June 3-4, 3200 - AMIR

[kmbll]

Guy thanks Lam and heads downstairs, using the left door.

[Pulpatoon]

Killdozer reaches past Guy and knocks on the door. This knock is one of his specialties: polite, even demure, but with enough of his weight behind it to clearly communicate the size of the person knocking.

[Mister-Kent]

Guy and Killdozer
July 3rd - Evening

The door creaks open, and a very broad man--wider than one of the doors!--appears with a grunt.

"Whosit?" he grumbles. You can hardly see around him, but you can see the pale red light spilling from the room beyond him, and the strong smell of incense.

[kmbll]

Guy warily eyes the large man. "Sunil sent us. We're after the Xiao Brothers."

[Mister-Kent]

Guy and Killdozer
July 3rd - Evening

The brute flings the door wide open and ushers you both inside hurriedly. Once the door is closed behind you, he directs you to a wide rectangular table towards the rear-center of the room, under the red ceiling lamp. Sitting opposite you, two near-identical men sit close to one another on a wide bench, examining small gemstones under the red light. A large blanket is draped over their shoulders, and they seem tightly huddled beneath it. Alternatively conversing in Chinese and Arabic, they simultaneously pause and look up as you enter.

"Sunil says okay," the brutish doorman explains, to which the men seem relieved.

The man sitting at the right, darker haired and quick-tongued, addresses the brute. "Ah, thank you Goro. Go have an early dinner, yeah? If Sunil--er, Lam, or whatever he's calling himself these days--says it's fine, then it's fine. These good gentlemen are here for business, yes?"

"They're interrupting our business," the lighter haired man at the left interjects sullenly. "What the hell do they want?" he asks, addressing his partner, and never once looking at either of you.

[kmbll]

Guy takes a wary glance at the men down stairs and and an interested, long look at the gems they're working with. He respectfully waits for the men to address him specifically but begins to suspect that's not how they operate before interjecting, "Sirs, we appreciate your time. We are most certainly here for business - the business of hunting the Xiao Brothers, whom I understand you worked with recently."

[Mister-Kent]

Both men rise at once, shrugging off the large blanket. They are both thin but slightly muscular, and for the most part they are two separate bodies. They midsections are fused together, and so they move with a strangely choreographed dance around the table and greet you. They wear worn-out shirts that look more like medical tape winding around them, and they wear military uniform pants of different styles.

"The Xiaos? Well, you're not the only one," the dark-haired spokesperson asks. "They were running jobs for us, little things here and there. They weren't the best workers, but we do have so many lucrative contracts that we took what we could find. However, the brothers have a certain wild streak, willing to stray from the plan."

The more sour man chimes in. "Wasn't our idea to jump on Terra Prime Union--what business do we have messing with them anyway? Terraforming's their deal, not ours. But Deng and Omen got all worked up over some Harmonist stuff, and took off with the Green Dream. Heh--more like 'Pipe Dream'…"

The more serious twin reasserts control. "As for where we last saw them, well now, we might require a little persuasion. Either monetary…or…we did just lose two of our couriers. We could exchange info for labor…"

Guy notices the strange luster of the gems on the table, something like he's seen before in the treasure troves of Raboud. Under the red light, some look more orange--those select few have been separated into their own pile.

[kmbll]

Guy smiles, "Seems as though we're pressed for time. How about you tell us where they are and some details on these other hunters and we'll come back to do some courier work for you later on - of course, I don't think this information is that valuable so we'd want some compensation as well..."

[Marullus]

My apologies - RL is not allowing time or creativity this week or next. Please ghost me forward for a while. Malachi has his survey equipment and will be trying to collect information on the use and function of the seeders to help in the coming acquisition job. He'll talk to the main engineer to find out about the modifications and try to identify a mark for where one can be stolen (i.e. is one already packaged up somewhere, or do we need to take one in motion?) See you all soon.

[Coleridge]

I'm really not certain if I should keep going or wait until we are all on the same timeline.

[kmbll]

I vote two timelines - I think we're going to have travel time soon to get to the Xiaos.

[Marullus]

Malachi
Amir is so lush and 'Mediterranean'--verdant, humid. How does it compare to your memories of Agamemnon?

Agamemnon is rich with islands and Mediterranean-blue waters. The smell of salt air, the ubiquitous fish. His mind drifts to racing speed boats and thrill-seeking with motorcycles through verdant hillsides of grapes. It is then that he realizes what bothers him here... The humidity here is cloying and without the natural smell of ocean. Throughout the ride, he didn't recall any bodies of water.

[Mister-Kent]

Guy and Killdozer
Your mission continues here.

Michael and Malachi
Your mission continus here.

We may reconvene in this thread when the party is united.