navi / hacker

God, she’s going to be in so much trouble after this, isn’t she? She’s so fucking screwed. And Futaba can’t really blame anyone but her own hubris here— logically speaking, a person who can hardly swim should not hang around an underwater city, safe or not. Well, this just goes to show that she really shouldn’t trust what they say around here...okay, not that she really did to begin with, but that’s just common sense!

Murmured apology to Prometheus, she’d summoned her persona to get a better reading on her surroundings— on the bright side, since she’d hardly gone out in the water, she at least had a mostly full water bottle to her advantage. However, that still leaves her in quite a pickle: she’s no fighter, persona isn’t really made to fight ( or at least, she’s never tried to apply him in that way ); so her current plan really just consists of trying to sneak around. Keyword is trying— it’s not even like, a cool enemy that’s currently giving her a hard time, it’s just some eel that’s trying to batter at his defensives. She’s trying to keep quiet on the off chance she might attract extra attention otherwise, but a startled yelp did manage to escape her the first time the battering sent her a bit off-kilter. And like, in theory, she could fight it, but what if it’s like a never-ending spawn enemy like in a game? She doesn’t want to get stuck fighting eels! It’s kinda pathetic, and if that’s not bad enough, she’s noticed a pretty strong energy spike pop up on her radar; steels herself for whatever else might be coming her way and comes face to face with... Oh good. This is just peachy. Nothing like being caught losing a fight to an eel. Seriously, why him, why now—

He didn’t expect to meet another hacker just like that. Most people he met in this place so far, didn’t even have the knowledge about what a smartphone was. So a meeting like that really felt quite refreshing to him. Even if she was a kid, and no matter how much she would deny this part, to him she always would be one- but he must admit that the way she talked, she did seem very experienced in what she was doing as well. He better shouldn’t take her lightly!

“Very well, It’s a deal then, miss Futaba. Ah, I probably should introduce myself as well now, huh? The name’s Sou Hiyori…” No, he won’t share his age and favorite food like she just did! It was time to move to business now. 

He waited for Futaba until she paid for the item they did fight for just a moment ago, and when she came back, he already suggested an idea.  “How about we grab a bite to talk about this? It’ll be my treat too, since you’re a kid. Ah, err… nothing as expensive as sushi though. I don’t have that much money to spend…” Also, his stomach couldn’t handle fish, but that was a story for another day… 

“Do you like ramen…?” Soup was easy to digest, and easy to pay for two people too. Also a restaurant would give them a safer space than talk about stuff like that, compared to the store they were inside of in this moment.

For as bad as first impressions might be, it’s a little easier to open up when a commonality has been reached...and the fact that he’s taking her seriously helps— her ego, that is. Given that usually, her identity has to be concealed for people to take her as you know, a hacker, which is probably for the best given what that entails. Not everyone believes in a sixteen year old girl. Futaba can ignore the fact that she’s still probably just a kid to him as long as he doesn’t treat her like one all the time ( which really, is fair enough, it’s not like her own team isn’t guilty of that much at times either ). Besides, she can prove that she’s a little more than just a kid easily enough. Well, as soon as she’s got a little more of her setup rebuilt: code like that isn’t built in a day, not without flaws.

Name of stranger isn’t entirely necessary, given that she was kind of just trying to get a little rise out of Sou; but she supposes if this is to become anything than a one time occurrence, it’d probably be useful to have that knowledge— although not averse to it, it’d be kinda awkward to just call him beanie guy or something. And if she ever needs to carry out that threat, she supposes it’d be useful to have a name to go off of. Presuming she can get into the government documents here. Regardless, introduction is acknowledged with a small nod, still preening over her victory. “Pleasure doing business with you.”

( Of course, now that means she has to pay for it and...ough, people. She’d momentarily forgotten about the part of shopping that requires her to somewhat interact with people. Still, she’s the one who fought for it, so she’d better face the reality of her choices and accept that she’s got work to do, even if that’s a reluctant drag of her feet to move towards the check out counter— she can’t ask someone she hardly knows to accompany her over that, she’d really seem like a child then! )

The research centre that the psychologist had found his way to in search of key information and perhaps - paperwork like that he knew the lay of at home to wrap his head further around the kidnapping, find clues to a way back home - well, it certainly would have even put even his office to shame in just how much seemed to be packed in it’s small space. Most of the paperwork was shredded and in pieces, in too much damage to even try to put together - but some was perhaps, fixable! Yes, yes - that fit together there, and the other there: he grinned vivaciously to himself, but - couldn’t get carried away and start laughing now. This place really didn’t seem safe to linger, anything could jump out at you at any time! …WAIT WHO WAS THAT?! “WAAAAUUGH!!”

He jumped, not having expected or seen the stranger come close to him, gripping for his yo-yo on instinct - wait, it….wasn’t a monster. It was a person. …Calm down, Sylvester. “P-please give a person warning before you sneak up on them like that….but yes, I do believe these are very important pieces of information. They seem to have…a picture of the island itself, but earlier…like an earlier ‘stage’ of it? I haven’t pieced all the bits that have writing together yet…if you could help, we’d have it done faster.”

Noticible flinch when other yells; girl curls in on herself, cannot help that much ( expression must be something disgruntled, or— ). A moment of silence, shakily so, focuses on fiddling with glasses while recovering from her scare. “Shhhh, someone could hear you!” Not so much a someone, but some unwanted attention here: and okay maybe shes a little at fault here, but it’s not like she was trying to sneak up on him! She just, didn’t want to attract any unnecessary attention, which seems reasonable here, all things considered.

     If anything, Akira is curious.

     It’s like the island from before, from when he was first here, where everything began in a sense. So more than likely, there’s some answers that are bound to be found here. And he’s not about to let the chance for answers slip away from him. He needs them, for his own sake, and everyone else’s as well.

     So that’s what leads him to running through the research center, phantom thief attire and all, a feeling of deja vu falling over him. He probably doesn’t need this but honestly he feels more comfortable like this, and that Arsene is by his side if he needs him. Better safe than sorry after all.

     He stops only to catch his breath, and to calm himself down a bit. He doesn’t need to rush but at the same time he feels like he needs to. That something is going to go wrong if he doesn’t. That it’ll be like before with the island. He doesn’t know why he feels like that, but he does for whatever reason.

     …Or maybe it’s because things will go wrong, but not for the reasons he thinks.

     He looks around from where he stands only for grey eyes to widen behind his mask at what he sees. Why is Futaba here, he can only think, considering what her abilities are as a thief. Akira doesn’t know what to do, especially considering his appearance, but he can’t just run from her so…

     So the only thing he can do is sigh, look at her and bite the bullet. “Futaba? Why are you here…?” She’ll probably have a lot of questions for him but honestly, it would’ve happened sooner or later he thinks.

She doesn’t notice him at first.

It’s not like this is the oddest, most creepiest place she’s seen; though it takes a pretty strong effort to not freak out too much, but she reckons it can’t be as bad as whatever else is out there...right? It’s a little dark, given the state of this place, but not horrible— she knows she could summon Prometheus and get a better read of this place, but she thinks it might be better to take her chances and save him for more desperate times. Slight shudder runs down her spine as she observes surroundings; she can’t help but huff and grumble irritations...why does everything seem to be paperwork around here? She just wants to be able to do things the easy way and hack to find the stuff she needs to know about. Then again, maybe it’s for the best, an ominously glowing screen might add to the awful vibes in this place.

It is perhaps a belated realization, but: part of the prickling feeling comes from the realization that she’s being watched, and when voice resounds, head snaps up to stare down—

“Joker?” Of course she recognizes him, of course— as if Futaba would ever not recognize Phantom Thieves’ leader. After all, he’s...what? What else would he be...? Expression seems a little torn, like...she’s not sure if she should get her hopes up, even if, despite herself ( and the situation ), she’s relieved to see a warmly familiar face.

Poking around this place...kinda gives her the creeps, if she’s to be honest. Sure, she’s arguably seen much more creepy things, and it isn’t like she doesn’t like a good horror game on occasion, but...this isn’t a game. This is real life, and presumably, not all that far away from their living conditions as Futaba might like to imagine it is. Or maybe it’s the fact that, asides from the fact people clearly hadn’t been here for a while, it appears fairly ordinary. Maybe it’s all the paperwork that reminds her of...?

Best not to linger on that thought too long.

A shell research lab, hm? An area that doesn’t particularly hold an interest to her ( what kind of name was conchology? Sounds fake, especially compared to some fancy science names ), though she admittedly can’t help but peek her head into what is probably the closest she can get to exploring their surroundings without leaving the ‘safety’ of the city. Studying the shells seems kind of boring ( and redundant ), but of course, if they’re dedicating an entire lab into it, there has to be something about it, right? She can’t guess what secrets they must be hiding, but once she’s focused in on something, there’s little deterring her.

Especially with the temptation of restricted areas. Sure, they might be just, staff only zones or something like that, but it can’t hurt to try and take a peek, right? Right. Analysis doesn’t detect anything ( unfortunately ), but then again, that might also be, in part, due to the fact she’s not actually paying too much attention. Voice that stops her is, surprisingly, not one of the staff— though she’s been taking care to sneak and avoid being caught— but some other citizen, instead. No fun!

Oh, wow, wow! Wow! A library!

Zagiha was pleased as punch, which was rare. But he never passed up the opportunity to slink back to his natural habitat and bury himself in research, drinking in obscure factoids and theoretical concepts that sounded neat on paper but had little applicability to real life. 

Learning was so fun!

Zagiha waltzed around the Saturninity Codex, picking out any book that piqued his interest (particularly on underwater law, which was a thing, and that delighted him). Skimming another title that looked neat, he reached for the book… grabbing it at the same time as somebody else.

His mood returned to curdled milk, and he scowled at the girl beside him. “Don’t interfere with my research time, woman,” he snapped.

A library! It’s usually far from her first stop in a new place, but given that she’d like to stay as far away from the water’s edge and the fact that she gets the feeling that the technology here isn’t perhaps one she can tap into, if she wants to get any sense for the kind of place this is, she might have to settle for some books. It’d be nicer if she had an idea of what to look for or...where to look for it, given how seemingly huge this place is, but she has to start somewhere. It looks like they’ll be stuck underwater for a while, anyways, so she’s not in any particular rush, per say, though not particularly fond of sticking it out any longer than she needs to, but, well ( sacrifices have to be made sometimes, right? She’s not going to be useful if she’s got no knowledge, that’s how it goes )

Since she has no idea of where to start, picking one place and going from there would be good— skipping things like the sciences of this place seem acceptable for now, if only because that doesn’t seem like an immediate concern. No, if past experience have taught her anything, things like how this place runs, the laws and systems of this city would be keen info to know...if at least for her own sake. Even if she thinks that might be a little moot, but it’s no tlike she can hack into government systems here if she gets into trouble ( probably ). Hand reaches for a book that seems interesting, when—

“How unusual, so you’re actually familiar with hacking?” This was the first time he met another hacker, and she was a girl too. On top of that, also a kid. He didn’t know her exact age, but it still was impressive nonetheless that she already knew about stuff like this. “Ah-aha, paying double for it? Spending your whole allowance at once? Don’t make your parents mad!”

Though Sou was no fool. Even if he preferred working all on his own, maybe ‘befriending’ another hacker would actually end up benefiting him in some way or another. You couldn’t be too cautious in a situation like this after all, right? That’s why, he decided to stop teasing her for now and handed stepped aside.

“Alright, you can have it, under one condition though. How about you tell me more about yourself? Don’t get the wrong idea, I’m not interested in stuff like your favorite color or cartoon, I simply am curious about how a child like you already is interested in that kind of stuff. A talk from hacker to hacker, how about it?”

“Well, yeah, kind of why I need that.” Well, it’s less of a need and more of a want, but, same difference, really, at least as far as this situation goes. Still, if there’s a hint of incredulousness to it, she takes it in stride; far be this the first or last time the fact that she’s a hacker be a surprise to people ( she kind of relishes in it, honestly ). “As if. I’m not that much of a kid, so don’t treat me like one!” A huff— if she acts irritated, Futaba can ignore the ache that the mention of parents brings her. It’ll do her no good to lose face in front of him.

Of course, she can put together two and two on why someone like him would be after the same item she is; she maintains that it doesn’t seem suited for a loser like him, but— “Huh? Really?” Haha, score! She feels like she should get some bonus exp for succeeding like this: then again, flash drive is a pretty good reward in itself. But a price that isn’t monetary...well, that’s fine. “If those are your terms, fine. After all, a fellow hacker should understand the risk of betraying each other’s trust, right?” Even if she’s got limited resources at the moment, the threat is still there.

The ignorance of innocence. Her age more than ever shows now, if even her inexperience she had with these kind of things if that was her followed logic. Shifting slightly back, taller figure would glance down as he gives her a questioning look. As if maybe, she should consider over words once more and try again. 

At this point, it was more a question of how much he should ask. “You do know you could return it after, right?” If she got the wrong one, that is. But, if she insists on this point he’ll give a few more ideas. Come this time, he just wanted to see this issue through. “Aren’t there little ratings here?” A point to look closer, and maybe notice details. “While I can’t say they’re entirely truthful, isn’t it important to listen to others?”

One might say that she’s a little spoiled, almost, used to not having to worry about things like budgeting her own money— or just particularly stubborn on sticking to certain things almost unreasonably. Almost. Well, to her, at least; though the questioning look that she gets receives an aversion of her gaze in turn, arms crossed as she closes up almost uncomfortably.

“he’s nice, sure, but don’t say i didn’t warn you.” is keith final thought on the whole thing. perhaps harsh to some, all things considered, but he’s not one to dole out warnings more than once—a stemming from a dislike of repeating himself. though he doubts kosmo would bite at anyone that shows affection instead of violence. keith just doesn’t like to definitely say either way since kosmo is barely even considered a pet for he actually does listen to most commands. he keeps a close eye on the interaction regardless though makes no move to intervene since both parties seem to be enjoying themselves. “his name is kosmo. in case you wanted to know.”

He would’ve worried over you in this situation, warned you like this too, right? A sarcastic remark lingers on her tongue out of habit, bitten back at the last moment— a certain casualness she shouldn’t regard a stranger with, for her own sake. “Right, warned!” Is what she chooses to respond with instead, as if analyst wouldn’t notice if there was a change in demeanor! Well, okay, she’s not perfect and certainly not infallible, but that’s beside the point. She’ll be careful, jeez mom.

( And okay, maybe some part of it is the fact that she knows that she’s being watched means that, despite feeling a bit self-conscious, she can act with some ease )

She didn’t like being out of the apartment any more than necessary, but she supposes if she’s going to make a begrudging compromise, she’ll at least pick a place where it was common courtesy to keep to oneself and keep noises to a minimum. She doesn’t have quite as much as she usually does to occupy her attention, nor does she have Sojiro’s sympathy ( and wallet ) to enable her into buying things on whim. Sure, a hacker like her definitely knows where to find just about anything online, but there’s something about having it physically in her hands that made it hard for her to find herself satisfied with having things digitally, for once.

Reading wasn’t a habit she took up often, if only because sometimes it got so boring and sometimes hard to hold her attention, and besides— when you can remember every little detail, there’s only so much joy rereading ( reexperiencing things in general ) can bring you. Sure, her choice in reading might be a little childish, arguably, but she doesn’t really care about things like that ( maybe ).

      “Excuse me, tiny human!” It’s ironic that she of all trolls should call anyone else ‘tiny’ but given that she means ‘years’ and not ‘height’ she deems it perfectly acceptable. Though her God Tier is currently gone (and with it her wings) she’s still more than perfectly capable of using her psionics to float around as she pleases. Dropping from her previous perch on a tree’s highest branches, she stops somewhat lopsidedly a few feet above the ground, waving enthusiastically. “Hi! I am sorry to interrupt your very hurried journey but! I have been trying very hard to attempt to ascertain our location with relation to… uhhh…” A pause, eyes casting upward as she remembers the continent–           “North America? I think that is the one.” This wasn’t the other Earth, that was for certain; too few Carapaces. So she had to assume that by some machination of the universe she was somehow back on the ‘Original’ Earth. Or a close enough approximation. “If you know, that is.” 

Hungry— she’s going to be starving if she doesn’t buy more food soon. And by food, she means, snacks and instant ramen, of course. All right, starving might be a bit of an exaggeration, but it’s her super important quest for the day, so she’s eager to get it done and over with so she can go back home. Voice from somewhere above goes ignored by her: tiny? That must probably mean a child, right? Right. Nothing to do with her, or so she thinks until, er, person drops down before her ( okay, person might be a bit of stretch here, but she really doesn’t have a better term, so... ); hesitantly taking a step backwards, eying other suspiciously. Is this the standard for normal around here? Maybe this is supposed to be a sign that she really needs to get out of the house more...