Meg´s Place, near Sea-Tac International Airport, Perimeter Road, Seattle, Sea-Tac
Monday 08/04/70 21:43:50
Conall
Commlink Off

As Carla went through the door, Conall slid off of it, letting it shut.

He started to button his coat up.

"Ye want me to walk ye to yer car?" he simply said, spitting on the pavement.

Outside Meg´s Place, near Sea-Tac International Airport, Perimeter Road, Seattle, Sea-Tac
Monday 08/04/70 21:44:00
Carla
Commlink Passive

Carla chuckled at the idea of owning a car.

"I'll be walking, thank you Paddy," she responded, somewhat surprised by the courteous gesture. She had thought that he wanted to get away from her as soon as possible.

After a pause, she continued speaking while looking straight ahead. "I didn't think I would need any extra help aside from a hacker, but I agreed to meet you because I thought having an extra pair of hands couldn't possibly hurt. Please don't prove me incorrect."

Meg´s Place, near Sea-Tac International Airport, Perimeter Road, Seattle, Sea-Tac
Monday 08/04/70 21:44:09
Conall
Commlink Off

The young elf flippd the collar of his coat up, it's edges coming just under his pointed ears. Helmet in one hand, he gave her a slight smirk as he actually started to walk alongside of her.

"See me? I was just making things clear with the wee lad in there. I promise I'll do me best to get this matter of yers settled."

He walked a few more steps.

"Ye know... these parts don't seem like the safest. Would ye like a ride?"

Meg´s Place, near Sea-Tac International Airport, Perimeter Road, Seattle, Sea-Tac
Monday 08/04/70 21:44:20
Carla
Commlink Passive

Carla shook her head. She didn't want this guy to know where she lived - not yet, at least.

Glancing at his helmet, she assumed he had brought a bike of some sort.

"I wouldn't want to wake up the neighbors-" she started, but then she realized that it wasn't even 10:00 PM yet.

"...I'll manage, thank you. I suggest you get a good night's sleep; perhaps you can meet Frank tomorrow at noon for the drop-off. Maybe you two can get to know each other and put some ideas together for the mission."

Meg´s Place, near Sea-Tac International Airport, Perimeter Road, Seattle, Sea-Tac
Monday 08/04/70 21:44:31
Conall
Commlink Off

"Fernuff. Ye be right caution on yer way. If ye need anything, give me a ring" said the young shaman, slicking his hair back and pulling his helmet on.

"Well, Amferoff." he added as he walked away from Carla and toward a red and black racing bike.

Mag´s Place, near Sea-Tac International Airport, Perimeter Road, Seattle, Sea-Tac
Monday 08/04/70 21:43:45
Krait - Getting to know his Co-Worker
PAN Icon offline, Custom hidden (signal 1), Moai passive (signal 2)

John couldn´t help but notice the dublicity of Ms Johnson´s question. Paddy did in deed look quiet good and many women liked the 'brutish thug' type, wether they´d admit it or not. As she left, he stood up for a moment, but his eyes where on the elf at the door. At Ms Johnson´s leaving words, he just gave her a nod. He had dealings with his kind before, they´d work it out and get the job done.

For a moment he considered following either of them, but decided not to, thought he put some attention at making sure nobody else from inside the bar did without his knowledge. He slumped back into the booth and ordered another alcohol free beer. And when the waitress brought it, he made another sleezy attampt at her, but less confident this time, like a man down on his luck.

Walking home from Meg's Place, Sea-tac, Seattle
Monday 8/4/70 22:00:00

Pulling her coat a bit tighter against the chill, Carla noticed that it was just now 10 pm - and the meet scheduled for that time was already done. She supposed it could have gone worse.
Now, however, she had the distinct feeling she was being followed. She was on a fairly well-lit street, making a beeline for her own neighborhood, which ironically was a much more dangerous place but where she knew she would be safe. She told herself it was just nerves, but then she was sure that a couple of young men were walking a bit behind her and on the other side of the street.

They faded into to nowhere as a Lone Star cruiser ambled past, and she was sure they were gone. But then there was another young man on the road, only this time a distance ahead of her. She didn't recognize him, but he seemed familiar, and then he, too, was gone.

Turning a corner, she caught sight of another one, and then it came to her - she knew these men because she saw them every day. She hadn't recognized them at first because she'd never seen them without their Los Locos colors.

Seattle's Safest, 457 8th St. Downtown Seattle
Tuesday 8/5/70 01:09:00

Krait shut off his AR in frustration, but then his workoholism kicked back in, and he was right back at it, lying on his back in a remarkably comfortable coffin. This one x one x two meter "room" had cost him what a suite would at a Best Western in Everett, but it was warded, and had armed security on site.

He'd been researching the church this nun had disappeared from - although there was no mention of it, or her, on the Matrix - as well as its surrounding neighborhood (generous term) for two hours. He'd found a wealth of basic information, and had a backlog of bookmarks that bore promise for future inquiries. But the "doctor" was a mystery who certainly did have powerful friends. Her presence in the neighborhood were obvious by its very absence - you erase data, but it always left a hole, and this one was none-too-subtle.

While it appeared that nothing had ever been posted about her on the church's page, even amid the squalor and destitution of the surrounding neighborhood there was a thriving local blogosphere, and he soon deduced that his Johnson was locally referred to as Dona Carmen. But that was all he could get, since every time anyone posted anything at all about her, it was purged. It had started a few months ago - and at that time the deletions were large and obvious. If anyone tried to discuss the info wipes, those discussions, too were erased. Soon the locals just accepted it, and now only occasionally did anyone say anything of substance about Dona Carmen - which was promptly disappeared. And this woman had been looking for a hacker?

Recalling Chu's words about powerful friends, he started backtracing local charitable donations, especially to the church. A little digging and it became obvious that the little parish was fairly well endowed, and apparently from a single benefactor - but then there was the purging again - and it definitely looked like the same hacker's work.

Widening his search to chat rooms in surrounding neighborhoods, the elf had more luck - still a lot of deleted material, but no one could be everywhere - he started findin pieces of a name, but then ran into a new trouble - in addition to a very busy hacker, there was apparently a virus roaming around with a hard-on for that name, and it got eaten up almost as quickly as anyone uploaded it - it soon became apparent that a lot of people who seemed like they should be talking about this person weren't - they'd learned to talk around him and to use other monikers to avoid corrupted files, although the virus or the hacker made life hell for those refernces as well.

Finally, however, overlaying several dozen text fragments and running them through a jury-rigged decryption filter he'd come up with a name that definitely fit - Don Ricardo. By that point he was starting to fear that his persistence would draw attention to himself, and he dropped that line of questioning.

Not however, before noticing one more thing that had apparently received the hacker's attention - a couple of months earlier, there had been a flurry of local blog activity about something that had happened at the church's clinic, but this too was mostly corrupted. Still, there had been so much talk that he'd been able to piece together from mentions in unrelated conversations that there had been some sort of violent incident - possibly of a magical nature, but he had trouble separating the local Catholic superstitions from actual magical phenomena in the chatting of teenagers and lonely old widows. And looking further, he noticed a spate of funerals - twelve more than the area's weekly average - in the days following the incident.

There was obviously a lot more going on than just a missing nun - but he doubted he'd get much more about it through simple data searches.

Walking home from Meg's Place, Sea-tac, Seattle
Monday 4/8/70 22:00:20
Carla
Commlink off

Carla paused. Los Locos gangers had been treating her respectfully for some time now, so she shouldn't have had anything to be afraid of. Nevertheless, they were gangers, and Carla would be hard pressed to describe herself as comfortable around them. And who knew? Did gangers lose whatever sorts of pledges or codes of conduct they followed as soon as they dropped their uniforms? Adopting a religious tone to help identify herself, she called out to them in Spanish before approaching any closer.

"Buenas noches, good neighbors."

Walking home from Meg's Place, Sea-tac, Seattle
Monday 8/4/70 22:00:30


One of the young men she'd addressed momentarily froze, then straightened and, doing his best not to stammer, said in Spanish, "Ah, Dona Carmen! I am very surprised to see you. Isn't it a pleasant evening....Good night." And with those words they all immediately started to walk off into a nearby alley as fast as they could without breaking into a run.

Walking home from Meg's Place, Sea-tac, Seattle
Monday 4/8/70 22:01:30
Carla
Commlink off

Though content that they didn't want anything from her, Carla was a bit suspicious why they were acting the way they did. She continued down the road towards her apartment, but she slowed down her pace a bit as she passed by the alley they had retreated into. Never fully stopping, she peered down the alleyway to see if anything interesting was going on. If she didn't immediately see anything, she'd just continue on her way - better to just leave Los Locos to their antics than to get involved.

Conall
Monday 4/8/70 22:07:33
Commlink off

Getting back to the motel would be a breeze. The dinner was only a few blocks away from it, and slowly, Conall was starting to get a feel for the Sea-Tac terrain. He was also getting a feel for the bike. Each time he rode it, his level of confidence rose. He was even starting to wonder why he had never asked his father for a few ones while in the Tir. Not that the rustic little dirt roads around the estate would have been that fun to ride.

Leaning to the side as he took a sharp turn at high speed, Conall's thoughts started to drift back home. The sun would be rising on Ulster at this time of the day. The garden's staff would already be hard at work, and the kitchen buzzing with activity. Father would probably be getting ready for a day at the office... or some board meeting. Mother would still be enjoying her beauty sleep... and there was simply no way in hell Etain was already up. Conall would have been lying in bed, staring at the ceiling as the sun would have started to spill through his parted blinds. He would have been just lying there... wondering where his life was going. Wondering what he should do with his summer. Wondering what he would do once classes started again. Wondering what was for breakfast.

Now, when he got up in the morning, he wondered how longer he'd have to share his room with vermin. How longer he'd have to worry about having enough money to eat.

Taking another turn and jumping into a cluttered and dark alley, Conall wondered what was for breakfast at the O'Neill's.

Tuesday 5/8/70 10:11:44

Sleep hadn't come easily that night. Between ignoring the couple next door who kept banging the bed frame against the wall in the crudest of manners, and a trid unit twenty times too loud in the other room, Conall had buried his head under his single pillow. He was finding himself more and more time enclosed in the little room, going through the chips he had brought with him... trying to keep up with the studies he would have had to take back home. Of course, he would have hated it. But now... it was different. It made him feel normal. It made him feel like he was back home. At least a little bit.

Conall woke up suddenly as a car honked outside his window. He had overslept his usual schedule. The more he thought about it, the more he realized that keeping a steady beat with his new lifestyle would be difficult. Stretching away the soreness of the mattress from his arms and legs, the young shaman did his usual morning workout as best as he could, follow by a quick bit of meditation and a shower.

Using his brand new ID, he connected himself to the local public node, pulling off the Seattle registry. Clumsly, he flipped thru it's virtual pages, looking for the exact location of the so called Sanctuary of St. Ignatius. As it turned out, the church wasn't far from where Conall was.. which suited him fine. The less he had to travel, to less cred he'd need to burn into the bike to power it.

Tuesday 5/8/70 11:39:01

Outside, the sun was trying to fight its way through a cover of gray clouds. The young shaman looked up at the sky.

“What a grand soft day it's going to be” he said to himself, has he hopped on his bike.

His stomach growled for food. The nutrisoy dispenser in the lobby wasn't quite doing it for Conall. Maybe, with time, he'd get used to malnutrition...

With a swift kick, he started it.

Conall
Tuesday 5/8/70 11:57:43
Commlink off

Releasing his hand from the throttle, Conall's bike started to slow down. Already from the end of the street, he could see the church... not that it was hard to miss. The neighborhood wasn't all that different from the one the young elf was staying in. Poor, broken down, and forgotten by most. The church contrasted heavily with the surrounding buildings. It wasn't in that much of a better state in Conall's eyes, but it remained imposing in a certain way.

Bringing the bike to a halt, just in front of the church, Conall pushed the visor of his helmet up to get a better look at things. From the looks of it, Frank wasn't here yet...Getting of the bike, the young elf started undoing the strap that held his helmet as he strode toward the church. It took him a few seconds to realize that leaving his brand new and shiny racing bike out in the open like so, in a neighborhood like one of these might not be the best of ideas. But then again... he himself would be within meters of it.

Coming up to the church's stairs, he kicked some of the dirt away from the first step and took a seat.

He peered up in the sky.

Hopefully, it wouldn't rain.

Sanctuary of St. Ignatius, Basement Clinic
Tuesday 5/8/70 12:00:00
Carla
Commlink hidden

Carla had walked briskly the rest of the way home, eager to get indoors. Once she was safely within the walls of her apartment, she transferred Krait's information onto her back-up commlink and started preparing a package for tomorrow's meeting. Before heading to bed, though, she took a quick shower, vigorously scrubbing the cosmetics off of her skin.

The next day she was once again working in the church basement, hidden under her cloak and hood as usual. She was just finishing up a patient - a twelve-year-old girl named Inez - when she realized that it was almost noon. As Inez hopped off the table to go home, Carla stopped her for a moment.

"Inez, can you do me a very big favor?" she asked, taking out a sealed envelope from a filing cabinet. "I need you to listen very closely; there should be an elven man waiting just outside for a letter. Ask him who he is waiting for; if he says 'Johnson,' can you come right back and tell me?"

The little girl nodded enthusiastically and started to run off, but Carla stopped her once more.

"Oh, Inez, don't answer any questions he asks you. In fact, don't say anything to him at all besides what I told you."

Sanctuary of St. Ignatius, Front Steps
Tuesday 5/8/70 12:01:20

Inez cracked open the door of the church, peering outside to see if Dona Carmen's elf friend was anywhere to be found. She saw a man sitting on the front steps, seemingly waiting for something or someone. She rushed down the steps and tapped on the man's shoulder, asking him in Spanish, "Are you waiting for Senora Johnson?"

Sanctuary of St. Ignatius, Front Steps
Tuesday 5/8/70 12:01:20
Conall
Commlink Off

His cheek propped against his closed fist, Conall simply sat on the steps... not only looking bored but also feeling so. His stomach kept making these slightly worrying growls now and then, reminding of the thorough beating it was taking. The young shaman started to dream of bacon, freshly pressed orange juice and just out of the oven bread when someone tapped him on the shoulder.

In an instant, Conall was on his feet and spun around. Deep in his thoughts, he had been completely enclosed in his own little bubble, blanking out the world around him. Instinctively, he had camped himself on his back leg, and both hands had started to rise in a defensive position... until he saw who had sneaked up on him. She couldn't be more than what.... ten? Maybe twelve? She said something, which was completely lost on Conall. Probably just some noisy kid who was asking for a handout.

He started to sit back down, waving her away.

“Sorry kid, I don't have any change for ya.”

She tugged on his jacket, repeating herself again, shaking her head from side to side. This time around, Conall did catch the gist of it. He understood a single thing. Johnson.

You've got to be bloody kidding me?!

“Come again?” said Conall starting to get back on his feet “Johnson?” he said with an inquisitive look on his face.

The little girl nodded excitedly.

“Yea. Johnson.” he said, speaking slowly as if it could help make himself understood "She there?" he added, gesturing and pointing toward the church.

Down the road from Sancturay of St. Ignatius, The Barrio, Seattle
Monday 08/05/70 12:01:33
Krait - At the Drop-off
PAN Icon offline, Custom hidden (signal 0), Moai offline

After spending half of the night in the coffin, hunting down names on the net, John couldn´t stand staying in the club itself, while not confined to a safe and soundprove enclosure. The fact that many of this places patrons where magically active and could read his aura at will, was only one thing. The band´s disharmonious instrumental performance and untrained voices almost hurt in his ears - he was sure they would have, if not for his damper. The gig alegedly had quiet an emotonal impact on the astral, because these dilletants had 'passion', but that plane was bared to the elf. He had left the club in the hotel´s upper levels and took a drink at the bar, then rented one of the hotel´s lemousins, to drive him home - or at least part of the way. He changed cars twice, to throw off any tails.
At his safe-house, he had taken 3 hours of rest, before visiting the stylist down in BrynMawr and prepairing what little contigencies he could, without entering the LosLocos´ turf or spending a lot of cash.
The stylist had done a good job - the 2 hours had been well invested. Dispite her objection, the goaty was still there and neon-green again, but the rest of his looks had changed quiet a bit. The formerly black eyes where dark brown, now, his complexion well sun-tanned -almost like his natural skin-color- and half of his face was covered with religious motives in the simple (though non-permanent) blacks and greens of cheap prison-tatoos. The suit was the same again, too, but combined with some fine, shoes, white hat with a bright red feather, black glasses and colorfull, open shirt over a white west, as well as some unobstrusive bling made quiet a different impression on first sight. He had taken great care, not to show any of the LosLocos´ or their suspected enemies colors.
The cab woulnd´t enter the hood, so he had to walk the last few blocks. Of course, he could have afforded an armored lemousin, compleat with armed driver, who´d drive him right to the churche´s doorstep, but he didn´t want to make that kind of impression. As he walked down the ally, he noticed two gang-members following him. Inwardly he was quiet nervous. He didn´t like to be here, this was not a neutral place, this wasJohnson´s turf. At least he was resonably sure that those two where the persons he had been supposed to meet, after he had bounced off the descriptions off Chu. All he had was some names to refer to and a (fake) letter to deliver to Padre Cardoza, in case the gangers contested his presence on their territor. As he closed in on the alley´s exit, a third gangmember blocked his way. As John approached the uggly human, he slowed down his pace and drew a chep pack of smokes from his pocket, along with the one-way lighter, that canme with it, and ignited a cigarret.
What followed was a blur of rapid-fire spanish slang. While the excellent office software the elf was running, could have handled the rapid-fire and the spanish -with the help of an online translationservice- but gave up on the vast assortment of slang-terms used by the young man. Without thought, the socially apt elf made the right gestures and mimics, to cool down the one-way conversation enough for him, to speak as well, though of course, he was lingually handycaped. At first, the three latinos acted as if they didn´t understand a word of english. After an exchange of words and cigarrets, that seamed to last for an eternety, while the seconds painfully ticked away past his appointed time, his destination allready in sight, noi more then 50 meters down the road, he had put the agitated thugs at ease enough that they ould let him pass, 'to meet his friend at the churche'.

93 seconds late allready! He cursed inwardly, but didn´t increase his pace. As he aproached the Sanctuary, he saw a single bike idling at the side of the street and as he aproached further, the familiar heavy frame of his partner, as he talked to a little local girl.

Sanctuary of St. Ignatius, Clinic Basement
Monday 08/05/70 12:01:50
Carla
Commlink Hidden

Inez grinned at Conall's affirmation and ran back inside. "I found the elf man!" she told Carla, pleased with the success of her task.

"Very good, Inez, what did he look like?"

"Kind of tall...grumpy."

Carla smiled to herself. It must have been Paddy she had found.

"Alright, I need just one more favor of you. Ask the man for Ms. Johnson's napkin - it should have a big 'J' drawn on it. If he gives you the napkin, then I want you to give him this," Carla handed the girl a sealed folder. "If he doesn't have the napkin, then don't give him anything and come right back inside."

Inez nodded eagerly and started to run back for the door.

"Remember, don't answer any questions!" Carla reminded the girl.

Sanctuary of St. Ignatius, Front Steps
Monday 08/05/70 12:02:30

Inez appeared from the front door once again, this time clutching a sealed folder closely to her chest. She approached Conall fearlessly, not thinking that this was any more than a game.

"Do you have Ms. Johnson's napkin?" she asked, once again in her native Spanish.

Sanctuary of St. Ignatius, Front Steps
Monday 08/05/70 12:02:35
Conall

As quickly as she had gone skipping away, the little girl came back. This time around, she was carrying some sort of envelope. Conall hadn't been sure of what had just transpired between him and the little girl... or if he had understood anything at all. But now, the fact she'd brought something with her made it a whole other affair.

When she came within a few feet from him, Conall extended his arm and opened hand toward her. Biting her lower lip, the little girl shook her head and took a step back to get out of the elf's reach. Instantly, the young shaman's brow furrowed. If she wanted to play games, she had picked a very bad morning.

Again, she spoke but the words simply sounded like random sounds to his pointed ears. She made no sense at all. At least, not to him.

“Hear me kid” he started, gesturing her to come closer “I don't understand a single word yer saying.”

He crouched down to her level, trying to put a relaxed expression on his face... which was the exact opposite of how he felt. But looking all pissed off and annoyed wasn't going to reassure her...

Conall made an attempt to smile, gesturing her to give him the envelope.

“See me? I believe ye got something for me. Ama friend of the lady doctor.... ye understand friend and doctor, hoi?” he added, almost spelling the words.

Slowly, Conall's temper was starting to creep back in. He had nothing against people being cautious... and he wasn't about to take it personally. But now, he was truly starting to feel like someone was making a fool out of him... or at least not taking him seriously.

The little girl repeated what sounded like a question.

“Listen kiddo” started Conall, rubbing his forehead as if taken by a sudden headache “Am here to help her out... so just give me the folder and lets be done with it...”

Sanctuary of St. Ignatius, Front Steps
Monday 08/05/70 12:02:40

Inez giggled at the elf's funny voice. Understanding that he didn't speak her language, she tucked the folder under her shoulder and tried to show a "J" with her fingers, indicating what Dona Carmen had described she wanted.

Sanctuary of St. Ignatius, Front Steps
Monday 08/05/70 12:02:47
Conall

Conall was a hunter at heart. He could stay, as immobile as a stone, for hours, waiting for a prey. He could stalk for hours, patiently waiting for the best moment. The young shaman had patience for a great deal of things. What little he did have for little Spanish girls was starting to erode... fast.

As if things weren't already complicated enough, the little girl started to giggle... and make hand signs at him. Now, Conall just wasn't sure if he was sane anymore.

“This is getting bloody tedious...” he said mostly for himself.

Looking back at the girl, the young wolf shaman, who's temper was running pretty hot this morning, started to gage the distance between him and her. There was no doubt in his mind he could just grab the folder away from her at any time... but something was still holding him back. It was something the doc had said when they had exited the dinner. Something about not making her regret hiring him. Conall didn't know the woman at all. He didn't even know he she was really a doctor. He didn't even know if she was really looking for a real nun. He didn't know squat about her or this whole deal. But he sure as hell knew that roughing up some toddler on the steps of a Church wouldn't put him in anyone's good favors.

Parting both hands away from his body, Conall shrugged his shoulders in an exaggerated manner... trying to convey his total confusion to the little girl. He spoke, very slowly again.

“Listen there wee girl... I don't have the sightless bloody clue what yer expecting of me.”

He pointed at the folder, than at himself.

“Assay, ye just give me the folder before I take it on me own, right?”

Sanctuary of St. Ignatius, Front Steps
Monday 08/05/70 12:03:30
Carla
Commlink passive

Carla was beginning to worry why her little messenger hadn't returned yet; what if that wasn't actually Paddy or Krait outside? But who else would be looking for "Ms Johnson?" It certainly wasn't a common name in this neighborhood. Concerned both for Inez and the fate of the information she was carrying, Carla reluctantly decided to check in on the situation.

Excusing herself from the clinic momentarily, she rushed up to the main entrance and cracked open the front door to get a look outside. Paddy was there on the front steps talking - or trying to talk - to the little girl. After living in this community for so many weeks, Carla hadn't considered the issue of a language barrier.

Sanctuary of St. Ignatius, Front Steps
Monday 08/05/70 12:04:06
Krait - At the Drop-off
PAN Icon offline, Custom hidden (signal 3), Moai offline

Krait: "Buenos dias, Seniorita!"

The other elf in a soft voice, trying not to startle the little girl, as he entered the scene. That was about as much spanish as he could muster on the spot, but it gave him enough time, to fire up his com and access an online dictionary, so he could piece together a small conversation.
Aproching the pair had been painfully slow, but breaking into a sprint or even increasing the pace significantly, would at best have startled the little girl and at worst drawn more attention from the locals to himself. The little girl had reminded him of his one good deed and while he walked towards the church, he had zoned out a bit for a moment. But he had reentered the present just in time, to stop this drop-off from escalating - or at least trying to. Ms. Johnson: 'Wait at the bottom of the front steps of the church, and I will send you a messenger with all the information I have. The messenger will know who you are if you say, 'Johnson'.' He shot his intended message into the translation-engine, 'Do you know Elena? I am her friend. Do you have a message for me?' only exchanging the name for that of some random denizen of this area. He didn´t have to wait for the result. He wasn´t quiet sure, if the text was correct and his pronunciation surely left much to whish for, even though he had the audio-translation played into his ears, but it should suffice for this situation.

Krait: "Usted conoce Johnson? Soy su amigo. Usted tiene un mensaje para mí?"

Slowly and carefully, he withdrew the last night´s napkin from his pocket, along with a pack of real mint-chocolate candy and put up a comforting smile. 'If you do, I have got something for you, too. Do you like candy?'

Krait: "Si usted, tengo algo para usted, también. Usted tienen gusto del caramelo?"

He unfolded the napkin, so the girl could easily catch a glimps at the big 'J' and wraped the candy into it. He extended his hand with the package towards her tentatively.

Sanctuary of St. Ignatius, Front Steps
Monday 08/05/70 12:04:10
Carla
Commlink Hidden

Inez gleefully accepted the offer and handed the folder to the newly arrived stranger. Understanding her job to be complete, she ran off down the road, towards her home.

Seeing the exchange fall through, Carla quietly shut the front door and retreated back into the church basement. She was thoroughly embarrassed. She hadn't wanted to reveal her alternate identity to Krait or Paddy, nor had she wanted to be seen conversing with them within the neighborhood, so she thought sending a courier to deliver the information was the best method. Originally, she was going to enlist the aid of St. Pierre or some other Los Locos ganger to deliver the information, but she couldn't imagine them, or any adult, accepting the job without asking questions. Using a child, she thought, eliminated the problems of possible betrayal or suspicion, but some stranger could have easily grabbed the folder right out of the girl's little hands. Carla couldn't help thinking that the whole drop-off, though successful, was utterly foolish. There was no way she was going to keep these guys around if they thought she was stupid enough to get them killed.

Sanctuary of St. Ignatius, Front Steps
Monday 08/05/70 12:04:18
Krait - At the Drop-off
PAN Icon offline, Custom hidden (signal 0), Moai offline

John watched the little girl run away for a few seconds, but his face did not betray his mind wandering fare off again. He scanned the surrondings carefully for another moment, quickly checking his messages for anything pressing and then restricting his com´s signal strength again. Then he tiped of his hat towards Paddy and spoke up.

Krait: "Sorry, I got delayed a bit! How about relocating before we check this stuff out? Could you give me a ride?"

He cast a look on the nice wheeles parked infront of the Sanctuary, while he put the envelope into his backpack.

Sanctuary of St. Ignatius, Front Steps
Monday 08/05/70 12:04:27

Conall was actually rather relieved that Frank had arrived. If he had shown up a second later, the young shaman would have probably just taken the envelope in a rather “un-nice” fashion. At least, like this, he had probably saved himself a lot of trouble. With his head cocked to the side, one eyebrow raised, he simply watched the little girl skip down the street. Somehow, this whole encounter seemed so... surreal. Turning to face his fellow elven partner, Conall simply stopped in his track. Slowly, he looked at him from toe to head, and then back again. The previous night, the young Tir noble had found his fellow elf's looks to be of rather bad taste. Now... this was just wrong. He might have expected it from some effete human, or maybe even from dwarfs with illusions of grandeur.... but from another elf? Conall would definitely have to narrow down his views about his own people.

Shaking his head from side to side, the young shaman came back to reality.

“Don't ye got a ride of yer own?” he said, with a very clear frown on his face. Conall knew very well that the racing bike would force him to be very close with Frank, and for more than few seconds. And with a second person, it would be a goddamn hassle to drive.

Conall kicked a small pebble from the step he was standing on.

“Let's just read up now on what we have, and hit the road running instead of backpedaling for morning tea. Frankly Frank, anybody ever tell ye yer a man that makes much hassle for very wee fog?”

The elf cracked his neck from side to side, giving Frank what looked like an amused look.

“By and by; you've got a fierce clever hat there, and there's no mistaking about it.

Sanctuary of St. Ignatius, Front Steps
Monday 08/05/70 12:04:38
Krait - At the Drop-off
PAN Icon offline, Custom hidden (signal 0), Moai offline

Krait: "Thanks, mate, I hoped it would be memorable."

John´s voice was deceptively chearfull. He didn´t like his partner´s apearently lax attitude about counter-espionage. The church would be as good a place to take a look at the envelopes contents, but he suspected Paddy wouldn´t appreciate leaving his ride out of sight in this neighborhood. Behind his tinted glasses, his eyes rushed left and right in search of any spies.

Krait: "Allright, then. I´ll go inside and have a look. You can come along or wait outside, I´ll be back in a few."

With that he motioned to move up the stairs and inside, to take a seat on some bench in the back of the church.

Sanctuary of St. Ignatius, Front Steps
Monday 08/05/70 12:04:50
Conall

If his sarcasms had gotten to Frank, he didn't seem affected by it... which disappointed Conall at least a little. He hadn't had much fun in the past few weeks, and an exercise in ridicule would have lifted his spirits up... in a figurative way.

Giving a quick glance toward the church's door, Conall's attention went back to his bike, a few meters away. He would definitely have to invest in some anti-theft hardware if he was going to work in neighborhoods of this kind.

With an audible sigh of annoyance, Conall closed his eyes as his head bowed forward. His focused inward, his breathing slowly down, his hearth beat calming down to a crawl. Sounds muffled themselves, smells were dissipated. For a second, the world was no more. Mixed whispers of old gaelic and sperethiel flowed from his lips as he called forth Wisps from the sea of mana and emotions that cloaked the world around him. One of them answered. He felt it's warm aura bathe his face as it was born into this time and place. Opening his senses back to the world around him, Conall now saw things only he could see.

The shapes of things were not the same anymore.

He saw the Wisps, one radiating blue light, the other green; both with the faint features of an elven man at their centers.

Watch over that vehicle. Alarm me if anyone comes close to it. He said to the first one.
You, manifest and warn them away. He added for the second one.

His gaze focused again on the physical world. He nodded Frank toward the church.

“After ye.”

Sanctuary of St. Ignatius
Monday 08/05/70 12:07:00
Krait - Reading letters
PAN Icon offline, Custom hidden (signal 0), Moai offline

Inside, John looked for a shelf of songbooks in vain, apearently this kind of neighborhood couldnt support such a comodity, or else everyone visiting this place would have their own. He passed the pool of holy water without more then a side-glance and keeling beside the second cosest bench, took off his hat and crossed himself, before sliding in fare enough, to leave planty of room for Paddy.
He drew the envelope out of his backpack, which he put on his lap and reluctantly took a peak inside. He payed the money no heed and took a quick look at the message first, folded it again after only an eyeblink and gave it to his co-worker. Then he took the cash half way out of the envelope and counted, while his com read the text-message to him, a soft whisper in his ear. The sampled voice was not actually good enough, to mimic Ms. Johnson´s -at least not to John- but it was good enough to 'imagin' it was her´s.

"Our missing person is one Sister Esmeralda, a nun at the local Sanctuary of St. Ignatius church. Esmeralda has been at the Sanctuary for five years now, having come from Colombia prior to that. She has shown exemplary devotion to her vocation, and her medical records indicate no serious mental or physical irregularities. It is highly unlikely that she disappeared by her own will.

Our primary leads on her disappearance ..."

As he was done counting and deviding the money, he read the text displayed into his field of vision and adressed Paddy at the same time.

... are the following names and commcodes I found on her home command console. As an acquaintance of Esmeralda, I know who she associated with in public, so the presence of some unfamiliar names is highly suspicious. Our first objective is to identify these characters without bringing ourselves to their attention:

Chiaki - Commcode.

Patricia (Chaotic Serenity?) - Commcode.

Traininvain - Commcode.

Zephyr - Commcode.

Additionally, there were two encrypted files on the console called “Ana” and “Mia.”
I have given you Esmeralda’s address so you can directly access the console yourselves and attempt to decrypt the files. While in her apartment, I trust you will behave as gentlemen and not steal the few material possessions of a selfless civil servant.

You are free to start investigating these characters right away, but I urge you to avoid rousing any trouble in this neighborhood - it is a small community and word travels quickly.

Please meet me tonight at 22:00 in the bar directly across the street from Meg’s Place. We can further discuss progress and necessary preparations then. Should you prefer an alternate time or meeting place, send a message to my commlink.

Good luck."

Taking 1,000 and putting it into a small zipper-plastic-bag in his backpack, he handed the envelope over to Paddy with the young elf´s share of the up-front payment.

Krait: "Before we procede, I must demand to know your specialty, in order to be abled to work with you in a constructive way. Mine is investigation. You seem to be more physically inclined, but that whispering outside didn´t quiet fit in with a simple thug..."

Sanctuary of St. Ignatius
Monday 08/05/70 12:07:31
Conall

Without a single look of concern for his surroundings, Conall took a seat next to Frank. The catholic church had been ousted from the Tir a very long time ago... even before Conall was born. He had grown up with a rather big distrust of other established religions.... As a matter of fact, he wasn't even himself a big fan of the Path of the Wheel and it's philosophy. Religions and cults were for the blind.

Taking the folder from Frank's hand, Conall emptied it and started to run slowly through the pages, committing them to memory to the best of his abilities. He took only passing notice of the money, which he rolled up and put away inside his jacket. He flipped through the pages, came back to the first one to read something again, and flipped back to the last.

As Frank started to speak, it seemed at first that Conall was paying no attention at all. In fact, he was indeed paying little attention... but that was mainly because he was concerned about the fact that their “employer” hadn't included a picture of the missing nun.

He nodded absentmindedly at Frank's request, letting a few seconds of silence pass between the both of them as he took his commlink out and took down a few notes with a stylus. He spoke as he wrote.

“First thing mate; ye ever call me a thug again and I'll break yer arm. And trust me, I can do it faster than ye can blink” he said in a calm and detached manner, as if the answer was automatic.

He reattached the stylus to his commlink, slipping it back in one of his pockets.

“My specialty...” he started, finally turning to face Frank “combat arcana.”

He cracked a knuckle on his left hand.

“I'm also a fair sport at tracking and hunting, if I may say so.”

He flexed the fingers on his left hand.

“How about ye get to work on those com digits, and I'll hit our missing's place. If there's something rotten, I'll smell it out.”

Sanctuary of St. Ignatius
Monday 08/05/70 12:07:40
Krait - Reading letters
PAN Icon offline, Custom hidden (signal 0), Moai offline

Krait: "Impressive. Please forgive me my impropper wording, I didn´t mean to degrade you in any way! Are you experienced in the investigation of crime scenes, too? If not so much, I´d prefer we enter the place together, because much harm can be done with one misplaced step! I´ll have to aquire some gear first, tough. It shouldn´t take more then two hours or so. Maybe you could get a better look at the surrounding area and the building."

John allways fealt a bit uncomfortable in the presence of mages -except Manolo of course- but having one on his side was good news and the fact that this one said his specialty was combat made him feel even less worried about his brain´s contents.

Sanctuary of St. Ignatius
Monday 08/05/70 12:07:59
Conall

Didn't mean to degrade me in any ways. Right. Guy's thinks he's such a hotshot.

“Just warning ye mate. If dental surgery isn't something ye wrote down in your yearly financial plan, I'd suggest ye choose yer wording in a manner that'd be of the careful kind, hear me?” Conall started, leaning just enough into Frank's personal space as to be invading it.”

The young shaman simply sat there for a few seconds, making sure he had driven the point home. If Frank hadn't been an elf, Conall would have already mopped the floor with him. He was a lucky man... for now.

The young elf stood up, buttoning his jacket.

“I'll meet ye in front of her place in two. If ye not there one after, am won't be waiting on you.”

Sanctuary of St. Ignatius
Monday 08/05/70 12:08:13
Krait - Reading letters
PAN Icon offline, Custom hidden (signal 0), Moai offline

The less muscular male did only give in a few centimeters, the threats glancing off with little effect, at least no great discernable effect. It even amused him -though he didn´t show that either- because he actually did plan to have his teeth replaced once he could spare the funds. It was amazing what tools and trapings could be hidden in such tiny compartments.
He wasn´t afrait of pain, and he didn´t think the other man would drop this job, just to raise his testosteron-level by inflicting any serious injury. Given the close proximity, he answered only in a whispered, though straight voice. This was no different then negotiating with some Chiarnello killer or Bigio enforcer or showing some hotheaded, young client his bounderies, still he felt less secure, then he would have in his former life.

Krait: "You had your chance to hit my face without droping this job last night. I will show you as much respect as you show me - I´d rather sattle on a high level, but it is your choice, entirely."

Infront of Sister Esmeralda´s Appartment Building
Monday 08/05/70 14:00:00
Krait - going CSI
PAN Icon offline, Custom hidden (signal 0), Moai offline

A few taxi-rides, matrix-searches and the exchange of 300 later, John had walked back into the Barrio and the the missing nun´s apartment. Gladly the Forrensics kit had not been hard to come by, as such equipment wasn´t restricted and relatively common place in times of paranoid lovers, criminal trid-shows and P.I.s killed in action. Accessing the Forensics Skillsoft to collect information fealt unacustomed, since he normally used it for the oposit purpose. He set up his com to scan for any nodes -especially hidden ones- and circled the building once, looking for anything out of the ordinary and taking care that the recording would be as usefull as possible for later analysis.
Ready to enter the place, he approached the building´s front entrance, where he was to meet his unfriendly partner.

Sanctuary of St. Ignatius
Monday 08/05/70 13:33:13
Carla
Commlink Hidden

Carla was looking for one of the priests. She had been thinking about finding a place for Paddy to stay for free, though the only plausible option she could think of was letting him stay at her own place while she lived somewhere else - such as Esmeralda's currently empty home. After all, why let a perfectly decent apartment go to waste?

Furthermore, she wouldn't have to tell Paddy that the room he was staying in was actually her own, so he still wouldn't know where she lived. She would just have to pack up her things and lug them over the Esmeralda's place before she let Paddy inside. Transporting her stuff wouldn't be much of a hassle - she had come to Seattle with only one suitcase, after all.

Lightly tapping on the priest's office door, Carla peeked inside to see if one of the fathers was present.

Infront of Sister Esmeralda´s Appartment Building
Monday 08/05/70 14:00:00

Sitting on the edge of the sidewalk, Conall was starting to wonder if this was really going to be his new life. Sitting and waiting. Thats what he was getting good at. Sitting and waiting. He would get to his motel room to sit and wait. He would go to a church to sit and wait. He would go to some missing nun's apartment to sit and wait. Back home, his talent and family name made him someone important. It made him a precious commodity over which people would fight. He was important. He was someone.

Here... he was just an elf with a hot temper.

From down the street, he noticed Frank's silhouette approaching. A quick look at the time confirmed that he wasn't late, a second time around. Conall had found himself hoping that the man would have gotten himself hit by a car or something. Since their last meeting, he hadn't been able to shake off what he considered a terrible and insulting remark. A thug. Who the hell did he think he was? A thug.

Flexing his right hand opened and closed a few time, Conall pushed himself off the sidewalk and up unto his feet. He didn't exactly wait for Frank... As soon as he was up, the young shaman made for the building's front door with the intention of being the first to Esmeralda's apartment.

Infront of Sister Esmeralda´s Appartment Building
Monday 08/05/70 14:00:50
Krait - going CSI
PAN Icon offline, Custom hidden (signal 0), Moai offline

As soon as he cleared the corner, the green-goateed man saw his partner get up and moving. Hoping that the other elf would not whipe off what fingerprints might still be found on the doorlock´s keypad, he followed, not yet giving the stairs and hallway a through look. His hopes deminished, when he found the apartment-door open. Sidestepping the doormat and floor directly inside of the door, he closed the door behind him and put small plastick-bags over his shoes.

Sister Esmeralda´s Appartment
Monday 08/05/70 14:01:29

Getting to Esmeralda's had been a breeze. As things turned out, her place was right behind the church... and by the looks of it, it was probably provided by the same establishment. All and all to say that Conall thought the place looked bad and smelled funny. But then again, he was starting to see more than his share of bad looking places and funny smelling dens.

Maybe this was the way the rest of the world was. Maybe this was how the norms liked to live.

Under his heavy hiking boots, the narrow stairs that led to the second floor creaked as he went up, two steps at a time. Approaching the door in a casual manner, the young elf glanced briefly over his shoulder and towards the stairs, where he could hear Frank trying to catch up. With a playful smirk, he made for the door, punching in the maglock code with a pair of gloved hands. It had occurred to him that his recent purchase of shock gloves might actually prove useful in many more situations than those where he needed to wipe the floor with people. This... this was probably one of those “other” situations.

Once inside, he waited for Frank to come in... and then looked at him with what could best be described as an “amused and mocking” gaze as his fellow elf got plastic bags over his shoes.

“Don't ye think yer over doing it a bit mate? Yer not going to find some rare kind of mud that's only native to a small island where a coven of evil nun kidnappers are hold up, ye know?”

He turned around, not really taking great care as to where he was stepping, simply going to the next room.

“This isn't the movies mate.” he added with a chuckle.

Alright. If I was a nun... where would I be...

The place was not only small, it was poorly lit. Only a few rays of gray light filtered through the heavy curtains that covered the window. The place smelled of dust humidity. It smelled like the kind of place no one had been in for quite a while... which was to be expected. After all, the doc had said Esmeralda had been missing for over a month. As Frank started to do... well... whatever he was doing, Conall simply strolled through the small apartment, taking in the scene slowly. His eyes crept slowly from one object to the other, all of his senses looking for anything out of the ordinary.

In the bedroom, Conall actually started to rummage through some things; opening the nightstands, pushing clothes aside in the closet. With a frown, as if he wasn't quite finding what he hopped for, he headed for the small kitchen. Rummaging through the cupboards, Conall spoke over his shoulder to Frank.

“See her? I think we've got a neat freak on our hands. The gal has more cleaning products than your average corner store...”

He opened the fridge, took a quick peak, and closed it back.

“And an obsession with frogs...” he added for himself.

He turned around and leaned against the refrigerator. Taking his commlink out of his pocket, he turned it on, quickly checked if he had any messages waiting... and went to his terribly short address book... under J.

-Miss J,
If you have one, be so kind as to send me a picture of your missing friend.
Many thanks,
>>Paddy

Sanctuary of St. Ignatius
Monday 08/05/70 13:45:00


Father Ortiz' voice answered from inside the office. "Come in."

As usual, the Father was delighted to see Carla. No less than everyone else in the community, he oozed appreciation for the selfless work she did every day on their behalf. He listened to her request and was immediately receptive.

Sanctuary of St. Ignatius
Monday 08/05/70 13:50:00
Carla
Commlink Hidden


Carla was pleased; she had thought that she was going to have to jump through hoops to convince Ortiz about letting a stranger stay in her home, but the priest had turned out to be quite cooperative. All she had to tell him was that she had a friend from out of town who needed a place to stay. Needless to say, Ortiz had no objections to Carla's claim that it would be "inappropriate" for her to live together with a young man in such a confined space. Additionally, having a stranger live in poor Esmeralda's home without her consent would be equally inappropriate; it made much more sense for Carla to reside there for the time being. Besides, the place could surely use a little dusting and upkeep, no?

So that was one task out of the way; she would unpack her things after work and have her apartment ready for Paddy by the meeting that night. She was still uneasy about going into town without ID, however, and she was going to need to talk to Mr. Chu about that.

With 10 minutes left in her lunch break, Carla decided to step outside for some fresh air and give Mr. Chu a call.

Sanctuary of St. Ignatius
Monday 8/5/70 13:51:00

The phone was answered, but it wasn't Mr. Chu. It was another Asian man, much younger - maybe in his thirties. His appearance was remarkable in that there was absolutely nothing remarkable about it. He seemed to be in a sort of auto shop - tools hung behind him, and Carla could hear mechanical sounds and faint music in the background.

"Yes."

When Carla asked about Mr. Chu, the non-descript man told her he could take care of whatever she needed. "I represent Mr. Chu when he is unavailable to deal with clients. You are on the customer list. Just tell me what you need."

Sanctuary of St. Ignatius
Monday 8/5/70 13:51:30
Carla
Commlink Hidden

Carla was a bit uncomfortable speaking with this stranger.

"Do you know when Mr. Chu will be available again?" she asked.

Sanctuary of St. Ignatius
Monday 8/5/70 13:51:35


The non-descript man sighed. It was apparent he got that response a lot. Resigned to being forever viewed as a mere minion, a hang-dog expression took over his features and he said, politely enough, "Not allowed to say. Security reasons and all that. But I can inform him you called, and he will get back to you without fail. That's how he is....But I gotta tell you, I am a much softer touch on negotiations...."

Sanctuary of St. Ignatius
Monday 8/5/70 13:51:35
Carla
Commlink Hidden

"I'll keep that in mind," Carla responded, a bit sorry to dismiss the stranger so quickly. But as the Black Cat had warned, she had to be careful of who she trusted. Already she had hired two complete strangers and given them access to Sister Esmeralda's home - that alone was probably too trusting on her part. She had to do a better job of keeping her affairs limited to a minimum amount of people.

"Thank you for letting him know I called," was her final reply before the connection closed. Before heading back inside to get to work, however, she noticed that a new message had been sent to her commlink - it was from Paddy, requesting a picture of Esmeralda

Unfortunately, Carla hadn't a single picture of the woman. Perhaps there were some in the church records, but she didn't want to ask Father Ortiz for another look at Esmeralda's file; Miguel wanted to keep this search quiet, after all.

Of course, since Carla had said that the search was being sponsored by the community, it was going to be difficult explaining to her elven friends why the search had to be kept quiet.

Carla wrote a quick reply to Paddy's message:


I'm afraid there are no available photographs. I will try to give a verbal description as best I can when we meet.

Infront of Sister Esmeralda´s Appartment Building
Monday 08/05/70 14:03:00
Krait - going CSI
PAN Icon offline, Custom hidden (signal 0), Moai offline

His eyes instantly adepted to the ambient twilight and John gave the whole place a carefull but superficial look, to make sure there were no traps or ambushes and peaked out of the window. Then he accessed the comsuite and turned on the lights to do a more through search. As he began to do so, he slotted a certified credstick into the com cliped to his belt and mentally typed a message.

My Streetname is Krait, just for references, but please keep calling me Frank in public and just chummer, pal or mate on the com. You can reach me via voicemail under BlueBeard@BloodyFloor or post under the lable Snake-Bane @ DOA-Midland-NA (the password is 386-493), my handle there is Targor.
BTW I also provide more mundane technical services like electronics modifications, upgrades and repair for negotiatable fares.

Uppon seeing the hairbrush in the bathroom, went over to his companion in the kitchen, who looked somehow frustrated, ... and hungry. He stretched out his hand holding the credstick he had exchanged with Ms. Johnson last night and explained.

Krait: "This holds my contact data, please put a way I could reach you onto it." Then he asked: "Are you trained in ritual sorcery?"

Sister Esmeralda´s Appartment Building
Monday 08/05/70 14:07:11

Taking the credstick from Krait, Conall slotted it into his cheap commlink and read the information on the tiny vidscreen.

"If yer asking me if I can track someone by a simple piece of themselves, me answer's no."

Using the commlink's stylus, Conall wrote back a short answer to Krait's message, still talking to him.

"What I do need to find her by arcane means is a picture of her. There doesn't seem to be one around here, and our Miss doesn't have one."

He took the credstick out, handing it back to Krait.

"Ye got me number now." he said, hooking his commlink back to his belt."

He leaned back agaisn't the fridge, crossing both of his powerful arms on his chest.

"Now, Krait, if yer done with yer little dust collecting there, mind if I try my way?"

Infront of Sister Esmeralda´s Appartment Building
Monday 08/05/70 14:08:05
Krait - going CSI
PAN Icon offline, Custom hidden (signal 0), Moai offline

Slotting the stick again and erazing the messages after copying the number, John arched his eybrows at crossed arms and gave the other elf an apologizing look.

Krait: "Well, actually I didn´t even start yet and I´m afrait, it will take me at least an hour or two. I know that chances are slimm to find anything imidiately usefull, but if there is anything that subtile turning out to be usefull later, we probably won´t find it if we don´t look for it, now. What exactly are you trying to do?"

Sister Esmeralda´s Appartment Building
Monday 08/05/70 14:08:17

With a little jerk from the shoulders, Conall pushed himself off the refrigerator.

“See me? I trust we need a picture of this gal we're supposed to find out. If I know what she looks like, I can track for her through the Etherplane.”

He exited the kitchen, going into the tiny living room... where he started to fiddle with the trid unit to turn it on.

“If I start tracking her on this plane here, I might need a handler to follow me...” he turned around, giving Krait a smirk as he succeeded in turning the trid on “and that would mean ye, mate.”

Using the trid's built in controls, Conall started flipping through the channels, looking for a sport's channel.

“Ye just do yer thing... I'll be right here watching the game.”

Looking around for a chair, Conall was slightly supprised to find that there were none... which resulted in him having to simply lean agaisnt the opposite wall for support. In doing so, he unclipped his commlink once again, sending a second message back to his employer.

"A verbal description won't do. I'm going to require a physical picture of your friend. With one, I can start tracking her on the Etherplane."

Infront of Sister Esmeralda´s Appartment Building
Monday 08/05/70 14:08:40
Krait - going CSI
PAN Icon offline, Custom hidden (signal 3), Moai offline

Krait:"Sounds fine, hope you don´t get yourself bored too much. If you are hungry, there are santwiches and plums -some hot/iceed tea, too- in my backpack, just keep the crumbs off the floor untill I´m done there. It´s a shame she dosn´t own a single chair."

Pleased that his partner would be occupied, heresumed his job of searching the flat.

Infront of Sister Esmeralda´s Appartment Building
Monday 08/05/70 14:11:55
Krait - going CSI
PAN Icon offline, Custom hidden (signal 3), Moai offline

Aside from the month old layer of dust, the apartment´s excessive cleanlyness was reminicent to a hotel room, much like John´s own place. Of course his suite would never aquire such a layer of dust, thanks to air filtration, dust repellent surfaces and self-cleaning, peristaltic carpets. He had to wonder if Esmeralda had kept her place all tidied up for the same reasons he did.
Spoofing Cardoza´s access-ID in case anyone was spying, he put his com to work at the home terminal -trying to desturb Conall as little as possible- while he was investigating the apartment´s contents. After Paddy´s remark, he had taken a close look at the household chemicals, but despite his dramatic statement, the compounds´ quantities wouldn´t be sufficient to brew any drugs or explosives in a kitchen-lab in any efficient way.
A lot of books to sift through. He sighed when he fliped the bible open and saw the multiple color highlights. Simply reading the books´ synopsis wouldn´t net in much. Looking in his display at the same game Paddy was watching, he waited fora boring moment, to cut in.

Krait: "Maybe you can have a look at the books and magazines. If there is anything usefull in the handwriten notes, it will be a pain to find it though!"

At first John had been surprised about the multitude of exercise routines, but looking further - water, withered vegetables, soygurth, nutrition suplements. Together with the workout-gear and fashion magazines and different cup-sizes, it seemed as if Esmeralda had been unhappy about her body, but started doing something about it. But then there where those ding-dongs -box after box, but non of them she had started to consume- and suddenly it made sense. The countless food-services browsed and the faintly lingering, sour scent. It was no surprise, when he checked his com and saw the eating disorder sites in the brows-history analysis-readout. Checking superficially, he got the impression that some where dangerously leaning to the pro-ana side, which had seen increasing popularity since the rise of the transhumanist movement over the last decade.
One unfamiliar name -conveniently highlighted by his brows-program- cought his eye in the sparcely filled address-book and he made a mental note to ask Johnson about Ophelia. After throughly analyzing the home-console es well as all subscribtions and searching any wireless items in the appartment for hidden files, he opened a conection to the virtuel outdoors of the matrix and initiated the first datasearch of many to come, while he went on investigating the place. He would offer to give the results to Paddy as theycame in, in case the mage showed any interest.

Monday 08/05/70 15:26:00

The second time around, the elf searched the apartment with uv-light for any bio-samples, then examined specific items more closely -takeing pictures of all clothes, looking at the bracelett, taking off the crucifix and sifting through the books- and looked specifically for anything hidden - checking behind the nightstands, undoing the bed, etc.. And he found somthing he wouldn´t have expected, but wasn´t realy surprised about anymore. A cat-o-nine tailes with steel balls was only a bit higher in magnitude of what impression he allready had,but still on the same scale.
His datasearches where through - Esmeralda, the names in the addressbook, the filenames, St. Catherine, 'dark' eating disorder sites and the possible meaning of the red plastic bead bracelett. The search for 'Ana' in conection with the other keywords had turned up a dominican monastry in Euscal Herria - hedidn´t thinkso, but he´d ask MJ if the nun had any known implants anyway. Unfortunately it would take him a full day and more then the rest of his up-front payment to get thesoftware needed for decrypting the files. With it, the decryption wouldonlytakea few seconds - without it though, the task would probably takelonger then programming the utilityfromscretch,even with the use of his SOTA system. Perheps he couldleach some more cash from the good doctor.

Monday 08/05/70 17:32:00

With the macroscopic search of the apartment done, John had begun to collect samples as good as he could. First the used tissues from the bathroom, the hair- and toothbrushs, the hair from the bathrobe. He used the miniature vacuum-cleaner for his kit, to collect the dust -and whatever else might be there- from the floor, the shoes and all other surfaces, each in a seperate bag.
Then he covered the medicine-, water- & vitamine-bottles, the container of soygurth and the opened case of ding-dongs, the exercise-gear and -chips, the books and magazines and the secret compartment & cat-of-nine-tails, as well as all the handles, switches and controlls with a spray, to search for finger- and palm-prints.
Finally, he put all the books and magazines, as well as the bracelett and casual outfit into separate plastic bags and put them away for later examination.

Taking a long, deep breath and another of many looks outside the window, using his com´s camera, he slamed onto the floor and stared at the trid-screen for a few seconds.

Krait: "Done for now, but found no picture. What now?"

He said with a slightly exhausted voice, as he drew the last can of tea from his backpack and pulled the blue pin, to make it cool.

Church Clinic
Monday 08/05/70 14:15:00

Carla was in the middle of checking a patient's heart when a message alert popped up in her glasses display. Expecting it to be short, she thought she could quickly look at it while listening to the patient's heartbeat. As she expected, it was a short message, but the contents had caught her completely off-guard. Etherplane? Paddy was a mage?!

"Shit!"

Everyone in the clinic froze, startled by the soft-spoken doctor's sudden outburst. Even if they didn't understand the English word, they could tell she wasn't happy. The patient on the table looked particularly horrified.

"Que?"

"No, nothing...just keep breathing," Carla explained. She tried listening to his heart again, but she was too distracted. A mage? Why hadn't anyone told her that he was a mage before?

Carla wasn't quite sure why she had been so startled by the prospect of working with a magician. After all, she had grown up with two hermetics in her family and with plenty of awakened students at med-school. But then again, that had all been before she learned that some freak of a witch had used magic to make an abomination of Carla's very existence. Perhaps she was just startled because she simply hadn't seen a mage in quite a while. Or perhaps she somehow thought that magic activity might draw the extra attention of shedim spirits. Could Paddy detect the shedim spirits? Carla remembered the Black Cat saying something about them following her around. Or might Paddy find some sort of magical aura lingering in her apartment? Maybe she shouldn't have him stay there after all.

She'd have to learn more about his exact abilities that night.

Sister Esmeralda´s Appartment
Monday 08/05/70 14:11:55

After almost an hour spent standing up, Conall had given up and taken a seat on the floor itself. By chance, he had been able to catch a rerun of Glentoran VS Larne. The game wasn't that great, but it was better than nothing. Back home, Conall had never been such a die hard fan of football, but he still enjoyed watching a good game... He found himself thinking of Declan... wondering what he was up to. Things had all gone so quickly, he hadn't even had a single second to tell his best mate goodbye. By now, all of the Danaan would know of what had happened. Conall hoped his friend hadn't taken the news too harshly. They would see each other again. Some day.

Just like time, the game passed by, leaving Conall very bored once again. Around him, Krait hovered like a working bee, collecting things here and there only he could see. In his mind, all this dusting and lighting and vacuuming was a big lost of time... and a giant waste of efforts.

The hours passed, and Conall simply kept flipping through the channels, paying very little attention to what Krait was up to. He had at some point suggested that he'd flipped through the books and magazines... which the young shaman didn't do. Where ever the nun was, they weren't going to find her by checking a Bible's index.

The hours passed.
The boredom grew.

Finally, when he couldn't find anything to watch anymore, Conall pushed himself off the floor and went to Esmeralda's room. With a heavy sigh, he picked up her bible and brought it back to the living room. Part of him felt a little annoyed that he was about to do something suggested by Krait. But the other half had to admit to being curious. Setting his commlink down on the floor, he started running through the used book, trying to get a little glimpse of Esmeralda's world.

Slowly, Conall curled himself up into his own private little bubble. The sounds around him became muffled as he focused on his reading. Before he knew it, he had entered the sort of state only a good workout could get him into.

On the floor next to him, the curtains shadows were growing longer and longer, as the sun ran its course.

Monday 08/05/70 17:32:00

It was Krait's slamming into the floor that brought him back. Cracking his neck from side to side, Conall closed the heavy book and got up, stretching all the muscles in his body.

“Now, we do it me way.”said the young shaman as he started to undo the laces on his boots.

“If I pick a trail up, yer going to have to carry me stuff. Anyone look a us funny... say yer giving yer dog a walk, hoi?” added Conall, as he took both his jacket and shirt off.

"Oh... and get some of clothes spread out on the floor... and a towel if she had one..."

Carefully, the young shaman took one piece of clothing off after the next, in a very casual manner. Yet, the way he did it, the way he folded his clothes... the way his breathing became slower and slower... there was a strange ritualistic thing about it.

He threw a last look at Krait.

"And by the way mate, if you try to pet me, I'll take yer hand off."

His shirt off revealed not only a well toned and muscular body, but also a wide array of tatooed that covered both his arms and back... and what seemed like rather fresh burning marks. Eyes close, Conall took in a very long and deep breath, as if he was getting ready to dive underwater.

Silence filled the room for a brief moment... as if time had suddenly decided to take a break.

And then it happened. Throwing his head down, and falling to his knee, a muffled cried of pain came from Conall. Both arms wrapped around himself, his whole body started to shake. Soon, his skin started to stretch in places, as if someone was trapped inside Conall's body and trying to rip his way free. Bones cracks, and joints popped out of place. His jaw clenched shut, his teeth grinding against one another, Conall did his best to control himself.

He finally fell on all fours, his body contracting himself in some places, muscles shifting places in others. Rapidly, his hair started to grow out. His jaw cracked loudly as it started protruding out, and razor sharp teeth started to grow out of his gums.

A few seconds later, there wasn't anything left of Conall.

In his place, in the middle of Esmeralda's living room, stood a powerful brown and black wolf.
For some time, it simply stood there, breathing in and out, not moving a muscle.

Then, it turned on itself, sitting down and looking straight at Krait. The animal cocked it's head to the side, looking at the elf as if it was expecting some sort of reaction.

If that doesn't rattle your cage mate... You're made of tougher stuff than I thought.

Turning his tail around, the wolf started to run its nose around the room, stopping here and there to sniff the air.