Really, REALLY, Slummin' It (D7, EA, Expecting)

[Dai]

Even by the standards of ronin and the slums this was not the place to be. A dive beyond dives a stone's throw from the entrance to the Desolation the sake bar, though it was extremely charitable to describe what it served as sake, was nameless. The ancient heimin proprietor was also nameless as far as anyone knew. Well, unless 'Fuck off and order' was his given name... they also might be the only words he knew as Dai had never heard him speak any others the rare times he found himself here.

Even in the afternoon it was almost pitch black, light bulbs being an expense the owner was unwilling or unable to factor into running the place, and the dim light highlighted a hodgepodge of broken furniture salvaged from the streets and the rare slumped form of another patron desperate enough, or barred from everywhere else, to drink here.

From what little Hato had described of the client it would be perfect.

Dai throws two zeni on the bar as he cracks open a can of White Wolf he brought with him. He wasn't foolish enough to mix his business later in the day with the dodgy drinks served here. The 'top shelf' was likely to be rubbing alcohol, at best, and who knows what chemical or sewer run off would make up the rest. He then does his best to find the least splintered stool, which is not saying much, and awaits 'Doctor Badass'.

[Kuni Sumie]

This supposed Doctor Badass would make her appearance soon enough, it was rather hard to miss the woman with the resting Kuni-face as she strolled inside the dive with her medical uniform with her hands in her pockets. The sake bar wasn't great. It was suspect, very rough around the edges, and nobody would ever come here by accident. Dai most certainly picked the perfect place for this meeting.

Having no idea of Dai in person, she merely sat down at the bar and waved for some beer to be served. At the very least she wasn't put off by the quality of service around here.

[Dai]

Dai approaches, from the side since approaching from behind was a bad idea in a place like this, "Doubt this places sees more than one Kuni in a century. You must be the one Hato was sayin' wanted to meet. I'm Dai."

[Kuni Sumie]

The Kuni raised her brows when the ronin approached and gave him a quick lookover as she crossed her arms. "Hato was her name? Was she your ex, or something? But yeah, I was looking for you. I kind of thought you would be shorter in person...Whatever. As you might already know, I'm Doctor Badass and I heard that you found some top-notch wicked footage of the off-access place. No, not found, you filmed it yourself. Absolutely no bullshit there?"

[Dai]

Well Hato definitely pinged this one right.

Thankfully the darkness made facial expressions hard to read though even then he did his best to resist rolling his eyes, "Just wolves lookin' out for each other is all. And, yeah, I've done a few recordings of Desolation and all the way into Ground Zero."

[Kuni Sumie]

"Yeah, I was told as much. I typically don't keep tabs on the mainstream media or whatever bullshit petty talk passes off as rumours nowadays. Kind of a surprise that something actually interesting showed up on the feed, sound pretty interesting. I didn't see it yet but I was told that you managed to get through the magistrates, film a bunch of gnarly stuff, then came back with your life without being caught?" She let out an impressed snort. "That's pretty badass, Dai."

[Dai]

All of that was technically true even if 'getting through the magistrates' was more knowing who to give some coin to as opposed to any daring do.

"Means a lot comin' from one such as yourself. Even on a Scorpion wold you hear plenty that shows the Kuni aren't all talk."

He fishes a datadisk out of his pocket, "I suppose you could see for yourself if you're interested?"

[Kuni Sumie]

Her gaze eagerly went immediately to the data disk before a twisted grin slowly made its way to her face. "Damn right, I do! Is that the uncut footage? Whatever that didn't make it on the network? Also, I have to hear how you did it."

[Dai]

"This is a cut one, I don't carry the raw around with me, but all the best bits made it in. If you like it I suppose I can see about maybe gettin' you a copy of the whole thing uncut."

The Miya had expressed no concern with secrecy about that trip so there would be nothing in it that would be of issue... other than perhaps the route to the structure in the video. He'd have to make sure to hit it again before giving it away.

[Kuni Sumie]

"Cut...Ugh, lame, really?" There was some disappointment that set into the Kuni's face at that. Sure Dai must have had some clients who thought that they should be getting their value with the whole footage, overlooking all of the lull time in between all of the actual content.

"All right, if you say this is all the best stuff. Is there someone getting murdered in it at least? Maybe a little maimed? And are you going to show me this or is this something I'll have to pay upfront?" She asked as she took a sip from her beer before frowning and taking a double take on the beer.

[Dai]

You just have to spin it right.

"You know the masses, Kuni-sama, they don't want the real thing. It's easier to sell this way and a ronin needs to make a livin'. So, how about you get to watch for free, since it's not what you were wantin', then if you want the raw footage we can talk a deal."

[Kuni Sumie]

"Ugh, I think I get you." She said with a groan and a roll of her eyes, brushing her hair behind her ear. "All they care about are lessons learned and happy endings. People getting mauled, doom, and gloom don't even make past the censors nowadays. Super lame. I'm sure they would flip themselves out if they saw the real thing, so weak. But sure, let's see what you got first. Show me."

[Dai]

Dai nods along, humoring the potential client.

Since she hadn't made a move to do so he took out his densai and plugged the datadisk in. Queuing up the episode, and adjusting the brightness in the dark bar, he turns it to face her.

(Showing Click. Click. Doom!)

[Kuni Sumie]

The Kuni wasn't too ready to fork out her own densai, especially after all the pain she had to go through in purging it from all the viruses she picked up. Of course, it never factored to her that potentially those bugs were from going in places she probably should go in the first place. There were a number of supposedly 'edgy' places on the network that were just traps laid by the locals to catch personalities who sought rebellion.

She watched the video impassively at first, finding very little interest in the butterflies. He could have run it through a filter and gotten the same effect, or so she thought. Hopefully, this wasn't going to be some art-farcy interpretation of spirits. She accidentally sat through one of those people. "Whoa-ho! HEY!" She would eventually say at the monstrosity, immediately pulling her back into the video.

Her expression goes quiet at the apparition he encountered and she nodded her head in approval by the end of the production. "Cool...cool. I very much like what I saw. It's some very cool shit. It could have used more monsters but holy shit was that thing wicked. Still freaky all the way to the end. This is very really good stuff."

[Dai]

"Thanks. It means a lot comin' from an expert in the field. Not all trips are that eventful, that was one of the better ones in that regard, but there's all sorts of weird shit out there."

[Kuni Sumie]

"Meh, I'm not so much an expert but just someone looking for some precise wicked and spooky shots for a future project of mine. I've been trying to do most of that over at the Grove but it's mostly just trees. Super lame. That gets boring pretty quick, especially with all the people working out there and doing their self-help to success business retreat seminar bullshit. However, this is the real shit. Doesn't get better than this. I got so many questions..." She said before taking another sip of her awful beer.

She puts the glass down unceremoniously after her gulp. "First off, how much for that...and what if I want the whole thing?"

[Dai]

"Well definitely no shortage of spooky shit in there, that's for sure." He unplugs the datadisk and ponders for a moment, "Since cut footage's not your main concern let's say four bu for the disk, usually I can get a koku or two, but I'll settle for the cost of makin' a new copy. Then, for someone who'll properly appreciate it, let's say a koku for the full footage of that trip... two koku and I'll throw in my b-roll collection as well. Nothin' big and spooky in there but plenty of landscape, ruin, and some minor things like those flies."

[Kuni Sumie]

"4 bu..." She frowned as she placed her hands in her pockets for her uniform, there might have been a jingle of a few coins that could have been the right amount of coin but it wasn't certain. "And 2 Koku, fuck...that's a bit much. Do I look like some Crane waif?! Do you have like anything you're interested in? Psychedelics? Medical aid? Supplies? Bedroom longevity pills? I have a bottle of absinthe I might be able to give up. How about a few jugs of chloroform? I've been trying to get rid of those for a while. How about getting rid of a body?"

[Dai]

Dai suppresses a sigh. Edgy and cheap, yay....

Though it didn't hurt to have a medical type owe you a favor... the issue was if you could trust them to hold up their end of the bargain when things really go to shit.

"You drive a hard bargain, Kuni-sama, let's say one koku for the full package and if I ever need patchin' up or some other cool medical science shit you owe me one."

[Kuni Sumie]

Sumie gave a roll of her eyes as she still seemed a be reluctant to fork over the money. She tapped her foot on the footrest of the stool a few times in thought. "Ugh, still a full koku. We're talking about a chunk of my income. I guess not a bad deal, especially when I can pawn a few things off over at my place to make up for it. Just thinking if I start paying that much money, I'm going to start wondering if maybe I should just use that money to pay you to take me there so I shoot my own stuff. Do you do guide work?"