Living in the Shadows: IC, your run might be over... Options

[Sedna]

1219 Saturday January 6, 2063 - Virgil's Redmond Safehouse

But not so quietly that Sybersnake didn't pick up on it. He sees it in her shoulders, if not in her eyes. Her hands are working on the deck automatically, without any directed pattern. "I saw her face when you shot him," she said at last. "You didn't tell her what you do for a living."

Dragon did a good job of concealing the exasperation. "It's not something you just out and tell people," he said. "It doesn't mean I don't know who I am."

Sybersnake's voice was very steady. Very cool, very controlled. "What about your friends?"

Dragon took in a breath, didn't immediately expel it in a sigh. "We'll find Roberto. I promised, didn't I? It'll be all right. I don't let my people down."

As soon as he said it, he saw her face and knew he'd misstepped, again. What is with her? What does she want from me? It's like I'm giving every promise I can, and she knows I'll back it up, and it's still not enough?

"You never told me, either," said Sybersnake. "You brought us out of Aztlan, and you got money and my work and a couple of good lays out of it. And you never were looking for anything else, were you? Not in an actual person who'd really seen you, and not just what you project to the world."

Tiffany's phone buzzes quietly in the other room, punctuated by Tiffany's "Aw, frag it!" and the sound of stubbed bare feet and something falling.

[Sedna]

1800 Monday January 8, 2063 - Land's End Magic Shop

"I'm Durin," growls the dwarf without preamble. As he steps over the threshold, the sensors built into the doorframe pick up a surprising number of weapons under the worn overcoat: pistols, knives, an old billy club, even a pair of brass knuckles. The dwarf looks like he knows how to use them. In fact, he looks like Mothers of Metatypes should be trying to get him off the street, since his appearance reinforces every last dwarven stereotype in existence.

"You must be the person I'm supposed to be talking to. Andie, right?" He indicates the step with a jerk of his head. "Who's he?"

[SentineloftheMou...]

1800 Monday January 8, 2063 - Land's End Magic Shop

"That is Jack Soloman, a friend of Sara, who is looking after the store for a while." as Andie responds to Durin's question.

"If you don't mind let's go to the back of the shop to talk. I have some work cooking and I don't want it to burn. This way please."

Andie leads Durin into the back of the shop and checks the circulation batch again. He then turns back to Durin. "What can I do for Durin"

[Sedna]

1800 Monday January 8, 2063 - Land's End Magic Shop

The dwarf sniffs the air as they move toward the back of the store: "Gawd, that stinks. What are you cooking in there, explosives?"

[SentineloftheMou...]

1800 Monday January 8, 2063 - Land's End Magic Shop

Andie smiles at the dwarf's gruffness. Well. At least he's not afraid to speak his mind., Andie thinks to himself. I like that.

"What can I do for you, Durin?"

[Sedna]

1801 Monday January 8, 2063 - Land's End Magic Shop

"I heard you the first time." But the dwarf follows Andie back, and plunks himself in Andie's chair without being asked and before Andie can react. His legs don't quite touch the floor. Andie's left with the uncomfortable choices of either standing or sitting on the floor: I don't think there were any chairs in the main part of the store?

"Everyone I talk to tells me Sara's the best. I need the best. She said I should talk to you. So why am I talking to you?"

[WinterRat1]

1220 Saturday January 6, 2063 - Virgil's Redmond Safehouse

The sound of Tiffany's phone dropping momentarily distracts them, even causing Dragon to rise and half pull his gun before her voice kicks in and calms himself down from the reflex enhancers kicking in. Turning to face Sybersnake's smirk, he says, "Look Selina, that's not true and you know it. You know I never saw you as just another piece of hoop that I could score and run with."

She raised an eyebrow, as if to say, 'oh really? then what am I to you'? Pressing on, he continued, "I know that I didn't tell you who I was. I usually don't. It's just not the kind of thing you advertise. Honestly though, I did...I do want someone who can really see me. Really know me. My family knows me beyond what I project. I like to think my friends do too."

"I wasn't talking about just Tiffany, you know." Sybersnake interrupts him, stopping Dragon dead in his tracks. Oh frag, she was talking about Christina too...

"Tiffany bothers me, but that's a new thing. She might just be misreading you. Maybe it has nothing to do with you, and everything to do with her. Christina's different. She's your choice. Your choice not to tell. Your choice to lie to. She doesn't know you, and yet you still can't make up your mind?"

Placing her deck on the floor and looking up at him, she continues, "It seems pretty fragging clear to me Vincent, you say you want someone that knows, really knows you, but the one person who does, you won't accept. Because you're chasing an illusion in Christina. Or am I missing something?"

Gazing steadily at her, Dragon answers, "OK then. What about you? What is it that you really want? Why don't you spell it out for me so there's no confusion. At least I'm being honest."

He looks at the floor, continuing quietly, "I don't know if I want to spend of the rest of my life in the shadows, and yeah, some part of me sees Christina as a way out of the shadows, a possible start to a new life. But the other part of me, the part that admits this is probably not just who I am, but who I always will be..."

Dragon looks up again, straight at Sybersnake, "That part of me knows there's no better person for me than you, and I know that. So yeah, I'm torn between two worlds, and two girls. Maybe Christina is an illusion. I've admitted it before and I'm admitting it again. But what about you? What do you want from me, from us, and from your life?"

[SentineloftheMou...]

1801 Monday January 8, 2063 - Land's End Magic Shop

"I suppose the reason why you should be talking with me is Sara obviously feels I handle what ever you are looking for. Otherwise she would not have suggested you meeting with me. So, you going to have to make a decision. Trust me with your proposal or not."

Andie turns back to the circulation and makes sure things are still OK with it; astrally perceiving to make sure no background noise interferes with the batch.

[Sedna]

1801 Monday January 8, 2063 - Land's End Magic Shop

"Huh. Guess she would, at that. And you do sound like you know what you're talking about," says the dwarf a bit doubtfully, visibly looking Andie up and down. It might have been comical had it not been for the mage's constant awareness of all those weapons hidden just under the coat. Never take any situation for granted, comes back one of Sara's lessons to him, for it's absolutely certain that the moment you do, nothing will turn out to be like you assumed it to be.

His back to the dwarf, Andie continues to focus on the circulation, letting him come to his own conclusions in his own time. Either he will, or he won't -- and he's not the kind that talking's likely to sway. I've said my piece. He's heard it. The next move is his. ... Although I wish he'd stop looking at me like he's wondering whether I'm ripe yet or not.

"All right," said the dwarf suddenly. "I've got this job, big thing, weapon. It's got to be special. Interested?"

[SentineloftheMou...]

1801 Monday January 8, 2063 - Land's End Magic Shop


A weapon focus, ahhh, Andie thinks to himself; pleased that the dwarf has decided to trust him.

"What kind of weapon and just how special are we talking about?", Andie asks with some doubt in his voice. Can't appear too eagar...

[Sedna]

1222 Saturday January 6, 2063 - Virgil's Redmond Safehouse

"Right now?" Sybersnake stares at her deck. "Right now I want to hold Robbie so bad it hurts. I want to hurt whoever did this to him. Encabronaro! Hell yeah, I'm pissed off." She hesitates. "I also know that if I set foot outside this place I'm likely to get shot again -- and it almost wouldn't matter, except that that wouldn't help Robbie any. I know you'll do a lot to find him ... maybe even more than his ... cabrón." The Aztláner word she used didn't signify "father", not exactly -- and in a blazing "suddenly" Dragon understood the "why" of what lay unspoken under all of this: Why are you doing all this, why are you acting like a real father to him, if you don't want to really be his father?

"I know I owe you -- all of you -- my life."

For the first time she looks straight at Dragon, her face a mask: "I also know that yours was the voice I heard, promising to pick him up, before he went missing."

Dragon tries to say something, but she overrides him: "Oh, I know it wasn't you. No hey pedo. But I know it with my head, Dragon." She blinks. "You know, I don't even know your real name. Just Vincent, and of course Dragon, your professional one, the one you use to kill people."

"Get out of my fucking life!!!" shrieks Tiffany suddenly from the other room.

[Sedna]

1802 Monday January 8, 2063 - Land's End Magic Shop

The dwarf stares at him like some sort of idiot. "Special! You know," he flails with his hands, vaguely sketching out something almost as big as he is, something with a staff and what looks like two heads or blades, broader than his shoulders ... he brings his hands together and leans forward a little on the seat, and repeats, low and in the voice of one who's thought and thought about this: "Special."

Durin reaches suddenly under the coat, and the mage barely forces down the reflexive flinch before the dwarf drags out a large, dog-earred envelope with what looks like pages upon pages of hardcopy inside and thrusts it at Andie, who automatically holds out his hands to receive it. "Here's the general idea," he says gruffly.

He's clearly waiting for the other to pull out the diagrams and look at them, so Andie does. It's large all right, a double-headed axe yes, roughly the size of the dwarf sitting in front of him. Fortunately, the draft diagrams are extremely professional -- so much so that Andie has a sudden suspicion he might have been lost, had it not been for his own engineering background. On separate pages are lists of suggested alloys, woods, forging processes. The sketches, from several different perspectives, are vivid, showing every detail of the runework running around the axehead and charred into the handle. In every aspect, the level of detail is extraordinary ... every aspect, but one.

Apart from loose mythic references mostly notated as being from the "Gylfaginning", "Lokasenna", and something called the Tolkein notations, nowhere in any of the diagrams can be found the least suggestion of a formal enchantment.

[WinterRat1]

1222 Saturday January 6, 2063 - Virgil's Redmond Safehouse

Two thoughts leapt into Dragon’s mind. First, that he finally understood the issue over Sybersnake’s confusion regarding him. If I’m acting like a father to Roberto , of course she would wonder…and she would of course wonder where that leaves her and I in all this. But what gives her the right to think that all I do is kill people?

His face a mask as well now, Dragon answered, “I don’t use that name to just kill people. I’m not an assassin, I’m a soldier. Killing people comes along with the territory sometimes, yes. But that doesn’t mean that a killer is all that I am. And anyway, what…”

Suddenly the sound of Tiffany screaming interrupts his train of thought, and he immediately bolts to the other room before her words even process. Knocking on the door to the bathroom, he asks, “ Tiffany , what’s going on in there? Is everything ok?”

A glance back at Sybersnake confirms the thought on both their minds. This was neither the time, nor place, to finish this discussion. Indeed, as if the discussion even could be finished right now. Nodding at him, she affirms what they both already know. We’ll continue this another day. Assuming, of course, that we live to that day, Dragon thinks to himself.

[Sedna]

1223 Saturday January 6, 2063 - Virgil's Redmond Safehouse

Sybersnake met his glance, nodded confirmation, visibly became once more the consummate professional as the mask slid down in turn over her own features. Despite his absolute frustration with her, and, yes, hurt: Dragon discovered a brief moment of regret -- and shoved it away, focusing on the relief that at last she was acting like a member of the team.

Fairness had nothing to do with it, not for anyone ... and by the look of her as she opened the door Tiffany was not having a good day either. At least, thankfully, she was wearing Virgil's sweatshirt and jeans. She didn't fit too badly into them either.

"Well, you don't look like you're being murdered," said Sybersnake from somewhere behind the two men, gathering up the last few parts of her deck into its carrying case, the two holes in it now temp-patched with sticky tape. "You done with the shower?"

The reporter gave her a wild-eyed look. "It's not your deck. We've got to get out of here."

"Hold up," said Virgil, who'd stood up from where he had been keeping guard on the door. "You want to try that again with help files enabled?"

"The bitch called me. I've got the call on tape, I tape all my calls. Said we'd picked up a surveillance drone on the way here."

[paul_HArkonen]

0120 January 6th - Somewhere in Seattle

I have to find her. Blaze's thoughts focused on a single point, a single image the entire way home. Riding his Bike out into the street Blaze's thoughts aren't on the road. I've got a team, I've got a direction, and I've got a lead, now I just have to try an find her, and figure out what I'm going to do afterwards. Letting his coat open up behind him Blaze flies down the road way, weaving in and out of the little traffic there is at this hour. The coat whipping around in the wind an image of Blaze will be forever engraved in the minds of those he passes.

Arriving at his home Blaze slides off his bike and locks it up in his parking space. Light glinting off his Shades Blaze walks over towards the woods near his home. Great Leopard grant me your power and wisdom, your eyesight and your speed to find my family member, and to protect her from the evil of the corps. Arriving in his small grotto of the forest Blaze sits cross legged in the center of the lodge that he prepared.

Pulling his head clear from the clouds that had once blocked his vision Blaze begins to chant softly to himself, seeing the barriers of his lodge form around him he begins to twist and shape the mana lines around his Lodge. Forming first a head, then a body, followed by arms, and legs, he carves a Leopard out of the mana surrounding him. Feeling the familiar surge of the Leopard's gifts Blaze's body flashs briefly out of existence, replaced for a moment with that of a spotted Leopard.

Still in his astral form of the Leopard, Blaze reaches inside him self and pulls some of his life energy out of his body and places it within the Spirit. "I need you to help me to find my cousin". Placing the finishing touches to the watcher Blaze reaches out his hand, fist to let it gain his scent, then reaching up to scratch it behind the ears. "Please find my cousin Melissa, She should be somewhere in the city, Please find her and Tell her the following message 'This is from your cousin Richard, I'm looking for you, to find you and help you to escape from your pursuers. Please tell where you are, and let me help you.' Wait for her return message, and come to me with it, along with where you found her."

Mumbling to itself, "find cousin, tell her message, return to master, tell him where she is." The watcher speeds off into the astral space of the city.

As the spell ends Blaze'sbody returns to its normal appearance. The light of the stars glinting off his eyes his image is that of a hunter on the prowl.

Making a slight twist in the mana that makes up the barrier around his Lodge Blaze sets it to allow the Watcher to pass through it as well.

[Sedna]

0155 Saturday January 6, 2063 - Puyallup civic centre, standing in a corner of the bus platform and generally being one with the night

[OOC: carryover from Salvation]

No one seems really to notice her. No one in this area of the city pays attention to anyone else, not unless they're out to hassle them, or to avoid being hassled. She's standing in a darkened corner of the shelter where the lightbulbs have been shattered by random stones or perhaps by gunfire, faded into the shadows around her in body and in spirit, and lets her mind slip into that meditative awareness that would alert her to any changes in her environment without her consciously seeking them out.

With the ease of long practice Alleycat quickly undoes the dreadlocks, leaving her hair a dark nest of straggly, crinkly strands which she combs roughly back from her eyes with her fingers and ties back with an elastic band. The belt she slips inside the tunic top. Removing her gloves and the mirrored visor and tucking them into a pocket of the longcoat, she rubs the white slashes from her face and neck. The cuffs of her jeans she inverts to reveal the hidden fraying. Out of the same pocket, she pulls a pair of cheap sunglasses, their shading more suggestive than any real sun protection, and puts them on. Finally, as her bus pulls into the bay, she pulls the longcoat, with the taser in its left main pocket, just a bit more tightly around herself, again stopping short of silhouetting the hidden Predator.

The effect, now, is that of darkened, blotchy, gray upon gray upon brown-gray skin: just another of the city's many working poor, one bare step away from homelessness.

[Sedna]

0210 Saturday January 6, 2063 - bus stop, coming up to the Puyallup doss

Alleycat took the opportunity on the bus to re-focus, to make what she had just learned, her own. It only took a few minutes. The bus ride took longer, but not exceptionally so.

She was the only person to get off at the stop, which didn't surprise her. From here, it would be only a short walk of a minute or so. Alert to every change in her environment, still she listened, hopefully, for the sounds of motorcycles.

If I could find Ripper here, that would save me a lot of time. Even if she doesn't know anything about a newcomer like that in Puyallup, she might be able to point me in the direction of someone who does. I wonder if this Melissa might have ended up in someone's street clinic? If Ripper doesn't know, maybe I'll go find Trank and the rest and ask them. Since I'm doing this on behalf of a relative, they might make an exception. I'll have to pick up that stash I keep here first though, just in case. They'll almost certainly want a "donation".

[Sedna]

1809 Monday January 8, 2063 - Land's End Magic Shop

After Andie's skimmed through every page and has turned back to the beginning to examine the whole thing again, the dwarf, who'd been surprisingly patient up until then, can no longer hold silence.

"I see you looking," he says in his rough voice, laced with just a tinge of returning suspicion, "but you aren't saying anything. Why aren't you saying anything? Is this contract too much for you?"

[Sedna]

0211 Saturday January 6, 2063 - coming up to the Puyallup doss

No one in the immediate vicinity. Her steps slow as she approaches the steep staircase, consciously giving some extra time against the off-chance. It accomplishes something with the time, to quickly call Grail ... and this time it is she who has forgotten what that time of the morning means to most people. Maybe it's because Grail's rousted her out of bed all those times before. She knows better than to set patterns for other people and then rely too heavily on them, but at some point she seems to have pegged him as a night person. Still, this time she gets his answering service:

[paul_HArkonen]

0145 January 6th - Home

It has been a long day. Blaze shuts the door behind him, double checking that his ward is still intact. Walking through the house, if it can be called that, Blaze begins taking off his "working clothes". Sliding off the long coat Blaze hangs it up in the closet and slides the pistol out of it's holster and places it in it's single drawer, next to an extra clip of ammo. Finally able to go to sleep Blaze takes a quick shower, letting the warm water wash away some of his stress and his exaustion. Stepping out Blaze looks around the hose once more, just to check up on things, and then finally goes to sleep, first setting his alarm for 9:30 AM.

[Sedna]

1223 Saturday January 6, 2063 - Virgil's Redmond Safehouse

As Tiffany said "call", Virgil suddenly became aware that his own earplug phone had been quietly pulsing against his ear for some time: not with the urgency of an incoming call, just reminding that there was a message waiting for him. ("Vibrate" is an interesting setting with earplug cell phones.)

He took the moment to pull it up while Dragon was focusing on Tiffany, noting absently that it had been sent directly to the message box without ever contacting him directly:

[SentineloftheMou...]

1810 Monday January 8, 2063 - Land's End Magic Shop


After looking over the diagram notes of the axe Andie was impressed by the detail of the plans. As he starts thinking about what he would need for such job request Andie says, "Well, Durin. The diagrams are very detailed. I am impressed. Do you already have the axe created or will that be part of the request??"

Andie listens patiently for the dwarf's response. "I did notice that there does not seem to be any formal enchantment instructions on these diagrams. Is that correct?? I didn't miss that item, did I?? And can you tell me who drew up these diagrams?? I may need to consult with them over a few things. Some of these symbols appear to be runes of Norse mythology"

Andie sees if Durin is still with him browses the diagrams again; just to make sure.

"And how much are you willing to spend for this item and when do you intend delivery to be?? I have to warn you. I am very busy until the end of the month and a project of this magnitude will take some time to complete."

[Sedna]

1812 Monday January 8, 2063 - Land's End Magic Shop

"Oh," says the dwarf to Andie's comment on the detail, "that's just the Readers' Digest version. I've got the full thing in the car. Didn't want to bring it over until I knew who I was dealing with."

From the front shop, as Andie continues talking, can just be heard the sound of Jack Solomon on the telephone, speaking just below the threshold of understandability.

"Of course I don't have the axe already created," interrupts Durin, and once again his tone reiterates the obvious. "That's your job, just like enchanting it is. It's got to be a really good ancestral axe, after all. I designed the thing, but it's going to take someone who really knows what they're doing to figure out a proper enchantment for it. Where else would you go but to Norse mythology? I've already found you some sources," he adds in an aggrieved voice that seems to ask: did you want me to make the whole axe for you as well?

Andie's still stumbling on the earlier word. "Ancestral?"

"Of course ancestral!" snorts the dwarf, and Andie decides to drop it. "Got to be made right, if it's going to be a proper heirloom." And once again he repeats the word that always seems to turn his voice into a rough caress: "Special. Price is no object. As long as you're not a thief and your work is good."

To Andie's warning, he just shakes his head: "Of course I'm not expecting it tomorrow! I know what I'm asking! But we'll make a proper contract now and you can start working on the enchantment details, and then at the end of the month you can start making the thing."

[SentineloftheMou...]

1812 Monday January 8, 2063 - Land's End Magic Shop

"Just so we understand each other", Andie replies to the dwarf's comment on expected completion. "I just wanted to set your expectations correctly for when this process will be completed."

Andie considers the deal with anticipation and trepidation. This could bring me some future referrals if done the right way....

"And since money isn't an object here to make it 'special' I would require a 250k nuyen advance to cover initial material costs for the weapon focus. Do you agree??"

[Sedna]

1812 Monday January 8, 2063 - Land's End Magic Shop

"Well, yes," says the dwarf. "That's why we're writing up the contract now, with all the costs and things spelled out in detail." And his attitude seems to add: Sure, I've got the nuyen, but I'm not shelling out until you give me details.