21:07 <Crion> Dinner has been served. Everyone was asked what their choice of entree was between chicken tikka masala, chicken and waffles, and a vegetarian falafel and salad, with quiche, charcuterie, and side salads available at each table; given your responses, you have been accordingly apportioned. If you did not respond, Tony and/or Maggie and/or Nels, you get chicken tikka masala from the massive 21:07 <Crion> batches that The Kitchen made, or you can simply snack. 21:11 <Crion> DJ Fuck You has queued up some softer background music; even with the magic that lets you hear easily what you're saying to each other, it's just less awkward this way. 21:11 <Crion> Generally a group dinner is an optional part of Prom, with many choosing to eat before...but, well, there's nowhere to go out to eat beforehand right now. Increasingly, not even for the vampires! 21:12 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart is maybe unduly paranoid about making a mess as he eats. It's not like he's a slob, it's just... suddenly very high-stakes. 21:13 <Crion> The Kitchen went with chicken mainly to avoid steak/stake jokes in a vampire-conscious setting. 21:15 <trenchfoot> That guy. ...he doing okay? 21:15 <VoxPVoxD> Chicken is better than steak anyway. The best steak is fried like chicken! 21:16 <Crion> When everyone's finished eating and the places are cleared away -- everyone's got to get involved to help here, since mortal servants have the night off -- the second half of the party will begin; generally, immediately-post meal festivities are a bit less active on the dance floor, and there are a few acts everyone can watch. 21:16 <Crion> The Kitchen seems to be enjoying himself; he chose his name for a reason. 21:16 <dammitwho> Maggie: "Tony! TONY!" 21:17 <VoxPVoxD> Cleanup!! Fuck yes. Stewart loves clearing away plates, neatly stacking dishes, moving chairs around, etc. 21:17 <CBN> Tony, who dutifully autopilots his way through doing a fair amount of the cleanup, is briefly startled by Maggie's enthusiasm: "Wha-hey! Hey?" 21:18 <dammitwho> Maggie, swaying slightly: "We should call our boat the Blackfish." 21:19 <trenchfoot> Good! That's gppd. She only spent one night with him but he was sweet. 21:19 <banana> Melanie withdraws a hand from the largely-consumed plate of chicken she's got it mashed in, as delicately as you can do that. "What's the reference?" 21:20 <CBN> Tony: "Even if it's white, or blue? Is this a movie thing?" 21:21 <dammitwho> She raises her voice in song, having sampled her own wares as an innkeep must. "Free in the harbour! The Blackfish is sporting again! Free in the harbour! Untroubled by comings and goings of men!" 21:22 <trenchfoot> Nels: "The Edmund Fitzgerald. Wait, did that sink while I was gone?" 21:23 <CBN> Tony thinks for a minute. "Huh. That sounds kind of intense for a boat though...unless we're gonna do pirate stuff." Almost under his breath, "I just wanna fish..." 21:23 <Crion> It seems like Peter Montgomery of all people is chatting with Lister and Harlan up on stage. He's wearing a nice shirt. 21:25 <banana> Are we not going to do pirate stuff? Melanie watches the stage for a moment, though. "Do you think they've told him?" 21:26 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Nope." 21:27 <banana> "It's probably okay. 'Nobody is coming after you, we think' is needlessly unsettling." 21:27 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Yeah." 21:27 <trenchfoot> Nels: "Don't phrase it like that, if you have to say it." 21:28 <banana> Melanie: "'You know how people call in bomb threats? We had the opposite of that, and thought you should know-' " 21:29 <trenchfoot> "Okay, I don't know how people call in bomb threats and would like to go back to not knowing?" 21:30 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Is the opposite of a bomb threat a bomb... enticement?" 21:30 <VoxPVoxD> "A bomb reassurance?" 21:30 <VoxPVoxD> "A balm threat?" 21:30 <banana> Melanie makes a face at Nels, visibly caught between the need to Explain and the specific request to not do that. 21:30 <VoxPVoxD> Coupla drinks. Should probably cut himself off so he can drive home in a few hours. 21:30 <dammitwho> Maggie: "People keep asking me about my bomb just because I keep saying I don't have a bomb!" 21:32 <CBN> Tony, making a smile like the cat that ate the canary: "Stewart showed me a meme about this!" (Pronounced maymay) "People are asking questions about my 'I don't have a bomb' shirt already answered by my shirt!" 21:33 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Very glad we're not in an airport right now." 21:36 <trenchfoot> Nels: "Why would airports -- okay, don't answer that." 21:37 <trenchfoot> "I can already hear you asking, and don't ask." 21:37 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart gives Melanie a commiserating look. 21:37 <Crion> Montgomery gets up there in front of the mic, sort of nods to Lister and says, "This is an original, actually. Wrote this over the past...since I've been back." He steps back, thinks of something, steps up again. "It's about someone else. It'd be really funny if I was stupid enough to sing it as like a direct threat to the most powerful people in the city, but you've got my word, refrain's 21:37 <Crion> not me, town's not this one." 21:37 <Crion> And politically speaking, 'you've got my word' is a very magic phrase. 21:38 <Crion> So maybe it's a bit less weird when this is what he comes out with: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUxHcKc-yro 21:38 <banana> "...or on Twitter. We'd be dragged for poor meming." Melanie gets up with some of the stacked plates. "I'll just go drop these off..." 21:40 <VoxPVoxD> It doesn't take a lot of puzzling to figure out who this is about. It'd be kind of uncomfortable if he weren't really good. 21:41 <dammitwho> Maggie: "Twitter is just a newspaper that's worse." 21:41 <Crion> Not everyone knows or cares about Peter Montgomery's backstory, but Bedlam and Smitten look a bit uncomfortable, and Kingsley and the Winter Steward frown. Well. The Steward's Mask does. 21:43 <banana> No, it's still uncomfortable if you're good at it, but that's what the errand is for. Great time to clean off the tables. 21:43 <trenchfoot> Perfect time to just pretend not to notice! 21:44 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Twitter is great if you love strangers correcting you and being overly familiar." 21:44 <trenchfoot> Nels: "Why do I have an account again?" 21:45 <trenchfoot> (clearing away plates) "I wrote the songs" 21:47 <CBN> Tony bops his head along to the song. It's neat! Not a dancing tune, but, neat! And not as sad as most of the stuff the kids listen to these days. Or as weird. 21:47 <trenchfoot> Also, quieter, she mumbles something about this being Stewart's fault. 21:49 <CBN> Note that Tony is also historically bad at interpreting songs properly: He hasn't mentioned it to the group because it hasn't come up yet, but the one time he heard "Every Breath You Take" on oldies radio, he thought, 'what a lovely tune for lovers.' 21:49 <VoxPVoxD> Not even wrong! For certain subsections of lovers. 21:49 <trenchfoot> Oh that is like no good. 21:55 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart settles into his seat, looking up at the stage. As the performance goes on he's thinking less and less about the song and more about what compels someone not just to write but to get up and sing that. He's even more startled to realize Peter is holding back. Is that love? Is that psychologically possible? Is that conceptually possible? One supposes a human being can love anything. 21:55 <VoxPVoxD> Abstract concepts, imagined gods. Why not a title? 21:56 <VoxPVoxD> Does a Keeper think they can feel love? What are they actually feeling, when they do? 21:56 <VoxPVoxD> ...has Lauren been drinking? 21:56 <Crion> She's had a martini, then a beer, and currently a water over the two-ish hours or so they've been here. Just in case she has to drive. 21:58 <Crion> Up on stage, Lister looks pretty pleased with himself as the song wraps up; as Montgomery notes afterwards to the slightly-baffled applause (the mages, vampires and werewolves liked it without picking up the undertones), the child Prince wrote the main piano line. 21:58 <CBN> Tony enthusiastically liked it while the whole thing sailed miles over his head, so he's joining the chorus of applause. 22:00 <VoxPVoxD> ...Stewart goes up to the bar to stretch his legs, but he just gets seltzer. Or Perrier, maybe? It tastes like cold bubbles, whatever it is. 22:00 <banana> Melanie finishes wandering around doing chores and not talking to anyone as the song does. She's not a hardliner on 'what constitutes a changeling' and appreciates - remembers - the need to express yourself even if people around you don't like it. Even so. 22:02 <Crion> Once that's done, and Montgomery's off stage...Spring heads up? 22:02 <Crion> Spring, the Winter Court killer. 22:03 <banana> "Oh, does she sing? Maybe we'll get standup." 22:04 <Crion> Turns out she dances. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31crA53Dgu0 22:04 <Crion> (And sings.) 22:04 <trenchfoot> Or, like, not? And she's really good, wow. 22:05 <Crion> Those of you who are uncommonly perceptive, or know how this kind of performance logically works, know that while this IS Spring's voice...she's lip-syncing an earlier recording she made. You can't sing and dance like this at the same time. 22:06 <trenchfoot> Maybe you can't. 22:06 <VoxPVoxD> That's the most Spring thing Spring's ever done. 22:07 <banana> Hey this rules. Who cares about the lip-syncing, it's an amateur performance and a fun one. 22:08 <dammitwho> Maggie, idly: "You know, when I heard this song on the radio I thought the background singers were saying 'Have fun, take pills!'. Which, my goodness!" 22:09 <banana> "You'd need dollar bills for those." 22:10 <Crion> There's a couple more DJ songs, a bit more drinking concomitantly, and then...some vampires are gonna do a number. 22:11 <VoxPVoxD> A musical number, right, not the way the Absolute Boy did a number on the vampires. 22:11 <Crion> Indeed. 22:13 <trenchfoot> Please don't make everyone sadd like the last guy. 22:13 <Crion> It's Gabrielle Menendez, the quiet vampire who has to deal with the fallout from The Doctor of Sciences an inordinate amount because of where her territory is, and San Sangre, big latino guy. You get the sense her voice maybe isn't quite as good as this usually...but Harlan Jape's made a deal with music tonight, and she's able to follow him and the DJ very well. https://www.youtube.com/watc 22:13 <Crion> h?v=iNSqksOSmnU 22:14 <Crion> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNSqksOSmnU 22:21 <Crion> As the song gets going, the entire motley notices, perhaps not all at once, Amelia Bantham hurrying back into the offices with Gemma Franklin. And Nels notices Peter Montgomery is nowhere to be seen on the floor. Nowhere at all. 22:22 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart gravitates back toward Lauren, though he doesn't say anything unless she does. 22:23 <CBN> Tony nudges Maggie during the song, and low-talks: "Aren't vampires supposed to be...old?" 22:24 <banana> Argh. Melanie kind of wants to follow the spring queen there, she still feels that weird kind of protectiveness toward Gemma, and if they're going out that's fine, but then what the hell was that song..? "Excuse me." 22:28 <banana> No offence to the vampires, who are probably doing great, if Melanie could understand the lyrics. She's just got somewhere to be. 22:28 <Crion> Lauren, to Stewart: "Hey, I didn't know the vampires could sing. ...Maybe they can't and this is all Harlan, but it's still good." 22:29 <dammitwho> Maggie: "They're ageless, dummy. You don't just become old once you get to be a vampire." 22:29 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "I wonder if it's harder to learn skills like that after you die. Like how it's harder to learn languages when you're an adult." 22:30 <trenchfoot> Nels: "Excuse me, I think - Peter's leaving? And I kind of want to follow." 22:31 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Why?" 22:31 <trenchfoot> Nels: "...is nosiness a valid reason?" 22:32 <trenchfoot> "I'm going to do it anyway. But that's why." 22:32 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart shrugs. "He'll be easy to find, it's not like there's a crowd to lose him in." 22:33 <trenchfoot> Nels: "Be seeing you." 22:37 <CBN> Tony, to Maggie: "Well yeah but does ageless mean they just like...the new music stuff forever? What a curse." 22:38 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "It's like how hunters learn bird and deer migratory patterns." 22:39 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "On top of the regular, like, sometimes you overhear something and it's catchy so you look it up. People have a lot of different attitudes to getting old and keeping up. I imagine that, as you get older than people are supposed to get, your feelings get even more complicated." 22:39 <Crion> Once Nels and Melanie pass through the door off the floor into the back where the offices are, it's quiet, dark and cold. Well, colder. Even with the vampires, that's a LOT of body heat in one place, and werewolves run hot. So not too surprising. 22:39 <dammitwho> Maggie: "Maybe they have to learn it on purpose? Like they listen to the radio with a little notebook, like I had to." 22:39 <dammitwho> "Only all the time, I mean." 22:39 <Crion> Wherever Gemma and Amelia were going, it has to be farther back into the building. Luckily the fire mostly didn't touch here. 22:41 <CBN> Tony: "Cursed." 22:42 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "You could make a hobby of it, like your thing with catching up on all the movies you missed." 22:42 <trenchfoot> Lucky! 22:42 <Crion> ...There seems to be some kind of argument coming from the rear of the building, where Amelia's office is. Not shouting, but raised voices through a closed door... 22:43 <trenchfoot> Does Nels recognize the voices? Probably one of them is Amelia, but... 22:44 <banana> To Nels: "Time to decide whether we make it better by barging in." 22:45 <trenchfoot> Nels: "I think we'd better. 'Cause like, we can't possibly make it worse." She has her fingers crossed behind her back. 22:46 <banana> ...this is unexpectedly terrifying but yeah, rip the bandage off, just opening the door now. 22:48 <Crion> "--end like this. I want you to know, even now, that we're so thankful you--" As Melanie opens the door, a number of things happen. First and foremost, she notices Amelia Bedlam, Queen of Spring, standing in wide-eyed stupor. She sees Peter Montgomery holding the skull of Mere Jacoby as he talks to Bedlam, and Gemma Franklin holding...the Freehold crown, taken off Bedlam's head. 22:49 <Crion> And they, of course, see Nels and Melanie. 22:49 <trenchfoot> ...I see. And they see. 22:53 <banana> Melanie: "Shit, um.. if there's an explanation for this, the explanation right now. Please." 22:54 <trenchfoot> Nels: "I really don't think there's a good one." 22:54 <Crion> Peter looks quite literally pained. "You're not going to like it. And if I were you, I wouldn't touch me." He puts his thumb and finger into his mouth as if he's going to whistle and blows, but no sound comes out. 22:54 <Crion> "For your sake." 22:55 <Crion> And then, from somewhere far away but gaining on you...horns from the deep. 22:55 <trenchfoot> Nels: "Um. That sounds bad? That sounds bad." 22:56 <Crion> Everyone can hear the horn, even in the club. Santander recognizes it immediately; Kingsley just after him. 22:56 <Crion> They immediately run for the back of the house. 22:56 <banana> Melanie's going to ignore 'I wouldn't touch me', specifically by trying to fucking kill him. 22:57 <CBN> Tony: "The fuck is that?" He sees others bolt for the back, and he nods to Maggie. "Vampires are weird but this sounds weirder." And he takes off for the back of the house. 22:58 <dammitwho> Maggie leaps to her feet and races after him. 23:01 <VoxPVoxD> Are people panicking in the dance hall? What's the crowd control situation? 23:01 <VoxPVoxD> If everyone who matters ran off to rubberneck whatever weird shit's going on in the back... then who's flying the plane?? 23:02 <Crion> The back wall of the office rips open and a nine-foot tall man, half-beautiful graven statuary and half-seething abyss, steps through. Behind him a harsh horizon line; ground black, sky white. 23:02 <Crion> He has to stoop a bit. 23:02 <Crion> "Sooo..." 23:02 <Crion> Peter, simply: "Time to go, Gemma." 23:03 <Crion> Gemma, to Melanie: "I'm sorry. I'd say you'd understand if you knew but...I'm sorry." 23:03 <Crion> "They don't want me here anyway." 23:05 <Crion> Then they step back into the world beyond the wall, and the wall closes back up. 23:06 <Crion> Amelia gasps and falls to the ground, then stands. "Fuck!" 23:09 <banana> Melanie slams into the wall. "You don't know that- what the hell." She's physically and emotionally dazed. "What the hell." 23:11 <Crion> The party is, for now, over. 23:14 <trenchfoot> Hey. She's owed a favor - come on. Devil of the Details. You owe me. I beat you fair and square! Get that back. 23:20 <trenchfoot> A gigantic bearded man appears before Nels Foulke, and she knows him already. How could she not? She spent - well, approximately 70 years with him. I mean, to her it was like 10, 15? But she bested him at a guitar duel and no one can ever take that from her. 23:20 <trenchfoot> ...she is not going to live this down. 23:25 <Crion> Instead of opening the wall, he simply appears in the room as if he'd always been there, plucking on a guitar. Bedlam gags and half-crawls to her feet then runs. Regardless of what Melanie does, he just goes A7 to C7 to G7. The lines on his face are like spiderwebs in the wind as his cheeks move. He has a terrible voice. "Darlin'. Didn't expect it so soon." 23:27 <trenchfoot> Nels: "You knew it was coming someday." 23:27 <Crion> "Oh I did, and I'm gonna tucker into it like a meal." 23:28 <trenchfoot> "Please do not." 23:29 <banana> Melanie's instinct is to attack, no matter how stupid it would be. But- she knows this is something Nels is doing, and it's too much. Another betrayal? From one of her friends? She staggers out of the room like Amelia, just a few feet down the corridor but unable to watch this compounding of terrible decisions. 23:29 <trenchfoot> PLease do not. He might actually kill you? And that would make Nels sad. 23:29 <Crion> Too many teeth in his smile. He leans forward on the guitar but it's somehow still playing. The rest of the motley has arrived now; Kingsley and Santander have already backed off, and are conferring far down the hallway about evacuation and contingency. 23:30 <trenchfoot> Also, she's helping! Kind of! 23:30 <Crion> "So what can I do for you this fiiiine evening?" 23:30 <banana> Melanie waves off anyone who tries to go to the doorway, weary but frantic. She has no idea what her face is doing. 23:30 <trenchfoot> Nels: "I want the crown back. You owe me." 23:31 <Crion> Oh, that's how he's still playing. Two smaller, stranger hands have creeped out from his shirt cuffs, and wandered to the frets and strings. 23:31 <Crion> The one on the frets has a longer sixth finger. Got extra joints. That's to be a capo. 23:31 <trenchfoot> ...goddamn weirdo. Knew he fucking cheated. 23:31 <Crion> He blinks. "The crown? For this place? Your little Lost thing?" 23:32 <Crion> "Why would you -- who has it." 23:32 <trenchfoot> Nels: "It just got taken, dude! How would I know?" 23:33 <Crion> "Surely you have a name." 23:35 <trenchfoot> Nels: "The Mistress of the High House." 23:36 <Crion> Way too many teeth in this smile. "Oh, that devil went far further down than Georgia. But -- yes. Yes. I see. And I do believe they're currently reaching..." 23:36 <Crion> A sick gutteral sound. "Crossroads." 23:36 <Crion> The Devil of the Details doesn't vanish, precisely. The hands remain, propping up the guitar. 23:36 <trenchfoot> Gritting her teeth: "Don't." 23:37 <Crion> He's already gone. You get the wish; you get no say in its process. 23:37 <trenchfoot> She still gets to yell at him though. 23:38 <Crion> There's some time here for talk while the Keeper is away. No one outside Nels's motley is coming anywhere near, though, and a team is tooling up near the bar, led by Gerald. 23:39 <trenchfoot> Nels: "I'm, like, really, REALLY sorry. But that was the only thing I could think of to help. Again, so sorry." 23:39 <banana> Unless Nels comes out into the corridor, she's speaking to an empty room. 23:39 <trenchfoot> "And also, he did owe me." 23:40 <trenchfoot> Oh, she went out as soon as the Devil of the Details vanished. 23:41 <Crion> Then Kingsley and Santander withdrew further. And her date, Canterbury, standing at the end of the hall with a gun on her. 23:41 <VoxPVoxD> Once Stewart knows where everyone he cares about who isn't a motleymate is, and that they're safe, Stewart finishes someone's mostly-full unattended long island iced tea on the corner of the bar and pushes his way into the back. 23:41 <trenchfoot> Nels: "...sorry?" 23:41 <Crion> When Kingsley and Santander are clear he'll back through the door and close it. 23:41 <Crion> Gun stays on Nels. 23:42 <trenchfoot> "Again, I really, extremely did not mean to." 23:42 <banana> Melanie's halfway down the corridor... but she's in Canterbury's way and fine with that. "It.. doesn't though. It doesn't help." 23:42 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart laughs nervously: "What the fuck?" 23:42 <trenchfoot> "I beat him in a guitar duel and he owed me a favor?" 23:42 <banana> Oh, thank God he's here. To Stewart: "Nels didn't... start this." 23:42 <CBN> Tony: "What Stewart said." 23:42 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart looks past Nels. Is the office door still open? Is the wall still missing? 23:43 <Crion> Wall's fine. The bizarre and sickening homunculus thing with the guitar is now playing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYtGqTpvI3s with its master missing. 23:43 <banana> "Peter and Gemma.. they went back. Attacked Amelia, took the crown into Faerie." 23:44 <trenchfoot> "Oh that was like incredibly not me. I did call up my keeper and that was my bad, again, didn't plan on it, but also again, he owed me a favor. Sorry. Again." 23:44 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "...the trumpet." 23:44 <VoxPVoxD> "Was that you or Peter?" 23:44 <trenchfoot> Nels: "Thaaaat was Peter." 23:45 <banana> Melanie: "God. That's what everyone's going to be asking now. How much of this was whom." 23:45 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "So Peter blows Iscariot's Trumpet, the Mistress comes for him and Gemma? They both leave together of their own free will, with the Crown?" 23:45 <VoxPVoxD> "Did they take anything else? Was anyone hurt?" 23:45 <trenchfoot> Nels: "Yyyyyeah that's gonna be hard to explain. We're getting the crown back though! That's why I called in the favor." 23:46 <VoxPVoxD> With a rare spike of irritation: "Can someone shut that fucking thing up?" 23:47 <Crion> It plonks an off-chord and falls silent. 23:47 <banana> Melanie: "It's not 'we' getting anything! It isn't on our side!" 23:47 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart shuts his eyes and takes a deep breath. "Favor with who." 23:47 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart shuts his eyes and takes a deep breath. "Favor with who." 23:48 <trenchfoot> Nels: "My - my keeper? Like I said I beat him in a guitar duel, it was really hard, and again I'm so sorry I didn't ask anyone about this." 23:49 <VoxPVoxD> Who's ranking here? Is Amelia around? 23:49 <trenchfoot> "Not sorry enough to not do it again. Because it was worth it." 23:50 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "I really think you gotta... not talk for a bit." 23:50 <trenchfoot> Nels: "That's... probably for the best." 23:50 <Crion> She's behind the security cordon. It's not clear how much time you have before Gerald pokes his head in. There's no reason for them to try to take the hall, but it does sound like they're barricading the door. 23:51 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart looks at Canterbury: "Are we waiting for the Keeper to come back? What's the plan?" 23:51 <banana> Melanie: "You- you sound like an addict who's had a bill burning a hole in his pocket, looking for any opportunity to spend it." 23:52 <Crion> Canterbury, who just poked his head back in: "We're mustering here. Advice is everyone but the trait...but her come out." 23:52 <Crion> "They conclude business, then we figure it." 23:52 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "We're not leaving her." 23:53 <Crion> Canterbury: "Understood." He withdraws and shuts the door. 23:53 <trenchfoot> Nels: "No! He - he owes me, not you." 23:53 <banana> Certainly not while freeholders are using words like 'traitor'. 23:54 <banana> "I'm sorry Nels, that was an awful thing to say. But it's." 23:54 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Fuck 'owe', Helen. You don't have anyone else right now." 23:54 <dammitwho> Maggie: "We owe you." She's leaning against the wall, eyes shut, and she sounds devastated. 23:54 <VoxPVoxD> "Your date to the Prom just had a gun to your head." 23:54 <trenchfoot> Admittedly she did just let an actual Keeper in to the freehold. 23:54 <banana> "God, haven't you heard the one about when you owe the bank a million dollars? How it's not your problem?" 23:55 <CBN> Tony, attempting to defuse a single atom of the tension in the room: "So, Prom, huh." 23:58 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Do you understand why that was bad? Do you understand what's happening, right now, behind that door?" 23:58 <banana> Melanie does at least look at Tony; it's safer than looking back toward the homunculus room. It's not an unkind look, but.. we can't solve this problem with eggs. 23:58 <Crion> Here's the good news: no actual crime has been committed, yet. Everyone's freaking out because of the fog of war and someone set off the fucking Trumpet and now Nels is talking to her Keeper, but as a matter of law, this is merely incredibly upsetting and socially taboo rather than illegal per se. The Gentry in question, in this relationship, is only empowered to act as per the wish, and 23:58 <Crion> therefore it requires knowledge of the wish and the fullness of its consequences to take action against or even judge the wisher. 23:59 <Crion> The bad news is pretty obvious. 23:59 <trenchfoot> Yeah that's not gonna be fun. 00:00 <trenchfoot> ...maybe giving the Spring Crown back will smooth things over?? 00:02 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "We need a story. People are going to ask what you were thinking." 00:02 <VoxPVoxD> What were you thinking? 00:05 <trenchfoot> Nels: "It was the only way to get it back? Like, it's going to be back and, again, he owed me." 00:05 <Crion> There's laughter on the wind. Also there's wind. The Devil of the Details is coming back. 00:05 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Okay, that's good. Hold onto that. You were defending Queen, Court, and Freehold." 00:06 <VoxPVoxD> "Ah, shit." 00:06 <banana> "Although sometimes if the only way of doing something is like..." Melanie trails off, braces herself. Does not go back in the room 00:06 <VoxPVoxD> To Nels: "Do you want us in there or in here?" 00:06 <Crion> He reassumes himself into the seat he had before, behind the same guitar...with a crown in his teeth. He drops it into the tiny hideous hands and they spill it onto the floor at Nels's feet, and as soon as the Devil's mouth is open, he's laughing. 00:07 <trenchfoot> Nels: "Um. Like I said I think he only has to respect me." 00:07 <Crion> It is, in fact, the Crown of the Freehold of Baltimore. He has fulfilled his end of the deal. 00:07 <trenchfoot> "Hi, Devil." 00:09 <Crion> "Of the Details. The Details! And, to make sure we're even, that things between us are crystal water clear and true, I'm gonna give them to you! Ah, it's a hootenanny! A real meeting of minds! Well, here it is: I want you to know exactly what it is you just did." 00:09 <trenchfoot> Nels, hesitantly: "Called in a favor and made everyone hate me?" 00:10 <VoxPVoxD> Fuck! Fuck! He knew about Peter. He knew about Gemma. And he didn't do anything. No follow-up. No follow-through. He just let it drop, and look what happened. Sure there were seven other things, but there are always seven other things. This is what happens when even one plate stops spinning. 00:10 <Crion> "It seems the Mistress of the High House has gone away to the last debutante ball there is...a meeting with the Mouse. And her lover, and his lover, both of them hers in a short or a longer hallway, they wanted to do something about that. You see, the Mistress is special. She used to be one of you." 00:11 <banana> Melanie, to the others gathered in the corridor: "..listen to that. Can we believe what it's telling her?" 00:12 <Crion> "And they thought...well, they thought stupid things. But you see, to do stupid things, to take the House's money, they needed the real mojo. They needed the power. The JUICE! And usually that means the most rarefacted of things: a captive, crowned King on their Throne. And that would mean taking that scrumptious little lady what vomited when I came in." 00:12 <Crion> "But then they got to thinking." 00:12 <Crion> "You see, that little lady kept a skull on her desk. And it had a powerful magic to it as well." 00:12 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "I'm sure none of the things he's saying are false. But you know what they say about where the Devil is." 00:12 <Crion> "The same magic." 00:13 <Crion> "So these lovebirds, they planned to take the skull, take the crown, play the Keeper's Title, and thread that needle down in the Magic Kingdom. And it would have worked! IT WOULD HAVE WORKED!" 00:13 <Crion> His grin widens. "Until someone made a wish." 00:14 <Crion> "Our business, my darlin', is complete. Enjoy your supper." 00:14 <trenchfoot> Nels doesn't think she will. 00:14 <Crion> There's a rush of wind and every light in the room flickers out. When it returns, the Devil of the Details has taken his leave. 00:15 <trenchfoot> A few minutes later, Nels will exit the room. She has to decompress. 00:15 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Okay. Nels. You gotta hold the crown out in front of you, very clearly. And you gotta come out with us very slowly." 00:15 <trenchfoot> She's got the crown, though, so that's. Something. 00:15 <VoxPVoxD> "This is the last dangerous part." 00:16 <VoxPVoxD> Not the last bad part, but. 00:16 <trenchfoot> Oh, no, the bad part is having to confess to her friends about being owed a favor by her keeper. 00:17 <trenchfoot> She does hold the crown in front of her, though. Not going through all that for no reason. 00:18 <banana> Melanie will stick close. The time for yelling is temporarily over. 00:18 <Crion> It's not, actually. There's a lot of it going on right outside the door to the front of the house. 00:19 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart's going to knock on the door three times and then open it slowly unless ordered not to, by yelling. 00:19 <trenchfoot> ...does the Spring Crown help any? 00:19 <Crion> Let's find out. 00:20 <trenchfoot> Well, here goes. 00:20 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart steps out of the entryway, keeping his hands visible, so that everyone who can see through the doorway sees Nels holding the crown, and no Keepers. 00:21 <Crion> It's Amelia shouting at Kingsley, and when the motley steps out the guns all come up, just to have Gerald start pushing them down again. The Young Street actually gets three long strides with his great sword towards the motley before he realizes what's in Nels's hands. 00:21 <Crion> When Amelia sees it: "See? I fucking told you." 00:22 <trenchfoot> Nels: "Hi?" 00:22 <banana> Melanie looking at her boss's boss: 😨 00:22 <Crion> She will sweep towards Nels and take the crown. This isn't negotiable, if for some reason Nels might want it to be. 00:22 <trenchfoot> Oh she does not even attempt to stop her. 00:22 <VoxPVoxD> The Brothers Kingsley get a chagrined look from Stewart. 00:22 <Crion> Both men look roughly as frustrated. 00:24 <dammitwho> Maggie will stagger out behind them. 00:24 <Crion> "On my word as a monarch, I saw it all, as it was done to me. Peter Montgomery and Gemma Franklin blew the Trumpet and stole from this Freehold -- the skull of Mere Jacoby and the Crown itself. Nels Foulke invoked the known and contractual bargain, as...unwise and hideous as it may have been...to return that Crown to us." 00:24 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart'll bring up the rear, closing the door behind him. 00:24 <Crion> "I say as regent that she has served this Freehold." 00:25 <Crion> "And I say this as regent: Gemma Franklin and Peter Montgomery are banned from the Freehold of Baltimore for life. If they return, it is the duty of all freeholders to kill them or drive them away. They are Fair Game." 00:27 <VoxPVoxD> Ha. 00:28 <banana> 🥺 00:28 <Crion> The vampires, mages and werewolves have mostly already left. The changelings file out too, now; Nels and the motley by association get quite different looks than they did when they made their heroic entrance a few hours before. 00:28 <VoxPVoxD> Easy come, easy go. Where's Lauren? 00:29 <trenchfoot> I am so sorry. 00:29 <Crion> At the bar, finishing a double vodka and cranberry. 00:29 <VoxPVoxD> Are we being detained? 00:29 <banana> Melanie wants to sit down. She could've stopped Peter.. and Gemma.. the right way, if she'd been faster - but they deserved a chance to explain, right? It didn't have to be what it looked like. 00:30 <banana> She could've tried to stop the Devil, instead of running, which would have accomplished nothing. 00:30 <Crion> Kingsley sidles up: "Excellent job. Retaining the crown." He gives Nels a long look. "It was probably worth it. There's..." 00:30 <Crion> "...Look, just get the fuck out of here." 00:30 <Crion> "We gotta clean up." 00:30 <trenchfoot> Nels: "I'm. Really sorry. I'll just - go." 00:31 <trenchfoot> And she does. 00:31 <Crion> Amelia won't let her, yet. She'll pull her into a hug first. "Nels." 00:31 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart gets Lauren's coat - is it coat weather tonight? Even stylish coat weather? Maybe he doesn't get her coat. Maybe he just gets her. 00:31 <Crion> "You served the Court and the Freehold tonight with a willingness to sacrifice I've almost never seen. I want you to know I appreciate what you've done." 00:32 <trenchfoot> Nels: "I... really didn't want to do that. But I had to, you get that right?" 00:35 <Crion> Amelia smiles. "Of course, dear." 00:35 <Crion> Canterbury leaves without saying anything to Nels. The Kitchen has already closed. 00:36 <trenchfoot> Relieved: "Thanks." Oh, no, she made him look like total shit. Canterbury... I'm sorry... 00:37 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "We'll drive you home, Nels. C'mon." 00:39 <trenchfoot> Nels: "Yeah. Okay." 00:40 <VoxPVoxD> At least Santander knows that even in retirement, Fate still finds him tempting. 00:41 <banana> Melanie finds Tony. "You never forget that night, right?" 00:42 <CBN> Tony: "Prom!" 00:44 <banana> "I really don't understand.. Gemma falling back into that cycle of abuse. Burning bridges."