[SR] "Chapter 1: Another day at the bar..."

[Douane]

Interior of the 'O'Flaherty's':

It's dark inside, very dark. Were you not able to see even under such conditions, you might have had problems navigating the place. The lighting seems to be centered around a long bar, ostensibly made from real oakwood, which dominates the whole room. Two vid-screens, both showing sports, are placed behind and above the bar. To the right and left of the bar, some doors lead to backrooms, one of them probably the kitchen, since the 'Tavern' prides itself on it's original irish food.

While there are booths along both side walls, you don't have the impression that they are meant for the general public. In fact, most of them seem to be occupied by regulars, with only a few people sitting at the tables in the central part of the pub.



The moment you walk through the door everyone looks at you. You can almost bodily feel the ensuing silence as most conversations stop. (You are just lucky they ain't got a band in there, because if they had, it surely would have stopped, too.)
Once you have settled down at your table, the stares seem to end and the talking resumes, but with a noticeable drop in volume.

However, now and then someone looks up from his discussion and seems to check on you.

 

[eric_the_half_bee]

Interior of the 'O'Flaherty's':

While there are booths along both side walls, you don't have the impression that they are meant for the general public. In fact, most of them seem to be occupied by regulars, with only a few people sitting at the tables in the central part of the pub. .

What kind of “customers” are sitting in those booths. Street-Sams ... conspicuously hiding their ingram smartguns beneath long secured cloaks ???

Luca took a closer look ... especially on those guys who unconspicuously try to check him and his new metahuman-companions.

 

[Shalimar]

Angel waits patiently for the Johnson, if he was going to call a meeting in such a place he should certainly show up on time. She taps her fingers on the table top as she looks around the tavern for the Johnson, or anyone else that might be here at the man's behest.

She makes a special point to give those people who are looking her up and down the exact same treatment. It may be that they think she is just really sexy, it may be that they hate elves, whatever it is, she isn't very comfortable with the stares. "If the John doesn't show up soon I'm gonna bag, the scenery here is pretty hostile." she whispers to the human who appeared to be the only back-up she had if things went bad.

 

[Douane]

"Xerd":

Since you have nothing better to do, you let the eye wander through the room, always on the lookout for the Johnson. Though you do not discover him, you notice something else: One of the humans in the booths isn't even pretending to be engaged in conversation. He openly studies both you and the 'couple' at the other table, almost giving you the impression that he is able to follow their discussion.
Suddenly his head jerks up and his face furrows in concentration; (Hmm, must be something one of them said.)

The human seems to be about forty (Hard to say with these humans!) and has certainly seen some tough times by the looks of it. While you see no obvious weapon on him, you wouldn't be surprised if his clothing is of the armored variety.

 

[Douane]

The patrons of bar seem to be humans without exception. (At least they look like humans. Who can really say these days!) You only see a few women among them.

As for weapons, noone here is packing any obvious heat. Sure, there's a pistol here and a pistol there, but nothing serious.



Obviously absent among this crowd is the 'punk element':
No mohawks, no shrill colours, no in-fashion Battlewear(TM), nothing.

Back in the previous century, it would have been called a place of the so-called 'working class'.

 

[Xael]

After finding a place to sit (the shady corner table which doesn't look like it's reserved for regulars) and noticing the booth-man, Xerd takes a comfortable position in the chair. He takes a closer look at the booth-man and the "couple" he's staring at. The man's obvious interest in them starts to bother him a bit too much.

His gaze shifts from the material to the astral plane, focusing on the booth-man, trying to pick up any possible tricks of his.

OOC: Using Astral Perception and doing an Assensing test on the booth-man. Mainly checking for magical aptitude and cyberware.

 

[Douane]

"Xerd":

You let your senses extend into the astral realm to have 'look' at that man and are almost blinded by what you see:

Scarlet streaks, which indicate violence and anger, are blazing in his aura. And, oh boy, is he angry! In fact, you can't remember having ever seen such anger before.
After focussing on his aura for a few moments more, you discover, however, that it isn't a momentary emotion you are seeing, but rather a permanent state of mind. Seems his whole personality is centered around that anger. Also it doesn't really seem to be directed at anyone here; Oh, well, ... at least it isn't directed at you.
Overlying this is the iron grip of his willpower, which seems to be able to control even this anger. Impressive!

Otherwise, he seems to fairly ordinary. (Or at least what passes for ordinary in these days.) He is a healty Mundane with some small cybernetic mods which seem to centered around his head, his lifeforce comparably strong to your own.

 

[Tory Adore]

Bowie knows she is later than she should be as she walks through the door of the tavern. As she steps in, she notices all eyes shift to look at her. There was a time this would have made her feel uncomfortable, but now she could careless as she strived to remove her body from the weak ranks of the human flesh and bone.

Plus, she knew was bound to be looked at here anyway just like many places she went as she stood 5'11", had short spiky black hair tipped with brilliant red, and dressed in all black leather consisting of a trenchcoat, gloves covering her hands, knee-high boots with large silver latches almost like a ski boot, and dark sunglasses riding on her nose and just below a pierced eyebrow. Gothic would describe her appearance.

 

[Xael]

Xerd lets his "gaze" wander at the man's aura for a while, but then returns his sight to normal. *That's just not... normal...*, he thoughts, deciding to keep eye on the man just in case. He doesn't look particulary dangerous though, and he's even a mundane.

The human stepping inside the tavern was another case... The woman stood out from the other people in tavern, and even Xerd had to admit that there started to be some persons distinguishable from the regulars in the tavern...

But were they competition or would he have to cooperate with them?

 

[Douane]

Gradually, you are beginning to have (some serious) doubts about this.

A bar without a single friendly face, no back-up and no Mr. Johnson appearing for your appointment - not exactly what you'd call conducive to a long and peaceful life.

While mentally inspecting the list of your enemies to see who could pull this off - and it's longer than you like -, you see the waitress approaching your table.

"Ya' here for O'Johnson?" (Never bothering to stop chewing on her gum.)

"Try the back-room", she goes on, indicating the door to right side of the bar with a shake of her head.


Out of the corner of your eye you can see her continuing the round through the 'Tavern', obviously fulfilling some orders and stopping every now and then for a few words. Interestingly, these 'small-talks' seem to happen without exception at the tables of those you have pegged as outsiders much like yourself.

So, to no surprise, you find yourself in company when you casually stride towards the back-room.