A Time for Secrets

Kesslan, cant help but feel rather suspicious at this, and he likely carries that feeling through when, rather than actually answering Ashe's question, he responds with a question of his own. In the flesh she actually garners enough of his attention that he actually pauses in the middle of what he was doing, so he could fully focus on his AR interface.

"Why are you asking this?"

"To be honest, I hate it when people are restricted from their potential by prejudice. And you shouldn't have to be afraid of going shopping for magical aids. If there is something I can do to help that situation, that is what I want to do." Ashe responds, quite frankly, and somewhat passionately.
"Plus, the obvious response, of course. As my teammate, helping you is helping me. I would be foolish not to go out of my way to see to it that you have all tools available to you to improve your effectiveness in every way that matters." She sighs. "But, mostly the former: Prejudice really upsets me."

Kesslan goes silent for a long time on the matter. Considering it perhaps, ignoring it, or maybe he just didn't get he message for some reason. Eventually however that long silence is broken with a simple. "All right."

Ashe listens to the silence, as it stretches on. The measure of a man is in his actions, and Kesslan's response would tell her a lot about what he thought of her so far. When finally he response, Ashe assumes that he is on board with them making a team trip to a few Talismonger shops, and asks as much.

"Umm..." She says, not quite sure how to phrase the question. "So, you would like us to all go together?"

Again there's a long moment of silence before the response is sent. Simple as previously, though far more vague this time, rather than responding in an actually positive or negative manner he simply responds with 'I guess'. A world away back at his home he moves about his self assigned chores, trying to figure out if he really should trust his apparent new team mates or not...

"Ok, in that case, I will give LT a call and let him know that the magic portion of his shopping trip should be postponed until we can join him. You should take some time to put together a list of the items that are of interest to you, keeping in mind that most magically active items that we can purchase now won't be available for immediate use, since we will have to spend some time with each item to familiarize ourselves with the magic of that item. Don't worry too much about what is available or not, make a wish list, of sorts, and we will try and get a look at everything on it. Perhaps even purchase some of it." Ashe waits for Kesslan to respond before she disconnects. She could feel his hesitation, despite her genuine concern. She meant what she had said, and intended to follow through on her intentions.

Once Ashe's discussion with Kesslan is complete for the moment, Ashe dials up LT again.
"Hey LT! I just spoke with Kess, and he has asked me to hold off on the magic part of my list, so that we can all attend to the Talismongers together. He is interested in searching out some things of his own." She says. "Oh, by the way, I asked Driver if he wanted anything as well, and he didn't respond, so I assume that is a "no," but if you want to reach out to Jack and ask if he wants anything, I am sure he can pull together an improptu list for you." Ashe looks up at the traffic on the belt-way heading down town. - It shouldn't take too long to get there... the original estimate looks like it should be right on. Ashe thinks to herself while she waits for LT to respond.

LT responds to Jennie with a grunt. Not really feeling the idea of being every ones go for guy. "Still trying to get a cab to Walmart, but ok no magic trip well least not now" He thinks for a moment then says "hold on" and he opens a channel to Jack. (Japanese)"Jack its LT" after he responds LT continues "Were going to get to getter for some shopping. Jennies call." "So you interested" and he waits for Jacks response....

Jack had lost track of time, referencing and cross-referencing the numerous windows he had open at the time, the yellow-lined window popping up in the center of his field of vision, shaking with its ringing, a simple number "3" on it. A flick of a thumb and a glance at the window opened it, activating the call and tilting his head as he heard LT's offer.

<Not really. I have nothing I need to get currently. Thank you for offering.> There was nothing in his tone to suggest anything untoward, simply that he was not interested in acquiring anything yet. <"Was there anything else?">

LT was happy to hear that he was not fond of the to do lists but he wanted to put in as much effort as everybody else so with that he responded "Nope should be it." and he disconnected the call after saying "Later Omae" or some such Japanese equivalent. then he chimed back in on the holding call with Ashe "Nope Jacks good" he said to her "gotta go i think i finally got a cab that will hold me."

At this point it is now 60 minutes before driver receves the message

"Thanks LT, that was thoughtful of you." Ashe says as the line disconnects.

Ashe looks back to Driver, who is coolly managing the traffic and working his way downtown. "Again, I apologize for the interruption, but I assumed that that was somewhat important. Now, where were we?" She says pleasantly.

"To answer your question Ms. Jeane, We Are, at the current rate of traffic, 1 hour 46 minutes from our destination. The shortcut Driveer took cut off 15 minutes, but we will still arrive late if traffic does not improve." The radio instantly cued to a built in cd player, not the usual audio files, but an actual 50 year old cd player. "Eleanor, with my... Penchant for ignoring most traffic laws, what would your grandly expensive AI brain calulate our arrival?" One could almost hear the smile from Eleanor "10 minutes." Driver slammed on his brakes, holding up the traffic behind him as the violin strings of Skillet's Comatose played through the stereo system, and when the rock song kicked into drive, so did Eleanor.

It took nearly half the time to blink before the jet black car found every mouse hole that avoided trading paint with the other cars, and sped through traffic that would drive a sane man mad, and a mad man sane. Buildings and stunned people were bluurrs as the heavily augmented machine was pushed to limits that most were unoccustomed to. Only barely could one here Driver mutter "Though we walk through the valley and shadow of death, we shall fear no evil for we are already in Hell. Thy rod and staff are nothing against fire and sword. Only through absolute faith can one overcome it. Through fire, through pain, and one most be greatly insane to overcome the Devil himself. If one possess the will stronger than these castle walls, ooo ya." Time left them and not long did it take for driver to pull to a stop in front of the club, finding a cozy parking spot. "Do i get an oil change after tonight?"

Ashe chuckles politely at Eleanor's request. - I guess that's a fair request... it would be like me asking for a bubble-bath, with candles. She thinks to herself with a grin.
"Eleanor, Driver, that was a lovely trip, and I do hope to be invited to fly Air-Eleanor again. It is not every day that I am witness to the wonderous display of improved-on-manufacturing capacity.
"Now, let us get down to business." Ashe checks her watch.
"Driver, you are more than welcome to accompany me inside, and I am certain that Sherri will appreciate meeting you. Your manners, and dress, will fit in nicely where we are headed. If you don't mind, I will phone her now and let her know that we are coming up." Ashe says, placing an emphasis on the 'we' to let Driver know that the invitation of a friend needs to be announced.

Ashe pulls up Sherri's number and accepts the Dial prompt. She then continues to walk toward the non-descript entrance door on the street.
"Sherri, I do hope you're here already, I am slightly ahead of schedule." Ashe says as soon as Sherri picks up. "Also, I have invited a friend of mine to come up with me. I hope your table can accomodate three." Ashe says, waiting for Sherri to respond. In the mean time, she shows her ID to the doorman, and steps in to the lift with Driver to be taken up to the floor level. Just as the door closes, Ashe reaches out her hand and stops the doors.
"Ooh, Sir, would you be so kind as to ask the manager to meet with me at his earliest convenience? It is not urgent." She says to the Doorman, allowing the door to close at his responding nod. Since it is late afternoon, the manager would be somewhat busy with Evening preparations. She didn't need to inconvenience him too much, which is why she added that it is not urgent. He will come out when he gets a moment.

Ashe turns to Driver as the lift ascends. "Welcome to Unsung Glories. Bar, Restaurant, Club. They can manage quite a crowd, when they have live entertainment. On the average night, the place is reserved mostly for well paid, well paying, patrons, whose main concerns are exclusivity." She smiles to him, finishing her brief explanation just as the lift doors opened to admit them to the loung-style seating area.
"I have a membership here, which I pay the upkeep for with the odd favor. The manager here is a lively and happy man, who treats his patrons with the utmost respect. You will enjoy him. Sherri and you will likely get along very well also." Ashe finishes up with her situational descriptions as they step through the lounge. She falls silent as she surveys the crowd for Sherri.

After walking into the club Ashe and Driver are escorted to the private room were already sits a woman "Good evening, i hope this night finds you well?"

LT toils about walmart looking for Ashe's stuff well the stuff he can get.

"The night is treating us quite well, so far. Thank you for asking. May I present to you Driver, a new friend of mine." Ashe says with a smile.

Driver Follows Jeanne out and up to the club, Leaving Eleanore's alarm on and a message to make sure she keeps her sensors out and running for any trouble, as well as a signal if any of the remaining team arrive at the club. Finding the woman in the room, he nods curtly, "A pleasure to meet you. And our night has been... eventful thus far. Might I ask your name, Ms. ?"

"You may call me, Sherri,"she turns and looks at Ashe "now dear, i hate to be straight to the point but you mentiopned you needed to talk to me quite quickly?"

ok im going to assume that no one else wants to do anything for the next few minutes in game. if im wrong just tell me in the OOC thread, now a this point its down to 35 minutes before driver receves the message

While LT is shopping he tries too pick up some nice threads for a troll at a big and metahuman shop.

"Oh, I did. I have several items that my current, umm... assignment, requires of me that you are most capable of providing for me. In fact, in my rolodex, only you have the potential at providing them within the assumed amount of time. Driver, please feel free to update this list as I read it off to Sherri, as your memory may have captured events somewhat differently than my own." Ashe says, by way of reply. She sits, and takes a deep breath before continuing. Sherri was going to be quite pleased with her profit margin on these requests, particularly considering her normal increase in commission for time-sensitive responses.

"1. I have a short list of extremely sensitive data that needs to be located and verified. For this I will need a highly qualified hacker. I doubt it makes any real difference what kind of hacker, so long as they are capable of retrieving the data, and covering their tracks in the process. My guess is that this is going to be VERY carefully watched information, and that it will be both difficult and dangerous to uncover.
"2. This may be an extended contract, and I would need to be able to contact the hacker directly once the contract begins. I suspect the simplest way to handle this request would be for me to hire the hacker directly, and pay your commission as a seperate charge.
"3. This may be the most interesting request of the day. I am looking to get my hands on Milspec armor, tonight.
"4. I will need a armorer who is adept with fitting the armor on hand to make sure that it fits." Ashe sits back and takes another deep breath. The list was far from simple, and the price tag would be considerable. Sherri never worried about delivering a service cheaply. She was much more interested in delivering quality. Which is why Ashe always chose to do business with her. Quality, in Ashe's eyes, is far more important than price. Most of the time.

Ashe reaches up to her 'link, and presses a button to read out the time into her ear. She looks at Sherri. "And, just in case that list was not exciting enough for someone of your considerable skills, I am going to need all of that to be delivered to me in less than 6 hours. As I need to be prepared for full-capacity use by sun-up tomorrow morning." Ashe smiles as she practically hears the cash registers ringing inside of Sherri's head. Which is ok, if she can deliver, she has more than earned her commission.

"Driver, I believe that I have captured everything, but is there anything that I may have missed?" She says, addressing Driver.

Ashe, for the first time, starts to realize that Eleanor is fully AI, and is somewhat surprised by this. "That is, um, quite thoughtful of her." Ashe says in response. She covers her surprise extraordinarily well. Ashe nearly asks Driver whether or not that is a smart choice, considering the potential consequences, but keeps it in.
"I guess that takes care of items 1 and 2 on my list. 3 and 4 are still outstanding, and quite important. And, knowing you, those are probably the more exciting items anyway. They should be a challenge..." She says, looking at Sherri with a knowing smile. This is, after all, what she does.

"That is an interesting list. its quite a bit to take in but i can see what i can do, however with the milspec armor im not sure i can help you with that, but i might have someone who can get it and he ows me a favor or two. I will get in touch with him to see what can be done but im not making any promises. Sherri seems to loose focus for a moment and then begins talking again "if i can get ahold of this for you i will do my best to get it to you within the time frame however even among friends i cannot say it will be cheap though i will say you can pay me after i have delivered, if i cant get it done i will send you a message

it is a this time the assistant manager knocks on the door and hten enters "Good evening i understand someone requested to speak with me?"

Ashe looks up at the manager as he knocks on the door, then turns back to Sherri. "Sherri, you never cease to amaze me. Allow me to take care of this, and if you are interested, take a few moments to get to know Driver." Ashe gives Sherri her most dazzling smile, then stands and steps outside the door with the manager.

"Good evening. I am glad you could spare a few moments. I am going to be hosting a small get together with several of my friends. It is a special occasion, and we will likely be quite noisy. We will be needing a room to ourselves." Ashe says with a grin. The manager would know precisely what that meant.