Session Date: 10/03/2025
Notes (bc it’s been for fuckin ever)
- Emerick took the job with Kade
- Learning Russian through this job
- Saint also took a job with Kade, on top of TT
- He has a nice conapt through this deal
- Fell asleep on the floor anyway (“he’d oversleep” the player said)
- Net’s uncle said he’s proud of him (this is bad)
Saturday October 7th, 2045
Net
Processing and Visiting Tab
The player for Net is late this session so Net goes back to his warehouse to work through his feelings about his uncle saying he’s proud of him. Net eventually hits a point where he can no longer ignore this gnawing feeling that the worst man that he knows is proud of him. He eventually leaves to go to his family to deal with this.
He first goes to see Trash Tablet. He explains that Juice is dead, which is actually super good. He then says his uncle said he’s proud of him, then asks where he’s at. Tab says that Net knows where he is. Tab asks why Net came to talk to him first - Tab says he’s all for Net coming to vent to him, but Tab wants Net to understand what he accomplished here, and he wants Net to understand that he said that because Net isn’t some ganger or whatever.
Net stood up and didn’t back down against a real adversary. He should know what he accomplished. Net says that he does know, he recognizes it, and it’s not that he’s not fucking ecstatic, but… This isn’t a man he wants to be proud of him. Tab suggests that perhaps his uncle is trying to be that man, and Net laughs, asking when the new Samurai album is coming out. Tab points out Net got him out of prison, and Net says that it was out of loyalty to his neighborhood: the place is better with his uncle than without.
Tab argues that bringing his uncle back and bringing the ganger back is antithetical to what Net is saying, and Net says that there’s complex layers there. Net ultimately says that the only person who can really tell him how his uncle feels is his uncle.
Confronting his Uncle
He walks into the place his uncle is holed up and he can see a good amount of the security detail there. They immediately tell him he has a meeting downstairs with someone important, but they do not move to stop him. Net goes and finds his uncle standing before the leader of the El Norte cartel, Teresa Valentino. His uncle turns to see him and sees a small eye roll from his uncle (of all times, of COURSE it’s now type of deal), but it’s not a huge deal.
It seems as though they’re planning a heist in the badlands and the cartel is looking to offload some stuff to him in exchange for loaning some men over. Net gets the feeling that this isn’t the first meeting by any means. As Teresa leaves, his uncle says that he assumes Net isn’t here for a pleasant visit. Net asks when he ever is, and his uncle says one can hope.
Net starts with the fact he’s lived under his uncle’s roof for a long time. He learned to count the bullets in his magazine before anything else. He killed his first ganger before ever putting hands on a spark plug. This is the first time his uncle has ever told him he’s proud. His uncle is quiet and gives Net the space to speak.
He continues and says that he thought his uncle was genuinely proud of him, at first, but then he thought about it and realized it’s not real pride: he is not proud of Net, he’s proud of the fact that he thinks Net is starting to get back into it. And if his uncle thinks that, he’s delusional.
Net’s uncle speaks up and admits that there is nothing he can ever do to make Net forgive him, or to be the man that Net wants or needs. He says that he is a gang leader and he only ever does what he needs to earn respect. He says that he was proud of Net because there is a piece of him that sees himself in Net that has finally tasted what Net truly wants in life. Net can hate him for everything, but Net is his family, and the moment his family gets a taste of their own freedom, they fight like hell for it.
His uncle continues to admit that he was a failure of a parent and that he will never be what Net wants or needs. Net comments that you can’t fail at what you never tried, and that his uncle was grooming him to be the next version of himself. His uncle says that Net is not becoming him, and why is it so bad that they do have something in common after all? That there is this mutual respect and commonality that Net completely refuses to acknowledge? His uncle says that he has no clue why Net ever pulled him out of jail, and Net says that he doesn’t want his Tia to die alone. His uncle asks if he can be grateful for that and show it in some way, and asks if it’s a sin to see something he’s proud of in Net and express it? What does Net want from him now? If it’s just to tell him how shitty of an uncle he’s been, then fine, do it, but he won’t just take it and let Net come back in here in the future.
His uncle is starting to get emotional during this.
His uncle reiterates that Net is family and that he loves him and loved Net the best he could. He was forced to be the way he was because it was survival: if he had not done the things he did, then everyone would be dead. His family comes first, and he will fight tooth and nail to protect his family.
Net decides to cash in his favor: I don’t want the guys I grew up with to fight and die for you. What I want from you is so much more simple. He holds out his hand: I want your fuckin’ house.
His uncle agrees and shakes his hand.
Net has one more thing: if (a big if) his uncle needs him again for the fiftieth time (probably), call Trash before he ever calls Net again. And know that everything Net’s doing and what he becomes through this city and trying to get the fuck out of here - not a damn thing has been to please his uncle. Net never wants his uncle to say he’s proud of him again. He calls his uncle a “psychopathic egotistical bitch”. Net tells him to get the fuck out of his house.
His uncle says okay and leaves, spitting on Net’s shoe on the way out.
Net pulls out his Agent and tells specifically Emerick that he has new digs, and says to come check it out and sends the address. Emerick sends a đź‘Ť
Sulfur
Sulfur wakes up at HQ with his group. Molly and the crew are walking about working on things. Molly gives Sulfur a slate with the note that they are going to give Kade Sredex: 10k eddies/person for security detail, but given the nature of out standing debts and things, there will be a reduction for the first three missions of 5k eddies/person for the first three missions, then it will go up to 10k/person thereafter.
Sulfur agrees to this and then heads home. On the way, he stops at a chop shop to try to get his armor modified so it’s not a clown show. He manages to get the polka dots removed and then goes home and feeds his cat, takes care of himself. He cleans up very well and then heads over to the Warehouse.
Saint
Saint is awakened by the phone in his conapt ringing. The services of the place are explained: he has complimentary breakfast which includes one (1) real food upgrade. They inform him that he hasn’t finished his onboarding, and they pull his information from his employment record. They fill it in for him and send him the menu for breakfast.
He orders kibble and then real orange juice. He eats, cleans himself up, and then
Emerick
Emerick wakes as early as he normally does. This is the first morning that he and Seo have woken up and don’t feel like the world is a prison anymore. It takes half an hour for that fact to settle in. He has his coffee and breakfast with Seo in as close to stress-free as Emerick possibly can. They have a very nice morning together.
The Warehouse
By 10am Saint arrives, by 10:30am Sulfur arrives. By 11am, Kade arrives at the Warehouse.
By the time Kade arrives, we and the band are mingling about the warehouse. Everyone is in far better spirits than they had been prior, and there are moments of realization as we all process the fact that Juice is actually dead. He’s not here. He will never be here again.
Kade arrives and we greet him. He says it’s time to work, but he’s doing well. He’s glad to hear that things are going well and he hopes we all enjoyed the party and the taste of what’s to come (as long as this relationship continues to be beneficial for all parties).
There’s a concert for Curb Stomping Word Vomit that is underground on Monday. About 300 people will be there. No tickets are being sold - if people are engaged while the band plays, they receive a commission on sales during that time. It’s mostly paid in exposure, but there’s still opportunity for money to be made. Kade admits he’s doing this at a loss, but he recognizes that getting the name out there is very important.
Kade addresses Sulfur and recognizes that Sulfur and his group are going to put a contract in. He would like to meet with Sulfur and compare contracts, and negotiate. He comments that he has other security people he trusts more than Sulfur because he doesn’t know Sulfur, but he will take this chance. Should Sulfur and his people prove to be problematic, then nobody will ever hire them again.
Kade comments he is not here to make us happy, but to run a successful company and business. He runs a talent agency and must conduct himself as much. He will do his best to keep us happy as is needed, and as long as our goals all align to entertain and put the best content out there, then this will go well for everyone.
The club that the band will play at is none other than the Afterlife. Kade explains he paid a premium to get them here, but the owners do like what they heard with the band, so they’re willing to do this. Kade does focus in on Charley and comments that it is known that he is a hot head that doesn’t like to be handled, and the reputation of what has happened with the band in the past is still fresh in everyone’s mind. Kade asks if they can work together to make the band the best it can be. Charley laughs a little and says that he doesn’t wish to be shot by Kade, so yes, they can work together, but… Charley isn’t afraid to shoot Kade if things go south. Kade chuckles and says that if things go south, nobody’s employing anyone.
They laugh and handshake and move on. Kade looks to the rest of us and comments there isn’t much time to prepare. Kade says he will not need Saint’s services today as it’s just rehearsals and there’s no choreography or pyrotechnics to worry about. Emerick is their social media manager: Kade will leave it up to Emerick on how to best get the word out, as long as he posts at least once today and tomorrow.
Kade asks if we have anything we need to do before working, and the group explains that we have some loose ends to check in on and tie up with Juice and everything. Alice will serve as a distraction and Emerick calls Phoenix to help out with this.
On the way out, Kade gives Sulfur a card to call and negotiate.
Getting Leviathan
The Briefing
Net and Phoenix arrive to discuss the plan for the mission to explore this place that’s been under Emerick’s skin. There was a project going on here to try to get Soviet netrunners to really enter the race and compete with, primarily, Arasaka. This mission is to go investigate this place and see what’s going on with it. Phoenix and Emerick both figure out that this place is now an active crime scene and the NCPD has mobilized to the area and are actively investigating for potential foreign threats or laws broken. We expect to see some NCPD to keep an eye on things, but not a particularly heavy force at night. It’s rumored there might be survivors, but the place was left in a mess.
Emerick does additionally find that there’s a leaked email stating that the facility is going on emergency evacuation and everything is to be purged. (This is a bread crumb.) He doesn’t know what is left or what additional actions were to be taken. He shares this with the group.
The Plan
Alice and Phoenix are both in favor of the plan for Net to speak. His idea is that he’s a one man army in getting the attention to him: the goal is to talk himself into a situation. He proposes that he act as the big distraction for the cops. He doesn’t have a specific plan but knows he can do it. Alice rolls her eyes at Net and steps up to say that two pretty women that don’t belong somewhere never fails to get the attention of the cops.
Net goes to a bodega to get some bag lady chic clothes so that he can look poor. He does a very good job at looking poor, really selling the point.
On the way there, Emerick tells Net that he has a bad feeling about this place. Net says it probably won’t be anything, and Emerick explains that he thinks this is the same place they were all drugged at. Net asks if he’s sure, and Emerick says he thinks so? Net starts to feel the heebie jeebies as well, saying Emerick should have kept it to himself. The two talk a bit about Bruce on the way.
The Job
Net
We get there and Net shows up and opens a bag of chips, smackin on them on the way over to a cop. The cop turns his light on and sees Net. He warns Net to get out of here because there’s a crime scene. Net asks for a light, then says he wants to report a crime. He talks about the anti-tech cult trying to abduct him and all of that. The cop asks if they assaulted him and Net says they sure tried. Net admits he’s on a few things and he saw some stuff, and the cop starts to escalate saying that he’s sure Net sure did see some things and he needs to take him to holding. Net starts to cry and draw a lot of attention to himself and draws the empathy of the cops. The other cops do actually leave their patrols to see the commotion.
The party easily sneaks into the building without issue.
Net has dropped the chips and his cigarette and is holding his head in his hands as he cries, blubbering about his mother and his uncle Pedro who doesn’t love him anymore and stole his girlfriend and there’s a problematic age gap but he didn’t say anything and he just wanted a cigarette. The officer puts his baton away, picks up the cigarette, lights it, and hands it to Net. Net shakily puts it into his mouth and takes a long drag, then says he loves the cop man. He says that they do a lot of good work for the city and nobody appreciates that and they’re just nice people who want to protect and serve and he doesn’t even listen to Samurai. They take him to holding and get rid of his disposable cell phone. They do book him and identify him off of his finger prints.
The Party
The party is inside of an abandoned building. The place is a mess: there are papers everywhere, and there are a few bodies throughout the building as we go. It looks like a tornado tore through the place. The place is still powered, but in a low power mode. At certain places, there is a self destruction timer, stuck at a random time over a minute, but not moving. We don’t know if it’s a clock or what. There are desks, terminals, computers - some have power, some don’t, some have power and the screens don’t work, some are clients that go nowhere. All of the staff computers in the first floor area don’t lead anywhere. There doesn’t seem to be anyone here. There is a stairwell that goes downstairs, and the area to that stairwell is barricaded a little: there is stuff put up to not go down there, but it’s not enough we cannot overcome it.