The Found Arcana - Seventh Interlude [IC] Options

[Jack_Spade]

"Nothing wrong with running. And frag the fun house and the lizard. After her committee blew us up you owe her absolutely nothing."

Bobby commented. "Invite friends and enjoy the party. No need for bulldrek politics. Don't try to hide the fact either. Own your decision - this is for you and you alone. If Urubia feels bad about not getting an invite her draconic intellect certainly won't have a problem discerning that bombing you and yours wasn't the best way to make you stay."

[Tecumseh]

Fueled by the burrito, Mato pushes himself into an upright position. He swings his legs around. Should he really be getting out of bed? No, probably not, but he figures Bobby will catch him.

"Look, this hotel is ¥500/night. Bust me outta here."

He stands, his green patient's gown only covering half of his hoop. His legs, being cybernetic, hold up just fine; it's his core muscles that seem sleepy from the bed rest. He tilts over forward at a 15-degree angle before he reaches out and steadies himself. He dresses a little shakily but manages to get his legs into some jeans and his old armored jacket.

"What happened to my Globetrotter outfit?"

Blasted to smithereens. Doc had to cut them off.

He shrugs at the loss. "I'm still alive. I should contact Ares, see if I can get a marketing deal out of it."

Mato is wobbling toward the door. Doc Painless, with a sixth sense for patients trying to leave without paying, steps into the doorway.

"¥2000," she demands. "And that's the 'friend' rate because you're going to get the rest of your work done here. Don't you dare tell anyone else about it!" She gives the rest of you a death stare, lest you mutter it to one of the local gangs who are now rich enough to be soaked on medical care. "And those ears are loaners! You need to bring those back!"

Mato nods. "Yes, yes, here you go." He transfers the funds and Doc Painless swings out of the doorway like a jail cell door opening.

He limps through the lobby then exits to the street, where there is still a good deal of Matrix mayhem.

"What the hell is happened out here?" he asks no one in particular.

[Beta]

"OK, to make it feel like a party there should be more guests than there are us. Call it 6-10 invites. That is more than we can seat around our table, so it will have to be buffet style. We might not have enough chairs for everyone to sit at once, but we'll manage. We just make sure that Mato has a spot to sit." He does some quick budgeting in his head, blanches a bit at the number he comes up with, them braces himself to spend it anyway. He does discard a couple of the more extravagant options that he'd been considering.

"I think I'll confine the real food to fresh fruit and vegetables. Expensive enough getting those at this time of year, but the vitamins will be good. A few different options on other food. Then booze -- a good base of cheap beer for those who just want to keep drinking, a bit of better stuff for those who want to savour something, and a bit of spirits. Any of you know anything about wine? For good beer maybe we can get a bit of that stuff that Huge was drinking? It was good."

"Guest list, well Cutty and Waylon again for sure. I'll twist Zwipe's arm to risk associating with us and come. I guess asking Huge might a bit too much, eh? Andrew wouldn't be appropriate. Five-Finger Gao and his wife? No, they are suppliers, not real business contacts. That Brent kid that the rest of you saved when I was away, think he'd be interested?" He has to stop talking to himself for a moment as he dodges two delivery drones that would appear to be involved in a mating dance, or something.

Then he messages AM <<Our invite list is pretty devoid of women. I have one contact who might come, if she's willing to risk the flak from her bosses, but that's about it. You put up with a lot from the rest of us, got any friends you'd like to invite? Or women from the gym who seem nice who you'd like to know better?>>

[Gilga]

She responds >>I can invite Fenghuang, we grew close when I was creating Trouble. I have another friend I can bring, but aside from her, I mostly keep a low profile at the gym. Mainly teenagers and these have the body of an adult and the emotional control of a toddler. Not the age I like the most. "

[Jack_Spade]

Bobby answered Mato: "You slept through some kind of matrix anniversary. Stupidest drek, really. All hackers and script kiddies went wild. AM kept us out of the worst - except for the soycaf machine. It's rude now but makes better caf, so all in all it's a net positive."

Thinking a moment about who to invite, he said:
"I think I'll ask Lysander to come. More business than friend, but it certainly won't hurt the professional relationship.
Inviting our hacker club might be a bad idea - they owe us money and we have to keep the social dynamic intact."

[Tecumseh]

"What the frag hell," Mato mutters under his breath as someone walks by, swinging at invisible ghosts. The man in question is known to have cybereyes and it's clear that these are now projecting AR images to him of things that aren't actually there. He staggers by flailing at something like a zombie scratching at thin air.

"I'll invite the Doc," Mato says once the man has passed. "I owe her money so I need to keep that social dynamic complicated." He shoots a comic wink at Bobby.

"Plus, she's seen me naked, so it seems only fair. Although if we invited everyone who has seen Bobby naked we'd go broke, ha!"

You make your way back to SIS HQ, where the soykaf machine has a latte waiting for you with a picture of a hairy butt etched into the foam. "That one's for me!" Mato declares. He sips and his eyebrows shoot up. "Good little sprite," he says, petting the machine affectionately. The machine seems to beep in response.

[Beta]

"Ok, Cutty, Wylon, Fenghuang, the Doc, Lysander, Zwipe, Adeline, that makes seven guests, if they all come. I'm thinking Friday night? Give Mato a couple more days of recovery, me enough time to get stuff without being in a mad rush, and hey, it's the weekend for the one or two of the invitees whose schedule cares about that. I'll send out invites, and think about if there is anyone else."

And that he does.

[Gilga]

" and Kira" she comments indicating that she'll invite her decker friend according to her current name which might become a permanent name if she could stay retired and not be lured back into this world of easy money and adrenaline.

As they arrive, she goes to her room and quickly changes, she'll run to Cutty and then continue working out. Initially, it was to worship and then to get stronger but at the moment it is just one of the anchors keeping her going when the realities around her become increasingly scary.

[Jack_Spade]

"And I'll call Razak. Not to invite the captain. But we have to think about recruiting and the captain was the one who got me this job in the first place. Maybe he has another candidate from our side that would be interested to join."

Bobby spoke matter of factly as if Jawsey's going away didn't pain him to the core.

[Tecumseh]

The calls and invitations go out.

Cutty - accepts
Waylon - immediately accepts and asks if he can help with prep work
Fenghuang - accepts
Doc Painless - accepts
Lysander - tentatively accepts, as Friday nights are working hours in the info biz
Zwipe - declines, and is still afraid of being seen in Touristville
Adeline - accepts
Kira - accepts

[Jack_Spade]

"Well, looks like we'll have a full house. I'll go and organize a few more chairs." Bobby took off - not towards a store, but a few abandoned places that he knew had some furniture left. True, the chairs would be missmatched and be in need of cleaning, but he didn't like the idea of buying gear just to throw it out afterwards - want not waste not.

[Tecumseh]

Mato makes it home, manages a shower, and then slumps into bed. His soykaf with a hairy butt on it keeps him awake long enough for him to place some commcalls.

"Doc says if I'm going to get something done to do it sooner than later. If I'm already busted up, no sense in waiting for me to heal to bust me up again to put something new in."

He gets off the comm with Brad Burns from Pike Hall.

"I think I have a lead on some better reaction enhancers via Burns and Cunningham. Oh, and it turns out that Chan Wu wants to spar again next time she's in the city."

Mato does not look like he's up for any sparring at the moment.

"I need new ears too, since these are loaners. I already had the dampers so swapping those out for new ears isn't that big of a hit to my system. You can get some fancy stuff in there. Not just the usual audio enhancers, but also an improved hearing spectrum, like a dog." A sideways glance at Bobby. "Or even automatic translators, since we're losing our resident polyglot." A sideways glance at Jawsey.

The work keeps him distracted from the lack of effective painkillers in his system. Eventually the caffeine from the soykaf wears off and he falls back asleep for an hour and a half.

[Gilga]

Having worked on reaction time, agility and strength the young woman returns home satisfied and heads straight to the shower feeling uncomfortable showering at the gym. She feels satisfied with her small progress and would spend the next hours researching self-sustaining spells and trying to figure out how they would work.

[Jack_Spade]

"Ultrasound is fragging annoying to be honest. Get some kind of filter software, because this city is incredibly loud and filled with more ultrasound sensors than you'd imagine." Bobby mumbled while he studiously scrubbed down the three chairs he had rescued. Stainless steel with a lot of suspicious stains on them. Bobby was pretty certain that the thugs who had brougth them to the warehouse used them for interrogations. But a lot of strong cleaning fluid and the wirebrush made quick work with that.

"I'll take a nap too once I'm done here. Wake me if you need help in the kitchen."

[Beta]

That Zwipe couldn't make it was a disappointment. He'd been the closest thing to a friend Jawsey had made during his early months back in Seattle, when he'd trying to make a living on his own as an investigator. He missed the casual banter that they'd had, the bilingual and even trilingual word play. And Jawsey had gotten SIS to extend itself on behalf of Zwipe and his gang.

But after a moment of brooding, he shrugged it off. He was the one leaving the city. If he stayed, sooner or later they would likely have reconnected, but he wasn't. So really it was he who was walking out on whatever bond they'd had, and he'd just wanted Zwipe to come and wish him well and assure him that it was OK.

Kind of like he wanted from everyone else.

He let himself brood a bit more, sure his aura was all sorts of ugly. Then he straightened his shoulders, told himself Yes, I'm walking out on people, because it is the only way to go back and help the people who were there for me when I was younger. Why one over the other? Because there is more glory in it. Because I'm scared of Urubia. Because I want to. Own it, move on.

He headed off to shop with his aura clear and his back only twinging a bit.

Part way there he suddenly realized something, and fired a message to the team <<Do any of you have meal requests? We've eaten so much survival food that I don't even know what you all actually like?>>

[Gilga]

>> I have a soft spot for ice cream.

[Tecumseh]

Mato thinks about what he used to eat when he was young. Budgets were bigger because his parents were corpers.

<<I grew up eating buffalo, venison, wild boars. We're orks so it was all about big flavors. Spice, lots of spice. Rich sauces. Lots of kilojoules.>>

Mato's first instinct is to go hunting but he's in no condition to do so.

<<Bobby, can you hunt?>>

This, of course, is a ridiculous question. But Mato figures that it would be more polite to ask than tell, to give Bobby an soft pitch to knock out of the park.

<<I know the recipes but some of the techniques are more theory than practice. If Bobby can land me something, I can lend a cyberhand to roast it.>>

[Jack_Spade]

Bobby replied: <<Hunting isn't the problem. If you want I can bring down an elk for you. Finding a healthy animal with no tumors or latent poisons inside is the hard part. But yes, I can certainly bring you a boar or deer - just need someone to pick the carcass up afterwards.

Personally, I am a great fan of fresh fruit and vegetables - apple pie, tomato salad and fresh, whole grain bread without sugar but with sourdough.
Nothing like fresh bread with a bit of real butter.
I know a place where I can obtain the ingredients. Trouble would be helpful to have around for communication.>>

[Beta]

Thinking about favorite foods, Jawsey's thoughts go to mussels. Puget Sound grows quite good ones, but they sell for a price that has let him only taste a few here and there.

<<I wasn't planning on buying much meat, just too expensive. If Bobby can actually hunt something and bring it back I guess we should be able to find someone to butcher it? Although I think at least with beef they age stuff for a while for best results? But at the least we can manage some richer sauces on the proteins, good bread, some vegetables, and even ice cream.>> All of those things are expensive to buy as real food, but for the price of a pound of hamburger he can get a couple of cartons of ice cream or a couple of heads of off-season broccoli.

A quick bit of research finds a well rated bakery in Bellevue and he reserves a loaf each of their white, whole wheat, and rye breads, all sourdoughs. Hopefully they'll measure up to Bobby's memories.

Lentils are not as cheap as soy, but he likes them better, and they mostly come from the AMC, so at least from another NAN state. Why they grow so many lentils he has no idea. He does splurge for some supposedly Elk sausage and plans to add those into the spicy lentil dish for extra depth of flavour.

Vegetables end up being harder. Something or other was going on in CalFree State, hitting their vegetable crops. Jawsey didn't really pay attention to the details, it was always something with that place but they still seemed pretty stuck up about being Californian. But he was able to get a variety of green leafy things grown in some of the agri-complexes in Snohomihsh, along with some reasonably well preserved carrots and squash. He just sucks it up and pays the ridiculous price for Californian green beans.

Local apples can still be had, a bit expensive from the long storage but still with some crunch left in them. He gets enough for a couple of pies, and some left over to cut up and pass aorund as apple slices.

Eventually he has the ingredients gathered and recipes ready, and there is nothing to do but go to sleep early Thursday night to make Friday come sooner.

[Jack_Spade]

Bobby nodded to AM: "I'll go hunting now. Please send Trouble with me and be ready to fetch me and the prey once I've brought it down. I'll try my luck north of Snohomish - it's the least polluted area around and there are plenty of wild animals there that are drawn in by the factory farms."

Bobby once again disrobed and opened the window, that done, he turned into a seagul and took off.

[Gilga]

AM does not magically order Trouble to come, but the young spirit happily accompanies Bobby. As for her, she continues the days studying her lore, submerged into the matrix with obscure sorcery articles, and universal magic articles. All in all, being a sorcerer and keeping things progressing seems to keep her occupied even when jobs are sparse. Studying keeps her emotions at bay - because Jawsey leaves a good gap in SIS that she would try to fill up.

[Jack_Spade]

Bobby took flight. He had decided to go for boar or deer - which ever he could find first. And he pretty much knew where he could always find some healthy animals: At the private hunting grounds of Ares Executive Solutions, where their top execs unwound from a hard day in the office where they weren't allowed to just shoot their underlings - by shooting some unrelated critters instead. Shooting fish in a barrel would likely have been equally satisfying for this bunch as there were dedicated wind and weather protected seats where the guests could be sure that a herd would be driven past by the attendants.

It was not without danger to watch these "hunts" as some of the guests where so hilariously bad at shooting, that the only safe place was squarely in front of their guns - and some of the bastards were mean enough to shoot at any animal that they happened to see around them, no matter if bird or mole.

But it wasn't the weekend yet, so Bobby expected very little traffic at this particular resort.
So Bobby took the time to transform into a less visible bussard. That also had the advantage of giving him an enhanced perception of smell - usually used to dectect carrion but occasionally also useful to find a little fawn.

For the actual hunt, he would take on the form of a mountain lion. Those would be normally kept out with an electric fence, but the great cats where occasionally quite adapt at circumventing the protections. That invariably alerted the game keepers, but Bobby knew their reaction time was usually at around 20 minutes before they got kitted out and in their little electric buggies. More than enough time to bag his prey and get out.

Bobby slowly circled around the fenced area, searching for where one of the larger herds lay low during the day.

[Tecumseh]

Bobby finds black-tailed deer, white-tailed deer, mule deer, and even some elk. The catch with all of these is that the herds are all actively being watched by multiple drones. Could he bring one down? Certainly, but he's also certain that security would be immediately alerted.

He also finds ponds full of ducks and coot, which are like ducks but with the beaks and feet of chickens. These ponds are far-less monitored, presumably because the birds can just fly away whenever they want. Bobby feels like they must be incentivized to stay somehow, but from his spot in the sky he can't say how.

There aren't that many hunters out today. One is a bow hunter, good for him. Others are carrying weapons that are distinctly ill-suited for hunting. One is carrying an Ares HVAR, which is spray-and-pray at its best (or worst). Another has an Ares Redline laser pistol (!) which is ridiculous in the other direction.

[Jack_Spade]

Bobby considered the situation. Drones would be alerted if a deer got attacked by a wild animal. But they certainly weren't picky about rats. And the dog brains also weren't the best at recognizing obvious imposible things like magic.

The trick therefore was easy. Bobby looked for a particularly tasty looking specimen, meanwhile transforming into a falcon. Once he had spotted his intended prey - a nice two year old deer, currently dozing in high grass - he transformed it into a shrew.
After that it was a simple exercise of diving, catching the disoriented rodent and gaining height before any wannabe hunter could get any bad ideas about shooting at birds of prey.
The squirming rodent didn't like the experience and Bobby had to take great care not to kill it, thereby transforming it back to its previous form.
On the plus side, he would be able to deliver very fresh meet indeed.

[Tecumseh]

Bobby zips down from on high. In the blink of an eye the deer is transformed into a shrew and snatched away from its nap.

Bobby is too quick for the drones, but they are not so sleepy as he imagined. He's only made it 100 meters before the drones are alert and studying the situation. Only a few seconds after that, a spirit arrives on the astral to investigate the matter. The spirit appears somewhat annoyed at its task, but the trace of spellcasting will be obvious to such an investigator. Bobby feels that it would be prudent to dive into the treeline to break line-of-sight or to take some other evasive maneuver.