Tech Support

Grace
Instead of a place and a time, Grace gave Lena instructions and a time. Her email reads:
---
Hey. I talked with Kalen, and asked him to set you up, but he said no. So, I need you to do a few things for me first. We're going to do this remotely.
I need you to go obtain this [the link points to some VPN/PCAnywhere-type program]. It'll give me full access to whatever device you put it on. Then, I can do your install.
I'll be available around 5 on Friday. Or pretty much any time on Sunday. Let me know if you have problems.
---
It's like Grace missed the memo that this was to be more than just her installing some software...
At the appointed time, Lena gets a text:
Hey, you ready?

Lena Reilly
Lena sighed when she got the email.  She can't help it; it's a little disappointing to her considering that Kalen seemed to indicate that a conversation would be likely to take place.  But she is able to play with these rules.  She's one of those kinds of people who walks around connected to her own pieces of technological ease, so the response comes back quickly.
---
Hey.  No problem, I can do that with ease.  5 sounds good, I'll talk to you then.
---
And the time comes, and she has already downloaded the software.  She's not normally keen on the idea of someone remoting into her systems, for obvious reasons.  It's not even primarily about Technocracy concerns (although there is some of that).  It's about the fact that she doesn't normally like people poking around her personal stuff.  It has to be on her terms.  But that's what this is, and when the message pops up she replies back quickly enough.
All set.  You need my IP and such, or is that written into the program?

Grace
I don't think that will be a problem. Hold on, and I'll set us up.
Don't think. Because she's never really done this before. But it should be simple, right? Simpler than setting up a wireless connection between herself and a rock. Surely.
Besides, she's connected to Lena right now, through those emails, through those texts. Through bonds not quite so easily detected as well.
Grace sits at The Office, behind a screen of flowing Data, looking for Lena's computer in the flow. Set up a connection -- one not easily traced. This, so that they can speak plainly and also to hide Ginger's installation behind that same security.
[Corr2: Secure Connection, taking time, Spending WP]
Dice: 2 d10 TN4 (5, 8) ( success x 3 ) [WP]

Lena Reilly
[[Per+Awareness for funsies.  Spec: Uncanny Instincts]]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (2, 2, 4, 5, 5, 8, 8, 10) ( success x 3 ) Re-rolls: 1

Lena Reilly
Take your time.  I've cleared my schedule.
There may be an implication in there.  One doesn't need to clear their schedule for a simple installation.  Lena was there when Grace installed Ginger the first time, she knows how long this will take.  She's looking for something more than just that.
She sits back on the bed in her hotel room, letting Grace do her thing.  She half-wanted to go to an internet cafe to make sure this was relatively risk-free, but she wanted to be able to smoke and they won't let her do that at most public places.  Besides, this is the kind of thing best handled privately.
The connections are made, the magic takes hold.  And she feels that tingling against the back of her head...the shifting Resonance she knows, but now with a sharper edge to it.  That draws a raised brow of curiosity.  But she waits until Grace tells her it's secure before she replies again.

Grace
Grace replies again by opening a text-editor on Lena's computer, typing directly to her through the connection she just placed, linking computer to computer, using that program Grace had Lena install as an interface. Only there's something different about this particular connection, as the words appear on Lena's machine:
Okay, this should be pretty secure. We can communicate. And I can do the install without worrying about people peeking. Whatever I do, you'll be able to see. I know that's just you having to take my word for it, but I'm not going to go poking around anywhere. On my honor, or whatever.

Lena Reilly
She smiles a little bit when she sees the program open, the worst spell out.  She stubs out her cigarette and begins to type.  She's actually a pretty fast typer, all things considered.  When you do most of your work through computer mixing programs, you learn how to naviate your way around a computer well.
You're cool.  I know more or less how these things work and I trust you in terms of my hard drive.
There's a pause, and then more words appear.
So are we going to talk?

Grace
Kalen said you wanted to talk, but I must admit I didn't believe him.
The words appear on the screen quickly, and then Grace is off again. A downloading message appears on Lena's end, as the Ginger installation suite gets pushed to the computer.
After that, more text.
It's kind of why I'm doing this remotely. 

Lena Reilly
There's a little over a minute before Lena responds, the time taken as she collects her thoughts.  Then, the cursor moves and the words flit their way across the screen.
Kalen was being truthful.  He's got some self-admitted person-to-person issues, but he's not a liar.
She pauses again, taking a moment to watch the installation, then types again.
I don't apologize for anything I said.  I meant it all, and I stand by it.  I needed to deal with it myself at that moment.  I have a lot of reasons for being the way that I am, and that was a bad moment in my life.  I was angry, and I won't apologize for being angry either. I felt ambushed by Sera, because she got me to open up under false pretenses and then basically told me that everything I was feeling was just in my head and I was completely wrong about it.  Whether she was right or wrong, that's fucked up.  No one gets to tell someone else how they feel; even if its irrational, it's how they feel.  That she did it the first time I had begun to open up to anyone in a long, long time just made it that much worse.  And I don't think you necessarily intended to, but you basically told me the same think, that you said that you didn't think what I was saying was what I really wanted.
Basically, I wanted to tell you that I forgive you for doing it, and that I’m not angry at you anymore

Grace
Grace pauses in her work, presumably to read all that text as it goes inching by.
Okay.
For a while, it seems like Grace might really just be leaving it at that. Just 'okay'.
That's not what I intended to do, no. Not to tell you that what you were feeling wasn't correct, or trying to tell you how you really felt. What you were telling me was contradictory, though. That's what I was trying to say and it didn't work.
But really, my intentions do not matter at all. I hurt you. That's what matters.

Lena Reilly
The response comes quickly.  Lena isn't trying to overly think out her responses, which is a change.  She's used to collecting her thoughts, choosing her words.  This has changed.  She reacts immediately, and that's exactly what happens.
Not really.  Yes, if you just hear it, I was saying two different things.  That I inherently don't trust people and that I'd been shutting myself of and I knew that was bad, but that I needed to deal with this on my own.  But we're contradictory, people.
A pause there, and she deletes the last word and the comma, continues.
I mean that people are contradictory.  We have our heart and our head, and I was telling you what was in my head, then told you what my heart told me to do about it.  I hang out too much in my head as a rule and ignore my heart, because my heart got me in trouble before.  It's no way for an Ecstatic to live.  That's my shit, and I know that.  I don't want you to think this is all on you.  But that's also why I'm not angry at you about it now.
Say something.  Tell me what you're feeling, thinking, whatever.

Grace
The install, at least on Lena's computer is finished, and that's a blessing, because it gives Grace something else to talk about for a while. Also, it gives her time to think. To measure words.
Hey, could you plug your phone into the computer please?
She could probably just directly connect to it too, but you know...
While Lena's fetching the phone and whatnot, the text-editor holding their conversation just blinks with a cursor. Like Grace doesn't really want to say what she's 'feeling, thinking, whatever'.
I think we should probably continue avoiding each other. I don't like that I fucked up just about every way I could fuck up when it comes to you. And what's worse, I don't even recognize when I'm doing it. If I can't tell that I'm being a dipshit, I can't really do anything about it. And I don't want to hurt you.
Part of me thinks this is me being a dipshit again, but I don't know what else to do.

Lena Reilly
Yes, you are being a dipshit.  :)
Don't worry, she doesn't leave off there.  She keeps going.
But that's okay.  Grace, this is life.  People don't always get along.  You will say the wrong things to people.  It wiill hurt them.  It's going to happen again.  So will Kalen.  So will I.  If we all run away, we don't learn about each other.  What the hell do you think I've been doing for the last few years, that I got this way?  Do you really want to become me because you run away every time you cause someone inadvertant pain?
I promise, it's not a fun life.

Grace
The phone's still not plugged in, Grace can tell. Lena must be stalling, which... Okay. More text.
I know it isn't. One of my first real ways of dealing with social interaction was to stare at inanimate objects so that I didn't have to. I remember one first day of school where I spent recess with my nose to a brick wall. I'm not stranger to solitude either. 
Although, my way was probably a little more weird than yours...
But still, ever since Hydra, have I had even one interaction with you that wasn't shitty? I know I walked away from several thinking we'd had a great talk, and everything was cool between us. But I know now that none of them were.

Lena Reilly
What, you mean since the life-shattering event that drove me out of my home and away from anything I'd many any sort of remote connection with?  Yeah, I think we have an excuse there.
She sighs on her end of the computer, lights up another cigarette.  Begins typing again.
Listen, I was broken.  You were broken.  We get a pass for that shit.  If you really want to keep your distance, that's fine.  I'm just saying, it's not necessary.  And it's kind of sad to me that you'd give up like that.

Grace
I don't want to keep my distance. Never did. But I can't honestly sit there happy as a clam just shooting the shit with you anymore. You shouldn't have to pretend to be okay with being around me. And you did, even though I was busy happily gutting you, making you feel like I was pitying you. 
I'm not okay with that. I am so very far from okay with that. I'm so sorry. 

Lena Reilly
The words come rapid-fire now.
If you don't want to keep your distance, than why do you want us to avoid each other?  And you're missing the point of everything I'm saying.  I'm not pretending shit anymore.  Life's too short.  Whether you were pitying me or not, frankly I don't give a shit anymore.  You could go into a damned whole "poor little you" rant and I wouldn't care, because I'm tired of being afraid of that.  We'll have bad reactions at times but it'll happen.  What's important is that we keep trying.
If you really can't get over this, that's fine.  It's not, but I'll leave you to it.

Grace
Why do I want us to avoid each other? Because this makes 5. 5 times in a row where everything has gone sideways and I'm terribly horrible. And this time, you can't even see my face. I'm *better* like this. Gee, I wonder what will happen the next time I talk with Lena? Only I kind of have an inkling of an idea already.
If you honestly want to, I'll give it another shot though. Another ten shots if need be. The only reason why I wanted to stay away was to keep from inflicting myself on you. But if you're okay with that, then okay.
Are you going to ever plug your phone in?

Lena Reilly
Right, sorry.  One second.
It takes her a few minutes, but the phone is plugged in and she gets back to typing.
You really need to start believing what I say, Grace.  Or at least listening to it, or at least realize that yes, the fact that we were both (or I was for sure, at least) in a very mentally messed-up place in all of our last meetings.  I don't understand why you don't think that's a factor.
That being said, if you're going to go into the next time we run into each other expecting that I'm going to be bitchy to you or that I'm thinking all of these terrible thoughts about you behind words to the otherwise, then you're kind of dooming any chance of it working out.  It doesn't mean I don't want to, but it does mean it probably won't work out.

Grace
Again, Grace doesn't respond for a while. But this time, there's an excuse. Lena's phone lights up, a little indicator says that a data connection has been established. Grace is busy.
But then, after a bit, the text file gets another addition.
I know.
Because yes, that is the point, exactly. It's not going to work out, for precisely that reason.
Maybe it won't work out. I don't know. Maybe we really just can't mesh at all, it's been known to happen. Especially with me. I'll try. That's all I can promise.

Lena Reilly
If you try--honestly try, don't just go through the motions--that's all I ask.
And she leaves it off there.  She doesn't want to push the issue any further.

Grace
Okay.
I think I'm done here. With your stuff, unless you have another thing you want Gingered?
I just freed up a lot of time today. We can hit the coffee shops or something soon. Just not Starbucks.

Lena Reilly
Nah, just the phone and the laptop's all I need.  I'm good, thanks.
And I'd like that.  Sometime soon, for sure.

Grace
You need to expand your coffee horizons beyond the Venti. There's a place I go to, not for the coffee, but for the pho. They've got these little French presses that make really really strong stuff. You brew it yourself at the table.
Best Vietnamese coffee you can find in the city. I guarantee it.
Give Grace some credit. She is trying. What Lena can't see can't hurt her, though. Through the evening, Grace's eyes haven't exactly stayed dry. It's a comfort, being behind an electronic wall. She doesn't have to worry about all those things Lena mentioned, only her words.
Words can cut like knives still.
I'll clean up after myself
And those words have barely hit the screen before Grace is scrubbing everything. The text file they've been chatting in goes, and then so does the program that she's been using to connect to Lena's computer, leaving it just the way she found it. Save for Ginger of course.

Lena Reilly
She gets a last post in before it all shuts down.
Oh, I'm all about all different kinds of coffee places.  They're just more convenient.  It's a date.
And thanks.
And then it's all being scrubbed and they're done.