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Who: Caterina and Abel
What: Discussin' sum Freelancers.
When: Thursday, after their respective chats with York about Maine.
Where: Caterina's room... then idk MAYBE THE FOUR SEASONS ROOM.
Rating: PG-13? Maybe. For potential mention of violence idek.

Abel felt a bit more sensitively about the issue of Agent Maine and the issue of the A.I. than others, and he was certain that Caterina also fostered that same weak bone in her body, somewhere. She had fallen in love with his brother -- platonically or romantically, maybe both; he sometimes wonders, as much as he had liked to joke in Paris -- and upon returning to Paradisa, she had to have appreciated what those monsters, what the nanomachines, had truly done.

The effect they could have... to both the man who suffered their thrall, and to every single person connected to him.

Thus, he's thoughtful as he knocks at Caterina's door this afternoon; perhaps Maine was free of the AI... if he was, then he deserved a shot to pick up the pieces of his life, didn't he? Abel feels the lack of information makes this decision much harder to make, himself... but he is sure that if nothing else, Caterina's judgment will be solid and one he can support.

It always is. Right?

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Approaching her to join her where she's seated, the tone remains conversational and light-hearted. Even if the subject manner was rather grim, it didn't mean that they had to let their spirits take a similar suit, right? He much preferred to see her smiling to anything else.

"...does that mean you're saving it for later? In that case, maybe you should rip the band-aid off rather than leave me in cruel suspense, Duchess..."

A good move on his part. The longer it goes on the more at ease she feels. That generally leads to more smiling on Caterina's part. "I couldn't say. The suspense will help keep you sharp regardless."

"Sharp? What, are you suggesting I'm going dull?" He arches a brow in mock offense, folding arms over his chest and making a good show of looking both indignant and curious. SURELY she wouldn't insinuate something so utterly propostrous, right?!

"I am suggesting nothing, Abel." There's a short pause. "I am saying you have gone dull. I can't have that among my most trusted subordinates."

A look of mock horror crosses his features. She isn't insinuating anything...

Oh, no. Of course not. The fearsome Iron Lady is being quite firm in her statement that HE, the almighty Abel Nightroad, has gone

DULL.

"--Cater... ina!!" His heart; she cannot take such abuse! "How can you be so cruel?!"

"The word you are searching for is honest." She is going to dig the knife in deep. Nothing less from his "demon" boss. "We really must do something about that."

Abel gives a melodramatic choked noise, before gripping his hair as if contemplating tugging it out entirely. "...I can't believe this! What did I do to deserve such a callous attitude...? Really! Are you even taking my feelings into account?!"

"Of course I am." She says this in a gentle, almost reassuring tone. Almost is the keyword there. "I simply value your capability more than your feelings."

"And-- what, exactly, is it about my capability that's grown dull, pray tell?"

He remains in a suitably woe-be-gone and irate posture, tugging petulantly at his hair like a child. Honestly. His ego (or distinct lack of) really can't stand for much more of this...

"Well you see..." Caterina is quiet a moment. Feeling the tension yet, Abel? You should by now.

"I can't tell you that. After all, shouldn't you know the answer yourself?"

She did not just--

He leans forward a bit, giving her a suitably pouty look behind thick lenses. Really? She's intent on trolling him today, isn't she? Not that he doesn't garner some secret enjoyment from the banter, naturally... but appearances, of course, must continue to prove the contrary.

"Isn't it your job as my superior to inform me of these kinds of things? I'd hardly know if I'm slipping in my diligent duty, seeing as how I'm rather certain you're making the entire thing up!"

"Abel must we go back and forth over this?" Caterina sighs wearily. Having a dull subordinate in an alternate dimension is clearly very trying for her. "Why don't we get to the heart of the issue?" She crosses her arms over her chest. "What brings you here today?"

As if he needed a reason.

His fingers twitch, before he's roughly adjusting his glasses again, still in the process of pouting as though his life depended on it. HUFF. Goodness gracious! Trying for her?

But he shifts a bit, taking a deep breath to exhale a sigh. "...well, that's... a different matter entirely." One that has very little to do with... anything at all they're currently on the subject of, for what difference it makes...

"I am aware." Obviously. "Perhaps we should address it? Unless you wish to continue yet another pointless argument." Caterina realizes he may very well elect to do that. No one can accuse her of ignoring the bigger picture even in this terrible place.

"Right, right..."

He exhales a sigh -- as if this were all troublesome, before sitting up some and adjusting himself in a slightly more sober manner. A shame the playing had to come to an end, but... there were matters of relative importance to be brought to hand.

"...actually, there was something I wanted to talk to you about... regarding Mr. York, and Mr. Maine."

He isn't sure how much of the situation she's familiar with -- so he'll pause here, watching her, to discern as much and wait to see if she needed to ask the details.

"Ah. I was giving that matter some thought before you arrived. " Caterina gives him a knowing look. Of course she was on top of it. She wondered how long it would take Abel to notice that particular problem.

"What are your thoughts on their predicament?"

Of course she was ahead of the game... he should've known, shouldn't he? He feels himself relaxing a bit, as if this were the way of things -- Caterina on top of her game with all the details, and Abel falling into step beside her. Conferring over something vaguely familiar with a sense of duty behind it...

"...it's a rough situation," he says after a moment's consideration. The ties to both of their heartstrings was considerable. This time, it wasn't only Abel with close understandings of what could lay behind a man who had his life destroyed by 'machines' of this kind. "I spoke to Maine a bit ago, and he seems to have gone... backward in his timeline, I think. That, or his loss changed to memories. He wasn't aware what happened in regards to how he received the AI at all, and I haven't gotten the story from York, either."

Caterina nods. It takes a few moments to debate how much to tell Abel. She has been assessing the situation since they returned from Paris. Her meetings with Maine, conversations with York; they were all partially working toward discovering the truth behind what was going on. Telling Abel the full truth on anything was tricky business especially when he may be upset about the danger behind it. There was no guarantee Maine wasn't faking it in the beginning to get her guard down. She could have easily been killed any of those times.

"I believe he has regressed... to an extent," Caterina says carefully. "I spoke to him while he was in the clinic. He seemed to know what I was referring to in regards to his attacks on Father Tres. Also York made it clear that if he were further along in time his throat would be ruined. It seems later on in his life he takes a blow meant for someone else. Presumably that would pre-date his obsession with collecting technology. After all, that person would never sacrifice himself for the sake of others."

Abel lets all of this absorb quietly, listening to her explanation carefully. It was a strange circumstance... one that would be hard to puzzle out -- in more ways than one, as it came from differing perspectives in all likelihood. If Maine had made a choice to become infused with the AI's, then there was a reason -- and the pain of that choice and its consequences to York and the rest of Maine's allies.

"Do you know anything about the incident itself...? How he... changed?"

Caterina is right in likening them to two different people. 'The Meta' and 'Maine' were not the same; of that, Abel's certain.

"Nothing," Caterina admits with great disappointment. It was a vital piece of the puzzle. Before now it was not as important compared to making sure Maine was sincere. Caterina is fully convinced he is. "York has understandably been stressed as of late. I didn't wish to push him any further than necessary."

Ah. He rubs at his chin a moment, before giving a thoughtful hum of agreement. Yes; York seemed more than his fair share of distressed at recent events, didn't he? Enough to abandon the castle in whole for the wilderness despite the risks with the First Gens still wandering freely among them.

"Without knowing how it all happens... it's difficult to discern where to go from here, isn't it? There are some other Freelancers in the castle, aren't there? It's possible one of them might have more information."

"They are our best bet." It is tricky to know which one to turn to. She does not want to pick the wrong one and further alienate York. As it stood now he wasn't acknowledging many people as trustworthy friends. Her heart aches just acknowledging that. "We need to discover which one would be far along enough to know and can keep the inquiry private. York would wonder why we turned to them otherwise."

"On that point -- I don't think he would mind much. He suggested I have a talk with them regarding putting potential failsafes on Maine's armor, now it's back in his possession." So, if they were to collaborate over such an issue, he imagined the others would coincide.

"If there's any chance that it-- the armor-- might be used against the castle or its residents again, whether it's Maine's will or not..." They were both aware the potential for certain... powers... to be manipulated against their owners, here... "...we should be prepared as we can. Whether Maine is really fully in control or not right now is only a technicality. Right?"

"Correct." Caterina knows firsthand that anyone with great power can be turned against the castle residents. It may not be as great as disaster as Abel was but, still far from ideal. "Without the armor he could easily kill any person lacking special abilities or proper training. It's simply to risky to leave him with it without a sure way of defeating him."

She brushes aside a stray curl. "I trust you'll make certain the matter of control is a moot point with the others. Perhaps even uncover that story in the process?" It wouldn't be difficult to get them to divulge information to someone working toward the same goal.

This, he imagined, he could do. Matters of the mechanics of alien and advanced technology were ones he had old experience in; maybe it was time to brush up on a hands-on project. He always was over-eager to please and be useful in some way, though these days... it was in areas he wouldn't have expected. To think, the monster in all its power was useless in comparison to the engineer...

"I'll see about contacting the others, in that case. I don't think asking questions while we see about going about the issue would be too difficult..." Innocent enough, right?