[Irn0rchid]

"Hurm, what is it Ni Ni thinks she knows that I don't? I guess we'll have to deal with anything stopping us from leaving when it comes. Maybe I'll take some precautions just in case..."

Gathered with the others in the living room, Rose sees her opening to start revealing the truth to Elaine, "You can never really be sure of anything, but this last week with you has been truly great. You're certainly welcome at our place for as long as you want, but there's some things we need to discuss in the car before that." Motioning towards the dining room, "Until then, lets enjoy one more meal here before we vacate, and then you can fill the staff in on what's going on."

Once they sit down to the meal and the staff has left the room, Rose brings up the office, "I'm not sure what Howard is doing now, but you've said before that he was powerful and unwilling to let you go. I'm thinking we might need some leverage against him in the future if he comes after you, and the information on his computer seems open for us to take currently. I'd like to go back to the office before we leave and do that. Any objections Elaine? I'm not sure how you'd feel about effectively stealing from him and not just leaving..."

[Mercy Merchant]

Elaine grins.  "Frag no, I don't mind.  Let's go see what he has left behind that we can use."  Conspiratorially, she leads the way back to the hidden door.  She turns to you and asks for the first code and enters it after you give it to her.  The second door follows and she enters the hallway leading to the display room and the office.  She motions to the desk and says, "Help yourself.  I am useless with modern ones and this thing is way beyond me."

The ancient computer is still on and the screen immediately lights up when you move the mouse.  It takes some time to work out how to navigate through the system.

What are you looking for?

[Irn0rchid]

Rose sits at the desk and, after a few false starts, begins to flip through the files on the ancient computer while talking to the other women. "Hopefully we can find something blackmail worthy should he try to come after you. Some records he has of his dealings with the Yakuza that he wouldn't want to come to light. Or maybe something that would get him further in hot water with the people coming this Saturday that he seems worried about. We could just take the computer, but that would probably be inviting trouble you don't want. You just need him coming after you to be more effort than it's worth.

[Mercy Merchant]

None of the files on this computer seem to have much at all to do with his employer, except for a few mentions of him investing in the purchase of a number of the pottery pieces.  Everything seems to be information on what the pieces are and where they were picked up.  Some of the dates would seem to confirm Elaine's story that Howard's family has been working on the collection for several generations.  You do hit paydata in two of the files.  The first is a listing of the current market value of each piece, along with its provenance.  The second is some email traffic that would indicate that his direct employer had fronted a significant sum for the purchase of  a set of five pieces from one collector.  The final part of the email chain mentions that a team of experts would be coming by the house on Saturday, 16 June, to examine the pieces.

Robin whistles.  "OK, now we know who is coming and why Howard took a bunk.  I bet these are the forgeries Howard was told about and he is afraid that he will be help responsible for purchasing them with someone else's money, to whit the Yak boss.  I would think he is rightly concerned that his employer will want an accounting and will you just look at the sum forked over for the fakes."

[Irn0rchid]

Flipping through the assorted folders with increasing annoyance, Rose finally sighs and sits back, "He really did seem to only care about this pottery. There's virtually nothing we can use long term here! If we wanted to get him in to trouble immediatly we could report this to his boss, but that would likely make him more vindictive, which would be bad. In that same vein, I don't think we want to take any of the pieces, although the money would be nice. Fencing them would just be too difficult." She records the pricing data in order to match it up with the catalog from the drone later, just in case it becomes relevant, and then stands up. "Doesn't seem like there's anything more for us to do here. Are you guys ready to leave? Do you want to meet with the staff before we do that, Elaine?"

[Mercy Merchant]

Tuesday  12 June 2075  1430  Elaine's House


Elaine nods.  "I have been thinking about that.  Wouldn't running away just let the Yaks think that I am complicit in what Howard is doing?  Most of them think of me as a nonentity already, but running might get them looking for me........and you.  No, I think I will let the staff off for the weekend and tell them to call before coming back, just in case.  But I will stay.  I will not pressure either of you to remain."  She looks at the two of you and leads the way back to the living room after you have everything you need. 

[Irn0rchid]

"Well this just got awkward..." Following Elaine to the living room, Rose considers how to handle this, "We could just bail out now with the job done and never see her again, but I don't think Robin would be very happy about that and I'm not sure I would be either. On the other hand, hanging around here is risky, but where there's money there's always opportunity to acquire some, and there's certainly money here. Might even be able to turn it into further jobs for Ni Ni... But the longer we stay, the more likely we are to get caught..." Making a decision, she messages Robin, <<I'm thinking that I don't want to just abandon Elaine here, especially if anything bad happens to her as some side effect of the job we're facilitating. I also don't want to have the truth of our engagement here come out by surprise though. What do you think about taking her for a ride, with our bags in the car, and telling her the truth and seeing what she wants to do at that point? Once she knows everything that removes some of the risk of staying here, and if she wants us out of her life at that point we can just drop her off and be gone. How does that sound to you?>> Figuring that Robin will go along with it, she connects to the Americar at home and has it start heading their way.

Talking to the car drone reminds her of something else and she fires off another quick message, <<Hey Tiny, haven't heard from you. Everything going okay with our deal?>>

[Mercy Merchant]

Robyn nods at you as you walk up the ramp behind Elaine.  Once back into the living room, the door is shut and secured by the codes and Elaine turns to both of you.  You two are certainly very quiet.  Now, don't either of you worry about me.  This is my house and it will be expected that I be here.  It will be strange enough that Howard is not here, but I do not need these people angry at me as well.  It is pretty common knowledge that Howard does not share his secrets with me, so I should be alright.  So you two can just plan on disappearing if you think that is the best option for you.  Could be more fun if you stayed behind, though I am not going to push you for either course of action."

[Irn0rchid]

"Okay, well, we still need to have that talk I mentioned. I have a car coming now and once it's here Robin and I can pack up and then we can all go for a drive. We'd love to stay with you, but at that point you'll need to decide if you want us here or not. Until then, how about some games to lighten the mood?" Smiling, she snags one of the controllers and tosses it to Elaine.

[Mercy Merchant]

Elaine smiles and snatches the controller from the air.  The three of you get some good playing in before the car signals that it is at the gate and needs the code to enter.  Elaine gets up and enters it in the security console as Robin packs the controllers away.  She looks over at Elaine and says, "You are getting very good at this, Elaine.  I think that the three of us make a good team.  And I mean both in the game and out."  Elaine blushes and nods in agreement. 

The three of you go to the car and once away from the house, Elaine looks at you expectantly.

[Irn0rchid]

Walking with Elaine out to the car, Rose opens the passenger side back door for her to sit next to Robin before loading their luggage in the trunk and then heading to the front and getting in the driver's seat, swiveling it around to face the back as the steering wheel retracts. She grins at the slight surprise on Elaine's face, "I've made a few modifications. It seems silly to have everyone facing forward when we hardly ever actually drive anymore." As the car pulls away from the house Rose offers the other two a drink before getting a glass of water for herself and sitting back, a serious expression descending on her face. Commanding the car not to release Elaine's seat belt, just in case, she starts into her explanation.

"So, I'm afraid this is going to sound like a bad romcom trid show, but I'm also a little hopeful since those always work out in the end. Meeting you at the club last week was no accident, I was actually there for the express purpose of meeting you." Holding up a hand, she forestalls Elaine's comment, "Just let me finish and then you can ask questions. I was actually hired to find out information on the pottery collection your husband has and you were initially just a means to an end. I was at the club in the hopes that you'd take me home and I'd get access that way. That plan obviously worked, but as time passed I actually started to really enjoy our time together. We both have. That job ended and for the last few days we've been with you just because we wanted to be, not because of work or because you were paying us. Now, it's up to you if you'd like to spend any more time with us. We can drop you back off at Howard's house, or anywhere you want, really, if you'd like us to go. Or we can all go back together. Either way, any help you need for dealing with the Yakuza or just getting away from Howard, you just have to ask, and we'll do what we can. I'd say I wish we'd met under better circumstances, but then we might not have met at all... So, what are you thinking?"

[Mercy Merchant]

Tuesday  12 June 2075  1513  Rachel's Car


Elaine is smiling tentatively as you get started, but her face goes quite pale as you tell your tale.  She closes her eyes and tears fall down her face as she alternately shakes and nods her head.  She seems much sadder by the time you finish and remains quiet for some time as you drive around.  Finally, she takes a deep breath and opens her eyes.  "I had been hoping, but I guess the old adage is still true; if something seems to be too good to be true, it probably is too good to be true.  You had me.  I guess I wanted it to be real."  She sits back in the seat.  "You got anything harder than water there?  If not, can you atop at a bar?  I think I need something to drink.  I cannot give an answer just yet, girls, I need to think."

[Irn0rchid]

Rose flips down the beverage panel and puts together a gin and tonic, handing it to Elaine. "Just because it wasn't real at the start doesn't mean it didn't become real. We're still here..." They drive in silence for a minute. "Do you want us to drop you by your house to think?"

[Mercy Merchant]

Elaine shakes her head.  "No, I can think well enough here.  So it was the pottery you were after?  Looking at things from this perspective, I guess I should have tumbled to that earlier, what with some of the questions and interest in Howard's study.  But by that time, I was too......................too well fooled."  She finishes the drink and holds the glass out for another.  "So, what is to happen now?  You said your job was over and that you were staying to be with me.  Was that because of the money or something else?"

[Irn0rchid]

"Well the initial job was to investigate Howard in general, but then that developed into finding out more about the pottery. I'm still not sure why everyone is so interested in it, but that was the job, so we did it. By the time we were actually getting access to his study the two of us had already been discussing how to help you out of this situation for days. We've truly enjoyed our time with you and would like to spend more. If you're committed to staying through the weekend, we'd be happy to stay with you. And while the money is nice, obviously, since that's how we got here, we'd stay without it at this point, right Robin?"