IC: Emerald City Nights, This Ain't no Oz... Options

[Bastard]

"See you in a week then, for our 75. Unless you have a number to call..."

[Thomas]

Steve listens intently as Mr. Johnson extracts every detail of the job from the Johnson and, after the credsticks are passed, stands.
“Nice not to have met you, gentlemen.” He says with a wink as he extends a hand to each of the bodyguards in turn.
Unless prevented, Steve makes for an exit, keeping an eye out for Kai or the mysterious Liddy. Whichever one he finds he will tell them; “I know a place a few blocks from the Renraku Acrology – a quiet place where we can start planning. It’s called Seoul Food – between King and Weller streets, on South 8th Avenue (just around the corner from the old Wetech building.) Best bul-go-gi, jap-chae and gal-bi in Seattle. Tell the rest of the team to meet there in half an hour. By the way, my car is about two blocks west of here – if anyone needs a ride be there in 10 minutes.”
Steve leaves, and on his way to his car, makes a phone call.

[ Spoiler ]

Just a call ahead reservation for a private table at Seoul Food – a Korean grocery store/market with a small kitchen and several tables in the back. Steve ate there with some of the other employees while working at Wetech, and was very impressed with the quality of the food – although the place looks like a hole-in-the-wall.

[Sedna]

Liddy intercepts, Kai's not far behind: and just for a moment Steve feels like he's being swarmed. "Eight-South?" asks Kai. "Whatdja need a car for?"

But he's waiting up until the others are out. After all, it's his job to watch their backs and make sure information gets passed.

[Thomas]

Steve walks back to his car. He is surprised to find that his keys are not in his pants pocket. His surprise turns to the sickly feel of panic when he checks the rest of his pockets, no, no keys. He approaches the car, close enough that the alarm detects his presence and gives the first warning. Good… he thinks, at least the alarm is still set. Backing away from the car, he quickly checks the rest of his belongings, he has everything except the keys.
He tries to remember Johnson’s number, and failing, retrieves it from the pocket sec. He begins walking back to Ming’s while placing the call.
“It’s Steve. I’ve lost my keys. I’m going back to Ming’s to see if I can find them…”

[Slipshade]

'Fat Bastard nearly cost me my extra pay.' Amanda thought to herself after tossing Hermes the package he had need so badly that he had pulled her from the meet that evening. She slammed the front door to the Emerald City headquarters and took in a deep breath of cool night air. The wind was coming in from the Sound which was keeping most of the Tacoma smell at bay.

"You break that door it's coming out of your pay!" She heard Hermes yell from inside.

'Whatever.'

Amanda slots her earplug cell phone into her ear before putting on her helmet. And hits Johnson's number on her P-Sec.

'Meet should be over by now. Hopefully I can catch up on the planning end.'

As the phone begins to ring Amanda flicks a mental switch and her skate wheels push out from the soles of her feet. She unhooks the small magnetic grappler from her belt loop and glides down the road towards the freeway on-ramp.

'Come on pick up Johnson.'

[Bastard]

Johnson's phone vibrates in his breast pocket. Normally he would be a bit more professional and let the call go, but this Mr. Johnson has irritated him a bit more than usual. With the extreme lowball offer and the delayed responses, he almost has Johnson off his game, but instead he uses the interuption to his advantage.

"Hold on a second J," he tells the employer

"Hey Glide," Johnson holds his hand up, a motion to hold all conversation while he continues business on the air waves. "Whats up?"

[Slipshade]

"Hey J," Glide replies, her voice sounds a bit muffled to your ears, probably from her helmet. "Done with Hermes side job here, figured the meet would be over by now and need to know where to meet up with ya."

[Bastard]

"Everything is pretty much settled, but not finalized. We will call you in a bit, unless you have a particular place in mind..."

[Slipshade]

"Oh Drek, you mean it's still going on...call me when your done."

Glide clicks off her cell, swearing underneath her breath.

[Sedna]

Wonder who that was ...?

Kai catches Johnson on his way out of the meet, just as he's putting the phone away. It's so obvious he's irritated that instinct pulls Kai to a stop outside easy lunging range -- not that he would have expected that from Johnson, but still ...

"Yer clear, jist th' guys ya'lready seen. Steve says we meetin' Seoul Food in ten." Johnson's general mood decides Kai against asking for further details just yet. Instead, he quickly passes on the address and location, adding, "Uplink Viper, wouldja? Wid her, that's got ya'all, see ya there."

With that, the kid's off on his skateboard.

[Bastard]

After the notification, Johnson calls Glide. "Hey were going to Seoul Food in ten. I will see you there."

[Slipshade]

Glide took the call for Johnson

"Will do, see ya there...and I am really sorry about the call it won't happen again." Johnson can tell she is truely sincere and more than a little embarassed. "Could you not tell anyone about that. Thanks."

She hangs up the phone and waits. As luck would have it a delivery truck was turning onto the on ramp moments later. As it passed her, slowly gaining momentum as it climb the ramp, she hit the release on her magnetic grappler and the end shot out to 'poon the sliding door on its rear trailing a length of cable. Glide braced herself and kicked off into the steet. She gripped the handle with both hands and let the delivery truck pull her out onto the freeway. With a little luck and no potholes she would be at the meet in no time. The truck picked up speed and she reeled the line in to where she could grab the back bumper and release the line to coil back into the grappler.

She gave an excited cry into the night as the adrenaline coursed through her body.

'This is living.'

[Bastard]

Johnson leaves Mr. Johnson and his goons at the table, seeing they didnt really give him an answer. Im sure they will get a hold of us when they need to.

Ring, ring! Johnson phone rings again. He picks it up as he approaches the doorway, "Hel-lo."

“It’s Steve. I’ve lost my keys. I’m going back to Ming’s to see if I can find them…”

"I bet Kai could give you a ride."

[Sedna]

Kai is the first to arrive at Seoul Food, even considering the slight detour on the way. At the office, a quick glance to ensure the coast was clear. Ha. New dent in Glide's locker. Bet she fraggin' pissed off. Mebe ... Kai grins as the connection is made: Bet that were her onna phone. Another brief moment of temptation, but no, straightforward might be better in this case. Then he quickly spins the combination on Steve's locker he'd figured out shortly after landing this job and tosses the keys on the top shelf, re-closing and locking the locker and dodging out quickly before Hermes catches sight of him and finds something for him to do.

Even so, he arrives easily at Seoul Food before any of the others. Hasn't even broken a sweat, although his heart's pounding a little. He stakes out a table, orders a bowl of rice (what's more filling at the price?), piles on the free kim chee until the owner starts glaring at him, pulls his feet off the table (and onto a chair under the table) when the glare becomes closer to a real threat, and prepares to linger.

Odds are good that if that was Glide on the phone, she'll be the first one there. She understands about hitching lifts off other vehicles and adrenaline. And you just know the first words out of his mouth will be, "What kept ya?"

[Slipshade]

It isn't long until Glide rolls up to the front of Seoul Food and deactivates her cyberskates. She glances around the room and spots Kai, chowing down a big bowl of kim chee and rice. She gives him a quick wave before ordering a plate of hot honey Korean BBQ chicken and goes to sit with the street rat.

"What kept ya?" he says with a mouthful of rice and a big grin.

"Fraggin Hermes that's what." she replies, taking a seat next to him, with a clear view of the door. "So...how'd your first meet go, chummer?"

[Sedna]

"Borin'," says Kai predictably. "Johnson done alla chippin', Steve done alla downloadin' an' sortin', Viper done alla lookin' spec, so we knows they ain't got no pulse. Me, I'm scopin' fer ghosties. Liddy took off somewheres. Borin'."

" 'Ghosties'?" asks Glide.

"Blokes what ain't. Backup what ain't. Meet's straight onna level. Dunno 'bout th' job. Steve done chose this 'ere place. Said it got real good Hangul." Kai takes the moment to hijack a piece of hot honey Korean BBQ chicken to his own mouth, then (with a suppressed gasp) quickly chopstick-shovels in some of the kim-chee, followed by an extended gulp of the complementary tea that had come with Glide's order. "Ya coulda warned me!"

[Slipshade]

Glide stiffles a girlish laugh as Kai gulps down her tea,

"And miss that, I don't think so."

She takes a bite of her chicken and savors the burning sensation, it was definetly spicy.

"Well, guess borin's a good thing at a meet. If things got interestin we wouldn't likely have tha job." Kai's face is still a bit red and he wipes at his watery eyes. "Want somethin else ta drink Mouse, my treat?

[Sedna]

Kai glares at her, wiping at his streaming eyes with his sleeve, deliberately spearing another piece of chicken from her plate even as he's nodding yes (although he does approach this one far more cautiously). Like he's going to turn down free eats or drinks. Hot won't be the issue once he gets used to it -- and he will get used to it.

[Thomas]

Steve carefully retraces his steps back to Ming's, on the alert for his keys. In the five minutes this takes, his panic has soured into anger. The Johnson is gone, Mr. Johnson is gone - Kai, Liddy and Viper are nowhere to be seen, and the damn tables have been bussed. He makes his way to the take-out counter and asks the person there if any keys have been turned in.
He makes his way to the closest street with vehicle traffic and catches a cab.

[Thomas]

Using the cab ride to accomplish some things, Steve calls his landlord, a locksmith, and the Honda dealership. The locksmith is to change the locks at his apartment and give only two keys for each lock to his landlord. The dealership, using the registered owner information, is to tow his car in, rekey the locks and recode the alarm system – and, while they’re at it, change the engine lubricant.

Arriving at Seoul Food only twenty minutes later than he was expecting to, Steve makes his way through the grocery to the back. He is pleasantly surprised to see that Glide has made it, and that all the others except Liddy are already there.

He quickly speaks with the owner, showing the utmost respect and decorum – to make arrangements for his companions to be reseated in the back room.

Steve continues babbling in Korean with the owner, pausing briefly to tell his companions – in English – to follow along to the private dining area. As he does so, the serving girl approaches the table, and, despite Kai’s protests, begins removing as many dishes as she can carry.

The owner leads the way back through the hot kitchen, where an old woman is busy stir-frying and grilling, to a small room behind the refrigerated display shelves. The room has three tables pushed together along one wall, with eight chairs arranged along the ends and one side.

As the team settles in and their food is returned to them Steve asks if there is anything he can get for anyone, and asks for Yook-Gae-Jang for himself.
After the owner leaves, Steve explains:

“Mr. Kim, of the local Ring, is the owner’s cousin, and considers this place a safe location. This should be a secure place to plan in private, as long as we didn’t bring along any bugs on ourselves.”

“I hope you like the food” he adds.

[Bastard]

This is furthest into the shadowrunner culture that Johnson has been as of yet. He knows all about the runs and meets, but this, this is where the shadows really are. In some back room of a dirty kitchen, in what seems like third world country. That is, at least how it appears to someone who used to eat at the top of the Space Needle, and other 5 star restaraunts three times a day.

Though he knows the smell will probably last a while in his jacket, Johnson seems to enjoy the atmosphere. He feels like he is getting a look behind the scenes of the other side. Just then Viper catches an odd smile on his face, and shoots him an "are you ok?" look. To herself she is probably wondering either, what he is daydreaming about, or does he really love Korean food that much.

The older gentlemen restraightens his face into what the others call his "come on kids, lets be serious" face. This time its just to throw off their attention from his "boy in a candy store" smile he had just been wearing.

[Sedna]

This place is connected? but Kai sets it aside for the moment, too many possibilities are presenting themselves, none of them long-term healthy. Anyway, Steve already looks riled enough. Noticing, Viper flashes a question at him, to which Kai only grins in answer as he orders Steve's recommendation for himself to replace the vanished dishes -- on Glide's tab, of course.

Besides, anything else here and now would only get in the way of hearing what Johnson's got to say. And Kai's got to admit it: he's fraggin' curious. That's why, along with Viper, he happens to be staring at Johnson in time to catch that odd look, the one Kai knows he'd be wearing himself. The possibilities inherent in this place! But -- Johnson? Can't be that, the guy's got almost less sense of humour than Steve.

The new dish arrives, along with a third helping of steamed rice. Grab while the grabbin's good. Turning his attention to the food, Kai asks casually, "Hey, whazzup doc?"

But the tips of his ears almost twitch, waiting for the response.

[Glyph]

As the group digs in, Viper shakes her head. "Wow. So, we go to a food place for a pre-meet, then go to a food place for the meet, then head to a food place for after the meet. Don't know how we're gonna be inobtrusive, watching this warehouse. We'll all stand out, we'll be a bunch of fat people waddling around, trying to look nonchalant..."

She giggles, before going back to shovelling rice and veggies into her mouth - how she's not fat is the real mystery. She must have the metabolism of a hummingbird.

She isn't as oblivious as she seems, though. She can tell that Kai probably did something to piss Steve off - kid needs to be careful. He can go too far sometimes, and some people have no sense of humor. Now her, once she learned of Kai's proclivity for pickpocketing, she started putting interesting things in her pockets, like an evangelical Moonie tract, a pair of thumbcuffs, and other little goodies like that.

Johnson's flitting grin startles her, but on reflection it doesn't surprise her, either. He's a suit, and all the suits she knows like to come slumming down to the bad part of town - that's where the fun is. But Johnson can't go back there, anymore. Does he miss it, or does he like staying where the fun is?

[Bastard]

Johnson holds tightly onto his brandy glass, tightly enough that if he had the strength it would shatter. This time he will finish his own drink, before the klepto-Mouse can get a hold of it.

He takes a small drink of the warm amber liquid, before starting the brief. Setting the glass down on the table, but still not releasing his grip, Johnson begins. "The contract gives us five days to 'discover the contents of the shipments at a "certain" warehouse'. Of course, we have to do this without the knowledge of warehouse employees and company, or we dont get paid."

Johnson watches Kai, looking for magical, extending straws or anything else that would help him still some of his delicious drink. "I talked them up to 1500 :nuyen: a head, plus they gave us two credsticks for expenses. Of course I dont have a reader and the gm didnt tell me how much they are worth, so they could be blanks for all I know. Personally though, I think they are worth a million nuyen each...," he pauses for laughter, but of course there is none. He quickly continues, "So, I guess we can start checking out this warehouse tonight..."

"Of course I wouldnt mind finishing this fine rice and brandy first."

[Sedna]

Brandy's never been Kai's first choice anyway. Not that he's adverse to the occasional drink, just that he's seen too many downward spirals that started just this way and he doesn't want to end up like that, no sirree bob. Besides, what's called "drinkable" on the streets is only rarely cousins with the less poisonous forms of alcohol; and besides there's been rumours about occasional spiking by corp experimenters. All in all, not condusive to a pleasant alcoholic buzz.

All of which doesn't explain why Johnson hasn't really stopped staring at Kai's hands all evening, and why he's clutching his drink hard enough to turn his knuckles white. Geez, Steve can't have gotten to the office already?

With a noncommital shrug that suggests he'll follow where others lead, Kai leans back comfortably, kicking up the skateboard beside him and dropping his left hand below the level of the table while continuing to work at the rice with his right. It's difficult, much more than just holding up the carton and shovelling it in properly; but frag, it's fun watching those two squirm.