Stone Men In Water Street

[Brian]

There is a phone booth within walking distance, right in front of some bizzare East Coast 7-11 clone.

[Bjorn]

Quickly figuring out Rez' intent, Bjorn points in the direciton of aforesaid booth.  "There's one over there.  C'mon, let's go get an address."

With that, he quickly marches over to the booth, grabs the phone book, and looks up an internet or gaming cafe.

[Brian]

It takes a while, but the city has a handful.  One of them is even (if your memory is correct) reachable by the bus-line back at the train station.

[Bjorn]

"Easy enough." Bjorn shrugs.  "Okay.  Let's get going."  He makes a face.  "I don't know why I'm rushing.  It's not like it'll get us out of here any faster."

Having said that, though, he harries Rez back to the bus stop, hops on the next appropriate bus, and goes off to the net cafe.

[Brian]

Some thirty five minutes later you reach a Family Entertainment and Computer Center, a combination arcade (racing/fighting/BeMani games only) and internet cafe.  There's a roller rink in the back, but it's abandoned at the moment.

As you enter, a large man with an apron over his long-sleeved flannel shirt yanks off his headphones and declares, "UNSTOPPABLE!"  This causes the people at all but one of the other computers (all lined up in neat rows) to groan, and shake their heads.

The apron-clad man hits a quick series of keystrokes, then marches around to behind the counter.  "Anything I can do for you?" he asks, leaning over the counter and raising an eyebrow.

[Rezantis]

"You're playing UT? Are you guys open for another player?"

Rez looks hopeful.

[Bjorn]

Bjorn smacks Rez across the back of the head.  "Priorities.  Email first.  Then you can game."

[Brian]

"I wouldn't call it playing as much as me completely owning some scrubs," the owner defers.  "But, yeah.  Access to a system is ten bucks an hour -- UT's preinstalled, along with Wacraft III, Diablo III, Half-Life 2, Team Fortress 2 ... well, pretty much all of the new stuff."  After a pause, he adds, "No Counter-Strike," pointing to a hand-written, 'Poser-Free Zone' sign on the glass door.

[Rezantis]

"Innnnnteresting. It's been a little while since I've had the chance to play," Rez digs into his pocket and pulls out his wallet, "I mean, all I wanted to do was actually write a couple of emails, but . . ."

Rez hands over $10, and grins.

"If I take you down, can I get a second hour free?"

[Bjorn]

Bjorn rolls his eyes heavenward, and makes note of the time.

[Brian]

"I'll give you a free hour if you can match my kill-count," he replies, smirking.  "I could use the challenge."

[Rezantis]

"I'm not all that great, but I can kick the ass of the average schmoe and usually hold my own, so . . . if I lose, it's at least something to do for an hour."

Rez hands over the money, and heads over to a computer to write an email.

Once that is done, UT-age shall commence.

[Rezantis]

Rez promptly gets owned.

Quite thoroughly.

;_;

Ignoring the bitchy hotmail message for now, Rez clicks on his mobile phone to check his messages . . . notes one from Drac . . . and hands it to Bjorn.

"Erm. I don't think she's going to be able to get them new IDs in the next day or so, so . . ."

[Bjorn]

Bjorn reads the hotmail message, and rapidly (thanks to mad text-message 5k1llz developed in Japan) punches out a response:

Code Select Expand

We didn't actually see your faces on the news, so obviously you're not being unsubtle enough.  No go for new fake IDs.  Advice: don't go to Gib.  You're no good for scouting now.  Lay a fake trail somewhere else, try to sneak back later.  Failing that, don't get shot.

Punching 'send' and tossing the cellphone back to Rez, Bjorn acidly remarks, "Well.  Now that you've wowed the owner with your 'mad leet skills', do you have any more emails to send?  Or do you just want to slink on out of here in disgrace and defeat?"

[Rezantis]

"Well, hey, it was fun, even if I did get wiped out. Nobody wants to play that game anymore."

Rez hums.

"Besides, I haven't had the chance to game for weeks. I'm going into withdrawal.  Got anything better to do?"