10:11 <Crion> It's mid-morningish, not that it's really easy to tell here in the Magic Kingdom: there's always the haze of indistinct sunlight regardless of where the sun is in the sky, except over the bloated namesake castle itself, which as you get closer to it always has a starfield behind and above it -- the better for the fireworks to show against, obviously. Having braved Thibodaux Red's swamp 10:11 <Crion> mines-and-mirrors wetlands barrier, you find yourselves on what the map lists as the 'Lake Buena Vista' golf course. 10:15 <Crion> As you pause here on the...10th hole? It looks like? You can hear somewhere in the distance, very faintly, the thwack of a club hitting a golf ball and...wait for it...yes, there it is. A loud manly voice calling out "FORE!!" 10:17 <CBN> Tony freezes up. Quietly: "Do we hide and sneak here or do we like...act natural here or something?" 10:18 <banana> Alright, who here has a handicap? 10:18 <banana> Alright, who here has a handicap? 10:18 <trenchfoot> Nels: "What counts as natural here?" 10:19 <VoxPVoxD> Insofar as golf is a test of coordination, Stewart is preternaturally gifted. Insofar as it's a matter of nebulously fitting in, Stewart is white and upper-middle-class. 10:21 <Crion> The guy sounds like he's at least a couple holes off. Impressive set of lungs. 10:21 <banana> Melanie: "Insider trading." 10:22 <banana> "We should blend in if we're casually discussing our mergers and acquisitions." 10:25 <Crion> For her part, Maggie can tell a couple of things: first, the general layout of this extremely artificial golf course, that 'normally' takes an entire team of dedicated professionals and an obscene amount of daily spend to keep maintained and manicured. Second, that while no one is doing that anymore, the magic of faerie has intervened: the courses themselves are as manicured as ever -- weirdly, 10:25 <Crion> Wyrdly so -- but the moment you step into the 'rough' it becomes a swampy bog that hungrily eats your balls. Maggie can decide on whether to rephrase that when relating it to the group. 10:25 <Crion> The upshot is that there didn't used to be thick trees and brackish water between the holes, just asphalt, mild grass, and an artifical system of rivers. 10:27 <Crion> Peter makes a face. "We're gonna avoid whoever that is, right?" 10:27 <VoxPVoxD> "We should be able to chart a path around the guy... the question is, can we trust the course to respect it?" 10:29 <dammitwho> Are the cart paths still operational? 10:30 <CBN> Tony nods to Peter. "Hoping to, I think." 10:32 <Crion> The paths look to still be respected! They cut through some harsh territory, but the boggy land doesn't seem to have any interest in intruding on the asphalt (or weird rubberized blacktop in some places) even a slight inch. 10:32 <trenchfoot> Nels: "Is he the only one here, though? Worried about running into other people on the courses." 10:34 <CBN> Tony: "We'd probably hear other golfers if they're nearby, but probably good to keep an eye out for stray drives, and stay off the putting green just in case." 10:34 <dammitwho> Maggie: "I bet one of the rules of this place is that if we keep to the paths it won't squirm around underneath us or try to devour us in quicksand traps or such nonsense. Can't say the same for the denizens though... but I figure if we take the paths we can head away from that voice through the--" She squints into the distance. "Some kind of lighthouse, or take anouther way through a 10:34 <dammitwho> louisiana lookin' bayou thing." 10:36 <Crion> Maggie, with your ears you can tell whoever this guy is he was probably wrapping up hole 16. Hole 17 is to your direct west, across hole 11 -- this course is very small, by the by, since real estate is at a premium and when celebrity and pro events are held here they usually go to the 'Oak Trail' course across the park -- and hole 18 is west by southwest, with the clubhouse to your south. 10:36 <CBN> Tony: "I always wanted to see a lighthouse. Just a big flashlight shining out at boats." 10:37 <trenchfoot> Nels: "I vote lighthouse, if we're counting." 10:37 <Crion> And of course far to your south, past the clubhouse, is the sagging, debauched manse sitting on the lakeside at Saratoga Springs; the presumptive home and aerie of Æreal, the Feather Princess. 10:39 <dammitwho> Maggie: "I'm with you two. I don't know what the Rat makes of the deep south and I don't want to find out." 10:40 <Crion> Peter: "Seems sensible to me." 10:40 <trenchfoot> Nels makes a face. 10:40 <VoxPVoxD> Disney doesn't own A24, right? "Lighthouse it is." 10:46 <Crion> Old Key West...a resort aimed at replicating the "romance and richness" of the Florida Keys. 10:47 <Crion> Lots of boardwalks over water. Lots of sandbars. Weird white-plaster modern construction. 10:49 <Crion> You can reach there basically by hitting the clubhouse, turning southwest from it, and hoofing it across the practice range to Buena Vista Drive, or going north to the internal service roads on Community Drive. Either way takes you in some proximity to the mystery golfer, unless you turtle. 10:52 <Crion> Peter: "So how're we gonna get to the road?" 10:53 <CBN> Tony: "Let's move, if we can hoof it quick enough we can outpace that guy's progress around the course and get to the lighthouse. Maybe we can swing by the clubhouse on the way, see what's going on there. Maybe a snack. Maybe?" 10:57 <trenchfoot> Nels: "Sounds like a plan to me. Though I'm not sure I'd trust the snacks." 10:58 <dammitwho> Maggie nods. "Right. No snacks though. Stay on task." 10:58 <CBN> Tony pats his belly and nods in resigned agreement. 11:00 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart nods. "That's how they get ya. Don't let a faerie feed you." He's kind of plucking at the reeds at the edge of the bog trap, drawing forth a set of golf clubs one by one. 11:01 <Crion> Peter: "Well, too late for any of us on that account. If there's any amaranthine in there I say we take it." 11:01 <Crion> "I mean. I doubt there will be. But." 11:05 <banana> "If you teed off with the right goblin fruit, that could probably be used for artillery." 11:05 <Crion> No one hands them to him, but the clubs Stewart plucks forth from the lake are all of the Excalibur Iron line. 11:06 <banana> Melanie's been quiet, trying to keep watch. She's having trouble concentrating in this combination of mundanity and hedge-danger. Meaningless jokes help keep the tension down... at least, they always have when it's just herself she's trying to distract. 11:09 <VoxPVoxD> The driver's the last one the bog offers up. "Nice. I don't have a visor or a blood pressure problem, but other than that..." 11:09 <VoxPVoxD> "Where do you guys think the real Excalibur is? Do you think there is one?" 11:10 <CBN> Tony: "Feels like you can probably just stick a hand in a lake in the right place and say there was a sword already, and hey now there is." 11:11 <trenchfoot> Nels: "A wizard probably has it somewhere. Or it's in a museum. Or both." 11:11 <dammitwho> Maggie: "I have a visor for doing ledgers and whatnot. Pressure-" She pulls her vest to the side and flicks a dial embedded in her hammered metal 'skin' with a finger. "Lookin' good." 11:11 <dammitwho> "Faerie probably has a million Excaliburs, and I bet you don't want to ask the wizards about Myrddin without unless you've blocked out a whole afternoon to listen to them yelling." 11:12 <banana> That sounds like a dynastic question. Isn't there already a true Queen of England? "Oh, I always wondered what the visors were for. Was there a lot of glare from old office lighting?" 11:13 <VoxPVoxD> "Stewart: "Yeah, the kind old timey accountants and bookies wear were for mitigating eyestrain without actually interfering with your vision." 11:18 <banana> Melanie: "Now we all just have shitty eyes, but never get bored or lose contact with each other. It's actually- actually a really good trade." 11:18 <banana> "Okay, how do you hold these things..." 11:19 <dammitwho> Maggie: "You just hold them however you like, sweetie. Golf is just minigolf but bigger." 11:21 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart finds himself lapsing unconsciously into a midcentury Mid-Atlantic accent. "Mind if we play through?" 11:21 <Crion> Probably the easiest way to do this, Stewart deduces, is just to set up on the 17th hole and act like they were there all along. 11:22 <Crion> That's just a hop, skip, and a puddle-jump away. 11:22 <Crion> Sorry, 18th hole. 11:22 <Crion> Get you closer to the clubhouse. 11:22 <VoxPVoxD> Peachy. 11:24 <Crion> Peter, meanwhile, has been rolling mud from the boggy banks into little balls. He slaps his hands together with them cupped inside...white, pitted golfballs, just like the factory makes them, except with a Wyrd brand name. 11:24 <Crion> He's got about twenty of them by the time he's done. 11:25 <Crion> As the six of you tromp onto the 18th, there's some annoyed shouting from behind you on the hole previous. Not directed your way. That guy's got a real loud voice, though. At one point he breaks into mocking song. 11:27 <Crion> Evern Vandal, The King of Sports -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZIj7iWXEdo I guess you had a dream, but it can't be saved. 11:28 <Crion> The song pauses, briefly, then resumes twice as loud. 11:30 <banana> Melanie focuses. Quietly: "We shouldn't challenge him at the actual game." 11:30 <trenchfoot> Nels: "Do you think his actual game really is golf or is it some messed up golf-like thing?" 11:31 <Crion> It sounds like the conversation he's having is incredibly one-sided? You hear no other voice answering, but he's responding to something. Then again, he's probably just incredibly loud. 11:32 <VoxPVoxD> In any other circumstance Stewart would immediately assume 'ranting into a bluetooth earpiece'. "Eyes on the prize, sport. We've got our own greens to tend." 11:32 <Crion> Peter: "We probably want to look like we're actually playing through." 11:32 <CBN> Tony: "Maybe his game is just...games." Tony gives his Stewart-furnished club a few experimental swings. Closer to hockey than golf but that worked out okay in a movie once, so. 11:32 <Crion> "Yeah, that." 11:33 <banana> Melanie: "Someone hit the ball, then, and we'll follow it." 11:33 <Crion> Peter tees up a ball real quick. It involves fluffing up the tee green a bit. 11:33 <Crion> Sort of posing it on some shaped grass. 11:34 <banana> If it wasn't a legitimate golf hole(?) before, it will be now. Stories. 11:35 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart's squatting contemplatively in front of a ball just on the edge of the rough. He's imagining himself imagining the topography as a series of contour lines, and then imagining himself imagining the routes the ball would take. It looks exactly the same as if he were actually imagining it. 11:35 <dammitwho> Maggie: "Capital idea, old top." 11:36 <banana> Melanie: "Lol. Um, that reminds me.. well, maybe this is not the time." 11:41 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart's form is good, but he's got no torque. The ball sails straight and smoothly... but not very far at all. 11:42 <dammitwho> Maggie takes a swing at her ball with truly baffling form, but it flies straight and true. Not bad! "Scrod on a spuckie, old thing!" 11:43 <trenchfoot> Well, she's never done this before, but there's a first time for everything. She's got a decent swing for someone who has clearly never held a club before, strikes well, and... actually hits it where she's aiming. How about that. 11:43 <CBN> Tony takes a few runs up at his ball. The only golf movie he's seen is the one he's swinging his club like. He connects and just thwacks it. If it was a baseball he'd expect the stitches to come off. Still not sure what golfballs are so he won't speculate. He will say: "FOUR!" but no one will know because the pronunciations are the same. 11:43 <banana> Melanie's seen her dad do this. Aiming at long range is still a bit.. well, her ball does go pretty far down the fairway. Fine. Turn-based games aren't really sports, right. 11:44 <CBN> He is not going to strut around the tee peacocking because it would be inappropriate right now but god, god it's so hard not to. 11:44 <Crion> Peter gawps as Tony does his thing, and well, he shows the form of a kid who got a bunch of lessons in golf in high school and knows how to hit a ball towards a green. But he's not gonna be able to match THAT. 11:45 <VoxPVoxD> You know, if you strip out about 85% of the context, Tony's having the perfect boomer vacation. 11:45 <dammitwho> "Hot damn, Tony." 11:45 <VoxPVoxD> "You really walloped that one!" 11:45 <Crion> A booming voice from down the rubberized path, beneath the sagging soggy boughs: "Now that's a goddamn drive." 11:46 <CBN> Tony, nodding. He turns and without looking or registering yet that this isn't someone from the group, so in his zone is he: "You're damn right it is!" 11:48 <banana> Hell yeah. Give us a T, give us an O... 11:49 <Crion> An eight and a half foot tall man built wide as a sedan, wearing a luchador mask, chinos, golf shoes, a pink polo shirt, and a belt that has what appear to be both gold medals and actual scalps hanging off of it strides towards the eighteenth hole. He has his clubs slung across his back like swords. Next to him shambles a creature of wood and brine, with no mouth but three heads, two great 11:49 <Crion> arms and four-trunklike legs. Laying across the back two -- it's a quadropod, in the sense of a tripod with four legs -- is its own bag of clubs. 11:49 <Crion> It immediately hits all six of you with the Hedge-busker's Tip. 11:51 <VoxPVoxD> "Morning!" says Stewart gamely. 11:51 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart Reader, Questing Sage -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFQAcogDYvs If dreams can't come true... then why not pretend? 11:51 <CBN> Tony Bowen, Few Hands Making More Work, Baron of the Lesser Ones -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghcsrblhn7A I foresee terrible trouble // And I stay here just the same 11:51 <CBN> Tony: "Heckuva day." 11:52 <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 11:55 <Crion> Vandal's round partner, the great monster of golf, creaks as it is tipped in return. 11:55 <Crion> The Striveling Things -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9-BMpztz3E ♪♫♫♪ 11:55 <VoxPVoxD> uh 11:55 <banana> Melanie Lucas, Drifter and Defender -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tm_0KmKFt6k -- Be as fair to my heart as you can be. 11:58 <dammitwho> Maggie Bakehead, Furnace-Crowned -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0aaKcIAMrs -- Do this, then, raise the babies high and make them shriek with love and laughter! Do this, then, kiss your woman's eyes and raise a song unto the rafters! Wash the steel mill from your hair, heap the table 'til it's breaking! 'Nor let terror enter there, and in the hearth set the glasses breaking! 11:58 <trenchfoot> Nels Foulke, Out Of Time -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yd60nI4sa9A -- I went down to the crossroad, fell down on my knees // Asked the Lord above, have mercy if you please. 11:59 <Crion> "Well met to all of youl, and well met in return, I suspect," says the King of Sports. Yes, 'youl' -- like he wants to say 'youse,' goes for 'you'll,' and stops early. Weird. 11:59 <dammitwho> Maggie: "Mornin'!" 12:00 <Crion> "Shhurouk," whispers the Striveling Things. It's a friendly shhurouk. 12:01 <Crion> Peter's eyes are a bit wide. 12:02 <Crion> Evern Vandal, voice like a thunder god's: "We didn't see you earlier while playing through. But we were engaged in our Great Argument. And there are many trees now! So it goes." 12:02 <banana> Melanie: "It's a nice morning out." Are these things powerful hobs, or... maybe she shouldn't care anymore. The scalps could be decorative, hedgespun. Maybe all golfers have them. 12:03 <CBN> Tony nods and touches the brim of his hat to them both. "So many trees." This is 'playing along.' 12:04 <Crion> The Striveling Things: "Ssshhhak. Looouk passshaud." 12:04 <Crion> Vandal: "Yes! A good question. Who's winning?" 12:04 <CBN> Tony looks around the group. "After that...drive? Me at the moment, looks like." 12:06 <dammitwho> Maggie: "I don't like to say it, but he's ahead of us." 12:06 <banana> Melanie: "I'm twenty over, and even that is due to luck." 12:07 <Crion> Vandal: "Impressively bad!" 12:07 <Crion> "You have fallen afoul of fate, but you are still playing. To your credit!" 12:07 <banana> "At this point, we just want to get to the end of the course." 12:08 <CBN> Tony: "Might get out of here shy of 80 if I can follow-through on that setup. Been a better day than a game, know what I mean?" 12:09 <dammitwho> Maggie: "I shot a birdie last hole, but this one--" Nodding to Tony. "He's been hammering 'em like John Daly all day." 12:10 <Crion> Vandal: "A glorious drive for 90 strokes, er," 12:10 <Crion> The Striveling Things chitter. Vandal: "Baron!" 12:10 <CBN> Tony: "Always been better at slugging Arnold Palmers than swinging like him." 12:11 <Crion> Vandal: "I, of course, am in line for a 69 with par on this hole." Solemnly: "Nice." 12:11 <CBN> Tony nods. "Very nice." 12:12 <Crion> Vandal: "Anyhow! Play through, please." 12:12 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Only 220 off the tee, which is the story of my morning. I'm fine once the pin's in sight but I just cannot tee off. I'm always playing behind." 12:14 <Crion> The Striveling Things groan in sympathy. Vandal nods. "Yes! The putt is divine, but the drive is the true mover's art, the great spark. And it is a ballad of force and touch!" 12:33 <Crion> The motley and Peter play through admirably. It's essentially up to you who wins the hole, but the path of least resistance is probably Tony, Maggie, Nels and Melanie, Stewart and Peter. 12:33 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart's not mad. He's absolutely not mad. He's just tired. 12:34 <VoxPVoxD> "Well played." 12:34 <dammitwho> Maggie: "Huzzah!" 12:34 <Crion> Peter gives him a bit of a weird look, but accedes to not finishing last. 12:35 <trenchfoot> Nels is just happy to not do the worst of anyone. 12:37 <banana> Melanie, on the green: "It's funny. Competing like this doesn't feel as.. I don't know how golfers and cyclists stay motivated to train when they don't have teammates relying on them." 12:37 <Crion> Once the motley has played through, the King of Sports and the Striveling Things set up. Their last hole is short and brutal. The King of Sports makes the green on his first stroke, but doesn't seem too happy about it; that's because the Striveling Things wind up and do an insane windwill swing strike on the ball...that lands it directly in the hole. 12:38 <Crion> The King of Sports: "MOTHERFUCKER!" 12:38 <Crion> Then: "Frankly, I can't even be angry. You were bred and trained for direst murder in the strangest angles of creation. Of course you can optimize a golf swing." 12:38 <dammitwho> Neat! ..? 12:39 <Crion> "Sheeerrrh zzzuh shuh." The Striveling Things sound smug. 12:39 <Crion> To the rest of you, who haven't even had time to politely vacate the green: "Come! Join us in the clubhouse." 12:40 <trenchfoot> Um. Well, after that last line, probably best to just go along with it. 12:45 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Ah, we'd love to, but we're Epcot bound." 12:46 <VoxPVoxD> "How could we not be? It's so... geodesic." 12:47 <Crion> Vandal's face darkens. "You have business with Adastra." 12:47 <banana> Melanie: "More pertinently, it's on our schedule of attractions. Only 24 hours in a day." 12:49 <dammitwho> "Miles to go before we sleep!" Maggie adds cheerfully. 12:49 <dammitwho> It's in the name. Every Person Comes Out Tired. 12:50 <Crion> Evern Vandal: "Come now! We won't keep you past two in the afternoon." He raises a finger. "And we will swear to it." 12:51 <CBN> Tony looks around. What time even is it... 12:51 <Crion> The Striveling Ones make a noise in protest. Vandal: "Then there will be no one at your victory luncheon. We cannot penalize them simply because they are smart." 12:51 <Crion> It's just turned 11:30, according to watches. These two got an early start. 12:52 <Crion> To the extent that time of day matters...? 12:56 <banana> Melanie: "Thanks for the offer, really. We are in the middle of something, but feel free to raise an extra glass from us- you're both impressive players." 12:57 <CBN> Tony shrugs: "That's just a couple hours, and the clubhouse is right over there already...and you were nice enough to let us play through anyway. Where's the harm?" Probably at the clubhouse. 12:58 <banana> wtf 13:01 <Crion> Vandal: "The deal of the King of Sports is thus: Thou shalt not be detained, deterred, interred, compromised, compelled, or otherwise made to violate thine own heart under sufferance, unless thou makest a sporting challenge, and lose it thereby." 13:01 <Crion> "Thou means thou. I cannot ask you to throw darts over it." 13:09 <dammitwho> Maggie shrugs. "Seems fair...?" She looks to the others. 13:09 <Crion> Vandal and the Striveling Ones are being sincere, as far as you can tell, and they're not going to attack you if you refuse (just be disappointed and lonely, having to brunch alone). The question is one of priorities, of course: you have places to kill and things to be, but brunch in the clubhouse might, as Peter pointed out earlier, be a source of some goblin fruits that you either haven't 13:09 <Crion> had access to previously or haven't cared to cultivate. The clubhouse is also likely a hub of local hob activity within the strictures and suffocating guidances of the Magic Kingdom. Both of those benefits are theoretical, of course, compared to the absolute advantage of "getting on with it." 13:10 <banana> It is fair, but Melanie's reluctant. Why would they waste time here? These.. beings.. might not be fully Mouse-aligned, but right now the whole motley is in danger. They're doing this for Peter, so he'll give back what he stole, and for the military wizards, so they won't nuke Florida. It would be better to get it over with slash die trying. 13:12 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart didn't become the gamer he is today by hunting for consumables. If Tony's got his heart set on seeing the hobs we can stop, but otherwise let's get going. 13:12 <CBN> The promise of more hobs...too powerful a lure. Tony: "Yeah, sounds fair to me. Be nice to get in the shade for a little bit, catch our breath." 13:13 <trenchfoot> Honestly Nels is still concerned about the 'bred and trained for direst murder' thing even if they seem nice. And brunch with them is fine! Probably. 13:14 <Crion> Peter gives Stewart a look, but he doesn't say anything. 13:16 <Crion> Vandal looks around the motley. "Then if it is agreed, I will seal my Wyrd--" he says it like 'word,' here "--and tell them to set ten places. Two for me! Two for the Striveling Things! And six for you." 13:19 <Crion> When Evern Vandal calls ahead to the clubhouse, it literally means shouting across the lake. There's a little gnomish goblin man in a tuxedo standing there taking notes, and he nods and retreats on skittering spider legs. There will be a grand luncheon, the casks will be let out, and the kitchens will be wild and free. 13:20 <Crion> The clubhouse feels like it grew on top of itself -- like there was some prefab normie country club thing here before, and a thane's encampment squatted directly over it and sat down. Huge cooking fires with open ceilings in the kitchens; the dining area a fairway of its own with long tables. There's no tarping over it because it never rains in the Magic Kingdom, yet the grass drinks anyway. 13:20 <Crion> What does it drink? Good question. 13:20 <Crion> It looks healthy. 13:21 <CBN> Tony: "Well if the kitchen's wild and free, it's free, so there's no harm in getting a quick bite..." He looks to the rest of the group. 13:22 <Crion> When you arrive, Evern Vandal puts on a pair of great sunglasses and heads towards his throne to hold court. It mostly consists of jibes and asking hobs when they started working here. 13:22 <Crion> None of it is particularly mean, though. 13:23 <Crion> The Striveling Things scuttles down to the edge of the water and plants its four legs like roots into the soil, becoming a leafless tree. 13:23 <banana> Melanie tries to tamp down her wariness. Sitting around being evidently unwilling to be here would just inflame a dangerous situation, if it is one. She just.. finds it hard to see the creatures of the Hedge as potential friends or allies, rather than inhuman threats. 13:24 <banana> It's not even correct; she knows that plenty of them are friendly or even loyal and most of humanity isn't. But hewing close to Earth-bound people, trying to believe she's one of them, makes her feel less crazy. 13:24 <banana> ...when DID the servers start working here? 13:25 <Crion> After the Striveling Things goes still, the ground around it erupts, and two pinnochio men with :~) faces drawn on their gormless pates in charcoal cinders climb out, straighten their vests and pants, and sit down at the table. 13:26 <Crion> A good question, Melanie! The server hobs are friendly but obviously view a newcomer asking about their terms of employment with apprehension that quickly verges on panic. 13:26 <Crion> Tony might be a helpful ally here. 13:28 <CBN> Tony is more than happy to circulate amongst the hobs of all shapes, sizes, and employment terms. The usual "Hi-how're-ya's" mix in with "great-to-meet-cha's" as the Baron establishes that he is here and, you know. Just vibing on it. And also could go for a BLT. 13:29 <banana> Melanie: "I'm really interested in who you work for. Vandal's renting the place like a function center, right?" 13:30 <Crion> The hobs chatter that this is true! He's just the client; they're on seasonal contracts to...the boss. 13:31 <Crion> They've really got a lot of work to do, though. Especially when you start asking about contract details. 13:32 <Crion> Meanwhile for Stewart, Peter, Nels, and Maggie, the spread is fantastic. All the liquers you could want. And liquors. And beers, and sodas, and appertifs, and tapas, and finger foods, and so on and so forth. 13:33 <Crion> None of it's real of course, but it's all delicious. And there are weirder gardens on the promenade...ones you can slightly take with you. 13:33 <dammitwho> "Alright, I know I said no snacks, but... since we're being polite..." 13:33 <VoxPVoxD> Something about the Redwallish sight turns Stewart's stomach, and he doesn't eat or drink anything. 13:33 <Crion> Peter: "Holy shit. They do have amaranthine." 13:34 <banana> Melanie consults Tony on the servers, how to talk to these.. people. She'll return with an unassuming attitude. 13:35 <banana> We know from seasonal work. You could say we're all about that lifestyle. And we also know from being sent out by the bosses to do what needs to be done. What, in this case, is that, and by whom? 13:36 <Crion> It works! Tony's help is extremely helpful, of course, but it works mainly because Melanie puts in the work to make it work. The hobs are hesitant, then cautious, then interesting, then canny -- Tony and Melanie can meet their organizing leaders in the secret break room. It's behind the big bulletin board in the normal break room, which no one trusts. 13:37 <CBN> Tony circulates, snags the closest thing to a regular-looking BLT that hopefully stands for actual bacon, and lettuce, and tomato, or false approximations without any horrible revelations attached, and man. It hits the spot, fake or not. 13:43 <banana> Yeah, she should bring Tony back for this, but also.. hmm. 13:43 <Crion> Tony, Melanie, and whoever else slips away from brunch -- no one seems especially attentive there, especially not Vandal, who has a lot of stories to tell mainly to himself -- will find four spider-goblin servitors in the featureless, carved out room with benches like pews around a central open area for discourse. All of these workers are maybe a third of your size, so the room is as well. 13:43 <banana> Melanie's going to sidle up to Maggie on one of the big bench seats. She's not eating any of this faerie food herself. "Hey, union rep." 13:44 <banana> Melanie's going to sidle up to Maggie on one of the big bench seats. She's not eating any of this faerie food herself. "Hey, union rep." 13:44 <banana> "I mean, philosophically. I'm not in your union, if you've got one. Brewers' interdimensional 13?" 13:44 <banana> She'll pass on the goblin meeting spot. If all of us vanish at once it might be suspicious, though. 13:45 <dammitwho> Ohohohohoho. 13:45 <Crion> Peter will make the sacrifice and carouse for the greater good. 13:46 <dammitwho> Aw, what a sweet boy! Now, then. Maggie will wait a bit so it doesn't look obvious that they're sneaking away, and then... sneak away. 13:47 <CBN> Tony also found a burger with a fried egg right the hell on it. Man what a good call this was. 13:47 <Crion> Three of them look nervous. The fourth is whittling. 13:48 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart's pondering a croissant while a mimosa fizzes in front of him. He's thinking about Camazotz again, the feast laid out for Meg and Charles Wallace that was like clumps of wet sand draped in the illusion of a holiday dinner. In his recollection of the story - far from reliable, since lately everything before he got his first PC has been hazy and dreamlike in his mind - that was the 13:48 <VoxPVoxD> last big thing that happened before people succumbed to the metronomic will of the awful mind at work behind the sculpted paradise. 13:49 <VoxPVoxD> He sees Tony and Melanie and Maggie go off with some hobs; someone's gotta hold down the fort and actually interact with the guys who invited us to brunch. 13:50 <dammitwho> Maggie nods to the hobs. "Afternoon, fellas. Maggie, Baltimore local 410." 13:50 <Crion> The whittling one tosses the wood and the knife. The one who catches it stops looking nervous: "Magic Kingdom 14. Thirteen came before us. We're neighbors of the beast." 13:52 <banana> Melanie looks to the others. "You guys worked with the dockers, right?" Although the way they described that experience was more like a parody of labour. 13:52 <banana> labor. 13:53 <CBN> Tony nods, and from around bites of burger: "Yumf. Fsome good work." 13:53 <Crion> Peter opens his mouth, shuts it, then opens it again. "They'll let us leave before two, I think. Do you want me to choose out a fruit for you, or are you gonna forgo them?" 13:54 <Crion> The whittling one: "Our predecessors did. It's a great and magnicifent line, our historical lineage, up and down this coast. Trod well." 13:54 <Crion> "But not much respect for that in these lands." 13:56 <dammitwho> Maggie: "Well, maybe we can change that." 13:57 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart looks over at Peter. "I don't think they're really worth the trouble in singles. The Wyrd doesn't either; that's why you or I could get our arms around a dozen." 13:57 <Crion> The whittler nods. "We would be obliged. To help." 13:57 <banana> Melanie really should let the woman who understands the millieu these hobs are imitating speak, or the man who understands hobs. What she wants is to ask about the new.. management? Would they see it that way? Or is it that they always worked for Fake Disney, but now have travelled from Even Faker Florida? 13:58 <Crion> Peter: "Fair." 13:58 <Crion> "...What's the trouble?" 13:59 <dammitwho> Maggie: "So what's the situation here, fellas? Can't be good." 13:59 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Space, weight, time. Amaranthine smelling like Fireball doesn't help." 14:00 <Crion> The whittler: "It was local 6 when the new work schedule began. When all this started. You can do that math." 14:00 <Crion> "We've done it in blood." 14:00 <dammitwho> "Jaysus." 14:01 <Crion> The hob tosses the knife and the wood again. The hob that catches it immediately takes up the whittler's affect. "We've got dances we have to do. Please excuse us for them." The previous hob to hold the knife and wood has gone back to nervous silence. 14:02 <Crion> "Our question to you is, are you jacoBINS or jacoBITES?" 14:04 <dammitwho> Maggie doesn't really get the question, so she'll try to just answer it directly: "I've eaten at strange tables, but when blood hits the water I've never stood for any king, exiled or otherwise." 14:06 <banana> If they're asking what they think they are, Maggie's response is basically appropriate. To be honest, Melanie's starting to suspect she's some sort of Communist. 14:06 <banana> "Um, revolt against tyrants is basically.. a thing we've had to do before." 14:06 <Crion> Peter: "Haha. Yeah. Eggplant fireball is a freshman year liqueor, that's true." 14:08 <CBN> Tony nods along with what Maggie and Melanie are saying. 14:10 <Crion> "I don't really know how to put this, because I know I'm the source of you being here, and everything being...everything...so I'm really just opening myself up to whatever's gonna come back at me. But if you need help or you need a sounding board or you just need to talk, that's literally the least I can do." He takes a sip of what he hopes is just water. "You're the only one I'd say this to 14:10 <Crion> because I think the others would kill me." 14:11 <Crion> The whittler: "Jacobins, then. We like that." 14:11 <dammitwho> Wow! Maggie thinks Peter's kind of a dummy but she's not that sort! Buck up, kiddo. 14:11 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "They'd never do that." 14:11 <VoxPVoxD> "Even if they wanted to, they'd just mill around until someone made the decision for them." 14:11 <Crion> Peter: "At least one of them would do that." 14:12 <Crion> "Mmmm." 14:12 <dammitwho> Maggie: "Darn right. What we've come to do, win or lose, we won't sell you out. I'll put my Wyrd on that if need be." 14:12 <Crion> The whittler pauses mid-whittle. "Now that would be a welcome thing." 14:14 <Crion> "In return...we've got a union inside the great Beyonder's Temple, the Tower of Adastra. We can get you in through Epcot's truck bays." 14:15 <Crion> The wood begins to look more like a man. "So let's get to palaver." 14:22 <dammitwho> Maggie: "Then I'll swear for me and mine, on my good name and my new one and on the crown we forged together. Never shall I or any of me betray the working classes, hob or human, to the Lords and Ladies. No matter what the Rat offers, we will not sell the Magic Kingdom local out, up the river or down it. I remember the story told in Spring." 14:23 <Crion> All four hobs in the room, and the ones you can hear outside in the break room proper: "Hoom." 14:24 <Crion> The whittler: "So sworn, Furnace-Crowned." 14:24 <Crion> "And in this spirit, we will oppose the Princess of Heaven. Like we do whenever we ask for a raise." 14:24 <dammitwho> "S'right."