SR Chapter 1 Milk Runs

[Atomicweasel]

Baye shot a confused look from Tabitha to Juno. He strolled between the two of them, right up to the big metal door of the main shop building, pressed his thumb into the buzzer and leaned back to rock lightly on the balls of his feet.

[Wyrd]

One of the orcs stepped forward as Baye approached the door. "Not so fast, daisy-eater. There's a toll for shopping at here. 2 K nuyen, or no blasty-blasty, weed." Up close, Baye could clearly see the black discoloration of his left tusk, and the signs that it had been applied many times as the tusk grew--overlapping layers of darker stain at the tip that became lighter as they approached his lower lip.

Click to reveal..

Wyrd *rolls* 7d6: 2+2+2+4+5+1+6: 22

That's two successes to intimidate you. Roll Willpower+intimidate to resist

[Atomicweasel]

"Tch." Baye stepped hastily back, frowning. "Ain't here for no guns," he mumbled almost inaubibly as he back-pedalled to where Atasaya stood, trying desperately to save his dignity and make his retreat look like a casual stroll...that just happened to put him safely behind several hundred kilos of hardened trog meat.

Click to reveal..

Baye's will roll:

4d6.hits(5)=1

[SalmonMax]

From the rover, Juno saw Baye's unsuccessful attempt to get through and muttered an oath. Still, she was all smiles as she headed over to the orcs.

"Guys, guys, lets take it easy on the poor guy, soka? It's a gorgeous day, the birds are singing...what's the trouble?"

[Krugar Rockbiter]

It was so much more comfortable to look into the Astral. So much time had been spent here for Atasaya in the last few years that if felt more real than reality did. It was nearly effortless to notice the dog spirit bound to the building...or was it a wolf? It was watching over it, but didn't seem concerned by the runners, or particularly antagonistic.

There was something living inside the building, but anything more than that was too difficult to tell. The size of the spirit and its strength of force led one to believe metahuman, but Atasaya knew that assumptions led to broken bones and pails of blood.

The orks themselves were all chromed save one, who was awakened. They all seemed relaxed and almost contemptuous. You could almost taste the shit-eating grins on their faces, the smugness was that thick.

They know something, and know we don't. Gotta be the sparker is the one babysittin' that pup.

Seeing Baye approach the door, Atasaya took a couple steps to catch up but Baye was already retreating from the Black Tusk's toll-keeper announcement. Atasaya put a reassuring hand on his shoulder as he passed and moved to approach the Ork as Juno spoke.

"We seek only that which we have been sent for, nothing more, nothing less." Atasaya added, locking gazes with the Ork as he drew up to his full height. "Let us pass."

Click to reveal.. (Stink Eye)

I be intimidatin'!

4d6.hits(5)=1

[The Hospitaler]

Tabitha keeps a few feet behind her other companions. observing what is around her and making sure no surprises come up from behind. She wasn't the intimidating sort, and doesn't look like it either. But what she is, is crafty.

She knows, at least with her Troll associate, he is geared for this sort of interaction. And has a follow-up response in case his... cowboy diplomacy doesn't work.

[Wyrd]

Click to reveal..

resisting your intimidate:
Wyrd *rolls* 7d6: 6+3+4+6+6+4+6: 35
4 hits beats your 1 rather soundly

The orc who had stepped forward grins at Atasaya and says, "Oh, really? Just what were you sent for, Ujnort?" There is a certain smugness about him, and a sense that he is enjoying himself. This being orc territory and the runners being outsiders, this attitude is not exactly unexpected, though.

[SalmonMax]

Juno decides to take a different track.

"Are you Trevor?" she asks, then looks at the other orcs. "Is one of you guys Trevor?"

[Wyrd]

One of the orcs who had been hanging back says, "That's Trouble to you, chica. It's my middle name." This ganger has an orange tusk in addition to his black one. He's one of the smaller orcs there, but once he speaks up, the others seem to defer to him. He also appears to be the only one there to be wearing a necklace, though it is tucked into his shirt so you can't make out what it is.

Click to reveal..

Ok, it's a bad joke, but someone who actually has trouble as their middle name amuses me.

Atasaya: This is the awakened orc you noticed. You can tell from your astral perception that the object on his necklace contains great personal significance.

[SalmonMax]

Juno grins and gives him a nod.

"Got a message for you. You're supposed to call home more often. Your mom's worried about you."

[Wyrd]

"Sounds like Mom to me. Let them in, boys." He gestures to the other gangers, who move out of the way, looking vaguely disappointed.

[SalmonMax]

"Thanks."

Juno heads into the shop, glancing back once to see who's following and who's not.

[The Hospitaler]

Tabitha keeps with Juno and company, not looking interested in any one thing going on. She nods to Juno though, to acknowledge she's behind her. "So, know these people Juno?" She asks, unzipping her bomber jacket a bit to look like she's keeping cool. She observes how the other guards are holding themselves.

"So guys... hear any good metal lately?" She says with an awkward humor.

Click to reveal..

She is taking a wary eye of everything while not looking suspicious of anything. Since this is a general thing she's not actively looking for any one thing. Feel free to make me do a spot check or something.

[Magnun]

Jaleena sat on an angled workchair, working the edge of a longsword on a whetstone. The commission had come in from one of the Black Tusks, a young ork named Thenn with plenty of brawn and not many brains. He liked to get up close and personal.

The blade was double-edged, straight, and curved to a wicked point. The pommel had been fashioned in the likeness of two orcs back to back, swords held against their chests. Decent work, not her best, but he hadn't paid for the best. If he didn't get himself killed inside two weeks it would help make a splash with the Black Tusks.

Sparks flew, danced and dissipated, momentary fireflies in the dim interior of her shop. She never put the lights up high, had no need to, and keeping them low cut some costs on energy consumption. Besides, it tended to throw off the rare human visitors she received.

She heard the talking outside, but did not look up from her work.

When the door slid open and the group entered, though, Jaleena lifted the blade from the stone, then laid it gently aside. She looked them over. Could be that they were the 'visitors' Ms. Esterhouse had mentioned on their last contact.

Jaleena cracked her knuckles and rose, then raised a hand to her brow and made a tiny salute with it. "Ho, cerris," she said, voice guttural and rasping, as it needed to be for the Or'Zet words. "Hope the eth outside didn't trouble you too much. What can I do for you?"

[SalmonMax]

Juno shook her head to Tabitha, and replied, "No, but when a Johnson gives you a password, it makes sense to use it."

Once inside she nodded at the figure behind the counter. "Not too much, no. We're here for a pickup. Client said 'you'd know us when you saw us.'"

[Atomicweasel]

Having filed in behind Juno, Baye looked around the shop without much interest. Pointy things weren't really his bag. In a micro-second his eyes automatically switched to their low-light setting, adjusting to the dim interiors of the shop. He glanced at the sword next to the smithing stone, saw the shape of the pommel and had to suppress a snort of laughter. That's faggy, Baye concluded, pausing to check his reflection in the polished steel of a ceremonial looking shield hung on the wall. His hair looked perfect.

"We're here to get the milk," Baye added, reluctantly turning away from his own image.

[Magnun]

Jaleena nodded. Simple thing, really. Go, collect, deliver.

She hit a button on the side of the smooth metal counter, and the front facing slid down, revealing a gun rack protected by armour glass. Mock-ups of some of her best custom jobs were there, a custom shotgun modelled on the Mossberg CMDT, designed sawn-off style, two shots fired from vertical barrels on a fixed wide spread. An Ares Predator with modified barrel, body and grip, designed for an orc dead a year, and others.

Panels dropped on the walls, too, revealing a medley of death from the basic to the high tech. Shuriken, throwing knives, tonfa and nunchuks, swords and bows and guns gleaming from behind their windows. Her pride and profession. She managed not to smile, though. They were not customers, these, not in the normal sense.

She knelt behind the counter and slid back the window. Then she reached inside and took out an oval container the size of a melon. It was smooth, black metal, with a visible line around the middle speaking to two compartments. A temperature gauge shone red in the dim light, showing that the contents were being kept several degrees below room temperature, though not as low as freezing. Both ends showed a hatch-like opening, double sealed with a latch and bolt lock. Low tech seals on a high tech device.

Jaleena rose and gently placed the contained on the counter before her. "Your 'milk', cerris. Nice and safe. Wouldn't go jugglin' with this thing, though. Don't want it mixin' before it's time, right? Don't worry about the locks. They won't open early, that's all that was asked for, so I didn't bother with maglocks or anythin' fancy."

She took her hand away and leaned against the back wall, watching them as they looked at the smooth, faceless black container. Her throat felt parched, and so she took up her hip flask, uncorked it and sipped some of the rich whisky inside. It burned going down her throat, but she loved it so.

[The Hospitaler]

"Looks like I avoid dirt roads then wouldn't you say?" Tabitha says, looking over the package. "At least it's not a timed package or anything... wouldn't want anything going splat in the back of my Range Rover.

Speaking of which, you guys think we should just get going and not stick around for the sight seeing? Time is money."

She straightens out her bomber jacket, not wanting to look too unkempt. "Besides the sooner we get done with this the sooner I can shake this bad feelin' I got."

Anything with guages, looking like a egg of doom and mentioning of things not suppsoed to mix gets her ansier than a longtail cat in a room full of rocking chairs... being rocked by hyperactive trolls.

[Kisada]

Kisada followed everyone into the building. When the orc pressed the button, revealing all the weapons, he whistled a long low tone.

He turned to Tabitha, "If you're worried about it, give it to me. I'll take it on my bike. And it'll probably be quicker, Assuming we don't have to go cross-country. If we do, then you should take it." He smiled and looked over the device on the counter.

[The Hospitaler]

Tabitha adjusts the goggles on her forehead. "Oh I'm fine taking it, my ride's stable enough. Just jumpy about it that's all. Things in packages sometimes don't cause a boom... sometimes it might be something a little more funky. I can imagine worse fates than having my body converted into paint for a Jackson Pollack tribute painting."

And she knows... poison gas... viruses... bacteria... toxins... you name it. And right now her head is spinning as to what it is. For a split second.

"Although I wager cheap help like us would have either been killed on the spot or will be a throw-away asset soon enough if this is something that goes off in our face. I doubt they want to waste money like this just to off some up-and-comers like us."

"Then again I know of a few hombres that would love to see me dead..."

[SalmonMax]

"Guys," Juno said as she gave Magnum a nod and started trying to shepherd people towards the door. "Lets work all this out at the cars. Magnum, pleasure doing biz. Maybe we'll drop in again sometime." She smiled. "Maybe even as customers."

[The Hospitaler]

"Right with you." Tabitha says, agreeing with Juno's assertiveness. Someone who at the very least gets down to business is someone she respects.

She heads back to her Range Rover, unlocking the doors for the group, and starts up the engine. It's a careful process since when she got it she made sure a thief couldn't just run off. She inserts the key and a second key under the dash that when inserted completes a circuit allowing the vehicle to start.

"Saddle up, kids." She says with a grin. She's never felt more at home than when she's controlling a vehicle. "We got a package to deliver."

[Atomicweasel]

"Yeah, green. I'm going with Miss Congeniality." Baye sniffed and hooked a thumb at Juno and her ride. Uninvited, he strolled up to the sedan and stood by the passenger door, waiting for Juno to let him in.

[Krugar Rockbiter]

Originally Posted By: Tabitha

"So, know these people Juno?" She asks,...

"Looks like I avoid dirt roads then wouldn't you say?" Tabitha says, looking over the package. "At least it's not a timed package or anything... wouldn't want anything going splat in the back of my Range Rover...etc

Tabi-duh, how have you lived this long? That or you are playing the idiot quite well.

Atasaya looked around the shop when he entered, noticing nothing unusual. When the panels flipped, it seemed like something from an old three-vee show and totally unnecessary.

Showing off? For what?

The troll looked over the shop and its owner, peering cautiously into the astral, but found nothing. Magnum had no obvious chrome, nor was awakened.

Or she's masking *mental shrug* wouldn't be the first person I'd come across.

Ata started to leave much the same as he entered, quitely and without comment when he noticed that no one had grabbed the package. He shifted his staff under his arm went to grab it and stopped, his large hands inches away. He muttered a small prayer.

Please don't break

He picked it up and held it close to himself, tucked in a forearm as he went back to the range rover.

Originally Posted By: Baye

"Yeah, green. I'm going with Miss Congeniality." Baye sniffed and hooked a thumb at Juno and her ride. Uninvited, he strolled up to the sedan and stood by the passenger door, waiting for Juno to let him in.

"I take no offense, Little One, thousands of miles on foot does not leave one smelling 'pine fresh'. Perhaps after this run I can afford a bath." He said, smirking.

With the doors unlocked, the troll climbed in and belted the device into a seat before taking a seat himself.

[SalmonMax]

The white Mercury Comet that Baye waited by whooped a couple of times as Juno disarmed the alarm, and its doors opened as she jogged up to it. She gave the elf a frankly sympathetic look at the troll expressed his lack of ire at his defection.

Once inside she closed the doors and remarked, "Must have been a fun ride up. When the troll himself says he needs a bath, those are bad times."

[Atomicweasel]

"Nah. It ain't even that." Baye explained nonchalantly as he settled back into the passenger seat of the comet. He glanced at the window at the Range Rover the troll had just clambered into and elaborated "I mean, don't misunderstand me. That moist iguana smell ain't gonna be a new cologne craze." He cut his almond-shaped eyes back to Juno, "I'm serious about that...but it's more the box o' s'plodey goodness I'd rather not share a ride with."

Baye's nimble fingers swept over the Comet's command console as he searched through Juno's music folders. "What kinda tunes you got in this bucket?"

[The Hospitaler]

She starts making room in the back for the package, grabbing a couple bungee cords.

She sees the Troll, gingerly carrying the package like a newborn. She grabs a couple cushions from one of the back seats and sets them up like a nest. "Put the package on the cushions, and I'll set the bungees over it. It should keep the package secure. If it helps you can keep a hand on it."

[Wyrd]

Juno headed out, grumbling under her breath about the lack of professionalism in her forced teammates as Baye started trying to access the music stored in her car's computer. She smirked with just a little too much pleasure at his cries of dismay when, after nearly five minutes of searching and trying to figure out how he was being locked out, he realized that there was no music saved to her car--that was all kept in her 'ware, where she could access it at any time she wanted without being distracted by the noise in her cab. That smile turned to a grimace as he reconnected the radio systems and put on some peppy pop-technobabble. Not her style at all.

Behind her came Ace in her attention grabbing ATV, package secure in the back seat next to Atasaya, and Jeremy beside her. She so wanted to be out of these confining streets and even more confining laws--such as speed limits. This slow cruising was getting on her nerves.

At the rear of the procession, Kisada raced to catch up, nearly left behind entirely, for when he had come out of the weapons shop there had been a scratch on his bike. A huge, ugly scratch on his precious little baby. "Which of you fier'in zot munchers did this?! Do you know how expensive this bike is?! I'm going to ..." A rather impressive demonstration of inventive invective was interrupted by one of the orcs clearing his throat.

"Omae, your posses leavin' w' out you. P'rhaps you better catch them up, 'ka?"

Jumping on his bike he tore out of the lot, the bikers behind him laughing about his reaction to a 3cm scratch.

Soon enough, Juno came to the customs checkpoint checking travel into the Sioux nation.

Click to reveal..

This means that Juno and/or Baye are up.

[SalmonMax]

Juno pulled up to the window of one of the little huts that divided the highway up into lanes at the checkpoint and stopped. With the push of a button she lowered the driver's side window.

"Afternoon," she greeted the stern-faced Amerind seated inside. "What do you need to see? Sorry, I haven't been over this border before."

(OOC - By checkpoint, I assume you mean an enforced stop, like a national border. If that's incorrect, and people can pass through the checkpoint without stopping (due to automatic exchange of info and funds electronically perhaps) then she'll do that. I'm not -entirely- clear on what normal process is here. )

[The Hospitaler]

Click to reveal..

(OOC: It would be like Checkpoint Charlie during the era when there was a east and west Germany. The GM's the final arbiter, but this is how I gather it.)

Tabitha turns back towards her rear passenger. In a low voice she mumbles... "Take the bungees off the package, grab a blanket from in back and make it look like your sleeping. Take the package and have it under the blanket. While you're doing this, make it look your actually falling asleep now. I got a story. Distillation: Road Trip from St. Louis. We've just switched drivers."

She drums her hands on her steering wheel for a second. "Once you're set I'll change lanes to that lane over there..." she gestures with her head. "The line looks like it's moving faster."

[Atomicweasel]

Baye said nothing as the checkpoint guard looked into Juno's sedan. He had tilted the passenger seat down low and was laying back, bobbing his head to the hyper-kinetic saccharine pop sounds of YumYum's new hit single, 'Robot Unicorn Attack.'

[Krugar Rockbiter]

Atasaya undid the package's restraints and carefully picked it up. Sighing, he shoved it under his coat and under an arm, his large frame easily absorbing the relatively small mass.

"We are not travelling in the correct direction for that farce. Shamans are well respected among my people, tell them that I am on a walk directed by the spirits and they guide us onto their lands." Atasaya stated.

The rarity of a legitimately sane magic user seeking access to their lands and being guided by the spirits should be enough. And technically he was. The troll's spirit walk had ended him in Denver and shortly thereafter this run. This is one of the few times he was glad he was a troll. Not having to worry about ethnicity problems, any bigotry he might encounter with the Sioux, his Aztlan blood would not be an issue.

[The Hospitaler]

"Fair enough." Tabitha says, guiding her SUV into position in a nearby lane. "What do I call you, by the way... I never asked a name." She says, still happily drumming her hands on the steering wheel. What she's doing is a obvious cover at least to her passenger. The lack of a cohesive plan and a seemingly devil may care attitude runs rampant in this slap-dash team... but she's able to adapt on the fly.

Pilots tend to need such skill.

[Wyrd]

One guard looked Juno's car over while the other asked a series of questions, pausing for a response after each one:

"Where are you coming from? Where are you going to? What is the purpose of your entry into Sioux lands? Do you have anything to declare? I'll also need to see an ID, and I need you to pop the trunk."

He was professional, bored, and looked like any sense of humour had been ground out of him by the sheer monotonousness of his job.

[SalmonMax]

Juno didn't push the issue by giving him any lip. She liked him just the way he was...zoned out and not paying attention.

She stuck to the truth as well, since the reality was that...as far as she knew...this whole thing was perfectly innocent. Unlikely, since you didn't hire runners for innocent, but then you normally got paid more for not-innocent, so maybe it cancelled out. They were out of Denver, and she used the town on the address for the meetup as their destination since she didn't know the names of any likely cities. The purpose was to meet a business partner. She handed over her 'Juno' SINstick and obligingly popped the trunk, knowing that all he'd find was the road emergency kit, the spare, and some cobwebs.

As the border patrol guard looked at her near-empty trunk, Juno glanced at Baye and asked what had been bugging her for most of the trip so far.

"Yum-Yum? Really? Aren't you about fifteen years too old for that? And the wrong gender?"

[Krugar Rockbiter]

"You may call me, Atasaya. It is not the name of my birth, but it is the name I have taken." he said, almost wistfully.

Ata's vision shifted as they approached the checkpoint, watching both the guards and the border. Not surprisingly, none of the guards were awakened, none would be relegated to such trivial duty. Not to say that they weren't well armed, a bullet was just as deadly as a powerball and with the targets contained within vehicles, the proverbial fish in a barrel came to mind.

Spirits were gathered, but such activity was not uncommon at borders drawn by men. None seem particularly interested in anything but more just flitted about, slowly roaming.

Atasaya shifted again, making sure the package was as well hidden as possible. Hoping his own smell would mask or cloud whatever sniffers the guards would have.

Click to reveal..

There are more lanes that shown in the pic, but it is 'Wyrd approved'.

[Atomicweasel]

"Omae, what?" Baye gave Juno a pained look. "How can you talk like that about my girl? You don't like YumYum? I've been a fan ever since her Nutritious and Delicious album. I mean, how can you not be? Before that, I really didn't get her work. Too artsy, too intellectual. It was on Nutritious where YumYum really came into her own and asserted herself. I think Invisible Kiss is definitely her undisputed masterpiece. It's an epic meditation on intangibility. And if you look at it, really profoundly, it deepens and enriches the meaning of the last three albums. Listen to the brilliant ensemble playing. You can practically hear every nuance of every instrument. In terms of lyrical craftsmanship, the sheer songwriting, this album hits a new peak of professionalism."

Baye's diatribe was just getting started, he paused only to breathe, gesticulating animatedly at Juno.

"Take the lyrics to SINners and SINless. In that song, YumYum addresses the problems of abusive political authority. Missing Link is the most moving neo J-pop song of the last, like, decade. Easy. It's about monogamy and commitment...the song is extremely uplifting. Her lyrics are as positive and affirmative as anything I've heard. YumYum's solo career is way more commercial and therefore more satisfying, in a narrower way. If you get me. Especially songs like I Don't Get What You Don't Get About Me and Untouchable Beat. But I also think YumYum works best within the confines of the group, than as a solo artist, and I stress the word artist." Baye pointed at the dash as another song began. "This is Susurro, that's Spanish for Whisper, I read that in an interview, a great, great song, a personal favorite." the young elf concluded, carefully smoothing his hair back and recrossing his arms over his chest.

[The Hospitaler]

"Okay, Atasaya, Name's Tabitha... my real name." She says, with a bit of a smile. "But for now call me Jane. I'll need your ID. Just make sure your head's uncovered."

Tabitha... Jane pulls up to her corresponding booth. Same overworked staffer, but this one was younger, more energetic. "Licence and Identification please, ma'am."

[Jeremy]

Jeremy searched out for one of the Fake SINs he used for ordinary day 'legitimate' activities. They would not suspect much without evidence of contraband. Tabitha would need his too.

[Wyrd]

Ace's guard asks most of the same questions as the one dealing with Juno, though he seems a bit interested in why someone as well dressed as Ace would be travelling with someone as poorly dressed as Atasaya.