Snippet #1847470

Hal sighed as Ridly stepped up and pushed him and his somewhat pitiful attempt to be social and get his mind off of things away. It seemed such a notion just was not meant to be. Not for now, anyways. Granted, that wouldn’t stop him from trying again. This was just a minor setback. After all, at first, Tiara didn’t even want to go before, using that lame excuse, and he got around that. This one is at least a better excuse. He looked around Ridly, nodding to Tiara before speaking.

“Well, unfortunately the mag’s a bit beat up and broken, with the connection port in really rough shape. Tiara figures it’ll take a while to get fixed up, it seems, since the operation is a delicate procedure. On top of that, she’s got to shove that work in with all the other work she’s got to do, like fixing Bec’s mag and such.”

He paused for a moment. What would be the best way to phrase what happened next? Considering the look on Tiara face when he surmised what Lucy had done, the girl didn’t want a secret like that getting out. He scratched his head before continuing, deciding on a different approach.

“We were, however, able to extract a small amount of information before the mag was put back into hibernation and put onto the workbench,” Hal stated, shifting his weight to his left side and putting his left hand on his hip, gesturing with his right hand as he spoke. “The final conversation had between Gil and the assailants who made him disappear was recorded and stored, giving us a slight lead. It’s not much help without the visual data to go along with it, but to me, the conversation made me feel like the guy was set up from the start. He set a parcel to blow up, and as he did, he was taken out and...well, I have my suspicions, but I think he was dumped into some water. But as to why he was set up like that, I still have no idea.”

He shifted his weight to his right side now, but this time he brought his arms up and crossed them, matching Ridly’s pose. He looked down at the floor for a moment as he thought about this next part.

“Admittedly, I’m a bit worried about the whole thing, Ridly. Between the weird conversation and the odd markings on the mag, I’m beginning to think this whole thing is bigger than us. Way bigger. Conspiracy theory bigger.” He sighed and looked up at his partner. “I really just wanted to get my mind off of things. That’s why I was planning on taking a quick break to discuss things with Tiara. But, if you want to head off somewhere, that’s fine. I’ll have to save it for another time.”

He was attempting to justify his actions, of course, but he already knew Ridly was unlikely to accept such a soft excuse. As much as he wanted to spend some time with Tiara, he was somewhat prepared for her disapproval. Mentally prepared, anyways. He'd have to set something up with Tiara after she finished her work for the day. In any case, Hal didn’t have anything to say in response to her upcoming accusations, if she had them, but he did have one small thought on the issue of finishing the mission, if that was her aim, of course.

“However, if we’re off to collect, then we’d better make sure the mission stated whether or not they just wanted information on where Gil might be, or if they wanted him alive. If they wanted him alive, then we’re unfortunately boned. I’m...fairly certain he’s gone...” He looked down at the floor, the idea making him shutter a bit as he waited for a response from Ridly. He knew he’d have to deal with death, but the death of hunters he wasn’t entirely prepared for...