<@Brett> [Date: Friday, Feb. 26th. Time: 8:00 p.m.] (We were going to the capitol.) <@Brett> [You're at the Belton hotel in central Granbia-Solda, a ritzy building in a ritzy area. And you've got a nice suite at the top, courtesy of VA. As usual, Alysha's roomed up with Shiho and the rest of you were left to your own devices. She spent most of the day working on her computer.] <@Brett> [The rest of you did whatever! But now you're all in the common room, the TV currently showing Granbia's Got Talent, a reality show that takes young soldiers and turns them into pop idols. Chances are it's mostly propoganda, though.] <@Brett> [Aight? Aight. Start!] <@Brett> [Incidentally you're on the 23rd of 25 floors.] * Shiho (Wingdance@cpe-98-14-111-168.nyc.res.rr.com) Quit (Read error: Connection reset by peer) <@Brett> ( Fuuu ) (>.>;) (Do we wait for her to get back?) * Shiho (Wingdance@cpe-98-14-111-168.nyc.res.rr.com) has joined #mc5 (Done!) * Sonia actually didn't like this show right off the bat, and is doing an excellent job of ignoring it while she is toying with some mechanical stuff over on the floor away from the TV. * Gordo has a tablet computer out, and is surfing auction sites for 180 year old operating or repair manuals. * Shiho is reading on her phone and occasionally making sour comments in Japanese, since she lost her stash of paperbacks in the plane crash. * Montana comes walking in, whistling, hat and all. "Evenin', ladies and gents." * Shiho doesn't look up from her phone. "Hey." Ey Monty, come, enjoy civilization and safty. Where nobody has tried to kill us for at least an afternoon. * Nigel is sitting down in one of the chairs in the room, reading an old beaten-up looking book, written in Arabic. * Nigel looks up at Montana. "Good evening." Liked some of the old clothes, though. No kiddin'? Woulda thought someone'd try something by now. * Montana passes by Sonia on the way in, and he places a small bag of hard candies by her knee. * Sonia looks over at the candies and then asks, "Local?" 'Course, or what's the point? Atta boy. * Sonia rolls onto her back and opens the bag. <@Brett> [It's about now that Alysha throws open the door to her room. She's wearing one-legged pants with a pink tank top under a dark jacket. Her white hair's tied in pigtails, and she's wearing sparkly earrings and a necklace. "Alright, who's ready to go clubbing?!"] * Montana blinks at the boss in the sparkly earrings and necklace. "Uh... what?" ... I'm up for more a pub crawl myself. * Shiho looks up and sighs. "I don't have a clubbing outfit. Too bad, you'll have to take someone else and go without me." <@Brett> [Alysha rolls her eyes. "Don't be such party poopers."] <@Brett> [She looks at Sonia and Nigel. "You guys are coming, right?"] * Sonia pops candy in her mouth, then says, "Sure, why not, it's better than sitting still and listening to propaganda." <@Brett> Alysha grins. "Glad some of my peeps are cool."] I'll go fer the drink, but there's not much of a line between me willing to dance and me falling down drunk. <@Brett> [Alysha grins. "Good enough!"] * Montana shakes his head, now comprehending what's going on, and says, "Yeeeeah, sure, I'll go." * Montana grins. "Dunno if we'll fit in much though, ma'am." Who needs to fit in. * Shiho looks up again. "On second thought, I don't trust you not to take drugs from strangers. Let me go get changed." * Sonia sits up and gathers up her stuff. * Montana laughs. * Nigel shrugs. "Well... I suppose it's been a while since I've been to a good pub. And ..." He nods to Shiho. "I was going to say..." This ain't gonna be much of a pub, Nigel. If only it were. * Shiho walks into the bedroom she's sharing with Alysha and closes the door behind her. * Nigel shrugs. "All I need is some bloody good gin." <@Brett> [Alysha grins. "I knew you'd seen the light." As Shiho vanishes into the room, she calls, "Hey! Wear something sexy!"] * Shiho returns to the room within a few minutes, wearing the bare minimum of makeup, a short black dress that shows off her fantastic legs, and strappy black heels. Her hair's unbound and falls to the bottom of her back. She doesn't look happy. <@Brett> [Alysha gives Shiho a thumbs up and a grin.] <@Brett> ( Can FF when you're ready ) * Nigel smiles at Shiho and shakes his head. "That's perfect. Come on. You and I can sulk together. I'll buy you a drink." * Sonia looks over at Shiho and says, with a wry grin, "Looks like you prepared better than I did." She stands up and stretches. (woo ff) <@Brett> [Alysha looks towards Sonia. "Don't you have any sexy clothes? You can borrow some of mine if you don't."] I might let you. I like clubs even less than I like alcohol. * Gordo eyes Shiho. "Makes me glad I don't care enough to dress up. Look good though." * Nigel is, for the record, wearing an italian suit and tie. He doesn't do club clothes either. * Sonia looks at Alysha strangely. "The plane got rid of my wardrobe, and your stuff won't fit me." * Montana sighs. "I'll dress up." <@Brett> ["Some of it might." She grins. "I've got this great pink dress that ought to work."] * Shiho says to Sonia, "This was in the replacement luggage the boss got me. Trust me, I don't usually own clothes like this." To Gordo, "Thank you." * Montana walks into his and Sonia's room. ( You don't pay me enough to not hit you with my car for this.) * Sonia shrugs. "If you wanna ruin your clothes to try and sex me up, it's your money." <@Brett> [Alysha snickers. "I didn't know you cared."] * Montana returns after about five minutes in a beaten up blazer over his standard flannel shirt and jeans. And hat, yup. "There, we ready to go?" * Sonia gestures off to Alysha-dressing-her-up land, and follows when she goes. <@Brett> [Shortly after, you get to the club! Diamond Edge is the name, and it's a happenin' place. People (mostly in their 20s or late teens trying to pretend they're in their 20s are lined up to the corner, waiting to get in. A bouncer carefully watches for any line jumpers. <@Brett> ] (Agh, I keep trying to do stuff and then description pre-empts me! (What's this pink dress abomination I have been forced into. :|) (COTTON CANDY FLUFF) (And has it actually been made to fit?) <@Brett> [Of course, important people get in right away. And Alysha's apparently important, because a handful of bills buys her (and you an entrance).] * Gordo tucks his hands into the pockets of his bomber jacket. "Ah, money does make the world go round." * Nigel sighs as he enters the place and looks around. "People actually enjoy this?" <@Brett> [The club has a rectangular shape, with three upper levels above the main entrance, overlooking the dance floor. The bar's off to the right of the floor, and beyond the floor is the stage.] (Any help, Brett, or am I making up the outfit? ^^;) * Montana walks in. Once past the bouncers, he slips a dagger from his sleeve and into Shiho's hand. It looks old but sharp, with carvings along the hilt and blade. "Wasn't too sure what pick up for you," he tells her, "but I figured this wouldn't hurt me none. Assuming you don't stab me with it." <@Brett> [The place is full of bright neon lights and music ranging from electric to techno to pop.] <@Brett> ( I'm getting there ._. ) * Gordo points Nigel at the bar. "I intend to drink until I like the music or can't hear it, either way I win." * Nigel nods. "That is one route, yes." <@Brett> [Though there's a stage, there's no live band. Music's being played by a DJ, who you can barely see through a window near the stage.] <@Brett> [The music in question seems to be a mix of local and foreign stuff. Including Nathan Spinel. Yay!] * Shiho tells Montana earnestly, "Bless you and any of your future progeny," and slips it into the top of her dress, where it miraculously stays and doesn't create any lines in the fabric. (Shiho has cleavage space?) <@Brett> [As for Sonia, her dress is simple enough. It's basically a pink tube, strapless and falling further than it should, given she's shorter than Alysha. Which means it almost reaches to her knees. Yay? She's also in pink heels, because Alysha insisted.] * Montana smiles and tips his hat to Shiho. "My pleasure, madam." * Nigel motions for Shiho to follow him. "Come on now, miss... I promised you a drink." And he leans in to whisper "And honestly we'll draw more attention if we stand around like the bloody secret service than if we at least pretend to be enjoying ourselves." (Shiho has Concealment!) (A relevant skill!) (I do, too.) (It is!) (It makes things awesome.) <@Brett> [Alysha smiles at everyone. "Well, I'll join you for drinks later. For now, I'm going to PARTY!" And she rushes to the dance floor and starts grooving. She's, erm... not the best dancer, probably.] * Shiho smiles at Nigel and follows him. * Gordo makes his way to the bar as well as he has a cunning plan. * Sonia is totally pink, and can indeed walk in heels. Her hair is in puffballs, purple and pink, and she is still wearing sunglasses. She lets the Alysha walk off and sighs. "That girl." She smooths the dress over her hip. Yeah. Wanna dance? * Nigel walks up to the bartender. "A gin and tonic... actually cancel the tonic. Just add more gin, and... Whatever the lady would like." (To me?) <@Brett> [The bartender nods. He speaks English, apparently.] (Montana?) (Yup.) * Shiho hesitates, then sighs. "Kamikaze, as a drink and not a shot." (Not gonna ask Alysha. She just ran off. Actually, everyone ran off but us!) * Gordo asks what the barender has that resembles a whisky. * Sonia looks up at Montana, then lets out a slight low laugh and says, "Don't wanna get in your way." * Nigel nods and pushes money across the bar for the drinks. <@Brett> [The bartender exchanges goods and services for money.] * Montana smiles and holds out his hand. "Who said you're ever in my way?" * Nigel nods and turns to Shiho with his drink in hand. "No one can say our boss doesn't make our job interesting." * Shiho takes her drink and sips at it. "True enough. And the music's definitely not the worst I've ever heard in a club, that prize goes to 'industrial enka'." (Oh oh oh.) (The DJ should say that the next one is a classic...) (And then start up a remix of LOBSTA MOBSTA.) * Sonia looks at his hand, looks at him, then shrugs slightly and takes it. "At least the top's probably not gonna slide off, I'm built a bit bigger than our slip of a coon girl." (LOBSTER MAGNET!) (Which had, uh, I forget those titles.) * Nigel shivers. "That sounds bloody awful." <@Brett> ( Don't let her hear you say that ) (Yeah, that's why I said it.) Should I ask what an enka even is? God, it was terrible. I got drunk as quick as I could so the girls would let me leave. * Montana leads Sonia to the floor, getting a spot where they can keep an eye on the boss. "If that happens, I'll let you borrow my jacket." Traditional, slow, Japanese stuff. Pretty terrible in the first place. * Nigel laughs. "Well... this does seem better than that, yes." Yes, still garbage, but better quality garbage. <@Brett> [Alysha continues dancing, apparently enjoying herself. She seems to have found a pretty good looking blond guy to dance with her.] * Sonia walks with Montana and says, "Of course you would." She bops her head to the music. "How's things sitting with you?" * Nigel nods. "Like the half-full bottles of Glenfidich that are laying around the grounds after May week at Trinity." What's May week? * Montana also starts bopping to the music, keeping an eye on the blond guy. "Eh. Calmed down now that we're not THERE." I'll leave this one to you, all I got was a three day bender and hangover for exams. Goin' out today damn well helped, gotta admit. * Gordo drinks his drink in memory of the other drinks. * Nigel shakes his head. "Well... the university I teach at... and got my degree from: Cambridge. Every year at the end of term all of the colleges throw huge parties for a week. The two biggest are St. John's college and Trinity college. They've been trying to top each other for centuries." * Sonia chuckles and says, "It's not a good run or drive, but at least it gets the fluids pumpin'." 2d6+6 * Dicesuke rolls 2d6+6 for Montana and gets a natural 9 for a result of 15. * Montana laughs. "Yeah. Plus, got to exercise a little." That sounds... both terrifying and amazing. * Sonia smirks and looks up at Montana, saying, "You can always use more exercise. Leaning on tools outside your body a bit much, boy." * Nigel shrugs. "Last year, Trinity asked everybody what their favorite foods were, then handed every guest a bottle of 25 year Glenfidich, and in the morning, they flew in world class chefs who specialize in that type of food to make everybody a personalized post-party hangover brunch of all their favorite foods." * Montana grins mischievously, slipping a purple pearl bracelet out of his other sleeve and handing it to Sonia. "Just tryin' ta keep up." * Nigel nods. "It's actually quite over the top, honestly." * Sonia looks down at the bracelet, holding it with two fingers, then she says, lowly, "For me?" Don't see me giving it to anyone else, do ya? * Shiho covers her mouth with her free hand while she laughs. "Seriously? You're not just pulling my leg?" * Nigel shakes his head. "No. It's actually ridiculous. I think this year St. John's is trying to do the first May week in space." * Sonia fidgets with the bracelet slightly as she puts it on and says, "Thanks, boy. Why's this for?" Eh, puttin' up with me. And this. But mostly me. * Sonia murmurs, "Guess it has been a long time for a job together. Longer than normal." <@Brett> ( Plus he needs to get rid of stolen goods quick. ) I think that's the best rivalry I've ever heard of in my life. (Things are more special when you work for them!) Yeeeah, I'd say. Why'd you take this job, anyhow? * Nigel laughs. "Well it does have a nice benefit for the students. Of course tickets are somewhere about two thousand pounds each." Other schools try to immate 'em, of course, but nobody has the budget for the real thing. * Nigel nods. "Yeah. They say Trinity has the second most money in the whole U.K. next to the royal family." * Nigel shrugs. "The truth of it is, of course, that that's bollocks that is... There are plenty of secret organizations with way more money than Trinity college. But they do have a great deal." * Sonia is silent a moment, then murmurs, "Kinda an in the moment thing, weren't it? Guess I've been thinking about what I was doin' a little." <@Brett> ( I should run more sessions like this ) (Where you don't have to do anything?) <@Brett> ( Yep :D ) (They are nice. I ran some of those in Power Sliders) * Montana moves closer to Sonia so he can hear her. "Yeah, I getcha." Well, statistics are hardly ever going to deal with groups who get their money illegally or illegitimately. It's not like they're reporting it or paying taxes. (You need them once in a while, in heavy action games. Just to give characters a chance to interact and the GM a chance to de-stress.) * Nigel nods. "Right you are." * Sonia looks up at him and says, "I got a long record, if anyone could get their hands on me. Surprised it ain't happened yet. Maybe I just wanted a nice score and to see how long it'd take for someone to catch up." Almost two months, boy. The problem is, they don't go spending it on things I'm interested in. Hope I ain't the worst company. * Sonia chuckles lowly and says, "Nah... you're sharper than most. Nice color." She lets her glasses fall slightly so she can look Montana in the eyes. "One of the upsides." * Nigel nods to Gordo. "And all the things I'm interested in are priceless. So there you have it." * Montana gives Sonia a stubbly smile, not offput by her eyes at all - he's seen them before. "That's a mighty high compliment, darlin'." * Sonia chuckles to herself and says, "You're welcome. Don't let it swell your head. Nice legs on Shiho, eh?" * Gordo nods and orders a bottle of water and another drink. * Shiho shakes her head. "Shady organizations tend to have a lot of thugs, and in my opinion, the people in this group are too good for that. If I can say one thing the boss has going for her, she does a good job hiring." She is *fine*, if you don't mind me sayin' so. * Sonia smirks slightly. "No mind. I brought it up." * Nigel nods. "She does... even Montana is perfect for this... It's nice to seem him with honest work. Well... more honest, anyhow." Yeeeeah. I just wish I could read her better. * Gordo nods. "Thugging doesn't pay enough for how likely it is to get you killed." * Nigel shrugs. "Not that the pay to likelihood of death rate is much better here." * Sonia shrugs slightly. "Soldiers are soldiers, boy. If you really want to make a move." She chuckles lowly and leans in to say up into Montana's ear, "She was asking about how long we were together a month ago, so. Get me a margarita?" * Montana blinks, then spontaneously gives Sonia a prickly kiss on the cheek. "Consider it gotten," he says as he pulls away with a grin. * Montana heads to the bar. * Nigel shrugs and puts his drink on the bar and holds out his hand. "You want to dance? I mean... I don't do much dancing, but I am trained to... Oh bollocks that makes me sound like a prat." Yeah, but what are you spending your money on? The boss covers board and food, so anything we do get is just extra. * Gordo digs a pen out of his pocket and grabs a bar napkin. (Swap Shiho and Nigel) * Sonia lets Montana go, rubbing her cheek a moment, then touching the bracelet. Her lips press together tightly a moment, then she looks over at Alysha just to check up on her. * Shiho takes Nigel's hand. "Don't worry, the best I can say is that I won't step on your feet." * Gordo tries to work out the pay vs death ratio of his current job vs thugging. * Nigel laughs and walks her out to the dance floor. "Well that is better than most of my partners. So you are one step ahead, as it were." * Montana passes by Shiho and Nigel, telling them (mostly Shiho because she worries), "Guy dancin' with the boss is clear." And he keeps moving to the bar. * Shiho nods at Montana on her way to dance, which she is only slightly terrible at. She doesn't seem self-conscious about it, though. * Montana gets there, orders a margarita, and says to Gordo, "You're lookin' like somethin's on your mind." * Gordo crumples the napkin he was writing on. "Thinking about asking for a raise, we're getting shot at more often than I'd expected. Even you sometimes didn't try to get me killed." * Nigel nods and dances with her. He smirks. Nigel is actually remarkably good. He is classically trained in most things, including dancing. And while this isn't exactly ballroom dancing, he has a lot of practice. "You really do look great, Shiho. And you make this club 'assignment' bearable, so thanks." Yeah, raise sounds solid. Sonia and I were bouncin' the idea around a bit. I mean, she's paying stupid ammounts of money, but is it stupid enough to put up with nonsense like that kid in the tube? Thanks for the compliment, although I have no idea how I help make anything better. I'm just here to try and stop the boss from getting herself killed. To be fair, don't think she planned that one out. For once. But I'm hearin' ya, this supernatural stuff is *way* over my fuckin' head. You know if their whisky's any good? 'Bout the same as the stuff we sell to the Yanks. * Montana mentally shrugs and orders a whisky on the rocks as well. * Nigel chuckles. "Yeah. But if you weren't here, what would I be doing? Drinking alone with Gordo. And while that could be fun, I can't imagine we would dance very well together." Nigel and Shiho are gettin' along. * Gordo drinks some of his second glass. "Good on 'em." It would be no fault of yours, I'm sure. You're very good at this. Yeeeeah, I just wish... * Nigel shrugs. "My mum made me take lessons. Dance lessons, piano lessons, violin lessons, latin lessons..." He sighs. "My childhood must seem very strange to everybody else here." (YES YOU ARE A WEIRDO) (At least you had Mom. Fucker.) * Montana frowns for a second, then the drinks show up and he grabs them, back to being cheerful. "Headin' back to the dance floor. You good?" (Yeah but his dad is dead!) (YEAH AND I KILLED HIM) Yeah. (WHAT!?) <@Brett> ( He might come back ) * Shiho shrugs. "I had martial arts and language lessons when I was a kid." (Wait what! I didn't kill his dad! I didn't kill his dad.) * Montana nods and heads out to dance with Sonia. * Nigel nods. "Eh... Normal childhoods are overrated, anyway. None of us seemed to have them and we all turned out brilliantly." * Montana hands Sonia her margarita. "Here you go, darlin'." * Shiho smiles cheerfully. "True!" * Nigel shrugs. "Tell you what. How about I get Gordo to watch Miss Johnson tomorrow and you and I go out and not worry about work for a day? I realize it will be hard for both of us, but we can give it a shot, right? It's probably healthy or something." * Sonia takes the margarita and nods. "Thanks." She takes a sip and licks her lips. "Your brother seems to be on the ball. Run in the family?" <@Brett> ( Alysha's dead :P ) (Sweet. No worrying about work ever) You'd know 'bout as much as me. * Montana has a very good swallow of his own drink. That would be fantastic. You know, I had a nightmare the other night that started out with the boss doing that... that grin of hers, the one that makes you want to smack her. Or makes me want to, anyway. * Sonia hnnhs and takes a sip, chuckling to herself, before toying with the bracelet again. "Nah, haven't really taken him for a ride." * Gordo drinks more water. * Nigel nods and rolls his eyes. "I hate that grin. But I have completely different nightmares. Mine usually involve some cult getting access to an insanely powerful relic and summoning an ancient god of death to wreack havoc upon the world. Yours seems slightly more likely to happen... in the immediate future." * Montana shrugs and downs the rest of his whisky, then stares at the empty glass. "Fuck. I need some air." In any case, we could both use a break. Your nightmares are very specific. Have you had that problem before? * Sonia looks over at him. "Yeah?" * Montana shakes his head, as if to clear it, and just starts shoving and weaving his way through the sweaty crowd of people. * Nigel shrugs. "Well there are quite a few gods of death and my previous job was artifact recovery... which I realize sounds like Montana's job, but my recovery was actually for the rightful owner, not -from- the rightful owner." (I'll have you know that often who you'd think is the rightful owner isn't anyway.) * Shiho waves a hand. "I don't judge. Whatever pays the bills." * Nigel laughs. "It did do that. And at least in that job people didn't look at me like I had three heads when I talked about vampires and demons... They were too busy looking at the demon... with three heads." <@Brett> ( We can end when y'all are ready by the way. Getting late :o ) * Sonia watches Montana go and frowns to herself, taking another drink. She follows slowly, but gives him some space. (I'm ready to end after Shiho responds. Also, Brett, Wingdance and I are going to do a mini on Monday and Ard and I may do one at some point this week, so we'll get you the logs.) * Montana keeps going, right out the door. Looks like he was being literal. (Yeah, Sonia and I can just carry it to a mini and keep going past session end. I'm up for staying up a bit.) <@Brett> ( K, that works. ) (And at some point Ard and I are going to have to play out Monty and Gordo's past adventures.) (HAHA) * Shiho laughs. "I can't lie, that sounds awful." (Is there air guitar involved?) (There HAS to be air guitar!) (Clearly the way we got the crystal liver away from the cultist) <@Brett> [Aight, I'ma calling and end.]