Catching Up and Planning

[ingridrichards]

After making sure young Michael was going to be alright and having a discussion with Magnus, Ingrid made her way up to Henry's lab. They needed to put their heads together to come up with an adequate containment area for little Alto. Plus, she wanted to tease the man a bit. It had been a while since she had seen him. Five months, at least.

Her arms were crossed casually over her chest when she stepped into the lab. She took a gander around before her gaze settled on Henry himself. A smirk crossed her lips.

"So, are you ready to get your ass handed to you by a girl in a round of Modern Warfare?" She said aloud, teasing.

[Deleted]

Henry was staring at the computer screen, his vision a little blurry. He was trying to make sense of all the recent glitches, they weren’t programming errors. Henry rubbed his eyes, trying to stem the pain that was building up behind them. He jumped a mile when he heard a voice.

"So, are you ready to get your ass handed to you by a girl in a round of Modern Warfare?"

The voice was familiar, but he couldn’t place it until he turned around.

“Doc!” Henry grinned, before frowning. “Dude, you don’t stand a chance against me. Natural born gamer.” Henry burst into a smile again. He wanted to run up and hug her, but he stayed in his chair. “Doctor Richard, a sight for sore eyes.” Literally, in this case. Henry’s grin was starting to become a little dopey. “Please tell me this is just a social call.” Henry pleads, already fearing the response.

[ingridrichards]

Ingrid's grinned widened at his reaction to seeing her. She came around to the side of the table, putting both hands down.

"I don't think so. I've been practicing and I've already got the rank of Major," She teased, pointing a taunting finger at him.

She then pulled a chair over so she could sit. It had been a long day and she was just ready to relax, not quite sleep, but relax. A sigh escaped her lips.

"Yes and no. I brought in a new Abnormal from Hollow Earth. It needs a new containment area and I thought we could work together on that. But for now I just want to catch up and not think about other things for a bit," Ingrid made a motion at her head, indicating she didn't want to think about the visions for a while. "So, what's been going on with you?"

[Deleted]

“Now there’s a challenge I can’t resist.” Henry grinned. “It’d be nice to finally have a worthy opponent. Biggie isn’t too big when it comes to the shoot ‘em up war games.” Henry winced, worried he’d kind of killed the mood.

“A new abnormal, huh?” Henry brought up the location records. “We’re kind of full, but I’m sure I can work my magic and make some room. Where it’ll end up depends on the type of abnormal, of course.” Henry squinted at the screen. “Or should that be, “special humans, just like you”?” Henry read, a little confused. He shook his head. He’d fix that glitch later. He turned to Ingrid and smiled.

“I’m good.” Henry grinned. “My gaming life is good. My social life has just gotten a whole more complex. And work is kinda hectic since… y’know, but Magnus is handling it like a pro. It’s all good. I’ve just finished NaNoWrMo. My novel about a virtual world where abnormalities start popping up is finally done. It has heroes, villains, and a lot of techno talk.” Henry realised he was gushing and started clamming up. “I dunno. It still needs a lot of work.” Henry shrugged, changing the subject.

“So, tell me about this abnormal… special … creature.” Henry asked, hoping the high pitched snoring he was fairly sure he was imagining would dissipate soon.

[ingridrichards]

Ingrid listened with genuine interest. It was nice to talk about something other than blood tests, flu outbreaks, Hollow Earth refugees, and just work in general. She leaned forward in her chair so she could put her elbows on the table and rest her chin on her fists.

"It's similar to a red fox. Except this one can let out a high pitched scream than can cause deafness and even memory loss. The musical stylings of Elvis seem to soothe him enough to sedate him but we need an area where he feels comfortable. Something like a nice jungle-esque area."

She smiled, putting one hand down and leaving her chin propped up on the other hand. The celtic dragon engraved leather bracers on her arms clashed visibly with her baby blue blouse and slacks, but she didn't care as long as it kept most skin to skin contact at bay. Though, with all the non-contact visions she had been having since the refugees surfaced she doubted it mattered whether she touched anyone or not.

"NaNoWriMo? How did you find the time for it? I got to about two-thousand words and gave up. But good on you for actually finishing it." She commended him, reaching over and giving him a light pat on the shoulder. "Maybe you can let me read it sometime?"

[Deleted]

Henry's ears pricked up, almost literally, as soon as he heard the word "fox". After that, he couldn’t really focus on much. Especially not his novel, which he was nervous about letting anybody read. He chose to ignore that bit.

“Foxes are friends, not food.” Henry reminded himself, even as his stomach started to grumble. “Sounds like you brought us a tricky one.” Henry let out a shaky sigh, but he could do this. He was very nervous to hear it uses sound as a weapon. His HAP ears picked up frequencies that humans couldn’t hear. He had no doubt that the abnormal could drive him crazy if he let it. “I mean, it shouldn’t be that hard to find the creature a home. A lot of the enclosures are made out of the same soundproof glass we eventually had to transfer Sally to.”

Henry double checked the computer system. “It might have to share a habitat though. We do have a jungle like area, filled with plants and even a few trees. There’s a…” Henry frowned as he reads the Latin name for the abnormal. “…panda-like abnormal in there already, loves to climb. The pandas are completely deaf though. Rely on temperature and sound mostly. They’re pretty docile. Kinda fun to hold. They give pretty good hugs. Bear hugs.” Henry grinned, laughing at his own joke. That’s awkward. "Hopefully, the two species can co-habit." Henry added.

“The tricky thing is transferring it. The fox.” Henry continued. “I mean, if it wakes up and starts screaming its head off, I don’t want our heads exploding like something out of Mars Attacks.” Henry knew that that wouldn’t actually happen, but it might feel like it did, especially to his frustratingly sensitive ears. “It shouldn’t take too long to piece together a few sets of defensive headphones.” Henry set about work. He began drawing blueprints, but grew impatient with the designs. Soon, the paper was pushed aside in favour of digging out materials from every nook and cranny of Henry’s lap.

“So Doc, do you want to watch the master at work, or do you maybe want to take a break? It might take a while and I think I’ve only got some Reece’s Pieces around here.” The only reason they haven’t been eaten is because they’re like poison ever since his HAP side surfaced, but they’re ever so tasty. “If you want to grab some real food, get Biggie to cook you something, maybe bring something back for me?...” Henry smiled sweetly for a second before returning on the hunt for scraps of useful material. “… that’d be cool. If you want to see me play with my toys, that’s good too. Your choice.” Henry muttered, mostly fixated on the technology.

[ingridrichards]

Ingrid chuckled at his comment about foxes being friends and not food. "A panda, huh? That could work. She nodded. "As for transfer I don't see it being a problem. He's gotten pretty comfortable with me, so maybe we can wheel him to the area in his box and I can quickly carry him in."

The idea of food appealed to her greatly. Her snack of almonds and cream cheese didn't really put a dent in her hunger and as she thought about it her stomach growled audibly. A nice thick sandwich with chips sounded really good to her.

"If you want I can run down and make us some sandwiches and bring up a bag of chips. Biggie's probably busy elsewhere and I'd hate to disturb him."

Ingrid stood up and smoothed out the front of her slacks. Her dark hair had started to come out of the clip she had it in so she reached up and made an attempt to get the loose strands back into the clip without having to take her hair out and re-do it.

"Unless you want something else? Maybe some take-out?" Take-out appealed to her at the moment as well. Specifically Chinese take-out. Her stomach growled more at that thought.

[Deleted]

Henry’s heard Ingrid’s stomach rumble. So loud it broke his concentration. He paused. “Take-out does sound good.” Henry admitted. “And I bet I could design a little protection against the banshee fox before you’ve even finished eating.” Henry challenged, modifying the headphones whilst he spoke.

“I mean, you’re probably right. The creature may not be any hassle at all.” Henry sighed. “But it’s better safe than sorry.” Henry took apart the headset, ready to place a radio inside. Focussing on a project allowed Henry to ignore the blood lust, the fear, the feral part of himself. The lab was thrumming with the low buzz of electricity, and he desperately tried to concentrate on that instead.

“There’s take-out menus in the drawer.” Henry told Ingrid. “Take your pick. I’m something of an omnivore, and you are the guest.” Henry shrugged, pausing for a second. “Dinner with a beautiful lady whilst I get to customise my headphones.” Henry chuckled, continuing to work on his headphones. “Sweet!”

[ingridrichards]

Ingrid blushed when Henry referred to her as a beautiful lady. She'd be lying if she said she didn't always have somewhat of a crush on Henry since she was a teenager. But, she suspected that he was attracted to someone else.

She cleared her throat, hoping that Henry didn't see her blush. When he told her where the take-out menus were she walked over and pulled out a stack, sifting through them to find one that appealed to her. Italian, Mexican, Chinese, Thai, Southern comfort...The list went on and on. But finally she chose a Chinese place that offered the best sushi in town. She smiled and pulled out her cell phone, dialing the number listed.

When someone answered she started rambling off her order in perfect Chinese, making sure to get a variety of things she knew both she and Henry would enjoy, including a large platter of various sushi. She hung up the phone after giving the woman her credit card information then took her seat once again.

"I will take that challenge," she said with a smirk. "But remember, I can see the future." Ingrid chuckled then made a spooky noise as she motioned to her head.

It was weird, she thought, that Henry was the only person she could act like her dorky self around and not feel out of place. While, yes, she had to show some professionalism, it was still nice not to be so rigid.

[Deleted]

ooc: sorry for the late response. My laptop was computer-napped by my siblings. I also apologise for any possible spelling errors. I'm utterly exhausted.

*****

Henry chuckled at the spooky noise Ingrid made, feeling relaxed for the first time in forever. However, being relaxed also meant that he’d never get any work done. Henry worked better under stress, so he mentally challenged himself to get the headset ready by the time the food arrived. It shouldn’t be that difficult. He’d already toyed with the idea, particularly whenever Will tried out his British accent.

The tricky part would be the filter. It would be easy to just soundproof the headset and put a radio inside, but Henry was unwilling. Not just because he enjoyed a challenge, but because if the radio was compromised, there would be no way to stop the signal before it was too late.

Henry already had a microchip available, but he needed to programme it. The coding shouldn’t be a problem, just a matter of entering the frequency he wanted any sound to come out as. He could make Magnus sound like a major villain by giving her the deepest voice if he wanted. He could make the Big Guy sound like a little girl. He just needed to create the right programme.

Henry was momentarily distracted by a red flashing light, warning him that a few of the surveillance cameras were down. Henry’s agile hands didn’t even skip a beat as he patched them to an internal power source, setting them to send directly to the personal network on his tablet. With the surveillance system running smoothly, Henry could focus on his microchip.

Suddenly, the schematics went black, and when Henry was able to reboot the system, there was a message on the screen. It wasn’t typed, although it was clearly done using computer software, possibly something like Paint.net. It wasn’t English.

“Er, Doc.” Henry radioed Helen. Even if she didn’t get the message directly, it would store. Kind of like a voice message. “My computer is going crazy. Got a message here. Think it's for you. It's in Praxian. I'll get the scary little fox abnormal settled, and then I'll decipher it. You might want to check it out for yourself though.” Henry smiled at Ingrid, trying to prove that he hadn’t forgotten about her.

“Okay, so I’ve hit a slight snag, but I’m sure I can still get this done before…” Henry didn’t dare continue that sentence. The food was due any moment. It looked like it would be a working lunch for him.

[ingridrichards]

Ingrid watched with interest. She was always intrigued at how well Henry worked and how he could put together anything from a small headset to a huge stunner. A smile crossed her lips as she leaned forward, continuing to watch.

The stress she had felt earlier had already melted away, though the conversation she had with Helen still nagged her at the back of her mind. So many things that were going to happen. Bad things. But, she couldn't dwell on the bad right now. Not when Henry was putting her at ease with just his personality alone.

When the light started flashing red Ingrid's brow rose in curiosity. Is that suppose to do that? She wondered to herself as she pulled herself closer to get a better look. While she had only seen the Praxian written language once she recognized it instantly. It was odd indeed that Praxian would be on the screen. Maybe someone was trying to communicate with them. Another refugee perhaps.

Before she could reply to Henry, Biggie brought in several large bags stuffed with food. He smiled warmly at Ingrid, placing the bags on an empty spot at the table beside the two. He then ruffled Ingrid's dark hair, making the woman giggle like a little girl.

"Henry messed the computers up," She told the Sasquatch with a chuckle.

Biggie smirked. "Of course he did," He replied in mock agreement. Before walking out he gave Henry a playful smack on the back of the head.

"Thanks for bringing the food!" Ingrid called after him before moving her chair over to the food.

She rummaged through the bag until she pulled out a take-out box of rice and her own small platter of sushi. She then stuck the end of an eggroll in her mouth before going back over beside Henry.

"You were saying?" She mocked with a mouthful of eggroll.

[Deleted]

Henry glared at Ingrid, just a little, before stealing on the egg rolls, stuffing it into his mouth before intending to get back to work. The smell of barbeque ribs was too enticing though, filling his nose with a most delicious scent, causing him to drool, liquefying the egg roll. Henry was ready for meat.

Henry devoured the ribs. The noises coming from his mouth almost weren’t human: they were growls of hunger, pleasure and satisfaction. Sauce coated Henry’s fingers, lips and chin. It wasn’t until he had finished licking his chops, sucking on the bones, that he realised what he had done.

“Yeah, I know. Even Biggie lectures me on my table manners.” Henry admitted, sheepishly. “I’m working on them. Don’t want to scare Elena away for when we finally get to grab some food together.” ‘If that ever happens’ Henry mentally added, before returning back to the pair of headsets he was working on.

Suddenly, the heaviest of metal music came blaring out from seemingly all around. Henry scrambled, and the music stopped within seconds. Henry hoped that the soundproof box Alto was in went two ways and that the fox abnormal was still asleep.

“My fingers slipped.” They were still greasy from the sauce, but after a mild electric shock, Henry had finished installing a computer chip into each of headsets. Henry shook his hand, as if that would help dissipate the excess electricity. When he had finally regained full motor function in his hand, he showed Dr. Richards how the headset worked.

“These two buttons control volume, up and down. The two on the other side control pitch, higher and deeper. And there’s even an internal MP3 player, but it’s just got my playlist on it. Tap the headphones to switch the MP3 on or off. Probably off for this mission though.” Henry admitted. “Cool, did you get all that? Are we good to go?” Henry didn’t wait for an answer. The entire speech had been delivered rapidly. Henry put on his headset with a manic twinkle in his eye. “What are we waiting for? Let’s go house an abnormal.”