02-07-2023, 05:15 AM
So yeah, that was a weird 24 hours for Jacinda. And that was saying something! Sitting for hours inside a large drone that smelled like the bygone pizza delivery cars of enterprising teenagers was only the beginning of it. At least there was room for her to lay back and listen to Amelia's AI drone on about the situation. She got the basic gist of the situation.
She'd have to see for herself, though. Sure. AIs did well as far as things went- figuring out what music she should listen to or what route to take. And probably other things as well. But she'd never believe that any artificial mind could assess the situation they was a human could. More particularly, the way she would do it.
And frankly, she wasn't all that impressed with the cheesy garbage the thing tried to play once the briefing was gone. It was surprisingly hard to convince the thing to stop playing the Trolls soundtrack over and over again. For reals, she was ready to kick out the bottom and jump out and leave Amelia to her fate for having subjected her to this. Almost, anyway.
The batcave or whatever wasn't better. Seriously, the kid had to be hopped up on candy most of the time. It wasn't like she was all hard-core goth or anything. But in comparison, she might as well have painted her face white, dressed in funeral lace, and read bad poetry while listening to Morissey (something she knew about only due to the whiney emo Atharim who had tried to impress her with his "depth". Aside from the put upon faux sensitivity of the music, the idea that an Atharim hunter of all things whined with the best of them only made her laugh. And no, it hadn't gone over well with him, that was for sure. Which only made it funnier.)
Anyway, after she met Nika's "alfred" Gillian, a chick who seriously needed to chill, it was into another transport...and another.
Well, finally she arrive in the snow, bladder about to bursting. Funny how having to pee slowly tool over your brain until you couldn't think about anything else. Mentally, she added that to her list of interrogation techniques. It would work, she knew. She barely looked around to confirm she was alone before relieving herself behind the transport. Not like an AI would care.
Now that she could think straight, she was able to get into hunter mode. It wasn't like she really knew Amelia. This wasn't a trivial trip, either. She wondered why she was doing this. Well, it wasn't like she was gonna leave the girl on her own. You didn't leave people behind, not if you knew they were there. She'd learned that first hand.
Sure it was a pain in the ass. But you did what you had to.
Plus, it was nice to be away from Moscow. The safe house was becoming to comfortable. Too much like a home. She knew she didn't have a home. Home was where she slept that night- or day or whatever. It certainly wasn't where she and...anyone else took turns cleaning up or making coffee or whatever.
It was good to be busy. It was good to focus on something other than the ache that still twisted her stomach in knots.
She stood there feeling the icy cold wind blowing around her. Ignoring as best she could, she focused, instead, on the slight cold at her booted feet, concentrating on the sensation so that she felt each toe, the ball of her foot, the soft padding of her arch and the heel wrapped in soft wool socks. Slowly, her attention widened up her legs, feeling shins and calves warmly hugged in leggings and snow pants, up her legs past knees and thighs and hips, each widening encompassing more and more of her body. At her chest, she went down each arm to her finger tips, then finally to the top of her covered head. Her entire body was attuned now, her breathing slow and steady despite the cold, consciousness clear of any worry. Well, she didn't see dark eyes in her mind, anyway. So it was good.
The calm and focus stayed with her as she opened her eyes and began to expand outward in small but ever expanding circles, letting the snow covered land come to her, listening for every shift or movement, smelling the cold and ice and hint of trees and smoke, eyes searching out everything.
The Droid has said Amelia had been near this spot. She would use the tracker Gillian had given her in a moment. But she had no interest in walking blindly into a dangerous situation. This only took moments, but it was always worth it.
Satisfied, Jacinda pulled the tracker and touched the screen, still watching the surroundings. She'd expected an immediate ping. Instead, the device just kept repeating it was searchint, widening it's radius.
She narrowed her eyes and eased her gun from its holster with her other hand. She was still open as she crouched low to present a smaller profile in case she was being watched.
She'd have to see for herself, though. Sure. AIs did well as far as things went- figuring out what music she should listen to or what route to take. And probably other things as well. But she'd never believe that any artificial mind could assess the situation they was a human could. More particularly, the way she would do it.
And frankly, she wasn't all that impressed with the cheesy garbage the thing tried to play once the briefing was gone. It was surprisingly hard to convince the thing to stop playing the Trolls soundtrack over and over again. For reals, she was ready to kick out the bottom and jump out and leave Amelia to her fate for having subjected her to this. Almost, anyway.
The batcave or whatever wasn't better. Seriously, the kid had to be hopped up on candy most of the time. It wasn't like she was all hard-core goth or anything. But in comparison, she might as well have painted her face white, dressed in funeral lace, and read bad poetry while listening to Morissey (something she knew about only due to the whiney emo Atharim who had tried to impress her with his "depth". Aside from the put upon faux sensitivity of the music, the idea that an Atharim hunter of all things whined with the best of them only made her laugh. And no, it hadn't gone over well with him, that was for sure. Which only made it funnier.)
Anyway, after she met Nika's "alfred" Gillian, a chick who seriously needed to chill, it was into another transport...and another.
Well, finally she arrive in the snow, bladder about to bursting. Funny how having to pee slowly tool over your brain until you couldn't think about anything else. Mentally, she added that to her list of interrogation techniques. It would work, she knew. She barely looked around to confirm she was alone before relieving herself behind the transport. Not like an AI would care.
Now that she could think straight, she was able to get into hunter mode. It wasn't like she really knew Amelia. This wasn't a trivial trip, either. She wondered why she was doing this. Well, it wasn't like she was gonna leave the girl on her own. You didn't leave people behind, not if you knew they were there. She'd learned that first hand.
Sure it was a pain in the ass. But you did what you had to.
Plus, it was nice to be away from Moscow. The safe house was becoming to comfortable. Too much like a home. She knew she didn't have a home. Home was where she slept that night- or day or whatever. It certainly wasn't where she and...anyone else took turns cleaning up or making coffee or whatever.
It was good to be busy. It was good to focus on something other than the ache that still twisted her stomach in knots.
She stood there feeling the icy cold wind blowing around her. Ignoring as best she could, she focused, instead, on the slight cold at her booted feet, concentrating on the sensation so that she felt each toe, the ball of her foot, the soft padding of her arch and the heel wrapped in soft wool socks. Slowly, her attention widened up her legs, feeling shins and calves warmly hugged in leggings and snow pants, up her legs past knees and thighs and hips, each widening encompassing more and more of her body. At her chest, she went down each arm to her finger tips, then finally to the top of her covered head. Her entire body was attuned now, her breathing slow and steady despite the cold, consciousness clear of any worry. Well, she didn't see dark eyes in her mind, anyway. So it was good.
The calm and focus stayed with her as she opened her eyes and began to expand outward in small but ever expanding circles, letting the snow covered land come to her, listening for every shift or movement, smelling the cold and ice and hint of trees and smoke, eyes searching out everything.
The Droid has said Amelia had been near this spot. She would use the tracker Gillian had given her in a moment. But she had no interest in walking blindly into a dangerous situation. This only took moments, but it was always worth it.
Satisfied, Jacinda pulled the tracker and touched the screen, still watching the surroundings. She'd expected an immediate ping. Instead, the device just kept repeating it was searchint, widening it's radius.
She narrowed her eyes and eased her gun from its holster with her other hand. She was still open as she crouched low to present a smaller profile in case she was being watched.