Jun 04 12:53:29 107 PA - Meeting of Free Minds

From Chronicles

Jun 04 12:53:29 107 PA

Kingsdale - Nightingale

Vixen will be waiting at the Nightengale. Same place as she usually sits when not conducting discreet meetings. The booth near the front. She has her coat to the side and is casually working at her computer, which has been opened on the table, with the portable and herself both linked into it. HEr coat is off, laid beside her, a fresh glass of her favored amber drink largely ignored. Though she does occasionally lift her gaze to consider the room amid her focused work.

Bridget comes downstairs and into the club, not all that different from the first time they met. Casually dressed in jeans and a tee, she takes a look around before heading towards the waiting woman. "Hey, there." She smiles lightly and adds, "Don't know if she'll show up, but I let Sage know we were meeting."

Vixen nods her head once towards Bridget as the woman approaches, motioning for her to slide in next to her. "That's fine.. I need you to scan these faces," she murmurs. "It'll take a while, so you might want to get your drink now before you settle in." She keys the portable computer to bring up the program with her image slide show. "Got a good number of faces.. some passing by, some going in. Tried to weed out the passing people, but it was a lot of work just to narrow it down to these."

Bridget nods and flags downs a server for some coffee. "I'll take a look, see if there's anyone I know..." She quirks a brow at the computer. "If you have it on file, I can peek at it on my own, if you want? I'm guessing you already know if you recognize anyone after going through all of it."

"Best we do it now, and you can talk at me if you get any ideas on this shit," Vixen replies. "Or just tell me what you and Sage were talking about after I left. I'll admit, I asked her to check you out.. just to make sure. Nothing personal, but when you have a chance to be sure, better to take it than to not."

"Ok..." Bridget isn't sure what to say, at first, then just shrugs. "Can't blame you. Hell, the way this thing is, maybe it's good she checked even if I think I'm fine." Now she's frowning as she takes her coffee. "Could go nuts thinking about whether you're going nuts, or something. So... let's take a look at what you've got." She takes a sip of the steaming stuff and turns her eyes to the computer.

"She eyed me too, so yeah." Vixen shrugs faintly. "When it comes to mind shit, better safe than sorry." She has the computer angled so that it can't easily be viewed by others and she taps a few buttons before it starts to cycle through faces at one every few moments, giving time enough to take it in. "Best be careful of your boy too if he comes calling. Something like this.. you just never know. I've been holed up in my room, making my exposure as little as possible."

That doesn't help Bridget's frown at all, but she keeps her eyes on the little presentation. "He's the first one I told, and he should be smart enough to watch his ass. I hope. They can be awful stupid." She sips coffee in between pictures on the slideshow.

Vixen snorts faintly as she lifts her glass. "Yeah, real fucking stupid at times," she agrees. The two are at a booth, sitting on the same bench. Vixen has her portable and handheld computer set up there, her slender data cables going between both of them and her. She has a glass that she's sipping from as Bridget flicks through faces on the portable's screen. Vixen herself is looking about slowly, considering the room at large. The computer itself is angled inward towards them, to make getting a look at it difficult without being close to them or directly behind. "Just keep an eye.. even on me, cause I might get snagged, then they might erase my memory or some shit.. that's why I hate this mental shit."

Looking for a specific someone, or perhaps several specific someones; he's dressed sharp enough, wearing slacks and a shirt. After a couple pleasantries with the maitre'd Jack makes it inside, and proceeds to look about until he spots the tall woman first - then Vixen near her. "Oh, hey there lasses" he grins, making his way over. "Sorry, am I interrupting? And if so, will I be forgiven if I buy the next round?"

Bridget picks up a smirk from Vixen's snort, then blinks and points a finger at the latest slide. "Pause that... That's the guy that came in with us..." Then she looks up and over to Jack. "Uh, hi." She shows a smile for him, it just takes her a second.

Vixen waves Jack at the seat across from them and leans over to peer at the face that Bridget points out. "Mmmn.. name?" She hits a key and the image is marked. "Keep going." She motions vaguely at the computer before she turns her attention to Jack. "You can buy if you want, more whiskey will do me fine right about now. What's got you here?" Casually curious, her tone.

Jack grins at Vixen and winks at Bridget, "Yeah, looks like I better buy" he comments, and sits down at the proffered seat. He waves a waitress over, and then looks to them to answer. "Whiskey, got it - and how about you?" followed up with, "I met this tall beautiful woman and I figured I might find her here. What are you two up to? Looks serious."

"Coffee's fine, thanks. Shouldn't you be buying your mystery girl drinks, though?" Bridget lifts up her cup to show him. She takes another sip, too, now through a grin. After that, Vixen gets a shrug. "Don't know a name, but Erica knows him."

"Fairly typical," Vixen replies to Jack's reason for being here. "Do you even know her name?" Her brows lift. She glances towards her computer then and notes, "A little show an tell. Nothing so important," she murmurs, casually brushing away the subject. She considers Bridget's response and nods lightly before knocking back the last of her current glass. After a ragged breath, she says, "I'm getting us a truck. One of those Diplodocus deals NTI has. Gas engine, but its cheap. Maybe if we get lucky, we can get a bigger hover vehicle, though those get pretty expensive. Good thing about the Diplodocus is I can drive it too. Don't know more than normal cars and bikes myself."

"Ouch, ouch, I think I'm getting frostbite" Jack's brows hike up as he blows in his fingers, but it's all said in good humour. When the waitress arrives, he orders the whiskey and coffee, too, turning his attention back to the woman. "Gas is fine" he nods. "If you need heavy lift, renting might be the best way to go for now. I can pilot most things with a prop, rotor or fan on'em so at least you won't have to pay extra for pilot time" he suggests, nodding.

Bridget grins a little more around her cup and goes back to watching snapshots pop up on the screen. She'll probbaly have most of her first cup slurped down by the time the new one gets there. "The Diplo's a pretty good truck. Just make sure you pack some little bags for the hotshot." Bridget warns Vixen and tips her head towards Jack.

"You'll know when I get frosty, man," Vixen tells Jack with a casual smirk. She glances at Bridget with an arch of brow at the bags comment, not seeming to get the humor she's aiming it. "Anyway, how are you settling in, man? Good enough if you've got time to chase chicks, I suppose. Where are you living for the moment again?"

Jack has got to look embarassed at that one. "Well now, I don't think a truck can roll that fast, and if it can, I sure hope not to find out" his brows hike up slowly, and he looks over towards Vixen. "Not chicks, just one woman" he protests, brows hiking up and head inclining towards Bridget. "I'm ... living in ... the hangar - office. Mostly."

"There's good coffee there, at least." Bridget stops her skimming for now to turn her grin to Jack. "Probably better places to sleep, though. I thought you had plenty of work to keep you busy? Don't that usually mean credits, too?" She can also take the time to switch to the fresh cofee.

Vixen lifts a casual hand. "A lot worse places too. So long as its warm, safe and you've got a soft place to settle, that's pretty damn good I'd say, when you don't have much money going around. Though if you're hurting for money, get a roomie. Works good if you can trust the person, since paying half rent can get you into a better place than paying full."

"Busy enough, though not all of it pays too well - someone needs to feed dead dinosaurs to the kid, too" Jack hehs softly, "I was looking to get something that pays better, but ... that isn't always terribly safe" he shrugs his shoulders slightly. "I'll see how that all goes - I agree though, there are better places to sleep at" he grins. He leans back at Vixen's suggestion, though he doesn't make a comment on it.

Bridget shrugs. "Not sure anywhere's all that safe, really..." Now her grin gets bigger and she perks up a brow at Jack, "Or is that why you're here looking for somebody? Trying to get a cozy room upstairs?" Vixen gets the brow next. "Maybe he's already looking for a roomie. He already started buying drinks."

Vixen casually waves Bridget at Jack. "He's all yours, chick. I got a man and he's all I'm needing," she murmurs, slanting a casual glance towards the woman beside her. "Try him on for size, maybe he'll fit." She grins and looks back towards Jack. "Just don't wear him out too much, he's working for me. DOn't need him with no energy." The young woman casually amused.

Jack laughs, taking a breath and mock-sighing at all the er, attention. "Why am I feeling like ... hm ... " he pauses to thinks of the right words here, and then he shrugs, "Besides, it's not a bad idea, but I wasn't the one who said it" he grins.

"I'd probably break him." Bridget winks and shakes her head, both of those mostly for Vixen. "Then you'd get mad, and he wouldn't have any work at all." Jack gets a wide smile. "Since I don't want you to go broke and starve or anything, I'd better be nice."

Jack has a moment of not knowing how to interpret that, but as usual it's all taken in stride. "Alright, alright - contrary to apparent propaganda, I -can- take care of myself, even in the face of terrible adversity" he jokes, pulling a mock-straight explanation.

"Anything goes, as long as he's in one piece," Vixen notes to Bridget. She then considers Jack. She shrugs after a moment and smirks, "I'm not saying anything. What you do on your down time is yours. Just as long as it isn't something that I have to care about. That's my general policy. I'll get testy if you ever bring down bad trouble or get yourself locked up or crippled. Beyond that, knock yourself out."

Bridget doesn't do much to help Jack interperet anything, unless her smile counts. She pours a little coffee into it and looks back to Vix with a little nod to the computer. "Maybe I should take a look at the rest some other time? If you have a copy, or feel like sharing...?" A hand waves to one of the data cables.

Jack looks as if he wanted to says something, but perhaps this isn't the best time - he takes a time out for a moment, leaning back in the seat for now to let the women talk shop if they so desire.

Vixen tilts her head slightly. "You got a jack?" she asks Bridget. "Nah, don't need to do that, hold on.." She looks over to her bag and fishes into it a moment before she removes a data chip. "So long as you've got a standard computer, this'll read easy enough." She plugs it into her own and at a few touches it starts to copy the images. She looks to Jack then and arches a brow. "No witty comebacks? I'm disappointed."

Bridget nods to help answer Vixen's question. "Yeah, but a chip works just fine. I've got a portable in my room that's good enough for most everything." While things are being copied, she can look at Jack again, and grins a little more. "What's wrong? I was asking her about sharing the -other- jack. She's already got herself a guy, remember?"

"You two looked so much into shop I just ... realized how rude I was bein' - you know, especially with the sharin'" Jack jests, cocking a brow up. He grins and hms, leaning forward a little. "I also recall owing a ride". The trio are sat at a booth, with Vixen and Bidget exchanging computery things - there are drinks on the table, and Jack is speaking with both of them, though apparently not part of the shop talk if one was to observe for a longer time.

Vixen smirks faintly at Jack. "If you were being rude, I'd tell you," she notes to him. "I'm usually not real shy about telling people when they're getting on my nerves." A soft sound comes from the portable and Vixen pulls out the chip, handing it to Bridget. "Eyeball 'em, let me know if any more look familiar." She then looks back to Jack and wonders, "A ride? Must not be me, I have my cycle out front."

"You'll be the first to know... and I think he's talking about me." Bridget takes the chip from Vixen and tucks it carefully into a pocket. Her coffee comes up for another sip before she faces Jack again. "There. Now you don't have to worry about interrupting or anybody telling you off. Well, not for shop talk, anyways."

With a saunter in her step, Sage enters the club before casting a glance over her shoulders with a mischievous smile. Although, whatever sparked the moment appears to pass quickly as she settles into a more normal composure. She gestures for a waitress while she looks around the place. A murmured exchange is given before she nods faintly then begins to walk towards a table where a few people have gathered. "Hey..." She calls over, her gaze consider the man and recent met women before settling on Vixen.

Tirzah tails behind Sage casually, hand clasped comfortably behind her back. "So your sure none of these people are also infected and leading us into a trap?" She reiterates to Sage with a bit of agitation in her tone. "This isntexactly the best place for things to go down. I could never affort to repair any level of destruction I could deal here.."

"Ah - being upfront can be nice. Right lass, I meant Bridget" he confirms with a smile, "Have a safe drive then" his attention turning back to Bridget, "That almost sounded ominous. Are you sure you don't want a drink?" he grins, tilting his head slightly. "So I met with the lass earlier about a job ad. Seems that people who can drive are employable" comes the explanation, though he stops when someone calls over and he looks that way for a moment, then back to Bridget since it seems that Vixen is being addressed. "Fancy a dance or some-" mention of infected people gets his attention and he looks that way again now.

Vixen lifts her head to nod to Sage. "She said you might drop by." Her eyes flick towards Tirzah. "And with company." Her attention returns to Sage and she tilts her head towards Jack. "Check him? Just to make sure." she then notes to him "Hang around a bit. Business once you get a clean bill of health."

Bridget nods to Jack. "Something else to drink'd be good..." She turns her smile to Sage at the call, then tries not to lose the smile when Tirzah speaks up. It's mostly a draw, so Tirzah gets a fairly flat nod and Bridget is a little more particular with that drink. "Whiskey sounds good about now."

"This is meant as informational only... besides, I already have an infected person inviting me to said trap." Sage comments to Tirzah before she holds up her hand to the question of being sure. Her gaze drifts over to Bridget as she remembers her previous failure to be certain about that woman. She opens herself to be able to sense evil, but she will likely also check Jack's aura to be sure she doesn't miss anything important.

"Yeah but atleast that trap we know about." Tirzah points out with a bit of apprehension. She does attempt to relax though, and compose herself as they come upon the others. "Sorry for the suspicions, still worked up over my trip to the dregs the other day." She manages with a slight nod.

Jack nods his head to Bridget, noting her reaction - well, all three reactions or so - he glances to Vixen as well, and the other two women. Perplexed, he calls the waitress over to order the drink for Bridget, and one for himself also. He turns to her and asks quietly, "What's wrong?"

Vixen motions for the two to settle in. There's some space on Jack's side and chairs nearby. "We've got some bad mind mojo going on," she says. "And it's prudent to make sure none of us is infected with it. And I have something to share, assuming everyone here is clean. Been doing what I do and keeping an ear down and my eyes open." She grins, obviously not lacking pleasure to be 'back in the game' so to speak.

"It's..." Bridget starts, stops, and Vixen jumps in with a good enough answer for right away, "...yeah, mind mojo's pretty much it. I'd just call it weird shit, but that don't really say much." Not that she doesn't trust Jack, but she can wait until Sage's little mind mojo stuff is done. Instead, she quirks a brow up at Tirzah. "You get invited into one of those little meetings, too?"

Sage purses her lips as she considers the results of her little check up, as her gaze slides to Bridget for a moment. Then she gestures to Jack, "Clean." then Vixen, "Still clean." then Bridget, "Hard to say for sure." then Tirzah, "And, you're clean, dear." She adds with a faint tease. Then, the waitress arrives with the drinks that she'd ordered for herself and her partner. "Thank you." She murmurs to the waitress as she takes them before offering one to her partner before the waitress collects the orders from the other people at the table.

Tirzah starts to nod to Bridget butr then shakes her head as she realizes Bridget is refering to a differnt sort of invitation. "Nope, havent been asked to join any cults yet. Pretty sure the freak I bruned down the other day was big on the cult stuff though. probably not related though."

"Mind stuff?" Jack quips, blinking his eyes; he looks from one person to the next, his smile fading somewhat. "I'm always clean; I shower" he moves to make some room, looking to Bridget, "Can't tell for sure hm?" he grins, shaking his head slightly. "All okay?"

Vixen nods at the assessment, then eyes Bridget lightly at the 'hard to read'. She considers the woman a few moments before deciding that all is well.. or not bad enough to get in a kink over. "Alright.. I'm going to give out some data chips. There are faces on them, but first I want you to have a look at this one.." She adjusts her portable, the images flicking back rapidly towards a certain face. She turns it such that Sage, Tirzah and Jack can get a look at it. The face is Bartholemew from the side. "You know this guy? He's been going into mind fuck central, same as Erica." She discusses this softly, of course. And with it being midday, not too many are lingering around them. "They're compromised by whatever she encountered." 'She' being Bridget, indicated with a tilt of head. "They moved locations since then, but I have the current HQ under surveillance. Got people going in and out.. a bathhouse. Some might be compromised, some might not. Can't tell it just by looking at 'em. Bridget found out it's some sort of creature at the center of it.. which means that's the head that needs to get chopped off."

Bridget starts to nod to Tirzah after she explains, but stops in the middle when she finds out she's not in the squeaky clean pile. She meets the looks with brows up in surprise, then shrugs. "Probably the blonde... Yeah, a big, hungry mind slug thing. If chopping the head off doesn't work, we can always try salt."

As Sage is bringing her drink to her lips, she pauses suddenly and glances towards where the waitress moved off towards. Then, her gaze shifts towards something she's caught out of the corner of her eye. Her glass lowers further until she awkwardly places it down on the table. When she looks back to the table, she doesn't focus on the photos. She lets out a breath, "Don't talk too loudly." She says simply.

"Hey thats Bart, skycycle pilot, pretty handy in a firefight. Could be tough if he's playign bodyguard. Though I'm sure Cel could take him." Tirzah muses at the displayed picture before looking around at Sage's warning. "See, trap."

Jack listens to Vixen, looking up at her and then looking at the data presented, blinking his eyes. This is certainly new and interesting, in the Chinese Proverb way. "Oh ... so ... " he looks to Bridget, then to Sage, "What's up lass?" then he looks at Tirzah and then the picture.

"You might want to go deprogram him if you can." Vixen replies, glancing toward Sage. Then a pause as the woman advises quiet. She nods and continues lightly. "If you know the guy, might as well try and get him. Not sure if you can do that, if not then just have to hope killing it will erase what it spread." She then asls Sage and Tirzah, "What trap are you talking about?" That asked, she digs out a pair of data chips, waiting until Sage has had a look at the image before she starts to fill each with information, one at a time.

Bridget wasn't speaking loudly, and she's even less loud after the warning. "Trap? Great. Right when I thought I might be getting -too- jumpy." She wondering the same thing as Vixen and Jack, but doesn't ask. Her eyes move to the dancefloor, even if it's probably empty, and then the bar. Just a casual look around.

"I wouldn't be sure where to begin." Sage replies to the talk about deprogramming, "Either way, we have about 3 people that could be infected in this place... including..." Sage briefly glances to check on who's nearby, and once she deems it safe to say it, "the waitress." She lets her words sink in.

"Well Erica has invited Sage to meet a slug? Figures. I'm probably just jumpy thinking the cult would set a trap here. But it would make perfect sense. That they have spies here, suggests We've been identified as a threat. or just coincidence, who know how many are in this cult right?" Tirzah explains, consciously not turning to glare at the waitress as she is revealed to be a servant of evil.

"So ... what this little um ... organization all about?" Jack inquires, looking like he's quite a bit out of the loop - he glances towards the waitress a little later. He did order drinks after all. "I don't think she'd the bitey type lass" he quips.

"Fuck.." Vixen flicker her eyes about. "Alright.. I think we need to scatter for the moment," she murmurs. "Or something." She finishes with the two chips and passes one to Jack, the other to Sage. "You two can share that one," she murmurs to the woman. "Those two and the one I gave Bridget have all my current footage. I've got four cameras on the place and I've got software pulling faces. Everyone going in or out might be compromised. See if there is anyone you know. I'm going to get back to my feeds. Later I'll make sure they're still in the same place.. if they move again, I'll be on top of it. Drop a note in the PO Box if you need to catch me." She starts to get her things together then, disconnecting from the portable and so forth. "I've got a place where we can meet later, just set up a time and I'll set up the where. Sage can make sure no one infected gets in without us knowing." Her eyes flick towards Jack. "Dunno what they're about, except that they're putting mind shit in people. Watch your ass, man. You see a bunch of people too happy to be normal, you get the hell away from them."

"The way things looked before," Bridget hides some of her frown behind the whiskey she picks up and takes a good tastes from, "they could keep inviting more friends of friends in until they get damned near everybody." She nods to Vixen. "I've got room upstairs if anybody wants to talk about things somewhere not so crowded with ears, or meet later, if we have to."

Glancing between the assembled cast, Sage has a thoughtful expression. "Well, things are starting to get more in perspective now..." She comments simply, before reaching out to take the offered item from Vixen. "Guess its good to be useful, though." She says with a little false cheer.

"You're always useful love. But Vixen is probably wise to suggest we scatter. Maybe what the infiected can communicate mentally or something. Best split up and make all out intentions all that more difficult to keep tabs on." Tirzah seconds, rising to get up without pause.

"Alright ... " Jack murmurs, glancing about a little, trying not to look particularly artificial about not looking places. "So they're high and we don't know what they want - hm ... " his brows rise up slowly, as if recalling something or other.

Vixen will wait for Bridget to scoot out once she's packed. "I'm not going to be on the street much unless I'm listening.. seems the best way to keep it straight. You all watch yourselves." She slips out, getting her coat on and snagging her baggage before she makes her way out. Despite the quick pack job, she manages to slip out without looking too hurried.

Bridget scoots out and nudges Jack as she does it. Her smile's back, too. "You feel like going upstairs, hotshot? Can always talk later." Vixen gets a waggle of her glass before she tips back the rest and leaves it on the table. Since the others are turning away, she doesn't say anything more.

Sage glances over to her partner to offer a smile that has wry quality to it, before nodding to the comment about scattering. "Well, I guess I have a little more free time this afternoon that I was expecting..." She comments thoughtfully, "And since the other's seem to be making plans for themselves... I guess you get to offer a suggestion, dear." She says with a fond teasing quality to her tone as she adds the last part. She gets ready to head off.

"I do, it sounds delightfull lass" Jack's smile returns as well, and he scoots out of the booth to offer his arm to Bridget. He takes a quick swig from his drink, and sets it down, ready to go, apparently no longer mindful of infected people.

"We'll go bak to our place and press the linens." Tirzah replies to Sage as her hand seeks out Sages to knit together. "Lots to press, could go well into the night I imagine. But its gotta be done."

"Have fun..." Bridget's smile gets warmer with the good-bye to Tirzah and Sage, then she'll be tugging the ready Jack towards the lobby. "Hey, that reminds me... I think I saved up some laundry for you to fold or iron." The smile keeps growing.

Jack waves to Sage and Tirzah, looking back to Bridget quickly, "Awh, I knew you just wanted me for my ironing skills" he laughs, going with her certainly willingly. "He glances about to see if there's any overly happy people following them, giving into a moment of paranoia, and then the pair are probably off.