21:36 <Crion> The crew that pops into existence in the middle of the Oberon's main lounge and falls the last four feet to the floor, or table, or barstool, is bedraggled and bleeding. Jesuit and Everafter are the worst-off; while Jesuit is able to make it to the bar, Everafter just collapses on the polished wooden floor. Union is moving for her almost before she hits the ground. Langford List looks burned; 21:36 <Crion> Fireman has a nasty laceration he's putting pressure on; Amelia is tending to Harlan Jape and Spring, while Gerald supports Kingsley. The Young Street seems mostly unfazed -- he's well enough to scoop and catch List as he falls -- and Winter King and Santander are completely untouched. 21:36 <Crion> The room goes into motion like a chicken with its head cut off, though the regents will attempt to impose order after a minute. 21:38 <VoxPVoxD> Is that everyone we were expecting? 21:39 <Crion> Yep. Everyone else is accounted for., 21:40 <Crion> One way or another. 21:41 <dammitwho> Well, that's good...? 21:41 <trenchfoot> It's... less bad than it could be. 21:42 <Crion> Union's knocked over a table to clear a space on one of those wall bench-sofa seating areas for Everafter to lie down. 21:42 <VoxPVoxD> Jesuit and Everafter practically burned themselves up. Is this their stage hook? "Magic won't heal that. They're going to need time." 21:43 <CBN> Tony, after taking a second to process: "Do you guys want to tell us yours first or hear ours?" 21:43 <trenchfoot> Nels, who is still extremely wounded: "Think we all do." 21:43 <Crion> Gerald and Kingsley, at basically the same time: "Stewart!" Then they sort of glance at each other, embarrassed. 21:44 <Crion> Santander just nods gravely in Stewart's direction, before doing the same to Gaunt Rose. 21:44 <Crion> "Colin," the Winter King: "Hey, Tone. You can go first." 21:44 <Crion> *'Colin' 21:44 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart freezes a bit, but after he recovers gestures at the rest of the motley. Everyone's safe, and more or less okay. 21:45 <VoxPVoxD> Gerald is supporting Kingsley? Is Kingsley visibly injured? 21:45 <Crion> Amelia will give the Spring girls a harried wave; she's busy with medical stuff. 21:45 <Crion> The girls from the Spring Court, as opposed to the Winter Court girl named Spring. Who seems to be bleeding pretty badly. 21:46 <Crion> Or was, at least. 21:46 <Crion> Kingsley's slumped against Gerald and favoring a leg, but doesn't seem to be leaking bodily fluids or have limbs poking the way they shouldn't. 21:50 <VoxPVoxD> Then Stewart stays with the others, waiting for things to settle down and people to start talking again. 21:52 <CBN> Tony: "Ok, "He looks to the rest of the motley, then back: "We went through a door in the basement, ended up in a part of the Hedge where that shithead Gary was summoning, creating, something? Weird rune spinny monster orb thing. Then we won, and he seemed to think he was getting the best of a deal with one of the Keepers, who then took him, or left with him, either way." 21:53 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "He was building some sort of faked ochema in the Hedge, and talked about wanting to 'prefigure the Ruin'." 21:55 <trenchfoot> Nels, helpfully: "It was awful." 21:57 <CBN> Tony nods and gestures emphatically at Nels in agreement. "Y-Yes. Yes! Yes." 21:58 <trenchfoot> She's beaming. Helping! 22:04 <Crion> Everafter's going to have to get home now; Fireman will depart with her once they're able to get a gurney from...somewhere. Do they have an ambulance waiting? That's fortuitous. Jesuit sits at the bar, worse for wear but upright. Union makes the rounds with the changelings and kneels down next to each. Muttering something under his breath -- Tony, you might be able to recognize it -- he sets 22:04 <Crion> about...drawing on their injuries in sharpie? And as he does, wounds knit, flesh heals, and bones reset. 22:04 <Crion> By the end, he looks exhausted. 22:05 <Crion> The Winter King: "Well, fuck." 22:05 <Crion> Jesuit: "An ochema, you say." 22:05 <trenchfoot> Nels: "Yeah. About the fuck thing." 22:05 <Crion> "To 'prefigure the Ruin.'" 22:06 <Crion> "Mmmmmmm." 22:06 <trenchfoot> "'Cause. Fuck." 22:06 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "It wasn't clear whether the Ruin was an entity or an object or an event." 22:07 <Crion> The Winter King: "It's against just about everything we believe to wish a Durance on anyone, so I won't. But I'm glad he's gone." 22:07 <Crion> Jesuit: "The Ruin is all of those things. And worse." 22:08 <Crion> Jesuit: "...How sure are you in the power of these Gentry, to hold and bind a willful man?" 22:09 <CBN> Tony: "Here?" He shrugs. "On their turf? Pretty close to a hundred precent, doesn't matter who you are or were." 22:09 <dammitwho> Maggie purses her lips: "Doesn't matter how wilful you are." 22:09 <Crion> Santander: "He is a willworker...NO MORE!!!!" 22:10 <VoxPVoxD> "But people escape," says Stewart, with a lurch in his gut that he tries to ignore. "We did, after all. But he won't be the same." 22:10 <trenchfoot> Wow, okay. Maybe dial it back a bit, dude. 22:10 <Crion> The Autumn Court's accountant, ambassador, and wizard has been keeping a keen eye on Union, and seems to have begrudgingly approved the work. 22:10 <trenchfoot> Nels has been learning a lot from television. 22:11 <Crion> Kingsley and Gerald sit down at the bar, too. "So. The Eastern District is going to need a new precinct house," the Steward of Autumn says. 22:12 <Crion> Jesuit: "I would say they should think twice about serving the Iron Pyramid, but..." The mage shrugs. "Police." 22:12 <Crion> Detective Serrato Colt grimaces from behind the bar, then shrugs. 22:14 <Crion> Jesuit: "If this Gary does return, will he be subject to your law, or ours?" 22:14 <Crion> This is sort of an open question for the room. The Winter King glances to the motley, given you were the ones to interact with him nearly exclusively. 22:15 <Crion> 'Colin': "Depends on if he's a danger...what do you all think?" 22:15 <VoxPVoxD> "He might not even remember any of this if he makes it back." 22:15 <trenchfoot> Nels: "If he comes back I'm pretty sure he'll be one of ours. But that's a pretty big if." 22:16 <CBN> Tony scratches his head for a second. "I gotta assume after enough time over there he'd come out more like ours than yours. At least he'll be more related to our stuff at that point. And yeah. If." 22:16 <Crion> Jesuit: "If he comes back as one of yours, then, he's yours. Otherwise...we will clean up that mess. If the Pylon doesn't do it first." 22:16 <trenchfoot> "He... there's a... I think he thought he was winning. But that's how They get you." 22:17 <Crion> Jesuit: "I'm given to understand he had an exceptionally long lifetime of winning. Perhaps he got tired of it." 22:17 <Crion> "One more thing. About Society--" 22:19 <Crion> "His second, Counselor, attempted a quite foolhardy spell that resulted in...everything you see at the Eastern District, and here, to a certain degree. He disappeared along with her. But the only Seer we know to be dead is Anathema. Apparently Society decided failure was one thing, but failure in service to someone other than him...unforgiveable." 22:19 <Crion> "I don't think we'll be seeing much of him for some time. His superiors, at the very least, will be quite displeased with how things turned out this morning. But if you do see him...let us know." 22:23 <CBN> Tony: "So does this mean you guys win at wizard war here now or something? What's next?" 22:24 <VoxPVoxD> What is next? 22:24 <Crion> Having gotten the formerly-injured squared away, Amelia Banthem wanders over. Courtiers are beginning to file out; too many changelings in one place is always kind of risky. 22:25 <dammitwho> Unless you're having a party. 22:25 <Crion> Jesuit: "The war never ends, Anthony. But yes, it's gone quiet for now. Hopefully until all this blood and pus stops, at least." You notice that while his wounds are quite bad, they're at least not dripping or staining his clothes. Presumably he's done something magical here, though whatever it is doesn't seem to be healing per se. 22:26 <Crion> Amelia to Nels and Maggie (if they're standing close together, she'll try to hug them both, one with each arm): "So how are the two biggest badasses in the Spring Court this evening?" 22:26 <Crion> Kingsley, mildly: "I told you this motley was a good idea." 22:33 <Crion> The Winter King: "You're really trying to take credit for this." 22:34 <Crion> He shrugs. "I was king at the time. What can I say. Excellent administration." 22:34 <Crion> Amelia, seeing the King about to respond: "Gentlemen. At the very least we are postponing this argument until tomorrow." 22:38 <Crion> The motley is dismissed, more or less on their own terms; they can talk to whoever they want to talk to before they go, leave on their own schedule. But most everyone's filtering out. It's been a very odd January 4th in Baltimore and people want to get home. 22:39 <trenchfoot> Nels says nothing while being hugged but blushes because golly. Gosh. Good golly gosh. 22:42 <dammitwho> Maggie: "Wwwhew!" 22:42 <dammitwho> "I hope Steve left us some beers." 22:43 <Crion> It's still winter, of course, and there's so much heat on the city right now that the Freehold is more or less going to ground except for when they need to come up for air, like Spring and getting the Sidereal fixed up. So you've pretty much got the next...couple months and change to yourself? Damn, the Spring handover isn't until March 19. 22:43 <Crion> Who knows what will be happening by then! 22:44 <Crion> It's back to the Wherehouse if you want! All your stuff is there anyway. 22:46 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart has to stream still, which is absurd. But once he actually settles in it's easier than ever. The lingering anxiety about being constantly visible and up for judgment doesn't even register. There's one instance, a couple of hours into a juiced map run, where he gives a long look directly into his webcam, which for just a moment seemed to catch the light like a doll's eye. Or a 22:46 <VoxPVoxD> shark's. 22:48 <Crion> Lauren will come back home with him for that. Angelfire is apparently back home safe and sound, and still paranoid about social interactions. Apparently there's some new flu in China he's worried about. 22:49 <Crion> So she can hang out slightly off stream and give moral support. Chup, of course, is still at the Wherehouse. 22:54 <trenchfoot> Cat. 22:55 <Crion> When the stream is over: "...Babe, how're you doing?" 22:58 <CBN> Tony starts in on a jug of water once they get back to the Wherehouse. The way things've been going, never sure if you can get a proper drunk on right now. 22:59 <Crion> Steve is glad to see him. Chup is a cat, and acts as he wills. Probably practiced, aggressive indifference. 23:02 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart turns around to face her. "I keep hitting rolls on these double-influenced bases that are good enough to sell but not good enough to use and it's driving me... nuts..." He sort of peters out as he sees the concern she's trying to hide. Ordinarily he'd rush to say or do something to try and put her at ease. But the silence lingers just a bit before he says, "What's up?" 23:02 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart turns around to face her. "I keep hitting rolls on these double-influenced bases that are good enough to sell but not good enough to use and it's driving me... nuts..." He sort of peters out as he sees the concern she's trying to hide. Ordinarily he'd rush to say or do something to try and put her at ease. But the silence lingers just a bit before he says, "What's up?" 23:06 <Crion> "You're..." She pauses; her eyes dim a bit. "I was gonna say you're worrying me or you're scaring me but that's not right. I'm worried for you. I'm scared for you. It's been a long two months and you've been through a lot of shit." 23:06 <Crion> "It's selfish to ask this but...can you take it easy for a little while? Or easier? I know Santander has stuff for you to do..." 23:07 <Crion> "But maybe no more wizards for a bit?" 23:10 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart stays silent for a bit longer before saying, "Yeah, that's- that's fine. They seem like they're going to be lying low for a while themselves anyway." 23:10 <VoxPVoxD> This is a lot of de-emphasis. 23:11 <Crion> Mildly: "I'm glad you didn't make the pirate joke, though." 23:16 <VoxPVoxD> "Pirate joke?" 23:16 <Crion> "Driving me nuts." 23:16 <Crion> She doesn't use the pirate voice, but it's an attempt to cut the tension. 23:17 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart blinks. "Oh. Yeah. Heh." He rubs the back of his neck. "How are you doing? It hasn't exactly been a great couple of months for you either." 23:20 <Crion> She smiles and sighs, in that order. "I'm doing better. Which isn't good, but things were really fuckin' bad there for a bit. I'm looking forward to the only bit of excitement this and next month being what we do for Valentine's Day, god willing." 23:20 <Crion> There are beers in the Wherehouse, it turns out. 23:20 <Crion> But who got them...? 23:21 <Crion> One six-pack, Modello Negro, is obvious. That's Lauren. 23:21 <Crion> *Modelo 23:26 <Crion> The other six-pack is clearly goblin fruits, but it's not the Vines of Bacchus you've been keeping stowed away. These look like nondescript, government-branded beer you'd see in a cartoon -- you know, BEER brand beer -- but on each tan can with BEER written on it, it's written with a different vowel. BEAR, BEER, BEIR, BEOR, BEUR, BEYR. 23:27 <Crion> Wait, there's another sixer behind that one. 23:27 <Crion> Same thing. 23:27 <Crion> Except this time it's BAER, BEER, BIER, BOER, BUER, BYER. 23:29 <Crion> Steve isn't drinking right now. He seems to be in an argument with the cat. 23:29 <dammitwho> Okay, Maggie has to know what BEAR-brand beer tastes like. 23:29 <dammitwho> So she'll drink it while watching Steve argue with Chup. 23:30 <Crion> This is...kind of like a stout? It's definitely not a MEMORABLE stout. But it does the job. 23:30 <trenchfoot> Steven. Please. 23:36 <dammitwho> This isn't bearlike at all! 23:38 <CBN> Tony's got his water, but he's eyeing those beers... 23:41 <CBN> Tony's looking at his water, looking at those beers. For now it's an internal struggle. 23:41 <Crion> Steve honks, clearly impressed with himself; Chup meows, clearly not. He wants to know how Maggie likes the Bexr. 23:43 <dammitwho> Maggie quotes, solemnly: "'It gets you drunk.'" 23:43 <Crion> Honk!! Hell yes!! 23:49 <trenchfoot> Nels is in her room, testing out her new-ish guitar... Anyone listening close can hear more than just the guitar. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4M53xndqiU 00:00 <Crion> Steve is looking between Maggie and Tony expectantly. 00:01 <dammitwho> Maggie will select BEOR and hold it out to Tony. 00:04 <CBN> Tony gladly accepts and takes an exploratory sip. "Thank you! But if we get ambushed tonight I'm blaming you." 00:05 <Crion> This one's basically a Bud...but if you like the simple pleasure of a Bud, this Beor's for you. 00:05 <Crion> Steve honks out something that's like one-third protest, two-thirds bragging: these aren't a trap! They were a gift! Tribute from the near-Hedge! 00:06 <Crion> Word's been getting around that friends to hobs walk the Hedge around Notgnixel. 00:07 <CBN> Tony: "Oh nice. Think we'll get more credit for that than we will for all the...I dunno, weird wizard language egg bullshit?" He cheers's Maggie. 00:08 <Crion> Steve honks again, seeming to sort of ignore that last bit. He's really high on the idea of being the intermediary/Made Man for communicating with the new neighborhood big shots, and has been saying so to Chup for some time. 00:08 <Crion> This is, after all, good for business, and deals. 00:09 <dammitwho> Cheers. "Only credit I want from all this is from the seasonal kings. I don't think I could even explain what just happened to the hobs." 00:11 <CBN> Tony: "The hobs are too pure to get involved with wizard shit." Tony nods to Steve. "They don't need that, they've got enough problems. Also Steve, can the cat talk, or what. Is it a cat, really? I've never been clear on that." 00:12 <Crion> Honk! The cat is a cat. Actual animals aren't completely unknown on this side of the Hedge. Chup is just grumpy all the time. 00:14 <VoxPVoxD> Left to his own devices for a while, Stewart spends a lot of time at home. He used to do this, before he got taken, and before he thought he got out: whenever things were too much he'd just hole up with a backlog of games, a backlog of tv shows, and go out to get drinks. That's not really the natural rhythm his life falls into now, because Lauren's there watchinglooking out for him, 00:14 <VoxPVoxD> but he's definitely much scarcer both out in the city and even at the Wherehouse. 00:14 <CBN> Tony: "Oh, that's a cat for ya then." Tony: "Feel like we should write someone a thank you note for these beers though, that's just the polite thing to do." 00:15 <VoxPVoxD> And he's careful to make sure lines of communication are open, so whatever the next scheduled event is doesn't sail over his head. 00:16 <Crion> Honk honk HONK! Well of course, Steve says (honks). They were given on expectation of that very thing! He hastens to honk that neither of them agreed to a binding oath just by drinking. 00:18 <Crion> The next person to reach out to Stewart will actually be Gaunt Rose, and she'll do it via Ravens. It'll have been about a week. 00:18 <VoxPVoxD> ! What's up? 00:21 <Crion> QUOTH|HAS|ITS|THORN: <hey. santander wants me to get you back in the loop on the boy.> 00:21 <Crion> QUOTH|HAS|ITS|THORN: <if you're up for it.> 00:22 <VoxPVoxD> <no willworkers right? swearing off wizards for a bit> 00:23 <Crion> Steve keeps honking. The BB&B wants to meet with him...at his convenience! That's why they sent over the bexrs! 00:23 <Crion> He can't seem to remember what BB&B stands for at the moment. 00:23 <dammitwho> The Boys are Back and Bown? 00:24 <Crion> QUOTH|HAS|ITS|THORN: <yeah sure i can liaise.> 00:24 <Crion> QUOTH|HAS|ITS|THORN: <should probably meet. ever since the precinct blew up the boy's been staying low.> 00:24 <Crion> QUOTH|HAS|ITS|THORN: <vampires are getting impatient. want to lure him out. bad idea.> 00:25 <VoxPVoxD> <when and where> 00:26 <Crion> QUOTH|HAS|ITS|THORN: <catcorner from the B&N down the street from union memorial is a deli. good crabcake sammies. tomorrow, 10 AM.> 00:27 <VoxPVoxD> <k>