Downtime 5 - Sun

Kin decides to call Sun.

"Hey, couldn't make sense of your text. What's going on?"

Sam takes a look at Sun's commlink. He finds the email that Sun is referring to, containing the form.

Sam considers that he has a few options for how to deal with this:
He could just ignore Sun, but he would rather do the bare minimum to help out.

He could show Sun how to open and fill out and save the form, and then how to send the form. But that seems like a lot of work, and it seems unlikely that Sun will be able to carry out his instructions later, without his supervison, anyway.

He could sit there and ask Sun all of the questions on the form and fill out the form for Sun, and then submit it for Sun. But that seems like it would take a lot of time and work.

So, Sam forwards himself the email, and then prints off the form in hard copy for Sun to fill out on his own.

Yes. That is the bare minimum amount of work to have been helpful.

Sun couldn't be happier with the form out on paper. He profoundly thanks Sam for having given him a solution that works best, sits down at a table. Tongue sticking out the corner of his mouth, Sun sets to filling out the form, then goes to his diving class.

Sun grabs his commlink and calls Kin.

"Sun Dashou is not available at the moment. Please leave a message at the beep and he will call you back as soon as he is able. BEEEEEEEEP"

Wondering why his phone would tell him he's not available at the moment, Sun tries again and gets through to Kin.

"Right. I'll see you at the community center in half an hour!" Sun says and he hangs up.

Once Kin arrives, they both leave to the base that once was from King Cobra. Sun explains Kin all he learned during his diving classes along the way.

As they arrive at the base in Kin's Westwind, they remove the gear that had been crammed inside. Kin turns to Sun.

"What's the plan?"

"Sounds simple enough."

As the two near the camp, they see some effort had been taken to improve what had previously looked like a disaster area. Bullet holes had been patched and the blast areas from the grenades repaired.

Along the way, Kin and Sun walk past Mushiba. Two-inch nods are exchanged as each goes their own way. Eventually, Kin and Sun arrive at King Cobra's bedroom, and the trapdoor Sun broke open.

Kin puts on his newly-acquired scuba gear and waits for the thumbs-up from Sun to take the plunge into the murky water.

Sun gets on his scuba gear as well, does the warm-up exercises as he was taught in class, and gives Kin the thumbs up to get into the water, quickly diving in himself as well.

((making a split for this momentarily))

It's tuesday, early afternoon. Rain forms a wet veil across the neon signs, splashing out on a canopy of umbrellas. From underneath the umbrellas steps a lone dwarf into a side street. A pair of middle-aged women, dressed in short skirts and even shorter tops, holler at the dwarf.

"Hey handsome! Bet you're not as short where it matters!" one yells, winking and blowing a kiss. The dwarf stops, looks at them for a moment, and wonders why they decided to dress so inappropriartely for the weather. They're gonna catch a cold, flu or other disease for sure this way!

Deciding he has more important things to do, he runs further into the street, then dashes into another side street, then another one, until he reaches a small building with one-room offices.

When he rings one of the dozen doorbells, a red light switches on in the camera above the door before the door unlocks with a click. The dwarf quickly moves inside, wrings the rain out from his beard and wipes his feet on the dirty old rag that serves as a doormat. Running up a few flights of concrete stairs, he arrives at a door, painted in a lime green, with a fake brass tag on it: "Kamogawa Takamura." The dwarf knocks on the door.

"Come in", a voice at the other side yells, muffled because of the door, and the dwarf obliges.

Inside is a balding, rather rotund man sitting in a brown pinstriped suit, sitting behind a faux-rosewood desk, several papers spread out in front of him. Several scrolls with inspirational calligraphy adorn the wall behind him, as well as several official-looking documents, each in their own gold-colored frame. Looking up, he recognizes the dwarf.

"Aaah, mr. Dashou! I heard you brought in quite some catch recently! Color me impressed!"
"I'm afraid I don't know what color that would be, sir."

An eyebrow cocks up for half a second and quickly goes down again. With a wave of his hand, mr. Kamogawa offers Sun to take a seat. Sun sits down on a semi-round faux-rosewood chair with a faux-velour seating and back. Here and there, chips of lacquor are off the armrests, showing tiny spots of plywood.

"So what can I do for you today, mr. Dashou?"
"I wanted to ask you if you know anything about the bounty hunter licenses, if you don't mind."
"There's not much I know about that, but I suppose they first check your SIN."
"You mean this?" Sun proudly shows the SIN he bought from that helpful man at the airport when he arrived in Mingmei. Kamogawa pinches the bridge of his nose.
"No... Nothing like that at all!"
Sun looks at his fake SIN.
"What do you mean? This is a SIN. I bought it from a friendly, helpful government official who issued it to me during his time off, purely because he wanted to help me out because I'm such a good guy."

Mr. Kamogawa sighs deeply, pinches the bridge of his nose once more, and steeples his fingers.

"Listen here, mr. Dashou. That piece of cardboard you got there, is just that: a piece of cardboard. SINs don't get issued on paper. They're electronic."

The portly man waits patiently as the dwarf's cogs are obviously turning. After a few minutes, Sun stammers:

"But... but... That would mean..."

"Yes, yes it does", mr. Kamogawa nods.

Fire flashes in Sun's eyes, unable to believe such a friendly, kind person would trick anyone. He then realizes... That person wasn't friendly or kind at all. In his rage, Sun is about to smash an angry fist onto the desk, but thinks better of it, remembering the last time he did that, and got the bill to fix the damage that caused. With a bellowing voice, Sun roars: "Nobody makes a fool of Sun Dashou! He will rue the day he tricked me!"

He gets up and walks out of the office, leaving mr. Kamogawa blinking a few times. "Did he just use the word 'rue'...?"

Back outside, Sun hurries back to the community center. He runs to Sam's room and opens the door while knocking. Inside, the room is pitch-black, except for the light of a screen, bathing Sam's face in a blue light. Cheeto crumbs line his mouth as he's got a bag balanced on his stomach, an empty one laying next to him on the floor. On the screen is an old show about several friends hanging out in an apartment and a coffee bar. Sam looks up at Sun:

"Mmyyyeah?" he says, orange crumbs spraying from his mouth as he speaks.
"Sam, I need your help to track a good-for-nothing evildoer!"
Sam looks at his screen, then back at Sun, then back at his screen. His eyes focused on the misadventures going on there, he waves a hand, back forward and crumb-covered fingers downwards, at the dwarf.
"I'm too busy. Go ask Emiko!"
For a second, Sun stands there, then bows lightly.
"Alright, sorry to have kept you from your business."
Sam replies with another wave, and Sun leaves, closing the door as quietly as he can.

As Sun walks to a general area, he grabs his commlink. It accidentally slips from his hand and tuds on the floor. He picks it up and dials Emiko's number. After reaching Mariko Bros Plumbing Services, Yuki's Magical Matsutake Farm, a little boy telling that his daddy told him to say he's not home if this is his boss calling, and mr. Kamogawa, who just hung up with a sigh, he finally reaches Emiko.

"Yes, Sun? What can I do for you?"
There's a moment of silence, until Emiko breaks it: "Well? Are you mute?"
"No... But... But... You can talk!" Sun stammers
"Well look at that, so can you!" Emiko says in a tone that's a mix of over-the-top sweetness that adds to the dripping sarcasm.
"Of course I can, but I mean, how do you talk?"
"With my mouth, of course. How do you talk?"
"But... But... I saw you get your throat slit!", Sun stammers on
"Yes, you did. So?"
"So... So... You can talk!"
"And so can you, barely!" Emiko replies, the barely not much louder than a whisper. Her voice goes stern.
"What did you call me for, Sun?"
"Oh, yeah. Yeah. Sorry. I need your help tracking down a good-for-nothing evildoer."
"And what may this good-for-nothing evildoer have done?"
"He scammed me!" Sun shouts.
"Are you going to track down everyone who's scammed you?", Emiko replies.
"No, just this one!"
There's the sound of a hand muffling Emiko's microphone for a moment.
"I'm at the cybercafe four streets from the center. Meet me there and I'll find your scammer for you."

Sun hurries to the cybercafé. Shivers run down his spine as he enters, scenes when he was last in one of these places with Emiko flashing before his eyes. The few people in the café who noticed Sun walking in wonder why this strange dwarf is looking at them with a thousand-yard stare. Noticing the change in atmosphere, Emiko pops her head out of one of the booths, sees Sun standing there, and drags him across the café into the booth.

"Right, this great evil you want to track down, what info do you have on him?" she asks.
Sun doesn't reply and simply stares at her throat. Emiko snaps her fingers a few times in front of Sun's face.
"Yeah, yeah. No scar. Let's get down to business! What info do you have on this guy?"
With a jolt, Sun gets back to full senses.
"Oh, right... Right... I met him at the airport when I arrived here. He was hanging out there, wearing a thin shirt with a flower pattern, and carried a plastic bag filled with SINs."

He passes on all info he has to her: Date, time, terminal, floor, everything he can remember. It doesn't take her long to get images of the man on security footage. Sun confirms it's his good-for-nothing evildoer, so Emiko compares the security camera's images with P2.0 profiles. After a few minutes, matches are found, and she presents Sun with a printout of the man's home address, phone number, SIN number, eating habbits, favorite places to hang out, and the names of his pets. Sun thanks her for her help and rushes back out of the cybercafé, happy as a puppy no throat slicing happened this time.

Sun goes to the train station to get a ticket to the Izakaya district. Dusk starts to set in as Sun arrives at the Izakaya train station. While making his way to the address, the smell of grilled chicken fills his nose and makes his stomach growl. He hasn't eaten since dawn. All places are packed, but after a bit of looking, Sun finds a free seat in a yakitori shop that's not filled with office workers, but a rougher, broader crowd. The white collars are replaced by leather and denim coats, wifebeaters, and the likes.

A few eyes turn to the dwarf as he sits down. Sun flags a waiter.

"What can I get ya?" the waiter asks.
"I'll have five skewers, three fried rice balls and a glass of milk"
Heads turn as the shop's patrons guffaw at the dwarf. Sun gives them the stink eye and adds:
"... In a dirty glass!"
The crowd shuts up, heads turning back to stare into their drinks. The waiter shrugs, goes away and a few moments later, brings Sun's order. The dwarf doesn't hesitate and wallows the whole lot up in no time. After paying his bill, he leaves and continues on, making his way through the crowded streets til he reaches an apartment block.

At the apartment block, he double-checks the signs on the doorbells with the name Emiko gave him. To his surprise, the front door simply opens. He walks inside and into the elevator, up to the 24th floor. On the 2nd floor, an old lady gets in and smiles at Sun.
"My, you've been eating your vegetables, haven't you, sonny!" she says as she pinches Sun's cheek.
At the 3rd floor, another old lady gets in.
"Hey Hina, who's that with you?", the second old lady asks.
"Ooh Niko, this is my new boyfriend!", she says with a wink.
"Your new boyfriend? Hina, how do you get such a handsome young man?"
Hina starts to giggle, covering her mouth with the tip of her fingers, as Sun's head turns crimson red.
"Guess I still got it," she says in-between giggles.
Finally, the elevator reaches the 24th floor. Sun lets out a sigh of relief as he wrests himself away from the two old ladies, and into the corridor.

The corridor is lit by a handful of fluorescent lamps, flickering and stuttering from age and bad maintenance. The floor itself is sticky from unknown substances. Here and there, taggers left their marks on the walls. Sun stops at a brown door, paint peeling off, and remains of sticker glue scattered all over it. He checks the door, and to his astonishment, it's simply open. As he walks in, Sun wonders why people really don't seem to bother with locks in this building!

Looking around, Sun sees a small studio apartment. A dingy sofa is placed in front of a TV screen, a table is set in a corner, and a small desk is pushed into another corner, next to a bed. The small desk seems to have a printer and a laminating machine on it. Several laminated cards stating: "OFFICIAL MINGMEI SIN" are scattered around these machines. It doesn't take Sun long beforehe figures out these machines are used to make the fake SIN he was sold. Channeling all his rage into his fist, he smashes the printer, the laminating machine, and the desk to smithereens. He then turns off the light and sits down on the dingy couch and closes his eyes, reminiscing the good times of the yakitori and rice balls.

Several hours later, late in the evening, there's stumbling in the hallway and the door opens. A man walks absentmindedly into the room, takes a box out of a messenger bag he then tosses into a corner and puts it on the table, sitting down on a chair. Opening the box, the room gets filled with the smell of cheap takeaway noodles. The salty aroma wakes Sun up, who gets up from the couch. He puts his giant hand on the man's shoulder. Noodles fly everywhere as the man jumps up in surprise, then quickly gets pushed back into the chair.

"Wh... wh... wh... wh... who are... ar... are you?" the man stammers.
"I'm the wrong dwarf you messed with!" Sun replies with a growl.
Not fully realizing what the hell this dwarf's talking about, the man asks:
"H... H... How... How did I do that?"
"You sold me a fake SIN! I demand my money back!"
The man visibly relaxes, digs in his pocket and shoves Sun 1000 Nuyen.
"Here you go, man. You got your money back, so you can leave here like a happy dwarf!"
Sun grabs the money and pockets it, not letting go of the man.
"That's for me!" Sun growls. The man has a puzzled look on his face, but gets pale as the grip on his shoulder doesn't loosen. Sun punches the man out cold and throws him over his shoulder.
"This is for justice!"

Not wanting to run into the two old ladies again, Sun decides to go down the 24 floors by stairs, with the man over his shoulder. When arriving on the ground floor, Sun leans against a wall to catch his breath, as the elevator opens and Hina and Niko walk out. They look at Sun, then at the man over his shoulder, then back at Sun, then back at the man over his shoulder. Hina blushes and stares embarrassed at the ground.
"Bringing another man into our relationship? I don't think I'm ready for that yet, dear!"
Sun's face turns red like a tomato and he rushes out the door, going to the nearest police station.

The bright, white light from the police station almost blinds Sun as he walks inside. He tries to get a hold of an officer, which proves rather difficult. Most of them are walking through the hallways cause they have something to do. Eventually, an officer walks up to Sun.
"How may I be of assistance, sir?"
"I'd like to turn in this man."
"What did he do, that we would arrest him?"
"He sold me a fake SIN!"
The officer's expression turns stern.
"That's a grave offense, indeed! I'll arrest him right away."
After cuffing the man, the officer puts handcuffs on Sun as well.
"What are you doing?! I just turned in this evildoer criminal and you're putting ME in cuffs?" Sun screams.
"What were YOU doing, buying fake SINs? That's a criminal offense as well! You're under arrest as well, sir! You have the right to remain silent! You have the right to one phonecall! All you say can and will be used against you in a court of law!"
When the officer finishes reading Sun's rights, Sun insists on his phonecall.

An entire wall is lined with phones, several being in use by various metahumans. Some dwarves, some orks, some humans, and more than a few trolls line the wall. Terrified, Sun walks up to a phone made specifically for trolls. His big hands can actually use it without too much trouble. Trembling on his stubby legs, he calls the community center.

The phone rings... and rings... and rings... Eventually, Kin picks up.
"Hey, this is Kin. What can I do for you?" Kin says.
"KIN! QUICK! I NEED YOUR HELP!" Sun screams. Kin hold the phone away from his ear due to this sudden burst of volume.
"Calm down, Sun! Where are you?"
"The police station in Izayaka! They're arresting me! YOU NEED TO HELP ME!"
"Alright, man. I'll be there as soon as I can."
Sun is met with the beeping that signals Kin has hung up the phone. Still white from fear, he gets dragged away and put in a cell, along with a skinny human and a cybered-up ork.

The skinny human looks at Sun and asks:
"What did you do?"
"Nothing! I'm innocent! Innocent, I say! I didn't do nothing!"
"That's what they all say, chum... Minamoto here accidentally punched someone into hospital. I myself just happened to possess certain illegal substances. Of course I don't know where those came from or how they got in my pockets." The man chuckles for a moment, as Minamoto interrupts.
"Ya said ya didn't do nuffin. That means ya did sumfin. Double negation 'n all! So what did ya do?" the ork grunts.
"I bought a fake SIN, but thought it was real..."
The human and the ork look at each other for a moment.
"How can ya buy a fake SIN thinkin' it's real...?" Minamoto wonders.
"How can you accidentally punch someone into hospital?" Sun asks in reply.
"Well, like this!" the ork says, as he demonstrates how the attack went down, using the skinny human as target. The human's face turns pale, but the ork stops his attacks before hurting the man.
Sun scratches his beard.
"You know... If you do it like this, then like that... You not only gain a few milliseconds, but you also get more force behind your attack."
Sun demonstrates the ork how to improve his attacks. They keep talking and discussing attacks, using the skinny man as target.

In the meantime, Kin arrives in his Westwind, and strides into the police station. He demands to speak with an officer, and someone quickly walks up to the reception desk to help him out.
"Yes, sir? How may we be of assistance?"
"You arrested a dwarf here, named Sun Dashou, earlier this evening. This is correct, right?"
The officer's fingers clatter on the keyboard as he checks the records.
"Yes, we did, sir."
"What were the charges against him?"
"Sir, we're not at liberty to discuss such..." the officer begins, but gets cut short.
"Officer, I repeat: What were the charges against him? He got arrested for buying a fake SIN, am I right?"
"Yes, sir."
"And did he have a fake SIN on him when you arrested him?", Kin demands, putting as much authority in his voice as he can muster.
"No, sir."
"And did you check if he has an actual SIN?"
"Why would we do that if he claims he has a fake SIN?"
"Why would you NOT?" Kin's stare digs into the officer's, making the officer rather uncomfortable.
"Well... It is standard procedure to check, yes..."
"Then why didn't you?" Kin demands.
"Why would he say he bought a fake SIN if he doesn't have a fake one, and possesses a real one?" the officer blurts back, clearly starting to get annoyed by the whole thing.
Kin leans over closer and whispers.
"That dwarf simply is a dumbass like that."
The officer, remembering how Sun walked in, and seeing his shift coming to an end soon, shrugs.
"Alright, sir. If you pay a 1000 nuyen administration fee, we will forget about having arrested mr. Dashou."

Kin pays the man and Sun gets brought to the reception desk, where the officer does a quick SIN check, just to make sure, before taking Sun's cuffs off. Turns out he does have a SIN, which even includes the diving license he recently acquired. Kin's story seems to check out. Kin explains Sun that it cost him 1000 nuyen to get him out of jail. Sun digs in his pocket and hands over the 1000 nuyen he got from the fake SIN dealer, before they both leave for the community center.

A few days after having been released from prison, the cybered-up ork shows up at the community center, carrying a briefcase and looking terribly nervous. He hands the briefcase over to Sun, saying the contents is for him, then quickly runs off.

Sun puts the briefcase on a table and, curiously, opens it, to see what's inside.

The briefcase gets closed with a slam and a slap. Sun looks around, nervously, to see if anyone has noticed the contents, and hurries off to the old Cibra base, where Ichigo is taking care of the wounded.

Sun scratches his beard, not knowing what to do with them. He's got nuyen signs in his eyes, but without knowing what each one does, he won't be able to find the right buyer.

"So... What's each one used for?"