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

[Sedna]

0420 Saturday, January 6, 2063 - Paradigm Shift

"Ah, Sperethiel is such an expressive language," teases Alianna -- but only going so far; maybe warned by his expression, she stops well short of saying anything irrevocable ... although she does test his control then, and through the half hour and change she has to go up to each and every band member backstage, and gush out unbelievable sap, and discover to her infinite regret that she had forgotten her camera (but settles for autographs). Blaze is long past fighting the urge to pace: at this point it's testing his reserves not to just get the frag out of there.

One glance stopped him. A single glance -- can you even call it that, when the eyes are never seen? -- and he knew that Alleycat had never once forgotten why they were there.

And for some reason, he suddenly remembered her waving at the camera outside.

She looks tired now, still exhilarated (and maybe just a little drunk), but starting to feel the edge of adrenaline loss -- and he catches her cue easily and says, "Come on, Alianna, let's get you home."

[Shadowrunner13]

15:01:19 Thursday 04 January 2063 - Seattle, UCAS

Tenmou stepped out of the coffee shop's bathroom, after a desperate need to relieve himself from all the coffee he had drank. Finding a payphone near the door, he called a taxi service to arrange for pick up at Miss Omura's building for three thirty.

Grabbing his duffle bag, he slowly cleared his table and prepared himself to step out into the cold January air. With ten minutes remaining before his pick up time, Tenmou stepped out of the coffee shop and made his way down to the front of the apartment complex to wait for Miss Omura.

[grendel]

15:25:05 Thursday 04 January 2063 - Seattle, UCAS

Dressed smartly in a Navy blue skirt and blazer beneath a London Fog topcoat, Miss Omura steps through the front door of the apartment complex. She holds a small black purse in both hands, her eyes downcast as she stops in front of Tenmou. She bows respectfully, her long black hair falling forward off her shoulders to hide her face.

[Sedna]

1405 Saturday January 6th, 2063 - Puyallup Street Clinic

Teammate notwithstanding, Virgil first finished answering Galina's question (once he'd deciphered it) about where he'd found the girl. More or less. Maybe he'd be able to return to that safehouse someday and maybe he wouldn't, but he'd been too long in the shadows to just give up that kind of information. Only then did he turn to Dragon, while the troll's head was still bent in thought.

[Sedna]

2135 Monday, January 8, 2063 - Land's End Magic Shop

As the mage starts working his way through the printouts, a sudden icy wind stealing in from some unseen crack sends him into a bout of shivering.

Frag, but this place has draughts. Good thing I'm staying the night (again), his brain amended tiredly. I'd hate to think how cold it is outside.

Thorough job, by the looks of it. The initial cursory glance nets Andie glimpses of registrations, land transfer requisitions, even a copy of what looked like the original deed. He begins to sort the pile out. As he pushes the pile of loose, empty parchment aside to make room, a small piece of paper flutters loose. In Sara's handwriting //

-- Sara gets up at least three times during the short dinner to check on the current emulsion. Although she is paying attention to what Andie is saying, she's clearly more than a bit distracted. "Sure. I'll talk to him" --

// A twinge in Andie's neck. How long has he been staring at that scrap of paper?

[paul_HArkonen]

0420 Saturday, January 6, 2063 - Paradigm Shift

Blaze takes Alleycat's arm and slowly helps her towards the entrance they came in from, through tangle of the backstage wiring. Heading out the door turns briefly back towards the camera over the door and gives them a wave of thanks. Walking with Alleycat back towards the Bike he makes small talk about the band.

Looking briefly at Alleycat.
She is either the most amazing actor I've ever seen, or has some sort of disorder.

Turning back to look ahead, Blaze becomes slightly lost in thought for a few moments, his body language telling Alleycat his thoughts.
Frag it. Still not clues towards her location, or even condition. Stupid fragging corps, still using me, and still ruining the lives of the innocents. However, now I have to combat a different evil, the camp. If nothing else I can try to protect the innocents of that camp from the tyranny of Saito's "Justice".

[Sedna]

0420 Saturday, January 6, 2063 - on the way, hopefully, to some sleep before the meet

"Wait," she says suddenly, grinning as she's fishing through her purse again, "That place is still open, and I've got a major yen for the sweets."

Almost beyond words at this point, a resigned and emotionally exhausted Blaze pulls into the parking lot of the Sugar Shak (with its huge, radiation-green scoop of ice cream dangling precariously above them), and waits while she fishes through the items she's tucked beneath the seat and then leads him to the small, bulletproof glass window. [We Carry Only Fifty Nuyen.] To his surprise, this time she pays, with a couple of coins out of the purse. It's not until they're eating something cold and sticky and sweet that he has no appetite for, and slowly wandering back in a long, slow parabola toward the bike -- and he'll admit it, with that trail gone cold he's just too tired to be in any kind of hurry now -- that he realises she's forgotten her purse on the ledge where she'd temporarily perched it. He makes a move to go back for it, but she shakes her head sharply. Turning slightly away from him, she pulls off the bronzed lenses and places them in one of her coat pockets -- and when she's turned back to him, she's replaced them with that familiar mirrored visor.

That's when he realises that at some recent point she's fished her own coat inside-out and shoved her hair inside (dark now, in the almost non-existent lighting), and that the only green he's seen for some minutes now was the sickly reflection of the blinking cone against her skin. Even the dress looks drab on her now; he can hardly make it out at all beneath the shadows of the working longcoat.

"If he was a lead," she says quietly, "I have his number, I have the name he uses here, and I might have his fingerprints. However, I might also have his bug. Let me work on this?"

After a moment of sheer startlement, Blaze sees it: "That's why you abandoned the purse."

"That's one of the reasons, yes. It's also a reason we're not going beyond small talk on that bike of yours, not until I ditch a couple more things. You'll be clear of it once you leave me at Dante's Inferno. It's their "Take Back the Decade" weekend ... and the bus station nearby has lockers." Her smile quirks. "Oh" -- she suddenly begins fishing again in the pockets of her coat -- "These should be clear of that, at least -- and they may have some value, if you manage to move them quickly. Our quest to find your cousin won't be cheap, and I can't help you there."

She's holding out to him a small, crinkled envelope. By the feel of it Blaze immediately recognises a credstick, discovers additionally a dozen or so loyal shopper and odd identification cards, all in the name he'd read out before: Karla Everston.

[Sedna]

0305 Tuesday, January 9, 2063 - Land's End Magic Shop

Andie startles awake, scattering papers.

He's cold.

And his phone is ringing incessantly ... and at this point, quite loudly.

[paul_HArkonen]

0420 Saturday, January 6, 2063 - on the way, hopefully, to some sleep before the meet (yeah right)

"I can't take these, they're yours, and as much as I apreciate your aid, I can't accept it. You need these as much, perhaps more than I do. Before we go though I want to offer my thanks for your aid. I really apreciate your help."

From his tone Alleycat realizes that this is the first time Blaze has had help in his personal crusade. Alone for his entire life his family means everything to him, and the help means the world to him. But his refusal of the credstick also shows one other thing. His personal honor. He feels that it is his job to help her, and although he apreciates the aid, he won't accept anything like that.

As they aproach the bike again Blaze speaks again, this time in a much more flirting voice.

"I'm glad you enjoyed yourself, I'll give you a ride back home. Can we meet tomorrow? Or are you busy?"

As he starts up the bike Alleycat can see Blaze's exastion, both physical, and mental. The strain of being so close, but missing his chance has cost him something, but she thinks he will be fine in the morning.

[banditf50]

1415 Saturday January 6th, 2063 - Puyallup Street Clinic

"What the frag" does not even begin to cover what is unfolding on top of this place.

"I have little to offer right now in the way of an explanation Dragon. The girl we brought in is afflicted with some type of hemorrhagic fever, the fourth such case this clinic seen, this is just beginning. Tiffany is filming the girl we just brought in, publicity might be the only chance that these streets stand against a potential epidemic of this bug."

Pausing for a second to allow the gravity of the situation to sink in, Virgil allowed a sigh and tried to sound confident.

"We need to find ourselves a place to lay low for a few hours and put some calls out, maybe plan a few moves in advance. I think it is best that we limit our time spent here so as not to draw unwanted attention to this place, maybe just long enough for me to talk with the women that we brought in yesterday."

Dragon new the tone in the shaman's voice. This place was neutral ground, full of true non-combatants, they had no right to draw the attention of whom ever wanted Sybersnake dead down upon this place.

"Do you know somewhere we can hole up for a few hours Dragon?

[SentineloftheMou...]

0305 Tuesday, January 9, 2063 - Land's End Magic Shop

Andie starts awake and glances at the clock; adrenalin pumping through his veins. 3am. This had better be important.

He reaches for his phone and rubs his face to wake himself up more. "Hello...."

[grendel]

03:05:35 09 Tuesday January, 2063 - Seattle LTG

The call waiting icon hovering beside Ice Cube in the matrix thawed into the snow sprite which indicated the line was connected. His virtual persona was already loaded into the commcall utility, and with a thought he started that process. The individual on the other line would see only a hazy outline of a (meta)human, obscured by a hash of electronic snow. His voice, as well, was an electronic construct, compiled from over a dozen different well known public speakers. He'd washed the resulting vocabulary through a synthesizer twice. Anyone trying to reconstruct a true voiceform would waste over a thousand hours of mainframe processing time.

"Good morning. I understand you're in the market for a computer?"

[Shadowrunner13]

15:25:05 Thursday 04 January 2063 - Seattle, UCAS

Feeling slightly underdressed, Tenmou returns Miss Omura's bow.

"Our ride will be along shortly and I will get you to and from your appointment as quickly as possible, Miss."

Tenmou tries to make eye contact with the girl to try and ascertain what she is thinking and feeling.

[SentineloftheMou...]

0306 Tuesday, January 9, 2063 - Land's End Magic Shop


Andie checks the caller id against the phone number Soloman gave him. This had better be the right guy....

Andie shakes himself awake until his thoughts start making cohesive sentences.

"Yes. Actually, I am in the market for a new computer. It has to be able to run a 6400 mps library program and read optical chips. Do you think you can help me out??"

[grendel]

15:35:27 Thursday 04 January 2063 - Seattle, UCAS

Miss Omura keeps her eyes downcast, not meeting Tenmou's gaze, and making no attempt at conversation. When the cab arrives at the curb, she waits for her companion to make the first move.

[grendel]

03:06:18 09 Tuesday January, 2063 - Seattle, LTG

Having anticipated the request, Ice Cube had the list of gear he had on hand displayed in an open window. It took him barely a moment to check for the request.

"I have that equipment on hand. You can have it for the low, one-time only price of 9700 nuyen."

[Sedna]

0450 Saturday, January 6, 2063 - outside Dante's Inferno

After Blaze, at her request (and even at that she had to repeat and reassure that some things still needed doing, and she couldn't do them at her place -- and that she wasn't about to let a possible homing beacon go there in any case), lets her off at the bus station near Dante's Inferno -- sound level, even filtred through those walls, still flirting with some city ordinances and probably simply ignoring quite a few more -- and even as she quickly works on the harness and shucks back into the ultravest she's still considering how she could have presented the proposal better, not "aid" as such, just incidental resources picked up in the pursuit of the quest, to be used in pursuit of the quest.

Although perhaps there was no "better". Some kinds of honour are illogical like that.

Still, it leaves her with the problem of how to convert something that might or might not have any third-party value into nuyen, as well as the question of how to deal with the card now inside one of the station lockers, tucked in behind the nameplate along with the burnt matchbook. (Until she's sure, she's not taking either of those anywhere near the Last Drop. She's already got the number scanned anyway.)

In a moment of insight she suddenly realises that the last might also be the easiest: why not just ask Hobbes? Even against the fingerprints? She'd met the elf in pursuit of the job she'd been sent on, after all ... sort of ... and that could explain the identifications just as well. I wonder if she'd accept what's in the envelope against that tab I'm running up? Remembering the early-morning shift in the crowd demographics at the Paradigm Shift, Alleycat smiles to herself: it's not unlikely that Hobbes knows the guy.

Half an hour, until she could legitimately catch the cross-bus to connect with her regular line. "Anne" holds to routine. While "Anne" remains secure, it's changing the pattern that would attract attention. It's even legit to be a quarter of an hour early, if she's using it to bolt soykaf and breakfast while helping open topside, especially after having been woken by another collection agency call. Puta madre, Grail, I know it adds to the SIN's solidity, but I really could have done without that detail.

No shower and she'd miss that, no sunrise ritual and she'd miss that more, but she had her work uniform and the rest of her clothing back to the way it had been, and them's the breaks, Alleycat. Then she shook her head hard: just for a moment, the name that had nearly come into her mind had been very different. Definitely needing to get her head on straight, before going on from this place.

There's times when it's almost not worth bothering with sleep ...

[SentineloftheMou...]

0307 Tuesday, January 9, 2063 - Land's End Magic Shop

Andie is skeptical by the offer. That is way too low a price, he thinks to himself.

"That sounds too good to true. What's the catch? This computer didn't fall off a truck, did it?

[grendel]

03:07:41 09 Tuesday January, 2063 - Seattle LTG

Well there's something you don't see everyday, a runner asking to pay more for his gear.

"I see where your confusion lies, young grasshopper. Too long you have suffered beneath the repressive marketing jackboot of the corporations. Cast off your chains! You don't have to pay the two hundred percent mark-up that most electronics stores mandate! Plastic and silicon are cheap when you go to the source, and when you take away medical, dental, 401K, PTO, and all that drek, man-hours aren't that expensive either. Sure, your new machine isn't going to come in that nice, pretty Novatech case with matching stickers, but it'll run the programs null sweat. Probably more reliably, as well. So what's it going to be, omae, can we deal or am I wasting air time?"

Ice Cube flips through the latest catalog from HHH, pausing momentarily at the Holly Brighton schoolgirl avatar skin.

Sweet Jesus!

[SentineloftheMou...]

0307 Tuesday, January 9, 2063 - Land's End Magic Shop


"Alright, relax. Don't get your patties in a bunch. For that price I will take three computers then for 29,100 :nuyen: total. When can they be delivered and how do you want the money transfers to you??

[grendel]

03:08:15 09 Tuesday January, 2063 - Seattle LTG

"Hmm, I wasn't informed that you would be wanting more than one machine. That's going to delay delivery time by twenty four hours. Thursday, noon, Key to the Future electronics shop. This is a cash business, so certified cred is best. But if all you have is a personal stik I think we can make arrangements. Payment on delivery. Anything else?"

Ice Cube tried to keep the impatience out of his voice. He preferred to deal avatar to avatar, at the speed of the matrix, rather than relying on voice interface. How antiquated.

[SentineloftheMou...]

0308 Tuesday, January 9, 2063 - Land's End Magic Shop


"No. That will be it for now. I'll see you on Thursday."

Andie hangs up the phone and goes to check on the circulation while he is up. Everything looks OK. Still a little soft with the furnace damped down for the night. Good.

Andie then goes back to sleep. Tomorrow will be a long day

[Shadowrunner13]

15:36:32 Thursday 04 January 2063 - Seattle, UCAS

Tenmou steps forward and pulls the cab door open, motioning to Miss Omura.

"After you, Miss."

[grendel]

15:36:45 Thursday 04 January 2063 - Seattle, UCAS

Miss Omura dips her head again, and in a voice soft enough that Tenmou might not have heard her at all, replies "Arigato." She seats herself in the backseat of the cab with bird-like grace, smoothing her skirt down over her legs and folding her hands in her lap.

[Moirdryd]

02:30, Saturday, 6th January 2063 - Seattle, UCAS

Walking through the poorly lit and lonely streets of southside Tacoma with his securetech longcoat pulled tight about him, a slender protection against the chill of the air. Knight pauses beneath a flickering street lamp and almost reluctantly pulls a hand from within the warmth of a pocket in the coat. Peering down he uses the dim glare lighting of the street lamp to read from a folded shred of paper.


The Slumber Stop. Cartrun Avenue. Southside Tacoma

He`d checked the address a thousand times since he`d entered this district of the city. Finally though across the street lay his objective. Knight`s eyes studied the building. It looked old but solid and more importantly quiet.

Taking a deep breath he steps from the sidewalk and begins to cross the street.

Just like Europe all over again, those first few days. Except you aren't with me this time Harvey. So I`m without your list of friends in these shadows chummer. Well thats not entirely true, you did connect me with Calvin. He did good by you and he`s been good by me so far.

Knight steps up and into the lobby of the coffin hotel. Silently his steps take him to the small reception desk manned by a bored old looking dwarf.

" I`ve a bed booked. Mr Knightington. Reserved by phone yesterday" His voice with its soft lilting European accentation seems to rouse the dwarf a little from his entrancement with the Trideo screen he had been watching.

"Whats that? Knightington eh?" the dwarf turns to a small computer screen behind the desk "Gotcha right here...said you were meant to be here 10 o`clock last night..."

Knight cuts the dwarf off mid sentence.

"I was unavoidably delayed. I believe everything has been handled in advance? Yes?, My passkey then if you please" his soft and cultured tones clipping harshly, sounding of a man too tired to deal with basic pleasantries right now.

The dwarf mutters something about `ungracious elves` and passes a slumber-coffin maglock passkey to Knight over the desk.

"There you go and yeh, everything is booked up nicely for the next couple of weeks" with a few more muttered words he turns back to the Trideo and `Survivor; Renraku Arcology` that is showing `live` at this hour.

Knight turns away and heads down the adjacent corridor passing rows of heavy duty steel `coffins` that make up the rental space of the coffin hotel. He stops finding number 266 and punches in the access code. With a smooth `shh` the door swings open. He quickly survey`s the small corridor, empty and silent at this hour. Shrugging his coat off he Knight slides that along with the carryall from over his shoulder into the small space. Then with another smooth action the Katana the coat had been concealing is slipped in along the opposite edge before he himself steps up and enters the coffin like cubicle. Securing the door at his feet.

Yawning Knight rests back for a moment before slipping the cyberterminal out from the carryall and plugging it into the matrix jackpoint within the coffin. Breathing a small sigh of relief noting that at least some matrix access had already also been pre-paid for he puts the trode unit into place over his eyes and logs in from the Slumber Stop`s host.

Wish you were here with me Skate. I`m pretty sure i`m clean like this at the moment, but I could really use your decker`s touch. Hope you and Harvey get a better deal next life around. You both deserve it.

With his momentary musings past, Knight wastes no more time in constructing a simple message and sending it on its way to Calvin`s anonymous drop box.

= Calvin. In town fine. Love my new doss. Got to catch up with you soon. You name the place as you know the city. You got my number. Knight=

Feeling the exhaustion of the past few days catching up with him he jacks out and disconnects the cable. Putting the cyberterminal away he rests back, wincing a little at the bruises the fast exit from the Tir left him with. His heavy lids close for the first time in over 48 hours and he drifts into a welcome unconsciousness.