Chapter 43
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Quinn dozed lazily in the afternoon sun, the hammock swaying back and forth, the scribbling of a pencil on paper in the background. He opened one eye, Tal's cute foot was resting on his arm since they had to lay in opposite directions.
Tal was busy drawing in her sketch book, she had her hair up and nibbled her bottom lip as she worked.
"What you working on?" He knew Tal was someone who really didn't idle much in life.
"I've been using your mail to contact Remmy, hope that's okay." She showed him a sketch of the modified jetpack.
"Pretty impressive, how long til it's ready for production?" Quinn knew that Ben, Tal and Ren had all been given Deviant abilities by TAP. It's how the system dealt with the elitely talented apparently.
"We've made all the tweaks we could think of, production can start anytime." Tal put her pencil behind her ear as she stared at the calculations. "I do want to try it, but not where anyone can see."
"We'll can grab a prototype and try it out someplace private." Quinn smiled lazily, "personal lessons from an Ace pilot."
"Really?" Tal laughed when she said it, "are you an Ace?"
"Um... no, I can't back that up," Quinn admitted. "How hard can it be?"
Tal continued to page through her sketch book until she found a hand drawn map of Fora with all the Aqueducts, Roads and City sites added. She held it up to show Quinn.
"You drew that?" He took it from her hand and studied it closely. "Pretty amazing Tal."
Tal nodded. "We can do it all too, build everything. It won't really take that long.
Q stifled a yawn, and closed his eyes. "Hey.. think you could design a mid-range rifle?"
Tal smiled, "it's way easier to do something like that in TAP, then in the real world."
"Think you could make two of them? One for each of us?" Quinn felt her take the notebook from his hands.
Tal nodded slightly. "So.. you want some long range damage?"
Quinn thought about it for a moment. "Mid-range, 50-400 meters. Something I can throw up to my shoulder and fire quickly."
Tal pursed her lips and took the pencil off of her ear. "Definitely open sights, the barrel needs to be shorter if it's a quick aim type of gun."
Quinn watched her sketch on the pad. "You should have some type of weapon if you are hanging out in the countryside."
"That makes sense, is that why you are asking?" Tal paused her sketch.
"Nope I want to have a shooting contest with you and kick your behind!" Quinn rubbed his hands together.
"In your dreams handsome!" Tal laughed at him.
Quinn raised an eyebrow. "Oh... so I'm handsome now?"
Tal nodded, the smile never leaving her face. "I've always thought so."
"The rest of you can log in and play if you want, there's no need to stay here." Quinn had decided to take a few days, he'd send some mail to Mojo later.
Tal nodded agreeably, "I know, kinda want to spend some time with you."
"I didn't know you said such sweet things." Quinn traced his finger tips over the top of her foot.
"Don't tickle Quinn!" Tal gave him a stern face.
"No tickling, got it," he held her foot, but didn't tickle. "See? Relax, I said I wouldn't."
Her full lips hid a smile as she went back to drawing, she gasped and dropped her notebook. She arched her back trying to get away.
Quinn laughed at her as he nibbled her toes. He stopped suddenly, but only because she was being really loud. "That's a reaction I wasn't expecting."
"Hey.. can you bring me inside real quick?" She had left her prosthetic inside when Quinn volunteered to carry her out. It felt nice to be without it sometimes.
"Yep." Quinn rolled out of the hammock carefully and waited until Tal had climbed on his back. "First floor bathroom?"
"No, your room please," she bit the bottom of his earlobe making him jump. "Grab my notebook please, this might take a while."
**********
Q had faded into sleep and didn't notice when Tal sat up and got dressed. She closed the door behind her and almost bumped into Anna who was walking up the stairs.
Anna grinned at her. "I went for a walk, all done then?"
Tal blushed, "oh god... were we being loud?"
"Well, Quinn definitely isn't loud." Anna laughed at Tal's expression. "A nooner... I'm kinda jealous."
Tal covered her face with one hand as Anna drug her into her room giggling. "This girl wants details Tal!" She shut the door behind them.
A few hours later Quinn woke, he noticed that someone had put a bottle of water next to his bed. Sitting up slowly he took a drink before heading into the hall.
Q stepped away from the doorway and gripped the railing before sliding down, he just managed to keep his footing. 'Yes I'm back!'
He glanced up, to see Anna, Tal and Ren sitting on the couch.
"Small deduction for the step on the dismount." Anna looked at Tal.
Tal nodded, "I concur, no higher then 9.5."
Quinn frowned at them both. "Damn judges," he muttered under his breath.
"I thought you showed great energy.." Ren scratched her chin.. then raised her arms over her head. "It's a 10!!
"Hmph... that's why Ren's the best..!" Quinn walked in the kitchen and grabbed a tub of ice cream from the freezer.
"You're her favorite person, so her judgement is tainted!" Anna narrowed her eyes. "I stand by my score!"
"Same here," Tal agreed as they fist bumped each other.
Quinn shook his head at her. "My own girlfriend gives me a 9.5, and here I was about to make us all a sundae."
Tal's blue eyes shone with humor, "special considerations have been taken into account and I've raised your score to a 9.8."
Ren gave Quinn the thumbs up.. "can I have their share too?"
Quinn nodded. "Yep."
"...." Tal.
"Q-Bear wait! I want to adjust my score also," Anna protested.
Despite his words, Quinn took out four bowls, Pops had decided to log into TAP and keep the transactions going. He didn't really involve himself in the day to day operations anyway.
"This is make-your-own-sundae," he laid out the different toppings and started scooping ice cream.
"I get some too?" Anna was seemed a bit pensive.
Quinn nodded as he started putting cherries on his. "Damn it Nanna, I could have made a banana split."
"Oh I want one of those Quinn!" Ren hadn't made hers yet, she had been waiting until everyone else was finished.
Anna scrunched up her face, "why did you think of that when you looked at me?"
Quinn laughed at the look on her face, "um... why else... Anna banana?"
"Attack!" Anna grabbed a can of whip cream and jumped on his back.
"What? An agressor!" Quinn grabbed the other can and defended himself while Tal pulled Ren out of the way.
Ren sighed as she saw them shooting whip cream on each other. "I want to do that too!"
Tal grabbed the last can to save it for her sundae, "next time for sure."
Anna and Quinn had long since fallen on the floor, but were still shooting whip cream at each other, seemed like extra points were given for under the shirt shots.
Quinn kept falling as he tried to stand with Anna latched onto his back. "Oh crap.. Jinn is coming in today."
Anna froze in place, "dang.. I'm suppose to pick her up in 40 minutes. This is your fault Quinn!" She bound up the stairs headed for her room.
"My fault? You attacked me nani wahine." Quinn grinned when she stopped at her door.
"How do you know that word?" Anna shook her fist at him and ran into her room.
"Looked it up," Quinn admitted.
Quinn grabbed some paper towels and started wiping off the whip cream. "Where were we now?" He glanced at Ren who was waiting patiently, "want me to slice a banana?"
Ren nodded, "yes please."
**********
An hour later Quinn was wrestling an old dresser up the stairs, "damn this old thing is heavy." It was one of his mom's dressers that had been stored in the garage, both Tal and Ren were watching him from the couch.
"Seems like you are pretty strong Quinn." Ren always knew exactly what to say to make someone feel good.
Quinn gave one last heave and finally got up it the last step. "You're the best Ren." He dragged it into his room and placed it next to the bare wall. He looked at Tal's clothes that were piled on his bed.
"We should refinish this old dresser Little Q, it's really nice." Tal started putting clothes from the bed into the dresser.
"This is temporary right? Soon as they leave you'll move back into your room?" Quinn felt like there was an itch in the middle of his back that he couldn't get to.
Tal laughed at him, "sure hun. This wasn't planned you know."
Quinn frowned, Anna had called a short while ago and told them that Rhapsody was with Jinn. "They could have shared rooms."
Tal walked toward him stopping just before she bumped into him. "If you are against it Quinn, let's just move my stuff into Anna's room. She won't care a bit."
"...." Quinn.
Tal laughed at his face, "what's that about?"
"I'm being tricked somehow, I just can't figure out who's doing it." Quinn started helping her by moving the clothes from the bed to the top of the dresser. "We can just move my closet things to my dresser, I really don't have much that needs to hang up."
"You and me both Quinn." Tal sighed as she continued putting her things away.
They had just finished moving all of Tal's things over to Quinn's room when Ren called them from downstairs.
"They're here mom."
Tal and Quinn walked down the stairs just as Pops was opening the door for them. Anna lead the way followed by two younger women.
"Hey guys, welcome." Quinn smiled at the two newcomers. He had seen Jinn once before, but Rhapsody was a total surprise. "Don't worry about the bags, I"ll get them up to your rooms in a bit."
"This makes it easy, the four of you look exactly the same as you do in TAP." A pretty blond with an English access spoke, Quinn immediately thought she could pass for Tal's younger sister. Tal wins hands down, he thought to himself.
"This is Tal, Quinn, Ren and Pops," Anna introduced them anyways. "Like you mentioned, you are already use to their faces. "Guys this is Samantha and Rohas."
"Jinn is fine please, only my Gram calls me Samantha. This is great, I already feel comfortable." She hugged each person in the room, including Quinn. "You're even taller in person Quinn."
"Rhapsody is fine for me." She waved to everyone, a bit shyer then Quinn would have thought.
The girls pulled the guests into the kitchen while Quinn started with the bags. A lot of bags.
"Holy shit, how long on they planning on staying?" Quinn was on his fourth trip outside. "Wait.. how long are they staying? I should have set departure dates!"
By the time he had finished, they were all sitting around the kitchen island enjoying some snacks. Quinn paused at the top of the stairs. Surprisingly Rhapsody was a dark Brazilian beauty, she laughed often. Her personality was exactly like it was in the game.
"Let me interrupt for a moment," Quinn spoke from the railing. "I need everyone to logon to my local VRP called Quinn, the password is Sentac," he smiled at Jinn when he said it. She totally looked like a Samantha.
"Quinn, they just got here." Tal was pouring Rhapsody some iced tea, "can this wait?"
Quinn shook his head, "now please." He walked into his room and grabbed his headset, "sometimes it's easier to tear the bandaid off."
Quinn was the first to log into the VRP, he waited patiently for the others. It was a large room with the walls covered in old fashion white boards. He had designed it himself. There were several wheeled chairs and notebooks littered about. On the white boards he had meticulously recorded and planned every event down to the letter. It detailed his entire Exodus plan, copied from his notebooks.
They started arriving a short while later, after a few minutes they were all gathered.
"Read everything, somethings can still not be shared." Quinn didn't want to show any of them the file from HYLO yet.
Jinn and Rhapsody were halfway down the second wall. "Quinn! Is this right?"
He nodded at the pair, "yes, that is correct."
Jinn immediately started crying, Ro put an arm around her.
"Sorry everyone, I know certain things are going to be shocking. Let me be clear, none of this is spoken of, or even referred to outside of this VRP. This includes our NPC friends, only Mojo will be made aware of everything."
It took the better part of an hour for everyone to finish. Oddly enough Ren finished first, she walked over next to Quinn and waited with him.
"Everyone here is much smarter than I am, read it twice, three times if you have too. I am moving ahead with this."
"I see a few issues right away Quinn," Tal's mind was already analyzing everything.
"Good, pick it apart and then let's start from there." Quinn walked over to the place Tal was standing. "You told me once Tal, the first rule of battle."
Tal nodded, "No plan survives the first contact intact."
"Right, we will have to adjust as we go." An engineer, a economist, a musician, a school teacher and a lawyer. "Hopefully this will be enough."
Rhapsody stood over next to Jinn, "Quinn.. you enlisted Crimson Rose to help?"
"Yes. I had to, she'll be our connection to Exodus." Quinn felt the doubt coming from the others in the room. "I know she has a somewhat dubious past with us, but something tells me I can trust her."
Pops walked back to the beginning of the whiteboard, taking a glance back at Quinn. "Let's take it from the beginning again."
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Quinn dozed lazily in the afternoon sun, the hammock swaying back and forth, the scribbling of a pencil on paper in the background. He opened one eye, Tal's cute foot was resting on his arm since they had to lay in opposite directions.
Tal was busy drawing in her sketch book, she had her hair up and nibbled her bottom lip as she worked.
"What you working on?" He knew Tal was someone who really didn't idle much in life.
"I've been using your mail to contact Remmy, hope that's okay." She showed him a sketch of the modified jetpack.
"Pretty impressive, how long til it's ready for production?" Quinn knew that Ben, Tal and Ren had all been given Deviant abilities by TAP. It's how the system dealt with the elitely talented apparently.
"We've made all the tweaks we could think of, production can start anytime." Tal put her pencil behind her ear as she stared at the calculations. "I do want to try it, but not where anyone can see."
"We'll can grab a prototype and try it out someplace private." Quinn smiled lazily, "personal lessons from an Ace pilot."
"Really?" Tal laughed when she said it, "are you an Ace?"
"Um... no, I can't back that up," Quinn admitted. "How hard can it be?"
Tal continued to page through her sketch book until she found a hand drawn map of Fora with all the Aqueducts, Roads and City sites added. She held it up to show Quinn.
"You drew that?" He took it from her hand and studied it closely. "Pretty amazing Tal."
Tal nodded. "We can do it all too, build everything. It won't really take that long.
Q stifled a yawn, and closed his eyes. "Hey.. think you could design a mid-range rifle?"
Tal smiled, "it's way easier to do something like that in TAP, then in the real world."
"Think you could make two of them? One for each of us?" Quinn felt her take the notebook from his hands.
Tal nodded slightly. "So.. you want some long range damage?"
Quinn thought about it for a moment. "Mid-range, 50-400 meters. Something I can throw up to my shoulder and fire quickly."
Tal pursed her lips and took the pencil off of her ear. "Definitely open sights, the barrel needs to be shorter if it's a quick aim type of gun."
Quinn watched her sketch on the pad. "You should have some type of weapon if you are hanging out in the countryside."
"That makes sense, is that why you are asking?" Tal paused her sketch.
"Nope I want to have a shooting contest with you and kick your behind!" Quinn rubbed his hands together.
"In your dreams handsome!" Tal laughed at him.
Quinn raised an eyebrow. "Oh... so I'm handsome now?"
Tal nodded, the smile never leaving her face. "I've always thought so."
"The rest of you can log in and play if you want, there's no need to stay here." Quinn had decided to take a few days, he'd send some mail to Mojo later.
Tal nodded agreeably, "I know, kinda want to spend some time with you."
"I didn't know you said such sweet things." Quinn traced his finger tips over the top of her foot.
"Don't tickle Quinn!" Tal gave him a stern face.
"No tickling, got it," he held her foot, but didn't tickle. "See? Relax, I said I wouldn't."
Her full lips hid a smile as she went back to drawing, she gasped and dropped her notebook. She arched her back trying to get away.
Quinn laughed at her as he nibbled her toes. He stopped suddenly, but only because she was being really loud. "That's a reaction I wasn't expecting."
"Hey.. can you bring me inside real quick?" She had left her prosthetic inside when Quinn volunteered to carry her out. It felt nice to be without it sometimes.
"Yep." Quinn rolled out of the hammock carefully and waited until Tal had climbed on his back. "First floor bathroom?"
"No, your room please," she bit the bottom of his earlobe making him jump. "Grab my notebook please, this might take a while."
**********
Q had faded into sleep and didn't notice when Tal sat up and got dressed. She closed the door behind her and almost bumped into Anna who was walking up the stairs.
Anna grinned at her. "I went for a walk, all done then?"
Tal blushed, "oh god... were we being loud?"
"Well, Quinn definitely isn't loud." Anna laughed at Tal's expression. "A nooner... I'm kinda jealous."
Tal covered her face with one hand as Anna drug her into her room giggling. "This girl wants details Tal!" She shut the door behind them.
A few hours later Quinn woke, he noticed that someone had put a bottle of water next to his bed. Sitting up slowly he took a drink before heading into the hall.
Q stepped away from the doorway and gripped the railing before sliding down, he just managed to keep his footing. 'Yes I'm back!'
He glanced up, to see Anna, Tal and Ren sitting on the couch.
"Small deduction for the step on the dismount." Anna looked at Tal.
Tal nodded, "I concur, no higher then 9.5."
Quinn frowned at them both. "Damn judges," he muttered under his breath.
"I thought you showed great energy.." Ren scratched her chin.. then raised her arms over her head. "It's a 10!!
"Hmph... that's why Ren's the best..!" Quinn walked in the kitchen and grabbed a tub of ice cream from the freezer.
"You're her favorite person, so her judgement is tainted!" Anna narrowed her eyes. "I stand by my score!"
"Same here," Tal agreed as they fist bumped each other.
Quinn shook his head at her. "My own girlfriend gives me a 9.5, and here I was about to make us all a sundae."
Tal's blue eyes shone with humor, "special considerations have been taken into account and I've raised your score to a 9.8."
Ren gave Quinn the thumbs up.. "can I have their share too?"
Quinn nodded. "Yep."
"...." Tal.
"Q-Bear wait! I want to adjust my score also," Anna protested.
Despite his words, Quinn took out four bowls, Pops had decided to log into TAP and keep the transactions going. He didn't really involve himself in the day to day operations anyway.
"This is make-your-own-sundae," he laid out the different toppings and started scooping ice cream.
"I get some too?" Anna was seemed a bit pensive.
Quinn nodded as he started putting cherries on his. "Damn it Nanna, I could have made a banana split."
"Oh I want one of those Quinn!" Ren hadn't made hers yet, she had been waiting until everyone else was finished.
Anna scrunched up her face, "why did you think of that when you looked at me?"
Quinn laughed at the look on her face, "um... why else... Anna banana?"
"Attack!" Anna grabbed a can of whip cream and jumped on his back.
"What? An agressor!" Quinn grabbed the other can and defended himself while Tal pulled Ren out of the way.
Ren sighed as she saw them shooting whip cream on each other. "I want to do that too!"
Tal grabbed the last can to save it for her sundae, "next time for sure."
Anna and Quinn had long since fallen on the floor, but were still shooting whip cream at each other, seemed like extra points were given for under the shirt shots.
Quinn kept falling as he tried to stand with Anna latched onto his back. "Oh crap.. Jinn is coming in today."
Anna froze in place, "dang.. I'm suppose to pick her up in 40 minutes. This is your fault Quinn!" She bound up the stairs headed for her room.
"My fault? You attacked me nani wahine." Quinn grinned when she stopped at her door.
"How do you know that word?" Anna shook her fist at him and ran into her room.
"Looked it up," Quinn admitted.
Quinn grabbed some paper towels and started wiping off the whip cream. "Where were we now?" He glanced at Ren who was waiting patiently, "want me to slice a banana?"
Ren nodded, "yes please."
**********
An hour later Quinn was wrestling an old dresser up the stairs, "damn this old thing is heavy." It was one of his mom's dressers that had been stored in the garage, both Tal and Ren were watching him from the couch.
"Seems like you are pretty strong Quinn." Ren always knew exactly what to say to make someone feel good.
Quinn gave one last heave and finally got up it the last step. "You're the best Ren." He dragged it into his room and placed it next to the bare wall. He looked at Tal's clothes that were piled on his bed.
"We should refinish this old dresser Little Q, it's really nice." Tal started putting clothes from the bed into the dresser.
"This is temporary right? Soon as they leave you'll move back into your room?" Quinn felt like there was an itch in the middle of his back that he couldn't get to.
Tal laughed at him, "sure hun. This wasn't planned you know."
Quinn frowned, Anna had called a short while ago and told them that Rhapsody was with Jinn. "They could have shared rooms."
Tal walked toward him stopping just before she bumped into him. "If you are against it Quinn, let's just move my stuff into Anna's room. She won't care a bit."
"...." Quinn.
Tal laughed at his face, "what's that about?"
"I'm being tricked somehow, I just can't figure out who's doing it." Quinn started helping her by moving the clothes from the bed to the top of the dresser. "We can just move my closet things to my dresser, I really don't have much that needs to hang up."
"You and me both Quinn." Tal sighed as she continued putting her things away.
They had just finished moving all of Tal's things over to Quinn's room when Ren called them from downstairs.
"They're here mom."
Tal and Quinn walked down the stairs just as Pops was opening the door for them. Anna lead the way followed by two younger women.
"Hey guys, welcome." Quinn smiled at the two newcomers. He had seen Jinn once before, but Rhapsody was a total surprise. "Don't worry about the bags, I"ll get them up to your rooms in a bit."
"This makes it easy, the four of you look exactly the same as you do in TAP." A pretty blond with an English access spoke, Quinn immediately thought she could pass for Tal's younger sister. Tal wins hands down, he thought to himself.
"This is Tal, Quinn, Ren and Pops," Anna introduced them anyways. "Like you mentioned, you are already use to their faces. "Guys this is Samantha and Rohas."
"Jinn is fine please, only my Gram calls me Samantha. This is great, I already feel comfortable." She hugged each person in the room, including Quinn. "You're even taller in person Quinn."
"Rhapsody is fine for me." She waved to everyone, a bit shyer then Quinn would have thought.
The girls pulled the guests into the kitchen while Quinn started with the bags. A lot of bags.
"Holy shit, how long on they planning on staying?" Quinn was on his fourth trip outside. "Wait.. how long are they staying? I should have set departure dates!"
By the time he had finished, they were all sitting around the kitchen island enjoying some snacks. Quinn paused at the top of the stairs. Surprisingly Rhapsody was a dark Brazilian beauty, she laughed often. Her personality was exactly like it was in the game.
"Let me interrupt for a moment," Quinn spoke from the railing. "I need everyone to logon to my local VRP called Quinn, the password is Sentac," he smiled at Jinn when he said it. She totally looked like a Samantha.
"Quinn, they just got here." Tal was pouring Rhapsody some iced tea, "can this wait?"
Quinn shook his head, "now please." He walked into his room and grabbed his headset, "sometimes it's easier to tear the bandaid off."
Quinn was the first to log into the VRP, he waited patiently for the others. It was a large room with the walls covered in old fashion white boards. He had designed it himself. There were several wheeled chairs and notebooks littered about. On the white boards he had meticulously recorded and planned every event down to the letter. It detailed his entire Exodus plan, copied from his notebooks.
They started arriving a short while later, after a few minutes they were all gathered.
"Read everything, somethings can still not be shared." Quinn didn't want to show any of them the file from HYLO yet.
Jinn and Rhapsody were halfway down the second wall. "Quinn! Is this right?"
He nodded at the pair, "yes, that is correct."
Jinn immediately started crying, Ro put an arm around her.
"Sorry everyone, I know certain things are going to be shocking. Let me be clear, none of this is spoken of, or even referred to outside of this VRP. This includes our NPC friends, only Mojo will be made aware of everything."
It took the better part of an hour for everyone to finish. Oddly enough Ren finished first, she walked over next to Quinn and waited with him.
"Everyone here is much smarter than I am, read it twice, three times if you have too. I am moving ahead with this."
"I see a few issues right away Quinn," Tal's mind was already analyzing everything.
"Good, pick it apart and then let's start from there." Quinn walked over to the place Tal was standing. "You told me once Tal, the first rule of battle."
Tal nodded, "No plan survives the first contact intact."
"Right, we will have to adjust as we go." An engineer, a economist, a musician, a school teacher and a lawyer. "Hopefully this will be enough."
Rhapsody stood over next to Jinn, "Quinn.. you enlisted Crimson Rose to help?"
"Yes. I had to, she'll be our connection to Exodus." Quinn felt the doubt coming from the others in the room. "I know she has a somewhat dubious past with us, but something tells me I can trust her."
Pops walked back to the beginning of the whiteboard, taking a glance back at Quinn. "Let's take it from the beginning again."
Quinn dozed lazily in the afternoon sun, the hammock swaying back and forth, the scribbling of a pencil on paper in the background. He opened one eye, Tal's cute foot was resting on his arm since they had to lay in opposite directions.Tal was busy drawing in her sketch book, she had her hair up and nibbled her bottom lip as she worked."What you working on?" He knew Tal was someone who really didn't idle much in life."I've been using your mail to contact Remmy, hope that's okay." She showed him a sketch of the modified jetpack."Pretty impressive, how long til it's ready for production?" Quinn knew that Ben, Tal and Ren had all been given Deviant abilities by TAP. It's how the system dealt with the elitely talented apparently."We've made all the tweaks we could think of, production can start anytime." Tal put her pencil behind her ear as she stared at the calculations. "I do want to try it, but not where anyone can see.""We'll can grab a prototype and try it out someplace private." Quinn smiled lazily, "personal lessons from an Ace pilot.""Really?" Tal laughed when she said it, "are you an Ace?""Um... no, I can't back that up," Quinn admitted. "How hard can it be?"Tal continued to page through her sketch book until she found a hand drawn map of Fora with all the Aqueducts, Roads and City sites added. She held it up to show Quinn."You drew that?" He took it from her hand and studied it closely. "Pretty amazing Tal."Tal nodded. "We can do it all too, build everything. It won't really take that long.Q stifled a yawn, and closed his eyes. "Hey.. think you could design a mid-range rifle?"Tal smiled, "it's way easier to do something like that in TAP, then in the real world.""Think you could make two of them? One for each of us?" Quinn felt her take the notebook from his hands.Tal nodded slightly. "So.. you want some long range damage?"Quinn thought about it for a moment. "Mid-range, 50-400 meters. Something I can throw up to my shoulder and fire quickly."Tal pursed her lips and took the pencil off of her ear. "Definitely open sights, the barrel needs to be shorter if it's a quick aim type of gun."Quinn watched her sketch on the pad. "You should have some type of weapon if you are hanging out in the countryside.""That makes sense, is that why you are asking?" Tal paused her sketch."Nope I want to have a shooting contest with you and kick your behind!" Quinn rubbed his hands together."In your dreams handsome!" Tal laughed at him.Quinn raised an eyebrow. "Oh... so I'm handsome now?"Tal nodded, the smile never leaving her face. "I've always thought so.""The rest of you can log in and play if you want, there's no need to stay here." Quinn had decided to take a few days, he'd send some mail to Mojo later.Tal nodded agreeably, "I know, kinda want to spend some time with you.""I didn't know you said such sweet things." Quinn traced his finger tips over the top of her foot."Don't tickle Quinn!" Tal gave him a stern face."No tickling, got it," he held her foot, but didn't tickle. "See? Relax, I said I wouldn't."Her full lips hid a smile as she went back to drawing, she gasped and dropped her notebook. She arched her back trying to get away.Quinn laughed at her as he nibbled her toes. He stopped suddenly, but only because she was being really loud. "That's a reaction I wasn't expecting.""Hey.. can you bring me inside real quick?" She had left her prosthetic inside when Quinn volunteered to carry her out. It felt nice to be without it sometimes."Yep." Quinn rolled out of the hammock carefully and waited until Tal had climbed on his back. "First floor bathroom?""No, your room please," she bit the bottom of his earlobe making him jump. "Grab my notebook please, this might take a while."**********Q had faded into sleep and didn't notice when Tal sat up and got dressed. She closed the door behind her and almost bumped into Anna who was walking up the stairs.Anna grinned at her. "I went for a walk, all done then?"Tal blushed, "oh god... were we being loud?""Well, Quinn definitely isn't loud." Anna laughed at Tal's expression. "A nooner... I'm kinda jealous."Tal covered her face with one hand as Anna drug her into her room giggling. "This girl wants details Tal!" She shut the door behind them.A few hours later Quinn woke, he noticed that someone had put a bottle of water next to his bed. Sitting up slowly he took a drink before heading into the hall.Q stepped away from the doorway and gripped the railing before sliding down, he just managed to keep his footing. 'Yes I'm back!'He glanced up, to see Anna, Tal and Ren sitting on the couch."Small deduction for the step on the dismount." Anna looked at Tal.Tal nodded, "I concur, no higher then 9.5."Quinn frowned at them both. "Damn judges," he muttered under his breath."I thought you showed great energy.." Ren scratched her chin.. then raised her arms over her head. "It's a 10!!"Hmph... that's why Ren's the best..!" Quinn walked in the kitchen and grabbed a tub of ice cream from the freezer."You're her favorite person, so her judgement is tainted!" Anna narrowed her eyes. "I stand by my score!""Same here," Tal agreed as they fist bumped each other.Quinn shook his head at her. "My own girlfriend gives me a 9.5, and here I was about to make us all a sundae."Tal's blue eyes shone with humor, "special considerations have been taken into account and I've raised your score to a 9.8."Ren gave Quinn the thumbs up.. "can I have their share too?"Quinn nodded. "Yep.""...." Tal."Q-Bear wait! I want to adjust my score also," Anna protested.Despite his words, Quinn took out four bowls, Pops had decided to log into TAP and keep the transactions going. He didn't really involve himself in the day to day operations anyway."This is make-your-own-sundae," he laid out the different toppings and started scooping ice cream."I get some too?" Anna was seemed a bit pensive.Quinn nodded as he started putting cherries on his. "Damn it Nanna, I could have made a banana split.""Oh I want one of those Quinn!" Ren hadn't made hers yet, she had been waiting until everyone else was finished.Anna scrunched up her face, "why did you think of that when you looked at me?"Quinn laughed at the look on her face, "um... why else... Anna banana?""Attack!" Anna grabbed a can of whip cream and jumped on his back."What? An agressor!" Quinn grabbed the other can and defended himself while Tal pulled Ren out of the way.Ren sighed as she saw them shooting whip cream on each other. "I want to do that too!"Tal grabbed the last can to save it for her sundae, "next time for sure."Anna and Quinn had long since fallen on the floor, but were still shooting whip cream at each other, seemed like extra points were given for under the shirt shots.Quinn kept falling as he tried to stand with Anna latched onto his back. "Oh crap.. Jinn is coming in today."Anna froze in place, "dang.. I'm suppose to pick her up in 40 minutes. This is your fault Quinn!" She bound up the stairs headed for her room."My fault? You attacked me nani wahine." Quinn grinned when she stopped at her door."How do you know that word?" Anna shook her fist at him and ran into her room."Looked it up," Quinn admitted.Quinn grabbed some paper towels and started wiping off the whip cream. "Where were we now?" He glanced at Ren who was waiting patiently, "want me to slice a banana?"Ren nodded, "yes please."**********An hour later Quinn was wrestling an old dresser up the stairs, "damn this old thing is heavy." It was one of his mom's dressers that had been stored in the garage, both Tal and Ren were watching him from the couch."Seems like you are pretty strong Quinn." Ren always knew exactly what to say to make someone feel good.Quinn gave one last heave and finally got up it the last step. "You're the best Ren." He dragged it into his room and placed it next to the bare wall. He looked at Tal's clothes that were piled on his bed."We should refinish this old dresser Little Q, it's really nice." Tal started putting clothes from the bed into the dresser."This is temporary right? Soon as they leave you'll move back into your room?" Quinn felt like there was an itch in the middle of his back that he couldn't get to.Tal laughed at him, "sure hun. This wasn't planned you know."Quinn frowned, Anna had called a short while ago and told them that Rhapsody was with Jinn. "They could have shared rooms."Tal walked toward him stopping just before she bumped into him. "If you are against it Quinn, let's just move my stuff into Anna's room. She won't care a bit.""...." Quinn.Tal laughed at his face, "what's that about?""I'm being tricked somehow, I just can't figure out who's doing it." Quinn started helping her by moving the clothes from the bed to the top of the dresser. "We can just move my closet things to my dresser, I really don't have much that needs to hang up.""You and me both Quinn." Tal sighed as she continued putting her things away.They had just finished moving all of Tal's things over to Quinn's room when Ren called them from downstairs."They're here mom."Tal and Quinn walked down the stairs just as Pops was opening the door for them. Anna lead the way followed by two younger women."Hey guys, welcome." Quinn smiled at the two newcomers. He had seen Jinn once before, but Rhapsody was a total surprise. "Don't worry about the bags, I"ll get them up to your rooms in a bit.""This makes it easy, the four of you look exactly the same as you do in TAP." A pretty blond with an English access spoke, Quinn immediately thought she could pass for Tal's younger sister. Tal wins hands down, he thought to himself."This is Tal, Quinn, Ren and Pops," Anna introduced them anyways. "Like you mentioned, you are already use to their faces. "Guys this is Samantha and Rohas.""Jinn is fine please, only my Gram calls me Samantha. This is great, I already feel comfortable." She hugged each person in the room, including Quinn. "You're even taller in person Quinn.""Rhapsody is fine for me." She waved to everyone, a bit shyer then Quinn would have thought.The girls pulled the guests into the kitchen while Quinn started with the bags. A lot of bags."Holy shit, how long on they planning on staying?" Quinn was on his fourth trip outside. "Wait.. how long are they staying? I should have set departure dates!"By the time he had finished, they were all sitting around the kitchen island enjoying some snacks. Quinn paused at the top of the stairs. Surprisingly Rhapsody was a dark Brazilian beauty, she laughed often. Her personality was exactly like it was in the game."Let me interrupt for a moment," Quinn spoke from the railing. "I need everyone to logon to my local VRP called Quinn, the password is Sentac," he smiled at Jinn when he said it. She totally looked like a Samantha."Quinn, they just got here." Tal was pouring Rhapsody some iced tea, "can this wait?"Quinn shook his head, "now please." He walked into his room and grabbed his headset, "sometimes it's easier to tear the bandaid off."Quinn was the first to log into the VRP, he waited patiently for the others. It was a large room with the walls covered in old fashion white boards. He had designed it himself. There were several wheeled chairs and notebooks littered about. On the white boards he had meticulously recorded and planned every event down to the letter. It detailed his entire Exodus plan, copied from his notebooks.They started arriving a short while later, after a few minutes they were all gathered."Read everything, somethings can still not be shared." Quinn didn't want to show any of them the file from HYLO yet.Jinn and Rhapsody were halfway down the second wall. "Quinn! Is this right?"He nodded at the pair, "yes, that is correct."Jinn immediately started crying, Ro put an arm around her."Sorry everyone, I know certain things are going to be shocking. Let me be clear, none of this is spoken of, or even referred to outside of this VRP. This includes our NPC friends, only Mojo will be made aware of everything."It took the better part of an hour for everyone to finish. Oddly enough Ren finished first, she walked over next to Quinn and waited with him."Everyone here is much smarter than I am, read it twice, three times if you have too. I am moving ahead with this.""I see a few issues right away Quinn," Tal's mind was already analyzing everything."Good, pick it apart and then let's start from there." Quinn walked over to the place Tal was standing. "You told me once Tal, the first rule of battle."Tal nodded, "No plan survives the first contact intact.""Right, we will have to adjust as we go." An engineer, a economist, a musician, a school teacher and a lawyer. "Hopefully this will be enough."Rhapsody stood over next to Jinn, "Quinn.. you enlisted Crimson Rose to help?""Yes. I had to, she'll be our connection to Exodus." Quinn felt the doubt coming from the others in the room. "I know she has a somewhat dubious past with us, but something tells me I can trust her."Pops walked back to the beginning of the whiteboard, taking a glance back at Quinn. "Let's take it from the beginning again."
