Prologue: The Dog Days of Summer

[shaidar]

{Revs}

On receiving the second message Revs makes himself another round of toast and peanut butter and grabs a fresh mug of coffee. When he gets the third message, and starts to hear movement in the apartment, he grabs his mug and plate and and heads into the living room.

He spies Bone Biter heading his way with a mug in his hand. "There's fresh java in the pot, for those who like their coffee with some substance.". By now everyone knows that both Revs and Bone Biter share a love for extremely strong coffee. "...and for everyone else who likes their joe like dishwater, you know which cupboard the beans are in." he says with a smile.

[Juramenta]

{Headstone}

He shrugs his shoulders as he nods in agreement.
’’Thing is, we need him more than he needs us. A fixer on that level is rare to come by.
Once we start making a name, I’m sure he will come with more detailed offers.
If not, other skilled fixers will come along if he proves difficult to work with. For now, let’s keep him on our side and see how things run it’s course.’’ Headstone replies to Baby Blue.

To Tears of the Rain he messages:
- Good point, I’ll send out a call for a meeting -

To Bonebiter he replies:
’’No need, just code for a run. Some juice would be great. No preferences’’ he adds and turns to Baby Blue ’’Want some as well?’’

To Pacman he messages:
- Different kind of gig chummer. This one comes with a bigger paycheck -

To everyone who isn’t already within earshot to hear it he sends:
- Meeting in the HQ room for those who are already up. No need to rush, enjoy your breakfast first. Anyone know if Angel is up? Pandora might take a while, pretty sure she doesn’t do mornings unless she is forced -

[shaidar]

Revs

Revs moves into the living room and clears a spot on a table for his mug and plate before making himself comfortable on the sofa.

"So, The Eye of the Needle? That's one fancy restaurant. I've never been to the Space Needle before. Looks like we're finally going up in the world, literally."

[Juramenta]

{Headstone}

Looking up to Revs with a surprised look.
’’You know this place? That makes things a lot easier. Do you know if they open early for lunch?’’ he asks as his brain slowly starts working on a strategy to stake out the place.

[shaidar]

Revs

Revs shakes his head.

"I know of it. It was added to the Space Needle after the Night of Rage. It's covered in glass and slowly rotates. They say it's got one of the best views of the city. Five creds will get you to the observation deck, from there you can access the bars and restaurants. It's a tourist trap."

[Juramenta]

{Headstone}

’’I hear not many exits, but at least it is very public. Are your drones allowed to fly over it, or will you have Lone Star complaining about rules and regulations?'' he says, rolling his eyes, stating that he wouldn’t be even slightly surprised if they even harassed the good people about something as small as that. 

[shaidar]

{Revs}

Revs shakes his head, and sucks in air through his front teeth.

"Strictly no, but with all the tourists wanting snaps, they'd probably turn a blind eye as long as you're not bothering anyone. After dark, then they'd probably be more strict."

[Juramenta]

{Headstone}

He nods in acknowledgement as he keeps thinking about the next steps.
''I might have a plan moving forward, but shall we wait for the others?" Headstone responds as he checks his secretary to see if anyone responded who aren't already present in the room.

[shaidar]

{Revs}

"Sure, this toast isn't going to eat itself."

Revs finishes off his peanut butter toast while he waits for the others.

[archolewa]

{Headstone}

He shrugs his shoulders as he nods in agreement.
’’Thing is, we need him more than he needs us. A fixer on that level is rare to come by.
Once we start making a name, I’m sure he will come with more detailed offers.
If not, other skilled fixers will come along if he proves difficult to work with. For now, let’s keep him on our side and see how things run it’s course.’’ Headstone replies to Baby Blue.

Baby Blue's eyes narrow a little, but otherwise she doesn't respond. She follows Headstone into the living room. She perches on top of a stool in the corner where she can see everything. She cocks her head and listens to the sounds of the others eating breakfast and getting ready for their day, to the sounds of the city outside waking up, listening for anything that might be out of the ordinary. Especially anything that might be out of the ordinary and near their apartment.

[Gremlin]

Skye

Skye loudly slurps the last of her noodles and drinks the rest of the broth out of the cup, idly wondering if anyone heard her when she said she'd scout the place out astrally. She pads back into the kitchen and throws out the empty cup. The chopsticks though, those are nice lacquered wood chopstick, not cheap disposable ones. A useful keepsake from a previous life. Those she washes and replaces in their drawer.

Her breakfast finished, Skye heads to the bathroom to perform her morning ritual (metaphorically speaking).

[CoyotesLuck]

To Pacman he messages:
- Different kind of gig chummer. This one comes with a bigger paycheck -

Pacman pauses and puts down the guitar.
Sends back: I guess thats what I get for trying to think while asleep.
Pacman stuffs the clothes from the bed into a bag and pulls out the neatly folded stack of armored clothing to check if everything is still in order. Cleaning and loading weapons will come later.

To everyone who isn’t already within earshot to hear it he sends:
- Meeting in the HQ room for those who are already up. No need to rush, enjoy your breakfast first. Anyone know if Angel is up? Pandora might take a while, pretty sure she doesn’t do mornings unless she is forced -

Sends back : On my way After a brief pause to brush out his mohawk and brush his teeth, Packman wanders off to the kitchen for some of the strong coffee, adds a pinch of cayenne and sugar, then heads to the meeting room to get the day's business started.

[Stirling]

Tears in the Rain

Could probably skive off her Launderette job for a short time as the apartment is in the same block, unless the meeting is after 1.00pm which cuts investigation time to a minimum but she is free then.

I noted Skye scripting earlier about some astral projection or detection. Would there be greater value in attempting that from the apartment base or closer to The Needle. And how best can we manage her projection as a team, rather than just have Skye sit at her desk and float away alone?

"I would presume this Dashiel might expect some kind of Gumberoo investigation; checking the lay of the land and scouting out a probably warded Eye of the Needle. So we shouldn't disappoint him. Any fact finding we discover might just be part of the audition."

She speculates, open to suggestions and ideas from the more experienced Shadowrunners.

[Juramenta]

As they wait for everyone to arrive, he sends out Pandora’s bot.
He double-checks with Baby Blue to make sure he did it right, so he doesn’t end up learning he simply forgot to press 'send' after the run.

Headstone nods in agreement with Tears comment.

[Charybdis Richelle]

{GM}

Sitting in a backroom in Shadowland, running through the newest test system simulation. It’s about the closest she can come to hitting the more challenging systems. Just wait, she thinks. Three more months. Then you can go out into the ’Trix proper again. Two months, 8 days, and 23 hours…

Abruptly, one of her personalized sprites zips into her consciousness. Pandora freezes for just a second. No one has ever sent one to her before. She pauses the simulator to see the message. It’s from Headstone. What’s the boss need? Reading the message, Pandora’s eyes pull inward, narrowing. Hit send? What? Did he hit it by accident? Or not have the chance to do anything more than hit the button? Her heart, steady during the simulation throwing her against potentially deadly ice, begins beating a bit wildly. The boss might be in trouble!

Shaking her head, Pandora saves her progress and logs out of the training system. Then she jacks out. Exhaustion slams home—thirst wars for attention. Hunger can’t get a signal in crossways. She reaches around the desk for the thermos she always keeps in arm’s reach, Pandora puts her lips around the straw and drinks the watery solution that used to be Fizzy Goo on ice. She slurps until nothing remains. Then she hits the voice-operation button on her wrist phone.

“Call Headstone.” Dry as her throat is, it takes three tries before the primitive AI recognizes her voice as matching the recorded print.

The phone rings.

Once Headstone picks up, Pandora’s image fills the camera. Her pale form is almost impossible to see as no lights are on in the room. The only hint of brightness are a few blinking colored bulbs on her cyberdeck. Her inky black hair strikes out in even more random directions than it does on her normal, rough-cut punk-style short haircut.

She starts talking immediately, not waiting for any line check. “What’s up, Boss? You alive? Drek. What time is it? Who raised the gravity in here? What day is it? Never mind.” Pandora sends her consciousness for a quick glance at her system information and message playback.

“Frag,” she says in response to some input.

“Drek, Boss,” Pandora goes on. “It’s still the single digits in the AM… This is cruel and unusual… A meeting? Now? What day was it again? Monday? Monday! What the frag? I didn’t sign on for a 9 to 5 you know… When? Now…”

Pandora sighs, “Let me check the bus schedule…” Her eyes glaze again. “What day is… Oh, yeah… Monday… Okay… Let’s see. Yeah. There’s one rolling to my stop in 15.”

“Okay. Let me put on some pants, and find a shirt that’s been worn less than 5 days.” Pandora runs her fingers through her hair, pulling out the worst of the knots. “Bus. Outside. Shoes,” she says. “I need shoes.”

“Yeah, Boss,” Pandora says, suddenly realizing he’s still on the line. “The bus hits my stop in 13.4 minutes. I’ll be there in an hour, more or less, if the transit spirits are with me.”

The screen goes blank.

[Juramenta]

{Headstone}

Headstone listens to Pandora’s rapid-fire rant with patience, not planning on interrupting her stream of thought. He leans back, glancing at the clock with a smirk as she rambles on.
Didn’t sign up for a nine to five? he thinks to himself as he notes with some satisfaction that it’s early, not even close to nine yet.
When Pandora finally mentions physically coming over, Headstone raises an eyebrow in surprise. "She’s actually making the trip over. Didn’t see that one coming," he says to himself out loud, genuinely caught off guard.

"Hope she doesn’t think we’re knee-deep in drek. She really oughta figure out a way to let us add a note to that sprite of hers. That might save a lot of confusion next time. I'll bring it up later when she’s here."
Baby Blue and Revs sitting nearby are all too familiar with Headstone’s aversion to learning the finer points of the tech he so often relies on. Teaching him how easy it is to add a message has been an exercise in futility thus far.

"So, it’ll be about an hour before she gets here. Is everyone cool with waiting a bit longer? Pacman’s on his way too. That just leaves Angel, but she had a long night. What do you think? Let her catch some gonk and fill her in later?" Headstone asks, turning his attention to the others in the room.

[archolewa]

Baby Blue

Baby Blue rolls her eyes, a smirk tugging at her lips. "I was gonna say, you *can* attach a message. Poor Pandora, probably thought we were getting shot up or something, and you didn't have time for anything else. Maybe you should let me handle sending her messages from now on."

"Gonna go up to the roof and watch for Pandora's bus." She hops off the stool and heads back up to the roof. "You should maybe leave Angel another message."

[CoyotesLuck]

{Headstone}
"So, it’ll be about an hour before she gets here. Is everyone cool with waiting a bit longer? Pacman’s on his way too. That just leaves Angel, but she had a long night. What do you think? Let her catch some gonk and fill her in later?" Headstone asks, turning his attention to the others in the room.

{Pacman}
Pacman enters the room and finds an open place to sit. Sipping on his coffee "I can catch Angel up when she gets here. What do we have to work with so far?"

[Juramenta]

{Headstone}
Headstone’s first instinct is to object, to launch into a whole spiel about how it’s the device’s fault, or maybe the sprite, or possibly even Pandora’s overly complicated program. Must’ve been a bug in the system, right? But the moment he looks at Baby Blue, he knows he’d just be making a fool of himself.

He tries, one more time, to come up with a solid excuse, but eventually submits to reality.
"You know, being right all the time isn’t exactly a barrel of laughs for the rest of us." he retorts but ends with a grin and a nod, showing his acceptance that it’s probably best if she handles contacting Pandora from now on.

He then greets Pacman as he notices him entering the room.

[Charybdis Richelle]

{GM}

About thirty minutes after Pacman arrives, Baby Blue sees a bus stop at the corner at the far end of the street. The doors open, and first a white cane taps out, checking the steps for obstacles. Pandora follows soon after.

Today she wears a light-weight electric purple hoodie with some sort of anime battle scene in equally blaring colors. As usual, Pandora has the hood pulled over her head despite the blistering heat. What inky black hair escapes its confines remains a whirlwind of motion with short tufts headed every which way. As Pandora descends, her sun-yellow T-shirt becomes visible. Baby Blue can’t read the text from here, but she knows it by heart. It reads, “Seattle Univerity Social Studies Department: Study with us and realize yes, metahumanity really has been this stupid since the dawn of recorded history.” It’s one of Pandora’s favorites. In deference to the heat, the decker has chosen shorts today – very short shorts, just on the cusp of showing cheek, but falling a hair short. These, are plaid – red and orange. They make an odd contrast to the black combat boots; the only shoes any of the band has ever seen her wear.

A camo backpack hangs on her back. Its pattern of blues, oranges, and pinks would make any sane person wonder where they are intended to blend in. The explosion of color does, however, do an excellent job of distracting the eye from noticing the armor that lines the pack.

While Pandora’s right hand taps her white cane before her, ensuring a safe path, her left clutches the handle of a Stuffer Shack Extreme Cup containing 120 ounces of Fizzy Goo Extra Umph, a sickly-sweet, bubbly beverage containing the maximum level of caffeine allowed by UCAS law.

Pandora approaches the door, shifting her cane to the crook of her elbow as she pulls out her keycard from a chain in her hoodie pocket and swipes it to unlock the door. Without hesitation, she steps in, closes the door, and listens for the click that tells her the door has locked. Still, security conscious, she double-checks the door before slipping her cane back into her hand and making her way to the meeting room. She hesitates at the doorway, listening and sniffing the air, trying to discern who is already present.

“Angel’s missing,” she says. Then she asks the room at large, “Usual seats?”