[ going back to macau is always... painful isn't quite the right word, but it's close. she's careful—she wears heavy bracelets over her right wrist; she dresses like an expat and she sounds like a european, and no one looks at her twice if she doesn't want them to—but she still has to fight to keep her eyes forward every time she spots triad tattoos on the street, remind herself that she doesn't need to listen to them any more.
( not that her situation has actually improved much, but at the very least she has fewer masters now.
sometimes she wonders if silva sends her here on purpose. )
the details are still nebulous—or maybe they're not; she hasn't asked—but there's an island off the coast of shànghǎi, cleared out years ago by panic over a faked chemical spill, and it needs to be filled with banks of servers for... something. she doesn't know. she doesn't want to know. but it's why she's in macau, trying to cajole a manufacturer to follow through on the ( thoroughly illegal ) promises they've made, surrounded by guards, while silva does the same in táiwān.
divide and conquer.
it's a shame it's not working. ]
I need more time.
[ 18 of the 33 servers they were promised, and less than 24 hours to negotiate. it's not what they needed. it's not even most of what they needed. as much as she hates admitting to failure—because she knows she'll pay for it later—it's better to do it now and potentially pull through in a few days' time than to say nothing and go back to silva tomorrow an irreparable failure. ]
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( not that her situation has actually improved much, but at the very least she has fewer masters now.
sometimes she wonders if silva sends her here on purpose. )the details are still nebulous—or maybe they're not; she hasn't asked—but there's an island off the coast of shànghǎi, cleared out years ago by panic over a faked chemical spill, and it needs to be filled with banks of servers for... something. she doesn't know. she doesn't want to know. but it's why she's in macau, trying to cajole a manufacturer to follow through on the ( thoroughly illegal ) promises they've made, surrounded by guards, while silva does the same in táiwān.
divide and conquer.
it's a shame it's not working. ]
I need more time.
[ 18 of the 33 servers they were promised, and less than 24 hours to negotiate. it's not what they needed. it's not even most of what they needed. as much as she hates admitting to failure—because she knows she'll pay for it later—it's better to do it now and potentially pull through in a few days' time than to say nothing and go back to silva tomorrow an irreparable failure. ]