An elf's gotta eat - 1.2

An elf's gotta eat - 1.2

Rain pulled the Growler to the side of the street, and up onto the sidewalk, where he dismounted and cut the engine.  He walked the off-road model bike up to a currently abandoned store front with a panhandler in front.  The too clean (1) talismania adorning the filthy street rags let Rain know that the bedraggled woman was not as helpless as she seemed.  He dropped a non-descript credstick (2) into the open guitar case on the ground.

“Keep an eye on this for me?”

The beggar gave a perceptible nod, so Rain continued to wheel it past her and into the old store front.  Out of the saddlebags he pulled out a ragged tarp, and covered the bike.  At least it would not be as easy to determine what was underneath from the street.

As he left, Rain signaled the woman (3), without looking back, his thanks.  As he headed towards the designated meeting place, he covered his head and face with the deep hood of his real leather duster.

The designated meeting place was to take place in an alley behind a Chinese Noodle restaurant in the SoHo neighborhood.  The streets were not overly crowded as those who lived in the area were never seen alone, or after dark, on the streets.   Still, the ‘after dark’ denizens were beginning their run of the place.

Rain stopped a half block short of the alley entrance, and pretended to become interested in some designer knock-off eyewear.  From here, he kept a watch on the street as he tried on a couple of pairs, all of them too gaudy to be taken seriously in his opinion, but, it served the purpose. (4)

After several minutes passed, Rain moved to be directly across the street the meeting place.  The ambient light was no longer able to light the space between the buildings.  The street lights in between him and the alley, blocked his ability to see within very low light levels, so, he crossed the street to try and get a better look. (5) When he reached the curb, he was so focused on the alley, a troll barreled into him blindsided, causing him to spin around and his duster to flail open, almost knocking him off of his feet.  For a moment, Rain lost his sense of direction, and had to reorient himself.

Closing the remaining three meters to the corner of the alley without further incidence, he placed his back against the wall, and then peered around the corner. (6)  Within, there were only two men, both human.  Neither man stood out as who “Mr Johnson” was. (7) The one closest to the alley entrance had his back to him.  He was dressed in a mix of corp and street business casual, with no visible weapons.  The next one was a human with a… presence about him that caused Rain more than a little disquiet. 

He slipped into the shadows, just around the corner, into the alley, and watched the pair for a while longer.  The feel of the city was still new to him.  Everything smelled of dust.  Even the sweet smells of rain as it fell changed… it still calmed him, but… it wasn’t home.

A few minutes later, another approached the team, from the back door of the Noodle Shop.  He was completely encased in a form of armor.  Rain had only heard stories of shock troopers.  He’d definitely not seen anything like it back home in the Sioux Nation.  The man walked up to the group, obviously expected, but he still cradled his assault rifle in his arms, like he was preparing to walk into combat.

“What are you walking into Rain?” he asked himself.  But, he also knew that he needed to make rent.

He went over his gear in his mind, moving his hands to check, but leaving his eyes locked on the three men around the fire barrel.  Colt 2066, his pair of companion swords, the scope from his Winchester, and the cumbersome medkit in his backpack. 

“Alright, let’s…”

“So, you here about the job too?”

Rain’s heart jumped into his throat, and his adrenal glands immediately maxed out production.  Still, the sudden appearance of a man, in a stealth suit, suddenly appearing to his left, which was supposedly blocked by a wall, caused him to lurch a meter to his right.  Rain instinctively knew that, if the man wanted him dead… he would be looking up from the cement right now. (8)

The elf let out a string of expletives in a language unknown to the newcomer(9).  When Rain regained his senses, he stammered, “yea… a man’s got to eat”.

“That he does”, the mysterious human said, pulling down his hood, and synching up the street clothes that covered his suit.  “Let’s go see what this is all about, shall we.”

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Part 3 - pending

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1.       Perception: 1 – (Perception 1 +Intuition 5 [Average] = 6 DP) – (3, 6, 2, 6, 4, 1 = 2 hits, success)

2.       A Credstick is similar to today’s “jump drives”, but include highly encrypted algorithms for day to day financial transactions.  Within the shadows, most of these are not directly connected to someone’s identity (or SIN), and are similar to “burner” phones of today.

3.       Street, Localized jive and signals (i.e. how a ‘thumbs up’ sign means one thing in America, and entirely something else, say in the Middle East): default (Intuition 5 – untrained (1) [easy] = 4 DP) – (3,1,3,6 = 1 hit, success)

4.       Perception: 1 – (Perception 1 +Intuition 5 [Very Hard] = 6 DP) – (2,1,3,4,4,6 = 1 hit, failure)

5.       Perception: 1 – (Perception 1 +Intuition 5 [Very Hard] = 6 DP) – (1,6,6,1,1,3 = 1 hit, glitch)

6.       Perception: 1 – (Perception 1 +Intuition 5 [Average] = 6 DP) – (6, 2, 4, 5, 4, 4 = 2 hits, success)

7.       Perception: 1 – (Perception 1 +Intuition 5 [Very Hard] = 6 DP) – (2,2,4,2,3,3 = 0 hits, failure)

8.       Surprise test(3) (Reaction 5 + Intuition 5(3) = 10DP) – (6,4,4,2,5,4,1,4,1,2 = 2 hits, failure)

9.       Entirely in Lakota, and a mix of Japanese, Romani, and Sperethial

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