Hikaru watches Tess speak, mouth agape as she seems to really live and die by her character. He grins, trying to keep himself from laughing at her boisterous persona. He feels immense relief as the other two fall into place as well and don't completely spoil their plan.
"The team will be larger for the actual video, of course. But we wanted to keep things simple for now. If you're ready, why don't you show us around?"
"Yes, many more!" Tess responds. "Unfortunately our lighting expert caught food poisoning from her falafel, so she couldn't make it, but we will be sure to bring her by once she's feeling up to the task. With your blessing of course," she continues, smiling at their hostess in the politest way she can.
"Oh that's such a shame," Zina replies to Tess. "It wasn't Falafellas was it? That place sucks," she adds, dragging out 'sucks' for dramatic effect.
"But yes the tour!" She says excitedly. "Well this is the entrance or lobby I guess," she says, gesturing around the room.
"That's just a bathroom," she says, pointing to the single door to your right. "Through here though is the living room," she says, walking towards the double doors opposite, opening them both fully as she passes through the doorway.
The doors open up into a large room, the far wall of which is dominated by a enormous screen currently showing a pause menu of a video game. The floor is sunken in the middle of the room by a bit less than a metre, with the raised section you're standing on forming a U shape around the edge of the room.
The rounded bottom of the U shape immediately in front of you is filled with a large couch, the top of which is flush with the raised floor. Where the couch ends, the sunken and raised parts of the floor are connected by a couple of steps, which run from the end of the couch to the far wall. In the center of the sunken area is a large metal and glass coffee table.
A couple of book cases and shelves adorn the wall to your left, while the wall to the right has another set of double doors in the center.
Sucks? I thought it hit the fucking spot, Cass thinks. Maybe she's one of those shitty reviewers that left a poor review. He smirks to himself as he follows the others.
As he stumbles across the massive TV, Cass stares on in amazement. "Damn. Nice digs," he says. "We could, uh... we could throw on some cool FX on that as a backdrop, right Aaron? This might be a good room to shoot from."
He cocks his head toward the doors to his right. This guy have a study, or anything? Need to find some sort of documents, or personal effects, or something like that. Something truly fucking incriminating. The junkie pauses, considering the thought. Or exonerating. The other guy could be the fuckup.
"I'm not sure, darling," Tess responds, as the question of where the fake food poisoning occurred is raised. "But if so then I can surely see why! I will make an effort to avoid the place, thank you ever so much for the tip."
She remains quiet as the group is led forward into the living room. She glances around it briefly, noticing that it seems pretty empty despite its size. Clearly this guy is a fan of minimalism. Hopefully the rest of the house is as simplistic in its decor, will make finding any clues much easier. She aimlessly wanders - or at least makes it appear so - near the shelves as Cass talks, glancing at the contents of the cases and shelves for anything that might seem like a clue.
One she's had a good look at the man's literature, she turns towards the center of the room and raises her arms forward. "This room is simply lovely. The space is large, the decor simple and elegant. I can see it now," she continues, stepping forward to the couch. "All of the band seated on the couch. They're watching something, or maybe gaming together. The shot comes in from behind. They hear the approach. Stop, turn. They laugh, they weren't expecting company. They stand and turn to face the camera. Bam! The first dance routine begins."
Eridas nods at Calvin's question, and gulps quietly as he is trying to keep his anxiety down. "Most definitely, t-there could be some FX up there, easily." He acts like he's picturing it in his head.
"Oh, well thanks for the warning!" Hikaru says as the woman talks down upon Falafellas. It wasn't five star food by any means, but I wouldn't say it sucks. "Do you know any good sushi places around here? I could eat that for every meal!"
Hikaru glances into the living room, feigning interest in what is a fairly standard room to him. "Wow, you've got an awesome setup. I love where Esther's vision is going. With a video like that, we might just have our next #1 hit!" He eyes the bookshelves, wondering what they might hold. No way someone would hide something incriminating out in the open.
"I'm glad you guys like it!" Zina exclaims in response to Tess and Hikaru's feigned enthusiasm. She takes a moment to remove the headset from around her neck and place it gently on the coffee table in the center of the room. "There's quite a few actually. There's a ton of restaurants on the promenade, and most deliver here. It's a great location... That's the kitchen through there," she says, spotting Cass' look towards the other pair of doors.
She steps over towards them and opens them both as she did with the living room doors. The kitchen is even larger than the the living room. Immediately in front of you as you step out of the doors and to your left is clearly the kitchen area. A large stove and oven sits in the center of the wall, the other appliances presumably hidden behind the flat brushed metal cupboards which line the rest of the wall. The center of the kitchen area is dominated by an island with a large double sink which is lined with 4 bar stools on one edge. The island and half of the other counter tops are a dark black that almost sparkles in the light as you enter the room, the other half of the counter tops are the same material but lack the same sparkle as the rest of the room. The counter tops themselves are mostly empty save for stuff cooking utensils by the stove and a couple of bottles of cleaning products on the island.
To your right, through a large open archway, the other half of the room is clearly used as a dining area. A long glass table sits in the middle of the space, large enough to seat ten, with another chandelier - similar to the one in the lobby - hanging from the ceiling above. The dining area has another set of double doors, one of which is slightly ajar, further along the same wall you've just entered from, which from presumably leads back to the lobby, and another single door opposite the archway and kitchen.
"Oh my," Tess says, as they enter the kitchen and dining area. She briefly glances over the relatively unadorned kitchen before turning towards the dining room, its table in particular. "This glass table is marvelous. We can get shots from all angles. Above! Below! From the sides, perhaps? The band eating, conversing, maybe playing some sort of game. The shots could be interspersed throughout the video, in between portions of the dance routine. Or maybe leading to another? The possibilities are endless!"
As she speaks she walks around the table, facing the partially-opened door and trying to catch a glimpse of white lies on the other side. What are you hiding? A closet? Another entrance?
Eridas follows along, however since he's not very creative he just looks around and offers thoughtful nods and small "Hmm," and "Aah," noises, as if he's getting ideas, letting Tess and Hikaru doing most of the talking.
Cass follows the group, peering about the kitchen and dining room as the woman gives them an excited tour. He stays quiet as Tess and Hikaru lead their host through a guise of growing depth.
We'll need to break apart at some point. I'll see how this will play out, first, though.
"It must be nice to be able to get anything delivered," Hikaru says, his mind momentarily overtaken by thoughts of nigiri and maki. Then again, who needs delivery when you've got a team of caterers on hand?
Hikaru nods along as their host continues to show them around the home, taking in the rooms and decor. I guess it's not bad for a backwater planet like this. He eyes the dining room, raising an eyebrow. "Wow, you guys must entertain often with a table that big!"
"What's through there?" Tess asks, turning from the lobby to face the other door at the foot of the table. "Anything worth shooting in?" she continues excitedly, hoping it is instead something simple like a restroom. Once we find a place to pee, one of us can use that as an excuse to hold back.
"That heads down to = the parking garage, so I guess not." Zina replies to Tess with less enthusiasm than before. "Juan does have a couple of nice Gravcars though - and he's very proud of his bike. He'll have taken that to his meeting though," she says, some of the prior enthusiasm returning, although she doesn't move to open the door, looking to you for your response instead.
"Hey, I dunno," Cass says with a shrug. "Parking garage can pull in some industrial vibes if we're looking for that route. I'm sure the acoustics would be insane. What do you think, Esther?"
"Kaze and Kenji do love cars!" Hikaru says, trying to get the woman to show them the garage. And in the meantime, someone else can dig around up here, he formulates. "Maybe one of their personal segments could have the cars. I mean, if they're as nice as you say they are!"
"Oh yes!" Tess responds. "The two of them driving around, returning home to be greeted by the other three. Another dance number in the garage with the cars lined up in the background. I can really see it!" she says, adding to Cass and Hikaru's comments. Turning to Zina she adds, "with your boyfriend's permission, of course."
"I'm sure he'd be fine with it," Zina replies to Tess with a smile, opening the door which reveals a small landing with a staircase going down to the left before reaching another small landing and turning to the left out of sight.
"Go on ahead, I'm going to do a bit of... sound-scaping," Cass says quietly as he lets the others follow after Zina.
Turning away, he quickly takes inventory of the rooms once more, trying to find the closest thing to a study or a personal area that the mark might use for business.
I wish that fucker Bao would have given us a bit more idea into what the hell it is we're supposed to be looking for. Cass quickly pops open the medicine cabinet, searching for any interesting medications. Shit, I need this more than they do. Last I checked, I've got all but a week left to live.
Check this haul. Holy shit. Cass slips the Lift, Tsunami, and two of the Lazarus Patches deep into a pocket of his baggy jacket. Gotta leave one in case they have a real emergency, he decides, feeling that compromise was worth the theft.
Moving upstairs, he opens the double-doors, still on the hunt for a terminal or anything else to get information on.
Eridas follows the group, mostly playing the role of the quiet camera man, almost forgetting that it was an act for a moment.
Leaving the door slightly ajar to hear behind him, Cass quickly steps over to the terminal and attempts to access it. Files. Comms. Anything, he reminds himself. Gotta get a fix on who this fucker is, and what this fucker's up to. He slides his compad out next to him, ready for a data transfer.
As Zina opens the door, Hikaru nods to Cass. Let's hope people this rich don't have cameras around the place. He follows the woman down the staircase, curious about which gravcars their target is able to afford.
Eridas' eyes widen slightly. He's always dreamed of driving something like this, but he's never had the chance. "Yeah, these would look great in the video!" He says to the others.
Cass raises an eyebrow as his bread-and-butter crack-prog fails. Looks like richboy knows a thing or two about locking your goddamn terminal. He opens a serial keygen, letting it tabulate for several seconds while running the terminal's basic details through an encryption matrix. If any of these codes show duplicate, then we've got our way in.
"Absolutely!" Tess responds, nodding to Eridas as she does while she continues her feigned excitement. "The luxury sedan would be perfect for a shot of the group driving together. Maybe they all show up to the house in it and get out? It could even be the start of the video!" Turning to Zina she adds, "if he is fine with the band driving it, of course. If not, maybe one of you could be in the video as the driver!"
Hikaru raises an eyebrow, strutting alongside the vehicles as if carefully examining them. He grins, looking up at their host and nodding. "Kaze would love that hovercycle, you have no idea! He's always been one for thrills like that!" Probably why he got into drugs, really. "And even if we can't really drive them, our special effects team can still make a killer production!" he says excitedly.
Hikaru beams at the woman's excitement, as if almost believing himself that they were planning a video. "Of course! What better way to thank our generous host. I think the whole system should get to see you." He smirks and winks at the woman before glancing over the collection of cars again. He must do pretty well for himself. Is he conning the cons or is that other guy just dumb with money?
Cass tenses up as he parses through the criminal activity of both Ulven and his superior. Damn, these guys are deep into this shit. He sighs. When I started slinging, I didn't want to get wrapped up into anything past drug deals. Nothing violent. Nothing truly fucked. But it always happens.
His blood runs cold as he comes across the tracks of League code. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. What the fuck is this? He squints down at the evidence in disbelief for a moment before his senses spur him to action. I should have just stayed in that dumbass Diktat prison. At least there I'd die in some medbay, not at the end of a goddamn gunbarrel.
He logs off the computer, trying to wipe as much of his trace, and the prior hacker's, as well. Stepping back toward the door, he leaves everything as it was and heads downstairs to rejoin the others.
Cass spins and freezes, listening intently. Is somebody in there? What the hell... He fingers the laser pistol in his baggy pants pocket, really hoping he won't need to use it.
Oh, fuck. Cass backs away from the door carefully, keeping his eyes trained on the doorknob. Ulven's out. His girl's downstairs. So who the fuck is in here?!
He leaves the room, shutting the double-doors behind him and walking back down to the main floor and posting up near the way down to the parking garage. Sliding out his compad, he taps a quick text to the others.
Creed casually checks his phone, putting it back in his pocket quickly. "Aah, business. Mind if I take care of this quick?" He asked the others and taking a quick look around. "Really s-sorry, this shouldn't take long." He made his way upstairs to look for Cass now.
When Creed appears from the parking garage, Cass shuts the door behind him. "Look, man, shit's getting weird upstairs," he whines quietly. "You got a gun, right? Fuck, hope you do. I do." He takes a paranoid look up at the stairs, just to be sure nobody is coming down.
"Somebody's hiding in the bathroom of the main bedroom. This chick said our mark already took off for the meeting. So who the fuck is that, you know? We should find out." He takes a deep breath, unsure. "You ready? Two on one."
Creed seems to shut down for a moment. "Someone... Hiding ... Here?" He asked, a little worried. "I... Yeah, I have a gun." He carefully drew his blaster pistol. He was good at it, but he hated using it. "L-lead the way."
"Yeah, here. Were you even listening?" Cass asks, shaking his head in confusion. "Let's go." He draws his piece, holding it out in front of him defensively as he climbs the stairs and approaches the stairs up to the main bedroom again.
Eridas quietly tries to keep his composure, nodding at Cass to lead the way. "I got your back." He whispered, a single bead of sweat going down his face.
Cass steps forward, grabbing the doorknob and carefully opening the door in a defensive manner. Here goes... fucking nothing.
"Hey, woah," Cass says quietly, lowering his firearm. He motions for Creed to do the same. "Not here to hurt you, okay? Just take it easy with that knife."
He slides his gun into his waistband again, showing her both his empty palms. "Can you tell me why you're hiding in Juan Ulven's bathroom?"
