[Mercy Merchant]

"The 88s?  No, they are always sniffing about here, just as we do to their buildings.  They will not bother you unless you give them reason to.  Did you give them a reason?"

[Irn0rchid]

"Not that I'm aware of, but he seemed pretty focused on me. Maybe I was just being paranoid? Well, I guess let me head out. As soon as you can arrange the meet with KE I'll be happy to turn over those vials. Same goes for the ledgers. And I haven't forgotten about your offer of further employment, I'm still mulling it over." Rose stands and prepares to head back to her car, assuming Ni Ni has no further questions.

[Mercy Merchant]

Ni Ni shakes her head as you stand.  The little man shows up at your elbow to escort you to the front of the shop and then the door.  Looking about carefully, you do not see anyone paying any real attention to you this time and can return to your car without incident.

[Irn0rchid]

Walking back to her car, Rose thinks, "Ni Ni sure seemed to be pushing for more information. Does she already know about my run in with Sian? Which begs the question, does Sian know about Ni Ni and is that why she talked to me...? There's too much I don't know about what's going on down here." Arriving back at the car, she messages Tiny, <<Hey, sorry for the interruption last night. I'm heading over now. Hope your night went well!>> Directing the car to drive to his shop, she mentally goes back over the shopping list in her head. "Seems like forever ago that we were talking about this stuff. Seems almost trivial now. Although if I do this other job for Ni Ni, it might come in handy. That's something I still need to talk to the other two about. There's just been so much other stuff coming up!" Pulling up to Tiny's, she gets out and heads inside looking for the big man.

[Irn0rchid]

The sound of a labouring air conditioner almost masks the sounds of
stuff being moved around when you reach the entrance of the shop.
Tiny is carrying a large carton in his arms when he sees you.  "Hey,
Rach.  Come on in.  I got everything you need, I think.  If you got
the money, we can swap right now."  He puts the carton down on a
counter and wipes some sweat from his brow.  "Gonna be a scorcher
today and maybe not even any rain.  Ha!  Listen to me.  I usually
complain about the rain, but I could use it today.  And thanks.  Yes,
I had a good night."  He gets a calculating look in his eye.  "Hey,
you know I got your best interests in mind, right?  I might be able to
work out a serious discount for you if you wanted to come over a
couple of nights a week and keep me company.  Alright, so I have my
own best interests in mind, too.  But give it a thought.  It could be
very beneficial in the long run, especially if I can put in a word
with the loan guy, too."

[Irn0rchid]

"Yeah, I've got some cash now, but I was counting on that loan to give me time to come up with the bulk of it. I've got a line on some but it's not actually in my hands yet, neh?" Shaking her head at Tiny's overtures, "Sounded like you've got enough company as it is! Might frag up the deal I'm working now if I were to do anything with you though. Don't think I'd come out ahead. Let's just keep it business for now..."

[Irn0rchid]

Tiny shrugs.  "Your loss, Rach.  I could take good care of you.  Last
night was a distraction, someone who was willing to work out a deal
for a discount.  Let me know if you change your mind.  I got the R6
pilot, the prairie Dog, no sig masking, but I have up to 5 of the
chameleon coating sets, eight spoof chips and four morphing plates,
although I don’t think you need that many do you?  Only 2 overrides.
But I do have the RCC you were looking at.  Can get it all for you at
Y 219K.  The loan guy is willing to front that to you.  He wanted 15%
per month and I started at 7 and we ended up at 10."

He looks at you and smiles.  "You can still negotiate a better rate
and or a discount on the prices.  Up to you.  I got the papers to sign
for the sale and can get the loan paperwork sent over right away if
you are interested."

[Irn0rchid]

Rose laughs, "Wouldn't I just be someone trying to work out a deal for a discount?" She pauses for a moment to think about the items then responds, "Most of that stuff is more rare than expensive, so I'll take it all just in case I end up needing it. Wasn't expecting you to come up with the RCC, but I shouldn't have doubted! Terms on the loan are steep, but better than 15%, and hopefully I won't have to carry it much more than a month. You really came through, thanks!"

[Irn0rchid]

Tiny laughs, too.  "Yeah, you would, but you are different."  He pats
his rather large girth.  "This is what you will be missing.  Let me
get the paperwork for you."  The large man pulls a data pad from one
of the pockets on his coveralls and types on it for a bit then hands
it to you.  You see that it is a fairly standard loan application,
where you promise to pay a specified interest rate (10%) for a
specified amount (Y 219K).  The end point of the loan is not
specified, nor is the amount you are expected to pay against the
principal each month, but the first interest payment is due on July 1.
 There are the usual clauses regarding the penalties for missing
payments.  The first late payment will be forgiven if you pay an extra
1% within the first week.  The penalty rate increases each following
week to 5%, 10%, then 15% if you are a month behind.  There are some
not so vague warnings that collection proceedings will be initiated if
you do not make the first payment plus any penalty interest by the
beginning of the next month.

Tiny watches you read the contract and says, "I hope you got that line
on the money, Rach.  This guy is nice if you make the payments and he
does not really care if you make regular payments against the
principal, but do not miss the interest payments, because that just
makes him mad.  Sign right there and I will go get your boxes once he
acknowledges receipt."

[Irn0rchid]

"How could I miss it, you're not exactly hiding it!" Rose jokes. Intrigued that there's actual documentation for this loan, Rose reads it carefully then signs. "This shouldn't be a problem, but even if I can't pay it off as expected, I should be able to carry the interest till I can." Then, under her breath, "I hope."

[Irn0rchid]

The data pad pings almost immediately with the acceptance of the loan
contract.  Tiny smiles and goes to get your boxes.  He helps you load
them into your car and wishes you good luck, although he does add one
last warning about missing the interest payment on July 1.  You can
almost feel the tug from the RCC in its separate box.  Oh, what you
could do with this thing.

[Irn0rchid]

Seated in the car, Rose thinks for a minutes about what to do next and finally decides she needs to drop this stuff back off at the Everett house. With all the drama with Howard going on, having this stuff at Elaine's house as well is just asking for trouble. As the car is driving back to Everett, Rose's thoughts go back to her life just a week ago and she realizes that with all the recent events she'd almost forgotten about her actual job. The solution to that is easy and she calls up the dispatching service and lets them know that she won't be available anymore. Disconnecting, she breathes a sigh of relief as a weight she didn't even realize was there is lifted.

Once she arrives at the house, she shuts the garage and then unloads the trunk, stashing the new goodies in the back room. As she stacks the boxes, the urge to open them up and play with the next toys like it's Christmas morning is almost overwhelming, but the the thought of Elaine and Robin waiting for news of Howard's things sobers her up and she locks everything up. Checking to make sure the security system is still engaged, she gets back in the car and heads over to Elaine's. Messaging Robin, <<Hey, got everything taken care of. Ni Ni is going to handle the ledgers for us and we'll be turning the drugs over to some KE people she trusts, so hopefully we'll have that resolved soon. In other news, I quit my job! So I've got more free time now. I'll be back at Elaine's shortly.>>

[Mercy Merchant]

Robin must have been sitting around waiting for you to call.  Not nervous or anything, right?  >>Great.  Wait................did you just say you quit your job at the garage?  But I though you loved that job.  Anyway, both of us are waiting very..............um..................impatiently for you to get back and tell us what you have found out.  Both of us are jumping every time we hear something odd.  And boy are we hearing something odd every few minutes.  Hurry home.  I love you.<<

[Irn0rchid]

<<I love the work, not the job. It was just something on the side to make ends meet, but it's looking like it's not needed anymore. Maybe we can even start up something of our own with Elaine's help? She seemed interested in mechanic stuff as well! Plus, there's a new potential job as well that would conflict. We can talk about when I get there. I'm close.>>

As Rose approaches Elaine's, she starts to worry a bit about what Robin was saying about weird noises and signals the CU^3 to pop out and do a scan around the house as she's pulling in. Leaving the drone on patrol, she steps out of the car and heads into the main house, glad that it requires a security code. "Hello! I'm back," she calls and goes looking for the other two women.

[Mercy Merchant]

The drone does not find anything unusual as it begins its patrol.  Walking into the house, you hear Elaine call out from the living room.  "In here.  Are we glad you are home.  Just a bit jumpy, I guess."  As you enter the large room, Robin smiles at you and pats a space next to her on the couch.  "Here.  Sit down and tell us everything."  Elaine nods and scoots over a bit to give you enough room.