21:32 <Crion> So does everyone have a date for Prom? 21:33 <Crion> Just one of the many questions in the offing as Spring -- and the most important social event of the Freehold calendar -- grimly approaches, with Amelia Banthem's court determined to at least salvage some of the mood as Baltimore and the greater United States dives deeper into lockdown in the face of COVID-19. 21:33 <Crion> After all, it's not like you, or the mages, or the vampires, or the werewolves are afflicted. Though everyone is in some sense affected. 21:35 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart's not really enthused at the prospect of going to a big party... he tries to take Lauren's temperature. Is she looking forward to it? 21:35 <trenchfoot> ...not yet. For the record. 21:36 <CBN> Tony's going stag. Which he had originally hoped meant he could wear a sick rack of hob antlers to this thing, but Steve quacked him out of that so he's just going to wear the same nice-for-a-party clothes they picked out for the last party he went to. But, alone. With friends. 21:36 <Crion> 'Take Lauren's temperature.' Hah. 21:37 <VoxPVoxD> Hey, if it reads as innuendo rather than a virus reference, that's a qualified victory as far as Stewart's concerned. 21:37 <Crion> She seems perfectly willing to go, even slightly enthusiastic about it, and definitely more concerned about Stewart's own enthusiasm level with the attention paid only by someone who themselves was previously in his position of wanting to say fuck this. 21:39 <banana> That is an existential question. And the kind of provocation Spring exists for, Melanie guesses. 21:39 <Crion> You've still got a bit of time -- about a week, all told -- before the formal handover of power, and then the formal that follows. 21:41 <Crion> For Tony's benefit, going stag is permitted, but it means the single girls and/or boys will bother you all night. Them's the rules, oh virile horned lord of the new-living world. 21:41 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "How's Prom compare to Halloween? Is it the same kind of, everyone's in a big room with a karaoke machine?" 21:41 <banana> How's the Summer been as a season, anyway? Everything's starting to be drowned out by the virus, but it seems like things were peaceful in the actual Freehold. 21:41 <VoxPVoxD> Actually has Stewart been back at the Sidereal since the fire? Obviously the renovations are done if there's a party happening, but did they change it up at all? 21:42 <Crion> Lauren: "It's supposed to be sexier. Usually it succeeds? This year's gonna be a mess, between the fire at the Sidereal and the virus." 21:44 <Crion> They've built back a little bit better; not much. Work barely finished last week before the lockdown restrictions hit -- no one was particularly sympathetic to the idea that the nightclub/bar would receive renovation work through the lockdown, as essential workers had other things to be building anyway; extra capacity tents for the hospitals, perhaps, if things got too bad. 21:44 <trenchfoot> ...is it weird if the group plus Lauren shows up together? Because I don't think anyone else has a date. 21:45 <dammitwho> Maggie's date is a truckload of hedgebeer. Union does NOT count. 21:45 <Crion> To the blunt, yeah, it's weird. It's still allowed, however. 21:45 <Crion> *To be 21:49 <trenchfoot> Well, Nels is Down. But she doesn't really... know a lot of people? Or she does know precisely one but doesn't really want to repeat that. 21:50 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart's trying to figure out where he's supposed to put the minifridge his newest sponsor sent him. They want it in the background of the face cam. So he's squatting on his chair like a gargoyle, rotating back and forth between the room and the screen to see how it fits in the shot. When Lauren speaks he turns himself slowly to face her. "What does 'sexy' mean here? Very hard to see 21:50 <VoxPVoxD> the erotic charge in being locked in a room with the hundred weirdest people in Baltimore." 21:50 <Crion> Interesting! How will she respond when Canterbury asks, via Stewart via Lauren, if Nels has a date? 21:50 <VoxPVoxD> lmao 21:51 <dammitwho> What if the hundred weirdest people in Baltimore are the entirety of your dating pool, Stewart? 21:51 <VoxPVoxD> Meeting the entirety of your dating pool all at once sounds even worse! There's nothing less sexy than a crowd. 21:52 <Crion> Lauren will wave a hand. "College dance party sexy. You know, high school shit, except without so much mean gossip afterwards. Spring can pull it off well enough, and Winter gets more into it than you'd think. Mainly they're just relieved not to be running stuff anymore. As you'd guess, we're always the grumpy odd ones out." 21:52 <Crion> 'We' here being Autumn. 21:52 <VoxPVoxD> Also realistically the dating pool is at most half of that, since many of them are in things like committed relationships, strict religious orders, and the body of a 13 year old boy. 21:53 <Crion> Meanwhile, Tony, how's it going on the boat search? Has that started up for real? 21:54 <trenchfoot> I mean. He's the right age. I think? Not super clear on that. And he was her bodyguard for a bit which was sweet... 21:55 <Crion> Canterbury doesn't talk about himself much, but he is probably around 20 years-ish younger in absolute age than Nels. 21:55 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "How formal is it?" 21:57 <Crion> Lauren: "We abandoned actual dress code requirements awhile back but I'll need a dress and you'll need something approaching a tux." 21:57 <trenchfoot> Old people have to stick together. Assuming Stewart delivers the invite. 21:57 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart absolutely does. 21:57 <CBN> Tony's boating prospects have been hampered so far by the following factors: no one wants to leave their house; the half-dozen phone calls he's made to entries on The Craig's List have all gone nowhere, though he does have some promising leads if he ever wants to get into multi-level marketing; boats cost more money than he has seen in his life. 21:58 <CBN> At one point he asked Steve if there were Hedge boats. The honks were profane and discouraging. 21:59 <Crion> Tony will note, however, that they were not a 'no.' 21:59 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "I guess we should go shopping, then. And I might as well buy something rather than rent it, since I'm going to need something approaching a tux next year too. And the year after. Prom every year... teenaged me would be melting down right now." 22:00 <Crion> Lauren grins. "It's not so bad. There's less sing-a-long than Halloween, and more dancing." 22:01 <Crion> "There is a sing-a-long portion, to be clear." 22:01 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Karaoke, you mean?" 22:01 <VoxPVoxD> "Or real acts?" 22:02 <Crion> Lauren: "Usually people practice more beforehand for Prom instead of just getting up there and banging out whatever. Since we can't have an actual mortal backing band this year, Lister's going to be joining Harlan as part of the permanent fixture." 22:02 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart's eyebrows go up. 22:03 <VoxPVoxD> "I guess that's one way to keep him from singing." 22:04 <Crion> Lauren: "He's not very spring, no. But he tries in his way." 22:04 <VoxPVoxD> "It sounds so stage-managed though. Like someone looked at Halloween and thought they could do it better but they just got really anal about it." 22:04 <Crion> "...Yes. Have you met the Spring Court?" 22:04 <trenchfoot> Hey! 22:04 <VoxPVoxD> "I've never been at a Spring Court party." 22:05 <Crion> "Prom actually came first, but it was Halloween that got all the cool kids, and Amelia's never really forgotten that." 22:07 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Well... last Halloween won't be hard to top. Probably no Terminator attacks." 22:07 <Crion> Lauren: "Mmmmm. That's true. Been a rough six months or so for the Sidereal." 22:12 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart hops nimbly off the chair and drags the fridge just a few inches to the left. A ridiculous place to put a fridge, though not an obtrusive one, if you're optimizing a room for usability. But this fridge - this room - is just stage dressing for the lidless eye of Logitech. "Sounds like a challenge, then." 22:15 <Crion> On the money front, has Tony talked with Stewart at all about the boat project, or is he nobly suffering in Protestant silence? 22:16 <banana> Is anyone hanging around the Wherehouse to complain to? Or who wants someone to complain to in turn? 22:16 <Crion> honk!! 22:16 <trenchfoot> Nels is permanently available to complain to. It's - a teaching thing? 22:17 <CBN> Tony hasn't brought it up yet because of suffering Protestantly and also because on some level he refuses to believe computer money is real. He's also hanging around the Wherehouse most of the time doing nothing now. 22:17 <banana> ........."Steve, do you even know what a date is?" Melanie can't really crouch all the way down but she can squat enough to talk to a goose. 22:18 <Crion> honk honk honk 22:18 <Crion> You know, "a battle of wills" isn't far off. 22:21 <banana> Melanie: "Well, the way I remember it was more like a one-sided negotiation. But I don't, really. Remember.. or rather what I remember doesn't seem.. right." 22:22 <Crion> Another series of confident honks. Apparently when Steve screws up things like this, he just puts on a different hat and jacket/cape/other, and becomes someone else. One easy trick. 22:25 <banana> Melanie: "What? I'm not worried about screwing up. People would like me, I just don't know if I like- if I can- what I'd even want." 22:25 <trenchfoot> Nels is... not NOT listening. She's studying her driver's manual. Who let cars go that fast?? But also Melanie might need answers that aren't honks. 22:26 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart puts his arms around Lauren and pulls her unconsciously out of where the webcam'd cover if it were still on, swaying a bit. "A challenge to have fun. A challenge to relax. A challenge to be sexy. On 2020 Ultra Nightmare difficulty." 22:27 <Crion> Lauren: "Mmmmm." 22:28 <Crion> honk! honk honk honk. People liking you is their business, in the end. What's important is you have the proper fashions to appear and disappear at will. Unclear if he means socially appear and disappear, as a metaphor...? 22:29 <banana> Melanie: "Well, that would be the fun bit. Getting back into fashion - it's time-consuming but I do need to do something other than write and I'm kind of tired of arguing on the anime forums. I don't mind the idea of making myself look pretty again. It's more like... the point of it all, the what or the, um, who." 22:30 <banana> "I guess I wouldn't even want to know who you'd encounter, socially. More kinds of vegetable people." 22:32 <trenchfoot> What... is anime? Nels resolves to ask Stewart later. Also she's just got her ear pressed to the door now, no longer bothering to read the rules of the road. 22:34 <VoxPVoxD> An indeterminate amount of time later that happens to correspond exactly to the current point in the other scene, Stewart enters the Wherehouse, perhaps with Lauren. "Hey guys!" 22:36 <Crion> Lauren: "Hi! Hello, Steve." 22:36 <banana> Melanie brushes floor-dust off the knees of her jeans as she gets up. "Mr. Reader. Ms. Ipsum." 22:36 <Crion> honk! See, Melanie, these two know what I'm talking about, whoever they are! Oh, it's Stewart and Lauren! They dress so well he couldn't tell. 22:36 <Crion> Steve wanders off for a beer. 22:38 <trenchfoot> Nels finally leaves her room as they arrive. "Hey! Um, thanks for passing on Canterbury's invite." 22:38 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart grins involuntarily. "Did you talk to him?" 22:39 <trenchfoot> Nels: "...just to say yes? I haven't - it wasn't like this." 22:39 <dammitwho> "Oh, heya." Maggie's still fretting over her outfit. She has to admit that she's not as young as she was, and showing up in an actual Prom dress... she's heard that there are tuxedos for women now, an avant-garde style, but does that send the wrong impression, these days? 22:40 <trenchfoot> They're - what's the phrase? "Wicked cool." 22:40 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "You don't have to *just* say that, there's also stuff like, you know, when to meet up, or just small talk." 22:41 <CBN> Tony's just lounging in the living room. He lives the freedom of knowing what he is wearing (clothes already bought for him), who he is going to talk to (people already going with him), and what he intends to accomplish tonight (getting out of the Wherehouse and staving off stir-craze). 22:41 <banana> Melanie: ! "Did Canterbury ask you out?" 22:42 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart gravitates to Tony's lack-of-neurosis aura, as the south pole of a magnet is drawn to the north. "How's it going?" 22:44 <CBN> Tony: "Doin' good, feelin' fine, man! Question for ya though." 22:44 <VoxPVoxD> "Yeah?" 22:44 <trenchfoot> Nels: "He did! I - we're almost the same age, too? Or like, we would be if we -- well." 22:46 <banana> Melanie: "You mean, you've got the same level of youthful vigour relative to some weirdness. Such as poets would write on." 22:46 <Crion> Union will have also contacted Maggie about going to Prom as business partners. (Don't worry about anything further; he's almost certainly going home with one of the werewolves.) 22:47 <CBN> He taps the side of his badge of office, the hat he's wearing. "It rude to wear this to a Prom or rude not to?" 22:48 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "It's the mark of your office, right? It'd be irresponsible not to wear it. What if hobs show up?" 22:48 <trenchfoot> Nels: "I mean that we're like a hundred-odd years and change, yeah. I - I think 'hecked up' is the phrase? I saw it on the internet." 22:48 <dammitwho> Hmm. "Melanie! Nels! Lauren! I need your opinions." 22:48 <trenchfoot> Nels: "I'm one of those!" 22:49 <banana> Opinions are here. 22:49 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart's kind of in awe at the power of the algorithm that Nels has somehow been completely sucked into uwu tenderqueer tumblr internet. How did it know? 22:49 <CBN> Tony: "Oh man. That's a good point...glad I asked, thanks Stewart!" 22:50 <trenchfoot> It was the guitar, probably. 22:50 <CBN> Tony: "Oh but...if this is the kind of party hobs show up to...how fucked up do Spring-court hob parties get, man? Ah jeez." 22:51 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "There's no formal dress code, and it's not possible to wear an outfit no one will make fun of, so as long as you can demonstrate like a baseline respect for other people you're good, I think." 22:52 <dammitwho> She holds up two hangers, one with a black dress but not that kind of black dress, and one with a trim suit. "Which do you think?" 22:52 <Crion> Wearing the formal dress of your entitlement is entirely appropriate for a Freehold formal event. 22:52 <CBN> Tony: "Cool beans. Hey unrelated question for you while we're here and sober-ish though...how do I make The Craig List work? I'm trying to find a boat and none of the numbers I've called have gotten me anywhere. Which is why we don't have a boat." 22:53 <banana> Melanie: "Oh, that would be interesting. Do you wanna look like, like, la belle dame? Or are you trying to demonstrate that you WILL be leading in the dances." 22:53 <trenchfoot> Nels, immediately: "The suit." 22:53 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Craigslist is like 80% bots, and 80% of the rest are idiots, flakes, and thieves. And that's when society is working. I would not expect to get a boat deal done over Craigslist any time soon." 22:54 <trenchfoot> She knows even less about Craig's List than Tony does. Not even gonna try. 22:54 <VoxPVoxD> "This is probably a great time to buy from a reputable dealer, though, what with the entire cruise industry ceasing to exist and it not being clear when anyone's going to get to go outside again." 22:54 <VoxPVoxD> "What's your budget?" 22:57 <dammitwho> Maggie: "Well, that's the trouble, dancing... I mean, proms are for children, teenagers, right? I'm sure that's not what they meant but it's hard to get my brain past that." 22:59 <CBN> Tony: "Shit. Well Winter hasn't paid me to dump a body in awhile, and I quit my landscaping gig after I hooked up with you all and moved here, so...I should probably have money before I try to buy a boat, is my budget?" 22:59 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "It's a motley boat, right? So it's a group expense." 22:59 <banana> Melanie: "They're for horny children though. It's really formalised, like a sort of introduction to adult socialisation by parents and teachers trying desperately to pretend the kids aren't already partying......... with drinks." 23:00 <VoxPVoxD> "Unless you were picturing some kind of solitary pleasure craft thing. Like, uh," he takes out his phone. "The Stugots, which is Tony Soprano's boat." 23:00 <Crion> Point of order: That's Homecoming. Prom is the advanced course, where they actively, desperately try to stop them from fucking. 23:01 <CBN> Tony: "Yeah! I was thinking before all this plague stuff started anyway, it would be really nice to get out of the city and go on a nice boat trip for awhile. And if there's doors on a boat, we could figure out a way to pop right back in here from it, which would make grocery runs pretty quick..." 23:01 <banana> "The dancing is like, half being forced to show off and half actually trying to preen? But I mean this isn't. The Spring Court isn't going to make us vote on a prom king and queen and then humiliate the losers while everyone is trying to pair up and get to the parking spots first." 23:02 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart, rapidly inputting search terms on his phone: "Okay, so we can probably get something used that's pretty big, or decent-sized and modern, for like... 5, 600 grand?" 23:03 <CBN> Tony's spit take is bad enough he's gonna have to change his shirt. 23:03 <trenchfoot> Nels's eyes bulge before she remembers that's not what money is worth anymore. 23:03 <Crion> honkhonk! That's the Big Cheese! 23:03 <VoxPVoxD> "...you alright?" 23:03 <CBN> Tony: "Six hundred...thousand, American, US dollars?" 23:04 <CBN> Tony: "Okay I guess we gotta rob a bank before we get a boat, if you know of any." 23:05 <dammitwho> Maggie: "Hmmmmmm. I'll go with the dress, then. This time." 23:05 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Yeah. I'll have to set something up with the bank, I can't cover that straight up out of savings, but, you know, monthly payments? No problem. You know, the rule I heard is that you're supposed to spend 3 months salary on an engagement ring. A boat's worth 4 engagement rings, right?" 23:06 <banana> Wait, what is this about a million dollar boat. "Hang on, hang on." 23:06 <Crion> Is Lauren in the room when Stewart casually mentions engagement rings? 23:06 <VoxPVoxD> He didn't check. 23:07 <VoxPVoxD> Is she? 23:07 <CBN> Tony: "A boat is like getting married to the sea and there's more than four of us so I guess when you put it like that..." He pauses to do the math. Checks out. 23:07 <Crion> She's probably making something in the kitchen. 23:07 <VoxPVoxD> Nothing to worry about, then! 23:07 <trenchfoot> You can't just casually drop that!! 23:08 <trenchfoot> ...I mean I guess you can, she didn't hear it. 23:09 <banana> Melanie: "Hang on- sorry Maggie- this sounds like problem-solving mode, like 'let's get this done and out of the way' talking. Some kind of seriousness gap has just been vaulted without, perhaps, appropriate consideration." 23:09 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Sorry?" 23:11 <banana> "Um.. it sounds like you're going from, Tony's like, I'm thinking of saving up to buy a boat, to Stewart getting out the actual financial planning documents and life-changing expenditures? Really seamlessly?" 23:12 <banana> Melanie: "It's probably my misunderstanding, I wasn't really paying attention before." 23:12 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "I mean, I'm not saying we need to go out and do it today. I'm just saying, like... it's within our budget to get one, once Tony's found something he thinks we can use." 23:12 <CBN> Tony: "I like it! Skipping past the boring steps of not having a boat and getting right to the fun part of having a boat." 23:12 <CBN> Tony: "Besides, we could get eaten by a Keeper or hunted by a Huntsman or blown up by another wizard egg any day now. May as well get a boat." 23:13 <VoxPVoxD> A little defensively: "I'm not going full Notch over here." 23:13 <banana> "Within- it is? Use for what? Egg?" Notch? 23:13 <trenchfoot> Nels: "Full what?" 23:14 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Notch is a guy who stole the idea for the most popular game in the world, sold it for a billion dollars, and then became a racist on the internet because no one would be his friend." 23:14 <Crion> Steve gives a "yeah, that'll happen" honk. Unclear how much of what Stewart said he understood. 23:15 <CBN> Tony: "Notch invented Breakout? Wow..." 23:15 <trenchfoot> That... is a lot to process. She just doesn't say anything and shakes her head. 23:15 <banana> Melanie: "Well, ok, no, that's an inapplicable metaphor. We're already friends." 23:15 <banana> "I'm sorry Tony, to be honest I didn't realise how serious you were. About boating." 23:16 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "I'm just saying. We're not impulse buying a boat. I just wanted to make sure Tony knows he doesn't have to find one and pay for it alone. It's a group thing. So it's a group process." 23:17 <dammitwho> Maggie: "No, Tony, he's German. He invented the game where you punch trees and everything's a square." 23:17 <CBN> Tony high-fives Stewart. "Teamwork!" 23:17 <dammitwho> "Sorry, Melanie." 23:17 <CBN> To Maggie: "Breakout has squares. No trees though." 23:17 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart returns the high five and does not correct Maggie. 23:17 <dammitwho> Maggie: "It goes in three dimensions!" She waves her hands like a cube. 23:18 <VoxPVoxD> How does a cube wave its hands? 23:19 <trenchfoot> Very carefully. 23:19 <trenchfoot> No one else was gonna say it. 23:21 <VoxPVoxD> Maybe ask yourself why. 23:21 <trenchfoot> Absolutely not. 23:23 <banana> "Dimensions aside.. sounds good. I was just-" Melanie's not sure why she panicked for a moment there. Actually, it'd be displacement stress from thinking about relationships, combined with this idea that, as a group, they're going to do something she's not sure about, projected onto the shock of suddenly hearing large numbers, but of course Stewart's right that it's very nice, actually, 23:23 <banana> to think in terms of pooled resources, if perhaps a little un-American, and now she's paused for like ten seconds in the middle of a sentence. 23:23 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "It came out very abrupt." 23:23 <VoxPVoxD> "Kind of an alarming amount of money, inherently." 23:23 <CBN> Tony, helfpully: "Melanie when we get a boat you can have a co-captain's hat." 23:24 <CBN> *helpfully, in fact 23:24 <banana> "Thank you, I would love to be a demisemicaptain." 23:25 <banana> At Stewart she just grins, because if you're mindreading you don't actually need verbal acknowledgement, do you? 23:25 <VoxPVoxD> Man Melanie must hate the very idea of a boat. Stewart's not all the way there with her, but he's a lot closer to her than he is to Tony, except in the literal physical sense. And it's not like they have to live in it. 23:27 <trenchfoot> Nels: "...we can get a dock in this place, right? I like Baltimore." 23:28 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "We can rent a slip." 23:29 <CBN> Tony: "Oh, I was thinking any boat we got we could just...figure out how to get it over here to keep." 23:29 <CBN> Tony: "Hedge up a pond in the back to park it next to a big boat-door, I dunno what you call that nautically, or if it's a thing at all before now." 23:29 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Can you get in and out of the Hedge at sea?" 23:29 <banana> "Maybe if you emerge from some sort of cartoon whirlpool." 23:30 <trenchfoot> Nels: "What if I hedgespin singing a sea shanty?" 23:30 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Then we'd tragically sink, but in a really cool way." 23:30 <CBN> Tony: "I assume if we can find boat-sized doors somewhere. Warehouses dock-side, maybe caves, stuff like that. I haven't gotten that far yet." 23:30 <Crion> If Tony's been looking into this, he's realized by now that a crazy amount of the Baltimore Hedge can turn from alleyway into waterway at a moment -- and it's mostly due to, uh, psychic geography, not actual geography. That is to say, if the Wyrd in the area wants water, as expressed through the local hobs or other beasties, then it usually there's a canal with lochs nearby. 23:39 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Then as long as we can guarantee the boat won't get cursed in a bad way, and as long as we can figure out how to lie to insurance companies so we can file claims on damage incurred in the Hedge, there's no reason not to keep it here." 23:40 <VoxPVoxD> Filing insurance claims for supernatural damage seems like the kind of thing Santander does to relax. 23:40 <Crion> Stewart's not wrong. 23:41 <CBN> Tony: "Hell yeah." 23:41 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart gets up to check on Lauren and get a glass of water. What's she up to in the kitchen? 23:42 <dammitwho> Maggie, cheerfully: "Plus, lying to insurance companies is a good thing to do!" 23:42 <dammitwho> Maggie, cheerfully: "Plus, lying to insurance companies is a good thing to do!" 23:42 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Only if it works!" 23:42 <Crion> She is critiquing Steve's rice technique, which has improved but can still stand to have someone with hands around in case he flubs it. 23:43 <Crion> "This is actually really impressive," she's saying, mostly baffled. 23:43 <banana> Melanie's fiddling with Maggie's accepted dress and proposed suit a bit more. You could have flowers pinned here, or move the straps... the suit would definitely have been an interesting choice. Maybe not the right one, but interesting. 23:46 <trenchfoot> It was right. Nels won't push though. 23:48 <Crion> For Nels's benefit, Canterbury has already communicated that he'll be in a simple, charcoal three-piece suit; nice and well-tailored but very deliberately not an expensive tuxedo. He's considering a bowtie, though. 23:51 <trenchfoot> Maybe that would be okay? Though from her pop culture studies nobody wears those anymore?? Maybe skip it. 23:53 <dammitwho> Bowties! That's another thing that means something completely different these days. Dressing inoffensively is still pretty easy, but once you think about making a statement it becomes pretty clear that we don't seem to speak the language anymore. 23:55 <trenchfoot> She's getting the nicest dress she can afford without asking for a favor, for the record. Purple, probably, or pink. And trusting whatever the salesperson tells her because she is NOT up on modern fashions. 23:56 <trenchfoot> Other than the bowtie thing. She's watched television. 23:57 <banana> To Maggie: "You're not going with anyone, right?" 23:59 <Crion> Canterbury is noncommital on the bowtie thing, especially if Nels makes it clear her opinion is based on watching TV. Might be something cultural going on there for the exiled once-future-Tory lordling. He also refrains from giving her any unsolicited advice, beyond the color he's wearing so she can properly pair them. 00:02 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Steve grows more powerful with each passing day..." 00:03 <Crion> Lauren: "Frankly, it's kind of ridiculous." 00:03 <Crion> "I heard something about a boat...?" 00:03 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Oh, yeah, Tony wants to get a boat for the motley." 00:04 <VoxPVoxD> He searches her face. Any sign of an immediate this-is-stupid reaction? 00:05 <Crion> She blinks, kind of surprised, then: "Well, I guess that sort of makes sense. Is it gonna be Hedge-proofed? I'm guessing it's for work." 00:05 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart nods. "He wants to dock it here." 00:07 <VoxPVoxD> More quietly: "Something up?" 00:07 <Crion> Lauren: "That makes sense, given the investment." 00:07 <Crion> She pauses a moment. "You know that boat's gonna get haunted as shit, right?" 00:08 <Crion> "Like maybe that's fine. Maybe it's even good," she says, ruffling Steve's feathers as he checks the rice again. 00:08 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "You mean from Hedge exposure?" 00:08 <Crion> "Yep." 00:09 <trenchfoot> ...they can be weirdly young old people together. Nels and Canterbury, I mean. 00:09 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Well... I figure hobs are gonna be regular guests on the Baron's yacht anyhow. As long as it's a polite haunting... and if it's not we can do something about it." 00:10 <Crion> Canterbury is already excessively that, and a lot of other things besides; it just goes over better in America for the guy who sounds like Prince Harry but dresses in hoodies and carries an AUG. 00:11 <Crion> Lauren helps Steve get a pad of butter out of the wrap and into the rice. Decadent. "You know, might work in your favor. See if you can find one that's pre-haunted, get it for cheaper." 00:11 <Crion> "Could also be an insanely bad idea! But, you're the Lord Sage." 00:11 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Not yet. But... yeah. I wonder how hard it'd be to find a cursed yacht for cheap." 00:12 <Crion> Lauren: "'Oh, Stewart and Tony, you're back already!' 'Boat's haunted' 'What?' 'Boat's haunted.' And Tony grabs that ridiculous shotgun." 00:13 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart snickersnorts. 00:14 <dammitwho> To Melanie: "Just Union, as business partners." 00:16 <CBN> Tony: "'Ridiculous'...?" 00:17 <Crion> Lauren, from the other room: "Didn't you bury it under a giant Texan red oak?" 00:17 <banana> "That guy's cool. He's more grounded than most of the wizards-" ironic given that he's high all the time- "but not in a way which like, turns into a smug we're-better-than-you-so-we-don't-have-to-say-we-are." 00:20 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Ridiculousness correlates directly with magical power." 00:20 <Crion> Lauren: "Sure seems that way." 00:24 <trenchfoot> Wizards are just like that. It's fine. Or, I mean, not fine, but we have to live with it. 00:25 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart badly needs to step his game up. 00:25 <VoxPVoxD> Insanely ridiculous by normie standards... ridiculously normie by wizard standards. Trapped between the worlds... 00:29 <Crion> It's been so tough and difficult for our hero, but he's been so brave and handsome and narratively justified. Just Lost things. 00:30 <VoxPVoxD> Many people are saying this. But more should. 00:32 <Crion> To Stewart, quiet enough that Melanie probably can't hear: "Is Melanie getting a date?" 00:32 <VoxPVoxD> "I dunno," says Stewart, but he looks instantly doubtful. 00:33 <VoxPVoxD> "You want me to ask?" 00:35 <Crion> Lauren: "Oh, it's not actually any of my business. And unless she wants to pair with someone in Summer, her pickings in the Freehold are looking like...Cider Stitch?" 00:35 <Crion> "Maybe Peter Montgomery but surely he's going with someone." 00:35 <Crion> Lauren: "Anyway I like Cider, but. Come on." 00:37 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Yeah. I figure, Tony and Maggie don't have dates either, the three of them can hang out. Prom's not so bad to be at without a date if your friends are in the same boat. So to speak." 00:38 <Crion> "Ooh. Actually David Smitten's single again, I think. Smote's with Nissa, of course, but...that would be funny." 00:38 <trenchfoot> Three is actually the most awkward number to go stag? 00:39 <trenchfoot> Pairs of two, folks. 00:39 <Crion> Could always see what The Kitchen is up to. 00:41 <VoxPVoxD> The thought of Melanie on a date strikes Stewart as odd in a vaguely upsetting way. Likely vicarious predicted embarrassment. "Melanie'd probably be happier with a pop quiz at the party than trying to think through a date." 00:42 <Crion> Lauren chortles. "Now I'm imagining her and Angelfire trying to get through an evening. Him in his white tux." 00:42 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "See, if there was just one topic they were both experts on..."