Paul tips the brim of his hat to Willie, and starts things off by loading back up, then settling into the back of the van. Once everybody that's coming is in the van, he says: ""OK, let's get back to the safehouse for now, and while you're driving I'll button things up back here. I have some work to do once we're stationary again, although I should catch some shuteye, too.""

Willie says, "Sounds good to me. I got some reading to do. You wanna go discreetly, or you wanna have some fun on the way?"

Bongo rolls his eyes. "What kinda fun you talking about?"

Willie replies, "There's some japanacorp thugs roaming around here who could use a buzz as we pass."

Bongo shakes his head, "Yeah, no. I'll pass. I have some thinking to do, and it requires peace of mind."

"Phht," Willie sputs. "Alright. Here we go nice an gently." He proceeds to drive back home obeying the speed limit and all traffic control signs.

Bongo replies to Rose. <<Found one bunch, not sure of talent. Will try to determine. Busy for the next week or so. The college bunch sounds worth a try. Want to set up a jam session in about 10 days? Looking forward to seeing you and making some good music! >>

Once the three of them get back home, Bongo sets himself up with munchies and drinks and sets to studying the ins and outs of the underlying rules of Magic. He lets the team know he has to study hard for the next week or so.

Willie says the same, but figures he's going to have to both read and exercise and might take more time.

#####

After a week, Bongo figures he has a basic understanding of the rules by which magic works in the world. He had never really applied himself this way before. Was the academic career a good way after all? No, not for Bongo.

Willie is still busy on his thing. Bongo figures he might do a routine near their last run to bring Frank back to the public's attention. Almost certainly Frank is at worst out on bail while his lawyers tie things up. Bongo works on a disguise that he can quickly ditch after the escapade. Brevis said make a trideo of it. He asks Angel if she can help record it.

<<Hey Angel. I'm back in circulation. You know that last run we had regarding the predator? Are there any trideo cams in the area that could record a short demonstration outside his building? And can you take control of them, or at least copy what they record? >>

Mike manages a "You're welcome, and thank you too." before her look draws him in to her lips.

In his apartment he doesn't argue that he would have lost, but instead says "Yet somehow I feel very much like a winner." holding her tight in his arms and kissing her playfully again before joining her in going further into the apartment towards the large window.

Mike enjoys paying attention to all of Selina's body, but she catches him looking into her face and eyes a lot more than last time. Like someone seeing something different or new and studying it. Though he also has a hard time not closing his eyes or moaning "Oh Kim. "

He doesn't discuss it, but she can see a smile on his face when he realizes she's cuddling up for the night instead of getting dressed again.

In the early AM he gets up, and is obviously trying to move away without waking Selina to let her rest. He moves slightly stiffly like his back or leg might hurt a little, but he's soon off in the kitchen and before too long the smell of coffee and eggs would start wafting down the long hallway between the kitchen and the main room with the large window.

As the sun starts to peek over the buildings, his view to the west is cast in light and long shadows from the buildings and distant trees in the park. The air and astral space are again clearer up here than below. (OOC: An advantage shared by Selina's apartment) The sky above is a beautiful blue with a handful of white clouds. Something someone not from Seattle might take for granted.

In the apartment Selina can see that Mike's work is spilling out of his work room and into the main room and hall. There are a number of mannequin upper torsos on stands, each with a different sort of helmet and upper body armor. None of the helmets looks overly fashionable to Selina's eye. Most are either oddly puffy or segmented.

----------------------------

With Willie being not very quick the van gets parked undamaged behind the safehouse. It's quite late, there are still some sounds of Boyz horsing around up in the parking garage, but mostly they've turned in as well by that time.

------------------------------

Rose will shoot back <<Sounds good! We can use the same place, just don't tell them about the projector and stuff Ok? I don't think they'd swipe anything, but they might say something to the wrong person. >>

Angel eventually replies <<Working out is hard! But yeah, so long as it isn't when I'm at Brewsters gym or all sweaty I should be able to. I doubt I can use any of my exploits from before, but if I got in once I should be able to do it again. I guess I only paid attention to the cameras that were looking where you and Selina were moving around, but I bet they have them all over.

Also, uh, Brewster says I need to be more personal. I'm not entirely comfortable with that yet. But we're kinda roomates.

Housemates? Why do they call it roomates if you aren't in the same room? >>

Bongo replies to Rose. <<Great! Set it up for when I am free and I'll see you there. Looking forward to it! >>

He checks in with Angel. << That's great, Angel. When you have some time, finding where cameras are in the are around F.'s building would be useful. I know there could be a lot. That seems to be a thing around here. Also, I'd like to see how that chair of yours works. Can you show me some time? Maybe we could go for a walk/cruise around our neighbourhood if you want to get outside. >>

Angel got Bongos message right away. She's always connected to the matrix. Even when she's sleeping.

The dual requests were stressful, so she told herself she needed to focus on getting ready for training. This marked the earliest time she'd been ready prior to getting picked up. She paced back and forth and wondered if Bongo was right there in his room. But she figured if she meet him in person he'd just ask about the message and that would be worse.

At least pacing was warming up right? She was even out of her chair.

After training she decided she needed to relax. "Training is really hard! I'm in no condition to think!" She told herself. Ultimately it was only as a full 24 hours approached that she replied

<<It's tricky to access the cameras from the central control system. They have a spider, and that's the sticky part of the web. The thing to do is go there in person and get the wireless addresses of the cameras, if they have them.

Mr. Snake is good at that sort of thing. But I should know how to do it too. I mean I do know how. Like, the matrix part. I just don't know the walking down the street part. I might like to use the chair. It can carry me around. But I couldn't do it alone>>
( If Bongo wants to take her, you could skip to doing that, as she'd agree to go. )

<<If you need help doing scouting, I can offer guidance. I could do it for you, but then you'd never learn.>>

After spending a fun night with Mike, and also quite liking him paying more attention to her, Selina wakes up to the smell of fresh coffee.

Looking around for some kind of shirt to put on for the time being, she heads over towards the source of the smell. "Mmmhh. Good morning!"

Of course, she notices all the pieces of clothing that belong to his work, but she does not comment on them. It's his job, and she does not want to intrude there.

She cannot completely keep her thoughts to herself, though, so she just comments with a fairly ambiguous: "Looks like you got your work cut out for you there," as she nudges her head into the direction of the mannequins.

"Love the view in the morning. The sky is so blue here. That is not something you see much in Seattle."

Angel replies back to Bongo and Paul

<<Well, I'd like to learn, but I definitely can't do it on my own. I can do things in the matrix just fine. It's managing things in the real world. I mean I can get to cameras sometimes from the net. But I might get detected. I know it'd be way easier to just be on site, analyze the local spectrum, and identify the camera specifically and just interfered with the camera itself.

Actually, I ought to be able to just intercept the signal! There really isn't any way for them to even detect that! At most I have to bother with encryption.

But...I have to actually be there to do that. Um. I could practice on the doors of the house or something though. But to get the actual camera info somebody has to actually take me there. Though Mr. Snake could do it easy.>>

(OOC: If Paul gives her the little mug drone, she could have one of her sprites drive it around and scramble codes to practice with. )


------------------------

Mike smiles as Selina enters the room.

"Hi Kim. I'll pour you some coffee, and breakfast should be printed in just a minute. Much of its the real deal though, just arranged. "

He brings over some coffee and replies to her inquiry. " Yeah it's a horrible task. But I think one that could really pay off. I mean for thousands of years the first thing you armor is your head, and now it's the last thing most people put armor on. Despite some attempts with armored hats, I don't think you're ever getting corporate types wearing helmets full time no matter what you try. So you've got to have something that rapidly and maybe automatically deploys.

The problem is, it all looks pretty bad. I don't think I'll completely fail. It shouldn't have to deploy unless the situation is past where most people really care about looking good. So some of the funcitonal designs my eggheads have put together should sell. But I don't sleep well at night knowing how they look!"

He smiles as he gets a couple plates out of a large unit on his kitchen counter.

"Well, except last night, when I was finally sufficiently distracted."

He sets down the plates, each with a sizable quiche Lorraine on it.

"Just let me know if that doesn't work for you for some reason. I just made my favorite. "

The quiche does appear to be made from real ingredients instead of simple soy extrusions. Though the way it was produced leaves the crust sort of stuck to the plate. Bits of onion and bacon are arrayed on the top in a repeating pattern apparently as a default that would let you cut it into four identical slices.

He continues as he sits down "I really do love the view. They say you need passion for you job. I do like making armor look good, and managing people. But I think keeping that view has more to do with it than I'd want to admit .

Have you figured out what you're going to be up to here or still just focused on getting settled?"

<<You don't have to go there in person if a drone can, although navigating your vehicle is like navigating a drone that just happens to have you on board. Here, take this ARO and that will give you access to a little drone about the size of a saline bag. Why don't you practice navigating it around the house for a while, get your feet wet?>>

Angel checks the ARO, which links her to the drone. <<Oh, OK, I'll give it a try! Just let me know when you want it back! >>

(OOC: If Paul is in the house, she actually might come by. She doesn't have any idea that it might be meant as a gift, if it is. )

(OOC: Addendum from Koekepan's post in the OOC thread)

After sending her message Angel remembers a few lectures from Brewster. He's always friendly, but they still feel like lectures. Mostly trying to get her interacting with the real world. So she gets up and starts walking towards Paul's room. Her legs more sure under her feet. Enough that she doesn't necessarily need the wheelchair. Though she knows with the help of her sprites it's probably still a lot better at most things than she is.

However after the last job Angel is appreciating that she can't always count on having all the sprites she wants. Though she really should work to make sure she has a few registered so she can all them when needed. That's scary, as things could go wrong with that. Angel decides she'll do it while somebody else is around and not try to get too crazy with the processing power of her sprites this time.

About the time she decide that she's made it to Paul's door. In the matrix most doors are just for keeping things organized instead of keeping people out. With more secure iconography being used for such things. So she barges in.

(OOC: Presuming Paul is locking internal doors, which he well might have been, so I could walk that back)

She says "Thanks so much for the little drone for me to practice with! " She thinks a bit, not having actually come to see him before " and thanks for modifying me wheelchair! Brewster said it was really important to change the weapon mounting! "

She stands awkwardly. Not really sure what to do next. In the matrix there's always something to call up that you could talk about. Although it occurs to her what she'd always do is call something up and then not actually talk about it. But it feels like you're interacting, so it doesn't feel weird.

This feels weird.

She manages "That's a really cool drone you're working on! Or, scary, if it's supposed to be scary. "

She was pretty sure that wasn't the right thing to say. But manages "But really thanks so much! " before bolting out of the room, moving faster than Paul was used to.

For the next few weeks. The coffee mug sized drone, her wheelchair, and Angel stumbling about are the bane of the paint job and appliances in the apartment, as they mess around with maneuvers in the house and hacking things like the coffee maker, which she occasionally has a tiny simple sprite enhance just to make it a challenge, sometimes after having a sprite in the wheelchair hide something electronic for her to try and find via electronic warfare.

Though she still shows zero inclination to try and go anywhere outside the house alone.

Continued here.

Paul is not merely tolerant, but quite good-humoured about Angel's barging and bashing. He'll sit and chat with her about the ins and outs of maneuvre and practical physics while patching and painting walls. He will also talk to her at length about the practical aspects of appearance, such as form following function, which make virtual presentations different from physical.

He also keeps working, scrap by scrap, on his big old robotic spider. Should he paint it in deepest black? Perhaps. Perhaps.