Venom, despite being rusty with them, remembered his seven Ps. (“Prior planning & prep prevents piss-poor performance”).
Which is why, when he was called by Sunan Pranee to meet,
in person (rather than via a secure connection, like the last time he did an odd-job for The Circle), he did his homework. It screamed either “this is a trap”, “this is Amateur Hour”, or both.
He thought all this as he threw on a disguise. That wasn’t the hard part- he tied on a headkerchief to hide the ‘trodes and hair, got some second-hand clothes from a vendor to so’s not be dressed in his usual, stored his leg prosthetics in a duffel bag (with spare clothes and The Sign), and crutched his way to a bus stop. On the way, he mentally reviewed what he knew.
He wanted to know what the problem might be, before he set foot in the meeting- that way, he’d hear Ms Pranee out, and see how much of the truth he got out of her without trying.
A little digging found that the Black Chrysanthemums were snapped about some clever-clogs messing with their gambling business online. A little dip into the Shadowlands suggested the cause was local talent, from the vicinity of Berkeley. So, Venom suspected that this was the Circle having bit off more than they could chew.
Panicked people postpone proper planning, he joked to himself, and set out to do some proper recce before charging in- even if the Circle weren’t planning to do something stupid to Venom, he figured, someone might be watching
them, and it might give him a good idea of how much trouble he was diving into. He hated being forced to go out in public, like this, and he’d inevitably figure out some appropriate payback, but he owed them his best work.
The next inconvenience was that he was supposed to meet Pranee at “the Student Centre”. Getting off the bus at what he thought was a close-but-not-
too close stop, he realized there were easily a half-dozen places that could be ‘The’ Student Centre, on this campus. There was something he liked about these Circle kids- some of ‘em, anyway- but sometimes there was the damndest gaps in assumed knowledge, dealing with them.
After checking out the likely candidates, he sat on a short wall and unfurled The Sign:
"ALL HELP APPRECIATED-
I am in needing of 500¥ for train fare back to San Diego.
I have until FEBRUARY 2nd to see my brother before they foreclose on his dog
Combined with a ball-cap for the (never-coming) donations and shades, that little slab of handwritten cardboard might as well have been a cloak of invisibility.
Still a bit early. Good. Venom wanted to see where Pranee came from, who was with her, what her demeanor was, and- if any- who seemed to be watching her. He was sure this wasn't a trap- for
him. He wanted to be sure about t
hem.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:05, Wed 02 Feb 2022.