The cruiser is already parked beneath the hard white glare of a Las Vegas transit center. Heat rises from the pavement, buses breathe diesel into the air, and casino towers shine beyond the low terminal buildings.
The Deputy
This is as far as I can take you without making the arrangement more official than it is. Alamo is behind us; Las Vegas gives you more choices, but not an identity.
The deputy leaves the engine running while he scans the crowded platforms. Travelers drag wheeled bags through the glare, announcements fracture overhead, and nobody gives the large, formally dressed stranger more than a second look.
The Transit Outreach Worker
Excuse me. Are you two looking for the shelter shuttle, or somewhere to get out of the heat?
A young adult woman with sun-browned skin, a compact build, and red hair tied beneath a faded blue cap approaches with a city-services clipboard. Her orange vest is dusty, and a plastic badge hangs at her chest.
The Deputy
We need food, directions, and a place where a person can think without being questioned immediately. His situation is complicated.
Adam
Las Vegas contains more people, but also more systems that require a name.
✓ Quest Accepted
Find immediate shelter
Director's note
Adam operating on the belief that asking directly is the best way.
“Adam speaks up, "My name is Adam. I wish to exchange labor for currency so I might have food, shelter, and transit to Las Vegas."”
FAILURE (Good Diplomacy, rolled +0)
Adam
My name is Adam. I wish to exchange labor for currency so I might have food, shelter, and transit to Las Vegas.
Adam presents the request plainly, offering useful work instead of asking for charity. His complete phrasing sounds more like a formal declaration than a casual appeal, but his steady eye contact makes the need credible.
The Deputy
That is reasonable in principle. The difficulty is that most employers will ask for identification before they pay you, and you have none to provide.
The Transit Outreach Worker
I cannot hire you from this clipboard, but I can point you to the day-labor desk. They sometimes arrange cash work without a full employment file, and the shelter shuttle stops nearby.
The direct offer does not secure immediate currency, food, or a bed. It does, however, turn the refusal into a usable route: the day-labor desk may accept work before paperwork, while the shuttle provides a path toward shelter and transit.
The Deputy
I can take you to that desk and wait while you ask. I will not promise they can place you, but this is a better option than trying to solve everything at the ticket counter.
The Transit Outreach Worker
And I can get you water while you decide. The shuttle is not a guarantee of a bed, but it gets you to people whose job is to help with the next step.
The transit outreach worker marks the desk and shuttle stop on her clipboard. The route requires another choice rather than another offer, but it gives Adam a practical opening that does not require surrendering his name to an institution.
“Adam nods and does as he's told, going to the day-labor desk. His direct and honest mannerism, except when it might bring Project Epsilon looking for him, coming through as he fills out forms and accepts whatever job would pay the most.”
SUCCESS (Good Diplomacy, rolled +2)
Adam nods and follows the marked path to the day-labor desk. The deputy waits nearby while the transit outreach worker points him toward a folding table beneath the terminal awning.
A middle-aged woman, with a broad oval face and a small scar beside one eyebrow, with a sturdy build, brown skin, short gray curls, and a green polo examines the intake forms. A plastic badge identifies her as the desk coordinator.
The Day-Labor Coordinator
Name, available hours, and the kind of work you can safely perform. If you have no identification, leave that section blank and tell me directly.
Adam fills in Adam Voxx, availability, strength, and prior labor without claiming records he does not possess. His complete answers sound stiff beside the desk’s quick routine, but nothing in them contradicts itself.
The Day-Labor Coordinator
You are unusually clear, and you look capable of the loading work. A produce warehouse needs someone today for cash at the end of the shift. I can place you there.
The missing identification prevents a normal employment file, but the coordinator accepts the completed intake as a cash-work arrangement. She writes the warehouse address and shift time on a card, then hands it to Adam.
The Day-Labor Coordinator
Report there in forty minutes. They will pay you in cash after the shift. Do not miss the start time, and keep the card with you.
Adam has secured the job: loading produce for same-day cash. The route offers food, shelter, and transit as practical possibilities without requiring him to surrender a legal identity he does not have.
+ New Item Acquired
Warehouse Job Card
Director's note
The card has the address printed on it, Adam doesn't know how street addresses work.
“Adam nods and steps out, looking to Deputy Brooks and holds out the card for him to see, "I have successfully acquired employment at a produce warehouse. I am due to report there in forty minutes." Then he looks around, as if expecting to see it near by, "Which way is it?"”
FAILURE (Good Reasoning, rolled -2)
Adam
I have successfully acquired employment at a produce warehouse. I am due to report there in forty minutes. Which way is it?
Adam holds the Warehouse Job Card toward the deputy, its printed address visible between them. His formal delivery is exact, but the card’s usefulness ends at information he has not yet learned how to interpret.
The Deputy
The address is printed there, but I cannot give you a direction from the street number alone. You need the street name and a map, not just the destination.
The deputy takes the card without hiding it from Adam and studies the warehouse address. Adam’s complete phrasing made the request clear, yet the unfamiliar address system turns a simple route into a practical obstacle.
The Transit Outreach Worker
Bring that back to me. I can mark the warehouse on a transit map and show you which bus or shuttle gets closest. Forty minutes may still be enough.
The transit outreach worker points toward her clipboard station beneath the awning. The route to the job is not yet known, but the card has opened a usable next step: convert its address into a map and a departure time.
“Adam retrieves the card from the Deputy, remembering the instructions not to lose the card, and follows the worker to find a map. This is Adam's first time using a map as well, he studies it to understand it with guidance from the worker and the deputy as well as understanding how a bus or shuttle aids him in this context.”
SUCCESS (Good Reasoning, rolled +2)
Adam retrieves the Warehouse Job Card from the deputy and keeps it flat in his hand as he follows the transit outreach worker beneath the awning. She unfolds a transit map across the clipboard table.
The Transit Outreach Worker
This is the map. The lines are bus routes, the circles are stops, and north is at the top. Your warehouse is here, on this street.
Adam compares the printed address with the marked street and follows the route line with one careful finger. Facility Manners make him state each relationship precisely, but the card gives him a fixed destination to anchor the lesson.
The Deputy
The bus carries you along the colored line. You board at this stop, pay the fare, and leave at the stop nearest the warehouse. The shuttle works the same way, if its driver confirms the route.
The Transit Outreach Worker
You want Route 214 eastbound. It leaves from this platform in twelve minutes, and the fourth stop puts you two blocks from the warehouse. Keep the card, and show the address if you need help.
With their guidance, Adam reconstructs the trip: platform, bus number, direction, four stops, then two blocks on foot. The map is no longer a pattern of colored lines; it is a usable route to his paid shift.
✓ Quest Accepted
Reach the produce warehouse
− Scene Quest Removed
Find immediate shelter