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<Crion> November lumbers on. It's the third week now -- but don't worry, Stewart, this November is five months and backloaded. There's still time. It's only been two weeks since Halloween.
<Crion> The motley has no official responsibilities at the moment, though they do have a number of individual goals and directives. There seems to be something of an organizational hangover after one of the big parties; the King of Autumn hasn't sent out any Freehold-wide directives since the morning of the first of the month, when he tersely assured everyone everything was fine, in the vaguest
<Crion> possible terms.
<Crion> So, anyone can be up to anything, really, in the bounds of good sense or promise.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart's spending as much time with Lauren as he can... which isn't nearly enough to fill the gaps in his time and attention. Even streaming's basically dead this late in a league. He's playing random games and every one makes him think about something he could be doing or feels he should be doing instead... it's not great. Too many chances to be alone, and when he's alone there's so
<VoxPVoxD> little reason not to drink.
<trenchfoot> Nels is trying to look through online records of Foulkes to track down relatives; she hasn't asked anyone else, yet, because. Well. It's family. And not the Motley family, her-not-her family, which is upsetting to consider and confront.
<VoxPVoxD> The politically correct spelling these days is Foulx.
<trenchfoot> >:I
<banana> Melanie Lucas has many concerns, some justified.
<Crion> Lauren has been as much of a presence in Stewart's life as he's willing to allow, given the circumstances. She hasn't framed it as moving in...but if he allows it, she'll basically have moved in. And the Canterbury/Jameson rotation will be back outside when they're at Stewart's place, though this time not because of Nels.
<trenchfoot> Their presence is appreciated anyway. The initial panic is gone, but. Well. Guardians are nice to have, even if they aren't your guardians.
<VoxPVoxD> He'd be ecstatic to have her around that much and the broader implications for their relationship wouldn't really register against everything else on his mind.............. but what about Chup?
<banana> For example, she needs to get better at dealing with retail or find a way to order printer paper online. Also: to work out everyone's exact schedules for being away or awake so that they aren't bothered by the noise of printing reams of thesis crap.
<Crion> Chup will join, if Stewart is amenable. Though he'll stay at Stewart's place, not come with them into the Wherehouse.
<Crion> Probably not wise.
<VoxPVoxD> It'll be a good trial run for Stewart getting a cat of his own, which is one of those things he wants to do but feels like he's in too much danger to justify.
<banana> Something else that worries Melanie: what happened to Gemma Franklin? She was being plunged head-first into freehold society and looked to be dealing with it by Not Going Out; Melanie's been there, and took much longer to recover, and.. it's not just Peter's keeper.
<dammitwho> Maggie is hefting blocks with question marks on them into and out of a train, at the best of little mushroom men!
<Crion> Langford List actually runs an office supply business on the side as part of the foundation's diverse small business portfolio, so he can probably help Melanie on the first bit.
<banana> Summer's not great at keeping up with people either, but Melanie thinks the Winter Court's even worse at it. So at some point after meeting John-a-dreams, she'll get some contact details out of Tony and see what's up.
<Crion> As for Gemma...Melanie can probably set something up, but she'll have to reach out to Winter.
<dammitwho> At some point, she's doing that. For the rest of the time she's... what? Who's around the Wherehouse and looks like they could use a hand?
<Crion> Sadly for Nels...computers suck. The internet sucks. This is all a trash morass. Even when she tries to move off of it to solid brick-and-mortar libraries, the volumes she's looking for are misfiled or nonexistant or she just can't find them. Public works are in a sad, sad state in the city of Baltimore.
<Crion> Tony's given Melanie a contact in Winter: Spring. Yes, that's her name. She's Winter's shooter. It's just a phone number.
<trenchfoot> How come whoever magicked up the internet didn't make it so that it knew what you were looking for and just gave it? Someone should do that.
<trenchfoot> Somewhere, a monkey's paw curls.
<trenchfoot> A few hours and some extremely uncouth language later, Nels is marching down the hallway to knock on Stewart's door. She did the old inhale-count-exhale-count trick to not sound angry and everything.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart does spend a lot of time at the Belvedere, though he spends more time trying to coax the machine to be more stable than actually using the program.
<dammitwho> "Melanie!" Maggie booms cheerfully. "What's up?"
<VoxPVoxD> He wants to try to find out what Proctor's answered to before the Mistress got him.
<VoxPVoxD> He's also home, though, when Nels comes knocking. "Hey! What's up?" He steps back to let her in.
<VoxPVoxD> "Are you hungry? I just reheated some pizza."
<trenchfoot> Nels is - well, she's not the judge, but she feels more nervous than usual as she steps inside. "No, no, I'm - on a mission? Kind of? And when I was searching I couldn't find anything." Then she plops herself down on the nearest convenient couch or chair or what have you.
<trenchfoot> "I'm looking for my family."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart closes the door and stands at it for a moment, looking at her.
<VoxPVoxD> "How can I help?"
<Crion> The entry is...scant. In fact, the first entry is fully unreadable -- the words, including the article title, are either unintelligible, blurred (it's not the monitor), or occasionally, Wingdings. But there's a link to click to the Proctor's page directly, which straightforwardly lays out his history as a slaver and abuser, in the past tense, and notes his death. It notes he was born in
<Crion> Scotland, lived in Baton Rouge a time -- killed most of the Freehold there, apparently -- and then was driven east to Florida then north up the coast. There is, however, a link to related topics at the bottom...
<Crion> To the Sign of the Pig and Ram.
<Crion> Well.
<Crion> "The Sign of the Pig and Ram."
<Crion> Clicking through brings Stewart back to that first article, but now the blurred out parts are legible.
<trenchfoot> Nels: "They go to UMBC. But I - they put so much garbage online...!" She looks, really looks at Stewart. "I can't find them. Her. She's a Foulke, still, probably, but..." A frustrated grunt. "I want to, I don't know! Talk to her, find out more about the family, maybe stare awkwardly from across the room."
<Crion> In Eygyptian mythology, Set took the form of a pig and blinded Horus before disappearing. A thief. Set is a god of chaos, and the pig a symbol of sacrifice. The god Khnum created men on his pottery wheel. He is a god of strength and birth, with the ram as his sigil. Together they are...quite clearly not actually Egyptian. Whatever is going on here is aesthetic. It's like a British reading
<Crion> of hieroglyphics. These gods don't go together like this, most likely.
<Crion> Perfect for one of the Keepers, especially in America.
<trenchfoot> "Probably not that last one."
<Crion> There's another link at the bottom of the page, to another related topic: The Son of Bastet.
<Crion> But that link's red.
<VoxPVoxD> Shit!
<Crion> No further information there. The article hasn't been built...yet.
<VoxPVoxD> This will have to do.
<VoxPVoxD> In the present: "...okay. So you don't have her name, right?"
<trenchfoot> Miserably: "No."
<trenchfoot> "Just some articles about how the great-granddaughter of Nels Foulke is going there. Here. Whatever."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "That's okay. We can come at it from another angle. How comfortable are you with like, researching your fetch?"
<trenchfoot> Nels: "...Comfortable enough to do it."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Then we'll just find her Sunpaper obituary. That will name her children and any grandchildren born at the time. And then we can look *them* up... we'll just work our way down."
<VoxPVoxD> "It's only a two generation hop so unless your fetch's entire family is afraid of computers they'll be on there. It's honestly terrifying how much information there is about people online and how easy it is to get at."
<trenchfoot> Nels: "Okay! Okay." They're just names. Except for the one in college. Oh god. "I'd expect they're only afraid of four-way stops."
<banana> Melanie looks up without otherwise moving, turning her head slowly toward Maggie like she was the sun or something. She's leaning on a wall, clutching a phone, and looking only mildly miserable.
<banana> "Well I was just.. phone calls. That's the only way Winter communicates, and it's hard enough when you can actually see people."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart asks Nels a couple more questions while he quickly eats his pizza, then washes his hands and leads her into his office. There's a second office chair in there now.
<dammitwho> Maggie: "Oh? Anything worrying?"
<Crion> Lauren can be out of the apartment if Stewart wishes, but Chup is probably ambling about, staring Nels down.
<trenchfoot> She plops herself down in the second chair, crossing her legs immediately and tapping her foot nervously.
<banana> Melanie: "I've got to talk to this woman Spring - Spring of Winter - all Tony said is that she's a killer, literally. Like she's really good at killing people."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart has no wish to get rid of Lauren. Whether she's here or not, he leaves the office door open for Chup.
<Crion> Then the next question is, ah, where can she set up her rig?
<Crion> The main room has the right power outlets if some furniture gets moved around.
<Crion> Otherwise it's the bedroom.
<trenchfoot> ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
<Crion> You don't want both in the office because that puts them on the same circuit, and that's two high-end machines with add-ons.
<VoxPVoxD> Anywhere she wants. The office's plenty big enough to support a second desk. Stewart would prefer, but not insist, she not bring a lot of electronics into the bedroom. So the living room's fine.
<dammitwho> Maggie: "That is... pretty worrying, yeah. How come?"
<VoxPVoxD> If she's still in the process of setting stuff up the couch might be askew or have a bunch of stuff on it.
<Crion> Living room it is. She only spends time on it for work right now; the clan has agreed to stop gaming until the Huntsman is dealt with because the werewolves' unsecure connections could be used by the Sky Mother.
<banana> Melanie sets the phone down on a countertop and pokes at it. "She's their public contact basically. I want to check in on Gemma and these guys have decided that what she needs is social isolation to start.."
<banana> "Hey. Maggie."
<Crion> Lauren will greet Nels when she arrives and then swivel back to her work, which is fucking around with router settings half a city away. Occasionally she has to call over to get Smitten to reset it.
<banana> "Would you mind.. helping? Like if I put this on speakerphone."
<Crion> She is also containing Chup, for the moment.
<dammitwho> Maggie: "Sure, I guess. I don't know that I'll be any better at talking to those Winter fellas, but I'll give you the ol' moral support."
<VoxPVoxD> Chup cannot be contained. Chup is boundless.
<trenchfoot> Nels smiles apologetically for borrowing her boyfriend and infringing upon their space, but... there aren't many other places she could go for this.
<Crion> He flumps in agreement.
<banana> Melanie: "Yes please. I just don't want to fuck up and have someone be all, You are a security threat. Winter begins today."
<banana> She'll dial, or tap, or scratch.
<Crion> The line will ring three times, then pick up. To silence.
<banana> Melanie: "..."
<Crion> Unless Maggie says something, the line goes dead after seven seconds.
<dammitwho> Maggie: "Hello! Is this Spring?"
<VoxPVoxD> What's Lauren's tolerance for background noise? Stewart'd probably have music going if he was here with Nels alone, but, Lauren is also working and on the phone.
<Crion> There's a soft click as a handset is set down aside the reciever, instead of on it. Sounds like you're on speaker. "Yeah. You don't sound like the wood, or the nerd, or the gee-tar. So you're the fire."
<Crion> "Maggie?"
<banana> Melanie: "Oh, you've traced our number or something. That's cool."
<Crion> If Stewart closes the office door it'll be fine.
<Crion> She won't even give a dirty look at him doing that with another young woman,
<VoxPVoxD> ...nah, he'd rather be able to hear Lauren. Plus it gets real stuffy in here with the door shut.
<Crion> Well then don't like, start playing music.
<VoxPVoxD> He won't.
<Crion> Other than that, all good.
<dammitwho> Pleasantly: "Yes, that's right. Also that was Melanie just now."
<VoxPVoxD> So it's in comparative silence that Stewart begins a genealogical survey starting with the late, fake Helen "Nels" Foulke.
<Crion> Spring: "No, Melanie, I just keep careful track of who has this number."
<Crion> "But for the record you can't trace calls from where you are."
<Crion> Spring: "Well. So. What's up."
<banana> ..well, it would've been cool, if they could do that. "Oh, I- I see. Hello."
<Crion> "Hi."
<dammitwho> Winter folk, or at least this one, probably get straight to the point, and probably appreciate their interlocutors doing the same. "Well, we were hoping to get in contact with young Gemma, or at the least learn how she's doing."
<trenchfoot> Nels watches the screen with interest and next-to-no commentary. Does humming count as commentary? Maybe it's actually none.
<dammitwho> "Concerned freeholders, and all."
<Crion> "She's doing fine."
<Crion> "...You want a meet, don't you."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "The library's been working to get all this stuff searchable online, so-- ah, here we go."
<banana> Melanie: "Yes please, if that's okay."
<Crion> Spring: "I'm gonna put you on hold. There won't be music. Don't hang up."
<Crion> The line is muted, but is still open.
<dammitwho> To Melanie: "I think this is going well!"
<banana> Melanie mutes it on their end, too. "Yeah. If it's not okay, I'll ask why."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "So like... what are you going to tell her?"
<banana> "Do you want to meet up with her too?"
<dammitwho> Maggie nods. "Might as well."
<Crion> The other end comes off of mute. "Why?" It's not Spring's voice; it's Gemma's.
<trenchfoot> Nels: "I - oh, gosh. Ohhhhhh gosh. I um. The plan was to, I guess, try and study? With her?" This is the least sure she's ever sounded. "And then maybe ask about the family?"
<trenchfoot> "I don't. It feels like I shouldn't go around telling people I barely know what happened to me. And showing up and saying, 'hi, it's me, your great-grandma' sounds like a bad idea."
<dammitwho> Maggie will raise her eyebrows at Melanie. Does she have an answer ready?
<banana> "Hey! Gemma. I-" Hmm. Having some sort of four-way conversation is actually incredibly embarassing. "It was good to run into you on the weekend so I wanted to.. check in. And see if you're, like, how things are going so far."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "But getting so close without really being able to connect is like watching them through glass. Not to mention the, like, the ethics of it."
<VoxPVoxD> "You wonder if they'll ever be ready for the truth. You wonder if you'll ever be ready for the truth."
<VoxPVoxD> "Sometimes you wonder whether you really want to know."
<Crion> "Oh." She's almost audibly blinking on the other end. To someone else, likely Spring: "Is it okay if...? Okay." Back to Melanie: "Yeah. Yeah, okay. You want to grab coffee or something? I dunno if you like. Drink coffee."
<trenchfoot> Nels slumps. "I just. I want to know what the other Nels was like. And I want to know that my family's okay. And I-- I know I want to know, but..."
<trenchfoot> "My" family. Nels wasn't even dating when she vanished.
<banana> :) "I would like to do that! Coffee yes, but honestly I don't know how."
<Crion> From off-phone: "She's a tree, Gemma."
<Crion> Gemma, away from the phone: "She is not a tree."
<Crion> Back on phone. "Yeah, that's good. There's a place in Charles Village..." She gives an address.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Yeah, no, I get it. I totally get it."
<VoxPVoxD> "You can't help but think about the life you didn't get to have."
<trenchfoot> Nels: "And I can't even talk about it to people I knew, because they're all dead. It's just me and what we left behind."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart envies that.
<dammitwho> Maggie, approvingly: "That sounds nice."
<trenchfoot> Again with the 'we'.
<VoxPVoxD> He doesn't say so out loud, obviously.
<Crion> Gemma sets a time, and then Spring cuts in. "Cool. Just so you know, there will be Winter presence on the ground. Just so you're not surprised. See ya there."
<Crion> Line goes dead.
<banana> Melanie: "Yeah you too Maggie right?"She's about to go on confusedly, but Spring interjects.
<VoxPVoxD> The website's gotten kind of laggy, so there's long loading screens between searches that let Stewart lean back in his chair and look around at the ceiling, the other monitors, and Nels. "How's your studying coming, anyway? Do you... do you like need a study partner, or is it more that you want one?"
<banana> "Ahh. I guess it's probably good that they're doing this kind of.. chaperoning"
<trenchfoot> Nels: "More the latter, I think I'm doing well... but it might go faster with a partner. I've been putting it off, I guess."
<trenchfoot> "Took a backseat to all of our nutso stuff... and then, well. Why not try and find a relative."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Yeah. It's good. It's a good project, lets you flex different skills, learn stuff you'd never learn otherwise. It's just, you know, the most complicated thing imaginable."
<VoxPVoxD> Man this site is taking f o r e v e r. "So, listen to any good music lately?"
<dammitwho> "Welp. Better get my coat!"
<banana> Melanie: "Do you think having winter bodyguards around will make everyone in the coffee shop chilly?"
<Crion> The coffee shop is a little local affair near the Johns Hopkins campus. There's a Ledo's Pizza nearby, if you want Maryland-style pizza. Such as it is.
<Crion> Standing on the door is the Winter Court also-ran Cider Stitch, who Maggie will recognize from murdering some cops. He'll grin when you approach.
<dammitwho> Maggie: "Be chilly anyhow, won't it?"
<banana> Melanie will chatter happily on the way - we can take one car, right? Might as well slow down global warming. "It's nice that she's doing okay, right? Like for herself and also it means we've done something good, mostly just by being around. There was something at the club.. like she was taking well to all the weirdos around here, such as you and me, but also had a qualia of risk, like
<banana> I wanted to 'protect' her or something."
<dammitwho> Maggie nods agreeably, letting Melanie talk.
<banana> She doesn't know Cider Stitch, though...
<Crion> Cider Stitch: "Hey, Mags. I can call you Mags, right? Gem and Spring are in the last booth." He nods at Melanie.
<banana> Okay no there's a protocol for this. An etiquette. Someone who's a literal nodding acquaintance, allied but unknown, friendly but not a friend... she can do this. Melanie says: "Sup."
<Crion> He grins. "Not much. You?"
<VoxPVoxD> After he's sent Nels on his way, he'll head out. "I'm going down by Lexington and the goblin market, want anything?" he asks Lauren as he gets his coat on.
<Crion> "Yeah," she says. "To come with. Lemme get into jeans."
<Crion> She has been in the apartment all day, and did just get off the phone.
<Crion> After hours on the phone.
<dammitwho> "Hiya, Cider! Good to see ya. Ope, let me squeeze by here," Maggie will give him a nod in passing.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart's a little relieved he's not the only one feeling stir crazy.
<banana> Ah fuck. People can respond to that? "Staying alive basically." She'll escape through the gap Maggie's created. Guess we're meeting 'Spring' today as well...
<Crion> Cider Stitch's face gets serious for a sec and he nods, holding the door open for both of them.
<Crion> The shop is semi-full, but Gemma and Spring are mostly alone in the back corner.
<Crion> Gemma's in a smart black jacket and black jeans, while Spring is in baggy pants and a hoodie.
<Crion> One's easier to conceal a gun under than the other.
<Crion> Gemma will wave the two of them over, while Spring will just stare.
<Crion> Meanwhile, Cider Stich moves inside the coffee shop behind them and takes up a position to cover all the sightlines that Spring can't, from a chair near the register.
<Crion> Meanwhile, Stewart and Lauren will reach Notgnixel Market without incident.
<banana> Hey, that's a good look. In theory Melanie would like to get back into fashion some time, but there's the issue of materials and shapes.. anyway. What she's thinking is: Winter is keenly aware that the Mistress is taking an interest in the world, which is good. Or there's been some other threat to Gemma, which is bad. Or they're completely paranoid, which is in line with the propaganda
<banana> she's been fed from her own people.
<VoxPVoxD> It's only a ten minute drive from the apartment to the market. Now, as Stewart recalls, there's some trick to getting in?
<banana> "Hiii. This is Maggie, you must be.. Spring.."
<Crion> You need a Coin of the Realm...or outstanding debt.
<Crion> Stewart is covered.
<VoxPVoxD> ...nice.
<Crion> Or a season pass, which Lauren has.
<Crion> But the guard opens the door and lets the two of you through with neither muss nor fuss.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "So, as I recall, Melanie went to the WOE section... I'm looking for a mean cat."
<Crion> Lauren: "Meaner than Chup?"
<Crion> Spring: "Yyyyyeah."
<Crion> Gemma: "Hey Melanie! Hi Maggie!"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Chup's not mean. He's just... imperious."
<Crion> Lauren: "No, that's still mean. It's only cute because he can't do anything about you picking him up and cuddling him."
<Crion> "Like. Think if he was 300 pounds."
<banana> Melanie: "Have you been out to cafes like this yet? I've basically got to the point where it's like, a comforting affordance instead of an alien negotiation ritual."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Now I'm thinking about it. I'm going to be thinking about it all day, at least."
<Crion> Gemma laughs. "I didn't spend too much time over there, thankfully. I actually WORKED at one of these places before I got grabbed."
<Crion> Lauren nods firmly.
<Crion> So Stewart's looking for the Son of Bastet?
<VoxPVoxD> That's the plan. If something bizarre happens to sidetrack it, well, Stewart's not that hard to sidetrack.
<banana> Melanie: "Retail.. that's a good preview of fairy hell, yeah. I think I worked part time at.. an American Apparel once? It's a bit mixed up with other memories." Specifically: shoplifting.
<Crion> He's...harder to find than he was when Melanie found him. That's odd. Instead of being on the main thoroughfare, he's well off the beaten track, down a vendor alley and then two or three more turns. He's still sitting in a booth labeled Seven Devils, though, with seven statues behind him, just like Melanie would have told Stewart to look for.
<dammitwho> Maggie: "How do, Gemma?"
<dammitwho> Maggie: "How do, Gemma?"
<Crion> He has a guest too, though.
<VoxPVoxD> Seven statues of what?
<Crion> A tall cat in a sharp suit. Like, a literal cat. Well, mostly a man, but a cat head.
<banana> The way Melanie put it was actually 'here's what to stay away from'. Figureheads of egyptian gods, a sign of someone you don't want to deal with. But Stewart knows what he's doing.
<banana> Right?
<Crion> Hard to tell, but they look like Eygptian...gods, maybe? The whole booth seems themed that way.
<VoxPVoxD> Is the business cat a customer or a coworker. Or rather, is Stewart interrupting anything if he gets close?
<Crion> Gemma, smiling slightly, cupping a medium hot chocolate: "I'm good. How've you been? Both of you."
<Crion> The two cats -- the proprietor seated in the lotus position on a pillow, the business cat leaning against a fake stone pillar -- seem engaged in a low, mrowling conversation.
<dammitwho> "Uff. I tell ya, I don't know how you Winter sorts manage. I'm freezing my behindus off and it's still November."
<Crion> Two-Step: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZjAantupsA No romance, no romance, no romance for me, mama -- come on baby, tell me what's the word.
<Crion> The Son of Bastet: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHDE_P4mAzA I'll deliver Hell to your doorstep, dressed in rich façade. Then I'll burn you to the ground, like an angry god.
<VoxPVoxD> Okay, yeah, Stewart gets Melanie's aversion now.
<banana> Melanie: "We're keeping busy though actually. Like jogging through the hedge helps keep warm even it's throwing wolves at you.."
<Crion> The tall, be-suited cat notices the pair of them first, looking from Lauren to Stewart then back to Lauren, winking at her, flipping a coin to the Son of Bastet and withdrawing.
<banana> She clarifies. "Doing some work to help track down the, you know, robot monster who turned up last week."
<Crion> Spring, listlessly, to Maggie: "I wear layers."
<Crion> Gemma's eyes widen. "Wolves?"
<Crion> She of course got to see the robot monster live.
<Crion> Son of Bastet looks up and grins as the two Lost approach.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart sucks in a breath and steps forward.
<banana> Melanie: "Oh, they're actually piles of garbage and nettle. It's like.. the edges of Arcadia know they ought to be an enchanted forest, but what it's got to work with is city and crappy underbrush."
<banana> "At some point if you need to know about that stuff Jackie Ordinary is the expert. From.. Spring I think?" She can't help glancing at the other one. Looks like she needs the coffee more than anyone.
<Crion> Gemma nods, while Spring says: "This is why the fact there's no gun control in this country owns."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Are you Son of Bastet?"
<Crion> "Roll in there with a jungle-clipoed AR knockoff, three deep. God bless."
<Crion> Son of Bastet: "I'm."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "You deal in weapons."
<Crion> Son of Bastet's smile widens. "No."
<Crion> "I deal in promises."
<Crion> "...Promises of weapons."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart inclines his head, an acknowledgement of the correction. "I've come to bargain. The weapon I seek is the truth."
<banana> Somehow it makes sense that this is Tony's contact. "Yeah, if that's what you have to do. Um, I should point out that most of us don't end up having to combat wolves, or anthing else.. they're just out there is all!"
<Crion> Son of Bastet slumps. "Is that all? Does the truth have to come in the form of your target's dead lover, or...?"
<Crion> That last question is kind of hopeful.
<Crion> Spring: "Everything's just out there when you head into the Hedge."
<Crion> Spring: "I try not to do it, personally."
<Crion> Gemma: "So...what's up?"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Something is coming. Not soon, but, maybe not long. The Sign of the Pig and Ram."
<Crion> The Son of Bastet straightens all the way up.
<Crion> "...You've seen the Sign?"
<banana> "Diegetically speaking? In the real world, I'm writing stuff, grad school work. Maggie you were looking for something right, a memory token?"
<Crion> Gemma blinks at that. Spring sort of looks away.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "I've seen signs of the Sign. Its slavers. Their corpses. New-made enemies, still living, drawing it here."
<Crion> "A token? Wait, I know what that is. Something you leave in the Hedge for awhile. Right Spring? It gets magic."
<Crion> Spring, bored: "Yup. It gets magic."
<Crion> Son of Bastet stands: "Who."
<dammitwho> Maggie: "Not a token, an Icon. S'different."
<banana> It looks like Gemma wasn't taken too deep. Social reintegration might be easy for her, with her problems being more practical ones, dangers of the fae (hence Winter's protection?). Melanie thought she'd be jealous of that, but encountering someone with shallower scars.. she's just grateful to whatever fate stayed its hand.
<dammitwho> "Tokens are the thing you said, Icons are, uh..." Maggie scratches the back of her neck. "Bits of people's memory that came off."
<Crion> Spring frowns and leans forward. "You're on after Icons?"
<Crion> This is the first time she's seemed interested in the conversation, really.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Who who?"
<dammitwho> Maggie nods.
<Crion> Son of Bastet: "Which slavers. They take names. They are roles. The Haruspix. The Parson. The Proctor--"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "The Proctor."
<Crion> "And he is dead?"
<VoxPVoxD> "Badly so."
<Crion> Spring: "My boss got his Icon back awhile ago. You'll want to be careful, and load for bear. The Hedge likes to make you work for it."
<Crion> "We had to shoot our way out." She leans back. "Like I said: jungle clips."
<VoxPVoxD> How's Lauren taking this? Is she still there or did she break off to browse?
<dammitwho> "Yeah, I expected it'd be a bit of a slog. Anything valuable has a freakin'... dragon or whatever guarding it. Story logic."
<Crion> Lauren's still there with her arms crossed and her lips pressed together.
<Crion> Spring nods. "Here's the good and the bad thing, though, at least from when we went in."
<banana> Memories lost to the Thorns.. it's an intriguing idea but not, Melanie thinks, personally applicable. Wasn't much left to lose at that point.
<Crion> "Trap doesn't spring until after you get it."
<Crion> She shrugs. "Maybe it'll be different for you."
<Crion> Gemma, to Melanie: "What have you guys been up to since...you know."
<Crion> "Besides killing Terminators or whatever."
<dammitwho> Maggie: "Setting up a still. Gonna try and make Hedge booze."
<Crion> Spring: "Oh fuck yes."
<Crion> Gemma: "Nice."
<banana> Melanie: "Well, you met Nels again back at the club. She's learning stuff to catch up with the world, she's got years and years to cover but makes it through on grit and cute.. Tony, the guy in dirt, he's been teaching hobgoblins to dance. And fetch beers. They only drink most of them so it works out well."
<Crion> Son of Bastet: "Good. That means two more are out there. And they will be coming here."
<Crion> His sphinx grin widens. "That's excellent."
<banana> "And if you remember Stewart, he's kind of our leader, he's apprenticed to a wizard. It's not a good idea but that's fine."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Excellent for who?"
<Crion> Slightly mocking: "Those who seek the truth, of course. Or weapons."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "What can you offer me?"
<Crion> "The power of seven fake gods. Seven sins. Seven devils." He points up. "It's on the sign."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "And what do you seek in return? Coin of the Realm?"
<Crion> Son of Bastet: "I am forced, by the laws of the market, to charge a price. So yes. That or debt. But if you hunt the Sign, you will have my imprimatur."
<Crion> He pauses. "Your kind aren't the only ones who they hurt."
<Crion> Gemma: "Nels, she's--"
<Crion> Spring: "The one who fucked the cook, yeah?"
<Crion> Gemma: "SPRING!"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Then I think we can do business."
<Crion> She shrugs. "I'm not judging. He's good for an older guy. Just maybe don't do The Kitchen in the kitchen."
<banana> Melanie: "Ehh. I'm sure they had a really nice time but please don't use that as your point of reference."
<Crion> Spring: "Sure."
<Crion> Spring: "How's your shitty goose."
<banana> "Nels is a coper, a student, a decent shot, a great person and like... the best singer in the world basically.
<banana> Also she doesn't know things in a vaguely adorable way.
<dammitwho> Maggie: "Sleeping it off."
<Crion> Spring: "Yeah. Everyone's special. I'm gonna use the shitter." She stands and signals to Cider Stitch, who moves up as she heads back.
<Crion> Gemma: "...So, that's Spring, I guess."
<banana> Melanie: "I mean, she's right."
<Crion> Son of Bastet gestures for Stewart and Lauren to sit. Lauren will follow Stewart's lead. "We can. I sell steel forged by Wyrd and transmuted into deed, and I sell it specifically. For the Parson. For the Haruspix. For the Sign. For the Proctor, but there is no Proctor anymore. At least for the time being."
<banana> "Everyone is, and that's also just normal, so..."
<Crion> Son of Bastet: "Buyer beware: my weapons target one at a time. You cannot use what you buy for the Parson on the Haruspix, for the Haruspix on the Parson, or for either on the Sign."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart will sit. This creature's lost most of its edge for Stewart, terrifying song aside. There's something unavoidably humanizing about seeing someone afraid. "Who do you think will come first?"
<Crion> Gemma sighs. "Yeah. It's been...weird. Being back. Being part of a secret society now."
<Crion> Son of Bastet: "The Parson works Europe. The Haruspix, Asia and Africa. Trods say the Parson. But that is merely conjecture."
<Crion> Gemma: "How have you guys been dealing with your bosses? The Spring lady seems...scarier than I thought."
<banana> Melanie rests her chin on her hands - without elbows per se this is a slightly creaky maneuver. "It's super weird. The thing is, you seem to be handling it really well."
<banana> "I wanted to check because like, at the point you're at I was spending ten hours a day sleeping and most of the rest arguing with university faculty."
<Crion> Gemma's smile falters. "I was gone three days."
<Crion> "I mean."
<Crion> "I wasn't."
<Crion> "I was in there months."
<Crion> "But..."
<banana> Melanie: "It's not a competition."
<Crion> She stops suddenly.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "I don't have the talent or the temperament of a killer. I need something that will work in my hands, that I won't flinch to use. If you can give me a way to stop the Parson, or render him helpless for the judgment of others, that would be most effective."
<VoxPVoxD> "We are what we will not become," he adds helpfully.
<Crion> Son of Bastet sort of stares at Stewart stupefied, then leans back. "Something that won't kill them."
<Crion> "That's...a taller order."
<Crion> He steeples his fingers. "So what do you normally do, when you fight?"
<banana> Melanie saw the cider guy's signal. Not something to talk about right now. "My bosses in the secret society are a bat-man and a walking nuclear reactor. They're cool as hell and really conventionally attractive. They don't know what to do with me, but it's the kind of secret society where you can mostly just live a normal life and keep up a basic level of contact."
<Crion> Gemma smiles. "Yeah, the boss is cool. Though, you know, it's weird being able to see his new face. My mom's kinda concerned I'm out of the house so much now but I just told her and dad I got a new job."
<banana> "Do you want to actually do that, get back to mostly the real world? Epicurean rather than Platonic piety?"
<Crion> "I mean yeah, I--the what?"
<dammitwho> Maggie shakes her head and raises her hands a little, like 'yeah, I don't know what she means either'.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "I can leave and send back someone more fitting. There are heroes among us. I'm just not one of them. I don't fight. When a fight happens around me, my heuristic runs as follows: One, keep people I love from getting hurt. Two, avoid getting hurt. Three, get whatever's trying to hurt me to try to hurt itself or each other."
<Crion> Son of Bastet sighs. "Is one of them the tree woman?"
<banana> Melanie: "It's the good life question. Whether it's best to live for normal, safe pleasures - hedonism in the original sense, not the way we take it now where the nuance is excess."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart blinks. "One of who?"
<Crion> Son of Bastet: "The heroes among you."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart relaxes.
<VoxPVoxD> "Yes."
<banana> "Or, Plato's view through his mouthpiece Socrates, who said that the ideal is 'virtue' in a supernatural sense, essentially unreachable but that the best way to be was to be as.. much as possible. As involved, as deed-doing."
<Crion> He nods. "I thought it was odd two of you wandered across me in such short shrift. She sought a weapon, but had no real target. You seek targets, but wish for no weapon. I assume you work together fantastically."
<Crion> The Son does not sound sarcastic.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart smiles faintly. "I'd like to think so."
<Crion> Gemma: "Oh. Yeah."
<banana> Melanie sips the pumpkin spice latte she ordered. Again, no idea how this works biologically, but she can definitely feel the impact of caffeine on her pace of speech.
<Crion> "I mean I'm just at the community college."
<Crion> Son of Bastet: "You may return with her if you desire. But I think it might fulfill your ambitions better to wield this...justice...yourself."
<Crion> "You seek a trap."
<Crion> "Preferably one the Parson springs by his own words and deeds."
<Crion> "Not a mere tripwire."
<banana> "I'm sorry, that wasn't meant to be weird elitist stuff. I don't.." does Gemma seem trustworthy? Doesn't matter. She's nice, and Maggie knows all this stuff, and there's no point hiding how weird you are if it isolates you further.
<banana> "I don't know all the social cues yet. I've been learning everything but I started with books, and it turns out this is not how people work."
<Crion> Spring returns from the bathroom. Cider Spring grimaces and nods, and will wait a minute or two before taking a different seat with better coverage.
<Crion> Gemma: "Oh, you're fine. I just, barely know what Plato is."
<Crion> Spring, deadpan: "Don't eat it."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "That makes sense." Trap builds are exceptional boss killers.
<banana> Melanie sighs, or at least rustles. "I bet there's a much better way to express this stuff than intellectualising modes of virtue, I just don't know what it is."
<Crion> Son of Bastet: "Here is your main problem, then: You have faced the Proctor, yes?"
<Crion> "You know these creatures travel in packs."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart nods.
<Crion> "Whatever trap we devise will work on the Parson. And only the Parson."
<Crion> "No matter how effective."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "I travel in packs too."
<Crion> Spring: "Most people just smoke weed. Maybe not something you're into anymore."
<banana> Actually she's been planning to try some of the stuff Maggie's growing. "No idea."
<Crion> Son of Bastet nods. "That's good. So. Your trap. No lethality, I assume. Immobilization? Entombment? Full-spectrum sensory deprivation? What are your themes? Your outcomes?"
<Crion> Spring: "Fair enough."
<banana> Melanie deliberately waited until Spring was back before asking Gemma this; she's not quite sure if.. "Have you got your own phone?"
<Crion> Gemma sort of glances over at Spring. "Not right now."
<Crion> Spring, laconically: "We're getting something with the right firmware set up."
<Crion> "Give it a few days."
<banana> To Maggie: "Let's write down our numbers. I've got a pen here somewhere."
<banana> To Spring: "So you guys do tech stuff as well?"
<Crion> Gemma brightens up. "Sure!"
<Crion> Spring grins. "If you're asking if we rely on your sweet Autumn child's girlfriend for our opsec, the answer is no. We keep that in house."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart doesn't look at Lauren or the Son. His eyes rest on the impassive, ever-watching gods in the back.
<banana> Seriously: “It would be a problem if there was only one specialist. From what Lauren says there are networked dangers, ghosts in the machine.” She specifically used that phrase, for some reason.
<banana> “Though the Street says it doesn’t matter and computers are fake?”
<Crion> Spring: "Well. That's good to hear."
<Crion> Spring's grin widens. "Well. I'd never say anything bad about another court's monarch."
<Crion> "But Langford's cool."
<VoxPVoxD> If Stewart had all the power of the Wyrd... he imagines. His eyes drift closed as he speaks. His affect is flat. "Let them think their oaths have sloughed off. Let them see themselves for just a moment as an oathbreaker, a traitor to traitors and a monster among monsters. Deny them the safety of their master, the comfort of their allies. Let it all wash away. Let that fear paralyze him."
<VoxPVoxD> "Break their will by setting them free."
<Crion> Lauren blinks.
<Crion> The Son of Bastet's smile grows so wide his teeth part.
<Crion> "Yes. Yes. I think we can work with that."
<Crion> The negotiation goes on for a bit, then the Son hands Stewart a marker and bids him return in a week and a day. Leaving the market is a simple affair, and though Lauren was a bit muted upon leaving the stall, she's back to her normal self by the time they hit the street. Back to the apartment or out to dinner in the Inner Harbor?
<dammitwho> Maggie will scribble her own number down as well.
<banana> Spring's opinion on the lords of Summer.. isn't really something Melanie cares about. "Oh hey, if you're at community college do you have a major? Are you still studying the same stuff as before?"
<Crion> Gemma writes hers down too, but promises to text her from her new phone when she gets it, in case it changes.
<Crion> Gemma: "Yeah! I'm trying to get the credits to transfer over to UMBC's engineering program."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart stays subdued for longer. He's not really dressed to eat out at any place he'd want to take Lauren so his idea is to grab crab cake sandwiches or something from the real Lexington Market on the way home. What does Lauren think?
<banana> Something that hadn't occurred to Melanie before occurs to her now. Gemma was gone for only days, on Earth; she's living with her parents, maintaining her education... and yet, the faeries are set in their ways. She must have had a fetch.
<Crion> Sounds good to her. She'll get an extra bit of crabcake on the side for Chup.
<VoxPVoxD> Once they're home: "I get why Melanie doesn't like that guy."
<Crion> Lauren: "Why's that?"
<banana> "Th- that's cool, if you end up there I'll show you around. Although, like, the engineering department is a strange and foreign place - they came to parties but mostly to drink."
<Crion> Gemma, eagerly: "That'd be great!"
<Crion> Spring, checking her phone. "Think it's time to go."
<VoxPVoxD> Unwrapping the food on the table. "He's dangerous. Full of hate, and he trades in it. If I hadn't gotten to see him afraid I'd probably have walked."
<Crion> Spring: "We've all exchanged numbers like true best pals. Gemma will be back online in a couple days."
<banana> Honestly, it's the unattainable ideal Stewart described. Stepping back into your old life.. as if it wasn't occupied.
<Crion> "Cider, prep the door."
<Crion> The redheaded dude heads to the register, pays for his coffee, and slips back out front.
<banana> Melanie leans back and looks at Spring speculatively. "It's a good thing you guys are around. I can tell you're used to protecting people."
<Crion> Lauren: "Being dangerous is what keeps him alive, I guess."
<Crion> Spring stares back. Flatly: "No I'm not."
<Crion> She steps out of the booth. "Let's go, Gemma."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Sorry you didn't get to do much more than stretch your legs."
<Crion> The neophyte says some quick goodbyes and follows.
<Crion> Lauren: "It's fine. I got to see two really weird cats." To Chup in her lap: "Weirder than you."
<banana> Hmm. To Maggie: "Hmmmm."
<dammitwho> "Golly."
<Crion> Lauren: "...I wouldn't be so hard on that cat guy, though. The stuff he was thinking about doing...well..."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "What do you mean?"
<banana> Melanie: "There's always weird stuff in the background."
<dammitwho> "Or in the foreground!"
<Crion> She sighs. "It was quick, at least. It was probably clean. And yeah, it came from hate." Lauren looks him straight in the eye. "Is that better than breaking them with fear?"
<banana> Melanie: "Gemma's so young."
<dammitwho> Maggie: "Hard to gauge, really..."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart meets Lauren's eyes in silence for a moment.
<banana> Melanie: "Yeah. What do you hope to remember?"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "...I don't know. I don't know what's better."
<dammitwho> Mildly: "If I could remember that, I wouldn't need the Icon!"
<dammitwho> "Seriously though, I came out with nothing. Not a name, family, home..." She looks down at her hands clasped on the table.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "He asked me what my themes were."
<Crion> Lauren nods and scritches Chup. "Yeah. And I don't have a problem with you indulging him on that. He respected it."
<banana> Melanie: "There could be people waiting. I get why it's important."
<Crion> "And I don't have a problem with you using his fear."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart sits and rubs his eyes tiredly. "Ah, shit. I don't even know if I was telling him the truth."
<VoxPVoxD> "Like... what are my themes? That's not something someone just, decides. It's something that gets read into them."
<dammitwho> Maggie: "I have to guess at when I was born based on stuff like 'do I know what phones are'. I don't know what I cared about at all..."
<Crion> "I just...worry, when you do that, and then say something like: you'd have walked away from him, except he was afraid."
<Crion> "Those things together."
<Crion> "I've seen Scarecrows."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "I meant that seeing him vulnerable made it easier to trust him."
<dammitwho> "I have to keep moving, pushing forward, finding things to do like that business distilling goblin fruits, because there's nothing else otherwise."
<Crion> Lauren: "I know."
<VoxPVoxD> He folds his arms, looking at the food he's suddenly less interested in.
<dammitwho> Maggie: "I bet there's more'n a few old ladies in this country that just sit alone, day in and day out, because everything that mattered to them vanished or died."
<Crion> "I just...I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said anything. You dealt with him well."
<banana> Melanie: "But most of them aren't incredibly tough and curious and cool."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart looks like he wants to say something himself, but is resisting. His tongue pushes out against his lower lip from within. He doesn't look upset, exactly. But deeply preoccupied and pensive.
<Crion> Chup will mrowl and hop up, and Lauren will box the remainder of her sandwich and head to bed.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart stays up a while longer, thinking, before he joins her.
<Crion> When he does, she curls into him and sighs. Chup snurts, and waddles from the room.
<banana> Melanie: "Have you tried one of these? They only have them from November to whenever, it's like.. eggnog without the egg or the nog. But coffee."
<dammitwho> Maggie: "Ooh, one of them pumpkin things? Yeah, I had some. They're pretty good, huh?!"
<banana> Melanie: "I don't know if there's actual pumpkin in it. What does that taste like?"
<dammitwho> Maggie: "We can get some pumpkin pie on the way back."
<Crion>
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<Crion>
<Crion>
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<Crion> The weather's unseasonably warm for the middle of November. Or maybe it's becoming seasonable. Either way, high fifties/low sixties without much wind or rain as Thanksgiving approaches, still a few weeks away. The biggest thing Stewart has had on his plate since meeting John of the Falls from the court itself has been Santander nagging him to get over to a DMV location with his birth certificate,
<Crion> social security card, and two pieces of mail establishing residence to satisfy the federal REAL ID program -- and of course getting that documentation means going through some hoops on Santander's end, so social security card is just arriving now. (His old number is currently in the care of Stu.)
<VoxPVoxD> A fun way to fill yourself with grief over nothing is to suddenly be made to realize you have to build your credit rating from scratch again.
<Crion> Santander will tell him not to worry about that too much. He seems pretty certain that industry's going to completely collapse real soon, though he's extremely vague on why.
<Crion> Lauren's moved in extremely lightly, with only her rig, a small suitcase, and an overnight bag full of Chup's stuff.
<VoxPVoxD> Since Stewart had to start caring about paperwork all at once, he's actually stayed on top of it. One of his first purchases after moving in to this place, even before his computer was built, was a little filing cabinet.
<Crion> She's doing a good job of hiding that she's very carefully making sure not to spend all day in the same room as Stewart, to leave him alone for large portions of the day except around meals and bedtime, and so on, without also seeming weird and freezing him out. It's hard to tell what she's worried about, precisely: being perceived as clingy, or being perceived as too into this temporary
<Crion> arrangement.
<Crion> Or maybe those are the same thing.
<Crion> So that means a lot of hours sitting crosslegged in the chair at her desk, working through IT tickets.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart initially took this as her being unused-to or uncomfortable with sharing a living space with someone, since he knows she deeply values privacy and not being bothered. But as her anxiety, whatever its cause, reveals itself in bits and pieces over the first several days together he feels more comfortable popping in on her while she's working from time to time. Just to ask her what
<VoxPVoxD> she's up to, make joint trips to the fridge or out for groceries, and make some physical contact like a kiss on the cheek or a brief shoulder rub.
<VoxPVoxD> It's not not meant as a subtle signal that he's happy to have her around... but it's a signal he wants to send because he is.
<Crion> She appreciates those. And more often than not, and more often as time goes on, she's sabotaged anyway by Chup warming up to Stewart and showing it in the way cats know how: by being incredibly annoying, especially when he's streaming. So far she's avoided being more than glimpsed in the background of a stream as she tries to get him back into the main living space, and her face hasn't gone
<Crion> out over the stream at all, but it's going to be pretty clear to the regular viewers that the living situation has changed a little bit.
<Crion> Lauren has given him permission to lie or tell the truth about it as he sees fit...perhaps knowing his general inclination will be towards mentioning it as little as possible either way.
<VoxPVoxD> So far Stewart's completely no-sold the reaction of the chat to these moments.
<VoxPVoxD> It's more comfortable and also, somewhere, there's someone writing LOTS OF SPECULATION??? on a whiteboard in Stewart's mind and circling it several times.
<Crion> So does Stewart have a gun in the house?
<VoxPVoxD> But Stewart's stream has changed subtly in tone over the last several weeks. Part of it's Lauren, part of it's the work, but he's also slowly and subtly burdened by all the things on his mind that he's loath to talk about, for good and bad reasons. The Twitch reaction clips are a little more actually-angry than wacky-angry than they were in September.
<VoxPVoxD> He brought it home the day after Lauren moved in.
<Crion> Good. Generally Lauren would be neutral trending towards apprehensive on having firearms around...but circumstances are a bit different at the moment than they are for most.
<VoxPVoxD> This is a Glock 17 - the gun Gerald handed him that night he was broken into the Court - with its attendant accessories.
<Crion> What's his next day off streaming? That Thursday, right?
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart's schedule has been a little erratic lately between the wind-down of the current PoE league and all the shit that's happening in real life, but yeah, he's taking Thursday off.
<Crion> Gerald will call Tuesday night, then. Unlike the rest of the court, he doesn't seem to communicate via Ravens and the message client.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart's grateful for that. Now that it's not his main way of talking to Lauren he's starting to associate pings from the autumn box with stress, bad news, and fear.
<VoxPVoxD> "Hi."
<Crion> "Stewart!" Gerald's voice is his usual jaunty growl, which is an odd combination you don't usually hear outside of action movie guys trying to do lighthearteded scenes in character. "How's things? How's the new roommate?"
<VoxPVoxD> "Hey Gerald. Things are pretty good. Lauren's fine."
<Crion> "Good. Good, good." There's the sound of a couple gunshots in the background; they sound practiced, not chaotic. Gerald's probably-- "I'm at the range with Stu, and a thought occured to me. You've got...what, three weeks before our friend comes on back, yeah?"
<VoxPVoxD> Sixteen days makes a full lunar month. "Give or take."
<Crion> "Was thinking it -- if you wanted to -- it might be good to have you come down here a few times with me and shoot a bit. Just you and me, Stu doesn't have to be with us. Unless you'd prefer it. Make my schedule easier."
<Crion> "Get you a gun of your own, just in case."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "I just got one, actually. I was meaning to call you myself." Not a lie, but 'meaning to' is such a wonderfully vague phrase. signifying intention but totally concealing the amount of force behind it. "Are you free Thursday?"
<Crion> Gerald makes a surprised little noise but recovers quickly. "Thursday? Yeah, all afternoon. What'd you get? So I can bring ammunition, figure out a lesson plan, so on."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "I got a 9 millimeter. Glock 17."
<Crion> "...Well, that solves a lot of those problems."
<VoxPVoxD> "Feels good when the number of problems goes down instead of up."
<Crion> Gerald noted Stewart's lack of response to the Stu situation; unless Stewart actively asks, he'll slate the two for different days.
<VoxPVoxD> That's fine. Stewart likes Stu quite a bit, but it's still hard to be around him. Or look at him. Or think about him.
<Crion> He'll give Stewart an address -- Associated Gun Clubs of Baltimore, out on Marriottsville Road -- and tell him to drive up around 1 PM.
<VoxPVoxD> How does Lauren react when Stewart tells her Gerald's taking him to the range?
<Crion> Suspiciously like she might have already known that was why Gerald called. Or perhaps she's just good at guessing, and Gerald doesn't do much else for fun. She tells him to be safe and try to have fun, and that Canterbury will make sure someone's outside the front door while he's out, just in case.
<VoxPVoxD> "Good. Chup needs protecting," is what Stewart says before kissing her goodbye.
<Crion> She appreciates that joke.
<Crion> Does he want Gerald to drive them out, or to meet him there?
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart'll drive. With Lauren working from home and on tech support calls a lot, he doesn't get much chance to listen to music. And he's not comfortable running his car playlist unless he's driving alone. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MrRi-2nokM&list=PLqoVwH1yoXtUaAPpwMN3eX6ralHeb0TEv&index=25
<VoxPVoxD> Now would you break before you twist the knife~
<Crion> The gun club is in a sort of desolate, forest-y exurb of the city -- lots of woods full of tall spindly trees, lots of brown-green fields, lots of old post-war construction starting to fall apart, lots of stuff that used to be farms but is now stalled-out housing developments. The facility itself is a big parking lot full of the expected pickup trucks, a main hall -- Memorial Hall -- that
<Crion> looks like it was built sometime in the 70s, and then a bunch of outdoor ranges. Most of them look like rifle ranges, but there's an archery range in there too.
<VoxPVoxD> Yeah. Yeah, this feels right.
<Crion> The lot's mostly empty at 1 PM on a Thursday except for some old retirees playing with their toys; cops have their own range just up the road, so they don't come down around here except to shoot the shit with the weekend warriors, and few of those guys are here during the work week. For better or worse. Gerald's leaning against his Escalade, waiting.
<Crion> He'll waive once when he recognizes Stewart's car.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart waves back when he gets out. He's wearing a sweatshirt with the Path of Exile logo (part of a gift basket the developers sent out to big streamers) and jeans. He's holding the case the gun came in like a lunch box.
<Crion> One of the old-timers gives him a dirty look, then looks away and hurries on to his brand-new truck when he sees the look he's getting back from Gerald.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart idly wonders how that guy'd react if a pack of briarwolves was bearing down on him.
<VoxPVoxD> "Hey," he says to Gerald when he gets close enough not to have to raise his voice.
<Crion> "Hey, kid." He cracks a slight smile at the case. "You even taken that thing out yet?"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "I opened it to make sure nothing was missing from the box, but other than that, no. How should I be carrying it?"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart only knows about guns from video games and movies, so he's coming at this as if he knows nothing about guns.
<Crion> "The box is fine, though you'll get looks for having the factory box and not some custom thing with, I don't know, the Confederate flag on it or something." There was one of those on that brand-new truck, which is where Gerald's eyes are now as it pulls out. "There's actually fewer of those around now than there were five years ago. Go figure."
<Crion> "But you'll want a small carry bag or something to put ammo with or something. Especially because Maryland's only an open-carry state with a license, and while legally you're fine with it locked in the case, the fewer opportunities you give cops to be shitheads, the better."
<Crion> "Just a generic tote bag, nothing special."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart nods. "What about if I'm carrying it... not to the range."
<Crion> "The expensive way are the three-clip safety holsters that cops wear to prevent anyone from being able to just, go for your gun. But those take some practice to draw smooth from -- they're best for security people who are going to at least be practicing their drawing a decent amount. Shoulder holster doesn't seem necessary. So I'd go with a standard belt clip-holster -- it clicks in there,
<Crion> and then comes out when you pull it but doesn't jostle around. Easier to grab off you, but...that's not really the kind of situation you'll be using it in."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart nods, and takes the gun out. It doesn't feel as heavy as he remembers.
<VoxPVoxD> Oh right, it's not loaded yet.
<Crion> "Put that back in for now. These guys kind of fetishize the gun safety thing."
<Crion> He frowns. "Less for the safety, more for the gatekeeping."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart obeys. "Right."
<Crion> "Come on, let's head over to the high power range. It's the best one for pistols."
<Crion> The guys who are here are all on the longer, more expansive rifle ranges, firing all manner of souped-up hunting rifles and straight-up military weaponry.
<VoxPVoxD> It puts Stewart in mind of invaders from another world.
<VoxPVoxD> But of course, here, that's him. Here as in the range and, arguably, now, Earth.
<Crion> Gerald briefly introduces Stewart to the range safety guy, Pete, who is friendly but professional to Stewart but downright enthusiastic when it comes to Gerald. He just nods and tells y'all to have fun when Gerald says he's taking his nephew shooting for the first time and wants to show him around a Glock, so they'll be using close targets, would he mind making sure to announce anyone else
<Crion> coming in just in case he's down range? And that's the last you see of Pete, really, as he ambles back to his rounds.
<VoxPVoxD> He seems nice.
<Crion> For his part, Gerald does do the basic range safety stuff -- barrel downrange at all times no matter if it's loaded or not, always ask the range observer if the range is clear before firing, so on.
<Crion> In his own tote bag, which is an outright rifle bag, Gerald's got a pump shotgun and that FAL from both Halloween and the night on the dock -- but also the Glock 17 he gave Stewart that night, which he'll be shooting.
<VoxPVoxD> Commonsense stuff people will yell at you about if you fuck up or haven't intuited? Brother, let me tell you about a little something called passive tree pathing.
<Crion> First he goes out and sets up some paper targets at about 35 meters. Then he shows Stewart how to load the magazines properly -- it's intuitive, but it does require a bit of force the first time you do it on a new magazine with a stiff follower spring -- hands Stewart ear protection, and steps back. He'll motion to Stewart to keep an earmuff off so he can talk until the shooting starts. "So
<Crion> first, I want you to take your time, aim the gun, and empty the magazine at the target down there, one at a time. We're not looking for accuracy here, or good form, really, though I'll help you with that -- I just want you to get used to what firing a gun feels like."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart squares up, legs slightly apart, and holds the gun with both hands up at face-level and arms fully extended, and pulls the trigger once.
<VoxPVoxD> Fucking OW--
<Crion> Gerald doesn't laugh or smile at his misfortune; as long as Stewart doesn't physically drop the gun, he won't intervene until Stewart's either emptied the magazine or decided he wants to stop.
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart doesn't drop the gun, but he takes a few seconds before his next shot. And then again. And again. By the time he's done, his arms are sore from the shoulders to the wrists, but he gets the last three shots off without a pause in between.
<VoxPVoxD> Ear protection off: "People do this for fun??"
<Crion> Has he re-engaged the safety?
<VoxPVoxD> Yes! That's the one gun thing he was already taught.
<VoxPVoxD> By Gerald.
<Crion> Then Gerald is casual, and smiles for the first time since the shooting started. "Believe it or not, yes. We could have started you off with a .22SR pistol, but since you already have your own I figure you might as well get used to it on its own terms. While training with low recoil guns can feel better, it can give you some bad habits in terms of grip and posture that lead to bad aim or
<Crion> joint soreness down the line. Speaking of which..."
<Crion> He spends the next five to ten minutes adjusting Stewart's stance, demonstrating with his own gun the proper way to hold and look down the sights of the pistol; whereas Stewart was kind of doing the cop stance from all the movies -- it's called the Weaver stance, apparently -- Gerald has him turn a bit more, lock his firing arm instead of leaving it bent, use his firing arm sort of like a
<Crion> rifle stock by pressing his cheek to it to aim, and having a more exaggerated bend in his non-dominant arm since the gun's now off to a side rather than in the middle of his body. This should make the recoil easier to handle and control, and locking the joint should actually help disperse the force of the shot, leading to less soreness.
<Crion> Or so Gerald says. It's still a handgun.
<Crion> He'll have Stewart reload the gun for the first time, then go through the second magazine with his new stance, from memory.
<VoxPVoxD> It's hard to tell if this is helping, but that might just be because his arms are already a little sore. They don't feel much more sore after this clip is empty, which also takes significantly less time. Safety on, ear protection off, left cheek slightly reddened from being pressed into his left arm: "How was that?"
<Crion> Gerald nods. "Good form." He's still not concerned about accuracy. When the range is safe again, he crosses his arms. "You're going to be sore a bit the first few times, but you'll get used to it quickly enough. My main question now is, really, one you need to ask for yourself: how much do you want to commit to this? Is this a last-ditch defensive weapon that only comes out in a home invasion?
<Crion> If so, I might advise you get rid of the handgun and we train you on a shotgun with a stock. Less accuracy needed, less bullet penetration so people the next apartment over don't get through-shots, much more stopping power. Or is this going to become part of your standard Hedge kit?"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "I've been walking around as if summoning a thunderstorm that will indiscriminately try to kill everyone but me was a workable plan. And it's just not, for the situations I end up in. Either I'm in the Hedge with the others or I'm in the city with bystanders, or Lauren. I'm not trying to become a backup Gerald but Fae Cunning only protects *me*, and if someone's hunting me and
<VoxPVoxD> of a mind to hurt me... or hurt someone else... then it's just a matter of time until I'm slow or late."
<Crion> Gerald nods. "Right. Sensible." Then, wryly: "...I think Stu's already got the backup Gerald position locked down anyway."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Yeah? So he's really taking to it, then."
<Crion> He nods. "Still doesn't want to have anything in the house other than the shotgun, and he's still a bit leery about that. But he's had range time on some of the longer rifles, and he's a natural for it. Not sure if that's...you know. A thing we have. I somewhat doubt it."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "I don't know. I mean sample sizes and all, but of the three of you guys I know anything about, one's a firefighter, one's a tier one operator, and one's a professional athlete. Maybe it is a thing."
<Crion> Gerald: "You know, Bob made a joke about that once. Fetches are jocks, changelings are nerds, it's why we're predisposed not to get along. Even so I think the other reasons are more convincing."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "...yeah."
<Crion> "Alright. So, we're sticking with the Glock, and we're going for everyday carry and use. No trick shots, no long-distance pinpoint target shooting, no special hunting nonsense. Bullets in center mass on human beings." He pauses. "Maybe we'll do some hunting stuff after all. They do like to look like wolves from time to time. But that's later."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart nods.
<Crion> "For now, we're going to keep that target right where it is, and we're going to move to focusing on accuracy."
<Crion> "Let's go through your two magazines one more time with some fresh paper out there, look at the results, talk about them, then call it a day."
<VoxPVoxD> "Okay."
<Crion> When the range is clear, Gerald goes out and switches the papers, nodding to himself. "Good. Now do it again."
<VoxPVoxD> It's loud and heavy and it still stings, but Stewart takes to this pretty quickly himself.
<Crion> He brings the second paper back. The results look pretty similar on the hits...decent but not tight groupings. "These are the same," he says, touching them. "But these...these are different." He taps some of the misses. On the first one, they're a lot more scattered; his second not only has the ones on the sheet closer, but it has fewer complete misses.
<Crion> "This is good work. Maybe it's not just Stu."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Can I ask you a question?"
<Crion> Gerald. "Sh--"
<Crion> "Go ahead."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "When, uh, when the King got back. How long did it take for you guys to..."
<VoxPVoxD> "Feel... normal around each other."
<Crion> Gerald: "...Not until I was all the way out of the service, and not until after our parents died." He pauses. "They never knew. He still got to see them, you know -- he only had to change his Mask a little bit, to look like me. So I'd get some holidays, and he'd get others. You see the movie The Prestige?"
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "About the magicians?"
<Crion> "Yeah."
<Crion> "If you have, you know where I'm going with this. The bit where twin brothers are pretending to be one guy, married to one woman. And they look exactly the same, and she doesn't believe they're different people on a conscious level, but she can tell -- some days her husband loves her, and some days he's just pretending."
<Crion> Gerald grimaces. "Thankfully I never got married. So it never went that far. But while they never knew, in a way, they could tell."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Yeah."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Like... I don't really... want that stuff back. I'm fine, honestly, not seeing my parents anymore, and Stu's got an entire job and set of friends and life that I couldn't handle and wouldn't like."
<VoxPVoxD> "But it's still-- and he's felt like shit for so long, just for being the one who lived. I can't put that on him. I can't put it on him."
<Crion> "You didn't put it on him, and you can't take if off him, either." He pauses. "You can help make it fit easier, then. Not easy. Easier. After they passed, we didn't have to trade off an identity anymore. We could be each other, not just to each other but to everyone else. That helped. And he took over as King from old Ten-Pound Crowley, which brought me sort of, into the freehold. Which was
<Crion> good socially."
<VoxPVoxD> "Ten-Pound Crowley."
<VoxPVoxD> "Man every day I spend in this freehold I get madder at myself for not working harder on my new name."
<Crion> Gerald chuckles. "Apparently it's in reference to the currency, not the weight measure."
<Crion> "And it was originally an insult."
<Crion> "You know. Cheap knock off wizard."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Right."
<Crion> "Well." He stands. "Good work today. I'll get you set up with a range pass if you want to come out here yourself, or you can find a range of your own and expense it. But you should shoot once every couple weeks, if you don't get active service in."
<VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Thanks for your help."
<Crion> "Not a problem. You ever want me to come out and teach you longer distance shooting or move up to rifles, let me know."
<Crion> He'll pack up and head out now unless Stewart's got other questions.
<VoxPVoxD> Well...
<VoxPVoxD> ...nah. Nah, that's enough for Gerald tonight. And for Stewart.