W.A.R.M.T.H: The Prologue

Observations and Sketchy Places

Ren

I wonder if I could piggyback onto source address 172.18.1.1 and get through port 22...

"dude," AJ says to me

Actually, it might be simpler to get through the firewall by creating a copy of the source address. AJ bumps me.

"....Yes, AJ?"

"Are you alright? You seem stressed today...."

I look at him and then glance over at Amora and Raven.

"Are you positive you want to break character at this time?"

"Don't worry about it. They're not paying attention. And what character?"

"You knew how to answer the question; therefore, you know exactly what I meant by character."

But how would I go about copying the source address without getting caught as a duplicate?

"Whatever genius, and get off your phone. Seriously dude, it's an addiction."

He snatches my phone from my hand and sticks it down his pants. I look at the area. He shoved it and back up to his face with a brow raised.

"Do you truly believe that is going to stop me from retrieving my phone?"

He laughs. "I'd hope so; I'm not gay, man, and I wouldn't appreciate it if you made people feel otherwise." I give AJ a pointed look.

"No?" I say to him. He pales slightly and looks away. "....I'm not," he says quietly. I sigh, regretting what I had done. I upset myself when I upset him.

"Well, I would appreciate it if you refrained from putting my things down in your pants, but I do not get that very often, do I?"

"Touché, genius."

"May I have my phone back now?"

"Nope."

I shake my head in frustration. He pulls my phone out of the area and looks at the numerical strategies I was using to get into the credit agency.

"Pfft, why didn't you just create a new pathway in? This firewall wouldn't have been able to pick up on the fact it was an outer source; it's just software."

He shoves the phone back into his pants.

"Aaah, of course" I shake my head at my inability to have come up with the idea on my own.

"Where are Millie and Jason today?" I ask AJ,

"What makes you think they're not at home?"

"You are here, not at your home. You would never leave them alone with your mom." I say simply. AJ shakes his head in disbelief.

"I wish you didn't pay so much attention to things." he sighs, "Millie is with her babysitter tonight, and Jason is staying the night at his friend's house."

I take this information and compile a situation for this exact set of homes. "So your mother came home drunk this morning?"

AJ's voice drops low. He looks at me and then quickly looks away to hide the shame in his eyes. "Yeah."

"I figured as much. Where has your father been lately? I have not heard you speak of him for a few days."

"He's been in and out of the house constantly, something about me being 'too arrogant to complete a simple task like taking out the garbage. So why don't you just throw yourself in the dumpster?' He's been giving me hell about it for weeks, and he can't stand not having the dramatic exit." AJ rolls his eyes. "It's torture."