PC: Tama 💀

[resumed]

Comments

[resumed]

[ immediately he looks at her feeties. ]

Have you never seen them before? [ also, why. ] But nothing at all, and that makes this place even more suspicious than it was to begin with.

[ there's a curious look though. ]

How do you even do the tracking thing?

[ballies]

[ she’s wearing sneakers, thank you very much. ]

It wasn’t for me, it was for Goat.

[ sometimes you just show your team leader platform flipflops don’t worry about it. ]

I’d just log their ISP and track them that way. [ blunt. ] Even if they’re obscuring it, they have one. You’ve just gotta find it.

[resumed]

[ good, be nice to her. also why. ]

Oh. Okay. [ goat your feeties? but tama's going on to explain the isp and nico is truly giving her a blank look that says he has absolutely no clue what the hell she means. ]

...if that's something you think will help, I'll leave that particular skill to you then. I wouldn't know where to even start.

[ballies]

[ why not. ]

They didn’t know what they were. It’s important they do, or the flip flops in the vending machines are going to suck. Forever.

[ this is really important for some reason. but— oh. huh. ]

You’re not a tech guy, are you?

[resumed]

Flip flops shouldn't even be in a vending machine to begin with, but I feel like that's just obvious by now.

[ there's a slow blink. ]

...we have it, but I don't use it a lot, no. Only when it's necessary.

[ballies]

They are though, so we might as well elevate the experience.

[ demand better flip flops, nico. ]

Ah, that would explain it. ISP’s who’s providing your internet connection. You can also look up an IP address to see where someone is accessing that ISP from. You can hide it, but it still exists.

[resumed]

I'll leave the elevation of footwear to you as well.

[ but oh. okay, yes, this makes some sense. ]

So it's basically tracking someone to hunt them down. The address thing puts out a boosted signal and alerts you to where the person is accessing the tech from.

[ actually this sounds bad. ]

[ballies]

Don’t worry, I have someone working on it with me.

[ why. and who. ]

You make it sound so ominous. If someone’s committing fraud using an internet connection, it’s no different to narrowing down an address so you can stop their activities and bring them in for questioning. In this case, we’d be able to see if the internet was being provided from inside the city or outside of it.

So, if we have suspicions about the fact the city doesn’t have a recorded history, it’d be a good way of telling how founded those suspicions are. Why set up a fake connection in a fake city, if you could use a stable one outside of the given area? [ … ] Of course it’s not foolproof, there are VPNs and stuff nowadays.

[resumed]

[ ohhhh my god he's not even sure what he wants to ask about first, if it's about the shoe thing or this ip thing. give him a second to shake his head as if that'll help him comprehend things.

he gets it. he does understand what she's saying but that's still kind of ominous to him. ]

Do you do this a lot back where you're from?

[ballies]

If someone’s committed a crime, it’s kinda… standard that you can look this stuff up. There’s red tape and steps to work around before you act on what you find, because of course there is. [ except if you work in ABIS, but details. ]

That’s modern day law enforcement. If the crimes are online, you have to track them online.

[resumed]

[ he's nodding along... ]

We don't really deal a lot with law enforcement where I'm from. Unless we're running from them but that's different. We mostly take care of ourselves and solve our own problems.

[ballies]

[ she tilts her head. ]

... I'm surprised you're allowed to do that.

[resumed]

[ ... ]

I guess it's more like...other people still have law enforcement to keep them in line. We still have police and firefighters and everything. Our problems are a little more...unique?

[ law enforcement is for mortals. ]

[ballies]

[ she just tilts her head at him. ]

[resumed]

[ he mimics the motion. ]

...even if there aren't newspaper archives here, there's probably a newsroom somewhere. Maybe there's information there?

[ DON'T JUST IGNORE WHAT YOU WERE SAYING. ]

[ballies]

... No, rewind a moment. Other people?

[resumed]

Yeah. You know. [ uh... ] People who can't defend themselves?

[ballies]

...

Those are normally the people law enforcement is trying to protect. Normally. Some parts of it suck.

[resumed]

Right, which is what I mean. Other people rely on law enforcement for their safety. There isn't much they can do for people like us.

[ballies]

... there's the "people like us" again.

[resumed]

[ ...hm... ]

Tama, if someone called the police because a manticore was chasing them, what do you think would happen?

[ballies]

... They'd probably think you were drunk. Or high?

[ excuse me, a manTICORE? ]

[resumed]

[ haha. ]

I was ten and he was posing as the vice principal of the military school I was at.

[ballies]

... Doesn't a manticore have the body of a lion?

[resumed]

And the tail of a scorpion. [ yes. ]