Chapter 4: Breakfast & Preparation

[Charybdis Richelle]

{Headstone}

The man gets up in the morning and starts what is about to become a ritual whenever the crew is about to engage in a serious run. There is no version of soy to be found on the main table. Despite placing down plates for eight people, he already knows a select few won’t be joining them this early in the morning after being willing to stay up that late.

For those waking up to the smell of bacon and eggs.

Dig in my chummers. I only have real coffee for you my friends and even the side dishes are without soy. This is bread for those who never tasted it. pointing at two loaves of bread. This right here is mayonnaise and the other is a substance the cooking app calls curry. I was very surprised after tasting it but it tastes good after trying it. I also have some mustard if requested in the fridge. My advice would be to use it in moderation.

[Ozgood13]

{Bone Biter}

With the smell of meat and coffee, Bone wakes up. He dresses for the day minus his boots. Then he heads to the kitchen to see what is on the menu.

Bone nods to Headstone as he fills a large mug with black coffee. "Thanks for cooking. It smells good to me, " he says as He turns to Headstone.

[Charybdis Richelle]

{GM}

Pandora stumbles into the kitchen wearing electric pink sweatpants with a neon orange T-shirt that reads, “the two hard problems of Matrix programming: (0) naming things (1) cache invalidation (2) off by one errors." Though bright, by random chance, the electric combination is not quite as eye-stabbing as usual. Her feet are bare. She carries her Extreme Cup in her left hand and her white cane in her right.

The decker says nothing as she follows a homing beacon to the coffee pot and fills her cup. As is her custom, she then spoons in spoon after spoon of sugar until another grain would make the sugar fall out of solution.

She then finds a plate and heaps it with as much of everything as can possibly fit. 5 or 6 eggs, a half rasher of bacon, a quarter loaf of bread, and a side bowl of curry. If there is jelly or jam, she drowns her bread in it. She takes the chair that has so recently become hers and sets down to eat with a passion, putting away a Troll-sized portion that no one can figure out where she can put it. When finished, she goes back for a second plate of the same, minus the curry.

Once completely finished, and still not having said a word, Pandora makes her way to the sink and does her dishes. She remains there, stationed, doing anyone’s dishes who finish after her.

[Juramenta]

{Headstone}

Pandora is not interrupted at the dishes as Headstone moves behind her whipping up a new batch of eggs. He seems in good spirits as he works the stove for another batch of sliced bread covered in bacon and eggs for Bone Biter. ''Dig in chummer, today is a special day and will become ritual if we pull this run off succcesfully.'' he responds placing a fresh plate in front of him.

[CoyotesLuck]

{Pacman}
As the smells of cooking food and coffee spread through the house, along with the noises of people, Pacman pries himself from the meeting room floor and heads to the kitchen. Walking in, he is wearing the same clothes as last night.. this morning.. at the meeting, minus his jacket. He sets a partly full box dozen box of donuts on the counter, gets some coffee and proceeds to make a bacon sandwich out of a donut.

[Charybdis Richelle]

{GM}

After finishes the dishes, she dries her hands on a dish towel. Smelling Pacman’s donuts, she grabs two and balances them on top of her Extreme Cup. Then she heads up to the roof.

[archolewa]

Baby Blue

Baby Blue remains fast asleep, with not a sound emerging from her room.

[Ozgood13]

{Bone Biter}

Bone fixes himself a large plate with a bit of everything. Bone tells Headstone, "Headstone, you're a good cook. Next time, wake me up, and I can give you a hand."

[Stirling]

Tears in the Rain

Says her "Grace" over the breakfast, a hangover of her orphanage upbringing with the remnant clerics of the city.

She poses in meditative state for a minute, gathering her thoughts and trying to summon an ounce of wisdom and revelation for the day ahead.

"Wisdom dictates that we should not be like the chicken involved in our breakfast; who only gave an egg. Rather we should be like the piggy; who fully involved, gave his bacon."

[Juramenta]

{Headstone}

Headstone is clearly in very good spirits today.
Just as he is about to respond to Bone Biter's offer, he hears Tears share her wisdom.
He listens to the sentence and allows his mind to ponder on the meaning.

Afterwards he brings BB her breakfast to her room like he did with the others sleeping in.

[CoyotesLuck]

{Pacman}
Food in hand and observing the mix of folks having breakfast, sleeping in, or stepped away for a moment; Pacman pings a message to everyone "How soon can everyone be in the meeting room, I want to go over the songs we want to use for our upcoming demo. Does 10 work?" Message sent, Pacman dozes in his chair waiting for people to show up or replies to come in.

[Charybdis Richelle]

{GM}

Pandora messages back. - Will be done in 10-15 minutes. 10 is fine. Bring candy, please. -

[Juramenta]

{Headstone}

- 10 works for me my chummer. Bowl of candy will be waiting in the meeting room. - Headstone sends back making sure everyone is well fed and in good spirits for the day.

Afterward, he dials a friend from the past.
Once his checks come through clean, those around would hear him say:
'“Chummer, still alive I see! Listen, I’ve got a crewmember on hold for this little gig coming up. Thought I’d check in, see if you’re still playing or if you’ve retired from the scene. I still need to get the crew's thumbs up, but I wanted to run it by you first, see if you’re interested.'' as he walks out the kitchen to continue his conversation while carrying a tray of food to deliver to the next sleeping person.

[Charybdis Richelle]

{GM}

After Pandora leaves the meeting on the roof, she passes by the kitchen and refills her Extreme Cup with coffee if there is any left. If not, she starts a new pot and waits for it to brew before doing the same. As always, she performs the scientific miracle of adding the exact maximum amount of sugar to stay in solution. Then she pads to the conference room, still in bare feet.

The decker makes a beeline to her seat, not speaking to anyone who might have arrived before her. Though it doesn’t matter for sight, she leans forward a little, bending her neck down, and keeping her eye facing the floor. She keeps her arms crossed in front of her chest. If anyone insists on ignoring her obviously calculated antisocial posture, she nods once in their direction – half acknowledgement, half rebuke for their failure.

Once at her seat, Pandora chugs her still steaming coffee until she must come up for air. Setting the cup down, the decker gently removes her deck, jacks it into the port on the wall, and sets it on the table. She takes her seat and then ever so carefully pries up the jackstopper from her datajack. She snicks a second datacord into a jack on her deck and its opposite end into the now available datajack on her left temple. Since it’s a ‘new day’ in the world according to Pandora, the decker runs morning maintenance and a quick diagnostic scan.

Once satisfied, she leans back in her chair, casual and relaxed, setting her deck in her lap. She taps two keys, and the main screen in the conference room flares to life. A simple slideshow begins –a slide that reads:

“What Do We Need to Know about O’Riordan?”

• SIN

• • Does he have one?

• • Does he have more than one?

• Home Address

• Work Address

• Home LTG

• Work LTG

• Vehicle

• • Does he have one?

• • What type?

• • Registration?

• • License plate

• Hobbies

• Habits

• Hangouts

• Chummers

• Enemies

• Fixer

This slide is followed by a map of the Houston Metroplex sprawl, a weather summary, a map of the Gulf with the latest update on Tropical Storm Ambrose, a moving map of Houston with vehicles moving in some areas and buildings marked in others, and a second map of the Houston Metroplex sprawl with areas color coded.

It ends with a slide that reads:

“What Do We Know about O’Riordan?”

• He is a bodyguard.

• He is left handed.

[Juramenta]

{Headstone}

Headstone walks over to his usual seat as his eyes calmly scan the slideshow that’s already up and running.
He takes a sip of his tea as he sits down.
“Looks solid,” he says as he nods in approval even if she cannot see it “Just one small edit. Can you add point 4 in front of it? And add three more sections above it. Title for point 1: Simpleton. Title for point 2: El Cid. Title for point 3: Selecting teams.” His tone remains easygoing as he settles into his seat, preparing for a quick and efficient meeting if he can have his way.

[shaidar]

{Revs}

"Before the meeting is over I want to update everyone on the transport situation, but let's do this first."

[Juramenta]

{Headstone}

''Point 5: Transportation'' Headstone says into the direction of Pandora with a loud chuckle hoping she can add one more point to the list.

[Charybdis Richelle]

{GM}

Pandora nods. “Sure thing, Boss,” she says, and the slideshow begins to rearrange itself. “I wasn’t trying to take over or anything. But after the chaos of the last few meetings, I thought a coherent agenda might help a bit. Plus, as the team learns information, I can add it. That and I wanted to make it clear how much you don’t know. If anyone else has anything they want to know about Bryant O'Riordan, or anything they already know about him that is missing from my list, I can add it when you get there – before everyone splits up to find some answers, neh? Once you're done, I can send this to everyone, and do updates as needed, even after we break out into teams.”

The decker takes a long, slow pull of her coffee before leaning back in her seat, adjusting the position of the deck on her lap, and setting her fingers on the keyboard. She taps a few keys and the slideshow stops at slide 1: Simpleton." Though she cannot see him, Pandora turns to face Headstone, making it clear she is relinquishing the chair to him.

[Juramenta]

{Headstone}

"Let’s make this standard," he responds with approval on the structure that Pandora laid out. "Thanks, Pacman, for pulling this together. I was too busy trying not to frag up breakfast to handle the rest." He nods in Pacman’s direction with genuine appreciation before shifting his attention to the rest of the crew.

"Alright, chummers, we’ve had enough meetings to last a while, so I’ll keep this short and straight to the point so we can get on with the run." His tone turns a bit more formal as he begins with the first order of business.
"Order number one: Simpleton." He stands up and places his knuckles on the table.
"I don’t care what the circumstances are, who did what or whether something's 'justified' in someone’s mind. Anytime anyone in this crew is disrespected, I’m going to react. That’s not an if, it’s a when. Street or shadows, doesn’t matter. I’ll go to whatever lengths I need to." he keeps his words deliberately vague by what he means by that. There’s a flicker of something intense in his expression before he continues and weakens the strain on his fists.
"That said, reacting doesn’t mean acting rashly. Which is why none of you heard me comment on their blatant taunting during the meet." His eyes narrow slightly as he makes his point. "Long story short, next time we meet them, they’ll know to be on their best behavior. Simpleton explained himself, gave his reasoning behind his disrespect. And you know what? The slot actually had somewhat of a point. We left on decent terms."
He glances at Pandora specifically. "Pandora, Simpleton also made a point to apologize for what he said about Cleve Landis. He was out of line and he knows it. For me, that closes the matter. If all of you agree, we move on." Headstone looks around the room, scanning for reactions before he moves on to the second order of business.

[CoyotesLuck]

{Headstone}

He was out of line and he knows it. For me, that closes the matter. If all of you agree, we move on." Headstone looks around the room, scanning for reactions before he moves on to the second order of business.

{Pacman}
Pacman nods, "Sounds done. we can revisit later if it comes sideways."