Webcam up in here.
[Hardison is sitting in a nondescript warehouse somewhere, chillin' at a desk, with a bottle of orange soda in hand. Clearly someone else must have gotten it for him, because he's still on Hypatia's shit list. He leans back in his chair and folds his arms over his chest--wait, the camera...he's using his netbook's webcam to broadcast onto the
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Well.
She's just studying him, okay.
The video clicks on to reveal Parker's face, and not much else. She's leaned in fairly close to the camera, and it's too dark to make out much of anything about what her surroundings might be.
There's also a weird sort of echo when she speaks.]
Hardison?
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...Yeah?
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After a moment, she looks at the screen again.]
Uh.
Nothing.
[She shifts a little, and at the same time, there's a metallic thump. That sound isn't coming from over the wearable, though. In fact, it sounds as if it's coming from inside the wall just in front of Hardison's computer.]
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Uh...Parker.
Why are you in the wall?
Are you stuck?
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No, I'm not stuck.
[she'd just rather check on you from inside the vents and call it patrolling than have to actually admit to herself that she's checking on you.]
Is everything okay?
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While that was akin to saying 'water was acting wet', suspicious wasn't really Parker's standard type of weird. Hardison just looks at the screen and takes a drink of his soda.]
Well, yeah. Aside from the whole...worried about the Deathstar thing, I'm pretty good.
Why, somethin' up?
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...maybe.
[There's another pause, as Parker peers out through the vent again. She seems to be scanning the room.]
No one's tried to kill you lately?
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No....
Why? Someone planning on trying to kill me?
[He just looks up at the vent.]
Parker, you can come down now.
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[There's a pause as she glances anxiously through the vent again, and then the feed clicks off. After a moment, the vent cover starts rattling in its frame until it finally comes loose. Parker pushes herself forward out of the opening and lowers herself gracefully to the floor. She looks across the room at him, her expression uncertain, almost...scared.]
...Hardison?
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Parker? What is it?
[He doesn't have the hesitation she does, and gets up to start walking over to her, checking her out for injuries as he does. He is not very subtle about it.]
Are you hurt? Is something up? Dammit, is someone trying to kill you? [At that idea, he mans up and puts on his serious face. Ain't nobody hurting Parker while he's around.]
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[She crosses her arms, trying to discourage his examination, but she doesn't actually move any further away from him. Somehow, she doesn't like the idea of there being too much space between them right now.]
Have you been watching the network?
[She'd gone back and checked after talking with Shepard, trying to see if she could find out anything more about why Zaeed might want to kill Garrus. But all she'd found were a lot of posts from a lot of people who all seemed really upset.
And apparently she's not the only one with a headache.]
I think there's something wrong.
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[Truth be told, Hardison really didn't care to keep track of the network. It was like any other social network. You work on the internet long enough and you just stop giving a damn about that kind of thing.]
No, I mean, not really. Should I?
[In her own way, Parker seems really shaken up about this. Hardison is just going to put a comforting hand on her shoulder. It's all the awkward, but she might hurt him if he hugged her.]
Uh...you want to just sit down for a while. It's safe here.
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[Parker looks down at his hand on her shoulder, not annoyed, but as if she's not quite sure what it's doing there. She just nods, though, and follows him over to the couch, sitting down with her back ramrod straight and her hands tucked under her thighs. She can't seem to keep her eyes from darting around the room.]
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Weird? Yeah...I'm beginning to notice that.
[He just arches a brow.]
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Finally, she blurts it out, her eyes fixed on the wall across from her.]
Zaeed killed Garrus.
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Wait--like...from Mass Effect? [Parker wouldn't know that game.]
Tall guy...uh...looks Australian? Yellow armor? Killed....[Just how do you describe a Turian? Hell...] A space dinosaur with a clear eyepatch?
[Parker seemed very upset about this. While Hardison couldn't exactly fathom why those two characters would go at it, it had happened and had been distressing. He shuffles off further queries for later and nods solemnly.]
I'm sorry. That's rough.
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