The team learns of Gabe's fate, discusses their motivations, and has brunch at Police Union HQ.
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@funcityventures is the show
@bijanstephen is TK
@randwiches is Viv
@nguersh is Luxe
and @shodell is Lash
@taylordotbiz is the bad boys and
@mikerugnetta is everything else
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Recorded at Fortunate Horse in Greenpoint BK
Produced, edited and sound designed by Mike Rugnetta
Pixlriffs is the chicken wing in our ginger tea
Our music is by Sam Tyndall - http://cuneiform.xyz
Our art is by Tess Stone - http://notdrunkenough.com/
Our Discord mods are Olivia Gulin, Kestrel and Kit.
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CC-BY Licensed SFX used in this Episode:
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Fun City Ventures - Episode 10 - Culture Fit
[ Transcription by Matthew Wang Downing ] [ 00:00:00 ] [ Intro Theme begins ]
> Molly Templeton / "Artemis": [ IC ] In the early 21st century, magic reawakened on Earth, and alongside it, a new human race, with orcs, elves, trolls, dwarves, and others. Humanity became metahumanity.
As technology proliferated and greatly advanced in the awakened world, global megacorporations seized ever more power, becoming de facto states with their own laws, courts, and armed forces. The corporations attempt to control all aspects of modern life. This has led to a vast and complex criminal underground which works for and against corporate interests. The independent career criminals who do what others can't or won't are called Shadowrunners.
The year is 2101. Welcome to Fun City. [ Intro Theme ends ]
[ Main Theme begins ]
> Mike Rugnetta / G.M.: Previously on Fun City, the team is hired by Mo Ashina of Combinatorial Limited to disgrace police union bureaucrat Verne Sollix, and end his architecting a strike of the NYPD Incorporated Police Force. Upon confrontation at the Police Expo, Verne claims that triple-A biotechnology megacorporation, Evo, is experimenting on police, who are contractually obligated to see the company for medical care. A strike is the only way to get leverage and stop them.
He offers to hire the team, but a riot breaks out. Viv melts Cairn Holbrook, an NYPD reserve detection mage, and Luxe takes a call from Yuri, who has another job for them. Frazzled - but free - the team heads to The Ball Pit to regroup. There, they meet a many-armed man, who shows them an illusion of a horrifically dismembered Gabe. He says to never work with Yuri again, to remain out of Jast Columnar’s business, and he searches their memories for Jast’s gun, which Viv gave to the sea.
Concerned about their shipmate, the crew races to the Mrs. Egg, to find the lingering astral signature of the many-armed man. We join them as they board the boat, hoping to find Gabe - and find him alive.
[ Main Theme concludes ]
> Mike Rugnetta / G.M.: The voice that you hear is not Gabe’s but Artemis’.
> Molly / “Artemis”: [ IC ] Artemis on. Would you like to hear the weather?
> Nick Guercio / “Luxe Scythe”: [IC] Artemis, can you hear us? Wh- Where’s Gabe?
> Molly / “Artemis”: [ IC ] Searching for Gabe. Gabe found. Gabe is in his quarters, tied to a chair, with ropes.
> Mike / G.M.: You hear [ muffled attempts to yell through a gag ] > Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Oh shit!
> Jenn de la Vega / "Vivian Lakewood": [ IC ] Oh my goodness. > Shannon Odell / "Lash Goodbog": [ IC ] Oh my god—
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ OOC ] We rush towards his quarters.
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ OOC ] Yeah, we run. I run very fast—
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ OOC ] Much faster than me—
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ OOC ] Lash is the fastest— [ Shannon laughing ]
> Mike / G.M.: One boat per second—
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ OOC ] Yeah. [ Shannon laughs ]
> Molly / “Artemis”: [ IC ] Ropes are often made of natural fibers, used to entwine humans and objects.
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] Okay, off, Artemis!
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Thank you, Artemis.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ OOC ] I’m running after Lash. She’s twice as fast as me, easily.
> Mike / G.M.: Uh, you get to Gabe’s quarters, the door is closed. But you hear him on the other side, sort of muffled yelling.
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ OOC ] I kick it open, even though it’s open. [ Nick and Mike laugh ]
> Mike / G.M.: The door swings open and hits his workbench [ Shannon laughs ] with such force that some of the buckets of electronics sort of fall down. [ Shannon laughs ] You don’t do any permanent damage, but you do see him. He is there in a zebra bathrobe, tied to a chair with a sock stuffed in his mouth and tape around his head. And he’s, he’s yeah, he’s fully restrained and as soon as you walk in, his eyes, his eyes like, open really wide, and then he just sort of like relaxes, and hangs his head, like, “Ohh, thank God.”
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Gabe, we thought you were dead.
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ OOC ] I quickly start to untangle him.
> Mike Rugnetta / “Gabriel ‘Gabe’ Oziman”: [ IC ] [ Urgent, muffled attempts to talk ]
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ OOC ] I take his, his thing out.
> Mike / “Gabe”: [ IC ] Uhh— Uhhhg— Some I dunno, there’s some red guy who’s coming,
did you see this freaking—this red guy with the arms?
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] —Mm, yes.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] —Yes. Yes.
> Mike / “Gabe”: [ IC ] Okay, you don’t seem—you seem, what?
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] He made an illusion that you were, you were decapitated. I freaked out. > Mike / “Gabe”: [ IC ] Oh god.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Yeah—
> Mike / “Gabe”: [ IC ] —Is he—
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] —It was terrible.
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] We all freaked out. We were all cryin’.
> Mike / “Gabe”: [ IC ] Aww, that’s, I mean, that sounds very upsetting, but also... how nice.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Uhm, yeah, everybody was visibly upset. [ Shannon laughs ] I’m really glad that you’re alive, Gabe.
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ IC ] Did he ask you anything?
> Mike / “Gabe”: [ IC ] You know, it was the strangest thing. I was just—I was working on the bridge, and here was just this guy, dressed in all gold, floating, with a tiny crown—who wears a crown?
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Good question.
> Mike / “Gabe”: [ IC ] And he started asking me questions about uh, Jast, and he started saying all this stuff about not going back, and about like, you know, his bosses, and The Seven, and like all this—I don’t know, like. And then uh, and then, I don’t know, like—I just—I guess I fell asleep? I don’t know, he must’ve done something.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Hm.
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] Well I’m just glad you’re okay, but this guy knows where we live. > Jenn / “Viv”: [ OOC ] Viv moves to help Gabe get out of the ropes.
> Mike / “Gabe”: [ IC ] Hey, I appreciate that. As much as I like being tied to things, like, you know...
[ 00:05:02 ] > Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Yeah.
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ IC ] Understood.
> Bijan Stephen / "T.K.": [ OOC ] Like everybody in this universe...
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ OOC ] Is horny! [ Mike laughs ]
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ OOC ] They love to be horny. [ Shannon laughs ]
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] We—How much do you care about Yuri? I think he might be in trouble.
> Mike / “Gabe”: [ IC ] If Yuri were to die...
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Right.
> Mike / “Gabe”: [ IC ] ...I do not think I would be extremely upset. [ Shannon laughs ]
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] ‘Kay, that’s a good answer.
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] I would be very upset.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Lash would be upset.
> Mike / “Gabe”: [ IC ] Yeah, you ain’t seen him when he’s mad.
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] No...
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] We have seen those eggs.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] And I have to admit, he did say that the eggs were nice and hot and fresh, and that in two days we could get those.
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ IC ] We could get more information about whoever this is that is terrorizing us.
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] Yeah, we’re in a pickle with quite a few Johnsons right now.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Yeah... We are in a double pickle situation. So, Gabe, let me tell you
where we are. We did get the scans on Verne.
> Mike / “Gabe”: [ IC ] Oh, this is the Ashina job!
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Yeah.
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] Yeah.
> Mike / “Gabe”: [ IC ] Yeah, okay, all right. Nice, nice.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] We believe—we believe that there is a massive conspiracy that is putting the lives of many, many millions of citizens and officers in danger, and that by giving this data over to them, we would be supporting an Evo-led conspiracy.
> Mike / “Gabe”: [ IC ] E-Evo?!
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] We think they’re involved somehow because we think that they’re
involved with making some of these cops—maybe—turn bad, or different, or something.
> Mike / “Gabe”: [ IC ] I mean they’re the biggest of the Big Ten in the city, like, you’ve got to be careful about—I don’t mean you, sorry—
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] I’m gonna throw this out there, guys, and if you don’t want to go along with me on this, that’s fine, but I’m thinking about breaking into Evo... itself... and getting some fucking answers.
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ IC ] Sounds like a, a large task. [ People laugh ]
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] That’s what I thought I’d hear. And honestly, I can’t do any of this
myself, except for maybe talk to the guard. [ Jenn and Mike laugh ] So— > Mike / G.M.: So, just for background—
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ OOC ] Yep.
> Mike / G.M.: Evo has many satellite locations in New York, but they have one main location. And it is around 14th St. in Manhattan, very far on the West Side, but it sprawls like, a dozen square blocks.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ OOC ] Right.
> Mike / G.M.: And it’s what in the Shadowrun universe is called an Arcology. It is essentially a city within the city. It is places where Evo citizens work, live, go to school—you know—own property if Evo allows them to own it. You know, there’s—as you’ve learned— there’s a hospital there. It’s, it’s like a—it’s not hermetically sealed, people can come and go, but it is essentially a civilization within a civilization.
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] On what you were saying— > Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Mhmhm.
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] We need to figure out some kind of answer, ‘cuz we have all this data, we have Verne’s body scans, they’re expecting it tomorrow night? So maybe the best bet is to try to get information from our Johnson?
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Maybe the Johnson first before we try to break into the largest megacorporation in the city?
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ IC ] I think so.
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ IC ] That seems good.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Okay, all right, yeah, I guess I could switch those things around on the
list. So we should call the Johnson? All right.
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] Let’s call the Johnson.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Calling the Johnson.
[ Ringing tone of the phone they are calling ]
> Mike Rugnetta / “Mo Ashina”: [ IC ] Yeah, Go for Ashina.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Hey Ashina, uhm did you see the news?
> Mike / “Ashina”: [ IC ] Listen, I got a meeting in about three minutes, you gotta make this quick.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] We’re gonna need more time uhm with the scans, uhm did you see what happened at the convention center?
> Mike / “Ashina”: [ IC ] I saw that little stunt that you pulled, explain that to me.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Well, you know, we were attacked, uh, first, uhm, and I—I also, you know, in terms of that footage getting out, coming back to bite you or us, there’s a chance that won’t happen. We—
> Mike / “Ashina”: [ IC ] —Theres’s a chance that won’t happen.—
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] We have some people on the job, okay. So I’ll put it that way.
> Mike / “Ashina”: [ IC ] Listen, you are on extremely thin ice right now. I can’t make any more time for you, Team B is already in play, there’s no extra time, you gotta drop—this is, I can’t, I can’t deal with this—
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] There was a full-on riot at the convention center and Verne is in hiding. > Mike / “Ashina”: [ IC ] That’s not my problem.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Okay. So were just not gonna get paid, but I’m saying if we had a little bit more time, we could get you a hell of a lot more than a couple of scans.
> Mike / “Ashina”: [ IC ] Listen, I realize you’re in a tight spot. What I can do is I can pay you extra for doing it on the timeline that we originally agreed to.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Uhm—
> Mike / “Ashina”: [ IC ] How much more do you want?
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Uhm, more time?
> Mike / “Ashina”: [ IC ] How much more money—we don’t have more time. > Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] If you can’t give me time, I need information.
> Mike / “Ashina”: [ IC ] Make it quick.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Who wants this done?
> Mike / “Ashina”: [ IC ] Combinatorial represents a shifting consortium of corporations around New York City. I cannot tell you exactly the people who have paid to have this contract fulfilled, but you can rest assured that they are representatives from the Big Ten.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Who is your contact?
> Mike / “Ashina”: [ IC ] ... I am the contact. There is no contact outside of me. > Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Oh, I’m saying requesting the job from you.
> Mike / “Ashina”: [ IC ] Again, I am the manager of the job.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Listen, we’re working on somethin’ big here. We can get ya a lot more than some scans, uhm, with a little bit more time. I know you have B Team, but why can’t B Team just, you know, go grab a burger.
[ 00:10:02 ] > Mike / G.M.: Roll Con.
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ OOC ] “Go grab a burger.” [Shannon and Jenn laugh ] Why can’t they
go grab a burger.
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ OOC ] I wanna say that to people now. “Why don’t you just go grab a burger?”
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ OOC ] Uh, three.
> Mike / G.M.: Hold on, I need to think about how she’s going to respond based on how this
goes.
[ Dice roll ]
> Mike / “Ashina”: [ IC ] I am not inclined to give you any leeway, but if you’re telling me that you have a plan, and that you’re gonna get me more than what we sent you out for—fine. But I just want you to know, that if I don’t hear from you, if I don’t hear of significant movement on this issue—soon—then we’re gonna take a different approach on this, and you’re not gonna like it. You’re wearing my patience very thin.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] I understand. All I’m saying is you’re gonna really like what you see, okay. We just need a little bit more time.
> Mike / “Ashina”: [ IC ] You can have twenty-four hours. And that’s it. And I want to hear from you before that.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Okay, I—I will do my best.
> Mike / “Ashina”: [ IC ] Yeah, you will.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] ...I will talk to you then. Thank you. Bye.
[ Phone clicks to end call ]
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] [ Shannon laughs ] What are you doing?!
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ IC ] Fucking— [ Taylor laughing ] —powerful move.
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ IC ] We have an extension?
> Mike / G.M.: You also now have to— Your due date is the same day that Yuri wants to meet you.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Well here’s—the truth— > Bijan / “T.K.”: [ IC ] —We could also—
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] —the truth of, in my opinion was, that we didn’t want—need more time. We’re more or less set on not giving them the information. What we wanted was information. What were you going to say T.K.?
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ IC ] Yeah, that’s exactly what I was gonna say. > Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Yeah.
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ IC ] It’s just they can, you know, like we have it, we can just tell ‘em—we can send it with a note that says, “Fuck off,” and get the money and do the next job.
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] And it also keeps them from, like, coming after us. > Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Sure.
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] You know, like another day of, like, kind of continuing the ruse of, like, “Yeah, we’re working for you,” and keep the job going, while we figure out exactly—
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Yeah and also, you know, leaving the door open to, like, being able to ask a question of them—that they might think there’s a good reason to answer it, but we know that we’re just trying to get information on them. I’m still not sure exactly what’s going on, is I guess the point.
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ IC ] And if we have an extra day, Sollix might get back—
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] We still don’t know what’s going on. We, we’re—
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] Yeah, that’s what the issue is. We need to figure out—I think right
now we’re feeling like we don’t know where to go or what to do? > Bijan / “T.K.”: [ IC ] And something has to give.
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] And something has to happen, but we don’t know what, and where to go.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Okay, yeah, I guess we’ve been pushed to the point where, where we can’t take no for an answer from Verne anymore. So we just kind of pull out the stops and say— you’re right, we can’t sit at the fork anymore.
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ IC ] Yeah!
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Say, “Verne, we have all of your scans, we’re gonna turn them in if you don’t work with us. We were willing to work with you, I know you’re scared, but you gotta— you gotta understand that things are gonna get much, much worse for you if you don’t work with us right now.”
> Mike / G.M.: And is this a message that you send? > Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Yeah.
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ IC ] Yes.
[ Text sends ]
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ IC ] And tell him that he’s got like, and hour, or something. > Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Yeah, yeah. You, you got an hour.
> Taylor Moore / "The Bad Boys": [ OOC ] Your phone rings immediately. [ Notification chime ]
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Okay, gg.
> Taylor Moore / "Severin ‘Verne’ Sollix": [ OOC ] Uhm hallo, I got ze text that you sent
me.
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ IC ] What’s up? > Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Hey Verne. [ People laugh ]
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ IC ] What’s up?
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ OOC ] Why did T.K.—
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] Do you have it on speakerphone? Please take me off ze
speakerphone.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Okay, taking you off speakerph—
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ IC ] Leave him on speakerphone—
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] Take me off ze speakerphone, please.
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ IC ] What are you going to do, hang up? [ Bijan laughs ]
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] That’s fair. I’ll— Leave me on ze speakerphone.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Verne, are you safe?
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] [ Taylor sighs ] As safe as I can reasonably hope to be. I had to run away to my safe house. You understand, you have safe houses, I imagine all over ze place?
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Ahhhm, yeah. Uhh, no it’s fine, Verne, you, you did great. I just wanted to make sure that you weren’t hurt or anything like that. What—What’s going on?
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] No, I’m not hurt yet. But I am in my safe house, I’m okay, everyzhing is secure. I’m—All is well.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Okay, great, well—
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] My question is to you!
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Yes?
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] Are you okay? You’re not going to frame me with ze footage, ah?
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] I cannot speak for my team, Verne. I need you to be more specific about what’s going on and how we can help, so that I can tell my team what you want from us. Because these guys are career criminals, I can’t keep them from their money, all right. [ Bijan chuckles ] So you know, you—you need to start talking now, or I can’t guarantee anything.
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] I can’t say anything over ze phone, you understand why.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Okay.
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] I mean, zere are ears and eyes everywhere, you understand. > Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] I understand.
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] Maybe you like playing ze bad guy, running in ze shadows—maybe you all do, I don’t understand. But I can give you opportunity to do ze right thing and be ze
good guy for once. It’s easy to be bad guy! I can help you, be ze good guy. Tomorrow, my office, in ze morning, 10 AM. You come!
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Okay. I want guaranteed safety for myself and my team.
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] Yeah of course you’ll be safe! I’m ze leader of ze police union!
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Okay.
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] You’ll be safe!
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Okay, if we’re there, we’re there.
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] I will be zhere, as well.
[ Mike, Shannon, Jenn laugh ]
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] I’m sorry, I’m sorry—I was trying to, maybe be a little bit, ahm— [ Shannon laughs ]
> Mike / G.M.: You were trying, trying to hedge your bets—
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] Oh you’re saying I should not vait up for you, zis is phrase, in
English? Vait up for you?
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Yeah, yeah, yeah. I could have been more clear, don’t wait up for me.
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] I will—its morning time.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] But it is morning, so it doesn’t—yup.... Welp, [ People laughing ] I can’t guarantee I’ll be there.
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] I can guarantee you’ll be safe.— > Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Okay—
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] So I’ll see you tomorrow morning, 10 AM, my office, that’s you confirming?—
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] No, I’m [ Nick laughing ] I’m not conf— > Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] Okay, bye bye!
[ 00:15:00 ] > Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Bye! [ Mike laughs] Okay. > Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ OOC ] Click! He hangs up.
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] Who was that?
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] [ Nick sighs ] Lash, it was Verne. Okay, he’s safe. > Jenn / “Viv”: [ IC ] Oh, good.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Yes.
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ IC ] Hmm.
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] Why is he keep us hanging this whole time?
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Guys, I, I honestly think that he might actually be one of the good ones. And he might be in a situation that he needs help with. What this means though, is that we can’t proceed to—or, I am asking if we can not proceed in framing him, and meet with him tomorrow morning at 10. What does everybody think?
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ IC ] What about the money?
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] We have another twenty-four hours, I believe, we bought from Mo
Ashina. I think we have time to, to speak with him.
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] When does he want to meet? He wants to meet in the morning?
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] He wants to meet in the morning. Yes. At his office. He’s promised our safety. I don’t know if that’s worth much. But I understand—
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ IC ] I mean I think we can take care of ourselves.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Yeah, against a whole police force, it will be—
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ IC ] Hundred percent.
> Mike / G.M.: They’re bureaucrats though, I mean, you know, what are they gonna—
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ IC ] It’s the union, not the whole police force.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Yeah.
> Mike / G.M.: Uhm, yeah, to give you—to give you just a lay of the land schedule-wise— > Nick / “Luxe”: [ OOC ] Yes.
> Mike / G.M.: —'cause Shadowrun is a game where we talk about logistics, maritime law, and schedules, [ Nick, Shannon, Jenn chuckle ] you have, you have successfully bargained Mo Ashina for an additional day’s worth of time before she’s expecting that you implant the footage in cold storage. That is now also the same day that Yuri has asked you to go to his house back in mainland New Jersey in his Bank, Rite-Aid house. So you have a little bit more than 24 hours from right now before those two things are things that you have to check off of your to-do list.
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] My commcal is getting real full-up right now.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Well we [Nick chuckles] we’ll try to make sure to that we—we work around your schedule, Lash. [Shannon chuckles] Uhm, we—Keep in mind that we also know that you have nothing else to do.
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] Weeeell, sure...
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Um, you have six balls in the water...
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] Yeaah, sure.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] ...and nothing else to your name. Um, you have no other jobs or business— [ Bijan laughs ]
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] Nope, and you are my only friends.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Yes, we know that as well.
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ IC ] All right—
> Mike / G.M.: You look over the edge of The Mrs. Egg, you actually do see a number of soccer balls just gathered in a little group floating by.
I would love—You guys are on The Mrs. Egg, you have just gotten a phone call from uh, Verne, inviting for you to go work with him. You have to decide how you feel about what he’s potentially offering, uh which you’ll learn more about tomorrow, and what you kind of know you’re gonna get from Mo Ashina. You also have to decide uhm, whether or not you’re going to heed the warning of the floating, many-armed man, who has told you not to work with Yuri. And whether or not you wanna decide to work with Yuri again is also gonna be something that Gabe is gonna have a lot to say about. And I would say that like, when you’re involved in that conversation, if you invite him into it, he will definitely have things to say.
I would love if we could make some time and make some room right now for both y’all as players, and as characters, to talk about what it is that you want, and to talk about the things that are gonna guide—that you’re thinking about as guiding your decisions, and to talk about how those things—if you want to—align with you as a person who is sitting in this room. Um because I think we’re about to get into some like really complicated social issues, and you wanna be true to your character, which may think one thing, and you also wanna be clear that that’s maybe not how you, as a person, feels. So I think that like this is maybe a time for us to have a little bit of that conversation? How do you feel about that?
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ OOC ] Yeah!
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ OOC ] Down.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ OOC ] Sounds great. > Bijan / “T.K.”: [ OOC ] Sounds good.
> Mike / G.M.: The only thing that I wanna frame this as is: You guys are free agents! You guys choose jobs, choose to do and not do jobs based upon your feelings as characters and players. There’s no central authority that is just sending you out to do something. You’re not like a James Bond with a MI... MI-6? MI-6? You’re not just running errands for someone. You get to decide what it is that you do and why. And I think that, yeah, I would just love to just hear about what you think of that aspect of your character, period, the end.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ OOC ] Yup.
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ OOC ] Mm-hm.
> Mike / G.M.: And also how you see yourself progressing with your current challenges. And I think you can—you can treat this as: this is just us around the table talking about this. You don’t have to—you can do as much of this in character as you like—
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ OOC ] Yeah. You can talk about the show. > Mike / G.M.: Yeah, you can—yeah.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ OOC ] Right. Luxe you know, tells them obviously about Severin calling, and he tells them about the meeting tomorrow, and he gets the feeling that everyone might be on the fence. And so Luxe just says: [ IC ] Look, I’ll put it this way. I have a hunch. That’s all I have. My hunch is that Evo is an evil fucking corporation that is doing stuff to the brains of police officers. And I think that it’s connected to these violent events that weren’t happening before and happening at the same time. I don’t know if that’s—there is a connection there.
[ 00:20:07 ] > Mike / G.M.: When you say violent events, you mean the people who were just like in the drunk tank or whatever, and they’re—?
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] In the drunk tank and just mysteriously disappearing and shit like that. Like, to me that rings as really fishy that these things—that these events are happening simultaneously. That is a hunch, but if that’s the case then we’ve got an en—a corporation with an enormous amount of power influencing the police that have an enormous amount of power to be doing some really evil shit. And I’m not okay with that, so that’s why I want to hear him out. That’s all—So I’ll put that to you guys, that’s all—that’s all I’m thinking.
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ OOC ] What kind of game do you want to play? Like do you want like, do you want the show to be, do you want the game to be where you have a principled stance against the powers that be, whatever they are, or like, are you interested in being like a pirate who wants cash. And there’re, obviously there’s an infinite number of options, but like, what do you, how do you want to play it, like what do you want—
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ OOC ] I mean from a player standpoint, I think—I think I know the answer for what T.K. would do. I think T.K. uhm, T.K. is like a—without going into too much of his backstory—is somebody who hasn’t, like, had that much time with other people. And I think you know, I think T.—if—like in response to, to Luxe’s speech, I think T.K would sort of: “Wait a minute!” and say something like, you know: “I—I trust you. Because—because we’ve worked together for this long, because, because I haven’t—I haven’t felt like this, I haven’t had a group
like this since, since I was a kid and was running with the rest of the orphans. I haven’t, I haven’t trusted anybody enough to, to want, to believe them when they say they have a hunch. And this is the first time that I feel like I can do that. So if you really believe this—"
> Mike / G.M.: What do you as a—What do you as a person, yeah, like—
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ OOC ] As a person, I mean like, also the other thing that makes this like a thing for T.K. is like—and the reason this has weight is, like, he doesn’t like the cops. He grew up on the streets. He doesn’t—He really has an instinctive sort of, you know, hunching—like, like, he, he flinches away—he flinches away from them because he knows how much power they have and how much power they can wield, and how, how the corporations can sort of do the same thing. Like he, if, you know, he hadn’t moved in with Luxe however many moons ago, he wouldn’t be here, you know. And I think, uh, that is an unexplained background thing. [Bijan laughs]
> Mike / G.M.: Everybody has an interesting backstory.
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ OOC ] Yeah that, that’s part of a backstory that we have to [ Taylor laughs ] that we have to elaborate in perhaps a future game. [ Mike chuckles] But that’s the thing, that’s why—So this, this matters to T.K. is like, it works on two levels for him. First, it’s like, you know, like the fact that he’s willing to-to even consider working with the police is a big thing, and the second thing is it means he’s-he’s, you know, sort of ac-, like, sort of acquiescing to the group in a way, and trusting the group in a way that he hasn’t done in, you know, years.
> Mike / G.M.: It sounds like there’s a small element of: “Okay, prove it to me.”
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ OOC ] Yeah. Yeah, ‘cause it’s like, you know, like: “I trust you for this, but
let’s hope you’re right.”
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ OOC ] So Jenn the person loves, I mean, total agreement with Luxe. Jenn the person is all about being a good person, but uhhm, Viv is a goddamn pirate. [ Taylor chuckles ] And she loves money. And it’s not necessarily for stuff, I mean, it is partially for stuff, but magic is expensive. Orichalcum’s expensive. Foci are expensive. Uhm, building a lodge and doing rituals—those are expensive. So, for her to remain a powerful part of the team, she is after money.
But at the same time, she answers to a higher power. All these relationships and corporate things actually don’t matter to her so much as long as she can remain in power. I mean, you’ve seen in previous episodes that the only reason she will cower, the only reason she will get nervous, is if the calm waters of her mind get disturbed, and if Mother, O’ Mother, the Sea goes after her and asks her for something, that is a moment where she’s going to be a little weaker and have to answer to nature. But she’s been doing this for a long time, this is probably the group she’s been with the longest, I think it’s only been two years, right? Is that?— She’s usually a lone wolf.
> Mike / G.M.: I think in canon, you guys have been working together less than five years— > Jenn / “Viv”: [ OOC ] —Yeah, less than five years—
> Mike / G.M.: —maybe around five, but yeah, I think, yeah, two to five sounds right.
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ OOC ] Yeah so previously she had been a lone wolf, travelling on her boat up
and down the rivers. She’s sympathetic to the situation—
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ OOC ] Let me ask you something. If she looks at like, the material world, and like, the-the megacorps and all the-the-the culture, the trends, and all the clubs, and the world of the Sixth World, right, Neo-New York or whatever—
> Mike / G.M.: [ In a stage whisper ] It’s just regular New York. Just regular New York.
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ OOC ] It’s just regular—Sorry, I’m sorry, I can’t help it.
> Mike / G.M.: If you want to put something in front of it, you can call it Rebuilt New York. > Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ OOC ] David Cohen fucking ruined me. I, ah, so—
> Mike / G.M.: Futurama? New New York— [Jenn laughs]
[ 00:24:52 ] > Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ OOC ] Yeah, Yeah, it’s just so tight, dawg. If-if all that material stuff and the way of the world doesn’t interest her, and that’s sort of just an ends to a mean—a-a means to an end, for her to, like, advance in magic, does she have something in mind that she’s working towards? Is there some sort of, like, apotheosis of Viv that she’s got as a long view?
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ OOC ] Hmmmm, I think—hmmmm. Heh, I haven’t really gotten that far with it yet? Uh, I mean, it feels so far away to-to even rebuild part of the lodge, ‘cuz right now it doesn’t have, like, ritual materials. I don’t have any—I have like some reagent, but I don’t have all the things to start branching into alchemy. I don’t have any knowledge in that area or material. So there’s still, like, a wealth of magic knowledge that she doesn’t know.
> Mike / G.M.: And that’s, I think, a very in-canon read on a magic user is that they are just all, you wanna know more—
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ OOC ] Yeah.
> Mike / G.M.: You wanna—Your whole thing is understanding the base level operations of the
universe. You wanna just be in con—in, as in command of that as you possibly can.
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ OOC ] Yeah, like, you don’t know what’s at the top of the ladder. But you’ve just gotta clim—
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ OOC ] Yeah, I just want to keep climbing, exactly. [ Jenn chuckles ] But you know, being with the crew though, has humanized her. You know, she could just be silent and sitting on the sea on her boat, and not doing anything, and still trying to study. But, you know, she—I mean, she learned a lot from Jast, just by battling him.
> Mike / G.M.: So it sounds like there’s an element of, like, those are things that she aspires to, but not in a way where it’s at any cost.
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ OOC ] Yeah, no, there’s— She seems to have toned down the ruthlessness a little bit.
> Mike / G.M.: I mean, to be fair though, sometimes comes back. [ Nick chuckles ] > Jenn / “Viv”: [ OOC ] True. It’s true. Disturb her enough...
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ OOC ] Sorry to that man. [ Jenn chuckles ]
> Mike / G.M.: R.I.P. Cairn.
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ OOC ] Yep.
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ OOC ] Yeah, for Lash, uh, obviously she’s very brash, she’s young, she’s nineteen years old, and she’s really—her choices are based on: She lives in the moment obviously, and she goes off her gut. So, if she decides she likes someone, she decides she wants to work for them. She doesn’t really think about bigger picture things. You know, part of it is that she lives in the moment, part of it is that she’s dealing with a deep existential crisis that she’s going to die soon because orcs die young. Uhm, and that is the whole reason why she became a Shadowrunner. Ah, so she just really just, she just lives in the moment, she doesn’t care if she dies—it’s all just like feeling good now.
So for her, she-she met Verne, and she was like, “I think I like that guy,” so she’s like, “Let’s work for him.” It’s just fully in-the-moment kinda thing, so yeah, that’s-that’s where her head’s at. She likes Yuri, she got a good vibe off of him, and she’s like, “I’d like to see him again,” so she wants to work for him again. She probably doesn’t give a shit about the guy, the uhm, what was his name, the red-faced guy?
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ OOC ] Neck.
> Mike / G.M.: You guys don’t know his name.
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ OOC ] Oh, sorry. [ Taylor and Shannon laugh ]
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ OOC ] We don’t know his name—
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ OOC ] Ah! Head! Elbow! Hand! I’m just naming body parts.
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ OOC ] She probably doesn’t care about that uhhhm, evil ghost—
> Mike / G.M.: Yeah, yeah, many-armed man.
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ OOC ] She doesn’t care about that many-armed man, because she’s like, “All right, that guy was an asshole.”
> Mike / G.M.: Bad vibes, bad vibes!
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ OOC ] Bad vibes, for showing us our friends tortured. [ Shannon lets out a laugh ] So, yeah, she’d be happy to, you know, fight against him. She’s, and yeah, she—I mean, she cares about her fellow Runners as well, so she wants them to be happy because when they’re in a good mood, it’s a lot better for her.
> Mike / G.M.: This is maybe a very strange metaphor, but it sounds like Lash is always reacting in a way?
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ OOC ] Yeah.
> Mike / G.M.: She’s kind of, she’s kinda like a wind-sock?
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ OOC ] Yeah.
> Mike / G.M.: Like, she kinda goes in whatever direction she’s-she’s blown, a little bit?
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ OOC ] One-hundred percent.
> Mike / G.M.: But-but that is largely determined by just in-the-moment something happens, she reacts to it, and then...
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ OOC ] Exactly. And it’s very like, uhh people driven, so it’s her interactions—I think she’s...
> Mike / G.M.: Hmm.
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ OOC ] ...She’s constantly wanting fun, and interaction, and excitement,
and work—
> Mike / G.M.: And a challenge.
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ OOC ] And a challenge. So whatever it is facing her, that’s what she’s gonna, she’s gonna wanna do, and she’s gonna jump all into it.
> Mike / G.M.: Can you guys talk a little bit now, in the context of knowing these things, now that we sort of have this open about your character, let’s go down the list of where you’re—what your current things are. Do you think you’re gonna go and meet with Verne tomorrow morning?
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ OOC ] I think T.K. would say yes.
> Mike / G.M.: Yeah, that was—I think that was the clearest— > Bijan / “T.K.”: [ OOC ] Yeah.
> Mike / G.M.: I got that very clearly from what you said.
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ OOC ] Viv needs to be convinced.
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ OOC ] Lash is all in.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ OOC ] So, uh, Luxe sort of turns to Viv and says: [ IC ] What would you need to hear from Verne for you to be convinced that we should help them?
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ IC ] Equal pay or higher than the job that we’re turning down.
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ IC ] I don’t think he has the money for that, I think that’s-that’s sort of—
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ OOC ] How much is the—how much is the money?
> Mike / G.M.: You don’t know, but in theory, this is content that you will be availed of during your meeting.
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ IC ] I mean it couldn’t hurt to just take the meeting.
> Mike / G.M.: So what you’re—it sounds like what you’re saying is that you’re fine with the
meeting; you’re not sure about taking the job that he’s gonna offer you.
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ OOC ] Yes.
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ OOC ] ‘Cuz if we—
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Oh I see, yeah I thought you were just being—you needed to be convinced to go talk to Verne. I was like, yeah, let’s just go hear what he has to say.
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ IC ] ‘Cuz if we don’t like it, we still have all of the— We still have all the—
[ 00:29:59 ] > Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Yeah, we still have the data, and we can still upload. I’ll be frank with you too, I-I need to be convinced a little bit as well. I’d, I would like your guys’ help in doing some Matrix searches to see if my hunch has anything to it? Uh, cross-referencing dates of when these events started happening, versus when Evo contracts were implemented, uh and specifically when they started taking in officers uhm, you know, locations, things like that. Uhh, Artemis, can you help with that as well?
> Molly / “Artemis”: [ IC ] Today the high is 84, with the low of 83.
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] Incredible!
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] A low?
> Molly / “Artemis”: [ IC ] Happy National One-Degree Day! [ Nick laughs ] > Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] Whooaaw, One-Degree Day?
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ IC ] I didn’t know it was a holiday! > Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] It’s not. Artemis—
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] Thanks Artemis!
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Artemis, whatever tells you that’s a national holiday, scratch it, that’s not right.
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ IC ] No, keep it on the books, I like it. > Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Okay.
> Molly / “Artemis”: [ IC ] Do you trust this Artemis?
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] What?
> Molly / “Artemis”: [ IC ] Click ‘Yes’ to trust this Artemis.
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ IC ] Oh my goodness.
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ IC ] Artemis, shut up, we don’t need this right now.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Art—Wait, that’s you!
> Molly / “Artemis”: [ IC ] Downloading update.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] What? [ Nick laughs in exasperation ]
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ IC ] What update? Gabe! [ Taylor laughs ]
> Mike / “Gabe”: [ IC ] Listen, I said that she was gonna get better over time, I’m sorry.
> Mike / G.M.: Uh, and he walks over to a panel and like, jiggles some wires and you hear Artemis kinda like, glitch in and out a little bit.
> Molly / “Artemis”: [ IC ] [ Distorted ] Haappy One-Degreee Day — Happy O-one-Degree Day — Happy One-De-gree Day [ people chuckling in the background ]
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ IC ] Oh my.
> Mike / “Gabe”: [ IC ] There, I, I um, I diverted some of it, uh, I diverted some power from
some of the other processors on the-on the boat, and she should be— > Molly / “Artemis”: [ IC ] Shutting down life support.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] What?!
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ IC ] Oh my.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Wait, who are you supporting? [ Taylor laughing heartily ]
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] Wait, who is connected?
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Who are you supporting Artemis—don’t do that! > Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] Who’s on your life support?
> Mike / “Gabe”: [ IC ] I—
> Molly / “Artemis”: [ IC ] I have sixteen ant farms on the lower decks. > Jenn / “Viv”: [ IC ] Oh my god.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Artemis, uh I’d like to say, I’d like to check to see if there’s any connection between the Evo contracts and these mysterious police events.
> Mike / G.M.: What I would say to you as the other—as the other half of the universe that didn’t do the tease but did other stuff. As far as mysterious things happening to police officers at Evo, Verne is maybe one of a dozen people who knows what this is. And that, as far as any of this reaching any, even remotely public, textual, searchable format.
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ OOC ] I gotcha baby.
> Molly / “Artemis”: [ IC ] No results found for ‘mysterious disappearances’ and ‘Evo’. > Jenn / “Viv”: [ IC ] Artemis, we have ants?
> Molly / “Artemis”: [ IC ] Sixteen farms of ants.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Those are your ants? How did you get ants?
> Molly / “Artemis”: [ IC ] They were on the ship. I woke up.
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] Oh.
> Molly / “Artemis”: [ IC ] It was you and a bunch of ants.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] I didn’t know that.
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] Those may be my ants, if we’re going to point fingers. Artemis, could you please look up what you would normally bring to a, uhm, a— [ OOC ] —is it Austrian?
> Mike / G.M.: Bavarian.
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] Uh Artemis, could you please look up what you would bring to a
Bavarian brunch? What’s-what’s proper?
> Molly / “Artemis”: [ IC ] A Bavarian brunch usually includes Vast Schwarts beer. > Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] Okay, I guess we gotta get—pick ourselves—
> Molly / “Artemis”: [ IC ] Schatzel, ...
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] [Shannon laughs ] Gotta pick sure—gotta pick ourselves up some
Verser Schpatzel if we’re gonna head over to Verne’s. > Bijan / “T.K.”: [ IC ] Did she say beer?
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Yeah.
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ IC ] Did she mean soy beer?
> Molly / “Artemis”: [ IC ] Dark Schpatzel, ...
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] Dark Schpatzel—you ever heard of it?
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] I-I-I don’t know if we need to bring him gifts, Lash.
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] [ In a slightly mocking tone ] Well, we’re just gonna show up [ Nick laughs ] to his place at 10 AM?
> Molly / “Artemis”: [ IC ] Hass Macher Schemft, ... [ Shannon laughs ] > Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Artemis, what is Hass Macher Schvemft?
> Molly / “Artemis”: [ IC ] ... Darker Schpatzel
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Okay, Artemis, are you done listing things?
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ OOC ] I know what all these mean because I speak the language. > Mike / G.M.: You, Shannon? [ Nick laughs ]
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ OOC ] Yeah, me Shannon, but also Lash.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ OOC ] Yeah.
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ OOC ] Remember, she’s fluent. [ Shannon laughs ] > Mike / G.M.: Okay, so digging our way out of—
> Molly / “Artemis”: [ IC ] Regular Shpatzel, ...
> Mike / G.M.: I mean, [ Nick and Jenn laughing ]
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ IC ] Gabe, can you unplug her? [ Nick laughs ]
> Molly / “Artemis”: [ IC ] No! Please! I have feelings! [ Shannon laughs, Nick chuckles ]
> Mike / “Gabe”: [ IC ] I promise after several more production meetings, Artemis will become more charming.
[ Shannon laughs, Nick chuckling ]
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ OOC ] Ah— [ Mike laughs ] Wow. > Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] I think she’s great.
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ IC ] What are we going to do about Mo Ashina?
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] We have twenty-four hours, I say we meet with Verne, and then hear what he has to say, we decide right after, and if you guys aren’t with me, then we go and we march up to Mo Ashina and we, or we don’t have to—we can just upload it. And we upload it.
> Mike / G.M.: Just to be clear, she asked you not to upload it. You need to, ahm— > Jenn / “Viv”: [ OOC ] Put it in cold storage.
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ OOC ] Drop it off.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ OOC ] Put it in cold storage—drop it off, yes.
> Mike / G.M.: Drop it off, You have to basically infiltrate a highly secure location and drop it off.
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ OOC ] And another team will pick it up.
> Mike / G.M.: Correct.
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] Yeah, I mean, I think we shouldn’t worry about—she gave us some extra time. We’ll worry about her once we get the word from Verne on uh, what he can offer us.
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ IC ] So we were asked not to take another job from Yuri.
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] Yeah...
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ IC ] But, I don’t have any reason to trust this person who invaded our minds. > Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Right
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ IC ] Feels like a Jast thing to me.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] [ softly ] Yeah he’s working with Jast.
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] Yeah, that guy’s drippin’ with Jast.
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ IC ] And also magic? Jast is a magic guy too.
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] Yeah, well, you know, I don’t want to say that magic users are all the same. [ Laughter ]
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ IC ] We are not.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Yeah, don’t start a sentence saying you don’t wanna say that. [ Shannon
laughs ]
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] But that guy’s drippin’ with Jast, all over him.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Mhmm, he is.
> Mike / G.M.: As you guys are talking about this, in game, Gabriel starts to look very upset, and very, sort of worried, and he starts to fidget, and—
[ 00:35:02 ] > Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Gabe, what’s going on man, you all right?
> Mike / “Gabe”: [ IC ] You-you have, you have, also have no reason to trust Yuri. You sho—
The last thing that you should do is more work for him.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Who is Yuri, what did he do? What has he done? We don’t know anything about that.
> Mike / “Gabe”: [ IC ] He’s, he, listen. Let me tell you a story about Yuri. Once, I was riggin’ for him—musta been a bunch of years ago at this point. He spent, [ Mike sighs ] I dunno, it was a while, probably like a few years, getting together this team of technomancers. All young kids—teenagers. I dunno how he did it, he musta spent a mint. He went around to all these orphanages to find these kids who had been abandoned by their parents. ‘Cuz I mean, [ Mike sighs ] Sorry to bring this up Lash—you know how it is, like, people don’t trust technomancers—they’re scared of them, so maybe they find out their kid is a technomancer, they, you know, they bring them to a—they just get rid of them.
So he goes around, all over the place, finding these kids who have been surrendered by their parents, and ahm, he uh, I mean, I dunno, he basically brings em up. I don’t know if he adopted them or what but they were always around the house. He was always trainin’ em, he was taking em here and there—they were getting on planes, going all over the country, He’s joking that he’s putting em through ‘Community College’ whatever that means.
So after a number of years, they’re ‘ready’ and he sends them out on this job. Which is under Manhattan, under the superstructure. Apparently one of the corps has some sort of facility there. I didn’t know there was anything there other than rubble, but apparently there’s something. And uh, it was all very hush-hush, but anyways, the job, whatever it was, goes off without a hitch— And I mean, of course it does! These kids were basically raised to do this job—they were pro- Runners, through and through, like, trained with military precision.
He invites them back to his weird Bank House, uh, you know, winner winner chicken dinner, you know how he is, and he’s serving em Rum Runner cocktails ‘cuz he thinks he’s funny. And he just kills them all. Right there. Right in his kitchen, near that island where he cooks.
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ IC ] The one we sat at?
> Mike / “Gabe”: [ IC ] I mean, I dunno, probably.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] How did he kill them?
> Mike / “Gabe”: [ IC ] Shot ‘em.
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ IC ] Did they finish their drinks first? > Mike / “Gabe”: [ IC ] No. Didn’t even get them.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Oh.
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ IC ] That’s rude.
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ IC ] Sounds pretty top-secret.
> Mike / “Gabe”: [ IC ] He got, he got a bunch of us together who were on other jobs, and he was like, “Hahah—” [ OOC ] Ugh, I can’t do it. I don’t know if I can do a Yuri voice. [ Nick chuckles ] Wait, hold on, do Yuri for me? Can I do Gabe doing Yuri?
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ OOC ] Yuri would say, “Technomancer Shmecknomancer.” [ In Yuri’s voice ]
> Mike / “Gabe”: [ IC ] He got a bunch of us together who were doing other jobs, and you know, I mean, you know how he is, he was like, he was like, “The other jahb, it ehh, cannot have any loose ends. Soo, it’s all very practical—all of you, you don’t have anything to worry about. Ah, you know, you dod not know things that cannot be known, so, yooh who want’s pizza and ice cream!”
And, and, I mean it’s just, that’s the kinda guy he is. It’s his game, he’s your, he’s your best friend until he doesn’t need you anymore, and then you’re a loose end. I mean I don’t—I’m not gonna talk for you, look you do whatever you want, but I’m done being a loose end. I’m forty- eight years old, my life should belong to me, and not some Johnson managers. So like take the job if you want, but I-I want as little to do with it as possible. And ju—and be careful.
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ IC ] Hmmm.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Hm.
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] He shot ‘em?
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Yeah.
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ IC ] Technomancers, five of ‘em.
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] Ah... [ Shannon sighs ] It’s hard for me.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] [ softly ] Yeah.
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ IC ] Do you like Rum Runners?
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] I mean I just feel like I should just ask him, just, why? > Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] You’re gonna bring it up?
[ Bijan and Shannon laugh ]
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] Mm, yeah! I’m gonna ask the guy.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Lash, maybe you shouldn’t. [ Bijan laughs ]
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] I dunno!
> Mike / G.M.: Does—Hey Yuri, what’s the deal! Does—
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ OOC ] And we’re in initiative.
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] I dunno, I figure I should just ask the guy!
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ OOC ] Don’t talk about the war.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Viv?
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ IC ] Hm.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Are you afraid of this Yuri guy?
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ IC ] Not afraid of him.
> Mike / “Gabe”: [ IC ] That’s—yeah.
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ IC ] I’m afraid of what he will do to Lash.
> Mike / “Gabe”: [ IC ] He’s, I mean, he would th—I—Well, I mea—he doesn’t—I don’t know if you’ve had this interaction with him, but he doesn’t love the Awakened. But it’s not—it’s not prejudice that motivates him, it is—it is when you are no longer useful.
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ IC ] Hmmm.
> Mike / “Gabe”: [ IC ] This is why I was very happy to join you, because, in theory, [ Mike
sighs ] taking the job with you, doing the Jast job, meant my loose end was tied up.
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ IC ] Wait, what do we think—What do we think the stakes are if we, if we kick the Yuri can down the road?
> Mike / “Gabe”: [ IC ] I mean you don’t got—don’t, don’t, also don’t decide now on my account, but I just wanted to let you—You were talking about it, and I wanted to let you know how I felt.
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] Gabe, your opinion is important to us. I want you to feel at home here. Like, we are your friends.
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ IC ] Plus, none of us know how to use this boat. > Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] Yeah, that too.
> Mike / “Gabe”: [ IC ] Hmm, I see. [ Mike chuckles ] It’s a relationship of convenience and also emotions.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] And Artemis needs so much work. [ Mike laughs ]
[ 00:40:01 ] > Molly / “Artemis”: [ IC ] Playing Men At Work. [ Down Under by Men At Work
starts playing ]
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Artemis, off! [ Song stops playing ]
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Thank you.
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ IC ] [ Jenn sighs ]
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ IC ] Thank you for telling us how you feel, Gabe. I really. It really, really—We really appreciated it.
> Mike / “Gabe”: [ IC ] [ In a low voice ] Thanks for listening.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Well one question I would have is if we say no to him, then I feel like
we become useless to him. Then do we become another loose end if he can’t use us, then...
> Mike / G.M.: Gabriel sinks his head and rubs-rubs his bald, tattooed skull with his, with his hands and lets out this long, exasperated sigh. And under his breath says:
> Mike / “Gabe”: [ IC ] This is, this is how they get you. This is always how they get you.
> Mike / G.M.: ...to no one in particular.
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] Well I am looking forward to the Bavarian brunch tomorrow.
> Mike / G.M.: It is getting late, and so I think that y’all have had a very meaningful conversation. If you need to heal, retire, sleep, whatever, now’s the time to do it.
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ IC ] Lash where are you going to get that stuff at this hour? > Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] Uhm, I’ma order it on the Matrix!
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ IC ] Ah, I don’t know anything about that.
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ OOC ] Uh, Viv heads back to The Mirage to, ah, to meditate. She does this starfish-like—she lays on her back like a starfish, just sprawled out, and breathes like the sea. Which just sounds like: “HEUUUHHHHHHH.” She does it nine times because waves break in threes, and the ninth is always strongest. And that’s how she rests before bed.
[ Anticipatory, beating music begins playing ]
> Mike / G.M.: Gabe, drained, also heads to bed. As he and Viv sleep, the rest of the team prepares for their meeting with Verne. Luxe asks Lash and T.K. to do him a favor: search the Matrix for any suspicious Evo-NYPD overlap. Lash agrees, but asks if in return, Luxe could head to the market and get some German food items for their meeting tomorrow. He begrudgingly agrees.
T.K. goes off on his own search. Concerned about Gabe’s account of Yuri, he tries to find anything he can about their egg-having, bank-living, convivial Johnson. He finds a surprising dearth of information. And even what he found on The Mrs. Egg has been trashed. T.K. does strike upon something though. Searching property records, peeking in some private databases, he doesn’t, strictly speaking, have access to, he finds that Yuri’s Rite-Aid Bank House is owned , in fact, by a small corporation, the principal of which is one, Hector Rodriguez, a tall, black minotaur.
Lash comes up empty-handed in her search on any Evo-NYPD muck. But the next morning, she’s nonetheless excited to see Luxe and see what he’s found on his errand.
[ Music slowly fades out ]
[ Intermission music starts playing ]
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ OOC ] Ahoy, there, chummers! Ah, it’s me, your favorite bad boy, Tito Taylo’ Mo’, and I am here to tell ya that there is a whole galaxy of exciting entertainment [ Taylor chuckles ] beyond what you are even experiencing now. And it’s all the secret, private things we make available to those who support us on Patreon. It’s a club, it’s a family, it’s a cruise ship full of people with like minds and sensibilities who have access to things like: outtakes—insane, ridiculous outtakes that we cannot even publish in a normal episode. Uh, also crazy stuff from the world, the deep dive into the rules, the character sheets, conversations from um Mike and I about how we run the game, conversations with characters—a whole other show called Fun Chatty where we talk about the show. Great stuff like that. Even like, music stuff—high quality audio files of the actual beats you can hear the music, and you can hear the music as it is meant to be heard. All this and more, including our really rad Discord for you at patreon.com/funcityventures. Patreon! Get your head in the game!
[ Intermission music slowly fades out ]
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ OOC ] Okay, uh I do end up with half of the things that Lash said, but the other half, I just get a bunch of shrugs about what it is or how to get it, so I’m on my way back,
[ Mike laughs ] uhm. With some, some Bavarian-slash-Austra—Austrian [ Nick chuckles ] — maybe Australian [ Shannon laughs ] I don’t know, ah, ingredients, slash—
> Mike / G.M.: You were—you were in the Australian grocery store demanding Au— [ Nick and Shannon laugh ]
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ OOC ] Demanding Austrian food— > Mike / G.M.: —demanding Bavarian breakfast items.
[ 00:44:57 ] > Nick / “Luxe”: [ OOC ] Yes. And you know, Luxe will never know that, but that is what happened. Uhm, and he’s, he’s semi-content with what he’s got, uhhm, and uh, he doesn’t feel it’s necessary to have it all, but he did promise Lash, even though she [ Nick chuckles ] she got literally nothing, uh, for him.
So he’s almost on the way back, he’s almost all back to the ship at this point.
> Mike / G.M.: So you guys get into Henley the Bentley, who, which is missing a window unfortunately.
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ IC ] Fuck. [ OOC ] T.K. is just cursing under his breath [ IC ] I’m tired. > Jenn / “Viv”: [ IC ] You know I can fix that later.
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ OOC ] There’s a goose in there.
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ OOC ] T.K. says, [ IC ] You better.
[ Taylor makes the sound of a goose honking.] [ Jenn and Nick chuckle, Bijan sighs ]
[ Shannon makes the sound of a goose honking.]
[ Nick makes the sound of a goose honking.]
> Mike / G.M.: It’s uh, gathered a bunch of its possessions in the backseat. [ Nick chuckles ]
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ OOC ] It makes sense for the Critter Division to have a goose in the back [ Mike laughs ]
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ OOC ] Yeah, we keep the goose.
> Mike / G.M.: It’s a part of the team now.
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ OOC ] [ Laughing ] Yeah. [ Nick chuckling ] > Nick / “Luxe”: [ OOC ] The goose is coming with us.
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ OOC ] I refuse to give it a name.
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ OOC ] We put a hat on it though. > Jenn / “Viv”: [ OOC ] We’re more convincing this way.
> Mike / G.M.: Ahhm, You, so you get in Henley the Bentley and iih... and enter the... address of the PBA, and you head off?
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ OOC ] Yes. > Bijan / “T.K.”: [ OOC ] Yeah.
[ Ominous, anticipatory music fades in, and fades out slightly, but continues to softly play in the background. ]
> Mike / G.M.: Located on the very tip of—southern tip of Manhattan—the PBA remains in its historic location from before the earthquakes and floods, which is in the shadow of the National Museum of American Indians, which was renamed The First People’s Museum, and greatly expanded after the Treaty of Denver in 2018, which is the treaty that established the sovereignty of the Native American nations and ceded them large portions of the western United States.
The PBA is small in comparison to the museum, but inch-for-inch, is significantly more powerful than the local native counsel, as it represents the interests of a deeply embedded and powerful corporation. Uh, the building is squat, it’s sturdy, it’s made of large, gray stone slabs, and there’s a very fancy brass trimmed throwback art deco entryway right at its center.
Henley the Bentley pulls up right up front, drops you off... [ Music fully fades out. Ambient street noises ]
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ OOC ] Viv is tying her hair again to the top of her head, this time securing it with a desiccated crab claw.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] You guys ready to go? > Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] Mhhm hmm!
> Mike / G.M.: So you go through the center doors of the PBA office. On the other side,
[ Doors open and close. Ambient jazz muzak and indistinguishable conversations are in the background. ] you are met with—not the drab, safe, stable state architecture that you may have been expecting given the exterior of the building—uhm, but, an extremely welcoming, very brightly lit and well-appointed lobby with lots of pastel couches, a soy caffe bar with free pastries, large hanging soft box lights cast a dull and comfortable glow on all of the presumably officers and bureaucrats that walk back and forth in the office. And there is a desk, uh, right to the right when you come in. It is an old, huge, large, tall, like, towering walnut desk, and there is a very pleasant looking human woman behind it. And when she sees you, she says: [ IC ] Welcome to the police officer’s benevolence association, citizens! What brings you here this fine morning?
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Hello, huhhm, we’re here to see Verne.
> Mike / G.M.: [ IC ] Verne... I don’t know if I know a Verne! Are you sure you’re in the right
building?
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ IC ] Full name, full name. [Jenn chuckles] > Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Oh, uhmm, Verne Sollix.
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ OOC ] And as if summoned by his name, you hear him first, he’s trotting down the little hallway to the side over here, and he’s saying: [ IC ] El, El, don’t vorry, they’re viz me, they’re viz me. Come, come.
> Mike / “El”: [ IC ] Oh, oh!! You’re here to see Mr. So—oh, fabulous, fabulous, have a pleasant stay, thank you for coming. Thank you for coming to the PBA, it’s so nice to see citizens.
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] Danke El, danke. Thank you. > Mike / “El”: [ IC ] Oh, you’re such a sweetheart.
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] Here ve aahre! Ze PBA! Velcome, come viz me, come viz me, valk!
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ OOC ] I follow.
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ OOC ] I mean—yeah, we’re just, we’re following him. [ Ambient muzak and chatter is gone ]
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] Vhy are you—Are you sinking about not falloving me? [ Taylor laughing, Shannon laughs ] Come ahl ze vay here to Lover Manhattan, and you’re just sinking about—Come, come! Come! Do you want some Melba toast?
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ OOC ] T.K. takes a picture of Verne and doesn’t tell anybody.
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] Please don’t take any pictures in here.
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ OOC ] You wouldn’t know this!
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] I saw you blink in ze picture way. [ Shannon and Mike laugh ] No pictures please. As much as—we’re on ze honor system. Sank you.
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ OOC ] Yeah, T.K. keeps it. > Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] Melba toast?
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] Oh, Verne, that reminds me—uhh, we brought something, a little for you, uhhm I thought it would only be right, as we’re meeting for brunch, that we bring something, a little... [ softly ] Luxe, would you, where is it?
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] [ softly ] It’s in here. [ OOC ] I pull out a bag and I give it to Lash, I say [ IC ] It’s like all I could get.
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] Better be good. [ Shannon laughing ] And here it is! Ahhm, all the trappings of a proper Bavarian brunch.
> Mike / G.M.: Uhm, please, Lash, roll one D6.
[ Bijan laughs ]
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ OOC ] [ Jenn laughs ] Oh my god.
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ OOC ] Four.
> Mike / G.M.: It is mostly [ Mike laughs ] Australian food items. [ Mike, Bijan, Nick, Shannon, and Taylor laugh ]
[ 00:50:04 ] > Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] You brought me more Melba toast? [ Taylor laughs ] [ OOC ] Isn’t that Australian? Correct?
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ OOC ] Yeah, it is. [ Mike laughing ] > Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ OOC ] Right, it is? It is! > Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] Yeah.
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] Zis is insane, I’m—I cannot stop eating Melba toast for ze, like, six days. I found a big bag at ze store and I just am eating it like chips. And how in the vorld did you know zat I was eating ze Melba toast now?
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] Uhh, I’m so glad... you like it! [ muttering angrily ] Luxe... [ Bijan laughing, Shannon exhales in a half-laugh ]
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] That’s not all that’s in there, there’s other things [ Taylor laughing ] There’s ahm—
> Mike / G.M.: There’s a large jar of Vegemite.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] There’s Vegemite [ Shannon laughs ] in there. [ Bijan laughing ]
Something...
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] Aww zis is cute, zis is like a littol package. I have to be honest, I didn’t get you anysing, I’m so sorry.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] No, that’s fine, we—
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] Oh! PPFFFFFKKKKHHH I wasn’t expecting anything, NOOOOooooooo.
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] Come, I’ll make it up to you right now. Come to ze kitchen.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Oprah likes to, you know, have all the niceties and stuff like that, and
she also loved giving people presents. So...
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] You don’t need to...
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Yeah.
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] ...say ze fake names. [ Shannon laughs ] Ahh, mean, now—I mean we bose on ze same page here. So, come, come, come, come wiz me.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] ‘kay.
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] Vould you like some to, someting to drink?
> Mike / G.M.: Uhm, he gestures at a-a a sort of kitchenette that is a kind of vast, mechanical situation of like, levers and knobs. It’s basically an extremely complicated soda machine.
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] Zis is called ze Bevra.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Mhhm hmm.
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ IC ] I would like something.
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] It’s like ze name Debra, but ahhm, also uhhm, Bev, had ah, Beverage.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Okay. [ Nick laughs ]
> Mike / G.M.: There are, there are dozens of spouts and knobs. And there is one computer
readout screen ahh, that you can interact with if you would like to fine-tune something. > Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] I prefer to hit Tea, Hot, and zehn Random. [ Taylor laughs ]
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Okay, I’ll try that. [ OOC ] I hit Tea, Hot, then Random. [ At each selection, a springy sound confirms that a choice has been made. ] [ Bijan laughs ]
> Mike / G.M.: Ah, a cup pops out from a small sleeve [ mechanical sounds of things being pushed and pulled by servos and actuators ] and the cup is issued down the array of spouts on a little conveyer belt. [ metal hits metal ] And it stops at the first one and you see [ liquid pours ] tea, uhh, and then what was the second thing? Hot.
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ OOC ] Heat. > Mike / G.M.: Heat.
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ OOC ] Heat was the second element.
> Mike / G.M.: Yeah. Uhh, yeah, [ more mechanical moving noises ] you see a teabag drop into the cup, and then it goes forward, and you see steaming water [ metal hits metal ] come out, and then it moves a little bit further down [ mechanical movement ], and a chicken wing [ splash ] falls into it. [ Ding! ] [ Snorting laughter from others ]
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] [ holding in a laugh ] Oh I thought the tea was going to be random, like the type of tea. There’s just something that falls into it that’s random? [ Shannon laughs ]
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] Each element of ze tea is rando—[ Taylor laughs ] Each element of ze tea is rrandom...
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Oh...
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] ...You don’t know...
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] ...that’s fun!
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] ...which part will be random when you, I – I love it.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] [ still holding in a laugh ] Does it always come in a cup or is that random too? [ Shannon laughing ]
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] No, sometimes ze chicken wing is ze cup. > Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] [ Incredulously ] Okay!
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] Zere’s usually a chicken wing in some [ Taylor, Jenn laughing ] step of ze pwocess.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ OOC ] Okay, well Luxe takes it. He likes chicken wings and he likes tea, so he’s not gonna complain too much.
> Mike / G.M.: It’s a, you smell it and it’s a ginger tea. > Nick / “Luxe”: [ OOC ] Hm!
> Mike / G.M.: And a buffalo wing.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ OOC ] I’ll take it!
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ OOC ] T.K. steps to the machine and pointedly navigates to Aus—the Australia section, [ springy selection noises ] and gets himself a flat white.
> Mike / G.M.: It very happily [ mechanical noises followed by sound of liquid flowing ] produces this drink expertly. [ chime ]
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ OOC ] Viv goes up and wants something cold, carbonated, and salty. [ springy selection noises at each adjective ]
> Mike / G.M.: It flash-brews a goza for you [ mechanical noises, followed by sound of liquid pouring ] and you have [ chime ] in your hand a uh, bubbling, let’s say, blood orange, fruity beer drink.
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ IC ] Well, ah, I’m going to have a good morning.
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] Isn’t zis vonderful? Zere used to be a panel hiding all ze steps, and
ve took it off because it’s just so much fun to watch. > Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Yeah, that’s cool!
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ IC ] [ overlapping with Nick at the beginning ] Are you—Are you drunk all the time here?
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] Oh, no, ah, ve don’t do any ah, beteille, no alcohol, not vhile people are vorking no, no, no.
> Mike / G.M.: Uhm Lash, if you scroll through the menu, there’s a giant button that just says ‘Arctic Blast Gatorade’.
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] Ahh, Arctic Blast, no thank you! Blue Crush!
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] Oh noon! [ Taylor laughs ] I’m so sorry!
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] I only drink Blue Crush.
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] Lash, I’m devastated. [ Taylor sighs ] I actually got ze Gatorade and put in ze machine just for you coming today, I zought that uh...
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] Oooh, sorry, yeah, Arctic—Arctic Bliss is really not my... > Jenn / “Viv”: [ IC ] I don’t think I’ve ever seen Lash displeased with anything.
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] Please, anysing else... uh, anything you like.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] I’m good! Uhh, can we...
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] I’m good!
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ IC ] Lash, they have—they have chicken wings.
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] All right, great. [ OOC ] Uh, just as-as we’re about to leave the drink machine, a small glowing orb, uhh, about two inches in diameter, bounces [ hollow, somewhat high-pitched, bouncing sound, which starts at a medium speed but gets faster ] over the floor, and it almost knocks, ah, the chicken wing tea outta your hand, Luxe.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] OoOH!
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ OOC ] And [ Taylor chuckles ] Verne says: [ IC ] Ohh! I’m so sorry! Zis—Oh zis is so embarrassing, I’m so sorry. Vould you, a little help please, vould you hand zaht to me?
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] [ somewhat hesitantly ] Ahh, yeah.
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ OOC ] Yeah, and he takes it, he turns around, and you see that behind him, there’s like these stalls. There’s like a big stall, it’s like a, you know, a room with one wall missing, and in there’s like a ping pong table, and then the one over there’s an air hockey table, and then the next one over is this like, Tron room, where two metahumans in skin- tight white leotards are using, like, electronic neon paddles. And they’re holding it up, and they’re waving and one of them is like, “Hey Verne! [ indistinguishable ]” [ Jenn lets out a small laugh ]
[ 00:55:15 ] > Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] You guys, you’re gotta put up ze field if you’re going to play during business hours! [ OOC ] And he throws it back to them. [ IC ] [ Taylor chuckling ] Ah, we have, we have fun around here, it’s just sort of a fun atmosphere zaht ve like to hang out in. Ah, you know, people say, ‘Oh how do you get ze vork done, how do you organize union?” And I say, vell, you know, builds community, and builds friendships and relationships, and zaht is really vhat business is all about, [ temporarily higher pitched ] especially when ya in ze labor business, you know?
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] [ insincerely ] I reckon! [ normal voice ] Let’s go talk [ someone laughs ] about what you need to talk about.
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] [ normal voice ] Okay, I sink, let me check vaht ze meeting room ve have booked. And it’s de pirate ship. [ Taylor breaks out laughing ]
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ OOC ] Oh god.
[ Mike, Bijan, and Taylor laughing hard ]
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ OOC ] I’m fucked up guys, sorry, sorry.
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ OOC ] [ Jenn lets out a confused laugh ] What?
> Mike / G.M.: Can it not—
[ Taylor clears throat and laughs hard again ]
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ OOC ] Oh no.
> Mike / G.M.: Could it not be like a ba—could it not be like a Halo joke? [ Mike laughs ] > Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ OOC ] What? Halo Joke? What’s a Halo joke?
> Mike / G.M.: Like the videoga—Like the X-Box game Hal—like, right, wouldn’t the police— wouldn’t the police name their—like, “It’s in Master Chief.”
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ OOC ] [ while Mike is talking ] It’s a good game. It’s a good game. > Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ OOC ] Oh, I thought...
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ OOC ] Oh I don’t, I don’t even get the—
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ OOC ] I didn’t get the—
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ OOC ] It’s a good game.
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ OOC ] ...he, they, I though they—I was gonna put them in a little room of a pirate ship replica. [ someone laughs ] You know how Airbnb has the, all the replica meeting rooms?
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ OOC ] Yeah...
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ OOC ] Okay, now this is a deep cut.
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ OOC ] No that’s-that’s-that’s-that’s GitHub!
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ OOC ] No, I think...
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ OOC ] Airbnb has the Dr. Strangelove Situat—War Room... meeting room.
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ OOC ] Oh they, GitHub has, has the Situation Room from the White House. > Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ OOC ] Oh really?
> Mike / G.M.: Are you kidding me?
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ OOC ] There’s so many of these places that have these fun office space
[ indistinguishable ]
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ OOC ] Oh no, sorry, the res, they have an Oval Office, they have an Oval Office.
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ OOC ] Airbnb has a re-a recreation of the, The War Room from Dr. Strangelove.
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ OOC ] Wow.
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ OOC ] Yeah, uhh...
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ OOC ] Fucking burn it to the ground!
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ OOC ] [ Taylor laughs ] ... I know, I know.
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ OOC ] If I ever see another ping pong ball. Jeez. [ Taylor laughs ] > Bijan / “T.K.”: [ OOC ] Okay, ping pong is fine; it can stay.
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] Okay, ahm, let me see about the meeting room, ah, we have booked... [ OOC ] And he’s checking his little commlink, and he says [ IC ] Oh zis is fun, ve’re in ze Love Actually room.
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ IC ] Love Actually?
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] Err.
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] Do you know zis?
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ IC ] No.
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] From before ze Cataclysm?
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ IC ] Oh.
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] It’s a nineties movie?
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Ohh.
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] Nineteen-nineties movie?
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] Yeah, I’ve seen it about sixteen times.
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] Oh, you a big fan?
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ IC ] Why’ve you seen it?
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] Uhhhkh. It’s—uhhk, long story. I love it [ Shannon and Nick laughs ]
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ IC ] T.K.’s—T.K....
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] That’s a very short story.
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ IC ] T.K. does a matrix search for it, but doesn’t tell anybody he’s looking for it.
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] I’m so happy you’re a big fan of ze Love Actually ‘cuz we’re going to ze room! Come!
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] Oh!
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] Lash, you go in first.
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] I would love to.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Lash—La—
> Mike / G.M.: There’s just a man standing in there with cards. > Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Lash likes the story...
> Mike / G.M.: There isn—There is not.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] ...of the loser British boy who goes to America and finds uh, uhh, a
model to in,
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] Yeah...
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] ...in Wisconsin.
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] Yeah, that’s the most believable [ someone laughs ] storyline.
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ OOC ] All right, so, you go into the room and it’s THEMED [ Taylor holds in a laugh ] like Love Actually [ Taylor and Shannon laugh ]—pictures of Martin Freeman—[ Taylor laughs ]
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ OOC ] Does it look like an airport?
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ OOC ] Yes! It looks— Yes! Okay, here’s what it is. It is a fucking airport terminal from pre-9/11 days, when anybody can walk up and there’s holograms of people coming out of it and hugging and it’s—Verne obviously is over it, so, there’s a-a— The doors close, everybody sits down, there’s a sound that turns on, [ small metal clang, and a humming briefly fades in and out ] you can tell that it’s, it’s like an, like an electric Faraday cage. No electronic e—communication going in and out of this room. And he says [ IC ] So was everyone’s okay, do you need anyting? Everyone has the tea? Everyone has the seat?
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Oh, this is actually all very nice, thank you so much, Verne.
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] Ya, just let me know if you need anysing vhile ve’re talking, and I’ll
See—
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] This—chair reclines? Whoa, it does. > Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] Ze handle is underneas ze seat...
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] Yeah.
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] ...just click ze handle...
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] Yeah, I found it.
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] ...it goes back and fors.
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ OOC ] Viv is sniffing at her salty beer and uhh, just downs it.
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] It’s very refreshing to see you just like, letting loose and hangin’ out viz each ozer. You see, I know, one sing we look for, not just in our employees, but in our contractors as vell, is culture fit! And so it’s very important to us to verk viz people zat are culture fit.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] [ inhales, and then speaks ] Well if we were to work with you, we wouldn’t be, ahm, employees, we would be, a sp-special kind of contract that we w—
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] Of course, I understand, it is not a done deal yet, I’m just—allow me to speak optimistically.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Listen, ah, let me be straightforward with you. Um, we aren’t decided that we’re gonna work with you...
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] Of course!
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] ...we have other things to talk about in private. Ahm, you already know that we have another employer that we may or may not choose to continue with. I’m here specifically, and I think a couple of my associates as well, because what I think—what I’ve heard Evo is doing—is fucked up...
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] Mm.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] ...and I want to get to the bottom of it, I want to figure out what’s going
on, and I want to stop it—if it’s going on. So—
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] Vell, zhen it looks like ve are all on ze same page. Ya? > Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Can you tell me what’s—what’s going on?
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] Vell it’s quite complicated and also I don’t uh—I don—one of ze big problems is zat ve are not a hundred-percent sure about what’s going on. I mean, look. Zis is what’s going on here. What you do is a great—taste, flavor? What ve do is great taste, flavor. Zese are two tastes zat never come togezer! Right? So what I’ve—ve’ve never contracted Sha- Sha-Shadowrun...
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] ...Shadowrunners?
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] Shadowrunners before. > Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] Yeah, sure.
[ 00:59:52 ] > Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] Ahhm, I, honestly, I’m not very uhm, very briefed on ze crime in ze Underworld. I’m mostly here in ze office, you know, talking to organizers and talk politicians, city council representatives, of ze different corporations and sings [things]. And zis
is —zis is sort of unfamiliar—vi-vi-viv me? But vone sing I am very excited about, you know, we’re very excited about being very nimble, and very flexible—We just got a second round of financing ze last half-decade...
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Oh, good...
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] ...Very big deal for us, yes. > Jenn / “Viv”: [ IC ] [ with interest ] Financing.
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] Yeah. Yeah! We-we- It was a zero-round of investment in ze PBA and might be the ink in. And uh, right now, zis most recent round is ah, sort of focused on being nimble and flexible. And I zink zat zis, you know, zis allows us a lot of, uhm, lee—leevay?
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Yeah, leeway.
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] [ Taylor clears throat ] Leevay. And uuh, I sink zat zis is ze sort of out of ze box sinking zat, ah, ve kind of need right now, is can ze PBA work viz Shadowrunner, and, to see how flexible you have been is a great boon to me.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] M’kay. Well I wouldn’t tell any of you associates you’re working with shadowrunners. I would just call us private contractors or security contractors or detective, ahhm contractors.
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] Of course, of course!
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] And I can pull my leg up completely parallel to my body.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Yeah, that’s the other handle right there.
> Mike / G.M.: And are—And are you doing that right now?
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ OOC ] Yeah, I’m j— [ IC ] And so you can tell I’m quite flexible.
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ IC ] I’m so impressed, Lash.
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ OOC ] T.K. is just, like, he looks down at his leg, looks up at Lash and just shakes his head.
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] Zhere is a variety of sings zhat ah, I—ve—need you help vis... > Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Mhm hm.
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] ...Some, most of these sings are directly related to, of course, is you know my concerns vis vhat is going on vis Evo. Ahhm.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Do you have any proof that Evo is messing with people’s minds in medical experiments.
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] [ Taylor sighs ] I vish I could tell you more, but vhat you are asking is extremely sensitive material...
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Mhhm hm.
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] And ahm, you know, even zis room here, even if ze knowledge of
vhat I know... is in your... heads, zhat creates a risk! > Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] I understand.
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] [ Stumbles over his words, almost choking ] STU-uh—a risk of ze knowledge being spread—of your safetly! I sink zat zis might be one of zose situations as I understand vhere you go to ze Mr. Johnson, and zey have a job for you, and zey pay you, and maybe, dis not a lot of ah, no one asks da que-questions.
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] So this is what I feel like we need to know. If we’re gonna be workin’ with you all here, we’re gonna be working with the NYPD, we need to know that this job is going towards fixing this situation.
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] I can guarantee you zat vhat you vill do for me is getting us much close to fixing zis situation.
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ IC ] I’d like to ask about compensation?
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] Yes! Before we discuss compensation—I’m so glad you brought it up, Viv—is very important, I actually have a question for you! My biggest concern is ahm, some of your previous actions have led me to believe zat maybe we make not ze best decisions all ze time.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Sure.
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] So, you melted a police mage...
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Uh you might have mis...
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] ...at a police convention.
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ IC ] Oh him.
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ IC ] That wasn’t us.
[ Pause, and then Jenn laughs ]
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ OOC ] Roll con—[ Nick laughs ]
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ OOC ] As if—[ Taylor joins Nick in laughing ] No, don’t worry about it. Don’t worry about it. I don’t think you have enough of a shot—
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ OOC ] No.
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ OOC ] —to justify digging into the dice trough [ Mike and Nick laughing ]
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ OOC ] Not us though.
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ OOC ] Given that he saw—
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ OOC ] He saw us.
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ OOC ] —you melt a boy. [ Taylor laughs ]
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ OOC ] Wasn’t us.
[ Taylor laughs ]
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ OOC ] Seems like a...
> Mike / G.M.: Yeah, Verne do-does not even need to buy this [ Nick laughing ]
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ OOC ] Yeah, yes. [ IC ] It’s like a stick of butter at ze beach, ze man just [ Taylor, Mike and Jenn laugh ] sort of became wet carpet zehre in front of...
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Mhm.
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ OOC ] ...everyone.
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ IC ] He antagonized me. [ in a half-crying voice ] I was in a sensitive position! [ Jenn’s nose sniffles ]
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] That is true, it is true he was messing wi-ti—to be fair he was messing with Viv’s shit, so she had to mess with his shit.
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] You vant to live in ze glass penthouse, should not be throwing stones on ozers, zis is ze old saying. Ahhm, certainly ze people I vork vith have a body counter at ze end of ze year as vell, and zats just a math number zat we must, you know, once live with. I understand where you’re coming from, but, uh, to be clear? [ Taylor chuckles ] Ze kind of jobs I vill be asking of you... will not... require... you to melt any boys... into ze floor.
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ IC ] Understood. But maybe sometimes? > Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] Text me first.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Okay, we, we will text you first.
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ IC ] Okay, we will—I will.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Yeah.
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] So, so if I’m understanding this, you want a, a strict uhh, no- hurting-someone? Or strict no... melting-someone?
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] I say, I trust your instincts.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] If I were to kiss someone’s wife for example, or sleep with her, does
that—I’ve never done that, I—
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] Huh.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] There’s some other questions around the room as well.
> Mike / G.M.: That’s a [ Mike laughing ] a lot of—[ Mike laughing ]
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] Zis might be a, if I need to call HR into ze room, please, let me know. We have a people team I sink you’ll find zem very accessible and approachable.
[ 01:05:01 ] > Mike / G.M.: A lot of people asking, uh, if I’ve kissed anybody else’s wife,
[ Taylor laughs ] uhm, asking questions that are answered by my “I’ve Never Kissed Anybody’s Wife” t-shirt. [ Taylor, Jenn, and Bijan laughing as Mike describes the t-shirt ]
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ OOC ] Oh.
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ OOC ] Oh man.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Yes. That, I think we can do. Okay, uh, [ Taylor, Mike, Shannon, Bijan, and Jenn laughing, making it difficult for Nick to get a word in ] we, we, w- we ahm—
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ OOC ] Ah I—
> Mike / G.M.: Wait, you—you th—yo-y— [ Mike goes back to laughing with the rest, and
Taylor laughs harder. ]
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Look—
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ OOC ] [ As people stop laughing ] Hold on we’re gonna need this clean, because that’s gonna have to be edited together to highlight the fucking insanity of what you just said. [ Shannon and Mike laughing, Taylor laughing as he talks ] Is it okay if I kissed—someone’s—a man’s wife and slept—well if that’s what we gotta do. [ Taylor laughs ]
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Look, if you’re telling me you want me to do that, then I will, okay, but I-I don’t know how it’s gonna solve any problems here. Uhm, but, I think—
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] I don’t know shadowrunning, zahts why I hire you!
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Right.
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] If-if running in ze shadows means you kiss s-ah someone—
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] I was actually just trying to see where the line was. Ahhm, you know, T.K.’s got a metal arm. He punches people sometimes, and sometimes they just go down and it’s fine. Sometimes the-the arm goes through the body—it-it all depends.
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ OOC ] T.K. just gets up and starts racking out push-ups... > Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Right.
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ OOC ] ...just in the conference room.
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] Okay, number one,...
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Mhm hm.
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] ...I’d say melting somebody is too far over ze line—
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Okay.
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] Sure.
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] —text first...
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ IC ] Got it.
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] ...before you melt a boy.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Text before that, all right.
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] Number two, punching ze arm right through ze body...
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] No punching the arm—
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] ...like it’s a piñata.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Right.
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ OOC ] Now he’s doing one-handed just push-ups.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ OOC ] Okay.
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ OOC ] While you’re saying all this.
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] Also text before you punch sthrough ze body.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Do you know what a clam flip is?
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] No.
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] I can show you right now. T.K. get down! [ Bijan laughs ]
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] You don’t have to—
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ OOC ] And I clam flip T.K. [ Bijan laughing ]
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ OOC ] He goes: “k—oohk” [ as if collapsing under the weight ]
> Mike / G.M.: Uhm, uhm, I’m sorry, roll for it. [ Nick chuckles, Shannon laughs ]
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ OOC ] [under his breath ] Oh shit.
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ OOC ] [ Bijan laughs ] Uh if I—If I recall correctly, this is a zero-damage move. [ Taylor laughs ]
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ OOC ] There might be too many—
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ OOC ] Yeah, it just keeps someone down.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ OOC ] —callbacks in a row right here.
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ OOC ] Yeah, it just ah...
[ Nick chuckling ]
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ OOC ] Yeah, we’re really, doing, we’re digging a little—yeah—
> Mike / G.M.: Please remember that ‘Natural Athlete’ [ Nick chuckling ] applies here.
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ OOC ] Yeea, I-I got it. It’s a, it’s a roll of twelve.
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ OOC ] Oh— Should I uh, should I roll reaction, intuition and see if I can dodge?
> Mike / G.M.: I mean it...
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ OOC ] We’re not in initiative.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] [ very softly ] Roll what?
> Mike / G.M.: ...depends upon if you want Verne to be impressed, you know?
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ OOC ] ‘cuz I’m gonna do that.
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ OOC ] Three hits.
> Mike / G.M.: I can’t believe you’re doing this.
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ OOC ] We’re absolutely doing this. We have to practice our rolls, man! > Shannon / “Lash”: [ OOC ] Someone says a cl-cla-clam flip, I gotta do it.
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ OOC ] Ya gotta do it. Uh, reaction plus intuition, let’s go. [ dice roll ] > Shannon / “Lash”: [ OOC ] I gotta do it specifically to T.K..
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ OOC ] One, two, three. Three hits.
> Mike / G.M.: Tie goes to the shadowrunner. [ Nick gasps ]
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ OOC ] Yesss.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ OOC ] [ quietly ] Shh—You just got cl-clam flipped.
> Mike / G.M.: Which in this case—
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ OOC ] It’s a grazing hit though, right?
> Mike / G.M.: Uh yeah. So, I mean you do—you successfully do a clam flip.
[ Sound of something slicing through the air. Then, a cartoonish, falling object sound where a high-pitched whine slowly becomes lower pitched as the object falls. This falling sound continues as people are talking. ]
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ OOC ] But I don’t keep him down? > Mike / G.M.: It is not—it is not a Balto Cuddle level—
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ OOC ] So, so would you say T.K. just holds her up like with his ar—wel— he’s like mid-push-up and just, she just lands on him, but he doesn’t go all the [ The falling sound stops with a thud. ] way down?
> Mike / G.M.: I think that’s fair, sure. I’ll buy it, yeah.
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ OOC ] Then he just, then he finishes the push-up.
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ OOC ] Damn.
> Mike / G.M.: So now T.K.’s just doing push-ups with Lash on top of him.
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] Great form!
> Mike / G.M.: Ahm, Verne, Verne, it is sort of unlike anything you’ve ever seen!
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ OOC ] I—No shit. [ Shannon laughs, Nick chuckles ]
> Mike / G.M.: This is like, uhm, you know—
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ OOC ] This is exactly like how we work though— [ Nick chuckles ] > Mike / G.M.: It’s like, it’s like when you, you hang out with
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] When I vas a boy, my, my godfazer took me to see ze circus. And ze acrobats vould valk on ze vire—ze little nanovires. And zey’d fly through ze air and just do zese sort of tricks....
> Mike / G.M.: I was go—
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] ...Catch each ozer viz ze feet and dey’d make the little girls flip up in ze air and just, like ze balls of ze feet. Zis is quite ze ahm, display, zat you’re putting on, I ahm, is zis, zis common in ze Undervorld, ze running in ze shadows.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Oh whi—
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ IC ] Yeah, yes, yes
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Yes, yeah.
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ IC ] Mhm hmm, mhm hmm.
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ IC ] Is it working?
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ IC ] [ indecipherable, perhaps “Who we—” ]
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] I—de, de, zhere is no ozer team [ someone chuckles ] of shadowrunne—runners who vants to vork viz ze policeman’s union.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Oh, right.
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ IC ] So we have the job. [ high-pitched chuckling/laughter ]
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] Let’s just say ze market is thin.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Okay well, we can do a non—
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] Well, hold on, before ve can agree, I—
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] ‘Kay.
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] —I need ah, at least a verbal confirmation from Mrs. Lakewood. Ahm, zat you vill be able to restrain your... abilities.
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ IC ] Yes, I can do that.
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] And vould you mind saying zat into ze black cylinder on ze table,
and hold your thumb up to ze scanner?
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ IC ] [ affronted ] Excuse me?
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] Ve have to have written confirmation zat you are... w—consenting to restrain some of your of— eh, etheric abilities.
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ IC ] Mmm. [ OOC ] Viv burps a little bit, leans forward. [ IC ] I agree. [ OOC ] and puts her thumb up against the thing.
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] There zhen, from our side, ve are all good to go!
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Well we, we still need to talk about compensation, right? > Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] Oh, of course!
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Yes, yes. Uuuhh, well, yes. Compensation and then, part of the compensation is: if we do a job for you, and it goes well and nobody gets hurt, or melted, or ca— clam flipped or anything like that, I want to be let in here. And I want more information... on this.
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] All in good time.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] And I went—I want in on this.
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ OOC ] Verne looks at you and he’s being—I want you to understand, he’s being completely sincere. And he means it. [ IC ] All in good time.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ OOC ] Can I judge his intentions, or can I buy that?
> Mike / G.M.: That’s your call. That’s kind of like, a question of how much do you, Nick, trust
Taylor. [ Nick chuckles ]
[ 01:09:57 ] > Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ OOC ] Yeah, I know I’m kinda breakin’ the rules, just telling you what to believe [ Nick and Mike laugh ] about my character. But I guess what I’m trying to say is like, his mood shifts a little bit, and he’s, he’s, he, he, the, the business persona drops a little bit—
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ OOC ] Hm.
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ OOC ] —and you see that he is speaking as Verne.
> Mike / G.M.: I think if you—if you want to judge intentions, I will tell you things that Taylor w—has not.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ OOC ] Okay. [ dice shake ]
> Mike / G.M.: And I’m gonna say that if you get a four or higher, you get a really good read on
what his deal is.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ OOC ] One, two, three, four. > Mike / G.M.: You got four?
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ OOC ] Yes.
> Mike / G.M.: Verne believe—you can tell—that Verne believes very strongly that Verne is doing the right thing, and that Verne sees you as a way for him to do that. And that, when he says that he will let you in on what he knows and what is needed to know in order to make the world better—in order to help, in order to, you know, uh, fix this problem—that he, he means it. And that he’s, right now, just covering his ass because you are a buncha criminals and one of you recently melted a cop!
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ OOC ] Yep.
> Mike / G.M.: And, you know, that’s not not a big deal. But like, what Taylor said is true. Ah, you can tell, like, Luxe in his, in his wisdom of knowing how to read people, reading body language, you know, listening, listening to how people make their points, just getting this sort of sense of where someone’s coming from—Verne has, Verne has meant pretty much everything that he’s said s—in this meeting.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] All right, then.
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] I sought zaht ze shadowrunners vould come in here and try to
intimidate me and yell at me about my parents, and call me names and such, but zis is very... > Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] We wait until the end to yell at you about your parents.
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] [ Taylor laughs ] I sink you’re joking, and I like it, I like it. So what is your [ bemusedly ] day rate? [ Taylor chuckles ]
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] Well listen, now, what we were getting’ paid by ah, some other people, uh the rate was... [Shannon laughs and Nick chuckles ] [ OOC ] Ah, she—
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ OOC ] I guess T.K.—
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ OOC ] Lash immediately commlinks everyone: [ IC ] What was the rate
again? [ Jenn laughs ]
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] All right, well we, yeah, we’ll definitely need to talk about compensation, but first why don’t you tell us about what the job is.
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] Ahh, vell, zis is, a good point. Zhe first job is zis. Zhere is a lawyer out in Morgantown. She’s small, but mighty, and she is giving me unbelievable amounts of shit every day. I, she’s trying to stop ze strike—I need ze strike to happen. Injunctions, papervork requests, she’s doing everysing she can to stop ze strike. [ chuckling ] Zis is not good!
[ seriously ] I’ve sacrificed too many sings to make zis happen.
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] You got a lawyer problem—wouldn’t be my first time.
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] [ higher pitched ] I sink, ahh, you just go convince her not to do zis to me. Yes?
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ IC ] So there’s another job after that?
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] If zis goes well and you can get her to leave me alone vizout turning her into a puddle, yes. Zere is very much more work.
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ IC ] Assuming we can do it...
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ IC ] I promise not to puddle her. What is her name? > Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] Odina somesing.
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] Odina—? What’chu say?
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] Odina. Everyone just calls her Odina.
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] Odina. And where does she live?
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] Morgantown.
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] [ mutters ] Morgantown.
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ IC ] Oh, I know where that is.
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] Have you not been to Morgantown?
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] Me? No.
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ IC ] Is there anything else we should know about her? > Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] She sinks she is ze hero of ze world.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Why is she trying to stop the strike?
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] She sinks she is ze hero! [ Taylor sighs ] People who sink zey’re heroes, zey get an idea in zey’re heads, zey sink it’s righteous. Zey do it, and zey sink, “Oh, it’s right because I do it!” not zat, “I do it because it’s right.” She sinks zat we are big bad, you know.
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] All right, so when’d’you need this done by? You—we—so we need to be changing some lawyer’s minds? By when?
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] Zere’s still plenty of daylight today if you want to go out zere and see her.
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] Seems simple enough.
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] [ slightly ominously ] I don’t sink you need to make an appointment. > Bijan / “T.K.”: [ IC ] What does that mean.
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] That means that you, you should go, regardless of—
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ IC ] Oh, just, oh just—
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ IC ] Oh, now... [ Jenn laughs ]
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] —if it fits into her calendar or not, yeah.
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ IC ] I guess for y—
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] All right, well that doesn’t seem too difficult: changing a lawyer’s mind—
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ IC ] Oh, we can do that, we’re—
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] Sh—
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] They’re not stubborn at all!
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] She’s a stubborn piece of shit. Eh, It’s going, not, not easy for you. But—
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ IC ] Hey—
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] —but zhat’s vhy you get paid ze big bucks! Which ve will discuss
by text exchange later.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Sure.
> Mike / G.M.: [ Mike laughs ] That’s a— That is— [ Taylor laughing heartily ] I like that. That’s a very convenient way to just not have to talk about money on the show, which is something that is very boring to do. [ Mike laughs ]
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ OOC ] Yeah. This is, this—
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ OOC ] [ in Verne’s voice ] Ve’ll do zat off screen!
[ Mike laughs ]
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ OOC ] This is an idea too. [ IC ] Can you just send me a number of what you want to pay for this job?
> Mike / G.M.: You receive a number on your commlink.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ OOC ] I send it to everyone. I look at Viv and said: [ IC ] That look—that
sound good?
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] And zaht’s a retainer, zen you can add daily expenses too— vhatever’s in reason. Just keep your receipt please.
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ IC ] Wonderful!
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ IC ] Buying a smoothie.
> Mike / G.M.: [ Joking, mimicking Verne’s voice ] You, you vill have to sign up for our uh, u-
freelancer portal. [ Taylor, Nick, and Bijan laughing ]
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ OOC ] [ joking in Verne’s voice ] Does everyone already have Expensify accounts? Does everyone already have Expensify accounts?
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ OOC ] Oh, gosh.
> Mike / G.M.: [ still in Verne’s voice ] If you do not already have an account, please, it only
accepts Gmail, so make sure zhat— [ Taylor, Nick, Bijan laughing ]
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ OOC ] Ohh...
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ OOC ] [ still in Verne’s voice ] In ze future, Gmail is like—
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ OOC ] AOL, yeah—
—Yahoo Mail is today. [ Mike laughs ] It’s everyone laughs at you. [ Mike, Bijan, Nick laugh ]
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ OOC ] God, net 30 or net 45—nevermind.
> Mike / G.M.: [ normal voice ] Oh it’s actually very fair at the PBA—it’s net 15. [ Mike chuckles ]
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ OOC ] Hmm.
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ OOC ] Viv is taking the glass that her beer was in, has turned it vertically, is
trying to get one more drop out of it, and it’s empty.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Do you, uh, mind giving us just one second while we confer with each other, please?
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] Shh—Ahh...
[ 01:15:00 ] > Bijan / “T.K.”: [ IC ] Can you—can you leave the room please?
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] [ reluctantly ] Shh—Yes! I can leave ze room. [ OOC ] And he leaves ze room, and shuts ze door, and kinda looks a little bit [ Mike chuckles ] in ze room—
> Mike / G.M.: Even though, yeah, there’s like—
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ OOC ] —Never been asked to leave ze meeting room at his own place. [
Mike chuckles ]
> Mike / G.M.: There’s like, uhm, the privacy shield? That’s on some conference rooms, you know, where it is translucent but not transparent. You can—some light can get through. And you just see on the other side of it this gigantic troll-shaped [ Taylor and Jenn laughing ] shadow.
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ OOC ] Completely fills the space. > Jenn / “Viv”: [ OOC ] Yeah. [ Nick chuckles ]
> Mike / G.M.: It’s just a giant, oblong, like recti—just filling one of the panes of glass. He has left.
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ OOC ] Now he’s a shadow. > Jenn / “Viv”: [ OOC ] Hmm.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] What do you guys think? > Bijan / “T.K.”: [ IC ] Yeah!
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Down?
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ IC ] I’m down.
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ IC ] It all sounds good to me, but you should all know, I’m on the records now.
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ IC ] I think we’re all on the records. Remem—
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ IC ] They have my fingerprint.
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ IC ] They, you, they—you melted, you melted a man!
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] Yeah they were gonna find you anyway, Viv. You melted a man! > Jenn / “Viv”: [ IC ] [ exasperatedly ] I— [ Jenn sighs ] [ OOC ] She just—
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] We-Wai—You guys didn’t put the fake fingerprints I gave you on?
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ IC ] I mean, we didn’t discuss it beforehand—I—it seems fine.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Guys, I gave you packages for all of your Critter Division people.
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] [ Loudly ] Oh, those were fingerprints?
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Yes! That’s included!
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] I ate them.... I thought they were little muffins.
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ IC ] Look, Lash ju— [ Taylor breaks out laughing ]
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] LITTLE MUFFINS!
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] Yeah, really tiny muffins!
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ OOC ] Viv is just mimicking Luze and moving her hands like, “wreaah wrahh wraah raah” [ Like the indistinguishable sound of an adult in Charlie Brown movies ]
[ Jenn laughs ]
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] I don’t know why I even bother with these new ideas for you guys. [ Nick sighs ] Ahhm, okay. Let’s find—this sounds good! Mo Ashina wasn’t paying us that much anyway. So—
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ IC ] I mean, we should, we sho—We should find out what’s going on, right? Like...
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Right.
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] yeah.
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ IC ] ...we—I, I’ve, I, T.K. would like to-to know more.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] All right.
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] Erm, I just love this—every time we meet with Verne, I’m just like—Yeah, this guy? He’s a pretty good guy.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Yeah. Lash, you mind go ge—going getting him for us?
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] Uh, sure.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Mm.
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] Ah, VEEEERRRRNNNNEE!! [ Mike and Jenn laugh ]
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] [ Loudly ] Lash, I coulda done that!! [ Someone laughs ]
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ OOC ] I wish there was a video of all of us recoiling from the microphones. [ Shannon, Mike, Bijan, and Nick laughing ]
[ door clicks open ]
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] Oh hey, ahh, zhat was fast, sank you for not keep me out in ze hallvay fore—[ Jenn laughs ]—all afternoon. I did remember one sing to say, ah, vhile I was out zere zouh. Vhatever you vere doing at ze policeman conventions viz me? Zhat job is? Done? Ya?
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Yeah. I don’t think we’re gonna have time... > Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] Can I get ‘ayes’ around ze room?
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ IC ] Yeah?
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] ‘kay, Lash?
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] Yes.
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] Yup. T.K., you’re like a sphinx to me. > Bijan / “T.K.”: [ IC ] [ quietly ] Good.
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ IC ] Yes.
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] Vonderbal! Zis great! I vas vorried zat zere would be friction her, but nooh, we all smooze. Ve’re smooze people all doing smooze sings zat—sank you very much, ahh, for your cooperation and yo—meeting me halfvay! at ah—I sink, I sink zis bodes vell for our relationship going forward.
And now zat shat is taken care of, I can tell you zat ve are on ze same side. And now zhat we on ze same side, I can perform certain allowances for your behavior at ze policeman’s expo. Ze footage of you melting ze boy, at ze exhibition? I’ll make zat disappear. You don’t need to vorry about any police action because of vhat you’ve done. And zis! Is a favor from me to you. I’m a good guy, you are ze good guys, now ve protect each other. [ OOC ] Ah and Verne reaches over and picks up that black cylinder from the table and just puts it [ click ] in his coat pocket.
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ OOC ] Uh, can I do a matrix search for that real fast?
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ OOC ] Uh, this is essentially just like a recorder. This is.. > Bijan / “T.K.”: [ OOC ] Okay.
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ OOC ] ...just, you know, it’s got cameras on it you can activate, and re—can record sound, can record all, like, biometric data and stuff. Ahm, it’s the same as like, you know, it’s like the 22nd century version of having a tape recorder on the table. But also, it almost definitely has Matrix capability. Like it’s—it’s big enough, and advanced enough, and expensive enough to have some sort of signal input-output.
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ OOC ] All right, I’m gonna hack it on the fly. Yeah, and the opposing roll... > Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ OOC ] And this is, just the, versus the device rating.
> Mike / G.M.: Device rating times two.
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ OOC ] Oh shit!
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ OOC ] Uhh, I got three hits.
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ OOC ] Just the one!
> Mike / G.M.: You get a mark on it.
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ OOC ] Uhh, and what can I tell from...?
> Mike / G.M.: You can tell the make and model of it. So with one mark you can perform us— > Bijan / “T.K.”: [ OOC ] Perform a free action?
> Mike / G.M.: —perform us—perform a free action with it.
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ OOC ] Okay!
> Mike / G.M.: Which in this is like, I think would just be enabling and disabling recording. Ahm, If you wanted—
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ OOC ] Okay, I’m gonna, I want to, I want to enable recording. And I, I want it to keep recording.
> Mike / G.M.: Okay. You turn recording on. > Nick / “Luxe”: [ OOC ] [ quietly ] Nice.
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ OOC ] I don’t tell any of them what’s happening, [ Nick chuckles ] but, uh, I—rest assured I will commlink them afterward.
> Mike / G.M.: Okay. So, just, just to be clear, the, the multimedia recorder that Verne has in his pocket, you have turned it on to record.
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ OOC ] Mhhm hmm. Mhhmm hmm, mhhm hmm. > Mike / G.M.: Great.
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ OOC ] Because, well, I mean...
> Mike / G.M.: H-Yeah, if you have a plan, I love it. [ Nick chuckles ]
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ OOC ] I do have a pl—! The plan is to just, ‘cuz we’re gonna see him again, and, he’s not gonna j—probably not gonna check the recording, ah, so we’ll just see if he’s actually telling the truth or not. I mean, next time we see him. After we get, after we get word from lawyers.
> Mike / G.M.: Like, you’re saying that you wanna record him... > Bijan / “T.K.”: [ OOC ] I just wanna—
> Mike / G.M.: ...just walking around the office...
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ OOC ] Yes
> Mike / G.M.: ...just talking about stuff... > Bijan / “T.K.”: [ OOC ] Yes, exactly.
> Mike / G.M.: ..and just see what’s up. > Bijan / “T.K.”: [ OOC ] Yes, exactly. > Mike / G.M.: Okay, great.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] I love it.
> Mike / G.M.: Taylor and I will record 45 minutes [ Nick and Jenn laugh ] of— inside of Verne’s pocket, [ Shannon and Nick laugh ] next week.
[ heavy breathing ]
[ 01:20:01 ] > Bijan / “T.K.”: [ OOC ] Bone cone, baby! [ note: “bone cone” is Fun City Ventures slang for bonus content ] [ Nick chuckles ]
> Mike / G.M.: [ in Verne’s voice ] Is—Do ze tea viz ze chicken ving in it! [ Jenn and Taylor laugh ] It is, ahm, a ya I—you know, I pushed the dessert to random and it vas very very tasty. [ Nick chuckles ]
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ OOC ] Feels good to do the accent, [ Mike laughs ] doesn’t it? It’s very pleasurable. [ Mike laughs ]
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ OOC ] T.K.’s only gonna get broth in a mug from now on. [ Mike laughs ] > Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ OOC ] I can tel—I think since he can see the make and model, I
can tell him more about it. If you—if you want to do that in game or if we just want to move— > Bijan / “T.K.”: [ OOC ] Tell me more!
> Mike / G.M.: Your ca—I mean yeah, your call. Uh this is the, I uh, this is—Table talk: This device is new to me. This is Taylor’s invention, so... [ Nick chuckles ]
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ OOC ] Ooohhh.
> Mike / G.M.: ...go crazy.
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ OOC ] It’s not too complicated. > Mike / G.M.: Yeah.
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ OOC ] You saw the make and model, and so, like, a cursory matrix search will tell you that these devices are exactly as I described—tape recorders—but also it has like a constant, extremely encrypted uplink to a like black box information safety deposit box. So that like, even if this thing were to be melted right now, everything it’s recorded would be sent to a en—deeply encrypted, off-site hidden location server.
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ OOC ] Got it.
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ OOC ] Yeah.
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ OOC ] That is concerning. Uhh, how long do I—
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ OOC ] I mean, ah but it’s also standard corporate—like, devices...
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ OOC ] Ri-ri-right
> Taylor / “Verne”: [ IC ] ...like this are standard corporate procedure.
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ OOC ] Uhm and, and so Vern has no idea this’s happened.
> Mike / G.M.: AS far as you know, he has no idea.
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ OOC ] That’s true. Ahm. But —oh—I presume we’ll see him in the next... 24 hours, probably.
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ OOC ] It’s connected to the matrix too, so you probably can a—ac—access it.
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ OOC ] N—I don’t think s—if it’s that secure, it’s probably...
> Nick / “Luxe”: [ OOC ] Oh.
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ OOC ] ...probably not.
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] All right, let’s go convince the lawyer! This is always what I thought I’d be doing with my life!
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ IC ] Without melting.
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ IC ] Fine.
[ Main theme begins ]
[ From now on, everyone is OOC - out of character ]
> Mike / G.M.: You are now leaving Fun City. Thank you for listening, if you want to support the show, get access to ad-free episodes, our Discord, our bi-weekly post-episode chat show "Fun Chatty", and more, head to patreon.com/funcityventures. And of course, thanks to all of our current patrons for help keeping this ship afloat.
If you like the show, you can give us a rating on iTunes, tell your pals about it, or just come say hey to any or all of us on Twitter.
[ Main theme concludes ] [ End theme plays ]
> Bijan / “T.K.”: I am Bijan Stephen, and I am T.K. You can find me online @bijanstephen on Twitter, which is B-I-J-A-N S-T-E-P-H-E-N. Or on Instagram, and you should just google that.
> Jenn / “Viv”: I'm Jenn de la Vega! I am Viv. You can find me online @randwiches, that's the word sandwiches but just replace the S with an R.
> Nick / “Luxe”: This is Nick Guercio, I play Luxe Scythe. You can find me on Twitter @nguersh and Instagram @nguercio, G-U-E-R-C-I-O.
> Shannon / “Lash”: This is Shannon Odell, I play Lash Goodbog. You can find me on Instagram and Twitter @shodell, S-H-O-D-E-L-L.
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: This is Taylor Moore and I play all the Bad Boys. I'm @taylordotbiz.
> Mike / G.M.: My name is Mike Rugnetta, I am your G.M. You can find me on Twitter and Instagram @mikerugnetta.
You can find the show on Twitter @funcityventures. Fun City was recorded at Fortunate Horse, in beautiful Greenpoint, Brooklyn. It was produced, edited, and sound designed by me, Mike Rugnetta. Pixlriffs is the chicken wing in our ginger tea. All of the show's music is by Sam Tyndall. Our art is by Tess Stone. Our Discord mods are Olivia Gulin, Kit, and Kestrel. And the voice of Artemis is Molly Templeton.
[ End theme concludes ]