Session 7: High Fashion Fishing - kaseido/NeoTokyo GitHub Wiki

304 Rand 2 Fire

First thing in the morning, Rina gets a call from Moopsie: Stridev got a message out. He’s reasonably safe inside Netwatch HQ: it’s completely abandoned. He’s not venturing out, for security reasons: he’s pretty sure Netwatch/the V’Shar/Starfleet Intelligence still have an active spy network in place. There’s enough snacks in the breakroom vending machines to last for weeks.

The data transfer is so slow it’s not going to draw any attention – but it’s not likely to be finished in this century either. He needs the Dragonfly. However, Alice has gotten a brief Morse Code message out to him: don’t trust any messages from the deep-underground AI collective mind. They’re rebuilding the tricobalt planet-cracker bomb Netwatch installed, that they used as feedstock. This is not good news.

“We need this planet, we’re living on it and stuff.” - Erissa.

News for Lane

Hey choomers! Remember yesterday’s hot tip, Lavigne Exotic Mobilites (LEM on the Old Dome Exchange)! This just in, there was a firefight last night at an abandoned complex in Haiphong, and by firefight we mean tanks were rolling!

Our intrepid researchers learned that the facility is registered to Exanic Engineering, a subsidiary of, you guessed it, LEM! What could be out there worth a couple million in battalion rental time? And who paid the bills: Tiffany Nguyen or Dekyan Zhukov? Our money’s on the Titan of Tanks, the big D himself – but Tiff’s Dome Demons slaughtered Dek’s Haiphong Howitzers last season – she doesn’t play for second place, so don’t count her out in the battle for whatever the hell LEM has going for it! Place your bets NOW at Takeover Time Corporate Speculations, a safe and secure Cheerful Rodent Empire operation!

Lane decides to leave another message asking for an interview about her fashion sense. She might be interested in some good press. Zemke is even less sincere in saying she’ll pass on her message than last time. Lane thinks she needs another approach.

Erissa asks if Lane knows anybody who knows her. Yes!!! Chance Aspect!

Lane calls Chance Aspect, and asks for an introduction to Tiffany. Chance has known her for ages, even sort of likes her, and is pretty sure she passed out in her bathroom. Once. No more than twice. And Tiffany is someone she wants on her side if possible: a meet is definitely in order, and if she can do a favor for Late at the same time, she’s happy to. She’ll set up a small meeting with Tiffany at her place and invite Lane over, two days out. “Good luck and all that, and happy hunting?”

“Fish fish fish!” Lane thinks they should get out to Odaiba as soon as possible.

They leave Ruin Island and head down to Big Al’s. Haley Rocheford, the pharmacist, smells of antiseptic cut with a bit of lavender. Rina sniffs her and pronounces her trustworthy.

Rocheford thinks they’re crazy. “You’re going fishing. On a boat. In the Bay. I can give you a bulk discount on Final Dreams, 100 each, you go lie down and die in peace. Cheaper, faster, more pleasant all around.

“All right, let me cook you up the good stuff, much as I hate to lose customers.”

Rina pays for the drugs, because she’s got the money from selling the car. 1k. Haley still thinks they’re insane, but if she turned away everyone insane, she wouldn’t have any customers.

Lane searches for a place to pick up Federation clothes: the market for Federation-chic crashed with the planetary handover. She finds a nice little boutique in Old Dome: Radiant Impressions. The proprietor is a very bored, very elegant Trill: Nanheen Reel.

Lane: “Oh honey could you do some things for us, but let’s talk about the clothing.”

Reel asks what the occasion is, which generates some chatting. “Stridev wears black all the time.” They struggle to figure out what to say, settling on. “Walking around clothes.” Nanheen is bored and disappointed. Rina pulls on Lane’s clothes and points to the hood of her hoodie: she needs a head covering. “For all of you, or just for the little troll back there?”

“We do have to be prepared for whatever weather we might face: can you give us rain slickers, and some spiffy street clothes, a little bit of style?” Reel is even more bored and disappointed. They don’t do rain gear. But they do come up with great outfits for all, even the little troll 😊

Lane winks and says they’ll be back some other time for the nice stuff. Reel is not excessively thrilled.

Lane calls S’ssendass to book passage out to Odaiba: he can have a crew ready for late afternoon today. Report to Pier 26, same as last time. Only limit is, they have to be off the water by nightfall, so the latest they can sail is 4PM. They’ll overnight in Odaiba, and take the team back whenever they’re ready.

“Appreciate feature on niece Bessatiss. Landed her job at Sapphire Skies, greeter. Exxxxxxpect great thingssssss.”

They pick up rain gear from vending machines at the dock.

Aboard, Rina prowls the guts of the ship, and runs into N’hass, the engineer. Who is one of those engineers who won’t shut up about their ship. Rina follows him around listening attentively until the fishing sarts, when she unceremoniously walks off mid-sentence.

Lane catches up with S’ssendass, making nice, reminiscing about the last trip and asking about his niece.

Jiefan is holding on grimly to a bulkhead below decks, just determined to be miserable for four hours.

Erissa is up in the bow looking for fish. How does this work, do you just see them on the water and then grab them?

Lane takes the Harpoon Gun, Rina goes for the line and the pole, Erissa on the nets.

Two Gorn haul in a nice load of fish and one Erissa, caught in the nets. She found that very exciting and fun, and doesn’t care she went over. They’re entirely pleased to have still pulled in about 2/3 of the catch. “I’m not very big, but I do equal several fish.”

Rina hooks a big one! She calls for a Gorn assist! Trassat, he Gorn does all the work, but lands the fish. It’s a bluefin tuna equivalent, about the size of two Gorn. Rina throws herself down on it, wraps her arms around it, and takes selfies.

Rina flubs the next cast. Trassat corrects her stance, and she lands one with minimal help. Rina’s beside herself for delight: she’ll do this all day! And Trassat rarely gets to have fun at work, so he’s really into helping her. She is very wet and bedraggled by the end of the trip.

Lane’s first shot doesn’t stick into the deck, but sproings off the deck into midair. Second shot goes into the water. Final one just does go into the deck. It’s pretty easy for a lizard to look inscrutable, but Lane knows what he’s thinking. “I tried!” “Yesssss, and very little damage done.” Meanwhile down the deck Rina’s pulling a catch in as Erissa tries futilely to dry her off.

No big storms or kraken attacks. N’hass lays out a spread of fresh sashimi. Rina tells them all about her sister and how she promised to bring her sister fish. And her doctor wants fish too.

The crew is having a great day, and as for S’sendass, well, they’re getting paid enough to cover repairs on the boat.

Erissa suggests tourist fishing as a new business line for them, with Rina adding that they should bill it as an extreme sport to bring in the rich idiots. They head up the dock looking ENTIRELY PERFECTLY NORMAL, if a bit damp.

It occurs to them they have no idea where Netwatch HQ is, and Federation systems very much do not talk to local systems. There’s an info kiosk, though. First attempt calls up a contour map of the island. Rina’s next pass asks for major landmarks, which gets them the Federation Embassy, hotels, bars, restaurants, shopping. Next pass, Rina asks for “Mister Stridev’s Office.” That worked!

It’s a lovely day for a walk, as the skies are clearing, with the storm sweeping out farther to sea. Fifteen minutes later, they arrive at an utterly generic office building with no signage: apparently Netwatch HQ.

Debrief: Rina fishing! The whole fishing sequence was amazing: everyone was peak with their rolls, good or bad. Excellent work from Lane getting their clothing. They want to go back to Nahneem when Lane has to get dressed for her party: they’ll be t hrilled to outfit for a dinner with Chance and Tiffany.

It all worked. “The fishing stuff was perfect! The right level of challenge to have entertaining consequences.” Despite being just “Go shopping, travel to desitniation,” it was fun, and all the NPCs were delightful.