There Goes The Neighborhood

GM: Slinger Players: Slinger (GM), Page (Johnson), Orpheus, Janie, Stonewall, Accelerate. Synopsis: Jonas Klack, the real estate mogul who owns the property Page wants to buy, suddenly has a change of heart. Apparently, thanks to the actions of the Shadowrunners, the property is no longer haunted, and he's convinced he can get more for it. So he takes advantage of a clause in the contract that lets him back out of the deal. Page, having spent money to unhaunt the land, disapproves of this. He tasks Slinger (who is fresh out of surgery on his eyes, and can't see) with finding people and getting Klack to change his mind. Slinger, in turn, brings in Orpheus, Janie, and Stonewall to go on site to create issues. He gives them a pair of elementals to order around… and sends them on their way. On site, Orpheus tries to sneak closer, trying to determine what kind of havoc to cause — when he realizes that a dog has caught his scent. Thinking fast, he commands the fire elemental to kill the dog — which it does, painfully, messily… and stinkily. People know something is amiss. The group tries to escape before suspicion is aroused — even after Orpheus commands the spirit to carve a symbol into the back yard of one of the neighboring plots of land. The fire elemental is sent back to Slinger — who listens to its tale, and then sends it out once again to accomplish a new task. It provides cover for the escaping vehicle, appearing to attack it… which helps shield the license plate number from view as well as any sort of description of the occupants beyond 'troll'. But it does draw the attention of KE, who puts astral trackers on it. Janie ends up finding each of the people and defeating the watcher spirits acting as trackers before anyone returns to the High Arcana. Meanwhile a call from Klack to Page indicates he's not ready to yield, mentions another buyer. Accelerate finds the guy's security easier to crack than a roasted peanut, and proceeds to gather information on the client. Janie and Slinger pay her a visit, disguised as something akin to her favorite trid star, and Janie talks her out of it. Klack finally, his last hope of selling at a decent price dashed, agrees to sell for the original price plus five percent — which puts the property right about at what Page was planning to spend anyway. Date: July 26-27th, 2069 Part 1: Phone call (Directed into the phone) It takes more than the usual number of rings for the call to be answered. "Yo." <Phone> Page says, "Hello Slinger." He sounds particularly calm. This may not be a good sign. "I need to ask you a rather peculiar favor." (Directed into the phone) Slinger says, "Yeah. Just got outta surgery. But whatcha need, man?" <Phone> Page says, "The fellow I signed papers on with the land has just decided to exercise one of his rights and cancel the deal. It seems that he believes he can get a /much/ better price somewhere else all of a sudden." (Directed into the phone) Slinger snorts. "Damn. Apparently he went out there, figured out it's not haunted any longer." He exhales into the air, though not smoke at the moment. "Crap. How long do we have to deal wih this? I'm… kinda laid up. But I can get some people who can help out with that kinda thing. Convince him, huh?" <Phone> Page says, "From what I gathered, he's trying to move /very/ quickly to get this plot of land off his hands out of sheer relief." He pauses. "Now, I understand that's perfectly within his rights and his decision, and I know that, as per the philosophy of our magical group, /we/ can't make him change his decision, but I was thinking perhaps you could go over to his place and … have a little chat with him, maybe him to honor his original word." Another slight pause. "I've also secured an outside contractor to help you out with this little affair, found him through Lapida. She claims he's an excellent… negotiator for hard cases. I think you'll find him most useful." (Directed into the phone) Slinger nods. "I figured you and I can't act directly, either. Especially since I'm kinda laid up. But we could… pay a commission to some friends of ours… and get them to convince him to go ahead with the deal. Right? I'll be right over… and I've got somebody I can bring." <Phone> Page chuckles. "Wonderful. I'll see you in a few." Part 2: At High Arcana Once Orph arrives with Slinger in the SUV.. he steps out of the vehicle first. He's got a cloak draped over him at the moment, obscuring most of whats under it. He sort of looks like a little thief.. skulking around in the black cloak.. he goes and opens the door for Slinger on the other side of the vehicle and helps him out of it, as Slinger had a blindfold on.. navigating alone was troublesome. "Well.. We're here," he says, and prepares to walk Slinger inside. Slinger climbs out of the SUV, visible through the shop windows. He already tossed his cigarette, and smoke trails from his lips. But it's what's above the lips that's interesting. He waits for Orpheus to come around and guide him, then together they head for the shop. Slinger has a white gauze wrapping around his head, around his eyes, obscuring his vision. He can't see much of anything, it would seem, as the Hispanic youth walks him inside. He enters the shop, moving slowly, though he soon locates his customary place near the counter, and leans against it. "Yo," the youth says, feeling a little silly. He could be addressing a room full of sharks for all he knows. Page eyes Slinger with both mixed amusement and annoyance. "I /thought/ you said that you were out of the hospital, Slinger," he says. "I would've sworn that these days they don't let you leave until you're all in one piece." "Yeah, had to go back in for the last piece," the youth admits. "It went okay, I just gotta wear this for a day or two." He gestures toward his face, then fishes for his cigarettes. "Means I'm in no shape to go on the mission or anything. This is Orpheus," he says, gesturing to the tough-looking young Hispanic youth with him. "And I think this oughtta be something he can handle pretty well. Hard negotiating," he says with a chuckle. Stonewall looks over at the elf fresh out of surgery, chuckling in a deep baritone… "Got some upgrades… Slinger, is it?" he says from nearby at the counter as well. The soft creak of leather and fabric on a large frame lets Slinger know he's standing up from the counter, waving to Orpheus as well and adding, "Orpheus… most call me Stonewall, bouncer mostly at the various clubs. The good gentleman here explained most of the 'sitch to me, seems straight-forward enough." Page hmms. "Think that thirty thousand apiece ought to be enough for something as simple as this?" he asks Slinger, eying his fingers nonchalantly, looking for dirt under his nails or some such. Orpheus helps Slinger into the building as far as he needs his help with.. then finds a nice little niche to lean against himself.. consequently close to where Slinger is. "Hola," he says in an unobtrusive voice, in greeting.. "Well, if it's negotiations we're doing.. I'm opting to let my gun do the talking," he says, putting forwardly immediately his own idea of negotiation.. and leaves little room in the comment for creative interpretation. Likely, he wouldn't be capable of subtleness or otherwise.. At least not in a social situation. He looks young.. brash.. Chestnut hair errantly covering one of his eyes. Kinda looks like what you get when you take a kid, train him how to be a Shadowrunner while denying him social interaction all his life and unleashing him into the wild. "Thirty-Thousand?" Orph says suddenly.. Stonewall snorts softly before countering, "Depends on if this is some used-car salesman, or someone'll I'll get in trouble for leaning on… the _sitch_ is reasonable, doesn't mean you said enough I know a lick of how much it'll cost me long-term, Sir." How it is that the troll in the room is the subtle one, is hard to explain. But somehow there it is, as he adds, "So who's the unlucky S.O.B. in this whole mess, besides me?" Page holds up a hand. "Now, now, I don't need to know any details about how you convince him," he says. "I just need him to change his mind, that's all. So that he honors the agreement we originally had. That's all I want, really. Is that so much to ask for?" Slinger nods to Stonewall. "Sounds like a troll," the youth admits, grinning at the sound of the voice. "Yeah, that's me. Slinger. Short for mojo-slinger. Yeah, it's pretty straightforward. Just don't kill him. Dead people don't tend to sign over deeds or anything. But it's not right of him to let us take care of a problem for him, one that /he/ created," the youth smirks. "And then try to charge us extra. Not right at all." Slinger puts another cigarette between his lips, then reaches for his lighter. It takes him a few tries, but he finally gets fire to meet tobacco, and he inhales fiercely, before letting it out through his nostrils. "Thirty thousand," Slinger whistles. "Nice. Yeah, that sounds like cash Orph could use. Me, I can stay here and supervise by radio or phone, but I'm not good for fieldwork." At Orpheus's comment, though, he chuckles. "Actually, for this… whatcha got in your arm might be a better choice. Those things are scary! I can attest to that! Be firm, but polite. And explain consequences. You ought to know the full story. Page, can you fill them in?" Stonewall chuckles, nodding. "Aye, troll… careful trog, been 'round the block a few too many times in the gutter to barge in without being careful anymore," he admits to Slinger. Page relates the tale of how he had a few runners inspect the property, find it haunted by a Navajo spirit whose flute was taken by the owner and sold to the local museum. And how the runners reunited the spirit with the flute and all is now well with the land, glossing over the obviously illegal parts with a fair amount of handwaving involved. "The thing to remember, here, is that he's the one who took the flute off the property and sold it to the museum for 600,000 =Y=. Though… frankly, he doesn't need to know where the flute is, now. Or anything about it. Just that if he gives you any grief, make sure he knows that the spirits are unhappy with his decisions. Appeased for now, but they want it sold. And you can back things up in the physical realm, too." Stonewall sits back… listening, nodding s'more. "Hrm… damn lout to 'eff with something like that, even if it was for that much. Not too bright of the museum to take it either, but eh… stupid people are why I make a living, eh? Still don't know who this guy is, or where he is… get the feeling he's not the sort to live down where me'n'the'Elf can just bust the door down, ya' know? ‘Specially if you’re offering that much up front, yer' expectin' us to run into some bodyguards, or this guy live in a concrete box?" Page nods slightly. "He's got a fair amount of security, I'd say. But more than anything, this needs… discretion." He eyes his fingers again. "After all, we couldn't have anyone thinking that he wasn't selling this property willingly. They have laws about that sort of thing, you know." Stonewall snickers, nodding very obviously at that. "Oh, aye… he'll be willing, real willing to sell, by his own choice. No worries there, I just don't want to stub my toe on his pet Lynx or something, ya' know?" he chuckles out. Slinger nods quietly. "Exactly. Discretion. But firmness. Like I said, I'd be here to offer advice, but you'd have to handle things in the field," the young elf explains. He takes a thick draw of smoke, holds it in his chest. He loves his cancer, Slinger does. And his gaze moves back to his fellow mage. "So what do we know about this guy?" Slinger asks. "I got my datajack, so I can read a datachip just fine." He fishes in his pocket for the cable, getting ready to connect himself up to it. "As long as I don't go full simsense, I'm fine." Well.. Orph doesn't know about all this discretion stuff. He could dissapear into thin air, sure! He was trained for such things! But this.. this was different. Nevermind that he's socially… awkward, in a way. But well.. Slinger wanted him to help out. "Well you know," he says in a soft, cool Spanish accent, "I'll do it, for you Slinger.." He nods. This act caused that strange, temporal-shifting, gravity-defying tuft of hair to cover his right eye as it always seemed to be.. Stonewall smirks a bit, nodding towards the other Elf. "Good attitude on your shoulders, lad. Can't learn but for trying, and figurin' wha'cha fouled up on ta' first time 'round. Try not ta' get shot if ya' piss someone off too much, ye'll go far with time. Easy far, and pointy-eared sorts like you've got plenty more time than us rubbernecks," he says, shifting up to stand more as he turns back to Slinger. "Aye… whatever info ya' got… pets, fake or real, would be nice to know. Best not to walk into a lead-lined door when yer' relyin' on X-ray vision, ya' know?" he mentions. Slinger nods, eyes invisible, datajack coming out of his head shifting a little. Blindfolded mage settles into a seat, drawing on his cigarette. "Somebody wanna give me an ashtray to use? I'm gonna be here a while. I figure I can sorta run comms from here. I'm no decker or anything, but maybe can provide you advice 'n stuff." A few seconds pass while he reads. "Jonas Klack, of Klack Realty. You've seen his signs around. Estimated net worth of about four million yen, most of it in property that he owns and is trying to sell off. He's got about ten other properties; this is one of the less valuable ones. Or was, while it was haunted. Offices are in the free trade zone, forty-second floor. Looks like he's got… three employees, including his wife, on the payroll. Lives in the UCAS sector, in a rather nice house in a burbclave. Two kids, boy and a girl, ages seven and eleven. Oh, and a dog." Orph catches and understands maybe half of all this information.. That socially awkward thing again.. A though occurs to him during all of this though, "Well, ya know.. if the idiota thought this place was uh.." He smirks, shrugging.. "Haunted.. maybe we should show him it still is." Well.. apparently this is a repeat of something Stonewall had already mentioned, but it bears mentioning again! Slinger grins at Orpheus's suggestion, and tilts his head. "That… that isn't a bad idea at all," the youth comments. "I didn't think of it. I was too busy thinking of how to lean on the guy. No, that'd definitely… get his attention. After all, he doesn't know exactly /what/ we did, though perhaps he might have some clues along that line. I'm sure they've discovered the flute missing by now." Slinger considers that for a moment, and then smirks. "Maybe some of his other properties should become haunted… making him think the spirit is targeting /him/ now. Unless he sells." Stonewall heh's, grinning a bit at the suggestions. "Hell… if you got the 'mojo, got anything that'd let me a ghost or something? It's not like I'm worried 'bout being shot or anythin' since that happens to me so often anyways at the clubs. Always heard spirits just can't be hurt by guns, 'zat'right?" he offers, then ponders… "Or was the ghost onna' those… spirit things, all burny and visible?" he wonders aloud… "Oh, they can be hurt by guns. Just takes a pretty big gun," the youth comments. "They got… well, they're about the same as a really tough, armored vehicle, except that there's no real anti-spirit ammo. Except Spiritbusters, but those are hard to find and expensive!" "I've got my elementals, but those aren't nearly as impressive," he admits. "Of course, there /is/ that Shaman we met…" Orpheus smirks. "Who knows? Maybe there is more than one kind.. at the same property?" He wonders, continuing the train of thought. As he says this, the ruthenium on the cloak hes wearing kicks on, partially obscuring him from view and leaves only his head visible, floating several feet off the air. "In any case.. Even if he got some nerve after seeing such a 'haunting', it couldn't hurt chances of getting him to sell, right?" Slinger nods slowly. "Yeah. Or some of his other properties. Thing is, spirits are just /so/ much more effective at that, and I admit… it'd be better if I had my spellcasting instead of… well, I can't really cast spells right now." Stonewall oh?s, cocking his head and asking, "What… it fuck up your healing or something, omae?" at the mention of someone just introduced as a mojo-slinger as… well, not slinging right now? Slinger chuckles. "It's healed. I just gotta wear this for a day or two while my eyes adjust to it. I dunno the specifics — Dammit, Jim, I'm not a doctor!" He chuckles as he drags hard on his cigarette, then crushes it out into the ashtray, or where he thinks the ashtray is. Orpheus leans against a nearby wall, looking suddenly quite bored. Overall. Probably he would rather bust into the guys place and put his blades to the guys neck and make him but AHHH.. He can't do that apparently. His bottom lip pouts a bit.. to the others it might seem a bit random though. "Well what else can we do?" he asks the group. Stonewall shrugs, turning towards the half-invisible elf and saying, "Well… if I can't be the ghost, it looks like you can, lad? I'm muscle… or at least the threat of muscle," before shrugging arms like tree-trunks. Slinger nods thoughtfully. "Thing is… maybe we don't need lotsa mojo to pull it off," he says. "Maybe if we just create the illusion of it… or the report of it. Maybe somebody who was injured by it… coming to get revenge. A recent 'mauling' or whatever… Orpheus considers, "I unno. I could go beat up some people, maybe?" he suggests with such a straight, serious, and unflinching face it's like the ramifications of that act almost have no real limitation within his own juvenile mind. "You know.. while wearing my ruth cloak," he appends. ".. And, we could play a recording of weird, strange noises or something," he continues, grinning at his own stupid idea. Slinger purses his lips thoughtfully. "I can give each of you one elemental to control," the boy decides. "It's time I summoned some more anyway. These are gettin' kinda drained. But they'd be good for some effects. They can dig trenches in things, move things around, wreak havoc… Stonewall shakes his head, saying, "Mojo, I'd have no clue what to do with. Few times I've dealt with it are the few times I've actually gotten' roughed up m'self, omae. It don't work well with someone with as much ceramic and plasteel in them as me, ya' know?" Slinger grins. "These would be yours to command," the youth points out. "So you give 'em orders, and they do 'em. It's simple. I got… I'm figuring, Earth and Fire would be good choices. Maybe Page can get me a discount on materials that I use or somethin'." He considers. "That'd be at least somewhat easy to do. And wouldn't involve a /lot/ of direct risk, yannow?" Orpheus gets a shitty grin on his face.. perhaps imagining what sorts of things he could do with such a spirit under his command. The look dissipates after a moment there. "Imponente! Why don't we do that? Break down some walls, rough up some people… Sounds fun," he concludes. Stonewall laughs, tossing his head back and saying, "I'll stick to Earth if it's that or Fire. Rather not get burned, ya' know? Just my luck I'd be stupid and self-immolate or some crap like that, 'bout the only thing none o' my work clothes are is fireproof." The youth chuckles. "All right. Earth for you," he says to the troll. "And Fire for you." This last to Orpheus. "And no lighting your cigarettes off the elemental!" he adds, with a teasing grin. He considers that, then adds, "The plot of land in question is, well, there's nice posh houses on either side of it. But nothing on the land itself — just a bare plot of it. But nothing says the elementals couldn't come from the land, to the houses on either side…" Orpheus blinks, then looks away from Slinger when he says this.. "I.. I know that," he says, hiding a smile.. Weakly. Though obviously Slinger can't see that. Clearly, that very thought thad already crossed his mind, only to be shot down by Slinger moments later.. "I'll just burn some things, is all.. Catch some stuff on fire.." Slinger chuckles. "Yeah, I'm sure you will," the youth comments. "Just remember — that thing will bear my astral signature, so try not to let it do too much where it's visible. And second, try not to kill anybody. That'll get things investigated a lot more heavily. Property damage will get him sued, though. He won't want that. Maybe not just this property, but also his others. Just remember, the elementals only owe a certain number of services." Stonewall hrm's… asking, "So what… 'dig a ditch' and bam, there goes a favor? Would 'tear up that place over there, but don't hurt anyone unless they hurt you' be only one?" Orpheus nods, furrowing his brow a bit.. "Hmmm. So.. we have to make the services count.. So.. it needs to be something flashy.. but not too flashy. Noticeable, but invisible.. Meaningful, but discrete?" Orph rubs his face a bit.. "Tch.." Slinger nods. "Yeah, usually. It sort of depends. And it's all up to the spirit. It's complicated. But it'll be able to understand you." Slinger nods firmly. "All right. I'm gonna let you guys run the show. Call me if you need anything. I can make calls for you, find out info, stuff like that. My SUV will hold a troll in the back, barely," he adds, apologetically. "And Orpheus has the keys. So I guess you guys can have at it." «OOC» Slinger says, "Two Force 6 elementals, at your command." «OOC» Slinger says, "The Fire elemental has 7 services, the earth has 8." Stonewall snickers, saying, "I could just ride my bike? It's parked out back," and gesturing over his shoulder. Slinger grins. "Just be discreet. Now. Shoo. Let me smoke in peace and recover, huh?" Stonewall shrugs to Orpheus, knowing when to vamoose when told though. He turns, assuming the other elf will follow, and ducks out of the shop onto the street, waiting beside the door for Orpheus though. Orpheus nods, "Alright, then.." It'll all work out in the end, right? Whatever happens.. He steps over and whispers something into Slinger ear just before stepping out to join Stonewall a moment later, heading over to the parked SUV. "So which house you wanna hit? We ganna go to different places? Or.." Orpheus whispers to Slinger, "See ya soon, sexy." And discretely gives him a peck on the cheek. Stonewall hrm?s, looking up to Orpheus… "Well… M'new to this whole spirit thing… I… guess it's nearby?" as he looks around a bit sheepishly before turning back to the elf. "How 'bout you drive, tell me 'bout how they work, we'll go give em' a try at one of the houses? I… dunno how good I'll be, used to just wading in and fixin' crap myself, ya' know?" he admits, as he tries to clamber into the back of the SUV akwardly… friggin' trolls, never fit anywhere. Part 3: Welcome to the Neighborhood The land in question is toward the center of town, in the CAS sector. Not quite in the FTZ, so not in the rich area. The guy's office is in the FTZ, and the UCAS sector houses /his/ home, making it hard to cross those borders without a proper SIN, and especially with the equipment ou are carrying. Though it's possible to hire a smuggler, but that would probably come out of your pay. Orpheus pulls up data on a visual overlay and plots a course toward the CAS property, taking a casual speed there for now as the SUV pulls out onto the open roadways. "We'll hit the properties, then.. No point in over-complicating things, right?" Orpheus has a hard time not cracking a grin at the tightly packed troll in the back seat. Not that hes making fun of Stonewall, just.. his predicament looks amusing. That doesn't stop him from smirking openly though. "Any ideas on what you want to use your services for?" Stonewall snrks, saying, "Rather not risk saying now… knowin' my luck, they'll try to do them while we're drivin' down the road, ya' know?" as he gives up, sprawling out in the cargo area in back… he shrugs, fine-looking clothes getting a little rustled up but nothing more at least. After a bit he looks comfy, no seatbelt or anything else, just sprawled out like a giant movie prop or something in the back area as they rumble along… he does ask then though, "What 'bout you? Got something in mind to sick em' on?" "Mierda!" Orpheus grumbles as the auto-grid causes a car to cut in front of him and makes him wait at a red light.. That pouty lip again.. Then, to Stonewall.. "Me? I'm not sure yet…" He ponders a moment.. ".. Hey, you ever heard of the nazca lines? I remember reading about that, some time ago.. Can't remember exactly when.." He scitches his head.. ".. Anyhow.. I was thinkin' I might burn something like that into the side of the building maybe.. or in the grass." The idea just came to him. Stonewall hrm's thoughtfully for several minues… then pipes up, "Can we like… set these guys to do something in a day or so? Might be best if we just visit the property, and a day or so later stuff actually breaks, ya' know? Less chance they tie it to us, and more chance someone might spot odd crap lurkin' around just before shit flies?" Orpheus hadn't considered that, actually. "Hmm.. I guess," he says.. "Honestly, I was planning to sneak in with my ruth cloak, but uh.. I guess you um. Might have trouble wih that, huh?" he says aloud, shamelessly. "Hmmmm.." Orpheus taps his smallish fingers on the steering wheel of the vehicle a moment.. "Well, I'm no expert.. but I don't see why we COULDN'T have them perform those actions in a delayed, timed reaction.." Stonewall laugh!s, a noise loud enough to rattle anything loose in the SUV for a moment. "Yeah… I'm obvious so those with me don't have to be, omae. I'm _MEANT_ to be shot, so my… friends… won't be. S'my lot in life, to take the bullet meant for others and live to punch the shooter out cold." It's not far to the property. It's a nice neighborhood, though not part of a burbclave. And at this point, it's nice and dark, providing cover for those up to no good. Though perhaps the SUV should be parked some distance away. And about that time, your phone rings, Orpheus. Orpheus turns and glances back at Stonewall. "Oh, yeah. You look like you would be good at that," he admits openly. "Well, lets hope we don't get shot at, in any case.." Right about now, Orph was pondering where to park the SUV before they begin their little job.. When his phone starts to gently vibrate in his pocket. He wouldn't have the thing set to RING, of course. That would be insane! Hah! He reaches in and extracts it, turning it to 'talk'. "Hey, que esta?" Slinger's on the phone. "Hey… just got in touch with a friend of mine. Remember I mentioned a shaman? Well… here she is. Whereabouts are you? I'll give her directions, let you guys meet up with her." «Plot-Page» (To: Janie) Slinger says, "Slinger would have, when he contacted you, explained the situation. Page is trying to buy some land. Turns out the land was for sale cheap because it was haunted. Slinger and some others got rid of the spirit that was haunting it by appeasing it — turns out that the guy had found an ancient Native American flute on the land, then sold it to the Denver Museum, and the spirit wanted it back. Now that the land is haunting-free, the guy wants to raise his price, back out of the deal. Page wants to persuade him to do otherwise. Hopefully without too much violence. They're talking about making the land seem haunted again." Stonewall sits up a bit as they slide to a stop, looking around and saying, "This the place?" more to himself curiously than anything else as he hears Orpheus' phone go off, shutting right up again and waiting… he's been through much worse discomforts than being crammed in the back of an SUV… trying to wedge into an Elektroglide, that was a lot worse. Janie switches her phone to handsfree so she can continue the conversation while she gets her gear together. "Well, th'obvious solution would be t'charge th'guy exorcism fees equal to th'price difference or offer t'put th'ghost back…" Orph probably has a hand-free headset anyway, so he clips that over his ear for now as the group talks over the cell. For now, he gets the SUV parked someplace inconspicuous. "Place is about 750 meters from here," he says, placing the SUV in park and shutting it off. A moment later and he lithely slides out of the drivers side door and, by habit, prepares to turn on his ruth cloak assuming no one is in obvious line of sight with him. Aside from Stonewall, of course! Over the phone.. ))Isn't that obvious, though? I mean.. he gets haunted.. then we show up and offer the work? If he thinks it's still haunted, he'll just sell it off cheap anyways?(( "Yeah… thing is, Page doesn't want it known how it got unhaunted," Slinger says over the phone. "Since it involves a rather valuable object disappearing from the Museum. Might be a few too many coincidences, you know what I mean?" Stonewall nods, saying politely, "I guess I'll hang by the SUV for now, like I'm fixing a tire… you want to go play Captain with the ghosts or spirits or whatever? I can't vanish like you can, might as well be obviously NOT the threat maybe?" Janie nods to herself as she shrugs into her duster. "Well, if he doesn't know how it got unhaunted, he might not be certain it really /isn't/ haunted anymore… Dependin' on how much he knows about magic a couple o'watcher spirits might do th'trick." The property itself is peaceful, tranquil. There are a few trees on the lot, but it's mostly empty field with waist-high grass. Needs to be mowed, which is probably a sore point with the neighbors already, but tolerated. And of course, there's the Klack Realty sign displayed proudly in the yard of the place, along with a comm number. Other than that, it's peaceful, and the background count has mostly returned to normal. "No, not at all, omae," returns the young, brazant Elf to Stonewall. "I need you to be my eyes, y'know? Loiter a bit and keep an eye out if nuthin' else.. Tell me if troubles comin' while I uh.. redecorate the property," he says, grinning from under his ruth cloak. ))Mebbe, but it's a lil' late to be having second thoughts about that, right? Still.. Be nice to have some spiritbuster ammo," he considers.. He checks his gear which he packed in the SUV.. Grabs his pistol, just in case he needs it and hopes he doesn't.. There are lights on in the houses on either side of the property. People occupying them — wealthy, important people, from the sizes of the places. No sign of anybody moving around just yet inside, though there is the telltale flickering blue glow of a large-format trid active in at least one of the windows. Of course, if you were to do something that damaged one of /those/ houses, there might well be hell to pay! And that might well persuade the man to sell. But there are other risks, there. "Lemme know if you need anything," Slinger says, and signs off. Stonewall chuckles, saying, "If you hear the horn AND the hazards turn on, get back pronto… it means trouble," as he starts looking through the rear trunk area for the tool to get the corner of the SUV off the ground… nothing disabling, just one of the front wheels so all the drive wheels are good still. He does pause… standing upright and cough into the air before saying in a normal voice, "If you hear me, spirit… or… whatever you is… go break the road, one good crack," and points down the way they came, as if they ran over it. He stands by the drivers-side door of the SUV, waiting for… whatever. "Well, an actual address t'drive to would be good," Janie replies before Slinger can disconnect the phone. Orpheus takes the liberty of routing the directions over to Janie on Slingers behalf.. then, slowly, he begins to make his way toward the properties, being as sneaky and stealthy as his little elfie self can be.. which usually is pretty damned sneaky.. He decides to do a good once-over the small section of neighborhood, checking for any potential security and such to be sure he isn't going to do something that looks blatantly obvious or will summon angry men with guns. Some of the neighboring properties have security cameras. There's a fenced area in the back of each of them, as well, made of wooden slats. Privacy fence, nice and high, so that neighbors can enjoy the outdoors and yet hide from each other. Most of the security here seems to be aimed at preventing entry, and a lot less of it intended to actually spy on one another. The ground is actually relatively dry, though it's hard to avoid at least some sound as you move through the somewhat dry waist-high grass that covers the plot of land. The spirit hears the command, though, and you can sense an acknowledgement from… all around you. And then… the very ground under the road begins to lift and heave upward — the asphalt splintering and shattering — and with a rather loud, crunching, rumbling sound as it emerges. Stonewall nods, standing by the door of the SUV for a few minutes… sitting on the seat a bit as if resting. "You may stay out of sight for now, I'll call you again in a bit," he says if the spirit is actually standing in the middle of the road, waiting for it to vanish again before pushing himself free and _slamming_ the SUV door shut, grumbling inventively in no less than four languages as he goes around back to circle the SUV… then going to the back again, starting to pull out the jack, trying to position it to lift the front wheel that's away from the road and more out of sight… Janie acknowledges the address and gets into her car, then enters the address into the autonav and heads off. The spirit does fade back into the astral, having performed one service, and it hovers nearby, awaiting your next command. Orpheus winces a bit at the horrendous noise that the Earth elemental makes.. He hated noise, so much. He hated making noise and hated hearing noise. Silence was always preferable.. But it couldn't be helped in this case. With a sigh, he goes up to one of the properties surrounding the target one for now and looks for a way in, intent to slip inside the place and get the fire elemental causing some grief for these wealthy shitheads. A little haunting on the surrounding property would definitely make the central property less desireable, after all.. No way for him to ask Stone whats up as.. he lacks a phone or anything, so.. Time to just continue with the op for now.. «Plot» Slinger says, "Roll me perception, Orpheus. TN is… 8 right now." «Auto-Judge» Orpheus (#3849) rolls Intelligence vs TN 8: 3 4 5 5 11 = 1 Success The property on the left side is the one with the trid screen above, but outside it is quiet, with only the sound of the cicadas wafting up from around you, covering your stealthy movements. Even so, there is a sound from that fence, just a few meters away. A curious sniffing sound… it sounds like a dog, and a relatively large one. Janie drives up to where Slinger told her his friends would be waiting, then opens the car window and looks at the SUV and its occupant. "Ye'd be Slinger's friend, then?" Stonewall looks up… startled with a large wrench held clumsilly in his hands. He nods, saying, "Aye… sorry 'bout the rut in the road down yonder, there's another out in the field with… a fire spirit I think Slinger said… I have earth with me, kinda playing backup since I had to ditch my electronics bag a couple weeks ago." That said, he crouches down, trying to get the wrench back in place, loosening one bolt… then tightening the same one down again, the spare tire leaned up beside him looking lonely… Orpheus stops in his tracks and kneels down, ruth cloak masking his features, leaving him little more than a slightly shifting blur, like a mirage.. A very deadly mirage. 'Dog,' he thinks.. 'Bane of all shadow ops,' he adds to this thought.. then he pulls out his silenced pistol and aimes it forward a bit, intent to shoot the dog in the head. Dogs were always bad news.. but then he realizes.. bullets in a dog would look really bad.. Better to have the elemental do it instead, right? Besides, an immolated dog is kinda scary and ghostly, isn't it? Still, he decides to hold on that for just a moment for the other person to arrive. Speaking of.. does She have a comm? Janie does, in fact, have a comm. A pretty sophisticated one, in fact. Sniff sniff. Growl. Janie nods, looking over the field to get a glimpse - both physically and astrally - of the other while she switches on her taccom and fits the bud to her ear. "Mind fillin' me in on th'exact situation while we wait?" Janie asks the guy, who has yet to identify himself. Stonewall grunts a bit, lifting the wheel around as if putting it in place… sliding it out of view a bit and standing to talk to Janie politely as he dusts himself off. "Eh… best plan we came up with was make tha' place look haunted again. He thinks he can crank the price after one prospective buyer actually cleared up his problem? We'll put his problem back… or make him think it's back at least. Or… in this case, make his NEIGHBORS think it's back. Me? I'm backup… Stonewall, why I got the big pile of dirt and sod, figured it'd fit me better. Ya' don't reneg on a deal to take bad property off your hands when said person fixes what's bad, that's just bad fer' business, ya' know?" He pulls out a candy-bar, starts worrying it to pieces, taking a break before going 'back to work' on the SUV again. Oops. Growling.. no time to wait as it turns out. Damned dogs.. with their hyper-sensitive sense of smell picking him out. That's okay.. He heard once from a boy in the academy that dog tastes sort of like squirrel. .. And Orpheus has first hand knowledge of what squirrel tastes like. "Okay," he whispers to the fire elemental, "QUIETLY.." And he emphasizes quiet.. "Kill that dog," he says. Then.. sits back and half-expects it to kill the dog in a noisy fashion.. His silenced pistol would do a more quiet job, but.. once again.. bullet-ridden dog does not a ghost make. On the comm, Orph talks.. and I'm assuming we shared comm info beforehand here.. »Hey? Just slipping into the property to the left of our target,« he comms voicelessly.. »Dog here, but.. I'm ganna fry it,« he says. Mmmm. Burning dog.. Hopefully the smell will take a while to reach anyones noses. Fire elementals are not known for their subtlety. On the other side of that fence, there is suddenly a fierce, intense barking, as a yellow flare of light appears and surrounds the dog — then engulfs it. The barks transform to yelps of intense terror and panic and pain, yelping barks as the thing struggles to get free as its somewhat longish fur catches fire and burns intensely. The worst part is, it actually takes longer than you might have expected, a column of smoke rising up from where the dog is flaming and dying. The stench is horrible, and even the fence is starting to smoulder when a light turns on back there, casting a sharply contrasting shadow. "Blackie?" calls a female voice, tentatively. Then, a cry of terror as she sees the living column of fire that is killing her dog. Blackie whines one more time — and then finally dies. Sizzling. Janie winces at the screams and the column of smoke. "Well, so much f'r bein' subtle about things…" she murmurs. Stonewall looks over… laughs, and says in a much more open voice, "Thanks for stopping, Miss. I've almost got the tire off though, I think I can manage to limp home," before he shoves the rest of the soy-bar in his mouth, chewing it as he walks away from Janie's car and back around behind it, saying, "This is Slinger's. Earth spirit? Do as this lady tells you to do," to Janie before walking away like that, crouching down behind the corner and starting to 'fake' re-bolt wheels in place, pushing the spare back into view as the 'discarded' tire… big pile of subterfuge, all messy and risky. Well, no reason to waste the opportunity, right? Perhaps we can call this tactic 'shock value'.. What could be more ethereal and horrible than watching your dog get immolated by a mysterious pillar of fire? "Okay, not really quiet.. But you know.. They say you roll with the beatings," he says, butchering the phrase in his smooth, young Spanish voice. Oh well. ".. Er.. Go ahead and like.. move that pillar of fire around the yard, burning the nazca lines into the grass or something.." He aproximates what this looks like by drawing on the dirt at his feet with a finger. You know.. tribal looking stuff! He only partially remembers reading about it.. When was that? Can't remember for the life of him.. But he definitely remembers seeing it! You can clearly make out the symbols from high up in the air. Pretty impressive stuff.. Hopefully the fire elemental is a prodigy artist! During this, Orpheys casually stands back and watches, arms folded as he looks on.. sort of like an artist admiring a piece of work.. »Hey no worries.. The burning dog looked real scary,« he assures them seriously. Anyways, it wasnt really any more noisy or unnatural than the ground being split in half, right? Oh yes, Orpheus DOES think to add, "But make the symbol bigger!" Commlink-Mustang> "An' with any bad luck at all, th'dog's owner'll be callin' th'cops t'investigate," Janie replies over the comm. "Once ye're done playin' around I'll have t'wipe th'astral traces o'this an' hope we've got enough time t'get out." The pillar of fire doesn't need a diagram. What you described is known to it — and it proceeds to do just that, running over benches and roaming around the yard, free, unconstrained. And in its wake, the benches are in flames that are growing, licking upward. The door closes swiftly — and you can almost hear from here the frantic speech of the woman as she calls Lone Star, demanding they come at once. Who you gonna call? So far, there is no sign of anyone else, though — the other neighbors haven't heard anything yet… it's still very peaceful. Janie glowers at the earth elemental, even though it's not particularly to blame for any of this. "Best make y'rself scarce an' head back to y'r master," she murmurs. "There's been enough damage done here." With that comment, she focuses on the astral and starts erasing the astral signatures of the spirit's activities. She doubts Slinger will thank these two for linking one of his elementals to the brutal and graphic murder of a pet. Janie makes quick work of the astral signatures. It /stinks/ around here, though, and some of the neighbors are starting to notice the stench, and coming outside to see what's going on — and there are some shouts of fear as they see the column of flame that inscribes the symbol on the ground — and then looks to Orpheus for more orders. «Plot» Slinger says, "That's two services from the Fire, one from the Earth." «Auto-Judge» Slinger (#69) rolls 4 (to no one): 1 4 4 4 «Auto-Judge» Slinger (#69) rolls 4 (to no one): 2 3 5 10 «Auto-Judge» Slinger (#69) rolls 4 (to no one): 1 1 2 5 «Auto-Judge» Slinger (#69) rolls 4 (to no one): 2 2 2 5 «Auto-Judge» Slinger (#69) rolls 4 (to no one): 2 4 4 5 «Auto-Judge» Slinger (#69) rolls 4 (to no one): 1 2 5 10 «Auto-Judge» Slinger (#69) rolls 4 (to no one): 1 3 3 5 «Auto-Judge» Slinger (#69) rolls 4 (to no one): 2 3 4 5 Nobody seems to spot Orpheus yet. They're too interested in the column of flame… Stonewall pointedly ignores the bonfire behind the fancy house, despite the fact he can likely see it from here… he just picks up the tools, carrying the jack to the rear of the SUV in one hand, the tire in the other, starting to put stuff away in the back about five minutes after Janie drives off, taking his time and laying things out neatly as he can… upside of a job like this, he lacks so much as a fancy radio to get in trouble over. All the same, Orpheus does his best to stay concealed and hidden.. But what else could he get the fire elemental to do? Drawing the nazca lines in the ground is pretty creepy. Definitely has to make 'em think twice about a haunting for sure, he thinks.. Hmm. Maybe a burning effigy? "Hey," he begins commanding. "Go fly into the air a bit and make a big smoke trail in the air that appears like a big, black, billowing skull in the sky over the top of that house.. Try an' get it to last a few minutes, yeah." Orph points to the target house that Page wants when he commands this Burning, flaming, smoking skulls in the sky! Yes.. This was perfect. No one in their right minds would want to live in a place THIS brimming with 'supernatural' fright. Right? Hell, even PAGE might think twice about it.. Yup.. that thought is the catalyst for Orpheus' descision to leave it at that and gives the elemental no further orders except, "Okay good enough. You can go back to Slingy now." Pleased with himself so far, he quickly scurries his way back to the SUV. Stonewall just stops… standing by the side of the road and looking up… jaw on the floor at the sight in the sky. And that's no act, he's just amazed… first time he's seen someone just turn a spirit loose like that, apparently. =O.o= The elemental obeys the orders in question, flying up into the air over the field, over the houses, and darts back and forth across the sky, creating the hot, flaming trail that describes a grinning, leering skull in the sky. This takes it a while, of course, and the neighbors are staring in fear and awe. "It's still haunted!" one of them calls out, while another one is levelling a gun up toward the sky, taking aim at the spirit. "Not for long," he cries out. Janie is significantly less impressed as she keys her comm while getting back into her car. 5» "We need t'be elsewhere before th'Star shows up," « she transmits as she puts the car in gear and starts driving casually away. Orpheus just quickly gets back to the SUV as he can, remembering to take care not to leave any trail behind that could lead anyone to him and such.. still being sneaky, if swift. Once back to the SUV.. assuming no issues, he'll climb back into the drivers seat, giving Stonewall a quick wave that he can't see probably, thanks to the ruth. "Well that was pretty fun, I'll admit. Wish I had more time to play with it, though.. Let's get the fuck outta here, huh?" Orpheus' disembodied voice sounds quite calm and cool.. If not childish.. though what would one expect from someone who looks like Orpheus? You get exactly what you pay for. There's a problem with the whole spare-tire situation. About two minutes into the procedure, there is the sound of sirens coming from the distance… Stonewall turns… saying to Orpheus while still holding the spare tire in his hand, tire jack in the other… "Go! Get outta here, drive! That tin can's worth a lot more than me, and I'm harmless!" is barked out loud enough he hopes Orpheus can hear him. He doesn't turn his head, just says that while watching the lightshow in the sky, as soon as he hears those sirens… Orpheus groans softly as he hears the sound of sirens.. He thinks for a second, "No, wait.. Be cool. Why they ganna stop and harass us when theres a freaky, burning lightshow goin' on up there?" At least, that's how he would rationalize it. Still, getting into a fight with Lone Star wouldn't be an especially good idea.. But on the other hand, this SUV either belonged to Slinger or was stolen, and if Stonewall was caught with it one way or the other.. it couldn't be good, right? Janie drives on, by now well away from the area to place a call to Slinger. Stonewall barks again, "DRIVE! I'm acting, damn lout, play yer' part and run like a rabbit…" hoping it will spur the damn elf to do so… waiting… tire iron and spare tire held in his hands… back of the SUV still wide open… Also hoping none of the damn security cameras in the area have audio to pick up him gabbing in the open like that… In the sky, the elemental completes its drawing, leaving the ghastly smoke-cloud hanging there. In the back yard of the house, the patio furniture is burning merrily, despite the attempts of one of the residents to spray it with a hose. The sound of sirens is getting closer — perhaps half a kilometer off. The SUV is driaveable… but there's a troll there with a tire iron. And the rear door of the thing is wide open…" «Plot» Slinger says, "To confirm, the SUV is short a tire right now, right?" «Plot» Stonewall says, "I rolled the spare over, never even took more than a single bolt on and off repeatedly. Pantomimed moving the spare in place, the old one aside, etc." Commlink-Mustang> Janie says, "Slinger, Mustang. Your muscle cooked th'pooch an' cops are on th'way. I'm hopin' they've enough sense t'get clear before they arrive." The elemental disappears from view, fading back into the astral… and it zips off, just as one of the guys starts unloading ammunition into it. By now, people are outside — or inside — and watching, staring at all the hubbub. One person climbs into the back yard — and there is a *squish*. "What the /drek/?" he shouts. "Oh my God, that's /disgusting/!" He whirls around, leaning against the fence… retching. Commlink-Slinger> Slinger says, "Cooked the pooch? Whatcha mean, exactly?" Commlink-Slinger> Slinger says, "Hang on." Slinger places a call to Orpheus, and bridges him in with Janie. Assuming Orpheus answers. Orpheus groans again, turning the key on the ignition and reluctantly turns off his ruth.. if anyone saw the car driving itself, that would only look worse. He keeps his hood drawn up though. "Get IN already! I aint ganna look any less weird driving by myself than I would with you in the back," he says.. But he isn't going to wait forever, either.. if Stone doesn't hop in in a few moments, he's going to drive off with the SUV. He'd feel bad if he lost Slingy's ride after all. ))Hey!(( Responds the youth as Slinger calls.. ))Good idea letting us use the elementals by the way,(( he says quickly over the phone. Commlink-Mustang> Janie says, "Ye'll have t'ask y'r elemental f'r details, but apparently a guard dog smelled one o'them an' th'genius boy figured that th'best way t'stay subtle was t'sic a fire elemental on it an' then burn scary symbols into th'earth while th'pooch burned t'death."" Janie's voice sounds distinctly less than impressed. Commlink-Slinger> Slinger says, "Yeah. We're gonna have to have a talk about bein' kind to animals. You just made PETA's ten most wanted list. All right. Here's what I want you to do. Listen very carefully and do exactly what I say. Both of you need to get into the vehicle — and make sure all the doors and windows are closed, fully. All the way. You hear me? Then I want you to drive. Lemme know when you start moving." Outside, there is a guy starting to walk toward the SUV, waving to the troll. "Did you see any of that?" he calls out. Seeing the tire iron and the spare, he adds, "You two need any help…?" Slinger listens to his elemental's description of what happened… and then he gives a series of very, very specific orders to it. It acknowledges, and vanishes… Stonewall looks up, calling out, "Fraggin' road has a huge tear across it! Bent the rim! I'm good now, you guys have some fireworks go bad on you or something? Impressive lightshow up there," as if snapped out of a trance as the guy's starting to approach… Commlink-Mustang> Janie speaks up again. "I've wiped th'astral signatures o'th'elementals from the area as best I could," - with Orpheus apparently in the circuit, she decides to not mention just /how/ good 'the best she could' really is; a little sweating might help him think things through better the next time - "so with any luck a forensic mage won't be able t'trace it back t'ye." Orpheus' fingers instinctly go to the grip of his pistol as the man approaches the vehicle. Hates to leave witnesses and he doubly hated being seen. He might regret turning the ruth off, but then, the same problem would happen if he had driven it invisible. He couldn't really SAY anything.. and probably looked a little strange sitting in the car with a cloak and hood on, but y'know.. Couldn't be helped. "Boss says get IN," he tells Stonewall one last time, trying not to be overheard by the approaching person but what can ya do.. But now Stonewall is TALKING to him.. Uhg. Orph considers just shooting him and being done with it.. but no, that would possibly undo everything they had just done. Right? He starts rolling up the windows anyways. Commlink-Slinger> Slinger says, "Elementals don't leave an astral signature behind. So they're safe. Can't be traced back to me. Not unless somebody manages to assense the elemental itself. Get the hell /IN/… you'll see why." About this time, the elemental /re-appears/, appearing to rise up out of the ground in the middle of the field of land that Page wants to buy. The grass doesn't even smoulder — it catches fire instantly, and the grass fire begins to spread outward from the point of origin. That's one way to mow the lawn! Moving at about two meters a minute or so — it's not /horribly/ dry grass. Even so, the elemental rises up into the air, and a few more shots ring out toward it — and then it launches itself forward, moving across the field and spreading fire in its wake. And heading /right/ for the SUV… Along the way, it rides along that wooden privacy fence, and behind it, boards burst into flames as well, snapping and crackling as it roars forward. The guy who was leaning against it, puking, barely has time to throw himself out of the way as the heat from the thing singes his eyebrows. And then it is moving, heading toward that SUV at a rather rapid pace. People are staring, pointing, gasping…" Stonewall turns at the sudden grassfire… pauses, lets out a "Holy shit!" and dives into the SUV as if trying to dodge gunfire… and I'm sorry, 300-400kg of Quickness 10 Trog diving into the back of a vehicle may be quick, but it's NOT nice to the suspension at least, to say nothing of the back seats! "DUCK!" is barked, pulling the rear hatch shut and not really caring if it fits right tommorow… The guy that Stonewall was talking to suddenly widens his eyes, seeing the elemental moving from the opposite side of the massive troll. "Frag! Run for it!" he shouts to the troll, as he himself turns and runs away at a rapid pace. The rear door thuds shut, which happens with trolls. Fortunately, this vehicle is built /tough/, designed to take a certain amount of abuse. And the vehicle is suddenly sealed, even as the elemental approaches the thing — and wraps suddenly /around/ it, beating on the vehicle with its fiery tendrils. The SUV rocks from the impacts… Orpheus' instinct is to dive out of the vehicle as he sees the ball of fire hurtling towards him.. but it's too late. He throws his hands up to shield his face, but little appears to happen except that the vehicle is being rocked around. It occurs to him that this was just the fire elemental but why was it doing this? To what end? Was this suppose to aid their getaway? Well, Orph can't really do anything with the vehicle being beaten around like this so he just hunkers down and waits for it to end. Commlink-Slinger> Slinger says, "Orpheus! You in the driver's seat? DRIVE! Drive like a bat outta hell. Just don't hit anything!" Commlink-Slinger> Slinger says, "I told it to do that. That elemental can't hurt that SUV!" Orph can't really imagine a vehicle driving around with a swirling ball of fire caressing it looks very inconspicuous, but.. What can ya do? He starts driving away back the way he had originally come to put an end to this embarassingly poor excuse of a Shadowrun(Due large in part to his own tomfoolery, in this case). «OOC» Slinger says, "Lemme have a reaction roll, Orpheus. TN is 6!" «Auto-Judge» Orpheus (#3849) rolls Reaction vs TN 6: 1 2 2 3 3 = 0 Successes «Auto-Judge» Orpheus (#3849) rolls Reaction vs TN 6 for "1/2": 1 2 2 2 5 = 0 Successes The guy who was shooting at the vehicle lines up another shot — but at least comes to his senses, lifting up the gun at the last moment. No, he's not going to risk hitting the occupants of the SUV, and the bullets don't seem to be doing a damned thing. Orpheus ends up flooring the accelerator, but the vehicle's wheels just spin in place, the vehicle lurching to the left, to the right, trying to get purchase with the elemental rocking it for all it's worth… Janie is blissfully unaware of this as she drives off elsewhere. «Plot» Slinger says, "Stonewall: roll me perception, then… reaction or quickness, whichever is higher." «Auto-Judge» Stonewall (#1297) rolls Intelligence: 2 3 5 5 5 11 «Plot» Slinger says, "Perception is TN… 5, reaction or quickness is TN 5 as well." «Auto-Judge» Stonewall (#1297) rolls Reaction vs TN 5: 1 3 4 5 5 9 11 13 20 = 6 Successes There is a definite pattern to the rocking, when you realize it… and the big troll finds himself able to actually get the vehicle moving in counterpoint by shifting his weight around. It's hell on the frame of the big SUV, but it's built for off-road use as well as on-road, on rugged terrain, so it's designed to take it. «Plot» Slinger says, "Orpheus — another Car check, defaulting to Reaction means TN 5 this time, since you got a small bonus…" «Auto-Judge» Orpheus (#3849) rolls Reaction vs TN 5: 3 3 3 5 10 = 2 Successes By now, people are staring openly at the drama unfolding before them… and the sirens are getting closer. And the SUV's license plate is obscured by the flaming creature that has wrapped around the back end of the vehicle… Well.. Apparently they weren't going anywhere.. Especially with the elemental pounding on the vehicle as it is.. Orph just can't seem to get the vehicle to obey like he wants it to and simply spins tires fruitlessly. Seeing Stonewall rocking around like he is is a little rediculous though. It's enough to make him wanna laugh.. except the situation really didn't call for it right now. He has to admit.. This kinda work wasn't really suiting him too well.. Well, eventually, he manages to get the tires to grab and in a moment hes driving the car off with the elemental swirling around the vehicle all the while.. he'll have to hop no one spots them going down the road like this and reports it to LS! Time to flee.. And as soon as you get more than a couple of blocks away — the elemental falls off of the SUV… and then dissipates into the ground, just as Lone Star's vehicles pull up in front of the property. A fire truck arrives soon afterward, and very soon hoses are being run, the fence extinguished, and the cops are moving around taking statements. Including descriptions of the vehicle, and question about who it might belong to. «Plot-Page» (To: Orpheus) Slinger says, "And… you appear to be clear, after that close call." Stonewall stops playing the part of a pinball after a moment when his 'counter' actually makes things worse that time… stopping… and tries to find somewhere intact to actually buckle himself into. Panting… clothes QUITE rumpled, but… unhurt. And unburnt! Janie's car was only very briefly there, and thankfully Blindside talked her into getting a Ford Americar - quite possibly the most common type of car on the continent. Always useful when you don't want to draw much attention. Orph drives on back where they came from. Well. At least in a roundabout way, they accomplished what they set out to do, right? He heaves a sigh of relief and says back to Stonewall.. "Well, hombre.. You make a nice gyro," he says, and flashes a grin back at the trog. "But next time, let's just go beat up the guy like I said in the first place, yeah? Much simpler!" He nods.. and drives. Stonewall lifts his head… and _stares_ at Orpheus via the rear-view mirror… "Next time?" he manages, incredulously… Slack-jawed, occasionally chewing air… but mostly just staring… Commlink-Mustang> "Slinger, Mustang. What's th'status o'th'genius duo?" Oh, yeah. Janie is very definitely not impressed. Commlink-Slinger> Slinger does indeed sound worried. "You there?" he wants to know. "You get away? Are you two okay? Is my /car/ okay?" he adds, sounding more worried about te occupants, definitely, but a little worried about the car, too. Keeping in mind, Orph is still on the comm when she says this.. "Hey slitch, thanks for joining the party late while takin' a cut. 'Preciate it," he says. The comm cuts off by this point. No biggie. He's never even met her before. Never seen her.. Probably never will. In fact, he was never introduced, so he finds her statement(while having some merit perhaps), a bit presumptuous. Consequently, his turning the comm off cuts Slinger off about mid-sentense.. Orph considers calling back, but.. Instead he sends a text to Slingers phone that says 'Its cool.' Commlink-Slinger> Slinger listens in stunned disbelief for about three heartbeats. "He and I are going to have a conversation about this," Slinger says, with more than a hint of anger. "Mustang, I apologize for that behavior. Deeply." Commlink-Slinger> texts back to Orpheus. "Park the SUV somewhere, tell me where. Somewhere I'll recognize. Do not come straight back here. Commlink-Slinger> Slinger texts back to Orpheus. "Park the SUV somewhere, tell me where. Somewhere I'll recognize. Do not come straight back here. Commlink-Mustang> "Apology accepted," comes the response. "But ye owe me one f'r this." Commlink-Slinger> Slinger says, "Definitely. And you'll get an apology from him, too." Stonewall just says, "Ya' know what? I'll give ya' a good tip. Never eat at Vincent's, or Yang's Sushi Bar… or the chinese take-out place over on 32nd street. But… drop my ass off over by Georgio's, up ahead on the right there," as they roll on through town more, pointing out one of the multitude of diners in the area and adding, "This place? This place is good food though, come here some time. I'll meet up again later." Orpheus drops Stonewall off at the designated area. He pokes his head out of the vehicle. "Hey sure thing hombre," he says in that near-suave sounding Spanish accent. "Heres my number," he adds, and gives Stonewall his cell number. "Hasta Luego!" he says in a boyish voice.. and with that, he's off for another few miles before parking the vehicle someplace discrete.. He steps out then, locking the thing up and activates his ruth cloak provided no one is looking.. and casually begins walking the other few miles back to High Arcana, idly hoping that bitch on the comm isn't there. Commlink-Mustang> Janie says, "In any case, we'll have t'stay away from th'place f'r a few days until th'cops stop sniffin' around. Might as well put th'time t'good use comin' up with a plan…" A brief pause, then: "Got one. We'll talk it over when I get there." Stonewall stops… and orders a large pile of pasta to go from Georgio's, borrows a delivery bag from them to keep the pasta hot and fresh, starts hoofing it over to where he left his Harley at High Arcana as well. He leaves a deposit for the bag, they know he'll be back with it the next day… you do enough work with the various organized crime groups in Denver, you learn where some really good restraunts are. Better to discuss business over calories than booze, less chance of lead poisoning. *jogjogjog* Orpheus is jogging at a nice pace back to high arcana.. when the text comes in, he texts back. <Parked. Comin' back.> And come back he does.. a few miles away at a nice, athletic jog.. probably shouldn't take too terribly long. Of course, Orpheus' unique social upbringing means he gives very little thought to anything that he said to Janie or any implications that may or may not arise from that fact. But.. this was all besides the point for him. Commlink-Slinger> Slinger texts, "Dude. Where's my car? Stop what you are doing. Stop right where you are, and tell me where you are, and where my car is. Commlink-Slinger> Slinger says, "Mustang, you still there? I may need a favor. Big time." Oprh stops, and a small tick of annoyance grows in him. <About a quarter mile from where I am. Parked in a nice hidey hole. Whats the problem huh?>.. Orph just goes ahead and turns around, jogging back toward the car with a languid sigh. Stonewall just keeps jogging… mind, he's quite a bit faster at jogging than the Elf thanks to all his souped-up bioware, even carrying the big bundle of food over a shoulder and zipping along… likely shows up at High Arcana first once Orpheus has to turn 'round like that. Commlink-Slinger> Slinger texts: I need to know /exactly/ where you are. Shit. Is the troll with you? Commlink-Slinger> Slinger says, "Crap. Mustang?" Commlink-Mustang> "Enroute to th'Arcana, ETA about five minutes," comes the reply. "Problems?" Commlink-Slinger> Slinger texts back, "Maybe. Maybe not. Do you know for sure you weren't followed? Orpheus simply texts back, <Nah. Dropped off.> Since he wasn't very far away, it doesn't take long before he gets back to where the SUV is parked. Commlink-Slinger> Slinger texts back, a little agitated, "WHERE IS MY CAR? Exactly. I want an address." Orph raises a brow.. Hows he suppose to know? He has no navsoft on him.. and he certainly doesn't know the area very well. Still.. he looks around and texts back some of the landmarks.. businesses.. and the closest street hes at. Commlink-Slinger> Slinger says, "Crap. He parked it, then left it on foot instead of texting me back. Shit. Okay… and the stupid friggin' troll without a friggin' stupid comm or a phone is on his way back here. Probably with an astral passenger in tow. Mustang, can you see if he's being followed? If not, good, but if so, I need your help. Need you to zot the hell out of it." There's an old laundromat… and what looks like a movie theater. There's a porno store, but that's hardly a landmark in /that/ part of town. Wait… there's a fountain about a block away. It used to be nice — with your vision you can see images of penguins that would be playing in the water — if it worked. Commlink-Mustang> Janie says, "Acknowledged." Commlink-Slinger> Slinger says, "Thanks. I'll have a rough idea where he is. Let's just hope he isn't running /too/ fast…" Commlink-Mustang> "Let me know where an' I'll do my best," Janie replies. Orph of course texts back some of the landmarks around him and.. continues to wait boredly within eyesight of the car.. Ruth cloak on, idly tapping his foot and looking around. Commlink-Slinger> Slinger says over the phone to Mustang. "Okay. Doin' some searches. Okay. He's not quite in the Warrens." He gives the address. "Hopefully, the troll won't be too far from there. Drek!" Commlink-Slinger> Slinger says, "Let's just hope we're dealing with a watcher spirit, if anything, and not the mage himself!" Commlink-Mustang> "On my way," Janie replies. Stonewall quietly waits for the order to be ready, enjoying the scent's in the meantime… Janie fits deed to word and switches off the autonav - gridguide's not at its most reliable in or around the warrens - and follows Slinger's directions. «Auto-Judge» Stonewall (#1297) rolls 2: 4 4 «Plot» Stonewall will be about 15 minutes from the time he's dropped off until he leaves the pasta place, about 3 miles from High Arcana on foot. «Plot» Janie was reasonably close to the Arcana when Slinger called to divert her to the Warrens to see to Orph. «Plot» Stonewall says, "Correction, about 3 miles FURTHER than Orpheus parked the SUV. Re-read his poses, that is more accurate." Orph is getting increasingly bored and starts pacing around wherevers he's at.. checking out what little sighs there are to see, but always within line of sight with the SUV. Janie's route to the Warrens is circumspect - and she asks Athena to scan the astral to make sure she's entirely in the clear before she arrives at the location Slinger indicated. There's the SUV, but no sign of Orpheus at least for the moment. He apparently wandered away from it, though it's still in sight. The Americar pulls up, and the physical realm, nothing is amiss… Janie doesn't quite come to a stop, merely driving past slowly while she takes a moment to observe the Astral. If Slinger were concerned with mere physical threats he wouldn't have sent her. In the astral, though, it's a different story. There are two watcher spirits hovering just above the thing, watching to see where it goes. Even as you watch, one of those them drifts upward, preparing to depart. Probably to report on the location of the vehicle, while the other stays to watch… «Auto-Judge» Janie (#4136) rolls Centering vs TN 2 for "Centering against TN penalties, need 4 successes to clear it.": 1 1 2 3 11 = 3 Successes «Auto-Judge» Janie (#4136) rolls Centering - 3 vs TN 2 for "KP 1/40": 1 1 = 0 Successes «Auto-Judge» Janie (#4136) rolls Intelligence vs TN 5 for "I'll stand on +1, then.": 1 2 3 3 4 5 = 1 Success «Auto-Judge» Janie (#4136) rolls Intelligence - 1 vs TN 5 for "KP 2/40": 3 4 4 5 10 = 2 Successes «Auto-Judge» Janie (#4136) rolls Intelligence - 3 vs TN 5 for "KP 4/40": 1 5 7 = 2 Successes Commlink-Mustang> Janie says, "Two watcher spirits. One o'em's headin' off t'report while th'other stays put. I'll take 'em out." //**«Plot» Slinger says, "The one reporting back is force 4. The one staying is Force 5." «Auto-Judge» Janie (#4136) rolls Centering vs TN 2 for "The retreating one first, then. Centering against TN penalties again.": 2 4 5 5 8 = 5 Successes «Plot» Janie says, "TN penalties reduced to 0 for a F4S Spiritbolt." «Auto-Judge» Janie (#4136) rolls Sorcery + 2 (Totem dice: Combat spell) + Sorcery Pool: 4 vs TN 4 for "Spiritbolting Watcher #1, 4S base.": 1 2 2 3 3 3 3 4 4 5 5 5 10 11 = 7 Successes «OOC» Slinger says, "Force?" «Auto-Judge» Janie (#4136) rolls Sorcery + 2 (Totem dice: Combat spell) + Sorcery Pool: 4 - 7 vs TN 4 for "Making sure. (KP 5/40)": 3 4 4 5 5 5 13 = 6 Successes «OOC» Janie says, "Force 4." «Auto-Judge» Slinger (#69) rolls 4 vs TN 4 for "Spell defense eek!": 1 2 4 4 = 2 Successes «OOC» Janie says, "Base damage code S. There is no way it can generate enough successes." «Auto-Judge» Janie (#4136) rolls Willpower + Sorcery Pool: 2 vs TN 2 for "Soaking S drain: Drain code is -1(DL), so 1S, modified to 2S due to BGcount.": 1 3 3 4 4 5 5 5 7 16 = 9 Successes «Plot» Janie says, "Drain soaked."**// The spirit that was preparing to depart doesn't get far at all. Instead, it gets zotted, swiftly, by a spiritbolt that literally shreds it, dissipating it into harmless astral energy. The other, though, turns to look at the newcomer, at her aura… And that is potentially the last mistake it makes as Janie locks eyes with it and reaches out with the force of her will and personality, exerting dominance and beginning to unmake it. «OOC» Janie says, "Banishment contest. Janie's Conjuring (plus four dice from Athena's Aid Power) against the spirit's Force; the spirit rolls its Force against Janie's magical power (4, +4 from Athena's Aid Power). Winner deducts net successes from the lower's magic." «Auto-Judge» Janie (#4136) rolls Conjuring + 4 (Athena) vs TN 5 for "You. Will. SUBMIT.": 1 2 2 3 3 3 5 5 5 8 10 = 5 Successes «Auto-Judge» Slinger (#69) rolls 4 vs TN 4 for "Yes, I will!": 2 3 3 4 = 1 Success «Auto-Judge» Slinger (#69) rolls 3 vs TN 4 for "Yes, I will!": 5 5 5 = 3 Successes «Plot» Slinger says, "It is now a Force 4 spirit. Continue the contest?" «Auto-Judge» Janie (#4136) rolls Conjuring vs TN 4 for "You. Will. SUBMIT.": 1 1 2 2 4 5 10 = 3 Successes «Auto-Judge» Janie (#4136) rolls Conjuring - 3 vs TN 4 for "(KP 6/40)": 1 2 2 11 = 1 Success «Auto-Judge» Slinger (#69) rolls 4 vs TN 4: 3 3 13 = 1 Success «OOC» Slinger says, "Now a Force 1 spirit. You'll squish it. Pose it…" «OOC» Stonewall says, "Orpheus saw where I got out, had it emphasised it was a good place to come back and eat, etc, to reinforce where it was. Pretty sure Orpheus can recall it this soon afterwards. Was a couple miles from where he parked the SUV, per Orpheus' own pose." «OOC» Orpheus says, "Orph is still in sight of the SUV, just sort of casually plodding around, keeping the thing in his sights." «OOC» Slinger says, "Then you might have seen Janie pull up. Not sure." In contests like these, victory almost invariably goes to whoever gains the first upper hand; momentum's a powerful thing, and each partial victory chips away at the loser's ability to resist the next attack, until finally there's almost nothing left to withstand the final assault. Janie overwhelms the second watcher spirit and Unmakes it, keys her comm again. «OOC» Slinger says, "Would you have told Slinger where you let the troll out?" Commlink-Mustang> Janie says, "Both watchers down. No sign o'y'r pal, though." Commlink-Slinger> Slinger texts Orpheus. "Where are you? Head toward the SUV and drive it back, coast is clear. I hope you didn't go too far…" Commlink-Slinger> Slinger curses. "I'm asking him to head back to the vehicle. Apparently, the troll stopped for grub — not sure where, though. Scan Orpheus, make sure he doesn't have a little friend following him around, once he comes back into view. Commlink-Slinger> Slinger says, "And Mustang? Thanks." «Plot» Slinger says, "Orpheus will see the Americar, but might well not pay it any mind." «Plot» Stonewall picked some random restraunt-sounding names, honestly. Figured between Yakuza, Triad, and Mafia I've picked up some decent restraunts in the area. The one I settled at is a front for Mafia pick-ups and drop-offs, just legal stuff, messages and the like between mobsters tucked into the reciepts with their deliveries. Picked up marching orders from there a time or two, like "Meet X at Y" or "Hey, take this to Z, he wants it there in 20 minutes!" type of stuff. «Plot» Stonewall says, "Also honestly a good late-night pasta place. Not so much a front as a side-business passing the messages around." Orpheus gets the text.. and complies, moving his eay back to the SUV and slips inside it. Once inside, he simply drives back to High Arcana like asked without much issue. If he does spot Janie, he doesn't know what she looks like and if she isn't doing anything that looks conspicuous, he probably wouldn't pay her any mind either way. Janie does notice the SUV's door opening and a large piece of nothing getting inside. She turns her own car around to astrally scan the area one more time to see if anyone else is taking notice. And there… there's another of the damned things. Following along. How many of these damned things does the guy /have/? «Auto-Judge» Janie (#4136) rolls Centering vs TN 2 for "Against TN penalties, yadda yadda, darn BGcount. Humans should make cleaner cities.": 1 2 2 2 13 = 4 Successes «Auto-Judge» Janie (#4136) rolls Intelligence vs TN 4 for "What have we here…?": 1 2 3 9 9 10 = 3 Successes «Auto-Judge» Janie (#4136) rolls Magic Background vs TN 4 for "Comp skill": 1 1 5 7 11 = 3 Successes «Plot-Page» (To: Janie) Slinger says, "This one is force 4, as well. And bears the same signature as the last two." Commlink-Mustang> Janie says, "One more o'th'critters. I'll take it out, but tell y'r friend t'get movin. If whoever sent them kept true t'form there's another already on th'way back t'report." «Auto-Judge» Janie (#4136) rolls Centering vs TN 2 for "Against TN penalties again, for a F4S spiritbolt.": 1 1 2 3 4 = 3 Successes «Auto-Judge» Janie (#4136) rolls Sorcery + 2 (combat spell totem bonus) + Sorcery Pool: 4 vs TN 5 for "Force 4S Spiritbolt.": 1 1 1 1 2 2 3 3 3 4 5 5 5 7 = 4 Successes «Auto-Judge» Janie (#4136) rolls Sorcery + 2 (combat spell totem bonus) + Sorcery Pool: 4 - 4 vs TN 5 for "KP 7/40": 1 2 2 3 5 5 5 10 13 13 = 6 Successes «Auto-Judge» Janie (#4136) rolls Willpower + Sorcery Pool: 2 vs TN 2 for "Soaking S drain.": 1 1 1 2 3 3 3 4 5 9 = 7 Successes «OOC» Janie says, "Soaked." This spirit never knew what hit it. Its orders were to follow the driver of the SUV and stay with him and report back after a certan time, but that time never arrived. Now it disintegrates, and somewhere, a mage knows that something is very amiss, as all of his Watchers are getting nuked… Commlink-Mustang> Janie says, "It's gone. Tell him t'get goin; I'll need a minute more t'clear th'spell signatures." «Plot-Page» (To: Stonewall) Slinger says, "And… you have your food. It's good food :)" «OOC» Stonewall says, "200 =Y= good for a large meal? I always forget the price of food…" «Auto-Judge» Stonewall (#1297) spends 100 nuyen for "Big fat order of pasta, and borrowing one of their delivery-bags for the night.". Stonewall starts jogging up the road, roughly towards High Arcana, the delivery-bag full of food slung alongside him. Late-night pasta run, nothing more. Commlink-Slinger> Slinger says, "Status?" Commlink-Mustang> Janie says, "It's toast. He's clear f'r as far as I c'n see." Commlink-Slinger> Slinger texts to Orpheus. "All right. Drive back to the HA… I'll see you here. Commlink-Slinger> Slinger nods to Janie. "All right. Orpheus sent me a list of restaurants. The troll oughtta be near one of those. Scope him out, make sure he's clean… then you can head back, or not. We'll see the fallout from this, and see what the next phase needs to be, if any. And thanks again. Sorry I'm so damned useless. Commlink-Mustang> Janie says, "Will do, Slinger. We'll talk later. Mustang, out." Janie disconnects and goes off to check each of the restaurants mentioned to find the troll. Orpheus returns to the HA like asked, pulling the largish SUV into a local drivespace and slowly getting out of the vehicle. He casually makes his inside.. Whenever that occurs, anyhow, after everything else. He won't do anything else before or during. «Plot» Slinger says, "Janie… roll me a perception check. TN is 6." «Auto-Judge» Janie (#4136) rolls Intelligence vs TN 6 for "… Come to think of it, what did that troll look like again?": 1 2 4 4 8 17 = 2 Successes And there he is. Walking along back toward the high arcana, or maybe jogging. But he doesn't have an astral tagalong that you can see — which means either that it already reported back — or that it isn't there to begin with. Stonewall isn't very fast compared to a car, isn't trying to be stealthy, and is carrying a big red food-delivery bag/box with reflective striping on it. Mind, he's moving at a good clip for someone on two legs instead of four wheels… just keeping the bag level and smooth as he moves along at a brisk but even pace… Janie slows down as she passes the troll, then opens the door. "Get in," she orders briskly. Stonewall slows… turning to glance into the vehicle with Janie before simply nodding, sliding the pack of food into another seat before trying to wedge his way in… *SMOOSH* Stonewall does NOT try to grab a front seat if there's back seats available. Rather NOT intrude on the driver's seat by trying to wedge in up there. =^.^= «OOC» Slinger says, "I hate to say it, Janie, but troll getting into Americar… uh… :)" «OOC» Stonewall figures he's horizontal in the back seat. *SPRAWL*WEDGE* «OOC» Janie says, "It won't be comfortable, and there'll be some internal cosmetic damage I'll pay Blindside to fix later on, but it's not a long trip from here." Janie winces at the damage to the upholstery - but hey, this was a fairly cheap car to begin with - and gives silent thanks that the trip back to HA won't take too long. «Auto-Judge» Stonewall (#1297) rolls Quickness for "Trying to avoid damaging things… call it defaulting for Escape Artist-type work.": 1 1 2 3 3 4 5 7 9 «Auto-Judge» Stonewall (#1297) rolls Willpower for "Holding still for the whole drive. Minimize the damage!": 1 2 2 2 4 4 «Auto-Judge» Stonewall (#1297) rolls Willpower for "Holding still for the whole drive. Minimize the damage! (1/2 KP)": 1 2 3 3 4 4 The Americar groans, creaks, and has a decided list to starboard on the way back. But it reaches the High Arcana without incident, other than a few people staring and laughing. The vehicular damage hasn't improved Janie's mood much either, and she's remained silent on the way to the Arcana. By the time she stops the car and opens the door for Stonewall, he's probably more than slightly stiff and cramped. "We're here," she says simply. Slinger is still in that chair. A cigarette is burning in his fingers, and there are corpses of a good three-quarters of a pack in the ashtray beside him. He takes a deep drag of it as the door opens, and he turns toward the door, listening to those who enter. Stonewall manages to crawl… or pour really, himself out the door opposite the one he came in on… the pavement seems more damaged by the extrication than the troll, and he dusts himself off saying, "Um… thanks for the ride? I brought dinner," while he looks around to see who else is at the store before circling around to get the big box of pasta and fixings. Presumably, Orph was here a bit earlier than the other two. He steps into the main shoppe not looking especially shameful or anything. He flicks off his ruth and fishes around in his pocket for his own smokes. "M'back," he tells Slinger, shooting the mage a somewhat sorry look, to see him with that blindfold on. Slinger nods once to Orpheus, his mouth set in a firm line. "I'm glad," is all he says in response, all he has time to say, before the others return, cutting off whatever he was about to say. He glances to Orpheus first, though. "Before anything else happens," he says curtly. "You owe Mustang here an apology." He indicates Janie. "She is a good friend of mine, and a trusted business associate. If you ever want to work with me again, then you will apologize, and make it sincere," he adds, firmly. Slinger is, of course, not actually glancing. He's just 'looking' in that direction, judging by sound where people are. Stonewall barely makes it in the door with the food-crate in tow, before stopping like he just had a pick-up line responded do with a face full of iced tea. He moves clear of the door, holding it for Janie since he came through first, and then stepping clear to let it close, looking around a moment and finally settling the box on the counter for now. Janie follows Stonewall in, but shakes her head at Slinger. "No need," she replies - and only then notices his blindfold. "… What happened?" Orpheus's faint smile falters and turns into something between a frown and a neutral expression.. He shoots a glance between Slinger and the woman who enters with the troll. He had never seen her before, until now. He narrows his eyes at her a bit, then looks back at slinger. "Yeah? If she don't want to hear what I got to say.. mebbe she should mind what she says too," he retorts back.. he didn't like having to get a tone like this with Slinger.. But in any case, in his mind, it was HER who made a 'comment' about his(and Stonewalls) lack of intelligence before he had ever said anything to begin with. Didn't really matter if she tried to shrug it off either.. Slinger already opened that can on him. No turning back now. "Be that as it may," the youth says, coldly, with none of his usual friendly warmth. "People who are working for me will be professional to one another. Calling anyone a 'slitch' is /not/ professional. You also, it should be noted, just insulted one of the most powerful magicians in Denver," he adds, with a thin smile. "One of the people who can give me a run for my money magically. In fact, you insulted my teacher in several of the arts," he says to Orpheus. "I want you to apologize. And /then/ we will discuss whether her assessment of your performance was correct. Which I'm not convinced that it is, just yet," he adds, with an apologetic glance to Janie. He sniffs the air, and grins. "Izzat food? If so… whoever brought it, you're a saint. I'm starved." The question from Janie, though, draws a sheepish smile from Slinger. "Gotta wear it for another day or two. Johny's orders. Somethin' about givin' the eyes time to adjust to the stuff he implanted. Stonewall looks around, asking, "Did I miss something, was there some conference-call I was supposed to listen in on where everyone pissed in each other's cheerio's while I was thinkin' of a decent way to make some plot o' land look haunted before suddenly it turned into the 4th of July? And… yeah, no offense, but the stench of disagreement was on him after we cut and run I needed to purge my sinuses with something more palatteable. Georgio's, lasanga, and greek-style pasta like they make it back across the pond, should still be warm." It's all said remarkably neutral, just… confusion at what the hell turned things both sour and flamboyant so suddenly, the troll looks a fair bit lost. And apparently when the troll frets, the troll eats. And encourages others to do the same. Orpheus has no choice but to take a defensive stance in this.. He is, in a way, being indirectly threatened after all, by someone he thought he was good friends with. "So, what you trying to say then, huh? Well, don't let me stop you from fucking your girlfriend and taking her side, then." Probably a childish thing to say, but then.. Look what your dealing with, right? Orpheus just makes a 'tch' sound with his teeth, draws the hood over his head, and slowly begins walking out of High Arcana. He had nothing else to say to these two, and he could tell there wouldn't be any sort of reasonable agreement between them. He feels that she was in the wrong for essentially calling him an idiot, in itself 'unprofessional' from his eyes.. Yet Slinger asked for his apology first, so what else is he to think.. On a second thought, he stops short of leaving, near Stonewall and says, "She called you the same thing, so maybe you shouldn't take her side so quickly too, amigo." Noticeably, his tone with the troll is several decibels higher on the respect scale than it had been with Janie. He pauses for only a moment before he readies to leave. Stonewall slides over between Orpheus and the door, chiming in, "Not yet, little one. You turn down good food, you really that green inside to turn away a seat at a table? You really are cuttin' yer' nose off to be able to do that, omae, but if you say that's your plan… sure, leave," before stepping back aside, pulling the door open then. "Ye had a job that called f'r subtlety an' caution," Janie points out. "Instead, ye sicced a fire elemental on a guard dog. Th'cops'll be prowlin' over th'area f'r days, possibly weeks, an' their mage already sicced several watcher spirits on ye that could've led them straight here. If ye want me t'treat ye with th'respect I afford th'competent professionals I've worked with in th'past, I recommend ye earn it by actin' like one rather'n a teenager with a bruised macho ego." She never raises her voice. Somehow, she doesn't seem to have to to make herself heard. Slinger nods once, firmly. "Your exact tactics in the mission are something we can talk about. You're new to this — you've got good skills, but you've got a lot to learn. Hell, there are people who say I do, too. But the first thing you've got to learn is that you aren't the biggest, baddest /anything/ out there," he states, standing up from his chair. He's having to navigate by sound, and he bumps into the desk, and then into one of the sets of shelves, which fortunately are a good deal more stable than he is. A soft curse escapes his lips. "You don't got a lot of experience yet. That comes with time. I happen to give a frag about you, personally /and/ professionally, and I don't want to see you throw it all away and get yourself killed when you mouth off to the wrong person. This isn't about /sides/. This is about proper professional behavior," he snaps. He is trying to stride forward, to intercept Orpheus. Page's shop, though, is rather cramped, and Slinger manages to trip over a large rock that he forgot was there, and go stumbling, undignified, down to his knees with a grunt. Orpheus shakes his head to Stone, "Sorry, chum.. Lost my appetite," he explains.. The pitiful sounds of Slinger stumbling through the shope after him makes it hard for him to will he legs to carry him forward and out. He can't stop himself from glancing back and seeing Slinger sitting there on the floor.. But this was a rather conflicting thing Slinger asked him of.. After all the things he and Slinger have talked about and discussed.. Both personally and even about professional matters.. Groveling to some woman hes never met wasn't on that list of things.. and Orpheus truly lacked the social experience to make out the complexity in the situation hes trying to describe. To Orph.. Slinger just sounds like he wants to control who and what he is, diametrically opposed to ways hes been suggested to act before. "I give a frag about you too, K.. Which is why it hurts when you throw me to the wolves like this," he says.. and turns his ruth on.. and once more tries to make his way out. Stonewall is simply holding the door open, wincing visible when he hears and sees Slinger go down… but he stated his case, had his moment… and doesn't do anything to slow Orpheus down. Slinger growls angrily, and gets back to his feet. "Listen," he says, and now he's really angry. "I'm trying to fraggin' save your life!" He takes a breath, then, half-choked up. "Yeah, Mustang, you prolly shouldn't have been sarcastic like that," he says. "I'll grant that. But if you stay in this line of work, eventually you're gonna say that to the wrong person and wind up fraggin' dead, and I don't know if I could handle that!" He is trying to stay calm, but there's a hint of desperation in his voice. "So yeah, if you think you gotta leave, then you do that. You're free to do what you want. Just do me a favor — and please… please don't run the Shadows. I don't think I could handle hearing that you got killed over somethin' like this." He lets out a slow sign, and then rises back to his feet, trying to maintain some hint of dignity. And… takes a step back, starting to walk back to his table, letting out a slow, shuddering breath. He's hurt, not physically, but definitely emotionally. But he makes his way back to his table, and lets Orpheus go. Janie sighs and walks over to Slinger. "He's got a few hard lessons ahead o'him, I fear," she murmurs. Slinger is back in his chair. And when Janie gets close enough, she can actually hear him… trying very hard not to cry. And failing, under that blindfold that hides his eyes. Even so, it's showing in the way he has his head buried in his arm, the way his shoulders shake. Stonewall shakes his head slowly, letting the door close and turning back to the meal. It's uncrated rather solemnly, looking up at Janie's words and nodding. "Saying… sleep in the bed you make… not a happy thing, but we all tried to make him pause. Admit a mistake, yes, but if admitting a single mistake he and I both did will kill him so badly he'd rather walk… what can anyone do?" he asks, glancing over, but then turning back… spreading things out carefully across the counter-top, slicing out a bit of this and that onto toss-away plates before carrying two of them over to Janie and Slinger. "Here… full bellies and warm bodies sooth many aches, inside and out," he offers, setting the plates where Janie can reach both of them. Janie walks over to Slinger and quietly squeezes his shoulder. Slinger lets out a slow sigh, and shakes his head. "Not hungry," the youth manages to say, as he slowly manages to sit upright. The touch… right then, it is very comforting, and he gets himself back together after a few moments. "I… sorry about that. Now who's bein' unprofessional?" Slinger asks, with a short laugh, leaning back in the chair. "I do apologize, though. He's new. He's… he's got a good soul. I hate to say it, but he needs some cold, hard lessons. I just… just hope he survives 'em. I really do." He closes his eyes. Part 4: Klack Calls «Plot» Slinger says, "Your phone rings." Page grumbles, pauses the tutorial video he was watching and flips windows, tapping the icon. "Yo." It's audio only. "Mr. Page? Jonas Klack." There's an edge to the voice, a terseness there, underlying the brisk, semi-friendly sounding businesslike tone in the voice. Page leans back in his chair. "Well good day, Mr. Klack. What can I do for you today?" More paranoid than usual if he's looking for foci, he thinks to himself. There's a brief hesitation while the other party looks for words. "You aren't going to get away with this, you know," he adds, coldly. "What the hell are you playing at?" Ooooh, /that/ Mr. Klack. Page quirks his mouth slightly, trying not to grin. "I gather from your tone you won't believe me," he says sincerely, "but I have no idea what you're talking about. Is something wrong?" "You know damned well what's wrong, /Mister/ Page. I've got three lawsuits that got filed this morning, alleging that this property of mine, due to my negligence, is presenting a danger to my neighbors. One is suing for a new fence and patio furniture, plus the pain and anguish from the loss of their dog, Blackie. Others who are suing for loss of home valuations due to my failure to deal with magical pests on my property. This is your doing. And I'm telling you it's not going to work. I'm not selling. In fact," he says with a smirk, "I've already got a buyer lined up. We sign the paperwork tomorrow. So you can forget about it!" "Well… I'm sorry to hear about your ill fortune, Mr. Klack." Page pauses, considering, then says, "All I can say, though, is that I really don't have anything to do with it. If you've got another buyer lined up, it doesn't really bother me in the slightest. There's plenty of other land out there. I do hope you've mentioned to them about the site's history, though. Some people in the UCAS would say failure to disclose magical threats of a property you're buying to be… oh, I hate the word, but fraud." Klack's voice darkens. "You want to lecture me about fraud? How about grand theft? It turns out that a certain flute is missing from the museum. What if I were to tip off the authorities that they might well find your involvement in that? I don't think it's a coincidence that right when a major talismonger looks at the land, that the flute goes missing /and/ suddenly the threat is gone. Don't start threats with me, Mr. Page. I will crush you like a bug." Page replies drily, "Yes, well, I imagine you think it's a shame that vivid imaginations aren't allowed in a court of law. And for good reason." He sniffs derisively. "I don't /deal/ in stolen goods. Everything /I/ make is handcrafted." He waves a hand. "In any case, I don't think this is really fruitful. You don't want to sell the land to me, and I respect that. If you called me to bluster and bluff about things I don't have any involvement in, all you're doing is wasting both of our time." "You have no involvement at all, huh? Especially no involvement with a certain black SUV that bears a marked resemblance to the one seen near the land when all this went down? A black SUV that was shortly thereafter seen parked in front of your shop?" Mental note. Slinger needs some electrocamo paint for that thing. Page comments drily, "I imagine there are a lot of black SUVs in town, Mr. Klack. If you had any credible threats, I'd be hearing from your lawyer, not you. So cut through all the dross. What do you want?" Slinger has electrocamo paint for the thing that, in fact, should be arriving soon. After his tactic backfires, Klack mutters. "This land has been nothing but a pain in my ass, Mr. Page," Klack finally says. "The museum is asking me to pay them back what they paid for the flute. And I've got these lawsuits, now. What I want is a fair price for my property." Klack pauses. "This other guy has a generous offer." He names a figure, which is a good 75 percent above the price Page was /going/ to have to pay. "You beat that by ten percent, and it's yours." "And I already told you earlier," Page says, "I'm not interested in it at that price. If you've got someone who's willing to pay you more, then by all means, don't let me stop you. I mean, I could come up a /little/ from my original bid, but there's no way I can go that high." Klack nods. "Real-estate prices fluctuate," he agrees. Then, there is a pause. One-one thousand, two-one thousand. "How much higher would you be willing to go from your original offer?" Klack asks. Page suppresses his grin. And now we get down to brass tacks. Let's see, he underbid it quite a bit with his initial offer, even if he did come up slightly during that round of negotiations. "I could come up as much as … oh, ten percent from my asking price. It's a far cry from what this other guy is offering, though." "Yes. Yes, it is. But there are other considerations. But unless you can raise your offer, I'm afraid I'm going to have to go with the other bid." There's a pause. One, two, three, four, five. As he waits. Page doublechecks the math while the guy's talking. Yeah, he could go up another five percent and still be within his budget. No reason to tell /him/ that. "I'd have to check with the bank to go any higher than that, and that'll definitely take longer than tomorrow. You know how banks are." He does smirk a bit at the last. He doesn't think this guy really has any buyer - he's seen this tactic plenty of times. "It could be a bit later this week before I hear back from them." Klack takes all that in. "All right. Well, if anything changes, I'll let you know. But this buyer is very interested," he says firmly, trying to make it believable by sheer bluster. "If you change your mind, or the bank answers sooner, then give me a call. You know where to reach me. Good day, Mr. Page." The call is abruptly ended. Part 5: Further Planning Meanwhile, Slinger is lighting up another cigarette, and shakes his head to clear it. Personal is personal, but this is business, and he has to keep his mind on business. "Right. So… tell me what happened. I'll also see if Page is busy," he remarks — and summons a Watcher spirit to go check on Page, just real quick. And deliver a message. Slinger hopes it doesn't become chow for Ourrez. Page cancels the call, grinning to himself. Then… well. It never hurts to be cautious. He almost puts in a call to Slinger, but gets interrupted by a watcher being pinned down under one of the tiger's massive paws. "Well, hello there…" He examines the aura. "Yep, you're from Slinger, all right. Let Slinger know I just heard from the guy. He claims he's got another buyer. If he does… see if you can't change his mind. If he doesn't… well, create one who supposedly has more money than me and string the guy along for a couple of days before rejecting him again." Watchers. They're almost as good as voicemail! Slinger nods once, listening to the report from his Watcher spirit as it returns, and he grins. "Good news. The guy apparently has another buyer — or thinks he does. Maybe it's time we find out who this buyer is, /if/ he has one… and get him to change his mind. Or on the other hand, see if we can pose as one, make him think he's got something goin' string him along." He glances at the Troll and at Janie. "Somethin you think you can do?" "What with th'place still crawlin' with cops lookin' f'r whoever whistled up th'elemental, right now's not a good time t'go magically muckin' around there," Janie points out. "As f'r another buyer… I doubt it, but it's theoretically possible." Slinger nods once. "Yeah. It's a long shot," the youth agrees. "Might be best to have somebody call up, somebody he doesn't know, from a throwaway phone… and maybe do a little social-side stuff." He's looking right at Janie, with a friendly smile. Stonewall nods, settling down after fetching a third plate of food for himself, leaving the other two where the aroma can waft about the place heavilly like healthy, edible incense. He says, "If ya' got anything I can help with, I'm game, if not… well, I can vamoose? I know crap went south this last time, but I'd like to try to make things right as far as I can," when he spots an opening, before starting to very quietly chow through his plate in a very orderly, methodical manner that doesn't splatter so much as a micro-drop anywhere. Boyo works hard to keep up appearances, you have to when yer' a trog, even after all the surgery. "Might work," Janie muses. "At th'very worst, it can't do much harm. What was th'bid on th'place again?" Slinger nods to the troll. "Stick around, if you can. Unless you got somethin' special you wanna do. We may need you. Still not sure what the plan is going to end up bein'." He considers that. "The question is, finding out if he's got a buyer. Damn… this is one of those times it'd be great to be a decker," he mutters. Janie's question makes him reach for his pocsec again, plug into the thing. A pause. One. Two. There we go. He names a figure. "That's what he's supposedly getting from this other buyer. Page offered… well, just about half that much, and he guy was ready to take it until the haunting stopped." Slinger sighs. "Man. I hate havin' to keep sendin' him cash. But, well… I can call up my decker contact… drek! He's out of town." He glances over at Janie. "You know one?" he asks carefully. "If so… maybe we could get the guy's phone records. Unless you got a better idea." Janie shakes her head. "Th'only one I know I'd trust that far should have gone off shift about an hour ago. She's probably asleep by now." Slinger curses. "Damn. I gotta become a better decker," he mutters. "I know another one, but… well… lemme call him." Slinger snaps his fingers. "Last night," he says to Janie, "You mentioned you had an idea. About how to do the next step of this." "That was before I spotted th'watcher spirit or found out ye'd made th'news," Janie replies. "It'd still work, but th'premise kind o'relies on waitin' f'r th'cops t'lose interest before we proceed. Have ye ever met my flatmate, May?" Slinger would give Accelerate a call. "Need something from a guy… he probably has pretty good Matrix security, but I bet you can do it. Need to basically figure out if the guy has a buyer for some property, any offers on the table. Figured maybe pulling his phone records, old voice mails… though if you could actually access his personal notes in some way that'd be wiz!" Slinger nods, winces. "Yeah. Orpheus… well… his background is a little unusual. It's partially my fault. I shouldn't have brought him in on something that needed subtlety rather than a ton of bricks," he says, with a small slightly sad smile. «Plot-Page» (To: Slinger) Accelerate says, "Want me to make a post on AMS about that? Shouldn't be a hard hack at all." «Plot-Page» (To: Accelerate) Slinger says, "Well, since it's part of a plot we're doing, it'd need to be handled soonish." «Plot-Page» (To: Slinger) Accelerate says, "I could solve your problems in… under 10 rolls, garunteed." «Plot-Page» (To: Slinger) Accelerate says, "If it's not life threatening, not worth millions of nuyen, not a major security problem, and not having to do with someone who has made it a point to stay off the grid, it's pretty simple." «Plot-Page» (To: Accelerate) Slinger nods. This is entirely NPC's in a plot I'm doing. «Auto-Judge» Accelerate (#748) rolls Computers + Task Pool: 3 vs TN 2 (to Slinger) for "Find the guy by searching for his hosts and records on the Denver RTG.": 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 8 8 9 = 10 Successes «Auto-Judge» Accelerate (#748) rolls Computers + Hacking Pool: 4 vs TN 4 (to Slinger) for "Break into the guy's computer. DF 11.": 1 1 3 3 3 3 3 4 5 5 5 8 = 5 Successes «Plot-Page» (To: Accelerate) Slinger says, "He probably rents space on a reasonably high-powered host." «Plot-Page» (To: Accelerate) Slinger says, "Not uber corp-mil, but decently secure." «Auto-Judge» Accelerate (#748) rolls 8 (Green 8 Host) vs TN 11 (to Slinger) for "Guy's computer with reasonable stats.": 1 1 2 3 4 8 9 10 = 0 Successes «Auto-Judge» Accelerate (#748) rolls Computers + Hacking Pool: 4 vs TN 6 (to Slinger) for "Validate an account": 2 3 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 5 9 13 = 2 Successes «Auto-Judge» Accelerate (#748) rolls 8 (Green 8 Host) vs TN 11 (to Slinger) for "Guy's computer with reasonable stats.": 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 = 0 Successes «Plot-Page» (To: Slinger) Accelerate says, "At this point, I have about as much access as the guy does to his own computer." «Plot-Page» (To: Slinger) Accelerate says, "Assuming a +matrix/Average Green-8" «Auto-Judge» Slinger (#69) rolls 9 vs TN 11 (to Accelerate) for "Security decker…": 1 1 1 3 5 5 5 5 7 = 0 Successes «Plot-Page» (To: Slinger) Accelerate says, "If you want to spice it up a bit, roll… 9 dice against TN 11 for a security decker." «Plot-Page» (To: Accelerate) Slinger says, "Slinger sent you info on the property. Address, etcetera. There's a file about it, in fact. Indicating the people who have looked at it — looked ready to buy — then visited the site, and then cancelled their bid the next day. And then there's Page, who bid well underneath what it was going for. There's information from his probe of Page. And then, there's a listing from a buyer. A Ms. Jane Anne Teller, a widow who is looking for a place for a house. A woman who, since the passing of her husband, has been very intrigued by magic and the occult, and considers the strange history of the property a boon, it would seem, judging from the E-mail that she sent. Oh, here's a picture of her. A voice-mail, giving her voice. Oh, and hey, look, she's scheduled to be at his office tomorrow at 11 AM." «Plot-Page» (To: Slinger) Accelerate says, "I relay the info to slinger… Gotta go to bed now or face wrath of girlfriend, which is substancially more scary than wrath of khan." «Plot-Page» (To: Slinger) Accelerate says, "I'd call that a 10k hack." Janie shakes her head. "What's done is done," she replies. "Right now we need t'deal with th'situation at hand." Slinger nods, though the pain is still on his face. He's trying hard to put it aside, but it's not easy for him. But he nods once. "XLR8 is working on the hack… we'll see what he finds out." Janie nods. "I'll make a few calls, see what I c'n set in motion," she offers, turning to head out of the room. Slinger nods to Janie… and with that, the young mage is left alone. He starts to reach for his phone, then stops himself, and sighs, leaning forward, resting his head in his hands, his breathing ragged. Now that he's alone… he not longer has to pretend to be professional, has to try to keep a hard clamp on his heart. He lets out a long, shuddering breath, along with the faintest of whimpers. About now.. Alone.. Is when Orpheus slowly walks back into the room.. He stands in the door jamb, looking into High Arcana.. at Slinger. His ruth is still on at the moment and he steps in very quietly.. For a moment he looks at the whimpering form of Slinger.. then the sight of it is too much for him and he turns away, facing out of the shop and a shudder leaves him as well. He had come back.. well, in truth he had never went very far.. He couldn't get his legs to carry him forward, maybe out of fear; or more.. In either case, confusion permeated every part of him.. Orph had some difficulty deciding - for himself - how he thought about this situation. He isn't so sure anymore.. if he could say it was his fault.. or Slingers.. Or Janies.. All he IS sure about, is that someone he cared about looked miserable. "I did that to him," he says in a hushed voice.. Whether he was vindicated or not, he did it.. Indirectly or directly.. Didn't matter. Orph turns around and steps quietly back into the Arcana, stopping in front of Slinger.. then quietly drops to his knees.. He can't speak.. can't find words. There was really only emotion ruling his actions by this point. Orpheus wasn't professional, and never was to begin with.. he was free of that reservation. Another shudder wretches out of him, pitiful in it's own right, and loud enough to be heard this time.. ".. What do I do," he asks finally, voice warbling pathetically. Slinger is alone. Slinger, at least, is convinced he's alone, and he's lost in his own world. Enough that his hearing is shut down, as the young mage quietly deals with the emotions he's been holding inside. His eyes are tightly closed behind the blindfold, his shoulders shaking silently. He's not bawling, not carrying on. Just quietly mourning the situation. But when that gentle, quivering voice touches his perceptions, the young mage catches his breath, holding it. Did he… no, that was real. Blindly, the boy lifts his hand before him… and encounters the familiar feeling of Orpheus's dark hair, the warmth of the other elf's skin. He lets out the breath he was holding, and then his hand slides down to yours, to place his fingers within it — vulnerable. "You… you came back," Slinger whispers… utterly awed by this simple fact. And then it occurs to him. "Did you… did you forget something?" he asks, swallowing, fearing it is something that simple — and he just made an ass of himself with that display of emotion. Orpheus is silent for a long moment.. his own shock and inner turmoil makes each thought process and the words that would go with it seem futile.. pointless. He felt he couldn't say ANYTHING to Slinger that, by this point, wouldn't simply be hollow.. Finally, he speaks, after these eerie moments of silence. "Of course.. Where.. Where would I go?" he admits, voicy shaky and uncertain. Equally as hurtful sounding as Slinger, if not even more.. Orpheus de-activates his ruthenium, and slowly reaches a hand up(the one not holding Slingers), and pulls his hood down.. His face, though Slinger can't see it, is even more pitiful than his voice.. It's fearful, predominantly.. Confused. Hurt. Shamed. Pained. All in a single, timultuous gaze.. "I forgot.. I forgot my trust," he responds, and his voice cracks on the last word, giving segue to a sob. Orpheus's body lurches forward and his face plants right in Slinger lap.. Orpheus' strain is so great not to cry openly that the sound of air being sucked through his teeth is almost piercing. The blond elfin boy's hand squeezes yours tightly. Pale flesh contrasting with bronze, yet male to male, as Slinger pulls you toward him, as he slips out of the chair and sends it rolling backward. A soft, needful whimper emerges from his throat as his arms wind tightly around the other youth's compact, muscular torso, while he presses his cheek against the other boy's. "It doesn't matter," he murmurs. "You found it again. You're here," he whispers. The fingers of his free hand slide up, run through your hair once again, pushing the hood backward as he lets out a fierce sigh of pleasure. "It's all right. It really is," he murmurs. "Everythin's gonna work out, if we just let it, if we trust each other. All right?" he asks. "I… forgot to trust, too. I shouldn't have taken her side. I was… I was embarassed about you. But I shouldn't be. You are who you are, and… and that's who I love," he says, passionately. "Even if you are gonna get yourself in a drekload of trouble someday," he says, with a small chuckle. Orpheus swallows hard, though only manages to ingest a small portion of the guilt, confusion, and hurt that is boiling away inside him. "I j-just.. wanted to make you.. proud," he says truthfully, hurt permeating every tiny nuance in his voice. "I thought.. it would impress you, but.. I guess I.. Screwed up big time and.. Thought if I stood up for myself it.. But I.." He shakes his head, burrying it somewhere in the other boys warm flesh. "I'll do better next time, really.. Okay?" he says quickly, urgently. "Just.. don't leave me.." he adds. After all, Orpheus essentially owed Slinger his life. His very existence as it currently stands. Slinger was the only friend he had whom he could be with.. The only person he knew, really.. The only person who would look after him. "I d-don't.. have a family to go back to if I screw up.. No friends to take me in.. Without you I.. I don't have anything in the world," he says pitifully.. Worse yet, it was true.. What would someone like Orpheus do on his own? Probably as Slinger predicted.. he would go on to only make enemies of those around him, even if he didn't mean to do so.. and probably die. It wasn't just that he had no friends or family.. he had no experience being within any facet of society at all. In that way, he truly was like a child. Without Slinger. Orpheus couldn't exist. Slinger exhales a slow breath, a warm breath that ruffles over your neck, before he straightens and pulls back from you — though his hands do not release you. "Whether or not I care about you was never in question," Slinger murmurs. "Work is work and love is love. But… but I was afraid that you were gonna leave me for good," he murmurs, with a catch in his voice. "I dunno if I coulda handled that, right then. Look…" He sighs softly, then leans forward and slowly presses his lips to the Hispanic boy's. "I don't even wanna talk about what happened," Slinger admits. "Not yet. You got so much potential, but a lot to learn, too. "But I'm willin' to stick with you, if you'll trust me as well. I'm never gonna sell you out, never gonna tell you to do somethin' that I don't think is in your best interest. And if you screw up, I'm gonna tell you that, too, but it doesn't mean I don't care about you, or don't fraggin' love you. If I didn't care, I wouldn't say anythin'." The last words tug at his heartstrings. "You have a family," Slinger says, his voice growing in strength. "If you want one. You got /me/." He smiles. "I am proud of a lot you did. Mighta been better as far as the mission, but you got out in one piece. You need to learn to follow orders better, need to learn that there's a time and a place to stand up for yourself and a way to do it… but if you'll listen and you'll trust me, it'll all work out. I /promise/." He curses the blindfold. Right now, he wants to gaze into the beautiful face of his young lover. To see you. He reaches back with one hand, finger sliding beneath each of your eyes, brushing away the tears he knows are there. "I… I had hoped you would come back," he whispers. And then he quotes: If you love something, set it free. If it comes back, it's yours. If it doesn't… It never was. Orpheus wet tears streak away from his face while Slinger presses his fingers to his soft skin. "I'll do it.. No matter what.. I'll live up to you," he promises, voice shaky, but beginning to calm a bit now, finally.. ".. And to myself.. Really.. An' I do trust you, more than anyone," he says.. and the implication behind that fact means more for Slinger than anyone else. ".. With my life.. I have before and.. I will again; always." This quote causes Orph's brow to perk a bit.. The quote sounds.. so familiar to him but he can't remembered when he read it.. The memory is there somewhere in his mind.. Jumbled and confused.. ".. Chinese Proverb," he says softly.. "If you love something, you have to respect it's own freedom.. else it's nothing more than control. But.. here I am.. With my only family," he says. A small smile finally breaks his melancholy at last.. He raises his hand up and wipes his face off a bit, sniffling a bit as he does so. He grins a bit, and lets forth with a playful punch on Slingers shoulder with his real hand. "Gettin' all faggy on me," he says softly.. then leans in and gives Slinger a fierce kiss on the lips.. wanting and without reservation.. his breath is hot as it pours from his lips, followed by a gentle moan.. ".. I like that, sometimes," he adds, then lets his head rest on Slingers shoulder, eyes closed, and simply.. soaks in the goodness and warmth of Slinger while letting the anxiety and fear dissipate from him. Slinger shivers at the words that his young companion speaks, and he tightens his embrace around the youth, just listening. The blindfold absorbs any tears that he has, but his shoulder is damp from Orpheus's. And then, that powerful kiss, those teasing words as he kisses in return, crouched on the floor with the other youth. "It's from a poet," Slinger murmurs. "I don't remember his name. But… it means somethin'," he whispers to the boy in his arms. He has his eyes closed behind the blindfold. Has had them closed for some time, and he shakes his head to clear it, before he tightens his arms around Orpheus. "When Janie gets back, you should apologize to her. Say why you were upset, yes. Stand up for yourself… but you don't gotta insult others, either. She's good people, omae. I've trusted her with my life. Anytime you go on a mission, you do that." What a scene for Janie to walk back in on, let alone the troll… Janie comes back in. "May says she c'n help, but she agrees that right now isn't th'best o'times t'try…" She pauses as she sees Slinger and Orpheus embracing, then smiles. "I c'n come back later if ye'd like some privacy," she offers. As Janie walks back in.. seeing the two being all huggy.. Orpheus breaks away from Slinger a bit.. he looks up at Janie, then.. and a sudden.. fear, sparks in his eyes at seeing her. Not because he feared her strength or power.. Nor her magic. No, he feared her influence.. Her influence over Slinger. She held sway over him, insofar that she was important to him.. by extension, that meant that if she didn't like Orpheus, he felt that could endanger his future with Slinger. This, if nothing else, spurs him on to bow his head a bit toward her. "I'm sorry," he says quickly, and genuinely in this case. He was sorry.. Sorry that what he said led to this situation. Was he sorry for sticking up for himself? He isn't sure.. All the same, he knows he needs to try and be on this womans good side.. or else. Orph looks her in the eye now, mustering his sincerity. "I'm no a.. pro. Like you.. and maybe I.. should have listened more to what you had to say.. n'.. I withdraw my comment about you bein' a slitch," he adds. At this point he has to break eye contact, gaze falling down and.. hopes that things will be okay. Janie tilts her head, looking at Orpheus as if she can see straight through his eyes and into his soul - for all he knows, that might be factual truth rather than colorful metaphor - and regards him steadily for a while before speaking. "d'ye know what makes a pro a pro?" She asks then, gently. "It's not th'ability t'punch an engine block out o'a movin' car, or knowin' how t'ghost past an elite Wildcat recon team or th'power t'level a mountain with spells an'spirits. It's an attitude; th'will t'focus on a job an' put all other things aside as secondary, th'dedication t'not just want t'get th'job done but t'want t'see it done to th'best o'y'r ability an' beyond." She smiles. "It's also not - an' never will be - a magical shield against screwin' up; I've made my share o'stupid mistakes I was lucky t'survive. Th'difference between an amateur who'll get himself an'people around him killed an' a pro is how they deal with havin' made one an'catchin' flak from irked teammates an' allies. A pro will take his or her lumps an' acknowledge they've made a mistake, then give thanks they survived makin' it this time an' remember not t'make it again. An amateur will get his or her hackles up an' refuse t'heed th'criticism because they view it not as advice that stings but rather as a personal insult t'their competence… An' in their pride, they more often than not repeat th'mistake deliberately in an attempt t'prove they were right th'first time." Slinger glances over to Janie. Then back to Orpheus. It's a start, the youth would admit. And he finally gets back up, his cheeks a little red, though he doesn't let go of the youth. "We're good… as far as privacy, that is." The rest of it will wait for Janie's response, for her reaction to the youth's fumbling attempt at an apology. He settles himself back in the chair, not having any direct comment right at this moment. But he lets her response, waiting for what she has to say. Slinger listens to Janie's words of wisdom, nods slowly. "She's right, on that. I've done some boneheaded things before. Got yelled at. Never got anybody killed by my own idiocy… well, maybe Retro. You might be able to lay that one at my feet. But that was still like ninety percent him," the youth admits. "Orpheus… when you were in the military. If somebody told you you screwed up an exercise, whatcha do? You punch his lights out? Or you bust your ass to do it right next time?" Orpheus can do little but listen and nod his head. He couldn't really counter-ject anything they were saying. No.. That would only put him where he was fifteen minutes ago.. Besides, he couldn't even say that he felt certain that he could oppose that wisdom in any way. He simply has to trust that what Janie and Slinger says is true.. Though.. Slingers comment does elicit a slight.. twitch in his eye.. The question brings him back to those times. Not really military, so to say.. Soldiers get paid. They live by doing what their told and die for others.. but they live clean lives. There is little gray shades for them. For Orpheus.. it wasn't like that. "You did better, yeah… out of fear of the consequences," he says. In a military you did better because you felt an obligation -misplaced or not- of serving the cause of freedom or libery or whatever other nonsense. ".. Because the alternative might mean that.. You end up.. Like the ones who dissapear.." Come to think of it, even Slinger doesn't know A LOT about Orphs past.. even just thinking about it.. makes his head hurt a little.. those memories were still elusive and painful in his jumbled head. "I don't want to dissapear," he says, mustering some courage in his voice. Finally, Orph looks back to Janie.. "Slinger trusts you so I will too. Even if that means I have to die tryin' to earn it." Orph slowly stands up, a certain eerie grit taking his features. He glances down at Slinger again, and kneels down a bit to try and help the other boy back into the chair.. Slinger chuckles. "Tomorrow. Tomorrow I get to take this damned thing off," he says firmly. He squeezes Orpheus's hand, and nods. "So let's talk about what happened. And what you can do better next time. And then… let's talk about the next phase of this. I'm thinkin' real seriously about this supposed buyer this guy has… and whether it's real. Accelerate should have me some answers pretty soon, though." He reaches for his pack of cigarettes, and then smirks. "So what's this I hear about a dog? Blackie, I guess was his name?" he asks Orpheus, as he reaches for his lighter. "And Mustang… given what they had to work with, what could they have done better? I'm curious your thoughts." "Pulled out, havin' th'earth elemental remove his tracks," Janie replies fairly promptly. "If ye want t'cause rumors o'hauntin' it's best t'start out small, an' dogs growlin' at a completely empty plot where nothin' turns out t'be hidin's a good way t'make people feel uneasy about th'place…" She shrugs then. "I'll admit that th'tools they had weren't optimal; elementals have a lot o' good uses, but subtlety's rarely one o'them." "Well," Orph begins, trying to recall the events.. "Always was trained.. that you had ta kill dogs on an op.. They give you away. I was ganna shoot it, with my silenced pistol, but.. Figured that bullets in a dog would look bad, so I asked the elemental to kill it quietly.." He looks a bit abashed as he says this.. ".. Guess it wasn't so good at that," he adds.. ".. I uh.. Didn't really know it would do that, but I figured, well.. I went that far, may as well carry on.." He shrugs.. Who knew? You mighta expected a fire elemental could flash-fry something instantly but maybe not.. .. And thats the funny thing about hindsight, huh? It's 20/20, and has thermoptics, sonar, vision mag, and night vision. "Blackie? Huh? Oh, it had a name, huh. That's strange.. Why would someone name a dog?" he asks.. and the honesty in his voice could easily dispel any confusion as to whether the concept of naming an animal or indeed owning a pet is entirely lost on this strange youth. Slinger nods thoughtfully. "Yeah. We didn't have a lot of time, and Orpheus… well, he's not had much contact with mojo before this." He doesn't mention one of the youth's other attributes, though Janie will easily notice it within about five seconds of scoping his aura. "But yeah, if we'd had more time… I agree. That might've been a better way. Gradual escalation through the night… though I think their goal was to hit hard and fast, 'cause they had no way of knowing when KE arrived. Personally? I give 'em about a seven out of ten, myself, at least on that part of it. On a strictly objective basis." Slinger blinks, and then bursts out laughing. "Whoa," he says, gazing at Orpheus. Not laughing /at/ him by any means, but it's the laugh of sudden realization. He turns his attention to Janie — or at least the direction of her voice. "Only dogs he's ever run into are guard dogs. Patrol dogs. Not pets." He finally locates his lighter on the desk, then leans back in the chair and manages to light up his cigarette, taking a deep draw. "People sometimes keep dogs as pets. For companionship. They can be affectionate, and people bond with them," he explains. Suddenly, Orpheus's actions make a lot more sense, and he nods thoughtfully. "He's not stupid," he mentions, to Janie. "Just has… well, really different background. I dunno if he wants me to actually tell you /how/ different. But different." Janie nods briefly. "O'course, there's been entire chapters written about th'wisdom o'goin' t'war with a weapon ye don't know how t'use effectively, but that's neither here nor there…" She nods again at Slinger's comment on the dog. "It likely was a guard dog, aye - but it was guardin' th'neighbor's territory, not th'lot ye were on. It growled t'warn ye away rather'n t'alert its owners." Orpheus' abashment only intensifies now as he suddenly feels like hes.. under a microscope, especially at hearing Slinger laugh at him. Oh what shame! And confusion.. "Oh," he says, not fully understanding what Slinger is going on about, but.. he kinda gets is. Maybe. "If it makes a difference, it was a 'mean' sounding dog," he adds, shrugging and.. sort of awkwardly looking around the room.. Feeling generally stupid right about now.. for reasons he couldn't entirely explain away. "Oh, well.. I'll try to remember next time," he promises.. though isn't entirely sure he understands the discrepency that the two are trying to describe. It was ingrained in him pretty good. Dogs = bad. Kill dogs. Oh, and Slingers comment about talking to Janie about himself.. this just draws a miserable sort of look from him, but he wasnt going to stop Slinger from doing what he wanted at this point. Slinger is still grinning. "Probably wasn't. Just territorial. You weren't supposed to be there. It loves its family, but you aren't its family. But anyway, it makes sense. Orpheus, as far as I can tell, you did pretty darned well under the circumstances." He takes a deep drag of smoke, leans back in the chair a little more — and nearly loses his balance, which entirely makes him lose all semblance of dignity. He lets out a startled yelp, manages to catch himself. He clears his throat, trying to reassert some sense of decorum. "Mustang — given that, you willin' to work with Orpheus here, again? Give him another chance? We were all young and stupid, once. Hell, I'm still young and stupid, according to some people," he says with a self-deprecating chuckle. Janie nods. "Once we've got a plan together that'll work," she replies. "Although I think th'hauntin' plan's probably shot - between th'police an' th'news, people's perception's pretty firmly on th'side o'Awakened foul play…" Slinger starts to say something, but then his pocket secretary beeps. He leans forward, re-attaches the cable… and grins. "Well, what daya know? Looks like Mr. Klack wasn't totally lying — he /does/ have a buyer. Ms. Jane Anne Teller. Widow, wants to build a house somewhere with a lot of power. Non-awakened, but she's got a fascination with magic and the occult. She actually /likes/ the strange history of the place. Weird," he says, shaking his head. "And… look at this! Here's her picture, current address, her trix code, and even a recording of the voicemails she's left him. And an appointment for tomorrow at 11 AM sharp." He lets out a low whistle. "Accelerate," he says firmly, "is thorough." Janie spends some time poring over the data, considering the options and discarding several of them out of hand before she comes up with something that seems feasible. "Slinger, how long c'n ye maintain a physical disguise spell?" she asks while she starts poring over the woman's personal information. Part 6: The Buyer It's the next day. Slinger is back in the High Arcana, while we prepare for things, and he has the blindfold off. His eyes are a little red, but otherwise look utterly normal — except to the astral, where it's clear that a few implants have gone in. "Depends. If I loan you my focus, indefinitely." He has smatterings of information, mostly secondhand. Primarily, from Klack's /own/ investigation of her. Always good to let the mark do your legwork for you. She's definitely a dabbler, judging from her collections of old books and her trid-rental habits. "Well, judgin' by her trid habits - not t'mention th'fact she thinks a place bein' haunted makes it more interestin' t'buy - she seems th'naturally credulous type," Janie replies. "With th'right look an' maybe a halfway plausible-lookin' badge I might be able t' convince her she's just stumbled onto a fraud sting operation…" Slinger nods thoughtfully. "I dunno about the badge. If you're holding it, I could disguise something you're carrying at it, but if she wants to actually touch it, that could be a problem. Might be best to see if we can just get a hold of a convincing fake. Or we can just take the risk. As you said, naturally credulous… Slinger grins. "You could also indicate that there's a reward for her cooperation. "I'd rather not gamble everythin' on my actin' talents without even th'smallest props," Janie points out. "We don't have th'time f'r anythin' overly fancy, I'm afraid — although come t'think o'it, I'm suddenly curious t'find out how fast Silk could arrange f'r an FBI ident card that'd fool a civilian lookin' at it," she chuckles, then continues. "I'll have t'ad lib th'whole thing as is; I'd prefer t'have some kind o'anchor t'help me keep things straight." Slinger nods. "Yeah. Might be worth asking her, though we're short on time. I can probably magick it into the disguise, though if she tries to take it, it won't work," he reminds her. "You want me to go with you? Keep a watch on things?" he asks. "I can be invisible and nearby, just monitoring." "Th'main part o'y'r disguise work'll involve makin' me look as little as me as possible," Janie replies. "Mind if I borrow a spare set o'clothes? I c'n make a classic federal-agent look out o'anythin', but I do need th'raw materials…" Meanwhile, she is checking the TMDB entries of the trid shows the woman rented to see if any of them include undercover law enforcement agents. Slinger nods. "Yeah, I can arrange clothes — or we can make those part of the disguise. It's a nice spell, that way," Slinger agrees. He stretches out, lights another cancer stick. It turns out, in fact, that somebody actually resurrected the old X-Files show, except now that many paranormal things are commonplace, it's more about aliens. But the woman seems to be a rabid fan of the show. And it features a competent, professional redhaired woman in a no-nonsense pantsuit that manages to exude quiet authority without even swinging her badge around except when needed. Perfect. "Th'advantage o'Fashion an' Makeover is that they're physical changes an'don't need t'be maintained. They're just not up t'accessorizin' with official lookin' badges." Slinger nods. "Yeah. Physical mask can do it. And my vehicle, frankly, looks very official," the youth agrees with a grin. "Just the sort of thing an FBI agent would drive. Do you drive?" he asks, hopefully. "I'll ride with, maintain spells… and if she gets too suspicious, I'll use Control Thoughts. I hate doing that if we don't have to. "Some," Janie admits. "Don't ask me to win a road race or do a wheelie, but well enough t'get around." Slinger nods. "All right. Let's get prepped and move out," the youth says with a grin. "This should be fun. On the other hand, you could convince her to go, but play along," he adds, with a friendly grin. "Or stay behind and let you go in her place. Or… well, whatever you decide. Ultimately, we want him strung along, but we want the deal to go south." Janie studies the various holo stills of that series to get as good a feel as possible for the style of dress, then concentrates on the clothes laid out before her, drawing on her magic to reshape them. «Auto-Judge[]» Janie (#4136) rolls Sorcery + Sorcery Pool: 6 + 4 (Athena) vs TN 6 for "Fashion spell, F2.": 1 1 1 1 2 2 3 3 3 4 4 5 5 8 10 10 11 13 = 5 Successes «Auto-Judge[]» Janie (#4136) rolls Willpower vs TN 2 for "Soaking L drain.": 1 2 2 4 5 5 5 10 = 7 Successes «Auto-Judge[]» Janie (#4136) rolls Sorcery + Sorcery Pool: 6 + 4 (Athena) vs TN 6 for "Makeover spell, going for that understatedly severe yet professional look…": 1 2 2 2 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 4 5 5 5 5 5 = 0 Successes «Auto-Judge[]» Janie (#4136) rolls Sorcery + Sorcery Pool: 6 + 4 (Athena) vs TN 6 for "KP 1/40": 1 2 2 2 2 2 3 4 4 4 4 5 5 5 5 8 9 16 = 3 Successes «Auto-Judge[]» Janie (#4136) rolls Sorcery + Sorcery Pool: 6 + 4 (Athena) - 3 vs TN 6 for "KP 3/40": 1 1 2 3 3 3 3 4 4 5 5 7 10 11 11 = 4 Successes «Auto-Judge[]» Janie (#4136) rolls Willpower vs TN 2 for "Soaking M drain.": 1 2 2 3 4 5 7 9 = 7 Successes "If it comes down t'havin' t'completely control her mind we're screwed regardless," Janie points out as she shrugs into what were a threadbare pair of jeans and an unwashed shirt two minutes ago and are now a tailor-perfect pantsuit and vest. She studies her look in the mirror, then nods at Slinger. "Hmm. Cut about four inches off my hair an' color it a few shades darker, then fuzz my facial features just a bit, turn my eyes brown an' we should be good t'go." Slinger nods, considering the image you gave him off his pocket secretary. He's not shooting for that /exactly/ but close enough. And he casts the spell, concentrating. Page's shop is nice and cleansed, which always helps. «Auto-Judge[]» Slinger (#669) rolls 6 (sorcery) + Sorcery Pool: 6 + 7 (power focus) vs TN 4 for "Physical Mask, into sustaining focus… F4.": 1 1 2 2 2 2 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 5 5 5 8 10 10 = 11 Successes «Auto-Judge[]» Slinger (#669) rolls 8 vs TN 4 for "KP 1/26.": 1 1 2 2 4 5 5 11 = 4 Successes «Auto-Judge[]» Slinger (#669) rolls 6 (willpower) + Sorcery Pool: 2 vs TN 3 for "F4, +1M, 3M drain.": 1 1 1 2 2 5 5 10 = 3 Successes Slinger is just using it as a guide, not a hard and fast rule. And as part of it, he transforms your wallet into the appearance of the badge, concentrating on that particular detail most of all. That done, he nods, grinning. "All right. Let's do this," the youth suggests with a broad, playful grin. "I'll be invisible and with you. Just try to remember to hold doors a little longer than strictly necessary. "That might not be up t'me," Janie replies, but nods. "Let's do this." In a last flash of inspiration, she transfers the data Accelerate managed to collect to her PDA before pocketing it. Slinger nods, and tosses Janie the keys to his large SUV, before padding outside. Along the way, he'll power up — floating, invisible, generally just able to tag along as needed, while we drive. Janie isn't the world's best driver by any stretch, but she gets the job done. Fortunately, traffic isn't that heavy this time of day. And there's the place. It's a condo complex, complete with gated security. Rather nice and nifty. And look, there's a guard at the gate, stepping out as the SUV approaches. «Auto-Judge[]» Janie (#4136) rolls Centering vs TN 2 for "Centering against BGcount for an assense test.": 1 4 4 5 8 = 4 Successes «Auto-Judge[]» Janie (#4136) rolls Intelligence vs TN 4 for "Any wards, watchers, spirits or active mages around?": 1 1 1 3 5 5 5 = 3 Successes «Auto-Judge[]» Janie (#4136) rolls Intelligence - 3 vs TN 4 for "KP 4/40": 2 4 5 5 = 3 Successes The astral… is quiet as a whisper. Other than the usual ebb and flow of city spirits, but nothing manifest, nothing active. Simply an area of the town that is quiet, peaceful, safe and secure. At least, until /we/ get inside there. The guard, as you pull up, is a slightly older man, with grey around his temples. Even so, he /is/ armed, and there's a little cyberware in him to your astral sight. He has the look of someone retired from the military, perhaps, with a generous pension — and doing this just to keep his hand in. «Auto-Judge[]» Janie (#4136) rolls Centering vs TN 2 for "Against penalties, F4 city spirit": 1 1 3 3 5 = 3 Successes «Auto-Judge[]» Janie (#4136) rolls Conjuring + 2 (Athena) vs TN 4 for "Summoning an F4 city spirit, only need one service.": 1 1 2 3 3 4 5 5 8 = 4 Successes «Auto-Judge[]» Janie (#4136) rolls Charisma + 2 (Athena) vs TN 4 for "Soaking M drain.": 2 2 2 3 4 4 5 9 = 4 Successes Janie rolls down the window as the guard approaches, then shows the badge even as she commands the spirit she just summoned to befuddle the guard's mind just enough to make it hard for him to spot the holes in the story she's about to feed him. "Special Agent Baxter, Fraud. I'm here to see miss Teller regarding an investigation." The man glances down at the badge, frowns a little bit as he examines the badge, but it's hard to /think/ right now for some reason. "I… uh…" He seems to think about that. "You're with UCAS, right?" he asks carefully, even though it's right there on the badge. He's got a bit of a southern drawl. "Does she know you're comin'?" Janie shakes her head. "She's not under investigation, but she's managed to stumble onto the bait we were stringing out for a sting target, and our surveillance believes he may be tapping her phone lines. I'm hoping to persuade her to back out before she ruins six months of legwork or worse." The man ahs, nods. "I should still call her and tell her you're here," he says, falling back on procedures. He's still a little perplexed by the situation, but he's in the state of mind where he's easily befuddled by the simplest of things, like actually checking out your ID, or taking down information. "She's a nice lady. A little odd, though," he adds, with a conspiratorial whisper. Janie nods. "And a bit too ready to believe in the supernatural - which is how she stumbled into this in the first place," she agrees, then offers a brief yet reassuring smile. "Don't worry, she's not going to be in any trouble if I can help it," she promises. "With any luck, there won't be any need to get official about this." "Ah," the man murmurs, understanding that completely. If he doesn't call ahead, it's not official, no paperwork, and no getting the lady into any kind of trouble. Nice and quiet, just a gentle word or two. "Go on in. She's in the third building on the left side. Just take a left at the clubhouse, and you can't miss it." Janie nods and rolls up the window again, leaving the spirit for just a tad longer so the guard won't contract a sudden case of suspicion before she's done, then drives to Ms. Teller's home and gets out to ring the doorbell. The condo in question is easy to tell. It's mostly a townhome, one of the units in the center of a block of four. And it's easy to recognize. It would be the one with all sorts of Native American windchimes out in front, suncatchers in the windows, plants out on the second-story balcony and on the porch. Yes, that would be the one. As you approach the doorstep and ring the doorbell, Slinger is hanging back, nearby, ready to handle things as they arise. A few moments pass, and then the door opens — and a woman in her mid-sixties, but definitely looking /younger/ than that from the way her health is maintained, answers the door. She is vaguely attractive, though the way she dresses belies most of that, with ornaments, beadwork, and jewelry creating a cacophony of mismatched accessories. Her hair is naturally brown, but she has dyed it a dark red; and she's at most about five foot six. Her face bears a few wrinkles, not many. But for all her apparent interest in Native American and mystical folklore, she is as Irish as they come. There's no disguising that nose. She looks mildly irritated as she answers the door. "Yes?" Janie wastes as little time as possible. "Miss Jane Ann Teller?," she asks, holding up her badge. "Special Agent Baxter, Fraud. You're not under any sort of investigation, but there are a few things you should know about the plot you were about to buy - and the person attempting to sell it to you." She lets that sink in for a moment, then asks. "May I come in? I promise not to take up too much of your time." The woman's frown deepens as you hold up the badge, and she leans forward to scrutinize it. But then the rest of your words catch her ear, and while the frown does not fade, she does look startled at the depth of information that you have. "Agent Baxter… are you telling me that.." And that's as far as she gets, because the door opens a little wider, and there is another man there, one who is clearly Native American. Decorated with spiritual markings. He takes one look at Janie, frowns, and then intones, "The spirits are angry with this interruption. While staring toward Janie…" «Auto-Judge[]» Slinger (#669) rolls 10 vs TN 15 (to no one) for "Runs-With-Wolves versus Janie's magic. Grade 5, so 10 dice.": 1 1 2 2 2 3 4 4 5 7 = 0 Successes «Auto-Judge[]» Slinger (#669) rolls 10 vs TN 13 (to no one) for "Runs-With-Wolves assensing Slinger's aura.": 1 2 2 2 2 4 5 5 5 8 = 0 Successes Janie glances up at the man in Native American getup, regarding him briefly. «Auto-Judge[]» Janie (#4136) rolls Centering vs TN 2 for "against BGcount, Assensing the guy.": 1 5 7 7 16 = 4 Successes «Auto-Judge[]» Janie (#4136) rolls Intelligence vs TN 4 for "What have we here, hmm?": 1 2 2 4 5 5 5 = 4 Successes «Auto-Judge[]» Janie (#4136) rolls Magic Background vs TN 4 for "Comp skill.": 1 1 2 2 4 = 1 Success «Auto-Judge[]» Janie (#4136) rolls Intelligence - 4 vs TN 4 for "KP 7/40": 3 3 5 = 1 Success Several things that you will notice. First, he is a shaman. That much is clear. He's also astrally perceiving, though he's glancing at Slinger right now — and definitely notices him, though there's a hint of confusion in his expression as he switches his vision back into the mundane realm. His totem appears to be Coyote, and he's definitely Awakened. His magic rating appears to be about eleven or so — respectable, but nowhere in the same realm as yours or Slinger's. He speaks, then, looking at the space that Slinger is occupying — and sees nothing. "You have a ghost with you. One of the spirits with unfinished business," he intones. Apparently, he either is helping cover for the invisible mage, or perhaps he is confused by the lack of any visible spells — and the utterly mundane aura that Slinger habitually projects. Janie nods, apparently unruffled by the statement. "And you would be—?" she asks calmly. The woman stays silent, watching this exchange, though with wide eyes. "/I/ am Runs-with-Wolves. Spiritual healer and counselor. Ms. Teller has an appointment with me for a reading. Her weekly appointment. And she gives instructions that she is /not/ to be disturbed." Apparently he is unimpressed with Janie's badge. His eyes move back to Slinger again, and he scowls. "You still have a ghost with you," he says firmly. "A spirit from beyond. I can help you with that." Apparently trying to sell you something. "Your client is about to blunder into a sting operation that has been carefully prepared for the past six months," Janie replies calmly, then turns back to the woman. "No, I am not telling you anything, Ms. Teller. In fact, I am not here at all, and even if I were I certainly would not be jeopardizing an investigation by having this discussion with you. I trust you understand." The woman looks rather confused, and responds by looking at her companion. He has been staring at Slinger — who has been keeping carefully silent, resisting the urge to zot this way-too-curious guy — who is staring a little too much for Slinger's taste. Then back to Janie. "I… I don't understand, ma'am," she says, sincerely confused. "It's a parcel of land, and I was going today to put a bid on in it. How did you know…" She seems to think for a moment, then nods once. "Counselor, I believe we can pick up again next week?" she asks — or rather orders him, with sudden firmness in her tone, and hint of excitement. Runs-with-Wolves starts to offer an objection, but one look at her, and he realizes that argument would be a poor idea if he wants to keep this client. Janie nods and waits politely for Runs-With-Coyotes to leave before entering and addressing the woman again. Her voice is businesslike, yet compassionate - reminiscent of the lead actress in that show, in fact. "You decided to bid once you heard it was 'haunted', I believe. That was one thing we hadn't expected - but I get ahead of myself. "The salesman and the people he works for specialize in a rather complex form of real estate fraud, arranging for an attractive bit of it to become 'haunted', driving down the owners' asking price and allowing them to buy it cheaply, and then selling it for the full value once the haunting disappears as unexplainedly as it occurred." She shrugs, clearly looking slightly unhappy despite her professional demeanor. "Our paranormal budget is still very limited, and we don't have the resources to investigate every single haunting report, which makes catching them the conventional way rather difficult. So instead we set up this sting operation: a particularly juicy bit of real estate in just the right location for him to work his usual tricks. He appeared to be all ready to go for it until suddenly he told us he'd found another buyer - you - and there was a particularly clumsy attempt at re-'haunting' the place. At first, we were wondering whether you might have been an accomplice, bidding with the intent to drive up the price, but a quick investigation proved you were a honest - if unlucky - citizen…" Your attitude, your posture, the way you speak, everything has her attention. You remind her of the character, that much is sure, and the frown disappears, replaced by the earnest desire to help. "A land with that kind of history, though… did you know it's the actual site of one of the big massacres?" she asks. "Someone should own that land who respects it, who can care for it." But as you continue, she looks a little more concerned, especially when you mention that she was under suspicion. A shiver runs through her. But at the end, she leans forward. "How can I help? And who is it you're investigating?" "I wondered about the second haunting. That looked like elementals, not spirits. Totally different to anybody who knows anything." Janie nods. "It's one of the reasons we picked that location in the first place. It had actually been haunted at one time, until… But I'm afraid that's classified. I'm sorry. And yes, you're correct — according to our investigations that was a fire elemental. It's not nearly the first time he's arranged for some additional 'signs'. And mutilated pets are so much more scary and spooky than mere vandalism…" Janie allows a slight trace of anger to enter her voice - not all of it simulated, either. The woman still looks a little confused, though definitely disappointed — and a little embarassed. "So is Mr. Klack working with you? Or is he the one who you're investigating?" She's pressing on this point. "He seemed nice," she adds. Sadly, gullible might actually be the best way to refer to her. She reaches into her handbag and pulls out a silk handkerchief, which she uses to quietly blow her nose. She's shaken up by this. The mention of the dog puts her over the edge, and she nods once, summoning her courage. "What can I do to help?" she asks, actually showing a bit of eagerness. "Klacks is part of it, but he's not the main one we're after," Janie replies. "We're looking to roll this one up thoroughly. As for what you can do… Give him a call, and inform him that your spiritual advisor has told you that the spirits haunting the land are displeased, and that therefore you must regretfully withdraw your bid. He has already overreached himself, and we think he owes his superiors a large amount of money, so that will make him desperate to make the sale we've offered him - probably desperate enough he won't realize that the money we'll pay him comes from a traced account until after he's sent it on to his superiors…" The woman seems to be torn for just a moment. And then she reaches for her phone, hesitating, bites her lip — and calls the number there. "Mr. Klack? I'm sorry, I'm going to have to cancel our appointment for today." A pause. "No, I'm afraid not. No, I'm afraid that the spirits do not want me to go through with this," she says, with a glance at Janie. "No, I'm afraid not, no. No, the spirits have spoken." Another pause, then she actually sounds a bit angry. "Mr. Klack. That dog did /nothing/ to you, and you should be ashamed of yourself!" she says testily. "Good /day/, Mr. Klack!" And firmly hangs up the phone. After a little more conversation, Janie and Slinger are able to depart. And Slinger breathes out a sigh of relief, lighting up a cigarette as soon as he's safely away. "Thank the Gods. The incense was getting to me." Part 7: Surrender Later that day, your phone rings again. The called ID shows Jonas Klack Realty. Page quirks his mouth amusedly and hits the button to transfer his call to the computer screen, settling back in his chair. "Well, hello there." For a moment, Klack doesn't say anything. "You mentioned being able to come up in price a little," Klack says quietly. He sounds… tired. "Yeah, I got a message back from the bank earlier this morning," Page replies. "I can get another five percent if I move some inventory into collateral. But that's as good as it'll get. Out of my hands after that." Klack pauses for a moment. You can hear the wheels turning. "If I send you the paperwork, can you close today? And will you promise me that I'll never hear another fragging thing about this drekking property again so long as I live?" he asks, with sudden vehemence in his voice. Page stifles a chuckle, grinning. "Hmm… yeah, I've got free time, I can run through the closing tonight. /Again/." He doesn't pursue that any further, though. "Toss them over to my trix address, I'll get them signed and back in your hands quick enough." Klack's mouth is set in a thin line. "I settled the lawsuits, so there are no liens on the property. Like I said, I want your word that there'll be no further… problems. I can't /prove/ you had anything to do with all of this, of course…" "Sure, sure," Page says aimiably. "As much as one private citizen can promise to another. Not like I can stop a dragon from landing wherever it wants, but I'm sure things with your land will clear up with the other odds and ends." Klack nods firmly. "Don't think you've won. This land has been /nothing/ but trouble to me since the day I got it," he snaps. "I hope it's as much trouble to you as it's been to me. May you live in interesting times, Mr. Page." The call is disconnected. And about a minute later, your trixmail indicates receipt of the new, updated documents.