[The Grid] Chatper 1: Hardwired

[Neolarthytep]

Robert's foot begins to throb. He ignores it for a while, and the alcohol from the night before helps. But by early afternoon there is no denying the constant, dull ache. The skin around the wound has purpled, and the veins are large and puffy. Oddly enough, his butt is also starting to ache.

Robert Maudeville


Awakening in the hammock with the empty bottle of Jamison tucked by his side, Robert slowly swings his feet over the side. The contact with the wood of the wrap around porch of the beach house makes it throb. Trying to remember the events after he got home last night is impossible with the constant throbbing of his foot, and his hangover. Making his way slowly into the house Robert ignores his housemates who give some idle chatter on his way to the kitchen. Opening the fridge he searches the miracle cure all of all aches and pain. Alcohol.

 

[Persell]

Kase


Well, the waiting isn't really that bad. You're drugged to the gills, and spend most of your time feeling like your floating. It's fantastic. Someone says something about your mother, her flight was delayed you'll find out later, but you hardly care through your opiate induced haze. Several men come in and poke and prod you, examining your leg. You tell them you got bitten by a ball of snot. They ask if your leg itches, and you say yes. Then they put you on even more morphine.


Honestly, you can't have a bad day on morphine. Oh, you can in retrospect. But while you're juiced to the gills, the world is just fine.


When you do come out of the haze (boo) the hospital room is much like you left it. Your leg has a couple of new, strange looking bandages, and there's a tube that's running into your calf. It feels...weird. Not unpleasant, just weird. The bandages are a very sterile white, taped on with tan medical adhesive, and there's a piece of paper hanging off with all sorts of unintelligible short hand. "Q: 36/2 @ 0912." Signed squiggle, squiggle, Batman symbol squiggle(?), pointy squiggle. More like it on the lines below.


Your throat is very dry, and as you look around for a glass of water you notice two people. Both are dressed very formally. The man is in an expensive black suit, with a sky blue tie on a cornflower blue shirt. The top of his head is shiny and bare with male pattern baldness. Below that a ring of short cropped white hair forms a halo around sides of his skull. Hanging out of the corner of his mouth is a pair of well chewed reading glasses. He's staring down at a steel clipboard intently and idly twirling a pencil between two fingers. Twirling is a bit of an understatement. He's throwing it, catching it, spinning it end over end, and performing the most impressive tricks with an incidental expression, not bothering to pay attention. You've got some boring classes, and you know people who put time and effort into learning pencil tricks like that. The skill is out of place in someone who looks this professional. He has thick, bushy eyebrows, like all the hair that fled his head took refuge in them, a clean shaven and craggy face, and a long, thin nose. In his breast pocket are a set of gold pens.


The Asian woman is also in a suit. She's wearing black slacks, a black coat, and a sea foam green shirt. The cut of her clothing is spartan, almost austere, and does nothing to draw attention to her figure. Her hair is very long and black, almost blue, and hangs straight down her back. You see rogue strands cascading out onto the back of her chair, and poking out on her seat. She's actually wearing her glasses, small frameless things with an amber tint to the lenses. She might be attractive if she didn't look like she was about to audit your taxes. In her hand is a pencil that matches the man's, but she's using it to make notes on her identical clip board. The sound of lead scratching on paper is as loud as the beeping medical monitors you're hooked up to.


You finally see a bottle of water. It's on a table between the two, nameless visitors.

 

[lordofthestorm]

Kase blinked. When he was morphine, everything may as well been sunshine, lollipops and rainbows. Now that he had a small portion of his conscious back, he was starting to winder what exactly had been going on since he'd been juiced like a hippy at Woodstock. But the biggest question of all was, of course, who his two visitors.


But, he was thirsty, so that would have to wait.


"'ey," he croaked. "You mind getting me something to drink? I'm parched here."

 

[Persell]

Erin Hagens


While she's drying her hands, Analie enters the rest room with an odd expression. She passes Erin to head for the other sink, carrying her coffee cup. At first it looks like she's going to wash the morning's coffee residue out, but without saying a word she dumps several dollars worth of change into the sink and proceeds to wash that. Instead of meeting Erin's eyes, the middle-aged lawyer just shakes her head.

Spoiler

If you want to stay and talk, please roll Perception + Awareness.

 

[Persell]

Robert Maudeville


Alcohol is in good supply. In fact, you've got more alcohol then you remember. There's whiskey, vodka (sniff, decent vodka), some rum, some Kahlua, cognac, a bottle of Wild Turkey, two bottles of gin, more whiskey, a coffee pot full of...scotch? and some tequila. The fridge is overflowing with booze. There's even a couple cases of cheap beer stashed in the freezer, getting cold. As you pull one thing out, you find another, smaller bottle behind that. In the fruit drawer, packed between the aging bag of oranges are a dozen or more single serving shots of assorted liquors. You get to the bottom of the fridge with enough booze to stay loaded for weeks, and finally find something small and white. It looks like a tic-tac, and it's wedged into the grooves of an egg carton.


You hold it up and squint at it when Frank comes in. He's the bastard who knifed you in the back during last night's game. Plucking the little white thing out of your hand, he sniffs it once then pops it into his mouth.


"Vicodin," he pronounces. If anyone would know, it would be Frank. He adds, "Where'd you get the Vicodin? And when did you go shopping!? Dude, how much booze did you get?" suddenly getting more excited with each word as his eyes widen to the size of saucers.

 

[Persell]

Kase


In such perfect unison it looks practiced, the two visitors slip their pencils into pockets and put down the clipboards. As one they stand, uncoiling like poised springs, different only in that the man sweeps up the bottle of water. They approach your bed, split, and stand one on each side. The man gives you the bottle, while the woman rests her hands on the railing of the bed. While you drink she begins.


"Hello, Kase Wilder. My name is Athena. You may not remember me, but we've met before. It was very long ago. How do you feel?"

 

[Arynne]

Erin Hagens

At first it looks like she's going to wash the morning's coffee residue out, but without saying a word she dumps several dollars worth of change into the sink and proceeds to wash that. Instead of meeting Erin's eyes, the middle-aged lawyer just shakes her head.

Erin’s forehead creases as she stares at the money getting thoroughly, er, laundered.


“Um…are we accepting dirty money now?†she tries, aware of how lame it sounds.


OOC:

Spoiler

(TN: 7)

 

[cyl]

Brennick's neck pains immediately surge along with the sweating.


He grabs the aspirin, pops the top and swallows what's left of the drugs.


"Drug seeking behavior... pfeh..." he says throwing away the empty bottle into the sink with a bit of contempt in the gesture.


He washes off his body from the numbness of the day and goes to sleep with his best friend Jack in hand.


Strangely he doesn't drink tonight, he often does that. He just clings on to the bottle, just like a kid holding his teddy bear, looking for comfort to reduce the stress from a hostile environment or a bad dream.


One quick look at the gun on his table "not tonight my love... not tonight", and finally exhales before falling asleep with one last final thought.


Why did the feds come to see a petty thief ?! Those guys creep me out.

 

[lordofthestorm]

Kase had to pause a moment before answering. The morphine was probably to blame for his thirstiness, but the water down his throat quickly reversed his situation.


"Athena...musta been a long time ago, because I can't seem to place you anywhere," he said. "As for how I'm feeling...well, I'm off the morphine drip they've had me on, so I feel like I just stepped off a Ferris wheel, and the less I say about my leg, the better. Other than that...just great."

 

[Persell]

Erin Hagens


"No, dear. Tony is just a jerk." she replies with the tense politeness of someone really annoyed, but not at you.


In the awkward pause that follows, you look down into the sink. Analie has several dollars in change, mostly quarters, but they seem to be sticking together in a silver mass. It's flat and broad, rigid enough the woman can manipulate it with one hand, and retains it shape underwater. It looks something like a leaf, actually. Shot through with veins of gold, growing from a plant with minerals in the veins and silver in the skin. Steaming water runs down, and streams off the edges like tropical rainwater. There were only hundreds of them at first, but they kept growing. Each one was hot to the touch, and Eyris planted them in the southeast, where they got huge quantities of water. Then there was a drought, and the whole forest went up in flames.


Except none of that is relevant. You realize the coins are stuck together with dried honey, and that Tony has always considered himself a great practical joker. Unfortunately, he was never funny.


"Oh, speaking of our boss," adds Analie. "He was looking for you. You finished your notary course and have the stamps, correct?"

 

[Persell]

Brennick


The next morning, or perhaps later that morning, the phone rings. It's the captain.


"Brennick, I've got two guys here who want to talk to you," he says, completely ignoring the usual pleasantries. "They're either spooks, feds, or some other part of the alphabet soup. Get down here. Be sober."


Charming man. He's actually a decent guy, but isn't the most polished in the manners department.

 

[Arynne]

Erin Hagens


“Um…yeah,†Erin says, relieved to have something -- anything -- to distract her from the weird turn her thoughts are taking today. But they were so beautiful, those trees! Their slim, coal-black boles reared up all around you, almost completely shutting the night sky away with their thick crowns of whispering silver fifty feet above; yet here and there a star winked through, big and bright…


“Does he need something notarized?†she manages.

 

[Persell]

Erin


"Oh, he's got a client who'se housebound. I think she's in a wheel chair. He needs her to sign the retainer paperwork, but it has to be notarized. I'm not sure of all the details. He should be in his office, though."


She looks up from cleaning the sticky coins and gives you a shrug. "At least it will get you out of the office for a while."

 

[Arynne]

Erin nods.


…So bright that the branches blocking it cast clear sharp shadows on the leaf-strewn ground…


“I’ll go see him right now,†she says, and hurries away, trying to clear her thoughts. No starlight. No starlight. The sight of the moon and the stars doesn’t mean anything to her anymore…except that she’s been working late again, and the sun is only something that makes the days uncomfortably warm.

 

[Persell]

Kase


The woman looks vaguely crestfallen, but that slides into an inscrutable expression almost instantly. She indicates her companion with an open hand and introduces him. "This is my associate-"


"-Bob. Bob Jones," Bob provides, cutting her off. Clearly she was about to say something different. Athena just rolls with it.


"You probably haven't met Mr. Jones before," she adds. "He works for the medical system, specifically Omnibus International, which has subcontracted through Blue Cross Blue Shield. To make a legal tangle of paperwork short, he represents your parent's medical providers, and I represent this hospital. You pose something of a special case scenario-"


"-Like you have no idea-" Bob interrupts again, chuckling.


Athena ignores the interruption. "-for a number of reasons. In fact, Mr Jones has come here from Taiwan directly to insure that your case is resolved quickly and efficiently. Now, there shouldn't be any-"


The door thuds open and two men appear. They are both slavs with short black hair and thick, unshaven beards. Both of them wear sweaters, dark pants, and dark, heavy boots. They look almost identical. They are also carrying machine pistols.


"-problems." Athena finishes crisply.


There is a flicker, a hesitation, and you get a strange sick feeling in your gut.

Spoiler

Two rolls, please. Perception + Integrity as well as Stamina + Resistance.


You're walking quickly down the hall, with the familiar feeling of a morphine haze evaporating from you. Bob has you under one arm, and is urging you to move alone. You walk unsteadily, but quickly, though always being encouraged to move faster. Athena is on your other side, your right, limping next to you. She looks like she's struggling to keep up. Her hair is unbound, and waves down her back like a horde of serpents.


"We must go faster, Kase," Bob tells you, flicking a glance over his shoulder. You can't tell what he's looking at. There are nurses and patients in the hallway, all looking around worried. In a cross passage you see a woman consoling her child, who seems to be crying and holding onto her parent with terror. An elevator is open at the far end of the hallway. Bob is half dragging you along, just shy of running. You're leaving Athena behind. "Faster, Kase. Think about your legs. Remember how they work. Make 'em move!"


Oh, good news! Your shin doesn't hurt any more.

 

[cyl]

Brennick hangs up the phone and gets out of bed thinking about the two men he saw following the EMTs taking the car thief away.


He puts on a nice white shirt, no tie, and a fresh pair of pants. The beat and dirty leather jacket was not about to go off any time soon, his wife had offered it to him... he would probably die in this jacket.


It felt wrong for a minute, but then he remembered he had no more drugs the night before, although he remembers the cabinet being full in the morning... or was it empty ?!


He drives all the way to the station and knocks the captain door with an inocent yet cynical smile:


"You said you wanted to see me captain."

 

[lordofthestorm]

Perception + Integrity roll: 5d10 = 5 successes.
Stamina + Resistance roll: 4d10 = 3 successes.

Kase had no idea what was going on. He had gone from being treated for poisonous fish bite to on the run from hit guys. And what on earth happened during the jump, anyway? It was all too much!


Shouting. Bob was telling him to run. How could he run? Walking was a huge problem for him right now oh wait he can feel his leg. And it doesn't hurt.


That's when his instincts took over. He hit the ground running, allowing Bob to let go of him, but he looked back to see where Athena had gone.

 

[Persell]

Erin


Tony is outside his office, cackling wildly with another old lawyer. They're both red faced and grinning, snickering to each other. Tony is the senior attorney in the office, and his name is on the company stationary. There are two other names as well, but neither of them works here any more. You think at least one of them might be dead.


"Oh, Erin, I was just looking for you," he says, wiping tears out of his eyes and regaining his composure. "Hold on a second, Dan, let me take care of this."


The heavy-set man leads you back to his office. Its the largest one int he building, somewhat larger than your apartment, with a thick mahogany desk and lush chairs. Tony drops into the one behind his desk, and waves you towards the second. It's an ordinary looking office, lines of books on the walls and a couple small plants sitting in the window. They look sallow and more sickly green than verdant. There's nothing to compare to the sudden image of silver leaves with golden stems.


"We've got a woman on the south side named Whitfield, Stephanie Whitfield, who wants us to represent her at a hearing tomorrow. Her last representative was disbarred, this morning actually, and before we can show up in court, we've got to have writs of retainer filed in the court house. Ms Whitfield is paralyzed from the waist down and can't come here, so we're sending you there. This is the writ, and as you can see I've marked all the spots I need her to sign."


He hands you a heavy folder. Inside are a score odd pieces of paper, marked at various places with little adhesive arrows. They all point at signature blocks. It looks pretty standard. The first page is an address and typed directions.


"Would you go down and get her to take care of this? You're the only notary in the office with Pete and Alice both out, and it must be done now. After you get her signature on both sets of originals, make three copies, file one set of originals at the courthouse, and it absolutely must get done before three PM. That gives you two hours, so it shouldn't be a problem. Bring the rest back. I've already called the county clerk and she's expecting you, so all you need to do is drop the paperwork off at her office. It should be an easy drive down and back. Questions?"

 

[Persell]

Brennick

He drives all the way to the station and knocks the captain door with an inocent yet cynical smile:


"You said you wanted to see me captain."

"I didn't,"the captain corrects you. "I wanted you to sleep till noon and then eat breakfast. But I've got two suits in the next room, and they want to talk to you something fierce. They've got some wild hair up their ass about the wreck last night. You did good, as far as I can tell, and I'll be in there with you. But you're probably going to take an ass chewing, so let's get it over with, shall we? You know the drill. Admit nothing, refer back to your paperwork, and don't give these bastards an inch."


The captain rises, shrugs to settle his suit, and leads you through a side door into one of the conference rooms. You haven't been in here before, but it's nothing special. There's a table, a projection screen, some computer equipment, and two stone faced men in dark clothing. The overhead lights are bright and the type that normally give you a splitting headache, but since you aren't hung over for once, it's merely annoying. The captain drops a folder in front of one of the empty seats, and you can tell it's the conglomerated file on the accident this morning.


One of the men is seated on the far side of the table. He's got his hands steepled before him, and the glare of the fluorescent lighting turns his glasses to mirrors. The other stands in a corner, hands together with fingers laced in front of him. As you sit you realize the odd symmetry of the two of you facing each other across the table while your respective allies stand back, present but removed.


"Mr Brennick. Thank you for coming to speak with me. Hopefully this won't take long," he begins, not offering to shake your hand. "As you are aware, we are quite familiar with the events last evening. The perpetrator Chase Reilly has been known to us for quite some time. We are also looking for his accomplice, one Jordan Smythe. Your report mentions that he used a fire arm. Please elaborate upon that incident."

 

[Arynne]

Erin

"...After you get her signature on both sets of originals, make three copies, file one set of originals at the courthouse, and it absolutely must get done before three PM. That gives you two hours, so it shouldn't be a problem. Bring the rest back. I've already called the county clerk and she's expecting you, so all you need to do is drop the paperwork off at her office. It should be an easy drive down and back. Questions?"

Erin shakes her head, though inside she is wincing. She is a terrible driver - she still can't figure out how she managed to pass that test at all. When she hears other people say "an easy drive", she thinks "Oh, no."


All Erin says aloud is, "I'll get right on it, sir."

 

[cyl]

Brennick smiles and refrains a laugh, there's nothing the spook is going to do that he hasn't seen or used himself as a cop interogation routine.


Nevertheless he takes out of his jacket a pencil and a notebook, writing down the names: Chase Reilly and Jordan Smythe.


"Well if you're familiar with the incident, then you must have read my report, it's all in there.


I drove there, heard shots, my car recieved shots, started pursuit and signaled the crimes in progress to the Central, went on chasing the stolen car, established a barrage, but the driver took the car off the road, car crashed and I called the EMTs, and... well you know the rest since you were there.


Now, why would you two fine gentlemen be interested in a petty car theft and the perpetuators again ?!"


Manip roll + 1w:

Spoiler

=


http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2686635/


That's a good 3 suxx

 

[Persell]

Kase


Your legs handle running easily. Without a problem you take off at a dash, and quickly show Bob that you're more then capable of a fast trot. He sips into a lope, looking around and leading you towards the end of the hall. There's an Exit sign there.


Behind you Athena is struggling. She's limping fast, and if you weren't sprinting she'd probably be able to match you. But as it is she slipping slowly behind, even as she hustles along, hands held flat like blades.


Her hands are held flat. Like blades.


Like blades.


Two men came into the room, and either Bob or Athena was surprised they didn't show it. The men were. They looked at you like they expected you, but not the two suited visitors you had. Both retreated and went for their guns. Athena went after them as well. Bob went for you.


He did something to your leg, almost like a smack but not forceful. His hand tapped you almost directly over the bandage and there was a sudden feeling of intense cold. It shocked like a plunge into icy water. Then the pain was gone, and Bob was ripping the tubes out of your body as Athena ripped the two men apart.


That's the only want to describe it, really. They had guns, she was using her bare hands, and her fingers tore through flesh like butter. As the first slav went down the second, in a panic, turned his weapon on you while Bob was working. Athena swung with both hands, shearing through the metal of the barrel with one and the man's wrist with the other. Almost instantly the firearm misfired and the cartridge blew in the stubby tube. Fragments went everywhere, perforating the tile ceiling, shredding the IV bag over your bed, and breaking both windows. Then Bob had you under his arm and he...somethinged. Then you were running.


"Hurry," urges Bob, back in the present as the memory leaves you. You slowed down a bit to look at Athena, and she's looks up at the same time.


"Run, Kase," she tells you also. "There's very little time."

Spoiler

You rolled better then I expected. I intended to feed you acrophorical riddles and metaphors, now I can't. The GM in me feels vaguely cheated.

 

[lordofthestorm]

Well, if it's any consolation, in another game I got screwed over on a roll, so I call myself karmically neutral.

"Run? From who? Going where?" Kase asked. He was a whirl of questions, and in the midst of this howl of color and Bob shouting at him to get the lead out, he was feeling a slight worry for Athena. She didn't look like she could handle much more of this...whatever it was, anyway.

 

[The Bushranger]

Patrick O'Connell


Patrick sighs as he watches the kid, Chase, being loaded into the ambulance. For all that's happened, part of him can't help but feel sorry for the young man - after all, his consience whispers, there but for the grace of God goes you, perhaps. Even as he tries to recall if the name sounds familiar...

Spoiler

(Intelligence + Lore) =

4d10 → [4, 10, 5, 2, 8] (2 successes)
The men in black suits get only a passing notice. He doesn't know, or doesn't care, what they or anybody else really is interested in; as long as they don't speak to him, he'll just assume that somebody somewhere is nosy, and all he cares about is filling out any paperwork that needs to be done. And, of course, accepting a doughnut, perhaps, and chuckling at the old-timer's comment. "A friend of mine once said that we didn't need capital punishment anymore - just make the perps do the paperwork," he quips in return, managing to keep his good humour even as the debate swirls over the impoundment of his car, fingerprinting, and all the other red tape that inevitably swirls around an accident scene.


Having arranged the barter with the tow-truck driver, Patrick feels a bit more upbeat; the fuel for Dawn of Creation might cost about the same as the towing fee, in the end, but the goodwill is always good, and besides, being out on the sea has its own reward.


Of course, knowing Perp #2 got a good case of the prickly-pears doesn't hurt, either. The missing gun is of more concern, and Patrick makes a point of letting Brennick know that the gun might need to be reported stolen, even with the confiscation/'it wasn't mine/etc. deal. The last thing he needs is the perp shooting somebody else and him getting the rap for it somehow. But overall, by the time the evening closes, he's totally exhausted, and after seeing his new friend on the Force off, he heads to bed and collapses, sound asleep by the time his head hits the pillow, for a 30-minute power nap.


Then it's out to sea with a cargo of workmen, the trip being only moderately successful, but the flock of shearwaters that passes by perks up Patrick's tired mind. Once returning to the dock and having made his phone calls, he takes another nap for about an hour, and, feeling a bit refreshed, climbs into his slightly-mangled car and cranks it up for the slow, cautious drive to the body shop.

 

[Persell]

Brennick


"It is a jurisdiction matter, Detective Brennick. If you arrest him, he will be tried for crimes in North Carolina, the most serious of which is public endangerment and wanton discharge of a firearm. If we arrest him, he can be charged with crimes up and down the eastern seaboard. You do want to convict this individual of the worst of his offenses, do you not? Proverbially 'throw the book at him?'" The man looks at you calmly with a hint of a smile hovering around his lips. His teeth are very white. Left unsaid is the superior jurisdiction of a federal agency over local authorities, but being a long time cop, it's not hard to pull that out of his words. Oddly, his mention of your own discussion with Patrick strikes hard.


"Now, Detective, I have read your report at length. I would not be speaking with you in person if it contained all the useful information I think you know. Tell me, how exactly did Mr Reilly drive off the road? Your help will be instrumental in bringing serious charges against both suspects."

Spoiler

Oddly enough, though completely natural, I assure you, Brennick suddenly developed an intimacy 'Throw the book at them" which encourages him to press the severest charges possible, and willingly help anyone do that. It can be resisted like any normal intimacy, because it is a purely mundane, normal intimacy, but costs 1wp to resist each time, for an undisclosed amount of total wp.


The investigation attack roll garnered three successes, though you have a -1 to MDV because it coincides with your shiny new intimacy. By my math that doesn't beat your MDVs though, so you're free to carry on however you want provided you spend the wp.


Oh, and you don't know if he believed you about the last question or not.