The team lays low while the heat dies down. Luxe visits Verne and Riley.
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--
@funcityventures is the show on twitter
@funcityventures is the show on instagram
@bijanstephen is TK
@randwiches is Viv
@nicholasguercio is Luxe
and @shodell is Lash
@taylordotbiz is the bad boys and
@mikerugnetta is everything else
--
Recorded at Fortunate Horse in Greenpoint BK
Produced, edited and sound designed by Mike Rugnetta
Pixlriffs is the kind of guy who would delete the security footage
Our music is by Sam Tyndall - https://pileofsecrets.bandcamp.com
Our art is by Tess Stone - http://notdrunkenough.com/
Our Discord mods are Olivia Gulin, Kestrel and Kit
The voice of Artemis is Molly Templeton
--
CC-BY Licensed SFX and music used in this Episode:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CluNOlRGPHE
[ Transcription by Victoria Gibb, @Tortillus on twitter ] 20.1 A Day Off with Luxe
[ 0:00:00 ] [ Into 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, dwarfs and others. Humanity became Meta-Humanity. 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 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 infiltrates real estate corp Flippr and the city's municipal data center in the South Bronx at the behest of Irina, Yuri’s colleague. Who, in return for their help will assist with a ‘bug ghost’ problem at a new property on Highland Island. After melting a door, spying on the server room, and controlling the actions of front desk person Tyler at Flippr the team runs into pizza delivery man Andre, aka charming decker Dev Cunningham, at the Muni-Datacenter. And after locking themselves inside, they accidentally summon both the NYPD and the Lock It Up Safety Gang. Thanks to some fast hacking by Lash and a set of masterful performances by Luxe under T.K’s leadership, the team is able to make a lucky escape through underground municipal tunnels and out an escape hatch at contact Calixto’s Chamber of Commerce in the fish market. But not before T.K sees dev remove some gear and insert a data tap into the bundle of cables seemingly joining the Muni-Datacenter and Flippr. Dev is cagey about the details but promises to share info as soon as there is info to share. We join the team now, the next morning, as they decide what comes next.
[ Main Theme Ends ]
> Mike / G.M.: It is morning on the Mrs. Egg. You are all hanging out in the mess hall of the ship, a medium large room below decks that is towards the rear. It lightly vibrates from the hum of the large electric generator that powers everything, there are a few well-worn metal tables and faux wood grain stools bolted to the cold, industrial floor. You can hear the mess hall's fridge humming, the overhead LED lights are set to a dull glow. It’s about 9a.m. Gabe’s making toast and soycaf He’s moving very slowly. He’s wearing really large sunglasses inside, he was out very late last night. Last night you all, also infiltrated and caused quite a stir at both the Flippr head office and the Muni-Datacenter in the South Bronx where you met the mysterious pizza delivery man Dev Cunningham. What is everybody up to in the mess hall?
> Jenn de la Vega / "Vivian Lakewood": [ OOC ] Viv enters the room with her boots in her hand because she still hates shoes but needs them because of all the burn marks and- [ Laughs ] and things and she kinda just throws them on the table and sits down gruffly. [ IC ] “Well last night was interesting”
> Shannon Odell / "Lash Goodbog": [OOC] Lash is already in the room and she is tossing a- one of those foam balls against the wall, trying to make it bounce back, it never does bounce back because it’s a foam ball. If you throw it hard enough it bounces back a little bit. She’s seeing how hard she can throw it at the wall because Luxe has told her she’s not allowed to have any hard balls in the room.
> Bijan Stephen / "T.K.": [ OOC ] T.K. walks in with a book in his hand and he’s listening to lo-fi chill anime beats and he sits down at the table, and looks for a mug.
>Nick Guercio / "Luxe Scyth": [ OOC ] Luxe is looking through some maps on his comm, kind of flicking through trying to find a specialty- a couple of different specialty shops for different things. [ Mike laughs ]
> Mike / G.M.: Was there a- can I just ask was there a particular event that inspired Luxe to say ‘Lash no more balls on the- in the boat.’?
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ OOC ] I said no more hard balls.
> Mike / G.M.: No more-
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ OOC ] No more hard balls.
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ OOC ] And she really took the letter of that law. > Shannon / “Lash”: [ OOC ] Yes
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ OOC ] And not the- and not the intention behind it at all.
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ OOC ] I bought about a pack of 100 foam balls. [ Mike laughs ] >Nick / “Luxe”: [ OOC ] Yes.
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ OOC ] Different sizes.
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ OOC ] With whose money?
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ OOC ] Luxes.
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ OOC ] Okay. [Jenn, Mike laugh]
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ OOC ] I have hacked his account, I normally ask for it, but I have hacked his account.
[ All conversation OOC until noted otherwise] >Nick / “Luxe”: Yeah.
> Mike / G.M.: I mean ‘mi casa, su casa’ right? > Shannon / “Lash”: Yeah.
> Bijan / “T.K.”: At this point-
> Shannon / “Lash”: I just, yeah.
>Nick / “Luxe”: There was a- There was an instance where I was having breakfast and you were trying to see if a golf ball could be thrown faster than a baseball and-
> Shannon / “Lash”: Yeah, one from each arm.
>Nick / “Luxe”: Right, and the baseball, well it’s a pretty big area- you know, compared to
some of the smaller areas we’ve been in. > Shannon / “Lash”: Yeah.
>Nick / “Luxe”: So when you threw a baseball real hard it would bounce back like eight or nine feet and that’s fine-
> Shannon / “Lash”: Right.
>Nick / “Luxe”: -but the golf ball kind of ricocheted around all the room maybe five times.
> Shannon / “Lash”: Yeah, Lash didn’t really account for that.
>Nick / “Luxe”: Okay, well that’s why I said no more hard balls.
> Mike / G.M.: Wait, did you find out which one was faster?
> Shannon / “Lash”: It turns out it just depended on what arm I threw it with. [Mike laughs] Always the one I threw with my right arm.
> Mike / G.M.: Got it.
> Shannon / “Lash”: Always went faster.
> Mike / G.M.: So Gabe sits down at one of the tables sort of slightly far away from any of you, kind of puts his arms around his plate of toast and stares into his soycaf for a moment and he starts talking to you. When he opens his mouth, even from a distance, you can smell the reek of very cheap soy rum, and he says- [ Mike laughs ]
> Jenn / “Vivian”: Ew, there’s a recoil in the room.
> Taylor Moore / "The Bad Boys": Yeah, I don’t know if you can make a lot of rum from soy.
[Mike laughs]
> Bijan / “T.K.”: In the future anything is possible!
> Jenn / “Vivian”: Yeah.
> Mike / G.M.: Yeah.
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: Right.
> Mike / G.M.: Maybe it was just soy grain liquor with rum flavouring?
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: Mmmm.
> Jenn / “Vivian”: Eugh.
> Mike / G.M.: So Gabe- Gabe says [ IC as Gabe ] “Yo- Eugh, oh.” and he, like, catches his breath “You guys weren’t- You guys weren’t in by the time I left. You were on a job?”
> Jenn / “Vivian”: [ IC ] Yes, we were.
>Nick / “Luxe”: [IC] Uh, what time d’you mean? We went to the Flippr headquarters and [chuckles] that didn’t go great, then we went over to the municipal datacenter. That might have went worse.
> Mike / G.M.: [ IC ] This is in- Flippr’s in the South Bronx?
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Yeah. So was the datacenter, they’re actually right by each other.
> Jenn / “Vivian”: [ IC ] Have you been to that fish market before?
> Mike / G.M.: [ IC ] Yeah, it’s amazing!
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] Yeah, you could say we didn’t do the job, the job was really doing us, you know what I mean? [laughs]
> Bijan / “T.K.”: T.K. looks up and gives him a thumbs up and says “Long night?”
> Mike / G.M.: [ IC ] Yeah, you don’t know the half of it. D’you guys get- You guys all look tired too, did you get into something?
> Jenn / “Vivian”: [ IC ] We got into several situations. [ Mike laughs ]
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ IC ] Met a pizza guy. Pizza man.
> Jenn / “Vivian”: [ IC ] Oh yeah, do you have his contact info now?
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ IC ] Yeah, yeah. I haven’t tried it yet, he could have been lying but you know, he seemed like a nice guy.
> Mike / G.M.: [ IC ] Who’d you meet?
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ IC ] He said his name was Andre but his name was actually Dev, I don’t
know.
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] He’s another runner.
> Mike / G.M.: [ IC ] Wait, wait, wait.
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ IC ] He wasn’t actually a pizza guy.
> Mike / G.M.: Hold on, Gabe is gonna roll some dice. [ Jenn laughs ]
[ All conversation IC until noted otherwise]
>Nick / “Luxe”: He was another runner, he was nice enough. He really wanted us to believe he was a pizza guy for a long, long time.
> Bijan / “T.K.”: Way longer than it should have gone.
> Shannon / “Lash”: I think he was great! I think he was really cool, and I would hang out with
him 100% any time he asked.
> Mike / G.M.: Wait did you meet Dev Cunningham?
> Bijan / “T.K.”: Does he pretend to be a pizza guy a lot?
> Mike / G.M.: Yeah that sounds like- yeah. He’s like a short white guy, he’s got a real, like, high quaff of hair.
> Bijan / “T.K.”: Yeah I said- I told I trusted him about as far as I could throw him and I figured I could throw him pretty far but-
> Mike / G.M.: Yeah you co- yeah, you could probably throw Dev pretty far
> Bijan / “T.K.”: He’s uh-
> Mike / G.M.: I mean he’s nice!
>Nick / “Luxe”: Yeaaah.
> Mike / G.M.: Did he say what job he was on?
> Bijan / “T.K.”: No he said if he told us he’d have to kill us or something- something like that.
> Mike / G.M.: Yeah that still sounds like something- alright.
> Bijan / “T.K.”: Yeah, he said he would give us information. I wasn’t sure if he was fucking with me or not, but I mean I can- I can send him a message.
> Mike / G.M.: He’s not a bad guy, like yeah- If you drop him a line tell him I say hey.
> Bijan / “T.K.”: Okay, I will.
>Nick / “Luxe”: For- This is one of the first jobs that T.K. has really taken a strong lead on and I have to say I think he did pretty- pretty damn well, alright! There was a lot of thinking on your feet, a lot of pointless lying, [ Mike and Nick laugh ] but you know what? We’re here, we’re in one piece.
> Mike / G.M.: You got that YouTube video.
> Bijan / “T.K.”: We got-
>Nick / “Luxe”: We got that YouTube video.
> Shannon / “Lash”: Oh yeah, do we have that video? I would love to cut something together with it.
> Bijan / “T.K.”: I don’t think you should release that.
> Shannon / “Lash”: Yeah just for own personal- maybe we could have a movie night, I could
show it to all you guys it’d be kind of cool.
> Bijan / “T.K.”: You know what? Yeah, yeah lets do it!
> Shannon / “Lash”: Yeah, okay cool.
> Bijan / “T.K.”: Yeah you should- you should- Luxe you should give it to- >Nick / “Luxe”: Okay.
> Bijan / “T.K.”: You should give her the footage. >Nick / “Luxe”: [ OOC ] Luxe flicks it over to her.
[ All conversation IC until noted otherwise]
> Shannon / “Lash”: Awesome, thank you!
> Bijan / “T.K.”: But yeah, we uh there was a pizza guy who wasn’t really a pizza guy. He told me he was- he said he was- he was doing something with some wires, it looked like he was fuc- it looked like he found a skimmer or something. I don’t know I didn’t really have much time to look.
>Nick / “Luxe”: He found a skimmer and changed a skimmer.
> Bijan / “T.K.”: Yeah, something like- I think that’s what it was. But I figure, you know, we can go down there
And look at it again because we- we found an exit!
> Shannon / “Lash”: Bottom line we did not complete the job.
>Nick / “Luxe”: Not in any way.
> Bijan / “T.K.”: Not even close.
> Mike / G.M.: And you guy- it sounds like you caused a lot of trouble. > Shannon / “Lash”: Yeah we might be-
> Mike / G.M.: Sounds like you guys are maybe gonna lay low today? >Nick / “Luxe”: Yeah.
> Shannon / “Lash”: Yeah.
> Jenn / “Vivian”: Indeed.
> Bijan / “T.K.”: Got a book.
>Nick / “Luxe”: I might ge- I might get- you guys wanna go in on something with me for
Verne? I was thinking about getting him something. > Jenn / “Vivian”: Like what?
> Shannon / “Lash”: Oh I would love to go in!
>Nick / “Luxe”: I don’t know, I’m doing some research.
> Shannon / “Lash”: You gotta cover my half though.
>Nick / “Luxe”: Okay I- of course. [ Mike laughs ]
> Shannon / “Lash”: I am out of money! I got into a little situation- >Nick / “Luxe”: No, we were there.
> Shannon / “Lash”: In-
>Nick / “Luxe”: It was during a job-
> Shannon / “Lash”: In- yeah
> Bijan / “T.K.”: Gabe, don’t ask.
>Nick / “Luxe”: -that you got distracted and lost all of your money again. > Shannon / “Lash”: In the air hockey room and- yeah.
> Bijan / “T.K.”: Gabe, don’t ask.
> Mike / G.M.: [ Laughs ] You- you can see he’s like- like sorta raises his hand a little bit and then just puts it down like, it’s not worth it. He’s like- and then he’s says “Yeah I mean, I think I’m just gonna do- I’m gonna just hang out on the boat and like.”
[ 00:10:03: ]
>Nick / “Luxe”: Yeah you seem like you had a rough night Gabe, what’d you do? > Mike / G.M.: Oh I just drank a lot. Drank much more than I should have.
>Nick / “Luxe”: I know, but what’s the occasion?
> Mike / G.M.: Uhm, uh? Thursday?
>Nick / “Luxe”: Oh.
> Jenn / “Vivian”: Ah, Thursday.
> Mike / G.M.: Yeah.
> Bijan / “T.K.”: Thirsty.
> Mike / G.M.: Think I’m just gonna- think I’m gonna do some work on Artemis. Might do a little work on the engines, I’ve been putting that off, uhh new lights-
>Nick / “Luxe”: Yeah, I forgot that this thing wa- should move.
> Mike / G.M.: Yeah some day! Some day! It’s taking a while, there’s a lot wrong with it but
yeah. Today I might- we’ll see-
> Shannon / “Lash”: Speaking-
> Mike / G.M.: -I’ll throw some tools at it and see if I can get it- get some stuff working.
> Shannon / “Lash”: Speaking of Artemis. Artemis, what time are the Urban Brawl games today?
> Molly / "Artemis": The Urban Brawl games schedule for today is; game one at 11:15, game two at 12:01, game three at 3.
> Shannon / “Lash”: Artemis, one, two, and three, who’s playing?
> Molly / "Artemis": Game one is between the New York City Slasher Bears and the Boston Massacre. Game two is between the Newark Knights and the Long Island Lolitas Youth League. [ Jenn, Nick, Shannon laugh ]
> Jenn / “Vivian”: [ OOC ] Christ.
> Molly / "Artemis": [ IC ] Game three is between the South Bronx Broncos and the Portland Maine Manhattanites.
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] Oh hell yeah! There’s a New York Slasher Bears game today! I frickin knew it! I can feel it, when the Slasher Bears play I feel like I can feel it in my heart.
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ IC ] Didn’t we set up a reminder for you, like, whenever they were- I feel like- didn’t you do that with Artemis?
> Mike / G.M.: Dodododoot! Dodododoot!
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] Oh!
> Molly Templeton / "Artemis": Alert! New York Slasher Bear game today!- > Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] There it is!
> Molly Templeton / "Artemis": Alert New York Slasher Bear game today!
> Mike / G.M.: Gabe stands up as Artemis is reading all the news items about the New York Slasher Bears and starts putting his dishes into the sink and like- you- rubs his temples and starts stumbling towards the stairs that lead to his quarters.
> Molly Templeton / "Artemis": Would you like to hear more stories from Neo Publication- > Mike / G.M.: [ IC As Gabe] [ Yelling ] “Nooo!” And he says “I’m gonna go take a nap for a
little bit. Whatever you kids get up to yo- you have fun!-” > Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] Feel better!
> Mike / G.M.: [ IC ] -Lash, enjoy the game.
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ IC ] Oh thanks!
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Drink some water. [Tinny Synth Music Begins]
> Mike / G.M.: And he goes away. You guys are alone on the- in the mess hall of the Mrs. Egg, what do you want to do with your day?
>Nick / “Luxe”: Luxe wants to go and speak with Verne. It has been a long enough time for him to be sure that Odina will not be messing with him. Upon the completion of that task we were told we would be let in and we would get some information about the people who were being messed with by E.V.O. and so I’m gonna go and talk to him about that, I’m also going to thank him for saving our butts. On the way there I’d like to stop and get him a little gift.
[Tinny Synth Music Ends] > Mike / G.M.: Okay.
>Nick / “Luxe”: I send him a little message saying [ IC ] ‘Hey, I’d love to stop by and see you today and thank you for helping us so much, what’s going on?’
[Message ping]
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ IC as Verne ] ‘Oh hey yeah! Good news, bad news, I’m not working at the office today, I’m working from home, but actually that makes it easier to just drop in, so come on by!’
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] ‘Okay I’ll do that! Can you send me your address?’ > Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ IC ] ‘Yes!’
[Message ping]
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] ‘Okay great!’ [ OOC ] I of course have his address, we’ve been in his apartment. [Jenn, Mike, Shannon laugh] But I’m not gonna tell him that, and so I say [ IC ] ‘Okay great! I’ll be by in a couple hours?’
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ IC ]‘Yeah thats fine!’
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Okay great. Let me know if you need me to pick anything up for ya! > Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ IC ] I do not-
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Okay
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ IC ] -Need you to pick up anything but thank you for asking- Hey just don’t get, you know, in trouble with the cops on the way here. [Taylor, Nick, Jenn, laugh]’
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Okay, that’s fair, that’s fair. Alright, see you in a bit! > Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ IC ] This is no bad news right?
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] No bad news, none!
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ IC ] Danke.
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Okay, danke. [ OOC ] Bongo! Lets go. Sorry, you didn't say that [ Mike, Shannon, laugh ]
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ IC ] Alright I’ll see you soon!
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Yes. Yeah I’ll see you soon!
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ IC ] Okay.
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ OOC ] And so I hang up. [Nick, Shannon chuckle]
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] What are you gonna get Vern on the way?
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ OOC ] I have been looking for presents, I didn't think the group was that happy to go in on something with me and I’m not-
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ OOC ]No-
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: Get him a big- Get him a big clock! [laughs] > Shannon / “Lash”: [ OOC ] Lash was very in!
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ OOC ] Lash was very big and- [Laughs]
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: Get him a- get him a huge grandfather clock! [Mike laughs] Look
for the dumbest gift you can get! [Bijan laughs]
[ All conversation OOC until noted otherwise] > Shannon / “Lash”: Oh, get a cuckoo clock!
> Mike / G.M.: Another- another player piano [Taylor laughs] and when you show up with it be like
> Jenn / “Vivian”: Oh my gosh!
> Mike / G.M.: -‘I didn’t know that you had one!’
>Nick / “Luxe”: Yeah!
> Mike / G.M.: Then you will have convinced him you were- have never been to his apartment. >Nick / “Luxe”: I have never been. Well technically I haven’t
> Bijan / “T.K.”: That seems like it’s thinking too hard.
> Mike / G.M.: Yeah that’s true.
>Nick / “Luxe”: So what I did find, and maybe I have to roll for this let me know if I do Mike, I did find a really nice little shop that sells specialty Bavarian mini village things. So little houses and roads and all- everything you would need to make a little village. So I stop- I go by that place on the way to Vernes. It’s called [ Bad Bavarian accent ] ‘A Little Teeny Bit of Bavaria’
[ Taylor, Shannon, Bijan laugh ]
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: Jesus
> Mike / G.M.: Is it- is the clientele for this shop Verne? [ Shannon, Mike, Jenn laugh ] > Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: One guy! One guy!
> Shannon / “Lash”: The markup on this stuff though, it only takes one purchase a year! > Bijan / “T.K.”: What?
>Nick / “Luxe”: Guys, in the future everything is so specialized, you don’t have any idea!
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: Yeah, ni- niche retail.
> Bijan / “T.K.”: Very niche.
> Mike / G.M.: You- You’re going to the 17th floor on a 40-story walk-up.
>Nick / “Luxe”: Yes, exactly! [ Mike, Bijan laugh ]
> Mike / G.M.: In which there is a closet like retailer that sells European miniatures-
>Nick / “Luxe”: Yes!
> Mike / G.M.: -yeah, from a five foot by five foot room. Sure, yeah, yeah it’s alright.
>Nick / “Luxe”: Well you could fit a lot in that room.
> Mike / G.M.: I feel like- [ Shannon laughs ] I feel like allowing- I feel like allowing this is not world breaking so sure.
>Nick / “Luxe”: Yay! [ Mike laughs ] Alright. [ Taylor laughs ] so-
> Mike / G.M.: Unfortunately, they’re out of everything except sheep [ Jenn laughs ]
>Nick / “Luxe”: Oh god. Well I’ll go take a look at the sheep.
> Mike / G.M.: Yeah- I mean, they’re adorable.
>Nick / “Luxe”: Okay. So I go there. I can’t use T.K’s car, he’s probably using it, so is this place walkable?
> Mike / G.M.: Sure.
>Nick / “Luxe”: Okay, so I walk up there to the 40th floor.
[ Footsteps followed by a knocking]
>Nick / “Luxe”: I knock on [ Bad accent, again] ‘Little ditty- Teeny Bit of Bavaria [ Shannon snorts ] LLC’
> Mike / G.M.: Taylor are you also- If we’re going to do this you also have to be the lady who runs the shop.
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: The la- Oh! Alright [ Jenn laughs ]
>Nick / “Luxe”: Luxe walks in, ding ding, there’s a cacophony of bells that lasts five minutes, but we’ll skip past that and.
[ Bells chime, Oom-pah style music begins]
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: Yeah, from around the corner barrels like, a- a- a woman in, like,
traditional lederhosen. I think- I think lederhosen is gendered but she’s wearing the male version. >Nick / “Luxe”: Okay.
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: And she- But she’s wearing, like, the- the big giant, like, ornately braided hairstyle.
>Nick / “Luxe”: Oh wow, thats nice.
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: It looks like a wig that she just takes on and off.
>Nick / “Luxe”: Okay, okay
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: Almost like a plasticine helmet.
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Hey! How’s-
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ IC as Shop Owner ] [Gravely Brooklyn accent] Hello!
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Oh, God. How’s it going?
> Mike / G.M.: On the counter is a pile of tiny sheep.
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] How’s it going? I- I saw on- online that you only have sheep in, is that true? I wanted to double check.
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ IC ] We only- We usually only do by appointments to come in here, but you’re our first walk up in a year and a half so welcome to A Tiny Taste of Bavaria.
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Oh, okay. Yeah, I have a friend who- who does a lot of miniatures and- and, specifically Bavarian ones.
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ IC ] I should hope so!
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Yeah? And I was wondering if you had something special, something
that-
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ IC ] We have sheep. >Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Oh, you do only have sheep.
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ IC ] Yup. Next week we’re getting a shipment in of everything. Little houses, stacks of hay, rams, pitchforks, like little patches of herbs- Aplen herbs and everything.
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Oh wow that would be nice, little patches of herbs would be cool. Okay I-
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ IC ] But right now it’s just sheep. >Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Okay, I’ll take your finest sheep.
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ IC ] We’ll they’re all this- they’re all the same, you can look at ‘em in this big pile here.
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Do you have one that’s like, nicer than the others?
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ IC ] No-
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] It’s for a gift.
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ IC ] Sheep are kind of a quantity over quality. >Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Okay well then gi- give me 2 pounds of sheep.
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ IC ] Alright, I’ll count them out! [ Shannon, Mike, Nick laugh ] >Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Oh god.
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ IC ] Oneee! [ Shannon laughs ] I’m sorry, were you hoping to run somewhere?
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] No, no I-
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ IC ] You look like you’re in a hurry. >Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] I just thought you could weigh them.
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ IC ] I’ll go faster. Twoo. Threeee. The scale’s broken, hold on, I have an old analogue scale that’s just two plates on a stick of wood balanced on a brick downstairs. I can bring it up and assemb- or you could just eyeball ‘em, take a dozen.
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Yeah- well- just, here’s a bag. He grabs a bag and he just says. Just fill this up and I’ll take that.
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ IC ] Okay, for a ba- we have bag prices, it’s like pick your own apples. It’s 10 nuyen a bag, you're probably gonna get about a dozen sheep in there.
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Alright, that’s perfect. I’ll take that. > Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ IC ] Great!
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Thank you so much, these- these look good. They’re definitely Bavarian right?
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ IC ] Oh yeah. [ Jenn, Shannon snicker ]
>Nick / “Luxe”: Okay? Okay [ Laughs ] Luxe transfers the money and begins to exit the shop.
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ IC ] Wait! Do you want a membership card? If you come back and buy ten more bags of sheep you get, like, a free hutch!
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] That can’t be the deal!
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ IC ] Yeah it is, look! It’s on the card!
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Ten bags of sheep and you get a free hutch?
> Mike / G.M.: [ IC ] The card- The card says
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ IC ] Are you- are you reading it out loud verbatim?
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ OOC ] He looks at it-
> Mike / G.M.: There's a tiny- there’s a picture of a tiny hutch on the card.
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ OOC ] It- it does say that, there’s even little punch marks-
> Mike / G.M.: Yeah, and they’re shaped like sheep.
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ OOC ] - that you can- they’re sheep bags. [ IC ] I’ll- okay, I’m actually good but I will take this punch card if you don’t mind?
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ IC ] No I do not mind, I gave it to you.
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Okay, alright. Thank you so much, I will maybe see you later.
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ IC ] Bye! Arrivaderci!
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Arrivaderci! [ OOC ] And he goes down and he is on his way to Verne’s.
[Bells tinkle, Oom-pah style music stops]
[ Interlude music starts ]
>Nick: Hey gang, Nick here to tell you about Fun City’s patreon. With Fun City’s patreon the world is essentially your oyster. You get access to our discord, Fun Chatty, a show where the crew talks about the show Fun City. As well as lots of extra ‘bone cone’, bonus content if you didn’t know. For example we just watched a movie Strange Days, kind of a weird 90s cyberpunky thriller that I didn’t really like but other people did though so, you know, pick a side. Lots of stuff, we play other weird games and do other crazy schtuff, Get in there!
[ 00:20:00 ]
[ Interlude music ends ]
> Mike / G.M.: You walk to- Verne’s is within walking distance so- >Nick / “Luxe”: [ OOC ] Oh cool!
> Mike / G.M.: -you can head to Verne’s. You get to the building that- you would know, you have not been inside this building but you have been on the block because the police athletic league is just down the street.
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ OOC ] Yup.
> Mike / G.M.: You see the 2 armed guards, if you were to walk through they would not pay
you any mind. Do you head into the front- the front desk? >Nick / “Luxe”: [ OOC ] Yes.
> Mike / G.M.: There is a very bored young woman, very plane looking, sitting there watching videos on her comm-link that’s sort of propped up on her desk. She does not look up at you when you walk in.
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ OOC ]I say [ IC ] “Hey how’s it going?”
> Mike / G.M.: [ IC as Receptionist ]Good, how are you?
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Good, I’m here to see Verne?
> Mike / G.M.: [ IC ] Oh yeah just- yeah you can head up. I’ll- I’ll unlock the elevator for you. >Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] “Thank you so much!” [ OOC ] and I walk past and I go up.
> Mike / G.M.: You do not have any contraband or, like, weapons on you do you? >Nick / “Luxe”: [ OOC ] I have my sprayers on me.
> Mike / G.M.: Okay that’s fine. >Nick / “Luxe”: [OOC ] Yeah.
> Mike / G.M.: Those won’t- those won’t set anything- this is- this not a super highly advanced, whatever. Yeah, you walk through the mad scanners that are in the lobby of this building and there is a dull beep but there is no angry sound, and when you turn a corner you see a marbled, sort of foyer, with a bank of elevators. One of them opens.
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ OOC ] I go through.
> Mike / G.M.: When you go through- when you go in the door closes and it automatically ushers you up to Verne’s floor. The door automatically opens once it arrives and you see, just a few feet away from you, a big panoramic view of Manhattan and all of the very tall buildings that are in this neighborhood that are covered in a kind of thin video screen material, and they’re all showing advertisements for the urban brawl game that’s happening later this- later this morning- early this afternoon and you can see a large, like a huge, very dramatic high backed chair facing out- looking out over this panorama and next to it a small side table with a small stack of books. And as the door opens you hear very heavy footfalls approach from the left.
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ OOC ] Wait, do I need to walk up to his door and knock, or is it already open?
> Mike / G.M.: The- the elevator opens directly into this apartment.
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ OOC ] Okay. [ IC ] “Hey Verne!”
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: He comes round the corner and he’s wearing like, an apron, it’s got like, a bunch of paintbrushes in it and like, little to- miniature working tools. It looks like a lot of different sizes of forceps, and scalpels, and pinchers, and things like that. [ IC ] “Luxe!”
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Hey!
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ IC ] Brother Luxe, c’mere!
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] How’s it going?
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ IC ] “Oh it’s great!” [ OOC ] and he embraces you, he hugs you and like, picks you off your feet a little bit.
> Mike / G.M.: It hurts a little bit. >Nick / “Luxe”: [ OOC ] Yeah it does.
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: Puts a big giant hand on your shoulder. [ Nick laughs ] [ IC ] “How are you? Is everything alright?”
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] I’m doing well, doing well. Well look, I didn’t have time to wrap ‘em but I got you a couple of bags, or one big bag of some- some uh- some sheep!
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: Wow [ Mike laughs ] wow!
[ All conversation IC until noted otherwise ]
>Nick / “Luxe”: These are 100% Bavarian, yeah.
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: That- I- No I know exactly what you’ve got, I see the logo on the bag. I go there all the time!
>Nick / “Luxe”: Oh do you? Okay.
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: Yeah, it’s the only place that sells something- I think I may be their only customer, I swear! But I, you know- Yeah, I know- that’s so thoughtful of you to do that for me, thank you!
>Nick / “Luxe”: Well I just wanted to say thanks, you really kind of saved us back there and I’m-
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: Well now listen, you can bever have too many sheep, and of course I saved you back there! Do you know how much fun that was for me?
>Nick / “Luxe”: Oh cool. I was-
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: I was on a boat. I thought I was having a fun day and then you call and it’s doing this cloak and dagger thing and it’s like, that’s- that’s- that’s my- that’s my strength, that’s why- that’s why I am- that's what I can do is come and call off the cops, call off the police-
>Nick / “Luxe”: Well, it really worked, it really really worked
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: You asked the best thing of the best guy.
> Mike / G.M.: You can tell- you’re like, looking up at Verne towering over you, but he’s acting like a small child.
>Nick / “Luxe”: Yeah, well you know, I just wanted to let you know it really meant a lot to us and it really saved us. I mean, we were trying to help some people out and you know, there’s no- there’s no, what do I say?
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: What were you doing in some municipal building up in the Bronx?
>Nick / “Luxe”: Well, we think that somebody was messing with some public records and things like that, for their own financial gains and private companies. So, we were checking into that, but it still wasn’t exactly on the up and up for us to be involved, and you know how that goes. But anyway, you sa- you really saved us! Do- can you- do you have the- are you working on your- on your village right now?
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: Oh, nothing gets by you! [ Mike laughs ] I ought to hire you as an investigator or something. Yeah, I’m working on the- on the painted-
>Nick / “Luxe”: Can I see it?
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: Oh my gosh! Yes! [ Mike laughs ] Ya, ya, come, come see! Come
see!
> Mike / G.M.: Verne walks to the other side of the elevator, to the right, and opens up a second door that’s in front of an old upright piano, and he sort of hunches a little bit to squeeze through the door. You can see that once you cross the threshold you’re sort of hit with the smell of glue and paint, and on the other side you see, very well lit, a large sloping, but very very- this is hard to describe. A large, but small, [ Nick laughs ] Bavaria- like, model village- Bavarian model village with a huge notch cut into it for a large man to stand and play with his tiny sheep. There are a bunch of tools on the wall, and it has a very workshop feel. You can see a couple very expensive watches set into a custom-made holder on his bench and he- yeah, he turns around once he’s in there and kinda beams at you.
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: A lot of people think this is just to play with, but it’s not about playing at all.
>Nick / “Luxe”: No this is- this is amazing. [ OOC ] And Luxe is- > Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ IC ] Oh, thank you.
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ OOC ] Luxe is- Luxe is genuinely blown away because this is very- extremely intricate, and it seems like it would be very, very hard for somebody even with normal, you know, human sized hands, but his hands are the size of trash can lids. So, it’s almost like you would have to be- it’s in- Luxe is kind of thinking ‘how is this- is this possible?’ like ‘how does he do this?’ So he’s really impressed.
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ IC ] The thing about miniatures is- is that, you know, verisimilitude is impossible, it’s like a sort of asymptote, a goal that you will never reach. But if you do- if you put enough detail work, the gestalt effect is- you know, it overcomes you and you feel almost as if you are above the real thing.
> Mike / G.M.: Is Verne like, is he wearing work clothes?
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: Yeah! He’s got an apron with a bunch of tools in the little pockets and things.
> Mike / G.M.: As he’s- as he’s describing this to you, he’s sort of absentmindedly picking up some of the tools like the tiny screwdrivers out from the top pocket that’s on his apron, and you can see there’s actually a- there’s actually a remarkable amount of dexterity that he has holding and manipulating this tool that is extremely tiny in his giant hands.
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ OOC ] Yeah. [ IC ] Really amazing that people used to live like this. [ All conversation IC until noted otherwise ]
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: Ah well people will say that about us in the future I’m sure. >Nick / “Luxe”: Yeah I bet.
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: It’s all relative.
>Nick / “Luxe”: Uhm, well you know Verne I wondered actually-
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: Good, I knew something was on your mind-
>Nick / “Luxe”: Yeah
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: -and I was like ‘how do I get him to talk about it?’
>Nick / “Luxe”: Right, I wanted to talk to you about something.
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: Of course.
>Nick / “Luxe”: You know I- I- we- we spoke with Odina and I- I imagine that she’s off your case now. Is that- is that the case now? Is that working out for you?
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: Ya! This is why I’m in a good mood and I can work on my miniatures!
>Nick / “Luxe”: Yeah, so that’s working out for you? So the strike is- is- is going forward? > Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: Ya, it’s working out for me, thank you, thank you so much. >Nick / “Luxe”: You ha- Is there any news on the strike or anything?
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: Any news on the strike? Ya, it’s going forward-
>Nick / “Luxe”: Going great.
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: -It’s been going fine. All the precinct captains and the shop stewards are like, they’re doing they’re work and- li- I think they’re going to get it, yeah.
>Nick / “Luxe”: Right. Well you know, I- I know that we agreed that if we were to do that job for you and get Odina off you, you would kind of let us in on something that I imagine is very hard to let somebody else from the outside in on, but it’s very important to us, which is what's going one with E.V.O.
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: I wish I knew. I mean that’s the whole point, is I don’t know what’s going on in there. But I need us to break the contract before I can really find out you know?
>Nick / “Luxe”: Yeah. But, what I was gonna ask specifically is if you could share the names of some of the officers that were affected.
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: Listen to me. >Nick / “Luxe”: Yes.
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: The information I give you now is extremely privileged, you understand?
>Nick / “Luxe”: Yes, I understand.
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: Okay. This is a great symbol of trust I am telling you this. There are seven police officers that have gone for treatment in the E.V.O. and come back noticeably different in hard to describe ways.
>Nick / “Luxe”: Okay.
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: I think there’s more, I think there could be dozens more, but these are the ones. Inarguable. You cannot- you could not tell me they are the same. Something that is hard to describe is different about them, but they all feel different in the same way. It’s very hard to describe. This is why I hate- the break- the strike-
>Nick / “Luxe”: Well.
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: -This is why I need the strike to break the contract. >Nick / “Luxe”: If you could share who they are.
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: Of course.
>Nick / “Luxe”: As well as all the officers that actually went in. I know that they all didn’t change, but all the ones that did go in.
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: That is-
>Nick / “Luxe”: Do you have that list?
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: That is a list of hundreds over years. I mean thats- thats- > Mike / G.M.: It’s probably a list of tens of thousands. It’s pro-
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: Yeah, I mean the- there are so many you names, you don’t want that. If you want to look into this and we are moving to a place where I will ask your help to do- to be doing this.
>Nick / “Luxe”: Yes.
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: Of course I send you these names. But you must be very careful, these are- you might not think so, but I believe these are good people and I don’t want their families bothered in any way.
>Nick / “Luxe”: Yes.
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: You understand?
>Nick / “Luxe”: Yes, I- I definitely understand, and it would be too early for me to tell you anything but there is work that we are doing that may end up producing information as well. So, I want you to know that I am going to treat these names with the highest level of caution and security, and you’ve given us a lot. We can do some work in- in finding out, at least the beginnings, of what may be going on.
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ OOC ] He puts his hand on your shoulder again, only this time there’s more pressure.
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ OOC ] Yeah. [ 00:29:55 ]
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ OOC ] And it- you can kind of feel that he’s gripping you, and you’re very suddenly- very aware of the physical difference between you, and he says [ IC ] “If you were to tip off E.V.O. that we were on to whats going on before I am ready to move on them, that would be very bad Luxe. Do you understand?”
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] I do understand.
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ IC ] Oh great! Good!
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] You know looking at this village everything feels very cozy and homely, and I- I lost that in my life.
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ IC ] You grew up in a village?
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] No, and I wou- I’m just saying this because I think E.V.O is connected, and I think this is connected. So I want you to know this is personal for me, this isn’t for money, this isn’t a regular shadow money- shadowrunning shit. You can trust us.
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ IC ] I believe I can trust you.
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Alright, well thank you so much. And Luxe sees that his- that the
information on the- on those officers was sent to him and-
[ Message ping ]
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: Verne sees that you’re kinda- you’ve- you’re- you’ve said your piece and that you’re ready to go, and so he puts the tools that he had in his hand on the little worktable and sort of puts his hand on your back and leads you out, like back towards the front door.
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Okay.
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: And he says [ IC ] “I think we are going to win. Luxe, you, your friends, me, the union, who knows who else, has been victimized by these people, I think they’re going to win. But Luxe remember, revenge shows these things that get in the way, put clouds in front of your eyes you know, you’re not see clear, see clear! Okay, you go get them! You go get them tiger! [ Bijan laughs ]
> Mike / G.M.: And he takes out his commlink and he mashes a few buttons and then you get an alert on your comm that has a list of 7 names.
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ OOC ] Luxe touches a- a little area near his temple and his sunglasses fly up in front of his eyes and says [ IC ] “I always see clear.” [ Bijan laughs ]
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ OOC ] Oh my god. [ Mike laughs ] Yaaah.
> Mike / G.M.: That cost you an edge. [ Nick laughs ] Verne reaches behind you and pushes a
button and the elevator opens and, yeah.
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ OOC ] It was worth an edge. [ Shannon, Bijan laugh ] > Mike / G.M.: It did- I’m not actually going to charge you an edge.
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: Do it! [ Mike, Taylor laugh ]
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ OOC ] Start charging edge!
> Mike / G.M.: Start charging edge for bad jokes?
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ OOC ] Yeah! [ Jenn laughs ]
> Mike / G.M.: That was like a very- yeah that was like a very kill line from an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie. [ Deep voice ] “You stay cool.” [ Shannon, Mike, laugh ]
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ OOC ] I always see clear.
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: And the- at the- after Luxe leaves we- we cut back to Verne and he’s sort of looking at the door just thinking a bit about what happened, you know, can he really trust these people? He shrugs his shoulders, sort of resigned to his fate, the die have now been cast. He walks back to the model and he takes the paper bag full of sheep, and just sort of dumps it out [ All laugh ]
> Mike / G.M.: Is it-
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: Like Salt Bae he just lets them hit his elbow and sprinkles them
around the town. [ Jenn, Mike laugh ]
> Shannon / “Lash”: [ OOC ] [ Arnold impression ] Scatter my sheep.
> Mike / G.M.: Delicate work.
> Jenn / “Vivian”: [ OOC ] Like parmesan cheese on a pizza.
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: Yeah [ Laughs ]
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ OOC ] Sure?
> Mike / G.M.: Luxe you exit Vernes building.
[ Background street noise begins ]
> Mike / G.M.: You’re back on the streets of New York if- there’s still a lot of your day left, is there anything else that you wanna do before you go back to the Mrs. Egg and chill out?
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ OOC ] Yes, Luxe is gonna go see his friend Riley.
> Mike / G.M.: Riley is a contact that you have? Right, okay. Can you explain to us, just
roughly, what Riley’s job is?
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ OOC ] She’s a mechanic, engineer, and custom weapons specialist. So she creates- she creates custom gear and weapons for Luxe and others.
> Mike / G.M.: This is the person who made your bracers.
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ OOC ] This is the person who made my bracers. > Mike / G.M.: I did not- I- I- when I- I did not put that together.
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ OOC ] Yes. So my bracers are there- if you look in the book there is a gun that is essentially identical to all the stats of my bracers because that’s what basically she did. She took this pepper spray gun and turned them into bracers for me and that's who I go to for my custom tech, and I’m gonna go see her now.
[ 00:34:08 ] [ Interlude music begins ]
[ 00:34:24 ] [ Interlude music ends ] [ Street noise ends ]
> Mike / G.M.: Riley’s apartment is on the lower east side of Manhattan, which has retained some of its pre-cataclysm charm, though thanks in no small part to the huge amount of resources needed to recreate every bad piece of graffiti and all the shallow corners that smell of pee. The door to her place is next to a bar that’s called Dark Entries which is made to look like a kind of gothy wine cellar, complete with French limestone actually shipped in from Europe. The front windows are completely blacked out, and even though it's early afternoon you can hear extremely loud bass music
[ Muted rock music begins ]
thumping from the other side of what mus- of must be at least three feet of solid rock. And you would know that this is like, you know, you’ve visited Riley a bunch of times you would know that this is kind of like, part of the cover, that she- that her place is just in a spot where it’s hard to hear what’s going on. You know, she lives in a very loud neighborhood where there’s a lot happening. She lives somewhere above this bar. There’s like a- yeah, a little intercom on her front door and you can buzz her apartment.
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ OOC ] I buzz her.
> Mike / G.M.: Yeah, she buzzes you in.
[ Muted Rock music ends ] [ Buzzer buzzes ]
It’s, you know- it’s amazing, it’s a hundred years in the future but the tenement buildings on the lower east side have changed very little. It’s a walk up, it’s a dimly lit sort of dirty staircase and you get to an old sort of dented, graffitied metal door and she opens it. She’s short for an elf, she’s about 5’9”, she’s also young for an elf, she’s about forty, forty-five, if you don’t count the additional forty years of cryo-sleep, but that is another story for another time. She is holding a- a large steaming mug of something, you don’t really- you can’t really tell what it is but it smells very strongly of soup, and you can see all of the really dense tattoos that snake from the back of
her fingertips to the back of her hands and up underneath her baggy sleeves. Her gray and red hair is collected into a tall bunch on the top of her head, she gives you a very mischievous look and says [ IC as Riley ] “Luxe! [ Nick laughs ] To what do I owe the pleaser?”
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Hey Riley. How are the boys?
> Mike / G.M.: [ IC as Riley ] You know... Studying? [ Nick laughs ] They’re in college. >Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Alright [ Shannon laughs ]
> Mike / G.M.: [ IC ] I know very little about what they’re up to and I like it that way. >Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Well-
> Mike / G.M.: [ IC ] Do you want to come in?
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Yeah, I’d love to, I’d love to. You look- you look well!
> Mike / G.M.: [ IC ] Thanks, so do you.
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Thank you.
> Mike / G.M.: She leads you into her apartment which is very small and extremely cluttered. There are books and trinkets piled everywhere on every surface, the furniture is very old and worn, and the walls are covered in so much artwork that you can barely see the dull green-gray paint that’s underneath. She clears a seat for you at the kitchen table by picking up a pile of art monographs and moves it onto the kitchen counter. She sort of like, dusts it off with a hand, you can actually see some dust rise as she does this.
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ OOC ] Luxe begins to- rolls back his sleeves a little bit- > Mike / G.M.: [ IC ] Oh yeah! How are they doing?
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] They’re doing well. You wanna take a look at them, make sure that they’re still um.
> Mike / G.M.: [ IC ] Yeah, yeah yeah! >Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Yeah.
> Mike / G.M.: She reaches into a- a- the breast pocket of her button up shirt and pulls out a very- a small pair of glasses and she walks over to you and grabs your wrist and gets real close and she says [ IC ] “Oh yeah, some of the laces are coming a little bit loose, and these grommets are gonna wear away soon.”
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Yeah?
> Mike / G.M.: [ IC ] “Hold on, hold on.” [ OOC ] and she goes over to a drawer in her kitchen and pulls out a rag and comes back and just kind of like, rubs at something a little bit and she’s like [ IC ] “Eh, it’ll be alright for a little while. But once this starts to separate more you gotta come back here and I’ll- I’ll fix those up.”
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Okay, alright, I will. They work great, the little nozzle that comes out of the sleeve I thought it would catch? It hasn’t caught a single time.
> Mike / G.M.: [ IC ] Nice!
>Nick / “Luxe” [ IC ]: Yeah, it’s wor- It’s working great. I am actually here to see if you could
help me with surveillance.
> Mike / G.M.: [ IC ] Ooh.
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Yeah.
> Mike / G.M.: [ IC ] What’re you- well okay- uh, yeah, hold that thought, let’s go into the workshop.
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Oh yes, sorry.
> Mike / G.M.: [ IC ] Yeah, you know, it’s not safe here.
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] I know.
> Mike / G.M.: So she beckons you- she walks through her kitchen, which is also very cluttered. She opens up another door that’s in her kitchen to the bathroom-
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: [ Nasaly ] And there’s a bunch of elves!! [ Sings a jaunty tune ] [ Nick laughs ] No? Oh, we’re not doing the elf thing?
[ Bijan, Mike, Nick, Jenn, Taylor laugh ]
> Bijan / “T.K.”: [ OOC ] Is that a- like an elf sweatshop? [ Nick laughs ]
> Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: Well you know they’re there- its- no they love it, great benefits, they got a union. [ Mike laughs ]
> Mike / G.M.: She’s a pretty benevolent boss [ Taylor laughs ] Yeah, yeah. > Taylor / “The Bad Boys”: Yeah, it’s actually a coop they have-
> Mike / G.M.: As far as CEOs go, yeah. This is a route very familiar to you Luxe. She opens up a drawer underneath a sink and she spins her palm upwards inside of it and you hear a distant
chime ring, and a narrow pocket door opens across from the toilet. And crossing the threshold you can see the brick of Riley’s building a- but the wood and concrete slab of the building that’s next to hers as you pass into her workshop which is also extremely dirty and cluttered. It is piled high with stuff, there are plans, reference materials, supplies, tools. The walls are covered at some places three feet deep with buckets, and shelves, and peg boards. There are shuttered closets that are filled with who knows what, and-
[ 00:40:00 ]
> Mike / G.M.: -on the farthest wall, though, is the best lit and the clearest and it is covered with guns and armor. This is her sales display, this is her like- her life's work. These are things that she’s made from scratch in her workshop. And also, in the very center of the workshop is one long thick wooden bench, a long table, well worn, and it is completely empty. She puts her soup- tea down on top of it, she stands behind it opposite you and spreads her arms wide, and she says [ IC ] “What can I help you with?” [ OOC ] And you hear the door behind you close.
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Well, we have a few people of interest we would like to monitor for strange behavior. It’s pretty standard bug stuff I’m kind of looking for. But, the wrinkle here and you might not want to hear this, is that it can’t be any standard issue, back of the magazine kind of stuff because these people I want to monitor... are cops. So any novel way of monitoring them, whether or not we could get it in a business card, or I can go up to their doors and talk to them and then shoot something out of my bracers into their place or something, that I can monitor these people I- is- would be really, really helpful.
> Mike / G.M.: [ IC ] And you wanna monitor their conversations? What they’re saying? You wanna monitor their communication? Tell me about what things you wanna know about.
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Well, these people- well they’ve been reported to me as acting strange, so monitoring as much as possible would be very helpful. Their behavior at home, their communications, yes. If there was something I could stick to their person that would be better, but if it was something that would have to live at one location that they live, or work, or something. I don’t know if you’ve ever done anything like this.
> Mike / G.M.: [ IC ] And you said they’re all cops?
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Yeah. I would imagine they would know all the standard ways of
monitoring and they would have defenses against those.
> Mike / G.M.: She turns around and she looks at the display behind her and she turns back, and she looks at you and she says [ IC ] “I mean, if you know their loadout, uh. I mean could you switch their guns? I mean, could you give them new munitions? I mean I- I don’t know anyone who distributes to the NYPD Incorporated, but if they’re active duty and they carry firearms, or something like firearms, you could try to hide it in the smart system. Uh, but I mean that’s where my brain goes because I mean this is what I’ve been working on.”
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Right. Could you dupe the city's security protocols on their weapons?
> Mike / G.M.: [ IC ] I mean probably, you’d have to get me one though.
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Okay, maybe we can do that. Would I have to get you the individual officer- each individual officer's weapons? And then have you bug them? Or would- could I just get you one?
> Mike / G.M.: [ IC ] If you can get me one that’s a good starting place.
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Okay.
> Mike / G.M.: She’s taking like, little notes on a e-inc pad that’s on her desk.
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Hmm
> Mike / G.M.: [ IC ] I mean everything else I have is, like you said, standard assortment. It’s stuff that you stick in the drywall, it’s a thing that you attach to someone's comm.
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Right.
> Mike / G.M.: Tell you what Nick.
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ OOC ] Yeah.
> Mike / G.M.: Let’s randomly generate one thing that is strange and off the beaten path that Riley has. When you talk about a bug,
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ OOC ] Yes.
> Mike / G.M.: Or surveillance, what are three adjectives that come to mind?
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ OOC ] Small, technological [Jenn, Shannon, laugh], and whisper quiet.
> Mike / G.M.: Please roll 1d6 for me.
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ OOC ] 3.
> Mike / G.M.: Please roll another d6 for me.
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ OOC ] 3
> Mike / G.M.: Please roll a third d6 for me.
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ OOC ] 4.
> Mike / G.M.: Hold on, let me think about it for a second. Nick, give me one more adjective.
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ OOC ] Interference. Wait, interfereable. > Mike / G.M.: Okay, rol- now roll a d6
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ OOC ] 2
> Mike / G.M.: Okay, great. [ IC ] “I mean the only other thing that I have, and it’s really weird, it’s like this bizarre skunkworks project is, it’s a coat hanger? That is sort of like- has a monofilament in it that’s highly sensitive and it picks up all acoustic vibrations nearby.”
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Hmm.
> Mike / G.M.: [ IC ] It has a very, very small radio transmitter in it that’s not the most secure thing, and you kind of need to be in twenty or so meters in order to pick it up. But like, it’s a thing you can shove in a closet and hang a coat on and it’ll pick up anything that happens in the room.
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] I’ll take it!
> Mike / G.M.: [ IC ] Alright. [ Mike, Shannon laugh ] I only have one- I would give you more but I only have one, some- some client of mine just dropped it off and wanted me to use it to see if it works and if there’s anything wrong with it, if it could be improved, so I mean.
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] I could test it for you?
> Mike / G.M.: [ IC ] Yeah, I’ll just give it to you. As long as you beta test it basically
[ Laughs ]
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Yeah, yeah, I’ll test for you.
> Mike / G.M.: She goes into a box and pulls out this really skinny black envelope and just hands it to you, and it feels like a black envelope that has a coat hanger inside of it. [ Jenn, Nick laugh ]
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Alright, and I’ll let you know if I get my hands on a standard issue weapon from the NYPD.
> Mike / G.M.: [ IC ] Yeah, I mean figure it out- if- yeah.
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Hmm. Thanks Riley, I appreciate it!
> Mike / G.M.: [ IC ] Yeah, good- good luck out there!
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Yeah, okay, and I- I’ll try not to break this, this coat hanger.
> Mike / G.M.: [ IC ] I mean to be fair though, if you do break it that is a point of data that is- yeah.
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] You’re right they- they need to make a stronger coat hanger.
> Mike / G.M.: [ IC ] That is a point of data that Jan can use to make a better design in the next-
so. Don’t break it on purpose!
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] I won’t.
> Mike / G.M.: [ IC ] Okay.
>Nick / “Luxe”: [ IC ] Okay, alright, well cool. Give my love to the boys and I will let you know regarding the weapon.
> Mike / G.M.: [ IC ] Alright, sounds good! [ OOC ] And she starts walking with you out through the pocket door and you cross back into her bathroom, her kitchen, and her living room, and she opens her front door for you.
>Nick / “Luxe”: And Luxe heads out and starts thinking about what he can do with a really good coat hanger [ Jenn, Mike, Nick laugh ]
> Mike / G.M.: Really sensitive coat hanger. > Jenn / “Vivian”: [ OOC ] That’s amazing. > Mike / G.M.: Next is, Lash.
[ Interlude music fades in and out ]
[ 00:47:00 ] [ Main Theme begins ]
> Mike / G.M.: You are now leaving Fun City, the teams day off will continue tomorrow morning with Lash. Thank you for listening, if you want to support the show, get access to bonus one off episodes, our bi-weekly post episode chat show Fun Chatty, and our discord, head on over to patreon.com/funcityventures. And of course thanks to all our current patrons for help keeping this show afloat. We’d also love it if you told you pals about the show, shared it on social media, drew us some fanart, gave us a rating on iTunes, or just came by to say hey on Twitter.
[ Main Theme ends ]
[ Outro Theme begins ]
> Bijan: 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: 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: 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: 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: This is Taylor Moore and I play all the Bad Boys. I'm @taylordotbiz.
> Mike: 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 and Instagram @FunCityVentures. Fun City was recorded at Fortunate Horse in beautiful Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Fun City was produced, edited, and sound designed by me, Mike Rugnetta. No offense meant to Pixlriffs if he happens to be aCoronation Street fan. Fun City'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.
[ 00:49:22 ] [ Outro Theme concludes ]