Okuu Quest Subsequently - A Z-Machine Adventure

[Hello Purvis]

>"Ah, ok. The shrine maiden's military connection is part of the reason I'm nervous, to be honest. I'll explain that bit in detail when we get together this evening. I'm not really that concerned about Hijiri."
>"Otherwise, you think you're far enough away from the place now that she isn't likely to catch up to you?"

>"Maybe," says Orin. "I'm at the bus stop now. I don't think she's going to try anything other than maybe yelling at me in public now. If she does, I'll hit her with my purse and yell for the police. So I think everything's gonna be okay."

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Ok, well, how about we keep this line open until you actually get on a bus. Just for my own peace of mind."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Ok, well, how about we keep this line open until you actually get on a bus. Just for my own peace of mind."

>"That's no problem," says Orin. "Find out anything new?"

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Not really since we talked last. Me and Parsee are working on a plan for something big, though. I'll fill you in on that later today, though. Not the kind of thing I want to get into on the bus."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Not really since we talked last. Me and Parsee are working on a plan for something big, though. I'll fill you in on that later today, though. Not the kind of thing I want to get into on the bus."

>"Gotcha," says Orin. You hear the distinct rumble of a bus engine in the background. "Oh, here's the bus! And, looking down the street toward the shrine, I think that Maiden just stepped out. It's a little far to see. Welp, I just got on the bus, so there's nothing she can do about it even if she does see me."

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Ok, well, good luck and I'll talk to you later, then. If you run into any kind of trouble, give me a call the moment you think something might be up."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Ok, well, good luck and I'll talk to you later, then. If you run into any kind of trouble, give me a call the moment you think something might be up."

>"Will do," says Orin. "I think I'm going to go to the Park now and roam around. Talk to you later."
>Orin hangs up. About a minute and a half later, the phone rings again.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Answer the phone
>"Hello?"

[Hello Purvis]

>Answer the phone
>"Hello?"

"Okay, so," says Parsee without prelude, "I've looked into her office hours. She'll be in her office from six til seven today. What do you want me to arrange?"
>This should be doable, you get off work at five.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Hmmm.... six to seven... Well, I can certainly be there, then, but that doesn't really leave much time to arrange things. I wanted to talk to Ace before we do it, about the possibility of doctoring the ID. Or, at the very least, getting her to come along shortly afterwards. After we take the ID, we want to slip in as quickly as possible, so we don't give Yumemi much chance to notice anything's amiss.

>"I was originally planning to get together with Orin beforehand. I was thinking all three of us might be able to talk this over. She's in deep enough herself, now. I don't know that she'd have anything helpful to add, but I wanted to at least give her the chance. Might have to cut it if we're pressed for time..."

>"Orin actually had a run in with that shrine maiden test pilot a few minutes ago. Ended up mentioning the cat to her, and shrine maiden insisted she exorcise her. Luckily Orin managed to get away. I think the shrine maiden might have been chasing after her until she got on the bus, though..."

>"Would be nice if we knew whether Yumemi was actually heading home after seven, or just over to the labs to get some more work done. I mean, it IS seven on a friday night, but she strikes me as a workaholic. If we try to enter the facility during office hours, we can be pretty sure she won't be there, or have discovered the missing ID. But if we give the guards any excuse involving her, she'd still be in her office to call and confirm with, which would be very bad. And that still gives us a small safe window. Ideally, we want her to be off-campus when we do this."

>"So, timetable-wise... I get off work. I go to contact Ace. Then I'd like to be at her office slightly before office hours so that Stargazer can have a look around inside with no one there, in case we get really lucky. If not, we drop by during office hours and swipe it while she's distracted, somehow. I'll have to figure out exactly how."

>"Not a lot of time to get to home or your place, talk to Ace, and then get back to the university comfortably before six, though..."

>If Nitori's going to be away for parts of the afternoon, is there a computer we could use to discretely contact Ace, while erasing all record of this conversation afterwards?

[Hello Purvis]

>"Hmmm.... six to seven... Well, I can certainly be there, then, but that doesn't really leave much time to arrange things. I wanted to talk to Ace before we do it, about the possibility of doctoring the ID. Or, at the very least, getting her to come along shortly afterwards. After we take the ID, we want to slip in as quickly as possible, so we don't give Yumemi much chance to notice anything's amiss.

>"I was originally planning to get together with Orin beforehand. I was thinking all three of us might be able to talk this over. She's in deep enough herself, now. I don't know that she'd have anything helpful to add, but I wanted to at least give her the chance. Might have to cut it if we're pressed for time..."

>"Orin actually had a run in with that shrine maiden test pilot a few minutes ago. Ended up mentioning the cat to her, and shrine maiden insisted she exorcise her. Luckily Orin managed to get away. I think the shrine maiden might have been chasing after her until she got on the bus, though..."

>"Would be nice if we knew whether Yumemi was actually heading home after seven, or just over to the labs to get some more work done. I mean, it IS seven on a friday night, but she strikes me as a workaholic. If we try to enter the facility during office hours, we can be pretty sure she won't be there, or have discovered the missing ID. But if we give the guards any excuse involving her, she'd still be in her office to call and confirm with, which would be very bad. And that still gives us a small safe window. Ideally, we want her to be off-campus when we do this."

>"So, timetable-wise... I get off work. I go to contact Ace. Then I'd like to be at her office slightly before office hours so that Stargazer can have a look around inside with no one there, in case we get really lucky. If not, we drop by during office hours and swipe it while she's distracted, somehow. I'll have to figure out exactly how."

>"Not a lot of time to get to home or your place, talk to Ace, and then get back to the university comfortably before six, though..."

>If Nitori's going to be away for parts of the afternoon, is there a computer we could use to discretely contact Ace, while erasing all record of this conversation afterwards?

>Parsee listens as you more or mess go on a stream of consciousness.  "Good to hear Orin got out of her close brush, there. Normally I'd just kinda laugh at that kind of thing, but I'm willing to give then a lot more credit these days. I dunno about the professor's schedule, to be honest, outside of what I just told you. And, I dunno about contacting Ace..."
>There is a computer, Nitori used it yesterday to contact Yumemi. And given she'll be leaving, you should have no problem accessing it.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Well, Nitori'll be out of the shop for some of the afternoon. I'll try to contact Ace from here, while she's gone. Otherwise, I guess we'll meet on campus right after I get off work. Hopefully, I'll have figured out a reasonable way of getting what we want, by that point. Contact me if anything changes."

>"Oh, and... well, I hate to follow this line of reasoning, but do you have anything small you could slip into the facility with you as a potential weapon that wouldn't trip the metal detectors? Mightn't accomplish much, and I'd hate to have to use it, but it mightn't hurt to be prepared for that possibility. I don't know, like a wooden or ceramic knife, or something."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Well, Nitori'll be out of the shop for some of the afternoon. I'll try to contact Ace from here, while she's gone. Otherwise, I guess we'll meet on campus right after I get off work. Hopefully, I'll have figured out a reasonable way of getting what we want, by that point. Contact me if anything changes."

>"Oh, and... well, I hate to follow this line of reasoning, but do you have anything small you could slip into the facility with you as a potential weapon that wouldn't trip the metal detectors? Mightn't accomplish much, and I'd hate to have to use it, but it mightn't hurt to be prepared for that possibility. I don't know, like a wooden or ceramic knife, or something."

>"Okay, you do the same for me."
>"Weapons? Umm...not really. I guess if they let me keep my purse I could slip in a big rock?"

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Um, well... that might be a little bulky. I don't know. I'll see if I can find something, myself."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Um, well... that might be a little bulky. I don't know. I'll see if I can find something, myself."

>"Okay. But, don't you already have one hidden on you as it is?"

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"What, you mean Stargazer? I'm not sure how good she would be as an actual weapon. There's a bunch of things we could use her for, but physically, I don't even think she's as strong as either of us unarmed. Let alone the fact that she mightn't even be willing to harm someone. She's not the fighting sort. I mean, I could ask her for that kind of help if we're desperate, but I'd rather have as many options as possible."

[Hello Purvis]

>"What, you mean Stargazer? I'm not sure how good she would be as an actual weapon. There's a bunch of things we could use her for, but physically, I don't even think she's as strong as either of us unarmed. Let alone the fact that she mightn't even be willing to harm someone. She's not the fighting sort. I mean, I could ask her for that kind of help if we're desperate, but I'd rather have as many options as possible."

>"I wouldn't be," says Parsee. "Let's face it, there's a lot she could do, being invisible and things. We'll probably need her if anything goes wrong."

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Oh, I'm sure we WILL need her, whether things go wrong or not. Not arguing that. Doesn't mean I mightn't want a few other things, too. In any case, I'll see what I can find, and give you a call later. See ya."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Oh, I'm sure we WILL need her, whether things go wrong or not. Not arguing that. Doesn't mean I mightn't want a few other things, too. In any case, I'll see what I can find, and give you a call later. See ya."

>"Okay, later," says Parsee.
>With that, the rest of your trip back to work goes without difficulty. You return just as someone leaves the shop with their AC Unit in hand.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Enter the shop

[Hello Purvis]

>Enter the shop

>You head inside and see Nitori putting away some paperwork. "Oh hey, got another one done while you were out," she says.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"We're making pretty quick work of them, today, considering."
>Start working on the next unit in line

[Hello Purvis]

>"We're making pretty quick work of them, today, considering."
>Start working on the next unit in line

>You get back to work. This particular air conditioner seems to have practically rattled itself to death.
>"Right, going to finish up the rest of those house calls," says Nitori. "Don't start any fires while I'm gone."

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Aww... not even any little ones? You're no fun."
>Smirk at her
>"Don't worry, I'll hold down the fort."

>Continue working until we're quite certain Nitori has driven away, then go to the computer and log into our AIM (if the program needs to be downloaded and installed, do so)

[Hello Purvis]

>"Aww... not even any little ones? You're no fun."
>Smirk at her
>"Don't worry, I'll hold down the fort."

>Continue working until we're quite certain Nitori has driven away, then go to the computer and log into our AIM (if the program needs to be downloaded and installed, do so)

>"I'll be back in a couple hours," says Nitori.
>Once you're sure she's gone, you go take over the computer and find the online AIM applet. It seems aceaceaceaceace is online.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Type a message:
>"Hey, there. We've worked out more details about the research facility project, and think we'll be able to obtain a pass key this evening. I don't know if this is within the realm of what you do, but if I could get you this ID, are you capable of making a doctored copy with my own photo and identification on it? Something that could fool a cursory look from a guard, anyway?"

[Hello Purvis]

>Type a message:
>"Hey, there. We've worked out more details about the research facility project, and think we'll be able to obtain a pass key this evening. I don't know if this is within the realm of what you do, but if I could get you this ID, are you capable of making a doctored copy with my own photo and identification on it? Something that could fool a cursory look from a guard, anyway?"

>You IM Ace!
>After a moment, you get a reply, "really? awesome. ive not done fake ids in a long time. sure i can do that but if they run it wouldnt be you"

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Run it? Well, Yumemi just showed it to them and they waved her through. Although they probably recognized her, anyway. But there's lots of grad students and such that work in the non-restricted areas. They probably don't know them all."
>"How long would it take you to make this? And how would I even get it to you?"

[Hello Purvis]

>"Run it? Well, Yumemi just showed it to them and they waved her through. Although they probably recognized her, anyway. But there's lots of grad students and such that work in the non-restricted areas. They probably don't know them all."
>"How long would it take you to make this? And how would I even get it to you?"

>"yeah but you know they're gonna look kinda close at it. anyway lemme know when you get it and well meet up. i can have it in a couple hours i know this guy."

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"A couple hours after I get it to you, I assume? I expect I'll have it by 7PM, there abouts."