[IC] Lowlife Chapter 0.9: A heated discussion

[DemICE]

He had done it.  He had breaken the mouse completely.  He still had not been able to do that instance.

He was now outside, slowly and carefully taking a walk,  while being near the walls to catch his balance in case it fails him. 

Taking a walk pointlessly... that was something he never did.  A broken mouse at 5 a.m. when every shop is closed can cause miracles.

He had seen that rigger dude... his face had seen better days. Did he collide with a wall?

And of course there was the usual, typical person that was walking being wary around them,  as if they take care to not be noticed or followed.  Like bystanders do not have eyes.  A girl. He was not sure if it was the first time seeing her or not.

The sun was slowly giving its signs of appearence in the distance.  He might as well see the dawn for the first time since forever. 

It was a cookiecutter morning allright. 

[Yours Truly]

Sister Maria simply nodded before leading the younger Maria to a back room, where a group of people in various styles of clothing were having a light chat. The Sister points at a rather large television screen displaying a terrified woman clinging to her husband before saying "It's horror movie night....well day, this one's a classic, dates back to the 70s, the 1970s to be exact".

[S34N1C]

"Thank you, sister."

 

Maria the younger would approach the group. If they were people she was familiar with, the would greet them with something along the lines of "Sup bitches?". If they were not, she would introduce herself semi-politely.  

[Bismarck]

"Nothing to eat" stomach growling and a little bit high after downing some downers and uppers, he cleans himself up and gets into some less dirty clothes, keeping the same setup of hoodie, shorts, leggings, and sneakers he heads out to go to the church. "Maybe I can steal enough out of the alms plate to get Subway?" he muses.

[Yours Truly]

It was at this point that everyone received a message, it was from a man named "Straight" Dave, a man who you vaguely remember as being higher ranked than all of you, the message simply states "Lucky Lucius's Cafe on 44th Street, I have a job for you, but you'll need to work with a team, I believe that this will be very profitable".

[S34N1C]

Maria sighs

Just as I get somewhere safe. . . 

She turns to the people in the room. 

"Tell the Sister I headed out on some business. I might not be back for a while."

Maria then cleans up a bit in the bathroom, puts her hood back on, and heads out into the night towards the meeting place. 

[Strider]

Darien entered his small dingy apartment. It may have been uncomfortable, musty, and full of trash, but it was home. He had just sat down on the undersized cot, when he recieved a message.

"Business? Profitable? Sounds fun!" He muttered this, and yawned. Actually though, he was quite tired. Cafe's weren't usually open this early in the morning, right? He justified his actions to himself, and then lay down for a quick fifteen minute nap.

[DemICE]

As he was passing by a trash can, he noticed a cable sticking out, and running down its side. Could it be?...

And yet it was! A mouse! And one of the best models. Some would argue that it was not, because it is a cable mouse, but they should know better. Cable mouses are the best!  Not broken or anything,  though for it to have found its way in the dumpster, it for sure would have some malfunction at the very least. If only he could fix it...

He recalled the rigger he had seen before.  Those guys live for messing with stuff right? He just had to ask around if anyone knew where he lived. In the condition he was in he wouldn't go to bed right away. Then again in the condition he was in, maybe he wouldn't be in the mood for fixing the mouse.  

But he had to! It was an emergency! He should understand that. An oldschool gamer without his mouse would be like a rigger without his wrench. And hopefully he would be the sort of rigger who cannot resist not fixing something he has in front of him.

Suddenly the disctinct sound of a message reached his ears. What now at this time? A profitable job it says. It had better be. With a team? What a pain ..   

But the mouse? He needed to get it fixed. Right. He would go find the rigger,  propose to team up for this "profitable job" , and in the meantime fix the mouse too!

He quickened his very slow walking pace to just slow,  and set off....

Edited March 27, 2017 by DemICE

[Bismarck]

"Fuck me" he sighed

 

"Dick diddly better be buying dinner"

He steals some jerky from a quikstop nearby and heads over.

 

"This fucker better feed me if he's gonna fuck my day up" 

 

Rorik arrives in the diner aggravated tired and despite chewing on a few sticks of jerky on his way over still hungry. Sitting down in a booth he's approached by a man.

"Now Rorik I'm going to be straight, for the past two months you've been as useless as tits on a nun, and as far as I'm concerned you're some fucking yokel with no God damn place here so I got a deal for you."

Rorik was feeling semi-stressed, on one hand he wishes he wasn't involved with this crap on the other he refuses to go back. That and the obvious blood in blood out rule also made matters more complicated. 

"So what is it?" Rorik said submissively

"You're going to help out with something, something that even you shouldn't be able to fuck up. You're contact should get in contact with you soon. They'll explain more but until then stop tripping on your dick and get yourself cleaned up."

And then it happened. He left leaving Rorik all alone at the booth. He left Rorik all alone with his tab.

[Strider]

Darien yawned as he arose. He wasn't sure what he wanted to do with his day, when he suddenly remembered that he had an appointment. God, why had he gone to sleep? He slammed open his apartment door, and dashed down to the street. From there, he jogged in the direction in which he new the cafe lay. He stepped in, and looked around.

[Yours Truly]

The group would find the other grocery store survivors standing or sitting around and scanning the environment, except for the guy with two pistols, who is currently absent, although a rather small troll was slowly walking towards Darien, who would probably recognize the poor chap.

 

It was at that point that a male ork in a loud brown pleather jacket walks into the place, he had no obvious armaments on his person, but you feel that he has more than a few tricks up his sleeves, and that you don't want to be the one on the receiving end of said tricks.

The four of you would vaguely remember him as Straight Dave, and he breaks the ice by sitting down on a corner booth, and saying in his usual soft tone of voice "I have a job for the four of you, it isn't dangerous, and it pays 1,000 nuyen for each of you, now the question is simple, do you want to learn more?".

[DarkChampionAkihito]

((For my previous action))

 

Simon, staring at Dave trying to guess his next movements, puts the stolen shotgun down and leaves it face down.

"You should know... I don't take kindly to people entering my room while I repair my arsenal." Simon said as he went back to work on fixing his old weapons. 

He managed to fix the gun, shot blind at a steel target, and hit the bull's eye perfectly all while not looking. Simon then received a text from his boss talking about a high profit job he could undertake. Simon simply took his phone and put on his white hoodie with black angel wings, and a pair of white jeans, and of course white vans. He took his newly repaired guns and headed out to the location given...

((For my current action)) 

Simon walked along the damp hidden alleys of 44th Street, whistling an old Korean song to himself as he saw the bright inviting sign for Lucky Lucius's Cafe. He saw the rest of the group and sneaked in behind them without raising a hint of suspicion. He heard the orc's tantalizing offer for 1,000 nuyen, but something about the deal seemed off. Simon pondered on what that catch might be, but for now, he had to play it by ear. 

"Alright then..." Simon says with extremely faint vigor. "What's this task that you wish us to do for you?" He asked, trying to get more out of him to possibly expose what his true motive is.

[S34N1C]

"1000 nuyen, you say? Please, go on."

[Strider]

"1000 nuyen for an easy task!? Sign me on!" After a moment, Darien began to have doubts about his rapid agreement.

"What is the job? Is it hightly illegal?" There may or may not have been a small grin on his face when he said this.

[Yours Truly]

Straight Dave sits down on a chair in the nearby booth, and motions for the ones who have agreed to learn more about the job to sit down across him.

After they have done so he clears his throat before saying "If it was completely and utterly legal, I wouldn't be paying 1,000 nuyen each for such a trifle".

You notice his rather pronounced pair of sunglasses.

[DemICE]

He could almost see him with the stereotypical "quest exclamation mark"  seen in RPGs  above his head.  

For any other person it wouldn't be something to fuss about,  but for him and his uncomfortable walking, to have to search around the place to get his home address, go there and not find him, and decide to just leave it for another time and go straight to the meeting, was quite a pain the ass.  

It turned out he, too, was there.  This would simplify things on the "persuading to team up for the business" part.  And the mouse of course.

He walked closer and prepared to greet him-

"I have a job for the four of you, it isn't dangerous, and it pays 1,000 nuyen for each of you, now the question is simple, do you want to learn more?"

What the...  he turned his head and he saw a pretty intimidating orc standing in the room. He wasn't there before.  He was so focused on the target of his previous search that he didnt pay attention to his surroundings much.

But 1000 nyuyen? And no danger he said.

"A bit too good to be true, but you ve pinged my interest" he answered to him.

The rigger dude questioned the legality of such a well-paid yet easy job,  only for that man to confirm that, indeed, it was not completely legal.

Not that Aerumna cared much about that anyway. If the job could make use of his skills, he could most probably do his part effectively without being captured.

But seriously what was it with that man? He seemed dangerous. He tried to focus on him and detect with his eye just how many hidden weapons and other contrapions would be hidden underneath all that leather. 

One glare from "Straight" Dave was enough for him to break his focus and avert his gaze at once.  

He wouldn't want to be on that man's bad side.

He regained his composure and spoke:

"Well...  dunno about the rest, but i'm all ears."

[S34N1C]

"The legality of it does not concern me. Please, continue."

[Yours Truly]

The man stops to order himself a cup of coffee, after a while he finally says "There is a woman going around 51st street claiming to be some big shot Master of Murder and trying to kill off some of my guys, and the thing is she has actually suceeded in killing some of my men off, or maybe she just paid them to disappear, I'm not sure how she is doing it, but my men disappear permanently and without a Goddamn trace whenever she so much as enters a fragging bar, now what I need you to do is to find her, and kill her, that is all I need you to do, it shouldn't be hard or anything, she is easily recognizable by her signature pair of" Dave coughs loudly which causes the next word to be mumbled "kaatars, which she brandishes whenever possible, she also has unremarkable black hair, you will notice how unremarkable her hair is, it is simply that unremarkable, her clothing can best be described as 'present' and her face is a standard issue human face, look just find the most unremarkable woman with a bunch of false claims that she spouts constantly and carries a pair of" Straight Dave coughs again, which causes the next word to be mumbled "kaatars, and kill her, and yes this is fragging worth 5,000 nuyen, I am actually this annoyed".

[DemICE]

"A pair of what?"

[DarkChampionAkihito]

"Katars. An ancient weapon used in the middle east. They are like wolverine claws, but detachable, if that makes sense." Simon said. 

 Simon readies himself. He puts on his dark instrumental music and makes sure his guns are ready for make this woman pay. Before he leaves, he turns his head and asks:

"Dave, am I allowed to go on espionage to see what she's about? I'll text everyone if I learn more."

[S34N1C]

"So unremarkable it makes her remarkable, huh? Well alright I guess. Just one thing. 

 

Since this woman seems so dangerous, I think we should get at least 25% in advance."

[DemICE]

Aerumna remained sceptic. For some reason he felt that this job would be outside his field of expertise. 

He waits a bit for the discussion to go on before he gives his own piece.

[Bismarck]

Rorik was incredibly confused, he was still sitting at the table and these strangers were nearby him.

"Maybe I could get one of these people to have to pay for the bill?"

The fact that he had just received two different orders, two conflicting things, someone who knew he was here was being pushed to the back of his mind. For first he had to know what the offer of this man was.

"If I have better options going with him I'll take them."
For most of whats this man is droning about Rorik has zoned out.

Elbows on the table fingers overlapping Rorik has rested his head on the bridge of his nose in a desperate bid to stay awake.

"5000 Nuyen?"

"This is better than the previous guy but murder?"

Rorik knew the cops, he knew their system.

Theft and robbery were ignored, big thefts if they got a piece. But murder?

Bureaucrats can't brush off murder. Different depts. get involved, depts. that aren't lazy or inept.

Rorik was careful not to give explicit confirmation or denial to this Dave, first he wanted to see what the previous man wanted.

He also wanted to know why the he knows so much.

[Yours Truly]

After a while Straight Dave says "Look, all of you know me, if this chick wasn't being such a massive dampener in the entire gang's efforts, I wouldn't even be asking you to do this, well actually that's a lie you should probably expect some more of this kind of drek, I mean I am the head of enforcement, and also your most immediate superior, but yeah for this one you can have 25% up front, just make sure that the woman is dead with a capital D get it?".

After a while the man leans back on his seat and continues with "I meant that she dual wields" another bout of coughing mumbles the following word "Kaatars, it's a pretty fragging ridiculous weapon, but you know, she is a poser after all".

He then brings the cup of coffee up and starts drinking from it.

 

The diner itself is quite odd, it seems to be 70s themed, but not very well, the waitresses were all dressed as various people from around that period of time, except for one waitress who decided that she wanted to dress as Michael Jackson today, complete with the white glove and odd looking nose, the music was some bland pop piece that you vaguely remember hearing somewhere but don't particularly care enough to remember it's name.

[S34N1C]

Maria scoffs as he calls himself her "superior", but says nothing of it. He wouldn't understand. None of them would. 

Before giving him a definitive yes or no, Maria closes her eyes and looks deep within herself. She has had lots of practice at looking for His messages, which take the form of almost imperceptible desires. She looked hard for several seconds before finding it. This mission had His approval. 

She reopens her eyes, and simply says, "I'm in."