[gilga]

At his poor physical condition, there was so much Mr. Anderson could physically enjoy sex. He was so fat, and his cardio was poor, his cock was buried under layers on layers of fat. Yet, sex is not only physical, it is also a mental connection and the stimuli from having two sexy woman with real attraction and passion at least toward each other climaxing together shivering and moaning while pressed on his huge naked body. It was as good as close to the real thing as he could enjoy.  Afterwards, the two begun to focus only on him. exciting and pleasuring him covering his body with kisses and pressing their body onto his own. It was not long before Mr. Anderson felt overwhelmed and Marta's knew that he was climaxing. From what she could tell, the length  and intensity of that orgasm, along with the soft barely suppressible "oh god oh god", moans left no doubt that it was a good one. Mr. Anderson seemed so excited, Marta felt that it was the best one he had in a while.

If there was any perk, in sleeping in a man like Mr. Anderson is that his body could just not take much more of this kind of pleasure. Mr Anderson was exhausted and Marta could tell that he will soon fall asleep. To make it more comfortable for him, she snuggled with him and softly stroked his hair. Ginny intuitively snuggled with Anderson as well and just watched Marta. It only took several minutes before Anderson descended into a blissful and very calm sleep. 

 Marta felt that it was just enough excitement for that person, any more stimuli that night could definitely kill him from a heart attack. She hoped to continue with Ginny in a more private atmosphere, after all - this night was a first for her. She never shared before, and while Ginny made it a pleasant experience. Marta, would rather be focused on just one person. Orgies were not her thing, she was never attracted to them and there was something less authentic in them. As if the third person, makes the entire act a show or a competition.

Marta quietly dressed and signaled Ginny to do the same. The two quietly closed the door behind them and went down to the lobby. Marco's regular limo service already waited for them. That trusted limo was now going to take them to the apartment - perhaps for some awkward chat - but also it may be for even more vices. Marta could not anticipate how Ginny would feel and she felt dirty for drugging her into a night that Marta herself was uncomfortable with.

She never did anything quite like that night, she typically chose clients where where the chemistry is real and there is no need to fake physical attraction.  She cursed herself for being so ambitious, for crossing her own line and dragging an innocent with her. Sleeping with a man that was unaware - that her body was nothing but a spell - a spell that will be no more at sunrise.

That knowledge could make Anderson react very strongly, and Marta felt that it was unethical. She hoped that Mr. Anderson would never find out, afterall emotionally in some basic level she felt connected even to him. Hurting his feelings was the last thing she wanted, despite not being sexually attracted to him.

Other than that, Marco had is share of beatings from people overwhelmed by what he taught them about their very own sexuality. He would not normally seduce a person in female form, not if that person is unaware that it is just a costume. That was definitely a red line that was crossed.
Tossed away for the opportunity to move up in the world, away from the shadow and gain access to more influential people and the life style connecting with them could afford.
 
She opened the door for Ginny and took a spot next to her. Softly hugging her, and should Ginny be interested also kissing her.  She then said: “Are you feeling okay?... I did not plan for it to be like that. I planned to go alone with him, I really did but the temptation, it was too big. I am attracted to you so much.“

[SgtBoomCloud]

By the time Yelena had recognized that Arc had. returned to the garage, the. human was standing perfectly still, frozen with eyes unblinking at the images she had to bear witness to once again.  The graphic and macabre detail at which the enhanced images burned into her mind was almost unbearable...it was fortunate that the older elf shook her out of it with a hug and soothing words.  Following her instruction, the rigger girl brought her mind's eye to the people she cared about, her friends, family, mate...shaking her head out of it, she gave a sigh and let go of the Russian

"This is the drek you dealt with...?  Frag it, Srui, I couldn't imagine that even on the peeps I hate the most.  There seems no point to it..." Arc trailed off before rejoining the group, listening to the astral Jed's remarks.  "...control?  Now there's a thought...heh.  drek.  If that be the case, then the Noise and the change in look would be some kinda indicator...side effect that just so happens to be a giveaway, huh?"

Arc gave a pause as the confirming message from Rabbit coming in and announcing that she and her new "team" would be showing up arround 23:00.  Perfect.  " My recon help just told me they done checking out the place I need to blow up.  If she did it right, I'll have pictures and enough info to construct a layout of their setup.  I pull this off, I may be trusted with bigger jobs and better ops to get inside, drek like that.  Wiz?"

[Mercy Merchant]

Yelena nods at her friend's words.  "Yes Srui.  Is no point.  Tortured man say what want hear.  Most always is not true.  Man do this for fun.  Yelena never do that.  Yelena kill straight.  Kill clean.  No play first."  She hopes her friend never finds out about the people, the children, she left to die in the frozen winters after burning their homes.  Some of those images are burned into her mind and will never go away.  In those days she was so full of anger, so full of hate towards humankind.  She had transferred everything done to her and the other UGE children to all humans and killed without remorse, without mercy.  Men, women, children......it mattered not at the time.  But it does matter.  Those are the souls that drag at her and torture her sleep; the souls that will not go away and refuse to let her die because they have not finished punishing her.  Mentally shaking these thoughts from her mind, she adds, "Yes.  Yelena see much like this.  Yelena live through when child.  See same done other children.  Just because UGE.  Done for science.  Much evil in world."

Yelena lets her friend go, but watches her.  Satisfied for the moment that Arc is not going to lose it here, she listens to the overall conversation.  When Arc mentions her recon team, Yelena asks, "Arc want backup?"

[Mercy Merchant]

Ginny's emotions are so raw that she can barely think.  The fat man is no longer the assured, educated scientist she had been talking to at dinner.  Now he was just a fat voyeur looking for sexual release.  She watches Marta and tries to follow her lead; touching and kissing and moaning as the other woman does.  She is relieved when it is apparent that the fat man has climaxed and even more so when he falls asleep.  She has been afraid that he would want to see more and right now she is not sure that there is more.  She feels a bit dirty.  No, she feels a lot dirty.  She wonders if this is how a prostitute feels after her first paying time.  Ginny has sunk pretty low and admits it.  Her life is pure drek right now.  Because of Horizon, she is blacklisted at every corp or university lab.  Frag, most hospitals would never touch her.  Without Marco/Marta she would have no food, no clothes, and no place to stay.  She owes her everything.  And looking at Marta watching her excites her in a way nothing ever has before.

Ginny is silent in the elevator.  Nothing has prepared her for this.  Sure, she has had crushes before, but love?  Never.  And she is in love with Marta.   Even now the only thing she wants is for Marta to take her right here in the elevator.  She leans over and begins kissing her to show her how she feels.  In a flash the passion between them explodes.  Ginny can barely pull away from her when the elevator door opens, and when they walk to the limo, she looks at Marta and says,  "I have never felt so alive, so desired, or so needed than when you were touching and kissing me.  I want more of that.  God, I need more of that.  Whatever I have to do to stay near you I will do..........."  Her voice trails off and she just looks at Marta.

[gilga]

"I have never felt so alive, so desired, or so needed than when you were touching and kissing me.  I want more of that.  God, I need more of that.  Whatever I have to do to stay near you I will do..........."

No alarm bells were raised as Marta was in the heat of the moment. She kissed Ginny and took her to her home. To share a shower, she enjoyed Ginny in the shower and then in her bed.
In fact the two girls enjoyed each other again and again until they were too exhausted to even move. A wonderful night that took Marta's body to the extreme and really tested how much pleasure it could take. A blissful exploration of uncharted land. Despite the awful start, the night turned up to be quite enjoyable. When she begun descending into sleep, her last thoughts were about waking up as Marco and how odd it will feel for Ginny to wake up so intimate with a naked body she knows nothing about, but that concern was for the morning and Marta fell a sleep snuggling Ginny, imagining that she was a real girl.

[Shaman_Yuri]

I feel so fragging inept.

Lexi doesn't mean it, I know, but around her I feel like I'm a baby just learning to walk.  Not surprisingly with her in the lead, we make it back to my place uneventfully.  Still, I thought I at least knew the area immediately around the decrepit old (and misnamed)  "Comfort Inn" like the back of my hand.

Wrong.

Ah well. Everyone has their strengths, I suppose.

I ask my two friends, no teammates, to hang outside while I dive in and grab my deck.  Jenna is a good person, mind you, but she's a bit particular about her space.  After Lexi spent a particularly rainy and miserable night in our place, despite cleaning up and sleeping in my futon, Jenna had made it clear that the room was big enough for two people - no more.  On top of that, we split the rent 50/50 and that wouldn't be fair if I had people over.  Given I can't afford any more nuyen of expenses, that logic was pretty solid.  In the interests of a peaceful home, it was best the kids stay outside.

I needn't have worried.  The only indication that my script kiddie roomie had jacked out at all during my absence was the level of water in the bottle next to her pillow.  As usual for both of us, she was jacked in far more than out.  Given the grim reality of our meat world situation, who wouldn't rather be on the glitzy net?  I'm certainly am not about to point any fingers.

But for better or worse, I now had a friend.  No, make that two friends.  They'd stuck their necks out for me over the past month.  Not only do I owe them, but honestly, do I want to spend the rest of my life rotting away, slaving for the Yak with no prospects for anything more?  No life?

No revenge?

No, I WILL get revenge.

More than I had imagined a few hours ago, Lexi is offering me the potential for something George and his Yak friends aren't expecting.  Another source of income.  Something that might finally put a dent in the principle of that acursed loan.  Once I can get out of that noose, I can live for myself again.

Make that live for myself for the first time in my life.

And to meet REAL shadowrunners.  In Seattle.  Like in all the books I read to kill time here or there back home.  There are benefits to being a speed reader! 

I've always known in my head that the reality must certainly not be anything like the authors make it out.  But it's always seemed so cool anyway.  To live according to your own rules and code of honor.  To stick it in the eye of corrupt governments and do the work the Corp needs doing but wants done quietly.  To right all the injustices along the way.  People like Dodger and and Sally.

Far more exciting than the reality of being a highly secured resource of Renraku carefully protected deep inside the arcology.  Those stories and the larger than life characters gave me a glimpse of the world outside the arcology.  A world I wanted to see for myself.

Well, I'm seeing it myself now and have learned it isn't what I imagined.  Now I'm about to meet REAL shadowrunners.  I wonder what they'll be like?

Leaving Jenna snuggled with her bear and deck, I slip out again and lock the door before following Lexi and Bootstrap again into the deepening night.  We go in a different direction than before and I quickly become turned around.  I wouldn't be able to get back if my life depended on it.  Hmmm, maybe not the best imagery...

After forty seven minutes of scampering from shadow to shadow we arrive at what Lexi claims is the destination.  Looking at it from across the street, it doesn't look like much.  A two-bay mechanic's garage with an adjoining single-bed, single-bath apartment on a side street.  Redmond Barrens through and through, although luxurious compared to my place.  Still, this is the home of some high roller runner called Arc.  Someone who according to the story Lexi extolled as we skittered through the Barrens killed a Master Blood Mage and his entire brood of spirits.  And I'm just some two-bit kid who managed to have her parents killed out from under her when she wasn't paying attention.  Subaru no baka!  Baka, baka, baka!

Totally at a loss for something to say for perhaps the first time in my life, I follow meekly behind Lexi and Bootstrap, wondering just what I'll see when that door opens...

[SgtBoomCloud]

Arc blinked, looking over at Yelena and giving a slow nod after some pause, her small smile returning as she responded, stifling a yawn as she did so.  "Wouldn't have it any other way.  It's Rabbit and whatever crew she picked up to do what I asked her to.  Took to calling me Metlgrl, believe it or not.  Frag, thought I was street...anyhow, we got a couple hours, so..."  Turning to Blake, the rigger crossed her arms under her chest and eyed the ork quizzically.

"So there you go.  That's mostly what we are doing to work our way inside now, scraping what we can off their jobs to get by.  Y'all seem to have another piece of the puzzle, so what do we need to do atop this?  Info we need that we can get workin?  I'm listening..."  and Arc did so, listening to the ork share his info and taking note of his suggestions, resuming her seat and not breaking eye contact.  The time seemed to slip by for her, and before she knew it, Blake, Jed, and Ambrose had departed the garage, leaving Yelena and Arc alone with a pot of soycaf...which the human promptly served a cup of for herself.  "Frag me, this the only thing keeping me up right now..."

[spoiler]A note...the meetup scene can continue, and future posts by me will have a header indicating which portions are pertinent to that meet![/spoiler]

[Around 23:00, Thurs. Dec. 09, 2075, Arc's Garage, Redmond, Seattle]

The silence of the garage was disturbed by the rather abrupt tap tapping against the garage door, snapping Arc to quick alertness, a hand instinctively darting to the Ares Predator aligned at the small of her back.  After the reaction, the girl's awareness recognized the tapping pattern, sounding not unlike a small animal scurring against the sheeted metal door.  "Rabbit..."  She said simply to Yelena, signalling that it was safe.  "Stay here or be lookout, your call Srui, but I think we cool."  Stepping up, the rigger reached out and unlatched the door, hitting the ARO to undo the electronic lock, and then with a grunt and a pull, lifted the door, the clanging against the railings breaking the silence as the light from the garage illuminated the surrounds and revealed the persons on either side to each other.

Whatever image the teen known as Firefly had for runners burned into her head, what stood before her was likely not what she was expecting.  Under the door stood a young human woman, the shape of her face and the way she carried herself denoting someone who was likely fresh into their early twenties.  But that was the only indicator of age as she let go of the door after ushering them in, letting it clang back shut, the light of the lamps now properly showing her form and visage.   The first likely thing of note, besides being human (obviously), was that this "high-roller runner" was a full inch shorter than the young decker, with a stout, fuller body that by any estimate likely outweighed her by a good 14 kilos.  This Arc was dressed rather plainly, wearing a pair of work boots, jeans that showed signs of wear and tattering, and a stained tanktop to keep herself decent.  Her hair was, in the most polite terms, very unkempt, bordering the line of being a total mess of brown locks reaching just past her shoulders.  After the initial look, the next parts of her became obvious: her eyes were a very vibrant iridescent green, almost too much to be natural, indicative of cybernetic eyes.  The base of her skull showed signs of implantation as well, a close look showing too much circuitwork to be a mere jack...a rig, more like it.  But most obvious was her right arm...from the collar joint on, her entire arm was replaced with a cybernetic graft, the sleek chromelike metal moving with a fluid grace much like a real arm, the parts articulating with each movement as she brought them to the seating that was set up, a space heater keeping the chill off along with the pot of soycaf.

Arc took a moment to take in the trio that had arrived.  Rabbit she knew...scrawny, mousey, young, but full of zeal and eagerness to do her thing.  She had no qualms against helping herself to a cup of the hot liquid.  Bootstrap was new, but the rigger could recall mention of him.  He seemed very polite, reserved, almost a total opposite of Rabbit in that respect.  And then Firefly, the oldest seeming of the three, hard to tell with the obscuring clothes, but definitely still scrawny.  A trio of street kids like I was.  Man....hope this is the smart call getting them into this...  Sitting back on the couch, the human girl scratched her head and gave a little smirk.  "Aight...wiz bang on doing this op, Rabbit, ya'll know I'd have a fraggin' null time tryna do my drek widdout some hopscotch lookpeek.  Lemme see what you got, maybe we can work sumthin up, wiz?"  Arc realized that she had slipped into her old street slang without thinking about it, blinking twice.  Must be getting responsible now...talking like a real person more...

[Mercy Merchant]

Yelena responds to the knocking by standing and moving behind a counter.  When Arc opens the door to reveal the street teens, Yelena relaxes.  A bit.  She recognizes Rabbit, but the other two are strangers.  However, she intuitively feels that if Rabbit brought them they are alright.  Yelena moves around the work bench to meet the trio, acknowledging Rabbit and nodding at the others.  Her broken English is very heavily accented with something foreign.  Ukranian or Russian maybe?  "Hello.  Am Rzrgrl.  Who are?"

The kids see a female Elf of 5'9" and about 170#.  Her eyes are a bright violet and the nearly waist length snow white hair is caught up in a long braid hanging down her front from over the left shoulder.  She is wearing jeans of a dark hue and a sleeveless shirt with several buttons undone.  Her bare arms and what they can see of her chest have a lot of ink.  Most of the tats are unfamiliar, or should be, to the teens, but who knows these days?  A thin cigar/cigarette with a long ash is between her lips and is likely the source of the acrid odor that is able to overcome the smell of oil and grease in this part of the working garage.  A large pistol is holstered at her right hip.  All in all, she might have the stereotypical shadowrunner look down pat.

[ismilealot]

@ Arc & Yelena Blake answers, "I don't know all of Stewart's plan. What I do know is that he's had me at the law offices of a firm called Webster, Webster, Otiluk and Cohen. He's been having me observe every detail of their behaviors and interactions and report them to him. He's planning on impersonating one of the partners so that he can get in there and find evidence of something, that something probably being ties to the club. But, there's bound to be more. With Stewart there was always more. I think if we can get the evidence of the club's involvement and use it to either shut it down or blackmail them into helping us shut the club down, I'll be satisfied. " He looks around at the group for any questions and says. "I don't see the guy that was doing the Stewart impersonation. Are you here as someone else I hope?" he pauses, "Because that was his job. To go in and as one of the partners and get access into everything." Looking around earnestly at each of them he continues, "And quite fankly if you're here and I can't recognize you, then I've got some hope we can still pull this off."

When Rabbits trio show up it's immediately enough to remind Arc how much she's grown and see just how far she's come. Rabbits and Bootstraps? first involuntary look is towards the 'caf. But there second is a quick darting look at their surroundings and looking to see who's there. The third one is dressed to hide, but, that long, thin cloak could easily trip her up when she ran, or get caught by pursuers and used to drag her back. She was definitely better fed than the other two. So she definitely had a home. Arc did a small movement with her head and eyes to let them know that drinking the caf was fine. More than that by Barrens etiquette would establish her as such a sucker she'd be a Squid. Rabbit got the first cup. So definitely the one in charge. Bootstrap got the second and then took it to a corner and faced where he could see everyone with one hand holding the 'caf and the other in his pocket. The third was looking around with an expression on her face like she'd never seen a garage before. Then Rabbit spoke up. "Warehouse big Mtlgurl. First floor, half floor, trap door." Her hands mime the layout as she speaks. "Cookpot,  half floor. Load and hoopspot first floor. Got computers, rigs maybe, half floor. Safe, trap door." Her pride in being able to get all this info is very much in evidence and she waits expectantly for your comments and questions.

[ismilealot]

(Prior to Subaru leaving for her apartment with Rabbit & Bootstrap.)

@ Subaru  When you left the warehouse Lexi engaged in the strangest ritual you'd ever seen. She slipped from shadow to shadow until she got to a spot about a quarter way around the warehouse and she bent down mimed goggles and then hopped into the shadow and was still. After three seconds she stepped out and continued that circuitous route to the next face of the warehouse and did it again, and then the next face. Only then she went deeper into the shadow and following her you hear a barely whispered, "Momma raised sneaky bunnies. Be sneakiest, stillest bunny ever!" You heard the crackle of a wrapper followed by. "Shhhh, shhhh, sneaky never heard!" and then she steps out and proceeds to take you to the Comfort Inn by no road at all whatsoever. But, not before you'd seen a scared little face peak out from behind a drain pipe at Lexi's retreating back.

[SgtBoomCloud]

With Blake:

Arc frowned a bit, the name of the firm sounding familiar.  "That drek checks out a least.  I believe a few of their mid level peeps got ties to that place..One a client, the other a former lawman or some drek.  Not gonna lie, details are fuzzy but there.  Hm...". In response to his question about the impersonator, Arc did not have to guess who he meant.  "Marco.  He wishes his hoop was here, but apparently his personal job or some drek like that came up. Wanna be the one that passes the info on, be my guest." .She crosses her arms again, looking off to the side.  Might need some convincing though.  So far we don't have any noted results, just losses, and on more than one time he's shown signs of wanting to bolt.  Good luck."

Later that Evening, with Rabbit and Co...

Signalling the ok to Yelena, Arc listened to the sneaky girl's explanation of the warehouse. instinctively activating the grid projector and pulling up a map she started to draw up based on the descriptions given.  Visual confirmation to ensure no confusion at least.  The human girl couldn't help but give a smirk...they did the job in the time she needed it, and likely enough to make this work.  so young...I ain't corrutpting them am I? Ehe.... Sighing, she brushed a stray lock from her eyes before speaking.

"So what I getting at there's three levels...The ground floor be where all the labor is, entry and exit.  Their works and their tech on the floor above it overlooking.  stop that, they got a safe where they important drek be.  Wiz.  Anything else you observing?  What kinda hoops we looking running this place?"

After a pause, Arc eyed the girl with the concealing clothes...seemed to be the most out of place of the trio.  "yas can sit down, yknow.  You part of this too."

[ismilealot]

For Ambrose  As Ambrose thinks about the meeting and about the ambitious plans to topple this gang he wonders, What the frag am I doing here? I've already been nearly killed in the parking lot. And if that Marco is to be believed they captured me and had me tied down ready for interrogation. The images of all those people that had been tortured were fresh in his minds eye. And they're about to step in without pay and try and themselves captured and tortured and killed just for an ideal!  Because they really think they can help? Idealist were the absolute worst possible teammates in Ambroses opinion. So sure they were going to come out ahead because they were on the side of right and didn't even make sure of payment just in case they got lucky. No way he was sticking around for this. He'd made Marco his drugs. If worst came to worst he still had the recipe and could cook his own and sell them. But, he was definitely out of here tonight, before their brand of stupid rubbed off on him. Ambrose hunted through the yacht with a fine toothed comb and found a few more stashes of the former Sam/John/Stewart. All told the cred was 50k. That plus the kits he'd used would set him up nicely somewhere else. Maybe Rio, he'd heard it was a place to make cred if you knew what you were about and weren't to fussy about the way you made it. Yeah, maybe Rio. He walked with the step of one moving quickly enough to cover ground without calling attention to himself. On second thought, he'd made the drugs, they did work, and he'd need more cred. He knew a few guys who'd give him a good price for them. Waste not, want not. He went back for the drugs and then left the yacht for good.

[ismilealot]

@ Marco  As you leave Dr. Anderson murmurs sleepy and sated, "You can leave your card. I'll recommend you to a few friends that come here regularly. Definitely worth the cred."

[ismilealot]

@ Arc. Blake answers, "I don't know all of Stewart's plan. What I do know is that he's had me at the law offices of a firm called Webster, Webster, Otiluk and Cohen. He's been having me observe every detail of their behaviors and interactions and report them to him. He's planning on impersonating one of the partners so that he can get in there and find evidence of something, that something probably being ties to the club. But, there's bound to be more. But, I'm saying that because with Stewart there was always more. I think if we can get the evidence of the club's involvement and use it to either shut it down or blackmail them into helping us shut the club down, I'll be satisfied. "

When Rabbits trio show up it's immediately enough to remind Arc how much she's grown and see just how far she's come. Rabbits and Bootstraps? first involuntary look is towards the 'caf. But there second is a quick darting look at their surroundings and looking to see who's there. The third one is dressed to hide, but, that long, thin cloak could easily trip her up when she ran, or get caught by pursuers and used to drag her back. She was definitely better fed than the other two. So she definitely had a home. Arc did a small movement with her head and eyes to let them know that drinking the caf was fine. More than that by Barrens etiquette would establish her as such a sucker she'd be a squid. Rabbit got the first cup. So definitely the one in charge. Bootstrap got the second and then took it to a corner and faced where he could see everyone with one hand doing the caf andthe other in his pocket. The third was looking around with an expression on her face like she'd never seen agarage before. Then Rabbit spoke up. "Warehouse big Mtlgurl. First floor, half floor, trap door." Her hands mime the layout as she speaks. "Cookpot,  half floor. Load and hoopspot first floor. Got computers, rigs maybe, half floor. Safe, trap door." Her pride in being able to get all this info is very much in evidence and she waits expectantly for your comments and questions.

[Shaman_Yuri]

So these are Shadowrunners, I think as I hang furtively behind my teammates.  Lexi seems in her element and this time I couldn't have been more relieved.  I know.  Me.  At a loss for words and terrified to make a peep.  The one who always knew she was the smartest person in the room wherever she went and made damned well sure everyone else knew it.  If my teachers could just see me now. 

Oh how far I have fallen.

Thanks to Lexi's sudden presence (who knew she could be so big in the light!), I was able to just hang back and watch.  I hadn't known what to expect, so it wasn't exactly that I was surprised or anything.  The leader, at least based on her manner of speaking, reminds me a lot of a female version of one of my grandfather's best friends in Constantinople, even down to the cyber arm.  Ahmd is a tinkerer.  Like grandfather, he's a professor- but of engineering instead of magic.  Ahmd's house is like a museum of tech - filled with gadgets and circuits stretching back over one hundred years.  To a geek like myself, it was a playground and Ahmd and I spent an entire day exploring and experimenting with any old piece of the collection that came to my attention

For all the similarities, though, this place was different.  Ahmd's house was filled with artifacts.  It had the same smell of oil and grease and ozone, but Ahmd wasn't terribly interested in practical applications.  He was looking back into the past.

This Metalgirl of Lexi's, Arc, clearly has her eyes forward.  For all the clutter, there is an order to it.  And not the order of the curator, but of the technician.  Everything here has a purpose.  I may not be sure what that purpose is, but maybe due to experience with tech I can just tell it does.  Although with some of it, I know very well what it's for.  Like her RCC rig.  From the looks of it and the drones I can see, all well loved.

I've never spent much thought to the real-world applications of a neural interface, but looking around I can imagine this Arc woman could teach me a thing or two.  Maybe she's in the market for an apprentice?

And what of the aloof elf woman standing off in her own space, I wonder.  I take care not to rest my eyes on her for any amount of time, but I feel like she knows exactly when i started pondering her and what is going through my mind.  It's unreal and more than a little creepy.  Thrilling, too.  Even more so when I slip for the barest fraction of a second into magesight.  Her aura is...harsh...dangerous.  Sharp as monofilament.

Now THIS is a Shadowrunner from the books, I muse.  She looks so cool standing over there.  I wonder how she became a runner?  What kind of life led her here?

"Yas can sit down, yknow.  You part of this too."

I jump at Arc's words as I realize all eyes are on me.  Subaru no baka! I intone inwardly for the infinite time.  I'd been off wool gathering and somehow the conversation had turned to me.  One again I thanks Allah for my perfect memory.  It takes me just a moment to review consciously everything that had been spoken since we arrived.  I look for a nearby surface and plant myself on it.

Lexi has already mentioned my 'mojo', I realize.  The fact that Bootstrap was invisible and able to peek inside some crates Lexi hadn't felt comfortable looking in.  I hadn't told her not to, so I can't be upset.  With my cat out of the bag, I may as well contribute to the conversation.

"Um," my nervous voice squeaks, sounding ditzy and stupid in my ears, "the place is null magic.  No Awakened presence or spells, but there are several large, cybered up people in there."

I then shut my mouth and look around for any signal that I'd already burned my bridges and should take my ignorant little ass out the door and into the night to wait for Lexi to get done.