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07:47, 29th March 2024 (GMT+0)

[January 2060] Cross Purposes (Crew: San Fran)

Posted by Mr. JohnsonFor group 0
Mr. Johnson
GM, 518 posts
Sat 29 Jan 2022
at 03:00
  • msg #1

[January 2060] Cross Purposes (Crew: San Fran)

Nestled beneath the Transamerica Pyramid, the Cross Allied Technologies archology straddles four AAA city blocks in San Fran’s financial district. A steel and glass testament to the modern megacorp, the archology houses a massive shopping and entertainment promenade featuring Cross Matrix Technologies wide range of computing and entertainment products. In the promenade, you’ll also find Beaux Retail and their trendy line of business oriented fashion, Biscon biomedical for all your gene therapy and cosmetic improvement needs and boutique custom arms dealer Flèche Armaments.

The office tower houses a number of Cross Applied Technology parent corporation and affiliates offices. Primarily the CalFree hub for Cross operations, the offices also serve as a link to the markets of the Far East. And, while it’s not a well publicized fact, there is a regional hub for Xerxes Research Labs right here in the archology.



...and here we have Bailey modelling the Beaux Spring collection look for the up and coming executive." the master of ceremonies prattles over the speakers of the sound system in the Salle Montcalm of the Chateau Cross de San Fransisco.  Beaux' spring line launch is the talk of the BayPlex fashion elite, despite the disturbing news coming out of Seattle.

While Bailey sashays on the catwalk, across the large ball room and dressed in a maid's uniform, Laurie sets out the complimentary coffee service. The smell of real coffee wafts through the air...

...and the fire alarm begins howling.



<< REW - a week ago

Nighthawk's. Daly City.

The din of voices in the crowded bar makes it hard to pick out anything but snips of conversation.  "So strange what's going on in Seattle..." ... "Nutin' but a scam I'll bet... ... "Time to sell Renraku my shares..."

Sitting a bit awkwardly together, Laurie and Bailey are an unlikely looking pair in the corner booth.  At least down here the i-marines won't shake you down just for being elves, but your brilliant green eyes and pointed ears are pretty much the only things you seem to have in common. Well, maybe that and a growing sense of frustration.

As usual, Mindi is late...
Laurie
player, 13 posts
Sun 30 Jan 2022
at 02:23
  • msg #2

[January 2060] Cross Purposes (Crew: San Fran)

Laurie focused on the combat biker memorabilia scattered around the bar. She had just settled on a nearby lifesized mannequin wearing a cracked Timberwolves helmet. Sporting pieces of scorched and broken armor, beside the mannequin she watched the little display screen playing a loop of Nighthawk flipping over his handlebars after getting entangled in a Mustangs linebiker whip during the '52 Western Conference final.

Looking up for a moment, she thought she might catch the other elf woman's eye, maybe mention something about Nighthawk's career, but then thought better of it and looked away quickly. Her companion didn't seem the type of person who would enjoy a well placed riot carbine shot just off the flagsnag.

Dawson had said this contact would lead to a lucrative run, just the thing Laurie needed to jumpstart this new beginning. Hell, she had taken it so seriously that she had even cleaned up a bit for the meet, leaving her hair down so her head tattoos didn't show quite so much and leaving her favorite long coat at home in favor of a mostly clean jacket.

She just hoped she didn't blow it, hoped she wasn't blowing it now by letting the awkward silence extend even longer.
Bailey
player, 35 posts
Deadly
With stilletos
Sun 30 Jan 2022
at 04:01
  • msg #3

[January 2060] Cross Purposes (Crew: San Fran)

Bailey had gotten quick service, at least. She was the sort that bartenders paid a lot of attention to. Especially done up in her runner gear, all faux-leathers and form fit blacks. Her knee-high boots sporting those dangerous looking heels. But her order had slowly been forced to devolve. A gibson becoming a martini becoming a gin and tonic becoming a vodka on the rocks. That's with ice.

She shakes her glass a few times. Listening to the ice bounce and clink in the faux-glass. "I'm starting to get sick of her shit," the red head mutters, into the rim of her glass. "It's like this every time." Her eyes roll as she looks out of the corner of her eye at her companion. The two really didn't look like they should be together. Bailey so put together, so focused on her look. Every brush of make up perfect. Contours keeping her cheekbones sharp and lipstick making her glow. Every strand of crimson hair set perfectly in place.
Laurie
player, 14 posts
Sun 30 Jan 2022
at 13:50
  • msg #4

[January 2060] Cross Purposes (Crew: San Fran)

Laurie picked up her glass of water and took a slow sip while stifling a laugh. Seven hells, her companion even sounded perfect when she swore.

Truth be told, Laurie was probably somewhere between resentful and intimidated. This happened a lot when she was with other elves, especially the ones who weren’t born in megacity slums. She found them so elegant, so haughty, so intimidating.

Looking across the booth, Laurie couldn’t help but notice the less than favourable comparisons. Where Bailey wore form fitting black, Laurie had lose and dirty castoffs.  Designer boots worth a month’s wage contrasting with dirty old combat leather boots scavenged from a thrift store bin. While they shared the same perfect cheekbones, a hereditary gift, Laurie was far from perfectly contoured. In fact she had washed the dirt off her face in the bathroom sink just before her companion had arrived.  Hair clean, but disheveled, Laurie was no longer a filthy street rat, but she certainly didn’t put more than the most basic efforts into keeping up appearances.

Taking a deep breath, she steeled her resolve and set the glass on the table. ”This happen a lot?” she asked over the bar room din. ”Hope she is worth the wait.”
Bailey
player, 38 posts
Deadly
With stilletos
Mon 31 Jan 2022
at 02:35
  • msg #5

[January 2060] Cross Purposes (Crew: San Fran)

"Never yet," Bailey answers with a bit of a smirk. "But sometimes it's profitable." Her nails rap against the table top, increasingly impatient and annoyed with Mindi's various forms of shit.

"So, I guess we're like... Here for a bit," she shouldn't just pull out her phone. She knows it. But she didn't really have anything to talk to Laurie about. Just look at her. "Um, so. You're... A mage? My sister is studying that. But she's more like, um. A scholarly wizard sort. And that doesn't really strike me as like, your vibe? Or is there not really a difference?"

Awkward small talk. God. She'd been on dates with better chemistry that didn't get a call back.
Laurie
player, 14 posts
Mon 31 Jan 2022
at 04:46
  • msg #6

[January 2060] Cross Purposes (Crew: San Fran)

"She studies at a school? Like an apprentice or something?" Laurie asked with something of a sneer. "Definitely not my vibe, no. I strengthen my abilities alongside sisters of my own. We work as equals and learn from each other. Or, we did. It got complicated."

She pauses, crunching ice from her glass in thought, "You have gifts too, I can see that much, do you mind if I ask what ... ummm ... path you follow?" As an afterthought she adds, "It would help me to know. If you are injured, my healing... anyway, it helps if I know..."
This message was last updated by the player at 04:46, Mon 31 Jan 2022.
Bailey
player, 40 posts
Deadly
With stilletos
Tue 1 Feb 2022
at 04:28
  • msg #7

[January 2060] Cross Purposes (Crew: San Fran)

"Oh, um," Bailey lowers her glass for a moment, lips pressing together as she thinks. "I'm not sure they have a name for what I do? I'm just like-" another pause, "A giant badass? Like, guns and backflips and I'm like seventy-five percent sure I literally cannot break a nail?" she holds her hand up, showing her full set of freshly manicured tips. "I haven't actually tested that, though, so who actually knows?"

"But I'm guessing you're more like... Spirits and raccoons and stuff? I mean, just from the sort of vibes I'm getting?"
Laurie
player, 15 posts
Tue 1 Feb 2022
at 19:38
  • msg #8

[January 2060] Cross Purposes (Crew: San Fran)

Raccoons?! What was the redhead on about?

“Oh, that is interesting.” Laurie replied. “I’ve never worked closely with someone whose abilities are so ... physical.” she said, keeping her eyes downcast coyly and sipping her water. “Oh, you meant Shamans!” she added, warming up a little as the oblique language about spirits and raccoons clicked into place in Laurie’s mind. “I can see and speak with those kinds of spirits, but they don’t come for me when I call. Can you see them?”
Bailey
player, 41 posts
Deadly
With stilletos
Wed 2 Feb 2022
at 00:54
  • msg #9

[January 2060] Cross Purposes (Crew: San Fran)

"No. But I've heard good things. Which I think kind of makes them like... The Radiohead of magic? Sort of one of the classics but also kinda like... It feels like work?" Bailey says, trying to make conversation while she waits for Mindi to finally show. "So you're more like... You said you can heal people? And what else? My sister does..." what did Jolene do, exactly? Bailey realized in the moment that she has absolutely no idea what her sister does. Either magically or while she's on campus.

"Not important," she waves the idea away. "But yeah. Agility. Strong. I'm told most people can't use two pistols at once which is honestly like, weird to me?"
Laurie
player, 15 posts
Wed 2 Feb 2022
at 03:34
  • msg #10

[January 2060] Cross Purposes (Crew: San Fran)

Laurie's genuine little laugh follows the Radiohead joke. "I could help you y'know? Help you see the spirits if you want to." she flashes a beat up old cigarette case with a few tightly rolled little spliffs inside. "Bit of weed, bit of deepweed. Helps open the mind to the other side." she shrugs, "If that's something you want to learn about." she adds hastily, maybe a little embarrassed that she brought it up.

Inelegantly changing the subject, she purses her lips and blows a stray hair out of her eyes before responding to Bailey's questions "I'm good at changing the physical world, I guess. Bending mana to make matter change." then leaning forward on her elbows, she asks "You use guns? With magic?"
This message was last updated by the player at 03:34, Wed 02 Feb 2022.
Bailey
player, 44 posts
Deadly
With stilletos
Thu 3 Feb 2022
at 04:31
  • msg #11

[January 2060] Cross Purposes (Crew: San Fran)

"No, I use guns with my hands. My hands? They're magic." Bailey explains with a little smirk. "That's cool, though. Mana. Changing matter. Weed. Who doesn't love weed?"

She turns, giving a long sigh. "Where the hell is Mindi, anyway? She's supposed to be here. Though this isn't exactly her sort of scene..."
Mr. Johnson
GM, 559 posts
Thu 3 Feb 2022
at 05:50
  • msg #12

[January 2060] Cross Purposes (Crew: San Fran)

The minutes turn into an hour. Then half an hour more. Mindi is usually late, but this isn’t like her. A quarter hour of waiting sure, but she should have arrived over an hour ago, only to breeze in, adjust her plum-colored pantsuit and launch into business without so much as a ‘hello’.

No, this is off, even for her...
Laurie
player, 16 posts
Thu 3 Feb 2022
at 15:16
  • msg #13

[January 2060] Cross Purposes (Crew: San Fran)

“Is this a bust?” Laurie asked, trying not to be testy, but obviously frustrated. “Should we like, exchange numbers? So we can, you know, work together sometime.” she shrugs shyly. “Or see if you can speak with spirits. Or whatever.”
Bailey
player, 46 posts
Deadly
With stilletos
Fri 4 Feb 2022
at 01:58
  • msg #14

[January 2060] Cross Purposes (Crew: San Fran)

"Um... Not yet," Bailey says, answering both of Laurie's questions at once. She holds up a finger. Well... If Mindi wasn't here. Bailey calls up her phone. A few taps, and it's the number Mindi calls on. Who knows if it would actually go through? Bailey didn't exactly call Mindi that often.
Mr. Johnson
GM, 563 posts
Fri 4 Feb 2022
at 03:16
  • msg #15

[January 2060] Cross Purposes (Crew: San Fran)

The phone rings for a long while before someone picks up. There is no image on the screen, just a distant streetlight against the night sky. A well manicured hand with a broken fingernail briefly passes over the camera. A soft sound follows, something between a whimper and a pathetic moan.

"Help..."
Bailey
player, 47 posts
Deadly
With stilletos
Sat 5 Feb 2022
at 15:02
  • msg #16

[January 2060] Cross Purposes (Crew: San Fran)

"Oh, shit. Mindi? Where are you? What's going on?" Bailey asks, a bit of nervous in her voice. She quickly brings Laurie in on the com link, "Mindi? Tell me everything. We're coming. Laurie, we need to go now. Oh, shit."
Mr. Johnson
GM, 577 posts
Sat 5 Feb 2022
at 18:39
  • msg #17

[January 2060] Cross Purposes (Crew: San Fran)

"Unngh..."

A locator pin appears on Bailey's PocSec. It's only about a block from Nighthawk's.

There is nothing more as Mindi succumbs to unconsciousness.
Laurie
player, 17 posts
Sat 5 Feb 2022
at 19:14
  • msg #18

[January 2060] Cross Purposes (Crew: San Fran)

Laurie hastily gathered her things and slid out of the booth.

"This ever happen before?" she asked, "This woman, Mindi, does she have enemies that would do something like this?"
Bailey
player, 50 posts
Deadly
With stilletos
Mon 7 Feb 2022
at 17:27
  • msg #19

[January 2060] Cross Purposes (Crew: San Fran)

"Who doesn't?" Bailey answers, as she pushes up from the booth. Leaving her drink half full. Mindi was a fixer for a big agency. She doubtlessly had links to someone who did something, but most of her contacts were unknown to Bailey. "There's a location marker. C'mon. Let's go. We can figure it out on the way."
Mr. Johnson
GM, 591 posts
Tue 8 Feb 2022
at 02:29
  • msg #20

[January 2060] Cross Purposes (Crew: San Fran)

It’s a short run under street lights and cloudy sky. There is no bustling nightlife around Nighthawk’s, just a half-full parking lot, a few passers by and a Fiesta taco truck that has certainly seen better days. Most folks on the edge of the ‘plex tend to keep to themselves anyway.  A few miles North and you reach the first Imperial checkpoints. A few miles South and the city gives way to a long open stretch dotted with small squatter and nomad settlements all the way down to Pacifica.

All in all, not a bad spot to plan an ambush.

You find her lying unconscious on the damp pavement in an alley that reeks of urine and garbage. She is unconscious, breathing steadily, but shallowly, perhaps the result of a broken rib. Badly beaten, leg at an unnatural angle and dark blood stains on her cerise pant-suit.  Her blood smeared PocSec on the ground beside her, screen cracked from when she fell.

There is no sign of her assailants.
Bailey
player, 53 posts
Deadly
With stilletos
Wed 9 Feb 2022
at 22:20
  • msg #21

[January 2060] Cross Purposes (Crew: San Fran)

"Oh, shit, oh shit," Bailey mutters to herself as she rushes to Mindi. A look down, then back up toward Laurie, "You said you can heal, right? Well??" she urges, gathering the older woman up in her arms carefully. Obviously distressed, tears already building up in her eyes.
Laurie
player, 19 posts
Thu 10 Feb 2022
at 18:20
  • msg #22

[January 2060] Cross Purposes (Crew: San Fran)

Laurie enters the filthy alley gun drawn, the heavy Colt held at the ready while her other hand crackles with mana.  A sharp intake of breath reveals her nervousness as she lays eyes in the wounded fixer. ”I’ll see what I can do.” she says in reply while she has the presence of mind to shift her perceptions between her physical surroundings and a view of the etheric plane.

Once satisfied that no threat lurks in the spirit realm, she turns her perception to the woman lying bloodied in the pavement and begins to work a spell of healing.
This message was last updated by the player at 18:20, Thu 10 Feb 2022.
Mr. Johnson
GM, 602 posts
Thu 10 Feb 2022
at 02:46
  • msg #23

[January 2060] Cross Purposes (Crew: San Fran)

Peering into the astral plane, there are sure signs of magical disturbances. The mana is warped and Mindi’s wounds were caused by mana being bent and warped into physical attacks. She was clearly attacked by a magically active being; a magician, a spirit or the killing hands of an adept.

Fighting the warped mana, Laurie begins her incantation…

Cast a spell
19:36, Today: Mr. Johnson, on behalf of Laurie, rolled 6 using 2d6 ((3,3)).
Fail take 1XP


But the lingering magical effect of the damage resists your spell and Mindi remains unconscious.

or…
19:36, Today: Mr. Johnson, on behalf of Laurie, rolled 6 using 2d6 ((3,3)).
Edge bump
Weak success


Mindi’s flesh is mended and she slowly regains consciousness, but forcing your spell to work against the lingering magical energies takes extra effort and a wave of fatigue washes over you.

Take 1 stun + fatiguing = 2 stun
Laurie
player, 19 posts
Thu 10 Feb 2022
at 02:53
  • msg #24

[January 2060] Cross Purposes (Crew: San Fran)

As the spell takes form and Mindi’s torn flesh knits back together, Laurie swoons and drops to her knees beside the wounded fixer. Emerald eyes closed, head bowed as she regains her composure, she struggles to speak as she gasps for breath. ”This was the work of… something… magical. Spell work… or something else...”

option 2
Mr. Johnson
GM, 607 posts
Thu 10 Feb 2022
at 18:21
  • msg #25

[January 2060] Cross Purposes (Crew: San Fran)

Laurie [/] [/] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] - Essence 5/6, Edge 3/4

Mindi slowly rouses from the fog of unconsciousness though, despite Laurie’s magic, the fixer’s breathing is still shallow. ”Something… grabbed me…” her words are slow and uncertain. ”Did you see? How did you find me?”
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