2072: Game World, IC thread for 2072: Recruitment always open! Options

[JxJxA]

@ Suicide Kings
[April 16th 2072; 00:10:00 Parking Lot]
[The Pixel Special, ID "Aubert Benoit"]

As Demon watches the "backstreet medical clinic" scene unfold, he grabs his coat and folds the sleeve into something for Ember to bite down on. He thinks for a moment on what little he knows about mages, and he remembers how Ember seemed to drift off into the ether of the astral plane earlier that evening.

"My friend, retreat into the astral until this business is done. Watch it from up above, if you must. Return once he is done, and then use the gifts given to you to finish tending to your wounds."

[Notsoevildm]

@ Suicide Kings
[April 16th 2072; 00:15:00 Parking Lot]

Copperhead's contribution to the initial first aid treatment is mainly to hold down the badly injured mage without doing any more damage. Fortunately, she's seen some pretty bad injuries at the street clinic where she sometimes helps out, so she manages not to throw up.

Once Dealer has finished up the messy business of cutting away Ember's burnt clothes and applied copious amounts of synthskin and painkillers, she continues to hold the patched up mage down. Her eyes are rolled back in her head and she is swaying gently from side to side. She sings softly, mostly just humming with the occasional fragment of a thrash metal song as she pours healing mana into him.

"...hmm, hmm, mwah, wah...ain't got no pain on novacaine...hmm, hmm, hahum...."

While the spell seems to have some limited effect on Ember, as Copperhead finishes singing she suddenly stumbles to one side. She just barely stops herself from falling with a clang against the wall of the RV. She puts one hand to her nose, which is bleeding badly, and mutters: "Frag, dat hurt. I should stick ta detection spells."

[AppliedCheese]

@ Suicide Kings
[April 16th 2072; 00:15:00 Parking Lot]


Dealer wipes off his knife and returns it to its sheath as Copperhead does some fragging magic to the tune of what sounds like a Painkiller thrash remix. He glances at Ember. The blood is still seeping through some of the gauze, but hey, for the circumstances, its pretty fragging good.

"Welcome back to the land of the living. Your just in time to move this drek", an expansive sweep indicates the copious amount of data storage, "into the van. Makes you think it was all worth it huh? For what its worth, Teague is going to die in a bloody mess after we ruin him. I've always found that sort of thing to be comforting and occasionally hilarious. You know when they say revenge doesn't make it any better and all that Horizon-Evo progressive crap? Complete lie. So you'll be right as rain."

As he waits for the team to begin shifting the data, he starts filling the 5 gallon fuel cans with diesel from the RV and packing them into the space that isn't occupied, getting them ready for the final piece, the bomb stolen from the warehouse.

When Teague's little girls come to enter this thing, they're going to find burning to death is fair play...

[LostProxy]

@ I'm On A Boat
[April 15th 2072; 23:50 SS Henry VIII 4000 meters off shore, Puget Sound]

Khalil could see the icons analyzing everything in their path and was debating his next move. <<My position has been compromised. I'm logging off the node so be prepared to lose the data I've sent you. That last feed I sent you showing who is on deck should be enough for you to finish the job. >> Khalil logged off the node and waited hopefully for a signal to get into security.

[Alyena]

@Dysfunctional Family
[April 15th, 2072 11:06am; Through the Looking Glass]

Doza listened to the conversation between Jotamon and Ajax looking from one icon to the other.
"I don't feel I have much to add to Jotamon's summery. I was hired to pick up the kid. My Mr J gave me exact instructions as to time and place. Think it was probably 'Alice' here that fed him that info" She nods towards their host's icon.
"At the moment I just want to be sure he's somewhere safe. Then I want to have a 'quiet chat' with whoever it is thinks they can do this to a child and get away with it"
Doza's smile was anything but friendly.

[AppliedCheese]

@ I'm On A Boat
[April 15th 2072; 23:50 SS Henry VIII 4000 meters off shore, Puget Sound]

The door closed behind the runners as they slipped through. If a man had looked very carefully at the camera feed in the final moments, he might have seen the trail of the door closing. As it happened, no one was looking very carefully, and whoever was monitoring security didn't see anything other than another camera temporarily obscured by the sea spray.

As Khalil's deck net feed cut away from the interior team, their mapsofts kicked in in full force. Getting the info had no doubt cost someone a pretty penny, but it was going to prove invaluable. Silk examined the door they had just come through, and confirmed there was a maglock on the inside as well. For all that, it looked like it really was just a maglock in the simplest sense. It wasn't apparently tied to anything, network wise. The door also had a large wheel lock on the inside, a physical throwback, relying on gauche brute strength to either seal the door against the elements.

Not ideal then, but still, from here, everything should be easier...right? Then again, the light here is much brigther, and for some reason its a lot on easier for the runners to focus on each other.

[April 15th 2072; 23:50 SS Henry VIII Astral]

Sailors have always been superstitious. It manifests in many forms, and in different ways in different crews. Towards the end of the 20th century it may have seemed slightly ridicolous, little more than a hollowed out tradition to be triumphed over by the cold logic of science. Now a days, sailors know that their brethren from the time of wooden ships were absolutely right - the sea has spirits, creatures, forces that shouldn't be tampered with. But modern metahumanity doesn't need to blindly fear these as they once did. Oh no. They have the means to fight back, to help control the situation.

They can, at the very least, set wards.

Wards just like the one that the runners just came through.

[April 15th 2072; 23:50 SS Henry VIII Matrix]

Khalil's last vision from the Deck Net is the twin mermaids interrogating the drone icon. Suffice to say the programmer was very clearly male. As he jacks out of the node, the rest of the datasphere begins to come back in to focus. Notable sources of transmission include the tug and of course the ship's communication node. The host of active PANs on deck is as of yet undiminished.

[Friendbot2000]

Dysfunctional Family
[April 15th, 2072 11:06am; Through the Looking Glass]

Ajax's icon smiled and he tipped his hat to Doza <<Actually I deduced that on my own from your conversation with our host here. A keen mind and sharp perception are essential in my line of work. I do agree with you though, I would like to have a chat with these people as well. I am sure we will complement each other perfectly in our..."interrogation" of said suspects. Good cop bad cop I believe is the phrase. I am guessing you will be the bad cop, no?>> Ajax laughed and grinned at Doza. He always enjoyed the frank attitudes of trolls. It was very refreshing to see someone who didn't put up pretenses.

[AppliedCheese]

@ I'm on a boat
[April 15th 2072; 23:50 The Ganymede Collective - Contract Security Branch]

Raul was watching a Karl Kombatmage mini-series on the Tri-D. He was disgusted in its inaccuracies in a manner that small men with small minds are disgusted with anything that implies they could be doing grander things. Raul was, you see, a mage. Not an exceptional mage, but a mage none the less. And he had definitely never done anything as exciting as good old Karl. The explosions, the plots, elemental beings representing the very core of the gaiapshere, none of those were in his life.

At first, magic had seemed too good to be true: a way to join the world's elite, an entrance to a magical and special world that would take him above and beyond, into his own heroic epic. What he hadn't counted on was that while heroic epics make great entertainment, they don't make great nuyen. Impossible as it seemed, working low-grade magic for a corp was disturbingly similar to working maintenance for a corp. Long hours, lots of matrix files, and certainly none of Karl's attractive and capable-yet-suitably-non-threatening female leads.

Raul had set a lot of wards, for a lot of people. Frankly, without the help of his link, he probably would have forgotten how many by now. Raul hated wards. What he hated more was that now his job was essentially the magical equivalent of watching endless secruity cameras. A trip into Tolkienesque fantasy it was not.

Maybe he was feeling resentful. Maybe Karl Kombatmage was mocking him silently. Maybe he was just desperate to pounce on anything that would make the graveyard shift go faster. Whatever it was, when ward 17 popped and Robert's earth spirit smacked into the celestial mosquito zapper, Raul decided he was going to do something...

[AppliedCheese]

@ Suicide Kings
[April 16th 2072; 00:20:00 Parking Lot]

Dealer finishes setting the explosives in the now emptied RV. A kilo of C5 won't do too much damage - might take off a leg below the knee, or blow out the chassis - but mixed with the mo-gas and, far more importantly, the fumes filling up the RV, it will create a very crude thermobaric weapon. Not particularly elegant in nature, but more than enough to burn out any forensics and hopefully send a few of the people pursuing the runners straight to hell.

With that complete, he huddles with the team in the sushi van.

"So, for the first time tonight, we've got the initiative. Teague and Hansai are on their back feet now. I figure we've got a few hours before they're back on us, but just in case, kill the gift links from Hansai I'm thinking. Batteries out, RFID scrub - I'm pretty sure with the right skills and some prep you can monitor one of these even when its "off". Anyone trust our KE friend so much they think otherwise?" Dealer looks around expectantly. "Regardless, we need to figure out the way out of this. Right now, we pretty much have to accept that evidence, in itself, is worthless. Assuming its even in there. Teague's got the media, Hansai has the cops, and I'm thinking some MCT help and the yaks as well. The truth won't count for drek unless we make it count, hard, public, and undeniable. So lets not get some false dreams that the world will suddenly proclaim us all innocent amid a trideo ending. I think the end game we need to work for is buying enough space to let the heat die, and making it clear we're no longer worth the effort to kill. The floor - by which I mean the lovely stainless steel with old soy stains - is open to suggesstions. Of course, any option in which Teague dies a horrible, painful death has some immediate traction..."

[Seth]

@ Suicide Kings
[April 16th 2072; 00:15:00 Parking Lot]

Just before Dealer starts the scrub, the commlinks burst into life.

<<Hansai here. I have a couple of things to go through with you.

• Firstly: You are still all very hot: but as far as I can tell Knight Errant have no idea where you are. I believe that they are trying to get ritual samples from places where you have lived. This will take them some significant time, so I think you still have a day or so before they come knocking at your door. Copperhead: someone firebombed your squat when the ritual sample team pulled up. Dealer: They have no idea where to go. Demon: they have many places to try, and they need to work out which DNA is yours...could take weeks. Ember: it seems someone has visited your house and cleaned it. I suspect they will find something that ...they...missed but it should take them a while. Pixel: they are not looking for you.
• Secondly: I have access to Allanby's machine, but I cannot get in touch with Pixel: do you know where she is?
• Thirdly: I have a lead, but it's value depends on the quality of the data that I hope you have recovered from the warehouse.>>

<<Private text to Dealer: You have your data wrong: Drake is my Sensei. Good info gathering though>>

[Seth]

@ I'm on a boat
[April 15th 2072; 23:50 SS Henry VIII 4000 meters off shore, Puget Sound]

Siran was following Robert and Silk as they headed deeper in the ship. It was just as well that she was a passenger in her own body, as she kept having flashbacks. This raiding of ships was so...right. Visions of hordes of pirates storming sailing ships in the south china seas, cigarette boat running against large ships, sneaking onto large ships like this... Still Siran felt unpracticed. Unlike riding a bike, this was something that you could forget, and she was not feeling on top form.

In front of her she saw Robert approach the ward. Ah she thought just drop your spells, deactivate foci, go though and... On no! Cursing that she hadn't shouted out, Siran drew her huge two handed sword, and in swung it at the ward in a practiced fashion.

"Well the alarm is sounded" she said to Robert as she took huge swings. "The ward maker may be miles away, in which case we have a few seconds...Move it". Fortunately the ward made no sound on the material world, even though it was ringing deafeningly to her astral senses.

Once a hole was made, Siran closed them again in the concealing arms of her spirit, and moved rapidly to a place of concealment.

[Seth]

@Dysfunctional Family (Doza, Jotamon, Isaac & Ajax)
[April 15th, 2072 11:06am; Through the looking glass]

<<I think we can avoid the pliers and teeth pulling for a while. I think we can just ask nicely and people will usually help: especially if it is to help a small child.

So if we are happy the base plan is:

• Get some medical attention for my gun shots...
• Wait for the boy to wake up and ask him some questions
• Clean up, go back to Touristville and start asking around

Are you going to come with us physically Ajax, or lurk in the matrix?>>

[AppliedCheese]

@ Suicide Kings
[April 16th 2072; 00:20:00 Parking Lot]

Dealer stares at the commlinks for a long moment.

Awful convenient timing half-cut. But if you really sent your yak buddies to Ember's house...damn what i wouldn't give for something to confirm your words. Wonder if this is worth using a data-drop point with Kell for. Confirm the ritual sample stuff. Bad trail that though.


"Anyone got an in with some datahavens? Some way to put a bid out to confirm the information that Hansai just sent?"

<<@ GRP SuicideKings - Hansai Inclusive : Pixel didn't make it. Ambush.>>

[Seth]

@ Suicide Kings
[April 16th 2072; 00:20:00 Parking Lot]

<<[Hansai] I see. <pause> That is distressing. <another pause>. Very well I imagine that causes an issue with Matrix security. Giving Teague Matrix Superiority is probably a bad idea.

I have a contractor that I have used before that is on a similar level to Pixel. Here is a <Secure Identity Digest> that he will use to identify himself with. He's working for me at the moment on another case.>>

[Friendbot2000]

@Dysfunctional Family
[April 15th, 2072 11:06am; Through the Looking Glass]

Ajax's icon smiles through his mask <<Lurk is such a dirty word, I like to think of it as covert observation. Yes I will be coming with you, give me a location and I can meet you there within the hour. I will bring my first aid kit and take a look at that gun shot wound. We should meet somewhere where there is lots of data and RFID traffic to confuse those that are tracking you through the bullet lodged in your gut. There is a pretty large marketplace on Tenpenny Square, do you know where that is? I am sending a mapsoft feed to your commlink. Lets meet at the Chinese place across from the electronics store, restaurants name is Lu Wao, I don't even think the name is Chinese but whatever. Anyways, I know the guy there, helped him prove his wife was cheating on him. Lucky for him he had a prenup. Just say Ajax sent you and he might hook you guys up with a meal. Food's pretty good. He has a back room that you will be able to hole away in til I get there. In the mean time apply pressure to the wound and don't drink anything. Trust me on that.>>

Ajax turned to Alice and bowed slightly <<If that is all, I have some preparations I need to make before heading out. I think we have collaborated sufficiently to get a few leads on where to start looking. As for payment I am sure you and I can find something agreeable on our own time, the more time we waste chatting the colder the trail gets. You know where to contact me>>

Ajax turns to the rest of you <<Remember, Chinese Restaurant, one hour. If you run into any trouble give me a call and I will get to you as soon as I can>>

Ajax signed off and awoke from hot-sim in his bed. He rubbed his eyes wearily and went over to his closet. He flicked a hidden switch and the closet wall slid open revealing a variety of weapons, ammo, B&E gear, and medical supplies. He strapped on his bullet proof vest and donned his armored trenchcoat. He pocketed a couple of extra clips for his gun and clipped his taser to his ankle holster. He grabbed his B&E gear and medkit and threw them in a shoulder satchel. He picked up his keys, press badge, and fake police badge out of the coin bowl on his way out. The police badge wasn't anything that would convince a cop or a corporate exec, but it looked real enough to fool Joe Shmoe and that is sometimes all you need.

Ajax sent a short message to Dao Wong, the owner of the restaurant, that some friends of him were coming and it was time for him to repay him that favor.

"It's going to be a long day" He muttered as he secured his fedora on his head. "A long day indeed."

[Seth]

@Dysfunctional Family
[April 15th, 2072 11:06am; Through the Looking Glass]

Jotamon laughed. Ajax was sounding just like a school mistress. <<Yes Ma'am. Will do. We might have to wait a little for the boy to wake up.>>

Sheesh it isn't even a big wound. Jotamon was surprised the bullet was still in there: he thought it would have hurt an awful lot more. This felt like a flesh wound. Jotamon wasn't exactly used to getting shot, but it happened, and last time had been three weeks of bed rest and had organs regrown. Nope this was just a little itty bitty flesh wound.

Getting out his toolkit, Jotamon scanned for the RFID. There it was...well what a surprise. Bit specialist though: it should be straightforward to track someone who used specialist bullets like this.

ZAP!! The tag eraser did it's thing.

[Friendbot2000]

@Dysfunctional Family
[April 15th, 2072 11:36 am; Through the Looking Glass]


Ajax lit a cigar in the cab of his beat up old sedan, "Dammit, where is Gin?! Bastard is always late. I have a place to be dammit." Almost as if summoned a scrawny looking ork tapped on the window of Ajax's car. Ajax looked over, finally it was Gin. Ajax leaned over and opened the passenger door, Gin eased into the car.

"Hey A, how's it hangin? When you going to take me up on that offer man? There is good money in info brokering."

Ajax sighed "I told you I ain't interested in no info brokering, my skills just ain't suited to sit behind a commlink all day so drop it!"

"Chill man, just offering. So what do you want my services for A? You don't come calling for nothing."

Ajax slipped him a credstick with 500 nuyen on it. "I want you to keep your ear to the ground about someone going after a kid off of NE 40th street. I also want to be the first to know if someone is asking around about me or a couple of people known as Jotamon and Doza. There is more coming your way as soon as I find out more."

"A, you know me, I always come through with the info man. I will keep an ear out, your money and trust is safe with me."

Ajax rolled his eyes "Alright, get out of the car. I got a meet to get to and you have kept me waiting long enough."

Gin saluted and hopped out of the car. Ajax drove off leaving the scrawny ork in the distance. "Hopefully that cagey bastard will come through for me" Ajax muttered.

[JxJxA]

@ Suicide Kings
[April 16th 2072; 00:20:00 Parking Lot]
[The Pixel Special, ID "Aubert Benoit"]

Demon cracks a grin when he sees what Hansai has to say about Knight Errant's search for his ritual sample. Sometimes promiscuity comes with more than the usual carnal rewards. However, his grin disappears when he sees Hansai ask about Pixel. He decides that he owes the strangely agreeable chien de salaires an explanation.

<<@ Group & Hansai: Pixel was killed when one of Teague's lackeys fired a LAW at our van. I saw the villain, but I was not fast enough to stop her. From my understanding, in her final moments she crafted some sort of program to help Dealer continue in her stead as our group's hacker. I know it to be little consolation, but I did manage to wound the chatte and hopefully knock her into a fatal last moment amidst an inferno. Her blood is now fresh on Teague's miserable hands, and while I cannot speak for my comrades, I will do all that I can to avenge her.>>

[AppliedCheese]

@ Suicide Kings
[April 16th 2072; 00:20:00 Parking Lot]

Dealer frowns deeply. They say that when your talking with the jap-corps or the Yakuza, you're supposed to spend the long pauses listening for what isn't being said. They in this case being an advanced linguasoft. Well, Dealer is listening.

We're expendable. You have replacements, and will find someone in a few seconds if we fail. And, incidentally your the only person who can provide us with immediate resources, so we best listen and be happy about it. Which is why we'll accept a totally unverified hacker from the last man to send us straight into an ambush. You will of course, let us die honorably so long as we play along. Bastard. Ok, we'll play.

He frowns again when he reads Demon's message.

Not sure we should be giving information to this guy, any more than we have to. But I guess if we're going to play along...

[Seth]

@ Suicide Kings
[April 16th 2072; 00:20:00 Parking Lot]

<<Thank you for that moving speech Demon. I appreciate it. Even if I am a salaried dog.

I think a very important question is 'do you have evidence that can nail Teague and prove that you are innocent of this crime'. There are a lot of politics at work at the moment: important people are getting out of bed to discuss damage control. Having seen this sort of thing before, I believe that the expedient approach for Knight Errant is to apprehend you lot, and if you are shot while resisting arrest that would satisfy the media feeding frenzy.

Evidence that you didn't do it, is not as powerful as evidence that someone else did. If we are careful I can use the evidence that you didn't do it to get you arrested gently, although I think that is risky for those of you that are suspected of other crimes. I think the evidence from the witnesses at the Jucy Lucy may be enough to persuade a Jury that you had little to do with Gamma, although it will be challenging to get an unbiased jury. If that is what you want though, I will do my best to make it happen. Another option for you is to flee.

To help you in your decision making, I think I will discuss my other lead with you:

I was finishing a very unpleasant meeting with my superiors: they are really not impressed with any idea that the Gamma Liberation Front (that's you) didn't do it, when I received a personal comlink from Takahashi Yanaga <ARO link to Novatech management structure, showing Yanaga is the CEO, and that Teague reports directly to Yanaga>. You might not be aware, but Teague has not made himself many friends in Novatech. His meteoric rise was usually by crawling over the remains of his former boss. Yanaga has no desire to be the next target. I haven't communicated with him before, and I was rather surprised at the communication. Like myself he is a student on Kanryo-jutsu, and was able to communicate much while talking about other things.

On the surface:

He offered his condolences for the death of my partner. He knows my fiance, and offered us some tickets for the charity do tomorrow. He was careful to point out that Novatech was a separate corporation to Knight Errant, and they are under no obligation to provide access to a Knight Errant search warrent. Unless there was a great deal of evidence indicating that one of his employees was engaged in illicit activities, nothing could be done.

Under the surface:

He told me how to acquire a copy of the plans to Teague's estate, and that there is a hidden data center in the basement. Yanaga has been monitoring that center and it received a great deal of data from Allanby's warehouse about half an hour ago. As well as that data all events in the building are recorded there. For security, there is no offsite backup, and Teague has a simple mechanical push button in his bedroom to blow it up.

So I propose that you consider a plan to raid Teague's estate. Ideally you would do it when Teague is out, as the security will be lower then. There are I think two opportunities tomorrow:
Teague will be at a champagne breakfast tomorrow morning, and will be at the charity do tomorrow evening. I would propose that you do not leave it any later than that, as Knight Errant are diligently searching for you. I can arrange for a distraction at the gate, by serving a Knight Errant search warrant: this should attract the guard's attention, but unlike most distractions it won't increase the guard's sense of alertness.>>

[AppliedCheese]

@ I'm on a boat
[April 15th 2072; 23:50 SS Henry VIII 4000 meters off shore, Puget Sound]

...as Siran slashed through the ward something unique happened - nothing. No alarms went off. No crackling announcements. The ship continued on its course with eerily little change. It was probably just a matter of time, but for the moment the ship seemed unaware. The stairwell loomed off to the right of the runner team, through another door. To their front, the hallway lead through a similiar entrance to what the mapsofts said was the sickbay and some administrative offices. At the far end was another stairwell leading up.

Apparently the crew got good exercise, because there were no elevators. With one "false" story, and another work area story before the final bridge level, maybe there just wasn't a real convenient place to put one.

Either way. 4 stories to go. And while there was nothing going off now, someone would certainly be interested in that ward sooner or later...

[Aria]

@ I'm on a boat
[April 15th 2072; 23:50 SS Henry VIII 4000 meters off shore, Puget Sound]

Silk looked back at the others

<<Ok, chances are we are made or about to be...I have point, let's move! @Nine: Anything you can do by way of a distraction in about a minute would be welcome!>>

With that she gathered her magics into herself, and tracing her trajectory in her mind's eye, launched herself to the first half landing in a bound, weapon at the ready, but barely visible despite the harsh sodium lighting throwing shadows across the stair well...

[Aria]

@ Suicide Kings
[April 16th 2072; 00:20:00 Parking Lot]

Ember grimaced from beneath the layers of bandage and newly applied synth skin. Despite looking red and raw, and his left hand a twisted parody of its former self, he felt surprisingly well, the adrenalin coursing through him and the ever increasing anger no doubt keeping the crushing pain at bay...and he granted the cocktail of painkillers probably had something to do with it too, technology did have its uses, sometimes...

Careful that Hansai's connection was muted for now

"Some of us have little choice here it seems. I have a life outside of the shadows which I would like to return to, even if Ember is to be no more. And that does not address the matter of Teague and his ilk. He must be made to pay for stepping over the bounds of acceptable behaviour...and I am not talking about setting up people to divert attention from himself, that I can accept...he attacked a fixer, that is bad, that she was my wife makes it unforgiveable. He placed my children in danger and for that the lowest pits of hell will not keep him safe from me!"

[Aria]

@Dysfunctional Family
[April 15th, 2072 11:06am; Through the Looking Glass]

<<If you are in need of medical attention then Doctor Bob's Quick Stitch is a reliable back street clinic near the area where the boy came from and I hope you will go back to for me. If I can help you with anything else...?>>

***

The bullet lies in the palm of Jotamon's hand. It is a specialist item. The RFID tag is part of a burrowing fragment ejected from the bullet on impact. You suspect that even a glancing hit would be sufficient for it to imbed itself (as indeed it did). Whoever these people are they like to know where their bullets end up...but it will take some expert knowledge to track it further, this didn't come off a shelf at Weapons World but its not cutting edge either, and the devil is in the details...but if you can link it somehow to the node's location that Jamie discovered...

[Friendbot2000]

@Dysfunctional Family
[April 15th, 2072 11:45am; Ajax's Car]


"Damn, traffic is awful." Ajax growled. Why the hell are so many people on the roads? Don't wage slaves eat at their desk? Ajax went into AR and browsed through special events going on in the city. "Bingo!" He said as he came upon an ad for some skinny elf chicks concert tour, Savannah Montano. Jeez the 16 year old girl was only wearing a scrap of clothing that barely covered her sensitive areas. No decency. "Music's crap too" he said under his breath as he watched a video of one of her songs. He couldn't sit through the whole thing and quickly exited the window. He looked around at all the cars and sure enough, there were tons of teenyboppers crammed into them. Don't these kids have school to go to. It is only noon!?

"Jesus Tap Dancing Christ, if Margerette and I had a child we would have to put an RFID tag on the kid just to keep em out of trouble today" He wistfully thought back to his days growing up. His mother used to tell stories about how different things were in her day and her mothers day. Due to the context of the times today, a kid wouldn't believe the stories his mom and dad told about their childhood. "Times have changed" he muttered rubbing his eyes.

He breathed a sigh of relief as he turned onto a back road leading into the part of town where the Chinese place was. "Sometimes I hate living in the city" He growled as he drove on down the narrow side streets.