[Mercy Merchant]

Athos nods as he takes the sum in stride.  The cheek bussing was more of a surprise.  And more of a pleasure.  To a soldier in the family, this was tantamount to approval from the family boss.  Of course, failure carried a stiffer penalty, but the possible reward was much greater as well.

He rises as she does and follows her out of the room, sitting as instructed.  He is already going over the list of people he might trust to include in the mission.  Artie for sure, and Yulia, but he is thinking he needs at least one more.  Yulia is not waiting outside so he assumes that she was taken somewhere, but is unconcerned as yet.  Valentina had mentioned her and she would not have done so if the girl was in trouble.  He forces himself to overcome the awkwardness in the situation, instead looking around.

[Shaman_Yuri]

Minnie catches the tossed key from mid-air with her left hand and examines them curiously.  "You make it sound so easy," she says simply with a raised eyebrow, wondering just what kind of test this is.  Of everything Tony had shared these past 15 minutes,the fact she was being tested was the one thing she took at face value.  Everything else was subject to further notice.  She keeps alert for whatever would happen next.  She's a mouse - more literally than for most spirit mentored beings.  Like her totem, she adapts to her surroundings.  She would survive, thrive even, where greater creatures could not.  Embracing Mouse fully, she waits and watches for what would come next.

[gilga]

@Minnie, Tony stands up and look at you he pushes you to the cold white wall and passionately kisses you. You have never seen him so intense and passionate.  Actually he is so different than how you ever experienced him.
That kiss was not deductive, he did not teach you on the perfect kiss and how to just sense exactly what your partner wants.  This kiss is rough, intense and yet the technique is wrong in so many ways, it feels real to you, you feel that it overwhelms you.

When he next speak it is a soft whisper, and you can feel his emotions changed. It is no struggle but acceptance. His eyes are wet when he tells you
"It touches me that you struggle... You are brilliant to understand that you are being tested right now. But you know the code of honor of the family. Loyalty above all, loyalty to the family. I am no family!  I can never be, I just proved that to you. You see it wasn't just your own acceptance test, it was also my own. What I needed to do to pass is simply take you here have sex with you and say nothing about whats coming.

But when I looked at you,  I knew that I can spare you the worst experience of your life. I can spare you being raped, tortured and abused for days. I can finally do what I never could, protect you. All I needed to do is give you an opportunity to prove your own loyalty in some other way.  Truth be told, as much as I am loyal to the family -  I cannot bare the thought that you will be treated like that.

Go to Valentina, tell her that I warned you about the test and you will never have to sleep with anyone ever again. Your body will be your own, and you will serve the family with your other talents. I know you want it more than anything in the world, let me do what I feel right for once in my life.

Consider it my last gift for you. It kills me inside every time when I notice the marks of abuse on your delicate body. I can never live with myself if you die, or even if you live through this kind of torture - I know you will never be the same.  I will have to look at that darker version of you and know that I did that to you. I did that just because I feared for my life.

You feel that he can barely contain his passion. "Please leave before I make it harder for you." He whispers. He seems completely aware that it may be the last time that he sees you.

[gilga]

@Artie when the game is over  - the dealer approaches you and asks "Would you like a drink?"

@Athos: Valentina tells you seeing that you feel awkward. "Tony, is our best instructor she is in good hands in there."

[Shaman_Yuri]

Using full advantage of her immense strength and inhuman agility and reaction, speed not even Athos' damn pet cat could match, she pushes Tony away and slaps him across the face.  Her intent isn't to cause real damage, but she definitely wants to get his attention.

"Tony," she says softly as the sound of the 'smack' fades and a bright red welt starts to form on the man's cheek, "I'm not the brightest bulb on the shelf."  Her face is now hard, determined, and her voice rises with an edge to it Tony has never heard before "I know you must have sometimes wondered if you'd ever get me to learn a damned thing.  But I did learn.  You're the best the Family has for taking useless rocks and making them into gems. Either you're fucking with my head right now which means I pass because I saw through it, or you're telling the truth and the Family is about to lose a resource it can't afford to lose."  She reaches out to hold Tony's hand a moment, placing the key back in it.  "Whichever it is, I'm not leaving this room before you do."

[spoiler]If I needed to roll anything for my push and slap action, feel free to roll it for me.  I'm assuming with an agility of 7, a reaction of 8, an initiative of 12+4d6, an unarmed combat of 6 (13d6), and a strength of 5 that I should be able to pull it off.  If not, I'll mod my post.[/spoiler]

[gilga]

[spoiler]
You do not need to... Tony is augmented and not particularly agile. He is not a shadowrunner and is not skilled in any form of combat. (a point or two of pistols - but nothing that can endanger you) Physically you are superior to him in every possible aspect. There is really nothing he can do to you if you resist.[/spoiler]

"Look Yulia, I do not know if they will kill me or not.  Mafia are practical people - sometime they make exceptions. I am an instructor, a good one and I can read people from years of experience. My talent is mundane and common and even if I am the best. There are other good instructors. I have no illusions, the family can do without me.

Have no illusions about it, I did fail my loyalty test and I am completely at peace with it. In a way, I failed because of the very things that make me a good instructor. Because I am more loyal to my students than to anyone else.  Because after spending so many years shaping you, pushing you to be the best you possibly can, I care about you a lot.

You were never a rock, ever since you reached the family you were a diamond. Why do you think that the family took you in the first place? It was always your magical talent, even before you knew how to use it. The potential alone made you worth the investment.

It was shortsighted and plain stupid to whore you. I feared that it will kill you but it didn't. The thing is, even with magical potential - the vast majority never get to do anything useful with that potential. 
Your time between the sheets did more damage than it did good. These were lost years that we could spend in further training you. With better preparing you.  Nobody believed that you will actually get as far as you did. The family may never encounter a talent such as yours again.

As for me, if I have to take a risk to prevent this family for doing the most idiotic thing they ever did. I will do it now as I did before. Normally they give the test to agents and some die and some pass. But these people are easily replaced. If you die or if they brake you - there is no way to find another adept with similar capabilities. It will be a terrible mistake.

Remember the time when they wanted to make you a BTL slave? This family is notorious for taking real talent and burning it away.  Let me do it, I am at peace with my decision. You deserve this chance and I will never get to work with someone like you again."

He offers you the key I will wait Valentina's decision in here. There is no point in having some goons tag me in the middle of the night. I am not as agile as you, it is not like I can bolt out of the window and escape my judgement. At least let me truthful about my faliure - this is the only chance I have to keep my life. If you do not tell Valentina you will fail her test. I will tell her the truth, this is the only behavior that can spare me.

[Shaman_Yuri]

He really means it, she finally realized.  Maybe I really am a dim bulb.

She refuses to accept the key back, but her smile returns.  "You taught me that sometimes it is better to ask forgiveness than permission, as long as you were willing to live with the consequences.  Achieving the goals of the Family comes first, and sometimes it's better they don't know the details.  Believable deniability.  Sometimes you act and deal with the consequences later, but then that time comes you own up to it.  If you succeed, you get the credit.  If you don't...well you deal with it when it happens.  If what you're telling me is really true, and honestly right now you have me convinced that it is, then you best tell Dame Valentina yourself.  Neither of us will leave this room before the other, it seems."  Her eyes scan the walls around her and then return to gaze into Tony's face. 

"Well, unless we want to starve, there's only one option."  Her head gestures at the door.  "We walk out together.  You can report to Dame Valentina whatever you damn well want, and then I'll answer truthfully whatever she asks me.  If you really are disobeying, then use that pair I know you have to full advantage."  Her eyes dip down to his crotch and then back up with a mischievous grin.

[gilga]

@Minnie  But if I talk first to Donna Valentina you have shown no particular loyalty. I left you with no choice, but to confirm what i just said. It is better if it seems as if I tried to deceive her and you told her the truth. He gives you a naughty look and say Be gentle with me...  I can still feel the burn of your hand. You are stronger than you realize... That's good.

[Shaman_Yuri]

Definitely the dimmest bulb on the shelf, she chides herself as he slices past all her efforts to keep from betraying her teacher.  I never could hold a candle to him.

Defeated, she accepts the key with only slightly drooping ears.  Knowing decisiveness was to her advantage, she turns her gaze away from Tony without a backward glance and strides toward the door.  If he was still conning her, he deserved his win and she’d fail with grace.  If he was telling the truth, well it may not be the last time her path forward was paved with old friendships.  She’d best get used to it.

Taking a deep breath, she inserts the key, turns it, and opens the door…uncertain what she will find on the other side.

[gilga]

@Minnie Tony stays inside, from what you can tell he seems almost happy. He is proud of you when you take that key.  As you go outside you see that everyone have already left. Valentina and Athos are sitting near one of the tables and they seem to be waiting for you.

[Mercy Merchant]

Athos nods at Valentina's words but says nothing, waiting for his friend to emerge from the room.  When she does, he looks closely at her to see if she is OK.  She is doing the tail thing, which means she is disturbed, but she does not seem to have been physically abused.  He rises from his seat and waits for her.

[Jayde Moon]

"Would you like a drink?"

Artie turns to the dealer.  "Is this special attention or do you double as a cocktail waitress when you aren't pushing cards?"  She smiles and nods, "Though a drink would be wonderful."

Her eyes quickly cast about, marking exits and avenues, as well as checking to see if any security is heading her way.  She doubts there is anything to worry about, just the Dealer making sure nothing was awry, and so far as Artie was concerned, nothing was.

"I've been waiting for a friend and passing the time, didn't realize how thirsty I had gotten."

[gilga]

@Artie "No, I thought we'll just go to the bar... It is a slow hour and you seem... interesting. I am Bekki by the way." She goes to the bar seat with you, orders a rusty nail and waits for your own.

[Shaman_Yuri]

Minnie's confidence wavers as she sees Dame Valentina so soon upon exiting the room.  She recovers a bit when she sees Athos sitting relaxed nearby the older human.  Deciding no one can begrudge her a deep breath before approaching her defining moment, she takes in a deep breath through her nose and out through the mouth, centering herself.  Then, confidence restored, she approaches Dame Valentina and her fate.

[gilga]

Valentina looks at you and say "What's the matter dear, was Tony rough on you?"