Tailgate turned to look at who bumped in to him and went a bit wide-eyed. "Oh, uh, sorry about that. Oh, uh, hey, Val!" His eyes, of their own volition, tracked all the way down her and then back up. "You look...great!" He quickly hastened to add, a bit flustered, "Not that you don't normally, or anything. I mean, you always look great."

He then shut his mouth for a moment to stem the tide of words.

He then smiled at her. "Oh, if only that were true, I'd be so happy, all my dreams coming true." As soon as he said it, even though he said it a lightly joking matter, he winced inside. That had sounded more dumb than funny. And what if she thought he was really some weirdo fanboy?

11:47, Today: Tailgate rolled 15 using 1d10+10, rerolling max with rolls of 5.  Get a Clue.

Valeriya opened her mouth to say something in reply to Vamp's dressing down, but she closed it again, sighing between tight lips. She was still feeling a bit guilty from her catastrophic slip with her that morning, and also she wasn't feeling her finest - no heels, no makeup, still dizzy from the bad night, not to mention she was still wearing an oversize hoodie as a dress. Not quite feeling her most self-confident to trade barbs with the Goth.

So she turned her back on Vamp with as much dignity as she could muster, and just said "whatever", and headed for the escalator to the clothes stores.

It couldn't be helped anyway, she told herself as she went. There was no befriending people. Where she was, people either hated or idolized you, there was no middle ground, no room for friends or acquaintances. That included most of her family - except for her parents, who simply were indifferent to her except as a financial resource. Of all shitty things that had happened lately, the Obelisk shootout at least had given her a chance to put some distance between her and her parental exploiters. Enjoy that harsh freedom while it lasts, V.

---

"Oh, quit talking that drek, T," she said with a smile, not quite her CharmSmile™ yet but close enough. Making it pretty obvious she did not, in fact, want him to shut up. Not while he was fanboying, anyway.

"I know I look like some junkie wannabe after a night of hitting the black lace. Just hoping I look like, well, a Val frother rather than, you know, the real thing. Speaking of which. I'm gonna hit the clothes store, do you wanna..."


"...Uhm, what? I mean, heh, yeah. Right?" She said, searching his expression for clues. That had sounded like a lame joke, then like something else, and then like a lame joke but, like, genetically modified to be giga-lame. It was a joke, wasn't it? Or more like, the joke of a joke - joking about the kind of joke some Beaver would crack. Totally not the stuff of actual GoGangers, right? Not like a guy like Tailgate at all. Sure, so, double joke. Or something.

Frack, she was confused now. Too carbon-plagued to overthink jokes. What the frack, was she being outwitted now? Grand, just grand. First the ravengirl gets mad at her, now the bikeboy makes her feel dumb. Great day, Val, fun times. She sighed and looked him in the eye, crossing her legs, striking a pose.

"Anyway. Talk of black lace, I need new underwear," she said sultrily, making it sound like a challenge. "And someone to go fetch me the right size if I get it wrong the first time. These are growing all the time, you know," and with that she strutted towards the entrance to Rapture Fashion Concepts, never looking back.

---

15:35, Today: Valeriya rolled 13 using 1d10+10, rerolling max with rolls of 3.  Get a Clue at the Mall.

Guess she's a bit distracted...
This message was last edited by the player at 18:36, Wed 14 July 2021.

Jai quickly headed to Disposable Futures. While he earmarked a few of the clothes for further perusal, his first priority was finding the most expensive item they needed that would be printed on-site.

"Tear gas might be a problem, right?"

Keeping the override card in his palm, he stealthily passed it over the reader on the autofac. Manipulating the virtual screen so the large "INVENTORY MODE" graphic was hidden, he requested a ClearAir gas mask for printout at his station, and used the same codes to delete the entry that claimed a mask was now available for floor inventory.

As he tried to hide an excited smile, he sent a message along to the rest of the crew.

"2&20. We're live as long as I can telling this thing to not mark inventory correctly. Any requests?"

23:41, Today: Jai rolled 21 using 1d10+12, rerolling max ((9))
23:42, Today: Jai rolled 71 using 1d100, rerolling max with rolls of 71.  Fails on 76 or more, pt 2.
23:44, Today: Jai rolled 20 using 1d10+18, rerolling max with rolls of 2.  Boost, TN 20, spending 2 luck..

Shin-Ji tried to keep his eye out for security and tried not to pay attention to the conversation involving black lacy underwear. He remembered his little shopping list.

"The masks are cool. An appliance cube's am must though unless we want to be eating raw pre-pak and rations for the next few weeks.

We're all going to need sleeping bags, tents and a mattress,  though those are cheap.

The portable couch, table or a chair would be cool if we're going to find even medum term digs. It should be luggable between us.

Any actual rations or a water recycler would be cool, though I don't see those on catalog."


Drek. He couldn't help the feeling that he was being watched by security. He'd figured that they weren't exactly corp-sec enemy number 1 right now, but getting busted for item duplication was not an option.

On the other hand, they were gunna need this stuff, so he wasn't about to argue with Jai.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:07, Thu 17 Feb 2022.

After getting her money Nikola told Jai to "Say thank you to Minerva for my part" and she proceeded with her paranoid driven shopping strategy:

She kept closer to the group but at a little distance, just in case someone would we looking for them as a group, getting ocassionally a little closer to other groups of people gathered in the mall in order to hide in the crowd a little, but always keeping an eye on the the other girls like Val and Vamp in case something happened.. she  went first to the fashion store, where she purchased a dark wig , a cheap and feminine looking dark grey dress plus a cheap brown top and pant madeof a stronger fabric to change later.. she then decided to head to the ladies room , get into a toilet cubicle , close the door and get the clothes she carried before in a bagpack she purchased on the way.. she wore the dress she bought and taking her pillowsuit bandana out, she used the long hair black wig to better conceal her green hair coming from a partially shaved head.

Hopefully after looking very different coming from the ladies room the cams wouldn't recognize her.. making the rest of her purchases pretending to be a daddy's girl getting ready for exotic vacations in which she would use diferent camping gear and tools, not to mention the bow and goggles she attempted to hide in the bags she recieved in the stores since some of her "teammates" were also buying the same thing

14:59, Today: Nikola Net rolled 10 using 1d10+2, rerolling max with rolls of 8.  Get a clue

(I got confused and added just +2 for get a clue.. but if i should have added the 7 for INT).So i guess IT SHOULD BE 17 TOTAL. RIGHT?
This message was last edited by the player at 14:56, Fri 16 July 2021.

Tailgate thought that if it were possible to die of embarrassment, or from having a foot shoved too far in to one's mouth, he would be dead right then. Luckily, Val paid only a slight bit of mind and kept talking while he tried to recover. He breathed in and out and felt a bit better.

He raised an eyebrow at her and slowly smiled. "Depends. Do I get to watch you put them on?" He let out a snort of amusement. "I like you, Val...but I'm not your gopher. I MIGHT consent to hang with you while you shop. I MIGHT even consent to hold some stuff for you here and there."

He tossed her a wink and walked alongside her.

As the juvies split up into small groups or pairs Jai and Tailgate notice that some other juvies are watching them.  The kids watching are dressed pretty much the same in the latest fahsions, though all in bright, sassy colors.  Their hair and other accessories are hip to the current trends.  In the sporting Goods store there is a pair looking at camping gear.  In the clothing stores there's always at least one browsing.  As you work your way around the mall Jai makes the connection: Mall Brats, watching the newcomers in their turf.  They are not otherwise bothering you, but they are watching even as he boosts the autofac...

Val turned her head to look at him, hair doing an accurately calculated fanning movement.

"Wouldn't you like that, human?" she replied in a slightly femmebot tone. Naturally, that was the last line at the end of her most-watched music video, the first single of the valKer1a album. A half-second for him to catch the (self-)reference, and she was walking again, smiling to herself as she heard the rest of it. Holding stuff was enough. She needed an audience, nothing else.

Did those two fifteen-year olds gasp as she entered the store? Probably, but she wasn't going to look. And those middle-aged dads patiently waiting for wives or daughters to be done with their shopping, they were totally checking her out. But that was par for the course.

Feeling much better about herself, she went through a rack of jeans. Nah, too vintage. Something more ironically old-fashioned, like leggings. And, she reminded herself, for the first time in many years she actually had to watch the price tags. Oh well, the Eijis of Tokyo were suddenly out of her reach, but hey, there were some very decent Alysse Latours, right? And no, forget the minis, no skirts for a while. Damn tattoo.

She grabbed a few fistfuls of underwear along with the leggings and corset, and punched her measuremenets into the tacticle screen of the store. Then she caught Tailgate's hand in hers. For a moment she held it up in the air between them, letting him get ideas, then she dropped his on the screen.

"Scout some bikinis for me while I try this on, sweetie?" she said in a girlier voice, winking at him. "You know, like my bestie would?"

She went into the changers, leaving him to peruse the Eiji Swimwear section of the catalog.
This message was last edited by the player at 11:24, Tue 20 July 2021.

Noticing the home team mallrats all around, Jai risked only a second hack, for the Hitachi-Kenmore appliance module. He didn't want to seem like he was bringing undue regulatory attention to their business by robbing their stores blind. He grabbed a decent-looking suit from the rack before leaving for a few scattered purchases before heading to the "pizza" place.

All this talk about genius guns had him amped to buy a roll of scramblers, and his lack of genius regarding any sort of guns had him opt for a cheap, plastic pistol. Just in case. An armored jumpsuit much like the one he was wearing completed his trip through.

18:01, Today: Jai rolled 25 using 1d10+16, rerolling max with rolls of 9.  Boost, TN20.
If the appliance cube is too complicated, I'll settle for a table.

Nikola gets closer to her group and  takes a look at the mallbrats while rubbing her chin "First the megaviolents and now these guys taking a look at us hmm.Do you think some of them were at the obelisk too? If they did they might recognize someone like Kat, anyway i just remembered i forgot to buy the grappling gun thing, anyone wants me to get them something? Since most of us are buying stuff to get thrown in the woods or to hide for days under a bridge of something..I'll go there one more time but not with my wig and dress, but looking similar like I did yesterday, i might question them about encouraging harmful practices such as hunting right after my purchase is done. hopefully that will get me some alibi"
This message was last edited by the player at 03:26, Sat 24 July 2021.

"Don't stress about them, I'd be doing the same thing in their situation. This isn't our territory. Though now that you mention it, I didn't see Mel at the club. Don't think she showed."

Jai looked over his purchases, keeping a wary eye out.

"I think I'm all set, but get that alibi locked in. Just let me know if they give any of you static."

Speaking of the devil, Jai and Nikola are stopped by a surrounding group of mallbrats.  They are not overtly hostile, but they form a semi-circle in front of Jai and Nikola as they exit the shop with the appliance, preventing them from moving on without pushing through.  Before things get to that point, however, Melinda Upton steps through the line to stand in front of Jai.

"You're on our turf and boosting stuff, what gives?"  she asks.  Her tone is not hostile, but there is a certain arrogance to her posture.

"Not looking to bankrupt anyone. Just stretching my limited assets a little. You know how it is."

He held up his hands.

"The hacks are clean, I made sure of it. And it's not like I made a dent in that place's feedstock numbers. You guys are in the clear as far as management is concerned. You know if you headed down to my store, I wouldn't begrudge the same."

Not that the scale was the same, of course. If they walked in and boosted six hundred eurobucks of product from his convenience store, it'd look like a bomb hit the place. But it's not like any of them actually owned the products they were selling, anyway. Not while actually -at- work.

Nikola looks at Jay while he does the talking, she is not used that much to mallbrats and their Jargon, she might say something that makes things worse

For just a second, Tailgate looked at Valeriya blankly and with a furrowed brow. Then his mind connected the dots and he vaguely remembered the music video of hers. He had never been her biggest fan, but since he'd gotten to know her, maybe he'd give her music another try.

He watched her gather things to try on. He stepped closely to her and smiled slightly. But then he said very quietly, as if whispering some sweet nothings in her ear, "by the way, i don't think we're in any danger or anything, but it looks like there's a local juve gang eyeballing us, and likely the rest of our...troupe. probably their turf. just wanted to mention it so you can be on your guard a little."

He then moved away and began looking for revealing swimwear for her.

Val took another look at it on the mirror; not actually a mirror, but an array of nanocameras, all designed to subtly alter the image and make everything look more flattering than it was. The bodysuit was a bit more biker-chich than her usual, but whatever, the way things were going, she could use something armored. And the other stuff suited her like a glove.

"And what is weird about juves eyeing me?" she retorted, stepping out of the changing booth.

She was wearing high-heeled ankle boots, wet-looking jet black leggings, and a tighly laced, crimson corset. Way edgier than her usual - but she was not her usual self anyway.

"About time I wore something fitting," she observed, casually sliding by Tailgate. "You done finding the sluttiest stuff, yoboy?"

"Yeah, we'll see about how clean the hacks were in a few minutes, the proof is in the lack of reaction.  This isn't your turf, you're not New Harbor juves.  What gives?" Melinda asks.  She crosses her arms leaning her weight on one side, her blonde hair falling over one eye.  The other mall brats take up positions surrounding but in innocuous looking groups of two or three.  To any adult, it looks like she is talk with Jai and Nikola and the rest are just clumps of kids chatting also.

A pair of mallbrats approaches Valeriya and Tailgate, looking eager-eyed and a little nervous.  "Are you... are you Valeriya, the singer?"  The brunette latina girl asks, her ginger partner nods excitedly.

Shin-Ji stood at the back of the group and kept an eye out, and generally looked like the socially awkward teenager he was.

If a fight broke out, they were probably all screwed anyway, so it was best to let the celebrity and the mallrat do the talking.

Jai sighed. He knew she was a shark, but couldn't she see-

Well, maybe she could be made to.

"Listen, I'm not here to sell this stuff out of my back room. Kind of an emergency, as if the shopping list didn't give that away."

He suddenly found himself wishing they'd interacted more, despite her somewhat unpleasant demeanor. She was hard to read.

"So... what are we doing?"

He looked around at the packs of mallrats, then back at Mel, shrugging his shoulders.

05:26, Today: Jai rolled 13 using 1d10+12, rerolling max with rolls of 1.  Get a Clue. Streetsmarts is the same bonus, if that makes more sense.
Well, if we're using the crit fail rules, let me know and I'll roll the extra die. So much for getting a read on her.

"Well, I sure ain't Valeriya the fracking netrunner," Val retorted, striking a pose with her fist on her hip.

But she couldn't help but smile. You can rinse the glitter off your skin, but you can't get the GlitterGirl out of the girl. And it was probably not a good time to be recognized, but frack it, it had already happened, she might as well enjoy it.

"You see the thing we put out earlier today, yoboys? I can't talk about it, you know, but we are working on some. Real. Rim. Stuff." She made it sound confidential, like she was giving them a world exclusive.

Well, like. She was. Nobody knew about that yet. Not even her, let alone Kat.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:19, Mon 02 Aug 2021.

Tailgate turned slowly to grin at the girl holding up a pair of swimsuits. One was pretty and functional and actually not very slutty at all besides being a bit on the skimpy side, purple and red in color. The other...well...calling it a swimsuit was almost degrading to other swimsuits. It was more like...water-proof lingerie. He grinned at her as he held them out to her.

He rolled his eyes at Valeriya from behind her as she turned away from him to talk to other juves, and let out a small groan. Of course she leaned in to being recognized. It was like she couldn't help herself! He reached up to rub the bridge of his nose for a moment.

Melinda’s expression goes to something harder to read, a little colder.  “Yes, it is that obvious, that’s sort of my point.  You are attracting attention.  What is your emergency and what do you need?” She asks, lowering her voice and leaning in for the final sentence.

Meanwhile, the two girls that approached Valeriya smile and look at each other.  “See I told you it was her,” the first one says.  The other one nods, then turns to Valeriya and Tailgate again.

“I think you probably don’t want to be recognized, right? You’re not here with an entourage, security or media…” she asks tentatively.

---

Generally, Gen Speak or Get A Cluerolls are needed to “read” people.  13 is not bad, and Melinda is trying to communicate non-verbally.  She seems to be offering help.

Jai raised an eyebrow.

"Well..."

He looked around, trying to check how the others' shopping was going and scope out the area for nearby authority figures.

"We need to get out of town, off the grid for a bit. Like a half-dozen of us. Long story, and frankly I don't want to talk about it out in the open like this. We've got a place to crash, just needed supplies. I think most of us are pretty much done, though."

"Ha ha, well, what can I say, you yogirls just positive-ID'ed me," Val winked at the girls with a conspiratorial air "Lucky for me, you don't work for the watchdogs, right? I mean - right!?"

She giggled a little at the joke, then looked around theatrically. She slapped Tailgate's arm while she did that, as if to say, shut up and let me work.

"OK, tell you what, yogirls. Yes, I'm trying to give my security detail the slip. Like, my parents won't give me a break, and they are going to kill me if they see this on my credit card," she said, tapping a fingernail on the screen, where a 3D view of the armored SmartSurvival™ bodysuit kept doing its 360-degree loop. "'That is pure urban warfare aesthetic, Val, no you can't wear that,' yadda-yadda, I won't hear the end of it. But you two look like you know your way around this place, right? It would be totes rim if you could, you know, do your magic?"

---

Yes, I am asking the Mallrats to Boost shit for me. Bad Val!

11:19, Today: Valeriya rolled 22 using 1d10+13, rerolling max with rolls of 9.  Celebrity + Cool.
This message was last edited by the player at 10:21, Thu 05 Aug 2021.

Nikola nods to confirm Jai's comment since she realizes that the mallbrats are not looking for trouble but are friendly, she doesnt feel that socially skilled when surrounded by a whole group belonging to the same yogang , she did learn some jargon of different groups for activism and proselitism , but the situation surpases her, anyway she smiles at the mallbrat leader and decides to add a few words, "Sorry if we were mysterious, it's hard not be a little paranoid lately"
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 12:45, Mon 09 Aug 2021.