[VegasRigged]

I stop before passing between them, check that my improved initiative spell is running strong and look from one to the other expectantly, then say impatiently "Well? Are you going to stand their or jump me?"

I also order my air spirit to manifest above us and prepare to engulf one and take him upwards.

[Mercy Merchant]

Sunday  10 June 2075  0246    Seattle Chinatown Barrens


Both men shake their heads and do nothing to indicate that they are going to attack you.  One even raises both hands to show he is unarmed then fades off into the darkness.  The other just stays leaning against a wall, smoking.  Sylvia touches your arm.  "Let's go home.  You will always have enemies and cannot kill all of them.  You have made an impression.  On me as well.  I did not know I was getting involved with a budding crime lord.  We should probably talk about this."

[VegasRigged]

I nod and walk on. I'll deal with those rats later, I've done enough for one day and it seems I need to shore up my romantic alliance, so letting her sway me will start that off well.

I also need to tell Ni Ni something, but perhaps not yet, or perhaps I let her think she knows and tell her later. I'll keep thinking on that.

I call a cab to meet us at the border of the barrens.

[Mercy Merchant]

You meet the cab near the street end of Chinatown.  It is an automated version and you slot the credstick to cover the fare and settle back in the seat with Sylvia as it moves away into the night.  She remains silent, apparently waiting for you to talk first.

[VegasRigged]

I lean back and contemplate the evenings events. I go over my conversations with Sian, Sylvia's new look, my meeting with Ping and the acquisition of his business. I  consider the minds of his employees, little education, barely any concept of the larger world. Base motivations of survival and comfort.

I think forward as we move into the better parts of town, to Madam Sheng and her reaction to Pings death. To Pings death. To Sing. To Sings death. To all those people, and all that blood-

I nearly vomit as the memory of Sing and his men being cut down flashes through my mind again. I can  see and hear and smell all of it. I physically heave and cover my mouth, barely able to contain my breakfast, which now seems a lifetime ago.

"How much further?" I ask, startled to find my voice quivering a little.

[Mercy Merchant]

Sunday  10 June 2075  0315    Marisa's Hotel  Seattle


You feel a hand rubbing your back and a woman's soft voice.  "Almost there, dear.  Almost there.  We will have you up and in bed in a few minutes."  The rest of the ride seems to last a long time, but in reality is less than five minutes.  Sylvia exits the cab then helps you out, a strong arm supporting you.  Once in the lobby, she guides you to the bank of elevators and punches in the codes for the penthouse.  She keeps an arm around you as you walk the short distance to the suite then guides your steps to the bathroom.  "Alright, dear.  Bend over and throw it all up.  Get rid of the bile."

When you are done, she hands you a glass of water to rinse the taste from your mouth.  "I thought it was your first time.  You hide it well, but I am not sure that you were very prepared for what you experienced out there.  It is one thing to plan it all out; to feel confident that it will all work, but quite another thing when it all goes down.  When it actually happens.  And then there are the monsters.  Monsters like Sian, whatever she is, it is not a waif trapped in that wasteland.  Monsters like me..........................and monsters like you.  I suspect that you have never killed or ordered someone to kill for you and that maybe you do not like the thought of becoming like me.  Right?"

[VegasRigged]

I'm tempted to lash out, but experience as a corporate subordinate has taught me that when someone's words strike a nerve it's because theirs truth to them. I instead make my way to the couch and sit, still holding the water she gave me.

"I'm not a monster. I have a number of effective combat spells, but none of them strike with lethal force. Most knock down or stun, and as you've seen my ability to detect danger and predict situations is well developed. However..."

I pause, gathering my thoughts and focusing on the goals ahead of me. If I am to accomplish everything I mean to I will have to spill blood. Some of it myself. I will have to destroy people's lives and pillage their minds. My overly affectionate companion has done these things and more, if I am to become what I need to be, I will need to know how she does it.

"Sylvia, why did you kill so many of Sing's men? I would have knocked them out with a wave. Don't mistake me, I'm both greatful and impressed, but why was it necessary to kill so many?"

[Mercy Merchant]

Sylvia comes to kneel in front of you and puts a warm hand on your left knee.  "After a while in this line of work, you develop a sense of reading body language.  The men Sian had entrusted the submachineguns to were his most trusted guards.  They were also high on some sort of drug; Jazz or Novacoke, maybe.  Something that would focus them on violence and their own invincibility.  They were going to shoot you, even if Sing was dead.  Killing them also planted the thought in the minds of the other four that they were a mere decision away from joining them in hell.  In this case it was pure shock and awe.  And the ripples of that will be felt for some time as they tell the story and embellish it.  It will help solidify your reputation for being ruthless."

She rocks back on her haunches and smiles.  "And yes, dear, you are a monster of a sort.  You might not have combat spells or a huge stack of combat skills, but you have something better.  You can see the situation and detect the enemy.  You might be able to see a threat where no one else can.  You can rip thoughts from the minds of others, although I would use that talent as sparingly as possible.  Such a skill can get you killed very quickly.  Also, you have the loyalty of other monsters.  I can personally see why almost everyone we passed by was terrified of Sian, and we barely saw her in any sort of action at all.  Just being near her gives me the jeebies, and I do not frighten easily anymore.  She drug thoughts from so deep inside me that I had quite forgotten them; stories of creatures that move in the night and rule the darkness.  I am not sure exactly why I feel that way, but she is not someone to be flippant about.  And I am probably only slightly less a monster than she is, just a different one."

She nods at the glass in your hand.  "Drink that.  It will help you clean out your mouth.  I am thinking a shower is called for.  Would you care to join me?"

[VegasRigged]

It takes me a beat to realize what she might be asking, the thought os sex is the furthest thing from my mind right now. "I think I need a little time to meditate. Go on ahead, I'll join you when I'm ready."

Once she's left the room and go to the kitchen, get a new glass of water and drink it. I see no reason for her to poison me now, but better safe then sorry when my judgement is this far out of whack. With my mouth clean and some modicum of vitality restored I change into loose silk pajamas, head out onto the balcony and sit cross legged, hands of my knees and think.

Mediation is an extensively useful technic. It allows for the slow processing of all feelings and sensations. I begin by taking myself back to the beginning of the day: sex and breakfast and sex. I was happy and ambitious and ready for anything and everything. I was maybe too eager going into the barrens, but the first step is always an intense experience and this was a big first step. Sian. My new rubics cube. Likely an HMHVV Variant, I'll have to call an old friend from university to look into what she might be. Maybe I'll have Tanya do that for me, if I'm seen reaching out it might be too direct, but friend to friend with such a high-caliber intermediary... yes, much more effective. Ping. I feel cold when I think about his death. I'm not sad that he is gone, I am afraid that I wanted him dead. Sing. I was aggressive with him, but i was also arrogant. If I had let Sian handle these transactions, or at least take part, i would likely have intimidated  both men into submission. But then I would have ended up working with them.

I shake my head at the complex situation I'm creating. I want to work with people I can trust, but I want to make everyone someone I can trust, and I only trust people once I've read their minds or know what drives them. But every time I read someones mind, I understand them and when I understand someone, I empathize. I need to draw a line. I need to decide who is worth saving and who is not. I am going to be running a criminal organization. I need to decide.

And I need a shower.

One more thing first, I astrally project and extend my mind out into the ether in search of a guidance spirit, I want to trust Sylvia, but I need a second opinion right now.

[Mercy Merchant]

OOC:  I am very sorry.  I was away for the weekend.  The cabin was supposed to have internet access, but did not.


Your form searches the astral plane and you are eventually drawn to what appears to be a swirling vortex, one of the various types of power nodes scattered in the astral world.  It is common for spirits to be found at such places and this is not exception.  Several are gathered here and one will come to you.  "I know you, mortal.  You have called on my services in the past.  What do you seek here?"

[VegasRigged]

Pic: I figured it was vacation time, nonproblem, hope it was fun


I tune my feelings carefully. The astral is a place of emotion and sensation where ones aura and signature can tell a tale of one is unaware of them. I carefully conceal my feelings and project only a calm, kind  professional confidence.

"Greetings spirit. I hope that my requests were not overly burdensome. I seek a guidance spirit, one who sees the true nature of matters of loyalty and motivation and the heart. These are not the requests of the idle romantic and I might return a service in the material world to the spirit who can give me the answers I seek."

[Mercy Merchant]

The spirit is a shimmering ball of light with no real form that you can make out.  "The service owed will depend on the service performed, mortal.  What do you need?"
 

[VegasRigged]

"If you are the spirit I seek for guidance name thyself plainly that we may commence parley, many in the beyond deceive for their own gain and a creature of my nature must be wary of deceptions. I mean neither offense nor inconvenience, but only to understand the nature of those I deal with, both here and in the matierial plain. As to the reward I offer, for I know it is highly irregular for a material being to offer fair compensation to an astral form, the price in services on the material may include reagents, the clearing and maintaining of a sight of importance or the illumination of an enemy of your nature. Let us deal in clarity and equality and depart our arrangement satisfied."

I'm wary of any spirit, deception is well wishing thei abilities and toxic spirits or worse seek out the unwary Awakened to consume for their satisfaction. I doubt that such an entity would congregate in such a 'public' place with other spirits but I intend to neither take chances with my soul, nor impart the impression to other spirits that I am one to be trifled with.

[Mercy Merchant]

The form that is the spirit seems to flare a bit brighter.  "So you would come to our world and treat as equals?  You are a strange mortal.  For the time, you may refer to me as Arat.  How am I to refer to you and what is the specific task you wish completed?"

[VegasRigged]

"Three women are bound to me by business and companionship, I would know what the denizens of the astral say about them. The first is a women of professional authorities, a gangster within the triads to whom i ow a great debt. The second is killer of killers who has espoused great affection for me, but I doubt the purity of her motives. The third is the child-creature so widely feared."

I take a brief glance back into the material plane and confirm that Sylvia is still showering.