<<Tuesday Evening - 18:00 - March 21, 2079 - San Angelo, CAS>>

Tien III and Gladius pull away in the Ford Percheron. It's the larger vehicle and has space for Tien IV and Phillip as they're being transported to medical attention.

Mato leaves in the C-N Journey.

That leaves AM, Raven, and Tamarind in the GMC Armadillo with their gear, including Tamarind's drones.

The weather is hot and sunny, about 27C. There are about two hours until sunset so Raven's spirit is still hanging around. The sun dips toward the west, behind the ranch.

Tien III confirms your departure time as 02:00. Evidently that helps makes things easier with your cargo, even considering the private air strip. The flight will be about four hours, but you'll move back two time zones, so you'll land at 04:00.

I am a bit upset and not entirely myself after burning what appeared to be a perfectly healthy woman alive, and in fact, I am happy I don't have to look the young Tien in the eyes after doing that to his evil girlfriend. I mean, she dabbled in mind control and murder. There are no moral issues with the deed. Looking so close at the fire and being burned was not entirely terrifying; it had some allure that I could not explain. I begin searching for a formula for fire magic where I stop myself and remind myself again that I am no Karl-Combat mage. Still being able to manipulate the flames... Dammit, I need to stop thinking about it before I'll start wearing excessive amounts of makeup and tossing molotovs for sports.

Tam, is holding her new dongle, and I ask "You know, it is probably a bad idea, but the farm has a perfectly slick RCC to match that dongle. Don't think anyone would go looking for it - out of all the crimes in this world, this one seems the most innocent." I say, completely at peace with the idea of stealing/looting. I grew up with nothing, and here there is so much expensive equipment lying around without anyone even plundering it. We infiltrated the farm already; it seems reasonable to do - miss Lopaz is not going to file a complaint. Unless some Shedim gets her as well, but well, one can never know exactly what is and isn't possible in this world.

"The place is abandoned, does it even really belong to anyone right now?" Rachel adds with a sly wink. "I doubt the governements have a big interest there. They are looking at the land from a very different perspective. So, if we can get it out of there without them noticing, why not."

"So, what's an RCC, anyways?" She has absolutely no clue what they are even talking about. Something technical, obviously. But that is where her knowledge about these things ends.

"We also need to talk about the items we got here. The foci, and also the reagents. That's some really valuable stuff, and if AM cannot or does not want to use them, I will happily take them. They will definitely help me a lot. Maybe I can just take a much smaller cut from the money to compensate the rest of you a little bit?"

I explain, "It is a portable control station for drones with the ability to streamline programs and state-of-the-art signal processing it is the real deal for controlling drones, and with a little creativity, a great platform for a makeshift cyberdeck."

I sigh and look at Raven . "You can keep the foci; it is a huge leg up in magical capabilities for you. As a full mage, you'll be able to do much more with them than I ever would. Besides, I am not powerful enough to use them, and I don't plan to increase my connection to the Wakan Tanaka anytime soon; they drive me crazy.

Whatever talent I have is not very pleasant; it is a buzzing at the back of my mind whispering, plotting, and subtly manipulating me into action. A will that is not entirely my own, and it gets stronger as I develop my talent. The last thing I wish to do right now is to make the whispers stronger, the buzzing into words, the words into sentences, and the sentences into demands. I'll get closer when I am ready for it, not a moment too soon and not due to outside reasons such as stumbling on the one ring to rule them all.

Tamarind pulls out her RCC -- Raven has seen her use it, but apparently didn't know quite what it was. "This is my RCC, a 'Proteus Poisedon.' The one in the farm is a 'Lone Star Commander' which overall is a bit better. A little more ability to handle large amounts of data, including supporting more programs or managing slightly larger swarms of drones. But a little less protected against matrix manipulations. Even mine is supposed to only go to licensed users, but Lone Star is even more restrictive, they normally only use them internally or sell them to other licensed law enforcement companies. If you've ever seen trid footage of law enforcement drones dispersing crowds, they were probably being run through Lone Star Commanders. How the late farm owner got her hands on one I have no idea, not to mention that they cost not too much under."

"I'd be happy to get that RCC out. But if we are going to get more seriously larcenous, maybe we can get more ambitious and see if we can figure a way to also bring out either the roto-drones or the anthro-drones, or both. I don't know that we could bring out the large agricutural drones and do anything useful with them in the time we have left, but that would be where the biggest value most likely is."


"As for any foci that the two of you can't make use of, obviously saving them against future need is reasonable. But if they are anything like as difficult to get at this RCC is, perhaps they could also be a way of making friends? The opportunity to buy something like that at a fair price can still be a favour, if it is normally hard to get access to something like that at all."

I smirk; she is never satisfied to the point of even considering heavy agricultural drones for our small suburb. Perhaps a post-trauma for losing all her stuff to that dragon dude? I am not sure - Tam appears well-equipped for me, especially considering that all I have is a deck, a couple of guns, and armored clothes. Perhaps she wants a lot more.

"I am sorry, I just imagined our neighbors when we park one of these big boys on the lawn." Then I pretended to explain the situation to our neighbor, Lisa, that had to leave early during the last HOA meeting. Did you miss the last-minute vote where we decided to replace all lawns with corn fields? This is the seeder drone to do so, and we have a couple of Tractors coming in from Atzlan, along with blood ritual instructions for growing corn in Seattle; It's a fantastic ritual involving a public orgy that symbolizes fertility, prosperity, and growth." I laugh and let the tension go.


We need to transfer ownership of each stolen piece; it is not trivial, so let's stick to small high-valued items. I can ask Trouble to disassemble one or two drones and move the pieces through the pipe. I can instruct him on how to do so. For the record, I think this is likely a terrible idea - but Iktomi would immensely enjoy it, and I owe him big time.

"I was never thinking of the agricultural drones having value in our lives, rather I was thinking what some shady dealer might offer for them. But we have been paid well, and they are big enough to attract attention. So forget those. Although it would be amusing to watch our neighbours drop dead from shock as we drove one of those up the street!"

Tamarind has been reading the HOA rules about gardens, and at this point digging up the yard to plant a fine crop of barley or something is beginning to appeal.

Oh, they are fine really, but the little girl inside me just wants to burn the place because they have a private security firm and uniform front lawns whereas we could not even afford heating and everything nice we ever had was stolen or robbed.

Rachel listens to the explanation.

"I see, it is the interface you use to control the drones. And some more."

"Anyways, if I can help with this, let me know. Unfortunately, most of my abilities are rather obvious to the spirits guarding the place."

What little I have as a plan involves a certain magical cat sneaking in there through the pipe, and then using psycokinesis to get the RCC out. Open to better plans.

Tamarind looks a bit abashed, but ploughs ahead with presenting a more ambitious plan.

"First step, yes, we can get one of the anthro drones to position the RCC, then Trouble can hopefully use the pipe to get into the farm and push or pull the RCC out. Or we feed through a wire and some tape and have the anthro drone attach that to the RCC and try to drag it through the pipe.

Then we take the RCC and back well away from the farm, then maybe try phase 2, drone breakout. I task the flying drones to get ready, then all fly out of the farm at the same time. If the spirits react, we give up and leave. If they don't then those drones scatter to pre-programmed locations, while flying low enough to avoid most sensors aimed at air crossings of the border. Then they land in various ditches and go wireless off, and we go pick up what we can.

In combination with that, we could have the anthro drones March out. They should be able to climb the gate, with a little help. We leave them walking up the road as the easier distraction for security to react to.

Another possible twist is to use that drone you have from a previous job, and I load it with looper rounds. It depends a bit on how many cameras would have to be looped, and if they pay attention to drones suddenly being in a different place, or if they only react to things crossing the line."

My head is spinning when Tamarind offers to rob the place with such an outgoing approach. "I love stealing from dead rich people as much as the next gal, but having the drones openly leave the farm is a bit too high-profile for me. One thing I learned is that I don't want my exploits to reach the local news. Please don't. There is a dead body there of a rich lady that was burned alive. We really don't want to do anything that stirs attention to the farm or gives anyone a plausible excuse to enter the territory such as the evidence of a potential crime. "

"Fair point about not attracting attention here. So looping the cameras would likely be a better plan."

The fence is weathered and rusted in places. The cameras on top of the fence are in much the same condition. Not all of them are functional anymore so it looks like you would have to defeat one camera that's looking at the barn (where the RCC is located) and another camera looking out that covers the drain pipe entrance/exit. Of course, that assumes that anyone is paying attention to the footage. Perhaps you don't need to defeat them at all.

The CAS side of the fence employs two elemental spirits - air and fire - while the Aztlan side has a guardian spirit and a beast spirit. Both sets stay sharply on their side, not entering the compound. They float above the fence to give themselves some elevation to see better. They mostly pay attention to what's inside the fence rather than what approaches from behind, but anything large enough will catch their attention.

There is corn outside the compound that can shield your approach - astrally and visually - most of the way. There is a gap of 15m or 20m from the edge of the cornfields to the drainage pipe, but it would only be on the peripheral vision of the CAS spirits. The primary concern will be getting the RCC from the barn to the drainage pipe without being noticed. Both sets of spirits would have a clear view to the front of the barn; in fact, it seems to be their primary point of interest.

"I'm assuming that the spirits only know so much about drone behaviour, and so don't react to anything that doesn't seem violent or like a break-out. So my suggestion is I have one of the anthro drones go get the RCC. Then have it go up to the fence, away from the pipe, and start inspecting the fence. Crouch down, touching 'hands' to the ground, then standing up as it inspects bottom to top. Have it move along, doing this inspection every couple of meters. When it is near the drainage pipe, it leaves the RCC on the ground when it crouches down, but otherwise continues. Having taught it what to do I can let its autopilot keep inspecting the rest of the fence. Well, pretending to inspect anyway."

"Then roll out one of the big agricultural drones, along with an anthro drone and a flying drone. Have the big drone back right up to near the fence, then have the other two thoroughly inspect it. Then AM could have Trouble use the metaplanes to bypass the fence line, and come back to reality under the agricultural drone, where the spirits don't have line of sight on it, but where Trouble can see the pipe. Then Trouble uses psychokinesis to slide the RCC into the pipe and push it as far as Trouble can see."

"Finally, when the 'inspection' is done, the agricultural drone backs up just that bit more, to be briefly right over the pipe, letting Trouble slide into the pipe and finish pushing along the RCC. From there Trouble can depart through the metaplanes, and we just need to retrieve the RCC from our end of the pipe."

"Any concerns or suggestions about this?"

"Since they use spirits to guard this place, whatever they are looking for must be awakened in nature. I would assume, that the Shedim we encountered wasn't the only one, and the spirits are here in case another one of them pops up. The fact, that they wanted to do their ritual here, also highly suggests that there is some kind of gateway, maybe temporary only. There is the ley line, also. And, of course, the Shedim that possessed Arione must have come here somehow in the first place. So, what I am saying is, the spirits will very likely be watching especially for astral activity inside the farm area," Rachel comments.

I say "Sounds like a plan, I just don't want a massive drone jailbreak not because I think the spirit would react violently but because it is very visible and there is no way to keep such a thing quiet, as opposed to stealing an RCC through the pipe when at the worst case a few spirits spot us and react according to their orders that not necessarily prevent us from stealing RCCs. Anyhow, let's start with the RCC and discuss the rest if it goes smoothly. "

Using AM's backdoor to the farm makes it easy to gain access. The drones are there to do your bidding. It's simple to give an anthro drone instructions to take the RCC and bring it to the drainage pipe.

Neither the Aztlaner nor CAS spirits react when the anthro drone emerges from the barn. They don't pay any significant attention to the drone but instead keep their attention on the barn.

The anthro drone places the RCC in the drainage pipe as instructed. It's now time for Trouble to retrieve the RCC.

Or is it? Your ears catch the sound of a siren. A quick observation with one of Tamarind's drones or one of the spirits will reveal that there is a fire engine turning onto the dirt road that leads to your position. Its sirens are sounding and its lights are flashing.

Perhaps Iktomi has other plans for you. The fire engine will arrive in about one minute.

"I guess, they did see the smoke after all..." Rachel remarks.

"We should probably hide and wait it out? The spirit is still here and can conceal us. I doubt the fire truck has any awakened personnel."

"What if they find the burial? Is there some way could point towards the house, which they can't access and is not currently burning? Might satisfy their concerns?"

The smoke is gone, so there's nothing pointing directly toward the location of the immolation, but the ground at the site of the burial is freshly disturbed and somewhat obvious compared to the surrounding terrain. It just depends on if the fire fighters would 1) notice, or 2) care.

My heart skips a bit, and my senses sharpen at the danger of being caught with a dead, burned body like a psychopath. Priase the Trickster for bringing us down to earth. I felt like a kite until now. I try to think quickly, there is no fire here; whatever it was is covered don't think firemen are going to spend time digging the ground in case somebody burned a regenerating body and burned it again and again. My logic says they'll see that there is no fire and go away.

I take a few breathes to calm myself and say "We still have a few hours; we can go and grab something to eat and then do damage assessment. If they really are firepeople, they are not going to dig for forensic evidence, and there is no fire here. I feel like anything we actively do just increases the danger."

"If they come too close, we could maybe convince some of them that there is nothing to see here," Rachel suggests.

"Actually, I could also cover the part with the car in an illusion. Having it look all normal. There will still be tracks outside of it, of course."

I grin at Raven . "Let's hide in the corn field, and leave the car, perhaps park it on the hot spot. If they linger and dig too much, we can pretend we are lovers, and exit the field with messed up clothes asking what is all the fuss about." Not to offend Tam, but I feel Raven would make the better wing woman in this specific hint of a plan.

The plan is put into motion, which means that you hide in the corn field.

A minute later, a truck rolls up marked "Franklin Fire Services". This company actually originated in Seattle, starting out as an insurance company that later decided to capitalize on the privatization of fire-prevention services. They won Seattle's contract in the 2040s and have had it ever since. They used their foothold in Seattle to continue to expand throughout the UCAS and to the CAS including, evidently, San Angelo.

AM:
Spying via drone or spirit reveals four people inside the fire truck, all men. In terms of metahumanity, they're straight out of central casting: a barrel-chested ork, a stout dwarf, a thin elf, and a medium-sized human. The ork is driving. The elf is Awakened, but his power level is only half of yours. He actually has a small water spirit (F3) accompanying him.

They stop pretty close to your position, or what would be your position if you weren't hiding in the cornfield. They get out.

"Aight, boys, let's get looking," the barrel-chested ork says. Evidently he's taking point. "What's that sour look on your face, Slim?"

Slim is the elf. He does have a twisted expression.

"The air feels... dirty here, Chief," Slim responds.

"Makes sense," Chief (the ork) nods. "That there's the haunted farm, neh?"

Slim considers the farm distastefully. The human and the dwarf look around, presumably searching for fires. They spot and start to wander toward the Armadillo. The human is carrying a fire extinguisher while the dwarf carries a fire axe.

"Alright, then let's hope they are not overly thorough, when they see that there is no fire or anything around to fight."

* * * * *

"They actually have someone awakened with them," Rachel whispers. "Guess that rules out spells to distract them."

When the mafia connection is mentioned, the witch wonders: "AM, can you check, whether they are here on an actual call? They could just look for loot also. Who knows."

"I could also send my spirit over to them, and tell them that he is a military patrol and that they are very close to a restricted area, and ask them for their names and purpose of being here."

Other than that, she simply keeps still in her hiding spot.

"I'd say having sex is a plausible explanation for being in a desolate cornfield next to a hunted farm. Let's go with that; act embarrassed, and perhaps they leave quickly. If they insist that we leave, Tam and Trouble can finish this theft and rendezvous with us once things collided." I say softly.

I'd take a lover to a hunted cornfield if I had one. It seems exciting enough without being overly dangerous. It makes sense in my head. If Raven agrees, I dirty my shirt by lying on the ground, unbuttoning a single button in my pants, and taking it out so that the shirt's shape indicates something hastily worn. I also undo my bra for extra credibility and place it somewhat awkwardly. I am still fully covered; I don't enjoy showing skin - but right now, I look like I allowed someone to touch me down my t-shirt and perhaps pants if they are wise to the open button giving access to my imaginary lover.

AM and Raven emerge from the corn before the firefighters investigate the Armadillo too closely. Who knows what they might notice, and thus what they might report.

The medium-sized human notices the women first. "Chief!" he calls out.

That draws the attention of the others, who turn. Chief gives a belly laugh. "Ooh wee!" he barks out, his jolly belly shaking. His facial features suggest he might be of Aztlaner heritage.

"Ah've seen sum trids that staht lahk this!" the dwarf drawls. The human and Chief continue to laugh. The elf does not share their mirth. He continues to scowl and eye the women suspiciously. (The spirits on overwatch report that the elf is astrally perceiving, but he's not enjoying the background count.) He has slick black hair that falls to his shoulders and makes him look very severe. His skin has almost no color to it, which seems unusual for this part of the country.

"Well, boys, I think we've found the point of origin!" Chief announces. "SMOKING hot!"

The human tips his red firefighter's hat in what might be considered a gesture of hospitality. "Say, you ladies seen any smoke out here? Cause where there's smoke, there's fire!" Both the human and the dwarf look like your stereotypical Texan good ol' boys. They laugh at the situation.

The plan makes sense to Tamarind. In younger days she'd gone with a lover out into fields and spent their days off getting blissfully sunburned in unlikely places. Does it sting that she's obviously beyond being considered likely for such things? More than she'd like to admit. But aging comes for all ... humans, orcs, and trolls. Elves, they seem able to avoid its sting for multiple lifetimes. Tamarind doesn't want to spend all her time out in the corn being bitter, so she turns her thoughts to those younger days out in the fields, and waits for an update from AM or Raven.

Following along with the plan, Rachel made sure, she looks the part as well. She has used her magic to disguise herself, coloring her hair in a fiery red, changing her hairstyle from the neat ponytail to open and disheveled, and using make-up to alter her facial features a bit, making sure there is no trace of the spell afterwards.



Since her executive suite doesn't really fit an occasion like this, she has simply taken it off, and emerges from the corn in nothing but her lingerie and her ball cap. The witch does not share AM's reluctancy to show some skin, or even a lot of it. Quite the opposite. She enjoys making the guys sweat a little. And their admiring gazes, even though they probably go a bit beyond just admiration.

"Oh dear, we are so sorry. It's just us. You see, we are out here for a little... err... picnic. And we have been playing a little bit. As he ..." she nods towards the elf "... can probably tell, we are both mages. There was a 'fire' and there was 'smoke', but it wasn't real. Here, I can show you."

Rachel then casts a lower Force illusion, that is easy to see through, and that has the corn surrounding them begin to blister and start to burn.



She looks around in playful panic. "Oh no! Look, fire! What should we do?"

The witch leaves out the smoke, though.

"Guess we didn't quite think that through... again, we're terribly sorry for having wasted your time. I left out the smoke this time, not that the next truck comes out here to rescue you."

"But it's so good to know, that even out here one can count on you guys."

With a sheepish grin, she looks at the fire fighters.

AM:

I must admit that thinking that something is a good idea did not prepare me to wrap my hand around an alpha female in lingerie and a bunch of men while feeling not fully dressed. I could see it coming; there was the initial realization that Raven was removing her clothes and discovering lingerie underneath... Lingerie to fight the Shedim. Epic... I don't even have it in my wardrobe; I am wearing tight male boxers, which I doubt would have the same effect. The physical discomfort of not being fully dressed in front of strangers and Raven dressed like that and being so aggressive makes me way more embarrassed than I imagined; I can feel my cheeks hot, perhaps I am blushing, and something more subtle that I am not going to discuss openly... I feel aroused; I can't rationalize it, and I have no time to go down that rabbit hole. Never did, I was always about survival. Perhaps getting paid so much changes me?

" Who called the fire department on us?" I ask, overwhelmed and embarrassed. I don't think I have many more words inside me, but it is oddly appropriate to the situation.

Trouble:
Trouble wraps his tail around Tamarind, perhaps feeling her plight. He does not strictly need to be materialized, but he offers comfort in all his catness to the woman left to hide by the plan.

The men - minus the elf - laugh and clap.

"Ooh wee!" Chief says again, delighted.

"Well if that don't take the cake!" the human agrees mirthfully.

"Ya cahn’t beat tha wit a stick!" the dwarf agrees (?) with some obscure localism.

The astral reveals that Raven's words are having the desired effect on the ork, dwarf, and human. Their auras flame with desire. The elf looks unconvinced and unmoved. He scowls with puckered lips.

"Oh, just some passersby," Chief says to answer AM's question, waving a finger to the traffic passing by on Highway 87. Turning, he sees the sour expression on the elf's face.

"Out with it, Slim. You look like you've been sucking on lemons again."

"This is hardly the place for a tryst," the elf says. He seems to be considering the mana.

"Can't say I agree with you there, Slim," the human shakes his head.

"On the cahntrary," the dwarf nods to agree with the human.

"Alright, boys, let's leave these ladies in peace," Chief laughs, climbing back into the fire truck.

The dwarf and the human look privately disappointed to leave, but they don't object. With lingering backward glances, they return to the truck. The elf does too after some hesitation. He eventually climbs back in the truck... but his water spirit stays on watch even after the fire truck turns around and departs. Either the elf doesn't trust you or he's a voyeur. Either way, it seems like the elf thinks that he can get away with some continued observation since Chief won't know that the little water spirit was left behind.

"Well, either way, guess it is time to move on..."

Looking for her abandoned clothes, Rachel gets dressed again, making sure, she has all her stuff.

If the spirit is still around by then, she tells him on the astral: "Hello, spirit friend! Please, tell your master, that if we liked being watched, we wouldn't be out here."

The spirit seems to acknowledge Raven's words, but it doesn't budge. It bobs along, staring down at you from astral. It doesn't look terribly happy to be there, but perhaps it doesn't have a choice.

"You were so hot in there." I admit with a coy smile. Not breaking character and resting my eyes on Raven for a bit too long. Staying in character a tad longer is fun, and the tension levels drop when it is just a spirit. "As for you honorable nature spirit, while I respect all spirits - respect should be mutual. What you are doing is called spying, and it is disrespectful. I know you do not wish to be disrespectful, but the two of us were having a private moment, and we can't do it with you here. Is there a more respectful interpretation of your service? I promise that there is no fire here, just desire. "

In sign language, I ask Raven "Can't you just banish?"

The spirit again acknowledges what AM has to say with a little bob of its head, but it does not move away.

The good news is that the spirit is so focused on AM and Raven that it doesn't seem to have noticed either Trouble or Tamarind (nor Raven's spirits, for that matter). It seems that AM and Raven could continue their role as a distraction while the true op takes place right under the spirit's nose.

"No, never learned that. Besides, it would just hurt the little guy, and it is hardly his fault that he is here. Give me a moment, I will be right back."

Rachel lies down and then projects astrally.

"Since you are tasked with watching us, you won't be able to watch both of us, so I suggest you follow me."

Then she zips off after the fire truck. Once there, she will manifest inside, and say (making sure the chief also hears her):

"Yo, Slim! You forgot your little friend out there. He does not seem to like watching us very much, though. Please, tell your spirit to stop that. That's not our thing. Thank you!"

I look at Raven with a coy smile " Please, let's not get dressed just yet, honey. We're not finished here." I say, staying in character while removing the T-shirt. It is a dramatic gesture for me but perhaps a casual one for Rachel. It feels liberating, and I can feel the excitement brewing. In the heat of the moment, I take my tongue out at the water spirit in a childish but satisfying gesture.

Let the perv watch. It is our special day, and I am unsure if we ever get a second chance just to be here and have fun. I say as my hands reach for my unbuttoned bra to take it off. I feel super vulnerable and a bit confused and liberated and many things. If Raven does not banish that spirit, I am taking the bra off, and then...

I haven't figured out what comes next - kissing, perhaps? Or getting dressed in yet another super awkward moment. Iktomi would be having a blast either way; I know it, love him, and am at peace with it. I embrace the web.

AM gets the distinct sense that Iktomi is having a blast with this.

~~~

The water spirit stays behind and keeps an eye on AM.

Raven zips off to tattle on Slim. Slim frowns deeply at the manifestation.

"Why Slim, you old dog!" Chief says approvingly.

"I didn't know you had it in you!" says the human. He's sitting next to the elf and elbows him playfully in the ribs.

The ork, dwarf, and human all have a good laugh. Slim's expression turns into an even deeper scowl, which doesn't seem possible.

"Alright, Slim," the Chief says, relenting. "Let them have their privacy, hur hur hur."

Slim looks deeply annoyed. "They're up to something," he mutters.

"WE KNOW!!" the rest of the firefighters respond in chorus and they laugh.

~~~

Back in the cornfield, the water spirit returns to the metaplanes, looking relieved to be released.

Tamarind watches the charade through a lurking Fly Eye, carefully not keeping any recording.

She whispers to Trouble "AM is doing a good job of looking like it is her first tryst, which works for here. But when we get back to Seattle I should take the girl to a bar and get her to watch seduction in action. If she ever needs to play the part in a more developed way she needs to pick up some pointers. Raven could teach her, I suppose, but the most gifted in a topic are not always the best teachers."

"Aham... alright, I'll wait," I say awkwardly, watching the little spirit hanging there exposed without my shirt. Admitting to be a mage, she astrally projects to the truck - wow, she is so open about it. Though her aggressive play seems to work better than my passive aggressiveness.

I feel super strange when she returns... "Well, that worked; I admire your sass." I say truthfully as I dress silently. Feeling physically relieved to be more presentable and button in my pants and wear the shirt. I clean it from the sand. Recalling that I still have my wristband, I text mentally.
>> You can come out; Raven took care of it, and I did a striptease to a water spirit... They were a tough audience, not sure they appreciated it. The next person to see me take my top off better take me to dinner first.


----
Trouble hurls and pours. He seems amused, if a bit skeptical, by Tam's suggestion. She is unsure how she gets it from a cat gesture - but she is pretty sure that the cat dares her to do it.

Back in her body, Rachel stands up, and cleans the dust and earth and little pieces of the corn plants from her clothes as much as possible.

"Oh, thank you! He had it coming..."

"You did what?" She smirks. "Pretty sure the spirit wouldn't even know what to do with that."

"Anyways, I will keep an eye out, astrally, in case the elf gets nosy again."

Her senses will keep scanning the astral world for the time being. The somewhat nasty background is annoying, but thankfully, it is not overwhelmingly strong here.

I feel embarrassed but less vulnerable than before, somewhat liberated by the ordeal. Well... I might have made a sexual offer toward your empty body when you were projecting toward the fire track. It took me a moment to realize you were gone. " I pause and then say . As a distraction, I figured we could *distract* the spirit while Tam and Trouble get the RCC. So you missed my clumsy attempt at being sexy.

Trouble

Trouble is cautious - being a spirit and dual-natured may be very much visible to the patroling spirits. They may disrupt first and ask questions later - and fighting so many spirits is futile - even for the bravest of cat spirits. Disruption won't kill the immortal cat, but it would be very unpleasant and best avoided. AM's memories are crystal about it. So, the cunning cat spirit decides to get a mundane animal to do the deed for him - figuring out that the spirits would likely ignore such animals. It takes a while to find the right furry critter and then coerce it to carry the RCC down the pipe. AM does not know zoology, and Trouble does not have time to learn any, so they'll ask Bobby if it was a raccoon, miniature bear, squirrel, or whatnot. (I am not sure what we could find in Texas)

When Trouble knows the RCC is progressing, the little black cat purrs at Tamarind satisfactorily, and she can feel their voice in her mind "You'll get your prize by animals just like that Disney princess. How cool is that? I hope you can sing." the cat thinks at Tamarind, hoping to be stroked in exchange for this service.

An opossum emerges from the drainage ditch with the RCC.

The opossum drags it over to the cornfield. Tamarind can see that the device is dusty and dirty from its journey.

Upon completion of its task, it gives a guttural screech that sounds like screams from the bowels of hell. It acts angry, presuming considering Tamarind a threat or an intruder.

Before Tamarind can drop-kick the howling banshee, Trouble gives it a mental command to frag off, which it does expediently.

Tamarind is now the proud non-owner of the farm's RCC. One wonders what the drones will do without it. Probably nothing.

Tamarind gave Trouble some appreciative pats, and said "Don't tell my grandmother -- and you won't have a chance unless you can talk to the dead -- but I do appreciate the Disney Princess element. Before I was old enough for her to introduce me to the old books that she loved, she made the mistake of showing me the original Cinderella. She found an old tape of it, and my father fixed up an old player for it. I finished wearing out that tape, watching it so many times. It drove my grandmother crazy, she hated the Disney Princess trope. In the end she got her way, I went into the army, learned how to work with vehicles, got decent with computers. But deep down I still wanted to be Cinderella. Well, except for the dopey Prince part."

Once it was safe to get the RCC, she got her mark and then spent a few minutes checking on the drones. In particular, she made should that the anthro drones had instructions for performing maintenance on the rest, and that all the drones had instructions for periodic movement, to keep things from seizing up. Maybe they wouldn't be her drones, but she could at least leave them in good shape for whoever inherited them. It was too bad that they wouldn't be taking care of the rest of the farm, losing their purpose.

She looked away from the others while she wiped away a tear at the thought of the stranded drones, but then resolutely turned her mind to matters more practical. She did one last check on the farm's drones, then turned off the RCC.

Turning back, she got into the Armidillo, saying "Ownership of this can be dealt with at some point in the future. My RCC is fine for the moment. Let's get back to the hotel, and get ready for departure." Just before closing the truck's door she gave a small wave toward the farm, wishing the drones there a useful future.

AM:
I enter the Armadillo to the front seat and drive manually. Letting my thoughts run as I drive in the sparse traffic. It has been a confusing day, and I made buckets of money, burned a woman alive, and then made a fool of myself in front of a water spirit and a few firemen... I need a few hours of hot sim in my happy place ™. Yes, I have this perfect house and programmed imaginary family. At least there is one world where kids do as their mother wishes... Gosh, I have to show it to my mother, she'll love it. As for me, I want to unwind and enjoy a fake feet massage in front of the tv, in my private world. Either that or burn one of the fake kids... Its a sweet thought but I'll stick with feet massage and explore my pyromaniac/sadistic urges later when I can stomach what I may discover.

Trouble:
Trouble does not do much; he listens and appreciates the tell. "From Cinderella to G.I. Jane, is indeed quite a change!" he comments, and then sticks to being a cat.

"If you want to look like Cinderella, we can make that happen, you know..." Rachel causally remarks as she leans back in her seat.

Looking at her reflection in a mirror or window, she notices that her hair is still the fiery red.

"Doesn't look half-bad, actually," she says more to herself as she turns her head around to different sides, as if posing in front of a mirror, to see her reflection from different angles.

"I'm glad we are finally leaving this behind. The worst part was the apartment, though. Oppressive. That place is ruined for quite some time. I doubt the son will want to get back there anytime soon."

After some coordination, you meet up with Mato who is... carrying shopping bags and wearing a cowboy hat. He's also on foot.

"Sold the car," he says, holding up a credstick. "3K." He divides the proceeds five ways to share with everyone.

What's in the bag?

"Oh, uh... jeans. Not the fashionista ones we wear in Seattle. Work denim, I suppose you could say.

"YES, I know AM and Raven could mock something up for me, but I wanted something authentic. Or, at least, something that started out that way before we alter the hell out of it."

And the hat?

He shrugs. "Wanted a souvenir," he says and leaves it at that.

"C'mon, lets go home." He goes to pack up.

I accept the money without comment, the amounts we got are confusing, but I am considering saving for a better deck. These things are super crazy expensive.

"Wiz hat" I comment and add "Makes you look like a wild orc." I subtly reference the wild orc rafting when we rescued Bernt. Mato was so manly and silly, wanting to ride the rafting boat mundanely. "Did you get an overpriced CAS magnet for our fridge?" I ask with a grin.