Ace watches the BarTender approach with the three drinks & cocks an inquizitive eyebrow at Block as if to ask "One for each of us or three for just him?"
Failing to put his question into words, he just shoots his friend an impish grin to imply the answer doesn't really matter.
He scoops up his (fake) ComLink & slips it back into a pocket, closes the flap, & buttons it secure.
With a "There there, nap time!" gentle pat as if to soothe the device's nerves, he returns his arm to draped over the back of the booth in Lounge Lizard mode.
Casually scanning the room, the decor, the patrons, & everything even remotely interesting, the "intrigued but cool" expression on his face probably marking him as a guy looking for a hot date.
When the BarTender talks to Mister X about betting odds, Ace perks an ear, cocks his head, & turns his attention to the conversation.
"What are you betting on? Can anyone get in on it? Is there a House Minimum? Any Table Stakes I'd need to match to start?"
But then Mister X explains that information will come later on a Need To Know basis, Ace nods, shrugs, & goes back to examining the room.
He'll leave an ear open for any other potential PayData that might get discussed, but the bulk of his attention is turned outwards again.
His unspoken question to Block is answered when the Troll lifts the second glass to take a sip.
With a soft snort & a gentle shake of the head, probably thinking something along the lines of "Of course not", he scopes out the fanny of a floozy shaking her thing between the tables with another guy.
Admiring the first & scanning the second for any obvious weapons, he tries to gauge them both: him as a potential threat, her as a potential roll in the hay.
Then he chuckles to himself & shakes his head to clear that last thought; mentally chiding himself "I'm here on Business, not for Pleasure. Stick to Business you old Horn Dog!"
As if to kick himself in the pants to get back to the important stuff, he lets the output of his (real, internal) ComLink display in his ImageLink.
He starts by examining the photo of the Target, trying to get a feel for what she might be like.
Does she wear lots of cosmetics & pay extreme attention to her appearance? If so then she may be a bit of a Fashionista & that could give a hint as to where she might have gotten off to.
Does she come across as a rugged & self assured kind of gal? If so then she might have taken off to go camping or something equally "Tree Hugging".
Does she look like a scared & timid little mouse? If so then she'd be unlikely to run far from her mouse hole, afraid to be eaten by cats.
And yes, he scopes her out to see if she's hawt, because he's a guy, single, & a Horn Dog.
*Cough*
Moving to her apparently limited DataTrail, he starts another Agent to DataSearching on her employer, FunFix.
What can he find out about them? Are they legit or merely a front for crims? Is it a small fish in a small pond, a small fish in a big pond, a big fish in a small pond, or a big fish in a big pond?
Anything he can dig up on them might help to find her, and that's the end goal afterall.
((Go Go DataMiningMinion! Electronics Skill Group, +3(Log) +2(Rating) +3(ComLink). Rolls: 5, 6, 2, 4, 5, 5, 3, 1.))
On a spark of a hunch, he starts another Agent to doing a traffic analysis to the area around the company, just as he had done earlier on her dwelling.
Ways in & out, the ebb & flow, eddies & bottlenecks, construction & choke points, known cop hangouts & ticket traps, that sort of thing.
He wants to get a feel for how easy or hard it'll be to get there, loiter & recconoiter, and get back out again in one piece.
((This makes a Third Agent running on a Rating 3 Device. I'll probably have to kill one of them if I want to do anything else?
Electronics Skill Group, +3(Log) +2(Rating) +3(ComLink). Rolls: 1, 1, 5, 4, 4, 4, 2, 3. Shit!))
With that taken care of & his Real ComLink going in the background, Ace switches the ImageLink output to Notifications Only (always in Stealth Mode), and goes back to paying full attention to the world around him.
A quick check of his currently available Credit causes him to sigh under his breath, wishing he could afford to get himself something to drink but knowing in his "Accountant Brain" (the part of his mind that always reminds him to pay the
Bills first) that he's got to save his funds to pay for the stuff he Needs rather than the stuff he Wants.
But Tanj it, he _really_ craves a long, tall, Sex On The Beach!
*Impish grin*
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