Down in the Gutter: IC, Surviving to See Tomorrow is Goal #1 Options

[pragma]

00:38:50 Monday, November 3rd 2070 - Bodega Gato Afortunato - NE 132nd St & 132nd Ave NE
Ink, Grack, Thumper

Thumper had put away a few. He'd eaten some food, sure, but the Gato Afortunato sold booze. It was big business out here if you could protect it long enough to sell it. The six pack he'd put away with dinner was thrumming in his ears as he heard shouting from the other side of the store.

He reared up with a faint swagger and saw Theodoro cursing in Spanish at Grack while Ink stood dumbfounded at the front of the store.

We're here to help the old guy, we deserve some respect. He started weaving around aisles towards the incident.

"Hey old man, don't yell at my friend. We get up in the middle of the night to help you means that you don't have shit to say to us. We need some ree-spect. Understand that muchacho? Respecto"

Thumper had closed to the point that he could lower his face to stare down the aging Cuban. The ork breathed heavily and in spite of having his senses somewhat hindered he noticed the odd rank but sweet smell of his own breath venting off his tusks and the old man's face.

He gave Theodoro a hard shove and said "As long as we're protecting this, it's our house. Don't yell at us in our house."

[Fresno Bob]

00:19:35 Monday, November 3rd - October Ravens HQ - Just south of Kirkland City Park, between 128th Ave NE and NE 142nd Ln
Aziz

Aziz smiles as he shakes hands with Legion, sealing their verbal deal.

Guess I'm in this outfit for the long haul now... Still, moving up in the world's always good. he thinks. He nods at Legion's orders.

"Sure thing boss. I'll be in touch on comms in case anything comes up while I'm out." he says, thumping his chest with his fist in a rough salute, before turning and swaggering off downstairs.

Should make for good times. Better establish some dominance. he thinks, reaching the main floor of the HQ and sticking his fingers in his mouth, letting out a shrill whistle.

"Listen up!" he shouts, turning his head as he does "Your newest lieutenant is calling for the presence of any and all members in the building at the moment!"

[WinterRat1]

00:38:01 Monday, November 3rd 2070 - Treaty Bus - 124th Ave NE and NE 144th St
Bockscar and Child

The mood of the Asphalt Kings takes a turn for the worse, and the atmosphere gets tangibly tenser. The group spreads out a bit more and steps forward as the dwarf says, "Actually, we plan on getting a lot more tonight than what we've got now. And this ain't no 'fucking five star megacorp merger'" he repeats sarcastically.

"We don't give a shit about the scanner, that's just collateral. The other stuff we talked about was what we want in exchange for the tools. I just thought it might be a little unfair for you guys, so I tried to balance it out for both sides, because we're not looking to rip you off, we just want a fair deal. But if you're not interested in fair deals..."

His voice trails off, the ending to his sentence unspoken but crystal clear: 'and you want a fight instead, we're ready to rumble'.

[WinterRat1]

00:40:46 Monday, November 3rd 2070 - Bodega Gato Afortunato - NE 132nd St & 132nd Ave NE
Ink, Grack, Thumper

Before Theodoro could respond to Ink about el coyote, Thumper was in his face, pushing and making demands. Whatever else could be said about the old man, he had cojones.

Without hesitation he stands up in the ork's face and snaps, "You protecting this house? You get up in the middle of the night to help me? The fuck you say! I ain't seen you and your buddy do shit except walk in here, eat whatever you want, and make a mess of the place. I don't mind you guys eating, any friend of Raymundo is always welcome here."

He points to Grack, who, as usual, is oblivious to such social niceties as 'not making a mess' and 'avoiding dripping sewer sludge and assorted drek both literal and metaphorical, all over the place'.

"Your amigo is ruining food with all that mierda dripping off him! You call ruining things for no good reason protection? You want respecto? You want to call this your house? Then fucking act like it's your damn house and show it some respect!"

The old man's voice rises with each rhetorical question until he finally is screaming at the end, not giving an inch to the younger, larger, stronger ganger.

[rob]

00:38:01 Monday, November 3rd 2070 - Treaty Bus - 124th Ave NE and NE 144th St
Bockscar

Is this kid really so naive? Blink a bit, and wait as bucky lets off his little sound and fury.

"Look, brother. I wadn't born yesterday, and neither were you."

"Rights? There's seven of yall. Yall're here and yall're working. Yall BEEN HAD 'salvage rights' to the shit around here by being the first mother fuckers on the block. You wants I should write it down on a sheet of paper for you?"

"Security? I'm here, and I ain't tried to stop you, and we're having a nice conversation. Someone poppin' shit fronts on both of us. We both know I could have stopped your biz here by calling my peoples the instant I saw you. I can still stop this shit by burning comms long enough to get the Raiders, my peeps, or them fucking bikers to come snooping. I ain't done that. I don't wanna do that, I want to deal."

"We're talking about the same shit. You said you want collateral, security, rights. You already got it. You want something more than that? Anything like that for tomorrow? Next day? That's a relationship. Could be profitable, too. We do a deal tonight, we can talk about that tomorrow. We keep butting heads, or we find some beef where none exists, don't nobody end up richer. I ain't fronted on you, I ain't told you shit more than common sese and real life."

"So back your boys off, and talk to me. Spell it out in baby talk, because I'm straight up confused. What more do you want than what my words and deeds already given?"

[WinterRat1]

00:22:13 Monday, November 3rd 2070 - October Ravens HQ - Just south of Kirkland City Park, between 128th Ave NE and NE 142nd Ln
Legion

As Legion unveiled the beginnings of his master plan to Shade, he couldn't help but marvel at his new leader's ambition. It was a plan that sounded less like the goals of an urban street gang in the year 2070 and more like that of a noble ruling a medieval fiefdom in the Dark Ages.

Choosing his words carefully, he answered, "I think Raider Nation might have something to say about us being the owners of the park. And our plans for it."

Casting a glance at the stairwell leading back into the HQ Aziz had recently departed down, he continues, "It was a wise move you just made, giving Aziz a job he'll be enjoy and be good at to satisfy him while building the gang up at the same time. But are we really ready to implement a plan of that scale right now? We're undermanned, unfamiliar with each other, and by my estimate, still uninformed regarding the larger fallout of the war."

Turning back to Legion, he clarifies, "Don't get me wrong. Over the long haul, I think it's an excellent plan, certainly a more worthy one than most of what passes for vision amongst the collective gang leadership in Kingsgate. But there's also a reason no one has ever attempted a grand undertaking on that level yet: it would require dominance of the land and submission of the other powers-that-be first."

Shade pauses. As the true extent of Legion's master plan sank in, perhaps for the first time he realized the leap he was about to make from the Splintered Crash to the October Ravens. Smiling to himself as he thought of how much his perspective on gang life had changed in such a short time, he finishes dryly, "Let me guess. We're still going to dominate the land and make the other powers-that-be submit first. We just happen to already have a plan for what comes after that."

[WinterRat1]

00:38:01 Monday, November 3rd 2070 - Treaty Bus - 124th Ave NE and NE 144th St
Bockscar and Child

Apparently Bockscar's combination of business savvy, street smarts, and aggressive negotiating tactics paid off, because the dwarf waved the rest of the Kings back. Mulling over what Bockscar said for a few moments, he nodded curtly. "OK, I feel what you're saying. We got a deal. You loan us the cyberscanner and chemsniffer, we'll loan you the tools you asked for. You leave us alone for now, we talk about tomorrow tomorrow."

At the dwarf's words, the rest of the Asphalt Kings relax and back off another step. "We don't have the tools you're talking about with us. We can send someone to get it. You want to wait here while they bring it back, or you want us to deliver it somewhere in particular? We'll make the swap at the same time, of course."

[rob]

00:38:07 Monday, November 3rd 2070 - Treaty Bus - 124th Ave NE and NE 144th St
Bockscar

"Word." Offer him my hand. "By the way, my name's Mustafa, but peeps call me Bockscar. This here's Child. Didn't catch yours."

Pace back, assume a relaxed stance. Start instructing my commlink to save all the video and audio feeds I'm pulling in from my glasses and 'buds. "I think my friends will run me out of town if I can't fix the shit I broke.... I'd be down to wait. I ain't too good with cars, but maybe my boy here can help you out while one of your boys gets stuff, if he's of a mind to. I can keep watch."

[grendel]

00:27:51 Monday, November 3rd 2070 - October Ravens HQ - Just south of Kirkland City Park, between 128th Ave NE and NE 142nd Ln
Legion

Legion smiled, nodding.

"Your insight does you credit. This plan will take a long time to execute, but I thought I'd already made it clear that I intend to subvert or destroy every other gang in Kingsgate on our way to the final showdown with Raider Nation."

His eyes flash dangerously in the shadows of the night, the ghosts of recent losses crowding around for an instant. He shakes them off as he continues, though.

"I'm going to need more like Aziz if I'm going to make that happen, though. And, perhaps more so, I'll need men like you. I'll need people capable of fighting with their brains first and their brawn second. I haven't asked you, yet somehow I find you present during the critical decisions we've made so far. So now I'm asking you: be the balance in upper tiers of leadership in the Ravens. Be the lone voice of calm and reason if need be. With your help, all of what I have spoken of is possible."

Legion exhaled a stream of smoke into the night air, taking the cigarette out of his mouth with his left hand and holding out his right to Shade.

[WinterRat1]

01:04:07 Monday, November 3rd 2070 - Treaty Bus - 124th Ave NE and NE 144th St
Bockscar and Child

The dwarf steps forward and shakes Bockscar's hand firmly. "They call me Gears. And if your boy's interested in helping us out, I ain't gonna say no."

As Child moves to assist the Asphalt King he was talking to earlier, Gears gives orders to two of the others to head back to the gang HQ to retrieve the tools they had bargained for.

Bockscar stakes out a position to keep watch, but it's fairly quiet, at least here, at least tonight. Maybe 20 minutes or so pass uneventfully before the two come back, toting the requested items. Apparently the higher ups had approved the deal as well.

The dwarf calls out to Bockscar, "Yo, stuff's here. You ready to complete this deal?"

[rob]

01:07:30 Monday, November 3rd 2070 - Treaty Bus - 124th Ave NE and NE 144th St
Bockscar

"Word, lets rock this." Pull the scanner/sniffer wand out of a pocket. "Stole this shit from a bomb squad back in the day. Weren't even payin' attention. Gimme a sec..." Send an order to the thing to turn on, and reset the defaluts on the device to constantly record its own position and dump whatever sensor data they use it to collect. "You can use it if you want. Should be able to track down fuel tanks. On/off there, readout, the rest is pretty simple."

Look over the stuff that they brought - check out the welder, the couple bars of solder, assorted big wrenches, prented to know what the hell I'm looking at. Call Child over, confer a second to make sure this is actually what we're looking for.

"Shit looks good. I'll have my shit done either tomorrow or day after. Any Raven tries to beef with you, tell 'em you know me." Shake again, pack up, move back towards headquarters.

Once we get out of earshot, start debriefing Child on what he saw. 7 of em. No big guns. Salvaging shit round the bus. Get a feel from Child as to how good they were. I wanna know if this was a first string team or a bunch of recruits...

[pragma]

00:40:55 Monday, November 3rd 2070 - Bodega Gato Afortunato - NE 132nd St & 132nd Ave NE
Ink, Grack, Thumper

Thumper's eyebrows screwed tight on his forehead as the gears in his brain started to make an almost audible noise. His lips curled into an expression which was half angry scowl and half wounded pout. His wounded composure slowly reorganized itself into a sentence:

"You got nothing and no-one out here old man" he said expansively. "Your kid's all's protecting you now ... No LoCoS left ... and we're all's keep him alive in a fight. What you gonna do when the ghouls come knocking old man? You yell at them too? May smell like shit, but we're protection while we're here. Grack's solid muscle, treat him like it."

Thumper's fists hadn't unclenched but he had backed away from the Theodoro during his speech, his aggressive stance tempered somewhat by a few seconds of thought and a reversal of the conversation's direction so sharp that it gave him whiplash.

[Meriss]

00:41:01 Monday, November 3rd 2070 - Bodega Gato Afortunato - NE 132nd St & 132nd Ave NE
Ink, Grack, Thumper

Ink relaxed fractionally. He had been tensed to step between his grandfather and Thumper. The only worry that the Cubano had was the sudden jerkiness in Thump's movements. The large ork was definately packing cromo. Ink figured 'wires for sure, maybe with a muscle aug or something on top. Acero made the Cubano nervous. The LoCoS had not held with anything more than spurs or razors, beliving that anything else was not macho. He was going to have to step up his game. Back in the old days the strategy had been to lure enemies into a hailstorm of bullets and knives. This was no longer true.

"Ci, ese, we all very duro, very macho. Respeto, she is nu here. Jes?" Added Ink to Thumper's statement to make sure the ork understood that Theo had just as much at stake here as Thumper did.

"Sides Papi. Jou gotta cut Grack some slack, big guy lives in the sewer, not used to the little tings in life. As for the mess. I'm good for it, jou know this. And the holes, they some of my best work, so gimme a break." He grinned once more to try and lighten the air.

[WinterRat1]

[Bumping so I can find this to reread it without always having to perform a search]