21:15 <Crion> Time passes in the Freehold of Baltimore, and thank God for that. 21:16 <Crion> Aside from permit-related hijinks, the work to get the Sidereal back up and running is going smoothly, though it means everyone's drinking elsewhere for a little while. If this was gonna happen, though, at least it happening in a Winter reign means not much is getting moved on the social calendar. 21:17 <VoxPVoxD> Have we heard how Jordan and Jameson are doing? 21:17 <Crion> Nigh Capra got a funeral fitting a full son of Summer; Ben came by afterwards to do his actual job, which isn't turning into a weird ghost-monster and fighting things but instead helping ghosts move on to the Underworld and...whatever comes next. 21:20 <trenchfoot> And Gemma? Last we checked, she was in the kitchen after faking her own death. 21:20 <trenchfoot> ...and having been impersonated by her fetch, and... 21:21 <Crion> Jordan Kit and Jameson remain in intensive care at Mercy Medical Center -- the Freehold already has an understanding there, thanks to John of the Falls. Union and Sommelier, the two notable willworkers of the Life Arcanum in the city Consilium, have made this their primary project; their magic was necessary from the jump to reinforce the runs on their gurneys and keep the changelings stable 21:21 <Crion> while the process of healing their skin began. Healing their minds...well. 21:22 <Crion> Access to Kit and Jameson is currently restricted by the Winter King, both as their regent and as the seasonal ruler of the Freehold. 21:22 <Crion> The Freehold is mostly respecting that. Access to Gemma Franklin is also restricted, however, and there's more grumbling on that account, especially from Summer. 21:23 <Crion> She's not being held against her will, however, and -- allegedly -- can receive visitors. But she's turned everyone down so far. The Winter King informs that she's working through the process of whether she wishes to choose exile or beg forgiveness, such as it were. 21:24 <Crion> Steve's mood continues to improve. Lauren has moved Chup home -- er, back to Stewart's apartment -- for the time, both to prevent Wyrd-poisoning from the Hedge and keep the two from too deeply conspiring. 21:24 <Crion> Okay. The latter is probably just fantastical thinking. 21:24 <Crion> ...Probably. 21:25 <VoxPVoxD> For all their low cunning, Steve and Chup's ambitions seem fairly reasonable and even modest. 21:29 <Crion> Things are getting back to normal, though. Canterbury's soon coming by again; he's off guard duty thanks to the arm, but he's still selling weed. 21:29 <VoxPVoxD> Does Lauren smoke weed? Stewart's kind of off it recently. 21:31 <VoxPVoxD> There've been a host of minor behavioral changes over the last couple of weeks that're easy to pick up on: drinking a bit more, smoking less weed, and eating much, much less meat. 21:31 <VoxPVoxD> Weeks, days, howevermuch time is abstracted here. 21:32 <Crion> Lauren partakes but isn't a habitual user, and that usually manifests as her smoking when he smokes, so she'll notice the decline. 21:34 <Crion> It's probably been about two weeks now. Stewart's met with Gaunt Rose to re-establish their joint mission, but everyone on the taskforce has been otherwise occupied and The Boy has been quiet. 21:34 <VoxPVoxD> How's Rose doing? 21:35 <Crion> Standoffish and territorial, but not to the point of unprofessionalism. Perhaps Stewart finds it a welcome change to work with someone who not only doesn't give a shit about his emotional state but doesn't even have a baseline to judge it on; perhaps she just comes off as rude. Perhaps both. 21:40 <trenchfoot> Nels returns to the Wherehouse beaten and bloodied, and rises from her room but an hour later in perfect health. She's changed her clothes - her previous outfit has some unsightly bloodstains that would be difficult to explain - but she also... has a curriculum to develop, for the kids? Unless someone wants to ask her about what just happened, but she's pretty sure that's been covered. Oh! Or she could finally test for her GED? 21:41 <trenchfoot> The possibilities are not endless but they are multiple. 21:41 <banana> The quiet is good. Stillness is necessary. 21:41 <banana> Melanie's been as 'on' as she had been in.. a very long time, and it felt good and then very bad. She's completely out of social capability and also bark. 21:42 <Crion> ...Did Nels learn the Gift of Warm Blood from someone in Spring, or strike that deal herself? Either way, Smitten, Banthem, and the rest take slight note and how quickly she heals, though some seem to assume a wizard did it. 21:43 <banana> She needs to rest, for a long time - who even knows how she heals now, but there seems to be some kind of biological process for it - and catch up with work. She's going to be minimally responsive to inquiries except from close friends. 21:43 <VoxPVoxD> Probably a dead end for now, then. Stewart needs to find ways to push the boundaries of the simulation, the parts people aren't meant to or expected to see, where the details don't quite fit together. Visible seams, like following a stranger to his home one day, and peeking through his window to discover that as soon as he entered he'd stood stock still directly behind the door, eyes 21:43 <VoxPVoxD> blankly forward, without even taking his jacket off. 21:44 <VoxPVoxD> Rose has too much countervailing force. There'll be easier leads. 21:44 <Crion> She'll probably remember, dimly or not, that in the Oberon that night as everyone poofed back into existence and the war wound down Langford List and the Young Street both gave her direct, unfettered congratulations and praise for the motley's handling of "Gary" and particularly her handling of the whole situation, as it were. 21:44 <trenchfoot> Unless someone offered to teach her, she struck the deal herself - though she will absolutely not dissuade the notion that a wizard did it. 21:44 <banana> In theory the experience of fighting through an existential siege and then defeating an ancient wizard who was really into geometry should provide philosophical material, insights. It doesn't. It was the right thing to do, though. 21:45 <trenchfoot> And it would have had to have been an offer. Otherwise... you've got to do some things yourself. 21:45 <Crion> That sounds a lot like freelancing, Stewart. 21:45 <Crion> Which you can certainly do! 21:46 <banana> Melanie was happy to be praised like any other human or former human being would be, though. In her minimal contact with the Court - does Summer even do stuff online at all? - she'll be a voice for 'the reason we want access to Gemma is because we're worried about whether she's ok'. Possibly the only one. 21:46 <Crion> Nels will get substantially more social cred from a wizard not having done it, actually; healers are in short supply in Spring. Not a lot of courtiers so easily make a deal with the blood. 21:47 <Crion> Summer has a Discord, which drives both Autumn and Winter fucking nuts. They secure it the best they can and hope anyone watching thinks it's some weird RP thing. 21:49 <trenchfoot> Not a lot of courtiers go through the shit that Nels has, to be fair. She'll mention it to Amelia Bantham if she gets a chance, and David Smitten if she sees him - both are fairly likely. 21:49 <Crion> List, at least, keeps opsec and Nissa, Smote, Colt, and the fae-touched bouncer guys mostly talk about social crap. 21:49 <trenchfoot> She's not exactly putting up a shingle. But if they need her, they can call her. 21:50 <trenchfoot> The rest of Spring can think it was a wizard for all she cares. 21:51 <Crion> The NACC is pulling double-duty as an emergency Freehold meeting space in addition to now having e.g. The Kitchen running the cafeteria (a mixed blessing, at least for the lunchladies who now have to work under his demanding eye). It's Winter Break, though, so kids are around if she wants to teach. 21:53 <Crion> Melanie won't find much support for giving a shit about Gemma in the court, sadly(?), at least not for the reasons she'd prefer. They're not precisely wrong about Gemma being a material accessory to Capra's murder, even though she did kill her fetch in the end (it doesn't help that for Summer, killing your fetch is sort of a baseline thing, not extra credit or exculpatory). 21:53 <VoxPVoxD> Freelancing for who? Stewart's been suffering from decision paralysis; the sheer weight of options leaves his conscious mind surprisingly blank, courses of action beyond the draw distance of his mind's eye, obscured by digital fog. For now the expectation that he'd want or like some time to rest or recover psychologically is covering for his indecision, and there are plenty of other ways 21:53 <VoxPVoxD> to spend his time and attention. Low-activity days with Lauren are so nice, and there's who knows how many video games waiting to give him the impression of the passing of real-life years. 21:54 <Crion> Scary version? Freelancing for himself. 21:54 <trenchfoot> No better place to start! She's got Siren's Song with her in its case, a few textbooks, and a laptop with far too many open tabs about how to actually teach. If she can get some practice in here and now, her first full classes might not be disastrous. 21:54 <Crion> But he does have time, if nothing else, and even if time itself is part of the problem. 21:55 <trenchfoot> ...how many takers if she asks for students? Smaller the better, but she won't turn anyone away. 21:57 <Crion> DJ (they don't say the 'Fuck You') around the kids can break off a special cohort of 4-5 older students who are specifically interested in guitar as opposed to keyboard. 21:58 <trenchfoot> Hell yes. They have their own, is there a classroom guitar, or is she going to need to pass Siren's Song around? No matter what, she'll take them into a classroom after introducing herself, her specialty, and learning their names. 21:58 <banana> Unsurprising, but that's what Melanie expected. She just.. wants their 'rescue' of the young changelings to have meant something, done something good. And.. she thought she really clicked with Gemma, and doesn't know how much of that was deceit. But she doesn't have the energy to argue much. 21:58 <banana> After a couple of weeks convalescence, she'll start leaving her rooms 'at all' and actually venture somewhat further outside. It's time to catch up with university tutorials and the cohort, see how other people's work has been going and present some of her own.. she's also going to try doing some writing in coffee shops like in all those cool TV shows about young people. Self-crit: this 21:58 <banana> is a restless reaction to being cooped up, which is probably good. 21:59 <trenchfoot> She's pretty sure all of this is how you teach. Shit she's gonna need to take classes on this. 22:00 <trenchfoot> ...wait, that was the plan. Oh my god she's getting experience! 22:06 <trenchfoot> She introduces herself as "Lena Colter" same as before, and starts off simple - play something to let me know where you're at, here's what we'll work on this week, and... in a fit of inspiration, she'll accompany someone on piano while they play her guitar. Most of it's pretty simple, but the first week ends with https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7TCF1WpOD4 22:07 <trenchfoot> Three classes - stressful! - but they seemed to go well... 22:10 <trenchfoot> There's a lot of correcting finger placement, posture, that sort of thing, but she's pretty sure this is better training than she ever got, so. 22:10 <Crion> Rose is managing the "task force" as best she can -- which is very well, actually -- but the nub remains this: the vampires want and need at least some token of punishment on The Boy for internal political reasons, even though the mages and werewolves couldn't give less of a shit by default. However, the more havoc he causes, the more the mages disapprove (thankfully there's no chance of them 22:10 <Crion> blaming him for the precinct explosion). 22:10 <trenchfoot> Actually. It isn't. But they really really do not want that. 22:13 <Crion> How will Melanie react when Cider Stitch approaches her table and asks if the seat across from her is taken? 22:13 <Crion> Cider Stitch is the Winter Court reprobate who was most recently seen drinking with Canterbury. 22:15 <banana> Just a brief widening of (Mask-apparent) eyes before she closes her chromebook. Then, Melanie: "Hi!" 22:15 <Crion> "Hey. Can I sit?" 22:16 <banana> Melanie: "Yes, go ahead. If you order something it'll make them less likely to kick me out." 22:18 <Crion> "Yeah, sure. You want a coffee or can you only have like...plant stuff?" 22:19 <Crion> He's an awkward, annoying looking kid. Maybe in a good way? If you aim him at someone else? 22:20 <banana> "Anything liquid with minerals is good." Melanie looks speculatively at the little guy. There's a lot she hasn't been checking up on, half-deliberately; it's good to see people from the Winter Court out and about. 22:22 <Crion> He'll get a latte and demure on the options; grabs her a bottle of water from the cooler. "Just want to make clear I'm here on business. Not hitting on you." 22:24 <banana> "Sure." Guys! Of course she'd assumed that, and didn't want it, and yet he'll never understand why he has a black mark in Melanie's book now, will he? 22:24 <Crion> "King heard you wanted to see Gemma." 22:26 <banana> Melanie: "Oh! Yes, I'd love to- I mean, if that's what she wants. There's no need to.. I'm not asking on behalf of Summer or something." 22:30 <Crion> Cider Stitch: "Gemma's interested...but we need to get an oath from you first not to bring anyone else from your Court." 22:30 <Crion> "Not to ME, ha ha. The King. And it's not like, a secret. If Langford has a problem, he can take it up with the King." 22:31 <Crion> Pause. "It's the King saying all this, I want to be clear." 22:32 <Crion> The first week of classes for Nels go so well that DJ wants to bring her on basically...well, not basically full time. Not even REALLY part-time, since that's twenty hours a week. But he's amenable to weekly classes in perpetuity if she is. 22:32 <Crion> If the NACC had the budget for more than four full-time employees, it'd be different, but. 22:32 <Crion> Arts funding. 22:32 <banana> Melanie: "Ahah. Why do I feel like I should be defending my crew and apologising for them at the same time? But not to you. To the King." 22:32 <banana> "Don't worry about it though. Where would you like me to go to swear the oath?" 22:33 <Crion> He sort of straightens like he's steeling himself to deliver bad news. "Arbutus." 22:33 <Crion> "It's...out of the city." 22:33 <trenchfoot> ...modern times, huh? Anyway, Nels is 100% willing to take on classes as best she can, with, um, special waivers for 'magic bullshit' because. You can't predict these things. 22:33 <Crion> It is in fact almost adjacent to the UMBC campus. 22:34 <trenchfoot> Hm. 22:34 <trenchfoot> Hmmmmmmmm. 22:35 <trenchfoot> Nels, weakly: "I might need a car?" 22:36 <banana> That's a really rich town, isn't it? Melanie can't remember whether there's a gated community. "Not excessively far off my route. Can I ask why, um, you're intoning the name like it was a suburb of Arcadia?" 22:38 <Crion> There's nearby gated suburbs, but Arbutus itself-- "Grew up there." --really gets off on the idea of being an idyllic soda pop and jerk shop, 1950s-ass white paradise on mainstreet. 22:39 <VoxPVoxD> Finding the Boy is definitely the path of least resistance here. The willworkers are strongly de-emphasized, and while that points at a possible seam, like Rose the tide is pulling so strong in the other direction there'd need to be no easier options. What he's got is a very sparse profile, the locations of two different acts of heroism, and the Internet. That should give him a body of 22:39 <VoxPVoxD> information he can narrow down further with magic. 22:39 <Crion> Presumably Nels is in Amelia's office with DJ finalizing the employment paperwork (to be sent to Santander for proper credentialing) when she says this, and Amelia will reply, "Well. We can make that work...but...do you know how to drive?" 22:40 <trenchfoot> Nels: "Ah. Um. Probably not well enough to not get arrested." Best to be honest. "But I - can't leave my guitar here, and I'll need it..." 22:41 <trenchfoot> And I don't want it on public transit, and also convenience for a modern American city... 22:41 <banana> Yeah, Westminster was like that. More of a hometown sports-mad feel but the same deliberate 'golden age' culture, trying to pretend that's what it had really been. 22:42 <banana> Melanie finds it easier to remember the town she grew up than any of the actual people for some reason. Is a heightened sense of place common to the Lost? 22:47 <Crion> Amelia: "Honey, you're a black woman in America. You're going to get pulled over." 22:47 <Crion> DJ: "You'll need a license, which we can get you. But you'll also need classes." 22:48 <trenchfoot> Nels: "...you handle those too, or am I going to have to try and fake someone out?" 22:49 <trenchfoot> She ignores Amelia. That was... she's seen at least one nightly news broadcast. She can guess. 22:50 <trenchfoot> Well no. She doesn't ignore her. But she doesn't respond. 22:51 <Crion> Amelia: "We can pay for someone, a school or something, or you can get someone to teach you on your own. The point is you have to know how to drive to mitigate the risk." 22:53 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart spends some time poking around the neighborhood on Google Maps but the area exposed by the window is tiny at this angle and with no external sign of when it was recorded he can't deduce the facing of the window based on the angle of the sun either. 22:55 <trenchfoot> Nels looks simultaneously every bit of her 120 years and also like a sullen teenager. "Fiiiine." 22:56 <trenchfoot> "...I'll probably go the friend route. That way I won't have to explain why I reach for a lever that isn't there." 22:56 <VoxPVoxD> So now the time has come to turn to magic. As he pushes away from his desk: "Babe, I've gotta go augur. Do we need anything?" 22:59 <trenchfoot> Nels: "I can take the bus until then. Um. The kids seemed to like me. And DJ really wanted me back, so. I'm up for it, car or no." 23:10 <Crion> Stewart's able to find a couple youtube accounts that post cryptid/supernatural shit -- the name 'Network Zero' will come up, though followup there is difficult -- which are pretty big despite being mercilessly surpressed by the algorithms. They're aggregators though, so it's harder for him to track down the videos to their original source -- which is a Youtube account that has set most of 23:10 <Crion> their videos to private. However, Stewart's able to find some that haven't been set private but merely unlisted, and they're like, slice of life content of what you'd assume is a girl and her dickhead boyfriend, except the boyfriend has silver hair and dresses kind of gaudily. And the most recent one of these shows them lounging around outside a walk-up in Canton, a half-gentrified/half-college 23:10 <Crion> student neighborhood in southeastern Baltimore...and not too far from Nels and Stewart's building. 23:10 <Crion> Lauren: "We're on our last roll of paper towels. ...Be careful." 23:13 <Crion> Cider Stitch: "Place is a restaurant called the Kingston Prince. It'll look kind of like a house with a commercial kitchen installed where a residential one should be, because it is. Head in, tell Aaron you're here for the King special, he'll let you through to the back." 23:16 <Crion> Cider: "You're gonna get looks walking in. That's because it's the only black-owned bar on main street and it's a jerk chicken place, and you're a white college student. 23:16 <Crion> " 23:16 <Crion> *black-owned business 23:16 <banana> Melanie: "Looks don't hurt. Thanks for the heads up though." 23:17 <Crion> He leaves some money on the table. "Yup." Leaves with his latte, unless there's anything else. 23:17 <Crion> The money's a tip for the table, on further examination; he already paid for the drinks at the register. 23:20 <VoxPVoxD> He can't remember where he picked this up - was it Santander? The wiki? Did he just wake up with it slipped into his brain one morning like someone ran him through a savegame editor? He thinks it was before the new year... this is the rickety top step that can presage a fall into very unproductive thoughts - what is the source of this magic? Is Stewart tapped into something deeper than 23:20 <VoxPVoxD> the simulation? Is it bestowed by the simulation directly? Is there no power there at all, merely the attention and indulgence of an ever-watchful true power? It pops into his mind occasionally, slow to sink in but hard to banish once it does. 23:21 <VoxPVoxD> It happened this morning, while Stewart was brushing his teeth, and he spent so long absentmindedly making the physical motions that by the time he was able to suppress the thought his gums were stinging, and produced a drop of blood when he pressed tenderly. 23:21 <Crion> DJ: "The kids are glad to have you, obviously. We can arrange car service for you to and from the center if you'd like--" 23:21 <banana> There isn't; that kicked off a train of thought for Melanie, as things do, but it's not one she'd express to an acquaintance. It's funny how inescapable race is back in the real world - after however many decades as a tree, at first Melanie didn't even see herself as sharing a species with anyone. The particularly funny thing is that this literal race-blindness, reacclimation where she 23:21 <banana> had to consciously separate the social world into groups because that's part of relating to humans, worked out just fine - because it's effectively the same kind of 'not thinking about race' that she'd have access to anyway as a white woman. Nobody could tell the difference between ignorance and privilege, maybe because there isn't any. 23:22 <Crion> Amelia interrupts. "But it's good to learn these things, just to survive in the now." 23:23 <banana> After Melanie's next trip to college (sit in on some undergrad tutorials, start an argument about Deleuze, sit back and drink in the contention) she'll detour to Arbutus and look for the restaurant with the on-the-nose name. 23:23 <VoxPVoxD> Can't really do anything with that thought one way or the other. What he can do is watch the birds. Even in January there are birds, in this case flocks of gulls at the river. So he watches, and wonders, and asks questions that something answers. 23:24 <trenchfoot> Nels: "...yeah. Yeah, I should." 23:28 <Crion> Good news for Melanie is whatever the provenance of Cider Stitch's warning, the only looks she gets are of mild annoyance at best just for being a college-aged out-of-towner in Arbutus; she gets barely a second look from the few denizens that are out on the street (in what is, in fairness, an unusually warm January; lot of those recently). She does get a second look from the frat guys she 23:28 <Crion> follows in, but nothing rowdier than that. 23:28 <Crion> A black man in his late thirties is behind the counter. There's a swirl around his glowing right eye; he is fae-touched. 23:28 <VoxPVoxD> He's not sure if he's supposed to speak out loud or think the question, so he does both at once for the first question to see how the answer comes. "Does the Boy live in Canton?" asks Stewart of the sky, the birds, and whatever awful gods attend. 23:30 <Crion> Yes. 23:30 <Crion> That's one. 23:33 <banana> Yeah, it's not clear why Cider was ambivalent but presumably he's got history in the town. Melanie on the other hand is enjoying it: an excuse to visit new (close, familiar) places, to speak to new (safe, in-the-know) people. Another tiny step toward maybe someday going further Out There.. ah, but she'd better not zone out here. Um, how late is it.. not quite evening yet. 23:33 <banana> "Good afternoon, I'm looking for Aaron?" 23:34 <Crion> He nods mostly with his chin. "Aye." 23:34 <Crion> Light accent, Caribbean. 23:35 <VoxPVoxD> Okay, the answer's internal. Would I be able to run across him if I went barhopping in the neighborhood? 23:35 <Crion> Yes. 23:35 <banana> "Great, could I please have the King Special?" And the number of whoever in Winter comes up with these spy plots? They could put on parlour games! 23:35 <Crion> That's two. 23:36 <Crion> "That you can, miss. Sit down, it might be a moment. You boys?" 23:36 <VoxPVoxD> Last question, then. Is the Boy going out tonight? 23:36 <Crion> Yes. 23:36 <Crion> That's three. 23:36 <VoxPVoxD> The birds disperse. 23:37 <banana> If there's a seat at the counter, Melanie takes one and checks out the frat boys. Hopefully Aaron is waiting until they're gone, rather than misunderstanding and actually preparing her a meal. 23:38 <Crion> One of them looks like he wants to come over and shoot his shot -- and he's egged on by his compadre -- but just as he finally summons up the nerve, Aaron arrives with their order. He's been preparing something else on the back grill too, but not giving it much attention. 23:39 <Crion> The boys pay and leave. When they're gone: "Through the back miss. Down the stairs." 23:39 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart stops for paper towels on the way home. If it's No-Yes-Yes, then Stewart's best bet is to go bar-hopping in Canton tonight. If it's Yes-No-Yes, then Stewart can run into him in the city... but not in the neighborhood bars. If it's Yes-Yes-No, then tonight in particular would be fruitless but some future night would not be. 23:39 <Crion> He turns and flips his lunch over on the griddle. 23:40 <Crion> There's a rather obvious door, slightly ajar. 23:42 <banana> Melanie says, "Thank you!" and heads to the back door, but first she'll hit send - she's written a message to Stewart and Maggie, along the lines of <Hello I have a surprise meeting on Winter business at the 'Kingston Prince' in Arbutus. Please delete this e-mail if I check in again afterwards!>. 23:44 <VoxPVoxD> He's still turning it over in his mind as he gets back home - stopping to furrow his brow at the message on his phone. Melanie gets the read receipt, if she has those set up, but no reply. An 'ok' of acknowledgement is fine to Stewart in a text or verbally, but seems excessive for an email. 23:44 <Crion> Downstairs is...a comfy lounge? It's also a boiler room, of course, but some carpet's been laid down well away from the boiler and HVAC unit, and some couches and a television put in. 'Colin,' the Winter King, is watching an action movie starring the actor he's mostly ripping his Mask off from right now; he turns it off as Melanie comes down stairs. 23:44 <Crion> "Hey there, killer." 23:44 <VoxPVoxD> What's Lauren up to? 23:45 <banana> It's an SMS, not an email. Melanie possibly knows but does not care about the difference. 23:45 <Crion> She's curled up with Chup watching something on Netflix that they've agreed they're not interested in watching together. Angelfire is on-call again now that things are back to normal. 23:45 <VoxPVoxD> In that case, the mention of e-mail lends the text a boomerish formality that sees Stewart behave the same way. 23:45 <Crion> "How're the birds?" she'll ask as he comes in. 23:48 <banana> 'Killer' gives Melanie literal pause. After a moment she unfreezes and proceeds a little more slowly into the basement room. "Hi, um, king. Congratulations on salvaging so much of the situation." 23:48 <Crion> The Winter King: "Did we?" 23:48 <VoxPVoxD> "Medium helpful. This was my first calling on the contract and I think I whiffed a little. Two truths and a lie." Stewart puts the roll away and washes his hands like he always does when he comes in from outside. "I'm gonna loop Rose in on what I got and see what she thinks." 23:49 <Crion> He shifts on the couch. "Your motley was excellent, of course. The star performers. No shade upon your heads. But I've got two courtiers flayed alive, one dead, and one arguably guilty of capital crimes." 23:49 <Crion> "So thank you for your congratulations, but my mood is and will remain rather foul." 23:50 <Crion> "You wish to see Gemma." 23:50 <Crion> Lauren: "Sounds good, babe. Tell her she can come up here...if she wants." 23:51 <Crion> Lauren's tone of voice leaves little doubt as to whether she expects Rose to take either of them up on this. 23:51 <banana> Melanie: "I think the forces arrayed against us, against the Freehold, were strong and really shitty in their recklessness. It's-" well, 'uneasy lies the head'. "Yes please. I'm okay with being bound to an oath to avoid.. what actually are we avoiding?" 23:53 <Crion> The King: "Winter maintains a black site in the county. You will be sworn to eternal secrecy regarding its location. Don't worry about the eternal part; the oath will actually end as soon as we decide to move it again." 23:53 <VoxPVoxD> "I bet Chup would love her." 23:55 <banana> Melanie's only slightly awkward, trying to find a place to stand near the couch that isn't in front of the TV. She's actually a little pleased by being trusted enough to visit this place; Winter really mean their paranoia, and it finds reasons to justify itself. "Okay, I will promise you that. Is there a form of words?" 23:56 <Crion> "The benefit of the oath, of course, is you get to go to the site and see Gemma. And provisionally know its location, until we move it. The consequence for breaking it is a mark upon your Freehold mantle...and banishment from the Freehold of Baltimore during Wintertide until you satisfactorily make things right." 23:56 <Crion> The King raises two fingers. "That will do." 23:56 <Crion> "This means we don't have to put a bag on your head, at the very least. Come on." 23:57 <Crion> The basement of the restaurant/living space opens up to the alley, and Spring's waiting in a car. The King raises two fingers to her as well. The courtier nods. 23:58 <banana> Of course as the reigning seasonking he doesn't need more than the barest hint at a promise to make it Pretty Binding. "Ah, thank you for the ride. Spring." 23:58 <VoxPVoxD> Rose gets an email outlining the videos he found, with links, as well as what he got from invoking the contract as well as his attempt to game out the answers. He ends on 'We live right across the river and we both work at home so if you want to come over to talk next steps you're welcome to.'. 23:58 <Crion> "Maybe you can talk some sense into her," says the Winter King as he walks back inside. 00:00 <Crion> QUOTH|HAS|ITS|THORNS: outlay of outcomes says to me we lose nothing by assuming bars is true. also never shit where you sleep. meet at one of the bars. bring lauren if that's a thing. 00:01 <VoxPVoxD> QUOTH|CRITICALMASS: ok. when? 00:01 <Crion> QUOTH|HAS|ITS|THORNS: idk. when do people start drinking. 00:01 <Crion> QUOTH|HAS|ITS|THORNS: nine? 00:03 <VoxPVoxD> QUOTH|CRITICALMASS: 9 then 00:03 <banana> Spring is one of the few courtiers of the Baltimore freehold that Melanie actually dislikes as a person, but she tries not to hold it against her. Personality isn't personal; unbewusste is subordinate to bewusstsein. She folds herself into the car. 00:03 <banana> "Are you guys doing okay?" 00:03 <Crion> Spring: "No." 00:03 <Crion> She starts the engine and puts it into drive. "We're really fucked up." 00:04 <Crion> Almost as an afterthought as she turns out onto the main road: "Sorry to hear about Capra." 00:06 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart informs Lauren. "We're going to go barhopping in Canton keeping our eyes out for the vigilante Sephiroth. Rose issued you a counterinvitation to come with. We're thinking 9?" 00:06 <banana> Melanie: "Yeah. We did at least get his half, um. Ehh, macabre ghost stuff, doesn't matter." 00:06 <Crion> Lauren thinks about it for a second. "I'll go if you want...but frankly I trust you and me not showing up when she calls might fuck with her a bit, so I'm fine with a night in." 00:07 <Crion> Spring: "Ghost shit, right? Still can't believe we call a fucking vet for that." She heads back towards UMBC. 00:10 <VoxPVoxD> In a vacuum Stewart would rather Lauren went with him, but the risk of danger, however remote, makes it feel ill-advised. Quite literally, if he was giving himself advice that is not the advice he would give. "Alright, let me get in an early stream then..." 00:10 <Crion> Lauren will watch as he goes, then settle back into her Netflix. In an hour or so, she'll bring him some water. 00:11 <banana> Melanie: "I found it a little hard to trust Best, but he's helpful and patient. Makes a lot of jokes about how mercenary he is, which I think are cover for... drive, a need to address injustices that fit a particular weird mould." 00:11 <Crion> Spring: "..." 00:11 <Crion> "Yeah, I guess." 00:11 <Crion> Now she's pulling INTO a lot on the UMBC campus. Well, a satellite campus. But still! 00:12 <banana> This site can't be all that covert. 00:13 <VoxPVoxD> She's so thoughtful... 00:13 <Crion> It's not. It's hard to tell exactly what it is...an academic...office park? 00:13 <Crion> https://www.bwtechumbc.com/ 00:16 <banana> Melanie: "So. What should I know when visiting here?" 00:19 <Crion> Spring: "That we'd prefer you do it under the supervision of someone with a keycard. Obviously, a lock isn't going to stop you, but--" She holds up a laminated pass with a magnetic strip. "Guard's going to want to see this." 00:19 <banana> "Oh, I've never had a lanyard before!" 00:20 <Crion> Spring smiles less-than-saccharinely. "And we're not going to break that streak now." She parks. "Come on." 00:22 <banana> Melanie follows, unadorned. It's not clear from anything around here whether the satellite campus has an academic purpose at all. 00:25 <Crion> Spring opens the sterile main door with the card, leads Melanie into a sterile lobby where she shows the bored-yet-still-leering campus cop her pass with an even faker smile than previous, and heads for the stairs. 00:26 <Crion> "We're in the basement." 00:27 <Crion> Another swipe through, and they're headed down. 00:27 <Crion> They see no one else on the way, which is weird, since it's still the work week. 00:27 <banana> Melanie's nervous and she shouldn't take it out on Spring. She doesn't know what she hopes for, here. What she wants to get out of this, what Gemma might need, what kind of shape she's in.. what she's done. 00:27 <VoxPVoxD> Come 9, Stewart's cleaned up but not especially well-dressed - it occurs to him as he ponders the Mask over the Mien that he could easily be one of those almost algorithmically generated anonymous white yuppies in the socially acceptable promotional materials of all the Inner Harbor restaurant websites. He wonders, what equations would produce his face? 00:29 <Crion> Spring leads her down the hall, turning twice, past completely anonymous doors. Their footfalls echo. Finally she arrives in front of one such door -- B-135 -- swipes the card on the reader, and opens it a crack...then pauses. "Do something for me. Try not to upset her," Spring says, "more than she already is." 00:29 <Crion> Stewart, meanwhile, is ready for a night on the town with someone who doesn't even like him. 00:30 <Crion> Both will step through their appropriate doors...next week.