Scene #8088: RIFTS: Silvereno

Owner	Pose
Lilian Rook	Shockingly, despite the very much middle of absolutely nowhere that the Paladins outpost Redemption was settled in, exclusively for its access to a high quality leyline nexus and its distance from the Coalition States, it actually isn't all that hard (relatively speaking) to make it to the nearest settlement. Lilian's divination (with help from Satsuki, she begrudgingly plays down) remains reliable as always, making good on the vague directions given by the traders who trickle from that direction to stop at Redemption for fuel, supplies, and a little extra cargo to sell as they head back east to repeat the journey. You go by air, via Paladins VTOL, because Lilian is adamant about not driving the only full time local transport of considerable size and value through mountain passes. It's a very short trip by fair, but seeing the ways the Colorado rockies have radically shifted from the centuries old catalcysm from above, it begins to seem a wise choice, even if you do set down barely over fifteen minutes later. The town, as you'd heard it called, is named Silvereno, and from the air, you can see that it is certainly much more a town than a weird little wild west movie set like Boothill. Not that it's any less of a spaghetti western by look, but the sprawl must be good for at least thirty odd thousand residents. Nestled deep in the thick of the mountain forests, it's hard to see the belching smoke of genuine industry just outside of town until you're almost on top of it, and even harder to see the the glow of early morning electric lights being gradually switched off. The pockets in the forest all around almost universally appear to be hundreds of small shaft mines. The city limits are host to a tall mansion on a large, ten or twelve acre estate, a compound surrounded by barbed wire, and an oddly far out of place saloon nearer the mines. Further inside town, you see what looks like a small college campus, the inevitably overlarge sheriff's department (given its large garage with many hover vehicles), even a hospital (given, once again, the presence of modern ambulances parked outside), and a glitzy neon casino. If you ignore the far ends of the spectrum where people with cybernetic limbs ride horseback, you could probably compare the ostensible level of development to the American thirties, perhaps. The pilot is directed to set down a short ways outside of town, rather than trying to negotiate a landing pad inside town limits where there isn't one. That allows you to disembark on foot as whatever sort of tourist/trader/mercenary/et al you feel like, and explore to your heart's content. Lilian is only quick to remind of the business purpose of being here: assessing the largest urban center in the area for how to make it an ally.
Ishirou	Ishirou is already strapped in by the time things are ready to go, a little bit early so as to not hold anything up. This was going to be an exciting trip, get to meet new people, explore a new city, make friends, and perhaps even dig up some new knowledge! Once Silverado comes into view, and more when they get close enough to see industry work Ishirou pays very close attention to everything. If he can, he tries to ascertain what sort of factories and industries he can pick out. The mansion is noticed especially considering the size of the estate is noticed but not really thought much of. The box with barbed wire around it gets a frown. The college campus itself gets his attention. Oh, he could probably spend all day there and still barely scratched the surface. Though before he just immediately runs off the remainder of the mission is stated again. Ishirou deflates a little, but this just means he can spend his time there /after/ the mission. "Hmm...well the manufacturing they already set up might be the obvious answer," He considers, "It wouldn't go amiss to also perhaps pay an official a visit to announce ourselves? Or do we want to pretend to be adventurers or something?"
Ioanna Langstrom	This is what Ioanna is good at. Yeah, she's the one who got the colony rolling, and yeah, she's the one technically in charge of the base, but logistics have never been where her skillset actually sits. No, her skillset sits in being in civilization and vanishing into it like she's as normal as anyone else from the world. It's easy in a lot of places. Even easier here, though. The MCM's selected a very simple cowboy outfit; the OC is nothing but a handgun; the FC's become a high-tech visor, the little detail necessary to blend in. As she does final checks, she taps the FC for a brief overview of the place. That'll help her make decisions. She looks over at Ishirou when he asks. "I'm going in as a local, sir. Easier for me to get the lay of the land. You're more suited to do proper introductions." she says in her usual somewhat-stiff military tone. A moment later she's dropped into an accent that sounds exactly like the natives from Boothill with just a hint of Mack's own. "'less Mack wants to go with me, but I reckon it's wiser if he sticks with y'all." The FC visor stops blinking as she stands up and disembarks. "Meet up with y'all in a coupla hours. Don't wait up if I ain't back - y'all'll know I'm in trouble if my beacon starts flashin'."
Tamamo	If the aesthetic remains the same, and only the scale is different, that's good! It means that Tamamo doesn't have to seriously consider changing her look. The only differences are subtle, as her cowgirl outfit becomes gradually more ornamented. The chaps are rather heavy with suede fringes, now. "Oh, that one area is rather... well-fortified, is it not? As a castle, yet thicker with coiled wire than with walls. Does it yet function the same? If invaders arrive, will the people shelter within?" Tamamo gestures with an upturned hand toward the tall mansion, her other arm occupied with a large, wicker picnic basket. "I suppose I shall go and see our highly-set neighbors, then, shall I? Ah, Satsuki-san, would you escort me? It ever does well to have a second set of eyes and ears."
Ishirou	"I am..?" Ishirou asks, unsure about that. Though he considers things for a little bit and then shrugs. "Well, sure I will!" Ishirou searches his database and connection to the Paladin's database on local customs.
Hellwarming Trio	Despite being able to fly and doing so on a regular basis, the youkai from underground somehow manage to squabble over window seats. The idiocy of their heated rock paper scissors match is completely lost on them, but it's soon forgotten once they actually get to see the semi-famed region through the window they're crowded around. That, in turn, is forgotten once the VTOL touches down far sooner than expected. The difference from Boothill has them looking all wide-eyed for the first few minutes until Rin remembers (and reminds Utsuho) that they've literally been in American cities before, but the sight is still a new one to them nonetheless. It's probably got something to do with the western style stuffed combined with all the somewhat anachronistic vehicles, buildings, and tech on display. "That place looks big and important. Let's go check that out!" Utsuho gestures wildly at the flashy neon casino, going as far as tugging on Rin's arm to draw her attention away from the hospital. "Huh? Oh, yeah, good idea. We got this work to focus on, so... Wait." Rin draws her attention away from that to focus on Ioanna instead. "How come you're talkin' funny, sis?" That much, they haven't understood yet. Whatever answer they get, though, they eventually head to the casino to start probing the locals for what the significance of such an extravagant building is, who the leader of the building/town is (it's the same thing, right?), and likely getting fleeced of all the day's spending money in the process.
Mack	Their local mutant, Mack, does his best not to double-take whenever Ioanna shows off her ability to blend in. A miniscule twinge of pride makes him say, "Give yourself about ten percent less twang if you're not gunning for 'frontier hick' on first meeting. We're not all like that." "More likely to shelter themselves than the population," Mack asides towards Tamamo, "but nevertheless a pretty good way to think about it." Glowing eyes slide to Ishirou. "Introduction's my plan. I'm gonna make my way over to the local law enforcement and figure out who they answer to. Don't be surprised if someone asks you to check any weapons that look particularly heavy; pretty standard procedure inside more established towns, with all the people wandering around with anti-tank guns slung over their shoulders." With a tap towards the side of his head (presumably, at a covered ear; they've got comms, after all), he starts off. Mack's scrapyard street samurai get-up is all clean and polished, insofar as heavy armor scrap metal ever gets these words applied to it, and he picks his way in down the street on foot with the air of adventure all around him. His sensors and sixth-plus senses gradually unfurl, stretching out to gently emcompass the area within a few blocks and get a feel for the vicinity. He's not a terrific empath, but he's great at tracking the kinds of biometrics and motion signatures that indicate things are amiss. He's still not a great looking figure to be hobbling down the road. Nonetheless, he carries himself in a very particular way, and it makes it clear to any local toughs that trouble doesn't happen to him, he happens to it.
Lilian Rook	The Laws and Customs of the New West are informally kept but well-known. There certainly is no central law, as there is no central government, and little better than famous regional militias and dispersed horizontal organizations such as the Rangers to keep it between towns. But what is broadly referred to "The Code of the New West", or simply "The Code" carries from place to place, even amongst many criminals and avrages around: -Never draw a weapon you aren't prepared to use. -Never cheat in a showdown or duel. -Never kill or hurt women or children and protect them from harm. -Never kill or steal another mans horse or transportation. -Never destroy a holy place or harm clergy (except evil ones, then beware unholy vengeance.) -Never break your word of honor or take money that isnt owed you. A mans word is his bond. -Respect women; take off your hat and try not to curse. -Respect the natural laws, nature itself, and magic. Fear magic. -Respect a worthy opponent and show them courtesy even in death. -Respect the law; at least until the law proves itself unworthy of respect. This whole thing is taken deadly seriously, and people will fight over it. Tamamo heading off to the acreage on the very edge of town encounters a four story white brick and pine wood building out past a beautiful garden and-- a security checkpoint far more robust than the iron fence behind it. She is stopped pretty much immediately by archetypal Toughs, for important people, save instead of three piece suits they're wearing fairly substantial ceramic body armour and futuristic rifles. The more familiar kind appear to be leisurely patrolling the grounds beyond. She is, of course, held up and asked her business in seeing the mayor. It's kind of a lot. The youkai pair end up before a blazing neon sign that advertizes their destination as the Silver Palace Dance Hall & Casino. Deep in town, plenty of people are watching the weirdly-dressed couple with animal features, but don't seem to think it's too unusual for the hub of trade in the west to approach them.
Lilian Rook	The building is six storeys and utterly fucking ridiculous on the inside. Theyr'e instantly blasted with the overwhelming sounds of not just several floors of high intensity modern gambling machines, but multiple bars and restaurants, the muffled sounds of a movie theatre on each side, an extensive video arcade, a goddamn ice cream parlour, and a completely stupid indoors waterpark with a cable car ride and a ferris wheel. It is beyond overwhelming, and clearly six storeys because nobody thought of a modern leisure district during city planning and then someone decided they needed all of it, and had to cram it into one spot. It is absolutely packed. Mack's foray over to the sheriff's department (rather than an office, like in Boothill), with the slightest direction, actually takes him pretty far away from the barbed wire compound, given the street plan. Even with one of those hovercycles, it wouldn't be quick to reach. Up close, he can see under the closed portion of the garage, which contains a not-insignificant number of mixed current and last generation combat robots in standby. When he arrives however, asking for the boss, he's told that the sheriff isn't in. In fact, the sheriff is apparently almost never in, known to be almost permanently cruising around time, and thus Mack's problem to find. Someone called Sheriff Whispering Wind, whom, according to Mack's mind reading, is generally highly regarded. There's not much on people's minds about their day to day; the vast majority are tradesmen mostly concerned with their work, or unwinding after it. There is, apparently, an upcoming election some are thinking about but he detects overwhelming favour for the current mayor, Gwen Severson. There has also been another 'disappearance' down an infamous corner of the hundreds of local mines; something called 'Shaft Eight'. Given that Satsuki is with Tamamo, Lilian is content pursuing her own trail. Thus she is not there to see the way her underclassman is hovering around Tamamo like an attack helicopter, nor when she jumps the gun and starts introducing them as Official Paladins On Official Paladins Business, shortly before realizing that they aren't 'investigating' anything at all, and looking desperately at Tamamo to take over. Alas, there are no hats to tip. The security guards have helmets, and are just sort of leaving them within arm's reach.
Hellwarming Trio	If the pair notice the locals watching them, they're... Actually they're doing a terrible job staying incognito. To their credit, they aren't actually trying to blend in, both Utsuho and Rin just reveling in the attention with the former waving and trying to say "Howdy" rather terribly while the latter does the occasional standing backflip as though that might impress somebody. The absolute barrage of lights gets them behaving a little more, though, as they're simply too overwhelmed by the explosion of external stimuli to keep hamming it up as they've been. They don't know where to look first or who to talk to right off the bat, and the food has them already starting to get sidetracked from their actual goal. They scramble around at first, trying to tug each other in different directions to try and get a good look at everything without knowing where to even start aside from following their guts. Somehow, though, it's the the waterpark of all things that ends up snatching their attention away from everything else for more than five seconds. "There's too much stuff here..." "I know, right? It's a mess! A cool mess, but still messy." "Way messier than the parties back home. But... Uh. Wait. Weren't we looking for the boss of this place?" "Oh yeah! And then they can tell us why they made this place so... Like THIS! With their path once again clear to them, the youkai finally resume their partially distracted search for the owner/leader of the casino. Using their own brand of deductive reasoning, they start heading towards the sixth floor before really asking around to find out who owns the place and how to reach them, even going as far as mentioning that they've got 'a great business opportunity' waiting for just the right mind to work with.
Tamamo	"Our business, as it happens, is to greet our new neighbors." Tamamo follows up as if Satsuki had not, in fact, said anything wrong. Technically, she hadn't. "I am known as Tamamo-no-mae, a chevalier of the Paladins, and representative of our newly christened camp. Ah, perhaps you have already heard of its establishment? We were quite busy for some time, securing the leyline nexus, and I apologize that we only made it this far after all this time." She recalls locals generally thinking well of 'containing leylines,' making this seem a good purpose with which to lead. She's guessing, but not certain, that Redemption has the closest crossing of three leylines, and that people in Silvereno would have a vague geographical awareness of it. "My companion," Tamamo nods to her, smiling, "is Oda Satsuki." That expression is too gentle and obviously heartfelt to bring to mind a solicitor, even if this is just as much a door-to-door meeting with strangers. It isn't hard for her, and wouldn't be, in this case, even if she hadn't been very used to such things. Lilian's juniors both strike her as rather cute, in their own ways. "Might we have some of the mayor's time? I have, of course, brought gifts." She rests her opposite hand on the basket. One would presume that it contains food.
Mack	Mack is slow on the ground. He doesn't mind taking the scenic route, though. It affords him the chance to do one of his favorite things: sample the local cuisine. With whatever it is he can find by way of street food or take-out in-(telekinetic-)hand, he spends a while roaming on his way to the sheriff's department. His skimming of mental states gets him a good impression of the local law-man, or at least the frontrunner of said law, and that puts him more at ease than a roving security force would. This is a considerably-sized settlement, by his standards -- not a 'big city', those are places like Chi-Town or Lazlo with another zero at least on the population numbers, but big enough to represent more than a cluster of families scraping a living together in a hostile world. It's nice. It's comfortable. He's comfortable. Cozy. In his lane. And so forth. After he visits the department (and, incidentally, has enough of whatever easy-to-carry snacks he's picked up to give a bundle to the desk clerk in thanks; never hurts to cozy up to the law when the law isn't complete shit), he's back on the street again. Mack is humming to himself a tune of no particular provinence, letting his expansive senses gradually hunt for this Sheriff Whispering Wind so he can pay his respects. He is in no hurry to find him. Intel gathering is not an act that has to be done in a day, nor is it one that ought to be rushed. "Shaft Eight," Mack muses aloud, half to himself, half to Ishirou. "Might be something we can do there to get in the locals' good books. Nothing like cleaning out a subterranean monstrosity to earn a round at the bar. Maybe we ask around about that while we're looking for the Sheriff, huh?"
Ishirou	"Oh is it? Then I'll head with you then!" Ishirou says to Mack and walks with the man through the city. Like Mack, he's interested in the local eatery and eager to try new flavors and foods. Something that's really only grown ever since he's become more human and less an android. Some of it was a necessity, but perhaps he's also making up for lost time and not eating things. No that's a lie, he liked eating even when he was a robot. Ishirou just loves the experience of new things. At the office, Ishriou tilts his head at one of the paper pushers who's telling them that the man in charge isn't around. Behind him, POD is holding a bag of various assorted local flavors. Ishirou bought some to eat along the way. "So do you have a picture...or a description..? I mean, going around asking every person if they're Sheriff Whispering Wind might get annoying." Ishirou also uses this time to get a mental picture from the person he's asking, just in case they're being unhelpful. He joins back up with Mack and nods to him when he mentions Shaft Eight. "Yeah, seems to be in the mines right..? Maybe we'll learn more at that bar near the mine?" Ishirou suggests. "If people are disappearing, it can't be anything good...especially here. No offense, I've just come to expect everything here to be worse than expected."
Ioanna Langstrom	Economically independent. Silver mining - anti-supernatural. Power struggle. Northern Gun. Militia. Ioanna's already memorized the briefings by the time she's walking from the transport into town. She's a professional, sir. She reads those. As she walks she's making small adjustments to her walk, too - downplaying hip motions for a less feminine presentation to project a more 'lone wanderer' sort of energy, shifting her posture slightly to imply a little bit more of a hunch that one might see in someone who's taken lots of little injuries over time and didn't have access to Union or Commonwealth medical. She adjusts her hat just so, slightly tilting it down and to the side to hide her eyepatch and emphasize her visor. By the time she hits the red light district she's already got the walk of a veteran of the wasteland down pat. And the red light district is the place to go. It's where there's people looking to Solve Problems Discretely. People who want to Solve Problems Discretely go to the red light district because nobody pays attention to what you're doing in the red light district. Everybody already understands. Easy to hide that kind of dealing amidst the fucking and the drinking and the loud music and all the other things a red light district might be. But knowing where to go is only part of it. It's also knowing what to look for. And what you look for is fashion. Ioanna's good eye is keeping an eye out as she goes from den of iniquity to den of additional iniquity to den of yet more iniquity. She scans every room for people who Stand Out - people who have suits, or dresses, or something more upscale than ordinary who look like they're just out of a business trip to blow off steam. Fashion is part of it, too, the essential fashion that still says 'I'm better than you' even when you're in the midst of the universal degradations of the human spirit. This is a place someone from Northern Gun would almost assuredly come to solve a problem Quietly and Discretely without Official Channels knowing. The kind of someone you can wring a Favour out of.
Lilian Rook	Utsuho's and Rin's goober quest takes them all the way to the top floor, where their insistence on a 'business opportunity' gets them a lot of funny looks from casino security. Considering they appear to be: a pair of goobers, but potentially goobers with money, given their state of dress, they are actually allowed into the manager's office. It is luxurious and he is doing a fat lot of jack shit, with a calculator and papers simply scattered around his desk. Mister Gray Bramwell seems bored enough simply to usher them into seats and eagerly await hearing what their bullshit 'opportunity' is. Mack is easily able to acquire local barbeque of fairly banger quality, mainly in the form of pulled pork and/or steak in various kinds of buns or on skewers. They are adjacent to Texas, so it sort of makes sense. There are also various pastries and sweets and jams that are 'pretty good', being fresh-baked. The Sheriff really isn't hard to find. Ishirou barely needs to bother checking, given that he's found wearing his badge and uniform. Specifically, he is wearing his jacket over under an entire authentic traditional apache tunic and pants that is shockingly faithful to the prior Earth culture; a lot more so than the spaghetti western town. He looks like a movie action hero too, with that jaw and classically hollywood 'steely eyes', and it takes one look to guess that his clothes are not, in fact, cultural appropriation. He appears to be dismounted from his bike and checking up with a pair of deputies just as something to do. All are armed with rifles and handguns that aren't nuclear powered laser disintegration rays. Having travellers come right up to him is, apparently, rare, though he greets them and introduces himself as courteously as he is firm. The way he looks at Mack and Ishirou silently implies that he is expecting them to report a crime, but he allows them the floor rather than jumping the gun to presume. Sadly, post-post-apocaylptic Colorado folk are not exactly purveyors of foreign culture (in as much as America ever was), and just sort of interpret Satsuki as 'foreign' and Tamamo as 'fancy and foreign'. They ask to search her basket, but let her on through for Tamamo being ostensibly unarmed and Satsuki being less armed than the average wanderer is. Most of the guards have heard nothing of Redemption, but one or two have caught wind of gossip being spread from traders, bounty hunters, and adventurers who have started to arrive from there. From the way they talk about it (mainly, informing the other guards), they seem to be held at the level of a curiosity, but in good regard, known for some putting down bandits and monster slaying, and very fancy, high-quality engineering for such a small place. She's only given the stern advice to keep any magic to herself.
Lilian Rook	Satsuki quietly thanks Tamamo for being so good at this once they're through the gates. Inside, Mayor Gwen Severson has clearly been called ahead, and is ready for the two of them, with a couple of (old west-dressed) house staff fetching coffee and tea. All things considered, Tamamo might imagine she looks like Lilian at age 30 with a tan and less physical strength, her appearance mostly notable for wearing a silver cross and carrying a revolver (which appears to be normal, given her posture). This time, Satsuki introduces the both of them, as an underling would do, and goes through the formalities with Gwen. Twenty seconds talking to her is enough to get a sense of that effortless charisma and polished talent for nothing-niceties. Ioanna's search leads her pretty much immediately to a place called the Lucky Lady Saloon, known for catering to travelers, cowboys, drifters, adventurers, and sundry outsiders. The second she's inside, she gets the idea. Reasonably priced hard liquor, an upscale brothel, gambling games, and about a million and one places for people to broker information, cut deals, and fence dubiously legal goods. With her experience, it takes no time at all for her to pick out several tabers for smugglers and fences, reserved mob-style, along with an info dealer, and a few dozen thugs and mercs for hire, advertised with discreet signs and obscure old traditions involving anything from newspapers to table carvings to bandana colours. The owner is absent. If she asks around, she'll find out that the owner is known as a notorious party animal and nightclub rat, and pretty much always sleeps in all day and manages the saloon during its more active nighttime hours. There's no upscale exec here, but she can find arms dealers from the company with no effort. Outside of looking to get her to buy, they are indeed hiring anyone who can discreetly figure out where their last set of hired fences went. That is to say, people in Silvereno looking to buy, that being a tricky proposition under local law, going out of town to meet gun runners, and those gun runners never showing up. Disappeared. This shouldn't happen, given how safe the town is, and they don't want to raise a fuss or alert the Sheriff.
Ishirou	Ishirou motions towards Mack when he gets eyes on the Sheriff. They'll have to put talk about the disappearances to the side until after they introduce themselves. Ishirou approaches the Sheriff with Mack, "Hi! I'm Ishirou," and he lets Mack introduce himself, "We're with the Paladins out of Outpost Redemption near Boothill. We're just introducing ourselves to our neighbors and figured we should do it in person." "You know, being good neighbors and making friends. We're more interested in trying to make things better," then a pause, "We've also heard about missing people and something called a Shaft Eight? If it's under control I don't want to poke my nose or anything, but if helps is needed I'm all for helping a neighbor." "Also, just wondering if there is anything we can do for each other as neighbors besides this specific thing." Ishirou is extremely earnest in all of this. Bright, with a smile, and entirely honest with his view on this.
Mack	"Nah, it's pretty much always worse than expected around here," Mack confirms. "I'll tell you about my hometown sometime. Folks from outside call it 'Madhaven.'" He flashes Ishirou a quick, chrome-plated rictus grin. Their search leads to: the guy! Ishirou basically leads them in in the way he wants. "Archimedes MacCloud. Folks call me Mack." He extends a hand. It's on that side that most of his (world-)local badges of varying associations are, with some kind of intricate kanji-derived design for the Mamono Headhunters affixed near a battered Reid's Rangers insignia and a slightly singed Tomorrow Legion sigil. Just in case the Sheriff was going to start wondering which of them was from another dimension. "More or less that," he confirms. "I figured we ought to operate like a bunch of adventurers coming into a new place and make our introductions before we do anything that might cause a lot of light and sound. Seemed like the polite thing to do."
Ioanna Langstrom	Yep. This is exactly what Ioanna was expecting. She makes her way through the noise and confusion. She's not wary, but she is aware. The difference is important: 'wary' is active, constant, and makes you stand out, nerves set alight as you flick your eyes back and forth to keep watch on everything at once. 'Aware' is passive, keeping an eye out rather than assuming trouble. There's no need to be wary in a place like this - anyone stupid enough to pull shit and get caught here is probably dead long before you even need to react. This is probably safer from cheating than the saloons outside this area. Getting thrown out of those saloons sends you here. Getting thrown out of here probably puts you somewhere you really don't wanna be. And that passive awareness lends another layer of authenticity to her walk. It marks her as Experienced. Her eye is bright and focused when she sits down to talk to the dealers. It doesn't take her long to suss out the situation. And when she does, she names a price that's probably all too easy for them. Access. She doesn't want money, she says. She's been in the game long enough for that. What she wants now, she says in that drawl, playing the 'sound less clever than you are so the other guy thinks he's got one up on you' card, is access to the ek-zecks (she pronounces it just like that). She's lookin' to move up to bigger and better things now. Tired of scrubbin' dirt and scrapin' blood.
Hellwarming Trio	Now that the easy part is done, it's time to actually try and figure out how to get casino boss on their side! The biggest problem, then, is the fact that Rin didn't actually have an idea on how to do that coming into the room. What doesn't help is how Utsuho hasn't been thinking about it at all, but they're in the hot seat already by the time they actually get into the room full of luxurious stuff and a fat cat doing paperwork. Utsuho nudges Rin forwards, and Rin is already visibly scrambling her brain while stepping up. "Heeey! Aah... So. We heard you're the big shot around here, yeah? Fancy place, fancy stuff, cool decorations all over the place." She starts, rather obviously stalling for time while Utsuho strains to come up with something in the meantime. "We came here from just over that-a-way, right? You heard of Boothill? Right over there! And we've got a great idea that might help this place out some while helpin' out our buddies back there." Rin gestures at Utsuho while shuffling sideways steadily, smiling all the while. It takes several more seconds for Rin to notice that Utsuho is busy staring off into space, then hurries over to urge her forward from behind. "Gh...! Oh. Hey. What's up?" The hell raven grins casually as she raises a hand in a light greeting, taking a little longer to realize this is the part where she actually has to speak. "So... We noticed this place has got lots of fancy lights and cool machines and stuff, right? That's gotta be using a lot of power, so..." She takes a moment to try and figure out bigger words, fails, then just gets right back into it. "I've got plenty of power to spare, and I can help power this place up and whatever batteries you've got holding extra power for a good long while. You know, like a..." Utsuho snaps her fingers a few times, turning back to Rin while the kasha mouths something silently and waves her back. Rin, eager to capitalize on Utsuho actually coming up with anything, steps on up right after that. "Right! Housewarming gift, but backwards. You know, for new neighbors and welcoming you to being next to us over there. And all we're lookin' for is some help sprucing the place up. I mean, we don't got things that look half this good, so we figured someone that could set up a place like this would totally know how to do that!" At no point do either of them actually gesture in what direction Boothill is in. It is entirely likely they don't actually remember. "So! How's that sound, bro? Think you and yours can help up ours get back there?"
Lilian Rook	The Sheriff introduces himself as Jacob Whispering Wind, which is a combination to say the least. He has a good handshake. He is instantly filled with silent reluctance when Ishirou mentions shaft eight. Apparently, shaft eight is a mineshaft older than Silvereno that a pair of miners --he is able to name them as Simon and Ray-- broke into years ago, then disappeared. A search crew went looking the next day, as both the two were very well-equipped mining cyborgs, and found the pieces of them embedded in the stone walls. It's been closed since, and is blamed for all kinds of misfortune and ill omens as people make up stories about demonic haunting. Adventurers who go there variously report only finding old bloodstains and empty chambers, or simply never come back, seemingly at random. He advises the two not to go near it. When they start asking for what they can do, and he spies Mack's badges, however, he contemplates his answer for quite a while. He then raises his strange suspicion: he believes that there are one or two vampires in the area. Probably feral. This defies common belief that vampires are mostly restricted to hundreds of miles south of here, and the fact none would come near a silver mining town. It bothers him because he has no proof, and what little evidence he has indicates that they only seem to prey on criminals, vagrants, bandits, and other such individuals nobody will miss or notice gone.
Lilian Rook	Ioanna is vaguely informed that the dealers can't just directly get her a meeting with a company executive, but they'd be glad to cut her in on the operation, given their missing no-good ne'erdowells, and immediately promote her to a less lowly position than they, should she prove more competent and trustworthy. They upsell this as a sure road up the chain, which is probably bullshit for most people they'd talk to, but pretty plausible for Ioanna once she taps her Paladins resources. She's slipped photos and names of the smugglers who vanished, and of the clients, the exact location in the forests near a closed mine outside of town, and instructions that if she finds gangsters or a rival operation, she is to 'dust 'em'.
Tamamo	"Oh, this?" Tamamo says to Satsuki. "It is no trouble. Are you, perhaps, slightly nervous? Ah, but do pardon me. I could hardly ask you, as my escort, to relax your guard. To be ever in a state of readiness -- ah, the way of the samurai is a hard one, is it not? The line between such tight tension as prevents the motion of one's arm, and the slack that slows it to act, may be as a knife's edge." It's not as if she's ever been a samurai, but she's met a few. That's about as much time as she has for quiet talk before meeting the mayor. "How lovely to meet you," Tamamo says to Gwen, with every appearance of meaning it. One might come to the conclusion that three-tailed foxes are just naturally friendly and optimistic creatures (as wrong as that would be). Certainly, she's leaning just slightly into that otherworldly nature to explain away some broken expectations of behavior, when necessary. Following the verbal niceties, she offers the entire basket, the centerpiece of which is what proves to be a black lacquer thermos of miso. "I have had occasion to practice with British cuisine these past few years, but on this occasion, thought it best to return to matters of more familiarity." Though she must have picked up on the idea of gifting neighbors with soba noodles recently, considering that its history only goes back as far as the Edo period, and Tokyo hadn't yet become a metropolis in her original time. There is magic on the basket, despite what was mentioned to her, but it's a minor enchantment for preserving food. The soup is hot, and the noodles, separately, are cold. There's not very much reason for them to be here, ostensibly, but since they've been served tea, and Tamamo does take tea, she is wholly obligated to remain until both it, and anything appropriately served together with it, are gone. She says, "As today's visit was only out of a wish to be good neighbors, I shall take little of time," and yet, stays sitting, filling any empty air with comments on the beauty of the garden (she is quite taken with gardening, and has seen some unusual types, across the sea), the quality of the tea (impeccably without criticism, but with much to say on other varieties), and Gwen's silver cross (someone was telling her recently about silver weapons and their uses, though she cannot recall the specifics, being regrettably ignorant of firearms). All with the air of someone who loves to talk, but is warmly ready (and secretly expecting) to spend more time listening.
Lilian Rook	On the Gensokyo Gooberquest side, the boss isn't too impressed with promises of power generation, just because the electrical bill is so small compared to the casino's overall margins, but he renews his interest once they mention Boothill and what they ostensibly want. He immediately begins hassling the shit out of them with business propositions for opening a branch in Redemption. This makes him infinitely more business savvy than they, spying the early opportunity to get a foot in the door, with the expectation of Redemption eventually becoming a big name.
Ishirou	Ishirou offers one of the snacks from the bag he picked up as the situation is explained by Sheriff Jacob. Ishirou seems to think about this for a time, considering the clues in front of him but can't make anything from them immediately. "Well, analyzing patterns and looking for clues where none usually are apparent is actually what I am specialized in. Though I can limit my search to just looking at dates and times of the disappearances, maybe there is a pattern?" Though the real problem is the vampires, oddly they seem to focus on Criminals. "Strange, I was under the impression that people turned into Vampires massively change here? Why focus only on criminals..? Has it been /any/ criminals, or have they been associated with the same group, or has it been just 'any' criminal?" Ishirou takes his data and tries to make sense of it. "Do we have any location for where they might be or where the attacks have been happening?"
Lilian Rook	Satsuki luxuriates in Tamamo's doting company (with just a tinge of guilt), puffing out her chest and practically hanging on her arm. She does get just a teeny bit solemn when Tamamo starts talking about samurai, however. "Well . . . that's true. And I'm really flattered you think so! But I was only given my title once they found out that I was the only one in the clan who could use the Muramasa of Moments. I'm from one of the branch families, so it was practically after the fact, to justify my keeping it and increasing the power of the Oda. Especially after . . ." She appears to realize it's something she can't talk about. "They don't really approve of me being with the Immunes, or the Paladins, but my father convinced them by saying I need the experience. Ah, but it's not as if I don't like it! This is where I wanted to be! Not learning flower arranging or tea ceremony or something traditional like that. It's just, it feels odd to be called a samurai, because I didn't really earn it." Gwen appears to very much like friendly people. Admittedly it's hard to tell if that's just face, but Tamamo seems to go over well with her, and seems enamoured with her gift, novelty from afar being in short supply here. Though a variety Tamamo doesn't recognize, the drinks are of fairly good quality, so she isn't lacking in matters of taste. Gwen has heard of Redemption, up the grapevine, as good mayors do, and has been curious herself to learn more about it. She explains enough about Silvereno to give Tamamo a fairly good impression that she is the type of mayor one occasionally finds in rural areas that genuinely cares about their town and tries to improve it. That, and there's no way she's thirty if she's been mayor twelve years. The rare white woman who ages gracefully. When asked about her cross, she laughs and admits that she's not a model member of the faith, but likes keeping it close, because it gives her the feeling of being protected, with a little bit of trivia that half the evil creatures on Earth here all hate silver, which is a big part of the secret to Silvereno's prosperity, and deals with various monster hunting and law groups. Not content to simply talk about herself forever, she does ask Tamamo quite a few questions about Redemption. How exactly they've tamed a leyline, how safe it allegedly is, if they consider themselves lawmen (given the bandits and monster hunting and all) or are hoping to do something else, what they need and might want from Silvereno, deals about patrolling the roads and increasing prosperity through travel safety, and other such things that someone savvy would hope to hash out if they figured there might be a chance of integrating a useful neighbour into the regional fold. The conversation is pleasant and unremarkable, save for two points where she ever so elegantly pries at how much Tamamo knows about magic, with interest subtly more ambitious than superficial, and if her travels have ever taken her to 'Yucatan', by chance, evading any counter questions.
Hellwarming Trio	<Tac-Paladins> 4 Hellwarming Duo \| Utsuho says, "... Huh. That worked way better once we brought up Boothill." <Tac-Paladins> 4 Ishirou says, "Mmmm...seems supicious." +tac :\| Utsuho says, "Is it? I mean, we did offer cheaper power for a while. Maybe he was just being all..." <Tac-Paladins> 4 Hellwarming Duo \| Utsuho says, "Is it? I mean, we did offer cheaper power for a while. Maybe he was just being all..." <Tac-Paladins> 4 Hellwarming Duo \| Utsuho says, "... Tricky? Uh. You know the word." Despite their suspicions being raised, the youkai look rather pleased with themselves by the time the casino boss actually starts bugging THEM about getting something set up. Even with their meager experience in dealing with suspicious and crafty humans, there's little reason not to get all that stuff written down (or typed into their gaudy orange phones) with promises to get an answer back sooner rather than later.