Home Visit (Scarlett and Jermaine)

[Scarlett Lonsdale]

Scarlett sighed lightly, she had been told that she needed to meet with her 'partner' Jermaine again and she was more than welcome to do that, the problem she had was the time that they needed to meet, she really just wanted to be able to get on with her hacking alone, however the Master had stated that she needed to have this time to talk and 'bond' with her partner. Great. What if she didn't want to talk and bond with him she had stuff to do!

Glancing up at the clock she raised her eyebrow and hummed, it was getting close to the time that he was supposed to be coming, she had tidied up a little bit, done the washing up and put all the pizza boxes away, even opened the window to let fresh air in. But she couldn't do anything about the stacks and stacks of green computer boards and harddrives that were littering the walls, you never knew when you would need a new circuit drive after all!

Concentrating on her computer screen, Scarlett put her nerd glasses on, when she needed some serious concentration, she put these on. It seemed that the Government was getting onto her fake trail that made them see her own infiltration into their system as nothing more than their own employees searching and bringing up records. Sighing lightly, Scarlett drank her slightly cold coffee and cracked down to cover her tracks again.

[Jermaine Vepoul]

Jermaine was not accustomed to being ordered around, even when said ordering involved spending a lot more time with an attractive woman. But when he'd gone to The Master to complain about the fact that he was being ordered, like a common pawn, he was immediately and very shockingly put in his place. He still started sweating when he thought about The Master when he was angry with someone.

So here he was in Germany, approaching Scarlett's flat. To be honest he liked his partner. She was at least a much better partner than any of the others. One was a little weasel and the other three would probably try to kill him at least once. While no slouch in a duel, he was sure than none of them played fair.

Knocking on the door with the tip of his stylised cane, the topper that of a silver dragon's head, he cleared his throat,

"Miss Lonsdale?" he inquired, "It is Jermaine Vepoul. I appologise if I am late, there were some unsavoury characters who needed dealing with."

[Scarlett Lonsdale]

Scarlett when she heard the knock on the door immediately mimed strangling the person behind it, she jumped off the computer stool she was using and ran to the door, opened it swiftly and ushered Jermaine into the main area of her flat, to be honest it was one very small area with her bedroom and bathroom off it.

"Hello yes yes come in." she stated distractedly, she needed to finish that peice of coding and she needed to do it soon before her time ran out "One second, er, make yourself at home."

Gesturing around the flat she dashed back into the other room, her nerd glasses were back down over her eyes and she was pressing away at the keyboard, with a triumphant smile after a few seconds of frantic typing she managed to finish the coding and send it. There, all their attempts to find her were completely baffled.

Ha.

"Er sorry about that I had to finish a peice of coding." she explained, emerging from her bedroom, taking her nerd glasses off, her hair today a shade of black instead of its previous ginger colour.

[Jermaine Vepoul]

To say that Jermaine was surprised by her greeting would have been putting it midly. He did as she asked however and came inside, closing the door behind him to find that she was already most of the way back to her bedroom and whatever it was that was so important. There was a moment where he just stood there before he hummed a little bit and hung his coat up by the door, propping his cane up beside it.

Taking her advice to make himself at him he continued to hum as he made his way to the nearest window, pulling his gloves off as he did so. Setting them down on the window ledge he peered out the window at the street below. He enjoyed watching the world through windows. Especially darker neighbourhoods. He liked seeing that even with crime there was economy,

"It's perfectly alright." he told her immediately, automatically, "I understand that some endevours are hard to pull yourself away from. Particularly crucial ones. Would you like something to drink?"

He chuckled a little bit as he took out a small chest, miniature in size, from his pocket. Setting it down on a table he expanded it to the size of a regular Hogwarts chest,

"I am aware that might seem odd since I am in your home..." he told her before smiling a little bit, "But I like to be the one to offer. My collection of drinks is extensive... would you care for anything in particular?"

[Scarlett Lonsdale]

Scarlett raised her eyebrows, she was a tough girl, her family although pure blood were never one for airs and graces, and since she had moved out and started her own business, she had hardened up even more, so it was more than a little strange that he was offering her a drink in her own home, surely that was her job?

Shrugging her shoulders she sat down on the worn and faded blue sofa, it had come with the flat, she wasn't wasting money on furnature when she got some for free, each penny counted in getting a new laptop or something like that.

"Espresso please, I only really drink coffee." she stated simply "What are you going to be having from your magic chest of wonders?" Scarlett asked again raising her eyebrows and smirking a little bit when she looked over the large chest he carried around everywhere "Is this the new man bag or something?"

Opening the curtains properly she let the light come into the room and blinked for a moment, it was a lot brighter than she was used to.

"So...what exactly did the Master want us to do? Just...talk?" she asked, wrinkling her nose "I didn't really want to ask, that guy gives me the creeps big times."

[Jermaine Vepoul]

When she seemed to notice that it was odd for him to be offering her a drink he chuckled a little bit. He accepted that it was one of his more usual unusual traits, however contradictory that statement was. It was something that people seemed to accept better than, say, his politics,

"Ah expresso. I have some good beans for that actually and a coffee maker I fell in love with during my school years..." he told her, lifting an entire coffee maker from the chest and setting it to work with a wave of his wand, "My magical chest of wonders is preferred over 'my man bag' I must say. And I shall be having..."

He paused before pulling out a glass bottle from the chest, "Some white wine it appears. Hmmm. Well I'm more in the mood for it than red."

Taking a glass out, he poured himself some white wine before presenting Scarlett with her expresso,

"Oh believe me you were right not to ask..." he muttered, shivering slightly, "But I believe he wants us to know each other's strengths so we can better help each other with the task he has set for us... it's a big one..."

[Scarlett Lonsdale]

Scarlett, if she told her parents about this guy, would probably have lots of people laughing at her, after all nobody carried around an espresso maker with them, not even her family who were more magical than herself, they just kept them at home, you know where they belonged...in the kitchen or something.

"Uh-huh cause everyone just carries around a coffee maker in their modernised man-bag." she smirked again "Well thanks for the coffee anyway, I'm sure it'll be great normally I just have black instant coffee from the nearest wholesale."

When he said he would be having white wine she snorted a little bit; "A little early isn't it for alcohol?"

Seeing that Jermaine had in fact seemed to have asked why the hell they were meeting, she was glad to hear the reason why they were supposed to be having this conversation. The idea of finding out each others strengths seemed to be okay, but she was sure he knew what she was good at.

"Alright then...so what do you do then?" she asked, sipping her coffee.

[Jermaine Vepoul]

When she commented on the fact that he had a coffee maker in his chest he chuckled a little bit. Yup definately one of the many odd things about him but at least this thing people could laugh about. He smirked a little bit and nodded,

"Only the best modernised man-bags have their own coffee makers." he joked before shrugging a little bit, "I don't like to be far from my coffee or my collection. Call me a hoarder if you like but some of the most valuable things my family possess... are inside the case. It travels with me wherever I go."

When she commented on how early it was for alcohol he raised an eyebrow, smirking slightly, "You must really have been glued to your work. It's seven at night."

Sitting down on one of the chairs in the room, he sipped at his wine a little before putting it down. He smiled a little bit,

"I manage the affairs of my family. The estate and such." he told her quietly, "Not very interesting. But the reason why The Master is interested in me is my hobby. I buy and sell shares. Nothing extraordinary really. The only thing is... I've trippled my family's estate in the past four months. Since I gained control of my family's wealth it has grown to 685% of it's original mark. And set to grow to 893% within the next month. I guess you could call me an economic's wiz."

[Scarlett Lonsdale]

Scarlett grinned a little bit, she could understand that, but she didn't really have that many expensive family treasures in the first place so. If she did maybe she would be able to in the future, but she doubted it, she was probably going to die alone or marry some drugged up skater...after all it was the only type of people she seemed to hang around with.

"Well then maybe I'll have to get myself one." she grinned "I don't call you a hoarder I call you paranoid, because I assume you carry them with you because you're worried that someone will take them if you leave them at home?"

Rubbing the back of her head, Scarlett grinned awkwardly; "Oh it is? Well I guess it must have taken me a little longer to get the base code set up than I thought."

When she heard that he just managed the affairs of the family, she realised that they were the 'boring' people who were working behind the scenes. Great. That was going to get her a lot of respect in the group wasn't it? She was going to have the mic taken out of her by the cold blooded killers.

"Oh so you're good with numbers, and you can predict stocks well and things?" she asked with a raised eyebrow "And you're coming into a lot of money, huh....and you're still single?" Scarlett laughed.

[Jermaine Vepoul]

When she said that she might have to get one herself he chuckled a little bit, aware that she was at least mostly joking. Of course she might just enjoy having a secure chest of your most precious possessions with you at all times. When she said he was paranoid he merely raised an eyebrow in amusement,

"In the past six months my home has been attacked no less than seven times. People think only people with my kind of politics can be rioters and terrorists." he muttered before smirking, "You're not paranoid if they're really out to get you."

He toasted her with the glass and chuckled a little bit. She had been focused on her work, he appreciated that. Of course they both knew that they weren't going to be the frontline fighters in The Master's war but he knew, at least, that the entire effort hinged on them,

"Yes certainly sounds exciting doesn't it? And yes, I'm still single." he joked along with her, "So what is your area of expertise?"

[Scarlett Lonsdale]

Scarlett blinked a little bit, maybe this guy should just keep quiet and say what he wanted to say through an alias, that would be one of the best ways to do it she thought, it was certainly how she would do it, to avoid getting all the flack herself and getting her home broken into in the middle of the night.

"No I suppose you're not, although have you ever considered being a little bit...quieter about your views if you don't want you home to be broken into? Or maybe moving to a more secluded neighbourhood?" she asked, raising her eyebrow again.

When he asked if it sounded exciting she smirked a little bit and shook her head, she really didn't think it sounded all that great but then again she didn't know anything about the market itself so, she could have been missing out.

"I would be on the look out, a rich guy like you, should have girls lobbing themselves at you." she grinned, before raising her eyebrow and gesturing around the walls literally plastered with computer circuit boards "Well I'm a hacker, I write computer codes, can get past advanced firewalls, I've hacked into the British Governments computers 4 times now, in the space of 4 years, yes, it took them that long to notice."

[Jermaine Vepoul]

Jermaine had, of course, considered exactly what she was suggesting. Many, many, times in the past if he was honest. But the simple fact was that it felt too much like running away. And that was before he even contemplated leaving his family home. The Vepouls had lived in York since it's founding and they would move only when the city was nought but ashes,

"I've considered it but in the end I always get asked my views by people. I tell them my views. I don't go on rallies or do anything like that. If it were up to me I would keep quiet and just quietly support whatever I wanted from my own home. Other people seem to make the big deal out of it." he said with a shrug before he grinned, "Leave York? Never. Every single member of my family has lived in York, I won't be the one to sell the place and move."

He chuckled a little bit when she mentioned girls lobbing themselves at him. It was mainly marriage proposals from other, likeminded, families. However, most of said families were dying off due to a lack of new blood so it was a no go area for him even before considering his feelings,

"I have noticed that happening just yet. And I'm glad I haven't gotten latched onto by a hold digger or whatever it is they're called." he joked before looking around the room, "I thought this might be more than a new age decorating style... That's impressive Miss Lonsdale. Very impressive. I can see why The Master reached out to you, your skills make mine seem not only dull but much less fruitful."

[Scarlett Lonsdale]

Scarlett smiled lightly and she thought that this might be the way it happened to everyone, people ask for your views about something and when it doesn't correlate to their own they become mad and then see you as some sort of outcast, or try to change your beliefs. Sad to say, Scarlett didn't believe anything, apart from all things can be corrupted, even beliefs.

"I think that's the way it happens to all people Jermaine, although from the sounds of it your views seem to be far more...out there than I would have thought from looking at you." she smirked lightly before shrugging her shoulders "Hey it was just a suggestion, didn't say you had to sell the place you could just have another one to live in when things get bad."

Laughing softly she shook her head, really he was too funny; "A GOLD digger Jermaine. I think that's who you're probably sadly destined to marry, and me, either some anti-establishment nut, or, someone who's...completely off their face 60% of the time."

"I think he might be wanting us to do some...well to do some damage to not only the wizarding states of affairs but the muggle ones too, who knows, we could both bring both worlds economies crashing down to the ground with little hassle, I assume." Scarlett speculated.

[Jermaine Vepoul]

Jermaine had long since gotten used to the way he was treated by others for his views. But, to be fair, he never asked them to find his beliefs out. He didn't go around shouting his beliefs to whoever wanted to hear them and he didn't try to force others to believe what he believed. The same could not be said about those who apparently held the moral high ground,

"Yes I admit that my views may be a bit... right wing." he admitted with a sheepish little chuckle before shrugging, "A holiday home might be nice. I've always wanted to spend the summers in Italy... beautiful country."

He grinned a little bit. Apparently he had misheard the muggle term. Hardly surprising to be honest. He chuckled a little bit before shaking his head,

"If my choice is between a GOLD digger and dying alone... I'll take the coffin built for one." he joked before smirking a little bit, "Ah you're selling yourself short Miss Lonsdale. I think a beautiful young lady such as yourself could take your pick."

When she guessed what The Master wanted them to do he smiled faintly and nodded, finishing the almost full glass of wine as he thought about it,

"His plan is to cripple muggle europe so that they couldn't interfere even if they wanted to." he told her quietly, "Electronic infrastructure... gone. Total economic destruction. I don't pretend to like muggles but even I know that what we're tasked to do will make them suffer so very much... we're sending them back to the Dark Ages."

[Scarlett Lonsdale]

Scarlett smiled lightly, she knew that he probably had views she would disagree with that was why she wasnt going to ask him what his views were that was because she didn't want to loose the rather nice bond they were striking up. She, although not having any strict beliefs, could be stubborn when she felt someone was doing something truly wrong.

"I've never been out of the country." she stated with a small shrug "Our family holidays were glamourous if we saved up enough to go the other side of Berlin for the weekend."

Shrugging her shoulders again, Scarlett look up at the ceiling and jumped a little bit when she heard a large amount of smashing and shouting from a couple of flats down the hall and she sighed lightly. Pinching the bridge of her nose she knew they wouldn;t shut up until someone was put in hospital, they did it all the time.

"Yeah of course, because I am such a catch, I drink about 50 espresso's a day and shut myself indoors to hack most of the time, and my family is really high up the social chain." she stated, rolling her eyes.

When she heard about the electronic infostructure going, she paled visibly and clutched her espresso cup so hard her knuckles turned white; "What...?" she asked softly.

[Jermaine Vepoul]

Jermaine was very glad that she had not asked what his views were because they seemed to be getting along very well. And he had a feeling that, seeing as she was quite liberal, her views were very unlikely to be the same as his own. When she spoke about her family holidays he smiled a little bit,

"Sometimes it's about the people you go with more than the places you go to." he told her before snorting, "Probably why we went to such nice places... none of us could stand each other."

Hearing the commotion, his wand was in his hand before he was even really aware that it had moved. He put it away again when nothing came of the noise,

"Well I'd say so." he told her honestly with a grin, "A woman like you? A free-willed, strong, woman? You could take your pick if you set your mind to it. But you don't because right now your true love, that which makes you smile, is your hacking... am I right?"

He nodded a little bit. He wasn't sure if he was using the right term though. Muggle terms were so confusing. In the end her sighed and decided to list some of the targets that The Master had pointed out to him,

"Phone lines... power cables and lines to government and military centres..." he coughed a little bit, closing his eyes, "Power to... erm... public services..."

[Scarlett Lonsdale]

Scarlett smirked a little bit and she shook her head, no it was pretty much because they couldn't afford it, if they had the money they would have gone to nicer places because...honestly there was so many arguments with her and her siblings it was crazy. It was like they weren't even related sometimes the way they spoke to each other.

"We couldn't stand each other either we were just poor." she smirked, running her hands through her hair "It's just the way it is for people further down the food chain."

Sighing a little bit, Scarlett nodded her head, it really wasn't something she wanted to admit but the only thing that she had that made her smile was her hacking. Although she really wanted that to change, she wanted to meet someone else who made her smile, but there wasn't much chance of that now was there.

"At the moment its the only thing that makes me happy, but, I would like to find something, or someone else who does so." she stated with a small smile "Although the chances of that are pretty slim given my profession."

Scarlett opened and closed her mouth, before her lips pressed into a long, thin line. There was no way on hell she was going to be helping this guy now that she knew that was the thing that he wanted her to do, she wasn't about to destroy the only thing that she was good at.

"Like hell am I helping him do that." she stated quietly.

[Jermaine Vepoul]

Jermaine nodded a little bit but he had actually been trying not to draw that into conversation. There was very little he could say now that wouldn't make him sound like a bit of a rich dick. He hoped that he didn't come across that way because, despite his hobby, money had never been something he enjoyed boasting about. He smiled a little bit,

"But a holiday is a holiday." he told her with a small smile, "It's the relaxing that counts I think."

He realised that he had hit the nail on the head when she nodded but it was by no means a happy nod. She didn't like the fact that it was true. Nor could he really expect her to to be honest. It wasn't a bad life to be sure but it wouldn't half be lonely. And that was just his view of it from the outside. How it must be living only for hacking he had no idea but he hoped that she met the man that would make her smile,

"Well I hope that you meet the man who will make you smile like you do when you indulge in hacking. Moreso, in fact." he told her with a small smile of his own, "I can think of some candidates already."

He shook his head a little bit. He had said that to The Master as well and the response still made him shiver to himself. Raising a hand, he urged her to calm down a little bit,

"It's a threat." he told her quietly, "He doesn't want to actually do it. It would enrage the muggles enough that, even crippled, they'd have enough weapons and people to wipe us all out. He wants it as leverage. And... well the alternative is worse. The alternative is to have some of his insane hitsquad break into some serious stuff. Nuclear serious."

[Scarlett Lonsdale]

Scarlett thought that she should probably stop talking about matters concerning money she didn't want him to feel bad, she wanted him to feel relaxed around her not like she was judging or resenting him because he had more money than she did, far from it, he also had more problems from it, it seemed.

Hearing he thought that she would find a man like that, and that there were some people in her life already that could fit the bill. She sighed softly and ran her hands through her hair;

"Oh it would be nice to meet one of those guys, the only person who's shown romantic interest in me is the biker down the hall, and it's not true love he has on his mind." she said with a small smirk on her lips, before shaking her head again, getting those horrible images out of her mind.

Scarlett was beyond angry and hopped up on caffeine as she was she started to shake a little bit, standing up from her seat on the sofa she walked over to the window and bit her lip. Oddly, she found herself getting quite upset, not only at what he said, but at the situation that she found herself in.

"Well he had better understand that it's staying a threat. I don't care what he does, or threatens to do to me." she hissed, crossing her arms about her chest to comfort herself "God what have I gotten myself into?" Scarlett whispered to herself.

[Jermaine Vepoul]

Jermaine was glad that they seemed to have reached an unspoken agreement about not talking about money. That was good because he really didn't want the fact that he had lots of money to be a defining point in their relationship as partners. When she mentioned the biker down the hall he instantly felt the need to be very protective of her,

"Mmmm you don't say..." he muttered a little bit darkly, "Perhaps this man needs to know that you are uninterested? And if he already knows and tries anyway... well perhaps I can teach him the error of his ways."

Jermain was not a great fan of this little plan either, despite his politics. Whatever politics you had there wasn't really a way your could justify either of The Master's plans for the muggles without a dose of insanity. Moving over to her, he rested a hand gently on her shoulder,

"Hey don't worry..." he whispered to her, looking around a bit, "We can make sure that it's just a threat... he's no good at hacking or economics... it's why he needs us... why don't we... set up a failsafe? So even if he tries to activate it... it doesn't work? I'm sure a woman of your amazing talents can do that right?"

[Scarlett Lonsdale]

Scarlett raised her eyebrow and couldn't help but laugh a little bit when Jermaine got more than a little bit protective over her, it seemed like they were really getting along, and she was surprised by that and she hoped that they continued to get along this well in the future. They could be good friends she thought.

"I think I can handle myself Jermaine." she smiled lightly "And besides he already knows its just harmless banter, which I ignore. Cool your jets its not like he's going to break in here in the dead of night and try something."

Feeling him rest his hand on her shoulder, Scarlett bit her lip lightly and turned to face him, she was only 21 years old and she had so much else she could do with her life, but is she crossed the Master on this, and did what she thought was right, then she could find that life and those things not existing any more.

"I think he would be able to tell Jermaine..." she whispered softly "He might not know much about hacking but he can tell that we've done something if we're not careful and then...and then what will happen?"

Scarlett asked, moving so that she was leaning against Jermaine's chest, closing her eyes and sniffling lightly, it was times like this where she really needed a hug.

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