-> Eärendil

[runs]

They've worked without a proper decker on the team for quite a while now, but it is a serious handicap, and expensive besides. Last run, paying for that kind of back up halved everyone's pay. They needed to find someone, and it seems that they have someone now... well, Malicia's fixer found someone who is interested in working with them, at least. Rookie, she said according to the street samurai, but he's done a few things alone already that make him look capable. Looking for a team after he ran into some bumps on the road on his last mission because he had nobody with actual firepower around.

He wanted to meet up with them in person before agreeing on trying out the working together thing, and demanded that the least suspicious person should come.

Considering that the place that he named was a middle to upper class area, everyone turned to Ivokat. The aristocratic elf almost agreed, but ...well, elf in England. A quick background check proved what Ivokat had feared: The guy had been in Tír na nÓg fairly recently, only a few years ago. That didn't necessarily mean anything, but... None of the team knew what the issue was, exactly - everyone is entitled to their private demons - but it was clear that Ivokat wouldn't go. Inconspicuous was the general opposite of describing Malicia, and Simon was inconspicuous in the slums, but certainly not in a fancy hipster cafe.

In the end, they sent Kitty. Sure, an unattended minor might raise an eyebrow, but compared to the other options it was the best they had.

Luckily it is winter, so she can at least wear her regular clothes - they might look slightly out of place, but not enough to worry about it. Even though she had to leave her necklace behind, the only obvious sign of her being a mage. So the person who will enter the cafe and look around to spot the "corner table under the tasteless picture with the two dogs" will be a child of perhaps nine years of age, dressed in a dark brown-grey coat under which pants and boots of the same colour peek out. Her hair is tied off into pigtails on both sides of her heads, which she isn't fond of because she can see it dangling out of the corners of her eyes, but Simon insisted that that is absolutely how rich little girls wear their hair.

Comments

[pretentiouself]

Leo, on the other hand, blends in perfectly as he enters, shaking off his umbrella before he glances around. His coat has the vintage look you only get with actual vintage, and the warm looking scarf is almost thick enough to hide his ears from view, at least at first glance. The surprise on his face only lasts long enough for him to glance at Kitty, back up at the painting above her, and then back at the girl, before he wipes his expression clean and comes over. If the most inconspicuous member of the team is a child he dreads to think what the rest of the team is made up of, but there's still an element of caution as he heads over - who knows, perhaps someone else got to the table before the person he's supposed to meet.

But, since there are other people around, the only way to act is casual and to act as though he already knows her because heavens know that it's dodgy enough as it is, a full grown man meeting a child. Perhaps people will assume that they're related. "Hey. Been waiting long?" He asks.

[runs]

"Only a few minutes."

She knows that she's waiting for an elf, which is pretty much all that she has been told about his appearance. At least there are easy ways to confirm someone's identity these days. She reaches into her pocket and sends a brief message that Malicia made her prepare for this exact purpose to the address that "Eärendil" was using when the group communicated with him before. Is this you?

She grins up at him, glad that he looks like they could be related. That makes the lie that she told the waitress a lot easier to uphold. Aka that her cousin will be paying for her cocoa. She'll probably have to pay him back later, which will be a bit painful because... wow. Prices in this place. But children paying for themselves when there's an adult around makes people wonder, she's found before. And this guy picked an awkwardly... upper class salaryman looking place. She's not sure how well she's doing not standing out, but she feels like she's sticking out like a sore thumb.

[pretentiouself]

He notices the message immediately, but takes a guess at what it says from her reaction. She seems to be expecting someone and that's promising even if her age still isn't. "That's good. I'd offer to get you a drink but I see you managed to get one okay." He comments as he starts to unwrap his scarf. As he takes his coat off he takes a moment to check the message and then reply with a simple, 'yes', before he sets his coat and scarf down on the empty chair.

"Let me grab something myself and then I'll be back."

[runs]

"I told them my cousin would pay." She grins up at him as if she's teasing, but her eyes are a bit too serious for that. Relying information.

They'll hopefully start to giving her distrustful glances now that said 'cousin' arrived. She feels like they didn't quite buy that she belongs in this nice area, though she must have been convincing enough to make them unsure.

[pretentiouself]

Ah. Well. That explains that. Just as well Leo doesn't mind paying for an extra drink then. Not that he wants potential team mates to get used to living off his daddy's cash but just this once, and since she's so young. "I'll be back in a moment, then."

Actually, it takes a couple of minutes to get his reusable cup filled and her drink paid for, but when he returns he shifts his coat and scarf again so he can sit down in the chair where he left them opposite her. Less attention seems to be on them now that the unaccompanied minor apparently has been joined by her family so he feels freer to speak more openly. He doesn't speak quietly or lean in, knowing that will only draw attention again, but keeps his tone light as though they were just catching up. "So you guys are looking for an extra pair of hands and I need back up. I don't want to know what you've done - not here, anyway - but I need to know what you want. And who you have already. When I asked for the most inconspicuous I didn't mean the smallest!" He laughs, but it's not a belittling laugh. He's aware that there must be more to her, even if those around them aren't. But he is still worried about what this means about the rest of the team and how much he's going to have to sneak around to meet with them - if this works out.

[runs]

While he laughs, Kitty concentrates for a moment, her ears twitching. To any onlooker, it looks like she's close to rolling her eyes at his antics, but to such a theoretical onlooker who tries to listen to their conversation, it will also sound like they're discussing recent Urban Brawl games (Kitty's skill at creating replacement discussions has certain... strengths and weaknesses). Leo, on the other hand, will notice that all sounds around them are just gone from one moment to the next.

"Our other mage couldn't come, and both of our street samurai will stand out in a fancy area like this. Just like you would where I'm from." He'd also get mugged within two seconds, probably, at least the way he looks now. "So that's what we have." Which should be quite impressive - two mages, even if one of them is a kid, are a lot, and mages are valuable. Just like a good decker is. "And what we don't have. We're looking for someone to do hacking stuff." She shrugs. It's just... general tasks? "Like disabling security systems and getting us information and taking out enemy vehicles and such." She doesn't really know what a good decker can do, there's probably more.

[pretentiouself]

One delicately shaped eyebrow rises as the sound fades around them, but his surprise (and how impressed he is) doesn't show for long. "We all have strengths and weaknesses. Luckily I can blend into most places." It's not much of a lie. His magic probably is nothing compared to hers but it's still useful. As for what he can do without it... he might not blend in as well as he thinks he does, but he did have a very steep learning curve when he first dipped his toe into the muddy water of runs.

"My personal expertiese lies more along the lines of hacking and information gathering than anything aggressive, but I do have some experience with that as well. However, my general approach is to draw as little attention to myself as possible." If they go into places all guns blazing and try to force a resolution then this probably won't work out, as much as they need each other.

[runs]

"Well, we don't need you for firepower. We have that."

Between Simon and Malicia, and to a lesser degree and in different ways also Kitty and Ivokat, they can deal with most direct marital encounters.

"And being stealthy is good. It'll mean that we'll need to worry about you less.

How long have you been at this?"