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 Posted: Sat Dec 01, 2007 11:48 pm
Deciding to take a momentary break from the rigors of sitting hunched over a computer all day, Fiach stood up with a long, lazy stretch. Yawning as he straightened up, he massaged at a knot in his lower back, making a mental note to remember to take breaks more frequently while at work. Glancing at the clock, he realized he had a few minutes left until his next appointment would be arriving, and decided to play his penny whistle, to while the time away. Frowning as the first few notes made his sore and swollen jaw hurt, he worked his jaw a few times to get it stretched, before starting again.
Sitting in his chair facing the door, Fiach played a gentle, soothing tune. After several customers had interrupted him playing, he had decided he no longer really cared who heard him. He enjoyed music, so why shouldn't he share it with others? Closing his eyes as he played, he quickly forgot that he had a customer on the way, his mind soaring away with each note he played.
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Posted: Sun Dec 02, 2007 10:45 am
The young figure stood before the 'shop' in a flood of uncertainty. Her silver laptop was pressed against her chest as her arms encircled the delicate object. She looked as frantic as fearful, dreading the news that might turn up from this expert. It will be like all the other darn shops she when to, a shake of the head and a damn apology.
Truthfully, she had heard of this place from a casual conversation with a distant acquaintance and she didn't have the slightest clue how reliable this place was. However, she had to assume the best considering the fact she had no where else to turn to. Yup, Lorie had run out of options.
And that was not good. Loraina White (aka Lorie) build her life around her computer (another crazy graphic artist) and was nearly in tears after a few large chunks of her files had frighteningly large holes in them. Normal people merely called this file disappearance; however, Lorie, being very 'out there', blamed an unknown force she called 'the bug' that had come to punish her for all her misuse of the internet aka licensed movie downloads and such. Of course this was only the result of a very superstitious mind.
She pressed against the door and instantly perked her ears at the sound of... music? Was she in the right place? Even if she wasn't, it was too late considering how she already slipped into the room and all.
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Posted: Sun Dec 02, 2007 6:15 pm
Playing a few more bars from his seat before his fingers began to falter, Fiach's eyes slowly twitched open. He had that uncanny feeling of being watched again, and as his eyes adjusted once more, he realized that his next appointment had arrived. Quickly setting the penny whistle down as his cheeks lit up a light pink, Fiach cleared his throat before standing up to greet the young lady.
Ducking his head slightly in embarrassment, he stepped forward, "Welcome to .NET Hackers. My name is Fiach - can I help you?" With a small smile that wouldn't make his jaw hurt, he hoped his carefully crafted speech hadn't sounded hollow. He'd been caught slightly off guard, and the spiel had come out automatically. Personally he'd always hated it when salesmen gave him their patented speech, and he felt slightly stupid for giving it himself.
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Posted: Sun Dec 02, 2007 6:27 pm
Lora blinked and looked at him quietly fore a long moment. .Net Hackers? She's never really heard of that before. Could it be someone evil is trying to hack her precious computer? How horrible that would be! She was so emersed in her horror that she forgot to answer him for a few seconds... or more.
Then suddenly, she frowed, looking down at her laptop like a worried mother. "Well, Mr. Fiach, I want to believe you can," the dirty blonde shook her head quickly. "I'm sorry, my name's Lorie. I've been having a few issues with my files diappearing and an aquaintance of mine said you would be able to help?" She glanced at him hopefully.
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Posted: Mon Dec 03, 2007 12:47 am
Glancing down at the young lady as she seemed to stare off into space, Fiach wondered if he'd scared her. Maybe his music hadn't been as good as he'd thought it was, or maybe she hadn't expected for him to be playing at work, or maybe it could be a thousand other reasons that Fiach hadn't quite thought up yet. A small frown creased his face as he started to guilt trip himself, until she finally responded, and a small sigh of relief escaped from between his lips. An eyebrow was raised slowly in silent question as the girl said she wanted to believe he could help her, a look that quickly turned to a small, easy smile.
"Well, Miss Lorie, I can certainly take a look for you." Giving her what he hoped was a warm smile, he wondered if she had gotten a hacker, as well. There had been an increase in them lately, and a lot of people came in complaining of work being lost. Frowning as he hoped that she would also not grow angered like Brad had, he added, "You might have a Hacker. They're...AI units that live in our computers. Nothing horrible - and you can usually convince them to return your data." Silently, he added, "if you're lucky, remembering Li'tae's own tampering with his computer at home before they'd figured out that he was on there. The hacker hadn't returned his files, telling him it was his own fault for not having them secured well enough in the first place.
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Posted: Mon Dec 03, 2007 12:20 pm
"It's just Lorie," she said automatically, "Or just Lor."
She listened intently. Intently included frequent nods, occasional gasps or 'oh's when necessary; just the whole package. Now, you must know, Lorie had already developed a whole idea of the word 'hacker', usually consisting on a snobby teen or enlarged man sitting behind the glows of several monitors and snickering evilly at her misfortune. Connecting this to something living 'in' her computer was just… bazaar.
She had so many questions but decided the best choice of action was to first let go of her precious. … as in her precious computer. She motioned for him to take her laptop. "Well… This is the problem child… Suppose there is a 'Hacker' on it. Can you get rid of it or fix it?" Lor paused, thought about it, then gave a 'Gah!'. "I must sound like an idiot. I don't even know if my questions make sense. If it doesn't, tell me. (it happens a lot)."
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Posted: Mon Dec 03, 2007 4:44 pm
Carefully taking the girl's laptop as she gestured for him to, he gave a small blush as he realized he'd called her 'Miss'. A habit he was trying to break, but always seemed to crop up when he was meeting someone new - especially if that someone was a lady. "Sorry Miss Lorie, I'll try to remember to just call you 'Lorie' from now." Sighing slightly in frustration, Fiach wondered just how he always managed to make himself feel so hopelessly awkward around new people.
Flipping the top of the laptop open, he pressed the 'on' button and frowned in thought as it loaded. "There's nothing to fix with a Hacker. They're AI, not a virus." A slight, "Ah!" escaped his mouth as the computer finally loaded and he looked over the desktop. Raising his head momentarily to inquire, "Did you have any specific set of files that have been disappearing?" If it was a hacker, it was likely nesting near that set of files - or on the desktop and he just hadn't seen it yet. "Or, for that matter - are there any new icons on your desktop that you don't recognize?"
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Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2007 7:40 pm
Lor looked at Fiach for a moment, finding it hilarious how he was still calling her Miss. She shook herself out of that thought just in time to note his comment. She nodded but, truthfully, she had no idea what the difference between this 'AI' and what people call 'virus'. Her best guess would be the prior was less evil than virus... although she doubt that would be the correct term for whatever she was trying to say. She can be rather clueless when it came to anything technical.
"Um..." She glanced at her desktop to make sure nothing odd had appeared since the last time she checked. She pointed to a red icon. "Most of the information disappearing was from here." That just happens to be where she stored all her graphics. Luck hates her.
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Posted: Thu Dec 06, 2007 7:07 pm
Nodding thoughtfully as he double clicked the mentioned icon, Fiach gave a sigh at all the files. There were a fair bit more than he'd anticipated, and he began to slowly click through them, hoping the hacker would show itself before long. The tedious sound of the clicks filled the air until a frown furrowed his brow and he put his head in his hand. Growing bored with the task of hunting for a hacker, until finally a small, surprised, "Aha!" escaped from between his lips and two hacker eggs floated across the screen.
A beautiful pale green and purple egg floated next to one with the colors of a tiger. Raising his head to look at Lorie, he pointed at the two as they bobbed about, "Those would be your Hackers, Miss Lorie. They're still eggs it would seem, but should hatch any day now." Smiling, he added, "And once they've hatched you can tell them what files you're okay with them eating, and which you aren't. They should be all right with that, but every now and again we get one that isn't. Should that happen, just give us a call and we'll give you a program to lock your files so they can't eat them."
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Posted: Thu Dec 06, 2007 7:32 pm
"It's Lorie," came the automatic reply again. She was looking intently at the screen as though the words never came out of her mouth. Eggs? She seems to be a magnate for bizarre things. But she did have to admit, this was one of the oddest things she has ever faced.
"They... hatch?" Lor looked back at Fiach and seemed hesitant to say it. "If they 'eat'... it's possible for them to starve? How do I talk to them... wait, can I talk to them?" She highly doubted yelling at the computer screen would be effective although she might have tried it. She will have to get use to the concept of treating this Hacker as well... whatever it is. From his tone she had to assume they were, in a strange way, alive. Maybe she should plan on making these little eggy things a file for them to feed on. Gosh that sounds extremely weird.
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Posted: Fri Dec 07, 2007 10:22 pm
Blushing, Fiach's head bobs slightly in silent acknowledgment. It wasn't that he meant to do that, it just sort of slipped out. Before he could apologize, though, Lorie began to ask him questions. Relieved, he ponders how best to explain the AIs that were Hackers.
Scratching his chin, he frowns, "In a way - yes. They 'hatch' from their eggs and if they don't eat enough data, they could die. However, most hackers leave their humans before they starve. Cyberspace is full of data, after all." Smiling in a reassuring way, he chuckled a little at the last question. "Yes, you can talk to them. By typing or talking at a computer with a microphone. They will type their messages back to you - sort of how you'd talk to someone via instant message."
Tilting his head slightly, he inquires, "Does that make any sense?" He was never sure if people understood the whole AI concept, or if they thought he was simply crazy, so he always had to ask. Shrugging as he watches the two eggs bounce across the screen, he ran through a mental list of information, to see if he'd forgotten anything serious.
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Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2007 9:41 pm
Lorie seemed visibly excited by this information. "So they’re like… pets!" She was so upset when she had to sell her little mare, the love of her life, when she moved away for college. She thought she would die from loneliness after moving her since she was basically socially retarded… then again, that wouldn’t be really different from when she was at home. But now, the possibility of having the little creature to converse with was just wonderful! "Just they can communicate! Oh… I mean, it does make sense." She smiled, "Or at least to me. I bet Felic—" she paused abruptly then quickly fumbled to correct herself, "I mean, I bet my friends would think all this was crazy."
She paused and looked a bit awkward for a moment before she gave a laugh as though the pause had conjured up this amusing image. "People would think I'm losing it if I start talking to my computer." Lor shook her head slightly noting that he could disregard her random rant. "They do speak English, right? Or is there something with the ones and the zeros and the codes and stuff thing?"
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Posted: Mon Dec 10, 2007 2:22 am
Raising an eyebrow as the girl rambled, Fiach quickly concluded the best response was to not respond at all. Instead focusing on the laptop in front of him, to avoid saying or doing anything she might deem offensive. Nodding only in confirmation that they were similar to pets, before doing his best to tune her out.
Startled back to the moment as she laughs, he shrugs slightly, "You could always write to them on your computer, phone, PDA, or whatever device you end up storing them on. Then no one will hear - or think that you're crazy." Though Fiach was slowly beginning to wonder about the girl's sanity, even as he spoke to her. Rolling his eyes at the screen in front of him, he nods, "Yes, they speak English."
Sighing, before looking back at the girl, he politely asks, "Is there anything else I can help you with?" Smiling as friendly a smile as he can muster, he half hopes to himself that she has no further questions, though knowing full well that he'll answer anything she can come up with, to the best of his ability, and with as much of as a smile as possible on his face.
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Posted: Mon Dec 10, 2007 7:41 am
She didn't seem a tad bit bothered by his lack of response. It was likely her friends did that too when she got over her head in ranting. However, Lor finally seemed to suddenly calm down and fall silent a moment to think over what he had said. Vaguely, she wonder if people from other countries had this problem. It would be insane if they spoke French too. She turned to him again when he asked a question. She smiled and shook her head quickly. "No, thank you. I think I've bothered you enough today," She replied politely, returning to the role of a pleasant customer.
"Would there be a fee to cover?" She check her bag to see if she brought her wallet. She was so darn forgetful sometimes... or rather all the time.
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Posted: Mon Dec 10, 2007 6:04 pm
Closing the laptop in front of him as she confirmed his guess that they were about through, he slowly stood up and smiled down at her. Shaking his head with a small laugh, "No, you weren't a bother at all. Its my job to answer your questions, after all." Though he couldn't help but wonder if his irritability had shown through that well after all, and made a note to remember to keep that in check with the next customers that came in.
Tilting his head slightly at the question of the fee, he tried his best to hide his surprise at her not knowing the cost of the hacker services. Shrugging as she began to check her bag, he felt embarrassed to say, "Yes...there's a 4,000 gold fee, I'm afraid." Frowning momentarily he added quickly, "But if you forgot your wallet today...Ah...you can come in later to pay?" He hadn't really run into this sort of a problem before, and wasn't entirely sure how to handle it. Normally a shopkeeper didn't allow the customer to leave with the goods unpaid for, but then...this wasn't really a normal store to begin with.
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