This message was last edited by the GM at 20:48, Thu 17 June 2021.

The moto-cross style armor that Rip wore was already heavy, somewhat bulky, and having the outer cordura layer soaked with water made it even more so.

"Inside" however he was fairly dry, he could feel it seeping in, cool and wet around where his jacket met his gloves. He could feel it around his collar dribbling down into his t-shirt beneath.

He slow rolled the place once, found a place to park and dismounted. The stiff, knee length boots kicked up little splashes as he made his way inside, the storm little more than a drumming rattle on the real glass windows.

The visor lit up the interior for him, smokey, dirty, faded. The display died automatically as he pulled off the helmet, his wavy hair springing back a little as it came loose. "Evenin'" He jerked his head to the pair, then hooked a d-ring on the back of the helmet to a clip on his belt.

He meadered over to the rack and started looking at the cues that were left, selected one, and then began chalking the tip before blowing gently on it to scatter the excess.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:58, Thu 17 June 2021.

The younger man looks up from the table at Rip, before turning back to the table to finish his shot. A slow rolling shot at the 9, that knocks it towards the corner pocket. The nine comes to rest inside the corner pocket, wobbling a moment before it drops. A smile crosses his face as he looks at the older man before he moves around the table for another shot.

"What ya need bub?" the older man states as his eyes seem to be mostly on Rip.

Artemis made her way in as well, taking in the atmosphere of the place before removing her helmet. The place had real character. She didn't have cybereyes, but she did have a nano-optical rebuild to handle dim situations like this.

It looked like Rip had already started talking, so she was content to keep an eye out and follow his lead.

She'd order something lame if the tender bothered her, or jump in if an opportunity presented itself.

"I was hopin' to play winner" Rip replied with a wry grin as he chalked up the stick. He glanced between the men with a faint, hopeful expression.

Lady Koi was glad to have Artemis with her heading to Fast Eddy's.  This was not the sort of neighborhood she preferred to hang out in; not since she was a kid at least.  On the outside the place was pretty much exactly what she expected given the address.  She pulled her skirt down a bit and adjusted the jacket before making her way in.

All eyes were on Lady Koi as she entered the room, even the one younger man offering a bit of a whistle. But the sight of Artemis at the bar had him place his cue stick down and walk over "What can I get ya?"  He eyed Artemis up and down a moment trying to get a read on him before his eyes wandered to Lady Koi.

The old man leaned against the table as he waited for the younger man to return after serving the man at the bar. He looked over to Rip "Fifty Euros to play at the table. Winner takes it home."

Rip grinned. "I've got ten to my name, but I'll put 'em against ten of yours if that's enough to keep your interest." he offered before he blew some of the blue chalk dust from the tip of the cue.

Artemis gave a smile to the bartender.

"Just a can water+. I'm on duty."

Artemis figured she'd let Koi call the play and act as her muscle.

"Nice place here. Got character."

She studied the room looking for potential threats or big names in the room.

Lady Koi leaned on the bar, careful that everything doesn’t fall out of low-cut top.  “Do you have any sake?” she asks with a smile.  “I’m looking for someone and I hope Eddy can help me,” she adds watching for reactions.

---

21:07, Today: Lady Koi rolled 12 using 1d10+10, rerolling max with rolls of 2.  Human Perception.  Not reading much from these guys…

The older man laughs as he takes a step back to a near by table to take a drink from a glass, "Choom 10 eddies ain't worth the time of racking."



The Bartender looked at Artemis, shook his head a bit at the odd request, but pulled out a dirty glass and ran some what actually looks like drinkable water into it... "5 Euros"



"Sake, does this look like a place that sells Sake? I got some decent synthohol or some smash though if you want that." The bartender states bluntly as he fills the water glass for the hired help...

---

OOC: yeah not reading much of anything off the pair of them in the room.

Artemis paid and even dropped a tip, but wondered why the tender didn't have the pre-bottled stuff. Ah well.

It was rather high, but certain insults it was better to soak up rather than deal with.

She preferred the canned or bottled stuff - not much chance of it being laced with anything from the bar.

What the CORP decided to lace you with of course, that was just an unavoidable part of life in the 21st century.

"No I didn't think you had any sake.  I'm looking for a man, perhaps a friend of yours?  I have a business proposition for him," she says turning her charm and attention to Eddy.

---

She will for now be sincere and up-front, though using her charm to put them at ease, and letting her feminine assets speak for themselves.

20:06, Today: Lady Koi rolled 18 using 1d10+10, rerolling max with rolls of 8.  Persuasion.
20:05, Today: Lady Koi rolled 14 using 1d10+9, rerolling max with rolls of 5.  W&S.

The bartender leaned forward to get a better look as Lady Koi as she spoke to him, nodding his head slightly as she spoke "Perhaps, I do. Who is this friend of mine?"

"Well, his name is Wells; Fargo Wells.  They tell me he is your friend," she says leaning in conspiratorially.

"Never heard of him." the bartender responds.

---

10+ Human perception will give you he's telling you the truth.
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:48, Mon 16 Aug 2021.

"Then you are not Eddy," Lady Koi says with some disappointment in her tone.  Looking at the other man in the bar, she raises her voice just enough to make sure he can hear.  "Are you Eddy, and do you know how I can reach Wells?" she asks, turning to keep both men in her field of vision.

"Oh they call me Fast Eddy. And this be my place. But I don't know this Wells choomba you're speaking of" The bartender, Eddy, responds to Lady Koi.

The older man looks up from his place at the table to Lady Koi, taking a moment to enjoy the view, before waving Lady Koi over.

Pushing herself away from the bar, she moves towards the older man, turning away from Eddy to face him.  She approaches the pool table, acknowledging Rip with a sidelong glance, and then leans on the table, presenting a fulsome cleavage. "Can you help me, perhaps?"

---

A couple of rolls for skills that might be useful, but aren't given the results...
21:11, Today: Lady Koi rolled 13 using 1d10+10, rerolling max with rolls of 3. (All of her soical interaction skills with points in them are at +10.
21:10, Today: Lady Koi rolled 11 using 1d10+10, rerolling max with rolls of 1.  Human Perception.

Rip caught Lady Koi's look with a subtle one of his own.

While it was impossible to convert much with a mere glance, he remained well back while she worked, but seemed ready to intervene should things go sideways.

In the meantime he wandered over near Artemis. "Up for a quick game?" He asked, and reached for a rack.

The Oldman, you presume Toothpick, chalks up his cue as he looks over Lady Koi a slight smile crosses his face before he leans in over the table "With this Wells choom? His old input might have an idea. Lives on Baker Street, in the conapt." as he lines up the cue ball and another ball near LK and strikes the cue ball sending it rolling across the table into the other ball...



Artemis shrugs at Rip and nods.


OOC: Artemis found the game to slow and had to check out. Sorry. So I'll finish the scene with them and likely pull them.

Disappointed and certain these guys were not helpful, Lady Koi nonetheless gets the sense it is dead end; they aren't going to give her more.  Pulling one of her business cards she hands it across the pool table, leaning in a way that makes it seem she is about to fall out of her dress.  "If you see Mr. Wells, please ask him to call me.  I am interested in his well-being," she says, then straightens up and heads to the door, pausing only long enough for Artemis to catch and to hear/answer any further comments.

Toothpick barely noticing the card but takes it anyways and shoves it into his pocket "Well after you speak with his input perhaps we can talk."

Turning to look over her shoulder she says, "I'd like that."  Then she is outside.  She stands next to Rip's bike and sends him a text.  {text: Shall we regroup outside in a few minutes?  I'm curious what they do after I've gone.  Let me know, please.}  Then she sends a message back to Phoenix and Prodigy.

---

Will send the second text in the other thread.

Rip seemed to get the hint, and met with Lady Koi around ten minutes later after taking his leave from the Pool Hall.

He glanced reflexively to the sky as he stepped out, and seemed to remember that you couldn't actually see anything of the sky here, just a black haze bereft of stars or anything else for that matter.

Some broken glass crunched under his boots as he walked up. "Well, that could have gone better." he said, then crossed his arms and settled in next to her. "Going to give them a minute?" he asked her, then took an old green plastic canteen out of his paneer and took a sip.

"Yes," Lady Koi says after receiving the text from Phoenix.  "No word yet from Baker street, best to stay here a while and see if they do anything," she replies to Rip.  She then closes up the jacket so that it covers up as much of her as possible, aware that this was still the CZ and it was at least armored.

A light drizzle begins to come down, the smell in the air goes acrid as it begins to mix with the refuse upon the ground in the alleyway. The sound of automatic weapons being fired is heard far to close to comfort...

Lady Koi shivers a little under the rain and but doesn't react at the sound of the automatic weapons.  She grew up on these streets, that sort of thing was normal; though she noted the direction and approximate distance, just in case.  "I hope they have better luck at the Baker Street address," she says softly, checking her phone for an update from either Phoenix or Prodigy.

With his hair growing more wet and lank by the minute, Rip craned his neck up to glance up at the dark clouds. He was well aware that it contained all sorts of nasty was washed out of the miasma that hung above the city, and it made him long for the cooler, cleaner rain of the mountains far to the east.

"Let's hope." he agreed, and then looked over to her. "Times like this I kinda wish I was able to afford a truck." He admitted with a faint, knowing smile before it was wiped out by the gunfire, replaced by a concerned expression and a glance in the direction it had come from.

After a moment he glanced back. "It's been a little bit." He began as he looked into her eyes, reflecting a fraction of the neon glow of the street lights. "You holding up alright?"

He was determined to keep it professional during the job, but pretending like they had never met bordered on the ridiculous. It seemed they had a little time to kill in any case.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:09, Tue 14 Dec 2021.

"Kekko desu (it's okay)," she says shrugging in the rain, resigned to potential damage it will do to her hair.  She checked her phone again for an update then shifted her weight to the other side.  "Nothing yet," she reported.    She was quiet for a few minutes as the water pattered down around and on them then cleared her throat, "how have you been?"

The silence that passed between them after her question gave the impression that is wasn't good, but his demeanor seemed to suggest that it was just the "normal" not good, or something close to it. He exhaled through his nose and blinked a few times. "It's not getting any easier." he admitted, then after another moment he continued.

"I thought that once I had settled in a bit, it would get better. Everybody knows this is the place to make your name right? To get rich or die tryin?" he chuckled grimly, a soft sound. "And I've known a couple people who did make it back, but...I don't know. Either they weren't tellin' the whole truth, or I was just...blind."

He was homesick, which might have been endearing to some, or pitiable. It sure wasn't the vibe that most people were trying to put off, but given that it was just the two of them for the moment, he seemed comfortable opening up a little bit. "Glad I got picked up for this, that's the truth" he said with more confidence. "Hopin' it might not be a one time thing, if we can pull it off."

The drizzle of rain grew heavier as time passed. The sound of gunfire didn't get any closer but it continued in spurts as different sides took turns firing from cover you'd guess.

"I should have an umbrella," she says after short pause.  "I don't think they are going to do anything, can we go someplace dry and safer?" she says after another minute.  At this point her hair is plastered to her face, rivulets of rain water following the contours of her face.