Ashley
After messaging Akvilė, Dae-hyun made his way over to her dorm. Tucked into his bag, slung over one shoulder, was the tiny red box that he had taken from Oliver. 

It had been a few days of him poking at it, and turning it around. He pressed the buttons, flipped the switches, anything, and came up blank. The boy hoped Akvilė, who had knowledge of radios, would be able to shed some light on this strange contraption. 

Even further, that the strange contraption would be able to give Dae-hyun information on what's going on with Neevil. 

With the back of his hand, he knocked on the door.
Katherine
Akvilė answers the door immediately, and the soft noise of the lock being undone and turned whispered in the doorway. But *She* Isn't present initially once the door does open, save for four fingers with nails painted blue curled around the door and a hand gesturing towards the far window of her dorm room– itself best described as obsessive chaos.

"Uhm... Hi. Come in."

From the door Dae-Hyun can see a bit of her room, but not Akvilė herself. The Cradle-provided bed is against the left wall, half-covered by a heavy patterned quilt, and its railings are all coated in a thin sheen of dust. Her reading chair sits under an old leaning lamp, with a hand-crafted stool not far away and a pot of tea paired to two cups upon it. Her bookshelves are a fair distance from her reading chair, and there's a great deal of science fiction stories on it. Scientific journals and mythology books fill most of the remaining spaces. The rest of the room is taken up by a modest – albeit diverse – collection of radios and assorted vintage technology. The air smells of tea and incense, and very much feels stale. It's like the room is barely lived in despite the clutter of antiquated tech, or perhaps like the windows are never opened.

Akvilė stands right behind the door, and waits for Dae-Hyun to come in. She's a little nervous, but excited to have something radio-adjacent to tinker with. *It's gonna be an interesting evening.*
Ashley
Dae-hyun gave a polite smile when the other opened the door. His round cheeks pulled up to his eyes in a soft and non threatening expression. Alongside his stature and general lankiness, Dae-hyun was no one to be nervous around. 

"Hello! It's nice to meet you properly. Thank you for agreeing to see me." His words were spoken in a voice that was surface level, but kind. 

Akvilė's dorm was quaint, homey and comfortable. It smelt herbal although stale, with many books stacked up in various places. Dae-hyun could always appreciate a fellow reader. The tech was interesting, he concluded he was in the right place. 

He took a small step inside, and wasted no time in reaching into his bag to show Akvilė the box. He didn't want to overstay his welcome, she already seemed on edge. 

Resting in his palm, he moved it towards her. 

"This is the radio... Thing... I have? I don't know what it does but someone told me it's important. Does it look familiar to you?"
Katherine
Dae-Hyun walks in, and Akvilė closes the door. Coincidentally this brings her from fingers curled around a door to a full-framed girlfailure. 

"It's no problem. I-I-I can't turn down such an, um... Opportunity, is word? I think." Being trilingual was cool until the words started escaping her, but she keeps it together and locks the door, seemingly out of habit. She turns to face Dae-Hyun again, and locks eyes with his right cheek for a split second before realizing he's already got the Maskelynophone out. Her expression shifts to flat-out excitement, and her posture loosens a little as she looks at it inquisitively.

"Oh, it is!... Um. Hm. It– it looks like a receiver, but it is muchly old. Look here." She puts a hand on the radio and points to one of its dials. "So, uhm... It says megacycles. That dates it immediately to 1969 at latest, as cycles became hertz in 70s. Mostly. It... It could be military, as it is very simplistic. Th-there are no bows."

She continues to look it over, the cogs in her head furiously turning. It's familiar, but much of its design is antiquated even by radio standards. She moves towards the window bench without a word and waves Dae-Hyun over– or at least gestures such with an outstretched hand. 

"Um... Bring it here. I-I will see what it does. I have everything to– t-to operate most radios."
Ashley
The words Akvilė spoke were completely lost on Dae-hyun. He didn't know what any of it meant. Never in his life had he worked a radio, or knew anything about them. Yet still, he nodded politely and made the right sounds of agreement. 

The boy very trustingly handed her the radio. He knew whatever she would do couldn't make it worse, and would likely make it a lot better. He surely wasn't making any progress.

He watched through wide black eyes, that intently focused on the small radio. He waited to see what happened. 

"Thank you, I appreciate it."
Katherine
Dae-Hyun's barely finished handing over the radio before Akvilė has it halfway to the bench. It's then that she freezes; something isn't right.

Initially she figured it would be simple to diagnose. All she'd have had to do was hook each up to the seven antennas leaned against the corner of the radio minefield; but this was no receiver. Instead of a mere receiver it seemed like it was retrofitted for a very specific purpose. As excited as she is to have a boxed mystery in her hands the names floating about the whole situation aren't something she's forgotten.

*Nevil Maskelyne. Maskelynophone. Neevil. Have to wonder...*

She hides the concern well, however. Her expression is still one of excitement, lips tugged into a timid smile and eyes wide as she looks at the hole where the connector should be. It's nothing but empty metal, and it's clear from how the concern she'd kept hidden to this point suddenly peeks through. There's an uneasy thought in her head, and she's not particularly fond of its implications. *But that can wait.*

"So, uhm... It– it is not a receiver. It is... Gutted. But rewired too. Whoever did such work, uhm... They knew their shit." She finally speaks after a couple moments of standing still and collecting her thoughts. "I-I have to ask, where is it from? It is odd."
Ashley
Dae-hyun took a few steps closer to the bench, and stared blankly at Akvilė for a few moments after she questioned him. 

He shifted slightly, and shrugged.
"I found it?" He looked over her shoulder at the radio.

It looked strange... No wonder Dae-hyun couldn't make any sense of it. This was not at all his forte. 

"Do you think it will play a message if we can figure it out?... Or is it the type that connects to something?"
Katherine
"I'm... Unsure."

She's hesitant to admit it, but this thing has her confused. Staring into the hole at the back she feels uneasy for a moment; "I-I don't know how you'd hook this up. It... I think it is proprietary. Which means it is paperweight without its pair." She lifts her gaze to meet Dae-Hyun. She's fixed on him. Something is fishy about his story, but she decides against pushing it. *For now.* "I have seen nothing like this. Y-you said you found it? Either it is find of the century or you are holding something. It– it is just... Too specific. It is almost like a kind of, um... I dunno. I'm stuck on it."

She keeps her gaze fixed on Dae-Hyun as she talks.
Ashley
Dae-hyun blinks lightly, the radio sits unforgivingly on the table in front of him. Maybe this going to be more complicated than he thought. 

"Well... I did *Find* It, technically, but— does it's origin really matter?"

He stared at it, and tried to see if anything immediately jumped out at him to point out. 

"Maybe taking it apart could help you figure it out? I trust you know how not to break it."

Perhaps the inside would be easier to understand, that maybe something would click and they'd be able to figure it out. Dae-hyun's eyebrows furrowed. He stared at it harder, turning over each side in his mind. Eventually something had to give.
Katherine
"It– it might matter." She replies, grabbing a flashlight and a toolkit as she does so. "It is clearly of deliberate, original design; which means it is purpose-built. I-I-I can try to get it open, yes, but it is muchly a puzzle. The back in particular confuses me."

Doubts about the receiver's providence aside Akvilė was undoubtedly antsy to get into the weeds with this mystery radio-shell Dae-Hyun had brought her way. Thankfully its many screws weren't strangers to the screwdrivers kept in a tray nearby, and she set off to work. It was gonna take a bit though, and she knew it; curiosity compelled her to get nosy.

"So, um... Wh-what do you think the hollowed out hole is for?" She asks. "It is going to be... A moment or many before I have top off. This receiver is full of screws. Sorry."
Ashley
Dae-hyun stared at the radio, and tried to make sense of the spew of words he was hearing, but... Nothing. Nothing about it clicked, nothing about it made sense. 

"Uhm... To be fair I have no idea, I'm sorry, this is very out of my comfort zone." He sighed. 

"I was told this thing is important— I don't know what it does but apparently I need to figure it out." 

He sighs briefly, debating or not whether he can trust Akvilė. He wondered if telling her about the fact it's Oliver's would shed any light on the situation or if it would just lead to another witness with knowledge that can be used against him. The boy was rightfully and understandably on edge. 

"... I think it's related to Neevil. The AI chatbot... But now person."
Katherine
Akvilė continues to undo the various screws holding the Maskelynophone as Dae-Hyun confirms what she'd already gleaned: he didn't know much about radios. It was why he was there, after all. She pulled another screw out and hummed.

"It's why you're here, no? Y-you know nothing about radios, and I know much. Long-time fascination. But Giann– ack. Nee– Neevil. He told me as much, that he was once flesh and now is ghost in a machine." She pops another screw out as she talks, now most of the way through getting the faceplate off. "And, um... I still don't know how I feel of it. It..." She trails off, and rolls one screwdriver down the bench before grabbing another with a shaky hand. Four left.

"But, um... If I– if I can, you say it is Neevil related? Oliver programmed whatever Neevil was before, and... Th-that would mean either he or someone he knows must have built this, maybe."

She says nothing more, but a theory's starting to form in her head, and it's a rather uncomfortable one.