$Insert_Title, Episode 25: Lady Argon

Aired on: 2018-11-10
Cast: Hueco, Mr. Fahrenheit, November, December, Vince

Synopsis

A short, high-tempo montage of the exciting bits of the previous episode plays. The sound of the gunshot, people taking cover, Vince grappling up to the roof, the medical team moving in, and then a black screen with distant audio snips of the shouting match between November and Vince.

The episode fades in proper on November, Fahrenheit, and the weaselly man from the French Embassy who hired them. The man from the embassy is arguing that the group failed to do their job, and should not be paid. Fahrenheit attempts to help, but adds very little to the conversation.

November lays out, methodically, the steps that the team took at each turn, showing irrefutably that the group did their job to the best of their ability working with the information they were given. [Negotiation roll tied, receives full payment. $12,800 and 5 Karma each.]

As November leaves, we get a brief flashback of when November saw the medical team emptying Camile's purse, and what an odd time that was. November returns to the official, informing them that the doc wagon team might have been involved due to their unusually quick response time and the order in which they acted when they arrived.

Later that day, Mr. Fahrenheit decides to go to his talismonger, a large man with bell's palsy, dubbed Winky by Mr. Fahrenheit due to his eye twitch. Winky is a licensed talismonger, who's shop serves the incredibly niche market of magicians in Seattle. As Fahrenheit enters the shop, we see in the background the same mage from the mall earlier, who spies Fahrenheit in a reflective surface.

Winky is cagey, announcing that the shop is closing and that he can't help Fahrenheit. Fahrenheit doesn't attempt to argue, though he finds the behavior sudden and odd. The other mage leaves the shop, pulling up her hood as Fahrenheit turns around to leave. A short scene of Fahrenheit looking up at the shop after he leaves, noticing that the shop should be open for another hour at the least.

Meanwhile, Hueco has been training with December on how to use a staff in combat [training the clubs skill to 2]. Two days after the mission, on the way back from the gym, Hueco is approached by a young Hispanic woman wearing a tank top and jeans. Head shaved on one side, with a metal plate in that space with a couple ports and lights, clearly cyberware. [Visual touchstone for this character is Sombra from Overwatch.]

In reaction to this cyberware, Hueco fumbles out his phone and turns it off, as well as deactivating any wireless features of his cyberware. The woman does not take this well.

Woman, jabbing a sharp chrome nail into Hueco's chest: Are you afraid of me?
Hueco: Frankly, yes.
Woman: I just wanted to say I was sorry about the other day. The girl's alive, yeah?
Hueco: The other day... Are you sure you want to speak about this here?
Woman: Are you kidding? I'm not following you into a dark alley.

The two talk for a bit. Hueco misses some innuendo, asks a few questions for which the answer should be obvious, and the woman calls him an idiot. The woman introduces herself as Lady Argon, and gives Hueco a pink plastic card, like an security access card, with a holographic symbol on it.

Lady Argon states she only wanted to network, and ensure that Hueco and his team wasn't the type to hold grudges. She scolds him for being paranoid, and leaves with a warning for Hueco to watch who he associates with and that he should not let his team's problems become his problems.

While the scene was shot primarily with medium shots, there is a strange close-up shot of Lady Argon's tight-jean-clad butt as she walks away.

Hueco calls Fahrenheit immediately afterward and explains that someone approached him and that they knew details about the team's previous run. Fahrenheit happily announces that, "this sounds like a November problem!" And the two meet where they know November is staying -- Engie's garage.

Engie's garage is mostly the same as it was the last time it was on screen, however with more half-finished drones. The garage has a large main floor, with a spiral staircase and ladder leading up to a catwalk area in the back that has access to a few rooms. The main floor is split between working garage, complete with car lift and workshop, and a makeshift living room and kitchen. November is seen laying, surrounded by alcohol bottles, on the couch.

Hueco and Fahrenheit explain the situation, and think that there is still work to do regarding the previous run.

November: Do you usually finish jobs and...
Hueco: We usually don't.
Fahrenheit: Yeah, it's been bad lately.
November: Dear god.

Hueco shows November the access card, which added Lady Argon's commcode to his contacts when he turned on his meta link while holding the card to the back of it by mistake. Hueco and Fahrenheit express concern that this may have loaded a virus to Hueco's commlink. Throughout this scene, November is clearly drunk, and slurring his words, and Hueco in particular gives him a hard time about his drinking.

November: Let me see that card. I see. Where did you go since you recieved this card?
Hueco: I went home to drop off my gym stuff, then I came here.
November: Well, this... Lady Argon, knows where you and I live now. I have done this myself. The card has an RFID tag that she can track. She probably just wants to make sure we are not going to go after them, and you have nothing to worry about. Go throw it in a river and move on.

We cut away to a scene involving the mage and Lady Argon. The camera has its focus in the foreground containing the mage, who is seen clearly for the first time as being of Japanese descent. She is sitting at a table and drinking slowly from a bowl. A door opens in the background, and the woman says, "You are not supposed to engage."

The focus shifts to Lady Argon, who has walked into the room. "Eh. It was something to do. I think I'll have some fun with it."

The camera focus shifts back to the mage, who has not turned to face Lady Argon. She places her bowl down and sighs. "Your antics are going to get us all killed."

We catch back up with Hueco and Fahrenheit who are talking about what to do with the card after they have left speaking with November. They ponder leaving the card somewhere and seeing if anyone comes for it, but eventually Hueco decides to follow November's advice and throws it in the river. During their conversation, it is brought up that Hueco thinks that November and December are the "shady" people that Lady Argon was warned him about.

A few days later, Hueco answers the door to his typical deliveryman. The deliveryman hands him a package, and then asks for a SIN scan and a thumbprint to verify, which Hueco is initially wary about. The deliveryman tells Hueco that if he doesn't verify for it, then he has to give the package back. Hueco shakes it, according to his player to check if it is a bomb, and decides that the package is probably save and scans his thumbprint to sign for it.

Hueco then leaves to go to a nearby Starbucks and sits down at a seat next to the window to open the parcel. Inside is a heart-shaped box of chocolates with a bow on it, and tucked into the ribbon is a polaroid picture. The picture is a well-lit, and well-framed picture of a woman's legs. There is no note or signature. Hueco suspects the chocolates are poisoned, but eats them anyways and discovers they are real, expensive, chocolates. He is a little weirded out, but decides to try to text the number Lady Argon gave him. It bounces. People in the Starbucks look at him strangely.

Elsewhere, Fahrenheit goes back to his Talismonger, "Winky", except this time in a disguise that should fool nobody. He goes up and asks for the same artificing formula as previously, and presents his second fake SIN. Winky is fooled by the disguise, and does little more than a cursory criminal scan on the SIN to check if it's a registered criminal, and then sells him the formula.

A week or so later, Hueco receives another package at home. He signs for the package, and opens it on the spot. Inside the small package is a pair of black lacy underwear, wrapped carefully around a polaroid of a woman from behind removing the underwear. The deliveryman awkwardly wishes Hueco a nice day and leaves. Hueco is conflicted, on one hand feeling like he is being stalked, but also liking the gifts. He changes the gym he goes to, and moves out at the end of the month and moves to a more secure location.

A couple days after Hueco moves into his new place, a polaroid of his front door is found stuck in the door. He immediately power cycles everything in his home because this is actually how you remove malware in Shadowrun. Then, he calls together Fahrenheit and November, explaining the situation. The exchange is cute and worrying, as Hueco is clearly flustered and wants to keep the things he's been sent. He eventually ends up showing the pictures to Fahrenheit and November.

November: Okay, do you want to fuck her?
Hueco: She's a stalker.
November: Okay, but are you going to fuck her?
Hueco: That's complicated.
November: It's really not. Have you tried calling her?

Hueco explains that texting the commcode resulted in the text being bounced. Hueco ends up dialing the number, which rings and is answered by Lady Argon in Aztlan Spanish. Hueco still doesn't speak enough Aztlan Spanish to carry a conversation, so Fahrenheit helpfully explains over speakerphone that Hueco doesn't speak Spanish. There is a moment of silence, and then the call disconnects. Hueco hits redial, but the call is immediately dropped.

November: Wait, do you not speak Spanish?
Hueco: I'm working on it.

The episode ends on Hueco staring at the underwear, and throwing them and the pictures out, sad at this loss.

Post-Session Notes

I don't have any post-session notes for this, since I am finishing this after we played the next session. The next session was good.