High T (Ch. 3b: Day 1)

Jahkari · Posted: Thu Apr 14, 2011 9:16 pm

The squirrel's eyebrows rose at being acknowledged by the llama. She was impressed, she had to admit, that one of the people she herself had hired seemed to already know about her. Not that that would've taken too much effort; Astrid wasn't famous, but she wasn't a complete unknown, either. Still, she hadn't expected anyone to know her before she introduced herself. "Astrid Morrison, although you likely know that already if you recognize me," she said in reply as she stepped into the elevator as well, extending a hand for her to shake. "The others are already in the conference room, I assume?" Even as she spoke to Tracer, she was mentally rehearsing everything she needed to go over with the entire group, biting the inside of her cheek as she thought.

The doors shut with another soft ding as the elevator began to rise. They would be at the second floor in no time at all, and then the real fun would begin.

Greens · Posted: Thu Apr 14, 2011 10:55 pm

"Cash is always cool," Ace conceded, digging rashly into his pants pocket. Aside from the usual lint and paperclips, his fingers caught hold on, of all things, a pack of gum. With a lackadaisical toss of a stick in his mouth, and the foil in the trash, he seemed to mull things over in between chews.

He seemed to roooll the wad into one corner of his mouth with furrowed brows. "Nodda lotta activity with the emeralds, lately," he spoke. "This have anything to do with that?"

Rachel · Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2011 5:32 pm

For a moment the Llama considered the squirrels hand, Tracer wasn't one for hand shakes, but there where some obligatory social etiquette's she'd have to observe to get this job. So after a moment she took the Squirrels hand and shook it, making a conscious effort not to crush the scientist's hand.

"Indeed. Ms. Morrison." The Llama said with a nod, with the third and final ding the elevator came to a stop and the doors slid open.

Tracer gave the Squirrel the opportunity to leave first before picking up her board and following her. When they reached the board room she left her board in the hall leaning against the wall beside the door. She didn't seem worried anyone would take it, anyone who did, wouldn't get far. Tracer did however carry her heavy metal box with her into the board room.The purple llama came to a stop upon entering, there was a moment of dim recognition when she saw the monkeys. Tracer couldn't however place them, perhaps she tried to kill them once before? Either way, she didn't spend more then a second on it before setting her stuff down beside her chair and then sitting.

Jahkari · Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2011 9:03 pm

"Great," the squirrel replied softly as the doors slid open, striding out into the hallway. She took a deep breath as they headed for the conference room, steeling herself for the first meet-and-greet of what she hoped would become her security team. They seemed like they would do the job well, from what she had found out- now it was just a matter of making sure they'd accept the job. She had only contacted three people herself, but of those three one of them had said he could bring some acquaintances along, which would be a help.

She let the llama head in first as she took one last glance over her notes; for all her usual hastiness, Astrid was meticulous in her notes, a habit drilled into her by the labs she had worked for. Finally, with one last check to make sure she looked at least somewhat professional, Astrid strode into the conference room and shut the door securely behind her. Turning to address the assembly before her, she raised her eyebrows in a bit of surprise. "Oh. And here I was expecting only three people." Glancing at Rock, she laughed, somewhat awkwardly. "You weren't lying when you said you could bring others, were you? I'm impressed."

It meant she had a lot more explaining to do than she had originally thought, but hey. The more people she could get to work for her, the safer things would be.

psikeout · Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2011 9:20 pm

Rock was already well kicked back by the time Astrid and Tracer arrived. He straightened up soon enough, though, and turned in his seat to better face the door.

"Ah, hey," he greeted. "If we got too many for the job, we can always kick Ace out," he replied with a nodding gesture toward the cat in a bright, but sideways kind of way, as if intentionally slighting him. (In good humor, of course. Of course.)

"Seriously, though," he digressed, "I brought dossiers on'em if you need some background on the team."

Greens · Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2011 9:45 pm

Ace, on the other hand, was already in a comfortable little seat facing the door, but made an effort to turn his attention to Rock for the time being for the most appropriate response. "Neuh-heuh-heuh-heuh," he answered in an extremely nasal, mock-special-needs laughter, alternating bobbing his head left and right with each chuckle.

Then he turned his attention back to their newer company.

Jahkari · Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2011 9:49 pm

She laughed at the slight and the cat's reaction to it. "Ah, no, no, I don't think that will be necessary as of yet," she smiled. "But dossiers would be great," Astrid nodded her approval. "I trust your judgment, but, just let me do a quick bit of reading to make sure of things. I'm sure you have questions- feel free to ask them. I was somewhat vague with the job description, after all. And please, make yourselves comfortable- this isn't anything formal or anything, I assure you." She took a seat at the head of the table, mentally congratulating herself on getting through such a monologue without too much incident. At the lab she was a researcher and communicated mainly via papers- good to know her ability to address a group hadn't diminished that badly.

psikeout · Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2011 10:16 pm

At her request, he bent down to reach under his chair, produced a thin, rigid ring binder from his larger duffel bag, and deposited it with a swish and slap on the table, the files sliding her way.

The contents? Pretty honest. Full names, ages, a generic bit of personal information, work experience, skill sets, and so on. There were sparse details about their most recent mission, and mention of an "unfortunate misunderstanding with G.U.N. that led to armed conflict" in Empire City, but with all of the numbers quoted and newspaper article scans included, it was more bragging than simply admitting anything.

"I'd say we've got questions, yeah," he confirmed thoughtfully, relaxing again, with another glance around the otherwise empty room. "I'm willin' to wait 'til everybody's here so you don't have to answer'em twice, though."

He had indeed noticed that she had said she expected "three." By his count, there was the llama and himself. Someone else was still yet to be accounted for.

Diluss · Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2011 10:39 pm

The door made a very gentle chh noise, as someone pushed it open.

It didn't shut.

Coop stood there, hand still resting against the door, staring into the room as if it was filled with jars of eyeballs and preserved brains. A three-car pile up of disgust, horror, and disbelief had smashed up in the middle of his face, and anyone watching him could see, careening out of control up behind them, the giant inflammable chemical tanker truck of rage.

Then the expression went away, the only emotional cue left on his face was the jutting of his lower jaw.

"Hello," he said, pointedly, addressing the motley crew who had already made themselves at home in the office.

He looked suspiciously between them and the llama, for a moment, and then seemed to reach a decision.

"Hello," he said, with a flat nod, addressing Tracer.

"Hello," he added again—to round out the triad of hellos—to Astrid, "sorry I'm late."

Tau · Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2011 10:43 pm

Tau noted the new arrivals as they passed through the door aside him, yet did little to acknowledge them, nor would he move a servo. He'd simply continue to observe the room and it's inhabitants while remaining quiet at his 'post' unless otherwise requested move. It wasn't that he felt a need to guard the door, he just.. didn't feel like wandering around the room. He would briefly glance towards the door at Coops arrival for a few moments though.

Jahkari · Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2011 10:48 pm

Astrid nodded at Rock as she took the binder. "Thanks for the patience," she said as she opened it, leafing through it at a rapid clip. Her ability to speed read had helped her through many an exam and research paper, and she was finding it even more useful in the real world, as it were. She liked what she read of Rock's associates; they had all worked together before, all had experience doing questionably legal things, and, clearly, had no love for GUN. "I see no problems here whatsoever. In fact, I'm quite pleased- you all seem perfect for what I have in mind."

When the door opened, she turned to acknowledge the final member of their little group. She bit her cheek as she watched him greet everyone, feeling that something was off, but decided against voicing her concerns. Instead, she just shook her head. "It's no problem, Coop," she assured him, recognizing him as the third one she had contacted. "I only just got here myself. Make yourself comfortable, and I'll start explaining things. It'll likely be easier if I just answer questions now. If you need to know something that you don't ask about, well, I'll explain it afterward. It'll save me some time repeating myself." She paused and laughed shortly. "I only wish science panels worked that way, it'd make things so much simpler- but I digress. Questions?"

psikeout · Posted: Sun Apr 17, 2011 3:24 pm

Rock glanced at Coop once, then twice, then did not react to him any more than that. No acknowledgment that he knew the guy—not even the slightest change in expression. For whatever reason, he played his surprise down to straight-faced blankness and acted as a stranger, proceeding casually with discussion.

"All I need to know is what you want done, and if you have a certain way you'd prefer it done," stated the white primate bluntly. "I don't think we need every detail right here and now," he explained, punctuating his words with a couple idle jabs of his index finger into the tabletop, "but the sooner we know what you want, the longer we have to prepare."

Rachel · Posted: Sun Apr 17, 2011 7:23 pm

Tracer set her feet up on her trunk, her attention focused on the squirrel as she listened to her ask for any questions up front. Tracers policy wasn't to ask questions, so she had nothing to ask as far as the mission went. She preferred as little instruction as possible that way she could do things the way she wanted.

She was considering what it would mean to have to work with the monkeys and the cat, but her train of thought quickly derailed when the eagle suddenly entered. Tracer was a little surprised to be honest, not that it showed on her face. Her features instead hardened a bit, her eyes narrowing in distrust at the bird. But it wasn't long before her features became a blank slate again and she turned her attention back to the squirrel. She was processing this situation as best she could, but her instinct told her she was not among friends.

Jahkari · Posted: Sun Apr 17, 2011 10:36 pm

"Very well, then." Astrid nodded, setting aside the binder and opening her own notebook. "I suppose the barest mission details are this: we'll be going into space, as some of you know and the rest of you were either told or surmised from our location. Our destination is the ARK, where we... haven't exactly been invited, per se." She paused, flipping to another page of her notebook as if to confirm something, before beginning again. "I am a scientist, researching various astrophysical phenomenon, specifically dark matter at this point, and I have certain experiments and measurements necessary for my work that require being on a space station. But try telling that to-" Suddenly realizing she had begun to grumble, she laughed, embarrassed, and cleared her throat as if to change the subject.

"Sorry. Anyway! Point is, I need you to help me get onto the ARK. There are security systems in place- guard robots, alarms, what-have-you. Nothing you all can't handle, judging by your previous experience," she smiled, tapping the dossier. "And, of course, I will be paying you quite well, to cover the risk and whatever tools or whatnots you might need." With a slight grin, she added, "My investors don't need to know how I spend their money, after all, provided I get them results."

Greens · Posted: Sun Apr 17, 2011 11:46 pm

Indeed, the serval could've been caught giving an odd eye to Coop, and even traces of the same look to Tracer-- he wasn't expecting any more company in the first place, it seemed. But it was only the eagle who prompted a curious glance to Rock and a mumbled "Isn't 'e...?"

"...Meh."

Ultimately, if the monkey in charge didn't pay him any mind, Ace would figure Rock's a good example to follow. As long as there were no immediate beefs in need of accommodating, business was good, and they could save any potential backstabbings for after the meeting. In the mean time, he could lean back and relax in his wheeled office seat. "Huh. Hey, robo-guards and security cams? Piece a' cake. Stickin' it to GUN is just a bonus, right?"

High T (Ch. 3b: Day 1)

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