Session 6: If You Show Me Yours - kaseido/NeoTokyo GitHub Wiki

304 Minsky 1 Wood

After a very strange day, the team gets settled in their rooms in the Baron’s castle. Rina only manages to find the obvious bug in the lamp in her room. She takes out a speaker, plays Russian opera into the lamp, and curls up on a chair to sleep. Lane is feeling information starved. Kat and Kira have a long talk: Kat is adamant that Kira play up to the Baron and appear to sell her out in return for an alliance. Kira resists, but eventually agrees.

The next morning, the tour starts in the reception hall. Raisa is with the Baron, who again is in bulky outdoor wear (armored?) with that red coat thrown over his shoulders.

He’ll lead a tour of the castle while breakfast is being prepared. “I hope you won’t begrudge me a private breakfast with my daughter. And then, the tour of my holdings.”

He leads them on a tour of the castle: it’s excruciatingly uninformative, though he explains who all the portraits are of, the highlights of his library (apparently the Rus’ have a thing for paper mulched from the indigenous trees: “They retain the scent of their origin in the woods, as do we. And [with a wink] they can’t be hacked or altered.”

Lane is flabbergasted: she’s read about paper books and has seen them at university, but is amazed anyone would have a private collection like this, and how difficult it must be to do research one page at a time.

Rina has been a problem the whole tour. She’s just sort of physically near the tour sometimes, trying doors they haven’t gone in – it’s clear she’s on a prowl, not a tour.

Rina immediately heads off to the staff wing, not even trying to hide it.

Winslett enquires/needles the Baron: if his interests are in biochemistry, wouldn’t it be easier to use drugs to keep the servants docile, rather than shock collars? He could recommend some formulas used by his industrial clients…

Krychevsky says that collars make a point in a way drugs don’t: it’s not about having them submit, it’s about having them know they have no choice but to submit. One removes the will, one breaks it.

Many guest rooms. Ballroom. Sauna, complete with branches for whipping. There is in fact a small urgent-care station, but the Baron explains it’s for small things – kitchen accidents, that sort of thing – and stabilizing anything serious for evacuation into town to the resident doctor. He waves off the servants-and-staff wing. “Immaterial and uninteresting.”

The tour ends back in the reception hall, where Raisa leads most of the group off to a sumptuous breakfast. Kat keeps up polite chatter with Lane. Hoodie-servant is back on duty. Rina is still nowhere to be found. Rook is worried about Kat with Kira gone, and pokes her out of concern. Kat gives her a very cool look. Lane is trying to figure out how to get one of those paper books, but not mentioning it out loud. She’s really frustrated by the information lack: she’s not as talkative as usual. She still doesn’t trust the whole story of why the Baron’s here, but hasn’t been able to get any further information. Kat is eating like she’s not a virtual prisoner, because this has been her entire life: pampered, sheltered, unable to leave, and worried about Kira but unable to do anything about it.

Meanwhile, Kira is having breakfast with her newly-discovered father, the Baron, and the two try to sound each other out: allies, enemies, something else? The Baron did his homework overnight, and discovered that this apple fell pretty close to the tree: they’re both murderous poisoners. Kira describes her approach as “chemical solutions to personal problems, a cleaner way of doing things. And Kat asks fewer questions when there are fewer messes.”

Krychevsky makes his pitch: Tsar Aleksandr is going to abdicate soon for reasons of health. Yuri plans to ascend, and reward Krychevsky – but there’s an opportunity to grab the prize for themselves. They can use Kat as a figurehead against her brother, put him down, put her on the throne with father – and of course, daughter – standing behind it. And if Kat and Kira marry, well, in a few years Kat would succumb to the hereditary illness that claimed her father, and Kira could be Tsar-Empress.

He continues: Kira can use the drugs he’s making for the Grand Duchess to dose the Tsar with on Kat: maybe a little sample to try on her tonight, to make her a little, you know, suggestible, wink wink?

He asks just what Kat is to her.

“She’s very important to me. Very. Important. To. Me. Kat is my reason. Everything else in this world is negotiable but Kat.”

He doesn’t get it. “I don’t see what a schoolgirl crush has to do with seizing the throne.”

“Kat is a line I will not cross. I do have skills that you and Mother have, and I will use them against anyone who would harm her.”

Krychevsky switches his approach: “I bet you have spent years searching for your mother’s laboratory.” She’s annoyed he’s nailed it. He admits the lab is on his property, and that his exile was cover for moving it to a site no one would ever expect or investigate.

She wants to try the drugs, but not on Kat. She smiles and relaxed, pretending she’s warming up to dear Daddy. Pretending they’ve reached an accord, she takes a sample “to use on Kat,” and hand it off directly to Winslett after breakfast ends.

After breakfast, the tour of the Baron’s holdings: they head outside and pile into what Kat identifies as “sleighs,” but who the hell would ride in an open-top car in the dead of winter?

Rina comes out of the kitchen to join the party, with a giant hunk of meat and a thermos of something. She’s just gnawing on it. She’s the only one without a FlakFur: the Baron notes she’ll freeze without one. “OK, give me yours,” and sits in his spot. He wraps her in the big red coat and picks her up bodily and puts her on the lap of the person next to him, Winslett. She’s got a little crush on him, she’s here for it.

Rina’s still hung up on the naked servants: she’s really disappointed that the no-clothes thing is an eccentricity: that means it doesn’t have an explanation. Rook suggests she try a water shower. Rina gives her the cat look of “are you kidding, that sounds like death!” They continue to extol the virtues of hot showers.

She asks if she can have a tree. He can arrange to ship it to – wherever she lives? She gives him a big grin. “I’ll tell our designer to leave a place for a tree.”

Rook wants to build a terrarium for it with snow blowing all the time. Rina wants to wire it to have pretty colors in it. And seats in the tree! And dangles on it!

The baron asks Rina where they live. Rook says their house isn’t done – otherwise they wouldn’t be trying to decorate still. Rina says she lives in the Ruin with her family.

The Baron has some idea they’re bullshitting him.

He’s got a giant-ass rifle: “The wolves sometimes make it into town. They never kill below peasant replacement level – a high birthrate ensures that, even if I or my guardsmen are slow to respond. Besides, it’s a more interesting hunt once they’ve developed a taste for human flesh.” The fields are fallow and snow-covered, but the Baron says they’re self-sufficient in food at least – though winters involve a lot of root vegetables and vodka. And the occasional wolf steaks.

The town is cosplay-quaint: it looks like a medieval village. Krychevsky says, though, that everything’s been built with modern materials: less drafty, more sanitary. They draw the authenticity line at outhouses: indoor plumbing and hot water for everyone. He’s a reformer!

Passers-by bow deferentially and scuttle off. Nobody says anything, and the Baron takes no note of them: they’re NPCs to him.

They make their way to the highlight of the tour: the pharmacology lab. Krychevsky gives a real tour: he’s confident Winslett would see through any real bullshit, but he’ll claim that it’s just a hobby, and he’s obviously centuries behind the South in terms of actual application. He introduces the staff, but dismisses their efforts as a hobby for a bored exile.

Kat interrupts him. She claps her hands. “Baron, you do yourself a disservice. I would think you would want to take advantage of Dr. Winslett’s presence.

She gives the group a speech admiring their initative, and the world class work they’ve managed to do even in exile – they are still Rus’ even if they aren’t part of it now. She looks forward to the day they can return to the fold.

The staff all snap to looking at the Baron. He shakes his head minutely. They all mumble thanks and get back to work. Kat looks very disappointed with herself: she goes back to looking politely bored.

He is doing human testing, on peasant kids: “The parents are well compensated, and there’s always more of them.”

The medical staff, led by Dr Yevgeny Palkin, whom they met on arrival, is uncollared, but very eager to please.

Winslett tries to pocket a sample. Krychevsky catches him, and tells him open access is a possibility – if they can reach an alignment of goals. Winslett keeps prying for information, but Krychevsky successfully deflects.

Krychevsky demonstrates his data security: the only way in is a hard-connection port behind a triple lock: biometric, keypad, and contact fob. Think of the horrors that might result, if, say, the Okhrana were to get their hands on his work! Rina’s hopes of a remote hack are dashed.

Rina comes up against one hell of a lock. As she leaves, she uses her tail to knock something off the table.

“But,” Krychevsky says, “how about a visit to something interesting, the enhancement labs?” So they all head off to where the wolves are made. They’re not working with great cybertech, but it’s not bad either: probably picked up via the Baikonur Industrial Zone. It’s some years old, and some of it’s likely, er, pre-owned, but it’s workable stuff.

He’s got bunnies: Datarabbit, a biologically engineered data-carrier. This pet’s eye is an EMP-protected storage locker for holding sensitive memory chips. With its naturally fast speed and mobility, the rabbit can be released to keep data safe and located later using implanted tracking cyberware when the danger is long gone.

Lane is interested in the bunnies: she asks if they’re used for secure data storage of a sensitive nature: that would be very interesting. Wouldn’t he be worried about the rabbit getting hurt or killed, and what would happen to that data? Does he keep information not on their electronic storage on the rabbits? Rook notes that they can get the chip with a tracker even if a wolf killed it?

Rina is trying to get a rabbit. She gets caught, but the Baron lets her have it – they’re blanks waiting to be released. She puts it in her hoodie pouch.

The Baron uses Rina as a distraction from Lane’s questions. She gives him a look like, “why are you talking to me about this baby shit,” and wiggles her ears at him again.

Lane is thinking the tracker information for the rabbits must be connected to something: a tracker database with what information is connected to it. She concludes that the Baron’s wrist deck is the key. Possibly even if Rina had been able to get into the system in the lab, she may not have found anything useful or highly sensitive: it might all be in the rabbits. So how to get ahold of the deck? She shivers at the thought of trying to flirt with him: she’s not down with the thought of being naked with a collar, but she’s so information starved.

Krychevsky shows off the wolves. He makes a point of ensuring that they get everyone’s scent – and that Kira’s marked by his, with an arm around her shoulder. He notes that their upgrades are sensitive enough to recognize bloodlines, but nobody seems to pick up on the implications for friend/foe identification.

Rina runs up to the Baron and yanks on his arm – not the way she does with Lane, but just this side of aggressive in demanding his attention. “So what do you do about the rest of the people?” She wiggles her ears. “The ones that aren’t human.”

He actually drops the façade of genial host. “That sort of thing just isn’t done here!”

Rina puffs up and hisses at the wolves.

Rook asks if the wolves can be dialed into a handler. Lane is interested, Rina thinks this is some weak-sauce shit: they don’t look like they could even start a regular business, much less a corp!

Back in the castle he asks how long the group will be staying. The limo is ready, but he doesn’t recommend taking to the roads at night. Consensus is to leave in the morning.

The Baron says he won’t be able to attend dinner, but hopes to host them for breakfast. “And daughter, I would like a word before you take to bed. Just call a servant when you’re ready.”

Kira’s just glued to Kat. Raisa leads them all back to the guest wing.

Lane gathers everyone together to plan. But Rina wants to knock out listening devices first. This time Rina gets them all: the Russian opera is getting more esoteric – some new experimental shit. She tells Blue the Rabbit to go wander, after putting a ribbon collar with a message: “Property of the master’s daughter – please pamper and allow to go free”

Kira considers her father’s warning about keeping things close, but these are the people she comes as close to trusting as she could find. She needs to find out what Kat wants, so she puts everything on the table, including that Dad thinks of Kat as disposable.

Lane takes it all in, and focuses on what Kat wants, and asks her.

Kat’s quiet for several seconds. She says, “What is important is that the Imperium is protected. However, right now the heart of it has rotted. Given what we have learned, I think it is too late to save my father, much as I am loathe to say it. I have no interest in the throne. I will take it if it’s the only way. But if we put me on the throne, after stabilization I think it would be best to abdicate and pass it along to Cousin Grisha.” To Kira she says, “Your father wants power and he thinks he can get it through you. You have to destroy his current allies. Your mother has to go, and then we can deal with Yuri ourselves.”

Kira adds, “And then if necessary we’ll take care of Father as well.”

“I think he will be very surprised to learn that blood means less in this case.” Lane asks, “Do we have a plan?”

Winslett says that he needs a sample in order to treat Kat’s father. Rina notes it’s in the people. He said that they’re at replacement population levels – they could take a person, maybe take a baby, they’re small. Rook says they’re loud and messy, and die easily if they get too cold. Kira suggests just punching someone in the nose to get a blood sample.

Lane thinks of her and Rina’s Rippers, and using Kira’s darts to tranq someone. Or their hairpins. Probably the quiet way would be best. Lane wants to get ahold of the Baron’s cyberdeck, though. Maybe Kira could tranq Daddy? Rook suggests Lane do it, to give Kira deniability. But the Baron might want to give something to Lane… If she’s roofied, though, it’s all over. Rook’s willing to get roofied, but wants to know she’d be fine later. Kira’s prepared to tell Father that Kat wants the throne, and she’s good with the plan, but Kat is untouchable: she can’t even pretend otherwise. Rook says Kira could totally get a sample from Daddy if she told him she wanted to give it a try on Kat. Kira thinks she could sell it: she’s gotten into the idea of Kat submitting. Maybe try it tonight? Rina adds that Kat is devoted to Kira. Perhaps a sham marriage to a baron would continue the line, so the two of them can be together without the scandal.

“And then after we take care of the crown prince, we take care of daddy.”

“We are once again offering Kat up as a sacrificial bride – it is her purpose in life – but this time she’s in on it.” Kira needs to suggest that Kat will need a strong male at her side, and can protect their relationship. And after watching him with his servants, it might be interesting trying that on Kat tonight - and it will help convince her this is the best course to keep us both safe.”

And once they’re betrothed, he can return from exile – and will have leverage against the Grand Duchess.

So, plans in hand, Kira goes off to meet again with her father. “I privately talked with Kat and I have to admit she surprised me a bit. She is interested in what she calls ‘cleaning up’ the royalty. She would like to take the throne from Yuri so she can start healing the country again. So maybe that wasn’t such a bad idea. But we are concerned. Can she do this on her own? You know how they feel about having male influence. What we were thinking is, what if, to protect Kat’s and my relationship, you have a marriage of convenience with Kat? I don’t know if she’d accept that, but I want to make sure that we can take it from Yuri and keep it, because this is what Kat wants. But maybe I can convince her a marriage of convenience… And you could help us deal with Mother and with Yuri."

He's thrilled; he’s hearing something beyond his wildest dreams.

She notices how fucking giddy he is. They don’t need to mess with anything else later – now. So no need to get the deck now. They can set things right later.

At breakfast the next morning, the Baron gives Winslett a sample, jewels to the women. Rina brought Blue to breakfast, and he’s on the table. Rook sneaks him treats.

Father and daughter say their goodbyes: “My resources are yours.” “Thank you, Father, I think this will be very interesting.” As any good teenager, she can lie to Daddy.

They pile back into the limo and hit the long road back to Port Romanov.