Roadtrip Pt I: Introduction to Ingrid

GM: Frank Peretti
Players: Simone, Frank Peretti
Synopsis: Frank is helping out his new gang in the following way. His old gang "The Huns" are nomadic and leave Denver in the winter for the South for warmer climates. They are currently in Apache Junction, AZ. They ran out of funds faster than they had planned and have called Frank to do a little gun-smuggle job to help them get some money to last the rest of the winter. Frank has picked up the guns (Steyr TMP machine pistols) and stored them in the various smuggling compartments in his motorcycle for a delivery to Phoenix Arizona. This RP log starts with meeting up with Simone in the Warrens, crossing the border into the CAS sector and then heading South towards Colorado Springs. On the way they stop to fuel up and get their weapons and gear out of hiding now that they are away from the border police and they come across some trouble in a gas station. Simone saves a girl by knocking out a mugger/teenage girl abuser and then holds his companion criminal at gunpoint in the gas station's women's restroom. Frank arrives in the restroom to assist and the girl (named Ingrid) and Simone head out the back.

Due to one of the guys vowing to find Ingrid and kill her… Simone decided it best to end their lives, giving Frank the nod to do the deed after she got Ingrid out the back of the gas station. Frank kills the man that is alive with a knife and then takes care of the knocked out fella with the knife as well. To cover their tracks (DNA as well as video evidence), Frank starts a fire in the restroom and uses the evacuation/chaos to break into the employee office with Simone's assistance and take the camera control box/recorder (with minor shoplifting).

They head off with Ingrid driving the car (once owned by the two dead guys) and Simone in the back seat. Simone and Ingrid are mildly injured. Frank leads the way on his motorcycle and they get out of there before police/fire arrive.

Once out and away from the area they decide that Frank is going to hide his motorcycle and then drive them to a nearby town's bus station where they can get a bus back to Denver. Simone is going to take Ingrid to her Aunt's talismongering shop in the Warrens. Frank is going to stay with the car and find a place to dispose of it and then hitchhike back to his motorcycle's hidden location.

The two (2) credsticks procured from the thugs in the bathroom they give to Ingrid.

+- Consent

Date: January 9, 2075

IC Email

To: Simone
From: Frank

S,

I lined up things for the ride South we talked about. Let me know if you can go this coming Saturday. I will have picked up the passengers before I meet up with you so you don't have to worry about meeting those people. Feel free to bring a backpack. I'll have saddlebags with food/water/gear and also a small luggage rack behind your backrest where we can strap on your pack. Be sure to bring a scarf and goggles and thermal underwear and such. It's going to be a chilly ride until we get down out of the mountains.

Frank

** GM Frank Peretti **
Frank has been asked by Augustus Delaney (Gang leader of 'The Huns') to transport a load of Glocks down from Denver to Phoenix, AZ. 'Gus' has set up the deal and Frank is getting a cut of the profits after he delivers the guns to the buyer in Phoenix. Afterwards, Frank is supposed to bring the payment to The Huns where they are currently holed up staying with a local gang in Apache Junction, AZ on the Apache Trail at the base of the Superstition Mountains. The local gang they are staying with are called the Loose Cannons.

IC Email

To: Frank
From: Simone

F,

Saturday is great. I'm as ready as I'll ever be. See you then!

Simone

stock-footage-the-poor-live-in-makeshift-slums-during-the-winter-in-an-american-city.jpg

Saturday morning, Frank finishes packing up his gear into his saddlebags and his backpack; strapping on a sleeping bag and rolled sleeping mat on the front fender below the headlight of his Harley-Davidson Scorpion. On the bottom of one saddlebag he has a camouflage net, four MRE packages and a canteen and mess kit. On the other side of the bike in the other saddlebag he has a savior advanced medkit, high powered binoculars, a pocket flashlight, micro-transciever, sub-vocal mic, pocket secretary, bug scanner and micro-camcorder. Frank is leaving the small back luggage rack/platform to strap on Simone's items when he meets up with her.

Three hours before he meets up with Simone, Frank connects with the Arms dealer at the edge of the Warrens and picks up 10 Steyr-TMP machine pistols (serial numbers removed - illegal wares). The contact was set up with Gus and it's the long standing deal with The Huns that has sold the agreement and allowed Frank to be the one to transport the goods to their buyer in Phoenix. Frank packs the items carefully into his newly created secret compartment in his Harley and then he heads off for last minute details.

10:00 am - Saturday Morning

Frank pulls into the parking lot of the local nightclub; nice and quiet this time of day. And waits at the appointed location for Simone's arrival for the trip.

Simone is right on time… -ish… Okay, so she's 20 minutes late, but she finally gets to the meeting place in as much a hurry as one can be in when they're not the actual driver of the vehicle — she hops out of an automated cab wearing her olive parka and faded leathers, slings a well-stuffed bag over her shoulder and angrily slots a credstick, but it's not like her displeasure will be computed by the autonav-guided sedan. It makes her feel a little more in control though. She quickly trots over to Frank as the cab crawls away while trying to manage her swaying bag and sweep a lock of hair from her eyes. "I'm so sorry I'm late..!" She's wide-eyed and sincerely apologetic, and dives into a lengthy explanation of why she was delayed.

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Upon Simone's arrival, Frank is sitting on the seat of his Harley facing the left with both feet on the ground. His bike is leaning slightly on its stand to the left and the front wheel turned to the left in the parking position. The headlight is off and the engine is not running.

Frank is holding onto a paper cup that is about half full of coffee, purchased after ten minutes of waiting from a nearby vendor in the building across the street. Frank has his thick armored leather biker jacket on as well as heavy looking black riding gloves (winter issue). A grey scarf is wrapped around his neck and a face wrap skull mask has been pulled down under his chin as well for drinking of the coffee. The biker's flat-black helmet has been removed and is resting on the speedometer of the bike with a pair of riding goggles; and in their place on his head is a black knit cap for warmth while he waits.

As Simone gets out of the auto-cab, Frank nudges up off the bike and finishes his coffee in a big lukewarm gulp and then crumples the paper cup and drops it on the ground nearby without worry of the enviro-cops arresting him here in the Warrens.

As Simone starts to walk near him, Frank walks around the bike and opens up the far side saddlebag to remove a small bungee net and cords for strapping on Simone's gear to the small back platform behind the rear seat.

"Hey there lady,"… "Oh, don't worry about being late," Frank offers with a big charismatic grin, "It's going to be a nice long ride, the wait has helped me climatize to the cold a little bit, don't worry about it."

Frank questions his new friend as she nears the bike, "How was your week? I haven't seen you since we first talked about this trip, I guess we've both had a lot on our plates lately yeah?"

Simone's cab seems to be reconsidering its route, pausing for a little too long at an intersection just a short ways down the street before turning down an alley, but before it has the chance to do so, a small group of neighborhood children dart out from a nearby tenement and begin assaulting the unmanned vehicle with sticks and rocks and cans of spraypaint.

"I'm alright, thanks, the holidays were good." She nods and smiles, offering brief glances up at Frank, shy about committing to an endeavor of this scale, but enthusiastic. "Thanks," she offers as he readies the bungee net for her things. She hastily unbuckles the sealing flap of her bag and folds it back to remove a couple items which are pocketed, and before she closes it back up she readies a pair of modern yet vintage-styled goggles on her forehead. "I'm excited! And I can't wait to get out of this cold." Her breath is steaming up the air as she speaks, and she looks at the cloud as a perfect example of why she wants to hit the road.

«Auto-Judge[]» Frank Peretti (#5894) has the Contact William Baxter with the following information:

Contact Name: William Baxter
Level: 1
Type: border patrol
GM Note: CAS Border officer. Frank Peretti (Aka: Prospect) ran a duffel of handguns through the Warrens into the UCAS sector on the East side of the Warrens for William. Williams was hard up to pay off some gambling debts and Prospect was the guy that helped him out of his problem by transporting some illegal guns for him to turn enough profit to get out of trouble.

Frank assists with the packing when he can, securing the bag onto the little platform and tight against the back of the backrest (sissy bar) of the motorcycle to make sure it isn't going to get loose or go anywhere while traveling down the road. A bungee cord is his first layer of securing and then a couple cords over that just to make sure her things are nice and safe. While he works on this he chats casually enough for most people to think it's not prodding or nosing, but with enough pointed eye contact to let Simone know that he is genuinely and personally interested in her well being and comments, "New Years Eve was crazy at the Wanderers' there was a big fight right at midnight when one fella kissed another guys girl. One guy almost bled out from a knife wound and several people had to get patched up and stitched up as well. There wasn't a lot of property damage, mostly because everything in the place isn't worth any money to begin with," he offers with a silly grin.

** GM Frank Peretti **
Frank has already contacted William Baxter - Border Patrol officer on the CAS/Warrens border. In the past, William has gotten into some gambling debt problems and mixed it up with smuggling guns across the warrens to make up his shortfall and settle his debts. It has been Frank who has agreed to help him out running those guns in the past. Now though, Frank has a nice new secret compartment on his motorcycle and it should be a lot easier for William to appear strict and efficient in the vehicle searches if other border patrol officers are nearby during an inspection. — Frank has made sure that William Baxter is on duty and knows that he plans on crossing over from the Warrens into the CAS sector around 11:00 am this Saturday morning.

Simone readies herself during the bungee webbing by snugging her gloves on tight by pulling at the wrists, layering a heavy white infinity scarf over her hair, then pulling the fur-lined parka hood up over it all. "Oh my…" She looks concerned about the fight, but cracks a bit of a smile at the property damage comment. "So everyone survived, at least? Damn. I'm sort of glad I didn't make it down there. I just didn't want to be in the Warrens for the celebration. No telling what kind of craziness went on here…"

The children in their makeshift winter clothing have chased the cab out of sight, with its automated announcements to step back and desist from vandalizing the vehicle fading into the distance.

«Auto-Judge[]» Frank Peretti (#5894) rolls Gang Rumors vs TN 4:
3 4 4 = 2 Successes

Frank finishes up with the securing of Simone's gear and then pulls a biker's helmet out of the bag and hands it out towards Simone, waiting for the handoff before he refastens the leather straps and buckles on the right side saddlebag before pulling the skull face mask up from under his chin to where it is just over his nose and under his eyes. The biker pulls his grey scarf up as another layer of protection from the winter cold and then pull picks up his flat-black biker's helmet and starts fastening it on as he chats, "The apartment building two blocks east of here that is protected by the Mongrels lost their top floor last night to a fire. The rumor is that some home-made fireworks didn't go off safely and one of them shot down an air vent and into the living room of someone. Nobody was killed, but the ten apartments were a complete loss."

"Oh wow…" She grimaces at the building fire story. "Yeah, I'm very glad I didn't stick around the Warrens then. I went out drinking in the CAS and just crashed in a coffin. Pretty uneventful. That's how I like things." Simone rearranges her headgear situation to include the helmet by pulling the parka hood and scarf down, putting the helmet directly on her head and finagling the parka hood over the top because she knows how cold the trip through Rockies on bike can be, even when it's not -winter- winter. This makes her head ginormous, but she should be fairly warm. She claps her gloved hands together and rises onto her tiptoes for a moment, excitement making her antsy. "Are we ready?" She can't help but grin, and even behind her scarf, it's obvious that she's smiling like a child.

Frank nods at the question and also eye-smiles before pulling his tinted goggles over his eyes, "This is going to be great. I'm not going to make a race of it though, I want it to be relaxing and enjoyable," he explains.

Frank steps up to the left side of the Harley and flips his right leg over casually and then sits down, flips the stand up with his left foot and then reaches down with his right gloved hand and twists the key forward that is down in front of the V-twin modified engine/suspension. The headlight turns on as the key initiates the ignition process and the speedometer lights up slightly (almost imperceptible in daylight). After the sensors confirm the engine is ready to start the lights on the speedometer turn off and then Frank presses the start button.

"Climb aboard Senorita", he offers in a fluid Spanish accent.

Simone takes a deep breath and straddles the bike behind Frank, ready for adventure and whatever comes their way. She places her hands at Frank's waist lightly, ready to adapt to the movement of the bike or to switch her grip to the seat frame if need be. She howls and laughs through her scarf, loud enough to be heard over the engine.

Frank doesn't mention anything about the ten machine pistols hidden inside the bike in the secret compartment, just in case ears are listening; and the less she knows the less she can be forced to reveal at the checkpoint at the border.

Frank drops the Harley into first gear with the clutch lever on the left handle grip pulled back and then releases it and rolls the throttle slowly back to give the engine some fuel through the fuel injection system. The engine offers its old-fashioned American power as the two roll on out of the parking lot and out onto the street.

The temperature drops an easy 20 degrees more as the wind adds to the wind-chill and the two start heading due West, straight for the CAS border.

Sim leans her head slightly to the side to peer over Frank's shoulder as the pair rumbles into sight of the checkpoint. She zooms her goggles in to take stock of the situation ahead…

+- Checkpoint Info

Simone squeezes Frank's waist and calls out, just loud enough to be heard at his ear, "Um… Before we hit the checkpoint… I have a gun…" She seems a bit reluctant to admit this, but apparently thinks it's in their best interest to come up with a plan if necessary, to get it across the series of checkpoints before hitting the open road.

Frank hears Simone's comment a ways from the checkpoint and flips on his blinker and pulls into the parking lot of a bowling alley and casually rolls towards the rear of the parking lot to come to a stop near a dumpster that hides most of the bike from the street. He drops the Harley into neutral and then releases his grip on the clutch and nods, "I have to put mine away also, let's go ahead and dismount so we can stow them away."

The girl climbs off and begins to undo the lashings holding her bag down. "Sorry… I just wanted to make sure I had it. Just in case. And I figured I should let you know before we head through." She peers over her shoulder.

Simone undoes the flap of her bag once more and prepares to hand Frank a small bundle which she has wrapped in a black blouse. When she pulls it out, a sleeve dangles down and she coils it back around her illegal cargo. It appears to be enough for two guns, really, and the various items make scraping noises against each other as she handles the clothing-wrapped package.

«Plot» Simone says, "Bundle consists of: Morrissey Alta (Con 6), Silencer (Con -2, but unattached), two spare clips, concealable quickdraw holster. For the record, the gun is loaded with APDS, and the spare clips are as well."

"Umm…" Simone considers a few other possessions she's brought along, and waits to see if there might be space for those as well. She appears to be making another clothing-wrapped package within the confines of her messenger bag.

Frank dismounts the bike and smiles to Sim under the face mask and scarf, "I completely agree. I spend most of my time in the Rens so the guns are just a part of me, I can't even imagine what it would be like living in other parts of the city where they have strict laws and people are always looking to see how they can put you in the big-house."

Frank reaches under his seat and presses a hidden button and this flips the seat upward and to the side. Nothing weird about that, you can see the top of the battery and cables, some wires and a computer box for the electronics controls.

With the seat up now he removes a Morrissey Alta from his person and a silencer and then reaches down to the battery and turns one of the yellow cell caps. Turning the cap makes the battery 'click' slightly and the top tilts upward and exposes that it's a fake battery where he puts in his gun and the silencer, barely enough room but he puts it in at an angle as if he's done this before.

Pressing the battery lid back down the biker/smuggler turns the yellow cap again and locks it closed and then with the seat still up he twists the securing nut of the tank clockwise as if to tighten it and then pushes down on the nut and a click is heard again. The tank tilts upward and reveals it is hollow. Inside this larger compartment are a few Steyr TMP machine pistols packed very close and carefully, it's here that Frank adds an Ares Viper Slivergun, his holsters and a short Cougar Fineblade. With a little room left he turns to gather up Simone's weapons as he explains, "The battery is straight forward but the concealed part was making an actual working battery that didn't look like a battery. A portion of the back of the seat under the padding is a custom made battery shaped like a large kidney with the curve of the seat. The nice part is, it's a slight butt warmer," he offers with a chuckle and then adds, "The steel tubular frame of the bike is hollow, that is where my fuel is. The entire frame acts as a gas tank with a little fuel pump down under the engine at the lowest point of the frame behind the clutch assembly cowling."

There is room for Simone's Alta and silencer as well as the clips and holster but that looks like it's all the space can hold.

Frank closes up the tank and secures it back in place before asking, "What other items do you have? I'm at about ninety percent capacity now for the hiding compartments."

Simone looks indecisive, but finally pulls out one small item wrapped up in a blue argyle sock. "Well… Can this go?" It's a small thing, not much larger than a couple of credsticks bundled together. She has an apologetic posture, shrugging her shoulders and offering her palms toward the sky.

«Plot» Simone says, "R3 Maglock Passkey in a sock!"

Frank nods with a smile under his face mask, a soft swirl of breath-mist in the cold comes from his mouth area, "You bet, that should fit okay," Under his tinted goggles he offers Simone a wink and then closes the seat down and presses down so that it will latch. Walking around to the right side of the bike, Frank bends down into a squat and then extends his hand so that Simone can hand him the item.

The sock and its illegal cargo are handed over and Simone makes another assessment of the contents of her bag before seeming to accept that they just have to keep their bags from being searched and that's all there is to it. She closes the bag again and re-lashes the bungee cords to secure it. The most illegal of her items have been stowed in the concealed compartments, so unless there's real cause for an in-depth search, it should be okay. She considers making a phone call though, and puts her hands on her hips, turning to look out toward the street.

Frank accepts the sock and then reaches under the right side leather saddlebag and fingers behind it against the shock absorber area and then pulls to the right and down. The bottom 1 1/2 inches of the saddlebag tilts down to reveal the bottom portion of the saddlebag is a secret compartment. Inside are two Steyr TMP machine pistols and just enough room for the sock, but no more. Frank slips the sock into place between the pistols and then presses the fall-out bottom upward and then presses it to the left until it stops and then reaches behind the bag and fidgets some more until a soft click is heard and the compartment is secured closed again.

Frank stands up while taking in a deep breath, "Okay love, I think we're ready."

Simone keeps her body turned toward the street but angles her head to look at Frank, unsure if he was talking to her or the motorcycle. She quirks her mouth to the side and folds her arms, then reaches one hand up to her face to make sure her heavy scarf is secured over her nose. "…You—? Ah… Yes, okay…" She steps over to the bike, ready to remount and take their chances at the border.

Frank comes back around to the left side of the bike and mounts it, restarts it and steadies it for Simone to climb on for the continuation to the border about a block away.

Sim clears her throat and throws her right leg over the bike behind Frank, her leather pants making a soft rasping sound against the seat as she settles in
and takes his waist once again. She leans her head back and looks to the sky, hoping for the best of luck…

Frank eases the bike out from behind the dumpster and across the parking lot, back onto the street and towards the line of vehicles waiting to get from the Warrens back into the CAS Sector.

Frank comes up casually behind an old beater pickup truck and comes to a stop, idling the engine of the powerful cycle as it gurgles and rumbles beneath them.

The traffic looks fairly normal, small movements forward, some taking longer than others. There are about fifteen more vehicles ahead of the motorcycle and about a five to ten minute wait before they get into position themselves to interact with the border patrol officers.

After moving forward and achieving a position of only five vehicles head of them, Frank turns his head to offer a quiet comment, "The officer ahead on the left is someone I know, he should try and balance the scale of justice in our favor. Well… According to what we txt'd about last night anyway."

A dirty old black crow lands on top of the patrol booth ahead. Inside the booth a patrol officer female can be seen through a semi-dirty window looking out at the line of vehicles as if examining them, glances to computer displays or monitors inside the heated office. Likely scanners of some type and cameras doing distance inspections as the vehicles near.

Simone is slightly nervous as they approach the booth, but she's always a little on-edge at the border stations. She'd like to think she'd be a little more at ease, having done this a thousand times before, but it always spooks her when she has to keep her cool when sneaking illegal things from one sector to the next. Luckily though, the security seems bored to tears and the dirty crow is a very good omen in the girl's opinion, so this brightens her spirits somewhat. She closes her eyes behind her goggles and begins a breathing exercise. Frank can likely feel that her breathing rhythm has changed since she's pressed against his back, but it's not panicked, just a slow, deliberate series of deep inhales and exhales from the diaphragm.

+- Perception, Paranoia

The breathing change catches Frank's attention, not that it's anything that startles or concerns him, it's just that something has changed and that draws attention. In this case though, it's got him thinking about how he can feel her up against his back and his mind stops concentrating on looking bored and nonchalant at the border crossing and his mind starts wandering into a daydream of… what if. What if it was summer and they were out on some back country road on the bike, basking under a hot sun with her behind him on his bike and she was topless. His mind whizzes through an entire afternoon under the shade of a big oak tree in the middle of a field and he hasn't even realized that he's moved several vehicles ahead and come to a stop and William Baxter, CAS border patrol officer 2nd class is repeating to him, "Sir… Sir… may I see your I.D."

Frank snaps out of it, awkwardly.

The border officer on the right side (the guy that Frank did not say he knew) looks to Simone, "Miss, can I see your SIN please?" The guy is in his mid twenties and looks fairly 'green' to the profession, a newbie that is still determined to make the world a better place.

Frank reaches up to a pocket on the left sleeve of his leather jacket and pulls out a credstick and hands it to his secret ally and partner in past crimes, "Oh, sorry about that Sir. Waiting in lines makes me daydream."

Simone has been trying to subtly alert Frank to the guard's presence by squeezing him tightly, but he eventually seems to come back to reality. Simone tries to whip up an excuse on the spot to explain the behavior.

+- Excuses, Excuses

Officer William Baxter pretends to scan Frank's credstick as he presses a 'calibration/test' button on the scanner to make it beep like a normal scan. He waits a few seconds and then hands the credstick back to Frank, "Thank you Timothy Reynolds, have a good day. Welcome to the CAS Sector."

… But.. Simone is still being examined.

Simone plays along with Frank's excuse, but to her own guard. "ADD…" She shrugs exaggeratedly and tries to play it off like a sort of 'you know how it is' kind of thing. Besides, Attention Deficit Disorder is so common in this age of tech-induced distractions that it can be used for any number of situations. But the important thing is that she makes it believable, and that's what counts. She rifles through her pockets and hands over a credstick with her SINfo to the newbie officer on her side.

Ranger Rick scans Simone's credstick, a brief glance at how her legs are wrapped around Frank he gives just a half second glare at the asshole biker that seems to get hotter looking girls than he can get and he's got the legit job with the full medical benefits. He scans Simon's SIN, it passes quickly and he hesitates a moment, holds his comment and hands it back to her with a smile, "Have a good day Ms. Roth."

Simone's eyes widen behind her goggles and she makes an attempt at a believable smile while her heart races and she continues her breathing exercise. "Thank you," she murmurs and turns away from Ranger Rick as she pockets her credstick and grips Frank again, eager to be away from here. She looks up to the crow as if she suspects it might have something to do with this, but she knows that can't be possible… right?

Frank pockets his credstick into the leather jacket's sleeve pocket and then nods to the 'stranger', squeezes the clutch lever and drops the transmission assembly into 1st gear and then rolls gently on the throttle as he heads forward, slipping the clutch forward with his left hand as they move on away from the border crossing.

The old dirty crow on the border crossing shack takes to the skies, as if having came and completed why it was here. It heads up into the glare of the sun and then….. where'd it go?

Frank gets into his long-road groove, posture relaxed and leaned back against Simone just slightly, feet moved to the forward highway pegs up further at the front of the engine frame and his overall 'on Rens ALERT' stature gently melts to a less paranoid level as miles begin to grow between them and the city dangers left behind. Down through the CAS Sector and then out into the opens away from the big city they roll on two wheels of raw UCAS built V-Twin power.

«Auto-Judge[]» Frank Peretti (#5894) rolls Smuggling Routes:
2 7 8

Frank has laid out their route to stay out of the mountains as much as possible, ice is the enemy of a four wheeled vehicle but on two wheels, it's a suicide ride.

Heading South out and away from Denver they ride on Highway 25, due South with road signs that explain what is waiting for them on this road - Colorado Springs, Pueblo, Sante Fe, Albuquerque. It's Albuquerque that he plans on breaking Westward up and over the mountain into Arizona all the way into Flagstaff (only 20-30 minutes) North of Sedona where Simone says she owns a small bit of land for them to relax at for a bit before heading on to Phoenix for the gun sale.

From Denver to Sedona it looks like a solid 12 hour drive with Albuquerque being about the 6 hour mark, a nice long butt-bashing 6 hour ride before they can stop and set up camp further South where the weather will be a good 20 degrees warmer than Denver. It'll be nice to have highs of 70's during the day before they head up and over the mountain the next morning.

Once they get a solid ten miles outside of Denver, it's still a good ride to Colorado Springs, Frank finds an exit and puts his blinker on to the right, easing onto the exit and then stopping at the stop sign on the crossing road that heads under Highway 25.

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The exit has a nearby gas station/truck stop as well as an adult dance club/pornography store nearby. It's the gas station that Frank picks, though it is busier (2 semi-trucks and three vehicles) than the porn shop, Frank picks the gas station to take a short break at, trying to be the gentleman.

Pulling the bike to a stop on the back side of the gas station away from the street and gas pumping vehicles observation he turns the engine off and then twists slightly and looks back to Simone, "I thought it smart for us to re-arm now that we're out and made it clear of inspections."

** GM Frank Peretti **
Google Maps - 10 miles South looks to be near Castle Rock

Simone makes a series of tiny nods, three in fact, but doesn't move or speak, waiting for Frank to take the first step. She's either lost in thought or in total agreement, but all her head gear makes it hard to tell aside from the nodding. She still holds Frank's hips, even with the bike parked.

Frank pulls his thick riding gloves off and rests them in his lap between his crotch and the gas tank and then rests his arms back on Simone's legs and places his hands casually on her knees, "Do you need to use the restroom in the station or pick up any last minute items? Colorado springs is about 20 miles up and then after that it's a good stretch before we come across anything that could pass as civilization again."

Simone lingers for a moment, looking more like an extra from a post-apocalyptic sim than anything, but eventually turns away to look toward the back entrance of the rest stop. She pulls her scarf down from her face and pushes her goggles up onto her forehead and it becomes obvious that she's blushing. "I should use the restroom," she says with a poorly hidden smile that creeps up onto her face. She then begins to gently push Frank forward so she can dismount the bike and make her way to the door. "Want me to get you anything?" She continues to smile and makes only fleeting eye contact.

Frank leans forward to let Sim dismount, "A couple packages of those hot cinnamon gummy bears would be awesome.. thanks!" He considers a moment, "I'm going to pull our items out of hiding and put them in the saddlebag on the right side of the bike, then pull around front and fill up on gas. Meet you in front?"

Sim presses her hands against Frank's shoulders to rise up and pull her leg over the bike, then takes a couple steps while pulling the helmet and hood off. She shakes out her hair and then looks back with a stupid grin and bites her lower lip. "Okay, spicy bears. Back in a second." She then trots the rest of the way with helmet in hand and takes a last brief glance back at the biker as she pulls the door open before disappearing inside.

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The rear door of the gas station opens up into a white title floor hallway with white walls. There is a plastic like paneling from shoulder height down to the floor to cut down on smudges and grime that collects from people moving through this area. On the right is a men's restroom door, on the left is a woman's restroom door. Ahead in the hallway it can be seen to open up into your standard well lit gas station with rows of shoulder high double sided shelving criss-crossed to make people wander and zig-zag if trying to get back to the cooler/cold drinks area in the back. The shelf directly visible from the back hallway door looks to hold bags of pretzels, chips and jerky.

+- Perception

Outside -> Frank dismounts his bike and watches Simone head into the back of the gas station. He waits for her to enter completely before he takes off his goggles, lest she see him observing her with such curious interest and she deduce his growing attraction for her.

Now 'alone', he turns to retrieve the various items from the different locations on the bike, putting his own things on his person and then putting Simone's items inside the right side saddlebag.

Simone tunes in to the sobbing immediately and makes the quietest steps she can toward the women's room but the low heels of her ankle boots may hinder any attempt at stealth on the floor tiles. She's just trying to hear if there is any immediate trouble occurring in the room itself, not necessarily trying to sneak up on the crying woman. She tucks her hair behind one ear and leans her head toward the door, nearly pressing against the surface but not quite. She just wants a better grasp of the situation before she intrudes on a private moment or interrupts a possible conflict.

Simone can hear from the other side of the woman's restroom door:
Lady sobbing.
Man's voice, 'I told you to shut up.'
More lady sobbing, catching her breath as if scared.
Man's voice, "Bitch! Shut your damn mouth right now."

Simone is intrigued by the drama unfolding in the gas station bathroom. She's also a bit scared, both for the crying woman and for herself if she had just barged in, but she can't help but eavesdrop. As quickly as possible, she replaces her goggles and scarf to disguise her face, then slips the parka hood back up as well to cover her distinctive hair. The bike helmet remains in her right hand, gripped tightly in case she needs to use it as a club. Her conscience is urging her to break up whatever scene is happening, but self-preservation keeps her at the door.

Inside the gas station women's restroom:
Lady stops suddenly.
A pause…
Various small items can be heard landing on the tile floor and rolling/sliding to a stop.
Man's voice, "Shit!"
Woman sobs.
Man's voice, "Damn it.. be quiet."

Still listening, Simone's free hand creeps toward the door handle without her even realizing it…

From the gas station's women's restroom:
Man's voice, "Ah, there it is."
Something lands on the tile floor with a soft thud.
Lady's voice, "No, please!"
SMACK !!

«Auto-Judge[]» Simone (#7451) rolls Intelligence for "Cashier line?":
1 3 3 5 5 7

From Simone's location she does not have a direct line on the cashier nor the immediate area in front of the cashier. A line would have to be a good 6-7 people deep before it stretched out far enough to be visible from this deep back in the rear hallway.

Simone halts her hand, deciding not to barge in on the bathroom situation. At least, not yet anyway. She begins taking quick steps out into the rows of shelves and begins rooting around for a couple items. After a moment she lowers her scarf for some semblance of normalcy, to keep from looking entirely like a thief or something. She keeps the hood up and the goggles on though.

+- Scrounging

** GM Frank Peretti **
Simone has only just exited the back hallway and stepped out into the main gas station area when:
Simone can see the cash register area has one employee and one person is paying for their fuel and a few small items.
Simone can see between a couple shelves that the paint/oil/WD-40 (water displacement formula #40) and such vehicle items are along the front wall nearest the gas pumps.
Simone can see to her right the back wall is the cooler area, with cold drinks and frozen microwave sandwiches and the like line the wall with advertisements placarding the glass doors liberally.
Simone can see one of the three vehicles in the front by the road pulling away from a gas pump and heading back towards the access road to the highway.
Simone hears a door behind her opening up.

She straightens up from her hasty shelf searching and begins to speedwalk over to the auto sprays and the paint cans across the store now that she's realized where they are. The possibility that the moving vehicle is coming around back to pick up the abusive man and the crying woman crosses her mind so she snatches a can of red spraypaint and reverses direction, heading back to the hallway. The lighters are most likely behind the counter anyway, and she can't spare the time to buy anything if she wants to help ASAP. Clickclickclick go her heels as the paint can clackclackclacks. At the very least, she might be able to blind the man with paint if it comes down to that…

+- Speedwalking FTW

Simone is nimble and fast on her feet. She is able to snatch up a can of red spraypaint. As she turns from her acquiring her can of paint she can hear the back hallway door open up. She's pretty sure it's the back exit door because she can hear a Harley-Davidson's distinctive engine sound starting out back through the hallway. People and/or things don't seem to be slowing her down right now though, it won't be long before she has access to that back door.

+- Inits, Intentions

Racing swiftly and nimbly between the shelving units, Simone is like a nimble antelope on the African plains. As she gets the back of the hallway into view again she can see the back door is open and a balding middle-aged man of about 240 lbs has his back to her and is halfway through the open doorway.

Simone slinks into the hallway with her borrowed helmet in one hand and an unpaid-for can of spraypaint in the other. She lets the man leave through the back door without a word, and tries the door of the women's room after setting the helmet on her head.

+- Inits

The door to the women's restroom pushes open easily.

Simone can see the lady inside. She appears to be about sixteen years of age, long red hair and wearing a navy p-coat. The young girl is sitting on the dirty tile floor and gathering up items from her purse from the floor. She looks up as Simone pushes the door open and Simone can see she has been recently struck in the side of the face (red/swollen and will likely be terribly bruised). The girl has been crying and her makeup at the eyes is smeared.

Simone begins to take a cautious step toward the girl but pauses and very quickly does a double take, leaning her head out toward the back door to make sure Bathroom Bob isn't coming back in. She also takes a look in the other direction in the off chance that she might spot Frank. "Are you..?" The German realizes it's absurd to ask a girl who's just been beaten if she's okay, so she remains silent until she gets a reaction.

The back door closes shut with a metallic bang, the guy from the bathroom has now fully departed.
Frank does not seem visible from this position.
The girl looks ready to bust out bawling but something is holding it back, probably the woman she has never seen before standing in the doorway.
The girl speaks in fluent German, "Ich kann nicht glauben, dass Arschloch stahl meine Kredstab."

Simone must be a strange sight to the young girl, bike helmet over parka hood, with goggles on and a can of spraypaint in her hand, but she picks up her native language immediately, even pinpointing the poor girl's regional accent. She responds in German instinctively. "Shit. Shit. Are you bleeding, stabbed? Do you know him?" She spouts off her rapid fire questions and her adrenaline kicks in so she starts bouncing on her toes, torn between either trying to tend to the girl's injuries, go run down Frank to get his help, or to just pursue the asshole herself.

The girl on the bathroom floor offers in fluent German, it looks like she is so grateful that someone speaks her language that she spills forth with words so fast she almost trips on her own tongue, so happy to not feel helpless and alone any longer, "He was giving me a ride up from Colorado Springs to Denver. Him and his friend Tony. I just met them this morning at a rest stop there and they said they'd give me a ride up to Denver."

With all this info being revealed, Simone enters the bathroom and sets the spraypaint on the sink to pull out her phone. She hastily texts Frank what's happening. As she's typing, she tries to console the young girl, telling her she'll try to help.

«Text Message to Frank Peretti's Pre-Pay from Simone's Burner»
Girl attacked/robbed, go around back, have to help

«Auto-Judge[]» Frank Peretti (#5894) rolls Intelligence vs TN 4 for "A good look at the driver":
1 1 2 3 3 = 0 Successes

Meanwhile - Unknown to Simone inside —> Frank was starting his Harley (named Rose) at the back of the gas station when the man opened the door. It took only a few seconds for the man to come out and the door to re-close. Frank has put his bike into gear and started to pull forward; his plan/intention to ride around the front of the gas station and get some fuel as Simone is in taking a potty break and picking up some cinnamon bears.

After having moved up to the side of the gas station building, Frank is rolling along at around 15 miles per hour when a dark brown four door sedan comes zipping on past him faster than is safe and heading to the back of the gas station. This creates the 'middle finger' response from Frank as the driver speeds by. Sun glares off the windshield and Frank doesn't get a good look at the asshole inside.

As he passes the vehicle he starts to look at the license plate but is distracted by his pre-pay cellphone buzzing in his inside chest pocket of his armored leather biker jacket.

The girl finishes up picking up her lipsticks and various other purse items, ironically a 'mace' spray bottle that wasn't able to be retrieved and used when needed was one of the items inside.

Simone is inclined to help the girl gather her things out of sympathy but the urge to actually help in a more tangible way is stronger. "Please, stay here, or near the cashier. I'm going to see if my friend and I can get your cred back for you." Simone pockets her phone and picks the spraypaint back up before fishing a certified credstick out of a different pocket, one without a SIN attached. "Here, this has like," she glances at the stick's digital readout, "fifty yen. Take it. And stay inside." She charges out toward the back door in the hopes of being able to catch the man, ideally with biker backup.

Frank makes it to the front gas pump #7 and comes to a stop, puts Rose in neutral and shuts the bike off, intent on getting into his inner jacket pocket so he can see why his phone is buzzing like this.

** GM Frank Peretti **
Simone bursts out the back door, spotting the balding chubby punk and the driver (Tony). The balding guy is about 15 feet away from the back door (and Simone) and has his back to Simone. The man has his hand on the door and is pulling the door of the car open.

+- Inits

Tony spots Simone burst out of the back door of the gas station like a woman of fury and does an instantaneous recalculation of how far away she is and how much he honestly cares about Bob. He floors it and the car spits and throws out gravel.

Bob is left with his hand on the door handle and gets jerked forward and thrown to the ground as the car starts to leave the area.

"Hey fat boy! Asshole! Come Here!" Simone stands in the doorway still holding the handle and hurls insults at the man. She's just as surprised as Bob when his ride bolts, leaving the man sprawled on the ground.

Bob faceplants into the gravel (that's going to leave a bruise) and he lands with a loud UMPH, accompanied with a disgruntled UGH! He rolls over onto his back to catch his breath.

Frank pulls his pre-pay out and flips it open and takes a look at the txt: -> Girl attacked/robbed, go around back, have to help.

Frank looks up from his phone as that brown four door sedan that almost ran him over going around the back of the gas station comes blazing out from behind the station now on the other side and heading for the paved access road.

Simone is reluctant to actually leave the building with the spraypaint lest she be nabbed for shoplifting, so she gingerly sets the can down just inside the door in a very obvious manner for the benefit of any cameras that may be recording or just live transmitting to the clerk. She makes a split-second decision to approach the fallen slob, but since it seems she has the upper hand, she takes careful steps toward him, removing the helmet from where it sat awkwardly on top of her hood. She holds it over her shoulder, ready to either swing it or throw it. Her footsteps across the back lot are slow, but there's not much ground to cross and she stops just out of the man's reach. "Give me the credstick, asshole." She tries to sound as tough and no-nonsense as possible.

Bob's face is bloodied up from his close encounter with the gravel parking-lot behind the gas station and it takes him a moment to focus his eyes on the red-headed demon of death that is approaching him. He doesn't seem nearly as powerful and demanding now that he's the one on the ground, "I… I don't know what ur talk'n abut."

«Auto-Judge[]» Frank Peretti (#5894) rolls Intelligence vs TN 4 for "Spotting if Simone has been kidnapped in the getaway car.":
3 3 3 9 10 = 2 Successes

Frank squints and gets a good solid look at the sedan as it races past about 50 feet away on its way to the paved access road. He sees the driver clear this time but he looks to be alone; unless someone is laying down in the car. A moment's hesitation and then he flips on the key and presses the ignition button and starts the Harley back up. He decides to head to the back of the gas station. Highest importance is making sure Simone is okay.

Simone makes a fake lunge at the man in the hopes of making him flinch but remains out of his reach. "I saw de girl, asshole. I know you robbed her you zorry piece of shit." She's speaking quickly, scared half to death, and her accent becomes extra strong when she's not focusing on her speech.

+- Intimidation, Zoom

Bob indeed flinches, he's still shaken up about the fall and being left by his 'partner'. Bob considers putting up an argument and gets to his knees.. he pauses…

Frank's Harley can be heard screaming into the sky above and around as it starts racing for the back of the gas station.

Bob does a look over his shoulder towards the approaching motorcycle side of the building, then to Simone and her very convincing manner.. and then flips the credstick to her, "F*cking Bitches."

Simone doesn't try to catch the credstick, she just lets it clatter to the ground, satisfied that it's out of Bob's possession. The recognizable sound of Frank's bike is a welcome relief and she waits, holding her stance, slightly crouched with the helmet raised to club the man if need be until Frank joins the party. Her goggles conceal a hateful glare but she has a disgusted expression for Bob plastered across the rest of her face, with an openmouthed frown and crinkled nose.

+- More Zoom, Bob Fails...

Frank roars into view around the side of the building and the back tire whirls around as he guns it and drifts with the bike, throwing gravel in a fan tail of rock pelting as he turns the bike and comes to a skidding stop about ten feet away from Bob.

Bob turns and looks at the leathered up biker comes into view with death in his eyes. He looks back to Simone and her expression… and he pisses himself.

Sim takes a couple steps back now that Frank is on the scene and carefully crouches down to pick up the poor girl's credstick. The helmet is still poised for an attack and she keeps her eyes locked on Bob. When he pisses himself, she snorts in disgust as the stain spreads and she purses her lips. As an outside observer, this might have been humorous, but she's too 'in it' to be able to laugh at the situation. Plus, she's well aware that it was only pure luck that let her get the upper hand and she's sweating bullets even for all her tough chick posturing.

Frank is pushing the kill-switch on the engine as it's skidding to a stop and the kickstand is coming down in one fluid motion. The bike is only stopped a full second before he's off the bike and standing beside it and trying to ascertain the situation. Simone looks okay (check), assume thief looks detained (check).. and pissing himself?

Frank's armored leather jacket is still unzipped from his phone retrieval at the pump and his Ares Slivergun is only a second's reach away but he's not going for it, things look under control. He's here as backup now, Simone looks to be able to carry herself without him being here.

"So this arschloch beat up a sixteen year old girl and robbed her in the bathroom of a fucking gas station…" Simone relays her assessment of the situation to Frank, and she's practically yelling, rocking forward and back with all the adrenaline coursing through her right now. "I don't know how you feel about that, but I'm not very happy about it." She's fighting the urge to unleash some pent up aggression on this guy and it shows.

Frank takes a step towards Bob, but all that does is complete the emptying of his bladder, "Your call dear… you want to beat on him? You want the girl to come out and beat on him? Or do you want me to beat on him?"

Simone seems determined, and thrusts the helmet toward the pathetic thief as she takes backward steps to the door. "Watch him." She looks grim and her voice drops to a growl as she says that. With a quick spin she flings the door open and dashes inside to locate the girl, first pushing her way into the women's room, with plans to check the main area if she's not where Simone left her.

Meanwhile-> The security cameras (back hall / main store / back of building) continue to record everything in the nice quality lighting.

Frank puts his right ungloved hand (gloves were removed during item retrieval and repacking and not put back on because he was going around front to get gas) inside his jacket. The unhidden motion and obviously international symbol of 'I've got my hand on a gun now that can blow big holes in you if you test me' motion and he keeps his hand there as he walks around to get an angle of Bob where he can watch him better, "Don't you even think about moving you shithead. Play your cards right and I won't be leaving you in a ditch some place today."

The young red-headed German girl is in the restroom sitting on the bathroom sink crying. The credstick that Simone gave her is in her hand and she is staring at it, eyes dripping tears.

Simone lets her momentum carry her forward to take the girl's arm and begins pulling to lift her to her feet, not too forcefully, but with intent. She offers a cryptic command in German once again: "Come on, you have a decision to make."

The teenage red-head in the women's bathroom of the gas station comes off the sink ledge with Simone's gentle coaxing without protest, responding in fluent Deutsch, "I trusted them.. they were so nice…" her voice trails off, all trust in mankind finally dissolved. She's now ready for Denver.

Simone leads the girl to the door and swings it open to let her through.

** GM Frank Peretti **
As Simone pushes the rear door of the gas station open for the girl to move through a bright and blinding flash of light blinds her for a moment.

+- A Flash!

** GM Frank Peretti **
It seems as if it's only the blink of an eye but during this instant in time Simone is quite sure she sees in the bright flash of light the shape of a large black raven dive bombing her face as it calls out in a distinct CROAKing call and then…

Simone is standing in the back hallway of the gas station with the door just closed behind her. The girl is nowhere around. Simone's back is facing the rear door of the building as if she has just entered the gas station from the back parking lot.

Sim stumbles at the shock of … whatever the hell just happened, and reflexively raises her hands to protect her face from the black shape and clenches her eyes shut. When no impact occurs, she slowly lowers her hands and dares to look around. She presses her back to the wall and reaches a hand to the back door, beginning to gently push it open to see if Frank and Bob are still outside…

+- Paranoia

Frank is at the motorcycle, having just finished his daydreaming of Simone's figure walking away from him he is turning around and walking to the other side of the motorcycle while removing his gloves so he can work the secret compartments and retrieve the hidden personal items.

Bob is nowhere to be seen.

Simone glances toward the women's room door but doesn't waste any time listening in like she did before… If what she remembers even actually happened… She makes a split second decision and breaks into a jog to return to Frank. "I need my…" She looks like she has little patience, as though in a great hurry, and her request for her gun is implied but she's eyeing the compartment where it's hidden quite purposefully. "Something really fragging weird is about to happen — or did, but now it's happening again — I can't explain. I just need the…" She leans into her stare at the compartment that holds her gun before flicking her gaze back to Frank. For as crazy as she sounds, she looks dead serious, and her gun is an urgent priority.

«Auto-Judge[]» Frank Peretti (#5894) rolls Quickness:
2 3 4 5 11

Frank doesn't ask questions or second guess her obvious request, the biker trusts this girl. He is quicker this time than before in getting into the compartment and within a couple seconds has her gun out and extended out to her so she can grasp the handle.

She reaches into the stash spot and pulls out her silencer as well, taking a moment to screw the threading into the Alta's barrel before slipping it into an inner pocket of her parka. She doesn't really look to Frank while she's doing this, but before she moves back to the door she offers him a meaningful look (though her goggles are still over her eyes) that seems to imply an appreciation of the trust. She takes a deep breath and gives the man a quick nod before entering. She now reenacts her first time in this hallway, taking quiet steps toward the women's room door and listening for the sound of crying.

+- Rolls

As Simone is preparing, Frank follows her lead, ready to follow her into a firefight if she needs him. He screws the silencer onto his own gun and starts holstering and fastening on his gear, his back to the building in case the cameras can see his location. Simone doesn't ask for him to follow her though so he puts off filling up the gas tank in exchange for closing up the secret compartments, getting on the Harley and starting it and just waiting.. if she needs him to be a getaway driver.

** GM Frank Peretti **
Simone enters into the back hall and the door behind her closes. She's pretty sure she hears the girls voice as well as "Bob's" voice. But they are nearing her position from the main gas station store area as if they are walking towards the bathroom hallway.

Girl's voice, "Are you sure Mike?"

Bob's voice responds, "Oh yeah, it's not a problem, friends take care of each other."

Whatever excuse Mike (aka Bob) has used to get the young German girl to enter into the gas station restroom with him seems to be happening 'again'. The two sound as if they are just moments from the hallway and coming into view.

** GM Frank Peretti **
From memory:
Simone recalls the bathroom had a double sink with a large mirror on the wall over the sinks. To the left (away from the door) of the sinks were two stalls.

Simone lets go of her pistol, leaving it in the large interior pocket of her parka. As quickly and and as quietly as she can, she enters the women's room, making sure to gently close the door to prevent it slamming even though that costs her a second. She moves to the mirror with her heart pounding in her ears and removes a tube of lipstick which she uses to scrawl huge red letters on the mirror before darting into the second stall, locking the door and crouching on top of the toilet so her feet can't be seen. She grips her pistol once again and waits to see if this really is a replay of her earlier memory…

The letters on the mirror are slanted and uneven, but they read

MIKE
THIEF

** GM Frank Peretti **
Just as Simone steps up onto the toilet the women's restroom door opens.
Girl's voice, "Thank you so much, you guys are so nice to…"
Silence
Mike's voice, "What the F*CK!"
Girl's voice, "I don't understand," her voice sounds worried and concerned.

Simone slowly begins to pull the silenced Alta from her coat, not having had time to do so yet in her extreme haste. Her heart is racing and she feels like it can be heard by the others, but she tries to control her breathing through flared nostrils.

** GM Frank Peretti **
Mike's voice raises to an enraged fury, "Magic! You're a F*CKing Shaman Spirit Twister!"
SMACK! It sounds as if Mike just backhanded the girl.
"OH!" she cries out in pain and slams into the stall wall, shaking the stall wall right next to Simone.

Simone tries not to gasp as the structure shakes from the impact of the girl's body. As hard as it is to remain hidden during this horrible incident, she remains crouched on the toilet. It feels like she may have made things worse by using her foreknowledge of events to try to warn the girl…

She holds her Alta before her with both hands in a white-knuckled grip, afraid to move but unable to stop her hands from shaking. Without thinking, the barrel drifts to where she assumes Mike is standing based purely on the sound of his footsteps and voice. The only thing consciously running through her mind right now is a series of questions — WHY? How is this happening??? What did I do wrong?!?

** GM Frank Peretti **
Mike's voice drips with anger and Simone can almost hear his teeth gritting together as he speaks in a tight snarl at the girl, "Give me that!"
SMACK!
The girl falls down to the tile floor onto her back, half in/out of consciousness.

Looking down, Simone can see the left side of the girls face and her left eye… blinking open/closed very slow as if not in focus and half dreaming… looking up at Simone from the floor.

+- Unintentional Casting

Simone feels the need to be between the girl and the abusive Mike, and she somehow manages to manifest this arrangement by manipulating her environment rather than physically moving. A chill runs down Simone's spine as the limp form of the beaten teen's body slithers across the tile floor and curls up in the fetal position by the back of the toilet, tendrils of hair splayed out around her head like a ring of fire. Her fear rises by another order of magnitude as her repressed abilities have managed to express against her will.

Mike can be heard rummaging through the girl's purse at the sink/counter.

Simone needs to resolve this situation, and fast, so she leans forward to turn the lock on the stall door and begins to lower one foot to the floor. She uses her left hand to gingerly pull the door inward and then the second foot touches down. She leans her parka-and-goggled head out, pistol pointed right at Mike who is truly living up to the accusation scrawled on the mirror directly in front of him.

** GM Frank Peretti **
As Simone pokes her head carefully out, the stall wall is -just- blocking the reflection of Mike's face in the mirror (otherwise he would be seeing her right now - potentially). Simone can see Mike's back and sees him pull something out of the purse.

Mike snarls, "There we go." and he takes the purse and throws it on the floor next to… "What the hell?" He seems to notice the girl is now gone.

+- More Unintentional Casting

Simone's fear, coupled with her contempt for the girl-beating purse-snatcher compels her to unwittingly manifest yet another of her desires, and the man is wracked with pain. This is the type of pain one feels from shattered bones, severed limbs, the flaying of skin, having one's hand thrust into boiling oil, or worst of all… dental surgery. His muscles clench and his body contorts in agony, and confusion distorts his face as he struggles to understand how or why this could be happening to him.

Visually, the girl seems to be meekly peering out from the bathroom stall with a silenced pistol aimed unsteadily at the abusive bastard, but there is more to this scenario than meets the eye.

This is a difficult and frightening situation for Simone, not only because of the inherent danger of dealing with a man who is at least twice, if not three times her size, but also due to the fact that when she's enraged like this she has trouble controlling herself and the powers she tries to avoid using. She goes to great lengths to avoid the powers she's been cursed with, but she was unable to rein in her abilities this time. Perhaps it's the psychological stress of having gone through the 'timewarp' or maybe it can be explained away by sheer terror, but she knows she's causing this to happen, she just doesn't know how, and that frightens her far more than Mike.

+- Inits, Casting

Simone reaches a hand up to her throat to clutch at a small bird skull pendant — a nervous habit that provides occasional comfort — and her body is rocked by a simultaneous channeling of a surge of raw… emotion? Her anger and fear seem to have combined and lashed out at Mike in some intangible way that she doesn't even want to try to comprehend. To her it feels as though the negative emotions separated or extended out from her consciousness to snuff the man out like a cigarette butt being ground into the sidewalk with the toe of her boot. He flails in pain a final time before groaning — a raspy, throaty death rattle type of sound — and slumps to the floor tiles in a graceless heap. Simone finds this to be perfectly justified because of his treatment of the girl, (twice, to Simone's perception, due to the unexplainable backsliding of events) though she is somewhat concerned that she may have killed the son of a bitch… She holsters her pistol and rushes over to gather the girl's scattered belongings, stuffing them back into the empty purse before returning to the stall.

+- Perception

As Simone gathers up the purse items all is quiet. Out in the gas-station she can hear a radio station being played softly on the house-speakers.

"Ugh…" a moan from the girl in the stall can be heard, sounds like she's waking up better now.

With the girl's purse in hand, Sim slowly and gently approaches her. "Shhh, shh…" In German, she begins to whisper. "It's okay, you don't have to worry about Mike. I grabbed your things. Here." She tries to hand off the purse but keeps a little distance so the girl doesn't feel trapped. She wants the girl to know she's not a threat.

The girl on the floor in the corner of the stall looks at Simone with concern, confusion but accepts her purse. It looks as if her mind might be working at 20 percent capacity and it taking a bit to gear back up to full production. She responds hesitantly in Deutsch, "Thank you… Mike… What is going on?"

Meanwhile -> Frank is watching the back door and listening. He pulls out his pre-pay and holds it in his left hand.. ready to instantly press the receive button if someone should call, ready to look at a text if it should arrive. The Harley idles under him, waiting if needed.

+- Examining Girl

When Simone entered the stall moments ago to hide from the approaching duo, she made sure the toilet seat was down, so now she tries to urge the wounded girl up off the floor to seat herself on the closed lid. She takes a very brief look at the girl's injuries and takes in her general appearance. Under other circumstances, Sim would be inclined to ask her where she shops, but now is not the time for idle chitchat. Besides, someone could walk in at any moment.

She tries to explain very briefly what happened, still in German. "Mike attacked you, honey. I… caught him going through your purse while you were unconscious." She begins to rise, unspooling a few feet of toilet paper and moves to the mirror. The girl is left seated in the stall and Simone swipes at the lipstick letters she wrote on the mirror. They don't come off, but they smear enough to be unreadable, leaving just a streaky red sheen over the glass. That'll do.

The girl, now on the toilet with Simone's assistance, nods slowly as things are explained to her. She responds in a quiet voice in Deutsch, "Mike and Tony seemed like such nice guys, I knew I should have gotten a ride from them."

Once the lipstick-written words are smeared into illegibility on the wide mirror, Simmy looks down at Mike, her adrenaline still racing and her heart threatening to burst from her chest. She's unsure whether the man is alive or dead, but she wants to be as far away from him as possible, either way. But there is a bit more left to do before she can return to Frank. She steps back and mentally braces herself to directly confront that part of herself that she had been hoping to avoid… Before she does so, she asks the girl to stay in the stall with, "Why don't you just stay seated for a minute, catch your breath…"

She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath, pulling her goggles off and pushing her hood back to reveal her bright hair. When her eyes open once more, she finds herself staring into her reflection through the blood-red lipstick smears. In an act of desperation and a force of will, she forces herself to 'see' in that way that only the Awakened are capable of…

She spasms, a physical resistance to the (for her) unpleasant nature of astral sight, and bile rises in her throat. The totemic features that afflict those like Simone overlay her features as her eyes roll back in her head, making the orbs appear to become pure oily black with all traces of white swallowed in their inky darkness.

+- Attempting to Erase Astral Signature

Simone's phone vibrates - Incoming Txt Msg
"Everything ok?"

Frank notes a brown four door sedan casually pulling around behind the gas station and parks a bit sideways, not pulling into the parking spot straight and lined up.

«Auto-Judge[]» Frank Peretti (#5894) rolls Intelligence:
1 1 1 3 16

Frank notes the position of the car is consistent with 'get-away' parking.

Simone's perception is changed as though with the flick of a switch, and she finds herself staring at her reflection. The physicality of the mirror doesn't reflect her astral nature, appearing as hardly more than a lifeless rectangle mounted on the wall, thus devoid of most all astrally interpreted sensory information. Nonetheless, Simone knows she's staring at herself through the thick haze of magical energy she's brought into being in this rest stop bathroom. The glow from the girl in the stall is noted, but she refuses to focus her attention there until she does what she can to 'clean' the area of any evidence of her presence. This is nearly enough to make the girl cry, and the longer she spends trying to mentally untie the intangible threads of mana that connect her to the events that occurred here, the closer she comes to losing her composure. Tears begin to stream from the corners of her eyes as her will lessens and she is forced to shut herself off from the astral reflection of reality. It's like trying to stop water rushing from a hose with her thumb — the flow becomes more powerful as more pressure is applied to stop it. She finally seals herself off from the astral plane once again, but not without significant mental and emotional strain. She fights back an urge to vomit as she once again stares her physical self down in the mirror, now with black streaks coursing down her cheeks.

The girl in the stall can be heard standing up and opening the stall door, "You okay?" she asks in Deutsch as she starts to come out.

Simone leans forward, resting her hands on her knees and manages to reply, "I'm fine. I'm okay." She's panting slightly from nausea, but she tries to hold it together, and belatedly begins to reach for her phone.

The girl steps out and spots Mike unconscious on the floor, looks up and sees the smeared red on the mirror and then looks back down to Mike and then looks to Simone confused, "How did you know his name? How did you know he was going to try and mug me?"

With her phone in one hand, Simone begins to straighten up, groaning with the effort. "I don't know…" She shakes her head weakly and looks from the girl to Mike and then back before continuing, still in German. "…I just did. I can't explain it." She shrugs apologetically, either incapable of or unwilling to try to explain the insanity that allowed (or forced?) her to make a second attempt at helping the younger girl. The nausea is accompanied by a nasty headache and Simone leans back against the wall weakly to read her most recent message and send a rapid reply text. She closes her eyes and sighs.

The girl listens closely to Simone's fluent Deutsch and her trying to explain how she knew about the coming danger from Mike. She doesn't look content with answers to all her questions but she doesn't look obstinate and argumentative about pushing Simone further either for answers. "I.. Um," she hesitates, "Were you hiding in the stall on the toilet when I came in?" Perhaps memory flashes from laying on the floor earlier.

«Text Message to Frank Peretti's Pre-Pay from Simone's Burner»
Not exactly…

Simone is weakened, and getting desperate, and doesn't want to linger here any longer than necessary. She's also quite embarrassed to have been found in such a state by the girl so she pockets the phone then replaces her goggles to cover up the streaked mascara. "…Yes…" The parka hood goes up as well before the older of the German girls sniffs to clear her sinuses and steels herself for getting the younger girl out of this godforsaken bathroom. "I mean, I came in here to use the restroom and I heard the man attack you. You must have been unconscious, but I managed to stop him— We just— We need to go. I don't want to leave you here."

+- Let's Go!

The girl nods to Simone and seems to accept her wisdom about leaving the area and then she glances down to Mike, the guy that lambasted her in the head and knocked her out. Her eyes narrows slightly on him and disgust and anger and then she pulls a Sharpie(tm) out of her purse and writes on his forehead quickly (THIEF). The girl stands up as she drops the marker into her purse as she shoulders it and looks to Simone, "I agree.. let's bounce."

«Text Message to Simone's Burner from Frank Peretti's Pre-Pay»
Vehicle out back looks suspicious, like a get-away car.

Behind her goggles, Simone's eyes widen at the marker. She moves toward the door but stops to pull out the phone once more. She halts the girl with a raised finger gesture and reads the message, sending a hasty reply question…

«Text Message to Frank's Pre-Pay from Simone's Burner»
What does it look like?

«Auto-Judge[]» Frank Peretti (#5894) rolls Intelligence for "Frank study of vehicle and occupant":
1 1 1 3 5

«Text Message to Simone's Burner from Frank's Pre-Pay»
Brown 4 door sedan, guy inside, can't see him very well.

The girl stops at the halt hand gesture to pause and then tries to acquire eye contact with Simone, "I'm Ingrid," she offers.

Simone looks back to the girl after receiving Frank's text. "Sorry," she excuses herself for using the phone. "Ah, Ingrid, I was just about to ask. Call me Gretchen. So, before we move, I need to ask… can I… borrow your Sharpie..?" Simone/Gretchen looks like she fully understands how strange that question is, but she honestly seems to really want it. She gestures toward Mike now, "…and does that guy drive a brown car, a sedan?"

Ingrid quick-nods without hesitation and reaches into her purse. Her hand comes out with her mace tube, "Whoops," and then she puts it back in and pulls out the sharpie and offers it to Simone.

Ingrid addresses the question, "His friend Tony has been driving.. yeah.. a brown four door car.. an older car."

From Mike's front right pants pocket a small voice speaks, "You have a txt message."

"Watch the door," Simone commands Ingrid. She dislikes the prospect of pawing through Mike's pockets, but his failure to respond to a message might draw suspicion.

Ingrid posts watch on the door, looks a bit nervous and takes out her mace again, holding it in her right hand at her side.

Simone uses the borrowed Sharpie (cap still on) to poke at the downed man's pockets until she hits something that would obviously be a phone, but other items might draw her curiosity as well — pocketknife, credsticks, gun?

+- Frisking

Simone guides the phone out of the man's pocket which clatters to the tiles along with a number of other items. The phone is picked up along with a little USB drive but she leaves the rest of the stuff where it falls. First off, she rises back up and steps far enough away to be out of the man's reach should he wake up, and attempts to read his messages.

** GM Frank Peretti **
Mike's phone:
1 New Message
—
Where the hell are you? She kick your ass or something? LOL

The phone doesn't seem to be locked, thankfully, and Simone reads the brief texts which are presumably from the driver, Tony. She sets Mike's phone on the edge of the sink in order to pull out her own. She first sends a message to Frank, then she checks the USB drive to see if she can copy the data.

«Text Message to Frank's Pre-Pay from Simone's Burner»
Driver. Tony. Watch him.

Frank checks his incoming txt, hmms softly to himself and pulls the skull-mask up around his face a little better to make sure he is properly concealed.

+- USB Drive

Simone is working rapidly, shuffling the little electronic bits and pieces around, texting on one phone, reading from another, and examining the USB. She has an 'Aha!' moment, or maybe a 'Duh!' moment actually, as she realizes the port doesn't fit her cell. Another device is added to the mix as she pulls her pocsec out and slots the portable drive. Now both her phone and Mike's are set on the edge of the sink, but they're easily told apart due to the stray flecks of spraypaint on the casing of Simone's. She gives an approving nod to Ingrid and her readied mace before accessing the USB.

** GM Frank Peretti **
The USB drive links up and is able to be browsed, or downloaded.

USB Drive contains: 133 files
80 documents
10 videos
20 audio files
23 Pictures

Browsing be damned, Simone just sets the conjoined devices in line with the others and hits the COPY ALL button. Now she switches to her own phone once more and texts Frank yet again.

** GM Frank Peretti **
USB transfering files:
5% complete

10% complete

—

«Text Message to Frank's Pre-Pay from Simone's Burner»
Tony should be entering. Please follow.

Frank reads his txt and then responds quickly before shutting off the Harley and dismounting.

«Text Message to Simone's Burner from Frank's Pre-Pay»
Roger that

Sim's own phone is set down, swapped for Mike's. She sends a reply text to Tony: U GOTTA C THIS LOL !!!

Outside-> Tony checks his txt and then turns off the car and gets out quickly, pocketing the keys to the sedan and the phone into his jacket pocket as he hip-shoves the door shut.

Tony makes note of the skull-faced biker a short ways off and considers moving on inside quicker because the biker is looking right at him and that makes him feel a bit uncomfortable.

Frank begins walking towards the rear door of the gas station.

** GM Frank Peretti **
USB Tranfering files:
45% complete

55% complete

Simone hopes that she's not setting a series of events in motion that she'll regret, but things are in motion now, for better or worse… Now, before they run out of time, Sim coaches Ingrid while stuffing her own phone and pocsec back into the recesses of her coat. Mike's phone is left alone, and she'll ditch the USB at the first opportunity, but she leaves it connected and transferring for the time being. "Okay, I've arranged for you to get the keys to Tony's car. But it might require you to use that." She gestures to the mace canister. "Can you do that?"

** GM Frank Peretti **
USB Transfering files:
80% complete

90% complete

Ingrid nods in the affirmative at the question and glances down at the mace, she flips the safety trigger to the side so it can be pressed down if needed and then fidgets a bit from one foot to the other and takes a step back away from the door so that when it pushes inward towards her, she can use it to hide herself a bit longer than standing out in the open.

Tony pulls the back door open and steps inside.

Frank picks up his pace, he flexes his right arm with a small 'snap/twist' motion and that releases the small Cougar blade in the concealed holster on his forearm and shoots the blade down into his hand. He keeps his hand down low and at his side as he walks.

Simone redirects Ingrid to hide in the stall like she did before, crouched on the lid and with the door locked. "Don't come out until I say… Ahh… Shit… Blitzkrieg. Stay put until I say blitzkrieg." She positions herself near the bathroom door and listens, looking between Ingrid's hiding place and Mike. She realizes something with a start, and bolts over to Mike, moving the man's phone down into his hand to keep up the impression that he sent the text to Tony. Okay, now she's ready to resume listening at the door for Tony's footsteps…

It's when Simone is putting the phone back into Mike's hand that the woman's restroom door opens and Tony is witness to Simone hunched over his unconscious partner.

+- Inits

Simone looks up to see Tony enter before she was prepared, but she tries to make it work… "Oh my god, I'm so glad you're here — I mean, you're Tony, right?" Simone crouches over the fallen form of Mike and just has to commit to a spontaneous plan of action now. She trusts that Frank is on his way in, and she has further backup in the form of a voice-activated mace delivery system ala Ingrid, so it's now or never. To help reinforce her ruse of welcoming Tony, she thanks him for getting here as quickly as he did. "I don't know what I would have done if you didn't show up!" She places both hands on the center of Mike's chest and presses down as though performing CPR. "This guy flashed a credstick and told me he wanted to party. I need the money, so… And then he told me he'd pay double if he could hook up his friend Tony, too. I mean, that's you, right? Please tell me I'm not just spilling my guts to some random fragger who sneaks into women's rooms…" She looks for some sort of confirmation, then leans down to pretend to listen to Mike's breath. "So this asshole made a text, then we start things up, and he passes out, or has a heart attack or something. I was going to check his text and send you a message." She starts to back away from Mike's body. "I'm just glad you're here…" This last bit is said with a slightly sinister tone as her patience for keeping up the lie has started to wear thin.

Frank lets the back door close and is immediately close to Tony. Tony has pushed the woman's restroom door open and is only a half step into the restroom with the door still open. As Frank comes in through the back door he's within three feet of Tony's back.

Frank is within reach of a nasty Cougar short-blade stab to the back, but he doesn't know the full story yet and if that is appropriate so he holds any further decisions for now; unless Tony threatens harm to Simone or himself.

Tony buys Simone's story hook-line-and-sinker, "Shit!" he declares and then walks in further.

Frank steps up a bit further, using his left foot to keep the ladies room door from closing and he takes Tony's place in the doorway.

Tony moves to check out Mike closer, "Mike.. you dick-wad… We don't have enough cred for hospital bills you asshole," he gets down on one knee.

Simone slinks backward, running her left hand along the sink as she tries to get some distance between herself and Tony. The fabric of her parka swishes against her leather pants and her heels click on the floor tiles but Tony doesn't seem to take notice. She darts a quick (and relieved) glance to Frank as she slips her right hand into the inner lining of her coat. Her Alta is pulled free and she takes up a position by Ingrid's stall door. She's still feeling ill, and she's not exactly a crack shot, but it would be hard to miss from this distance even if she was blind. Or so she tells herself.

+- Inits

Frank makes note that a chubby balding human male with light pigmentation skin is laying on his back on the tile floor of the women's restroom of the gas station, unconscious. The motorcycle biker also notes that his friend Tony is kneeling with his back to the biker, insulting and seemingly clueless about helping his unconscious friend. Frank has no visual or knowledge on/of Ingrid.

What catches Frank's attention the most though is that Simone has a silenced gun in her hand and that means aggression has gotten to the point where she feels deadly force could be justified. Frank tightens the grip on his knife and takes a half step in, letting the restroom door close behind him.

Simone squares up her hips and shoulders and flips the safety off with an audible click, fully intending to see how Tony reacts. "We're almost done," she speaks aloud in German, mainly for Ingrid's benefit, but anyone else here who understands Deutsch is more than welcome to that knowledge. As she awaits the getaway driver's reaction to being drawn on, she sights in on the center of his back, tilting her head to look right down the sights.

Ingrid holds her action, intent on spraying the next man she sees in the face if he comes into the stall where she is hiding.

Tony freezes as if his heart has stopped and looks straight forward at the wall of the stall and then his head turns as if in slow motion, turning around on its way to look at Simone's location.

+- Inits

Frank isn't sure if Simone is bluffing or about to demand something of Tony so Frank decides to be backup. If Tony reaches for a gun or goes rabbit fast in an attack or something, Tony plans on lunging forward with his knife on an attack to protect Simone.

Ingrid holds action, gnawing a bit on her lower lip as her heart races in her chest.

Tony has now turned around enough to have full view of Simone, rather.. his eyes seem focused on the business end of that silencer screwed onto the end of that gun. He seems speechless at the moment.

Simone releases one hand from her grip on the pistol and reaches it up toward her neck where a small cable end is concealed by the collar of her leather jacket. She gives a slight pull and enough length is given for the wire to extend up to her goggles where she snaps it in place right between two bits of decorative paneling on the cylinder of one of the eye-pieces. "Empty your pockets, Tony." She takes the gun back in both hands and a targeting reticle appears in her line of sight as the smart-system is fully linked.

Tony finds his tongue, "Oh…. really?? Come on man."

+- Inits

Frank appears last on the list of people Tony is paying attention to, it may be questionable on if Tony even knows he is there yet or not as Simone has the guy turned and looking away from Frank's position. Frank remains at the ready to move forward if needed and attack with the blade.

«Auto-Judge[]» Frank Peretti (#5894) rolls 3 vs TN 3 for "If only 1's and 2's on this roll, the guy is as stupid as a box of rocks and tries to fight his way out.":
4 5 5 = 3 Successes

Tony isn't as dumb as he looks. He nods in submission slowly and then remains on his knees while his motions are slow and over exagerated so the lady with the gun doesn't spook and squeeze the trigger. This is when he notices Frank in the mirror reflection for the first time and his eyes widen, very sure he was smart not to do anything stupid.

Simone simply watches as Tony does what he's told, waiting for the man to declare his pockets empty. Truth be told, she's probably just as scared as he is, but she's had a bit of experience with shitty situations like this, on both sides, and the fact that she's the one holding the gun is a pretty good confidence-builder.

Ingrid is listening and can't help but crack a slight silent smile as Simone is teaching this guy a lesson.

+- Inits

Simone is forcing herself to remain patient, merely focusing on her digital crosshairs…

Tony starts emptying his pockets, from moments ago and currently he has managed to lay out the following items:
1 Pocsec
1 cellphone
1 Credstick
1 Lighter
1 Amber colored plastic pill bottle with pre-rolled Ganja cigs
1 Set of Car Keys
1 Passkey card

It is the passkey card that he hesitates on putting on the tile floor.

Ingrid remains in position on the toilet seat lid.

Frank puts his right foot sideways against the bottom of the bathroom door so that if someone comes, they won't easily be able to push the door open.

+- Inits

Frank remains in holding mode, ignoring the items Tony puts on the floor and waits for the man to make any sudden motion.

Simone continues ordering Tony about. "Back up. And lay face down, hands on your head." She prepares to go swoop up all the loot, including Mike's phone now that she thinks about it, but not until Tony is far enough away and in a compromising position.

Frank speaks up, his voice half the normal conversation volume but plenty loud in a tile floored bathroom, "Keep your gun on him, I'll get the loot. Distance is your ally," he offers but seems to want Simone's approval before moving at all himself.

Simone nods to Frank on that.

Tony ever so slowly puts his hands on the tile floor and on hands/knees gently starts moving away and then eases down onto his stomach and puts his hands on his head.

Ingrid remains perched on her roost.

+- Inits

Frank nods once and then moves, bends down in a crouch and starts scooping up items, stuffing them into his unzipped armored leather jacket so they fall down inside; stopped from falling out the bottom by the cinching of the jacket around his waist.

Tony remains face down on the tile floor, his breathing can be heard as the breath from his nose hisses from one half closed nostril.. he's not happy at all.

Simone lowers a hand to knock against the stall next to her waist. She speaks to Ingrid in their native tongue. "Time to go." She starts sidestepping closer to the door, gun still trained on ol' Tony.

Ingrid steps down off the toilet and comes out into view next to Simone.

Frank finishes picking up the last item and stands up, zips his jacket up tight and steps next to the door.

+- Inits

** GM Frank Peretti **
Simone recalls a video camera in the hallway over the back door looking towards the store area. Entering the back door and moving immediately to the restroom likely is in an area not in the field of view of the camera. Simone also recalls one camera at the rear of the gas station watching the back lot/area. That field of view has very likely already had Tony, Simone and Frank on camera.

Frank holds position near the door, a flip/flick of his wrist and the cougar shortblade drops back into his right hand.

Simone is displeased with the decision she feels needs to be made, but something has to be done, and fast. She guides Ingrid right up next to the door so that both of the girls and Frank are all clustered there at the exit of the bathroom. She holsters her pistol and lays a hand on Frank's arm while looking up at him with a sad but stern frown. She turns to look at the men on the floor, then stares a moment at the blade in Frank's hand, then back up at the man. Her eyebrows rise slightly and she nods, as though acknowledging what might occur/what needs to occur… "She shouldn't be in here any longer," Simone whispers in regards to Ingrid and moves her hand from Frank's arm to holding the palm up. "May I have the keys?"

Frank unzips his jacket with his free hand (left) and starts to fish inside his kangaroo like pouch for the keys.

Tony turns his head to look more at Simone and Frank.. it's when his gaze comes upon Ingrid that he hisses under his breath but the tile floor bounces off his voice and it's easily heard in the room, "I'll find you and kill you bitch."

Frank's left hand comes out with the keys and he hands them towards Simone, his eyes never leaving Tony.

+- Inits

Tony remains on the tile floor, glaring eyeball daggers of death at Ingrid.

Frank remains off to the side of the door, nearest Tony of the trio; protecting the girls.

Simone considers the ease with which the girl might be identified once the cops start asking for descriptions and checking the camera footage if this gets reported, which is inevitable. So in an effort to help provide at least a minimal disguise for the girl, she un-loops her white infinity scarf from around her neck and drapes it over Ingrid's head as a hood and starts to help the girl tuck as much of her hair within the folds of heavy fabric as possible. She then puts her hood up to conceal her own hair and lays a hand on Frank's arm once more before pulling the bathroom door open just enough to see into the hall.

Ingrid works with Simone to get dressed properly.

+- Inits

Franks leers at his future victim, waiting for the room to clear before he does the deed.

Tony stops glaring at Ingrid and notices the look of the grim-reaper in Frank's eyes in the skull-mask.

Simone pulls the door open just enough to slip out into the hall. She keeps Ingrid in tow and keeps her head down. It's go time!

Ingrid moves with Simone into the hallway and right next to the exit door.

As the bathroom door shuts, Frank lunges forward like a trained dog told that he can finally eat that treat his master put on his nose and made him wait to enjoy.

+- Knife!

Frank lunges at Tony and leaps on him before he can fully turned over. Tony gets an arm up though and it blocks part of the attack, the cougar short-blade plunging deep into Tony between his shoulder and his neck. Frank has the knife yanked back out quickly though and ready for another stab at his victim on the bathroom floor.

+- Inits
+- Knife!

Frank's eyes widen a bit with rage behind the black and white skull-mask and the knife comes down again. Tony has searing pain in his shoulder though and he can't move his arm fast enough to block the knife as Frank comes down into the center of his neck and the blade plunges into his windpipe before the biker slices the razor sharp plate down and to the right, severing the artery and cutting back and down to the bone.

Simone takes Ingrid by the hand and leads her down the short hallway in a few quick strides. Once the pair reach the back door, she takes a look back to check for observers. The camera footage will provide significant, damning evidence so the only real course of action is a speedy exit and the distant hope that the cameras are only for show. The astral evidence that Simone left behind is particularly troubling to the girl, but she did what she could, and at the very least, her signature isn't flagged by any corporate or public security agencies, so perhaps she'll be extending her stay in Sedona for a little while longer than she anticipated to let the heat die down. She pushes the door open enough to poke her head out and scans the lot from left to right…

+- Percep, Screwed?

Frank moves off from his position over Tony and then comes down on Mike's exposed (sleeping) neck.

It's a quick and simple kill slicing through his artery and twisting the knife a moment for good measure.

+- Inits

The girls make a beeline for the brown sedan, with Simone giving Ingrid a slight push to have her move around to the passenger side, but offers a warning not to touch the door handle until she gives the okay. The key is inserted after flipping through the ring for one marked with a manufacturer's logo.

The door on the sedan unlocks and the horn chirps once.

Frank stands up and moves to the towel dispenser in the wall. Using his combat knife he shoves it into the crack where the lock is and tries to force it open.

«Auto-Judge[]» Frank Peretti (#5894) rolls Strength vs TN 3:
1 2 4 5 = 2 Successes

Ingrid moves with Simone, waiting at the door until it unlocks and is told it's okay.

+- Inits

Frank sheaths the cougar short-blade and conceals it out of view and then takes all the paper towels out in a huge bulk arm/chest load of paper.

Sim practically leaps into the car and slams her door shut before checking the armrest for the power lock button. She's not much of a driver, so she's unsure if the whole car unlocked when the driver's door was opened. After the presses the lock release button a couple of times for good measure she leans over toward Ingrid's window and waves the girl in. The key is inserted and she checks the fuel level while idling, waiting for Frank to appear from the exit.

Ingrid gets in quickly into the front passenger's seat and pulls the door closed fast.

+- Inits

Ingrid looks between Simone and the back door a couple times, worried, "Shiza! There is a camera on the back wall.. they'll see the car.. they'll call the cops!"

Frank piles the paper towels fast on the corner of the sink counter nearest where the walls meet up in a massive pile of paper and then starts getting into his jacket to find Tony's lighter.

«Auto-Judge[]» Simone (#7451) rolls Police/Security Procedures for "Going to try to reassure the girl with some facts… If I roll well enough.":
1 4

Simone is aware of the cameras and tries to calm Ingrid down with some sort of reassuring comment, but the best she can come up with is, "Calm down, calm down. It takes a few minutes in the best of zones, and we're outside the city center. We just need to hold on a little longer." She adjusts her mirrors and then looks over to Ingrid. "Be careful not to touch anything, or keep your hands tucked into your sleeves. In fact, you should wipe that door handle while we're waiting on Fr—iend… Waiting on my friend." She hits the power window button for the shotgun seat and then connects her seatbelt.

+- Inits

Frank pulls out the lighter and starts lighting various places in the massive puffed up paper towel pile where it is stacked up against the wooden-ish wall above the tile line.. where the fire can easily rise up into the ceiling tiles and such.

Ingrid looks suddenly terrified, "I rode up with them from Colorado Springs in this car… I think I've touched all kinds of things in here already."

"Damn." Simone wishes the girl hadn't said that. "We'll… figure something out." Whether that meant torching the car, fencing it to a chop shop, or even just some trick Simone herself were able to whip up, she'd try to eliminate evidence of the girl's presence in this scenario as best she could. She feels a kinship with the girl for some reason, even though they've only known each other for a few mere minutes. Maybe it's the same native speech, but there's something there that makes Simone want to watch out for Ingrid.

+- Inits

Once the flames start whipping around, accelerated by the nice airflow bringing in fresh air from the ceiling air vents… Frank makes sure his facemask is up properly, his goggles are still on and his helmet is still on and then he departs the restroom.

** GM Frank Peretti **
USB transfer complete.

Fretting, Simone grips the steering wheel and turns from side to side, checking mirrors and turning to look over her shoulders to check out the angles the mirrors don't cover. She turns to Ingrid and barks out, "How old are you? Can you drive? Legally?"

Ingrid glances back/forth from the gas station to Simone as they wait for the biker guy to come out, "I'm sixteen.. I've never gotten a license but I've driven a jeep before out in a field. I have the basic faster and stop and turns down but I don't know all the rules for the highways and stuff."

Frank steps out into the hallway and looks to the right at the closed back door that is within arms reach. He looks up at the camera mounted in the corner above and then he flips his Cougar short-blade out and jumps up and slashes the cable on the back of the camera off in a swipe.

"Okay, look Ingrid," Simone begins to briefly explain her outlook on the situation, alternating looks between the girl on her right and the gas station door over her shoulder to the left. "I'm going back in but I want to make sure of a couple things first…" She tells the girl to take the wheel once she gets out of the car, and asks that she stay and wait but would understand if she decides to leave. "…that's your choice, but my friend and I will help you out if you stick with us…" She leaves Ingrid with a couple very crude tips on how to ditch the car if she takes off, concluding with, "…and keep that scarf over your face. I'll be back in a minute." And Simone exits the sedan to make a break for the door.

«Auto-Judge[]» Simone (#7451) rolls Stealth for "Giving Ingrid tips on how to hide the car.":
1 2 3 3 4

Ingrid listens to the advice and nods, looking worried.

Frank strides towards the open gas-station store area and looks left… right.. and finds the sweets section where the cinammon gummy bears are located. With gloved hands he starts stuffing several bags into his leather jacket where the looted items also reside.

Simone's right hand slips into her jacket as she reaches the door. She clings to the wall and pulls it open with her left, then wedges one of her low-heeled boots in. After a minuscule delay to see if she hears any sounds of struggle, she pushes the door open just wide enough to poke her head in.

«Auto-Judge[]» Simone (#7451) rolls Intelligence for "What do I see/hear? Frank? Clerk? Smoke?":
1 1 4 5 5 11

** GM Frank Peretti **
Simone hears…. the fire alarm going off the instant she steps inside.
CLANG… CLANG… CLANG.

"Shit! Fire!" someone yells from the store area.

Frank is heard yelling out, "Run! Everyone Out.. Fire!"

«Auto-Judge[]» Frank Peretti (#5894) rolls 3 vs TN 6 for "If 6 or higher, minimum wage guy on the job is too stupid to evacuate with everyone else.":
4 5 5 = 0 Successes

Simone curses repeatedly under her breath. Cursing herself mainly, for not being able to keep herself in check when the power started surging through her. The authorities won't be far off, and that most likely means some form of forensics that might spy the residue of her magical tantrum from earlier. She sighs through the adrenaline rush but plunges back into the building, giving the door a strong push with her foot. With her right hand crossing her front to grip the Alta within her coat, she lopes down the hall to the main store area.

Frank moves along the back wall by the cold drinks area and watches as people are fleeing out the front doors. The young kid on duty slams his hand down on a big red button on the back wall that is an emergency shutdown button that stops all gas pumps outside and isolates them for safety and then he shoulders his backpack behind the counter and grabs his jacket.

Frank keeps crouched over, trying to remain hidden.

+- Stealth and Perceptions

Simone slides up to the wall where the hallway opens onto the store's main floor. She glances out past the corner to see what's happening then returns her back to the wall, standing bolt upright in that very identifiable 'hiding around a corner' pose. Anyone who's ever seen an action sim can spot that move from a mile away.

** GM Frank Peretti **
Simone spots Frank crouched down back in the corner by the bags of ice and milk. She also spots the store clerk kid coming around the end of the working counter and heading for the front door as he holds a backpack in one hand and tries to get his jacket on at the same time. He does not seem like he is intent on staying in the building at all.

Simone also notes that behind the work counter is a door with a sign "Employees only".

Simone lastly notes, two different video cameras in this store area, one behind the counter looking at customers making purchaes (and watching the employee) and one on the wall above Frank's position looking over the large store viewpoint.

Frank waits… he spots Simone for a moment at her position and smiles under his skull facemask, but stays crouched until he thinks the employee has departed.

Simone takes a quick step forward after spotting Frank and noting that the clerk is evacuating, then turns 180 degrees to press her back against the opposite wall of the hallway to get a different angle on the room. She also waits to act until the employee is entirely outside the building.

The Employee bolts out of the building and keeps running.

Frank crouch/runs along the back aisle of shelves.

The smoke is now starting to billow out of the heating vents in the ceiling. The smell of smoke is strong but the 'visible' rolling smoke is only at the top six inches of the ceiling… for now.

Simone crouch/runs as well, darting out to the shelves. She keeps her head low to keep from being seen from anyone outside, but she maneuvers to intercept Frank, or at least to end up where she thinks he started moving toward. "Sssst!" She hisses to alert the biker of her location.

Frank comes to a sliding stop, dropping much like a baseball player sliding into 2nd base and comes up beside Simone, "I want to get into that employee office and destroy the camera system.. then we can bolt. A fast getaway won't do us much good if they have video evidence of us and can come find us any time they want."

Similar thoughts had crossed the girl's mind, but she only takes the time to nod and call out over the fire alarm, "I wanted to make sure you were okay…" She turns toward the office door and, while crouched, places her left hand on the floor beneath her with legs tensed to run after Frank.

Frank smiles wide under his skull face-mask and then attempts a daring ass-slap as he crouch-runs past Simone for the end of the counter on his way to the office door.

Simone yelps, and her readiness to dart forward is delayed by the surprise slap. She still follows, but with a grimace, and a couple meters behind Frank instead of right with him. As she reaches the edge of the counter, she spins on the ball of her foot and peeks her head up to take stock of the room and see if she can spot any activity outside the front door. More importantly though, she's trying to see if anyone outside might have seen the pair of shadowrunners skulking about…

+- Peek, Door

** GM Frank Peretti **
Simone can see through small windows of opportunity between shelves that it looks like everyone is getting as far away from the gas pumps as possible. Some cars are fleeing completely. The truck drivers are getting in their trucks for departure. From the advertisement signs on the windows and the staggered shelving units it's pretty reasonable to think that nobody has spotted Simone or Frank as they have stayed away from the front edge of the storefront.

Frank reaches the office door and tests the handle.

Frank snarls as the door is solidly locked.

The German holds her position, still peering over the counter. Frank's disapproving sound draws her attention though, and she infers that the door is locked. Since it appears that the two of them will be left to their own devices, (at least until the authorities arrive), Simone begins rifling through the items kept behind the counter for anything that might help them get into the office, but if something shiny catches her eye, it'll probably find its way into a pocket of her coat…

+- Scrounging

Frank lacks the bulk of a troll that would just smash it in, so he instead reaches around under his armored riding jacket and pulls out his Alta (no silencer screwed on right now) and brings it around in front of him for an aim at the area where the bolt goes into the door.

Simone eagerly sweeps a bunch of scratch-its into the generous pockets of her coat along with a taser and an old reading tablet. Who knows, there might be some good stuff on there, and it would be a shame to let the fire ruin the… Fire… Before Frank can get off a shot though, she pulls her own gun, silencer still attached, and moves up next to him. Her lips narrow into a thin line and she puts a round through the lock. The gun makes a dull clap as opposed to the full explosive blast that Frank's would have, and the sound of the bullet tearing into the lock mechanisms makes a wrenching metallic screech, but it's ultimately far quieter.

Frank lowers his gun, turns and looks at Simone… pauses… "Damn.. I think I love you girl!"

With that, Frank crouch-kicks the door open, "Huzzah!"

Simone makes a humorless smile for Frank and watches as he kicks the door in. She -wants- to laugh, to be enjoying herself without a care in the world, but this is a seriously messed up situation and she isn't feeling all that light-hearted about it. People are dead, and she's risking everything to help a stranger… While lost in thought, she raises a fist to her mouth and coughs as she catches a lungful of smoke before following Frank's lead.

Smoke is curling down now to about four feet from the floor, above that is opaque smoke and thick.

Frank pulls out a flashlight as he enters the room and sheathes the gun into the concealed holster at the small of his back. The biker then easily spots the camera monitor sitting on top of the camera control/recording harddrive box. Very standard.

Simone turns to face toward the front door and crouches down in the doorway of the office, sliding her back down against the doorframe. Her left hand extends from where it blocked her cough up to her goggles where she presses a tiny nodule before starting to scope out the office interior from her low vantage point. "You got that?" She keeps a lookout while Frank handles the electronics.

«Plot» Simone says, "Switched vision mod to thermo."

Frank nods with a cough and flips his cougar blade into his hand and leans down low on the desk so his head is only a foot under the rolling building smoke and he yanks the camera box out from under the monitor and chops at the cables that are attached to the back of it. It's quick and dirty work of removing the harddrive control box but it's fast.

Frank coughs again, getting worse.

Simone also coughs, and it's starting to become as consistent as the blaring of the fire alarm. She's extra-sensitive to irritants like smoke, and is getting desperate to leave. Now that Frank has the drive in hand, she simply croaks, "Okay, let's go!" She hustles her way to the edge of the counter once again and takes a quick look through the small slivers of visible window between shelves and product ads.

+- Perception

Frank nods and puts his knife away. With one hand he covers his mouth over the mask and the other he cradles the camera box, "Yeah!" he manages between coughs and is ready to get out of here.

Without stopping to be picky, or even to look at what she grabs, Simone tucks a couple handfuls of the lower-shelved snacks into her ever-bulging pockets as she makes her way toward the hall to get back to the vehicles and Ingrid. She holds at the entrance of the hall before the bathroom doors and checks behind her for Frank, as well as offering a reluctant glance to where the spraypaint cans are located. She decides not to cross that far to grab any though.

Frank is right on Simone's backside, hugging her like white on rice.

The fire seems to have spread upward into the ceiling and is burning above the ceiling now. Surely the bathroom must be an inferno right now. Smoke starts to come out of from under the women's restroom door but then gets instantly sucked back in under the door. The fire is sucking in oxygen like a vacuum cleaner and hissing air under the door to feed itself. It sounds like a whistling train as it pulls strong at the fresh oxygenated air of the main store to feed itself.

Simone tucks her pistol back into the coat and hacks into the pit of her elbow as she pauses. The path seem clear enough, and she takes a moment to look over to Frank before she spasms with another smoke-induced cough which causes her to hunch forward. She can't stop the fit so she starts forcing herself onward through the oppressive heat, barely able to see because her eyes are being forced shut by her body's violent reaction to the inhaled fumes.

Frank follows behind, be it from need or desire his right hand is holding onto Simone's back pocket as she leads the way out.

Simone leads the way blindly, face tucked into one arm while the other feels its way along the wall. The men's room wall to be specific; the other is surely too hot to touch due to the growing flames just past the door. Once she gets to the exit, she pushes her full weight against the door and stumbles out into the fresh air, hacking to hard to even see, but the fresh air is an incredible relief. She reaches a hand to grab hold of Frank's arm to steady herself until she can stop coughing and her sight returns.

As Simone opens the back door fresh oxygen rushes into the hallway and the women's restroom door flies open from the hard push of air. It's like riding a motorcycle at 80 mph for a moment as wind rushes past Simone and Frank and feeds the fire with a roar. The fire shoots across the attic now that it has unlimited air and the fire leaps to life as is only seen in 'backdraft' type fire movies.

The biker and his lovely lady stumble out of the burning building as smoke starts to roll out of the ends of the rooftop and licks of flame start appearing around the edges of the eaves of the roof.

The surprise of the backdraft causes Simone to stumble, nearly knocking the currently blind and off-balance girl down, but she remains standing thanks to Frank's support. Her feet skitter on the gravel and she heaves huge breaths until she can force herself to move. The thermo setting of her goggles is somewhat disorienting once she regains her sight, but the form of Frank's bike is still obvious, and she beelines straight for it in an unsteady wobble.

Ingrid gets out of the passenger's side of the car, "What do I do?" she seems to be freaking out.

Frank is coughing and rubbing his eyes to try and clear his blurry smoke-vision. The biker is following Simone and leaving the talk with the kid to the lady.

Sim urgently tugs at the bungees to get at her bag, unable to stand straight until the coughing fit passes. She can't answer Ingrid yet either, but she holds out a hand to get her to wait on a response. After some fumbling and stumbling she fetches what she wanted so badly, a small half-face breather. She presses it to her face where it autoseals and she heaves deep breaths of purified air into her lungs. This all happens in the span of a couple of seconds, a couple of breaths, but feels like an eternity to Simone due to her particular physical issues. The fire alarm still blares, even out here in the lot, so she speaks a bit louder than normal to make sure she's heard. "You drive," Simone responds matter-of-factly to Ingrid. She gathers up her bag and begins to make her way over to the sedan with wavering steps, but as quickly as she can manage. She turns back to Frank as she struggles along her way. "You'll have to follow. Or lead. Can you talk hands-free while you ride?"

+- Smoke Inhalation

Frank continues his coughing until he is able to purge the smoke from his lungs and then just deals with the irritation with little coughs and frequent phlegm upheaval followed by spitting away from other people onto the ground. At his bike he opens up the right side saddlebag and unzips his jacket, standing close and letting things fall into the bag (cinnamon bears, various Tony items) and then he shoves the camera box on top and starts closing up the leather cover and strapping it down with the buckles.

Frank considers Simone's question and nods, "I have a commlink with a sub-vocal mic.. want to use that? Better to stay off public cellphone waves anyway.. you have a commlink?" Frank starts getting into his gear to get out his commlink and work his sub-vocal mic onto his neck.. it takes some time.

Simone nods, rummaging through a pocket once she reaches the car. She leans a hip and shoulder against the driver's side rear door as she digs, and comes up with a little earpiece transceiver which she slips on under her hood. She calls out a channel designation and pulls the rear door open with some effort, then tosses her bag in and makes ready to crawl inside once Frank's comm is synched up. She looks weakened and still coughs a bit behind her mask.

Commlink-Red> Simone sends, « Same channel? »

Ingrid climbs into the driver's side and gets the car ready for moving.

Frank presses the 'search/sync' button on the micro-transceiver until it finds the frequency Simone is using as it goes clear in his ear without static.

Commlink-Frank Peretti> Frank Peretti sends, « Roger, linked. »

Frank gets his mask in place, his jacket zipped up and all his riding gear ready to go again. VROOM.. he starts his Harley.

Simone crawls into the back seat on hands and knees, keels over onto her side and pushes her bag down onto the floor exhaustedly. Some of her stolen snack packages make crunching noises in her pockets as she curls up, but she doesn't bother to react. From the fetal position she takes a minute to catch her breath. The comm channel is of course left open so that she can relay info between her companions, and everything she says is audible to both of them.

Commlink-Frank Peretti> Frank Peretti sends, « I'll lead the way, we will go South on the highway, take the first road we come to. »

Commlink-Red> Simone sends, « Ingrid, just follow him. And… » She doesn't want to use Frank's name, so there is a momentary pause. « Stay off of the highways. She isn't very experienced. »

Frank puts the bike into 1st gear and starts to depart, turning so that Ingrid doesn't have to turn the car around, but just follow after him. He keeps his speed will within the speed limits, stops and even uses his blinker as he comes out from behind the gas station and into view of the pumps and people out near the road watching the gas station on fire.

Commlink-Frank Peretti> Frank Peretti sends, « Roger that.. detour it is. »

Frank turns left away from the highway on the common surface street, instead of right towards the highway.

+- Catching Breath

Ingrid is careful, she starts rolling forward and when Frank far ahead touches on his breaks she presses on the brake pedal and the car slides in the gravel and skids, "Whoops." and then she starts again, getting used to the touchy brakes.

Frank turns left, heading up the paved road casually away from the highway and watches in his mirror a short while later as Ingrid carefully follows out of the parking lot onto the small road and follows him.

«Auto-Judge[]» Frank Peretti (#5894) rolls Intelligence vs TN 4 for "Looking ahead.":
1 2 3 7 14 = 2 Successes

Commlink-Frank Peretti> Frank Peretti sends, « Looks like a small town, farmers, a co-op granary ahead on the left, a school ahead on the right a quarter mile, residential two story houses and some ranch houses on short side streets that are dead ends. Looks like this road leads up into the mountain for a few miles. »

** GM Frank Peretti **
Google -> Castle Rock, CO. We are on highway 46 going west (left) away from Main Highway 87.

Simone wheezes lightly into the commlink and can be heard clearing her throat before she addresses Ingrid. « Just ease into the gas and the brake lightly, but commit to it. Shitty driving is a big red flag for security and police. » She coughs, then apologizes to Ingrid by saying that she didn't mean to say she was bad; she just hasn't gotten used to driving yet. Her voice is slightly muffled still, an indicator that she's a) still wearing her breather and b) still lying in the fetal position.

Frank wanders on Westward on county road 46 for a while more, keeping well within the speed limits.

WOOOoooooo…. WOOOOO….. the sound of fire trucks and ambulances and the PooPoo can be heard.

Back behind the motorcycle and the car a firetruck and ambulance pull off from Prairie Hawk drive from the fire station/clinic near the golf course (nicer part of the small town) and head for the gas station.

The police were on the east side of the highway and are arriving at the gas station now (first on scene). They are currently stopping and getting out to make sure people are staying back away from the area.

Frank and Simone were able to get away from the gas station about 60 seconds before the police arrived.

Simone regains some of her strength as the trip wears on, so she reaches a hand up to the headrest of the shotgun seat and pulls herself upright with a groan. She comments to Ingrid, "You're doing great," as she looks ahead to spot Frank, then turns to the rear to make sure all the emergency vehicles have been left behind them.

Frank keeps driving, at about 45 mph up the county road, casual and calm.

Simone's movement has alerted her to the crinkling fullness of her pockets and she decides to start transferring all her ill-gotten gains into her bag. Handfuls of chip bags and candies and scratch-its are all haphazardly dumped to be sorted through later. While she does this, she idly chats with Ingrid, being supportive of the girl's ability to drive, and pointedly avoiding talking about what really went down at the gas station. The less Ingrid knows, the better, Simone thinks. As the bottom of her front pockets are reached, she comes up with a handful of chip crumbs from a bag that burst when she laid down, as well as a long, bright red strand of hair, one of her own. She begins meticulously searching the seat for more strands. She finds a couple, but it's quite unlikely that she could have shed them since her hood is still up; they must belong to Ingrid… Simone clenches her eyes shut and removes her headgear — first the hood goes back, then the goggles come off, and lastly the breather. Her strained expression would be obvious to the younger girl if she were to glance in the mirror, but a decision has been reached, and Sim begins to remove gloves, then her two layered jackets now. Parka is unzipped and shrugged out of, then her thin, black leather jacket that she wears underneath is removed. She now just wears a white tank and her leather leggings. The Sharpie marker is dug out of her pile of things, and she begins to scrawl all manner of arcane symbols across her own skin until she's covered in symbols from shoulder to knuckles down both arms.

Ingrid is keeping it between the lines and luckily no cars are pulling in front of her or children jumping into her way. Slow and steady wins the race and she is keeping a nice safe distance behind Frank. Simone's words of comfort do seem to be helping her stay calm.

Sim shakes out her hair and leans her head into her hands to rub at her temples for a bit. She doesn't seem as concerned about stray strands of hair at this point, just focused on her headache and whatever it is that she's decided to do with the strange symbolism. There are a number of obvious spaces between many of them as though she has intentionally left part of the design unfinished. After readying herself, she leans forward to tell Ingrid she's doing a wonderful job, and to just keep it up. With that, she lowers her window and begins to ease herself up so that only her legs are still in the car and she's seated on the door with hands gripping the roof edge. Her red hair whips in the wind behind her like the tail of a comet and she carefully finishes filling in the empty spaces in her arm designs while perched precariously under the open sky.

Frank comes to the North/South county road and stops, waits for Ingrid to come up behind him and then he turns right, heading for the small town that is about five miles ahead.

Simone finishes her self-tattooing with the marker and tosses it back inside the car to land on the floor. She leans a bit forward into the wind to reach in and take the shotgun seat headrest in one hand while the other steadies her position by grabbing the roof edge still. She closes her eyes and focuses, letting herself enjoy the feeling of the wind in her hair, though it is utterly frigid. Small price to pay for the sensation of freedom though…

+- Centering, Casting

Frank leads the way up the north road, still going nice and careful. Back to the east and a little south… a rolling black cloud churns skyward.

The only thought going through Simone's mind as she leans into the wind with her eyes closed is the importance of removing all traces of her and Ingrid's presence in the sedan. She meditates on this for a moment until she hears the sound of another vehicle ahead in the distance and carefully eases her way back in the window by suspending her arms from the roof and swinging her hips forward. She lifts her feet up and curls into a ball, bouncing onto her back on the seat and looks to Ingrid who would surely be demanding an explanation of her actions. Or not. The girl seems naive in her youth, but Simone really has no clue what she's been through. "Sorry about that," she offers, declining to explain the purpose of her actions. She now sits up, closes the window and re-layers her coats over the goosebumps which cover her pale, rune-covered skin.

Ingrid looks like she has lots of questions and concerns but so much of her attention is on driving that she keeps herself from being distracted with conversation for right now.

Frank continues on, slowly driving North on the highway; some of the buildings in the approaching small village can be seen ahead about a mile.

Simone leans forward between the front seats and rubs some heat back into her arms, the friction of her hands against the fabric of her coat making a 'swishyswishy' sound. She keeps her eyes on Frank for a bit and then says to Ingrid, "After he stops, we'll come up with a plan to get rid of the car and get you someplace safe." She moves one of her swishyswishy-ing hands to Ingrid's upper arm and does the same action, but for the sake of showing kindness in the teen's sake, not to provide warmth. This lasts for only a brief moment before the older of the German girls turns to look back in the direction they came, to see if she can still spot the column of smoke from the gas station.

+- Perception

Looking back through the rear window of the brown four door sedan to the South along the highway, Simone notices:
Rolling black smoke coming up from the gas-station (presumed) to the Southeast.
A rusty old green pickup truck turn off a farm road onto the same road they are driving on and starts to head North, behind the Sedan now about 1/4 mile.

Frank keeps on, the rumble of his big V-twin Harley motor under him acting like a soothing mother's humming to a child while its nursing. Having just cut the necks open on two men and setting a gas station on fire with arson; it needs some soothing now to balance things out.

+- Anxiety Attack?

Simone begins to organize her possessions now, transferring certain things between her bag and coat, and she replaces the goggles and breather before putting her hood up again. She once again looks like an extra from a post-apocalyptic sim, and she turns to look out the rear window.

The driver of the truck looks to be a mid-thirties dwarf male listening to something on an earbud in his right ear (ipod?). He's wearing a brown baseball cap without any team affiliation or logo on it. He is wearing brown coveralls and on the dash of the truck is last years issue of the farmer's almanac.

+- Suspicion

Simone curls her legs up in the seat beside her and hunkers down with just her goggles above the edge of the back seat and her fingertips curled over the backrest. She stares for some time at the driver of the truck behind them, but shakes her head as though she had fooled herself into thinking the worst but finally came to her senses. She turns back around to try and busy herself with watching the scenery pass by and chatting idly with Ingrid. Simone happens to be something of a connoisseur of handcrafted jewelry, being a bit crafty herself, and she asks about the girl's bird pendant to make idle conversation.

Ingrid has a good deal of her mind on the driving so what comes out of her mouth lacks the skill of filtering out the secrets and things she should keep quiet on, "Raven led me to it last summer when I was hiking up in the mountains."

Ahead about 1/4 of a mile, Frank pulls over into the trail head of a hiking trail; a small dirt parking lot off the road on the west side (mountain/uphill side) and turns his bike around so it's facing the roadway. The parking lot is large enough to park about fifteen cars and currently there are two cars parked there before Frank's motorcycle added to the group.

Simone doesn't hear the capitalization of Raven, or simply chooses to ignore it. "Nice. They're very intelligent you know. They can use basic tools if they need to, which is rare among animals." The trailhead parking lot comes into view and Simone watches Frank pull in. Since the comm channel is open, she just speaks casually. "Ingrid, park on the other side of the lot." And then to the biker, "Why are we stopping?" She pulls an electronic device from her bag and holds it in her lap.

Commlink-Frank Peretti> Frank Peretti sends, « About a quarter mile to the town ahead, I thought we should make plans now instead of while rolling through the town. I'm open to suggestions. »

Frank turns off the Harley and dismounts, looks right and left two times and then turns around so he's facing away from the roadway and walks up to the wooden posts on the edge of the parking area and whips out his Johnson to piss.

Ingrid turns the car after slowing down, and gently brings the car to park in the lot away from Frank's area.

Eventually, the lazy old rusty green trucks rolls on past. As it does, the dwarf driver turns his head and looks into the parking lot with a suspicious gaze, but keeps on driving past.

«Auto-Judge[]» Simone (#7451) rolls 4 for "R4 Scanner, finding other channels in use within range requires getting [rating +3] of any other users' gear.":
1 2 4 11

** GM Frank Peretti **
Simone's scanner locks into the strongest signal:

  • Call the water plant and tell them we need more pressure.
  • I told you, these old pipes can't handle more than 75 psi.
  • Then we can't put it out.. it's going to be a complete loss.

Simone speaks to Frank while making it clear to Ingrid with a subtle gesture toward her ear. « Good idea. I'm checking local radio frequencies just to be safe, but I haven't found anything yet. » Just as she says that however, she sits bolt upright. « I got something! It's something about a water plant and … I think it's the fire department… They're talking about the gas station! » She sounds terribly surprised and starts looking for cable jacks on the scanner to link it in with her transceiver.

Frank continues to drain the dragon on the wooden post.

** GM Frank Peretti **
Simone's scanner

  • Get those people back Roger.. damn it, keep them away.
  • We either call in a pump truck from Colorado Springs, raise the pressure to 95 psi.. or we're going to lose the building.
  • I'm calling the water plant now.

Simone just turns the volume up a bit so that Frank can hear through their commlink. She waits and listens, hoping the fire department info might help inform their next course of action.

Frank does a double shake and then puts Chester back in his cage.

Ingrid blushes, "Is that motorcycle guy peeing over there?"

** GM Frank Peretti **
Simone's scanner:

  • Get another patrol car to block off the exit ramp so these people stop coming off the highway to gawk.
  • Okay.. okay.. Jeesh
  • Damn fire dogs are bossy assholes.
  • I heard that!

Simone responds to Ingrid after looking up from her scanner to for a quick glance toward Frank. "Either that or he really likes fence posts." She leans in reflexively toward the radio scanner when patrol cars are mentioned… But that doesn't seem like it'll affect their actions much. She speaks to the group, but mainly to Frank by saying, « Does this seem weird to you? It's like I'm getting both fire and police transmissions or something… »

Commlink-Frank Peretti> Frank Peretti sends, « I don't know.. unless they share a city frequency to coordinate. Way outside my skillset love. »

Ingrid can't help but watch Frank curiously, the tough biker outlaw, handsome, reckless… mmmm.

** GM Frank Peretti **
Simone's scanner:

  • Radio discipline men… radio discipline.
  • Bad radio! Bad Radio!
  • Who said that!?

Simone is starting to think they won't get anything useful out of the radio chatter, but she keeps it on just a little bit longer. Maybe the joker's identity will offer some insight as to which city department she's eavesdropping on. She responds to Frank's skillset comment with a disheartened, « Same here. »

** GM Frank Peretti **
Simone's scanner:

  • Water plant says no way, you should have bought a better pumper truck, the pipes can't take higher pressures.
  • Frak!

Simone just switches the scanner off and sucks her teeth in disappointment. "You know, I'm really not sure what the hell to do with this goddamn car — it's not really a -skill- of mine?" She raises her tone at the end which makes it sound like a question as though looking for sympathy on the lack-of-ideas front. She sighs and begins speaking to Ingrid. "Do you have someplace you'd like to go? Maybe if we have a goal in mind we can start working toward getting you there…"

Frank likes the idea of not appearing 'together' so he leans up against his bike and watches the birds/trees and looks relaxed, making efficient use of the time by planning over the commlink with the 'team'.

Ingrid considers, "Well.. my plan was to get up into Denver to see my aunt. My mother never let me go visit her because she said she was a bad influence on me… but… I ran away."

Simone watches the surroundings as the three of them brainstorm, and her response to Ingrid is with her face turned to look out the window. "I'm not going to tell you what to do." She shrugs and shakes her head a little bit. "But we need to handle this situation. Fr—" Simone almost says Frank's name again, but catches herself, turning it into, "Frieeeeend? Do you know if there is a bus or train station or something if we keep moving on?"

Frank nods to himself and keeps his lips closed as he uses the sub-vocal mic on his neck, "Yeah, there's a bus station. A small one, but yeah. It's just a bench outside a used Amazon digital book store.. you buy your tickets inside the book store."

Commlink-Frank Peretti> Frank Peretti sends, « It's called… The Book Stop »

Simone leans forward to rifle through her bag as she asks Ingrid, "How would you feel about us dropping you off at a nearby bus station?" She pulls out the stolen reading tablet and turns it on just to fill time by seeing what the clerk was into. "Does that sound alright? No more dealing with abusive assholes and you can get where you're going without driving a stolen car…"

Ingrid looks happy with that idea, "Yeah… I need to get to a place called the Warrens. My aunt owns a talismonger shop there. Do you know where the Warrens is?"

On the Kindle Fire:
** Searching for Wifi Signal .. .. .. No signal Available.
** Home Screen: (Books, Apps, Settings)
** Books: Grognak the Barbarian - How to Escape Vault 101 - Beware of the Geckos - Don't Trust the Bar Owner in Nuketown
** Apps: MUSH/MUX Program - Pinup Girl of the Day - Italian in 30 days - 30 Day Abs - 30 Day Squats - How To Be Smooth with the Ladies - Fix Your Own Car
** Games: Fallout 3, Fallout New Vegas, Fallout San Diego, Fallout Dallas, Fallout Detroit

Simone sighs, dismayed at this girl's life choices but nods reluctantly to her question. "Yes. Unfortunately. Aurora is like…" She shakes her head and throws her hands up. "It's like being surrounded by ten thousand Mikes and Tonys. People really only live there because they're not allowed to live anywhere else."

She tries to come across as kind in saying this, but it needs to be said whether the girl wants to hear it or not: "It's not a place people go if they have a choice in the matter." While she waits on Ingrid's response she idly flips through the books and apps on the kindle.

Ingrid listens to the lady that just saved her from evil-Mike and Tony and lets it sink in for several moments before speaking, "Regina is the only family I have in Denver and I don't want to go back to my mom in Colorado Springs…." she seems lost.

Frank listens in on the conversation without any real rush as he gets into his right side saddlebag and pulls out a bag of cinnamon bears.

The decision process is making Simone's head throb. All she wants is some time in a coffin motel to take her contact lenses out and sleep off the events of the day. She powers down the kindle as the small text is difficult to read right now and slips it back into her bag so she can rub her temples again. She lowers her hands after a second, leans back and with her eyes closed she forces herself to blurt out, "Okay. Okay. I'll take you." She says it as though she knows it's a bad idea, but something that needs to be done. Something that Ingrid deserves.

Frank listens over the comm and nods slowly to himself, quietly gnawing on squishy hot cinnamon gummy bears and thinking life can't get much better.

Ingrid turns in the seat and smiles wide, "Thank you lady… you have been so nice to me. I told mom people weren't as bad as she said they would be in the city. See.. you are proving her wrong!"

Sim can tell from the sound of Ingrid's movement that the girl has turned to face her so she opens her eyes, raises her goggles and smiles faintly. She knows how it goes — she did the same rebellious shit when she was sixteen. The most important thing to Ingrid right now is proving that she can handle things -her- way.

Ingrid seems pleased as a five peckered rooster in a hen house (but a girl analogy instead).

Commlink-Red> Simone sends, « Did you get that? I think it's best if I escort the girl. She's dead set on getting to Denver, and… I don't want her to fall in with anymore Mikes until she gets to her aunt in the Warrens. Can we work our trip around that? »

Commlink-Frank Peretti> Frank Peretti sends, « (pretend Irish accent) Aye, not a problem m'lady (/pretend Irish accent). I can adjust things. You going to ditch the car near here and take the bus in? Or you want me to hide my bike somewhere nearby, drop you guys off at the bus station and then go ditch the car off some place quiet. I don't want to torch the car close to here because that would flag the area as a hotspot and they might check the bus station security footage to see who came in and got a bus ticket and where they went. If I can get the car dropped off far away from here and then hitchhike back to my bike.. that will drop a lot of pressure off you guys. »

Commlink-Red> Simone sends, « That sounds like a good plan, as long as you don't mind hitchhiking. »

Commlink-Frank Peretti> Frank Peretti sends, « Bah, just being out away from all the pollution makes me feel like I'm twenty one again. »

Simone grins as she speaks to Frank and shares the look with young Ingrid.

Commlink-Frank Peretti> Frank Peretti sends, « Can you two follow behind me in the car until I can find a place to hide my bike? »

"Do you mind driving a little further," Simone asks Ingrid. "We just need to find the right spot before my friend joins us in the car. He's going to drop us at the bus station and get rid of the car while we're on our way into the city."

Ingrid seems happy with that idea and looks over to Frank as the biker is fastening up his saddlebag and preparing to ride again. She looks back to Simone curiously, "You and he… ?"

Frank flips his leg up over the Harley and sits down on it with a big grin on his lips, happy with the simplicity of not wanting much out of life.

Simone looks out to Frank and raises her eyebrows at Ingrid's curiosity. She makes it a point to respond in German with, "We're traveling together…" She lets the girl read into that what she will. Simone doesn't really know the state of her relationship with the biker as their meeting was so recent. She does catch herself smiling as she watches him on his bike though, looking carefree…

Ingrid seems to be happy with Simone's answer and whispers, trying not to be heard over the commlink, "Can I ask you more about him later?"

Frank reaches down and turns the key and then starts up the Harley, ready for a ride.

« GM NOTE »
The Next RP log will pick up from this point. It will be Simone and Ingrid going back to the city with Simone escorting her to the talismonger shop in the Warrens and the RP that will happen along the way. Frank will not be in the next RP log. He is "Faded to Black" until Simone is on her return and/or calls him / txt him or in some way includes him.
page revision: 86, last edited: 11 Jan 2015 19:37
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