New chat room entered at 6/14/2007 8:55:06 PM.
You are now in chat room “sotsw06142007.”
vernjonal has entered the chat room.

MilesMk1 has entered the chat room.

Umbrafer (8:58:45 PM): So when we last left our antiheroes, it was early afternoon, Chinese food had been eaten, and there was a slightly alarming job offer with a meet that evening.
MilesMk1 (8:59:08 PM): Why was it slightly alarming? I seem to have missed that part.
Umbrafer (9:00:15 PM): Oh, Gem may not have shared that information with you. Well, I'll double-check whether Glitch knows, but the client asked for Gem specifically.
Umbrafer (9:03:30 PM): The meet is at Takuri's, an upscale Japanese/Fusion restaurant in Downtown. Your instructions were to ask for Charlie.
MilesMk1 (9:04:50 PM): Ok, so is Gem coming too, but I'm doing the talking, or what?
Umbrafer (9:05:01 PM): That's the idea.
Umbrafer (9:05:17 PM): Gem's presumably doing some talking as well, but we'll abstract that part out.
MilesMk1 (9:06:10 PM): Ok, and what are we doing with Maya?
Umbrafer (9:07:54 PM): Seiler's plan, and thus presumably Gem's, was to have Hound babysit for the duration. You're welcome to propose alternatives, and since you're the only one here right now, any alternative you vote for passes :)
MilesMk1 (9:09:11 PM): That's fine, as long as Dave doesn't end up bitching about it... If he's even showing?
Umbrafer (9:09:46 PM): He is, presumably—his usual arrival time is the next ten-minute range
MilesMk1 (9:10:03 PM): I'll suggest Gem mention to him not to crowd the kid, he seems to take suggestions better from her than from Glitch.
Umbrafer (9:10:45 PM): *Nods*
MilesMk1 (9:11:34 PM): All right, I'm going to wait for the meeting, then, and check the Matrix periodically for any word on the bridge fiasco.
Umbrafer (9:13:43 PM): You do so. There's increased buzz about the bridge collapse, but nothing's solidifying into message-board consensus yet.
Umbrafer (9:14:06 PM): The meet-time nears. You bringing anything interesting with you?
MilesMk1 (9:16:46 PM): Nah.
MilesMk1 (9:17:20 PM): I mean, the usual - FFBA, armored clothing (designer), heavy pistol, light pistol.
MilesMk1 (9:17:43 PM): Stun glove, but I don't wear it.
MilesMk1 (9:18:34 PM): I'd bring one of Hound's spiders so he could look in on it, but I'm not sure whether he ever removed the explosived from any of them.
Umbrafer (9:19:18 PM): *Nods* I don't think he ever got the chance to.
Umbrafer (9:19:34 PM): Besides, I'm not sure he's munched his Flux the way Alex does.
MilesMk1 (9:19:52 PM): Ok, then.
MilesMk1 (9:21:01 PM): Go over, get there a few minutes early - since it's a restaurant, casing it ahead of time doesn't really work - go in, ask for Charlie.
Umbrafer (9:22:05 PM): Done. Takuri's is pretty full, and the lighting is kept very subdued. The headwaiter is human, you're pretty sure, but is at least seven feet tall.
MilesMk1 (9:23:09 PM): Well, that's about two feet taller than me, then.
Umbrafer (9:23:16 PM): At the mention of Charlie's name, he leads you back through what looks for all the world like the door to a coat closet, on into a small hallway with three doors. He opens one of them and indicates for you to enter.
MilesMk1 (9:25:24 PM): I do.
Umbrafer (9:27:26 PM): He closes the door behind the two of you. Inside are three people. One of them, a woman entering middle age, greets you. "Glad you could make it, I'm Charlie. Have a seat."
Umbrafer (9:29:33 PM): To her right is a slim but muscular man with dyed-red hair in a hi-top fade wearing synthleather. He's got obvious chrome eyes.
MilesMk1 (9:30:30 PM): I go in, wait for Gem to sit down, then have a seat.
MilesMk1 (9:30:37 PM): *take a seat.
Umbrafer (9:31:03 PM): To the left, a kid who can't be older than eighteen, nervously trying to look disinterested. He's openly wearing a pistol in a shoulder holster, but it's a light.
Umbrafer (9:31:18 PM): She does so. In general, she does what you say she does.
Umbrafer (9:31:51 PM): Charlie slides menus towards you. "Dinner first. Then biz."
MilesMk1 (9:32:31 PM): Right...
MilesMk1 (9:32:41 PM): "Very well..."
MilesMk1 (9:32:59 PM): *scans the menu* Sushi, you said, right?
Umbrafer (9:34:24 PM): Japanese and fusion, so yeah, they've got sushi aplenty. Traditional styles as well as some things like "philly cheese steak", "Denmark sludge", and "Carib League Special"
MilesMk1 (9:35:44 PM): Hmm... Well, I'll order a pretty tradional sushi spread, but also get a Philadelphia roll.
Umbrafer (9:37:03 PM): The kid scribbles down the orders, then ducks out a back door for a second. After a few minutes, he ducks out again and returns with a tray of food that gets pushed to the middle of the table and distributed.
Umbrafer (9:38:27 PM): Overall the food quality is quite good. It's real, and tastes it.
MilesMk1 (9:38:40 PM): *digs in whole-heartedly but minds his manners*
Umbrafer (9:40:59 PM): As the meal winds down, Charlie pulls a manila envelope out of her bag. "Have you ever heard of the Association Para-Nobilis?"
Umbrafer (9:41:12 PM): (Gem has no more heard of it than Glitch has.)
MilesMk1 (9:41:57 PM): "No, it doesn't ring a bell."
Umbrafer (9:43:49 PM): "Officially, they're an organization to 'promote the Elven Ideal'. Mostly Elf posers, a few reals."
Umbrafer (9:45:19 PM): "Unfortunately," Charlie says as she pulls out a smaller envelope and slides it across the table, "they've got some twisted ways of 'promoting'. I've got a background file on their leader, if you want it."
Umbrafer (9:46:17 PM): "My client wants them done. Over with. Broken, no longer existing, and their top six members dead.
Umbrafer (9:46:19 PM): *"
MilesMk1 (9:46:31 PM): *takes the file on the leader*
MilesMk1 (9:46:35 PM): "Oh."
MilesMk1 (9:46:47 PM): *scans the file*
MilesMk1 (9:48:02 PM): (See, this is going to be rough - I'm supposed to speak for Gem, but her stance and mine on assassination vary a great deal)
Umbrafer (9:48:52 PM): (Heh, fair enow. If necessary we can go through the negotiation phase, then defer the decision until next week when Seiler can review the log)
Umbrafer (9:49:11 PM): The file's thick--there's a lot of research here. Some mundane stuff at the beginning, citation for minor act of vandalism in elementary school, then some more trouble with the juvenile justice system for apparently having bitten an
MilesMk1 (9:49:11 PM): (As in, she doesn't like it, and I'm a trained assassin.)
Umbrafer (9:49:18 PM): *bitten another kid's nose off
MilesMk1 (9:49:45 PM): Is he an elf?
Umbrafer (9:49:54 PM): More minor crimes, a few years for aggravated assault in his 20s, and then founding the APN right out of jail.
Umbrafer (9:50:04 PM): Nope, elf poser. Got the surgery right when he founded the APN.
Umbrafer (9:51:31 PM): Charlie watches you. She nods towards the other envelope on the table. "There's some pictures in there of what they do to people. Elves who don't live up to their ideal."
MilesMk1 (9:51:32 PM): Any notable crimes since then, that he's been convicted or suspected of?
Umbrafer (9:53:00 PM): He's been picked up a few times as a suspect for several things (two murders, three accessory to murder, a few assault), but none of them went anywhere. In the last three years, his record goes totally empty.
MilesMk1 (9:53:00 PM): *looks over the other photos, then passes them on to Gem* (probably without much of a reaction, unless it's something really, hideously bad)
Umbrafer (9:54:14 PM): In comparison to some of the stuff you've seen, it's downright tame. The only unusual part of them is that the murdered Elves in them (all Elves) appear to have been all killed with archaic weaponry. Swords, arrows, that sort of thi
Umbrafer (9:54:28 PM): *thing, but not the fancy new stuff you see on the street these days
Umbrafer (9:54:43 PM): The arrows look like they might even be mostly wood.
MilesMk1 (9:54:59 PM): I imagine Gem is rather appalled.
MilesMk1 (9:55:20 PM): Or disgusted, she's not naive either...
MilesMk1 (9:56:44 PM): "Are any of these being currently investigated by law enforcement?"
MilesMk1 (9:57:52 PM): "Also, what preferences, if any, do you have for how you'd like them to be disposed of?"
Umbrafer (9:57:59 PM): (There are a total of just over two dozen pictures, all told. Many of them are overweight.)
Umbrafer (9:58:44 PM): She sniffs. "Law Enforcement's filed each one of these under 'unsolved' and ignored them. The APN knows better than to frag someone with real pull."
Umbrafer (10:00:35 PM): "Disposal, now… the client would be happy if they're all dead, but so long as the organization stops existing and the top six die, you still get paid. How is up to you, but there's some bonuses available."
MilesMk1 (10:01:10 PM): "How large is the organization, in your estimate? And what are the bonuses?"
Umbrafer (10:02:08 PM): "The core organization is twenty-five people, who all live at the group's headquarters. The bonuses, now…"
Umbrafer (10:04:07 PM): "First, the base pay is five up front, fifty-five on completion. If you drop this," she digs out and holds up a well-sealed object about ten inches by thirteen inches by a quarter-inch, "on the leader's lap, there's an extra three
Umbrafer (10:04:09 PM): "in it for you."
Umbrafer (10:05:43 PM): "The other, those six core members I told you about? The client wants their false left ear-tips. Each one gets you four. Do this and the delivery, and you don't even need to kill the leader."
Umbrafer (10:07:29 PM): "That's seventy-seven all told. Any questions, or d'ya wanna talk it over?"
MilesMk1 (10:11:21 PM): "I assume by "stop existing" you mean "cease to be able to function in any recognizable form", rather than something absolute and unrealistic, right? Because I'm not sure we can eradicate racism..."
Umbrafer (10:12:30 PM): You get a brief chuckle. "The Association Para-Nobilis needs to stop existing. That's as far as it goes."
MilesMk1 (10:14:54 PM): "And, do you have information on the other key members, or will it be up to us to gather information on them?"
Umbrafer (10:17:24 PM): "We've got pictures and partial records on a few. You can meet them if you want, but I think it's a waste of your time."
Umbrafer (10:17:30 PM): She slides more envelope at you.
circlmastr has entered the chat room.

MilesMk1 (10:18:08 PM): "I assume you at least have the names of the six, though?"
MilesMk1 (10:19:41 PM): (Hey.)
circlmastr (10:19:50 PM): (Hey, sorry for lateness)
Umbrafer (10:20:21 PM): "Yeah, or at least the names they go by now. Xeric, Allair, Erendahl, Fierelle, Thiran, and… 'Deathedge'."
MilesMk1 (10:21:09 PM): "Ah."
circlmastr (10:21:25 PM): (What'd I miss?)
Umbrafer (10:21:37 PM): According to the file you read, Xeric's real name is Aaron Mitchell.
Umbrafer (10:21:46 PM): (Some meet.)
Umbrafer (10:21:54 PM): (Also some food.)
MilesMk1 (10:21:59 PM): "Very well, we'll need a moment to talk this over."
circlmastr (10:22:10 PM): (The meet is going on now, or is over?
Umbrafer (10:22:38 PM): (Going on now. As Gem's input is important, the rest of it is probably getting deferred until next week)
MilesMk1 (10:22:49 PM): (We're being asked to kill a bunch of elf-poser supremacists who apparently kill elves who don't live up to the ideal. Using archaic weapons..>)
circlmastr (10:22:59 PM): (Sounds fun)
Umbrafer (10:23:22 PM): Charlie's group gets up and walks out of the room. As she leaves, she says "Flip the switch when you're ready for us."
MilesMk1 (10:23:35 PM): (You weren't there so you got stuck babysitting. I wanted to take one of your spiders, so you could watch, but didn't know if you finally had one without explosives or not.)
Umbrafer (10:23:43 PM): The switch indicated is beside the door, next to the normal lightswitch.
MilesMk1 (10:23:47 PM): Do I see what swi... ah.
circlmastr (10:24:12 PM): (I don't, and Hound would have stayed behind anyway to enact a cunning plan that I'm hoping Jon will allow to occur in IM.)
MilesMk1 (10:24:24 PM): *have a transduced conversation with Gem*
MilesMk1 (10:24:41 PM): I think that about does it, until the conversation can actually happen?
MilesMk1 (10:24:57 PM): Though I have to say, this sounds like it could be fun.
MilesMk1 (10:25:14 PM): It'll probably turn out to be a horrible, horrible mess, but it at least sounds fun.
MilesMk1 (10:25:44 PM): Well, at least I'm not playing Blake, Glitch won't care if one of them is 15 and only got mixed up with the wrong crowd.
MilesMk1 (10:26:17 PM): I mean fun for Glitch, I have fun even with the horrible, soul-sucking jobs. ;)
MilesMk1 (10:26:21 PM): Mostly.
MilesMk1 (10:26:26 PM): :)
Umbrafer (10:26:50 PM): Yeah, unless you have something else (you can float through time a little, at least where it doesn't matter so much what gets decided next week)
MilesMk1 (10:27:51 PM): I could think of something, but I've had a long couple of days, and I might as well let Dave catch up and do his thing.
MilesMk1 (10:28:13 PM): Without interruptions.
MilesMk1 (10:28:25 PM): Just please, please don't permanently scar the kid mentally. ;)
MilesMk1 (10:28:34 PM): I'll see you guys Monday.
Umbrafer (10:28:42 PM): You mean more than she probably already is? It's a bit late to avoid scarring :)
MilesMk1 (10:29:00 PM): Yes, any more than she already is. :)
MilesMk1 (10:29:05 PM): G'night.
Umbrafer (10:29:10 PM): (Though if anyone has the ALter Memory spell… sleep well.)
circlmastr (10:29:11 PM): Don't say that I'll start to feel like nothing I do matters so I'll just toy with her. ;)
Umbrafer (10:29:31 PM): It is always possible to scar her /more/.
MilesMk1 (10:29:37 PM): I said *please*.
MilesMk1 (10:29:38 PM): :)
MilesMk1 (10:29:41 PM): Bye.
MilesMk1 has left the chat room.

Umbrafer (10:30:38 PM): Though one good thing that can be said for her mental health, she cannot develop post-traumatic stress disorder for at least three more months (well, slightly less)
Umbrafer (10:30:47 PM): Unless she was traumatized before the crash.
circlmastr (10:30:52 PM): Cute.
circlmastr (10:31:25 PM): Well, I guess my cunning plan can wait. I'll just hang out with her and hope that being the just the two of us would make her more comfortable than just the four of us.
Umbrafer (10:32:08 PM): *Nods* Well, it's difficult to tell. Really, Gem's the only one who appears to be able to get a decent emotional read on her, and if Hound knows anything about magery he'll know why.
Umbrafer (10:32:23 PM): That said, she spends a decent amount of time not huddled in a corner apparently catatonic.
Umbrafer (10:32:38 PM): That is, at least in the context of the past day, some kind of progress.
circlmastr (10:33:00 PM): Yeah.
Umbrafer (10:33:58 PM): In the meantime, I'm falling asleep, so we'll pick this up… oh, right, news on the Mything front
Umbrafer (10:34:13 PM): We're Mazzing Saturday at 7:00 PM EDT
circlmastr (10:34:56 PM): I'm being dragged to my idiot grandmother's birthday party Saturday, sadly. =/ I already tried and failed to get out of it.
Umbrafer (10:35:32 PM): :( C'est la vie, at least it looks like we'll be meeting regularly again. The time is, at least for now, floating, so I'll let you know when we arrange a time for the week after.
Umbrafer (10:36:19 PM): And now, the sleeps. *Waves* See you Monday, then.
Chat room exited at 6/14/2007 10:36:28 PM.