Behind the Crown [IC], Behind the crown are shadows Options

[Koekepan]

Orkboy is far too overconfident, or dim-witted, to realise what Karmakaze is doing. The cans of Pro-tiiin clank together in a cheerful medley of culpability while he hoists his loot over a shoulder and shouts: """T'anks for da donations, chummer!""" to the hapless stuffer drone. But the footage will be all that she needs for Stuffer Shack to send someone to grab the responsible party and haul him away. What happens after that? Not her problem.

Jaxx responds with: <<<This one's downtown, some poor slot needs five days of babysitting so a mega's people don't grab him for experimentation or whatever. Plus he's doing some kind of investigation of his own that may need help, so it sounds like your kind of public service - assuming he'll cut you in. If you're in, I'll send word back and we'll arrange a meet. I know people who know how to find him, right now you know he's just a leeetle bit anxious.>>>

[pbangarth]

On the way over to the facility, Blue gets an idea about Madel. +++ I wonder if those searching for me, knowing I am an Owl shaman, might think I would not go to the blown safehouse in the daytime. Hmmm. +++

[Koekepan]

Blue's vigil, such as it is, doesn't seem immediately revelatory. There's the same spiritual activity around the facility that he had already observed. It does feel as if water somehow still laps around that building - but not visibly so. The astral is full of weird ambiguities like that, so by itself it means little.

Seattle and the sound itself are fairly magically active, in their way. This means that to some extent, Blue has to look for breaks in patterns, rather than some sheer baseline of activity. With a shaman's eyes the boundaries between domains are easily enough observed, but there are other boundaries to consider as well; the turf around places like the Renraku arcology, the Space Needle and so on. On the other hand, looking northwards to Ballard, Shoreline and Green Lake shows a welter of other activity as confusing in its own way. East, Fremont is a positive ferment of spiritual activity (much of it rather hostile) but somehow Petsonal Petsonalities seems to stand out as a place on its own terms.

Something about their activities may well explain that.

Still, it stands out as a bulwark of sorts against other encroachments. Blue drifts silently through the air, owl-fashion, but observes that there are other things in the air as well.

Why are there watchers that look like crocodilians swimming through the air over the streets, and particularly in the streets near Petsonal?

[pbangarth]

That looks kind of interesting. +++ Crocodile shaman? Well, we are near the sea. Watchers, so the shaman could be inside. What's with the sea flavour here? Is there a third party involved in the current affairs of Petsonal? +++

Blue pays some more attention to the watchers, drifting ever so slowly closer to them as he continues circling, seeing if there is a pattern to their behaviour. +++ How long before they pay attention to me? +++

[Koekepan]

It's hard to tell with crocs. Their eyes are on the tops of their heads, and they just drift through the air like swimming crocodiles, tails slowly undulating. Maybe they already noticed him, but aren't doing anything about it. But they're just drifting around the streets of south Ballard, as if patrolling. A guard? Observation? A show of strength? Hard to say.

[pbangarth]

+++ Hmmm. Personality would match a kill-or-be-killed kind of policlub. Greeks harkening back to ancient seafolk traditions? Maybe. Maybe I'm overthinking this. +++

These things weren't here the last time Blue came by. Maybe something is going to happen tonight. Blue continues his patrol.

[Bastard]

Karmakaze follows the ork out, gets a shot of his license plate, then forwards the video and photos to the Lone Star Crime Stoppers website, Stuffer Shack corporate m-mail, and on social media.

" " "That was fun." " "

She reads the message from Jaxx. + + +Hmm... Hope this guy is legit. I am not babysitting a crook.+ + +

< < < Set it up, but if he is a cold blooded killer, I will let the corps have him. > > >

[Koekepan]

Jaxx responds to Karmakaze quickly:

<<<Wizzer! Beaming you a rendezvous.>>>

Jaxx is as good as his word, and sends the address of a fried food type of diner on the western shoreline of Ballard. It's well north of Auburn, but easily accessible by road or transit. The information is that his appearance can vary, but there's a password/countersign combo: Biosludge/Caustic.

Who knows why those words.

------------

What Karmakaze doesn't know is that around the same time, Blue's 'link is buzzing with a message from Billy. <<<Hoi, chummer. Someone in your org is looking out for you. Sent you a connection to protection, if you want it, but you'll have to move fast. If I can find you, your least loved potential employers might too. Here's the when-and-where.>>>

Billy sends the same rendezvous information to Blue, along with a picture without metadata. The picture is of a cowboy hat and a holster with a sheathed cavalier deputy, both hanging off a polished wood hatrack. The one other piece of information at Blue's disposal is that his contact is an elf, and unusually tall.

[pbangarth]

Blue floats over Petsonal Petsonalities' facility, blissfully unaware that someone new seeks to be his protector. How does that song go ...

Everybody's looking for something
Some of them want to use you
Some of them want to get used by you


Well, actually, at this point it seems

Everybody is looking for something
All of them want to use Blue

[Koekepan]

It doesn't seem that a whole lot else is happening, with regard to Petsonal Petsonalities, on this side of the veil.

Blue can feel his presence growing thinner while he watches the drifting crocodilians, and time passes.

[pbangarth]

Feeling the call of his meat body, Blue heads home. He catches the message from Billy. Hmmm. It didn't take long for a replacement for Hopalong to show up. +++ That Johnson must be very interested in my security. Or my services. Or who knows what. +++

<<<Billy: I don't see a time for the meet with this ... cowboy. When? >>>

[Bastard]

< < < On the way. > > >

Karmakaze casts the address to her cars navigation, the old display kind, and rolls out of the Stuffer Shack XL parking lot as fast as the little Elektro can, which happens to be well within the speed limit.

. . .

Karma finds the place. Save the lack of a drive-thru, the little dine-in restaurant reminds her of a fast food place. Poorly lit parking lot, probably a well (too well) lit interior, and staff just needing wigs and makeup to complete the clown get up. She looks around the parking lot, which seems only a quarter full, and nothing too obvious, like a bunch of suits or sammies, then heads for the door.

+ + + Not the normal place for a shadowrun meet. Maybe this guy is just some regular wage slave, or maybe a real careful runner. + + +

She enters the front door, scanning the lobby. She is surprised, finding the place a little nicer than she expected. It is more of truck-stop style diner than fast food, and not overly well lit, but still too much for her liking. + + + Now who do I talk, too. + + + Before she can finish her thought, a staff member is approaching, though there is no hostess podium, and there is a sign that says "Sit anywhere!" with a big smiley face.

" " " Hi. I am meeting a friend, but I do not see him, " " " she tells the hostess, maitre d', or whatever this staff member's title is.

[Koekepan]

All Billy says to Blue is: <<<Morning. All I know, chummer. I'm guessing it's vague on purpose?>>>

The diner seems to be set up to serve the yachting and generally nautical crowd. This ranges of course from multigajillionaires, to a few barely-solvent lunatics who will grease anchor chains from here to Barbados, the long way, if it means that they get to go sailing. The parking lot doesn't only have a couple of (not very impressive) vehicles, but also a windsock, a flagpole with a couple of yacht club pennants, and a UCAS flag at the top.

In the grey light of dawn, there's a good view from the western windows. It overlooks the little jetty by which some customers can come by their preferred transport, and moor while they eat. It, too, is a sort of parking lot, and it, too, is poorly lit and mostly deserted at this hour. The windows also afford a view of a cold front making its way across the sound, but the leaden sheet of rain that drifts down from it obscures the view of the Olympics.

Inside it is warm, and the table surfaces are refinished formica. The place smells of decades of fried fish, but not stale so much as well-lived-in. The grunge at the bottom of their fryers probably contributes half the flavour by itself. The walls are decorated with a huge collection of old, framed pictures of people who were probably once customers, boats that may or may not have sailed within a nautical mile, and various memorabilia of a hundred years ago, when Seattle was a working port run by working people.

Yachty sort of place, in other words. But one where a working tugboat rigger and a pilot could rub shoulders with a fishing captain and a regatta winner, and nobody feel out of place. A truck stop on the waterfront.

Karmakaze's hail is clearly well-understood in this place, where travel is affected by tides, weather, and the whims of the UCAS naval authorities. """No problem. Have a seat, I'll get you a menu, and do you want something hot to drink in the mean time? Soykaf is three nuyen, bottomless, or we have a mug of real coffee for five."""

[Bastard]

" " "You have real coffee? Definitely have the real coffee, please.... And can I have a menu?" " "

Karma finds a table where she has a good view of the entrances. Hopefully she will be able to spot her contact when they enter, but she really doesn't know who she is looking for. Someone different from the rest of the patrons.

[pbangarth]

<<< Thanks, Billy. Had some trouble figuring out your niece. Some astral interference. I believe she is Awakened, but will have to try a different tack to be sure. >>>

Public transit is frequent this time of day, if a little crowded. Blue wends his way to the diner. Well, not surprising a port city would have a lot of places with a nautical theme.

Blue enters the diner and open himself to the astral. Checking to see whether anything is waiting for him here. To an observer, he is looking around the room, as if looking for someone. Which he is doing, anyway. Someone tall, and an elf.

[Koekepan]

The coffee is hot, and the mug is thick, chunky ceramic. Karmakaze has no doubt that they serve this for yachtsmen coming off a cruise or a race in January, and make good money doing so, too. The menu is full of the usual suspects - fried shellfish, steamed critters of various sorts, kelp cakes, and a few variations on chowder. Stuff to drive the chill out.

She bets that for a few nuyen extra she could get a little under-the-counter whiskey or rum in some of it as well, but that's for somebody else to prove, today.

Blue makes his entrance and has little trouble picking out a likely prospect. There are two elves in the place, and one of them is in a serving outfit, dusting off stools and setting tables. The other is certainly sitting tall in a seat at a table, all by herself. On the astral side, this place is mostly a haven for intertidal beasties. A crab crawls over barnacle-encrusted tables, and clicks its claws.

[pbangarth]

Blue pulls back fully into the physical plane. He shakes the morning dew off his long coat puts his hands in his pockets and ambles over to the table where the tall elf sits.

+++ Jeez. She's as tall as I am even while she's sitting. +++

A slight smile on his face, he speaks to her. """ That coffee smells good. Not the usual biosludge one gets in a diner. """

[Koekepan]

Behind the stretch of riprap acting as a seawall for the diner's mooring, a little yacht comes drifting in. A silver-haired old man handles the tiller from his seat in the cockpit, as if he has all the time in the world.

Probably a retiree with a comfortable pension from somewhere.

[pbangarth]

A thought runs through Blue's mind. +++ I wonder if my secret benefactor belongs here, and is watching us as we meet. +++

[Bastard]

The man spots Karma easily enough; She is sitting in plain view of the main entrance. She is sitting across the diner, her shoulder length hair tucked behind her ears to make them more prominent, as she assumes the fixer would describe her as an elf.

Unfortunately she doesn't know who she is looking for, but when this man approaches her table, she assumes he may be the contact, good or bad. She lifts the coffee to her mouth with her right hand, while keeping the left close to her pistol.

He greets her kindly enough, and gives the challenge. She responds in kind.

" " "It is real coffee, not that caustic soycrap. Want to join me for a cup?" " "

[pbangarth]

""" Thank you. I would like that. """ Blue signals to the server with a gesture towards the woman's coffee that he would like one as well. He seats himself to one side, back not against a window.

When the coffee comes, he orders, """ Thanks, miss. I wouldn't mind a nice bowl of that clam chowder I see on your menu. """ he smiles warmly at the server and turns back to his tablemate.

""" As much as you seem to be a charming dinner partner, I have had a long and frustrating night, so please forgive me if I omit the small talk. I am told you have been contracted to protect me. Keep me out of the clutches of those who hunt for me. Have I been informed correctly? """

[Bastard]

" " "Not quite. I am here to negotiate the contract to protect you. . . . And help you with your investigation." " "

[Koekepan]

The waitress wanders back to the kitchen area to get some of the clam chowder action going. They probably have a running twenty litre pot of the stuff going at any one time. At the jetty, the recent arrival parks his little sailboat as sweetly as a duck settling on the water. Just a little nudge as the fenders compress, and then he wraps lines around the cleats.

On the other side, a truck towing some kind of powerboat on a trailer pulls into the parking lot. Probably here for breakfast before hitting the water. There isn't a lot of traffic; the road along the shoreline here doesn't lead anywhere particularly special, and what with its twists and turns it's not the fastest road anywhere except to the slips and moorings.

At one of the tables inside, a couple of rather salty looking guys laugh, and wave the waitress over. Karmakaze and Blue can hear them asking for more coffee.

[pbangarth]

""" That's interesting to hear, """ says Blue. """ I have no idea who has taken it upon himself to protect me. Someone showed up a couple of days ago, saying she had a contract to keep me and three others out of the clutches of a triple A corporation for one week. That went south quickly, and now here you are. I don't have the means to carry on whatever plan my mysterious benefactor has, but I do have a contract myself with which I could use some help. Maybe I should fill you in some so you know what is going on. Then you can decide whether to get involved or not. """

Blue scans the activity around the diner. Getting a little paranoid, are we?

""" I'm a shaman. I worked for a small biotech firm here in Seattle, doubling as magical tech aiding in the manufacture of specialized biologicals, and as nighttime security. The company was bought out by Mitsuhama. Apparently the deal included the personnel. A couple of us, I and an IT specialist, didn't feel we wanted to be absorbed by Big Brother, and slipped the security net cast around the facility to prevent just such a 'defection'. """ Air quotes around that last word.

""" We were tracked down by an agent of someone unknown to us who said she was hired by that unknown to keep us and two others who had not been present at the transfer of ownership out of Mitsuhama's grasp for one week. That was two days ago. Why, and why that time frame I have no idea. It seems there are strings being pulled from above that entangle us all, sometimes. Anyway, she took us to a safehouse she had set up. Faraday cage, panic room with a back door to the underground transit system, stashes of explosives and data chips... lots of fun. We seemed safe there, and were amused and upset at the same time to see that Mitsuhama had fabricated a crime in which we were all involved, and had put out a bounty on us. Nevertheless, we should have been safe where we were.

""" It might have worked if one of the other two, an annoying, self-absorbed airhead ... I don't know ... receptionist? ... decided to turn us all in. While I was out, a team showed up to collect us. In the fight that ensued, the other two died, the annoyance shot by either one of the Mitsuhama team or one of the other house occupants. The second was blown up during the escape out the back. I arrived back in time to mop up the collection squad with the help of a city spirit and to learn the IT specialist and the alleged protector were cutting losses and disappearing into the shadows. I suspect my bounty has risen since the damage I inflicted on the collection team.

""" I was sad about the destruction of the safehouse, because I had grown fond of the house spirit with whom I had the opportunity to interact a few times. With the house blown, the astral domain is fading, and with it the spirit. I've been back once, in the astral, but there is still a watch being kept on the ruins. I would like to see if I can transfer the spirit, or at least say goodbye, but I don't know if I will be able to do so. On top of that, whoever contacted you apparently still wants me out of Mitsuhama's possession, but again, I don't know why.

""" So anyway, I found a new place to stay, closer to my current job, and cheap because it fits my night owl schedule but not that of many others. I have been contracted to observe a facility in Ballard that produces trained paranormal animals. The details of my contract, once I was privy to them, are only marginally less confusing than the contract struck between the company producing the animals and the buyer, which turns out to be a thuggish policlub seemingly intent on imposing its will on the broader community. That will appears to soon be more enforceable should they acquire the particular kind of beast they want the facility to produce for them. I took the contract and will fulfill it, but I wonder now what effect my due diligence will have.

""" So, I am staking out the facility, but one man can't work 24/7 for two weeks. I am much more useful at night than in the daytime. My contacts came up with someone who took on partnership with me, and then left shortly thereafter, with her half of the signing bonus. Some kind of 'family emergency', I think. """ More air quotes. """ I do hope street cred is a thing, and that those who choose to break a contract pay for it in the long run. """

""" So here I am, all on my own again, and here you show up, sent my way by person or persons unknown. """ Blue sips some coffee and then places both hands on the table in front of him.

""" I don't have much cash left, but should you decide to take on a share of the load, I can give you a couple of spell items usable by non-magicians, and half of the 5000 nuyen payment for a report at the end of the two weeks, with a possible other 5000 should we be required to convince the facility, through negotiation or other means to abstain from breaking their contract. Mr. Johnson assured me that exerting myself to bring the company in line would not likely be necessary. Yes, I am being paid by one party to find out if anything untoward is being done by the other party, and yet have been assured that that is unlikely to be the case.

""" So, any questions? """ Blue smiles broadly at the question. He tries to gauge the woman's response, and glances around to see if any of the activity seems out of place.

[Koekepan]

The activity around the diner, such as it is, doesn't seem calculated to cause immediate alarm. That sailor that just arrived is helping an equally silver-haired lady up from the cabin of his boat. The waitstaff and cooks are doing their thing, in a leisurely fashion. The few customers around are chatting and not ostensibly paying the dwarf and elf any attention. The truck trailing the boat is carefully parking in one of the long spots out front.

Another morning on the waterfront.