Log started on Tuesday, 4 Apr 2000, 5:58 PM EST by "Greywolf2" at "Holodeck2"

Little Mercury
The buildings lining Yamaneko Street have a decidedly oriental cast to them, and rise several stories over most of the other buildings to be found in the Elles. Long ago, this was to be the site of a development project by Mishima, but it was abandoned for reasons unknown. Thanks to the wonders of modern architecture, even though many of these buildings are centuries old, they're still mostly intact, though the old Mishima logos have long ago been replaced with the advertisements of lesser freelancer corporations, and many of the office buildings have unofficially become residences -- Zoning isn't really enforced here.

It's Night-Cycle, on a Tuesday evening. The dash clock indicates that the evening is working its way toward 10 p.m. As ever, the sky is full of stars, with the poisoned Earth looking down from high above, though its eastern half is illuminated by the sun ... and, correspondingly, the buildings to the east are limned by the Lunar Dawn -- not anything near so spectacular as the paintings of old Earth would suggest, as the sky isn't set ablaze with color or any such thing, and the dawn has been lasting for the better part of the evening.

Soon, Cardinal Dominic's sermon for the evening should be winding up, and off in the core city, there will be quite a bit of heavy traffic as the faithful few who actually travel to the Cathedral on a Tuesday night head off toward home to turn in ... and night-owls will be heading out to establishments to waste the time away. The Elles has its own little version of this confusion, as several cars pour out of Brink's Theater onto Apollo Street ... but that's a few blocks away.

A battered old UM Roadking model A chugs through the streets at no great speed, with a Rottweiler-patterned dog-man sitting behind the driver's wheel in somewhat ill-fitting Sunday best next to a black kitsune. The dog-man peers through the dusty windshield and negotiates a turn toward the parking structure for Little Mercury. "Think you got enough flowers, there, Taro?" he says with a slight chuckle.

Unlike the so-called Valet Parking across the highway, this parking structure actually has attendants. As the Roadking rolls up, a man of mostly Asian features dressed in a cleanly kept but not overly new red uniform stamps a ticket with the time of entry. The sign reads, "Entry: 10 crowns; 10 crowns per hour, maximum 40 crowns per evening," in addition to various disclaimers and a repetition of the same rates in other languages.

"Twelve, as seems to be appropriate," answers Taro quietly. He lowers his head to inspect the bouquet of blue colored roses he has selected.

Duffy waggles his eyebrows. "Doesn't the color mean something? Red for love, white for purity... Blue for 'I'm freezing'?" He reaches into his coat pocket and takes out a badge which he shows the attendant. "I'm here to check on some things at the Pagoda Garden." A little white lie-- now how was white a color of purity again?

The attendant nods and smiles, and stamps a ticket, handing it to the officer through the window, then pulls a lever. With an audible whine, the red-and-white arm blocking the car rises, allowing entry into the dimly lit interior of the parking garage.

Taro tilts his head to regard the flowers at a different angle for a moment before he looks up and over to Duffy. "Blue, as in 'Destiny Blue'. It seemed the neutral choice. Do you disagree?" he asks, voice plain as ever.

Duffy drives on through and begins the slow cruise up the ramps, looking for a parking place. Under the lights, no one could mistake his car for a showroom piece, what with the numerous dings on the metal. "Heh. She'll be flattered, I bet. What'd they do, dye those roses? Or do they really grow up that way?"

A few turns, and Duffy finds a spot. Looks like he's made it here before the night-owl rush. Not that there's usually much of a rush on a Tuesday night.

"It," the kitsune smiles faintly, "took some engineering on my part." Still smiling, he looks off into the lit parking structure and nods slightly. "They were at one time white."

The dog-man chuckles as he pulls up to the spot. "Y'know, something I'm curious about, how'd Miss Blue get two tails? Do you kitsunes sprout them as you get older, or what?" He gets out on the driver's side and waits for Taro to get out before locking his car securely. His Bolter bulges his trenchcoat out just a bit, if one knows where to look-- a Piranha it's not.

A dark-haired man in a somewhat frumpy-looking grey suit and battered trenchcoat walks past, hands jammed deep into his pockets, headed toward the stairs.

After getting out of the Roadking, Taro takes a moment to adjust his suit and make certain the flowers are undamaged. Apparently satisfied at his appearance and at the condition of the flowers, he walks around to Duff's side. "It is a matter of chance, at birth. If one is born with one tail, it will always be so, as with two or more," he answers.

Duffy glances over at the man curiously, then checks in the window to make sure that the locks are all set. "Status symbol then? Was Miss Blue born to a rich family or did it just..." He waves a hand vaguely as he leads the way to the closest elevator that'll take him and Taro to the Pagoda Garden's level. "... happen?"

It looks like the elevator is still in working order, thank goodness, though it is taking a little while for it to arrive at the summons of the call button.

Following behind Duffy like a vulpine shadow, Taro considers how to explain. "You see," he lifts his free hand to gesture at the unseen sky above, "we are all of peasantry within Mishima society, unless one of higher station changes this. I could not tell you how we come about our tails other than that parentage seems to be involved."

Duffy steps into the elevator. "Huh, so if you're good and the President-- er, whatever you Mishimans call your CEO-- likes you, your kids will have more tails than you do?" he guesses, his finger hovering over one of the top floor buttons.

The kitsune dressed in a gray suit holding a bouquet of blue flowers looks at the dog-man beside him for a long moment. He opens his mouth as if to say something and pauses, closing it, before answering seconds later, "It just happens. As for our 'CEO', Mishima is run on the surface by Overlord Nagoya Mishima, but in reality it is run by his heirs."

Duffy rubs his chinfur. "What? What? Did I say something wrong?" He presses the button for the Pagoda Garden.

The gates of the elevator and the opening to the parking level rattle shut, and the elevator starts gliding upward, accelerating on its upward journey, as floors whisk by.

On the opposite side, a window provides a scenic view of the Oriental Expressway to the north and west, and the traces of headlights that rush to and fro along its length.

"I am afraid I have not often had a reason to explain it. Outsiders do not usually seem inclined to ask," replies Taro. He lifts his free hand once again and points out into the city. "Have you often seen my kind here, in Luna city?" he asks.

The dog-man shakes his head. "Nah. Dog-men and devilcats, sure, but you kitsunes seem like pretty rare types-- tell the truth, first time I saw you, I thought someone'd done some pretty horrible things to one of us dog-men, 'til I realized you were one of the Mishiman kn-- versions." He chuckles.

The elevator begins to decelerate ... approaching the top floor, without making any stops along the way. It glides to a stop, rattling on the vertical tracks only once, and then the gate slides open. Outside is the top level of the skyscraper, though a flight of stairs must be ascended to actually get up to the roof, where the Pagoda Garden is located.

A janitor rolls his cleaning cart past, headed toward the restrooms located near the elevator. He pauses, smiling and bowing at the detective and officer as they arrive on the elevator.

"That is because in most cases, we cannot leave Mercury. Our home world is oppressive to our kind. I wonder how it is each one of my own species has made it here when I see them. Ms. Blue is no exception," he explains. As the doors open, he lets his hand fall back to his side and then nods to the detective to exit first.

"Whoa, I always feel a bit lighter after a long ride like that," Duffy says as he leads the way out. "Maybe the gravity's less up here, it being so high, but I think it's just the acceleration. Anyway, you can take charge from here, Taro. You're the one delivering the flowers, eh?"

A softly illuminated sign helpfully points up the stairs, reading, "Pagoda Garden Located On Rooftop Level".

Acknowledging this with another nod of his head, the kitsune gets off the elevator and turns to face Duffy. "Yes, I will handle this. I thank you for the drive here, and I ...," he turns to examine the sign, " ... will handle this."

Duffy grins. "Oh, I'll be along. Jay wants me to tell him all about how it went." He puts his hands in his trenchcoat pockets and ambles after Taro.

"I will need to have a talk with Officer Jimbo later, I see," mentions Taro quietly in what might almost pass for a mumble. He straightens his suit once again despite not needing to, and begins walking towards the stairs leading up.

The grin on the dog-man's face widens.

Pagoda Garden
Atop a skyscraper in Little Mercury, a finely manicured garden has been built, in the center of which is a wide structure fashioned to look like a pagoda, but with electric lights and "art deco" styling, overlooking the streaming lights of traffic on the Rim Highway. Inside is one of the finest nightclubs in this part of the Perimeter of Luna City, with a sunken central floor where the best tables in the house are located, flanked by raised tiers of additional tables overlooking the main stage. Each table is lit by a paper lantern sitting in its center, warmly lit from within by an occasionally flickering electric bulb. The ceiling rises upward, revealing the interior of the stacked levels of the pagoda, culminating in a skylight that frames the poisoned Earth floating far above.

This time of night, right at about 10 p.m., the Evening Mass should be getting out, but there will be a delay before the "night-owls" start coming in here. There currently aren't any performances on the stage, so the nightclub is dead for the most part, thanks to a long-standing Brotherhood ordinance that prohibits any sort of entertainment to compete with nightly Mass -- which all the faithful should be watching, presumably, if not attending in person.

Chang nods and greets the canine and vulpine warmly as they enter, then, upon spying the bouquet and the name on the roses, gives a knowing wink and gestures toward the door leading to the left of the stage area, leading to the dressing rooms.

Duffy hardly needs to show his badge to Chang, but nods to Taro to indicate the black kitsune is "with him". "Taro here just wants to soothe down Miss Blue's feelings about her treatment the other night," he says with a wink. "He feels it was a bit, ah, rude of Jay." He ambles along after the aforementioned kitsune.

A short moment later, Duffy and Taro find themselves in front of a door with a little gilded star hanging on it, and a sign that reads, in fancy script, "Destiny Blue". Underneath it, the name is repeated in Chinese and Japanese.

Duffy lounges against the wall opposite the door, affecting a nonchalant air.

Perhaps this is the most strategic time to visit the vixen. After all, she's off-stage, evidently in the building (from the quiet noises that can be heard in the dressing room), and there's a grand excuse for cutting the visit short, seeing as she'll have to go on stage in a little while.

For the wink, Duffy gets eyed by the kitsune all the way to the door. "I do not like all this winking," he comments as he checks his flowers one more time by the door.

The flowers seem to be perfectly in place, or at least, as near as Taro can tell.

"It's department policy," Duffy "explains" with a straight face. "Winking when you're not around on duty lets people know that you're not on your way to a fire or something. And that they can relax again."

Again, Duffy gets eyed through those dark glasses before the kitsune turns around and face the door. He lifts his empty hand and raps on the door twice. "Ms. Blue?" he calls to the person within.

There's a pause, then, "Yes? I'm almost ready!" and the sound of footsteps approaching the door.

Taro reaches up to remove his dark glasses for a moment, but stops and leaves them be. "I am from Dawn Alert, Ms. Blue," he tells the voice beyond the door.

Duffy stage-whispers, "Miss. And careful with the official tone of voice; she'll think you're here to upbraid her."

The door pops open, revealing a golden-furred kitsune in a dressing robe. A scarlet gown is carefully suspended next to the mirror, and while her hair looks to be perfectly fixed up, it looks like she's at least a couple of steps shy of actually being ready to go on stage. She peers from Duffy to Taro with a worried expression ... then blinks at surprise upon seeing the flowers.

Duffy straightens up with an apologetic look on his face, and averts his eyes... He watches Taro instead.

The flowers are immediately held out to Destiny Blue when she makes her appearance. "Flowers," says the black-furred kitsune. He lowers his muzzle slightly so as to peer at the woman front of him more carefully. His ears flick for a moment.

The vixen's ears blush noticeably under Taro's scrutinizing gaze, and she holds a hand to her muzzle in a self-conscious gesture. "Oh! I was ... I thought you were here ... for questions about that incident the other ... night." She snaps out of it, and smiles. "Oh! They're lovely!"

Her voice is clear of any Japanese accent, suggesting that she has been a long time off of Mercury, and/or deliberately trying to neutralize her accent.

The black-furred kitsune remains silent after the other kitsune speaks, perhaps uncomfortably so. He continues to hold out the flowers, moving enough to show he is indeed alive, if not saying anything.

After another uncomfortable moment, the vixen reaches out and takes the flowers. "It's ... very considerate of you." She looks at the flowers, perhaps looking for some sort of card to explain the purpose.

Duffy clears his throat a bit. "No, no, Miss Blue, no questions. That's all been settled. My friend here, ah..." He nods toward Taro meaningfully and then pauses to see if the kitsune'll find his voice or not.

Once the vixen begins searching the flowers, Taro lifts his head to hide his eyes again behind those dark glasses. "They are from the station, an apology for our officer's slight against you. It is our hope you will take these and forgive ...," the words stop, and Taro glances off before continuing, "us."

The vixen smiles. "Oh! I understand now. Please, don't feel bad about it. I understand how you have to do your job and all. And that officer ... I didn't catch his name, really ... he was rather nice about the whole matter, all things considered. I have no hard feelings -- not at all!"

"Ah, it was Officer James Watterson," Duffy explains. "I'm Officer Sherman Duff, and your admirer here is Officer Taro Hidaka. The flowers were Taro's idea." He wags brightly.

The vixen's smile widens a little more. "My ... admirer?" She brings the bouquet closer to her nose, and takes a deep breath of the aroma. "I am grateful for your thoughtfulness. Perhaps, after the show..."

"He will be glad to hear of that. It is, unfortunate ...," he glares at Duffy, " ... yes quite unfortunate, he could not bring ... ah ... them himself." The glare is broken and the black-furred kitsune turns to regard the golden-furred vixen in front of him again. "Ah, yes, I am pleased you like them ... ah ... "

Duffy says innocently, "Jay had to work-- his sergeant's really got it out for him. I'm sure he'll be crestfallen to have missed seeing you."

"I would not wish to waste your time, Miss Blue," mentions Taro. He reaches up and adjusts his glasses back up his muzzle.

"Well, that's terrible," says the vixen. "In any case ... might you be available for a few moments after the show tonight, Officer Hidaka? I don't often get a chance to meet ... someone else from the homeland. I mean ... a fellow kitsune, that is."

After adjusting his glasses, Taro reaches up to rub his head a little. "Are you certain, Miss Blue?" he asks quietly.

Destiny raises one eyebrow. "And why wouldn't I be? If you'd rather not, I'll respect your choice. I don't mean to be pushy."

Duffy rolls his eyes at Taro's comment, then beams. "I was just telling Officer Hidaka how rare people like him and you are. Why don't you buy her a drink after the show, Taro? She's bound to need something to wet her throat. I'll just poke around a bit and make sure things are quiet."

After an uncharacteristic sigh, Taro concedes. "Of course, Miss Blue. I will remain here until after the show, so that we may speak." His head dips a bit, and he studies the floor.

Destiny gives Taro a worried look, following his gaze to the floor. "Well ... I hope that my singing will cheer you up, Mister Hidaka." She smiles softly.

Duffy leans over to stage-whisper to Destiny, "He's shy, Miss." Then clearing his throat, he says in a normal tone of voice, "Well, I'll go make sure we have reservations, Officer Hidaka. Wouldn't want to miss the show, eh?"

Quickly, the black-furred kitsune looks back up. "Oh, excuse me. I did not mean to appear upset. I merely have much on my mind, as is common with police officers. You need not worry," he tells her, and of course, eyes Duffy again.

Taro glances over toward Duffy. "Of course not," he answers.

Destiny nods. "Certainly. That's why many people come here, after all. For a little distraction ... to get things off of their minds for a while. And while you wouldn't want to miss the show, I certainly wouldn't, either! If you'll please excuse me? And thank you again for the flowers. They're lovely."

Duffy wags cheerfully. "You have a wonderful singing voice, Miss Blue. I'm sure you're on your way up in this city." He nods to the two kitsunes and excuses himself to see Chang and get a couple names put on the reservation list.

"Again, I am pleased you find them acceptable, Miss Blue. I will not keep you from your duties," says the male kitsune. As Duffy begins to head off, the black-furred kitsune tilts his head again and studies Destiny Blue once more. "You are very lovely, Miss Blue," he adds almost silently.

There's a loud squawk from Duffy's coat.

Destiny smiles sweetly at Taro's compliment. "I'll see you after the show. Until later..." She closes the door.

Duffy, away from Taro, reaches into his coat for his walkie-talkie and thumbs it on. "Duffy here, what's going on?"

After the door is closed, Taro turns away from the door and folds his arms across his chest. Again he lowers his head to study the floor, and in this thoughtful state he misses the squawk from down the hall.

"Patrol Car 76 is in pursuit of a van and limousine. Shots have been fired. Backup requested," the radio squawks.

The dog-man frowns a bit. "I'm off-duty, do you want me to head into the station first and change or shall I follow 'em plainclothes?"

"Suspect is fleeing north on Apollo Street out of the Maze, into a high-traffic area. No other patrol cars available in the immediate area," the radio squawks.

Duffy whurfs, "10-4. You got the license plate numbers on the van and limo?"

"Not yet," answers the dispatcher.

"Keep me posted then. I'll be on my way," Duffy responds.

Duffy glances after Taro, then calls to him, "Something's come up; I'm going to look into it. You stay here and hold the fort for Miss Blue." He heads off with a word to Chang that Taro'll be staying for dinner, and if Chang would get him a table near the stage, that would be simply splendid.

The radio squawks, "The limousine is a Sachs, Bauhaus make, license plate Delta-Indigo-Charlie-Epsilon-dash-7..."

The dog-man hmms to himself. That shouldn't be hard to spot in this part of town. Wonder if it's Trombone. He flips Taro a thumbs-up and heads for the elevator.

Taro eventually lifts his head up to gaze after Duffy, but by the time he does so, the detective is already at the door. He moves to walk after the departed dog-man but is stopped at the door by Chang. "He ... ? Of course, the table. I will follow you."

*** GM Note: No hero points awarded for this log. (Continued in another log entry.)

Log stopped on Tuesday, 4 Apr 2000, 8:02 PM EST by "Greywolf2" at "Holodeck2"