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Audacity
Blissfully unaware of the angst being generated by Graciana's leave-taking, Tristan continues to race Chauncy through Puyallup, weaving in and out of the light evening traffic to the score of a heavy rotation of Goblin Rock classics - Inferno, Children of Barsaive, Golden TuskRing, Jack Out, etc. Graciana's reply scrolls across his vision, and he smiles. Good. A little Badass Latina Mojo is exactly the backup I need. David would be proud.

Shifting down and turning onto the main commercial drag, the young ork dictates a response and attaches a map link.

The wolves shouldn't be any worse than local color, nothing that you and I and a nasty-looking spirit friend couldn't set straight. Meet me at the Cafe Frou-Frou on Pioneer and I'll explain the rest. If your friend knows how to get into places that they don't belong without tripping the sec, bring 'em along.

Message sent, Tristan closes the link and pulls into the Cafe Frou-Frou parking lot. He parks at the extreme edge and kills the engine, stowing his helmet and replacing its facial recognition-obscuring properties with the hood of his jacket, pulling it low and bending his head to bathe his face in shadow. To pass the time, he plugs the chip from Papa Gotcha into his commlink and begins to go over the information therein with a fine-toothed comb, committing as much as possible to memory and looking for potential leads until Graciana arrives - with or without ninja-styled backup. We can always brute force it if we have to, but I hate to rely on that as plan A.
Ziathra
Graciana finishes putting on her shoes, gets up and takes Zoé's hand.

“No, no. You told the truth, Zoé. It is not your fault the truth hurts. I think I would get missed, but not at school. I will see you tomorrow, okay? Vaya con Dios.”

Since Hop wants to stay, Graciana will make sure Hop has all his stuff before she leaves. Leave she does, though, heading straight to the Cafe Frou-Frou on Pioneer.

Before she leaves the garage, she sends one last message.

@Tristan [Graciana]: The friend and company aren't stealth-types, although one volunteered to come. I'm on my way.

Eventually, Graciana's Toyota pick-up truck pulls into the Cafe Frou-Frou parking lot. She carefully prowls the lot, eventually parking as close to Tristan and his bike as possible. By the time she hops out of the truck, the earrings she was wearing earlier are in the glove compartment and the survival knife is on her belt, but hidden as much as possible under her black jacket. Her black hair is severely pulled back into one ponytail again.

“Hi. What's this about a stray puppy?”
Audacity
As Graciana pulls up, Tristan raises his hand in greeting and turns down the background music piping through his earbuds. He waits patiently while she disembarks and approaches, giving her attire and demeanor a critical eye. They're going into gang territory, and he well knows that how you look and act is often more important than who or what you are when it comes to passing unmolested. And for all of his bravado and confidence, they really can't afford to be labelled unwanted outsiders or easy targets. His gaze travels up, down, and up again in stark appraisal, resting occasionally where you'd expect, and occasionally where you wouldn't, though given the more mundane circumstances of adolescence, perhaps even those momentary lingerings can be reasonably explained. In the end, he gives an approving nod.

"You look good," he says with a quick grin, displaying characteristically prominent orkish dental features. "Guy got in over his head with someone heavy, and now he's AWOL. All signs point to foul play. Still owes a friend of ours some money, and we're looking at a percentage if we can retrieve him." Glancing around to ensure that potential witnesses are few and generally otherwise occupied, he offers over the chip from Papa Gotcha with all of the pertinent target information. "The rest is in here. Take a look while I get us something to drink. You hungry?"

Tristan begins leading the way toward the front doors of the cafe, then pauses, looks down at the unsubtle suggestion of imminent violence strapped to either hip, and grins sheepishly.

"Mind if I toss these in your truck?"
Ziathra
Graciana puts up with the ogling. Tristan's a friend, after all. Besides, her figure is crap and she knows it. She is silent for a moment, considering the possibilities of just getting drive-through somewhere, then nods.

“We'd better put all the hardware on the floor of the back seat,” she tells him. “The stuff is worth both money and trouble.”

Since she is going inside, the knife goes back to the glove compartment.

“I just need something to drink, thanks. Some coffee would be good.” She pops the chip into her comm unit's chip reader, but doesn't start reading until she sits down somewhere. Speaking of sitting down, she picks out the loneliest booth in Cafe Frou-Frou and takes possession of it while Tristan gets the goodies.

She looks through the chip, taking a copy of Daniel Bleriot, a.k.a. Stray Puppy's face and doing her best to memorize it. The poor guy. If I disappear, I hope someone comes looking for me.
Audacity
Tristan agrees and stashes the dual implements of hurt application down under the back seat of the truck, covering them with his riding jacket just to be doubly safe after a moment's thought. Then he follows Graciana into the cafe, detouring to the ordering stand while she selects a booth. A mundane commercial exchange later and he's approaching the table with a pair of steaming mugs and a packaged sandwich. She may not be hungry, but he's a growing boy (and how!) and needs to eat.

"Papa thinks the Dealers are a good place to start," he says as he places her mug down and slides into the opposing bench. "Guy named Callahan runs things for 'em in the neighborhood, and he and our boy may have had a disagreement over rental prices. I figure we scope the place out tonight, see what's what, and try and get some eyeballs on this guy. If he's got our boy, he might lead us right to him."

Over the rim of the mug, he fixes Graciana with an inquiring gaze, brow raised. Thoughts?
ShadowDragon8685
Sighing heavily, Zoé slumps back onto the sofa after Graciana vanished, feeling a little more lonely, despite having more people in the apartment still than she ever had before. She leans into Daiyu's side, sliding one hand behind the Asian teen, stroking Daiyu's feet with silken-soft fingers, then settling her fingertips into the undersides of Daiyu's toes. "Well... I can run some Matrix searches. That would be pretty boring for you two - oh! Well, maybe... You two can watch a movie - I can watch it inside, when I'm in full sim, and we can still chat and all."

She smiles, softly. "Does that work for you guys?"

@Graciana [Liara]: Be safe out there, whatever you're doing.
Ziathra
Graciana sips her coffee and takes a moment to think.

“We're going to have to go up there. A Watcher spirit would get hopelessly lost between here and Redmond. It sounds as if we may want me to go astral and find Callahan, then set a Watcher on him. I can look for our stray puppy that way too, but it would be a lot easier with something with his aura on it.

“We could also slip around invisibly, but we don't know where we're going. That's going to get messy.

“I've got a reason to talk to the Dealers, if you want to just walk up to them, but it would be in Puyullap, not Redmond. We definitely need back up for that. I have an idea, but it's going to call for a vacant lot or other dirt between here and there.”
Audacity
Watcher spirit? Well, there's an idea! Tristan thinks to himself, mentally congratulating himself for calling Graciana. Made the right choice, it would seem!

"Good thing you're here," he says aloud, carefully unwrapping his pre-packaged dinner. "I was just going to go there and start knocking on doors until someone pointed him out, then probably just tail him back to wherever - your way is much better." He takes a bite that encompasses fully a quarter of the entire sandwich, thinks for a moment while he chews, swallows, and continues. "I'm all for anything that keeps us out from the wrong end of a gun. Tell me about the chit-chat you need to have with the Dealers."
Koekepan
Cafe Frou-Frou is an interesting place in that it manages to combine decent products, fairly low prices, and tolerance of a wide variety of customers. It has various secrets, including piped music both in real and AR forms, and lots of sound absorbing materials. Automation means that a minimum of staff is required, and most of the staff's duties can be summed up as customer service.

Cafe Frou-Frou welcomes all metahuman races, with only two stipulations: no law breaking on the one hand, and no rowdiness or other unsociable behaviour. Free coffee for all Knight Errant employees helps to keep the peace, but a few teens having a drink and a snack raises no eyebrows whatsoever.
Ziathra
“That's the funny part,” Graciana begins to explain after drinking more coffee. “I need to talk to them about renting some real estate. I need somewhere to cast spells and summon spirits and do other stuff. I may also need somewhere to live in a big hurry. If what I heard this afternoon is right, Mama may throw me out of the house soon.

“Anyway, I think we should just wander the astral and snoop. It's a lot safer. Boring for you, but safer.”
Audacity
"I like safe," Tristan agrees between alternating mouthfuls of sandwich and coffee. He swallows audibly. "Still, we should at least go down there and have a look around. See the cat's apartment. Maybe find some clues, something you can use to do your astral thing."
Ziathra
Graciana nods. “I don't know what we'll find if there was a fire in there, but it's worth a try. We should probably get going down there soon if we're going tonight. Oh, want to drop your bike off at your house, or what?”
Audacity
"We can drop it off at my place - it's on the way," Tristan says, stuffing down the last of the sandwich and coffee. While he chews, he makes a few arcane gestures in the air with his AR gloved hands, marking the location of his home and sending her updated route. Swallow, stand, beckon toward the door; Tristan weaves through the parking lot toward their vehicles, making first for her truck to collect his gear.

"I'll see you in a few," the young adept says with a smile, securing the twin belts and zipping up the armored biking jacket. He turns up the background pulse of thrashing guitars and leads the way on the back of his sleek street racer.
Ziathra
Graciana pitches their trash on their way out the door. She gives Tristan a little bit of lead, then gets going. Just to calm her nerves, she plays some electronica as she drives. I'll bet he'll want to play that noise he loves all the way there. Nice guy, but I will never understand his taste in music.

Since she has a few moments, she answers the last message on her comm link.

@Liara [Graciana]: Thanks. I hope the movie is a good one.

Should I run another search? No, I need to pay attention to my driving. I'll search for financial aid later, or tomorrow.

Shortly after Tristan parks his bike at his house, Graciana pulls up, picks him up and heads with him off to Redmond.
Aria
Well shit! Hop hadn't the time for a movie right now but didn't want to insult his host

"With Gracie gone we're not going anywhere tonight anyway. Hope whatever she's getting into that she's willing to give this a shot. With Rio not turning up after the meeting with Papa we're getting a bit thin, and short on wheels! If the school really are out to stiff us then this cash will be needed, if nothing else to help cover the cost of a new ID. I don't fancy moving on, and I know my family will be pissed, but it's better than the alternative! FRAG ME...!" Hop's outburst startled even himself "Errr, sorry, but mother of Gods, I just got here. Look, sorry, I don't normally let my emotions get the better of me. We thought it would be simple here...turn up, stay under the radar..." he trailed off
ShadowDragon8685
Zoé starts at Hop's outburst, and frowns, nodding. "I know..."

She gestures to her seat. "Wanna talk about it? What's your family like?"
Koekepan
The ride to Treyo's place is short, and parking the bike is quick, then he and Graciana are on their way to Redmond.

This is a longer drive - nearly an hour, all told. It's not too bad until near Redmond, and there the condition of the roads nosedives. It's clear where any pretence of road maintenance stopped. The good news is that the truck's suspension handles it with aplomb.

Around 8PM, Graciana's mother starts to send her messages which waver between concern for her baby girl and veiled suspicion that the little ingrate is selling herself on some street corner while her hard working mother slaves away to put a roof over her head and food on the table.
Ziathra
When the first message from Mama rolls in, Graciana groans.

“It's Mama, Tristan. I'd better be back by 10:30. We're not going to get much done tonight.”

She doesn't answer Mama, though, until she can take her attention off her driving. That means no answers while she's on the freeway and definitely no answers on the trashy roads of Redmond. She'll wait until she can pull over and stop for a bit. This also gives her time to compose a reply.

@Mama [Graciana]: I'm sorry I didn't answer sooner. I was driving and had to pay close attention. I'm doing Tristan a favor. Yes, he's paying me gas money. Yes, he is keeping his hands to himself. Yes, I am driving very carefully. Please don't worry. Love, Graciana.
Koekepan
By the time that Graciana's truck is picking its way through the rotten, potholed roads of Redmond itself, her commlink starts to light up with a series of barely coherent, frantic, and frantically angry messages from her mother, ranging from the frankly illegal "... stuff his testicles in his ears ..." to the hopelessly impossible "... come back home right now! I want you home by 9PM, not a second later!"

Regardless of that, the truck is soon at the indicated address - a burned out shell of a building, fresh enough to still smell of smoke and burned plastic. A few street dwellers, gaunt and pathetic as pariah dogs, peer dully at the truck from behind bits of rubble or broken wall where they find shelter against the breeze and the occasional drifts of drizzle.
Ziathra
Graciana parks the truck and checks her commlink. Graciana doesn't know whether to laugh or cry when she reads the additional messages. I hope I have enough money for a coffin hotel. Do I need to go get a camper shell put on the truck?

“Just a moment,” she says to Tristan after she finishes reading. “I want to call a Watcher before I project.”

Graciana sends her thoughts out, silently calling to the little spirits known as Watchers, asking for one to appear...
Koekepan
Instead of one watcher spirit the size of her hand showing up, something goes strangely wrong and from her hands she sees astral cobwebs filling the entire truck's space. Tiny spiders by the hundred and thousand crawl along the strands, chittering manically. Gradually they manifest, and the whole of the truck seems to be a haven for spiders which stridulate and chirrup and rearrange the strands.

There is no sign of immediate horror from the onlookers. Either they are incapable of that emotion, or the vision is commonplace in Redmond.

Or perhaps their addled brains merely register it all as the ghost of a drug or BTL trip gone bad.
Ziathra
Graciana holds very, very still.

“That's never happened before. Let me get them back to the astral.”

Graciana silently commands the tiny multitude, Watch over me and my truck from the astral plane. Tell me if anyone tries to touch me or approaches the truck.
Koekepan
The spider horde obediently listens to Graciana's words and stops manifesting - but it is still there on the astral, guarding every angle and cranny of the truck.
Vegas
Daiyu sighed heavily as Graciana walked out on their group and she sunk back against the couch feeling a little defeated. Hop's outburst didn't help lift her sprits either.

"Well, that just makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside. I mean I'm all for helping friends, but just cutting and running out like that on something that could be a big deal...?"

She cast a side glance in Zoé's direction with a slight smile as her toes curled slightly.

"I'm down for watching a movie and eating junk food tonight and trying to hit up this location tomorrow or something after school perhaps? Maybe by then we can get the whole group back together? So Zoé, if you want to go matrix diving or whatever you need to do, I'll be here... Hop, you sticking around? "
ShadowDragon8685
Zoé sighs softly, nodding at Daiyu as the Asian teen complains about Graciana's abandoning them before the food had even arrived.

"I hope it's really important," she murmurs. She looks down, smiling as Daiyu's toes curled around her fingertips, and settles in beside the taller elf, pressing into her. "Alrighty... Oh, heh. I forgot."

She blushes, slightly. "Somehow, I don't get the idea either of you are the type to narc me out, so..." She nods towards the flatscreen, and it starts to slide up the wall, as she hops up from the couch. The flatscreen display reveals a secret hidey-hole, within which are a number of magazines, both for her pistol and her rifle, as well as spare boxes with bulk ammunition; there are also a number of data-chips on a shelf, unmarked, a bag of green vegetative matter, a few small ceramic pipes and a stack of papers. She picks up one of the chips, looking at it thoughtfully for a moment, before shrugging, setting it back down.

The blue girl looks back at Hop and Daiyu, taking the pipes, papers, and bag back to the coffee table, the screen lowering again. "My aunt got me these," she explains, with a goofy grin. "Which is, yanno, kind of the opposite of what's supposed to happen, right? But she's the best. I'm not sure I cared for them all that much. I felt really funny, really fast - I guess I've got the constitution to match my size - but if you guys want to, go ahead. It's just cannabis, no funny stuff."

She sits back onto the couch, tucking herself under Daiyu's arm, laying her head on the taller elf's shoulder, arms wrapping around her, her eyes closing. "You guys want to watch something animated? That's what I'd go for - I know it's cliche, but I really like silly, animated kids' movies... Something with explosions and action might be fun, too. I'll be able to watch it while I'm under, and I'll still be here with you."

Zoé's voice then comes, not from her mouth, but from the apartment's sound system. "And I'll be able to talk to you, too." She looks up, and pats the couch, in the spot vacated by Graciana, then gestures to the chair. "Hop, will ya relax, sit down, and enjoy a movie with us?"

Her request delivered, Zoé lets out a sigh, and closes her eyes, sinking into what seems to be a peaceful trance, as she goes into full VR.

@Daiyu [Liara]: Don't be afraid to lay me down, pick me up or whatever, if you need to use the head or wanna raid the fridge or something. When the food gets here, I'll have to go get it - I have it delivered to the desk and go down to get it myself, 'cause I don't like giving out the unit number.
Happy Noodle Boy
After the last costumer for the morning rush left, Charlie told Todd to head out. Todd started running toward school. Even though he had plenty of time, he was following the advice of his sensei to use this time in his life to practice his skills and hone them. While he learned a lot from sensei Castillo he liked to think that he knew enough to know he didn't know enough. For example he should learn more about lock picking before he used the auto pick he found in the duffle bag Johnny gave him.Sensei Catillo

Todd wondered when he was given a choice of three duffel bags what was in the other two. If could have been weapons, money and gems, or maybe body parts. He shuddered at the last thought. While Johnny assured him that past that stage in his life, he realized Johnny was one dangerous individual and it was best if he never confirmed or denied that statement

As it was he selected B and E gear and some pretty sweet electrical gear. As he ran past a couple of his classmates dressed in their shadow crawler synth leathers I suppose there is a market for shadow runners with those certain type of skills. If I were to take an interest in the lifestyle I don’t think I would advertise ,but then again there is something to say about hiding in plain sight.

Farrokh Barara
Todd then ran past a person he did not believe in hiding in plain sight, he recognize Farrokh Basara and waved, a unofficial leader of the local squatters. He remembered to check the bushes to make sure the couple of large cups of soup he left earlier was gone and no trash was left. Ever since the manager encouraged this and other small acts of kindness, the local squatter population has reciprocated by keeping disruptions to a minimum.

As he got to the entrance he made a point to check his official com for any normal messages and reminders and to check his real com and his agent to check on any developments. He was trying to help his blogger friend "Ivan Annoying" find out if the girl they put on suicide watch was pushed that way by cyber-bulling. He had his agent check the social boards to see if anyone was bragging.

I got one more year at this freaking place. If I can survive the school year my options open up. While I do not have the same options I had at the corporate school, given the drek that Renraku did to my father that may not be a bad thing. The question remains, will the world give me that year?.
Todd paused as if hoping for an answer to his last thoughts. Hearing nothing Todd preceded inside.
Aria
QUOTE (ShadowDragon8685 @ Nov 13 2013, 09:00 PM) *
"Wanna talk about it? What's your family like?"

Hop looked up at Zoe, still slightly sheepish after his outburst

”What? I, no, they’re ok really. They’ve looked after us all. They’re wrapped up in work at the moment so we kind of look out for each other, my sister and me, I just know how disappointed they’ll be if things go to the shit again! We used to live…er, I’m not supposed to talk about the past, low profile and all that?” Damn, he was flustered, shouldn’t have made a slip like that

”It’s not all that mysterious really, we all have some past we’d rather forget about right?” although he had a feeling that with this inquisitive little girl that particular evasion might not do the trick…
QUOTE (Vegas @ Nov 15 2013, 04:02 AM) *
"Hop, you sticking around? "

"Sure, Kate's ok, I'll hang for a bit... "
ShadowDragon8685
Zoé seems to be insensate, nestled up against the Asian elf, but her avatar's voice comes out of the speakers, very smooth, feminine and adult.

"No, I get it. It's okay, I won't - ah, hell."

There's a moment's pause, and then Zoé's own voice comes out instead. "Sorry - fixed that. And yeah, I get it. So, just you and your sister, huh? She older, or younger? Is she all alone, or with friends or family? Do you need to call and check on her?

In the Matrix, Zoé's avatar is revealed striding confidently around her home node, queuing up various searches and data analyses; a window into the node is offered to both Hop and Daiyu, who will see that she's happily striding her nude alien around the inside of a massive computer monitoring center, with data flowing along screens and vertical panes of nearly-transparant blue glass. She pauses, and looks towards the 'camera,' smiling. "I've had this reality filter a while. I like it... But what do you think? Does it really suit this avatar, even in free-runner gear?" The avatar's body flashes for a moment, and is suddenly clad in heavy cargo shorts and a tank top that barely comes down to the bottom of her ribs, and a pair of matching tabi shoes, all bright red and white. "Or do you think I should get a more sci-fi filter to go with the new avatar? Oh, and movie - what do you guys think? Something animated, something live-action, something silly and funny, something sci-fi, some kind of hard-boiled, gritty, explosion-filled action movie?"

She holds her arm out, and the 'camera' moves, revealing that there's a hovering drone in front of the alien, displaying a screen with the movie list she's been browsing. She's currently highlighted one titled The Mesh. "I haven't seen this one yet. It's live-action with heavy special effects. It's about a girl who inherits an ancient piece of prototype super-tech along with a family company. She gets physically converted into a ghost in the 'Trix and has to try and find a way out, interacting with programs smart and stupid, AIs, active users and the like... It's pretty action-heavy. Then there's this one.

She scrolls the list down to a flick called Sugar Rush 2070. "It's an all-animated mega-buster by Horizon, all about everyone's favorite video game characters, and what they do when we're not playing their games on our commlinks. Somehow they got the license to use tons of characters from all sorts of different companies in making it. I haven't seen it yet, but I wanna."

Zoé starts to run one of her searches; running a comprehensive search on the Matrix for any information she can dig up about any sort of preexisting communications infrastructure that might already be in place in the mission area.

[ Spoiler ]


While she's searching, she's a little distracted, but moving at the speed of cold sim, she can still keep a conversation or watch the movie while searching. As she begins the search, she says to the others, "For my money, I kind of want to see Sugar Rush 2070, but you guys can choose. I don't mind."
Koekepan
Liara's network activities reveal no coordinated wireless resource establishment, but does reveal a network of utility tunnels and various cable rights of way, including ancient but still valid coaxial and optic fibre cable run and access rights.

Whether they are still there, usable, or in use, legitimately or not, is not recorded.
Ziathra
Graciana settles herself comfortably in the truck, making certain her head and neck are supported by something.

“I'm going to go astral and look the place over,” she says to Tristan. “This shouldn't take long.”

Graciana then slips out of her physical body. For a moment, she relaxes in the closest thing she has to a true home these days. Then she flits over to what's left of Daniel Bleriot's home, invisible to most eyes. She begins looking through what's left for something with an aura on it, starting wherever seems to be the remains of the bathroom.

I hope his hairbrush or toothbrush survived. That would be perfect.

Graciana also keeps an eye out for body parts and things that might be part of the cartridge press.

We should have picked up a tarp and some plastic bags.
Koekepan
Graciana's astral form drifts over the lot, over which the ghosts of flames still seem to dimly flicker here and there, but the fact is that nothing with much of an intact astral signature seems to have survived - or any such thing was removed before the fire. There are vague, vague impressions of industry, and of violence, but nothing clear can be garnered from them through the overriding impression of destruction and desolation.

That said, the fire does not seem to have been in any way magical or supernatural, merely consuming within this building, sufficiently so to have weakened and ultimately brought the structure itself down.
Ziathra
Graciana frowns at the traces of violence. She frowns harder when her careful search finds absolutely nothing with an astral signature on it. She pauses by the impressions of industry, double-checking for pieces of machinery.

Arson, I'll bet. Fire is destructive, but this destructive? I think there would have been some clearer trace if he'd died here. So our stray puppy may be alive, but he and the press are elsewhere.
Koekepan
The astral offers only a very shadowed view of such soulless things as machinery, but what little Graciana can make out after the fire only confirms the impression that nothing functional remained when the fire took the building.
RdMarquis
"Hey, uh, Andy? Have a good day."

"Thanks, Shane. You, too."

Neither of them saw the small sigh of relief the other gave, but both knew it was there. Shane wasn't a parent. He'd never intended to be a parent, and he didn't know how to go about it. He looked after Andrew because that was what family should do. Awkward as their interactions were. Angelo's mood dimmed a bit on the bus to school. Say what you wanted about LA. It gave you a sunny day every once in a while. As for the morning announcements, they fell on deaf ears. Save for the visit and evaluation by various groups. Angelo made a note to be absent that day. The less the company saw of him, the better.

On the other hand, the chaos in the hallways cheered him in a way he couldn't explain. He supposed he just preferred "inmates running the asylum" to "here is your number, citizen". So long as the situation did not devolve into "Lord of the Flies". Angelo watched another ARO go up while he idly flipped through the career guidance evaluation.

The teen's result left a bad taste in his mouth. Even if it wasn't the type of euphemism his former hosts would have used for a firing (or worse), something in Angelo's gut told him the appointment meant nothing but bad things. "Well, damn."
Ziathra
Graciana sighs. This will be a lot harder than I planned.

She returns to her body. “Bad news. There's not so much as a stray hair in there. The fire was so bad that I can still find traces of it on the astral. I found faint traces of industry and violence, but absolutely nothing useful. I think it's arson. I think our stray was removed before the fire really got going, along with the press and anything I could have used to find him.

“I suppose we can go back to finding Dealers and following them around, but we might have to do that tomorrow. What do you want to do?”
Happy Noodle Boy
Checking through his messages he focused on one concerning the "special evaluation" The term "I got a bad feeling about this" comes to mind
Todd called up his agent, Hana AKA 'PHNG" Pink Haired Ninja Girl after she supplied him with Ivan's info request he was going to have do research on the counselor and whatever special program he was about to get dragged into.

He cursed himself again for putting off checking into a sniffer program I could have already started hooking into the wireless traffic I can have gotten a better handle the local infoverse. I know I am not a hacker but it is amazing how little most of the students and staff pay attention to their wireless. This may be the point being overcautious may be my downfalll Over caution he mused, he had others call it paranoia. He started sorting yesterday's as well as the current conversations around him.

His ear-buds looked and sounded like he was listening to the latest from"The Lindbergh Babies" and "Suicide Horses". The devices were part of a audio system that he recorded conversations around him. Todd could listen to them directly and/or record them for later search analysis. he had set search his keyword special program and the conciliator's name. He got one promising hit. Some girl is screaming about being put away and not fair. He is going have to clean up the sound data. Todd hoped he a her voice print on file, he probable should talk to her and see if she knows something more on the situation.

His agent beginning to Que in. I think I will drop a message to Pap Gotcha. If I can't afford the sniffer I may have to barter because time may be a wasting.
Vegas
Daiyu waved off Hop's evasion of talking about his family life as nothing she wasn't exactly forthcoming about her situation either. Instead of makings. Big deal about it's he settled back into the couch, shifting Zoé's weight slightly so she could slip her arm around the girl while she was in VR.

"I'm cool with either movie really, I'm not picky. Hop? You want something cute and silly or more serious and dramatic?"
Koekepan
QUOTE (Happy Noodle Boy @ Nov 15 2013, 11:02 AM) *
As he got to the entrance he made a point to check his official com for any normal messages and reminders and to check his real com and his agent to check on any developments. He was trying to help his blogger friend "Ivan Annoying" find out if the girl they put on suicide watch was pushed that way by cyber-bulling. He had his agent check the social boards to see if anyone was bragging.



A quick search shows no sign of any bragging. In fact, it mostly shows angst-ridden complaints from other washouts about how cruel, unfair, capricious, heavy-handed, narrow-minded, and mean-spirited the authorities are, and how disproportionate their response is to one girl's hypothetical statement.

There is no responding statement from the school.
Koekepan
QUOTE (RdMarquis @ Nov 16 2013, 04:01 PM) *
The teen's result left a bad taste in his mouth. Even if it wasn't the type of euphemism his former hosts would have used for a firing (or worse), something in Angelo's gut told him the appointment meant nothing but bad things. "Well, damn."


The school can control the official students' chat environment, but they have no control (despite repeated efforts) over unofficial channels. Discussion of the results and outcomes is rampant. Some people seem to think that a special appointment means great things in the future, but the rest are deeply suspicious of it. It smells of special assignments and extra work, at the least.
RdMarquis
The rest of the day saw Angelo's mood plummet.

From his jacket, the teen produced a pair of sunglasses with red lenses. His lips peeled back into a sneer as he practically slapped them onto his face. Bad news it was, then. Unless the administration saw something he didn't in a kid who would leave his, well, leavings on the principal's desk, and...

God. Damn. Kittens? Being crazy wasn't enough for you, guy? You had to be cartoonishly evil on top of it all?

And they had been shuffled into the same group. At least he had other people to commiserate with. Not that Angelo planned on saying so much as two words to the kitten burner, if he could help it. His index finger paused over the screen of his Airware as he recalled where he had gotten the commlink. A certain individual had insisted on rewarding Angelo with the device after the teen helped get the remains of a wall off his leg and called Docwagon. A year passed with Andrew learning what the programs on the Airware were for. And that he shouldn't believe in coincidences.

He ran a hand through his hair and began searching for someone sane to ask about the appointment. Horizon had a branch right in town. If they knew where he was and wanted to talk, they'd have reached out to him that very day. A few minute's of work revealed a social media post which had gone up around eight. GlowStick, huh? Appropriate. Assuming the name was in regard to her unique coloration. Angelo reached for the Miracle Shooter icon and signed on as Coil. His challenge to Zoe was accompanied by a message.

I'm always up for a shootout. But first thing's first. Tell me if this sounds familiar to you: You have an exciting set of career options before you. An appointment has been made with a special guidance professional for you, next week. I don't suppose you know what the hell we've gotten roped into?
Ziathra
“As long as we're going to have to get out and talk to people anyway, there's something I might as well do.”

Graciana hops out of the truck and picks a patch of pavement big enough for a thaumaturgic circle. Selecting white chalk for air spirits from one of the pockets of her armored cargo pants, she draws a circle, then an equilateral triangle within the circle. She pauses to access tonight's astrological data, then runs a calculation to determine which symbols she should use this evening. Graciana then quickly writes the appropriate symbols between the circle and the triangle. She double-checks her work, then carefully steps into the center of the circle.

Once there, Graciana begins to chant in Toki Pona, hoping that the Simple Language of Good will usefully alter her state of consciousness. It certainly causes the street people to slink into the shadows. “Person of air, come to me. Person of air and fear, come to me. Person of air and fear, hear me. Person of air and fear, help me.” Meanwhile, her thoughts wing to the metaplane of air.

[ Spoiler ]


Outside the circle, a slowly twisting tornado takes form. The tornado is only 10 feet tall, but it is filled with suspended cobwebs, which in turn are filled with spiders.

What do you want, person of magic?

Thank you for coming. Await my commands on the astral plane.

The tornado fades from normal sight, spiders, cobwebs and all. The tornado is still very much present on the astral plane, however.
ShadowDragon8685
Zoé had been busy until nine, when she had finally noticed Angelo's message.

8:59@Coil [Glowstick]: Sorry, I was busy earlier. Um... Yes. It sounds familiar to me. Looks like we're on some kind of shit-list, huh? I don't know what it is... But I have a feeling it can't be good. I'd love to frag you sometime, though.

Normally, Zoé doesn't play fair at Miracle Shooter. Ever since she had her headware commlink installed, she'd have a habit of tracking the commlinks of those who were also running Miracle Shooter and using the electronic warfare skills she was developing to give herself a massive advantage in information, whilst also using similar trickery to befuddle attempts to find her, both those allowed for by the game's interface and those which were not.

Today is no different, but her heart's not in it, so she simply scurries around the school setting AR motion-sensor bombs (stealth RFID tags Ares sells for the game; supposedly one-shot, but any hacker can refurbish a used one,) and avoiding direct confrontation, preferring only to ambush, and then with explosive heavy ordinance or the digital version of the Ares Thunderstruck gauss rifle, or Ares Desert Strike sniper rifle (from down a long hall,) or Ares Crusader machine pistol (the very best thing to finish off someone damaged, but not 'dead,' from a trip-mine blast.)

Tactics generally regarded as noob-like, but she doesn't care. They're effective and if they piss off the other players, she still goes up in the leaderboard. Whether Coil will fall for such treachery is a good question, but the average player is in trouble.

9:45@Coil [Glowstick]: I did some digging on Melinda Xavier. She's some kind of prison psych shrink and developmental psychologist. I dunno about you... But this bodes ill.

I don't suppose you play Pokémon Radioactive? Or maybe Ultraviolet/Infrared?


Pokémon UV/IR/Rad were the latest three entries in the venerable game series. Ultraviolent and Infra-red were the standard dual-released games, they were augmented reality only; players could play the old-school top-down adventure game, and/or search for wild Pokémon in the real world and battle other players via AR. Radioactive was a full-sim adventure game and battle arena, that also supported AR battling, but not AR wild Pokémon searches. They were part of the same generation, of course, and Zoé has all three.
Happy Noodle Boy
As the school day of ended he took another look at that damnable list again.

This is truly a special list, three obvious trouble magnets ...and me. How in the hell did I get matched with these losers? There are other who also aren't anywhere near this level of wasted metahuman potential, so this doesn't bode well for them either.

He ran out of school. Okay today I head for the restaurant to help with dinner set up. this keeps up they may have Charlie's nephew take over for the afternoon cart shiftt and I may wind up doing setup for the weekdays.

I wonder if the three losers thought the test was an actual jobs application? maybe ms. Ork wanted a job as a profession mother and using the political angle so her future child doesn't hate her because she couldn't think of anything else to do with her life

Mr crap-on-desk maybe wants to a job as a guard dog, either that or wants someone to take care of him; give him mud baths and housebreak him using a rolled-up paper and a taser.

And yes, Kitten-burner. Perhaps he thinks Satan is hiring directly from high school, he may think the retirement benefits are better than most corporations. Another explanation is he wants a job where he can take innocent beings and derive pleasure from their prolonged suffering. In other words he want to be a high school teacher.


This musing was not getting him anywhere but more annoyed. In just one day his life options have shrunk to damn near zero. Quitting and getting a job was probably not an option, besides quitting school would disappoint his father. Not that Reform school would not make his father happier.

In order to explore legal options but I would need to know what I am facing and to find out before I might well get carted off to reform school. I reconized a couple of the people on list. After I am done at the restaurant I may want to look them up, assuming Papa G doesn't Call. But we will see




.
RdMarquis
After packing up and leaving the campus in a hurry, Angelo's steps slowed to a crawl. He wasn't going home. Not just yet. Once he returned, he would be expected to stay, and there was too much to worry about for that.

Unbelievable. His first day of school in a new city came with a new enemy to contend with. It's a deal, Angelo replied. Though he was hardly concerned about Miracle Shooter now. For the record, he planned his virtual gunfights in advance. Ask more casual players for the most popular battlegrounds, scout the places out, and start setting up to give the other guy a bad time. He was sure other players would eventually catch on, but until then, he would continue rolling grenades down ventilation shafts.

He narrowed his eyes at the name and occupation. Wild guess. They think we're future criminals. I'd thought the appointment was a standard warning that we're this close to being shipped off to juvie, but- Andrew was sure he could recite the results of his quiz from memory by now. -that exciting set of career options concerns me. Something tells me the justice system will not be involved. Right now, their plans for us can take a backseat to how we can disrupt said plans. You know anyone else involved who doesn't deserve a manhunt or straightjacket? We need to get together and figure something out.

And the solution was all but guaranteed to be drastic. Ultraviolet, yeah. Angelo wasn't too serious a player. He'd picked the game just because the monster on the cover (according to his friend, a stylized version the Norn, Urd) looked cooler than the other two.
Ziathra
“Tristan, would you please help me look around?”

Graciana collects a flashlight from the glove compartment of the truck and walks into what's left of the house. She is still wearing her driving gloves.

She walks with great care once she's in there, avoiding anything that looks like a weak spot in the floor. Her first stop is the bathroom, followed by the bedroom, hoping against hope that something useful survived the fire. Once she's done there, she takes a look around the rest of the place, looking for clues.
Koekepan
QUOTE (Happy Noodle Boy @ Nov 17 2013, 11:56 AM) *
In order to explore legal options but I would need to know what I am facing and to find out before I might well get carted off to reform school. I reconized a couple of the people on list. After I am done at the restaurant I may want to look them up, assuming Papa G doesn't Call. But we will see.



Papa Gotcha doesn't call back, but does send a message:

"Tell me, kid. Why am I getting flooded with offers from a Tacoma High School today?"
Koekepan
QUOTE (Ziathra @ Nov 17 2013, 07:59 PM) *
She walks with great care once she's in there, avoiding anything that looks like a weak spot in the floor. Her first stop is the bathroom, followed by the bedroom, hoping against hope that something useful survived the fire. Once she's done there, she takes a look around the rest of the place, looking for clues.


No basements here, this was an old industrial building with concrete flooring. The closest thing to a weak spot is where the fire spalled the concrete.

Identifying living spaces would be trickier if it weren't for an ashy remainder of what may have been a bed - but this place burned long and fiercely. Little which is even identifiable is left. There's a metallic puddle which may once have been lead bullets for loading into ammunition, but even that is speculation. Most of the interior burned so hot that there is not even much in the way of soot left - and the rain has washed most of the rest down.

On the other hand, there's no real sign of equipment left. Maybe one or two bits and pieces which were forgotten screws or wrenches, that's it.
Happy Noodle Boy
Todd finish up at the Happy Noodle. The assistant Manager thanks him as head out. Angela says she's looking to include Sushi with real seafood, I would be nice to afford it if she does it.

Todd brings up his messages. He notices one from Papa Gotcha:

QUOTE (Koekepan @ Nov 17 2013, 11:03 AM) *
Papa Gotcha doesn't call back, but does send a message:

"Tell me, kid. Why am I getting flooded with offers from a Tacoma High School today?"


Todd Thinks for a moment. This is just getting better and better.. Todd pauses than composes his reply:

Sir, If you want the answer to that I can look into it. If I were to venture a guess right now, I would suspect unlike most of their fellow students they are hearing the sounds of the knives being sharpened and they still want to fight for their future. Get back to me and I can start the research.

Sheep

Todd figures he should actually start the research now. Start with the first few now and then go down the list based on response. For now I will exclude the three losers.

Hi I discovered that we seem to be on the same special list. If you happen to anything more on the "special" list please contact me. I suspect that ignorance will not do me any good. Thank you

A short message but to the point After I finish my homework assignments I may want to drag my B & E gear and review those options as well
Vegas
Daiyu had given Hop ample opportunity to partake in Zoé's weed or to casually decline before she picked up one of the rolling papers and pinched a healthy amount from the offered bag and almost expertly rolled and sealed a joint before she left a blood-red-black imprint of her lips against the seal of the paper. Sure, it wasn't her usual drug of choice, but in a pinch and after the day she had, Daiyu decided she deserved a bit of a break. She felt her pockets for a moment, her arm moving around Zoé before she fished out a lighter and lit up, holding in a long inhale.

A slow smile spread across her lips as she exhaled the overly-fragrant smoke.

"So your aunt really bought this for you? She's actually that cool?"

Daiyu was impressed. She might have been able to convince Jian to buy for her at some point, but he'd have held it over her head to use it against her with their parents. Besides, her parent's wouldn't ever have been cool enough to score her drugs. This is why she spent her spare time with Raven and his flock.
ShadowDragon8685
Zoé's alien avatar smiles in VR, chuckling softly.

"Yeah. She's like, the exact opposite of a responsible adult, while still being a responsible adult. Does that make any sense? Like, for instance, those chips in my stash? They're, uh, BTL masters... But they've been neutered, the gain on all the sim tracks turned down to CalHot levels and below. Not that it would matter, since the sim-module in my head still has its limiters on. She doesn't want me getting addicted or frying my neurons, but she doesn't mind if I slot stuff that, well, most parents would go into orbit if they found in their kids' possessions. Hell, she got them for me."

"And the weed - she won't let me smoke tobacco (not that I want to,) because it can fuck you up so bad and elves live such a long time to be fucked up bad for... But she doesn't mind if I get buzzed on old-school, more-or-less harmless cannabis. Only, yanno, I don't really care to. Same with alcohol; there's three bottles of wine in the fridge. They're, eh... I don't really care for them. I mean, sure, super-sweet, fruity, girly drinks I like, but I like them just as much without the booze, you know?"


Zoé giggles in the Matrix. In the background, it can be seen that her avatar is standing on a hovering platform in front of a massive series of holographic screens, sifting through data.

"She's like the best of an irresponsible aunt and a loving big sister in one, really. She never got to be a big sister to my mother, but she doesn't feel any different than she did back then now that she's my guardian, so... Yeah. She is that cool. She got me this place - near enough to her doss that I could just hop on my bike and be on her couch in less than twenty minutes, far enough away to feel like I'm my own girl, you know?"
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