21:19 <Crion> It's probably a long night for Stewart after he leaves the angel at Apex Oil, and maybe a longer morning on the last Friday of January 2020. Probably less momentuous for the rest of the motley, depending on their own personal cicadean rhythms, but something big's going down in Southeast Baltimore -- again -- and...well, you're not all exactly invited, but it's not like it's that exclusive 21:19 <Crion> of a party anymore either. 21:19 <Crion> What is it up to now? Two changelings, three angels, two whatever-the-Boy-and-Girl-ares, a mage, a vampire or three, maybe a werewolf if he's bored? 21:21 <Crion> How DO Stewart and Rose handle this administratively? Rose is by-the-book: tell Santander, then tell the Task Force. 21:21 <Crion> By inclination, that is. She could be persuaded if Stewart has a better idea. 21:23 <VoxPVoxD> As long as Santander doesn't come back with a reason to withhold the information, that's Stewart's inclination too. Obviously vampires make whatever situation they're in worse, but it can't really be helped. 21:31 <Crion> Santander is at his usual extremely-direct-enigmatic -- "OPEN BOOK, young lady; and OPEN NOTE, young man; BUT A TEEEEEEST IT STILL BE!" [badly distorted thundercrack through VOIP] -- but you figure that means he's fine with it as long as the job gets done and, importantly, he doesn't have to step in and help. 21:32 <VoxPVoxD> Good enough for Stewart. 21:33 <Crion> Tony, meanwhile, has been spending time helping the hobs of hobtown, or whatever they call this stretch of not-quite-trod between the Wherehouse and the actual Hedge highway that cuts in towards downtown and the Port. How's that been going for him? 21:40 <CBN> Tony's been doing...okay? He's really regretting not having some sort of notepad to keep track of all the shit hobs ask him to do or off-handedly, passive-aggressively mention it sure would be great if someone did something about X and then I could devote some time to your question, so he's mostly just listening and helping hobs with lesser errands as they present themselves. He's starting to get a feel for the lil guys at least. 21:42 <Crion> Informing the task force is going to be its own thing, especially since the vampires aren't going to wake up until 6 PM or so -- sundown's at 5:30, so the earliest he'll probably make it to whatever meeting place they set is 7. Time runs out for the Absolute Boy and Absolute Girl at 9:56 PM. 21:44 <VoxPVoxD> Unfortunately Stewart, who technically isn't on the Task Force and is instead technically spying on it, probably can't be the one to notify them. How does Rose want to play Stewart's presence or (apparent) absence? 21:47 <Crion> Rose can handle the cattle-wrangling, but it means she herself will be indisposed until close to show time, and Stewart will be left to his own devices to gear up or get in position or what have you. There's no question of whether Stewart will be there from Rose at this point; her ideal way of handling it is "hope it doesn't come up, but if Stewart does have to drop Light-shy or otherwise 21:47 <Crion> appear in front of the task force, have previously ominously alluded to having some kind of special help or trick." 21:47 <Crion> So, you know, no pressure there. 21:48 <VoxPVoxD> That's basically ideal for Stewart, who avoids any contact with the Wherehouse between that night and the next if he can help it. This will all be much easier to explain when it's settled. 21:48 <VoxPVoxD> Hopefully Lauren doesn't ask. 21:49 <Crion> Nels, Maggie, and Melanie are all meeting with Mrs. Davis in the Office of Undergraduate Admissions. Well, "Lena," "Frances," and...what name did Melanie give again? 21:51 <dammitwho> Maggie's listening to Mrs. Davis with three-quarters of her brain. The remaining quarter is musing on how to tell Nels that she might be related to the nice girl at the front desk without sounding racist. 21:53 <Crion> What's Stewart's plan of attack, here? And is he bringing a gun? 21:53 <banana> Melanie: "Melani..a." 21:54 <trenchfoot> ... 21:54 <Crion> Mrs. Davis smiles and clucks her tongue. "Oh my, dear. That must be tough for you right now." 21:54 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart 21:55 <banana> It was a last minute thing! She knows it's a bad choice! It's just, they won't recognise her, but what if they do- "Well, I- I can survive another year I think." 21:56 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart's going to go under Light-Shy, as you'd expect, and he'll bring the gun, even though he expects any situation where he'd want to use it he'd be hugely overmatched. That's no reason to just give wins away. 21:58 <trenchfoot> Nels, for her part, is smiling at nodding at what Mrs. Davis says, and did not have a hint of recognition at the girl at the front desk. 21:59 <Crion> Mrs. Davis: "So what majors do you think you'd be interested in, ladies? Obviously nothing set in stone," an indulgent, practiced chuckle here, "but if you're coming to it for a second degree or second career, maybe you have something firm in mind." She's got piles of The Literature. Not actual literature, of course. Marketing materials. 21:59 <VoxPVoxD> He's also going to swing by the Belvedere that afternoon, after sleeping in until 11 and then spending two hours dusting the apartment to relax. It sort of works, but he mostly thinks about how much better he'd feel if he was buzzed. Being a furtive drinker with a girlfriend who works from home is hard. 22:01 <VoxPVoxD> Anyway, after lunch he makes his way to the wizards' safe space. He's going to search for covert government programs to produce supernatural entities, folding in as many parameters from the Absolute Couple as he thinks he can get away with without cleaving off too many potentially useful hits. 22:02 <trenchfoot> Nels: "Music Education - I'm pretty proficient myself, but I want... I want other people to learn, you know? Pass on the gift and all." 22:02 <dammitwho> Oh crumbs. "Well, I was thinking about History." 22:03 <Crion> It's around the time Tony settles the beef (literal beef) between Horkins of Smurg Street and Jiminy Thrice that he gets the feeling he's being watched; it's after his second, much more friendly run-in with the Sock Jerks that he knows he's being watched; and it's after he helps clear a mysteriously-appeared pile of perfectly-round stones ("God's bowling balls," he's casually informed. "Get 22:03 <Crion> loose from time to time.") from a Hedgeway near the Wherehouse's entrance so that hob traffic can resume that he catches a glimpse of the guy. 22:04 <CBN> Tony is exactly the kind of person who waves and says hey in a situation like this., and so: "Hey!"He waves at the glimpse and pursues. 22:04 <Crion> A spritely old goblin with a frown on his face...and a flat top hat pulled down over his eyes. 22:05 <Crion> When he sees, somehow, that he's been noticed, he leaps back into the Hedge -- seemingly without concern for the Thorns. 22:05 <Crion> When Tony surveys the area carefully, though, he realizes some kind of small path was cut or seamed through the Hedgewall, that even now is closing up. 22:06 <banana> Melanie's already fucked up once - she's meant to be here to inform the others, not pretend to be interested herself. This might not work, but.. "I'm still looking into the possibilities, I'd love one of those booklets." 22:06 <banana> "Lena, you were intererested in specific instrument programmes right?" 22:07 <CBN> Tony's going to proceed through that path, if it's remotely Tony-accommodating in general measurements. 22:08 <Crion> It is if he starts moving right now. Did he bring his shotgun to clear a...landslide? 22:09 <CBN> Tony did not. But he's gonna start moving right now anyway. 22:10 <trenchfoot> Nels: "Guitar, if you've got a program for that," she confirms. "But that's probably a minor - teaching means I'll have to be familiar with... everything, right? So." 22:14 <Crion> Mrs. Davis: "Of course! Our music program might be small but it's got spirit. The department head is..." Blah blah blah, admissions talk. 22:17 <Crion> Stewart's time with the Book is brief but revealing on the subject of where, precisely, the Absolute Couple comes from. It's technically a government program, yes, but like everything these days there's so much contracting and sub-contracting, budget after budget, appropriation after appropriation; even the Book's head seems to be spinning as it susses this out, text appearing and then 22:17 <Crion> selectively unredacting. But at the end, the veil is pierced and the barrel of government pork is successfully slow-cooked in its own delicious fat: 22:17 <Crion> Has Stewart heard of The Cherion Group? 22:18 <Crion> *Cheiron 22:20 <trenchfoot> Nels smiles and nods at the appropriate places - again, this isn't why they're actually here, but she DOES need to know this stuff, so... bonus? 22:24 <VoxPVoxD> Sure, it's one of those things like the Freemasons or the Bilderberg Group, a conspiracy magnet by virtue of its secrecy, age, wealth and power. He heard a podcast episode about it once. 22:25 <banana> We want to find out about the girl, and about the disappearances... in both cases, connections are going to be crucial. Melanie's got some knowledge of how campus social life works, or worked three hundred years ago - can she steer the conversation to ask about clubs, seminars and other involvements that a music student might have? 22:27 <Crion> Well, these two crazy kids are one of their riffs on "things men was not meant to know." If Stewart was in less of a hurry the ongoing contractual fights -- legal and physical -- over who gets the rights to intellectual property pertaining to the fruits of the blandly-named "Ablative/Solvent Utility Program" are quite fascinating, but the long and short of it is they snatch kids and put ??? 22:27 <Crion> into them in an attempt to turn them into living weapons, with a first-round percentage pass rate in the 20s, a second round rate in the single digits, and no known living successes. 22:28 <Crion> It seems the Boy and Girl got out before the final phase, and its 0% success rate. 22:28 <VoxPVoxD> Lucky duckies. 22:30 <VoxPVoxD> Well, the search is logged permanently if for some reason he wants to revisit it. 22:32 <VoxPVoxD> ...did he give Rose a heads up about that? He can't remember. 22:32 <Crion> Stuff like clubs, seminars, and the like is probably better answered by their student guide -- who will be Claire, that blonde out front who was chatting with the receptionist. Mrs. Davis will release the three of you to her as soon as she's sure she's ticked every bit of patter on her internal checklist. 22:33 <VoxPVoxD> On his way out he gives the computer a long, parting look. 22:33 <VoxPVoxD> ...then he's out the door. 22:33 <Crion> "See tonight at the RAC, Sarah," Claire says as she turns away and greets the three of you with a perhaps-too-chipper, "So how was it? Are you ready for a tour?" 22:34 <Crion> *See you 22:36 <dammitwho> "Oh sure," Maggie says agreeably. Gah! They're even more clearly related when she sees - Sarah? - a second time! 22:39 <trenchfoot> Nels: "Yeah!" And maybe we can find out more about the missing kids...? 22:40 <trenchfoot> ...though we're not exactly working with a lot here, and asking "so hey what about these missing persons" is unwise... 22:45 <Crion> In the Hedge, this fucker's quick, and he's moving through the Thorns with either practice or a lack of care for his personal well-being. 22:46 <CBN> He sure damn is. 22:49 <Crion> Eventually, the creature in the flat cap seems to slow down...Tony's catching up to it! In fact, here it is, stopping in the clearing just beyond this Hedgewall-- 22:49 <Crion> He bursts out onto an empty street. 22:49 <Crion> He's still in the Hedge, of course. 22:50 <Crion> But it's one of these crude, fake alleyways that sort of twist up in the more dangerous parts of the Hedge. Real Crime Alley vibes here. Tony probably doesn't get that reference immediately like someone his apparent age would in 2020. 22:51 <Crion> "Well, well!!" Someone's up in the fire escape across the way. 22:51 <CBN> Tony, out of breath and with weird little pricker burrs on his lower legs that make little 'oh noo' squeaks when he plucks and tosses them, looks around and sighs to himself. This is like the damn Watermelon Boys again, isn't it. 22:51 <Crion> It's the Capp. "I seen's ya doing good, and I seen's ya doing right. But I ain't seen's ya fight!" 22:52 <Crion> He makes a whistling sound, and throws what looks like a fastfood container at the manhole cover in the middle of the street. Wait. Isn't that a bit big for a manhole? 22:52 <Crion> "So here's an oscar, try not's ta fuck it all up." 22:53 <Crion> The cover explodes into the air, and Tony meets a new friend. 22:54 <CBN> Tony, still catching his breath, hands off his knees now at least, musters up a, "Well hey there!" before getting a good look at it. 22:58 <Crion> Where's Stewart headed to next? The task force is apparently assembling in panel van down the street from where the Absolute Couple lives, which sounds just awful. He's got a bit more freedom of movement. 23:02 <VoxPVoxD> Given all the staking-out he's already done, Stewart tries to figure out the nearest pieces of industrial infrastructure - transformers, gas stations, whatever - or failing that, set up on Boston Street near the park - knowing the Saint is coming is his priority. 23:03 <Crion> Claire will start them off with a tour of the library -- the media services section where students can still rent DVDs, if you can imagine (many are films the library bought for class use and doesn't want to license again for streaming), the ever-shrinking statics of pulp-and-glue academic journals the library keeps on hand, and most relevant to new students, the ever-expanding banks of 23:03 <Crion> computers for web-surfing and occasionally getting assignments completed. 23:06 <Crion> When they're done there, she's going to lead the trio out towards the Commons -- a three-floored student activites center/meeting place with places to buy lunch, sit down and chat in, and so on. Do they have any questions? 23:06 <VoxPVoxD> His theory is that the Saint's ability to pierce magical invisibility is best defeated by keeping a respectable distance away. He even has binoculars! 23:07 <Crion> Stewart will get a text at about 9:20 from Rose...the Absolute Boy and Girl have left the apartment, and started up the van. But they're not heading for city limits. They're heading south -- towards the water, the park, and Apex Oil. 23:08 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart lets her know he's in position. Is the Task Force following? 23:09 <trenchfoot> Hmm. Something about popular locations for students to meet? The tour of campus has been super helpful, but college students rarely actually stay entirely on campus... 23:10 <Crion> Yep, though they're abandoning the van. She successfully prevailed upon them that it screamed "perv or fed." 23:12 <Crion> In the Hedge, two great, green, furry arms, each terminating in a gnarled hand, burst from...the sewer system? The Hedge doesn't have a sewer system. From somewhere beneath Tony's feet, nevertheless. 23:13 <banana> Is Claire a student herself? Ideally we want to get her to give us the unfiltered undergrad point of view instead of the college's sanitised version of itself that she's being possibly-not-even-paid to provide. 23:13 <dammitwho> Why wouldn't the Hedge have a sewer system? You take a look at those little guys and tell me they don't shit. 23:13 <VoxPVoxD> That's good. Aesthetics aside, parking a van by what might turn into a very loud, very dangerous supernatural fight is basically tantamount to BYO unexploded munitions. 23:13 <Crion> The arms are...long. Real long. "At least five elbows each" long. One grabs the fast food container, shakes it, and tosses it back down the hole where the arms are comin' from. The other sort of cocks its hand it a head, forming sort of birdbeak with its fingers...and then both arms stream forward at Tony! 23:17 <Crion> Claire is indeed a student herself...which means she is under a lot of pressure from the Mrs. Davis's of the world to give you that sanitized version, especially since campus jobs that pay worth a damn can be hard to come by and are mostly in admissions. 23:17 <CBN> Tony braces himself to leap out of the way, while hollering over his shoulder, "Why? I don't have any problem with this guy! Or you! I just want to talk!" 23:19 <trenchfoot> Well, we're not going to tell on her if she just passes on some locales... 23:20 <Crion> The flat-capped guy laughs and waves a walking stick he definitely doesn't actually need. "Ahh c'mon, stop dancin' around down's there!" 23:21 <CBN> Tony: "I don't want a fight and you don't want a dance, so someone's gonna have to compromise or no one goes home happy!" 23:21 <Crion> Flat cap: "Ya's can't solve every problem in the gol-dang Hedge by's talkin'!" 23:25 <CBN> Tony: "Fine. Then I'm not talking to you!"He turns and stares at the jumbled limbs. "And you don't want me talking to you." 23:26 <Crion> The hands both perk back up into those closed-mouth bird beak-like gather of fingers, "look" at each other, and scram back down the hole. 23:27 <CBN> Tony whirls (well, lumbers) on a heel (well, heavily-packed dirt pile) and looks up at Capp. "You wanna talk now?" 23:27 <Crion> The flat-capped...goblin...? Grumbles: "Someone finally shows up after all's this time that might's be a Baron, and the yinzer's a dang peacenik. Of all's the luck!" 23:28 <Crion> He hops down, pulls a busted television out from behind a dumpster, and tosses it down the oscar hole. "There ya's go." 23:28 <Crion> He replaces the cover. 23:28 <CBN> Tony: "When I want to fight I'll fight, you just ask the Watermelon Boys, when Steve's finished passing them. But I'm just here to talk right now, my man." 23:30 <Crion> Stewart will see the Absolute Van before anything from the direction of Apex Oil. Is he Light-shy'd? 23:32 <VoxPVoxD> Yep. Car's a couple blocks deep into the neighborhood, which is good for cover but bad for escape routes. Tradeoffs. 23:33 <Crion> Then he'll see the Boy in the passenger's seat, alert for once, running his hand along some kind of sword that seems to be merged with his hand under closer examination, and the Boy won't see him. 23:34 <VoxPVoxD> Anyone coming up from the other side? We're, what, 20 minutes from the deadline now? 23:36 <Crion> The capped hob: "Eh, the Watermelon Boys warn't shit, and you's had your pals and that tall glass a'whiskey what keeps his cock holstered on his belt stead-a between his legs. Fucks to the Pigs though, and amen to that." 23:37 <CBN> Tony: "Amen to that." , because that's the only part of that he could really understand. 23:37 <CBN> Tony: "So tell me about the Barons, or the Baron, or whatever all that is and why you've been following me." 23:40 <Crion> "I'm gettin' to it, I'm gettin' to it. Youth!" He straightens up. "You's can call me the Flat-Billed Squire, the First Amongst the Lessers, the Keeper of the Signet and the Sign. If you's pretentious. Only real name in there's Bill. So I'm Bill." 23:41 <Crion> "Now. The first thing I got's to ask you." He shakes his stick for emphasis. "Do you's have any fuggin idea what I'm talkin' about?" 23:41 <CBN> Tony: "...I don't, Flat Bill. But I like your hat." 23:42 <Crion> It is absolutely impossible to pin down what kind of cartoon accent this is supposed to be, by the way. There's some Irish cop in there, Yiddish grandfather, Italian mob guy... 23:42 <Crion> He shrugs. "It is. You's heard of it before." 23:44 <Crion> Is Stewart set up such that he can see the gate to Apex Oil, or would he have to pick them up coming down the block? 23:45 <VoxPVoxD> He started out at the latter, but when he got word the refugees were on the move he started changing position. 23:47 <Crion> Well, the long and short of it is, the kids are headed for Apex Oil a few minutes ahead of the deadline, and they'll be pulling up to the gate around the time it starts opening for three weirdos to step out onto the street. 23:47 <Crion> 9:49 PM. 23:50 <trenchfoot> Nels: "The full college experience, though... anything off-campus that students frequent? I've never - I didn't have the chance for this kinda thing, and I want to make the most of it..." 23:51 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart should be fine then. He'll be across the street, off-center a bit from the gate. 23:52 <Crion> Claire: "Oh yeah, I know what you mean. Catonsville doesn't want a college town so they own all the woods around here...er, we're not supposed to talk about that on the tour. But there's all kinds of stuff that comes TO campus to make it yours! Musical acts, movie nights on the quad, ... religion, you know, all sorts of things!" 23:58 <trenchfoot> Sore subject...? Hm. 23:58 <Crion> Long-suffering sigh from Bill when there's not an immediate spark of recognition. "It's the dang hat for the dang Baron! C'mon's now." 23:59 <Crion> "Every Baron's got's to have a hat, and that's my job, handin' out's the hat!" 00:00 <CBN> Tony: "Do they all wear the same hat?...how many other people have worn that hat?" Tony thinks for a second. "And uhh...what happened to the last Baron?" 00:01 <Crion> "Lotta Barons out there, lotta hats. Hat cleans itself! Last Baron he called it uh, what'sa word, metaphor. Still wore it though, so it seemed real's enough to me!" 00:01 <Crion> Bill shrugs at the question. "Dunno. Prob'ly died." 00:03 <Crion> Stewart doesn't have to wait long. The Saint raises his hands, looks like he's about to try to calm everyone down -- and the Boy and Girl strike first, spiking the Questioner on the Cross and the Left Arm of God back through the Apex Oil gate and into the service yard. 00:03 <Crion> It's on. 00:04 <VoxPVoxD> Nothing anyone could've done different. 00:06 <dammitwho> Maggie: "Religion?" 00:06 <CBN> Tony: "Oh. Okay. So...what's the Baron do? And what am I doing to put me in the running for it?" 00:06 <trenchfoot> Nels: "...religion?" That really doesn't sound like a typical college thing. 00:07 <trenchfoot> She's seen upwards of two coming-of-age comedies at this point and neither of them had religion in them. 00:07 <Crion> Does Stewart go in to watch? The Saint seems stilted, sort of; having trouble processing what he's seeing. He doesn't stumble back into the lot so much as he walks...very...slowly...but very jerkily. Sort of like someone doing the Robot, but for walking? It's weird. 00:09 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart goes in to watch. He takes some cover if he can find it, but if not he'll just try to keep a respectable distance from the gate, the Saint, and the fight. 00:09 <Crion> Claire: "...We're not supposed to talk about...look...okay, you're cool, right?" 00:09 <Crion> This is a pretty explicit "Are you going to rat me out to Mrs. Davis and get me fired?" question. 00:10 <trenchfoot> Nels, one of the least cool people in the world: "Yeah." She might be uncool but she's not a rat. 00:12 <Crion> Bill: "That's the reason I approached you's! A Baron does all the stuff you's are already doin', but with this hat and a Wyrd-sworn title and some priva-leges of rank. And ya's gotta fight, too, but I guess we can check that one off." 00:12 <dammitwho> Whether she's cool or not is a question Maggie has wrestled with over many a long night, and it's not going to get resolved now. 00:13 <banana> Melanie: "I used to be cool." 00:14 <Crion> Claire: "Well we've got the usual faith groups on campus for you if you want, and we also get, you know, the crazy abortion preacher who stands in the quad and screams about hell and sometimes debates the dweebs from like, the Campus Atheism Society. That's all whatever, normal." 00:15 <banana> Some of those dweebs have pretty good arguments (no bearing on dweeb status)... 00:15 <CBN> Tony: "Oh! If I'm already doing it then, cool beans." 00:17 <Crion> Bill: "Well it's a whole dang process, ain't it. But yeah, if's that's what ya want, it's ya's. I ain't scarin up a bigger oscar for ya's to fight, that's for dang sure." 00:17 <Crion> "Just gotta pull the hat offa my head." 00:18 <Crion> "And wear it around when you's Baroning." 00:20 <Crion> Claire: "But...recently this bus has been showing up. Like, an empty bus, except for a man and woman inside, and they come out one day during Winter Session and set up next to the abortion guy, and they start handing out brochures for like...'The Church of the Center of the Sun?' Something like that." 00:20 <trenchfoot> ... 00:21 <trenchfoot> No, seriously, that's like... really obviously bad, right? 00:22 <banana> "Oh, wow, a real cult? Like in Lifetime movies?" 00:23 <Crion> "And so -- I like, have to go by these guys every day -- so on the third day of this, the abortion preacher goes over and causes a scene because this is his place to yell and go find your own. I didn't see if they said anything to him because I was leading a group, but they stayed polite." 00:23 <Crion> "Next day, they were gone, and so was the preacher. I thought campus security had put a stop to it." 00:23 <Crion> "Couple days later, though, they were back." 00:24 <Crion> "Preacher must've been banned, though. He hasn't been around since." 00:24 <trenchfoot> Huh. 00:25 <Crion> Claire just sort of shakes her head. "That all just sorta came out, wow. Don't tell Mrs. Davis I said any of that; they're a lot quiet than the preacher anyway!" 00:25 <trenchfoot> ...third missing person? 00:25 <Crion> You passed the spot she described on your walk over; the polite man and woman don't seem to be here today. 00:27 <trenchfoot> Nels: "No, thank you, it's nice to know... what to avoid, I guess?" 00:27 <dammitwho> Maggie: "Well, so long as the shouting preacher's gone." 00:30 <Crion> Stewart is treated to a beautiful, brutal, and short display of raw, untrammelled supernatural power, with decisive victors. The Boy has already leapt upon the Questioner when he makes it inside; the Questioner's arms are stretched out to each side like a T-pose but his legs have split into eight spider limbs, and holy fire pours from his eyes and mouth -- until the Boy's blade carves through 00:30 <Crion> his collarbone and neck, revealing the divine machinery beneath. 00:31 <Crion> An unholy shriek and the angel flips over to attack with its eight questing legs -- but the Boy whoops as he lands and spins, severing them all and then BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM, six shots from the heavy double-barreled revolver that's formed in his other hand down into its body. 00:33 <Crion> The Girl streaks into battle appearing to ice skate across the ground, but when she finally hits the Left Arm of God with a two-foot shotgun dropkick, it becomes obvious her weapon grows off of her hands and feet. And that it really was a shotgun dropkick. 00:33 <Crion> *Left Hand 00:34 <VoxPVoxD> Holy shit. 00:35 <Crion> As the Hand's head peels away, grasping limbs explode from its body to seize and hold the Girl, while others form strange sigils with their fingers and begin summoning...something. But silver flushes down both the Girl's arms, and in her hands too appear weapons. Longslide ebony and ivory handguns with apparently infinite ammo, which she empties into all of the Left Hand's left hands. 00:37 <Crion> Incoherent, furious atonal shrieking from both...corpses? No, they're not dead, or maybe they weren't alive. They're glowing and reforming, creating something bigger, as the refinery pipes around them bend and sing like some kind of organ from Heaven and Hell. The Boy and the Girl step back, sagging; built for sprints, not marathons. They won, clearly, but now what? 00:38 <Crion> The furious angel-revenant rises up and -- THHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHMMMMMMMMMMMM. 00:38 <Crion> The Saint's mouth has unhinged and his eyes are all open. The angel-creature shudders. 00:38 <Crion> Then it surges again-- 00:38 <Crion> THHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM. 00:39 <Crion> The Saint's skin explodes into fractals. The angel explodes. 00:39 <Crion> The Saint falls. 00:39 <VoxPVoxD> ?! 00:39 <Crion> Don't worry, the Boy's there to catch him. 00:40 <Crion> The Undeclared -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ra7Fa6kE718 [sways] 00:41 <VoxPVoxD> Can Stewart make any sense of what he's seeing? 00:44 <Crion> Only narratively. Geometrically, ontologically, that ranges from difficult to impossible -- but the Boy and Girl did just defeat the Questioner and the Left Hand, and then something else instantiated in this realm that really shouldn't have been here for just a moment, and the Saint sent it home...and died? But didn't die? Whoever that is in the Boy's, and now Girl's, arms, he doesn't look 00:44 <Crion> like the same guy. He doesn't look like much of anything. 00:44 <Crion> Meanwhile, all that strange and beautiful machinery...it zips up into each other, folding into liminal space, like some kind of cartoon, and then it ducks sideways out of the world. 00:45 <Crion> The guy in the Boy's arm has a hardhat on now, and a safety vest. Jeans. Boots -- did he just get the boots? No, they were there all along. 00:45 <Crion> The Girl: "Is it still him?" 00:46 <Crion> The Boy: "I dunno. But I don't want to stick around for that van of vampires and werewolves and who the fuck knows." 00:46 <banana> Melanie: "We should totally find someone who actually took a brochure. I'm a- I'm interested in philosophy and comparative religion.. stuff. Sorry if we're interrupting your tour though?" 00:47 <Crion> Claire, relieved: "Perfectly alright! I'm sure they'll be back soon enough. Anyway, over here..." 00:47 <Crion> The rest of the tour will go as planned, unless the three of you have other ideas. 00:49 <Crion> The Absolute Couple pull him back to the van as the color seems to run out of Apex Oil, and the sense of possibility and momentuousness...now it's just an industrial complex in the dark with some very minor property damage, and there are sirens in the distance. 00:50 <VoxPVoxD> Is the van headed back up into Canton? 00:50 <Crion> That it is. 00:51 <trenchfoot> That weird cult thing is something to investigate later! For now, though, Nels will happily take in the rest of the tour. 00:52 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart texts a report to Rose as he jogs behind the van, which is going the rough direction of his car anyway. 00:52 <VoxPVoxD> He outlines the fight, the victory, the interruption, the fall. 00:53 <Crion> Rose: <meet us in the alley two doors down from their house> 00:53 <Crion> There are also a lot of !!!! and ?!?!?s in there 00:53 <Crion> . 00:53 <Crion> But that's the important bit. 00:54 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart's there maybe ten minutes later. 00:56 <Crion> The werewolf Cuth walks into the alley a couple seconds before Stewart does, looks around, frowns, and says to the thin air, "I know you're here, do I really need to--" 00:56 <Crion> Rose, Sobriquet, and Sommelier all blink into existence. 00:56 <Crion> Not all at once, of course. They're obviously each turning off their own things. 00:57 <Crion> Cuth: "You're all so fucking weird." 00:57 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart appears as well. 00:57 <Crion> Cuth, to Stewart: "Oh, hey man." 00:57 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Hey." 00:58 <Crion> Sobriquet: "I'm sorry. Who the fuck is that? Who the fuck are you?" 00:58 <Crion> Sommelier: "That is Stewart. Be civil." 00:59 <VoxPVoxD> To Sobriquet: "It's nice to meet you." 00:59 <Crion> Rose: "He actually saw what happened in at Apex Oil, instead of arriving two minutes late because we had to hoof it after the van plan collapsed." Pointedly, to the others: "I told you we had it covered." 01:00 <Crion> Sobriquet: "Yeah. Okay. So what happened?" 01:00 <Crion> Stewart can repeat his story, and the task force will react...next week. 01:02 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart explains what happened. Phantom limbs and conjured weapons, crossing the lines between man, machine, matter, and energy - the abjuration, the fall. The fallen angel, or what's left of him, is in the care - he says care, not custody - of the test subjects. 01:03 <banana> Melanie: "The academy really is a bubble, huh? Feels like nothing's changed since the last time I did that.. except that she didn't show us the courts and gym. You guys need to appear fitter." 01:06 <trenchfoot> Nels frowns but says nothing. 01:06 <banana> "Did either of you see someone that looks like Nels? Other than the girl on the front desk, nobody stood out at all." 01:07 <trenchfoot> Nels: "The girl on the front desk?" 01:08 <trenchfoot> "...oh my God." 01:08 <dammitwho> Maggie: "Nope, just her. I think the tour guide girl called her Sarah? She does look a lot like Nels though. It's the smile." 01:08 <trenchfoot> "Oh my God." 01:08 <banana> Melanie: "Actually she looked a LOT like Nels. I didn't really think about it because you're like, the exact same age..." 01:10 <trenchfoot> Nels: "Yeah, um, I missed a hundred years and she didn't. So. That was her."