[gilga]

I contact Blake and my thoughts are calm, ice cold and razor sharp. No confusion, I know already that I will shake Blake for as much money as my negotiation ability is able to provide as well as a fresh identity. So, when duty calls I can die and be reborn as someone else. Someplace else, I'll require a high quality identity with a back story and lifestyle and anything, and it will not be cheap to maintain it as a believable identity, but first I need to understand the job before I can even negotiated a price.

 " When is this impersonation going to happen? and who exactly is the person of impersonation? How long is this impersonation? If I take someone physical look I want to know everything there is to know about that person.  What he had to breakfast, what news paper he read, favorite sports team, important dates. Whose birthday he just forgot? Lovers, colleagues dirty secrets the more knowledge the less at risk I am.

Serious work with physical risk requires taking manners rather seriously, mundane things like ordering the wrong wine or saying the wrong word can hint people of the ruse and I plan to stay alive. If I do something I do it right, with at most seriousness.

The second issue is 'on vacation', What is our window of opportunity here? How likely he is to form contact with people from work while on vacation? How likely are they to contact him?... it all boils down to how likely I am to end up in the trunk of a car being fed to ghouls?

Do you have all these things figured out already? Or do you just tell Steward, Do X and he just does all the legwork on his own. I have never done that before and I'd much rather err on the side of too cautious. Because the result of not doing it right may be catastrophic.   How much of the legwork am I expected to do on my own?

[Mercy Merchant]

Yelena is leaning against the wall when the Troll appears out of the falling snow.  Yelena looks at the woman, evaluating her.  She seems a bit short for a Troll, but still well above her own height.  She walks with a different sort of stride, as if she is uncertain but determined to not let the Barrens get her.  Yelena notices that the woman is not armored by the shadow and that surprises her a bit.  For a moment it appears that Yelena is mistaken for Arc, but before she can say anything, the real Arc appears at the door.  Some words are exchanged and Arc and the Troll both return to the warmth of the garage, leaving Yelena alone again.

But not for too long, it seems.  Blake is the next arrival, dressed way to nice for this neighborhood, but he, too, is under the protection of the shadow.  Yelena reads him for someone used to working in the shadows but living on the fringe as his shadow being is barely visible.  She nods at the human as he walks past her into the building.  Yelena finishes her third cigar and follows Blake inside.  She sees Marco sweet-talking Firefly and the pair of them hunched over some tech drek.  And a book.  Yelena shakes her head; why did Marco bring a book down here?  The Troll and Arc are looking at the engine, huddled around a trid projection of what is probably Arc's design idea. 

Yelena removes her sweater as she enters the warmer room, tossing it over a stool.  Her back exposed, she walks to get another mug of caf, actually surprised that someone has made a fresh pot.  Sipping at the hot liquid, she feels the warmth spreading through her as she looks around the room.

[SgtBoomCloud]

The shock of surprise from the troll was a surprise for Arc as well, the human girl admitting that she wasn't quite sure where she was going with that.  Truth, many of the parts for this bike would take some heavy lifting to maneuver and work with, much more than what the small girl could offer.  Kri'tch Tina'ka Korryut  She inwardly shook her head, letting out a little sigh.

"Eh....thinking about that m'self...I could use some help around the garage, yeah.  But even then, that wouldn't be enough, would it...hmm"  Reaching up to the trid projection of the bike design, she collapsed the image and saved it for later use, shutting the projector down for the moment.  Looking over, she saw Yelena finally coming back in from her smoke outside and going for some hot soycaf.  Her thoughts turned to the jobs to come, and just how dangerous the kind of job they will likely be going into.

"Tell me something, omae.  This bike was yours...for this level of workmanship and care, you musta been hella good on it.  Combat biking, derby running, some drek like that, right?"  She gave a little smile, glancing over at Yelena and giving a nod of her head, a small idea forming in her head.  "That kinda power under your hoop, that many gears...without a rig interface in the design to boot.  That's mad skills."

As the older keeb came over, Arc's smile grew a little wider as a rather sick idea came to her head.  "Tuskaloosa, this is Yelena, my roomie and coworker on the side.  Hoi Srui'ken, you said you might be coming on some long term work down the pipe, eh?  Think you might be interested in a novahot wheelgirl coming along?"

Turning back to the trolless, Arc's smile started to fade a little as she slouched a bit, gaze lowering.  "Choice is yours though....I'm not gonna lie to you.  This is gonna be dangerous stuff.  But, you do this, the bike's yours and then some, you got my word on that.  But again, choice goes with you.  Yelena, what do you think?"

[gilga]

Still with Blake on his mind, but only a single look is required for the connection. I see that dreadful tree again. Ocean of moral failures masterfully surmised in the keeb's skin, "Anything new?" I ask to Yelena as my empathy embraces her. I refer to the tattoos of course, these that I were too afraid ask previously. I am not going to Ginny someone, if I like someone I want to know the ugly truth.

The rush of being able to so casually socialize with people and discuss business in my mind is intriguing and in time I will learn how to mask my aura and spells.If I live long enough, I can become a very sneaky man. I will have to as in a world of evil it is the good men that are hiding not the villains. Everything in this world is upside down.

[Mercy Merchant]

Standing with her back to one of the work benches, Yelena notices Arc's head nod and walks over to her, nodding to Marco as she passes him and he asks her the question.  "Much new.  We speak later.  Arc need."  She gets to Arc in time to hear the last bit of the conversation between her and the Troll.  It seems that the idea has gone beyond the woman buying the engine to coming with them to Europe.  She looks the newcomer up and down and asks in her heavily accented and broken English, "Am Yelena Petrovna.  Can drive good?  Yelena not need only driver.  Driver girl can take care of self in fight?"

[Shaman_Yuri]

Interesting...

Director of the Seattle Botanical Garden all the way up to a Minister of the Tir!  Just how high does this thing go, anyway?

I know it's impossible to prove a negative, but I can't help but wonder if there's more here.  I keep looking until I have scanned through every scrap of data with my own noodle as well as the 'trix data searching.  Before I take this to Yelena and Arc, I want to be sure I have *everything* there is to see here.  And anyway, from the sound of it, everyone is still busy doing their thing out in the garage.  The engine holds nothing compared to what I have here and the last thing I need to see is more of Marco and Yelena kissing...


Fifth hour: 7d6t5: 2  [7d6t5=3, 2, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]
Sixth hour: 6d6t5: 3 [6d6t5=1, 1, 6, 6, 6, 2]
Total of TWENTY hits after six tests.  That meets the "hard" threshold for an extended test! :-)


After a few more hours, some in IR, some in AR, and much of it just laying there with my eyes closed as memorized words pored through my mind, I feel I've sqeezed everything I'll be able to get out of this data.  I've applied all the skills I'd learned in a lifetime of rigorous mental training as a Renraku scion.  With the primitive equipment and limited data access available to me right now, this is as far as I get.  Still, what I've found could be worth hundreds of thousands of nuyen...

...or a nice little room six feet underground.

That's where someone like Yelena comes in.  Or Marco?

The elf man is intriguing.  He looks like Adonis but he's casually carrying a book that is worth as much as that engine out there in the right hands and belongs to the Papal States' government at least, if not the Vatican itself.  Who is this "Marco"?

It then strikes me that I have all I need to figure that out.  Everything on his comm is stored on my Erika.  As a general rule, while I am a total data whore I don't personally scour other peoples' info on a whim even if I archive it for easy access later if something comes up.  I'd been trained right by Renraku.  Store and deliver - only look if that's what's been ordered.

But I'm not Renraku anymore.  And it looks like I may be working closely, maybe very closely, with this man.  This man who has links to the Vatican?  I need to know more about him.

Since it's evening now, I first clear my mind with prayer.  Once I've demonstrated my submission to the God of All, I turn my attention again to worldly matters.  Lying once more atop Arc's bed, I begin scouring the contents of Marco's comm and the book registration chip, leaving no material unturned, and apply the same methods with what I glean as I did to the data from the safe - both 'trix and meat brain.  Since there's less of it to examine, it takes me a lot less time.


Memory to commit the material I glean from Marco's comm to my meat brain: 13d6t5: 3 [13d6t5=4, 6, 3, 2, 2, 3, 2, 1, 6, 5, 4, 1, 4]
Note that there's a lot less material to memorize than with the safe haul, so my number of hits to successfully do it should be less.

Assuming an extended test for speed reading to find anything in the material {logic(6)+intuition(5)[Mental (8 )]hard(18),average(15 minutes))}
With photographic memory this can happen in my own head after the fact, although in this case I have the data on my Erika for reference when needed...
First quarter-hour: 11d6t5: 11d6t5: 4 [11d6t5=5, 6, 1, 6, 5, 1, 2, 3, 3, 1, 2]
Second quarter-hour: 10d6t5: 3 [10d6t5=3, 2, 5, 4, 3, 1, 6, 2, 5, 1]
Third quarter-hour: 9d6t5: 1 [9d6t5=4, 3, 2, 5, 3, 3, 2, 2, 2]
Fourth quarter-hour: 8d6t5: 4 [8d6t5=1, 4, 1, 6, 5, 2, 5, 6]
Fifth quarter-hour: 7d6t5: 4 [7d6t5=4, 6, 5, 1, 1, 5, 6]
Sixth quarter-hour: 6d6t5: 3 [6d6t5=5, 3, 5, 4, 4, 6]
Total of NINETEEN hits after six tests.  Again, that meets the "hard" threshold for an extended test! :-)


Let's see what this pretty boy is really about...

[gilga]

@Firefly  - There is  a lot of correspondence on Marco's comm but it is all relatively new. Apparently,  Marco is switching devices every few weeks, trying to shake off somebody he refers to as Daemoness. That someone keeps asking for favors  and Marco always agree without arguing.  You also notice several lovers? (or customers?!) scheduling 'dates'.  There is one reference to the Vatican.  A meeting with Lady that was scheduled at the Vatican. The two seemed to be in the process of establishing a soup kitchen, and Lady have bought some old prison. What does background count have to do with soup kitchens you have no idea. The prison was bought and the two are now in the middle of the bureaucratic process of getting it approved.  There is a single picture on the device a selfie of two beautiful and sinfully dressed women. There is also a short video, of Marco passionately kissing some middle aged Blond woman.

(Smiles feel free to add more if you like).

[Duck N. Cover]

     “Let me see if I get this straight,” Tuskaloosa said slowly, determined to take what she was hearing in by repeating it.  She looked down at Arc.  “You  can't work on the repairs right away because you're helping your friend.”  She turned to the elf.  “And just to make sure...you are the friend.”

     The violet-eyed elf—Yelena Petrovna—nodded.

     She turned back to Arc.  “And  the 'help' is risky...dangerous stuff.  But something a  good driver who can fight could help with.”  The human nodded, about to speak.  She continued.  “And if I help...and give you a hand in the garage, I get my bike back in working order.”

     “You have my word,” the mechanic repeated solemnly.

     “Then I'd ask when do we start, but there's a problem.”

     It was the the human's turn to be shocked. “When...wait, what?”

     “What problem?” the elf asked over her still-sputtering friend.

     Tuskaloosa spread her hands out.  “What you see is what I've got.  As wiz as I am, I have no gear.  If you're looking for a driver with wheels already...”  She shook her head.

     “Yelena make arrangements,”  the elf replied.
     “Weapons too?”
     “Yes.”
     “When do we start?”
   
     “Take it down a notch omae” the mechanic snapped.  “This ain't a joke here.”
     
     “Who's joking?”  The troll looked back at her, then flashed a wide grin.  “If it's as dangerous as you say, you could wind up geeked  before you rebuild my ride.  No way I'm letting you off the hook that easily.”

[gilga]

Wait what? what just happen here ? Did Arc ever wanted to sell the engine? is it a bait... a runner with no equipment? that troll is a RIGGER? but she is as big as a car. Okay so the troll is a rigger and she is going to help doing something shady with Yelena and Arc something I am probobly going to hear about.

But what is going on in there?

[Mercy Merchant]

Yelena looks closely at the Troll, looking for the telltale ports or jacks.  Given that she cannot see all the way up the woman's body, something could be visible and she not see it.  "Driver girl just driver or rigger girl?"

[SgtBoomCloud]

To be honest, Arc had expected her forward thinking and leaping on a whimsical opportunity to make a deal to backfire on her hoop, the troll either balking at the idea or getting angry in the event that she would see all this as playing hardball.  That's why Arc was adamant that Tuskaloosa knew that she had the choice on these terms, and the mechanic was more than ready to renegotiate matters to make things work..

So imagine her surprise when the big lady throws her hat in without hesitation.  "When...wait, sayWha?!"  Her eyes stared up at the taller one's with a tilted head, curiously examining her as she explained the issue to them, Yelena answering without hesitation to equip her with what she'll need for the trip.  And still no hesitation.  "Hold up, there.  This ain't a joke, omae.  You really all in on this?"  Her response made more sense to the rigger girl, and she slowly gave a little grin up at her.

Then Yelena made the question of whether she was a driver or a rigger, but Arc had made an educated guess on that answer.  The bike design had no interface in it, and unless this troll was hella flowing in jing at some point, she did not possess some super-alpha rig that didn't show as much as hers did.  Not a rigger...but the way she was eyeing my RCC over there tells me she's familiar with it.  And at the very least, if Jaime forbids me from going, Yelena will have someone with at least some of my skills now.  Hmm...

Letting her answer, Arc gave a nod to Tuskaloosa as she pulled up her AR display, jotting down a couple of things and sharing it with the troll.  "My commcode, in case I forget later.  Yeah, we can hook you up with a kit for this deal, make it part of the trade, huh?  You do much else besides ride bikes around, Tuska?  Don't wanna get you drek you can't use, ya feel me~"

The human's mood was actually very chipper about all this as they chatted, ate pizza (Arc had about two or three, offered more to the troll), and got the details put together, the afternoon passing without much thought.  Arc noted that Subaru got up, the mechanic excusing herself to check on the girl, only to find her on her own bed, resting.  She paused, not wanting to interrupt and simply left her be, returning to the garage to continue the conversation.

[Duck N. Cover]

     “Driver girl just driver or rigger girl?”
     
     Even Tuskaloosa could admit: it was a fair question.  More than fair.  It was also a question that came up every time she sought a job.  “Driver—for now.  If size permits, I'm in the seat.  Remote if I can't be,” she said as she unplugged from the graph projector.  “But I was was rigged once.  And will be again.”
     She realized that last sounded rather belligerent.  “Not in time for this 'help' that I'm in for, anyway...”
     
     Her new employer seem to think that was enough.  Next thing she knew Arc was sharing an AR with her:  "My commcode, in case I forget later.”
     
     She accepted it gratefully.  The elf might not be convinced—or might be, she couldn't really tell—but at least her fellow rigger was taking her seriously.
   
     That selfsame rigger was on the move, on a course for the pizza boxes.  “Yeah, we can hook you up with a kit for this deal, make it part of the trade, huh?”
   
     Tuskaloosa followed after she ran a hand over her datajacks to ensure she wasn't still plugged in somehow: this was a BTL fantasy.  The lady was indicating the stakes were high, to be sure.  But equipment?  And a job?  That let her use her skills?  There was no question.
     
     “You do much else besides ride bikes around, Tuska?”  the woman added.  “Don't wanna get you drek you can't use, ya feel me~"
   
     “Don't worry about that boss—if it drives, dives or flies, I can use it.”

[gilga]

Marco listens to the back and forth,  another one on board, unbelievable. At this rate Yelena is going to conquer a small country. I am going to offer Lichtenstein but I will settle on Luxembourg if we do not have enough woman power.  Firefly disappeared, probobly went to do something technical, I guess she did not like the conversation very much. Marco-san... is she Japanese? but that does not add up very well.

[Mercy Merchant]

Yelena pauses to digest the answer then nods without speaking.  She walks over to where Arc is and says, "Yelena get ready.  Have date at club.  Need change clothes."  She looks around, about to ask Marco if he is interested in helping her dress, but notices that Firefly has disappeared.  She mentally kicks herself for not seeing her leave the garage area, but knows that the young human did not go outside, so must have gone to the bedroom.  She smiles a promise at Marco as she shakes her head and walks into the living area. 

Yelena sees Firefly on Arc's bed.  As she begins to strip, she says, "Yelena change for date.  Want help?"  After removing her clothes, Yelena goes to the closet and takes her long white cheongsam from the hanger.  Eschewing underwear, she steps into the beautiful gown.  The fastening buttons are on the side and hard to get to.  Yelena looks to Firefly for assistance.

[Shaman_Yuri]

Darkness had been falling as witnessed by the fading light from the small window.  I'd completed evening prayers and returned to my resting/thinking spot atop Arc's bed when I heard noise at the door.  Yelena seems to have intentionally made a slight racket this time since I know she's never that noticeable unless she wants to be.  Setting aside my research on Marco for the moment, I watch with interest as the lithe woman strips.  Once again I can witness the macabre artwork on her back, and this time I know exactly what each skull represents.

Especially the small ones.

"Yelena change for date.  Want help?"

I turn my head as my quite naked newest mentor glides with inhuman grace to the small closest where earlier I had borrowed the sweats I currently wore.  I hum a Japanese assent and rise carefully from the bed, continuing to take care not to jar my tender midsection unnecessarily.  I make my far less elegant way to the closet by which time the elf is well on her way to pouring her unclad lean form into the tiny white garment.  I'm not sure where I come in until she's reaches the point where the fasteners need to be clasped.  I immediately catch on to where I can be useful. 

At the best of times, I'm not terribly dexterous.  Add in my current nervousness, and I'm downright clumsy.  Still, I manage the clips.  As I work my fingers, my mouth moves faster than my brain and before I realize what I'm saying, I hear my voice ask, "So, how did you meet Marco-san?"