[Lorebane24]

       A neon haze creeps through the windows, painting a congealed rainbow across the carpet.  Even through concrete walls and thick plated glass, the honking horns, crowds of tourists, and not-too-infrequent gunshot - not quite close enough for Knight Errant to bother with - blends together into a constant staccato of muted white noise.  It's been a week since you've moved in here with three other freelancers who are barely now acquaintances - you've run in the same circles, know a couple of the same people.  And so far, business has been nil.  Bills are a few weeks out, and now you've got overhead to worry about.

       A sing-song digital tone cuts through the sound of Touristville - the alert for your intercom.  An AR window appears in the periphery of your vision, displaying the feed for the exterior camera.  A middle-aged ork who is trying far too hard to look nondescript stands waiting outside your door.  He wears nondescript jeans and a synth leather jacket sporting a mid-shelf designer lable, and his features are obscured by a large pair of aviators and a Concrete Dream cap yanked down as low as his head will allow.

[Beta]

There was a time, not so many years ago, when ‘Jawsey’ would dashed outside astrally to check on their visitor, leaving his beaten body and shattered face hidden in a dark room.  At times during all the reconstructive surgery he might have wondered if the pain was worth it; right now, knowing that he can answer the door and not scare a client away, he knows it was worth every iota of pain. 

He sends an ARO to the others <<I’ll get the door.  See you all in the common room.  Can someone check if we need to make fresh caff?>> Then he grabs the cheap cane from beside him on the floor, levers himself up off his yoga mat, and walks quickly towards the door  He slows down and thumps the cane for the last few steps before reaching the door, and takes his time opening the locks.  Multiple locks -- important security in even the best part of Redmond, but not a bad prop for building anticipation either.

Finally he opens the door, flashes the best smile that his father had been able to buy, and suggests “You look like you’d like to get off the street.  Why don’t you come in, and then you can ask your questions or say your piece.”

Using his cane so that the others can easily hear their progress, he leads the orc to meet the others.  He just hopes nobody took his chair.

[Jack_Spade]

Bobby got up from the small bed in the laundry/training room. He had called dibbs on the room on the principle that he was the one most likely to come home late and dirty. Last night had not been an exception.
Now he was bleary eyed and half dressed - and of course now for the first time in days a customer arrived. Typically.

Happy to let his colleague handle it for the moment, he looked for the cleanest shirt in the heap next to the washing machine and got dressed.
More or less presentable, but not particularly fresh, he joined Jawsey.

[gilga]

Things did not look very well... moving to Seattle and getting a deck was expensive. She had a terrible debt to go with these, but there were few options for the SINless. She never owned a banked account or seen the inside of a bank, and a credit card debt seemed like a dream to her. 10% interest rate, pay with money or with services, so far she survived, but it seemed more luck than skill. Some opportunity came along, her contacts needed something, the Finnigan's needed something. However, this particular month was slow, and each day made it more stressful. She joined that PI business hoping that it would give her more business. Business was slow, but at least they reduced the cost of rent. All she had to do is to endure living with 3 guys she did not know... It was better than getting beaten up.

AM finds herself laying on her bed, submerged in the matrix. Following her shadow forums, looking for work. She snapped out of it quickly and still disoriented dashed to the mirror. She was not satisfied with her look, but she never was. She quickly prepared herself, wearing her one good suit, and not forgetting to apply a dash of magic to make herself more presentable. Satisfied she went to the common area and begun making some coffee. Since it was a special occasion, she also opened a pack of biscuits. She'll join the meeting a bit late with cups of coffee, and some biscuits for everyone.


OOC:
Charisma enhanced by 3 points, no drain.
Improve Charisma F5/drain: 2#10d6t5 3 6

[Tecumseh]

Mato stands stone-still at the second-story window, looking at the neon blur through the plated glass while he studies Touristville below. It is the only part of Redmond outsiders generally see, the place to go for a taste of “life on the wild side” without getting too wild or too real. Tourists and slummers hang out in sleazy clubs, the richer ones with their bodyguards in tow. Crimson Crush orks peddle chips while Knight-Errant patrols try to keep the corp kids safe. In AR, it's mostly one big spam zone.

Mato is glad that Jawsey gets the door; the elf has the gift of gab and it is generally better for everyone involved if Mato doesn't have to open his mouth at all. Still, the ork might appreciate seeing another ork in the room, so Mato wordlessly leaves his perch and heads for the common room.

Jawsey clumps along with his cane, making it easy to track his progress. Mato knows that the elf is being coy - he is far more nimble than the cane suggests - but it's a good prop. However, it's also a good idea to convey to prospective clients that the team is physically competent, even exceptional. To that end, Mato pushes up the sleeves of his Henley shirt so that his black matte cyberarms are clearly visible. The titanium-and-carbon-fiber limbs are sleek and expensive and worth showing off.

Mato assumes his position on the periphery of the common room, ready to play the role of "strong but silent". Plus, he's laced with sensors that are ready to analyze the visitor's person and behavior. Mato syncs the thermographic vision in his eyeglasses to his Thermal Mood Reading software, then does the same for his earbuds and the Vocal Tension Lie Detection software. Then he readies the cyberware scanner in his right arm, and the radar sensor in his left leg, on guard for any contraband the ork might be bringing with him.

<<Ready for soykaf>> he comms the rest of the team.

[Jack_Spade]

Bobby made his way to one of the chairs, sitting down quickly before anyone could notice the bloodstain on his left leg.
He moved with all the grace of a hungover sloth - which had made his classmates in highschool give him the ironic monicer of "cat".
Mato's words made him look up.
<<Soka, soycaf would be much appreciated right now.>> He still rubbed sleep from his eyes when he greeted the client.
"Wassup?"

[Lorebane24]

The ork quickly steps into the room and removes his shaded glasses, revealing East Adian features.  He pauses for a moment before slumping into a chair with a heavy sigh.

"You are detectives, yes."  His fingers slide through the air in front of him and your links ping a new message.  It's a photo - an ork youth, around 16, you'd guess, with a denim jacket and quaffed up hair grins as his gold-plated cyberhand displays a middle finger.

"I want you to retrieve my son," the ork continues.  "He was taken hostage in a fight with one of his rival gangs, and they are demanding what I feel to be an unreasonable ransom for his return.  He is a dissapointment, but I will not suffer this insult from a group of Barrens hood rats."

[Jack_Spade]

The man was to the point. Bobby liked that.
With a curt nod he said: "How much did they ask for?"

[gilga]

Amy Maka, AM for short arrives and pours coffee to whoever is interested.
When the orc arrives, she replies "Please, have some coffee... Let me assure you that you came to the right place. Do you know which gang took him?" She asked the man.

[Tecumseh]

Mato nodded, and maybe was even secretly pleased. Gangers aren't always reasonable - their territoriality means they don't always recognize or acknowledge a superior force - and that means that they could be fun.

Still, the job strikes a bit close to home. Mato sees some of his father in the man; Mato's parents had never been called him a Disappointment to his face, but it was something that they had probably thought, sickly and infirm as Mato had been in his youth. The memories are distant, almost to the point of feeling like they were from someone else's life, the result of massive Essence loss following Mato's voluntarily cyberlimb replacements. He studies the photo of the ork youth and wonders if the gold-plated cyberhand was similarly voluntary - bling for a feckless youth - or the by-product of the lad's gang-banging. The hand was tacky to the extreme, a clear violation of the "rich, not gaudy" guideline that Mato's father had passed down.

Mato's mind begins to spin with questions. He feeds them to the team so that the silver-tongued elves could ask them. AM beats him to the first one as she pours the soykaf, which Mato accepts.

<<Let's also ask which gang the kid is affiliated with. When and where he was taken would be helpful. Expected level of resistance, constraints on retrieval methods, deadlines, etc.>>

[Beta]

The others are asking good questions, so Jawsey leans back and lifts a cup of 'caff up to his nose, and lets the world fade for a bit.  Not into the aroma and steam of the caff, although he hopes he's giving that impression, but rather into the astral. 

He studies the man's aura as the initial questioning goes on.

[Lorebane24]

The man pauses for a moment as he considers your questions.  "He was captured by the Halloweeners, and they are demanding more than the 25,000 nuyen I am offering your agency."

OOC:  if anyone has any sort of gang knowledge, they can roll to see what they know about the current state of the Halloweeners.  Beta, plx make an assenssing check to see what you can glean from his aura.

[gilga]

With a mental command, AM texted her contact TJ...
She frowned as if considering his offer trying with her body language to prepare the field for negotiation. "Halloweeners...  Why am I not surprised." She said without adding details.   

With a mental command from her trodes, she texted her contact TJ.

>> Yo TJ, what is the gossip about the Halloweeners?

If TJ knows about the Halloweeners, AM would question him about their current state, territory, and leadership. She'll also ask if he knows anyone reliable from there gang.


OOC:
AM does not have a knowledge about the Halloweeners but she has a contact that may know them as a member of some (smaller) gang (connection 3 loyalty 3).

TJ is a ganger and freelance debt collector. He might know about the Halloweeners as they are a rival/ally gang. He also accepts work for many gangs, as he is very intimidating and good at collecting debts.

 Amy has him in connection 3, and their relationship coin is barter - she helps him be more popular with the ladies (with some magic e.g makeover or improve charisma, advice and sometimes going with him as his 'wing woman') and he provides some favors in return. 

[Lorebane24]

Jaw-Jaw:  His aura is nothing too special.  He's not in the greatest health, but nothing too atypically for a man of his age, assuming a sedentary lifestyle.  He's got a datajack at thw base of his neck but otherwise is a chrome virgin.  His mental state is a bit strained, though.  He's.more worried about this than he's letting on.

AM:  TJ hits you back with a message after a few minutes.  "Halloweeners, huh?  I'd be careful if youre getting mixed up with them.  They've always been small time.  Downtown gang with a chip on their shoulder.  Liled halloween masks, hated the corps.  A few years back it looked like they were wiped out after thwy pissed off too many people at once.  Crimson Crush and Knight Errant both qent to town on them and killed the old boss.  Lately though, they've been making a comeback - lile big time.  I hear they got a new leader who calls himself Nightmare, and over the ladt years they've been making some moves way out of their league.  Taking territory from other gangs, getting a foothold in the Barrens.  They're.moving into straight up thrill gang territory, and they've been getting.more violent."

[Tecumseh]

Mato studied the ork silently. The opening offer was good; Mato had initially been concerned, wondering how much the Halloweeners could really be asking. Of course, the price begs the question of is the boy's value purely sentimental, or does he provide leverage against his father, or does he know something that would be worth that much on the open market? (How would the Halloweeners even know who the kid's father was? The brat probably told them himself, Mato thinks. "Do you know who my father is??") He wonders how much the gold-plated cyberhand would be worth if they just chopped it off and melted off the gold.

Mato doesn't know much about the Halloweeners, other than they're crazy and fond of fire. Again, a recipe for resistance, and thus for some fun. Plus the payday would keep him fed and clothed for another month, and the Koshari leg-breakers at bay.