Delilah (deewall) wrote in neogenesisrpg, @ 2009-02-20 02:37:00 |
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Entry tags: | delilah waller, jebidiah jefferies |
Who: Delilah Waller and Jebidiah Jefferies Jr.
What: Recruiting.
When: Thursday afternoon.
Where: Delilah's apartment.
Rating: PG-13 for language
Status: Complete.
Delilah popped her heel into a floorboard and stashed the rest of the cash she'd gotten off her paintings. That was the last of the ones she'd put up online and she wasn't sure if she ought to be pleased or saddened. Her apartment looked about several sizes bigger than before. And emptier. It gave her goosebumps - which were best treated with Jack D or José, but she only had beer and in the absence of anything sturdier, she settled on Dr Phil. It seemed apropos to hear him talk about addictions.
She'd nearly dozed off when there was a rap on the door to jerk her awake.
Jebidiah leaned against the doorframe while he waited for Dee to answer the door, his laptop case strapped comfortably on his shoulder. He was sure that she was home, there hasn't been signs of moving boxes or new residents in her apartment unit yet.
"Hey, any paintings left?" he asked through the closed door, not interested in buying even if there were any to pick from.
She recognized the voice and figured it was safe to open. If he was using it as a trick to get into her apartment and rape and/or her, she figured he was trying too hard.
"Only the walls. I'll sign a brick and you can buy it for a hundred bucks," she teased, first through the wood, then face to face once the door was open. "Hey. Long time no see." Which, in Dee-speak was 'huh, you haven't moved out of this shithole yet'.
"Been around. Staying out of trouble." he grinned, tapping the side of his messenger bag. "Do you mind if I drop in? Finished a project and need somebody to show off to. Since you like creative stuff, thought of you."
The rest he could explain in detail once behind closed doors and away from bugged halls. "Unless you're expecting guests, then I can go annoy the kid next door."
Far be it from her to admit she liked the thought of company, but she sure as hell wasn't going to say no. "Nah, not busy," she answered with a shrug. "Besides... I'm pretty sure the kid next door has rabies. Come on in." Having never seen her place when it was not-empty, he wouldn't be able to tell something was missing. Maybe that complacency could infect her too, at length.
Jebidiah stepped inside, whistling at the bare walls. He walked over to the coffee table and sat cross-legged in front of it, setting up his laptop. "You probably sold enough to move out of this rat trap, plan on calling a U-haul anytime soon?"
"I'm not moving," Delilah retorted, kicking off her slippers and losing another two inches in height. "I'm too used to the junkies shooting up downstairs and the babies screaming. Just needed some space." Although how he knew about that she wasn't sure. She stretched on the floor, back against the wall and feet up on the coffee table. "Been stalking my blog?"
"Since my usual guy's been AWOL for awhile, I had to lurk over someone's site." he explained, waiting for the computer to boot up and prompt him with the sign-in screen. "Lives in the same neighborhood as your new husband. Some'd say you hit the jackpot."
His password screen looked like the usual ctrl-alt-delete setup, but it took additional controls to bring up the partition that held his important files.
Delilah blinked. "Wait, how do you know where my new husband lives?" And why was she using 'new' instead of just saying husband? She didn't exactly fit the profile for Black Widow.
"That's a little.... creepy." But not creepy enough to keep her from grinning.
Jebidiah laughed. "It's creepy until you realise how bored someone'd have to be to go googling their neighbors. But you find the most interesting things when you search..."
The GUI screen vanished and command prompt windows appeared in its stead. He clicked on one and entered in his security codes. "Huh, can get my router signal all the way in here."
"Yeah, I know," Delilah chuckled. "I tried stealing your net once, but couldn't figure out the password." And since there were no other networks within range, she figured it was either his or God's. And God wouldn't need a network, would he?
"So.... find anything interesting on the husband? You know, so I know to be prepared if he starts putting lightbulbs in milk glasses for dramatic effect."
"None, though you'll probably get his life insurance policy soon with his work schedule. Hasn't been home in...3 days." Jebidiah said, queueing up the information he wanted to share with the other woman. "What, with the Hoffman case and marrying you falling on top of that, wonder if the man's slept at all. Speaking of, did they fix Dan's door yet?"
"The who the what..." Delilah brought her knees up, palms flat on the ground. "Okay, sorry, did I just let the genie in? What are you talking about?" Hoffman case. Dan. Dan's door. Her mind ran over the words but found little connection. "And how do you know so much?" It wasn't the fact that he knew about her that was creepy - she paraded in front of a webcam for fun - but other people didn't. Other people had private lives.
"You're on to me. I am a genie." Jebidiah said, turning his screen so that the she could view the contents. It was a full page screenshot, blown up with the government logo and confidential watermark on full display. "This was forwarded to me from friends of mine. I'm not keen on looking into other's mail, but-"
Delilah scooted forward, intent like a child in a candy shop. Or at least a very determined kid in a lego store. "Government stuff?" A whistle as she all but reached to scroll down. "How did your friend get his hands on that? Isn't it like... totally illegal?"
"Programs and other programs through a friend of a friend's friend. All legit software used in a questionable way. It's an interesting read." Jebidiah said, leaning back against his hands so that Dee could get a better look at the brief's contents.
"You serious? Can I scroll down?" And she did without wating for an answer, because it wasn't everyday that you got a glimpse into the government's backyard. "Holy shit..."
"Couldn't have said it better myself." Jebidiah chuckled, pointing to the window behind it for Delilah to click and also read. "Thought about passing this on to another friend for my friend, but that friend's comp's probably being closely watched."
"You have a lot of friends," Delilah pointed out, distracted by what she was reading and what he'd pointed out to her. "Is this for real? Like... it's not a joke, right? You're not just messing with me?"
"I'm not joking. Ever hear of the House of Spades? I don't play with the deck, but I am a card so to speak." He was the Joker. "I'm here, not just to show off, but because we need someone to drop some information to one of our main players. Your husband's neighbor."
"Mhmm..." For a long moment, she didn't hear him, trying to make sense of bureaucratic, deliberately convoluted language. But the words 'husband' and 'neighbor' factored in pretty clearly. And there was only one House of Spades - anyone with an interent connection knew that. Slumping back onto her haunches, she met his eyes over the screen. "You're a hacker... oh my god, were you guys really involved in the Pairing thing? The glitch?"
"I can't say, it's safer that way." he said after a pause, nodding to her answer nonetheless. The odds for the Alaska being bugged was low, but he took safety measures the most in places he felt the most comfortable.
"A-ha." Her voice dipped on the last syllable and she bit into a nail as though that would help her process the information. "Well... fuck me." Suddenly the world seemed much less out of focus and her detachment appeared like a cruel joke. Murphy's Law in action.
"As you know, like any vigilante no one should know about my night job, but-" he paused to pull out a thick manila envelopes, printouts of the emails he shared as well as emails the were left unsent to Dan's inbox. "Next time you go check in on your hubby, could you drop this by? Not for free, of course."
Delilah looked at the packages, thought anything could be in them - from cash to bombs - and gaped just a little. "You're gonna pay me to ferry stuff over there? Why not email--ah. The door. The, uh, ransacking." The fact that Gil had been so pissed off that day. She bit her lip. "How much?"
"Five hundred down, fifteen hundred after delivery. From the community pot." He wasn't rich by any means, but he had a deeper pool to swim in if he ever needed to dip into it.
"Are you serious?" she asked, again, at a loss for anything more intelligent to say. "Those papers must be fucking important." And she should probably be worried about that. Excitement was not the appropriate response.
"As important as important goes, but the cost factors in potential risks as well." he pointed out. "You're the ideal candidate, we have prior association and you have reason to be in that building. An airtight alibi both ways if you were ever questioned."
"By, like, government people?" Okay, so not exactly a walk in the park, but it was still an easy job. "'Course, if they search me, I'm toast, right?" It wasn't so much a question as a statement. "Guess I'll just have to be very, very smart." Not her strongest suit.