Catch up with Despedida

You decided to spend your time catching up with Despedida. {if Bortnik Killed Himself = 1}You imagined Bortnik's demise was still on her mind, but you were also interested to see if she managed to come up with anything useful from her brief study of his internal workings.{endif}

As expected, Despedida was very quick to answer your call; she was nearly as addicted to screens as Tschau was. The smiling Latina appeared on-screen, accompanied by a number of unique HUD assets that you assumed were part of her streaming set-up. Thankfully, none of them seemed to imply that you were broadcasting this message to anyone but her. She smiled and tipped her cap up. "Pip pip to you, Sir Ciao! You're a Londoner again now, are you? Bully for you," Despedida joked, enjoying pushing your buttons. "Ha ha, I'm just messing with you. Dude, you ever get worried you're like... too British, though? Like, not Cammy White, 'hmmm, oh, right, they made her British just cause she's white' British. I'm talking Edward Falcon from Power Stone, 'wears a bomber jacket with the Union Jack on it' British."

You decided to finally cut in; she was going into video game references that were too obscure for you to understand... and besides, you didn't think you were that much of a stereotype.

"Pfft! If you say so. Anyway, how's London? You get into any fights with Dudley or Birdie over there?"

You told her London was just fine; you hadn't met those two, but you'd met all sorts of other old familiar faces. The conference had gone spectacularly; you felt like people were more on board with the Goodbye Girls now, to the point that they were actually hoping to gain access to those resources.

"Oooh? Man, am I gonna have to pack up my gaming rig again? That's a bitch and a half," Despedida pouted. "Can you tell me where we're going yet? India? China? USSR?" You reminded her the USSR had desolved, but she just smiled in that catty way like she'd made a joke and it flew over your head. "I've just been playing hella Street Fighter, homie. Ignore me!"

You told her that no specifics had been hammered out yet, but there could be some changes coming. You assured her that, in the end, she'd have say in what happened.

"If I don't, I'll just hack in and change my ticket to go somewhere else. No need to worry about me," Despedida giggled. That easygoing nature of hers was a problem on missions, but right now, it comforted you a bit.{if Bortnik Killed Himself = 1}.. But still, you had concerns. You asked if she'd given any more thought to what happened with Bortnik or if she'd had a chance to research that technology any further.

"Dude, you really can't relax, can you? Even now, you're like, 'Oh, I missed a secret, I gotta load my last save,'" she smirked, imitating you with an old man voice that you didn't like one bit, given that the two of you were only a few years apart in age. "I'm fine. Accidents happened. If there's just one person in the whole world who gets one thing over on me technologically, I consider that a blessing, you know? I go for 100% and plat trophies when it comes to games, but I know that real life doesn't always work that way. I'm not gonna sweat one single little mistake and you shouldn't either."

You nodded, but reminded her she still hadn't told you if she found anything useful.

"Heh... Well, the tech this guy used isn't the kind you can put on ordinary people if you got any conscience at all. This stuff's like Dark Chips from Megaman Battle Network. Let's just leave it at that."{endif}

{if Co-Op with Despedida > 999}You became lost in your own thoughts, before she snapped you out of it, literally snapping her fingers to do so. "Yo, Ciao. I was wondering... You get you some while you were in London? You know what I'm talking about, right? I know how mad horny you get," she chuckled, tipping her cap down over one eye with a conspiratory smile.

You lowered the volume on your computer, although it appeared Goodbye was still asleep. You told her no... {if Spent the Night with Goodbye = 1}although you must have done a poor job of acting; her face broke out into a grin. "You big liar! I'll bet you collected a couple of new H scenes for the old gallery," she chortled. "I hope they were good ones!"{endif}{if Spent the Night with Milaslava = 1}although you must have done a poor job of acting; her face broke out into a grin. "You big liar! I'll bet you collected a couple of new H scenes for the old gallery," she chortled. "I hope they were good ones!"{endif}{if Spent the Night with Madison = 1}although you must have done a poor job of acting; her face broke out into a grin. "You big liar! I'll bet you collected a couple of new H scenes for the old gallery," she chortled. "I hope they were good ones!"{endif}

After a brief silence, she smirked and tilted her cap up again. "You wondering if I'm jealous?" she added, leaning back and crossing her arms. "I ain't even sweating it. You put any one of those stiffs in a matchup with me and I'll knock em down to the loser's brackets. You and I got something special, Ciao. Sex is just sex, compared to that, says I." You felt a little bad; you didn't realize she'd gotten that attached to you, to say such a corny line. You even joked around, telling her as much. "Dude, not cool! This kind of mushy stuff is like a reward for you otaku, it's not the kind of thing you're supposed to criticize!"{endif}

The two of you spent a bit longer joking around; time seemed to fly by as the Gambit closed in on Washington. Before you knew it, you were back on the ground and Despedida signed off, back to her games.