Album 2, Track 1: "Not Back on It, Joe, Still on It"

[Nico Rivera-Park]

Nico was well-familiar with the character flaws of this particular building. Where the creaky steps were. Where the loose tiles were. What doors made what sounds. Unfortunately on this night, he was also an overtired optimist, so when the door made the sound it was always going to make when it opened, his only recourse was to silently curse himself for forgetting to WD-40 the damn thing ahead of time.

"Nico! Just Nico! Nico who likes not being blind." He stepped into view with both hands raised, smiling as though this were an entirely routine visit and his pulse hadn’t just attempted to exit through his throat. With Sophie next closest, he decided to try and cut his losses and give the other three a better chance of evasion. “Well, not JUST Nico,” he added, shifting aside enough to acknowledge her without exposing any more of the doorway than necessary. “But Sophie is also best enjoyed with functioning eyes.”

Nico kept moving toward the office, trusting momentum to accomplish whatever subtlety had failed to. Unfortunately, he was now acutely conscious of every footstep behind him, every potentially incriminating rustle, and the fact that he had positioned himself like a man attempting to conceal a refrigerator. He made himself lower his hands.

“Figured I’d catch you before you left. So, you know. A generous window.” The familiar clutter of Priyah’s office gave him something useful to focus on. His eyes made their usual circuit. Mugs, desk, assorted paperwork, and whatever might conceivably qualify as dinner. Then Priyah herself. The influence of The Abyss aside, he was already worrying about Priyah's physical and mental wellbeing; seeing her here brought the more immediate concern back into focus.

Was she all right?

“Have you eaten? Since this morning when I MADE you eat, I mean. We could order something. My treat.” Perfectly ordinary. A normal question he would have asked on any other Friday. Which apparently wasn’t enough, because his mouth continued without clearance.

“And while we’re waiting, maybe you could walk us through what the stream’s been doing? The dropouts, anything weird in the logs. I thought another pair of ears might help.” He gestured toward Sophie, then caught himself glancing back at the entrance. A fraction too quickly, he looked forward again. “But food first. Troubleshooting on an empty stomach blows.” He leaned against the office doorframe and attempted to look comfortably settled as his brain scrambled to remember how human beings stood when they weren't trying to hide shit... though it simultaneously occurred to him that he had offered dinner, technical support, and a conspicuously obstructed doorway within about twenty seconds. His smile acquired a sheepish edge.

“I’m kinda making this sound like I need you to sign something. Sorry. Long week.”

[Sophie Michaud]

Nico was well-familiar with the character flaws of this particular building. Where the creaky steps were. Where the loose tiles were. What doors made what sounds. Unfortunately on this night, he was also an overtired optimist, so when the door made the sound it was always going to make when it opened, his only recourse was to silently curse himself for forgetting to WD-40 the damn thing ahead of time.

The shriek of hinges shot through Sophie's ears, sounding a thousand times louder than it actually was, and her face crumpled into a pained wince.

Sophie had jumped at the suggestion that she could join Nico in trying to distract Priyah. Nico was warm, comfortable, friendly, accepting - and she knew that the fact that he was that way towards just about everyone didn't mean that it was any less genuine. So he was nice to spend time with in general.

And in a situation like this one in particular, Sophie would rather be closer to him. She hadn't had any visions exactly, but the little off-key jangles of uncertainty at the back of her mind were a little louder right now than they had been for a while.

"Nico! Just Nico! Nico who likes not being blind." He stepped into view with both hands raised, smiling as though this were an entirely routine visit and his pulse hadn’t just attempted to exit through his throat.

"Um. Hi." From behind Nico's shoulder, Sophie offered a shy little smile and even smaller wave, ducking her head away Priya's gaze. She was enough taller than him to still be clearly visible, even in the dim hallway - while her black dress and hair might fade into the shadows, her pale face and the silver sparkle of her headband caught every stray bit of light that came her way.

With Sophie next closest, he decided to try and cut his losses and give the other three a better chance of evasion. “Well, not JUST Nico,” he added, shifting aside enough to acknowledge her without exposing any more of the doorway than necessary. “But Sophie is also best enjoyed with functioning eyes.”

As the complicated compliment made its way through the interlocking spinning wheels of her already racing mind, the smile evaporated into a startled "Oh!" as her cheeks began to flush pink.

Nico kept moving toward the office, trusting momentum to accomplish whatever subtlety had failed to. Unfortunately, he was now acutely conscious of every footstep behind him, every potentially incriminating rustle, and the fact that he had positioned himself like a man attempting to conceal a refrigerator. He made himself lower his hands.

“Figured I’d catch you before you left. So, you know. A generous window.” The familiar clutter of Priyah’s office gave him something useful to focus on. His eyes made their usual circuit. Mugs, desk, assorted paperwork, and whatever might conceivably qualify as dinner. Then Priyah herself. The influence of The Abyss aside, he was already worrying about Priyah's physical and mental wellbeing; seeing her here brought the more immediate concern back into focus.

Was she all right?

“Have you eaten? Since this morning when I MADE you eat, I mean. We could order something. My treat.” Perfectly ordinary. A normal question he would have asked on any other Friday. Which apparently wasn’t enough, because his mouth continued without clearance.

“And while we’re waiting, maybe you could walk us through what the stream’s been doing? The dropouts, anything weird in the logs. I thought another pair of ears might help.” He gestured toward Sophie, then caught himself glancing back at the entrance. A fraction too quickly, he looked forward again.

Hastily, Sophie stepped into the place where Nico had looked, hoping that maybe Priyah would just think that he'd been gesturing towards her. (And hoping even harder that she could resist giving her own backwards look.)

“But food first. Troubleshooting on an empty stomach blows.” He leaned against the office doorframe and attempted to look comfortably settled as his brain scrambled to remember how human beings stood when they weren't trying to hide shit... though it simultaneously occurred to him that he had offered dinner, technical support, and a conspicuously obstructed doorway within about twenty seconds. His smile acquired a sheepish edge.

“I’m kinda making this sound like I need you to sign something. Sorry. Long week.”

"Y-yeah," Sophie agreed.

She still felt a little off-balance, each word a little out of tune. Maybe it was the compliment, or the confusion, or the urgency of trying to figure out what was going on, or the need to protect Nico, or those tiny jangles of danger that were always at the back of her mind, just out of reach.

Or maybe it was just the struggle to come up with plausible things to say that weren't lies, because she knew that if she tried to lie, it would just be even worse.

Agreeing with Nico. That would be safe. Safer.

"Um. Yeah, food first. Um. How about Neighbors' Noodles?" she offered, suggesting one of the go-to takeout places near campus - beloved for having decent-quality food, very generous portions, and fairly low prices. She knew that she could afford to treat much more than Nico could, but he'd gotten there first and she wouldn't step his toes. At least she could try to steer towards something that wouldn't strain his wallet too much.

[Naomi Brooks]

Naomi felt her jaw pop as she listened to the door creak. Normally, that wasn't a big deal. But tonight - TONIGHT - it was a big deal. Everyone (well, mostly everyone) had wanted to go in quietly. Try to skulk around and investigate the cause of the strange dead zone around Priyah without her noticing.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

"I don't like it.." Naomi grumbled, arms folded over her chest. "If she's the only one in the station, she's going to notice it when five people randomly show up."

She took the lit cigarette from her lips, took one last puff before blowing the smoke high in the air so she didn't upset anyone, and stamped the half-burnt down stick out on the pavement. Then she went to the back of Nico's van and opened it up, "What do we have in here that needs to be dropped off at the station? I know you've got something.."

Don't over-complicate things. It was easier if they had an actual reason to be at the station. Like dropping off equipment....

* * * * * * * * * * * *

“But food first. Troubleshooting on an empty stomach blows.” He leaned against the office doorframe and attempted to look comfortably settled as his brain scrambled to remember how human beings stood when they weren't trying to hide shit... though it simultaneously occurred to him that he had offered dinner, technical support, and a conspicuously obstructed doorway within about twenty seconds. His smile acquired a sheepish edge.

“I’m kinda making this sound like I need you to sign something. Sorry. Long week.”

"Y-yeah," Sophie agreed.

She still felt a little off-balance, each word a little out of tune. Maybe it was the compliment, or the confusion, or the urgency of trying to figure out what was going on, or the need to protect Nico, or those tiny jangles of danger that were always at the back of her mind, just out of reach.

Or maybe it was just the struggle to come up with plausible things to say that weren't lies, because she knew that if she tried to lie, it would just be even worse.

Agreeing with Nico. That would be safe. Safer.

"Um. Yeah, food first. Um. How about Neighbors' Noodles?" she offered, suggesting one of the go-to takeout places near campus - beloved for having decent-quality food, very generous portions, and fairly low prices. She knew that she could afford to treat much more than Nico could, but he'd gotten there first and she wouldn't step his toes. At least she could try to steer towards something that wouldn't strain his wallet too much.

"Oh for fuck's sake" she mumbled under her breath, looking behind her at Jess and Vic. "Stay chill and wait until those two stop sounding like they're trying to get out of breaking curfew, then get in there and try and figure out what's going on.."

She picked up the boxes they had prepared, rolling her shoulders as she adjusted the weight between her arms. Her stomach growled a bit, briefly thinking about noodles and how she really hadn't had much to eat today also. 'After..after..'

Naomi took a slow breath, closed her eyes for a moment to center herself just enough so she didn't come off as completely unhinged, then turned and shoved herself into the doorway like she was trying to wedge herself between Nico and Sophie and was absolutely, one-hundred percent, not appreciating people blocking the door. "NICO! Fuck man are you going to help me with these boxes or what?" she shouted, seemingly unaware of the panic.

"I said I'd help carry shit to Priyah, not be your pack mule."

Looking around the ramshackle attempt at a temporary radio station, she clicked her teeth, "No wonder I can't get the station in my car. The fuck is this messy rat's nest?" she added with a gravely, judgemental tone in her voice, going so far as to kick an actual rat's nest of some wires on the ground as she spoke.

[Veronica Tucker]

"Oh for fuck's sake" she mumbled under her breath, looking behind her at Jess and Vic. "Stay chill and wait until those two stop sounding like they're trying to get out of breaking curfew, then get in there and try and figure out what's going on.."

Vic gives a silent thumbs up. All in on the idea of "sneaking" into the radio station, she'd gone through the trouble of getting ninja masks from everyone. Somehow, she's the only one who ended up actually wearing hers. Not a ninja outfit, mind, only the mask. And even that is struggling to keep her sparkly pink curls entirely at bay, vibrant hair peeking through small gaps in the fabric and out the bottom. The rest of her outfit is just as flamboyant as always, and her trust panda backpack has joined the mission.

It couldn't protest, so it is also wearing a ninja mask.

Once Naomi goes through and starts making noise, Vic does a low roll across the floor towards the wall away from Priyah's office door. The good news, she isn't spotted. The bad news, she's flat on her back because she didn't have enough momentum to clear the roll. She scrambles to her hands and knees as quickly and quietly as Vic is physically capable of being and waves Jess over with a silent gesture.

[Kaigen]

Priyah stood in the partially-opened doorway, narrowed eyes flitting between Nico and Sophie as they talked, her face closed off. Her weapon safety is good; the spray canister is pointed down towards the floor, her finger not on the trigger, but she makes no move to put it away. Nico is reasonably sure that she would not knowingly spray him or one of his friends, but if she thought they were being put forward as a distraction,¹ she could well spray a shadowy figure in the hallway before identifying the target. And while her poker face didn't give much away, it was clear that Nico's nervous nattering was not negating her suspicions.

She was just opening the door further to get a better look at the hallway, revealing a desk scattered with papers and a takeout bag from "Just My Thai-pe," when Naomi's voice cut in and Priyah was forced to step back to let her come through with the boxes. She put her keys away, and looked to be about to say something irritated, when a rare expression of puzzlement and dread crossed her face. "What do you mean, dropouts? Where are you getting bad signal."

Without waiting for a response, Priyah went back to her desk and opened up several new tabs to go with the numerous pre-existing ones. They were too squished into the toolbar to see the titles, but several of them had word processor logos and several more bear company logos from media conglomerates. A closer look at the desk reveals a scattering of recruitment materials and internship information for those same media corporations.

"The fuck?" Priyah muttered in an audible undertone as she pulled up the network telemetry for the station. "How did I not see this happening? How long has it been happening?"

As Nico moved into the room, he suddenly realized how tired he felt. True, it had been a stressful few days, knowing this problem was brewing and trying to come up with a way to address it, but it was weird how quickly it hit him. His eyes drifted towards the papers on the desk as he wondered what Priyah was up to. Some belated sense of potential exposure led her to start absently gathering them up as she glared at the computer screen, though he could see that the pages were definitely annotated.

¹Say, for a group of nefarious agents trying to access the station without her knowledge as part of an elaborate plan.

[Nico Rivera-Park]

Naomi took a slow breath, closed her eyes for a moment to center herself just enough so she didn't come off as completely unhinged, then turned and shoved herself into the doorway like she was trying to wedge herself between Nico and Sophie and was absolutely, one-hundred percent, not appreciating people blocking the door. "NICO! Fuck man are you going to help me with these boxes or what?" she shouted, seemingly unaware of the panic.

"I said I'd help carry shit to Priyah, not be your pack mule."

Looking around the ramshackle attempt at a temporary radio station, she clicked her teeth, "No wonder I can't get the station in my car. The fuck is this messy rat's nest?" she added with a gravely, judgemental tone in her voice, going so far as to kick an actual rat's nest of some wires on the ground as she spoke.

Nico jumped slightly at Naomi's sudden arrival on the scene, nearly forgetting altogether that there had been a contingency plan.

“Yep! Yep. Sorry. Got distracted by, uh... distractions.” Smooth. Nico stepped out of Naomi’s way and reached for the top box, accepting the scolding with a sheepish grin. Her arrival had at least given him something to do with his hands besides incriminate himself. The toe nudging the cables earned a quick glance downward.

“Careful. That’s load-bearing spaghetti.” He carried the box farther into the room... and somewhere between the doorway and the desk, the weight seemed to double. His next breath came out longer than intended. Suddenly, setting the box down required his full attention: finding a clear spot, lowering it carefully, remembering to move his fingers. Once it was down, he left one hand resting on it.

For a moment, he wanted very badly to close his eyes. Nico blinked instead. He’d felt reasonably awake in the hallway. Now the light from Priyah’s monitor seemed painfully bright, and he had to deliberately retrieve the question she’d asked.

“Yeah, the stream,” he answered slightly late, seemingly not recognizing that the question was directed at Naomi. “First caught the signal drop after we moved the encoder, so I figured it was the temporary network setup. I’d need to check the timestamps to give you a proper timeline.” He straightened, resisting the urge to lean against the desk. His eyes briefly found Naomi’s, the usual brightness absent for a second before he looked back toward the screen.

The fatigue was coming on too quickly. He kept his feet planted and paid attention to whether it was getting worse. Priyah’s gathering hands drew his gaze to the paperwork again. Corporate logos, recruitment information... nothing that he'd seen last he was in here. And annotations? Priyah was working on something. He caught himself looking and shifted his attention to her face.

“Hey. We’ll work through it though.” He said it slightly more quietly. “You’ve had about six people’s jobs to keep track of lately.” He rubbed a hand over his face, hoping it passed for ordinary end-of-week exhaustion. “Were you looking at internships?” A small nod indicated the papers, without reaching for them. His smile returned, gentler this time. “Any of them look promising? I'd ask if any of them are paid, but I'm pretty sure paid internships are just an urban myth... damn capitalist propaganda.”

Casual. Had to be casual. Definitely not searching for something wrong with Priyah herself. Never. Definitely.