Living in the Shadows: IC, Jan 8th-14th Options

[Vegas]

02:13:45 Thursday, 11 January 2063 Aidan's Apartment

The black duffle bag was wedged in between where Lana sat and the arm of the couch. One of her hands rested on the bag while the other was wrapped around her glass. Her gaze was unfocused on some object across the small room and her eyes never drifted to her friends faces.

"I don't know. Just that Niki called this her "insurance" in case something ever happened. I guess something finally happened. Between this and Kat's creep.. when it rains it pours, Da?"

She rocked back and forth slightly in her seat. She wasn't outright lying to her friends, just choosing to omit parts of the story.

[WinterRat1]

02:15:07 Thursday, 11 January 2063 Aidan's Apartment

Her friends exchanged glances again, obviously concerned about this entirely different and unexpected problem, but opted not to say anything.

"OK...so what are we going to do now?" Kat finally said.

[bclements]

19:45:18 Thursday, 11 January 2063 – Tooth and Nail, West Galer St, Downtown Seattle, UCAS


Leon led on, and as he opened a rusty steel fire door, normal conversation left both of them at the landing below. Freya, a veteran of many concerts, wasn’t prepared for the acoustic onslaught of Horns Rising, a band he remembered hearing from down in the lounge area a few times. Armago’s feeling it tonight he thought; the lead synthsinger was dripping with sweat and in full spotlight from the stage, and roaring out from the stage. Or tried to: the bass from the suspended speakers over the pit, matched by the treble and reverb, really didn’t allow for much more than the occasional lyric to get by the backbeat.

Leon lead both of the around the pit, thronging with people more than willing to beat each other to a pulp to have a good time. He nodded at Mossif, a huge human brandishing a neon vest and a shockstick that was one of the people willing to wade into the crowd when passion became more than just about music. Huge fans moved over the audience; the heat generated from this floor way overwhelmed the cooling system, and even in the brief jaunt around the pit, Leon and Freya welcomed the cooling jets of air, swooshing around the room.

Leon had worked up here a few times, so he was prepared for the pit. Freya, however, wasn’t. Freaks of every type brushed up against her, most out of her realm of describance. Furry men like Leon, moshing in the heat with what looked to be elves with feathers. More that she had no cultural or literary reference to filled the landscape. Several at the edges of the crowd popped their heads around at her passing. “Don’t worry, I’m a big girl,” Freya shouted in his year as Leon led them to a seated area, next to bar and the stairs to the lower and upper levels.

[bclements]

10:35:49 Sunday 14 January 2063 - The Green Papaya, 600 East Pine St, Seattle, UCAS

“Trasmittin’,” Roscoe said, taking a sip of his tomato juice. After a second, a view showed in Vedic’s commlink of eight different Seattle ‘singles’ sites, showing at least roughly if not the same picture. Highlighting them individually, he saw that, while some of the sites had slightly different images or text, they seemed largely the same; the LTG address’s were different, though.

“Wat you’re seen’ here is the same guy. Your guy. On eight differnt sites. At the same time. Ready to carry on conversation, even.” Roscoe leaned in, keeping his speech low. “Now, I knew a comint guy, real good like. Keep ten differen drones buzzn ‘round yer head like he was just breathin.”

“Now, some guys good like dat ‘round here. I’ve seen me a few of dem. Most of ‘em don’t spend time ‘round ‘dese type of places. Dey got better, or dey meet people other ways, I dunno,” Roscoe said, as the meal was delivered.

[grendel]

10:37:08 Sunday 14 January 2063 - The Green Papaya, 600 East Pine St, Seattle, UCAS

Vedic stirred his xao gung thoughtfully, chopsticks held relaxed in one slim, scarred hand. Faces hung in space before him, the information fed to his commlink by Roscoe scrolling across the view for him to access.

"The question now becomes is our Mr. Anderson the same individual who is running this little singles mixer or is he just a client? Is he the man behind the curtain or just one of the beneficiaries? Ultimately I think the answer is beyond the scope of our investigation. All we must ensure is that Mr. Anderson no longer bothers our employer. The easiest way to accomplish this is to explain the situation to him in direct terms. I recommend a period of surveillance followed by a physical contact. Unless, of course, you can accomplish these terms remotely through your own abilities?"

Vedic glanced up at Roscoe his voice level and without appreciable inflection save for the last rising emphasis of the question.

[Scrapheap]

01:00:03 Wednesday, 10 January, 2063 – A Warehouse in the Barrens

Scrapheap lifted his head from where he had taken cover with Lady Dove and Nora. All he could tell from his quick glance around was that these newcomers were on their own side; they were firing at anything that moved. He realized his only chance to get his niece out safely may be to take advantage of the confusion.

Looking to his left, towards the stairway leading down to the corner where ETG and the others were holed-up Scrapheap could see only one hostile. While the man wasn't currently targeting them, there was no way the old runner and his two charges could make it past without a fight. The trick was going to be making the fight too quick for others to join.

Rocking back onto his heels, the old runner grabbed for the canvas bag slung over his shoulder and jammed his hand inside. He quickly located what he was looking for, withdrawing another smoke grenade. Shifting the bag back to its original location, he quickly located his Manhunters, laying where he had dropped them, noting their locations. Scrapheap then shifted his weight, preparing to lunge for the weapons as soon as his grenade went off.

"Get ready to fraggin' run, ladies."

[Vegas]

02:16:21 Thursday, 11 January 2063 Aidan's Apartment

The shoe was on the other foot and it was now Lana's turn to be uncertain and slightly defensive the way Kat had been earlier outside the club in the car. She sighed heavily and leaned back against the couch, her head resting on the back of the couch and looked towards Aidan.

"I don't know ok? Today has been one clusterfuck after another and there aren't any simple answers. I have no place to stay, all that I now own is in this stupid bag, my best friend is being stalked by a fucking creep-o and my sister is MIA. Right now getting drunk or high till I pass out and forget for a few hours is sounding very appealing."

She drained what was left of her drink and set the glass on the beat up table to her left. Right now she just wanted to forget, passing out seemed the most viable solution as she doubted she'd be able to just sleep and she was honestly afraid of what dreams might visit her if she did.

[bclements]

10:37:41 Sunday 14 January 2063 - The Green Papaya, 600 East Pine St, Seattle, UCAS

"I kin track him preddy well, if you kin git me somedin'. Piece o hair, skin, tooth, somedin' like dat," Roscoe said, trying to snag a portion of the sliced beef in his stew that didn't have much lemongrass on it.

"If I git eyes on de guy, I can probly find him well 'nuff. May take a bit to locate 'em after we git away, but I got help fo dat," he said, finding a piece that fit and spearing it with his fork.

[bclements]

20:55:30 Wednesday, 10 January 2063- The Sundowner Tavern, 14640 58th Ave S. Seattle, UCAS

“Heh. That’s largely true, I suppose. There are a lot of people that would like to hurt me. I am quite the lady’s man,” Roderick said, chuckling to himself. Leo mentally blinked at the statement. He wasn’t sure what exactly constituted a ‘ladies man’ in Seattle, but he was sure that whatever image he conjured up wouldn’t match with the portly, balding, and generally non-handsome man in front of him.

The man sitting beside him muttered an Arabic phrase in a low melodic baritone. Roderick snapped his head and started, “Shut up, you don…”

“You shut up. I’m tired of trying to save your sorry hoop from yourself. Tory and Gar gave up a long time ago, and Sheri would have shot you herself if you didn’t give her some horsedrek voodoo about your ghost coming back to kill her…”

“That’s not voodoo…”

“she’s too superstitious to get past. I know it isn’t voodoo, you sorry excuse for a spell slinger. The point,” he said, loudly enough to make the homeless man perk up from his coffee and make Roderick shut up for a moment, “the point is that we’re not the one that Abramovich is going to put a round through your kneecaps, if not put a head on a stick outside his poker room for not paying. You are.”

“Roman wouldn’t, I’m worth more…” Roderick said, face turning redder by the second. Leo, sitting back from the exchange, couldn’t tell whether he was angry or embarrassed, but he did perk up at that name. Abramovich he mentally filed away for later.

“You don’t deal, you don’t even know them. If you did, you’d know that 50,000 nuyen would be enough for them to cut your balls off. After they’ve hung you from them,” Turning to Leo the man reached inside his pocket, holding up a hand so that Leo wouldn’t think he was pulling out a weapon.

Pulling out a small, disposable cell phone, he asked Leo “I’m Isir, and I’m the one that asked Nastasya to hire you. Care to come outside and chat? This guy’s putting me in a bad mood,”

[Vegas]

09:19:01 Thursday, 11 January 2063 Aidan’s Apartment

As her eyes cracked open, the dingy light filtering through the dirty window stung something fierce. Raising her hand to cover her face only brought a sharp splitting headache between her eyes. As she slowly started to wake up she became more aware of her surroundings and the large sleeping form beside her. A moment of panic before familiar features came into focus. She didn’t remember coming to bed last night but assumed Aidan must have taken her with him.

Fact was she didn’t remember much of last night after getting to Aidan’s place. Unfortunately the day’s previous events still were crystal clear.

She sat up in bed, drawing the sheets up with her as she tried to focus on the clock. She took another moment to remember what day it was.

Shit, Thursday. Professor Donnelly’s class!

She tried to get out of bed but her head was swimming and as soon as she got a few inches off the bed she fell right back down. Aidan woke up beside her and looked concerned for a moment reaching for her before she laid back down beside him.

“I think I’ve earned the right to miss class today.”

Her words came out in a long breath that continued into the silence of the apartment.

“Besides, I should probably go back to the apartment today… see what’s left of the place, if I can even get in to salvage anything important.” She laughed bitterly, softly. “But first I need to take care of this raging headache, and I need a shower. You have hot water today?”

Perhaps it was best if she just stayed numb.

[grendel]

10:38:19 Sunday 14 January 2063 - The Green Papaya, 600 East Pine St, Seattle, UCAS

"It will have to be eyes on, then," replied Vedic. "I have nothing physical linked to him. Our employer provided only an image and the description. I do, however, have his place of work. I have other feelers out for information, hopefully a home address, but they haven't returned anything of value yet. If I haven't heard anything by noon today, I recommend that we meet here again at 1500 tomorrow then head over to his work address and pick up our surveillance there."

[Cthulhu449]

20:56:30 Wednesday, 10 January 2063- The Sundowner Tavern, 14640 58th Ave S. Seattle, UCAS

The rapid shift in the conversation, the verbal jockeying and frustration between the two men, threw a gear somewhere in the back of Leo's mind. He could feel himself growing distant from the situation; removed, like he was watching the whole scene over a closed circuit camera, or perhaps the window of an operating theater, voyeuristically involved but clinically detached. Every word registered, all the details filed away to be used for later - he had taught his mind to always gather that much at least - but the emotion and spirit of the exchange were only registered as a dull echo, like the vibrations felt through permacrete walkways standing by the shoreline breakwalls - minute and inconsequential.

Leo's eyes darted to Isir's hand, anticipating trouble, as the man moved towards his pocket, but Isir's direct address pulled Leo back out of himself just a bit.

"Come outside and chat," Leo said, nodding his head mechanically and allowing Isir to lead the way to a place to speak in private.

[Konsaki]

19:47:42 Thursday, 11 January 2063 � Tooth and Nail, West Galer St, Downtown Seattle, UCAS
Leon Mordred

"I know!", Freya's elder brother shouted back over the raging beat that deluged over the floor. "Considering the why they are looking at you,", he continued by pointing back at the crowd, "they know it too." 'Though, that might not be the only reason.', he thought to himself as they both reached the bar and seating area.
Crossing the threshold, the cacophony of chords dropped in power just enough to let the bartender hear the orders of the patrons. Leon grinned as he thought about all the time's he had taken refuge near the bar, behind the solid clear glass that separated the giant mosh from the people trying to get buzzed. He knew the glass was solid too, having rammed a few overzealous moshers' heads into it without any apparent damage to the sound dampening wall.

Still having to speak loudly and closely to the smaller elf, the changeling continued to speak as they made their way through the people milling around, taking a break from the heated and active floor. "You know, the reason why I always took you to the other clubs is because I didn't know if you would be ready for this.", he said with a grin before jerking his thumb over his shoulder to indicate the massive throng of intertwined mutants of nature. "This is an entirely different can of worms than you're used too, right?"
His grin died away a bit though, for as they split for a second to pass around another person, he saw Freya slightly frowning back at him as they moved back together. "I already told you, I'm a big girl! You can stop worrying about me!", she chastised Leon before closing her eyes for a second and letting out a sigh. Opening her eyes back up with a slight roll to them, she continued, "Yeah, I didn't expect this, but I can handle it. Now, are you going to get me that drink or not?", she finished with a wry grin working it's way at one side of her lips.
"Ok, ok. You're right. Just a second.", Leon quickly replied by raising his hands in a low 'don't shoot me' posture before taking the last few steps up to the bar. The bar was packed as it usually was on any given night, people yelling out orders over the beat of the music and the sound of other patrons yelling for drinks. People rushed back and forth behind the bar in almost practiced synchronization, getting the job done of serving the customers without getting in the way of the other bartenders.

Squeezing his way up to the bar itself, the green eyed changeling saw the human, one of the few people working at the club who wasn't a changeling, patrolling this area of it. The bartender�s short black hair and face were covered in sweat from the heat of the room and from his exertions of quickly moving his dexterous hands in serving peoples drinks. Even the fans on top of the bar, which Luna had installed at the request of the poor people working this floor, only kept him cool enough to not fall over from heat exhaustion.
He saw the man stop for a second to wipe his soaked brow and take a swig from a water bottle. Quickly making up his mind for which drinks to order, the brown haired feline pulled out his credstick in preparation. Leon waited a few seconds, just as a slight courtesy to the overworked bartender, but after that, it was the rule of the club; The loudest person got served quickest.
"Yo, Joel! Can I get a Wild Turkey 'Neat' and a 'Mile High Club'!?", he yelled out to get over the hustle and bustle along with the raging music which was reaching it's zenith for the set.

[Vegas]

09:57:41 Thursday, 11 January 2063 Aidan’s Apartment

After a quick lukewarm shower and a change of clothes from the duffle bag Lana ran her fingers through her damp hair in an attempt to work out all the snarls as she sat on the bed as Aidan finished getting dressed. Her head was only mildly clearer after the shower and downing a few aspirin with a water chaser.

As she talked to Aidan about going back to the apartment he made it increasingly clear he wasn’t about to let her go back on her own and he’d be shadowing her the entire time. Soon he was rallying the pair that were sleeping out in the livingroom and once Kat had gotten cleaned up the group headed out to make the short walk towards Lana’s building.

Everyone tried to make generic small talk on the walk over, but Lana kept rather quiet concentrating more on the sidewalk in front of her than the actual conversation. By the time they arrived at the actual building everyone had fallen silent and kind of waited for Lana to make the first move to go inside.

She couldn’t help but hesitate and look up the exterior façade of the building to see the damage in the daylight. Tendrils of black soot licked out from along the windows like fingers from the grim reaper himself. That thought sent a chill through Lana’s very core. Screwing up her courage to try to get inside and see just what was left of her life she swallowed hard and looked back towards her friends.

“I guess it’s now or never hmmm?�

She hoped for some words of encouragement from the trio, but there really weren’t any since they had no idea of how to deal with the situation themselves. She shook her head and started towards the front security doors of her building.

[WinterRat1]

10:15:09 Thursday, 11 January 2063 Metropolitan Park Apartments, 601 S. Washington St., Seattle

As she enters the lobby, the first thing that strikes her is the place is swarming with cops. Lone Star is everywhere, and while the building is no longer cordoned off, they are obviously controlling access to the building.

The four of them walk in the doors and barely make it a few feet before being stopped by a cop.

"Are you a residents of this building? What floor and apartment number please?" he asks, carrying a datapad in his hand he obviously intends to reference.

[Vegas]

10:15:27 Thursday, 11 January 2063, Metropolitan Park Apartments, 601 S. Washington St., Seattle

Even though she was a (mostly) law-abiding citizen, seeing this many cops swarming around in one spot made her skin crawl and amped up her nerves. She even flinches slightly when the one cop gets up in their faces and starts asking questions. Lana takes a slight step forward as she nods, dreading what comes next when she mentions what floor she lives… lived on, let alone delivers the apartment number. However she didn’t have a chance in hell of getting upstairs without going through the proverbial blue wall that was in the lobby.

“I’m a resident Sir, these three are my guests. Floor thirteen, apartment 1319 is my apartment number.�

[WinterRat1]

10:15:46 Thursday, 11 January 2063, Metropolitan Park Apartments, 601 S. Washington St., Seattle

"OK let's see here...Floor Thirteen, Apartment 1319..." He scans the datapad, and his eyes narrow almost imperceptibly. Almost.

Looking back at her, he asks politely, but with a very slight tension in his tone, "What is your name young lady?"

[Vegas]

10:15:53 Thursday, 11 January 2063, Metropolitan Park Apartments, 601 S. Washington St., Seattle

She saw it, the subtle shift in the cop’s demeanor. She heard it, the tension creeping into his voice while he tried to keep professional. It didn’t do anything to put her at ease, it actually started to elevate the fight or flight response inside her. The sixth sense in her that something wasn’t quite right and had the potential to go horribly wrong. However, knowing she’d done nothing wrong led her to give her answer.

“Svetlana Prevlov. Is there a problem officer?�

[WinterRat1]

10:16:09 Thursday, 11 January 2063, Metropolitan Park Apartments, 601 S. Washington St., Seattle

He actually looks apologetic as he answers, "No there isn't Ms. Prevlov. However, we do have some people who need to speak with you, and I'm afraid you cannot have your friends present for this conversation. Excuse me one moment."

He turns and waves over a guy wearing a brown trench coat that's about as cliche as it gets. When the guy arrives, the cop says, "Detective, this is Svetlana Prevlov."

The guy's eyes light up and he says, "Thanks officer, I'll take it from here. Good job keeping me up to date." He pats the cop on the shoulder and turns to Lana, offering her his hand. "Detective Rick Morris, Ms. Prevlov. Do you have time right now to discuss some things?"

[Vegas]

10:16:15 Thursday, 11 January 2063, Metropolitan Park Apartments, 601 S. Washington St., Seattle

She shook the detective’s offered hand with a nod and then glanced back over her shoulder at her friends, particularly Aidan for a moment with a uncertain look on her face before she turned back to face the detective. Separating her from her friends made her a little uneasy, but at the same time could understand that they were in the middle of an investigation and had to keep things contained.

“That would depend Detective Morris, how much time are we talking about here? I have classes at the university I need to get to.�

Really she wasn’t lying, she had already missed Professor Donnelly’s class this morning, but getting out of Kalik’s class without anything short of a death certificate would be more difficult.

[WinterRat1]

10:16:31 Thursday, 11 January 2063, Metropolitan Park Apartments, 601 S. Washington St., Seattle

He pauses for a moment, then asks, "Are you free later today? We'd really like to talk with you as soon as possible. If you have somewhere you absolutely have to be we understand, but I think it's very important we talk sooner rather than later. At the least, we want to speak with you today even if it's after normal work hours."

[Vegas]

10:16:46 Thursday, 11 January 2063, Metropolitan Park Apartments, 601 S. Washington St., Seattle

“You didn’t answer my question Detective.� She smiled rather wryly as he evaded the question of just how long her potential “interrogation� might take.

“If you can give me a ballpark idea of just how long this might take, I can send my friends off for a bit and you can talk to me sooner as opposed to later. Somehow I think my professor might understand missing class because of being questioned by the police.�

She wasn’t attempting to be flippant to the detective but she was nervous. She didn’t like the insistence that she speak with the detective as soon as possible either. Urgency seemed to elude to a possible danger and honestly if this wasn’t related to O’Halloran, the ThinMan or whomever Niki managed to frag off she didn’t think she could handle one more “danger� in her life right now.

[WinterRat1]

10:17:13 Thursday, 11 January 2063, Metropolitan Park Apartments, 601 S. Washington St., Seattle

Detective Morris smiles at Lana's catch. "I estimate it will probably take about two hours due to the paperwork. If we have to, we can skip the paperwork for now and cut to the discussion and deal with it later. Like I said, I'd much rather talk to you sooner rather than later."

He seems very serious, and while it doesn't appear to be the kind of 'you're in big trouble' seriousness adults tend to get in bad situations, it's definitely of the 'this is a very big deal' brand of seriousness.

[Vegas]

10:16:46 Thursday, 11 January 2063, Metropolitan Park Apartments, 601 S. Washington St., Seattle

She nodded as if that was acceptable to her as she studied the Detective’s face for a moment.

“Very well detective, give me a few moments to send my concerned friends on their way and you can have me for the next two hours.�

She didn’t wait for his permission before she turned on her heel and walked back over the anxious trio near the door who were under the watchful eye of various officers in the lobby.

“You guys might want to take off for a bit. The suit wants to talk to me for a while won’t say what it’s about only you guys can’t be there.�

She watched Aidan and Razor’s concern as it darkened their faces and she smiled slightly and chided them even though she knew the guys’ mistrust of the police.

“I’ll be ok, really you guys can have a few hours off from babysitting. He seems more concerned about whatever it is that he wants to talk about than he seems interested in locking me away for the rest of my life. Really, I’ll call you guys when I’m done OK?�

She gave Adian a quick hug and a kiss before shooing the trio out the front lobby doors. Taking a deep breath she walked back to where the Detective was waiting and looked up at him.

“I’m all yours.�

[Mister Juan]

08:35:05 Sunday 14, January 2063 – Outside “The Bakery�, Renton, Seattle, UCAS

Ludi's rough hand went from her side to the desk, taking the credstick between her fingers and tumbling it around. On the outside, she was all smiles and confident... but on the inside, she was burning with an urge to grab Sascha's arm and to pop it out of its socket before emptying her predator in his head. She knew very well that her newly jacked up system would allow her plenty of room to maneuver. If she wanted to kill the mobster, it was well within her reach to do so. But then, she would be dead to a brief second after.

She took the cigarette out of her mouth, paying very little attention as to where he ashes might fall. The only reason why she was helping out Sascha was because she had no other choices. All night, she had tossed and turned on the couch, trying to come to grip with what her next move would be. Options weren't short on her list, but all had their own amount of risks. She could try to find out where Yuri was. She could take Sascha out. She could go to Miki for help. She could tip off Alec...

Finding Yuri would prove difficult. It would require skills that were beyond her own abilities to simply crack heads and build bugs. She would need more cash, and she would need to hire outside help. Taking Sascha out was risky also. Not that she wasn't able to carry out such grim tasks... she had done it many times before. But the mobster had his own little army, and gunning for a Vory mademan could but a big price on his head. Then there was Miki...If he knew of the blackmailed positioned he was in, he might take her side.... but it could also backfire on her. She could become a liability. And then there was Alec. Nothing would thrill him more than a big bust. But that would make Ludi a rat to her own people. The people that had helped her when she had set foot in Seattle.

And now Sascha was bitching and moaning about her asking for money.

“How the frag� she pocketed the credstick “do you expect me to do this job if I don't have the cash for the gear.�

She took one long drag from her cigarette, calmly and coolly.

“If you want, for a few bucks, I'll get you a couple of glasses. You can put your ear to them and listen through the walls.�

Ludmilla sighed heavily. Every single fiber of her being wanted to pull out her gun and squeeze the cold trigger a few times.

“I need you to do your part and get me on the job site tomorrow.�