09:03 <Crion> Dinner and drinks at The Neverending Queen are great, and they bunk you up as well upstairs -- it's not quite barracks living, but they've converted a lot of office space into heavy couch/futon/twin bed dorming for the duration of what ever it is this is. No one particularly wants to be caught at home if and when the truce breaks. After that, the motley is free to do as they please, within 09:03 <Crion> certain bounds, being hunted by certain foes, and on a certain, but invisible, clock. 09:04 <banana> What exactly is the DHS/government-wizard threshhold for deciding to nuke Florida? 09:04 <Crion> Orr wasn't really specific on that front. 09:04 <VoxPVoxD> We'll know as much as 30 to 80 seconds after they do. 09:05 <VoxPVoxD> Ahhh Christ. Not only is he sleeping on a shitty futon in Hell, alone, but he's missing a full day of streaming. Do you know what that does to retention? Do you?? Fuck, man. 09:07 <CBN> Tony never went to college, so going from sleeping on his home-futon to sleeping on an away-futon is whole semesters' worth of lived experience in a single night. And with a nice buzz on from the NQ crew, at that! Feelin' fine. 09:07 <banana> This isn't a good place to be. Melanie's not happy either - she was coasting on boat vibes for a while, and then felt kind of good to be doing something, taking physical action to make the world better... but the Queen's people are just too depressing. 09:08 <banana> They let in the enemy to stop also the enemy, who was originally our enemy and decided to go after them instead. 'What else could we have done', they'd surely say, but she's not going to make them say it (or state the alternatives). 09:09 <Crion> It's easy to leave them in the rear view, of course...it just means either piling into the van and living there instead, or finding some other kind of forward operating base this far into the shit. 09:12 <dammitwho> Maggie testing the heavy couch involves a lot of creaking and groaning. She should have brought a book in with her, but who imagined they'd have the time? No point cooking, it's too hot for soup. 09:12 <Crion> The eventual destination is clear: Margaritaville in Universal Studios, and then after that, the Magic Kingdom itself. But the road there is up to the motley. 09:13 <CBN> The biggest issue Tony's got here isn't with the NQ folks, who seem nice enough (in that way that's nicer when you're deliberately a little thick to make it easier to deal with people, as Tony is), other than the slasher-slash-trapper (and that's more based on aesthetics than attitude). 09:14 <CBN> It's...man, what if this actually is just better than the alternatives? Where's that leave us, if we actually are on the greener side of the grass right now? All things Tony's going to be chewing over and emphatically not talking to anyone about unless he has to, ever, and just letting it eat away at him. Winter Court power. 09:20 <banana> If we aren't all killed in our sleep, Melanie will be up early. Lying down with her eyes closed doesn't really do much for her these days, but she also doesn't seem to need it, given sufficient outside-time. She'll be hanging out on the nearest thing to a patch of soil outside the NQ, watching the comings and goings as Orlando wakes. The city's deal to keep its people alive is a bright 09:20 <banana> spot in this. 09:23 <Crion> The city is still busy at night, but less so considering Orlando is the party capital of the world. It seems to be mimicking the routines of daily life -- There is in fact trash collection! The City of Orlando seems to have secured some basic utilities, for its own aesthetic and perhaps even self-esteem! -- but there's a lot of milling and loitering. Are there going to be, like, supply chain 09:23 <Crion> issues eventually? Is food just appearing on the shelves? Is it real food or Hedge fruit? Interesting and possible to find out, but maybe not really relevant. 09:27 <dammitwho> Trundling about downstairs, Maggie will eventually call up "Hey guys! This place has Johnnie Walker Yellow in the back! They stopped making that years ago!" 09:27 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart has a question about the current holder of Orlando's crown that, hopefully, someone will answer: "So, uh... how into the Bowie thing is this guy? He knows, right? He's gotta know." 09:28 <Crion> Lysander of Columbia, the current regent, is the one generally holding court, which makes a certain amount of sense. Karon "the City" and Clevinger left sometime overnight, not together. 09:29 <Crion> The Spring King: "Knows what? That he's not Bowie? That Bowie's dead? That Bowie fucked kids?" 09:29 <Crion> He shrugs. "Very unclear." 09:30 <Crion> "I've had to deal with him three or four times, now. Each time he seemed to hold a different degree of awareness about what he was." 09:30 <Crion> "It's less persona-switching and more a matter of lucidity." 09:32 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "I just mean, like, how self-consciously is he Doing Bowie? Like does he have the look?" 09:32 <Crion> Lysander: "Oh, absolutely." 09:33 <Crion> "Bit taller, bit more angular, much paler even still. But he pretty much looks like vampire David Bowie in his Thin White Duke period." 09:34 <banana> The bar door opens and shuts, letting in morning light and Melanie Lucas. She looks no more dishevelled than usual. 09:34 <banana> "Is it out of the question that this thing really was Bowie?" 09:35 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "He was in Miami for like, decades, right?" 09:36 <Crion> Lysander: "Nothing's out of the question but, yes, he was in Miami for all of the Eighties at the very least, while the actual Bowie was touring, recording, starring in Labyrinth. Presumably they were in the same city more than once whenever Bowie came down here." 09:37 <Crion> "Maybe he even caught a show." 09:37 <VoxPVoxD> "Has anyone tested what happens if you mention the real guy to him?" 09:37 <Crion> "You know it's a good question though. I just assumed he thinks he's Bowie. But no, he seems to brush that off just fine. He only really gets mad if you tell him he's not a vampire." 09:38 <Crion> Sarkosa wanders down from upstairs. "Yes, his identity seems really fixated on that." 09:38 <VoxPVoxD> "Aheh, well. There's only so much daylight between a Keeper and a runs-a-major-city elder vampire." 09:38 <VoxPVoxD> "So to speak." 09:38 <Crion> Sarkosa: "S'funny. The real question is, why? I'm gonna make some eggs." 09:38 <Crion> Jessie's not up yet. 09:40 <banana> Melanie: "Well, we've got to negotiate with the thing. Background... may or may not help." 09:42 <banana> The idea of negotiating with a Keeper (or at least a fairy prince? what are they if they don't actually Keep?) seems a) wrong, morally but b) less suicidal than would once have been the case. Their powers and promises aren't the only authority, and this one is not in full command of its faculties. 09:43 <Crion> Lysander: "Our knowledge of his -- it's, really, but I guess this expression of it is very firmly gendered -- background more or less stops at the city limits. We barely know anything about the vampires of this city, let alone Miami. Apparently he really fucked them up, though." 09:46 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "If there was a freehold in Miami, and he really did buy into the vampire prince thing, then he probably is aware of the office of Lord Sage, right?" 09:47 <Crion> Sarkosa: "That'd make sense." 09:48 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Alright, well that's something, at least." Stewart's not hungry, but he will have a lot of coffee. He slept like shiiiiiiiiit. Just, close your eyes and transport your consciousness to a different, even worse place bad. 09:49 <Crion> Coffee is on. 09:50 <Crion> No one is awake enough to interfere with Maggie's frankly somewhat forward rifling through the bar's private backroom stores, though if they were they might frown and ask, 'Do you mean Johnnie Walker Gold?' when she absolutely does not. 09:51 <VoxPVoxD> There's a fork in the road where Stewart could've become a weird coffee person instead of a cocktail person; the problem is that for the same investment, the weird coffee person is spending like 95% on equipment and 5% on nice coffee, whereas if you're mixing drinks almost all the money is going to booze. 09:51 <VoxPVoxD> Radio still work? 09:52 <Crion> Yep, though it's too large to move and gets power from the van's engine so you're stuck using it from the back of the vehicle. Not like there's anyone enforcing open container laws anymore, though. 09:53 <VoxPVoxD> Time alone in the van sounds great to Stewart. Who answers the radio? "Hey. Reader here." 09:54 <dammitwho> Nope! They cancelled the line and rereleased it as Gold (now Gold Reserve) in the late 90s. Hard to get now, very nostalgic, though Maggie didn't actually live through the time period it was on shelves. 09:55 <Crion> There's some clicking, then a woman's voice. "Lopez here. They got me on fuckin' babysitting duty now thanks to you." The sniper from the Walmart neighborhood. 09:55 <Crion> "Your girl's still asleep." 09:55 <Crion> "What's up? Kill Mickey Mouse yet?" 09:57 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Ah, shit. Okay. Sorry. Nope, working on it. Just wanted to give a progress report. We've made contact with the Orlando Freehold, who is no longer free and is in a holding pattern. The Crown of Orlando is in the hands of a Keeper who thinks he's both David Bowie and an elder vampire. We're going to head to his haven in Margaritaville." 09:58 <Crion> Lopez: "...You're fucking with me." 09:58 <Crion> "Did he steal it from Count Buffet?" 09:58 <Crion> Something indistinct from off-mic. 09:59 <Crion> "Buffet, Buffett. Whatever." 09:59 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Is that Orr correcting you?" 09:59 <Crion> "Yeah, he just walked in. Turning you over. Good luck out there." 09:59 <VoxPVoxD> "You too." 10:00 <Crion> Some clicking, then: "Yeah, hi, okay. Run that by me again, for the first time." Orr. 10:01 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "The Crown of Orlando has fallen from the Wyrd's rightwise King, Lysander of Columbia, to the thin white hands of the Thin White Duke, late of Miami, later still of the realm of nightmares. He rules a broken land bereft of kin, on a mountain of lost shakers of salt." 10:02 <Crion> Orr: "Oh I like that. That's got a lot more flair. When did he show up?" 10:05 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "He moved from Miami to Orlando around 20 years ago, after he depopulated 'his' Court downstate. But reports indicate he just emulated nesting and torpor when he got here. The Winter regent deliberately woke him up as a counterweight to the Mouse. Her condition, and the Hold's, are a direct product of that bargain." 10:05 <VoxPVoxD> "She's in full Snow White mode, glass coffin, dead asleep dreaming." 10:08 <Crion> Orr: "He's...LARPing?" 10:09 <banana> Melanie: "Let's go and wake Tony up." 10:09 <Crion> Orr: "Look. Okay. This sounds like a problem, but it doesn't sound like your problem. Our problem." 10:09 <banana> (This is to Maggie, although if the NQs want to join in... well, that would actually be kind of weird.) 10:10 <dammitwho> Maggie nods agreeably. "Sure." 10:10 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Maybe, maybe not. We're going to head there first before we try to figure out how to crack the Magic Kingdom." 10:10 <Crion> Orr: "Sad as this might be for Sleeping Beauty, it's not your turn to give a fuck. I don't like the princess imagery either, if you're wondering." 10:10 <Crion> "Is that a meeting you're certain you can walk away from?" 10:11 <banana> Melanie: "Pity we can't drop Chup on him. Maybe just chant weird things until they break into his dreams." 10:12 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Certainty's not really my field. But treating with Keepers, elder vampires, people who think they're not people who think they're people... that's my value add, really." 10:12 <Crion> Orr: "Alright. What about David Montgomery, what's going on with him?" 10:12 <Crion> "Peter. Whatever." 10:13 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "He's in love with his Keeper, and has a fairytale fantasy of making her human. There are several obstacles. This is where Nels would apologize if she was in the van." 10:15 <Crion> Orr: "I note that he is in the right place to pull off a fairytale ending. So to speak. Run into him yet? Any chance maybe you work with him? Just thinking about, you know, increasing your survivability out there." 10:15 <banana> There is no chance of that, no. 10:16 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "We haven't met him yet. I'm not knocking the option off the table, like some kind of strategy cat... but I'm not optimistic. We sorta came down here to kill him...?" 10:20 <Crion> Orr: "Yeah, that's come up before. Seems extreme, but I'm not judging. Okay, maybe slightly judging. I have some sympathy for the kid." 10:21 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart, singsong: "Mind is willing ~ soul remains ~ this woman cannot be saved~" 10:21 <VoxPVoxD> "I'm not against it. Not really in the killing-people business." 10:21 <VoxPVoxD> "It's just..." 10:21 <VoxPVoxD> "You know." 10:21 <Crion> There's a pause, then a forced laugh. "Yeah, he did that too. That's a neat trick." 10:22 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Not a patch on The Scrying Pervert, obviously." 10:23 <Crion> "Like I said. I have some sympathy for the kid. Which is why I can tell you he's also futzing around Universal Studios at the moment." 10:23 <VoxPVoxD> "...awesome. That's... cool. Cool cool cool." 10:23 <VoxPVoxD> "He got a Title with him?" 10:25 <Crion> "Guessing that's the big weird presence that feels almost like a Fate Ochema except more grassroots." 10:26 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "That sounds right. Yep. Alright. I've gotta go upset almost everyone I love simultaneously. We're gonna be getting back in the van soon, I expect, if you need to be in contact. In the meantime, take it sleazy." 10:26 <Crion> "That thing's a tougher nut to crack from a distance. Probably up close too." 10:26 <Crion> Orr: "Yeah. Don't do anything permanent unless you mean to." 10:27 <VoxPVoxD> "Reader out." 10:27 <VoxPVoxD> Ahhh, fuck. 10:27 <VoxPVoxD> On returning to the bar: "Montgomery's at Universal right now, and he's got his Keeper or some other Title with him, from what Orr's saying." 10:28 <Crion> The Regents did say they pointed him in the Duke's direction. 10:28 <Crion> Lysander: "Still?" 10:28 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Sounds like it." 10:28 <VoxPVoxD> "He didn't say he was dead, so." 10:29 <Crion> Sarkosa: "Who's Orr?" 10:29 <Crion> Rory, who is at the end of the bar in slightly different impeccable clothes, without looking up from his book: "No one good." 10:30 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Rory's right. Spook wizard, contracting I think, with Operation Night Sky, who are the military presence at the border of the bordermarch. The actual wizard-in-charge is called Manowar, or 'Team Leader Taggart'." 10:31 <VoxPVoxD> Are the others down here? 10:31 <VoxPVoxD> Like, Stewart's others? 10:31 <Crion> If they are, breakfast will have been made available to them., 10:32 <CBN> By the time Stewart's back in the bar, Tony's up. He's looking pretty well-rested and chipper! It evaporates at the mention of a Keeper out and about! 10:32 <VoxPVoxD> If it helps, Stewart looks very apologetic. 10:32 <CBN> Nothing that housing another plate of eggs shouldn't cure. Only one way for him to find out. 10:33 <VoxPVoxD> "Do you know if he's still serving margaritas?" 10:34 <Crion> Lysander: "It was difficult to focus too clearly on the bar arrangements last I was in there, but I think he's renovated the selection." 10:35 <Crion> "The wall of wine racks is almost certainly new." 10:35 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "That'll do." 10:35 <VoxPVoxD> "I'm ready when you guys're." 10:35 <Crion> Sarkosa: "Tell him about the rules." 10:35 <VoxPVoxD> In the meantime, more coffee. 10:36 <VoxPVoxD> And listening to the rules. 10:36 <Crion> Lysander: "Oh. Right. No fighting on Margaritaville's grounds. Duke's orders." 10:36 <Crion> Sarkosa: "And he means it." 10:36 <VoxPVoxD> "Ah yes. The Tradition of Elysium." 10:36 <banana> Melanie: "Who's there to fight?" 10:36 <banana> "...Peter. He'll be petitioning." 10:36 <VoxPVoxD> "Montgomery, most saliently." 10:36 <VoxPVoxD> "Yep." 10:37 <CBN> Tony: "Daf juf meang----" he pauses, chews, swallows. "That just means they'll do weirder shit to us instead if they feel like it, right? Wizard bullshit kinda rules." 10:37 <VoxPVoxD> "Real vampires take Elysium seriously. That means no directly offensive mind bullshit as well as no physical violence. And it sounds like the Duke is very, very deep in-character." 10:39 <Crion> Lysander: "I remind you again, not only is this the Hedge as far as the Gentry are concerned...that lair of his? That's his duchy. He is that place." 10:40 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "In this way, the protocol for dealing with a Keeper and dealing with an elder vampire are pretty much exactly the same." 10:42 <banana> We already failed step 1: Don't. 10:43 <Crion> Lysander: "I'll have someone escort you there." 10:44 <banana> "Is that necessary? Would the 'duke' prefer it?" 10:45 <Crion> Lysander: "He would, and given that he holds our crown, well." 10:45 <Crion> To Rory: "Who's available?" 10:46 <VoxPVoxD> Please not Kirbs please not Kirbs please not Kirbs 10:46 <Crion> The administrative assistant flips a page over to check a schedule. "Kirbs and Weal are currently in the jackpot." 10:46 <Crion> Lysander: "What are they doing?" 10:47 <Crion> Rory: "If Summer and Winter wanted me to know, they would have told me, King." 10:48 <Crion> With irritation: "Then have Cinquer and Solder do it." 10:49 <Crion> Rory dutifully walks over to the landline on the bar and calls upstairs. Lysander, to the motley: "They'll be right out." 10:53 <Crion> The escort will be driving themselves; Cinquer Sailor and Solder Psy didn't put all that money into a sweet droptop pristine purple Caddy convertible to ride three to a bench in a military van. 10:55 <banana> Once the motley's excursed and is pulling out, Melanie will voice one of her more relevant misgivings. 10:56 <banana> "It would be nice if we could somehow avoid those guys following us all the way to margarita-ville. They're too... I don't trust them. They're too accepting of what they've had to do to survive." 10:56 <banana> "'Duke's orders', come the heck on." 10:58 <CBN> Tony: "Why, do you think they'll sell us out as soon as we get there or something?" 10:58 <CBN> Tony: "Or is it more the principle of the thing?" 10:58 <banana> Melanie: "I think what we need to do might conflict with... what they've sworn. Not so much with what they'd want, ideally." 10:59 <Crion> This time around, Cinquer Sailor is dressed like non-binary Trinity from the Matrix (yes, even in this weather) while Solder Psy has a sleeveless vest showing off extensive tattoos and his sick guns. When they walk out together, they're both carrying Kalashnikovs they put in the back, and after some basic small talk about the route, they'll take point. 10:59 <banana> "Who exactly is going to use their crown, for what and for how long? Will David Title be ok with this?" 11:00 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "It'd be a good essay if we make it home." 11:00 <VoxPVoxD> "'Who Goes Keeper?'" 11:00 <VoxPVoxD> He hopes Lauren slept better than he did. 11:03 <banana> Melanie lights up at that. "'So we may be sure that Mr. G would be a loyalist with crossed-fingers oaths. He would certainly be purged.'" 11:04 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart grins. 11:05 <VoxPVoxD> "Orr wants us to make peace with Peter." 11:05 <VoxPVoxD> "It's the closest thing to sincere I've heard him be." 11:06 <banana> Melanie: "We don't have a lot in common. He's here to steal crowns and marry faeries.. no speculation on whether he's out of bubblegum by now." 11:06 <banana> "If he gives us the skull peacefully, we don't have to murder him. As long as he went away somewhere forever." 11:06 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "I wonder how deep into the damsel shtick the Mistress is. It'd be funny if Peter was the one pushing all this around." 11:07 <banana> Melanie: "That would make him too insane to be reasoned with." 11:07 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Hell," 11:09 <banana> Melanie: "You don't think someone could argue you out of a quixotic and desperate quest?" 11:09 <CBN> Tony: "Hey speaking of insane ideas, how insane would it be if we just, told them, like the them-them, why we're here and what's planned to happen to Orlando and everywhere else, with, you know." He gestures an approximation of a bomb dropping, complete with little 'neeeeo...FWOOSH' sounds. 11:09 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "I'm here, aren't I?" 11:09 <CBN> Tony: "And maybe they...see...reason? Or something?" 11:09 <VoxPVoxD> To Tony: "Well, what's 'reason' here? Is it surrender, or unrestrained total faerie war?" 11:10 <VoxPVoxD> "The answer may surprise us." 11:10 <banana> Melanie: "You're right, Baron. We can no longer afford to waste time on this truce." 11:10 <CBN> Tony: "Like listen, I know that the neighbor things are bad and all that, but also...is this really worse than the rest of the world usually is? Honestly?" 11:11 <CBN> Tony: "And I don't see anybody sick and dying on the street, and if the news you'd pick up on the radio on the way down was any indication, that already makes this the safest place in the country, if not the planet." 11:11 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Not right now, maybe. But dreams end. Dreams always end." 11:12 <banana> Melanie: "I wonder what the city paid for its island of habitability." 11:12 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Yeah, that's what's fucking with me." 11:12 <VoxPVoxD> "Like... does he drink blood?" 11:12 <banana> "The highways and swamps belong to the Mouse. Park mascots roam and.. get stuck on puzzles, I guess. So if things are okay in Orlando... I hope they found a really good loophole." 11:13 <VoxPVoxD> "Something-for-nothing is not in the nature of the Wyrd." 11:13 <CBN> Tony: "Is anywhere else really better, or different, though? Think about Baltimore, and Gary's Seers and all them! Those guys are out there running cities everywhere probably. Bad shit happening to people every day, we've only bounced off of a little bit of it." 11:13 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Do you wanna stay, then?" 11:14 <banana> Melanie: "T, we had to shoot our way through checkpoints and slasher villains just to get here. That's worse than a typical speed trap." 11:14 <CBN> Tony: "Is it perfect here? No. But is it the kind of weird and bad that we know the rough dimensions of, and how bad it can get, and that you can still, you can, you can still survive it. Which enough people right now can't, without any of this Hedge bleed around it." 11:15 <VoxPVoxD> "If this happened in Baltimore, is this what you'd think? What you'd say?" 11:15 <CBN> Tony: "I don't wanna stay, I need real seasons. But do I think there's value in this not getting rugpulled tomorrow? Yes." 11:15 <CBN> Tony laughs in spite of himself: "If this happened in Baltimore I'd make sure we don't have to pay rent on the Wherehouse all of a sudden, and then probably be happy we can go to regular brunch with Steve." 11:17 <CBN> Tony: "Besides---this did happen in Baltimore! And does happen! It's how we're here and like this! But do you think it would happen as much and in the same way, if people knew it was out there? No." 11:17 <banana> Melanie: "I know the real world is difficult to deal with. Too difficult, basically, like I have more or less failed to do that. But it's- it's still real. It's the one human people can engage with on fair terms." 11:18 <VoxPVoxD> Mr. B gets a paragraph in Melanie's essay for sure. 11:18 <CBN> Tony: "Is living on a busy street good for your kids? I don't know. But I'm sure not gonna pretend that never telling them what cars are, and to look both ways, is safer." 11:18 <CBN> Tony points out the window. "And that isn't real?" 11:18 <banana> What's he pointing at, in particular?" 11:18 <dammitwho> Maggie: "I can't speak for you, Ton'. But I know what everything out there eats, and I'm gonna smear the Rat down the sidewalk if I have to do it alone." 11:19 <CBN> Tony wasn't looking, but best-case-scenario, frolicsome otter pirates. Probably just happiest zombies on earth. 11:19 <CBN> Tony: "Do you guys know what I was doing before I hooked up with the folks from Winter and then met all of you?" 11:19 <banana> Melanie: "I'd like to." 11:19 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Home Depot landscaping, right?" 11:19 <CBN> Tony: "I was living in a shitty quad-locked, window-barred studio apartment, mowing lawns! It fucking sucked so bad!" 11:19 <VoxPVoxD> "Or do you mean like... Before." 11:20 <VoxPVoxD> "People are still doing that stuff here. It's just illegal to be unhappy about it." 11:20 <CBN> Tony: "Was before that even worse? Yes. But has everything after that been a huge step up from eating cold Chinese food and waiting to die? Absolutely." 11:20 <banana> Melanie: "I saw sanitation engineers this morning, picking up the bins. They were singing, hi-ho hi-ho stuff." 11:21 <VoxPVoxD> "I think we can do better for each other than total capitulation to the Fae. That's the premise of our entire social existence." 11:21 <CBN> Tony: "Yeah so we capitulate to people who aren't even as strong as them!" 11:22 <CBN> Tony: "I met my landlord twice in the months I rented that place, and I don't think I went a week without my only contacts at work being people talking down to or ignoring me outright. That's living the regular social existence." 11:23 <banana> Melanie: "I kind of get what you're saying. The people fucking things up in the real world don't even think they're David Bowie." 11:23 <banana> "But are things better now because there's, um, magic in your life... or because of friends and a nice place to stay? Human solutions to human problems." 11:23 <CBN> Tony: "Am I better equipped for this existence, out here, than a lot of these people? For sure, we all are. But is anyone, really, really equipped for what life was like before? Only if you're rich." 11:23 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Yeah. Shit sucks out there. But this is worse. Being cutesy and self-congratulating about its blood-backed peace makes it worse." 11:24 <CBN> Tony: "So what happens when it goes back then? You just have regular human cops you can pretend to reason with instead of Pigs you know operate under their stupid little rules you can at least try to avoid?" 11:25 <CBN> Tony: "People get sick, people die in the same numbers or more from deprivation, loss, sickness, whatever, instead of some dumb troops getting munched by the backyard boogeyman?" 11:25 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Yeah. That's better. And we have room to grow from there." 11:25 <VoxPVoxD> "Nothing grows here. It just dies." 11:25 <banana> Melanie: "They're even less free here than in America." 11:26 <CBN> Tony: "They've also had like five seconds to adjust, and the current state of things is still being run by evil monsters in power anyway. They're just more obvious about being monsters this time around." 11:27 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "There is no reason to think that adjustment is going to make things better." 11:28 <banana> "This is like.. an argument for being in prison. Or Cuba. Superficially healthy, except when the pigs or mousekeeters do get you, but you can't change.. you can't create or express anything.. what's the point? Why just be alive?" 11:29 <CBN> Tony: "Tell you what, I'll make you a deal. If we wash this all away, if we're even in a position to wash this all away, and we do, and things aren't better 'back to normal' "finger-quotes look weird when your hands are bit soil mitts "then I wanna at least tear down the government of the state of Florida and feed a bunch of landlords to the Glades." 11:30 <CBN> Tony: "Or in Baltimore if we're there at the time. Either way." 11:30 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "I want to commit to asymmetrical swamp warfare even less than I want to swear passive loyalty to the Fae." 11:30 <banana> "Hmmm." Melanie appears to be seriously considering it. 11:31 <banana> "I mean the problem with landlords is the same as the problem with gentry, right? They control you, and you don't." 11:31 <banana> "The most obvious issue here is that the gentry are solitary. Landlords have a society backing them." 11:31 <CBN> Tony: "Yeah but you don't need cold iron for a landlord. It's easier already." 11:31 <banana> "I think the government would come down harder on that than they are on the Magic Kingdom." 11:32 <CBN> Tony: "You remember they just straight up vooped a police station awhile back right?" 11:32 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Melanie's right. Landlords are just Titles of the underlying entity. Shoot one, another takes its place." 11:32 <CBN> Tony: "Just, voop, gone." 11:32 <VoxPVoxD> "And yet, there are still police in Baltimore." 11:32 <VoxPVoxD> "Probably not even that many less." 11:33 <CBN> Tony: "So what I'm hearing is, the problem was scope..." Wheels are turning. 11:34 <CBN> Tony waves the thought away. "Anyway, all I'm saying is, I don't wanna just be reactive about this and say, well this is new, so it's bad, so it should go back to before, because that was better somehow. And then we plug our ears about it and go on someone else's next errand." 11:34 <CBN> Tony: "I did like, forty years of that last one, and I'm not doing it again." 11:34 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "It's definitely not bad because it's new. First of all, it's not new." 11:35 <banana> Melanie: "Scope and you have to somehow not become the new boss, which is difficult if you're declaring huge swathes of people the enemy." 11:35 <VoxPVoxD> "It's just a cute coat of paint on the same old monsters." 11:37 <banana> Melanie: "Here's the way I see it." 11:37 <banana> "We didn't come here to fix things, or to undo changes to the world." 11:37 <banana> "We came here to take a skull off a dickhead traitor. We knew it might spiral beyond that because of the weird shit involving Keepers he came here to do." 11:38 <banana> "It's spiralled. Two Keepers have invaded and taken over a major American city." 11:38 <banana> "If at all possible I would like to turf them the fuck out." 11:38 <banana> "It's not about what the place was like before or what it will be again. These are.. they're the bad guys! They're the ones who do this to us, even if we sometimes do it to ourselves!" 11:39 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Whether or not we have to roll this up ourselves, it's not going to last. Nothing like this lasts. It's just not in the nature of things like this to last." 11:39 <VoxPVoxD> "And what's here right now is not worth preserving." 11:39 <CBN> Tony: "But the otters..." 11:40 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "The otters will be happier in the real Hedge, where there aren't strategic bombers, or Seers, or Mouseketeers." 11:40 <VoxPVoxD> "Forget whether this is better for the humans. Why would you want to inflict this world on the Hedge any more deeply than it already is?" 11:40 <VoxPVoxD> "Is that in the interests of the Lesser Ones?" 11:41 <banana> Melanie: "It's the manatees who get fucked over..." 11:41 <CBN> Tony: "Actually." Tony pauses for a long minute. "That's a good point. I don't want Florida getting all over my Hedge. Fuck this place." 11:41 <CBN> Tony, instead of apologizing: "They just...they took my boat, man." 11:42 <VoxPVoxD> "We'll get her back." 11:42 <VoxPVoxD> "My girlfriend's on that boat." 11:42 <VoxPVoxD> "Our goose is on that boat." 11:42 <dammitwho> "You can take the man out of the boat, but you can't take the boat out of the man. Sea grilling forever." 11:42 <banana> Melanie's phone is on that boat, with all her saved podcasts, 11:43 <CBN> Tony: "Sea grilling. Night fishing. Drinking til the horizon's not horizontal." Wistful now. "Nobody else around..." 11:44 <banana> "Except the sea werewolves... and they're okay." 11:44 <CBN> Tony: "We met one and he was cool, which is batting a thousand." 11:45 <CBN> tony: "Anyway thanks for letting me vent, and not making me drive." After a moment. "Kinda weird though, that the bar was named after the queen of the court, right?" 11:46 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "I'm not sure. That'd make more sense and be less weird than the reverse." 11:47 <VoxPVoxD> "Imagine getting back to the real world and naming yourself after the first restaurant you saw." 11:47 <VoxPVoxD> "Hey there. I'm Johnny Rockets, Baron of the Lesser Ones." 11:48 <VoxPVoxD> "Summer Regent of Detroit, Little Caesar." 11:48 <dammitwho> Maggie: "There has to be at least one of us that's called himself Little Caesar without knowing about the pizza joint." 11:48 <CBN> Tony: "Those are good names though." 11:48 <dammitwho> "Gotta be an irritable fella." 11:48 <banana> Melanie: "Five guys all escape from Arcadia together, go for burgers, and end up with a completely reasonable name." 11:49 <CBN> Tony: "We're kind of working for a guy named 'Orr' right now. The world almost ended because of someone named Gary." 11:50 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Technically, that guy's name was God Above Rejoices in You. People called him Gary as, like, a bit." 11:50 <VoxPVoxD> "Every Seer I've ever met thinks they're funny." 11:50 <CBN> Tony: "You know what is funny though, speaking of." 11:51 <banana> Melanie: "In propositional logic there's this concept called Iff, "If and only iF". I assumed Orr was like that." 11:51 <CBN> Tony: "When we get back to the boat, I've got some of Anathema's hair. So I can ping her whenever I want with the magic know-where-you-are. And because Seers are super paranoid I bet she gets notified every single time." 11:51 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "He's named after one or more hockey players. Apparently there's a story there." 11:51 <CBN> Tony: "That, that's funny." 11:52 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "She's probably disappointed it's not from her evil god or whatever." 11:52 <banana> "Ohh." Melanie hasn't got time to follow hockey. Maybe if she was Canadian and had nothing better to watch." 11:52 <VoxPVoxD> "Like when your phone rings and you hope it's the pizza guy but no, it's the Bernie Sanders campaign again." 11:52 <CBN> Tony: "You know what fixes that?" 11:53 <CBN> Tony: "Never take your phone anywhere." 11:53 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "What if I think of a good tweet, though?" 11:53 <VoxPVoxD> "It hasn't happened yet, but hope springs eternal." 11:54 <CBN> Tony: "I don't know what those are." 11:54 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "You know text messages?" 11:55 <VoxPVoxD> "There's a website where you can send a text message to nobody and everybody in the whole world can get mad at it." 11:55 <VoxPVoxD> "It has millions and millions of users." 11:55 <CBN> Tony: "Yes. Spring told me they shouldn't be in all capitals even though that makes them easier to read." 11:55 <CBN> Tony: "Why would you do that? Do you have to? Does my phone have a tweet?" 11:56 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "I have to do it because it has millions and millions of users. It's called having 'a platform'." 11:56 <VoxPVoxD> "I make money in proportion to how many people are paying attention to me." 11:56 <VoxPVoxD> "It's not for everybody." 11:56 <CBN> Tony shudders. 11:57 <VoxPVoxD> "Anyway, if your phone has Twitter on it, tell me, and I'll walk you through deleting it without losing your Allman Brothers mp3s." 12:00 <CBN> Tony: "Thank you."