man so I just whimpered a bit more with my head on the table. Liqqil did the lashing for now, which made me feel somewhat better.
“I did not! They’re old lines!” She snapped.
“But, didn’t you just say…?” Dean couldn’t even finish the question cause Liq literally jumped out of her seat and slammed her fists down on the table.
“I said, old lines. O-L-D L-I-N-E-S. I’m not into this kind of stuff, ok?! Am I going to fast for you or what?” Her voice became even more snappy as well.
“But you’re a Doll. Aren’t…” I swept out with a foot. Dangit, my leg was too short to hit the commando-dude. I hit the underside of the table instead. He appeared to get the idea though for he shut up, finally.
“For your own good, stop talking before I get pissed off. People who emotional abuse my sister are the one type I really hate. That, and perverts. Remember, fourhundred kilo bags?” I hissed.

“Liq, sit down for a moment. People are staring.” I continued. Sis sat down, slowly and rubbed her knuckles.
“Aw, crap. I think I budged something. Yup, finger-muscles aren’t connected anymore.” She noted. I noticed she’d slipped into emotionless-mode. Wow, I envied her for that. That was the most effective self-calming method I’d ever seen. Way faster than counting to ten and a billion times as effective.
“Got spare parts?” I asked as I lift my head from the table. Liq pressed one hand into her side and pushed.
“No, but it’s a minor problem. If I push like this, I can get the connection-points lined up again and nanites will do the rest. Got a bandage? I need to lock my fingers somehow.”

[Olen]

That was... odd. I'll wait until the next part to find out exactly what was happening...

[blockhead]

Did we just drop the L-bomb here? Oh ... wait ... no: it's only "old lines."

What is the significance of the term "old lines?" Is this FutureSpeak for "I was just kidding"?

Right now I identify with Dean. Firstly, I'm bald. Secondly, I sometimes end up asking awkward questions (which get a dirty look, nudge or kick under the table). Three, I have no idea what's going on here. Four ... no ... there is no four.

[jack cloudy]

No update yet, since I just got out of school. Instead, I'm just going to talk for a bit, about Liqqil.
The point is, I did not drop an L-bomb (if that's what I think it is.) But the 'old lines' comment is significant. In fact, it is a major part of who she is. As such, I can't give a straight infodump in the next real update. Instead, I'm going to repeat some hints from the story and let you figure them out on your own. If you get them, they tell you a lot about Liqqil and Dolls in general. You should also be able to realize the meaning of the 'old lines' bit. Highlight to see. Or don't, your choice.

1: She's an Interactive Doll, not a human. A customized version of the Liqqil-2B type, which means she was originally a mass-produced specimen.
2: A spare parts salesman had his site listed as 'ages of 16 years and up'.
3: "But I don’t do Doll stuff, so don’t even think about it, you pervert."

BIG HINTS, SPOIL AT YOUR OWN RISK

4: “Ok, you win. Geez, who ever knew that the Doll I modified for my personal entertainment would end up blackmailing me? So what do you want?” said by Freddy. BIG HINT
5:“First of all, you drop the innuendo. I am not for your personal entertainment, something you should know by now considering the appearance I chose for myself. Also, making me smarter was a bad way of making me any more entertaining...." Another BIG HINT
6: The stunt she pulled last update. You know which one I mean.

And I kind of feel sorry for Dean. He's stuck with a hyperactive pair who are definitely not normal. And best thing of all, one member of that pair could crush his windpipe with two fingers...without even trying. And that's despite being technically broken.

This post has been edited by jack cloudy: Jan 8 2008, 05:25 PM

[Olen]

I'd worked out exactly what Liqqil is or was anyway from the hints (unless I have it very very wrong) but I still don't quite understand the significance of that last update. The old lines was a bit confusing, unless you mean that was what she used to say. I'm not totally sure what to make of the joke...

If it was just to drop the L-bomb then consider it dropped but if there was another important bit of something I'm missing it (more than possible).

[jack cloudy]

Well, I'll let you stew on it for a while. I'm sure I'm going to pull off a reveal somewhere along the lines. (Maybe when they get back to Ibliss, whenever that is.) Anyway, I don't know how to write a meal-scene, so I've cut the update off at that point. Any advice?





“Eh, sure.” I dove into my handbag, rather happy to do something that did not remind me of the awkward situation we had just then. There was always some duct-tape in there. One never knows when something needs taping, after all.
“Lessee. I’ve got tissues, funny flat plastic thingie, a leather something, a soft squeezy stressball, the little ribbonbox a little book…a pen, paper, a strip of chewing gum…neat, strawberry flavour! Ok, moving on we get a bottle of perfume and….wait a minute….WHERE’S MY PLUG?!” I choked and ended up wheezing for breath. Too much helium-voicing in too little time.
“Emmy, there are more important things going on right now. Bandage, please.” Liq reminded me. I didn’t listen.

“But….my plug. I can’t go anywhere without it. Maybe I left it on the table back home? No, I don’t think I did…..This is a nightmare! Without it, I’m no one! It’s got my ID, my memos, I need it to access my bank account, and I’ve got the maintenance manual for me stored on it. What if I get an accident, fall down the stairs? No one would know what to do! Wah!” I complained. Liq rolled her eyes, the first sign she’d switched back to emotional mode.
“Oh, please. Whatever you do, just don’t start crying. Besides, you’re not at home, remember? You’re bank account is invalid here, your ID is wrong too, your memos….well, you can call off all appointments you had. And finally, no one would care about a maintenance manual if they haven’t even got some proper prosthetics yet. Besides, I doubt you would be really injured if you dropped down the stairs.” She noted.
“But…I also had all five seasons of 'Burning Heart: The Return stored' on it! Along with some other shows and the newsfeed.”

“Bandage, now.” Liq hissed. Still sobbing, I ducked back into my handbag.
“Hmm, I don’t see anything. My roll of duct-tape is missing as well. Thinking about it, I don’t see anything I recognize. What dirty honoured user went through my handbag? That’s just plain rude!” I yelled after a moment. I frowned and glared at Dean. I had to give him credit. At least he was smart enough not to give me some smartass remark about why he went through my stuff. Instead, he choose to check the menu again.
“Oh, whatever. I’ve got plenty of ribbons. Would those do? I’ve got red, green, yellow, blue, purple, white, black, orange…” Liqqil rolled her eyes again so I shut up.
“Yeah, that was actually what I had in mind. Colours don’t matter. I won’t need them for more than half an hour. It’s better than duct-tape.” She said.
“Oh, really? Why’s duct-tape not good enough?” I asked while carefully wrapping a shiny pink ribbon around one of her hands.
“Have you ever tried duct-taping something organic or semi-organic? I’ll tell you, getting it on is easy. Getting it off without removing your whole skin requires a lab with special equipment and expert duct-tape removers.” She explained. I finished wrapping up the other hand. It looked as if she was wearing a pair of mismatched gloves. Best news was, she could still move her fingers, somewhat. The ribbons kept her muscles lined up.
“Really?” I replied.
“Well, it’s more the brand we use than anything else. Most brands aren’t meant for holding together large masses. The one you can buy at the mall only hurts and grabs a few hairs. But then again, you can’t expect it to hold half a tonne of machinery.”

This post has been edited by jack cloudy: Jan 11 2008, 08:45 PM

[Olen]

Unless there is something pressing you want talked about meal scenes are rare. Thats because they often don't work.

That update was fine, I'm waiting for something to happen now

[jack cloudy]

Nothing happening yet. I just figured I needed to finish this chapter before thinking of what's next. So umm....the most awkward meal-time conversation ever.



It was at that point that they brought in our meals, on a shiny silvery cart. The smell and sight of it made my stomach ache. I could barely keep myself from digging in right away. But proper table-manners dictated I should wait till everything had been unloaded first. So I waited. It took the waitress like half a minute to do that. Mostly because she had to line up my plates, which took up a lot of empty seats. Finally she was done, Dean had forked over some paper and the short skirt vanished. I looked after her for a moment.
,,Who in the heck wears a skirt that short? Just a little bit of wind, and the whole thing flops up.” I noted with disgust.
,,But anyway….Woot! Food! Let’s eat!” I squealed afterwards, grabbed my fork and began to push back the French fries.”

Dean looked on in wonder. He looked terribly amused as well, which was really creepy.
,,What?” I snapped at him. The guy shrugged.
,,Nothing, just wondering how all that…” He gestured at the plates.
,,Fits in that.” He finished dryly, gesturing somewhere below the table in my direction. I rolled my eyes and concentrated on eating. Now that was one question that wasn’t worth an answer. Besides, I had to work quick before it got cold.
,,High-quality digestion.” Liq said all of a sudden.

,,Excuse me?” Dean asked.
,,We’re nanitorganics, know what that is?” Sis asked in return.
,,A nanitorganic is a being that emulates organics but in fact consists of artificial materials maintained by a large quantity of high-end nanites. They’re popular at zoos cause you can program them to act just like real animals but without the risk a real predator in captive brings.” Dean gave the definition with such a monotone, you just knew he was repeating some cold hard facts that barely interested him. Liq nodded.
,,Right. And there’s your answer. All we need is a stomach. we don’t need several metres of woefully inefficient guts. I bet Emmy digests even quicker than she eats now.” She said.

I couldn’t really believe my ears. Those two were having a technical discussion over my stomach over diner! That was just crazy!
,,Yo, could you two hurry it up? I’m already halfway and I need to eat a lot more than you do. Also, it’s getting cold.” I pointed out.
,,Sure thing, sis. But I really want to know now. Do you still have guts?” Liq asked. My fork clattered on the plate.
,,CAN WE CHANGE THE SUBJECT?!”

Dean pursed his lips.
,,Now look what you’ve done. Everybody is looking.” He scolded. Liq on the other hand, was blushing.
,,Eh…oops. Sensitive subject.” She whispered in an apologetic tone. That on its own was enough to divert my attention.
,,Wah? Did I upset you, Liq? I’m really, really reaaaaallly sorry.” I stammered.
,,Oh, and I don’t know actually. Guess you have to ask Vizal for that.” I added after a moment of thought. The best way to actually get rid of the subject, I reasoned, was to just give them what they want. From Liqqil’s somewhat dazed expression, I concluded that she’d followed my advice. I wasn’t going to ask either of them to repeat whatever they were telling each other. Conversations between two AI had two speeds generally. Human, and ‘list every registered individual in Ibliss in one second flat’. And at over a billion people, that’s fast.

I shrugged. Oh well, at least no one was bothering me anymore so I could eat. No one, except for mister LAVI big muscle-worshipper.
,,We’re going to have a word later, you and I.” He said, not even looking up from his plate. That did not sound good at all. If I was still capable of sweating, I would have started to do so right now. What word? It had to be bad. Was it because of my yelling? Or because I had such a large paycheck he was going to pay? Was it because he had to carry me all over the place because I was either drugged or half-killed thanks to the psychotic LAVI-AI?

What if it wouldn’t stop at words? What if he was going to beat me up? Or shoot me? Big man against little girl, not even a contest. I would be demolished, taken apart and then sold for pieces! I was worth a whole lot of UMU. Enough to buy a house in central Ibliss, where even a coffin costs more than my spacious two-room apartment.
,,Ah well, at least I’ll reincarnate at Styx in a jiffy. Though that means I’ll have to go through the whole shazoomble again with the surgery.” I muttered.
,,You said something?” Dean asked. Liq didn’t notice, she was too busy with her own wireless conversation.
,,Nothing!” I yelped, waving my hands frantically.
,,Hmm, I think I’ll stick to plastic this time. No more boosting. And definitely not at the same doctor. I’ve still got a headache and half my nerves up in my skull have been brought offline. Go figure.”

I shoved away what was left of my meal and rested my head on the table. I didn’t feel like eating anymore.
,,Hah, I knew you couldn’t eat it all!” Dean exclaimed victoriously.
,,Oh, shut up.” I whimpered.

[Olen]

Good update. Its poised to go.

And you think that conversation was akward....

[jack cloudy]

Well yeah, I thought it was awkward. Maybe it ran nice as a story, but the subject itself felt awkward. At least for Emmy. As for now, I'm really surprised at this update. I thought I could wrap up the meal in a sentence or two but no, I had to add more. Ah well, at least it looks as if they're going to leave the restaurant soon.



I skipped dessert as well. At first, I tried. I don’t know if I did it because I was still hungry or just because I felt competitive all of a sudden and wanted to prove I could eat it all, or maybe it was the new form of binge-drinking. The strawberry ice-cream failed at getting me drunk, no big surprise after gallons of alcohol had failed already. So I tried, but the ice made me feel as if my brains were freezing. Well, even more than they already were.
“I swear. Leaking cooling fluid onto my precious neurons can’t be healthy.” I muttered.
“I have observed a loss in brain-mass of roughly 12%.” Vizal butted in.
“Gah, shut it! I don’t need to hear I’m breaking down. Just fix it already!” I groaned. I shoved the ice-cream over to Liqqil.

She waved her hand.
“No thanks, I don’t like ice.” She said. I drew the bowl back to myself again. I remembered now. Liq didn’t like ice because it was so cold. Like me, she had an extensive cooling network but unlike me, that cooling network was restricted to her head. The rest of her body simply had trouble enough reaching high temperatures so she always had cold skin. Eating ice was bad for her brains cause her cooling-system can’t adapt to the sudden drop in temperature, she always said. I laughed, despite the fact there was nothing to really laugh about.
“Oh yeah, ice is just like cooling fluid in a way. Argh, I can’t believe I forgot that…….does this mean I’m really taking brain damage here? Dammit, I should have picked a fan-based cooling-system or something, instead of tubes with funny liquids in them. I either overheat or freeze myself to dead.”

Dean cleared his throat.
“Brilliant, I just said that out loud, didn’t I?” I sniffed. The Lavi-guy glanced about before leaning over the table towards me.
“First of all, I would appreciate it if you two stop constantly saying really loud that you’re a bunch of robots or other suspicious things. This is not the place for such words, something you seem to constantly forget. I accept whispers, but not yelling or normal volume.” He began.

“It’s Interactive Doll, not robot. There’s a big difference here.” Liqqil said in a haughty tone. I rolled my eyes. Not that again. If there was one thing she hated more than being called a Doll, it was being called a robot. For some reason, she would always claim to be a Doll when someone called her a robot but if someone called her a Doll, it wouldn’t be right either. It was a good thing no one really figured it out just by looking at her. Long live anatomically correct structures.

“A robot is just a mindless tool, constantly repeating the same bit of programming over and over. A Doll is different.” Liq continued. Dean smirked.
“Secondly, I was going to say that first sign of malfunction, and it’s right back to Ibliss for you two.” He said. He then spread his arms and the smirk grew wider.
“Please humor me while we’re on the subject. What makes a Doll different? Doesn’t it also follow the same programming over and over? Its task is just more socially orientated.” He claimed. I sighed. There we went, with the standard counter-argument. I knew the guy thought himself real smart by now, but I’d heard it a dozen times before now. All the previous dozen got a suitcase or bag in their face for their troubles. This kind of discussion was one of the few things that could bring sis close to violence.

I subtly pulled the suitcases over to my side of the table. As I pushed them against the wall with a foot, I noted they were quite a bit heavier than most, too heavy for Liq to carry or heaven forbid, to swing around.
“I wonder what Baldy brought along. Probably a really big gun or something. He’s a guy, they always have issues like that. Guys and guns, that’s one inseparable couple.” I muttered and refocused on the conversation. As expected, Liq was blushing like a fireball right now.
“It is different!…..Well, maybe not the mass-production models….but we custom ones are!” She stammered. As the two held their verbal spar, a question rose up within me. If Dean had just warned us not to talk loudly about stuff that wasn’t possible in this place, then why was he now loudly holding a conversation about Interactive Dolls? Weren’t those an Ibliss invention?

“Oh, the custom ones? I think I saw one in a magazine ones. Oh yeah, now that’s special. Another processing core, the programming finely tuned to the owner’s preferences. And then the price-peace, a skin that can sweat. All accessories, like the air-conditioning in a vehicle. So how is that different? There are small robots, there are big robots and there are customized robots. They’re still robots.” I was wondering just why Dean kept bashing like that. Did he get a kick out of it? Or was he just racist or something? At times he’d appeared to be a nice guy, but now he was simply enjoying himself. I looked back and suddenly realized I had never actually seen him really friendly. The closest thing was pure professionalism. The only times he’d laughed had been when he was mocking one of us.
“I’m not a custom Doll! I’m a….double-custom….I mean….I’m not some braindead slave of…..you’ve got no right to say that….it’s not like….CAN WE CHANGE THE SUBJECT?!” Liq squeaked and reached for the bag which was no longer there. Sure, it was too heavy for her to lift, but she still would have tried, so I was glad I had moved it. She might have hurt herself again.
“That’s my line. Copycat.” I couldn’t keep myself from saying.

Liq got up with a neutral expression. In no way did she show she’d been about to smash Dean’s face in one way or another.
“Please pay for the meals so we can leave. We have wasted enough time already.” She said in a monotone. Oh wow, emotion-less again.
“This can’t be healthy if she just keeps escaping into that. How often did she pull that trick just today? It’s good if you need to get some work done that’s too boring otherwise but if you need it to stay sane…” I didn’t finish the thought. Mostly because I got distracted by another lance of pain that shot through my head. Somehow, subconsciously, I’d started eating my ice-cream again.

“Damn brainfreeze. I loved ice-cream.” I complained to no one in particular. Dean appeared to be rather disappointed, maybe cause his fun was over. Now he merely seemed annoyed.
“Right, I’ll pay. It’s why they give me a triple digit budget after all.” He grumbled. He stabbed a finger at the both of us.
“But no more sidetrips. We’re going straight to our apartment, right now.” He then demanded.
“Aw, but I wanted to buy new shoes.” I whined. He looked at me with a big frown.
“No.” Was all he said.

“But the soles on these shoes are flatter than a flat sheet of paper! I can’t walk around like this. I’d look ridiculous."
“No. And how can you claim to look ridiculous with flat shoes if you're wearing that?!” Dean pointed at my chest as he said that. I began to blush as heavily as Liqqil.
"Hey! Don't point at me like that, you pervert!" I just barely managed to keep my voice down. This was probably one of those things he did not want me to talk loudly about.
"I was not pointing at you, but at your clothes. You look ridiculous in that stuff, like some kind of barbie-doll for prepubescent children." Dean barked.

I sighed.
"There's nothing wrong with my clothes. I just like them, that's all and there's no law that says I can't wear frilly stuff." If only looks could incinerate, there would have been one big pile of ash on the other side of the table right now. Dean didn't answer, so I had to throw in my secret weapon. I would get to a shoe-store, even if I had to blackmail the world with a nuclear bomb to get there.
"So, please, can we visit a shoe-store on the way? Please, pretty please, sugared cockroaches on top? Pullleeeeeeeeezzzeee??????” I begged.
"No." Dean said, sounding really bored.
I threw up my hands in surrender. This was not going to work. I didn't have a nuclear bomb, unfortunately.
“Aw, crap. Liq, you’ve got to teach me the puppy-dog-eyed stare. I can’t seem to put enough cuteness into it to hypnotize the damn thug.” I said.
“I think you went the wrong way when you came up with a metaphor involving cockroaches.” She replied.

The waitress arrived and Dean turned around with some leather pouch-thingy in his hands.
“I am not a thug. I am an elite government-funded security expert. You’ll see that there is quite a difference.” He said over his shoulder just soft enough so only we could hear him.

I froze and felt a big grin break out.
“Oh, Liq.” I called out mischievously.
“What?” Sis asked.
“He just said there’s a big difference between the common thug and him. Are you thinking what I’m thinking? Go back to emotional first.” I explained. Slowly, Liq copied my grin. As one, we both turned to Dean who had finished paying and was now flirting a bit with the waitress. He soon noticed our stare though and finished the conversation in a hurry.
“what is it this time?” He asked. We didn’t answer but just kept grinning, all the way till we saw the first drop of sweat appear on his bald forehead as he got increasingly unnerved. Our eyes made contact for a split-second, as Liq and I held a silent discussion among ourselves. We both agreed we could now speak.
“Payback time.”