A New Start in Seattle (IC), The story of Billiam Options

[Fuchs]

Seattle, Renton, Christine's appartment, 0930

Christine nods, but touches her hair as she does so - getting dirt on her is not something she enjoys. Nevertheless, she follows Billiam outside, taking care to lock her appartment. On the street it doesn't take her long to adjust her appearance, despite a certain reluctance.

[Play]

I cast Fashion, smoothing my hands over my clothes and changing them to a look that matches her, worn down, seen better days.

With a wink, I lead her out. Outside, I say, "S'oka. We need to go somewhere there's people with good sized bank accounts." I look to her and wait for her response.

[Fuchs]

Seattle, Renton, Christine's appartment, 0935

Christine answers promptly.

"The 5th Avenue. That's a new mall in Renton, expensive shops, full AR coverage, boutiques, restaurants, beauty parlors, surgeons, even a gym. The people there are rich. They don't like the poor though, and the guards hassle people who loiter."

Christine sounds familiar with the all, even though she doesn't look like she could afford to shop there.

[Play]

I hang my head and laugh. "Perfect. should have asked for that before we left."

I turn and beckon to the door. We go back in, I tell her to change again, and up a notch, poor but not street. I change mine to match, but a little nicer. "We want to blend in, but still have a particular look."

Then back out the door, and "How far?"

[Fuchs]

Seattle, Renton, 1000

It takes Christine a bit to get rid of the dirt - longer than Billiam would have expected, but after 20 minutes, the two of them are on the way to the 5th Avenue, now looking poor, but decent and clean - not like someone the rich would avoid out of fear of getting disaeases.

The mall is a single building, with state of the art AR nodes, though both the exteriour and interiour are just a tiny bit too conventional to be that cutting edge. Perfect for Renton though, which is not as avant garde as Downtown. There is parking lot next to the building, with a 4 meter fence around it, and guarded gates.

Billiam's assensing of the mall from outside doesn't show anything special - the mall itself is not warded, although he can spot parts of it that are warded even from the outside. The parking lot is the same, though three cars are warded. He does spot a partolling drone there, a blimp, hovering over the field.

Inside, there are not that many people shopping, but there is a sizable crowd, mostly housewives meeting each other, and the cafes are frequented more than the shops right now. The mall itself sports almost all brand shops, only a few independent shops, and more cafes and restaurants than conventional food stalls. Guards from Knight Errant patrol in pairs, looking as shiny as the rest of the staff in the mall, although they do not smile as widely, or as perpetually, as the shop staff. Astrally, there's no security visible other than a watcher following a patrol of two guards around.

Two men catch Billiam's attention while Christine gets him and herself hot tea. One is a younger, mid-20s, who is going through the jewelry selection of a shop, the other is a middle-aged man chatting with an elder clerk in a wine shop.

[Play]

I check in withmyself about what catches my eye about the two men.

I also keep an eye on the guards, to see how big an area they are patrolling, and how much time I might have out of the view of the watcher to perform any spellcasting activity.

[Fuchs]

Seattle, Renton, 10.45

Both men seem wealthy, and handle the purchase of luxury items in a very natural, matter-of-fact way. Astrally, they display no more emotion at spending a quite large sum of money for a ring, or a case of wine, that others might display at ordering a hot dog at a stand. Both appear pleased, probably at having found what they sought.

The patrols are staying mostly in the public area, away from the luxury shops, and even there they seem to patrol discretely. That probably makes the rich feel good, but also makes it harder for them to cover the stairs of the mall and the individual shops.

The watcher is easy to anticipate - it simply makes the rounds, literally, flitting through the mall's level, humming some nonsense to itself. With all the glass fronts of the shops hampering astral visibility, its view of the parts of the mall it's not just passing through must be impaired. Billiam guesses he'll have a window of 2 minutes once the watcher passes him, if he casts in the main hall area, but about 12 minutes if he casts inside a shop, since the watcher can look over the hallway each time he changes between the north and south row of the shops during his rounds.