[Shaman_Yuri]

When Minnie heard Athos contacting Bruno, she hoped it wasn't THAT Bruno.  Unfortunately her hopes were dashed when the beefy ork tough met them at the street corner Athos had directed in the short comm call.  With the passenger side seat up front taken by Artee, he opened the back door and dropped his bulk onto the bench seat beside a wide-eyed Nagisa, who had quickly moved as far over to Minnie's side behind Athos as she could.  Minnie knew that Nagisa didn't know Bruno's predilections; to her he was just an intimidating ork whom she didn't know.  Still, seeing her lover so anxious just compounded her own desire to "artfully rearrange" the bastard's anatomy.

We have a mission, Yulia reminded herself.  He's working for Athos and getting paid.  This is a Family job.  There's no way Bruno will mess that up for some tail.

Yulia's resolve was shaken when she caught Bruno's eyes stealing appreciative glances as Nagisa's bright red hair.  Nagisa must have felt the interest since she surreptitiously released her seatbelt which permitted her to slip even closer to Minnie.  Minnie didn't say anything, she just solidified her hold on the larger girl, ready to restrain her should they have an unexpected incident on the road. 

Or to respond appropriately if Bruno suffered from 'wandering hands'.

I think I'll have a little private talk with Bruno before Artos and I step in the warehouse...

[gilga]

Bruno was examining the gang in the car trying to figure out what's in store for him. "Name is Bruno, an enforcer and driver" He say, "I came as quickly as I could, Athos I will not let you down." He seems a bit nervous, either because he feels that this is his big chance, or because he remembers.

[Mercy Merchant]

Athos explains the plan to Bruno.  "Your part is to stay with the car and watch over Nagisa.  You drive the car if you need to get Nagisa out of here.  If things go south, you do not worry about the rest of us as your only responsibility is to get the trix wizard back to the safe house.  No rescues.  No heroics.  Just protect her and get her home if necessary.  If something happens to her and you are not yet dead, I am sure that Valentina will make you wish you were.  This is just act one of the play.  Act two will probably depend on part one, but in general we need to convince a couple of warehouse groups to tow the family line.  Act three is to eliminate some resistance from a small time gang that is being difficult.  We work the plan in order and we do it well.  Any questions?"

Athos notices Bruno's glances at the taller woman.  "And, Bruno?  You know how important Nagisa is to the Family, right?  It is just watching, protecting, and driving for this part of the plan.  You will get the opportunity to get a bit more physical later."

[Shaman_Yuri]

Minnie watches Bruno's response to Athos' instructions, watching for any sign that the man did not get exactly what his role must be and that Nagisa is not on the menu.  If she's not satisfied, she'll still have a "talk" with the ork before they enter the warehouse.  If his bulb appears to show some light, she'll let Athos have the last word.

[spoiler]Perception: 5d6t5: 1 [5d6t5=1, 2, 1, 6, 3]

I need to improve my perception ;-;[/spoiler]

As for herself, her place will be right beside Athos and she plans to give this mission, and her friend, her all.

[gilga]

Bruno seems a little offended. "Athos, I am a professional do not worry - you won't regret calling me.  I am serving the family for many years I know the consequences of failure"
 

To Nagisa, "Don't worry Nagisa, you will be safe with me." He sees how repulsed Nagisa is from him and he tries to break the ice "I'll be a gentleman -  the only situation where I will touch you is if somebody is shooting at you and I'll jump on you,  I know how to bodyguard" He tried to make it better but somehow, Nagisa does not seem to appreciate the image. "Oh... frag I said the wrong thing again. I'll just shut up." He looks frustrated.

@Minnie- Bruno appears to really want this gig to work. He was checking Nagisa a little bit but with her repulsed behavior he sort of lost interest. She is out of his league and he knows it. He did not get to stay alive for so many years by raping family assets, no his violence must be channeled to easier targets. On these targets, you know that he has no mercy at all. At least he didn't 8 years ago, when he was a young Orc and you were a little mouse.

[Mercy Merchant]

Athos checks with everyone to be sure that commlinks are set and that they all have the same time.  "OK.  Party time.  Artie, you go get set up somewhere.  Nagisa, keep us informed of anything in the trix.  Yulia, with me."  He leaves the car and opens the door for Minnie.  He removes the huge cannon from the shoulder holster and replaces it and does a quick pat down of his pockets to make sure the speed loaders are present then smooths the wrinkles from his executive suit before walking towards the warehouse and the meeting with the Yaks.  Bruno is leaning on the hood of the car and shakes his head.  "Never understood why you use that gun, omae.  You could easily get one that is easier to use and hide, and an automatic is so much better."

Athos laughs.  "This is the gun from hell.  I have stared down more punks that I did not have to kill with this thing.  And people know when it goes off.  Besides, Vito gave it to me years ago and it is part of my life."  He strokes the huge barrel and the rest can hear it talk back to him in a sexy voice.  "Systems on line, Mr. Big.  Full load and everything is in top working order."

Bruno give a loud laugh.  "I never get tired of listening to that thing talk to you.  Mr. Big."  Athos and Minnie can hear the Ork laughing as they walk away.

[gilga]

@all when you arrive at the Joke you are greeted by an old human with a sword, he has an ugly knife scar on his left cheek - and with the amazing medical technology you know that that this is more a statement than a medical condition. You can assume that his body is full of Yakuza tats, but as he is wearing a business suit most of them are not visible to you. He does have some visible tats on his neck though.

He is accompanied by an exquisite and delicate ginger elf lady, that is wearing some very provocative clothes. Your interest in her clothes is of course purely academic, but it is fascinating to grasp just how sophisticated her clothes are.  She is fully covered, but the fabric of most of her dress is so thin that it is completely invisible to the naked eye. If your brain managed to get passed her exposed skin you understand that her dress must cost a fortune. Since you can see almost all of her skin, you are a bit surprised to discover that she does not have a single tat.

They appear a bit surprised that Valentina did not come, and ask you to seat. The elven lady presents herself as Strawberry, and the old man presents himself as Noboru Ando. There are about thirty other people in the Joke, all in Yakuza colors. When you take a seat they all disappear, some leave for the second floor, other wait outside. There is now one of them for every one of you. Mr. Ando treats you some traditional Japanese tea and waits for you to speak. Strawberry, just seem to explore your physical appearance. She does not seem very interested in tea or in being polite and she feel comfortable even when staring.

[Mercy Merchant]

Athos tries to place these two in the hierarchy of the Yakuza.  Of course, that organization is a lot like the Mafia and even top people change. 

[spoiler]Knowledge of Yaks at meet: 8d6t5 2[/spoiler]

He keeps his eyes diplomatically off the nearly naked woman.  As a Troll, he does not let his mind wander to sex as much as some humans and Keebs, but he is not dead and can appreciate the beauty of the woman in front of him, and she is indeed beautiful.  He allows himself to compare her to Minnie and finds the Keeb to come up short in the looks department, although he has never seen her fully unclothed.  In the years that he escorted her to her clients, he has seen her dressed provocatively, but never naked.  He does note that the Elven woman is not tatted out as a Yak, so could be the personal property of Noburo Ando.  She might even be his personal eyes to either the mojo or trix world.

Athos presents his compliments to the older man.  He knows enough of the Yakuza traditions to bow appropriately.  "Dona Valentina was unavoidable delayed but understands the delicate nature of this transaction and has sent me to make the final arrangements.  Please accept my humble self as a replacement."

[Shaman_Yuri]

Minnie assumed her professional position two human paces behind and one to the left of Athos as they approach their hosts.  Minnie doesn't expect to say a word throughout the exchange.  Her role will be to watch and listen, and respond if needed.  Knowing they are certainly doing the same to them, Minnie carefully takes in her surroundings via astral sight, AR, and meatspace.

[spoiler]Assensing: 6d6t5: 2 [6d6t5=3, 1, 5, 4, 1, 6]
AR space: 3d6t5: 2 [3d6t5=6, 5, 1]
Perception: 5d6t5: 1 [5d6t5=2, 3, 2, 5, 1][/spoiler]

As far as the obvious, Minnie was rather impressed at the Elven lady's poise.  How she managed to remain so elegant in that outfit mystified the adept despite all her experience at playing the seduction game.  If things were different she wondered what things she could learn from the woman.  But it wasn't to be.  Tonight was business and she kept her focus on Athos and his negotiations.

[gilga]

@Minnie There is a powerful jammer and you cannot sense the matrix at all. You might have noticed that your comlink stopped functioning even before entering the Joke. In the physical world you do not notice everything out of the ordinary. You did notice  a small closed sign on the door of the Joke and you can imagine that the Yaks would not let anyone disturb you.

Things change when you look into the astral, Mr. Ando is mundane and you do not sense any augmentations on him.  When you look at Strawberry you can sense that she is awakened. Her aura is bright and the play of color is quite unusual, you will definitely recognize her Aura if you see it again. Her provocative dress is actually a focus, but you are not sure about its exact function. You are also very surprised to learn that a spirit posses your business suit.

As you examine her in the astral, Strawberry contact you, apparently she was looking into the astral before you did. Regardless of what Strawberry is actually saying, her voice is like music to your ears. You find it difficult to suppress erotic thoughts about her. Even the most mundane conversation becomes seductive in your mind.  On the other side,  her voice comforts you and you can sense that some of the anxiety is taken away from you.

She 'speaks' and only Minnie can hear her words “Young lady,  I have been watching you for quite some time now. There is something about you that causes me tremendous pain, I find you fascinating never the less. Why do you suffer young one?”

[spoiler]
Mechanically, communicating with Strawberry somehow seduces you, you resist her seduction with con + charisma. If you are seduced you are free to act as you want, this is no mind control. However, your character feels a strong desire toward Strawberry.  Since the conversation itself is not seductive in nature, you suspect that she cannot quite control it.   
seduce Minnie: 13d6t5 4
[/spoiler] 

@Athos
Your knowledge of the Yakuza tells you that Mr. Ando controls one of 3 major Yakuza groups in Seattle and that he held this position of power for the last 20 years. The scar on his left cheek is a mark of shame for breaking the Yakuza’s code of honor. It is also a mark of mercy, after doing the nasty, he came clean about his crime and placed his fate in his superior - that decided to spare his life. 

It is a known fact that his crime was common burglary trying to pressure a business to accept Yakuza protection.  The Yakuza’s have tremendous respect to the law of the state - they do not perform common crimes. They are similar to the Mafia in the sense that they struggle to run their domains without violence, in a the lawless Barrens the Yakuza are the closest thing to police.

Mr. Ando say “You can tell donna Valentina that it is not polite to make this kind of last minute swap and that Mr. Ando was deeply disappointed.”

After a short and awkward silence Mr. Ando continues
“I respect your boss and I will therefore deal with you.
Before we start, there is something that I need to explain before we get technical. First, as you can notice Strawberry is not one of us we, she will never be. I brought her here because you need to understand something.  Strawberry is attached to this place, it is her domain. She somehow senses every living creature in this domain. Us Yakuza and Mafia may struggle over power and dominance but Strawberry feels this place with her emotions.
 
I am willing to agree to let the Mafia establish a foothold here but Strawberry and her entire domain must remain under my own protection. That means that if you violate her rules, you will have problems with the Yakuza.  Even if you do it in your side of the street. “
He pauses trying to gauge your reaction to what he said.  Athos, you can feel that Strawberry wanted to add something -perhaps to explain but she stopped herself. In fact, other than saying her name she said nothing at all.

[Shaman_Yuri]

[spoiler]Resist seduction: Con 5 + Seduction specialization 2 + Charisma 5: ]12d6t5: 5 [12d6t5=1, 3, 2, 6, 5, 1, 3, 5, 6, 4, 6, 1][/spoiler]

Minnie isn't exactly surprised to see that Strawberry is awakened, nor is she necessarily surprised to not be able to figure out just what she is or what her focus does.  She's young, after all, and rarely got out to see the world.  She notes what she's seeing in the back of her mind for further research later.  While she feels Strawberry's allure, for her it is more professional.  She watches the woman in both real and astral space to learn the woman's moves. 

You never know when such skills might come in handy.

She does watch for Athos and his reaction to Strawberry, doing her best to ensure her male friend isn't unduly influenced by Strawberry's charms.

What does surprise her is the spirit possessing her suit.  Having a strange spirit so intimate with her is distressing to say the least.  She examines the creature in more detail even as she responds to Strawberry.

[spoiler]Assensing Spirit in suit: 6d6t5: 3 [6d6t5=6, 6, 4, 4, 6, 3][/spoiler]

Minnie works hard to keep her physical and astral reactions neutral.  This is business, after all, and she's supposed to be just another of  Athos' holstered weapons rather than a player in these events.  Still, only she can respond to Strawberry in this manner so she tamps down her unease and engages the enigmatic woman in conversation.

"The world isn't exactly a nice place, Miss Strawberry," Minnie responds deferentially in words although she looks the woman in the eye as she speaks. Just how long has she been watching me, she wonders.  "By the end of the day, little mice are fortunate enough to have food in their belly, a safe place to sleep, and the prospect for nothing more tomorrow."  Minnie pauses just a moment to gesture to Athos with the barest twitch of her head.  "Now as much as I would love to discuss Nietzsche with you or share professional stories, I'm just a bodyguard tonight.  It'll be best for both of us if you ignore me and give your attention to my employer."

[spoiler]Note that, while Minnie has a logic of 2, one of her knowledge skills is modern and postmodern romantic literature, hence the Nietzsche reference. :-)[/spoiler]

[gilga]

@Minnie you can sense that the spirit in your suit is a fire spirit. Its magic is weaker than your own. Strawberry corrects you, “It is simply Strawberry...  do not be alarmed little mouse.” You know that she refers to the spirit when she tells you “My dream of passion is just an extension of my compassion toward you, she will keep you safe. Your friend seems more durable and I respect him enough to try and keep him out of my mind as I do not want to affect his judgement”
She pauses and then adds.  “Why won't you share a story with me? I am awfully lonely in here.”


[spoiler]
If you know about magical traditions or metasapiants, you can roll a knowledge check.
[/spoiler]

[Mercy Merchant]

Athos concentrates his attention on the elder Yakuza leader.  He bows his head slightly.  "I will carry the words of your disappointment to Dona Valentina personally.  She did impress upon me that she was distressed to not be here tonight and that my honor is in jeopardy if I insult you or fail her."  After a short pause, Athos continues, The goals of the Yakuza and the Family are not so far apart, Ando-san.  We both desire structure and calm in our respective territories.  The Family respects that the Yakuza keeps peace within its domains, much as we do in ours.  Unfortunately, there are times when young hot heads feel the need to flex their muscles and create problems that can spill over and create larger problems, some times even crossing borders.  The Barrens is one such place where this seems to happen more frequently."

"Dona Valentina is interested in extending the Family's protection to territory that is not yet firmly in the control of either the Yakuza or us.  At the same time, she is interested in establishing a common place that is both Yakuza and Family and this warehouse can serve that purpose.  With proper care and preparation, the building can act as neutral ground where our representatives may meet to work out differences before they become problems."

Athos shifts his attention to the beautiful woman at Ando's side and bows to her as well before turning back to the man.  "As far as rules go, I am sure that we can agree to those terms, but I would need to know what they are before blindly agreeing."

[Shaman_Yuri]

“Why won't you share a story with me? I am awfully lonely in here.”

Minnie’s eyes twitch at the unexpected words.  Lonely? she wonders.  Why would she be lonely with people around.  Just who…what is she?

Strawberry is totally outside Minnie’s experience.  Almost all the young adept knows about her astral abilities she learned from Mouse.  No one in the Family who had been assigned to teach her to mask and bury her powers had done anything more than educate her how NOT to slip into astral sight.  Tony just hadn’t had the ability to help her.  Same with Athos.  Someday maybe the cat might…but that didn’t help her now.

Still, given the power of her allure, the mouse girl couldn’t argue with the idea of keeping this woman distracted from Athos.  Despite being a troll, Athos was a man and magically defenseless.  Strawberry was a handful even Minnie with all her experience could barely handle.  She knew herself to be in control of her passions yet despite that she could feel the space between her legs become slick and receptive.  It was a novelty for her – no one had ever been able to stimulate her without Minnie herself taking charge of her own arousal.  Not even Nagisa.

Her curiosity got the better of her and she bit the proffered hook.  “Why would someone like you be lonely?”

Even as she spoke the words, she somehow knew what the answer would be.  For the second time in her life, the first being Artee as an adept, Minnie felt real kinship.  She waited eagerly to find out if her suspicions were right.

[Jayde Moon]

The meet at the Downfall went as planned.  Roxxy was cordial and professional and Artie was impressed, despite the awkward appearance of the troll.  She handed her the mini-drone and explained the circumstances surrounding it, before asking if Roxxy could determine if it was just random happenstance, or some manner of threat to herself and others.  Determining the owner and checking any metadata on it should have been well within the realms of any competent decker.

Also, Roxxy seemed inclined to accept the offer of a more well paying job to provide a level of matrix overwatch for Athos's meet.  She relayed Athos offer of 5000 nuyen.  Roxxy nodded and let the cat adept know that she would likely be there.  If so, Artie would get a ping verifying.

With that, Artie left and caught up with Athos and Minnie, went over the plan, and then moved out to find her own way into the area.

A warehouse district offers a lot of play for someone with Artie's skills and she was able to quickly get a sense of how she might be able to move about the place without being seen.  Watchers and spirits would provide more of a problem, and Artie did not possess the ability to peek into the astral plane, like Minnie did, so she relied on keeping herself behind items that would provide a full visual obstacle to being spotted.

[spoiler]OOC: With her Sleeping Tiger, there is a -3 to perception rolls to spot her, in addition to any modifiers for darkness, etc.  That modifier does not apply to spirits, of course, just a standard perception for them.[/spoiler]

Once she had managed to find a good route, she moved through, not taking any unnecessary risks with more showy parkour maneuvers, just simple jumps and lifts to keep her where she needed to be.  As she did, she kept an eye out for any potential threats, not only to her friends, but to the meeting as a whole.

Watching everyone arrive, she renewed her vigilance, and also waited for a ping from Roxxy.