X gets on the bus, which then flashes an annoying "Route change" (something about a police action nearby - click here for details) message to anyone in the immediate AR range. (That's Augmented Reality, not Assault Rifle. Sorry.) It begins prowling along a different street, but it's heading in the right direction so not all is lost. Looks like it might be something on the order of 10 minutes to get back - guess it won't be making all those stops from the regularly scheduled route, at least not while it's taking a different route. Strange how a shortcut tends to be the longest distance between two points, yet this modification of route actually saves some time. X looks out at the neighborhood scrolling by, lost in thought (or something)...
Up on the roof, Leeson sits on the edge of an upraised air handler box, it being the exact right height for a nice resting spot. For a dwarf. He pauses, then closes his eyes. The air off to his left (right in front of Block) shimmers and morphs into an image of a *beautiful* elven maiden dressed in a green high-collared button-down blouse and a darker green knee-length skirt. "No audio," he apologizes, "never could do her justice anyway. Probably has to do with my emotional attachment. His eyes slowly open, and there before you is what looks to be a higher-definition image of Ms. Juillian Garcia. She has a fairly relaxed demeanor - at least in this image - and from what you can see every inch of her demands attention!
Block, also "seeing" things on the Astral, notes that his aura brightens a bit as he pours a tighly-controlled measure of energy to the illusion. His astral image tends to settle a small bit, taking on some fairly rodent-like features, albeit cute/friendly ones. His ability to channel the astral around him is impressively neat, pleasant, harmonious even. Must be his intonation with his totem, best that he can figure. Of course, it really could be his emotional attachment to her - she looks better in his illusion than the pics you saw earlier in the dossier.
Ace takes a quick glance over the raised edge of the roof, sees nothing out of the ordinary - certainly not the Limo that is supposed to be here any time now - and returns his attention to the briefing, quietly continuing. Ace exhales as if to say "Phew! Nobody shot at me!" If Leeson noticed, he gives no clue. His eyes open and the image fades back into the dark. The dwarf's eyes seem a little watery, but you can't be sure. Leeson turns his attention to Ace. "Can't give you much more than that," he grumbles, "she was mostly a home-body, heading out to the market on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, but never staying there for long. Stayed longer in the park, sometimes even after dark!" He allows himself a little, wry laugh. "Not sure what happened, or why. She got into a fight with some thugs," he adds, looking as if he were in deep thought, recollecting. "Two big guys, orcs I think, were trying to corner her. Carrying narc-pistols," he recollects. "I think they were trying to threaten her." He frowns, a display that his face seems familiar with. "They got loud, and as she slipped into her front door, the two goons started firing into her flat." He grimaces, "She slammed the door - I don't think they hit her - and Choppy arrived with five other Warlords in tow..." A grin returns to Leeson's lined face. "You know the Warlords, right?" he gestures in a flat triangle, parallel with the rooftop. "They pretty much run this neighborhood. Not bad, better than the police sometimes for keeping the peace. More attentive, anyway. But they disarmed the big guys and 'Let 'em out' of the neighborhood without killin' em, so I figured everything was gonna' go back to normal. Only it didn't." His features draw up, looking a little worried. "I never figured her for mob trouble," he adds, "but sure as rain those idiots were back, slinkin' around, lookin' for trouble but keeping it on the QT. By that time, she had shifted her market times to later in the evening, and was sometimes spending whole NIGHTS in the park!" Leeson looks back and forth between Ace, Block. "Guysm, she must be on of the baddest a3es I've never met, because she looks like she'd be too frail to do it. I dunno..." In the pause the city keeps moving, breathing. The night breeze begins to kick up, drawing a cool eddy across the summit. Reflectively Leeson adds, "Her patterns changed - I'm not a stalker or anything, but you look out after your neighbors - even out here - and when she stopped coming out except at night, we figured she'd become a vampire. But no," he adds, "not a vampire, but something along those lines. Like a ghoul..."
Block checks his sizeable medkit - and notes with assurance that it's there, ready, and able to help him overcome any medical emergencies that may present themselves. Sort of a talisman, is Block's medikit, and it satisfies him that he is, indeed, ready for just about anything. To the right of the handle is a familiar slight bulge, a strange device to find in a kit devoted to healing. Yet it, too, gives a feeling of relief. Better to have it and not need it...
"...or something." Leeson finishes, a look of pain creasing his appearance. "It's like she became a different person, and now she actively masks," a reference that Block takes for Astral Masking, and Ace makes no connection to at all. "She's changed suddenly, and I think those mobsters might have had something to do with it!" He snaps his fingers, standing. "But," he adds, calming down as quickly, "I got less than nuthin' to go on, no actual evidence or anything." He returns to his seat. "But a man can get a lot of exercise, jumping to conclusions." He smiles apologetically. "Well, now you know more than you did before. I haven't actually *seen* her in three or four weeks, but I hear her door open and close occasionally, so I know she's still ghosting around. I just want to know how she is, and if there's anything we can do to help - whatever she's dealing with she shouldn't have to face it alone."
Leeson's off-side grin is absolutely infectious. "Trendwise, the nieghborhood becomes sort of a family." he explains, "even with Boomer and Choppy, and the rest of those Warriors sometimes making it tough, like badly-behaved second-cousins. But we've all become kin, after a fashion. After a while." The dwarf looks introspective again. "And something is most definitely wrong, here. So naturally we become defensive." He looks again between Ace and Block. "Turns out you're on our side, at least this time." |
