00:00 <VoxPVoxD> The elevator door slides open and Stewart walks in with two big bags from the grocery store full of meat and produce. The Wherehouse goes through food fast. He's... whistling? 00:00 <VoxPVoxD> The elevator door slides open and Stewart walks in with two big bags from the grocery store full of meat and produce. The Wherehouse goes through food fast. He's... whistling? 00:05 <dammitwho> "Heyo!" Maggie is dragging a few twos by four over to a pile in a disused corner. Building proper ceilings for their individual rooms is an intermediate step towards having a functional second floor. 00:06 <VoxPVoxD> "Maggie! Hey! How are you doing? I made a grocery run." 00:06 <VoxPVoxD> He sets the bags down on the kitchenette's counters. "Need any help with the wood?" 00:08 <dammitwho> Maggie: "Nope! Just finishing up. We're all gonna have to watch a lot more DIY Your Tube videos before I'll feel like we can put up a second floor that'll stay up." 00:09 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "You think Hedgespinning will respect our engineering skills?" 00:12 <dammitwho> "Maybe not, but I'd just as soon know enough to make the letter of the law match the spirit." 00:15 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart's putting groceries away. Lot of ground beef, chicken thighs, pork chops... "That makes sense. Hey, Lauren showed me a really good pizza place in the city I want to take you guys to at some point. They're so good they don't even deliver." 00:16 <VoxPVoxD> "Their four cheese is so good even getting attacked by wizards didn't ruin the experience." 00:16 <dammitwho> Maggie: "Oh? One of those places where they have pictures of not-really-famous Italian guys on the attacked by what now?" 00:18 <dammitwho> Maggie's heartrate shoots up, but Stewart was whistling and casual when he came in. He's alright, Lauren's alright. Cripes, kid. 00:19 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart, brightly: "Yeah, it was fucked up! You remember that thing I bought at the market? The magical computer encyclopedia?" He opens the fridge again. "I'm getting one of these ginger beers I just got, you want one?" 00:21 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart sways lightly as he reaches into the fridge. 00:22 <dammitwho> Maggie, delicately: "Sure. Why don't you let me pour while you have a sit down there, hoss?" 00:22 <dammitwho> Before you fall down...? 00:24 <VoxPVoxD> "They're in cans!" says Stewart, who doesn't quite use his indoor voice. "It's. It's in cans." He'll collapse into the armchair nearest the kitchenette, which is next to the armchair Maggie favors. As if propelled upward by the force of his fall, his right leg bounces up to cross over the other knee. Kss. 00:30 <dammitwho> In that case, Maggie will hand him an opened can and some folded up paper towels just in case, before retiring to her chair with her own beer. 00:33 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart folds up the paper towel three times and puts it between the can and the arm of the chair as an ersatz coaster. "Anyway, the evil wizards got mad that I had it. I dunno how they found out. Maybe they had some kind of trace or notification set up when I was researching the Belvedere. That's wizard territory. But, it's the nice wizard territory. Lauren took me there on our first 00:33 <VoxPVoxD> date." 00:34 <VoxPVoxD> "Or... maybe nice is the wrong word. Even the good ones are kind of too intense to be nice." 00:34 <VoxPVoxD> "Not like you guys are nice." 00:34 <VoxPVoxD> "You guys are so nice." 00:40 <dammitwho> Maggie: "Thank you, Stewart. Now, you say they attacked you...?" Gonna have to get him some of that Gatorade drink. 00:42 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "So we go in, right, and the place is packed. Looks like there won't be room for us even though Lauren made a reservation. But the register dings, and as luck would have it, instead we get a private room to ourselves." Sip. "One of the party rooms in the basement, just the two of us. I'm thinking, kind of weird, but kind of cool. Privacy, right? To talk about whatever." 00:43 <VoxPVoxD> "Our server comes in - this really nice lady named Karen, who has to run like the whole length of the building just to get to us from upstairs - and we order. We start talking. A little while later the door opens, and it's not Karen. It's two wizards." 00:44 <VoxPVoxD> "One of them makes the door disappear. So it's just four walls, the four of us, and the table. The other one has our pizza." 00:45 <VoxPVoxD> "And right away he starts in on this patter. Good news bad news. And he's grinning so wide. Real movie Satan hours, you know?" 00:48 <VoxPVoxD> "Now I've seen this guy before. He was watching me park at the Belvedere, that first time. Shortish guy, handsome, slick hair, red suit. Like I said, movie devil." 00:48 <VoxPVoxD> "So he says do you want the good news or the bad news first. Like he had this whole call and response patter worked out but he was the only one who got the script. This is- this is gonna be a theme, we'll come back to that." 00:49 <dammitwho> Maggie's breathing a little heavier than normal, and she takes a drink to cover. 00:51 <VoxPVoxD> "We're too freaked out to answer so he has to guide us along. He gives us the bad news first. Karen has cancer, he says. Stage IV Pancreatic. Your guts dissolving and turning inside out. You know to give us some stakes, I guess." He takes another sip. "I looked it up after. There is no Stage V." 00:52 <VoxPVoxD> "The good news is, apparently, our pizza was ready!" 00:53 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart unconsciously blinks back his tears. "So then he says, eat." 00:54 <VoxPVoxD> "Except he doesn't say it like that, he says," and Stewart produces a sound you wouldn't think his throat could make, something high and hard and husky and full of urgent, hungry menace. "EAT!!" 00:55 <VoxPVoxD> Another sip. "We don't, obviously, because what the fuck." 00:56 <dammitwho> Stewart's doing a really good job of conveying this guy's... essence, or something. Are changelings naturally good actors? It would make sense. Maggie: "Go on." 00:56 <VoxPVoxD> "But he keeps at us, cause there's a way this goes, right? He blocked this out in his head and there's a rhythm. So he just bears down on us until we start eating. Lauren's almost crying, my throat isn't even opening all the way. But we eat." 00:58 <VoxPVoxD> "Then he takes out a gun. Puts it on the table." 00:59 <VoxPVoxD> Takes out a taser. Or a stun gun, I guess. It's not the kind that throws the little wires that stick onto someone. It's the size and shape of an electric razor. You gotta get in real close." 01:00 <VoxPVoxD> "Then he says, we're going to play a game." 01:00 <VoxPVoxD> "If you run, Karen dies. If you don't, Karen lives." 01:01 <VoxPVoxD> "The game is, he asks me questions. If I don't answer the questions, or I answer wrong," Long sip. "He hurts Lauren." 01:04 <dammitwho> He was happy when he came in. She needs to remember that. 01:08 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "The first question he asks is, what would it take to make me violent? And I answer--" He furrows his brow, suddenly concentrating. Perhaps the day-drinking is clouding his memory. "--no, yeah, I said, 'an irreversible mistake'. Which is dumb, right? It's sort of abstract and disconnected and a little corny. It's a real I-Am thing to say." That's what he says. He says 01:08 <VoxPVoxD> I-Am. "The guy doesn't like the answer, so he goes to take the taser to Lauren." 01:08 <dammitwho> "And...?" 01:09 <VoxPVoxD> "She practically falls out of the chair scrambling away - it's a big room, remember. They reserve these for parties, so there's some space to run around when it's just us. He goes for her and he can't connect and after a little bit he gives up. And he asks another question." 01:10 <VoxPVoxD> "Cause he said to Lauren, he said, you're not even a real person anymore. But Karen was. So hold still, was the implication." 01:11 <VoxPVoxD> "I said, don't talk to her like that. Which is also fucking corny. Like, step away from my girl, buster! What the fuck was I thinking." 01:12 <VoxPVoxD> "Anyway, then he asks me the next question, which was, you know, or else what?" 01:13 <VoxPVoxD> "So I say, I'll take her, and we'll run, and you know. I don't negotiate with terrorists, I guess. That was what I decided to say." 01:14 <VoxPVoxD> "So he goes for Lauren again." 01:15 <VoxPVoxD> "This time she dives under an empty table - banged her thigh real bad on one of the legs, she showed me later - and he still can't connect. And you know, I guess she held out long enough for the patter to keep going. This whole time the gun's still on the table. And I only just then figure out what it's for. He's trying to get me to pick it up. To take a shot at him. To find, I don't know, 01:15 <VoxPVoxD> the killer instinct." 01:16 <VoxPVoxD> "It's just got one in the chamber, he took the cl- the magazine out." 01:17 <VoxPVoxD> "Third question - and this is where I figure out what's got him so het up - is he asks me how many people I love have to die before I take iron to the book myself?" 01:19 <VoxPVoxD> "And I was thinking - I was thinking of Santander, one of the high-ups in the Autumn Court. The Lord Sage. He's really cool, but in a lonely way, right? Up in his tower by himself, doing everyone's taxes. Living for other people. So I thought about what it'd look like, if you know he killed Lauren. If he killed you guys. Would I give it up? And I realized: no, I wouldn't. Cause if all the 01:19 <VoxPVoxD> people I loved were gone, the magic would be all that was left." 01:19 <VoxPVoxD> He doesn't seem to realize he's crying now. 01:20 <dammitwho> Maggie sniffles a little. 01:23 <VoxPVoxD> "He goes for Lauren again, but he just cannot fucking connect. She's not doing ninja flips or anything like that, she's not- you know, she's the brain, brains can't jump. So it's ugly and graceless and it's scary every second but he can't get her." 01:23 <VoxPVoxD> "The Judas lady in the corner is like, we gotta wrap this up. You know, like they're on a clock." 01:23 <VoxPVoxD> "Red suit man says one more question." 01:24 <VoxPVoxD> "And Judas lady doesn't like it, but obviously she's not the boss. She's just standing there watching." 01:25 <VoxPVoxD> "So then he asks me, what would I do to keep her safe? Keep Lauren safe." 01:25 <dammitwho> Thinking about Stewart Reader conceiving himself as the brawn in a brains-and-brawn duo. Or perhaps beauty? Either way. 01:26 <VoxPVoxD> He meant of the Autumn Court!! sheesh 01:27 <VoxPVoxD> "And I say, well you can't catch her, and I'm faster than her, so I'd just run interference. And that answer's not good enough either. You know I fucking hate that? When someone asks you an open-ended question and they obviously have an answer in mind but they just get pissed at you for not guessing correctly on the first try?" 01:27 <VoxPVoxD> "I say, you're clearly willing to kill her to get to me. Are you willing to kill me to get to her?" 01:28 <VoxPVoxD> "He says he'd kill me for free, so I figure, fuck it. Let's give him the chance. I run up and sort of jump over Lauren as he's going for her, and we end up kind of body-checking each other." 01:28 <VoxPVoxD> We fall down. The taser scorches the floor a little." 01:29 <VoxPVoxD> "Judas lady says we really have to go. So now I guess he's frustrated enough to get mad at her." 01:29 <VoxPVoxD> "Just, fuckin, belts her across the face. She spits blood." 01:29 <VoxPVoxD> "Then he's got his hands around her throat." 01:29 <VoxPVoxD> "But something's happened, something's clearly happened, cause they leave. Before he goes he says, we'll continue this conversation later. I look forward to meeting your pain." 01:30 <VoxPVoxD> "And they just, melt through the floor, and they're gone." 01:30 <VoxPVoxD> "And then someone knocks on the door, which is back now." 01:31 <VoxPVoxD> "Lauren's sprawled out on the floor, she's bruised and crying and fucking terrified." 01:31 <VoxPVoxD> "But I, suavely, go for the door." 01:32 <VoxPVoxD> "And then three more wizards walk in. These are good wizards. I know cause I recognize one of them. Fireman, he works at the Belvedere. He helped me out when those fake wizard cops were messing with me that first night." 01:33 <VoxPVoxD> "The leader's this kind of bald-ish guy all in white, wearing a priest's collar. He says his name is Jesuit. He says the red suit man's name is Society." 01:35 <VoxPVoxD> "I let them in and tell them where Society and the Judas lady went, and he's like, I don't care. I know that man. And I'm like, whatever. His song's really intense so I just roll with it. Fireman's checking on Lauren, so I go over to her and make sure she's alright, and she basically is. Then I remember Karen." 01:35 <VoxPVoxD> "Jesuit says they're taking care of Karen, that when they're done she'll have had a bad scare but she'll be okay." 01:35 <dammitwho> Maggie: "Did they fix Karen-- good..." 01:36 <VoxPVoxD> "So then what they do is... they ask if we're still hungry." 01:36 <VoxPVoxD> "And then they order another pizza. Crab pizza. ALSO very good, if you're curious." 01:37 <VoxPVoxD> "And we talk a little bit. He tells me about the wizards and their war. They're fighting over, I dunno, Heaven? Who gets to go to Heaven? It was very philosophical and I don't think I really understand it." 01:39 <VoxPVoxD> "And we work out a, a solution, so I don't have to destroy the book but Lauren's-- we're safe, you know? Put it in the Belvedere, where I can use it whenever. I say, you know, sure, as long as Kingsley and Santander sign off. They're friends with the good wizards, or, I don't know, I've never seen them interact. They're allies at least." 01:39 <VoxPVoxD> "And we eat some pizza and catch our breaths and leave a huge tip for Karen, who comes in to box up our pizza to take home." 01:39 <dammitwho> "Probably wouldn't see them interact even if they were friends," she murmurs. 01:40 <VoxPVoxD> "You're probably right." 01:40 <VoxPVoxD> "And then Lauren and I go home. That was night before last." 01:41 <VoxPVoxD> "So how's your day going?" 01:41 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart belatedly dries his eyes. 01:43 <dammitwho> Is his can empty at this point? 01:47 <VoxPVoxD> Yeah. 01:51 <dammitwho> She stands, stretches, walks over to the refrigerator and takes out a small sports drink bottle. (It's just good sense to stock those now. Better than dealing with a hungover goose.) She returns to stand behind Stewart's chair, gently takes his empty beer can and replaces it with the plastic bottle, and pats his shoulder. "M'proud of you, Stewart. You did the right thing all along the line." 01:51 <VoxPVoxD> For some reason this makes him lose it again. Face in his hands, dry gasping sobs. 01:56 <dammitwho> It's hard to hug someone from behind while they're sitting in a chair while leaning forward, so she has to kind of go around the side and crouch down and put her arm around his shoulders. 01:58 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart leans into it, and takes the sports drink when Maggie gets back up. "I don't think being a wizard makes you more like Them. But if you already had the inclination, being a wizard means you won't be able to help yourself." 01:59 <dammitwho> She nods. "I did wonder whether the evil wizards chose the one of their number most like a Keeper to do the job, or if they were just all like that." 02:00 <VoxPVoxD> "They can't all be like him." 02:00 <dammitwho> "No," She says, "I suppose not." 02:01 <VoxPVoxD> "Anyway, Lauren's okay, I'm okay. It's okay." 02:02 <dammitwho> "Hooooo." 02:03 <VoxPVoxD> "It's funny cause most of the time I've been feeling really good. Work's going well, magic stuff is going well, I've got the 24 hour Halloween stream tomorrow. Lauren and I are - it feels like we're a couple now, you know? Instead of, kind of, courting." 02:04 <dammitwho> "Heh. Courting." 02:04 <VoxPVoxD> "Heh." 02:05 <dammitwho> Maggie: "Stewart? This may sound like changing the subject a little, but I know you make your living where people watch you play video games on your Tube there. I'm assuming that sort of thing is pretty popular, all told. Probably been going on for a while, lots of different games involved?" 02:05 <dammitwho> "What, in your opinion, is the best, uh, matchup of the past? The Super Bowl of video gamesmanship." 02:05 <VoxPVoxD> "Youtube. Your tube sounds- nevermind." 02:05 <VoxPVoxD> "What do you mean?" 02:05 <VoxPVoxD> "Like a competitive matchup?" 02:06 <dammitwho> She nods. "Could be. I mean like people go back and watch old football matches, yeah? The most thrilling championships." 02:07 <dammitwho> "For streaming the games, what is the thing that people say 'Oh wow, remember when--?'" 02:08 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Yeah there's a whole field of video game streaming where people play competitive games in tournaments for money. It's called, uh, eSports." 02:09 <VoxPVoxD> "It's not really my thing, nowadays, though there's a lot of games that are popular. League, Dota, Counterstrike... back in the day, though," back before "the main thing that was around to get into was professional Starcraft. Years and years before eSports got big anywhere else, people were playing Starcraft: Brood War in stadiums in front of huge screaming live audiences in South Korea." 02:10 <dammitwho> Maggie: "Huge? Like...?" 02:10 <VoxPVoxD> "There were these huge teams, sponsored by big Korean tech companies. It got broadcast on for-real TV. You'd get people staying up until 4 in the morning to watch shitty bootleg streams with commentary they couldn't even understand." 02:11 <VoxPVoxD> "Like thousands." 02:12 <dammitwho> "Golly." 02:12 <dammitwho> Maggie: "Did you watch that?" 02:12 <VoxPVoxD> "The Pro League - that was what the team tournament was called, where whole teams would play against each other instead of individual players competing for prizes - was actually played outside, on a beach. Gwanganri." 02:12 <VoxPVoxD> "I did." 02:12 <VoxPVoxD> "They made a Starcraft 2 and that was really big for a while but I, I missed all that." 02:12 <VoxPVoxD> "So I only really know from Brood War." 02:13 <VoxPVoxD> "But Brood War had some great matchups. Boxer and Yellow, Bisu and Savior. The best, though, the absolute best, was Jaedong and Flash." 02:21 <dammitwho> "Hoorm. Think you could get it to play on the TV in here?" 02:21 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "For sure, a lot of it's up on Youtube and even has English commentary now." 02:25 <VoxPVoxD> "Did you want to see it? It'll be kind of hard to follow..." 02:25 <dammitwho> Maggie: "I'm not so green as I'm grass-colored, boy. I bet between you and the announcers I can get the gist." 02:26 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Alright, let me set it up." 02:26 <VoxPVoxD> It takes a little bit to buffer the VODs with the through-Hedge internet, but it works. Lauren's so smart. He misses her so much. 02:27 <VoxPVoxD> But eventually it's up: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCghDY-pYl4 02:28 <dammitwho> It doesn't really matter if Maggie follows the game at all, anyhow. It'll give Stewart something to fall asleep to, and give Maggie something to keep her mind off the thought that's intruded into her head. It's in deep, thoroughly uncomfortable, but impossible to deny, like a thorn that's grown up under her tongue. Painful, but you can't stop poking it with your tongue to see if it's still 02:28 <dammitwho> there. 02:28 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart, indeed, falls asleep pretty quick. 02:29 <dammitwho> She sighs a little. Maybe she should write this 'Society's name and description down. It might make her feel better, having something on paper. Or maybe this will all be gone tomorrow.