[HydroRaven]

The alarm rings and wakes up Clem. The ork surprisingly doesn't have any problems getting up, being used to a regular schedule of early mornings and late nights. The soykaf goes down quickly, followed by a quick trip to the washroom and an even quicker dress-up. Out of her apartment, the ork walks to her bike, glad it's still where she put it the night before. She rides until the nearest Stuffer Shack, where she buys the odd knick-knacks and groceries she needs for the day.

Once back home, she puts everything away and goes up to the roof of her building, a good 10 minutes before her daily meeting with her martial art instructor. The day goes by in a swirl of sweat, exhaustion and bruises, stopping only for bodily needs. At 18:18, Clementine pulls the cord and dismisses her sensei for the day. As she goes down the stairs towards her apartment, she notices the door is slightly ajar. Cursing herself for not having brought her firearms with her, she slowly walks in, pushing the door as softly as she can. She could hear noises coming from the back room, and knew someone was still inside her place ransacking her belongings. It wasn't the first time another person had tried to take something away form her, but the violation of her inner sanctum was a first for the ork, which made her all the more furious. Slowly creeping towards the origin of the noises, Clem stopped briefly to take her handgun and check that it was loaded. The noise of a cocking handgun made the intruder stop doing whatever it was they were doing, which gave Clem pause. Both of them were trying to assess the situation, listening to the best of their abilities.

Suddenly Clementine sees a shadow pass in front of her, the person that was in her bedroom becoming a blurred mass as they entered and quickly exited the ork's field of vision and into the bathroom. Clem quickly went to the doorway, crouching down before taking a quick peek inside the room. She quickly saw a hooded figure frantically looking around, trying to find an exit point before noticing Clem's head at knee level looking inside the room. The ork had just enough time to pull her head back before a trash bin was thrown where she had been peeking from moments before. The ork had had enough time to see that the hooded figure didn't appear to be wielding any weapons, so she stood up and swung into the bathroom, just to find it empty. Her gun still pointing in, she quickly looked around, trying to figure out how her attacker had eluded her. The only window was about a foot wide by two tall and still closed, which ruled out that escape route. Walking to the shower, she felt a push as the hooded figure slammed her into a corner between the sink and the shower stall, making for the hall and invariably for the exit.

Quickly getting back up, Clem rushed after her aggressor, leaving her apartment and, oddly, pursuing the hooded figure up the stairs. Once on the roof, Clementine looked around and spotted her target on the edge of the roof, looking frantically around and over the ledge. Pointing her handgun at the figure, the ork said "Nowhere else to go, give me back whatever it is you took from me and be on your way." A young yet deep voice answered back to her "Tusker, you ain't got nuthin' worth takin'" before jumping off the roof. Clementine could hear the laugh quickly fading away as she ran to the ledge of the building to have a look at the situation. By the time she was at the edge, the hooded figure was already running away towards the nearest street corner.

Brushing off the encounter, Clem got back to her apartment and did a quick inventory of her room and living room. It did seem the thug hadn't taken anything, which left the ork perplexed. Her equipment had been left untouched, same with her firearms. That puzzling fact gave Clem time to think.

As she was cleaning her apartment, she found a small piece of paper that must have fallen from the hooded figure's pockets when they had fought in the bathroom. On the paper was her address and a short question: "How is she related to BS?"

[Necrogigas]

Contrary to what he told Darrell earlier, Darko was an amazing tattoo artist that could do incredibly intricate work despite being a hulking troll. When O'Connor looked him up he learned that the troll had opened up his own tattoo parlor near Touristville. O'Connor hadn't kept in touch with him or any of the other C-Block Crashers after getting out. He'd been too focused on his personal war with the Azure Fists, and he figured that he should steer clear to keep them from getting dragged into it. Darrell had been an exception since as a gunsmith/dealer he was connected well enough that the Fists wouldn't touch him, or face the wrath of bigger fish.

Despite the bold declaration left on Angus' corpse, O'Connor had hit the Fists hard and they were reeling. He figured it was safe enough now to reestablish contact with people. He was meeting Barefoot in the evening, so he made an early morning visit to Darko's parlour, Phoenix Ink. O'Connor figured that Darko would understand his cutting ties, at least once he explained himself. The question was, would he get the chance before fists were thrown? There was only one way to find out, so O'Connor walked in preparing to deal with an ornery troll.

[Crossbow]

Cassie didn't seem to be interested in heading home, unless her home was in the club district of Downtown.  Sammy was able to to track her until she disappeared into a warded club, she backtracked to where the girl had parked the bike, but she didn't return to it before the ache of being out of body too long began to take its toll.

[Crossbow]

Snow, with Tommy's help, makes short work of the fake ID this "Cassie" has been broadcasting in Sammy's vicinity.  It is not the best work, just enough to fool casual scans and let the girl make normal purchases.

Considering that neither of you are locals, it is going to be a bit of work to make any inroads with just a face, even on as moderately attractive as Marcus' new girlfriend.

Snow considers using Vory resources, but it is as if thinking of them is an act of electronic summoning.  She receives instructions from her 'superiors' in the organization, they include, but are not limited to several assignments of minor, but time consuming, importance, plus data requests which indicate that the fixer she met in Los Angeles was not long for the mortal world, and a 'date' to entertain a certain Englishman who was going to be in town over the weekend.  A gentlemen who had contacts that could make life difficult for certain "White Vory" interests overseas, "Take VERY good care of him." is the instruction given.

[Mercy Merchant]

Snow smiles at her friend.  "Damn, Tommy, you're good.  I should let Sammy know and then see if we can get working on her real ID."  She sends off a note tp Sammy to let her know what she has found so far.  >>Sammy.  Snow.  The girl is using a fake ID, which might not be too surprising since we all have one, but I think she might need a closer look just to make sure she is on the level with your brother.  I am still digging to find a real name, but it may take a bit.  Do you have any additional information that might help?<<

She is considering calling up her main Vory contact when she gets a call from him.  She acknowledges her assignments and indicates that she will get on them.  She responds in the affirmative to the date request without hesitation.  She asks for a file to be sent over that would include when and where to meet the man, what he looks like, hobbies and other interests, what he likes in a woman, and so on.   After being told more information will be provided, she hangs up and goes to where Andrew is sitting on the couch doing something on his own 'link.  She waits for him to look up and indicate that he is pausing before she takes his hands in hers.  "OK.  The second real test of our relationship has come up.  I have been contacted by my superior and he has assigned me to escort a man this weekend.  This will almost certainly involve me sleeping with him.  I am in love with you and no one else, but there will be times when this will happen.  I know that we talked a bit about this before, but that was just talk and now it is real.  Can you handle this and still love me?"

[Crossbow]

In the times before metahumanity, Darko would have been described as Nubian.  His jet black skin and well formed physique making him stand out before the Sixth World left it's mark.

Since leaving prison he had only improved on his personal canvas.  The intricate tribal artwork that covered his torso had been inlaid with some metallic ink, the shine making his skin look like the darkness of space.  His ebony horns had been lacquered, etched and filled with that same substance.  If it was silver, he clearly was doing very well for himself these days.  The monetary value of his skin would have to be worth a quarter million nuyen, still not enough to try and collect on though.

He was bent over a beautiful Asian girl, the outline of a masterwork Eastern Dragon wrapping her pale form.  He looked up at his entry, registering his presence but not immediately recognizing his face.

"You are welcome to browse, but I am very expensive.  If you want gangsign or starters, I would suggest the place in the strip mall 8 blocks over."

[Necrogigas]

O'Connor was rather impressed by the work Darko had done since last seeing him. He nodded to the troll, "I don't doubt you're worth every nuyen. Your skill was always wasted in C-Block. Good to see you finally have a set up that does you justice."

[farothel]

Cassie didn't seem to be interested in heading home, unless her home was in the club district of Downtown.  Sammy was able to to track her until she disappeared into a warded club, she backtracked to where the girl had parked the bike, but she didn't return to it before the ache of being out of body too long began to take its toll.

There was always another day, Sammy thought as she zipped back to her own body.   After getting a bathroom break and a snack (in that order), she read the message from Snow.  That too was to be expected.

Thanks for the effort, she send back, Let me know if I can help somewhere with your digging.
Her brother's well-being was quite important for her and she would let him make her own choices, but she still had to protect him.  If that meant digging a bit further, so be it.  And if that meant getting Snow a better shovel to do said digging, that too was not a problem.  And it might help on the following runs.

[Crossbow]

Andrew pulls Snow into a hug and relaxes back, holding her and talking to her.

"I am not going to lie and say I am 100% fine with this, but this is where your life is right now.  If you are telling me you gotta go do your job, do your job, I'll be here when you get done.  Just do me a favor, try REALLY hard not to get shot by any professional hitmen anymore, okay?  I don't have any vacation days left this year."

[Crossbow]

Darko still hasn't looked up from the beautiful form in front of him.

"Thank you very much, every successful artist needs a patron or two for their work to be appreciated, and I have been quite fortunate in that regard.  All perfectly legal, you can report that to the parole board.  I have to assume you are a screw or a cop since you obviously weren't a customer."

[Mercy Merchant]

Snow leans forward to kiss Andrew and the kiss escalates to something that causes Tommy to call out that they should take it to the bedroom.  Both laugh and sit back up as Snow rearranges her clothing and buttons her blouse, wondering idly how her lover had managed to become so proficient at getting her out of her clothes.  Just then the reply from Sammy arrives with a ping of the ringtone Snow had set her up with.  >>Sammy.  Yes, you might be able to help.  Has your brother ever said where this girl lives or takes him when they go out?  A bar, a club, restaurant?  Anything like that?  I am trying to run a trace on her face from the photo you sent, but that could take a long time, so any starting point would help.<<

Snow sends the message and goes back to the table to join Tommy in searching for the girl.  If nothing else, this is giving her some practice in searching the matrix.

[Necrogigas]

O'Connor smirked, "No, I didn't pay you in cash, but I did pay the Donnellys in blood. I'm here to get lost work redone."

[Crossbow]

That comment finally got the troll's attention.  After carefully removing the needle from his customer, he looked up again and took a close look at O'Conner.

He stood up to to his full, quite impressive, height and moved around his station with a grace remarkable for a person his size.  As he moved up close with the runner, scrutinizing him, there was a definite momentary sense of danger for the adept, but he didn't let it show.  Darko and he had never tangled on the Block.  In fact, he had never seen the troll tangle with anyone, he kept to himself and worked his ink, but the stories about him, inside and on the street, were the stuff of nightmares.

"Those little inbred Irish slots were barely worth the trouble to collect on, you just lucky I found it cute the way you squirmed when I hit a soft spot." he offered a fist the size O'Conner head to pound by way of greeting.

"How you doing Soap-on-a-Rope?  And what did you do to my canvas?"

[farothel]

I'll try to find out some things, she texted to Snow, I already know one club she goes to.
She added the name of the club she had seen Cassie go into.  If she didn't know the name, she went back and would materialize there to see the name.

The following day she tried to ask Marcus a bit more about Cassie, like where they had met and if he had been at her place already and where that could be and things like that.

[Mercy Merchant]

Snow receives the name of the club from Sammy and works with Tommy to see what they can find out about it.  The immediate answer is that the place is well protected on the matrix and the two decide not to attempt to break in that way.  After all, there is no evidence yet that the club is anything more than where Cassie goes to have fun and there is no reason to intrude on the security of the place.  Snow does take the name and looks the place up to see what is publicly known.  The ARO of the club advertises that it provides the best in entertainment available in the area.  She brings up the menu and sees that the drinks are fairly highly priced, as si the food offered, but not so much as to be abusive to the casual clubber.

While they are working, the information on the man Snow is to entertain comes in.  She looks at the short bio that indicates his likes and dislikes in women, food, and drink and realizes that she can totally make this man feel like he has received the royal treatment.  After studying the packet for a bit, she sends off a quick question as to whether the man will be expecting her or if this is supposed to be a pick-up.  When the message is off, she goes to her shared room and looks at her closet, picking out just the right outfit to impress the target.