metalogs | Closed | Watching On The Wires

Entry tags:

Closed | Watching On The Wires

Who: David Alleyne

helpdesk_hero, Bart Allen

kid_flash_found, Balthier

portolan, Peter Parker

kindofamazing
What: Technopath Investigation of Excelsior
When: February 15th
Where: Excelsior City Streets, The Chai House
Content Warnings: N/A

I. The Initial Investigation | Closed to Bart

Picking where to live in a world like this is always something to be cautious about, and no one could honesty say that David wasn't a cautious person. He had to figure out what he wanted after all, and privacy was an important thing for him.

Which would be doubly true if he really was going to live here in this world as a hero. To finally have a chance to choose the life or not, and get to have the shocking chance to have an actual secret identity was strange. So he wanted to be able to protect it, and the people he loved, the best he could. Which was the purpose of being here today. From the little he'd learned of Excelsior, it was a perfect choice for him. Which of course made him all the more suspicious. Good thing he had backup for investigations.

"Here," he said to Bart, offering his friend his hand to hold now that they'd arrived. Not that it was his hand that he wanted to give Bart so much as the earwig in his hand. The best way to stay in contact with Bart without actually talking about what he's talking about.

"This place looks amazing," he said aloud as they moved through the streets.

II. A More Targeted Approach | Closed to Balthier (and a hint of Bart at the start)

First phase of the plan completed, David had to admit to himself that there was as a need for a whole different kind of assistance, and he thought he had an idea of who might serve for it. Sure, Bart could work in a pinch, but a specialist might be better. So he sent the text invitation and hoped for the man to agree to join him.

So he sat in the tea house, sipping a cup of the rose black that of course reminded him of the person he was hoping to get some help from. Still, he sort of twitched in his seat, anxious to see if he'd get the support he'd thought.

More than anything, though, he needed a specialist, and Balthier didn't show up, David might have to ask another favor of Loki.

As he looks up from his latest check of his phone he catches sight of Bart looking at him.

"What's that look for?"

III. Crossing A Hero | Closed to Peter (TASM)

Of course even after Balthier, David realized he still had other things to do. It wasn't intentional, but he'd been passing by the local police station by accident and... Well, he got to thinking. Not like anyone would notice him if he got onto the roof, right? And up there he could easily run into all sorts of wires and antenna and other methods that he could access a system out of sight. And since he'd gone with a very tech world look of dark brown slacks and a warm black sweater, all he had to do was stuff his yellow scarf into his pocket to be a bit less obvious. He circled the building casually, waited until there was a moment where no one was looking and he could see he was in a camera blind spot, and then he moved.

Climbing up the side of older concrete buildings like the police station wasn't hard when he could use his energy projection to form climbing claws on his palms. These helped him easily scale the side of the building, quickly and safely, until he lifted himself quietly onto the roof to look for some sort of access point for his technopathy.

Always helped to know what the local PD was working with.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Is the design software easy? I mean, do we have to talk you through it all, or can we play with settings too?

[Clearly it was what David wanted. A guaranteed in road.]

Well, normally we prefer to do the driving, so to speak, but clearly you are discerning men, and I'm happy to talk you through the system if you'd like.

[Bingo. David turned his attention to Balthier with a soft, curious look.]

Could it hurt to try?

[ It's incredibly amusing to see David asking questions about technology rather than giving a rapid-fire lecture on it. Balthier's impressed. ]

Of course. I want you to be exceptionally happy with it. The main stone is an emerald, though we're willing to add some smaller accent stones if it suits the setting.

[ Balthier follows the salesclerk to a computer terminal. It looks...less sleek than Balthier's phone, but he doesn't question. ] Dear, step up here. You should be the one deciding.

[Given three seconds alone with the computer David could have it singing show tunes. But he knew how to play the role. The man did guide them to the computer at that point, asking some questions related to size and cut of the stone before he let David take over the controls.

And once he had them, David wanted to kiss someone. The display terminal was old and dreadfully unsecure for a store of this quality. Made sense, in a way. While everything else was cutting edge, there was no security need for a better system. It didn't even have it's network settings turned on before David, playing at slowly looking through things with the mouse, started playing with deeper settings without them up on the monitor (of course he first had to dummy that there was a second monitor, but no one would notice.

And all the while he was slowly putting together an emerald ring in a gold setting. When he was done he looked to Balthier and sighed.]

I just don't know. This seems like so much to do for me. Are you really sure? I mean, you said the thing's been in your family for years.

[Time for the slowly pulling free exit.]

Anything for you, dear. But I want you to wear it. The stone is stunning.

You could always try the way it's set now, and we can come back when you're feeling more confident on what you want. I don't want to have to rest it twice. [ Showering gifts, but a royal arse.

He tucks David's arm back on his, pulling toward the exit. ] Thank you. We'll be back, hopefully shortly. [ He lowers his voice, though not enough to not be overheard. ] Really, we talked about this. It's my ring, and the old one is hideous. I'd rather you reset it, but if you prefer to wear it that way...

[ They exit the store and get a bit down the block before Balthier drops William. There's an easy grin on it's face, and it's his turn to feel giddy. A good con is fun, and it's that much better with a good partner. ]

You're going to give me a run for my money. I almost didn't recognize you in there.

[The clerks nod and say their goodbyes and David wonders if the pair even realize they never got a name from Balthier or his companion. As it was, they got away and he had to chuckle when they dropped the act.]

Gotta say, I'm not used to having that much fun. But geez you pull of 'pompous ass' so fucking well. Channeling all those people you grew up around? That disdain for citrines? Beautiful.

And one of the women in charge back home, on my island, she's a shapeshift. Mystique is one of the queens of disguise and deception. I was just doing my best to make her proud, even if she would laugh to think of someone like emulating her. For the Jewelry, well, I had a teacher who was super high class family who went off to make her own life, joined one of those secret societies that tries to control things, actually took more or less control of it, and did I mention she could turn into living diamond? Emma had opinions about jewelry and how to treat people in jewelry stores, and she's one of the people I have a LOT from.

I cannot tell you how many times I heard a classmate complain about a jewelry gift, or what they would break off an engagement too. The worse part was the parents often were louder and more viscous about it. I actually quite like citrines. Good color. Most people who wear them aren’t pretentious arses.

[ He had a pair of citrine earrings at home that were his mothers. He’d hid them from his father, broken in to get them after he’d become a pirate. Pity they were still on the Strahl. Maybe Fran would take them. ]

You have had quite the colorful set of companions. I’m beginning to suspect I’m the least magical person you know. I’m flattered.

Are you kidding me? Even 'cheap' jewelry that would be given in the sorts of circles you must have run with would be rather expensive. I don't even get it.

[Gifts were gifts, provided they were given as a kindness or fondness rather than an attempt to force reciprocation.]

Mutants are, well, we're colorful. But you're far from the least magical person. Most mutants don't work with true magics, which means you're a lot more magical than most people I know.

You don't have to tell me. I wasn't one of them even when I was. Pirates -- you got the ones that just coveted the most expensive item, but most of them had taste, something they liked because they liked it. And we all knew what it was to not have enough. I like my physical comforts, but I don't like people who have always had them. [ He thinks to Vaan and Penelo, and even Basch and Ashe. Fran, of course. There was a reason he'd been able to serve in that crew. ] I think that's why I like antiques, too. I like the story. I like the idea that something survived or was preserved because someone cared for it.

Fascinating. Do you consider your abilities to be magical? Mine in Ivalice certainly were. Too early to tell here.

The more you talk, the more you sound like a true romantic.

[David appreciated it too, the romance of all Balthier was saying. Liking a thing because of the story. And so, after a moment, he decided to offer something he'd previously said he wasn't going to do anymore.]

If you ever want to have a reading of the history of an object, I suppose I could be convinced. Since you seem like someone who would enjoy it for the story's own sake, not for the nosiness that people watched my show for.

[His abilities, magic? Hardly.]

I see my abilities as genetic. The psychomimetry I was born with, and the others I could suppress in the other world with a device, which was true something that could happen back home too. And if it was properly magic, Loki would have told me. He's good at sensing that stuff.

You're not the first person that's accused me of that. [ He'd been self-conscious about it in his youth. He was taken less seriously, seen as childish. But it's been something he's learned to be proud of; most people let go of their convictions. His have just deepened. ]

I'll keep that in mind. I'm sure I'll come across something -- it tends to happen. [ He makes a note, though, not to share Ashe's ring with David. It's still on his finger. More as a reminder not to make the same mistakes he made with her.

Loki was that fellow Balthier had shared drinks with when they were powerless in Little Love, and briefly seen the night he went out to the bars. So he knew a lot about magick. And these two knew each other. Interesting. ]

How does Loki differentiate between magick and the genetic -- I presume on this world that's considered more science? They're more blended on my world. [ Maybe his magick became science here. He briefly thought that without the Mist there wasn't magick, but it seems like others have it. ]

It's not an accusation, it's a commendation. There's something good about still being able to be a romantic with what you've been through.

[Oh dear, Loki question. David shouldn't have opened that door, and he sighs.]

Back where I'm from, Loki's a god. Of magic, and stories, and lies. One of his specialties is actually illusions, and if you hadn't been up to today, he would have been my second choice for things. He's not from Earth, though, he's from Asgard [because it seems best to leave out Jotunheim] and a lot of people there are magic in one way or another.

[ That compliment hits deeper. Fran had been right, as she always was, about letting people see what he actually was. ] Honestly I think it's made me more of a romantic. I'm not sure anything besides love and convictions could have gotten me through the worst of it. The other things burned away. [ That's true here, too, he realizes. He's been reaching for the things he loves most. And connection. He needs to care. ]

Your gods must be more agreeable than ours, if you're on speaking terms and he isn't busy trying to control the fate of mankind. I suppose I can't begrudge a man magic, stories, and lies -- sounds like we have a thing or two in common. [ Balthier is flattered he was chosen over a god, though also respects David's discretion. God is a lot of power, even if Loki was pleasant when he met him. He could be a good person to ask about his magick, though, once he spends some more time with it. Faster than batting around in the dark. ]

[David has... opinions on gods. A lot of opinions on gods. In fact, he feels like he can probably share this secret with Balthier and mostly only earn a laugh for it.]

One of my good friends is married to a man who is, and this is a fun one to wrap your brain around, one day going to ascend to godhood, and through the force of his powers echoing backwards through time, create all of existence on my planet. The reason I say this is that I once may have made some moves on said good friend, before they were married and basically when I thought I was going to die, and yeah, I immediately regretted it. But I basically was told later that if I ever tried something like that again, he'd make it so I had never even existed, and I knew it was something he could do.

Gods in my world are complicated like that. But he's also a nerd that loves comic books and super heroes, whereas Loki's a god of mischief and can be amazingly soft, so they're definitely strange. Which doesn't go to say that all gods don't try and control the fate of their people.

[Balthier was chosen because David and Loki have enough complexity between them as it was. And that David had wanted to talk to Balthier again. And because Loki might not be pleased that David was distracting himself with this when he was supposed to be helping Loki get David's memories back.]

You're a touch more approachable than he is, and you don't bite my head off for some very David eccentricities.

Charming. Nothing like a power imbalance to really build the foundation of love and friendship. [ He had liked that attention once. His first real relationship after becoming a pirate had been with one of his superiors -- Infamous. Witty and connections all over the realm. He'd loved how special he felt, the precious, coveted object of desire from the most desirable person int he realm. Then that pirate had become threatened as Balthier got better at his work, sold him out to teach him a lesson. He'd dated his father was what had happened. It was the reason he'd hesitated with Ashe; what was going to happen, when she was Queen again? Some day he'll tell David that story. ] I commend you for navigating that and having an open heart. I don't think I could trust a god, not closely.

[ Balthier is genuinely surprised at the last comment. ] I have worked with a lot of people and you are nowhere near the difficult list. I honestly haven't had this much fun in ages. It's a treat to speak openly and have someone keep up -- make me keep up, even.

I don't know, my friend is the Emperor of the united interstellar empire of two different alien species, so I don't feel like they have a power imbalance at all. But we're friends now, and Billy is a gentle guy most of the time. It was just a bad situation.

[One Loki had put them all in, but he's not touching that.]

I... I like understanding things, and people. I like learning them. And it's not necessarily something he liked. What I am, who I am, means I want to understand the world. To talk about it. To share and question and be questioned.

[Something Balthier had allowed for, and as he noted, kept up with.]

Oh I can't be that fun. I'm known as a stick in the mud by people who know me.

I'm not going to begrudge you your friends. You clearly care for them, and if they respect you back, then I'm happy for it. [ He's still going to be protective. He doesn't trust high status, and he doesn't trust gods, not until he's been given a reason to. But he's glad, too, that David has had so many people in his life. For as charming as he is, Balthier has had limited close relationships. He knows what it is to be alone and lonely. ]

That's exactly why I find you fun. I get the same complaint sometimes -- more so when I was younger. I don't share my questions and thoughts as often these days. [ Fran would listen, but she didn't really like to discuss at length. He had a few theaters and ports and old friends where he could buy someone a drink and chat for awhile. It's been awhile though. ] I understand not everyone shares joy at those pursuits, but you shouldn't feel self-conscious for it. You are a delight.

[Status is something David knows he could gain back home if he wanted it, he didn't want it. And Billy didn't want to be a god either, so he could respect that as well. But it was nice, to know he had those friends. He'd had his own time of being alone and lonely, and he didn't want the repeat.

But being called a delight for wanting to know makes him chuckle.]

It's nice to be seen that way once in a while. Respected for the things I can't help about myself anymore. For me it's sort of necessary. The more I know of the world, the easier it is to pick out all the things in my head that are me and not lingering echoes of other people. It can be hard to find those lines sometimes.

I relate to that. It took a long time to tangle out what was me and what was the things that had been put on me -- I'm still sorting. Though yours is a good deal more literal.

I'm still learning to let people see me. I spent so long protecting myself by keeping what I wanted or cared about obscured. It's less exhausting, be seen, but a little terrifying too. I admire that you're more forthcoming about it.

Also what kind of pirate would I be if I didn't like new things? [ A surprising number of them actually, but he couldn't stand them. ]

[He wants to say 'I see you'. But that was a claim that David didn't think he could justify yet, and it also was too forward. Though at least he could admit to one thing to show that he gets it.]

I was the same way for a while [words said while the knuckles of his free hand rubbed unthinkingly over his heart, over the memory of scars] too afraid to let people close. Certain that if I did I'd be disappointed. I sought my distance, and I got it for a long time, and I didn't realize how bad it was for me. I've learned to open up since then. I've been reminded just how important that is.

ANd yeah, I suppose a pirate should know how to adapt, otherwise you might end up losing quite a bit.

I know that tune. I'm glad you found people. [ He wants to say I'm glad I met you, but that's too forward too. He doesn't know him yet, not really, but he wants to. Fran had a word she'd say sometimes. It meant, "I want to have known you for a long time already." He was feeling that. He was missing Fran too. ]

I'd be very bored, too. Happy that hasn't been an issue here yet. Speaking of, did you get what you needed, or did we have somewhere else to hit?

[Now that would be a good word to know. David would love a concept like that, a term like that. He knew so many languages and he always loved those words that didn't easily translate, that could speak to feelings the heart and mind knew and didn't always know how to express.]

I have one last place I want to hit. I'm not going to do the small store. But there's a tech company here, they've tried to recruit me. I want to learn more about them but their website is surprisingly strong. Think you're good for one last con?

William von Hombold lives to harass salespeople. [ Cons are fun, and he's reluctant to leave David's company. He'll be thinking about how to propose that date as soon as he leaves. ]

What's our angle here? I'm going to be less knowledgeable but we can probably use that William's annoying advantage. [ He doesn't press on being recruited. From their earlier conversation, Balthier assumes David will end up joining the hero guild; if he can find work he's fine with, then that's a good situation. Balthier is honestly relieved he's not dealing with existing social order or people seeking him out. As much as he likes attention, it's nice to be a nobody and be able to construct the persona he wants. It's also nice to be honest without much fear of repercussion. He knows that will pass the longer he's here. ]

I don't think this is one where we can go for the same thing we've been doing. This won't be quite the same sort of place. It's a show floor, where they display some of their cool new tech. This stuff is more concept work, less 'free to buy'. More people, less sales, and more possible points of access for me.

[Which makes him think maybe they should split up for this one. Balthier making his own sort of distraction away from David, while David just does his best to gather what he needs. Of course the security on this place will be a lot higher.]

What’s the goal of a place like this? Are they looking for possible investors or is it more to attract attention from the public? Alternatively I can insist on trying to buy something. How high is the risk that I get escorted out before you’ve finished?

[ Balthier runs through similar cons in his head. It’s been awhile and these spaces have usually been more invite-only where he has known what he’s talking about. Still, he can make this work. A challenge is enjoyable. ]

A bit of both, but mostly, it's one of their business locations. Higher levels in the building will be where employees work. We're just focusing on the show room so I can try and figure out what the place is like. But if you get pushy, a place like this might well throw you out on your ass.

[It's less invite only, but definitely not going to take well to disturbing the peace. That said, they'd also have their reputation to uphold.]

Honestly, I'm not really sure that it wouldn't be easier to learn about them by agreeing to take an interview and hoping to be left alone for a bit.

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