(Open) - Research and Plans

[true_noir]

WHO: Chloe and whoever stops by
WHERE: The public library
WHEN: 6/3-6/10
WHAT: Researching blueprints, discussing plans to investigate further, plotting of a more clandestine nature.
WARNINGS: N/A

Chloe, as she had told a few people, was easily found during her off hours at the public library in Recolle. She wasn't hard to find, though she'd backed herself in against a wall, so that she could see anyone who happened to be approaching and conceal some of the things that she was looking at if she didn't know them for certain.

Anyone happening across her was going to find architectural books and drafting books around her (two of them at least yellow-bound and labeled 'for Dummies.'). She seemed to be looking over a set of blueprints, though only two of the documents were really of importance to her, both hidden until she was sure someone was a person she knew as they approached. The rest were there for practice.

She was doing a lot of frowning today, but didn't seem to be in too bad of a mood, just very busy, and a little cagey. Thankfully it was a quiet enough part of the library that a low whisper could be heard without bothering any patrons. It was a beautiful, gray day outside. People weren't usually in the library on days like this.

Comments

[toushiro]

Could be worse.

[ it's true. he could have died from being trampled by an animal, even injured, but he got away from that mess without a single scratch. he's about as fine as he can be in this situation. ]

Confused more than anything, really.

[true_noir]

I suspect you aren't the only one who's confused these days. [She shrugged.] I'm not entirely sure I have answers, but if there is anything you think I might be able to help figure out, feel free to ask.

[toushiro]

I'll contact you on the app if anything comes up.

[ he doesn't use it much...more of a lurker than anything. he doesn't trust it much. but it'll at least put him in contact with people without him having to give out his number, right?

toushiro's ready to stand up and let chloe go about her day, but a quick glance at the blueprints she has reveals a retrospec logo, and he pauses. stares at it for a second, and then narrows his eyes. ]

...What are you looking at?

[true_noir]

I will. [When he asked, she pointed to the fragment and nodded.] I managed to find a fragment of what I think is the Retrospec building. I've made a photocopy of it, and I'm trying to see if it tells me anything about their building.

It hasn't said much.

[toushiro]

[ where did she find such a thing...? he looks up at chloe, then back to the fragment. ]

Be careful. There's a good chance they know you have it.

[true_noir]

Possible, but I am beginning to think unlikely. It was as if they tore it from the cabinet ages ago, and had forgotten that it existed. Nobody had been in the room in some time. [She shook her head.] That, and I was very small when I was inside, so no security cameras would have had an easy time finding me.

Let us hope they are, for now, unaware. I certainly do not plan to speak of it on the network.

[toushiro]

[ ah. so that's how she got it. makes a lot more sense, now. ]

Probably a good idea not to talk about it there, yes. Where did you find it?

[true_noir]

A city office. It wasn't somewhere I was supposed to be, obviously, but Retrospec has made it impossible to know what is happening if we do not at least bend the rules. [She frowned and shrugged.] It does not tell me much, sadly... other than than that it was supposed to be much larger than it is.

[toushiro]

[ a small hum in understanding. ] Not like they'd given us much of a choice, all things considered.

[ retrospec's probably broken a bunch of laws themselves by doing...whatever all of this is. can't be legal. ]

I suppose now it's a matter of finding the remaining pieces.

[true_noir]

The legal routes have all failed us, so no. They really haven't. And since there is maybe one lawyer at most, and a collection of police who even know about the app... well, I've decided we might need to try other routes.

But yes. [She nodded.] We have to find where the pieces actually are, where to look to actually find something that can help answer things.

[toushiro]

Not even the police can dig up anything about the people behind Retrospec, from what I've heard.

Do you have any idea of where the other pieces might be?

[true_noir]

Not yet, no. A big part of the problem is that, if they aren't on the app, they won't even see most of this. So only the ones on the app can and will.

I'm not sure yet. I might be willing to check somewhere else that is just as ... questionable as this last was, but I do not know that it will have any answers yet.

[toushiro]

And the ones on the app haven't found anything, apparently.

[ he knows one of them, at least. ]

It'll be harder, now that we're at our normal size.

[true_noir]

They've found a little, but it's nothing that we can act on, and nothing that really seems to show us what we want to know. It's all been very vague, and strange.

[A nod and she sighed.] You're right, though. We have to be a lot more careful. Without being small, we can't simply sneak our way into places we couldn't get into normally.

[toushiro]

Yes. They've done...a good job keeping themselves off the radar, I'll admit.

[ if not even the police can track them... well. they're just going to have to continue to do this the hard way, though. ]

One piece is better than nothing. Perhaps someone else has found another one, but they haven't said anything--can't, really. Not on the network.

[true_noir]

An exceptionally good job. [She grunted and nodded.] And you are starting to hit on it. We're working to find clues, but we don't want Retrospec to know what clues we find. Some they're going to know, like Officer Togusa going down into the subways. But others they don't have to.

We'll need to find a way to get together one of these days. [A sigh.] Easier said than done... though, out of curiosity, did I give you a decoder ring already? I have a few spare in my bag.

[toushiro]

[ for a high school student, hitsugaya's pretty perceptive. he figured as such, that some clues were meant to be shared. this one...not so much. ] I'm sure nobody would want Retrospec knowing that we're one step closer to knowing where they operate.

A decoder ring? [ he shakes his head. ] What for?

[true_noir]

[She pulled one out and offered it to him. There were two concentric rings, one that could be rotated around, an indicator showing the code number.]

It is a child's toy, but I bought some in bulk. It teaches a simple code of sorts, a substitution one. Not exactly hard to crack, but it can help us figure out ways to send messages off of the network that would be harder for them to read.

[toushiro]

...I see.

[ clever, this woman is. he takes the rings, holds them in his hands and tinkering with them a bit, trying to get a feel for how this works. ]

Thank you. [ a curt nod. ] Are you planning on giving this to everyone on Retrospec?

[true_noir]

I bought enough to mostly cover everyone that was on the app at the time. So, I have a lot to give out... but at the same time, people come and go, so it is as much a gesture to get people to think this way as it is actually helpful.

If we can get our heads wrapped around thinking this way, we might keep more secrets from them.

[toushiro]

Clever.

[ he'll acknowledge that much. it's not a bad idea. he puts the rings into his pocket, taps his fingers on the table a little. ]

Except that they're always watching us, aren't they? It'll still be a challenge if they somehow manage to decipher the code. But I suppose it's the best idea we have.

[true_noir]

I ... don't actually believe that they're watching everything that we're doing. [She shook her head and leaned back into the chair, slipping the fragment of the blueprint out of sight under other pages as she looked at him.]

I think they're able to do impossible surveillance, but I also think they want us to believe they're watching everything. They've shown no sign that they are aware this exists, but they seemed to know about the QR Codes the officer saw.

I may be making a dangerous assumption, but if they can truly see everything and do, it puts us in a much worse place. I'd rather believe they can't until proven otherwise.

[toushiro]

You seem optimistic.

[ of course, it's hard to verify whether they're watching 24/7 or not; at this point in time, it's impossible. that's why the map is important, and if he could find anything...

no. he doesn't have time to try. he has other things that are more important and there are other people who can search instead. don't get too invested, he's told himself several times. ]

Guess you'll just have to take the risk.

[true_noir]

Yes and no. I'm not as optimistic as I sound, so much as I am stubborn. I know that I could be wrong, but if I am wrong, the alternative is that they know everything we are doing, and the only success we have is with their permission.

[She shrugged, sighing.] So I choose to believe that they can't, until I'm proven wrong. It's the only option that gives me a reasonable chance of success. Either way, it's a risk.

[toushiro]

Hm. A fair point.

[ he's sounding far too old for his age, but he agrees. at least she's prepared for the repercussions. not like it's entirely his business, but if it means getting out of retrospec and being done with it... ]

Good luck, then.