Backdoor [2430-2-2-Sun-2am]

[SYN+ACK]

SYN+ACK loved the city at this time of night. Saturday's were always busy, and there were always crowds of people going everywhere, just having a good time while they blew off steam. She loved crowds, and the way she could just dart and duck through them, while anybody following her (or usually chasing her) had zero chance of keeping up.

Tonight she was going a bit slower than usual, but her hands were full with two pizza boxes, and her eInkr. She hadn't been to this area of the city before. These days, she moved a lot, but she mostly stuck to the Middle and Top, since they had the most technology and didn't blink an eye at somebody using paypasses. If you went down far down in the Below, you got a lot of places that didn't trust any payment method that wasn't hard cash. It made it harder to scam them, and more dangerous since they were more likely to chase you down over a lousy $40 than somebody from the Top. And SYN+ACK didn't want to die over a measly $40.

She stopped along a less busy stretch to check the eInkr. Alex's apartment was right up ahead. She smiled a little to herself. SYN+ACK didn't usually make a point of bothering people she'd scammed, espeically if they'd almost caught her, but Alex was different. That dude had thought he was outsmarting her. Of course, he'd failed, but it wasn't enough to just win, espeically not when SYN+ACK had outclassed him. Plus, he was kinda cute. There was no reason she could gloat and flirt at the same time.

According to the bar schedule, Alex would be getting off work pretty soon. Normally, she would just break in, but it turned out that Alex had a roommate. While Alex's own records had been laughably transparent, this dude had been harder to find out about. It had taken her tracking down Tommy's application for permanent Terran citizenship to realize that he was an immigrant. And after that, his criminal record had given away the rest. Only one type of dude got arrested for public nudity, drug possession, and tax evasion.

SYN+ACK paused as she reached the apartment. She tucked her eInkr away and knocked on the door.

[Tommy]

Tommy was in the middle of smoking up when the knock came. He paused, trying to decide what was going on. It was way too late for knocking. Alex always came in with his keys, except for the few times he'd lost them, and then he just banged on the door and yelled for Tommy to get off his ass, which was good because usually Tommy was half asleep and didn't here Alex otherwise. But mostly knocking people were door to door salesmen and religious folks, and all sorts of people that Tommy liked to invite in and talk to until they found reasons to leave when they realized that Tommy wasn't really buying anything they were selling.

While he was thinking this, another knock came. "Uh." Tommy set his pipe down on the table and got to his feet, heading to the door. He peered out through the peephole. There was a woman on the other side, dressed in what looked like some sort of suit. Her hair was amazing. And she had pizza. Tommy quickly opened up the door, "Did I order pizza and forget about it? Because okay, I don't think I have any money, but I could pay you in something else. Do you like weed?"

[SYN+ACK]

The man who opened the door was a classic stoner. SYN+ACK had never seen anybody more stereotypical. He was wearing pajama pants and a sweater with little burn marks on it, and a bathrobe that had seen better days. He also smelt weird. Not like pot, but like something else. Something almost medicinal.

"I'm always down for a little bud, but this stuff is free." She popped open the top box. "Fully loaded vegetarian on top, full loaded meat lovers on the bottom." SYN+ACK didn't know if Tomkins was supposed to be a carnivore or a herbivore, or omnivore, so she figured she would play it safe and bring both. "What do you say? Invite me in?"

[Tommy]

"Invite you in? Lady, I'd marry you if you asked me too." Tommy happily took a slice of the vegetarian pizza. It was still pipping warm. He savored it, and then headed over to the couch, waving for the girl to follow. "This is amazing. How did you know? I was just about to light up, and I was going to get hungry in ten minutes, and then I would have been digging through the fridge. And the fridge is just depressing. But now I've got pizza."

He finished his piece after settling on the couch. Tommy picked his pipe back up and lit it. "Just put the pizza there. Hey, help yourself to a joint. " Tommy inhaled and held it in his lungs for as long as he could before he was forced to exhale, coughing a little as he did. "Are you like some sort of pizza fairy? That would be a pretty fiking neat job. I'd do that for a living, but I do this. I mean, I grow this stuff." He gestured to the various plants that had slowly overflowed into the living room. The apartment was small, and most of Tommy's bedroom was taken up by his plants, so inevitably some had made their way out here.

[SYN+ACK]

SYN+ACK grinned at Tomkins just let her in, not even bothering to ask if she knew Alex. This was going to be so much easier than she had expected. Potheads usually loved her, but this dude would probably love anybody, so long as they had food in their hands. She kicked the door closed behind her as she followed him into the living room. "So what do I call you? Tomkins or Tommy or Tom-Tom?"

Alex's apartment was kinda a dump. It was small, and there were things everywhere. She wondered how much of that was Tommy's slobbiness, or if Alex was secretly a slob as well. SYN+ACK liked her things organized and neat, which is why she preferred suits, and computers, and all sorts of well organized things. Except for her life. She liked her life chaotic.

SYN+ACK grabbed a seat beside Tomkins, setting the pizza out and helping herself to a meat slice. "Nah, I'll smoke up later." She said, not really wanting to get high before Alex turned up. Whatever Tomkins had in his pipe wasn't weed. It gave off that weird medicinal smell that had clung to him when he answered the door. His immigration file had said he were a werekoala, so she could probably bet that he was smoking up whatever it was that koala's ate. "And I'm not officially a pizza fairy, but I dabble from time to time." Delivering food was one of the easiest way to get into buildings that otherwise required you to go through a mound of paperwork.

[Tommy]

"Hahaha, Tom-Tom." Tommy grinned at the big-haired girl. "Hey man, I'll answer to anything, though most people call me Tommy. You can call me Tom-Tom though, I like that. Tom-Tom. Hahaha." He took another piece of the veggie pizza, doing his best to balance the pipe and the pizza. "Fikin' A, man. So what do I call you? If you don't give me a name, I'm going to have to call you Pizza Fairy. Though that's pretty awesome as far as names go."

He put his feet up on the table, taking a hit off his pipe and settling back. Tommy had reached a point where he didn't even smell what he was smoking. Alex didn't seem to care too much, as long as it wasn't pot, since he couldn't afford to get high and go to work. Tommy didn't see the point in working for anybody who wouldn't let you smoke up at least once a day, but that's why he worked for himself. "If I tried to be a pizza fairy, I'd just eat all the pizza instead of giving it away. But this is awesome. I'd love to get paid to just go hang out with dudes. Do you like cartoons? Cartoons are so great. I can't believe humans came up with them. They're so awesome. So awesome."

[SYN+ACK]

SYN+ACK's first instinct was always to lie when people asked her name. Fakes were easier. Plus, it was hard to render SYN+ACK outside of her head, or the Network. Normally she would fall back on one of a dozen fake names she used. But she wasn't here to scam Tommy. And it wasn't like Alex could do anything with her name if he got it from Tommy. If he took it to the police? Big whoop. She would just delete it again, and then wreck up Alex's files. "The name's Synack! It's nice to meet you Tom-Tom." SYN+ACK offered a hand.

"If you know the right things, you can get paid to do anything." SYN+ACK told Tommy. This was the truth. More people should have spent time learning to hack. Then they could live an awesome life, just like SYN+ACK did. "And I love cartoons. They rule." She munched on her slice of pizza, settling in against Tommy's shoulder. The smell of his pipe was somewhat soothing. It was be awesome if all drugs smelt as cool as whatever he was burning.

[Tommy]

"Synack? Bitching." Tommy declared. Human names were pretty awesome sometimes. He sucked on his pipe, and re-agreed with his statement, "Cartoons are awesome. TV in general is pretty awesome. If we had TV at home, I would have never left. But they didn't, so I'm here, because here is so much better. Sunlight, and TV, and I can make money just selling this stuff. So awesome."

When the girl lent against him, he automatically swung an arm over her shoulder and let her curl up. The fact that she was pretty hadn't gone completely unnoticed, but it had ended up regulated to the back of Tommy's mind. At the moment, his priority was on getting high, eating, and watching cartoons. If she was still around in the morning, when he was more sober, the fact that she was a lady would resurface and he would make a move. He only had one move, and about half the time it failed, but when it worked? Oh man, did it ever work.

[Alexander Riggs]

It had been a long day, filled with yet more questions from police and extra hours worked to make up for Thursday's losses. Alex was looking forward to getting home and crashing into his bed for a solid sleep until he had to be up again for his next shift. This grown up shit is pretty lame, he grumped to himself as he trudged up the hallway towards his apartment.

He tiredly pressed his hand to the security pad, letting it scan it and acknowledge him as a resident of the apartment. It gave him a beep, and slid the door open, and he headed in, dropping his bag by the door. The usual glow from the NetScreen flickered from the living room, which didn't surprise him one bit. It was more shocking if his roommate was doing anything else, really. Not that Alex could complain. There were plenty of other roommates he could have ended up with. At least this one wasn't a murderer.

Or worse, some sort of anal neat freak.

He headed for his room, not even bothering to kick off his shoes. His main thought was collapsing into bed, and nothing could deter him from that goal.

[Tommy]

They were part of the way through one of Tommy's favorite Terran programs (this way ancient show called Mighty Mouse that had 2d animation and everything) when Alex came home. "Hey maaaan." Tommy said, not really expecting an answer. Alex was usually bushed when he was done work, and it was rare that he sat up with Tommy.

Tommy took another hit off his pipe, letting the smoke come out of his nose. Girls always loved that shit. It made him look like a dragon. Then he remembered that there was food, and he'd be a pretty crappy roommate if he didn't share. Tommy wasn't a winner by any means, but he had zero problem sharing good food. "Dude, pizza fairy came. Get your munch on!"

[SYN+ACK]

This was pretty awesome. She had planned on just messing with Alex, but it turned out that Tom-Tom was pretty cool. And it had been a while since she'd just watched cartoons with... well, anybody. Plus he was cuddly. Not SYN+ACK's type by any means, but there was nothing wrong with a nice cuddly dude now and again, espeically when they kept their hands to themselves.

She was low enough that Alex didn't see her when he came in, or didn't notice that there was somebody else on the couch, or heck, maybe didn't even look at all. Poor move on his part. Tom-Tom blew smoke out of his nose and she snorted quietly at it. He looked so ridiculous doing that. SYN+ACK popped her head up, grinning at Alex, "Don't tell me you're one of those guys who likes pineapple on his pizza, because your life is already too sad as it is."

[Alexander Riggs]

Alex didn't know what a pizza fairy was. He wasn't even sure he wanted to know what a pizza fairy was. But then, he didn't really know a lot of what came out of Tommy's mouth half the time, so it wasn't worth wasting brain cells on it. "Sorry man, too tired to be hungry," he stated, half waving him off.

The second voice made him stop. Tommy rarely had people over. ...pizza fairy? He peeked back into the living room, and barely blinked when he realized he was seeing the girl from the bar. "...Tommy..." he said slowly. "...what are you smoking today... because I think it's affecting my head..."

[Tommy]

Tommy didn't understand how anybody could be too tired to be hungry. But he also didn't get how anybody could be too anything to be hungry. Except maybe too full, but even then, there was always room for one more slice of pizza. Or a twinkie. Tommy loved twinkies. Humans had the best food.

"Huh?" Tommy looked at his pipe, "This? Just leaves today. Why, are you getting high? Because that would be gnarly. Did I accidentally bite your or something? Or maybe I spit in something and you ate it, and now you're a koala too?" He turned around on the couch, taking another pull off his pipe, "Dude, if that's what happened, I am totally sorry, but ladies will be all over you. I guarantee."

[SYN+ACK]

SYN+ACK didn't bother hiding the devilish grin that came over her face. Alex was so confused, and it was so fantastic to see him so confused. He would figure it out eventually, but until then, she almost didn't want to tell him and ruin it all. So instead, she settled for seeing how far she could push this.

"Were-koala's pretty cool, if you've got to be accidentally something not human." SYN+ACK helpfully volunteered, resting her arms on the back of the couch. "But it might not be the drugs. This might be a dream. You only think you just spent all day at work, but really, you've been dreaming and you haven't left yet, and at any moment, your alarm's going to cut in and start shrieking."

[Alexander Riggs]

"No, you didn't bite me," Alex shook his head at Tommy. "I'm pretty sure I'd remember you biting me, dude. And I would totally hold that against you for like, a week."

His eyes shifted back to the girl on the couch. "You're right. I'm pretty sure this is a stress nightmare, so I'm just going to go to bed and let Tommy kick you out before I wake up. Good night." He tiredly turned back towards his room, debating whether or not to pinch himself.


((craaaaappy post but it can't wait any longer and I'm falling asleep on the couch in the middle of the afternoon and I guess I wasted my brain power on the Eli post))