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 Posted: Mon Aug 27, 2007 3:18 pm
Slight agitation from the previous customer showed on his face as Fiach gave as pleasant a smile as he could muster in greeting to the newcomer. Clearing his throat, Fiach withdrew slightly at the gruff manner the man had greeted him with.
"My name is Fiach - I was told you were having some...difficulties with a creature on your laptop? I might be able to help you."
His agitation disappearing more fully as he stored it away in his mind for perusal later, he continued, "There are these creatures called Hackers - while they need data for survival, there are measures you can take to prevent them from eating the most important of files and information - or to have them help you in your work."
Inclining his head slightly in a silent request for the man to elaborate on his problem, Fiach watched the man with patient blue eyes.
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Posted: Mon Aug 27, 2007 3:38 pm
Brad grunted a little, setting the laptop on the counter gently before Fiach. "Brad. Brad Lee." He fixed his stern gaze on the uncertain man, his usually neutral expression somewhat more drawn; one might call the look annoyed.
"Cute," he growled to himself at the explanation of these 'hackers.' "I'd appreciate that. Damn thing is eating my life's work." Maybe that was a little far fetched, but when you could lose your job over weeks worth of progress being 'eaten' for the survival of a 'parasite,' it was easy to feel like your life was falling apart, no matter how dramatic it seemed.
He quirked his lips, the anxiety easing from his face, his appearance becoming more of his familiar stoic nature. "I don't need it to help, I need it to stop eating my work or else we're both gonna starve." Brad exhaled deeply through his nose, counting slowly backwards from ten in his mind, a wry smile taking the place of his annoyance. The man couldn't have cared less if it was an unknown variety of dinosaur; his work was paramount to him, not the well being of a nasty little hacker.
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Posted: Sat Nov 10, 2007 9:50 pm
Grimacing inwardly at the sternness of the man's gaze, Fiach schooled his face to a pleasant smile and lightly drawled, "You could always ask the Hacker to not eat your important files." His smile grew as he continued, "They usually listen to reason, after all."
Gesturing towards the laptop, he tilted his head slightly in question, "Has the Hacker ever changed any text files or moved around on your screen, by chance?" His curiosity was slightly piqued over the Hacker's appearance and the apparent lack of communication between the two. Shrugging slightly and hoping the man didn't notice, Fiach settled back in his chair for what was beginning to look like a long and stressful meeting.
His eyes flickered around his shop as he wished, for once, that Li'tae would appear to help him explain to the man just what the Hackers were and just what they did.
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Posted: Sat Nov 10, 2007 10:13 pm
"Ask it not to? I think I've swore and yelled in frustration enough that it shoulda got the point by now!" Brad maintained his neutral expression, despite his unhappy voice. "No, all I've seen is portions of important work missing or otherwise corrupt. The bugger needs to either be put in its place or removed. As it is, I'm going to have to buy a new laptop, program AND flash drive thanks to this special little critter." His jaw shifted slightly, the only sign of his irritation that was visible. The man was not looking forward to putting out more money to get his work done, just because these people thought the virus was a cute thing. He was ready to throw his laptop into a lake, if not for all the precious work on it.
Breathing deeply through his nose, he pinched the portion of his nose between his eyes, seeming more of an old habit than anything. "I don't want to waste either of our time, sir, I just want my work whole and unmolested." He fixed his eyes on Fiach once more, his gaze a little more weary and worn than angry. Brad didn't have the time to go back and redo months worth of work in a handful of days.
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Posted: Sat Nov 10, 2007 10:30 pm
With a sigh, Fiach sullenly nodded. While he wanted nothing more than to walk away from the clearly unhappy customer, Fiach did his best to put on a smile and respond as politely and happily as he could. Which, for Fiach, was very difficult when confronted with anything out of the ordinary.
Turning the laptop towards himself, he raised an inquiring eyebrow and gestured as if to open it. "If you would like, I can attempt to contact the hacker in order to tell it to stop eating those files. You can only really talk to them when they are on the screen or are doing their version of instant messaging." Pausing slightly at that comment, a small quirk of his lips appeared in what might have been a genuine smile, or a slight smirk, "And I'm afraid all the yelling and cursing in the world do no good if no one is there to hear you."
A high-pitched chirp emitted from Fiach's own laptop that sat on his desk, signaling a Hacker had entered the system and was trying to get his attention. A look of minor exasperation touched his face as he turned his attention to the screen.
The black elder hacker deftly strutted across the screen, randomly emitting chirps from the laptop's speakers, amused at annoying Fiach.
Hanging his head, Fiach muttered in a barely audible voice, "I ought to learn to watch what I wish for..."
Turning the laptop towards Brad, he added in a clearer voice, "This is how you communicate with a Hacker. Like instant messages."
The cursor flickered across the screen as Li'tae's face took on an amused expression.
He raised an eyebrow as he awaited a response from the newcomer.
Glancing up at Brad Fiach gave him some quick instructions, "When Li'tae is on the screen, you can either type back to him in his text box or speak out loud to him. The microphone on my laptop will pick it up." Smiling, Fiach sat back down, praying that for once, Li'tae would be helpful and not asinine.
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Posted: Sat Nov 10, 2007 10:41 pm
Brad had to keep from rolling his eyes. "'scuse me for not knowing how to talk to a virus," he grumbled as he watched the man work, his gaze heavy with scrutiny. That was his hard work the man was about to delve into!
And then something talked. He cast his indigo eyes to the other laptop, frowning at the thing that popped up on it. "Is that what's in mine?" he asked with a slowly dawning horror. The thing was sentient? It could think, talk, and...? "You mean that damn thing knows what it's doing?" His voice dropped a few octaves as he glared at his own laptop. Oh no, the hacker in his system and he were not off to a good start, not in the least.
"Brad," he growled at the thing on the screen, momentarily looking back to it. "What are you? 'Hacker' isn't quite endearing or helpful." It didn't matter if the poor Hacker was going to be helpful or not...it seemed Brad was ready to be asinine for all parties involved. However, the human seemed to realize this; his brow became less dark, the annoyance seeping out of his face. "Sorry," he said, although if it was to Fiach or Li'tae, it was hard to say. "This has been a very stressful week. I really don't want to lose my job because of..." He swallowed hard, inclining his shaggy head towards the Hacker, "...a surprise in the system."
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Posted: Sat Nov 10, 2007 10:59 pm
Making a mental note to himself to make himself scarce as much as he could when Brad came into the building, Fiach merely smiled politely and hoped it didn't look too fake.
With a look that could only be described as utter glee, Li'tae clapped his hand soundlessly and his cursor flashed even quicker, almost as if it was mimicking the hacker's mood.
A subtle shrug showed the Hacker didn't really care one way or the other, and a grin returned to his face,
Snickering in that eerily silent way that Hackers did, Li'tae took one look at Fiach's perturbed face before continuing.
Returning his attention to Brad, he added,
After a quick glance at the laptop next to Fiach's, Li'tae flickered once or twice before giving Brad a sly look.
His overly innocent grin was nearly sickening in its appearance and looked entirely out of place on the hacker.
Quick to interrupt the Hacker at this point, Fiach interjected, "It might actually be best if you talk to the Hacker. Just like you're talking to Li'tae now."
Rolling his eyes, Li'tae did the text equivalent of muttering, Shrugging, he threw in, in larger text, suppose you could do it that way, if you really wanted to...> His eyes remained hopeful as the cursor hovered at the last period, Li'tae did so love to play with the new hackers. They were amusing toys for him.
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Posted: Sat Nov 10, 2007 11:26 pm
Any gentle pretense in his posture faded as the virus suggested he lose his job. "Certainly. If I lose my job, your little 'hacker' buddy dies from lack of food. Sounds fantastic." Brad didn't smile or otherwise show any sign of sarcasm, but it was clear that he'd rather the thing lived and he kept his job than the alternative.
He dismissed most of what the thing said after his suggestion for a new job. The critter obviously wasn't intelligent enough to know what it was saying. It may mimic humans, but it certainly wasn't one by a long shot. "Stay out of my computer," he said lazily, not in the least bit indicating that he would yield on the command.
<...he's scary,> blipped onto Brad's laptop, a small dusky head poking out from the corner.
The man was still looking at Li'tae, mulling over the possibilities in his mind. If his hacker turned out to be such an obnoxious, self-righteous pain in the butt, he'd just as soon wipe the hard drive. He glanced disinterestedly to his own laptop, doing a double take as he spotted the text. "He's...hey! You don't like it, then listen to me!"
A purplish body filtered onto the screen from beneath the toolbar, beady eyes moving between Fiach and Brad.
Brad gaped at his screen, looking to Fiach. "Is he serious? He just helped himself rather than finding somewhere else to snack?"
came the indignant reply, the small creature turning its back to the gathered with a huffing motion.
The man groaned, physically draping his hand over his forehead and eyes. "Your anaolgies suck."
The capped words flashed like a marquee, the hacker casting a dirty look over a slender shoulder.
"And you're a rude--...what do I have to do?" He abruptly turned away from the hacker - much to its dismay - to look at Fiach. "Do I just save more files? Move different ones? What do I have to expect from it?"
The cursor became glaringly white.
Brad was too busy staring at Fiach to notice the annoyed hacker, his lips pursed. "Just tell me what to do so I can get my work back. I wont kill it, but I can't let it stay where it is, as it is."
the hacker sulked.
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Posted: Sun Nov 11, 2007 4:14 pm
Gazing up at the now obviously angered man, Li'tae couldn't help but grin. At the last bit of his statement, he winked at Brad, enjoying being the aggravating little hacker.
Blinking a few times at how Brad was responding to the Hacker, Fiach tried to make his movements slow and calm, not exactly sure how to deal with an angry person. Clearing his throat slightly, he attempted to hide his obvious discomfort, "Well...yes. It would appear that way." he replied quietly to Brad's question, though he thought he might not have been heard during the argument that was beginning between the two.
Squirming slightly in his seat as Brad rounded on him once more, Fiach folded his hands on the desk in an attempt to look like he didn't want to hide under it - or at least run away. Refusing to look at Li'tae as he formed an answer, he tried to think of a way to make his response one that wouldn't anger him further. He didn't really like being pinned to his chair with a stare.
"Well...you could ask the Hacker what it did with your data and if it could return it to you. As to what to do to protect your files - you could save mundane files for it, or let the Hacker roam Cyberspace. I believe that's mostly what Li'tae does, though Adalia does keep a folder with his name on it with copies of files and things he likes to eat..."
Clearing his throat slightly, Fiach glanced at both screens. Li'tae was doubled over in laughter at his discomfort, so he quickly chose to ignore him, but the other hacker appeared to be perturbed with Brad. Gesturing towards the screen, Fiach quietly muttered, "I think someone is trying to talk to you..."
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Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2007 8:48 am
Brad's eyes shifted to the side as he thought, looking at Li'tae without really seeing him. "All right," he said quietly, his words partially muffled by the hand that was rubbing his chin, "I can do that. Have to make some type of terms--"
The man blinked, looking back towards his computer, lips pursing tightly. Calm down, it's just a computer bug, he had to tell himself, despite the growing ire he could feel. "Yes?"
< . . . > The hacker stared balefully at Brad.
"Tsk!" Brad practically blanched. He kept his jaw clenched, trying not to yell at the thing. "Oh. And what would that be?"
"
The man was mere seconds from snapping the laptop in half. He counted backwards from ten again, trying not to snarl, rage, or otherwise do anything that would make the situation any worse than it was. "Fine. Nigh. We have many things to discuss, privately."
The hacker looked between Fiach and Brad, weary.
"Thank you for your help, sir," Brad said as politely as he could to Fiach, glancing to him. "I'll make the best that I can out of this." After a brief inward struggle, he turned his gaze between Li'tae and the man. "Thank you both."
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Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2007 12:49 pm
Blinking several times at the man, Fiach shrunk a little in his chair. While he was a fairly tall guy at 6'4", he felt like he was tiny right now. This guy is kind of scary...I wish Adalia was here right now...
Clearing his throat, Fiach tried to sit up straight and tall, and glanced over at Li'tae, almost as if wishing the hacker would support him. All he got was a knowing smirk and he shrunk just a little bit more. Making himself look into Brad's eyes, he smiled as politely as he could. "If you have any other questions, please let me know."
On the verge of laughter, the Hacker's lips twitched uncontrollably, as he happily glanced between Fiach and Brad. Li'tae looked over at Brad's laptop and grinned at the new hacker there. A quick glance up at Brad showed that the thanks was sort of a throwback, but the Hacker put on an over the top friendly smile before responding to the man.
Fiach hung his head at the hacker's response, and made a mental note to himself to tell Adalia to make her hacker behave better when she wasn't around. Raising his head again, he gave a wan smile before muttering, "Is there anything else I can help you with today?"
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Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2007 1:17 pm
The scary man in question was also 6'4", but it was likely his intensity that was bothering poor Fiach. Brad inhaled deeply, giving a curt nod. "I'll call if there's further issues." He was about to snap his laptop shut and walk out, but stopped, looking at the small Hacker with tightly pursed lips. "You ready, Nigh?"
The Hacker looked as though he was about to hide, but seeing as Brad made the effort to at least make sure he weas ready, Nigh stay put on the start bar. came the blipped response,
Brad nodded again, carefully clasping the laptop shut, but leaving it on. He didn't know if the Hacker required it, but better safe than sorry, especially in front of Fiach, who seemed he'd rather be tap dancing over alligators than in his presence. "Thanks." He tucked the silver and black computer under his arm, turning and striding out without a backward glance.
Now he had to figure out just what the hell he was going to do with this virus named Nigh...
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Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2007 1:30 pm
Giving a polite nod in Brad's direction as he uttered his last thanks and strode to the door, Fiach felt himself slump in his chair as the door finally shut. A big sigh of relief escapes from between his lips as he hopes he doesn't have any more customers like that.
Li'tae danced across the screen with a big grin across his face as he watched Fiach's obvious relief at Brad's exit.
Throwing a glare in the hacker's direction, Fiach decided it was time to get something to eat and headed to the kitchen to do some rummaging.
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