A Many Layered Affair

As the other runners-up filtered out of the area and the closing speeches got under way, ResQ, Exorcist and the others made up their minds about the failed kidnappers and sent them on their way with some heavy warnings. The leader didn't seem to appreciate being threatened further, but held up his hands, taking as a fair cop in some fashion.

"Right, right, I get it. Everyone's a special snowflake an' we've all got to love and cherish all of them, sure, whatever. Like I said, no more trouble from us. Sooner we're gone, happier we'll all be. whole day's been a bloody waste of time and energy for us after all..." She shook his head as he lead the rest of his fairly sizable crew out through the gates — they were each checked over a little more thoroughly than some guests, after the warning that had been given to staff, but once they were on the outside most of them began to move towards the page exits rather than hanging around. The didn't seem keen on rising to any additional bait and simply endured Exorcist's scolding with hunched shoulders and turned backs as they made their way off.

On stage, Zenny had concluded her own standard event platitudes and gestured for Uprising to step a little more prominently to the front, extending a hand to shake with her. The rebel was wearing a vaguely wry grin while Zennocracy congratulated her on her combat prowess and the score she'd raised for charity. while the business-woman was keeping to the lines of a formal speech, more or less, and acting like Uprising was just another guest, there was a slight edge of frustration just delicately threading through the undercurrents, which in turn seemed to amuse the smaller woman even more. Of course, as much as the rebel seemed to share some kind of history with Zennocracy, she wasn't at all one of the other woman's business partners, so chances are she wouldn't be giving out whatever other extra special favour she'd wagered on that outcome, but the woman didn't seem particularly happy about not having to come good on her under-the-table offer for some reason.

"And of course, as a reward for your excellent participation today, we set aside a special prize! However, earlier in the evening..." her words trailed briefly as she realised that her planned lines wouldn't work. A slim light beam, terminating in a circling set of black and white piano keys appeared just to one side of the stage and a figure that Bhikki, at least, would recognise as the whippish, handsome man that had been guarding the front of the mansion appeared, stepping across to his mistress briefly and murmuring to her. Zenny's lip twitched and returned to the fixed, professional 'smiling because people are looking' expression she'd had to adopt a few times so far.

"Earlier this evening I thought to myself, we really must make a proper presentation of it, after all. So!" She raised one hand and snapped her fingers briefly, before a spinning shower of virtual zenny brought another set piece, the all-too-teasing centrepiece that Bhikki had reasoned against making na attempt on, into central stage with them. It looked every bit as valuable and glitzy as it had when the Buddhist had spied it the first time. Zenny tuned part way to Uprising, part way to the crowd.

"As the winner of tonight's event, this artefact, which we understand to be a very old record of considerable historical value, will first be donated to the appropriate archive for study and examination in your name, if you wish, and then auctioned to any interested in collecting such relics, with all proceeds to go to the charities you have all so graciously supported today. The gratuity for such a donation will also be yours to keep. Congratulations!" she clapped, encouraging the assembled audience to do the same while Uprising raised an eyebrow at her. Clearly, describing the exact back and forth of the process, and showing off the centrepiece, hadn't been entirely on the cards, and it didn't fit quite as well with the tailored sections of speech she'd already presented, but then then, if CrypticMan's instructions had been anything to go by, Zenny had been expecting a different outcome to this part of the award ceremony.

"Further more," she pushed on, attempting to hit her stride again, "because you've all donated so much for those in need, I believe I agreed to a small forfeit, so, let's find out what it will be! Nothing too naughty, I hope!" There was a layer of feigned nervousness in the words, but it was clear that Zenny herself was confident about this part at least. Despite her words, she seemed confident that it would be acceptable. This might well be the part that Bhikki was waiting for, in the hopes of seeing her handiwork on someone else.

"Now, the costume will be picked from a lottery of approved submissions, and while I draw it out, perhaps we can have a word from some of the people who provide such invaluable support and protection to navis in need. Please do come up on stage!" Zenny clapped again, stepping aside and beginning to attend to a large rotating apparatus that summoned itself onto stage near her. It looked to contain a large assortment of data crystals and packets, which were, presumably, the forfeit entries. CrypticMan had said that it had already been rigged, of course, and Zenny's casual confidence seemed to agree that she believed it still was.

With ResQ and Exorcist, the three sanctuary representatives that they'd gathered to themselves for protection exchanged quick looks with each other. Grace was the first to nod, followed swiftly by Rhinestone.

"I did have a little something prepared, I should go up. I'm sure we're all safe now, miss ReQ." Alongside her, Rhinestone rubbed his neck for a moment.
"Much thanks to you and not so much to Zenny or her body-guards... But I think for the sake of the crowd I'm not going to mention any of that. One way or the other, her organisation is still donating a very large amount of funds to each of us, and I'd rather not upset that promise with accusations." Standing back a bit, the red house matron had folded her arms beneath her bust and looked contemplative, but eventually shook her head.

"You should both speak, if you wish. Myself, I think I will stay away from the spotlight." Her retainers stood with her, though Kenmoete had continued to stay moderately close to Mary and, when she asked, gave small murmured descriptions of much of what was going on on the stage, in between the different parts of speeches. In a break, he paused and cleared his throat softly.

"In regards to your other question, Mary, I'm sure we could find plenty in common to explore, if you wished to. I serve my mistress, of course, but if you are ever in the Yoka area, and you happen to visit the secluded community where we provide sanctuary to those in need, I'd welcome the opportunity to say hello." He smiled and shrugged, but didn't seem eager to go into too much detail about his other form of work while he was serving as MadamaSanguine's body guard. Like Fuukouhan, he seemed to feel it important to keep the two lives apart, even when others knew about them. Meanwhile, Rhinestone and CascadingGrace made their way up to the stage, and each in turn began to speak briefly with a certain level of professional public speaking decorum. What ResQ and Exorcist might notice, though, was that while the two spoke each of the work they did, the actual descriptions were sparse on specific details. A certain element of secrecy was clearly still important, even when they were accepting charities from events.

During the speeches, Zenny drew forth a package from the lottery barrel — Bhikki would be able to identify it, conveniently, as the ribbon-wrapped one that she had left for her back in the mansion — and held it ready while they finished up. After they quieted she steppe dup again, still making a show of false nerves and grins.

"Well, let's see what the fates have picked for me for the rest of this evening, shall we?" With a confident flourish, she pulled the ribbon and her outfit began to shift. For the first time, the others would get to see the outfit that Bhikki had decided was suitable for their host. Most of her clothes phased away, replaced by the very sheer babydoll that did more or less nothing to cover her breasts from eager eyes, while down below only a very small fig leaf served to protect the final bastion of modesty beneath the gauzy, transparent fabric. Uprising whistled loudly, two fingers of one hand between her lips. The reaction from the crowd as was a little confused, with many cheering, but just as many uncertain about whether this was appropriate, or whether it was meant to be quite that revealing. Given the colour tones, Bhikki could rest confident that, regardless of Zenny's extra height and increased bust size, the outfit had still looked sexier on her, in private.

Zennocracy herself looked down, and froze as a stricken looked smothered her features. Her shock lasted a good two or three seconds before she rapidly folded her arms up to cover her chest, staring about for whoever had played this terrible trick on her. unfortunately, she had no-one to turn to, since it was supposed to be an unexpected lottery in the first place, but after a moment of grit-toothed panic she made sure that she was standing face on to the crowd, to prevent saucy angles as best she could, and kept her hands over her breasts.

"This is more than I agreed to..." she ground out in quiet tones; it sounded like she was talking to a specific person, rather than addressing the crowd, but her voice still came through and carried. On stage, Grace had put a hand to her mouth, smothering a shocked giggle and Rhinsetone had mostly averted his eyes, after a brief look. Uprising had no sympathy at all and gleefully threw an arm about the business woman's shoulder.

"Hey, it's all for charity, after all? On with the show, right, Zenny?" Her laughter was somewhat infections and it spread to some elements of the crowd, cutting the tension, at least for most people who weren't Zennocracy herself. Their hostess kept her smile on by an obvious force of will, her cheeks growing increasingly bright while her eyes glared daggers at uprising. At last she nodded and tried to resume the ceremony, but now she was clearly struggling and her words faltered a few times. As she struggled on, ResQ and Exorcist both received a message, though it only revealed an error while trying to list the course.

Quote ()

"A fun evening all around, ladies. When you've had your fill of giggles and your done with the faire, I'll meet you where I left you, and we'll talk about your rewards."


Presumably, CrypticMan considered their work completed, as much as it was going to be, but they'd have to make their way back to the shady tree near where they'd first arrived to see how they went.

ResQ's amber glare continued to follow the group before they turned away and left, but it seemed they'd honor the deal and scram. It was slightly comical to see Exorcist, who (at least in ResQ's opinion) didn't look like one to even harm a fly, give her threat and following lecture on Un-ops. Regardless, it was good enough and the awards ceremony continued.

She nodded in response to Grace and Rhinestone, who felt they were no longer in any significant danger. "No problem, take care," she replied simply to their thanks, but had a modicum of genuineness behind her facade of polite sincerity. If there was a published caste system in the net, they'd be near the bottom, but so far hadn't given her any reason to believe they deserved being proverbially dealt that poor hand in life. Alex was watching quietly from the sidelines, then commented to ResQ as the two made their way to the stage. [[color=green]"We, the military I mean, sometimes hold events to support the unoperated, but after seeing this, I wonder if it's just for a nice PR headline..."[/color]] [[i]"Careful, Private Buzzcut, you're starting to think for yourself. Won't you get court-martialed for that?"[/i]] ResQ replied via their private line, not holding back on the derisive sarcasm. [[color=green]"How original,"[/color]] he quipped back.

ResQ would've met his challenge with even more cutting insults, but morbid curiosity took over as Zenny announced the outfit she'd wear. "Heh," she chuckled with a grin, briefly enjoying the feeling of schadenfreude from seeing the high-and-mighty Navi wearing essentially nothing in front of the entire crowd. Feeling pleased with herself, though she admittedly did nothing to influence the result, she resumed prodding her NetOp. [[i]"I know it's your first time seeing a woman in lingerie, but I can practically hear you staring."[/i]]

Alex gave a deep laugh, surprised by how 'innocent' his Navi assumed him to be. [You think you know me, huh? I had a girlfriend who got off on being collared and choked; lingerie is 'vanilla' by comparison,] he thought to himself, careful to not comment out loud. [[color=green]"I thought you were sticking to the military cliches, I was expecting a joke involving nudie mag cutouts on lockers or something."[/color]] ResQ's eyes narrowed slightly, her 'toy soldier' NetOp was being too comfortable in her 'game,' time to change things up.

Unfortunately a message from an unlabeled source derailed her train of thought, but after a brief read it appeared obvious the sender was their creepy employer. ResQ assumed Exorcist received a similar message, but sent her own just in case; CrypticMan made a gesture singling her out when they first met, so trying to draw her away for other shenanigans didn't seem to be outside of the Navi's "playbook."

Quote (ResQ)

I assume you got that message too? Not to be rude, but personally I'm partial to getting paid and getting on my way; preferably far away from our 'employer.'
If Exorcist agreed, she'd more or less lead the way back, using what little information she had of the areas layout to navigate back to their original meeting spot.
"Yes, everyone is special, and you should treat them that way!" Exorcist agreed with the criminals, perhaps not understanding the mockery in those words. "You're lucky it wasn't any bloodier or else you'd really be on the hook!" The scolding was stern, but based on a profound misunderstanding of several colloquialisms. Still, they'd given up and it seemed like the unoperated navis who they were supposed to be protecting were satisfied in their safety, so Exorcist considered it a job well done. She turned her attention back to the proceedings on stage, now that she had the freedom to do so. It was pretty clear, even early on, that they'd significantly upset the script for tonight. Given that a lot of that had come at their expense and had seemingly been engineered just to make the mansion's owner look good, she couldn't be particularly sympathetic about that.

While Exorcist wasn't the pranking type, Bhikkhuni and Mary both were, and they both had big smiles as they watched Zennocracy do her best to adapt to the changes in her program. While Bhikkhuni was awaiting the best still to come, Mary had a little break to speak to KenmoeteMan again, briefly. "Common ground? I hope so. I'm sure we'd think of something," she giggled. With her painted lips curled into a big smile and the context clues he'd likely picked up already, there was no way for him to interpret her intentions as those of a holy woman any more. So distracted was she by the lingering thought of what might hopefully come to be, providing she could find an excuse to go to Yoka Net, she nearly missed Zennocracy donning Bhikkhuni's mean-spirited gift. She was happy she'd seen it; so happy, in fact, that she turned to Bhikkhuni and shared a rare, genuine giggle with her SP ally, both of them on the same page for once. If Bhikkhuni thought about it harder, she'd probably wonder what Mary was laughing about in such a timely manner, given that Mary was blind... but the moment passed with her attentions elsewhere.

Exorcist covered her mouth and shook her head. "B-Bhikkhuni really got carried away with her prank," Exorcist murmured, thinking she'd have probably died right there on the stage if the same prank had been played on her.

"Yeah, that's true! Nya ha ha! You should have seen her wear it, though! That was a real laugh riot right there!" Burt guffawed.

His navi raised her eyebrows with a confused expression. "Bhikkhuni wore it?" she asked, tilting her head slightly. Her operator responded with a whistle of feigned innocence. Before she could pry into that further, she received a pair of messages, first one from an unnamed navi whom she assumed to be her employer, then secondly from ally. The first warranted no response, only action, but the second it was only polite to give an answer to:

Quote (Exorcist)

Sure thing, I'll get the rest of the girls and we'll all head back to the outskirts where we started. Hopefully, we did enough that we earned the payment. For that matter, hopefully, he intends to pay us at all... that'd make his track record 50/50...


She couldn't help but be a little pessimistic, given how sneaky their operator had been so far and given that deception seemed like it was not just par for the course for him, but rather, a genuine joy of his. Regardless, she figured they might as well try, so she moved through the crowd to gather up her suspiciously gossipy SPs and put them on the trail of ResQ, who was leading the way back to the area where they'd first met CrypticMan. "Well, ResQ, whether we get paid or not, we did the right thing: we couldn't ignore what was happening to those navis, whether we were set up or not. Well... You and I and Mary did the right thing, anyway," she attempted to encourage her ally, though ResQ probably didn't want to even entertain the possibility of not getting a reward this far into their adventure.

"Hey! I worked my butt off in there!" Bhikkhuni complained. "I almost got trapped into stealing some super treasure that probably had like a web of death lasers over it or something! You guys oughta be thanking me for being so wily." Exorcist smiled sympathetically; she still wasn't exactly sure how Bhikkhuni had helped. The expression on the navi's face just pissed the SP off more. "Bah! Well, hopefully, we still get some big money."

"This is for an SP base, remember?" Mary asked, leaning down and smiling. The two SPs hadn't stayed on the same page for long; Bhikkhuni gave the taller navi a whack on the head while she was still bent. "Oh my! Perhaps you should have been in the melee?" the nun giggled, not overly inconvenienced by the light blow. Together, the gaggle of girls would head back to where it all started and, hopefully, encounter the shadow-puppeteer behind all of the night's craziness once again.
While Zennocracy suffered through her ridiculous outfit, and many in the crowd tried to decide whether to laugh or be concerned, ResQ, Exorcist and her various allies found the chance to slip away from the crowd, leaving the companions they'd made and protected in the relative safety of numbers that the final stages of the faire provided. It wasn't hard to make their way back to the shady tree where they'd first met CrypticMan, though now, with the sky darkened overhead, and only scattered flickerings of torchlight to illuminate the setting, it felt significantly creepier than it had done the first time.

Nevertheless, when they approached the place, they found it devoid of other people, save for the singular figure standing beneath the tree, his features obscured by his hood and two of his arms folded across his chest. Many other long, tendril-limbs with dexterous hands arrayed him in the darkness, drifting passively as the multi-hued swirls of his eyes bored out from the concealing cowl.

"Welcome back, ladies. So. Did you have a fun party? Enjoy the faire? Was it... an experience to remember?" It was hard to tell which of them in particular the eyes were looking at, just from his posture and obscured features.

"You had a chance to learn a great many things today, and knowledge is power, after all... but if that isn't reward enough for the tasks I set you upon... Let's talk business. I'm sure you've got things to say and questions to ask, and in due time we will. First, however..." Now he leaned forward from his position, the odd, unsettling manner of his movement coming to the fore again; he head raced forward, as though to inspect them more closely, stretched on a neck that elongated to compensate for the sudden slide, before, after an extra second or two, the rest of his body was pulled forward as well, to realign itself underneath him correctly. This close they could see hints of his bluish skin tone, and the faint lines of glowing circuitry beneath, along with a broad, entertained grin.

"Zenny offered a special secret prize to whichever of her associates or their entourage won the game; she actually wanted to pay it out, as it would be a benefit to her, but alas, another rather rebellious upstart had her way with the game totals. Ever the fire-cracker, that Uprising. She and I don't get along, but she has her uses. In the end, almost none of her business partners had a direct hand in the game, but that was a rather difficult task. We'll leave those two check boxes blank for now.

"Zenny was so hoping to have someone try to steal her fancy prize as well... she was hoping to foil that attempt as well, but then it didn't happen. I wonder what went wrong..." The swirling coloured eyes darted to Bhikki and held for a few moments; the grin he was directing at her was almost certainly an amused and somewhat creepy leer, but he didn't make any words towards revealing the lady's secret. "Another box, I'll have to leave blank. Oh well. Still, you didn't damage anything in her home, so we can give you some credit for that. At least you swapped her outfit, and wasn't that bit of fun? I'm surprised you went as racy as you did, but perhaps I'm not as well." His head tilted and weaved slightly, looking to each of them with quick darts of his eyes. "Did you enjoy watching her squirm in the spotlight?" After a few moments, something about him grew more serious and less playful.

"More importantly. Three individuals have all met and bonded with each other in ways that they would not likely have done if not for the events that transpired this day. Certainly, they all came to the fire, a charity for their organisations, and others, but without all that occurred they would not have met and formed the budding personal-level friendships that they have now done. For the part you played in that, we give you a big tick. Conflict and danger, real or perceived, risks averted and the general populace none the wiser; all achieved. Well done." Two of his arms stretched up behind his head, as though he was relaxing now, with a slight lean back. Two others were still folded in front of him.

"What else did we achieve today, I wonder? What can I add to your lists..." His eyes travelled around the group. They drifted across Mary for a moment "Someone learned about heat and temerity," then to ResQ, "Someone saw reflections of past choices and helped in ways they didn't need to." Next his head turned, drifting past Bhikki for a brief moment. "Someone learned far more than they ever expected to this night, and good or bad that's worth a lot on its own..." eventually his gaze settled on Exorcist. "And someone might even have had an unexpected epiphany." His eyes swirled suddenly faster, the rainbow kaleidoscope of colours dancing. "Alas, no-one at all tried any of the lemon tarts, and that truly is a shame and a travesty. Ah well." He paused seeming to think for a moment.

"What was it to be then... support bases for you each? Hmm..." A few long seconds passed, before his hood nodded once. "I think you've done a good enough job for that. Very well. Before I pay you, though... an extra gift... Do you have any questions for me?" There was something about the tone of his voice; anyone watching would be forgiven for believing that, in this particular navi's case, he genuinely did seem to value the sharing of information and answers as a very valuable reward in its own right.

ResQ read her ally's reply, and brought up an alarming possible outcome. If she was in CrypticMan's shoes and felt vindictive enough, simply logging out right as they were supposed to get paid would be the "cherry on top" of the whole shifty sabotage plan. She had nothing other than a name, and knew that wasn't even close to enough to track someone down if they left you out to dry. They would be left without payment, nor any way to get back at their "employer."

As Exorcist attempted to reassure ResQ, she probably would've noticed her uniformed ally's lips were pressed slightly more tightly together, and the right side of her nose and under her eye twitched slightly, as if hiding a scowl. Most of Exorcist's words were drowned out by the growing tirade in ResQ's mind; if Exorcist could hear her thoughts, she might commend ResQ for how well she was physically masking her current feelings. [[i]Oooh if that rat bastard ghosts on us... I... I'm going to make Buzzcut's life a living hell. Mark my words: Living. Hell.[/i]]
She managed to get back to reality as Exorcist said "Well... You and I and Mary did the right thing, anyway," and responded with a nod and a simple "Agreed," followed by a quiet sigh.

ResQ kept up with the rest of the girls as they made their way back to their starting point. At the time, Alex was considering what options they'd have if CrypticMan didn't pay them; it didn't look like they accomplished all of their objectives, so he wasn't sure if they had a leg to stand on if the SP base was denied to them for that reason, and couldn't think of any way to track CrypticMan down if he bolts without "paying the bill." Resigning to the uncomfortable fact that they'd just have to wait and see, he focused back on his Navi and her allies, noting how amusingly odd they looked as a group, while not looking too out of place in this setting.

ResQ spotted the figure beneath the tree, and felt a mixture of relief that he didn't ditch them, and feelings of discomfort at the thought of continued interaction with the Navi. She stood a few feet away and her left hand on her hip as CrypticMan addressed them, and did her best not to recoil as he closed the distance in a notably unsettling manner. Her posture didn't change as CrypticMan made his assessment of the mission, but as he went through the first three check boxes and left each one blank, the mental pressure mounted and her mood continued to sour. She'd been in these situations before in her past life, and nearly every time it resulted in something bad, sometimes involving a gunfight.

However, the tone notably changed and the last few objectives were deemed to be met, especially the one ResQ herself had direct involvement. The "extra" accomplishments varied from vaguely profound to creepy, no surprises there. ResQ's amber gaze remained cold and collected, but a mental weight lifted from her shoulders as CrypticMan announced their efforts were enough to get their desired rewards. Alex finally leaned back, after having sat at the literal edge of his seat throughout the Navi's monologue. [[color=green]Whew, I wouldn't hear the end of it from ResQ if we didn't get paid...[/color]] he thought to himself.

ResQ bit her tongue to resist asking if the whole 'haughty creeper schtick' is just his nature, or if he 'gets off' on making people uncomfortable. She was equally resistant to believing CrypticMan's offer for legitimate information was truthful. That said, there wasn't much to lose. "So other than setting up elaborate pranks on acquaintances, what's your trade?" she asked, keeping her sarcasm to as polite a level as she could. She didn't expect a straight answer, but maybe just enough to figure out how connected this Navi is, because she'd rather not inadvertently bump into him again.
Exorcist could feel a bit of the heat bubbling just under the surface of her partner's stony gaze; it was clear she wasn't happy at all about the prospect that the check for the day's endeavor might bounce. She pressed her hands together below her cheek and tilted her head slightly, giving a smile that looked more sympathetic than reassuring, with her eyebrows turned up in that mild way they often were. "S-Sometimes, doing the right thing is its own reward anyway! What's one little mission reward compared to the fulfillment of doing the right thing, hm? H-Heaven on earth! Eh heh heh..." she attempted to cheer her ally up, though it would likely have the opposite effect.

They'd get their answer soon enough: CrypticMan was waiting where he said they'd be and eager to talk. "I'm afraid none of us got to do much partying," Exorcist admitted, though it was likely he knew exactly what they were up to and the question was merely an attempt at being pleasant... or perhaps it was just the opposite intention, considering any answer she gave he'd likely already expect. She pulled back slightly as he rushed forward, deciding she ddn't really trust him to be personable in any fashion. Her mood didn't improve as it seemed that they'd probably gotten a failing grade, if Burt's grading of tests he administered was any indication. It was truly bizarre to hear the lemon tarts come up again in any capacity; she was amazed he was still thinking about them with everything else he had to talk about. Thankfully, once it was all over, he agreed to his original payment plans. Exorcist gave a long sigh of relief from deep inside her chest; she'd been worrying that ResQ was going to bring out her robot again if things didn't go right here.

At this point, Exorcist was mostly feeling relief, enough to really drown out her natural curiosity. Mary wasn't actually the curious type in general, except on certain very particular matters. Bhikkhuni wasn't typically curious, but she was one thing: cantankerous, and the questioning period would give her the opportunity to lash out at some perceived injustices. "Yeah, I got a couple questions!" she spoke up after ResQ, building one big block of aggressive questions he'd have to answer. "If I'd fulfilled that little checkbox for swiping Zenny's centerpiece, I'd probably be sneaking out with my tail between my legs, best case, wouldn't I? You set me up! There was no way to steal that thing for an admittedly novice thief like me! I was gonna go in there, get caught, and I'd be a nice would-be thief for Zenny to tote in front of all of her high society, huh?" she asked, stamping her feet; if she had her shakujo out, she'd probably be making enough noise to draw attention to their secluded spot. "And how much did you watch, anyway? You perv!"

"O-Oh, um, I don't think he's necessarily a pervert for watching us! I was only acting a character to catch the kidnappers off my guard, I wasn't really trying to do anything sexual with the matron," Exorcist defended, waving her hands nervously to deflect the suspicion against her that nobody really had until she started talking. "It's okay if he watched since nothing really happened! I wasn't actually auditioning, that was just a misunderstanding!"

Mary gave a smile that seemed a little colder than her usual, resting one cheek on her fist. "Hmmmmm? It sounds like you two both had a lot of fun without me," she spoke quietly.

"Whatever! Anyway, did you try to set me up, you blue bum?!" Bhikkhuni asked again, pointing towards CrypticMan's eerie blue head.
After his slightly too close for comfort inspection of each of them, CrypticMan drew away again, in asimilar manner to before; his focus shifted, followed by the quick slide of his hands and head back to his original place beneath the tree, with the rest of his body flowing back and reorienting itself after a few seconds. The hooded cowl nodded as it looked back and forth over each of them.

"To the point, I see. Since you ask and since I did promise to tell, my trade, as it were, is in information, my redesignated darling. Knowledge is power, after all; information is the most potent commodity anyone can ever wield against another. Passing the right information to the right person, or withholding the right titbits at the right time, can let you achieve any end... especially when that end is the pursuit of more knowledge." ResQ, and probably the others as well, could practically feel the grin on his words, even if his face was obscured by the cowl. Amidst the swirling multicoloured patterns in his eyes, small lines of green code raced up the insides of his gaze and he chuckled. The hood turned, and then darted across and down slightly to come face to face with Bhikki; when the body followed a moment later, it slipped into a stooping position to accommodate the change in height.

"And a big part of learning, is of course, observing; observing thieves who go to steal prizes, and end up giving away presents to others instead, for example. An evening well spent?" One eye winked at her, close enough that few others would be likely to see. At that point, however, two of his sets of hands returned to a point roughly in front of all of them and began fiddling with small data constructs, pulling them together and shaping them rapidly. Two more sets of hands joined, then two more, and after a moment the rest of the strange navi's body flowed back into alignment with them. He continued to talk in a louder, more conversational tone, still mostly looking at Bhikki but occasionally glancing to the others while he worked.

"For the rest... I mentioned that Zenny was expecting someone to try to steal her centrepiece award. One task you had was to live up to her expectations on that score, and try to steal it." His voice emphasises the word 'try' in the sentence. "Success was not relevant or necessary. Just that the attempt be made. You most certainly would have been captured and possibly made a demonstration of. It would have given Zenny the perfectly public excuse, with a thousand witnesses, to do one or two other things she wished to as well. Of course she'd assure interested parties that due punishment had been meted out. As it was, you failed that little objective, but don't worry; I'm satisfied that you made up the extra credit in other ways." His hands completed whatever work they had been doing and now held two small, slightly ovular packets of complex code that hummed slight when he held them out to each of Exorcist and ResQ; the holding out part was more a case of each hand extending on its long, tentacle-like appendage to drifting in front of each of them with the packages, while CrypticMan himself didn't move.

"There you go. Two support base platforms, ready to go. Enjoy, ladies." He looked them each over once more, then nodded. "I think that about wraps up the party for tonight. I'd say you're free to go. It's been a pleasure watching you tonight, and I hope you all had fun." He laughed again, but in the few moments where they each might be deciding what to do or heading about their dismissal, ResQ would notice, and feel, one tendril-like arm snake out to drape itself around her shoulder suddenly. The navi's head appeared alongside hers on the other side, and the rest of the creep's body followed after a delay. The hand was holding a small green crystal in front of her face.

"Here's an extra little present from me, just to get you started. High quality. Very potent. Don't let soldier-boy know." The hand passed the crystal across to another hand, which in turn dropped to tuck it very firmly into hers, before the navi's presence withdrew just as suddenly. The most peculiar thing about the exchange was that, while it had only taken a couple of seconds, none of the other women present appeared to have noticed it. From the perspectives of Exorcist and the other conterinfectualists, CrypticMan had simply settled back agaisnt the tree after waving them all off.

((Exorcists receives a new Support Base))
((ResQ receives a new support Base, and a 50 BugFrag gift with no explanation))

[[i]Info broker. No surprises there...[/i]] ResQ concluded in response to CrypticMan's answer. If she hadn't already guessed he knew about her past life, she would've been much more alarmed at the "redesignated" comment; instead she focused on the "darling" comment, and reacted with muted contempt. "Hm," was all she replied with, having elected to keep her derisive thoughts from becoming vocal, and continued to listen to CrypticMan's answers to her allies' questions.

When CrypticMan finally produced their payment, ResQ tried to carefully retrieve the ovoid data packet without touching CrypticMan's "hand." She already had theories as to what it would feel like, and really, really did not want to test said theories. "Thank you," she replied politely without really answering CrypticMan's question before turning away, then stopped dead in her tracks as she felt the dreadful Navi's tentacle settle on her shoulder. This time she couldn't help but have a scowl flash across her face for the moment it took her to regain her composure. Once she saw CrypticMan's head appear in her peripheral vision, her eyes snapped to the side to give him cold glare, making the glowing crystal now appear only in her peripheral.

She was initially more focused on wishing her gaze would bore through the Navi like a plasma torch; by the time she figured a response that didn't involve expletives, CrypticMan had already backed off. She pushed the crystal up into her coat sleeve with the tips of her fingers, then her hand and lower arm twitched slightly out of disgust from the Navi's alien, slightly clammy touch. Thankfully it didn't seem his hands were slimy, otherwise he'd be ripe for a ripping for dirtying a woman's outfit, even if it was just a military-issued "monkey suit."

No one else said a word about the exchange, not even "soldier-boy" Alex... Her gaze narrowed again. [[i]Did he just... that snake...[/i]] she theorized, then mentally concluded he pulled some mind trickery, just like the goons' employer did to them. She'd never met anyone who could do that before, and if she wasn't an unwitting assistant in his "magic routine," she might've been in awe or jealous of such advanced and difficult data tampering. Regardless, she determined that he was now one of the most dangerous Navis she'd encountered thus far, and fell back into old survival habits. She initially considered the "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" strategy, but she also had a sneaking suspicion he could make her disappear with little effort if she crossed him or ran out of usefulness. That and he's a creeper of the highest order. She finally concluded: though she would love nothing more than to make this their first and last ever encounter, the chances of their paths crossing again are disappointingly not low enough for her liking.

She did her best to shake off the uncomfortable exchange and even less comfortable thoughts, and instead shifted to her allies. She lifted the ovoid SP base in her hand as she spoke. "Looks like we got what we came for. It was nice working with you, enjoy your new SP," she said in a polite-but-aloof way, and expected Alex to take the hint and log her out. A couple seconds later, she made him aware of his cue. [[i]"That means I want to leave, idiot."[/i]] Alex resisted the urge to just ignore her and let her stew in her own awkward silence, and pressed the Jack-Out button on the PET, which caused ResQ and the SP base to warp up and out of the network in a beam of light.

((Logged Out))
The fact that CrypticMan knew more about Exorcist's ally than Exorcist herself did after making her way through combat fighting alongside her was a frustrating thought for Exorcist; it was not lost on her how little she still knew about either of the two of them. Perhaps there'd be a chance to correct both accounts somewhere down the line, but for now, she assumed if she didn't jack herself out soon, her operator was going to do it for her. He was always pretty eager to fill the spot when he got a new SP base, and, amazingly, there always seemed to be someone to answer the call to join Counterinfectualism... she wondered if that was a strike against other organized religions they seemed to be pulling members from or a boon for the legitimacy of their religion.

Bhikkhuni found herself wishing she hadn't asked CrypticMan anything as the cloaked creep stooped to speak to her. "S-Sure, it was well spent! I already said that I'm not ashamed that I didn't fall into your stupid trap, Crypto-breath!" she snapped in response, trying to twist his words so that the others wouldn't pick up on exactly how she spent her evening. The small girl kept uncharacteristically quiet past that, not wanting to dig herself any further into her hole, given that Mary seemed to be able to sniff out that she'd done more than she'd actually disclosed while sneaking into Zenny's treasure chamber.

Without the carefulness that ResQ had shown, Exorcist accepted the package, more of a sign of her naivety and generally trusting nature than her comfort level with CrypticMan's tentacles. She wasn't just naive, she was also under the effects of some sort of illusion, and would speak briefly to Burt to send the package over, unaware of any additional interaction between ResQ and CrypticMan. "Well, thank you again for the opportunity, CrypticMan. I think we'll be going now," she finished, giving a small bow with her hands together at her lap. She turned to give ResQ another like gesture. "thank you for your cooperation too, ResQ. Without your help, protecting all of those navis would have been a much more harrowing demand."

"I hope we'll have a time to meet you out of uniform some time," Mary added with a smile, although... if ResQ attended a party in her uniform, one might wonder if there was ever a situation where she would appear out of it.

"Us short girls gottastick together," Bhikkhuni pitched in, trying to be friendly, but in reality, ResQ was a little closer to Exorcist's height than her own, probably.

"If you have an epiphany and decide you want to join up with Counterinfectualism, just search for 'Counterinfectualism' on the BBS' or whatever and I'm sure we'll be the only thing that pops up," Burt added, a remarkably poor ad-man considering how good of one he would need to be to pitch this religion to people. "Now, let's find a new friend, girls!" he finished, jacking the group out of the net after ResQ.

((Jacking out))
((FXP totals may be taken or discarded as desired:

ResQ GET: Veda (2), Exorcist (19), CrypticMan (4), Zennocracy (2), Uprising (3), Rhinestone (11), SaijaTsun (7), CascadingGrace (3), MadamaSanguine (1), KenmoeteMan (3), Fuukouhan (1)

Exorcist GET: Veda (3), ResQ (19), CrypticMan (3), Zennocracy (1), Uprising (8), Hoodwink (9), CascadingGrace (6), MadamaSanguine (9), KenmoeteMan (8), Fuukouhan (5), DueAccountabilityMan (2), Mordenite (2)

Veda GET: Exorcist (3), ResQ (2), CrypticMan (1)

No-one found any MyofibrilMan FXP at all. This can be considered a net gain for all involved.))