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 Posted: Sun Feb 28, 2010 10:07 pm
The agent kept using the word 'recursion' where it had no sense being used, but Hayes could get an idea of what the higher-ups wanted. Sort of. He listened politely until she'd handed over the design folder, and she waited while he skimmed over the contents.
The blond pushed his glasses back into place and smiled slightly. "Huh. Nice little weekend project. Okay."
"Actually." The agent tapped the folder briskly. "They want it by tomorrow."
That had been twelve hours ago.
Hayes wasn't sure what time it was now except 'late,' or according to his computer clock, 3:27 AM. Switch had long ago abandoned solidarity for slumber and was snoring in a pile of power cables, all four feet in the air. The Rocket immediately regretted checking; he felt his body, beneath the buzz of caffeine, go 'Hey, wait a minute..'
He kicked open the mini-fridge under his desk and reached for another soda. There were none.
With a little grunt, the blond rolled his chair back and stood. Lines of code scrolled behind his eyes when he closed them and stretched, threatening to break free of their brackets.
He opened his eyes. Closed them again.
Yup, still there.
Hayes looked over at his fellow night owl. "Snack run," he announced. "Want anything?"
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Posted: Sun Feb 28, 2010 10:38 pm
1337 was not your usual guy.
He literally dragged his work everywhere with him. He didn't use typical equipment. He didn't have the usual sleep schedule.
3:27 AM in the morning hardly seemed to affect him at all. As his hand seemed to type at some sort of invisible keyboard, the visored punk of a Rocket turned to face his current project partner. One really couldn't tell if he was looking directly at Hayes or not, since there really was not way to see the eyes hiding behind the cold metal covering his face. There was a large toothy grin across his lips.
"As long as there's hot sauce, I'm game!"
His hand still continued to type as he pushed himself up to his own feet. Apparently announcing a snack run meant "Do you want to come with me as I go to find food?" Even though this could have been seen as a break, it seemed as if Agent 1337 had no intention of stopping his work.
"Ya got anything in mind?" he asked casually, that infamous grin still lingering over his expression in a menacing fashion.
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Posted: Wed Mar 03, 2010 8:54 pm
"Heh, right." Hayes returned a grin that was neither predatory nor infectious, but mild and benign. The blond was about as edgy as a cushion. Perhaps he'd long ago figured out any attempt to look dangerous or cool only would have the same effect as a sheep trying to growl, and had stuck to his strengths from then on. By all appearances, one of those was 'look as nonthreatening as possible. And maybe easy to push around.' And as the two headed for the cafeteria, the difference was especially clear.
"Pizza." The Rocket flicked a thumb toward one of the fridges toward the back, normally guarded by a ladle-wielding cook. But now the kitchen was dark and the tall metal coolers unguarded, their quiet buzz audible in the deserted room. "There's something like two boxes from this morning." Even elites got hungry at meetings.
But apparently not that hungry.
There were four boxes, and someone had a penchant for pineapple. There were also half-dismantled arrangements of sliced fruit, an aging tray of brownies (mostly crumbs) and a couple half-liters of soda.
Score.
"So," Hayes asked while he dragged the grease-stained boxes out and used the light of the fridge to check their contents, "can you eat and type with that thing?" He nodded at 1337's, for lack of a better word, contraption.
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Posted: Wed Mar 03, 2010 10:44 pm
Pizza.
Not exactly the most exciting food out there, unless it was covered in spicy peppers and sausage, but it would suffice for now. As the two walked (with 1337 still going strong with his typing), he couldn't help but observe how different the cafeteria was towards the evenings. The room almost felt dead, with the lack of chaos echoing from the walls.
"Only two boxes? God, I could eat so much more!" he joked as he leaned over to look at the contents in the fridge. Captain Obvious felt the need to announce "Make that four boxes!" with a laugh. "That's a more reasonable number... oh hey, brownies! F*ck yeah!!!"
Perhaps it was a brave notion, but he grabbed up a brownie with his non-typing hand. Most people would have bitten right into the sweet chocolaty morsel after claiming it, but that wasn't 1337's style. Instead, he set the brownie on a nearby counter, slipped his fingers into a side pouch on his belt, and pulled out a small packet of hot sauce. With a grin, he tore the edge of the plastic packet with his teeth, then squeezed out the contents over the brownie.
"There we go! Great snack!" Without any hesitation, he popped the brownie in his mouth in one bite.
However, the whole display seemed to answer Hayes' question. 1337's fingers had been typing the entire time while he attended to the food issue with the other hand. However, he offered a comical "No!" after her finished smacking his lips from the hot-sauced brownie.
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Posted: Mon Mar 08, 2010 7:07 pm
"Looks like you're in luck." The blond Rocket leaned out of the way as the brownie tray went by, going for the pizza and the fruit tray himself. Balancing tray on top of box in one hand, he hooked a soda bottle into the crook of his arm and kicked the door shut.
1337's liberal hot sauce use didn't garner comment. Hayes wasn't that long out of college, where it had been a common tactic in the dining hall in the face of mass-produced food that tasted, against all probability, worse than it looked. To their credit, Team Rocket's cafeteria staff didn't serve broccoli boiled until it was yellow and scrambled eggs you could bounce a fork off of, but dessert could be a.. haphazard affair.
Anyway, he was more interested in 1337's typing. He lifted the fruit tray to the side, made an amused noise at the visual joke and parted a slice of pineapple mushroom chicken pizza from its fellows. The Rocket glanced down at it, layered on extra pineapple from the fruit tray, and nodded at the one-handed movements.
"Never seen a chord keyer without a grip," he mused. "Where've you got the sensors?"
After a thought, he began adding slices of strawberry.
Programmers, if you left them long enough, tended to devolve into omnivores of a bizarre fashion, eating anything that a) wasn't nailed down and b) was free.
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Posted: Mon Mar 08, 2010 7:55 pm
Brownies and hot sauce apparently was a good combination, for the darker haired Rocket went in for a second helping. One thing that was sometimes a bit daunting about 1337 was the fact you never knew where his eyes were at. You couldn't see him, but he could see you. And at the moment, he was easily noticing the way Hayes was watching his hand. He reached into his side pouch to pull out another packet of hot sauce.
He bit onto the edge of the packet, but he let it hang from his mouth for a bit. "Didn't your momma ever teach ya it isn't polite to stare?" There was a big toothy grin spread across his lips as he then let his free hand tug at the opposite end of the hot sauce. He obviously was not serious.
1337 was almost never serious.
With a hearty laugh, he drizzled the contents of his packet on another brownie. He didn't really answer the question directly, but he pointed out "It's the same concept in essence." What would be the fun of revealing all of his trade secrets? Really, Hayes should have known better. With another laugh, he crammed the next brownie in his mouth. Though his mouth was full, he attempted to speak, or more accurately, change the subject.
"Shlo... oo goo ya gink's foog'd ub wid Sed?" (translating roughly to "So... who do you think's hooked up with Seth?") It was always fun to harass the superiors in this organization, and with Hayes, it was always hard to tell where his threshold of "pain" was for these sorts of subjects.
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Posted: Mon Mar 08, 2010 9:32 pm
Hayes just shrugged, with that mild smile and a half-laugh, and let the matter drop without really answering himself. As another coder, he understood the importance of keeping your techniques under wraps, and took no offense at the brush-off. Anyway, fewer clues made it a bigger challenge. He'd figure it out eventually, and it all kept him interested and observant and entertained.
He nudged a strawberry sliver back on his slice as 1337 took the conversation another way.
"Seb?" the Rocket repeated, mouth full of pizza.
He blinked at 1337, swallowed the mouthful, and slowly answered, "I.. really couldn't say."
"But if I had to guess.."
Hayes worked the top off one of the soda bottles, silent and musing. It took a while, and most of that was devoted to time it took to wrap his mind around the idea of Seth actually.. involved with someone.
The cap came free with a hiss of carbon dioxide, and the blond had a swig.
"I don't think he'd date below his rank. Doesn't leave a lot of options, does it?" He nudged his glasses back in position and grinned at the other Rocket, meeting the visor's eyeless expanse.
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Posted: Mon Mar 08, 2010 10:13 pm
In an almost exaggerated fashion, 1337 swallowed down the contents in his mouth, smacking his lips contently. It was a good start to the meal.
Yes, this was strictly just the start of it.
Without asking, the lanky man just reached over and ripped out a slice of pizza from the box. It really didn't matter what sort of toppings was on the pizza, for 1337 was a garbage disposal. Put hot sauce on it, and he'd eat it, no questions asked.
However, he was starting to get a hankering for a stronger hot sauce. If he had both hands available, he would have been able to get the proper sauce from his side pouch. "Hayes... help a brother out?" With his free hand, he pointed a finger towards his side pouch. Totally could be seen as gay if the pouch was a little more towards the front. However, 1337 specifically kept it to the side for emergencies just like this one. "It's a small vial of black sauce."
After having (hopefully) resolved that issue, he then continued along with the conversation. "Sure, I guess he wouldn't date anybody below his rank. Heck, couldn't see him f*cking a girl... or guy... of a lower rank either." He laughed before making the perverse sound effects of a bed squeaking under such fun activities. "Eer err eer err!" Another hearty laugh belted out of him before putting out a hypothesis.
"He's totally doin' TRP. Yer with me on that one, right?" There was that same mischievous grin lighting up his face.
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Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2010 11:23 pm
"Yeah, sure." The Rocket set the soda bottle down.
You did strange things at 3 AM, including reaching into another man's pouch. This Hayes did without thinking much of it, thumbing past various objects until he found something that seemed the right size and color, though in the near-dark everything looked black.
The idea of Seth having a love life was bizarre and mentally arresting. Like a train wreck.
The idea of Seth being involved with any of the elites Hayes had met..
The bottle had barely left his fingers when 1337 made the noises.
Hayes choked on his soda.
A pineapple cube bounced onto the floor as he dropped his slice of pizza on the counter, coughing on fizzy liquid that had gone down the wrong pipe.
He gave 1337 a sideways look, unable to answer but for a strangled 'ggh.'
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Posted: Sat Mar 13, 2010 1:41 pm
"Hey! Careful Hayes! Don't want ya dropping my sauce!" The dark haired agent was laughing at the reaction, but at the same time, his concern seemed to be more in line with his own possessions rather than the safety of his momentary partner in food crime. However, 1337 had his vial of sauce between his fingers now, so the world was a wonderful place again. He set the container on the counter, then looked to the blonde.
"What? Ya never think about who's screwing who? What are you, some little kid? Mommy never give you the talk about the facts of life?" Oh, 1337 was cackling out now. He slapped his free hand heartily on Hayes' shoulder, though whether it was meant to be a gesture of amusement, or a half-assed attempt at assisting his choking problem, nobody but 1337 knew.
Not bothering with the minor mess that his companion had made, he turned back to his vial of sauce and began to process of opening it with a single hand. More as a casual observation, he pointed out "Ya know, your reaction leads me to believe you're still a virgin. Virgins are damned hilarious!"
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Posted: Sat Mar 13, 2010 6:39 pm
Hayes said something which came out as "Hngh," rolled his eyes, and had a swallow from the soda bottle. It went down right this time, and he could speak again. "You keep bringing up mothers," he pointed out. "Do you have some kind of complex?"
The Rocket picked up his pizza, retrieved some fallen toppings, and finished it off. With his clean hand, he twitched his glasses into place and gave 1337 a disbelieving, humorous look.
"It's Seth." He made some gesture indicating their superior was more tightly wound than the coil of an electromagnet. "Your Metagross probably gets more action, and's warmer too. I mean.."
He shrugged and tore another slice from the box. "If we're talking virgins, don't look at me."
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Posted: Sat Mar 13, 2010 6:58 pm
1337 had a sense of humor. Probably more so than he should have at times. The mention of having a mother complex caused a grin to spread across from cheek to cheek on the eyeless wonder.
"Always... Didn't ya get the memo? MILFs are where it is at this season!" 1337 had this way of talking like everything was a joke. Sarcasm was just riding on his voice, but at times you really had to wonder if he meant what he said or not. This was one of those times where you had to wonder if the visor-wearing young man was serious about having a complex or not.
Eventually, he managed to get his vial open, and rather promptly poured the contents carefully on the piece of pizza he tore out for himself before. Laying the empty vial down, he then picked up and began to devour it quickly. It was as if he hadn't had anything to eat at all that day (though Hayes knew the opposite was the case).
When he finished, he was smacking his lips and licking his fingers clean. "If ya ever want a real hot sauce... that sh*t is where it's at!" As if to tempt his current partner, he rolled the vial in his direction. There was still some residue, if he had the balls enough to try it.
"Last I heard, Seth has a d**k. And I don't see him as the celibate type. Whoever he's screwing, he's probably the angry-sex sort. Only gets in the mood when he needs to let off some steam." Oh god, this conversation was so awesome. 1337 laughed out good and hard at his last verdict.
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Posted: Mon Mar 15, 2010 4:43 pm
"Sure," Hayes chuckled. This was how he responded to a lot of 1337's statements: with a sort of good-natured amusement that didn't really reveal his feelings one way or the other, nor answer 1337's irreverent (and often obscene) questions. No, never mind, they were all obscene. 1337 could insinuate things about lima beans.
The blond Rocket put a hand in the vial's path and rolled it up into his fingers as 1337 speculated on Seth, making a note not to touch his face with that hand until he'd washed it. Several times.
"Well, maybe," he mused, and gave the vial a shake. A drop of viscous liquid flicked out and began to settle into a chunk of pineapple. "You must know more about screwing guys than I do. But if he does it to cool off - and who says TRP's the angry sex type, anyway - when do you last think he got some?" He'd seen the blond elite in passing, but hadn't had enough interaction to judge her bedroom preferences. He waved the pizza rhetorically at 1337 and had a bite.
There was a curious moment of pause, similar to when you realize that nail in your foot will hurt like anything in a minute.
The pizza was cold, but seared the top of his mouth before it even made contact. There was a brief flavor of pineapple and tomato sauce, and then Hayes temporarily lost his sense of taste.
When he was only feeling an intense chemical burn, he rolled the bottle back to his visored conversation partner. "That stuff should be illegal." His sinuses felt cleaned out.
Eating with 1337 was hazardous to your health.
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Posted: Mon Mar 15, 2010 5:38 pm
The visored agent watched with interest, though his eyes were invisible to his blonde companion. He fought off the urge to grin in a near sadistic fashion, and in an effort to keep his expression as neutral as agent 1337 could ever pull off (which consisted of a common wide grin), he speculated over more bedroom preferences.
"Seth's just a living embodiment of 'angry sex.' And TRP, well, I sorta see her as the 'I'll take whatever my man throws at me' sort. Not the 'beaten housewife' complex version, but more along the lines of she'll do what she can to please her man."
And then it happened. The classic reaction of "OH GOD, TOO HOT" 1337 could no longer force his smile to remain pleasant.
With an insanely amused laugh, he offered a word of advice. "For future reference. Anytime someone offers ya a 'hot sauce' that's black... don't go for it unless ya can handle it. It's not a traditional hot sauce, but instead just a condensed version of what they use to make pepper spray. Or more accurately, pepper extract."
A pause.
"Don't get it in your eye, and don't rub your eyes even if you get it on your hands. Otherwise you're going to be crying for a long time. Wash it out with milk."
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Posted: Mon Mar 15, 2010 6:26 pm
Hayes' classic reaction had been a rather understated one. No strangled noises, no frantic clutching at the throat, no grotesque faces. He scrunched his eyes shut, curled one hand into a fist and stayed still, letting the burning sensation surge through him.
"..nrgh," he grunted, and yanked open the fridge door. Milk was a good idea. The Rocket didn't say anything else until he'd gotten the lid off a half-empty gallon and downed a good portion of it. Then he looked over at 1337, the edge of his mouth pulled back in something that could be a grimace or a grin.
"Yeah, that wasn't a great idea. ... Is lightheadedness normal?"
A pause, during which the blond finished off the milk and steadied himself against the fridge.
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