Purple Dumplings
When the coordinates are finally sent, Doctor Rojo had spent a few nights on Osiris, dealing with the paperwork that comes from not only witnessing a 'horrible medical accident' in a science lab but also accounting for who gave the Jia permission to lift off and such. Its alot of paperwork to complete when you are responsible for making sure your 'Community Service' assistants are accounted for during an off the records investigation.
The coordinates lead to some space around Beaumonde and then the trail stops there. Just the coordinates are incomplete and ever changing. So...finally, Doctor Rojo gives McGuire and Kyoshiro and their 'armed guards' a note that tells them to visit Life Line Inc to speak to someone there seeing as they were the company who were meant to actually receive the bad medicine in the first place and also company that reported the medication was bad and looked tampered with.
Rewinding a bit...Beaumonde is the site of one of the WORSE attacks where people started randomly fighting and killing each other when Syndrome Y innoculations first started going out. There are little shrines and memorials outside of Life Line Inc, including a special little garden in a glass case that has all the names of the people who died etched elegantly on the glass. IT is also where mutant frogs first showed up as well. But, people on this planet know this health clinic as a safe place for people with Syndrome Y or really any disease at all to come for reasonable treatment, regardless of their affiliations or political leanings....it would have to be. Quietly, behind the scenes the Hope House owns it. Today, the reception area is empty. <English>
Kyoshiro stops in front of the entrance of the empty reception area, making sure to put out the cigar that rests between his lips. He was happy to finally be off the core. Less stressful. Less people looking at you funny. He reaches a hand to open the door for Fao, the old man. <English>
A somewhat familiar face at Lifeline and Hopehouse is Ava, the purple haired goddaughter of Aubrey. Pretty much something she has maintained, even the shade of the purple has changed from Lavender to dark purple with streaks of teal through it. She is currently working at the front desk tapping away at the computer, the most unlikely of 'receptionists' but a familiar sight site all the same in her range of 'punkish' clothing. Though only 18, few who know her would doubt her skills with the computer and a few others given she is a protege trained by Aubrey and Fenton. <Chinese>
McGuire steps up to the entrance, his guard somewhere in the background as an observer. He knows she's there, she's always there. He stops at the door to look at all the memorials, vaugely remembering this on the cortex, what little they allowed to be shown. He looks at the entrance and pauses, taking a long deep drag off of his cigarette. He says aloud, "We better not get sick from all this." He pulls another drag before dropping it to the ground and snuffing it out on the cement. He breaths it all out, then takes a deep breath. "Trail ended up there in the black. I hope Everson is here and can help us." He nods to Kyo and steps in to find Ava. He bows to her. <English>
Zank follows all the same behind the rest of them. He remains quiet as they approach. only saying s few words ?after regular hours? <English>
The Ellusive little white haired eccentric that founded the Hope House dropped out of the public eye for almost a year...or maybe two. There's been no Monkey Madness and quite a few rumors of his death. But the uniforms of people at the Hope House and the Caretakers that still travel the verse are still on point and the organization's members even have offered support and help to the Post-Legion efforts as well.
But today he comes rolling out from two wooden doors, pushing himself along in an electronic wheelchair (yes, it is sleek and black with purple rims). He's wearing a dark purple fluffy robe, his hair arranged in an elegant bun and his make-up on point. A tiny monkey resting in his lap as he squints and looks around with a thoughtful expression. There's a pause as he looks between Kyoshiro and Mcguire and then over to Zank and then finally back to Ava and then to the guests. He signs with his hands as he speaks. "Well. Did you bring the dumplings?" Blink Blink. <English>
McGuire says, "We ate them on the way here, it was a long trip. Sorry you missed out, Mibu makes a mighty fine dumplin." He still can't believe his eye's. "I see the rumors are not true, and you are still ticking. I have to say, it's good to see you Aubrey." He steps a little closer to the man, taking in all the glory that is this interesting man. <English>
"I will not, I am immune..." Kyoshiro says in a matter of fact sort of mono-tone to Fao's bit of dark humor. He turns a glance to notice Ava typing away at her desk before Aubrey wheels himself out in his wheel chair. A single brow is raised and the social cue-deph warrior resists the urge to ask if something had caused the ecentric to be disabled and unable to walk. He thinks better of it, looking back to Fao who innitiates the conversation. <English>
Ava stands up at the arrival of the peoples , "I am sure we can work out something to help you all out." She says and turns to the familiar sound of the wheelchair and signs a greeting to Aubrey and moves to stand beside his chair. Her way with him is familiar and in many ways she has been like a daughter to him over the years. "Well you have to promise to bring dumplings next time." She says to McGuire but then giving little bows to the others. <Chinese>
Zank raises an eyebrow as he recognizes Aubrey. He doesn?t know him well at all but worked with him a LONG time ago. He lets the others talk <English>
"He is a professional chef, it would be shameful if he wasn't able to make something as rudimentary as dumplings." Aubrey agrees softly with McGuire as he regards Kyoshiro, looking him over thoughtfully. "Purple dumplings." He requests before turning his chair to face McGuire. "I'm glad they didn't...decide to murder you for your crimes against the universe. It would've been extremely illogical as you statistically will probably die within the next 20 or so years...also, you do not have the temperment for the death penalty. You're too legendary." His fingers move as he speaks and then he looks to Ava. "This is Ava, my goddaughter..." He trails off and looks at the doors for a moment. "Doctor Rojo sent me a cortex message about fucked up medication." <English>
McGuire laughs at the puple dumplings and says, "I promise." He looks at this old friend, at least he likes to think of him as an old friend weither the feeling is returned or not. He smiles at the statistices. Turning to Ava, he bows again and then gets back to business. "Which is why we are here. The trail ended closest to this planet. It's course suggests coming from or ending up here. We need to find the people who took that crate and perhaps ferrit out who they work for. I was hoping you might have some ideas." <English>
Kyoshiro gives a slight bow in respect and greeting to Ava. Then as Purple Dumplings are mentioned he thinks: now that was an interesting thing to try. Kyoshiro moves along just behind Fao, keeping silent yet observant, his mind focused now on Purple Dumplings and how exactly to do it. <English>
Ava tilts her head, "Well there are some natural food dyes, purple cabbages or squid ink that could dye the dumblings. It could be a fun experiment to be sure." She says with a grin on that score. As she is introduced she gives a proper bow of greeting once more before straightening to business. "Do we have any leads? I can try to trace a trail of satalite logs and spaceport entries for the ship, see if we can follow its footsteps through space?" <Chinese>
Zank is to interested in purple dumplings but tries to focus ?Fao do we have any ship info or did the trail go completely cold?? <English>
"..." Aubrey looks from person to person with that same emotionless expression that has become his trademark, idly petting the monkey in his lap and hmming softly to himself. "Manifests. Ship manifests. You have to have evidence that the ship was actually even carrying the medication that was supposed to be sent back." He looks down and then back to Ava. "The /program/ isn't flawed. It ran as expected. But there are missing functions in there. Lines of code, neatly slipped out." Then on a completely different tangent. "There have been rumors...of other movements, inspired by others like yourself. Such illogically passionate people. One did threaten Ava. So now he has no kneecaps and his identity is tied to 15 different black market deals and he's been blacklisted. So." He exhales and then looks back to Kyoshiro and McGuire and Zank and then back to Ava. "Are...we having guests for a tour today?" <English>
McGuire looks to Ava, "That would be very nice. Any help in that direction would be of use to us in this search. Any ID on the craft used to get off world? Any vid on the people who took the crate? It's my understanding it was lifted from here and taken into the black." He looks from Ava to Aubrey. "We wouldn't want to take up to much of your time. The sooner we act on this, the fresher the trail may be." He knows that works on ground, being a tracker and all, but in space... he's hoping for a miriacle. <English>
Kyoshiro maintains his silence for the time being, simply listening. THere isn't anything more he'd say that Fao hasn't already. <English>
"Mm. WE can tell you where it was shipped from. We know all shipping companies on this planet and who we had to send things back to." Aubrey offers softly before he idly toys with a stray strand of hair. There is a long pause before he looks back to McGuire. "Lots of things get lost like this...lift off into space and vanish. Sometimes people too." <English>
Ava is already moving towards her computer terminal as Aubrey speaks on the movements of others. "Cargo weights then? Street cam footage to follow the parcel?" She says with a look over to Aubrey to get his opinion on the search parameters even as she is bringing up various footage from around the city on her screen. "What is the last KNown place of the item?" <Chinese>
"And we're the guys who looks for those missing things..." Kyoshiro says off handedly as he moves to glance towards the computer screen where Ava is. He reaches into his greatcoat and pulls out a slip of paper. "This is the type of medication we're looking for specifically... if it'll narrow down the search any." <English>
Zank smirks at Aubreys comment about things disappering after lift off ?ant that the truth? he mutters <English>
McGuire nods at Ava's words, "You say you know where it came from, but didn't say where." He smiles, "I've spent to much time on the Core to not pick up things like that. Ava seems to know her business, let her try. If we can get an ID on the ship, perhaps we can get a flight plan." <English>
Aubrey just gives McGuire a /look/ when he mentions that Ava seems to know her business, its a slight lift of an eyebrow and a slow blink before he just looks over to Ava. "Boise and Bell Medical Shipping. They are also Government Contractors on the side." He offers with a small shake of his head as he stares up at the ceiling. "Ava, do a search for the manifest logs, filter and search for timestamps between manifest logs being saved and post-flight check logs, and create a baseline so that you can pull in any discrepencies around the time the shipment was supposed to be sent back." Then he looks between kyoshiro and McGuire and back to Ava. "Do you require sustenance? There is porridge. With brown sugar." He scratches his chin. "Might want to question the people at the company...see who was on duty during the times of discrepency that she'll find..." <English>
Zank speaks up (check for ships listed with refrigeration meeting medical grade...might narrow the search unless there cutting corners) <English> McGuire smiles as he thought that might get Brey going. He is the smartest creature in the 'verse in Fao's mind and will not stand to be over looked. Fao nods, "That would be lovely Aubrey. Thank you very much." He says in a very genuine and polite manner. He expects it might be a moment before the information comes up and something to play with and perhaps eat sounds nice. <English>
"Not with an Alliance contract they won't." Kyoshiro says to Zank before looking to Aubrey, "Would be the next logical step, yes..." He looks between FAo and the others, "Maybe do it off hours so we don't have to bother the Doctor with more paperwork." <English>
The advice given by Aubrey has Ava switching her mode of search. Fingers start to fly over the keys as she pulls up manifests and works to trace the path of the drugs over Beaumonde. That she is a natural on the computer is no surprise given who her mentor is. "Extra sugar and glazed cherries." She responds to the request of sustanance. <Chinese>
Aubrey is rolling himself over to where they keep things and he pulls out a few cups of pudding, balancing them on a tray along with a few bottles of water, some fruit cups, and a jar of cherries. He rolls himself back over, with that tray carefully balanced even as he speaks. "Has anybody asked or solved for the axiom of why somebody would steal bad drugs? Tampered with drugs?" He wonders outloud. He looks back to McGuire. "You gave me my first best friend." He looks down to the monkey that has skittered up to his shoulder. A look back to Ava. "But you had extra sugar approximately 4 hours, 2 minutes and 39 seconds ago." <English>
McGuire speaks the truth as he knows it, "Those drugs were a product of Dr. Wendy Nessy. I believe they where not suppose to be shipped out in the first place, thus the recall. But when recalled, they were taken instead. This is how far the rabbit hole has taken us. Which leads us to your door." Why he chose Looking Glass is beyond him, but being served pudding and the like does have a ring of Hatter tea party. He looks at Aubrey, never really able to judge his reactions, but will always try. <English>
Ava sets to the task at hand, tapping away, pausing and tapping away. Finding the breadcrumbs is something she makes short work over, but in the end she tilts the screen to Aubrey and signs to him for help. "Not quite seeing how the puzzle is fitting together." She signs to him with a touch of frustration in her eyes. A person with all the pieces of the puzzle but can't work out what the picture is. <Chinese>
Kyoshiro sprinkles some cranola into his pourage to give it some crunch and flavor. Just a hint of cinnimon. He of course is a large man who needs his protein and eats any chance he can get. Though at Ava's sense of frustration he moves over to take a look at the manifest, "May I?" He asks as he takes a spoonful of pourage into his mouth. <English>
"Mm." Aubrey glances up to see Ava signing as he's rolling back to the refreshment area to pull out the porridge for people to enjoy, along with tiny white bowls and by that time he's heard everything that McGuire has to say and he glances towards Ava's screen for a moment before moving a finger to tap the screen and then draw a highlighted line between certain lines of data, nodding to his goddaughter and then looking back to McGuire. "The drugs shipped out included items that were supposed to help treat Symdrome Y, as well as sedatives and mood stablelizers. Ava will get you the data you need to pinpoint the people who were working during the time of these discrepencies and then it will be...a matter of deciding who to question and who to not question. I do not advice connecting testicles to ship batteries...very messy. Impractical as well. Smells too much like bacon." He moves a hand to his head, blinking blearily. <English>
Kyoshiro shakes his head as he chews on some granola and turns away, "Nah... can't make heads or tails of those numbers." <English>
McGuire only glances the screen. His memory pulls the image up in his mind and allows him to pick it apart. Crate of drugs from Osiris to Life Line arrival date. He says to Aubrey, motioning to the screen, "Marked recall. Thus the bad medicine." He narrows his eye's a bit and looks to Zank, "Take off times vs manifest items." He notes the missing items. He looks back to Audrey, "Will you have your security question these people or will we be allowed that honor?" <English>
Zank comes up the ramp (so we?re looking for a needle in a stack of needles essentially when it comes down to it) he says looking at Kyo taking off his coat as he gets inside. <English>
Kyoshiro heads up the ramp as well, back in his usual clothing now that they were off the core and wearing weapons that don't require any licenses. He looks Sober. "Yeah sounds like it. We just gota talk to some folks I guess." <English>
Zank sighs and goes to sit at his work bench (Well if we can maybe track the manifest and find a bouy to ping off an find it course) he says <English>
"The shipment was recalled. It's on world. Or at least was when it was stolen. We'll likely be visiting a warehouse." Kyoshiro says. <English>
Zank nods and sits looking at his newest wood work (what e going to do when we find em... ?) <English>
"What the Doctor wants us to do..." Kyoshiro says with a shrug. "What ever it is she wants we're more than qualified to preform..." He crosses his arms over his chest. "Interesting A-team thing we've got going on here." <English>
Zank looks over ?which doctor...? he asks simply <English>
"Doctor Rojo... The Sentors Daughter?" Kyoshiro asks with a blink, "You okay in your head, Zank?" <English>
Zank laughs picking the small half carved wooden toy. ?probably not..? he chuckles ?thought maybe that Wendy witch...? he says sighing ?I ant right in the head Kyo you know that...haven?t felt right as of late. A lot to sort through? <English>
"Wendy isn't the one who wanted us to help out... Rojo is the one who hired us. And the Victims kin. Wendy has no say in a damn thing." Kyoshiro says with a shrug. <English>
Zank nods ?good...one less thing I gotta worry on.? he says chuckling a bit ?still wanna kill her....? he says looking over at Kyo. ?being off the core helps...less worry I can think a lot clearer...? <English>
Kyo nods slowly and sort of shakes his head. He moves towards the stairs, "Have a good night." <English>
Zank looks after him ?night Kyo I?ll take first watch...? <English>
Zank sits at his work bench a long time before he just starts talking to himself. It doesn't sound evil or crazy. Just a man sorting it out. (Zank what ya gone an got yourself into...) he says picking up the unfinished toy and paces back and forth across the bay. (Find yourself attracted to someone ya probably shouldn?t be...i mean what could she see in you...hell can you trust her 100...stop...she?s done nothing to deserve that mistrust..., got a daughter half way across the verse growing up without ya... an now your on a hunt for broken meds that killed a bunch of folk...Jensen wants answers for what happened to his stuff on Boros...and your network is getting pressured by Helios....great month? he says and then keeps paceing turning quiet. (That might work...) he says as he thinks (double his return...) <English>
Zank continues to pace. "stop thinking about her for 30 seconds and focus...Jensen's warehouse was all but destroyed after the city battle...his operations there are done for now so he's gonna want reprimands...or I could just not." he says pacing turning the toy in his hand. <English>
Zank stops seeming to come to a conclusion. "Point Jensen at Helios...move resoruces from Persephone to Ezra...sell a couple extra crates of that vokda pulled off of Ariel..." he says and turns on his heals. "Well that might stop Jensen." he says stopping and looks to the crates still set up at as a table. He pauses again grinning at a thought. "Focus..." he says again <English>
Zank shakes his head "now you only have to worry about...well everything else" he sighs "one problem at a time." <English>
