mendanddefend_archive: (Default)
Bob, Guardian 452 of System Mainframe ([personal profile] mendanddefend_archive) wrote2008-12-04 03:54 pm

(no subject)

It's been a relatively calm cycle. No Games, only one Tear, and--miracle of miracles--Dot actually has all her paperwork done before supper. Both she and Bob have a chance to just relax and put their feet up for the evening.

[where's that ominous music coming from?]
command_dot_com: (calm)

[personal profile] command_dot_com 2008-12-05 02:18 am (UTC)(link)
[Probably the same place that mad laughter is coming from]

Both feet are up on the couch, and Dot is resting, only resting her head on Bob's shoulder as the vid-window plays the evening SIT-COMs.

All is calm and right with the Net. There's even COCOA warming up on the stove slowly, no real hurry for it.
Edited 2008-12-05 02:19 (UTC)
command_dot_com: (worry)

[personal profile] command_dot_com 2008-12-05 02:31 am (UTC)(link)
When you're lying on someone for comfort, you tend to notice right away when they tense up.

"Bob? What is it?"
command_dot_com: (uh oh)

[personal profile] command_dot_com 2008-12-05 02:40 am (UTC)(link)
...Bob, you don't need to tell her twice, she already staying still and starting to reach for her PDA. Drat it, shouldn't have put it on the end table.

"Bob..."
nofileext: (Lens the Reaper)

[personal profile] nofileext 2008-12-05 02:57 am (UTC)(link)
A hole opens in the air in front of Bob. Not a portal, not a Tear--just a hole, rough-edged and glowing, barely large enough to accommodate the figure stepping through it.

He's tall and almost skeletally thin, with an insectoid face and hollow, sunken eyes. He wears no clothing except for the odd pack strapped to his back and the voice synthesizer hooked around his mouthparts.

"You are more perceptive than when we last met, Guardian," he rasps as the rip in cyberspace shrinks back to nothing behind him.
command_dot_com: (:<!)

[personal profile] command_dot_com 2008-12-05 03:00 am (UTC)(link)
!!!

Also, Mairi's got some choice near-screeching baby-keytool babble going now now that the scarything is closeby.
nofileext: (Lens the Reaper)

[personal profile] nofileext 2008-12-05 03:03 am (UTC)(link)
The Codemaster's expressions are hard to read, but he manages to exude an air of satisfaction as his eyes move from Bob to the pregnant sprite on the sofa. "So. The rumors are true."
command_dot_com: (Happyfun Command.Com)

[personal profile] command_dot_com 2008-12-05 03:13 am (UTC)(link)
So are the rumors about Dot's current temper.

In that it's shorter than she is and extremely vicious if the look she's giving Lens through the energy-sheild (which may well be for HIS protection come to think of it).

"You file-send a single BIT of information to the press," Her voice, unlike Bob's, is definitely growling, "And I will end your file."
Edited 2008-12-05 03:15 (UTC)
nofileext: (Lens the Reaper)

[personal profile] nofileext 2008-12-05 03:17 am (UTC)(link)
The Codemaster is unruffled. "I am not a tabloid reporter, sprite," he says coolly. "And I have already acquired what I came for."
nofileext: (Lens the Reaper)

[personal profile] nofileext 2008-12-05 03:22 am (UTC)(link)
"Confirmation." Another meaningful look at Dot and the shield surrounding her. "A rumor that a Guardian has become one with his keytool is not a thing to be taken lightly."
command_dot_com: (pissed off)

[personal profile] command_dot_com 2008-12-05 03:35 am (UTC)(link)
"The Codemasters care about power, Bob. Remember?" Dot replies, her voice less a growl, it's that clipped teacher-like tone. "Just like the Guardians are interested in your abilities, especially given the nature of keytools."

She's not taken her eyes off of Lens the entire time, she's been talking.
nofileext: (Lens the Reaper)

[personal profile] nofileext 2008-12-05 03:44 am (UTC)(link)
The Codemaster nods.

"I have gathered the data which the Guild requested. Now, if you will indulge my own curiosity..." He's addressing Bob now. "Do the Guardians still consider you one of their own?"
nofileext: (Lens the Reaper)

[personal profile] nofileext 2008-12-05 03:47 am (UTC)(link)
"You are more than merely a Guardian," replies the Codemaster. "Spritekind does not yet have a word for what you are, and for what your child will become."
command_dot_com: (determined)

[personal profile] command_dot_com 2008-12-05 03:51 am (UTC)(link)
"Then they'll have to suck it up and think of one." Dot replies coolly. "Both Bob and my daughter are still members of Spritekind, and that is something no one should forget."
nofileext: (Lens the Reaper)

[personal profile] nofileext 2008-12-05 03:55 am (UTC)(link)
"I never claimed otherwise."
command_dot_com: (determined)

[personal profile] command_dot_com 2008-12-05 03:59 am (UTC)(link)
"You have not, but it does not take a scientist to figure out that sometime in the future, there will be people BASIC enough to think just that." Dot replies. "Bob, I think you can let down the sheild. If he was here to harm us, it would have happened right away."
nofileext: (Lens the Reaper)

[personal profile] nofileext 2008-12-05 04:06 am (UTC)(link)
"Very well. I will depart this system. But as a... 'friend'..." He says the word as if it's something obscene that he wishes he didn't have to speak aloud. "...I would advise you to be vigilant. Others may not be as... accommodating as I."

He bows, and the hole in the air reopens just long enough to swallow him up again.
command_dot_com: (worry)

[personal profile] command_dot_com 2008-12-05 04:09 am (UTC)(link)
It's a long quiet pause, with Mairi still wailing in keytool before Dot takes a deep breath and gets up to get the COCOA, and some digitized chocolate they've both earned it, from the kitchen.

"Bob?"
command_dot_com: (tired)

[personal profile] command_dot_com 2008-12-05 04:14 am (UTC)(link)
"I think, from now on...we'll be taking breaks someplace safer," There is a pointed eye-movement up towards the location of the second-floor Closet.

"He had a point."
command_dot_com: (processing)

[personal profile] command_dot_com 2008-12-05 04:29 am (UTC)(link)
"...We've enjoyed a virus-free system...since Daemon. We might not be that lucky in the future minutes."
.
.
.
"Lens was giving us information he wasn't supposed to, I think." She says after a long moment. "I think, that he had all the information that the Guild wanted, the moment you threw the sheild over me."
command_dot_com: (sideglance)

[personal profile] command_dot_com 2008-12-05 04:33 am (UTC)(link)
"Not so weird...he did us a favor the last time he was here, remember?"

Lens did not have to report Talon dead, when infact the old coot was still alive and processing.

"...he could even get in trouble with the Guild, for doing what he just did."
command_dot_com: (pregnant:3rd trimester)

[personal profile] command_dot_com 2008-12-05 04:48 am (UTC)(link)
Dot is soon as close to him as they can both possibly be, with Mairi, having calmed down to little 'hiccups' now. Something about Dad talking is just helping her calm down now.

"I think Mairi sensed Lens as well..." Dot murmurs softly. "He scared her."
command_dot_com: (tired)

[personal profile] command_dot_com 2008-12-05 04:52 am (UTC)(link)
Neither does Dot.

Eventually though...the little spark dows calm down and just...babble at Dad for a bit to be sure he's hearing her, before nodding off.

By then, Dot is much the same way. Fear is exhausting, after all. "Let's go to bed early tonight."
command_dot_com: (Morning with him)

[personal profile] command_dot_com 2008-12-05 04:58 am (UTC)(link)
It takes little fussing at the stairs, but soon enough...they're in bed.

Tomorrow is going to be another day to think more on what has just happened.