GM: Rush
Players: Viktor, Dalton, Karya, Chaz, Criticalfault
Synopsis: Our heros get together to share notes and end up planning a trip to Atlanta.
Date: June 29, 2070
"Come in," Viktor shouts from within. Entering the apartment, the first thing you notice are arcane symbols covering the walls in what seems to be chalk. Viktor is sitting on his couch with his hand on his table in front of him, something small and furry trapped beneath his hand. The elf hunches over,
apparently mesmerized by the little thing's movements.
Dalton is invisible, and levitating, cause, well, he is paranoid at all this. He floats into the room after opening the door and moves over to an empty
spot to just hover. "So, find out anything new?" his voice coming from nowhere.
A knock on the door sounds into the apartment, a dressed, clean shaven and actually relaxed Criticalfault, waiting on the other side.
Karya walks up to the door that apperantly Crit had just knocked on. She looks a bit off today, her eyes a bit wide and she seems a little twitchy.
Also no real smile on her face, though that is all that seems wrong with her.
"I said 'Come in,'" the elf shouts again, louder. He lifts up his paw to let the mouse scurry across the table. Each time it nears the end of the table, the
elf blocks its escape route, forcing it back to the center. A cruel smile curls his lips. He addresses the thin air, "New? No, I was hoping Jace would have
something…"
Jace enters the apartment opening the front door slowly, "Hey Vik…how are you doing? Holding up good so far?" He gives a half smile, "Surprisingly,
things for me have turned around quite a bit…given all the crap i've lost. I think I found something new." He gives a rather large grin. He comes over and
sits on the couch, still grinning, "I've been thinking about some things too. I got a plan or two…but it may be rather dangerous.
Dalton hovers invisibily in the room, watching as Critical arrives, he says nothing, merly keeps his presence to himself for now.
Karya quickly makes her way into the aprtment, not even looking around much. Her eyes seem to unfocus for a moment and then a slightly sad frown
appears on her face. She blinks a few moments and looks around. Upon seeing Vik she tips her head to the side and then makes her way to the love seat and
sits down rather inelegantly. She ends up with her heels gently resting on the edge of the love seat and her arms wrap around her legs seeming to hug her
legs to herself. She gently rests her chin on her knees as she just looks straight ahead.
Dalton comments from his corner of the room, just his voice of course "Anyone else arriving, or are we full up for this session of planning?"
"What's the matter?" Viktor asks Karya, scooping the mouse up into his hands. Gently he puts the mouse into his shirt pocket and it peeks over the edge, its
little claws grasping at the material. The elf turns his gaze from the other keebler to look at the scrawny man who has quickly become his closest 'friend'
in the whole of Denver. He narrows his eyes at the man, looking him up and down. He'll pursue this later.
"We're full up." He says, leaning back. The mouse ducks into the shirt pocket and becomes inactive.
Karya's only response is to start rocking slightly on the love seat and to say, "No wind……."
Jumps at the sound of a voice that doesn't belong to a person, "Who the fuck was that?!" Jace stands up inching toward the door, then Viktor replies
as if everything was okay…He mutters to himself, "God i hate magic.." He then finally notices Karya come in, after locking the door Jace moves over to her,
"You okay? You look terrible." He frowns putting a comforting hand on her shoulder.
Dalton frowns, of course, its invisible so no one noticies "Its just me, Dalton. I'm not going to bother dropping my spell just to recast it later." he
takes a moment to examine Karyas aura though, since she is having so much trouble in here.
Viktor looks from the depressed elf to the unnaturally energetic human to the nothingness where he expects the shaman is hovering. He sighs. Maybe it would be better to just ship out and retire. The mouse scratches at the back of the pocket and Viktor remembers his simmering rage. "Alright, Jace. What you got?"
Jace now frowns deeply, obviously concerned for the woman, "Well I got a few things…one is scaling the transmission tower and install a dataline
tap in it…give me a backdoor so to speak into their system. We can shutdown the show…until they find it. I'd also like to hijack that tower during their
show to publically dennounce our relationship to Ares and junk…at least a step in the right direction. Then we go after the minions…killing our way to
the top. Jacksons gotta pay…i want to ruin him first though, so we'll need some dirt. I'll hit the trix for that soon too…just got tied up and needed to
clean my deck, fragged tried to mess with it…above their pay grade, they couldn't make anything stick. Still took me try to clean it up."
Dalton speaks from his spot in the corner "Karya looks like she is about to have a panic attack, we may have to hold off planning till later. Once you
find out more info on the trix, maybe then we can make a move, but I disagree that lots of bodies is the way to solve this. Maybe kill one or two of the
right people to stop it, but not more than that."
Karya looks at Jace and oddly enough a slight smile spreads across her face, though it isn't the normal smile she usually has. She then looks at
Dalton, "I'm ok. I had a panic attack a few hours ago, another one shouldn't hit me for at least two hours." She blinks a few times, "Damned safehouse and
the little windows."
Jace smiles and clears her hair behind her ear on the side hes standing, "Its okay, i'm just glad your okay, want me to get you some ice water? I'm
sure Vik has something for you…i think its suppose to help." Jace turns back to roughly where he thinks Dalton is, "Right well, once we get Karya squared.
We'll think over what to do next.
Crack! Viktor slams a fist into his palm, "Now that's the shit I'm talkin' about. Couped up in this fuckin' apartment, I want to bust some goddamn skulls."
The elf stands up, the mouse furiously sniffing the air, and heads toward the kitchen. He pulls out a plastic cup and pours some tap water into it, "I'll
climb that shit if you can do some damage with your deck, chum. Shit, I'll climb Mount-fucking Everest if I can make those corp slitches bleed." He drops a
few ice cubes from a beige plastic tray into the cup before returning the tray back to his freezer.
"That Jolly Roger homo probably'd be a good chummer to talk to, but he dresses like a fuckin' queer so maybe Karya could talk to him," he hands the water to
the other elf and returns to the couch. "Y'all want anything, jus' help yerselves. Got some beer n' that new Drek Cola I've been hearin' about."
To the thin air, Viktor says, "I know we got our disagreements on how ta handle shit. Yer' prolly my better half talkin', but this shit didn't happen to you.
Christ man, did you even see the shit they put in us? Heads gotta roll n' I'm ready to hit the streets and start scopin' out some of these big wig's joints."
«Auto-Judge[]» Criticalfault (#6325) rolls Willpower vs TN 6 for "Keeping cool from Viktor's words":
2 3 4 4 4 = 0 Successes
Dalton grunts "Yea, well, mass death has never been my answer to anything, the guilty are punished, and no more. Besides, you want the corp to leave you alone right? That means going after just the guilty parties, the ones behind it. If you start killing everyone in sight, it just pisses them off more."
A moment quickly flashes before Jace's eyes, white hoods, baseball bats, broken bones and shattered dreams. Jace stares at Viktor, cringing while he
rants until he finally just can't TAKE it anymore, "STOP THE FUCKING GAY BASHING." He seems REALLY surprised that he spoke..let alone screamed. He backs
slowly toward the door and opens it. He then steps out and SLAMS the door behind him.
Karya's eyes cross as she is given the water. She shrugs and just holds the cup in her hands. At the outburst she just blinks and files it away in
her mind so that she can help later if it is needed. For being so panicky, she is actually pretty observant. She says softly as she looks down her legs at
the botom of the cup she is now sortof hugging to her legs, "Ambush the head man on his own show."
Dalton arches an invisible brow, watching Jace storm off, he shakes his invisible head and waits to see what Viktor does now.
"This…" Viktor pops a pill into his mouth and swallows it with a few ounces of spit, "is a fucking freak show." He looks at the ceiling for a few moments
before putting his head in his hands and rubbing his eyes. "Listen, man," he addresses Dalton, "I ain't just gonna go stabbin' anyone with an Ares logo on
their shit. But it looks like I'm gonna have to call a friend of mine and see if I can't get my ass to Atlanta or something. They don't know me there and I
wanna see what this 'runner-reclamation program' did down there."
Dalton speaks up "Now thats a good idea, if you need help, let me know, as you can tell, I can be discreet when necessary."
Karya looks to Vik, "If you need someone to speak for you in atlanta bring me along. I can't stand to be couped up in that small windowless room any
longer. I might be able to find out more from people than you can too, no offense meant Vik but you can be a bit… uh.." She looks up at the ceiling
searching for a word, "Oh I don't know but the point is I'm more of a people person. I might be able to get more people to open up and speak to us."
The mouse squeaks from Vik's pocket and he pulls it out and pops it in his mouth. He swallows. "Good trash. Hope you got some cash, cuz I barely think I'll
be able to pay my own way to the fuckin' ATL, much less two," Viktor withdraws his cell phone.
"What you got Dalton? Any connections in 'tha Confederacy'" Viktor lays it on thick with the Southern accent. "I gotta mate from the Army, she's runnin'
T-Birds in the area. Reckon' she could fly mine and Karya's ass outta this god forsaken shit hole of a city." Vik opens his mouse again and the mouse sits on
his tongue, peering out with large, black eyes. He puts the little thing on the floor and it scurries away.
Dalton grunts "No, no contacts, but I can fly myself to Atlanta, just take me a few hours to get there really, I'll summon up a nice big spirit to get
me some real speed for once."
Karya nods once about the money thing. She raises an eyebrow as Vik swallows the mouse and then blinks rather stunned as the mouse is taken out of
Vik's mouth again and set on the floor. Her eyes go wider, "What the hell are you!? HOw the hell did you do that!?" She sounds freaked and maybe a touch more panicked than before. She isn't even sure she actually saw that happen or if she had somehow fallen asleep and dreamt it.
The elf smiles and shrugs. "Magic, I guess." He claps his hands together and manhandles his cellphone. Bringing it to his face, "Chaz. You got some time? I
need some more brain power."
Chaz knocks on the door, hmmming softly as he waits before stepping inside. "I'm here," he offers, "Time to drop your cocks and grab your socks."
Viktor raises an eyebrow and looks to Karya, unintentionally flicking a glance to her crotch. He sighs, "Sit yer' ass down, keeb, and welcome to the Viktor
Hunt Travel Agency."
Karya shakes her head and the cup of water in her hands starts to slip in her hands. She doesn't sound like she is anyless freaked or panicked,
"Magic!? Magic!?" She starts to squeek from how high her voice is getting. "You swallowed a mouse! Alive! And you took it back out of your mouth ALIVE!" She starts to get louder as she speaks. At the moment Chaz goes unnoticed as does Vik's glance.
Chaz shrugs his shoulders softly. "Ok, sounds like I missed one heck of a trick," he offers idly, moving to take a seat.
"Woman, what is WRONG with you tonight?" Viktor's face contorts in confusion, "He was in my cheek the whole time…sheesh…" He turns to Chaz, "You'd think she'd never met a friggin' magician…ya know…the ol' fashioned kind. Anyways," he gives Karya a sidelong glance, making sure she's gonna chill.
"We need to get to the ATL. You've heard about this Corp Loyalty bulldrek and you know that I am in over my head in drek. I'm no good here, but I gotta chica who can smuggle me an prolly some chummers outta Denver to the duhty South. You know dis drek better than me, what kinda prep do I need?" Viktor stands up and grabs Chaz a can of Drek Cola - Oral Explosion. "Really, try it, shit's good."
The cup drops and a soft splash sounds as the cup hits the floor and spills the water on the floor. Karya's hands had moved to her hair and is now
tugging at handfulls of the long locks. Her eyes are closed and she is breathing heavily before she says softly, "I need to get out. Idiots loosing their
tempers in my apartment sent me to a small ass safehouse with no windows. I layed low, but that meant I had to stay in the small place. No wind…. NO WIND!"
She started shaking her head halfway though speaking. "Damned Lone Star has got us all jumping at shadows, and I damned near risked my neck for Gene who's got his ass plastered on the news. I don't want to hide, I NEED THE WIND!"
"Not everyone understands the classics," Chaz says and smiles, "I'll have to show you sawing a woman in half perhaps." He takes the drink and looks to Viktor
as he talks about smuggling people. "If they're not doing the smuggling, and just assisting, you'll either need to find a way to get past checkpoints and
security or a route that bypasses most, or all, of the security. That means you'll need some high quality fake IDs, a decent vehicle probably a car or van
though an airplane may be a good choice as well. If we can get access to a plane, I can fly it. There is more, but…" he says slowly and smiles before
looking at Karya. "I might be able to help resolve some of the tension you've got there, if you'ld like."
Dalton speaks up from his corner of the room "Karya, relax, as soon as we are done here, I'll fly you back to your safehouse….would you like that?" He
almost talks as if she is a small child. "I think you better, chum." Viktor stands up and gets as close to the window as he dares. He looks out it at the city he's going to leave. "What's easier, Chaz? Gettin' a car and playin' roadtrip? Or jackin' a plane? What kinda yen we lookin' at?"
At what Dalton says she gets up, rather fast, from her seat and runs to a corner where she sits down again in much the same way as she had on the
loveseat. Holding her legs to her chest and rocking gently. She whimpers softly, "Don't take me back to the small place."
"Jesus Christ!" Viktor turns around as Karya flees. Viktor snaps a look at Chaz, "Can you handle this? She's gonna hurt herself…"
Chaz nods his head and smiles, "We'll talk about the rest in a few moments," he offers before walking over towards Karya but not completely approaching.
"Karya, I'm going to come a little closer and talk to you, is that okay? I know how you're feeling, and I think I can help you work past it, if you'll let
me."
Dalton hovers quietly and invisibly in the corner, not sure about how to calm the poor woman down without stunbolting her.
Karya blinks at Chaz and then nods silently. Her eyes are still wide and seem to shimmer slightly as if she were about to cry.
Chaz nods as he walks towards Karya, offering his hand. "I want you to give me your hand," he says, moving to kneel by her, his hand outstretched. He doesn't say anything, just sitting there with the woman.
Viktor circles aroudn the woman back into his kitchen. He hops up onto the counter and looks down at Chaz doing his best to be the Karya Whisperer. The elf
narrows his eyes. «This won't do in Atlanta.»
Karya looks at the hand as if it was going to bite her, maybe in her mind it may seem that way. She lifts one hand and tentatively places her hand in
Chaz's.
Parsley, the brown and grey tabby cat makes his presence known. "rrrrraaAARR!" he screams as he slinks out from under Viktor's cot and hops up onto the
counter. He steps onto the elf's leg and headbutts him in the face. The cat sits, becoming a fuzzy bowling pin next to his friend. His tail twitches back and
forth as elf and cat watch with cocked heads the proceedings.
Chaz smiles as he begins to slowly rub his other hand along Karya's hand, massasging a few points. "I want you to close your eyes, and just listen to the
sound of my voice. Think of a flower, a single flower, its petals a bright orange color," he says as he keeps massasging the hand, pressing down gently
against the thumb and palm. "Now, add another flower, and another. Now watch as those flowers just sway in the breeze, rocking back and forth in the ground. Some leaves floating on the breeze, falling from a happy little tree."
Doing as he says though a little warry still, Karya closes her eyes and pictures the flowers in her mind. A soft sigh comes from her and starts to
sway as if she were the flower she is picturing. This close to her, Chaz might notice the slightly darker spots under her eyes. Seems she hadn't slept well
if at all in the past day.
Parsley wags his tail back and forth. Viktor reaches over and plays with the cat's ear and it purrs heartily.
Dalton hovers somewhere out of the way, and just watches Karyas aura, hoping it gets calmer.
Chaz nods his head as he continues talking softly. "Just let yourself follow along on the breeze, being carried over the rolling hills and the green grassy
plains, the crystal clear lakes and the bright blue skies, all the little animals there, from the birds in the sky to the bunnies in the plains to the fish
in the oceans," he says as he continues to massage the hand, before humming softly, a very light melody to add to the relaxation.
Slowly Karya's head moves to rest on her knees as she finally starts to relax. Her breathing slowing to a steady rythem.
Chaz nods slowly. "Very good, now just keep that image in your mind," he offers warmly, "Any time you need to relax, just focus on that, your little happy
place. If you need me, I will be right here for you too."
The tabby cat grunts as he leaps off the counter onto the floor. He slinks over to Karya, poking his head toward her to sniff her knee. With a grunt, he rubs
his cheeks on her hands several times and brushes up against her before sitting next to her.
After a few moments her eys flutter open with a few blinks, Karya looks around the room and blushes a deep crimson. Her blush is so bad that her hair
color changes to a deep red that almost matches the color of her cheeks. She gently moves her hand to scratch the cats head idly before speaking, "Sorry
about that you guys. I don't do well in enclosed places and shut off from the world. I think I'll be ok." She lifts her head slowly from her kees and looks
at Chaz before bowing her head slightly to him, "Thank you. I won't forget your help."
Dalton says, "Glad to see your doing better now, if you ever need to get away from your safehouse, let me know, I can disguise you and you can stay in
the open as long as you like."
Viktor watches his fuzzy companion descend to comfort the disturbed woman. He frowns, but when Chaz seems able to calm her, his mood lightens a bit. "You good, Karya?" he asks, his voice softer than normal.
Karya nods and smiles, a normal smile this time. "I'll be fine Vik." At what Dalton says she actually smacks her forhead with her palm, "Oh geez, I'm
so stupid. I forgot about disguiseing myself." She shakes her head and sighs, "I can't believe I forgot that."
Parsley the tabby cat stands up again and purrs, the deep sound filling the room. He does figure eights between Karya's legs before brushing up against
Chaz's before hopping up onto the couch, where he peanuts.
Chaz nods and smiles, looking at the group. "Disguises are one way, but I think we were talking about leaving Denver for a while?"
"Ya man, need to do a little sight seeing," Viktor calls down from the counter, "What kinda yen am I gonna need to get my ass outta Denver and back?"
Chaz hmmmms, considering. "Well, the first question, do you have any alternate forms of ID? And then how do you want to travel?"
Karya nods and smiles softy, "A change of scene could be good for a few of us." She gets an idea just then, "Gene has a van and so does Storn." She
nods as this makes sence to her and she clarifies, "Gene's a good driver and Storn can smuggle. Storn would help if I asked and Gene could use sometime out
of town due to the recent appearence on the news and the raid on his apartment."
Dalton shakes his invisible head "I'm not sure how wise it is to keep adding to the list of people who know about all this. Gene does have a 50k price
on his head. Thats enough to make friendships seem less important."
"I gotta SIN from the Canton Confed. Not the right confederacy or whatever, but it's decent." The elf flicks through his cell phone's phonebook, "Other than
that, nothin' else. I don't have a pref either."
Chaz nods softly and considers. "Ok, well, I think our best bet is ground vehicle, since stealing an airplane would likely get us in a drekload of trouble
before we got very far, though if you know how to skydive, we could bail out midflight. Best to get ourselves a truck or a trailer and get out. How many
people are we smuggling?"
Karya rolls her eyes, "If it comes to money then you and I both have a price on our heads, remember that Dalton." She shakes her head, "Besides Gene
is already involved in this. That's why he has that price on his head."
Dalton grunts "When did I get a price on my head? I'm just a medic in all this. At least so far I have made no actions."
"Guess me and Karya, les ya wanna come along, too." Viktor shrugs. "A roadtrip don't sound too bad. But yea, we oughta keep this small, Karya. I think the
three of us with Dalton playin' Superman oughta do."
Chaz nods, mmmming slightly. "Ok. Well, I think I know a perfect way to get all of you out then," he says, "Assuming you trust me," he adds, looking between
the three of you.
Viktor raises an eyebrow, "Long as you ain't driving. Your old-man driving nearly got me eaten. Shit." The elf sighs, "Yea, I trust ya."
Dalton crosses his arms, still floating invisibly in the room "I'm willing to work with it, otherwise I can fly myself."
Karya shakes he rhead, "Do you not remember on that loyalty hour show, that man had said that any information on any runner would be worth some
nuyen. The exact price escapes me right now but you get the point." She looks at Vik and nods, "I know but it is a suggestion if we need it." She then looks
at Chaz and raises an eyebrow at him, "I trust you, obviously." She smiles softly at Chaz.
"Ok, so we're talking about one thousand miles to Atlanta from Denver," Chaz says, "A friend of mine has a Hermes II, I may be able to borrow it. Not really
much of a shuttle, but we should be able to book a flight plan and get ourselves out of the city and then get a vehicle and get you further from there.
Probably something like an RV, perhaps a Superkombi, since I doubt you really want to shell out for a Bison or Prairie Cat. With the Superkombi, you'ld
likely need to make four to five refuelling stops to get to Atlanta."
"I'm good with the Superkombi. On a budget here…" Vik growls as he checks his ever decreasing credstick balance. "I'm good to jump, too, but not sure about Karya here."
Dalton says, "I'm still waiting on some funds to show up, but after that I can help provide for this expedition. And, if we all jump out of a plane, I
can handle everyone.""
Karya blinks and then squeels. Maybe not the typical reaction to being asked to jump out of a plane. "Sooooo cool. Let's jump out of a plane! I want
to jump out of a plane!" She giggles and grins as that is all she can focus on at the moment.
"Shit, I've never seen someone so excited about plummeting to what could be a messy death." Viktor doesn't know what to think about this schizo girl. He's
only known a mellow Karya…this one's all over the place. "Good Drek, Chaz. Knew you were the right keeb to call."
Karya laughs brightly, "I've got a few quirks, that's all." She smiles brightly, "Anyway, you are the one who suggested it first."
BE SURE TO PARENT THIS PAGE TO INDEX:LOGS
|
