xp_logs | Envoy: The Art of Googling (Nathan and Angelo, Tuesday night)

After these emails about mysterious acronyms and so forth, Angelo heads upstairs to talk to his boss, who's dealing with a cranky telepathic baby and the realization that Narrowing His Focus is definitely in order.

One last reply sent, Angelo packed up the laptop and headed upstairs. He could hear Rachel shrieking before he even got to the top, and winced sympathetically as he knocked on the door.

Nathan was pacing. Mostly because he was waiting five minutes to see if Rachel stopped crying before he went in there to pick her up, because that was the recommended thing to do and after last night, he was following recommendations. "Come in," he called distractedly at the knock at the door.

Angelo pushed the door open and headed in. "She's not settlin' down yet, then?"

"What gave you that impression?" Nathan asked with a rattled laugh.

"WAAAAH! WAAAAH!"

"Oh, right. The howling." Nathan gave the living room a harried look. "Sit down. Or go play with Google? I need to go try and calm her down." With his shields up, this time. Definitely.

Angelo dropped casually onto the couch, flipping his laptop open. "I think I've got Google workin' properly now."

"Oh, good." Nathan vanished into the nursery, the door closing behind him.

"WAAAAH! WAAAAH!"

"Rachel, come on, sweetheart..."

"WAAAH! WAAAH!"

"Shhh...."

#WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!# The telepathic shriek was audible, psi-shielding or no psi-shielding.

Angelo flinched in reaction, looking up from the screen. Unsure if Nathan could even hear him over the noise, he called, "Got any idea what's botherin' her so much?"

"I don't know," Nathan said, stepping out into the living room again, a madly wriggling Rachel in his arms. As soon as they were outside the nursery she hushed immediately, although the faces she kept making at Nathan were moderately appalling. "Huh," Nathan said, frowning as he cradled her in the crook of his arm.

Angelo pulled a face at her, remembering how it had amused her last time. "Don't you like bein' in there, Rachel?"

Rachel let out a series of indignant squeaks, but then yawned and settled down in Nathan's arms. Nathan blinked down at her, then shook his head. "Okay then," he said helplessly, coming over and sitting down on the couch beside Angelo. "I would venture to suggest that the answer is yes. Now. You got it working, you said?"

"I think so. Found the page for MERC, anyway."

"Makes a little more sense that they'd be on that donor list," Nathan said, peering at the laptop screen. "And yeah, that's the website I remember. Looks like it's got a lot of documents publicly available..."

Angelo nodded, pulling up the first on the list. "Most of 'em look pretty interestin', too."

"They're fairly legit, if a little on the radical side. A lot of scions of wealthy Algerian families are involved, so they need to be at least semi-respectable." Nathan rocked Rachel idly, not really registering the soft cooing noise she was making.

Angelo nodded. "Can't piss off the ones that hold the trust funds."

"Dead end. Or at least, not an end we need to be pursuing." Nathan took a deep breath and then let it out, his thoughts cycling back down to 'composed' rather than 'chaotic'. Of course, once he did that he started to remember that he was too damned tired for his own good, which was a questionable trade-off, really. "DRMA is another matter entirely, but I don't want you anywhere near that. I can possibly find out more but I have to do it with some care, because of their government ties."

"Hey, yeah, I'm just learnin' the ropes here. I go where you send me."

Nathan gave Angelo a wry look. "And I'm a cranky boss. I know that."

"Oooo?"

"And no, I'm not blaming it all on you, Ray. No need to look so worried."

Angelo laughed. "Ah, you're not so bad. Could work for worse people."

"We're drowning in data here," Nathan said candidly, shaking his head a little. "That's the problem. I was stupidly overambitious even by my standards, and I'm not sure how to narrow our focus."

"Talked to the Professor about it?"

"I'm going to have to. This is not working, and I don't like the idea of spinning our wheels trying to sort through it all." Rachel squeaked, and Nathan kissed her on the forehead. "Yes, sweetie, this is an example of Dad's lack of strategic thinking. It's a problem. Ask Mom."

Angelo chuckled. "We're just gettin' started, remember. It'll get sorted out."

"An optimistic minion. I picked well."

(OOC: Set well after this log with Jean and a much happier Rachel.)