Alias: A New Era

[Applo]

≋ Sarah Pendleton ≋​

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Sarah's Apartment
Morning
Interaction: Maxine Saunders, Aster Honor.

"Ummmmm…." In the long loud pause Sarah ran a hand through her hair as she switched her gaze back and forth between her idol and her house guest. "Honestly, I havn't got a fucking clue but there has to be something better then us running head first at the bogeymen."

Again there was another pause as Sarah picked up one of the doughnuts and started to turn it around and around in her hand.

"I do get it right. If it was me I'd want to know what the fuck was going on but, like come on, Arcadia! Why not just kick down the White House doors and put a gun to the president's head until he tells you. They know how to counter people like us and you must have heard the rumours of what they do those they capture. At best you'll end up being their water heater, more likely they'll pump you full of drugs and turn you into a super weapon; that's probably why they didn't out you to the world you know. They don't want some twat with a gun and a point to prove putting a bullet through the back of your head when they could turn you into their own personal walking nuke!"

Sarah stopped as soon as she realised she was starting to shout. Tearing a chunk out of the doughnut she was holding, the red-head chewed on the cakey treat for a few moments with her eyes closed as she tried to regain her composure.

"Sorry Max. Look... I can't stop you from taking a swing at Arcadia, just like… could you make it plan B, or better yet plan D, E or F instead of plan A. I'm sure between us we could come up with something better with a little time. At the least we could head out to the desert or something so you can practice keeping that voodoo that you doodoo under control."

Turning to look at Neon, Sarah was suddenly aware that she had icing from the doughnut on the corner of her mouth. She hurriedly tried wiping it off with the back of her wrist. "Do you know anyone like you said because everyone I know in person is standing in my kitchen right now and I don't think this is the kinda thing you can advertise on the internet. If the government didn't get me the crazies would."​

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[Pupperr]

Sarah's Apartment
The Morning
Maxine Saunders
Interacting with Sarah Pendleton @Applo and Aster Honor @TheQueensGuard

Maxine's grip tightened around the coffee mug as she listened to Sarah practically scold her for wanting to go to Arcadia. She understood that it would be dangerous, she understood that it was stupid… but she also understood that Arcadia was the only one with any answers about what happened to her and her family. The teenager slammed the coffee mug on the counter in frustration "I can't run forever though. I don't want to hide my entire life! What am I supposed to do, hide in dumpsters and move every three days until I'm old or dead?" Her voice was a bit harsh, a reflection of the hopeless feeling she had.

In a fleeting moment her frustration passed, and her face was replaced with helplessness. Realizing she had lost her temper and noticing the coffee in the coffee pot beginning to boil and bubble, she sighed to release stress and apologized. Maybe Sarah was right, what she did do wasn't under control at all and she had never thought about learning how to control it before. She didn't even have the first idea how to do that. But maybe if she knew what had happened to her, what her powers were, and how to use them, then maybe she could break into Arcadia later. "Is there any place that exists in New Angeles where you can teach me to control.. whatever it is that is going on with me? Can you even do it, or is there someone else?"

 

[junebug]

If there was anything she was more than eager for right now, it was interrogating Lucian. As she walked with drive, side by Gray's side, she only had one goal in mind. Black Grace had to figure out why Lucian was there and what he was to Maxine, if anything at all. What was his interest in her? Why did he offer to go after her? She clutched his folders a little too tightly and pursed her lips at Gray's question.

"He was and he had that peacekeeper gal with him. No doubt they were planning something to stray us from catching Maxine."

When they entered the room, Grace's eyes trained on Lucian as she sat down and discreetly turned on the small, round voice recorder sticking beneath the table with her thumb. Gray took the lead and Grace's fingers moved to the edges of Lucian's files to give her something to feel for aside from wanting to immediately sock the boy in the face. Lucian apparently had a penchant for not speaking when he was spoken to and his blatant disregard for Grey's authority angered her. He was a far cry from the little boy he used to be and even though actions spoke louder than words in every situation, words were also a viable threat to certain kinds. She immediately stood up when Lucian demanded they turn the cameras off and gasped in shock even more so when Gray agreed to let a potential criminal on their case take over the interrogation.

"Gray, are you out of your mind? He is a suspect, a criminal, a wanted man and you immediately drop all precautions to listen to him bluff about how he can make you a deal? He was conniving with a peacekeeper to get to Maxine. Can I make that any more clear?"

Her tone was stern and judgemental of Lucian. She wasn't about to trust him so easily… Not the way Gray seemed to. Gray, however, seemed intent on keeping her quiet for the investigation- or listening to Lucian's deal was more like it- and she thought better of arguing against his authority and sat down. They would talk later.

 

[Cresion Breezes]

Arcadia
Morning
Lucian Albrechtsen

The interrogation room table was a little cold, but Lucian didn't mind pressing his forehead against it. Yesterday night was tiring, getting arrested by Arcadia was draining, and being interrogated by Ms.Hot Topic was downright exhausting. He had learned to ignore Black Grace's words, a coping mechanism if it could be considered that, and preferred to directly address literally anyone else. In this case, that "anyone else" was branch director Gray, who was surprisingly easy to talk to considering their positions currently.

At least the camera part went smoothly. Lucian didn't want this conversation to go on record, he had spent the past year figuring out what Travis, uh, what Hardwire was up to, and he wasn't about to let it all get exposed by some dense Arcadia bureaucrats.

"He was conniving with a peacekeeper to get to Maxine. Can I make that any more clear?"

Speaking of dense. Lucian slowly sat back up straight, looked at Black Grace while trying to not roll his eyes, and took a deep sigh, he had a feeling he would be doing that at some point. He tried to prioritize processing Gray's words, those were the important ones.

"I didn't 'stumble' upon anything, I wouldn't even know she was there if it weren't for someone making her scream and cry and run around like she was being hunted." He paused for a moment, leaving some awkwardness in the air, "oh wait, she was."

Leaning back into his chair the young man ceased with the mockery for a moment to consider Black Grace's words. It seems that she was suspicious of the peacekeeper woman that he ran into yesterday night. There was a clear distrust of the peacekeepers in Arcadia now the incident from a year ago was almost settled. Lucian simply tried to keep that in the back of his mind before addressing the issue. "And I dunno who that peacekeeper lady was, I don't even know her name, if you happen to find her, tell her she owns me one." He can see that there is the possibility that he would be asked why he protected her from the flames, "I helped her because of, you know, human compassion, I hope you know what that is." Though that was true, Lucian can already see it being thoroughly questioned, he was a terrorist after all.

Black Grace's fuse seems to have gotten even shorter as evident in the way she spoke to Gray, her commanding officer, as much as Lucian enjoyed the scene he didn't want to drag this out for too long. "Alright alright, here's the deal, Director." Reaching into one of the multiple hidden layers in his jacket, Lucian took out the data chip he had retrieved yesterday night. It was a list of personnel that are on Hardwire's list of desired conscripts, which also detailed their backgrounds and abilities, Lucian was almost certain that Maxine would be on there. With a light flick, the chip landed on the table in front of Director Gray.

"There's the deal, I suggest you get a third party to read that for you." The last thing he would want is Arcadia blaming him for their own poor system security. "And get Miss Hot Topic her therapy dog back, she's more bearable with it."

 

[Applo]

≋ Sarah Pendleton ≋​

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Sarah's Apartment
Morning
Interaction: Maxine Saunders, Aster Honor.

"Maybe. I dunno really."

Taking another bite of her doughnut, Sarah used her free hand to pull out her phone. A few moments later the air-con unit in the living room beeped and whirred into life. "I know what helped me get to grips with what I can do. Might work for you. Might not. There isn't really a step by step guide to it but I have ideas. You got an-"

One glance at Neon was enough to convince Sarah to leave her sentence unfinished. The woman hadn't answered her last question and their face had the look of someone with something on their mind. Sarah didn't want to interrupt whatever train of thought they were on so she let her gaze swing back to Max.

"I don't think there is anywhere in the city that would work for you, or at least I don't know about anywhere. I was thinking about heading out to the Mojave so that the only things that gets cooked are rocks, dirt and cactuses," Sarah left herself off the list of things Max might accidently incinerate in the middle of the desert; the air-con was already working hard enough as it was. "or perhaps a nice deserted stretch of beach or something like that. Somewhere we don't need to worry about accidents too much basically."

Putting the final chunk of doughnut in her mouth, Sarah stared at her house guest as she chewed. A mischievous smile began spreading over her sugar coated lips.

"If we are going to be going out and about Max, I need to ask: would you prefer hair dye and a date with my scissors or a wig?"​

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