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Between taps on the keyboard, Parker would throw his gaze to Serenity, but it was sporadic, usually at the end of his sentences. "When baby sharks are born, the first thing that they do is swim as fast as they can away from their mothers. Do you know why they do that?" Parker paused briefly, punctuating the moment with a particularly loud press of a key. He continued before Serenity had a proper chance to respond. "The babies swim away because the mother will eat them if they don't. Not even a few minutes old, but if she was able to catch them, she would eat her own child without a thought." Glancing down to the cat in his lap, he shifted his hand up to her head, scratching behind her ears before curving to the underside of her chin. It was Darwin's favorite kind of petting, and the memory made Parker's mouth dip downward. "Does that sound like a shark has a conscience to you? If you have children, do you intend to eat them alive if they don't immediately run away from you?" The implied humor of the last line brought a slight smirk to his lips, but it was gone just as quickly, replaced by his ear. He had turned back to the screen, tapping away at the keyboard with his typical pace.

Ignoring her comment on his pledge not to steal, Parker instead focused on the files in question. He knew exactly what he needed to do, but he was putting it off. He hoped to drag this out to two hours, and with her parents gone, it would be even easier. Instead, he scanned through all the password protections on the computer, looking for those with the highest security. Hey -- he was in there anyway. From where Serenity was standing, it would simply look like more techie jargon with a file popping open every so often. Parker moved so quickly that he doubted she would catch on to his snooping. So far -- nothing interesting. Just a lot of spreadsheets and memos.

Good thing the boy could multitask. "No staff. No work discussion. Your parents must be very private people," he said, disappointed she couldn't be more useful especially when her parents seemed to be showing signs of hiding something. "I would think they would discuss work with you. Don't you talk to them about your--" then, stifling a cringe, "--school?" He continued to type away, playing the same casual interest that he had with his previous question.

Flashing through files, Parker's eyes were burning with information. The Kinderman's owned a large chain of jewelry stores in Destiny City. They even owned and operated a gold refinery out in the industrial district where they could take people's old gold, melt it down, and then recast it to create their own overpriced wares. Letters, memos, spreadsheets and then -- what's this? Parker paused for a moment, his fingers slowing ever so slightly. He owned up a blank document and began to type nonsense so as not to arouse suspicion. It was a letter... from the mayor? He was up for re-election and was soliciting money from -- Parker nearly broke out into a full grin. He stifled it immediately, saving the document he had just discovered in a folder. He would need to take it with him.

Whipping out a flashdrive, he turned briefly to Serenity. "Looks like there is a virus on the computer, probably what has been affecting your dad's files. I've seen this one before. It's been bouncing around the computers of businessmen who keep in contact. I designed a program that can get rid of it though, no problem." Parker tucked the drive in without another word, disabling the firewalls. He made a quick copy of the file, and then did what he knew he should have done from the start to fix the little problem. It was done in a matter of moments, and he tucked the flashdrive back into his bag, no hint of suspicion to his movements.

Turning his focus back to Serenity, he made a show of clicking around on the screen, closing out of windows and such. "You should care, Serenity. You seem like a smart girl. I bet you could keep up with it. Don't you want to take over the family business?" Most kids from rich families did. Parker didn't mind saving a few nice things to win Serenity to his side, especially if she could be of some use. In truth, he took her naivety as a sign of a total lack of intelligence, if anything. In Parker's eyes, most people were blind, deaf, and dumb anyway.

With the flashdrive safely in his bag and Serenity none the wiser, Parker felt content to draw this out. Her parents had paid in advance, but he'd given them an hour time frame. He had no intention of risking a request for some of the money back. So he continued to bull s**t around. "Yeah, got the problem taken care of, but I need to check the system. I'd hate for your dad to get home only to find the problem has returned." He made a show of opening and closing windows, running basic system checks.

"I need to wait for this to run through the system," he said, cracking his knuckles and turning to face Serenity. He was careful not to disrupt Poppy, carefully adjusting her position. "Perhaps one of your dad's friends could set you up with a good position on a track toward your goal. Do you meet a lot of his friends?" Keeping his tone casual, he picked a string hanging off of his shirt, pinching it off between thumb and forefinger. Might as well see what he could get out of her; he had time to kill.

Unaware of the thoughts trickling through Serenity's head, Parker continued to work idly. He wanted to drag it out, but the information in his pocket was making him restless. "He must be a proud father," he said, his voice free of the disdain he felt inside. A good father. Hah. Did they even exist? Did good even exist? These were the thoughts that Parker pushed away as he got to his feet, logging out of her father's system and slinging his bag over one shoulder. He kept the cat in his arms, carrying it gently as he adjusted.

"All done here," he said, cracking his knuckles. "Your father should be able to access everything now. No problem at all." Parker tried to offer a smile, but it was tight-lipped, the corners curling upward slightly. Serenity was a dumb kid, sure, but she could be a hell of a lot more useful than he might have originally thought. A Crystal Academy princess -- he couldn't see beyond that, even if he wanted to.

Moving toward the door, it occurred to Parker that he was still holding the cat. He didn't want to let go; it reminded him so much of Darwin. Oh well. Everything would leave you some day. Crouching down, he gently released the cat, offering a short wave to Serenity. "Please extend my thanks to your father for the consult. He has my card if anything else comes up." As he turned to leave, Parker offered one last pleasantry. "Have a good day, Serenity." With that, he was gone, weaving his way out of the massive house as quickly as he could, fingers tapping with excitement on his flash drive and all the secrets it contained.