[Mulcarn]

After he was done bathing, he steps out of the shower and goes over to one of the sinks.  Dripping wet he finds a towel to wrap himself in and dry off.  Once dry, Maxwell puts his clothing back on and stares into a mirror.  Primping himself and combing through his hair so it wouldn't stick to his face.  He felt brave and decided to 'borrow' someone else's toothbrush and if he's lucky it would be one of the girls.  All cleaned and dressed to kill, he was ready to fuck some shit up.  There was a slight problem however.  If he left and didn't return fast enough, would there be any repercussions for coming and going as he pleased?  To answer that he'd probably would have to ask Charlie herself when she woke.

Maxwell heads back to the room he slept in.  The young woman was still lying in bed, buried underneath sheet and blanket.  He props up against a wall to lean his back on.  Arms folded and head down, thinking and reflecting as he passively watched Charlie sleep blissfully.

"Hopefully there's no problem with me leaving whenever I want.  I mean somebody here has to leave and make food runs or to go grocery shopping.  Unless all of it is handled by drone then I might be screwed if that's the case.  I'll find out soon enough."

[Mercy Merchant]

Athos takes a step closer, towering above the Elf.  He makes no threatening move, but his bulk is usually a bit intimidating, although he does not know if the woman can be intimidated.  As she has, he speaks out loud rather than using thought.  "You live in a fragging dream world, Strawberry.  I know that you have seen what is happening up there, but it is worse than you might think.  The law does not go into some parts of the city anymore, leaving people to the ravages of the Vampire and his zombie minions, one of whom was this Venom you wanted to protect so much.  Together, they have bombed and killed many, leaving chaos and destruction in their wake.  I have no idea what sort of insanity got to the men I was with, but I think they were using me as a tool to get to Venom and have a motive for killing him.  Probably monetary.  And I have no idea what happened here as I was not here and no one has given me the entire story yet."

"But I am going to see your bet and raise it.  You have a product.  I can provide people that can help grow and harvest your crops, others to deliver the crops through dangerous places and others to keep them safe.  What you need is a purpose and I can give that to you.  I am not much of a leader yet, although I hope over time to be able to learn some good leadership skills.  I will need to learn those skills to survive.  The Seattle sprawl is not what it was when you and I talked about selling the warehouse.  The truths we spoke to each other back then are no longer valid.  Neither of us wants the hand we have been dealt just now, but that is what we have to play with.  And I think you are bluffing, no matter how much you bluster, when you talk of forcing my people away with spells and accidents that kill.  Remember, every time you do that, you only damage your crops and lose more money.  And we have nowhere else to go so those losses will only get worse."

"I said that my people smuggle weapons, but that does not have to be what they do.  It is what they know.  But you are focusing on the wrong part of the sentence.  What they are is smugglers, and some of the best.  Weapons is what they do now because that is what the market wanted and needed.  It still does, so you will have to accept some of that, at least for a while.  But you can give them something else to smuggle that is not weapons."

"There are many people gathering here, many because you have a reputation for being safe.  Give me more space, not less.  Add to the size of the warehouse, both in area and in height.  Use your power to help and then we can help these people and ourselves.  We need to employ them and make them useful.  We need to protect the borders of this area from those that will come to take it away.  And they will come.  Not even the Yaks are strong enough to do this on their own.  I will speak to Andu-san and to Dona Valentina and we will make this work and create something new and better and protect the people that will form our Family."

Athos backs away and softens his tone.  "You can change and be part of the new world here or remain with your pretty magical head in the dirt and pretend things have not changed.  So, do you call my bet or try to raise it with more useless rhetoric?  I would be willing to just call it even and start working.  What about you?"

[gilga]

@Kynos Finestra texts  >> I have a positive id, he has he has bodyguards - should I still try to bring him in? The guy knows he is hunted that for sure. He seems nervous.


@Athos Strawberry seems amused that you caught her bluff she shrugs and then says "I do not need extra hands but I do have some logistics problems since I am in the Barrens and my regular firm will not deliver here anymore. You cannot deliver vegtables through the sewers this is food and the quantity is too big.
You'll need delivery tracks, armored trucks that is as these vegtables are going to be worth their weight in gold if there is a food shortage.
If you can stay committed and not smuggle other stuff on the side I can offer you the delivery job - but lose a truck and you and your people are gone, I do not normally give people second chances to fail me."

[Mercy Merchant]

Athos shakes his head.  "Much better, but let's try this again.  If you can promise enough money to make smuggling weapons unnecessary, I can take the offer to them.  If you cannot make that promise, you will not be able to demand they stop smuggling other things on the side.  And there will always be a chance of losing a vehicle to a better armed gang and considering that a failure is poor business.  There is always some risk of loss, or why would you need the armored trucks in the first place?  Making a threat to terminate a contract like this over the loss of one shipment is not realistic.  Certainly we can come up with a better decision than that."

"Now do you have a line on the trucks?  And can you build us a workshop and garage, along with the extra living space up there?  I can get moving on the people and the trucks.  Do you have a link to Andu-san or should I contact him myself to arrange a meeting?"

[Jack_Spade]

<<Definitely. Hopefully your seduction plan works out. That way he'll send them away himself. Otherwise we'll just have to improvise. And hopefully those weren't  able to bring weapons on their commercial flight.>>

[Mercy Merchant]

Athos thinks for a bit and adds, "You said that you do not need hands in growing or harvesting your vegetables.  Do you need hands elsewhere?  You are going to have a community of people up there that will need something to do.  Without jobs, they have to find something that will support their families.  Without that, they will find things to do, most of which you do not support, and then we are back to you threatening to toss everyone out.  I think that we need to work together on this.  Perhaps with Dona Valentina and Andu-san.  But remember, those two are gangsters and are likely to find gangster things for them.  Would it not be better if you and I found things that do not lead to that path?"

[gilga]

@Athos Strawberry said "I was expecting a delivery today, if you can get it right the job is yours. We can discuss compensation once you deliver my vegetables, there is no point in talking about it before. If you mess it out you and your people are out of here... do we have a deal? I do not have trucks and do not do logistics, you'll have to figure that part out. "

@Kynos Finestra texted >> They are coming but the bodyguards come as well, they seem very suspicious of me and the way his body guard is holding me he won't let me go even if I wanted. The implemented comlink could not be more useful."

@Maxwell Charlie wakes up eventually and smiles at you, she only wears underwear but do not seem to be shy "Somebody woke up early..." she smiles at you and then say "feeling caged already?" While talking she quickly reaches for her towel, she packs some clothes, work clothes. Suitable for some physical labor. "I am going to shower, we can talk there if you need to unload but it is going to be a busy day for me, I'll be back in the evening." she said.

[Mulcarn]

He looks up and nods at her indication of him feeling confined.  Speedily he averts his gaze and makes a conscious attempt to not stare while she still remained unclothed.  Maxwell was chagrined when he said.  "Alright that's fine.  But can you put a shirt on?"

[gilga]

@Maxwell Charlie covers herself with the towel and said "You are still shy, it is adorable. You'll get used to it.  I felt trapped for my first months here, it was difficult to accept that I became nothing more than a toy that my only way out is used and abused until I wish I was dead.
I saw it happening before - as an act of so called mercy Grail let them go with a shred of soul left.
The poor women killed herself shortly after. Grail keeps saying that he does not kill and does not take what is not willingly offered to him - but he lies. He mentally manipulate us into giving him everything, there is no other way how I agreed to touch him when I came here to kill him. 

You will lose your shame once you figure out that you are just a toy to be played with and drained. That in a few years there will be nothing left of you. People live differently when they accept how little they have left.  Sexuality is one way to cope, feeling alive and making the most out of what you have. It is also hard not to after you were drained - you'll want to do anything feel alive as if it makes up for what you lost.

Other get depressed but they don't last long. I find that keeping busy helps, as a hobby I started fixing the old machinery and I Now I keep this place running and operating. It keeps me busy and prevents a lot of toxic water to further pollute the soil... I cannot believe the government just stopped maintaining this place but kept the toxic water coming. What were they thinking..."

[Mercy Merchant]

Athos nods and accepts the deal, asking that Strawberry have Julia contact him when she has time.  He goes back to the surface and looks for Faith so that he can explain the situation.

[Mulcarn]

Something was hurting inside, burning inside.  It felt like an iron weight was pulling down on his heart as Charlie explained what happened to her and the rest of those that come here.  Yesterday he toyed with the idea of working with Grail or at least long enough to undo the magical contract that binds him.  Now all that Maxwell can think about is brutally killing the man.  "I'm not going work with a filthy rapist and soul butcher.  If I find him he'll be the first to be sacrificed to the dark insectoid spirits.  No, not if, when I find him!  I'll make his worst nightmares come true!  I'll use his bones to build a monument to death and destruction!"

He had forgotten all about his shyness when he moved toward the pretty mechanic.  It took only a few steps and he was face-to-face with her.  No anger or hatred in his expression, just a faint smile.  He leans forward and plants a kiss on the girls forehead, then another on the bridge of her nose.  Moving even further down to her lips, but he doesn't press his luck and stops himself before he kisses her again.  Maxwell walks back to the wall he was leaning on and rests against it again.  Grinning apologetically he says.  "Sorry, I should have asked before I did that.  Heat of the moment kind of thing, won't happen again."

"I find it deplorable that he does this to you and everyone else.  Don't let my smile fool you, i'm very upset to hear that this is how he treats all of you.  Words can't express how disgusted and angry I feel that he violates and uses up nice girls like you.  But... no matter how bad I feel, it's nothing compared to how you feel.  I'm so sorry you have been trapped and suffering with no way out.  And I don't condemn nor judge any of you for your intimacy, honestly I have no problem with it."

"Thanks for the explanation.  Also thank you for trying to maintain this place and help put an end to further pollution of the land.  Most don't care about toxicity or corruption and just let things decay and rot away, governments and corporations in particular.  Is there anything I can do to help?  Am I forbidden to leave the compound?"

[gilga]

@Maxwell Charlie kisses you back and with a grin she say "Now you get the one good thing about this place. " She say "It is not that you are not allowed to leave - nobody will care if you come and go. The vampires can hardly tell who is here and who is not.  It is that the drones outside are not programmed to prevent intruders from entering, they are programmed to prevent us from leaving. Your girlfriend have made them very efficient, she did not want to but she had no choice."
She then sighs "Grail said that once he controls the city then it will be better, that the problem is that we are not enough humans to support his needs. That if he had thousands of people then we will not feel drained and can live long and happy life - but somehow being mindraped into submission does not feel very long and happy to me. I hope to find a way to stop this insanity one day"

[Mulcarn]

Maxwell chuckles a little as Charlie calls Amy his girlfriend.  He liked the sound of it truthfully.  He'll ask Amy if she's interested in a long-tern relationship when she wakes up later.  His cheerful musings are dispelled when Charlie speaks of being mind raped.  He felt bad for her, for Amy and for the rest of the cultists.  Maxwell was glooming the longer he dwelled on their misfortunes.  "Hey, listen, as long as i'm here he won't touch you or Amy or anyone ever again.  I know that sounds weird and probably foolish coming from me.  But I mean that, he'll die the night he returns."

[Jack_Spade]

Kynos replied to Finestra: <<Can you give me description an possible abilities of those bodyguards? Is one a mage or adept? Cybertech, weaponry, age, size, metatype? And it would be a really good idea if you could charm Venom enough so he makes them wait outside the door.>>

[gilga]

Kynos Finestra texts >> I am not awakened so no idea how adept or mages would look like. Unarmed and seem very perceptive and aware of their surrounding, an orc and a human. Probably Yakuza as they walk around with hardly any exposed skin. If you are ready I am engaging them - I cannot text you after I engaged them. Right now I am at their gate having coffee and attempting not to stare in a way that would make them suspicious.