7:56 am, Monday, July 26th, 2280
Waking up from possibly the first good night's rest she'd had in a month, Rowan blinked into the ample daylight pouring into her room from various large windows. She quickly realized her initial assessments of the space were incomplete. Maybe it was the near-death experiences from escaping what used to be her job, maybe it had been her minimalist use of lights as she wandered in, maybe she'd just been dead tired. Sitting up in the comfortable bed she scanned the room. There was a second bed, two dressers of matching style but not color, and the decor seemed to skew towards children without being pure overt cartoon characters. A tastefully done room by rich people for their rich children. It was immaculate.
On her way to use the bathroom adjacent to her room, she got a much better look at the space she'd walked through to find a bed. The bathroom was accessible by a larger room, and this one was packed with storage cabinets. A peek into one or two revealed hundreds of toys varying in size, age-range, complexity, and style. A playroom, then. Off to the north side of the room was another door that, she couldn't resist discovering, led to the highest point in the mansion. Another door at the top of ornate spiral stairs had a sloppily hand-written note taped to it. "Tree House" was inscribed along with a passable drawing of skull and crossbones. The warning door opened up to a large, square turret overlooking the surrounding forest. The structure leaned baroque in design with high arching windows that could all be opened with the tap of a nearby panel. The dome atop the turret was visible inside as the ceiling curved its half-sphere over the space with a clean, gold lacquer that gave the feeling of being in a castle. Some random toys were still laying about the space but there was a telescope and a small work area that made this a very appealing lookout point should it seem needed.
Already on the ground floor she made her way to the main areas and heard conversation coming from the kitchen, a natural place to gather in any home. Despite being massive, aggressively appointed with the highest-end equipment and suited to serve a restaurant, it still had a quality to it that lent itself to comfort and warmth. Upon entry each of the other four members acknowledged her and somehow, despite the macabre and violent beginnings, this group already felt more cohesive than any she'd encountered during her time in S.T.A.D.S.. And it seemed she was a part of it. She joined the conversation without reservation, though for her that just as often meant pure observation as it did contribution.
There was plenty to discuss. Not quite finished with the previous evening's surprises or events leading up to it, the group continued where they'd left off and even had fresh perspectives with a full night's rest under their belts. Each member even found themselves discussing some of their pasts because there seemed to be some overarching connection among them, the details of their histories were suspected to potentially shed some light. If nothing else, they all were discovering a subconscious desire to feel closer to the other members of this cadre considering the epic levels of danger that only seemed to increase by the day. Then there were the items immediately on hand.
Anya had responded to Vahl's text for an update by indicating a man insisted on meeting him in his office this morning, 10 am. The man was a robotics specialist that Vahl had been courting to either create a partnership or at least swap some ideas, the possibilites for scientific advancement with him seemed very high. The only challenge was that Dr. Aeres Kontos was eccentric and a big personality to handle. If he wasn't so talented Vahl wouldn't have wasted his time, but the man was impossible to meet with and this provided a much desired opening to a conversation that was long overdue. Since Anya had only been provided instructions should Vahl
not reach her, she otherwise conducted business as usual and as this was a Monday, appointments were allowed. Vahl's text confirmed proof of life, the meeting was scheduled. After the details were provided, she sent an uncharacteristic text to ask how his friends had fared in the S.T.A.D.S. appointment and he hadn't responded as yet .
Gavin's call to the dojo last night had been too late for anyone to pick up, which he'd suspected might be the case, but he left a message for Tachira and she'd returned his message early this morning. Just about everything from the girl was cryptic, but this voice memo was guarded even for her and he had the suspicion that a visit to his business would be worthwhile despite her confirmations that nothing was out of the ordinary.
Kat had received a message of her own in the very small hours of the night. A DIDC (often called colloquially a "didik") she didn't recognize invited her to join a friend at a club she'd only heard of. The man used a different Datac Identification Code each time he contacted her, so there was no use programming any of them in, but he used a communication style that was particular and she knew who it was and likely even what he wanted. Clip with another job was the most likely scenario. Though she had never set foot inside the club, she could count on its ability to allow discretion if she knew Clip, the man was overly cautious. The message seemed to infer that she had but to state a day and time, he'd meet her there. She'd also had an idea or two of some equipment that might be beneficial to her for the team's benefit and considered the implications of procuring it.
Rowan recognized out loud that she hadn't seen her own apartment in weeks. Seeing as how she'd been targeted by somebody and whom that somebody actually would turn out to be still a complete mystery, the group had to discuss the merits of allowing her to return and, if so, how and with what army. What would she find? Would they even see evidence of others passing through?
Aside from his concerns about what the actual fuck he'd gotten himself into, Daenus had no other pressing outside matters. There was the standard hangover he was wrestling with, but that was practically comforting at this point. Allowing somebody, anybody, else to figure out what was being done about breakfast, he'd surreptitiously found himself near Vahl's elbow when his friend had gotten the message from Anya asking about the group. Otherwise he floated about, tossing in non-sequiturs, barbs, and innuendos as the conversation called for.
Then there was dealing with Stasis, their for-now employer. Billy had assured them that he was staving them off until they could gather the evidence necessary that the mission was completed. He had left a message via ansible on the house comm system, a short text that didn't bring great relief.
"Still have the most of 48 hours. Assets procured were incorrect. Working on money. Get answers from S.S.. Will contact again tomorrow." "S.S." was a reference to Stokely, and they had an address. "Working on money" seemed that he was making sure they'd get paid and he'd left a hint as to when he'd be in touch. But "Assets procured were incorrect" left a hollow feeling in all their guts. They'd risked life and limb to procure those assets, in most cases twice, and the idea they'd done something wrong haunted every last one of them. Nobody really quite knew what Stasis was capable of but they'd seen what handlers could do, and though Billy seemed to be on their side it didn't comfort them to consider what Stasis might call for in terms of consequences. They needed to obtain intel.
Last night Billy had mentioned going to Stokely's address, they'd obtained it from the titanium flash drive on Rowan's desk. There was still a great deal of mystery wrapped up in the small drive as none of the team was a hacker. Vahl could assess that there was more to gain from it, but he'd reached the limit of his abilities in extracting it. Following the trail seemed a reasonable method of gaining further access.
OOC- Everybody has shared some of their background. This is an opportunity to go into the Backgrounds thread and "uncover" (move the "Private to GM" so err'body else can see) as much as you feel you would have divulged to the group. If you think you would have told the whole story, feel free to uncover accordingly. Your call, but I'm leaning a little on the idea that quid pro quo would have felt present, so everybody would have told something.
Things that could get done that are up for discussion (not listed in order of importance, you guys make that call):
- Vahl has an appointment with a long-sought-after partner today at 10a (in 2 hours). The man is not likely to be interested in rescheduling.
- Gavin could have something afoot at the dojo, it's nature is not likely to be too urgent or Tachira would have made that clear. Might still be worth a visit at some point.
- Kat may have another gig of a... clandestine nature.
- Rowan's apartment could use a visit in her estimation, though the unknowns on that subject are rampant.
- S. Stokely needs to be investigated, you have his address as well as a heavy suggestion from Billy to check that out.