[Duck N. Cover]

     “Just when I thought I'd seen everything,” Alyce grunted as he walked up to the troll kaf break.  “Aren't philosophical trolls some sign of somebody's Doomsday?”
     “I hope not,” Tuskaloosa groaned.  “But I'm only one troll, so does that make it void?”
     “A hair-splitter to boot. Take your time,” he added when the troll started to belt back her drink.  “An extra minute or two won't make a difference.”
     “What he means is what you've done so far has put us ahead of schedule and if he can squeeze more outta ya with rest breaks, then ya get down time.”
     He responded to Chesh's dig with a shrug.  “We didn't force this lug nut to come back, you know.  If she wants to work until she drops, I'll at least make sure she doesn't drop until we're done here.  Remember--”
     “My help is with the load out only—you guys will unpack on your own.  I understand.  Only...what happens now?”
     Alyce's brow furrowed.  “What do you mean?”
     “To this place.  Will you ever return to it?”
     “Probably not.”
     Ouch. “Sorry.”
     The diminutive gang leader crossed his arms over his chest.  “You're taking this worse than we are.  You can help or you can take your guilt trip elsewhere: pick one.”
    Guilt trip? “Shouldn't I be sorry though?  I'm part of the reason you're abandoning this place.”
     “Don't remind me.  Still,” he shrugged  “It's part of the business: we've shifted operations before for lesser reasons.”
     “Then why--?”
     “I didn't say No to coming back,  I said Probably Not: Lord knows who—or what—will set up shop before we consider the coast clear.”  He shook his head.  “We've seen that happen too...it's a nice place, but that's not enough to lose limbs or crew for.”
     Tuskaloosa understood.  It was why she had talked to Hroc about meeting the with a representative of the Howlers...to relocate... “So, how long would it be before you'd consider this place safe again?”
     “Hmm?”  Alyce and Chesh exchanged glances.
     “If things stay quiet for bout a month or so,” Chesh offered.
     “So, if some squatter were to immediately move in...then randomly move on in, say, about a month or so from now...”
     “Sounds rather fishy,”  Alyce muttered.   “And what does the squatter get out of an arrangement like that, do you suppose?”
    “Well, a free place to squat comes to mind.  Piece of mind, knowing who the previous tenants were...no worries about boobie traps, for instance--”
     Alyce held up a hand, then turned to the silent garage.  “Get back to work,”  he roared, then turned his back on the laughing and renewed activity.  “Step into my office, or these idiots will never get done.”

[ismilealot]

@ Marco  Cain is late. And when he comes in he looks around, looking hard at all the men with dark hair.

@ Arc Blake responds, >>Package is safely delivered and glad to hear things went smoothly at your end. You should have your Christmas presents by this afternoon.<<

@ Tuskaloosa  Alyce heads into his office, a small room to the side that was all glass on the garage side. But, when they entered the silence was immediate. Alyce sits down at his desk, a small gnome sized affair that allowed three desks to be crammed into the small space. And from seeming nowhere Hatter comes from behind Tuskaloosa and hopping onto his desk lays across it. looking for all the worlds like he's having the time of his life. Alyce turns to Tusks and says, "I've a few conditions. One, no wild parties without us. Two, said wild parties have at least three kegs. Three, clean-up after said wild parties is all on you.". He looks you dead in the eye as he's saying this, the expression on his face the same deadpan your father had when he'd given you your bike after you'd broken your leg. Then Hatter pipes up, "First wild party must have hats! I've always wanted a party with hats! The wilder the better."

[gilga]

Marco was Running again... all the way to the Krill and Chill. Running felt good - Marco was not good at it - not at all - but he was young and healthy.  Unlike in the monastery, in the city there were large spaces and he could just jog all he liked. It was fun and Marco felt a dash of freedom as there was nobody micro managing his time.  He thought "Why am I running? Sport ? Health? - no... I run because I can!." .

Despite his initial feelings, Marco was mildly turned on by the thought of three sexual and powerful ladies to entertain. It was not how they looked like - it was what they had - an illusion of power. Independent - perhaps it was the expirience Marco needed after Ginny. If for Marco's clients - a trip to the Barrens was sluming it - to Marco despite having no wealth it certainly felt like slumming it. The risk, the danger the feeling of potency for being able to approach these people and just speak his mind unarmed when they were sporting so many guns. “ It seems like I am drawn to power - and love pleasing people.” The fun thing about running is that after a few minutes Marco’s natural stamina was not enough to keep up this deep heavy thoughts and ten minutes in all he could think of was ‘breath in, breath out'...

Thirty minutes in was Marco's goal - the Krill and Chill and Marco felt like a victor when he entered. He pushed himself and ended the run. Despite being a cheap eatery - at least the food was not made out of soy.  To Marco, Soy food was a manifestation of everything evil in this world. "It is like Somebody took food stripped away every bit of passion from it until all that left was utility - all that left was processed soy..." Sure food processors saved time - but if Marco had more free time he'd simply cook more.  Krill and not soy, but it made little different as it was so heavily processed that the krill lost its own identity.

Marco ordered a drink and scouted the place for Cain,  when Cain was not found Marco took a table and enjoyed his drink.
Other people clearly thought that Krill was legitimate food they served there - but none of them seemed to actually treat the food. There was a family of five that did that at lunch - their conflicts and tensions were visible and the Krill seemed like their 'going out together' a choir to keep the family beast fed.  There was a nervous man - probably before some phone interview, he dined by himself and seemed to consume the food to get it over with. Then there was a teenager that was utterly and completely submerged in her com-link that she had no idea what it was that she was eating.  When Cain arrived Marco greeted him and said “I hope you are hungry, how do you feel ? Is everything alright?”

[ismilealot]

@ Marco  Cain looked relieved when Marco addressed him and slid into the booth. "Yeah, anytime I can get a good meal is a plus. I'll have the Ramen Road Kill with extra tofu and the extra spicy sauce." he says. "Glad you're finally meeting me. I've had a time keeping business going without product. You're lucky I know this business!"

[ismilealot]

@ Jed  Jed's comm rings with Mike's signal, and when he answers thankful that Snowden is busy repotting a Speckled Lizard Fern he finds Mike's got some good news for him. >>Hey, I've got some potentially good news for you. This last job I was on had me looking in a few places I don't normally visit. And there's a guy, names Enkidu, has a little place off of Fifty third by that old shoe warehouse. And he's a talismonger. Keeps the biz very much off the grid so he don't get trouble from nosy people. But, looks like a decent array of stuff. You know I don't know that side of the biz so you'd have to check it out. But, I know you been looking so I thought I'd let you know. Better than getting your wallet gouged out by the Keegans. Let me know when you want to drop by.<<

[SmilinIrish]

Marco, I will definitely help you understand spirits more.  We come from different backgrounds, so it might be a little like a fish teaching a bird to swim, but I'd love to spend the time with you.  Besides, I owe you right now, maybe this will balance the scales.  I'm actually planning to bind a spirit soon, so you can join me and maybe it can help you figure things out.  .

As Jed was finishing the message to Marco, a message from Arc popped up in his feed.  No problem Arc, I'm confident that I can affect it, we just won't know how much.

[spoiler]Adding to this post later, some IC stuff for Jed.  Wanted to get response to group up.[/spoiler]

[gilga]

@Marco texted Jed ">>There is only one magical tradition - the real one and the rest is bits and pieces of truth obscured by a ages of no utility that made everything odd. Call me when you do that - and I'll come to see what I can figure out."  Marco thought with frustration - "And I'll see nothing at all - because I am blind. This frustration was his common feeling, it was with Marco for so long - that Marco could not remember himself not frustrated about his blindness. A flaw that made acquiring magical skills very difficult for him. Marco however knew how to calm his mind, and he took a deep breath - allowing the pain of frustration to overwhelm him and then as he released the air he allowed the pain to leave his body. Marco's next thought was crystal clear Stay positive Marco, Bethoven could do wonderful music without hearing it. You can do magic without sensing it.... Marco have repeated this line like a mantra. This is how he acquired what little he knew and he got better at it, even without seeing. This time however, this old mantra made no sense at all.  Beethoven was not born deaf not at all - he gradually lost his hearing and was bitter from growing death, so bitter that he tried to end his own life. This is why he could do music, he had experience. 

Can I actually manipulate energies that I have never sensed? Does it make sense that I can shape a spell without looking at what I am doing? That I can reach out to the astral and find a spirit without being able to sense this world? Is it possible that I gradually lost my astral sight? My own stories makes little sense otherwise. I vividly remember Spirits telling me stories, comforting me when I was much younger - but I was not alone I had room mates. Is it possible that they ignored a supernatural entity? People find my spirits terrifying - how can that be? The only possible explanation was that the spirits did not manifest in the physical world, but how could I hear them if that was the case?  However, If I Could actually sense the astral -why did I lose my sight? "

A bit later with Cain Marco ordered a relatively minor abomination for himself. The name of the dish was 'a Dip from the Deep' and it was a rather tasty plate of finger food that felt apropriate to the conversation. Marco did not want anything that might get his clothes dirty.  Placing a bit of 'something' in an unidentified dip. Marco said "Thanks for not mentioning it, there were complication. I know nothing about cooking - and the cook took off I think he got paranoid. I am glad you know your trade, do you have any news about the other things ?"

[SmilinIrish]

Jed sees Marco's response and shakes his head.  Arrogant little prat.  No, young.  Just young.  Invincible, Infallible, and so very young.  He was going to have to open up his mind and adjust his view if he was going to fix his problem.  Jed had known a couple of Catholic Theurgists in his time, and their spirits usually manifested as angelic.  Marco calling them Daemons was unusual in Jed's experience.  Of course, he'd never known a Theurgist that grew up in a clandestine black ops training facility for the Vatican.  That should be enough to screw your view of the astral up all kinds of crazy. 


[spoiler]Gil, I think I know this.  Let me know if this is something I shouldn't know and I'll edit.  [/spoiler]

[Duck N. Cover]

    “Three-Keg minimum, two minute warning, first one has crazy hats.”  Tuskaloosa waited for a confirmation nod from Alyce before she continued.  “Who do I send party invites to?  Who might the local party crashers be?  Do kegs have to be different stuff, or would a Long-Island Tea Party be okay?”
     She turned to Hatter, but couldn't keep her own humor in check; she broke into a wide grin. “And what would you consider a wild hat?  Is solid material a must, or would AR be enough?  BYOH, or do the hats need to be supplied?  And if supplied, who gets what hat?  Decided by lottery?  Crowd approval?”

[SgtBoomCloud]

As the messages came back, she couldn't help but laugh as she set the flavpacks down after reading the messages.  "Smooth my hoop....if that op was smooth, then I'm a knife-eared model.  Frag"  Turning to lean her back against the counter, she rubbed her temples as she shot a reply to Jed.

<<@Jed: Wiz bang, omae.  Stop by my place in the evening, I'll bring ya up to speed or something?  Should be free anytime after 16:00, will let you know.>>

Satisfied with that, she opted to hold off on messaging Blake again for a bit....and before she could resume her pallid breakfast, she was distracted by the crinkle of another strand of breaking hair.  Frag this..  Shoving her bowl down the counter, she ambled off to the bathroom.  Flicking the light on, she took a double take at her reflection.  "...Jaime would barely recognize me, frag...who's this ugly slitch.."  Her shiner had faded a bit but as very much there, and the right side of her head looked rather crispy from the fireball blast.  Her arms had some bruising and scrapes to them, and she felt sore at her ribs.  "...frag it"

Scrabbling through the drawers under her sink, the human pulled out what she was looking for: a simple electric hair cutter.  Checking the battery, she wiped off a clear portion of mirror before firing it up.  The sharp buzzing of the cutter echoed from the bathroom as she brought the tool to the right side of her head, where all the dead hairs were.  She winced a bit as the hair fell away, cutting the right side of her her head fairly short, leaving little earlocks and ending just over two inches above the ear.  Much of her control rig circuitry showed through the new cut, but she gave a little smirk.  "Not a bad look...I might keep it.."  Sighing, she cleaned up the sink, throwing the hair in the trash as she hopped in the shower, finally cleaning off the results of the previous night's events.

She exited about ten minutes later, toweling her head off as she went back to her breakfast...

[ismilealot]

@ Cain "I've watched like a hawk." Cain answers. "Mostly just party-goers. Almost no deals in the parking lot. Staff a bit more reliable than most clubs around here and they take fewer smoke breaks. Way more supply shipments than usual with a club so business must be really booming and tips have gotta be way better than average for staff to be so loyal. Cain shovels food in as fast as he can while he's talking, and almost chokes on a bite at the end. But, as soon as he's done he orders the Seaweed Soulfood platter, trying not to look at you as he does so, and as soon as he's done ordering he turns and begins speaking again. "But, they have guards at the basement entrance for every single shipment, so, almost no chance for a simple thief to get in and that's way unfriendly-like. Totally out of the spirit of the game." He says indignantly. "They've got at least three major players calling the shots over there. Just based on their vehicles. Do you want me to describe them for you." at Marco's assent Cain describes them, but, it's definitely not his talent. The second dish comes as he's finishes up the description and Cain tucks quickly into it. "Do you have any more questions? Anything else you want I should tell you?"

@ Arc  Jaime calls you, >>Babe, I ain't trying to ride caboose on you or anything, but, I haven't heard from you and thought I'd call and let my Vruk know I missed her.<< His voice sounds worried and tired.

@ Tuskaloosa  Alyce can't hide his grin any longer, "AZ179-88RT2-K7L58 is the comm code of our dead drop. You can leave the message there. And any kind of keg is a good keg so your pleasure as to the choice." Hatter crows, "Hats, hats, hats! Crowds should have hats!" Alyce looks at Hatter sadly and smiles, "Yeah Hatter, there'll be lots of hats." He looks at you, a tired expression suddenly on his face. "You heard the man. Lots of hats." He pauses then and the adds. "And if the garage is still here in a month or so I'll put a certain squatter to work again.

[Mercy Merchant]

Yelena sits on the bed with Firefly and lets her talk, adding nothing except for nods and faint noises to indicate that she was listening.  There is a lot to take in and Yelena knows she will need to hear it again, but now is for Firefly to talk.  And it seems that the process of ordering things and talking about them acts as a sort of catharsis, something that can help heal the young decker mage.  And if that means that Yelena stays silent, then so be it.

Eventually the girl just falls asleep and Yelena stays next to her, brushing her hair and looking at the sweet face.  Firefly was forced into this life at a very early age, but has demonstrated the guts and resolve to be here.  Yelena sits back against the wall and begins to think of a life with Marco.  She has already allowed herself to reconsider that love might be real and that she might actually feel it again.  And she has every expectation that this time it will work out.  Marco has issues, but then so does Yelena.  And he has offered to help her, to give her something more than what she has now.  She falls asleep dreaming of a life with Marco, something that will last............

Yelena is so exhausted that she sleeps through Arc coming in to shave her head and take a shower, not waking until Firefly stirs.  She pulls the girl's hair off her face and asks how she slept.

[gilga]

Marco observes with astonishment as he is only half way through the dip and Cain already had seconds[color= blue]. "Poor thing is hungry... no other explanation." [/color] He thinks.
Then he say "tell me about the people the staff that takes 'smoke breaks' any of them nursing some darker habit?"  Marco intends to give Cain the chance to talk until he ordered enough. Another question that Marco has  is "and what about the suppliers? any pattern or familiar face there? "

[SgtBoomCloud]

Arc toweled herself off as she exited the shower, her body feeling refreshed and (relatively) clean after everything that went down.  Checking herself in the mirror, she adjusted her hair to fit her new style, letting the locks flow to the one side of her head.  The circuitry of her rig accented well with her cybereyes, prompting her to give a little smirk as she wrapped the towel about herself.  Picking up her clothes, she crept into the bedroom and spotted her missing friends...fast asleep against each other.  She cracked a little smile as she made her moves quiet, stowing her dirty and or ruined clothes away and grabbing a clean shirt and pair of jeans to dress herself.

It was as she was leaving as the commcall came in, the image of a tired Jaime coming into her view.

@ Arc  Jaime calls you, >>Babe, I ain't trying to ride caboose on you or anything, but, I haven't heard from you and thought I'd call and let my Vruk know I missed her.<< His voice sounds worried and tired.

Her eyes widened a bit as her cheeks got a little flushed.  Answering, she brought up her image to him, allowing him to see her new hairstyle, able to conceal a bit of her shiner.  Flashing a little smile, she leaned back against the counter as she cleared her throat, forming her words quick before she responded.

"Hey, good morning babe.  Yeah, I'm sorry I didn't call you.  You know I was working late last night, and things just got kinda crazy.  Barely made it home before I crashed for the night.  I miss you too."  She paused a bit, looking to the side as she bit her lip.  "I'm fine though, your Vruk is fine.  Good news is that this job is just about done.  I've a meeting with Brotherton today, but I'll be over tonight?  Maybe I take care of dinner?"

She kept up this conversation as she finished prepping her breakfast, making a couple extra servings for the others, using up the remains of her cinnamon and sugar packs to sweeten the meal.

[ismilealot]

@ Marco  Cain answers, "Yeah, all of them have habits. It's just kinda the way those clubs work ya' know." He says as he continues to quickly shovel food in his mouth. "You outta try this. They do it real good here." he tells you as he eats. Although how he can taste it as quickly as he's swallowing is a mystery. "Anyways, they work with all of the major restaurant food suppliers. But, they also have a company called 'OK Transports' that comes twice a week. That stuff is in large crates and goes in an out on a palette loader." He finishes his meal and says, "I can watch fer 'nother week fer ya iffn' ya want." He looks at you expectantly.

@ Arc  Jaime looks relieved, >>Hey, love the look babe. Glad your project is almost done. I'll see you tonight. Call me if you can't do dinner. I'll pick something up. And Henry said if we could come by tomorrow night it'd be great. He's got some new ideas he'd like to try out on your interface.<<