2013.09.17- Theora

The final tinkering with the encryption program, coupled with the pesonal identifiable information was bound to make things a bit interesting. Requiring both authenication and encryption in entering it, couple with keyscrambling, it would make for a tricky time to crack. It wasn't -completely- foolproof, but it would require someone who could communicate in several computer languages at the same time to deal with the encryption.

With Kitty's assistance, the hardware was put in place. And now, well... it was time to hack the individual phone, make the connection while keeping the IP addresses bounced all over, all the better to confound any black ICE programs. Hisnd now to hack individual phones that he had access to. An application shows up one day, on certain people's phones, one that had a relatively innoculous NI KNIGHTS name and avatar. Running it created a Knight that Goes Ni intoning, 'Place Thumbprint here' with a QC-code-esque box.

As soon as it matched up with Jocelyn's, there was a scanned computer avatar-head popping up, very Max-Headroom-esque, reminiscent of Doug. "G-g-goood evening, J-jocelyn. Enter verbal access code."

Jocelyn was back at the house, finishing up some details for her latest schemes. Shift and Rachel had already left on a boat, so the woman was mostly on her own. She'd have to head back to Bastion soon, however. It wasn't that uncommon for her to be traveling between the cities late, though. Her position demanded a lot of travel currently.

That's when her phone rings with that weird ringtone. Doug likely would have noticed a little more delay on her phone, if he watched his readouts. She had another encryption program on her phone, and that slowed things down just a tiny bit.

Jocelyn puts her thumbprint on the phone and speaks into it. "Channel 1 is on". A little bit of play on her codename. "E-evening Do-oo-ug. Or is it morning t-t-t-there?" Jocelyn asks.

At least his communication system was on an isolated framework, so that any hack into it would be into a self-contained system that wouldn't affect the larger Xavier Institute network at all. A useful outshoot of testing his various Internet 3.0 ideas.

Leaning back, Doug smirks back at the avatar on the other end. "Good morning to you too. I've got coffee. We've got new students. And I see, from the twits and buzz and other things going on that you've been keeping busy, Theora."

"Yeah, wish I was there. Anyone promising, or anyone I know?" Jocelyn asks, also reaching for a cup of coffee. She was going to have a long night ahead of her. "We've been keeping busy. Not everything has gone according to plan, but what does in things like this?" Jocelyn was sure that Doug wasn't going to expect her to give him every detail of what was going on.

Taking her phone with her, she takes a seat on one of the little cots they had. It was far less luxurious than the apartment she had in Bastion, but she wasn't going to be spending a ton of time there anyway. "Anything interesting going on over that side?"

"Not immediately. Just checking out a lot of things." Given that Jocelyn had been there when Doug had mentioned plans in the meeting, she could read between the lines, at lest. Inhibitors. The disappearance of Bolivar Trask. The Young X-Men and the new incoming class.

The avatar head twitches, bobbling as it relays what Doug was saying in broken up speech, periodically flashing a fingerprint box with a timer delay for randomly different fingers. Cute, Cypher, really cute. Taking paranoid security to new levels, apparently.

Mildly obnoxious, but Jocelyn had developed a very real and very fresh appreciation for paranoia, given her current position. "Imagine so. Can't say I've got all that much immediate to talk about," Jocelyn says, this time using her ring finger to keep the connection going. "Been getting some wicked headaches though. Not unlike last time my abilities took a jump. Nothing I can't manage though," she tells the Young X-Men trainer. "Haven't tried pushing it though". It would draw too much attention, and they both knew that was a bad idea.

"Others are all doing pretty well. I haven't seen much of H. so far, but others seem to be fine. Managed to get a chance to poke around places other than Hammer Bay". Which may give Doug some idea that something might be in the works there.

"Mmmhmm. Well, at the moment, our little kitten's been playing around." Kitty doing some checking here and there, of course. "But mostly life's been going on about the same as usual." Students doing well, the X-Men who remained maintaining the school. Those who didn't... "We've got a den mom trying to ride herd on the prodigals." Whether or not Storm might be able to do something about the X-Men who'd left for other parts was something else. "Oh, yeah. Bets' doing well, before you ask."

"Not a bad thing to hear," Jocelyn responds. There's a frown at the mention of the prodigals as she takes a drink of her coffee. There's a noticable pause, more than what lag could account for, before she speaks ago. "Hopefully things with the prodigals gets sorted out," Jocelyn agrees. She can't wonder if part of why she's the one on this mission is because the X-Men were so scattered.

"Good to hear about Bets. Haven't talked much with her. Has claws made her way back, or she counted among the prodigals still?" the woman asks. Jocelyn suspected that Laura might be back by now, or she might still be doing whatever it was she was doing.

"Claws... no signs of her yet." Doug sighs, running his hand through his hair. "It's going to take some time, but if this keeps up, we might have to looking. How's baby bird doing?"

"Doing alright," Jocelyn confirms. There's a frown when Doug mentions Laura isn't home yet. "Good luck finding Claws if she doesn't want to be found," Jocelyn responds. "Anyway, you hear anything useful we might be able to use over in these parts yet? I know Erik the Red is showing up in the States again soon," the woman offers. That was recent news, and Jocelyn had been keeping up. Which was really more than she did when she was at home, so maybe this trip would teach her an appreciation of keeping up with the times.

Sitting in the room set up for Doug's earlier experiments with Internet 3.0, with modifications to add paranoia-level security, the young blond mutant is communicating with Jocelyn via one of the telecommunications program set up. Applications have been installed on the Genosha contingents' phones together with a paranoia-check system to ensure that every so often, the people being talked to have to check in with various fingerprints.

"Yes, I know Erik the Red is here. Though what our response to him is, I don't know yet," he says. "For now, we'll just see what he has to say."

There is the sound of scuffling outside the door, and Doug tilts his head. "Hold on a minute."

Moving towards the door, Doug reaches for it, opening it to reveal...

Sercurity. It's always a good thing to have. Even in the Xavier Institute itself, Even if the security is 'paranoid level'.

And yet, as that door is opened, it'll reveal.... Nothing?

Maybe. But if Doug turns his back before that door can fully close, he'll get a surprise. In that once it does close, there may be a slight cough from off to the side. That is before well.... If he looks over Laura can be seen.

Then again, depending on how this is setup, Jocelyn may very well be able to see Laura enter...

Well, Jocelyn can't quite tell what it is. She just kind of nods and takes a drink of coffee. "Sure, I'll hold". She figures it must be something. In the meantime, over in the house, Jocelyn starts going over some more thoughts in her head regarding what she had to do tomorrow. Schedules and plans and people to meet with. It was all very busy, nowadays. She was glad she'd learned something about sneaking around, because she was certainly needing it more than ever while in Genosha.

As the door is about to close, a cough is heard, and Doug peeks his head around the entrance once again. "Laura!" Huh. "Come right in, hold on."

As soon as Laura comes in, Doug is quick to re-take his seat. "Hey, Theora, guess what. Sandy Claws came back to town."

As an aside to the younger girl, Doug comments, "Talking to Jocelyn through the new system with a phone application. Say hi to Theora."

Sandy... Claws...?

"..."

Yeah. Doug does get a look at that statement. One that instead of her usual emotionless one, it's slightly more than annoyed. And yet as she's told to say 'Hi', wellll....

Laura blinks, and says one word as her expression looses any and all signs of emotion.

"Hi."

There's a pause at the delay in response. "I do hope that she hasn't hurt you too badly for that one, because it's terrible," Jocelyn comments. "Hey there," she adds. "Glad to hear you've made it back," she comments to Laura. "Don't know if you've heard, but myself and some others are on a little trip. Just got this communication system set up. He can fill you in on the details".

Yes Doug. Jocelyn is going to let you explain to Laura why Jocelyn is infiltrating Genosha. Aren't you a lucky man?

"Hoping to be back soon, but don't know just when that'll be. Whenever the work is done".

There's another pause. "And what the hell does Theora mean?" Jocelyn had no clue.

Right. Right, don't try and joke with 'Claws'.

Shaking his head, Doug glances back at Laura. "It's a long story. I'll catch you up after we get done with the call."

To Jocelyn, the young man looks innocent. "Well, when you get back, I'll -have- to catch you up with more pop culture. Although I suppose not a lot of people saw Max Headroom in the first place."

Come to think of it, he might as well designate the communication application program 'Theora' anyway. "Anyway, I've got a prodigal girl to catch up with news. Is there anything you want me to pass on to mom and dad?"

Yeap. You definitely might want to avoid 'claws' jokes unless you want to get up close and a little personal with Laura's claws. Sure odds are she won't actually hurt someone like Doug, but still...

At the mention of 'Max Headroom' the clawed 'clone' can't help but blink, and look right at the ultimate multi-lingual mutant as she asks, "The voice in your head is called Max?"

Then there's a nod at Jocelyn.

"Hope you're back soon. Stuff we need to do."

"Nothing but what I've told you. Things progressing well here. I suspect we'll check in again soon". Jocelyn didn't want to get too into details, if only because the more stuff circulated, the more there was a chance a leak might crop up.

There's a smile from Jocelyn when Laura asks Doug that question. It's a good thing Laura can't see her face. She takes another drink of coffee. "Hopefully. I'll talk with you all later".

And with that, Jocelyn will drop the call and go back to her infiltration work on Genosha.

"... Ok, Theora," Doug comments. "Have fun."

With the connection broken, the young mutant looks back up at Laura, and then sighs. "I suppose asking what you've been doing will just get me a sentence full of one-syllable words, right? Okay, fine, let's get something to eat, and you can just not tell me about what you've been up to."

The young mutant's body language, on the other hand, is completely relaxed, making it easy enough to tell that he's used to Laura's ways. Whenever she wanted to explain it, she would, of course, as usual.

"... And Max Headroom is an old cult tv show. I'll have to show it to you if you stick around long enough..."

"So you're part of a cult?"