[IC] Behind the Shadows, First Iteration Options

[SincereAgape]

<<Audio Commlink to everyone:>> "The young woman must be a masochist or has been coerced into this form of cruel and unusual punishment.>>

A sardonic smile creased his lips after making the comment, as he made his to the basement of the safehouse. He instructed his watcher spirits to continue to stand guard around the perimeter before letting his meat body slump. The astral world immediately came alive to him, as a tunnel of purple aura beckoned towards his direction. He could hear a strange wave sound, similar to what you would hear when seeing a portal open in a science fiction based sim sense BTL chip.

Tyler closed his eyes and imagined the apartment units in which Karkoff resided. Since the distance was very short, he arrived in a literal second, as if he had a teleported. An urge of defiance came over him when Cruze almost ordered him to enter through the roof, being cautious in the process. But he followed her suggestions, because frankly it was good one.

He spotted the unit in which Cruze, the Stooges, and the others were working in. He entered horizontally from above. He saw Cruze and the orks fairly easily. He even saw the Dwarf with the invisibility spell cast on him. Upon seeing the Dwarf, Tyler promptly picked his nose once again for old times sake.

It took a moment, but Tyler finally spotted the one he thought was Larry. Closing his eyes he attempted to assess the painter.

[ Spoiler ]

(Assensing Roll on invisible castle. Int+Assensing+Act Looking = 3 hits. Missed a glitch by one. Big T is llooking to see if Larry is Mudane or Awakened, his present mood, prescnes of cyberware, if his magic is stronger or weader, lcationf o cyberware, and to memorize his astral signature.))

[pbangarth]

{{ Your sleeve must be getting pretty messy, what with all that nose picking, Toreador. }}

[Chrysalis]

Larry's mind swirled in as gem-like greens and blues of someone who is in the peak of health, patient and outgoing. There were no cyberware nor the marks addiction. He looks behind him and up at Tyler, but then walks out of the room shaking his head. Did he see Tyler?

[pbangarth]

Professor follows discreetly and makes an Assensing Test on Larry.

[ Spoiler ]

INT (4) + Assensing (5) + Looking REALLY hard! (3) ==> 12 dice 6 hits [spolier]

[Chrysalis]

Professor:

[ Spoiler ]

Larry's presence swirled in as gem-like greens and blues of someone who is in the peak of health, patient and outgoing. There were no cyberware nor the marks addiction. You can tell that he feels and acknowledges your presence. He is also beyond that of a normal elf in terms of peak physical ability. He is not awakened, but he is not a normal either. Most likely a person with the potential to become a physical adept but has yet fully awakened.

[SincereAgape]

Toreador was disgruntled.

He turned to the Professor in Astral.

**Professor. We might as well roll down the window and say Hello.**

Toreador returned back to his meat body. Another action which took a few minutes. He took a few moments to gather his thoughts before speaking into the commlink. He then did his best Cruze imitation.

<<Audio Commlink to the entire team: "The painter is awakened (His assumption), he was able to spot me astrally. Someone put a bullet in his head.">>

He then promptly took out a bottle of Sythnalchol and downed a cold one.

[pbangarth]

<< Surely wasting a life is not necessary at the moment. Killing should be done only when necessary. Not only does he not present any direct threat to us, and any perceptions of us are likely to be ignored as flights of fancy, but he may turn out to be an asset, or even a friend. He appears to be on the verge of Awakening. If we were the ones to help him on the path, he could become a talented ally.>>

[SincereAgape]

<<Audio commlink to the entire team: "Don't be so naive. He's onto us. Do your job Dwarf. Pull the trigger. I'm sure you'll be doing him a favor. If you're facing a moral dilemma with this action, then have Cruze put him down with gel rounds and then afterwords I can swing by, erase his memories, and manipulate his mind to do our bidding. Either way we win.">>

Tyler kicked his feet onto the table with a vulture type grin on his face. He took a chug of bear before snacking on one of his team members authentic grilled chicken sand which.

[pbangarth]

"I'm not going to kill him, Toreador, without evidence he is a danger to us or the mission. I will keep an eye out here while you get some needed rest and Cruze gets some work done. If developments occur we will notify you."

If Larry tries to check out the impressions he is getting, Professor will draw him away from the work Cruze is doing. If Larry gets involved here, well, then he will just have to be handled delicately. In the middle of a mission is not the best time to draw the magic out of someone else, but Professor will do what he can to learn where Larry lives, hangs out, works... so that later contact can be made.

"I remember what it was like when I Awakened. I am forever grateful to my professor for helping me through that time. Maybe it's time I paid forward."

[Chrysalis]

Larry's response has been to get away in this case it is to walk out the back door of the building for a well deserved cigarette break.

The two other stooges aka Neil and Simon take out the cooking unit and place it in the middle of the room. They leave an AR marker saying that once the elctrics have been checked give them a ring and they will finish the installation.

It is 13.38 and the unit is empty for the first time.

[pbangarth]

Professor subvocalizes on the commlink to the team as a whole: << Since Jane the Electrician is now working on the wiring of the house, Blackie better make sure that any electrical work order for the condo gets put off till after Monday next week.

People seem to be worried about Larry. I will deal with him and make sure he doesn't get in our way here at the condo. Cruze, I may have to step out for a while to do so. If there is heavy lifting to be done, maybe Blackie can come in and help, while I am out.>>

Professor quietly moves to the back of the house and approaches near to Larry, near enough to talk without his voice carrying to other units. He thinks to himself, "'Where others see threat, there you see opportunity. Where others find despair, you find hope.' Well, I'm hoping what I see is right, old master."

In as soft and even a voice as he has ever used to calm a distraught student failing the midterms, Professor, still invisible, speaks to Larry. "The time has come, Larry." Professor waits for the startle response to subside.

"The door to a whole new world is beckoning you, son. Look inside yourself, and know you are different. You see things. You are bursting with health and vitality, beyond your family's norm. This is just an inkling of who and what you can become. You need only to accept the opportunity fate has given you.

"I can be your guide. I have been through what you are experiencing right now. I know how you feel. I can answer your questions and help you set out on the path to a new life. But not here, where workers are coming and going. Let the electrician do her work and not hear our conversation. If you want to know more, go to the little park up the street, and wait on a park bench. I will come, and answer questions there."

Professor waits to see what Larry does.

[Chrysalis]

The startled response did come. He looked directly at the professor. "Christ!" The response did subside.

"I must be seeing things", he looks at the dwarf perhaps for the time in his life he actually sees you. "All right." There was that note of incredulity in his speech, but he shrugged and picked out a new cigarette. His old being mashed between his fingers the red embers distinding onto the flagstone path.

"All right." He walked around the house and down the street to the park the Professor had directed him to.

[bmcoomes]

"Right it would be imprudent decision to kill. There is not evidence to you on why your there, you could be passer by."

[SincereAgape]

<<Via Audio Commlink to the entire: Very well. The Dwarf whom has taken lead of this venture has spoken. The resident killing machine has followed suit. But be warned.

"He who establishes a tyranny and does not kill Brutus, and he who establishes a democratic regime and does not kill the sons of Brutus, will not last long." Niccolo Machiavelli.>>

[pbangarth]

The park filled a sharp corner of land across from the university. A small sign on a lamppost advertised a neighbourhood group cleanup day next Sunday. Small birds chirped in the bushes and a young mother strolled past, pushing a baby carriage. The peaceful normalcy of the scene brought a smile to Professor's lips. What better place to drop the bomb of abnormality into Larry's lap?

Larry was sitting on a bench, smoking again, fidgeting and looking around. If he didn't know better, Professor would have though this was a man waiting for a pusher. Professor sat down beside Larry, who only barely startled this time, and moved over. "Good," Professor thought, "he's adapting quickly."

"Larry, there's no gentle way into this, so I'll just come out and say it. You have the active gene for magic. Magic is now beginning to manifest itself in you. It comes to different people in different ways, some earlier, some later. Now is your time. My time came some years ago, and a kind man helped me through the frightening and daunting transition. I promised that if the opportunity ever presented itself, I would pass the favour on. I hope I can offer you the same help I once received.

"Magic is a blessing, but sometimes a mixed one. You are now entering a rare community, one that is sometimes misunderstood and feared. Understand this: you are undergoing changes that are as natural in our world as growing into adulthood; as being born an elf, as learning how to talk and count. The trid depictions of magic are sometimes laughable, and people build their beliefs and fears based on such nonsense. One of the gifts I have received is the ability to sense a person's character, and in you I see a fine young man, with the opportunity to develop his skills into a gift not only for himself, but for the rest of metahumanity. Your elf nature gives you long life, and who knows what you will be capable of in the years to come?

"Some abilities will come to you of their own accord. Some you will be able to choose. You probably have been noticing changes slowly coming over you. Seeing things not visible normally is clearly one of the gifts coming to you. Yes, I am invisible, yet you can 'see' something where I am. All will be explained. I can also tell that the magic is enhancing your physical traits. I suspect that your expression of magic will be similar to mine, where the magic is directed inwards, to enhance the mental and physical capabilities of the individual.

"This is a lot to take in at once. Do you have any questions?" Professor smiles at the irony of his question. "Only a million or so, I should think."

[crizh]

Nicely played Prof, ballsy move.

Before you wander off with laughing boy can you subscribe me to your biomonitor?

Wouldn't want anything to happen to you....

[pbangarth]

<<Absolutely, Cruze. Connecting now.>>

[Chrysalis]

Larry does the only thing reasonable, he offers the Professor a cigarette and shrugs when he does not take one, "That's the funny thing, I can't really see you. I kind of need to be concentrated elsewhere and then you jump out of the background really well. Like one of those 3D pictures."

"Always been good with my hands, always have. If I am supposed to do that Wuxing ninja shit then I would walk away. Besides the wife would not approve." He pulls out a gold ring from his breat pocket.

"So besides feeling like a complete loon and talking to my invisible friend, what's the next thing I should do?"

[pbangarth]

Professor shakes his head a bit, and wonders how many times he will smile today.

"What you do next is let it happen. I suspect you have been resisting the strangeness. Let it become familiar, and encourage the new sensations. There is a shift in your perceptions that allows you to see me, almost like refocusing your eyes, but in your mind, not your eyes.

"You mention that you are good with your hands. Start doing the same perception shift when you are doing something you like doing ... drawing, or carpentry. The trids show you warrior magicians and 'Wuxing ninjas', but there are many, many ways the magic can manifest. If things work out, you may be able to direct the power into an art form through which you express yourself. Experiment. Do your work, regular exercises, household chores, looking at museum exhibits, all with your inner eyes open. See what happens.

"Read The Door to Elsewhere, by Thomas McCann. It is a good introduction to the experience of Awakening... that's what it's called ... Awakening. If you are of a technical bent, then The Manual of Practical Thaumaturgy, 32nd edition, will give you more than most need to know. I will be happy to answer your questions and give you guidance, if you wish it. I am engaged in a personal affair right now and cannot devote much time to things I would like to do, so it may be good for you to read a bit, and reflect, giving things a few days to sink in and make sense.

"It would appear as if there is a lot of commotion and work going at that job site of yours. Maybe you can set that job aside for a few days or a week... blame the worker traffic congestion or something. The more peaceful time alone you can have, the better.

"I envy you. This is an amazing time of revelation and exploration. The wonders that will open up for you are beyond description. I hope we can share stories. My commlink is making a connection available to yours. We can exchange contact information so that we can continue our discussions. I am making a small sum available to help you explore books or trideos that catch your fancy.

"OK?"

Professor makes 250 nuyen of his own money (not from the new general pool) available, securely directed as is the buffered contact info.

[Chrysalis]

Larry twirled his ring through his fingers, spinning it between his fingers, before grabbing it in the air in a complex number of twists and turns. Similar to the Professor he does not even look at it. His commlink chirps and he just opens his breast pocket lets the ring deftly fall in.

On the astral you see that the ring has some kind of magical significance. Often family heirlooms as physical representations may take on a life of their own.

Larry looked at his commlink and accepted the Professor's offer, "yeah I could take a couple of days off, there is something I have been avoiding. Lately I have been feeling so... happy... or full of energy... last week I ran Annandale-Arlington-Alexandria route."

"Anyways, your the second person I have seen in or near that building. The other one was freaky. He had this fire coming from his head. Saw him at 7.30 in the morning last week Friday, smoking Morleys, pulled out as I came in. I just marked it down as early an morning hallucination. Is he one of our kind?"

[Mickle5125]

<<To: team(encrypted)>>
<<Update on the Doc. Everything seems normal thusfar. No running around screaming yet. Pretty boring, although he did meet with this one absolutely gorgeous gal... how're things on your end?>>

[pbangarth]

"Fire from his head? That's a strange one. I'll have to get back to you on that, Larry. By the way, I haven't given you my name. Call me Professor for now. Give me a ring when you've taken care of business and thought things through. Take care till then."

Professor walks back up the street towards the condo units.

<<To Dick, open to all, encrypted>>
<<Professor here. Work is progressing, Dick. Electrics are underway, and so is Matrix linking. Workers coming and going, no problems with them. Made contact with a budding adept who has started astral perception and saw Toreador and me. He's diverted for now, friendly, and may become a contact for us later. Toreador is sulking at home getting some needed rest. Glad to hear you and Warrior have some nice scenery! You boys need to be spelled off, or are you OK till ... lets call him Orville ... gets home?>>

[Chrysalis]

Cruze gets into the unit, Karkoff's residence, through the elevator shaft. The apartment is filled with memorabilia from his many years in the African continent. The Sky room is quite spacious with comfortable leather sofas and dusty glass tables. The Media room is filled with 40 years of his medical profession. Medical journals line the walls, even his university notes are in the shelves. Either he is very messy, or then everything has been carefully laid out. There is an old computer and screen sitting on the table.

The second floor has two bedrooms, the Master bedroom has a lightly feminine touch. On the cabinet is an image of his wife, in a traditional Zulu dress. The adjoining bedroom is distinctly feminine, although there is that stale air of a place that is infrequently in use.

The great room and kitchen are the most lived in place with coffee cups on tables and dirty dishes in the sink. It is the first time Cruze sees an AR of any kind. It is a note to the maid to pick up dinner for six for Friday, inclduing a family recipe. He also requests to come in on Friday morning to give the place a good cleaning.

The Studio Suite looks recently lived in, by the guess of the large socks on the floor and AR displays of stars, of someone in his mid 20s, but with the nerdy habits of someone who is still 12. There is a large powered down reader on the desk. Parts of the room like the desk are ordered to the point of obsessive, with everything aligned at right angles and from big to small, while the floor is a mess of old clothes. There is a list on the door which says, which gives detailed guidelines for maintaining personal hygiene and social interaction, such as shaking someones hand meeting someone followed by mentioning your name.

The three car garage has an old gas guzzler and various sporting equipment, and four suitcases neatly packed with labels marking them as for weekend, week, field and emergency.

The Family room is filled with boxes and the wine cellar with a variety of wines.

[crizh]

The barely visible form stalked slowly around the empty rooms filling them with more cameras than the Big Brother House.

It took it's time, careful what it touched, even though it wore latex gloves, and careful not to disturb things particularly in the studio. Each room was recorded thoroughly before it was entered and triple checked before it was left lest anything give away her presence.

She empathised strongly with whatever poor soul inhabited the studio. Only the AR notes cluttering her mind reminded her of what she was doing and why. Twice she had to stop and review the mission objectives because she had forgotten what they were again. She had to focus and not let her mind wander, as soon as her mission slipped from her working memory it was gone for good, or at least until the recording of herself reminded her.

The house was more of a mess than she was expecting which gave her an opportunity to collect bio-metrics. Well, 'prints and DNA at any rate.

The boxes caught her attention and after checking that she had time she opened each of them carefully and rapidly scanned anything that appeared important before meticulously putting it all back the way the recording said she had found it.

The suitcases got the same attention, although the one marked 'emergency' got a double dose of paranoia with every sensor in her arsenal before she dared open it.

Back in the unit under renovation she finished up her bugging work by running everything into the roofspace through the lighting loom. By 18:30 the lights were all finished and much of the rest of the core electrics were up to code.

Maybe they could get a cup of tea tomorrow.

----

She stopped by the safehouse on her way home to change. She handed a copy of the data she had collected to Toreador on a tiny optical chip.

<<Sperethiel>> Perhaps you and the Professor can have a look through this lot? I've got to run, hot date.

She peeled the backing of a cleen-tac pad and stuck a laser link to the window frame. She plugged a sat-link into it with a length of fibre and headed out to the opera.

[pbangarth]

Professor wished that he had more time to work with the triptych Zoltan had given him, but he had promised that he would send it back with Cruze. So he studied and memorized the device, searching for openings, containers, secrets, and memorizing the device to the finest details his powers allowed. He copied the text photographically and by hand. Then he gave it to Cruze to take it with her on her date with Zoltan. "Please tell him I'm still working on it."

Searching the device for info:

[ Spoiler ]

INT 4 + Perception 6 + Active search 3 ==> 13 dice: 2 hits (phhht!)

Memorizing: Photographic Memory Quality + Eidetic Sense Memory + Three-dimensional Memory; this should give him a good picture.