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xp_logsBackdated to January 10. After determining that Marius is no longer a threat, Doug gets to the task of scrubbing footage that might show his face. Marie-Ange comes to visit him with lunch and check in on their post-Black Horse discussion about his nanites and Clan Akkaba.
Marie-Ange's fatigue showed not just on her face - dark circles under her eyes, no makeup, hair in a messy bun - but also in the fact that she personally, with her hands, was carrying two bags of take-out into the conference room that she and Doug had taken over earlier that day.
"Chicken marsala, garlic bread, stuffed pasta shells, the seafood linguine that Luciana said you always get, and pesto ravioli."
She set the bags down, started unpacking and then reached into her pocket, again a sign of fatigue, she was in yoga pants and a long-sleeved workout shirt - and retrieved a plastic fork. Which she very gently poked Doug in the forehead with.
Doug blinked owlishly at the poke, then caught up with events as he came out of whatever not-quite fugue state he'd been in. "Oh, food, right. Mm, seafood linguine." He grabbed the linguine and the chicken marsala and dragged the garlic bread container to approximately between them so that Marie-Ange couldn't eat the whole thing, and set to. "Thankfully, 'Death' was only visibly recognizable as Marius Laverne for the very end of the combat, so that means less footage to cover." As it was, trying to tag all the phones that had been in geographic range to take photos was going to be an absolute headache and a half.
"Yes, food. You texted me a very specific caloric request." Marie-Ange turned her phone towards Doug, to show the text she had gotten, complete with nutritional requirements. "Is this because I know statistics now? I will forget everything I learned if it means not getting this text anymore." Her voice was amused and light, despite the clear lack of sleep. "I am enforcing a thirty minute break because I do not understand a single thing you are doing, plus I have to go 'interview' some police officers so I can ask Emma or Quentin to erase memories for us later and I need to prepare my emotions with pasta."
"I texted you a caloric request because your girlfriend is the Bottomless Pit Of Brighton, I figured you're used to getting huge amounts of food to fuel ridiculous metabolisms these days." Doug was mostly used to having to fuel what folks at the mansion referred to as the 'mutant metabolism' these days, though it did still occasionally amuse him that his dietary needs actually didn't have much to do with his mutant power, except extremely indirectly. As he began eating large forkfuls of linguine, he pointed at one of the screens. "What I'm doing right now is searching for any phone camera shots of periods after the deaths-head went away. I've got a crawler searching around this particular time stamp-" he indicated a readout at the bottom of the screen indicating the precise moment. "-and looking for any variations on 'oh my god who is that' in the audio."
"Perfect. I need a list of anyone you think might have an identity." Marie-Ange snatched up garlic bread, and made it disappear in large bites. "I know why you texted it, it was just funny in the moment." She tore into the container of ravioli hungrily. "Amanda has delivery coming as well, she is out of powers and not out of appetite. So you are looking through social media, news cameras, security footage, yes? Were there any broadcasts we should worry about?"
Doug shook his head. "A few news choppers with more ambition than sense, but their footage was pretty easy to deal with first thing. You might have Emma and Quentin pay the chopper crews a visit, though, after the police." No sense in being less than complete about it. "It's the phone footage and social media that's going to take the most time. The benefit and curse of smartphone ubiquity - I have plenty of places I can sneak through cracks, but when it's time to spackle over those cracks..." Okay, perhaps this metaphor was getting a bit away from him.
Another mouthful of pasta was eaten, and Marie-Ange wiped her face with a napkin. "Get me names, I can make sure those get forgotten." She unfolded her tablet computer and started typing notes one-handed. "I am going to put Topaz on journalists and business owners. Anyone too excited about a lawsuit or the identity of Death. Anyone who did see his face is just going to remember another face.."
"On it." Doug thought of a few amusing possibilities for people to remember, but figured Marie-Ange probably already had a plan in place, and efficiency was more important than humor right now. "I'll have them grouped out so you know who to put on which." He shoveled some more pasta into his face between sentences.
"Can I have all of your attention for a few minutes?" Marie-Ange asked, and waiting for Doug to stop putting improbably large bites of garlic bread in his mouth. "Was there any reaction from the nanites? Anything? Can I have Topaz check you for emotional response?"
Doug wasn't sure he liked the way Marie-Ange said 'all of your attention', but that could just be his anxiety talking. "Not that I noticed. I wasn't close enough to have any appreciable reaction to the Clan Akkaba people and whatever magic stuff they were dealing in. And I didn't feel any kind of pull or influence even at the peak of the confrontation." He shrugged. "I don't know if that's conclusive, but I'm happy to have Topaz take a look."
"Lovely, I will let her know she does not need to skulk." And that was that, and Marie-Ange was back to devouring pasta and using her garlic bread to mop up pesto and marinara. "As long as I do not have to learn what a confidence interval really is, I am content to un-bench you from any more Clan Akkaba related issues."
"Makes me wonder what they might have up their sleeve next," Doug mused, leaning back in his chair as he pursed his lips thoughtfully. "I assume this 'En Sabah Nur' Marius mentioned isn't the sort to just accept defeat. So, then, what's likely to be their next move?" His eyes went a bit vacant as he concentrated on calling up his memory of the book of Revelations, which he had kept as a resource throughout the rise of the Horsemen. "There are probably three options." Doug began to tick them off as he mentioned them. "The fifth seal, the 'cry of the martyrs', though it's not as clear what that would mean in real terms. He starts a new cycle of Horsemen...or attempts to find a successful Death to complete what Marius was prevented from." None of the options seemed cheerful, but that was end-of-the-world imagery for you.
"No, no we are not worrying about that right now. RIght now I am burning precognition at both ends and not sleeping again so we can not have anti-mutant riots in the city because someone recognized Marius' face." Marie-Ange said, half mumbling as she chewed on pasta and cheese. "No speaking of falling stars or moons like blood right now. I need a week to recover, then I can go eat a Bible and throw up prophecy and be mad that someone bastardized a book that was supposed to be about the fall of the Western Roman Empire!"
Doug snorted. "See, I always figured it was more about John tripping on some either really good or really bad hallucinogens, depending on your perspective."
Marie-Ange's fatigue showed not just on her face - dark circles under her eyes, no makeup, hair in a messy bun - but also in the fact that she personally, with her hands, was carrying two bags of take-out into the conference room that she and Doug had taken over earlier that day.
"Chicken marsala, garlic bread, stuffed pasta shells, the seafood linguine that Luciana said you always get, and pesto ravioli."
She set the bags down, started unpacking and then reached into her pocket, again a sign of fatigue, she was in yoga pants and a long-sleeved workout shirt - and retrieved a plastic fork. Which she very gently poked Doug in the forehead with.
Doug blinked owlishly at the poke, then caught up with events as he came out of whatever not-quite fugue state he'd been in. "Oh, food, right. Mm, seafood linguine." He grabbed the linguine and the chicken marsala and dragged the garlic bread container to approximately between them so that Marie-Ange couldn't eat the whole thing, and set to. "Thankfully, 'Death' was only visibly recognizable as Marius Laverne for the very end of the combat, so that means less footage to cover." As it was, trying to tag all the phones that had been in geographic range to take photos was going to be an absolute headache and a half.
"Yes, food. You texted me a very specific caloric request." Marie-Ange turned her phone towards Doug, to show the text she had gotten, complete with nutritional requirements. "Is this because I know statistics now? I will forget everything I learned if it means not getting this text anymore." Her voice was amused and light, despite the clear lack of sleep. "I am enforcing a thirty minute break because I do not understand a single thing you are doing, plus I have to go 'interview' some police officers so I can ask Emma or Quentin to erase memories for us later and I need to prepare my emotions with pasta."
"I texted you a caloric request because your girlfriend is the Bottomless Pit Of Brighton, I figured you're used to getting huge amounts of food to fuel ridiculous metabolisms these days." Doug was mostly used to having to fuel what folks at the mansion referred to as the 'mutant metabolism' these days, though it did still occasionally amuse him that his dietary needs actually didn't have much to do with his mutant power, except extremely indirectly. As he began eating large forkfuls of linguine, he pointed at one of the screens. "What I'm doing right now is searching for any phone camera shots of periods after the deaths-head went away. I've got a crawler searching around this particular time stamp-" he indicated a readout at the bottom of the screen indicating the precise moment. "-and looking for any variations on 'oh my god who is that' in the audio."
"Perfect. I need a list of anyone you think might have an identity." Marie-Ange snatched up garlic bread, and made it disappear in large bites. "I know why you texted it, it was just funny in the moment." She tore into the container of ravioli hungrily. "Amanda has delivery coming as well, she is out of powers and not out of appetite. So you are looking through social media, news cameras, security footage, yes? Were there any broadcasts we should worry about?"
Doug shook his head. "A few news choppers with more ambition than sense, but their footage was pretty easy to deal with first thing. You might have Emma and Quentin pay the chopper crews a visit, though, after the police." No sense in being less than complete about it. "It's the phone footage and social media that's going to take the most time. The benefit and curse of smartphone ubiquity - I have plenty of places I can sneak through cracks, but when it's time to spackle over those cracks..." Okay, perhaps this metaphor was getting a bit away from him.
Another mouthful of pasta was eaten, and Marie-Ange wiped her face with a napkin. "Get me names, I can make sure those get forgotten." She unfolded her tablet computer and started typing notes one-handed. "I am going to put Topaz on journalists and business owners. Anyone too excited about a lawsuit or the identity of Death. Anyone who did see his face is just going to remember another face.."
"On it." Doug thought of a few amusing possibilities for people to remember, but figured Marie-Ange probably already had a plan in place, and efficiency was more important than humor right now. "I'll have them grouped out so you know who to put on which." He shoveled some more pasta into his face between sentences.
"Can I have all of your attention for a few minutes?" Marie-Ange asked, and waiting for Doug to stop putting improbably large bites of garlic bread in his mouth. "Was there any reaction from the nanites? Anything? Can I have Topaz check you for emotional response?"
Doug wasn't sure he liked the way Marie-Ange said 'all of your attention', but that could just be his anxiety talking. "Not that I noticed. I wasn't close enough to have any appreciable reaction to the Clan Akkaba people and whatever magic stuff they were dealing in. And I didn't feel any kind of pull or influence even at the peak of the confrontation." He shrugged. "I don't know if that's conclusive, but I'm happy to have Topaz take a look."
"Lovely, I will let her know she does not need to skulk." And that was that, and Marie-Ange was back to devouring pasta and using her garlic bread to mop up pesto and marinara. "As long as I do not have to learn what a confidence interval really is, I am content to un-bench you from any more Clan Akkaba related issues."
"Makes me wonder what they might have up their sleeve next," Doug mused, leaning back in his chair as he pursed his lips thoughtfully. "I assume this 'En Sabah Nur' Marius mentioned isn't the sort to just accept defeat. So, then, what's likely to be their next move?" His eyes went a bit vacant as he concentrated on calling up his memory of the book of Revelations, which he had kept as a resource throughout the rise of the Horsemen. "There are probably three options." Doug began to tick them off as he mentioned them. "The fifth seal, the 'cry of the martyrs', though it's not as clear what that would mean in real terms. He starts a new cycle of Horsemen...or attempts to find a successful Death to complete what Marius was prevented from." None of the options seemed cheerful, but that was end-of-the-world imagery for you.
"No, no we are not worrying about that right now. RIght now I am burning precognition at both ends and not sleeping again so we can not have anti-mutant riots in the city because someone recognized Marius' face." Marie-Ange said, half mumbling as she chewed on pasta and cheese. "No speaking of falling stars or moons like blood right now. I need a week to recover, then I can go eat a Bible and throw up prophecy and be mad that someone bastardized a book that was supposed to be about the fall of the Western Roman Empire!"
Doug snorted. "See, I always figured it was more about John tripping on some either really good or really bad hallucinogens, depending on your perspective."
no subject
Date: 2024-01-16 06:28 am (UTC)Ah, the Dante's Inferno problem.
It is nice to see inside the housekeeping side of things of XF. I enjoy the worldbuilding texture that comes with seeing what goes on with the backend of things.
no subject
Date: 2024-01-16 02:32 pm (UTC)No one should be forced to know math, MA. Personally I’m imaging Doug sent her a caloric count and macro spread.
Some of my favorite logs are the ones, like this, that mix daily needs and activities with larger scale problem solving. A wonderful read.
no subject
Date: 2024-01-16 04:16 pm (UTC)