Blossoms in the Mud (Mature / Sci-Fi / Closed / Stalkers Welcome! We have cookies!)

“You lost the bet, no?” Cairo reminded, looking at the other man with a determined look despite his friendly smile. “You’re not just going to chicken out, are you? If you answer the questions I ask obediently, I’ll consider sparing you from the rest of the officers. If you decide to not do that, you’re not escaping confiscation of your devices and being put in jail.” He added with the same scarily friendly look. “Now, answer me, Casey.”

Casey looked visibly frightened by that threat, but tried not to show it. "I grew up on the other side of town, with my parents, and moved out when I turned 15" He shrugged. "next question please" He said not looking at Cario.

Cairo seemed pleased with the question and had moved his hand up to his chin, tapping it as if he was thinking of a question. “Were you one of the people who suffered from the government’s decision to use robots as labor instead of people?” He asked, wanting to understand the other man a bit better. He knew no one in the right mind would try to attack this government without a real motive so he wanted to know what Casey’s motive was.

Casey shrugged, "I have never really had a job" and turned in his chair so he was facing away from Cairo. He started working on a mother board that he had laying there, it was the one that went with all the cords on the ground. He knew the government had fucked with a bunch of peoples lives, so who wouldn't want revenge on that. How do they expect people to live robots taking their jobs.

“Where do you get find money then?”
The officer asked, looking at Casey despite the other man being turned away from him. “And why would you want to hack into the government’s server if you didn’t have a reason to do so? Just to fuck with us?” He asked with a frown, crossing his arms and tapping his foot on the floor in a slightly annoyed manner despite not actually feeling annoyed, but rather just curious.

"what makes you think I don't have a reason? Just because I may not personally have one does not mean I don't have one" He shrugged and was quiet for a minute before he glanced at Cairo, "I fix computers, only a few people let me, and I don't work for anyone, but that is my 'job' so to speak. It is not illegal, but its not exactly legal either, beings that I don't have a permit or anything so if I fuck up…." he shrugged, "well you know how that works"

“Those who fix computers without a permit is already a crime in itself. It’s already a miracle that you haven’t found yourself being called by the authorities because of that,” Cairo sighed softly before he looked straight at Casey with the same crossed arms posture. “After the law was placed down twelve years ago, a lot of people were complaining about not being able to do their jobs properly. The government body found itself tied on to a couple of big engineering and computer companies that hundreds of smaller businesses went out of business. You’ve probably seen it already, but the prices those big companies charge per service is…” he sighed “…it’s unfair, to say the least. The money goes to both the company and the government after all. Believe it or not, even as part of the government body, I, myself, rely on people without permits to fix my equipment. It’s a way to give back to those without money too.” He mentioned, looking a little sad when he mentioned about how the system the government was using to make easy money.
“As a Doves member I have access to a lot of valuable information, including the flow of cash and cryptocurrencies. How about this, Casey…” the man smiled softly as he turned the chair of the man back to face him, leaning down to place his hands on the other’s thighs in a non-threatening way while he looked at him “…for every question I ask you and you answer, I’ll let you ask me something back. It can be about myself as a person, about the Doves, about the government, about my views, anything. Does that sound fair to you?”

Casey was surprised to hear the views of this 'dove' was very similar to his own. He blushed slightly when Cairo turned his chair around and put his hands on Casey's thighs. "y-yes." He cleared his throat, "yes, that sounds fair." He said looking off to the side. He didn't know what the 'dove's plan was, but he didn't believe he would turn Casey in, not after agreeing to talk. At least, he hoped that was the case.

“Great. Now, first question from my side… let’s start with something simple. Have you ever been to one of the protests? If so, why?”
He asked, trying to start off with something not too personal but not too vague either. He had pulled his hands away from Casey’s thighs, noticing the change in the other’s expression which he found slightly… cute. He crossed his arms again, but loosely this time, as he stared at Casey awaiting for him to give his answer whatever it may be. “After you answer, feel free to ask me something back,”

Casey shook his head, "I have watched, but never joined in. I have went and asked people why they were doing it, but since I have no personal problems for the most part, no reason to join". He felt much less confident of himself now, and put his glasses from on his head, onto his face. He could now see Cairo much better, though he would never admit that he needed his glasses. "what sort of information was in the documents I tried to download?"

The officer went silent for a long moment. He knew what was in those documents, what information the government announcement did not say. He bit his lip, harshly as well before he sighed.
“The documents held information about what the ‘giving back’ project is actually about. The government party, Doves excluded, decided that the best way to deal with people not being happy with all of this is to… end them. Those who sign up and show up for the project will be taken into custody by the police where they will be sent to an underground system, away from all other lives and forced to work on fixing machines or assembling, essentially using those people as labor. I have read the agreement paper, those who signed up for the ‘project’ will never see the light of day again. TeraLife, the organization behind the underground facilities and all that, have concluded that those who enter are to be claimed dead as they can’t escape an underground prison, hidden away by the government and the largest tech company in the world. Since this morning… already a hundred thousand people have signed up for the project. That’s one hundred thousand people who will never see the light of day again starting in two weeks.”
Cairo breathed in softly after he spoke, he actually looked sad when he talked about what the complementary project actually was. He was against it, and his eyes gave that thought away. He turned back to Casey, smiling bravely despite feeling a bit down. “Ever thought about moving somewhere else? Somewhere better?”

Casey was silent for a long moment, letting the information sink in. He had figured there was some kind of catch to it, but not something this..big. A hundred thousand people were going to just disappear. "that's so fucked up" He muttered, not paying attention to the fact that Cairo had asked him a question for a moment. "oh…no, I have to much invested here, and no where else to go. Why do you work as a dove, if you don't quiet agree with it?" He had always assumed that Doves were of the most loyal to the goverment.

“I was born into a family of Doves. Both my dad and mom were former members of the organization so… I had to continued the family ‘job’. Let’s be honest, other than money hungry people, who would want to work for this government?” He sighed, shaking his head. “I need someone to fight against the government, someone to open the eyes of the people and to rebel against what is humanely wrong. I, myself, cannot be that person… both my duty and life will be in danger. I can act as a double agent if only someone decides to step up. The world needs to know what those shithead governors have been doing,”

Casey shrugged, "I have nothing better to do with my time, and I agree with you on the 'opening the eyes of the people' after all they are walking into a practical death-trap" He said, running his hand through his hair before putting his glasses on top of his head again.

Cairo stared at Casey for a moment before he smirked softly as he got a bit closer to the other man, leaning down to look him almost in the eyes. “Your talents are there. If I give you the access to the information, I think you will do well with reading and sharing important details to the people, don’t you think?” He smiled softly, still with his face a bit too close to Casey’s face.

Casey blushed at the closeness of the other male. "y-yeah" He said turning his head so that he was not looking at Cairo. He tried to hide or distracted from the fact that he was blushing.

Cairo nodded before he leaned back to stand straight and look at Casey, his hand reaching into his messenger bag as he got out a USB. “This holds all the old documents the government has and has not shown to the public. Some are top secret files that I managed to hack out of the central server.” He explained before setting the USB that was marked with the Doves’ symbol down on Casey’s work table, smiling softly to the man. “I think you’ll find a lot of things in there interesting, especially about how much money the government have actually made using their horrible methods,”

Casey picked up the Usb, a slight blush still on his face, "thanks. I will look into it. " He said before just tossing into his bin of USb's without saying anything. He could lie and say he didn't know why he was flustered, but he did, an attractive guy just got super close to him and he was expected to act normally?

The officer turned towards the bin of USB’s the other man had, walking over to look at how many were actually in there. “Have you been saving this up all your life? There’s so many of them,” he murmured, staring in surprise at the pile that filled up the bin. After a moment, he turned back to Casey. “You still haven’t answered what I asked earlier. Have you ever thought about moving somewhere else?”

Casey walked over to the USB bin and looked through it for a moment before pulling out a USB with a big white “1” on the front. He tossed it to Cairo. “I did, I said I have to much invested here, and that is my first hacking code system I wrote, it’s way outdated now, by almost 10 years…although it was advanced at the time.” He shrugged, “I have kept every usb I have ever used, I don’t want anyone else to get a hold of them”

Cairo caught the USB and looked at it for a moment, a surprised smile on his face. “This does seem rather old. I’m surprised how long you’ve been doing this for. Even I just started eight years ago,” he chuckled softly before tossing the USB he was given back where it came from. “Any questions you wanted to ask me back?”

Casey thought for a moment, but coming up with nothing important he went to the next best thing, "what is your favorite color?". He asked with a shrug, sitting back down in his chair and turning on his computers. He was going to check the website again. This time to see just how many people had signed up.

On the website, it showed that the number of people who signed up for the ‘project’ had went up to a hundred and twenty thousand names. This was only the first day and already an eighth of a million people were going to just disappear if they still agreed to do the project.
“Red.” Cairo answered, slightly confused. “I think I like how it’s a very… sensual and fiery color. Full of emotion and sort of genuine, you know. How about yours?”

"green," He said pointing to the screen that had codes only. The numbers were a bright neon green. "I mean, I like red also, but green is more of uh…something I stare at all day so if I didn't like it, well that would be quite frustrating" He said quietly, not really paying attention to the conversation as he started typing, hacking back into the system.

Cairo went quiet too as he focused on the other man’s coding. He stood to the side of the man, leaning down to look at the screen as if to try and understand how Casey did all his work. It wasn’t long before the first layer of guarded code was taken down, revealing the names of those who have signed up for the project in alphabetical order. “125,734…” Cairo murmured, noticing the numbers above the list of names. He scowled quietly before turning to Casey. “Hacking into the server for longer than thirty minutes can reveal your location. You better act quick if you want to find certain information,”

Casey took out his phone and took a picture of the list of names, scrolling down so that he could get them all before logging out of the server. "I don't know what I am looking for yet, but I have a feeling after this whole thing, these names will disappear, so having them might come in handy" he said grimly. He turned to the computer that showed the code of the site and typed in a short code. A few of the numbers turned red. "those are weak points" he muttered before going back to the other computer and opening the page of coded commands. He changed a few before standing up and walking to his kitchen, "I need a drink, want anything?"

“Anything that does not have poison is fine by me, thank you,” Cairo answered, himself looking at the numbers that have turned red. “Fascinating…” he murmured as he examined the system that was used to execute the command. At that moment, he realized something. If he was caught helping the public by spreading information about the government, surely he would be hunted down no matter where he was. That meant that Casey would be in trouble as well if he got caught… it wasn’t something he wanted. “Have you actually eaten anything yet?”

Casey came back with two sodas, "ate? nope." he shrugged. It hadn't crossed his mind to eat, normally he just snacked during the day. He sat the drinks down on a counter far from his computers, he never ate nor drank near them while he was working. "I had a drink earlier..but I forgot what I did with it" he shrugged. "Why does it matter if I have eaten?'. He asked opening his soda and taking a drink.

“Just thought you should eat something. Maybe we could even go out together to find something to eat?” He offered, smiling cheekily to Casey before he took a sip of the soda he was given. “It’d be my treat though. I gotta spend the Doves’ credits I have somehow,”

Casey blushed and hid his face by taking another drink, "y-yeah, just a casual…lunch? what time is it anyway" because he didn't bother to check the time. "and besides, its not like I have money to spare" He muttered rolling his eyes.