TALIBA. it had only been yesterday that the abnormalities had first shown themselves on her screen. rather, they had been abnormalities of the usual abnormalities: 𝚊𝚕𝚊𝚛𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚖𝚞𝚝𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚜. THERE IS SOMETHING UNNATURAL UNFOLDING, she’d told jade in those early morning hours, the other woman’s face grim, but knowing. nothing unnatural about it, she replied, pulling out her own notes. only sad. admittedly, tali found it difficult to feel sadness when only staring at a number on her screen; it was meaningless. ɪᴛ ʜᴀᴅ ɴᴏ ɪɴʜᴇʀᴇɴᴛ ᴘᴜʀᴘᴏꜱᴇ. so she had looked to jade and jade had already been looking southward, to toronto.
LESS THAN TWENTY - FOUR HOURS LATER, they were gingerly stepping past a grimy iron - wrought gate, picking their way through a yard which had overgrown and then promptly died, and descending down hidden, decaying steps to a place that seemed plucked out of a different time and space. [ @redwebs ] tali took a seat in the far corner of the room and neatly arranged her computer bag on her lap before stilling to a near death - like trance, awaiting her cue. her round eyes watched jade stride up to shiloh, her hands tucked away in the pockets of her trousers, and greet the hacker, the note of regret in her voice unmissable even as she gave her customary smile: 𝚊 𝚖𝚒𝚡 𝚋𝚎𝚝𝚠𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚍𝚗𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚖𝚒𝚜𝚌𝚑𝚒𝚎𝚏.
“ [ . . . ] RIGHT UNDER OUR NOSES, ” jade was saying.
the thief removed her long black overcoat and draped it neatly over the back of the chair offered to her. when she leaned forward to slide over the papers she had prepared for shiloh, the curtain of her long black hair parted and spilled over the front of her shoulders, and hints of the long white scars slashed across her neck appeared above the collar of her blouse. ONLY SAD. “ the pattern suggests an on - going awareness of the trafficking, but here, in the later part of last spring, there was [ . . . ] yes. A DEAL WAS STRUCK. one which had likely been refused before. ꜱᴏ ɪ ʜᴀᴅ ᴛᴀʟɪ ʟᴏᴏᴋ ɪɴᴛᴏ ᴄʜᴀɴɢᴇꜱ ɪɴ ᴘᴏᴡᴇʀ. they really don’t do usurpations like they used to anymore, ” jade said, laughter buried just below the low tone of her voice. “ NO SENSE OF STYLE ANYMORE, YOU KNOW? ” 𝚃𝙷𝙰𝚃'𝚂 𝙱𝙴𝙲𝙰𝚄𝚂𝙴 𝚃𝙷𝙴𝚈'𝚁𝙴 𝙵𝙴𝙰𝚁𝙵𝚄𝙻 𝙾𝙵 𝙿𝙴𝙾𝙿𝙻𝙴 𝙻𝙸𝙺𝙴 𝚄𝚂, tali thought. cowards, the lot of them.
