(TKTM) Some Things Don't Belong Online

[Star]

"Oh, these were your folders?" Cut holds his up, looking surprised.

"Nice work, man."

A hand rubbed at the bridge of his nose. This sure was turning into a train wreck, fast. Bloodthirsty wenches. Were they really going to go Godfather some rumor mongers on the Interwebs? File that under: 'How Guardians Get A Bad Rap'.

"OK, the idea of sliding over there and hanging for Mandy to find out specifics works for me. The other stuff... I'm not so jazzy about. Because here's the thing. Right now, it's just some people making noise. There's not even any evidence. No cell phone pictures, no video, nothing. Just some guys making noise. But I'm thinking, if they get dead-i-fied, maybe that's some heat, right there. More attention."

And kinda wrong, yo.


"Right now, it's wide open. Discredit them. Cut off their Internet access. Con them into exclusivity. Whatever. But once we pull a trigger, those options collapse. And... for what? If everyone who said dumb shit on the Internet got body bagged, we'd be an endagered species, right?"

He was pacing now, one hand riffing the edge of the folder.

"Anyway. That's all I'm saying. And I think we all want the problem to go way, we just need to be open-minded. Especially about working together. I think we ought to do a little more leg-work. But, first, we need an angle. Do we want to go all Fed on them, stick with the interview thing, what?"

Baby steps, people.

[Zodiac]

"We are absolutely not going to just shoot them," the woman responded with a blank look. "I don't say this - ever - but Cut is right. He has a point. They suddenly disappear, more questions get asked - what was going on? Were they onto something? What were they on to? This isn't the Mafia. I can do my thing, I gather information, I'm good at it. Don't ask me to be a social princess or to be convincing anyone of anything otherwise."

That would be the wrong tree to bark up for damn sure. Mandy was generally about as sweetly pursuasive as anvil. "That's why I'm asking you all what you want to do. I've given you the amount of information I have, and what I can do and provide to this. If any of you are feeling particularly willy-nilly about things, maybe in my interactions with them I can find something - but that means coming up with a plan on the fly. I'd like to have other options - a backup or two. There's no need to simply go about shooting anyone," Mandy remarked pointedly, looking to Autolycus and then to Nous.

"If we can't figure something out now, then I'll go ahead and do my thing," though frankly she was concerned about letting these idiots brainstorm anything on their own. Literally, anything.

[Snarlequin]

Autolycus sits back, mollified that the others weren't keeping "guns" on the table. "They're already primed to think it's some kind of conspiracy, right? What if we feed into that? Mandy and I can play MiB, get some suits and sunglasses and be vaguely threatening. Feed them some obvious bullshit and advise them that it's in their best interest to drop this line of inquiry while Mandy here throws some fear into them. If that works, great. End of Story. If it doesn't, you and Nous can be there to be the legit outsiders with contacts that take their story seriously. Maybe spin some story about how you're following some spooks and then show them some pictures of us in our MiB getups. Get them to contact you if they see or hear anything else." Auto looks around at the group, letting them think about it. "Does that sound like something we as a team could pull off?"

[Jhet]

Persuasion is about Seventy Percent sounding correct. Twenty-Nine Percent is looking good while sounding correct. One Percent is actually being correct.

She's not pulling it off today. She barely sounds right to herself. More em-pha-sis on the right syl-la-ble.

"I'm not advocating that we walk in there and pop two caps in some fools' heads. Mandy asked for martial talents. That's mine." She starts by clearing up the misconception. "I'm willing to do what is necessary, should it become necessary. That is all." Maybe it works, or maybe they all just think she's a blood-thirsty transplant from out of town. It isn't necessarily a terrible thing that she gain a reputation for doing what is necessary, but the confusion is apparent to her.

"Now, I am good at being sugar and spice and everything nice. That is a talent I possess, even if I'm falling flat on my face explaining my point of view today. I'm not being precise enough in my speaking. It's why I suggested we get them in for an interview. So yes, Cut and I can be the fall back option. I'm sure I can pull off being a freelancer that's just starting out and trying to get a story." And if that doesn't work, she can always scare it out of them.

She's going to need to switch gears, because her instincts tell her to destroy any and all evidence out there that would jeopardize the Lie, but so far the few people in Sacramento that she's met don't seem particularly keen on that basic plan. It's easy, and cleaner than it sounds. This plan just feels messy, even though it probably isn't.

[Star]

Mandy isn't a social princess, people. Consider yourselves duly informed. Because it needed saying, right?! That bit about him being right? Oh, he was so going to hold that over her head.

Lycus got the finger guns.

"I'm cool with that. Nous, Mandy, what say you? If things go sideways, we can always improvise, right?"

Man. How come he never got picked for the suit jobs? Didn't he look menacing? Oh well. He'd have to work on his grrrr face.

[Zodiac]

... so she was partnering up with Folder guy? Great. She gave a soft sigh before nodding a bit. "I have a change of clothes that's likely appropriate for the plan - sans sunglasses." Seriously, though, did they need shades? "I am leaving it to the two of you to brainstorm something on the fly. I hope you're better at improvising than other things," Mandy stated rather pointedly to Cut. "I'll set up a telepathic connection once we're closer so I don't have to hold the damn thing so long, but that will make it so we can keep the two groups in touch without need for phones or whatnot. It means a faster response can be made, too, on the off chance that it becomes necessary."

... Leaving the improvisation and backup to the Reporter and the Jester... felt horrifically foreboding to her. Basically, they were going to have to get shit done right the first time, because if they ended up in any serious danger... her fingers pressed to her temples to rub away a migraine. Well, she'd just have to make sure it got done right the first time.

[Jhet]

"I have sunglasses that you can use. You know, if you don't want to go or dislike shopping." She may not look threatening with curly hair falling from her head, but she's from beach country. She keeps enough sunglasses to keep her eyes shaded from the setting sun over the ocean. Granted, they aren't all necessary anymore.

She is certain that no matter how well they plan out the men-in-black routine that it's going to spook the conspirators. She just hopes that it will push them straight back into the hands of the people who are waiting to do an interview with Daniel Barton and his co-conspirator. Provided that this leads them to Mr. Lightning-Hands, this might actually turn into a decent plan. She's still a fan of kicking down doors and kicking teeth in, but this might just work.

I'm good to progress whenever.

[Star]

Than. Other. Things.

Did she just... ? Really!? Wow. Ouch.

The side conversation about sunglasses sure put an exclamation point on it.

Yep, let's do it!