prompt for July 19th - Harry Potter/Sneakers
Prompt for July 19:
Circling the drain.
Crease still can't quite believe this is happening.
He'd heard a few rumors that back up what's come out of Mother's mouth since that pigeon showed up, when he was in the CIA, but he'd never had to deal with magic on a direct level, so he eventually dismissed the rumors as cases of people over-indulging in the substance of their choice. Aside from the fact that it always grates when Mother's paranoia pays off, he's still sorting out what to make of those rumors having some truth to them.
Of course, there's also the fact that Carl brought in Star Wars as preliminary research, apparently wholly serious in doing so. Mother came in babbling about exchange rates and the Ministry of Magic's approach to by-laws, but the movie at least did the service of shutting him up in short order - though that might have been the combination of Martin and Whistler telling him to wait.
As the movie nears its end, Martin says, "All right, Mother, what was all that about exchange rates?"
"I tracked one down. Two, actually, since I had to go from their system to pounds and then pounds to dollars. If all went well, we'd end up with about twenty grand each, it looks like."
Crease considers that for a moment. "In light of your reservations from yesterday, I don't think they're expecting to have to pay us."
"I don't either. They probably think they can either kill us or wipe our memories before we get out of England - and the latter's entirely legal, over there. If we take the movie as research, it's a safe bet the people in charge won't care if murder's illegal, either."
"Wonderful. This is sounding more and more like we shouldn't take the job."
"On the other hand," Martin says, "now that they've gone to the trouble of fishing us out, they might pull one of those on us anyway if we say we won't do it. I think our choices are to take the offer, or never reply."
Mother shrugs. "If we do it, we can most likely out-think them. British wizards aren't known for their logic, from what I've heard - or for paying much attention to modern technology."
"So I'd be hard pressed to find a computer?" Carl asks, glancing away from his own desktop.
"You'd be hard pressed to find a kerosene lamp, more like."
"...Great. And to top it all off, Mary emailed me. Her hunch last night was right - the Empire did strike back, to stick with the theme."
"So on the one hand," Whistler says, "we'd be walking into a dangerous situation that won't necessarily play to our strengths. And on the other, not being able to rely on magic might help us get through it - and there's a hundred grand in it for us."
Martin nods. "Not to mention, if the government's as badly off as everything we've got suggests, there's got to be more to the story. It's probably nothing we could hear from trying to find their local newspaper, either."
"And if we don't do this, or don't follow through to find out what they're up to, we're probably dead," Carl adds. "If the guy behind this was the model for Darth Vader, I don't see him being content with taking over one country."
Crease sighs. He still doesn't like the sound of this situation overall, but Carl's got a point with the self-preservation aspect.
"All right," he says. "Supposing we do this, how do we go about telling them?"
"Request some of the money in advance," Whistler says. "And probably also ask for some background information, so we know what they want us to think. Whether we think it or not is another story - and highly unlikely, at this point, but they don't need to know that."
"And when we're there, we're just particularly careful," Mother says. "Sounds like a good plan. Let's get something written up, and - is that pigeon still out there?"
Before he leaves for the day, Crease pulls Martin aside briefly.
"Talk to Liz about this, before we leave."
Martin looks positively baffled. "Why? She won't want to go to England - not for our business, anyway. I think she's already done the tourist thing--"
"So she knows you're going into a dangerous situation, Martin. She'll be more upset to hear about it after the fact, and you know that."
"...Good point. She'd probably have my head on a platter."
Circling the drain.
Crease still can't quite believe this is happening.
He'd heard a few rumors that back up what's come out of Mother's mouth since that pigeon showed up, when he was in the CIA, but he'd never had to deal with magic on a direct level, so he eventually dismissed the rumors as cases of people over-indulging in the substance of their choice. Aside from the fact that it always grates when Mother's paranoia pays off, he's still sorting out what to make of those rumors having some truth to them.
Of course, there's also the fact that Carl brought in Star Wars as preliminary research, apparently wholly serious in doing so. Mother came in babbling about exchange rates and the Ministry of Magic's approach to by-laws, but the movie at least did the service of shutting him up in short order - though that might have been the combination of Martin and Whistler telling him to wait.
As the movie nears its end, Martin says, "All right, Mother, what was all that about exchange rates?"
"I tracked one down. Two, actually, since I had to go from their system to pounds and then pounds to dollars. If all went well, we'd end up with about twenty grand each, it looks like."
Crease considers that for a moment. "In light of your reservations from yesterday, I don't think they're expecting to have to pay us."
"I don't either. They probably think they can either kill us or wipe our memories before we get out of England - and the latter's entirely legal, over there. If we take the movie as research, it's a safe bet the people in charge won't care if murder's illegal, either."
"Wonderful. This is sounding more and more like we shouldn't take the job."
"On the other hand," Martin says, "now that they've gone to the trouble of fishing us out, they might pull one of those on us anyway if we say we won't do it. I think our choices are to take the offer, or never reply."
Mother shrugs. "If we do it, we can most likely out-think them. British wizards aren't known for their logic, from what I've heard - or for paying much attention to modern technology."
"So I'd be hard pressed to find a computer?" Carl asks, glancing away from his own desktop.
"You'd be hard pressed to find a kerosene lamp, more like."
"...Great. And to top it all off, Mary emailed me. Her hunch last night was right - the Empire did strike back, to stick with the theme."
"So on the one hand," Whistler says, "we'd be walking into a dangerous situation that won't necessarily play to our strengths. And on the other, not being able to rely on magic might help us get through it - and there's a hundred grand in it for us."
Martin nods. "Not to mention, if the government's as badly off as everything we've got suggests, there's got to be more to the story. It's probably nothing we could hear from trying to find their local newspaper, either."
"And if we don't do this, or don't follow through to find out what they're up to, we're probably dead," Carl adds. "If the guy behind this was the model for Darth Vader, I don't see him being content with taking over one country."
Crease sighs. He still doesn't like the sound of this situation overall, but Carl's got a point with the self-preservation aspect.
"All right," he says. "Supposing we do this, how do we go about telling them?"
"Request some of the money in advance," Whistler says. "And probably also ask for some background information, so we know what they want us to think. Whether we think it or not is another story - and highly unlikely, at this point, but they don't need to know that."
"And when we're there, we're just particularly careful," Mother says. "Sounds like a good plan. Let's get something written up, and - is that pigeon still out there?"
Before he leaves for the day, Crease pulls Martin aside briefly.
"Talk to Liz about this, before we leave."
Martin looks positively baffled. "Why? She won't want to go to England - not for our business, anyway. I think she's already done the tourist thing--"
"So she knows you're going into a dangerous situation, Martin. She'll be more upset to hear about it after the fact, and you know that."
"...Good point. She'd probably have my head on a platter."