Duck nodded, sending Cadeuces an encrypted message via a private Shadowland subforum he’d slipped the mage the address to on the past run. He worked his shifts, hoping this whole thing at least had some of those neato hallucinogenic jungle plants Julia sold on the side involved. He’d already agreed to let Julia use the space in the shop for the ritual, as maybe some real-life juju would give the place a spirit of its own. Literally, figuratively, who knew?

The next day, he finished closing up early and helped Julia escort anyone in not familiar with the “ neighborhood,” as it were. One of the more accessible areas of the Ork Underground, this place saw a lot more tourists than others. It was good for business, but it also led to Duck having to help keep the place safe himself. Damned near every business here had black market ties, and the last thing you want to do where guns are sold two shops down is pull out a gun.

“Hope Snake-Eyes shows up.” He comments idly to himself as he lights up a smoke.

"You talking about me, or somebody else?" Caduceus asked with a sly smile as he approached from behind.  He knew from experience that White Duck's comment could have been timed like that on purpose because he heard Caduceus coming a mile away.  The guy's hearing was ridiculously good.  Regardless, Caduceus was glad to see his fellow runner once again and excited for what the upcoming meeting had in store.

"So, this is the famous shop, eh?  How's your ward work?  If you're ever looking to hire someone who knows his way around warding a place of business, just give me a call.  I have competitive rates."  Caduceus often worked as a freelance warder in his off time as a side gig.  Not quite as glamorous as having an actual shop where things were sold, but it was much more his style.

Hairy has had a very bad day. In fact, he's had a very bad time of it in general since going independent. His business plan is solid; sell drugs and hoop-kickings to whoever has the cred. He's good at those things. He knows his business. The only problem was building up a clientèle. So he did what any entrepreneur would do. He drafted up five hundred fliers; "Want a fun time? Someone need a beating? Call Hairy. Guaranteed fast and discreet" and posted them in every night club, street corner and simsense shop east of downtown.

But it seems no one can take a working ork seriously, because instead of calls to escort execs, he's been getting calls to "escort" execs.

He played with his phone in one hand, and a shot glass of old engine oil "whiskey" in the other. He'd considered setting up a few runs for himself, just to get a reputation outside of his old gang circles. But he was legitimate now, and didn't have time for any of that mickey mouse drek. He ran through his contacts. Loser. Loser. Loser. Dead. He sipped his whiskey, letting it coat his tongue. The drink numbed both taste and touch. Good stuff.

He nodded at the bartender, calling her over. "Don't suppose ya got any work, do ya? Need anyone harassed or anything? I run an agency. Lots a' pros on call. Just if ya need anything."

Comic book store, comic book store, cooooomiiiic boook stooore... thought Koby, as he searched and browsed the signs on each store.

Finally, he comes across the description Noruas had given him on the piece of paper.  Or at least it looked like what paper comic book stores would possibly look like 50 years ago after weathering through 50 years of age.

This HAS to be the store....right?

He looks to his left and right to check for other possibilities as well as for anyone looking his way.

Nope, this is probably it.

He gently raps on the glass pane with the closed sign on the front.

Hopefully, someone answers soon.  And hopefully, it ain't another secret bondage fetish sex den...

Duck grinned to Cadeuces and took a drag of his smoke as the pair made its way back to the store.

"Jules takes care of most of that. We also sell magical knick-knackery through her end of the shop, and since, well, nobody wants to heist old back issues of Sandman, she's got more to worry about than I do." The pale, almost-elven looking man clad in a pair of flannel pajama pants and an old black T-shirt of the first Mega Man box cover art walks up with the street mage to the old subway bookstand-turned-store. He regards the newcomer with the courtesy a friendly small southern town shows to a stranger.

"Hoi chum, we're closed early today for a private event. You looking for anything in particular? I can set a few things aside for ya 'fore we open tomorrow." He flicks the cigarette's ashes into an interior that's nearly too grungy for the ashes to be noticed. Beneath his almost-pajamas is a lithe form of corded musculature that moved with the grace of a trained assassin. His pale-pink albino eyes smile along with a mouth full of shining, pearly whites, long colorless hair drawn back into a loose-fitting ponytail. His voice is the honey/molasses drawl of a born and bred Cajun, though it might be hard to place the accent for someone in Seattle.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:43, Tue 03 Apr 2018.

"Loser. Loser. Loser. Dead." made my day :>

The orc running the taps eyed Hairy suspiciously before scratching herself and leaning over the counter.  While it had been effective on his tastebuds, the 'whiskey' had not yet managed to deaden the dwarf's sense of smell and her breath nearly left him seeing stars.

"Do I looks like someone what needs 'er herassin done for 'er?"

She snorted dismissively and went back to cleaning a glass with a rag that looked far from hygenic.  It appeared that the night wasn't going to get a lot better than the day - or the week.

Hairy downed the rest of his glass and tapped the empty twice on the bar to signal for  refill.  As he settled back onto his stool, someone brushed past him and settled down on the stool next to him.

"Fires?"

The newcomer was human, probably early twenties, though he had the prematurely aged look of someone who'd spent too much time sampling the wares that Hairy sometimes manufactured.  He had greasy black hair and an oversized nose ring that looked suspiciously like it was infected.  A leather jacket, stained jeans and an assortment of tatoos on the arms completed the look of some sort of gang-banger - or at least a wanna-be.

"You and your pros - you good with fires?"

Seeing an albino man in pajamas answering the door, the first thing Koby did was sigh in relief.  OK!  Not a sex dungeon!....right?

Whew!  White Duck I presume?

He notices another man behind the wiry albino, And Caduceus, I'm guessing?

Koby checks their response to his questions to ascertain their identities before continuing on, We have a friend in common.  You know, the guy who likes to hack his way out of problems with a deck?  He mentioned that you guys were looking for people looking to upgrade their magical...assets?
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 14:49, Wed 04 Apr 2018.

Caduceus gave White Duck a disappointed but understanding nod when he said he wouldn't be needing warding services.  He then turned his attention to the other arrival.

"You guess correctly.  Which means you must be Koby.  Unless our mutual deck-head friend has been extra loose with his lips.  That doesn't seem likely though."  Noruas was the teammate from the last run that he knew the least about, by far.

"So, you say you have magical assets?  Anything that might impress me?"  Caduceus flashed Koby a mischievous grin.

After hearing his name, Koby breathes a sigh of relief, again.

Koby looks Caduceus top to bottom to try and determine whether they practiced similar arts, Let's just say, you're a painter and I'm more of a dancer, but we both practice art.  He looks to his left and right again and continues on, D'you guys mind if we talk about this inside?  I'm not certain its a good idea to start advertising what we are doing.  Especially when we need to do it undisturbed.

In reply to DeusEx (msg # 13):

Hairy looks the guy up and down. Seems legit. Probably not Renraku, but Hairy could never tell corp types. Well, probably he couldn't. He hadn't met a lot.

"Yeah, we do fires. Causing 'em or putting 'em out?"

In Julia's shop:

The door to a back room opened and Julia stuck her head out.

"Ven en mis amigos."  She smiled as she gestured the group of you come back.

"Be sure to bolt de door and flip de sign.  We will not want to be deesturbed."

The back room was dimly lit.  Shelves, cartons, packing materials and other unidentifiable objects had been neatly moved all to one side of the small area, leaving an open space that was now decorated by a large persian-style rug and an assortment of pillows and cussions.  A couple of these were occupied by people White Duck knew from past encounters.

Martha was a human rat shaman in her mid-50s.  Her hair was prematurely gray and hung in a tattered mess that seemed to fit her shabby clothes.  However, the albino knew better than to underestimate the woman.  He'd seen her dicker with Julia a few times over prices and come up on top.

Chuck was a troll bouncer from one of the local clubs - the tall, silent, break both your legs if you step out of line type.  White Duck had never paid him much mind, let alone suspected he was magically active, but a quick glance on the astral showed the signature of a physical adept.  As if being a troll wasn't enough...

The last was a young girl in her early twenties.  Her tusks were short and she was well-dressed, though pointedly ignored the others in the room focusing on the cup she was holding in her hands.

"Help yourself to some tea and introduce yourselves.  I am expecting one more, den we can begin."


------------------------------------
In the bar:

"Perhaps we should grab a booth."

The booths didn't offer eavesdropping protection, but the local thrashband-wannabes would obfuscate your conversation from anyone who was either not really determined or technically sophisticated.  The ganger leaned forward.  His breath, while not spectacular, was much better than the bartender's.

"I've got someone that needs to learn their place.  I figure their place of business going up in flames might help that process.  ¥500 up front and ¥2k on completion.  It's late enough, the place should be empty by now.  But it needs to happen tonight."

Duck nodded, grabbing an old back issue of Fantastic 4 from the small safe that stored his most particularly valuable issues. He takes his usual seat behind the counter and starts re-reading the plastic-protected pages with a pair of tweezers. He also comes out sans-pajamas, what with the company and all.

"Hoi, I'm Duck. Don't mind me, just run the joint."
This message was last edited by the player at 00:53, Tue 10 Apr 2018.

Name's Koby, said Koby as he sat down.

"And you can call me Caduceus," he added.  Although Caduceus stood near a wall rather than sit down.  He examined the auras of the others in the room to help get a grasp on who they were.  Nothing too intrusive though.  He was supposed to be forming a group with these people after all.  He didn't want to start off on the wrong foot.

"Quite a diverse bunch of people we have here, eh?"  His tone implied he thought that observation was a positive.

Martha nodded and smiled.
"As in life.  The mother calls whom she will.."

She eased herself up from the floor with far less effort than her age would have suggested and gave smile to white duck a short bow to Koby and Caduceus.

"I am Martha."

She walked over to a kettle brewing on a hot-plate in the corner a couple of seconds before it started to whistle.  She poured the hot water into the waiting teapot and waited a bit for it to steep.

"Would anyone else like some?"

"Chuck."  The troll didn't bother to stand, which given the ceiling height, was understandable.  His low rumble carried the faint hint of an accent, though without more words it was hard to place.  And more words were not forthcoming.

The girl in the corner continued to remain silent for several minutes before starting and looking around the room.

"Oh, uh, Kate.

Umm, does anyone know what this whole thing is about?"

Hairy leans in close to hear the ganger's offer. "Yeah yeah yeah, I hear ya. That works. Where's the sucker at? You know if he's got any guards or cameras or anything? Not that it's a problem. Just, you know, recon. And no magic, right? I fraggin' hate magic."
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:45, Sun 15 Apr 2018.

"Haven't noticed any cameras.  No guards.  And ah, no, you shouldn't have to worry about magic.  Nice 'n simple.  It's a dreck area, but not as shady as the Barrens or anything.
 You in?"

He reached into his pocket and took out a credstick, turning it over in his hands while he watched your face for signs of interest.

If Koby was surprised by Kate's question, he didn't show it.  He stays silent to see if others would respond first.

"Uh, yeah." says Duck, idly shuffling a deck of playing cards in one hand, not seeming to smoke inside with his comics. Cadeuces sees him eyeing his pack on the table though with subtle anxiety.

"We're here to get more magicky."

In reply to DeusEx (msg # 24):

"Yeah yeah. Twenty five hundreds a little low, you know. My guys, they don't want to end up in the slammer with their moms visiting on weekends and everything. Really uhh... messes with their free time. I think three thousand is a good amount."

Trying to negotiate the price up a little. Definitely one success.
((1,(6+6+3)15)).

"More magicky.  Yeah, I guess that's one way to put it," Caduceus said as he went over to accept some tea from Martha.  "Although I am still a bit foggy about how we pull that off.  Which is why I am here.  To learn exactly that."

In the bar:
"Then I guess they'd best not get caught.  If ya do a good job on this one, maybe you'll rate higer pay the next time.  You in or do I find someone else?"

--------------------

The young woman rolls her eyes.
"I know THAT.  I mean how does it work.  We're not doing blood rituals or anything like that, right?"

At that moment, the door opens and Julia returns, followed by a well-dressed man in his early 30s.  "Shazai itashimasu.  My employer had extra tasks and I was unable to depart in a timely fashion".  He gave a short bow to the group, then knelt on one of the cushions.

"No blood rituals tonight or any night pequeño.  I would not have considered this eef that were involved, though it was some of my experiences with my former employer that helped me recognize what this document meant and might offer."  She pointed to a bundle of papers sitting in one corner.

She poured a cup of tea for the young man and then filled another.  "Who is missing one?"

Here, replied Koby.

"I could use one too," Caduceus added before walking over to grab one to read.  He passed one over to Koby while he was at it.

Duck moves over and grabs whatever Julia hands him, perusing it on the way back to his stool.