Willie follows Tubesnake's instructions, opening the hatch and turning on the drones. Gotta admit, having a few of these on your side is a cool advantage.

He returns to the driver's seat and stretches; a clear and obviously not troubled orc.

(OOC: Just for conversational flow I'm acting as if Tubesnake replied before Bongo spoke up. That also seems fair because Bongo is going to have to shimmy their way back into the space where they can stand up before they can properly interact whereas Paul is right there)

The new dwarves consider Paul's words the probable band member says "Ah fuck. Well I appreciate you putting in some safety stuff. It'd be great to, ya know, get the most outta this stuff. Just, fuckin, run it until it turns into slag. But, without drowning everybody in drek. I can probably be down for a few nuyen. Figure that'll get me a cookie too? "

Abby seems at least a bit distracted by the newcomer. He's heavily muscled, even for a dwarf, with calves the short jeans were not made for, the better to run around with heavy speakers. His friend though dressed the same looks a little malnourished, or at least much less jacked.

However Abby still has smiles for Bongo has he stands up and hands him a plastic cup with some quite sweet tea.

The dwarf sort of stares at Bongo a while after hearing him speak. He then gets a somewhat spaced out look, though he still seems to be intently interested in and facing Bongo. He snaps back into reality and says. "Huh. I guess music can be pretty magical. You know it's a little weird to be playing music on everybody's pipes though? Just a little fuckin odd? That sorta thing ever get you in trouble? "

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

Back at the van a fourth member has shown up for the group. The streets are getting a little on the empty side, so Willie suspects another guy in similar clothing would make five once he gets there. The leader is looking more confident as time passes, smiling as he looks at the van.

Bongo accepts the tea and sips some, giving an appreciative "Mmm" and smiles at Abby. "Thanks. That's good."

He replies to the obvious probe. "Yeah, I've vexed a few people over time. I don't much like authority figures. Sometimes you need to work together, though, for common cause.

Then there's tweaking a nose just for the fun of it. Earlier today a friend of mine and I had to vacate a bar quickly after we preempted a performance by a local musician, Ciarán. Frankly I think he was pissed that we were better musicians."

#####

Willie notes the arrival. He sends a message to Tubesnake. << Numbers growing. No trouble yet. >>

He knows there is no reason for the van to be bothered.

He knows there is no reason for confrontation.

He knows that it is best to let things blow over and keep a low profile in town.

He calmly and surreptitiously sets his SMG beside him by the door, where it won't be seen easily from the outside.

Tubesnake pulls a Kanmushi out of his pocket and sits on the cart so that he can concentrate on the AR. ""'scuse me a bit, folks, got work to do here."" He sends the Kanmushi scurrying up a wall and to the nearest pipe fixture overhead, from which it can act as a relay to the van and drone outside, as well as his worker drones here in the tunnel.

Having done that, which doesn't take long at all, he establishes connections to the daddy sniperlegs in the van, and has them clamber up so that one can cover the interior of the van. He gently eases the top hatch open and the other quietly slips out and takes position on the ladders up top. Then he closes the top hatch.

This done, he pulls out a couple of annelids from the cart and sets them up to go wriggling into the working space. This is exactly the sort of work for which they were made.

The dwarf and the rest, except maybe Paul, listen to Bongo speak. Once he gets to the bit about Ciarán however the potential bandmember gets an excited look in his eyes.
"No shit? Really? Today. Hold on, people love posting drek like that. He starts messing around with his own AR interface, cursing at it profusely as it takes him a while to find what he's looking for.

He then slaps his thigh and shoots AROs out to everyone in the room. "clicking" the ARO takes you to a social media feed from some foodie at the Choptank who has links to the full performance, but the ARO goes to a relatively short clip of just bit of Bongo playing before Ciarán shows up and starts throwing things.

That gets some laughs out of everybody. Though the jacked dwarf drowns out the rest with a surprisingly high pitched laugh and leg slapping. 'Aw that's great. That's great. Ah, that poser. aheheh hee hee. Ah. Oh man. You know you should give playing an actual chance instead of just whacking on things you find around, fun as that can be.

I mean, don't let me distract you from all this drek too much. But sometime after your done, you can give me a call and maybe we can jam sometime. " His comlink isn't in open mode with other details, but Bongo gets an ARO with a comcode.

(OOC: Should have asked for it sooner, but you should throw in an etiquette test, just as a general thing during an interaction. Especially with slipping that vexed in there. Also I should probably have locked down what name Bongo is using at the moment. Presumable the comlink, entry in the union database, and the info Abby was sent would all be the same, but I wouldn't assume it's "him". )


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

It takes a couple minutes for the other guy to calmly walk over to the group. They've been standing close together and watching the van. Apparently five is enough, and they start walking towards the van in a V formation with the leader at the point.

Willie warns Tubesnake, << Five headed this way. Seems they have a leader now. Want me to just move the van, talk it over with them (!!) or just kill them all?>>

#####



Bongo accepts the contact info and smiles. "Thanks, that sounds good. We might have some things to talk about too." He watches the drones enter the system.

"Looks like the machines have taken over and we have a wait. I have some treats here that are looking for a party. Anybody interested?" He pulls out the bottle of red wine and the cheese.

<<Move the van. We can move it again later. I'll stay on the drones, just in case.>>

While developments continue, Tubesnake lifts a flatworker out of the cart and attaches a grinding wheel to it to start cleaning out the places where he'll be welding, then flops it onto the ground to start slithering off to the utility space.

Willie obliges. He fires up the van, does a U-turn and drives by the five men, closely but not so close as to seem a threat, and waves at them as he passes, ending the wave with a flip of the bird. Universal language, that.

He drives to the parking area by the cafe and waits for further developments.

Gangstas do not know how lucky they are to live another day.

Taking in the various looks, as they emerge from the room, obviously not having used it for its intended purpose, Selina giggles slightly and gives Reggie a sly wink, whispering to him: "Come on, you did not really think we were ... well, you know. Night's still young!"

"Good evening, gents," Selina says, as they arrive at the table and take their seats.

She offers a friendly smile to the uptowners and a slightly scolding glance towards the agitated gangers. "You don't seem to like each other very much. That's okay. You don't need to become friends. But you can see this here as a neutral zone, right? Nothing's gonna happen. So, why don't you relax a little and just have some fun? Let's play poker!"

Meanwhile, she looks around a bit, to get an idea about how much money would be appropriate to put down for some chips.

(OOC: Might as well continue here while we sort things out.)

As Willie drives away the leader gives a smile and an upward nod at the finger. Managing to appear just about as cocky as humanly possible, as he casually holds onto the hilt of his katana as he takes a long drag from a cigarette.

But they don't start sprinting, and no vehicles move to intercept. Soon the fairly non-descript van is flowing smoothly through the night traffic in the area. Willie might notice that beyond just the cameras around Federal Hill there are a just a lot of cameras around and drones in the air. None obviously taking any interest in him, nor focused on being above him, just an impressive number for blocks around here in the traffic choke point here between railroads and the Patapsco river.

Though maybe there are just as many to the south, but with the glare from the brightly lit Japanacorp buildings with their advertising signs and holographic displays it's hard to tell from a distance.

 
--------------------------------

(OOC: I'll use Bongo's etiquette roll somewhat broadly. This is the sort of scenario where it's useful. In most situations having the guy that came to fix your pipes suddenly bust out the booze would be...questionable. But Bongo is establishing himself as an unusual guy, and the Federal hill tunnels are an unusual place. So he can pull this off with his skillset. )

Abby gives Bongo a light playful shove "Oh you naughty naughty boy! Well, we all do have to pitch around down here, so I'll go and get some glasses and see if I have anything!"

Both of the other dwarves are still laughing over the antics at the Choptank "Jeez. They really broke the mold with you. " Says the less musical one. "Actually, maybe I could put the word out for some other people to bring some things. Might help with getting people to realize they need to chip in to pay for this stuff. I'm certainly not springing for everything. "

The likely Vex member get in to. "Actually I might know some guys who can make it a party down here. I'll give them a buzz. "


It isn't too long before Paul goes from being the one in the most cramped space to being the one in the least cramped space as the main area fills up from all the people and cheap booze coming down the hatch. Using his magical memory Bongo is reasonably sure all four members of Vex are now present. Two of them have electric guitars and a single battery operated speaker has been brought in that they can. The group starts going into a punkish version of Devo's "Working in a Coal Mine." The performance isn't the best, but everyone is having a good time with it.

Bongo's biggest impediment to joining in is that he has a slightly inebriated Abby in his lap telling him stories of other parties she's been in down in these tunnels. She seems to have a history of being quite the rambunctious host, and really does enjoy red wine.
(OOC: Again, assuming Bongo didn't bust out his unarmed combat skills to keep her off him).


Howls and laughter then burst out as the pump turns on and once again disrupts the failing weld in the fresh water pipe spraying down everyone in the vicinity. Between trying to leap away and the slippery sandstone folks are soon falling all over each other (about half dwarf, and an even split of orcs and humans, an elf, but nothing big like a troll).

The speaker and instruments were off to the side and away from the water, but the music comes to a halt as the vex dwarf Bongo had been speaking with is laughing hard enough that he can't breathe and is slapping the other band members.

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

Regie struggles to maintain his stoic frame as Selina goads him.

Selina gets plenty of looks of plenty of types from around the table as she shifts attention to herself. Mike takes that as her wanting to play. He takes chips from one of the bouncers and then gets another set for Selina. He composes and shoots a message to her (OOC: open but with false ID) comlink <<It's a thousand for the chips. I covered them, but you can shoot the money to me if you want to play to get some winnings for yourself. >>

The gangers have stopped paying attention to the other uptowners. There's a mix of who they're paying attention to as ante's come out and hands are dealt, but at least a couple are trying to stare down Mike and Selina.

Selina doesn't know if Mike could hold his own in a fight. She has her doubts. But they can't crack his controlled calm, as he casually flicks in some more chips to raise. " I've got my back to the dancers. The rest of you will just have to fill me in on how they're doing. "

A big black male Orc says "You're missing out, our girls are the best. And we don't have to pay to get some from outside our crew like some others have to."

His tan counterpart across the table laughs and says "You're just jealous. It's all good in the hood and we're all really one crew out in the hives. Not like your silos. "

The first one replies "Those are our towers. I still can't believe you all really settled on calling them hives. Like you're a bunch of insect sprits over there. " To which the second retorts "Those things weren't around back then, and the name just stuck. But you know anybody trying to mess around with us inside one will find plenty more trouble than Chicago. "

If Selina turns around a little (or gets a report from Fiona) they're talking about the women because they guys don't seem to particularly know how to dance, especially to this music. They just bob and lean trying to look tough and masculine while keeping an eye on each other.

(sort of like https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajmI1P3r1w4 , but the uptowners might have to stifle some laughs when those moves are juxtaposed with music more like https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5y0hSqO48U )
The women are having a much better time of it. Some are trying to figure out how the heck to gyrate and be seductive to that beat, but more than a few are starting to just have silly fun with it.

Willie circles around a bit, taking note of the surveillance instruments that abound in this area, and then finds a parking spot in front of 3 Beans Coffee. He waits for a call.

#####

Bongo takes advantage of the general evacuation from the spray of water to extract himself from the attention of Abby. Over by the dry instruments he pulls out his drumsticks and starts playing on any exposed pipes here, or the wall if necessary. He picks up on the beat that was in the song, but embellishes it with a few extra licks. Then he adds in the magic.



"Come on, band. Keep the music going while my buddy stems the tide."

""Sorry there folks, the first work's nearly done. This is how it goes.""

Paul has a flatworker doing the welding while the other one is building up layers of injection plasticrete and rubber for the base. He's also planning to get the valving fixed to prevent all sorts of drama - but without rebuilding the whole system.

While the welder arcs and chips fly, he gets back to Willie. <<You good there, omae? How are things going? You're cruising out?>>

(OOC: Gotta do this fast and get to bed!)

While close to where he just was, the 3 beans parking seems to be the turf of the fellows Bongo and Willie were dinning with earlier. Some in the crew eventually notice Willie in the van and point him out to the others, but at least one of them recognizes him and waves the other guys off, and they go back to keeping an eye on everyone.

-----------

The band starts playing along with him, but after a while Bongo becomes conscious of the din of the crowd having died down and eventually the band members drop the beat. Everyone is just paying attention to him moving around the room, whacking on anything that might make a good note and that Paul isn't trying to work on.

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

As Paul starts getting diagnostics results in he starts putting together a picture of what probably went down here. Improper maintenance, specifically lack of lubrication, led to the bearings wearing out in the booster pump. This has led to the vibrations, which are putting a strain on the whole thing. It would have failed before too long with the continued wear to the bearings and vibrations, but it started vibrating that bad weld and causing the water to come down.

For a time the sump pump in this room dealt with it. But it was running too often for how old it was. The transformer in the power supply was the first thing to go and will need to be replaced or the wires somehow reinsulated. Once the sump died the pool filled up and Abby's home was the next low point for drainage.

Yup, that would do it. Vibrations in plumbing can happen for many reasons, including poor pipe planning producing water hammers, but failing bearings are a classic. Paul uses a portable sump pump to start clearing things out a bit while the drones get to work fixing the pipe. The next order of business will be to insert check valves, either repair or replace failing sections of pipe and also sort out that transformer. The good news is that cutting the transformer out and raising the wires away from water sources is a good safety step any way.

Bongo ends the performance with a flourish. He looks around. "Yeah, my day job doesn't really fulfill me. When I get going and put some magic into my music, that's when things get real."

Paul may or may not have been distracted by Bongo, but the people definitely were. They get snapped out of it as the drones begin the noisy work of installing a check valve.

The muscular dwarf then slaps his forehead "Of course! He actually directed his gift into music! That's why he's a drekking plumber with his sort of talent!"

From across the room Abby manages to slur out "But plumbers are awesome! Hey...urp.... Where did the other one go? "

The asian human male says "Yes yes. Much love for plumbers down here, but what are you talking about Brevis? "

The male dwarf, presumably called Brevis, replies "Right, you guys don't have the sight. Look the kid really has potential, you know, he's just put it into whacking things. Maybe too much time around pipes. Oh! Wait, I haven't shared this video of him yet! "

Brevis starts messing around with his comlink again and this time there are a lot of people getting the notification, though he still manages to laugh over their responses.

The androgynous elf mumbles "I think you're enjoying that a little too much maybe? Anyway darling you really can play. Maybe we can do it together if we focus. Let's try that again and focus on what we're doing. " He takes the microphone and says "From the top! " and then gets back into Devo.

Paul's portable submersible pump would have been a great drone for some tekno savagery, but instead the grrrrrt-swish-swish noises are just the background to the party around the corner.

<<Maybe another hour, including cleanup. That will give my auxiliary pump time to pretty much dry things up before I engage everything again, but for a quick fix job, this is about as good as it will get.>>

Selina gives Reggie a silly wink and whispers to him. "Got you there!"

At the table, she fumbles with her commlink for a moment, partially to hide that one of the gangers is a bit unsettling.

<< Sure, I'll play. These guys here are no pros, I guess, maybe I can actually win some. I will send the money over later. >>

As the gangers trash-talk each other and one of them says they would be more trouble than Chicago's insect spirits, she mouthes "Wow!" towards Mike. These guys really are something. She wonders for a moment, whether they might actually believe that. Surely, they have no idea what they are talking about.

Turning around further to see what they are talking about, she notices that the girls actually seem to be having fun. Not professional dancers by any means, but they are trying. Selina can appreciate that. Of course, she does not quite like how that first ork is talking about them, but she does realize that bringing that up at the moment might not exactly be the best of ideas.

"Not bad. Looks like they are having fun. Probably not the kind of music they are used to. But at least, they are trying."

Since Fiona can just observe from the sidelines, she will keep an eye on the other players, and note any changes in their auras that would come along with excitement, confidence, or disappointment.

Bongo picks up the rhythm and then hold it steady so the others can do their thing. Sometimes the best thing a drummer can do is be the metronome for the rest of the band. And, well, maybe throw in a little riff here and there. 'Cause, ya know, he da artist.

It's pretty easy for Paul to fix the pipe. It might actually be hard for him to do a worse job than the earlier welds. Though at least whoever did it seemed to know they were bad, and so they slathered it on, so at least the pipe didn't fall off entirely.

Though if Paul doesn't do something about the main booster pump he knows it's going to fail, and then it's going to be a "head to head" competition between the pumps feeding into the common tank to see where the drek volcano erupts.

At least everything seems to be holding up against Bongo's ministrations.

The crowds are also blocking out the lights, but that probably doesn't cause Paul much trouble down in his little tunnel. If anybody over there remembers that other dwarves idea to raise some funds with all this there might actually be some money to do something right. But they're pretty occupied at the moment.

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

While not at the fore this time, Bongo knows he's doing a heck of a job with some very questionable equipment. The crowd seems to really enjoy the song and the band flows through a couple other songs that have come out recently.

But before too long they end on Wind Rose's "Diggy Diggy Hole." An oldie but one the crowd seems to all know and enjoy, regardless of actually being a Dwarf or not.

There's a cheer as they finish and folks start getting back to talking, drinking, and looking at the equipment as if they have any idea about it or the drones doing things to it. Though maybe a few will learn how to install a check valve if they stay sober enough.

Brevis shouts to the rest after they'd done. "Hey. This guy is pretty good on pipes and all sorts of shit. "

The elf replies smoothly. "Well yes. But you seem rather overly excited about it. "

Brevis looks around at the other musicians. "Don't you guys get it. He doesn't need a drum set. "

The rest of the band gives him a quizzical look. Brevis rolls his eyes "We can finally have a drummer! He can just play anywhere at the drop of a hat and is ready to get the fuck out of dodge at a moments notice! He's perfect!"

At this the rest look a little alarmed and the asian human female is clearly trying to shush him, though this takes the form of a friendly almost hug that boarders on strangling. She keeps a smile on towards Bongo while she does it.


The female dwarf decides to step in. "Well, let's not get ahead of ourselves. But if ya really are lookin to do something more with your music that hit pipes while we work we could jam for a while. "

Brevis manages to disentangle himself from the asian woman and says "For nutty punks you're the most restrained bunch I've ever seen. C'mon! Let's get a little crazy! "

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

Since microdrones got affordable people have learned to keep their cards down. Though in this case it doesn't matter, since Fiona can't read on the astral. She and the other spirits can watch auras though.

As they go through a couple hands Selina finds Mike in particular is good at maintaining a steady aura in addition to his face. Though maybe that's because he's paying entirely too much attention to Selina instead of caring greatly about the game, or maybe that's just his style.

For their part the gangers have enough animosity swirling in their auras to dominate subtler feelings as the trash talk continues, though at a broken pace now that people are focusing on cards, checking, and raising. At least the mood seems to be improving.

Mike doesn't respond to the "wow" but replies to Selina's comment. "They'll figure it out. Learning something new can be a lot of fun, and too much music these days just doesn't have that carefree vibe. "

One of the Orcs decides to take a bit of offence at that "Our girls already look amazing out there!"

Mike simply says "I'm sure they do. Check." and tosses in a few chips

(OOC: Still, you can get +1 for Fiona's help if you want to roll).

As long as the party is continuing for Bongo, Paul won't disrupt it. It's not as if there weren't plenty for him to do.

<<You do what you need to, chummer. Let me know if we have to leave or you want something, but until then I'll keep welding and grinding.>>

He definitely does want to do that booster pump, if only because his conscience rebels against leaving the job so badly half-done. This is why he has the submersible pump - so that the pumping action can continue even while he fixes what should have been in place already. Pump housing comes off, diverter socket goes over the pipes leading too and from the pump, and it's time to do a little surgery.

(OOC: Sorry, I'd missed Selina's roll. )

Different hands go different ways. Everyone wins some and loses some, and folds.

After a while Selina finds herself up five hundred. Mike tends to do well but lost a big pot and is actually down three hundred. The other uptowners are doing the best, one of them even having more than Selina. The gangers are having a bad time of it so far, and Selina is getting the impression they might not lose graciously. They seem to be a lot better at intimidating and getting into showdown than they are at running the odds or concealing their emotions.

(OOC: In addition to the above discussion, Selina could just keep playing and roll again, or she could do something else. First impression is a bit of a stretch for this situation, but I'll allow it. Certainly it would apply though for other social tests she might try on anyone around, I guess except for Mike and Reggie.)

Bongo follows the dynamic and figures it's time to get a ball rolling. Either the ball that gets him in, or the one that gets him thrown out of the tunnels.

"Come on over there and let's talk some music and a playlist." he points to a section of the tunnel down the way a bit and out of earshot of a whisper or two. He makes sure the ones he thinks are part of Vex come, waving hands, a directing hand on a shoulder, and a glowing smile.



Once they are in a tight group, he leans in and draws the others to do the same. He whispers, "Look. Before we set up some more music for the folks, I have something to say. I know you guys came because you heard the tap-tapping, and probably because you got the message in it. The Morse code for V-E-X. This plumbing thing is just a front. I'm looking for a group of people like me. Awakened and not too fond of the powers that be. I wanna take my magic to the next level, and I'm happy to lend my talents to a few 'nose thumbings' and 'up yours's'. I got wind after some legwork that there was a group down here called Vex that fit the bill beautifully.

"You've seen some of what I can do, the way I can get people to stop paying attention to anything but me. But there's a lot more. Help me grow, and I'll help the group, too. If you have to assense me to see the truth of my words, that's OK. Waddaya say?"

Plumbing and electrics and carpentry and masonry might be a front for Bongo, but for Tubesnake they're serious business. And right now, business is spewing tiny globules of hot metal while he cuts and mends piping and conduit. Or, more to the point, his drones do under his direction. While that goes on, he personally takes on the teardown of the main pump. Out come the calipers, and on his goggles he calls up the list of manufacturer's tolerances so that he can do the quickest, dirtiest (literally) remanufacturing job this side of the Yucatan.

Then he pauses a little, and considers the future, and decides to also update the housing with an etched set of maintenance data. Won't take that much longer, and will help the next poor sap. Especially if he isn't well-informed.