Sanctuary of St. Ignatius, Seattle
Tuesday 8/12/70 21:34:23

Carla gave Paddy an incredulous look.

"Do you really think she'll be better off going where we're going? And what are we supposed to do with her? She'll be perfectly safe in m-...your apartment for the night. Let her get some rest and you can take care of her all day tomorrow."

Sanctuary of St. Ignatius, Seattle
Tuesday 8/12/70 21:34:56

Tuesday took the opportunity of Conall stepping away to slink over to Etain’s side and whisper into her ear.

“I should let you guys be, give you time for your family reunion and all that. I’m glad you found your brother Nyxie, it’s obvious you mean the world to each other. You know how to find me, call me when you want to get together again….”

Adding insult to injury Tuesday planted a lingering kiss just below Etain’s ear that caused her to shiver but the young elf never took her eyes off her brother and the nun, paying more attention to their conversation than her own. As her friend slinked away down the aisle and out the shattered door Etain cautiously approached Conall and the nun.

“Not t’be rude to yer hospitality Sister, but if ye think for even a second that I’m leaving me brother’s side… after everything I’ve gone through to find him… everything... I gave up to get here. There’s a whole other story ye need to be learnin’ right quick.” Her words were tinged with a bitterness that hadn’t been there before and a determination that proved she was as stubborn as a mule.

“Ye have me brother’s word that I shan’t cause ye anymore troubles and now ye have me own as well. I don’t know what I can do to prove it to ye, but I can’t be locked away into another room till it’s convenient for someone else, not again.”

Sanctuary of St. Ignatius, Seattle
Tuesday 8/12/70 21:35:00

"But what are we supposed to do with her?" Carla insisted. "You can't just carry her around in your pocket. Bringing her along is a danger both to herself and to us, regardless of how well-intentioned she is."

She let out a sigh of frustration. Carla had a feeling Paddy was going to be quite stubborn about this, and she didn't want a disgruntled mage on her team during an important operation. She needed to call Krait and let him know what happened. She needed to leave some sort of explanation at the church about what happened to the door. And she definitely needed to find something that would neutralize whatever drugs were left in the girl's system.

"...I...I need to sort out some things," she finally relented. "You two go on to the meeting spot without me - I'll catch up with you."

Sanctuary of St. Ignatius, Seattle
Tuesday 8/12/70 21:35:19

With one gloved hand on his hearth, Conall gave Carla what could best be described as a bow.

“Yer gesture is much appreciated... ye won't regret making it.” said the young shaman in the sincerest of tones.

He could see very well that Carla wasn't entirely thrilled about Etain's sudden appearance, and Conall's refusal to leave her. If she had known the full story, she might have understood. But things of that nature wouldn't come to light here and now in this church. As much as he would have wanted to spend the whole night, quietly, with Etain... As much as he would have wanted to take care of her, dropping the ball with Miss Johnson could put him in a rather uneasy position. With his sister now in the picture, he didn't have to merely survive like he had done since getting to Seattle. He now had to provide and care for someone else.

As he turned back toward his twin, Conall stretched out a hand toward her, inviting Etain to take it. Part of him wanted to scold her for coming to Seattle. But the other half was simply too relieved and happy to do anything about it. He would probably, once the morning would come, remind her of how foolish she was for having seeked him out.

There would be a time and a place to deal with all of that.
Now wasn't that time. Here wasn't that place.

“Come.”

Sanctuary of St. Ignatius, Seattle
Tuesday 8/12/70 21:35:27

Etain watched the nun walk away obviously unhappy with her sudden appearance in the middle of her “plans”, but she couldn’t be bothered to give it any more thought. When Conall offered his hand she didn’t waste any time in grabbing it with her left hand, her four fingers gripped tightly almost afraid to let go.

“Where are we going?”

When her brother started off towards the doors of the church without an answer she felt like she needed to fill the silence.

“I’m sorry fer crashing yer party Conall, but I couldn’t just let a chance to find ye disappear on me by waiting… “

Sanctuary of St. Ignatius, Seattle
Tuesday 8/12/70 21:35:36

Stepping through the broken doorway (and picking his helmet back up) into the warm Seattle night, Conall turned to face his sister.

"It's alright sister. Ye'll have all the time in the world to explain why ye did what ye did."

He started walking again, slow enough that Etain didn't have to run behind him... but fast enough that he wasn't lingering very long in a single spot.

"We're going to a dinner not too far from here. Ye can get some feed in yerself... Am sure it'll do ye rightly... The place's as filthy as they come, but am not the leader of things in these manners. The woman ye just met is me employer... Another and meself have been spending the past few days tracking down a missinger friend of hers. We are going to meet this other man."

They walked for a few more seconds in silence before Conall turned his face again to look as his sister.

"Are ye feeling right for this?"

Sanctuary of St. Ignatius, Seattle
Tuesday 8/12/70 21:39:00

Carla retreated into the clinic to find some antidote fo Etain. Whatever she had taken, it seemed to be on its way out of her system, so she didn't need anything very strong. It didn't take her long to find an appropriate mix of pills that would do the trick.

She next grabbed a scrap of paper and started scribbling a note to explain the broken front door. In Spanish, she wrote:

Deepest apologies for the door. It was a mere accident and will be fixed immediately. Please do not worry.

-Dona Carmen

With her note ready and Etain's antidote in hand, Carla made sure to lock-up the clinic once again and headed up the stairs. After securing her note underneath a heavy piece of the broken door, she proceeded into the street to head for Meg's Place. The elves were already long gone by the time she started her trip. Looking around to make sure nobody was nearby, she withdrew her commlink and sent Krait a call.

Sanctuary of St. Ignatius, Seattle
Tuesday 8/12/70 21:35:42

Managing to keep pace with Conall without tripping or falling on her face was a daunting task for Etain at that very moment, but she managed to stay close at heel as her brother headed outside and filled her in with the basics of what was happening. She had to admit however that since she hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast at Tuesday’s, food, even at a rat hole of a diner, sounded divine. The thought of having to go be social right now wasn’t the most appealing idea at all, but she realized it was the least she could do to help her brother.

“I’m sure this other man will be just as pleased to see me as yer employer.” She scoffed as she spared a moment to glance around the relatively empty street outside the church. When Conall showed concern for her current state of being, she found herself trying extra hard to put on a brave face and try to focus. Concentrating on any one thing at that very moment was difficult at best and she felt so relaxed, like she did after a long massage at the spa. Perhaps she should have agreed to just go sleep off her high…. She blinked a few times and turned her eyes to her brother.

“I’ll be fine, if there’s a problem ye’ll know and I’ll handle it.”

Conall's pace barely slowed as he seemed satisfied for the moment with that answer at least. He led his sister around the block and down a dark alley that gave Etain some pause. Almost as if he sensed her fear he reached back and took her hand in his to reassure her. As he walked her further into the darkness and around a dumpster she found herself having trouble breathing. As his shiny red racing bike came into view and he made the move to pull it from the wall and mount it her breath eased out of her before she turned her head to face her brother with a slight twinkle in her dilated eyes.

"This shiny thing is yers now is it? Who'd ye have to beat up to get this one?"

Save-House Martin, Luther King Jr. Way S & S Ryan Way/Boeing Rd, Seattle, Van Asselt
Tuesday 8/12/70 08:08:30
Krait - Plotting & Planing
PAN Icon offline, Custom hidden (signal 1), Moai passive

In retrospective, the last week had raced past in what seemed like minutes. After picking up the decryption-routine, the elf had only taken a short night´s rest, before starting to inquiere for his next purchase -an Exploit-Utility- and also had begun to crunch through the Decrypt´s copy-protection on the side. He really enjoyed pushing back and forth numbers and multidimensional holo-iconography in his head. What he enjoyed much less, was fencing the products he had pirated on the streets of Seattle with no help and back-up to speak of.
It had come silently - subtily infiltrating his senses again. He had spotted more and more tails every night, and though he manged to lose them all, he allways wondered if there where even more. Saturday morning -after a sleepless night of changing cabs and driving around town, to escape his shadows- he had almost assaulted a bum, that had fixed him with his booz-clouded eyes a bit too long. After he had droped off the Decryption-Software and collected the pay that evening, he had spent the night in the closet of a hotel-room.

His original plan had been, to look for some cheaper alternative to Mr. Chu´s tickets on the side, but given his escalating stress-level, he had decided to only find that Exploit-Program and use the rest of his ressources to get down. Not that it made him act less cautious - quiet the oposit. With his mind free from programming or handling multiple conversations via voiceand text at once, he had been able to concentrate on not beeing geeked or shadowed. But this gave him some sense of security, that drastically cut down on his stress.
The extra-time his sleepregulator provided, he had spent with doing some datasearches and reading of personal interest to him. Reading law-journals sothed his mind, allmost like high mathematics eased the over-excitation in a savants mind.
By monday night, he had found not one, but two people who would sell him the utility he was looking for at a good price. The meeting went over smothely and John was happy to get back to his save haven.

In the security of his own home, he put the new software to a first test against his Moai. As expected, his agent sliced through the cheap Lotus OS in a mare hour and didn´t even raise an alart after accessing the com through a brute-force attack. But that was less a sign of his hacking-gear´s high sophistication, then of his alibi-com´s low quality.
After sleeping unusually long, but not unusually well, the elven proto-hacker went through his morning routine, and ran another test of his programs - low security, but life fire this time. Just as he accessed the pr-node of the vandor-store-chain, he received a message from Ms. Jhonson, with her request to find an alternate way to meet 'the porn-star that cares'.
Reconfiguring his com, he loaded his browse-equiped agent up into his persona and went to work, as the room-service brought in a luxurious breakfast. Couldn´t that girl have decided this when he had actually asked her about it and there was at least some time left to manage the task?

Across the street from Meg´s Place, near Sea-Tac International Airport, Perimeter Road, Seattle, Sea-Tac
Tuesday 8/12/70 21:31:09
Krait - Waiting
PAN Icon offline, Custom hidden (signal 0), Moai passive

He had spent most of the day to put together what might pass for a plan to get into the show. Still he had spared some time, to do some fresh scouting around Meg´s and of course to dress up for the event. Loaded with work but not wanting to rush into the place with no area-check at all, he had only been five minutes early - expecting everybody else to be there allready, as usual. When he found none of his business-associates, he fealt a bit more conspicious then usual, smelling a trap, but waited in the trucker´s den no less. It is a trap - everybody stay cool - it has to be - YOU stay cool!. When nobody showed up at exactly the appointed time -or even sent a message that they would be late- the situation started to stink.
wake up and smell the coffee - keep your calm. He forced himself to sit and wait for another daunting 60 seconds, when one of the cabs he had ordered in advance pulled up across the street, right on time. Itsatrap, RUN! The bill for the beer he hadn´t touched allready sattled, he left the diner and crossed the road. As he entered the cab, he told the driver to wait for his friend a few more minutes, opting to see if his partners might still turn up or make contact.

Sanctuary of St. Ignatius, Seattle
Tuesday 8/12/70 21:35:47

Pushing the bike toward the mouth of the alley, Conall gave a slight chuckle to his sister.

“Ye'll be surprise to learn I bought it with me own change... altought I have me doubts the fella who sold it to me bought it himself...”

Settling himself on the bike, look up at his sister while he slipped on his helmet.

“Just hold on tight and don't let go... ye might get a bit cold... and I drive real bloody fast...” he said, his voice muffled by the biking helmet.

Outside Sanctuary of St. Ignatius, Seattle
Tuesday 8/12/70 21:37:21

Etain looked at the small space behind her brother where he seemed to want her to sit and she eyed it with a mix of trepidation and a sense of excitement. She zipped up the front of her tailcoat and steadying herself with one hand against Conall’s shoulder she awkwardly threw one leg over the back of the bike. Settling in behind him she actually found it a rather comfortable spot and knowing how he used to drive cars back in the Tir she listened to his advice and wrapped her arms around him at his waist and held on tightly. He pulled out of the alley smooth as silk and relatively controlled when it came to speed. When he hit the main street however he put “bloody fast” to shame as he opened the bike up and sped off into the Seattle night. The rush of the world racing past her and all around her felt as amazing to her as it did to know her arms were wrapped tightly around her brother. She leaned her cheek against his back and as her hair whipped behind her and her eyes closed she actually let out a giggle.

Meg´s Place, near Sea-Tac International Airport, Perimeter Road, Seattle, Sea-Tac
Tuesday 8/12/70 21:42:07

Etain had next to no idea of how much time had passed on the twin’s drive from the church to the seedy diner somewhere across town, all she did know was that she didn’t want the ride to end. Conall parked his bike in the parking lot and waited for her to dismount before he did the same. As she took a look around she saw that her brother hadn’t been kidding about the atmosphere of the place. In the distance she could hear the various transports arriving and departing from Sea-Tac and the air was thick with the smell of jet wash and the smell of greasy fried food. Suddenly she was starving.

She let her brother lead the way and call the shots as they walked towards the door of the place. Along the short walk he tried to explain to her just what was about to happen inside in vague details. He was crystal clear on one detail however, that he explained as they started through the door.

“These people know me as Paddy there’s no Conall in Seattle anymore.”

She wasn’t surprised that he had taken on another name since the terms of his exile were clear that he could not use his name by birth. No that didn’t surprise her, the surprise was the name he had chosen. It would just have to be one more thing that she became accustomed to here in Seattle. Besides, she was no longer Etain as far as anyone new was concerned.

Inside was a motley cast of characters, some haggared truckers, some burnouts, some just looking for cheap greasy food. Conall steered her towards an empty booth and let her get settled before he went to the counter and ordered food. He seemed to have a longer than necessary conversation with the waitress where he appeared to be quite apologetic. He was quick to return to the booth and seemed quite eager to send a glare in an overly curious Ork’s direction when he started paying a little too much attention to the twins.

There was so much Etain wanted to say to her brother and yet no words seemed right. She wanted to reconnect with him the way they used to back in the Tir, to be able to say so much with just a thought, an emotion. She knew however she was in no shape to start slinging mana, no matter how convenient it would have been for her. Besides, she was a guest on this little excursion and needed to be on her best behaviour as they met this mystery man, Krait and waited on the return on the nun. The more she thought about the nun the more she was convinced the woman was not quite what she appeared to be. Nervously she wrung her hands under the table top and chewed on her lip unsure of what exactly would happen next.

“So now we wait?”

Across the street from Meg´s Place, near Sea-Tac International Airport, Perimeter Road, Seattle, Sea-Tac
Tuesday 8/12/70 21:39:10
Krait - Waiting
PAN Icon offline, Custom hidden (signal 0), Moai passive

Move, they aren´t comming, they´d be all dead by now! Move NOW! Turning his head once more, to look up and down the street, while he made his decision, where to go next.

Cab-Driver: "... can´t wait like that forever. You know you seem like a nice guy and all, and I wouldn´t care, but ´m not allowed to ..."

The bloated, elven Sick hadonly retained his silence for 46 seconds, sensing that his passanger wasn´t interested in a chat, but when they kept waiting, the fat man had started to talk non-stop. John had never thought that any elf could look like this, which where usually slim by nature, but obviously there where exceptions to the rule. Or maybe it was the radioactive wastes ofthe bearded man´s home-country, that had caused this abomination. Anyway, he was right! The former lawyer could probably talk the cabby into waiting another few minutes easily, but it was time to run.

John: "Allright, chummer, bring me to River 1034, Ft. ..."

An incomming call lit up in his field of vision, anouncing that Ms. Johnson -or whoever was posing to be her, to get him on the line- wanted to talk. He thought about it for a second, before he picked up and answered the call mentally - forming the words as a text-message in his mind, that his datajack was translating into speech, so he could still talk to the cabby simultaneously.
He abborted his instructions, withdrew his Moai from his wind-breaker and held it against his ear. The real conversation was of course running via skinlink, over the custom comlink cliped to his belt.

John: "Incomming - one second."

Krait @ MJ: "You are late, I have been worryed! Time is ticking, maybe we should relocate to a meeting-place closer by. I could pick you up on the way."

Sanctuary of St. Ignatius, Seattle
Tuesday 8/12/70 21:39:15

"I'm late, I know - I'm very sorry," Carla explained, a hint of irritation lingering in her voice as a result of the recent events. She spoke as she walked down the street toward's Meg's Place. "Everybody's safe and sound, so don't get too worried, but we do have a slight change in situation; Paddy's sister suddenly showed up out of no where, and she insists on tagging along with him wherever he goes. Paddy too, it seems, is unwilling to leave his sister's side, so we've either got to drop him altogether or take both of them along. I don't think we can afford to lose Paddy at this time, but I also don't know whether his "sister" - if she indeed is his sister - is trustworthy or not."

"I'm also also a bit worried how Paddy's sister found him; she said she heard rumors that he was in the area, which makes me wonder what other rumors are being passed about our little team. Ideally, we could do a full background check on this girl before moving forward, but I think you would agree that we don't have much time for that. Hopefully we can get some things straightened out once we're all together."

"Paddy and his sister are already on their way to the original meeting place, so let's not relocate. In fact, perhaps you better wait and meet them there; try to...acquaint yourselves before I arrive."

"Oh, Paddy's sister will be a bit inebriated when she arrives. I'm bringing something to sober her up, so please be patient with her until I get there."

Meg´s Place, near Sea-Tac International Airport, Perimeter Road, Seattle, Sea-Tac
Tuesday 8/12/70 21:44:22
Krait - Making an entrance
PAN Icon offline, Custom hidden (signal 0), Moai passive

Ms Johnson´s assurance that everything was allright, only put John slightly at ease. Anyway, he sent the cabby on his was with a generous tip and entered the sleazy bar accross the street from Meg´s. Taking a seat at a window near the entrance, he ordered a beer and watched the street infront of the designated meeting-place.
While he had been waiting, he had set his scan-program to look for the familiar signature of Paddy´s comlink, hoping that his 'sister´s' com had similar signal-range and would turn up on the list at the same moment.
When the racing-bike carried the two other elves into the parking lot and they dismounted to enter the diner, he waited for another two minutes, before he left his untouched glass on the table and walked accross the street. Upon entering the greazy restaurant, he had no problem spotting the only two other elfs inside. Still he gave the whole place a carefull once over, as if he hadn´t seen them at first, to compensate for not observing the grounds while he had been waiting for the late-commers. Besides the two new-commers, nothing had seemed to change in the last 14 minutes.
Finally, he put up a jovial smile and aproached the suposed siblings, giving both of them an apraising look. They did in-deed look quiet alike - apart fromthe obvious differences.

Dressed and styled for the upcomming event, John looked no bit like the tech-wirdo or the ghetto-poser of last week. The goaty was gone, replaced by a layer of white, milimeter-short hair covering his unshaved face and formerly bald head, standing out against his sun-tanned complexion like the bright blue eyes. The olmost perfect symetry of his facial features was only broken by his deliberately asymetric smile and sligtly lifted eyebrow and the hardly noticable irregularities of the back of his nose, that betrayed it to have been broken at least once as well. A small star with five points on his cheek covered a faded prison-style tatoo of three tears, which was only visible to those that looked closely.
He was waring a pale yellow windbreaker and a green backback holding some kind of rigid folder or box, as well as a thin, white whool-cap at the moment, along with round, mirrored sunglasses, sitting deep enough at the moment, to allow his eyes to be seen.
Underneth this not-so-elegant atire was his evening outfit. Ecceptionally taylored, dark-gay suit, comfortable but elegant black lether-shoes and black gloves -quiet unobstrusive if they where equiped for AR. Under the suit-jacket was a dark-blue silk-shirt, no tie, three upermost buttons unfastened. Everything was accentuated by a moderate assortment of unobstrusive bling.

As he closed in on the table, John gave a nod of recognition to the other male elf and gave the girl a disinterested looking sideglance and a friendly but reserved smile, making no effort to introduce himself, talking to her 'brother' instead, in a chummy and relaxed tone, while he waved his hand for the waitresse´s attention.

Krait: "What´s up?"

Who is this? Why are you so late!? Who the fuck is this?!

Meg´s Place, near Sea-Tac International Airport, Perimeter Road, Seattle, Sea-Tac
Tuesday 8/12/70 21:42:07

As Conall pushed the door opened, leaving it so for Etain to step in first, it seemed to him like Meg's wasn't quite as despicable as usual. The smells of sweat and grease didn't sting his nostril as strongly as usual, and he could almost bear the sights around him. Maybe the place had cleaned up a little in his absence... or maybe he was becoming used to living in the gutter with the street trash.

Like some time before, the place was halfway between empty and full... which seemed to be it's constant state. One firm hand around Etain's arm, Conall gently pulled his sister toward a near booth, letting only go of her when she sat down. It wasn't that he wanted to force her into doing anything or going anywhere... Part of him was slightly afraid that if he did let go, or turned away for a second, she would blink out of existence. The other part of him was worried to death about her current state. She said she was ok....but Johnson had mentioned her being on some drugs. Conall had no idea what. He was scared for her.

“I'll be right back. Don't move.” he said gently to his sister, giving her a warm smile before turning away and crossing the floor to the counter.

Leaning himself halfway over the counter, he whistled over to the waitress at the far side. Busy taking some dwarf trucker's order, she gave him a sidelong glance that told her she was in no mood for his drek. But Conall wasn't about to wait. Not tonight at least.

“Hoi!” he said outloud, gesturing her to come closer.

With a sight, she mumbled some excuses to the patron and walked over to were Conall was .

“What can I do for you tonight honey?”she said in a tired voice.

“What ye got that's actually eatable?”

She cocked her head to the side, showing him her cigarette yellowed teeth as she grinned.

“Nevermind. Get me a plate of eggs, scrambled, a few toasts, bacon, some yogurt and a plate of fruits.”

“Sugar, we ain't the Ritz here, ain't got no fruits or yogurt.”

It was Conall's turn to sigh.

“Alright... give me some sausages and potatos instead.”

Doodling down something on her little notepad, the waitress went back to her previous patron, and Conall back to his table.

“So now we wait”? Said Etain as he sat down next to her.

The young shaman simply nodded, as he started taking his jacket off.

“Lad's a little flaky if ye ask me... probably wear women's shoes on the weekends. Unfortunate affair that he's of our kin.”

A few seconds of silence passed as Conall looked at his twin sister. He wasn't quite sure where to start. Not even two weeks had passed since they had last seen each other... and yet it felt like years. Conall started telling her about what had happened to him since he had arrived. The plane ride, Mr Chu, Penumbra, Meg's, Krait, Johnson, Esmeralda.

Hearing the little bell above the door jingle behind him, Conall swung his head around, peering over his shoulder at the new patron. As usual, if Krait had been dressed in a more subtle fashion, he would have worn a parrot on his head and a purple chicken suit. Under the table, the young shaman bumped his knee into his sister's.

Conall answered Krait's question with one of his own.

“Did you find anything useful?”

Meg´s Place, near Sea-Tac International Airport, Perimeter Road, Seattle, Sea-Tac
Tuesday 8/12/70 21:44:37

As the man in the pale yellow windbreaker approached the twins table she instantly was aware they were no longer the only Elves in the diner. The man’s attire reminded her that she was also no longer in the Tir, and it was likely going to take her a while to get used to Seattle’s sense of fashion. She inched slightly closer to her brother as he stopped before their table and nodded to Conall. Beneath the table she felt her brother’s knee bump her own and could feel his demeanor shift slightly to that of all business as he replied to the man standing before them. She assumed this was the mysterious Krait they had spoken about back at the church, yet the nun seemed nowhere to be seen.

She didn’t make any attempt to hide the look that she gave Krait, a slow head-to-toe appraisal without a word. It wasn’t her place to say anything, not that it had ever stopped her before, nor would it likely stop her tonight. Trying to not jeopardize her brother’s situation after he had briefly filled her in on what had happened to him since he’d made it to Seattle, she held back any other actions or words choosing instead to grasp for her brother’s hand beneath the table and resting on his knee as she gave it a small squeeze.

Before she could stop herself she closed her eyes for an instant, feeling her breath ease out of her slowly, all the while a familiar prickly warmth spread from the palm of her hand and across Conall’s skin. She sucked in a slow but deliberate breath and reopened her eyes before she sent a charming smile of her own in Krait’s direction though he had seemed to dismiss her presence upon arrival.

”He’s a right quare geg indeed, yer man there.”

Etain’s thought rang out in Conall’s head as clear as if she had whispered the words into his very ear. Coupled with her thoughts was an overwhelming feeling of relaxation that washed over him the second the spell took effect. If there was any concern that she wasn’t alright before, at least some of it was vanquished the moment their mental connection was restored. He could feel she wasn’t entirely herself, but knew she was in no mortal danger.

Meg´s Place, near Sea-Tac International Airport, Perimeter Road, Seattle, Sea-Tac
Tuesday 8/12/70 21:44:40
Krait - Making an entrance
PAN Icon offline, Custom hidden (signal 0), Moai passive

John took a seet oposit to the pair and spoke in Paddy´s direction, though he couldn´t stop his eyes from flickering to the side for just a split-second, when he noticed the girl´s smile in his periphery vision. He wondered if he had seen her before or if it was just her similarity to Paddy thtmade her face seem familiar.

Krait: "Care for a drink?"

His gaze waved towards the waitress and back once more. Suddenly, the hairs on his nack stood upside and the feeling that something wasn´t right hit him like a fist in the guts. At first he couldn´t pinpoint it, then he figured his magical partner must have worked some magic, but finally he realized that it must have been his sister, who had warped reality quiet a bit. His heart started pumping like mad for two or three meats, but then he calmed down, forcing himself to not react to the perceived breach of etiquette - though he´d hardly forget about it.

Krait: "Not much news beyond what I have allready send you. I have floor-plans and timetables ..."

He listed what he had found quickly and in little detail.

Meg´s Place, near Sea-Tac International Airport, Perimeter Road, Seattle, Sea-Tac
Tuesday 8/12/70 21:48:12

The limited conversation between Conall and Krait was interrupted by the dumpy waitress sliding plates filled with all kinds of assorted breakfast type foods and cups of coffee before the twins. She smiled a yellow-toothed smile in Etain’s direction before she paused to see if Krait wanted anything and then waddled off back towards the counter, her little notebook in hand.

If Etain had been paying any real attention to the discussion at the table when Krait arrived, it was completely diverted to the large amounts of food before her. Without an apology she started eating realizing with each bite just how ravenous she really was. It wasn’t Phillipe’s breakfasts of crepes and berries, but it was warm, didn’t make her want to gag, and it was filling her stomach. She used her fork and speared what passed for a potato off the plate in front of Conall with a sly grin.

In her current state, toast had much higher importance than floor-plans and timetables.

Meg´s Place, near Sea-Tac International Airport, Perimeter Road, Seattle, Sea-Tac
Tuesday 8/12/70 21:49:06
Krait - Waiting for Johnson
PAN Icon offline, Custom hidden (signal 0), Moai passive

Krait: "... that´s basically it." John concluded the quick recap of his latest findings. He paused a second for dramatic effectand then csually added. "Oh, yeah, and I managed to get us four tickets at an affordable rate - not VIP, though." He put on a teasing smile. "I planned to take along a friend of mine, but our little Ms. told me, you might have someone else in mind..."

He was now looking straight at the girl, while he clearly kept speaking to her supposed brother. The smile lessened untill it was almost gone.

Krait: "So, do YOU have any news?"

His experiance didn´t suffice to tell what kind of substance she was on, though she was obviously under the influence. He tryed to take in any symptoms though, so he might later be abled to piece together what drug it was she had been taking - such knowledge was too usefull to let the oportunity pass. This time, he made no afford to hide his attention, as it was meant to stress the fact, that he was still waiting for an introduction.

Meg´s Place
Tuesday 8/12/2070] 22:00:00

Carla spotted her elven acquaintances shortly after passing through the front door of Meg's Place. Without bothering to greet them, she took a seat next to Krait, withdrew a small vial of pills from her coat pocket, and placed three in front of Etain

"Swallow those."

Carla still didn't know what to make of Conall's sister. The girl herself didn't trouble Carla so much, but the unexpected change of circumstances made the situation feel more out of control than she liked. She secretly hoped that Krait had a good idea of what to do about the situation.

"Do we have time to sit and chat, or do we need to discuss plans on the way?" she asked Krait, who had the bulk of the information for the upcoming event.

Meg´s Place, near Sea-Tac International Airport, Perimeter Road, Seattle, Sea-Tac
Tuesday 8/12/70 22:00:14

By the time Carla had arrived, Etain had managed to stuff herself full of a lot of the food her brother had ordered. Looking at the pills the woman placed before her with a quizzical gaze, coupled with a noticeable change in the woman’s appearance, she hesitated to take them. She had been nearly mute since Krait’s arrival, trying to be as unobtrusive as possible but she wasn’t about to just swallow the pills blindly. She learned the hard way the last time what could happen. And the pair sitting across from her were hardly as fun, nor exciting as Dylan or Tuesday.

“What’er they for? Sister?”

She tried to focus on the woman’s face, on her eyes especially as she posed her question. The slight amusement in her voice when she asked the question, accentuated greatly on the Sister portion wasn’t lost on Carla. It seemed that no one at the table was what they seemed anymore.

With a simple thought she asked her brother to fill her in privately on just what they were going to try to do to find this Esmerelda person he had spoken about earlier, and just what he wanted her to do and how she could help him. She had no loyalties to the pair seated across from her, but to her brother they were eternal and she’d go to the ends of the earth to help him.

Meg´s Place, near Sea-Tac International Airport, Perimeter Road, Seattle, Sea-Tac
Tuesday 8/12/70 22:00:18

Carla shot Etain a look of disbelief. "They're to un-fuck you up from whatever it was th-!"

Carla cut her outburst short, covering her mouth with her gloved hand. Medicine was the one area where she wasn't used to having her authority questioned. But then again, this girl didn't know she was a doctor. In fact, none of them were supposed to know she was a doctor. Only Paddy should know that, since he had apparently been told so by Mr. Chu.

Then again, Krait and Paddy weren't supposed to know she worked at the church either, and this girl had just called her sister! Carla could only hope that the men wouldn't interpret the term "sister" in a religious sense.

Starting over again, her voice steady and low, Carla explained to the girl, "They are to neutralize the remaining drugs in your system. If you want to come along with your brother, you'll have to be sober."

Meg´s Place, near Sea-Tac International Airport, Perimeter Road, Seattle, Sea-Tac
Tuesday 8/12/70 22:00:20

With a smirk but no other words necessary she acquiesced to the woman’s demand. If sobering up would mean she’d stay by Conall’s side, then that’s what she would have to do.

She fumbled as she picked up each of the pills, her dexterity still lacking, washing them down with a sip of water one at a time. She resisted the urge to stick out her tongue and ask if the nun-who-wasn’t-a-nun wanted to look under her tongue.

She leaned back and sighed heavily as she waited for the magic pills to rip her high away from her. She pretended to examine the nails on her right hand while she waited for someone else to make the decision as to whether or not they were going to tell her anything, or if she was going along for the ride effectively deaf, dumb and blind.

Meg´s Place, near Sea-Tac International Airport, Perimeter Road, Seattle, Sea-Tac
Tuesday 8/12/70 21:44:37

As Etain's overwhelming feeling of relaxation filled his own being, Conall's own worries filetered through to his sister. He did his best to restrain any stray emotions from drifting to his already weakened twin. She wasn't quite in her right mind... and probably didn't need any other worries but her own in her head.

“You get used to it.”

When Krait started listing through his accomplishments of the week, all Conall could do was slowly drink his coffee and nod here and there. All in all, he cared very little about what the fellow elf had discovered. As far as he was concerned, it was all bullocks. With the helpers Wolf had granted him, Conall would have Esmeralda in front of him in a few days... if not hours. All he needed was a calm and quiet place to start his search. He would have begun earlier had a few things not happened... like the sudden arrival of his twin sister.

Food arrived, and as Etain began to eat her meal like a starved wolverine, Conall couldn't help himself but smile warmly at her. His attention drifting away from Krait, he looked at her enjoy her meal. What would the others, back home, would have thought of her, munching on such delicacies with such tact.

Krait: "... that´s basically it." John concluded the quick recap of his latest findings. He paused a second for dramatic effectand then csually added. "Oh, yeah, and I managed to get us four tickets at an affordable rate - not VIP, though." He put on a teasing smile. "I planned to take along a friend of mine, but our little Ms. told me, you might have someone else in mind..."

Conall's attention went back to Krait. His head cocked slightly to the side, he looked at him from over his plastic coffee mug.

Krait: "So, do YOU have any news?"

“Got meself enough trackers to find Esmeralda within days, if not hours. I would have started tis night, but unforeseen event have delayed the whole affair.”

He took a slow sip from his coffee.

“And would ye terribly mind” he started in a annoyed tone, setting his coffee cup down “not staring at me sister” he lifted his eyes from the cup to Krait “like she was a bloody painting.”

Since he had known Krait, Conall had made a few threats and warning agaisnt him. They had all been true and, in his mind, called for. But never before had he meant it to that degree.

“I swear to Wolf, if ye don't show her respect and courtesy like it should be, I'll bloody snap ye in two like a god damn twig. I'll break ye in ways ye couldn't imagine.”

He took his cup back.

“This is going to be me single warning to ye. If I have to repeat meself, ye'll spend weeks in a doc's care. Now I don't want any bloody witty remark from ye. Ye just keep yer thoughts to yerself, say “yes sir” and we'll move on.”

He took a sip.

“And this isn't bloody negotiable. Ye just do as told or I'll smack ye and drag yer ass kicking and screaming across this floor and into the parkway.”

His position stated, Conall moved to something else, telling his account of the astral surveillance he had done at Chaotic Serenity... and how he had literally found out jack shit.

When Carla finally showed up, Conall greeted her with a bow of the head. He was still very grateful for what she had done.

"Do we have time to sit and chat, or do we need to discuss plans on the way?" she asked Krait, who had the bulk of the information for the upcoming event.

Conall leaned slightly forward across the table.

“Beg yer pardon for cutting ye short Miss, but I'm still a little gonked out about what yer hoping to find at such at event. I got meself help to track Esmeralda's scent and I should be able to get a trail in a matters of hours if I start tonight.”

Meg´s Place, near Sea-Tac International Airport, Perimeter Road, Seattle, Sea-Tac
Tuesday 8/12/70 22:01:35

Whatever it was that the nun had given her it was potent. Already Etain’s mind was clearing and her pupils were returning to an almost normal size. She could feel her body responding to things she wanted it to do faster. All seemed well and good, she was coming down off her high. Instead of a gentle wearing off of the effects like she had experienced before this time everything was yanked from her in what felt like an instant. Gone was the floaty feeling of calm that she had come to crave, the mind-numbing sensation while she was separated from her brother. Forcibly shoved into its place was a dark feeling of emptiness mixed with a slight twist of anxiety.

Even Conall’s presence seated beside her wasn’t quite enough to settle the feeling though it did help ever so slightly. Beneath the table her hand lightly gripped her brother’s leg with a slight concern as she listened to him talk about tracking the woman with the aid of Wolf and as he questioned what benefit the “event” had that they kept speaking about. The continuing shift in her mental clarity made it hard to concentrate for an entirely different reason. She quickly decided that should the nun ever try to make her take the pills again she’d likely tell her just where she could shove them.

When she spoke it was clear the high was wearing off and Carla could visibly see the effects of her antidote taking hold.

“Not to be sticking me nose in where it may not belong, but just what event is it that yer going around in cryptic circles about?”

Meg´s Place
Tuesday 8/12/70 22:01:45

Carla almost (almost) felt bad about what she knew the antidote was putting Etain through. She was pleased to see that the combination of drugs she had selected was working quickly and effectively to clear up the girl's head. Maybe Etain was actually an intelligent, thoughtful young woman. Carla hadn't judged her seriously until this point, knowing the girl's condition. She tried to speak more calmly, aware that there was already enough tension between the teammates.

"We're going to a show-business convention," Carla explained, "with the hope of getting a serious lead on where to find a missing friend of mine."

"On the other hand," she turned to Conall, "Paddy seems to have a way of bringing us directly to my friend within a matter of hours."

"Now, I know Krait worked very hard to get us access to this convention, and this is a one-shot opportunity. We can always fall back on Paddy's plan if Krait's doesn't work out, but we can't do the opposite."

"So I'm going to need both of your help at making this decision: I need to know what risks you know are associated with your respective plans and how sure you think the pay-off with be. Remember, the rest of your money depends on whether we find Esmeralda alive, or at all, so I ask you to put your pride aside for a moment and honestly consider which plan has a better chance of success.

Meg´s Place, near Sea-Tac International Airport, Perimeter Road, Seattle, Sea-Tac
Tuesday 8/12/70 22:01:51

She clenched her jaw slightly as she could feel the faint tendrils of need, of an insatiable craving, trying to worm their way into her psyche. The feeling worried her deep down, the fact it had been only minutes, perhaps seconds, since she had started to lose her high and already she was craving the next one. She tried to mask the feeling and the fear from her brother, but she was near certain that some filtered through.

“Since ye have been so kind to help me, to let me stay with me brother… to help me with… with me problem. The least I can do is offer me help to ye in whatever way I can. I have no doubt that me brother’s plan would be successful, but if the event is a one-time opportunity… Ye said yer man Krait managed to get tickets, but not VIP. Is it important to get in as VIP? I might be able to help you there, with me head clearing out and all.”

The volume of her voice dropped throughout her conversation till it was clear that her words were meant only for the other three seated at the table. She paused and took a long sip from her glass of water, nearly draining it as she waited for the woman who appeared to be in charge to choose to let her in on more details, or keep her out of the plan.

Meg´s Place, near Sea-Tac International Airport, Perimeter Road, Seattle, Sea-Tac
Tuesday 8/12/70 22:02:00

"Well, that depends," Carla folded her hands on the table. "What are you good at doing?"

Meg´s Place, near Sea-Tac International Airport, Perimeter Road, Seattle, Sea-Tac
Tuesday 8/12/70 22:02:25

Etain leveled her eyes on Carla's face and held her gaze as she spoke.

"If ye have a need to get into the VIP section, by cajoling or by a certain kind of force or even if ye just wish to talk yer way through I could be your girl."

She was confident she could manipulate her way through a lot of situations, perhaps even con her way in past any security to get to VIP.

"Ye said it was a showbusiness type of event? Are you talking TriD stars, singers, or industry types?"

Each possible option might take a different approach to make her way into the event, again she was confident she had a good enough grasp via personal experience and all of the gossip-rag reading and expose type shows she watched to handle it.

"Or if ye know of what people are scheduled to attend and be in VIP, we can just make the effort to... take their place and most will be none the wiser. So if someone has a holo-pic of anyone attending..."

She wasn't about to start casting anything to alter her appearance here at the table in front of all of the diner's occupants, however the more her head cleared from the Bliss the more confident she became in her abilities again.

Meg´s Place
Tuesday 8/12/70 22:02:30

"It's an adult entertainment event," Carla answered matter-of-factly. "I believe Krait here has the details on who exactly is attending."

Meg´s Place, near Sea-Tac International Airport, Perimeter Road, Seattle, Sea-Tac
Tuesday 8/12/70 22:02:44
Krait - Waiting for Johnson
PAN Icon offline, Custom hidden (signal 0), Moai passive

As he looked at the girl, John asked himself how much of a security risk she posed. Paddy obviously trusted her and she could sure be usefull tonight, at least as an accessouire, if her no doubt quiet protective 'brother' let her. But even if she could be trusted enough, the elven mage´s feelings for her could easily cause problems!
It came as no surprise, when the awakened man quickly turned the topic on her. John had hoped he would get some proper introduction, but wasn´t taken aback by the cold threat. He knew he had been asking for something like this. When his difficult partner asked him not to stare at his 'sister', he locked eyes with the other elf again, without the need of any threat of violence that followed. Anyway, the calm way in which Paddy described to do, what he would probably like to do even without any excuse, made it seem somehow less intimidating. After all, if the brute would go through with it or not, these consequences all depended on a condition, John had no intention to fullfill against his team-mates expressed wishes.
So, he just gave the young magician a quick grin and kept his thoughts to himself. The gesture wasn´t condescending or belitteling, more like the kind of look, friends would give each other upon mentioning an insider joke.
Without so much as a sideglance to 'Paddy´s Sister', he listened to the irish-man´s report, untill the head of their little operation arrived.

He gave the woman a respectfull nod and a smile and used his moai, to order a glass of water for her, as he got up from his seat, to allow her to take the place directly oposit to the girl, before he got down beside her. When she put the pills on the table, he glanced at them shortly, befor returning his eyes to Ms. Johnson. Maybe a picture of the antidotes would allow him to find out, what exactly they where supposed to counter with some research later on.

'Paddy´s Sister': "Ye said it was a showbusiness type of event? Are you talking TriD stars, singers, or industry types? Or if ye know of what people are scheduled to attend and be in VIP, we can just make the effort to... take their place and most will be none the wiser. So if someone has a holo-pic of anyone attending..."

The proto-hacker locked eyes with the girl, as he intended to replied to her question to Ms.Johnson, wondering if her pit-bull would considder this a stare. The woman to his side was quicker to respond, however.

Ms. Johnson: "It's an adult entertainment event," she answered matter-of-factly. "I believe Krait here has the details on who exactly is attending."

Krait: "Yes, I do have pictures of some attendants, though I´m not sure if appearance alone will suffice. Also, any astral activety might raise the securities suspicion, they have mages on staff. However, I am content, we will find our way into the VIP-area, one way or the other. The person that might know something about our lost friend will attend to the VIP-only part, but might not be accessible at the event at large. Oh and by the way, YOU can call me Frank."

He gave her a friendly smile and then turned to Paddy.

Krait: "I´m no expert at things arcane, so I can not judge wether a magical search has a higher chance of success, though I don´t doubt it. Still, I agree that we won´t get another try to meet that contact after tonight, thus I´d recommand to try this first, too. As fare as I know, there are possible obstacles to your plan as well, and so fare we know nothing about our friend´s condition and whereabouts."

Meg´s Place, near Sea-Tac International Airport, Perimeter Road, Seattle, Sea-Tac
Tuesday 8/12/70 22:02:53

Etain nodded as she attentively listened to the info being shared around the table now that she was being included. A slight smirk pulled at the corner of her lips when it was proclaimed it was an “adult entertainment event” she had to wonder just what kind of “friend” of the nun’s this was after all. Upon Krait’s comments on the situation as well as his introduction, she withdrew her right hand from beneath the table and offered it to him. A fiery copper celtic ring with knotwork along the band decorated her ring finger as she firmly shook the odd character’s hand.

“Pleasure to meet you Frank, I’m Ayrin.”

Her hand disappeared back under the table as quickly as it had surfaced before her eyes flickered to Carla for an instant before she continued.

“I have no doubt that there would be a magical security presence at an entertainment event, but you’d be surprised what the apparent appearance of someone famous can do to whip a crowd into a frenzy. Likely if there were enough people there who could cause a commotion, security might have their hands too full to do quite the right poking around. Besides, I never said anything about astral activity.”

The girl’s lips curled into a sly smile and there was a slight mischievous twinkle in her eyes.

“Assuming you just want to talk to this person in VIP what’s the worst they’re going to do to us if someone gets “caught”? Kick us out? It’s not like we’d be looking to cause this person harm while looking for the friend in question, right?”

Even thousands of miles away from home, already the twins were falling back into their usual routines. Etain was the mouthpiece and Conall the muscle. Ideas were running through her head by the handfulls, some being discarded just for sheer impossibility, others being filed away as actual possibilities with one standing out in particular. She just wondered if Conall would even consider letting her go through with it.

Meg´s Place
Tuesday 8/12/70 22:03:00

Carla wasn't sure whether she would be able to keep up with all these aliases. She had already fumbled with Krait and "Frank," and now Etain - if that was her name - was sporting a new alias as well.

"That's a good question, Ayrin," Carla concurred. She turned to Krait. "Exactly what kind of information do you expect to get out of our contact? The sort of information that would require...coercion?"

Meg´s Place, near Sea-Tac International Airport, Perimeter Road, Seattle, Sea-Tac
Tuesday 8/12/70 22:03:30
Krait - Waiting for Johnson
PAN Icon offline, Custom hidden (signal 0), Moai passive

Krait: "The pleasure is all mine, mylady!"

John answered to Ayrin, with a slight bow of his head, as he shook her hand with only a little amount of pressure more then she put into it. His smile was friendly again, but just a bit broader then the last one. While their hands touched, his eyes flickered to Paddy just for a split-second, partly to tease him, partly to check if a fist was flying his way.
As she withdrew her hand again, he cought a second short look at her ring, filing the sight away for later refference, though a search on it would likely turn up as little as the one on the male elf´s tatoos.
When the girl went on, the legal offenses scrolled past John´s inner eye, but he kept from making any comment about causing a major commotion in a public mass-event through unlicensed use of magic. Instead, he mirrored her facial expression in a quick mischievous smirk, as he replied.

Krait: "I was under the misconception that every magical activety is mirrored on the astral and that´s how security spots it usually. I guess you could teach me a thing about magical theory, but you have to keep it simple with us mundanes." He sideglanced to Paddy while he finished the sentence, as though the last part was not meant for his sister. "Well, of course we don´t want to harm anyone!"

Eventually, he turned his attention back to Ms. Johnson, trying to get the group moving.

Krait: "I´m confident, we can make it past the velvet cord, but we will have to hurry, to make it in time, so maybe, we should hit the street." He kept thinking about exactly what they would ask Zaphyr, before he added: "Of course it would be nigh impossible, to get any information out of her, without mentioning our friend and only little more without giving away, that we are looking for her. If we had access to this woman over an extended period of time, we might be abled to find out more, but since chances are slim that we will meet her after tonight, I suggest we shouldn´t be overly secretive with her."

Meg´s Place
Tuesday 8/12/70 22:03:35

"Do we need to make any stops for supplies before heading out?" Carla directed the question to the entire table.

Meg´s Place, near Sea-Tac International Airport, Perimeter Road, Seattle, Sea-Tac
Tuesday 8/12/70 22:03:38

Etain took one last long drink from her glass of water, draining it down to just a few last ice cubes and shook her head as she swallowed.

"I'm at yer beck and call Miss, ye seem to be running the show."

Besides, there wasn't much in her things back at Tuesday's that would help her out now. She'd just have to make arrangements to pick them up later.

Meg´s Place, near Sea-Tac International Airport, Perimeter Road, Seattle, Sea-TacTuesday 8/12/70 22:03:42

Through the telepathic link both twin shared, a whole conversation could take place in silence. As plans took shape in Etain's head, Conall could almost immediately picture them in his own. Most of her ideas were good, he had to give it to her... but most were also totally crazy stunts. Things she knew very well he would never let her try out. At least, not yet...

The one she was currently cooking up, although bad in taste and based on such crude matters that it made Conall uncomfortable, wasn't half bad. Of course, it was appalling that a girl of noble rank like herself would be ready to stoop to such a level, but he had to give it to her: it was bloody clever.

Even if the link conveyed his emotions quite clearly, when she spoke out in his head, he turned to look at her, giving her one long glance.

“You actually think you're up for it?”

When Carla spoke out, Conall simply folded his arms across his chest and nodded.

“I was told to come ready, and that's exactly what I am.”

He gave a slight nod to the side, cocking his head toward his twin.

“Me sister here got enough tricks to either get us in VIP, or cause enough of a commotion for someone to slip in. Misdirection and deception are what win yer fights.”

He cracked one of his knuckles, something that seemed to be quite a habit of his.

“Tech head here” he jerked his head toward Krait “got us a slip in as guests, so all we need to be doing is slipping ourselves one step further. The only thing between ourselves and Zephyr is going to be some checkpoint. Enough chaos, some tech cracking and I'm sure we can weasel in at least one of us in.”

Meg´s Place, near Sea-Tac International Airport, Perimeter Road, Seattle, Sea-Tac
Tuesday 8/12/70 22:03:45

Etain looked at her brother as she felt his concern through the link and nodded completely serious.

“I just need to get me hands on a few good pictures and I’ll be all set.”

Her gaze turned to the “tech head” across the table.

“I’m sure it’d be a cakewalk for ye to dig up a few holopics for me? Say some of one of Zephyr’s recent… co-stars perhaps? Of the female variety that is. Ones with as much detail and from as many angles as possible would be most helpful.”

She smiled a charming smile which was the complete antithesis of how she felt inside. The craving that was already clawing at her senses, slowly creeping further and further into her mind.

Meg´s Place, near Sea-Tac International Airport, Perimeter Road, Seattle, Sea-Tac
Tuesday 8/12/70 22:03:50
Krait - Planning the Run
PAN Icon offline, Custom hidden (signal 0), Moai offline

John nodded to noone in particular, they simply had not enough time and information to come up with something realy elegant, so keeping it simple and using what ressources they had was the best they could do. The time on the ride to Ft. Lewis would have to suffice to develope contingencies.

With only a slight smile, the technician sliped the moai out of his pocket and for marely a second, connected it to a cable, he drew out of his sleve. Disconnecting again, he handed the ugly head-set/monocle to female accross the table.

Krait: "This is a promotion-vid for one of our Idol´s more recent Flicks, it´s only 3 minutes. Features a co-star, that worked with her several times and is no compleat no-name, but not that high profile, either. I haven´t watched it myself," he said truthfully, "but I´d assume you´d get all the angles you need from that."

Meg´s Place
Tuesday 8/12/70 22:04:00

"If possible," Carla replied, "I'd prefer that we walk openly into the VIP area rather than sneak or break in. Posing as a co-star could certainly accomplish that, but we would be in serious trouble if anybody catches on to the ruse."

"Rather than posing as someone in particular, perhaps we could have you pose as a nobody - someone who hasn't made a name for herself in the business yet," Carla suggested to Etain. "If you convince enough people that you're interested in breaking into the business, and if you make a good enough impression, perhaps the VIPs will take notice and ask you to join them in the VIP area."

Meg´s Place, near Sea-Tac International Airport, Perimeter Road, Seattle, Sea-Tac
Tuesday 8/12/70 22:04:13

Her hands went to take the offered monocle from Frank and inwardly she instantly felt unclean. She didn’t mind looking at holopics of the stars, but to watch their actual work? Her stomach turned and she was thankful for a chance to respond to an alternate set of plans before watching.

“I thought time was of the essence Miss? If ye were to give me a good few hours I’d say I’d be able to get us into VIP and they’d be paying us before we were walking back out the door. However, ye mentioned being in a hurry and I’m not certain hurry and convincing people like this go hand in hand. Besides, this is an awards event yes? How long before the actual awards start? Not trying t’discredit your plan Miss, but I think we’re up against a deadline that doesn’t afford us that kind of luxuries.”

She paused as something Frank had said came back to her.

“This one,” she gestured to the monocle, “Ye said she’s not a complete no-name but isn’t high caliber? That’s not going to be enough. She needs to be on par with yer target in terms of star power. She’s got to be big enough that she’ll draw the attention without overshadowing Zephyr.”

She drew from all of her gossip shows and rumors within the entertainment industry and even first hand experience. Nine times out of ten unless a studio or the celebs handlers were forcing stars of different calibers to spend time together they just often didn’t. It didn’t do the high powered star any good to be “seen” with those who weren’t of the same stature. Much like polite society within the Tir. She quietly chuckled to herself when that piece of the puzzle fell into place. If she could just pretend long enough that it was just another Tir society party… maybe she could make it through the whole ordeal and be that much closer to her next chance at Bliss.

Meg´s Place
Tuesday 8/12/70 22:04:20

"You're correct about the timing issue. However, my concern with impersonating a celebrity is that you won't just have to look like this person, but act like her as well. Do we have enough time - or information - to learn how to successfully assume this person's identity?"

"Perhaps you could slip by if you were drunk as hell or something," Carla added as an afterthought, "so you wouldn't be expected to speak intelligibly to people."

Meg´s Place, near Sea-Tac International Airport, Perimeter Road, Seattle, Sea-Tac
Tuesday 8/12/70 22:04:24

“I wasn’t planning on schmoozing any longer than necessary to get someone close to yer girl. Odds are there won’t be too many people outside VIP who are going to be familiar with anything but her more… intimate behaviour. Besides that’s all a persona usually. I’m thinking we target the fans, the more easily excitable as opposed to going after the big fish like the rest of the VIP section.”

She shrugged slightly and shook her head.

“If it makes ye more comfortable I can act as drunk as the next girl if we get into trouble.”

Meg´s Place, near Sea-Tac International Airport, Perimeter Road, Seattle, Sea-Tac
Tuesday 8/12/70 22:04:36
Krait - Waiting for Johnson
PAN Icon offline, Custom hidden (signal 0), Moai offline

Krait: "I agree, that we don´t have enough time to play it the save way. And we don´t have enough time to discuss like that forever. We should decide on a plan now and get moving. I´d prefer the uniform trick - though maybe it´ll suffice and be less of a risk, to pose as members of the catering-service. Though harder to get the Star´s attention that way, it will also cause less attention in general and much less trouble, if it dosn´t work. Though the catering-people all know each other, they will be stressed and bussy, the Security Guards -whose job it is to look at faces, especially while stressed and bussy- on the other hand won´t know the catering people nearly as well as they will know their own chummers!"

He said to everyone present, while he mentally fired up his com for a few seconds, to get a cab moving to pick them up, before he turned his attention to the elven girl, to address her request.

Krait: "Well, the problem is, that most stars that are on par and have anything to do with her, are most likely there, too. I´ll need some time to find someone that fits, but I can do so, while we are moving, that just gives us less time to coordinate your act. Another reason, why I´d prefer the catering-solution."

Turning to Miss Johnson again, without waiting for Ayrin´s answer, he asked their boss for a decision.

Krait: "I fear you have to decide now, what we are going to do. If we delay much longer, non of our planing will do us any good."

Meg´s Place
Tuesday 8/12/70 22:04:45

"Yes, yes...I understand," Carla replied. "Impersonating somebody famous is too difficult, and posing an obscure performer won't get us into the VIP area in time - if at all. Sneaking in as caterers - or some other type of menial staff - seems to be the best option."

"If we manage to get into the VIP area as caterers, though, how do manage to talk to Zephyr?

Meg´s Place, near Sea-Tac International Airport, Perimeter Road, Seattle, Sea-Tac
Tuesday 8/12/70 22:04:50
Krait - Waiting for Johnson
PAN Icon offline, Custom hidden (signal 0), Moai offline

Krait: "That will be easy - deliver a letter or note to her should be no problem. However, wether she´s going to listen to us, probably depends on how much you want to give away about our objective."

Meg´s Place, near Sea-Tac International Airport, Perimeter Road, Seattle, Sea-Tac
Tuesday 8/12/70 22:04:55

Etain quietly cleared her throat.

“Why not take advantage of the people here. Split us up according to our strengths. Perhaps we’d have a better chance of succeeding if there were two potential ways in instead of focusing on just one which if it fails there won’t be time for a second chance?”

She threw that onto the table rather casually.

“If we decide on the way over exactly what it is you want to ask this woman, then the two of you can try to get in via the catering approach and me brother and I can go in more flashy-like."

Meg´s Place
Tuesday 8/12/70 22:05:00

"You seem awfully eager to play the role of a pornstar," Carla remarked somewhat wryly. "You make a good point that trying multiple methods at once might be beneficial, though I'd like to keep this operation as far from 'flashy' as possible. The more we put ourselves in the limelight, the harsher the consequences will be if our plot is discovered. Assuming the worse case scenario, I think we will be better off getting caught as petty caterers rather than being caught as celebrity impersonators."

"Of course, we still have to settle where we will obtain the appropriate uniforms."

Meg´s Place, near Sea-Tac International Airport, Perimeter Road, Seattle, Sea-Tac
Tuesday 8/12/70 22:06:06
Krait - Making a Plan
PAN Icon offline, Custom hidden (signal 0), Moai offline

The man that had introduced himself as Frank shifted his gaze upon the young female accross the table again, as she spoke up, only to give her brother a short sideglance, eybrow arched, making a show that he wasn´t 'staring at his sister'. When she paused, he gave an aproving nod and gave his own judgement after Miss Johnson´s reply.

Krait: "I´m not a friend of splitting up and definitly prefer unobstrusive over flashy as well, but tonight it might be easyer to get in as pairs, then in a group of four. You can find pictures of the security´s and caterer´s uniforms on that com, as well. There is also a list and some pictures of higher rated co-stars then the one I proposed. I´ll get you some more on our cab-ride."

He motioned toward his low-grade Moai comlink, then looked at Paddy again.

Krait: "Are you planing to take your own wheels or join us in the taxi?"

Meg´s Place, near Sea-Tac International Airport, Perimeter Road, Seattle, Sea-Tac
Tuesday 8/12/70 22:06:10

At Carla’s wry comment Etain’s amber eyes flared with anger and shot her a very cold gaze veiled with a dangerous edge as she clenched her jaw. Across the link she and her brother shared Conall was hit full force with the extent of her instant anger as many nasty little comments towards the woman seated across from them flashed through his sister’s head.

“Careful sister of just what ye assume. It’ll get ye into trouble faster than ye can call for help.”

Her piece said she visibly relaxed while inside she was still fuming. Here she was dropping into their laps the most logical way to get done what she wanted to accomplish and she was being dismissed and insulted for it. She leaned back and kept a steady gaze upon Carla as she sat in what was rapidly becoming an uncomfortable silence when Frank spoke up and pushed his commlink towards her slightly. With a slight nod she connected to the commlink and obtained the images and busied herself with looking through them.

“Thank you.”