STAR WARS: RETROSPECTON- Song of Remembrance

He would like some kind of bug scanner for his own room and some bugs that he can plant in the other guys rooms as he feels a bit suspicious that he is being set up for something. He's also trying to find the mysteriously alluring stranger

No sign of your stranger anywhere. You have a feeling he does not want to be found.

Tapping equipment is very specific and you are unsure how the Karkarvans feel about that sort of thing. Anything you get will be consumer-level quality only. Observation to find an appropriate techshop unless you have a pitch for doing so.

He does have a basic observation of 1. He's also feeling quite paranoid because he was picked up and they weren't...

After getting some simple audio surveillance gear and a recording device he heads back to the hotel, sneaks past his mates and using intrusion and fix-it sets the equipment up in their rooms, then to his room to set the recorder going. He then sneaks back out of the hotel and heads to a diner to grab some food hoping his equipment will get something while they think he's out.

Your bandmates WERE picked up. Just not by the Bureau like you were.

But consider it done! It is of course getting very late at this point; your bandmates go to sleep while you are out and say little. You DO catch Faro and Tarinda sharing a bed (you always knew they were shacking up together!) but no 'spying on Rah' conspiracy chats.

You sleep in late the next day after your outing to the diner. You have a few hours until your show, which you spend gathering your equipment and recovering from hangovers. The dive bar that your manager booked is called Di Varinuvi Ee'r'a, some Old Karkarvan term. The place is definitely on the down-low; dark and smokey, private booths, shifty patrons. You like it.

Faro comes up to you while you are testing the mic.

"Hey, man," Faro says. "Question. Why'd you bring your suitcase?"

That's odd... you left it at the hotel.

He looks around "Erm... I didn't, or at least don't remember bringing it..." He looks around again then walks over to it looking for any suspicious modification to it that might indicate a booby trap. "Hey Faro, you still got that bracelet I gave you yesterday?" Either way he plays it cool and gets ready for the gig by warming his triple set of vocal chords up with some complex harmonies.

The suitcase is just off-stage. You don't remember putting it there... nothing suspicious about how it looks... you don't really want to think about it... why do you always get so distracted when looking at your suitcase?

Faro produces the bracelet.

"Yeah, why?" he asks.

Is there anything in the suitcase that Alek couldn't manage without?

He shrugs at Faro "Just wanna have some fun is all!" He wanders down into the crowd and slips the bracelet into someones pocket while they're not looking then heads back to start the show.

He walks on singing a single pure note, then joins it with a harmony, then finishes with the final note making a soulful minor chord. As the band strike up he shouts "Good evening!" then throws himself into the song.

No... just your average gear, really. Clothes and any other personal belongings.

It is Intrusion to slip the bracelet into someone's pocket without their notice. Something you are good at! Consider it placed.

The crowd is not quite as huge as the previous night but there is quite at turn-out for a short-notice show. The Karkarvans must really like your stuff!

Sure enough, a little past halfway, you notice your stranger seated in a booth in the back watching intently.

Ah nothing that he can't afford to lose if necessary...

Alek pretends not to notice him and continues to bellow out the songs as only he can, after the stress of the last couple of days he really gives it his all throwing every ounce of emotion in the music as he can.

You have always had a stage presence no matter where you have performed, Alek. Your audience is entranced and mirrors your mood, beginning to act rowdy and borderline violent. There is loud applause for a dive bar and even the Stranger claps for your performance.

"Good show, man," Faro says to you.

"yeah" Alek says a bit distracted as he tries to make his way through the crowd to the stranger.
"hey, hi, can we talk some place?" he asks the guy

Faro watches you go, then shrugs and heads offstage.

"Besides here?" the man asks.

"I dunno if its safe!" He looks around the continues "Some guy from some local government bureau picked me up and was asking if I knew you" he looks around again "something tells me you're more my kinda scum than he is... So who are you?"

"It's not local," the man corrects. "My name is Takuan Soho. Do you remember that name? Do you remember me?"

"No, I get a strange feeling that I should know you but I don't remember anything of my life before waking up in a med unit some months ago!" He still looks around suspiciously, then squares up Takuan "what is this all about? Do you know something about my past? Can you make sense of the meaningless flashbacks I have in my dreams?"

Whoa! You haven't been having any flashbacks.

Your past is indeed hazy, though; the hospital you awoke couldn't tell what had happened to you.

"I do," Takuan says. "At least in part."

(Yeah, sorry 'flashbacks' is too strong a term, but you did say Alek had a strange feeling when he first met the guy, so I was trying to play with that thought.)

"So what about it?" He starts to look urgent "I want to know what this is all about!"

"I can't tell you everything now," Takuan says. "It's not safe here."

Alek relaxes a bit "Okay, when, where and what do you want me to
tell that bureau guy? He's looking for you and will want a report soon!"

"You'll tell him nothing," Takuan says. "If all goes well, you'll never see him again."