[Day: Monday, January 9th. Time: 11:00 a.m. Location: Paris, France] [After so much running around yesterday, you wound up in Paris, staying at a pretty nice hotel, though some of you had to room. The next day, you all huddled into a van, provided by the company. You're headed to Charles de Gaulle airport to see Pavla off and meet the final member of your team, who's arriving today.] [The weather's chilly, but otherwise kinda nice. There's not even snow on the ground. Yay!] [Anyhow you're in the van. Sonia's driving, Pavla's in passenger, and Alysha's in back with (presumably) the rest of you.] [Aight? Aight.] [Start] (What is your definition of 'some of us had to room'? ;) ( Tonight it means Sonia was with Alysha, two of the guys were together and one of the guys was alone. ) ( Er last night ) (Clearly the siblings are the ones stuck together!) ( Oop ) (So where was Pavla?) ( My bad. Pavla would have been with Alysha ) ( Which means Sonia was with one of the guys :P ) (Snerk. Lady's pick.) (Montana's easy.) ( Tonight you'll have to figure something out :P Alysha's going with one of the girls. Probably Shiho unless Sonia can make a convincing argument. ) (Woo!) (Yes, but Nigel has a hot british accent.) (Might be worth the effort) (My accent is plenty hot. :/ Why you gotta steal my womens already.) ( Y'all have a different accent >.> ) (Because I'm British. We have to do everything better than you. It's in our contract.) * Montana is hanging out in back, then, by the passenger side window. (And I assume I'm driving a company car.) * Nigel is probably on the other side of the back seat. Because Montana and he are clearly not at all similar! (Yes, you said so! Okay.) * Gordo is in a center row, and reading something on a tablet PC. ( The NPCs are afk a minute! ) ( I mean I'm afk a minute! ) * Sonia is cruisin' in a van. She's still in the same sort of straightened hair and bandana setup, although the bandana's turned into a thinner blue scarf. She says, dryly, "Love the beautiful handling. At least it ain't rush hour in Paris, they ain't figured out how to handle their streets in ever." * Montana stretches, leaning back. "Yeeeah, those roundabouts are regular death traps." ( And back ) More gaam than anything, Montana, but I'm no worried about dyin' from a boozy frenchman. [Pavla remarks, "Oh, that reminds me."] ["Whatever you do, don't let Alysha near alcohol."] * Montana raises an eyebrow, but he doesn't comment. Someone else can. Alysha probably will. Can't hold 'er drink? [Alysha, who was working on her holocomputer, glares in Pavla's direction. "I'm not THAT bad."] [Pavla says, "You'll thank me later."] [Alysha grumbles and returns to her computer. "We're headed to terminal 2. Shiho might be waiting already."] * Sonia chuckles and replies, "Ey, when Sonia's your wheelwoman, I'll even keep you safe from a little dop." She blows a bubble and adjusts her red sunglasses. ( One would wonder why she has sunglasses in the winter if one didn't have access to her character sheet o: ) (Oh, I know why!) [You get to the terminal. Woot!] (Plus, sun totally glares off of snow anyway.) (Nobody wants to get snow blind!) * Sonia slows down as they pull up. "This where you gettin' off too, Pavla?" [She nods. "Same airline, in fact."] Ain't it nice when movin's convenient. [Alysha chuckles. "This'll probably be the only time it happens."] Tis convenient. [When the vehicle stops, Pavla and Alysha get out. Pavla grabs her belongings from the back. Though really it's just one meager suitcase and a handbag.] S'pose I'll be seein' you around, Pavla. [She nods. "Take care of yourselves. Try not to die."] * Sonia nods slightly and rubs her nose. "Done well so far." * Montana grins. "Always been good at trying." * Gordo snorts. "Not till you pay me." [Pavla heads towards the doors. Alysha follows a bit, saying something or other once they're out of earshot. Pavla casts her another dubious look. Alysha grins. Then Pavla shrugs and says something else. Then she vanishes through the doors.] * Sonia closes her eyes and sighs a little, one of her elbows resting on the door. [Alysha doesn't come back to the van yet. She looks like she's waiting for something.] * Shiho walks out the airport doors not long after Pavla walks in. She's a pretty, petite Asian girl with highlighted hair tied back in a long braid, black pants, and a black turtleneck. She's carrying a duffle bag, a metal briefcase, and another metal case that's fairly thin and roughly four feet long. * Shiho smiles when she spots Alysha. "Sorry, are you Ms. Johnson?" she asks in English. * Sonia chuckles as she looks over at Alysha and Shiho. "Ha, maybe I won't be the shortest woman in the bunch, mmm?" [Alysha bows slightly, grinning. "I am. And you must be Shiho Yamada." She hold out a hand to shake.] * Shiho puts one case down in order to shake Alysha's hand, bowing over it as she does so. "It's a pleasure to meet you. I look forward to working with you and the rest of the team." * Shiho picks her case back up. "Where to?" [Alysha smiles, "Same here." She gestures towards the van. "Let's introduce you to the rest of the team, shall we?"] * Shiho smiles back. "Sounds great." She moves over to the van and opens a door, offering to let Alysha in first. [Now that Pavla's gone, Alysha takes the front seat. "Guys, this is Shiho Yamada."] ( Everyone redescribe yourselves for the lulz. ) * Shiho takes the other empty seat. "Nice to meet you all." She has a very slight Japanese accent. "I'm best with a sword, decent with a pistol, and seven years successful at not letting my client get killed." * Gordo 's the brown haired, slightly overweight guy in the middle row wearing a bomber jacket. " Gordon MacDougal, formerly of Her Royal Magisties Royal Airforce, and a few airlines that don't matter." * Sonia is leaning back on her seat, looking over to the door! She looks shortish, dark skinned, and a little bulky, chest and otherwise. Leather jacket, jeans, blue scarf over medium length straightened hair, and red sunglasses finish off her outfit. "Sounds like a record I can get behind. Sonia. Wheelwoman." (I YAM FAMOUS DRIVER) * Montana smiles at the newcomer, all blue eyes, white teeth, manly stubble, and Southern/Creole accent. "I'm Montana Stark. And you've got a few up on me in the bodyguarding business, then - frankly, never been protectin' nothing before but myself and valuables." He's wearing a dark brown cowboy hat, a leather jacket, jeans, and boots. * Nigel is dressed in a gray suit with a white dress shirt and navy blue tie. He has short, light brown hair, which is currently pretty neatly parted and gray eyes. He's relatively thin, but not exactly scrawny, and he has a crossbow on his lap. * Nigel nods to the new member. "Hello. Nigel Winthrop. It's a pleasure." * Montana actually has light brown hair the exact same shade as Nigel's. [Alysha, for the record, is a teenage girl who oddly enough seems to be the tall woman in the group, by merit of being only average height. Her skin's a light tan and her hair is white, whether dyed or genetically modified who could say? It's shoulder-length, straight, and currently unbound. She's wearing a black pants suit and a brown jacket.] * Sonia chuckles and says, "Montana's bein' modest. He's kept that stubble safe as long as I seen him." She's got a odd African accent. * Nigel has a British accent, for the record. Somewhere between a north londerner accent and a manchester accent. It's true. * Montana rubs at his chin. "Got a permanent five o' clock shadow." And yer a bastard for being able to grow a beard. Hey, we all got our talents. You fly planes. I grow beards. * Shiho says dryly, "I personally take a bit of pride in never having grown a beard." [Alysha beams. "Well, let's get going." She leans over and shows Sonia her Holocomputer, which has a map on it. "Here! Lancelot cafe. We'll have a nice French lunch. My treat."] * Gordo looks at his seat mate and nods. ["And then I can talk to you about all the things I wanted to but couldn't while Pavla was here."] * Montana leans to one side so Alysha can get through. * Shiho opens the briefcase and pulls out a Jericho pistol, which she loads and holsters. From the longer case she takes out a sheathed jian, which she props up between her legs. "That's much better. Airports get so twitchy about armed civilian fliers." ( Alysha's in the front :P ) (Oh, never mind then!) * Sonia chuckles and says, "Ah, I'm sure it's easy for you." She glances to the weapon, then the holocomputer. "Right, boss, easy enough." Bullet holes are expensive to fix, and the noise the cattle make when you startle them. Augh. * Sonia pulls away from the pickup area to head to foodland. Lancelot Foodland. [Zoom! You arrive at the Lancelot Cafe, which doesn't look medievalish in the slightest. But it is a nice brick building on a cobblestone road.] [And since it's not terribly cold out, Alysha insists on sitting at one of the round outdoor tables.] (How many to a table?) ( So how long til you guys realized your lives are in the hands of a teenage girl? ) ( All of ya :P ) (*glances* Jericho looks like a pretty solid weapon.) (Whatever, she's paying me.) (I am on the side of being paid money to fight!) (*high fives Gordo!*) * Montana climbs out of the van, then, and has a seat at the table! [The cafe seems to be doing a good buisness. There's a fair amount of pedestrian traffic on the road, but not so many cars.] Seems a nice enough place. * Shiho gets out, hooks her sheath onto her belt, and stays within a few steps of Alysha. * Sonia doesn't have a problem with sitting outside, after she puts the van in its place, anyway. [Alysha grins. "I haven't been here in a long time. I'm glad the place is still around."] [Shortly, a harried-looking waitress comes around and asks for your orders. In English, even! Alysha orders Ratatouille.] [In case you're wondering... they serve French food :P Though you could just get a leg of chicken or something simplistic.] * Gordo orders a chicken and spinich quiche. ( Gross ) * Sonia , since she's probably last due to parking, jumps over the patio fence and then pulls back her chair as she gets in place. She glances at the menu, then orders boudin blanc before leaning back. * Shiho orders the quiche as well. * Montana looks through the menu, then orders a local fish terrine. * Nigel thinks for a moment and orders coq au vin. In french, though if she ONLY speaks English, he'll repeat himself in English. ( She speaks French :P ) (Good!) ( And I just lost all of what I was typing to say that D: ) (Aww you didn't need to do that.) [The waitress takes your orders (and menus!) and hurries off.] [Alysha glances at the pedestrians wistfully. "Paris... like no other city in the world. It's somehow modern, but rustic at the same time. No wonder they call it romantic." She glances at each of you in turn, then says, "Well! We have a lot to talk about!"]] Yes ma'am. That we do. * Sonia chuckles faintly. "Yah, romance, that's what this place is all about." She looks up and around at the buildings in the area. [Thems nice buildin's] I do have a few questions. [Alysha nods. "And I'll answer them! But before this goes any further, I have a few things to say about the job."] We're all ears. ["Namely..." Alysha rests her arms on the table, and her expression changes in an instant, from cheery to almost cold. "I want you to understand what you're getting into."] ["VA is an arms dealership. We sell weapons and other military equipment. These weapons will be used to kill people. Hopefully the right people. Hopefully not any innocents. But we can't count on that. And even though if we didn't do this, someone else would... that's no excuse."] [She makes eye-contact with each of you. "So, knowing this, are you still prepared to take this job?"] Aye. * Sonia shrugs slightly from her leaned back position. "You're the one who picked us, boss. Ain't sure you needed to ask that, do ya?" ["On the contrary, it's something I absolutely need to ask you, face to face."] I've been working for Vollenstein for seven years. I've pretty much made up my mind by now. * Montana puches up the back of his hat, rubbing at his head. "If you don't mind me asking before I answer, ma'am, why're you doing this, if it ain't no excuse?" * Nigel shrugs. "I would say that the fact that you, yourself see the moral implications of the business, and still intend on doing your work is reason enough that perhaps it's the right choice." (And Montana and Nigel say essentially the same thing in completely different ways!) [Alysha smiles slightly at Montana, though her eyes remain cold and serious. "Perhaps I'll tell you some time. But I can't right now. It's personal."] (Shut up, it's not like we're related or something.) ["People have a nickname for us: Merchants of death."] ["One not undeserved. That's essentially what we're selling."] * Montana glances at Nigel, then turns to Alysha and says, "Well, you took me to Paris and helped get me of a pretty bad situation. I'm willin' to help you out, especially if the pay's as good as you say it is. If Sonia's in and Nigel stays," he nods to the Brit, "then I'll stay, too." * Sonia snorts and glances to Montana. "What, don't have any work of your own to do, boy?" [Alysha resumes her cheery expression. "Good! I was worried one of you would back out, then I'd have to go head hunting again."] ["Okay, next topic! Remember how I said this job was dangerous?"] I'd feel a wee mite of regret if these were turned on the Queens men and women, but people trying to bring a fight to here, tend to build their own. * Montana looks at Sonia blankly for a moment, then says, "No. But I'm sticking with family." ["Well that was an understatement. Arms dealing is the most lucrative business in the world. Not genetics, not nanotech. Weapons trading."] ( King's :P ) (Damnit!) (I have a note here about that and everything!) ["It's highly profitable. But that also means it's extremely dangerous. Betrayel. Competition. Pirates. And then there's the fact that many of the places we'll be going are war zones and we could get dragged into a battlefield or blown up in an air raid at any given moment."] [She smiles. "You probably couldn't find a more dangerous job if you tried." Then she pauses, looks at Nigel, and says, "Well, maybe you could." ] The RAF promised me that too, you know. [She chuckles. "Well, maybe we'll get lucky and nothing will ever go wrong." From her tone, she doesn't sound like that's likely.] It happens sometimes! Danger's no problem. * Sonia nods and says, "So how long is this job gonna last, anyway? I mean, your girl's right, might get lucky." ["Well, this is why we arms dealers need an entire security team, not just a bodyguard."] [She shrugs. "Who's to say?"] ["It'll last as long as you want it. Or until you die. Whichever comes first."] ["And something else..."] ["Is anyone not aware of Zukunft?"] The gene engineers? * Sonia frowns slightly, but lets other people ask. [She nods. "Among other things. They started primarily as heavy industries. They invented cybernetics, and they also make weapons and damn good bots --- None of which we'll be selling, by the way."] ["But yeah, they came up with genetic manipulation, too. Made them a megacorporation and made Germany unbelievably rich."] * Montana nods. [She beams, "And they're also head of a secret cartel that's been shaping the face of the world for centuries."] Now that one I've not heard before. * Shiho blinks. "News to me." * Sonia grimaces, then says, "Don't surprise me any. Big corps are never good. Just not always bad." [She nods. "They became the head after some Japanese company was brought down in like the '40s. The assets they acquired probably helped them figure out their genetic manipulation program." She takes a breath. "Anyway..."] ["I bring them up because I've gotten some intel that they're currently sending a lot of teams into our area of observations. Looking for relics or somesuch." She glances at Nigel.] * Montana certainly looks interested now, even though Alysha's glancing at Nigel. ["Technically it's not part of the job description, but.... keep an ear out for any information on this. If we hear anything that helps, I want to stop them." ] ... Alright... Fair enough. Okay? ["And you might as well know, I don't think that infomation will be hard to come by. Because I think they'll be coming for me if they get a chance."] Well, I'll certainly not let them have you when you're in one of my ships. * Sonia nods slightly and says, "And they won't catch you as long as I'm driving, so that's simple enough." [She grins. "Glad to hear it." And then the waitress comes by with the food.] * Shiho looks skeptical but doesn't say anything. [Alysha slips on a napkin and asks, "Any questions?" Before digging in hungrily. "Mmmmmm, fantastic."] * Montana thanks the waitress. In French, no less. Not at the moment, but I'm sure something will come up eventually. Two, actually. First, what areas will we be traveling in? My last boss stayed mostly in South America. * Gordo briefly ponders simply picking up his quiche and eating it, but goes for the fork instead. ["Primarily Eastern Europe, but our area also includes the Middle East and parts of Africa."] * Montana digs into his food and looks pretty pleased with how it tastes, because it's yummy stuff. [Alysha takes another bite. "But sometimes we may get special assignments for other regions."] Okay. Secondly, if you don't mind, I was wondering why you went outside the company for most of your team. My entire team just got let loose for reassignment, and the four of us were already used to working with each other. * Shiho digs into her quiche once she's done asking questions. With a fork! ( None of them applied to be in the game! ) (That doesn't work as an IC excuse!) * Sonia looks over at Shiho a moment as she eats. She doesn't seem rushed, which might be surprising. ["I had specific needs, and there was nobody in the company who was available at the time who could meet them. Besides, from what I understand, your team was disbanded just days ago. I've had months to research prospective candidates."] So I got added on last second? [Alysha smiles, "I did ask for someone specifically from the company, but I didn't know it would be you. You do come highly reccommended, though, so don't think I'm not grateful."] [She says something in a language almost none of you understand!] Yah, it's important to make sure she's not left alone with outsiders. Makes sense. Sorry if I'm kind of blunt, I was just curious. * Sonia manages a slight grin of amusement, before she takes a bite of her dish, which is delicious sausage. * Gordo eyes Alysha for a moment and then goes back to eating. * Montana holds up a finger, chews, and swallows. "Why'd you need me? I'm okay in a fight, but I mostly steal stuff, if you don't mind me being blunt." * Shiho nods at Alysha. [She grins again, "Didn't I mention all the intrigue surrounding this job? I can all but guarentee your skills won't be wasted."] * Montana grins. "Works for me." Mmm, more lunch. [Alysha eats more of her meal. "French food is divine! .... Any more questions?"] * Sonia chuckles and says, "Come on, Montana, they're not going to pay you to sit and look pretty. Not in Paris." There are plenty of pretty pale boys around. * Montana nods in agreement. "Way prettier than me, for sure." [Alysha finishes her meal, grinning. "Might be a while before we eat this well again." She looks around. "Well, if nobody has anything else to say....."] Was just checkin', is all. Never got an offer to be a bodyguard before. [She grins at Shiho. "Shiho's my roomie! The rest of you can figure out who stays with who."] Sounds good to me. Mhmm. ( And I think we're about done :P ) * Sonia rolls her eyes, then glances between the three boys. "Choices choices, what a lucky lady in Paris." * Gordo laughs. * Montana snickers. [Good enough! End!]