Tangled Currents - Meira Options

[Mercy]

Friday June 14th, 2075 2058 Dante's Inferno, Seattle


The two women give you a horrible look and flounce away. Matt snickers as he takes your arm and leads you towards the ramp leading to the next level. "That works very well. Thank you."

The second level is not much different from the first, but the music on the third level is more of a high paced, high energy techno beat. There are two burly costumed men at the bottom of the ramp who look over at you as you walk between them. One takes a step in front of you and the other speaks in a respectful tone of voice. "Sir, Miss? Could you please accompany us to the security room on this level. It should only take a few moments of your time."


OOC

What sort of weapons are you carrying and how well concealed are they?

[fibericon]

Meira nods at security and gestures for them to lead the way.

"Not a problem. Matt?"

The jig is probably up, but arguing with them won't make anything better. Her best plan at this point is to submit to the security check, and when they find the weapons, explain her role as Matt's personal security.

OOC: Predator V and Monofilament Whip, both in concealable holsters.

[Mercy]

Friday June 14th, 2075 2058 Dante's Inferno, Seattle


The two men at the bottom of the ramp are replaced another pair as the men lead you to the security room on this level. You soon find that you are not the only people being herded into the waiting room and taken into the security room in ones and twos. After a few minutes it is your turn and a man takes you inside, where you see a woman sitting behind a desk, watching several monitors at once. She swivels her head to look at you and smiles as she motions to a chair in front of her desk. A nameplate on the desk indicates that she might by Captain Cowles. "I will get right to the point, Miss. The scanners at the entrance to the VIP section of the club were not operational for a few minutes at just the time you entered the building. As a result, your weapon was missed. Would you please give your Predator to the nice man behind you. He will give you a receipt that you may redeem for your pistol when you are ready to leave. Thank you in advance for being understanding."

[fibericon]

Meira has a seat, and nods at the woman's request. "Yes, of course. But you can imagine that in this dress there isn't a lot of room to hide a weapon. Do you mind if I step behind a privacy screen, or something to that effect first? And now that your scanners are working again, you might want to scan the previous floor - I noticed weapons just looking around."

She looks over at Matt and furrows her brow. "Don't look at me like that. I'm running security for you. If the scanner doesn't pick up my weapon - for any reason - it's my responsibility to not volunteer it."

[Mercy]

Friday June 14th, 2075 2058 Dante's Inferno, Seattle


The woman nods and motions to where a scree has been set up. "We are already moving through the other levels as well, but thank you for your cooperation."

Matt does not say anything but he nods.

[fibericon]

Meira heads behind the privacy screen and removes the pistol's holster, then adjusts her dress before steping out and handing both to one of the guards.

"That's my baby - take care of her."

[Mercy]

Friday June 14th, 2075 2058 Dante's Inferno, Seattle


The guard nods and smiles as he takes your pistol and hands you a receipt. "I know just what you mean. Turn this ticket in at the weapons storage room on Level 1 when you are ready to leave."

The woman behind the desk also nods. "Thank you for your cooperation. I am sorry for the inconvenience. You may return to the level."

With that the guard shows you out and brings another man in.

Matt looks at you. "Still want to look around?"

[fibericon]

Meira nods to Matt, then waits until they're clear of security to speak. "Assuming that was you, that was a cute trick with the scanner. Assuming it wasn't, tonight might have just taken a strange twist." She chuckles and shakes her head, adding, "We've got a lot more planes of hell to descend, and I'm not sure everyone's gonna fall for the waitress line. Brace yourself for fangirls."

She clutches his arm and mockingly over-dramatizes the encounter. "Oh Mister Carson! I like your game so much we should have babies!"

[Mercy]

Friday June 14th, 2075 2058 Dante's Inferno, Seattle


Matt shakes his head. "That was not me. I did not even think of it. But you are right and that woman is worried about something. If the system was hacked, there could be people here that mean to do harm to others."

He looks at you and grins. "Yes, we can sink further into hell if you like. If I remember the book, this should be interesting, and apparently the lower three levels are the restricted ones. Oh, and you might be surprised how many times I have had women come up to me and say just exactly that. Of course, it is mostly just a way to get to my money."

[fibericon]

Meira narrows her eyes when Matt mentions not taking the security system offline. If he didn't do it, then he was right about one thing - someone was going to cause trouble. That left two possibilities - either someone was going to start shooting in the immediate future, since security was already doing sweeps and would surely find anything big, or what they had wasn't going to get picked up anyway, and this whole thing was to distract security while they prepared for their little stunt. But that was her problem to worry about - getting Matt wound up wouldn't help anyone.

"You know what I think? The lower we go, the less likely we are to run into trouble from whoever glitched security." She cracks a grin at him and adds, "Just doing my job, Sir. We must sink lower into depravity to keep you safe."

[Mercy]

Friday June 14th, 2075 2058 Dante's Inferno, Seattle


Matt looks at you as if he does not understand, then he laughs. "Very good, Meira, very good. Sure, let us descend even further." He sets the ARO guide in the bracelet to the lower levels and the two of you walk down additional ramps to the lower levels. Each level is smaller than the previous one but seems to be a bit more crowded, as patrons try to get the most of the experience. The sixth level dance floor is filled with revelers moving to a hard techno beat. A number of the patrons there are only half clothed and you can see a number of topless men and women in the group. The costumed staff selling party drugs are a bit bolder down here. As you stand and watch the people, Matt nudges you and points to the ramp headed further down. He has to shout to be heard over the music? "More depravity?"

[fibericon]

Though the scene is certainly entertaining, Meira's paranoia has already kicked in. An area this densely packed would bode ill for using a monofilament whip. And while it seemed to get worse the further down they went, the fact that the other floors were restricted probably meant there would be less people. Unless, of course, that disclaimer was nonsense. Only one way to find out.

"Wouldn't want to have to say you didn't, right? Onward and... well, downwards, I suppose."

[Mercy]

Friday June 14th, 2075 2105 Dante's Inferno, Seattle


The security at the ramp down to the seventh level was definitely tighter than that on the other ramps. Your wrist bands are closely inspected by the guards then run through a scanner to see if they might have been regular band that have been altered. Before motioning for you to proceed down the ramp, one of the guards hands you each a decorative mask to put on that covers the eyes and nose and tells you that you are supposed to wear it on the lower levels. The staff costumes on the level were sexy devils and both the men and women staffers had obviously been selected with sex appeal in mind. The biggest difference is that, while the level was small than those above it, there were far fewer people here. You also note that a number of the guests are partially or even completely nude.

As you walk about, you pass by several open areas where you can see pairs or groups of people having sex. The music is softer and slower and the dance floor has several couples swaying to the music.

[fibericon]

Meira dons her mask, and looking about the room, chuckles at Matt. "Safe. Well, safe from weapons anyway. You read the book, you say? Then surely you have some insight on what's to come. Come on, let's hear those educated guesses. Besides, it'll desensitize you to that thing we're supposed to do tomorrow. You said it gets crazy, right? Is this a pretty good approximation? This all looks pretty corporate to me."

[Mercy]

Friday June 14th, 2075 2108 Dante's Inferno, Seattle


Matt laughs and nods his head. "Yeah, I am not sure if they can keep the levels accurate. This one is supposed to be Violence, the next is Fraud, and the last is Treachery. I think that the book references are mostly to provide a motif for the staff costumes." He waves a hand around. "As you can see, most of the party goers are rather underdressed. But otherwise you are right. I have only been to as few of the corporate parties as possible, but, yes, there was a lot of this sort of thing going on in the evenings. Alcohol, party drugs, and sex, and the sex did not need to be with the person you came with. It seems that there is some sort of unwritten law that says things that happen in the various bedrooms of those things does not go home. All of which is crap and I have never understood the allure. I don't mean the sex, because I can certainly understand that, but not the rampant partner swapping that seems to go on. In my opinion, a man should stay with the person he came with." He holds up his hands. "I know, i know. Pretty old fashioned, eh? That's me, stick in the mud. But that is why I need you there. As a single guy, I would be fair game for every woman there, married or not, and turning all of them down would be a chore. With you around, I just claim to be taken and that is that."

[fibericon]

"I mean, you say 'that's that', but if they don't care who they came with, why will they care who you came with? I'll be there, but don't expect me to magically repel all advances, is what I'm getting at. Hey, maybe you can have a drone that flies around you saying 'nope' at anyone who approaches. Nah, probably too subtle for some of the advances you get. Maybe put out a public statement that they need to be a certain level in Vampire Hunter to approach you. At least that adds a filter of some sort."

She chuckles and shakes her head. "Practically speaking, I think the bottom three floors are safest from whatever's going to happen tonight, if anything - mostly because they're harder to get to."

[Mercy]

Friday June 14th, 2075 2108 Dante's Inferno, Seattle


Matt laughs. "Certain level in the game. I never thought of that. Maybe I should at that; at least it would show some dedication to the project, wouldn't it?"

At your next comment he nods his head towards the next down ramp and smiles. "With that logic, we should be safest on the bottom level. Interested?"

[fibericon]

"Might as well - we came this far, right? Ralph will be disappointed that you're not as uncomfortable as he'd hoped you'd be. This has all the markings of a prank, if you ask me. Or maybe he just thought you needed to loosen up -a lot-. You don't seem like the party drugs type."

She takes Matt's arm and follows him down the ramp to the next floor.

[Mercy]

Friday June 14th, 2075 2108 Dante's Inferno, Seattle


Matt smile at you as you take his arm. "No, I stay away from that stuff. Tried some party drugs once a few years back at one of the corporate things and had a very bad reaction. They had to call an ambulance for me. Very embarrassing. So now I have this rep, you know. And, yes, I sort of agree that Ralph might have been pranking me when he gave me passes to this place. Maybe he thought I needed a bit of fun. But he gave them to me a while ago."

You barely have time to look at the next level as you pass from one ramp to the next. The ninth level is clearly decorated as the gateway to hell and the staff is costumed as sexy devils. Nearly all of the revelers here are either half or fully naked, although you do see a few who are fully clothed. One of the guards at the bottom of the ramp checks your bracelets yet again then points to a side room. "Welcome to hell, Miss, Sir. Communal changing rooms are just through there if you are interested in getting the full effect of this level."

An attractive devil stands just past the guard, offering a wide array of drugs. The dance floor is a tangle of writhing, mostly naked bodies. Matt shakes his head and looks at you. "Well? Your call here."

[fibericon]

Meira shrugs, "I came, I saw, I decided to stay sober so I wouldn't be hungover while working tomorrow. This is the type of place I go to to say I've been here before. Spending any serious time here is just asking for trouble, but I think a lot of the people here are doing just that. Well, no explosions yet. Coast is probably clear if you wanna bail."

[Mercy]

Friday June 14th, 2075 2110 Dante's Inferno, Seattle


Matt looks around then back to you and nods. "Yeah, I think I am good. This sort of thing is not really me, I guess. Right now, the only reason to stay is knowing that when we leave, my time with you tonight will be closing and I will be going back to an empty house." He sighs. "Still, that is preferable to forcing you to stay here."

He offers his arm again and motions to the ramp leading to the upper levels with the other. "Shall we go?"

[fibericon]

Meira chooses to ignore the commentary - responding would only take her into another conversation she didn't want to have. Instead, she takes his arm and nods, offering the floor one last glance around before they ascend. The issue with security was still eating at her, but with any luck, they'd be gone before whatever happened was going to happen. Only, luck had never been her thing. She lowers her head, looking at the floor to avoid more distractions, and listens.

Perception (hearing): 11d6t5 4

[Mercy]

Friday June 14th, 2075 2113 Dante's Inferno, Seattle


As you step off the ramp at the seventh level, you immediately notice that something is a bit off. There are four security men at the bottom of the ramp up to the sixth level and they appear to be very alert and focused on what is above them. The patrons on the dance floor seem to be oblivious, although you see a man standing in an alert and ready posture near a half naked young woman who has her back to a wall. Something is not right.

[fibericon]

Meira stops, tugging Matt's arm. She leans over and hisses, "Behind me. Something's wrong."

She approaches the man guarding the patron and speaks up. "I'm on bodyguard duty, talk to me. And please tell me you got something past security."

[Mercy]

Friday June 14th, 2075 2113 Dante's Inferno, Seattle


The man narrows his eyes at you as you approach then nods. "The place had a security breach earlier and I think someone got inside with some weapons. Their security is tightest at the entrances until you get to these bottom levels, when it really ticks upward. I thought something was fishy while we up on the next level and drug the kid down here just before they closed the ramps. Did not even have a chance to get her shirt from the locker. You would not happen to have a spare top in the dress would you?"

When you ask your question, he shrugs his shoulders and smiles. "Let's hope that we do not need to find out the answer to that question." He holds out a hand. "Ron Blake."