[gilga]

@Minnie Nagisa say"Yulia, I do not know about these things I only met her right now, but I know you for a long while. There is something different about you, you talk like you wouldn't talk previous week.  Your eyes completely lights up when you talk about her. I have never seen you so alive. It makes me suspicious as I have no idea what happened to you, are you in love with her?"

[Shaman_Yuri]

"Love?!"

The word is blurted out of my stunned mouth.  I then pause to think since Nagisa's look clearly expects a rational answer not just a reflexive denial.

Do I even know what love is?

"I...I don't know..." I admit dumbly.  "I look up to her and want to be like her someday.  I want to learn all I can from her because she's so amazing."  I stop a moment, then finish.  "I think of spending the rest of my life with you as my best friend, Nagi.  When I think of Strawberry I imagine her as a teacher, someone who can make me something I'm not but can be.  She's a little bit like I imagine a mother might be...one who doesn't abandon her kid as inconvenient."  I know my words are confused and my thoughts are a jumble.  I try to wrap things up with a coherent question.  "Is love the same thing as admiration?"

[gilga]

@Minnie  "Beats me" said Nagisa, "what do I know about love my entire life were micro managed even who I sleep with had a discussion about it. Do you think that I could just see a sexy girl and desire her? ask her out? I could barely have you " She sighs "I am not saying that to give you the questioning. I am trying to make you understand that you are very emotional about her.

A mother? this is some strong bond a true mentor is also a very intimate connection.  Perhaps you are too emotional to see the obvious: Strawberry has us both in her pocket now."

She is very confused when you refer to Strawberry as a mother and a teacher and her confusion reminds you again that the two of you treat sex in a completely different manner. Nagisa simply cannot understand how you can sleep with someone, enjoy yourself and then describe her with these words.

[Shaman_Yuri]

Dammit, she's right.

And I hate it.

Except in matters of the sheets, she's always right.  Sometimes it's easy to resent her...like now.

But when I've ignored her advice I've usually lived to regret it.  Now that I'm out in the world, I might not get to live to regret it anymore.

"I wish I could argue with you.  I so want to deny it.  But you're right that I don't know her well enough for what I'm looking to her for."  I had been sitting up and looking eye to eye with my friend, but now my defiance fades and I let me body drop down to lay my head on her tummy, just before her bust.  It's a very common position for us when she's comforting me.  She says it is comforting for her to since she's always to 'alpha' in our relationship.  My hands make right arm hugs up against me as my left hand draws senseless patterns on her thigh.  My tail, imp that it is, wraps around us and tickles her side.  The same action i used to such great effect with Strawberry not long ago.

"Nagi, I'd be lost without you.  You know that, right?"

[gilga]

@Minnie Nagisa's hand are stroking your head, and are delicately playing over your neck. “It is not like there is something to do about it tonight...” She say you can hear the smile on her face as she say that.  If any, she seems to really enjoy stroking your hair, and exciting your ears. You know that she is comfortable, when her hands begin exploring the sides of your tummy and tickle you a little bit. “You are my best friend in the entire world.” She say.  In a non verbal way, her stroking and tickling you is some sort of a peace offering. She does not want to fight, she does not want to be right. All she wants is to be safe, protected and close to you. Just like that dream.

[Mercy Merchant]

Athos takes advantage of the drone's hesitation to smash his shackles against the metal door to try to break free.

[spoiler]Try to break shackles with edge: 16d6t5 3  Use the edge to reroll misses  Roll edge for misses: 13d6t5 6  So 9 hits  The restraint gets its dodge then soaks 10P + net hits.[/spoiler]

He hears the sound of the shackles breaking and brings his arms to his front while reaching over to grab the grenade from the drone.  One never knows when a grenade will come in handy.

For a Troll, Athos is a bit slow on the uptake.  He checks the door to see if the power outage popped the lock and he can just walk out.

[gilga]

@Athos The door is locked, it is protected by both a mag lock that stopped working and a backup mechanical lock that still works. This means that you do not expect any significant consequences from breaking the door.

[Shaman_Yuri]

It's been a long day and Nagi and I fall asleep in each other's arms. Strawberry's retreat is so peaceful and dark that it's late morning when we finally start to stir together. We quietly continue to just enjoy each other's company for a while linger before nature calls us both.  Its been forever since Nagisa ate a decent meal and my own diet yesterday was pretty sparse due to my worries.

"Good morning, fuzzy ears," Nagisa says good naturally with a pet name as I stretched and made to rise from my pillow for the night - her tummy. I look up at my best friend. Despite her disheveled hair, she's still one of the prettiest women I've met.

I really am a lucky girl.

"Are you as hungry as I am," I ask and get a nod in response.

"And my eyeballs are floating," she adds. 

"You know," I admit sheepishly, "I have no idea where the bathroom is here."  I look at the door. "I think our best bet is to go back to the inn. Are you okay being outside that far?  Whatever you think of Strawberry, I think we're at least safe from the Family in her complex."

"Like we were last night," she challenges but not aggressively. Her raised eyebrow makes it clear to me it's an honest question.

I explain to Nagisa all that I know about the warehouse. What Strawberry has shared as well as What little Athos or I picked up before we separated. I wait to discover her thoughts now that she has the additional data points.

[gilga]

Nagisa says, "I probobly should not be seen in public not before I understand just how hot I am. There is something I picked up yesterday. I managed to get a mark on the activation device. I managed to trace it before it have gone offline. It came from a small clinic in Bellevue called "Dr. Bob´s Quickstitch Clinic".

Once you are awake M enters your room and give you the house tour. It is a large underground complex with perhaps 20 rooms. Maybe even more, you would not believe from the modest on ground presence.  First M shows you control rooms that monitor different parts of the city and especially the 'domain' Parts of Strawberry's magic is a network of thousands of micro cameras that are scattered across the city and a dedicated team of monitors that watch them.

The man currently on watch introduces himself as "Jack" and has a nice technical smalltalk with Nagisa. Next she shows you workshops for building and repairing of agricultural and general drones.
And after that she takes you to the most impressive part of the underground complex, a large chamber with an ocean of green houses that are lit individually by magical artificial light. There is a constant humming and buzzing as many drones and several people are monitoring and attending the crops.

M explains that this is their main lively hood and that Strawberry manufactures fresh food and magical plants and ship them world wide. She notes that the complex keeps low profile to avoid extractions and theft and note that their techniques are known to few in the world. Apparently M is managing this entire operation.

After the tour to the greenhouses she takes you to the living space. That are composed of a large public area lit with artificial light that include recreational facilities as well as a dining room and a massive living room.  Then she takes you to Nagisa's new apartment, a fully equipped 3 bedroom apartment. Everything seem to be taken care of to the finest detail up to a tooth brush and even clothes to ware.

M say: "You must be hungry, you can either dine together here or you can join me in the main dining hall.

[Shaman_Yuri]

The tour in overwhelming.  I had no idea just how much Strawberry had built.  She really could hire us and there was real work needing to be done.  I watched closely for see how Nagisa was reacting to all this.

"Nagi, let's get some food first but after that I really would like you to find out what you can about the "clinic".  I may be paying it a call as soon as we know a little more about it."

[Mercy Merchant]

Athos tests the door and finds that it is still secure, but that the fancy maglock seems deactivated, meaning that only some physical lock remains.  And physical locks can break.  He readies his large form and slams into the door repeatedly, trying to force the lock.

[Jack_Spade]

Kynos found himself in utter darkness. Quickly, he removed the loose shackles from his hands and groped for the door. It was locked - no surprise their, although theoretically the mag lock should have been useless without power. So there was probably a deadbolt in play.
Damn sentimentality. He should have grabed Max and used her as a human shield to get out.
Well, time to see if that deadbold was as tough as Kynos and his titan bones.
Rattling the door, he tried to find the most likely anchor point, so he could focus his strenght on that.

[spoiler]

Security door has 8 structure and 12 Armor. (Barrier rules p.197 core)
Kynos has 9 P base damage
To do any damage at all he has to do at least 13 damage with every hit, so he will do a vitals shot (dead bolt) for +2 DV. Also he is hindered by absolute darkness = total -10 mod
This leaves him with 6 dice to attack
Strike the door: 6d6t5 1
Door ignores damage
Strike the door 2: 6d6t5 3
14 damage
Door withstands with 20 dice: Door resists: 20d6t5 9
Takes 5 damage, still holds
Strike the door 3: 6d6t5 0
Strike the door 4: 6d6t5 3
14 damage
Door withstands with 20 dice: Door resists 2: 20d6t5 5
Takes 9 damage
Boom, open door.

[/spoiler]

It took Kynos 4 solid blows - mainly because with the third he just hit the frame - with his cybernetically strengthened bones and the hardened skin on his hands to break the door open. He took a moment to orient himself and listen into the darkness.

[spoiler]
Perception: Perception: 7d6t5 3 [7d6t5=2, 2, 5, 2, 6, 4, 5]
[/spoiler]

[gilga]

@Minnie Nagisa seems a bit suspicious, first about how come M and Strawberry look the same, and once you get past that she keeps asking her technical and specific questions about the operation that M answers expertly. It becomes apparent that M is the one running the show around there. As for breakfast Nagisa prefers her apartment. She spends several minutes in examining it and looking for electronic equipment and listening devices and find nothing. After a while a man arrives with two plates filled with natural food, some orange juice and an omelette for the two of you. He welcomes Nagisa and say his greetings and leaves.

“Well at least the food is... I wonder how can they managed to keep a small farm under the radar”

@Kynos and Athos when you finally get out there is some low red light. You can hear large explosions from within the cells. They go off like popcorn, you are in the third and last floor and you can see the knights taking people out of their cells from the first floor and trying to get them in line for evacuation. Many people are running around either to empty the first floor cells or to try and locate the attackers. Your equipment lies in a small room at the first door just by the main entrance. For the moment nobody seems to be on your floor not free at least, but you can hear some of the less physical prisoners hopelessly trying to break out of the doors. Ramming them with all they have.

[Mercy Merchant]

Athos heads to the room where his things were taken.  He stops just before the door and listens to see if anyone is in the room.

[Jack_Spade]

Kynos came up behind the troll.
"Jack pot." Kynos got ready to reclaim his stuff.
"I hope you agree that Commander Winter has earned himself an early retirement package for this stunt.
Also, did you know that your contact is an internationally wanted terrorist?
Good of you by the way to bust out of there. Took myself a while."