25 Unicorn Street, Thursday Afternoon

[on_her_korhal]

She had explosion-proofed, people-proofed and squirrel-proofed making everything happening in that particular room NFB the blocked-off bedroom, which she had started mentally referring to as her command centre already. Work was almost finished on the basics: Kerrigan had already begun calibrating scanners to alert her if the Warp Gate reopened. At this rate, in a few weeks, she could get started on communications.

And then she'd had the stellar idea of using one of the - antique - computers she'd installed to work on next week's class. Tamper with the sim plans a little, remember her own path on her first mission on Antiga, project a few things... That had lasted about ten minutes before she marched out of the room, pulled three beers out of the fridge, and collapsed on the couch.

Two weeks was just not long enough to forget Antiga Prime.

She started drinking before she did something stupid like wonder if she ever would.

"Ghosts never stop thinking, Mike. Biggest truth I've ever told. Like it matters." Because thin air and empty space made for great conversationalists. "Heh." At least being alone meant her mind wasn't serving up any extra background chatter.

[ open if you want to deal with the totallynot!emo; yay extended canon! ]

Comments

[iseewhatyoumean.livejournal.com]

Cassandra was still exploring Fandom, and part of that obviously meant wandering into random houses. Well, perhaps not into them, but at least around them. Through yards, across a roof or two, just getting a feel for the place.

Which was bound, eventually, to bring her to a certain house on Unicorn Street. Number 25, in fact. Which was a house that sort of stood out. There were a lot of laser sensors set up around the perimieter, and Cass took that as a challenge.

A short running start and a comlicated acrobatic maneuver later, Cassandra was on the other side of the perimeter without hitting a single beam. Of course she was standing right on top of one of the buried pressure sensors in the yard, so other than looking impressive her little maneuver hadn't accomplished much.

She looked around curiously, still thinking she was undetected.

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

Inside, Kerrigan caught wind of the silent alarm that linked to the outside going off. Not as bad as an inside warning, but still a reason to -- at the very least -- have a look.

She really wished she'd installed cameras, but that may have been a little overboard.

One hand on her thigh holster, she walked to the front door and pulled it open slightly - waiting till the buzzing in her mind would become coherent thoughts and identify the intruder.

[iseewhatyoumean.livejournal.com]

Cassandra's mind, to anyone with the ability to see inside it, was a weird place. Clearly tampered with, and none too skillfully, it didn't think like most minds did. Thoughts were in terms of motion and stillness rather than words or ideas or concepts.

It probably made more sense if the person looking into her mind could also watch Cass move. She ghosted across the grass silently, eyes flickering across the house looking for further security. When the door opened she froze, a note of mild alarm flashing across her mind.

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

It was a little less... chaotic than what she was used to. No endless mind-diatribes, shallow surface remarks or anything else that could induce any particularly large headache. Kerrigan was indescribably grateful.

That is to say, until the mild alarm amplified her mild alarm and she found herself teethering on the edge of a feedback loop again. Nice. She rubbed her brow before opening the door further.

"Any reason you're hopping around my yard?"

[iseewhatyoumean.livejournal.com]

A quick look was all Cassandra needed to decide that the other woman was more than a little dangerous. So she relaxed a bit, shifting into a non-threatening stance, "Exploring?" she offered.

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

She raised an eyebrow. "In my yard?" Kerrigan asked, incredulously. And maybe a little annoyed.

[iseewhatyoumean.livejournal.com]

"Security system," Cassandra pointed vaguely at it. "I like challenges."

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

"I can see that." She leaned against the doorframe, her arms crossed. "A little advice, though? Security system spells bad news."

[iseewhatyoumean.livejournal.com]

Cassandra frowned, "I shouldn't have tripped it." She glared accusingly at the laser beam system, "I avoided all the beams."

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

"There's no point to trusting only one security system," Kerrigan commented from the sidelines. "Especially when you don't know what to expect."

[iseewhatyoumean.livejournal.com]

The frown deepened as Cassandra ran through possibilities in her head. "Long-range motion sensors?" she guessed.

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

"I'm not going to tell you," Kerrigan remarked dryly, "That would defeat the point of the exercise."

She should try that in class, actually.

[iseewhatyoumean.livejournal.com]

"Could be buried pressure sensors," she mused. "But you'd have to be really good, or have installed them months ago. There's no sign of them." She looked around again, trying to find the motion sensors she was pretty sure had to be there somewhere.

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

A faint - if slightly bitter, in the face of earlier not!emo - smirk pulled on the side of her mouth. "I'm very good," she said.

[iseewhatyoumean.livejournal.com]

Cassandra's eyes widened and she looked down at her feet. "Huh." She considered kneeling down and digging up part of the yard to get a look, but figured that wouldn't be appreciated.

"Are you a teacher," she asked, lacking anything more interesting to talk about.

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

"Lieutenant Sarah Kerrigan," she said, coolly, like the introduction had rolled out a million times before over the past two weeks. "Tactics. I take it you're a student?"

[iseewhatyoumean.livejournal.com]

She nodded, "Cassandra. I'm new."

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

"Yeah," she said, her legs crossing in the doorway. "I could tell. Don't damage the security system. Any part of it."

[iseewhatyoumean.livejournal.com]

Another nod, "You probably want me to go away," Cassandra added, eying the way Kerrigan was standing.

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

"You're giving me a headache," Kerrigan noted, mildly irritable. "If you wanted to talk to me, I've got office hours, you know. You don't have to try to break into my house."

She was getting tired of people breaking into her house.

[iseewhatyoumean.livejournal.com]

"Oh... um... sorry?" She considers paths out of the yard, "I guess I'll just... go?"

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

"Office hours are on Tuesday," Kerrigan deadpanned, tipping the door to close with her foot as she stepped back inside.

[iseewhatyoumean.livejournal.com]

Cassandra stood where she was for a moment, examining the terrain around the house. She was too deep into the yard to avoid the pressure sensors on the way out, but she might be able to make it in some other time. Then she could check out the internal security system.

She hadn't been kidding: Cassandra really did like a challenge.

For now, though, she simply walked back to the street, continuing her exploration of Fandom.