[Imladir]

[Cynthia Rawson - Sunday June 10th, 2075; Somewhere in the Matrix] #20

*Ha, yeah ! Just have to wait now.* Cynthia danses for a bit, happy with herself.
{Ma fleur, you should know by now that a plan counting on the opposition making a mistake is a bad plan, right?}, asks her Crack sprite, the one she nicknamed Arsène after some kind of french "gentleman thief".
*Ma fleur? What's that mean now? Erk, "My flower"?* Cynthia looks at Arsène {I'll be the first one ever to puke in the 'trix if you persist calling me with stuff like that! And I'm not counting on someone making a mistake! I put her in a position where an insignificant action she has done countless times is now more than it should. That's me being brilliant, not her being careless!}
Unfazed by the rebuttal, Arsène retorts {Really, ma fleur, you may have armed the trap, but you didn't make sure she would fall in it. And worse, you don't even know when she is likely to fall if she, per chance, does. And that is where I come in I suppose? For you I will, ma fleur. But you should do better. One such as myself only works with the bests.}

And so, flirty - and a tad arrogant - Arsène will wait for the trap to spring. *Crazy french. And he's not exactly wrong either damnit. I'm pretty sure it will work, but I should think of something else in case it doesn't. And I can't count on it working everytime either. Let's wait for a few hours first. Time to do something else.*

Cynthia will check the hour and make sure she didn't miss Marissa or something. Afterwards, she will work on refining her code to display world news on her screen*.

[spoiler]Something I'll probably explain when Marissa gets here, nothing important anyway[/spoiler]

[VegasRigged]

I give her a wicked smile and weight till I hear the sound of the front door closing behind me to release the spell me drop her onto the bed.

From there I take a cab to my next job, which I'm certainly primed for at this point, and from there on to meet Cynthia.

[Mercy Merchant]

Sunday  10 June 2075   Seattle


@Eva  Monique is waiting for you in the huge living room.  She seems the epitome of the perfect servant and it is impossible to tell by her body language what she is thinking.  She hands you your wrap and escorts you from the suite.  Her slight French accent is actually sort of cute, and for some reason it is perfectly appropriate to the situation.  "Good afternoon, Miss.  I must accompany you to and up the elevator.  This way, if you please."  The young woman walks with you down the hallway to the bank of private elevators and waits for you to get into the car before getting on with you.  She is quiet unless spoken to and precedes you from the elevator.  As you leave the car, you notice that the guard there is alert and that his hand never strays far from the sidearm at his hip.  Monique nods to him before turning to you.  "Thank you for coming by today, Miss Coulter.  I do hope that you will return. A cab is waiting for you at the main entrance, just through the lobby."

As you walk across the expansive lobby, a quick look behind you shows that the maid is standing, watching you as you leave.  Her face is impassive, leaving nothing to detect.  The large doors at the entrance are opened for you by a uniformed doorman, who then escorts you to the curb and a waiting taxi.  He bids you a nice afternoon and wishes you a pleasant day.  The ride to Cynthia's apartment is uneventful.  The neighborhood is certainly a far cry from where you just were, but is still quite nice.


@Cynthia   Your French romantic moves away into the matrix, leaving you to your thoughts.  You recognize the truth in his words, which disturbs you just a little.  Is a sprite supposed to feel and emote in this fashion?  In any case, your thoughts are interrupted by the jarring sound of the obnoxious buzzer that indicates that you have a visitor.

[Imladir]

[Cynthia Rawson - Sunday June 10th, 2075; Cynthia's appartment] #21

When the buzzer signals her visitor, Cynthia starts. *What the? Oh wait, probably Marissa.* She quickly checks in AR what's on the other side of the door and apparently satisfied, opens the door. There's no doubt to Eva that the young woman opening the door is the one she spoke too earlier. Well, young woman... Late teen at least, as she seems to be sixteen or a  fresh seventeen. It is quickly obvious that she doesn't seem to care at all about her appearance. She's bare feet, with an old jean and a worn-out t-shirt  of some musical band. Judging by the small bumps in there, she's not wearing a bra and probably never needs one. Not that there's nothing, but... Her red hair is tied in a messy ponytail with the only good point being that it keeps most of her hair in the back. And not a single touch of make-up. She looks at you with bright green eyes, almost clinically, as if you were a problem and she had too find a solution.

After a couple of seconds, she invites you in the living room: "Hi, I'm Cynthia. Come in.". As you detail the room, you can't help but notice that it is both bland and a tad messy: nothing on the walls, simple white tiled floor, there's nothing good or bad too say about the furniture, and despite some stuff lying around - like a sweatshirt on the table or running shoes on an armchair - this room doesn't seem to be lived in. As you took all of this in, Cynthia went to another room and comes back with a steaming mug - with some Japanese game logo on it - of soycaf she stuffs in your hands. She tilts her head and asks "So? What now?"

[VegasRigged]

Marisa is taller then expected, slender, with short blonde hair and tastefully understated makeup, she's wearing a suit that a quick glance can confirm as expensive and in trend, and a more extensive search will confirm is about as good as power suits get. She has the air of someone who already knows things, who has total understanding of her surroundings and is comfortable and confident.

Marisa looks around the room and evaluates the space from a business perspective, rearrange this and that to create better lighting, repaint and add a rug to provide warmth and comfort and perhaps a beanbag or papasan chair for the chair/bed combo that probably happens with the couch already.

Eva is more interested in the girl. She has the unrefined brilliance of someone fresh into the corp Higher-ed programs. The kind of kid that gets picked by a higher up for special assignment, watched closely and drafted into the branches of corporate life where their is no paperwork because they can't leave a trace. Eva had a roommate like her in school, freshman year. Smart but lazy, used to accomplishing without great effort and secretly desperate for a real challenge. In short, depending on how this meeting goes, she's perfect.

Her voice is a kind and firm with a hint of condescension that everything about her says she has earned "Now we discuss you. What do you like, wheat would you like to see in your rooms, what functions need to be met and how we can meet them best. Once I know more about you I can tailor a few ideas to your taste, present you with three to five options and you can choose which one you prefer."

I raise the soycaf, note that it isn't real coffee and hold it while I wait for a good time to put it down.

[Imladir]

[Cynthia Rawson - Sunday June 10th, 2075; Cynthia's appartment] #22

"Me? There's nothing to say about me. As for what I would like to do with the rooms..." She looks around, as if seeing it for the first time, then shrugs. "I don't use most of them so... I don't really care? As for the ones I use..." She seems to hesitate. Then, with an inspiration, much like one takes when preparing to do something unpleasant - and probably painful - she finishes "I may as well show you I suppose". She turns, inviting you to follow.

The room near the living room is the kitchen. In the sink, there's a single blue mug filled with water, a plate and some flatwares are set to dry near it. The thing that really catches the attention though is the extensive Soy Processing Unit. One of the latest models, capable to produce almost anything one wants, with a result very close to the real deal. From the way Cynthia looks at the thing, you could swear it is her favourite member of the family...
After that comes a set of spare rooms - including a guest room - that seem completely unused. From the lack of dust, they are probably visited by the cleaning bot once a week or so, but that's probably all. The bathroom is... To put it simply, if you didn't know, you would have believed it was some guy's bathroom. There's nothing feminine at all in there, just the bare minimum...by men's standards at that! Her bedroom is better. Probably because by now, your expectations are quite low. Still, it seems comfortable and for once, lived in. The bed - unmade, with her nightie on the pillow - sports warm colours, there's some posters on the wall - music bands, concerts posters, game promotions, etc. The closet, open, leads you to believe that there's nothing else than jeans, t-shirts, sweatshirts and tracksuits. Of course, there might be something else than you can see at first glance, but from what you saw up to know, and on the ground near the bed, you estimate it's unlikely.

Nearing what is probably the last room, Cynthia seems to slow down, hesitating a bit. From there, you can here some music, some kind of rock. With a shrug, she opens the door. There, you can see what is probably the room where Cynthia spends all her time in the house. There's still the mess you were expecting, but this time it's in a warm kind of way. You can see the same kind of posters as the ones in the bedroom, there is a display cabinet with some figurines. On the desk against the wall is a comlink - the Ikon from Hermes you believe - and a set of trodes on it. In the centre of the room lies a well worn couch, the kind that becomes that way not because it's not taken care of, but because it is used and loved so much. On the ground, at reaching distance is an half-full mug of soycaf. The wall in front of it is entirely taken by a huge screen. On it is displayed a map of the world with the night and day regions visible. In the day region, the colours of each country seem to continually shift, but you have to pay attention to it for a few seconds to notice it. In the bottom, instead of displaying the south Pacific, there is a window filled with some kind of code.

Walking to the comlink, Cynthia taps on it, and the music changes to a violin piece. Classical, probably old. By the quality of the sound, there are a bunch of small high-quality speakers in the room. Cynthia turns, sitting on the desk. "Here. You now know more about me than most." She seems to consider what she's just said for a second and adds "Or anyone, period. And I didn't even have to tell you anything." By her smile, she seems pleased. And if you had to guess, it's not that you "know more about her". But that she didn't have to speak...

[VegasRigged]

My review confirms my earlier suspicions and adds a number of ideas to my usually repertoire. For one thing the 'nerve center' is going to be where the most money will be spent, I can make the rest of the apartment welcoming and such, but it's clear that this room is the focus.

"Interesting. So what I'm thinking is an open focus. We want you to be able to do everything you do in here, use the trodes, surf the Matrix unhindered, but having it locked away in a separate room makes it seem like your hiding your passion, so I would bring this room- and what it represents -out into the light. Tell me, aside from gaming and bands, what else do you do in here?"

[Imladir]

[Cynthia Rawson - Sunday June 10th, 2075; Cynthia's appartment] #23

Cynthia blinks when Eva mentions the bringing the room into the light thing, not sure she would like that, but doesn't say anything about that part.
She answers to the question with a gesture in the direction of the screen. "I code" she shrugs " and... well, matrix stuff."

[VegasRigged]

The condescension of tone goes from 5% to 6% "I'd gathered as much, which is why I believe having it more centrally located in the home will increase the positive experiences and associations you have with you setup here, which we can also upgrade substantially."

Back down to five "So in order to create a home that fits with you I'd like to know what coding is, both practically and what it means to you. Is coding and the Matrix a job, a hobby, a form of artistic expression? What does it feel like?"

[Imladir]

[Cynthia Rawson - Sunday June 10th, 2075; Cynthia's appartment] #24

Cynthia seems a bit overwhelmed. She blinks a few times, then frowns. "How it feels like? Fuck, how do you want me to describe that to you? Coding is a...artful hobby. It's nice and logical. Making something elegant and interesting is a challenge. Reaching selected goals feels good. What do you want me to say? But no, coding is not a job. I'm paid from time to time for some matrix jobs but not for coding."
She stops, pensive, and murmurs. "Maybe I should think about that though..."
She then shakes her head. "Anyway... For the Matrix it's... Let's put it that way: I only feel complete and at ease there. And there's no one to bother me. Not for long anyway.". At that, she looks pointedly at Eva.

[VegasRigged]

If Marisa is aware of the jab she gives no indication of it, only nodding along emphatically and making a few notes "An artful hobby, logical, elegant and challenging." She smiles

"I can certainly work with this. Would you like me to work within a certain budget? And if I could get an idea of some of your frequent hangouts within the matrix I can tailor towards them with the final decor."

[Imladir]

[Cynthia Rawson - Sunday June 10th, 2075; Cynthia's appartment] #25

"A budget, hey?" She smiles ruefully, as if she had heard a good joke. "Nothing too...exaggerated, shall we say. You've seen the neighbourhood, I'm sure you can do something reasonable."
Her smile slips from her lips, then she shakes her head. "As for frequent hangouts, not really. I go where I want when I want it. It tends to change. And for those that don't, you wouldn't be welcomed there, so you wouldn't know. And don't even try to simulate the Matrix or whatever. First, if I want to go to the Matrix, I go in, no need to sculpt my home like a Node. Second and more importantly, unless you really know what the 'trix is like, you would do a piss-poor job. Best not to try. Just stick with...er...I don't know, normal stuff or whatever. It's not like I would see much of it anyway."

[VegasRigged]

"Your right on a few points, I don't know the matrix and trying to do a home to resemble it would be gaudy at best. No these influences are far less literal then that. It simply speaks to who you are personally, how you engage with the world; we all see different sides of the same things, and knowing where my clients- you -are looking from makes me able to create something pleasing to you eye. This  leads me into my next question: while the house is of course for you and should represent who you are, hosting guests is sometimes an enjoyable experience and I can ensure the home is ready to do so."

[Imladir]

[Cynthia Rawson - Sunday June 10th, 2075; Cynthia's appartment] #26

Cynthia seems horrified. "Guests? Why the fragging hell would I want to have guests? Frag no!" She stays agitated for a bit. When she calms down, she adds "You can do what you want with the other rooms, but they will never see any guests of any kind. I despise people, why would I want one to stay at my home!?"

On the screen, the yellowish colour in Central America darkens a bit, shifting in some places to orange. Cynthia taps a bit on her comlink, frowning.

[VegasRigged]

Marisa leans back and studies her new client for a moment, warmth and deference giving way to a much cooler expression.

A just as the silence between them nears uncomfortable she asks "What is this map you have up?"