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(Setting) Downtown - REM's Apartment
| "Is the door kicking part of opening it, or..?"
>Elisa tries her hardest not to peek at what REM is doing.
| "Who knows~!"
> REM replied with a laugh. She then waved Elisa in and snapped her fingers twice. The lights came on and immediately several holo-paintings came to life. Various different landscapes in particular...a tanquil savannah with a gentle breeze that ruffles the plants, a busy city with neon lights streaking about the time between day and night shifts every ten minutes...and many others. Otherwise the apartment looked more like a decker/hackers's paradise.
| "Welcome! Don't touch anything that looks dangerous. Prolly is."
| >Elisa's eyes go wide. She stares at the holograms on the walls in amazement, almost reaching out to try to touch them.
"It's so beautiful..."
| > She grinned at the girls interest in the holograms but said nothing. She could try to touch those...Some of them were interactive. More specifically the busy city painting made the neon speeding lights dance around the person trying to interact with it. The Savannah made the wind blow where ever the person waving their hand at it moved their hand. Waving hard would cause a storm to come, waving softly would either stop the storm or make a small breeze make the grasses dance.
| >Elisa stares at the glittering lights of the city and suddenly stumbles forward, looking confused.
"Ahh! I think I just dozed off for a second."
>She sighs and rubs her eyes.
"I just haven't been able to sleep properly since I moved here. Something about the city..."
>Her speech trails off.
| > REM listened and shrugged before walking over and taking the woman's shoulder.
"Yeah okay. Come 'ere."
> Not even bothering allowing Elisa to finish she lead her over to a couch, covered in electronics, odds and ends...REM quickly knocked all that stuff away and cleaned off the couch. She grabbed one of her best pillows, a sleepfoam pillow even, and attempted to lead Elisa to sit down on the couch. She pushed the pillow into her arms and wandered off toward the back.
| "Lemme get you a blanket...After I lock the door back."
>REM wandered over to the door and shut it. She slid her thumb along the center of the door and immediately steel bars crossed its top and bottom to lock the door in place. A light came on at the top of the door also. The gradient haired woman made her way to the back and turned on a light...then the sound of rummaging began.
| >Elisa squeezes the pillow, blinking slowly.
"So soft..."
>She mumbles and lets herself fall forward onto the sofa, hugging the pillow instead of placing it under her head. Her red hair clings to the sofa because of static electricity. She mutters quietly.
"Thank you."
| > Eventually she returned back with a nice warm blanket with a built in electric warmer. When she saw Elisa relaxing on the sofa and heard her gratitude she smiled gently and humped a quiet single shoulder. Wandering over she threw the blanket over Elisa's form and adjusted it like she was tucking her in.
"Comfy? Get some sleep okay? I'll try to do what I gotta do without waking you up."
| "Wait, REM... What if my sister, what if Telia really is a criminal? She could be in danger. What do I do then?"
>She opens her eyes, staring at the opposite wall with a tired expression.
| (i was going to keep it a secret but heck it: i name all my characters after finnish ISPs. I have no creativity :D)
| ( I think that's awesome. xD )
>REM shrugged softly before sitting down next to Elisa, careful to give her plenty of space to rest.
"Dunno!"
> She watched her expression and grinned a little.
"But! Ampersand's a smart dude and I'm not too bad m'self. We'll figure something out. If your Telia's in danger we'll bail her out and then you can talk her out of bein' shadey."
>REM attempted to comfort Elisa by gently squeezing her shoulder supportively.
| "Ampersand would do that? I just hired him to investigate, what benefit would he get from helping my sister? He could just grab the cash and leave the rest to me, and I would totally get that."
>She smiles weakly at the shoulder squeeze, but the worry still lingers in her expression.
| > REM laughed a little.
"You bring up a good point...But I'll be more than happy to help you out if that happens. I have trouble imagining a guy that likes Arnold Palmer to be that cold though."
| "I guess... Now, please excuse me, I'm gonna..."
>Elisa doesn't finish her sentence before falling asleep.
| > She smiled gently and adjusted the blanket so that she'd stay warm. She even turned it on so that it'd heat up another 15%...Then she stood up and took careful pictures of Elisa's face. She waited until she'd gone into a deep sleep before trying to get both sides. After that she was done. She'd let Elisa sleep...and she'd head over to her hoard of computer screens to get to work.
"Right...Face recognition. EZ."
| >Hours later Elisa opens her eyes. After a moment of confusion she remembers yesterday's events and starts looking for a clock.
| > REM was casually sitting at her desk with her feet propped up and her ankles crossed. In her lap was a steaming hot paper cup of ramen, spicy chicken flavor with cheese. She slurpped it up and watched some anime on TV. If Elisa looked she'd see...a ridiculously realistic recreation of her sister's face being transposed via projector onto a mannequin's head.
>The woman paused and turned her head at Elisa's stirring.
"Morning, Sunshine~."
| "Morning. I'm happy to report I got a lot of you."
>Elisa chuckles and lifts herself up. She had slept in a bad position, so her back aches a little.
| " A lot of me? Can the world handle more than one me?"
> REM questioned with a raised brow and an amused halfsmile. She turned in her office chair slightly and let one leg return to the floor. Her right foot remained on the desk. *Slurp* The eating of ramen didn't cease.
"Hungry?"
| "Definitely."
>Elisa manages to walk to the kitchen. She inspects the artifical face, squinting to see the details with still drowsy eyes.
"Damn, this sure is something!"
| "It better be, now that I'm suffering the ironic fate of slight sleep deprivation...granted I enjoyed the hell out of making this thing."
> REM giggled and stood up before wandering over to the other cup of ramen she had waiting for when Elisa woke up. She went ahead and started prepping it so that she could pass it over to her when she was done.
"You're gonna have to be the one that wears the projection. Your headshape is just right...so really photographically..."
| "I'm just correcting the very slight inaccuracies between you and your sis."
| "That makes sense. Geez, I've been to her apartment before but I'm still nervous!"
| "Well Amper's probably got her routine down by now. If not we'll wait a few more days..."
> REM turned to look at Elisa curiously and offered the new piping hot new cup of ramen, the chickeny goodness readily available to her senses.
"What made you want to hire a random dude off the street anyway?"
| "Random dudes off the street are neutral. And I had heard some good things about this particular one."
>Elisa thanks REM and takes the cup, blowing at the food to cool it faster.
"And I guess I was desperate."
| "You're really scared for your sister, huh?"
> She leaned against the counter and moved to slurp up more of her own ramen. Her eyes flicked to the anime she was watching.
"Don't really blame you...but be careful you don't get sucked in too. This city ain't kind to girls like you."
| >Elisa nodded quietly. She was starting to realize just how little she knew about the infamous city's true nature.
"I'll use you as an anchor if it comes down to that."
>Elisa was only half joking. REM seemed like someone who could really keep up with tough situations.
| "Sure. If it comes down to it I'll pull you out."
> REM replied casually. It was hard to tell if she was playing along back or if she was serious. But she did turn and smile honestly at her. Her gaze slipped back to the TV show, captivated by it again.
"Oh...You gave Amper your contact information, right?"
| "Of course. I gave him an envelope with all my sister's relevant info inside. The envelope had my name and number on it."
>Elisa watched the show on the screen with mild interest. She had never really been into tv-shows, but she had to admit it was well animated.
| "So. Do you not know anything about the kind of people your sis might be in with? It'll help me set us up with what we need if y'do~."
>*Slurp*
| "Some kind of black market stuff, probably. One time when I was visiting her, someone came to the door and started arguing with her about some payments, which led to Telia literally slamming the door shut at his face. I think his nose broke, there was blood on the floor when I left."
>Elisa eats some more before continuing.
| "She only works odd jobs, but somehow still has a lot of cash. She bought me this phone on my birthday and didn't even seem like it was a big deal! I wouldn't have been able to pay rent if I had bought this myself."
| > REM whistled.
"I see...You know I always wondered about that. People that get money illegally seem to lose their sense when they get a lot of it really fast."
> She paused after her final slurp and watched Elisa thoughtfully. She then shrugged.
"It's kind of like...Of course people notice! They're struggling just like you are...so when you're suddenly not struggling anymore they wanna know what's goin' on!"
> She licks her lips and aims her cup upwards.
| > Rem tosses her ramen cup toward a trashcan halfway across the room with one eye closed!
"Full court shot goooo~!"
> The cup bounces off the rim.
"AUUGHHH!"
| >Elisa claps sarcastically
"Well done."
| > REM sticks her tongue out at Elisa.
"Let's see you do better~."
| "Oh no, I wouldn't make it either. I have some electrical stuff in my arms, so they're a bit clumsy. Your throw was still bad though."
>Elisa calmly finishes her ramen and walks to the trashcan, dropping the cup in.
| > REM laughed and leaned against the counter watching her with her chin in her palms.
"You've calmed down a lot. That's good. Your ability to adjust is really impressive...So you're an aug, then?"
| >Elisa chuckles nervously, suddenly really fascinated by the kitchen appliances, which she starts examining thoroughly.
"Umm, it's just some minor stuff, like... Oh, woah! Where did you get this blender? It's great, I bet it blends food really well. Wanna make smoothies? I'm feeling like having a strawberry one, got any?"
| > REM gave a real Cheshire half smile at Elisa's clumsy attempt at derailing the conversation.
"I won it at a convenience store lottery...How equally convenient that you'd suddenly want to have smoothies~."
> She shrugged gently and glanced over at the fridge. Still smiling almost impishly she wandered over to it and checked to see what she had in there for a casual gaze.
"Nope. No strawberries...But we can pick up some after Amper's phase one investigation."
| "So they're illegal, huh? Either that or embarrassing. I did used to know a girl whom had a detachable middle finger that vibrated."
| "Oh yeah, super embarassing. So embarassing in fact that I can't disclose anything more!"
>Elisa's speaking quickly in a high-pitched tone. She silently curses her complete lack of composure in stressful situations.
| > REM gazed at her. Dark blue eyes half lit and unamused.
"I take back my earlier compliment. *Sigh* We'll work on that."
> She sniffed in her amusement and drew a strawberry flavored soda from her fridge. She got herself a grape one. The soda slipped across her counter toward Elisa like REM was pretending to be some kind of bartender.
" Oh. Do you know about Glitch City's police? Y'know they're all crooked right?"
| "Yeah, I am aware. Why do you ask?"
| "Just curious."
> REM said with a soft shrug before turning her head to gaze at her handheld. She watched it as if hoping to will it to do something. She popped open her grape soda afterward and sipped it.
"..."
>Suddenly a rough knock on the door followed. REM jumped and looked toward the door quietly for a moment. She leaned slightly to turn the TV off with her elbow. Then she waited.
| >Elisa takes a position out of sight from the door and raises an eyebrow at REM.
| >>97300
> Two rough sounding knocks occurs again. Then the door beeped once. A long pause followed.
Finally the doors locks receded. The figure of a man who with a high-tech looking black helmet wandered in. Dressed in a black baggy hoodie and equally baggy dark blue jeans...the figure wandered forward. The door locked automatically behind him.
| > REM smiled and waved quietly. No words. She slipped her gaze back to Elisa and continued on as if nothing was going on.
" Anyway...What other kinds of smoothies do you like?"
| > The helmets man wandered passed the two. He paused near REM and nodded once before disappearing into the back and closing the door behind him.
| "Wh- I guess... everything with tropical fruit, really. And kiwis go well with everything!"
>Elisa faked a carefree smile.
| > REM tilted her head.
"Ever had an alcoholic smoothie?"
| "Oh yeah. Strawberries and liquor. My vomit was pink, it was pretty cool!"
>Elisa shudders at the memory. That was a bad night.
| > Laughing REM raised a brow.
"Your face tells a whole different story. Pink vomit sounds horrifying. Depending on how drunk I was I think I'd freak."
| "I was in the 'staring at your reflection and wondering why noses are so weird' - phase of drunkness. But yeah, it was kind of freaky."
>Elisa glances at the door the helmeted man went through.
"How about you, got any stories?"
| > The Cheshire smile showed itself again. She leaned forward and beckoned the girl forward.
"Are you curious~? Wanna know~?"
| "Curiosity killed the cat..."
>Elisa looks at REM unsurely, trying to read her grin to no avail. She sighs and lets her shoulders drop.
"...but satisfaction brought it back."
| "Eh. He's my big brother. Knowing him and what he does for work he's exhausted right now...probably just went to bed."
> REM admitted with a small smile.
" Probably also figured *you* were a client and didn't want to bother us. Silly him~. But yeah he and I built shit for fun and sometimes for a living. Things like my handheld, his helmet, and my holograms. Though I mostly handle the UIs and other pretty things though~. He prefers dealing with the circuitry and other such."
| "Huh. Well that's less exciting than expected. But cool!"
>Elisa glances at the clock.
"Do you think Ampersand is going to contact us today? Could he be done with the stakeout?"
| "Dunno~. I was hoping he'd have called by now."
> She'd say while staring at the handheld thoughtfully.
"...He was on dangeru.us earlier. So I doubt he's still staking the place out. He seems like the kind of guy that'd stare at a wall relentlessly if he thought it'd give him a lead."
| "Heh, that sounds about right. He gave me the most analyzing stare when I walked in, I could swear he has x-ray vision."
>Elisa laughs.
"Do you have any good co-op games? Shall we go kill time?"
| "Yeah I got a few~. Good at shooting games?"
> She'd say while waving her over as she wandered over to her computer screens. She bent down and flipped a switch that caused two of her computers to show the Sone Nee Station 1700 logo. She then pull out a spare handheld and aimed it at her--it was just like the one she'd seen before...though a bit less modded in appearance.
| >Elisa grabs the handheld and gives REM the most devilish grin she has.
"Prepare to get destroyed!"
| > REM smiles impishly.
"Oho~. I'll be looking forward to it."
> After saying so she hopped backward to sit on the kitchen counter and leaned forward with her handheld. She paired it with the machines and immediately started the game up. Afterward she leaned over and showed Elisa how to pair hers to the PC also.
>Soon after the sound of competitive zombie hoard skeet shooting with missiles began!
| > Your communicator dings.
"It's &. I'll be a little late - found something strange."
| >Elisa pauses the game and checks the message, excited to see who it's from.
"Oh, how mysterious. Although I guess that mysterious something could just be a weird bird, he seems like the type to find stuff like that worth investigating!"
>Elisa sneers and laughs.
"Just kidding, I'm sure it's important."
| >>97681
> REM raised a brow at that and laughed at Elisa's joke.
"Wonder what weird thing he found...? Hopefully it ain't anything to worry about..."
| > Your communicator dings again.
"She's out - time for action. &"
| (Oh great, I was just going to sleep. Be back in three hours!)
>Elisa's heart skips a beat when the newly arrived message sinks in. Previously she had been excited, but now she could feel the all too familiar anxiousness twisting her stomach. No turning back now...
| >>98286
>'Straight to the address then?' REM sent back.
She then grinned brightly and huggd Elisa's shoulders in excitement.
"Showtime, Elisy! Let's make sure your big sister's in good hands!"
> REM then slipped by her work station and jammed a cartridge into her handheld. The hologram face immediately disappeared from the mannequin afterward. She also grabbed another handheld gadget and slipped that into her pocket before beckoning Elisa to follow with her chin.
"Bro! we're out!"
| >Elisa quickly grabbed her stuff and hurried after REM.
| ( Psst! Elisa! https://dangeru.us/cyb/thread/98487 <-- )
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| > REM casually walked towards her apartment and kicked at the door's threshold twice. The door made a beeping noise. Then she leaned forward so her body would cover what she was doing afterward. A few beeps later and the door opened.