Dividends

[onequartershark]

Who: Carolina, and anyone who showed up just in case she needed backup
What: You've been waiting to see how Carolina's secret meeting with Dickwash was going to turn out. Find out, Y/N?
Where: Outside the library
When: After this
Warnings/Notes: None at the moment

[ Carolina beat the group to the library and even then it's been more than a few long, tense minutes. Anything could be happening, but the room has at least sounded quiet. It's hard to imagine Carolina going down quietly if this were an ambush. ]

[ Finally, the door opens. ]

[ Out steps Carolina. No signs of a struggle, head held high, and in her hand... ]

I brought you guys a little something.

[ Carolina tips Dickwash's shock collar control fob from side to side in her fingers. ]

[ She could not possibly be more pleased with herself. ]

Comments

[parannoyed]

Is he unconscious? Do we need to find a supply closet to stuff him in?

[That's the most likely option here. It's not like she'd break a sweat with someone like that.]

[onequartershark]

No, he left. If he's smart, he'll get off the rig entirely soon. He gave me this, and... I think it's some kind of code connected to the system?

[ The paper with the algorithms is a lot less obvious in its utility. Carolina herself has no idea what any of it means, but she trusts that someone on this crew has to. ]

We have a little under four hours for someone techsmart to work on the shock button before a security check figures out it's missing. Then they remotely detonate it.

[ This is the most energized anyone has heard Carolina since... at least since they've been here. ]

[parannoyed]

[A long pause.]

How the hell did you manage that?

[ownperson]

[ You’ve rendered South speechless, Carolina. Even if just for a few seconds. That’s not a sight you see every day. ]

…what he said. [ she jerks her head at Wash ] What the fuck did you do to him? Did you get real creative with threats or— what the fuck?

[fuckingaqua]

[ Everything went better than expected, by which one means it apparently went pretty good at all in the first place.

Tucker regains the full health bar stat for the chill he pretends to have. An energized Carolina is a more fun Carolina anyway. ]

Holy shit. You learned to pick pockets and didn't even ask if I wanted in. Where's the solidarity?

[onequartershark]

I talked to him.

[ Admittedly, she is just as amazed as anyone by her own success. ]

There's enough of a human being left in there to feel guilt. I know a thing or two about guilt.

[ Is she becoming a people person? God she hopes not. What a horrible unknown world that is. ]

We need to get this to somebody who can use it.

[parannoyed]

Flat. "You guilted him into it."

[onequartershark]

[ She grins, if only just a little. It's one of those expressions that her friends know she probably makes, but seeing this without her helmet to hide it is like encountering a rare cryptid. ]

I learned from the best.

[parannoyed]

[In his "I'm going to pretend that wasn't funny and that I wasn't really zinged at all, but really yes to both" voice, he says:]

Oh, haha.

[ownperson]

And here I thought the asshole rehabilitation efforts were in-house only. Should I be worried about losing my slot?

[ It's said with a totally deadpan, very Freelancer-days South-like humour. ​It's a little confirmation that the role the others have had in her changing enough to be standing here to see Carolina come out with this golden ticket is not lost on her. ]

Seriously. What the fuck. You. Carolina. Talking someone around to— this is insane.

[fuckingaqua]

And, like ninety-nine percent of ambassador bullshit, it's totally boring. Sarge is gonna be so disappointed in you.

[ The non-boring one percent was getting trapped in a temple. But actually even that got boring.

So a hundred percent. God, he hates math. ]

Also I have no idea who the tech people of this whole operation are, so, uh. Good luck with that. I've basically just been waiting for one of you guys to tell me when we're doing another riot.

[onequartershark]

[ Carolina rolls her eyes at Wash, and thumps South's shoulder. ]

We're Blue Team. Insane is par of the course.

As for rioting: I think we have to hold that thought until we crack the nanochain system. I need to let the others know what just happened.

If you want my priorities when we're loose? I'm gunning for my armor.

[ownperson]

[ Look closely, and you might catch the flash of surprise on South’s face when the thump connects. It’s there just for a second, before she recovers and snorts, matching it with a thump of her own. ]

Oh, yeah, right there with you. Sooner we get our gear, sooner we can really help get shit moving.