[OTA] Business Not As Usual

[wherethewild]

Now that the snow's stopped, it's mostly just...like winter in London, really. Dreary, cold, gray. London never gets this much snow, of course, but otherwise it's a bit like home, and when Peter emerges from his hole in the basement of Diamond Castle, he's dressed for the weather in a wool peacoat, a scarf, and a hat over his hair. Add in the messenger bag draped over his shoulder, and it looks like he's dressed for a day of protecting the free world at Thames House.

He only wishes. At least what he's doing is interesting, or at least more so than fixing the internet connections of clueless Diamonds. Possibly it's even marginally dangerous, considering how the last Spade challenge went. He wouldn't have to do it, he thinks, if the Spades hadn't used quite so many ridiculous security protocols. It's legions more robust than any of the other Suits; he'd broken through the Clubs systems (well, most of them, the Royal files had a curiously complex system around them) and the Hearts, too, without much effort.

Bloody Spades.

It's not such a big deal, though. He's examined the system from every angle he can from outside it, and he's pretty sure it can be cracked if he's in it. So off to the Castle of blood and knives. If anyone asks, he can say he's visiting friends.

Might as well use his not terrible social interaction for good, after all.

Comments

[theacethatmatters]

You've met the Ace of Spades, right, Peter? No?

Well, brace yourself. Because he's not in the best of moods (even compared to his typical misanthropy) and he's heading your way.

"I believe you must be lost."

It was not, after all, a hall typically left open for just any visitor to the Castle to walk down. Not when it leads to the dungeon the server room and all.

[wherethewild]

He hasn't even met the less terrifying Aces, either the thirteen year old or the adorable tiny twenty-three year old in the Hearts. He would have rather started with either of them.

Alas, he gets the one that reminds him of the assassins subcontractors Five sometimes hires in.

"Not at all, my lord," he says benignly. And no, he's not elaborating until he absolutely has to.

[theacethatmatters]

If his life had gone differently, he could've been one of the assassins subcontractors Five sometimes hires in.

"No?"

Yes, he is now fully blocking the way down the hall, and apparently has nowhere better to be at the moment.

"Do tell."

[wherethewild]

The eyeroll is entirely mental; a good polite mask is the first thing you learn in the ridiculously elite schools he'd gone to. So he just looks curious.

"I'm delivering equipment," he says. "Cleared it with Martin in your IT department; I had a bit you need over here."

[theacethatmatters]

Julien doesn't, really, know a lot about computers. He knows enough to use one, but it's not something he's spent much time at all studying. But he knows people.

"Then I expect he'll need to be the one that brings it down."

The Ace does a very good impression of a wall.

[wherethewild]

Lord. Why don't they ever make anything easy. But then, he'd learned early in his brief career with Her Majesty's Secret Service: always cover your bases.

"I'll just call him, then, and he can explain why I'm doing it." In excruciating, technical detail if they were at all lucky.

[theacethatmatters]

The problem with a confirmed luddite is. Well.

Why waste time on the phone when you can go to the source?

So yes, yes, Julien is indeed herding you toward the office Martin is likely to be found in, Peter.

"Let's just talk to him together, mm?"

[dum_spiro_servio]

One of several tall, blond phantoms that maintain this Castle manifests from little more than a shadow in the hallway.

"The Waiting Areas are upstairs," the lone voice said softly from a few metres behind Peter. That was Iollan's nice way of saying that non-Spades weren't welcome in this part of the Castle.

[wherethewild]

"I'm familiar with them." Which was to say: Peter had exhausted his store of respectful patience with the Ace of Spades earlier.

"It's where I picked up my hall pass earlier, sir."

[dum_spiro_servio]

Where do they breed brats like these? The Hearts?

"I'm afraid I will have to insist on not letting you go in there alone. Sir."

[wherethewild]

Please. The Diamonds.

"Oh, so that's the defining Spade trait." It's a fairly placid tone. "Fine, you can come in with me, unless you feel the need for a pair of guards and a Face Card just to be extra sure that a Two of Diamonds isn't going to blow up your entire computer system."

[dum_spiro_servio]

Please. Don't make Iollan smack you.

"I can handle you on my own just fine, sir." Not a threat, or a deadpan way of boasting of one's capabilities. Just an assurance that if you stepped into the lion's den, you will be met with bared teeth and sharp claws.

The Spades' reputation of being able to look after themselves was not unfounded, after all.

[wherethewild]

With any luck...whoever this was was not all that conversant with computers. It seemed to be a Spade habit, really. Amy wasn't spectacular with them, the Ace clearly had no clue; if Peter was lucky Iollan would be the same.

"Martin - you know, Five of Spades? Asked me to install this. It was my specialty Outside, so that's why he's outsourcing." Yes, that means he's going to need to open the server rack and dig in the wires. It doesn't mean anything.

Really.

[maskofhearts]

Hadyn wasn't one of the Spades, though he probably looked it in so many ways. He certainly wasn't an Ace, either- though he was often in the company of one (seeing as one trained him, and the other three were friends of his. Ironic, really, how that came about.) But he was sensible enough to know when something seemed a bit out of place.

So of course it seemed natural to him to curiously follow the Diamond in a place neither of them really belonged (though Hadyn liked to think he was marginally more acceptable, as he was of Spade blood at least).

"You'll need a key card," he said after a moment, finding a wall to lean against as he watched Peter curiously.

[wherethewild]

No shit, Sherlock. Ah, the little details in life. He could probably circumvent it if there wasn't someone there. Even if the Deck was oddly computer illiterate, taking apart the keycard machine? Probably marginally suspicious.

"So it seems," he said blandly. "It might have helped if Martin had thought about that before he sent me down to install his shite." He glanced at Hadyn, though.

"You're a Heart, aren't you?"

[maskofhearts]

Hadyn raised a brow at that, tilting his head just a bit as he eyed Peter curiously. "Maybe Martin should have come down with you. That would be, I believe, what Mr. Fox would say if he came upon this little...scene." Which was true, given what Hadyn knew of Victor. Clive might well have his paranoia about the man, but...Victor was good at his job. Surprisingly good at it, actually.

Hadyn suspected it came from being rather good at being on the other side of things.

"What makes you say that?" Not that Hadyn was particularly anonymous on the Deck, but he liked to think that not everyone knew who he was on sight.

[wherethewild]

"That would have been a brilliant plan, wouldn't it've?" No, actually, because Martin was sadly not entirely an idiot. The name Fox, though, gives him a moment of pause, if only because it had been one of the pair of names Jack had just recently shared with the class in conjunction with Hamish Ramsay's probably timely demise.

But he's not the field agent. He's not going to do the interrogation when he's already...kind of being suspicious. "I recognized you," he said. "One of the girls in the office next to mine is carrying on an imaginary love affair with your version of Romeo Montegue apparently."

She had a poster. It was sad.

[maskofhearts]

"I have a theory about people who use sarcasm, you know." He said, pushing off the wall as he moved a little closer to Peter. "It involves being defensive and deflective all while trying to seem completely nonchalant about, well, everything. And usually only employed when someone is up to no good." He paused next to Peter, giving him a rather intent and curious look that suggested he was trying to decide if Peter, was in fact, up to no good.

"In her defense, I was a rather good Romeo." He went on after a moment, as if nothing else were out of place in that very moment. His hands slipped into his pockets and he flicked his head a little so that his hair slipped over his shoulders; all the while standing shoulder to shoulder with Peter. "I found the death seen was most moving. The girls sobbed, very touching. Perhaps you'd like to see a performance for yourself some time."

[wherethewild]

Peter didn't really have the experience to know when he was in danger; even if everyone in the Deck would have backed off from Hadyn just now, he didn't. He just tilted his head. "You're not all wrong," he said. "But like everything else, it becomes habit. I'm told that I'm sarcastic at least 98% of the time, and I haven't the energy to be up to no good all of that time."

He smirked. "But by all means, if you want to stand here and educate me? Go right ahead, m'lord Nine. Are you going to be like your brother and stab me?"

[oneirophiliac]

Mostly Annie avoids the IT department when she can. When she can't, because even the IT department gets vermin once in a while, she usually tries to go during lunch when it's empty.

Today is mostly an awkward dithering a few doors down in the corridor outside, trying to decide whether or not she should just go in and hope Martin's not in.

Or. Or she could just ask this... whoever-this-is who's leaving. "Hey, can I ask you a question?"

[wherethewild]

It'd been going so well, too. Relatively speaking, at least; he'd gotten Martin's keys easily enough, and Iollan Chives had left him to it. And once in the server room, he'd managed to find a corner not well-covered with security cameras. Now, tracking device installed on top of an innocuous looking ethernet card, he was out.

Almost.

"Uh, yeah, sure?"

[oneirophiliac]

"Okay, Marty- Martin's not in, right? So would you mind awfully keeping an eye out for him? It's just, we're kind of..." This isn't exactly flailing, but it isn't exactly a precise movement either. "We don't get on. And I've got work to do in there."

Not exactly evident what kind of work, since her equipment is all in two plain black bags.

[wherethewild]

"Nope, he's out to lunch." Literally, in this case, though he seemed to be pretty mentally out most of the time in Peter's august opinion. "What are you doing?"

[oneirophiliac]

Martin had his ways about him, but it really, really depended on whether you caught him before or after a few cigarettes. Hint: if he reeked of smoke, you could expect a drop in intelligence.

"Cleaning out the traps. Which you wouldn't expect to need as much in there, but..." she shrugs. "Everyone eats at their desk once in a while."

[wherethewild]

"Right." Ick. He hasn't seen any mice in Diamond Castle yet, but he's in a dungeon. It's probably a matter of time. "There a reason why you're trying to avoid Martin?"