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<Crion> Business Steve has been scheming. You've seen him out in the Hedgerows, here and there, speaking with this hob, wheedling that hob. He has not disclosed much. Real players move in silence. Occasionally he is in one of his outfits -- galoshes, or a tiny sailor's tunic, or tweed. One time, a very improbable goose-fitted tracksuit. It is unclear whether he thinks these are disguises. Recently,
<Crion> the husk of an old Volkswagon van has been seen in the alleyways nearby. It is unclear why. Steve refuses to comment on it. It looks like it was green, once.
<Crion> Other than that, it's been an uneventful week in the Wherehouse!
<Crion> What's everyone up to?
<VoxPVoxD> Christmas shopping. Stewart thinks he's got everyone nailed down but Tony... and work, obviously. The league's at peak activity, and this new job has come down from Santander, but it's hard to know where to start...
<Crion> Obviously since he's not on the joint task force to do...whatever...he's not going to be invited to their first meeting. But someone has forwarded him one of Gaunt Rose's e-mails negotiating the time and place of the first summit. Ravens did it -- that's the e-mail sender mask, anyway -- but its unclear whether it was done by them on their own initiative, or on someone higher authority's
<Crion> behalf. Santander is the obvious suspect, of course.
<VoxPVoxD> When and where?
<trenchfoot> Shoot, Nels needs to get on that. And maybe see about volunteering for more music lessons, and oh dear that van might be an issue, and actually take her GED test, start using that still...
<Crion> As to the e-mail's contents, it's a suggestion of meeting in the basement of The Brewer's Art on North Charles -- the Mt. Vernon neighborhood, specifically. It's one of those monk bars.
<dammitwho> Maggie's making chili, because who doesn't like chili? "Ohhhh, let the grasses grow and the waters flow, in a free and easy way!"
<Crion> The time suggested is...Wednesday night into Thursday of this week. Midnight, specifically.
<trenchfoot> Nels is still sticking around the Wherehouse for the time being, humming along to Maggie's song as she reads over her papers. She's almost caught up on history! Now, whether she'll retain it is another question, but now she understandsthe punchline to "Ronald Reagan? The actor?"
<dammitwho> "Now learned men, as use the pen, have written your praises high..." She takes a swig from a jar and stirs a little. "How's the studying going, Nels?"
<Crion> Lauren, who is hanging around the Wherehouse more and more, is sort of watching Maggie tenatively.
<Crion> She doesn't cook much.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart's just sitting on the couch reading some reddit meltdown or other on his phone.
<Crion> After all, when you've got basically an unlimited takeout budget (Lauren realized awhile ago that she could expense Doordash and Santander would just, let her) why would you eat anything else?
<VoxPVoxD> Sometimes it's raining and you feel bad making a delivery person go out in that...
<trenchfoot> Nels: "Hm? Oh, it's duck soup at this point. Just finishing up the last few decades 'til I get caught up, and they stopped writing so much about wars. Not that there were less of 'em, just they stopped writing so much."
<Crion> Lauren tips 25% even when it's her own money. Such are the wages of...uh, wages.
<trenchfoot> "How's the chili-ing going?" That's not a word.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart looks up. "Duck soup?"
<dammitwho> "Wasn't that a Marx brothers movie?"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Who?"
<trenchfoot> Nels: "I don't know about that. It used to mean 'easy,' but, like, you were cool."
<dammitwho> Maggie: "Should be done pretty soon. Hope you guys don't mind storebought cornbread mix."
<VoxPVoxD> Is Maggie smoking?
<VoxPVoxD> To Nels: "Nowadays you might hear someone say something is 'a piece of cake' to mean the same thing."
<trenchfoot> Nels: "Oh! Like a cakewalk, kinda."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Yeah! Exactly."
<Crion> To Maggie: "Not at all!"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Honestly I'm not sure I could tell the difference between storebought and homemade cornbread."
<Crion> Lauren: "Homemade has more actual corn. Like, kernals."
<Crion> "Most mix doesn't bother to get that right. Which is fine, because biting into bread and finding a kernal of corn in it is kinda weird."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "But not rising to the level of kernel panic."
<Crion> She sticks out her tongue at him.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart grins in response.
<trenchfoot> Nels: "You can make a smoother homemade cornbread but I never learned how. Maybe that goes on the list..."
<Crion> Lauren walks over and flops down on the couch. "Ugh! I cannot WAIT for winter."
<VoxPVoxD> "How come?"
<dammitwho> Yes, she is.
<Crion> Lauren: "Because then Angelfire will have to do something other than 'backend maintenance and support,' browsing Reddit, and shitposting on Github all day."
<Crion> "Three months where I'm not on-call. Looking forward to it."
<Crion> Presumably so is Stewart, given the number of times he's now been woken up in the middle of the night by Lauren's phone. It's not weekly...but it's close.
<trenchfoot> Nels understood precisely none of that, unless this 'Angelfire' character introduced themselves at one of the parties, but that's not really ringing any bells.
<dammitwho> Is Stewart bringing it up?
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Three whole months to stare down your Steam backlog."
<VoxPVoxD> The smoking? No. Just noticing it.
<Crion> Angelfire has not been at any parties so far, no.
<dammitwho> Maggie: "I rarely know what you guys are talking about."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Angelfire is Winter's tech expert, he's going to take over handling computer emergencies for the freehold after Christmas. Right now he mostly just does nebulous maintenance work and goofs off. Soon it'll be Lauren's time to goof off, so she can play some video games she's bought but not got around to yet."
<Crion> "He'll still probably escalate some stuff to me. Because he's a jerk."
<trenchfoot> Nels: "And he can just... do that? Seems rude."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "It's hard being so smart and cool that everyone counts on you. Lauren makes it look easy but it's not."
<Crion> To Nels: "It could be worse."
<trenchfoot> It can always be worse. That's not exactly reassuring, though.
<dammitwho> "Right! Chili's up!" She moves the pot off the burner and takes a tray of cornbread that has been kept warm in the oven out. "Spoon yourself up some when you're ready, Lauren, no standing on ceremony here."
<Crion> "!!" Lauren's probably first in line.
<trenchfoot> Nels still has a few paragraphs to go before she'll serve herself some. Not gonna barge in or anything, but she is pretty hungry, and she also really doesn't want to read any more about Iran-Contra right now.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart's not far behind Lauren. "So what have you been working on, Maggie?"
<dammitwho> "Oh, this 'n that. I bought some books on metalworking to help learn how to put together the still there." She points to a small pile of scrap metal and rubber tubing in the far corner of the Wherehouse. "Yeah, yeah, I know I could just hedgespin the whole thing together, but I guess you know how I feel about that. I like doing it with my hands, you know?" She flexes her fingers for
<dammitwho> emphasis.
<Crion> Casually to Stewart, a bite or two into the chili: "Angelfire's going to have to come by soon to drop off my downtime project. Just wanted to let you know. It's just a server; I'll keep it unpowered while I'm not working on it just so no circuits blow or anything."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart nods. "Sounds good. What's the project?"
<trenchfoot> Nels dabs at the corner of her mouth with a napkin before nodding at Maggie. "I know what you mean. Hedgespinning still feels strange to me, I'd rather do it the regular way. Most of the time."
<Crion> "We're trying our successful staging project for the Wherehouse on a bigger network level. Multiple servers, multiple Hollows. For now we need to figure out tolerances and vulnerabilities. If a server like that got compromised..." Lauren shrugs. "So, very theoretical. Lot of testing. But if we get it to a place where it's safe, we can bring the entire Freehold on the network."
<Crion> Lauren: "Of course I'm not sure it'll ever be safe. But Angelfire likes to keep busy with his toys."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart nods emphatically, as his mouth is full, indicating his approval.
<VoxPVoxD> A few moments later he gives Lauren a brief second look, but when he speaks it's to the table: "So do any of you guys know anything about being a spy?"
<dammitwho> Cheerfully: "Nope!"
<dammitwho> "Hope that helps!"
<trenchfoot> Nels: "Not... exactly...?"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Or is that just what you guys want me to think?"
<VoxPVoxD> After a slightly too long pause: "But no I have to spy on the cross-organizational task force all the city's magicians are putting together to figure out how to deal with some kind of, I don't know, dangerously brazen superhero."
<Crion> Lauren sort of sputters on her drink. "The kid who wrecked Power Plant Live?!"
<trenchfoot> Nels: "Wait, that's a thing?"
<dammitwho> Maggie: "Eh?"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Yeah, I think so. I haven't had time to do a lot of digging yet. What do you know?"
<Crion> "Last week there was a 'fire' there. It shutdown for a few days after. Some vampires were running a scheme at Power Plant, apparently. I dunno if they had approval or not from their people, but there were bodies. There were discussions on how to handle it...then they picked the wrong dude. And there was viral footage of him pulling a sword out of thin air and doing something about it."
<Crion> "Suppressed quickly, of course."
<Crion> "But."
<VoxPVoxD> Eyebrows go up. "Like a regular broadsword or..."
<Crion> Lauren: "I can get you the footage. It...sort of varied."
<dammitwho> "Wizards have swords?!"
<Crion> Lauren shakes her head. "Willworkers said he's not one of theirs."
<Crion> "Could be lying, I guess."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "That'd be helpful, thank you. Santander also put someone actually *on* the task force, so I guess we're playing both sides. Someone named Gaunt Rose, who apparently thinks we're competing for a job even though Santander said he would take us both on."
<trenchfoot> "Do we know whose they are?" She's frowning, now. "Normal people don't just pull swords out of thin air."
<trenchfoot> Actually in this day and age normal people don't really pull swords out of anywhere.
<VoxPVoxD> Gonna have to show Nels cosplay sometime.
<Crion> Lauren sighs. "Yeah, that's Rose."
<Crion> "She's...just, try to be nice. I know you always do, but. She's difficult for a reason."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "How difficult are we talking?"
<Crion> "...She's a bitch, but she won't compromise the mission to be one."
<VoxPVoxD> "Right." It is now Stewart's personal mission to befriend Gaunt Rose.
<trenchfoot> Nels: "That's... wait, she's done this before, or...?"
<trenchfoot> "This" being spywork, not being a bitch.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart shrugs. "I don't really have a dossier or anything. I only kind of saw her once and she didn't really seem like she wanted to be approached."
<Crion> "Can confirm."
<Crion> To Stewart: "She's probably mad at you already. Like above and beyond the whole Santander student thing."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "What'd I do?"
<Crion> "Rose isn't really a...meetings person."
<VoxPVoxD> "Oh no."
<VoxPVoxD> "But she made me choose which of the two assignments to take! Why would she do that if she only actually wanted one of them?"
<trenchfoot> Nels: "If you pick the one she wants, she gets to be rude because you took her spot. If you pick the one she didn't, she gets to be rude because you think she can't do it."
<dammitwho> Maggie: "That's extremely stupid."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "You don't need permission to be rude! That's practically the definition of being rude."
<trenchfoot> She shrugs. "Some people gotta justify it to themselves."
<Crion> Lauren: "You'd have to ask her. But my suspicion was she was telling you she was good enough to do either."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart hasn't actually had to befriend anyone who was legitimately mean as opposed to sort of awkward. Technically Lauren, but she was just standoffish because she had a lot of preconceived notions about what Stewart would be like and was sort of worried she was going to have to start defending her job security.
<VoxPVoxD> This is a completely different situation.
<Crion> "People do things they don't like to do all the time."
<trenchfoot> Meanwhile, Nels met a perfectly nice man named DJ Fuck You. People can surprise you!
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "But yeah I took the job because I figured I'd have to learn more to do it. Now I just need to figure out how to... learn..."
<Crion> Lauren: "Usually by fucking up. Which uh. Doesn't really seem like an option here..."
<trenchfoot> Nels: "...is there anyone you can ask who's done this before? I realize that probably sort of doesn't work 'cause of the secrecy thing..."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "I mean I could ask Santander, but it always seems wrong somehow to ask the person who gave me the assignment for advice on how to do it."
<Crion> Lauren: "Winter's the sneaking court."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Maybe I could ask Angelfire!"
<Crion> Lauren kind of blinks a couple times. "You...could do that!"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Might have to move my streaming hours earlier in the day if I'm gonna be shadowing vampires all night every night."
<Crion> "You've got the blackout curtains for it."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Yeah... different audience, though. Hard to maintain subscribers if your hours jump around a lot."
<Crion> "Mmmm." She sips some tea that was on kettle while the chili was being made.
<trenchfoot> Nels: "Won't people just watch the shows they like anyway?"
<VoxPVoxD> "What do you mean?"
<trenchfoot> She gestures over to the TV they've got. "Apparently you can record stuff for later... doesn't that work? Or is it not the same for video games?"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Oh, no, yeah you can. Twitch - the website I stream through - archives everything and I have Youtube for highlights and guides and specific structured things. But in terms of like, the broad current of money everyone's trying to dip their hands into, a lot of people watch what's on when they're around, and they make time for things with consistent schedules."
<VoxPVoxD> "One of the biggest streamers in my game lives in Australia, and he wakes up about 4am his time to catch peak US viewing hours. I originally set up my stream to go up after his went offline for the night."
<dammitwho> Maggie: "So they invented all this stuff for recording and streaming so you don't have to care about the TV schedule... and then everybody just went back to TV hours? I don't get it."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "It's more like, to a certain extent TV hours are what they are because of people's pre-existing schedules, right? A lot of people are at work or school during the day, a lot of people are asleep in the middle of the night. And having lots of people around watching what you're watching is nice."
<VoxPVoxD> "Assuming the people are nice."
<VoxPVoxD> "Which is a big assumption."
<trenchfoot> The modern world is nuts. "That's... I kinda get it. So you can talk to the other people while you watch stuff? That makes sense."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "And talk to me while I'm streaming, yeah."
<dammitwho> Maggie: "Oooooh, that's what you meant by 'Twitch chat'."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Yeah! My chat's really cool. People are nice and they like to goof off a lot. Since Lauren's in the background a lot now, someone drew fanart of her as one of the characters in the game."
<VoxPVoxD> "I thought it was sweet."
<Crion> Lauren will do the dishes once the chili's done. Only fair.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart'll sweep up crumbs and stuff.
<Crion> When they're heading out the door, and are in fact back on the side of the Hedge where she can receives texts, Lauren will check her phone and half-grimace, half-smile. "A...ngelfire wants to bring the server over tonight. Are you okay with that?"
<Crion> She and Stewart are alone, in either the elevator or his car.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Yeah, sure. Is there anything I should know?"
<Crion> Meanwhile: What procedure has Maggie given Union to contact her?
<Crion> She has his phone number, and her procedure is 'call.'
<Crion> Lauren hesitates. "....Yyyyes."
<Crion> "He and I used to date."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Aaaaaaaah."
<VoxPVoxD> "Did it... end well?"
<Crion> "Nothing ever ends well. But we're fine now."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "You worried he's not gonna like me?"
<Crion> "He should be fine. It should be fine."
<VoxPVoxD> "I could peace out for a while."
<Crion> Lauren, perhaps a bit forcefully: "That's his business."
<Crion> "And should be well-socialized enough not to make it ours."
<Crion> *he should
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Understood."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart will still spend some time tidying the apartment when they get home, because that's what you do when there's guests.
<VoxPVoxD> It doesn't seem like there should be anything to tidy, since Stewart is constantly cleaning the apartment. But he always manages to keep busy.
<Crion> Lauren will help a little, but after prepping a space for the new server, mostly she'll hang out with Chup and look distracted.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart feels like this would be easier if he wasn't here, but he's gonna respect Lauren's decision to make everyone deal. Past that there's not much to do but not deliberately add to anyone's stress.
<Crion> Eventually her phone chirps. "Angelfire's downstairs."
<Crion> "...Aaaaand Canterbury is helping him bring the server in. Guess we've still got a security detail."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "This is a pretty big-deal project, anyway."
<dammitwho> Maggie has likewise given Union her number.
<Crion> Then she'll get a call on her phone from a restricted number.
<Crion> In the Hedge.
<Crion> Lauren: "Yeah." She pulls on a hoodie and zips it up; she's still in her jeans, which is a bit weird because she usually changes into pajama pants immediately when you get home.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart observes but does not comment on the oddity.
<trenchfoot> That's - we are expecting company, right? Because a blocked number in the Hedge is... a concern.
<Crion> Soon there's a knock on the door. One, pause, two more. Canterbury's current code.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart waits a beat to see if Lauren jumps for the door. If she doesn't, he opens it.
<Crion> Lauren will walk towards it, but wait at the end of the kitchen counter. She's not yet in the headspace where she's about to open Stewart's apartment door. Especially not for her ex.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart gives her a supportive nudge as he passes. It's her apartment too, but now's not really the time to be didactic. Stewart opens the door and immediately steps backward to accomodate someone carrying something heavy inside.
<Crion> When Stewart does open it, there's Canterbury in front making sure he's visible through the peephole (opsec), and an Asian guy, more wide than merely heavyset, standing behind a single-stack server rack on wheels.
<Crion> He peers around the server and his eyes, behind glasses, narrow slightly as he sees Stewart.
<dammitwho> Is that an 'okay to answer' thing or a 'do not ever answer' thing? Maggie can't recall.
<Crion> Honestly? It's not like you can trust any information the Hedge gives you anyway. YOLO.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Hey, Canterbury."
<VoxPVoxD> After they're both inside, he shuts and locks the door behind them. "You're Angelfire, right? Stewart Reader." He offers his hand.
<Crion> Canterbury: "Evening, mate. Got a delivery."
<Crion> His face is impassive and his voice neutral as he shakes. "Yeah."
<Crion> Angelfire -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkgR0SxmMKo We're of flesh, circuit and bone; The only world we've known, these empty streets we walk alone!
<Crion> *We're made of
<dammitwho> She shrugs and answers the call. "Y'ello?"
<Crion> Chup mrowls from the counter. Angelfire: "Yes, hello Chup--"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart's smile widens a half inch.
<Crion> The cat immediately leaps on his shoulders and begins like, trying to step on his head. Which is no mean feat, given that Chup is a very lazy creature by nature. "Cat. Cat! Ah shit. Ah fuck." Angelfire doesn't actually seem very concerned.
<VoxPVoxD> Nice.
<Crion> Lauren: "Hi."
<Crion> Angelfire: "Hi. Excuse me. Cat."
<Crion> Canterbury, to Stewart: "You good on weed?"
<VoxPVoxD> Stepping into the apartment, Stewart says, "Yeah we're alright. Thanks for asking. You guys want anything to drink?"
<Crion> On the other end of Maggie's line: "BIG M!!! Maggie Mags. The Magster. The sledge from the Hedge. What is UP?"
<Crion> The sound of someone hitting a bong REALLY hard on the other end. "This is Union. I'm incredibly high by the way."
<dammitwho> Maggie: "Hey, I guessed!"
<Crion> Canterbury: "Could use some tea."
<Crion> Angelfire: "Cat! Cat. Yeah that sounds good. Thanks. Cat."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "I'll go fill the kettle."
<Crion> Lauren goes to retrieve Chup from off Angelfire. Both are physically uncomfortable, being that close.
<Crion> Angelfire: "Where am I putting this?"
<Crion> In his mien he's Wizened; wrinkled and somehow smaller. But his wrinkles are circuitry, and his eyes have power on symbols blazing in them, not pupils.
<VoxPVoxD> Very cyber.
<VoxPVoxD> While he watches the pot, waiting for it to boil, Stewart thinks about how happy Beau was to see him.
<Crion> Union: "So how...are you."
<Crion> "How are you. I got something up and running here and I thought, that was a good deal. And then I thought of another good deal: ours."
<Crion> Lauren: "Just leave it outside the study. Yeah, there. We can install."
<dammitwho> Maggie: "Pretty decent. Just finished making chili for everyone, putting together the still and what have you. What can I do you for?"
<Crion> Angelfire: "Ah. The study. Moving on up~" He sings that last line.
<Crion> And pushes the server tower over.
<VoxPVoxD> ...is that a reference to The Jeffersons?
<Crion> If Stewart knows the reference, he gets the reference.
<Crion> Yes.
<VoxPVoxD> Interesting.
<Crion> Union: "Chili."
<Crion> "Christ."
<Crion> "I could house some fucking chili."
<Crion> "But yeah! No. Wanted to get our shit together. Start the link. Something changed recently, due to cops, and I've got a bunch of uh. Infrastructure. I can relocate to your place. Lamps, feeders, integrated irrigation. We're talk one or two greenhouses here, but we could go smaller."
<Crion> *talking
<Crion> "Generators too. Do emissions in the Hedge add to global warming? Fuck I never thought about that before. They're gas-run."
<dammitwho> Maggie: "Nice. Bring 'em, we can figure it out later."
<Crion> "Niiiice. So uh. How?"
<Crion> Lauren glances over at Stewart. How's he doing?
<Crion> Canterbury is playing with Chup, who is magnanimously tolerating him.
<dammitwho> "Oh. Uh, shit. Right. Hold on."
<dammitwho> She covers the phone's receiver with her hand. "Stewart! What's the Freehold's, uh... policy on bringing other sorts of critter into Hollows? Thinking about Union here."
<VoxPVoxD> Lauren's seen Stewart like this before. Pensive and far-away, with just enough of his conscious mind surfaced to accomplish tasks and be aware of his surroundings. He's like this when he cleans. He's like this, sometimes, when he streams. She knows him well enough to see a little deeper: his preoccupation is one of deep melancholy.
<Crion> She'll walk over and help with the tea. Which will involve some innocuous physical contact. Just enough.
<trenchfoot> Nels: "He's off with Lauren on that server project thingy, but it's... probably fine??" She thinks back. "Maybe don't make a habit of dropping in, just in case."
<VoxPVoxD> Her presence snaps him back to reality. He carries the tray of mugs over and sets it on the coffee table.
<dammitwho> Maggie back to the phone: "Okay this is secret, so don't go spreading it around, right? You know the Lexington Market?"
<Crion> Angelfire wheels the server stack over to the door to their streaming room/office, gently takes it off the handcart, and makes sure its stable before moving the handcart away. If Stewart has carpet and tile or hard flooring in his main space, Angelfire moves the cart back to the hard flooring before joining them.
<Crion> Union: "THEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE"
<Crion> "Lexington Market."
<Crion> "Yeah."
<Crion> "Also of course it's secret. Lady I try to talk to people as little as possible."
<dammitwho> Maggie: "Okay, there's a freight elevator around back. Take it up to--" She explains the rigamarole by which he can knock on the door of the Wherehouse.
<VoxPVoxD> The living room's carpeted, but the kitchen/ette is tiled and there's barely a wall between it and the living room. Stewart settles in on the couch with his tea. "So a network of server fetches, huh?"
<Crion> Union: "Alright! Should I be wearing a uniform or just fast talk this shit?"
<Crion> Angelfire will settle down wherever allows him to not be sitting next to anyone except possibly Canterbury, even if it means bringing in a chair from the kitchen.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "I can get one of the office chairs from the study if that's more comfortable."
<dammitwho> Maggie: "The thing about life is that as long as you look like you know what you're doing you can do whatever you want."
<Crion> Angelfire: "Please."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart ducks into the office and comes out with his high-backed, matte black gamer chair.
<Crion> Union: "Hahahaha. And the thing about Matter is, you can just make real money! See ya soon!"
<VoxPVoxD> To Lauren: "You want yours while I'm up?"
<Crion> Lauren: "I'm fine on the couch."
<Crion> Angelfire cleans his glasses.
<VoxPVoxD> "Cool." Stewart sits back down with his e-reader so he doesn't feel compelled to ask them bothersome questions.
<Crion> He's not lying: Maggie gets another call some 45 minutes later.
<trenchfoot> Nels clears all her work back to her room; continued reading about history is best done in small chunks. Hoo.
<Crion> Angelfire sips his tea. To Stewart: "...What is this?"
<Crion> "What sort."
<dammitwho> Wizard jokes! Or possibly weed ideas! It is very difficult to tell them apart!
<dammitwho> She answers again. "Heyyyup?"
<Crion> Union, sounding more sober: "Hey boss, we're out back with the machinery. All you gotta do is come up and sign some paperwork and we're good to go."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "That's called, uh, Irish Breakfast."
<Crion> Speaking to someone else off phone: "Look, buddy, she'll be up. What if you took a walk? No, I'm just saying. ...Do you know what a per diem is?"
<Crion> A vague conversation. Then, thirty to forty seconds later: "Christ, you guys need to organize."
<Crion> Then Union's back on.
<dammitwho> She rolls her eyes. "On my way." She grabs her jacket, and says to the Wherehouse at large: "Headin' out, I'll be back in a bit."
<Crion> "Hey, all good."
<Crion> "Cool. Waiting." Union hangs up.
<dammitwho> Maggie will leave by the Market door and take the elevator down.
<Crion> Angelfire nods. "This is good shit."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Kind of a funny name, since the teas used in the blend are all grown in India."
<Crion> He shifts in the gamer chair. "...Anyway. So. Things you both need to know. Lauren knows them already but my job is to say annoying shit when it's important. Never put that thing on a network. Never hook a monitor with integrated speakers into it. Speakers can also be microphones, and therefore passive receivers of data. Wired keyboards and mouses only. Never plug a camera into it. Only test
<Crion> it in prod environments. Other than that, it's basic IT security stuff."
<Crion> "Which I assume you're up to, Stewart."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart nods. "I got the whole spiel when the freehold brought me online."
<VoxPVoxD> Lauren will of course note the deliberate omission of who came to do that.
<Crion> Angelfire nods. "Lauren does good work."
<Crion> He stands. "I should probably get out of your -- cat -- hair."
<Crion> Chup is trying to climb his leg.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Chuuuuuup."
<VoxPVoxD> He'll try to free Angelfire from the cat.
<Crion> Angelfire: "Whatever else you can say about him: that's his name."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Written in stone in the Cathenaeum."
<Crion> Angelfire, deadpan: "Yeah, I definitely get that reference."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "I think it's originally a school in ancient Rome. But it's what the Belvedere calls their, uh, archive."
<Crion> When Maggie arrives at the loading bay, she finds Union in a blue jumpsuit absolutely holding court with the workers while vaping.
<VoxPVoxD> "Athenaeum is, I mean. Cathenaeum is a regrettable pun."
<Crion> Angelfire: "Huh."
<Crion> "Be careful with the mages."
<Crion> He adjusts his glasses. "Not you in specific. I don't know anything about you. Just in general."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "They don't fuck around. Except when they do, which is so much worse."
<dammitwho> "Christ. Don't work too hard, huh fellas?" She ambles up, hands in her coat pockets. "Everything here?"
<Crion> Angelfire: "They believe in a better world than this."
<Crion> Lauren: "Angelfire..."
<VoxPVoxD> "A lot of them do," Stewart agrees.
<Crion> Angelfire: "And that's only dangerous when you realize it's zero sum. They make their better world, and we don't get this one--"
<Crion> Lauren: "ADRIAN!"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart blinks.
<Crion> Angelfire: "Time I was going. Thanks for the whatever."
<VoxPVoxD> Slightly subdued: "Yeah, take it easy."
<Crion> "Weird advice from a gamer." He pets Chup and leaves.
<VoxPVoxD> Is Canterbury still there?
<Crion> Yep!
<Crion> Canterbury: "So. I'll uh. Use the bathroom, and go."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Thanks for helping lug this in."
<Crion> Canterbury: "Least I could do. Kind of literally."
<VoxPVoxD> He busies himself with cleaning up the remnants of the tea until Canterbury sees himself out, unless he's got more to say.
<Crion> On the loading dock, the workers nod and don't seem to question Maggie's presence. One even says: "Yes, ma'am, if you say so," before laughing and helping pull another rack of equipment off of Union's truck.
<Crion> Union walks up to shake Maggie's hand, and when he does will pull her close and say in an exaggerated whisper, "This Cost Three Thooouuusand Dollars"
<Crion> "In Bribes!"
<Crion> Canterbury uses the loo, as he'd say, then says his farewells and departs.
<VoxPVoxD> What's Lauren doing after he leaves?
<Crion> Moving the server into the room where they're going to put it and wrapping the cables.
<VoxPVoxD> He hunkers down and helps her without asking. "What was going on at the end there?"
<dammitwho> Maggie will nod, and supervise. Which mainly involves taking a smoke break and watching the other guys carry all the heavy stuff.
<trenchfoot> Classic.
<Crion> Lauren: "He started having an old fight of ours with you, and I should have controlled myself better."
<Crion> Union helps with the hauling, and the backslapping, and the vaping. Especially with the vaping.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "You guys used to argue about wizards a lot?"
<Crion> Lauren: "We argue about a lot of things."
<Crion> "Argued."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Sorry. If I'd known I would've just dropped it."
<Crion> Lauren: "I know you would have. ...It's an argument worth having. Just, not around me."
<Crion> "...He ended the relationship. If you were wondering. Which you were."
<Crion> "It's very much over. Hopefully the next time we see him he's hauling this thing out of here."
<Crion> "Wrap this power cord, would you?"|
<Crion> Eventually, Union, Maggie, and Nels get all of this junk at least into the Wherehouse atrium. Where are we taking it?
<Crion> In fact Union asks precisely that: "Wherrrrrre are we taking it?"
<Crion> He slaps a folded up light stand. "You can fit half a city's GDP in these bad boys."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart wraps the cord. "I didn't know Chup could be that exuberant."
<trenchfoot> We have any spare quarters we haven't already made use of? As I recall the Wherehouse is pretty large and we've got rooms for each of us, the common room, and the kitchen, so there's probably room to expand...
<Crion> Lauren: "Chup loves people who make him work for it."
<Crion> "Because cats are weird and stupid."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "A lot of people are like that too."
<Crion> You essentially have whatever narrative space you'd like within reason, especially because you could hedgespin a second floor in the Wherehouse at any time.
<Crion> Very high ceiling.
<dammitwho> Maggie points: "Way down at the end there, next to the pile o' junk. HEY FELLAS! Say hi to Union!"
<Crion> Business Steve, be-tracksuited: "Honk"
<Crion> Then he cracks a beer.
<Crion> Union: "This fuckin' bangs."
<Crion> "You've got a fuckin. A Lithuanian duck."
<trenchfoot> Nels: "That's Steve. He mostly does business." She's never been quite clear on what kind of business.
<Crion> Union: "Such power..."
<Crion> Slav Steve: "honk"
<Crion> He is eying the new material.
<trenchfoot> Is that something he would honk around Tony?
<Crion> Business Steve might have some ideas...
<Crion> About business.
<Crion> Anyway Union starts moving the racks to where Maggie wants them.
<Crion> Union: "Damn. So we're basically outside of time and space here."
<Crion> "Maybe not time."
<trenchfoot> Nels will help with anything small enough for her to carry. She freezes slightly at 'outside of time,' but keeps walking without a comment.
<dammitwho> Maggie: "We've never had any trouble with the ol' four dimensions before. Outside, maybe."
<dammitwho> "Seriously, though. You're welcome to hang about, but when you leave, only go out the way you came in."
<trenchfoot> Nels: "There can be... problems. The other ways."
<Crion> Union: "Ride that spaaace elevator..."
<Crion> "..."
<Crion> "So where do you want the generators?"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "I gotta say, wizards aside I was really impressed with Angelfire. Well-socialized or not that's a really uncomfortable situation to be in."
<Crion> Lauren: "Being magnanimous to your ex is a bit easier when you've had to work with her for a couple years already. And you were the one who ended it."
<VoxPVoxD> "Yeah..."
<VoxPVoxD> Some other time.
<Crion>
<Crion>
<Crion>
<Crion>
<Crion>
<Crion>
<Crion>
<Crion>
<Crion>
<Crion> So. It's time to get up to some shit.
<VoxPVoxD> It feels so good to have a job where no one he love's life or livelihood is on the line.
<Crion> That's dark shit. You gotta love yourself.
<Crion> Anyway, there's a video file waiting for Stewart on a secured FTP when he's ready.
<VoxPVoxD> Look it's on his to-do list,but you know how it is when higher-priority tickets are always coming in. Stewart pulls the video to the Autumn box. What's he looking at?
<Crion> A multi-cut. A pretty confusing one, too, in totality. This was made internally from sourced viral video, which was then stitched together -- you've got four quadrants, which black out and return when the feed in question is either interrupted or replaced. They describe an incident on a dance floor at Power Plant Live, one of the more upscale 21+ theme parks in the Baltimore night life
<Crion> landscape.
<Crion> So you're looking at some pretty standard white people shit at first; it starts with a couple selfies followed by a bunch of laughing and a...conversation top right with someone who's not there. Seems taller, the way everyone in feed is reacting, and by the phone-holder's laughing you can tell that whatever the vampires have going on that wipes them from a live feed, it doesn't work on the
<Crion> human eye in real time. Best of both worlds for them, especially in the streaming future.
<Crion> Context clues indicate a man, laughing and smiling and very interested in a young woman.
<Crion> Then he hits the dance floor.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart watches intently. The box has Lauren's hack of VLC on it so he can easily pause and move around frame by frame when shit gets weird.
<Crion> That is a white boy with silver hair pretending to be Michael Jackson.
<Crion> And he ends it by pointing with both fingers...at the absense.
<VoxPVoxD> Damn. He's not Michael Jackson but he's good.
<Crion> There's a laughing exchange of...not quite jokes. A big dude kind of steps to the dancer, but the guy laughs him off -- big guy isn't a vampire, and looks like he was more mad about the dancer taking eyes off him during his own smooth moves than anything else. But the absence and the dancer close to within feet, and while Stewart can only hear the dancer's side of the conversation, it goes
<Crion> like: "Sorry to blow up your spot." "I've seen you around here before." "Oh, hell yeah." "Because I know what you are." "We should get..."
<Crion> Only two of the feeds catch this: a great silver sword bubbling up out of thin air like mercury behind where the vampire should be, the blade facing his back and the dancer's chest.
<Crion> "...Closer."
<Crion> It impales them both.
<VoxPVoxD> "Holy shit."
<Crion> Then, still impaled in the dancer, cuts up in a reverse L, decapitating the vampire. There's a flurry of dust as he laughs and everyone starts to run -- the feeds get choppy here, because everyone just saw a guy get murdered and vanish in front of them -- but the dancer laughs, pulling the sword out with a flourish of blood, and dashing into the crowd--
<Crion> There's only a few more seconds, then nothing.
<Crion> But what Stewart can divine is that, given an analysis of where people WEREN'T, while they were looking at "empty space," there were at least two more vampires on that dance floor.
<VoxPVoxD> Who, understandably, did not intervene.
<Crion> Perhaps. But the dancer was also charged towards one when everyone started running away.
<Crion> *charging
<Crion> So that's the video.
<Crion> Lauren, over Stewart's shoulder, with some tea for him: "Wild shit."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart takes the tea gratefully. "Thanks. Yeah that was nuts. You've gotta read it as a deliberate provocation, right? Like he got on the floor intending to do that."
<Crion> Lauren: "He was hunting. No one dances like that otherwise."
<Crion> "So I get why everyone's so worried."
<Crion> "Still. Killing vampires preying on drunk college girls..."
<VoxPVoxD> "Quite a distinctive-looking guy. If he's been there before, someone must recognize him."
<Crion> Lauren: "Facial recognition got nothing, but. That tech actually just sucks."
<Crion> "And maybe it didn't WANT to return anything."
<Crion> "I'd guess the vampires have more?"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Should stop by the Belvedere too, see if the Book has anything on him. I know the task force is meeting at a bar across the street in a couple nights. Have you ever been to 'the Brewer's Art'?"
<Crion> Lauren: "Yeah! They lean into that monk shit. Try the Resurrection Ale."
<Crion> "Well. When you're off work."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart nods, but his attention's drifting back to the video. He watches it again - slowed-down this time. Pausing, rewinding, going painstakingly over the moment of conjury and impalement. It's probably a little weird to observe from over his shoulder, the way he goes back and forth frame by frame creating the impression of the phantom sword sawing into and out of the vampire's body.
<Crion> It doesn't seem to be stopped by anything. Stewart can tell this isn't some artifact of the vampire behind edited out of the video. It just effortlessly moves through its victim.
<Crion> Lauren will leave him to it.
<Crion> Chup will flop down on the keyboard.
<Crion> He waits for her to get back to the kitchen, of course.
<VoxPVoxD> Another canny hunter with a masterful sense of timing.
<Crion> Chup: "mmmrrr."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart's a bit comforted by the knowledge that death by a sword so sharp is likely to be painless. When you get stabbed that badly, usually the shock will numb you, and then you're gone before your brain can recalibrate.
<VoxPVoxD> Not always, though. Sometimes you die screaming.
<VoxPVoxD> Lot of variables.
<Crion> Didn't seem to hurt the silver-haired boy. Though the blood did seem to be his?
<Crion> No blood seems to explode out of nowhere.
<Crion> It's his.
<Crion> And he's just laughing.
<VoxPVoxD> The last few runs through the video, Stewart's smiling along. That kind of enthusiasm is infectious.
<Crion> He's probably learned all he'll learn from it at this point. Meeting's in a couple hours.
<Crion> Detour by The Belvedere won't take too long.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart's next stop is the Belvedere, which he needs to get to ASAP. The meeting's in a couple hours, but like he said the Belvedere and the meeting-place are so close he wants to be in and out with enough time to have visibly left and returned unseen. The Book is helpful, to a point - it confirms that the boy (The Boy, as the encyclopedia informs him) is known to it, but besides a 'name'
<VoxPVoxD> and a picture any information is occluded behind a series of middle finger emojis that really do not look like they should be rendering in the Book's mid-90s interface.
<VoxPVoxD> Then he drives home, and instead of re-entering the building, loiters for a bit in one of the spots Canterbury likes to stand when he's on guard duty. This time of night, the shadows are all but impenetrable. The urge bubbles up to sink into them like a warm bath, and soon Stewart Reader is lost to the world.
<VoxPVoxD> The bus takes him right back - getting on behind someone, the driver doesn't even glance up when he doesn't pay a fare.
<Crion> The Brewer's Art. One-story storefront bar with a main dining area with a big bar on the wall across from the door in, then a supplementary dining area to the left of that facing the bar. Between the two on your left heading into the supplementary dining area is a staircase down to the basement, which has a second landing. For those keeping track at home: to reach the basement, you take the
<Crion> left-hand path three times.
<VoxPVoxD> No wonder they like it here.
<Crion> Large basement dining and bar area; bar is in the middle, and is a four-corners island. It's the only well-lit part of the basement. Arched ceilings, low-hanging. Two doors at the back that aren't the restroom. One is the downstairs kitchen; one is something else. Something else has a mook on it most nights; the nights it doesn't, it has a padlock.
<Crion> Alleyway to the left gives street access to the first-floor kitchen. It's directly above the basement kitchen.
<Crion> Has higher foot traffic than the main entrance before opening, lower afterwards.
<Crion> Other that than: Bouncer on the front door, bouncer at the bar, both civilians. Nice waitstaff that's incredibly busy all the time, and aren't paying that much attention. Stock uniform is the stock uniform of all modern places-to-be: black slacks, black shoes, black top.
<Crion> The mook on the door in the basement is not one of the bouncers.
<VoxPVoxD> That's also how Stewart is dressed, coincidentally. It can't possibly matter, since anyone who sees him will be able to *see* him. Is the basement doorman mortal?
<VoxPVoxD> Is he early enough that people have finished arriving, is the question... there's no one he knows in the outer basement area already, is there?
<Crion> The basement doorman appears to be, yes.
<Crion> There is not.
<Crion> The meeting's for midnight, so the normal foot traffic is in full swing. Everyone ignores him, but still subtly moves out of his way.
<VoxPVoxD> The guard's eyes are going to be on the room rather than the door, so it shouldn't be too hard to just, smoothly walk on by and through the door. It takes Stewart a few minutes to work up the nerve, but then he's just gently pushing the door open and sneaking inside, unless something goes horribly wrong.
<VoxPVoxD> Just gotta make sure the door doesn't hit him or something.
<Crion> Stewart gets through without issue. Door closes behind him quite softly. There's a hallway, and a fourth left-hand turn up ahead with light coming from beyond it...and Gaunt Rose standing in the corner of the turn, face lit by her phone, examining something.
<Crion> She looks up, eyes narrowed...then walks on by.
<Crion> There's a door to the left before the turn, and another to the right.
<Crion> ...Someone's in the right-hand room.
<VoxPVoxD> It's a few seconds after Rose looks up and walks by before Stewart can breathe again. He checks the right-hand room.
<Crion> Man standing over a woman. She's collapsed and dressed in the black outfit of the Art's staff. He's straightening and wiping off his chin.
<VoxPVoxD> Tall?
<Crion> This looks like a storeroom of some sort.
<Crion> Not the one from the video. Call it 6'1" against 6'3"
<Crion> .
<VoxPVoxD> Is she still breathing?
<Crion> She is, for now. Wounds on her neck have been sealed by the Kiss, and she's been left with enough blood to live, usually, but she's still convulsing...she's got a condition of some kind.
<VoxPVoxD> Shit. Shit. How long until midnight?
<Crion> Twenty minutes. If you can get her out, to an ambulance, and back, you'll be fine.
<Crion> She's unconscious, but cough-retching, and when she's breathing, it's shallow and short.
<Crion> Maybe something with her lungs?
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart looks around, and sees a first aid kid hidden behind a dumb standing cardboard display. Bandages, epipen... wait, if she's got an allergic reaction or something this would be perfect! But if she doesn't it might be insanely stupid. Fuck fuck fuck! As soon as he's sure the vampire is out of the room he'll pop the kit open, bind her neck, and follow the instructions on the pen,
<VoxPVoxD> jamming it into her thigh.
<Crion> She convulses, coughs...and responds well. She's waking up, but she needs medical attention beyond this...
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart crouches down to help her to her feet - she's awfully heavy, to his unStulike frame, but he's got the focus and willingness to strain his body to make up for it. Twenty seconds later she's stumbling through the door into the main dining area, which swings open and back enough to reveal... an empty hallway.
<Crion> She more or less collapses into the arms of the mook, who asks her to say something twice, then starts yelling for help. He hesitates slightly, then visibly says 'fuck it' and hoists her up, heading upstairs. An ambulance is already being called.
<Crion> Which draws the attention of the vampire.
<Crion> Tallish, oldish, looks like an aging rocker. Long hair in a ponytail. He checks the storeroom, his eyes widen, and he storms out front. Stewart can hear his questions; they focus first on whether she's alive.
<Crion> He's relieved to hear she is. When the mook returns, he thanks him.
<Crion> Then he heads back.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart holds his breath.
<Crion> There's no indication the vampire notices Stewart in the space behind the door.
<VoxPVoxD> Does he go into the left-hand door or down the hall?
<Crion> Down the hall, and to the left.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart checks the nearer room first.
<VoxPVoxD> Maybe there's a vantage point in there.
<Crion> Would you believe there's a vent?
<Crion> It's not like, a videogame vent.
<Crion> But it's a listenable one.
<VoxPVoxD> This is probably a lot smarter than trying to walk directly into the room and hope no one has magic that trumps his.
<Crion> ...There's also a door, but that's a lot more dangerous.
<VoxPVoxD> Let's start here.
<Crion> This is a lounge, by the way. This looks like the VIP area in general, and this is where all the couches are, while the conference room is next door.
<VoxPVoxD> Empty?
<Crion> Yep.
<Crion> There are refreshments on the center table, though.
<VoxPVoxD> When you say "refreshments",
<Crion> Normal.
<Crion> Two drained jack and cokes and a tater tots bowl that's empty.
<VoxPVoxD> Okay. Stewart's still not going to take any, but at least he doesn't have the smell of virgin blood in his nostrils while he's listening.
<Crion> His choice here is to listen through the vent or try to keyhole this shit. The good news is the fit on the lounge door isn't great.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart's going to listen, for now at least.
<Crion> A MAN'S VOICE, CULTURED: "How is she?"
<Crion> A MAN'S VOICE, MIDWESTERN: "On her way to the hospital. She'll be fine."
<Crion> A MAN'S VOICE, AGGRESSIVE: "Yeah?"
<Crion> GAUNT ROSE: "You guys ever learn not to shit where you eat?"
<Crion> CULTURED: "They don't shit."
<Crion> GAUNT ROSE: "No, they don't defecate."
<Crion> AGGRESSIVE: "Hah."
<Crion> MIDWESTERN: "She's going to be fine, so we should get started."
<Crion> The aggressive voice is Cuth.
<Crion> CUTH: "Sounds fine to me."
<Crion> "You said you need us for something?"
<Crion> From this Stewart can divine that Midwestern is the vampire, and Cultured is the willworker, given it's a meeting of the big four.
<Crion> He hasn't heard either of those latter two voices before.
<Crion> VAMPIRE: "I'll keep it brief. You've seen the video?"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart's one anxiety was coming in here and hearing a German accent. So far so good.
<Crion> ROSE: "It's circulated."
<Crion> MAGE: "Quite the show."
<Crion> CUTH: "Yup."
<Crion> VAMPIRE: "I'm not an idiot; I don't expect you to care that we lost three Kindred there. And yes, they were rather brazen. But we can't have this happening on the dance floor at Power Plant Live."
<Crion> ROSE: "Were they taking the girls off the dance floor before the killed them?"
<Crion> VAMPIRE: "Yes."
<Crion> ROSE: "To where."
<Crion> VAMPIRE: "The facilities."
<Crion> MAGE: "But they were leaving the bodies there. And making the papers."
<Crion> VAMPIRE: "No one outside Baltimore cares about that. A couple homicide detectives are fine, we can handle that, we can clamp down on the offenders, handle it inside the Court. None of you are bloodless, so I don't want to hear about it."
<Crion> ROSE: "Oh yeah, we're killing kids all the time."
<Crion> VAMPIRE: "Lecture me again in July, Gaunt."
<Crion> MAGE: "...The point is well made. Not the bit about the body factory in the rear rooms of Power Plant Live; that's obviously stupid. But we can't permit the conspiratorial powers to take notice."
<Crion> ROSE: "The Freehold's objection is not to what he's done, but him doing it virally."
<Crion> CUTH: "Seems like a badass. Are we gonna kill him?"
<Crion> VAMPIRE: "That's on the table."
<Crion> MAGE: "We're looking into what, precisely, he is. That sword...well, he's quite the specimen."
<Crion> ROSE: "The Freehold's position is we want him out, not dead. Dead requires a lot more fireworks."
<Crion> CUTH: "So you don't want me here."
<Crion> ROSE: "Please, Cuth. You know I always love to see you."
<Crion> ROSE: "But fuck no."
<Crion> Cuth laughs heartily.
<Crion> MAGE: "The Consilium will delve into this. We'll have a report. I presume the Freehold will do so as well, if I know the Lord Sage."
<Crion> ROSE: "It's on his docket."
<Crion> VAMPIRE: "He's going to strike again."
<Crion> CUTH: "Yeah?"
<Crion> ROSE: "So far he's killed a Frankenstein who suicided against a housing project, then four flex squad cops trying to kill some drug dealers, and now a college kill crew. Is my brief right?"
<Crion> MAGE: "It is."
<Crion> ROSE: "So if you all stop fucking killing people, you should be fine, and we can turn our minds to the fallout."
<Crion> VAMPIRE: "My people cannot, actually stop fucking killing people."
<VoxPVoxD> Hard not to side with Rose here.
<Crion> VAMPIRE: "And you have a responsibility under our agreements."
<Crion> ROSE: "It's always good to see you, Sobriquet. I've got a curfew."
<Crion> Rose gets up and leaves.
<Crion> Not through the lounge, into the hall.
<VoxPVoxD> A person whose sobriquet is Sobriquet?
<VoxPVoxD> Sure, why not.
<Crion> MAGE: "...She makes good points."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart keeps listening. The point is to learn things they *won't* tell her.
<Crion> SOBRIQUET: "Of course she does. It's easy to judge when all you do is run away from people."
<Crion> CUTH: "Heh."
<Crion> CUTH: "So she doesn't want to kill this kid. And hell, I respect his gumption. But I'm guessing that since the Consilium and the Court sent senior members and the Freehold sent a goth scene chick, we're now having the real discussion."
<Crion> SOBRIQUET: "...We would prefer a final death here. Politically."
<Crion> CUTH: "But not in front of cameras."
<Crion> SOBRIQUET: "No."
<Crion> MAGE: "Gaunt Rose's proposal made sense. Send him a way. Find him a better target."
<Crion> SOBRIQUET: "Then, Sommelier, you should find one."
<Crion> SOMMELIER: "All the mess and no cleaning."
<Crion> SOBRIQUET: "What?"
<Crion> SOMMELIER: "I enunciated quite well."
<Crion> SOMMELIER: "If you want to murder this boy, we won't do it in public, and the Consilium will not sign off on it without the Freehold. And if you want him gone, we will support that, but we refuse to do the heavy lifting."
<Crion> CUTH: "Should note here that the Pack has no desire to get involved. Just, if we do, it'd be fun."
<Crion> SOBRIQUET: "I feel like the Court has earned a bit more trust than this."
<Crion> SOMMELIER: "You sent a girl to the hospital before you walked in here."
<Crion> SOBRIQUET: "...I'll pass tonight along to St. Sebastian and the Prince."
<Crion> SOBRIQUET: "Goodnight and good luck."
<Crion> CUTH: "Uh huh."
<VoxPVoxD> Does everyone get up here or just Sobriquet?
<Crion> SOMMELIER: "Farewell and good roads."
<Crion> Everyone gets up, but only Sobriquet leaves, at least immediately.
<Crion> CUTH: "How you been, man?"
<Crion> SOMMELIER: "Stuck indoors."
<Crion> CUTH: "Right. ...I respect the Court, but, like. An abomination, a bunch of cops, and rape-killers. We'll do the fight if we gotta, we need the support. ...Especially if they're listening, right now. But the Pack would like maybe for this kid to just go to Denver and fuck up evil people there."
<Crion> SOMMELIER: "Noted. And I've made sure they're not."
<Crion> SOMMELIER: "Good night, Cuthbert."
<Crion> CUTH: "Night, Som."
<Crion> None of them return to the lounge.
<VoxPVoxD> Soon Stewart is creeping out behind them.
<VoxPVoxD> Or, wait.
<VoxPVoxD> Maybe he should poke in on the conferenc room first...
<VoxPVoxD> Eh, there's probably not like briefing books on the table or anything.
<VoxPVoxD> Let's get out of here.
<Crion> The room is indeed empty.
<Crion> Well, except for chairs and tables.
<VoxPVoxD> Anything strange happen on the way out?
<Crion> Nope.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart lets the magic slough off him as he steps outside, getting a surprisingly good look at the man who must be Sommelier. What happens next is reflex.
<Crion> As Stewart comes out of The Brewer's Art, Sommelier sees him and stiffens. Then flags him down. "Young man! Young man."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart looks briefly shocked but recovers quickly and jogs forward. "Sir?"
<Crion> "You work here, yes?"
<Crion> He shakes his head. "Of course you do."
<VoxPVoxD> So reflexively it doesn't feel like a lie: "Yes, sir."
<Crion> "There was a waitress, taken out of here, earlier tonight. How is she? Will she live?"
<VoxPVoxD> Sommelier looks kindlier than Stewart would've guessed. "Oh, Marissa! Yeah, she just had a really nasty allergic reaction to something. She's gonna be okay."
<Crion> He nods and smiles. "Thank you. Good. I--...Good. Good night." He'll step into his cab.
<Crion> Sommelier -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHDVZ64cxFs What I really want to know is, do you feel that you...
<VoxPVoxD> Do you feel that you have more freedom now?
<VoxPVoxD> Something about that eats at Stewart as he walks home.
<Crion> As the door closes, Sommelier leans back into his seat and collapses.
<VoxPVoxD> Collapses in like a tired way, or like a got-knocked-out way?
<Crion> The former, leading to the latter. A deep and endless sigh.
<VoxPVoxD> Long night.
<Crion> There's someone waiting for him after the first turn and the second block after that. She's smoking a Marlboro 100 and texting someone. "Stewart," she says, "Reader." And she puts away the phone.
<Crion> Gaunt Rose.
<Crion> She indicates an alley. "Step into our office."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart looks up, startled out of his thoughts. But he goes where she points.
<Crion> "Don't care if you trust me. Do you trust the Lord Sage?" She's walking up to metal door.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Sure."
<Crion> She touches the door with all five fingers of her right hand, then raps on it. It becomes a star field, which she opens, and steps through. Before she's gone: "Close it behind you."
<Crion> This is going somewhere into the Hedge.
<VoxPVoxD> He does.
<Crion> Into a Hollow, as it turns out.
<VoxPVoxD> 'Our' office? Interesting...
<Crion> A Hollow that is 20 feet by 20 feet, with two bunk beds, a refridgerator, and a closet. And a small table with three chairs. A safe house.
<VoxPVoxD> Cool. Stewart'd hate to think about what kind of situation makes a Hollow that isn't any of their regular Hollows necessary, so he doesn't. "It's nice to meet you," he says when they're alone.
<Crion> Rose throws her bag on one of the beds, and sits down in a chair. "We met when you started trying to take my job."
<Crion> "And you're doing better than I expected."
<Crion> "That was you with the waitress?"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart sits down too. "...yeah." That'd harder to say that you'd maybe think it should be. "She was having some kind of allergic reaction. I don't think Sobriquet realized."
<Crion> Rose: "Vampires kill people all the time. Sometimes they don't even mean to."
<Crion> "...Good you were on it."
<Crion> "Not just because she's still alive. But mainly."
<Crion> "How much did you overhear?"
<Crion> "Guessing you used the lounge."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Yeah. I got everything from when Sobriquet walked back in to when everybody left."
<Crion> She takes a drag. "They say anything interesting?"
<Crion> "After I left."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "The Court is pushing for an assassination. The Consilium wants a diplomatic solution. Cuth's down to clown if that's what it comes to, but he'd just as soon The Boy shipped off to Denver."
<VoxPVoxD> "They took the view that the Freehold didn't really care, since they sent someone relatively junior to sit in."
<Crion> Rose chuckles. "Thaaaaaat's me. The junior girl scout."
<Crion> "Great."
<Crion> "How hard did Sobriquet push? Did he demand a decision?"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Not hard. He's taking it back to Lister and the Regent."
<Crion> Rose: "Could work in our favor; could not. Either way they won't take action before bringing back in front of the Gang of Four."
<Crion> "Unless Sebastian has truly lost his mind."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Is that what the task force is called?"
<Crion> Rose: "But here I am, giving you intel."
<Crion> Rose: "We're not about to call it Task Force: Beta or something."
<Crion> "Might as well be named after something as stupid and useless as a congressional committee."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Alright. Thanks."
<Crion> "Uh huh."
<Crion> "So you're a spy now."
<Crion> "You spend however the fuck many weeks as a questing superhero and now you just...walk on in."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart blinks. "What do you mean?"
<Crion> She takes a drag. "And you save a life too, so I can't even actually give this speech for real."
<Crion> "I mean that you're just effortlessly taking my job away from me and as a bonus you're so good at it I get to feel bad for being angry."
<Crion> "I got to be a patsy tonight. You did the real work."
<Crion> "Cracked the door to the lounge you know. Saw you in there."
<Crion> "There was something supernatural around."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "I missed that completely. If you hadn't been you I'd be fucked."
<Crion> "If I hadn't been me I wouldn't have seen you."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "You could've been someone who wasn't on my side. Like imagine if this was happening in High Summer."
<Crion> She laughs. "And now you're just pumping me for information."
<Crion> "Fuck you, Reader." It's at least slightly good natured.
<Crion> More than a little bit rueful, though.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Listen. I know this might not mean much, given the circumstances, but Santander offered me the apprenticeship a few weeks ago, never mentioned that he already had an apprentice. Then I meet you on the way up to see him and he tells me he'll take us both as far as we can go. So I don't want to-- I'm not here to fuck you over. I really don't want to do that."
<Crion> Rose, sighing out the smoke: "You already did. And I've gotta be the better person and accept the apology."
<Crion> "Feels good, man."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "How did I? If there can be two Lord Sages, how does my being here hurt you?"
<Crion> Rose: "You think the Lord Sages will actually allow that? Or do you think that one of us will just get to be Assistant to the Lord Sage as far as the Order is concerned? Because the order is a contract."
<Crion> "You can't just decide to appoint two."
<Crion> "Maybe Santander thinks he can, but you've seen that man's office."
<Crion> "Fantasia."
<Crion> She stands. "When you leave, the portal collapses. Don't leave anything in here you want. File early if you want to beat my report."
<Crion> Rose walks out unless she's stopped.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart stands when she does. He starts to say something to her back... but thinks better of it.
<VoxPVoxD> He leaves quietly, after cleaning out the ashtray.
<Crion> When he exits, he's a block away from his apartment.
<Crion> Rose is nowhere to be seen, of course.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart sighs and heads upstairs. Lauren's probably still awake, right? It can't be later than 1.
<Crion> Lauren and Chup are both still up. The latter is in a loaf on the kitchen counter, staring at the door.
<Crion> "Mwwow."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart croaks "Chuuuuuuuup." like a talking bullfrog.
<Crion> Chup deigns to stand, in order to be lifted, as he is accustomed to. From the gamer room and her own PC, Lauren: "How'd it go, babe?"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart cradles Chup like a baby. "Okay on balance. One near-death experience, one conspiracy to form a conspiracy to commit murder, one relationship in permanent zugzwang."
<VoxPVoxD> He rubs Chup's belly. "Everyone's okay."
<Crion> Lauren: "I know chess shit well enough to know it can't be that bad."
<Crion> "Rose?"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Yeah. She's really convinced I fuck her over just by existing, but she's too ethical to actually get mad at me for it, so she gets mad at me for forcing her to judge herself for getting mad at me for it. And everything I say just pulls the finger trap tighter."
<Crion> Lauren: "...Yeah. That's Rose."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "You know I was this close to just offering to let her have the job?"
<Crion> "She wouldn't take it."
<Crion> "I mean, she would. But. All that stuff would just get worse."
<Crion> "Santander had an apprentice before her. And he died."
<VoxPVoxD> "Like I don't give a shit if I'm the Squire Sage or whatever. Let Santander bequeath her his wizard hat without cutting it in half. But... yeah. It's almost disrespectful."
<VoxPVoxD> "I like the work, not the title. Frankly I don't think I'll ever be able to pull off the title."
<VoxPVoxD> "You really gotta be like an old wizard or a goth babe to call yourself Lord Sage of the Unknown Reaches and get away with it."
<Crion> Lauren: "It's the work she likes. She was already doing it for him anyway."
<VoxPVoxD> "There's so obviously enough work for two people though. Like this city is fucked. Suicide Frankensteins and vampire schemes and the regular fucking cops."
<Crion> "There is, babe, but you're not listening to me." Lauren turns in the chair as Chup takes the opportunity to flop onto her. "Kingsley actually laughed at Rose, when she asked to take Null's work over. To her face. She changed Courts."
<VoxPVoxD> "She's not Autumn?"
<Crion> "She is now."
<Crion> "She was Winter."
<VoxPVoxD> "Oh."
<VoxPVoxD> "Well, respect for getting mad enough at Kingsley to change your whole career."
<Crion> "She made her decision before that."
<Crion> "Kingsley learned that laughing didn't work on her."
<VoxPVoxD> He sinks into his own chair. "What would you do, if you were me?"
<Crion> Lauren, plopping Chup on her lap: "Make sure that you can both actually be Lord Sages."
<Crion> "Santander's not a liar and he's not a fool, but promising two titles is a lot."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "She made it sound like there's more to it than just, political recognition. Like it's a Contract in itself."
<Crion> Lauren: "Then she's probably right."
<Crion> "...And Contracts have Loopholes."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "So if we can learn and invoke the Loophole..."
<Crion> Lauren: "Yeah. If the Loophole doesn't incredibly suck."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "So we gotta hope it's not a Goblin Contract then."
<Crion> Lauren: "Maybe you should hope it is. You can pay those off pretty easy."
<Crion> Chup: "rrrrRaow."
<Crion> Lauren: "Ugh, fine, idiot."
<Crion> She cradles him again.
<Crion> He stares at Stewart smugly.
<Crion> Maintaining eye contact.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart, to the cat: "That's fair."
<Crion> He rolls over in her arms and just sort of, extends his legs, one hitting her in the chin. Lauren: "Okay, great."
<Crion> He retracts them and goes into stupid baby mode.
<Crion> Lauren: "I'm going to placate this idiot then head to bed. ...You're not going to stream this late, right?"
<VoxPVoxD> "No, I'm just gonna write this up and then I'll join you." Stewart turns around to make his report, leaving nothing out except Marissa's name and his meeting with Rose. The report ends with conjecture on future leads - the possibility that the Court will feel compelled to solve this in-house, overtures made by the Court to the Pack outside the remit of the Task Force, surveillance techniques
<VoxPVoxD> employed by the Consilium, and of course the dynamite option of attempting to predict where The Boy will strike next.
<Crion> When he gets to bed, Lauren is already asleep, and Chup is dug in on his pillow. He'll move, but only to Stewart's chest. Then he'll slump over between you two, as Lauren curls into you.
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<Crion> It's the night before Christmas, and all through the Wherehouse, there's a goose playing with his beer, like a cat with a mouse. Thankfully it's unopened, but who knows how that's going to fizz up when he finally -- ah there it goes. Well damn. He got pretty much all of it in his mouth.
<banana> Okay, we're not going to let beer stains become a norm. Melanie will interrupt her mournful contemplation to grab a towel, wet it, spend a minute futilely trying to convince Steve to clean up his own mess..
<CBN> Tony's in his bachelor hovel. He disappeared about an hour ago with some tape and some wrapping paper if anyone was paying attention, because being sneaky is an outdoors activity. Nevertheless, his door (A DOOR!) is shut and a tinny radio playing classic rock can be faintly heard behind.
<Crion> The handover of power from Autumn to Winter went off a few days ago without muss or fuss in a private ceremony at the law offices, and the Winter King once again swore the proper oaths and made the proper signs, so on and so forth. There will be a Christmas dinner at The Sidereal, but it's mostly a quiet affair for Freehold changelings with nowhere else to go; attendence is neither officially
<Crion> expected nor even informally encouraged.
<Crion> What does the Wherehouse have planned for the holidays?
<banana> "If you can open beer bottles you can manipulate a cloth rag. This is a different kind of business, the business we make immigrants do."
<Crion> honk
<Crion> Steve is arguing he didn't even spill any. Well. Much.
<Crion> Business Steve is taking a vacation, for his part. Steve is currently wearing a tiny Santa hat.
<CBN> After Steve emphatically veto'd Tony's plans to hang up Christmas lights and an inflatable Santa on the roof, he's kept the Christmas'ing relatively low-key, current activities notwithstanding. Nevertheless, he emerges from his bachelor hovel, shuts the door behind him quietly, and pops into the kitchen to check on the stove, where he's had some cider coming to a low simmer in a pot on a burner.
<dammitwho> Maggie is making a honey baked ham, mashed potatoes, green beans, stuffing, and some nice rolls. The ham was a substitution for avian meat, out of respect for Business Steve.
<CBN> He of course has to jockey around Maggie and her items for burner space and kitchen room, but this is a ballet known well by now.
<dammitwho> She's chewing gum, also?
<VoxPVoxD> How does Lauren feel about spending Christmas with the motley? Despite wrapping all these presents Stewart is ambivalent.
<Crion> Lauren would be delighted to.
<banana> Melanie enjoys living with two people who cook. Apart from that she's got no plans, which is a first.. and also very much isn't.
<banana> Having kept the floor from going fully bachelor apartment, she returns to ham observation. "This hasn't changed much, has it? Not across however many generations."
<Crion> For the time being, Steve is avoiding the kitchen except when he wants a beer, and even then he sneaks in, grabs one, and runs away. Perhaps he Googled "Christmas goose" or something.
<dammitwho> Maggie: "Pigs are mostly the same, I guess? Pigwise?"
<CBN> Tony retrieves some cinnamon sticks in a bundle he got from the (regular) market, and begins rummaging around for mugs in the cabinetry of the kitchen. Everyone's gotta have at least one, one assumes. "I remember newspaper circulars used to have a big piece of pineapple on the ham. I never did that, and I don't know if I want to."
<CBN> Success. Mugs. "I do know, ham and pineapple on pizza is awful, so I have to assume it's not good if you just have more ham."
<banana> Melanie: "A lot of familes in Westminster had ham as well as turkey because it was like.. I guess it was a sort of prototypical meme."
<CBN> Tony: "Aren't those pronounced 'may-may'? Stewart said....anyway, ham and turkey seems like a waste. So much meat."
<banana> "There's a general sense upcounty that ham is, basically, patriotic. Because of stuff like Smithfield and how liberals object to it... the pigs themselves haven't changed, but there's context."
<banana> Melanie: "So I used to know a bunch of people who would like.. eat too much ham smugly, in the hope that it would piss off people in the city. Or ideally people in a city in California."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart and Lauren arrive late in the morning, possibly having picked up Nels. They're all lugging presents, a legion of patterned snowmen staring out at the motley with placid expressions.
<CBN> Tony: "It tastes good and the only pigs I've seen in the flesh were the ones that tried to shoot us, so put me down for ham. Here, hold this." Tony offers Melanie a mug with a cinnamon stick poking up past the lip, and freshly-ladled hot cider steaming in it.
<banana> "It does taste good." Melanie holds this.
<CBN> Tony nods to the mug. "Taste that quick. I'm trying something."
<Crion> By the by, the weather has turned a bit in the Hedge. While it's still an unusually warm winter on the other side -- kind of grimey rain today, and it's supposed to be even warmer tomorrow -- you're getting a white Christmas in the Hedge. Probably don't go out in it, though. Could be things hiding in the snow. And you didn't see who built those snowmen. And they seem to be moving around when
<Crion> you're not looking at them.
<banana> A couple of sips. "Also good. You've got enough aldehyde in there to really bring out the camphor."
<CBN> "Hey, good's good enough for me." Tony hollers from the kitchen. "STEVE you want some cider with that beer, get it while it's hot!"
<CBN> And dutifully, Tony will ladle out cider into a mug with a cinnamon stick to anyone who comes around, but only once they're there. It's best that way.
<VoxPVoxD> Setting them down on something waist-high, Stewart's face is obscured when he says "Merry Christmas," to the room.
<Crion> honk
<Crion> That's a Merry Christmas in return. Steve will cautiously toddle into the kitchen after the cider, wary of a trap.
<banana> Melanie's still leaning on the kitchen island and sipping the same mug when the others arrive. "Yeah."
<CBN> Tony: "MERRY CHRISTMAS!" From the kitchen. It smells amazing in the Wherehouse right now. And not even faintly bird-y, for once.
<CBN> Acknowledging Steve's care, Tony gives him a...lord in heaven is that a ceramic sippy cup with a (plastic, one assumes) straw? It is. "Here ya go buddy, Merry Christmas."
<CBN> It of course has The Cider.
<Crion> HONK!!!
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Man, it smells good in here."
<VoxPVoxD> "Need any help, Maggie?" he calls.
<dammitwho> Maggie: "Howdy, Stewart, Lauren! Shouldn't be but a few minutes."
<Crion> Lauren: "Merry Christmas!"
<dammitwho> "If you could set up those TV trays and put the ceramic bowls and such on 'em so we have kind of a serving area that'd be grand."
<Crion> Lauren: "On it!"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart bustles to help as well.
<CBN> Tony sets a few spare mugs with cinnamon sticks in them down in a corner of the kitchen, returns the cider pot to the range on Low, and disappears into his hovel again for a minute.
<banana> Melanie gets out of the way of the helpers; there are plenty of corners in this place. "How's it going? Did you guys manage to get a holiday break from the internet-hours jobs?"
<Crion> Lauren: "Angelfire is officially on call."
<Crion> "Thank God for that."
<dammitwho> Maggie, being wise and smart, has timed her cooking such that everything finishes at once. "Alllllright, pulling 'em out! Be careful, folks, it's hot!" She transfers everything but the ham to the serving trays, then pulls the ham out to start slicing it."
<Crion> Lauren's gotten more and better sleep in the last few nights than Stewart's ever seen out of her...with the caveat that they stared routinely sharing a bed in the midst of her being stalked by a movie monster.
<VoxPVoxD> It's nice. Makes everything feel orderly.
<banana> Melanie: "Speaking of, should we.. does anyone say grace?"
<CBN> Tony is at the table with a mug of cider and looking real chill . "Only bad thing about ham I can think of is, no wishbone. Looks real nice though, great work here Maggie."
<dammitwho> "Thank you kindly."
<Crion> Lauren giggles at that.
<dammitwho> ???
<VoxPVoxD> With the new league morphing into the new job, Stewart's own sleep schedule is still bad. "Yeah, this is amazing." All he has for Melanie is a slightly sheepish look.
<Crion> Seeing Maggie's look. "It's nothing. Just reminded me of a videogame I played once."
<banana> It's fine. It's not like she wanted that per se, it's just.. how things used to go.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart's family said grace...
<VoxPVoxD> ...but Stewart always hated it.
<CBN> Tony looks around and claps his hands together. But just once, not like church-y or anything. "This all looks great. You all are great. Here's to many more of these."
<Crion> Steve honks an "amen."
<VoxPVoxD> "Hear, hear."
<CBN> Tony clears his throat. "And I know it's a little late to mention this to you all now, being that it's already Christmas and all. But I think...we should get a boat."
<banana> Melanie holds out her mug and taps it on anyone's who wants to toast.
<dammitwho> Maggie: "Cheers!" She'll mash her mug against Melanie's.
<VoxPVoxD> ...is it "hear, hear" or "here, here"? Stewart doesn't actually know, and after toasting begins eating with a slightly furrowed brow.
<dammitwho> Maggie: "Cheers!" She'll mash her mug against Melanie's.
<CBN> Tony tinks mugs with Melanie and Maggie in turn.
<Crion> Lauren will toast too.
<VoxPVoxD> "What kinda boat?"
<banana> Melanie's going to take a seat and wait for a moment before pointing out the no-waterfront thing. Maybe someone else will do it.
<dammitwho> "A boat?"
<CBN> Tony: "I was thinking a houseboat. Something with at least a couple doors in it, because of that cool door thing we can do. Maybe figure out if we can hook it up to this place on a side-entrance or something."
<dammitwho> Maggie: "There isn't any water, though?"
<CBN> Tony: "Just think about it. All the fun of sea travel, and being able to come back here to grab food, or use the bathroom with privacy, and sleep without getting seasick, which is probably a thing I've never been on a boat before."
<banana> Melanie: "There's a drinking fountain just outside the elevator on the Market side."
<CBN> Tony: "There's no water here, but like...the door thing. We don't really have an elevator here either, but we know how that...works? Sort of? It's still in the early stages."
<CBN> Tony: "But I think it could be fun and after the fall and winter we've already had, it might be nice to spend part of spring and summer getting sun somewhere that doesn't smell like pee outside so much."
<Crion> Riverways exist in the Hedge -- they're just another form of Hedgerow, really -- so there's utility to it. Unless you mean a boat out in the real world. That's probably even easier to swing.
<CBN> He waves the thought away. "Something to ask Santa for maybe. Putting it out there now though, in case anyone wants to get captain's hats and boat shoes, which I'm told are what you wear on boats, early."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "So like, renting a slip in a marina, docking a boat in it, joining it to the Hollow with a portal... you mean a boat in the normal world, right, like the real Patapsco?"
<banana> "...I wonder about swimming actually. Do you float? I don't think I do, but I haven't tried.. we could go to a pool or find some kind of naiad glade outside."
<CBN> Tony: "Yeah exactly! Real boat, all that. And probably safer to do real-world-water-stuff than Hedge-water-stuff, since. Hedge."
<CBN> Tony: "I'm wearing a life vest before finding out, Melanie."
<Crion> Lauren: "Something to be aware of: Any arched bridge tunnel can be turned into a portal by covering it with a tarp."
<Crion> "Summer's done some rather daring raids involving that."
<CBN> Tony: "That sounds...I'm using this correctly sick as hell?"
<CBN> He looks to Stewart mostly for confirmation on the hip lingos of today.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart nods.
<CBN> Tony beams.
<Crion> Lauren: "I can confirm."
<trenchfoot> Nels is playing in the background - she's on a Mariah Carey original at the moment.
<banana> Has everyone got some of Maggie's ham? Melanie's going to try hers silently if so. It's comforting stuff, all the carbon you'd expect and a fructose glaze on every mouthful.
<CBN> Tony already got seconds. It's hungry work doing [absolutely nothing to see here], and he is jazzed at the prospect of a boat.
<Crion> Lauren has eaten perhaps a bit more than she should, and has asked if she can take some home for Chup, as a treat. Chup can have a little Hedge ham.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart, comparatively, has eaten a lot less (though he did make sure to clean his plate!) and is drinking the special cider.
<trenchfoot> Is that wise? Nels isn't exactly an expert, but, introducing things to the Hedge goes poorly in her experience.
<Crion> Lauren will have offered to DD, if Stewart's willing to trust her with the car (she's licensed).
<Crion> Or they could stay over...
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart wouldn't mind staying.
<VoxPVoxD> Put all that work into his room, and it hasn't seen much use since Halloween.
<Crion> In that case, she'll partake as well. Santander can make any parking tickets go away anyhow.
<VoxPVoxD> Man. Life is pretty good, objectively speaking.
<banana> As everyone eats, there are plenty of gaps in conversation. Melanie keeps wanting to fill them and stopping herself; she doesn't want to bring people down tonight. None of the topics buzzing in her head are appropriate. She imagines what it would be like to hear actual buzzing in there, a hive of the kind that produced this glazing.. little parasite organisms with their own extended family
<banana> and bee holidays.
<Crion> It never stays like this forever. But maybe, this time, it could.
<VoxPVoxD> I always told myself tomorrow would be light, free and easy~ I don't know, I still could be right~
<CBN> Tony, fatly sated, would unbuckle a belt but he's wearing track pants. God, 2019 is a beautiful time to be alive.
<trenchfoot> It really is.
<dammitwho> Maggie: "Uuuuuuuuwaaaaahhhh."
<Crion> Lauren: "That was all delicious."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "For real. Thank you so much."
<trenchfoot> Nels: "Amazing."
<dammitwho> Maggie who has gone in on the cider, slumping back with a handkerchief over her face: "So be EASY and FREE when ya DRINKIN' wi'me, I'm a MAN you don't MEET everyday..."
<banana> Melanie: "Ehehe. Ham radio."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart snorts.
<trenchfoot> Nels will immediately begin accompanying Maggie on guitar. Abandoning what's left of her meal to do so, too.
<Crion> Lauren will begin clearing places for those who are finished. Is there dessert to be served, and thus new plates required?
<CBN> Tony: "Sounds like it's time for presents!" Tony looks meaningfully at the corner, where there's apparently been a large wooden coat rack with a piece of paper taped to the mid-section reading 'SYBOLOLICALY a tree not really one though 4 melanie - tony' in the middle. On the top there is what must've been...a 4th-of-july star pinwheel? It's red white and blue, and spinning faintly. The important thing is at the bottom, where,
<CBN> arranged on a few carpet samples, are nicely-wrapped presents of all shapes and sizes, each addressed to a different member of the motley.
<CBN> Tony, in mock-surprise, or maybe feigned-and-he's-bad-at-this: "And it looks like Santa came! For everyone!"
<VoxPVoxD> Oh, wow, Stewart somehow missed that completely. He stops helping Lauren to go get the presents he set down near the entrance. "Yeah! Everybody gather around."
<trenchfoot> !
<banana> Melanie: "Oh.."
<CBN> Tony goes over and starts handing out the wrapped gifts to the motley as they approach.
<banana> She didn't think. All those memories and associations but it didn't occur to her to get presents. That's.. something to remember next time. Tony's so nice.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart's got packages for Lauren, Maggie, Melanie, Nels, and Tony.
<CBN> Stewart's gift is rectangular and roughly the length of a forearm and hand, and about a third as wide. Maggie's is loosely wrapped, and feels like some article of clothing in there maybe, or a blanket. Melanie's is...well it's obvious it's a book, c'mon. But its wrapped. Nels gets a box about the size of a hand, that jangles faintly on being shaken. Steve's is slightly larger than his head, and kinda lumpy.
<trenchfoot> Nels has gifts for Stewart, Maggie, Melanie, Tony, and Steve.
<banana> Melanie's pale-faced and very smiley accepting hers. Technically her Mien is always pale since it's white and flaky, but her Mask is wan too. "Thank you to Santa. We'll have to get a letter to him, there's got to be a contract out there."
<CBN> Tony trades Stewart and Nels for their gifts, and looks expectantly at everyone else before opening his. "Of course, Melanie. We have an extra day this next year to track him down, too!"
<trenchfoot> Nels cracks her knuckles meaningfully.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart unwraps his gifts as he looks around to see what other people got.
<CBN> From 'Santa,' Stewart got a keyboard. It's a mechanical one, and it's missing an Escape key. Tony holds his hands up. "Now, I tried to get all the dirt off, and I don't know what it does yet, but, I have to assume something cool."
<trenchfoot> Nels' gifts are almost all joke-gifts; she was never good at giving gifts, and being thrown 100 years into the future didn't improve that. So Stewart's gift of a CD copy of Zork - don't ask how she got that - is well within her wheelhouse.
<CBN> He looks around at everyone: "This shouldn't spoil it, but, they're all, whaddya call them, tokens! Fresh-brewed out in the Hedge! I spent like fifty bucks on compressed air cans!"
<CBN> Tony unwraps his gifts now that he's let the cat out of the bag for everyone else's.
<CBN> His own gifts, crucially. What'd Stewart and Nels get him?
<trenchfoot> Nels' gift for Tony is a boxset of horror movies... that have no horror. The kids just go home. It's fine.
<banana> "Oh that's clever. We can have Wyrd-selected surprises and you get to find out too." :)
<CBN> Tony clutches them to his chest. "Thank you." Almost a whisper.
<banana> After kind of hugging her gifts to her trunk for a few moments, Melanie will open them. Thank God at least she's not the only one receiving presents, that would be too familiar.
<dammitwho> Maggie's not very good at giving gifts either, so she made a real tapping-temple decision and got everyone candy. Those huge chocolate bars you hope you get trick-or-treating? Yup. Those big tins of butter cookies that never have cookies in them, only sewing stuff, except THIS TIME IT HAS BUTTER COOKIES? You got it.
<CBN> Melanie's token says on the cover that it's Kant's Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals, and half the pages are pretty heavily dog-eared.
<CBN> Tony: "Maggie, where do you even GET these, with the cookies still in them?"
<banana> Melanie: "..but whose morals? Wow, this is really going to be something."
<CBN> Tony: "Melanie I ....I don't know if it's still that book. Or what that book even is. But it looked like it would be your kind of thing, hopefully it still is."
<banana> "Yes absolutely. Thank you. Like.. even experimenting to find out what this is will.. thank you."
<Crion> "Oh wow," Lauren says three or four times.
<dammitwho> The exception here is Chup, who got a little kitty hideaway shaped like a big slice of pizza, where the cat climbs in and lurks between the cheese and the bread.
<Crion> Lauren: "!!!"
<Crion> "Omigosh thank you Maggie! He'll love it, though pretend not to!"
<trenchfoot> Her gift for Melanie is a bonsai tree: make it as good as you are. Maggie gets a more purposeful gift; moonshine with cherry flavoring, for the perfect mix of promise and menace.
<trenchfoot> Steve gets the nicest hat a goose has ever had.
<dammitwho> Maggie: "You have to order 'em from Denmark. All the ones here just came over with granny from the Old Country."
<dammitwho> What, if anything, did the others get her?
<CBN> Steve also gets the second-nicest hat a goose has ever had: it's a helmet with space for 4 beers on it. "They adjust! I gotta admit, I tried yours out first Steve---when I say they adjust, I mean, you can put anything you can drink on them and they adjust to fit. A pony keg if your neck will support it, even."
<CBN> Maggie's Tony-Santa gift is...bless his heart, it's a smock, with some paint smudges on it. Unprompted: "Gardening apron!"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Ahhh!! This is so cool!"
<VoxPVoxD> From Stewart:
<VoxPVoxD> Lauren got a new mechanical keyboard and a silver necklace.
<VoxPVoxD> Maggie got a blocky, bronze-colored vaporizer and a box of cartridges.
<VoxPVoxD> Melanie got a sturdy tray of ridged and polished wood, and a bookstore gift card.
<VoxPVoxD> Nels got a new computer! The box says it's a 'Chromebook'.
<VoxPVoxD> Steve got a toddler-sized velvet cape, black on the outside red on the inside, with a brass clasp that juts out a bit and looks like a trout and a bottle opener.
<VoxPVoxD> Tony got a set of heavy orange pots and a big Dutch oven with delicately handled lids.
<banana> The little tree will get a planting spot in Melanie's bedroom. She's got plenty of water to spare for a guest. "This is called Arbor Initiis Novae."
<Crion> She loves the keyboard almost as much -- maybe more -- than the necklace, but it's not the keyboard she asks Stewart to put around her neck for her.
<trenchfoot> Nels' version says FATAL CUTIE on it, has holders for drinks, and is perfectly sized for a goose. If one were to concentrate very hard, it could become any other type of hat...
<Crion> That'd be weird.
<dammitwho> Maggie: "Well now, what is this here Stewart?"
<VoxPVoxD> This is the part that just feels good.
<Crion> Steve has a wealth of drinking headwear to choose from now. He'll be spending the rest of the night going back and forth.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "That's called a vape. I noticed you started smoking again, and I wanted to see if you'd like this instead. The cartridges have nicotine in them but they come in all different flavors and you're not, you know, sucking in smoke."
<CBN> Tony: "COOL beans Stewart, hell yeah. I'm gonna make so many burgers in this bad boy." He pats the top of the dutch oven. "You got no idea."
<VoxPVoxD> To Tony: "It was super hard to find good cookware that's not cast iron. But I found those online, they're from Denmark in the 70s. Steel and ceramic."
<CBN> Tony: "Denmark! Wow! Thank you!"
<CBN> Quietly, to Steve, in awe: "That's from Europe, you know."
<trenchfoot> Nels: "They - books made from chrome???"
<VoxPVoxD> To Nels: "That should be a lot faster and easier to use than your old iMac for schoolwork and the internet and listening to music."
<dammitwho> Maggie: "Oh lord, that's just what I needed. I was worried I'd have to start going outside or something, because I'd read about the smoke gumming up the works of the alphabet piano." She gestures vaguely towards her room and, presumably, her computer.
<dammitwho> "Thank you very much, Stewart."
<banana> "Hey that's a really good idea." Also to Nels: "It's the same kind of laptop I was showing you stuff on."
<CBN> Nels's gift from Tony-Santa is...christ, what is this? Is it a keyring? It's like 3 key rings kinda jumbled together, with different...guitar picks on them? Okay?
<trenchfoot> Quietly: "Oh my gosh."
<VoxPVoxD> To Melanie: "Speaking of which, I noticed you moving books around with your mind and realized that that's a lot harder to do with a computer because it's all plastic and silicon. But pretty much any laptop you use will lock onto that tray, and then you can move the tray around."
<VoxPVoxD> "It doesn't block any vents or ports or anything."
<banana> "Oh!! That's wizard thinking for you!"
<banana> Melanie experiments with the tray - she can 'lift' quite heavy things, floating them around on the wooden tool-surface. "This is so much better than picking up, like, an end table."
<CBN> Tony is eating cookies while eyeing the pans and oven, and just thinking of all the stuff he's going to make.
<banana> ugh this is all too toughtful and the candy bars she'll have to put off because too much sugar at once isn't good for the roots but like.. the elephant is not leaving this room. "Can I say something everyone?"
<CBN> Tony looks up at Melanie (he's seated on the floor, hugging the pans).
<trenchfoot> Nels is simply beaming while surrounded by her gifts.
<trenchfoot> It is faster!
<dammitwho> Maggie: "Oyez, oyez!"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart, who was studying the Zork CD (did it even ever come out on CD??), looks up.
<banana> Melanie: "I don't have presents to give out, I didn't think of it. Giving gifts. Wasn't something I mentally associated with Christmas, at least not anymore. I want to change that.. I want us to keep doing this, I want to participate properly. I.. love you all."
<CBN> No shut up you're crying.
<dammitwho> Maggie levers herself out of her chair and will hug Melanie unless it looks like Melanie really isn't into it.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart reflexively swallows the lump in his throat before he says, "I love you too! All of you."
<banana> No, they can definitely hug. Maybe with a few clanging and thumping noises but who gives a shit.
<Crion> honk!
<trenchfoot> Nels will immediately hurl herself into a hug. Fuck to all the rest.
<trenchfoot> Even you, you shithead goose.
<CBN> Tony hauls Steve into the group hug too.
<Crion> Steve's not quite sure what's going on, but he's enjoying himself.
<VoxPVoxD> Group hug!
<CBN> Tony: "Next year we should go caroling. This is not the cider talking." It was.
<trenchfoot> Nels: "Go what now?"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "I'll jingle the bells while Nels sings."
<CBN> Tony: "Singing Christmas songs door-to-door to people. Probably real world doors."
<banana> Melanie: "From- from the deck of the boat. Sing our way down the Patapsco."
<CBN> Tony: "People on TV shows wear big pom-pom hats and scarves and it looks really fun."
<trenchfoot> Nels: "Oh my gosh." She gets a gleam in her eye. "Do you think they know caroling in the hedge?"
<CBN> Tony looks to Steve.
<dammitwho> Maggie: "Sounds like it would be... dangerous."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart's about to say, 'Shit, we could probably find a bus to take us to Whoville' before he realizes what he's actually saying.
<Crion> honk Honk honk!! Yes, there are the Singing Swarms, and they're uncommonly gentle on the Dead God's Eve.
<trenchfoot> That revelation sends Nels back to her guitar. She immediately sets into All I Want For Christmas Is You.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart leans against Lauren on the love seat and listens.
<Crion> She'll nuzzle into him.
<VoxPVoxD> He wonders what the Kingsley brothers are doing tonight. And Santander. And Gaunt Rose. And Lister, Cuth and Kolsch. Are Stu and Maura traveling or hosting?
<CBN> Tony quietly excuses himself to go clean up the table, house some more cookies, chug some more cider, while soundtracked by pleasant live music. Next year, there will be Christmas lights, though.
<VoxPVoxD> There's that lump again. But it's nestled in the heart of something very warm and at peace.
<trenchfoot> Santa won't you bring me the one I really need Won't you please bring my baby to me quickly~
<trenchfoot> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tH4Tw3_uFas
<Crion> It won't be too much longer until Lauren excuses herself to get ready for bed -- she had a biiit too much cider.
<trenchfoot> No such thing. Or, well, there is, but. Coward.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart joins her, once he makes sure there's no cleaning left to be done.
<CBN> As long as no one's looking, Tony handles the cleanup far faster than anyone else would with help. He's good for that.
<Crion> You'll have a couple days of peace and quiet to yourselves...until word reaches you that your presence is requested, as a motley, formally, at The Sidereal. By the Winter King himself.
<Crion> This time it doesn't come through your courts, either -- Spring informs Tony, Canterbury the rest.
<VoxPVoxD> ! Interesting. What does Lauren make of this?
<trenchfoot> Hi, I hate this?
<VoxPVoxD> In the absence of further context, Stewart's inclined to assume it's just a difference in how Winter operates.
<Crion> Lauren is apprehensive. She doesn't think it's bad news for you -- but if the Winter King is worried about something...
<VoxPVoxD> Hmm.
<trenchfoot> Tell him to fuck off. I mean, make someone else do that, because that sounds rude...
<VoxPVoxD> Strangely, the prospect of real tension makes Stewart calmer. Having work to do is better than being called in to be silently judged, or rewarded.
<dammitwho> Gosh. Well, it's only polite to go and see what the Winter King wants.
<CBN> Tony's feeling some real optimism, after the last couple of days. He'll put on a solid game face (because he assumes the Winter Court requires you to look at least professionally sullen to some extent), but he's ready to go when everyone else is.
<trenchfoot> Nels just looks sullen. What are they gonna do, ban her from the mission? Good.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart's not gonna dress up *that* much, but this is one of the shirts he always remembers to iron, which therefore classifies as one of his 'good shirts'.
<VoxPVoxD> (not literally iron)
<dammitwho> They don't make them out of iron anymore!
<VoxPVoxD> Who's working security at the Sidereal now? Is it Spring?
<Crion> The mood at The Sidereal when you arrive is subdued, but that kind of feels like it's probably Winter's thing. Canterbury and Spring are on the doors, yeah.
<Crion> Jameson's inside, muttering something with Cider Stitch.
<VoxPVoxD> Everyone who makes eye contact with Stewart gets a very gentle nod.
<trenchfoot> Nels tries to hide her distaste at the mood. She succeeds admirably. Honestly, they just... display this sort of thing?
<Crion> Spring -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYUtXkmHeG8 The only one who's willing to play the game today, is the same as the one who ran away.
<CBN> Tony catches himself about to smile politely at Spring on the way in and settles for a game-face-chin-nod, before hustling inside.
<Crion> Jameson will nod towards the stairs. "He's in the upstairs bar. Hey, Tone. How you doing, man?"
<CBN> Tony: "Hey! Ah-oh you know. Cold out. Pretty good. Still alive. You?" Respectful handshake.
<Crion> Jameson: "Can't complain, can't complain."
<Crion> Jameson -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrE4cVTIdpE I watched the flood run in and take your hand from mine; I watched you save your own life.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart makes his way upstairs - what's the situation up here?
<Crion> Gemma's here too, chatting with Jordan Kit. ...Other than Angelfire, this is the entire Winter Court.
<Crion> That you know of, at least.
<dammitwho> I mean, they're supposed to be good at hiding.
<VoxPVoxD> Gemma and Jordan get full-sized smiles.
<trenchfoot> Nels has no idea who these people are. Big smiles all around.
<Crion> They're returned, to the extent those two ever really go for big smiles.
<Crion> Upstairs, the Winter King sits alone...brooding?
<dammitwho> Very good.
<Crion> He certainly seems troubled by something. His Mask is a new face now, still quite handsome but older, more lined. The Mien remains the same waxless face. He'll greet each of you as you arrive.
<banana> Melanie trails behind the others, keeping an eye out and trying to memorise faces. She greets Gemma excitedly, but most of them.. it's not like they're enemies or anything, seasonal alignments aren't literal, and yet: these people are cold. No fire can be allowed to blaze, not out of fear of the flame but because there simply isn't fuel for passion.
<banana> Hiding, though- she understands that. They're still her people.
<Crion> No Name/Face -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ftuaEV-3Ao Why trade old habits for newfound devotions when you can shed your skin, and slither in with some new friends?
<CBN> Tony nods to his King. It helps thinking of him as the head coach, makes this slightly less weird. "Sir."
<trenchfoot> Does it? Make this less weird?
<VoxPVoxD> This isn't weird at all.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart stands behind Tony, attentive, but not exactly at attention.
<trenchfoot> If you say so.
<banana> The Court structure is weird. It's useful enough to not raise any objections; the seasons are real, and strong, and our friends.
<Crion> "Lock the door behind you."
<banana> Since she's at the back, Melanie twigs the lock.
<Crion> "This is all going to seem kind of strange. And anxiety-inducing. But I'm doing this this way for a reason. I need you to understand that," the Winter King says.
<Crion> "And that's why I need your words that nothing we discuss here leaves this room." He pauses. "Not even to close friends in the freehold. Or lovers."
<trenchfoot> Oh no.
<Crion> "I'm invoking an emergency power vested in me. The authority of the crown itself. I wouldn't do so if it wasn't urgent."
<trenchfoot> Oh no.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart folds his arms, but he doesn't raise any objections.
<CBN> Tony nods.
<dammitwho> Maggie: "Golly. Alright then?"
<banana> Melanie glances at Tony, then steps forward when he nods. "You deal with things that dangerous. We'll promise."
<Crion> He'll seal it with glamour.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart swears with no real hesitation.
<Crion> Atop the brow of his Mien, a crown flashes.
<trenchfoot> Nels says and does nothing. Give her the awful visions of her past. It's - she should know.
<banana> Is this going to be something we can handle? Melanie suspects.. it is. Working together with a purpose.. her friends are luckier than most and better than many.
<Crion> The King leans forward across the pool table and splays out his fingers. "Things have been...happening recently. First, Lauren's Herald found her without tripping the, ah, early warning system we had in place. Unfortunate, but no big deal. Two Fae-touched security workers are snatched up and dragged into the Hedge last week through suspiciously open portals. Upsetting, and Summer is angry,
<Crion> but not unheard of. And then, last night, Samaritan was nearly snatched from her home. Unclear by who or what, or how it got on this side of the Hedge and stayed here, but it wasn't a Keeper. She was hurt, but she escaped, and she'll be fine. But."
<Crion> "Four events in two month's time. Three events in the last two weeks. There is something going on. And Jackie Ordinary has been...curiously absent."
<dammitwho> "She's okay?!" Maggie gasps, putting her hand on her chest.
<banana> "Would they - Jackie - normally patrol the hedge against just this sort of incursion?"
<Crion> The King: "Not missing. They still check in from time to time, when expected. But distant. Unreliable. And unaccounted for during every one of these incidents."
<Crion> "They would."
<Crion> "Which makes their professed lack of knowledge even more concerning."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "What state is the early warning system in? Like I don't know if it's a guard or a charm or some standing divination, but is there any sign if it was tampered with or simply bypassed?"
<trenchfoot> Nels is - uselessly - prepared to throw something at an unknown attacker.
<Crion> The King: "Its nature is classified. You understand. But no, it was not tampered with. It simply didn't go off. There can be a number of reasons for this...the most likely and effective one being, someone instructed the Herald on how to beat it."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "You're talking about a loyalist."
<trenchfoot> Nels: "Awful. Hate them."
<Crion> The King: "I am."
<trenchfoot> still right.
<banana> What's the most obvious question here... "What are the strongest reasons Jackie would or wouldn't be involved with this? Roots of trust, susceptibility to influence.."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "How long has Jackie been with the Freehold?"
<Crion> "I want you to go into the Hedge, find Jackie Ordinary, and bring them back here. I'm tasking your motley for this and not my own Court because, to be quite frank, if worst comes to worst I don't want just my people implicated, and I have the privilege to make this so."
<Crion> "This is not arrest or imprisonment."
<Crion> "You all know what the penalty is for loyalism."
<trenchfoot> Well, holy shit. "Well, holy shit."
<banana> Melanie: "Winter King, if you want us to kill Jackie Ordinary we definitely need to know more about them and under what circumstances it would or wouldn't be necessary."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Do you have any concrete evidence of loyalism? Obviously we can't hunt the Magus on coincidence alone."
<dammitwho> Maggie scratches her neck. "He wasn't asking us to kill Jackie Ordinary."
<Crion> The Winter King: "You are expressly forbidden from rendering judgment yourselves."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart relaxes a little.
<Crion> The wax-faced man sighs through a mouth he doesn't have. "Should worst come to worst, well. Heavy is the head."
<trenchfoot> That isn't actually...
<banana> "Okay, I don't get the thing about it not being arrest. What do you want us to do that doesn't constitute arrest?"
<Crion> "State a charge."
<Crion> "Rather, don't state a charge. You are merely invoking her oath of loyalty to this freehold."
<Crion> *their
<Crion> "They are bound to return and face me."
<trenchfoot> Nels: "I don't care for that."
<trenchfoot> "I'm - my parents - no."
<VoxPVoxD> Ah jeez.
<Crion> The Winter King: "Presumably you care much less for letting someone running around letting your courtmates get attacked in their sleep."
<trenchfoot> "Give me a reason."
<banana> Melanie turns to watch Nels, concerned. "Is it.. the idea of being police?"
<CBN> Tony: "Any idea where they were last, or where to start our search?" This whole thing's an inevitability, so any delays are just us stewing in it.
<trenchfoot> Nels, to Melanie: "It isn't. They were slaves."
<Crion> The Winter King: "They were last seen in the Hedge around the Inner Harbor. Near...Camden Yards."
<banana> "I don't get it. If this isn't something you can do, we won't ask you to come with us, but I don't understand. Ordering Jackie back to answer what's going on.. it doesn't seem that wrong."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Does Jackie have any known associations with vampires?"
<Crion> The Winter King: "None of which we're aware."
<VoxPVoxD> "Suppose we invoke their oath and they say no."
<Crion> The Winter King: "That is an admission of guilt, and they will know it as such. Return, report...and we will take care of the rest."
<trenchfoot> Nels will quietly back out of any report. They don't need her.
<VoxPVoxD> "And 'back here' means to the Sidereal? Will we need to contact you once we're back out of the Hedge with Jackie to arrange a handoff?"
<banana> Melanie follows Nels into the corner. She's worried! "Hey. If we're doing the wrong thing I want to know, so that we can not do it."
<banana> "What do you see that I don't?"
<Crion> The Winter King: "Yes, to The Sidereal. We'll meet you when you leave the Hedge. Hopefully with Jackie in tow, but they can come back separately if they like, so long as they honor their oath."
<CBN> Tony: "Well. Camden Yards, then?" He looks over his shoulder to the rest of the group.
<dammitwho> Maggie puffs thoughtfully on her vape.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "What are you worried about that makes you want to send a full motley? Tony's our best navigator, we'd basically just be slowing him down if all that's needed is to deliver a message."
<trenchfoot> Nels: "They want to go. Let them." She's seeking out exits now. Not necessary! And yet. "It's - freedom?"
<trenchfoot> "Less bad than the whole slave thing. But."
<Crion> The Winter King: "I'm worried about accomplices. Wild cards."
<CBN> Tony: "Honestly Stewart, I'd probably ask you all to get my back if I was supposed to do this anyway. If we DO stumble into something, it's going to be bigger than just me anyway, and if we don't, hey, it's a quick evening."
<CBN> He nods.
<Crion> And, as the King already said, he wants political cover.
<banana> Melanie: "Tracking Jackie down.. that would feel like taking away their freedom?"
<trenchfoot> She nods.
<VoxPVoxD> "Alright. Do you want us to go, like, right now, or..."
<Crion> The Winter King: "As soon as possible, please. I will not bundle you into a car and drive you over there, but I would prefer alacrity." He pauses. "As for Nels...her oath only covers divulging what was said in this room, not the act itself. If she's unable to participate, I will understand."
<banana> Melanie frets, which to Nels's eyes means: shedding extra fast. "I don't think it's- yeah, of course you don't have to do that. But I don't want to be saying I think you're wrong or overreacting or."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Sure thing."
<trenchfoot> Nels: "I get it. It's weird and upsetting. But. I don''t want to do it."
<CBN> Tony: "Well alright then. Hopefully, back soon." He turns to go.
<dammitwho> Maggie looks like she's come to a conclusion. "Yeah. I think I get what you're saying. C'mon, gang."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart nods one more time to the Winter King, brow knit in thought, as he walks away.
<Crion> The King clasps his hands behind his back as they leave, and turns to look out the window.
<banana> Melanie: "Okay. And you really don't mind if we do?"
<CBN> On the way out: "Probably smartest if we head over to the Yards first, then hop over from there, right?"
<trenchfoot> Nels: "That's not up to me. It's all you, babes."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart, to Nels and Melanie: "Everything alright?"
<banana> Melanie: "I'm sorry to be so thorough about this since it's, like, pressing on uncomfortable stuff, I just want to be sure that we aren't getting things wrong. For you or for the rest of us."
<dammitwho> Maggie: "Mmm. Lads and lasses, we should find someplace quiet to huddle up before we start working on this. Nels, you okay?"
<Crion> The rest of Winter will watch you go with interest, but they're professional enough not to ask.
<banana> "..anyway if you're not coming the only babe is, arguably, Stewart."
<Crion> The safest place away from prying ears is the obvious one.
<VoxPVoxD> Did Stewart hear Melanie say that?
<Crion> Lauren is back at Stewart's place and Steve can be easily enticed into a wild goose chase.
<banana> Probably best to get out of here, yeah.
<Crion> Involving just the goose.
<trenchfoot> Nels has a song for this, actually.
<trenchfoot> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3Ytu2feXng
<CBN> To the Wherehouse! "Yeah, regrouping back at home before we head out in earnest is probably a good idea, right? Get suited up for something other than talking to a Winter King, stuff like that. Maybe we ask Steve if he's heard anything while we're there."
<VoxPVoxD> With no direct acknowledgment, Stewart can simply pretend he didn't hear Melanie say that. "I'll meet you guys there, I gotta grab some stuff."
<VoxPVoxD> First, Stewart is going up to the Belvedere to make a search, then, down to the apartment to get his gun. He can drop Nels off, too, if she wants out.
<trenchfoot> At the moment? No, she's happy being around the rest of the crew.
<dammitwho> When we're all, including Stewart, hanging out back at the Wherehouse, Maggie will sit back down, but lean forward. "Now, I'm no cloak-and-dagger gal, but I like to think my brain works okay, and I know the Winter King is supposed to by law be the most paranoid sumbitch around."
<dammitwho> "I don't think 'just find Jackie and tell her to come in from the cold' was the job. I don't think he thinks he can tell us the job. Not out loud."
<banana> On the way back Melanie's lost in thought. There are things she wouldn't do - but are there things she wouldn't do herself and yet wouldn't think less of others for doing? ............yes. Yes actually.
<CBN> Tony: "Do you think Jackie has the real job for us, then? A fake punt?"
<dammitwho> She rubs her hands. "Sort of. So, say you're a Magus of the Gilded Thorn or whatchacallit, out roaming the Hedge, and you come across information - good information - that someone, you don't know who, back in the Freehold is giving away the keys to the kingdom. And you're in the Winter Court. You don't dare tell anyone, because anyone you tell might be the loyalist, or might let something
<dammitwho> slip that gets back to the loyalist. How would you act?"
<banana> She returns to reality after arriving home. "More likely it's true that Jackie's been distant but ______ expects us to, by following this lead, discover somethng else."
<dammitwho> "Well, you might be distant. Apparently unreliable..."
<banana> "Oh, so you think Winter doesn't know Jackie knows something, but guesses, and Jackie knows he'd guess?"
<dammitwho> Maggie: "But that's the same as how you'd act if you were the loyalist. Hence his Majesty's problem. He doesn't know if Jackie's the loyalist or not, and he doesn't know what tricks the loyalist has. Is the throne room bugged? Is anywhere safe?"
<dammitwho> Maggie: "If he sends us out saying, 'Jackie's got the goods, get them back here safe', what if that gets them killed?"
<CBN> Tony: "So our biggest risk here, then, is that someone else figured out what you're thinking, right?"
<CBN> T: "So we should probably run the play, assuming the coverage has a read on it and we're going to need to take some hits."
<banana> Melanie: "It was until you said that. Now the risk's that we figure out what they've figured out about what we're thinking."
<banana> "...joke." >:-D
<Crion> Stewart learns from the book that Peter is...mostly who he says he is, as far as the Book is concerned. Born in Montgomery County, went to St. Joe's, was enrolled in Georgetown when he was "taken." He wasn't particularly reticent about the fact that he went willingly with the Mistress of the High House into the Hedge, and that as far as he's concerned he left willingly, too. It does note,
<Crion> however, that he hasn't had any contact with her since...and narrates that as pretty cut-and-dry fact. Now, the Book could be cleverly employing a technicalism here -- "ah, he's only had contact with his Mistress's servants, or with another one of his Mistress's Titles" -- but the Book doesn't traffic in those. It seems pretty clear that, as far as the book is concerned, he is abiding by his
<Crion> oath to the Freehold, and the Mistress herself is abiding by her agreement with you not to try to coerce him back herself.
<dammitwho> Maggie: "Don't know what that means, but maybe! What I figure is, the job is to untangle as much of this as we can without anybody in official channels knowing about it, because official channels are - as of now - suspect."
<Crion> ...There's an odd link, though. See also: Paul Montgomery.
<Crion> But it doesn't seem to go anywhere...
<VoxPVoxD> Hmm. Probably nothing yet.
<VoxPVoxD> Back at the Wherehouse: "No matter what level of awareness we're operating on, our actual job is the same, and very simple."
<CBN> Tony: "Until it isn't! But let's be ready for either, right?"
<VoxPVoxD> "If it gets complicated later it gets complicated later. We shouldn't try to complicate it *ourselves*."
<banana> Melanie: "I think ordinary activities just take on a more Wintry cast for now. We're still who we are."
<trenchfoot> Weird guy. Also, totally understandable why he wouldn't reveal his origin.
<dammitwho> Maggie nods. "I'm just saying. Jackie probably has what they think is a very good reason for not coming in, and we have to remember that it's on us to noodle it out before we act. Can't just follow instructions."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Why can't we?"
<CBN> Tony: "Well, speaking for myself here, if whatever's going on is going after Winter folks, eventually, that's me, for one thing."
<CBN> T: "And also, probably Jameson and Spring, who against all appearances are actually pretty okay too, along the way."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "It's not going after Winter folks. At least not exclusively. The events are like, Lauren, who's Autumn, and Samaritan, who's Spring."
<VoxPVoxD> "If these events do all correlate it's a freehold-wide problem."
<banana> Melanie: "Spring is a douchebag, but that's irrelevant of course."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "What? What happened?"
<CBN> Tony: "Well if it's freehold-wide then that's all of us, at least."
<banana> Melanie: "Ah, she's not like.. evil.. but she does personal guardianship for Winter and she decided Maggie and I were both physical and moral threats to Gemma Franklin. Also talking shit about-" she specifically doesn't look at Nels.
<banana> "Anyway, we could work with her but she isn't, by default, to strangers, nice."
<trenchfoot> Nels pointedly sips her water.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "...huh. Okay. Let's go."
<banana> "On Maggie's idea- shall we basically say that we find Jackie, investigate what situation they're in, ask for them to return and be prepared to listen to the answer?"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "That's basically exactly what the Winter King told us to do, so, yeah, sounds good."
<dammitwho> Maggie nods.
<trenchfoot> Nels: "Is that - should we listen to them?"
<banana> "In case of 'the goods'."
<banana> Melanie: "The only thing I'll note is that ______ specifically enjoined us not to use our own judgment."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Of course we'll listen. We just can't make any decisions."
<banana> Melanie: "You mean, have been instructed not to make any decisions."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Right, we may not make any decisions."
<trenchfoot> Nels: "I ducked that bit. It's all fine."
<banana> "Ah no I'm not quibbling about grammar, it's solipsism-sophistry. Like, in plain language, we have our orders and perhaps we will follow them, you know?"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "I mean, so we're clear... I'm not intending to defy the King-in-Court."
<trenchfoot> Exaggerated voice: "Ohhhhhhh nooooooo everything is bad now"
<VoxPVoxD> "I just want to do what I was told."
<banana> "Frankly," Melanie declares, "It would be ideal if we did choose to follow instruction to the letter. That would absolutely be the most convenient and I'll take it into account at every opportunity."
<VoxPVoxD>
<VoxPVoxD>
<VoxPVoxD>
<VoxPVoxD>
<VoxPVoxD>
<VoxPVoxD> "So what was it like?" Stewart asks this of Maggie out of the blue, at this point weeks after the fact. He's working through a ham and cheese sandwich she insisted on making him when he came in to the Wherehouse admitting he hadn't had lunch. "Taking in the Icon, I mean."
<dammitwho> Maggie leans back in one of the comfortable chairs surrounding the TV (turned off). "Hoorm. It didn't really feel like anything, going down. Like a sugar sculpture under a waterfall, it just sort of dissipates into nothing in your throat. Remembering... it's not like a big slideshow of everything you forgot. Or at least it wasn't for me. It's just you'll think of something you couldn't
<dammitwho> remember before, and now you can. Or a memory you don't remember having will pop into your head at the strangest time, and you'll go 'Oh, right! That happened to me!'."
<dammitwho> "I'm sure I still don't know everything I know, if you know what I mean."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Do you feel any different?"
<dammitwho> Maggie: "A bit. A little less cotton-y. Huurm, that's no help. Uhh... like I've got a better grip on things."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Huh."
<VoxPVoxD> "Have you tried any exercises? Memory exercises. Some people recommend that for, uh, lost time."
<dammitwho> Maggie: "Huh. Nope!"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "I've been trying some of that lately. Cause of the... cotton, I guess? I've been noticing it more."
<dammitwho> "That's no good. You okay?"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Yeah, I'm fine. Everything's going great! You know, there's... I've got no complaints. It's just, you know, when I'm not working on something sometimes I get kind of... foggy."
<dammitwho> Maggie: "Well, that's no good. What kinda memory exercises are they?"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "I've been trying to flesh out things I do remember. Grab onto a memory, put down as many details as I can. Stuff from- from when I was a kid is hard, basically impossible. Just fragments, like dreams. So a lot of what I've been working on is from when I was gone."
<VoxPVoxD> "Did you-- was it all stuff from before you remembered?"
<dammitwho> Maggie: "I think so. It would be hard to tell, though... it was pretty monotonous when I was away."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart looks down at his plate, which he rotates gently until the bite marks in the sandwich face away from him. "Yeah. That makes sense."
<dammitwho> "Your sandwich alright? You want some mustard? I think we mostly have Tony's dipping mustards..."
<VoxPVoxD> "No, it's fine." He picks it up and bites it from the other side. "...so what have you been working on? I saw the greenhouses outside."
<dammitwho> Maggie: "Sleeping potion."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Really? Like to sell or?"
<dammitwho> "Maybe," Maggie admits. "If there's enough that I can have a decent stock for Freeholders as ask for it, I might try Notgnixel and sell off the rest. I'm not gonna charge other changelings for a good night's sleep, though!"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Have you been having trouble sleeping?"
<dammitwho> Maggie: "Now and again, if something I et disagrees with me or I have a headache or something."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart's taken to eating his sandwich in a spiral, nibbling around the edges and leaving the center intact. There's a nearly perfect circle of fluffy bread staring at him from the center of the plate when he finally says, a few minutes later, "Do you remember, a while ago, I was telling you about some games I played and I forgot they weren't real?"
<dammitwho> Maggie: "I figure everyone has that now and again, if not harder troubl-- hmm? Oh, sure. The one about vampires in the arctic, and the other one with the teenagers in the flying ship."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Right, yeah. I've been trying to focus on those, because video games have a lot of details packed into a small, like, experience window."
<dammitwho> She raises her eyebrows. "Oh yeah? Anything good?"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "They were really good! As far as I can remember, anyway. Sometimes with games you liked you forget the stuff that was boring or didn't work right. The arctic vampire one, you could like- there was this game in the real world called Dragon Age: Origins, and it had a bunch of different ways and places you could start the game depending on your character's background. Or like, this
<VoxPVoxD> game called Pathologic, which I haven't played but saw a long video about, where you pick one character and play through the same sequence of events from a wildly different perspective."
<dammitwho> Maggie: "And the vampire story had something like that?"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Yeah! There were three paths you could pick to start, and if you followed them along, new characters would appear and you'd get a little popup that said you could start the game over from *their* perspective."
<VoxPVoxD> "And they'd start in wildly different contexts at different points in the, bigger story. And they didn't all make it to the end."
<VoxPVoxD> "And basically this is what the game had instead of letting you make your own character, which is what games like that tend to do."
<dammitwho> Maggie: "Huh. So what kind of origins were there?"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "So like, at the start of the game before you've played at all you have three options: you can play as 'The Magnate', 'The Monster', or 'The Mastermind'. The Magnate is a vampire with a lot of money and skills but no real political connections who had to ship out of his home to go to the Arctic. So his story is about sort of building an empire from the ground up. You get henchmen
<VoxPVoxD> and do deals and schemes. Someone throws you down an elevator shaft, you pull a platinum-plated assault rifle out of your sports car, stuff like that."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "But as you go along, you'd get to do stuff like-- so your first henchman, a big mean German guy who carries an invisible axe on his back, he gets a path. Then later on this like, British college professor lady comes in and asks you to do this insane construction project for her, and that unlocks *her* path. Then you get this sort of Charlie's Angels team of sidekicks and one of
<VoxPVoxD> *them* gets a path."
<VoxPVoxD> "And these all interweave with the other paths. Like the Magnate has a rivalry with the Mastermind, who is also rich but more connected... except she's like, a slave to her, uh, mom-boss."
<dammitwho> Maggie: "Mom boss?"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Like, her direct superior in the vampire Mafia, but who also made her a vampire. It's very weird."
<dammitwho> Maggie huuurms thoughtfully. "Do you mind if I write this stuff down? This is interesting."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "What? Oh, yeah. Don't... if you're gonna show it to people don't tell them where it's from."
<dammitwho> Maggie: "Oh, lord no." She bustles into her room and comes back with a sketchbook.
<dammitwho> "So tell me more about these opening origins."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Well, like I said, the Magnate's story is about building an empire from the ground up, and how the scale of your rivals changes. You start out with suspicious falls down elevator shafts and end up having this fucked up, like, stocks duel where you try to move money around to impoverish this other insanely rich vampire who's doing the same thing to you. And you're both standing
<VoxPVoxD> in the room, typing on your Blackberries or whatever, but all the 'fighting' is happening in computer banks in Switzerland and New York."
<dammitwho> Maggie nods, scribbling in her book.
<VoxPVoxD> "The Mastermind's story arc is more psychological - in terms of like job and money she's in pretty much the same place at the end of the game as in the beginning. Her story's more about control: losing it, getting it back, surrendering it... early on she has this really graphically violent meltdown where she gnaws a guy's head off. Then she gets her own German henchman but hers is like the
<VoxPVoxD> Babadook, and he runs around doing stupid shit she has to deal with. Then she ends up making a friend, and turning her friend into a vampire too... but she's still got the mom-boss problem."
<dammitwho> Maggie: "The babawhat?"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Like a storybook monster. It's from a movie, I haven't seen it, but like-- think 'boogeyman', I guess."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Anyway, The Mastermind twigs onto the mystery plot that the Monster's deep into, and ends up spinning it off into her own thing where she goes into her own mind and fights Vampire Lavos, and it's like, this big symbolic vision quest of self-mastery. If you finish it, toward the end of the game you find out your friend got a posse together to go kill your mom-boss, and there's
<VoxPVoxD> this huge insane boss fight in like a castle carved out of a glacier. When you win it just starts falling into the sea."
<VoxPVoxD> "Then she like... becomes master of time? I don't know, her ending was kind of abstract."
<dammitwho> Maggie's writing frantically. "Vampire... Lavos?"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Right, okay, sorry, there was this game called Chrono Trigger that the vampire Arctic game makes a lot of references to, I guess it's an homage kind of. In Chrono Trigger the main thing you do is save the world by time travel from this multidimensional slug monster called Lavos, and you can fight it at a lot of different points on the timeline and the ending changes based on
<VoxPVoxD> when you do."
<VoxPVoxD> "The Mastermind has a name for the Lavos but I don't remember it. It was from a movie, maybe, or a poem? I don't know. But I just remember it as Vampire Lavos."
<dammitwho> "Hooorm. Do all the origins have names? Or do people just refer to each other by appellations like, uh, the Weary Customs Agent or the Seedy Explorer?"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "The paths have titles, but the characters all have names like regular characters. So besides the starting three you have like, 'The Knight', 'The Nightmare', 'The Penitent', 'The Semiotician', stuff like that. But their names are just regular people's names, I can't remember them all."
<dammitwho> Maggie nods, still working. "So... the rich guy gets a big fella with some axes... and the rich lady gets the boogeyman... kind of like this here?" https://i.imgur.com/6iIB4XE.jpg
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Hey, that's really good! How'd you guess she was blonde?"
<VoxPVoxD> "Though the boogeyman was built different. He was real short and sort of... like you remember the bad guy from Popeye?"
<VoxPVoxD> "All chest and arms and no legs?"
<dammitwho> It's a black and white drawing...
<VoxPVoxD> Her hair's not colored in! The universal symbol for blondeness."
<dammitwho> "A real barrel-shaped guy? Gotcha."
<VoxPVoxD> "Yeah."
<dammitwho> "What about the Monster?"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "The Monster is weird because it's like, the weirdest playthrough of all but also you get the impression it's sort of like the 'default' one? You play one of the few characters that's actually native to the place the game is set, and he's a vampire scientist. Except, it's vampires, so it's vampire mad science with blood and terrible experiments and weird occultism. He's part
<VoxPVoxD> of a college of vampire scientists which was founded by literal, did-the-Holocaust Nazis. And, basically, he's got a weird shitty job, and his bosses suck, and he's always doing favors for people."
<VoxPVoxD> "You have sort of the least control over your character because you have to take every order someone gives you. It's not until like halfway into the game where you even get the *option* to say no to a quest hook. But at the same time that means you're the one who sort of... sees the whole picture. You cross over with the most other stories and you build connections with the most other
<VoxPVoxD> characters."
<VoxPVoxD> "Also, you're the strongest? Like you have the best stats, you get discounts on your stats, you free XP that no one else gets for some reason..."
<VoxPVoxD> "Anyway, the Monster just wants to be left alone. But there's this woman he kind of loves and they're both laboring under this even-worse-than-being-a-vampire curse, and the only way he can see to get out from under the curse is to master weird vampire scientist, so he goes to work for the, again I stress this, literal Nazis."
<VoxPVoxD> "His arc is about him sort of unpicking each of his obligations and weaknesses one at a time, super methodically, turning into this horrible alien big bat dragon thing in the process... but one without any of the weaknesses of his curse, or any real obligation to vampire society. Even his shitty bosses start to see him as a shitty peer."
<VoxPVoxD> "So at the end of it all he's finally free to do whatever he wants, whenever he wants... but he doesn't really want to do anything in particular, because he's got no real friends or goals anymore. So he just sits around, surviving, gradually getting stronger."
<VoxPVoxD> "And that's it, that's the end of his story."
<dammitwho> Maggie: "That sounds like a real vampire thing to be."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart thinks about Lister. "I guess it is, yeah. Being so strong and scary no one can tell you what to do is like... the dream."
<dammitwho> Maggie: "But also the part of spending all your time on being strong and scary, so you don't have anything else."
<dammitwho> "Hoorm. I've got some ideas but none of these seem quite right." https://i.imgur.com/UmcgcsO.jpg
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Hmm. That top-left one is the closest, but it was more batlike. Legs and wings and so on."
<dammitwho> She bites her tongue, leaving a bit sticking out of her mouth, and scribbles frantically for a few minutes. "Like this?" https://i.imgur.com/60Qnpcg.jpg
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Yeah, that looks a lot like how he looked in the middle of the game. Later on it was a lot sleeker and all the extraneous stuff sort of folded away. It reminded me of the - do you remember the turrets, in Portal?"
<dammitwho> Maggie: "So, like a bat... dragon... iPhone?"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "...yeah. Yeah, okay, that works."
<dammitwho> "I'm gonna have to noodle on that one a bit. Go on."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "And these are all just the playable characters. There's a ton of- of side characters, too, like a whole vampire Mafia for the Magnate and the Mastermind, and all the mad scientists for the Monster. There's a head vampire, who was a French Nazi collaborator, who dreams of using his geek girlfriend to control time itself. There's Big Sister, who is the only nice vampire. There's
<VoxPVoxD> a guy who gets really into using vampire yams to solve hunger, there's all these side events like the Mastermind goes to her stuffy all-girls boarding school for a reunion with her friend. One of them starts beating her at tennis so she starts using superpowers to save her pride."
<dammitwho> Maggie: "Yeah, I can see that."
<dammitwho> Maggie: "So when you say vampire Mafia, do you mean, like... eyyy! Youse mugs! I'm drinkin' blood ova heah!"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "No, I just mean like a feudal crime syndicate. Hardly any of them are Italian, and the Italian ones aren't really Mafia Italian. They're more like, 'I fixed the election of the last six Popes' Italian."
<dammitwho> Maggie: "And the, uh, Mom Boss is one of those?"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "How'd you guess?"
<dammitwho> Maggie: "Didn't you say? One of the vampire mafia?"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Oh, no, I mean, she was Italian."
<dammitwho> Maggie: "Oh! Right. So the Mastermind was too?"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "No, she was German. Vampires aren't usually like... genetically related."
<dammitwho> Maggie: "Sure, but I wouldn't think vampires did a lot of traveling. Heck, maybe they do."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Well like I said, in the Arctic pretty much everyone was an immigrant from somewhere. Some moved after World War 2, some moved later than that. The Nightmare actually just hid in a cave for a hundred years in what he thought was the middle of nowhere but then woke up and there was this whole thing around him."
<dammitwho> Maggie: "Yeah, where is this anyway? Oslo?" That is the only city in Scandinavia she could confidently name.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "North of that. Waaaay north. Like at the tippy top of Norway. It was called... Sørøya."
<VoxPVoxD> "You'd write those vowels as like, o's with slashes through them."
<dammitwho> Maggie: "øøø! Very atmospheric."
<dammitwho> Maggie: "So... what's your favorite part?"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Hmm..."
<VoxPVoxD> "So my favorite part of the game is in the Mastermind run when you get your, like, vampire ward, who's this weird nerd with no friends who was getting abused by the Nightmare. You have to like... take her in, and civilize her - but not too much, you lose sanity if you do it too much because of your repressed hatred for being civilized - and also protect her from all your enemies, who are her
<VoxPVoxD> enemies now, and even more importantly, protect her from your mom-boss."
<VoxPVoxD> "But that's not the *best* part of the game. The *best* part of the game is when a bunch of American vampire hunters invade and attack, and they get completely wrecked, and the one survivor gets taken in front of the leaders for questioning and is like 'we're going to pay you back for turning all our corporations into bloodsucking engines of profit and corruption!'"
<VoxPVoxD> "And the boss of the vampire Mafia is like, 'uhhhhhhh'."
<dammitwho> "Heh."
<dammitwho> "Weird nerd vampire ward... kind of like this'er?" https://i.imgur.com/liFNpP7.png
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Yeah, that's exactly the right energy."
<dammitwho> Maggie: "What story would you play, if you had the chance right now?"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Maybe a run of The Ward, I never actually did her story. I didn't like her much at the time."
<VoxPVoxD> "But then the Semiotician run is cool, and very different from the others. It only touches the main story at a couple of points, but they're really important."
<dammitwho> Maggie: "That would be a heck of a video game. I mean, would you even really be able to do anything at the beginning, until you get to be a vampire?"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "As the Ward, you mean?"
<dammitwho> "Right."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Well she starts out as the ward of the Nightmare, and you have all these jobs to do - in video games we call them 'fetch quests', like gofer stuff - and if you do them wrong he'll berate you or hit you. There are bits where you have to teach him things about the 20th century, which he missed entirely, like an evil Nels. And he says these really vicious things to her, but you
<VoxPVoxD> get the option to say really vicious things back. Beneath the nerd shell she's got this terrible mean streak and the more time she spends with vampires the more she lets it out."
<VoxPVoxD> "I think this is why the Mastermind befriends her. Not because she's mean exactly but because the hidden nature reads to you as like, a spark of potential."
<VoxPVoxD> "Anyway I stopped my playthrough of that because there's a bit where you have to explain the Nazis to this 500 year old incredibly racist German nationalist serial killer."
<VoxPVoxD> "And I just... didn't want to."
<VoxPVoxD> "What about you?"
<dammitwho> Maggie: "Hoorm. I'd want to try the Monster my first time, since I wouldn't wanna turn down quests anyway."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Yeah I think the Monster is the best first playthrough, it's the most like a standard RPG."
<dammitwho> "Say, I just realized!"
<dammitwho> "If Sørøya's that far north, why... a quarter of the year the sun wouldn't come up at all!"
<dammitwho> "And another quarter, it wouldn't go down..."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Yeah, I think that was the... like nothing is original in there. It couldn't-- it didn't have original ideas. It just absorbed things and remixed them. There's a story called 30 Days of Night which is about vampires going to Alaska to take advantage of a sunless winter, and I think that was part of the formula."
<dammitwho> "Huh. So where does Dracula come in, then?"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "The vampire mad scientists are nominally disciples of Dracula, and Dracula himself shows up briefly at the veeeery end of the game. He's a huge dick and doesn't really help anyone or do anything."
<dammitwho> Maggie nods firmly. "That sounds like Dracula."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "I wonder if Dracula's real in real life."
<dammitwho> Maggie: "You could ask a vampire. I wonder if they'd tell the truth, or make up a shaggy dog story."
<dammitwho> Maggie: "Hm. Don't tell me if he's real, though."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Yeah, maybe I'll -- why not?
<VoxPVoxD> "
<dammitwho> Maggie taps her sketchbook with her pencil. "Welllll... I wanna turn this into something. A story, maybe. If you're okay with that."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart's silent for a moment.
<VoxPVoxD> "Yeah, sure, that's fine."
<VoxPVoxD> "Worried about, like, copyright?"
<dammitwho> Maggie: "No, I don't want to accidentally put any real facts about vampires in."
<dammitwho> "For, y'know. Pretty clear reasons."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "That makes sense."
<VoxPVoxD> "Might want to run a draft by a vampire at some point then."
<dammitwho> Maggie: "Sure. You know a guy?"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "...kinda. I don't really know him well enough to ask him to sensitivity read someone's story. I'll run it by him maybe."
<dammitwho> LATER IN THE EVENING:
<dammitwho> Maggie stares at the blinking cursor of the word processing program, chewing her gum thoughtfully. She puts her hands on the keyboard, takes them off again, and hums to herself.
<dammitwho> Again she takes to the keyboard, and this time begins to type:
<dammitwho> DEAD SNOW
<dammitwho> Ch. 1
<dammitwho> Late December of 2009 - the coldest time of year for the northern hemisphere. There's no place more northerly than Sørøya - or not as far as the creatures of the night are concerned.
<dammitwho> It's a special, dark time. The city's glimmering lights and vague political problems all take a back seat to the moon and the stars, perpetually visible in the month-long polar night, and things come out to play.
<dammitwho> Most Sørøyans wouldn't believe it if you told them, but their city is infested, with hundreds upon hundreds of immortal, superhuman cursed predators. These vile creatures lurk beneath every den of vice and hide in every dark alley, and they even form their own social groupings like ants or bees.
<dammitwho> Some of them even think they're human.
<Crion>
<Crion>
<Crion>
<Crion>
<Crion>
<Crion>
<Crion>
<Crion> So when's the last time any of you went to a baseball game?
<trenchfoot> Oh, wow. 1917, 1918? Somewhere around then.
<Crion> Ah. So Nels has never had crab fries.
<trenchfoot> Crab what nows?
<banana> Technically, never. There's nothing wrong with the game but... there are alternatives.
<banana> If pressed, Melanie prefers it to hockey.
<Crion> Put something else on Stewart's list of things to introduce her to.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart doesn't remember when it was. Steve Trachsel was pitching, which seems less memorable than the date. Got in an argument with dad on the way home.
<dammitwho> What the jiminy is crab fries? French fries made out of molded crab meat?
<VoxPVoxD> They're fries seasoned like crab. Oh man does Maggie not know about Old Bay??
<CBN> Tony was a football-all-year kind of guy. A sport where you don't hit each other? Not much of a sport.
<Crion> In fairness, sometimes they're fries with Old Bay-seasoned crab dip on them.
<dammitwho> Hmm. There must be a way to keep crab meat together in french fry shape, though. Cheese? Maybe deep fry 'em?
<VoxPVoxD> You can definitely do it. Lot of places sell crab sticks. Those are mostly fake crab meat but that's for cost, not engineering reasons.
<Crion> This will be everyone but Stewart's first time visiting Oriole Park at Camden Yards, then. Temporarily, at least.
<Crion> It's December, so there shouldn't be too many people around, but the big warehouse across from the field is where the Orioles' front office is. And that's going to have at least some people coming or going -- maybe more than usual, as some of you might know.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart passes the warning to the rest of the motley.
<banana> That's good. Let's see if we can plan this thing better than we planned the abortive raid on Proctor's crew of malefactors. "So.. were we looking for the Hedge around the ballpark? Are we going there through the Hedge?"
<Crion> Obviously, it'll be easier to get around the Inner Harbor if you're not strapped up with bulletproof vests and handguns, but you still might want those things. What's the approach?
<dammitwho> Maggie: "Hoom. I'm not all that stealthy..."
<CBN> Tony: "I am but...if we've got a way that keeps us from having to even risk being around people we don't want to deal with, that's probably a safer way to round out the day."
<banana> Melanie makes the case for avoiding reality: "We probably don't need to touch down on Earth at all. Jackie's going to be deep in the Hedge and we can just dodge walls and guards the sme way they have."
<dammitwho> Maggie: "Suits me."
<banana> "Finding the corresponding quasiplace isn't easy, but.. Tony can get us there."
<CBN> Tony: "I hope they don't have...what's his name from the TV, from New York, the Mister Met. I hope there aren't those in the Hedge here."
<dammitwho> Maggie: "I can't think of a baseball mascot I would want to meet."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "We could go through the Hedge, but the Inner Harbor Hedge is gnarly. It'd take much longer even if nothing goes wrong."
<VoxPVoxD> "What if we just... solved our problem with magic?"
<banana> Melanie: "I knew that stuff had to be good for something."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Do any of you have a needle or a pin?"
<banana> Melanie looks at.. Nels? Has Nels bowed out yet? If so, Tony or maybe Maggie..
<CBN> Tony's leaning against a low fence and stretching, since Hedge shit usually resolves with some sort of painful exertion.
<trenchfoot> Nels likely wished them well back at the Wherehouse and began fretting.
<dammitwho> Maggie: "Yeah, sure! Hang on." She'll scuttle to her room and come back with a sewing needle, if nobody else has anything.
<banana> Phew.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart thanks Maggie for the sewing needle, and immediately jabs it into his right index finger. Slight wince. He applies pressure until a round droplet of blood bubbles up from the wound, and then blows on it, causing it to vanish in a whirl of orange sparks. "...yeah. Yeah okay we should be good. Let's go."
<banana> Melanie levers herself upright and plucks a coat off the corner of a nearby bookcase. "Now, obviously as creatures of the Wyrd - attuned, um, against our wills to the currents of destiny - we can all tell that something just happened."
<banana> What was it though. What was the thing.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "I've destined myself to find an unattended Hedge portal at Camden Yards. So stick close; the hand of Fate is on my shoulder."
<dammitwho> Maggie: "Is that... good?"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "No, to the contrary."
<dammitwho> "Oh."
<CBN> Tony: "Siiiick." Tony's geared up with some heavy clothing with a few key reinforced points, and grabbed his trusty shotgun, which in his head is named 'Slayer of Empties' but he would never tell anyone except maybe Stewart.
<VoxPVoxD> The motley, minus Nels, gears up and moves out, for good or ill. It's a fifteen minute walk at most from the Market to Camden, but no one gives the changelings a second look - a cop car hit a fire hydrant on Eutaw Street and everyone's rubbernecking that. They cut down into the concourse, and find... an open door?
<Crion> It heads into one of the memorabilia shops. Well, a memorabilia shop combined with a Remember Some Orioles Guys shrine (which then sells all their jerseys and associated knick-knacks). Or it did, at least -- until someone turned it into a portal.
<Crion> You think you can actually feel wind coming through. Not a common trick of the glamour...but not unheard of.
<VoxPVoxD> Does it smell weird?
<Crion> Down the concourse there's a custodial worker sweeping with their back to you, backing your way. Still a ways off, but could turn around any time. You fulfilled the deal, after all.
<Crion> Smells like fresh-cut grass.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Suspicious, but in-bounds. Let's go."
<banana> Riding the currents of fate like this is an interesting experience. Melanie feels vague, swaddled away from the world despite passing through it. There's an illusion of safety, but it would be a lonely way to perceive things - props and scenery to be arranged into a narrative. She won't be looking into that contract.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart will enter the portal unless halted.
<dammitwho> Maggie will hustle after him.
<CBN> Tony will as well.
<trenchfoot> Once they've left, Nels begins... well. Where to begin. There's family in the city. At UMBC, even. Maybe if she starts simple, and types NELS FOULKE RELATives into her new Chromebook. (She noticed the caps lock was on partway through.)
<banana> "This is the kind of portal people stumble through and get caught."
<VoxPVoxD> Flatly: "Yes."
<banana> Melanie's following too, she's just.. keeping an eye out on the other side. Worst case, there could be an actual abduction in progress.
<Crion> Inside the sky is starkly overcast, and strange pillars of...Hedge itself...rise up into roiling clouds. It's got just as much visibility as Stewart remembers from his time in Santander's office above it all, but a lot more violence. The wind whips through the Hedgerows in staggered gusts, not constant or even semi-constant like a real weather system would, and the Hedge itself is padded
<Crion> outfield walls overgrown with thorny ivy.
<banana> "It actually reminds me.. um, there was a locker room. Inside the showers, a note.." Well, that's a long way in the past.
<CBN> Tony looks around. "Wow, this is even shittier than usual. Keep an eye out for Mister Mets I guess."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "I wonder if you can still find feral Youppis in the Montreal Hedge."
<banana> Melanie: "If a big orange bird comes out of those walls, don't feed it."
<banana> "Let's follow the wind- might be affected by Jackie?"
<CBN> Tony: "How big we talking? Oh, good idea."
<trenchfoot> Well, these results are useless. A husband whose name she skips over, her long-dead parents (John Edward and Susan Foulke), and three children, all of whom are also likely dead by now: Vernon, Susan, and Sarah. Grandchildren and great-grandchildren aren't mentioned.
<trenchfoot> She's going to have to talk to someone.
<Crion> What you can tell about the immediate area you've landed in beyond its foreboding weather is...there are tracks, big ones, bipedal but birdlike, leading to the portal...and then away from it.
<trenchfoot> Fifteen minutes later, there's a knock at Stewart's apartment door, to see if Lauren Ipsum is in. She's got her laptop with her, but not much else.
<Crion> There's the scrape of a chair inside the apartment, then a darkness in front of the door as someone checks the keyhole...then the bolt is thrown and Lauren opens the door wide. "Nels!"
<CBN> Tony squats to take a closer look at the tracks. "Well, neither of these look good really."
<CBN> Tony: "I forget---does Jackie have bird feet? Does anyone we know?"
<trenchfoot> Nels: "Hi! Um, are you busy? I need some help with..." She gestures vaguely. "A project?"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "You know, I have no idea. I don't really notice people's shoes and stuff."
<Crion> "Sure! Come in!"
<dammitwho> Maggie: "I don't think they do."
<Crion> "Mrrow." says Chup.
<Crion> Jackie's a Beast, but they're not birdlike.
<trenchfoot> She steps inside and makes sure to pet Chup as she sits down. "So. The project. I'm not really sure where to start with... looking someone up? But I've been meaning to start on this for ages, and, well." She absently pets Chup some more. "I've got to have relatives living, right? And I want to see if I can meet one."
<CBN> Tony: "Well, shit. Our options are tracking where the birdperson came from before hitting the portal, or where it went. Any preference before I do my thing?"
<Crion> Actually, Tony, those seem to be the same thing. You get that for free.
<Crion> The tracks come up to the portal, then retreat back the same way.
<CBN> Tony clears his throat. "Well, good news is, this should be easy."
<banana> Melanie: "..but what's at the end of the trail? Probably something as silly as it is menacing."
<banana> "Well, it's that or we start spinning and take whatever they throw at us. That's a last resort."
<dammitwho> Maggie: "I feel like we don't want anything to do with a baltimore oriole."
<CBN> Tony: "Well, whatever it is, follow me and I guess we'll see!" Tony pauses a moment to do his thing, which to everyone else looks like just sort of staring blankly ahead and wiggling his...well his feet are dirt over here, so it's just dirt wiggling in dirt, but, there's something going on. And off he goes.
<Crion> Lauren closes the door and hesitates, leaning back against it. "...Are you sure you want to do that?"
<CBN> Tony grips his shotgun tighter.
<Crion> "I mean if so, I'll help. But..."
<trenchfoot> She exhales. "I - yeah. At least to know. Maybe to meet them."
<Crion> Lauren: "...Alright. So what've you done so far?"
<Crion> The trail leads deeper into the Hedge, and the walls turn from padded-outfield into faux-brickwork, like the warehouse's. The one across from Camden Yards, that is. The creature, whatever it is, seems big, and seems to be more in a hurry going than it was coming -- it seems like it ambled up to the portal, then fled back the way it came. That, or the way its weight distribution works is
<Crion> completely alien to Tony.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart doesn't really know Jackie, but they've been with the Freehold for a lot longer than this spate of attacks has been happening. So if they're involved - which Stewart doesn't really believe - something has to have changed. But what...? He's mostly in his own head as he follows behind Tony.
<banana> Melanie: "It's like something tried a breakout but was turned back... which is Jackie's job, incidentally."
<banana> "If we're really lucky, they're chasing it."
<trenchfoot> Nels: "Not much. I wasn't really sure where to start, so..." She opens her laptop and turns it around - there's an official Rock N' Roll Hall Of Fame biography page, listing the names of her parents, husband, and children. "I wasn't sure what all would be public after that and I didn't want to go breaking anything..."
<CBN> Tony: "But how often are we lucky?" He asks rhetorically, while assuming that even saying that is daring the Hedge to start fucking with them.
<Crion> Eventually the path ends at...a door, or really a banged-on crude add-on, to a ruined storefront much like the one you walked in through. None of the words on it make sense, and the jerseys hanging in the window have unreadable script on them and random characters from the bottom of an ASCII character map instead of numbers. But the tracks go inside.
<Crion> Inside, faintly, you can hear something wheezing softly but quickly -- hyperventilating, but trying to be quiet.
<banana> Melanie: "Luck.. is another philosophical question. It manifestly exists! Stewart manipulated fortune to even bring us here. But the idea of getting lucky, both colloquial and literal, makes more assumptions: it's a claim that the subject has received an unexpected or unfair benefit."
<Crion> Lauren bites her lip and thinks for a minute. "Okay...so you had kids before you were taken?"
<Crion> "Fetches...usually aren't fertile..."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart wonders what you would sell in a Hedge gift shop, as opposed to a gift shop in the Hedge. Little plush Oscars, maybe. Candles with Steve dressed like the Virgin Mary. Lot of options.
<CBN> Tony holds up a hand to get the group to stop, then holds a finger to his mouth in the universal 'hush.' And then, waits a moment.
<Crion> "Sometimes the kids only exist on paper."
<banana> Melanie hushes.
<trenchfoot> She shakes her head. "I... no. I didn't."
<Crion> Lauren: "Well...maybe yours was the exception!"
<Crion> She's trying to put on a happy face.
<CBN> Tony clears his throat. "Hey in there. Could you help us? We need help finding someone. We don't want to cause any trouble."
<trenchfoot> Nels: "...any way for us to tell?"
<Crion> A whimper, but no movement. You might have to go in.
<Crion> Lauren: "Do you have any pictures?"
<Crion> "Of the kids. I don't see any here."
<Crion> "Images are powerful magic, especially photographs. If it turns out we need them."
<CBN> Tony lowers his gun to alongside one leg with his off-hand and steps forward, slowly. "We're coming in, okay? Four of us, just want some help looking for somebody to tell them something."
<Crion> Still no movement.
<banana> Melanie: "..maybe send just one of us in first if we don't want to scare it. I could go.."
<trenchfoot> Nels: "No, um." She turns her Chromebook back around and tries searching "vernon FOUlke photographs."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart doesn't have his gun out. It's not for diplomatic reasons, it just doesn't naturally occur to him to draw it.
<CBN> Tony continues advancing. "We're looking for...their name is Jackie? If you know them? We want to talk to them just quick here and we'll leave."
<trenchfoot> ...nothing doing. "Nothing for Vernon. There's mentions of him but mostly regarding my fetch..." Oh dear.
<Crion> Past the door and inside the lair beyond is a workshop with a large, warmly lit table, sitting on it a number of bobbleheads and small replica stadiums and, hanging on a hook in the corner, a straw hat with a strange version of the Orioles logo and what's not quite Miller Lite emblazoned on it. In the back, instead of a wall, it opens into a vast warehouse with rows and rows of stadium
<Crion> giveaways stacked floor to ceiling in an almost impermeable barrier. Someone has been unboxing them, one by one, and lovingly touching them up on the workbench, then setting them aside and continuing the work.
<Crion> That someone is probably the creature huddled at the back of the room, one of the ugliest single things Tony has likely ever seen in his life, a hideous combination of bird and man with a ridiculous tiny hat atop its head -- and giant, terrified, sad eyes. "No hurt," it says. "No hurt."
<banana> Melanie: "Oh my god, it's worse than I expected."
<Crion> It cringes at the insult.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart's heart breaks at the sight of the creature.
<dammitwho> Maggie puts a hand on Melanie's shoulder. "Hey... hey now."
<CBN> Tony smiles cheerfully: "Hey buddy! No hurt here, no."
<dammitwho> To the critter: "Don't worry, fella. We're not going to hurt you."
<banana> Aside: "Well, I don't mean it like that. I was expecting one of the mascots with razor feathers or beak or something.."
<Crion> It relaxes slightly, seeing the four of you for the first time. Lowering its wing-arms: "...Fans...?"
<CBN> Tony: "We're just looking for somebody. We don't want to hurt you, and we won't hurt you. No hurt."
<CBN> "Are fans good?" He gives a thumbs up and smiles. "Fans?"
<Crion> The creature looks positively delighted. "Fans!"
<CBN> Tony, happy to have made a breakthrough: "Fans! Go team!"
<banana> Jesus, this thing has the wrong impression. Let's just.. look elsewhere. The memorabilia's not bad.
<CBN> Tony extends a hand, slowly. "I'm Tony. Big fan."
<Crion> It sweeps over to the table in a rush of feathers and limbs, and you can see that honestly, it could be quite terrifyingly powerful if it wanted to be. But instead it's smiling and burbling, "First 20000 fans get bobblehead...first 15000 fans get model stadium..."
<CBN> Tony: "Is...is it bobblehead day?"
<Crion> Lauren: "Alright, one photo's good. If we run out of EVERYTHING else, divination magic might help. But first...okay, so, we're either checking adoption records, or records of live birth -- birth certificates. Not going to lie, I think it's the adoption records we want, but the birth certificates are going to be more accessible in public-facing databases...so let's at least see. Do you have
<Crion> any idea where your fetch was living when she was born?"
<Crion> "Er, when the kids were born."
<Crion> "Though I guess the first phrasing might...be appropriate."
<banana> Oh! An idea: "Wow. Are we the first to win these prizes, or was there anyone else recently?"
<Crion> The Oriole of Baltimore, happily: "Stadium day! Stadium day!"
<Crion> It pauses. "Something else."
<Crion> "Something out there."
<CBN> Tony: "Is it what hurt? What did it look like?"
<trenchfoot> Nels: "When she was born would've been... somewhere in Nebraska, maybe Iowa? I was lugging our instruments to, well. Here. The kids, probably here."
<Crion> Before your eyes, it pulls a slapdash, frankly shitty looking "Camden Yards" looking replica and goes to work with an exacto knife and pallete of paints and brushes. Almost immediately it turns from a mass-manufactured piece of trash into a true work of art...even if this "Camden Yards" has a Warehouse that's a couple stories too tall and an infield with four bases instead of three.
<Crion> It hesitates and puts its creation down. "Do not know. Secret. Hidden."
<banana> That might be a more interesting game. Make them sweat.
<Crion> "Dangerous."
<Crion> Lauren blinks. "Nebraska and Iowa. Shit. Well, you don't make this easy."
<Crion> "Republican states aren't big on digitizing."
<Crion> "That doesn't mean Ravens can't do it...but it does mean it's more dangerous."
<Crion> "And that you're likely to owe Autumn a favor."
<dammitwho> Maggie: "Hey, that stadium's pretty good."
<Crion> The creature happily shoves the knick-knack into Tony's hands in lieu of a handshake. "First fan!"
<CBN> Tony, sincerely, to the Oriole: "It's a great stadium there big guy."
<CBN> Tony beams. "Thank you!"
<Crion> The huge, ugly creature beams...and gets to work on another one. "Second fan, second fan," it burbles in sing-song to itself.
<trenchfoot> Nels: "If she's got the same records I do, it'd be Nebraska. Sorry, I thought you were asking -- well." She shakes her head. "The digitizing thing, though...?"
<Crion> The Orioles of Baltimore -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9n5laVhlwKU You make the magic happen...the magic of Orioles baseball!
<CBN> Tony waits politely for the creature to finish what it's working on, before asking: "Have you seen the person we're looking for, in here or out there? They look like..."Tony looks to the rest of the motley: "Uh, anyone know?"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart can describe Jackie Ordinary very vaguely.
<dammitwho> Unfortunately, Jackie is kind of proverbially hard to describe.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart's only met them once is all. Being outside the gender binary isn't Lovecraftian ineffability.
<dammitwho> It's more due to being a Mirrormask.
<Crion> Finishing the second stadium -- which looks different than the first -- the Orioles happily repeats, "Jackie, Jackie. Know Jackie."
<dammitwho> Maggie: "Hey, that's great! Do you know where they are?"
<CBN> Tony: "That IS great!"
<banana> Oh, so it wasn't Jackie threatening the.. number one fan over here.
<Crion> "Jackie fine," the bird says dismissively, then seems to put two and two together and turns, eyes wide. "Jackie hurt? Jackie in trouble?"
<Crion> It's already started work on the third, for Stewart.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart knows exactly where in the apartment he's gonna put his.
<dammitwho> Maggie: "We don't know. That's why we're looking for them."
<Crion> Lauren: "Well, Ravens doesn't actually need it digitized. That just makes it easiest. But if they need to go on a trip, well...Shouldn't be a problem, but I'll check in with them."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Jackie's been away from home for a long time. We just want to see them."
<Crion> Bird nods, finishing up the third one and pressing it into Stewart's hands. In this, the warehouse is a wide, tan brick tower, almost a wizard's tower but squat, and the grass and dirt of the infield and outfield have been reversed. "They here. Near!"
<Crion> It begins the fourth and final, for Melanie.
<VoxPVoxD> Siiiiick.
<banana> Despite herself, Melanie inches closer, rustling. "Hey, thanks. Do you want us to take one of these to Jackie as well? If you know where they are?"
<Crion> Proudly: "Jackie has many!" It shoves the trinket into Melanie's hands. Hers, oddly but very clearly, has polished basketball hardwood flooring instead of infield dirt. "Jackie big fan. Take you to them."
<trenchfoot> Nels: "Sorry, I think I got confused - um. Though I guess it might be neat to have my original paperwork and all, but, not necessary. The kids'd be from, well. Here."
<Crion> Lauren: "Well! That's much easier. Can you write down their full names and ranges for DOB, just for reference? I'm gonna get logged in to Ravens."
<banana> You could dribble on that, but you shouldn't.
<CBN> Tony: "Thank you!" Tony looks back at the motley with a happy little 'when in Rome?' shrug.
<Crion> The bird will tidy everything up super-quickly and then make an awkward waving motion to follow.
<VoxPVoxD> Hooray!
<CBN> Tony will of course follow.
<dammitwho> Naturally.
<banana> Does this thing fit in a pocket? It's actually pretty well made. Maybe worth using as a bookstop.
<Crion> It's neither stealthy nor graceful, but it seems to know exactly where it's going, obviously delighted, humming to itself as it goes, tucking its arm-wings to its side like a bird even though it stomps around like a man.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart's kitchen table needs a centerpiece.
<Crion> It's about paperweight sized, yes.
<Crion> Well, a large paperweight.
<Crion> Out of the box they were about four inches in diameter, but the bird's craftsmanship seems to have made them a bit bigger.
<Crion> ...Wind's picking up.
<trenchfoot> Vernon Thomas Foulke, 1921-1935ish? Susan Josephine Foulke, 1923-1935ish? And Sarah Helen Foulke, 1925-1935ish. Her fetch probably didn't immediately stop touring to have a family, so they'd likely be from the later 20s, but she really isn't sure.
<banana> As they move through the stadium corridor/thorns/memorabilia-wall-maze, Melanie breaks off thorns and wooden struts with gestures. She grafts them to her forearms, bright with.. defensive potential
<Crion> It takes Lauren awhile to get some leads, and she has more than a little bit of trouble getting into the city databases. She even has to consult with Ravens at a point -- not for anything on her end, but because of a completely broken web portal. Eventually: "Do you want me to order some food? Or go back to your room? It might be awhile."
<Crion> Chup, meanwhile, has spent much of the time just staring at Nels. Only now has he deigned to approach...and flop.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart's mind is again elsewhere, picturing having people over for dinner, table pulled out into the middle of the room. He and Lauren would learn to cook something together, everything would be warm and happy and *his*...
<CBN> Tony's wishing his heavy clothing protected against the ill wind that's chilling him to the bones here. It is shittier in this part.
<trenchfoot> Well, she was going to get up, but now there's a cat. "I'm all right for now. I'll just browse the internet - and Chup seems to want me to stay, so."
<Crion> Lauren: "Chup, don't bother Nels." She doesn't sound like she means it, though. Or more likely, she just doesn't expect him to listen.
<trenchfoot> Cats are well known for listening to instructions.
<Crion> The bird leads them eventually to...
<Crion> [the Hedge shifts]
<Crion> ...a baseball diamond.
<Crion> The storm up above has gotten worse.
<VoxPVoxD> But it's just windy, right? Not raining? No chance of calling the game then.
<Crion> None.
<Crion> The bird wanders to the mound, then turns back towards you, confusion in its great eyes. "Jackie...here?"
<CBN> Tony looks around. "Helloooo?"
<Crion> From behind you: "I'm here." The Hedgewall ripples and Jackie steps out of right-center, leveling a hunting rifle. "You got the bird involved? Really?"
<Crion> Their eyes narrow. "Where's Nels."
<Crion> Above, thunder. You've never heard thunder in the Hedge before.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Nels didn't feel right about coming."
<banana> Melanie: "Jackie Ordinary, it's good to see you again. You really helped us out, months back. I'm sorry to say we're here with a command from the reigning, nameless King."
<dammitwho> "Is this place safe?"
<Crion> Jackie: "It is absolutely not safe. Nels didn't feel right about coming. Huh."
<Crion> They lower the rifle. "Well, this is a shitshow. I--"
<banana> Melanie sets herself against/into the ground. What with the unsafety.
<Crion> Lightning stikes home plate.
<Crion> Jackie's eyes go wide. "Bird! Run!"
<CBN> Tony prepares to cover the bird's exit if necessary, for some reason he couldn't articulate if pressed.
<Crion> Jackie Ordinary -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4zluA60hjs Rise with me forever, across the silent sand; and the stars will be your eyes, and the wind will be my hands.
<dammitwho> Maggie will also try to help the bird escape, because it's a sweet little critter who just wants to give out souvenirs to the fans.
<Crion> Eyes wide, the Oriole flees. It seems quite able to do that on its own, thankfully.
<dammitwho> Whew.
<Crion> Jackie: "You were followed."
<Crion> "So I'll ask you again about Nels."
<Crion> Her voice is rising as the wind picks up.
<Crion> Lightning strikes first base.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "She's not here!"
<banana> Melanie: "If we've brought danger here we'll help to see it off, but I don't know what you're implying."
<CBN> Tony: "Nels was safe at home last we saw!"
<trenchfoot> Elsewhere, Nels pets Chup.
<Crion> Jackie snarls. "Not my--"
<Crion> Lightning strikes second base.
<Crion> Jackie: "Okay I don't know what the fuck this is, but when it touches home plate again, we need to be ready to kill it."
<CBN> Tony: "Yeah okay." First Hedge rule: Roll with this shit.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart pulls his gun. Safety off.
<banana> Sure, it's not the time for argument. Melanie will trudge toward home plate, gathering the air about her as she goes; miniature gusts take over from the storm form blossoms and strip away bark.
<Crion> Lightning strikes third. "Safeties off!"
<CBN> Tony levels his shotgun at home plate. Never was one for games of reflex, but hey. Rolling with it.
<dammitwho> Maggie cracks her knuckles.
<Crion> Lauren, after almost of three hours of work. "...Holy shit. Nels!"
<trenchfoot> She snaps out of her vague Wikipedia diving and light doze: "Hnn? What's up?"
<Crion> "I've...come look at this. Make sure this is Sarah's certifice." She loads up a chunky but clear digital scan of a certificate of live birth with all of Sarah's information. "I couldn't find Vernon or Susan, but..."
<Crion> Lightning strikes home.
<VoxPVoxD> And the crowd goes wild.
<Crion> The roiling clouds in the sky shiver, then curl and shudder into a single, coursing, incredibly dense orb -- which pours down onto home plate like black molton metal, filling an invisible mold of some impossible, insane form, geometric and imperfect, too many limbs, too many angles, too many --
<Crion> The lightning cracks again and suddenly the orb is pierced with a beam of sunlight, spot-sunlight, blowing the orb away and burning this thing's impossible shadow into the dirt behind home plate. There's a hideous laugh-scream-cry from all around as the mold and its shape are burned away, and the beam of light fades...
<Crion> ...but the shadow doesn't. And it gets up.
<Crion> Gur Fha Va Funqbj -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kR0gOEyK6Tg Angels deserve to die.
<VoxPVoxD> Oh fuck.
<banana> Melanie doesn't feel guilt about having led this thing to Jackie. If it's the villain of the piece, or an agent of the real danger attacking the Courts, it was worthwhile to draw it out. She does, of course, feel fear.
<banana> Ignoring that, she pushes past the wind and bears down on the living shadow. "The sun may be in hiding but there's still no place for you in an open field." She strikes, lashing out with a testing limb.
<Crion> Mist -- black fog, black wind -- boils off the thing 'standing' on home plate. It keeps changing shape, but there is a core there, a Form.
<Crion> And it's something she can hit, and it's something she can hurt.
<dammitwho> Maggie also feels fear, but the thing that soothes fear, the sanctioned action, is to MOVE. She charges toward home plate, building up steam/speed, and when she reaches the coiling black mist clasps her hands together and swings a double-fisted uppercut that knocks the eldritch monster off its feet!
<Crion> To the extent it has feet, it leaves them badly, and starts screeching and shuddering. Then -- boompf
<Crion> It's gone. A dark fog settles over the field...
<banana> "Holy gosh, Maggie! You hit it so hard it turned into a bad special effect."
<CBN> Tony, seeing it dissipate into fog, tries something he saw in an old movie, speaking of bad effects: He swings an arm underhand, dragging up the infield dirt with it, and scatters it forward in a wide arc. Maybe the thing's invisible and this'll show it? Maybe this'll just piss it off? Who will know until we try?
<banana> Good idea, but let's juice it.
<Crion> The dirt doesn't do anything...at first. But then the fog vibrates strangely. It doesn't drop the dirt; it seems like the dirt is sticking to it, and the fog hates that. Unclean. Unclean.
<Crion> The fog shudders and moves away from Tony.
<CBN> Tony hollers: "HELL yeah"
<banana> As the cloud gathers itself back toward the unTony group, Melanie ambles to the pitcher's mound. She flings her arms to the fake sky and cries: "Sorry if this is bad for your skin, everyone!"
<banana> The winds that have gathered about her disperse outward and merge with the lightning storm. All the air in the ballpark becomes a rage, the howling winds of the upper atmosphere brought to earth. The storm of air batters at the ground and the fog alike - but there are perfect still eyes of the storm around the motley, around Jackie and around the Oriole if it's still here.
<banana> Any Hedge-birds that have the misfortune to be nearby are knocked out of the air, and the noise makes it impossible to hear ordinary speech.
<Crion> The black fog is buffeted by the wind, swirled by it, visibly annoyed by it -- then it quivers into spears and dives towards home plate all as one, becoming corporeal again, cutting through you all as it does. All except...Tony.
<Crion> The dirt worked...?
<Crion> Jackie Ordinary grunts as a spear carves through their side. They're fine though.
<dammitwho> Maggie hisses steam through her teeth as oil leaks from her shoulder.
<VoxPVoxD> They can't touch Stewart, whatever they are.
<CBN> Seeing his friends (and Jackie) get jabbed up nicely, Tony adjusts his grip on his shotgun. That's about enough fucking around.
<banana> Over the howling windstorm: "--- - --- (inaudible) ---!"
<CBN> Tony takes aim, fires, and blows a nice chunk out of...something?
<Crion> There's something there in the heart of the shadow, and it doesn't like being shot.
<dammitwho> Well, who would.
<banana> Maggie and Tony drive the cloud back into its shadow form and it's made the mistake of going for Melanie. Yes, it ripped out huge chunks of wood and yes, the sap-bleed is disturbingly mammalian, but now it's here- the wind all comes to a point and she enfolds her branches about the shadow - gusts press it against the thorns - leaving ragged fragments of darkness.
<Crion> There's an aggrieved shriek-scream, and the fog catches fire as it streams up into the sky, and vanishes.
<banana> Melanie: "(inaudible)!!"
<dammitwho> Maggie, words blown away by the wind: "Ha! ow."
<Crion> Jackie, when the weather is right again (presumably Melanie has ended the blizzard): "Ya know, I expected something to be following you. That was a bit bigger than I was counting on."
<CBN> Tony takes a few seconds to react. "Oh uh. Huh."
<Crion> Lauren, to Nels: "...It looks like your fetch had a kid."
<banana> Uprooted bases and stands clatter to the dirt as the wind, instantaneously, ends. "It still dies to shotguns."
<banana> "Um, Jackie, it sounds like you might know something about what's going on."
<trenchfoot> Nels: "She - she did?"
<Crion> Lauren: "Right race, right date, right names for the parents...I'm gonna guess they adopted the first two kids, and thought it wasn't ever going to happen...and then..."
<trenchfoot> Nels: "Oh my god." Chromebook's now set aside, and she walks over to peer over Lauren's shoulder. "Can you - is there more about her?"
<Crion> Jackie: "Only just." They open their knapsack and pull out a pocket mirror, open it, and tap the mirror twice. The second time it ripples.
<Crion> The Winter King's voice floats through. "I'm here, report."
<Crion> Jackie: "They came as you said, sir. Everyone but Nels, that is..."
<Crion> The Winter King: "She's accounted for."
<Crion> The Winter King: "What happened?" He pauses. "Let me hear it from them. Are you there?"
<CBN> Tony, to himself, mostly. "Aha! FAKE PUNT I knew it."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "All here, all alive."
<dammitwho> Maggie: "Hi there!"
<banana> Melanie: "Urghh." This is not directed at the mirror. She's starting to feel it. This is- three hundred years ago she would've gone to the ER for this.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart rushes over to Melanie.
<Crion> The Winter King: "Excellent. What happened?" Jackie looks to you all to let you do the reporting.
<Crion> Jackie: "One sec, boss. Melanie's hurt."
<banana> To Stewart: "Hey." To everyone: "I'm OK for now."
<CBN> Tony: "We met a giant bird that isn't, he's cool. And then we found Jackie here on the diamond, and then we got attacked by a spiky fog orb and threw dirt on it and shot it and stabbed it until it flew away."
<Crion> The Winter King: "...How spiky? How fog? How orb?"
<Crion> Jackie will give him the unvarnished and true factual rundown of what happened so you don't have to. It's completely correct, no lies or omissions.
<CBN> Tony would otherwise, but it's eminently clear he is more the action than the after-action type.
<banana> Melanie listens, though she smiles at Stewart occasionally as he does whatever he's doing that helps. It feels like a painkiller at least. "So we were the ones being tested?"
<Crion> The Winter King sighs. "...No."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart touches one of the gouges in Melanie's flesh and it becomes overlaid with brown-white squares that shrink and multiply until there's an extremely high-res patch over the damage that is soon indistinguishable from the intact wood, and then, the wood itself.
<Crion> "Jackie, tell them. I have things to attend to. Immediately. I'd thank you all, but..."
<Crion> The mirror ripples again, then goes still.
<Crion> Jackie: "This was a mole hunt."
<VoxPVoxD> Hey, Maggie was right.
<Crion> "But we didn't suspect you."
<Crion> They grimace. "Did it seem strange, at all, that every member of the Winter Court was present at The Sidereal for that meeting with the King?"
<dammitwho> Maggie: "I dunno, this is my first Winter."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Angelfire wasn't there."
<Crion> Jackie chuckles. "He was, actually."
<Crion> "Security system."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Well, okay, but if people are hidden you can't really be surprised if we don't know they're there."
<banana> "Haha."
<CBN> Tony: "I totally called the fake punt. We're lining up block the return, but really, it was about seeing where the coverage was all along. So obvious really..."He trails off.
<banana> "Well, we didn't need to know, Tony. It'd be okay if they didn't trust us. We're new.. we've accumulated things of power quickly.. but it's nice that wasn't it."
<Crion> "Hey, the cameras aren't hidden. Anyway. We were able to eliminate courtiers in twos and threes, and that was fine, but the King had a suspicion. And we acted on it. And..."
<Crion> Jackie shrugs. "Winter Court's got a rat."
<banana> Melanie: "A mole rat. Haha."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Okay. How do we eliminate the King as a suspect?"
<Crion> Jackie: "Here's the thing. The mole probably thought they were acting to preserve my cover. So. No loose talk about this. Don't like, call me a loyalist or anything, but act like you didn't find me."
<CBN> Tony: "I'm shit for lying but sure, I'll try."
<Crion> Jackie blinks, and pauses. "...Well if it's the King then we're fucked."
<Crion> "And either way, I can't know about it."
<Crion> "Because then he can find out through me."
<Crion> They look back at Stewart. "So let's consider that part of the conversation over until I'm away."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "...sure."
<Crion> "The King will have orders on how to proceed coming down. There's an...obvious culprit, jumping to conclusions never helped."
<Crion> They gesture at the diamond. "And I've got no idea what the fuck that was."
<Crion> *culprit, but
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Mmm. Alright. Is there anything we can do to help keep you safe in the meantime?"
<banana> Melanie: "So there really is a loyalist, probably. That's.. no good." If it was Gemma, that would be devastating. She tries to run through the timing in her head. Were the first attacks before the High House breakout?
<VoxPVoxD> They weren't.
<Crion> Lauren, to Nels: "...There's probably a death record. If you want me to look for that."
<dammitwho> Maggie: "Hoom. It's bad, but there's worse things."
<trenchfoot> Nels closes her eyes. Exhales. "Yeah. Holler when you find something. Or - I can come back another day?"
<CBN> Tony: "Well, we are alive after fighting a weird storm orb stab thing, and we made a new bird friend. Could be much worse."
<Crion> Lauren: "Yeah! Come over any time. At least, when I'm not working. Then you can only come over half the time. I'm sure Stewart won't mind. ...Actually, I should check with him."
<trenchfoot> Nels: "No prob, Bob. Thank you so much for looking into this for me -- I know I didn't exactly give you much to go on..."
<Crion> Jackie stands. "Alright, let's get you back to the real world, and then I'm gonna fuck off for awhile. Don't worry about me."
<banana> Melanie gazes around the devastated, fake ballpark. "We might worry a little bit."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Can I take care of your injuries before you go, or do you have that under control?"
<Crion> Jackie: "I'll be fine. I've shit for it at my Hollow."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Okay."
<trenchfoot> Nels will collect her Chromebook, pat Chup one last time, and say her goodbyes.
<CBN> Tony: "Before you go, good to hear you're not a mole at least! Under the circumstances."
<Crion> They'll get to you a Hedge portal that leaves you out on the Camden Yards parking lot. For the last stretch, the bird slips out of the Hedgerows to join you. "Jackie! Jackie! Fans!"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Hey!"
<Crion> It shoves a fifth little stadium into Tony's hands. "You had fan. Couldn't come. Rain delay..."
<Crion> This one is for Nels. It even, somehow, has a concert stage built over second base and center, like she's playing the stadium.
<trenchfoot> !!!
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "..."
<dammitwho> Maggie: "Aw, you're a sweetie."
<CBN> Tony smiles. "Thank you! If you ever need our help, come find me."
<Crion> Jackie grins when they see it. "Oh he will, won't you, big bird?"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Tell the goose you're a friend of Tony's."
<banana> why are you inviting that thing into our home well there's one bird already but
<VoxPVoxD> The oriole is all of their friends, of course, but Steve obviously respects Tony the most.
<Crion> The bird, while nodding, and while Jackie opens the portal out: "Fans! Fans!"
<CBN> Tony waves at the bird as they go. "Go team!"
<banana> When they're safely on the other side, Melanie says: "They never expect a group of us all working together."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart, to Melanie: "Do you want me to finish patching that up?"
<banana> "Everything in Arcadia is calibrated - to prey on the Lost alone. Which we're not, because of the Courts. That's why these attacks are so dangerous..."
<CBN> Tony unclenches once they're back safe and can speak freely: "That went so much better than expected you guys wow."
<banana> "What? Oh, no thanks- I don't understand the contract you're using so I don't know the price you're paying."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "There's no Contract, but okay."
<VoxPVoxD> Maggie was the same way.
<banana> Melanie: "Like, I've dealt into a healing contract too? And it's a straightforward trade, blood for blood. That's how the Wyrd works. You can fiddle the numbers but not the principle."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "No I know what you mean, but it's not a Contract. I can just do it. I bleed some Glamour but that's it."
<banana> "So you don't understand it either."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart shrugs. "I'm not sure I'd say I understand Contracts, even."
<banana> Melanie's still a bit giggly from the adrenalin rush. "Yes, good point. Is that within the purview of a Lord Sage even?"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Lord Sage is as much a political designation as it is a mystical one. We make friends in sideways places."
<VoxPVoxD> "Speaking of which, I'm gonna check in with the Belvedere about the thing we just killed."
<banana> To Tony: "I'm curious. What were you expecting?"
<CBN> Tony: "Honestly? To feel really bad about having to call Jackie home and have her get us jumped by some loyalists and accidentally have to probably seriously injure a bunch of people, then lie to Nels about what happened later, and then come clean and feel even worse."
<CBN> Tony: "But here we are, with gifts, and none of that!"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Cognitive Behavior Therapy calls that 'catastrophic thinking'."
<CBN> Tony: "Hey, I went into the woods to take a piss and spent 40 years burying bodies in an eternal night. It's better to be pleasantly surprised."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "I'm pretty sure therapy is a psyop anyway."
<CBN> Tony: "What's a psyop?"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "You know like, spy stuff? But just to fuck with people's heads."
<CBN> Tony: "Oh so like, lying? A lot?"
<banana> Melanie: "Catastrophes happen, but they're not the only thing that happens. The problem of good, if you will."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Yeah, but with production values, propaganda, drugs, misinformation... societal gaslighting."
<banana> "Do you mean like the CIA?"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Yeah."
<banana> Melanie: "I've read about stuff like MKULTRA but it striles me as like... what you do if you don't have access to the real deal. Ordinary people fumbling for the tools of mind control which they know from dreams must exist."
<CBN> Tony: "Hey speaking of the CIA, can one of you help me one of these days? I went to the library to try and catch up on the world, but whenever I used the googler machine for 'politics AND the 1970s AND america' I got a lot of links that it wouldn't let me open."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Maybe, but also like... if vampires and wizards have infiltrated the regular police... you really don't think they've got guys in the CIA?"
<VoxPVoxD> To Tony: "Yeah, sure. Those are probably paywalls."
<banana> Melanie: "You can use my computer, I installed duck duck go."
<Crion> It is so insanely obvious Melanie is not from around here.
<Crion> But maybe she's just trying not to activate Steve.
<CBN> Tony: "Cool beans, thanks guys!"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart arrives home not much later, imploring Lauren to come look what a friendly hob made him in the shadow of Camden Yards.
<Crion> Lauren she will, and her eyes will light up before getting suspicious. "It's safe, right? It didn't make you...swear an oath or anything?"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Completely voluntary, completely unprompted."
<Crion> She peers down at it. "Beautiful. And that's totally not what OPACY looks like."
<Crion> "Which I'm guessing is part of the charm."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Though if someone did want to put a wizard's tower behind the center field fence, that'd be cool."
<Crion> "Better than the fuckin' Hilton that's there now."
<VoxPVoxD> "How was your day?"
<Crion> Chup looks at it mistrustfully, mrows, and saunters off to find a bed.
<Crion> Lauren: "Good! Worked on the server for a bit. Just getting stuff connected without letting it get networked. Then Nels came over."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart turns to look directly at Lauren. "What'd Nels want?"
<Crion> She sort of inhales sharply and then falters into a smile. "I think that's a conversation you want to have with her."
<Crion> "It was personal."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Nothing we need to worry about, right?"
<VoxPVoxD> "Or, be worried about, I should say."
<Crion> She shakes her head. "Probably not. I don't know. Whatever it is, it's not coming back on us. But again. Talk to her about it. I'd feel weird."
<VoxPVoxD> "Alright." Stewart kisses her. "I gotta get ready to stream."
<Crion> "Good luck. Let me know if you want me to wander through to piss off your chat again."
<Crion>
<Crion>
<Crion>
<Crion>
<Crion>
<Crion>
<Crion>
<Crion>
<Crion>
<Crion> Well, it's not what you want.
<Crion> There's a mole in the Winter Court, and they managed to get...something...to attack you in the nearside Hedge outside of Camden Yards. That's bold. It also has been met with frosty silence from the King of Winter past your last communication with him via short-wave makeup mirror, and a general standdown order from Jackie Ordinary -- they don't want you to spook whoever this is.
<Crion> Obviously something's going to happen, eventually -- that's definitionally true -- but whatever it is, the regent doesn't want you kicking it off. At least, not just yet.
<Crion> Which means that, uneasily, you're back to having time to yourselves.
<VoxPVoxD> There's always work to be done.
<Crion> Stewart definitely has some of his own he could check in on with Gaunt Rose, though there are a couple leads on the Winter Court...thing...to explore.
<Crion> Maybe just the one.
<VoxPVoxD> What's good for the gander is good for the goose. What does the Book say about Gemma?
<Crion> The Book is...not unhelpful, but a bit threadbare, at least on the most important information. It's odd, you have to reload the page multiple times to even get it to display. Nevermind. Gemma Franklin was born in Maine to a broken home with two siblings, both brothers; she went to high school in Portland and then college in Boston. She was taken from there, it seems. It's unclear how she
<Crion> ended up down here in Baltimore, but to Stewart's recollection, she's never spoken about Maine or Boston, nor does she have a particularly memorable accent. There's almost nothing about her durance or her Keeper...except this. When The Bleakest House is mentioned, there's a hyperlink. This time it refuses to load altogether, but Stewart can still see the URL, or the conniving duplicate thereof.
<Crion> /The_High_House.
<VoxPVoxD> Mmm. That explains why Peter and Gemma fled together...
<trenchfoot> Time to herself, hmm. Nels has her fetch's daughter to look into, she has a group of kids to teach music to, and she's got an exam that she's probably prepared to take. Decisions, decisions - okay, her preferences are basically in that order, but she's not going to rush Lauren Ipsum on that first one and she hasn't exactly set a schedule for the second, and the third one... maybe someone else needs something?? Nerves.
<CBN> Tony's spent some time at the public library of late. Good thing it's winter, and the public library, where a guy spending 3 hours on-and-off, taking notes and watching youtube videos about the pros, cons, hows, and whys of rock salt in a shotgun, is just another library thing. But it wasn't all that helpful. And that's how he's back at the Wherehouse, again, sitting in the living room scowling at a broken-open shotgun and shells with
<CBN> the powder poured out.
<Crion> Thank god it's America, and an aging white guy researching gun shit is about the same as breathing.
<CBN> He showers regularly, is the most out-of-place part about what he was doing and where. And only mumbled to himself at a respectful, low volume.
<banana> Melanie doesn't find it uneasy to have time to herself. Dangerous, maybe, but easy. She likes doing work for the Court - has to help protect the people who've given her a new life - but spending all day reading and writing? That's easy. Dealing with people wouldn't be.
<banana> She does want to explore the Market outside a bit more, now that she's got used to the interactions and formulae involved in shopping. Both Lexington and Notgnixel.
<banana> Maybe the Earth-side ones have some good people-watching spots?
<Crion> As for Nels, Lauren isn't going to push the thing about her fetch's kids until she's ready...someone else might, though. Lauren was pretty clear that a fetch having viable offspring who then themselves reproduced -- that's what's necessary for a kid at UMBC right now -- was a pretty big deal. And the search was run through the Autumn Court.
<Crion> It occurs to Tony during his studies that it might be of more utility to examine the weapon itself than the ammunition -- specifically, see if he can't modify the barrel with some kind of token or magic. Normal ammunition goes in...
<Crion> ...that's probably a big investment, though.
<CBN> Hey, when all you've got is time.
<VoxPVoxD> Not really enough to go on. Stewart could keep trying to stalk Gemma, although it feels a bit weird... he hasn't heard from Rose lately, has he?
<trenchfoot> Well, she was morbidly curious if her fetch's daughter had a record of her death... if the Autumn Court wants to investigate, that's sort of on them, but they're likely to know more than she does at this point. Which is a weird thought, but so is being 100 years in the future, so what are you gonna do.
<Crion> He has not, though in fairness, she didn't say she was going to.
<banana> Eventually, Melanie steps in from the exterior entrance in a burst of elevator music and completely ignores the shotgun. "Tony!"
<Crion> What is Nels expecting from Lauren, if she does want to move forward? A name and an address? A meet-up?
<banana> "Tony I figured out what's in the book."
<CBN> Tony's staring down the barrel and scowling. He brightens upon receiving a distraction. "Oh sick! What's up?" Happily sets the shotgun aside.
<trenchfoot> For the kid? Name and maybe some kind of social media. Just to make sure they're doing okay. She's had time to think on it, and... probably meeting them wouldn't do anyone any good. Actually, one other thing: if she can, maybe a heads up if the court plans on doing anything? Because it's her fault this kid is even on their radar.
<banana> Melanie: "I don't think that's safe. Actually, that's a good leadin... listen to this:"
<banana> She turns to a particular page in the battered tome, glancing back down at Tony, and reads:
<Crion> Lauren can do that.
<banana> Public execution is a matter of public safety. While the power of the State to kill must be reserved for the most serious cases, the deterrence which is at the heart of jurisprudence cannot be achieved by imprisonment alone. There exist criminals to whom prison is a familiar if not welcome home, recidivists who if given the lighter penalties which are necessary in a fair system will abuse
<banana> their clemency again and again. The death penalty is 'unusual punishment', but not 'cruel'; it's the only escape for those felons who've opted out of meaningful participation in society and the only escape we have from their acts.
<banana> While reading, Melanie's carved brows shoot up - the text clearly isn't what she expected.
<CBN> Tony scratches his head. "So that's ah. Huh?"
<VoxPVoxD> What is the protocol for asking the willworkers for information, anyway?
<banana> Melanie: "It's a bit unclear, wouldn't you say? Two sides to the argument?"
<Crion> Poke your head out of the cubby where they've got the Book set up for you and ask, probably. Sommelier is the guy on duty in the Library right now.
<VoxPVoxD> Oh, whew, that's a relief. Stewart flags the man down. Maybe Sommelier will recognize him, maybe not, but trying to hide is doomed to fail and make things worse.
<CBN> Tony: "...did I give you a book that lets you argue with yourself about stuff?"
<CBN> Tony: "You're...wel...come?"
<Crion> Well, he does recognize Stewart -- Sommelier has been around sometimes when Stewart has come in, and has always been unfailingly polite, even if they haven't exactly spoken before. But if he knows Stewart was at The Brewer's Art that night, he hasn't let on.
<banana> Melanie: "No, not with myself. I think the death penalty is obviously necessary, though not for the reasons given here."
<VoxPVoxD> Good enough! "Excuse me, Sommelier, sir? I have a research problem and I was wondering if you could maybe point me in a better direction."
<banana> "The book explains how you feel about it, look-" She shows Tony a page with the chapter heading, Tony of the Winter Court: on Executions
<CBN> Tony: "I mean, there's a lot to think about. Like just think about who we've---oh what the fuck dude."
<banana> "I mean, it's not just you. Everyone's in there."
<Crion> The man looks up from a book written in...tally marks? He shuts it. He examines Stewart for a moment, pausing, then smiles and says, "Why certainly, Stewart. What can I do for you?"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart explains that he encounted a creature in the Hedge which he'd never seen before and can find no reference to in the literature. He mentions its protean, shadowy nature... and the way it presented some kind of terrifying mashup to Hedge Busker's Tip.
<banana> Melanie: "Think about who we've what, put to death? Pretty much the same sort of people who get other criminal penalties, right.. the system's biased of course."
<CBN> Tony: "Dang. Well I'm happy you...like...it?"
<Crion> Sommelier frowns. "Can you draw it for me?"
<CBN> Tony: "Oh I know! Try another one! Ask it what I think about Terminator 2!" He is assuming it works like that.
<banana> Melanie: "I wonder if that works. Let me just find the index."
<banana> "There's nothing here.. no wait, it says see: five-star ratings.. then there's a kind of impenetrable passage in kant-ese. Transcendental ideals."
<banana> "I think this means you support it wholeheartedly and won't hear a word otherwise?"
<Crion> So what's Nels up to? Does she want to bother Lauren, see what DJ Fuck You is up to? Is she at the Wherehouse instead?
<banana> "..or that it's out of scope of the tome. Hard to tell!"
<CBN> Tony: "Okay well, it ruled. Super cool beans, really glad I watched it even though the first one was already a perfect movie."
<CBN> Tony:"Wait can you...can you ask it what IT thinks about stuff? I don't want to break your book though so maybe you shouldn't."
<banana> "Sequels are nice and safe, right." Melanie sets the book down- very carefully - and finds a table to lean against. "I appreciate knowing what you're going to get..."
<banana> "I wish I could but the Wyrd is damn cagey. It's clearly got opinions but does NOT make them clear. That would make it easier for people to follow the rules."
<Crion> He provides charcoal and paper for Stewart.
<banana> Melanie: "It's not crazy to feel like there's a mystical force controlling and directing our lives for its own sinister ends, right?"
<trenchfoot> She did say to Lauren last time that she should holler when she's got something, so if she hasn't been hollered at, it'd be rude to pester her. DJ Fuck You was surprisingly nice, and teaching was interesting -- she'd like to keep doing that, so figuring out the best way for her to keep that going is now top priority. Nels will grab her guitar and set out towards the NACC. And, hey, while she's there she can maybe, potentially, think
<trenchfoot> about setting a date for her GED.
<CBN> Tony: "Well, I'm glad you like it! I figured if I started with something you liked, then let marinate for awhile, it would be something you still liked, so, cool beans."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart makes a dark, heavy circle, frowns, and turns the page and draws on the other side. The combination of the obverse side's circular stain and the weird geometry he draws on this side give... not an *accurate* picture, but an accurate *impression*.
<CBN> Tony: "You don't know how to make a shotgun magical, do you?"
<banana> Melanie: "Yeah, this is fascinating. I don't know if I like knowing this stuff exactly, but... it will be useful. Though I feel like reading from it tends to give you away too."
<banana> "I can, but it wears off. Do you want it to shoot fireballs?"
<Crion> ...And while Stewart draws, Sommelier removes a bottle of red Chilean wine from beneath the desk, a heavy malbec, and pours some into a small open flask. Atop that he attaches a tapered lid. Then he sips the wine to check that it is still good -- it is -- corks it, and removes a quill from the same compartment.
<Crion> He puts Stewart's drawing next to another blank sheet of paper, and dips his quill in his 'ink.'
<CBN> Tony thinks about that for a long second. "I think...I mean first I was just looking for a way to pack some dirt into shotgun shells so if we face that weird wind-lightning-thing again I have something more reliable than 'throwing dirt at it' as a way to uh, throw dirt on it. Cuz it hated that."
<CBN> Tony: "But all the guys with the Southern accents on the Youtube video site seem to think making rock salt shells makes them useless outside of arm's length, and they made some pretty convincing arguments with cardboard cutouts and demonstration shots..."
<CBN> Tony: "So I'm thinking, it's not how you throw the ball, it's how you plant your feet, right? The gun not the ammo."
<banana> Melanie: "You could probably swear an oath to the gun, get it to promise you earth and thunder. The only thing I'd be worried about is what a gun wants in return?"
<Crion> Sommelier stares at the thing Stewart has drawn with eyes open and staring, fingers dancing along it, while his other hand uses the wine-dipped quill to write: "GUR - FHA - VA - FUNQBJ"
<Crion> David Smitten's on the desk at the NACC, like he always is. There's a cop hanging around, but he's not being an aggressive shithead. At least not at the moment. When he sees Nels: "Yo!"
<Crion> That's Smitten, not the cop.
<banana> Melanie: "Maybe frame it in a flattering way. You could use the idea about.. you know the saying 'if you outlaw guns, only outlaws have guns'?"
<Crion> Sommelier opens his eyes, looks down, and frowns. "Oh."
<banana> "Could you.. make a deal a shotgun to flaunt its righteousness?"
<CBN> Tony: "Yeah I asked Steve about that, and I thought I misheard him at first, because he said it's like, fifteen or twenty oaths to get a weapon to do what it wants. I can't even think of 15 things to promise everyone I know, in my life."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "What is it?"
<trenchfoot> Nels: "Hi, David." She gives a little wave. How careful does she have to be around this cop, namedropping wise? I'm not sure she got the name DJ Fuck You was using for the class.
<banana> Melanie: "How about taking a different tack. Instead of modifying a gun to fire earth, could you 'find' one that does what you want? In a directed dream, maybe?"
<Crion> Sommelier: "I expected...I don't know what I expected. I used Prime to divine a Name. Perhaps not a true Name, but a name. I expected, based on this picture, some sort of ancient magickal tongue."
<banana> "It'd be a project to set something like that up, curate the narrative, but it might be a different kind of price."
<Crion> "Not...ROT13."
<Crion> "'The Sun In Shadow.'"
<VoxPVoxD> Now Stewart frowns.
<VoxPVoxD> "Ever heard of that?"
<VoxPVoxD> "Either names being encrypted that way or that specific name."
<Crion> Sommelier: "Neither the normal nor the inverted. That might be important, of course: that it's ROT13, not ROT10 or what have you, with 26 characters. A perfect inversion."
<Crion> "But this feels...I don't know. Describe to me how it appeared before you again?"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart explains the building storm, and the bolts of lightning circling the basepaths, and the way it seemed to pour into an impossible mold as a solid black orb.
<CBN> Tony: "Hmm. Yeah that could do it..." Now the wheels are turning.
<banana> Melanie: "If you expect something like this to exist, it probably does. It makes.. aesthetic sense, right? A blobby shadow thing spitting energy at us, a big gun that would blow a raggedy hole in it.. stop me if the imagery is at cross-purposes."
<Crion> Sommelier: "See...impossible geometry, thematic elements of the supernal, like the sun -- ESPECIALLY in the Hedge, overriding whatever normative and narrative barriers exist to prevent its manifestation there; forming as a symbol first and foremost, being powerful in symbolic form and powerless outside of it but most dangerous when going from unsymbolic to symbolic : all of this would say
<Crion> to me that you encountered an Ochemata, specifically of Prime, the will of that dread Exarch made manifest..."
<Crion> "...except that it was small, and weak, and cheap, and easily vanquished."
<Crion> "No offense to you and yours."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "So like the fetch of an ochema?"
<Crion> Sommelier: "Perhaps. But I've known some quite capable fetches from your side."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Yeah, although they're capable compared to *us*, not to *that*."
<Crion> Sommelier: "This is true."
<Crion> "Of course, this still substantially worries me."
<Crion> "The Sun in Shadow is one thing. What about Gur Fha Va Fha?"
<Crion> Nels is fine. The cop stays at his post at the door and though he gives her a second look, it's not a suspicious one. And he doesn't say anything.
<Crion> David nods back and leans over the counter. "So what's up?"
<trenchfoot> Then: "Is DJ in? I came by last week and helped out in one of his classes, and I was wondering if I could make that more of a regular thing." She politely omits the cuss word.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Something very unusual is going on..."
<VoxPVoxD> "I need to know more."
<Crion> Sommelier smiles at that. "Well, here is a place to start: this could not likely have been done without the help of one who serves the Throne."
<Crion> The smile who grimaces. "One who lives in a Society."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Like the Counselor?"
<Crion> *becomes
<Crion> "Counselor would be my first guess, yes."
<Crion> "At this point I need to inform Jesuit and get permission to further intervene."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Okay, yeah, that makes sense. Thank you."
<Crion> He nods. "I will be in touch, through your...regent? I suppose the date of kingship has recently passed for this year."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Out of season, I think he takes the title Steward. Thank you so much, you've been very helpful."
<Crion> David: "Yeah, he's in office hours right now, actually. Down the hall there, third door on the right. One right before Amelia's."
<Crion> Sommelier's smile fades even more. "Thank me when it is over. If it is, ever, over."
<Crion> Then, assuming Stewart makes to leave, he returns to the tally book.
<Crion> He reads them like braille.
<VoxPVoxD> Yeah, Stewart's done here.
<Crion> Fireman nods to him on his way out; other than that, it's a clear shot to the street and his car.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart looks around for cops before getting in.
<Crion> He's clear.
<trenchfoot> Nels: "Thank you!" She starts to head off, before thinking -- "Um. Also, where do I go to apply to take the GED test? I'm just about ready, but..."
<VoxPVoxD> Home again, home again. Stewart makes a report to the Steward and Lord Sage through Ravens, ending on the note that he expects the Consilium to contact the Steward.
<Crion> Smitten smiles. "We can handle that here. They test per module four times a year or so, and if you fail you can't retest until January 1 of the next year, but I think you'll be good..." He'll get out some paperwork for her to fill out. "Don't fill in anything but the name you want on the results. We'll handle the rest." Which is to say, Santander and Ravens will launder it properly and
<Crion> securely.
<Crion> Back home, Lauren wants to know if he'll be around for dinner and Chup bothers him throughout the report writing process, due to Chup.
<VoxPVoxD> "As far as I know," says Stewart.
<dammitwho> Did you know you can draw whatever you want, and some fella in China will make a sticker out of it for you? The future is amazing. Maggie is carefully affixing a large sticker depicting a small cartoon version of her smiling head (with witch hat) atop the words AUNT MAGS' SLEEPYTIME JUICE to a mason jar filled with a dark purple liquid. A small speech bubble off to the side has her logo-self
<dammitwho> saying 'Just a shot will do ya!'.
<trenchfoot> Into the guitar case the paperwork goes. "I'll bring it back... soon. Thanks again!" Then it's off to see DJ Fuck You.
<trenchfoot> She'll knock at the door if it's closed, or the frame if it's open. Only polite.
<Crion> In that case, Lauren produces, at great effort, some tasty and very filling chicken and rice, and only spends like...half of the time in the kitchen screaming at it.
<VoxPVoxD> !!!
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart's delighted.
<Crion> So is she, once she's tasted it. Chup can have little a chicken.
<Crion> The door is slightly open...because the Gardiner of Spring is in DJ Fuck You's office, chatting with him about teaching schedules. "Nels!" She waves her into the room with a smile.
<Crion> How long has it been since Maggie touched base with Union? Presumably things have been going well?
<trenchfoot> Nels steps inside. "Hi! I'm not interrupting, am I?"
<dammitwho> It's been a little bit. The goblin fruits aren't quite ripe yet, so her contact with him has been mainly cheerful social calls. (Not actual calls, the young people seem to dislike that.)
<dammitwho> Hmm. Who would know what people in the Freehold have trouble sleeping? The Spring Queen, currently Gardener? Worth a try.
<Crion> Amelia: "You are not!"
<Crion> DJ: "Hi, Nels."
<Crion> DJ: "I wouldn't say we were talking about you, but...we were getting around to talking about you."
<Crion> Is Maggie also descending on the NACC?
<trenchfoot> Nels: "Only good things, I hope."
<Crion> Amelia: "Fuck was telling me about how well your session with the kids went."
<Crion> DJ raises a finger and opens his mouth and then shrugs.
<VoxPVoxD> While Stewart does the dishes, he asks: "Have you ever heard anything about wizards getting into the Hedge?"
<dammitwho> Yep.
<trenchfoot> She beams, completely ignoring how weird it is that Amelia calls him that. "That's actually why I'm here! I was wondering if there was a way to make that more of a regular thing?"
<Crion> Lauren: "Well, there's hedge-wizards, but I don't think that's the same thing?"
<Crion> DJ: "Yeah!"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Yeah I mean like... so you remember the thing I told you about in the Camden Yards Hedge? Big weird shadow monster?"
<Crion> Amelia, with a bit of an indulgent smirk: "...DJ has gotten some offers on his professional side that might lead to him having to cut back once a week. Tuesdays -- can you do Tuesdays after school?"
<dammitwho> What's happening down there?
<Crion> Meanwhile, David Smitten looks up as Maggie walks in and smiles, and the cop actually steps away.
<Crion> "Heyy there, girl."
<Crion> Again, that's Smitten.
<Crion> Lauren: "Yeah?"
<Crion> Chup is trying to get more chicken, but Lauren has already sealed it away, then put it in the refridgerator (ancient tomb; impossible to open).
<dammitwho> "Oof-" She hefts the wooden box she carries in front of her. "Heya, Smitten! Is her nibs in?"
<Crion> Smitten: "Yeah, should be in her office. Nels just walked in literally three minutes ago; sent her the same way."
<dammitwho> "Oh, nice. Cheers."
<Crion> "Have a good one."
<trenchfoot> Nels: "Sure can! What kinda students are we talking here - I think you had me with the beginners that first time..."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "I talked to Sommelier about it and we came up with a name. 'The Sun in Shadow', but run through a ROT13 cipher. Gur Vha Ha Fun-Q-BJ. Anyway his best idea for what it was is a kind of, like, higher being that the cop willworkers commune with, but like a limited or fragile reflection of it."
<dammitwho> Maggie'll proceed through the NACC then. Is the door closed when she arrives at Amelia's office?
<trenchfoot> The door to DJ Fuck You's office is before Amelia's and has the door open! Nels didn't close it behind her.
<Crion> It is, but she'll pass the office right before it first, and see Nels, Amelia, and the DJ from the Sidereal in there already.
<Crion> Lauren laughs. "Fun Q Beejay? Sounds like a good time."
<dammitwho> Maggie: "Oop! Hey, Nels! I can wait if you all're busy...?"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart snorts.
<Crion> She pauses. "Was he worried?"
<Crion> Amelia: "Eh. It's a small office, but get the hell in here."
<trenchfoot> Nels will step aside to make room. "Hi, Maggie!"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Yeah, it seems like ochemata - that's what the beings are called - are like... high tier scary stuff."
<Crion> Meanwhile, how's Tony going about planning this shotgun of his? It'll need to be left in the Hedge for some time at least, even if it's not some time.
<Crion> Lauren: "You guys took care of it pretty easily, though. Even for a shadow or fetch Ochemata. Which says to me...he thinks it'll come back?"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "We didn't actually see it die, it just sort of vanished..."
<dammitwho> Maggie will edge her way in, then, and carefully set the box down on the desk before sitting down.
<CBN> For Tony, the most important thing isn't exactly where he's going to leave it, but what's under that. Because that's the idea: Open a hole as deep as he can with his affinity for the soil, drop the thing in (unloaded, of course---he's not going to hand the Hedge a loaded gun, not literally at least), fill it up, and come back later to unearth it.
<CBN> So, finding somewhere that doesn't have some weird bullshit myconiculture society underneath it, or giant truffle-hunting landsharkpigs, is paramount.
<Crion> Sounds like a good thing to consult the Hobs about. Is Melanie going with him or is this a solo venture?
<Crion> DJ: "...Okay, so what's that?"
<banana> Melanie's happy to help if it's helpful. Actually, she's curious:
<CBN> Melanie's welcome to come. Probably won't even need to get her hands dirty! And maybe she can test the book on Steve (or very, very not do that).
<banana> "So why a talisman against the baseball shadow specifically? It just seemed like one of those things." She gestures vaguely. Hedge monster things.
<Crion> Does Tony want to wait until Steve's around again, or go out looking?
<CBN> Tony: "I mean, the hope isn't only for that baseball shadow thing, but honestly, I feel a lot more comfortable taking a shot at stuff over here, than stuff over in the, Steve says it's rude to call it the 'real world,' but, the one with normal humans in it and not briarhounds and Pigs."
<Crion> Not specifically for Steve necessarily, of course.
<CBN> He'll go out looking (not for trouble, but).
<CBN> Tony: "But I feel like I got lucky throwing dirt in that thing's face before, and I don't want to trust luck when planning will do."
<banana> Melanie: "I call it Earth, but that's a bit confusing with your earth."
<banana> "Yeah, maybe we have been lucky. It can't hurt to be ready for the next fight. I just.. don't like to spend a lot of mental space on this stuff, right? Because it feels like that's giving it power. Centering the unreal."
<CBN> Tony: "Go with soil for that one, I'm not out here hucking boulders."
<dammitwho> She pries open the lid, revealing a set of filled mason jars kept from breaking with wooden dividers and paper packing. "Well, I wanted to ask you all if you knew of anyone in the Freehold that was having trouble getting to sleep of late. Because..." She takes a jar out and places it on the desk, facing the logo towards the others. "Ta-daa! Aunt Mags' Sleepytime Juice!"
<banana> Melanie: "It's an element though! We're clearly doing elemental magic in the greco-roman fictional tradition."
<banana> "I say 'fictional' the same way as 'unreal' because like.. obviously it isn't magic magic, it's a story Arcadia tells. A ripoff."
<banana> "Also, are we lost."
<CBN> Tony looks around. He doesn't find shit on his own. But that's why he has friends! And, entirely separately, he knows hobs!
<Crion> Amelia: "...Maggie."
<Crion> "Are you trying to get us robotripping?"
<dammitwho> Agreeably: "I don't know what that is!"
<Crion> Amelia nods. "Fair enough."
<Crion> DJ nods. "Fuck yeah!"
<Crion> Amelia, to DJ: "You still have to drive. You can't have any now."
<Crion> To Maggie: "How's it work?"
<Crion> DJ: "What's it taste like?"
<Crion> Tony's search for some place to really dig down and take roots in the soil...doesn't really bear fruit. Mostly because this is the Baltimore Hedge. Digging's going to be hard, not just because this entire space mostly works laterally, not vertically -- there is no real 'underground' here in the same way there's no 'sky,' it's all liminal narrative space -- but because a lot of this shit is
<Crion> asphalt.
<trenchfoot> Words learned today: "robotripping." Not what it means just yet, but it's something to look up for later.
<dammitwho> Maggie: "It's a tincture of valerian root, chamomile and hops, plus liquid magnesium supplement, lavender oil (mostly for aroma), and a wee bit of melatonin. It uses the hops for flavor also, so it tastes kinda like one of those beers the kids seem to like."
<Crion> But he does run into a broom sweeping itself that, when asked, will stop and rustle that yes, it knows that there might be someone 'round these parts who will help him put down roots. Look for Widefeathers. That leads Tony to an owl sitting crosslegged atop a trashcan, unblinking; when Tony inquires as to the someone, the owl nods and turns its great eyes down the 'street,' where a squid in
<Crion> a cowboy hat is overseeing a craps game.
<dammitwho> Maggie: "It's an alcohol tincture, though, so a fair amount of it is Everclear."
<dammitwho> "That's why the lil' me on the logo says to just drink a little at a time."
<Crion> Ink Sink burbles a bit, but finally directs Tony to a bit of rolling green off the Druid Hill Hedge, where a large tree with an expansive face and a smile holds court.
<Crion> DJ: "...What's a fair amount here? Got a proof?"
<banana> Melanie trails after the hob.. trail, incredulously. He could've just said yes, we're lost.
<Crion> The tree's leaves are all red, but not like, blood red; bright and colorful.
<Crion> The bark is blood red!
<CBN> Tony greets everyone happily, even if a lesser man would've gotten frustrated at this run-around. But it's hobs; why would we walk two steps straight forward, when ten in a circle would do?
<dammitwho> Maggie does some quick math. "'bout 80 proof, I'd say."
<Crion> Amelia blinks.
<Crion> DJ: "Well fuck yeah."
<Crion> Amelia: "So...does it have a hangover?"
<trenchfoot> ...A fair amount of it is everclear and it's 80 proof?
<Crion> "Because that sounds like it has a hangover."
<dammitwho> Maggie: "Well, sure, if you drink the whole thing. Just a shot thirty minutes before bed, or a glass diluted with water."
<Crion> Lauren: "I'm sure you'll figure it out. And if not you have willworkers and Santander to help. And if that doesn't work, well, shit. I'll get Ahnold on the case."
<Crion> Once everything's cleaned up, she'll get back to tinkering, if there's somewhere else Stewart wants to be before bedtime.
<dammitwho> She frowns. "This is good feedback, though. Maybe I should put an instruction label on the back."
<Crion> Amelia's mouth is doing its best to stay serious, while DJ is openly cracking up.
<Crion> Amelia: "But seriously, I run a bar. You know what it mixes well with?"
<CBN> Tony offers a happy, wide wave to the big happy blood tree there. "Hello!" As he approaches.
<VoxPVoxD> What Stewart really wants is to hang out... but there's still so much work to do.
<dammitwho> "Eh?"
<Crion> Amelia: "As a cocktail."
<trenchfoot> They did stop prescribing alcohol before Nels' time... mostly.
<dammitwho> Maggie: "I feel like you think this is not a serious benefit to the community here."
<Crion> Big Red -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNBTwPA7R4Q There's something special 'bout people like us.
<Crion> The big red tree: "Howdy!"
<Crion> "Heard tell you were wandering bout these parts."
<CBN> Tony: "Yes sir! How's your day going?"
<Crion> Big Red: "Well! That's mighty polite of you to ask." His eyes swivel to Melanie. They're a bit too...wet? "Ma'am."
<Crion> "My day's going just fine, stranger. But tell me what I should call you, and let's become less so."
<CBN> Tony: "Tony's fine, sir. And you?"
<Crion> "Well, they call me Big Red. On account of the...well." He chuckles.
<CBN> Tony chuckles along with him, genuinely. "No reason I'm Tony, other than that's what people called me. That's Melanie." He thumbs back towards her.
<CBN> Tony clears his throat. "And to your point, we've been wandering around, because I'm trying to find a good place with some good dirt that goes deep, with nothing under it but more of the same."
<Crion> Trees shouldn't be able to nod, but this one does. It's weird. It's more like the face moves than the trunk. "Good place and good dirt, that's what we got here. Eventually it hits stone, and after that, it hits Hell. But we don't go down there."
<banana> Melanie: "......"
<CBN> Tony laughs a little at that. "Imagine we wouldn't, no sir."
<banana> "Not voluntarily."
<banana> Melanie: "Have you always been.. grown.. around here?"
<Crion> Amelia puts a hand on DJ's shoulder, and he stops laughing. "I'm sorry. I thank you for what you've done. But...when it comes to medicine, a lot of people have alcohol sensitivities. It's not an absolute good...or even a contingent one, medically. But we shouldn't have laughed."
<Crion> Cheerfully, to Melanie: "Have done, ma'am. Of course, that gate over there has sometimes led down other roads."
<banana> Melanie: "Okay." She turns away. It's too much like one of the scripts and she can't watch Tony playing along.
<Crion> Meanwhile, in Stewart's inbox -- on the hex box -- Santander has filed a notice that he's reviewed both your report and Gaunt Rose's. He thinks it'd be constructive for you to meet about the next step. In a conference room, or wherever you prefer. Gaunt is CC'd. She hasn't responded.
<Crion> Big Red watches her turn and purses his...lips?...before looking back at Tony. "So what can I do ya for?"
<dammitwho> She sighs. "Well... alright. Sorry to have taken up your time."
<VoxPVoxD> Does meeting here mean between the two of them or the three of them? And Stewart doesn't have a number or anything for Rose, right? Does she hang out in the chat channel?
<CBN> Tony: "Your permission for me to dig a hole, leave something here for awhile, then come collect it when it's ready to be collected, sir."
<Crion> Amelia: "Christ, Maggie! You don't need to apologize to us. I'm sure it's delicious. It's just...not a world where you can drink yourself to sleep on 40% alcohol anymore, that's all. Stick around!"
<trenchfoot> Nels: "It was weird to get used to. Probably for the best, though." About the alcohol thing, anyways.
<Crion> Big Red 'nods' again. "That can be done, with guarantees. But! Round here service requires a fee. We can negotiate..."
<dammitwho> Maggie: "The alcohol's just to get the active ingredients into the bloodstream!"
<Crion> He lays out his terms: debt or gilt, paid in the Coin of the Realm, commensurate to the power you desire. These are natural laws, not his, he protests.
<CBN> Tony: "I've got, where is it now..." He rummages around in his pockets, and produces a Coin of the Realm. "One of these, and my word as my bond."
<banana> Hearing the thing negotiate helps. It's one of *them*, a creature of promises and bindings. Not the same thing at all really.
<Crion> Gaunt Rose is not in chat. If he follows up with Santander, Santander will make it clear that he wants the two of you to meet constructively, and try to gently prod Rose into responding.
<Crion> She won't, of course.
<banana> Melanie turns back, 'casually', leaning on the gate with her arms outstretched. Does Tony need any extra Coin chipped in or is he good..?
<CBN> Tony seems...surprisingly okay with shouldering this burden. Like not even resigned to it. It's just another hit to take for the team and he's good at those.
<Crion> When Tony tosses it to him, one of Big Red's branches whips down and smacks it up in the air so that it lands in his mouth -- not to swallow it, but to bite the coin and test the metal. Satisfied, Big Red spits it out again and smacks it straight up in the air, up somewhere into his branches. It doesn't come back down.
<CBN> Tony nods. "Appreciate it. And if you can think of any favors you might want our help with, let me know."
<VoxPVoxD> What time is it when Stewart gets the email?
<Crion> Probably around 9:00 PM. Santander will e-mail outside of business hours, but he's an old guy. Likes to go to bed around 10.
<Crion> Big Red: "Ayup. Fair roads."
<Crion> DJ: "I don't...think that's how science works?"
<Crion> Amelia: "Hush."
<Crion> To Nels: "Job's yours if you want it. Tuesdays after school?"
<trenchfoot> Nels: "How advanced are the kids? All levels, or am I taking one specific group?"
<banana> Melanie: "I'm interested to see how you're pla- how you're burying it. Is surrounded-by-earth going to create the narrative you need?"
<banana> "It might work, or we could get a skeleton gun..."
<Crion> DJ: "Tuesday classes are almost like what you were at before, but flipped: first session is high school kids right after school, then grade school kids when they let out. Two one-hour sessions."
<CBN> Tony: "I was honestly just going to make space the way you move trees, dump the one I've got on me in there, and see what happens to it in the end."
<CBN> Tony: "Feels like overthinking Hedge stuff is just wasting time on something where logic's out to lunch already."
<Crion> Out to lunch, and getting paid.
<trenchfoot> Nels nods. "I can work with that." She's already making plans. "Do we know how many are signed up for each? Or is this easy come, easy go."
<banana> Melanie: "You're the one with the knack, so go for it.. I'm not looking for a scientific explanation, I just wish it made some sort of.. philosophical sense. A narrative throughline."
<Crion> DJ: "Class size is usually around 25 but we keep accomodations up to 40. Kids...kind of drift in and out. You know how family situations can get."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart scratches his head... no, no it doesn't make sense to bother her now. Tomorrow. He'll leave his speakers on in case an e-mail notification comes through and spend the evening with Lauren.
<banana> "I guess it bugs me that these guys-" she's not gesturing at all this time. Can't quite face waving at a branch with another one. "go on about their sacrosanct rules and slavishly enacted scripts, but then they're totally inconsistent. It's all a sham."
<trenchfoot> She does. "Got it. When do I start?"
<CBN> Tony: "Oh! See that's perfect though. We already did the narrative part, the quest whatever, with finding a good spot to dump the thing first, right? Journey not the destination, or whatever? I skimmed some book about it at the library once, Golden whatever."
<CBN> Tony: "You know all rules and laws are fake, right? The only reason you don't just run out of bounds, past the bleachers, and come into the end zone and claim a dozen points is because everyone says so."
<banana> Melanie: "Path? Globe? State warriors?"
<CBN> Tony: "Bough?" He pronounces it "bow-guh" "Or maybe it was the Man With All The Faces..."
<Crion> At 10:15 PM, Stewart will receive an e-mail that is not from Santander, and is not CC'd. It reads: "conference room, midnight." It's from Gaunt Rose's e-mail address.
<Crion> DJ: "Two weeks would be good. Uh. Week after next."
<banana> Melanie: "Oh shit, Frazer. We're like.. devolving back into magic."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart untangles from Lauren on the couch to check and reports back, "Gotta go in to the office at midnight." Then he settles back down. "So one more episode and then I gotta go. Are the video games this show is based on any good?"
<trenchfoot> She nods. "I'll be ready." Just enough time to psyche herself up, out, and back up again.
<CBN> While they're discussing the finer points of books Tony read like 5 pages of while waiting for a computer to open up, he quietly nudges open a deep, narrow hole in the soil, really a knife-stab in the dirt the dimensions of a shotgun on its side, and drops it in. Then scuffs a foot and it closes up with a quiet grumble of the shifting earth. "Yeah I didn't get to the good parts, if there were good parts. But it was on the 'read while
<CBN> you wait' cart by the computers." He is of course referring to the recirculation and shelving cart, but, who knows that kind of thing?
<Crion> Lauren, mumbling: "I like 3. 1 and 2 kinda...well, you can just play three."
<Crion> "Geralt's got cat eyes in it though. Shoulda kept them for the show..."
<Crion> Chup sits on the side of her head and turns to stare at Stewart. "Augh."
<VoxPVoxD> "Chup's got cat eyes, don't you, Chup?" he says as he levers him off of her.
<trenchfoot> That was a lot easier than she thought it would be. And she even got to run into Maggie while she was there! "So, um, thanks for giving me a shot at this, and for the GED thing... that's pretty much all I came here for, so I'll leave you to it?"
<Crion> "Hopefully the only thing he shares with Geralt."
<banana> Melanie: "Oh. I've read it for the religious anthropology.. the author's thesis is that wizards evolved into priests and then scientists. 'Pagan' traditions that became 'Christian' and so on. It seems.. obviously true on one level but also maybe missing the point.."
<banana> "It was famous, like The Origin of Species. Big drama because people, in the past, were dumb."
<Crion> Amelia: "Yeah, we'll get you signed up. You have e-mail that you actually check, or should I just have all that routed to the Court and have Smitten call you?"
<CBN> Tony, while patting the dirt with a hand, then standing and waving to Big Red as he and Melanie begin to walk away. "You wanna know the big secret, Melanie?"
<trenchfoot> Nels: "...I should probably get an e-mail address. Until then, the phone will have to do."
<VoxPVoxD> Now Stewart's basically buried under warm sleepy things. He doesn't want to go out... but he can't resist the urge to do so. So it's about an hour later that he dresses and makes his way to the office.
<Crion> The elevator is as cheerful as it usually is for him now -- which is to say, actually so -- and takes him up to a darkened 27th floor with only one set of lights on, way across the office.
<Crion> Gaunt Rose is slouched in what's usually Kingsley's chair, kicking her legs up.
<CBN> Tony, smiling, stating the most obvious thing in the world: "We're all dumb as heck! The important thing is that we try to act smarter."
<Crion> Black jeans and boots.
<VoxPVoxD> "Evening, Rose," says he, in a hoodie and sweatpants, like he jogged here (he absolutely did not). "How are you?"
<Crion> Rose: "Peachy."
<Crion> "So now that we've been ordered to make nice and plan together, I'd like to know how your little conversation with Sommellier went today!"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart sits in Santander's usual chair. Weird angle on the room, but it's close enough to Rose that they can have an actual conversation.
<VoxPVoxD> At this, he blinks. "That wasn't related to this."
<Crion> Rose stares at him for a moment. Then: "And you're not going to tell me what it's about."
<trenchfoot> If there's nothing else, Nels will say her goodbyes and make her way back to the Wherehouse. Is Maggie coming with? Because Nels is interested in the medicine she was offering.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "I saw a thing in the Hedge that I couldn't schematize, so I asked him for help. How'd you know I talked to Sommelier?"
<dammitwho> Maggie's recovered, and will bid Amelia and DJ a cheery goodbye and head out with Nels unless they've got something more they wanna talk about.
<Crion> Rose: "I make sure to keep up my contacts. Fireman thinks we're all on the same team."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Mostly we are."
<VoxPVoxD> "Do you know what an ochema is?"
<Crion> She smiles nastily. "God's in the gaps, and the devil's in the details."
<Crion> Rose: "No."
<trenchfoot> Back at the Wherehouse with Maggie: "So what all's in it again? I know they sorta fixated on the alcohol part, but..."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Ochema is a Greek word meaning 'vehicle' or 'conveyance'. It's a word the willworkers use to describe avatars of their wizard gods, which he called 'Exarchs'. The thing we saw in the Hedge behaved, to him, like a weakened or contingent reflection of an ochema of 'Prime', which seems to be a kind of magic that governs, like, language and truth."
<Crion> Rose: "And did it just want to talk?"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "No it tried pretty hard to kill us."
<VoxPVoxD> "It wasn't nearly as strong as you'd expect an avatar of the malign god of truth to be, though."
<Crion> Rose: "Sounds about right."
<VoxPVoxD> "I don't know what it *actually* is, and to some extent you'd expect a wizard to analogize it to a wizard thing, like a magic Rorschach or whatever, but that's what we were talking about. Its name was encrypted, but like... in ROT13, like it got its name on Usenet in 1991."
<dammitwho> "Oh! Well, like I said, essence of valerian, chamomile, and hops. Plus some magnesium to help even out the ol' melatonin production, some lavender oil, and a teensy bit of melatonin."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart frowns at an errant thought, too subtle to crystallize into part of his internal monologue.
<trenchfoot> Nels: "So what's each part for? I know chamomile and hops... though mostly for tea and beer, respectively."
<trenchfoot> "They all just for relaxing?"
<Crion> Rose frowns. Well, it's more a sneer. "ROT13? Damn."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Yeah, like it was bypassing a word filter."
<Crion> "Anyway, didn't ask you here to talk about how cool you are. Gotta deal with this guy."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart rolls his eyes before he can catch himself. "Yeah. Have you learned anything new?"
<Crion> If anything, her grin widens at that. "He's somewhere in Canton right now. I'm not moving until we know more. And I'm not under any obligation to bring this to the Gang until we meet again on Sunday night.
<Crion> "
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Do we have any leads on the kind of place he might be thinking to hit next? Like we don't even know if he's planning these hits, or operating on some kind of intuition, or receiving orders..."
<VoxPVoxD> "Canton's not exactly Inner Harbor so it's not likely he just happened on Power Plant Live by accident."
<Crion> She shrugs. "You're not wrong. Might've just caught a party bus. I don't have whys or wherefores right now."
<dammitwho> Maggie: "The big three are all natural sedatives and calming agents. Magnesium helps with sleep-related brain chemistry, lavender is one of those whatsits... anxiolytics. And of course melatonin is your brain's sleepy-feeling chemical."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Digging into his motivations could be useful both for predicting him and getting him to leave."
<VoxPVoxD> "What do you think the next move should be?"
<Crion> Rose: "That sounds like it requires a stakeout or an in-person contact."
<Crion> "Either of which would be my call here, though the Gang will get mad if we do the latter without consulting them."
<Crion> Rose: "Not sure either of us have time for a stakeout, though."
<Crion> "We do have lives."
<trenchfoot> Nels: "Have you tried it yourself?" That does all make sense...
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "I could spin one of us into him."
<VoxPVoxD> "Less waiting, but also less control over scenario."
<Crion> She raises an eyebrow. "I could gambit one of us into him."
<Crion> "...Wheel's probably more certain."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart nods. "Also doesn't waste paper."
<Crion> She waves a hand. "Speech-to-text works just fine for the contract."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Even the loophole?"
<Crion> "No. Instead, I just go scare a motherfucker afterwards."
<Crion> She stands. "So, we're going in on this? Making contact?"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart stands. "Yeah, I think that's the next logical step. Do you want to go alone, together, or send me? You're the one who's exposed politically so the risk is more yours than mine."
<Crion> Brusquely: "Together. Both because fuck if I'm letting you take all the credit...and because Lauren would kill me if some jumped up twink with a soul-sword cut you in half."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "This'll be fun!"
<Crion> Rose: "Yeah. Fun! I'll e-mail you tomorrow."
<VoxPVoxD> "Cool. Good night." Stewart makes to leave.
<Crion> Rose nods and watches him go...taking out a deck of cards.
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<Crion> It's almost New Year's Eve, now. Tomorrow, actually. 2020 is right around the corner. Does anyone in the Wherehouse have plans?
<Crion> There's a party at the Sidereal, but it's a normie NYE celebration for mortals. Even in, ah, better seasons Winter wouldn't be holding two social events within ten days. One's bad enough.
<VoxPVoxD> Not on his own initiative. New Years isn't really Stewart's kind of holiday. Unless something comes up or Lauren wants to go out je
<Crion> Now, though...Winter's been a bit hard to find. The King hasn't been in Court -- at the Sidereal, Camden Yards, or anywhere else -- since your meeting with him. Canterbury's the only other Winter guy who is occasionally hanging around, doing security at the bar, and unless Tony decides to try to get in touch with someone, everyone else in the court has kind of gone ghost.
<VoxPVoxD> he'll probably be working.
<Crion> Of course, this is Winter's trademark, right? Right?
<dammitwho> Maggie is responding to Nels' question about Aunt Mag's Sleepytime Juice, specifically whether Maggie has used it before: "Oh, for sure! I wouldn't give something like that to people otherwise. Knocks you right the heck out, lemme tell ya."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart doesn't know, he only showed up last summer.
<banana> Oh yeah, the passage of time matters again. Melanie wonders whether to suggest to a couple of people that they go to one of the big public midnight things, stay anonymous on the edge of a crowd.. it might be nice to see people celebrating. Free glamour for Maggie and Nels.
<Crion> Are they still at the NACC, or have they reconvened at the Wherehouse?
<trenchfoot> They'd gone back to the Wherehouse, after wrapping up business there. For New Year's Eve, Nels has no specific plans - but trying Maggie's medicine early that evening is maybe a little too anti-social.
<dammitwho> Maggie's at the Wherehouse.
<trenchfoot> To Maggie: "I'll have to try it sometime, then. Next time I spend the night at my apartment, maybe."
<CBN> Tony's at the Wherehouse, on account of the passage of time being a big bummer, and NYE being a great way of being reminded of said bummer. He stress-baked a hot apple pie that he's already tucking into, regardless of time of day.
<banana> Melanie's probably nearby rather than inside. Recently she's taken up people-watching from some of the gantries and back passages you can get to in Lexington Market, and this is a good occasion for it with the complex open all night. (She always lets people know how far out she's going and for how long, though. Habits alleviate fears.)
<Crion> So: what's the closest reflective surface to each of you who is not in the Wherehouse, an hour and a minute after midnight?
<banana> There's something pleasantly liminal about the two sides of the elevator being so different. Not the interiors so much - the Warehouse's actual architecture comports with the packed brick and iron ribs on the other side of the elevator - but the crowds and sales compared to the sort of urban-rural Hedge exterior with its gardens and stupid fake animals.
<banana> The closest reflective surface? Probably a shop window. Some brand outlet.
<VoxPVoxD> For Stewart it's likely the screen of his inactive phone.
<Crion> For each of them that surfaces flashes, like light has caught it -- even if that's impossible -- and a featureless face appears on the other side, where there's should be. The Winter King's voice says: "Capra is dead. Summer is coming. Get out. Get safe. If you are caught, invoke me."
<Crion> "You have less than...thirty minutes."
<Crion> The mirrors go dead.
<Crion> Does Melanie carry a cellphone?
<Crion> Well, is she currently carrying her cellphone.
<banana> Yes - and she's got one hand in a jacket pocket fumbling for it, caught between paralytic terror and the need to call in, to volunteer.
<Crion> Before she can get the address book up, Langford List is already calling.
<VoxPVoxD> People watching Stewart's stream will see him glance down and to the side on his facecam, play normally for another 20 seconds, and then the stream blacks out. Did Lauren hear that or does he need to get her along with his coat and gun?
<banana> Walk and talk.. she should be getting back inside, but would the call drop? And it's hard to manage too many things at once. She's only a couple of minutes away from the elevator, so Melanie focuses on the call- "Mr. List. I've just seen the message. What do we need to do?"
<Crion> She did not hear it. She's playing with Chup in the living room.
<Crion> Langford: "Melanie. It's Langford List. I--"
<Crion> "...What?"
<Crion> His voice went from distant to suddenly quite guarded.
<Crion> The three of you inside the Wherehouse get...no message at all.
<banana> Melanie: "Um." Maybe he hasn't seen it. "From the nameless guy. An emergency, 'get out, get safe'.. I don't know what's okay to say on here."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart's arrival is abrupt, then. "Get dressed. Just got a message from the King-in-Court. He said, 'Capra's dead, Summer is coming, get to safety'."
<Crion> List: "Nameless..." His voice goes flat. "Yeah, Melanie, I'm gonna need you to come in."
<Crion> "There's something we need to sort out."
<VoxPVoxD> Before waiting for a reply he pops out into the hall to bang on Nels's door, calling her simultaneously.
<Crion> Lauren: "Wha--"
<Crion> She automatically springs into action, though.
<Crion> Survivor's reflexes.
<CBN> Tony's just eating some of that pie. It's pretty good. Could've gone heavier on the cinnamon though.
<trenchfoot> No answer. She's back at the Wherehouse.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart calls Melanie next.
<banana> Melanie: "Yeah. My car's just a minute away, at where do you need me?"
<Crion> List: "Come on down to the Oberon, and we'll get this sorted out."
<dammitwho> Maggie should try cooking with beef marrow. That's supposed to be good for you.
<Crion> For reference, does Maggie have a phone with her?
<trenchfoot> She's got her guitar out, actually. Plucking away at nothing, really, just some scales. She's never taught music but once before, so...
<Crion> Or Nels?
<Crion> Tony's landline only, I suspect.
<trenchfoot> Nels has hers on her. She got a lecture about not doing so, once.
<dammitwho> Yeah, she's got a cell phone.
<banana> Melanie: "I will." She's walking now, trying to keep mostly to these back passages behind the shops until she can get out to the carpark.. not a good time to navigate crowds. "Is it ok if I go off the line to check on my friends?"
<Crion> List: "...Yeah. Yeah. But we need you down here immediately."
<CBN> Tony's got a personal cellular mobile device with prepaid minutes, but it's in his room.
<banana> "I'm heading there directly." Laws about using a mobile in your car? Probably unamerican anyway.
<VoxPVoxD> "I'm not getting through to Melanie," says Stewart, as he checks to make sure the gun is still loaded before attaching the holster. "Nels either. Hopefully they're already at the Wherehouse."
<Crion> List: "...See you soon."
<banana> It's conceivable that Stewart calling Melanie and Melanie calling Stewart both get crossed lines, or that she reaches him shortly after he tries and fails.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart answers immediately if so. "Melanie, did you get the thing?"
<Crion> It sounds like there's other people in the room with him as he hangs up, but it's impossible to make out words or legible sounds.
<banana> Melanie: "Yes I did. I just got through to you after talking to the Summer Court, I'm going in to help."
<banana> "You're okay, Lauren is okay? I think you should go to the Hollow."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Yeah we're on our way. Keep in touch, okay? Something seems weird."
<Crion> Lauren's quick enough that they can get out of the apartment in five minutes. She's got Chup in a carrier.
<VoxPVoxD> On the ride downtown: "Has this ever happened before?"
<Crion> Lauren laughs nervously. "Which part?"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Surprise lockdown."
<Crion> "Winter King showing up in a mirror unexpectedly? Yeah. A Summer Court...I don't want to say it."
<Crion> "I'm sure they're just...coming to talk."
<Crion> Lauren: "But King's orders."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Okay. They called Melanie in, apparently. Summer did, I mean."
<banana> Not being able to text rapidly is really inconvenient for Melanie right now. A group message to the others would be great, but she can't do that and drive.. you know what would be great? One of those hands-free devices. Anyway she's going to call Tony- no, Nels. Nels might be back at her apartment."
<trenchfoot> Can calls get through to the Wherehouse? Otherwise, no dice.
<Crion> Lauren shifts uncomfortably in her seat.
<Crion> They can go through, though they always sound weird. They're routed through a Google Voice clone in the server.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart doesn't know what to say, so he just reaches for her hand and squeezes it.
<trenchfoot> Then Nels will pick up on the second ring. "Hey, Melanie!" She sounds chipper through the line.
<banana> "Hi! Nels! Are you okay? Have you seen a warning in a magic mirror?"
<dammitwho> Maggie, in the background: "HI MELANIE!"
<banana> "Oh thank God." She's in the Wherehouse.
<trenchfoot> Nels: "Um? Yes, I'm okay, so are Maggie and Tony, and no, we didn't see any warnings in a magic mirror. Do you need help?"
<CBN> Tony, around pie, and from across the room, "Flel thlem gI skk g'hi!"
<trenchfoot> Absently: "Also, Tony says hi."
<Crion> Stewart and Lauren reach Lexington Market without incident...
<banana> Melanie: "No, ehh, I hope to be part of the help. I'm just on my way to the Oberon.. there was a message from the King, Stewart will tell you more if you're all there and safe?"
<banana> Melanie: "No, ehh, I hope to be part of the help. I'm just on my way to the Oberon.. there was a message from the King, Stewart will tell you more if you're all there and safe?"
<trenchfoot> Nels: "If you're sure. Call if anything changes, okay?"
<Crion> ...but as you walk in, a car you might recognize from the Sidereal's lot shows up. One of those black Escalades that Summer loves.
<VoxPVoxD> Capra's not driving, presumably.
<Crion> You should be able to duck inside before anyone gets out, but that means not seeing who it is. Might just be someone who owns an Escalade.
<Crion> Windows are tinted.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart sends Lauren in and waits at the elevator.
<banana> Melanie: "Sure. I have a couple of minutes but.. I don't know what we can say on the phone. It's frustrating!"
<Crion> It parks illegally. Out get Nissa of Fives, David Smote, and Detective Serrato Colt. Last guy's got his badge on a chain around his neck.
<banana> "Surely it's okay to- someone's been killed, there's danger in the Freehold. Just don't go outside, I'm sure that much is fine."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart sticks around to greet them at the door.
<trenchfoot> Nels exhales. "Okay. I'll tell the others. Stay safe, please?"
<Crion> A private security guard walks up and Colt just waves the badge in his face. Guy backs down. Smote and Nissa have carefully neutral features as they walk over. Smote: "Stewart Reader."
<banana> There's the noise of Melanie parking, which involves a few unnecessary thumps. "'Stay'? Haha. Yeah no bad joke, you too."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Hey."
<trenchfoot> Nels: "See you soon." She hangs up and turns to Maggie and Tony. "Okay. Something's going down up there, and we're supposed to stay here and stay safe. Someone's dead - she didn't say who - but Stewart, Lauren, and Melanie are all okay."
<dammitwho> Maggie immediately turns to get her kevlar vest.
<Crion> Smote: "Young Street requests your presence at the Oberon."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart blinks.
<trenchfoot> Nels: "She said she didn't want help, and I told her to call us if she needs any..."
<VoxPVoxD> "Winter King told us to bunker down."
<Crion> Smote: "Thing is...he wants to see Nels and Maggie too. And that guy Tony."
<Crion> Nissa visibly reacts to that; Smote doesn't.
<CBN> Tony puts some foil over the rest of the pie, then goes and tosses on his 'getting stabbed at' clothes. "Good they're okay, but, what should we do?"
<Crion> Smote: "Well, that's interesting. We can talk about that."
<Crion> Meanwhile, at the Oberon, List is waiting outside with a couple of bouncers. These are fae-touched guys that Summer uses as muscle. Mostly former gang members. Perhaps current gang members, depending on your perspective.
<banana> It occurs to Melanie that she didn't tell Nels which king, but Stewart will sort that out. He's the communicator. She's.. taking a few seconds too long to get out of a car. This is it, right? The moment we're called to defend against something, probably an attack the Winter mole has brought on? She doesn't know whether this is a rose-coloured hero complex view of things.
<banana> Capra's dead already, she never spoke more than a few words to him, and presumably what can defeat one Lost of the Summer Court can defeat more. Melanie walks up to Langford with no idea what's showing on her face.
<trenchfoot> Nels: "Get our stuff all ready just in case? She was heading to the Oberon..." Is that very far from where the Wherehouse is?
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "...I'll go get them."
<CBN> Tony: "Hoping we don't have to do anything too rough, I'm a little unarmed for the near future. Other than my, well, arms."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart's got a *very* bad feeling about this, but he's not sure what options they have besides going along with it. It's like when the cops show up. Come to think of it, they literally did just do that.
<Crion> There's a brief pause. Then Smote smiles. "Yeah. Yeah, you do that."
<Crion> As Stewart gets in the elevator, Nissa turns and nods to Serrano. And as the doors close, he can just catch a glimpse of Serrano reaching into the front seat and pulling out...a car boot. A wheel clamp.
<Crion> Doors shut.
<VoxPVoxD> Inside the Wherehouse: "Three Summer courtiers outside. They want us down at their place, the Oberon. Me and Nels and Maggie and Tony. Melanie already got called in."
<Crion> Now it's Maggie's turn to have her phone light up.
<Crion> It's Amelia Bantham.
<dammitwho> "Whoop! Gotta call." She picks up. "Ma'am?"
<Crion> Brusque: "Where are you?"
<Crion> "Are you somewhere safe?"
<trenchfoot> Nels has her gun with her and is about to follow Stewart out before... phone call.
<CBN> Tony stretches his arms and rolls his neck. "Stewart, how...not-okay are things looking so far? Totally in the dark over here."
<Crion> List: "Melanie. Are you armed? Other than your natural weapons."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "I don't know, Tony. Report we got from the Winter King was that Capra's dead, Summer's coming."
<VoxPVoxD> "But, given the thing... I don't know. I got a bad feeling."
<Crion> Amelia: "Actually--fuck. Don't tell me where you are."
<CBN> Tony: "But it's...it's December, January? Winter out?"
<banana> Melanie: "That's all I've got. Contracts and what they did to me." She likes it that way, focuses on training to work with that, because it means she can't be disarmed or helpless.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "No idea if this is an official thing or not. They could just be coming."
<VoxPVoxD> "Well, tney *did* come. They're outside."
<VoxPVoxD> "Not like we can lawyer up, though."
<Crion> The Gardener: "Summer is saying you and Tony killed Capra."
<banana> "Are we going somewhere? Winter's message said only that Capra is dead, not who or what killed him."
<Crion> List: "Yes. We're going inside." The bouncers have discreetly encircled the two of them, and are now between Melanie and her car.
<dammitwho> Maggie: "Yeah, I'm-- in a place. What's going on? The others are all het up about-- what?!"
<Crion> Amelia: "It sounds fucking ridiculous. ...It's fucking ridiculous, right?"
<banana> Melanie pauses, visibly. Every part of her stops moving for a few seconds. "..Okay let's go inside. However, you're escorting me like I'm a captive or a VIP. I'm not a VIP."
<Crion> Langford: "That's not true. The Young Street thinks you're very important."
<Crion> "And you came in on your own. He'll remember that. It counts for something."
<Crion> He steps aside and gestures to the door. "After you."
<banana> Melanie walks. She tries to stay calm.. it's surprisingly easy. Whatever's happening there's been worse.
<banana> "Thank you," she tells List, "but you're burying the lede."
<dammitwho> Maggie: "I don't think I've even seen that guy in ages."
<dammitwho> "This is the first I think any of us have heard he's dead... if he really is."
<Crion> The Young Street, from inside the empty bar: "No. We're burying Capra."
<Crion> Well, not quite empty. Splayed out on the bar is the dead boy, limp, badly burned and broken -- someone, or someones, took their time with him. There's enough of his face left to make a positive identification in the mask, though you'd still know his mien anywhere. He's naked, but they've covered the lower half of the body, either out of decorum or because it gets worse.
<Crion> Street is sitting on a table, staring. He turns his baleful gaze to Melanie. "I am quite angry."
<Crion> "I'm real fuckin quite angry."
<banana> That gives Melanie pause again, but less literally. She's been interpreting things wrong, right? "I'm sorry, Street. I assumed this was a call-to-action, some mission of protection or vengeance.. I forgot a man is dead."
<Crion> Street: "Oh, it's a call to action. But not for you. You're compromised."
<Crion> List, a bit forcefully, with the force directed towards Street but the words to Melanie: "We don't think you had anything to do with this."
<Crion> Street: "At least we fuckin hope you didn't."
<banana> What happened to him? Something monstrous and magical, as expected, but expectation doesn't help. She tries to think about the meaning of- ?????
<banana> "I didn't! What the fuck?"
<Crion> Amelia: "Honey, I'm not hearing you tell me it's fucking ridiculous. Because they say they have you on camera."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Maggie? Everything okay?"
<dammitwho> Maggie: "It is ridiculous. We haven't see him, we don't know who did it, we are not involved."
<banana> Melanie: "I'm sorry I'm sure you have reasons but- what? I don't, I didn't know him. I don't have any reason to- I joined up to fight the monsters, not as some kind of game- what is this? I'm not going to beg for answers!"
<dammitwho> *seen
<trenchfoot> This sounds like it's going well, from what Nels can hear. She looks to Stewart -- does he seem to know any more than she does?
<Crion> Street picks up a remote and aims it at one of the blank TVs that usually shows music videos or sports. "Let's watch one of my stories. I like to call it Alley Camera 2, 4:34 PM." He hits a button, and the blue screen turns into a grainy, black and white security feed of just that from out behind the Oberon.
<banana> Melanie's rooted in place.
<Crion> There's nothing for about thirty seconds, then a slight flash, and the door to the alley from the Oberon opens...and out steps Tony, Maggie, and a weird smudged character that the camera never seems to catch right. It's Tony and Maggie their masks, of course; no miens. It's just a normal camera. They heave Capra's body onto the pavement, and then Tony looks up into the camera and smiles...then
<Crion> all three step back 'inside.'
<Crion> Street: "Of course they weren't actually coming from here. At least not this side of here."
<banana> Melanie: "......"
<Crion> Amelia: "Okay. Okay. Look -- we don't do arrests, honey. We don't do jail. So it's either, you and the motley come in and answer for it...or you stay in hiding. For now, I want to try to get a handle on this. And find the fucking Winter King."
<Crion> Street: "So you understand my concern."
<banana> What a time to rediscover how to think fast.
<Crion> "Because I still don't know who that third one is, yeah? And 4:30 PM, even on New Year's, is a bit too early for a fuckin' vampire."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart doesn't seem visibly confused at all.
<banana> Melanie: "Yes, I'm compromised. You're right. Because I, I don't believe what I'm seeing."
<VoxPVoxD> Face is kind of hard to read, actually...
<banana> "The plain evidence of our eyes for whatever that freaking counts, it's.. something I'm setting against other pieces of evidence to which I have access and you do not. Um. Listen:"
<banana> Melanie: "You don't know me very well yet and so it'd be fine to not put a lot of faith in this. But you should listen, please:"
<banana> "You and the others set me to get to know these four people.. to become friends with them, to work together and learn who they are. And I've learned. And they did not do that."
<dammitwho> Maggie: "Okay. While you're getting a handle on this, do we go in and defend ourselves? Uh, verbally? Or do we stay put?"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Tell whoever you're talking to that they're literally outside."
<banana> Melanie: "Tony can't kill someone with a smile on his face. He can't.. fail to hide a fucking body. They beat it out of him, both of those things."
<banana> "Maggie spent most of the last few months learning who she used to be and sure, in theory she could've learned she was a killer but not that she's a loyalist. That's not how it works. She wants nothing more in life than to make drugs and comic books."
<banana> "The incredibly suspicious squiggle in the air, the one concealing itself? With magic? It's faking the whole thing. I don't know who those people really are or if there even were three of them. I don't trust this video and that means you can't trust me to, to take action on the basis of it. I won't."
<Crion> Street pauses, considering Melanie closely for a moment. Then he nods. "Alright. Okay."
<Crion> "We'll do this by the book. Or whatever the fuck there is around here that passes for that."
<Crion> To List: "Call Smote, Niss, and Colt back. I'm gonna get on the line with Am and Kingsley. They need to be here for this."
<banana> Melanie mumbles: "I guess the book of the Lost says Winter's in charge and the book of Winter says hide and wait it out."
<Crion> To Melanie: "Still need to talk to the rest of your motley. There are ways -- invasive ways, but not painful ways; fortune-teller shit ways -- to make it clear your people weren't involved. If you're willing to vouch they haven't gone feral, then I'm willing to let them in the front door to prove it."
<banana> She's not relieved; she hates that the Summer Court can't trust her on this. She knows they believe she believes but what does that count for? She turns to look at what remains of Capra again. Monstrous.
<Crion> Street: "Yeah...about the smooth King. You said you heard from him."
<Crion> "That's weird."
<Crion> "We haven't heard from him in almost a week now."
<banana> Melanie: "My motley will not be a threat. They will be scared, some self-righteous and others shut down.. you know how we all work. They.. will stick together more than they trust the Freehold, in some ways that's not great, but there's absolutely no chance they try to harm anyone here."
<banana> "What, really? They held the Christmas party at the Sidereal more recently than that.. um, tonight's message:"
<banana> "It showed up in mirrors, only outside of the Hedge.. Stewart got the same thing. The King said, Capra is dead and Summer is coming. He told everyone to hide."
<banana> Melanie: "I thought it was everyone in the Freehold."
<dammitwho> Maggie, to the others in the Wherehouse: "I guess they like us enough not to start immediately beating down our door, but really! The very idea!"
<Crion> Street: "Apparently he was a no-show at Christmas."
<Crion> List: "We didn't get anything."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart, to Maggie: "What was that about?"
<VoxPVoxD> They only got half the conversation.
<CBN> Tony scratches his head. "So...what's up?"
<dammitwho> "Summer thinks Tony and I killed Capra!"
<banana> Melanie's thinking again. She talks slowly. "I don't understand. Two days later.. Winter was convened at the Sidereal again. The whole Court. I know because we, the motley, got invited.. we spoke to a few people including the King."
<Crion> Amelia will hurry off the phone, since now she's got to call some other people.
<dammitwho> Maggie: "The Gardener's working on it."
<banana> "He gave us a mission and, this is going to sound really suspicious, oathbound us to secrecy about it!"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Oh. Okay. Well, there's three Summer courtiers outside who want to take us in for questioning."
<VoxPVoxD> "So..."
<CBN> Tony: "I what who?! No!" Tony is more confused than angry than sad than hurt at the moment.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart seems unfazed by this revelation.
<Crion> List's eyes narrow. "Huh."
<Crion> Street: "FUCKING Winter Court."
<dammitwho> Maggie: "I know!"
<banana> Melanie: "Um, I swear on my name and the true world that I've sworn NOT to talk about events following from the meeting on 27th. There's a metapromise, if you will, a categorical derivative."
<Crion> He stands up from the table. "I'm going to get Capra somewhere respectful. Sorry for the way we...I...had you treated. But you see a video like this and a body like this..."
<banana> "It's awful."
<Crion> "...And it's one of your boys..."
<Crion> List purses his lips.
<CBN> Tony: "So we what, go clear my name, our names, whatever now? Or do we hang out here because we're going to die if we leave?"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "I do not think it's a good idea to bunker up. They want to question us, it's not a hit squad."
<Crion> List: "If you are willing to make such a promise, we will respect you by holding you to it."
<banana> Melanie: "Yes, thanks. Um.. there's something I can do to help I think. I could send a message to the others, saying it's safe and correct to come here and answer questions."
<banana> "Because it is, I trust that!"
<Crion> Street: "Anyway. I'm sorry. You're free to make whatever calls you need to make."
<CBN> Tony: "Well, okay then. I guess stay behind me if it gets shitty anyway." He moves to head out.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart opens the elevator door to find...
<Crion> List nods. "Yes. The other regents will be present to represent Spring and Autumn."
<VoxPVoxD> He steps outside too in case being back in actual cell coverage lights up his phone.
<Crion> Lexington Market is bustling as usual; the Escalade is nowhere to be seen. That security guard from earlier is looking around, annoyed. He sees you and nods in recognition. You walk past that guy a lot, after all. He assumes you work here.
<banana> With that permission, Melanie will go stand behind the bar and take her phone back out. What a disaster. She's pretty sure they'll get through this - they being the motley, and the Summer Court - but a guy is still dead, and there's still the actual person or people behind the frame-up. Someone who can create realistic illusions for a camera...
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart holds Tony at bay. "Looks like they... left...?"
<banana> Tony's getting a call from Melanie this time.
<trenchfoot> Nels is still trying to process Tony and Maggie being accused of murder. Credibly enough that they sent goons.
<Crion> Smote and Nissa would be a bit put out to be described as "goons."
<Crion> Even if it is accurate.
<VoxPVoxD> Could be worse, coulda been 'thugs'.
<trenchfoot> Yeah, well, they can get nicer descriptions when they don't show up to beat up my friends.
<CBN> Tony left his phone in his room. He's not used to bringing it places! And he's walking with Stewart anyway.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart's going to call Melanie again.
<banana> No answer?! What happened- ah, it's Stewart.
<VoxPVoxD> "I'm calling Melanie, she went in to the Oberon already."
<banana> Melanie: "Stewart! I can't get through to Tony, is he with you? Is Maggie?"
<trenchfoot> That'll get you a lecture someday, Tony. Apparently it's upsetting when you go out to buy things and no one can contact you for hours, now. Weird, I know.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Melanie! Colt Fives and Smote were just here to take us in but they're gone now. Yeah, everybody's here. The Gardener just told Maggie about the charges."
<VoxPVoxD> "What should we be doing?"
<banana> Okayyyyyy. "Okay. Yeah, I was wrong, it's not a monster, it's a stitch-up. They've got a fake video.. Street and the Summer Court are going to insist on questioning everyone but they can tell we didn't do it once they do some, what was the word, 'fortune-telling'."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Okay. Are we headed for the Oberon?"
<VoxPVoxD> The Oberon's on GPS maps, right? Stewart's never actually been.
<banana> "Um, yes please. It's safe but it won't be comfortable. We have to accept momentary suspicion because whoever fucking did this did it in a really ugly way."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "So Capra is for-real dead, then?"
<banana> "Ah, also.. I was going to tell Tony, the whole Winter Court has vanished. All of them! Nobody but us has seen the King for a week!"
<Crion> Yeah, it's actually on the same street as the NACC, just a couple blocks west.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "That makes sense."
<banana> "Could I talk to the others? You've got everything under control I'm sure, I'd just.. like to hear more voices."
<VoxPVoxD> Melanie may or may not pick up on or be put off by Stewart's apparent total calm. She can hear him say: "We're going in voluntarily. Sounds like Melanie's been making your case already."
<trenchfoot> Nels: "That's good, right?" She's still worried, but like hell she's going to let them go into this without her.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "It's still really bad. Just not for us as much."
<CBN> Tony: "It's gotta be good, she's good at arguing, I think?"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Also, she's right, which always helps."
<banana> "Stewarrrrtttt. I can hear Nels and Tony there. Guys!!"
<VoxPVoxD> Back on the phone. "Yeah, hi, we're coming in."
<VoxPVoxD> "Anything we should know?"
<banana> She doesn't want to yell into the phone, there are people here conducting a kind of funeral!
<VoxPVoxD> Putting the phone on speaker and holding it out: "Melanie wants to know everyone's okay."
<banana> Melanie: "Just that when you get here, everyone needs to be.. mindful. Whoever's behind this is trying to set us against each other, our motley and the Court. And I think everyone's aware of that but we need to make every effort not to be on 'sides'."
<trenchfoot> Nels: "Alarmed but unharmed."
<CBN> Tony: "Hi Melanie! Yes thank you! I'm confused but I appreciate you making our case for us, Stewart said!"
<banana> Melanie: "Ahhh."
<banana> "Okay, I'm glad everyone is okay. Maggie too?"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Maggie's getting ready. We're all fine."
<dammitwho> Maggie: "Hey! Hello! What?!" Which is a hell of a way to answer the phone, which shows you what kind of state she's in.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "We'll be there in a few minutes, okay?"
<banana> "There's a fake video.. it was from like, just a couple of hours ago. So try to make sure you remember where you were. I don't know how all of this blew up so fast, the mirror message makes no sense." This would be prejudicing a trial, if there was to be a trial. But that's not what this is, and Melanie's standing right there at the bar near whoever else from the Court is moving around,
<banana> she's not trying to hide anything.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Yeah. Make sure to drink some water or something, okay?"
<banana> "Thank you. There's, like, everything but water here.. maybe some ice.."
<VoxPVoxD> "See you soon." Stewart hangs up and brings the car around.
<banana> Melanie: "..anyway, I'll let you get moving. Please be careful. Someone is trying to attack us and maybe it's just to sow suspicion but maybe they'll actually attack next."
<banana> With the call ended, she's definitely going to drink something.
<Crion> Street covers Capra's body and takes him to the back. Soon after Amelia and Kingsley arrive, with David Smitten, Gerald, and Santander with them.
<CBN> Tony follows Stewart's lead from here.
<banana> Melanie nods at each arrival from behind the bar, looking glum as fuck.
<VoxPVoxD> Once they're in the car: "Apparently no one's heard from the King besides us since before Christmas, and besides you all of Winter seems to have gone to ground."
<Crion> Amelia to List as they enter: "Langford. We checked the Sidereal. Canterbury slipped out before dinner service started."
<Crion> List: "Mmmmm. So besides Tony...they're all gone."
<CBN> Tony: "So since we went to look into the mole thing some. Huh."
<trenchfoot> Nels: "...Are we sure it was the King we spoke to?"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "How could we be?"
<CBN> Tony: "And Jackie?"
<trenchfoot> You* Because Nels wasn't there.
<CBN> Tony: "The bird at least liked them, so maybe that's a safe place to start from."
<Crion> Kingsley: "Left him holding the bag." He nods at Melanie in greeting. "Hardly sporting."
<banana> Melanie: "It wouldn't be a very good frame-up if you didn't."
<banana> "I mean- I'm not saying Winter knows more than 'bad shit, run', but- is this what they'd usually do? If the bad shit was one of them being accused of something, to totally abandon that person?"
<dammitwho> Maggie enters the Oberon scowling and frightened.
<Crion> Gerald: "It's not unheard of for them to go ground, not even all at once..."
<Crion> Santander, in his wizard voice: "IT IS, IN FUCKING WINTER!"
<banana> Melanie comes out from behind the bar. She has for Maggie a whiskey and a hug.
<trenchfoot> Nels is close behind Maggie. They can all figure this out, surely.
<dammitwho> She will accept both gratefully.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart's brisk and undeferent. "Where's Jackie Ordinary? Have any of you seen them recently?"
<CBN> Tony enters the Oberon on guard, mostly ready to dive in front of his friends as needed. Trying to stay optimistic though. Alive so far.
<Crion> Smote, Nissa, and Colt beat the rest of the motley there by a couple minutes, exchange friendly nods with Melanie -- Smote will even smile and make small talk unless he's rebuffed, and pour himself a whiskey -- but they'll retire upstairs before Maggie and Tony arrive. If Melanie presses why, Smote will shrug and say, We were just doing our jobs. Don't want any bad blood.
<Crion> Amelia: "...I saw Jackie this morning. They're where they want to be."
<Crion> "They seem to think it's safest if I don't know where that is."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Yeah, that's fair."
<banana> Wouldn't it be nice if we hadn't sworn an oath keeping us from disclosing, though, why Jackie might have some things to say?
<Crion> Street looks like he is making a monumental effort not to glare at Maggie and Tony. Not actively ostentatiously; he just seems really awkward and isn't making eye contact.
<Crion> Langford elbows him.
<Crion> Street: "I want to...thank you all for coming. I know things got a little hot. I reacted emotionally."
<Crion> "I got a dead kid on the couch upstairs."
<Crion> "He took a long time to die."
<Crion> "So that's what that is."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "We understand."
<CBN> Tony's matching the awkwardness with trying to affect whatever his best 'I'm not guilty, I'm here to respect the process' which is as difficult to actually enact as it is to articulate. Rounds out to 'awkward.'
<CBN> He nods.
<VoxPVoxD> "Thank you for trusting Melanie."
<banana> Melanie's actually going to step in here and help move things along. She has no authority to do this except that: she really really wants to. "We should do two things. We should demonstrate that these guys had nothing to do with it and we should figure out who can create this kind of tape to frame them."
<Crion> Street: "Yeah. She's good for it. It's good you have her. Good we have her."
<banana> She looks at the Street with something almost like horror, but it'll moderate to neutral-happy.
<banana> Who is this guy? What has he done with the boss?
<VoxPVoxD> Dead bodies can make you sentimental.
<VoxPVoxD> Can.
<Crion> List gives her a look for interrupting her regent -- especially in the middle of him complimenting her -- but Street just nods. "Yeah, that makes sense. I have ideas on both. First, I just want to note for the record, if we have one of those, that Tony is the only one from Winter who bothered to show up. On December fucking 30th. And he's the accused."
<Crion> "Rest of you have representatives here."
<Crion> "From your Courts. Not him. Just want to note my disgust about that in front of witnesses." He glances over at the other regents.
<Crion> He looks at the non-Melanie motley. "Hear you've sworn an oath?"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Yeah."
<trenchfoot> Nels nods. That's about the limit of what she can say about it, anyway.
<CBN> Tony nods as well.
<CBN> Tony clears his throat. "Ahuh. Um. I'm sorry about what happened to your friend. I'll help you find who did it if I'm able, but to start, it wasn't me." He recedes into the background to the extent he can.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart gives Autumn's triad a tight :| kind of smile.
<dammitwho> Maggie: "Yeah..."
<Crion> He only gets back a magisterially smug smile from Santander; Gerald looks worried, Kingsley impassive.
<Crion> Street: "Thanks. Okay. Uh...Kingsley, you want to...?"
<dammitwho> Maggie: "Should I go too or are we doing this separately?"
<Crion> Kingsley steps forward. "Yes. Absent the King-in-Court and with the quorum of the other seasons, we have the joint authority to invoke an official Inquest. This is not an interrogation or a jailing; you submit to it voluntarily and may leave at any time. You must, however, swear to tell the truth -- this will be enforced by a powerful oath with severe consequences, and by the divination of
<Crion> our Iudex, W. Marcus Santander. Do you understand this, Maggie Bakehead and Tony Fewhands?"
<Crion> Kingsley: "No, this is an open session."
<CBN> Tony: "I understand, and swear to tell the truth here."
<dammitwho> Maggie: "Yes, I understand and agree."
<Crion> Kingsley nods, then nods to the Young Street. Both Maggie and Tony feel the glamour seal the oath. Kingsley: "With the invocation of the ancient dictum I bring this Inquest into session: 'Let your words not come back to bite you.'"
<Crion> Santander sits down and clears his throat. "Hrrm. Rrrrrrm. Water, please."
<banana> Melanie remembers some suggestion, back when, that she might have wanted to look into the Autumn Court instead of Summer. For the most part, she's sure she made the right choice. But the way they literally cannot stop making puns? She gets it.
<VoxPVoxD> This is the first time Stewart's seen the Autumn bosses do anything that even slightly resembles lawyering. Man Stewart hates the law.
<Crion> Gerald brings him a glass from the bar.
<Crion> Santander: "Ah. Yes. Rrrm."
<Crion> "FIRRRRRST QUESTIONNN! Where were you between 4:30 and 4:40 post meridiem today, December 30th, 2019? Tony Fewhands, answer first. Maggie Bakehead, after him."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart sits well away from the hot seat, next to Melanie and presumably Nels.
<trenchfoot> Yes, she's not eager to be up close and personal. Instead, she will nervously twist her skirt from a distance.
<dammitwho> Was that when she was talking to Amelia?
<CBN> Tony thinks for a second: "I was at The Wherehouse. I think I was awake at that time, but I might have been still napping."
<Crion> Amelia called around 5:25 or so. Based on previous narration, she would have been chatting with Nels, it looks like.
<Crion> Or puttering about.
<dammitwho> Maggie: "I was also at the Wherehouse, talking with Nels."
<Crion> Santander pauses then nods at both. No death rains down from on high.
<Crion> "SECOND QUESTIONNNNNN!!! Did you kill Terrell Capra?"
<banana> Thinking about it.. they were both there when Melanie left in the early evening. There isn't even time for them to have got across town and done telemurder. She wonders: was this ruse designed to succeed? Was it relying on the assumption that Summer is stupid?
<Crion> Street glances at Santander with a bit of annoyance when he does the shouting thing a second time.
<trenchfoot> I mean, they seemed pretty gung-ho to do some vigilantism before cooler heads prevailed...
<CBN> Tony: "No."
<dammitwho> Maggie: "No."
<Crion> He pauses and nods again. "THIIIIIRDDDDD--"
<Crion> Street: "Man, just ask the fucking questions."
<Crion> Kingsley, mildly. "Street. He's the Iudex."
<Crion> Street sighs.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart texts Lauren. <everyones calm and no ones in danger and we're figuring this out>
<VoxPVoxD> Added all up, that's one and a half truths.
<Crion> "Ahem. THIIIRRRRDDDD QUESTIONNN!" He pauses. "Is there anyone in the Winter Court, present company excluded, whom you trust? 'Yes' or 'no' will suffice."
<Crion> Santander's voice gets an edge to it there.
<CBN> Tony has to think for a minute. "Yes."
<banana> Okay, what? Melanie wants to say something. She doesn't know what she wants to say except that she shouldn't say it.
<dammitwho> Maggie: "Yes."
<Crion> Santander, without looking up from the papers in front of him, which appear to be procedural notations -- he's not writing anything down. "Iudex motions the Inquest to receive witness testimony -- Stewart Reader, Melanie Lucas, and Nels Foulke are summoned. Since this is not a subpoena, they may decline, but answers will be subject to the powers of the Inquest. The oath is not required."
<Crion> "They are posed the Third Question, each in turn."
<banana> :-(
<trenchfoot> Nels blinks in surprise, but after a moment: "Yes."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart opens his mouth and then closes it. His brow furrows. Finally: "...Yes."
<banana> Melanie: "I wish I could agree. I really wish- no."
<Crion> Santander nods after each response.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart gives Melanie a supportive nudge.
<Crion> Santander: "FOURRRTHHH QUESTION!!! Do you know the location of the Winter King? Witnesses may choose to participate."
<banana> Melanie: "Nope."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "No."
<CBN> Tony thinks again for a second. "No sir."
<trenchfoot> Nels: "Also no."
<dammitwho> Maggie: "Nope."
<Crion> Santander does his pausing and nodding as the Sight trusts, but verifies.
<Crion> Amelia stirs. "Well that seals it, doesn't it? Sorry. Bad wording. But they're innocent, they--"
<Crion> Santander: "FINAL QUESTION!!!!!"
<Crion> The Gardener wheels on the Lord Sage. She is not used to being interrupted.
<Crion> Kingsley, again, mildly: "The Iudex presides, Amelia."
<banana> You can't help but like Santander. That's probably part of his job.
<VoxPVoxD> Santander is so great.
<Crion> For his part, Santander ignores her glare. He's more interested in all of you. "The witnesses are called again. This time, they are compelled."
<Crion> Looking at each in turn: "Do you believe the Freehold of Baltimore has been compromised?"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Yes."
<CBN> Tony doesn't even have to think about that one: "Yes."
<trenchfoot> Nels: "Yeah."
<banana> Melanie: "I'm not certain. There's some evidence for it."
<dammitwho> Maggie pauses for a long time, her mouth pursed as she considers her wording. "I'm not certain either way. Of the two theories I have to explain this that I think are most likely, one of them is that the Freehold is compromised from inside. I don't know enough right now to favor either one over the other."
<Crion> Santander pauses and nods again. "Then this Inquest has found its Truth and served its Purpose. Its findings are binding and self-evident. I record them here--" He pulls up a sheet of parchment with fresh, wet ink on it, despite not having done any writing himself. "--and remand both the accused and the witnesses to the judgment of their own consciences. The Inquest finds cause for no other."
<Crion> He nods to the Street, who closes his eyes...Tony and Maggie feel the sealing fade, fulfilled.
<Crion> Then everyone's phones start going nuts.
<banana> As a process, it's pretty reasonable- what's this?
<VoxPVoxD> How everyone is everyone?
<Crion> Gerald: "We've got...alarms at the office have been tripped. Someone's inside--"
<Crion> David Smitten answers his phone. "What?" Outside, you can hear fire trucks passing. He blanches.
<Crion> Kingsley to Santander: "Go!"
<banana> Melanie: "It was a distraction. They knew we wouldn't believe it, only for long enough-"
<VoxPVoxD> Ah.
<trenchfoot> Shit.
<dammitwho> Maggie: "Huuuuurrrm."
<Crion> The wizard leaps up, shooting towards the mirror behind the bar--and disappears through it.
<VoxPVoxD> ...Did Lauren get Stewart's text?
<Crion> She did; she's still in the Wherehouse.
<VoxPVoxD> Okay.
<Crion> Smitten: "They're burning the Sidereal."
<banana> :C
<CBN> Tony: "Man what the FUCK"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Where do you need us?"
<dammitwho> Wait, does that mean our phones are going nuts too? Are we getting texts about the Sidereal?
<Crion> Everyone is moving at once. Summer is splitting between Spring and Autumn to go back to their respective seats of power. Gerald, to the motley: "Santander's already headed to the offices! Go to the Sidereal!"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart's on his way out the door.
<Crion> Samaritan will have texted you, yeah.
<trenchfoot> Nels was about to ask the same thing, so with that she'll hurry outside before finally checking her phone.
<banana> We're going, we're going, but what can we do?
<Crion> Summer's got SUVs and, better, SUVs driven by a police detective with a suction cup siren.
<CBN> Tony's a step behind Stewart.
<dammitwho> "Oh, jiminy..." Maggie mutters as she'll follow whoever looks like they have a car. She'll start texting noted weed wizard Union: <Hello, it's Maggie. Are phones safe to talk about secret things?>
<Crion> Amelia, to Maggie and Nels: "Get to the Sidereal! David, come with me, we need to check on the NACC!"
<Crion> Detective Colt can get you all up to the Sidereal in under six minutes with his sirens going. When you arrive, the place is on fire, alright -- but there's something weird about it. Probably want to analyze that after you put it out?
<banana> To whichever of List or Street is closest, Melanie will say this on the way out: "Thanks for keeping this to the minimum it deserved."
<Crion> Union hits back: <mine is, idk about yours. theyll just see sPoOkY sYmBoLs from me>
<dammitwho> Maggie: <I just got framed for murder as a distraction from somebody trying to burn down the Sidereal. Can you guys fake security camera footage easily?>
<Crion> Union ...s for a minute, then pauses, then again. <yeeees>
<VoxPVoxD> As they drive towards the Sidereal, Stewart turns his windshield wipers on. They scrape awkwardly against the glass three times before the first drop of rain hits them.
<banana> The building has lots of wooden fixtures, right? If Melanie was in the middle of that she could call another blizzard.. but getting into the middle of it would fry her in under a minute. She hesitates a moment before telling the others: "I can't get close. Smoke burns me.. fire doesn't, smoke does."
<dammitwho> Maggie: <Okay if an evil one of you guys set the fire would you be able to tell. Come and see if so>
<Crion> It does, sadly.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Stay in the car."
<VoxPVoxD> Outside the wind howls.
<banana> Oh, nice.
<trenchfoot> Nels was about to hop out, but she listens when someone says things like that.
<Crion> Union: <idk. illusion stuff isn't really me. but i can ask. prob will need the original tape so keep that around? if its a tape?>
<Crion> <computers can get weird for signifiers>
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart parks and stands outside. Hard comes the rain, but not a drop touches him.
<CBN> Tony will stay in the car, Stewart seems like he'd only tell you that if it was important.
<VoxPVoxD> How big's the fire?
<VoxPVoxD> Doesn't matter. Stewart takes the bottle opener attached to his car keys and rakes it across his palm, offering fresh blood to the storm.
<banana> Unnecessarily: "I think he's doing magic."
<trenchfoot> Nels: "Sure looks like it. Wish I could help..."
<dammitwho> Maggie: <No I mean it's on fire right now and I want to know if you can tell what caused it. The tape thing was separate>
<Crion> Union: <oh uh. yeah where>
<VoxPVoxD> Something vast shifts in the darkness, rain splattering off of thin air as if something lurked invisibly behind him. But the rain just hangs there, more and more of it, until an eight-legged protozoan thing the size of a horse has coalesced from the downpour, charging into the flames.
<VoxPVoxD> He walks directly into the burning building, following the creature close behind.
<Crion> Whole building is on fire...but it seems like they started it outside working in, using accelerants. The accelerants are all over the inside, true -- but the fire was started on the outside, intended to spread in along vectors--
<Crion> Except in the kitchen, where there's The Kitchen, holding the fire at bay with two staffers huddling behind him.
<Crion> Might want to get the water there first.
<dammitwho> Maggie: <The Sidereal, the club we were at on halloween>
<VoxPVoxD> Then that's where Stewart and his monster go.
<Crion> Stewart can tell immediately that it wasn't the Kitchen who started this; the vector's all wrong. It did almost immediately trap him, though.
<trenchfoot> That guy.
<Crion> Union: <omw>
<banana> Melanie: "Now, see, if I was setting the fire it wouldn't be a problem. Most of these faerie tricks let you exclude yourself from any harm, it's a semantic rule rather than a laws-of-physics thing."
<VoxPVoxD> Shouting over the storm and the flames: "What did you see?!"
<Crion> Kitchen: "Is that you, Stewart?!"
<VoxPVoxD> "Yes."
<Crion> As the flames die, he breathes easier. "Nothing. Just the fire coming in the front and back doors at the same time."
<Crion> "If I wasn't Elemental..."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart heads for whichever of the entrances he didn't come in through. "Make sure the Gardener knows you're okay."
<Crion> He waves weakly, looking around his workspace. "Ruined. Bah."
<VoxPVoxD> He's not hurt, is he?
<Crion> Nope. He's seeing to his assistants as well; they might have breathed in some smoke.
<VoxPVoxD> Alright. Anything new or unusual at the backdoor?
<Crion> It's closed and locked, and yet the fire seems to have come in through it -- under it.
<trenchfoot> Nels: "Who's capable of something like this?" A coordinated strike on multiple Changeling locales, plus a framing of two of the Wherehouse Motley, all at once.
<Crion> The firefighters start to arrive outside and find the place sodden.
<VoxPVoxD> It might think it's locked, but Stewart has a deal with every doorknob in the world.
<VoxPVoxD> What's out back?
<Crion> They're probably gonna start clomping around in here soon.
<VoxPVoxD> They won't see Stewart.
<banana> Melanie: "It couldn't be like.. an individual mole in the Winter Court. But if there's a mole working for someone, it could be the someone."
<trenchfoot> She furrows her brow. "But why?"
<dammitwho> Does anyone need Maggie to like, physically move things?
<Crion> The back of the Sidereal leads out into the parking space. He's got accelerant scorch tracks leading from the back door to a point in the back of the parking lot -- eyeballing it, it's almost certainly a camera deadzone -- and at that point of ignition, there are three separate trails leading in the back door, front door, and improbably, the second floor fire escape where the offices are. It
<Crion> climbed metal?
<VoxPVoxD> ...
<banana> Is the smoke no longer billowing, quenched by the rain and moved by the wind? Melanie gets out of the car, even if there's no specific call for it.
<Crion> Stewart's hard rain has been quite effective.
<Crion> The firefighters, soaked, are baffled.
<VoxPVoxD> You pray for the storm of your life~ it's over and nothing survived~
<Crion> As the Sidereal smolders and the Freehold scrambles, it's very clear you're all at war. Now you just have to find out...with whom?