Rise, and Come

Chapter Ten

Toby led the way to the Carline Canopy Inn. He ordered lunch for them, and they sat at one of the small tables. Talia was very quiet, taking in the new environment. Alden held her hand under the table, and gave her a smile. "Take your time." She shivered, and continued to watch the others in the large room.

After a few minutes, Toby returned with a tray of sandwiches. He smiled sheepishly, "I ah, ran into some old friends last night. I'm fresh out of gil."

Alden smirked, "They beat you at poker again?"

Toby shot him a look, "Shut up. Anyway, I play better than your brother, remember that one game?"

Alden covered his face and chuckled, "The strip poker one? Kirito got down to his skivvies and then he even lost those? Oh, I remember!"

"And you all had to walk home? That was hysterical. I still have the picture, too."

Talia just stared at the two of them, her sandwich untouched. She shook her head and started eating. "Remind me not to play that with you then. I stink at card games. Although, I will totally beat you at Monopoly."

Puzzled looks. She rolled her eyes, "It's a board game, has to do with  buying and selling properties."

Toby shrugged and Alden took another bite of his sandwich. Toby then got a mischievous look in his eye, and lowered his voice, "Kirito's not the only one I have dirt on." 

Alden elbowed Talia, "He lives to blackmail people, but never does anything with it." 

Toby scowled, "I'm waiting for the right moment, when I need a favor! Do you want to hear about this or not?"

Alden laughed, and obligingly leaned forward, "Tell all, oh great spy."

Toby giggled. "The aethernet can be modified to pass information, but it doesn't last long, you have to transfer it to a device and store it, the aether doesn't preserve it." He pulled out a small cylinder, that fit easily in his hand, "I found out someone nearby was recording the activity in a room, and I saved it here."

Alden leaned on his elbow, and studied the diminutive man, "Why? what was going on?"

Toby leaned back, "Oh, just an old friend of mine, getting THOROUGHLY intimate with a Miqo'te female. Several times. On the wall, the bed, the floor, you were awfully busy." He dramatically raised an eyebrow, "Oooh, wait, that's why I recognized your name. Alden moaned it several times."

Talia gasped and shot up out of her seat, "You little CREEP!! Give me that!"

Toby stashed the cylinder in a pocket and shook his head, "Nope! " and then squealed as Talia picked him up by the ankles and held him upside down. 

"Put me down! Put me dooooown! ALDEN!!"

Alden merely chuckled and shook his head, "Not interfering. Shouldn't record the lady without her consent, you know."

Talia shook Toby and snarled, "Absolutely not! You do NOT know what I have just been through!" Toby wailed and flailed his arms, "Alright, alright, I'm sorrrrrrry! I'll give you the cylinder! And I'll tell you what I know about your kidnapping!"

She stood still, "You - you what? Cylinder first."

Still upside down, Toby fished out the cylinder, and dropped it on the seat. With a last shake, Talia lowered him, and then picked it up. She studied it a moment and then dropped it in her top. "No one will get it there."

She sat by Alden and motioned to Toby, "Come on, spill."

Toby rubbed his head and frowned, "You ought to take up pugilist, later. Well, I was telling you, the aether net can be used to pass information? I was fooling around, and discovered I could sort of eavesdrop on the info being passed. And, I could add stuff myself! So when I saw your picture, but, you looked a little different, and there was some information, whoever had taken the picture was trying to perform some kind of matchmaking action. So I, ah, added Alden here, I added his picture and it matched you two up."