[Mercy Merchant]

Tanya returns to the living room after a couple of minutes, moving to the bar.  "Thank you for the compliment, John.  The decorator would be me, although I do have help finding just what I like."  At the bar, she takes a whiskey as well, also with just a splash of water, nodding to Cal.  "I hope we have what you like, Cal.  Please let me know if you need something special and I will try to get it for you."  She turns to the rest of her guests and says, "The same for anyone.  Please let me know if the bar does not have what you want."  Drink in hand, she moves gracefully to the couch that is grouped with John's chair and takes a seat, looking to him first then to the ever-changing scene through the window as she takes a drink from her glass, appreciating the flavor and savoring the liquid fire as it smoothly coats her throat.  "Mmmm.  This is good.  I can close my eyes and almost see the way this was perfectly distilled and bottled."  She takes another drink.  "And the view is amazing, is it not?  I never grow tired of watching life unfold out there.  I think the hotel uses a bit of mojo to make it all work, but I cannot complain about the overall effect.  If you go to the window and look off to the left and below, you can see the lights of the restaurant.  It extends a hundred meters or so out along the sea bottom and the view is simply something you have to see for yourself to appreciate as I cannot adequately describe it."

[trv123]

Being shown once more into Tanya's hotel suite, Calico is struck by the extreme… even obscene opulence.  Last time she had kept her head down, going out of her way to ignore the trappings of Tanya's privileged status.  But taking it all in now, hearing John oozing with wide eyed, fawning admiration, she discovers that she can no longer hold her tongue. The words are out before she even realizes she's about to utter them.

"And how many homeless people do you think you could feed, clothe, and shelter with what it takes to rent this place for a single week?" she asks, hands defiantly on her hips. All conversation stops, all heads turn to face her in stunned silence.

Part of her is mortified at the gauntlet she has thrown down, terrified that she may be mucking up the job that she is so fortunate to have found.  But another part is glad she has said what needed saying, and prepares to do verbal battle with anyone willing to defend this kind of gratuitous excess.

[Stoneglobe]

I take another sip while considering both the view and the woman sat beside me. "You're right the view is amazing, but also daunting and disturbing, but I'm not sure I could ever feel fully comfortable in this environment. Also I wouldn't recommend inviting anyone who suffers from either or both claustrophobia and hydrophobia." Giving her a grin, "I could certainly get used to a bar like this though."

[Mercy Merchant]

Tanya stands and looks over to where Calico is.  Keeping calm, she quietly says, "I probably know exactly how many people I could help with what this costs, Calico.  However, the money that pays for the luxury of my home is not mine to spend.  It is held in trust by my cousin and not available to spend beyond a small allowance.  And trust me, my cousin would not know the first thing about helping others.  That is why I steal things.....or rather, part of the reason why I steal things.  It allows me to give thousands of Nuyen each month  to people like Hank at the clinic and others like him as well as help fund several university scholarships for deserving students.  And yes, it also helps me live this way.  My cousin only funds so much and I happen to like nice things.  This lifestyle brings me into contact with many of the social elite of the sprawl, which means I can move more freely among the people I steal from."  She pauses for a moment, then looks around at her guests.  "Are we going to have a problem with my lifestyle?"

[trv123]

"Oh..." Calico says, her voice in a near whisper, her previous fire suddenly extinguished. "No, of course not. I'm sorry, I didn't ... realize." She looks uneasily around the room, feeling suddenly embarrassed about her outburst. "I thought... well, never mind what I thought!" she announces with grin and a dismissive wave of her hand, desperately hoping that the others will let her transgression pass, and pretend it never happened as she planned to do.

"I believe you said something about dinner?" Her sheepish grin was both an apology and an intentionally obvious attempt to steer the conversation in a lighter direction.

[Mercy Merchant]

Tanya walks carefully up to Calico.  "It is quite appropriate to question motives in our line of work, Calico.  I hold no ill will for you being honest.  You should remain as true to your own desires as possible."  Then she leans in and whispers so only Calico can hear.  "You are a very attractive woman and extremely hot when you are passionate about something.  Let me know if you are ever interested in broadening your.......experiences."  Tanya smiles as she turns back to the rest.  "I expect dinner to be served in less than ten minutes.  We can make our way to the table if you like."

[Stoneglobe]

The outburst from Calico had brought the conversation with Tanya to an immediate halt and whilst I admired the way in which she handled the outburst it raised yet more doubts within my mind. A fragging potential activist and a sodding bleeding heart philanthropist. Which one's more likely to get us killed first? I really needed to know more about the people I'd be thrown in with on this case and hopefully over the next next couple of hours I'd be able to get some answers as we dined and went over what we'd discovered so far.

Taking another sip of my drink I join the others making their way through to the dining room.

[Mercy Merchant]

Tanya leads the team into the dining room and takes a seat at the table.  Monique is showing the hotel staff out, but returns to take one of the empty chairs.  Tanya raises her glass.  "Please, I would like to propose a toast to our joint endeavor."  After the toast, she lowers her glass.  "Dinner is self serve, so please dig in.  The chefs here are very good and I am sure that you will enjoy the food.  Now while we get started, I would like to clear the air a bit.  I believe that one or more of you might have questions as to my motive for doing this.  First and most importantly, because my very good friend asked me to.  Second, this lifestyle is not cheap and I need the income to fund it.  I spend a lot of money helping people and I spend a lot of money helping me.  Both require funds I do not have, so I look for work like this as well as work freelance.  Third, I like it.  I like the excitement of planning the mission and making it work.  Now, as to more specific abilities.  I am a good climber, an excellent locksmith and lockpick, I know the value of things, I also know people and can usually talk my way into or out of a tricky situation.  I do not approve of killing for the sake of killing.  I have skill with a dart gun and would prefer to sedate someone than kill them.  That being said, I can understand that this may not be possible all the time.  The nature of what we do is dangerous and people die.  I just would prefer that they do not." 

Tanya stops talking and reaches for some food as she says, "Now, of course, that is the quick and dirty.  The details are available upon request, if anyone is interested.  So questions for me as to why I am doing this and what my qualifications are?  If not who wants to be next?"

[Jayde Moon]

As the group talks, Chance's commlink buzzes, indicating an incoming call.  Looking down, he notes that it's ADA Oaks.

[Señor T]

Cal takes another sip of his scotch as he observes Calico's outburst and Tanya's reply. Seemed like Calico knew Tanya, but she must not be in as tight with her as he'd thought. In any case, more conflict on the team, and more muddied motivations. What was the chip on Calico's shoulder about, and would it be a problem? This crew continues to promise to keep it interesting, he thought, though his primary concern was that the crew simply continued existing.

Later, after taking his seat at the table and raising his glass to their endeavor, he replies to Tanya, "I've got no trouble doing it your way. If people don't need to die, that's a good thing, so long as they're not coming back for me later. Just know that my job is to meet our objective and keep you all safe doing it. That's just the only way I know how to do things. Just be aware that I don't have a blow gun.

"As to your or anyone's motivations for doing this, it doesn't much matter so long as we're all in it together and we all do the jobs we're getting paid for. As for me, I've got no reason to throw stones in glass houses that happen to be underwater, he smirks at his own cleverness, and I'm grateful for scotch that is several notches above anything I've ever drank before. The world's full of drek and some are luckier than others. All you can do is do what you can with what you got."

He probably shouldn't have added his own opinion there at the end, but whatever. What's done is done, and at least they know where he's coming from now. He takes another sip of the red wine in his glass. It's amazing... of course it is. Maybe it'd be alright if it took a little while to crack this case after all. A guy could get used to this.

[Stoneglobe]

As the conversation begins again round the dinner table the buzzing of my commlink grabs my attention. Looking down I see that it's Dana Oaks returning my call. Getting up from the table, "Please excuse my rudeness but I do need to take this call", I make my way back into the living room.

"ADA Oaks, thank you for returning my call. I hope things are well with you and the department. I reached out to you as I'm hoping you would be able to help me in a small way on my current case."

[Mercy Merchant]

Tanya nods at John as he gets up and turns to point to one of the bedroom doors.  "John, the bedroom through there is a guest room.  Feel free to use that if you need privacy."  After he leaves, she will turn back to her meal and the conversation.

[skulldixon]

Kumiho, having ridden a motorbike, was waiting for the group outside Tanya's building with an espresso in hand. He keeps to himself for the most part as they head up to Tanya's Condo -  the beginning of a new job is always the same it seems to him. A lot of unknowns and he likes to mentally prepare himself for the what come later. Remembering the last time he worked with Tanya  - he wasn't too sure about using her place.

When the group enters Tanya's pad he says in a off handed way, I see you still haven't moved yet. Have you had your place check for bugs lately as a precaution?

[Mercy Merchant]

Tanya smiles and nods at Kumiho.  "Not likely to move any time soon.  I like it here.  I do have a good friend over once in a while to check for such things and she has not found anything yet, but please do a check for us if you like.  That would indeed be bad for me."

[Jayde Moon]

Chance explains what he's looking for, information a particular license plate.

"Mmm... I don't know that I should be sticking my neck out for you, John.  Everything's still pretty fresh, you know?"