<Crion>
<Crion>
<Crion>
<Crion>
<Crion>
<Crion>
<Crion>
<Crion>
<Crion> Things are...well, they're nowhere near back to normal. The Ravens have been providing secure text updates from each regent to all the remain courtiers through hexboxes and safe phones, since who knows who's up on their normal lines. Summer is in the streets, Spring is working the city government about the attacks on the Freeholds' properties (it's moving slow, and not just because it's
<Crion> holiday season), and Autumn is in the business of finding Winter.
<Crion> Which isn't to say you don't have time to at least go home, get some sleep, and reset before having to go look at Capra's body again. Provided that "home" is "the Wherehouse."
<trenchfoot> It isn't normally, but it sure is now.
<Crion> Lauren has relocated there full-time, for now; Chup seems to be getting used to Steve, and vice versa.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart can't actually bunker down at the Wherehouse indefinitely; he's got to work.
<VoxPVoxD> Before even that, though, he's got to swing by the Belvedere.
<Crion> There's an uncomfortable energy around the Consilium's headquarters these days. When he goes upstairs to see the book, he can see Everafter waving Sommelier, who is carrying a huge stack of books, over to her reading room. Though Sommelier clearly sees Stewart, for the first time he doesn't bother stopping him or asking him what he's here for. Either Stewart's gained something akin to a guest
<Crion> pass here, or things are more serious than maybe they seemed at first glance. Or maybe both.
<VoxPVoxD> It's always nice to see people snapping into action. Shame about what it takes to make it happen.
<Crion> Anyway. Searching "The Winter King" doesn't return anything, but searching "Liaison of Winter Baltimore" brings up what he's looking for (which is itself odd, because the Book is usually very good at anticipating what Stewart actually means when he's making a search). That link redirects him to a page called '[No Name/Face].'
<VoxPVoxD> Ha.
<Crion> The good news, if there's good news, is that this page is...somewhat robust. The King's real name has been scrubbed from it, of course, and the only current, immediate information you can glean from it about the man is '[No Name/Face] lives and works in Baltimore, Maryland,' but it's written in the present tense -- always a good sign from the Book that the subject is, indeed, alive -- and
<Crion> gives you the run down of his backstory. He was an actor of minor reknown in the 70s, the son of communist labor movement organizers in the farming fields of California who split home early for the big lights, and who got involved with the CIA (because it sounded sexy, because he wanted to impress a girl who turned out to be his handler, and because he thought it'd make his dad angry, to
<Crion> various ends). It was not sexy, and mostly involved spying on "reds" in various Hollywood social sets...
<Crion> ...Until the night he was 'recruited' by Operation Blackbriar, and got all the sexy espionage action he could handle. And then some.
<trenchfoot> Ah.
<Crion> His Durance lasted some thirty years, and spit him out in Prague. He managed to get a flight into BWI Thurgood Marshall and bummed a ride into the city, his appetite for heroics and globetrotting completely gone. He walked into the very end of the Freehold's civil war.
<Crion> His talents were in high demand...and most of Winter was dead or fled.
<Crion> And he never has to see a movie again, if he doesn't want to.
<Crion> Steve, meanwhile...has heard about Maggie's plan for Brews.
<Crion> Steve loves Brews.
<Crion> And Steve loves Business.
<Crion> This might not be the time to work out a Hedge-side distro deal, however.
<VoxPVoxD> Well... not a lot of immediately useful information, but at least it gives Stewart some idea of his disposition and skillset.
<dammitwho> Oh, man. Putting a third cartoon in their logo? Of a cute lil' goose in a business hat? Incredible.
<trenchfoot> The hat has a little placard tucked into its band. The placard says "BUSINESS"
<bananugh> It's not exactly sleep but it's similar. Eventually, Melanie lowers her arms against the waning false-light from the Hedge sun above the skylights; she shivers for a moment before going looking for clothes and body armour. This is going to be tricky.
<VoxPVoxD> After that, Stewart returns to his apartment to shower and stream. His plan, if nothing interrupts him, is to log off about midnight and bring some changes of clothes back to the Wherehouse by half-past.
<CBN> Tony's mostly gone back to the Wherehouse for a heavy reset. Getting framed for murder and trying to fit an entire wizarding world of bullshit into your head at once (or at least, wrap your head around it) is pretty dang heavy. He slept like shit, but then, he always sleeps like shit.
<bananugh> Maybe Stewart found something with magic, maybe they can learn to talk to broken security cameras. It's not actually clear to her how to investigate a murder?
<trenchfoot> This is a first for Nels, too, who spent her last several hours either plucking nervously at her guitar or sleeping fitfully.
<trenchfoot> She can catch up on sleep when her friends aren't being framed.
<Crion> 'Sleep is important,' says the strangely-compelling cartoon character called The Sandman, who steals away little children who stay up too late.
<banana> To whoever's in the Wherehouse living room: "It would be different if the victim was Society. I mean society. You can diagnose various ethical and material causes and move on from there to power interests, conspiracies, historical figures..."
<trenchfoot> Nels: "But it isn't. It's us, and our friends."
<banana> Melanie: "It's Nels!"
<banana> "I don't mean that you're the killer."
<trenchfoot> "I should hope not! Jeepers."
<banana> Jeepers. "But like.. aren't we out of our depth. I'm really out of practical ideas. Unless we can sort of go around to the hideout of every known 'bad guy' and threaten them..."
<trenchfoot> Thoughtfully: "I've read stories where that works."
<banana> Melanie: "Speaking of detective stories, maybe there will be some sort of visible 'clue' on the alley walls. Otherwise.. this is kind of like being asked to solve the whole problem. Who dun all of it."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart, packing away supplies: "After we know who killed Capra, we'll have more options. We might follow up on that, or help track down the Winter courtiers, or we might get told to bunker down and wait for the grownups to fix it."
<VoxPVoxD> "But this isn't a huge Freehold. 'The grownups' is like... five people. And rapidly coming to include us."
<Crion> Steve IS trying to, at the very least, wheedle Maggie into letting him taste some of the wares, though. He needs to know all the details before making an investment, in stocks. Capitalized financialization. Markets. Business.
<dammitwho> Oh, well, of course. Beers for Steve is an understood Wherehouse tradition at this point.
<dammitwho> "I know I'm feelin' a bit at loose ends, here. I'm no coroner, nor detective."
<Crion> Excellent. He'll expense this forthwith!
<trenchfoot> Nels: "I'm a musician, not... either of those things."
<banana> Melanie: "No, fixing it is fine, we should be participating in that.. it's the 'after we know'. Um. We're also not CSI..."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "That's what we got Ben for."
<trenchfoot> Nels: "Is that a real thing? I saw it on TV and it looked awful, and fake."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "The stuff they do on TV is basically magic, which is a real thing."
<trenchfoot> Nels: "Shoot, you're right."
<banana> "Yeah, forensic ghosts should help." This isn't sarcasm.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "I'm not worried about running out of leads. There's way more ways to get information than there are to know what to do with it."
<VoxPVoxD> "That's going to be the hard part."
<CBN> Regardless of time of day, Tony's wandering into the living room with a bowl of cereal and bleary, sleep-sodden eyes. "So do all wizards got ghosts too, what was going on with that? Also did anyone know ghosts were real?"
<trenchfoot> Helpfully: "I didn't."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "I don't think Ben's a wizard. I think he's got a different thing going on. I knew about ghosts, though, yeah. It's on the wiki."
<trenchfoot> "The what?"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Autumn court keeps a sort of crowd-sourced encyclopedia together of magical stuff."
<dammitwho> Maggie, helpfully: "The Wikipedia. It's this internet encyclopedia-- oh! There's more than one?"
<banana> Melanie, dubious: "If action is the hard part... let's sketch it out then. Imagine this 'oracle' just tells us straight up, Wizard X did this.. we'd either start heading to their location or a safe one depending on relative urgency, while calling in the information. We'd want to kill them, capture them, or follow alternate instructions. It might not be easy but if you're attacked - and
<banana> we have been attacked - isn't it straightforward what to do?"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Assuming it's a wizard."
<VoxPVoxD> "Or just a wizard."
<CBN> Tony: "If we know it's a wizard, we tell those other wizards first, right?"
<VoxPVoxD> "We still don't know who the mole is, after all, or if that's connected to this."
<CBN> Tony: "Feels like if it was one of ours people'd drag us in, think it'd be only fair to do the same if we get the chance."
<banana> "There's still a limited palette with which to paint. We can't afford to be indirect... the Freehold will confirm but if we're cornered we have to be, um, not worth the price attacking."
<CBN> Tony: "See, I'm wondering if the mole's a mole at all. He sets his bowl down to rub his eyes. "Like, yesterday, I was thinking, if wizards can spy on you, how do we know someone even NEEDS a person telling them, to get information on someone else? Couldn't they just ask a magic mirror or something?"
<banana> Melanie: "So there won't be any political maneuvering. If it's something we can fight we'll fight it and otherwise.. Winter will be a template maybe."
<trenchfoot> Still reeling from the idea of collective knowledge, and multiple resources of such, Nels is slightly subdued: "The mole was one of, um, not us-us, but, one of us? So telling wizards about things should be fine?"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "If it was an obviously bad idea to tell the Consilium about stuff, we'd have been warned not to."
<VoxPVoxD> "If it's a *secretly* bad idea, then, like... uh oh."
<CBN> Tony: "The other question, and I wanna throw this at the group before it gets thrown at me, is, how long until I'm just King of Winter, right?"
<trenchfoot> "And if they can just see and hear things regardless, it doesn't matter what we do because wizards." She tries not to sound put out and mostly succeeds.
<CBN> Tony: "Not that I want it. But, default."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "You know, that's an interesting question."
<banana> Do you get the crown for being the most fearsome, or the most afraid?
<VoxPVoxD> "If the Winter King just books it - that violates his oath to the Freehold, right? To the Season?"
<Crion> From the kitchen: "Angelfire's got seniority..."
<banana> Melanie writes that down, but doesn't say it.
<Crion> "...but he's no leader."
<VoxPVoxD> "So is his crown just revoked now? And if it's not, isn't that proof something else is going on?"
<Crion> That's an interesting gray area that...no one has provided guidance on, come to think of it.
<trenchfoot> Nels: "King Tony." She bows slightly.
<VoxPVoxD> Something to ask Santander next time they see him.
<CBN> Tony: "Wish they did it like team captains, where you don't have to be the leader to be the guy at the coin toss. That could be cool."
<trenchfoot> "Maybe they'll change things after this whole," she gestures vaguely.
<CBN> Tony sighs wistfully into his cereal bowl. "Bet if we had a boat we wouldn't have to deal with this kinda stuff..."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "What if there's a Freehold of International Waters?"
<trenchfoot> Nels: "Always wanted to get back to New Orleans..."
<VoxPVoxD> "The Pirate King of Winter."
<banana> Melanie's making toast, which is within her cooking capabilities. If anyone wants toast, this is a good time for it. "These ritual trappings are um.. they have meaning, right, but there's also a lot of bullshit. The immutable law of the seasons. Obviously it isn't, it's all fairly new and stuff changes all the time like with what happened to the old Spring guy."
<banana> "Deliberate mystery is part of it.. there's meaning in obscurity too! But the exact details of Winter's Oath probably don't matter, or can't be known, or both."
<CBN> Tony: "Stewart, if there are people to answer to in international waters then there's no point in even having them."
<CBN> Tony: "Man. I don't even wanna think about that. What a fuckin bummer that would be."
<banana> Melanie: "Werewhales."
<CBN> Tony: "Probably no vampires. The dream."
<trenchfoot> Nels: "The one I met was nice!"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Ocean vampires are probably much less nice."
<trenchfoot> "Ocean anything is probably much less nice."
<CBN> Tony spends a really long minute debating whether or not to ask if fish have blood. "... ......ok so wizards are real, ghosts are real, vampires are real, we're real and all our other shit's real, hey Steve, werewolves are real, what else?"
<trenchfoot> Nels: "Devils?"
<trenchfoot> "I mean, I don't want 'em to be, but everything else..."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "There's a lot of things *called* demons and devils, like you'd expect in a world that contains both magic and Southern Baptists."
<VoxPVoxD> "I dunno if Hell is for-real real, though."
<VoxPVoxD> He hopes not.
<banana> Melanie: "You've got to define 'being real. Epistemologically, we consider these guys facts due to a combination of recent close encounters and reliable reports... but now we've got ways of knowing that include, like, dreaming-into-existence. If something's a story then that is specifically real."
<CBN> Tony: "Like not just, horns, tail, pitchfork -LOOKING, like the one guy with the two faces had with him, but full on, afterlife, and. Wait a second if ghosts are real does that mean we turn into ghosts when we die?" He looks very unhappy at this prospect.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "I think if everybody turned into a ghost when they died there'd be a lot more ghosts around."
<banana> Melanie: "Someone might perceive or imagine you to do so. Whether it 'happens' to you is another question."
<Crion> Steve honks. Angels are apparently real as well. He doesn't know much about them?
<trenchfoot> Nels: "I'm. Going to need to sit down." She's already sitting on the couch.
<trenchfoot> Ghosts of old friends, though?
<CBN> Tony looks at Steve. "Fuuuuck."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart shrugs and goes back to moving stuff around. Once the Gentry are real, does it really matter if there's also demons and angels?
<dammitwho> "Huuuurm."
<banana> Melanie: "When is the horse guy expecting us?"
<Crion> Ben Best did specifically say he was looking forward to working day time hours again.
<VoxPVoxD> "AFternoon, sometime."
<Crion> He awaits your call, presumably.
<CBN> Tony: "Oh thank---I dunno, whatever else's real---it was too spooky meeting him after midnight with his, man that other thing. No."
<banana> "..horses being real was kind of a shock actually.." Melanie forgot about them.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Yeah remember he was like 'Sick, I'll get to double bill'? He said he'd be in touch and to expect him after noon."
<VoxPVoxD> Sometimes it feels everyone's short-term memory is shot, like conversations they had an hour ago were a week ago or more.
<Crion> It sounds like it's morning now, by the cooking; who besides Stewart gave him their number?
<trenchfoot> Nels: "Horses not being around was one of the weirdest things," she sort-of not-really consoles Melanie.
<banana> "Don't get me wrong, they seem nice. Friendly and strong. But they're so big. How did you guys cope?"
<trenchfoot> "Mostly by not thinking about it and staying away from their hind legs. 'Cause of the kicking."
<Crion> Anyway, around noon Ben adds everyone whose number he got to a group chat.
<Crion> <you know. i forgot today was a holiday.>
<CBN> Tony: "Horses are just big little guys, nothing to worry about there."
<Crion> <rip to double billing>
<Crion> <lmk an address/time>
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Mellie, do we need to call the Oberon ahead to get in?"
<banana> Does Melanie know whether it's ok to bring this guy to North Avenue?
<Crion> Yeah, it's cool.
<Crion> Street's given Melanie wartime discretion here.
<banana> "No, it doesn't close."
<VoxPVoxD> "Alright, call it like 2 then?"
<banana> "There's no reason we can't meet straight at the scene as long as Ben gets the appropriate threats."
<VoxPVoxD> "I want to swing by the Belvedere first."
<banana> "That's a wizard base, right?"
<dammitwho> Maggie nods agreeably. "Neat."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Yeah, it's where I keep the Book."
<trenchfoot> Nels: "Not here?"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "No, absolutely not."
<trenchfoot> "That's fair."
<VoxPVoxD> Anyway, Stewart swings by the Belvedere, as promised, before meeting the others or going back to bring them to the Oberon.
<Crion> Capra was born Mulualem Nigh to an Ethiopian mother and a gentile father who emigrated from Israel to America in the Nineties. He was born after they settled in Baltimore, attended Jewish Day School and went to temple as his mother wished, and was taken in his teens by the Great Builder.
<Crion> The Builder was incoherent: some days wishing for Jenga towers, others for skyscrapers, others for lower income housing, fewer still for strange, impossible symbols built up against the landscape. Nigh, forced to be a beast of burden, found his faith tested...and then lost. When he finally escaped, he took on the name Capra. He still goes to temple, from time to time, but he doubts. His
<Crion> parents moved to Florida after he was taken for his mother's health; he never contacted them again. He wanted to deal with his anger, first.
<Crion> Capra's entry is written in the past tense. All the Book says of his death is that he was murdered by unknown assailants and dumped at The Oberon.
<VoxPVoxD> Well, fair enough.
<VoxPVoxD> Time to meet Ben and the others, then.
<banana> It didn't say he was murdered at the Oberon, though.
<Crion> Indeed, it takes care to distinguish between the murder and the dumping.
<VoxPVoxD> It'd be pretty hard to torture and murder someone directly on top of Swordhome, probably.
<trenchfoot> It'd be worse if it wasn't.
<banana> Well, depends who's doing it.
<Crion> Around two in the afternoon, pretty punctual but not stopwatch-perfect, a beaten-up old Ford pickup will pull into the Oberon's parking lot. It's got a hitch on the back for a horse trailer, and the only thing in the bed is a battered old steamer trunk...strapped down multiple times.
<Crion> Benjamin Best hops out from behind the wheel, having parked across a couple spots with the lot empty, wearing a long black coat, black Henley shirt, black jeans, black boots, and a white scarf.
<banana> Melanie enjoys introducing the others to one of Summer's hideouts without the pressure of their framing... sort of. "I don't know why it had to be a strip club. There's some... legacy thinking still working its way through the system."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart blinks. Oh, that's what the poles are for.
<CBN> Tony: "HELL yeah that truck, man." Tony says with genuine respect.
<Crion> Nissa of Fives is watching the door, and isn't impressed. But she's been told this guy is clear.
<Crion> Ben: "Heyy...Tony. It's Tony, right?"
<trenchfoot> Nels waves politely from somewhere behind Tony.
<Crion> "Hey," he'll say to Nels.
<Crion> "Hi," to Nissa. She sighs.
<CBN> Tony: "Yep! How ya doin'?"
<banana> Melanie: "Don't be like that Nissa." She's trying hard for a friendly tone here, it's a bonding-joke, she needs to practice this stuff.. and doesn't need to get beaten up by Nissa again, though that will probably still happen..
<Crion> Nissa glances at Melanie, and then: "...Hello. Horse guy."
<Crion> Ben laughs. "Please don't call me that when I'm not billing."
<Crion> Nissa: "Oh, you're billing."
<Crion> Ben: "I meant...okay, fair enough."
<Crion> "Tony, help me with this trunk?"
<Crion> "Don't, uh. Don't touch the clasps."
<CBN> Tony: "Yeah man. Gotcha." He approaches the opposite end from Ben and does not touch the clasps.
<Crion> Ben starts unstrapping the big steamer trunk from the back of the truck. You...could probably hide a body in there.
<banana> "What do you need to see Mr. Best, the scene or the body?"
<Crion> Ben: "Both, but let's start with the scene. Body's not going anywhere!"
<Crion> Nissa: "...Melanie, you know what. I never got lunch. I'm going to go get lunch."
<Crion> "Can you handle everything here."
<banana> "Yes, we'll watch the door too."
<Crion> Nissa: "Thanks. Back in, I don't know. However long it takes him to leave."
<trenchfoot> Man, that's a good trick. Getting lunch to avoid contact.
<banana> That's an actual commitment, so Melanie will basically take up Nissa's position unless someone else wants to do it.
<trenchfoot> Nnnnnnnnnnope.
<Crion> Ben: "Cool, cool. Stewart, hi! Melanie, hello. Maggie, what's up. Tony let's just set this down on the bar."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart nods in greeting.
<CBN> Tony: "Whuf. Uh-huh."
<trenchfoot> Rude.
<banana> Maybe she's upset by the need for outsiders to help, maybe she's still upset about Capra, or maybe Best is just very annoying...
<trenchfoot> Got to update: not rude, I'm just forgetful. Thanks, Ben.
<Crion> Ben, smiling: "Okay. Alright. So...who wants to show me the video? And walk me through the narrative."
<VoxPVoxD> Do Maggie or Tony want to take this, since it's their faces up there?
<VoxPVoxD> If they don't jump on it, Stewart will.
<CBN> Tony dusts his hands off. "Stewart, you've got the tape, right?"
<dammitwho> Yeah, Maggie will just show him the video if they've got it.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Should still be in the TV."
<CBN> Tony: "Someone else go ahead." He takes a step back.
<Crion> After looking at the video, he turns to Tony. "Smile for me, would you?"
<CBN> Tony offers a polite, family-photo-or-driver's-license-photo-on-a-good-day smile.
<Crion> "Nah, big. Like the guy on the video."
<Crion> "Like your team just won the big game."
<banana> Melanie, from over by the door: "That was someone else."
<Crion> "Need to see the teeth."
<CBN> Tony provides that kind of smile. It wavers between a grimace and an actual smile, but he holds it best he can. "Cheeeeese?"
<trenchfoot> Terrifying.
<Crion> "Nice. Yeah, so the first mistake they made -- you said this cover wasn't supposed to hold? -- first mistake is they didn't get the teeth right. That guy's got near-perfect chompers. Important? I dunno. Says to me whatever sort of magic you've got going on here is only skin-deep, though."
<Crion> Ben sits down on a stool, still smiling. "Secondly: I'm guessing you all know about the insane nexus of mortal violence in the subbasement that I can feel from here, and it's not part of our remit today."
<VoxPVoxD> Big breath. "Yeah that's a separate thing."
<Crion> "Good. Cause it feels almost like a hospital. And there's a reason I take care of horses instead of people."
<banana> Melanie: "Totally normal." And we know he didn't do it.
<trenchfoot> Nels just exhales.
<CBN> Tony relaxes slightly, taking this to mean that horse ghosts aren't a thing. Small favors.
<banana> "If it helps, there's nobody being hurt down there. There's just.. violence. A story of pain telling itself to itself."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart winces.
<CBN> Tony frowns a little, just the same.
<Crion> Ben sort of winces too and half-shrugs. "Yeeeeah...I'm not sure it works like that. Not for them, anyway."
<Crion> "Third, most important thing:"
<Crion> "What's your deal?"
<Crion> "As a group, as a people. However you refer to yourselves."
<trenchfoot> Nels: "A motley crew?"
<dammitwho> Maggie: "Is that, uh, important?"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "What do you mean by 'deal', exactly?"
<Crion> His smile turns gentler, and more serious. "It is. I need to know more about...changelings, and specifically, how you deal with death, grieving, and everything after."
<Crion> "Since this is really the first time I'm sitting down to talk to any of you."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart... doesn't really know how to answer that.
<trenchfoot> Nels: "Mostly I didn't," she offers.
<banana> Melanie: "Around here, you'll find the changelings who deal in.. deal via anger. Vengeance; wrath; raging at the unfairness of the world and doing something about it, fighting back. We're people, Mr. Best, but compared to other people we're more tied to stories and the emotion invoked by stories. Others-" she glances into the darkened bar, not sure whether to describe the stereotypical
<banana> coping mechanisms of Autumn Winter and Spring...
<Crion> Ben, quietly: "Anger is something I understand, yeah."
<CBN> Tony thinks for a long minute. "Well I spent 40 years watching people get murdered nightly and burying the bodies, then came back and someone else lived my entire life for me so I'm both alive and very dead. So I'm mostly sad all the time I guess. Not gonna let that stop me from doin' stuff though."
<Crion> Ben smiles. "I can relate to that, in a way."
<trenchfoot> Nels: "Yeah."
<trenchfoot> "It was a couple weeks for me, but, you know."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart folds his arms.
<Crion> Ben: "So it's a live for the moment sort of thing, then. Okay."
<Crion> "Next question, also kind of personal: let's look at that back door."
<banana> Melanie: "Some other groups of changelings process trauma with proportionate fear, or by countering it with joy. Other than those specific things we've got the reactions you'd expect."
<Crion> He's back to his wider smile and is making for Alley Door 2.
<CBN> Tony follows.
<Crion> As they walk, to Melanie: "So it's strong emotions with your lot, then? That's...well, that's good and that's bad. Actually it's probably value-neutral, but it matters."
<Crion> "Strong emotions make for strong ghosts."
<trenchfoot> Nels, walking behind: "Strong and angry, or strong... helpful?"
<dammitwho> Maggie: "There's not really enough of us around to make for an agreed-upon, uh... whatever you want to call it. I'd guess a lot of us are sort of optimists? In a 'Well, they didn't get him' kind of way."
<Crion> Ben: "Just strong. Anything other than that is...hard to promise."
<trenchfoot> I see.
<trenchfoot> Nels: "Oh." She doesn't elaborate.
<banana> Melanie's staying back at the main door if we're the only ones around.
<Crion> The alley door is pretty typical: reinforced steel, hinges on the inside, reinforced slide-slat instead of a peephole so no-one can easily shoot you in the eye with a .38 when you see who's knocking, three bolts.
<Crion> You know, the usual.
<Crion> Around now, Serrato Colt will show up, looking for his lunch (paper bag, in the kitchen fridge). Given what's going on, he'll cover the door.
<banana> "Thank you. Nissa will be here at some point, probably based on feelings."
<Crion> Serrato laughs. If Melanie tells him the whole story: "Yeah. I'll call Street and have her reassigned."
<banana> She doesn't, though.
<Crion> Then he'll just say "Yeah," and settle in on a seat at the door.
<Crion> Meanwhile, at the door: "So, we know they came out through here. But they didn't come out through here."
<Crion> That's Ben.
<Crion> "Is your guys' magic on this?"
<trenchfoot> Nels: "...kind of? It's. Something about it." She looks to the rest of the motley. "It's weird, right?"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "It's like it's degraded somehow."
<Crion> Ben grimaces. "Alright. One sec."
<Crion> Benjamin Best's eyes roll back in his head, his arms spread wide, and he's coated in a strange sheen that gleams in the light...
<Crion> He stays like that for...a couple beats too long. Around the time you're starting to get concerned -- well, that the average person would start to get concerned -- he snaps back like nothing ever happened.
<Crion> "Yeah," Ben says. "That's fucked up."
<trenchfoot> Nels: "We seem to get that a lot."
<Crion> "That degradation you're feeling, Stewart, it isn't the touch of the Underworld, and I don't think it's your stuff. That feels, to me, like the Death Arcanum."
<Crion> "Something I've had to become acquainted with in my work."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "We sort of suspected willworkers were involved. Good to know for sure I guess."
<Crion> Speaking to himself, almost: "And what's really fucked up about that is it should be like, Spirit, or Fate, or Time..."
<trenchfoot> What's actually fucked up is talking to onesself.
<trenchfoot> Making comments in narration doesn't count.
<VoxPVoxD> It's normal to do that.
<trenchfoot> Wouldn't know.
<VoxPVoxD> "What does it mean that it's the, what was it, the Death Arcanum?"
<Crion> To Stewart: "So this door doesn't go down, because it's not an Avernian Gate. It don't think it goes to werewolf land either, because they've got...you know, a smell about them. Not judging. Don't have it here."
<trenchfoot> Nels: "Werewolf l-- you know, just keep explaining."
<Crion> "Far as I'm aware, the mages don't really...go anywhere special. Twilight's sort of always here, contraposed."
<Crion> There's only one place mages want to go, and it's disgusting.
<Crion> "So I'm guessing your magic is the base, and the Death Arcanum is the modifier."
<Crion> "Where's this door lead, when you juice it?"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "We have a place. Well, like, I say 'we' have. There's another place doors can go."
<VoxPVoxD> "We call it the Hedge."
<Crion> Ben: "What's it like?"
<VoxPVoxD> "It's like a dream you're trying to remember enough of to make a story out of it."
<dammitwho> Maggie: "It's extremely dangerous."
<trenchfoot> Nels: "Some of it's solid enough. Whether that's a good or a bad thing is... mixed."
<VoxPVoxD> "Exaggerations, thematic and structure pastiches... foreign beings, benign and hostile. It's a bordermarch between our world and, and someone else's."
<Crion> Ben: "...Both of those things sound like they syngergize extremely well with ghosts."
<Crion> "All of those things."
<VoxPVoxD> "There are things we call Hedge ghosts."
<VoxPVoxD> "I don't think they're like, the ghosts of people, though."
<VoxPVoxD> Are they?
<Crion> Ben grins at the door. "Looks like we're gonna find out. At some point at least."
<VoxPVoxD> "Not all of them, anyway."
<Crion> "Okay, let's see the body.
<Crion> "
<Crion> Unless someone stops him, Ben will head back to the bar, a positive skip in his step. He's heading for the trunk.
<VoxPVoxD> No reason to stop him Stewart can see.
<trenchfoot> Nels certainly isn't going to stop him.
<CBN> Tony will head along with that too. This is a whole lot to digest already, so he's pretty quiet.
<Crion> While someone -- this can be Serrato, if needed -- retrieves the body, Ben will start unlocking the five or six individual padlocks on the trunk.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart watches with a furrowed brow.
<Crion> On the last lock, Benjamin Best pauses...and then: "You know what, let's try this the normal way first. So, what I'm gonna do is -- I'm gonna try to manifest Capra's ghost, so he can answer questions. This is assuming kind of a lot; that his ghost is here, that it's intelligible at all, so on and so forth. But it's worth a try."
<Crion> "If it doesn't work, I've got methods."
<dammitwho> Maggie: "Is there something we should be doing?"
<Crion> "I wouldn't presume to go into your freezer myself. Other than that...we can keep the body covered, if you like. Unless that makes the ghost mad for some reason."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart will help Colt or whoever lay Capra out where Ben can see him if no one else does.
<CBN> Tony: "Should Maggie and I not be here for this part? If he thinks we killed him he might not want to do anything with us around. Or, worse, he might want to do something."
<Crion> Ben leaps up on the table, sits crosslegged, inhales...
<Crion> ...
<Crion> "...No, you're fine."
<Crion> "Half the ghost isn't here."
<VoxPVoxD> "That sounds unusual." And bad.
<Crion> "Which is an insane thing to say, really. Time to get the noose!"
<trenchfoot> "The what now?"
<VoxPVoxD> 'Time to get the noose' is also an insane thing to say, Stewart thinks but doesn't say.
<dammitwho> Maggie imagines a spectral pair of legs walking around doing a spooky jig.
<Crion> Ben heads over to the trunk, and sure enough, withdraws a length of rope that ends in a noose. "Alright, I...let's see here. There's a crossbeam up there, so, like so..." He tosses the length over the crossbeam, then puts the noose around his neck.
<Crion> He tests it a couple times. "Okay yeah. That's good."
<VoxPVoxD> Ah jeez.
<Crion> He hops back up on the table. "Okay. So I need someone to man the noose."
<Crion> "Don't worry, I'm a professional."
<CBN> Tony sighs and raises his hand. "In for a penny I guess."
<Crion> "Nice, nice."
<Crion> "Okay, Tony. What I need you to do is, on my mark -- I'm gonna raise and arm, and when I'm ready, put it down -- I need you to strangle me with this noose until I die."
<trenchfoot> Ah jeez.
<Crion> "Now: I'm gonna die pretty quick. Don't worry about that. It's fine."
<Crion> "What I need you NOT to do, is break my neck."
<Crion> "That'll be a real problem."
<dammitwho> Maggie looks slightly ill.
<Crion> "Me dying is gonna be pretty obvious; I go limp, tongue turns blue, all that stuff. Thankfully I've mastered the art of not soiling myself, so there's that. I die, you let me loose, maybe stop me from faceplanting."
<Crion> "Then:"
<Crion> "You ask my corpse questions."
<Crion> "Because the Oracle will be communing directly with Capra's ghost."
<trenchfoot> Nels: "Hey. That sucks, man.:
<Crion> Ben: "Did you think talking to the dead was fun?"
<trenchfoot> That ; is a ".
<CBN> Tony: "Ah, fuck. Someone else wanna ask the questions while I focus on the not-killing-him-for-really part?"
<Crion> He smiles. "I'll be fine. I've died once already."
<Crion> "This is just what we do."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Yeah, alright. We've got it covered, Tony."
<VoxPVoxD> He's rubbing his eyes as he says this.
<Crion> Ben puts the noose around his neck and raises his arm. "On my mark."
<CBN> Tony nods.
<banana> Melanie: :{
<banana> She's thinking, of course, but trying NOT to think about what's actually happening here. Thinking about what they saw in the alley. Moles and modified magic... can one of the Lost be a wizard?
<Crion> Ben lowers his arm.
<CBN> Tony carries out his task. He'd look away but it's more important to get it right than feel right about it.
<Crion> Tony jerks the rope tight over the crossbeam and the arm shudders; Ben gargles, seizes...and goes limp. Tony releases here, presumably, even though only a second or two has passed.
<trenchfoot> Nels keeps her eyes closed and ears shut for all of this.
<Crion> Benjamin Best's body freezes in midair, then straightens, still dead, into the lotus position, eyes milky white. Slowly, slowly, the corpse inclines its chin.
<VoxPVoxD> Oh, okay, this is a lot less gross than it could've been.
<Crion> "A half-thing, suffering a half-death. Time moves on, and stops. Many things remain true. Whither go the thorn-blossoms, young things?"
<VoxPVoxD> "Where's the other half of the ghost?"
<Crion> "It does not know. Nowhere good."
<VoxPVoxD> "Where did Capra die?"
<banana> Melanie wants to ask, but does not want to waste time by asking: Are you the 'Oracle'? What's it like down there? What do you mean 'things'?
<Crion> "...There is the sensation of bondage, and high ceilings. Steel beams. No thorns when it came time for the blood, but brought through thorns to that time. There is a chair. Folding. There are stains on the floor."
<Crion> "Concrete things."
<VoxPVoxD> "A Hollow?" murmurs Stewart.
<Crion> The Oracle doesn't respond to that question.
<banana> Melanie: "Who else is there?"
<Crion> "Two killers, cheaply bought and made. One betrayer, forced to look. Two schemers, ascendant. One accountant. And...something...far beyond..."
<Crion> "Two killers, cheaply bought and made. One betrayer, forced to look. Two schemers, ascendant. One accountant. And...something...far beyond..."
<Crion> "Everything is shadow but narrative position. The names and faces...have been stolen."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Are they saying anything?"
<Crion> "Semantic meaning is lost. Only emotion remains. The betrayer sobs and screams. The schemers laugh. The accountant feels the pleasure of jobs well done. The killers feel nothing."
<banana> Melanie: "Maybe it doesn't work this way, but- What you see, is there any concerete evidence of location or identity? What if anything are you experiencing that can be recounted without cryptic utterances?"
<Crion> The Oracle looks directly at her. "In the room freight comes and goes, talking of PITT OHIO."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart, who just googled that: "That's a truck company, they have a terminal in Glen Burnie."
<banana> Melanie: "Thank you."
<Crion> The corpse's face doesn't move, but maybe a milky eye twinkles.
<Crion> Then Benjamin Best falls to the floor taking a huge breath of air.
<Crion> "Fuck!"
<VoxPVoxD> "Do you need some water?"
<Crion> "Please."
<Crion> "How'd it go?"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart gets a glass from the bar and gives it to him filled.
<VoxPVoxD> "It went alright, considering the ghost is sundered."
<Crion> Ben: "Thanks."
<Crion> After drinking: "Yeah, that's fucked up."
<VoxPVoxD> "Does that happen naturally or would someone have to do that on purpose?"
<banana> Melanie: "There were a whole cast of dubious fuckers behind this thing, likely including one of ours. Some absurdly powerful entity involved, maybe not even the kind we assume. We have a location where they committed the actual murder."
<Crion> Another gulp. "No, that'd be...real special circumstances. But I honestly don't know how your souls work. Can you think of any reason someone or something would have claim on a portion of your soul, on death?"
<banana> "Yes."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart sucks in a deep breath.
<Crion> Ben: "...Well, that's usually a pro-forma question."
<Crion> "That said. There's still something fishy going on here, so maybe it's not proving a rule?"
<Crion> "I dunno."
<Crion> "But I do know I want to find out."
<Crion> He finishes his water. "At my normal billable rate."
<VoxPVoxD> Man, 2020 is starting off weird.
<dammitwho> Maggie: "Gosh, it's a good thing it's not our money we're spending here."