Loose Ends

Kit briefly resumes eating. His ears twitch. Looks up. "Well, well. Hello there, little one." The watcher, floating silently. "Have you found him?"
The little spirit nods vigorously, its top hat wobbling on its head. "Y'p."
A smile. Kit finishes the last of his meal. He curls up. "I do believe, Lin, that our quarry has been located. What do you say that we take a brief...fact-finding excursion?"

Lin's lips twitch in a half-smile. "That does sound like a productive use of our time... if you would like, I'm sure there would be space for you in the sidecar on my bike."

"Marvellous! Then let us be off. Little watcher, materialize and guide us to the subject. Flik, I will settle my bill with you tomorrow, as per our agreement." The cat's eyes blink open and it yawns. Above the table, a little man with a dapper suit and top hat shimmers into being.

Lin's eyebrows twitch at the spirit's appearance, but she says nothing. Standing, she extends her arm in a wordless offer to carry Kit out to her bike.

The cat leaps up onto Lin's arm and lands lightly onto her shoulder, perching there. A soft purr.

Chuckling softly, Lin carries Kit out to her motorcycle. Setting her companion carefully in the sidecar, on top of her bag, she slides over the seat, and looks at the spirit. "So, where are we going?"

The cat curls up in the passenger seat. A spectral form floats out of it and flits to Lin's shoulder. "He will not answer you, I'm afraid. I ordered him only to respond to me." A snicker. "I have taken advantage of such an oversight by other magicians many a time in the past. Spirit," a command, "you may speak freely to Lin here. Answer her question."

The little spirit gives a bobbling nod that nearly shakes its top hat off. "'K. F'lla's 't 2121 W'st C'mm'd're Weh, w'n fi'ty mee'rs fr'm va pier. 'e's 'nside."

The cat-shaped soul gives a chuckle. "To translate, my dear, he means that the fellow is inside the building at 2121 West Commodore Way, which is one hundred and fifty meters from the pier where we met the Johnson." Spectral eyes gaze levelly at Lin. "My intention was to convince him to tell me what he knows and then either enlist his assistance or eat him, depending on the situation. However, I would welcome your take on the matter."

Lin shrugs. "Sounds like a reasonable enough plan to me." She starts up the bike and drives back down towards the docks, parking two blocks away from the building in question. "How do you want to go in?"

"That, I think, will depend upon the situation there." The cat's astral form keeps pace easily with the bike. "If I can get line of sight, a bit of mind control and I can make him let me in. That depends, however, on line of sight. Alternatively, you could attempt to deceive him into confiding in you, though I am uncertain how well that would work. We know little about him, after all."

The address delivered by the dense little spirit took them right back to a familiar locale as once again Lin and Kit visited the docks of Salmon Bay. With an eagerness to demonstrate his utility, the watcher gestured to the building, the same one the man had been standing behind earlier. From the other side, metal letters across the top of the building spelled out "SEATTLE MARINE & FISHING SUPPLY CO."

The concrete structure offered no hope of attaining line of sight, and the busy roads offered little in the way of cover to form any sort of stealthy plan, though the relaxed pedestrians strolling the street and cruising in cars and PMVs hardly seemed interested in looking out for suspicious behavior. Parking was available near the front of the building, but space between structures was tight and parking sparse. If Kit wanted to get to the man, he would have to head inside or find a way to draw him out.

Kit, his astral body now hiding in his physical one to avoid attention, metaphorically turns to Lin. "Hmm...do you know anything about this company? And if not, how quickly can that hacker friend of yours find something?"

Lin shakes her head. "I don't believe I've ever heard about this place before. My hacker contact, unfortunately, is a bit busy right this moment, but will be available later this evening... that will, I fear, be to late though... I could do a basic data search myself, though. I'm no hacker, but search engines aren't hard to use."

"Hmm...very well. It is better than nothing, at least." A noise of frustration. "Perhaps you could acquire a package of some sort and feign a delivery? Or I could infiltrate in a suitably innocuous form. Whatever method, subtlety will be of utmost importance. I do not wish to betray our presence prematurely. It would make hiding our activities...complicated."

Lin nods, and stares into the air above Kit's head for several minutes, manipulating the AR displays while she performs her search. Eventually, she blinks out of her reverie, and focuses on her feline companion again. "Here we go... according to this, we can probably just walk right in, assuming we have business... I don't suppose you own any, or have any interest in obtaining fishing supplies?"

A soft laugh. "No, I can assure you that my fishing methods do not involve any kind of specialized supplies. However, if pose as a customer and distract the employees, I should be able to slip into the back to track down our quarry. That is, assuming the man is not already at the counter, which would expedite things considerably." The cat rises and leaps out of the sidecar. The watcher dematerializes and follows.

Lin nods, and says "Just give me a moment to get into character." She thinks for a moment, bringing to mind what little she knows about fishing and the people who do it for a living, then shrugs. "I'm as ready as I'm going to get." Walking towards the front door, she steps into the building, and looks around.

A faint tinkling bell accompanied the northern doors parting for Lin, and it became immediately apparent that the Seattle Marine & Fishing Supply Co. cared about appearances. Both walls were lined with display boxes holding things like fishing lures, hooks, and rods, shelves lined with items like sunglasses and wide-brimmed fishing hats, and racks that held ponchos and jackets, some of them quite pricey indeed. Before Lin's eyes a variety of AROs floated up through the ground, indicating the special deals and bundle items to help save money, along with floating reviews of the items on sale... all of them suspiciously positive down to the last one. At the end of the wall straight ahead stood a worker behind a desk, waving cheerfully to Lin. "Hello, welcome to Seattle Marine and Fishing Supplies, I see that this is your first time here, can I interest you in a new customer demonstration of our product lines?"

There are two doors against the back wall, possibly changing stalls from the looks of them. The area visible to Lin obviously doesn't constitute the whole building, the ceiling isn't tall enough and the room isn't even as large as the whole first floor. There room opens up to the left towards the back, and there doesn't seem to be any items for sale back there. As Lin gets closer she can see that it leads to another open room with a glass wall and doors facing the east, the street visible through them. This section of the building has a much more formal, business-y feel to it than the retail portion she entered into.

Lin quickly realigns her plan of action at the greeting, and puts on a nervous half-smile as she quickly delves through her mapsoft of the Seattle region of Washington state. "Yes, ah... a friend of mine has invited me to go fishing with him, out on Lake Hancock, but I've never been fishing before, so I'd like to get a fishing pole... and some bait. I'm not really sure what I'm looking at here, so I'm afraid I'm going to have to rely on your advice..."

The cat that came in with Lin lightly nuzzles her let and then pads off, glancing around curiously.

The woman stepped from around the desk to walk over to Lin with short, precise steps. "That is quite alright, I would be happy to assist you in your selection," she smiled politely, clasping her hands in front of her. The lady, whose AR name tag indicated was Brittney, stood razor straight, her posture tense as she gestured towards items along the wall with reserved waves of her arm. "If you are interested in just getting into fishing, we have our PowerRod line with PowerRod accessories," she directed Lin's attention toward some mid-level fishing rods, one of them divided into section to demonstrate their breakdown capability. "The PowerRod line has been rated as one of the best entry lines for fisherpeople of all skill levels, and comes with an AR guide on proper techniques."

A hovering hand guided Lin back towards the door as they moved in front of some flashier looking fishing equipment. "For customers more interested in approaching fishing seriously, and for whom quality is of the utmost concern, we carry the Water Titan series. The models are constructed from an advanced carbon fiber, guaranteed not to snap even under the most strenuous of circumstances when most other rods would succumb to shearing forces. Each rod goes through a battery of test to ensure durability and reliability, and the design has proven capable of beating the elements time and time again. In addition, you can upgrade your Water Titan with a variety of accessories, the most popular of which is the Smartline system, which provides you with either a screen on the handle or a heads-up display on a properly image linked device to give you a cutting edge view of the sport. Water temperature, exact depth, current speed and direction, line tension, and more. In addition, each Water Titan comes with a custom fit grip, personalized to mold exactly to the contours of your hand."

"Now, if this is your first time out on the water, you may want to think about taking along some sea sickness medications. The rocking motion on a boat can be unnerving at first, so it's better to be prepared than experience discomfort later." The lady glanced about the shop, looking for another section to demonstrate. "Over here," she took a few steps toward some shelves with hats and other headgear, "we keep our classic style fishing hats, sure to give you that bonafide fisherperson look at an affordable cost. For more a more versatile option we have a variety of sunglasses, including the Water Titan Wave Piercers with built-in glare reduction and an image link that will hook up to your Smartline system."

At this point she turned and regarded Lin thoughtfully with a gentle smile, obviously trying not to appear too eager or pushy. "Please let me know if you require any additional information, and don't forget to check those reviews. Feel free to pick up and examine any items you like, it's important to choose one that feels right to you. Once you've chosen, just let me know and I'll tell you about our fishing Activesoft offering, just in case you want to impress your friend with your prowess right off the bat!"

The cat silently slinks unseen into the hallway leading to the business section of the building. Golden eyes glance around, wary.

A clerk. Unfamiliar. Unimportant. Moving on.

Kit moves on, making his way toward the rest of the offices. He stops and peers around the corner.

Despite the painfully obvious nature of a cat in an office building, the clerk fails to notice the out-of-place sight, his attention elsewhere. Kit turns the corner to see a row of cubicles with nicely carpeted walls separating work stations. There are real plants in the corners, the walls all have organic curves and dynamic lighting gives the scene a pleasant hue, but they're still just cages for the corporate wageslaves. Around the back wall there are offices with actual doors, and to the south is a thicker door, probably for the stairwell. Next to it is a metal door with a seam down the center, possibly an elevator.

Behind him one of the doors opens, three men filing in one after another, two humans and an ork. They paused to look around the room briefly before they were intercepted by the previously sleepy clerk, his posture no longer slouched and a friendly smile aimed toward the newcomers. "Hello, and welcome to Seattle Marine and Fishing Supplies, I see that this is your first time here, can I interest you in a new customer demonstration of our product lines?" He holds his hands to the side, gesturing towards the retail section of the store.

The three men nodded with uncertainty and the oldest among them spoke up with a slow shrug, "Well okay, sure." They were ushered off into the back room where Lin watched the other clerk greet them in the same manner she had been met and give them the same tour, word for word. They obviously had their sales routine polished to a shine.

Lin thanks the female clerk, and asks for some time to look around and examine the different items on her own. Left relatively alone for a moment, she slowly moves around the store, looking at the various items, and keeping an eye on the clerk out of the corner of her eye. When the three others came in and got their own recitation of the sales pitch, she winces internally, realizing that if things went south, there were now to many people around for her to kill before at least some of them could escape and sound an alarm. I really hope that cat can get in and out without raising a ruckus or causing any problems. And please let him do it before I have to buy something...

Kit pauses at the sight of the ork, but decides against pursuing him. The connection was too tenuous. "Little watcher, guide me to the room where you found our quarry."
The spirit nods and begins to lead the way. The cat follows, treading carefully so as to avoid notice.

For a short moment the watcher looks confused, glancing about in confusion to reestablish his lock on the target. Then he proceeded south around the corner, heading toward the stairwell door and passing right through it. After a split second he leaned back out to look at the cat. "Yah c'm'n, boss?"

The humans take their time looking at fishing gear, but they seem more interested in flirting with the clerk. The ork has an almost permanent smirk of amusement as he watches them playfully joke with the clerk, who seems more than happy to give them the details about the fishing rods, compare the types and weigh the advantages of one over another. She appears to be oblivious to their advances, but that only eggs the two men on further.