SEOUL ♔ NOW THE SUN IS UP AND I'M GOING BLIND

[hacker]

delilah - florence + the machine

WHO || Anastasia, Jeanne, Doyle, Skye, Ward, Abbie
WHAT || The Knights are assigned to protect South Korea's President-Elect from assassination attempts.
WHERE || Seoul, South Korea
WHEN || End of April, 2016
HOW || Actionspam

Four days after the briefing, President Kim sends a plane for the team of Knights dispatched by Wynn, and their flight to Seoul—what could have been a grueling 12-hour affair—is spent in the most comfort that can be afforded by a highly regarded politician. The seats are roomy, the staff is attentive, and no one shouts at them to return to their seats.

They're put up in a hotel near the Blue House, the seat of the executive powers of South Korea, where the President-Elect has asked to meet them to go over the security plans for the inauguration.

Comments

[betrayed]

[She's going to end up with a heart murmur with all that caffeine. He's not going to tell her that, but it still can't be healthy. He keeps an eye on her. Sometimes it's subtle, but other times he just is trying to get her to look at him. She is too focused on her work, or too focused on not looking at him, so eventually he simply rises up out of his seat and moves to occupy the one directly across from her.]

Need a break? [He offers to help, without actually suggesting that he actually help her.]

[hacker]

[ Her eyes lift to him, annoyance immediately evidence, but they drift next to the clock and she rubs the heel of her palm across her brow, sitting back. ]

It's not about need. It's about getting this done by the time we land; it'll save us hours of sifting through data.

[betrayed]

[He hadn't meant to imply that the work stop, but rather that he step in and help.]

Then I'll rephrase - need a hand?

[hacker]

This isn't just some exploit you can run. I'm coding a program for my computer to run in the background while we input all the data she's got. It's complex programming: last I checked, you weren't an expert.

[ In part, she declares it as a challenge, like she feels the need to levy her expertise and usefulness against his. But it's an unconvincing test when her fingers haven't touched the keyboard in more than twenty minutes, a sim of the beta running on her screen through image after image of some of the Knights themselves, cross-checking facial recognition patterns against social media banks on Flickr and Tumblr and Instagram and Facebook ad nauseum, sifting through available bank and credit records, against known addresses and associates. ]

[betrayed]

[There's a hint of perturbed in his expression, mostly in the way he purses his lips tightly. No, he's not an "expert" but he's also not a dolt. Still, he realizes that despite being on the same team, Skye is going to have a hard time letting him actually help her with anything.]

Can you show me what it's compiling? [At least, show off what you're capable of doing, as an "expert".]

[hacker]

[ Well, he's right. She's not happy about it. But she steers the laptop around in hopes that he won't recognize the data streaming through the program presently, despite the security and social media footage that is being sampled in the bottom right of the window. ]

Beta testing. It's compiling public records, cross-checking facial recognition against every social media engine in use, identifying suspicious transaction activity on their bank statements.

[betrayed]

[Leaning forward a bit in his seat, he scans the different windows (spot 17) seeing all of them, but (computer use CRIT FAIL ) he has no clue what he's looking at. Which, you know, is just perfect for Ward. Still he nods and tries to pretend like he totally knows what she's doing (bluff 21).]

And when it's done beta testing?

[hacker]

Then I'll tweak the errors in the individual processes and finalize it, so all we have to do is plug in President-Elect Kim's duty roster and we'll spit out potential weak points. [ She wheels the laptop back towards her with an uneasy look that's hard to read. To be fair, Ward always makes her uneasy, but this seems more like she's worried that he's seeing into her somehow. ] You don't care about programming.

[betrayed]

[More nodding. When she turns the laptop back around, he eases back into the seat and watches her. The unease is easy for him to pick up on (sense motive 35), but really that is definitely just 'standard Ward response' these days. It might be a bit more apparent, or he's just gotten better at reading her.]

I do if it gets valuable intel. [He's pretty sure anyone would be pro-programming if it meant less leg work for them.

He's still gonna ask, because they're not in private so it's not like she can rail on him here. Right?] Everything okay?

[hacker]

[ She bristles, but visibly observes the lack of privacy in the plane and softens her edges through deliberate effort, shaking her head and loosening some hair around her shoulders in the process. ]

Yeah. [ the dismissal is softly intent. ] Just tired, I guess. [ She slumps in her seat, waffling on whether or not to sleep while the program runs. ]

[betrayed]

[He nods, still watching her.]

I'm sure if you wanted to take a nap, no one would be upset.

[hacker]

Can't afford it.

[ She grabs for a paper coffee cup stacked out on the table instead. ]

No rest for the wicked, right?