"All security comes at a price. The price of this is enormous. They cripple any possibility of doing 'normal work'" Angel explained. "For them to work at all inside, unless they need no access to the outside world... which means they aren't running a business ... they need to link to external systems. Imagine trying to do ... well ... anything... like that. You can get this kind of security in a black operation like the one I was in, because the value delivered by the pain of the security is high. Here... well ... it's simple to do. As is cutting off your arm. But you can't run a business like that."

"Ergo... is it 'just a club'?"

Tubesnake thinks to himself for a little bit.

"OK, so RFID shielding is effective from the street level, but anybody paranoid enough to coat a whole building almost certainly has listeners and relays. I'd better stay dead quiet out here."

He follows up this thought by trudging up the ladder again, safety harness on as per union rules, and a couple of annelids slung over his shoulder. Up in the scaffolding, he moves along until he can hook them to signal lines, and loop them physically into his controls. This all while his flatworkers slither along, brushing crud off lengths of steel.

Once the annelids are hooked in, he trudges back down to his van, checks all the signal links from the hardwired connection there, then pours himself a nice cold MatriCola and stands, leaning against the corner of the van, waiting for the others with a loose link cable ready to share some data.

And hey, why not, a little soothing music playing. A working man needs to take the edge off sometimes.

Thinking about Angel's line of thought, Selina replies: "That is absolutely possible. Who knows for sure, what they are doing there. Maybe we will figure it out."

Bongo rings Tubesnake. <<Hey, buddy. You got anything interesting for us before we head out to do some reconnaissance inside?>>

Tubesnake takes the call, and while taking it wanders up the ladder again so that, what with the rumble of the city, he'd be well out of the way of any listener without a shotgun mic or similar aids.

<<Yes, sir. I think that I have a few points. I have yet to inspect the superstructure from the inside, but the baseline from the outside might interest you. The main structure appears to be freestanding, unless some part of it has been sublet. I can't verify that externally, of course. Only the top storey seems to have windows; four in total. The rest is either regular door exits, or vents, and not many of those. The vents have grates on them, which could maybe be removed, but probably not too quietly without some prep work. The scaffolding around and above the structure is Ares, of course, holding up the arcology, and the lights and cameras on it are well-maintained but there's a population of jauchekaefer living on the scaffolding, making a bit of a mess. Speaking of those, they've deteriorated some of the RF-blocking paint that covers the building on the roof, so if you want to park a node or a pet up top, they could drill their way in like a hungry whelk. If you want to get inside, this is just my idea, but I'd send the smooth operators in the front door, and get the sneaky ones into the scaffolding to make their way down to the roof. If you like, I can use pest control measures to keep the jauchekaefer at bay for the duration. I've already set up cables and tackle to ease movement up top. I think that intelligent planning would get people into the scaffolding so that anybody trying to look for them up there would be blinded by the floodlights, thereby keeping them out of public view. What else do you need, sir?>>

Tubesnake easily moves from a rather lazy, vaguely redneck drawl to clipped, specific information. There's evidently more to him than just a buttcrack handyman with an interest in rubbery things.

Angel continued to watch. There was little she could do to contribute at the moment, but perhaps that would change.

Bongo passes on the info from Tubesnake to the rest of the crew still at home. He links them in on the rest of the conversation.

<<Thanks, Tubesnake. Not sure we need to infiltrate full-bore yet, because we don't know who has the young woman. She might be here. She might be elsewhere. If we think she is being held in the club, and our other two teammates have joined us, we can make a full-strength infiltration. Does that make sense to folks?

<<I do wonder about the level of RF screening. I remember a club in Seattle that had rooms set aside for extremely private meetings. Maybe that goes on in this place?>>

"Sure they might have private booths. Cheap and easy. And small and isolated.Consensual and easy to leave"

"But why would they have all their systems isolated. How do they order more drinks? or more bar mats? How do they talk to their staff, when the staff are out of the building? How do they get social media coverage? How do they stop their patrons leaving when the patrons discover they can't talk to their friends? Or that their DocWagon sensors aren't working. How does the club they tell their security corp they have a problem? How do they get feeds of what's happening? How do they get updated bloom filters of 'known bad guys'?

"Basically how do they run their business?. Even the simplest interactions need the Matrix nowadays. Total isolation is what you do when you have secrets that are worth the enormous cost and impact. Putting radio absorbing material on your walls kills everything."

"Maybe you will find when you go in. Or maybe they are just retro and don't have important people coming to them? I can't imagine anyone with a DocWagon contract going to such a place."

"Good points, Angel, " Bongo admits. " Angel, in what you have gleaned from the establishment so far, do they have a dinner menu or do we have to eat elsewhere first? Maybe at a nearby restaurant where our old-style garb won't draw too much attention."

Tubesnake continues by, while others discuss their options and make up their minds, lowering the annelids like caterpillars on silken threads onto the roof. Once there, he uses the data cables to communicate directly with them, sending them wriggling down the pipes through the trash remains of the Jauchekaefer to map out whatever is reasonably feasible. Obviously he's a lot less interested in external gutters (largely obsoleted by the presence of the arcology above) than he is in systems such as ventilation shafts which should lead into the actual building proper.

(OOC: Advancing time for Tubesnake, others could be doing something else, or advance as well and arrive )

As the evening goes on, the crowds start building. Not just for Gatsby's, which starts building up guest list and non guest lists lines, but also the rest of the area. It would be more obvious to folks a little further out, but you start seeing people descending from uptown. Their cars lowering to the street on platforms, or elevators opening to Taxi's parked in from of them, hurrying inside while keeping a wary eye on any downtown sorts.

However in many cases they soon end up merged together underneath the arcology. Arguably rubbing shoulders with some of the worst Ork hive gangs coming in from a little further out in the butterfly. Presumably towers Orks are doing the same. Along with some tourists and Ares folks heading out. It becomes quickly apparent to Tubesnake that there might be quite a job market for imposing trolls providing escorts and security. In the distance he can hear what sounds a lot like a large fight breaking out, but no gunshots or explosions ring out. Tubesnake has largely excavated the area with the exposed paint, though his drones could expose it further than the bug activity. All the vents seem to have grates, but if he sends up a brisket with a tool he could get one open fast since they're held in with simple screws versus welds. Well, so long as those rusty screws turn. Smoke coming up indicates which is the kitchen at least.

Shortly before the club opens two things happen with Tubesnake roughly simultaniously. First a guy comes outside of Gatsby's, an Ork with a large mustache in a pinstripe suit that is tight around his fairly bulky arms and shoulders. He yells out to Tubesnake while making a shooing gesture with one arm "What you are doing here asshole?!? Move it! You can't be taking up space here now, people need to get in!"

Also the sound system kicks on in full thrum. Something Jazzy and heavily bass boosted. It's loud, but Tubesnake is used to loud. He might have thought the Jauchekaefer would be used to it too, but they seem suddenly quite agitated. Up until now they've been milling about, occasionally looking over the roof but mostly staying near their trash nests. Now they're looking around angrily and seem to be squaring up with the drones.

Tubesnake remains calm, and points to the union sticker on his helmet. ""Hey man, I'm just here on pest control. I can move the cables, but these vehicles over here aren't mine, I'm parked way over there. See the ladders? Anyway, if you like I can just leave you with the beetles but if I were you, I'd want to get rid of 'em."" He uses his projector to display a drone's eye view of the agitated Jauchekaefer, magnified so that everyone in the area gets a good TriD view of what a nest of Jauchekaefer above the club looks like. ""You know their secretions are toxic, right? I mean, I don't think they're insect shaman related, but just big and toxic.""

Tubesnake projects the calm certainty of a man whose mantra is: `Makes no difference to me, I get paid either way.'

The Ork looks suspiciously at the cables going up to the roof and the display. However the already agitated Jauchekaefer has had enough of being looked at and lunges at the drone.

The Ork had been doing his best to look tough, but the jumpscare got the best of him for a moment and he leaps back letting a "fuck" slip out. Then he rapidly hisses, "Shut that off and get in the ally!"

[OOC: The Jauchekaefer is going on initative 8. Tubesnake was aware they were getting worked up and doesn't need to roll for surprise]

As the bug and drone start tussling some folks in the crowed start to loudly wonder what that drek is all about. The bouncers somehow get clued in and start letting the lines in right quick.

Tubesnake shrugs cheerfully. ""Sure thing, chief. Doing that right now.""

He turns off the TriD projector, directs the drone to back off as long as it can - if the Jauchekaefer wrecks it, he'll have some repair work to do. Then he disconnects the control cable that he used at street level and lets the auto-reel pull it back up to the scaffolding level.

Once he gets back to the van, he enters it, locks it, and then heads back up out of the hatch, to the ladder that he had set up, and goes up the ladder into the scaffolding to clean up the mess and find out whether the shankworm survived.

After getting into the ally Tubesnake sees his Shankworm has retreated over the edge of the wall and is with him in the ally. Detecting the aggressive bugs and not having commands the other drones have also automatically backed off.

Reviewing the footage he would see his drone hustling backwards while threatening the flying bug with his spike preventing those antler like manadables from getting into the shankworms soft sides. A lucky swipe sends the bug spinning into the sludge on the roof. Eventually the camera pans upwards as the drones suction feet engage the masonry and it goes over the side. The Jauchekaefer lands at the edge, along with one of it's fellows who has joined it. They are strong climbers and can fly, and must sometimes come out to get garbage, but they don't seem to want to leave the roof and step back away from the edge. Other drones could see them lying in wait a little ways back, apparently waiting to see if the shankworm heads back up.

[OOC: The drone rolled a higher initative than the bug. While full defense while moving away would seem the obvious pilot choice given the instructions, without the relevant skill full defense just doesn't work and the drones don't have autosofts. So it attempted a vehicle maneuver to exceed its normal "running" acceleration rate and got no hits. The bug then manages to get no hits on 5 dice to attack. The drone has 3 initative passes, so it tries to stab the bug in part to avoid intercept tests (2 hits on attack but bug rolls a luck 4 on defense). The drone then uses its remaining passes to actually get some hits on its vehicle tests in the slowest chase in Shadowrun history as both the drone and bug are shockingly slow. The bug takes flight and manages a single hit sprinting which is enough to make the drone have to fight while retreating, but doesn't let the bug properly attack that turn since it doesn't have a second initiative pass. One of the drone attacks actually hits the bug for 3 damage (I'm treating the spike as a survival knife, we never really discussed that). That causes a knockdown. Despite the low speeds there isn't a whole lot of roof and the drone then backs over the side before the bug can get in another proper attack or its friend can close the distance.]

Angel 316 didn't really know how she could contribute as there was no matrix connection. Still she had at least got passes. Mostly she waited for the more experienced people to explain what was going to happen

Bongo suggests to Selina, "The club will be open now. Let's go and set up inside. See what we can find as point persons."

"Yeah, sounds good! At the very least, we will have some more information about what it does look on the inside, which might help putting a plan together," Selina agrees.

Paul collects things and consolidates, closing up the van so that the only way open from it is the roof hatch leading up to the ladders hooked onto the scaffolding, a block away from the club. He pauses inside the van to evaluate the shankworm, but connects back to the rest of the drones to marshal them in the scaffolding above a corner of the club. He could certainly have his drones engage them in combat, but he has some uglier tricks up his sleeve, should it come to that. In the mean time, from their elevated position above the club, his drones should be able to either rappel down to address vents, or serve as relays above the gap in shielding on the roof.

Bongo's Rover might not be the most luxurious vehicle in town, but it does afford more protection and privacy for the two 'cosplaying' investigators than a motorbike. Bongo looks for a good parking spot close to the club. Once parked, the two of them approach the front door and find out if Angel's tech run worked.

Paul looks around and realises that there's a key degree of coordination that is failing to happen. He climbs back up the ladder leading from the hatch of his van to the scaffolding, and perches up high. Then he calls Bongo back.

<<Hey there, mister. Look, I'm up here getting ready to clear the decks, pest control style, but if we're getting anybody in line to work with the opening, they should maybe get in touch, yeah? I can hoist up machinery, no problem, I can do all the maintenance access stuff that we need, but if I open the gate and nobody walks through, what's the point? Oh, and by the way, mind yer manners. The bouncers in front are itching to show who's boss.>>

Bongo replies, << Got it. Selena and I are heading there now. Angel is back at base waiting to be able to link through your setup. Thanks for the heads up on the doorman. >>

<<Oh yeah? Well, pass the word to her I got a drone parked ready to play relay, or if she has a node or something she wants me to hold in position, can do, but until then I'll be squishing physical bugs the size of truck wheels to justify my presence.>>

(OOC: I'm pretty busy until sometime in October, but to keep this moving I'll let Selina be assumed to follow Bongo, since Thanee seemed to be agreeing to go. She can open with posts about if the cats hanging out in the car or whatnot. )

Bongo is pretty sure he spotted the bouncer Tubesnake was talking about outside the club waving away any car trying to park too close to the club as opposed to just dropping people off, with an array of foul language and threatening gestures.

However thanks again to the uptowners ceasing to use downtown parking there are spots in the garage across the street.

The bouncers at the front door are starting to slow how enthusiastic they are about getting people in, now that those talking about bugs are off the street. However they emptied out the line of folks on the list, allowing Bongo and Selina to breeze through, after a brief moment for their faces to register in the door man's AR shades. He gestures you to walk to the right as you go in. Instead of paying you go past a dispenser that automatically slides two of the clubs mason jars with a double of "moonshine" to get the night started.

The inside of the club is trying to make the most of their very limited floorspace. The first floor has not tables or chairs at all. It's mostly dance floor with craps and roulette tables, actual physical ones, in the corners. There's a long bar on both sides, handing out moonshine cheap and quickly, or for a bit more folks are doing the absinthe ritual. On the far side from the entrance a band is set up on a small stage. They're going for a big band sound, but they aren't a big band, just three young skinny humans in period clothing. One guy is "playing" a cyberdeck he's plugged into, retro enough these days. The other guy has a trumpet, and the woman, presumably a singer by the old style mic nearby, is just dancing as they're covering "Charleston" by Enoch Light. Although Bongo is quickly suspicious if the trumped player is actually in the mix going over the speakers. They seem to be having quite a time and the crowd is too. Since the club is still filling, they actually have room to let their arms and legs fly a little. The crowd seems to be having a good time, and while someone looking out for trouble will notice body guards near certain people, and others a little rougher and hanging together like a gang, and Selina can definitely tell different degrees of fashion the fact people are all in costume wear to an extent makes them relatively blur together.

Probably the biggest differentiator is those who have paid for a table. The first floor ceiling is a good twenty feet up making enough space for the outer wall to have half tables in little booths, reachable from above, allowing people to sit there and see and be seen from the first floor. The picture was of one of those, however no one in the picture is in any of them now.

The center of the room has an exceedingly wide spiral staircase going up to the second floor with gold gilded bars around it like a cage. Folks move up in the center, but the outside by the bars lets show offs dance where they can be seen.

Also something most folks wouldn't even notice, is that Selina's and Bongo's commlinks are still connected to the matrix. But they'd heard about the paint, so there must be an internal network with some connection to the outside.
--------------------

Outside Tubesnake has four of the bugs to deal with, one of them wounded, all of them upset now. Usually his Shankworms get to, well, shank critters, without them being overly aware of the danger of the slow moving things. So far the bugs haven't paid much attention to your airborne drone in all of this.

Tubesnake retrieves his drones, while setting up sprayers for the flatworkers to which he attaches cans full of pyrethrins. ""Awright, boys, let's see you you like some arthropod neurotoxins."" Then he sends them crawling up the scaffolding again, this time with a couple of shankworms following behind. The flyer he checks for a full charge, and then just parks it on a wire well back from the chemical warfare zone, but still over the paint gap.

<< @Bongo: We should probably seperate once we are inside, which might offer more opportunities to talk to people, and maybe learn something interesting. >>

As they are getting closer to the entrance, Selina switches to her astral perception, to see if there is any noteworthy astral security. Fiona is accompanying her in her astral form for the time being.

The blonde elf is dressed in a cute silvery dress, complete with some vintage accessories, like a headband and a white feather, and fitting high-heel pumps. Definitely ready to hit the dance floor and see if she can manage to keep up with the Charleston routine. It's such a fun dance.

The Agent sofware on her commlink is busy looking around for any nodes and analyze them, just storing the information for later use. Obviously, only whatever is openly accessible. Maybe that would help Angel somehow to get an idea what the inside looks like from her point of view.

Much as Bongo would like to keep Selina nearby, he acknowledges the wisdom of her plan. Once inside, and they see the layout, He suggests, "I'll swing by the band, well, because, and then I'll see if I can find a way upstairs. As I go, I'll commit to memory the layout."

He tries connecting to the team as a whole as he explores. <<We're inside. Anyone receiving this? >>

Switching over to astral perception outside shows the vibrancy of activity, crowds, and emotion. (OCC: The inside of the club will have a background count of 1 and there's a lot of that going around where people are clustering and partying etc). There seems to be nothing for wards or external magical defenses in the downtown area, and only signs of a couple wards uptown, seemingly to protect some sensor nodes hanging from the "ceiling" here that is also the floor of the Ares arcology. There are definitely astral forms on patrol up there, hanging close to uptown but mostly looking down, scanning the crowds, floating through grid like routes.

It can be hard to tell intent, but downtown astral forms seem to be minding their own business, much like Selina herself looking around and Fiona staying nearby.

Once inside her comlink starts collecting a list of open nodes in the area, which seems to be many of them.

---------

(OOC: Was hoping that Seth would reply to your call)

As Bongo approaches the band his comlink would pop up that they're they go by "RetroStack" it seems they don't exclusively do this time period, but like doing historical covers. He could cyberstalk them if he'd like, or tip, buy an album, or get some merch which is what their augmented reality site is tilted towards.

Bongo can see that there isn't anything barring access to the stairs, but getting access to a table on the second floor requires paying for the table and a bottle, which starts at 500 and isn't free like entry and that first free drink, though that's for the table and bottle, having more guests from there is free. Bongo can see guys and dolls starting to buy tables with a view and are apparently starting to scan the crowd for just such friends to invite up.

Getting into the third floor costs a similar amount. The augmented reality interface seems designed so that you can't miss the option to pay, but acts like it's hidden, and doen't have any details except a vague indication of adult entertainments and that the bouncers might know something.

Bongo passes on the current info. << 500 to get a table upstairs, and they are filling, especially the ones with a good view. Might be something we want if we want to scan the area for our persons of interest. There's a third floor, with similar cost and bouncers and a suggestion of adult entertainment. That too could be important to check out for our target.

Do we have an expense account with our benefactor, or would this be on our dime? >>

Tubesnake settles onto the scaffolding in a comfortable sitting position, and latches onto the scaffolding with safety lines so that he won't fall to the ground if something big happens. Then he slips off his helmet long enough to don his ballcap-style trode net, and puts the helmet on over that. What the hell, it's a typical look for a worker anyway.

With this set up, he links into the comms cables going to his drones and starts the housekeeping; arming the toxin sprays, activating all sensors, subscribing to the two flatworkers in front and two shankworms following them. The other flatworkers hang back as reinforcements; to them he issues orders to just follow along so that they're ready if he should call on them. Then he stops the team so that he can send a message of his own.

<<I'm ready to start a little pest control. Last call for any objections? It'll make things easier all round, I figure.>>

Bongo gets the sense that Tubesnake is in seventh heaven right now. <<Fill your boots, chummer. >>

(Ooc: No "expenses paid" clause for expensive booze. Though maybe if you have a good enough time I might count it towards lifestyle, but you have options.

On that note is there any etiquette here on how long I should give Seth from my last PM until I allow his char to do some hacking NPC style?

As for Tubesnake with melee dhankworms and short range sprayers combat could essentially be considered to be going. You could roll for initiative, but you'd have a chance to use delays to adjust.

The bugs are agitated and moving around. You could try and rush one, or wait for one or more to charge in on your drones. All of that in slow motion of course.

<< I don't think, we got anything in advance, so expenses are on us, I guess. Anyways, do we have any idea on what floor that picture was taken? Something from the comments or anything in the picture itself? As for getting there, looking at how these tables do not seem to be taken over by large groups, my plan is to just show off a bit on the dance floor and check out the second floor from there. Maybe someone will consider it a good idea to invite me up to their table. That way, they also won't be too suspicious about me asking questions. >>

Selina will drop her astral perception, so she can fully concentrate on dancing. Fiona stays in the astral and keeps looking around.

Tubesnake marshals his drones on two parallel, fairly close beams of scaffolding so that the flatworkers can spray across the gap to back each other up. The two flatworkers in front slither along with their spray nozzles raised and ready to open up once in good firing range. Right behind each one crawls a shankworm. The other flatworkers crawl just slightly behind the shankworms, but down along the flanges of the scaffolding so that they have some shielding from whatever goes on until they're needed.

His plan is to keep them in formation until they're close enough for a reliable spray range (3m), then actually jump into one of the flatworkers and target the nearest beetle with coordinated sprays. If however the beetles get too active before that range, he'll play it by ear.

(OOC: So, first, you accidentally set the target number to 4. Also just as a heads up the rule is that if you gain initiative passes as a result of an action in a turn, you don't get them until your next turn. However in this case you can avoid that by simply already being in hot sim before you jump in (which you need to get three passes unless you get a bonus somewhere else I missed so I'm assuming that's what you wanted the +2 to actions will be nice too). So your initiative score would drop to 10 if you had used a tn 5, but once you go to hot sim it rises by 4 to 14.

Due to how SR divides up movement the bugs are having to delay their actions until a later phase to attack. It's easy enough for Tubesnake to observe how things are shaping up and can jump into the flatworm that will be contacted first and then still get to go before the bug on the next pass. So you could go ahead and take your action. Though on the pass after that the other flatworm will get double teamed. )

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

The band shifts into a rendition of "Rock It For Me" by Caravan Palace. Nearly 100 years out of the period, but it sounds like something you should Charleston to.

(OOC: Yup, looking it up people do. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRsan_COiD0 )

As the woman starts singing she looks at Bongo. Though Bongo suspects that's because he came over to check out the band and so is the closest. Also everybody else seems much more intent at starting at the other dancers.


And one of those started at is certainly Selina. The appearance, dancing, and VIP flag from the club for anyone scanning her in AR make for quite a package. Since they split up she also looks entirely single.

Looking around Selina is able to scope out the table that was in the picture. It's now become occupied, but checking out the folks their Selina is pretty sure they weren't anywhere in the photo or trideo clip. This is a young professional looking male human sitting with a troll, both in period appropriate suits, right down to the gilded watches and jewlery. The troll substantially blocks the staircase down from the second floor, and is tall enough he could probably look out over the second floor just by standing up or can view the first floor by remaining seated.

The human had been looking around the floor but brielfy catches Selina's eye as she scans them. Moments later she gets an alert that a watress in inbound with a drink, and she has an invite to join the human at his table.

Alternatively an Ork managing a friendly half smile and a suit tight enough some spandex is probably involved is moving in to holler at her.

Bongo considers the singer and her viewpoint. Hmmm. A singer on stage with full view of the floor and tables around it. Maybe she has seen our person of interest and knows ... something.

Noting Selina's performance and the interest it has attracted, he figures she will soon be on a fact-finding mission herself. He ambles back to near the stage and looks up at the singer. He gives her his brightest smile and starts singing along during the chorus which, having repeated, is fresh in his memory. Maybe a little Charleston move here and there will add to the projection of a talented groupie having a good time.

Tubesnake weighs the moment, and then flips the bit. A moment's adjustment, and he is the flatworker, slithering along the scaffolding. He rears up his headpiece just a little, and takes the shot, driving a concentrated stream of arthropod neurotoxins right into the head of the nearest Jauchekaefer.

(OOC: Ugh. I still need to pull references to manage stuff. That should get smoother and I should get faster. Also the bug got a critical gltich on it's dodge. I'll have it slip into an area of background count from the club. That hurts its magical toxin resistant. FYI most of the action is occurring on the old roof. Also I'll consider the spray to be roughly like a flamethrower, so single shot, Tubesnake could roll another die for aiming if they'd like or something else. Actually )

IC: Tubesnake seems to get an impressively on target stream onto the bug.....however he'll have to wait to find out how effective that really is as the chemicals try to do their work.

The bug lunges in wet an angry (OOC: only 1 hit, your roll drones response + your melee skill you can roll for your shankworm after that).

Nearby, two bugs move in on the other flatworker (OOC: Contact in the next combat phase of the same turn). The final bug takes to the air and heads towards Tubesnake's flatworker, but will take a few seconds to get there.
------------------


(OOC: The question for Bongo is how loud and ostentatious does he want to be in this loud and ostentatious setting? He could probably manage to sing and dance better than she does. Or more about subtly getting her attention? )

Selina makes her way towards the waitress, once she can spot her, keeping up her dancing routine along the way. She gives the man at the table a quick nod, as she accepts the drink, then slowly moves towards the stairway.

Bongo accesses the club's matrix site and puts in a request for the band, one of the tunes he checked out earlier. The singer might not match the subject of the song perfectly, but the sentiment of the song should connect: "Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue".

Given the security of the site, and the abilities of the team, he figures first there is already imagery of him in the system and second, Angel should be able to wipe what needs to disappear. So he adds an image of himself to the request, so the band (specifically the singer) can know who asked for the song.

Selina has to be wary not to have her drink spilled by the dancers on the staircase. Many keep one hand on or near the gilded birdcage like bars going up around the outside, especially if they're wearing heel, even with relatively broad stairs. They seem to be trying to make up for that limitation by letting the rest of their limbs go as crazy much more than most can in crowded club.

A pair of Orks in cheap but fitting stripped suits give her a glance in AR and then a slight smile and even a slight welcoming gesture from one of them as he unclips the velvet rope to let her in. The give a less friendly look at the Ork that had been approaching her from below as he reattaches the rope.


The second floor is still crowded in a sense. The limited floorspace the club is working with means they've packed tables in quite close. Not having windows on the second floor lets them have either table seating or stairs all the way around. Dividers should at least keep people from bumping into each other. The dim lighting and din of the music affords at least an illusion of privacy. On a far side some folks are standing around a trideo watching what seems to be horserace. A glance in AR indicates they are virtual horseraces based on simulated courses and champions of the past and throws up pop ups encouraging her to bet.

Selina could tell about where the stairs down to the box ought to be, but the troll is now up on the second floor and gives her a casual wave to head down the steps. Him coming up here also means she won't have to shimmy past his bulk to have a seat.

-----

Down on the dance floor Bongo has to wait a few minutes for his song to come up, but he's mostly left alone, even as this far side of the dance floor starts getting crowded as people diffuse this way from the entrance. He picks up some playful glances from women, but so far they're waiting on him to come to them.

When his song does come up he finds that the roll of singer switches to the guy. From a distance he'd seem to be quite good, but this close Bongo can pick out his actual voice, and he's definitely getting some digital help with those low notes.

The guy is focused on performing, but freed from singing for the moment the woman, Mary, manages to spot Bongo in the audience and gives him first a perfunctory smile, but then a more quizzial look as she sees he's singing.

"Thanks, fellas!" Selina says to the two ork bouncers accompanied with a friendly smile as she quickly slips through before the other ork can reach her.

Carefully holding her glass as she goes up, the elf admires the dancers along the way, making a few comments about their attire like "Cute dress!" or "Oh, I like your shoes!". So far so good. She made it to the second floor without spilling too much of her drink. As she looks around she quickly spots the big troll, hard to miss that one. With a smile, she approaches him.

"Hello there! That is so nice of your friend and you to invite me here. The view must be really cool from up here."

Taking the steps down into the box, she raises her drink a little in the direction of the man who invited her.

"Thank you for the drink, sir! I'm Kim."


Selina then mentally communicates with her ally spirit. "Fiona, dear, why don't you take a closer look at the two guys here, and let me know what you can discover about them."

"Of course!" Fiona complies and starts assensing the two auras, starting with the big one.

Tubesnake writhes and twists as he tries to avoid the Jauchekaefer's sharp jaws.



Tubesnake knows that he isn't much better at fighting this sort of thing than the drones themselves, so after this round he will drop the VR link on that flatworker and plan to go to AR piloting. After all, this is technically a diversion.

(OOC: Since the drones don't have autosofts, Tubesnake is definitely better at spraying. The drones are defaulting to pilot. 2 die for spraying, sometimes 3 for melee since the bugs have negative reach. But the bugs sling 6 dice. Case in point after the drones pretty good performance last time the other flatworker rolls snake eyes on the spray)

IC: The other flatworker starts spraying as the bugs approach, however it's unstable with the detrius around and hoses down the area it's moving around, flipping around on its back. On of the bugs continues on to attack it, while the other seems to regard it as down and moves to the protecting shankworm.

The flatworker flails its legs but still takes a nasty (5 boxes) of damage from a bite. The shankworm manages to fend of the bug attacking it, but doesn't manage to land a hit either as they lock jaws and horns.

Tubesnake had managed to dodge the bug he sprayed, but this shankworm isn't having any better luck against this bug.

(OOC: End of first turn. At the end of this turn Tubesnake will find out how well the spray worked. Tubesnake still goes first. The drones do get a lot more actions than Tubesnake in AR mode or the bugs, which they'll be able to bring to bear this time. The last bug, wounded and flying, will arrive in the first pass.)

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(OOC: Yeah. Background count kinda double dips on spirits)

IC:

The troll pauses a moment at being spoken to, seeming to not have expected it. After a few beats he nods his head and rumbles. "Yeah. It is. Jobs and all, but this is a pretty fun place and a great table. I suppose I do have a good time too."

The man is all grains and welcome for Selina, he's scooted to the far end where the bench curves, so he's facing the stairs. Selinas comlink noted that he'd been looking at her file, but apparently not finding anything to work with conversationally there (OOC: You could let me know what "Kim" puts out there for the world if anything)

"Hi there. No problem. Maybe you can help me with this bottle, they make you get a whole one with the table you know. Come on over close so I can see that dress. You know most ladies here don't get fitted clothes since the fashion is a bit odd. I don't count just squeezing into something undersized as having it fitted. "

He continues more than a little proudly

" I'm no fashionista exactly. But I'm head of development for a new line of armored clothing for Ares under the Victory label. The old globetrotter line seemed to try to deliberately not fit as part of cammo asthetic. But if people are going on an adventure, they're going to want to look good doing it right? What were they thinking? "


In the astral Fiona picks up that the troll seems healthy, but then, not paying attention, she bumps into an astral projection, who also wasn't paying much attention where they were going. They think a quick "sorry" and flush embarrassed and zoom out straight through the wall.

Fiona manages to regain composure and focus more on the human. He seems healthy and confident. A mundane, she can pick out some alpha grade headware, eyes, and also some male enhancement.

"Then enjoy your time as much as you can," Selina says to the troll as she heads down.

Listening to the man and his compliments about her dress, the elf lightens up.

"You have a good eye. Thank you! I actually made it myself."

She puts her glass down, then sits on the table's edge and slides down a bit, resting her heels on the bench, and stopping just out of arm's reach to strike a bit of a pose there, so he can get a good look at her dress (there might be some other distracting features, however). She says, also to answer his question: "Who doesn't like to look good." Being in the club, she is obviously in a flirty mood.

"Nice suit, by the way." Her eyes size him up as well. What does he look like? What is his age? He obviously knows how to dress, and his manners are also there.

Gleaming mischievously, she mentions: "So, you are one of those uptowners, then. Coming down here to relax and party?"

She leans a bit closer, whispering conspiratorially: "... and always leaving with a new girl?"

Then she pulls back again and asks: "Do you dance? I actually practiced that Charleston a bit, but didn't have much time. It's really hard, those flapper girls had some skill! Might still be a bit clumsy there."

Bongo ignores the male singer and directs his singing to wards the woman. In fact, he Controls his Voice and casts his voice so that she hears him as if he were right there in front of her.

Tubesnake leaves the pilot programmes doing their good work on the front lines, and orders the backup flatworkers forward. Fortunately, because the flatworkers are shaped like flatworms or leeches and don't actually have legs, while the shankworms are annelids along the lines of velvet worms with sucker action at the tip of each foot, the flatworkers can cheerfully travel on and over the others with the additional bonus that they're quite immune to the arthropod neurotoxin cocktail they all spray. With this, it's a veritable fog of neurotoxins awaiting the advancing jauchekaefer.

The man looks to be about 30 and is mostly Caucasian but probably mixed and is the sort of good looking that almost certainly cost money. His features just a little too symmetrical, skin a little too clear, and eyes a little too blue to be natural. But still, it makes him easy to look at. His hair is slicked back and he has a short dark beard timmed to be more geometrical.

His suit....actually leaves something to be desired to Selina's eyes. It fits the period, and she guesses it was expensive by materials and , using her glasses abilities, the stitching, but the fit is off. She starts noticing potential reasons why. The looseness almost makes it impossible to spot the gun and armored vest underneath. (OOC: one net hit)

He smiles wryly at the line in inquiry "Yeah, I'm from the uptown. Not directly above here. It's a pain to deal with the security up there with guests anyway, and I'm pretty sure those bodyguards are there as much to make sure employees don't get any ideas about leaving. My place is just to the north and much more accommodating, inviting even.

And I'm single if that's what you're asking" He says it playfully enough to hint he knew that wasn't actually what she was asking.

"I can manage to dance when the need arises. But first you say you made the dress yourself" He raises an eye a little skeptically. "Hmmmm, here, turn around so I can see your back, and let's see if you can describe it without looking like someone who made it."


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(OOC: Schockingly Bongo manages a glitch, but he doesn't realize anything went wrong though maybe his performance while being jostled isn't quite as superhuman as usual....except for the projecting part)

IC:

As Bongo projects to her she at first looks upset, but then notices that nobody else seems to be reacting to someone singing loudly in the crowd and slowly seems to start realizing what's going on. She gives him a sly look and a somewhat disdainful look at her partner. Just for a moment, and clearly for Bongo's benefit as her hands up in the air as she dances would have blocked the partners view, if he was looking at her, which he wasn't anyway.

She's mostly focused on what's she's doing, but somewhere the in there she manages to get her comlink to send a wink back at Bongo.

"Ohh, so you don't believe me, is that what it is? Alright, I can play that game."

She turns around and straightens her back, resting one thigh on the table, and pulls her hair to the side for unobstructed viewing pleasure.

Having the knowledge and actually having made the dress just earlier, she still has a good mental picture of it and no trouble describing it in detail.

"You know there are mirrors, though, yes? In fact, I actually have a drone so I can look at the pieces I am making for myself from all angles, when trying them on. This is not the dark ages."

"Speaking of which, is it really so dangerous down here, that you need a gun and a vest? One would think, that big guy out there can keep you pretty safe. That suit is purposefully just a tiny bit more loose than it should be, am I right? But no worries, most people won't even notice that." She turns her head around and winks at him.

"I like my clothes tight, which I am pretty sure you are appreciating right now."

Then she moves off the table and onto the bench, leaning back in a more relaxed posture.

"Satisfied?"

Realizing, that she hasn't gotten a name, yet, she also takes a quick look at his profile inconspicuously via the trodes hidden underneath her headband, and the image link of her glasses.

(OOC: That was a lot of rolls, modifiers, and tracking damage with a delay! Probably good to brush up. Didn't quite do charging right on some early rolls but maybe the bugs aren't so tactical. Also I still followed knockdown rules for the bugs. That turned out to be a big deal as getting up costs a simple action, which I understand to then prevent using a complex action to initiate a melee attack. another rule that proved a big deal was the penalty for defending against multiple attacks. It would drain their ability to defend, even against 2-3 dice. Drones rolled pretty well too. Eventual result is the bugs are brought down by concentrated doses of the chemical, overcoming their magical resistance, and on the drone side one Flatworker with 3 boxes of damage and the one that got hit first ended up with 8 boxes.)

At first the bugs seem so much stronger and surer in their movements, but with Tubesnake coordinating the backup flatworkers are in the mix with poison spraying all over. The bugs that double teamed the flatworker being close enough to both get hit by single flatworkers ( OOC: by a complex action per flamethrower rules). Besides being what eventually killed all the bugs, the sprays were horribly distracting, allowing shankworms to land their lunging attacks and flipping bugs over, often the bugs never really managed to hold their footing before the long second ticked past and the chemicals did their deadly work.

In the end that part of the roof is a nasty slurry of the combination of the effects of the bug's collections and judicious amounts of pesticide.

(OOC: Once Tubesnake doesn't have other things he wants to do, I think it would be appropriate for him to start coaxing along Angel, who seems entirely vexed with how to interact with the real world. Tubesnake can generally hack enough to be an advising bird on their shoulder. )

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

He gently touches her back to check the design and stitching to make sure it matches with her description, so far keeping his hands above the small of her back.

"At the risk of sounding narcissistic I do know how to use a mirror, but you don't have that or your drone now do you? I'm sure a buyer will look at what they're getting, but not that much attention. Alright I'm sold and impressed on your design ability" He gives her a literal pat on the back that turns into a very brief shoulder rub before he lets go, giving her a broad smile.

But then his expression becomes clouded and he backs off and plops back down in the cushioned bench and lets out a sigh. "Yeah, that's the problem with what I'm trying to do. Form, fashion, and functionality. Everyone wants everything. Now, these aren't my designs, Ares isn't in the retro party market, but it's the same problem." He then takes the bottle of absinth, pours himself some, and downs it as a shot. His eyes go wide for a moment and he can't help but smile at his discomfort and lets out a raspy "I forgot this stuff starts out over a hundred proof".

He then takes out three of the proper absinth glasses and fills up the lower reservoir in each saying "I could use something to calm me down and get my mind back on being fun to be around.


He then places one of the perforated spoons from the central tray over the top of the glassware, sets a sugar cube on the spoon with a pair of tongs, and starts dripping water from a cup over the sugar, relaxing as he watches the white and green swirl together.