Mass Logs [Closed to the following in the cuts]

[vaudevil]

Date & Time:Jan 7. Jan 9, Jan 10, Jan 11
Location: (in order) The City Black Market District, Hold Training area, Lee's Workshop, Lee's Workshop
Characters: Collette, Margulis, Ghost, Billy Cranston, Taicea and Lee
Summary: All this week Lee has been booked pretty solid with people he's either just met, or people that are curious about his work. One of them is a date. Threads will be separated for organization.
Warnings: It's a semi-open log, but if any of the threads start to go in a direction that needs some privacy, they may be moved to a musebox for comfort.

Jan 7 Monday (Market Place)
Lee had agreed to meet Collette at the appointed time even though he didn't know her name. His geosynchronous watch was never wrong. 4:05 exactly on the dot, he waited patiently for her to arrive. She had his picture, and he had nothing to go on other than he knew that she was a Transport and nothing more. Blind dates were exciting but at the same time the possibility of being stood up were much higher. Even if nothing came of it, it didn't matter. He would still buy the chocolate.

Jan 9 Wednesday (Hold Training Center)
Lee was in a funk from his break-up with Leliana and his date with Collette left him with mixed feelings if it would work at all. His flirtatious banter with Blaine and a few others left him wondering if he was ever going to find happiness on a personal level in this place. The scientist-spy started in on his stretches that were a lot more advanced that resembled more a gymnast than a martial artist. It was something he's done many times throughout his life. Tumbles, flips and passes on the mat helped him keep his focus. He stood at the corner of the training mat and took in a deep breath before he made another pass. Little did he know that Margulis had been watching him. The two still awaited for their orders on their mission and both men were feeling antsy.

Jan 10 Thursday (Lee's Workshop)
With the discovery of Ghost's helmet being smashed and his cannon almost complete for a formal test, which still needed a lot of work, he couldn't let his friend be without the one thing that she needed most in this place. Lee had his own purpose but the way he chose to remain hidden was just the opposite. He knew how to obfuscate. If he didn't want something discovered, he wouldn't mention it nor tell anyone about it. The cannon was now out. He made a promise and he was going to keep it.

Jan 11 Friday (Lee's Workshop)
Taicea wanted to see the cannon, Billy was going to help him refine it. The vortex cannon was being tooled and scrutinized by now two very keen minds with the third being curious with her eagerness to learn everything she can. It was a good day for Lee. Not to mention, the serum he made for Billy was going into the right hands in case he has a relapse. That was a secret he never wanted revealed. Plans were laid out along with notes, mathematical formulas, and several pages of miss trials that he kept tight watch over. Lee knew that it would take more than just himself to make it work into perfection. With the fabricated tool in his hand, he tightened up the bolts that held the gas lines in place while he waited for his guests to arrive.

Comments

[whatsupcroc]

Collette hadn't bothered with a description. If he really cared, her tag was all over the network, and she video-posted enough to make it obvious what she looked like.

Besides, today that part wasn't going to matter so much. The kind of ground they were supposed to cover was tiring on her usual wheels, and with no magical motorized wheelchairs appearing from nowhere, using alternate means of travel was more practical.

So it came that a coyote was dodging between legs and calling out, not sure if she had the right time or not. Her stopwatch was glinting stainless steel around her furry neck, close enough to a collar that those who recognized her from slipping around the edges of the city on her haunts just glanced past her when a whistle or a hand-rub and a "here boy" drew no response.

< Mister! Am I late? >

Thought Speak projected into just his mind, Collette focusing on Lee in particular. She came to a skittering stop in front of him, ears flicking forward and head coming up as she sat up, paws tucked in to her chest. Distinctly odd canine behavior tended to point out just how unusual she was, when she wanted attention drawn to the fact.

[vaudevil]

Lee looked around at first for the voice at first then looked down the moment he saw the wolf. After some time looking at the network and drawing his own conclusions, he put two and two together. "Amazing." He said softly.

"Not at all." He smiled. "Collette, you're right on time." He knelt down in greeting and to check the collar just to make sure he got the name right. "I must admit that this will certainly be handy in sniffing out the good stuff."

[whatsupcroc]

He'd be disappointed if he expected to find a name, though the stop-watch (or was it a pocket-watch? Whatever it was, it did keep time.) around her neck bore evidence of harder use.

< Just don't ask me to try any of it out before I'm back to normal, > she quipped, leaning her head to the side so he can get a good look at her watch. < This isn't a collar, you know! Like I'd wear one even if I had one. >

Her mental tone rang with her laughter, canine equivalent showing as she opened her mouth and let her tongue loll out one side.

< Where to first? >

[vaudevil]

"No, no, of course not." He spoke softly and rose to his feet to look around before choosing a destination. The stop-watch did catch his attention and the lack of name wasn't really a huge concern. It was for the better to keep others from becoming suspicious, or so he thought.

"You're point is well noted and taken. My apologies." Lee was certainly corrected and his smile stayed.

Spotting a table at the corner of his eye, he decided to check around there first to check out the storefront. Of course there was nothing of real value on the table that was worth noting but inside was generally where the good stuff was kept.

"Let's try there first." There was no way in hell that he was going to talk at her like an animal. Her intelligence was far greater than that even if he did earn a few strange looks from the Natives milling about with one that muttered how strange Transports were.

[whatsupcroc]

Strange transports with their strange companions. Dogs still weren't part of the general culture, so Collette in morph stood out in a different sort of way. Some people were afraid, and others endlessly curious.

She sniffed around the objects at the table, leaping up to balance on her hind legs in order to investigate one that smelled like cinnamon. < Are you planning to be the chatty sort? I can handle the adventurous sorts who like new experiences. Say you'll let people pet the dog if they'd like, only wink or something so they know what you really mean. >

Collette wasn't even sure what she really meant, but she ducked around an outstretched hand from the merchant and slipped behind Lee's legs with all the nonchalance of someone who feels they know exactly what they're doing.

[vaudevil]

What Collette said made Lee chuckle in his throat. Yes, it was true he talked a lot when he had something to say and he really didn't think it was all that strange. Adventurous was definitely something he could get behind but for now, he had to play it casual.

"Oh, don't worry." He faced the merchant while he straightened his torso to face the proprietor from his twist from watching Collette's action. "She's the curious sort." He smiled as pleasantly as he could muster to keep up with the appearance he wasn't talking directly to her canine form. "Be gentle." He winked as he then picked up the can of cinnamon to inspect it with a slight turn to his body. It was small enough to slip inside his jacket without much thought.

It was much too expensive for his currently meager budget and being reduced to petty thievery was something he hadn't forgotten how to do since his childhood years on the streets. It was a necessity now and he certainly loved his cinnamon.

[whatsupcroc]

Collette flicked an ear at the soft sounds made by the thieving, oblivious to the fact it'd actually occurred. She moved on to sniffing over something she couldn't name, a new scent to both her and the coyote.

Another hand reaches out, and she snorts at it, slipping past the merchant and flicking her ears forward to listen for sounds coming from inside his shop. There's something faint, footsteps from someone lighter than the merchant himself, who had called out at her when she'd slipped past.

< I think someone's in the back of the shop, > she said to Lee, one ear swiveling around to point his direction. < I'm going in. >

Announced a moment later, the merchant reaches out to stop her, but she's too fast. Collette slips inside and between several boxes, wiggling her way in and keeping as quiet as she can while the merchant starts frowning and demanding Lee get his friend under control.

[vaudevil]

There was something that caught Lee's attention in her voice. It was strange that she left the way she had but he trusted her to make her move. The merchant's demand didn't go ignored either. His smile and nod came with his response. "Of course. My apologies."

He walked over toward the boxes and checked them out as he was speaking to her in a soothing tone. "It's alright, my dear. You needn't worry." He whispered his next response after he was satisfied that the merchant wasn't watching him so closely. "What's the matter?" Of course he had to make the appearance that he was trying to soothe a scared animal, although Lee knew better.

The merchant rolled his eyes but he wasn't about to let them out of sight just yet.

[whatsupcroc]

< I don't know. > She heard the sounds of movement again, ears flicking forward, then one to the side. < I'll keep moving around. Can you catch whatever I'm about to knock over? That should keep the other guy distracted! >

Carefully she bumped into an umbrella stand, which teetered on the books it was on top of, starting to reach enough of a tilt to lose balance and begin falling.

Just as it did, Collette shot forward, scooting under a desk and scrabbling out the other side. The sounds are more distinct here at the back.

[vaudevil]

He gave a wink without drawing attention to himself that he was actually talking. Each thing she knocked over, he caught. His arm stretched to catch the stand before it fell.

"My apologies. I seem to be rather clumsy." He gave a small smile toward the merchant who only gave a gruff snort before he milled about his business. "Ooh, a book." Lee opened the cover to take a peek at the pages.

[whatsupcroc]

Collette's mental laughter echoed back to Lee as she heard his exclamation, while her attention remained focused on where her nose was leading her. Those sounds again -- like two or three people moving around -- and now a hint of fresh air at the back of all this dust.

The door open at the far back of the shop is small, not as wide as a standard door. It's cracked open, the source of the fresh air she'd been smelling. Collette nosed it open further, ears flicking forward and back as she tried to take in everything she could.

Fresh air, dirt, people, food, and leather. Wetness, too, as everything is wet in Exsilium, but this building doesn't back an alley.

< I think I found something! Ask about the back door, will you? >

[vaudevil]

He turned toward the store owner and asked about the door. The owner gave Lee a scowling look, mostly out of annoyance than suspicion. He moved from behind the counter and glared at Lee. He opened the door and showed Lee with an exasperated sigh while declaring that there was nothing there for him to see.

It was the perfect stance now for Collette to slip through if she needed to before he would close the door again on Lee, but the individuals inside were not people that the shop owner was expecting and that alone made the shop owner upset before he told Lee that he would need to purchase the book before he could continue to read it.