Ellen did get her lessons--from Audrey and Hans--and by the time they were called in for the next mission briefing, she felt much more prepared for the possibility of armed combat. She didn’t have any intention of seeking out a fight, and Audrey had pounded it into their heads that the best way to resolve a fight was to not get in the fight in the first place. She looked over the floorplan that was spread out in front of them. Already, it looked to be a better plan than the last pickup had been. At least this time they had a layout. As she saw the Costco logo, Ellen grinned. (It just so happened that she likely grinned just as Audrey announced the pick up was a bit more morally ambiguous.) She hadn’t been to them often--but she was familiar with the massive wholesale store. Everything came in massive quantities, and they had nearly everything you could imagine. If there was an apocalypse, and you could choose one store to make into a fortress, a wholesale store like Costco would be a great choice. Audrey listed out priorities: namely food, more food, then medical supplies. Ellen knew a lot of other things would be desirable as well. Clothing to replace those that had to be destroyed after the live outbreak. Deodorant, soap, and razors for self-care. Hell, even grabbing a bunch of their basic reading glasses would probably benefit a bunch of people, plus a variety of books. People needed...luxuries. She understood that even from her time on the crabbing boats. You could try to just get by with the basic necessities, but after a few days at sea, you wanted more--a different thing to eat, a book to read, something to idly think about. The same was already happening at Goodnight. People were going stir crazy. This idea was fantastic. Ellen just didn’t know how to get [i]everything[/i] from the Costco to Goodnight.Too bad they couldn’t just magick the whole building. That would be hella convenient. Audrey explained how they would be scoping it out during the day, and they should avoid confrontation if at all possible. Most importantly, they needed to keep their magic hidden. Regular law enforcement was one thing, but revealing they were mages would bring about a whole new host of problems. Before Audrey told them anything else, she asked them to formulate a plan. Ellen didn’t bother looking over at Abigail. The girl was probably picking her nose at that very minute. She did glance over at Angeline. During their last serious conversation, Angeline admitted that she didn’t think about these sorts of things--she focused on dance and rehearsals. So Ellen stepped forward again. “We need to get a lot of things out of there. Can we steal one of their delivery trucks, that way we can really load it up instead of just getting a few bundles in the billy bus?” Ellen asked. “If we could get an idea of what uniform the loaders wear, perhaps we can disguise ourselves in the evening. Confidence can go a long way to getting you ignored. Could even fake some paperwork for a recall on meats, so if we do run into security, we could play it off as having to get the ‘tainted’ meat out of the store.” Ellen began. She barely paused between thoughts to let Audrey interject with feedback. She looked up at the woman for her next question. “Would you consider setting a fire to another building to redirect some attention from local authorities? A building on the opposite side of the station maybe near some roads with roads so the police need to work on traffic redirecting? It might reduce the chance for a random patrol to be nearby. And if there is a call made, we might buy a bit of extra time for escape.” After that was answered, Ellen looked back down at the map. “If we do go in through the truck bay, that gives us great access to the fresh meat and bakery items. Perishable, but they will go a long way with morale. The produce is close, too, so assuming these connect, maybe through the chilled produce room, we can have someone go out and grab some of the fruits and vegetables as well.” Ellen paused. “To get us in at night, I think it makes the most sense to leave someone behind after we scope it out. Abigail is tiny and could hide among some of the giant stacks of food items. Or… I can hide in the freezer. The cold won’t bother me and security won't spend much time looking there for a person.” Ellen didn’t entirely trust Abi to not get caught by security if she got bored and started messing around--though they would probably just toss her out rather than think she was part of a criminal organization. Then again, they could [i]both[/i] camp out in different parts, just in case... “Since the pharmacy is the farthest, I think one of us could split off and head there. It is probably easier for one person to avoid any security rather than all of us. Can we get a list of what kinds of medications are the most important ones to grab? I don’t want to end up with fifteen varieties of laxative instead of what we actually need, and all of those medical names look the same to me.” Ellen didn’t think any of them had enough medical background to handle that task without backup information. “That person should at least have a backpack or duffle. We don’t want to have to make multiple trips through that part of the store. Ellen still thought Angeline might be the best for that part, or maybe Zephyr. He seemed really level-headed. Obviously, there were some parts of the store they could avoid entirely. They didn’t need automotive care, or furniture. “I know they aren’t priority, but I would suggest if possible, we try to get some books and toiletries as well. Maybe each of us can have our main objective, like the medical supplies, and then our secondary objective, like extra clothing in every size we can.” If they ran short on time, they were more likely to have all of their main objectives if they split them up, and that way one person wasn’t just running around grabbing unimportant junk. Would they need to get into the main office? There were probably video cameras up in parts of the store. “During the day, we should try to get an idea as to whether there are video cameras. If disabling them needs to be a stop we make at night. Question-- does it matter if they know this was mages in retrospect?” Ellen asked. The types of things they were taking… she figured it would be pretty obvious that this wasn’t a theft for money, and it would draw attention to their weaknesses to the FOE. If this was going to give them too much information, would it be worth it to try to destroy the building after the robbery, to cover up exactly what they were doing? Did they even have the means to destroy the building? Ellen had no idea. Perhaps...she was getting a little ahead of herself.