[Mithlas]

-Aurora Bar-
"I have yet to promise any services,"

The voice on the other end of the line replied promptly, "Understandable. However, as part of the assurances I will be making to my manager, I have promised to personally greet each of you and extend this opportunity." After Aaliyah finished the message and set up to go, the bartender waved a farewell, also giving a nod and passing a small plastic tray of wake-up pills to Andreas. The drizzle outside continued, cast aside by the mana-induced umbrella, and a series of trucks churned down the center of the street. In the contacts book, several of the local AB+ draw up on the link.

-Elmer's Dive Bar & Eatery, interior-
The murmur of drivers getting ready to start a night shift continued, a crowd gathering around one AR screen displaying a CAS urban brawl match. One of the contestants went down and the gathering of drivers whooped as the teams traded shots. The commotion is almost enough to obscure the entry of a woman in black, wearing a red coat.

[Aryeonos]

A brief moment of navigating the gently blue and white contacts window Aaliyah settles on the most innocent tellecom number he can find then minimizes the window to his peripheral. Opening a new window and subscribing to the city tellecom directory he pulls up a cab service catering to 'larger' metahumans.

"Yes...I need, 2 cabs at this address... one large, and one small. Zàijiàn."

After closing the cybercom he pulled up the other window and began the call.

[mtfeeney = Baron]

Noticing the woman in black and red, Baron indicates her subtly to Shidhe.  "Look like the regular sort to frequent this fine establishment?"  He briefly shifts his view to the astral, checking out the new arrival.  While there, he gives the room a quick once over before switching back.

Looking for who is awakened, who has cyberware implants, sustained spells, etc.

Assense the woman - 9d6.hits(5)=2

Assense the room - 9d6.hits(5)=2

Does this site always give such awful rolls?


"Huh.", he says noncommitally.

[mtfeeney = Baron]

A slight shake of his head is his only response as he tracks the woman's movements through the establishment.

[Mirikon]

As Chikage entered the bar, those checking the astral would see her as a drone, pure and simple, despite the looks. The red coat shifted as she moved, turning from red to black. Her eyes scanned the crowd, watching the people's reactions to her, or lack thereof. On another night, she might get a drink or two and socialize (her body was specially modified for such tasks), but she was here to work. She checked the directions again, to see whether she was supposed to head to a separate room, or whether she was just supposed to wait out here until time for the meet.

[mtfeeney = Baron]

"Well," he begins, "I'd wager almost anything that she's here for the same appointment. Also, she isn't really here... It's a drone, if you can believe that."  Having said that, Baron considers inviting her over before deciding against it. Can't be too careful... , he thinks.

[RHat]

Nitro walked in nonchalantly, moving to the bar to order a couple fingers of bourbon.  While she was waiting, she augmented her scanner and set about looking for anything running in hidden in the area - never hurt to be aware.


Threading Scan (15d6.hits(5)=4)

Fading Resistance, DV4S. (11d6.hits(5)=3)

Actually 3S - I forgot that I had Scan, and thus that using 4 hits would take me to physical.

Detect Hidden Node - interval 1 Combat Turn, threshold 15 (11d6.hits(5)=2, 11d6.hits(5)=4, 11d6.hits(5)=3, 11d6.hits(5)=2, 11d6.hits(5)=1, 11d6.hits(5)=5, 11d6.hits(5)=2)

And, doesn't take too long to pick up on the hidden nodes in the area.

[Mirikon]

While Nitro set about searching, Chikage sat down at the bar nearby, apparently taking no notice of the man watching her. Logging on to the bar's AR node, her usual icon (that of a female samurai in red armor) appeared, and placed an order for a beer. Well, she didn't often consume food or beverages, except in virtual environments, but it was one of the modifications this body had, in order to make it more lifelike, especially when she was on bodyguard duty. What she consumed went to a special holding tank, where it was stored until she disposed of it later.

[mtfeeney = Baron]

What is she going to make that drone do?, Baron thinks as he watches the woman-bot in black order a drink.  After a moment of hesitation, he stands and makes his way across to the seat next to the her/it.  "One of these days, my curiosity will be the end of me..." he mutters softly to himself as he walks.

[mtfeeney = Baron]

Baron sits down next to the drone, pointedly paying only a nominal amount of attention to it.  "Hey", he says casually before ordering another drink.  Good thing I'm going sans-synthahol tonight, he thinks with a mental smirk.  When it's delivered, he proceeds to nurse the drink and wait to see if the drone's controller will try to strike up a conversation.

[Mirikon]

Looking over to Baron, Chikage nodded, and said, "Hey yourself. You finally decided to stop staring at me and come over? Sorry, I'm not in the mood to play tonight, I have an appointment later." She clearly took Baron as yet another person trying to hit her up, and decided to shut that door quickly. Wasn't enough time for that, especially not when there was work to be done shortly.

[mtfeeney = Baron]

With a chuckle, Baron takes another drink before replying, "You either have great peripheral vision or I need to work on being subtle.  You stick out here like an ork at a Humanis rally.  Your appointment must be important...  Are you the one that arranged it or are you just invited?"  He decides to not mention that she's a drone, stuck between indifference and curiosity as to how things will play out.  Cautious Johnson?  Shut-in riggger?  Betrayal attempt?  We'll see.

[Mirikon]

Chikage chuckled. "I'm used to the stares. And yes, you do need to work on being subtle. But yes, I'm merely invited. Why, did you get the same invite too?" At this point, her beer arrived, and she nodded to the barkeep, before taking a drink. Setting the bottle down on the counter, she looked back to Baron, and said, "So, your ladyfriend get tired of you, and you came to talk to me? Or is this something else, hmm?"

[Mithlas]

-Aurora Bar, exterior-
The taxis took a couple minutes to arrive, and the brief pause in the acid drizzle begins to pick up again before they take off.

-Elmer's Dive Bar & Eatery, interior-
Scanning for wireless signals in the somewhat crowded bar is no difficult task. The vast majority of the clientele had their commlinks and devices set to the common and convenient open broadcast, with the eatery's central node also openly broadcasting if with a modest firewall. A few moments of checking the wireless signals picked up a scattering of commlinks set to hidden. One of them is a woman sitting in a corner near the entrance, another from within room 12C.

The gathering of drivers clustered around the urban brawl AR screen whoops at another take-down. The clocks on the AR screens tick to 19:55.

-Elmer's Dive Bar & Eatery, exterior-
Two taxies pulled up in the parking lot now about half full. The darkness of the sinking sun and the thick clouds seemed to emphasize the glittering lights of the drone air traffic higher above, flitting back and forth over Seattle with messages, express deliveries, and other purposes.

[mtfeeney = Baron]

"I see. I was invited, as well. The name is Baron.", he says before extending a hand to shake.