IC New Beginnings DAWN Options

[Mercy]

Snow translates for Con as requested and smiles when the boy seems to speak enough English to be helpful. She turns back to the man and also requests 5000 to carry with her. When done, she looks at the others. "Anyone up for some rest in a real bed? My muscles are a bit sore."

She steps up to Con and puts a hand on his arm. "Hey, thanks for.........well, thanks. I am sorry for putting you through that. How can I make it up to you?"

[Necrogigas]

O'Connor looked away from Snow, not meeting her eyes. The bruising and swelling would be a constant reminder to him this entire trip, "I'd say I owed you an apology, but this was your play." He cast a quick look to see if any of the others were paying them any attention. He spoke softly so hopefully only Snow heard, "Please don't make me do this again. I don't think I can."

[Mercy]

Snow realizes that Con has not removed her hand from his arm so leaves it there as she leans forward and whispers. "I did not realize it would hurt you so much and I am sorry for putting you through that. I will not do so again unless you think it necessary." She quickly leans closer and kisses him on the cheek then pulls back away. "Thank you for being you."

[Necrogigas]

O'Connor's eyes widened in suprise at Snow's words. He tried to mask it by giving an amused huff, "That's probably the first and only time someone will thank me for being me." Emotionally heavy conversations weren't his forte, so O'Connor turned back to the kid, "What time do shops open 'n' close around here?"

[Crossbow]

Jane steps between O'Conner and his new friend, "Later for that, we need to get settled in our room before we lose the reservation. Hey kid, take us to the Porto Novo."

The Porto Novo “Luxury Hotel” has precious little to do with luxury—unless you compare it to the slums you went through to get here. The five-story building is a U-shape around a central courtyard. It is made of cinderblocks that were whitewashed two or maybe three decades ago, but now the walls are a uniform red from the pervasive dust that coats everything. Still, the only way into the building is through a sturdy-looking gate into the courtyard, which is guarded by a pack of FNHAR –toting thugs. There are no windows on the first two floors, and inside more armed guards patrol the hallways—well, at least they’re in the hallways. The guard on your floor—an ebony-skinned human man—is slouched back in a rickety chair, smoking a fragrant cigarette, his teeth stained yellow from years of smoking. He introduces himself to you as peaceful, which seems strange until you realize the English word is actually his name. Otherwise, he speaks Yoruba. You also quickly figure out that for a sizable tip, he’ll make sure anything you leave in your rooms stays in there. He also offers to get you “Anything else you might need, boss.” Inside your room, the hotel has a “wet bar,” which is a wooden cupboard with bottled water and a jug of what you’re told is home-brewed palm wine. The manager, a slick operator, already told you he can provide bottled beer or UCAS soft drinks for an extra charge. You’ve also discovered that his boast that his rooms are “insect free” means there is a dog-sized lizard sleeping on your bed.

“Every room,” he tells you, in broken English. “High class, yes? No iba here.” (Your linguasoft translates iba as illness, or perhaps malaria, or perhaps VITAS.) While you’re watching, a cockroach the size of your fist crawls out from under the bed. Without opening its eyes, the lizard snaps out an incredibly long tongue, snatches up the cockroach, and swallows it, almost too fast to see. The manager turns to you, beaming, and says, “See? No insects!”

There’s a shared bathroom with working chemical toilets on each floor, but no running water. Apparently, the manager spends all his money on security guards and not housekeepers, since everything seems to be covered in a layer of red grime.

Grimacing, Jane says to you, “Charming, eh? But I’ve been told it’s the safest place to stay outside the Island, and we don’t have the budget to go there. I’ve got some calls to make and I need to check in with my employer. After that … well, I guess we should get started. Give me fifteen minutes and we can go to the kid's market. I can already tell I didn’t bring enough ammo for my Predator.”

[Mercy]

Snow has remained quiet during the walk to the hotel and the tour of the room by the manager. After he leaves, she sits down to wait while Jane makes her calls. "I am uncomfortable leaving my medical supplies in the room while we are out. Does that make sense to anyone? And before I make another mistake, I think we should at least discuss the relationships that we want to portray to the public between the men and women on the team."

[Necrogigas]

O'Connor gave Jane a sour look at her interruption, "Excuse you, I wasn't done talking to my new little homie." He put out his arm to get Jane to take a step back. He took a knee so that he was eye level with the boy, "Sorry about her. She doesn't have the best manners." O'Connor took the opportunity to snicker of the fact that HE got to drek talk someone else's manners. He refocused on the boy, "You were about to tell us your name."

************************

O'Connor had taken a shining to their guide, and invited the kid to stick with him for the time being. Lagos appeared similiar to Redmond in several regards, and death stalked around every corner of his hometown. They seemed to be building a repour, and there was no need to waste a, so far, useful guide.

Once at the hotel, O'Connor and the kid were probably the only ones impressed with the amenities. The giant bug eating lizard was cool as hell. O'Connor lamented that Seattle was probably far too cold for such a creature. He could really use one of these guys in his place. He turned to the manager, "That lizard's dope as drek, omae." O'Connor started searching under the bed for another cockroach, "Lil' Homie, help me find another bug. I wanna see if he can catch one outta the air."

************************

Once Jane left to make her calls and Snow began her discussion, O'Connor dug out his armorer's kit and layed out his weapons on the floor, "While we talk this over, I wanna do maintenance on all our weapons. Conditions here are rough as frag and I won't have us dealing with jammings or misfires during a fight. Hell, I'm planning on tricking out those AKs we picked up so that Clem and I have go-to weapons until the real mission starts."

[Mercy]

Snow hands over her predator to Con. "Thank you for doing this."

She looks around counting doors. "Anyone know the sleeping arrangements?"

[farothel]

Sammy had grown up in a place not that different from this one, but over the years, she had gotten used to a bit more comfort. At least there was security and with a couple of hours of work, she could make a ward and make it more secure.

"At least someone's happy," she murmured to Snow when she saw O'Connor.

She also handed over her predator to O'Connor, but she kept her katana herself. That just needed some cleaning, but she could do that herself.
"I probably also need extra ammo," she said to Jane, "but something tells me we can find it around here somewhere. Even in East LA there are not that many weapons. I'll also set up a ward around the rooms. They're not all that big, so I'll probably be able to put them all in one ward. It'll take about 5 hours."

[Thvor]

[ Spoiler ]

Not sure if this counts, but figured I'd go ahead and roll etiquette to see how well Sam read the social layout as they walked through town:
CHA(6) + Etiquette(4) + Kinesics(3): 13d6t5 5

Sam passed his Self-Defender and the Roomsweeper to Con, then turned to the group. "The real question is going to be how to track down information on the elf. This place doesn't look the sort to have a directory that we can pull up, and he's likely to be using a different alias than the one we've got. The Johnson said our primary role was security, but that we're also to help with the investigation. So hopefully she's got some sort of plan. And without knowing what her plan is, it's hard for us to know how to present ourselves. I could go with the 'rich socialite with a thing for old artifacts' role, with body guards and such, but if she decides to be an archaeology professor organizing an expedition, people will realize very quickly that at least one of us isn't telling the truth. But from what we've seen so far, it looks like people will generally be expecting a man to be in charge. Sorry, ladies." He shrugged apologetically, then continued. "I've picked up some of one of the local languages, but as we were walking, I could hear several others. I don't know how much Snow's software can handle, but I'm going to be a little...constrained. Not sure I'll be able to pull anything like the movie director bit back on the mountain," he said, with a smile at Sammy, Con, and Clem, who'd all been there to see the ruse he'd pulled on the sheriff.

[Necrogigas]

O'Connor started his maintenance with Snow's Predator, "Our stuff should be safe here as long as we bribe that guy out in the hallway. Jane's suppose to be covering bribes and such, so see if she'll spring for the extra security." He only half paid attention to the conversation from that point on, focusing instead on his work. After finishing disassembly and inspecting the parts, he gave a rueful huff, "Jesus, when was the last time you had this thing serviced Snow?" He looked between Starlet and Torley, "I'm betting your weapons are in similar sorry states. This might take awhile."

[Crossbow]

'Lil Homie's' name turns out to be Jai, but he seems quite happy with Lil Homie. He is definitely uncomfortable being in the room with you, the looks he has gotten from the hotel staff make it clear they think he doesn't belong either. He stays within arm's reach of O'Conner at all times, but seems to understand Jane's place as the team lead. While the weapons are being cleaned he is paying close attention to what the gunsmith is doing, but not in an obtrusive way.

Clementine has maintained her stoic bodyguard role, though the three who have known her for a bit recognize this is due as much to professionalism as it is to serious discomfort of the situation. Even in the short walk from the dock, there were a dozen different examples to be seen of the alien culture you have come to. The oppressive poverty, the casual inhumanity and toxic conditions combine to make the places that O'Conner and Starlet grew up in look like nice middle class suburbs, that people can live seemingly normal lives in all of this is slightly maddening. Clem doesn't even begin to relax in the room, she is perched by a window, eyes on the courtyard and the street beyond. She does pass weapons to O'Conner if the offer comes but only one at a time.

When Jane rejoins you, she makes sure that you all still have an image of Samriel to refer to, "We should look for him in areas that foreigners frequent, check with guides or vendors, maybe find a local hacker to check any online registries. We may want to split up and cover more ground."

[Mercy]

Snow nods at O'Connor as he hands her pistol back after cleaning it. "Thank you, Con, that was very nice of you."

When Jane comes in, she listens to her for a bit and nods. "I am not sure that I recommend splitting into more than twos or maybe even threes. Especially since not all of us can speak the lingo. Make any sense?"

[Necrogigas]

Once O'Connor noticed Lil' Homie taking an interest in his maintenance routine, he handed the kid one of the AKs. O'Connor picked up the other one, "First step with any weapon is to make sure its not loaded. Always assume a gun is loaded, always. First, put the safety on. Next, remove the magazine, like so. Then pull back the charging handle and visually make sure there isn't a round chambered. From there..." O'Connor showed, step by step, how to disassemble and clean the rifle. Afterwards O'Connor pushed his armorer kit between him and Lil' Homie so that the kid could give it a shot.

He tuned back into the group conversation once Jane came back. He nodded in agreement with Snow, "Probably shouldn't split into more than two teams. Snow and Torley split between the two since they're the ones that speak the lingo. Me and Clem split as the heavy hitters. Starlet should be on the opposite team as me since we both come from places, not this bad maybe, but close enough to pick up things the rest won't. Torley and I have to be split since this place is backwards as frag about women. So in that scenario Team A would be Jane, Snow, and me. Team B would be Torley, Starlet, and Clem. Anything wrong with that?"

[Mercy]

Snow shakes her head, unable to come up with anything to fault the proposed division. "I can agree to that. Now, do we divide the city up as well so we don't overlap our efforts?"

[Thvor]

Sam hadn't expected that level of analysis from Con. You think you know a guy... he thought to himself. He also didn't mind being separated from Jane; she still rubbed him the wrong way periodically, though not as much as during their first meeting. He nodded. "That sounds good to me, Con. Snow, is there anything we can do so you can keep an eye on our group?"

[Necrogigas]

"Seems like most of us need to pick up ammo.
So we can all start at the weapons market and spread out from there. Before we leave, are we bribing the guard outside to keep our room secure? And speaking of weapons Clem, you want to throw in on modding these AKs? Or do just want to keep your's stock?" The team, specifically Torley, may have noticed that O'Connor's body language had changed dramatically since he started cleaning their weapons. Normally O'Connor was prone to frenetic movement, unable to stay still for any duration of time. His eyes always darted about in search of some threat. Since starting however, his movements have been calm and deliberate, and his eyes were focused and diligent. He handed back weapons as he finished. Once done with the team's weapons he put his hand out expectantly to Jane for her weapon.

[Mercy]

Snow nods at Sam. "Sure, maybe." She laughs. "It depends on the noise in the area, to be honest. I have the codes to your 'links and I would like to pass out two of my little drone buddies to each team. If you find anything that warrants surveillance, you can put one of them out and I can try to monitor its feed."

She watches Con carefully, noting that he seems a bit more calm and thinks to herself. **Quiet before the storm, probably.**

[Crossbow]

Clem's attention never leaves the window, but she does reply to Con.

"We should keep the mods basic and universal, and pay it out of the group fund. The others should be carrying longarms here, even if they can't use them, especially if Sam's going to keep trying to act badass with those little toys of his." It would be a truly monumental feat for her to be joking, maybe she was just tired.

[Necrogigas]

O'Connor shrugged at Clem, "Don't got the tools to do anything fancy. So we need to mod our two AKs, and pick up four more for the rest of the team. Then throw in various types of ammo for all the weapons. We may be bleeding the team fund dry after our shopping trip."

After servicing Jane's pistol and handing it back, he asked, "You really sure you want to hit the ground running Boss Lady? Going out into slums this late is a sketch deal. We'll probably use up all our ammo on gangers and feral ghoul packs just getting to the market and at minimum have to mercy kill Torley along the way."

[Mercy]

Snow nods her head. "I agree with Con on that. I have seen the slums of Vladivostok at night, which is one of the most horrid places on earth and would not want to go out here. Besides, some rest is warranted, I think."

[Crossbow]

"That's fine, we can wait a few hours." Jane checked the action on her pistol, load it, safes it and holsters with a nod of thanks.

[Necrogigas]

O'Connor stood up and stretched to work out the kinks in his legs and back. He motioned to the door, "Gonna walk off the kinks, be back in a bit." He left to prowl about, making note of the layout of the floor they were on and the number of access points. He also went outside to check the number of exteral entryways into the building. After checking the building out, O'Connor went to the front desk to see what the selection and prices of the bottled beer was. He was hesitant to trust the local water. He also checked to see if there were maps of the city for sale.

[Mercy]

Snow nods and looks at the others then leaves the room, following Con. "Hey, you probably need help less than anyone else here, but no one should leave the room alone." She walks near him without saying another word unless he initiates the conversation.

[Necrogigas]

Lil' Homie had quickly followed after O'Connor when he left. When Snow followed suit, O'Connor motioned towards the kid, "Whatcha talkin' 'bout? I got my main man with me. You're free to join us though." O'Connor left it unsaid that Snow's attractiveness would draw more trouble than if it was just him and Lil' Homie. Snow was the easiest person on the team to talk to outside of needling Clem, but he didn't know what to say after what he did to her. He mainly talked to Lil' Homie to test what the kid saw during the perimeter inspection.

He bought four six packs of beer at the front desk. He popped one immediately for himself and another for Lil' Homie. He offered one to Snow.

Once they were back on their floor, O'Connor held out one of the six packs to the guard Peaceful, "Mind answering a few questions about the city?"