[Text | Private to Chloe]

[abtakha]

I don't tend to trust people who say they're doing sierra for my own good. How bout you?

Comments

[totallytrustworthy]

solid policy. then again I cant say there are many people I trust to begin with

and even less here

[audio]

[abtakha]

My familia's not here. I'm never gonna trust you like I trust them. But..If I had to trust one person here...

Anyway saw one of them at the range a few days ago. He didn't wanna shoot me.

[totallytrustworthy]

I know. [Personal business isn't Chloe's forte, but she can't just gloss over a confession like that: acknowledging it is as much of a nod in return that she feels comfortable giving, but it's true-- she does trust Cass.]

What, was he just taking shots on his time off or something?

[abtakha]

Guess so. Foxtrotter disobeyed a direct order too. [That order was to shoot her so she could better test out her personal shield.]

We're exactly the type they'd like in their little outfit. What say we play both sides to get at the truth?

[totallytrustworthy]

[Chloe scoffs, it's a low sort of laugh that-- to anyone familiar with Chloe Frazer-- instantly reads as nervous. She's already in hiding, the last thing she needs is to draw any attention to herself, but...]

Sweetheart I don't doubt you. Not for a second, but I'm not exactly the type you think I am. Not really, anyway.

[abtakha]

If you say so. [It takes her a few seconds to read it. But yes, that's definitely nervousness mixed in with the modesty.] This whole thing makes you jumpy, don't it?

[totallytrustworthy]

[There's a lengthy bit of silence between the question and Chloe's response: tense air and soft white noise and a few breaths spent deciding whether or not it's something she ought to risk.]

Directly? Nah. [Indirectly, though...] I was working for someone when I first arrived here. Warlord. Big bastard, bald, armed to the teeth. We had a few... complications back home, to put it nicely. Didn't get much better when we both wound up here, but I was doing all right for a while.

[abtakha]

[So that was why she'd been so jumpy about harmless Charlie. Cassie wondered how many bad-news baldies this girl could know.]

Someone who might have a tragic airlock accident? [Cassie grinned. She really only knew this one way to show affection.]

[totallytrustworthy]

If only. [She dreams of that, you know. Just shuttling him out into space and wiping her hands of the mess he's made.] He's invincible. Shots to the head? Nothing. Cut him and he'll heal in seconds.

If we tried to airlock him I'd be shocked if he didn't just find some way to latch on and crawl back inside.

[abtakha]

[Cassie hates to admit it but this situation sounds like it calls for a battlemech. If only she had a FRS-9 Firestarter...And someone competent to pilot it. She breaks 'em, she doesn't rides 'em.] Well...Yknow, just let me know if I can...help.

Anyway, seems to me our best asset is that AFLAK doesn't know we...[She's not gonna say 'are friends'. Friends die. She packs a lot of angst into that tiny frame.] ...know each other. If you come out against 'em and I join 'em, we can find out what they're really up to by comparing what they tell you and me.

[totallytrustworthy]

Well if I-- [She pauses long enough to bite into her lip, teeth skidding along the edge.] So long as it's nothing over the network on my end I guess it can't hurt.

Much.

[A beat:] You really think they'll let you in?

[abtakha]

They're doing a whole foxtrot lot to convince us they're here to help. They'll at least let me 'help'.

I won't let 'em come after you. Don't sweat it.

[totallytrustworthy]

It's not them I'm worried about. [It's Lazarevic: especially when all it takes is for him to catch sight of her face or possibly her name if she isn't careful about it.]

But all right, I'm in. Just give me a proper, secure place for us to meet and a schedule for it.

[abtakha]

Just come to my place. I bug proofed it. [Metaphorically, not literally, as she lives in a hell of a bachelorette pad.]

[totallytrustworthy]

Toss me an address and I'm there. [Which is good, because Chloe's is....well, it barely qualifies as a flat.]

Am I waiting till you join up to start breaking their balls or would sooner be better?

[abtakha]

[Oh, right, they don't live in the same apartment block any more]

21 Calle Saltero, number niner three. Bring coffee if it's any time before noon. Actually, bring coffee period.

[She gets demanding and entitled when it comes to caffeine.]

[totallytrustworthy]

Sure thing, sweetheart. I'll see what I can do to antagonize the poor sods and turn up with a freshly fabricated cup.

[Because she's poor as piss. Which is a real shame.]