goneawaycomms | Ciaphas Cain

[Saturday is speaking, but there's no audio. Instead, there are subtitles.]

Sorry about the message format; kept crashing when I tried for text and now the fucking audio's cutting out.

Wanted to say sorry for the scene at the party and thanks for the save. I owe you one.

[It takes Cain some time to respond, as it requires a lot of cautious poking and stumbled-through rites of activation. The camera bobs up and down, focusing on his hairy forearms before panning up at a mildly confused face. Then the expression clears.]

It's no problem, Saturday. It's nothing to apologize for, and you certainly don't owe me anything. [Yes she does.] I was only doing what anyone else would have done.

You're alright? [he adds, because it seems like something he should ask.]

[Saturday doesn't believe a word of it]

If you were, that makes saying thank you more important, not less.

[She sighs, still without sound]

Yeah, I'm fine. It was a crappy three months even before I got stuck here, that's all. No excuse, but there you are. Thanks again.

[She's fine with leaving it here; the stoic warrior, you know]

[Cain takes the gratitude with his usual heroic and unassuming grace, though he is compelled to further ask.]

It sounds as if you were under - and still are - extraordinary stress. I do admit that I was quite worried for you for a moment there.

[Well, and himself. He takes a breath.]

Saturday. [He asks, much gentler this time.] Are you alright?

[Saturday is about to brush it off, then reconsiders]

Probably not.

[the subtitles make this all a little surreal. She's not getting audio of him on her end, either]

But it can't be helped, so there's no use complaining. Nobody's doing well right now, it's just -

[She does not want to say this]

- someone I loved died recently. The enemy... you know. I - went to sleep after the funeral and woke up here. That woman was just too much. I'm handling it, though, I found a nice spot in the garden to do my meditations. Don't worry about me.

I always find that a spot of complaining always helps me. [He smiles slightly, hoping to lift her spirits.] She was rather too much, wasn't she?

[But he pauses, and he is sincere for the following part. He has too little room in his life and too much self-interest to love anyone who's not himself, Cain thinks, but he can imagine how difficult that might be.]

But I am sorry to hear that. Loss is... never an easy journey, especially if it's somebody we loved greatly.

Crazy woman. [She shakes her head] I guess living in a place like this would make anyone insane, though.

[For a moment, she's still, and something plays over her face]

We didn't really know each other that long, but - I dunno. Sometimes you meet someone and it's like something falls into place, I guess. Something you didn't know could even happen.

[She shakes her head again]

Anyway, I hope that woman wasn't too hard to get away from? You didn't have to promise her a dinner date or nothin', did you?

["Sometimes you meet someone and it's like something falls into place, I guess. Something you didn't know could even happen." A sudden pang drives through Cain's chest, though for what reason he has no possible idea.]

[Shaking the sensation off, he takes that change of topic graciously and runs with something he's much more comfortable with handling than providing genuine emotional comfort; gossip.]

Dinner date? Now what makes you say that? [Cain is supposed to be giving the impression that he's a gallant hero and all that, but sometimes you really need to let it out.] I was nothing but perfectly courteous, all very professional. In fact, she regaled me with the particulars of her life, which I found marvelously enrapturing.

[He pauses. Partly for dramatic effect.]

I did promise her a "coffee date".

[Saturday hangs her head] I am so, so sorry. The coffee here is terrible.

[She seems to perk up a bit] I don't suppose she let anything useful drop? Like her mother's maiden name, or her first child's birthday?

[the sort of thing someone might use as an access or ID code]

What's provided here isn't perfect, I'll agree, but it's better than the sludge we used to get in the Guard. And I have a feeling that the coffee in the Executive's Reward Lounge will be a slight step up in quality.

[Cain smiles and it reaches his eyes, the hint of the self-congratulatory rascal buried deep underneath.]

[His preference is always a nice pot of tanna over recaf to rely on getting his unmotivated arse out of bed, but that's unfortunately in no supply here.]

We spent some time talking about office romance and her job duties. Why would learning her mother's maiden name be useful?

[Saturday smiles a crooked smile, reminded of someone.] Executive's Reward Lounge, huh? Bring shades. What I mean by the other stuff is -

[Fizz-fuzz. Crackle.]

Aw, godda -

[The screen blinks out. A second later, a new message is incoming over the encrypted. It's Saturday again; there's audio this time, but her visual feed is tinted a lovely shade of lavender.]

Ha, sorry about that, figured we should switch channels an' my machine crashing isn't gonna surprise Jorg. People use stuff like that as access codes, or security challenges, yeah? This whole thing could end up working out useful...

[Depending on how far he's willing to stick his neck out.]

[He's hedged his bets so far, but it's only a matter of time before he has to commit to doing something particularly dangerous. Like organizing or participating in actions directly against Jorgmund, instead of sidling perpendicularly, or perhaps a bit adjacent to them.]

[He has a sinking feeling where this chat is about to lead, and he really should have thought this through earlier. But right now she's expecting an answer, and as always, Cain has found himself in a situation where somebody expects him to take the risk and be the hero yet again. ~~The thought of actually saying 'no thanks, I'd rather just do what Jorgmund tells me' never crosses his mind.~~]

Clever of you. [Cain nods, as if he's not dying on the inside.] How can I help?

[Saturday notes his hesitation and frowns slightly. She, herself, isn't thinking in heroic terms but criminal ones; he worked a quick scam and it turned out the mark was useful. Let's exploit it.]

[The degree to which her criminal means lead to heroic ends is a subject on which she is not accepting constructive criticism at this time.]

[As for worried allies? She knows that game, too.]

Nothing too outre. Got a plan in the works, a little run at the upper levels. Penetration testing, so to speak: get in, look around, get out. Ain't vaporware neither, I got buy-in from a good half-dozen.

[she shrugs]

Anything you can get from her before the run - layout, security, where things are - particularly where the smokes are, and maybe a decent drink - will be helpful. Two teams. [she holds up two fingers, in illustration] Infiltration and distraction. You don't need to be on either, but infil needs to not get caught, 'cause even Jorg can put two and two together if that happens. Anything you can give me to assist in that, I will treasure and put on your account.

[She's being goofy, but completely sincere.]

And I can keep your name out of it. Might be wisest, really, then we don't burn your contact if shit slips too bad sideways.

[That things will go at least somewhat sideways, Saturday doesn't doubt for a moment. The run always goes sideways; planning and prep are just to make sure it doesn't slip so far that it takes the crew and the payday with it.]

[Cain understands the plan, and keeps the doubt off his face. It's not exactly military terminology, but she gets the message across fine, and he's not one to split hairs if she seems like she knows what she's doing.]

It's not often I don't just get asked to run to the front and wave my sword around. [he says, ruefully, but appreciatively. It's nice to be appreciated for his mind for once, rather than being a good-looking hatrack or heroic distraction.] I'm less suited to sneaking around and all this shadowy intrigue business than I am for getting to the point, [complete lie] but I'll do my best to provide us with information we can use.

[On keeping his name out of it;] That might be for the best. [For reasons that are totally not self-interested.] It galls me to hang back, but I'll play my part if you feel that's best.

I mean, if you want to wave your sword around, you can pitch in once the distraction starts. We'll need people to pretend to help while making it worse.

[She gives him that assessing eye]

I feel like you'd be good at that.

[She means with Karen from HR, too. Cain is an expert face, and if he chooses to lie about it, well, everyone's entitled to a personal idiot test. Weeds out the useless.]

When's your date?

[She feels like he'll be good at pretending to help while making things worse? Ouch. Cain half-chuckles.]

Whenever it needs to be. I'll do my utmost to provide the information that you need. I hate to think of the consequences if even a single soul is caught in the act, after all.

[Especially for himself. And on that note...]

Who else is involved?

[Saturday sticks out her tongue, childishly] Hey, causing problems on purpose and achieving a specific end with 'em is a legitimate talent!

[moving on]

Ah, about half a dozen. Not sure who'd you know on the infiltration side, but that Loken dude volunteered to help with the riot end of things. Kinda looking forward to that.

[Loken did mention that he was acquainted with her. Although thinking of it, there's just one thing that he does have to make sure to confirm first, to prevent any possibilities of unfortunate misunderstandings down the road. Things always exacerbated to an alarming extent when it came to Astartes, in his experience.]

I'm familiar with Loken. [A tiny degree of hesitancy that isn't at all pre-emptive concern, masked in a question that feels a little too casual.] Does he know that you're an elf?

[She's fairly open about it, but on the off-chance that Loken doesn't explicitly know...]

I ain't exactly been hiding it but we haven't had a conversation about it, no.

[at least, not like the one she ended up having with Cain. but honestly, if Loken hasn't seen her ears by now, he hasn't been paying attention]

I told him I'm from earth - he actually knew where Seattle was! That was kinda neat. Like it's fucketybillion years in the future an' a whole other reality but the old place is still around, you know?

[she shrugs]

If you think it'd be a problem I can check in with him.

Ciaphas Cain

[video.... technically]

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