The Found Arcana – Second Interlude [IC]
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The Found Arcana – Second Interlude [IC]
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The gangers cheer at the brawl, enjoying the back-and-forth. Their fighter isn’t landing blows, but he’s availing himself well in this decidedly non-traditional confrontation with a primate none of them can name.
Bobby swinging his arm like a whip seems to confuse the ork, or at least make him pause long enough to not jump away effectively. Bobby slaps the man, whose muscles lock into rigid contractions almost immediately. The ork winces hard and grits his teeth/tusks until the surge of electricity passes, leaving him winded and out of position for effective defense.
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Jawsey feels the situation teetering on a fulcrum. Right now everybody is enjoying it, but pushing things too far could turn the gang to violence again. If Bobby goes for the kill …
Before Bobby can start launching a more deadly attack, Jawsey throws all the authority he can into his voice and yells “PIN HIM NOW, while he’s slow and clumsy! Show who is on top!”
He hoped that Bobby would keep listening to his guidance and go for the pin, rather than following the instinct to go for the kill.
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Bobby didn’t need the encouragement – but took the advice gratefully nonetheless.
While his opponent had momentarily trouble getting his muscles to move as they should, he lashed out with his left arm to grab the ganger’s right knee and hauled on it with all his might, prepared to knock him down and jump on him and make him cry uncle. -
There are two types of flies in the world: the quick ones that anticipate your every move and evade your strikes accordingly, and the slow fat ones that you can catch with chopsticks. Bobby’s electrical attack has turned the ganger from the first type of fly into the second one. The ganger is moving in slow-motion while Bobby is operating at video game speeds; grabbing the ganger’s knee and pulling his legs out from underneath him could hardly be easier.
And the bigger they are, the harder they fall. The ork falls backward so quickly that his head hits the pavement first, his skull giving a sickening crunch when it hits the blacktop. Bobby pounces on top of him to make him tap but to no avail: the ganger’s eyes are rolled back into his head. The ork couldn’t tap – verbally or physically – even if he wanted to.
His corner has to throw in the towel for him. The gangers erupt, no so much in opposition to the outcome but in disappointment. There’s a single, loud gunshot as the female ork fires the Ruger Super Warhawk into the sky to silence her squad.
“That’s enough,” she says, bringing the gun down to level at Bobby to ensure he doesn’t get any ideas with those canines of his. “He’s done. You’ve won.”
Her tone is matter-of-fact, and she’s clearly in control of her emotions. Unlike, say, the troll, who is pawing at the ground and snorting and looks like he’d love to have a go at Bobby next. But the female ork keeps him in line with a stare before turning her attention back to Bobby, making sure that he backs off his victim. A small pool of blood starts to collect under the downed ganger’s head.
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Bobby yanked a small tuft of hair from the downed ork and retreated to where is exploded trousers had dropped.
Only when he had put the hair into one of the pockets, did he return to his true form while he ignored the jibes about his naked ass. Having human hands made it far easier to put the trainers back together.
While he did so he called out:
“Playtime is over. Get him to a doc or something before he bleeds all over my turf. The next challenger gets mauled.” -
The female shakes her head, keeping her two pistols at the high ready.
“Not your turf. Our turf. Like we said, you don’t breathe around here without our say-so. If you disagree, I got a dozen guns here that say otherwise.” She nods over her shoulder at the squad behind her.
“We’re the nice ones, the formal announcement that the Brain Eaters are out and the Crimson Crush are in. Today’s just a bit of fun. You say you’re not First Nations and you’ll pay your dues? Wiz. Unless you Three Amigos got a hundred extra bangers that I’m not seeing, you’ll be wise to pony up on tax day. You can pay to stay.”
The troll snorts and stomps and looks like an angry bull. He looks like he wants a piece of Bobby next, as a bear, shark, whatever. The female ork hears the commotion behind her and gives the slightest tilt of her head.
“Get Jack,” she tells the troll, simple as that. The troll looks unhappy at the task, but comes over and flings Jack over his shoulder as easily as if the downed ork were a toddler, and with his other hand grabs the barbed baseball bat. There’s a bloody patch on the back of Jack’s head, and an EMT would certainly advise more caution with a potential neck/spine injury, but proper medical care is a luxury that few can afford in the Barrens.
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“A word to the wise: We ain’t interested in trouble and if you can provide the service we paid the brain eaters for – null sweat. But be aware that we are all business here. And we are all prepared to pay the cost of doing business. You are not the only ones with interests in this area – and we pay our dues to them too.”
Bobby buttoned up his fly, nodded towards the gang leader and made his way inside to get some soycaf and shirt. -
AM waits for the Crimson Crush to get far and only then cancels the invisibility spells. Let’s leave, I think we should have a little chat with mr. Andrew, though they say they replace the Brain Eaters? They can provide electiricty… These guys don’t seem so sophisticated.”
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As expected, there are whistles and catcalls about Bobby’s bare hoop – along with some pointed questions about if he could transform into a horse then why wasn’t he also hung like a horse – but things quickly clam up when the Crimson Crush start to leave. The neighborhood understands that they’ll be on the warpath now, as they are both A) aggravated at being publicly beaten and B) hopped up on combat drugs.
Before, the Crush were rowdy but not necessarily violent. Now they’re rowdy and confrontational to boot. They throw rocks at people, break the occasional window, chase feral dogs, and shoot at pigeons. (The latter, presumably, because maybe the pigeon is Bobby, or a relative of his.) While Bobby’s fight might have improved the neighborhood’s estimation of your abilities, it’s also incurred some of their ire as they suffer from the consequences of an irritated mob of ork gangers.
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Bobby agreed with AM: “Yeah, doesn’t seem like good policy to let those guys run around here unchecked.”
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The Crimson Crush pack wanders off, the excitability of the drugged members somewhat offset (sort of, kind of, not really) by the drunk members.
(There are gun shots in the distance as the Crimson Crush shoot a devil rat that wasn’t sufficiently deferential. “Yer welcome!” the shooter tells the neighborhood.)
An older woman leans out the window. She looks Chinese, and peeved that her flower pot got broken.
“Why you have to be the big man?” she shouts at Bobby. “Just let them beat you up! Better just you than all of us. Or do what we do and run! That’s all it takes to make them go away. Your fun is our pain! You play, we pay!” She gives a rude gesture and then slams her window shut.
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Once the fight was ending cleanly, Jawsey had commanded Granny Iron-Teeth to return to the astral, promising that they’d roam out later and she could cause some mischief. He hated to inflict more misery on this area, but he’d promised her someone to scare, and more to the point he wasn’t entirely sure that he could stop her from breaking free and causing as much havoc as she wished, if she really tried.
By the time AM dropped the invisibility spell he had himself leaning nonchalantly against the wall, hands tucked in his jacket pockets where nobody could see them tremble. He never got the shakes during a confrontation, but the shock of the damage he’d taken in summoning the spirit was kicking in now.
Once they had provided a sufficient display of not caring and had gone back inside, he had to ask “Anyone else started to dream of a day when we have paid off enough debts, and have regular enough business, that we could move to a slightly better neighborhood? “
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She texts “Andrew” AM>> Andrew San, If I may be bold enough to bother you but the Crimson Crush gange are making a mess in the hood as if they own the place. Needless to say, broken windows and beat up neighbors are bad for business. They claim to replace the Brain Eaters, which is in principle fine (by me) but they shouldn’t be able to just waltz around here and terrorize people. Can I count on you to keep things orderly?
AM responds to Bobby “I texted him alright, let’s see how responsive he is. A man of his caliber is measured in times like this, we pay him exactly for keeping these things from happening. It was some impressive fighting abilities, Bobby. I wish I was as effective. “
She replies to Jawsey “Dreaming got me into this massive debt in the first place. she sighs “Sometimes I wonder if the little Erika is even worth the trouble. Cyberdecks are insanely expensive, and while I am making interest – I will still be paying for her long after you all gain your freedom. So I’ll appreciate it if we stay here where rent is cheap. I fear the Mafia more than I fear Crimson Crush.
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Bobby gave the woman in the window the finger: “How about you get angry at those gangers? You live in a crab bucket and go off on me for pinching the cook? I’m not the problem here for sticking up to them. You’d gonna let them fuck your daughter and cuss her out if she doesn’t take it lying down.”
Inside, Bobby nodded to AM: “Could have gone a lot better. If they had opened fire, I’d have been done. I really need to find a way to get my armor on first. I’ve got to go on my spirit quest soon and find some answers.
Meanwhile we are stuck here until we can pay our way out. Two more scores and I should be rid of my obligations. Then I can lend you guys part of my income without interest. Should make it easier alltogether.” -
AM comments “I had your escape route planned, and the angels of suppressive fire covered to make sure they don’t get a clear line of sight to you. I wasn’t sure how I and Jawsey would get out, but it should not be easy to chase invisible wizards around town.”
When he mentions an interest free loan she looks at him with admiration and almost disbelief. “You would really do that for me?” -
Bobby shrugged: “I’m kinda relying on you being able to put me back together should I get myself shot up. Can’t have you do that when your own knees are broken. But don’t get your hopes up – no one of us is out of the woods yet.”
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AM nods in agreement, and she views Bobby in a new light. Perhaps she is too cynical to actually believe it, but the fact that he is willing to potentially help out instead of building his own fortune is inspiring. On second thought, Bobby is perhaps scarier than the Mafia collectors, so owing him money may be more hazardous, but “no interest” is currently the sweetest thing anyone has told her in recent years.
She then comments about the lady complaining
“…And don’t worry about the locals. People respect strength. We do not ask people to like us, we ask them to respect us, and mention our name when someone is looking for competent professionals. You did us some marketing today, Crimson Crush would respect us once they get detox and relax. “ -
Andrew responds very quickly to AM’s message.
<<Green-san, thank you for bringing this to my attention. This is an unfortunate development and will be addressed personally. I will be there shortly.>>
And, true to his word, Andrew shows up less than half an hour later, looking dapper in his Scout’s tuxedo. The Crimson Crush have moved on so Andrew surveys the damage and interviews the locals. He nods and takes copious notes, almost like an insurance adjuster. The Chinese woman who accosted Bobby is very harsh with Andrew until he mollifies her by promising a new flower pot. Again, true to his word, a delivery drone shows up within the hour with a fresh pot of chrysanthemums, lending a splash of color to an otherwise dreary windowsill. The Chinese woman seems delighted to the point where maybe having the Crimson Crush roll through was a good thing.
Andrew makes similar arrangements for broken glass and other small repairs. He can offer little comfort to the devil rat that was shot with an Ares Striker, but the neighborhood seems assured by his personal attention.
“Smart,” Mato says as he spies on Andrew from afar. “Taking a moment of impotence and turning it into one of control. And for what, ¥20 in flowers? Very shrewd.”
Mato clicks a few things on his commlink as he does some research. “Chrysanthemums were first cultivated in China. A remedy tailored to the patient.” He nods toward the Chinese woman, who fawns over her new pot like a new granddaughter. “Very astute.” He drums his fingers for a moment. “We must be careful with him, if he can reverse his fortunes so.”
Mato doesn’t seem overly concerned with the neighbor’s reaction to the fight. “A lion doesn’t concern himself with the opinions of the sheep. Especially not a rabid lion, eh Mad Cat?” He claps Bobby on the shoulder genially, but his metal hand makes this rather more painful than playful.
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AM accompanies Andrew for a while and would provide him a recap of what happened if he asks. She feels good about herself for not giving in to fear considering how many they were and attributes her new fond boldness to her brand new SMG. Which she makes no attempt to conceal if any the entire point of that gun is to be visible so that bullies would not get funny ideas about the little elf lady. Of course, she is a shaman but magic is less visible than an automatic weapon with a large ammo capacity. Truth be told, AM is far from the trid wizards in her capabilities.
“So I was at Fenghuang studying when they waltzed in scaring people and making a mess. They came in looking for a fight and paranoid thinking that we are First Nations. We did not feel an urgency to flee as all three of us are capable, and as we do not want people scaring off our customers. We flexed some magical muscles, showed them some strange things hoping to keep careful and less confrontational.
They were too eager to fight, and while I tried to speak with them… Before I knew it, they challenged Bobby and there was no way back from that challenge.”
She makes a face and continues “Bobby won naturally, and Crimson Crush indeed left fulfilling their part, but they did quite a mess while they leave. It goes without saying, Musai-San that we want the streets to be safe enough for clients to visit us without fearing for their personal safety.”
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Jawsey nods along to AM’s summary, adding at the end “I doubt they get pushed out quickly or easily. They used basic formations, maintained discipline, and the one orc lady was good at keeping them in line. Not professional grade but better than you see with most gangs. As long as they keep that up they’ll roll over most of the local gangs.”
After a bit more thought he mused “I don’t know that I care much about which gang claims this turf so long as their demands are reasonable and they provide more order than chaos. But if for some reason the Crimson Crush are a problem, I’d look at starting by taking out the orc lady. She didn’t seem to be a top leader, but I had the feeling that she is part of what is making the current discipline work. The guys are probably more apt to butt heads to show how tough they are without her there, and it isn’t so likely that the Crush have another who their bangers will listen to that much. I’m not saying that taking her out would make them fall apart immediately, but I think after a bit of time they might go back to more like the normal. Maybe. And like I said, if they are good for business then personally I don’t have a problem with them claiming this turf, and a gang war would surely be a mess. Just thinking out loud.“
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