Tailgate looked over at Val when she talked to him and after a moment he smile, wide and pure. He looked happy and relieved to have his ride back. "Anytime, Val!" He then chuckled and shook his head. "Thanks, but since I've got 'er back, and I was told I should WALK her here," There was almost disgust at having to walk his bike in his voice, "I'm gonna take the chance to ride her. YOU can ride with ME if you want, on a REAL bike." He grinned and winked at her.

Seemingly, his confidence was a little restored this morning after getting his bike back, if not fully.

"I'll be using public transit for now."

He was actually pretty fast on his feet, but he had the feeling as good a fighter as he was, there would be a lot of running in the future.

He'd ripped the dojo tags off him so they couldn't be easily identified.

He glanced over at his mono weaponry.

The main reason he kept them was that they were symbols of his victories in his dojo, and because people tended to take that sort of thing seriously.

He wasn't planning on buying too many weapons.. but armor and survival gear would be a good idea.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:49, Sat 03 July 2021.

Vamp gave her knife one more good flick before closing it and putting it away. "Fine," she said with another sneer. "Let's get this bloody charade over with. It's not like the bloody pigs are going to avoid the mall which is bursting with...right, people just like us, after they raided a juve club and started shooting people. We get caught we're not going to the nick - we're getting dead."

She started walking to the door. "I'll ride the damn bus. Better that than riding bitch on some bloody scooter."

By motorcycle, scooter, skateboard and bus, the group of juvies arrives at the New Harbor Mall.  The motorcycle and scooter arrive first, just before opening of the main concourse.  It is only a few minutes of waiting around the bus stops before the others arriv, Hunter having 'pooned the bus and followed along on his plank.  At 9:00 AM the concourse opens letting in the small crowd of people - mixed adults and juvies - waiting to enter and start their shopping day.

The instruction from Minerva was to call her when you get to the mall and she will give you some cash.  You can call from any data term or use your cell phones.

---

Okay.  This is essentially a shopping trip.  Work out the gear you want and we can RP any encounters with other juvies, store clerks, etc as you wish.

Val parked the scratched CityScooter in the most inconspicuous spot she could find and went into the mall. She wasn't sure whether she was supposed to wait for the others or not, but waiting outside seemed like a dumb way to attract attention. Resisting the urge to run for the (questionable) safety of the most upscale fashion store, she forced herself to walk at a normal pace, keep her head down and her hood on. She probably looked like a junkie, but who cares.

Once inside, she found a quiet corner to pull out her v-term. A couple of fingers danced in the empty air, tapping Virtuality icons.

MINERVA, she typed, uneasy about talking even in whispers; her voice was too well-known. I'M AT THE NEW HARBOR MALL. THE KTHERS ARE GETTING HERE TOO. WHAT NOW? THIS IS A BAD IDEA, TOO MANY CAMERAS!!!!1

Likely getting there fairly late due to the public transport, Jai took only a moment to breathe in the atmosphere. Even if it wasn't his mall, it still felt like home. He tried to find everyone near the entrance before they scattered.

"Okay, so the... uh, real hostile takeover-type stuff - guns and swords and whatever - is kind of a special situation, if I recall correctly. Grab a slice, you'll figure it out. They don't have an autofac I can crack. But looking at the directory, I think sporting goods is the best place for me to try and do some market manipulation. Unless... well, no offense, but none of you guys seemed the types to beg me to unlock the fabricator at TechShak. And if you were, you'd probably know how to do it better than me anyway."

While he waited for any questions or different suggestions for well-applied criminality, he dialed the operator and waited to see how help they were getting. A second hand manipulated the mall directory icons where he considered what he personally needed.

Nikola arrived in the bus with vamp and the others with her trenchcoat in her arms and using a bandana on her head made of a pillowcase she took out of the apartment in order to conceal her green dyed hair and haircut , she looked around for val and the others to see if they contacted minerva already and if they would be willing to trade jackets or something to make themselves look somewhat different than tonight.. not that it mattered too much, the place would be packed with Juves and on the obelisk last night it was such a mess in the dark that their faces might not be that much identified

Tailgate wasn't stalking Val or anything. He was just keeping an eye on her, making sure she was safe and possibly 'undetected' as a celebrity. He wasn't too close either. He didn't want to crowd her. He was just...nearby...while they waited for the others to arrive. Once they did, he nodded to them and headed inside.

Val took a subrepticious look around, spotting Tailgate's bike parked by the Mall and then the others approaching. She got closer, trying to be casual about it.

"Hey, so, I just texted Mine-eeeh, I mean, you know who, Screen Girl. Has anyone heard from her? I was going to hit the upper floor for some decent rags - uhm, no offense, Hunter - and a new haircut to throw them off, but I don't know how safe is that."

She was trying to keep the edge of anxiety from her voice, with mixed results.

"And I probably need to get rid of my ride and also last night's dress, every cop from here to Harajuku must be watching out for them already..." she sighed. An Eiji exclusive. Goodness knew how much those costed. She had never had to buy her own clothes... And she had a nagging feeling her weekly allowance wasn't going to be enough, and that was assuming her account wasn't already frozen...

“You can use my Trenchcoat in the meantime Val, Also we might consider a buying a couple of wigs or Baseball caps, hope minerva answers soon”

Minerva answers the call Jai put in after a couple of rings.  "Hey there!  Okay, I scored some euros for this.  Remember, part of the plan here is to establish an alibi and a cover for the next day or so, you're going to need some time to recover.  Punch in this code at the ATM, it's a sequence just do plus one for the next person, should spit out a thousand euros for each code.  You can get a cash card or cash, don't matter," she says cheerfully discussing upwards of 10,000 euros going out quickly.

"Don't worry about the money, I've set it up with some mondo help to be untraceable.  Now when you are done shopping head to this address; it's an old bunker belongs to friend of mine.  You can stay there a couple of days until it blows over, then we can talk about the future.  Questions?"

Jai looked away from the directory for a second.

"Uh, I assume the food situation is taken care of at this new place? Other than that, I'll thank you for the windfall. And everything else, while I'm at it."

---

After any questions are resolved, Jai closed the phone and pointed in the general direction of the sporting goods store.

"SportsNet. I heard somebody say something about bows, and they got 'boards of all kinds. Though I doubt they print the hunting rifles on-site... I gotta head there to get a nice, roomy bag. Anyone coming with?"

Shin-Ji did some alterations to his shopping list in his head as he tried to budget out his money. This wasn't something he was good at, but his sensei had tried to impart a respect for logistics into his students occasionally.

The days of warriors facing every problem by being brave and good with a sword were long gone.

"Sure. I think a lot of us wised up to the idea of carrying a bow. It makes sense: it's quiet and it'll go right through lighter armor.

Those goggles are really tempting, but I don't know if I'll have enough money for them.

Myself, I want a smart board, but I have no idea which one to get."
This message was last edited by the player at 14:54, Fri 09 July 2021.

Hunter smiles at Shin-Ji.  "Well, lucky for you I'm here then!  The SantaCruz smart board is hard to beat, especially for a beginner, awesome choice," he says holding up his own well-worn plank covered in stickers and Sharpie-art.  "And yeah, a Roadrasher is also a smart idea," he adds.

---

SantaCruz smart board gives a +3 to Thrash, very handy if you have no skill in that and want to ride a skateboard.
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:54, Fri 09 July 2021.

"I like the idea of a bow. Very practical these days and can be paired with green leather for a modern-age Robin Hood look. We can all be merry together," Vamp said, trademark sneer firmly in place. "I refuse to wear tights, though."

"I am, however, anxious to go back to learning Kenjutsu. My father learned it from his father, and on and on, and was teaching me. Are you able to teach, Shin-Ji?"

In reply to Vamp (msg # 251):

So i guess you lean towards a sword instead? We could organize a little.. Does anyone want to get into pinstols mainly?.. I think i can get just a low quality dress for just 80 since its mainly to mislead others.. speaking of which ot might be better to change our appareance first and then for example once i look like a different type of girl go get my bow and other stuff pretending to be buying stuff to go with "daddy" to a hunting trip,, getting the cheap dress allows me to save for some tech stuff that we might need as a group, like flashlights,  datachips.. or something you tech savy guys think we should get together.. This people helping us might want to assign us missions in return for their asistance, missions that might include , sneaking, infiltration, sabotage, tracking, stealing information and more

"Missions? Are you having a go? We're a bunch of juves, not bloody operatives or some other bit of tosh. And, lest you forget, we know what's coming soon but not what life is going to look like for any of us afterwards. Missions." Vamp said with a mocking laugh.

"Why don't we look to the immediate future which involves simple survival, hmm?"

Jai shrugged.

"You take their money, there might be strings attached. I'm at peace with that."

He punched in the code, and was honestly surprised when a thousand fresh eurodollars came out.

"Stretching it will help. I'm off the sporting goods. Gonna pay honestly for a cheap duffel, and then see if I can get some boards or bows printed out."

"I'll defer to your expert opinion then, Hunter. Though I'll wait on buying in case if we can get a few employee discounts. printed."

Shin-Ji laughed at the image Vamp put in his head of the merry yogangers.


"That would be one hell of a poser gang. I'll bet someone's already done it at least once.

No Kenjitsu, but I got some saber training, as well as some Gumdo from when I was a kid."

Tailgate kept quiet and mostly just went from store to store, shopping by himself. He was worried about what was coming, what might be coming. So he used the time shopping to distract himself, to calm himself. He didn't need a gun since he already had one, but he bought a knife and a taser - for a non-lethal option. He bought some clothes, some armored clothes, and a pair of boostergoggs. He got a skinwatch and a light tattoo of a stylized flaming cyberbike. He bought some sleeping stuff, something for entertainment, and a tool kit for his bike, as well a bag to carry stuff in.

"You are going to buy weapons?" Valeriya said, incredulous, in her most European of tones.

What the frack was going on here? Was she suddenly part of some StreetFighter yogang now? Her eyes went from Vamp to Jai, following their conversation. Yes, it had occurred to Val that Minerva and whoever she worked for might have an agenda, some vested interest in saving their asses and giving them advice, shelter and now money. But to make them into some sort of, what, juve commando? That sounded like some cheap braindance.

So she stayed silent, queued behind Jai and got her wad of Eurodollars. She hesitated before she inserted her own smartcard and emptied her account – another thousand.

The plastic bills felt strange in her hand, she wasn’t used to cash, but it made more sense. Harder to trace, or so they said in the movies. Sooner or later her account was going to be frozen or at least tracked by the Simba. Whenever they wised up, that withdrawal of funds was going to point them to the New Harbor Mall. So she better get a move on, pick whatever stuff she needed and beat it ASAP.

Val went with the flow, unsure of what she actually needed for her... new life? Was she some sort of fugitive now? Trying to avoid attention, she kept to the center of the group, as inconspicuous as possible.

She bought a sleepbag and a sleep pad, because all the others were buying one too, and a carrybag to lug them all. When she peeled off from the group it was to get herself some SmartGoggles.

Those looked cool, and they would do the trick of concealing her identity. A look at the mirror confirmed this: except for the trademark tattoo on her thigh, she looked just like a seventeen-year-old with a hangover, no Eiji dress, no heels, perhaps a Valkyria frother trying to look just like her idol.

She turned around to head for the till and almost bumped into someone.

"Oops! I didn't see..." she started saying automatically, before she saw who it was.

And it was Tailgate, sporting similar BoosterGoggs, and carrying a similar bag full of stuff.

"You again," she said, but she was smiling. Some time alone had calmed her a bit, particularly not being around Vamp for a while. "The Obelisk, the New Harbor… We gotta stop jazzing like this. Those look rim on you, by the way," she added.
This message was last edited by the player at 11:18, Tue 13 July 2021.

Vamp laughed at the airs Val was putting on. "Yes, we are going to buy weapons. What do you think we're going to do, sing them into submission?" She said, nose in the air, speaking in the most posh, stuffy accent they had ever heard.

"Might work with that rubbish you sing given it makes me want to put my ears out whenever I hear it. Go buy designer clothes and stick with what you know," she finished, voice as dry as the desert, back to her crisp RP accent.

Grabbing a few of the ready-made items, including a big nylon bag, Jai headed over to one of the microfacs and palmed his override key near the machine's RFID reader.

<EMPLOYEE OVERRIDE NOT RECOGNIZED>

Jai bit his lip. Of all the times the employees picked to finally update their software, it had to be now. He looked towards each other juve who would benefit from a printed board or bow and waved his hand under his chin to signal "no good."

"Maybe the next place. Damn."

The only other place with as much demand for the group looked to be Disposable Futures...

13:23, Today: Jai rolled 89 using 1d100 with rolls of 89.  Fails on 76 or more.

Despite their anxiety the juvies are largely ignored in the mass of people moving about shopping.  There are some exceptions, notably an occasional catcall to one of the girls from some boys who sport similar colors and style: long hair in the '80's metal band look, though it is apparent they toned down the studs and spikes as a concession to mall security.  Given their amped testosterone and style, megaviolents.  Fortunately, they don't seem to be morning people, satisfied in mildly harassing the girls.

Hunter heads to the skate shop intent on getting a new roadrasher and some other stuff.  Kat looks at the money with some hesitation before moving to get some clothing (more rugged, outdoorsy stuff) and some food.

---

Get a Clue rolls please.

Shin-Ji kept his eyes out, trying not to get the attnention of the megaviolents. Not here, not now, anyway.

Get a clue+ int
20:36, Today: Shin-Ji Han rolled 13 using 1d10+9, rerolling max ((4)).