20:58 <Crion> Florida isn't looming, necessarily, but you're closer to it now than you were yesterday, and the day before that, and -- well you took that day off to laze and fish -- the day before THAT, though, and so on and so forth. 20:59 <Crion> At the moment, you're somewhere on or just off the coast of Georgia, dodging a sulky German (?) U-boat (??) which hasn't shown itself since you slipped into shallower waters than its able to effectively hide itself in. 21:02 <Crion> One supposes if you were careful enough, and it wasn't daring enough, you could prolong this state of affairs basically indefinitely. 21:02 <banana> The Boat is alarming. But it's not really our problem (it may be Fangs-as-Fishers' problem; have we posted on his wall yet?). Melanie's been pondering this question, so when she bothers to get up she'll ask Captain Tony: "Hey. We concluded that we didn't wanna take a Hedge-cut just to avoid docking in Canaveral, right? But maybe if we cut in *now* we could also get away from this whole 21:02 <banana> skeleton situation?" 21:03 <Crion> Those of you willing to brave Facebook -- "more like Faebook," Lauren will sniff, not for the first time -- are welcome to do so. It might be a bit far south of Seth's territory, but he might know a guy. 21:04 <CBN> Tony: "With our luck, that feels like a good way to meet a skeleton boat in the Hedge at the same time. But it's better than any idea I've got." 21:04 <trenchfoot> Nels tried asking Stewart about Facebook once but he was evasive. 21:04 <VoxPVoxD> Do not. 21:05 <banana> Melanie doesn't say: Tony, most of your ideas are about things you can do in a backyard. That's because of love. 21:08 <dammitwho> He hasn't learned about backyard wrassling yet, but that yet looms like a storm cloud. 21:08 <banana> "It's amazing the kind of stuff we're learning by seeing more of the world." 21:09 <Crion> Surely JT Barbaddos's backyard gave him some ideas. 21:09 <dammitwho> Maggie, for her part, is either typing more chapters of Dead Snow or writing them down with pen and notepad while sitting around the others before committing them to the alphabet piano. She's fallen behind on it, and she doesn't want it to end up an eternal unfinished project. 21:10 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "It's definitely a test of die Besatzung's mettle to race inland and see if it can follow." 21:10 <banana> Melanie: "Like, I used to want to stay cooped up all day even though it was just a continuation, the forced habit of immobility. But because your understanding is so limited when it's just all theory and- and trip reports, I didn't know why it was best to never go outside. Now we know. Now we see." 21:11 <banana> "Good morning Stewart!!" 21:12 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart was just singing that song in the shower. That thing goes. "Hey! Is today the day?" 21:13 <banana> Melanie's blanking on which day it might be. Her face conveys this, but maybe somebody else knows. 21:13 <VoxPVoxD> "Landing day, I mean. The day we get to Florida." 21:14 <trenchfoot> Nels: "Floriday." 21:14 <VoxPVoxD> "Orlanday, even." 21:15 <Crion> It very well could be. Depends on how good a time you make across the Georgia/Florida state line. 21:15 <Crion> Has anyone been paying attention to the news lately? 21:15 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart's been keeping up on it since we got Crewed. 21:16 <trenchfoot> Only as it relates to Baltimore, for Nels. 21:16 <banana> "Oh." Melanie steps out of the cabin to gaze at the coast, but the horizon is so weird out here, where you don't have buildings or mountains. "It's all green and sand.. perhaps they should paint the state lines so that Google Maps can just take photographs." 21:20 <CBN> Tony: "States are a fake thing anyway. Look at the water, it doesn't care about states." Tony's either being profoundly philosophical here or he's just been fully taken by the spirit of boating now. 21:21 <banana> "Start a commercial fishery and learn otherwise." 21:22 <Crion> Well, everything seems...normal, for certain tolerances thereof, in Florida. Stuff is shutting down, the state is grumbling into a mask mandate despite the plaintive cries of the least responsible voting populace in the western world. 21:22 <banana> Melanie: "Did you know! Maryland has switched between the Atlantic Marine Fisheries Commission and the Gulf Marine Fisheries Commission three times." 21:22 <banana> "It's like a bidding process. Whoever's willing to take the lowest cut." 21:23 <trenchfoot> They sound like they didn't live through a pandemic already. I mean, almost everyone sounds like that, but still. 21:26 <CBN> Tony: "The only way I wanna get fish is from fishing. No laws about fishing." Narrator: 21:26 <VoxPVoxD> As a great man once said, you're only in trouble if you get caught. 21:30 <Crion> For now, it seems like the U-boat has fucked off. 21:30 <dammitwho> Hurrah! 21:32 <VoxPVoxD> Is that... good? Stewart's initial reaction is that something scarier must have come up. 21:32 <VoxPVoxD> But if that were true, he'd have seen something in the news, surely... 21:37 <Crion> You passed Savannah by on beach day, spending time at one of the coastal wildlife refuges it's...probably technically illegal to use as a public beach, but no one caught you. See previous quotation by Stewart of Disney's Aladdin. 21:38 <banana> Nobody's enthusiastic about heading in"land", so Melanie's not going to mention it again; she doesn't like the idea much either, if it isn't justifed by evading pursuit. 21:38 <Crion> If you wanted to stop off somewhere before becoming subject to the dread range and pull of Jacksonville, Florida, Brunswick is probably it. 21:38 <Crion> Brunswick, and nearby scenic "Wymberly-on-the-Marsh, GA." 21:39 <trenchfoot> Okay, Jacksonville was fine, but what is that. 21:39 <Crion> Home of a Harris Teeter, CVS, Sal's Neighborhood Pizza, and something called 'Certified Burgers and Beverage.' Unclear by whom. 21:39 <VoxPVoxD> Oh jeez. That's so English. 21:39 <dammitwho> "You're kidding." 21:40 <trenchfoot> "Does anyone certify burgers or beverages? Is that a law I missed?" 21:41 <dammitwho> Maggie closes her notebook, sighs, walks out to the railing and hurls it into the ocean. 21:41 <Crion> It's just down the street from, Google doesn't appear to be lying, 'Cilantro's," a Mexican food place...that seems to have confused the ingredient for some kind of personage? 21:41 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Holy shit! What happened?" 21:41 <CBN> Tony looks at Nels and shakes his head. "Too many laws, sounds like." 21:42 <banana> Melanie: "They're beverages which have been placed under an involuntary mental hold." 21:43 <dammitwho> "It was all just crap." Maggie says crabbily. 21:45 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Ah, heck." 21:52 <VoxPVoxD> After another mournful look at the spot where the sea swallowed Maggie's work product, Stewart says, "So I've been doing a little light cartography, right? If we don't want to get off the boat at Canaveral and drive in we can take a river inland here and then get to Lake George. It's the same drive, but, harder for a haunted submarine-like monster to follow us." 21:52 <VoxPVoxD> "Right in the middle of a bunch of reserve and national parkland, too, so it should be quiet-ish." 21:53 <trenchfoot> Nels: "...Would people get upset if we just showed up there?" 21:54 <CBN> Tony: "Riverboating sounds like fun to me." 21:55 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "The tradeoff is basically that it's so quiet we'll be the nosiest thing there." 21:55 <VoxPVoxD> He does his best good-ol-boy: "City boaaahs." 21:56 <trenchfoot> Nels just makes a face. 21:56 <VoxPVoxD> "Whereas dipshits with yachts are a dime a dozen out in Canaveral." 21:57 <dammitwho> Maggie: "Why not Canaveral? We can watch the space rockets lift off." 21:58 <CBN> Tony: "They're still doing that?" 21:58 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Aaah it's no fun anymore. It's all Elon Musk jerking off on the sky." 21:58 <trenchfoot> "I don't know who that is and I think I like it that way." 21:58 <dammitwho> "Yeah, I'm with Nels. Don't explain what that means." 21:59 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "You got it." 21:59 <VoxPVoxD> "Anyway, yeah, Canaveral's more coastal exposure, Lake George is less anonymity." 21:59 <trenchfoot> "Sorry that you have to carry that knowledge for the rest of us." 21:59 <VoxPVoxD> "That's what the Autumn Court is all about, my friend." 22:01 <trenchfoot> Nels: "I think I prefer Canaveral's anonymity if we can swing it? But this is also the first boat I've ever been on, so." 22:02 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "You picked a good first boat." 22:03 <trenchfoot> Glancing around to her fellow crew: "I did." 22:07 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart taps around on his phone, brow furrowed. He borrows one of the motley's phones to check theirs, and then ducks belowdecks to check on the PC. Same thing? 22:08 <Crion> Same thing. Lauren even VPNS back to Baltimore to check from a different IP. 22:09 <VoxPVoxD> So then he says to the others: "You know what's messed up about the news we're getting... it's the police blotters they aren't writing." 22:09 <VoxPVoxD> "Nothing about hitting manatees with fanboats, no throwing molotovs at Hooters for being closed, not a whiff of bath salts anywhere." 22:09 <VoxPVoxD> "The Florida Men... are being suppressed." 22:10 <Crion> The first tip off is probably the articles about city councils passing mask laws without any notation of colorful characters with three outstanding warrants threatening their children while shirtless. 22:10 <trenchfoot> "I... are they not happening? Because that seems good?" 22:10 <Crion> But the disquieting lack of the Florida Man only spreads outward from there. 22:12 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Does it?" 22:12 <VoxPVoxD> "Cause it's not like the conditions that create the Florida Men have changed. They're only getting worse." 22:12 <VoxPVoxD> "So what's going on?" 22:14 <banana> Melanie: "You realise it's just the coronavirus lockdown, right?" 22:15 <trenchfoot> Nels: "Is it though? We should probably check." 22:15 <dammitwho> "Isn't the Florida Man just the result of public records laws meaning we get more juicy shit out of Florida than elsewhere? Maybe they changed those." 22:15 <banana> "All the guys who would usually be Found Shirtless In IKEA or Waves Gun Around Screaming "BANZAI" are stuck inside their... swamp huts or whatever." 22:15 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "But that's not how the news works. First of all, those guys are going to be the least likely to respect a lockdown. Secondly, people are so online that the appetite for lurid vicarious bullshit is through the roof." 22:16 <VoxPVoxD> To Maggie: "I don't think that happened. I can check." 22:17 <VoxPVoxD> "Sunshine laws are still on the books, as far as I can tell." 22:17 <banana> Melanie: "Mmm. It's not impossible that some disruption in the Wyrd is reducing... disruptions. But honestly it sounds just as possible that Florida was like that because of a curse, which has recently been lifted?" 22:17 <VoxPVoxD> "Lifted by what?" 22:18 <VoxPVoxD> "Doesn't have to be the Wyrd. Could be wizard stuff." 22:18 <banana> "Anything. I don't know. Just that if this is a real change, we don't know its.. polarity." 22:18 <trenchfoot> Nels: "Having an artifact moved there?" 22:18 <VoxPVoxD> When were the most recent Florida Man stories Stewart can find? 22:19 <Crion> A more thorough review of the literature reveals a marked change in coverage about three weeks ago, as the lockdowns and COVID hysteria hit fever pitches nationwide. 22:20 <VoxPVoxD> "Huh. Maybe it is just lockdown." 22:20 <VoxPVoxD> "Still, I don't like it. Bad vibes." 22:20 <VoxPVoxD> To Tony: "The enemy of any honest boatsman." 22:20 <dammitwho> Menacingly: "Maybe it's the Rat." 22:20 <VoxPVoxD> "The rat?" 22:20 <banana> What on Earth is the Rat. 22:21 <dammitwho> "Only one Rat worth talking about in Florida, and we're about to walk into his kingdom." 22:22 <CBN> Tony nods. "Downright cursed vibes." 22:22 <trenchfoot> Tentatively: "Mickey?" 22:23 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "So you mean... literally Mickey Mouse." 22:23 <Crion> Lauren: "That'd be...unprecedented." She followed Stewart up. 22:23 <dammitwho> "Horrible beast." Maggie grumbles. 22:23 <VoxPVoxD> "Using the pandemic as a pretext to, what, round up all the dirtbags in a hundred mile radius?" 22:23 <VoxPVoxD> "That does sound unusual." 22:24 <VoxPVoxD> "I guess so does everything else that's happened in the last two months." 22:25 <trenchfoot> Mice and rats different. Not the time to bring that up, though. 22:25 <VoxPVoxD> Maggie probably knows that mice and rats are different. Stewart's ambivalent on treating rats as a lower order of being just 'cause they're ugly, though. 22:26 <VoxPVoxD> Following that logic to its conclusion makes squirrels the ubermensch of the rodent world. 22:26 <VoxPVoxD> Überlegen; Übernehmen, Übergeben; Überraschen, Überfallen— 22:26 <dammitwho> 'Mickey' is a lower order of being because he is a close kin to Scabby. 22:26 <banana> Melanie hums. "I'd really prefer to believe that Mickey is a cartoon character and the only problem with Disney World is commercialism. Not every narrative has to take sapient form, just.. almost all of them unfortunately." 22:26 <Crion> Lauren: "No. The Mouse is real." 22:26 <trenchfoot> Mickey's name has his species in it. Do not be rude to Scabby, who would and will fight Mickey with every fiber of his being. 22:27 <Crion> "The Baltimore Freehold has been to Orlando before. I know that much." 22:27 <Crion> "It's just...it can't be on THIS side." 22:27 <CBN> Tony: "Still blows my mind that place is still open, seems like just yesterday the Magic Kingdom was thrown up and already looked kinda old and cheap." 22:27 <Crion> "No Keeper can be." 22:27 <banana> Melanie: :-( 22:27 <Crion> "So unless, yeah, it kidnapped all the dirtbags in central Florida at once..." 22:29 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Given that, I'm kind of feeling Canaveral?" 22:29 <VoxPVoxD> "Gives us the option to sail straight east if we have to." 22:31 <banana> Melanie. "If this was just a holiday, it would be nice to try a river trip. But it's not." 22:31 <CBN> Tony: "Sounds good to me, better vibes and all." 22:33 <trenchfoot> Nels: "We need an escape route. Just in case." 22:33 <dammitwho> "Yeah." 22:34 <Crion> Down the coast it is, then. You'll need to at least stop off in the Jacksonville outer banks infrastructure to refuel. 22:35 <Crion> Did you know Jacksonville Beach, Florida is a separate incorporation from Jacksonville, Florida? Well, now you do. 22:36 <Crion> If you'd like to stop off at the Jax Beach Brunch Haus while the Wild Goose is being refueled, that's your prerogative. Stewart can afford it. But that's the vibe generally being dropped here. 22:37 <banana> We can at least check in with civilization, see how things are going for the land-dwellers. 22:38 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart could use a couple of mimosas and something with Hollandaise. 22:40 <Crion> ...Are you actually going to the Jax Beach Brunch Haus? Well, good luck, Tony. 22:40 <Crion> Maybe he can stay with the Wild Goose. 22:41 <Crion> Lauren will take this opportunity to bust out the sundress, though. 22:41 <CBN> Tony will go to the JBBH but there's no way he's going to be drunk enough to order a 'Bodacious Benni' and not die of fatal alcohol poisoning on the way there. 22:42 <VoxPVoxD> That explains why Stewart doesn't notice anything that's going on around him. 22:46 <banana> Melanie, to a server: "I'd like the Let Your Light Shine berry compote crepes.. and a Girls On Film." 22:46 <Crion> It is, frankly, precisely the sort of place for the people they appear to be. 22:46 <Crion> Which is the harshest insult this storyteller has laid upon the motley in quite some time. 22:48 <VoxPVoxD> These menus are cute! 22:50 <Crion> Less than half of the seated customers are masked; all of the waitstaff are. Their version of adjusting for COVID is to cordon off certain tables so there's always a seating space between you and the next diners. That makes eavesdropping on the local-tourists harder than it would have been pre-plague, but Tony at least is in fine heightened-state-of-annoyance to overhear some stuff. 22:50 <CBN> Tony's riding the thin skin of residual Boating Vibes long enough to keep him from launching into the kind of tirade where the last thing you say before the taser hits is 'you can just call them eggs.' But god it's a razor's edge here. 22:50 <Crion> Difficult to parse, mostly. Lights in the sky at night, and military vehicles moving south along the coast at all hours. 22:51 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart's getting a Crab Cake Benni and a Wild Thing. 22:55 <Crion> Lauren will order the same entree, but with a PYT instead. 22:55 <CBN> Tony's getting, verbatim, 'egg sandwich, nothing weird. Thank you.' because it's important to be polite, especially in trying times. 22:55 <Crion> Possibly the least embarassing of the drink names to say. 22:56 <VoxPVoxD> Gin Blossom is okay if you don't know what the band is. So anyone but Stewart and Lauren would be okay. 22:58 <banana> Melanie feels guilty about it - the appearance of it, that is - but it's not like you can wear a mask while eating, right? She'll remember to bring one when we're going actually-inland. Presumably they're requierd at the theme park. 22:59 <Crion> Well, unlike the rest of the Floridians, presumably, they're special in that COVID-19 actually does not affect them. But it's not really an excuse you can give out loud, is it? 22:59 <VoxPVoxD> Disney's gotta be closed, right? It's gotta. There's no way... 22:59 <VoxPVoxD> I bet we can. I bet a lot of Floridians do. 23:01 <Crion> Melanie specifically overhears some customers leaving: "They've never sent up that many fireworks, have they? And every night?" 23:04 <banana> Fireworks? Maybe it's a celebration. Getting rid of the Men. 23:07 <dammitwho> Maggie: "I bet this would be fun if they let the chefs pick the names." 23:07 <Crion> Lauren: "Scary option? They did." 23:07 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "I'd believe it." 23:08 <VoxPVoxD> "New York's so expensive to live in now people might just be fleeing to Florida when they turn 30 instead of waiting until retirement." 23:08 <CBN> Tony, from around bites of an egg sandwich that's not quite good enough to justify the fanfare or the menu names: "f'okay tho." 23:08 <VoxPVoxD> "This could be the first wave of some kind of Williamsburg Diaspora." 23:08 <CBN> He swallows. "We're going back north if this is what Florida's gonna be like." 23:09 <dammitwho> Maggie: "I still can't believe the Dodgers left." 23:09 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Tony, I promise you: it will not all be like this." 23:09 <VoxPVoxD> "It won't be good. But it'll be different." 23:09 <banana> Melanie: "Have we fled? We're running-to, in theory." 23:09 <VoxPVoxD> To Melanie: "No, of course not. But we're not from Brooklyn. We're made of sterner stuff." 23:10 <CBN> Tony just nods. 23:11 <VoxPVoxD> Some would say that Stewart is indulging in the resentment every bougie millennial from a smaller or less prestigious city feels about the ones who live in New York. Stewart's response would be: yeah, and? 23:11 <Crion> The docks said until 2 PM for the refueling; that'll put you in Cape Canaveral by sundown unless you really gun it. You've got an hour or two to yourselves; brunch drinks are a perfectly legitimate way to spend them. 23:12 <banana> JBBH is a place to indulge. 23:12 <VoxPVoxD> Is there a TV or a radio going? Something with the news? 23:12 <Crion> Yep. TV news. But it's on CNN. 23:12 <Crion> Not many local news programs on middle of the day. 23:12 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart's still kind of curious, albeit not as curious as he is in the bottom of these cocktail glasses or in mentally tracing Lauren's collarbone. 23:12 <VoxPVoxD> Ugh. 23:13 <Crion> You can probably get local radio on an App. Might have to give up your e-mail/the ability to make calls from your phone/your firstborn, however. 23:17 <VoxPVoxD> Eeeeehh. 23:17 <VoxPVoxD> Maybe if the drinks were less good or his girlfriend was less hot. 23:17 <Crion> It is quite the sundress. 23:17 <dammitwho> More like, a crApp, in Maggie's opinion. 23:18 <CBN> Tony's staying to be polite but he's going to stop by a convenience store on the way back to the boat and get a sixer. Can't even get an un-fancy dang beer here. 23:19 <Crion> Beer is cheap and plentiful here in the great state of Florida. 23:20 <Crion> Assuming the motley stays until around 2 PM, they'll settle up and head outside just in time to see one of those military convoys heading down Florida State Road A1A. 23:21 <VoxPVoxD> Uuuh. 23:21 <CBN> Tony: "Hey, people were talking about those earlier. Buncha lights in the sky at night too." 23:21 <VoxPVoxD> Okay now Stewart's paying attention again. This is how Shaun of the Dead started. 23:22 <Crion> Stewart can tell they're not Park Rangers, at least -- they don't look like any other branch he's seen, either. Slate gray humvees and a big honking flatbed with something under a tarp. A guy who'd look more at home in Iraq sits in a real suicide seat: a sort of crow's nest attached to the back of the truck, holding a mean-looking marksman's rifle. 23:22 <Crion> Back of the cab, that is, not the flatbed. 23:22 <Crion> Kind of raised. 23:23 <dammitwho> "Don't like that, no sir." 23:24 <Crion> They're running sirens, under escort from the Florida Highway Patrol. 23:24 <VoxPVoxD> Nothing magic here, though. But that's gonna be some kind of mounted gun or something. "Lights in the sky, you said?" 23:24 <Crion> Whatever's under that tarp is something the size of a small tank. 23:26 <banana> Melanie: "People were saying fireworks. That means they heard something they thought to be fireworks." 23:26 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart checks his phone. Is there any news at all out of Orlando? 23:26 <banana> Is the lockdown bad enough that they have to use the National Guard to enforce it? That's not compatible with Jacksonville Beach brunchers, or with what she knows of Florida politics. 23:27 <Crion> There was a meeting of homeless and poverty advocacy organizations today with the city council and local stakeholders. It went well. The mayor was pleased. 23:27 <VoxPVoxD> "I don't like this." 23:28 <VoxPVoxD> "I think we gotta stop dicking around." 23:28 <VoxPVoxD> Then he sighs. He really preferred dicking around. 23:29 <banana> Melanie: "I think, whatever's going on.. we should make totally sure that it's something we ought to be involved in. Then, if it is... fine." 23:29 <CBN> Tony: "Man..." Not even a boat can keep you away from weirdness forever. 23:30 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Whether or not we get involved, we're getting close enough that we gotta make sure we don't catch any splash damage." 23:30 <Crion> In fact, it might be taking you straight towards it. 23:30 <Crion> When you return, it'll be fueled and ready to go. Does Tony want to audible from a sixer to a case? 23:30 <VoxPVoxD> If he won't, Stewart will. 23:31 <CBN> Oh he will. 23:32 <CBN> End of the relaxing part, that means a case just in case. 23:33 <VoxPVoxD> That's right. 23:33 <VoxPVoxD> See this is why Tony is command material. 23:33 <Crion> Then it's time to start heading south. 23:33 <Crion> What becomes apparently immediately is the increased Coast Guard traffic. 23:34 <VoxPVoxD> That'll keep us safe from u-boats, at least. 23:39 <Crion> The Goose is hailed and come up alongside twice by cutters, who are politely interested to know where you're going, where you're coming from, did you file a pilot plan, no it's fine if you didn't just radio ahead when you get there, the coast is clear this time of year. They're doing an excellent job of pretending everything is okay. They're not even carrying their longarms! Instead they have 23:39 <Crion> them in slings just to the side of their posts on the boat or, presumably, just below the deckline where you can't see them. No officer's hands are both visible at the same time. 23:39 <Crion> And Maggie can tell they're looping around and back. They put a spotter on the Goose. They switched up crew roles so that it was different guys on deck each time the cutter came into view, but she clocked the tail number. 23:41 <dammitwho> Maggie, in between Coast Guard checkups: "They've got a tail on us. Those have been the same guys the last three times, which is weird, and they've switched the deck hands up to keep us from noticing, which is weirder. Sail casual." 23:42 <CBN> Tony only knows one way to boat, even in the face of complications. 23:42 <banana> Melanie's going to lie relatively low, staying belowdecks unless needed. The fewer of us there are around doing weird stuff, the less likely these guys are to think we're whatever problem they're expecting. And she sometimes does weird stuff without even realising it. 23:43 <Crion> Stewart can tell these guys are afraid for, in this order: themselves, you (the first time they pull you over), their professional reputation, and THEN you each time afterwards. There's a small imperceptible shift -- not hostility, and not towards violence. But a definite change in demeanor from "these people have no idea what could happen to them" to "these people can take care of themselves." 23:44 <VoxPVoxD> To Maggie: "Yeah, and whatever they're getting, it's changing how they see us. Like they're not worried *for* us anymore, are they? They're worried *about* us." 23:51 <Crion> The sun has started to go down and you're approaching Cape Canaveral when the fireworks begin! They're beautiful and constant, probably more constant than they should be after the first twenty minutes or so, up above the inland, central Florida sky. Lighting up the towers of Cinderella Castle at Walt Disney World, those iconic spires that -- 23:51 <Crion> Wait a minute. 23:51 <Crion> You're almost fifty miles away from Walt Disney World. 23:51 <Crion> You shouldn't be able to see those spires on the horizon. 23:52 <Crion> The castle isn't that big. 23:52 <Crion> It's around now that the Coast Guard boat pulls up alongside you a fourth time. 23:53 <CBN> Fireworks for more than 20 minutes? On a non-holiday? Even with a strong buzz this is a bit much. 23:53 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "What the fuck, man?" 23:54 <dammitwho> "Howdy, fellas." She'll say, the fourth time the Guardies pull up. Gesturing with her chin towards the enormous, skyline-dominating Magic Kingdom, she'll only say: "Scary stuff, huh." 23:54 <Crion> The guy who was piloting the cutter the first time, standing watch aft the second, and chatted you up the third is now wearing his officer's bars: "You have entered restricted waters! You are currently in the custody of the United States Coast Guard! You are not under arrest! You are not being detained! Please proceed to dock at Port Canaveral!" 23:54 <Crion> "We will guide you in!" 23:54 <dammitwho> Oh. Well in that case, never mind. 23:56 <Crion> He lowers his bullhorn, then raises it again. "Please stow your mobile devices, tablets and laptop PCs. Everything you say and do in Orlando, Florida and its surrounding environs is until further notice constrained by the Official Secrets Act of 1789." 23:56 <banana> Melanie comes up on deck in response to the yelling/potential arcadian incursion, and.. stows her mobile device. Just in a pocket, mind you. They can't possibly mean this to be reassuring. 23:56 <Crion> As you get closer, there's a glow to the horizon. The nearer horizon. 23:56 <Crion> Not fireworks. 23:56 <Crion> Fire. 23:57 <CBN> If we're not being detained then why are ---oh well, okay then. 23:57 <VoxPVoxD> "What's, uh, what's going on out there?" Stewart asks. 23:58 <Crion> The Coast Guard officer retreats to his radio; he's obviously in communication with someone on the shore. 23:58 <VoxPVoxD> He doesn't expect an answer, but you gotta ask. 23:59 <banana> "If anyone's got a cone or something, I there are a contracts which could approximate a bullhorn." 00:00 <VoxPVoxD> "Iiiii don't think that would be ideal." 00:00 <Crion> You are being directed to the port complex just south of Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, where all the famous launches were. As you pull in, this is clearly the terminus of all those military convoys rolling down State Road A1A -- it cuts off the mainland, over a bridge, over a small island, another bridge, and through here. Most of the reinforcement is up on the mainland. 00:01 <Crion> This is all extremely built-out high-end luxury dining and shopping, with some homes for the richest officers and SpaceX snobs. 00:01 <VoxPVoxD> Fuck you, Elon. 00:01 <Crion> It is currently under military occupation. 00:02 <VoxPVoxD> I guess we gotta just... keep... going...? 00:02 <Crion> You're guided into dock at Cape Marina, next to the Ocean Club. You're the only pleasure yacht still extant. The men waiting for you on the pier are not wearing boat shoes. 00:03 <dammitwho> All shoes are boat shoes if you wear them on a boat. 00:04 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart's wearing socks and sandals, but he only does that on the boat. 00:04 <CBN> Tony's very carefully, very deliberately white-knuckling the Wild Goose along here. He better not lose his baby like this. 00:05 <Crion> They look like operators, except more of them are women and fewer of the men have extremely obnoxious beards. To the extent they're wearing anything identifying, it's a patch that's a constellation of stars, and the words NIGHT SKY. They're all carrying military rifles, but they're not pointing them at you. The man standing at their head is missing an eye, an arm, and a leg, and has replaced 00:05 <Crion> them with high-functioning prosthetics. The man next to him looks like he's probably from the CIA. 00:05 <banana> Melanie: "Why didn't they turn us back? What did they see in the Goose?" 00:05 <VoxPVoxD> "Let's find out." 00:06 <Crion> "LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!" the man with the missing pieces booms. "WELCOME TO THE LAST FEDERAL BEACHHEAD IN CENTRAL FLORIDA! BEYOND THIS PICKETT LINE IS THE MOST MAGICAL PLACE ON EARTH!" 00:06 <Crion> "And if you get caught out there, god help your soul." 00:07 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart calls: "But you're not gonna stop us?" 00:07 <Crion> The guy in the flak jacket and burberry shirt next to him: "Nope." 00:07 <VoxPVoxD> "Why not?" 00:08 <Crion> "In fact, we're kinda glad Fate led you to us." 00:08 <Crion> The guy snorts. "Well, part of this is your fault, right?" 00:08 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart's face falls. 00:08 <CBN> Tony's knuckles crack on the steering wheel he's gripping it so tightly. Wizard bullshit strikes again. 00:09 <VoxPVoxD> "You got names?" he asks, before finding out for himself. 00:09 <VoxPVoxD> "You've taken ours down 4 or 5 times just today." 00:09 <Crion> "Team Leader Taggart, Project NIGHT SKY," says... 00:09 <Crion> Manowar -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLV5GVWnVqs He said, “My, Johnny, you’re a fine young man, would you like to march along behind a military band?” 00:11 <Crion> "I think I've already given you mine," pleasantly remarks... 00:11 <Crion> Orr -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ve4qfo7kXho Praise the anger; bring it on home. 00:12 <banana> Melanie doesn't want to be drafted! She's not even sure the troops are the good guys anymore! 00:12 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "...right." 00:12 <VoxPVoxD> "So what can you tell us?" 00:13 <Crion> Taggart: "That body armor is PPE in a warzone, and we'll sort you out if you haven't brought any. Tie off the ship, regroup in 10 in the yacht club. We've set up our command center there." 00:14 <dammitwho> Maggie grunts. She'll fetch her Kevlar, then, and pull out Zveroboi from its box. 00:15 <VoxPVoxD> mind is willing — soul remains — this woman cannot be saved 00:15 <CBN> As they sort the ship, Tony grabs the rest of the case of beer and hoists it over a shoulder. "This's coming with." 00:16 <CBN> He pauses, disappears for a minute. Returns with Slayer of Empties. Doesn't remark on it, but that's in his formerly-free hand. 00:17 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart will, with extreme reluctance, go back for his Glock and some real shoes. How's Lauren holding up? 00:18 <Crion> Stewart can tell, staring at their patches for a moment, that NIGHT SKY's stars don't represent any existing constellation. Instead, the "starfield" is a map of America but with the terrain, borders, and boundaries removed, and instead each major metropolitan area is represented by an appropriately-sized star, with New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago being the largest. 00:18 <banana> Melanie grips the rail for while, but she'll follow the others of course. What were we supposed to do? Leave the children running through the streets, chased by pigs and parsons? 00:18 <VoxPVoxD> A thousand points of light... and the void between them. 00:18 <Crion> Lauren is taking it in stride. She's headed inside to change into something more practical and less vacationing co-ed. 00:19 <VoxPVoxD> Mickey Mouse will pay for this.