The Found Arcana - Chapter 11 [IC] Options

[Thanee]

Rachel rolls her eyes. Is she really going to steal the boy's wallet?

"You are tenacious. I guess, it is good not to give up easily. Not exactly a quality that is going to help you here, though. Let me tell it to you straight, this isn't going anywhere further than this little chat. Surely, there are plenty cute college girls around here to flirt with."

[Jack_Spade]

Bobby nodded and got up, talking in a low voice to Tamarind:
"Do you have a jammer active? If yes, better turn it down. We might attract unwanted attention.
Going for the veterinary is a good idea. But it's totally possible that that is also just a lie and there never was a dog.

I'd say we take a look at the home address next. By now, I'm pretty certain it's a front, but maybe there is a clue as to who set it up."

[Tecumseh]

AM deftly picks the kid's wallet... only to find that - in the sk8tr boi aesthetic - it's attached to his pants via a chain. So she's got a wallet that's still attached to the mark.

The boy is sufficiently distracted so she pokes into it only to find that it's mostly empty. No ID, no student card... all that must be on his commlink. Why does he even have it? Must be like a piece of jewelry to him. AM does find a condom in the wallet, if she wishes to keep that. Of course the latex has probably degraded by continual exposure to his body heat, but maybe she could make a balloon animal out of it.

Stealing his commlink is possible, although he'd probably quickly notice it missing when losing connectivity.

"I like older women," the kid says with a shrug. "I like their style, their... experience. C'mon, let's do the yin-yang thing. You can be the responsible adult and I'll be the freewheeling youth that keeps you young and grounded so your corp job doesn't take over."

[Thanee]

"I'm sure there is a market for guys like you, probably could even make some real money off of it, but I am not even close to the target audience."

[Tecumseh]

The kid shrugs, defeated. Presumably AM puts his wallet back - or takes it off the chain if she's feeling like a rascal - at which point he jumps back on his board and rolls off. He does a kick flip down some stairs, which seems like a remarkably bad idea on wet bricks, but somehow he stays upright.

~~~

At the bar, the situation resolves itself when Tamarind either 1) dials down the Noise, or 2) leaves.

Outside, there's a chance to slot the chip and see what it says. It includes what Lysander described, plus has several videos of interviews and campaign events. It also includes her current address.

Pulling it up, it's a nondescript apartment building in Snohomish whose neighbors include a grocery store and a Aztec restaurant on one side, a church on the other side, and an animal hospital across the street. The apartment building has five stories; Ms. Potter's address is on the middle floor.

It would take about 45 minutes to drive there. You could save some time by going north through Redmond, but that exposes Tamarind's van to some dodgy parts of the Barrens. Probably best to take the long way around, which is much safer.

[Gilga]

So I find myself holding the wallet, and then I feel inspired. I haven't stolen anything in a while I don't need to do it anymore I make good money. We're not poor; I am not a child. Still, it feels so good. With an amused look and a hint of theatrics I ask Rachel , "Rachel, can I take one of your condoms? This one looks a bit worn off."

I mean, she'll have one, right?

If she does, I place the fresh condom in the wallet and take the old one as a trophy. If not, I just hand him the wallet. I then say "Here you go, now you have a fun memory from us. "

I wonder if I jut made some woman safer. I am not sure because he does not seem to get lucky often.

[ Spoiler ]

If I got him to stay-a moment or two she'll add.

"Say, any chance you are going to get us into the archives anyway? I love browsing old documents." I add figuring it is likely one of our stops anyhow.

[Thanee]

Rachel looks at AM. "And why exactly would I have that at a visit to the University around noon? Gimme some of that stuff you are taking, girl! Gee."

"Anyways, let's go! You heard him, we are getting old..." She winks.

[Gilga]

"Well, the skater boy had one... I thought it was a thing. He didn't even have a student card, but he had a condom. If someone actually says yes, the boy is ready..."

I say with a grin. You pack for each story at a time. Don't you? I sort of pack for every possible scenario. My purse is equipped to handle any curveball the Trickster throws at me. I keep spare clothes, cosmetics, a smart wig, a small towel, tissues, energy bars, wet towels... Bubblegum, breath mints, a few tea bags... well, you get the picture. I'd have condoms if I actually needed them. Sorry for projecting my messed up personality on you."

I bite my lower lip. "He wanted to take you to the archives. Do you want to start there? I am not sure they'll let us in, and I am don't have the Erika - so we might need to be back. If they don't let us in. I think we can ask nicely and it would work, it is a university afterall."

[Beta]

Tamarind feels a bit sheepish about crashing the bar, something she'll thing about the next time.

Once out to the van she says "We could go direct, but honestly it might be more useful to get one or two of AM or Rachel. I can sit in a coffee shop or bar and listen to what people say OK, but I'm not going to sweet talk anyone into spilling things they don't want to reveal. And I don't really suggest breaking into the apartment, because I'm sure there are people already doing surveillance, and likely extra security."

"With the animal hospital across the way I think we should get you to do your best imitation of her dear departed beagle, then get Rachel to take you in there. We can look up likely ailments that she can be setting up an appointment for, the real point is that if they did take care of Potter's beagle Rachel can probably leverage your similarity to get that out of them, and maybe verify how long she was a customer there. If there is no glimmer of recognition, then likely there was no beagle."

[Thanee]

"There are plenty options for contraception, no need for those. And I do not have a lot of stuff with me, usually. Anyways, I thought we just take a look around, see what is officially available. Maybe get some information. We could even figure out what is necessary to become a student here. Either way, I see this more as preparation. Surely, we will have to be back at another time."

[Jack_Spade]

Once out to the van she says "We could go direct, but honestly it might be more useful to get one or two of AM or Rachel. I can sit in a coffee shop or bar and listen to what people say OK, but I'm not going to sweet talk anyone into spilling things they don't want to reveal. And I don't really suggest breaking into the apartment, because I'm sure there are people already doing surveillance, and likely extra security."

"With the animal hospital across the way I think we should get you to do your best imitation of her dear departed beagle, then get Rachel to take you in there. We can look up likely ailments that she can be setting up an appointment for, the real point is that if they did take care of Potter's beagle Rachel can probably leverage your similarity to get that out of them, and maybe verify how long she was a customer there. If there is no glimmer of recognition, then likely there was no beagle."

Bobby frowned: "Let's split the difference and take a look around first. We two are better at not drawing attention after all." A statement, that might be true, but only in relation to the two mages.

"And no, I don't want to pose as a dog at the vet. I am - as you might imagine - not neutered, and I'd prefer it to stay that way. Also, I think I'd be better qualified to talk to a vet than to pose as a patient. I can transform some stray into a beagle if necessary. But honestly, I think we should first try to bribe an underpaid vet tech to look up if Ms. Potter ever actually had a dog. If that doesn't work, we can always go for their network and have AM break in. A direct connection would likely be best for that.

But one thing after the other. Let's take a walk around the blog while your drones take in the situation there."

[Gilga]

"I am going for some coffee and research. you can come with me or go to the archives and see if they let you in. I am looking for homework on what kind of stuff to look for in the archives.

I then find a quiet cafeteria - or at least peaceful while the students are in class. I order some coffee and a chocolate croissant, and I dig into computer research, searching for a list of faculty in Potter's field that have been around when she studied and are still around today and that she might have taken a course with them.

I also searched for alumni lists to see if I could verify Potter's connection to the university. I give it an hour unless Raven gets bored beforehand, and then when I know enough information about dates and times, I can go to the archive to ask for some old grade sheets or other documents (if they let us in).

[Tecumseh]

Something tickles the back of Bobby's brain. Bobby knows that Crash 2.0 was 14.5 years ago. He also knows that most domestic dogs live 10-13 years. He also knows that beagles, being a smaller breed, have a lifespan closer to 12-15 years.

So if Corinne's dog died a few months ago, then it must have been at the very upper end of that range. Not impossible, but that means that the dog would have been a puppy back in 2064. But would someone who has a young baby get a puppy at the same time? It's not impossible, but add it to the list of things that stretch plausibility.

~~~

It's Saturday so no students are in class. AM finds a café to get a soykaf and croissant but it's busy with the Saturday brunch crowd. There aren't any peaceful options.

AM doesn't actually know what Corinne's field is but luckily that's on the chip that Lysander provided and some quick communication with Bobby+Tamarind provides the contents of the datachip. In an interview, Corinne said she studied "Politics, with a minor in Communications". There's no "Politics" department but there is one for "Political Science".

There are 36 professors in the department. AM does the math and realizes that Corinne would have graduated 22 or 23 years ago. Only about 8 professors look old enough to have been professors back then. Of those, only 2 are still active professors while the other 6 are professors emeriti, or professors who retired in good standing and retain an honorary title of "professor" from the University.

All 8 seem to have inboxes with the University, so it might be possible to reach them via written message. Alternatively you could try to track them down in real life. That could be done, but would take some time.

Alumni lists are behind firewalls and will require hacking. Broad Matrix searching doesn't reveal anything other than the fact that the University has 8,000 undergraduates each year, so there are hundreds of thousands of them out there. Finding Corinne among them might be a needle-in-a-haystack task.

[Thanee]

"Alright. I am taking a look at the archives, to see if there is any way to get inside without causing trouble. If I can find them, that is. See you in a bit."

Rachel then heads off to find the archives, using any AR guidance available, if there is any.

She will also occasionally use her Astral Perception to see if there is anything noteworthy going on in the magical realm.

[Tecumseh]

As Raven's suitor had suggested, there were multiple libraries. She elects to go to Odegaard Undergraduate Library, since Corinne was an undergraduate during her time at the University of Washington.

Libraries of the future tend to have a lot of meeting rooms or other spaces where students can study together. There are old books that have yet to be digitized, but most content from the last 30-50 years or so would be electronic in nature.

Raven finds the door locked. It seems to be looking for a MARK that her commlink doesn't have. There are some students around but, because it is Saturday, not as many. If she's patient she may be able to slip in when someone exits, or tailgate behind someone entering, but there's not much traffic at the moment.

[Beta]

Tamarind adds "doesn't think it would be funny to be a dog and fool a vetinary clinic" to her mental list of things that she doesn't understand about Bobby. He doesn't even suggest that he turn her into a beagle, in fact he doesn't even make the obvious 'bitch' joke. Some day maybe she'll get a handle on the man, but for now ... well AM and Rachel are busy, so understand him or not she'll have to do her best to be the partner he needs. For starters, she doesn't make the joke either.

"I can look at how good their matrix security is. With the new dongle, if they aren't plugged into too decent of a host I might be able to extract something. Odds are good that the clinic is owned by someone larger so may have decent security, but really we'll just have to take a look and see." after a moment she adds "I don't suppose anyone in the agency has contacts in the organized crime that controls that area? Potter likely wouldn't have had much involvement, and I don't like doing business with organized crime more than necessary, but it might be another source of information."

Once they get near the clinic she launches drones to start checking the area, most importantly for likely security hanging around. The two Pellipers she sets to follow delivery fly-ways and get a general scan, while she sends the Aunties and Uncle, her flyiing eye mini-fleet, more at roof level to to get a more detailed look. And then she sets them all up to work together as an observation swarm, running off her RCC -- they haven't transferred ownership of the new one yet.

Once she has those going, she gets close enough to identify whatever host (presumably) that the clinic is using, and takes a good look to estimate how strong it is.

[Tecumseh]

<<Saturday Noon - 12:30 - April 8, 2079 - Snohomish>>

Tamarind and Bobby take the safe route to Snohomish, avoiding the worst of the Barrens. It's Saturday so traffic isn't too bad.

When they get there, Tamarind releases her drones. The first thing she discovers is... she's not alone. Or, more accurately, the Aunties and Uncle are not alone. In fact, there's a battery of floating drones hovering near the apartment building. It's the paparazzi treatment you would expect for a celebrity. Instead, you're in a mixed-use neighborhood in front of an apartment building that - from Bobby's experience in architecture - was built back in the 2030s. It's not run-down, but it's starting to look long in the tooth.

The other drones don't seem to be doing much, just hovering and observing. There's nothing much going on at the moment. It's an A-rated middle class neighborhood in the very northeast corner of the Metroplex. In fact, the Salish border is only about a kilometer to the east.

Tamarind discovers that the animal hospital has a rating 2 host. This is typical of low-end commercial and/or private businesses. A bit of research reveals that the animal hospital is actually a not-for-profit clinic, a rarity in the Sprawl these days. That doesn't mean it's free, but it does mean that there won't be a 25-50% profit margin built into their prices.

[Jack_Spade]

"Snohomish isn't our turf exactly." Bobby shrugged. "But I don't think Potter needs the help of any gangs or mafias. Corporations have much cleaner ways to fake stuff. The dog angle might be a dudd anyway. Beagles don't usually live that long - the whole story sounds more like an afterthought to elicit even more sympathy from the voters.

I'll take a look around while you snoop the matrix."

Bobby got out of the car and walked around the clinic, looking for the delivery entrance where people on break would usually hang around to smoke or play.

[Tecumseh]

Once he's in front of it, Bobby sees that the apartment building is a motel-style arrangement, with open-air corridors and stairwells. That means that the apartment doors open to the outdoors, onto covered breezeways that connect the neighboring units. You can walk right up to Corinne's front door... but everyone can see you walking right up to the front door.

There seems to be a modest courtyard in the middle of the building that features a small pool and some outdoor seating. The building has five floors: the ground floor plus four upper floors. There are two elevators, one on the west side and one on the east side. There's a lobby that looks like the building manager's office.

The animal hospital's building is in the parking lot of a strip mall that features a drug store, a grocery store, and an accounting office. Surrounded by a parking lot, it's trivial to circle the clinic and see everything there is to see, including both the front entrance as well as the service entrance near the garbage and recycling containers.

[Thanee]

Rachel will look for a nice place to sit down outside, so she can cast a clairvoyance spell to take a look inside those library buildings.

Maybe there are some signs that show her where the archives are located. And maybe she can figure out, whether getting inside is the only barrier, or if there are more obstacles to overcome.

[ Spoiler ]

F6 Low-Light Cryptesthesia, Extended 3 hits (Drain Resistance DV 3S 3 hits)

[Tecumseh]

The undergraduate library is very large and takes a while to navigate, even magically. It has four floors, of which one is a basement and the other three are above ground. It is 37,000 square meters and houses a collection of over 2 million books, journals, and other resources. It also has a variety of spaces for students to study, work, and collaborate. These include individual study spaces, group study rooms, Matrix labs, and a learning commons.

The library is also home to a number of other services, including the Writing Center, the Math Learning Center, and the Tutoring Center. It also has a café in the basement.

Because it is lunchtime on Saturday, there are not many students there. There are a couple students who look like they are manning the front desk, probably a weekend job. There doesn't seem to be any barriers to entry other than the locked doors. In fact, the biggest obstacle may be navigating the library itself.

[Gilga]

I take the time to email all the professors asking for a meet or call from my public network profile so they see I am legit rather than some anonymous caller. I have quite the record of existing for many years in digital environments and am an average/semi-good gamer. There is also a picture. I maintain my public network presence meticulously to include only legitimate interactions and dealings and nothing criminal-related.

I also emailed Potter's campaign manager at her HQ, saying that she has plenty of potential supporters and that some of the more hardcore fans want to organize a short public interview to give her some chance to reach the hearts and minds of more potential voters and to get to know her policies in general.

[Jack_Spade]

Bobby leaned against the wall next to the service entrance, where several stick stick remains indicated a favored break spot.

Then it was just a matter of waiting. Bobby took the opportunity to review the information from Lysander, drawing a timeline.

Either a security guy would try to chase him away, or a vet tech would come out - he hoped for the second outcome.

[Beta]

Tamarind parks the van in the strip mall across from the apartment building. It looks to her like the number of vehicles here seems a bit high for a weekend, and she suspects that they are not the only ones shopping for information rather than for anything in the businesses here.

Then she looks for some device that is out on the matrix, but that is attached to the host. Most likely either a door lock that staff can interact with before logging into the host, or a customer interaction point such as a device to let people announce that they are here for an appointment. She is happy to get out of the van and take a walk around while looking for such a thing, as she is doing all of this is AR.

Presuming she finds one she tries to tag it with Watchdog, and once she manages that she goes silent and takes her time to search clinic records for any trace of Potter.

[Gilga]

Once I am done, I text Raven >> I think I am done for now, can't do much without Erika.