[gilga]

Marco said "Arc - I am sure that you know all these trix things better than me. No disrespect there - if you keep your drone into densely populated areas it may work. Remember there is no hiding in astral space, just blending. We also have Dana's comlink and what is left of her original clothes. It felt wrong to leave evidence behind when I changed her."
He then said
"Just to give the complete picture, I visit these people often and I am trying to get their shaman to mentor me as their connection with the spirit world is a lot stronger than in my own magical tradition. Even mundanes sometimes feel the influence of spirits - I have not seen these things in Seattle.... I lose focus again sorry about it, I talk too much when I am nervous.

He pauses and then adds:

Their village is the place I go to when I want to feel safer. "

[SgtBoomCloud]

Arc stood silently for a bit, but nodded as everyone seemed content with the idea of grabbing a late night snack to take the edge off the evening.  As they walked, she spotted the Stuffer Shack, tilting her head.  "Hoi..ain't this the place with that tusker girl what wanted to name her kid on the way after Feathers?  Huh, small world.."

As they walked, Arc seemed to stagger for just a moment, but she kept her footing as she looked to Marco, raising a brow.  "Hold up..you still got her link?  That might change things...get it turned off for now if yall haven't, no need to have a trace run on us..."  she sighed, softening a bit.  "No disrespect taken...just need a solution to this sitch...and I'm hoping we don't need it, and that my word and Blake's help is all needed.."

Arc turned to Firefly and Yelena, giving a nod to that as well as they approached the establishment.  "Sounds about right...odds are at least one of them will help out..rrgh...we got an hour before I should head there safely.  I'm gonna hit up Nine in about twenty saying I'm en route.  Yeah, we got time to set this up.  Firefly, think you can hit up Lexi, and I'll hit up Merlin?"

Rebooting her link again, the mechanic punched up a quick message to the Howler mage.

<<@Merlin: Hoi chummer, Arc here.  In a bit of a sitch, maybe an opportunity for ya.  Off the colors, into some drek for your mentor.  Stuffer Shack on 34 if you feelin' it, you got 20 to be there>>

Turning to Tuska, she gave a little smile and held up her fist, tiny in comparison to the troll as she set it up for a fist bump.  "This could be the best plan we could have in this sitch, and knowing I can fall back on it helps.  I owe ya, omae"

Once inside, Arc would order herself a simple meal...soy processed to resemble a pair of beef and cheese chimichangas, with a soda to wash it down, sitting down at a table with the group to eat, trying to relax.

[ismilealot]

@ Arc  Merlin is online in less than a minute.  >>I be 'dere.<< Turning over in bed to his Vruk he kisses her. "Yo Arc say she got summat about Feathers. I'm ta meet her at the Stuffer Shack on 34th. I call you iff'n I can't make it home fer the doctors." She nods and kisses him. He gets up and dresses quickly, stopping by his daughters crib to kiss her goodbye on the way out the door. He's out the door in less than five. But, it still takes driving well over the speed limit to get there in time. Fortunately, as late as it is he doesn't have much traffic to contend with. And Merlin knows enough byways to be able to stay off the radar of the cops. He's there in 21 minutes and strides through the door looking for Arc.

[gilga]

Marco seats in the Stuffer shack feeling uncomfortable with the location and what he wears. "We look like a bunch of criminals..." He thinks - it is 1:00 am and Marco would never even consider eating right now. "I already had dinner - so nothing for me - just mineral water would be rude otherwise" he thinks - and this is exactly what he orders. He sizes the place up and then checks the recent news in his comlink and hands Firefly Dana's comlink saying "Firefly before I forget - you'll probably enjoy it a lot more than myself."



 
 

[Mercy Merchant]

Yelena sits at the table next to Marco, just feeling a bit better because he is there.  She feels that her part in the plan is covered and lets her mind wander through the recent events.  She comes to the realization that she has been very mean to Marco.  He has told her that he loves her and she wants to feel love as well, but she is not sure what that feels like.  Certainly her body reacts differently in his presence than at any time since the sax man.  In fact, it is better than the sax man.  She moves a hand to cover one of his while he is talking to the decker mage and gives it a gentle squeeze.  Something about this feels.........right?  Is that the word?  Yes, that is the word.  He wants to save her, even though she feels there is too little left to save, but maybe she should give him a chance to show her what he can do.  He has already got her thinking of moving in with him and sharing his bed full time, both things that would have seemed quite foreign a few days ago.

She sits quietly for a bit, just enjoying being next to the man she...................................loves.

[ismilealot]

The scrawny girl behind the counter looks a bit surprised at their ragged condition but doesn't call the cops or the hospital which Arc sees as a positive sign. And when she takes Arc's order she says, "We've got a special on taco's right now, you can add two of either beef flavor or chicken flavor for five more." But when Marco orders mineral water she gives him a  look that clearly says, 'Seriously? As if my night's not bad enough I gotta put up with this guy.' but all she says is, "We've got bottled water. No minerals."

[gilga]

"Bottled water then" Said Marco and generously tipped the waitress thinking "She looks like she could use a break", he also smiled warmly at her as he grabbed his bottle and sat next to Yelena. Marco attempts to eat at regular hours and 1:00 AM was no time for dinner. These rules are healthy and reduce stress, the world is chaotic but lunch at 13:00 is a fact of life and Dinner at 19:00 unless going out brings some structure to his non regular days. The water were refreshing and cold and all that Marco wanted at that moment was to get back to bed. There was just too much to process for a single night. Looking at Yelena he thought "perhaps it is better if I do not get back to bed alone"

[Shaman_Yuri]

"I'll take a beef taco," Firefly pipes up at the offer of the special.  "And a bottle of water...whatever you have," she adds with what she hopes is a supportive smile.  The girl doesn't appear much older than she is, yet the two couldn't be further apart.

What a strange world you have given us, Allah, I marvel for the umpteenth time

Things get stranger when Marco slips the comm to me.  I can't help but let me surprise show as my eyes widen just a bit.  I just nod as I accept the little device and slip it into a closeable pocket of my jumpsuit.  A pocket on the side that wasn't trashed by the crash.

Something else to dissect when I have time.

Once the order is made I slip to an available grey molded plastic table next to where Yelena and Marco appear to have slipped into their own world and send my message to Lexi and Cc Arc.

>>If you're available, we may have a job for you and Bootstrap.  Needs to involve a mojo slinger and involves some dangerous hopscotch.  Sneaky stuff way out of my league.  Needs to happen right now.  If you can't, that's okay.  If you do it, we'll have to find a way to get you here fast.<<

[gilga]

Distracted by Yelena Marco holds tight to her hand, there is much he'd go but his magical words do not feel so magical recently. Afraid to just jinx it he remains silent while slowly nursing his large bottle of water. If any, the excitement and adrenaline it made him thirsty. Usually after a day like that he'd go to party and lose himself dancing waking up with whomever he feel like.

This time Marco is so busy that all he wants is to sleep early and figure out tomorrow, there are the plastics - sensual trolls or something like that. Then a meeting with Cain and shopping with Sophie and probably a date as well, all of that to prepare for the day after, impersonation alone without imidient backup in a highly secure facility. "Gosh - what did I get myself into..." thinks Marco and take a deep breath, breathing seems to help him ease the pressure.

[Mercy Merchant]

Yelena senses that Marco is anxious.  In a completely uncharacteristic move, she lays her head against the man's shoulder and returns the grip of his hand.  She allows a feeling of contentment to steal into her consciousness and sighs.  Closing her eyes she can imagine that only she and Marco are in the room.  Maybe she CAN give up this life, after all.  Time ticks by without her needing to say a word.

[gilga]

Without a word, Marco adjusts to Yelena's breathing rhythm until they are breathing like one, and doing so gives him some confidence and strength. For a brief moment the external sounds disappear and behind the breathing pattern of Yelena there is another silent rhythm. It only lasted a moment and Marco's awareness quickly shifted to the physical world - a liquid going up in a straw ended that wonderful moment, but he could not complain as Firefly was very hungry.  "Was it real...?" thought Marco. Deep down he knew that it was, but that melody was so weak and so brief that his logical mind was not even sure that it really happened.
 
 

[ismilealot]

@ Subaru  Lexi's reply takes a few minutes and Subaru has already downed her taco. It was good, well, maybe, ok, she'd eaten it so fast she wasn't entirely sure that it was good. But, on the plus side, either she was getting used to the food or hunger made even the mass produced synthetics taste good. Her fingers were still messy when the text came into her AR display. >>Can. All in? With Z.<<

[Duck N. Cover]

The troll wished she had been able to offer a different venue, but given the mechanic's condition Arc didn't need to be dragged around part of lesser downtown Seattle just to hole up in a more troll-friendly spot.  It was also Arc's choice.

She could see the minute she saw the standard door what she was in for however.  The troll wasn't sure if the "tusker girl" Arc mentioned had been a patron or a waitress, but she was certain that orc hadn't been the owner.
I could always just wait outside and offer to watch the bikes...No, she decided. I'd look like I'm loitering--or worse, a lookout for a cash grab or dine-and-dash.

So with a sigh she kept to her helmet Tuskaloosa  ducked in sideways to enter last.
...And stayed low, as she caught motion out of the corner of her eye:  ceiling fan.
The troll remained squat on the floor as she pulled her helmet off and took stock.
The ceiling was like an upside-down palm tree grove; the fronds of a scattered few lazily spinning about their tree tops.  They were nothing that could hurt a troll, but were still a bunch of chest-to-head level nuisances.
Nuisances that got costly if you broke them.

Because of course the troll broke them: a ceiling fan can't get out of the way.

Tuskaloosa lowered her gaze.  The floor arrangement of the tables was not much better.
Even on her haunches the troll still had height on the cashier.  Forget Reefer or Non-Reefer,  she longed to ask.  Can I get a table in the Non-Obstacle Course?

She somehow managed to thread her way along the divide between booths and freestanding tables to where the others sat. 

Arc held up her fist out for a fist bump.  "This could be the best plan we could have in this sitch, and knowing I can fall back on it helps.  I owe ya, omae."

For all the frustrations, Arc's grin was infectious.  Tuskaloosa responded with a lopsided grin of her own and lightly tapped the mechanic's knuckles.  "You owe me nothing you don't owe yourself: get through tonight in one piece.  But I hear you... if a Plan B  is what keeps that one piece of you roughly the size that you started tonight,  I'll keep offering."

[SgtBoomCloud]

Arc flashed her simple grin as she turned back to Tuskaloosa, nodding her head in appreciation.  "Aye.  Think I can do that, omae.  Hungry?  It's on me tonight.."

As the employee rattled off the special, the haggard mechanic with her not so haggard friends gave a laugh and a shrug.  "eh, why not.  Throw a round of tacos into the mix. Beef for me as well, thank yeh kindly"  paying for the meals, she sat down and began eating hungrily.

As she ate, she noticed the crew's resident keebs snuggling up next to each other.  She caught eye contact with Yelena once, for which she offered a little smile, but she found her focus wandering off.  The image made her think of her Bruk, and how she longed to jut end this night and go to his arms.  But no...she would not let him see her like this, he worries enough already.  Her expression looked a tad pained as she idly ate her food.

And then she got the text from Merlin.  Snapping back, she gave a smirk and a nod of confirmation.  "hoi, my boy will be here on about twenty, so we got one good candidste..how's the street peeps coming along?  With this many people potentially pitching in, we gotta think of how to use em all...and Merlin's gonna want to hit this club hard to, or he may back down...we will see.."

[ismilealot]

A small group of KE patrolmen walk through the doors. "Yeah, that bust will go down in the training manual. Be glad the cameras were at the wrong angle for you and that girl Martinez. But between you and me, I'd have let her finish." the others give a laugh and a small older woman is patted affectionately. She shoots back, "I did let her finish. It just don't take me as long as it takes you Smitty. It's why I get more dates." the group laughs and they move forward to the counter. "Hey Gloriana, We'll have five of the special, whatever that is tonight and a whole pot of 'caf. How are you doing tonight?" The girl takes the order while she answers, "I'm fine Joe. Another week till schools out and then me and my familys' going on vacation. So it'll be Ember. She's picking up my hours while I'm gone. She's trying to get all the hours she can before the baby." Joe answers, "Ah, so she hasn't had it yet. When's she due?" Gloriana turns and starts a fresh pot of 'caf answering. " 'Nother month yet. But her 'n her Vruk still don't have a crib." She turns back. " 'Caf will be done in two minutes. Want me to bring it to you?" The others patrollers have already snagged a table on the far side of the Shack and Joe nods, "Yeah, that'll be great Glo'. Thanks." He smiles as he turns to join the others.