Participants:
| Scene Title | Trust.Enabled |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Skyler moves in with Evan, temporarily. They talk about her sordid past and the sordid present. |
| Date | December 11 2010 |
The apartment used to be pretty spacious, but one room was repurposed as the floor's new equipment closet years ago, leaving the rest to form a U shape. The decorative styles have diverged as well - a blue tile bathroom at one end, a kitchenette best described as Early American Disco at the other. In between, most of the furniture is built from various colors of cheap blocky plastic, starkly at odds with the hardwood floor; the only exceptions are the couch (dark brown to hide stains), the coffee table (the shape and color of a giant cashew), and the bed in the bedroom (with a red striped afghan sprawled across it).
Stuffed into a single full-height bookcase is a dog-eared collection of textbooks, notebooks, science fiction paperbacks, and a collection of wooden boards and little concrete cubes occupying most of the second shelf from the top.
A pair of waist-height windows in the living room open onto flowerbeds, currently empty, coupled with black metal safety grids across their top halves.
Skyler parks her car (!) at the curb. The rental plates would be obvious to anyone looking. She sighs and rubs her temples and gets out of the car, locking it carefully. As Bugs Bunny says, all my stuff is there. She knocks on the door to Evan's, holding take-out Chinese in her other hand.
After a brief pause, the door is opened a crack and Evan glances out, nodding and swinging it wider as he sees who it is. "C'mon in— hey, what smells good?" Someone's been bringing work home with them; the table is piled up with first-year assignments, some of his own research work, and a pizza box that's gotten down to the last couple slices.
Skyler slips in the door and offers a hug. Boyfriend? Is kinda overstating it probably. Guy she's dating and has slept with once or twice? Probably closer to the truth. But boyfriend sounds better. A little more secure. "How're you? Besides nose deep in papers to correct?"
After returning the gesture, Evan shrugs, picking up the stack he's finished already and stuffing them into a briefcase to clear some space. "At least it helps me remember to get indoors ahead of schedule. One close call is already more than enough. Oh, speaking of— that database thing we were talking about the other day? Got something a little more concrete on that, now…"
Skyler takes a seat and hands Evan some chopsticks if he wants them, then opens the boxes so he can pick. "That's Kung Pao Beef. It's a little hot. The other one is General Tso's Chicken, which isn't so hot. Got rice and mooshoo pork and wrappers here." she says. She listens to Evan and nods. "Okay. I'm on a bit better footing with that kind of thing now, headspace-wise, I guess. What've you got?" It's funny to her now, how upset she was at the very idea of another hack, and now? Now it's only been a couple weeks and it's no big deal. She tries to decide if that means she's making progress, or slipping much further back.
Evan arches a brow. "It isn't? General Tso's always been pretty spicy when I've gotten it before." He dishes out a helping of it, but doesn't tuck in right away, instead heading over to grab his wallet and take out an ID card. One that hadn't been there before. "Got this from a friend of that friend I mentioned. It looks good, but if anyone bothers to look it up in the records, it won't hold water. I figured you might be able to fix that?"
Skyler looks the card over. "Well, it shouldn't be a big deal as long as the registration number is unissued. If it's already issued, we'll probably have to have a new card printed for you somewhere. I assume your forger is pretty savvy?" Sky gets out her own, entirely real card printed by the actual registration authority to compare the two. "It looks good."
"I assume so," Evan agrees, peering over Skyler's shoulder. "If it's anything like Social Security numbers, they issue the numbers in blocks based on which office you got it from, something like that. So if you pick on of the smaller ones…" Sitting back down, he starts in on the chicken. "Mmm, you're right, this is milder than I'm used to. So, you mentioned the living situation— I wouldn't mind, but it's a bit small for a long-term stay."
Skyler looks around the tiny apartment and nods. "Good news is that everything I own is still only about one dolly worth. All broken down into gym bags. And I suppose if I sign up for classes and get a dorm room, I'll get you in trouble if we get caught on a conjugal visit or something.
Evan frowns at the thought. "Well, I don't think it'd be too bad as long as you're not actually in any of my classes, but still, I don't know that I'd want to risk it." Setting the plate down, he scratches his head. "What do you think would be safer? I mean, you can be here pretty much whenever, either way. Not like I'm running a spy ring out of the boiler room or anything."
You say, "Well, I moved out of my apartment at Shalegate today, is why I brought it up. What's rent on one of these places run, anyway? I mean, last place I rented a room was in Ohio on a dairy farm. You could say it was cheap, but I wasn't making much money, either." Skyler looks down at the mention of the spy ring. "Um. I don't figure you are." she adds.
"Well, it's more than Ohio. I don't remember the exact figure, I think the latest bill is still over there, though." Evan gestures toward another stack tucked into one side of the bookshelf.
"If you mean you're planning to— well, just warn me, okay? Anyone I should meet, anyone I should run from." They've already been collaborating over the fake ID, so he's not automatically opposed to whoever else she's working for. If they wind up on his bad side, then it'll be through their own actions.
Skyler nods. "In some ways I'm already neck deep in one. Nothing beyond the pale for industrial competition, but… there's some of that to it." Sky runs her fingers through her hair. "The only really big secret I have to ask you to keep is… you remember that tattoo I had when you met me the first time?
That gets a Look (tm) out of him. "Like I'd forget?" Yes, yes, it's a standard gloss for 'I'm about to bring up something else about the whatever'. So yeah. Evan leans back into the couch, nodding. "I don't get why that's a big secret, other than at the personal level, but okay."
You say, "Most hackers have a handle. White Rabbit was mine." Sky sags in her chair a little. "I did a lot of dumb things when I was younger. Some days it feels like I'm going right back to them, only rusty and careless, you know?" Sky shrugs. "But what're you gonna do? It's what I do. What my power is."
Ah, that explains it. "Fair enough," replies Evan. "Anyone asks, all you've got down there is a tramp stamp with the kanji for 'stupid white girl'." He attempts to keep his tone deadpan— and doesn't quite succeed. Pre-emptively, he reaches for the pillow sitting against the side of the couch, as a shield against whatever she decides to throw at him.
Skyler laughs. and tosses a couch cushion at Evan. "So yeah, now you're one of two people besides me who knows the big secret. If you hear things about the White Rabbit, you know who's to blame. You could put me in prison right now with that knowledge." Sky looks down. "But. I figure. I gotta trust someone somewhere."