@katelin.philips

[covertness]

hi @everyone, i have a question. bear with me, the question comes with a lot of backstory and exposition.

those of us who've been here a while know this, but for those who just got here, quick recap: a while ago, a monster attacked the city. smaller monsters split from it. some of those smaller monster parts have been showing up on the black market, apparently

then one of the nurses from the busses that keep dropping people off? waved at a camera. we figured, hey, a lead, but when we got to his apartment building, the building was on fire. we've since learned that the nurse was already dead when the fire started and that someone else in the building had monster parts in their apartment.

and then everyone who went into the burning building got... sick. angry. really, really angry. we're able to cure that somehow (it makes whatever's in our chests glow, so it probably has to do with whatever was done to us). we ran some tests on blood samples and one of the samples showed a link to the monster dna from the fire.

not sure how any of that is related to who brought us here or what was done to us, but that's not actually the question i want to ask today.

i'm a scientist. biology, mainly. if things like this happen again, or other weird stuff, it might be useful to have more samples. i'm not going to take any without anyone's consent. so: would you give consent to having a sample taken if ever you're affected by something like this?

i'm not going to sugarcoat it: there are ethical concerns. not only would you have to trust me and any other scientists around, but i don't have unsupervised access to a lab yet, so morningstar's been sending samples off to be tested. i can't say anything about those labs. you don't have to tell me now. you don't have to say yes at all.

think about it.

oh, and if anyone wants to handle data management, @leo.fitz promises payment in the form of snacks and beer

[ ooc: probably goes without saying but threadjack this post to your heart's delight, catch each other up, theorise, w/e. for those who have a definite stance on having their samples taken while they may or may not be in a position to give consent (ie because they're affected by rage-inducing monster dna), please head OVER HERE. ]

Comments

[covertness]

yeah, to you

[retravel]

And I'm the one ferrying them back and forth, to you.

[covertness]

lording your superior lab access over me

[retravel]

Maybe.
You know you could get that access at any time.

[ by joining Morningstar. ]

[covertness]

[ she knows. she's just not sure it makes sense —for katelin philips, that is. bobbi's pretty sure morningstar does good work, at this point. ]

i know
but i'm a civilian, remember? can't blame me for being a bit more hesitant

[retravel]

I know.
I’m just encouraging you, when you’re already doing the legwork.

[ and she can’t know the truth of it, being so far behind him in the timeline, but Fitz, well, he doesn’t like being the one with first access to test results, with the responsibility to report them back unaltered, knowing what he’s capable of doing with that information — Bobbi and Daisy may trust him, but he knows better than to make the same mistake. ]

[covertness]

you're not the only one
enough prodding and katelin might just give in

though i like the option of getting our own base of operations, too

[retravel]

Seems like Katelin's getting ambitious.

[ referring to her idea. ]

If we make our own base, it's our responsibility.

[ he's not opposed, but — they'd have to overhaul one of the abandoned warehouses along the outer walls, rewiring everything from scratch to be untraceable, building hardware and security measures. it'd mean making calls about who has access and who doesn't, too (when some of their fellow displaced are irresponsible, at best); establishing protocols for entry and exit; training all who know its location to lose tails. and if anyone was linked to it, or hurt because of their association, that's on them.

it's a big step (and it could be the right one), but it's not to be taken lightly. ]

[covertness]

it wouldn't be a short term project, that's for sure

[ in a way, it would be a commitment —but somehow, bobbi doesn't get the impression that figuring out a way home is going to come quickly or easily.

given what she knows of the brothers matches, dick and hafid, they have some sort of training. it wouldn't be a shield operation only, given that the whole thing was hafid's idea. but she doesn't know them as well as fitz —or even daisy, considering she went on what seems to be a date with matches. ]

[retravel]

[ he scrolls through her other conversations to check who prompted this. ah.

fitz doesn't trust the brothers as far as he could throw them (and he doubts he'd get them very far, in the first instance). without question, hafid is an asset for both his cleverness and varied skillset in the field, but his questionable background resonates with fitz's own experiences of the framework (worrisome, even in vague terms) and matches made a point of proving himself to be — emotional, swayed by the personal, when the ball should have been a mission. fitz doesn't know if his connection with dick will prevent the further cultivation of a relationship there. jay still has potential, of course.

and despite himself, fitz likes them both. would like to see them succeed, too, even in dangerous fields.

only that isn't enough. ]

It would be.
What do you think of the band of brothers?

[covertness]

[ trust is a high threshold —maybe too high, given everything. ]

they're trained
no idea by whom or for what exactly, but definitely trained
intelligent, too, especially hafid
matches strikes me as more reckless. the powder-keg type
you know dick better than i do

[retravel]

Agreed on all counts.
Hafid has knowledge of implanted powers as well.
Matches isn't pleased by my association with Dick, or perhaps Dick's association with anyone, and made that clear at the Ball. I won't pretend to understand their bizarre relationship.

[ SORRY BABES ]

I'd say the same basic assessment for Dick. Intelligent, professionally trained in combat and various other disciplines, more inclined toward diplomacy than the other two. Maybe a bit unsure of his place, with these brothers of his.

[ a cold assessment, given their closeness, but he knows bobbi will understand. they're spies. this is part of the game. ]

[covertness]

tell me more about what happened at the ball

[ she missed that, she must have been in another part of the caves at the time. his assessment is filed away, made note of. ]

[retravel]

Malone only decided to start bothering me after it became apparent that I'd been liasing with Dick. I thought I'd smoothed it over enough to approach him at that ball. Not so. He was fine until it occurred to him that Dick might have passed me information.
I tipped my hand to show that Daisy passed some to me, not Dick.
I'm sure you know he was her date from the other night. They sent me a selfie, for reasons I can't fathom. Maybe Malone didn't know it would be sent on, or that Daisy's been going around calling him Jay.

[ youths, amiright. fitz cares very little for events unrelated to their mission: getting home. if jason wants to work with him, they can work. if he doesn't, there's no point in giving chase. ]

So, I misread him, and he removed himself from the conversation.

[ which might be a good sign, indicative of jason not wanting to take out frustration on fitz, but it's made him wary all the same. rational, predictable players are preferable to what bobbi termed "the powder keg type" ]

[covertness]

better he removed himself than he punched you

[ see also: powder keg type. ]

any idea why it bothers him that you've been spending time with dick?

[retravel]

Means he can choose when to go off.

[ That's something. ]

Think he's more worried about what Dick spending time with me means for the flow of information pertaining to himself and perhaps Hafid, too.
They obviously have things to hide from us and each other.
Malone expressed interest in involving himself with the gangs and seemed inclined to consider my advice on that front, if nothing else. And the underground is a rather far cry from Dick's scene.

[ file that under "things fitz hasn't mentioned to dick" ]

[covertness]

or it means you didn't set him off entirely

[ she won't trust that he has himself under control entirely. ]

was this before or after the ball?
how are your underground connections coming along, anyway?

[retravel]

Well done me.

[ SARCASM... ]

Before.
Solid progress overall. Reckon our showing at the ball helped earn me forgiveness for flaking earlier in the week.

[ because of Dick, he missed a night shift. ]

Getting in with the fighting rings, too.

[ by introducing and betting on newbies like illya, he goes against the odds and wins big. means people think he's cleverer than the rest and knows where they, too, should put their money. ]

[covertness]

[ it's moments like these that make her think about how he's changed. ]

multitasking? not bad

what's the fight club crowd like [ not the sort of place katelin philips would go, exactly. her cover has its limits, too. ]

[retravel]

[ :') ]

Posher than you'd expect.
Makes a man wonder.

[ where else the money might lead, that is. ]

[covertness]

curious
i wonder if it's the sort of place thor would take a date to

[ any reason for her to be there
it wouldn't have to be thor, either ]

[retravel]

[ ooooh girl ]

I would think so.
He's pretty impressive in the ring.
As are the brothers, I imagine.

[ all good people for bobbi to size-up. ]

[covertness]

[ he's pretty impressive generally. . . ]

sounds like katelin's got to go on an adventure

[retravel]

[ DON'T NEED TO BE BONING HIM TO SEE THAT BOBBI ]

All about broadening horizons, our Kat.

[ go get 'em ]