[ismilealot]

"No, no one has heard from Sam Webster for a job." you hear a musical feminine voice respond from the doorway. When you turn you see a drop dead gorgeous woman enter the room. Tall, busty, with dark red hair and almost black eyes the horns, fangs and tail only accentuate her sensuality and the leather corset and low-rise leggings leave no doubt as to the perfection of the figure underneath. "I've been hoping that this would happen, but, working the way I do I was damn lucky to catch it." she says with a sardonically raised eyebrow, taking in the entre group with her glance.
       "I've spoken to Feathers, Arc & Yelena about a job. Your current standing in the Barrens makes you uniquely qualified to obtain some intel. for me, and, depending on what you find perhaps stop a problem before it starts." She glances at the computer in the room and it turns on. She contines, "The old StarGate club has suddenly been given a new life. and the wait list for reservations is over two weeks. Up and coming Arcologist and elves from the Salishe Shidhe are down there to play and the newly revamped club advertises an environment that titillates and satisfies every single sense. And those that can afford it are making sure to be there every single night, Not bad for a club in the Barrens, even one on the Salishe-Shidhe border. And if that was all that was happening I wouldn't be talking to you. But, the effort some people are putting into going to the club is suspicious at best. The fact that they're starting to exhibit certain similarities is more so. And when you add that I can absolutely tie a string of disappearances to the club, even if only circumstantially, you have some justification for investigation. Unfortunately the detectives I alerted to the circumstances put forth a ham handed effort that probably did more to alert who ever is behind this than to accomplish anything. And now I'm hoping to come at this from a completely unexpected angle. That of hiding the investigation in plain sight. With people who are well known to belong to this neighborhood. And who undoubtedly deserve some R&R and a fun Date Night out.'" She looks at each of you in turn.
        "In exchange I would authorize payment of 10k nuyen each plus expenses. And any past legal trouble would go away with legitimate SIN's for each of you that don't already posses one, as I expect that once you get to the heart of the matter there will be travel and perhaps even a job offer from the opposing side, something that will be far easier to accomplish if you have legitimate SIN's." She laughs, "Although in the mean time I've authorized fake SIN's for some of you as that is far more believable for a member of the Barrens." She turns and looks directly at Yelena, "And as much as I appreciated the history of your tats and respect your earning of them I've had to have a few of them removed. They were to identifiable and easy to trace for anyone that enjoys that delectable body of yours." She turns once again to Arc, "I was unable to get your rig authorized. "It's a long-term unrecoverable assest that the party has shown no ability to use." " she states with a moue to her lips, obviously quoting someone. "However I have been able to make arrangements to have it installed here in the morning if you wish to authorize the expenditure of the funds. You do have monies awarded to you for the killing of the mage & her beast."
       She looks around at each of you in turn and smiles, the smile of a huntress looking forward to the game. "So, I need a decision. Are you up for this particular game of cat-and-mouse?"

[SgtBoomCloud]

The sound of the stranger's voice had Arc snapping her hand back under the pillow, grasping for her trusty Predator she always kept under whenever she was in b--oh, right.  This is the hospital.  Her stuff likely won't go back to her until she's released.  Drek all...  she mentally muttered, sighing and sitting back in her bed like the helpless waif she felt like at this very moment.  Listening to the woman, the human was confused on several fronts.  First, and most mildly, that this chick looked like a demon, and more a succubus if her fantasy trids experience had anything to say about it.  That part was easy to shrug off:  It was fraggin' Seattle, and people do far worse body modifications to themselves.

The more disturbing fact was that she mentioned speaking to her personally about this job.  Arc may have been doped up on painkillers, but she clearly remembers talking to a man.  Which means some weird drek was going on.  Either way, Arc pinched her brow, heaving a sigh as she sat up, brushing some hair from her green eyes before responding.

"Well.  I think you already know my answer, lady.  Ain't nobody gon' save a girl's slot from geek central AND hook er up with fancy chrome what don't expect a lifedebt in fraggin' return, ya heard?  Y'all invested in me, and that much I get.  I'm in.  I ain't gonna lie, 10 thou AND a real honest to madda-fraggin' gods SIN for some info seems pretty wiz biz.  I do gots some questions, though."  The human grinned, surprised she's the first one to talk, but hey, unless she's cut off, she keeps right on rolling.

"First off, you say there's a fraggin' waitlist on the reserves for this club biz, aight?  That mean we gots time to recover and prep before we can think about what getting in, eh?  Figure with half of us on this four hoop team still in rehab that mighta be the case.  Second, should we be assumin' you're gonna give us more dirt on the place than a name and a hunch?  Faces what looking for, features to watch, drek like that and drek.  Third, you mention that they might be offering a traveling job at some point after getting our SINS, the bad biz, I mean.  Sounds a lot like you wanna have us roll wit' them...play the sides or some drek like that?"

After that, she leaned forward, smirking and giving a nod.  "As for that rig, I figured you weren't gonna just give me one.  Frag it, lady, you know my cred's good, hook me up~"  The human trailed off, her smile faltering at the realization that doing such meant getting stuff drilled into her skull.  She suppressed the urge to gulp, keeping it together while letting the others voice their opinions.

[Mercy Merchant]

Yelena Looks appreciatively at the beautiful woman as she walks into the room.  There is no denying the way her body reacts to her presence, and even the fangs and tail only add to the allure; something she is sure the woman knows.  She smile when she realizes that this is Sam Webster, or at least the person pretending to be Sam.  She narrows her eyes as she listens to first the woman and then Arc speak.  She carefully considers what the short human is saying and not saying.  When her friend sits back, Yelena speaks, "Ты очень умный, с колдовством. You clever with sorcery.  Like Arc, Yelena Petrovna also owe debt for hospital and will pay with service.  Tats earned with blood and lives were part of Yelena's life.  Mean respect, maybe fear from others, so thank you not take.  But what is missing, tats you take, means little to Yelena."  She shrugs.  "Is done.  Not a part of life Yelena miss much."  She looks closely at the woman, "But perhaps have something to do with location of Tsina Molovna?  She almost only person alive who could recognize them.  You owe her location since Yelena kill child mage within time."

She considers the offer.  "What is expenses?  Clothes for club, cover charges, entertainment there?"  She motions to her friend, "And Arc right.  Have questions.  What mean certain similarities?  Who disappearing?  Who look at and for in club?"

She is almost finished but then says, "Arc in so Yelena in.  And know cannot carry rifle or pistol in club, but much want to know what happened to guns.  Were turned in here for after leave hospital or lost?"  *Frag.  Yelena out of normal without guns*  "And bike was bad hurt, but Arc can fix.  Do you know where is?"

Yelena looks at the others.  "Who want take Keeb to club?" 

[ismilealot]

Sam turns to look at you, one elegant eyebrow raised. Велосипед вы уничтожили. Вы пистолет уничтожили. I замена. Здесь ключи. Вы будете практиковать. Вы и ваше оружие Узнаем друг друга как два влюбленных в постели. также есть ваш платеж. She tosses you an RFID tag.

She turns to Arc and without any trace of Russian accent says, "And I will indeed hook you up." "Those of you that are interested in this job offer will get all of the information I possess on it at your briefing. And yes, you may very well be working for them in order to gain information. I hope not, as that is an incredibly dangerous job that I doubt you have the ability for. But, many unpredictable things happen on this planet. Like a small group of people gathering the gangs of Redmond and flinging them like a spear. Here's my comm. Think about the offer and let me know" She turns and leaves then, leaving all of you to digest what just happened and discuss the job offer.

It's a lot to take in. But first things first and that's congratulating each other for making it out alive. Arc tries not to bring attention to her arm. And for now the others let the subject alone. You need time to adjust to that after all.

[Mercy Merchant]

Yelena cannot help but watch the woman walk away.  When it is back to only the four of them in the room she shakes her head and looks back at Arc.  "She say bike and guns destroyed but she replace.  So not have to repair."  Yelena hold up the RFID tag.  "I use this to find?" 

Looking at the other two, she says, "Well?  Arc and Yelena in.  What about you two?  Could use friends."

[SgtBoomCloud]

"Sweet...one less piece of drek to worry our hoops about..heh..."  She muttered before falling silent, Arc turning her head to face the older human and the troll, then back to the elf.  Regardless of what they chose to do, the little human knew that she and Yelena were in this, regardless of their answer.  After they did, answer, though, the human started to chuckle, which grew into a full blown, ribs hurting, nonstop, tears down the face gale of laughter.  So much so, that her monitor actually pinged and a nurse had to be assured nothing was wrong.

When pressed as to what was so funny, Arc wiped the tears from her face and managed to spit out: "Because...hahahah.....we just..hah....a deal with..hehehahahaha...the devil!"  If she wasn't propped up and hooked up as much as she was to the bed, she may have just fallen out onto the ground.

[Mercy Merchant]

Yelena laughs as well.  "Yes, Arc.  We make deal with devil to help others.  Yelena feel better than in long time, maybe ever.  Not used to helping so is strange feeling."  She goes quiet, considering what she had just said.  *Frag.  It does feel good to help.  Why?*  She looks at the other three,  "Still, it like sell soul.  She own us if say yes.  Yelena can live with, but can rest?"

Looking at Arc, she adds, "Well, now must spend money.  Arc need order from ad."

[SgtBoomCloud]

Arc gave a bit of shrug.  "I mean, whatevs.  I've been property in some way or another most of my life.  This way prolly gon' leave me with less bruises, so I ain't gonna complain yet or drek.   Heh.  Still, it's fraggin' hilarious he..she...whateva...went all Diablo on our hoops for the agreement.  Too perfect, heh."

She eased back, pulling out her saved AROs on the stuff they were perusing before, pulling up the control rig.  "Way ahead of ya, girlie.  The lady said I'll get hooked up in the morning.  Just need a quick authorization to slot the funds over for it, and.....done.   This time tomorrow, I'm gonna be wired up and have a headache.  Just one last thing...if it goes wrong, you three can fight over my stuff."  She had a wry grin on her face at the last bit.

[Mercy Merchant]

Yelena looks at her friend and gives the fund coding from her account to help with the purchases.  "Not funny Arc.  Just come through, no matter what."

[ismilealot]

It's another day of rehab with the smiling dragon of a therapist. But it beats worrying about yet another surgery. The next day they come in and take Arc early, and she's surprised to find that she's not nervous. And then figures out that it's because this is the first time she actually got to choose what would happen and what got put in. This device won't just make her a better mechanic, it'll really enable her to be a part of the machines she so loves, and the fact that she got to choose it means a lot to her.

She wakes up after the surgury with a slight headache. And then rehab takes on a whole new meaning as a new therapist is added to her schedule. The therapist that teaches her how to use all her new toys. Soft brown eyes, brown skin, brown hair and a way with machinery like no one else she'd ever met. He seems to understand them and her instinctively.

Yelena also finds a new therapist added to her regime. A music therapist as one of her nurses had noticed her practicing on the sheets and soon the room is filled with the sound of Yelena on her sax in the afternoon & evenings. It's not more than a day after that that one of the other patients and Yelena strike up a mutually beneficial friendship as he joins her on the trombone. And his brother sneaks in vodka for her.

[Mercy Merchant]

Yelena is more than glad when Arc is wheeled back into the room after her surgery.  She demands to know if everything went well and is not satisfied until the nurse tells her that everything went as well as it could have.  She notices Arc's new therapist, even if her new friend pretends not to.  She also notes that the looks given Arc by the therapist seem to go beyond just concern for the new implants.  Arc has admitted to being blind to how she appeals to people, so Yelena makes a stab at giving her friend a clue after the young man leaves.  "Psst.  Arc?  Yelena think man like you.  Should ask if he gives private rigger lessons after leave hospital.  You could use the practice."

She is overjoyed when the music therapist arrives.  She works as hard as possible to get her fingers back in shape to play and is beside herself when the other patient offers to jam with her.  Trombone and sax go well together, but she can adapt to another style if the man is not hot on jazz.  When the man's brother brings vodka without being asked, she is so happy that she offers to sleep with both of them.  She is exceptionally careful with the vodka because she does nor want to get in trouble not get the others in trouble.

On the second day she turns to her friend.  "Arc?  Need make call.  We already decide to work for Sam.  Tell him we both in." 

Surprisingly, the hospital stay is over too soon.  Yelena is genuinely sad to bid farewell to the trombone man, and gives her comm address to both him and his brother, offering to jam with him any time both he and she were available.  She even bids a tearful farewell to the nurses that helped bring her back from death.  That only a week passed is a miracle in her mind.  She collects her bike and equipment and moves her few belongings to Arc's garage, where she buys a bed and a small armoire-type chest to her clothes put in.  She leaves her current lease open for the remainder of the month in case Arc cannot stand her and tosses her out.  The first couple of days will be stressful, as the pair learn to live together and adapt to each other.  Yelena will ask if she can pay a bit more to have an additional allotment of hot water piped in.  She carefully watches as Arc modifies the bike with a rigger interface.  The two go out to the streets to test out the way it works with Arc's new skills and Yelena cannot remember when she had so much fun, realizing with surprise that a good bit of the fun was sharing the experience with her friend.

She appraises the new bike and guns with careful eyes.  She carefully dismantles all of the parts and put them back together.  Nodding, she appreciates that SW had recognized the value of the Ares guns over the drek from other manufacturers.  She contacts SW and asks if he can make arrangements for time at a range or if she needs to do that.  Even though she now feels that her expertise might not have suffered much, these are new weapons for her and they need to be sighted in.  She also asks when he needs to get with them to talk about the mission.

She takes some time to look through the public information on the club, trying to determine the dress code required.  This job might mean a shopping trip for clothes.

[SgtBoomCloud]

It was true.  As she was helped into the chair and wheeled out towards the operating room, Arc had a calm to her demeanor, even slipping a smirk to Yelena as the door closed behind her.  When she came back, she was definitely a bit woozy from the operation's anesthesia, and the headache that followed didn't help.  Even during the physical therapy, one could see the human reaching to touch the base of her neck from time to time.  It was after the nurses left and some prodding from the Russian that she revealed the reason for it, a grin on her face as she pulled her hair to the side, the small metal access port at the base of her hairline revealed.  The end of what seemed to be a retractable data cable and a couple light indicating wireless communication contrasted her skin, further cementing the fact that her brain was definitely wired up to communicate with machines.

The training and tutorials was, to put it least, an unexpected and pleasant surprise.  The nurse, whose name was Jaime and was almost certainly of Aztlani descent, was most certainably knowledgable in mechanical works and rigging, and very gentle in the teaching, letting Arc set the pace and smiling broader when questions were asked.  In just the one or two days, the human learned how to jack into vehicles, the basics of drone operation..even a bit of how to access machines to run diagnostics even, which did nothing but thrill her!  After the first session, when Yelena made that comment, Arc's eyes grew wide as her cheeks flushed.  "Nah..you're drekking with me..you ain't.  Huh.  Aight.  We'll do this your way...бабушка"  She winked, definitely expecting a reaction for that.  But sure enough, next day in follow up training, Jaime was more than happy to exchange comm numbers... "...in case anything comes up that I mighta missed or forgot, y'know how drek can be fragged like that, yknow?"

When they were discharged and given their stuff back..and the replacements in carefully concealed bundles...the human felt something strange.  Companionship, knowing she'd be sharing her 74 m² apartment with another, and that she'd be taking on more dangerous, but lucrative work.  And she had the tools, man did she have the tools to do that now.  There was one word she kept running across in her research about the people that did this kind of work, and it wasn't until after the two had moved the new bed--sitting across the room from Arc's--and armoire in that she dared to utter it.

"...Shadowrunner...frag, man..."

The human decided to weapons test with the elf, running through her Ingram Smartgun's pieces first despite Yelena's hard looks on inferior design.  "Hoi, it gets bullets out there.  You do a drive-by, you like that feature.."  Admittedly, Arc did redeem herself when she pulled out her own Predator matching the elf's, twirling it in her hand before field stripping and flicking the parts, making a few personal tweaks along with the usual cleaning, stating her tweaks would counter the occasional software bug that locked up the slide during smartgun glitches.

The rigging, though.  That first ride with the interface installed.  The human was biting her lip as she straddled the Scorpion's seat, one hand on a handlebar while the other was brushing against her datajack.  As she felt the weight of the elf behind her get on, followed by a few words of encouragement, she tugged on the access cable, pulling it out and attaching it to the interface and activating it.  She couldn't explain the sensation as the engine roared to life, but if felt like it was her.  The pistons were her heartbeat, the fuel lines her blood vessels, the wheels her legs, the frame her bones.  She and the bike were one body, and as she gave a roar, so did the bike as they tore off.  She gripped the handlebars and foot pedals only by reflex, the machine truly working at the speed of her thought, driving almost stupid easy as she weaved in and out of traffic.  In fact, had they been more careless, a KE patrol might have taken them in for reckless driving...if they could have caught up to them...

Over the few days of adjustment, though, Arc kept mostly to her small projects: practicing skills she learned and wish she knew while making those lag-awful sensors and such, making calls to acquire a small set of drones to play with, and tinkering with ideas to work on her new arm.  It was inevitable that the human was to look at its design, and noted that it had plenty of space and compatibility to customize.  Yelena would meet Hrock a couple days later, an older, slightly hefty but friendly ork, with a hearty laugh and a pat on the back not unlike some boisterous uncle.  The two of them were hard at work tinkering on some upgrades to the arm, but Arc kept tightlipped on all of it...some surprise or what not.

Yelena was focused on the coming job, that was for sure, but Arc had some learning and figuring to do to be ready for it.  But ready she would be.

[Csjarrat]

The hospital visit had perked Feathers up no end, and he began to feel a lot happier about the whole situation knowing that they'd survived and would make a reasonable recovery.
The upcoming job had its pros and cons, but if he was to make anything out of his crumbled and knackered life, he'd need the money to build up a pension pot, buy a place to see out his years and get a rainy day fund for future medical bills and the like.
Setting to the practicalities, he took the lease on the house, its garden and mostly private setting making it a perfect base for his magical needs and getting out of the cloying smog of the city.
It took a day or so to install his ritual circle in the garden and aspect it to his aura, but outside of his magical books and supplies, his meagre possessions barely filled a quarter of one room of the nicely appointed house.
He'd need to go shopping to get some curtains, pots + pans and something to eat and drink out of/off of. The bus service out here wasn't going to cut it and Lil' Mik hooked him up with a friend of a friend who was getting rid of a trials bike. He looked a bit ridiculous on it, given his advanced age, but Feathers soon found it was great for scrambling up country tracks to explore the countryside.
Once he was feeling at home and able to drink tea from a proper mug instead of a plastic beaker, Feathers set to a great ritual undertaking, one he'd meant to have undertaken years ago.
He felt infused with magical energy, riding high from the momentum of the past week and finally sensing an escape from the circumstances that had blighted his recent years.
Channelling it into form was a tough undertaking, and most of the Sunday was taken up with meditation, preparing the ritual and sealing it to formalise the bond between him and his ally spirit; Johannes.
Johannes was an air spirit, able to materialise in the physical realm in the form of Feather's mentor, an eagle. It's brilliant wingspan shimmered and glowed at full extension, belying its unnatural astral origin.
The bond sealed, Feathers and Johannes rested and studied, preparing for what was to come.

[Csjarrat]

Merlin's plea for training troubled Feathers somewhat. He'd told him that he could only really train him the way that Feathers himself had been trained, as a student of the druid circle.
It hadn't dampened his spirits at all, it seemed Merlin was hungry for any kind of training he could get. In the end, his conscience got in the way and realised that talent wasted was of detriment to everyone involved. The kiss of magic was rare enough that anyone it touched should receive at least some kind of education, to maximise its use for good. Heart won out over head, the belief that Merlin wanted to draw his power for altruistic benefit and personal development and not for a weapon or as part of the gang warfare that dominated his life.
He'd put off the first session until after the move. He wanted to get Merlin away from the town, away from the slums so that he could see magic's use in the world, see how the druids nurture nature and push back the fouling of the land that the sprawls created. More than that, he wanted to show the street urchin that life existed in such a pure and beautiful array of forms once you knew where to look for it.
The meeting with Sam was productive, he'd been convinced to do worse jobs and now he'd splurged the cash on a couple months' rent, he'd need some regular income if he wasn't going to fall back into the gutter.
Ending the meet with a handshake, he sent a message to the crew and let them know he was on board

[ismilealot]

Thank you for a great run gentlemen. Lullabye & Goodnight is now concluded.