#earthrunes

"Hm. She probably leaves cruel Yelp reviews, as well."

"Probably? You haven't looked yet?" August is shocked.

Coradel shrugs. "Why should I care?"

August sighs heavily.

"Oh, Hume, she probably has a number of traffic violations."

"Now would not be a bad time to find out. It might provide some useful information."

"Well, yes, August, but they'd be back at the mansion. I'm happy to go check, if you feel you don't need me here?"

"Uhm... got stuff"

August motions for Coradel to pause and turns to Hume. "Yes?"

"Well, Chimerical facial recoginition programs are more accurate than real ones, because we imagine them to be... so.. " A blink

Coradel peers over his shoulder.

He blushes "I think the old term was 'sex tape?'

the young teenager seems torn between averting his eyes and being rivited

Coradel blinks. "You know...that doesn't surprise me at all." She moves to get a better look.

August was looking, and immediately averts his eyes.

Then clears his throat. "Ahh..... would that be 'off-brand' for her, or actually help?"

And yes, he's colored slightly.

"Oh, my, she's awful...." Coradel laughs at whatever she's seeing. "No style whatsoever."

MORE than slightly.

What's really damning is the racial slurs she uses on her ..well, lover is too generous a word

"Well...hmm...that's a good question. I think it might be win-win for us. If she's embarrassed and doesn't want it released, then we've got leverage. If she's proud of it and wants it released, that will put more attention on her, and distract her from how pissed she is at me."

"Oh! Oh, well...now that's going to bite her."

"She's into trendy causes...and there's nothing less trendy than racism these days."

"Especially since I think that guy is her parent's groundskeeper" He taps

"This might backlash on her parents, but if they've already disowned her, they're safer from that."

"Yes....yes, I think this would do really well. Oh, wait...where did you find this? Is it already public knowledge?"

"Nope. It's on the guy's cellphone. "

"Oh, well done! You can capture it, though? Keep a copy here?"

A blush "Already copied"

"Well done." She doesn't seem to care about the blushing.

"Did.. idd you want a copy to show her?"

"Now, I suppose she might try to claim that it's fake...which would mean I'd need to talk to the groundskeeper, so get me his name, just in case."

"And yes, please, send it to me."

"Jerome White.. that's ..ironic"

And her cellphone dings

"Sent" he says

"Thank you!" she all but sings. "Well...I'll let her spend her remaining time at the hotel before showing her this. I don't want her to feel as though she has time to consider when she hears."

He puts it away with effort

"Hmm...I really must call my mother before she thinks to call her."

"Sounds like you'll take it from here"

"Please excuse me, both of you. And well done, again, Lord Hume." She turns to leave, taking out her phone.

Hume bows.. surprsied at praise, his spine clicking

ANd Coradel is gone

"Well done, Lord Hume." August agrees. "That said, can you be prepared to, ah, hack her social media accounts as a shot across the bow should we need it? A way of proving our point?"

"Easy. I can have her post whatever you want" he nods

"For now, nothing. If you want to look around a bit more, that wouldn't be unwelcome. By us, I mean. Take no action, though. Thank you for your help, Lord Hume."

"You're welcome , Baron. ANd.. you were right"

"I was?" a bit blankly.

"This IS more urgent than Double Dungeon Bonus Points"

"Ah." and he chuckles "I'm glad we're of one mind on that. Again, my thanks. Do you have need of any supplies for this work?"