Holly opened the door to her modestly-sized room, and tossed her plain blackpack, which bounced once before resting on her tastefully striped bedspread. Across from her traditional style bed sat her desk, outfitted with a slim wall-mounted multipurpose monitor and a modern cpu stack on the floor. Next to the computer's keyboard sat a default blue-colored PET; it's screen lit up at the sound of Holly closing the door behind her. She paused, trying to be as quiet as possible as she glanced back at the door, listening to see if anyone else was nearby. Knowing her parents were downstairs and with no sounds indicating them moving up, she continued to her desk.

As she sat down, a NormalNavi stood and watched her from the PET. ["Hello, Miss Dale! How was school?"] it asked in a slightly robotic tone. "Nothing worth noting. What do you have for me?" Taking her verbal cue she was referring to business, the NormalNavi's frame fragmented and twisted into HangMan's normal, sharp-dressed form. His voice also changed, adopting a much more pleasing, suave southern drawl. [[i]"The restaurant job has been done, I just confirmed payment."[/i]] "Good, and the other client?" Holly responded, her eyes narrowed. HangMan tilted his head slightly to the side as he explained, [[i]"Well, it seems our client's conscience has gotten biggah than his wallet. Howevah, I'll let him twist in the wind for a spell so he can get his priorities in ordah..."[/i]] Holly stood up from her chair, visibly displeased. She turned back for a moment, then glared down at the PET. "He has till 8AM tomorrow. If he doesn't pay, bury him. He will NOT waste my time," she said with no lack of venom in her voice. HangMan mouth twisted to a toothy grin, his lit cigar stuck out almost horizontally from the side from his mouth. [[i]"Of course, Miss Dale. I'll send out his 'black spot,' as it were."[/i]]

She moved back to her backpack on the bed, and started to pull textbooks out and place them on the shelf nearby, when HangMan chimed up from the PET. [[i]"Have any plans foah the weekend, Miss Dale?"[/i]] Normally Holly would've shut down the Navi for idle chit chat while he could be busy working and earning more money for her account, but after the years she came to understand HangMan was as dedicated to the job as she was; he was already done with the message and all other tasks for the day. "Hm, maybe a movie, dunno. I also have a college application to work on." [[i]"I see, maybe when you have some free time, we can head out to the net to try out them new battlechips of ours."[/i]] Holly listened as she put the last textbook away, and mulled it over for a second or so as she made her way back to the desk. "Alright, could help me unwind a bit to watch you snuff out some programs." HangMan's grin grew wider, and a low, rumbling chuckle echoed seemingly from his core. [[i]"Heheheh, that's what I like to heah. At your leisure, Miss Dale."[/i]]

Holly popped out the PET's jack terminal and spooled out a few inches of wire before she plugged it into her CPU, then initiated its log-in command. One of the earlier payments from her jobs included some freelance design work, which not only helped in HangMan's current intimidating design, but also a custom log in-out animation. Instead of a standard beam, HangMan seemed to melt into shadow, like a stream of spilt ink shooting up and out of sight.

((Logged In))