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Konsaki
post Sep 10 2006, 09:21 AM
Post #101


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Caittie
Wednesday 8/13/70 02:18:25

Caittie's form was still as bits and pieces of rubble smoldered all around her. She let out a soft groan as she lifted her head off the ground. Opening her eyes, her vision was a dark blur with specks of moving light. All she heard was the sound of being underwater. As she tried to push herself off the ground with her arms, her body gave way to the strain and she fell back to the cold stone.
Her rapid breath broke down into coughs as she lay in the dirt and dust. Putting her hand over her mouth in a vain attempt to filter out the dust, she tried to regulate her breathing. Seconds passed and she finally got used to the dust and calmed down.
Openning her eyes again, she saw the alleyway infront of her easily with her elven eyes. The light from behind her caused shadows to flicker and dance along the right wall as the smoldering rubble pushed back the darkness in small orange patches. As she slowly pushed herself into a sitting postion, she wondered why the light behind her was moving around so much.

"Oh my God...", was all Caittie said as she put a hand to her mouth and staired with wide eyes. Turning around, she was able to see the smoldering ruins of what used to be her house. The second floor had all but been blown away, pieces of it scattered to who knows where. There were a few beams and walls standing but nothing reminded her of the place she grew up in.
She sat there a second untill something clicked in her mind. 'I need to get out of here! They might come back!', she thought as she scrambled to her feet. Pausing only long enough to pick up her backpack and glasses, she ran away from the burning wreck of a house.


Wednesday 8/13/70 02:34:10

Tires gripped the road and screeched as the vehicle made a fast turn down the road. The red and blue lights danced on the buildings as it passed, while the siren wailed its shrill cry. As it drove down the empty street towards a faint smoky glow, the sounds and lights dimmed untill it turned down another street.
A figure stepped out of the shadows of an alleyway and looked down the road towards the direction the car went. Caittie couldn't hear it anymore, but her hearing wasn't fully back. As she started to walk down the still road, she kept hearing a dull ringing in her ears, but thankfully it was fading over time.
She kept walking untill an ARO caught her attention in her peripheral vision. Looking to her right she saw a virtual neon sign that brought her some small bit of relief this taxing night, "Six Feet Under - Coffin Hotel". She might have even thought the name was funny if the times were different, right now though she only felt tired.
As she walked into the big door on the side of the building, she looked around at her surroundings. She saw rows of bland, but hulking metal doors all lined up on the wall around one meter wide. When she looked at one of the doors, it broadcasted the price for a 12 hour stay.
"Ten credits...", Caittie said outloud as she tried to mentally command the money over to open the door. After a second she realised that she didnt have her commlink with her. Sighing, she dropped her head in defeat before searching her pockets and then her backpack.

"22... 38... 43... 50... That's it?", she asked no one in perticular. Grumbling to herself, she reluctantly put in the required ammount into a conventional coinslot in the door. As she put in the ten nuyen coin, a AR timer and virtual 'Yes/No' appeared just as a timer and buttons lit up on the door. Pressing the glowing 'Yes' button, Caittie saw the timer start to tick down as the door unlocked and swung open on its hinges.
As she looked inside, she let out sigh of relief to see an empty bed with what looked like clean sheets. She didnt even care that the room was cramped with only enough room for the bed and a small shelf. As she stepped inside, she started to pull the door closed but it closed on its own. As it closed, the room pressureised a bit and she could hear a slight clunk from the door as it locked.
Figuring this was how it was supposed to work, Caittie dropped her bag and set her glasses on the shelf. In the dim light that a lamp on the shelf gave off, she shed her cloths and climbed onto the bed. After a few minutes of just lying there staring at the very bland ceiling, turned off the light and rolled over. In the darkness, she just lay there untill a dreamless sleep took her from the waking world.


Wednesday 8/13/70 12:34:10

*Beep-Beep-Beep*
"Mmm... Huh...? Where am I!?", a young woman yells as she bolts up in bed, holding the sheets up infront of her. Looking around in the darkness, Caittie's eyes slowly make out the inside of the coffin room. Turning her head towards the door, she sees the AR clock ticking down from the two hour left mark.
'Oh... Yeah... I'm in a coffin motel thing.', she thinks to herself as she pulls the sheets closer to herself in a failing attempt to block the memories of what happened last night. Thoughts and feelings raced through her as she pulled the sheets tighter and tighter, untill a loud rumbling emitted from her midsection.
"And now I have to find food too. Why is this happening to me?!", Caittie yells at the top of her lungs. The vibrations echo a little in the closed space, but nothing replies with an answer.
Groaning a bit, Caittie turned on the light on the shelf and slid off the matress. She stretched a bit, then started putting on her cloths. After tieing back her hair, she reached over and put on her glasses. It was more of a habit than accually needing them to see. She smiled a bit at remembering how she bought them with the money she saved up by working with ther father in the store... And then her eyes went misty as the memory played through.
Wiping her eyes, she picked up her backpack and turned towards the door. Pressing the 'Open' button, she was presented with an AR warning window to remember to take everything with her. Checking herself again, she watched as the door opened on its own and then walked through it. As she walked away, she jumped a bit when it slammed shut and clunked as it locked.
Walking towards the exit, she thought of what she should do. 'I guess i should really get some food first.', she decided while she unconsiously rubbed her stomach. Walking out the door, she took her first few steps into a new way of life, whether she liked it or not...
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adamu
post Sep 11 2006, 09:19 AM
Post #102


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Adam
Wednesday 5/14/70 19:05:40

Franco Balducci's calm veneer exploded. He erupted like a geyser of muscle from his chair, knocking it backwards and slamming his meaty hands on the table top hard enough that Adam felt the vibrations shiver across the wide mahogany surface. Balducci cut the college student off with a red-faced roar - "Don't you talk to ME about the way I am capable of communicating!!! YOU come into MY place of business and want to take away a hundred large in cash income and all you can pony up is to fucking threaten my family, and then you talk to ME about fucking violence?!"

Freddie the ork skirted carefully around the giant human and set the chair back up. As if on cue, Balducci regains his compusure and slowly sat back down, his eyes never leaving Adam's. Behind him, Adam could literally feel the presence of the troll and hear his wheezing breath.

Franco's face was a war of emotions, taut with the tension between his gut and his brains.
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Konsaki
post Sep 11 2006, 11:29 AM
Post #103


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Caittie
Wednesday 8/13/70 12:37:46

Caittie winced as her eyes adjusted to the mid-day sunlight. After a few seconds, she wondered why her commlink wasn't automaticly changing the shade setting on her glasses, when she remembered she didnt have one anymore. Mentally sighing, she willed her glasses to up the shade level untill it was comfortable for her to see without squinting.
Looking around the surrounding area, she saw some vending machines along a wall of the coffin motel, and felt her stomach growl. Putting a hand over her begging belly, Caittie walked over towards the machines in search of one with some food.
"Cloths... Toiletries... Er...", she said outloud, blushing as she registered what was in the last one. "I guess they sell everything in these things... everything accept for food.", she mumbled.

'Maybe I can find a store around here...', she thought as she headed out to the street. Looking up and down it, she saw a resturaunt in the distance and started wandering towards it.
As she got closer, the smell of real steak waifed into her nose and she closed her eyes as she imagined the taste. Unconsiously, she started walking faster towards it, and before she knew it, she was standing inside the doors reveling in the smells while watching waiters walk past with platers of steaming meat and greens.
Looking over at the front of the waiting line, she saw a ARO and her jaw almost dropped. 'Twenty-five credit table fee!? Thats more than half what I have!', she cried out in her mind.
As Caittie slowly turned around and walked out in defeat, her stomach growled in protest. Her gait down the street was slower than ever as she continued to smell the resturaunt behind her. It was like the wind had changed direction to taunt her and her situation. This continued for a few blocks untill it finally changed direction again, and she wasnt bombarded with the smells of things above her current station.

After a few more blocks, Caittie sat down on a bench at a corner of an intersection. Looking at the ground, she continued to think about her situation and what she could do. Before she could come to any decisions, a doorchime behind her broke her concentration.
Looking over her shoulder, she saw a massive troll stepping out of the building idlely tearing off hunks of a burrito in its grip. As the hulking she-troll looked down at Caittie, she heard it say, "What yous lookin' at?"
Quickly looking down at the ground, Caittie shook her head and very quietly replied, "Nothing..."
Hearing nothing more than a derisive snort and the sound of heavy footsteps heading away from her, she looked up to see the giant walking across the street. Cars skid to a halt lest they ram into it and damage thier vehicle, cause the light was clearly against the troll's direction.

Looking back towards the building the troll came out of, she saw the sign that everyone almost always knew. At least I can finally get some food...', she thought to herself as she got up and walked in the door.
As the door closed behind her, an idle voice droned, "Welcome to Stuffer Shack..." as a young human read a magazine behind the counter. He was dressed in a standard uniform and obviously didnt care about welcoming people.
Ignoring him, Caittie walked down the isles that filled the store. Passing knick knacks and asorted junk, she finally made it back to the food section. Looking over the selection, she finally decided on a Soy-burger. Taking it out of the cooler, she walked a few steps over and pulled out a bottle of water too.
As she wandered back towards the front of the store, she passed the microwave set out to heat any food customers bought. Reading the directions on the package she set the timer and waited. After what seemed like forever, she heard a chime and pulled out a warm meal.

The guy behind the counter didnt even register her when Caittie walked up. He kept reading his magaizine oblivious to reality and the fact he had a waiting customer. Used to the fact that almost everyone had an auto-debit feature on thier commlinks, he didnt really have much to do other than restock the shelves.
"I'd like to buy these...", he heard someone say. Not even looking up past the items on the counter, he said, "3 nuyen", and went back to reading.
Reaching into her pocket, Caittie grabbed three coins and dropped them on the counter. Without saying anything else, she walked out the door and started eating her food. It didnt taste all that great, but when you are hungry you might eat almost anything.


Wednesday 8/13/70 14:21:26

Sitting down on a bench in a park she found, Caittie was relaxing in the shade of a large birch tree. Idlely peering into cyberspace through her augmented reality, she wandered from site to site. Thinking it would be smart to look into the weather for the next few days, she wandered onto a local news site. The front page was filled with politics and sports numbers as she scrolled through it. Before she got to the weather area, her vision narrowed and then widened as she opened up a side story link.

"Early this morning, a rash outbreaks of gasline explosions has caused the city's natural gas company, Clear Burn Co., to lose three percent of its stock value in the first few seconds of trading. When questioned about the safety of the gas lines to resedential areas, the spokesman replied, 'We are looking into the matter, but stress that we follow all safety codes up till the lines are installed onto the houses. After that, the owner is responsible for the pipes inside.'
The last explosion occured at around 0200 this morning. The victoms, the Natome family, were said to have no survivors from the blast. LoneStar investigators have deemed it an accidental mishap due to leaking pipes and a sparking relay. As such, they have left the site of the explosion, leaving danger tape untill city contractors can clear the lot."


After hearing the news blurb, Caittie just sat there dumbfounded. 'LoneStar said it was an accident?! Accident?!', she thought, rage building up in her. 'Alex was right all along! The Star is just as bad as the scum they pull off the streets!'
Caittie just sat there on the bench, venting and steaming about what she learned. She stayed like that for a while...
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Cedric Rolfsson
post Sep 12 2006, 03:49 PM
Post #104


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Jonathan
7/7/70 19:15:02 - Dante's

Jonathan moved through the layers of Hell, pausing for a moment to enjoy the offerings of Gluttony, and eager to get down to Lust, like a fish thru water. Dante's was the place to be and he felt the energy of the throbbing music and gyrating bodies flowing over his skin like warm ocean water. It took him a few minutes to find Jason and Guile sitting close in a booth, their heads close together, whispering sweet nothings at one another.

"HEY!" Jonathan shouted as he threw himself into the seat across from his friends who jumped at his boisterous appearance. Savoring the moment he pulled his newly aquired thong from inside his jacket and flipped it over at Guile, relishing the surprised look on her face.

"Jason left this at my place a couple days ago. Since it didn't look like his size I figured it belonged to you. Nice." Jonathan gave Guile plenty of leer along with the speech and had to supress a laugh as Jason blushed redder than a sunburnt Elf and Guile's face went through a rainbow of emotions before settling on the color of unhappy.

"Cute, big guy, real cute." Her tone was cold enough to leave a skim of ice on Jonathan's non-existent drink and Jason's blush was now looking positively pissed.

It's going to be a GOOD night!

Jonathan roared out a laugh and waved for one of the waitresses to bring another round of drinks. There were a lot of hours still to go.
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Konsaki
post Sep 13 2006, 06:02 AM
Post #105


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Caittie
Wednesday 8/13/70 14:29:08

After a while, Caittie started to calm down from finding the news article. Looking up she could see flashes of the sun through the tree leaves as a slight wind moved them around. 'I wont get anything done by just getting angry. I need to figure out what to do next...', she told herself.
Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, she tried to think of her next move. As she sat there, her posture changed slightly over time as her arms crossed in front of her and then she lowered her head with a stern look on it. Eventually, she let out a small groan of defeat, It’s no good, I cant think of anything. I’ve never had to deal with anything like this before. I need help, but everyone I know is...’
Caittie’s face softened as her eyes started to well up with tears, but before she started crying, she wiped her eyes with her right hand. Quickly shaking her head, she chided herself, No! I cant do that all the time... I need to move on...’ She sighed a bit as she looked up at the sky again, seeing the skyscrapers in the distance reaching up almost to the clouds. ’I still need help though...’

Feeling the sun against her face, she just sat there with her eyes closed and relaxed for a bit. A few minutes later she slowly opened her eyes again as she whispered, “That’s it...” Relaxing her body even farther, she felt the ebb and flow of the Matrix and drifted into it. Searching for a specific node, she moved through the sea of information on a mission. Finally finding the node she was looking for, she accessed it with ease.
It was a nighttime scene in the virtual world. Pale moonlight reviled rolling hills in the background as a campfire danced a few meters away with a few logs around it. As Caittie walked towards it, she saw a small dust devil form by the fire and then dissipate, leaving a lone figure in it’s wake. Walking closer to the campfire, Caittie was relived to see who it was, for she knew that avatar well.
Standing around six inches taller and that many years older, the lone female was a sight for sore eyes. Shoulder length brown hair complimented the tanned skinned brown eyed woman and the traditional Native cloths fit her well. As Caittie finished walking up to the woman, she immediately grabbed the woman in a hug as her eyes overflowed with tears.

Stunned, the avatar just stood there a second before hugging the crying girl back and getting them both to sit down on one of the logs around the campfire. They sat there for a while, until the young girl had calmed down enough to push herself back into a sitting position. Looking her over, the human broke the silence first, “What’s wrong, Caittie?”
Sniffing and wiping her eyes Caittie tried to reply with a coherent answer. “Rebecca, you don’t know how good it is to see you. If I had lost you, I wouldn’t have anyone.”
“Wouldn’t have what? What are you talking about?” Rebecca replied with a confused look on her face, though she sensed it must be serious.
“Well… It started yesterday when…” Caittie started as she told her mentor what had come to pass.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“And that’s when I came to see you…” Caittie finished, wiping away the last of her tears and trying to strengthen her resolve. Then, reaching behind her, she pulls out a scroll and hands it to Rebecca. “Right now they think I’m dead cause of this, but if they find out that I’m not, they might come after me again!”
Rebecca’s face grows stern as she looks over the scroll Caittie handed her. Closing her eyes, she sits there and thinks for a while before saying anything. She then opened her eyes and flashed a reassuring smile to her once pupil. “I think I might know some people who can help, but it will take me a while to get anything done. Just hang tight and I should contact you back later tonight.”
Caittie took a deep breath and smiled back, comforted that her friend could help. As her avatar started to say something, all Rebecca heard was, “ThaKRRsshks… Whahahahat was that?!” as Caittie’s avatar glitched and stuttered in her movements. The older woman recognized the effect of someone reconnecting through multiple nodes when she saw it.

“Caittie, are you outside right now?”, the older woman asked. “Yes… How did you know?” the young girl replied.
Smiling a smile that teachers have over students, Rebecca calmly replied, “Well, looking at some sites real quick, we just had a solar flare hit the Earth. They sometimes cause a disruption with communications but there are ways to stop it from doing so. As a technomancer, you can learn how to do so from other technomancers like myself, or sprites, like this one, which you form and register with your gifts.”
As Caittie watched another dust devil appeared back behind Rebecca and reviled a man in a Native dancing outfit and bird mask. Looking into the eyes, she didn’t see the eyes of a normal avatar, but something different in an amazing way, though indescribable through any words.

“At the moment, I can’t train you because I’m too busy with classes and Falcor, here, is going to be contacting the people we talked about earlier. Even so, I know you have it in you to make a sprite of your own, just remember that they aren’t mindless. They have feelings of their own and if made mad, can do just as much harm as they can be helpful.”
Caittie just nodded as she looked back to Rebecca, who continued after receiving a response. “Just form a sprite and then use your mind to link with it. Once you start, you will instinctively know what to do, that’s how I found out. Just try and start small… Oh I have to go now; class is starting in five minutes. You going to be ok?” She finished off as she put her hand on Caittie’s shoulder.
Caittie reached up and held onto it as she nodded again. “Yeah, I think so. Thanks for all the help.” Rebecca just smiled in reply. “I’ll talk to you later, Caittie.”

Back in the real world, Caittie sat up straight and stretched her arms above her head. Only four minutes had passed but it seemed like forever in the virtual world. Standing up, she walked around until she found a public water fountain and paused to take a drink.
She continued to walk with no real destination in mind as she mulled over what she should do. ’I need to go somewhere where I’ll be safe while I try this sprite thing, Rebecca was talking about…’, she thought. Not long after she suddenly stopped and then changed directions, this time with a pace that had purpose.
On her AR display, a map pointed towards her destination. ‘Geo Spaz’, a VR friendly café that catered to people around her age. It was around three kilometers away, but Caittie figured that was the best place to try. A determined look crossed her face as she psyched herself up…
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adamu
post Sep 15 2006, 11:18 AM
Post #106


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Harriet
Wednesday 7/2/70 04:12:12

Only one cop remaining - the female officer continued to slash and thrust at Harriet with her stun baton, but she was obviously walking a thin line between fight and flight. Harriet just wanted the woman gone, so she bared her tusks and - and the woman's eyes went wide and she bolted - before Harriet even got her roar out. Then something clicked in her mind and she turned around and there was another Lone Star cruiser running dark running straight for her running would do no good too late and then she flew - not up and back, but to the side. Her big ass on the asphalt she watched Morris fly <<He'd pushed her out of the way!>> over the car's hood and into its windshield - blood spraying everywhere. The car spun out of control and slammed into a wall, throwing Morris free and bursting into flames.

Ignoring the heat, Harriet rushed to her brother's side. He was alive, but blood poured from the stump that was all that remained of his right leg from the knee down. The left leg was still there, but didn't look it could possibly be saved.
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adamu
post Sep 15 2006, 11:59 AM
Post #107


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Adam
Wednesday 5/14/70 19:05:50

Lips pursed, Balducci took huge deep breaths through his big nostrils - in and out - in and out - slowly in and out - and slowly the breaths got shallower, slowly his face returned to a normal color, there under the orange light of the strip club.

Then he broke out laughing. "Bruno, would ya look at the balls on this one! Man, I bet you got some big old fucking elephant balls under that there suit."

"FUCKING BEHEMOTH BAWLS," bellowed Bruno.

"Hez, boss, kid's got hez," came the sycophantic echo from Freddie.

Franco leveled a finger at Adam. "Ya know, some guys take the dive. And I respect them for that. Some guys, they fucking KNOW it's gonna be worse if they don't, but they still gotta lean on Bruno, make him do all the work. And even though it's not really his job, he's a sport about it, ain'tcha Bruno? But those guys is pussies. Fu-cking pussies. But you, now you are the first one I seen that knew Bruno's way was worse but risked it for a bigger payoff. All or nothing, huh? Well all right then, let's get down to brass tacks.
"As I said before, Miss Shwow is worth a couple hundred grand to me, after overhead. Now, I appreciate your employer's concern - his very personal concern. But in the interests of fairness, I have the compellation to ask you - and thereby by commutation inquire of himself - where was this patronistic concern when she was sucking cock in the corner over there - yeah, that's the one - right the fuck over there behind the shower stage..."
"But only the good-looking ones, boss," chimed in Freddie.
"Yeah," Franco winced in annoyed disgust, "only the real pretty-boys - where was I, oh yeah - where was the paternalization when she was doin' that for a few c-notes a shot - or worse - in my place of proprietorship - right under my nose and not a dime did I fucking see. Where was he then? We are not talking a virgin from St. Mary's Finishing School for Catholic Cockteasers here. I give her a pass, next thing I know, all these broads is trying for a free ride. My word won't mean shit. And that's on TOP of the lost income. So what I want to know is - I do this thing for your boss - which I am more than ebullient to do in the interests of good and peaceful relations - I do this thing - what is my end?"
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adamu
post Sep 15 2006, 12:19 PM
Post #108


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Jonathan
Monday 7/7/70 21:45:43

Jonathan was just starting to get a buzz on, and not just from the tequila shooters. He had been dropping his little bombs on Guile all through the evening. It had taken her a minute to deduce that she hadn't actually forgotten the thong - once she figured out he must have hacked her purchase records, her mind was ripe to receive all the other hints he dropped, showing her just how much he'd dug up.
The only problem was, although he could tell she was annoyed that he'd found out some things about her that she'd obviously have rather kept secret - and although she had grabbed him by the collar and dragged him into the unisex at the first hint he knew about the bridal periodical, and sworn him to secrecy - for all that, she never gave him what he wanted, which was some sign of having been bested in this round.
So when he'd finally said something along the lines of - come on, I really got ya this time - she just gave him a sly look, almost a worrying look. Jon had looked at Jason, but his friend had only shrugged in a studied display of innocence that had left Jon convinced his friend had had some hand in whatever mayhem the elven hacker was up to.
And now she was spinning it out for him -
"Tell you what, big guy - if by tomorrow morning you are not hands down convinced that I am the hacker supreme in this little trio - and I'll let you make the call - if you are not totally convinced that I am your mistress of the matrix - then I will do anything" - and here she carefully enunciated each syllable - "you want for one precious day of your life."
Jon glanced at Jason, and then he was REALLY scared, because Jason didn't look the least bit concerned. Sounded like she knew she had him, especially since he'd already shown his hand - but he couldn't back down, even though he knew the second half of her proposal - "And if you are convinced of my matchless prowess, then you, my favorite ork in the world, shall be mine for a day - and I assure you, my bedroom is the one part of my incredibly-dirty-and-in-desperate-need-of-a-deep-thorough-painstaking-cleaning apartment you will not be seeing. My terms are clear. Do you dare accept them?"
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Konsaki
post Sep 15 2006, 02:02 PM
Post #109


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Caittie
Wednesday 8/13/70 15:12:48

Walking up to the café, Caittie could see it earned its name. The only normal thing on the outside 'Geo Spaz' was the neon sign that slowly changed colors in the earthen range. Through an augmented reality filter, instead of seeing walls, there were morphing images that randomly went through the different forms of landscapes. Miniature snow covered mountains, rolling hills with sloping tree lines, waving grass covered plains, raging volcanos: it ran through them all and more, like watching a miniature world on the side of the wall.
Caittie stopped just before going inside the door, out of the flow of sidewalk traffic, and just watched it flow and change. She saw a lot of things like this, it was nothing new to her, but she liked to watch the animation. It was amazing what people could make using their imagination and the skillful use of code. As she watched, she imagined little people living on the pristine landscape and what it would be like to be out there on those mountains or plains.
She leaned in closer to the wall to look closer at the realistic landscape as it changed from flat grass plains to dark green covered hills. She could swear that, if she looked close enough, she could see the individual leaves on the trees swaying in an imaginary wind. Leaning in even closer, she was around one inch from the virtual landscape when the hill exploded into an active volcano, spewing virtual ash and spraying red hot lava into the air.

Caittie immediately jumped back a few feet with a small yelp of surprise. To the unaugmented eye, it would look like she was staring at a blank brown wall and then jumped back after seeing nothing, but such wasn’t the case to many of the people passing by. Her reaction received a few chuckles and a couple of quick laughs from the people who saw what really went on.
Face flush beet red, Caittie quickly ducked inside the doors and soon forgot what just happened after seeing the inside of the café. The inside was just as earthen oriented as the outside, except completely opposite. Lining the walls were natural stone formations unnaturally clustered together in a way that would never had happened in real life. Formations of bland metal like iron and copper were scattered amongst the walls covered with crystals, gold, and silver veins. A few gems, scattered here and there, sparkled in the virtual light given off from a couple of magma flows. It all magically came together to give the room a life of its own.

Caittie would have stood there for a while just looking at the intricate designs of formations if it hadn’t been for someone coming through the doors behind her and tapping her on the shoulder. Shaken out of her trance, she quickly looked over her shoulder, then up a bit as she saw a tall orc standing behind her. He wore a red basketball shirt with a black 88 on the front and a blue baseball cap pulled backwards. “Excuse me, but could you please move? I need to get by.”
“Uh... Yeah, sure. Sorry” she replied as she stepped aside to let him pass. He walked pasted her, she watch him go up to the counter to talk to a female human on the other side. She nodded to him after they talked a bit and he then went over to one of the tables that were scattered around the floor and started typing on an AR keyboard.
Just as she saw that, someone shoved she from behind and she stumbled a few steps forward. “Move it. Your in my way.” a female voice from behind commanded as Caittie tried to catch herself. Turning around she saw a trio of chic humans in designer cloths. A little annoyed at them pushing her and talking that way, she reluctantly started to move into the room since that’s what she was going to do anyways.

Walking towards the counter she saw a sign behind the girl manning it. Quickly reading it, she understood they served food and drinks , but if you were going full VR you had to rent a chair or rack. The rates for the chair were cheaper and since Caittie was running low on funds she chose that option. “Hi, I’d like a chair for around four hours.”
“Sure thing, that will be four nuyen.” the girl replied. Reaching into her pocket, Caittie produced a five nuyen coin and watched the girl’s eyebrows furrowed as she unlocked a lockbox built into the counter to make her change. “Ok, you can use that one over there.” the girl finished, pointing to an empty chair near a corner filled with crystal quarts and a gold vein.
“Thank you.” Caittie said as she started walking towards the chair the girl indicated. Sitting down in it, it changed its form automatically to provide a pretty comfortable fit. Mentally going over what Rebecca had talked about one last time, she settled down and tried to relax. After a few deep breaths, she closed her eyes and felt the familiar shift of her consciousness into the realm of data and flow of information...
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Cedric Rolfsson
post Sep 15 2006, 07:06 PM
Post #110


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Monday 7/7/70 21:46:01

That kind of challenge? It took only a couple of seconds to decide.

"Oh ya baby, I'm totally into it. Bring out your hottest code and your nastiest hacks Guile cause I'm the Matrix Master. Let's see what you got."

The thrill of the challenge, the ease of his boss's hack, the quantity of alcohol he'd consumed all combined into a throbbing drumbeat in the back of his head. It was the feeling he craved about all others, absolute assurance that he was alive.

With a shout and a shot he bounced from the booth and grabbed Guile's hand, inviting Jason with a look, to drag her onto the dance floor. The trio began thrashing and moving to the club re-mix of Maria Mercurial's Puta an old time dance club favorite, mixed with PrimeTime's latest number one.
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BlackHat
post Sep 15 2006, 08:19 PM
Post #111


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Adam
Wednesday 5/14/70 19:10:04


Adam felt a cold chill rush over his body as Franco spoke. As he stopped bracing himself for sudden facial impact, he took a moment to appreciate the rush. This was, by far, one of the most dangerous things Adam had ever done - certainly the scariest thing he had ever willingly gotten himself into - and by all rights, he should have been shaking and looking for a way out of it.

But he couldn't. No matter how scared he started to get, he reminded himself that Shwen needed him, or needed someone, to stand up for her. Like Tyisha had said earlier, he wouldn't be able to live with himself if he walked away from this, to save his own hide, and let these horrible things happen to Shwen. He was doing this for Shwen, but he had to admit, when he could literally see the conversation shift on Franco's face, he felt a rush that he just didn't feel when socially manipulating sorostitutes, freshmen, or professors. Even though he was just pretending - Adam felt like a big time criminal negotiator guy.

"To answer your first question," Adam began, finding that when he spoke, he felt more confidant than he did when he was quietly listening to Franco speak. However, he reminded himself that he needed to be more poilite. Even veiled threats or insults were probably going to put Franco over the edge, at this point. And if that happens, Adam won't have made life any easier for Shwen - probably worse. "...which was why you are just now hearing from me." Adam decided to risk falling back on his previous tactic of relating this situation to Franco's own - hoping, once again, to evade further questioning by making it seem as though Franco should completely understand. Or, at the very least, Adam hoped to alleviate his suspisions and doubts by making the situation more familiar to him. "The simple answer is that my employer was only recently made aware of the situation. Like yourself, he is a man who's position demands a great deal of his attention - a man who generally depends upon subordinates to keep things running smoothly. As one such subordinate, I am not in a position to speak to the other demands on his attention, but I can express that, now that he is aware of the situation, he is giving it very personal attention."

"Those responsible for overseeing his interests here in Seattle have proven themselves less-than-vigilant, and, I assume, are being dealt with accordingly." Adam purposely made it sound as though his employer operated at a higher level than Franco. While Franco might be a "big fish" in the "little pond" of Seattle, Adam wanted him to believe that his employer generally operated in a much larger "pond". Not only would this help the intimidation factor, but Adam believed it would give Franco hope that after this "issue" is resolved, he can go back to be beneith the radar of Adam's employer. Also, it might provide Adam and Shwen with a plausable explaination for why, after Franco (hopefully) stands aside, in a show of good-will - he will never hear from this "employer" again. Of course, it was a double-edged sword. A globe-spanning man of such power would be used to spending a lot of money to get what he wants, and although Adam might be able to make Franco believe it - he wouldn't be able to make it happen. "You have mentioned, several times, that Shwen has been misbehaving right under your nose - I think, in that respect, you will understand how the occational thing can get by one's notice until it begins to become a problem." Adam opened his hands again, as if to show that he also possessed an incomplete grasp on the situation. In truth, Adam was working out, in his mind, just how much a powerful 'employer' would let his negotiator know about why he hadn't acted sooner. "Whatever his reasons for not moving to protect her then, the important thing is that he is doing so now. He expressed to me little desire to undo her past, you see. I was hired to undo her future. Whatever Shwen chose to do with her body before, it was what you propose to do with it tonight that got my employer's attention. So, I suppose the long answer to your question is that this situation had not gotten out of hand until very recently."

"Now, to address your second concearn - your end." Adam attempted to look solemn. Once again, he was knowingly walking into danger by speaking about a topic that Franco wished him to address. If he danced around the topic any longer, Adam felt that his ruse was going to come falling down on his head, but the fact remained - Adam was pretty broke.

Even if he hadn't emptied his bank account last year, getting his hands on a state-of-the-art commlink, he wouldn't have a couple hundred thousand nuyen with which to buy back his friend. Shwen dug herself a deep hole apparantly, and Adam certainly hadn't expected her price tag to be that high - but even if Franco was asking for something more reasonable, Adam only had a few thousand in his bank account, and only had a few hours to raise any more. It just wasn't going to happen.

Of course, Adam wasn't about to tell Franco that he had no money - nor that his "employer" couldn't pay whatever price the mobster felt he was due. Instead, he realized he was going to have to convince Franco that he was actually due something far more obtainable... and then buy himself some time to obtain it.

"If I understand your position, and correct me if I am missing anything, your concearns are threefold. First," Adam counted the points out on his right hand, tapping his fingers with his left. "you are understandably upset at Shwen for going behind your back, and trying to cut you out of the buisness you introduced her to." Selling her own body, thought Adam. "I think that is fair, and I can speak for my employer when I say that your concearn is well understood. It would not be in the 'interest of good and peaceful relations' for him to claim that you were not entitled to compensation for that lost buisness."

"Secondly," Adam extended another finger. "You're understandably concearned about your reputation. You wouldn't want to give the other girls, around here, the idea that they could show you similar disrespect, and not have to face the consequences. I think its safe to say, without offending anyone, that you feel Shwen should become an example to the others - and that if you were to, as you said, 'give her a pass', that it would make you appear soft. Believe me, nobody here believes that, nor would they want you to earn such a reputation."

"Lastly," a third finger extendes, "and this would be the point where I believe we do not yet see eye to eye, you estimate Shwen's value to you, financially, at several hundred thousand nuyen. Now, I would like to come to some agreement as to just what you are owed, but first I would like to lay out the factors that I believe contributed to your estimation - so that we are both clear on them - and then I would like to lay out the factors that I believe might mitigate that evaluation to something my employer might find more reasonable - as well as propose a solution that will allow both sides to end this delicate situation without causing offense, disrespect, or loss of face to the other."

Adam paused for a moment, realizing he had no idea what such a solution might be, but decided to keep talking while he thought of one. He retracted his three fingers, and then continued speaking. "If I am not mistaken, your appraisal is not based upon her debt to you for moonlighting in the corner over there." Adam nodded back at the corner by the shower-stage without taking his eyes from Franco, "which, you said yourself, amounts to only a few hundred per 'violation'. Instead, because she was caught moonlighting, and disrespecting you, you believe that she needs to be punished - or made an example of. You decided that, since she was whoring herself anyway, that you would inform her that she would now be doing it for you, when and wherever you told her to. Clearly, you are in a position of power over this girl, as you are with most people, I would imagine." Adam gestured to Bruno and Freddie, "So, despite the fact that Shwen didn't agree to this, you knew you would be able to insure that she went through with it - through various means which we have already discussed, in detail."

"That was when you noticed the utter desperation in her eyes, and your perception of her value skyrocketed." Adam tried to keep his cool, but he had been talking with a mob boss for over ten minutes, and still felt like he was at a stale-mate. The mob boss hadn't buckled under Adam's faceless intimidation, but Adam hadn't cowed to the Italian man's brutal threats, either. He felt he had already performed a handful of miracles, but was no closer to convincing Franco to give Shwen her freedom. "You knew men that would pay real money, hundreds of thousands of nuyen in your estimation, to completely destroy and desecrate a girl as attractive and hopeless as Shwen - and you knew you could make her go through with it. Afterwards, you would throw her away like a used condom. She has no value to you past tonight."

"Have I missed anything so far?"

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Konsaki
post Sep 16 2006, 06:21 AM
Post #112


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Caittie
Wednesday 8/13/70 15:19:24

It was a sunny day with a few clouds lazily drifting through the light blue sky. The breeze cause the long fallow grass to move in waves as it danced amongst the tips. The valley continued longways as far as the eye could see and the sides you could see had a span of a few hours walk. The walls of the valley slowly raised with a tree line starting a few hundred meters up all the way into snow covered caps.
The area was completely clear of any people up until a figure eased herself out of the shadows of the tree line. The afternoon sun reflected off her chest and shoulder plate as Caittie slowly walked down the hill, all the while looking around at the beautifully crafted valley. After looking around a bit, she felt something was off. ’I know the café wasn’t empty, there was a good amount of people in there... There should be at least a few other people on this node...’
Closing her eyes, she reached out and concentrated for a second. “Ah, each chair has its own personal node for some privacy. That’s good. I can try this out without distractions then.” she said to herself as she flexed her hands. “So... Once I start instinct will take over, huh? How do I start out then...” she asked herself, remembering what Rebecca had told her.
Holding her right hand out in front of her, palm up, she strained her muscles trying to figure out how it worked. She grunted as she flexed her mental muscles, trying desperately to complete what she set out to do. After a bit, she dropped her arm and head in defeat. Sighing deeply, she slowly sat on the cool grass and raised her head to the sky to look at the clouds drift slowly through it.

’Ok, what am I doing wrong here? What’s the thing I’m not doing right?’ she mentally asked herself. Watching the clouds, she thought about what she was trying to do. Caittie sat there for a while until she finally put a hand to her chin and furrowed her brow. ’I wonder... maybe that’s what I’m doing wrong...’ she pondered as she stood up once again. Raising her hand again in front of her, she had a face of someone concentrating on the task they set out to do.
Taking deep breath, Caittie set out on her task, but this time went from a different angle. As she concentrated on the palm of her hand, nothing happened at first. Then the faintest of wavering appeared in the virtual landscape around her as she tried not to form the sprite by flexing her own form, but warping and flexing the surrounding landscape into the form she wanted it to be. The wavering got more pronounced as tiny motes of light drifted into the palm of Caittie’s hand, forming an ever growing ball of condensed light.
Starting out as a faint flicker of light, it slowly grew to a brightness not unlike a small star. Feeling that she had gathered enough to do what she wanted, she closed her hand into a tight fist, and pulled it in towards her.
For a split second she thought of what she wanted to do in her mind and then thrust her right arm out straight with her palm facing away from her. Feeling the quick buildup of power at the end of her hand, she grabbed her forearm with her left hand for support as a beam of bluish-white light shot out of her palm. A few meters away, the beam gathered again as a great glowing ball of light before it changed shape into a more humanoid form. Caittie shielded her eyes as a great flash went off in front of her and the surrounding landscape brightened due to the light. Just as it happened, it was like it never did, and in its place was a man equipped for battle.

He looked to be around what her uncle was in build and height, but he had long black hair that was pulled back into a braid down his back. His face was slightly tanned and he had look to him that said he had been in a few battles. He wore bright chain mail armor that covered his entire body accept for a small shoulder plate on his right shoulder. Across his back was a giant great sword made of some dark metal interlaced with golden seals and symbols.
His eyes, those different eyes, scanned the area as he turned his head in different directions. After he looked around his gaze fell on Caittie’s smaller avatar and he reached for his sword. As he grabbed the hilt, his eyes never left her even as he said, “Who are ye, and what are ye about?”
Hearing him speak in a rough deep tone, her eyes changed from ones of awe to piercing orb of determination. “I am the one that summoned you here, and I wish for you to work for me. I hope it to be on good terms, but you will work for me. Now please drop your hand.”
Eyeing the woman in leathers that stood in front of him and the look on her face, he slowly let go of his sword and dropped his arm to his side. Relaxing at this sight a bit, she smiled a little bit as she continued, “Tell me, warrior, what would you have me do to earn your pledge?”

The warrior reached up and stroked the stubble on his face for a minute as he though of what she could do. Looking around with the area again, he pointed at a set of three rocks in the distance. “There.” was all he said as he suddenly appeared right beside it. Caittie willed herself over to where he was and, a second later, found herself sitting down looking across a boulder at the sprite who was sitting on his own rock.
“As a fighter, I value strength and endurance over anything. This will be a battle that will pit yer strength against mine. If ye beat me, I will pledge my service to ye until I believe I’ve done enough.” he told Caittie as he put his right elbow on the relatively flat stone surface and held his hand out at a forty-five degree angle. Getting the idea, Caittie followed his movements, putting her right arm out the same way.
“Fair is fair. We start on the count of three and the first one to push the other to the stone wins. Ready?” the sprite asked. All she responded with was a nod of her head and a determined look in her eye. “Ok... 1, 2, 3!”
The first few seconds of the battle were raging, with each of them giving it their all to try and pin the other. After a while though, it went from a straight strength battle to one of endurance, as both of them trying their best to keep it up. For the most part, neither one had an advantage or gained much ground without losing it to the other. This fight went on for some time...


Wednesday 8/13/70 17:43:09


Sweat was pouring down both the warrior’s and Caittie’s face as they did their best to beat the other. Neither had budged in their strength but it was wearing them both down. Getting tired of the constant stalemate Caittie looked over at him and said, “I’m not going to lose!”
The sprite’s face turned to of mirth as he replied, “So ye say.” Both of them knew they couldn’t keep this up for much longer as they poured everything they had into it. At first it looked like another stalemate until Caittie started pushing the big warriors hand towards his defeat. Once it started moving in that direction, he tried his best to counter it, but it was too much for him to handle and it fell slowly towards the table until it hit the breaking point.
*Wham*

Their arms just lay there for a few seconds until Caittie let go. Working the kinks out of her arm, she smiled a bit. ’I did it... I really did it!’ she congratulated herself as she looked over at the defeated sprite. He looked angry for a second but it went away almost as fast as it appeared. Looking at the victor, he bowed his head and said, “Fair is fair.”
Standing up, he reached over the boulder to Caittie with an open hand. “Ye showed me yer strength and beat me fair n’ square. I follow yer command.”
Standing up herself, she reached over and grabbed his hand. “I accept. Thank you.” she replied with a genuine smile. “Hmm... How do I call on you when I need your help?”
Smiling, the big sprite calmly answered, “Just yell me name, Wedge, and will me there.”
“Thank you. Um... You can take your leave if you wish. I need to rest.” Caittie said indeed looking tired. Without saying a word, the sprite saluted, putting his arm across his chest, and faded in a quick flash of light. She smiled a bit at finally being able to relax some as she then willed herself to leave the virtual world....
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Konsaki
post Sep 17 2006, 08:12 AM
Post #113


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Caittie
Wednesday 8/13/70 17:51:43

Moaning a bit like someone waking up from a long nap, Caittie slowly moved her hands up to rub her eyes. Feeling her face she realized that it had a sheen of sweat on it. After she finished rubbing her eyes, she opened them to the earthen walls of ‘Geo Spaz’. Putting the recliner into a sitting position, she got up and walked into the girl’s restroom.
Walking in, she moved towards the sinks and mirror, and sighed at what she saw. Sweat from her exertions in the Matrix and dirt from her past night mixed on her face. Sighing again, she turned on the tap and started washing herself as best she could.

A few minutes later she walked out cleaner and a little more relaxed. Feeling better about herself due to being cleaner and forming her first sprite, she had a nice spring to her step. As she walked back to her chair, she looked around the walls at the different minerals and formations that decorated the café. Though she knew it was just something someone programmed to look like real formations, she admired the artistic work of the scene, just like the node she was just in. Someone spent a lot of time setting each bit and piece of code to make it look just like it does.
‘Maybe I can do things like that to make a living once things settle down. I think I’d like to make beautiful works of art like that.’ she dreamed as she watched the formations and gems reflect using the flowing magma’s glow. Smiling, she just sat there for a while until she noticed the clock in the lower left of her glasses. ‘Its almost six already? I better get some food while I’m still here.” she decided as she felt a small pang of hunger.
Pulling a menu up in her glasses, she looked over it and decided on having some soy-ghetii since it was one of the cheaper meals they had. Ordering it up and selecting the cash option, she leaned back and just relaxed.

“Miss? Your order’s ready.” someone said they stood by the resting girl. Caittie opened her eyes and looked up to see to see the girl that was behind the counter. Sitting up, Caittie pulled out a side tray built into the seat and set it up in front of her. The human placed down a plate of steaming noodles, a bottle of water and a fork on the tray and said, “There you go. That will be five nuyen please.”
Reaching into her pocket, Caittie produced the requested amount and handed it over. “Thank you for the food”, she told the girl as she turned to walk away. As she looked at the food in front of her, Caittie wondered how long she could keep this up. ‘I’m running low on money... I need to figure out how to make some or I wont have any to buy food’, she pondered as she picked up the fork and started eating.
It was a mediocre meal, but was still better than the cheap soy-burger she had for lunch. All things considered, she was better off after she ate it than before. It also gave her some time just to think, which she really had a lot of but not the right conditions to do so. By the time she had finished eating her fill, she had decided on her next action. ‘I need to do that to move on... If I don’t...’, she told herself as she moved the tray and stood up.

As she stepped outside, the sky was turning from its normal blue hew to one that meant evening was approaching. Turning away from the setting sun, Caittie set off with a purpose, to the only place she could think of... To were her old life ended and the new one started, she was headed home.

Wednesday 8/13/70 20:13:09

By the time Caittie arrived back at her old neighborhood, the street lights were on and it was clearly dusk, heading into full night. Moving through the alleyways, she wasn’t making that great of time in her progress compared to just walking the streets. If anything from watching those old sneaky trid movies with her father, she remembered that the bad guys that walked the street got caught, and most often killed, while the ones in the alleys got away...
‘Err... thinking about it, those silly trid movies Dad and I watched never really made sense... and I’m not the bad guy here, I just don’t want to be caught by the bad guys’ she corrected herself. ‘If I could, I’d like to sit down and watch another one with him though’ she continued as she walked even farther into the neighborhood.
Looking both ways at the next street crossing, she ran across to the next alley, and just stood there. She knew where she was and that around the next corner would be the one place that she wanted to be with everything back the way it was. As she walked closer, she could see the ruble still scattered throughout the alley, and knew what she would find as she finally arrived.

There before her stood the ruins of her old house, with not much changed accept for the lack of fire and smoke and the addition of yellow warning tape around the area. A quick search showed up no active comm in the area, and Caittie calmed down a bit. Moving under the danger tape, she had to pick and choose where she placed her feet, lest she twist her ankle or break something in a fall.
Wandering through the ruble she noticed bits and pieces of equipment that she and her father used in their day to day business. Moving pieces of rubble, she found a mostly intact toolkit of many they kept in the workshop area. Picking it up, she started picking up some of the other tools lying around to make a full kit. After she had finished, she closed the case and put it in her backpack.
As she moved in deeper into the ruins, she looked at the scorched framework that hadn’t fallen in the blast. She was amazed at how little there was left and terrified of what would have happened to her if she was still in here when it happened. “I would have gotten blown up like my uncle. That’s what would have haahhh!”, she cried as she slipped on a loose piece.

Laying on the ground where she fell, Caittie started to lift herself but stopped when something in front of her lit up. She closed her eyes and grit her teeth expecting someone heard her cry out when she fell, but after a few seconds of silence, she opened them and saw something that made her eyes well up with tears. Right in front of her was a holo-picture of a young man and his elven wife. Both of them were facing a baby the woman was holding, both with faces of sheer joy. “Dad... Mom...” she whispered as she wiped her eyes.
Picking up the holo-pic, she looked at it for a bit, turned it off and placed it in her backpack. ‘I cant just stand around right now, if I’m seen I could get into real trouble.’, she told herself as she started to look through the rubble again. As she got closer to where her fathers room was on the second floor, she saw a slab of wall that caught her eye for some reason. Pushing on it with all her might, it slowly gave way and moved just enough that she could see underneath it after moving a few other small pieces.
Underneath Caittie saw a wrecked metal cabinet, but what she saw inside one of the doors was more interesting to her. Carefully reaching in, she grabbed the two things she saw in there and pulled them out. Looking at the things she found she grinned a bit. In one hand she had a commlink that looked a little beat up, but it worked, and on the ground in front of her was a container that looked like it had seen better days. Slowly reaching towards the box, Caittie carefully lifted the lid.

Peering inside, she saw a lot of mismatched junk that looked to be pretty old. Looking through it, it all looked to be worth no more than the rubble around her. That was up until she found something that might just save her life. Looking at it, it looked more like a pen than anything else, but when she pressed some buttons on it, a LCD showing 1175 :nuyen: on it. “Thank’s Dad...” she whispered as she hugged the credstick to her chest. A few minutes later she put it in her pocket and stood up.
She continued to search for a while, but nothing came out of it. Most everything else she found was too badly damaged to use or sell. As she packed up the stuff she found, Caittie thought of all the good times she had living in this house, but more than that, the people she no longer had. She had to struggle to pick up her things as she prepared to leave it all behind. “Well... maybe not everything”, she told herself as she though of the holo-pic she had in her backpack.
After attaching the commlink to her belt, she picked up her backpack and put it on. Making her way out of the ruins, she wondered what the fates would bring her way now. As she was about to turn out of sight of the ruins she stopped for a minute, looking behind her. This pile of rubble was no longer her home... She knew it in her heart as she turned away and continued to walk. She had no home...
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Konsaki
post Sep 18 2006, 12:09 PM
Post #114


Runner
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Caittie
Thursday 8/14/70 19:43:22

Warm water ran through her long red hair and over her skin as she stood there in the walled off shower stall. Caittie was grateful that, even though they were public showers, they had a few walls for modesty, but right now she was just relaxing. It had been a hard day of training her mind and listening to an annoying warrior sprite who really shouldn’t be teaching.
The constant barrage of ‘That’s not right! I told ye a while back it goes something like this!’ or ‘No, no, no! First here then this, not what yer doing!’ had worn her down more than the actual training itself. Though she was pleased when Wedge started telling her she was getting the hang of it. She smiled a bit as she remembered what he said at the end of the entire thing.=
‘Listen here girl. Ye started off rough, but ye did a good job. Look here at this pattern, it’s complete, but it’s just the basic one. Yer gonna have to add onto it if ye wish to be better, but it requires a personal touch from yerself. Now ye need to finish this and make it a part of ye’, the sprite had told her as she finished up her form. After it was all done, it became a silver circlet that went around her avatar’s head.

After she had finished her training, she got up to find herself covered in sweat and dirt from searching through the rubble the night before. When she had gotten back to the coffin motel, she had found an empty room and crashed hard. When she had woken up this morning, she went straight into training after getting some food. Remembering how sweaty she got just creating the sprite, she didn’t want to shower beforehand, but now that it was over, she was happy to actually get fully clean.
Turning off the tap, she shook herself a bit and ran her fingers through her hair a bit to keep it from tangling up. Grabbing the towel she had ‘bought’ for this shower, she started drying off and then wrapped it around her hair. Putting on her underwear, she peeked around the corner to see if anyone else was in the bathroom. Not seeing anyone, she walked out towards the washing machines that were in the same room and pulled out her now dry and clean cloths.
A few minutes later, she walked out of the bathrooms feeling refreshed as she walked back towards her rented ‘room’. Accessing her new commlink, she commanded the door to open and then walked inside as it closed behind her. She had learned last night that this particular motel allowed you to register a commlink to your room, as long as there was time left on the timer, to open it back up.

Looking at the dirty sheets and the timer ticking down, she decided it was probably better to change rooms. Picking up her things, she left the room and moved down the hallway to another room. Pulling out the change in her pocket, she tallied it up and groaned. ‘Only four in coins left... I guess I need to use the this credstick I found.’ she though as she pulled the pen-like object out of her cargo pocket. Pressing the display button, the LCD flashed 1175 again.
‘Hmm... figuring in how much I’ve spent in the past couple of days... I need around five hundred just to have a place to sleep and food to eat for a month.’ she calculated as she set up two numbers to display in her AR.
Paying the required amount for the new room, the 500 figure in her vision went down appropriately as her commlink registered what was bought. As the door opened to another room just like the last, she noticed the only difference was clean sheets. As she walked in and set down her stuff, she registered the room to her commlink so she could enter and leave as she wished till the timer ran down.


Saturday 8/16/70 14:23:05


A breeze swept through the mid day heat, moving the leaves on the maple tree Caittie was sitting under. Looking up, she saw the sun flashing through the leaves as they swayed back and forth. All she had been doing for the past two days was sleeping, eating and tweaking on her new formula. She believed that she made it better, but even if she didn’t, she was more comfortable exploring her inner talents.
As she just sat there looking at the leaves, she was surprised to feel a something enter her node. Closing her eyes, she felt a faint presence of Rebecca and knew it was one of her sprites. Accessing it, she saw a message open up in her AR vision.
‘Hey, Caittie. Sorry about taking so long to respond back, but there were a few complications. I tried to contact you through your commlink, but I cant find it for some reason. Please contact me when you can, I have some stuff to talk to you about. Rebecca.’

Caittie just sat there under the park tree and took a deep breath. Picking up her commlink, she dialed up familiar numbers and waited as a window in her AR showed ‘Dialing’. After a few seconds the window flashed ‘Connected’ and changed to a voice line that wavered when a female voice spoke up with a questioning, “Hello?”
“Hiya, Rebecca. It’s me... Caittie.” she said into the commlink.
“Oh, hi. Guess you got my message then, right? Well, like I said, there were a few complications from the people I talked about. The good news is, you shouldn’t have to worry about anyone coming after you.” Rebecca’s voice carried over the connection.
“I’m guessing there’s bad news then too?” Caittie replied with a little apprehension.
“Um... yeah... about that. You don’t exist any more as far as any databases are concerned. The only way to make sure no one figured out where you were was to make you disappear and that means no old SIN. There is an upside to this though, I was able to get you a new SIN. I’m transferring it over to your commlink now.”

As she heard that, a window popped up in her glasses with a lot of text in it. Reading it over she took note of a few things that raised her eyebrows. After she finished reading it, she just looked through it at the tree leaves again.
“Caittie Dreamer, huh?” she asked.
“Yeah, we couldn’t keep your last name because of the chance someone would connect the dots. You are also, technically, 21, now. I cant really go into it, but remember you are still seventeen and shouldn’t really be drinking. Also, if questioned about your age, just say you look young due to your elven blood, it might keep too many questions from being asked. Anyways, you might want to read over your new “past” so you don’t get blind sided by anything.”
“Oh... Um... Ok...” Caittie replied. She was a little overwhelmed about all of this and was having a hard time sorting through her feelings.
“Caittie, its going to be ok. Just relax and concentrate on getting adjusted to your new life. I’ll keep in touch, and you know how to contact me if you need to. Ok?”

“Yeah... I’ll do that. Thanks. I’ll talk to you later.” Caittie said as she finished up her conversation and closed the connection. ‘Get adjusted to your new life... yeah, that’s easier said than done...’ she told herself as she continued to look up into the endless blue sky...
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adamu
post Sep 18 2006, 01:41 PM
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Adam
Wednesday 5/14/70 19:13:03

"Yeah, gotta say, you summated it up pretty good, except I wish she was gonna earn me the 200K all tonight - like a said a few minutes ago, that's her potential value over the next year or so. And I'm still waitin' to hear how you propose I recoup that."
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adamu
post Sep 18 2006, 02:14 PM
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Jonathan
Monday 7/7/70 21:50:45

Once they were on the dance floor, Guile shouted in Jonathan's ear, "All right, bad boy, I'll be waiting for your verdict tomorrow morning," at which point she melted herself into Jason from mouth to crotch, as if to show him what she was confident he would not be getting.

Two hours later, Jonathan was pretty beat. Not that he would have laid off the fun on account of a little thing like tomorrow being a work day, but he had already worked today, while Jason had had the day off, and who knew what Guile did with herself all day. So with them still partying strong, and having failed to get any hint of what she had planned, he said his goodbyes while he still felt like he had enough energy to go home and make another foray after her nodes - he'd already had R2D2 and C-3PO redouble their defenses, contacting them from a landline terminal in the club.

23:54:08

Staggering down the hall to his place, he saw a package leaning neatly against his door. He didn't see anyone around, so took it inside and looked at it. Nothing at written on the outside. He opened it and inside found a chip and a handwritten note -

Don't worry, I didn't really peek, at least no more than I had to to add the evidentiary edits - why mix business with pleasure? Probably terribly boring anyway. I'm thinking Saturday morning, bright and early.
Love, Guile.
PS - I've got all the supplies you'll need, but if you have sensitive hands, you'll want your own rubber gloves. Knee pads wouldn't hurt either - floor very dirty, and all I have here is a toothbrush.


Jonathan, fearing some sort of trojan horse ploy, slotted the chip in a old wifi-disabled CMT Clip he had lying around. And there it was - a copy of the very file he'd stolen from Matsuki Precision Instruments this morning while in his office, still undecrypted, but peppered with time/datestamps, cookies, and node transfer signatures proving the file had been hacked from his own comm seconds after he himself had stolen the thing!
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DireRadiant
post Sep 18 2006, 03:42 PM
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Harriet
Wednesday 7/2/70 04:12:20

Doris just wanted to go home. Where she was safe. At least she was alive, no brains spilt on the pavement, and the monster had gone. Being alive was good. Being alive meant she hadn't screwed up, didn't it? It didn't feel that way no matter how hard she tried to make herself feel it. Living didn't feel good at all. The monster was still out there.

-----------------------------

Everything was blurry.

Mostly by feel Harriet smashed the rest of the side window through the burning car. Ignoring the heat and scraping and cutting sensations as her arms reached into the car, she gripped one head with one hand and shoved the baton into a slack neck. Jerking her hand back as it discharged she knocked loose something on the dashboard. Groping further along, her side searing from some of the nearby heat, one of her fingers hooked on a mouth, wet and warm saliva making it slick. Or possibly blood. Wrenching the head around she punched the activation buttons on the baton again, removing her hand before the discharge.

She kicked something under the car, she didn't realize what it must have been till later. The bright orange blue tinged flames were like a beacon. She reached towards it, ripping something off with effort. Burning her hands, she gritted her teeth and changed her grip as she fell to her knees beside her brother. He felt cool to her touch, she despaired till she realized her burnt hands had fooled her. Everything was dark or bright shapes, flickering madly as she applied the burning piece of metal to her the wet parts of her brothers legs. Someone screamed.

Not Morris.

The heat became too much. Dragging her brother few meters away from the heat, she glared around. Everything was still blurry. Harriet was beginning to think she'd been knocked in the head without realizing it. It didn't matter, she went to work, she had a job to do, a deadline to make, the final push to make bonus. In her mental layout she knew where everything was, and she coulds see enough outlines to get it done.

Within seconds she'd found another steel bar, and she ran to the other cars, driving the bar like a spear into the low rear side panels behind the rear wheel wells. Straining she lifted up, tearing cheap body work and reinforced steel, working it loose. The sounds of liquids splashing loose was her cue. She moved to the next one, moving through the same routine. It was easy, she was all warmed up, muscles working smoothly, it was simple enough for her to make out the blurry circle of the rear tires for targeting.

She took a breath, coughed, then stumbled over someone on her way back to the burning car. She snarled, reaching down and dragging the unconscious officer by his belt. She needed something to burn. When she smelt the burning flesh, she lifted officer off the burning wreck and lifted him overhead. Several strained steps later, she tossed him down onto the pool of liquid by the other vehicle. It didn't go up immediately, but she knew it wouldn't. She waited a moment for the orange glow to appear, then ripped a piece of burning uniform tunic and tossed it on the last car.

Only a couple more steps to go. Then the job was done. Everything was an orange and black blur, but she'd worked in the dark by feel before. Everything was hot and slick. But the shape of her hog was familiar, by touch she reached into the control section between the handlebars. Not having time to be delicate, she ripped the entire module off, then hurled it at the nearest orange glow. Sliding the motorcycle along she went back to Morris. There was the horrible awkward moment while Harriet worked out how to carry him on board without him sliding off.

She motored it slowly up the stairs and through the building out the back through the garbage strewn alley.

Even the wind in her face as she rode away didn't wipe away the tears that had been streaming down her face the whole time.

Everything was blurry.

-----------------------------

Weasel watched the whole thing, he could see it quite clearly from where he was perched. His mates had joined in and watched for a while too, at least till the black noxious smoke had driven them back inside. He climbed back in too. This was a story he was going to be able to tell for ages. How the Star had been burned. This was going be worth quite a few brews over the next few weeks.

Of course, Weasel was going to have to end the tale with everything going up in black smoke and a blaze of glory. Especially when the Star came asking, but on special nights, when he feeling in the mood, he might tell the tale with the ending he liked best. Where with everything burning and pitch black, you could still hear the sound of a motorcycle riding away.
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Cedric Rolfsson
post Sep 18 2006, 04:11 PM
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Jonathan
Tuesday 7/8/70 00:01:01

Holy fragging drek! How the hell did she accomplish this!

Jonathan sat on his couch staring at the screen of the obsolete old chip player, and felt as though his Guru had just dumped him on hard concrete. His head was swirling and he couldn't find his breath.

He reviewed his actions today, when and were he'd been, everything he could think of that might have given her a opening. He had his Padawan running diagnostics and analyze utilities on his implanted commlink, trying to see if there'd been some kind of virus planted in its onboard memory. Something that allowed Guile to hack into his commlink without even tickling his defenses.

Obviously she knew a hell of a lot more about him than he did about her. That one stupid little file told him that she'd figured out where he worked, who he worked for, and what exactly he did for that person. Somehow she'd connected into his systems, sliced through his node defenses like they were gossamer spider webs and lifted a secure file that he'd just lifted from another corp.

This was too much, it went way beyond the silly little competition he had going with her, it could cost him his job. That one file implicated him, and by extension his boss, in an illegal hack into another corp. The whole reason Alister paid him the generous salary and put up with him dragging his hoop in to work two hours late, was the simple fact that Jonathan didn't get caught!

He stared at the chip, now in his hand and couldn't figure out what to do with it. He wanted to throw it in the recycler but he was afraid it could possibly get out into the open somehow and word would get back to his boss. He needed to destroy it completely then get rid of it, but his head felt packed with sand today and he just couldn't figure out how. Not having a better answer he slotted the chip into his datajack, figuring that was as safe as he could make it for now.

Leaving Padawan parsing through his commlink's systems he had 3PO and R2 monitoring the cameras and comm and headed to his bed for a few hours of uneasy sleep. He felt tired enough to drop right off, but the clenched fist his stomach had become told him sleep wouldn't come easy tonight, and if he dreamed they wouldn't be pleasant.
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BlackHat
post Sep 18 2006, 07:07 PM
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Adam
Wednesday 5/14/70 19:13:33


"Oh, I appologise for my misunderstanding." Adam held back the urge to smile. In addition to being a little embarrased for honestly thinking that this guy knew people who would spend 200K for an hour or two with a helpless girl, he was also a little bit releaved. If Franco wasn't planning on having 200K in his hand tomarrow morning, that might might negotiation a little easier.

"And I intend to get to how I propose you recoup your potential losses - however, first allow me to elaborate on some of the finer points of this situation. Points that I believe you have overlooked in your estimate, and which it would be in my best interest to remind you of." Adam wasn't sure where to start. All he knew was that he needed to bring down that number. "My points are also threefold."

"First, as you just pointed out, you estimate that she would bring in two hundred thousand over the next year - at which point, you assume she'll be burnt out and worthless to you. Now, this estimation, while far more reasonable than the one I mistakenly thought you were making, is assuming that she will last that long." Adam paused, he hadn't made his point yet, but wanted to let the idea simmer for a moment. "Assume, for a moment, that the unthinkable were to happen. That, blinded by dispair and hopelessness, at some point in the next year, Shwen losses sight of the threats you are planning to use to keep her complient... and takes her own life. Or, worse yet, in a misguided attempt to save her from the agony you are subjecting her to, someone else does it for her."

"Where does this leave us? You would be well within your power to follow through with the threats you have proposed - but doing so wouldn't recover any of this money that you already believe you possess. Similarly, the proposed 'punishment' wouldn't mean a whole lot to a dead girl. So, aside from wasting your valuable time causing grief to a couple of people in China, the only thing you would have gained would be the enmity of my employer - both for the loss of one of his own, and for bringing dishonor and shame to Shwen and her family." Adam paused again. "Now, neither of us wants this outcome - since it would ensure mutual loss. But I think that you would agree that Shwen is unlikely to survive a year of this treatment." Adam raised an eyebrow, hoping his implication clicked without him having to cross anymore lines. "Which means that you are just as unlikely to see the two-hundred thousand nuyen that you are currently quoting. You would be, however, quite likely to have made an enemy - which is neither advantagous, nor desirable by either party. So, let me move on to my second point."

"I would like to draw your attention to something you mentioned earlier about your reputation. As I have said, it would be counter-productive to both of our interests if this situation were to cause you any loss of face. However, I am concearned that you are not looking at the whole picture. You only showed concearn over how your underlings saw you - that the other girls wouldn't try to get a free ride, too. I would like to take this opportunity to gently remind you that there are people way more powerful than those strippers whose opinion of you affects you in a more immediate and personal way." Adam turned his head ever so subtly towards the nearest goon, pausing as though unsure if the next topic should be discussed in front of them. Of course, Adam was sure they already knew about it, and was very sure that Franco wasn't going to be sending them away anytime soon, so he quickly resumed. "For example, your brother Alfonse, the other families you have been carefully avoiding conflict with, or, if I am not mistaken about who runs the show around here, Rowena O'Malley." Adam paused for effect again, after dropping his brother and O'Malley's names. He had played almost all of his cards now - he was quickly running out of curve-balls to throw Franco, so he continued, hoping to make his points, and see if Franco could be at all swayed by them.

"Whether they sympathize with the position you are putting my employer in, because they also have a daughter about Shwen's age, or because this would give them the excuse they are looking for to move against you, I would be remiss if this negotiation were to go poorly and whatever would follow would be misconstrued as signs of weakness, or carelessness, on your part." There, by mentioning Franco's neice, and playing on the fact that Franco and Alfonse have been trying to avoid conflict with the other mafia families, Adam had played all but one of his cards. "My employer and I are concearned about what would happen to your reputation among that crowd if you were percieved to be overly worried about your reputation among your harem. If your priorities were in to become 'in question', or if you were to somehow lose face with your peers...from being more concearned with brutally punishing one of your girls, to keep the others in check, or with making a little bit of fast cash for yourself, than in recognising that such actions would lead you into an easily avoidable conflict (which would draw attention away from your real duties). Again, as I am sure you can see, I am pointing out that proceeding forward with this plan would lead us into a lose-lose situation, and, as I have said before - nobody here wants that."

"Lastly, I would like to draw your attention to the reason why you believe you are entitled to this money. Quite simply, you are forcing her into this situation for two reasons - 'vengence', and 'opportunity'. The first reason is somewhat understandable, if regretable. She wronged you, and so now you wish for her to suffer. However, I believe that the punishment you are proposing, is not in proportion to her crime. As you said earlier, her moonlighting literally took money from your pocket - but only a few hundred nuyen worth. I concede to possible wounds to your pride and reputation, should she get away with it - but she has already been discovered, and I assure you that the money due to you from those 'violations' will be returned to you in full. However, your current plan, involving punishment that outweighs her crimes, is unacceptable to my employer, who maintains a very traditional stance on punishment. 'An eye for an eye,' so to speak." Another pause for effect. "Which, interestingly enough, requires me to point out the fallacy in the second reason that I believe you are considering forcing her into this situation - 'opportunity'. You saw two hundred thousand nuyen on the table, and didn't see any reason not to take it. Like a good buisnessman, you saw opportunity, and your instinct was to reach out for it."

"An hour ago, you believed that whatever you did, or did not do, with Shwen, there would be absolutely no repercusions for your actions. As far as you were concearned, she was yours to do with as you wished. This was a completely understandable view of the situation - and one that Shwen probably shares with you. However, in the last fifteen minutes that you and I have been introducing ourselves to one another, I hope that the concearn and distress that I have unintentionally caused you has not all been in vain." Adam tried to look concerned, as though not sure how to chose his words for a moment. "Believe me, I mean no disrespect to you, Mr. Balducci..." Adam didn't want him to blow up in anger again, if Franco was even clever enough to get what he was going to be eluding to, "... but in order for you to completely understand the situation, I have no choice but to remind you that my presence here is meant to bring to your attention the fact that your actions, where they concearn Shwen, will no longer go unnoticed and, if there is such a thing as 'karma' in this world, will come back to you." An eye for an eye - oh God, don't kill me.

"Can you make 200K over the next year by forcing her into what amounts to slavery? Perhaps, you certainly seem to think so. Whether you should or not is a completely different question - and one that I leave entirely up to your judgement." Adam began to get a little nervous, but tried not to let it show. "My point is, in light of a number of possible repercussions - economically, socially, and perhaps domestically - it might be wise to reconsider if two hundred thousand nuyen is really worth it. Rather than thinking of this plan as a source of potential income - I would consider thinking of it as a source of potential, almost certain, loss."

"Now, I'm sure you've noticed a theme here. You wouldn't any of these things to happen, and neither would we. I can only hope that at this point, you can agree that, after taking a more 'holistic' view of the situation, it has become apparant that proceeding forward with your plan, as it stands, would make for terrible buisness sense. That's why I am here - to facilitate the exchange of viewpoints, to help you see other angles that you might have otherwise overlooked, and, ultimately, to help find a solution that everyone finds agreeable."

"If we are now in agreement on the finer nuances of this situation, and of the unrealistic projection of two-hundred-thousand nuyen, I would like to proceed to that last part - the part where you and I work together to get ourselves out of this mutually unpleasent situation, in a manner that minimizes concessions on both sides." Adam folded his hands on the table, waiting for Franco's response to continue - and half-expecting to be staring down the barrel of a gun at any second.

If he was lucky, one of those points will have struck home, and Franco would now have reason to reconsider his plan, and possibly to work with Adam to get himself out of it - if not... well, Adam wasn't going to think about what would happen to him if he was that unlucky.
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adamu
post Sep 19 2006, 10:55 AM
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Adam
Wednesday 5/14/70 19:17:00

Balducci looked straight at Adam. The huge man seemed pretty calm now, though he had started to tense up again when Adam had started talking about family things. Adam could tell he'd made a wise choice by using that most vague of pronouns - 'they' - when discussing the fact that 'they' had family members Shwen's age - but even so, he could see he was losing rather than gaining points whenever he broached that topic.

"Well, I agree we want to minimize concessions - at least on my side. Can't say I agree with everything you said. But let's cut to the chase. You are one hell of a smooth talker," Balducci commented in a mix of admiration and scorn, "but you can take a good thing too far. All this talk about compensation, and all this talk about 'someone' that might could be happy or unhappy with me. None of it ain' gettin' us nowhere without a number or a name."
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adamu
post Sep 19 2006, 11:10 AM
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Jonathan
Tuesday 7/8/70 07:46:00

Jonathan went into work relatively early - much earlier than usual after a hard night out - he knew Guile would be waiting for his call, and he had a million things he wanted to check out on his comm there at the office.
He was just settling into his ergonomically designed chair when the office comm on his desk chirped. Damn it, couldn't she wait! He was tempted not to answer it, but then it chirped again and the caller ID said Melanie Seward. One of Guile's aliases? He answered.

"Mr. Frost?" inquired the middle-aged caucasian human dripping with Native American jewelry and a close-cropped 'serious' coif. "My name is Melanie. I am a grief counselor here at Harborview Medical Center. I very much regret to inform you that there has been a personal tragedy. My client, Mr. Bell, is quite shaken up right now, and asked that I call you and ask on his behalf if you wouldn't mind coming down here. He's in real need of some emotional support from someone he can trust right now."

Jon barely heard the woman as he received the specifics. He wasted no time getting there, his mind swimming with horrible possibilities - he'd been pissed and annoyed with their hacker friend, but he hadn't wanted anything to happen to her. Besides, Jason Bell was his best friend, and he'd take it real hard.

But when he got to the hospital lobby and spotted Melanie Seward, it was not Jason Bell standing with her, but Howard Bell, Jason's father. "Oh, Jon," the middle-aged engineer sobbed, and rushed forward to embrace Jon's big ork body in a desperate, pain-wracked hug.
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Cedric Rolfsson
post Sep 19 2006, 03:06 PM
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Jonathan
Tuesday 7/8/70 08:38:23

"Howard? What's going on? What's happening?"

Jonathan akwardly patted the older man on the back, not really sure how to respond to this kind of emotional display. Emotional display directed at Jonathan usually involved all sorts of anger, hostility, or jealousy not grief. He stood strong while Mr. Bell sobbed, trying to piece together the story.
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BlackHat
post Sep 19 2006, 05:06 PM
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Adam
Wednesday 5/14/70 19:17:20


Adam smiled. He wasn't particularly pleased at the reaction he was getting, but he wasn't being rough-housed anymore either - and at least Franco was still willing to talk. And he had complimented him. That had to be a good sign. Of course, he had now been backed into a corner as well. A name or a number, huh? Adam couldn't give him a name. Quite simply, he didn't know the name of any big-time asian crimelords. He could probably make one up like "Chen" or "Li" or "Wang" or something equally common, but he knew what Franco really meant. Unless Adam could give him a name he recognised, as someone to fear and respect, they needed to start talking nuyen. Unfortunatly, Adam was at a loss in that department as well. What number should I give him? :nuyen: 200,000? Of course not, I already told him that was too much - though he'd certainly accept it. :nuyen: 20,000? More reasonable, but I don't actually have :nuyen: 20,000. :nuyen: 2,000? That's more in my price range, but he'll laugh in my face. After a moment of thought, an idea came to him, and Adam spoke up.

"Since I am not at liberty to give you a name, for reasons that I am sure you understand, I will oblige, and give you a number instead." Adam took a breath, and steeled himself for rejection. "Twenty-thousand." Better to low-ball this thing at first, we can always negotiate a little higher. "I think that more than covers the money she denied you while she worked here, as well as covering any distress she might have caused in leaving. However, the method by which you will be recieving this money is really the most interesting part of my offer - so before you make up your mind, allow me to explain."

"You see, my employer values his privacy, and his secrecy. Shwen is, at this moment, unaware of the 'guardian angel' that is currently looking over her shoulder, and I would like your cooperation in keeping it that way. So, if we were to settle this matter right here and now, and you told her that she was free to go - that would look suspisious, to say the least. Besdies drawing unwanted attention in our direction, it would create unwanted questions for you - and, as you pointed out earlier this evening, might give the other girls the idea that they could get a free ride, too." Adam folded his hands again, taking a relaxed posture, as if he were explaining some "master plan" when really the idea came to him just a few minutes ago. "After all, if Shwen is going to leave this sort of life behind, my employer wouldn't want her expecting hand outs every time she got herself into trouble - he would much prefer that she believed that she earned it - or got a lucky break."

"So, here is how I propose we have things play out." Adam paused for effect, and also, to gather his thoughts. He had the feeling that this was a good idea, but knew he would have to word it just right so that Franco would find it interesting enough to overlook the fact that Adam was putting absolutely nothing down on the table.

"You, being a man of notable generosity and wisdom, can offer Shwen a second chance. Inform her that, if she wants to avoid the kind of 'work' you have set up for her, you are not unreasonable. She is, of course, fired from this place - as you can no longer trust her to work under your roof, and she has said that she wants out. She is free to find a new job, of her liking, which my employer will arrange, without her knowledge. All you ask for, is a 'small' percentage of what she makes, over the next year. Something along the lines of $1,700 a month. However, she wants out - so after she has paid you twenty-thousand nuyen (the money she stole from you, with viscious interest), you inform her that she is now welcome to leave 'the buisness,' but that if she doesn't leave town you'll do something appropriately nasty. At which point, we will step in and insure that you never hear from any of us ever again."

"Now, allow me to highlight some of the benifits to you, specifically, Mr. Balducci, since I assume that is of principle concearn."

"First, you risk almost nothing. Should you fail to get your payments, Shwen is within reach, and you can always resort to your original plan, and the original risks. In this way, I suppose you could consider the girl to be collateral. However, mistreatment of her during this time will not be overlooked, unless, of course, she throws away this opportunity."

"Secondly, this money is in the bag - and you don't have to cross anyone, or do anything morally questionable to get it. For reasons we've already discussed, the money you were originally looking forward to receiving with little or no work on your part has recently become a much more risky investment. This is a solution that both parties can find agreeable, and you can also count on Shwen's support. Having her cooperation in either of these endevours is likely to make your job a lot easier, meaning you can focus on much more important matters - and less about keeping her in line. Not that her protests are the ones that should be distracting you."

"Lastly," I like making points in threes, apparantly. lets hope that's my lucky number tonight. "you're not loosing any long-term investment, by letting her go. After a year, you expected Shwen to be of no value to you anyway, and you didn't expect the money to roll in all at once, either. Granted, the amount of money we are now talking about is quite a bit less than what you had been hoping for - but I think that, given the new circumstances that I have brought to your attention, you will agree that the number I quoted is more than appropriate to cover her 'indiscression', and the amount of risk involved is considerably less."

Adam leaned forward slightly, wondering if Franco was even listening anymore. "So, does this sound interesting to you?"
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adamu
post Sep 20 2006, 04:11 AM
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Jonathan
Tuesday 7/8/70 08:40:10

Eventually Mr. Bell calmed down enough to speak. "Let's sit down, Jon," he said, as Melanie Seward looked on from a polite distance.

"Jon, there was a horrible car crash this morning. And...and...Jason and Guile were both killed." He breaks into sobs again, leaning on Jon's shoulder. His wife had passed a few years ago, and with his son gone, he must not have anyone else but a hospital grief counselor and his only son's best friend. Jon did his best to comfort the man, and to be patient while the answers came.
"We don't know much. They won't let us see them. Said...said we...we shouldn't see them. The Star was here, for about two minutes. Said they were in her car, her driving, and for some reason they ran off the road and hit a tree. There was a fire. Oh Jon, pray with me that they didn't suffer, that they died when they hit the tree."

Jon let the man cry, though in his mind his shock and grief were swirling around amid a swarm of questions. But Mr. Bell really didn't seem to know any more than he'd said.
After an interminable hour, the man excused himself to take care of some things, leaving Jon monetarily alone with the grief counselor.
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adamu
post Sep 21 2006, 01:40 PM
Post #125


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Harriet
Wednesday 7/2/70 04:15:00

Harriet had barely cleared the rear of the building when Morris slipped off the back of the hog again. Although she'd done of rough job of cauterizing the worst of the bleeding, the seat of her bike was covered in blood - even when she tried to use one hand to hold him onboard, his unbalanced and unconscious body kept sliding down onto the street.

After a few futile minutes, she loaded him on and walked the big chopper. It was slow and she knew she'd never make it out of the neighborhood in time. But she couldn't quit. She had to at least find some help for her brother before the Star came and scooped her up.

But with sirens steadily converging, the first vehicle to come up the street towards her was decidedly civilian - a big Evo Isengard - Two tons of rugged Uruk Hai rage powered by 10,000-wargpower toxic petroleum byproducts! - with the front end painted in a flying tigers motif. The big pickup with a double-bench chieftain cab screeched to a stop beside Harriet and four ork men hopped out, hands up in gestures of peace. "Skraa, Harriet, you sister sent us to find you." Said one, while another behind him spoke on a comm.
A third was looking at Morris, while the fourth proclaimed, "No time for chat, cerri, the ujnort quaalz is closin' in."

"He's right," the first continued, addressing Harriet directly. "You've gotta trust us now."

Harriet didn't have the strength to fight them, and they wasted no time in loading Morris and her bike into the back of the big truck. She insisted on staying in the back with her brother as the truck careened around a corner and into an alley. If the paint job had been any thicker they'd have scraped against the alley walls - as it was they tore through garbage cans and old plastiform pallets like some sort of nitrous-boosted snowplow from hell. Whoever was behind the wheel seemed to know just where to go to avoid the Chrysler-Nissans that were converging on the neighborhood, and then they drove into the entry to a basement loading dock and next thing she knew they were on some sort of underground thoroughfare. It only went a few blocks before resurfacing, but it was enough to clear the police perimeter, and they were off.

Morris was in terrible shape, barely clinging to life, when they pulled into a completely dark clinic parking lot. The place was obviously closed, but a car pulled in just as they did, disgorging more orks, while a troll in the gray coveralls of a janitor opened the front doors. They picked up Morris and rushed him into the building as the troll remotely activated all the equipment they asked him to.

Harriet collapsed into a corner of the surgery as they worked on Morris, and she didn't know how much time had passed before she reflexively cringed, recoiled and bared her fangs at the feel of a hand on her shoulder. It was Monica, squatting beside her, and she melted into her sister's embrace. But almost immediately Monica pulled away and took Harriet's face in both hands. "Cerri, I know you've been through a special kind of hell tonight, and soon I'll want you to tell me all about it. But what I do know is that those quaalz at Morris' place are full-on tharon, which is how the Star wants you. You are in the djoto now, my blood, and before we erase you we've got to use you. It won't be long before VB changes all its site sec codes, so we've got to act now. Harriet, we need the C12."
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