Downtime: Drugs Probably

[Muppet Man]

Downtime!

[Mulpa]

Bringing all the gear from the elves that interrupted them that was not claimed and dropping them off at one of their members that clean and sell such items, Mulpa then reports to Pyotr Marchenko, his Lideri, to find out what his tasks are this week. A couple days off then a few days of being the second line, the subtle protection to Pyotr himself as he conducts some negotiations with a few local businessmen.

Finding himself with a couple days before the Vory require his services, Mulpa decides to wander the streets near his apartment in Redmond, near the Bellevue border, looking for threats to Vory interests, and for any possible threats to his apartment. A few hours into his stroll, he notices a Troll paying a bit too much attention to him. Stopping in front of a shop or two to confirm this amateur was tailing him, Mulpa strolled into a alley and set up his tail to do what appeared to be smack him upside the head with the pipe he was trying to hide up his sleeve.

Well, this won’t be the first time some young punk wanted to try to prove himself tough enough to take him down. Well, judging by his tailing, this should be quick enough.

Strolling seemingly unaware around the corner into a dark alley, Mulpa pulls on his Shock Gloves, and activates them. Seemingly distracted by his commlink, Mulpa easily ducks beneath the wild swing of the Troll once he commits himself to the swing. A quick electrified uppercut to the Troll’s unmentionables, and the only thing Mulpa must worry about is dodging his twitching body. Giving him not even another glance, Mulpa turns off his Shock Gloves and removes them before strolling back onto the street and continuing with his patrol.

The time spent watching Pyotr was uneventful, but instructive. Watching the experienced negotiator manage the local businessmen, Mulpa is able to pick up a few tricks of the trade… a few things he can try next time he is in position to negotiate with someone.

[Bushwack]

The next day Bushwack contacts sends a message to his chum Doc Poe.

"Was there a pregnant ork lady that name dropped me to get a free consultation ? If so i did promise her that I would pay whatever it is she owes you. I heard you have been doing some ringside doctor services for some some of the cities' fight pits and rings... Would you come with me and I will pay you for your double for the doctor retainer fee as it will significantly cut down on my searching and I won't have to contact crime syndicates I don't want to be indebted to for info?"

[Wraith]

(Wraith's downtime - it's kinda long, so I'm putting stuff in spoilers. I switch between 'Wraith' and 'Taylor' depending on the situation/her mindset at the time)

Sunday, 01-06-2075

Taylor arrives at the Ishikawa home in the mid-morning, and is admitted by the doorperson without having to wait; the foxelf is both excited and nervous about this visit, as is always the case around the older woman - not just family, but a valuable contact in the shadows and someone with influence within the Shotozumi-gumi. The two have an early lunch together, with Taylor providing Shiori a brief rundown of the previous night's job - leaving out the other 'runners names of course, respecting privacy.

After retrieving some information and a few items, Taylor heads home, stopping by a Stuffer Shack for some pre-made food along the way - sadly, the foxelf is a poor cook at best, and generally relies on take-away from convenience stores (even if they aren't as good as the ones in Japan). With it being a Sunday, Taylor expects her housemate to be home, and is surprised when she isn't; further disappointment is had when her 'close friend' Riley* is busy as well. Left alone for the evening, the foxelf entertains herself with anime, hoping to get caught up on some from the previous season.

*Riley is a 'dependent', long-term girlfriend.

Monday, 01-07-2075

To her surprise, Alexis is home the next day, thanks to the University being on Winter Break still; unfortunately she spends most of the day tied-up with her Graduate thesis, leaving a bored Taylor to wander the nearby neighborhoods in Auburn. This is fortunate for a couple of teens being harassed by an older ganger near one of the high schools - after a quick 'workout', she accepts an offer of a drink at a nearby cafe as thanks (though Taylor does end up having to lie about what school she goes to, as she doesn't).

Riley comes by after she is finished her work-day, and the two have a sort of date-night. Details are classified.

Tuesday, 01-08-2075

Having had two days to relax and recharge, Wraith uses this day for things considered 'work-related'. Specifically, doing some footwork to try and track down leads related to her (non-Karma-garnering) vendetta - Ishikawa-san had put some information in her hands before the previous Christmas, and now she finally has an opportunity to try and make some headway. Unfortunately, Wraith is fairly unsuccessful in this - a potential informant had vanished, with rumors that he'd either been captured or killed by the Mafia during a skirmish, accidentally caught in the middle of a turf fight.

To work off frustration and excess energy, Wraith stalks a pair of muggers in the western part of Auburn, eventually taking them both down - neither of them are murdered (by her), left trussed up for the neighborhood watch to deal with later. On her way home, Wraith leaves a message for Shiori about the lead falling through, picks up another hot meal from Stuffer Shack, then detours from home to visit Riley at the small apartment that she shares with her older sister. Hijinks ensue!

Wednesday, 01-09-2075

Another lead provided by Ishikawa-san, though she requests a 'favour' in exchange from her young cousin: retrieve some items from some unaffiliated gangers that had been stolen from a murdered Shotozumi courier. (Can throw some dice for this, or just type up something interesting - any preference Mr GM?)

While successful, Wraith doesn't come out unscathed, taking a few minor wounds from the 'scuffle'; not all of the items were recovered, as several had been pawned off already - the name of the Pawn Shop was acquired from one of the gangers, after some 'persuasion'.

After dropping off the items at a pre-arranged location, Wraith acquires the information from Ishikawa-san, then heads home - its been a long two days, so Taylor collapses into bed after some first aid, to rest.

Thursday, 01-10-2075

An extremely early wake-up call from Riley (a little past two AM), who is indirectly in a jam and requesting aid from Taylor (yay Dependents!) - her sister Jennifer has been being harassed at the club she works at, and things have escalated somewhat, to stalking. While Jen would prefer to deal with it herself, Riley beseeches Taylor to help out somehow. Knowing that Jennifer is a little wary of her, she decides to shadow the older woman home out of sight and ends up intercepting the stalker - fortunately there is no physical altercation, though the stalker (a middle-aged human male called Barry Markland) is warned to stay away.

With Mr Markland's identity known, the foxelf leaves an anonymous tip to Knight Errant about it, and also informs Riley of the results. Taylor does eventually make it back home, though it is nearly noon - thanks to the sleep regulator, she doesn't need to sleep and instead runs some errands for Alexis - mundane shopping for the most part. That evening the two, along with Riley and a friend of Alexis', share a meal then have a semi-competitive games night primarily in the Matrix. Very relaxing!

Friday, 01-11-2075

After a day of more-or-less vegging, Taylor is invited over to have supper with Shiori, who introduces her to a Yakuza friend of hers over the meal. A gift of nihonshu from that friend is shared between the three; somewhat inebriated, Taylor is convinced by Shiori to crash there. Hijinks ensue!

Saturday, 01-12-2075

Further hijinks ensue after the two have slept off the alcohol, Shiori takes to torturing Taylor - at least, to the foxelf's mind: she's taken out clothes shopping by the older woman, despite knowing that the teen doesn't particularly care about 'looking fashionable'. Taylor manages to 'make it out alive', aka with only having one outfit 'forced' on her. After a fairly nice lunch (on Shiori, as an apology!), Taylor heads back home where she suffers the indignity (from her point of view) of being teased by Alexis over the clothing.

Feeling a little sulky, the foxelf hides out in her room for the afternoon, taking in some manga to start, then eventually a few informational videos on the Matrix (similar to the Youtube channel ‘Biographics’ or ‘Geographics’ - both of which i highly recommend, BTW). As evening rolls around, Taylor finds herself on her own, so heads out to have a meal (gotta love Stuffer Shack!) then just wanders aimlessly around Auburn before eventually returning home; a few hours of Matrix gaming is followed by some very unsatisfying, nightmare-filled sleep.

Sunday, 01-13-2075

With only a day and a half left before the meeting with the Johnson, Taylor is getting antsy; not just about the lack of any serious work the past week, but also about how her search had stalled out. Despite being fatigued, Wraith sets out to investigate the most recent lead; she ends up outside of a small, rough looking bar in Tacoma. Not interested in going inside, she stakes out the entrance for a couple of hours before her target emerges - shadowing him proves to be fairly easy, the human seeming to be somewhat tipsy, and Wraith confronts him in a rear parking lot behind a convenience store. Fortunately for both of them, violence is avoided and after providing a 'tip', the foxelf heads home with some new information - a couple of names, and some hope that she is drawing closer to answers.

Between the new information and the nightmares earlier, Taylor is in a brooding mood - one of the names she had recognized, and that had left her shocked. Shocked, saddened and agonizing over whether she may have been betrayed, years ago. In the mid-evening Riley shows up, worried for the foxelf - half a dozen messages had been ignored, which was quite unlike Taylor; she eventually manages to draw the shadowrunner out of her dark mood, though Taylor remains melancholic. Some time later, sleep happens.

Monday, 01-14-2075 - Day of the Meeting

Taylor sleeps quite late, at least by her standards, and discovers that there is no one else around - Alexis presumably back at the University, Riley working or possibly school (one never knows with her!). Knowing that a job will likely be coming soon, the foxelf takes the afternoon going over all of her kit, making sure firearms are clean, magazines loaded and her various doodads functioning as expected. A couple of hours before 10pm, Wraith makes her way to the meeting place, Bar Neleus; she is unfamiliar with the location, and so arrives very early to check it out - observing the patrons to get a feel for what to expect inside, keeping an eye out for the other now-teammates and having a light snack. When T-15 minutes arrives, Wraith switches to a cheap commlink with one of her false IDs (one older than her, wanting to avoid any problems getting in), then heads inside.

[Shrike]

Before leaving the site, he pops back to the Stuffer shack if possible and purchases a few bottles of cheap liquor. These he then leaves it propped up in their hands.

With luck, they will be mistaken for drunks rather than runners responsible for attacking the warehouse.


Returning to his apartment, he looks around. Struck how quiet it is, he gently places his backpack down and runs a hand over the wall.

I need to get a pet or something. Far too quiet. Home was noisier as was the barracks.

Slumping down into the sofa, he mentally reviews the performance of the team

Tulpa – need to stop him being so excitable.

Mulpa – seems steady and reliable, though his connections to the Vory might prove problematic at some point.

Bushwhack – sneaky for a Troll but some impulse control issues there.

Wraith – professional. Not managed to get much of a read on her yet.


Gnat and Sarge proved to be flaky, so right now they were not anybody he wanted to rely on, so a new mage they needed. Maybe they met face to face with the Fixer, they would be able to recommend a more reliable one.

Getting some sleep, he awoke to find that the building had comped him tickets as it regularly did to a rock gig.

Needing some air later in the week, he needed a drive. The local boostergang were generally punks, decent kids playacting mostly, but happy to have an extra person they could outrace in order to show off. The fact that Shrike offered a degree of muscle they didn’t otherwise possess meant he was always welcome. They were even happy to show Shrike a few new tricks to help him keep up with them better.

+1 to Pilot Groundcraft – now 3 for 6 karma

[MacFear]

Fearghas was minding his business wrapping up some legalese wizardry on his current case, when a knocking - pounding, really - came from the door to his office slash home. Not exactly expecting anyone, curiosity got the better of him and MacFear got up to get the door. He disengaged the maglock, turned the deadbolt and unlocked the doorknob.

Opening the door, MacFear came face to face with one of the larger Trolls he had ever seen. At first, Fearghas thought the troll in front of him might be one of the Trog's boys, but he was disabused of that notion as soon as the other man opened his mouth. Vory. Definitely Vory.

"Nice place, eh?" The huge troll began, "Boss say he have opportunity for MacFear. @Mulpa is opportunity. You work with Mulpa. We don't break legs. Mulpa doesn't trust you? Mulpa break legs. But...be good to Mulpa. Maybe extra good for you, eh? Oh. Mulpa is small. But fierce. Remember this, MacFear. Have good day, no?"

Just like that, the huge troll turned around and left without another word. 'Who the frag is Mulpa? Always some kind of drek with the Vory. Never should have taken out that fifteen grand. Not that I had much of a choice back then...'

MacFear let out a dramatic sigh, closed the door, re-engaged the locking mechanisms, and returned to his desk. If its not collectors breathing down your neck, its work for the boss. If you catch a break there, you still have to find time for the clients. Just another day in the life for an indebted made man.

[Tulpa]

Location: Tulpas Apartment

Tulpa enters his apartment and tosses his gear bag onto the stained sofa in the small living area. He strips off his jacket and gun belt, letting them fall to the floor. Opening his fridge, he finds a mostly empty jar of orange juice. Sniffing it, satisfied it has not gone completely sour, he brings it over to the sofa and slumps down onto it. He reaches into the cushions and pulls out a mostly empty har of acetomenaphine..Popping open the jar, he empties the bottle into his mouth and washes the pills down with the orange juice.

All things considered, that run went very smooth. Tulpa pulls out his Himitsu and the broken cyber deck. First, he slaves his Himitsu to the few old screens he has set up on his apartment, and begins replaying all the comms and recordings he took of the past run- a different teammates recordings on a different screen. As he lets those play in the background, Tulpa begins inspecting the Cyberdeck.

This thing is going to require some dedicated work. Tulpa muses. He eyes his credit balance, weighing his options. All I need to do is get this rig fixed and Ill really be able to help On the next run. Tulpa stops at that thought. He really thought there would be a next run. He smiles. Tulpa drifts off to sleep on the couch, the playbacks of the past run on repeat.

Monday 01/07

Tulpa awakens to the replaying mission of the night before. Pausing the playback, the slim man stumbles towards his bathroom as he trips off the remains of his clothes. After a 20 minutes shower, Tulpa stumbles back out of the shower sluggishly. He pulls on a clean shirt and his hoodie, buckling his jeans from the night before on his lower body.

Tulpa stashes the broken cyberdeck, along with the ares predator he swiped last night in his apartments air vent before leaving his home- locking all three locks on the front door. He activates a personalized home security systems, which really amounts to nothing more than a camera on the door and an alert pinging him if motion is detected.

Shopping : Pharmacy and others

Tulpa makes his way to his first stop and highest priority: his pharmacist. Walking into the sterile storefront, the decker feels somewhat ancy. He always got a small adrenaline surge when he was about to refill his stash. He spends a few minutes browsing the shelves as the prescription line dwindles to nothing before making his way tp the counter and ringing the bell.
”Toby!” The slender elf came around the back and gave one of his most reliable clients a smile.

Toby smiles and pulls out his cred stick. ”Hey Mr. O’houl. How are things?”

”Not much different than the last time I saw you- two days ago?” O’houl gives the decker a goncered look. ”Don’t tell me you are dry already.”

Tulpa shakes his head. ”No. Just came into some money and want to prepare for a rainy day.”

The elven pharmacist, Teddy Ohoul gives the young hacker a look saying: ”Most of your days are rainy lately aren’t they?”

”Three tablets and three canisters.” Cram and Psyche.

”Don’t you have a better place to put this money?” Teddy asks as he takes the credstick and rings him up. They both owed money to the same people.

”Im working on that.And don’t you worry, I’m all paid up for another two weeks.”

The Pharmacist gives Tulpa a look, but hands back the decker credstick along with a small paper bag. ”Don’t go doing anything stupid, Toby. I like you.”

[b”]I like you too old man.” Tulpa gives the man a wave as he leaves the Pharmacy.

Off to finish my shopping Tulpa muses

Tulpa makes is way through his local shopping stretch, ducking into shops here and there. He has a shopping list, but is in no rush.

He Buys:
3x Cram: 30Y
3x Psyche: 900Y
X15 rounds of Hollow Point pistol bullets: 1050Y
1x Toolkit: 500Y

He refills his fridge with a few bags of groceries (costs assumed in lifestyle)

Total: 2480Y

Tulpa grabs a hotdog from a street vendor on his way back to his apartment.

Tulpa’s Apartment

Back in the relative safety of his own abode, Tulpa unburden himself of his groceries. He adds the Holo point rounds to the empty clip he spent last night shooting at the invisible elves and drone. Looking at his collection of Cram and Psyche, the decker stores a majority of his stash behind his medicine cabinet.

He then turns his attention to the tech he recovered from the decker wannabe.
First he focuses on the Renraku Sensei. He activates the Commlink and goes through its files, checking for any monitoring worms or the like before searching the stored files and contact lists. He copies all of the data to a private ghost drive on the matrix before cleaning the commlink and reformatting it. A second, more traditional commlink is worth holding on to.

Finally, he turns to the Cyberdeck. ”Alright sweet thing. Lets see what we can do.” He unpacks his new toolkit and pops off the front casing of the cyberdeck. He takes his time and works through the hardware, checking everything.

| | | |

: 2.5 hours to get 10 successes

Tulpa lets out a cheer of a success as he gets the cyberdeck to power up. ”We are in business!” Tulpa begins the same sweep he did on the commlink, ensuring the stability and security of the Cyberdeck digital environment. Now, what can I do to make you worthy of me? Tulpa spends the rest of the day familiarizing himself with his new cyberdeck

Tuesday 01/08 & Wednesday 01/09

The next two days, Tulpa sees himself in his element- locked in his room with nothing but the glow of his virtual interface to light the room. Tulpa spends the entire day flexing his new machine by completing some mundane tasks for the Cracker Underground (Maintaining an active presence within the community and putting in volunteer time in the matrix for their projects. Maintaining good standings)

Thursday 01/10

On Thursday, Tulpa sleeps in, wakes up and watches a few hours of cartoons. Finally he brings him around to his task for they day: being responsible. He opens up a message to be sent to Tulpa:

Hey Bud,
Thanks for the job. Ive attached a months interest, along with a bit to start paying off my capital. If you have another job, let me know.

Tulpa

Attached is 7,500 Yuen, bringing tulpas current obligation down to 22,500 Yuen owed. (-2 Karma spent as well. Debt is officially bought down to rank 3).


And so Tulpa finds himself with nearly no money. Again. Still in debt to the mob, Tulpa looked forward to this upcoming meeting. Her really needed another gig before the months rent was due. At least paying off the Vory for another month gave him some breathing room. A bit.

Tulpa spends the rest of his time laying low and trying to avoid spending money.