Nicole pushes through the doors of the cafe with her laptop slung over one shoulder.  One thing about camping in the slums: you're never going to steal anyones wifi.  She's looking a bit rough and tumble in her black jeans and Disturbed t-shirt.  Her fingerless riding gloves and shit-kicker boots complete an outfit that should intimidate any socially challenged cyber geek.  She's about as clean as a person can get when all they have is a bar of soap and a public reatroom with a functioning lock, but hygiene is not priority number one here.

She orders a double latte caramel something-chino so they'll leave her in peace.  The generous tip she gives the barista should help too.

The faux-coffee sits cooling on the table as she props up her feet on a spare chair and opens her laptop.  After entering a series of codes she accesses her e-mail.  As usual there are e-mails from both her sire and her contact Edward.

Edwards done some of Nicoles homework for her.  He's laid out a series of websites about Sanfield.  These are mainly maps and tourist sites about the main attractions and history of the town.  She commits what she can to memory.  It'll be hlpful to not have to ask for directions all the time and she was going to have to be familiar with the entire city to do what she had to do. When she's done she sends Edward a reply:

E-
Need a full paranormal work-up of Sanfield and surrounding areas.  Any unusual peculiarities, not the usual touristy bullshit.  Major anomalies, mass disappearances, anything that sticks out.  If i come across anything i'll let you know.  Theres an antique bookstore in town. I'll be sure to look and see if theres anything to add to our library.
                                                 -NB

The e-mail from her sire is a detailed overview of the citys political power structure.  Nothing is written straight out.  Its all in a code her and her sire agreed upon.  To most observers the information would be gibberish butto Nicole the information was quite clear.  Some of the information is outdated and inaccurate but its enough to get a general idea.

Before she can respond to her sires e-mail she catches the hushed whispers and furtive glances her presence has caused among what she must assume are a group of regulars.  She had already noticed the seeming lack of estrogen here tonight.  One could only assume that this was a regular hangout for these boys and the arrival of  a strange female had turned it into feeding time at the zoo.  

Nicole makes the mistake of actually looking in their direction.  The alpha male of the group, as much as can be one in such a group, actually makes eye contact and gives the head flick of acknowledgement with a smile.  Nicole meets this gesture with a crooked sarcastic smile.  The kind that says "Yeah assholes i can SEE you drooling from here. Buzz off."

In this case it was interpretted as "Come on over,' because thats exactly what he does albeit with a timid awkward gait.  The socially challenged never interpreted signals properly.  Any attention was a positive sign to them.  

Nicole watches him the whole way over.  Her eyes are glaring.  Her lips are tightly pressed in a slight frown.  He stops right in front of the stool where her feet are propped up.  She takes in his rumpled clothes which had probably been picked off a pile on the floor this morning.  There were a few smudges of anonymous food matter that had been left on both shirt and thighs of his jeans for lack of a proper napkin.  A few, possibly related, crumbs also dotted the folds of fabric.  

His lips seemed to kick in a few seconds before his voice did as they flapped soundlessly for a moment. "H...Hey," he finally managed. "I don't think I've ever seen you here before."

Nicole lowered the screen of her laptop so he couldn't see anything on it.  "Really?"  her tone was dripping with caustic sarcasm. "Really now?  Is that what you came up with on that long walk over here? Why not just go with 'Whats a girl like you doing in a place like this?'"

The boy actually took a step back but he'd come all this way over and wasn't about to give up yet.  "Well...I...I mean...I didn't mean to..."

Nicole interrupted him like he hadn't even bothered to respond.  "Look i give you credit for saddling up enough balls to drag your ass over here.  Whats got your confidence up?  You just come from a rousing session of pwn'age on Halo or something?"   Nicole had spent enough time in places like this to pick up the lingo.  She spoke a very passable Geek.

The look on the boy was priceless.  He looked uncertain if he should answer.  Instead he swivelled his head a few times toward the back room where the competitive video games were played and pointed.  "Yeah.  Gears 2 actually.  I kick ass with the longshot."  Every word was a question as unsureity took hold of him.  He finally understood he was in a losing battle but he was unable or unwilling to retreat.

Nicole decided to give him a little push.  She could see the flavor of his emotions.  His fear practically drifted off of him in waves and she took hold of them and rode them into his psyche like a surfer.  She sneered and shrugged her shoulders, "Actually i heard your 'longshot' was actually pretty small." and with that she tried to force those waves of fearful insecurity to a tsunami.

2008-11-21 19:37:35 Nicole rolls 4 dice to Crush Ego {Passion} (Diff 7) 9,10,3,10,3, 4 (3 successes)

The boys face turns pale as every memory of every female hes ever tried to talk to comes back to mentally taunt him like a group of bullies circling him on the playground.  Tears well up in his eyes as the weight of his own doubts and fears consume him.  With a sob he turns and runs as fast as he can out the door.  His freinds follow in his wake calling out to him.  "Fred! Whats wrong?What did she say? Where are you going? Fred?"  Theres a slight acrid odor in the air and she actually thinks he pissed himself.

Nicole watches them pass out the door and into the night.  Silently she mutters to herself "Fuck! What kind of a person am i becoming?"

She takes a moment to reply to the Professor in their own special code-speak and encrypts it for extra measure.  

Professor-

CEO Van running tight ship but primes dropping quickly.  Right Wingers making trouble but doubt thats the main issue.  Networking high and low.  No accurate assessments to be made yet.  Keep you posted as developments arise.

                                               -NB

She adds a revised list of the citys current power structure making note of all the major players that have been ashed.  Finishing she closes up the laptop and slings it inside its bag over her shoulder.  She needs a ride to clear her head.

"Sorry Fred" she says as she slips back out into the night.

((If you want me to make a roll to determine if i get an e-mail with any tidbits of useful info let me know. ))