[gilga]

Yael smiled and said "Thank you, you are very kind" she paused and then said "Alcohol is a passion of mine and I am very knowledgeable and am always looking for these little pieces of heaven. Like that champagne I had tonight, it was the real deal.  The problem I see with getting him to drink is that it usually involves us drinking as well. With my weight I get drunk quickly.  What did you have in mind? Perhaps Krestov can help with that, he should be able to drink quite a bit."

[Jack_Spade]

Earlier:
All in all it took only one poorly secured car to create a traffic jam, blocking the police pursuit. Now it was up to Krestov again to keep Tschernenko long enough out of trouble to get her into trouble.


Later:
A bit belated, Mike replied to bnc <<I think I know where to get such a seat. I'll have it for you by tomorrow. Burners and taps are in the blue box next to the CNC/Sinter Printer machine.>>

[Volker]

Earlier

"There's one Hollywood trid scene of a car race! Is the plan still the same: I fake a message from Whitman to Tschernenko? I believe now would be a nice time for doing so. Roger?"

Later

<@Mike<bastante grando muchas gracias>>

[Qwikfix]

Krestov gave a chuckle as he rode off, shaking his head at the old trid reference.  "Tempting.  Perhaps a drag through the streets like Persikov at Battle of Troski* will do instead?"  Revving his engine, he planned to take a ride through a number of districts, intending to kill time while letting the alcohol simmer...stoping for a drink every now and then to keep the buzz going..

<<Sounds like plan.  If can set so she not know of message right away, may be better?"

[spoiler]*clearly I've been watching Star Trek, as that is a Russianized reference to the Iliad served Chekov style.  Hah![/spoiler]

[Jack_Spade]

"How exiting" exclaimed Anna. "I've got a bit of time on my hands anyway, so show me the sights."
Krestov felt Anna snuggle closer to his back, trying to avoid the rushing air.

[Volker]

"I guess I can add it later on, too, if that suits your plan better.
Don't leave your DNA within her, Eight-six-eight-two.
Cheers, mate, mate and cheer"

bnc gives him a second to respond, then cuts the voice channel. She'll be available anytime but she figured it's easier for him to flirt when no one's listening.

[Qwikfix]

<<Have some faith, bnc.  Will behave>>

Noticing the channel closing, he sighed and straightened his back, feeling the Russian push into his back.  Without a word, he proceeded to take her on a tour to a few districts in Seattle...the vibrant and color downtown, the cerebral suburbs of Snohomish, the gritty slums of Redmond and Renton...huge contrasts in styles, colors, smells, ambience...it could easily turn into nightfall until he figured it was time to press on...

[Jack_Spade]

Seattle, November 6th, late evening

It had taken an (un)surprisingly large amount of alcohol to bring Tschernenko into the right state of consciousness. Krestov had to admit that the artist was both fun and intellectually on the level, not to mention temperamental and passionate. All in all she created three more statues - one even resembling Krestov's whole body, although he had to admit that her guessing about his anatomy was flattering even for him.

When Krestov delivered her finally to her hotel room she was so drunk and sleepy, that she didn't even realize how her new Russian friend left the room. No matter how good the woman could handle her alcohol, she wouldn't be out and about before 11.00, way after the sale. If the police didn't get her before that.

Soon news reports appeared, talking about the vandalism - slash - art project that an AI had linked almost immediately to Tschernenko. The corporate speakers whose properties had been enhanced in this way were quite visibly sweating, trying to explain that vandalism couldn't be tolerated but at the same time wanted to keep the sculptures that were being quoted with five to six digit sums.

Back at the safe house, Mike had dug out an old fashioned white board where he tallied:

Coleman: X
Tschernenko: X
Whitman: X
Crow:
Wong:

[Volker]

For the first time in a while, bnc made the effort to leave her room and assemble with the others. After the usual hellos, she comes straight to the point.

"Not so fast, Mr. J. We still got jinxes to snuff out before we can move on, after Barbie Anne decided to deal with Kandinsky.¹
Our plan was to blame the crime on Tschernenko. We can still do that, but I see issues for two reasons:
 First, doesn't appear to be still necessary, as she's exed out herself bastante effetivo.
 Second, if we do - even if we don't, but don't warn her asap either - he might actually try and geek her. While I ain't got zero problemo with blaming a crime on a freak like her, I don't wanna see her levelled.
Next problem is, Whitman might go searching for Tschnernenko. If he finds her, and finds out that she's not our Anna, we might get a problem.
I suggest we bring her outta town real quick and hide her good 'til then. And we warn her never to come back. We can say she destroyed his prop by accident or something. But I think, Special K should make sure, sweet Anna T. leaves town plus quick and for good."

¹ (I assume here that Anna told the party why Whitman freaked out like that. If not, please tell me, so I can edit the post)

[Crossbow]

Yael smiled and said "Thank you, you are very kind" she paused and then said "Alcohol is a passion of mine and I am very knowledgeable and am always looking for these little pieces of heaven. Like that champagne I had tonight, it was the real deal.  The problem I see with getting him to drink is that it usually involves us drinking as well. With my weight I get drunk quickly.  What did you have in mind? Perhaps Krestov can help with that, he should be able to drink quite a bit."

"I don't think that would be appropriate, we don't know this guy, so our best bet is going with social norms, in case he is some kind of Meta bigot.  Even if Krestov weren't Goblinized, sending our security to deal with one of our competitors is just not a good look."  Flatline addressed these points clinically and academically, leaving no question that his own personal feelings were not an issue here, that he was fine with metahumans and had no issue dealing with someone's subordinates.

"What I was thinking is that we go with a relatively honest approach to the meeting.  Let Crow know that we are competing for the same property and that, because he already has property on Council Island, we think he might be open to a business arrangement.  We would be using the property strictly for Meteor to bring in the occasional client and if we could work something out on that back end should the owner's decision go Crow's way instead of ours.  We use the liquor to seal the compact and get him drinking, we can say we are from Africa and our clocks are not set Seattle time to cover that indescretion.  Our handy supplier of goods has said he can get us something to neutralize the alcohol effect on us.  We leave him the bottle, bing bang boom, one more down.  What do you think?"

Flatline seems eager for discussion of the scenario.

 

[Qwikfix]

It was fairly late when Krestov had returned to the safehouse, the effects of his broken sobriety fully present as his unsteady steps bumped him into the walls a few times.  "Job done" he muttered to Mike before collapsing on the couch, head tilted back as the team gathered.

As much as he would have liked to help, in the back of his mind the troll knew it would take all night just to get him clear enough to do his role...further alcohol would not help.  Rubbing his head, he turned to bnc.  "I checked Tschernenko under fake name a hotel.  Whitman no find before tip I leave for KE in few hour.  She is high profile enough will not be bought when in custody.  She will be fine.."

...no, he didn't even realize he was still spouting Russian at that moment, and even that was slurred...

[gilga]

In the hallway - last night
Yael answered Flatline "Well, basically I'll be your hand candy - Crow would like to drink so that I join you too and celebrate and I'll flirt with him casually. Will make him considerably more likely to offer me a drink and therefore to drink some himself. I hope these antidotes works because I am kind of lightweight in that department."

[spoiler]
Would you like to just have the rest of the group join Flatline and Anna for a conversation down the hall - will flow more natural in my opinion.
[/spoiler]
in the car
[spoiler] I was uncertain how much Anna would disclose, but lets go with the flow. " [/spoiler]
Yael said "Well he is a violent sexual predator - but I did not get the impression that he tried to kill me. He tried to grapple and punch me and considering what I just did I probably deserved the grapple part. I think that he planned rape rather than murder, I could be mistaken but he is a millionaire looking to purchase a boat house for a couple of millions, I would not expect him to be a murderer. I mean, why risk all these wonderful life for a chance to end up in prison."

She knew exactly why risk it - everything becomes boring eventually, but the last thing Yael wanted was the mission to go sideways, they had to handle Crow and since both Anna and Charles were ultra rich people they had the police to protect them and none of them was easy to kill without a full blown police investigation. That particular risk seemed very unlikely to Yael.

Yael looked at Krestov confused when he said his piece trying to figure out that hunk meant, but she was used to getting distracted by that charming 'goblin' as flatline previously called him.

[SquirrelDude]

Slobbertooth blinked at Krestov's slurred speech.

"And I thought I spoke gibberish" (Orzet).

Talking about the plan

"Exposing the same team member to multiple people risks that person being recognized. Sorry, but I don't trust magic to totally cover our tracks here. bnc and Flatline should do it."

[gilga]

Yael grinned, she completely agreed, in her mind Sprinklers was  a manipulative slitch and could pull that one off easily.
Perhaps she needed a dash of magic to help her - but so did Yael. After all, if bnc was not capable of getting an alcoholic guy drunk, then who would?  Besides, the thought of watching the short woman getting hammered with two guys was too amusing to give up. Then she thought about how Flatline was going change colors if bnc flirts a little or god forbids gets handsy.

Yael's smile widened as she said:  "I agree"

[Volker]

[spoiler]As this is, despite gilga's efforts, merging into one single conversation, I guess I'll just give in to the stream...
I hope it's all right if I assume that Krestov will, when asked, eventually translate what he said. If not, tell me so.
The German passage translates an "Jeez, can we just proceed in English...?"
[/spoiler]

"Jeez, können wir dann langsam wieder auf Englisch weitermachen..?"
bnc sighed, as usual patience incarnated.

"I don't really give egg fart about whether he was about to geek or rape you, or both, in any order. I don't know whether you enjoy sexual assault, but if you do, turn off your goddamn link, cuz I don't wanna look through the evidence later on.

So, Special K, you think we can let go and leave her be? We should still protect her after she gets out, but we should have the boat by then. It's not only for her safety, also for ours...", she adds, sounding almost apologetically. Obviously, she's still unsure whether a soft heart is regarded as a weakness or a strength.

"Alora, 'bout tomorrow. Dunno what mojo you're talking of, sempai, but what Anna's using's called make-up. Din't figure you know the difference, but it's still there. Anyway, the question is not whether you trust her disguise skills, but whether you trust them more than my social skills. You let me loose on Dancing With Wolves, and he might just as well drink himself to death just to forget the experience. 'sides, I don't wanna get drunk right before you need me most. Antis or no, these 100 pounds won't be able to swallow half's much booze than a drinker.

Except... No. Don't even think it.