IC: Reclaiming the Void Options

[Buddha72]

D'zan sees the small tear open inside the sphere as a spirit is drawn in. He feels the pressure on his mind as it struggles to free itself from the binding but quickly is subdued as the threads of mana settle on it and bring its will in accord with his own. A small swirling ball of air and mist hangs there - two small points of light its eyes as it peers around it's new surroundings.

Ok, off with you till I call.

The spirit silently seeps back to the astral awaiting his call to service.

[Fenris]

<<@Team [Argent] Pulling up to the Casino now. Going to see if we can get in to look around.>>

As the odd-looking monocycle pulls up in front of the Casino, Argent slots in his 'Horizon' package into his Erika Elite. He tucks the shirt in and tightens up the tie, darkening his skin tone to nearly pitch black, and his hair to match. A smart looking African-American male steps out of the 'cycle. Charles Dubri, 4th tier Executive in the Horizon 'Local Flavor" Division tips the valet generously and takes on a resigned and slightly indignant air as he strides confidently up towards the doors.

[BishopMcQ]

Argent

You see the valet do a double-take as you step out of the vehicle. The ARO that the valet prepared quickly changes names from your janitorial alias to Mr. Dubri. He nods at the generous tip and drives the monocycle away. The nearby valet lot is almost empty at this time of day, and he parks it near the casino to be accessible very quickly.

Two doormen flank the front door of the casino, both orks in a 1920s style livery. In the astral, above the two men a menacing tempest of flames hovers in the air.

D'zan

The building looks old, with ivy growing up the walls and a tall hedge facing the street, providing privacy from the main thoroughfare. The driveway is broad enough for two Seelie nobles to stand side by side without their egos clashing.

You can smell the stench of mundanes across the place. Closer to the building, it emanates with power. Above the mortals, a being of awakened flame yearns to burn.

Both
As you approach, one of the doormen nods politely but holds his hand out in a gesture for you to stop.

"Token please."

[Redjack]

Papa starts with a face-palm, then pulls up an AR window and checks the distance to the casino and plots travel time.
<<@Team [Papa] What do you need from me?>>

[Buddha72]

D'zan feels the hunger in him, the desire for more power but tries to focus on the matter at hand for the team. He moves, keeping Argent between himself and the others hoping to remain unseen. The tingle of his own magic plays across his skin as the glamour he conjured urges others to overlook him.

[JxJxA]

In the midst of crafting delicate arcane formulae to draw forth his sister into the material world, Uetz takes a break to give his mind a rest. I knew this would be hard, but it is just so...exhausting.. He takes a moment to fire off a commlink message to the rest of the group.

The house is clear, and Tlacelel is on call if anything happens. How are things on your ends?

[Fenris]

Argent gives the doorman a bored look. "Look, I know you're doing your jobs, but I don't have time to stand and play 'Bouncer'. Jason's Phillips Personal Junior Executive Associate sent me tag saying that he left a [very] expensive, [very] personal ring in the library, and that I'm to retrieve it. I don't have his phoenix token, I'm not important enough to get a direct meeting. But, the order was explicit, and as I'm sure you know, Jason likes to fire entire shifts of people when he's displeased about the service."

[Redjack]

Papa decides to call up an air taxi and meet up with Argent sooner rather than later.

[BishopMcQ]

At the Casino

"Mr. Dubri, our clients appreciate a certain sense of anonymity and discretion. Without a proper token, you may not enter. I'm certain your employer will understand that we do not allow paparazzi into the building. If any personal items were left behind accidentally, they will be held securely until the client returns to retrieve them.

"Additionally, you are out of dress code. Even if I was to believe the story that a very personal item was being picked up by someone who wasn't important enough to have a face to face meeting with, I could not let you in until you met our proper dress code. I must ask you to leave at this time. Thank you and have a pleasant day."

The bouncer makes a small hand motion, and the valet begins jogging back to your vehicle to pick it up.

Papa

The air taxi swoops down to your location, at a speed which you think is probably breaking a few traffic laws. When the hatch slides open, you see an elf with bleached out hair and several weeks of dark roots visible. She has a broken quality to her of a recurring addict trying to stay on the bandwagon. An ARO next to her clearly states that by approaching within thirty meters of the helicopter you are allowing yourself to be filmed. PITO subscription access to AirJockey^TM: Turbo is offered on a second ARO. "Follow the life of an AirJockey^TM through the skies of LA and meet the glamorous clients who fly with them."

"Where to big guy?"

[Buddha72]

At the Casino

Watching things unravel D'zan reaches into himself trying to awaken the awareness he had before of the items they were seeking and see if they were indeed closer to one right now.

[BishopMcQ]

D'zan

Picturing the book in your mind, you smell the scent of musty old leather and feel it pulling you to the west. The casino does not stand between you and your quarry.

[Buddha72]

At the Casino
D'zan curses himself for not checking sooner and sparing his friend the tongue lashing from the overpaid suit. He crawls his way up Argent's back and whispers into his ear.

"So my fuck up but what we want is not here so we should leave......sorry."

He listens as Argent smoothes things over with the staff at the casino and gracefully withdraws from the establishment. Once back in his vehicle they make contact with the rest of the team to arrange a meet up and get back on track with the job.

[JxJxA]

During another break, Uetz checks on Rene and Etain. He hopes that they are all right, but realizes that he cannot keep them here. He tries to think of a safe place to take them once he is finished with today's work.

[BishopMcQ]

Elsewhere

Coltrane sipped the nightly special from the bar. It was thick and coppery, sticking to the sides of the glass. He watched the others on his team bicker about the best method to secure the book. They'd already collected three other pieces for Locket. Coltrane knew in the back of his mind that something was wrong with the woman--she definitely wasn't human, though neither was a BTL and she had curves in all the right places.

"I still think we should just eliminate the other team." This from Keiri, the Aztlaner Jaguar shaman. He preferred attacking from surprise with ferocity and overwhelming power.

"No, again. Locket said we can take them out if they are directly in our path, but otherwise she will deal with them." The "Doctor" added his piece. Apparently the university took offense at his unanticipated sabbatical, especially when he copied several other researchers datafiles and "lost them" in Europe just outside a different university. Neither school wanted him, and his name got dragged through the mud of scholarly circles. Still, he was one of the best minds in the world on arcane theory and hermetic formula creation.

They were running over the same ground, rehashing out the same argument from an hour ago and a hour before that. Coltrane took another drink, feeling the warmth spread across his skin. The bar was the type of dive that he favored during his brief military career. Dark, dirty, and prone to knife fights. The owner scattered saw dust across the floor every night to absorb the blood and if you believed the rumors had a deal with a Mafia mage to clean up any evidence. Either way, the bar never closed so it was a great place to come and have a drink while the team argued across lunch and on towards dinner.

Tonight, when they were done arguing and had nothing left to say to one another, Coltrane would lay out the plan. They'd accept it, because it was better than anything that had been put forth. He based his plans on the gems hidden amongst the rubble of their fights. Beyond that, they listened because most were addicts and he had the only game in town.

[Fenris]

Fuming, he steps away and back into the vehicle, casually searching the air around him for just a moment, waiting to make sure D'zan has time to get into the monocycle.

"The dress code! Seriously? Can you believe that drek? Did you get anything D'zan?"

He's already keying up Uetz and Papa as he's talking. As soon as they're online, he's talking again. "Look, struck out at the casino...Anybody got anything?"

[JxJxA]

At Home

Uetz sees his commlink flash while he is rifling through his friends' things looking for nuyen. He answers it after finding just what he was looking for: a credstick with money for cab fare and the motel rooms. He calls for a cab and then scribbles notes on spare parchment for Etain and Rene to let them know where he took them and to give him a call to pick them up if they need it. Once he manages to get them by the front door, he changes into a pair of old street clothes that he no longer needs.

When the cab arrives, he gently maneuvers them into the passenger seating and gives the taxi directions to the coffin motel. En route, he fires off a message at Argent.

Away from home now. No jobs lined up. Taking my friends to a safe place for medical care. All was quiet at home, and I have help standing by if we need it. He decides not to mention his side-project of drawing forth Quauhtli into the physical world. No sense in raising hopes prematurely, especially if he fails.

At the Coffin Motel

When he gets to the coffin motel, he manages to bring his friends inside and place them in suitable rooms. He places the notes in their coffins, pays the fee, and tosses the credstick into Etain's coffin. He then goes outside, takes off his shirt and places his commlink on the ground while gripping his power focus.

After today, I really need this.

He summons forth mana and the Idea of the Eagle. He feels his hair grow thick and wide, turning into quills and sprouting forth barbs and vanes. His arms grow long, and his feet twist into vicious talons. He hops free of his pants, gripping his power focus in one talon, and grabbing his commlink with another. With a few powerful beats of his wings, he launches into the air and soars back home.

[Redjack]

He considers the situation and warning, before smiling at the air jockey and saying, "Let's gamble a little." and he tosses her an AR for the casino. As they helicopter lurches into the air, he gets the additional information from Argent.

<<@Argent [Papa] I'm inbound to the casino... Minutes out. If the casino is a dead end, then I won't edit out the video of my arrival to create a false trail if we are being monitored over PITO.>>

<<@Team [Papa] I'm out of ideas. I can run leg work in the matrix or using the stone, but I'm at a loss.>>

When he arrives at the casino, he pays the cabbie with a generous tip steps out and away as if headed into the casino. Once the cabbie is clear, he makes his way indirectly towards Argent. Once his teammate is in sight, he changes his Access ID again to keep his paranoia in check.

[BishopMcQ]

Cafe Diem

It took an hour to get everyone squared away and in the same location, but your team eventually managed it. Cafe Diem is a small, modern diner with an exotic menu changing daily. The owner, Nathan, rents it out for private events with the promise that he can make anything served anywhere in the world. The fine print on the catering contract requires 24 hour notice before ordering not on the daily menu.

Using D'zan's new found sense of tracking the objects you are seeking, he and Argent spent the time driving around west LA. The sense isn't perfect, but the book is somewhere within three kilometers of UCLA campus. The only locations within that area which have substantial physical libraries are on the campus proper.

Now, you are in a corner booth tucked away from the main flow of traffic in the diner. A bag rests on the table, with the gilded mirror and small vials from the beginning of the job. Another vial with blood from the hag that Uetz collected rests beside the others. The shadow imbued stone pulses warmly in Papa's pocket.

Across town, Rene and Etain sleep comfortably, medicated and protected by the anonymity of a coffin motel.

[JxJxA]

Cafe Diem

"So...does anyone have any plans? If we have to bust in, I have a Tlacelel on standby who can help us get in."

[Buddha72]

D'zan sits cross legged on the table, his wings occasionally twitching as they open and close.

"I am tired of waiting - I say we do something and soon. They probably don't even know what they have."

He looks from face to face hoping to see the same eagerness and need for action in someone else's face.

[Fenris]

Argent shrugs, "We're not making any progress anywhere else, and D'zan's pretty sure what we're looking for is on the campus. I say we grab a few college kids commlinks, crack 'em quick and dirty to give us something to run around with, and go right for what we're looking for. No reason beating around the bush, and Papa can take care of the electronic peepshow."

[JxJxA]

Uetz shrugs, his face betraying a sense of hesitation.

"I am hoping that we can get what we are looking for without hurting anyone. However, with what happened back home...I hope you understand if I am a little worried about having videos of my face streamed all throughout the Internet. If we need to crash UCLA, so be it. I just hope you understand if I take another guise and just fly or crawl in the background..."

He looks down sadly before continuing.

"I really do not want to see any more of my friends hurt..."

[Buddha72]

"While it pains me to say we could not hurt anyone that gets in our way..." D'zan's face splits with a small, his sharp pointy teeth glinting in the light.
"..I see your point. As to being recognized I can take care of that. A little weave of magic and your own mother won't know you. Does that help?"

His pulse quickens with the idea of endorsed chaos, so rarely does his work allow him the chance to just cut loose and drink as much power as he can take. He tries to keep the flush of excitement from warming his whole body.

[JxJxA]

"If you can do something to disguise me, I would appreciate it. I am hoping that people would not recognize my face as a pelican, or possibly a gibbon peeking out from an air vent... Unless we are drawn into fighting, I think I am better use to us all if I stay out of sight.

"However, if we move quickly...I have Tlacelel standing by. If we need the help of a warrior, he will provide it."

[Fenris]

Argent ponders thoughtfully. "What may be most useful is a classic distraction bit. Get D'zan to make a bit of noise and focus attention somewhere else on campus, and we'll do what we need to do. Even if we have to bust down the doors to get there, there won't be anybody else around to stop use."