5 January 2063. 12H32
After a good New Year bash ever.

The hot African sun beating down, even with the air con on you still feel the heat.
The South African boarder post has been a welcome site, but you cannot deny the beauty of the Mozambique coastline, the fishing was great the snorkelling was even better. That part of world is truly tranquil, and you could have not asked for a better place for some R&R. The beauty of it all Johan fitted the bill for you accommodation, all other expenses has been you own.

Getting through the packed boarder post was no problem, waiting the hour was better than waiting a day for some folk there. Just outside Witbank on your way to Johannesburg, your final parts of R&R is now over. The familiarity of your P-Sec’s vibrating is the tale that Johan knows you are back.

<<<<<…. Seasons Greetings, I am glad you have had a wonderful time. But as it goes, it is back to business. We have to fill the coffers again this year. Hopefully this is going to be a better one, as Mr Johnson as already has been bugging me since last year. It is time to get you all organised and ready. Meet me at Club ESP in Sandton at 9 PM tonight…Johan …>>>>

That gives just about enough to take it easy and not rush.

Xola walks towards the town of Johannesburg, his sandled feet creating little dust clouds as he lasily walks off the dirt path. There was no eagerness in his steps, the smells of people were not a welcome scent to someone like Xola, who lived most of his life in the Tribal lands. People quit learning to maintain themselves as they became lulled by the comforts of civilization, mass production of food, and exhaust from various sources left an unpleasant taste in Xola's mouth. He was small in stature, barely elbow high on the average human, and if he stayed hunched over, most people mistook him for a child.

Eventually the city limits were reached, and it was time to walk on the hardened surfaces of man. Begrudgingly he made his way to a small apartment he kept in the darker part of the city, a basement apartment with a small window and pipes hanging from the ceiling where he hung an assortment of items. His height allowed him to walk freely in this small space, but a human would be hunched over greatly to manuever in the small confines. Grafitti covered the walls from the teenage kids who seemed to have a key to the place. The only reason they never took anything is that Xola had nothing to take except clothing which were no in taste with the locals. He stepped into the shower, one of the few pleasantries of civilization, but yet his raising still showed as he used minimal water to shower with. Shortly later he was heading to the Club ESP to meet his friends and Johan, stopping for only a few moments to cater to a lost cat who seemed attracted to his leg. Cats were a good sign, especially for a Leopard Shaman, and he picked it up on the way to the club.

Entering the Club, he's stopped for a moment by a doorman who asked for ID, his hairless body doing nothing to improve the issue of looking too young. Minutes later, with a nod, the guard let Xola passed, despite his being obviously of Pigmy heritage, something not always looked at kindly in this area.

Hunter had enjoyed his trip out to the middle of nowhere. Nothing to do except for snorkling, fishing for his dinner, sitting in the sun...he could get used to this. But here they were back in civilization. The buzz of the pocket secretary further brought back the reality. "Back to the grind..." he commented.

As they got back to dock, he gathered up his belongings and tossed them into the back of his landrover. Fortunatly most of his working gear tended to stay in the Rover, so he was good to go when they got back to Johannesburg and headed on to the club. He wondered just what they'd be doing to refil the coffers this time.

Anansi arrives at the club an hour ahead of time using his magic to disguise himself. He takes a booth seat and watches the action until five minutes before nine, when he goes into the restroom, removes his disguise, and comes out to meet the Johnson.

[double post]

This post has been edited by Panzergeist: Jan 29 2005, 09:54 PM

Anansi 20H00
You arrive at Club ESP, the neons lights flickers to the beat of music that comes from the door. As you reach the door you are greeted by a human doorman, his oversized muscle tell you he pumps a lot of iron or he is defiantly hiding some cyberware.
" Good Evening Sir." As he greets you, "You would not mind if I search for you any weapons Sir?" After patting you down the old fashioned way. He directs you inside.

20H35

Johan arrives walks up to the bar orders a drink and sits himself down in front of the strippers stage. It looks as thought the table has been already setup of his guests. You don't know how you overlooked it, it may have been the good holiday.
As he sits some ladies come and sit with him and chat for a while. 5 minutes before you go to the change rooms the ladies get up and disappear in to the back stage. you get up from your table and head for the toilets.

Hunter 20H56
Your good old trusted landy makes the journey no problem, the droning from the cement highway still fresh in your ears as you arrive outside Club ESP. Being still early you managed to find a parking close by the entrance. Locking your vehicle you walk over to the door, the Neon lights dancing in time from the music inside.
As you reach the door you are greeted by a human doorman, his oversized muscle tell you he pumps a lot of iron or he is defiantly hiding some cyberware.
" Good Evening Sir." As he greets you, "You would not mind if I search for you any weapons Sir?" After patting you down the old fashioned way. He directs you inside.

Having a look a round you have no problem spotting Johan in front of the Strippers stage all relaxed. No one else seems to have arrived yet.

Xola 20H58

As your round the corner, you see the Neon lights of ESP flashing just down the road, they seem to be out of sink and dancing to their own rhythm. As you near ESP and you hear the music their rhythm now dances to the new beat.
As you reach the door you are greeted by a human doorman, his oversized muscle tell you he pumps a lot of iron or he is defiantly hiding some cyberware.
" Good Evening Sir." As he greets you, "You would not mind if I search for you any weapons Sir?" After patting you down the old fashioned way. He directs you inside.

As you walk in you see Hunter just about to walk of after having a look around.
It didn't take you long to spot Johan either as hunter moved out your way.

12:35

Kelly made an irritated grunt and began fishing for the pocket computer - a feat rendered difficult by the fact that she were presently hanging freely in the air, a few metal pins and a length of rope stopping her fall after a few meters. The noise had startled her, busy as she were at the time ogling the figure of the man above her. Presently, he were looking down at her with a worried frown, tinged with faint amusement now that he had confirmed his climbing partner were relatively safe.

"Not at all bad looking" she reflected, grinning and waving at him before turning her attention to the personal secretary. Wriggling to twirl her legs around the rope connected to her belt, she finally flicked the protective cover open, hanging upside-down a good 100 meters above the ground.

"You all right down there?" Puzzlement mixed with amusement. She couldn't quite remember when she'd met the elf now a good 5 meters above her. The last few weeks were a blur at best. Probably at some club or somesuch - At any rate, he'd shown up on her personal secretary all of a sudden, appearently expecting her to remember him. They'd been talking about going climbing for a few weeks and finally decided to do more than just talk about it. Irritably she closed the pocket secretary and returned it to the pouch on her belt. She ventured another glance at the man above her - Tim, he'd called himself. "A real pity too. Only a few minutes from the summit and nothing but a tent and some field rations to crowd the night. No rest for the wicked, I guess" she told herself.

She made a half-hearted shrug to herself and called back up. "Work, I'm afraid. Want to go on without me, or should I wait for you at the bottom?" Tim grinned at her, leaned backwards and pushed off the rock with his legs, rapelling quickly down the cliff. "better yet, I'll race you to the bottom!" he yelled, laughing as he shot past her. Kelly quickly undid the safty buckles, trusting to her gloves, legs and grip on the rope to halt her descent at the end. Immediately she gained speed, though she weren't likely to catch him before the bottom. "Ah yes, now I remember why I like him", she chuckled to herself.

18:00

A quick peck on the cheek and a promise to stay in touch later, Kelly walked into the apartment building he'd taken her to, through the foyer, out the back and into the giant off-roader neatly parked behind it. She'd affectionally named it Muddy, hinting at the state it usually ended up in after any length of time with her behind the wheel. Still, it were the next-best thing to flying. Tossing her backpack onto the back seats, she pulled the jack plug from its nesting place next to the steering wheel. Only a few minutes drive home if traffic behaved.

19:30

Fresh out of the shower and a short prayer to the benevolent gods of automatic cooking later, Kelly watched the news flicker past on the trid as she savoured whatever exotic spices the apartments computer had appearently decided she liked. It almost got them right too, but only almost. Probably a byproduct of letting others use the kitchen too. Not everyone seemed to have figured out how to make a seperate profile on the auto-chef software.

20:30

Though her street wear didn't really fit most clubs dress code, she figured a quick smile and a wink to the doorman would see her inside. Besides, if memory served, ESP wasn't the ritziest of places in town. "Heck," she reflected as she walked towards the doorman "a little cheap makeup and I could probably pass for an employee here."

Kelly
Arrival at the so decided non ritziest, the glammer and beauti of the upper class, is undeniable flashy, or maybe chic. Non the less the doorman, human and oversized, the thought of cyberware and steriods would make him the way he is. But all that muscle make you slow, who knows what he is chipping.
"Good Evening Madam, please could you wait to the side for the moment." turning to a glass plain he make a hand geture. Second later, the most funnies thing happen. Well this oversized Butch female comes in to view from the passage way.
"Good Evening Madam, would mind if we search you?" After a quick pat down the old fashioned way, you are gestured into the entrance way.

The club is far from the Cheep type, but there again stripp clubs are lower class gentlemen clubs. Ritzy. A quick look around, a gentle man walks past,
"Good evening Kelly, nice to see you can make it. Please could you join me at 9 PM at my table. I just have some business I have to take care of." You see Johan walk past slowly to the bar and Settles at a table that he had booked. Some ladies come over and Sit buy him, not for long though they move off to back stage.

Shortly Afterward you see Hunter enter and shortly followed by Xola.

Kelly shrugged to herself, glancing casually around the room to pick up Johans table without looking at it in paticular. Deciding she were at the present far too sober to fit in in this place, she picked a drink at random from the bar.

Yuck.

After the first sip of the vile-tasting concotion that nonetheless seemed immensely popular among the locals, she casually slid off to a corner and emptied half the drink in a potted plant. At least she could appear to be a few drinks past her limit like some of the leering boys scattered about the place. Finding a table with a clear view of Johans, she passed time watching the comings and goings. Xolas, in paticular nearly saw her choking on the vile tasting drink before she composed herself. If there were ever a man who looked out of place, it was him. Watching him and Hunter for a few miutes, she eventually beconed both of them to her table, flashing each of them a quick grin.

"I trust santa-corp left something nice in your stockings last month?"

Xola entered the bar, standing about half the height of the other patrons, he had no chance of hiding anything under his TShirt and jeans. Patted down anyways, he sighed at the humanish customs and walked further into the bar. He ran his fingers through his nappy hair, trying to pull out tangles in his own little nervous way, only stopping when he noticed a particular female pour a drink subtley into a dead plant. A smile broke out across his face, a bright white amidst a otherwise dark man. Unfortunately, that always had negative effects, as the girl immediately looked over, no doubt distracted by the distinct flash of white. Ah, Kelly, well at least it was a mostly friendly face, he'd have someone to talk to. Looking around quickly to see who else he'd distracted, he noticed Johan off in the corner, not having seen Xola yet. Just as well, it'd give him a chance to go say something to Kelly. Noticing her waving him over, he raised an eyebrow, but went over nonetheless.

At the door, Hunter presented the bouncer with his Ceska before the search. Other than that, he passed on through. He spotted Johan, but still having a few minutes to kill, he headed over to join Kelly. "Evening, Kelly. You're looking lovely as always. Just got back from a cruise up the coastline."

Maintaining her friendly grin, Kelly made a gesture intended to be at Johan, but turning out vague enough to be about just about anything in the room. "Seems he's busy with the locals for a few minutes yet. And why didn't you tell me you were going north, Hunter?" She seemed faintly amused. "If you had asked, I could've rented a plane and had you there in a fraction of the time."

Every so often, her eyes flickered towards Johan, keeping a look out for when the strippers left his side.

"I wasn't in a hurry. Spent the time fishing and snorkling, and just soaking up the sun as the coastline passed by. It was a great time. Wish you had been there. It was made better by the fact that Johan was footing the bill for the accomodations. Guess it's about time to make it worth the money he spent on the trip, though...anyways, how did you spend your vacation?"

"Eh," Kelly shruged dismissively, her eyes still scaning the room occasionally, "doing nothing special. Most of last month seemed dead, right up until yesterday evening. Trust my luck to see the holidays end within a day from then".

Venturing another careful sweep across the room, at the pretense of admiring the decor, she faintly wondered why Anansi hadn't showed up yet. She glanced at her wristwatch, checking wether they still had a few minutes to go, or she should cut chatter short and step over to Johans table.

Johan a middle aged man with his brown curly hair leans forward, places his drink on the table. Gives his arm a slight stretch to reviel his old analog watch. Looks at the time the turns around. Making eye contact with with each one who is visible in the club. Its a funny was you sort of know that he is waiting upon you now.

Having a look around everyone knows he is looking for Anansi. He has not arrived yet as you have not seen him.

Kelly
Notices a medium sized Ork in his late twenties, his ears and nose are slightly mishapen and one of his tusks is chipped. He keeps his
head shaved and dresses well. Johan gives him a nod and gestures him over. This African seems to be from South Africa, as his skin tone is not as dark as the Nigerian folk from Central Africa.

Johan makes ready for your arrive standing and shaking everyone hand and gives the lady a kiss on the cheek. Invites you to sit.

"Glad to see you are all well, please everyone this is Rek he is a friend of mine who will be attending this, meeting and assisting you with the job at hand. Of course thats if you are interested." Flopping in to the chair, he gestures with open hands "Drinks anyone?" You know he is going to be fitting the bill for this. turninh in his chair he calls the topless waitress over.

"Well, guess that's our cue." Hunter commented as Johan looked their way. He got up and headed over to join him. "The trip was a blast...hope you had a good vacation too." Hunter said. Noticing the lack of Anansi, he commented "I guess he partied a little too much."

Xola joins the table of Johan, he seems completely out of his environment here. He shakes his head at the table and chairs which were definitely intended for someone alot taller than he, but under no circumstance was he going to sit in a booster chair. With a quick leap, he scales the height of the chair, landing barefeet first on the soft cushion. He then walks over to one side of the booth and sits down with legs crossed underneath him. When the waitress approaches, giving him a reproachful look for his walking bare footed on the cushions he simply smiles and asks for a fruit-blend drink.

Making her way to the table, Kelly stops to smile at one of the waitresses. "Cold, isn't it? I'll have anything but whatever it was in the glass over there." She gestures breifly at the half-empty drink on the table they just left.

After Greeting Johan, she turned to Rek, Smiling. "Kelly McLoughlin, affectionally known as 'Christ Almighty Watch Where You're Going Woman' among those who've flown with me. Pleased to meet you."

Rek is just finishing up with the doorman when he sees that Johan has seen him. He nodds, then walks over to the table, his eyes hiden behind his shades. As he crosses the room, glances at the others, and smiles at Kelly. "Pleased to meet you, Kelly, I look forward to working with all of you." He reached across to shake her hand, then the hands of the others at the table. His hand is thick with calluses on his knuckles and the edges of his hands.

He speaks English reasonably well but with a bit of an accent, sounding like he learned it from a Brit, rather than an American.

He sits down, picking a chair that will allow him a view of the door and looks up at the waitress. "Ginger ale please". He stretches a bit, absently scratching a half healed scar on the side of his neck.

Anansi walks into the men's restroom and enters a stall. When he comes out of the restroom, he looks like normal. He goes and sits down at Johan's table without saying a thing.

So, now that I have you all here. I have a been bugged no end by Mr Johnson. He has heard of the work we have done and he comes with a good cred referal. But the nature of business is not so above board. Yes, I know what you are all going to say. But this here Mr Johnson is the big Fish in the industry.

Aaagh Her she comes. Clappings his hands he looks at a lovely stripper, who starts her show.

Back to business. This job require a lot of travel, maybe 3 or four countries. Mr Johnson is kind enough to fit the bill to get to Central Africa. But all other expenses is yours. This whole thing revolves around a girls best friend. Some of the merchandise he was sent doesn't not meet the requirement, funny enough they are worth more but they don't meet the requirement of the Precious Metal and Stones act.

Mr Johnson want us to find where these precious items have come from and who is dealing them.

So what you say for some travel and enjoyment. O I did fail to mention 25 K Nuyen each is payment. Plus bonuses leading to new infomation and leads.

SO we in or out?

"I take it free samples are out of the question?" Kelly quips. "I'm mostly concerned by two things, really. One, which countries and two, what transportation is available? If we have to foot international travel fees with hardware on board, those 25 grand have a way of dwindling to naught alarmingly fast. Will mr. Johnson be providing anything resembling an expenses account? Besides that, I can't see anything outside the fine print that strikes a note. Sure, I'm in."

"Diamond mining, eh? Sounds interesting." Hunter commented. "So just what sort of bonuses are we talking about?"

"Daht is een fayre interesting, dee-o-monds daht is wurf meer dan dey shud be", comments Xola, his accent being a bit more intense than the average persons. "Whad make'em wurf zo much meer dan uh gud dee-o-mond? Wazza zay haven dat is zo much beeter dan da a-real ding meester Johan? Izzy how, I dink het is gud money dat, Dat pay me livins for a year dink I. Iza no probleem to travel somez, makenz for een gud wayza see da werld it do."

He nods at Xola's question, having no problem deciphering Xola's accent. He glances back at Johan and says nothing for the moment, wanting to hear the asnwers to the questions asxked so far before adding any of his own.