The Fate of a Nation

[Rachel Ascot]

AARON! IT IS ABSOLUTELY IMPERATIVE YOU GET OVER HERE AS POSSIBLE; THE FUTURE OF CRETA MAY DEPEND ON IT!

With the press of a button on her phone, and the text was sent. Rachel's brow was racked with panicked indecision. Only Aaron could do it; Elastor wouldn't answer the call, Vivian wouldn't understand, and anyone else could make the wrong choice and doom Creta to oblivion...

... which speaker sounded better?

They were truly colossal beasts; one reached Rachel's neck, and the other was easily the size of a table. Two black monoliths, taunting the Cretan queen with their radically different sound; one emphasised the bass, the other the treble, and both had distinctive sounds. The taller of the two offered a sharp punch, each note and sound perfectly distinct. The wider of the two, however, simply flowed into the room, shuddering the ground with every sound. For now, they were completely silent, with Rachel simply pacing the room. Along the wall, she had a few new shirts hanging across the wall, but that was a less urgent matter; Aaron could answer those questions too, but it was the lesser of two matters. The speakers, though... they were grave indeed. She bit her finger, her free hand clutching her bare arm. All she wore was a small tank top, really something to be worn under other clothes, and a plaid knee-length skirt; not queen material, or at least not until she got onto the throne, where it seemed any fashion was acceptable.

DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!

Doorbell! Rachel rushed to it and yanked the door open. "Oh, Aaron, thank god, it's an emergency!" She panted.

[Aaron H]

Aaron had just gotten comfortable in bed. His laptop sat n his lap while he zoned into theories on bigfoot and the possible maybe sightings people often had. So what if he was bored? He had become enraptured in the fascination of the potential possibility of something unknown actually being there and scientists had missed it so many years. It was just like Nessie and the Jersey Devil. Now to say he believed it, was a lie. To uncover the psyches behind it; far more intriguing. Speaking of which he debated going over some unsolved mysteries of the world. They were so stupid and over-exaggerated, yet it didn't stop him from trying to piece together each thought process and plot within the foundations of stories.

Of course in his state of concentration, he hadn't heard a noise in what seemed like hours. When his phone suddenly went off, he nearly fell out of bed. His eyes took a few seconds to adjust as he flipped his phone up and looked at the text. Oh god! What had happened? Did he miscalculate something? Was there a file he missed? What could be the danger posing a threat to Creta, now?

Startled and disoriented, Aaron barely managed to grab his phone and jolt out the door. Luckily he had his pants zipped and his shirt buttoned, otherwise he'd look just plain silly. He hopped in his really old and shitty looking car and drove all the way to the location and half stumbled out. It was getting later so he was tired. but that didn't stop him from helping out when needed.

Running up to the door was more exercise than he needed and it was almost instant that it opened when he rang the bell. Her own breath was that of raspy gasps while he looked at her with large, oblivious and confused eyes. "Wh-what's wrong? What's happened?" He urged quickly. This had to be bad if she was texting him! "Are you hurt? Has someone broken in? Do we have a traitor in the ranks?" All of these, of course, were worst-case scenarios. He felt stupid after a moment, because if she HAD been hurt she would have been able to call 911, but at the moment he supposed that didn't matter.

[Rachel Ascot]

His eyes almost as wide as hers, Aaron came to the door, spouting in panic and desperate for information. "Wh-what's wrong? What's happened? Are you hurt? Has someone broken in? Do we have a traitor in the ranks?" Rachel was quite thankful; he grasped the urgency of the situation, even if he didn't know what the situation was.

"Worse." She said, before inviting him into her home. All of the things he mentioned, she could easily handle. She could treat her own wounds, she could handle herself in a fight, and she could sniff out a traitor from a mile away, but this was something she couldn't do. So she showed Aaron through to the room with the two huge speakers and gestured to a nearby chair.

"Take a seat, and take this phone." She handed him her phone, a small little smartphone with gold-leaf lining. Urgency and peril was in her voice. She then stood behind the two speakers, plugging her laptop in. "First, I need you to tell me which of these sound better." She turned on some music, and the entire room shook with a low, booming series of thuds emanating from the wider of the two speakers, melodic, flowing, soft. She allowed it to play for about half a minute, and then Rachel changed the settings, the sound flowing from one speaker to the next; the taller of the two speakers now sent out a hard, energetic punch to counterpoint the low humming pulse of the first. She smiled up to Aaron.

"When you know which one of those is better, I'll need that phone programmed to control it remotely. You can make apps, right? This is really important, Creta could fall apart if I don't know this."

[Aaron H]

His blood ran cold. "Worse?" What could this emergency be? His eyes were still a bit wild while he followed her. It took a few more minutes for his brain to re-calibrate to normal functionality. They went into a room where she started to explain.. sort of.

"Take a seat, and take this phone." Completely oblivious to the moment, he sat down. His eyes stared hard at the phone, then back at the leader. His lips parted and he went to speak, but soon all was explained. "First, I need you to tell me which of these sound better." He was lost. The music nearly knocked him out of his seat with the sound suddenly booming. But- what did music have to do with- anything? Aaron simply had a dumb look of confusion, with brow furrowed. "Better depends on the.. situation.. " As normal, he was muttering a bit.

"When you know which one of those is better, I'll need that phone programmed to control it remotely. You can make apps, right? This is really important, Creta could fall apart if I don't know this."

... At first he was angry.. then confused.. the angry and confused. Finally he just gave up and didn't really care either way. In some circumstances he supposed a loud speaker would be good for evacuation situations. "You mean like a warning system, I assume? Because otherwise I don't see how this is an emergency." He shifted and stood up, then walked over to the speakers. "Hmm.. This one seems more clear for warnings. You can here the treble." For a moment, he scratched the scruff on his chin and looked thoughtfully at both. "Taking in account - Well.. really it all boils down to what do you intend to use it for."

He paused. "And yes, I can make an app."

[Rachel Ascot]

It was difficult to read this expression. Aaron seemed to flip between irritated and contemplative, as if he didn't quite get the urgency of the situation. Still, an answer was eventually given. "You mean like a warning system, I assume? Because otherwise I don't see how this is an emergency."

"It isn't for that, but it's a lot more important than is immediately obvious." She said cryptically. Indeed it was; after all, her club was more important than was immediately obvious.

"Hmm.. This one seems more clear for warnings. You can here the treble. Taking in account - Well.. really it all boils down to what do you intend to use it for." The hacker finally said, giving her the answer that she wanted, if uncertain and not fully comprehending the situation.

A pause.

"And yes, I can make an app." At those words, Rachel pulled Aaron into a hug, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and yanking him towards her.

"Thank you thank you thank you!" She said, her voice filled to the brim with joy. She pulled away, once again controlling herself. "Yeah, I'm going to need the app ASAP. In the meantime I'll just try some shirts on, you're free to ignore or ogle me, I'm not bothered by either." She explained, walking over to the wall, a small shelf holding up a multitude of coat hangers. Over her vest she put on the first in the line; a purple turtleneck with a golden crown in the centre. Simple but striking, tailor-made for her body.

"So, how are things on your end of things? Work's not too stressful, is it?" She asked, making idle conversation as she looked at herself in the mirror, before removing the turtleneck and looking for something else.

[Aaron H]

He was- hugged. OH GOD! A woman was hugging him! Aaron struggled a bit, but let her have her hug. He didn't like being touched or having his bubble invaded, but what was done, was done. She was so happy, he'd feel almost bad if he pushed her away, so he just let her. His face, naturally a nice shade of red. He couldn't handle himself.. at all in these situations.

"Yeah, I'm going to need the app ASAP. In the meantime I'll just try some shirts on, you're free to ignore or ogle me, I'm not bothered by either."

"Yeah, I'll just start to work on- Wait WHAT!?" He was utterly shocked at what she'd even suggested. To just - What? His eyes closed and he pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to calm his nerves that way, if possible! He was simply astonished, but somehow, he managed to regain his composure. "Anyways, give me a few minutes to an hour and I'll have it done." He found a spot on the floor and placed his bag on the floor. He fished out the laptop and opened it. From his pocket, he pulled out his own cellphone and began to type into the laptop. His back was to her.

"Work will always be stressful, but I enjoy my job." His voice was a bit of a murmur, since he was deep into work on the app.

[Rachel Ascot]

"Yeah, I'll just start to work on- Wait WHAT!?" Rachel could only giggle at Aaron's overblown reaction. Red face, shock painted all across it. He looked more like a cartoon character than a human being in that moment. She casually turned the radio, Frankie Goes To Hollywood's "The Power of Love" flowing through the air.

"I'm teasing, Aaron, I'm teasing." She reassured him. "Mind you, you seem to have a way with women. I must say, I'd be jealous if, you know, I was into girls. I mean, that was just a phase I had." She smirked widely, looking at the back of the hacker hunched over his laptop. "If you did your hair properly once in a while, you'd be able to sweep any girl off her feet at your leisure."

The next shirt she put on was a more summer-y one, more like a dress that stopped at her waist than an actual shirt. She frowned. Wasted money on that one, she thought to herself, before she placed it back. She picked another one, and then furrowed her brow, looking back to Aaron.

"Aaron," she began, her voice now having a little uncertainty. "- would it be wrong to ask you to keep an eye on someone for me?" She put the next shirt on, a baggy one where the sleeves hung at least four inches off her hands. "It's just... Dietrich. He's going around, meeting up with all the other world leaders. I know he's seeing the Shogun of Aerugo. Problem is, he isn't the prime minister yet. The election's not 'til the 11th; I think he's trying to force his way back into power rather than getting voted in, and I need you to make sure he's not got something up his sleeve." She smiled to the hacker once again. "It's not all that important, I can handle him if he tries to get rid of me, but I just want to see that he's on the level. Work on that app first, that's what's important right now."

[Aaron H]

He sort of ignored her. She was just tempting him to get smacked in the face. He kept tapping away. The codes were plugged in and reworded. Numbers and letters were placed in lines and sequences. The app was halfway done, already, it seemed. Rachel called for attention and Aaron went to look, but stopped. She was still changing. That would be extremely awkward to see.

"What is it you need?" Aaron asked in a sort of sincere voice. She spoke to him about Dietrich and her concerns. Strange request, seemed kind of illegal, but MORE illegal was not listening to the leader. "Sure. I suppose it shouldn't be too hard."

[Rachel Ascot]

Franklin's morning routine is simplistic, but intentionally so.

If his girlfriend was around, which she was on this occasion, Franklin makes her breakfast; a bowl of her favourite cereal, toast and a banana. He doesn't have his own breakfast, though; contrary to the popular belief that breakfast is the most important meal of the day for fitness, it's actually pretty superfluous. No, Franklin begins the day with a session of lifting light weights, just enough to wake him up. Then he has an hour on the punching bag, before eating his own breakfast; a banana and a cup of tea. Not much, but he usually balances it out with a bigger lunch than most. When his breakfast's settled, he runs to Rachel's penthouse; part exercise, but mostly to make sure she's ok and not killing someone. He picks up her mail; Rachel, surprisingly, is an early riser, but she usually doesn't go outside until the afternoon, preferring to to some odd work or simply goof off. He lets himself in with the keys to her house, having his own set if any emergencies arose. He was slightly surprised to see a man who he didn't see much of; Aaron Hartmen, Head of IC-IC. He simply passed him over, clearly busy tinkering on his laptop, and placed the mail on the nearby speaker the size of a table. The bouncer nodded to his employer, who currently had a shirt over her head.

"Glad to hear you can do it, Aaron. I know it's not strictly legal, but I only want you to make sure he's not planning anything untoward; I don't want you hacking into his laptop or anything like that, just knowing who he's meeting with and about what. Any time you feel uncomfortable doing it, you're free to refuse, and you have my guarantee I won't be using anything you find against him." Franklin took a guess as to what this was about.

"So, Rachel, you're finally taking my advice." He said. Rachel pulled the shirt off and turned to Franklin. The bouncer felt quite smug and proud; finally, he was able to get Rachel to listen to him for once.

"No, Franklin, I'm keeping occasional tabs on him. This isn't spying." She retorted. Franklin shrugged his shoulders.

"I'm sure it isn't. You need to make sure you know what he's up to." He explained. "You don't know how he's going to act."

"Nor you. You're being paranoid; half of this is to get you to shut up." She gestured to Aaron, then pointed to Franklin. "Aaron, I'm not sure you two have been properly introduced. This is Smellyface McPanic-attack, my bouncer and resident loony." Franklin rolled his eyes, then looked to the smaller man.

"My name's Franklin."

"Don't listen to what Smellyface says, Aaron, his name isn't Franklin." Rachel butted in, pulling a shirt on that only just reached her belly. She frowned, her vest making it look awkward. "Who bought this, because I wouldn't have." She murmured, before taking the shirt off. She then pointed to Aaron. "Franklin, this is Aaron. He's just saved the nation from disaster." Franklin audibly groaned.

"Rachel, the world doesn't revolve around speakers." He said, immediately knowing what had happened. He had been in Aaron's shoes one too many times.

"This time it's different, Franklin! Those speakers are monsters! It's really important I make the right choice and I needed an outsider's opinion!" She explained indignantly. "But, yeah, make friends with Aaron, he's a cool guy. I like him a lot already." Franklin looked to the messy-haired hacker. Franklin didn't know much about computers. Rachel knew her way around them, she could tell a good computer from a bad one and understood things like specs and cores and motherboards and what the error message "User profile couldn't be loaded" and knew to start the computer in safe mode to fix it and all sorts of stuff Franklin didn't really understand, but she admitted that she too was no expert. Franklin didn't really see what common ground he had with a hacker who looked like he hadn't ever had a serious work-out session.

"Ummm... ok." He awkwardly said, before looking down to Aaron. "... she isn't bothering you, is she? I can make her stop if you want."

"I heard that, Franklin!"

"I know you did."

[Aaron H]

Rachel acknowledged his 'sort of illegal' new job. He could get in a shitload of trouble if the public found out, but it was his damn job to do what she wanted and Aaron needed paid so he could pay bills. Life was frustrating when it tied his hands like this, but he was intelligence anyways so these sorts of things were only begging to happen. He kept typing, occasionally nodding his head and placing snippets of things in his memory that mattered. For example: Her bodyguard was Franklin. He was a scary man that could probably pull Aaron's spine out if he wanted to. Luckily Aaron wasn't some lecherous pervert or anything, because the moment Franklin came in, Rachel was probably still changing shirts (Not like Aaron knew, his eyes were glued on his computer and phone as always).

"Ummm... ok. .. she isn't bothering you, is she? I can make her stop if you want." Awkward. People invading his personal space. Aaron had a bubble that many people were stuck outside of and Franklin was invading. "It's fine, I namely ignore the flirting and ridiculous parts." he shrugged his shoulders and tapped in a few more digits. "This is the stuff i do in my spare time. She's just lucky I was up." He threw the last part as a sort of hint, but it didn't matter, really. He was putting on the finishing touches when his brow furrowed. Why hadn't she called Jack- Oh right Jack probably would have told her about herself. It was disappointing that Aaron was significantly worse with technology than his friend. It wasn't like Aaron wasn't good at it, but just Jack was better. Actually Aaron felt like a hobo a lot of times with the way people stared at him.

He scratched his chin fuzz likely and sighed heavily. "Now to just test it out. Hold on the system is loading."

[Rachel Ascot]

"It's fine, I namely ignore the flirting and ridiculous parts." Rachel shrugged her shoulders to this. She didn't flirt with him that much, and she thought that Aaron might be used to it by now. "This is the stuff I do in my spare time. She's just lucky I was up."

"My sympathies. She can be a pain to work for." Franklin gruffly said, before walking over to Rachel, who a comically large turtleneck on, with the sleeves drooping over her hands like she was a four year old. "How much did you ask him to do?"

"Not a whole lot, just a bit of programming."

"You know what I meant." Franklin said this quite loudly; he knew that there wasn't a need for secrecy, given that Aaron already knew about what he was being asked to do. Rachel, however, seemed more content to play dumb.

"Well, the club needs keeping up." She said, her brow furrowed. "If I can't manage something as simple as a club, I can't manage a country." Franklin audibly groaned. It was like she didn't care. No, scratch that, that she didn't care was entirely the case. Rachel tisked under her breath. "Look, you wanted me to know where the guy was, and I am. I can't do it without Aaron but I'm also not going to have him hacking into Dietrich's lunchbox or anything; it's just basic surveillance to make sure he's not doing anything. I'm not risking Aaron by having him doing anything like hacking. Surveillance, he can just say it was orders and I'm the one who goes down, but hacking puts him in the same shit as me, and I refuse to let that happen." She pulled the turtleneck off, reaching for the next shirt while Franklin grunted.

"You don't know what Dietrich's planning."

"Don't pretend you do." Rachel rebutted. "Let's fight the dragon that we see rather than invent our own, shall we? At least Elastor's politically neutral." Franklin ground his teeth at the mere mention of the only person who he seemed to despise even more than Dietrich; at least Dietrich was only a problem in that he was a danger to Rachel in the bouncer's eyes. He wasn't obnoxious.

"Now to just test it out. Hold on, the system is loading." Aaron said from his perch on the sofa. Rachel beamed at him, dropping the shirt she was about to put on.

"Awesome! Tell you what, I'll get some coffee brewed up; it's Samson's feeding time anyway." She said while beaming to Aaron. She then began to walk into the kitchen. "How'd you take your coffee?" She shouted this while in the kitchen, and Franklin turned to Aaron immediately.

"Alright, Aaron, in private." Franklin said, his eyes puncturing Aaron's like knives. "I'm glad that she's finally caved and is starting to see things my way, but I think you and I know that she isn't taking this seriously. She doesn't quite grasp what could happen." The bouncer walked over to Aaron, and glared down at him, turning on intimidation mode. Rachel certainly wouldn't like it, and honestly Franklin didn't like doing it himself, but he would protect her to the end whether she wanted it or not. "So, anything you give her, give to me first. And if she tells you to stop, you don't stop. I want to make absolutely sure that Dietrich is going to do nothing to her, and I'm sure you want the same too, right?" His words were caring, but his face said "If you don't agree with me, then I will squash your head like a grape."

Rachel, meanwhile, was completely oblivious, the kettle whistling in the background as she leant out of the window, her hand full of peanuts and offering them to Samson. The act of getting Samson was a typically spur-of-the-moment decision; there was a small elephant enclosure at the back of Rachel's new penthouse, and she just saw the lumbering behemoth and fell immediately in love. Thankfully, Samson was just as happy, and the enclosure wasn't against having a very generous endorsement of royalty adopting one of their elephants, even if the eccentric queen did like to take him into her own property and ride him place to place. The elephant happily took the peanuts offered to him, before pulling the pint-sized sovereign almost out of her window to hug her. She patted him gleefully, before she was released back into her kitchen, just in time for the kettle to finish boiling. She had made the coffee per Aaron's request, plus Franklin's usual and her own mint tea. She walked back into the room where the boys were, Franklin backing away from Aaron before she could see him.

"Hot drinks for you, boys." She said. Franklin simply took his, but Rachel decided to give the coffee to Aaron personally, a grin on her face. "So, is this the first time a shirtless girl's given you your coffee or has it before?" She said this while walking over sensually, mock-lust in her eyes, her hips swaying with every step. Franklin fought the urge to peek and simply turned his head, not wanting to look so if his girlfriend asked if he had ever peeped on the queen he could be honest if he said no. The coffee steamed as Rachel slowly slid it into Aaron's grip, making sure he had a firm grip, but also wanting to get as close as she could before Aaron's blush went the same colour as a tomato. She then giggled, moving away while punching Aaron lightly on the shoulder.

"Well, if this app works, I'm going to give you a raise." She said, sitting down next to him friendlily. She rose her hand, and on cue Franklin threw her a shirt at random, which she put on before sipping her mint tea. "Ok, Aaron, fire it up when you're ready."

[Aaron H]

Coffee?  Aaron's head couldn't have perked higher without him looking like an awkward ostrich.  She was going to make him some coffee?!  That was amazing!  He couldn't begin to express the ultimate happiness and joy he felt.  Coffee was God-sent and likely going to kill him, like Jack always said, but hell- It wasn't cancer it'd be liver or kidney failure.  That was- a lot less depressing and saddening.  It was more going to be a three hour thing opposed to three years.  Oh how he loved his coffee.

"Two sugars and creamer til it's light- brown please." Of course he didn't take it straight, because then it'd keep him up all hours of the night... which it did anyways but he really didn't want to admit he had a sugary sweet-tooth.  Any man might have troubles admitting such a thing... and then came the fun part.

Big burly macho body guard decided he was going to talk to Aaron.  What was it with people and needing him today?  Normally he was just a hopeless hermit in the confides of his house where he could process and all research all alone.  Where he wouldn't have to be around people, because Aaron didn't know people or how to act around them.  

ANYWAYS, Franklin the bodyguard was short of threatening Aaron who honestly probably looked terrified, but unintentionally since he WAS trying to remain apathetic.  In the end he looked more simply pathetic, no 'a' in there.  Either way, he was simply trapped now in a borderline political catastrophe.  "I uhm.. understand completely."  His words were spoken in a way where he seemed certain when internally he just wanted to stop being the center of attention.  Oh the terrifying attention.

There was a cup in his hand.  Aaa.. coffee.  He went to sip, but there were words.  "So, is this the first time a shirtless girl's given you your coffee or has it before?" Was it bad that it took that statement for him to notice.  In fact, had she not spoken, Aaron probably hadn't noticed.  His eyes widened huge as he found the shirtless queen before him and had he been a woman he would have screamed.  Instead, he made something of a yelp and nearly fell over.  His face turned scarlet and he shook his head.  

"Woman!  Clothe yourself!"  His words seemed more demanding than anything.  "God I could be beheaded for this kind of stuff you know.  Or even lynched.  Lynching is far more painful."  He stammered in a hurry, trying to cover his face while drinking from his coffee cup.  Ugh.  Women.

"Anyways the app is going, feel free to pick a song to start up."

[Rachel Ascot]

"Woman!  Clothe yourself!" Aaron yelped in a panic, which only served to amuse Rachel as she giggled.  "God I could be beheaded for this kind of stuff you know.  Or even lynched.  Lynching is far more painful."

"You could also be lynched for calling the queen 'woman' and telling her what to do." She retorted, though her tone clearly showed that she had no intention of doing the sort. Aaron was not her usual company, but she couldn't help but admit that she was kind of fond of him, in a weird quirky way. That was what she liked about him, at least, that he was a bit of an oddball. He was fun to tease, especially seeing as he never seemed to try to stop her fun, but he was more fun to pick apart. The Head of Intelligence ostensibly knew what shouldn't be known, so the idea of knowing what he didn't want others to know was a perversely interesting idea for Rachel; she barely knew of his history, but she knew he had either done something or had something done to him, and she knew he was a recluse who preferred code to people, so it was natural that she liked to pry and poke, to peel away the layers of this particular onion. Though one point of interest stuck in her mind at this moment...

"Do you ever laugh? When we first met, we were so formal and calm to each other so it made sense for you not to laugh, but now I just think you're a grump." She remarked, looking at the hacker. "Come on, smile!"

"Anyways the app is going, feel free to pick a song to start up."

"Well, you make me smile at least." She said, taking her phone back, and looking at the app. User friendly, quick and easy... Rachel smirked. "Not bad, given how long it took." She then pointed to the speakers, before selecting Frankie Goes to Hollywood's 'Power of Love'. She looked back to Aaron. "Yeah, I know, it's an odd song for a club owner to have, but it really is my favourite. I'm kind of a sentimental type. I haven't dated anyone in years, but I'm still a romantic at heart."

Spoiler:

Rachel then took a sip of her tea, looking back to Aaron. "Tell you what, next time we hang out we'll go hunting for guys, what'd ya say? Oh, and thanks again; your actions today may have saved Creta from disaster." To this, Franklin rolled his eyes, resisting the urge to argue.

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