Who: Zayne Vandriel and Hannah Ryers What: A meeting and testing of waters When: February 19, 2018 Where: The coffee shop
Zayne was nervous to be meeting with Hannah today. He didn’t know what to expect and he wasn’t to make sure he was going to do this right and he wanted to make sure he could tell her the truth. He made them both coffees and stepped outside to wait for her. Maybe they could go for a walk and he could explain things to her first? He didn’t want to have that talk at the coffee shop where anyone could overhear. Or, he couldn’t think about the Harry Potter series and Hermione trying to do something sneaky and learnt after that being in a crowded place was just as good, so maybe the shop was the place to be? His fingers tapped against the cups as he waited.
Hannah was a little worried about this meeting. She’d offered to help Zayne and hoped that would be that. But then he wanted to explain something and she was kind of thrown off. She didn’t need to know his business, it wasn’t like they were friends or anything. She just wanted to do her thing, help the guy out, and be done with it. Why did it need to be so complicated? The more time she spent around these people, the more likely she was going to get herself into trouble. And Hannah was 99.9% sure that if she was in trouble, none of these people were going to blink an eye. They couldn’t help her anyway.
Arriving at the shop, Hannah was a little surprised to see Zayne waiting outside for her. Yeah, he probably didn’t want to be see hanging out with her inside his place anyway. Offering a little wave as she approached, Hannah cleared her throat. “Hey.”
Zayne straightened up from leaning against the wall and smiled when Hannah approached. He held out the coffee to her and said, “Hey. Thanks for coming. How are you?” He should ask how she was doing before they jumped into the serious stuff. He did want to know her and not just because she was helping him. He was also really nervous. He took a sip of his coffee. That would help his nerves, right? Or make them worse.
Taking the coffee hesitantly, she nodded in response to the thanks. “Yeah, no problem. Thanks for the coffee.” She hesitated before answering, glancing around as she took a sip of the coffee. “I’m okay. I don’t have a ton of time though. They don’t give me long for a break.”
“Oh, sorry,” Zayne said automatically. He glanced inside the coffee shop, “I guess then we should go inside? For the record, computery stuff isn’t really my thing. I don’t get a lot of it so I appreciate you risking a lot so I can get in touch with Dorothea. If there is anything I can do to pay you back or help?” Zayne almost mentioned he was good when it came to injuries but that was still a secret too. He was carrying a lot of secrets.
Hannah shrugged, glancing around once more out of habit before looking back to Zayne. “It’s your call. I’m down for walking around or not. And, well, my idea won’t really involve any computery things. Not on your end anyway. Do you want to just dive in about it or…?” She didn’t know how this worked, Hannah wasn’t well versed on super secret plans or anything like that, but she could put together the pieces to help Zayne contact his sister without getting flagged again.
“No computery things?” Zayne asked, “I kind of thought you would need my laptop or phone or something.” Or was she just going to tell him how to do it himself? Maybe he should have asked more questions. Like if Dorothea replied, was this his only chance to say what he needed to say to her? He missed his sister a lot right then.
“Let’s go in? It may look more normal then?” Zayne asked. He smiled sheepishly, “I really have no idea how to make it look like we aren’t up to something but maybe if it’s two friends hanging out, drinking coffee, how much more normal can that be?”
Hannah just smirked, but nodded to his suggestion to go inside. “I could still access it if I need to, but I won’t. All you have to do is email her at a specific time. I’ll handle the rest.” She kept her voice low, again using her sound manipulation to ensure that he was the only one who heard her words.
Zayne opened the door and held it for Hannah. He grabbed the couch, one of his favourite spots to sit in the shop. It was usually taken but right now it was free and he was so claiming for them. Realisation dawned on Zayne as Hannah spoke.
“Oh! So I just do things like normal at a specific time? And you, what? Open the gates so to speak?” Zayne asked.
Sitting beside him, she took another sip of her coffee and arched a brow at him. “Well, shit, yeah. You make it sound way less interesting when you put it that way.”
“It’s still interesting!” Zayne said, “I just thought it was a lot more complicated,” the paused, “Wait. Not to say it’s not complicated because I’m sure it is. I guess I thought it was more involved on both ends?” Zayne winced. He was sticking his foot in his mouth, wasn’t he? “I’m going to shut up because I’m saying this all wrong. It’s still all magic to me.”
Hannah just shrugged and sat back with a sigh. “For you, it’s not more complicated. I can get you two minutes max to do what you need to do. I’ll monitor to see if she responds and do what I can to filter it back to you without getting caught. But that’s all I got for now. Nothing special, but it should get the job done. But I’d advise waiting until you get some new tech. Or use someone else’s.”
Zayne nodded and said, “I have Remy’s stuff for now but it should be coming soon,” he paused and then asked, “So you’ll see who it’s from? And then forward it? Or how does that work?” He paused again, thinking, “How much does the government block? Are there a lot of people trying to get through?”
Hannah nodded. “Yeah, you’ll have to give me her info so I can make sure it gets through without getting flagged.” She hesitated before answering his last question. “Enough. It’s probably a lot less people these days since they’ve been at it for a while. I’ve only been here like a year and I don’t see much get past their filters, and from then, about 50% of that doesn’t get through once flagged. A lot of it is harmless shit too, just people wanting to check in, catch up. It’s a shame.”
“What sort of infor? Can I tell you? Or write it down?” Writing it down didn’t seem safe but he was pretty sure that if anyone saw it, they may not think twice about it.
Zayne nodded and said, “It is a shame. A lot of people have been cut off and for what?” He took a drink of his coffee, “I’m afraid that we could both probably talk for a long time about what is wrong with this island but talk doesn’t always do anything. I’m really grateful that you are doing this for me,” he took another sip, wondering if she would want to do more. Maybe he should leave that hanging, see if she wanted to take another step forward.
Hannah just shrugged. “I don’t know your deal, and I don’t need to. But I thought them hauling you in and going through your stuff was bullshit. So, I figured I’d help a little.” And that was it, she told herself. What was the point of doing anything more, it wasn’t going to change her situation any.
“Thank you,” Zayne said again, “Can I ask you something? And if you don’t want to answer, I won’t bring it up again.” He hesitated. Was this the best way to bring this up? He wasn’t sure. He hoped it wouldn’t upset her.
Hannah hesitated before nodding and waiting for the question. She took a big gulp of her coffee, wishing it was alcohol. It had been nice to get buzzed the other night, she could use some of that right now.
“I know Remy approached you before and asked if you wanted to do more. He told you two ended on negative note,” Zayne hesitated. Was he doing this right? “You’re helping me so I’m hoping maybe if you want to do more, that option is there,” he looked up at her, “If you don’t, I’m not going to judge or say anything bad. We all do what we can. That’s all we can hope for, right?”
Hannah frowned when Zayne brought up Remy. She should have known he was going to pull the same thing Remy did. She saw them together at the party. Standing, Hannah just shook her head. “I better get going. I’ll let you know when a good time is to get in touch with your sister, and then I’ll make sure her stuff gets back to you. As long as no one catches me.” She was a little tired of all of these assumptions mutants were making about her. Like she didn’t want to, or she didn’t know what was really going on around here. Maybe if someone took a minute to understand her point of view… shaking her head, Hannah headed for the door with a little wave. “Thanks for the coffee.”
Zayne jumped up and followed her out. He left his coffee behind on the table. He wanted to catch her so she didn’t run away but didn’t think grabbing her hand was the best course of action.
“Hey, I’m sorry,” Zayne said, “I shouldn’t have brought that up. Consider it forgotten. I promise I won’t bring that up again.” He was afraid he had already ruined things. He smiled softly, “I think you are cool, Hannah, and not just because you are helping me. I hope we can be friends.”
Hannah slowed a little when he followed her, but didn’t stop completely. “It’s fine. You don’t get it, Remy doesn’t get it, no one does. And it’s fine. It’s not your job to try to figure out what a fucked up position I am forced to be in. I’m trying to be cool, play that party, talk to people, help you out. But that’s not going to be enough, is it? Honestly?” Her tone was more sad than anything, and she really didn’t expect an answer. “I’m putting myself out there to help you out. That’s all I can do right now, okay?”
Zayne matched her pace as she talked and he said, “If that’s all you can do, that’s more than enough. But you are right, I don’t get it. I don’t know what it is to be you or to have the position that you have. I’d like to try to understand. And if you don’t want to explain, that’s okay. It’s enough.”
Hannah just shook her head a little. “That’s nice of you to say, but something tells me your friend wouldn’t agree. Look, I need to head back. I’ll shoot you an email with the time and day to make contact with your sister. It’s a small window, so if you miss it, I don’t know when I’ll be able to do it again without getting caught.”
“Just because Remy doesn’t agree, doesn’t mean I follow what he thinks blindly. Nor does it mean I wouldn’t stand up for you if he keeps pushing,” Zayne held back from pointing out from saying that Remy hadn’t approached it again, “Just think about it? Us being friends?” He nodded to the rest of what she said, “Thank you, again. I appreciate it.” He would need to write that email now. He just had no idea what he was going to say.
Hannah nodded. “Thank me once we do it and it works.” She would do her best, and she was sure she could shut down the system long enough for him to get an email out. Anything other than that was up to fate. And she wasn’t going to try to take credit for that, she didn’t need any more bad karma in her life.