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[Luckily for them both, it had been a slow night, even for Jaime. There's always something happening somewhere, but if having a bigger beat than his normal one had taught him anything, it's that he can't be everywhere for everyone - but he can be there for the people he knows. He flies back home to grab a pad of paper and a pen before flying out to the diner. He ducks into an alleyway a couple blocks away to power down and walks the rest of the way to the diner.

He has his suspicions as to why Killua would want to encrypt his conversations, and those reasons are listed as Hisoka, Hisoka, Hisoka, and quite possibly, the other few serial killers and money-grubbing asshole reporters that they've got lurking around. For a group of people with good hearts, the imPort community has an alarming number of serial killers in their midst, after all.

He arrives with the pad of paper tucked under his arm and waves at Killua as he shuts the door behind him with the heel of his foot.]

Hi.

Hey!

[Smiling at once, as routine as it is, he stands to his feet and offers a wave himself. As he approaches one of the waiters there to be seated, he looks over his shoulder to Jaime.]

We can have a snack while we talk, if you want. I have enough to pay. [Being treated to snacks or dinner by a child isn't ego crushing, right? Well, anyway. They're led to a booth soon enough, which is just what he was hoping for. It's a bit more private than the front counter.

Sliding on in, he looks across at Jaime once they're settled. First thing's first, though--]

How's everything going for you?

[Jaime hardly even allows himself to be treated by friends, not now that he knows precisely how hard it is to make a buck, and the offer is easily waved off with a quick,] Don't worry about it; I brought my wallet.

[Things haven't been good lately. He's feeling a little better now that he and Shinji keyed the hell out of Freddie's car and filled it with live crickets like the angry little shits they are, but things have continued to pile up, and not in a good way. It's nothing he'll vocalize to Killua, however; he's had a hard enough time trying to tell it to Brenda, and if he can't tell her, he can't tell anyone.

Flying's got him in a good mood, though, as it always does, so he shrugs and says,] Aw, things have been okay. I'd be asking the same about you, but I got a feeling that's got something to do with you wanting an encryption code.

[With his only option being to believe Jaime when he says things are okay, it's easy for the topic to shift to the main point of things. Killua keeps up the smile for a moment before he lets out a slow breath, close to a sigh.]

Yeah. My little sister just showed up, but things around her aren't that simple. ...I don't know if it's a good idea to explain anything about her, but I can say that a real bad guy was the one to meet her first.

[Leaning forward, he grabs the knife from his silverware and spins it a bit so it points downwards. He pokes it at his napkin a few times idly.]

On top of that, it turns out Hisoka knew about her, too. He said something that's got me thinking, and I've been wondering about this since I noticed it first.

[The private function, that is.] So you know how to do it?

I know how to do it. I'll tell you once I got this written down.

[Jaime's memorized the Scarab's code for it by now, and that's precisely what the pad of paper is for. He wouldn't have known how to use it without the Scarab, but with it, he knows that it's nigh impossible for anyone but the Reach to hack.

He props the pad of paper up on his knee and begins to scribble away at it while he speaks, rolling over the idea of Killua's little sister in his mind, the idea of yet another child who lives in the hands of the sorts of people who raise their children to be killers. He has a strange inkling that Killua has more than a little sister, that he has an older brother with --

Why does he remember needles?]

So who's this other bad guy? Is he someone from your home?

[Whoa. Killua leans over the table a little bit even as they're brought some water (or any other drinks they may have ordered in the interim), trying to peek at what Jaime is scribbling away on that paper. Doing it that fast-- it's gotta be something impressive, right?]

Yeah. I'm not telling you his name. [Because he doesn't want Jaime to go looking for him.] He's the leader of the Phantom Troupe. They're a group of 13 thieves that are all around Hisoka's power level.

They're ruthless killers when they want to be. They're responsible for killing one of our friend's whole clan, and while we were helping him try to get revenge they ended up kidnapping me and Gon for a while. [More napkin stabbing with his knife, even as he watches.]

I still don't know how powerful he really is, but he's acting like a normal, innocent guy around here. It won't be as simple as outing him.

[Warily, Jaime wonders just how much trouble Gon and Killua had found themselves in before they had arrived here. If nothing else, they're safer here than they were back in their home worlds, away from a world where children run loose with assassins, hunters, killers.]

It's never as simple as outing someone, [he points out.] Everyone here comes with a clean slate.

[He finishes writing and folds the paper in four twice, holding it between his middle finger and his index finger, but he doesn't give it to Killua quite yet.]

Why aren't you telling me his name? And what does he want with your little sister?

[Killua stares with interest at the writing the whole time, eyes fixed strangely on the pen for some time. That is, until he realizes that what he should be looking at is the newly folded paper, and he shifts to do just that, abandoning the weird feeling that came with before.

Jaime was right. Everyone who came here couldn't be trusted off the bat, probably. Still, Killua liked to think that the people he'd run into so far were good at heart... The thought makes him frown, and eventually he holds up two fingers to move on to the questions.]

Two reasons. One, you might try to go after him. Two, if I tell you and he finds out I'm spreading things about his name, he might do something. He threatened it when Gon and I first showed up.

[Dropping that hand to the table, he sets the knife down, too.]

I don't know what he wants, and that's what worries me. ...My sister has an unbelievably strong power. I'm thinking he either wants to control it or use it to keep me and Gon under his thumb.

[A pause... He's leaving something out here, he realizes. Still fixated on the folded paper, he adds:] Oh, he wants us to join his group, I think. Hey, is that what I need to private messages?

[That's a whole lot of bad news piled on top of bad news. Whoever this person is, he won't be able to do too much as it is, Jaime thinks. He'll be keeping an eye on the newcomers as he always does - mostly out of the hope-fear that someone he knows from home will be arriving - but it looks like he'll have to keep an extra close eye on the people from Killua's world. They won't out and out say it, but at least there are a few cues here and there for him to look out for.

He shifts his weight, and sighs.] You know I don't just randomly go after people, right? If you told me, I wouldn't just show up in his house or whatever. And if this guy's bad news? I'd really like to know.

[He sets the paper on the table between them with a rueful sort of smile. He could go tit for tat, demand that Killua tells him in return for an airtight encryption, but he's just not that kind of person. If he can help, he'll help, and he'll never demand anything in return.]

But it's not like I'm gonna withhold information from you to get the name. [He taps the piece of paper in front of them.] That's not the code for private messages - that's really easy to do, but more importantly, it's easy to hack into. What you've got there is an encryption. No one should be able to get through that.

[Watching Jaime give him something so useful without even demanding that he say the name-- and those comments, too-- it makes Killua feel bad. He trusts him. He did mean that. It was just that after that scenario with Hisoka, Jaime getting so hotheaded was worrying. He'd have to protect him.

On top of Gon, himself, and now Alluka, this was beginning to be heavy. He was cracking at the edges a bit, having to deal with all of this worry. Still, he could only blame himself for his reaction. Hanging his head a bit as he accepts the paper, he holds it there for a moment quietly.]

Sorry. [Looking up, he offers a small smile, apologetic and a little tired.] I was thinking and worrying so much that I forgot that if I trusted you, this would be important to know. And I was the one who said it, before...

[That he trusted him. And he does, so--] His name is Chrollo Lucilfer. He's more than just bad news. Hisoka is dying to fight him.

[Ah, but that might not say much to Jaime, he remembers. Playing with the folded paper between his fingers, he grins now more openly.] So how do I use this? I'm good with basic things on computers and stuff, but I don't know how to encrypt anything.

Still, this is even better than what I was looking for! Thanks a lot, Jaime!

Edited (i just wanted to laugh at his name) 2014-11-10 08:23 (UTC)

[That had been some mom-level guilt tripping right there, and while a part of Jaime was aware of that, he hadn't expected that Killua would actually tell him the name. After everything Killua's told him about his family - about Gon - he has a funny feeling that being entrusted with that information is important.

Normally, he gives out the names of supervillains to everyone in the cape community he knows here. Between the team of teenaged wonders, Power Girl and Superman, they ought to have everyone on lock-down. This time, he'll respect Killua's wishes and make sure that his lips stay sealed. Genuinely, he says,] Thanks for telling me. Seriously. Don't worry, I won't tell anyone and get you guys in trouble.

[That's the last thing he wants to do anyway, and while he trusts many of his friends with his life, he doesn't necessarily trust them with information. So many of them are closer to the rest of their team than they are with him. If anything, they're the most apt to spread information without his knowledge. He doesn't hold it against them, but it alters the way he talks to them, how much he'll trust them with.

And just like that, he drops the heavy tone to kneel on the booth's seat (the waitress gives him a dirty look for it, but he ignores it) and leans across the table, his own communicator in hand.] No problem. Let me show you how to use it. You're just gonna want to save the code on your communicator so you don't have to type it out every time. Right here, between the quotation marks, that's where you put your message.

[He shows Killua. In between the quotation marks, he has written the important, secret phrase: lol whatever.]

See?

Yeah, the same to you. I'll introduce you to my sister later if I can, too. After I go over the rules a different day.

[That sounds cute and childlike as if he's got rules of protection, but he'll leave the truth of that for another day, as he said. Especially since now, he's shifting and ignoring the stares of anyone left remaining in the diner to pay attention to Jaime's instructions.]

Oh, I see. It's like a template. [Or something. He laughs a little at the message written there, pulling out his own phone.] Where can I save it? Just as a note or something?

Yep, just on your phone. Once you do it once, you don't have to bother doing it again - it'll keep the entire conversation encrypted. That means that you don't have to teach everyone you want to have private conversations with how to do it so long as you do it first.

[Gon's a sweet kid, but he's a sweet kid that doesn't seem to have the head for these sorts of things, and Killua's sister is likely too young to really wrap her head around it. If he's trying to protect his loved ones, it's best for Killua to be in charge.]

Type it in there now and let me look at it to make sure everything's right once you're done. Just to make sure.

Oh, good. [Along the same lines of thought as Jaime, Killua looks incredibly relieved at that news. He can just imagine it now, trying to explain how it works to Gon and watching him slowly overheat. Alluka definitely wouldn't be able to wrap her head around it, she's been closed in for too long, and she's a pretty normal kid for her age.

Despite her power.]

Let me see... [Unfolding the paper to take a look, he holds it in one hand while typing it out with the other. It's slow at first, but he gets the hang of it, and all in all he's pretty speedy with it. Folding the paper back up, he hands Jaime his phone for checking.]

Let me know if that's right. If it is, I can just destroy this paper, right?

[Between the quotations on this sample form is "hisoka's a creep".]

[Technically, Jaime's the one looking at it, but he's not the one judging it. That's Khaji all the way, and while his eyes are flicking over it too, he doesn't hand it back until the Scarab murmurs confirmation in his ear.

The Scarab's not entirely sure what to make of Gon and Killua's world either, and it certainly doesn't share Jaime's protectiveness over kids, but it likes Killua as much as it likes any of Jaime's friends and it knows that it's bound by duty to protect anyone Jaime's protecting. They're partners. It's how it works.

Jaime lets out a snort of laughter once he sees the message Killua wrote, and hands it back.]

You got it.

Destroying evidence: correct course of action. Possible for very skilled hacker to reverse-engineer a solution. I would notice. < Killua Zoldyck > would not.

Um, yeah, go ahead and destroy it. Try not to let anyone you don't trust find that note on your phone, okay? It's possible to hack into it if they can get their hands on the source code.

[Alright, that makes sense. And he figured it'd be something like that, too. He saves it at the bottom of a note conspicuously starting with comments about his favorite candy, and then moves to slide it away with a small smile.]

Got it. [The hand holding the scrap of paper lowers to his lap, not really hiding it from Jaime so much as everyone else in the diner. Electric nen invisible to the naked eye sparks between his fingers and lights the thing on fire and crumbles to ashes in his hand, even as he's casually reaching over with a free hand to take a few long sips of his drink.]

I won't let anyone use my phone. That shouldn't be hard when everyone has their own. I can probably work it out so if Gon needs to use it he just has to ask me, too. That way it's not saved in more places.

[Jaime's eyes flick down at the electricity that sparks between Killua's fingers curiously, mentally filing it away as another one of Killua's powers as the Scarab simultaneously murmurs something about threats and precautionary measures.

One day, Jaime hopes he'll be able to make powerful friends without a voice in his ear telling him how to take them down.]

Yeah. Good plan, [he says, a bit absently.] There's other people I'd give it too if they ask, but they're all people I'd vouch for... and I seriously doubt they'd be able to reverse engineer anything out of it.

That's more of my brother's thing.

[He says that with a smile, mostly meaning Milluki in this case and jabbing at an unknowing Jaime (with affection, of course). Though, thinking on it more, he could imagine Illumi managing to do the same... Ah, but he'd probably control other people to do it for him, first.

How'd he get on that train of thought, though? Waving it away, he drops the ashes onto a napkin and folds it up, dusting his hands off with a few claps.]

So you've run into a lot of people that can't be trusted, here? As imPorts, too? [It makes sense, but he's curious now. He's not so naive as to trust everyone he meets, but that's not to say he's been the most guarded, either. Things have changed a bit in that regard... Their threats had always been so apparent.]

Has anyone given you trouble?

[Jaime had been just about to ask further questions about Killua's family, but he's duly distracted by his question about who else to look out for around here - something that certainly takes precedent over Jaime's overactive sense of curiosity.] I wouldn't say a lot. There's a lot of good people here - more than you'd expect, considering how few of us get brought in here.

[The public could say what they like about imPorts, but Jaime's glad to have met most of them. He's met people with and without useful powers willing to put their lives and reputations on the line just to help someone else, people capable of going through great hardship and coming through the other side not unscathed, but unbroken.

They're a good bunch.]

But we've got a few bad guys hanging around too. There's this guy going around calling himself the Manipulator. He can get inside people's heads and control them that way. He's bad news.

[It's a relief to hear that not a "lot" of people are bad, at least from Jaime's perspective. Killua wasn't sure what to expect. When people have power, or are granted power, a lot of things can happen.

But maybe it's fate that this conversation keeps wrapping around to Killua's family, because the mention of someone who can control others through their mind gets a full on frown from Killua and a hidden shudder. Illumi comes to mind near-instantly, and Hisoka's haunting words in their very first greeting about how he could show up nag at the back of his mind.

Outwardly, it's just a serious expression.]

That's no good. Does he use a certain weapon to be able to do that? [Something to look out for, maybe?]

No, nothing like that. Apparently it's something he could do back home too. See, he's actually a ghost. When he's controlling someone, he actually possesses them - like, you can hear him inside your head. [Jaime taps his temple meaningfully.] Most people can't remember what happens when he possesses you, like a hunk of your life just went missing.

[It hadn't been like that for Jaime. He still remembered bits and pieces of it, and more than that, he had been able to fight - but even that hadn't been enough, not in the end. The Manipulator scares him more than Hisoka does when it comes down to it.

Hisoka could hurt someone. That's all. The Manipulator could make him hurt someone. That's only one of the many reasons why Jaime keeps his powers and his identity a complete secret; he had been meant to be a weapon once before, and he doesn't intend on letting it happen again.]

[And it's the ghost comment that makes it strike familiar with him. His hands that were relaxed on the table curl fingers over it now, as if he could grip the flat surface.]

That's the one who hurt Kate! [That was a little loud, and when one of the waitresses tosses him a look, he forces himself to relax his arms a little. Still, he's frowning.

Immediately, his own mind is echoing voices, telling him that it's good he didn't go to help. He could have been controlled and done something to hurt someone else. There was no way he could stand up against a power like that. No way at all.

But then, guilt hits him again. No, that risk was something you had to take for friendship! It's no wonder if she didn't consider them as friends... He didn't even go to save her.

He leans back in his seat, slouching the slightest bit.]

...The one with all those hostages. I remember.

Yeah. The one with all the hostages.

[Jaime scowls. He had been too late for that one, and it's something that makes him mad, even now; though everything seemed to have turned out all right in the end, he should have been there to do something. He's not sure what that something may have been, but he's certain that if he had been aware of it, he would have thought of something, something that didn't involve the Manipulator just hopping into his mind.

He drums his hands on the side of the table, a little restlessly.]

He took one of your friends as a hostage?

[For now, he lowers his gaze to the table and his hands on it, focusing on pressing his finger tips together. A form of fidgeting.]

Yeah. Kate's been looking out for Gon and I. Gon apparently had a nice conversation with the guy before all that, so I can see why he didn't go, but...

[But he was just afraid. He draws his index fingers away from each other, forming the tiniest sparks of electricity in his thought.] I didn't know anything about his powers. I didn't end up doing anything.

[He stops the electricity briefly, looking back up and across at Jaime. He can see that anger, and he can't help but wonder if that's guilt too. Defensiveness over himself, too? Jaime's kind. Just like Kate.]

Her arm's broken or something. When we went to check on her, it was all wrapped up.

I saw what happened after it all happened. His demands were...

[Jaime shakes his head, a little regretfully. He's scared of the Manipulator, and he's angry at him too, but even through everything he's done, Jaime pities him. He pities anyone who craves the oblivion of death so badly that they don't care who they have to run through to get it.

The Manipulator's not well. He's not well at all, and instead of letting anyone in to help him, all he does is hurt people with a power that's far more fearsome than most people even realize.]

I don't know if he's ever going to get what he wants while he's still here. Either way, I'm glad your friend's okay. With his power, it could've been a lot worse than a broken arm.

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LMFAO THE PRE-EDITED VERSION.

all live in fear of QUWROF WRLCCYWRILR

he needs to be the new rumpelstilskin: bet you can't guess my name IT'S QUWROF WRLCCYWRILR

even harder to spell and don't even TRY saying it out loud

Chrollo will have more firstborns than he knows what to do with

MFLDSAGFDS

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