10:56 <Crion> It's just about time to get down to what you're willing to promise each other. Peter has finished his beer. 10:59 <VoxPVoxD> Nothing left now but the crying, and then the mortal terror, and then some more crying. Then we're home free, and we can cry as much as we want. 11:01 <Crion> Peter has acceded to the motley's broad demands, and all that's left is the oathcrafting of specific terms. 11:06 <Crion> You swear once to Peter, he swears twice to you, and the crown takes its final sup of the power of the Wyrd... 11:09 <Crion> And then it's done. You're not sure, but it seems like there's a hint of moonlight off the Crown as it takes its token-form -- oh. That's just the Duke arriving. 11:09 <Crion> Slightly sighing: "An oath of fellowship. Well. I suppose I'm not particularly surprised. Perhaps not the way I'd have done it." 11:09 <Crion> He is behind the bar, polishing a glass. 11:10 <Crion> Peter shifts in his seat uncomfortably. He doesn't reach for the Crown. 11:13 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Is that it? Are we good?" 11:13 <Crion> Duke: "Yes...and no." 11:13 <Crion> "I believe I am still owed a duel." 11:14 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Peter promised to duel you?" 11:14 <Crion> Peter: "I promised to be here at midnight. And then we'd set the terms further." 11:15 <Crion> The Duke smiles. "Fair enough. Now we're setting those terms." 11:15 <VoxPVoxD> Nothing's ever easy. 11:15 <Crion> He turns to Stewart and the motley. "But maybe it's no longer Peter I should be speaking to." 11:15 <VoxPVoxD> Nothing's ever fucking easy. 11:16 <VoxPVoxD> A little hesitantly: "What are you looking for, here, exactly?" 11:16 <Crion> The Thin White Duke: "Entertainment." 11:16 <Crion> "I'm bored." 11:16 <banana> Melanie: "You could still fight." 11:16 <banana> To Peter: "This way, you get two chances." 11:17 <Crion> "A duel to first blood...or to the quit." 11:17 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Thing is, this is no longer directly pursuant to Peter's quest, is it?" 11:17 <Crion> The Duke: "Not particularly a concern of mine, but I suppose it isn't." 11:17 <VoxPVoxD> "Which is not to say that we're gonna ditch the check, just... those are the existing terms under which he has backup." 11:18 <Crion> Peter, woodenly: "I suppose this would be a duel with me, not a duel with Vengeant." 11:18 <Crion> The Duke's smile widens. "You would suppose correctly." 11:18 <VoxPVoxD> "Can you... fight?" 11:19 <Crion> Peter: "Sure. I mean. Not well." 11:19 <banana> We have not sworn a single thing that obliges us to help this guy out, here. Melanie supposes he's turned into a magarita they'd have to figure out where he stashed the skull, though. 11:20 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart looks from Peter back to the Duke. "What do you get if you win, besides satisfaction?" 11:21 <Crion> Peter begins: "I was to be sworn into his service to--" The Duke cuts him off: "Oh, originally I intended to give him the crown anyway...as a loaner...with certain conditions. None of that seems necessary now." 11:22 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "I'd agree that the original idea seems superfluous. What's your current thinking?" 11:24 <Crion> The Duke: "This place might not look it, but it's a veritable font of goblin fruit. Or perhaps it does look it. On your victory, I open my stores. Each member of your motley, plus Peter if you deign, gets one pick. As for what you owe upon loss...you suggest something. While everything is much more fun with stakes, what I wish to gain is in the bout, not in the bounty." 11:25 <banana> Melanie: "We aren't a party to this. I don't agree that we stand to gain anything, or have anything at stake." 11:25 <banana> "If you two are going to have a contest, it has to be on terms you agree that don't drag in anyone else." 11:26 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "On the subject of the big If there, for clarity's sake, what would you consider the appropriate consequences if you don't get to duel somebody?" 11:28 <Crion> The Duke: "I took quite a liking to that skull of Peter's. But as I understand things now, demanding that puts me in direct conflict with you...which means I now have a path to get an interesting duel regardless." 11:29 <VoxPVoxD> "You mean the skull he's carrying, right, not... that skull of Peter's." 11:29 <Crion> The Duke's smile widens, and he waits a beat or two before: "Of course." 11:30 <VoxPVoxD> To both Peter and Melanie: "How do you guys want to play this?" 11:30 <dammitwho> Maggie: "I don't know that we need much in the way of goblin fruit..." 11:30 <banana> "Demanding the remnant of Mere Jacoby from Peter Montgomery," Melanie notes, "would be demanding that he foreswear an oath he's already made. I don't know whether that's a problem for you... duke." 11:31 <Crion> The Duke: "Well, we all have our choices to make." 11:32 <Crion> Peter: "I can try my best, but...I don't know if I can make, ah, one of the gentry bleed or yield." 11:33 <banana> Melanie: "Do you feel that you could survive first blood?" 11:33 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "What terms would you insist on in the duel? In terms of weapons, setting, collateral damage, so on." 11:34 <Crion> Peter, to Melanie: "I'm no stranger to pain. But frankly? That's probably up to him." 11:34 <Crion> The Duke: "Oh, not a huge to-do. Whatever martial weapon you prefer, or fists. Or claws. We can simply put the chairs aside upstairs and use the dance floor." 11:35 <VoxPVoxD> "Martial weapon meaning guns are okay or no?" 11:37 <Crion> The Duke makes a face. "Guns are no fun. Oh, and no cold iron. I can feel at least some of you carrying, and I accept that as a gesture of good faith." 11:38 <Crion> Is Stewart wearing his sword openly? 11:39 <VoxPVoxD> Yeah, he doesn't have any magic to banish it or anything. 11:39 <banana> Melanie: "What's the point in faith here? It's all written out. We'll fight you if you force us, by making it about the skull or if the alternative is a murder. We won't accept any kind of binding terms on win or loss... Peter's preexisting deal is with him and you only. So, for the rest of us? Make us dance or don't." 11:39 <Crion> Then the Duke will have Meaningfully Eyed it once or twice in the course of this conversation. 11:40 <dammitwho> Maggie leans over toward Stewart. "I think he wants to swash your buckle, there..." 11:40 <Crion> The Duke, to Melanie: "No." 11:41 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart looks askance at Maggie, but, there's not really any way to make that not sound at least a little bit too horny. 11:42 <dammitwho> What? Eh? 11:43 <banana> Melanie: "No, what? No, you won't make us fight you? Or you won't don't?" She's going to join Stewart behind the bar and look for something like the stuff they had at JBBH; this involves turning her back to a Keeper, but that's the point, he has the power here and refusing to exercise it is just an attempt at torment. 11:43 <dammitwho> Maggie's a bit gloomy. It's obviously up to the Duke what happens next, but he's decided to pretend otherwise. She doesn't want to force one of their own into fighting him, and she doesn't want Peter to do it either. But what's left? 11:44 <Crion> The Duke: "I won't have you just stand there and watch. The point of protagonism is to make you complicit. " 11:44 <Crion> "But! If you prefer, then gird yourself, young Peter, and meet me upstairs in ten minutes' time." 11:46 <Crion> He'll glance at Stewart before absconding, to see if the be-sworded young man has anything further to say. 11:47 <dammitwho> Maggie: "Well, we're in a pickle. I don't like the idea of any of us dueling a Keeper, but what the heck else is there?" 11:47 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart's sitting there waiting for Peter to ask for help to avoid greater humiliation later, the Duke to admit he has a specific scene he wants to play out, or any of his motleymates to make a firm decision on anything. He feels like he's been waiting a while, and he can feel himself growing angrier. "No, no, fuck it." He stands up. "On behalf of the Wherehouse, I will stand as 11:47 <VoxPVoxD> Peter's second." 11:48 <VoxPVoxD> "But I am going to make my friend a drink first." 11:48 <trenchfoot> Nels: "Wait, what the fuck?" 11:48 <CBN> Tony: "Ah shit! Stewart man what!" 11:49 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Guys, what the fuck are we doing here? Come on." 11:49 <banana> Melanie: "Oh come on, you can't do that alone. He's not even asking for help. Is there the stuff for a mimosa here?" 11:49 <Crion> The Duke grins widely and bows. "The bar is yours, Ser Stewart. I'll await you above." 11:49 <Crion> Then he's gone. 11:49 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "I'm tired of waiting for people to ask for help." 11:49 <Crion> Peter: "For the record, I was merely waiting for him to leave before asking for help." 11:49 <VoxPVoxD> "I'm tired of waiting for people to make up their minds." 11:50 <dammitwho> Maggie: "I still don't like it, Stewart, but I like the attitude. What can we do to give you a better shot?" 11:50 <banana> Melanie: "I've made up my mind that I would like a mimosa, please. Then we'll all go fight a monster and probably die." 11:50 <banana> She nods to Peter. 11:51 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Alright, mimosa. This is Faerie Orlando, so I suspect the champagne and the orange juice are both spectacular." 11:51 <Crion> Peter is more than capable of playing bartender, but he'll defer to Stewart, who is more capable than even he AND seems to enjoy it. 11:52 <banana> Melanie tells Maggie, "Bear in mind we've made no promises to the paravampire. There's absolutely no reason we have to follow some... code duello, and we shouldn't." 11:52 <CBN> Tony: "Not like I don't wanna pick a stupid fight here Melanie, but I think jumping in is a real quick way to get a duel called against the side that cleared the bench." 11:52 <banana> "Called by who or what?" 11:53 <Crion> Peter: "I dunno if I get a vote here, but it's not like he can't hear you." 11:53 <banana> "I'm not suggesting we metaphysically take part in his contractual duel. I'm saying that if he insists on fighting Peter, and Peter can't do it - which is not unreasonable, who could? - then we will have to destroy the Thin White Duke, within or outside of the rules he refuses to set." 11:53 <CBN> Tony waves a hand in a vaguely expansive all-around: "Well we're in a half-Hedge, with a promised duel against a real big real bad guy who seems like a stickler for that kinda thing." 11:53 <trenchfoot> Nels: "I'm going to support Stewart even if I think his choice is stupid." 11:53 <VoxPVoxD> "Turnabout is fair play." 11:53 <CBN> Tony: "And we're on his exact turf, like his own, personal, turf." 11:54 <trenchfoot> "Look." 11:54 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart pulls a bottle of champagne down from the rack... but he can't find any orange juice. Fuck. He scans the shelf. "How married are you to the mimosa sensu stricto?" 11:54 <banana> Melanie: "I will accept variations, as long as you accept we're not letting you go in there alone, lol." She actually says 'lol'. 11:55 <CBN> Tony: "Oh if any of us can win a boss fight solo it's gonna be Stewart, I've seen him do the, which one was it, Soul of Cinders or whatever, in one of his Darkened Souls games. First time too." 11:55 <banana> "Hey Tony, is there any way to *change* the turf? Does the Hedge itself get a say in this stuff?" 11:55 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "I'm not doing this to be a martyr, Mel. I just want to get it done." 11:56 <banana> "Yeah, I accept that it's apparently necessary to fight the thing, so.. let's fight it. In a way that gives us some chance of surviving." 11:56 <VoxPVoxD> "If you guys can help without just making everything instantly worse I'm all for it. If we make it instantly worse anyway then, fuck it, it's still the same problem for the same people, right?" 11:56 <CBN> Tony: "Off the dome Mel I think the loudest voice is who it hears, and something straight out of Arcadia's gonna be a lot louder than any or all of us. Probably." 11:57 <CBN> Tony: "I mean hey worst case scenario, just fight by an east-facing window and dance around 'til dawn, right." 11:58 <banana> Melanie: "I can create sunlight, if there's any chance it works. They teach it in the dojo in case Lister loses his grip on the vampires. And yes, I know the duke can hear us, he has choices too." 11:59 <trenchfoot> The worst case scenario is we all die horribly. Let's try to avoid that. 11:59 <banana> "If he insists on trying to kill our.. ally, he has no contractual premise to stop us from trying to stop him. And it's not certain he'd prevail." 12:00 <Crion> Peter: "But...he doesn't want to kill me. He said pretty directly what he wants: he wants a good fight. He's not going to get it from me, which is why he all but begged Stewart directly to step in." 12:01 <dammitwho> Maggie: "Yeah, it's not Peter he wants. He's picking on Peter to make us step in." 12:01 <CBN> Tony: "Man Pete, you just could not have gotten him to agree to a quick draw at high noon could you." 12:01 <CBN> Tony is only maybe one-quarter kidding here. 12:02 <banana> Melanie: "He is, and he doesn't have an excuse to make it one-on-one, just implications and eyebrows. Maybe duelling Stewart, human friend person to... creature of the night, is a good fight for him - I don't see why we should agree." 12:02 <Crion> Peter laughs nervously. "He's unfortunately pretty married to the night time thing. I don't think sunlight hurts him though. At least, not like it hurts vampires." 12:02 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart drops a pair of flutes on the bar. He's moving bottles around when he finds a cabinet which contains a whole ass garden, somehow, fruits and flowers in full bloom. Strawberries ahead of their season. But in this place, sweet in the way of rotting things, it is somehow permanently summer. 12:05 <VoxPVoxD> So a mimosa is champagne and juice. Stewart doesn't see a jigger or a scale, so he's gotta go by vibes, as the Duke does. Because that's the only thing a Title knows how to fucking do, is make someone more like them. 12:05 <VoxPVoxD> Well fine. 12:07 <VoxPVoxD> No juice. The first flute goes with a straight substitution of elderflower liqueur for the orange juice. He takes a sip. Eh. It's missing something. He finishes the glass contemplating what it is. 12:08 <VoxPVoxD> The second pour has a different ratio, though Stewart's hand is rock steady. And he floats a touch of green chartreuse on top, which settles down into the glass like liquid hanging fines. Garnish is a little wreath of baby's breath flowers and one improbably fat strawberry. "Here you go. A melaleuca." 12:08 <VoxPVoxD> *vines 12:10 <VoxPVoxD> It's light fizzy, sweet, tart, herbaceous, and just a little bit peppery. 12:10 <banana> Odd name. But it's a very pretty drink. 12:11 <banana> "Thank you... weird last suppers, huh?" 12:11 <dammitwho> Maggie: "Here now. That's bad luck." 12:11 <banana> Melanie: "So help." 12:11 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "I'm not going to betray you!" 12:11 <CBN> Tony: "We'll probably grab some for the road on the way back out though." 12:11 <banana> She takes several quick gulps, but slows down to actually taste the stuff. It's kind of an amazing combination. 12:11 <banana> She takes several quick gulps, but slows down to actually taste the stuff. It's kind of an amazing combination. 12:12 <banana> "No, sorry, that's not what I meant." 12:12 <banana> "Just that, you know, we might not survive this." 12:12 <banana> Melanie: "I kind of messed up the reference. Sorry again." 12:13 <CBN> Tony: "Sure we will! The Duke cares about a good story, right? Not much of one if the adventuring party gets splatted before going to the big evil castle they've been seeing since they arrived in the strange land." 12:13 <dammitwho> Maggie: "S'fine." 12:14 <dammitwho> Maggie: "So we know Stewart's play. What's yours, Melanie?" 12:15 <banana> "This is really good... um. It's not different. Stewart was like, okay, no more dithering, don't hang peter out to dry. I'll fight you." 12:15 <banana> "What I'm saying is that there is no I here. We just swore a bunch of oaths. It's a fucking Keeper." 12:16 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "I think the shortest route forward is to attempt to effect a painless duel victory, and then if we need to charge the mound, you guys can... do any of you know who Nolan Ryan is?" 12:16 <Crion> Peter grins. "Yeah." 12:16 <CBN> Tony: "I know what charging the mound is," helpfully. 12:16 <VoxPVoxD> Gesturing at Peter and Tony with the empty glass. "You guys get it." 12:17 <CBN> Tony: "It's probably too much to ask that this one goes down like The Princess Bride though, right? as much spoken for the Duke's benefit as the group's. 12:17 <dammitwho> Maggie: "Baseball guy, yeah? Wicked fastball?" 12:17 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Main problem with the Princess Bride scenario is that I am left-handed." 12:18 <CBN> Tony winks: "Sure you are." 12:18 <CBN> Tony: "Besides though, think about it. Group meets one guy, there's a duel, and eventually they end up on close-enough to the same side because the guy in the castle, they both have bigger problems with." 12:18 <banana> Melanie sits there with a half-empty glass. She knows who Nolan Ryan is. "What exactly is the benefit in giving him the chance to hurt you first? I know what you can do, but why risk it?" 12:19 <CBN> Tony: "Hopefully you can skip getting hucked down a hill and dying first though." 12:19 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "The benefit is that it gives us the largest percent chance of a clean win where we can just leave without further struggle or complication." 12:20 <VoxPVoxD> "The drawback is basically that I take one hit I might not otherwise." 12:20 <VoxPVoxD> "That's my thinking." 12:20 <Crion> Peter: "Also if you declare no rules, bar fight in his bar..." 12:21 <banana> Melanie: "In your opinion, he might hold back if we indulge him? In some meaningful sense that doesn't just concentrate the risk on you rather than spreading it around the rest of us, which is not an improvement?" 12:21 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Yes, I think his imagination is sufficiently constrained by his need-slash-desire to commit to this particular bit." 12:21 <Crion> Peter: "Significantly hurting me means Stereo Vengeant gets upset. I just don't see the upside of him hurting us with knives, for him, rather than just...fucking with us." 12:21 <dammitwho> Maggie: "Just going by, you know, vibes, that seems like his." 12:21 <VoxPVoxD> "Maybe that's projection." 12:22 <CBN> Tony: "What is our whole...thing, if not a series of bits committed to together or in sequence." 12:22 <banana> Melanie: "Peter, if that was the case we'd just let you go in there and then come out stabbed. Then we would treat your wounds and I guess freaking commiserate." 12:23 <banana> "The only reason for Stewart or all of us to fight is so that you don't have to do it." 12:23 <VoxPVoxD> A series of bits where the guy at the mic dies waiting for feedback from the audience. Ah fuck, Stewart needs another drink. 12:24 <CBN> Tony claps his hands together and pushes off from the wall, pacing. "Not sure what I can do but cheer for you up there though Stewart. But you got this so I probably don't have to come up with much, right?" 12:27 <Crion> A clock strikes...12:15 AM? The Duke isn't demanding your presence, precisely, but he's certainly ready. 12:27 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "I haven't picked up a sword since I got back. But it's like riding a bike, right?" 12:27 <VoxPVoxD> "A bike that kills?" 12:27 <VoxPVoxD> "Let's go." 12:27 <banana> Melanie stares at Tony, but apparently doesn't want to add anything. She turns back to Stewart. "Okay. I will not go in there unless he hurts.. no, that's putting the onus on you to avoid escalation. Unfair." 12:28 <banana> "I won't attack him unless it seems necessary." 12:28 <VoxPVoxD> "Use your judgment." 12:28 <VoxPVoxD> For once. 12:28 <VoxPVoxD> What are we looking at upstairs? 12:30 <Crion> The Duke has indeed cleared the floor of chairs, and somehow lowered the stage -- there's still a difference between its light-brown hardwood and the black stone-tiled floor, but it's now one seamless plane. The privileges of desmense. The Duke is now dressed in a floofy white French blouse and brown leathers, and grins wide enough to show fangs when whoever approaches, approaches. 12:30 <banana> "That's what I thought I was doing." Melanie is unhappy; unhappy that this is happening, that nobody else agrees with her logic, that the others are willing to let Stewart do this selfish thing, that he might be pragmatically right about the Duke's reactions, that to take those into account is letting the Fae set the terms. 12:30 <banana> We don't need to give in to them this time! We should never have come back to Margaritaville! 12:30 <banana> The mimelaleuca tastes really nice. 12:31 <VoxPVoxD> Dryly: "Nice 'fit." 12:32 <banana> If they all make it back it's going to be like swallowing stones, to keep from Lauren that this happened. 12:33 <Crion> The Duke: "Thank you! So. As I intuit there have been concerns about the rules, I will make them clear. This is a non-fatal endeavor, and on occasion of injury, I offer guarantee that the Wyrd will be bent to healing it. In return, please do not rush the dance floor thinking you can strike a great blow against Keepers everywhere simply because my back is turned. For one, I don't even indulge 12:33 <Crion> in that filthy practice." 12:34 <Crion> "Ser Stewart, you may use any martial weapon available to you which is not made from cold iron. I can guess which you might choose." You notice his dueling gloves...have the fingers cut off. He raises them, and the fingertips schweeen out into knife-like claws. "I will be using Protean." 12:35 <dammitwho> Don't like how he keeps saying 'ser' with an e. Don't like how we can hear the difference. 12:36 <VoxPVoxD> So the way this always used to go was Stewart had to take the dive. Back there he was never The Guy. He was the guy between the guy and The Other Guy. He draws his sword, tests its flexibility. Is this really different? Has anything changed at all? Is there even a point to going home? 12:37 <VoxPVoxD> "I challenge you." 12:37 <Crion> He almost purrs: "I accept." 12:39 <banana> Intuit? This bastard thing that thinks it's honourable because it pretends to be a different kind of predator. Melanie puts her back to the wall and tries to keep her attention out of her own head. At least it's a pure fight, no fucking boons or geases. 12:40 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart takes a defensive posture. The fencer's grip is the knife-fighter's grip, thumb aligned with the blade. Pretender faces pretender. 12:43 <VoxPVoxD> The actual fight is over in seconds. The Duke moves with celerity. Stewart folds his right arm behind his back, blade weaving in the air like a charmed snake, and his mantle expands, filling the room with autumn-colored embers that hang in place like stars. He barely has to move; the Thin White Duke drags himself across the thin white blade. 12:44 <VoxPVoxD> When he's finished the followthrough on his huge, savage claw attack, Stewart is standing beside him, one hand out, one behind his back. Does anything drip from the blade? It doesn't matter. 12:44 <VoxPVoxD> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDqZbzZct4w&t=300s 12:45 <Crion> The Thin White Duke stumbles, pauses, and blood dramatically explodes from his wound as he collapses...and begins applauding from where he sits at the bar, perfectly fine, wound gone, back in his previous black suit attire. 12:46 <Crion> "The duel goes to Ser Stewart, of the Wherehouse." 12:46 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Good game. Well played." 12:46 <Crion> To Peter: "Consider our business concluded." 12:46 <Crion> The Thin White Duke: "That was the most fun I have had in...some time. Both your craft and your aesthetics. Sublime." 12:46 <CBN> Tony didn't even have time to think of a good cheer so he just hollers out a "Fuck yeah!" from the peanut gallery. 12:47 <banana> Melanie wishes she could cheer or applaud instead of just shaking. 12:47 <dammitwho> Maggie sprints from where the rest of the Wherehouse is watching, chest down, she will physically shove people out of the way to be the first to give Stewart a bear hug. 12:48 <VoxPVoxD> Oomf. 12:50 <dammitwho> "I'm going to tell this story every year until everyone in Baltimore is sick of it! Every dang year!" 12:53 <Crion> The Thin White Duke: "It is a story worth telling. Now, I believe any wagered rewards were deferred, so I'll not aggravate you further by their offer. However, the bar remains open tonight for as long as you wish to remain." 12:54 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "It wasn't a wagered reward, but do you think I could take a bottle of Glenlivet 25 for the road?" 12:55 <banana> Melanie: "If it's okay with everyone, we should get back to the motel. If we don't pay the Prozium people for the night, they just go hungry and smile blissfully about it." 12:56 <Crion> The Thin White Duke somehow already has one in hand. "Of course." 12:56 <VoxPVoxD> "Thank you kindly. And, yeah, we should get going. Long day tomorrow." 12:57 <CBN> Tony, nodding: "Road beers taste better in motion." 12:57 <Crion> The Thin White Duke: "Bon ciel, bon chance." 12:59 <CBN> Tony, for his part, is juggling an armload of beers while the others mix fancy things, get picky, what-have-you. 12:59 <VoxPVoxD> Well after midnight when the motley crossed the curb that marks the threshold of the Thin White Duke's absolute territory. It's only then that he lets himself look at Melanie. "How are you doing?" 13:00 <banana> She's out there already, escorting Peter. (Is he planning to come with us? At this point, it's not like we'd object.) 13:00 <banana> "I can't stand it. Am I wrong? Everyone's so happy.. it's not our story." 13:01 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "You're right, it's not." 13:01 <VoxPVoxD> "I forget, did I tell you about the time Lauren and I went out for pizza?" 13:01 <banana> Melanie: "He almost tricked us into mind-controlling this guy, then he made us indulge him again.. there was nothing we could do, but we maybe could have fought, but people wouldn't." 13:01 <banana> "It's not that I didn't think you could win, you know that right?" 13:02 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Honestly, it'd be fine if you didn't. But yeah I don't think that's what this is about." 13:02 <CBN> Tony, cracking open the first roadie: "Melanie, love you like a sister but you don't need to overthink your way out of a W sometimes." He offers her a beer (he has plenty more obv.). 13:02 <Crion> Peter is indeed following along. Stereo Vengeant seems to have fucked off for the moment? 13:02 <banana> "Fuck off, Tony." This is said.. with love, but very sadly? 13:02 <CBN> Tony nods. 13:03 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "It's like, why give another inch? When they've already taken so many miles from us?" 13:03 <banana> "I assume that from your perspective-" you is Peter for some reason-"they can be nice, or acceptable to deal with or whatever." 13:10 <Crion> Peter isn't getting involved in this one. 13:13 <banana> "That's not how I see it. I can't. Even if it somehow constitutes prejudice, which is frankly absurd, they're.. they always.." She's shaking again. 13:13 <banana> "Sorry Stewart, everyone, I need to go away and think for a bit. I've got blame inside me which is looking for targets, so." 13:13 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "I'll leave the light on." 13:16 <banana> Melanie will not make these people, who she knows are among the best there are, into the villains no matter much it feels like they did the wrong thing. She'll go, and find soil and light, and feel things in a way that doesn't hurt anyone else. Not even Peter Montgomery. 13:17 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart wants to follow her and argue. 13:17 <VoxPVoxD> But he's not going to. That'll just make them both feel worse. 13:19 <dammitwho> Maggie: "We should do something nice for her. She has it rough. Things always move faster than she's comfortable." 13:19 <trenchfoot> Here's to feeling bad all the time. 13:21 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "I think, right now, this is the nice thing we can do for her." 13:21 <VoxPVoxD> "Hopefully tomorrow being nice won't feel so shitty." 13:21 <dammitwho> "Yeah..." 13:22 <VoxPVoxD> "But forget it, Jake. It's Disneyworld." 13:22 <trenchfoot> Nels: "Who's Jake?" 13:24 <VoxPVoxD> That's a slippery slow that ends in explaining Roman Polanski. "It's from a movie, approximately." 13:24 <VoxPVoxD> *slope