After another ten minutes or so of small talk, you all notice that a tourist-looking human woman in her late fifties comes very close to the group. She is wearing a light green Disneyland t-shirt and a pair of dark green cargo shorts that look to be stuffed full of trinkets the locals sell to tourists, and an expensive looking camera strapped around her neck. She looks to be taking pictures of everything, until she gets to the fountain, which she immediately becomes fixated with.
Between ooh-ing and ahh-ing, She takes steps closer to the group, until she is nearly on top of you, at which point she notices Saul, and begins to bleat out in a vapid and horribly interested tone.
"Oh hi there! I'm sorry for almost bumping into you, I get wrapped up in my camera too easily. My husband tells me it'll be the death of us. By the way did you hear the news? Such a horrible thing, electrical explosions and all. It's like what they say, though, you need to turn the things off when you close up shop for the night! At least noone was hurt, that's good news, at least.
"My name's Millie, Millie Scarborough, I'm just kind of visiting here, it's great to have my bi-yearly vacation in such a nice place, don't you think? I'm usually stuck up in the cold in Denver working for Knight Errant as an accountant, it's so HORRIBLY boring, especially during tax season, nothing to do for fourteen hours but just sit and do math. Nothing like being out here, though, nice, sunny days all year with Trid stars and Simsense starlets, I bet every day is an adventure!
"Oh! That reminds me, did you hear about that new movie? Karl Kombatmage 8? I hear that it's based off of a true story. He goes to Dubai and fights off hundreds of religious extremists to save his girlfriend, Synthia, from being sacrificed by insect spirits! I don't know how true that could be, but it surely sounds exciting! Don't you think?"
She inhales sharply, her eyes wide with excitement and jubilation at the idea of watching the trid she just described.
"And that reminds me of another trid I saw, a group of shadowrunners go and sneak into a top-secret government base to stop an evil mastermind, but it turns out that they actually need to go and follow some corporate executive from Appledine Industries around to find out who he actually is and who he really works for, and who his associates are. The Spooky Mr. Johnson offers them two thousand Nuyen a week, just to do the job. I wish I could get paid that much. And then when they come back with the information he gives them another Hundred and thirty thousand!! Isn't that crazy? That's my yearly salary, all for a month's work! Here, I think I even have a copy of the trid, let me see if I have it."
You see Millie excitedly reach into and dig around in one of her overstuffed cargo pockets, dropping random nick-nacks and gift shop goods, until she finally pulls her hand out holding a disposable commlink, and begins tapping on it.
"Here, I have it, now what did you say your name wa- OHMYGODITSBRIGITTEBARDOT!!!"
Millie squeals and runs off into the crowd, holding her camera excitedly. You notice after a second or two that she had conveniently dropped the disposable commlink on the ground, still powered on.
Checking the commlink, you find a protfolio on a man named Quentin Normand, CEO of Appledine Industries. The header reads "1k/Week, 130k at completion. Turn the commlink off and set it on the bench to refuse, take it to accept."
The portfolio itself reads like a bland, academic listing of the years Quentin has been at the Helm of Appledine Industries and it's larger corporate moves. Appledine is the main manufacturer for the cheap, recyclable Disposable Commlinks, Vendor Clothes, and other low-end electronics. It's also mentioned that the have been leading the charge among AA-level corporations in the nanotechnology R&D field. While they are nowhere near being a Mega, they have a near-monopoly on recyclable goods in CalFree.
Quentin himself is a reculsive CEO, only seen during formal gatherings and board meetings. His home of record is in San Francisco, but Appledine has more than one high-end hotel in LA, all of which have hosted social gatherings for stockholders of the AA corp. There is an invite-only gathering tomorrow night at the Apple-Hilton Plaza in the San Fernando Valley, in the Mission Hills area.
