09:00 <Crion> You can just drive into Universal Studios now. The big plaza and the thin arch were meant for pedestrians but there's none of that through-traffic anymore. There's just the big globe in its fountain, the great arch, and beyond it...the lesser theme park of Orlando, Florida. The thing that looks frail and tiny in the shadow of the great burgeoning castle building itself up against the sky to 09:00 <Crion> the southwest. Has the Magic Kingdom added another spire since you last looked? Difficult to say. 09:01 <VoxPVoxD> Haha. This sucks, man. 09:01 <Crion> The great parking lots sit empty; Cinquer Sailor and Solder Psy lead you through them slightly faster than you'd expect. There's something of the waste land about them. 09:03 <Crion> ...The big globe is missing. 09:04 <Crion> The U N I V E R S A L letters are scattered about. 09:05 <VoxPVoxD> Jimmy finally ate it. 09:06 <Crion> The purple Caddy pulls up short of the Universal Studios arch. Both Spring courtiers get out. Cinquer waves you down. 09:06 <Crion> Solder is checking the chamber on an AK. 09:09 <Crion> Maggie's driving, right? You can stop or just head on in. It's all kinds of a free country now. 09:09 <Crion> But it does seem they want to talk. 09:10 <dammitwho> Might as well see what they want. 09:10 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart's wearing a sword at his hip, which his two-day-old business casual outfit is not capable of supporting stylistically. He feels like a fedora guy, but he has to act as if it fits, because being insecure about it will only make it worse. 09:13 <Crion> Stewart sees the birds flying in first and with sharpest eyes. Corvids. In strict formation. Not any normal birds...representatives. Ambassadors. Effigies. He could probably busk them and touch their master, if he wanted that attention. 09:13 <Crion> They land behind the walls, but close. 09:13 <VoxPVoxD> Flying in from the southwest? 09:13 <Crion> Not a direct line from the Magic Kingdom. But yes. 09:14 <VoxPVoxD> They're already watching ys? 09:14 <VoxPVoxD> *us 09:14 <Crion> They seemed to be on direct business. 09:14 <Crion> No lingering, no wheeling overhead. 09:15 <VoxPVoxD> Let's just watch em go, then. 09:15 <Crion> They had quite the vantage point though, and you're the only cars in the lot. 09:15 <VoxPVoxD> The House of Mouse already knows we're here, so knowing we're here-here isn't worth that much. And he might need the glamour. 09:15 <VoxPVoxD> There'll be more opportunities. 09:16 <Crion> When the van stops, Cinquer grins and bangs the side. "Everyone out, less you want to drive on in." 09:16 <Crion> "Arm yourselves and polite yourselves." 09:16 <VoxPVoxD> He will ask the Spring lovers, though: "Are those Business Crows?" 09:18 <Crion> Solder grunts. Cinquer: "They'll make you mind it. That's Æreal's flock." 09:19 <VoxPVoxD> "Is that a ligature I here?" 09:19 <Crion> Solder tosses them an AK and begins checking the second one; Cinquer shoulders it in one smooth motion. 09:19 <VoxPVoxD> *hear 09:20 <Crion> Solder: "S'how she spells it." 09:20 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "I don't like that." 09:20 <tfoot> ...Can you do that? 09:22 <Crion> "'I - don't - like - that~'" Cinquer sings, shaking their ass as they bounce forward, heading past their boyfriend. Solder finishes checking his rifle and looks over the motley. Who's carrying what? 09:22 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart has, as mentioned, a sword. 09:23 <tfoot> Nels has her revolver, unless someone has specifically told her that's not good enough. 09:24 <dammitwho> Maggie has the Zveroboi carefully wrapped on her back. 09:25 <Crion> It occurs to Stewart that 'Æreal' was pronounced almost, but not exactly, like the name of the Disney princess from The Little Mermaid. 09:26 <VoxPVoxD> Yeah that was - yeah. Great. 09:26 <VoxPVoxD> God I hate this fucking place. 09:26 <Crion> Nels and Maggie also picked up on that, from their various shock doctrine encounters with the pop culture monolith. 09:26 <Crion> And Tony! Guess that's a big VHS collection. 09:26 <VoxPVoxD> Cool, cool, stay cool. You're not in Disney Hell right now. You're in the domain of vampire David Bowie. 09:26 <CBN> Tony reflexively looks up at the sky, but then at the fountain, then kind of furrows his brow, confused. 09:28 <tfoot> That movie was good! Some catchy songs, too. Nels will not say this out loud. 09:28 <dammitwho> Ah geez. 09:28 <Crion> Solder: "So you're all armed for bear. Good. That's just in case someone else breaks the rules of parlay. You're not gonna do that, because you're smart, but you wanna stay strapped just in case. It's a diplomatically neutral zone in there, but..." 09:29 <Crion> "Well. You want to project strength, yeah?" 09:29 <Crion> Cinquer: "Castle Marg awaits~" 09:31 <VoxPVoxD> That makes Stewart feel a little better. "Lead on." 09:38 <Crion> Once you walk under the silent arch you need to stroll down Universal Citywalk Orlando, home of attractions such as "Bob Marley - A Tribute to Freedom," which promised live music and 'authentic' jerk chicken, and "Pat O'Brien's Orlando," which claims to be a replica of a famous New Orleans pub. There's something that looks like a nightclub here; a Mexican place that looks like a film set of 09:38 <Crion> a Mexican place; and finally...you can see Margaritaville coming, because it's got an extra couple of floors now. 09:40 <Crion> The usual restaurant concept was a huge open patio with bar stations to serve the titular margaritas, an indoor dining space, an exclusive second floor balcony dining area, and all of it looking very painfully fake and prefab, but brightly colored. 09:41 <Crion> Instead, growing out of the restaurant's top like a tumor, is what appears to be an open theater in the round. And it's robust in size -- the architecture doesn't look like it should support its weight. 09:42 <Crion> And rather than garish coloration, everything is a smooth and shiny black and white. 09:43 <VoxPVoxD> "That's some Pathologic shit." 09:43 <tfoot> Nels: "What?" 09:43 <dammitwho> "Eh?" 09:44 <VoxPVoxD> Not in a mood to explain references right now. "Is he awake during the day? Do we gotta wait?" 09:44 <Crion> There's a man with closed-cropped grey hair toting pared-down service rifle lounging against the door; older, but very operator. He grins as the motley approaches. Reaches back and bangs on the cheap door to the first floor dining area twice. Winks at Maggie. 09:45 <Crion> Solder: "He's awake." 09:45 <Crion> Captain Hestian "Scoreboard" Van Buren, USMC, Ret. -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvxxdZpMFHg We got a thousand points of light for the homeless man; we got a kinder, gentler machine gun hand. 09:46 <VoxPVoxD> Hah. 09:47 <Crion> His eyes flit down to something on his plate carrier. A readout. "Afternoon, kids. Ma'am." 09:48 <dammitwho> "Heya." 09:48 <Crion> He looks at Stewart. "That line about Satan don't necessarily apply to me." 09:48 <tfoot> "Hi." 09:49 <Crion> There is a great congregation of ravens out on the party deck. 09:49 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "No worries, Captain. We've got fuel to burn and roads to drive." 09:49 <VoxPVoxD> "Is His Grace receiving?" 09:50 <Crion> Van Buren grins. "Ain't he always." 09:50 <Crion> The cheap door to the first floor seating area opens and a man in a seersucker and Jesus hair suit steps out. 09:51 <Crion> He's wearing big sunglasses. 09:51 <Crion> *seersucker suit 09:52 <Crion> Sun Glasses Man -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMxCHPxU_bw They tell me to be discreet for all intended purposes; they tell me revenge is sweet and from where they stand, I'm sure it is. 09:53 <Crion> He declines his head at the retired Marine. "As you were, Scoreboard." 09:53 <Crion> Van Buren: "Sir." 09:56 <Crion> He's a changeling...probably. It's like his Mask IS his Mien, and he's a glowing Christhead turning within himself. Fairest? Maybe. Light runs away from him or he sucks it in; his mantle, manifesting around his head like a halo, is a black hole. 09:57 <Crion> He takes off the sunglasses and two cavernous pits with twin thin red lances of light run over you. 09:57 <Crion> Sun Glasses Man smiles beatifically. 09:57 <VoxPVoxD> Saw that coming. 10:00 <Crion> Sun Glasses Man: "Big shindig down here today." 10:00 <Crion> Slight pause. "It seems." 10:01 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "We're homebodies. We don't like to get loud." 10:01 <VoxPVoxD> "Mr. Man? Mr. Glasses Man?" 10:01 <Crion> He chuckles. "I don't even begin to believe that. Mister Man will do." 10:02 <tfoot> It's true. We don't like it, we just. Nels makes mistakes. 10:03 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "We seek an audience with the Duke." 10:03 <Crion> "Mister Reader. Miss Foulke. Mister Bowen. Miss Lucas. And Forewoman Maggie Bakehead. We'll have to be careful around you." 10:04 <Crion> Sun Glasses Man: "I'm not his doorman. I'm just here on business." 10:04 <dammitwho> Maggie, affably: "Aw, I'm easy like Sunday morning." 10:06 <Crion> To the motley at large: "Does it itch, for you?" 10:07 <Crion> "I want to just reach out and snatch one of you from this world, and that's how it lets me know it's a bad idea. It itches." 10:07 <tfoot> It didn't until just now, dude. 10:07 <dammitwho> Jeez. 10:07 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Yeah, well, at least someone warned you in advance." 10:09 <Crion> As a point of fact, if you do feel the urge to do violence on 'Elysium' grounds, you will first feel the prohibition as a growing angry buzz just behind your nose and between your eyes. To begin with, at least. 10:10 <Crion> Van Buren: "Bossman doesn't mean nothing by it. Nothing you didn't mean when you busted your way in here, at least." 10:10 <VoxPVoxD> Weirdly, that doesn't happen to Stewart, because he's not a comic book monster. 10:11 <Crion> "Nice bit of work outside the airport." 10:11 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Uh huh." 10:12 <tfoot> Not to put too fine a point on it, but isn't Stewart quite literally a comic book monster? I mean, minus the randomly attacking people. 10:12 <VoxPVoxD> No...? 10:16 <Crion> Sun Glasses Man: "I've been told to learn a healthy respect for you." He pauses and glances at the military man. "I think I shall! I think I will learn that respect. Which one of you made the little boy and his monster inside so angry?" 10:18 <Crion> "Was it a group effort?" 10:18 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Respectfully, if you're not the doorman, you're doing a very good volunteer job." 10:19 <Crion> He steps forward and away from the door. "You can pass through at any time." 10:20 <VoxPVoxD> "Nice to meet you, Mr. Man. Captain." 10:20 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart wants to go in. No reason to grandstand with people employed at a different park. 10:20 <VoxPVoxD> So he will. 10:21 <Crion> "Mmmm. There's a distance to close between us, I think." He puts the sunglasses back on. "I look forward to seeing you sixty feet from here or more." 10:21 <Crion> To Scoreboard: "Where's the Device?" 10:22 <Crion> Scoreboard: "I gave it leave to play." 10:22 <Crion> Sun Glasses Man brings two fingers to his lips and lets out a piercing whistle. 10:23 <Crion> The Universal globe splashes into the water in the great artificial lake in front of Margaritaville, having arced over the building a hundred feet in the air, followed by the great massive shadow of whatever that threw it-- 10:25 <Crion> A great arachnid exoskeleton with a moist, heaving brain inside its clear central case leaps on the globe and sinks it beneath the waves with a toneless yawp. 10:26 <Crion> Sun Glasses Man: "Enough brain folds to cover the country, the greatest strategical processor imaginable, and the priorities of a golden retriever." 10:26 <Crion> Van Buren: "Sun Shih Tzu." 10:27 <Crion> Sun Glasses Man: "Heh. 'Sun Shih Tzu.' I like that. I'm going to use that. How'd they waste you in the Marines?" 10:27 <Crion> The two men have begun walking off. 10:27 <Crion> Sunshine State Drive -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcQqPh2OpdA Yo. 10:28 <VoxPVoxD> The giant robot gets Stewart to turn around, as they knew it would. 10:28 <VoxPVoxD> Then he snickers. 10:28 <VoxPVoxD> "Nice." 10:29 <VoxPVoxD> Sounds like a haunted pachinko machine. 10:29 <VoxPVoxD> Which is kind of the essence of a theme park, if you think about it. 10:29 <tfoot> "What's nice?" 10:29 <VoxPVoxD> Oh no, it's 'if you think about it' o'clock already. Stewart hopes the bar's open. 10:30 <VoxPVoxD> "Tip the robot." 10:30 <dammitwho> Maggie: "No thanks." 10:30 <Crion> The first floor is empty. So is the second floor. These are the vestiges of Margaritaville. 10:30 <Crion> Cinquer Sailor and Solder Psy take up residence at the empty first floor bar. 10:30 <VoxPVoxD> Well... maybe there's a bar upstairs. 10:30 <VoxPVoxD> Is it stocked? 10:30 <Crion> Yep. 10:31 <tfoot> She does, then: "Oh. Nice." 10:31 <VoxPVoxD> "Right?" 10:31 <Crion> A disembodied voice as Stewart reaches for anything behind the bar, though: "That's not for you." 10:31 <VoxPVoxD> Alright, one drink. How about- ugh. 10:31 <Crion> "The good stuff is upstairs. Top shelf." 10:32 <VoxPVoxD> Nice. "Got it." 10:32 <VoxPVoxD> What... kind of voice. 10:32 <Crion> Solder: "We'll be here, with the cheap booze." 10:33 <Crion> Sexy, baritone, but if there's a hint of British accent it's fading. The creature isn't trying to do Bowie. 10:33 <VoxPVoxD> That's probably for the best. Probably. Depends what he's trying to do instead. 10:33 <Crion> There is music upstairs; difficult to make out what it is. Weird you didn't hear it before, since the top of the building appeared to be open. 10:33 <VoxPVoxD> "Thanks for getting us this far," he says to the Spring courtiers before going upstairs. 10:34 <Crion> Cinquer: "Hey, this is like, the safest place in Orlando. Didn't have to tell us twice." 10:34 <Crion> Solder gives them a disapproving look. "But you're welcome." 10:36 <Crion> 'Them' here is Cinquer, not the motley. 10:38 <VoxPVoxD> Country he/theys make do. 10:38 <VoxPVoxD> Excelsior! 10:39 <Crion> It becomes obvious, as you ascend, that the person who is singing is Peter Montgomery. And he's singing a cappella, or something like it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lITNYUmM50g The Tip tickles whoever has it on their mind. Peter's song has changed recently. 10:40 <VoxPVoxD> I bet it has. 10:40 <VoxPVoxD> Bring it on. 10:40 <Crion> Something is hideous about the acoustics, until you're in the theater-in-the-round. Then it sounds like a concert hall. 10:40 <Crion> Peter Montgomery, the Broken Thorn -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iU5qp-cAtOU When you leave I cannot sleep and when you leave my body shakes and 10:40 <VoxPVoxD> MCR is great, obviously, but a cappella MCR is shower stuff. 10:41 <VoxPVoxD> Ah jeez. 10:42 <tfoot> Oh dear. 10:43 <VoxPVoxD> Does he have a mantle? 10:43 <Crion> You emerge into a beautiful white and black, marble and ebony-wood cabaret, seemingly higher up in the air than it actually is, with the singer at the unused piano in the center of the round and a gaunt, beautiful monster of a man in black slacks and rolled up white sleeves lingering at the scotches, nails slightly too long, teeth...precisely the sharpness they're intended to be. 10:44 <CBN> Tony's embarrassed for Peter here, absent any other context. 10:45 <VoxPVoxD> Play it again, sham. 10:45 <Crion> He no longer has a Spring mantle, that's for sure. The air around him is weirdly in focus. Far more subtle than the distortion the Sun Glasses Man imposed with the Wyrd, but noticeable to the changeling eye. 10:46 <Crion> Behind Peter Montgomery looms another, more obvious monster: half-shadow, half-boombox. 10:47 <VoxPVoxD> Yeah, alright. We're all friends here. 10:50 <Crion> The last time you saw this thing, it was statuary-involved. The half that was marble has been replaced with electronics...but the sucking void of the rest is the same. 10:50 <Crion> Stereo Vengeant -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISx7L97o21s The world moves on, but one thing's for sure: Maybe I got mine, but you'll all get yours. 10:51 <Crion> The handsome devil at the bar raises his drink, along with a finger to his lips, as the motley enters. Common respect for the performer in the court. 10:51 <Crion> The Thin White Duke -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApHM1ct4tdM Run for the shadows. Run for the shadows. Run for the shadows in these golden years. 10:51 <VoxPVoxD> Oh thank god, it's not awful 80s Bowie. 10:54 <VoxPVoxD> No reason to interrupt the song. Stewart files in quietly, and sits at the bar, facing the piano. 10:55 <dammitwho> Agreed, even if the singer is a traitor piece of shit. 10:55 <Crion> Peter's song ends, and he realizes who else is in the room now at the same time the Keeper-creature behind him rears up and the Thin White Duke walks to the middle of the room, hands raised, one holding his whiskey. "You all know the rules by now." 10:56 <Crion> "Many comings and goings. Your first, I think?" he says to the motley. 10:57 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "That's right, Your Grace. This is our first time in your court. I'm Stewart Reader, Lord Sage of the Freehold of Baltimore. We're the Wherehouse." 10:57 <VoxPVoxD> To Peter: "Hey." 10:58 <CBN> Tony gives the Duke a sorta nod-into-a-maybe-I-should-bow-or-is-that-weird that settles into, guess it's sort of a bow now, removing his hat and tipping it before replacing it. "Sir." 10:58 <tfoot> Nels says nothing. 10:58 <Crion> "Fair weather and strong handshakes, Stewart Reader and the Wherehouse. In our beneficence we have song, and dance, the tidiest whiskeys to tipple you and the freshest cocaine, and if you strike out in anger you will surely die." 10:59 <VoxPVoxD> Cutscenes and Disney villains, no breakfast, no drinks, no Lauren — Stewart is in a really bad mood. But you gotta get past that. This is work. This is actual work. 10:59 <Crion> Peter, to Stewart, glaring at Nels: "Hey." 11:00 <VoxPVoxD> Is the skull visible? 11:01 <Crion> He was holding it in his hands as he sung. Upon finishing, he hands it to Stereo Vengeant. 11:01 <VoxPVoxD> That's good. Not as tidy as the Duke's Speysides, maybe, but tidier than it could be. Tidier than the rest of this has been. 11:02 <VoxPVoxD> Still thinking about Jimmy Eat World. 11:02 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "We respect the Tradition of Elysium." 11:03 <Crion> The Thin White Duke, to Peter: "I can hear the anger coming off your pet Title like bad theremin play. If he turns that on me, I'll simply break him into a black hole jukebox and make him eat quarters. You have an excellent voice." 11:04 <Crion> To Stewart: "Oh, I can hear the proper nouns in your voice. They are appreciated. I'm glad to hear it. It doesn't matter the first way or the second, but it's always nice to be respected in some default sense." 11:05 <Crion> "Drinks?" 11:05 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Please." 11:11 <Crion> "A penicillin, a Miller High Life, a hurricane, and...let's see. A Spotted Cow." 11:11 <Crion> "Un moment." 11:11 <VoxPVoxD> Pretty good shtick for a magic bartender. Gonna not think about the implications of effortless mind-reading. 11:12 <VoxPVoxD> That way there's nothing to read about it. 11:12 <tfoot> Well, she's not going to turn down the hurricane. Still mildly upsetting that he knew she wanted one. 11:13 <VoxPVoxD> Everyone should always want a hurricane at least a little bit. 11:13 <CBN> Tony nods to himself. Free beer is free beer. 11:15 <Crion> Stewart can tell this is not the result of a deal or contract that the Thin White Duke has made except insofar as those deals and contracts have made this into his Arcadian desmense, the slice of reality wherein he is the whole of the law and the whole of the whole -- conventionally, the only time a mortal is ever this intimate with the true living space of a Gentry is in their durance. But 11:15 <Crion> the Thin White Duke does not have actual absolute power in this space; clearly he just had to contest your wills, even from such heights, to latently skim your drink orders. 11:16 <Crion> He's not unbeatable here, and he's not able to keep you here -- he's simply incredibly potent. 11:16 <VoxPVoxD> Right, so an elder vampire. Good character work. 11:16 <Crion> Peter already had a Lagunitas of some disposition on the bar, which he returns to. 11:21 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart thanks the Duke for the drink and sips it. A light touch on the Islay float. Nice. Casting about for a way to... start... this: "Where'd you part ways with Gemma?" 11:25 <Crion> Peter, staring into the wall behind the bar: "On a trod somewhere roughly analogous with Northern Virginia. Without the crown, I had no leverage to argue for her to hold it. The bargain...the bargain was: one to hold the skull, one to hold the crown. We underdelivered. So the Bleakest House took her back." 11:25 <tfoot> Nels is very carefully sipping at her drink but listening to what Peter says. 11:25 <tfoot> Ah, fuck. 11:25 <Crion> Peter: "All we needed was twenty minutes down here in the castle with the skull and the fucking crown." 11:26 <Crion> "I--" 11:26 <Crion> He snaps his mouth shut. 11:26 <Crion> The Thin White Duke expertly polishes a glass no one was drinking from. 11:28 <Crion> Peter: "I will get her back. I will get both of them back. And then you can have your rapist skull for Banthem's desk." 11:29 <tfoot> Nels chokes on her drink. 11:30 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "So not only did you fail to rob the Freehold of Baltimore, you got your accomplice dragged back to Faerie." 11:30 <VoxPVoxD> "But now you'll fix it." 11:32 <Crion> Peter: "I don't think you give Nels enough credit. Does he, Nels? It was a crown fairly stolen. That's the only way getting it back could have been worth the cost." 11:33 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "If you don't hatch this plan in the first place, no one has to stop you." 11:33 <VoxPVoxD> "Blame her if you want, but when we write the book on this yourself and God are splitting the credit." 11:33 <Crion> Peter: "If I don't hatch this plan in the first place, Avery Lovelace remains a slave to Arcadia." 11:34 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "And what is she now?" 11:34 <Crion> Staring at his beer: "The Mistress of the High House." 11:34 <VoxPVoxD> "It seems like the number of slaves to Arcadia has gone up, and not down." 11:34 <VoxPVoxD> "Because you tried to do this alone." 11:34 <tfoot> Nels: "I do feel like shit about it, if you were wondering. You weren't, but if you were, there you go." 11:35 <VoxPVoxD> Don't indulge him. Sitting here crooning, feeling sorry for himself. 11:36 <VoxPVoxD> We came all this way— 11:36 <Crion> Peter: "Did you know?" 11:36 <Crion> "You and Kingsley and that man, that Santander--did you know they could make people into them?" 11:39 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "If they did, they didn't tell me. A Freehold's zero-tolerance policy on the Fae is a political necessity, not a metaphysical one." 11:39 <CBN> Tony, kinda half, two-thirds following here: "And you think you can unring that bell? That it can even be unrung?" 11:39 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Honestly, if it can be rung... it probably can be unrung." 11:40 <VoxPVoxD> "The Wyrd loves takebacks where no one gets to go home again." 11:40 <CBN> Tony: "I dunno man, there's no such thing as not-a-vampire-anymore, not sure this'd be much different." 11:40 <Crion> The Thin White Duke arches an eyebrow at Tony. 11:41 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Blood only flows in one direction without a heart to pump it. The seasons go in circles all on their own." 11:41 <VoxPVoxD> To Peter: "You should have come to us." 11:45 <Crion> Peter: "She came to you. In her way." 11:46 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "She did. Very politely." 11:46 <Crion> Peter: "How do you figure that conversation works? How does it end?" 11:46 <Crion> He sips his beer. "I figure it ended with Gerald being very sympathetic, in a parking lot. At 2 AM." 11:47 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Maybe. But that's better than this." 11:48 <VoxPVoxD> "Better for you. Better for her. Certainly better for Gemma." 11:48 <VoxPVoxD> "And that's the worst case scenario." 11:53 <Crion> Peter: "If your best possible outcome is burying me and Gemma out in the county while the Mouse turns her into his final princess unopposed, then I made the right call." 11:53 <tfoot> You really didn't, though. 11:53 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "I'm sure Gemma will be glad to hear that." 11:59 <Crion> Peter laughs with an edge. "If you gave a shit about Gemma you would have mounted a rescue. One of the Titles is held here by the Mouse; I'm keeping the other busy. Never a better time. You haven't, though, Stewart, because you don't give a shit about Gemma." 12:00 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "I mean. We came down to kill her." 12:00 <VoxPVoxD> "And you." 12:00 <VoxPVoxD> "You're the only one who let her down." 12:04 <Crion> Peter looks down the bar. "So in the end, you're all just hitmen?" 12:04 <Crion> "Kill me and Gemma tidily in Baltimore, or messily finish the job down here?" 12:04 <tfoot> Bold words from a guy who turned Orlando into a fae kingdom. 12:05 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "We have a lot of latitude. Bantham was very careful not to give us any orders. I was kinda hoping we could just get the skull and you two could fuck off. When we heard that Gemma wasn't with you, I hoped she already had. But things never work out how you think they will, do they, when you just sit and block them out in your head." 12:17 <Crion> Peter: "When I sat down I was trying to figure out the best way to ask you for help." 12:18 <Crion> "So in a way, I appreciate that." 12:18 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "This is of a piece with the other best plans you could come up with." 12:24 <Crion> Peter stews in that for a moment. "You like her more than you like me. I understand that. So do I." He turns to Stewart. "Does Avery deserve to his slave just because I couldn't save her?" 12:24 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "No. Absolutely not." 12:28 <Crion> Peter turns back to the Thin White Duke. "Well, does one of you want to be Prince Charming?" 12:28 <Crion> *Peter turns back to the Thin White Duke. "Well, does one of you want to be Prince Charming? All it takes is the skull of a villain and the rightful crown." 12:29 <Crion> The Thin White Duke: "I have yet to enter this particular affair of state." 12:29 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Gemma and Avery are in the same place?" 12:31 <tfoot> Does the skull need to be outside the body? 12:33 <VoxPVoxD> He means the already-outside-a-body skull. 12:33 <VoxPVoxD> No shade. Hurricanes are really strong. 12:34 <Crion> Peter: "No. Gemma is held by the Bleakest House, which also holds Avery as a title, the Mistress. And this guy, who doesn't think or talk much." He indicates Stereo Vengeant. "Especially not after I tricked him into replacing his ears with speakers, so he can't overhear us. The House wants the Mistress back. I've sworn an oath to free her. You can see the daylight there. Once Avery is free, 12:34 <Crion> with the House at its weakest...well, I was hoping none of us would ever see the inside of that place again, but I'm not gonna leave her there." 12:35 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Where is the Mistress if not the House?" 12:35 <VoxPVoxD> "The Mouse?" 12:35 <Crion> Peter nods. 12:35 <VoxPVoxD> "Why?" 12:37 <Crion> "I don't know. Clevinger thought it had something to do with how she became a Title in the first place. At least I think he did. He dodged the question in the question game." 12:38 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Alright. Conjecture is formulating, somewhere on a spectrum from bedknob to broomstick. How does getting Avery get us Gemma?" 12:39 <Crion> Peter: "...I don't know that it does. I just have to hope." 12:39 <tfoot> ... 12:39 <VoxPVoxD> Aside, to the Duke: "Does it violate the tradition of Elysium to raise our voices?" 12:40 <Crion> The Thin White Duke: "Absolutely not, save obvious attacks on the glassware." 12:40 <VoxPVoxD> To Peter: "That was the wrong FUCKING ANSWER!" 12:41 <VoxPVoxD> "We're not fucking heroes, Peter." 12:41 <VoxPVoxD> "None of us are. Especially fucking you." 12:42 <VoxPVoxD> "That is the one thing every actual changeling learns. All alone, you can't save anyone. You can't fix anything." 12:42 <VoxPVoxD> "You're just a victim." 12:42 <Crion> Peter: "I wasn't alone." 12:43 <VoxPVoxD> "You were. And so was she. Because you were playing different games, with different stakes." 12:43 <VoxPVoxD> "No one was coming to take you back." 12:43 <VoxPVoxD> "But that's not important anymore." 12:44 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Tell me we've got something better than hope to go on for actually revoking the Title." 12:44 <VoxPVoxD> "Talk to me about precedent, evidence, theory." 12:45 <Crion> Peter: "No." 12:45 <Crion> He stands up. "Go fuck yourselves." 12:45 <tfoot> Cool. 12:46 <VoxPVoxD> "See you later." 12:48 <Crion> Peter, to the Thin White Duke: "When should I come back?" 12:48 <Crion> The Thin White Duke: "After sundown. Such as it is. Then we can get down to it." 12:49 <Crion> He nods and walks out, beer unfinished, the Title looming after him. 12:50 <VoxPVoxD> Swirling the last of the ice in his glass. "Dueling for the crown?" 12:50 <Crion> The Thin White Duke: "After a fashion. Another round?" 12:50 <VoxPVoxD> "Please!"