Short and Long [open]

The park was far from empty, even at this time of night and Teresa sank low on a bench to avoid a cloud of smoke. The culprit was a man sitting on the bench upwind of hers, aided by a strong breeze. She'd been there first though, and was refusing to move. Even if she was the only one aware of the fact.

Her distant view of the rather entertaining game that seemed to be taking place between two office teams, and was in some definite form of overtimes was replaced by that of an empty bench. Hardly the most interesting thing to watch. A spiral notebook was sitting on her lap keeping a plastic bag under it from blowing away.

She tapped idly on the blank page the book was open to with the eraser of her pencil, three quick, three slow, three quick. Repeat. Repeat. She didn't imagine the morse coded SOS would gain more attention than it had already, that of a few curious stares from passerby, but it could be interesting if it did, and she was bored.

Teresa had planned to spend some time in the open sky, hopefully getting another flash of inspiration for the project. It hadn't quite gone that way though, and now she was left doing nothing but sitting there. Sure she had a few pages filled in the gibberish that was her shorthand of late, but most of them weren't related. In fact, she wasn't really sure what half of them were on about herself. Taptaptap. Tap tap tap. Taptaptap.

She hadn't planned on dropping in at the park, but decided to see if a bit of fresh air would clear out the cobwebs and help her think. Well, fresh air that wasn't moving at rapid speeds, though at least this time she'd evaded a speeding ticket.

She frowned as she walked the path; smokers and people having late-night games were both disturbing the peace of the place in their own ways, and she wished they would all just leave. Oh, but what was that she heard? Someone tapping out an SOS? Interesting...she followed the trail of sound to a bench and laughed softly to find her partner the one responsible for the tapping.

"Well, I certainly didn't expect to find you here tapping out morse code. Trying for a little inspiration?"

Teresa glanced up at the familiar voice and smiled. "That or someone who'd be worth having a conversation with." Her tapping ceased momentarily she shoved the pencil into the spiral binding the pages of her book. "Seems effective."

The smoke remained overhead so she stayed slumped for the moment. "In both counts, actually..." She added thoughtfully, pushing some hair fruitlessly behind an ear, her earring visible for a moment before it was covered again. "Thought of how we can modify that first part some, it'll let it be smaller. Was a little clunky to begin with, and this way it doesn't need to be focused entirely around it..." She'd turned to her usual sort of muttering somewhere in there.

"Can't say I thought I'd get a chance to tell you this soon though."

"Well yes, it did work." Kate smiled, amused, and sat on the bench just past the notebook. "A bit distracting here at the moment, though." She fanned at the smoke blowng by and made a moue of distaste. To stay out of scent, she would have to slump. Horrid.

She was swiftly distracted from the mild annoyance though, when Teresa began to talk again. "Did you really? Can you explain a little more? Because thinking on how to make it smaller and more efficient has been driving me mad all day. Bit curious as to why it being smaller would mean it doesn't have to be focused entirely around it, too." This was a pleasant surprise - perhaps the park would be a viable alternative thinking area after all.

"You remember the stabilizer we built into it? It's not neccessary. There are..." She picked up the notebook again, flipping to a page filled with what looked like some odd glyphs, pointing at an illustration in a lower corner that took up a good chunk of the page.

"If we can make these chips, they'll replace it, and we can allocate them throughout where they're needed. With it gone the rest won't have to be as spaced out." She smiled one more. "With that piece all together, it'll be that much smaller. Also had some ideas as to the frequency to use when it gets that far..."

"Of course I remember the stabilizer...what do you mean it's not necessary? How else are we going to control the feedback?" She watched Teresa flip open her notebook, opening it to a page filled with weird symbols and a rather large illustration of a microchip.

Assuming the glyphs were some form of shorthand, which she could never read in the first place, she focused her attention on the circuit as she listened to Teresa. "It might work...and it would definitely make the device much more manageable." Kate glanced up at Teresa, eyebrow raised. "I'd love to hear how you stumbled onto this approach - it's been driving me mad all of today. Also, let's hear your thoughts on the frequency." She was a bit abrupt, true, but she tended not to waste time with manners when she was excited.

"Just came to me out of nowhere, really. Like those inhibitor signals." Teresa explained with a shrug. "It's just producing the same effect in a different way. Might've seen something about it somewhere." It had happened before, and she wasn't going to question it.

"We can use a dual wave. It'd be more effective. One just above and one just below what's perceptible. It's not very elegant, but if we use that amplifier you brought up last week..." She trailed off, trusting the other woman to understand what she was saying. It was something that made a big change from her usual, and had been very handy in the past years. Tended to save her alot of talking too.

"Pff. Nowhere being the bottom of your brain. I swear, if I could get inspirations like you..." Kate trailed off with a chuckle. "In any case, I'll start work on building the circuit and we can test it out." Her eyes went vague as she began to calculate, and decided to begin proper work on it tomorrow when she could be certain of not falling asleep over her work.

Her focus returned once the discussion of the frequency began, and she frowned in thought. "It isn't elegant at all, but with the amplifer there at least won't be a power drop-off. Still, with a dual wave we'll need a split-feed to prevent feedback..." She pulled out a blank notebook and a pencil, and started tracing out a newer version of their grand project. "With the circuits you thought up here, here and here, plus another at the amplifier interface, then the inhibitor broadcaster here, and the resonant frequency splitter here, it ought to work. Or at the very least get us further along."

"Then you wouldn't need me." She joked, closing her own book once more. "Sounds good." That was one of her biggest problems when it came to things she thought up, especially the ones that came from the 'bottom of her brain'; making them into something that worked.

Teresa nodded along as she watched Kate tracing out the new version and pointing out what was where. "If it does work, then we've got the next part to worry about." She said thoughtfully. Finding someone who there would be a point in using their device on. A tidbit she'd seen in the news, or maybe heard somewhere crossed her mind. "There's a politician in town." She noted after a lengthy pause. "From London. He's been gaining political power fairly quickly if I remember right."

"And that wouldn't do at all. We make a pretty good pair, you and I." She nodded as Teresa began to speak. They would need test subjects, preferably in the multiples as the human mind is one of the least consistent things in the universe. Oh wait, what was that? "A politician from London? I wonder what he's doing here, in Cardiff?" He wouldn't be an ideal test subject in the beginning - if he is indeed having such a metoric rise he's too strong-willed. But association with him wouldn't be entirely bad, and perhaps once their device was working flawlessly, he could be the final project.

"What's his name?"

"James Stoker. I think he's in the House of Lords at the moment." That piece of information had been included in the latest news she'd heard, about his visit. "He's here for a charity event, not sure how long he'll be here after." If they were going to try to get into contact with him it would have to be soon, unless they wanted to try for him in London. "I don't recall what the event was exactly, but that shouldn't take much effort to find out."

"James Stoker, House of Lords. Well, I can see what I'll be doing tonight, instead of the fun stuff." Kate smiled wryly and shrugged. "If he's here for a charity event, there will probably be an invitation in my mail; I'm forever getting invitations like that." She smirked and leaned back, finally able to straighten up again now that the smoker was gone. "And if I'm not invited...well, I rather doubt I'd be kicked out for crashing the party. Especially not since it's a charity event, and I have so much money I might be convinced to part with."

Teresa shifted herself now that she could actually sit straight, and folded a leg under herself. "Works out for you then. If you'd rather get started I can wait around outside." She offered without really expecting to be taken up on it. Most likely she'd wait outside anyway, and watch the people-trail. Interest, she assumed, would be easier to grab from within though.

"Well, if you'd rather wait outside, you can." She picked up her notebook and stuffed it back in her purse. "But let's wait on plans until I go through the mail I've been ignoring for the last week, hmm? Come on, we'll drop by my loft and see what there is to see. I might be able to bring a personal assistant, and you can peoplewatch the rich and famous."

"Better to check it I think... That way if you can drag me along we can cover more ground in case Stoker is making himself scarce." Though making himself scarce wouldn't help what had probably been his real intention for attending the event; publicity. "It would be a different people to watch, in any case." Teresa put her own book and pencil back in the plastic bag she'd been holding on her lap.

"With both of us looking, it will make pinning him down more efficient. Though I doubt he'd be hiding; he'd miss out on his publicity that way." It would probably be better, when they attended, to watch him from afar for a while before approaching him; seeing how he acted with the press and other event-goers would be a partial insight into the man himself. Which would make it easier to determine how to control him, in the future.

Kate stood as Teresa packed away her book and pencil, and nodded back towards the car park. "Did you drive here, or walk? If the latter, you're getting a lift of course."

"We can see who he seeks out to talk to as well. Judging by his quick rise he knows what he's doing, and we might be able to get a whiff of his strategy." That way if it did get to the point of controlling him and it was a working strategy, they could puppet him up in keeping with his own momentum, and get as much out of him as they could.

"I walked. Never seems right driving somewhere to think." Teresa told her as she stood up with her own things. "So I'll take that lift."

"Yes, that should be fascinating too. Get a glimpse of his potential immediate goals by who he actively seeks out." And though he might slip and allow them glimpses into his strategy at the event, Kate was certain that it would take much research into back issues of papers, magazines and other such. Necessary research though; for full control and not merely influencing him, they would need all the details of his strategy beforehand.

She laughed as they walked back to her car. "Whereas I think best behind the wheel when I've got issues. Flat first and then I can take you back to your place, if you like."

"We can see if there's anyone else who might warrant watching while we're there, too." She was more than willing to spend the time doing research. Especially the ones she hadn't read the first time around, but even those were alright if she had enough bits of information that she had to start puzzling in the new ones. It was only when she started getting fed the same information over and over that it got boring, really, and in a case like this even that would be worth looking into further.

"That'd be appreciated." She'd suggest stopping at her place first so she could get her car, and save Kate a trip, but she'd probably be finished by the time she got there.

"Mmm. There could be quite a lot of potential attending, I'll admit." She snorted in annoyed amusement. "I haven't attended a charity function in years, but it seems to me that we should find some interesting intermediate project testers there." She unlocked the car and slid in, reaching over to pop the other lock for Teresa. And once she was in, continued. "You should find it interesting, piecing out the true nature behind the public faces, once you know who they are."

She fastened the seatbelt and waited for Teresa to do the same before starting the engine and pulling out. "It's not a problem, you know that."

"What better reason to go?" Teresa opened her door once it was unlocked, slipping in and putting her bag at her feet. Before long she'd closed her door and put her seatbelt on as well. That itself was habit, but when she double-checked it, that was a case of familiarity. "That should definitely be entertaining. More than whatever actual entertainment they have, I'd imagine." She watched the rearview mirror as Kate drove. "Yeah."

"Can't think of one myself, actually." She laughed as she merged into traffic, driving just under speed limit; now was absolutely no time to get a ticket. As they got closer to her loft, she made a disgruntled noise, and pulled a face like she'd just bitten a lemon. "Oh definitely, unless they've improved in entertainment. When I used to go to these things with...with my parents, it was excruciating, sometimes, the entertainment choices."

"Most official entertainment is less than entertaining to begin with." She noted idly, smiling a little at the face. "Especially when it's meant for groups." Her mob instinct was fairly lacking, and she hadn't quite had any luck at activities she'd been too. Watching those around you was only interesting for so long if they were all doing the same thing, and especially not when all there was to do otherwise was listen. "Though the worse it is, the less attention paid to it willingly. It would probably help our particular cause if the quality was still the same."

"Most official entertainment is bland pap meant to be a pleasant background. There will also be speeches. Loads of speeches." She rolled her eyes as someone dared cut her off, but a tap of the brakes was all it took to avoid trouble.

She sighed and shook her head as she pulled into the carpark at her building. "The less they focus on their surroundings, the better it is for any sort of study. Still, we'll have to see what we've got to work with when we get there." Parked, she shut off the engine and unfastened her belt, stepping out of the car bare moments after.

Speeches. She hoped there were a large number of people to watch, or that the event was for something that would warrant at least the first speech to be interesting. There was always the possibility of seeing what was carried between them though, Teresa supposed.

It took her about the same amount of time to unhook her own belt, opening her door and grabbing her bag before sliding out once the car was parked. "And we'll probably have a hint once we find out what it is, exactly."