Session Start: Sat Sep 21 21:04:31 2019 Session Ident: #gofetch 03[21:04] * Now talking in #gofetch 03[21:05] * VoxPVoxD (VoxPVoxD@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) has joined #gofetch 03[21:06] * dammitwho (joanofarcta@sorcery-j9socb.dynamic.onlinenw.com) has joined #gofetch 03[21:06] * banana (banana@sorcery-skam65.com) has joined #gofetch 03[21:06] * CBN (CBN@sorcery-ase2td.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) has joined #gofetch 03[21:06] * trenchfoot (dani@sorcery-pks4b7.in.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 00[21:06] <@Crion> 00[21:06] <@Crion> 00[21:06] <@Crion> 00[21:06] <@Crion> 00[21:06] <@Crion> 00[21:06] <@Crion> 00[21:06] <@Crion> 00[21:12] <@Crion> It's almost sunset on the last day of September. Even with summer encroaching more and more on autumn's territory -- the season, that is, not necessarily the Season -- the weather has turned, shorts are out, jackets are in, and the world is dying once again for the year. 00[21:12] <@Crion> It's been a week since you were initiated into your Season. More or less. Each of your initiations took a different form, required different talents, different temperaments, different sacrifices; by now you may have even shared those with the other new initiates in your...freshman class? Is that what this is? Or maybe you just sat around at home all day on the computer, or on the guitar, or 00[21:12] <@Crion> staring at the wall. 00[21:12] <@Crion> That changes...wait for it... 00[21:12] <@Crion> ... 00[21:12] <@Crion> ...Wait for it... 00[21:12] <@Crion> Ah, 6:51 PM. Sunset in the city of Baltimore. Where are you when the message from your Court comes in, and how do you prefer to take it? [21:17] 5 Tony's up to the mid-1980s in his movie-a-night watch. We're just about to see what these "Goonies" are all about, when the landline rings. [21:17] 6It's a quiet night for Nels. The day was pretty quiet, too - just studying more things she missed, but now she's noodling on her guitar. If she has to read yet another pivotal battle of - look, it was important, and she gets that, but they'd had a Second World War. It wasn't even The Great War anymore. So, she's playing, and thinking about anything but various dates and names of places, when - if they're being polite, it's a phone [21:17] call on her landline, but if it's urgent, it's a knock at the door. [21:18] 10Stewart's at work, dragging a lump of gray pixels onto a picture of a jacket and pressing a hotkey to simulate left-clicking 40 times a second. Elsewhere on-screen, an identical lump of gray pixels plays host to a rapidly declining number, shedding from 4 figures all the way down until 1 would tick over to zero and the lumps vanish entirely. [21:18] "2800 fusings and nothing. Fuck my entire life. San_Zenith_Sucks_1990 thanks for the Prime." 00[21:20] <@Crion> "Yo." A familiar voice on the other end of Tony's line: Spring, of Winter. "What's up, man." She doesn't phrase it as a question or wait for an answer. "Boss says you gotta see a show tonight. Be at The Sidereal uptown by 8 PM. Court business." Now a slight pause. "Not the kind of Court business from last time." 03[21:21] * hrolf_work (phoenix@sorcery-j4e.qko.154.216.IP) has joined #gofetch [21:21] 13Melanie is watching TV, but she's not paying much attention to the game. Thoughts compete for headspace - her thesis, the state of the world, the state and whereabouts of Belanie Lucas. Was that guy scared off? Would it matter? [21:21] 13She's been expecting email, from Summer or otherwise. Her phone pings for notifications, but she prefers to type responses on a laptop - the touchscreen doesn't really respond to bark. 00[21:21] <@Crion> Nels's phone rings as well. She recognizes the voice even before he finishes, "Nels, it's David Smitten. Is this a good time?" This is a question, but the polite sort that demands 'yes' as an answer. [21:22] 10Fully half his attention is split between the game and the chat interface. The rest of his mind wanders up to the other rig, the one entrusted to him by seers and magicians. There a chat window, maximized, scrolls lazily downward with sporadic tech questions, scheduling checks, and whatever's on Lauren's mind today. His phone is... somewhere, under the mail. [21:23] 6Nels: "I'm not busy," 6she says instead of a simple 'yes'. "What's going on?" [21:24] 7Maggie is on that what-do-you-call-it there. The Wikipedia. She's gone down a wikihole, with tabs open about armadillos and ancient Greece and what have you, though most of them are still about the basic functions of computer hardware. She doesn't like to use this thing if she doesn't know how it works. [21:24] 7When the landline phone rings, it's in easy reach. "Yyyyyyy'ello?" 7Maggie has never seen the Simpsons. 00[21:24] <@Crion> Stewart hears a ding on...the 'hex box.' That chat window has popped up, username dolor_sit_amet. Lauren. 00[21:24] <@Crion> <*tonight> [21:24] "Oh hi Spring! Just about to wa---......Ok cool beans, good talking to you." 5 He's just going to have to start the movie over, the remote's somewhere and he's already lost the plot. 00[21:24] <@Crion> 00[21:25] <@Crion> Smitten: "The Gardener" -- that's Amelia -- "requests your presence at The Sidereal Lounge tonight, at 8 PM. There will be a table waiting. In the back." 00[21:26] <@Crion> Spring makes a grunt and Tony's line goes dead. [21:26] 10Stewart shifts in his chair, his facecam showing 3600 half-attentive viewers a picture of the Mask in profile as he leans off-screen to adjust something. It's not clear what from the stream.  [21:27] 6Nels raises an eyebrow. "Anything I ought to bring?" [21:27] 6She can put up with an 8pm meeting for a night. Probably. [21:29] 10This is annoying, as Stewart streams evenings, and every hour he doesn't stream when he said he would is not just money out of his pocket but ripples outward into that nebulous and insatiable Audience that grows and shrinks at a vacuous whim but demands more time, more effort, more relentless consistency. The feeling passes quickly; Monday is his slowest stream of the week anyway, so if [21:29] 10it had to be some night, it might as well be tonight. [21:29] 5 He waits a second after the click, then hangs up. Doesn't even bother talking to himself while he gets some of his better jeans on (read: no grass stains), quick pounds a fresh beer out of the fridge, double- and triple-checks his locks, and he's out to his car and heading over there. 00[21:30] <@Crion> Melanie will receive the following e-mail, then, from LList@lastsummerfound.com. Langston List's e-mail address. If Melanie has checked out that domain, as she's received e-mails from this address before, she'll find a charity called the Last of Summer Foundation, dedicated to underprivileged youth in Baltimore and Philadelphia. 00[21:30] <@Crion> M-- 00[21:30] <@Crion> A summit has been arranged at The Sidereal. Per my request, you have been invited. Please respond your availability at 8 PM tonight for Court business, and provide a reason for any unavailability. 00[21:30] <@Crion> This is a major opportunity for both you and the Court. 00[21:30] <@Crion> --L. [21:30] 7Maggie: "Golly, alright." 7What time is it? She looks at an actual freaking clock on the wall - about an hour, that's enough time to get changed. "I'll be there!" 00[21:30] <@Crion> David Smitten: "A jacket, perhaps." [21:30] 7Wait, is Smitten calling the both of us? [21:31] 7Whoops! Misunderstood. 00[21:31] <@Crion> Maggie has received the same phonecall, if slightly later, so her response is perfectly fine. 00[21:32] <@Crion> He'll ask both Nels and Maggie: "Should I send a car by?" 00[21:32] <@Crion> Lauren: [21:33] 7Maggie: "If you would, please." 7Saves on bus fare. 00[21:33] <@Crion> Lauren doesn't correct herself this time. [21:33] 6Nels: "Yes, please." 6Leaving her guitar at home is good. Won't take up too much space in that... enormous bus. 00[21:34] <@Crion> Cars will be sent around, then. Neither is driven by a changeling, but the guys look familiar -- they work at The Sidereal; one assumes they have at least some inkling of what goes on there, even if they think it's a weird criminal syndicate or something. [21:35] 6I mean, kind of. They are hiding. 00[21:35] <@Crion> Lauren: [21:35] 13From: paperbark@summer.ctl [21:35] Hello Langford, [21:35] I will come over, no problem. I have not been to the bar before, so if there are any special rules to follow please let me know. Thank you, [21:35] Melanie Lucas [21:35] 7More of a liminal syndicate. 00[21:36] <@Crion> Lauren: [21:36] "And here's a basically identical Maim chest selling for what I've spent in fusings on mine. Crafting is not for the faint of heart, I'll tell you." 10Stewart's got the second keyboard maneuvered to where he can type on it with only brief spurts of his right hand off the mouse.  10His foot idly bumps a kill switch underneath his desk, which cuts power [21:36] 10to the router and simulates a network outage. He'll tweet angrily about his hardwear issues at the first light on the way to the Sidereal. [21:36] 10hardware* 00[21:37] <@Crion> Lauren: [21:37] 13Melanie has her own car, or at least it's in her name. Nobody else seems to want it. She's aware from some dim memory that she's one of those nightmare drivers busy people hate, slow and careful even on the highways.. but maybe that's not new. Certainly there was no conscious process of relearning to drive. [21:38] 5 Tony gets the engine turned over on the second try. Night is running smoothly. And barring anything unforeseen, a few minutes of squinting at a few road signs and he should be finding a moderately-shitty parking spot for his moderately-shitty car, near the Sidereal. One hopes. 00[21:38] <@Crion> Moments later, Melanie receives an e-mail with a link to "Google Maps" with the directions already put in, and a cursory note that she will be expected at the door, also signed --L. [21:39] 13Whatever she was like in a car before, it's best to be cautious now rather than risk not having the reaction time to deal with merging or left turns across traffic. Everyone else can deal. [21:39] 10How's parking at the Sidereal? Stewart took a bus last time he visited, which was the first time he visited. He met Maggie there (what a sweet old lady!) and ended up not drinking. He told Maggie he didn't like to drink. He wasn't lying. 00[21:40] <@Crion> As you arrive, the side lot of The Sidereal will be moderately full -- Monday night in Baltimore is still going to get the students -- but there are a pair of bouncers making sure five adjacent spaces in particular remain cordoned off. Those are for you. [21:41] 5Then Tony's attempt at a first pass through the lot pays off! Night is running super-smoothly now. Cool beans, folks. "Hey guys hi." 5 Out the window as he nods to a spot and pulls through. [21:42] 10Five empty spaces, huh? So it's not just Stewart, and it's not one person from each Court... [21:45] 10Stewart scans the lot as he gets out of the car and frowns slightly. He doesn't go in right away. Going into a crowded bar makes him want to take in as much fresh air as he can first. [21:45] 7Maggie's eyebrows shoot up as she, in clean clothes suitable for company, watches the car pull into the lot in front of her apartment building. That's the Spring Queen's car! She figured there weren't very many changelings around, but there can't be so few that the Queen sends her own car out to pick up stragglers. What's going on here? 00[21:47] <@Crion> Tony's car will get a Look as it putters in, but maybe one with less surprise and consternation in it than it deserves. [21:47] 13Melanie doesn't pick up on the implications of reserved parking immediately. She had to come in from the county, so it's not long before 8 when she finds the place... after the campus refectory, this will be the most people she's been around at once. Kind of looking forward to it? 00[21:48] <@Crion> Maggie's driver isn't David Smitten, but it is someone who looks much more like a professional driver than, say, a bouncer. She's courteous and mortal, not Lost. 00[21:48] <@Crion> That's because David Smitten is picking up Nels. [21:49] 6Okay, so she's still not great at identifying modern cars, but this is... well, first off it's a lot. Second off, some of these are distinctly Fancy, in that weird way where she isn't quite sure how she knows that. Lack of seeing them around, maybe. At least David Smitten let her control the radio again. He's nice. [21:50] 5Between the work he's been doing and the car he's been driving enough already, he hardly feels the looks, save the general discomfort with getting any attention at all, which is still gonna be a little harder to shake. Nevertheless, spot gained, car dropped off, and he's out and heading in. Probably safe to assume they don't check ID if you've got your own reserved spot. 00[21:51] <@Crion> One thing Stewart can immediately tell: security's been jumped up since the last time he was here. There's two Summer changelings on the door, one of them Smitten's twin brother Smote and the other a beautiful Ogre woman in a crisp white suit, grinning reflexively as she gives him a once-over -- but the grin doesn't fade as her gaze moves on. Maybe she's just like that? And then there's a 00[21:51] <@Crion> Winter changeling in a hoodie just down the block, appearing to have a cigarette but in fact pretty clearly watching the other approach. [21:54] 10Stewart makes eye contact with each of them in turn before heading in. Breathe deep breathe slow. 00[21:56] <@Crion> The one in the suit takes a slight step towards him, but when Smote even slightly turns his head in her direction, she steps back. Smote looks back at Stewart and waves him in with a, "Evening man. They're upstairs." 00[21:56] <@Crion> He doesn't bother telling Stewart where that is; Smote was here when he and Maggie took it over a week ago. 00[21:57] <@Crion> This repeats with Tony: the woman in the suit tensing up, Smote shifting, then directing Tony upstairs. [21:57] "Thanks." 10They they they. Who's they? All the Royals, Lauren said, and Gerald, and four other people. [21:58] 10Maybe more? Lotta weird cars in the lot tonight. [21:58] 10You're overthinking it, man. Just go upstairs. 00[21:58] <@Crion> At the bottom of the stairs is Gerald. He smiles when he sees Stewart. "Hey kid." [21:58] 13When Melanie steps up, she's briefly stuck. How do you.. request entrance into a secret fae bar? This wasn't in the self-help books she's been going over. Cutting a line at the club.. she used to know how to do that. Might not be applicable. 00[21:58] <@Crion> "Glad you could make it. Kingsley's up there with the rest." [21:58] "Hey nice thanks." 5 Tony smiles politely at security (always make friends with the bouncer) and follows on. [21:59] 6When she does actually get out of the car, halfway through a less-than-impressive rendition of a song she never liked playing anyhow, she tries to get eyes on anyone unfamiliar. They did say no one would bother her if she didn't want. Hopefully that's still the case. [21:59] 10Gerald gets a smile in return. The presence of the person he saw murder three police officers is sincerely comforting. 00[21:59] <@Crion> The changeling in the suit sees her hesitation, but blinks instead of prowling closer. "You?" she says, with a strained voice. She turns to Smote. "Her??" 00[22:00] <@Crion> Smote ignores her and instead says to Melanie: "You're with Langford?" [22:00] 13Oh, this is basically what Melanie expected. And she knows how to deal with it too: stand frozen in place. [22:00] "...yes, I am." 00[22:00] <@Crion> Smitten walks Nels to the door in time to see what's going on with Melanie. 00[22:01] <@Crion> Which is that his twin brother Smote nods and gestures for her to continue inside. "He's waiting for you upstairs. Inside on the left, past the...man in the skullcap." [22:02] "Hup!" 7Some small chat with the driver later, Maggie levers herself out of the car in front of the Sidereal. Time to see what-- oh, there's that tree here again. Mags felt somewhat embarassed upon seeing her at the meet-and-greet those weeks ago, because her first instinctual reaction was 'bet that'd burn real good', and that's just a terrible thing to think about someone! She'll have to [22:02] 7remember to be friendly and encouraging to her specifically. 00[22:03] <@Crion> She'll almost walk into Smitten and Nels, then, as they leave the parking lot. "Ah, good," says the tall man. "You made it." [22:03] 7Ooh! Another new person! "Heya! Any idea what's going on?" [22:03] 13Melanie: "Thank you. I'll go and see him." 13So this is a bit tricky but her theory is basically: if Langford is waiting for you inside, you're implicitly allowed to go in. In fact, people wouldn't be permitted to PREVENT you from entering. She'll just, go around the other side of whichever David this was, better not look at or say anything to the grinning woman, in case it's the wrong [22:03] 13thing. 00[22:05] <@Crion> As Melanie goes inside she can hear Smote mutter to the grinning woman, "Nissa you need to cut that shit out" [22:05] 6Mels looks between the two of them and the bouncers and hurries in. Abruptly she wishes she had brought her guitar; it would've been a comfort, holding it. [22:05] 6Nels. Mels is the other one. Except not quite. 00[22:06] <@Crion> Smitten grins. "I do," he says to Maggie, "but it's not my place to explain." He'll lead her to the door and leave her on the threshold, stopping to dap and hug his brother and chat. 'Nissa' is interested enough in Smitten's arrival that she doesn't give either of you a second glance. 00[22:07] <@Crion> Eventually all five of you end up in the upstairs bar, which is closed. And save for you five, there are only four other people in the room: the heads of all four of the Seasonal Courts of Baltimore. 00[22:08] <@Crion> Well, three of them and Langford List. And since it's not summer anymore, that's more than close enough. [22:08] 6That's reassuring and alarming in equal measures. [22:09] 10Oh hey! Stewart knows almost all of these people. There's Nels, from next door. And Maggie, with the Stan Rogers. And Melanie, with the Heidegger. And that quiet guy from the mixer. [22:09] 13Oh, this must be important. That helps justify the drive out. (Maybe she should look into a place closer to the courts, halfway between the college and the city?) [22:09] 5 And that means No Face is there, which is also reassuring and alarming in equal measure. Tony doesn't wave because it seems both inappropriate and also, avoiding smalltalk with a thing without features seems like a great plan tonight. 00[22:09] <@Crion> Amelia Banthem, the Gardener of Spring, is sitting at the bar and chatting idly with Robert Kingsley, the King of Autumn. She has a mojito; him a bourbon. Meanwhile, at the pool table that dominates the room, 'Colin,' the Liaison of Winter, plays one on one against Langford List, advisor to the Vigilant of Summer. [22:11] 13Melanie's taken root in a corner immediately, gazing at the eight other changelings with roughly equal intensity. It's odd to see Stewart again in this kind of company, although it must also be odd for people to see her. Apart from the 'kings', the bargain-makers.. there's the woman with the fingers and the one with the fire. These are the veterans and the newbies all in one room. 00[22:12] <@Crion> Stewart will get a firm handshake from Kingsley; 'Colin' will tilt his head sideways and smile slightly at Tony -- very weird in the Mien, since he has no mouth; Banthem will hug both Maggie and Nels in turn; Langford will nod with seriousness at Melanie. [22:12] 13She's overlooked Tony, whose name she actually remembers, because that's the way he seems to want it. 00[22:12] <@Crion> They will all be asked to get themselves drinks and make themselves comfortable. It's a big bar, and...the Royals seem interested mainly in just letting them mingle? [22:12] 5 For anyone spending more than a second looking at or near Tony, it's a little unsettling how his Mien seems to drop dirt clogs periodically, but the floor doesn't dirty up. He's definitely not noticing. 00[22:13] <@Crion> Banthem and Kingsley will return to their conversation, this time a bit more in private, and 'Colin' and Langford will immediately wrap themselves back up in their game. It's...probably just a friendly one? [22:14] 5He of course orders two"Whatever, beer?"5pounds one and prepares to circulate with the other. [22:14] 13Umm. There's questions Melanie would like to ask Mr. Kingsley, and she'd be happy to talk to Stewart again, but is either of those options really as attractive as standing quietly in the corner? [22:14] 13You can learn a lot that way. Let's do this. [22:15] 10Stewart will fix himself a rum and coke, hold the rum, and scan the room... Melanie seems the most anxious. "Hey, Melanie! How's it going?" [22:15] 6Are they making their own drinks? Explaining what a Chattanooga Dew was the first time was... enlightening, the first time, but explaining it to a new bartender is always a trial. 00[22:16] <@Crion> Yep. Open bar, self serve. 00[22:16] <@Crion> Don't get sloppy before the meeting. Whenever that actually starts. [22:17] 13Ah. Melanie smiles, sort of. "Hello again Stewart! I guess we're both real rather than half-remembered dreams." [22:18] 5The "Whatever, beer." 5Is instead upgraded to commenting to himself. Behavior remains the same otherwise. He watches Nels fix her...whatever-thing? "Hey fancy, neat."5Spoken as much at the drink itself as anything. [22:22] 6One won't hurt. She bustles behind the bar and makes one herself best she can. Startled by Tony: "Huh? Oh, it's an old favorite," 6she says. She finishes pouring the lemon juice. "They're good, but dangerous. Very... drinkable." 6She eyes the beer. Did he grab any specific kind of brand? [22:22] 7Hmm. Stewart's already chatting to the tree lady - what a sweet boy. She'll head over to the bar herself, then, pour whatever kind of beer happens to be on tap that she hasn't had before, and introduce herself to Nels and Tony thus: "Hi there! I don't think we've met properly. Name's Maggie, Maggie Bakehead." [22:22] 13So many changelings, like the first mixer.. and half of them are really powerful. It's a sensation, to Melanie, like sourceless wind through her leaves, a vibration in the ground that she can't quite feel. The Court kings are.. wyrd. She's paying attention to Stewart - he's compelling - but still eye-socketing the rest of the room. [22:23] 10Stewart: "Unless this is a dream too. I read that article you sent me, the Nickel, about trust in tech. It was really fascinating, but I feel like a lot of it went over my head. I was wondering if you could-- oh! Hi! Maggie, this is Melanie. Melanie, this is Maggie." [22:23] 5He double-checks. It's Miller Lite."Nice, this too. Weird you can get it out here now though." 5He gestures at, and with, the can. [22:23] 10Oh no more people. This is gonna make Melanie's stress worse. Let's see how she does but be prepared to ask a probing question with a really detailed answer to stabilize. [22:24] 6Nels: "Nels Foulke. And you - can't, really. I had to explain it the first time." 6She sips. "And the second and third times." [22:24] 5Tlances at Maggie, directs his response at some point between her and Nels,"Hey hi, I'm 5quick slug Gr---Tony, Tony Bowen, yeah. 5 00[22:26] <@Crion> At the table, 'Colin' goes on a run, then cedes and ball to Langford, then goes on another run to close things out. The faceless Winter regent walks over to the small, mass market whiskey-sponsored bar chalkboard and puts a single chalk mark down across from another, pre-existing chalk mark. They're playing to five, and are now tied 1-1. [22:27] 7Maggie will turn and wave at Stewart and ah, her name is Melanie. Mels and Nels. Heh. That's funny. 00[22:27] <@Crion> At the table, Amelia shakes her head in irritation at something and Kingsley shrugs. Then she stands up, hovers over Nels and Maggie to see that they're fine and bids a brief but genuinely hello to Tony, then excuses herself for a moment. 00[22:28] <@Crion> Kingsley, meanwhile, has hopped on his phone. 00[22:28] <@Crion> Match two begins in the center of the room... [22:29] 13Okay, everyone's getting involved now. This seems like what the kings want, so that's good. "Hello, yeah, Maggie. I've seen you." [22:30] 7Oh, is everyone coming over to chat together? Well, that's probably good, though it does cut out Stewart flirting with Melanie, hee hee. "Sure." 7She nods agreeably. "I'm with Spring now, how about the rest of you?" 00[22:30] <@Crion> Match three, that is. [22:31] 5Tony nods to Nels and shrugs a shoulder towards Maggie and the rest of the scrum."Guess we're just a keg short of a party now huh?"5And as if that's enough invitation, heads over to the rest of the crew."Hey uh, Maggie right, who're your friends?" [22:32] 13Melanie: "I've just joined the summer court. I think it's going to be really interesting, but-" 13she's looking a little worried, to Maggie. Stewart might recognise the expression of someone putting on worried on purpose, the same way he plays up emotion for the stream. [22:32] 6Nels: "Spring here. But - still new." 6She does recognize the rest from the mixers, but... "Hi, Stewart. The music hasn't been a problem, right?" 00[22:32] <@Crion> But the second one you'll have been around to observe. And you'll try not to observe too much of this one, because it's something of an embarrassing slog. The two men have enough dignity not to openly curse or moan about how the table is tilted or the chalk is bad (in front of their subordinates, at least), but their irritation is palpable, their mantles flaring. Amusingly, this results in 00[22:32] <@Crion> a net change in room temperature of...zero. Langford makes it hotter, but 'Colin' makes it colder. [22:32] "Your sparks, do they function?" 00[22:32] <@Crion> Eventually, Langford ekes out the win, but both men shake their heads when it's over and he goes to put his mark on the board. 00[22:33] <@Crion> Amelia, meanwhile, returns, pours herself and Kingsley each another drink, and heads back over to their table as he puts his phone away. [22:33] 10Stewart: "Oh no, not at all! I got some baffling and hung it up, it helps block out the street noises too. How's studying going?" [22:35] 6She smiles. "I should do that. And - mostly well." 6Slight wrinkle at her nose. "There's a lot to keep track of." [22:35] 7Maggie, agreeably: "Not so's I've noticed. I don't set couches on fire and I can take a shower without it putting my hair out, so I figure it's just, you know. Cosmetic." 7She raps her stomach with a knuckle for emphasis, and it makes a metal booming noise. [22:37] 7To Tony: "Well, that there's Stewart. He knows all about computers and such, works with 'em for a living. And I guess you know everyone else about as well as I do." [22:38] "Oh nice, they have those at the library, cool beans man."5To Stewart."You and Spring would probably get along, she has a personal cellular mobile phone with an 'app' on it." 00[22:38] <@Crion> Match four. Langford seems to hang back a little; he goes on a quick run but makes a bad accidental scratch, and then when 'Colin' puts himself in an ungovernable position and gives Langford run of play back, the Summer lord-regent is unable to capitalize. That's all the opening that Winter's Liaison needs to put the game away, clearly unwilling to lose this without it at least going to five. 00[22:38] <@Crion> There's a certain amount of relief on his Mask as he marks down the equalizer. [22:39] 10Stewart: "Hi, Tony. It's nice to meet you. Who's Spring? Do you mean the Gardener?" [22:39] 13Melanie: "That's great, I can take Smokey Bear off speed dial." 13This is deadpan. "There's someone called Spring in Winter, right? I figure it's part of a pattern." [22:40] "Like it's got to be symbolic of something, part of some contract?" [22:40] 6Nels: "What is an app? I - got the mobile part, but." 00[22:40] <@Crion> Amelia and Kingsley have wrapped up their conversation, but haven't finished their drinks. They drift over to the center of the room to watch the final showdown between Langford and 'Colin.' [22:41] "No like, Spring-Spring, kind of scowly but you can tell she's a real peach deep down, weird neck, good with beating a man near to death, Spring."5And then to Nels,"The app is a thing on your personal cellular mobile device that tells you where your car is, like looking at a map but with more red dots and Spring yelling at you." [22:42] 6Nels: "Oh. Mine only makes calls or sends messages." [22:42] 13Helpfully: "The short name for them is 'phone', like in 'telephone'." [22:42] "Do you think people would call me more if I had one?" 5 Pause, then to Melanie, "Isn't that confusing? I have a phone at home." [22:43] "Wait do calls go to all your phones? Stewart, do you know?" [22:44] 10Stewart: "Your phone is what we call a 'landline' now. Most people don't even have those anymore and just use our pocket phones, or "cell phones". Which is short for cellular but has nothing to do with biology at all." 00[22:44] <@Crion> And this final match...goes places. Sometimes both men are a flurry of movement; other times they're stock-still for almost a minute at a time, which seems a lot longer than a minute when watching a pool game. There's an entire middle section where they trade non-successful shots entirely to put their opponent's balls out of position. Even the other two Royals become engrossed, as the five 00[22:44] <@Crion> freshman changelings get to know each other better. [22:44] 13Melanie: "Language changes. Chomsky would call it a 'rebinding', a context-free morpheme which became context-sensitive. The 'cell' prefix actually is an import from bio though!" [22:45] "Cellular networks are made up of a bunch of individual 'cells' that have membrane walls analogous to vegetable cells.. porous but with shared responsibility for maintaining function." [22:45] 10Stewart: "Oh! I didn't know that." [22:45] "I mean, I don't know how they work, but the etymology was an import." [22:45] 6Nels: "I got a talking to after I went out without my, my cell phone. So I just keep it on me now." 6She gestures to her clutch. "I still prefer the landline, though." 6Nels looks lost at Melanie's description. "Who is 'Chumpsky'?" [22:46] 5To Melanie, but also Stewart, because he knows computers, so he must be smart."Hey what was college like?"5Guilelessly and sincerely. [22:47] "Ah." 13Melanie looks lost for a moment, standing very still. This reduces the rate of crumbling bark. "I don't actually know.. I've read stuff by Chomsky as part of a bunch of other reading. I don't know who he is, just what he said." [22:47] "I'm missing a lot of context for things, you'll have to forgive me." [22:47] 6Smiling gently: "Me, too." [22:48] 10Stewart hesitates. A completely innocent question that chestbursters into the room. "I only had a year. It was a lot of big auditoriums and slides. Staying up too late. Flirting awkwardly." [22:48] "Oh cool beans. The library's great, you know, the one near me has these things, Digital Video Discs? Like flat VHS tapes. A lot of them too, wow." [22:48] "What's your favorite movie?" [22:49] "Quick question to the group, can anyone explain a shopping mall to me? I keep seeing them in movies now but I don't know any that are real." 00[22:49] <@Crion> Eventually they get down to the final ball, and Langford sinks it to win. Here, briefly, either man shows the first emotion besides intense concentration or annoyance since the game began, as Langford pumps his fist with a grunt. 'Colin' sets down his stick and sticks out his hand, and they bring the shake in for a brief, manly, shoulder-to-shoulder hug. [22:49] "The Retrievers are really good." 13This is probably an answer to Tony's question too. [22:49] "Oh I saw Tron a few nights ago, now that was exciting." 00[22:50] <@Crion> Then they look over at the five changelings who have completely ignored them to chat amongst themselves and share a look. And maybe a smile. [22:50] 10Stewart: "You... kinda missed shopping malls. It's basically like, imagine all the little shops you might find on a downtown street, but inside one huge air-conditioned building. It was a thing for a while. I guess huge air-conditioned buildings were really cheap in the 80s." 00[22:50] <@Crion> Langford and 'Colin' walk over to the bar while Kingsley announces: "Ladies and gentlemen. I apologize for the delay. We're ready to begin." [22:51] "Sick."5 To Stewart and then he shuts right up. [22:51] "TBH, malls are pretty five minutes ago." 13There's an echo of someone else in Melanie's voice. [22:51] 10Stewart blinks once at Kingsley, and again at Melanie, and then the fourfold throne has his full attention. [22:52] 6Nels is still trying to think of a movie she liked when they get interrupted. The newer ones are usually too loud, and the old ones... aren't great. [22:52] 7Maggie: "Whoop! Guess we're up." 00[22:53] <@Crion> There's a large table just down from the pool table -- this is a normal one, with more than enough chairs for all of them. Kingsley will sit at the head, Amelia on his left and 'Colin' on his right, and Langford will remain standing. [22:53] 13Melanie's still hanging behind everyone else, as they walk over to find out what's brought people together like this. She'll mumble to Nels: "I'll show you something?" 13Melanie takes out her phone and gestures at it, as if to indicate that Nels should watch or get out her own. 00[22:53] <@Crion> "Another drink or a bathroom break, now's the time," says the King of Baltimore. [22:55] 6She sticks close to Melanie and pulls out a flip phone with extra large buttons, carefully keeping an eye on the royals. Her drink's finished, and she shouldn't have another right now, so it's time to learn more about modernity. [22:55] 5Tony quickly finishes what he's got, hits the head, and grabs the first seat available at the regular table when he gets back. [22:55] 10People are getting along! This is good. It got a little awkward at the end there but we can fold Tony in, like beating the lumps out of cake batter. 02[22:57] * hrolf_work (phoenix@sorcery-j4e.qko.154.216.IP) Quit (Client exited) [22:58] 13Melanie looks at the buttoned phone for a moment. Those would be nice actually, but how do you use it? On her own, she scratches rather than taps at the screen, which responds after a moment- first there's a circle named Google, then she fiddles with the keyboard to input c-h-o-m-s-k-y. 00[22:58] <@Crion> "I am, as you might have surmised or been told by young Stewart, Robert Kingsley, head of the Autumn Court in this city and, as of one week ago, the King of the Season in our fair city." He looks around the table. "This might be quite literally your first time seeing me. I suspect you've seen more of each other than me or either of my fellows here or, let's be plain, any other changeling in 00[22:58] <@Crion> the freehold. [22:58] 13Nels gets handed this: https://i.imgur.com/ve0oxol.png. "I guess he's multitalented." 00[22:59] <@Crion> "Autumn is the court of secrets and fear, so I'm going to do something quite out of character, really, and tell you the truth, in order to try to reassure you." He gives Banthem a look as he says this, and gets a pleasant smile back in return. [23:00] "That's 'the app'.. there's, um, actually a lot of them. You can look up almost anything." 13This is all very quiet, but she is speaking over (under) the King of Autumn. 00[23:01] <@Crion> Kingsley will give Melanie the look next, but not say anything into the pause. [23:01] 6Nels lights up. "Oh! I know this. Talk later?" 6Also very quietly. Because The Truth is something she needs to know. [23:01] 10Oh my god Stewart is dying here. [23:01] 10Melanieeeeee [23:02] Melanie nods fervently in lieu of saying anything else. It still makes a kind of rustling noise. [23:02] 5Tony's pretty sure he needs to have a heavier buzz than he's got to find out the terrible truth of things, given the baseline of 'literally everything about the world at this point.' But he sits quietly. 00[23:04] <@Crion> "The truth is that yes, we have intentionally kept you together socially, on purpose, in hopes of engendering bonds of comradeship, or fellowship, or at least friendship. It is rare that a freehold ever gets five changelings joining its ranks at once, let alone five who are roughly equally disposed towards all four courts" -- here Amelia's pleasant smile turns a bit self-satisfied -- "and it 00[23:04] <@Crion> is traditional to keep such groups together, simply because it's harder to tell you how to navigate your new life than it is to show you." 00[23:04] <@Crion> "You learn best by doing, after all." [23:05] 13...do we? [23:05] 6It's worked for Nels. Kind of. [23:05] 6...driving notwithstanding. [23:06] 5Flashbacks to learning how to bury a body the most efficient way possible. 00[23:07] <@Crion> Amelia jumps in here: "It's up to you, of course, if you want to continue associating with each other. There won't be any judgment if you don't" -- her voice gets firmer here and she doesn't look around the table at the other Royals, but she doesn't have to -- "if you go your separate ways, or you just feel you're not up for this." 00[23:07] <@Crion> "But we hope you don't," says 'Colin.' "Because we need a team." [23:08] 10So he wants us to get along. Is this a setup to him asking us to do something together? Some kind of cross-court political thing? What kind of tensions exist here? Bantham's clearly on a slightly different wavelength to Kingsley here. [23:08] 6They've all been kind to her, and no one has judged her yet. Nels won't be the one to suggest splitting ways. 00[23:08] <@Crion> Kingsley and Amelia both glare at the man with no face. He pretends not to see, which, in the Mien, is quite easy. "Since we're all being so honest." [23:08] 5Tony's a sucker for a team and he already knows the coach, so his listening level here just went from 'sure but ready to wince' to 'emphatic hell yea.' [23:09] 7Maggie: "Well now, that's all fine so far. But a team for what?" [23:09] 13It's been so long since Melanie had a team. 00[23:09] <@Crion> Langford takes over. "We don't know yet." 00[23:09] <@Crion> "But we know it's coming." [23:09] 10Maggie has enough old lady nature to have reached the no-fucks-given threshold first and ask the obvious question. 00[23:11] <@Crion> "And frankly..." He waves a hand in front of him and looks at Melanie for a brief moment before considering the rest of the table. "We got soldiers, yeah? We got the Street and his Tens, Nissa, Canterbury, your boy Gerald, Spring, Jameson -- we're full up on soldiers. We don't need soldiers." [23:11] "Since we don't know what's going to happen, why are the five least experienced people going to deal with it?" 13Melanie's tone isn't hostile, here. "Is there a thematic advantage to naivete, or are you looking for untried ideas?" 00[23:12] <@Crion> He nods and points a finger at Melanie. "Exactly." 00[23:12] <@Crion> Kingsley: "But we don't intend you to be naive." [23:12] 6Hesitantly: "I feel like you have your work cut out for you." 03[23:12] * hrolf_work (phoenix@sorcery-j4e.qko.154.216.IP) has joined #gofetch [23:12] 10That's not a question Stewart would have thought to ask. He would've assumed they were just desperate for bodies. There's probably a lesson here, about jumping to conclusions, but Stewart abandons it in favor of deciding Melanie is simply much smarter than he is. [23:12] "Or, I guess, we do." [23:12] 13Melanie: "We." 00[23:14] <@Crion> 'Colin' spreads his arms. "You're gonna be cherry the first time you see a Keeper whether you're together with your friends and you believe in yourself, or whether you're alone and mad at the world." 00[23:14] <@Crion> Now Amelia does snap at him. "We do not know whether this is going to be a Keeper." 00[23:14] <@Crion> Kingsley, annoyed: "Yes, Liaison, considering I can't harvest from them I'd appreciate you not scaring them needlessly." [23:16] 13Melanie: "Okay, there's clearly a concretely predicted threat. I mean, its nature isn't concrete, but you're definitely aware that something, specifically, will happen. Could you please explain that?" 00[23:16] <@Crion> Kingsley, icily: "No." 00[23:16] <@Crion> Then he attempts a smile. "Sorry, my dear. Like I said. Secrets and terror." [23:17] 13Melanie: "Okay." 00[23:17] <@Crion> Langford: "Regardless. Your job right now, if we do this, isn't to start worrying about some end of the world shit. Your job is to become the people you need to be to help deal with some end of the world shit." 00[23:17] <@Crion> "We're looking for like...the fuck here plays video games?" [23:17] 5Tony's looking at Stewart way too quickly. [23:18] 7Maggie: "Ooh! I've played some!" [23:18] 10Is Stewart supposed to raise his hand? What's the protocol here. "Hi. Yeah." [23:18] 13Hee hee. [23:20] 6She'll have to ask. Later. How did they put video into games? 00[23:21] <@Crion> Langford will look at Maggie and Stewart, then. "Okay, so. You know that shit where you're in the raid, and the big bad's there, and you been at this for like, forty-five minutes. And each of you has a role. One dude is just big as hell, takes all the hits. That's my crew. The one with the guns, she can't take it, but she can deal all the damage. That's Winter and Autumn. Then you got your 00[23:21] <@Crion> support, your white mage, keeping everyone up. Spring. But this raid's new, see? Devs just added it to the game. So you need the rover. That cat, he might not be good at any one thing. His class is new. Maybe he ain't been buffed. Maybe he ain't been nerfed. But we need him in the party too." [23:22] 6None of that makes a lick of sense. [23:22] 10Holy shit. [23:22] 7Maggie: "I have never played a video game with those terms!" 00[23:22] <@Crion> "So if you want to think about this as an experiment, this is an experiment. But to continue the metaphor, I don't want you spec'd out for that one fight. I want you to play the whole expansion, yeah?" [23:23] 13So this is why List and the Street have problems. 00[23:23] <@Crion> 'Colin,' teasingly: "Fuckin' nerd." [23:23] 13Melanie has a lot to learn from each of them, she thinks, but not this bit. 00[23:23] <@Crion> Langford mean mugs him a little bit. "Hey. Chalk on the wall says different." [23:23] 7Reassuringly: "But I'm pretty sure we get the idea from context?" [23:24] 5Tony's picking up enough from context to just assume, ok o-line, quarterback, away game, and go from there, nodding along. 00[23:25] <@Crion> Kingsley: "...Well, with that out of the way -- hopefully it was illuminating -- I'd like to open the floor to further questions." [23:26] 6Nels: "Um." [23:26] 6Again, hesitantly: "I don't think I understood any of that." [23:27] 10Stewart: "Maybe I'm missing something but this is sort of... vague. You want us to be ready, not for any particular thing, or to fit any particular role, but just... I don't know, self-actualized?" [23:27] 5Tony claps his hands on his knees and gets ready to stand. "Probably a little rougher than last time, but where do you need us, when, is Spring driving this time, can we take someone else's car? I don't have to be up for anything tomorrow but we're burning sunset here coach." [23:28] 10Stewart can put up with a lot of shit. He doesn't do vague great. [23:28] 13Melanie, to Nels: "He's talking about synergy. In modern business and athletic contexts, teamwork theory is about building a whole that's greater than the sum of its parts. By assembling people with different specialties, you can produce a collective effort that wouldn't be possible if the entire group had the same skills or if they each worked alone. It's kind of a post-Diefenbach [23:28] antithesis." [23:29] 6Nels: "...why didn't you just say a band?" [23:29] 13She might not know Diefenbach, though. "By that I mean that bottom-up synergy is an alternative to hierarchical mangerialism. Cooperative effort produces better results - in terms of labour productivity - when it's interdisciplinary." [23:30] "Yes, like a band!" 00[23:30] <@Crion> To Stewart: "Yes. You should not worry about not having enough to do. There is plenty to do, and we will provide guidance -- sometimes exactingly so -- on what it is you should be doing. But the four of us talked and it was decided that it would downright counterproductive to spring the reason for us asking you to become a motley later, instead of now. It would engender bad feelings. And 00[23:30] <@Crion> though I tend to secrecy and need to know, in this, I was convinced you needed to know." 00[23:31] <@Crion> Amelia: "A motley is what we call a formalized social group in our freehold. Much like, yes, a band. But I should stress -- we are NOT ordering you to become one." 00[23:31] <@Crion> 'Colin': "Yes, we're merely manipulating you into--" 00[23:31] <@Crion> Amelia half-stands. "Try me again and I will come across this table." 00[23:32] <@Crion> "Whoa!" Langford steps forward quickly. "Whoa." 00[23:32] <@Crion> Kingsley just steeples his fingers. [23:32] 7Maggie kind of wants to see that. Hmm. Maybe setting up boxing matches or something similar for Spring parties would be a good idea. [23:32] 13Melanie: "You can just order us. We know we need to stick together, and I want to make friends." [23:33] "What does being a 'motley' entail? Is it a metaphysical tag? Can you ping it with magic?" 00[23:33] <@Crion> Kingsley nods and shrugs. "You are correct. Not everyone recently escaped from the hell of Arcadia is as receptive to orders as you, however, my dear." [23:33] "Please stop calling me that." 00[23:33] <@Crion> Kingsley: "As you wish." 00[23:35] <@Crion> To Stewart: "It involves sympathetic ties, which can be used in some form of magic. But the same can be said of usual friendships and relationships; unless you're oath-sworn in various ways, nothing binds you to the motley formally, and any magic targeting the motley would then target those oaths." [23:35] 6Nels: "I would - rather not be. Ordered." 6She looks to the rest. "But I want to try this? If that's okay?" 00[23:37] <@Crion> 'Colin,' to Tony: "We can set you up with a new ride." 00[23:38] <@Crion> "If only because I'm pretty sure someone's going to put a hit out on me if that thing shows up in this parking lot again." [23:38] 7Maggie, cheerfully: "You all seem decent enough sorts, and it beats hanging around the apartment all day." [23:38] "Say, speaking of which... [23:39] 5Tony shrugs, "Whatever you say boss, but we're gonna need a van for all of us."5 Wait a second. You can airbrush a wizard fight on a van. "Yeah I'll definitely need a van." 00[23:39] <@Crion> 'Colin:' "Oh, we have so many nondescript vans." Should help with the painting. [23:39] 7She rubs a finger on the table idly- it makes a creaking sound only audible to those who can see beneath the Mask: "I've heard tell of people stamping out living places in the Hedge. Is that true? If it is, what's the trick to it?" [23:39] 13Melanie's clearly for it. She really doesn't mind orders, for now; the question is who's giving them and why. The 'monarchs' of the freehold, if they really do protect everyone with their bargains and their organisation.. it's worth a lot. They can call themselves kings and queens, they can give out orders, it's in a good cause. They can't make her into something she's not, anyway. That's [23:39] 13already been tried. [23:40] 7She shrugs at the rest of the nascent motley: "I'm sure none of the rest of you wanna be forking over rent every month if you can avoid it." 00[23:40] <@Crion> Amelia smiles. "It is true! And that brings us to your first assignment." [23:40] 10Stewart: "You're talking about going into the Hedge?" [23:40] "Like, on purpose?" [23:40] "Living there?" 00[23:40] <@Crion> Kingsley: "No better time than now." [23:41] 6Nels: "It's not all bad," 6she offers. [23:41] 13Would it be a shorter commute? Do cars even work? 00[23:41] <@Crion> The King of Baltimore leans forward. "And this is no mere 'part of the Hedge.' As Maggie puts it, you need a place -- all of you -- to feel totally safe." 00[23:41] <@Crion> "Not just from this world, or the world over there, but from people who walk between it." 00[23:41] <@Crion> Langford: "You need a Hollow." [23:41] "Man it would be sick to not pay rent."5He mutters to himself. Gotta get a Hedge fridge, Hedge tv-VCR-dvd combo, Hedge beers... [23:42] 10We need a place to feel totally safe and we're going into the Hedge? [23:42] 10What the fuck? [23:42] 10Why don't we just relocate to sunny Pripyat? [23:42] "So do we need hedge-trimmers or a lawnmower or, what're they called? Rambo has one. A machete? We need one of those?" 00[23:43] <@Crion> Amelia: "A Hollow is an inviolate space. Or a nearly inviolate space, anyway. Some very dangerous things can still get in. But its virtues lie not in how thick its walls are, but that no one really knows one's there to begin with." 00[23:44] <@Crion> "It's...misleading, to say it's 'in the Hedge.' It is, of course, but it's not an alleyway filled with barbed wire or a thorn maze. It is a safe space, and it's one that you build and grow." [23:44] 13Ah. "In the introductory session, we were told about Hunts. Is that the point - they know where we are - in the real world? So it's safer to live beside reality?" 00[23:45] <@Crion> 'Colin:' "There is, of course, someone in the Court who disagrees. But he couldn't take this meeting because he's spending the next eight months in an underground bank vault." 00[23:45] <@Crion> That gets him a half-snarl from Langford, but the man restrains himself. 00[23:45] <@Crion> 'Colin:' "So unless you have one of those lying around...Hollows are a pretty good deal." [23:46] 13Melanie mutters: "It works for money." [23:46] 10Stewart makes a mental note to price out an underground bank vault later. Might make more sense than a retirement fund. [23:47] 6If it's cheap enough you can even store the retirement fund in there! 00[23:47] <@Crion> Kingsley: "Anyhow. The Hollow is the main objective, but the main goal is to get you used to the Hedge. The next time you're drawn into it, you might not have a choice. And the Hedge will feed on your fear. The Thorns will tear what's left of you away." 00[23:47] <@Crion> "Unappealing, on both our end and presumably your own." 00[23:48] <@Crion> Amelia: "To that end, we'll be assigning you our Magus of the Gilded Thorn, Jackie Ordinary, as a guide and companion." 00[23:48] <@Crion> "Just for this first time." [23:49] 7Maggie: "I just figured there's but two directions to run in, and if I'm cornered somewhere I'd rather be running toward the real world than away from it." [23:50] 10Stewart's heart beats fast and he tenses up... these guys are projecting calm. They don't know as much better than we do as we'd like them to, and they clearly get along worse than we already do. This isn't an order, this is an investment. They need us. "Do- is it like, you find a Hollow or you build a Hollow...?" 00[23:51] <@Crion> Kingsley: "Yes." 00[23:51] <@Crion> "It's easier to find the foundations for one, then expand." 00[23:51] <@Crion> "But you can build them from scratch." [23:51] 10Man Stewart is really teeing up those questions-with-wizard-answers for Kingsley. [23:52] 10Then again he's the King of Autumn, he can probably do that on command. [23:52] 13Melanie: "Can we, specifically, do that? Are we capable of it?" [23:52] "You can build anything if you put enough of a shoulder into it." [23:52] 6Rude of him, to be honest. "They're liveable spaces?" 00[23:52] <@Crion> Kingsley: "Yes. It takes the application of will, experience, and Glamour, but as the five of you are right now, you are more than capable." 00[23:53] <@Crion> 'Colin,' to Nels: "Won't be getting wi-fi unless you're really good at this Hedge-wizard stuff. But entirely so. Imagine if you could have a mansion as a panic room." [23:55] 6That's. A lot. Like, a lot a lot. "Um. Canterbury and the others - they could still...?" 6Guard me, she doesn't quite finish. Because there's four others, now... [23:55] 5Tony's already making a mental inventory: Window bars. Vertical deadbolts with floor and ceiling anchors. The possibilities. [23:57] 7Thinking aloud: "Food's cheaper if you buy in bulk." [23:57] 13Melanie: "Okay, I appreciate that the team-building exercise is a practical safety measure. As long as we don't end up hating each other too much to live together - parenthetical, unlikely - it'll be really beneficial. May we please have an expected timeframe or deadline." 00[23:57] <@Crion> Kingsley, to Nels: "Could still what? You can have guests over, yes, if you're comfortable disclosing the location." 00[23:58] <@Crion> Langford: "You suit up and go in tomorrow morning around 11 AM. We don't want you in there overnight." 00[23:58] <@Crion> Amelia blinks and turns. Langford shrugs. "They'll do better with clear boundaries and expectations." [23:58] 13Due to how safe it is. 00[23:59] <@Crion> 'Colin:' "Let me know what if anything you need in terms of guns, weapons, vests; I'll have it waiting with Jackie." Session Time: Sun Sep 22 00:00:00 2019 [00:00] "Do we need to go in armed?" 00[00:00] <@Crion> Kingsley: "You don't need to do anything." 00[00:01] <@Crion> "But I'd advise having a plan for violence." [00:01] 6Not the answer she was looking for. "It's - safer that way. But sneaking was recommended. To me." [00:01] 6Revolvers are still basically the same. So there's that. 00[00:01] <@Crion> Langford: "Even if it is some flavor of running away, which is not only perfectly acceptable, but outright preferable to a stupid fight." 00[00:01] <@Crion> whoops 00[00:01] <@Crion> Kingsley: "Even if it is some flavor of running away, which is not only perfectly acceptable, but outright preferable to a stupid fight." [00:02] 13At least as of this week it is. 00[00:03] <@Crion> Amelia looks around the Royals. "I think that's everything?" [00:03] 13Month? Melanie needs to look at an almanac. 00[00:04] <@Crion> Kingsley: "Unless there are anymore questions, I think they've spent enough time after hours with the bosses." [00:05] 7Maggie: "Uff. Just practical ones, I guess, but I'd bet those'd be better asked on the day." 00[00:05] <@Crion> Amelia: "Jackie will be prepared. That's their job." [00:06] "Yeah, where do want us meeting to go in? Or are we coming back here first...?" 00[00:07] <@Crion> Amelia: "Druid Hill Park is where they prefer to go in. Meet them at the main entrance." [00:07] 10Stewart doesn't have any other questions unless they want to be spliced into the loop of what-the-fucks running through his brain. [00:08] 13Melanie: "We don't know what other questions to ask yet, so I hope it's ok to ask when we do." [00:08] 6Nels: "Are there - cars? I don't have one..." 00[00:08] <@Crion> Langford: "My people can handle that." To her and Stewart: "Your building have parking?" [00:08] 10Stewart nods. 00[00:09] <@Crion> To Nels: "We'll have a starter car waiting when you get back tonight." To Stewart: "Can you drive?" [00:09] 10Stewart: "Yeah, I drove here." [00:09] 6Nels: "I, might need help with that. I tried winging it once already." 00[00:10] <@Crion> He nods. "Alright." To Nels: "We can set you up with lessons. For now, get a ride with Stewart." [00:10] 6She looks over to Stewart, silently asking if he's okay with that. 00[00:10] <@Crion> "Car should be ready by end of the week, but we can hold back until you're good." [00:10] 10Stewart: "Yeah that's no problem, obviously." 00[00:11] <@Crion> Langford nods. "Good, good." 00[00:12] <@Crion> Kingsley looks around. "Well. 11 AM sharp it is, then. Good luck. If all goes well, we won't be speaking for awhile." Then: "And yes, m-elanie, feel free to ask whatever you wish. You may or may not get an answer." [00:12] 13Melanie: "Do we steal them? I'm not sure whether that would be safer than the paper trail you get otherwise." [00:12] "The cars," 13she clarifies. [00:15] "Anyone who still needs a ride, I can pick up tomorrow before, if you don't mind a stubborn door and a radio that doesn't work." 5 He notes to the demi-motley, preparing again to stand. 00[00:16] <@Crion> Langford, with a bit too much forced pep. "That's a good question. That I'll answer later." [00:16] 6Nels: "The - I have a fake. It should hold up." 6To Tony: "How does it... what's wrong with the radio?" [00:16] "Okay, I'd like to try that! I'll email you, Mr. List." 00[00:17] <@Crion> He breathes in and out very heavily, like he's suppressing a sigh, and smiles and nods. [00:17] 5He shrugs at Nels."Came that way." 00[00:17] <@Crion> None of you stay for the show afterward; you have a semi-early morning and a long day ahead of you. 00[00:17] <@Crion> 00[00:17] <@Crion> Not much parking outside Druid Hill Park. 00[00:17] <@Crion> Best you can do is a block away. [00:18] 10The next day, it turns out that Stewart's biggest problem isn't walking willingly back into the Hedge but waking up in time to be there for 11. He's three Red Bulls deep and still damp from the shower when he and Nels get out of his car. [00:19] 10Despite his tiredness his streamer reflexes kicked in as he drove, and he narrated what he was doing and what the different parts of the car did to Nels as he was driving, noting common traffic laws as he went. 00[00:19] <@Crion> Jackie Ordinary is waiting for you at the gates. They're a stocky, grinning Spring changeling with an odd mantle; no other Spring mantles you've seen have had thorny vines grow out of the ground around them. They don't seem like Hedge Thorns -- indeed, if you try to touch them, they don't do much of anything at all -- but they glint an odd brown-gold. [00:20] 10They look - right, that's nice. Magus of the - cool. "Good morning," 10Stewart says to Jackie. 00[00:20] <@Crion> "Hey there," they say. "Yo! Mags! How's it do." They greet each of you in turn. 00[00:21] <@Crion> They walk you in past the gate; Ordinary waves to the two cops watching the big main promenade area and one of them waves back. They seem to be something of a fixture here. They lead the five of you down a path, then down another path, and then soon the traffic from the Jones Fall Expressway has completely faded. Which is odd, considering it's still right there. [00:21] 5A block away is practically parking on someone's lawn in Tony's experience doing yard work for gated communities. He shows up with as much of a spring in your step as one can have marching into probably-death. "Killer morning to not die!" [00:21] 6Nels is quiet, studious. She asks questions about simple things like where the gas tank is and seems surprised at the speeds you're allowed to reach in town, but more than anything she wishes she'd grabbed a notepad. Next time, she decides. [00:21] 7Maggie: "Heya!" [00:21] 6Has Nels met Jackie Ordinary before? The name doesn't feel familiar... 00[00:22] <@Crion> Then down another path, then another, then another, then -- they swerve off into the underbrush. "You know you find bodies out here sometimes," they say conversationally. "Not from the Hedge. Just from the murders." 00[00:22] <@Crion> Maggie is the only one who has met them before, probably. 00[00:22] <@Crion> She might have told Stewart about them though. [00:22] 13Melanie skulks toward the meeting once the others are assembling. Last night's blunt questioning and occasional mean jokes have vanished, replaced again by something between shyness and sessility. She looks at people. [00:23] 13She looks for bodies, too. It wouldn't be convenient to have those turning up on our doorstep.. can you enter the Hedge at different places? 00[00:23] <@Crion> Eventually you all reach a clearly, limned in dead leaves and deadwood, with...what appears to be the back end of a van that's driven half into three conjoined trees. Just sort of half-buried there. Ordinary does not seemed surprised. "Alright! Let's open 'er up and see what we got." 00[00:24] <@Crion> She pulls the doors open. It's a dead drop. Any weapons or armor that you requested -- mundane and within reason, such as kevlar instead of full plate -- is waiting in the back, along with more expected hiking packs and supplies. [00:26] 7Maggie, which may surprise people, requested a kevlar vest. Can't be too careful. [00:26] 10Stewart, perhaps even more surprisingly, brought one from home. [00:27] 13Back into the Hedge. Although Melanie experienced it as 'over', last time... but still. We're doing this on purpose, deliberately. [00:27] 13This is why she approaches the van - "Thank you, Jackie."13 - and extracts a full set of mostly-fitting Baltimore PD SWAT armour. [00:27] 5Tony puts on a flak jacket he asked for, in equal parts because it sounded cool and because the army surplus store wouldn't let him have a remaindered one the last time he asked. No weapons, but he's certain to limber up and throw a few warmup punches. Never a bad idea to stretch. [00:28] 13Strapping this stuff on is somewhat time-consuming. Healing from having your limbs sawn off by a fairy-tale monster would be more so! [00:29] 10Stewart takes no weapon, but he's wearing a track suit underneath the Kevlar, with broken-in sneakers and a magic wand visibly emerging from his jacket pocket. [00:29] 6Kevlar vest for Nels. Apparently it's modern weave that stops bullets, which has to be good. She's already got her revolver on her. [00:29] 10Well. What you'd get if you searched 'magic wand - metal' on Etsy, as Stewart literally did. Eighty bucks. He wanted something heavy. [00:29] 10Fucking Etsy. [00:30] 13As Melanie suits up, the riot gear replaces the sundress in her Mask - she looks like a young woman covered mostly head to toe in black slatted armour, or alternatively like a person-limbed tree a little less covered, with flaking bits of wood poking through here and there. 00[00:30] <@Crion> While you're all kitting up, they pull a duffel out from under the van, remove a flak jacket, a duster, and two guns: a double-barrelled breach-loading shotgun, and what looks like a bolt-action hunting rifle with the stock and barrel sawn off, so it's the world's meanest, least convenient handgun. They holster the latter under their arm and sling the former over their shoulder, then walk 00[00:30] <@Crion> over to a big, oddly-artificial arch of intertwined branches. 00[00:30] <@Crion> "When y'all are ready." [00:30] 7Maggie nods approvingly at Melanie. "Now that's a sensible young woman." 00[00:31] <@Crion> She rummages around and pulls out what looks like...a sheet? 00[00:31] <@Crion> A tarp. 00[00:31] <@Crion> *They [00:32] 5Tony grabs a moderately-hefty clod of dirt from nearby and shoves it into one of the weird...this is velcro, isn't it? Pockets on the vest, as well as a few small pebbles he scoops up into another pocket. And then he's ready to roll. [00:32] 5He nods to the tarp. "Hey, Spring said this wouldn't be like last time. But okay." [00:32] 13Melanie: "Thank you, Maggie." It's the second time she's spoken today. Not that she doesn't like these people.. she does, actually, all of them. But considering the hedge takes... focus. There's a lot to think about. [00:32] "Does anyone remember? What sort of things are in there?" 00[00:32] <@Crion> Then they hang it from the arch very carefully like a tent flap. 00[00:33] <@Crion> Jackie Ordinary: "Of course I fuckin' do." [00:33] 5Muttered, "ohthankgod" [00:33] 13Melanie: "Of course. You're the expert." [00:34] 6Nels: "I saw a few pigs, last time I was in. We snuck past." [00:34] "I wasn't issuing a warning, I was asking for information. Most of us here have just come out of that place, Jackie, and I want to know what they know." [00:34] 13..pigs? 00[00:34] <@Crion> "I'm a Magus of the Gilded Thorn. The Hedge is my shit. The Hedge is what I do. You will stick with me, and you will be fine. I am not going to find you a Hollow, or whatever the hell it is you're doing over there. I am going to give you the tools and the protection you need to find your Hollow. Listen, look, and think twice before you do anything, and you'll be fine." 00[00:35] <@Crion> This is to the whole group, not a rebuke to Melanie. [00:35] 5He nods along. [00:35] 13She'll still take it as one, but that's fine. Maybe Jackie is a dick, maybe Melanie's the dick here. She can't really tell. [00:35] 6Nels: "The animal and the police." 6She doesn't elaborate. As Jackie speaks, Nels listens, and nods. This is - kind of what Harlan covered. 00[00:36] <@Crion> Jackie Ordinary: "Three ground rules before we go in. Don't eat anything. Don't insult anything. And if you see something that looks like a cop, run." 00[00:36] <@Crion> "Because they fuckin' can't." 00[00:36] <@Crion> Then they touch the tarp and pull open the 'door,' and the Hedge lies before them. [00:36] 10See that's way simpler than Jordan Peterson's shit. Where's Jackie's book deal? 00[00:37] <@Crion> Once inside, it's all on them. Jackie's just there to help. [00:37] 10Aaahhh fuck. [00:38] 13Melanie: "I can't run, either, but that still sounds like the right idea. Good luck everybody 13:)" [00:38] 7Maggie: "I don't know if I can help much in terms of information. When I came out the first time, I was going real fast." [00:40] 6Nels: "I went back. It was - fine. Harlan took me and other than having to duck behind stuff a few times it was safe." [00:42] 13Melanie: "That sounds like an okay time. I don't really have anything at all, I.. fell over the hedge basically. It was more than that. There was a subjective experience. This is different, and so far better!" [00:44] 5Tony's...confidence-adjacent?"Don't worry about it, the turf watches out for anyone on it, and me most of all. We should be fine." 5He reassuringly pats the ground. [00:44] 10Stewart looks around and sucks in a quaking breath. "I actually, I actually have something for this." 00[00:44] <@Crion> Jackie, who had disappeared for just a second, back before anyone registered she was gone: "Your show, kid." 00[00:45] <@Crion> *they [00:45] 10He reaches into the space between his suit and his vest and comes out with a large-ish and old-looking leatherbound book, like the kind you might find sitting behind a lawyer's desk in a commercial. [00:45] "I apologize. I've never done this in front of people before." [00:45] 7A tome and a magic wand? Maggie claps her hands with delight. [00:45] "Tip of the tongue, the teeth, the lips. Tip of the tongue, the teeth, the lips..." 10He opens the book to the last blank filler page and rips it clean from the binding. 00[00:47] <@Crion> The Hedge in Druid Hill Park looks like the park itself...mostly. But the walls here are enforced by more junkers with sharp metal edges, litter that's all twisted cans and needles, and things that look distressingly like bodies. If you move out into where the city should be, you'll find it turning into featureless buildings with no real doors and broken glass lining the walls; if you head 00[00:47] <@Crion> to where the Expressway should be, you'll find a distressingly open space. A Highway, of sorts. 00[00:48] <@Crion> Things grow everywhere; you were told not to eat or insult, and the plants will both entice with fruit and, sometimes, scream wordlessly at you. 00[00:48] <@Crion> One appears to be either endlessly farting, or trying to beatbox. 00[00:54] <@Crion> The sky is hazier than it was on the other side. The real side. There seems to be a storm on the horizon -- not out to sea, no; towards the Inner Harbor. [01:02] 10Stewart's writing on his own palm with the paper in the way. "And so we walk a path picked clean by gilded thorns, treading ever-further into danger to find there but the road back home again. Our eyes are alert to danger, but our ears must be sharper still, for we- we listen not for the cry of beast or call of man, neither pig nor pistol, but for the heartstrings of the land itself! Find [01:02] a path to where our fear mirrors not the land. Listen for the space between breaths. Build a home in silence." 00[01:03] <@Crion> Jackie Ordinary nods. [01:07] 13A home is going to be a tough ask. Melanie doesn't know whether Stewart's attempting poetry, but when he hands over the aged page it's a cogent procedure alright. Armed with exactly what they're looking for, she focuses all her senses - observing the places hobs don't go, the paths you can't see, the things that remain still to not be seen. [01:09] "Through here. Here. It's here, and here. You can't see any of this, right? That's what we want." 13Melanie takes over for a moment, leading the group out of the thorned byways and soil - she's had enough soil - until now they're moving through a twisted reflection of city streets, back alleys. Hidden places in or under Baltimore. [01:11] 10Yes! Melanie, who once again demonstrates that she is smarter than Stewart, took the outline of his plan and ran with it. Yes! Yes!! [01:11] 10Well, you know. Not ran but. 00[01:12] <@Crion> Jackie grins and clears a path. Mostly just pointing their finger here or there. You all move. [01:13] 6Deep breath. "I hate to - a guide'd help. Defender. Someone who knows the ways. And they aren't all awful." 6She curls in a bit. "I helped one. They plant their fruits for us, when they fall, but sometimes - reborn. And that was my initiation to the Spring Court." [01:13] 6Nels: "I could get them here." 6At this, she looks to Jackie. Because from what she has seen, that's a good idea, but from what they have seen... [01:15] 6She'll wait to be stopped, but: "Sir Eglamore was a valiant knight, fa-la-lanky-down-dilly..." 6https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kxLgSXh-iQ [01:16] 10Wow, she's good. 00[01:16] <@Crion> Jackie whistles low. [01:16] 5While Nels is working that out, Tony takes a deep breath and a minute, and listens around for where the sound goes wrong. In the Hedge you'd think that's pretty common, but there's "wrong" and there's "you should be hearing something you aren't" and he follows that. The city's no country road so it's not as navigable as he'd hope, but glancing at Stewart's map and comparing that to where they should be hearing more than they're hearing, [01:16] and seeing more than they're seeing, should get them closer to something so hidden that it wraps around to sticking out like a sore thumb to a keen eye. [01:17] 13Being totally lost feels a lot better with that kind of accompaniment. [01:18] 6She misses her guitar. But even just singing makes her feel better in this place. And when Ser Eglamore comes to greet them, she beams. [01:21] 10The song Stewart hears is a lot rawer than the one Nels is actually playing. It's still her, though, through and through. Moreso. His heart aches. [01:26] 7In a place like the Hedge, it's important to maintain three-dimensional thinking. Maggie takes a small tube that looks like a film canister from her pocket and pops its contents into her mouth. She knew better than to try and eat a spider that she found in the Hedge! With her deal with the forces of predation-through-unusual-movement affirmed, she scales small buildings and clambers across [01:26] 7the ceilings of what look like abandoned subway stations, seeking entrances to safe places that follow dream-logic more than the rational layout of a city. [01:27] 10All these guys are so cool... 00[01:31] <@Crion> The new motley is impressive. They work together better than they protest about, whether the protest is over the danger of the Hedge or the danger of the job or the danger of getting closer to one another. They find the warehouse with no doors faster than Jackie might have expected, had they even known it existed before now; they'd been down this alley row before -- they think -- but never 00[01:31] <@Crion> seen this flatly featureless building with no doors. It takes little time, somehow, to find the way in; it's a 'manhole' cover that Jackie doesn't see, which leads to a short tunnel with five barred gates (all undone?!) which leads to a vault door (open?!?) which leads up into the interior. [01:31] 10So honest and kind and fair and unstoppably earnest... it's no wonder the Royals are immediately fond of them. Maggie, Melanie, Nels and Tony are exceptional people, and their ability to bond and work together seems like it could also be exceptional in a Court tight-knit and intense enough to keep people on each other's third-to-last nerve. 00[01:31] <@Crion> It seems almost...cozy, as you lock it up behind you. And the message is clear, from the open doors to the way the cold room warms to greet you: it's yours now. [01:31] 5Tony, not at all complaining, "Well that was...not as bad as I'd expected, not that I'm complaining." [01:32] 10Stewart: "Really good work." [01:32] 7Maggie: "Golly. This seems unusual? Not that I mind." 00[01:33] <@Crion> NEXT TIME: The Proctor & The Pack. [01:33] 13Melanie: "This is a really useful space. Hope it wasn't prepared for us as a trap." 13She giggles. [01:33] 6Nels: "I guess we're here for a reason." 02[01:52] * hrolf_work (phoenix@sorcery-j4e.qko.154.216.IP) Quit (Client exited) 03[02:31] * ChanServ sets mode: +r 00[02:34] -> *chanserv* topic Who botches the Botchmen? 00[02:34] -> *chanserv* #gofetch topic Who botches the Botchmen? 03[02:37] * Crion changes topic to 'Who botches the Botchmen?' 02[02:38] * Disconnected Session Close: Sun Sep 22 02:38:42 2019 Session Start: Sun Sep 22 02:38:47 2019 Session Ident: #gofetch 03[02:38] * Now talking in #gofetch 03[02:38] * Topic is 'Who botches the Botchmen?' 03[02:38] * Set by Crion!Crion@sorcery-puhjpa.fios.verizon.net on Sun Sep 22 02:37:29 2019 03[02:39] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Crion 02[02:40] * Disconnected Session Close: Sun Sep 22 02:40:40 2019 Session Start: Sun Sep 22 02:40:46 2019 Session Ident: #gofetch 03[02:40] * Now talking in #gofetch 03[02:40] * Topic is 'Who botches the Botchmen?' 03[02:40] * Set by Crion!Crion@sorcery-puhjpa.fios.verizon.net on Sun Sep 22 02:37:29 2019 03[02:41] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Crion 02[02:42] * Disconnected Session Close: Sun Sep 22 02:42:25 2019 Session Start: Sun Sep 22 02:42:30 2019 Session Ident: #gofetch 03[02:42] * Now talking in #gofetch 03[02:42] * Topic is 'Who botches the Botchmen?' 03[02:42] * Set by Crion!Crion@sorcery-puhjpa.fios.verizon.net on Sun Sep 22 02:37:29 2019 02[02:44] * Disconnected Session Close: Sun Sep 22 02:44:18 2019 Session Start: Sun Sep 22 02:44:30 2019 Session Ident: #gofetch 03[02:44] * Now talking in #gofetch 03[02:44] * Topic is 'Who botches the Botchmen?' 03[02:44] * Set by Crion!Crion@sorcery-puhjpa.fios.verizon.net on Sun Sep 22 02:37:29 2019 02[02:44] * Disconnected Session Close: Sun Sep 22 02:44:57 2019 Session Start: Sun Sep 22 02:45:02 2019 Session Ident: #gofetch 03[02:45] * Now talking in #gofetch 03[02:45] * Topic is 'Who botches the Botchmen?' 03[02:45] * Set by Crion!Crion@sorcery-puhjpa.fios.verizon.net on Sun Sep 22 02:37:29 2019 03[02:46] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Crion 02[02:48] * Disconnected Session Close: Sun Sep 22 02:48:30 2019 Session Start: Sun Sep 22 02:48:34 2019 Session Ident: #gofetch 03[02:48] * Now talking in #gofetch 03[02:48] * Topic is 'Who botches the Botchmen?' 03[02:48] * Set by Crion!Crion@sorcery-puhjpa.fios.verizon.net on Sun Sep 22 02:37:29 2019 03[02:48] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Crion 02[11:19] * trenchfoot (dani@sorcery-pks4b7.in.comcast.net) Quit (Connection closed) 03[11:20] * trenchfoot (dani@sorcery-pks4b7.in.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 03[12:15] * hrolf_work (phoenix@sorcery-j4e.qko.154.216.IP) has joined #gofetch 02[19:49] * hrolf_work (phoenix@sorcery-j4e.qko.154.216.IP) Quit (Client exited) 00[20:52] <@Crion> 00[20:52] <@Crion> 00[20:52] <@Crion> 00[20:52] <@Crion> 00[20:52] <@Crion> 00[20:52] <@Crion> 00[20:52] <@Crion> 00[20:53] <@Crion> "Huh. It's a...fixer upper," Lauren Ipsum says, casting her red LED eyes around the inside of the warehouse -- the motley's new Hollow. What's she looking at, right now? [21:10] 10Lauren sees more or less what the motley (is that what they are now? this is probably going to be consecrated by oath at some point) saw when they first found it: a large and open warehouse, accessible by sewer, shafts of sunlight rendered almost solid in the dusty air. "Yeah, Maggie and Tony were talking about it earlier. I'm sort of leaving the architecture to them. I want to talk about [21:10] data." 00[21:12] <@Crion> She's wearing work overalls, but that's fairly common for her whenever she's not behind her PC. "Right. So." She plops down on the 'concrete' floor of the Hollow, which mostly feels correct even if it's subtly just a bit too slimy -- your fingers don't actually come away yet, but the feeling's there when you touch it. "The weird thing about setting up a network in here is that basically all 00[21:12] <@Crion> your priorities are backwards from the real world." [21:13] "How so?" 00[21:15] <@Crion> "Like, a huuuuuge part of any IT installation is running the cables, right? Power, data, whatever. Well, here, you can just, wheew," she breathes on her finger and a dusting of orange and yellow sparkles coats them. Glamour. "Open up a seam in the wall or the floor" -- she traces that finger along the ground, unzipping the concrete into a perfectly straight berth for a CAT5 cable, then zips 00[21:15] <@Crion> it back up -- "and close it right back up again. No pulling out walls or ceiling tiles; no power tools. I can't do it, of course; my Hedgespinning fades after an hour or whatever, because I don't live here. But any of your motley who have put a bit of themselves into the hollow can handle it." 00[21:16] <@Crion> "Then, post-installation, the network admin experience is consumed by like, days of normal operation followed by shit going wrong for no reason. Then you fix the problem, and everything goes back to normal." 00[21:16] <@Crion> "Not so over here. There's not going to be 'normal' over here. This is the Hedge." 00[21:17] <@Crion> "So instead of a stable setup, which you will never get, you'll need to develop a range of tolerances. Even over wired communication." 00[21:18] <@Crion> She lays back on the floor staring up at the ceiling. "So, you need redundancies, and protocols or switchovers to trigger them, and backups to THOSE, because of course, everything you bring in here from the outside is eventually going to be touched by the nature of the Hedge. They won't straight-up become tokens like they would if you left them outside, but they'll develop personality." 00[21:19] <@Crion> "So you've got two options: mainly stick to physical media even though you're wired up -- ripping TV shows to thumbsticks or externals instead of streaming, for instance -- or try to fight the Hedge." 00[21:22] <@Crion> She grins. "You know Jameson over in the Winter Court? Big guy, hurts people for King Nobody or whatever his name is this week. Anyway when he's in his Hollow, he watches Seinfeld, over and over again, in order. He finishes the show, he immediately starts it again. See, the thing is, that DVD collection has been in the Hedge so long the show actually changes now when he watches through it. 00[21:22] <@Crion> Last time he was telling me about it, he said there was a whole new character, Jimothy. Just, now the show has Jerry, Elaine, Kramer, George, and this dude Jimothy. Sometimes he takes another character's b-plot, sometimes they're all new. Weird shit, huh?" [21:23] "We don't need to fight the Hedge constantly. I think we can work with local hardware for media, but connectivity is important - if people are going to live here, they're going to be able to need to check their email. So if not a stable connection at least some set of tools and procedures that will let us, you know, sucker punch the hedge." [21:25] 10Stewart: "That would freak me the fuck out." 00[21:26] <@Crion> She shrugs. "He said it only got freaky once or twice, like the Shadow George episode and the meatship." 00[21:26] <@Crion> Then she nods at what Stewart said. "Right, so that's where you need to figure out your tolerance for steel. Steel isn't iron, but the Hedge isn't too fond of it anyway. The way Santander explained it, it's like the Hedge doesn't quite trust that steel isn't some elaborate trick, and the minute it stops paying attention the iron used in it won't leap out and start doing mischief. More 00[21:26] <@Crion> importantly, it's not incredibly dangerous for us to handle." 00[21:27] <@Crion> "So if you want to set up something to reliably receive from our side of the Hedge, the apparatus should be steel. That should give you some reliability." She sits up again. "THEN comes the tricky part." 00[21:28] <@Crion> Lauren waits expectantly to see if Stewart has figured out what the tricky part is already. [21:32] 10Stewart listens to Lauren perched atop one of those big white paint buckets. Stewart doesn't know if it's full of paint or not, but it's ehavy. "The connection is the tricky part. Being in the Hedge is hard, going through the Hedge is, you know." 00[21:34] <@Crion> The grin widens. "Correctomundo. The intuitive IT engineer way is to just open a portal, run a line into a box on the other side, leave the door open and set the rest of the network up normally. The two problems with that are, of course, first that portals don't really work that way; you can't really just 'leave the door open' permanently between our side and the Hedge. There are expensive 00[21:34] <@Crion> and finnicky ways around that involving keys and tokens, but that brings us to point the second: leaving a door between the Hedge and the real world permanently open and unattended for any length of time is certifiably nuts." [21:42] 10Stewart's silent for a long moment before responding, as if she'd said something he had to work through. Finally he says, "You'd be better off with some kind of two-factor system, wouldn't you? Something that works in pulses rather than a stream - data in slower, bigger bunches, packets the size of, of thoughts, basically." 00[21:42] <@Crion> She frowns briefly and looks at the finger she'd blown glamour onto, then shrugs. 00[21:44] <@Crion> "Yeah, that's what we're working on. Specifically something that -- okay, so we know data doesn't NEED direct LOS or wiring to get through the Hedge. You'll find that out if you bring a phone over here for long enough and turn it into a token, because you'll start getting calls on it to disconnected lines. Real calls! From the other side." 00[21:44] <@Crion> "It's controlling it that's the hard part." [21:46] 10Stewart: "Does it need to be controlled?" 00[21:47] <@Crion> "You could leave it up to the Hedge when the internet will work, if at all, but nothing says it has to, or that you won't be asleep during the window, if the window comes at all." [21:54] 10Stewart: "Don't think of the Hedge as the Hedge, here. Picture a kind of, I don't know, switchboard spun into the hedge and a hobgoblin bound to it. So we'd be leaving it to the Hedge to govern itself but we'd be installing government we could negotiate with." 00[21:56] <@Crion> Lauren thinks about it. "Could work. Really could, now that I think about it. I hate other IT people instinctively so it never occured to me, and frankly, I don't trust hobs. Not that I don't think they're competent; it's that if they're willing to make a deal with you -- no matter how they feel with you -- who else are they going to be selling, uh, network space to?" 00[21:56] <@Crion> "Of course no method's going to be completely safe." [21:57] 10Stewart: "How would you approach it?" 00[21:58] <@Crion> Lauren: "Going the other way on this, I've got a theory, but I've never been able to test it. Basically, you set up two identical pass-through network servers, each pressed up against the portal you're maintaining on both sides. The only difference is that one, the server on this side is a clean box, and two, you've either tokenized it or glamour-infused it with a custom setup. The concept 00[21:58] <@Crion> is: you put whatever you want onto the box on your side, backup the server, and wipe it. So you've got two clean boxes again, except now the clean box on your side has a backup with the data, settings, and connections you actually want." 00[21:59] <@Crion> "Then you restore both servers from backup at the same time. Remember, the one on the Hedge side is clean. It shouldn't be restoring anything. But I've been talking to Santander about the magical concept of 'sympathy' -- you know what that is?" [22:03] 10Stewart: "Oh, yeah, I actually just looked that up. The King--" 10'The King' sounds so weird, but you know what sounds weirder, is 'King Kingsley' "'--mentioned it the other night, when we got fieldtripped, so I was curious what it meant. A metaphysical connection that transcends physical distance." 00[22:06] <@Crion> "Right, yeah. And we know that sympathetic connection exists in our own magical tradition, right? It's not FUN, but it exists -- it's actually kind of foundational. Sympathy between us and our fetches. Magical sympathy," she clarifies hastily. "And we know at least that sympathetic connection is strong enough to transcend the Hedge. Why couldn't there be others? Maybe we could create a 00[22:06] <@Crion> sympathetic connection where when you restore from that backup here on our side -- an act of creation -- it 'creates' a cloned server here on on the other. And if the magic is strong enough, maybe the connection could go both ways; sending and receiving. You essentially have the same server on both sides of the Hedge, at the same time, communicating entirely through their sympathetic connection." 00[22:07] <@Crion> "Now. There could be some problems with this. Mainly, like, what if the original server starts trying to kill the fetch server. That would be bad." [22:10] 10Stewart: "And you what you mentioned earlier, with Jameson's Jimothy. The risk of straight-up Hedge data corruption." [22:11] "Oooooo-hooooo Annie let me in, I will fly, I will swim," 7The pair of them can hear singing coming up a hallway towards them. The adjective 'merry' doesn't get used much in modern life, except in what is essentially a seasonal branding exercise, but it seems to apply here. 00[22:11] <@Crion> She nods. "Though you're going to get that either way, sadly. Unless you're doing rigorous wipes and flattening/reinstalling every month or so. Might even be more corruption the hob way, since--??" [22:13] 10Stewart's smile widens; he hadn't realized he was already smiling. "Maggie! Do you need help carrying stuff in?" [22:13] 10To Lauren: "Have you met Maggie yet?" 00[22:14] <@Crion> "...Nnope." Her mood seems to have gotten more suspicious and standoffish, sort of back to how it was when they first met. [22:17] 7Maggie backs into the room, a walking steam furnace in the shape of a woman, molten metal or streamers of flame pouring down her head like hair - or, alternatively, an ordinary midwestern-looking woman of middle age and cheerful disposition carrying a large black plastic case, some blankets and sheets, and toiletries. [22:17] "Heya Stewart! Nah, nah, I've got this sorted. Good to see you here again so soon; thought you'd run a mile." 00[22:17] <@Crion> "Hmph." [22:21] 10Stewart brushes past the judgment. "I wanted to show Lauren the place and do some thinking about the tech setup we're going to have. If people are going to live here, they're going to need some kind of internet. Have you met my friend Lauren? She's the Autumn Court's tech expert. When *I* need to learn something about computers, I ask Lauren." [22:25] "Eh?" 7She turns to squint at the other voice. "Oh, sure, sure. Lauren Ipsum, I remember you. Well, welcome to the place, Lauren. Not much here yet." 7She addresses them both: "Glad you're getting that internet business going up here... I tell ya, I already couldn't do without that 'media server' you set up for me. Much obliged there, Stewart." 00[22:25] <@Crion> Lauren's LED eyes light up a little bit unvoluntarily. "That's overstating it. We were just talking about...stuff." [22:29] 10Stewart glances over when Lauren's eyes flare but doesn't comment. It reminds him a little of the change in the intruder alarm she installed. But it's Maggie he speaks to. "I'm glad it's working. Have you had a chance to try any of those games yet?" [22:32] 7She nods. "Oh, for sure, for sure. I started with that 'Myst' one, and I like it so much that when I read they made a bunch of others like it, I thought about just running through those before starting on your Portals and Witnesses." 00[22:40] <@Crion> "I should probably get going," Lauren mutters. [22:40] 10To Lauren: "Did you ever play Myst?" [22:40] "Oh." 00[22:40] <@Crion> She blinks. "Oh. Uh. Yeah." 00[22:40] <@Crion> "Been a long time." 00[22:41] <@Crion> "Never liked either of those guys." [22:42] 7Maggie: "Naw, stick around! We don't have an oven up here yet, but I bet if you give me a bit I could put something together. You hungry? Of course you're hungry. Won't be a minute." 00[22:42] <@Crion> "Uh. Okay." 00[22:42] <@Crion> "I mean if that's what you want." 03[22:43] * hrolf_work (phoenix@sorcery-j4e.qko.154.216.IP) has joined #gofetch [22:44] 7This will also give her a chance to be out of the room briefly, in case Stewart and Lauren get to smooching, heh heh heh. [22:45] 10Shut UP 00[22:45] <@Crion> I-it's not like that, BAKA 00[22:46] <@Crion> When Maggie's out of the room: "If you've got motley stuff to do, I really can leave. I'm sure the food's...food." [22:48] 10Stewart: "Do you wanna? I can cover for you if you want to bail, but I was hoping we could hang out. I always see you online and sometimes I forget that you're not a long-distance friend, you're right here." 00[22:49] <@Crion> "...Okay then. Cool." She pauses, looking over to where Maggie has -- she's just like, off in the corner of the warehouse 'out of earshot,' singing and glancing over at them and chuckling to herself while she works, isn't she? Ugh. 00[22:50] <@Crion> "Soo...Spring Court?" [22:50] 10Stewart: "Maggie, yeah. Maggie and Nels. Then we've got Tony, who's a Winter, and Melanie, who's a Summer." [22:50] "Where'd you meet Maggie?" 00[22:50] <@Crion> She shakes her head. "The whole damn year." 00[22:51] <@Crion> "Uhh. I think she came by the office to get a phone or something...? I wasn't lying when I said I hadn't met her. I probably didn't, like, even look up." [22:54] 10Stewart: "That makes sense. Maggie's really... I don't know the right word. Sort of broad...hearted...?" 00[22:56] <@Crion> "She'll fit in, in Spring," Lauren says. It's not a compliment, but it's not quite an insult either. [22:57] "Which Court would you choose, if you weren't Autumn?" 00[22:58] <@Crion> "Winter." Matter-of-factly, automatically. Then with more bluster: "Not because I'm, like, sad or anything. You just get left alone to do your job more." 00[23:00] <@Crion> "Spring is so peppy, with so many parties. And Summer's just, right out." [23:01] 10Stewart: "Yeah, you're not getting ambushed with dinner much by a Winter courtier." 00[23:01] <@Crion> She grins. "No, just ambushed AT dinner." [23:03] "Tony seems really chill. That's not a pun, I swear." [23:03] "I don't know what I'd pick. Autumn emailed me, which made me think it was like a tryout." 00[23:03] <@Crion> Casually: "Yeah, he's already killed a guy." [23:04] 10Stewart: "No shit?" 00[23:04] <@Crion> "Well, I guess Spring did it." 00[23:04] <@Crion> She glances over. "Like, the changeling Spring, not the Court." 00[23:04] <@Crion> "She's their hitman. Hitwoman. Uh. Assassin." [23:05] "Wow." [23:05] "I guess - yeah. I guess everybody needs to be able to hide a body." 00[23:05] <@Crion> Lauren frowns. "It's got a funny name. What is it...?" 00[23:05] <@Crion> "Oh, right! They call her the freakin, 'Sun Banisher.' Badass." [23:07] "That's amazing. Is there like a list of titles or if you're enough of a badass do they give you a bespoke one?" [23:07] "I wonder if there are titles for doing tech support." 00[23:07] <@Crion> She shrugs. "There could be. But if there was it'd be mine. Sorry. Seniority." [23:09] 10Stewart: "Which is so not fair, your name's already as a cool title." 02[23:09] * hrolf_work (phoenix@sorcery-j4e.qko.154.216.IP) Quit (Client exited) 00[23:09] <@Crion> Her eyes flash again. "You're just saying that." 03[23:10] * mattbaby (mattbaby@sorcery-v7n841.dc.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch [23:11] "Huff! Alright, here we aaare~" 7Maggie returns with a folding table under one arm and a pot of avocado chicken salad in the other hand, ready to dish out into separate bowls. "Take all you want, there's plenty and the others aren't here anyhow!" 00[23:11] <@Crion> Lauren takes a tentatively small portion. [23:14] "When I set up her local network, Maggie made these incredible biscuits." 00[23:14] <@Crion> The other Autumn Court changeling makes a noncomittal noise. [23:15] 7Maggie slaps the emotional teens on the back merrily. 00[23:15] <@Crion> "oof" 00[23:16] <@Crion> She does look a bit rosier, though, now. Lauren miiiight not have the best sleep schedule. [23:17] 10Stewart's reaction is much the same. Between bites: "Have you thought about how you're going to lay the place out?" [23:19] "Little bit. Need to talk to the others, though. This is the whole, whatchacallit, motley's space, even if they're not here full-time." [23:22] 10Stewart: "It's still so weird to me to live in the Hedge full-time." 00[23:23] <@Crion> Lauren: "I couldn't do it. Gotta be online." [23:24] "Right?" [23:26] 7She nods reluctantly. "I'll allow that if getting connected up here just doesn't make sense I'd have to think a bit harder about keeping someplace out in regular Baltimore. I sure would like not to have to pay rent, though. Good gravy, they squeeze you." [23:27] 10Stewart: "We should be able to fix something up for the internet. It'll be fiddly, though, because everything in the Hedge is fiddly." 00[23:28] <@Crion> "You're gonna get weird and creepy e-mails the spam filter won't catch," Lauren says. "No way around that." [23:30] 10Stewart: "Yeah if someone tells you they need more blue webpages, don't do it." 00[23:31] <@Crion> With her mouth a little bit full: "Make sure the link you're clicking is to FACEbook, not FAEbook. Better yet, block the Facebook links too." [23:33] 7Maggie: "Oh, lord, I don't go anywhere near that crap, excuse my French. They make a lot of money, this Facebook?" 00[23:34] <@Crion> Lauren snort-laughs. [23:34] 10Stewart: "I'd say more money than God but the Catholic Church spends a *lot* of money." [23:34] "So Faebook has got to also be owned by Zuckerberg, right? There's no way it isn't." 00[23:37] <@Crion> She shrugs. "I've always figured Zuck's a fetch. Or a Huntsman. Or SOMETHING." [23:37] "Mmmm-hmm." 7She purses her lips. "It's just like the newspapers. Some rich fella buys everything up and tries to get people fighting each other. No thank you." 00[23:37] <@Crion> "I mean, look at the guy." [23:43] 10Stewart: "If Zuck's the fetch, you have to wonder, where's the real Mark?" 00[23:44] <@Crion> "Making money in the Hedge helping the True Fae set up their own surveillance state, maybe." 00[23:44] <@Crion> "Or whatever money is over here." 00[23:44] <@Crion> "Debt." [23:51] 10The three of them eat in silence for a bit. Suddenly Stewart says, "Oh, hey, Stan Rogers." [23:51] "Eh?" [23:52] "I saw this Contract on the wiki. It's called the Hedge-Busker's Tip. You can listen for someone's musical aura, which takes the shape of an existing real-world song." [23:52] "It's like a theme song that follows you around." [23:53] "Yours is a Stan Rogers song. I looked him up on Youtube. I don't recognize that one, though." [23:53] 7Curiously: "How's it go?" 00[23:54] <@Crion> Lauren narrows her eyes but says nothing. [23:56] 10Stewart misses Lauren's reaction, focused on singing adequately: "People are simple, like May flowers sweet, both grown by that North County rain... the interval is clear, will it soon disappear, under the Guysborough Train?" [23:59] "Huh." 7She clicks her tongue and looks off between the two other changelings for a little bit, focused on nothing. "Guysborough Train, huh? ...Yeah, that one makes sense." Session Time: Mon Sep 23 00:00:00 2019 [00:01] "You know what it means?" [00:02] 10Stewart shakes his head. [00:03] 10It occurs to him belatedly that he doesn't know if she meant, does he know what the song means or does he know what the fact that that's her song means. Luckily the answer is the same either way. 00[00:04] <@Crion> After a minute, a bit strained: "So what did you hear when you used that contract on me. Couldn't have been anything good." 00[00:04] <@Crion> "Or else you'd have said something." 00[00:04] <@Crion> Abruptly she stands up. "You know what. The food was good. Thanks." 00[00:05] <@Crion> "I can find the door." [00:05] 10Ah, fuck. 00[00:06] <@Crion> Unless stopped, she will, indeed, see herself out. [00:06] "Wait." 10Stewart will get up and follow her if she doesn't stop. 00[00:06] <@Crion> She will slow down, but not stop. [00:08] 10Stewart will let her get a bit away from Maggie before saying, "I'm sorry, I should have said something. I tried it without thinking, and then I didn't really- I didn't know what to say. But I should have said something." [00:09] 7She opens her mouth, but this appears to be something between her and Stewart, so she closes it again. 00[00:09] <@Crion> She'll round on him, more...determined...? Than angry. But still angry. "Teach. Me. The contract." [00:09] 10Stewart looks briefly stunned, but: "Sure." 00[00:11] <@Crion> "...And Maggie, too. It's not fair if just you get to do it." [00:11] "It sort of, pops your eardrums a little? So swallowing or chewing gum might help..." 10He shows Lauren how it works. [00:11] 10To Maggie: "Do you wanna?" [00:18] 7She hums to herself. "Much obliged, Stewart, but I think I'll pass on that one. Though I might bug you now and again and ask what you hear about this person or that." 00[00:19] <@Crion> Lauren ignores her, then, and focuses intently on the lesson with her arms crossed. 00[00:19] <@Crion> And as soon as she's gotten the hang of it, she narrows her eyes and does kind of a silent raspberry with her lips-- 00[00:21] <@Crion> Her eyes widen and she blinks, and her face gets a little bit softer. "That's weird." Then, hurriedly: "Not your song. Just...hearing it like that." 00[00:21] <@Crion> "...I'm not telling you what it is. And I don't want you to tell me what mine is." [00:21] "What'd you g-- awww." 00[00:22] <@Crion> Primly, to Maggie: "Learn it yourself if you want to know." [00:22] 7Maggie: "Heh heh. That's fair." 00[00:23] <@Crion> "...I really should actually get going, though. There's tickets piling up. Harlan got a virus on his phone again." [00:23] 7She nods. "Sure, and you're always welcome, Lauren. Come by sometime!" [00:24] 10Stewart's second breath after Lauren invokes the contract is bracing and cold like a lungful of Halloween night air. "Okay, yeah, absolutely. Thanks for hanging out." 10He'll walk her out unless she signals she'd rather he didn't. 00[00:24] <@Crion> She seems fine with it. "Thanks again for the food," she says to Maggie. When they reach the door, she says perhaps overly-flatly, "I'll see you online later...?" [00:25] 10Stewart: "...yeah, absolutely." 00[00:26] <@Crion> "Cool. I had fun later!" The last bit kind of runs together as she steps through the portal. [00:27] 7Maggie: "What a sweet girl. Does she like movies? You should take her to a movie." 02[00:27] * mattbaby (mattbaby@sorcery-v7n841.dc.comcast.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [00:27] 10Stewart sighs. "Take her to a- what?" [00:28] 7Maggie, cheerfully: "Neither of you really strike me as sports fans." [00:29] 10Stewart: 'Hey, I've been to multiple Orioles games!" [00:29] 10Two is multiple! [00:30] "Yeah, and don't you wish you hadn't?" [00:31] 10Stewart: "Baseball is so bad." [00:33] "All the variance is in the outcome, everyone's trying to do the same thing basically every time. It'd be like watching people play a professional Civ 2 war league where no one's to-hit chance goes higher than 35%." [00:34] "Ooofah." 7She sits down in a creaky camp chair. "We should get some carpeting or something in here, the floor's freezing. What's this about a Civ 2?" [00:35] 10Stewart: "Civilization is a series of big complicated strategy games. They take a long time to play and involve a lot of micromanagement, but whether you succeed or fail still comes down to how well you can roll dice." [00:39] "Some people swear by them, though." [00:39] "And then there's strategy games that are even drier and dustier than that." [00:39] 7Maggie: "Golly. So it's just like playing board games on the computer, there?" [00:40] 10Stewart: "Yeah, exactly." [00:46] 7Maggie: "Hrrrrrm. Now, here's something maybe you can answer for me. I was looking up the history of video games and whatnot, because I figured there'd be some simpler ones I could, you know, try on as well. From what I understand the first really popular ones were that Super Mario?" 7She pronounces it 'mare-io'. "Is that right? Do people still play those these days?" [00:50] 10Stewart: "Oh, yeah. Super Mario Brothers, 19...8...5? I want to say? It's still really fun, and people still play it, and they've been making Mario games for 35 years now, and most of those are also really good. I can get them on a console if you want to play them on a TV, or you could emulate them on your computer." [00:52] "They're a lot more twitchy than Myst is, though. They care more about reflexes." [00:53] "They're not super hard, mostly, because each of these games is designed to be some kid's first video game, but it's a very different experience." [01:00] 7She leans back, closes her eyes, and nods. "So what's your favorite? Not what you stream, I mean. What're the games you like the most?" [01:04] 10Stewart: "That's really hard." [01:06] "I guess... there's this game called Deus Ex." [01:07] 7She crosses her legs and sips a mug of ice water. [01:12] 10Stewart: "It's a science fiction game about conspiracies and technology. What I love the most about it is that there's so many ways to play it. It's basically a first-person shooter, where you run around with a gun and shoot bad guys to reach things bad guys are guarding. But a lot of games just tell you where to go and sort of, measure your competence at game systems as you progress. [01:12] What Deus Ex does - what really good games do, I think - is it poses a question." [01:15] "So like, the first level of the game, the game asks you, 'How are you going to get to the top of the Statue of Liberty?' and you can take heavy weapons and try to blow your way past all the fortifications, or you try to sneak around and avoid detection. You can kill everyone you see or play a complete pacifist." [01:16] "And then at the end the game asks you what kind of society you want. You can join the ranks of the powerful men who control the world. You can cause a total breakdown of society and try to piece something together out of the aftermath. Or you can become something new and scary, and leave your old self behind." [01:19] 10Stewart looks at Maggie, the furnacewoman, and is suddenly deeply uncomfortable. That's twice in a row he just- fuck! He can't keep making mistakes like that. [01:19] 7Maggie: "Hmm. Don't think I've heard of shooty games where you don't have to shoot people and still win." [01:22] "I can't decide whether that's strange or not." [01:22] "Strange?" [01:25] 7She notices Stewart shifting in his seat uncomfortably. "You alright, th-- oh! Oh!" 7She laughs merrily. "I didn't even realize. Stewart, I like to think I'm a pretty tough gal." 7She thumps on her chest for emphasis. "You don't have to go and worry about reminding me about all this metal and whatnot. That part's not so bad." 7She adds, "Not for me, anyway. It's different for everyone, [01:25] I'm sure." [01:27] 10Stewart: "It's just..." [01:28] "Hmm?" [01:28] "Like yeah, you say it's fine for you, and I believe you. Then you say it's different for everyone, but that understates it so much." [01:30] "I just don't want to hurt people! But I can't know for sure what hurts people. It might be anything. Sometimes it might be everything." [01:34] "Lauren was having a perfectly nice time and then I fucked it up." [01:35] 7Maggie, looking at her cup: "Yeah... I think I know what you mean. I don't really have an answer for you there. I guess all you can do is make sure people know you have good will for 'em, and try to make amends when things go wrong. I expect Lauren'll be back sooner than you think." [01:46] 10Stewart: "I've been really lucky, making friends in the Freehold. But all my new friends are so different from each other, and different from me. I feel like we're a motley, you know? A collection of people who could only be united by this... this thing. But Lauren's not like that, you know? Lauren's just... Lauren. Like if we hadn't all been pushed together, I think she'd be my only [01:46] friend." [01:47] 7Maggie: "You think maybe she feels the same way about you? That's a pretty heavy thing to realize about someone." [01:50] 10Stewart: "I don't know." [01:51] 7She shrugs a little. [01:55] 10Stewart: "...I should get home. I've got to work in a couple of hours." [01:55] "Thanks for the food. And for being around." [01:56] 7She raises her mug. "Cheers." 03[02:52] * banana is now known as banana|split 03[09:44] * banana|split is now known as banana 02[11:57] * trenchfoot (dani@sorcery-pks4b7.in.comcast.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[12:19] * trenchfoot (dani@sorcery-jcvlv4.in.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 03[15:25] * banana is now known as banana|peels 02[16:33] * Disconnected 02[16:35] * Attempting to rejoin channel #gofetch 03[16:35] * Rejoined channel #gofetch 03[16:35] * Topic is 'Who botches the Botchmen?' 03[16:35] * Set by Crion!Crion@sorcery-puhjpa.fios.verizon.net on Sun Sep 22 02:37:29 2019 03[16:35] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Crion 03[21:31] * mattbaby (mattbaby@sorcery-v7n841.dc.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 00[23:02] <@Crion> 00[23:02] <@Crion> 00[23:02] <@Crion> 00[23:02] <@Crion> 00[23:02] <@Crion> 00[23:02] <@Crion> 00[23:02] <@Crion> 00[23:02] <@Crion> 00[23:03] <@Crion> Which nights does Stewart take off from gaming? Sorry, work. [23:05] 10Usually early-week weeknights. By default he streams every night but Tuesday, but Monday is his second-most-frequent night off. 00[23:06] <@Crion> Well then. It was a Monday night that the motley was made, so it will be the next night, Tuesday, that the hex box chat app will light up with a message from...a new sender. 00[23:06] <@Crion> Username: "QUOTH|THE|BITTER|WIND" 00[23:07] <@Crion> The message is: 00[23:10] <@Crion> <'STEWART READER,' KNOWN OTHERWISE AS 'CRITICALMASS:'> 00[23:10] <@Crion> 00[23:10] <@Crion> 00[23:10] <@Crion> 00[23:10] <@Crion> 00[23:10] <@Crion> [23:11] "Badass," 10Stewart breathes. 00[23:11] <@Crion> Well? [23:13] 10Stewart was just googling the words from Lauren's song. Apparently "the Mountain Goats" have a shitload of albums. He can dig deeper later. [23:13] 10Inner Harbor, right? Attached parking garage? 00[23:14] <@Crion> Indeed. 00[23:14] <@Crion> No one seems to be sending a car this time, though. [23:15] 10Stewart can drive himself. 00[23:17] <@Crion> When he arrives at the parking garage, the shutter will be closed...and open on its own as soon as he pulls up to see if there's a buzzer. The garage itself is dark; emergency lights only at night, it seems. If that. [23:19] 10The dim, shadowy parking lot is very atmosphere. This is both a mood and goals, thinks Stewart. [23:19] 10*parking garage 00[23:19] <@Crion> As soon as he drives in, the shutter closes behind him. Better keep the headlights on. [23:20] 10This owns!! Stewart will drive carefully, letting his eyes adjust to the comparative dark. 00[23:21] <@Crion> The garage is completely empty. The lights are gone entirely...except a pool of yellow light from a single bulb near the elevator, hung over the doorman's chair. 00[23:21] <@Crion> He's nowhere to be seen. 00[23:21] <@Crion> The elevator door stands open. [23:22] 10Stewart feels like someone's rolling the red carpet out for him. [23:23] 10He doesn't touch any buttons on the elevator immediately, waiting to see if it moves on its own. 00[23:24] <@Crion> It does not...but after a moment, as if in irritation, the button for Floor 27 lights up. 00[23:24] <@Crion> Perhaps this elevator does not suffer passengers gladly, at least not afterhours. 00[23:25] <@Crion> After all, it should be off. [23:31] 10Somewhere between Floor 12 and Floor 14 Stewart's anticipation starts wilting into nervousness. The last time he was here it was because he'd just watched three men get shot to death. 00[23:33] <@Crion> The elevator moves up with smooth alacrity; whether because it loves a job well done, because it's afraid of fucking up, or just because it's an impersonal machine and everything is normal -- ha ha ha -- is hard to say. The doors slide open on Floor 27. Everything is stillness and dark. 00[23:34] <@Crion> All of Lauren's computers are off; she's home for the night, clearly. The rest of the office is the same. No noise -- except for the elevator doors closing immediately behind Stewart and the elevator descending as quickly as it possibly can. 00[23:34] <@Crion> Wait...not no light. 00[23:35] <@Crion> There's three thin lines of gold all the way down the hall, coming out of the double doors to Kingsley's office -- the top and bottom jambs, and where the doors separate. 00[23:35] <@Crion> This is interesting. 00[23:35] <@Crion> Kingsley's office doesn't have double doors. 00[23:36] <@Crion> Well, it didn't last time, at any rate. [23:36] 10Stewart approaches. He'll knock if he reaches the door before anything happens. 00[23:37] <@Crion> As he gets within swinging distance of the doors, they explode outward as if thrown open by a great wind, and a burning golden-orange light overwhelms him. A voice beyond booms: "COME INNNNNNN, STEWART READER, KNOWN IN OTHER PARTS AS QUOTE, CRITICALMASS!" 00[23:37] <@Crion> "ENTER MY REALM" [23:39] 10Eyes wide, Stewart fights hesitation and crosses the threshold. 00[23:39] <@Crion> The office is...much longer. 00[23:41] <@Crion> The floor and the ceiling and the walls are all completely clear; you appear to be floating in the sky, and why not? Why would there be buildings this tall in the Hedge? Except looming behind you there is one, a great pillar of basalt some quarter-mile away towards city hall, backlit only by a gigantic moon that takes up almost a fourth of the night sky. 00[23:42] <@Crion> The rest of the sky is stars, more than there should be and in strange patterns that change when you're not looking; below you, you can just make out the ever-twisting, ever-twisted rows of the Hedge seething as they rearrange themselves like a nest of vipers. The ocean stretches away to the horizon vaguely in the place it should be, but it seems too far. 00[23:42] <@Crion> All of this is less important, perhaps, than the office itself. 00[23:47] <@Crion> A great hall of knicks and knacks: towering shelves of books; a row of six different globes, none of which appear to quite be Earth; four safes stacked two on two, and all of them chained up; the statue of a beautiful woman; the statue of Christ on the cross, but wearing a leering grin; a great mirror covered by a silk sheet, and a bolted-down wooden chair sitting in front of it; and finally, 00[23:47] <@Crion> at the end of the room, a massive desk and the man behind it, all the light in the room behind drawn in towards him to die but his hideous eyes still gleaming in it. He appears to be fiddling with...a Game Boy Advance. 00[23:48] <@Crion> "BAH!" He tosses it irritably into a drawer. 00[23:48] <@Crion> Then he turns to Stewart and--smiles? 00[23:49] <@Crion> "Thank you, Stewart Reader. Like what you hear?" [23:50] 10Stewart is just kind of dumbstruck. Finally he manages a "Holy shit." 00[23:51] <@Crion> The smile widens. 00[23:53] <@Crion> "Sit." He snaps his fingers, and the bolted down chair in front of the mirror grumbles, unbolts itself from the floor, trundles over to his desk, and sprouts cushions on its seat and backrest. [23:53] 10Despite how flatly awesome this is, the display of power and the vertigo of the magician's sanctum leave him almost scrambling for a seat. 00[23:55] <@Crion> The chair seems to have sympathy; it adjusts to fit him precisely. Presumably this isn't the first time this entire sequence of events has happened. 00[23:55] <@Crion> "I," says the man behind the desk, steepling his fingers, "am W. Marcus Santander." 00[23:55] <@Crion> "I prepare your taxes, and other official documents." 00[23:56] <@Crion> "Yet -- I do other things, besides." 00[23:57] <@Crion> He seems older than his age, severe, and always in shadow -- even though three great lamps, two behind him and one of the desk, illuminate this section of the room. A long beard and gnarled fingers, but great, stern, accusing eyes -- and yes, that is a wizard's hat, hanging on a coat rack in the far corner. 00[23:58] <@Crion> Santander seems both mighty and stooped, and while his very visage inspires fear, it is not without humor. Though whether that humor lands, well. [23:58] 10Stewart finally manages: "How can I help?" 00[23:58] <@Crion> Loudly and immediately: "MANY WAYS!" 00[23:59] <@Crion> "First: Are vampires real?" 00[23:59] <@Crion> His eyes probe Stewart's. Session Time: Tue Sep 24 00:00:00 2019 [00:00] 10Stewart shrinks a bit. "As far as I know. I saw someone explode into a cloud of bats." 00[00:01] <@Crion> "Adequate. The correct answer is 'yes.' 'As far as I know,' to a sage of the Autumn Court, means 'yes.' SECOND! Were the bats actual bats?" 00[00:01] <@Crion> After a brief pause: "You may speculate." [00:04] 10Stewart: "They were definitely physical, and not, like, illusions - they disturbed the air, broke a window. But they must've been part of the vampire in some sense. So they weren't actual bats, if we define 'actual bats' to mean like the kind you'd find in an attic or, or a belfry." 00[00:06] <@Crion> Santander nods with satisfaction. "Better than adequate: correct. Third: why did the vampire wear an opera cape and a tuxedo to meet with corrupt police officers in the year 2019?" [00:08] 10Stewart: "Because he wanted to give the impression that he was very old, or he's so old it didn't occur to him not to." [00:09] "Coming off like that is a philosophical point as much as an aesthetic one." 00[00:09] <@Crion> Santander nods and leans forward with satisfaction. "And given the available evidence, what is it clear that vampires can do in one very important way, and cannot do in another?" [00:10] "Pass for human?" 00[00:10] <@Crion> He narrows his eyes. "Almost." 00[00:10] <@Crion> "Again." [00:11] 10Stewart thinks. "Feel human?" 00[00:12] <@Crion> "Forget about humanity, narrowly defined," Santander says. "Think in principles." [00:16] "Grow? No, that's too narrow again. Is it change?" 00[00:20] <@Crion> He nods. "There it is. We, after all, pass for human, and we feel human. The fundamental difference between us and the vampires is not the fangs or the feeding or the magic or even the fact of death. We can or do have all those things. Even, in very strange hours, the death. But we are still alive, and we are still part of the world." Santander waves his hand around the Hollow. "Which is not 00[00:20] <@Crion> the impression this 'sanctum sanctorum' gives! You see these things and you think, yes! I shall strive to steal the secrets of the gods, and become one with the outer worlds. And, in time, with the proper cunning and the proper learning, you shall." 00[00:21] <@Crion> "But you will never be a vampire." 00[00:21] <@Crion> "You will never be a werewolf." 00[00:21] <@Crion> "You will never be a mage." 00[00:21] <@Crion> "And this--" He raises a finger. "This, I posit, is a blessing unto you." [00:22] "Why?" 00[00:24] <@Crion> "Because the vampire is empty, the werewolf is too full, and the mage always yearns to be something else. You have to live inside yourself, even as you explore this great new universe. And you must not view those wants -- the plain facts of life, the plain desires of your nature -- as impediments, not even to something so majestic as learning." 00[00:24] <@Crion> He leans back in his chair. "This, of course, is why I do the taxes." 00[00:25] <@Crion> "I find helping people enjoyable. I find cheating the government enjoyable. So I indulge these things." 00[00:27] <@Crion> "That said, I do have a task for you." [00:28] 10Stewart perks up. 00[00:31] <@Crion> "Discover enough about vampires to --" He snaps his fingers again, and a computer monitor shoots out of his desk. Presumably he's got a hex box stuck down in there somewhere, because Stewart is shown the empty Autumn Court wiki page for Vampires (Homo Nosferatu Vampiris). "Fill this page...after scrolling once!" 00[00:32] <@Crion> After the proclamation he looks regretfully at the monitor. "Lauren continues to tell me we need this updated, and I suppose I agree. With proper security!" [00:34] 10Stewart looks at the screen and then back at Santander. "Okay. Any suggestions where to start?" 00[00:35] <@Crion> "I HAVE NONE!!!" 00[00:35] <@Crion> "This is your task." [00:35] 10Stewart leans back a bit, but nods. 00[00:35] <@Crion> "However." 00[00:37] <@Crion> "You have accepted a task of knowledge from a Lord Sage. This entitles you to reciprocation of knowledge upon completion of your task. However, I am lenient, and I am clearly testing you instead of truly asking for new knowledge! SO." 00[00:37] <@Crion> "You may ask me any questions three. And if I do not answer, that question I return to thee." [00:41] 10Seems to be a pastime of the Autumn Court. Stewart leads with: "Who was the opera cape bat cloud vampire?" 00[00:42] <@Crion> "The Count of St. Sebastian. Seneschal to the Court of Baltimore. ...The vampire court." 00[00:43] <@Crion> "His title is Seneschal. The rest is, well. Names are power." 02[00:46] * Disconnected 02[00:47] * Attempting to rejoin channel #gofetch 03[00:47] * Rejoined channel #gofetch 03[00:47] * Topic is 'Who botches the Botchmen?' 03[00:47] * Set by Crion!Crion@sorcery-puhjpa.fios.verizon.net on Sun Sep 22 02:37:29 2019 [00:48] 10Question two: "What kind of work does becoming a great changeling magician entail?" 02[00:49] * @Crion (Crion@sorcery-puhjpa.fios.verizon.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[00:49] * Crion_ is now known as Crion 03[00:50] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Crion 00[00:50] <@Crion> "There is a short answer to that question, and a long answer. So: I SHALL GIVE BOTH!" 00[00:51] <@Crion> "The short answer is that you must become intimate with foolishness, failure, and death, and not become a fool, fail, or die." 03[00:53] * GreatClownVoxPVoxD (VoxPVoxD@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) has joined #gofetch 02[00:54] * VoxPVoxD (VoxPVoxD@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) Quit (NickServ (GHOST command used by GreatClownVoxPVoxD)) 03[00:54] * GreatClownVoxPVoxD is now known as VoxPVoxD 00[00:56] <@Crion> "The long answer is that it will be a long process, with many setbacks. It will be dangerous. It will require consortation with strange oddities of the Wyrd, monstrosities of the world entirely out of your holistic conception of a unified theory of magic from dealing with the True Fae, and spending time with those from as far away as Philadelphia. Perhaps even...Pittsburgh. It will not be 00[00:56] <@Crion> easy and at times -- most times! -- it will not be particularly fun, and it may lead you not into unpleasant truths, for the truth is never in and of itself unpleasant, but unpleasant ways of thinking. You will need support, and support is not an old tax attorney summoning you to his skylab at 8 PM on a Tuesday. You will require a robustness you do not yet have. And then, in the end, if 00[00:56] <@Crion> you are skilled, and lucky, and availed of many smaller, more interior splendors, you will be the one with the grumpy chair. And I will have..." 00[00:56] <@Crion> "...retired to the country." 02[00:56] * Disconnected 02[00:58] * Attempting to rejoin channel #gofetch 03[00:58] * Rejoined channel #gofetch 03[00:58] * Topic is 'Who botches the Botchmen?' 03[00:58] * Set by Crion!Crion@sorcery-puhjpa.fios.verizon.net on Sun Sep 22 02:37:29 2019 03[00:58] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Crion 00[00:59] <@Crion> <@Crion> "The long answer is that it will be a long process, with many setbacks. It will be dangerous. It will require consortation with strange oddities of the Wyrd, monstrosities of the world entirely out of your holistic conception of a unified theory of magic from dealing with the True Fae, and spending time with those from as far away as Philadelphia. Perhaps even...Pittsburgh. It 00[00:59] <@Crion> will not be 00[00:59] <@Crion> <@Crion> easy and at times -- most times! -- it will not be particularly fun, and it may lead you not into unpleasant truths, for the truth is never in and of itself unpleasant, but unpleasant ways of thinking. You will need support, and support is not an old tax attorney summoning you to his skylab at 8 PM on a Tuesday. You will require a robustness you do not yet have. And then, in the 00[00:59] <@Crion> end, if 00[00:59] <@Crion> <@Crion> you are skilled, and lucky, and availed of many smaller, more interior splendors, you will be the one with the grumpy chair. And I will have..." 00[00:59] <@Crion> <@Crion> "...retired to the country." 00[00:59] <@Crion> Beneath Stewart, the chair grumbles, but doesn't change how comfortable it is. [01:04] 10Stewart is silent for a time, thinking about this. [01:05] 10His last question is, "Knowing everything you know now, if you could choose never to have been taken, would you?" 00[01:07] <@Crion> Santander leans back and steeples his fingers. "I find myself unqualified to answer that question now, at the end of too many things. And so the question is returned." His voice is unusually subdued. 00[01:09] <@Crion> Then he laces his fingers together and rests them on his chest. [01:16] 10It takes Stewart a long moment to formulate the fourth question. "Why do they take us?" 00[01:17] <@Crion> "Because they're broken." 00[01:17] <@Crion> He pauses. 00[01:17] <@Crion> "Do you need a longer answer?" 00[01:18] <@Crion> "There is one. It's arguable whether it's more illuminating, or even true." [01:19] "I guess... what way are they broken that makes them do that?" 00[01:20] <@Crion> He closes his eyes. "There is a place called Arcadia. Are you familiar? It is the name we give the place we go, when we are taken. A thousand shining, solipsistic duchies. Or ten thousand. Or a million. But that's not really Arcadia. They call it that, because, like the mages, they are creatures that yearn to be somewhere else. There is a true Arcadia, they say. It's a big club." 00[01:20] <@Crion> "And the Gentry aren't in it." 00[01:21] <@Crion> "So. How to get back to heaven? For it is their heaven. The mages have their answer, and it seems stupid and insane, so we will not bother ourselves further with it. But the Keepers -- they've thought about this." 00[01:21] <@Crion> "They've thought about this, so much." 00[01:23] <@Crion> "And their answer, I believe, is that they believe they are wholly incomplete. That there is something missing. Not a permanent thing -- a transitory thing. A spark. Something to ignite them and return them to the way they used to be. They yearn to reach their heaven through love or hate or music or popcorn or violence. And they need, therefore, a lover, a hater, a violinist, a movie theater 00[01:23] <@Crion> teen, or an opponent. But always a victim." 00[01:24] <@Crion> "Arcadia is a land of tumult and conflict. Change." He glances at Stewart and smiles. "You had to know I'd bring it back eventually. And they...don't...change." 00[01:25] <@Crion> "And it kills them." 00[01:25] <@Crion> "Figuratively, but also literally, because in their world figuratively is literally." 00[01:26] <@Crion> "They take us because they're broken, and they're afraid they can never be whole again." 00[01:26] <@Crion> He pauses. "But make the mistake of pity at your own peril." 00[01:26] <@Crion> "That is the long answer." [01:27] 10Stewart nods, after another pause. "Thank you." 00[01:27] <@Crion> Eyes still closed. "You owe me a wiki." [01:27] "I'll get it done." 00[01:29] <@Crion> He opens his eyes and nods. "See that you do. The chair and the elevator will see you back. Goodnight, Stewart Reader, Apprentice of the Unknown Reaches." 00[01:32] <@Crion> The chair literally goes "hup," walks him back to the door to the Hollow and stands up to put Stewart himself in a standing position, pushing him through the portal. The door to Kingsley's office slams -- it's just the single door again. The whole floor is once more cold and dark...but then the elevator opens, warm and bright. When Stewart steps in, it plays soothing music and immediately 00[01:32] <@Crion> ferries him back down to the garage. When the doors open on the garage it's dark, but then the fire alarm on the elevator BLORTS, and the lights snap on, and the shutter to the garage opens. 00[01:33] <@Crion> Once Stewart has pulled out of the parking garage, the shutter closes again. Every light in the building switches off. Every machine goes silent. It's like no one had been there at all. 00[01:33] <@Crion> --Fin. 02[02:02] * mattbaby (mattbaby@sorcery-v7n841.dc.comcast.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[02:26] * CBN2 (CBN@sorcery-nicvq5.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) has joined #gofetch 02[02:29] * CBN (CBN@sorcery-ase2td.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[03:37] * banana|peels is now known as banana 03[04:04] * banana is now known as banana|split [06:21] running aroudn waving my hands in the air and screaming [06:22] (RAWHTAS) [06:22] oh wrong channel 03[06:22] * banana|split is now known as banana|work 03[08:13] * banana|work is now known as banana|split 03[08:41] * CBN2 is now known as CBN 03[09:07] * banana|split is now known as banana 03[14:11] * banana is now known as banana|peels 03[20:21] * mattbaby (mattbaby@sorcery-v7n841.dc.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 02[20:53] * mattbaby (mattbaby@sorcery-v7n841.dc.comcast.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[22:20] * mattbaby (mattbaby@sorcery-v7n841.dc.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch Session Time: Wed Sep 25 00:00:00 2019 02[01:29] * mattbaby (mattbaby@sorcery-v7n841.dc.comcast.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[03:17] * banana|peels is now known as banana 02[03:39] * Disconnected 02[03:39] * Attempting to rejoin channel #gofetch 03[03:39] * Rejoined channel #gofetch 03[03:39] * Topic is 'Who botches the Botchmen?' 03[03:39] * Set by Crion!Crion@sorcery-puhjpa.fios.verizon.net on Sun Sep 22 02:37:29 2019 02[03:43] * @Crion (Crion@sorcery-puhjpa.fios.verizon.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 02[12:35] * dammitwho (joanofarcta@sorcery-j9socb.dynamic.onlinenw.com) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[18:29] * dammitwho (joanofarcta@sorcery-j9socb.dynamic.onlinenw.com) has joined #gofetch 02[18:39] * Disconnected 02[18:42] * Attempting to rejoin channel #gofetch 03[18:42] * Rejoined channel #gofetch 03[18:42] * Topic is 'Who botches the Botchmen?' 03[18:42] * Set by Crion!Crion@sorcery-puhjpa.fios.verizon.net on Sun Sep 22 02:37:29 2019 03[18:42] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Crion 02[18:43] * Crion_ (Crion@sorcery-puhjpa.fios.verizon.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 02[19:15] * Disconnected 02[19:17] * Attempting to rejoin channel #gofetch 03[19:17] * Rejoined channel #gofetch 03[19:17] * Topic is 'Who botches the Botchmen?' 03[19:17] * Set by Crion!Crion@sorcery-puhjpa.fios.verizon.net on Sun Sep 22 02:37:29 2019 02[19:17] * @Crion (Crion@sorcery-puhjpa.fios.verizon.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[19:18] * Crion_ is now known as Crion 03[19:18] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Crion 03[22:39] * mattbaby (mattbaby@sorcery-v7n841.dc.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch Session Time: Thu Sep 26 00:00:00 2019 02[01:45] * mattbaby (mattbaby@sorcery-v7n841.dc.comcast.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 02[01:58] * dammitwho (joanofarcta@sorcery-j9socb.dynamic.onlinenw.com) Quit (Connection closed) 03[01:58] * dammitwho (joanofarcta@sorcery-j9socb.dynamic.onlinenw.com) has joined #gofetch 02[10:37] * dammitwho (joanofarcta@sorcery-j9socb.dynamic.onlinenw.com) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[19:14] * mattbaby (mattbaby@sorcery-v7n841.dc.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 02[19:48] * mattbaby (mattbaby@sorcery-v7n841.dc.comcast.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[19:55] * CBN2 (CBN@sorcery-qd84it.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) has joined #gofetch 02[19:55] * CBN2 (CBN@sorcery-qd84it.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) Quit (Connection closed) 02[19:56] * CBN (CBN@sorcery-nicvq5.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[19:59] * CBN (CBN@sorcery-c4q2og.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) has joined #gofetch 03[21:36] * dammitwho (joanofarcta@sorcery-j9socb.dynamic.onlinenw.com) has joined #gofetch 03[21:42] * mattbaby (mattbaby@sorcery-v7n841.dc.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch Session Time: Fri Sep 27 00:00:00 2019 02[01:35] * mattbaby (mattbaby@sorcery-v7n841.dc.comcast.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[03:38] * CBN2 (CBN@sorcery-loo4v8.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) has joined #gofetch 03[03:39] * CBN3 (CBN@sorcery-loo4v8.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) has joined #gofetch 02[03:40] * CBN (CBN@sorcery-c4q2og.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[03:41] * CBN (CBN@sorcery-9ggiqj.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) has joined #gofetch 02[03:43] * CBN2 (CBN@sorcery-loo4v8.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 02[03:43] * CBN3 (CBN@sorcery-loo4v8.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[12:08] * banana is now known as banana|split 03[13:00] * banana|split is now known as banana 03[13:56] * CBN2 (CBN@sorcery-afeln9.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) has joined #gofetch [13:57] https://i.imgur.com/pRFI7qg.jpg [13:57]  [13:57]  [13:57]  [13:58] 13Melanie rolls up in Stewart's parking lot in a Kia a few years out of date but barely used. There are bits of leaves all over the roof surface, but the passenger seat is clean and clear. 02[13:59] * CBN (CBN@sorcery-9ggiqj.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [14:01] 10Stewart's got the cool leather jacket Gerald gave him on. It's not really chilly but it's not-warm enough to justify looking cool. "Hey!" 10he says as he gets into the car. "How's it going?" [14:01] 13In the back she's only got a couple of bits of furniture - the things she could move herself for the first round - and a case of Spotted Cow. "Thank you again for doing this." [14:01] "Um, it's not going very fast, but I don't have very much to move. If we drop this stuff off at the sewer first then it should just be a trip or two.. I hope." 03[14:04] * CBN2 is now known as CBN [14:05] "Oh, yeah, no problem. Moving alone sucks." 10He notices the case of beer in the backseat, but doesn't acknowledge it. "Maggie has the place looking pretty good." [14:07] "It does! Last time I had.." 13Ehh. "I must have had help. I have no idea who it was, though." [14:08] "How much are you bringing over?" [14:10] 13Melanie: "I've got a planter, is the main thing, and two bookcases. Stuff like tables and chairs don't really matter, but putting bookcases together in the Hedge doesn't seem to be easy? They fall over." [14:10] "Oh, also my TV!" [14:12] The city traffic is a pain compared to the suburban streets Melanie originally came from. She's not sure where to park, actually; the makeshift motley's hidden manhole doesn't come with street space. [14:16] 10With Stewart's help, Melanie's able to get the car parked somewhere where the walk is only slightly awkward. Once they've got the first set carload in the Hollow, already cozy with Maggie's influence, Stewart'll turn to her and say: "Can you do me a favor real quick? Just, like, sing something. It doesn't matter what. Twinkle twinkle little star or whatever." [14:18] 13? "Since nobody is listening, I can totally do that." [14:21] 13Melanie's face sets for a moment in concentration - little flakes of bark drift away from the seams where it meets the rest of her head. Talewright had her sing lullabies and prophecies, but she used to actually know.. ah! [14:22] "Bend me, break me, anyway you need me-" 13[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NnAHGed2Jk] is quite loud. But what Stewart hears in his head is [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MJh2jSkqqA]. [14:24] 10Hey, she's actually got a nice voice. He looks vaguely impressed but then suddenly his face sets with focus. [14:26] "That's really pretty," 10he says, belatedly and inappropriately considering the song Melanie's actually singing. [14:26] "-as long as I want you, baby-" 13Melanie breaks off. She's leaning on one of the warehouse's temporary interior partitions, taking up most of the room between the floor and the makeshift ceiling, trying to sort of merge with the wall out of embarassment. "Thank you. I've, I've performed before, but Nels would be much better..." [14:28] 13She can feel the glint and glamour. He's done something, fine, but what? [14:29] 10Stewart: "I learned this contract, see, it's called the Hedge-Busker's Tip. It turns out everyone's being has this sort of vibration that magic can pick up as a song. Like a real-world song. It's easier to use on someone who's already singing." [14:31] "That doesn't make a lot of sense. Songs are artifacts, human-made - your contract's promise has to be delivering you some sort of impression, a mapping or interpretation." [14:33] 10Stewart: "Yeah, but it's still unique to each person. Nels is singing her own song, for instance. Maggie's is by a Canadian folk singer named Stan Rogers." [14:34] 13Melanie's heading for the door - this is interesting, but there's a way to go and she doesn't want to have to drive fast. "What if Maggie is Canadian?" [14:35] 10Stewart's following. "She could be, I guess. I would've guessed like... Minnesota or something. Which is America's Canada, so." [14:35] "There could be, basically, there's some sort of fat hobgoblin sitting on a trove of platinum albums and spitting out songs it thinks are appropriate in exchange for whatever price you've paid.. or is it the Wyrd? Does the Wyrd have opinions about music?" [14:35] "I would not trust its taste." 13This isn't a joke. [14:36] 10Stewart: "What kind of taste do you think it'd have?" [14:36] 13Melanie: "Rigid. We'd be assigned music that's meant to define us, to bind us into what destiny or Keepers or God think we are." [14:41] 10Stewart: "I wonder if your perspective would change if you listened to ten of the songs, or a hundred. Or maybe not. I haven't gotten the impression of songs that define people, exactly, but I've only used it a handful of times." [14:42] 13Melanie: "Hmm." 13A pause. "I don't have enough information on the contractor's motivations here.. can I ask you something instead? Do you know what your own song is?" [14:42] "Do you want to?" [14:42] 10Stewart: "I don't know what it is. I can't seem to use it on myself and Lauren wouldn't tell me." [14:43] "I wouldn't mind knowing, but, she promised not to tell me and made me promise not to tell her hers so it feels like I'd be going behind her back somehow." [14:44] "Do you want to know yours?" [14:44] "So you would hear it in an ideal world, ok." 13Who's Lauren again? Better not admit not knowing. "I would be afraid of bias, self-analysis paralysis." [14:44] "No! Thank you for asking, by the way. But it sounds like.." [14:46] 13Melanie: "I associate the idea with, like, theme music in a film? A motif that goes with a character is designed, cinematically, to recall them - it's a memory-impression, sub-cognitive onboarding. So it's used as a way to sum up a person, a character, in a way that you don't consciously consider." [14:46] "When Darth Vader walks on screen - I don't mean this reference as a computer guy thing. I don't remember a lot of movies." [14:47] 10Stewart: "You're thinking, what if the implicit thesis of the magic is that your song forestalls growth?" [14:48] 13Melanie: "Yes, am I being unfair? The idea of someone giving you a pithy description and then leaving it there- what I want to say is, the musical stinger is used, textually, as a lossy descriptor. What Rawls would call a piercing combinator, but fuck Rawls." [14:49] 10Stewart: "To me the question is, does the song change? Can the song change? Can you change the song?" [14:49] 13Melanie's accelerated to normal driving speeds, unconsciously matching her excited speech. [14:50] "Well, that would have implications. Someone's listening in on your.. character, your narrative role. It's either binding or surveillance." [14:51] "In alia manu, it's just a piece of music. Perhaps the people who first made the contract were just having fun with it." [14:51] 10Stewart: "Someone is. Right? Like... the great powers that might watch or interfere with us exist. We've seen them. We know their ignoring us is off the table." [14:53] 13Melanie: "Yeah, I guess it is all like that. You can find someone, physically determine their location by paying the appropriate price.. so the world is watching." [14:53] "I wonder is this move even worthwhile!" [14:54] 10Stewart: "Is your rent already free?" [14:54] 10He says this jokingly. [14:54] "Yes. That's the problem." [14:55] 10Stewart doesn't understand. "I don't understand." [14:56] 13Melanie turns to look at Stewart, really considering him as a guy rather than an.. interaction. Stewart's trustworthy, right? He comes off as someone who has judgement and an instinct to kindness.. [14:56] "Do you ever watch WNBA?" [14:56] 10Stewart: "No." [14:58] 13Melanie: "Okay. There's a player on the Sky, Belanie Lucas.. she's still a rookie. Good enough to be there but not really great." [14:58] "I don't know if she renamed herself or if I, like, forgot my own name. It is possible. But it's so dumb.. Belanie.. I think it has to be intentional. And she does a lot of stuff like that." [15:00] 10Stewart: "And you've never spoken to her?" [15:03] "I don't know if we've spoken. I get.. messages. She does things only I would understand, like she knows. And I feel things sometimes, like a William James multiverse skip. I think she gets flashes of me. Did you know I found this car where I left it, hundreds of years ago? But it was returned just before I went to pick it up." [15:04] "I should have told you. I'm really sorry. I don't know if it's dangerous." [15:04] 10Stewart: "In your position, I'd want to move too." [15:04] "Do you think it will help? UMBC is paying for my apartment with her scholarship funds." [15:05] "..but I mean I earned the freaking scholarship. Someone I used to be, not just someone in an alternate moral universe!" [15:06] 13Oh hey, we're here. That was faster than going the other way. [15:08] "Do you think they know what they are the whole time or just if we come back?" [15:09] 13Melanie: "I've thought both those things. At length!" [15:11] 13Before buzzing them into the apartment, Melanie will knock - hopefully her roommate's out. If not.. probably fine, but she still hopes. [15:17] 10Melanie's always been more blunt about the other side than the others. Nels doesn't want to talk about it at all, and Maggie's got that gentle way about her. But Stewart feels like he has to walk through cobwebs without tearing any down. "Who are we waiting for?" [15:19] "Looks like nobody. I think her name is, um, Cass.. or Katie, something like that, she's just a maths student." 13Melanie bends (creaks), grabs the beers from the back seat, then unlocks the door . There's not a lot in the duo, and most of the furniture is clearly part of the apartment itself - but there's an ancient CRT television in one corner junk pile, and a much larger plasma TV balanced [15:19] 13precariously on a dresser. [15:20] 13There's a DVD player hooked up, a pile of merchandise, and yes, it's paused on a huge zoomed still of Belanie Lucas attempting a tackle. The HD is good enough to make out sweatdrops. [15:21] "Do you want one of these now, or should I put them in the fridge?" [15:22] 10Stewart's startled out of looking around (carefully not lingering but also not actively avoiding the screen) by the offer of beer. "Uh, not right now, thanks." [15:23] "Here's the thing." 13Melanie's own room is locked, and it's taking her a while to find the right key. Little nimble physical actions like this.. she doesn't like them. "I think she's trying to help me." [15:24] "However! This might be insanity or simple emotional compromise. So I can't endanger you guys by believing myself." [15:26] 10Stewart: "The Autumn Court has a broadly pro-those guys policy. Like in terms of, uh, rapproachement." [15:27] 13Melanie: "The Summer Court... doesn't. But I don't think they care about fetches in Chicago. Though she visits. Have you read any fairy tales?" [15:27] "I totally, totally understand if not." [15:28] 13Melanie means that Belanie visits Baltimore, not Melanie; hopefully that was clear, because she hasn't noticed if it wasn't. [15:29] 10Stewart: "Not recently. I liked them as a kid." [15:30] 13Melanie: "Ok, I was looking at some and: they should be the ones we call changelings." [15:32] 10Stewart: "...do you think that happens a lot?" [15:32] "In the story way I mean. Snatching babies from cribs." [15:32] 13In Melanie's room there are, as promised, two empty bookcases; a whole bunch of cardboard boxes full of books; and a large square planter filled with loam. No bed. [15:33] "How, indeed, would we know? There's nothing to come back to, no known home.. you aren't Lost if you adapt. You might be very uncomfortable." [15:34] "Consider this: hobgoblins. I don't know where they come from - probably someone does, but I don't, which allows for imagination." [15:35] 10That thought's a little bit too much for Stewart right now. "Books are always the worst part of moving. Have you ever looked into an e-reader? I've got a Kindle that I like a lot for reading in bed." [15:37] "I've got a tablet, actually." 13It was in the first lot somewhere. "It's great for textbooks, but some stuff you can't easily get online. Like I mentioned William James earlier.. everyone praises him, but do they actually read him? Not enough so that he's in print." [15:37] "And yet, Rawls." [15:37] "What makes Rawls so bad?" [15:38] 13Melanie can't quite fold her arms, but she rubs them against each other glumly before gathering the werewithal to heft a box. [15:40] 13Melanie disses Rawls. "He's just such a liberal. The faculty love him, because of course they do- he's an american white guy from the first half of last century who wrote about fairness and neutrality. He makes all these convincing arguments that what really matters is equality of opportunity, and it's explicitly political stuff - he pushed ideas through all these students and magazines." [15:41] "You see Rawls everywhere in the Democrats' stuff and anywhere an academic is like, I disagree with what you say but I'll defend to the death your right to say it. Imagine if they knew some of the things real people actually say? Or fake people! Imagine the First Amendment for contracts." [15:41] "I mean, contracts capital-c. Obviously it does apply to actual mundane contracts." [15:42] 10Stewart: "A First Amendment for Contracts is basically a Second Amendment for Contracts." [15:43] 13Melanie wonders: would Stewart be interested in the Cypress Society? Probably not; he's more of an interest-taker than interested per se, a sort of renaissance gamer. She thinks. But it's easier to think about people, make assumptions, than to actually get to know them. [15:44] "Haha. I wonder if the Courts ban, like, weird obscure ritual actions on neutral territory. Like maybe there's a law against turning widdershins in the presence of a king." [15:45] 10Stewart: "'Hit the deck! He's got a metronome!'" [15:45] 13The planter is going to have to be dismantled and reassembled, which raises a question: what to do with the soil? [15:46] 13Melanie: "I know what you're thinking. Did she recite six yantras or only five?" [15:47] 10Stewart: "Is there anything special about the soil?" [15:48] "No, it's pretty good but I can put together another mix given time. We can dump this stuff, I guess there's a few minerals I'll.. um." [15:49] "Please forget this now." [15:51] 10Fuck! "Oh, yeah, don't worry about it." 10Stewart should not have called attention to that. [15:53] 13Melanie stops scooping dirt into garbage bags for a moment. She's thinking. [15:54] 13Also, looking at Stewart in a kind of obvious 'I'm thinking about you' way. [15:54] "Is... is something wrong?" [15:54] "I was going to ask that, I think." [15:55] 13Melanie: "There's something I've been not noticing." [15:56] "What do you mean?" [15:56] "Just now I was embarassed by my, you know, weird bodily functions, tasty soil yum. So I was playing it off with humour, and I know I am bad at that. But I'm not that bad. It seems like you get.. really worried when you think other people are worried." [15:57] 13Maybe that's what empathy was like. It rings a kind of emotional bell. [16:02] 10Oh no, now he's weirding people out. "It's just hard to tell what hurts and what doesn't." [16:03] 13Fervently: "Yes." [16:07] 13Since that's sorted out, the only real question here is whether to try for one trip or two... [16:09] 10Stewart looks relieved. Everyone's experience is so personal and so idiosyncratic it feels-- Oh, we're moving on. "How are you finding the Summer Court so far?" [16:11] 13Melanie: "To tell you the truth, I haven't had enough experience to really answer that. I want to meet more court.. iers? People from the court. And to see what I can do to help, but I think Langford List is enacting some sort of.. plan." [16:12] "It involves managing who meets who when and what impressions they have of each other, in order to achieve things. I'll be taking notes." [16:13] 10Stewart: "Is that the big guy who was playing pool at the thing? With the... bat vibe?" [16:13] "I helped him with a network latency problem once, but it was all online." [16:16] "Yeah! He's a thinker, although obviously he can also do Summer stuff. The actual monarch of the court is Young Street, who's basically a barely caged flame. Capable, really good looking, wants what he wants on his own terms. My impression.." 13Melanie doesn't know enough about the politics. But she wants to learn. "I think it works because what he wants is to take any assholes that come [16:16] over the Hedge at us, or out of the mundane night, and rip their heads off. It's practical." [16:18] 10Stewart: "Sounds intense." [16:19] 13Melanie: "I'm looking forward to it. The world is, ehh." [16:20] "Everything moves fast. I mean, it moves at the normal speed, but that's fast now. It's easy to stand still in the currents, not easy to catch them. So: it helps to be swept along." [16:21] "Heidegger would say blind currents, the blindstromealltags of everydayness. If you can't navigate you can still participate." [16:23] 13Hopefully Stewart doesn't speak German, because Melanie's pronounciation is not good. [16:24] 10If he can, he gives no sign. "Yeah, I know exactly what you mean. I've been pitching around for odd jobs for the sake of direction. I've got tech support, stuff with the Hollow, I agreed to populate a wiki..." [16:26] 13Melanie: "That's the same kind of thing you used to do, right?" [16:26] 10Stewart: "What do you mean?" [16:27] 13Melanie: "Different purpose, same activities. You've maintained or resumed your skillset, right?" [16:32] 10Stewart hesitates for what feels like a long time. "Not exactly." [16:32] "Is this everything?" [16:32] "Oh, okay." 13Apparently there was no deeper meaning to the question. [16:33] 13Melanie: "It's as much as we'll fit in the car. I might have to move the TV another day..." 13Actually, she should turn it off. There's the remote. [16:34] 10Stewart: "Are you going to get on the Hollow media server? We'll be able to stream movies we download direct to your TV over the internal network." [16:36] 13Melanie: "That would be very nice. I've been watching too much Netflix - it's an easy way to not do anything while also learning.. basics. Like you know, what the everyday objects are in the world, how people deal with stereotypical situations, as long as those people are movie stars." [16:37] 13Turning the key in the yellow Kia's ignition: "I owe relearning to drive to The Fast and the Furious." [16:37] 10Stewart: "They've made so many of those. Last I saw there'd only been two." [16:38] "We could watch the rest some time.. I don't think I saw them when they came out. Actually, I think I thought cinema was a dead thing for weird olds" [16:41] 10Stewart: "You drive very well for someone who learned from an action movie. You're not driving backwards in the wrong lane while weaving through trucks or jumping over a rising drawbridge or anything." [16:41] 13Melanie: "I'm waiting for my theme music to kick in." [16:42] 13... "...okay, what was it?" [16:43] 10Stewart: "It was really chill in a lonesome way. Kind of... spare? I think it was called 'Slow Fall'. I'd never heard it before, and I tried Googling the lyrics a minute ago and I can't find them." [16:44] 13Melanie thinks about this. [16:45] 13I wish he hadn't t- let's not put it this way. "I wish I hadn't asked that." [16:46] 10I wish I hadn't told her. "I'm sorry." [16:47] "I'm 2 for 4 on upsetting people with that. I should probably stop using it." [16:47] "Or... telling people? But it can't be right to use it and not tell someone." [16:48] "Oh boy. You're a Kantian, Stewart." [16:49] "Duty! Sublime and mighty name that embraces nothing charming or insinuating but requires submission." [16:49] 10Stewart blinks. [16:51] "I don't know where that came from." [16:52] 13Melanie: "Kant." [16:52] "It's the Critique of Pure Reason I think.. if that's unconscious knowledge for you, well, sorry." [16:52] "Yeah but how do I know that? I never-- did I?" [16:52] "I can't remember what classes I was taking." [16:54] "I'm with you there. Though honestly I might not have remembered them anyway, I wasn't much of a student." [16:55] "The thing is, if, um." 13Melanie's voice is diffident. It's much more expressive than her actual movements. [16:57] "I don't know what the motherfuckers did to you but They are, most certainly, deontological ethicists. If I were you I would try to see the merits of white lies." [17:04] 10Stewart: "You think so?" [17:04] "If you find someone's soul-song interesting or a helpful way to understand them, why not?" [17:05] 10Stewart: "What if I knew a Contract to listen to someone's thoughts. Is that okay?" [17:05] "And if you don't think they'd like it, or don't want to think about what they'd think, there's no harm being done. Actually, when you invoked the Contract I think it gave me a little boost, like maybe my 'vibration' was being drawn out that way." [17:05] 13Melanie: "That sounds incredibly useful." [17:06] "But think about it this way." [17:06] "If you tell someone 'I'm reading your thoughts' then sure, they won't trust you." [17:06] "But it isn't actually possible to win in this situation, not while being totally honest." [17:06] "What do I think if you tell me, 'I know how to read your thoughts, but I won't do it?'" [17:07] 10Stewart: "So is it unethical to learn?" [17:08] 13Firmly: "Absolutely not. Knowledge is a shield and a lifeline, and how you use it is up to you. Owning a weapon doesn't make you a killer, owning an idea doesn't make you an inventor." [17:10] "The idea of duty is wrong not because orders aren't a valid idea but because they need to be checked by your own human understanding - not delegated to society. You don't owe someone information which would upset them to no end, you don't owe them obedience unless you believe in their cause." 13Now Melanie's driving like Paul Walker. [17:12] 10Stewart: "So you think that whatever I decide to do, I should stop asking people's permission?" [17:13] 13Melanie: "Why jump straight to an absolutist position?" [17:14] "I mean about this specifically." [17:14] "Oh, sorry." [17:14] "Yeah no, um.." [17:15] "Look, being upset by the idea of having a theme might just be me. But more generally, if you think there's some reason not to tell people it's harmless to keep it from them." [17:16] "Like.. sometimes I learn things about people by looking at them. It's not important that I go and keep them informed of what I've picked up. If you see a guy with his fly down, yes he'd probably want to know about it, but the experience of actually being told, in the situation you're in... it's hard to judge." [17:18] 10It wasn't just you. "It started out like, a party trick. I thought it was a neat idea. And kind of aesthetically pleasing, you know? That everybody has a song. Then I used it without telling someone, and she got upset. Then I used it on you while telling you, and you got upset. I just don't want to upset people." [17:18] 13Melanie: "Ehhh. You can't, sorry." [17:19] "I mean, you can't not upset people. It's too hard. Like.. you're good at it!" [17:19] "You're a nice and helpful guy who I bet is way less upsetting than average. But it's not possible or even desirable to get 100%." [17:21] "I'm sitting here, or mostly sitting- bending- with basically zero capability to avoid upset. Maybe I am upsetting you literally right now, I don't know. I used to know exactly when it was appropriate to tell a guy do to his fly up - when it was helpful or funny and when it was going to be an embarassment or a- a comeon. That fluent social instinct wasn't even a learned thing, I just assumed [17:21] it was obvious? That only dumb people and nerds had to, like, try." [17:22] "But now- trust me, it is not obvious, and most of us are very fragile, and you're doing fine." [17:22] 10Stewart: "'It's not possible to get 100%' is the worst possible thing for a gamer to hear." [17:22] 13Melanie: "Hahahaha!" [17:28] "Do you want to talk about something else? I need to learn how this media server stuff works." [17:29] 10Stewart: "Sure. It'll be pretty simple, the TV in the common area is already hooked up." [17:30] "I mean, I have a lot of thoughts about the ethics of lies - it comes down to harm avoidance versus benefit to the- cool. Mine's a bit bigger, so we could just swap them out if there isn't room for personal areas.. but. I don't think everyone's going to move in." [17:32] 10Stewart: "Yeah, I'm going to keep my own place." [17:33] 13Melanie: "Okay. I think Tony said something about needing to work, too. I'm lucky there.. sort of. This thesis is starting to feel like it will take up about 24 hours a day." [17:34] "Maybe we can find you a Time-Turner." [17:36] "Is that a kind of hedge-token? Someone brought a clock into the warehouse, and now the big hand counts the hours while the little one points to the minutes." [17:37] 10Stewart: "It's from Harry Potter. It lets you live through each day twice, basically. But something that powerful as a real token would probably have a terrible price." [17:39] 13Melanie: "Oh. I tried living through each day a hundred times and it was actually pretty awful." [17:40] 10Now that everything's in the Hollow: "Right. Sorry." [17:40] "You have no idea whether I'm upset now, right? Good! Keep it that way!" 00[17:42] <@Crion> 00[17:42] <@Crion> 00[17:42] <@Crion> 00[17:42] <@Crion> 00[17:42] <@Crion> 00[17:44] <@Crion> Stewart gets back to his apartment whenever he gets back. Parking is fine as it usually is on the lot around the side, and he's probably expecting by now to see someone from the Freehold standing more-or-less conspicuous watch over the front of the building, though the shifts have been winding down a bit since Nels hasn't been bothered at all since in the incident with the homeless guy. And 00[17:44] <@Crion> sure enough, there's the quiet Brit with four eyes and a gun obviously in the waistband of his jeans, under his hoodie -- but this time, he's not alone. [17:45] 10Oh. Hey. Stewart's not sure if he should make... eye... contact but he does anyway by reflex. 00[17:46] <@Crion> Canterbury is leaning against a car having an animated chat -- well, animated for him, which means he appears to be saying something once every minute or so -- with two humans. They're together, but they don't give the impression of being a couple. One's a punk-rock hillbilly looking guy with a dockworker's local jacket covered in pins; the other is an attractive, severe blonde woman in 00[17:46] <@Crion> slacks, a blouse and vest, and a smart gray jacket. 00[17:47] <@Crion> Neither the changeling nor the punk seem to notice Stewart, but she does immediately. Her eyes narrow slightly, and if Stewart meets her gaze she won't look away. She seems to be studying him. [17:47] 10Stewart studies back. 00[17:48] <@Crion> Without looking away, she seems to make a noise to herself, then says something to her...partner...? Without looking over, Canterbury says, "It's all good. They're friends." 00[17:48] <@Crion> "From your time of year." 00[17:49] <@Crion> Punk dockworker looks over and sizes up Stewart casually, then nods amiably. "Hey." [17:49] 10Stewart looks from her to Canterbury to the dockworker. "Sup." 03[17:50] * banana is now known as banana|peels 00[17:50] <@Crion> "I'm Union; this is Everafter." He grins. "I take it you're used to the names by now." 00[17:50] <@Crion> Union: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-E81owDP4Ro We're the first ones to starve; we're the first ones to die. 00[17:51] <@Crion> Everafter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RViFRTgC2y4 We all need a deeper purpose; one that's true and bold. [17:51] 10Stewart: "It's nice to meet you. I'm Stewart Reader." 00[17:52] <@Crion> Canterbury: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_BrbhRrP6g ♫♪♫ 00[17:54] <@Crion> Everafter: "So you're Santander's new prospect. Interesting." To herself, almost: "Yes, I think that'll do." Back to Stewart: "You may consider yourself on the guest list at the Belvedere. Provisionally. Requiring invitation. On business." [17:54] 10Stewart: "The hotel?" 00[17:56] <@Crion> She chuckles; it's not immediately obvious what she finds funny. "Yes. The hotel. You will find us at the Owl Bar, when such a thing is necessary. And not before." [17:56] 10Stewart: "I appreciate that. Thank you. It was nice to meet you." 00[17:57] <@Crion> "Indeed. Come along, Union." 00[17:58] <@Crion> "Yeah, okay," he says, then grins and winks at Stewart. "Don't sweat the formalities, kid. Drop by some time." 00[17:58] <@Crion> "Union!!" 00[18:00] <@Crion> "Yeah, yeah." He turns and slaps hands with Canterbury, and Stewart can just make out him passing a baggie of something -- weed? -- to the Winter Court changeling. 00[18:00] <@Crion> Then they're off down the street. Probably vanish as soon as they turn the corner. 00[18:01] <@Crion> When they're gone, Canterbury shakes his head, and in his soft, posh accent: "Wizards, mate." [18:01] "Damn." 00[18:02] <@Crion> "Now here's the thing." He takes out a joint and lights it up. "Union, he could have come by any time. He didn't ask when to stop in; I didn't tell." 00[18:02] <@Crion> "But he and the lady show up two minutes before you get back." 00[18:03] <@Crion> "And if you got stuck on a red, or stopped off at the pub, or so on -- I'd put dollars down they'd still have shown up two minutes before you got back." 00[18:04] <@Crion> He puffs and offers Stewart a drag. "Unless you're working tonight." [18:05] 10Stewart'll take the hit. "Should I be worried?" 00[18:06] <@Crion> "Not unless 'Stewart Reader' is actually your real name. You seem like a smart lad. And even then, they're good people. Slow to trust; that they showed up here in person and let them see you seeing them is a sign of the shoulders you're standing on already." 00[18:06] <@Crion> "All the same. Not all wizards like us. And even the ones who do, well...I saw comic once about wizards and shotguns. Last panel was: WIZARDS: NO SENSE OF RIGHT OR WRONG." 00[18:06] <@Crion> He puffs again. "Not actually so. But too close to it." 00[18:07] <@Crion> "And it's like that biddy said to Dorothy. There's good witches and there's bad witches, yeah?" [18:08] 10So those are the guys Santander called 'mages'. Part of Stewart wants to head down to the Belvedere right now and see what's up, but the weight of his bag binds him here. "Yeah. So those are some of the good witches/ [18:08] ." 00[18:09] <@Crion> "Indeed." Canterbury gestures with his joint. "Union's a very good witch." 00[18:10] <@Crion> "Everafter's a bit of a public school princess, but she's not bad people." 00[18:11] <@Crion> "You'll meet the others in time, I suspect. The guy who runs their...whatever they call their freehold, guy named Jesuit -- he's a trip." [18:11] 10Eyebrows up. "Jesuit?" [18:11] "Like the priests?" 00[18:12] <@Crion> Canterbury nods. "The same." 00[18:12] <@Crion> He finishes the joint. "Enough idle talk out of me, though." 00[18:12] <@Crion> "I'll be out here if you need anything. Yell. Or run." [18:13] 10Stewart: "I appreciate that. I know Nels does too, if she hasn't said. Take it easy." 00[18:13] <@Crion> "Mmmm." [18:14] 10When Stewart gets inside, he puts his groceries away, makes two turkey sandwiches, and then opens the bottle of vodka he bought on the way home. He spends a couple of hours poking around the public social media profiles of people who don't know him anymore before he successfully drinks himself unconscious. 00[18:14] <@Crion> --Fin. 03[22:12] * mattbaby (mattbaby@sorcery-v7n841.dc.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch Session Time: Sat Sep 28 00:00:00 2019 02[02:01] * mattbaby (mattbaby@sorcery-v7n841.dc.comcast.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[04:19] * banana|peels is now known as banana 02[08:28] * trenchfoot (dani@sorcery-jcvlv4.in.comcast.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[08:58] * trenchfoot (dani@sorcery-jcvlv4.in.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 03[09:57] * CBN2 (CBN@sorcery-g7lrt2.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) has joined #gofetch 02[10:00] * CBN (CBN@sorcery-afeln9.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[11:20] * CBN2 is now known as CBN 02[17:50] * dammitwho (joanofarcta@sorcery-j9socb.dynamic.onlinenw.com) Quit (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa)) 03[17:50] * dammitwho (joanofarcta@sorcery-j9socb.dynamic.onlinenw.com) has joined #gofetch 02[18:28] * VoxPVoxD (VoxPVoxD@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[19:20] * mattbaby (mattbaby@sorcery-v7n841.dc.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 02[19:52] * mattbaby (mattbaby@sorcery-v7n841.dc.comcast.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[19:59] * VoxSpace (voxspace@sorcery-jo23be.mycingular.net) has joined #gofetch 02[20:36] * VoxSpace (voxspace@sorcery-jo23be.mycingular.net) Quit (Quit: Colloquy for iPhone - http://colloquy.mobi) 03[20:38] * VoxPVoxD (VoxPVoxD@sorcery-3p4bia.sub-174-202-11.myvzw.com) has joined #gofetch 03[20:39] * mattbaby (mattbaby@sorcery-v7n841.dc.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 03[20:58] * GreatClownVoxPVoxD (VoxPVoxD@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) has joined #gofetch 02[20:59] * VoxPVoxD (VoxPVoxD@sorcery-3p4bia.sub-174-202-11.myvzw.com) Quit (NickServ (GHOST command used by GreatClownVoxPVoxD)) 03[20:59] * GreatClownVoxPVoxD is now known as VoxPVoxD 00[21:00] <@Crion> 00[21:00] <@Crion> 00[21:00] <@Crion> 00[21:00] <@Crion> 00[21:00] <@Crion> 00[21:00] <@Crion> 00[21:04] <@Crion> This place is starting to look a little bit more like home. It's been a week or two at most since the newly-joined motley found the warehouse -- might need a better name for it at some point -- and turned it into somehwere safe to spend time. In fact, it's been about as long as it would take the five of you to turn the hollow into a cozy little fortress protected almost completely from the 00[21:04] <@Crion> predations of the outside world. 00[21:04] <@Crion> So what have you done with the place? [21:11] 13Set aside the weirdness of being handed a group and told to form it into a team. Learn the basics of 'hedgespinning', the art of allowing-but-guiding the incessant transformations the landscape wants to make. With fae will and a bit of elbow sap, Melanie's turned a corner of the warehouse into a pair of rooms. [21:11] 5Tony is a simple man, of simple tastes. However, it's also a huge pain in the ass to carry a full recliner into the Hedge. So for the moment, he's got his little space, some secondhand carpets draped over clotheslines for walls, a beaded curtain for a door (fuck yeah), a lawn chair (moderately comfortable if you don't mind a numb ass after an hour), and a minifridge. Currently hosting enough beer for a good party for one, or one each at [21:11] a party. [21:13] 13They're hers, but only semiprivate - she has no real use for locks in a place like this. The outer and larger space is a library-cum-study area, with shelves all around the sides and a couple of standing desks. One of them is mostly reserved for Melanie's chromebook (not working great in here yet) and current papers; the other has a bunch of knicknacks and personal possessions. 02[21:14] * VoxPVoxD (VoxPVoxD@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) Quit (Quit: dammitwho sucks) 03[21:15] * VoxPVoxD (VoxPVoxD@sorcery-3p4bia.sub-174-202-11.myvzw.com) has joined #gofetch [21:15] 13Beyond and within the library space is a small garden, its walls reaching up to the top of the warehouse where a skylight lets in unpredictable moods of sunlight. Little shrubs and flowers are planted around the edges of the soil-filled space, but the centre is clear dirt; the only furniture in the garden-room is a mirrored dresser. Melanie doesn't own a lot of clothes anymore, but she has [21:15] 13to keep them somewhere. [21:18] 6Nels' space is still a work in progress. There's an old record player she found at a pawn shop and some albums she picked up on the same trip, reissues of albums she knew and some pieces that look familiar if she stares at it for too long. Her furniture is just a simple cushion pressed up against a wall, and she keeps a guitar she wouldn't mind losing nearby, hoping that she's far enough away from the others to avoid bothering them, but [21:18] she hasn't really made a home here just yet, or even a place she could hide out in for too long. Would hardly do to hide from the world with nothing but a sleeping bag. 00[21:19] <@Crion> Over the course of the week, Lauren Ipsum is in and out constantly, helping set up the cantankerous server and its Hedge-side clone, and generally making time with Stewart to the extent either of them are about. [21:19] 7Maggie has just moved all her furniture directly into a section of the warehouse - but she's not in her room very often (and when she is the door is usually open), preferring to stick to the common areas, especially once she's managed to wangle together a stovetop/oven. [21:19] 7Making time, eh? *eyebrow waggle* 00[21:20] <@Crion> Ugh. Moms. [21:20] 10Come onnnn [21:21] 10Despite not moving in, Stewart is around a lot, helping set things up with Lauren, making sure all the electronics work, and of course eating Maggie's cooking. [21:22] 7Of note is that the battered acoustic guitar Maggie got from her Spring party has been propped up with a bunch of pillows like a cat bed, with the word TOPPER written on it in elaborate black calligraphy. [21:22] 13The first time Melanie sees that she's going to be interested. "Do you play too, Maggie? We almost have enough people for a band." 02[21:23] * VoxPVoxD (VoxPVoxD@sorcery-3p4bia.sub-174-202-11.myvzw.com) Quit (Connection closed) 03[21:24] * VoxPVoxD (VoxPVoxD@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) has joined #gofetch [21:25] 7Agreeably: "Oh, sure! Though when I've got other things to hand, why, I just let Topper play himself for a bit. How about it, Topper?" [21:25] 13What [21:26] 7A quick strum echoes from the guitar's strings experimentally, and then it begins playing on its own, still sitting in its little cat bed. [21:26] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IkvAb6THQY [21:26] 5The first time Tony saw it, he bite back hollering 'free bird' but just barely. He's been spending a fair amount of Hollow-time tidying up the main area, which always seems to go so quickly when no one else is paying attention. He even makes his bags of empties disappear! [21:27] 6Nels, moving some more pillows into her room, freezes for a moment before hurrying past. [21:28] 10Stewart also freezes when he hears it, looking around for Nels. [21:29] 13Melanie: "That's cool, in the classical sense. It's good study music too." [21:30] "I should let you know, I'll be spending a lot of time just cooped up reading and typing, it's, I'm not trying to be antisocial. It's actually really nice to have people around and things going on. But I have a lot of work to do." 00[21:32] <@Crion> The internet installation takes a couple days of work; first there's the technical stuff of getting the servers attuned, which is easy enough, especially once Lauren takes the Hedge-side server over to Santander and comes back with it in "working order." The restore goes well enough too, and the sympathy principle is sound: the server on the other side of the Hedge attunes perfectly with its 00[21:32] <@Crion> double, and the internet comes through -- immediately firewalled, of course, and then routered -- very well, if somewhat slower than the upspeeds advertised by Verizon. [21:33] 7Maggie: "Oh, no doubt. Are there times when we should try to keep it down out here, so as not to bother you?" 00[21:33] <@Crion> Of course, then the real problems begin. The servers begin spamming each other that night, then stop talking entirely the next day, and then begin trying to send each other malware. Lauren and Stewart have to broker something of a peace treaty, conducted entirely in hexadecimal entries into the command line. 00[21:33] <@Crion> Eventually, however, both grumpy machines agree to get along. 00[21:34] <@Crion> The Autumn Court would be pleased: another changeling has made peace with its fetch. Sort of. [21:34] 10Friends! [21:35] 13Melanie: "No, I can focus. Even if there's nothing to focus on, I can keep it up for a few months." [21:36] "Oh! But no incense please." 02[21:37] * VoxPVoxD (VoxPVoxD@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) Quit (Quit: dammitwho sucks) 03[21:37] * VoxPVoxD (VoxPVoxD@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) has joined #gofetch [21:38] 6Nels finally pokes her head back out, looking less alarmed. "No incense from me, then." 6She eyes the space - someday she might want a still in here. Probably safer than her apartment for that much. [21:41] 7A STILL YOU SAY sorry caps [21:41] 13Melanie wants to explain: some incense is fine! It's just the kind with pine needles or cedar twigs, any burning wood. She's.. vulnerable. But that's not something to spread around carelessly. [21:42] "If we're talking about roommate stuff, I brought a TV. Do you both want me to set it up in the common area?" 13She's not clear on who's moving in, only that Maggie is and Stewart isn't. 00[21:42] <@Crion> The good news for Melanie of course is that nothing in the Hedge catches fire so easily, and even if it did, none of it is...wood, precisely. 00[21:42] <@Crion> So as long as you don't bring it in... [21:42] 7Mags: "Ooh, that'd be nice. We could connect it to Stewart's media server there. I'm sure there's some computer program that makes files play on the TV." [21:43] 5Tony's unerring dirtbag sense picks up enough that he hollers "WE NEED A COUCH BUT PUT THE TV IN THE DEN UPSTAIRS WHERE I MARKED OUT THE ENTERTAINMENT CENTER"5 And then he goes back to sweeping some more in the first floor common area. [21:43] 13Melanie: "Yes! I was talking to him about- oh, okay." [21:44] 13To Tony: "How do you feel though about having the room taken over on gamedays?" [21:45] "HEY WHATE-"5 He pauses and just walks over to them so he doesn't have to yell, broom in hand. "Hey whatever sure. Just nice to have a place for things and things in their place though." 02[21:45] * VoxPVoxD (VoxPVoxD@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) Quit (Connection closed) [21:47] 7Maggie: "Game days?" 03[21:47] * VoxPVoxD (VoxPVoxD@sorcery-3p4bia.sub-174-202-11.myvzw.com) has joined #gofetch [21:48] 13Melanie: "Well, yeah. That's the only thing I really watch, Chicago Sky mostly or NBA in playoff season." [21:48] 6Nels: "What are those?" [21:48] 13Sadly some months over. [21:49] "NBA's basketball and...Chicago what now?" [21:49] 13Melanie: "Basketball games.. um, did you have basketball?" [21:49] 13How old is Nels, anyway. [21:50] 13To Tony: "WNBA. My team. Used to be." [21:50] 13Technically this is a lie; it's should-have-been rather than used-to-be. [21:50] 6Nels: "I - maybe?" 6It's vaguely familiar, but she never saw a game. [21:51] "Cool beans, cool beans. And the W is...Women's...NBA?"5 It is very clear that this is a good-natured but entirely shooting-in-the-dark guess on the nature of sport. [21:51] 10Tony's putting out a really chill vibe, and Stewart respects that. [21:52] "Oh wow, you have to be here on Tuesday. There's a great fixture. I- I wish I could show you what it's like in a pickup game. Haha." [21:54] 6Nels smiles. "I'll make sure to be here." 00[21:55] <@Crion> You don't have a cable connection...but luckily, Youtube TV exists, and you can just buy what's essentially a live sports cable package from them for $60 a month. Santander has already greenlit doing subscription costs through the law firm, because they're basically nothing and he is incredibly entertained by the servers. [22:04] 6Does that just get regular TV channels, or do we need to be careful what we watch in here? [22:05] 7Maggie: "Melanie, are you gonna be using all these planters here or is it alright if I plant some valerian root and such?" 00[22:05] <@Crion> Where the great rolling steel loading-dock door would have been in a normal warehouse, there's instead, a pair of large panel wood doors. Stepping through those takes you into a well-appointed but nondescript hallway, with a great elevator door in it. Pressing the call button on that opens the rear doors of an elevator somewhere in Baltimore -- in the real world. This door is a portal, and 00[22:05] <@Crion> can only be opened by the application of glamour. Should there be people in the elevator when you step through -- mere mortals, of course -- all they will see is a normal-looking hallway behind you, so long as you remembered to close the wooden doors. 00[22:05] <@Crion> The big question, then, is: which building is this elevator in? [22:08] 13Melanie: "Ah. Well," 13But: this was going to come up the first time Maggie decided to get a midnight snack or something. "May I show you something for a moment?" 13If Maggie's amenable, Melanie will lead her into the garden room and close the door behind them. [22:10] 7She'll shrug and follow Melanie for whatever this is. [22:12] 13It's: Melanie taking off her shoes, then stepping into the middle of the garden room. She raises her arms toward the skylight and seems to sink into the earth a little, becoming thinner, feet shifting apart - the soil writhes, a little. [22:13] "Oh my. Well, isn't that something." 7At a loss for further statements, she strokes her chin. "I suppose I'll get some separate planters then." 00[22:15] <@Crion> It turns out it's in Lexington Market, a legitimate but disused and cranky elevator in the rear with quick access to the back of the lot, and unless some cleaning people get really suspicious and snitty -- which you should be able to defuse by just, changing your schedule for a couple days -- you should be fine. It's not like them locking up for the night is going to stop you. [22:15] "I need about this much space at night." 13Melanie doesn't exactly gesture, as her arms are sort of fused in place right now, but she's nods at the fairly fixed amount of room she's taking up. "Anything in the corners is fine.. herbs add interesting tones to the space." [22:16] 13Wow, it feels weird to be doing this with clothes on. 00[22:16] <@Crion> Uh huh. [22:16] "Alright then. I'd hate to be crowding you, is all." [22:17] 10Stewart catches up with Nels. "Hey, how's studying going?" [22:18] 13Melanie's unstiffening, reshaping into something more human in form (if not in material). "I mean, I could totally beat any little plants that try and get in my space, but then your seeds would have gone to waste." 00[22:18] <@Crion> Here's a curious question. How much time have you all spent out in the surrounding Hedge since settling in? Have you been scouting it? You can't learn its layout, really, but you can learn its temperament. [22:19] 6Nels: "Huh? Oh, it's - still exhausting. I've been switching between history and trying to wrap my head around science when that gets too frustrating." [22:20] 5Tony's definitely spent some time outside, staying within sight of the building the whole time though. He hates to be idle, and you can only make a mostly-empty-and-being-moved-in building so tidy at the moment. [22:20] 6Nels has probably done a bit of scouting, in between studying, getting everything settled, and trying to spend some time relaxing. "They figured out a lot of stuff, I guess." [22:20] 13The Hedge still worries Melanie conceptually; she associates it with memories of failure, and outside this safehouse it's a step closer to Arcadia. She hasn't gone out at all. [22:24] 10Stewart's spent as little time in the Hedge as possible. He didn't make Lauren do the server setup herself or anything, but he hasn't gone walkabout. [22:27] 10To Nels: "It was a weird century." [22:27] 6She sighs. "You're telling me." [22:28] 13At some point after that first conversation, Melanie's going to go and find Tony. She has a feeling he's actually around a lot, just.. overlooked. [22:28] 6Second World War. Unbelievable. 03[22:28] * GreatClownVoxPVoxD (VoxPVoxD@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) has joined #gofetch [22:28] 10Stewart: "Anything in particular giving you trouble?" 02[22:29] * VoxPVoxD (VoxPVoxD@sorcery-3p4bia.sub-174-202-11.myvzw.com) Quit (NickServ (GHOST command used by GreatClownVoxPVoxD)) 03[22:29] * GreatClownVoxPVoxD is now known as VoxPVoxD [22:29] 5Tony has also spent some time leaving out half-open beers, stale perfume ads, all that sort of thing, in the service of luring some of the more easily-swayed-but-also-attentive-enough-to-catch-it hobs nearby. People: Hard to make friends with. Weird demi-people that operate under inscrutable rules and arbitrary laws? Well, that's still people, but at least hobs know stuff. Sometimes. [22:30] 6Nels: "Still in the 40s for history, but - chemistry. All of it." [22:33] 13What the heck is he doing? Tidying up parts of the warehouse and then setting out mess in others.. it's probably a magic thing. Saucers of milk for.. cobblers. Melanie can't remember the details. "Hello Tony. It's Melanie." [22:34] 10Stewart: "Chemistry's just a lot of memorization. Have you ever heard of Khan Academy?" [22:35] 6Nels: "No, what is that?" [22:35] 5When Melanie finds Tony, he's wandered out back of the warehouse and is currently performing something between an elaborate handshake and a basic dance with a knee-height, bipedal avian wearing a floppy hat that covers its face and rests on its beak."Oh hey Melanie!" 5He concludes the greeting and addresses the birdthing, thumbing towards Melanie. "No bogue, she's ace." 5 And facing Melanie, nodding to the hob "Yeah I can't [22:35] pronounce this lil fella's name so it's Steve now. Say hi Steve." [22:38] "Umm." 13Well, Melanie wouldn't want to be bogue. "Honk to you too, Steve. Tony, I'm taking some notes." [22:38] 10Stewart will sit Nels down and put his laptop between them, navigating to Khan Academy. "It's on the internet, it's got free study resources and lectures for basically anything. There's a whole chemistry section here with videos." [22:38] "If hearing someone talking helps you learn. It does for me." [22:39] 13Melanie: "I mean.. I'm making a chart. It's kind of, in my thesis I'm trying to integrate some ideas from our, you know, view of the world.. I'd like to get some numbers straight. But is it okay if I ask you something." [22:40] 6Nels nods gratefully. "It's got to be better than just staying in my own head about all of this. I can't - keep it all straight." [22:40] "Yeah go nuts. Steve was just about to tell me...what's up lil guy?" [22:40] 13Looks like he's come over all shy. [22:40] 13Melanie hopes the thing isn't thinking of nesting in her. [22:42] "So.. you know about NBA, but not WNBA.. that's a range, and I think you fit into a point on our, um, scale, I have a theory about it. So! You don't have to answer this, but when are you from?" [22:44] 10Stewart: "Yeah, it's hard. Most people forget this stuff six months after they learned it, and they got to learn it over four years." [22:44] "Would've been...October of '75?" 5And half-under-his-breath, at Steve. "Yeah man I know I know, new hat later-not-now, you know the deal." [22:45] 13Melanie: "Okay. I'm 2016, Stewart was around 2010, and Nels.. it's a geometric progression as long as Maggie fits. Hmm!" [22:45] 6Nels: "Then... why learn it?" [22:46] 5Tony: "Yeah that's...cool? You want that to be cool? Cool? What'll that prove if it fits, or disprove?" [22:47] 10Stewart: "There's... a lot of answers to that question. The main one is, because they say so. There's all these standards and tests you have to pass. Having a high school diploma is almost like a permission slip to be part of society." [22:47] "A lot of people get forced out of the system before they can get that, and then they spend the rest of their lives fucked." [22:48] 13Melanie: "Well... I think maybe we've been put together according to a bunch of mystical rules about complementary syncreticism? It's basically Eclectic, like more Cicero than Socrates." [22:49] "Um, the kings admitted to synergy, 'party roles'. Kind of giving the game away! So we should expect to see more stuff like this, more five-equidistant-points." [22:50] 6Nels thinks this over. There have been a lot fewer family stores around, but surely apprenticeships... "I guess I don't understand why this specific stuff to learn. I - wanted to catch up, but it's sort of overwhelming all at once." [22:51] 5Tony: "That's...good? I'm gonna level with you, I haven't been in school in 40 years and I mostly got through that on the strength of my coach's say-so. But if you need me to do something with that information just point me at the problem?" 5Not dismissively, he's trying to relate to Melanie through acts of service, his sole way of engaging with people meaningfully most of the time. [22:52] 10Stewart: "The idea is to get people to learn a little bit of everything. Or try to, anyway." [22:52] 13Melanie grins; it's slightly manic, but the effect is tempered by how slow she's moving. "Yes, I'm thinking out loud! Sorry about that. And actually, I- know exactly what you mean." [22:53] "Like." 13A pause. [22:54] 5Tony's listening but he's also shooing Steve away, trying not to offend the hob while also keeping the damn thing from stealing his shoe laces. Which Steve is trying to do, also. [22:54] 6Nels: "The English is fine, at least. And history - well, there's too much of it now, but I can handle that, too. I haven't opened the math at all, I wasn't even good at that as a kid." [22:55] 10Stewart: "The math's gotten more complicated, but they've gotten better at teaching it. And we have machines to do all our arithmetic." [22:55] "I did the same thing. I went to college on a basketball scholarship and got through about a year of it without really taking a class where you have to think. And I was totally fine with that, it's... freeing. The world needs people who do stuff." [22:57] 6Nels: "Could you show me?" [22:57] 5Tony, between quiet hisses and waves at the not-goose.  "Yeah doing stuff is the best not in front of my friends Steve c'mon man I thought we were cool. Anyway how're you liking the space yet? 5 He sighs and just un-laces his boots and hands them to Steve.  "Getting your space all set up nice?" 00[22:58] <@Crion> honk [22:59] 13Melanie: "I like it a lot. We have to go out into the world, but there's somewhere to retreat. When we're, you know, defeated." [22:59] "Who came up with this though." [23:02] "Uhhh hopefully somebody who doesn't want it back, because it was a pain in the ass buffing out the dents in some of the...I know it's not actually aluminum siding, but it doesn't have to look like shit, you know?" [23:02] 10Stewart takes out his phone. "There's a program on every phone, for starters." 10He opens the Calculator app. "Do you recognize the symbols?" [23:03] 13Melanie: "It's probably made out of like mythic metal. Quicksilver or something." [23:04] 5Tony: "At least it didn't scream when I started in on it, floors either. Which was nice." 00[23:04] <@Crion> Steve sort of wanders around for a bit. Is Tony going to let him? [23:05] 13Melanie: "I mean.. who decided it was a good idea to burrow into the hedge? That you could be *safer* in a twisted realm of narrative and abandon than hanging out in the boring actual world, which has no natural defenses." [23:05] 5Tony looks down at Steve. "Hey you know the rule, wipe your feet, don't steal anything. Melanie can you get the door for us? Love this lil guy but he's got sticky feathers you know what I mean, so I'm keeping my eyes on him." 00[23:06] <@Crion> Steve tilts his head and honks twice. He promises...not to remove anything from the hollow...? [23:07] 5Tony: "Don't touch anything except to walk on it, AND not remove anything from the hollow." 5He nods. [23:07] 13Melanie: "Oh, yes." 13She'll hold open the flyscreen door, which didn't exist yesterday, to let a goose-shaped demon into her home, where she lives in in a planter box. [23:07] 6She takes a look at the phone. "Addition, subtraction, multiplication, division. This little thing can just do all those? And it's a phone?" [23:07] 13Occasionally philosophy seems inadequate. But that just means you haven't done enough thinking. 00[23:08] <@Crion> honk honk [23:08] 10Stewart: "It's a computer. Math is the most basic thing a computer does. Every other thing you see a computer do is math." 10He remembers his conversation with Maggie. 00[23:08] <@Crion> When Steve returns a few minutes later, he is rolling/walking on a beer from Tony's fridge. 00[23:08] <@Crion> He looks at Tony with flat, questioning black eyes and a slightly tilted head. [23:09] 5Tony: "Swear to---fine, great. Fine. You can have it IF you tell me something that you think I would think is interesting or new that you saw in the Hedge today, and do not say the hollow or anything in it." 00[23:10] <@Crion> honk 00[23:10] <@Crion> The hobgoose lifts the beer up -- ah! And here are the shoelaces. He has fashioned a sling to hold the beer in. [23:11] 13Melanie: "How does it even know what beer is." [23:11] 5Tony gestures with a wave. "Melanie, you're smarter than I am, so I don't need to tell you this was a mistake that I'm leaning into, do I." [23:11] 5Tony: "It's cheaper than a firstborn child or whatever some of the others ask for so I'm not asking questions I don't want answers to." [23:11] 13Melanie: "No, I get it. You've got to live your truth." [23:11] 6Nels: "Will I have to learn how to do that computer math? Because it still looks more like magic than anything else." [23:12] 10Stewart: "Not if you don't want to." [23:12] 5 Tony: "Steve pace yourself you weigh less than my left leg. So what's up lil buddy?" [23:12] 13Melanie: "Anyway, I told you I'm not smart. I was a jock who never had even one thought apart from boys, parties and ballgames." [23:13] 5Tony: "That is three entire thoughts, don't sell yourself short." [23:13] 6She lets out a breath she didn't realize she was holding. "Thank goodness." [23:14] 13Melanie: "You're right. Someone has to do it!" [23:14] 5Tony: "And, I was reading that I guess football kills your brain? So if you didn't play that, you're probably smarter than me because of science now, too." 00[23:14] <@Crion> Between leveraged sips of beer, Steve honks conversationally. [23:16] 5The color goes out of Tony's face, which given that it's...dirt, and nails. Not a great look. "Uh okay, that is...that's a big 10-4 there Steve." [23:16] 13Melanie: "Just basketball and lacrosse. But I'm thinky because like.. a faerie turned me into a tree and I couldn't do anything else for multiple lifetimes, and I got addicted to it." [23:16] "What's he saying? Is he actually saying something?" 00[23:17] <@Crion> Steve just merrily sips away. [23:18] 5Tony: "Thinking's good, I'm glad someone is. Yeah he's saying he saw a pair of changelings running from a group of...he says 'as many as more than one hand of a person has their fingers but less than two hands of a person has their fingers' so let's say a half dozen, whatever? Other changelings." 03[23:18] * dammitwhoa (dammitwhoa@sorcery-5fkv5e.or.frontiernet.net) has joined #gofetch [23:18] 5Tony: "But, and he insists this is good news, they'll probably die soon without help so there probably won't be anyone higher up the totem pole than folks like us, except, you know. Asshole ones." [23:19] 13... "Where are they?" [23:19] 5 He looks around the room then back at Melanie. "Can you get everyone together while I get that part? I don't want to holler and spook the lil guy." 00[23:20] <@Crion> honk [23:21] 5To Steve: "That's great and all Steve, any idea where, anything else you want me to know? So that if I go looking for them I won't get murdered by them or the other ones, so that I can keep you in hats and beer and shoelaces, of course." [23:21] 13Melanie: "Yes." 13She can't hurry inside, so she'll call out. "Stewart! Nels! Maggie! There's an emergency." [23:22] 6Nels quickly hands Stewart his phone back and moves towards the common area. "What kind of emergency?" 6she says, as she pats herself down for her revolver. Ah, there it is. 00[23:22] <@Crion> Steve waves a wing and honks -- and is interrupted by, in the distance, the sound of an echoing gunshot. [23:22] 10Stewart follows Nels out. 00[23:23] <@Crion> It's weird: it comes in even through the walls. It's like because you're aware of it, you can hear it now. [23:23] "Changelings under attack, maybe by other changelings. Out in the Hedge." [23:24] 5Tony stands up right quick and looks around as the others assemble. "This is going to sound stupid and I'm sorry, but we should follow the gunshots, Steve says. This is Steve by the way everyone." [23:24] 10Stewart: "....hey, Steve." 00[23:25] <@Crion> This is what you know about geography around here: there's a trod to the east, not major, not minor, kind of odd how it moves about, but it's really you moving about -- it's in the same place. The gunshot came between you and the trod. 00[23:25] <@Crion> To Stewart: honk [23:25] 6Nels: "Um. Hello, Steve. Tony, you've been exploring a bit, right? You and I take the lead?" 00[23:25] <@Crion> To Nels: honk [23:25] 5Tony: "Thanks Steve. Next time you are entitled to a beer again when you visit. But if we're heading out, I need to lock up behind us, okay?" 00[23:25] <@Crion> honk honk [23:26] 5To Nels: "Sounds like a plan." 00[23:26] <@Crion> Steve trundles out into the Hedge, beer in sling, sipping and honking softly. [23:27] 7Maggie peers around a corner, holding one of Tony's brooms. "I hear a dang goose inside?" [23:28] 5To Maggie "Sort of long story, I can catch you up after we go save some lives. Grab something kill-y if you've got it though." [23:28] "His name is Steve." [23:29] 7Maggie: "Oh no! I'm not really one for fighting, but I'll toddle along anyhow..." [23:30] 6Nels apologetically gestures to her revolver. "Something we might need for the future." [23:31] 13Melanie lags a little behind; she can trudge along at a reasonable speed, but it took a few moments to get going. Her face is set (grained?); who will these people be? Are they in time to help, if help is merited? [23:34] 5Tony heads out with everyone presumably following, listening to the gunshots as he goes. [23:35] 5They sort of echo off the sort-of buildings, but gunshots are, at least for the next minute or two, rare enough in the Hedge that it's not too hard to follow along. Could be easier, but what couldn't be? [23:35] 13Alleyways filled with organic shadow, streets empty of cars and overgrown.. the city-hedge is the worst of both worlds it lies between. [23:37] 6Nels is a little too focused on keeping the group together and close to Tony, and not quite focused enough on sneaking. Quick and quiet gets her halfway there. [23:38] 5Tony leads the group along the trail, such as it is, with urgency but not haste, and despite the urban environments begins to blend into the background in that particularly Tony way. 00[23:38] <@Crion> They eventually arrive at the scene: a great, burned out section of midtown real estate, almost correct but not quite, all the signs in foreign languages that don't exist, all of the doors looking painted on, and all the mailboxes -- there are too many of them -- looking like they're itching to get up and run. In this environment two changelings in their early twenty-somethings -- a fairest 00[23:38] <@Crion> boy and a beast girl, hard to tell too much else from a distance -- are fleeing a posse of changelings who are frankly just sauntering down the street, laughing and firing rounds occasionally from their guns. [23:40] 7Are any of the changelings recognizable from the local Courts? [23:41] 13Why are they fighting.. are there loyalists involved in this? Can there really be people like that? 00[23:42] <@Crion> The boy keeps running to doors and banging on them, and the girl pulls him away. Of the pursuers there is an old white-bearded wizened man with a long-slide M1911 pistol he occasionally shoots off while sneer-grinning; a buff ogrish lady with a pink buzzcut, a similarly bad news grin, and a chainsaw; a tittering little reddit fuckboy with a laptop stapped to his back and a Glock in his hand; 00[23:42] <@Crion> and this weird inbred Tory looking motherfucker -- darkling? -- with an honest to god dueling sabre. Following behind them is a cowed, shivering elemental, and she's the only one who's watching. 00[23:44] <@Crion> They certainly look like how you'd imagine loyalists. [23:44] 10Stewart is quiet as a mouse. 00[23:45] <@Crion> "Ohhhhhhh, lad and lass. You're in trouble now," says the white-bearded man. [23:46] 6Are they. 00[23:46] <@Crion> "You can't...just...go walking around some places. But keep knocking, young man, keep knocking. Shit in one hand, knock with the other." 00[23:48] <@Crion> The woman with the pink hair revs the chainsaw. 00[23:49] <@Crion> The kids keep scrambling down the street, but they've obviously had problems with the thorns, and are exhausted. This is the end of the chase. 00[23:49] <@Crion> So, what's the play? [23:54] 10Stewart creeps toward a nearby alley, trying to catch the kids' eye in a way that says, This way is safe! [23:55] 5Tony, quickly and quietly, swallows a penny. If any of his friends see it happen, they also see the nails jutting out from his soil-flesh grow longer, barbed, and coiling more-a-skeleton-than-exoskeleton around his frame. The most jarring part is that now he's got a face: It looks pretty close to his Mask, just cast in copper mottled with patina. 00[23:55] <@Crion> The kids see you and after a moment's hesitation, immediately run for you. The woman with the loyalist sees you, too...and does...nothing? She even makes eye contact. 00[23:55] <@Crion> The old man, however, rolls his eyes. "One last hunt, then. After them!" [23:56] 5He circles around the side of the group, catching sight of the laptop and lining up a good line of attack on its bearer. Stewart's their wizard and he likes computers. Obviously, this is their wizard. And you always kill the wizard. 00[23:56] <@Crion> The five of them -- the four who seem to care, and the fifth bringing up the rear -- storm forward towards the alley... Session Time: Sun Sep 29 00:00:00 2019 [00:01] 13Melanie made a promise to the dying season, to protect and be protected. She made a promise to herself, to get involved. She steps totally unarmed from the other side of the street - wasn't really hidden anyway - and says, "You'd better piss off." [00:04] 6Nels looms from her position in the shadows. It's - not quite as hidden as she'd like, but her revolver's drawn and she's aiming... 00[00:05] <@Crion> The weaselly hacker: "What the fuck is this?" 00[00:05] <@Crion> The big woman with the chainsaw: "Meat." She revs. 00[00:05] <@Crion> The old man looks a bit concerned, however... 00[00:06] <@Crion> Not the aristocrat, though. "On your guard. Be pleased to know you die by the hand of the Cambridge Son." 00[00:09] <@Crion> "Yeah yeah yeah," says the hacker, choosing one of the ladies at random and opening fire...on Nels. 00[00:11] <@Crion> The bullet hits her in the chest. [00:12] 6Fucking rude, and this is why she wore armor-- "God - shit!" [00:16] 5Tony emerges from the shadows, coming at a distracted passer already looking downfield. The refs are nowhere to be found, and Tony launches himself, all metal and dirt and fury, at the little asshole who just shot his friend. He bellows his ancestral warcry. "FUCK YOU NERD" 5The nerd eats turf. [00:16] 10Wow. 00[00:21] <@Crion> The nerd's gun and laptop both go flying, and he groans and curls up into a ball. [00:21] 5Tony, breathing heavily out of anger and not exertion, not yet."And STAY down. And the rest of you!" [00:21] "Stop being assholes!" 00[00:21] <@Crion> The old man: "Kid Kid Kid. The fuck do I take you places for, lad?" 00[00:22] <@Crion> To the lady with the chainsaw. "K.I.L.L." -- he pronounces each letter -- "please rid us of these--" [00:22] 6Well, that takes care of him. So, next up we have the lady with the chainsaw, so-- Nels quickly pulls her revolver back up and shoots her through her shoulder before ducking back behind some form of cover. "That is not your name." 00[00:24] <@Crion> "Ugh!" the woman with pink hair grunts. "Fuck!" 00[00:24] <@Crion> "Ugh," says the old man. "Fuck." [00:25] 16Melanie steps... back, not forward. But roots burst from the ground, wrapping the poorly named chainsaw artist and then constricting with crushing force, the force that tears down civilisations left untended. "And I'm not meat." 00[00:27] <@Crion> "AAAAAGGHHHHH!!!!" The woman screams and swings her chainsaw around, but it's not fast or anywhere near enough. She might get out of this with only two broken limbs, if she's lucky, but 'K.I.L.L.' is fully out of the fight. 00[00:29] <@Crion> "That's fucking enough of this," says the old man. "Cambridge Son, get the bird. Come here, you fuck," and he grabs Kid Kid Kid by the hair and starts dragging. "Consider this a truce," he says to the lot of you, "in that you can have the kids, and maybe we won't come looking for you. You come looking for us, and maybe you don't like what you find." [00:31] 10While the battle's being won, Stewart is dumpster diving, pulling garbage bags tied with mistletoe away from the alley wall to reveal... an uncovered sewer grate and a ladder down. [00:31] 13Melanie: "You bastards. You get away with this once." 13She's stumbling over to Nels, looking for injuries. [00:32] 5Tony's standing in the middle of them glaring and huffing. "And barely that." [00:32] 6She's bleeding a bit, and bruised badly, but it could have been much worse. "I'll be fine. Check the kids," 6she says. 00[00:35] <@Crion> Cambridge Son, as he lifts K.I.L.L. and takes her off the field. "Be seeing you. Chaps." 00[00:35] <@Crion> "Shut the fuck up," says the old man. [00:35] 7It all happened so fast. Maggie couldn't even process what was going on before it was all over! 00[00:35] <@Crion> The cowed woman rushes to help the Tory, and he looks almost disgusted at the proximity. 00[00:36] <@Crion> Where did Stewart's ladder lead? [00:36] 10The idea is that it leads to a tunnel that will give them a straight, safe shot to the Hollow. [00:37] 13Melanie watches the - other - elemental. She doesn't know enough about these people, what their dynamic is, why they're hunting down other changelings for sport. But it's worth noting. 00[00:38] <@Crion> Sounds good. If he remembers how they found the entrance to the Hollow the first time -- a sewer tunnel with five locked grates, a bank vault door, and a ladder up -- he'll find the two young changelings waiting for him at the first of those locked grates. They'll open on his -- or any of the motley's -- touch. [00:38] 10Stewart: "I'm Stewart. We're taking you somewhere safe." 00[00:39] <@Crion> The boy is incredibly beautiful, male model handsome, tall and completely fucking terrified out of his mind. He's Fairest and wearing torn, expensive clothes. The girl is also pretty in her own way but more subdued, with hints of fox ears and lupine eyes in her mien, and while the boy hyperventilates and asks Stewart, "Oh god, is it okay? Who are you?", she clams up. [00:39] 5Tony lets his rage chill and ice over as his copper features chip away and flake off on the breeze, leaving the soil beneath. He lets the others do most of the talking from here, as he's watching their backs and keeping an eye on the loyalists until they're out of sight but good. [00:40] 13Melanie watches them leave, too. She wants to kill them. She could have kept them there, there's a contract Summer taught her... it would have been a needless risk. It might not have been the right thing to do. [00:41] 6Nels watches them go, hand still on her gun. That last one - the one who wasn't fighting. Something to ask about later. [00:42] 10Stewart: "We're like you. Where did you come from?" [00:42] 13To Tony: "That was a nice tackle." 00[00:42] <@Crion> The boy: "I walked out on my girlfriend. Well, not really my girlfriend. I. I don't know. I don't even know where I am--" 00[00:42] <@Crion> The girl: "The Bleakest House." 00[00:43] <@Crion> "I'm Gemma," she says. "I think he's Peter." [00:43] 5He nods at Melanie, thinking to himself, still got it. [00:43] 6Nels: "Knocked the hell out of him," 6she nods. [00:43] 10Stewart: "Yeah, that sounds right. Come on, we'll get you somewhere safe. Are you hungry?" [00:45] 10Stewart passes a hand over them in a vaguely healing gesture, and their spirits swell with fresh glamour. Meanwhile, as the vault unravels itself behind him, he listens... [00:45] 7Maggie: "Heavens, yes. You two must be exhausted, let's get you something to eat, at least." [00:45] 13Melanie shakes herself - a few nuts scatter - and walks to the alley. "Maggie's a great cook, and we've got a pretty comfortable space on the edge of the city." 00[00:45] <@Crion> Gemma: "Yeah. And tired." 00[00:45] <@Crion> Peter: "I'm Peter." 00[00:46] <@Crion> Gemma: "Can we trust you?" 00[00:46] <@Crion> She doesn't sound like she's expecting an honest answer. [00:46] 10Stewart: "I hope so. We don't mean you any harm. We heard you were being chased and came to help." 00[00:48] <@Crion> Gemma Franklin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZwypOmPKoE I wanted you to know that I put up a fight; but everything goes missing when they dim the lights. 00[00:48] <@Crion> Peter Montgomery: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pxfx1kFXIo Saw Cinderella in a party dress; but she was looking for a nightgown. [00:48] 7Maggie: "If you're confused about what's going on, we can get you into the more-normal world to some people who can help explain..." [00:49] 5Tony: "And you can crash with us if you need to, if you don't mind floors. And geese." [00:49] 6Nels takes a few more deep breaths - that's going to bruise - and she makes her way over to Stewart and the kids. "I think we're probably about done for the day here, anyway. Did anyone else get hit?" [00:49] 10Stewart: "You got hit?!" 00[00:49] <@Crion> Kid Kid Kid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvJjmWTg7Qo If I could burn this town, I wouldn't hesitate to smile while you suffocate and die. [00:50] "Goodness, Nels, it's a good thing you wore your vest." [00:50] 6She grimaces. "Yeah." [00:51] 13Melanie: "I guess we're making four different calls.. or one to Autumn." 00[00:52] <@Crion> Gemma grimaces, Peter sort of sputters. "Fine," she says. 00[00:52] <@Crion> "But no one touches me." 00[00:52] <@Crion> She doesn't seem to give a shit about him. 00[00:52] <@Crion> Which is odd, considering she saved his life twice while she didn't know you were watching. 00[00:52] <@Crion> He, on the other hand, doesn't seem quite to know where he is, and is amenable to just being led by the hand. [00:52] 13You don't need to care about people to do that! [00:54] 10Once they're inside, Stewart says: "I'm going to go get help. You guys - there's a shower that way, we'll get you some food." 10To Maggie: "I'm gonna pick up blankets. We gonna need anything else?" 00[00:54] <@Crion> Peter will go wherever he's led. Gemma's going to find a room with good sightlines, and sit in the corner. 00[00:55] <@Crion> Oh hey. While Tony's walking into the Hollow, Steve will try to walk in with him. From out of nowhere. Will Tony allow this? [00:56] 5Tony will. "Hey there sport!5 He's pretty satisfied with how this all went because of Steve. "I'll grab you a sixer. Can someone watch Steve so he doesn't steal my chair?"5 It's unclear whether he means 'sit in it' or 'take it away.' 00[00:57] <@Crion> honk [00:57] 13Melanie's not sure what to do here. She'll write another email to Langford, quickly - not that he's answered her last one, but this is important. Then.. "Do you guys want something to read? I've got..." 13Biology textbooks, fairy tales and continental philosophy. [00:58] 7If Steve's the one that led us to rescue these two poor babies, Steve's alright with Maggie. She'll happily feed him lil niblets while she's baking. [00:58] 10After he gets his answer, he'll pop out cityside and text Lauren while driving to the store.  00[00:58] <@Crion> Steve is uninterested in stealing...a chair. Instead he nods at the sixer comment, then waddles over to the mini-fridge, opens it up, pulls out another beer, and drags it over to Gemma. She looks confused. 00[00:58] <@Crion> He pops it open and leaves it sitting next to her. 00[00:58] <@Crion> honk 00[00:58] <@Crion> Then he waddles off. 00[00:58] <@Crion> Didn't close the fridge, though. 00[00:58] <@Crion> Hobs. [00:58] 5He hollers from the other room at Melanie. "We've got old Newsweeks piled up by the stairs if they want that! Ask them if they want that!"5 He returns with a sixer of MGD for the hob of the hour. [00:59] 5Closes the dang fridge. Gonna be reflex soon. 00[00:59] <@Crion> Lauren: [01:00] 6Nels retreats into her room for a moment, carefully placing her revolver down and removing the vest. Then she's back out like nothing happened. [01:00] [01:00] 6Her shirt's rumbled, but otherwise doesn't look like she's been in combat, so there's that. [01:00] "Yes, and magazines. Um.. people who can help you will be here soon, and we could answer questions you've got. To be honest only Stewart is good at that. Answering questions." 00[01:00] <@Crion> <5m, he's at the office and already headed for his car> 00[01:00] <@Crion> 00[01:01] <@Crion> [01:02] 6Rumpled. Not rumbled. That's the word that refers to shirts. [01:02] 10Not gonna need blankets then.  [01:02] 5Tony awkwardly mills around in the main area while the kids do whatever it is they're doing. Attempting to be helpful, he offers,  "It's 2019 now I think. I hope that isn't fucked up for you." 00[01:02] <@Crion> [01:02] "It's fucked up for everyone else... um, Donald Trump is the President." [01:03] 10Stewart, who wasn't even a block away yet, just turns around. [01:03] 10He'll meet Gerald outside. [01:03] "I still don't know who that is and I'm not going to learn." 00[01:04] <@Crion> Peter is calming down, getting less shellshocked; Gemma is sipping her beer. Both will want to hang around for the food, and when Stewart lets Gerald in, he'll graciously sit through the meal. [01:04] 13Melanie: "Have you seen reality TV yet? Like Survivor?" [01:04] 7Maggie: "Hey now, I can answer questions! Unless it's about modern history!" [01:05] 6Nels just keeps quiet. If they want to know, they'll ask. [01:05] 7Maggie's making burgers. Kids love burgers. [01:07] 10Once Stewart's back, he'll make conversation over dinner. "Maggie, you haven't given me your reviews yet." [01:07] 5 Tony's wallflowering it up with the best of them, making...whatever the hob-equivalent of small talk with Steve is. 00[01:09] <@Crion> Gerald's very polite; he'll eat as well, while making conversation with the kids. Generally doing the same thing he did with Stewart with them, except without having to explain guns. 00[01:09] <@Crion> Steve is indulging in his beers, and is very festive. He's not even destroying things! [01:10] 13Is that.. the Autumn king?? No, he's not even Lost- ahh. Melanie gets it. That's......... interesting. [01:11] 13She's going to retreat to her library and think about that. [01:12] 7Maggie's fussing with the condiments, cheese and sliced tomatoes and such. "Hmm. Well now. I expect you already know that I liked that Myst game quite a bit. Sort of like wandering through a fantasy story, which of course they made obvious with the traveling books and whatnot." 7She chuckles. "Very soothing, you know? To just sit in the Channelwood Age or what have you and muse on what [01:12] you have to solve next." [01:15] 10Stewart: "Myst is really pretty that way. Did you try Portal yet?" [01:15] "Portal I had a bit harder time with, but I suppose that's what practice is all about, and once I got it figured out it was delightful to get a room all set up and just run through it like a machine, flying zip! zip! zip! all over the place and landing at the door." [01:16] "That robot-" 7She pronounces it 'robit'. "lady was a hoot! It was almost a shame you had to beat 'er at the end." [01:17] 10Stewart: "Did you listen to the song that plays after you win?" [01:18] "Witness... Now I'm sorry, but Witness I could take or leave. I didn't mind the puzzles, you understand, they got the noggin' a-joggin' like you'd want, but the way they were placed in the world... I dunno. It didn't seem 'real' the way Myst did. Could be I missed something there." [01:18] 7Maggie: "I did! It was cute." [01:18] 10Stewart: "It sets up Portal 2, which is a longer game that's also very good." 02[01:19] * mattbaby (mattbaby@sorcery-v7n841.dc.comcast.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 00[01:27] <@Crion> Eventually, dinner's done and Gerald leads the kids out. Before he goes, he tells Stewart, in private: "You did well today. Doing well's not without its own problems. These loyalists, they weren't known to us. King wants to make sure they are, now." He grins. "That's what you get for giving a fuck when it wasn't your turn to give a fuck." 00[01:27] <@Crion> --Fin. 02[03:54] * dammitwhoa (dammitwhoa@sorcery-5fkv5e.or.frontiernet.net) Quit (Quit: ) 02[07:20] * dammitwho (joanofarcta@sorcery-j9socb.dynamic.onlinenw.com) Quit (Quit: ) 03[07:25] * dammitwho (joanofarcta@sorcery-j9socb.dynamic.onlinenw.com) has joined #gofetch 02[17:55] * trenchfoot (dani@sorcery-jcvlv4.in.comcast.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[18:17] * trenchfoot (dani@sorcery-ms3qqj.iplsin.sbcglobal.net) has joined #gofetch 03[19:25] * mattbaby (mattbaby@sorcery-v7n841.dc.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 02[19:57] * mattbaby (mattbaby@sorcery-v7n841.dc.comcast.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[20:07] * CBN2 (CBN@sorcery-osdshk.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) has joined #gofetch 02[20:11] * CBN (CBN@sorcery-g7lrt2.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[20:22] * mattbaby (mattbaby@sorcery-v7n841.dc.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 02[21:54] * trenchfoot (dani@sorcery-ms3qqj.iplsin.sbcglobal.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[22:29] * trenchfoot (dani@sorcery-jcvlv4.in.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch Session Time: Mon Sep 30 00:00:00 2019 03[01:00] * CBN3 (CBN@sorcery-5u8hb5.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) has joined #gofetch 02[01:03] * CBN2 (CBN@sorcery-osdshk.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 02[02:37] * mattbaby (mattbaby@sorcery-v7n841.dc.comcast.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[09:39] * CBN3 is now known as CBN 02[18:00] * Disconnected 02[18:00] * Attempting to rejoin channel #gofetch 03[18:00] * Rejoined channel #gofetch 03[18:00] * Topic is 'Who botches the Botchmen?' 03[18:00] * Set by Crion!Crion@sorcery-puhjpa.fios.verizon.net on Sun Sep 22 02:37:29 2019 02[18:02] * @Crion (Crion@sorcery-puhjpa.fios.verizon.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 02[18:03] * CBN (CBN@sorcery-5u8hb5.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[19:19] * mattbaby (mattbaby@sorcery-v7n841.dc.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 02[19:51] * mattbaby (mattbaby@sorcery-v7n841.dc.comcast.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[19:57] * Crion_ is now known as Crion 03[19:58] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Crion 03[21:21] * mattbaby (mattbaby@sorcery-v7n841.dc.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch Session Time: Tue Oct 01 00:00:00 2019 02[01:30] * mattbaby (mattbaby@sorcery-v7n841.dc.comcast.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 00[04:45] <@Crion> 00[04:45] <@Crion> 00[04:45] <@Crion> 00[04:45] <@Crion> 00[04:45] <@Crion> 00[04:45] <@Crion> 00[04:45] <@Crion> 00[04:52] <@Crion> It has been a few days since the fight. Melanie's second fight and first real one on this side of the durance, unless she's left one carefully a scuffle out of the logs. The two kids her motley rescued have been bundled off to the Freehold, which is determining how to handle them; there hasn't been much foot traffic through the Hollow or the surrounding Hedge since then. Neither hide nor hair 00[04:52] <@Crion> nor thorn nor thread of the loyalists. 00[04:52] <@Crion> So it is that the e-mail arrives, then, in mid-afternoon from Langford's address at The Last of Summer Foundation: 00[04:52] <@Crion> M.-- 00[04:52] <@Crion> Sending a car. Need a briefing. Time you saw the foundation. Etc. 00[04:52] <@Crion> Be ready in one hour, tolerance of 10min either way. Reply if delay needed. Vehicle and driver same as last time. 00[04:52] <@Crion> --L. 00[04:52] <@Crion> How convenient or inconvenient is this? [05:17] 13It's a lot more convenient than it used to be. Lexington Market is closer to the freehold institutions - this would have been a problem when Melanie was actively attending classes, but her work's mostly research for now. If she can keep her adviser satisfied. [05:17] 13She spends most of her day standing still, thinking or typing or - this one is new - talking. Leaving at short notice is fine, and she replies as such. 00[05:18] <@Crion> Sounds good. The Escalade from before will be waiting outside the market 45 minutes, driven by the same performatively disinterested Beast Summer courtier who looks like a goat. [05:19] 13Melanie takes the back seat again. "Thank you" 13will be her first and last words if the goatman remains uninterested. 00[05:20] <@Crion> "Baaah." It sounds like it's supposed to be a noise of disdain instead of. Well. 00[05:22] <@Crion> He takes her a couple blocks downtown, into what pass for skyscrapers in Baltimore, and stops outside...the World Trade Center. 00[05:22] <@Crion> Yes, Baltimore has one too. 00[05:22] <@Crion> Much less famous. [05:22] 13That's actually kind of cute. What is Langford offering? The Summer Court is still a little.. mysterious to Melanie. She likes what she've seen but she hasn't seen much, and the way others talk about it is not.. positive. Still, it wouldn't be a surprise if almost everyone is wrong. That's one of the themes she's been reading about recently - not going to make it into her synthesis, but [05:22] 13the ethics of popular consent when the population is by-and-large incorrect about important matters - oh, we're here. 00[05:23] <@Crion> "Fourrrteenth floor," he says, popping the locks on the back door for her even though they'll open from the inside either way. "Tell the doorman you're here for the Laaast of Summer Foundation." [05:25] 13Melanie: "Okay." 13She appreciates the lock thing, as unbending from a sitting position is difficult enough already. Paying no further attention to the capraffeur, the conflicted Elemental makes her way into the building, perhaps to conduct some world trade. 00[05:26] <@Crion> The doorman disinterestedly nods her through to reception; reception nods her through the metal detectors. Does Melanie set it off? [05:27] 13Sure, she's got a phone and a hand mirror in her purse. Hopefully they have a routine for passing that stuff around. [05:28] 13To mortal or at least doorman eyes, she's wearing an unseasonal white dress with a small bag on a strap over her shoulder. No e.g. guns or knives. 00[05:29] <@Crion> A tray, yeah. If that's all, she's waved forward and handed a visitor's badge with her first name taped on it from some kind of labelmaker. Guy who hands her back her phone says to swipe it over the pad and hit 14. 00[05:29] <@Crion> In the elevator, she can see the building notably doesn't have a floor 13. [05:29] 13This feels very.. corporate. It must be Langford's side of the Court. [05:30] 13The pad thing is kind of weird - the instructions are clear, and it works, but how? Is this normal or some sort of token? Melanie's worried it's one of the things she's frogotten [05:30] 13forgotten. 00[05:31] <@Crion> The pad's got a red light on it. If she waves the card very close to it -- doesn't even need to touch directly -- it'll turn green. The only button that lights up after that is 14. 00[05:31] <@Crion> The elevator looks VERY expensive. Not at all like theirs. [05:33] 13Probably the person best placed to know if some sort of floating ID sensor is just a fact of life would be Nels, since she's not bamboozled by modern technology. Melanie will write up a text message on the ride up:  00[05:37] <@Crion> When the elevator doors open, they open on a clean wide expanse of a corporate waiting room. It's empty except for the receptionist, a devastatingly beautiful Fairest in Summer who immediately zeroes in on Melanie with suspicion, and Langford List himself, examining a file folder from behind his spectacles. He closes the file and hands it to the receptionist, and pretends -- probably -- that 00[05:37] <@Crion> he doesn't notice her glare. "Correct instincts," he tells her, then removes his glasses and folds them up as he walks forward to extend his hand. "Melanie. Welcome to the Last of Summer Foundation." [05:40] 13Melanie's happy to be here, and it's obvious. She wants to get involved, and the actual environment is.. calm, slow-paced. She used to hate offices, she thinks. "Hello again, Mr. List. What sort of work does the Losf do?" [05:40] "Lossof? Loz?" 00[05:42] <@Crion> He'll retract his hand if it isn't shook. "El Oh Es. It's an abbreviation. Not an acronym. My office is this way." 00[05:43] <@Crion> It's a very spacious office, and there's an ice cold pitcher of water -- fully half of it ice, really, but big enough for two people. "Something to drink?" 00[05:44] <@Crion> It's just sort of waiting there on a dolly. It's sweating like the room is much hotter than it is. [05:45] 13Oh- shaking hands! Fuck. She'll get to that next time. "Yes, please. I don't eat, but I drink." 00[05:45] <@Crion> He nods. 00[05:45] <@Crion> He pours them both a water. "You look around the Freehold, you see, what. Sixty percent white faces. Maybe sixty-five. About ten percent Latino, Asian, or otherwise. Something like a quarter to thirty percent of this Freehold is black. The city of Baltimore? Sixty-two percent black. Now. You look at the disappearances. The cold cases. We're not talking dad and mom don't get along and mom 00[05:45] <@Crion> takes the kid out to Catonsville -- which, let's be clear, lots of moms can't afford. We're looking at a substantial elevated disappearance rate among: poor black children on the one end, and poor black adults on the other. 00[05:45] <@Crion> "You get into the higher income brackets, this levels out. Somewhat. You still have to account for shit that happens on this side of the Hedge. For white people." He pauses, but doesn't say 'no offense.' "But in the lower income group the statistics diverge markedly, and not in a way we can mundanely explain. So what Last of Summer does is outreach, along with the Spring Courts in Baltimore 00[05:45] <@Crion> and Philadelphia, to try and...herd immunity. Sort of. 00[05:45] <@Crion> "The Keepers, they want it easy or they want it hard. We can't do anything about the ones who want it hard: the ones going hunting for some man who came up from the streets and made something of himself and then got snatched for fun. But the ones who want it easy, we can make it hard on them. We try to keep kids together, in peer groups, in after-school programs, in group homes when they need 00[05:45] <@Crion> it. We want to prevent the stranger with the candy. Because these things, they only want this shit one at a time. 00[05:45] <@Crion> "Now what does that mean. Does that mean some rich kid gets snatched instead? Maybe so. Is it fair? Nothing's fair. But we pay in more than our share, and here's the thing -- fewer of us come home. What happens to those kids lost in the gap, huh? To they come out somewhere else? Do they get killed? We don't know. Autumn, they. Well. They study the issue. 00[05:45] <@Crion> "I have to solve things on this side." 00[05:48] <@Crion> "That's what we do here. This foundation underwrites that recreational center up on 25th that Spring runs. And they do a good job of it." [05:49] 13Melanie listens intently, as well as watching List talk. More than any changeling she's met, he reminds her of tutors, the faculty ones who're passionate about some philosophical position. "So as far as we know, the inequity is - the Others go after poor people? Because it's easier?" 00[05:49] <@Crion> "Yes to the first question. Unclear to the second." [05:50] 13Melanie: "That doesn't make sense. Malevolence, the imputed motivation, sure, but- why would we, the people who make it back, be so different?" 00[05:50] <@Crion> "Maybe because it's easier. Maybe because poor black pain tastes better. And we're not sure if it's race or class or both." 00[05:50] <@Crion> He nods. "That is the real question. The inputs being different -- we can explain that. Not the outputs." [05:50] "If there are more disappearances of black kids than anything.. but the Lost who come out of the Hedge are more white than the city.. what does that mean. Stricter watches and more killings in Arcadia?" [05:51] "Or: do a lot of the disappearances have another cause?" 00[05:51] <@Crion> Langford sighs. "The optimist's take is that there's something we're missing in our methodology. There's something to explain the elevated take rate on our side, even if it's just...human trafficking, or plain bad counting." 00[05:51] <@Crion> "The pessimist's take?" 00[05:51] <@Crion> "This city is so fucked that the Hedge hates black people too." [05:51] 13..I didn't think that was optimism.. 00[05:52] <@Crion> "Remember, the Hedge is psychoactive. It is psychoresponsive." 00[05:52] <@Crion> "And the Baltimore Hedge has a lot of things that pretend to be cops, walking around it." [05:53] 13Melanie: "Well if the supernatural boundary of dreaming realms responds to human prejudice by actually murdering more people the way prejudice would have it then that's" 13she's looking for an adjective. [05:53] "Not good." 00[05:53] <@Crion> He nods. "You are correct." 00[05:53] <@Crion> "And that brings us to what I wanted to talk about." 00[05:53] <@Crion> "Loyalists." [05:53] "Yes, okay." 00[05:53] <@Crion> "The definition of 'not good.' Even worse than pigs." [05:53] 13Melanie said that before "loyalists". Loyalists are not okay. 00[05:54] <@Crion> Langford List pulls out his glasses again and puts them on, and then a pad of paper. "I didn't ask you to report on this fully over e-mail for a reason. You can guess why that is, I assume. Lauren Ipsum has been. Spending time. In your Hollow." [05:55] "They're an amazingly awful concept. The ones we, we met are also, in practice- just caricatures of human beings. They were a living answer to the question 'what kind of person could do this'." 00[05:55] <@Crion> He glances up. "You'd be surprised, I think, how many perfectly normal people over here are just caricatures of human beings." [05:56] 13Melanie: "I haven't spoken to Lauren.. I think she's interested in Stewart. She's a computer hacker? Who might intercept emails for.. some reason?" 00[05:56] <@Crion> Langford: "Lauren is an incredible talent and the freehold is lucky to have her. And with that said, assume she's reading all of your e-mail and handing it directly to the Autumn King." [05:56] 13The Loyalists are one thing, but Melanie's not going to default to mistrust of other freeholders without a reason. 00[05:57] <@Crion> "That first sentence isn't a joke. I value her highly. But there are some things it's better to discuss before taking them to the Court of Secrets." [05:57] 13If nothing else.. she can't really tell who's trustworthy. Deceit escapes her as much as goodhearted gestures. And there's not nothing else. 00[05:58] <@Crion> He clicks a ballpoint pen and puts it to paper. "You said there were five of them." [05:58] 13Melanie: "I won't put anything in emails that I don't want the Autumn king to see. What do you need me to tell you now?" 00[05:58] <@Crion> "Describe them, starting with the leader, progressing to the least threatening." [06:00] "Yes, five. The only one who wasn't visibly an idiot was this shitty old man with a really old-looking gun. He gave orders, and they weren't useless - he forced the others to pull out at a moment of danger, when we couldn't.. safely.. prevent them." 13Melanie continues. 00[06:01] <@Crion> Langford pauses writing. "...Did he have an accent?" [06:03] 13Melanie: "I.. can't tell. He spoke in a slightly archaic way, though. The next three seemed like pretty much equals.. there was this big woman with pink hair and a bloodied chainsaw. We had to tie her up quickly. A tall british-looking guy, big adams apple and kind of blue veins, had a sword. Then there was.. this is hard to describe believably." [06:03] "When I want back to college and had to learn to type quickly there was this educational game. Have you heard of it? Typing of the Dead?" 00[06:04] <@Crion> He pauses writing again. "Yes. Like Mavis Beacon but with the undead, or something." [06:05] 13Melanie: "In the game the agents have keyboards on their backs, they pull them out in order to type furiously at zombies. It's great. Anyway, the fourth guy had that, a laptop on his back like he was going to, um, deck into us mid-fight. They called him Kid Kid Kid." 00[06:05] <@Crion> "Mmmmm." [06:05] "Ah, the pink woman was Keyeyellelle.. the swordsman's 'name' was Cambridge Son." 00[06:06] <@Crion> "The letters?" 00[06:06] <@Crion> "The letters K I L L." [06:06] "Yeah presumably. They were really.. shitty. Just obviously awful on purpose." [06:06] "Except." [06:06] 13Melanie frowns. "The fifth woman did not want to be there and I think she saw us first without saying anything. She didn't fight." 00[06:07] <@Crion> "Huh." 00[06:07] <@Crion> "Black hair? Stringy? Looked a bit like a kicked dog?" All of these scan. [06:08] "Yes.. and she was a torrent. Like me," 13she adds redundantly. 00[06:08] <@Crion> He nods. "So Loser's back." 00[06:09] <@Crion> "The leader, he sounds like the Proctor." 00[06:09] <@Crion> "Yes, those are their names." [06:09] 13Melanie: "Oh! Someone said 'loser', but I didn't think it was a name." 00[06:09] <@Crion> "I don't know the three in the middle." 00[06:09] <@Crion> "Anything can be, especially on that side." He closes the notepad. "We know about both of those. Proctor's vile. Loser's complicated." 00[06:10] <@Crion> "It's been awhile since he's put a new crew together." 00[06:11] <@Crion> Langford reaches over to his phone. "Dearest, calling the King. Tell him to put out word that the Proctor and the Pack are operating in Baltimore again." 'Dearest' isn't said like a term of endearment, but casually, like a name. After a pause: "Of course he already knows. I want him to make sure everyone else does too." [06:11] 13Melanie's focused now that she's not trying to remember and describe. "How do these people relate to the world? Do they live here, or there?" 00[06:12] <@Crion> He replaces the phone. "There. They pop up on this side from time to time, just to get air and dive back again. They know Baltimore isn't friendly." 00[06:13] <@Crion> "I'd say Proctor isn't dangerous, but he's incredibly so, especially to kids like those you ran into. His MO is collection. He recruits through promises and pain. Abuse. Or he sells you back to your keeper." 00[06:13] <@Crion> "But fundamentally, he's a coward." [06:13] "Do we know what kind of leash they're on?" [06:14] "If we kill them will the masters mind?" 00[06:15] <@Crion> He shakes his head. "Far as we know, it's a purely business arrangement between him and whoever his patrons are. No Keeper's ever walked in to stop us from killing his pack before. The man's just enough of a wily coward to duck out before the bill comes due for him." [06:15] "Mind enough, I mean. We want them to mind. But is it a risk." 00[06:16] <@Crion> "But: that doesn't mean there isn't a master, or that they won't." 00[06:16] <@Crion> "Just that for the last ten years, they've been very hands-off." 00[06:17] <@Crion> Langford sighs. "This is the third time Proctor's resurfaced with a new crew after we killed off the old one. Loser was part of his second. Not part of his third." 00[06:17] <@Crion> "It's been a couple years, so, in all honesty it was about time." [06:18] 13Melanie: "I don't understand how someone makes the leap from selfishness or tribalism to siding with alien monsters over their own fellow v- subjects. It's beyond stockholm syndrome or ideological treachery." 00[06:19] <@Crion> Flatly: "He enjoys making people like him, but less so." 00[06:19] <@Crion> "I want to put this on your plate. You and your motley." [06:21] "I think we can work together well enough to beat them." 13Melanie thinks about it for a while, holds up a flaky hand. "It'd be risky to do it without practice and preparation. There is an element of chance." 00[06:22] <@Crion> He nods. "There always is. I trust you can minimize it." 00[06:22] <@Crion> "It is in the interest of this Freehold that there not be a fourth return of the Proctor." 00[06:23] <@Crion> "And I trust you can minimize that, too." [06:23] 13Melanie: "It would be.. helpful if you could explain why. You would trust me or us, I mean. I have ideas, plans, the others are all good at something but there's so much we don't know." 00[06:27] <@Crion> "First, they're operating locally in your Hedge. Not 'local' as in Baltimore; 'local' as in, if I understand correctly, a hob tipped you to the chase through the neighborhood. You have local perspective. You have snitches. Fundamentally, if the loyalists are operating near your Hollow's anchor, you are not only the first in line to respond, but the first in line to get hurt. Second, they're 00[06:27] <@Crion> operating locally in your Hedge. The Hedge is not constant; as discussed, it is psychoactive, and it likes familiar things more than unfamiliar things. That means those of us who are not local to your particular corner of the Hedge operate at a disadvantage. We don't have sightings yet from elsewhere in the Baltimore hedge of the Pack, so we have no idea if they're launching incursions from 00[06:27] <@Crion> deeper towards Arcadia or simply thinking globally and acting locally. 00[06:27] <@Crion> "Thirdly, they're operating locally in your Hedge. You caught the call. You gave a fuck when it wasn't your turn to give a fuck." 00[06:27] <@Crion> "So now it's your problem." 00[06:27] <@Crion> "Will this, in turn, be a problem?" [06:30] 13Melanie: "I want training, involvement. I need to meet more people from the Court and learn to work together, learn how to conduct this kind of fight and others. This isn't a.. quid pro quo, that's what Mises would say so you know it's wrong - it's the process of 'minimization'." 00[06:30] <@Crion> He waves a hand. "You'll have it. Wasn't a condition of accepting this task." 00[06:33] <@Crion> "But the Young Street isn't sending a kill team out of season to do new work." 00[06:33] <@Crion> "And I'm not going to ask him to." [06:35] 13Melanie: "Yeah. I am a half-empty vessel, Langford, and if Summer can fill me with tasks of protection and vengeance I won't spill." [06:35] "You should be are, I think you are already aware that this motley per se won't be a.. kill team, a fighting force; if you expect me to contribute fighting spirit to it, I will." [06:36] 13She holds out, not physically, another handshake - an offering of Glamour to the Wyrd, half-formed sealing. 00[06:37] <@Crion> He nods. "As I said at The Sinecure, we don't need more fighters. But we do need to know you can fight, or at least track, harry and dissuade. There's a distinction." He stands and shakes easily on the oath. 00[06:38] <@Crion> Did she ever drink any of her water? [06:38] 13It's deeply weird that this conversation feels more natural than the ones about musical instruments, but it's not really upsetting. It reminds Melanie of a team hype session with the Retrievers' coach. [06:39] 13Didn't get around to it. She's too focused on the conversation. 00[06:39] <@Crion> Neither did Langford. 00[06:39] <@Crion> He seems to notice this, and sort of just shake his head. 00[06:40] <@Crion> "That's the program I have to propose. I won't take anymore of your time. Thanks for coming down." [06:41] "Is Dearest the receptionist outside?" 00[06:42] <@Crion> "Yes. That's her name." He pauses. "Her reasons are her own." [06:42] "There's a lot of that around here!" 00[06:43] <@Crion> Langford: "Names are powerful things. For all sorts of magic. Don't give out your own so easily." [06:44] "I understand, but 'Paperbark' isn't a very good superhero name." [06:44] 13On the way out, Melanie will head for the front desk. "Hello," she says fairly firmly, but her approach gets slower and slower as she actually walks up to Dearest. 00[06:44] <@Crion> "The Young Street doesn't call himself that just because he thinks it sounds cool." [06:44] 13*pink 00[06:45] <@Crion> Dearest nods professionally, and doesn't smile. List walks Melanie to the elevator. 00[06:45] <@Crion> As he presses the button and the door opens. "You said you don't want to be a kill team. I respect that enough to swear to not asking you to become one." 00[06:45] <@Crion> "But." 00[06:45] <@Crion> "This freehold has no bunks for loyalists. And this freehold doesn't take prisoners." 00[06:46] <@Crion> "And this freehold needs the issue of the Proctor and his pack resolved to a permanent end." 00[06:46] <@Crion> He steps back as the doors close. "So that's your Hedge to trim." [06:47] 13That didn't work, then. It usually doesn't. Melanie doesn't bother responding further to Langford, because he'll want to see actions.. and she wants the exact result he does. [06:47] 13She's keeping her name, though. Belanie left it to her. 00[06:48] <@Crion> --Fin. 03[12:09] * CBN2 is now known as CBN 03[15:36] * CBN2 (CBN@sorcery-qq601c.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) has joined #gofetch 02[15:39] * CBN (CBN@sorcery-prso7a.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[20:55] * CBN2 is now known as CBN 03[22:06] * mattbaby (mattbaby@sorcery-v7n841.dc.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch Session Time: Wed Oct 02 00:00:00 2019 02[01:32] * mattbaby (mattbaby@sorcery-v7n841.dc.comcast.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[02:03] * banana is now known as banana|split 03[04:41] * CBN2 (CBN@sorcery-73ttu6.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) has joined #gofetch 02[04:44] * CBN (CBN@sorcery-qq601c.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[09:50] * banana|split is now known as banana 03[11:21] * CBN2 is now known as CBN [17:24]  [17:24]  [17:24]  [17:24]  [17:24]  [17:28] 10https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrCgjGnlQRQ Stewart's apartment is uncharacteristically loud, as his music is turned up to rise over the sound of the vacuum. There's always some chore or other that needs doing, and it's an easy way to make the world feel a little more manageable. [17:37] 6Nels' attentions are pulled away from her schoolwork as she listens to the music through the walls. That's not really an instrument she's heard of before, but the tune is... pleasant enough? Would be rude to interrupt in the middle of vacuuming, so she listens, and then mimics it back to pass the time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6b68Yz6t98 Then she just gives up and goes over to knock on Stewart's door, because how does it make [17:37] that sound? [17:39] 10It takes a few knocks to get Stewart's attention. Nels hears, in turn, the sound of the vacuum shutting off, the sound of the music shutting off, and the sound of the door unlocking. Then Stewart is there. "Oh, hey! Was I too loud?" [17:40] 6Nels: "Um, not exactly - I was just... what was that? It doesn't sound like anything I've heard before." [17:41] 10Stewart: "Oh! Sorry. That's called a vacuum cleaner. It's a machine we can use to get dust off of our floors and carpets." [17:42] "It gets kind of loud." [17:42] 6Nels amends: "That too, but - the music." [17:44] "Ohhh. That was, uh, Sonic? Sonic 2, I want to say? Chemical Zone." 10He realizes belatedly that they're still in the doorway and lets her in. "Are you hungry or anything? I've got cold pizza..." [17:49] 6She steps inside and doesn't stare, except at his computer briefly. "No, that's fine. And - I can come back later if you'd like, I'm interrupting your cleaning, but... when you have the time, could you tell me more about this 'Sonic'? They seem like quite a musician." [17:54] "..." 10Oh shit. I skipped steps again. Let's wind it back and pay attention this time. "...I'm happy to a break. But yeah, ah, 'Sonic' is not the name of the artist who made that music. Sonic is name of the - why don't we sit in the living room - the name of the game the song was composed for." [17:56] "The song was composed by a man whose name I don't know, for a... computer, basically." [17:56] "Is the instrument, I mean." [17:57] 6She'll take a seat wherever's convenient, as long as it has a back. "I didn't realize games had music. Or that computers could make those sounds..." 6Does he have his computer visible from the living room? She'll be looking in its direction, regardless. [17:57] "A computer that you can play like a musical instrument is called a 'synthesizer', or a 'synth'. Which, now that I say it out loud, sounds pretty cyberpunk." [17:58] "Let's leave 'what is cyberpunk' for another time." [18:00] 6Nels opens and then closes her mouth, then considers. "And do they all sound like that Chemical Zone?" [18:00] 10Stewart: "Oh, no, they sound like... like anythimg, basically." [18:01] "Holy shit!" [18:01] "You've got a hundred years of music to hear for the first time." [18:01] "That's really cool." [18:02] 6Nels: "I do..." 6The thought suddenly seems daunting. "Where would I even start?" [18:02] "I'm... completely inadequate to this task. But we can start. Come in here," 1he says, waving her into his office. [18:02] "I'm... completely inadequate to this task. But we can start. Come in here," 10he says, waving her into his office. [18:04] 6She follows close behind, unsure of where this is headed. He doesn't seem to have a record player anywhere... [18:05] 10This room is set up like an ersatz recording studio, with soundproof baffling hung on the walls, large lights diffused through curtains, and windows sealed against the outside with blackout curtains. There are what might be three or four whole computers in this room, judging by the array of boxes, screens, buttons, and neatly bundled wires. There's one huge, high-backed chair in front of [18:05] 10the machines. [18:07] 10Stewart's bringing in another chair from the kitchen. "You take the big chair, I can mess around with stuff better from this. [18:09] 6She sits, looking all around at the wires and where they lead to and from. The variety of screens and things that she probably shouldn't touch would make her head spin, if she thought about it too much, but she's still going over the idea of one hundred years of music. [18:09] 10After setting up the little chair on the right side of the desk, between two keyboards, Stewart presses a series of buttons rapidly and the three large screens light up. The bottom ones show what Nels might already know to be 'websites', while the top one is a lengthy array of short lines of text that Stewart makes vanish before Nels can read any of it. [18:10] 6His system seems to be much faster than hers. Still, it was a cheap set and it does what it needs to. [18:11] "So, alright, the first thing I want to say: there is more music made every year than a single human being will ever be able to listen to. From albums, singles, soundtracks, compositions, sets, live performances, even unpublished material that sneaks out into public hands. You're going to be feeling overwhelmed, and that's fine. That's not going to go away. We all feel like that." [18:12] 6Nels: "Ominous and sort of terrifying, but also relieving to know I'm not alone." [18:15] 10It was said Stewart's Autumn Mantle grew three sizes that day. "That's also to say that I am only going to be able to show you a tiny part of what's out there, because I only know a tiny part of what's out there. So I recommend also getting other people's perspectives, and exploring on your own." [18:16] 10He sits back. Shit... where do you even start. [18:18] 6She nods. Maybe she can figure out how to have that Google play music for her, when she gets back to her place... [18:19] "I guess the next thing I'll say is that if you just want to learn information, like you want to pinpoint a specific thing or you just want to cram for some reason, we have this thing called Wikipedia, which is basically a huge store of information people volunteer to write and edit. You go here--" 10typetypetype "--I'll write these out for you--" 10typetypetype "--and you can look at, [18:19] say, 1919 in music, 1920 in music, 1921 in music, and so on. Each year, with specific historical throughlines of note, specific important events and people, hit songs in different genres..." [18:19] "Pick a year." [18:22] 6Nels: "Um, 1970." 6Fifty years. Halfway mark. [18:26] 10Stewart types it in. "Boom, 1970 in music. Then we can go to biggest hit singles... here, like this is a 1970 song." 10Nels sees a video play: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvUQcnfwUUM [18:26] 10StewarT: "...and that was 1970 hair." [18:29] 6She makes a face. Still... "If I couldn't see them, you could've told me this was something I just hadn't heard from when I was a kid." [18:30] 10Stewart: "And that's just one of a million different kinds of music from then. Here's another:" 10https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cce72tWrn0E [18:36] 6Nels just taps her foot and starts humming along unconsciously. "Wow," 6when the song finishes. "And that's two popular songs from the same year? I guess radio really helped... but this is all on the internet now?" [18:37] 10Stewart: "Yeah. There's ways to buy or steal or listen to almost any song you want, any time you want, anywhere you want. Our phones play music too, you can put music on them or, or podcasts. We talked about podcasts before." [18:38] 6She's extremely excited to start looking this stuff up at home, if she can figure out how to find all of this. "Wait, how do you steal the music if it's available for free?" [18:41] 10Stewart: "People who let you listen to music free usually have some plan to make money off it, like they're selling ad space, or they're trying to get attention for their next album for sale, or it's a loss leader to get you to give them your private data so they can sell *that*, or something." [18:41] "Stealing the music gives you the song to do whatever you want with without anyone else getting any money. In theory." 00[18:44] <@Crion> There's a knock on the door, subdued and measured. [18:45] 6She understood most of that. "Do the artists still-- oh!" 6She smooths out her skirt. "I'll just - wait here?" [18:45] 10Stewart's head whips around like an antelope's on the savannah, but after a tense beat he says, "Oh, shit, right. Stay here a second." 10and goes to answer the door. 00[18:45] <@Crion> Canterbury's standing outside, leaning against the molding, in his usual hoodie. This close you can smell him -- or more properly, his mantle. Fresh, crisp winter air, without the smokeyness of autumn in it. 00[18:46] <@Crion> "Hey mate." 00[18:46] <@Crion> "Shouldn't do this in the hall." [18:49] "Yeah, come in." 10After shutting the door, Stewart snaps his fingers. "Actually, do you wanna... stick around a bit? Nels is curious about something and more perspectives will help here." 00[18:50] <@Crion> "Oh..." He thinks and shrugs. "Sure. I'm supposed to be watching you two after all. It's been long enough that anyone watching me knows what I'm doing." 00[18:50] <@Crion> Is there a counter or table nearby in the main room? [18:52] 10Yeah, a long counter serves as the primary separation between the living room and the kitchen. There's keys, old mail, and a squat jug full of violently orange flowers. "Nels, Canterbury's here. He brought weed and he's gonna help explain music." 00[18:53] <@Crion> He takes a bag from under his hoodie and puts it on the counter. "Forty qu--" He pauses. "Forty dollars." That looks like a lot more weed than forty dollars should buy. 00[18:53] <@Crion> How old does Nels look, again? [18:55] 10Money changes hands and Stewart leads Canterbury into his computer room, where he'll flip a second switch under the light switch and turn on a fan in the vent over the door. [18:55] "Thanks again, man, this is such a load off my mind not having to find a dealer." [18:56] 6She looks around 20, 21. Nels makes her way out from the office and looks at the 'weed'. She uh, probably hasn't smoked before? 00[18:56] <@Crion> Canterbury nods. His four eyes all blink at once. "Be careful on it. That's from Union. Little bit goes a long way. Calls it 'Hearts in Atlantis.'" 00[18:58] <@Crion> To Nels, he'll nod. "Miss." [18:58] 6Nels: "Hello, Canterbury. Thanks for looking out for us," 6though she's still looking at the substance. 00[18:58] <@Crion> "Pleasure to be of service." [18:59] 10Stewart shows the bag full of fat green dried plant buds. "Did you have weed in 1920? Uh, uh, cannabis, or marijuana, or, or, reefer...? Any of this ringing a bell?" [19:03] 6Nels: "Vaguely? Cannabis does, anyway. I think I knew someone who liked it, but he liked heroin better." 00[19:03] <@Crion> Canterbury makes a noise and shakes his head. [19:05] 6Nels: "So I've been told," 6she nods to Canterbury. 00[19:06] <@Crion> "Oh nah, miss. It was opium among my...I guess they were mates." [19:06] 10Stewart: "This isn't anything like heroin, but it'll make your thoughts fuzzier, make music sound better. Might make you hungry. If you smoke too much you can get nervous or paranoid. Anyway, no pressure. I was trying to figure out how to approach showing Nels some of the music she hasn't heard yet." [19:06] 10He switched from speaking to Nels to speaking to Canterbury there. 00[19:08] <@Crion> Canterbury nods. "For me -- I was taken in '37, right before the war, and came back oh. Ten years ago. For me, the thing that sort of -- made everything make sense, really, was the eighties. Eighties popular music. That's the bridge between the familiar and when instruments stop sounding like instruments any more." [19:12] 6Nels hmms thoughtfully. "Stewart was playing something from 'Sonic' when I knocked. I'm - curious how they changed, other than that. Seems like I could've done a lot with them." [19:12] 10Stewart: "Yeah, in the 1980s you've got, like, new wave, early hip hop, post-punk, metal, R&B... it was when synthesizers, like the one that was playing the song you heard, got popular." [19:15] 6She makes a note to remember those phrases for later. Maybe this will help her study, or maybe there's some kind of studying music that people have. Hmm. 00[19:15] <@Crion> "Which isn't to say I dislike the eighties at all. The eighties had Bonnie Tyler." 00[19:16] <@Crion> "They also had a lot of cocaine, which people want to associate with Winter but really, really isn't our bag." 00[19:17] <@Crion> He's rolled a joint but looks to Stewart for permission before lighting up. [19:17] 10Stewart waves a hand. It's all good. So here's a big list of 80s songs. Why don't we start here and see which direction we explore in. We can put our faith, for now, in the algorithm." [19:18] 10Stewart waves a hand. It's all good. "So here's a big list of 80s songs. Why don't we start here and see which direction we explore in. We can put our faith, for now, in the algorithm." 00[19:18] <@Crion> Ahhh. "Damn good stuff. Wonder how their set up is. Probably involves some wizard shit." [19:19] 10Nels sees Stewart scroll through a long list of artists and song titles next to squat rectangular images. [19:22] 6Nels: "Oh! How about this one." 6She gestures to the screen showing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIOAlaACuv4 [19:22] 6She liked fast cars. Of course, 'fast' back then is... not fast at all anymore. 00[19:23] <@Crion> Canterbury chuckles and shakes his head. 00[19:23] <@Crion> "My Court's kind of song." [19:23] 10Stewart plays it. "Oh, I think I've heard this one before." 10He'll pack a bowl while it plays, and offer to Nels but not make a big deal of it. [19:26] 10When it plays out: "What do you think? 00[19:27] <@Crion> "She's not wrong," says Canterbury, after a contemplative puff. "We all do make that decision." [19:29] 6She accepts the bowl, but hands it back. "You first. Show me. And -- it feels. Hmm. It reminds me of - before. But that wasn't to be talked about, and now here it is just laid out in song..." [19:31] 6Nels: "What's 'Hotel California'?" 00[19:31] <@Crion> Canterbury actually smiles at that. [19:32] 10Stewart demonstrate show to operate a Bic lighter and corner a bowl. He chokes when Nels asks that, but recovers to reply, hoarsely, "Let me load it up." [19:32] 10https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqSKl7sdUa8 [19:33] 10On a dark desert highway... [19:35] 10It occurs belatedly to Stewart that his father probably once also sat around getting stoned and listening to Hotel California. [19:37] 6Nels: "Not as good as Fast Car. And - I don't care for that last verse. At all." [19:38] 10Stewart: "Hotel California is a... divisive song." 00[19:39] <@Crion> "Doesn't help most concert versions are 12 minutes long. Some bands can pull that off. Not The bloody Eagles." [19:39] 6Her face lights up when she sees the sidebar. "Oh! Tony mentioned that one!" 6She points to Free Bird. Although - these are times on the corners... "Did they just stop making short songs after a while?" [19:40] 10Stewart: "Song lengths vary based on the genre and the time period. Free Bird and Hotel California are both songs where a guy spends a lot of time goofing around on the guitar between verses." [19:40] "They're both from around the same time, I think." [19:40] "I was raised to call that kind of music 'dadrock'. Music our dads wouldn't listen to, if our dads were roughly the age implied by my current age." [19:40] *would listen to [19:40] 6She nods solemnly. "Goofing around on the guitar is a good reason to have the songs go for that long." [19:41] 10Stewart: "Oh oh oh!" [19:41] "Jimi Hendrix." [19:41] 6Nels: "Who's that?" [19:42] 10https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLV4_xaYynY [19:46] 6She exhales through her nose. "He's excellent. Not sure about the lyrics really -- but his playing..." [19:46] 10Stewart: "He didn't write the lyrics to that one, I don't think, so good news there." [19:47] 6Nels: "Oh! Good. I'll look him up when I'm back in my apartment, then." [19:47] "...is that a cover of Crossroads?" [19:47] 10Stewart clicks on it. "I guess...?" [19:47] 10https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PE9HvSdcaL4 00[19:48] <@Crion> "Hahaha." [19:49] 6Nels: "I'm better." [19:50] 10Stewart: "Than Clapton? Easily." [19:50] 10This is another song his dad would've listened to. 00[19:52] <@Crion> "Clapton was pretty good. But," Canterbury shrugs. "A mortal." [19:52] 6Nels: "Then he shouldn't have tried playing my song." 00[19:52] <@Crion> "Wrote a really sad song about his kid dying, though. Very popular in my circles." [19:52] "Okay, so this is all a lot of 70s-ish guitar rock. Let's see what we can find from the electronic side of the 80s..." [19:52] 10https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcyCQLewj10 [19:55] 6She startles at some of the beats, but this is... pleasant. "I can see what you mean about the synthesizers," 6she says to Canterbury. "I kind of like them, though." [20:00] 10Stewart loads up the next one Nels picks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGBohd0V2Mo [20:00] "This one's neat because it's about technology being rendered obsolete by technology that was then rendered obsolete - they used to play music videos on TV the way they play songs on the radio. But now they're all on the internet." [20:02] 6Nels: "I wonder if someone who was around for that time of music videos on TV feels, well. Like I do." [20:02] 10Stewart: "It was right before I was born. My parents would know." [20:06] 6Nels: "You pick for the next one. Um, can I try some more of that marijuana? It's - pleasant. Fuzzy." [20:06] 10Stewart packs another bowl for Nels and then pokes around. [20:06] "I like this one." 10https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnDwBrm_jsY [20:07] 6She takes a slightly larger hit than last time and begins coughing. "Okay. Oh, wow. Out of practice." [20:08] 10That's the terror of knowing what this world is about... [20:09] 6Nels, dumbly: "He's got great range. Um, they both do, but the one more than the other..." [20:10] 10Stewart: "Freddy Mercury." 00[20:10] <@Crion> "R.I.P." [20:10] 10It suddenly hits Stewart that someone's going to have to explain AIDS to Nels. [20:10] 6There's also sort of a lot going on, and it's hard to focus on anything but the words and the voices. "That's a shame," 6and she means it. [20:12] "Canterbury, any requests?" 00[20:13] <@Crion> "Yeah...I mentioned Bonnie Tyler. Welsh girl. But let's do something a little modern with it too." He walks over and searches for something specific. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVkc6UF1mzI 00[20:14] <@Crion> "Now this song was written by a lad what went about calling himself 'Meat Loaf.' Jimmy Steinman." [20:15] 6There is even more going on here than there was last time. "He chose that name on purpose?" 00[20:16] <@Crion> "All the weird shit with the heavy beats and the synth? That's the remake. 'Quixotic' is the DJ who did that. You take the song master -- or just high enough quality, really -- and you fuck about with it." 00[20:18] <@Crion> Canterbury takes another hit. "Technically it was a group, but he wrote the songs and he sung them and got out on stage in the silly outfits. Wrote 'Bat Out of Hell' -- this is back when concept albums were big, so Bat Out of Hell and Bat Out of Hell II: Back Into Hell (no, that's it's name, swear on the Qu-- to God) were full of these 12 minute long indulgent epics that had to be chopped 00[20:18] <@Crion> down for the radio." [20:18] 6Privately, Nels thinks they should have 'fucked about with it' less. Still, the singer's good, and she's not opposed to the concept. "And people just put up with that?" 00[20:20] <@Crion> "Not particularly. Meat Loaf had some big radio hits but his passion really was musicals -- he wrote parts of Footloose, which is where that song originally comes from. Nowadays he's just an old man that says dumb shit on television." 00[20:21] <@Crion> Stewart's probably able to gauge this better than Nels, but while Canterbury still has his posh English accent his vocabulary has become much more Americanized. It's always 'shit' and never 'shite,' for instance. [20:22] 6Abruptly Nels wonders if the other Nels Foulke ever became an old woman who says dumb shit on television. She doesn't think she wants to know. "Well, there's nothing wrong with a musical. Saying dumb stuff in public is pretty bad, though." [20:22] 10Stewart's given to wonder. Was his Durance somehow American? Hard to say, impossibly rude to ask. Probably never know. 00[20:23] <@Crion> Might be that, might be the time he's spent here since. Hard to say and rude to ask though, yeah, probably. [20:24] 10Stewart: "I grew up in the 1990s, and music on the radio had stuff like this:" 10https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DH3jo8ThugE [20:25] "There was a period where they just, I don't know, raised hot teen dudes in kennels and trained them to dance and harmonize for food." 00[20:25] <@Crion> "Suppose I'm high enough for a bit of the boy bands." 00[20:25] <@Crion> He puffs again. "One of them fucked around and tried to go to outer space, if you can believe. Not from this group. The other one." [20:26] 6It takes her longer than she would like to realize he's making a joke. "It's good to know some things about music have barely changed." [20:27] "The 90s also had music like this:" 10https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTWKbfoikeg 00[20:28] <@Crion> "Never could get into grudge." 00[20:28] <@Crion> "Grunge." 00[20:28] <@Crion> "Whatever." [20:29] 6Nels makes a face. "I see why they used the kennels for the handsome ones. To stop them from making this." [20:29] 10Stewart snorts. [20:29] 10Then he giggles. 00[20:29] <@Crion> "Lots of birds found Kurt here very attractive. But maybe they just loved the legend." [20:30] 10Birds? 00[20:30] <@Crion> Well, there's a Britishism. [20:30] 10Oh, Stewart gets it. 00[20:30] <@Crion> "Women, sorry," he says after a moment, seeming vaguely embarrassed. 00[20:33] <@Crion> He puffs again. "I'm guessing we should let the summer lads talk about rap." 00[20:33] <@Crion> "Or, just put on 'Hit 'Em Up and see what's what." 00[20:34] <@Crion> He looks around the room. "That's the song that got Tupac killed." [20:35] 6Nels: "Who? How?" 00[20:35] <@Crion> "The godfather of West Coast rap. And, bullets." [20:37] 10Ohh shit. Stewart's glad Canterbury's got this and is able to avoid verbalizing his anxiety. "Yeah I'm way out of my depth there." [20:37] 6Eventually 'I don't know what that is' is going to get old. Actually, it's already starting to. "That does tend to happen." 00[20:39] <@Crion> "Rap is intertwined heavily with Black culture in--hell, I'm not the man to explain this, but here goes. You know how white people took jazz and blues from black people? Well, they did the same thing with rock and roll, and right now they're doing the same thing with rap. Except rap...well, rap doesn't sound like anything I wager you've ever heard before." He leans forward and searches for 00[20:39] <@Crion> 'Hit 'Em Up dirty'. "Don't repeat half the words you hear on this in polite company, especially not that big one." 00[20:39] <@Crion> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41qC3w3UUkU 00[20:41] <@Crion> "Three months after he put this song out, Tupac was shot dead in Las Vegas." 00[20:42] <@Crion> He puffs again. "Or was he? That's a fun rabbit hole to go down." [20:42] 6Nels: "This. Okay. Some of the other songs were a lot but this is the most." 00[20:44] <@Crion> "An entirely different artistic tradition, love. Little to no live instrumentation. You take a recorded beat on a loop and you do something halfway between spoken word poetry and singing over it. Entirely a modern form. Can't do it without at least a cassette tape deck." 00[20:44] <@Crion> "Well. And turntables." 00[20:44] <@Crion> "But you're not walking in with a horn section or even a guitar and drums." [20:45] 10Stewart looks up at 'horn section' and then quietly resolves never to tell Nels about ska. 00[20:47] <@Crion> "Since rap broke into the mainstream, it's become more and more highly produced. Interesting to note that the greater culture hasn't been able to steal it from blacks yet -- sure, it makes most of the money off of them, but you've only got a couple notable white rappers at all and none of them are an Elvis." 00[20:47] <@Crion> He pauses, then to Stewart. "Holy shit, have you told her about Elvis Presley?" [20:47] 10Stewart: "Nnno." 00[20:47] <@Crion> Shakes his head. "Hard to understand American music without Elvis, mate." [20:48] 10Stewart: "I don't really know anything about Elvis besides that- well I don't want to spoil the ending for Nels." 00[20:50] <@Crion> Canterbury leans back to the computer again. "To understand what I'm talking about, here's what we do. This is the song 'Hound Dog,' originally recorded by Big Mama Thornton in 1953." 00[20:50] <@Crion> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoHDrzw-RPg 00[20:51] <@Crion> "Now, this song, it was massively successful...as a blues song. Spent something like a year charted. Big Mama Thornton's biggest hit by far." 00[20:51] <@Crion> "Then, three years later, attractive, clean-cut young white lad Elvis Presley records...this." 00[20:51] <@Crion> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eHJ12Vhpyc [20:52] 6Nels: "I hate him already." 00[20:52] <@Crion> "This is one of the most famous songs of all time. It made Presley a permanent star. It helped launch an entire genre of music. And the main difference is...what? Slightly up tempo. Man singing. Stronger percussion throughline at the expense of the singer's emotion." [20:55] 10Stewart: "Oh I get it! He's like the Notch of music." 00[20:56] <@Crion> "Elvis was a fun character. We were talking musicals earlier; Presley was drafted to go to the Vietnam War, and he actually went. It introduced him to amphetamines and the drug use that would eventually end his life. Before he left, he met a 14-year-old girl named Priscilla...Beaumont? Something like that. He was 23. Yeah. Married her after a seven year courtship, the books will tastefully 00[20:56] <@Crion> tell you. They made a whole musical out of this, called 'Bye Bye Birdie.'" 00[20:56] <@Crion> He leans forward and does another search. "This was the fake Elvis song they came up with for it." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GP__tlb6yZU 00[20:57] <@Crion> Canterbury seems not to hear the Notch comment, probably because he doesn't know who that is. [20:59] 6Nels: "And this man was - what, the history of American music makes him that important? I'm not glad I missed all of it, but I don't think I would've wanted to see that." 00[21:01] <@Crion> "Much like Tupac, it's a big conspiracy theory that Elvis is still alive too." 00[21:02] <@Crion> "Grimly funny, maybe, that Las Vegas, where Tupac was gunned down, is also the center of the world for Elvis impersonators." 00[21:02] <@Crion> He glances at Nels. "That's people whose job or hobby is dressing up like Elvis and pretending to be him, no matter how little they look like him." 00[21:03] <@Crion> "Strange years, here." [21:03] 6She just shakes her head. [21:03] "There was a movie where a whole bunch of Elvis impersonators who impersonated Elvis at different points of his life robbed a casino or something together." 00[21:05] <@Crion> Canterbury grins. "3000 Miles to Graceland." 00[21:07] <@Crion> "Heard that movie was shit. But what a cast." [21:10] "And then this is just all music for like, buying albums of or listening to people play live at shows. There's so much work going into music people hear just incidentally. Movie soundtracks, game soundtracks. People who make careers and fortunes setting music to other people's stories." [21:11] "These are mostly electronic or orchestral compositions. Like here's one:" 10https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3SZ5sIMY6o 00[21:12] <@Crion> "Morricone!" 00[21:12] <@Crion> "Hahaha, and that fucker John Williams, right on." [21:13] 10https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enuOArEfqGo "This is Morricone." [21:15] 6Nels: "I like Morricone better, I think," 6she says absently, fiddling with her skirt. "Oh, definitely, with the guitar and - I could do some of this. Could have. Huh." 00[21:17] <@Crion> "The big guy now is this Hans Zimmer man. He's composing everything. Some guys just get all the work." [21:20] "And then there's video game music, like what you heard originally. A lot of it is totally synthesized but not all of it is." 10https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Egn_VNVKzI4 00[21:21] <@Crion> "Wasn't there that song that was just, Russian classical music that they stole for the theme to a video game?" 00[21:21] <@Crion> "Metal something." 00[21:22] <@Crion> "Metal Slug? Metal Solid?" [21:22] 6Nels hums along to the Weight of the World. Familiar, somehow. Not one of hers, but... familiar. [21:23] 10Stewart: "Metal Gear Soli, yeah." 00[21:24] <@Crion> "Really good song too. But then, that's why you'd steal it." [21:27] 6Nels: "Shitty thing to do. I mean - we play eachother's songs, it'd be hard not to, but you don't just... chop up someone else's work." [21:28] 6She yawns. "I should be getting back. Thank you for the education, and for the weed. It was... nice." 00[21:28] <@Crion> He puffs. "Well, you do and you don't. Like I said about rap -- that's what 'sampling' is. But in rap you credit where the beat came from. This lad just passed it off as his own, so yeah. Very different." 03[22:34] * mattbaby (mattbaby@sorcery-v7n841.dc.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 03[22:37] * banana is now known as banana|split Session Time: Thu Oct 03 00:00:00 2019 03[01:17] * CBN2 (CBN@sorcery-f8a3lf.mn.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 02[01:20] * CBN (CBN@sorcery-73ttu6.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 02[02:05] * mattbaby (mattbaby@sorcery-v7n841.dc.comcast.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[03:06] * CBN3 (CBN@sorcery-oj8bt0.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) has joined #gofetch 02[03:09] * CBN2 (CBN@sorcery-f8a3lf.mn.comcast.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[04:01] * banana|split is now known as banana 03[06:00] * mattbaby (mattbaby@sorcery-v7n841.dc.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 02[06:34] * mattbaby (mattbaby@sorcery-v7n841.dc.comcast.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[07:33] * CBN2 (CBN@sorcery-9b5gr1.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) has joined #gofetch 02[07:36] * CBN3 (CBN@sorcery-oj8bt0.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[09:26] * CBN2 is now known as CBN 03[14:39] * banana is now known as banana|peels 03[20:55] * mattbaby (mattbaby@sorcery-v7n841.dc.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 02[21:28] * mattbaby (mattbaby@sorcery-v7n841.dc.comcast.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[22:06] * mattbaby (mattbaby@sorcery-v7n841.dc.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch Session Time: Fri Oct 04 00:00:00 2019 02[00:49] * mattbaby (mattbaby@sorcery-v7n841.dc.comcast.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[01:12] * mattbaby (mattbaby@sorcery-v7n841.dc.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 02[01:27] * mattbaby (mattbaby@sorcery-v7n841.dc.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: ) 02[01:43] * VoxPVoxD (VoxPVoxD@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) Quit (Quit: dammitwho sucks) 03[01:52] * VoxPVoxD (VoxPVoxD@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) has joined #gofetch 03[03:49] * banana|peels is now known as banana 03[05:06] * banana is now known as banana|split 02[07:34] * dammitwho (joanofarcta@sorcery-j9socb.dynamic.onlinenw.com) Quit (Quit: ) 03[07:37] * dammitwho (joanofarcta@sorcery-j9socb.dynamic.onlinenw.com) has joined #gofetch 03[09:59] * banana|split is now known as banana 03[15:05] * banana is now known as banana|peels 00[21:07] <@Crion> 00[21:07] <@Crion> 00[21:07] <@Crion> 00[21:07] <@Crion> 00[21:07] <@Crion> 00[21:07] <@Crion> 00[21:07] <@Crion> 00[21:07] <@Crion> 00[21:10] <@Crion> A few days after the fight with the Loyalists, Stewart is on an off-day -- Tuesdays, right? -- when he gets a message on the hex box from...username "QUOTH|THE|STEWARD|KING": 00[21:11] <@Crion> <'STEWART READER,' KNOWN OTHERWISE AS 'CRITICALMASS:'> 00[21:12] <@Crion> 00[21:12] <@Crion> 00[21:12] <@Crion> 00[21:12] <@Crion> 00[21:12] <@Crion> 00[21:12] <@Crion> [21:14] 10These guys go hard. Stewart finds himself using his shift key and everything in his reply.  00[21:16] <@Crion> The little dot dot dots appear to indicate typing, then disappear, then reappear again. <HOW DOES STEWART READER DESIRE CHESAPEAKE DEVILED EGGS, SERVED WITH MIMOSAS> [21:17] 10Oh hell yes.  00[21:18] <@Crion> <THEN STEWART READER THE KING TOMORROW SHALL SEE, AT THE ELEVENTH MORNING HOUR, AT MISS SHIRLEY'S> 00[21:18] <@Crion> 00[21:19] <@Crion> 00[21:20] <@Crion> The user logs off. 00[21:21] <@Crion> How does Stewart prepare for -- and get to -- the brunch? [21:22] 10Meeting the King for brunch at the kind of restaurant whose menu prices are all in integer form... looks like Stewart is busting out one of his two (up from one) button-down shirts. Mimosas... [21:22] 10He'll drive. 00[21:23] <@Crion> The good news is this place is in the Inner Harbor, which means it's just a quick walk from the parking garage of the law firm. 00[21:23] <@Crion> So hey, free parking. [21:24] 10That's always nice. He arrives at about 10:50; anxiety over lateness always has Stewart showing up to places slightly early. 00[21:27] <@Crion> It's an, uh, downright balmy day for autumn -- early October, now. But not uncomfortable. Quite the opposite, in fact; put it at something like 71 degrees, no humidity. The Inner Harbor is what it always is. Doesn't look much like the rest of the city. Technically this place has a dress code, but, dress codes have a very specific intent in downtown Baltimore. Flumpy white teens in cargo shorts 00[21:27] <@Crion> and skater shirts stand far less of a chance of getting kicked out than black teens in jeans and plain white tees. This is intentional. 00[21:28] <@Crion> Sounds like Stewart is dressed well either way, though, so he'll see Kingsley waving to him from an outdoor table with a lot of empty seats around it. Gerald's sitting next to him. Both appear to be in good spirits, though Gerald is obviously working security. 00[21:29] <@Crion> For his, ah, brother, not for the restaurant. 00[21:32] <@Crion> There's an umbrella angled to cover them from the high late morning sun. [21:32] 10Stewart smiles at them both as he sits down. Both of them? What's all this about. Is something wrong...? 00[21:33] <@Crion> Kingsley smiles back. "This place says they don't take reservations, but, well. Every promise is flexible." 00[21:33] <@Crion> Gerald sips his water. "Don't be an asshole, Bob." 00[21:33] <@Crion> Kingsley: "What?" 00[21:33] <@Crion> Gerald: "You're doing that thing where you say a thing--" 00[21:33] <@Crion> Kingsley: "Yes." 00[21:33] <@Crion> Gerald: "And it's got an obvious double meaning." 00[21:34] <@Crion> "A specific point, then an ominous broader point." 00[21:34] <@Crion> Kingsley sighs. "I suppose it does become force of habit." 00[21:34] <@Crion> Gerald: "Right." 00[21:37] <@Crion> Robert Kingsley: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpQArtCeXTk You understand, I've got a plan for us; I bet you didn't know that I was dangerous. 00[21:38] <@Crion> Gerald Kingsley: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjTTB6yII4o This ain't no place for no hero; this ain't no place for no better man. 00[21:42] <@Crion> Kingsley: "But the boy isn't scared of a little bit of...theatrical embellishment. Am I right, Stewart? Feel free to order off the menu. This is a business lunch. It shall be expensed." [21:44] 10Stewart came here for Chesapeake deviled eggs, and by hell and all its angels he's going to have some Chesapeake deviled eggs. "Business lunch, yeah? So, what's up?" 00[21:46] <@Crion> Kingsley orders eggs for the table, then the chicken and waffles. Gerald gets the Chesapeake chicken sandwich. A pitcher of mimosas is ordered for the table. 00[21:46] <@Crion> Stewart is of course entitled to an entree as well, if he'd like. [21:48] 10There's no reason you can't combine two different egg+crab foods at the same meal, right? So he'll get the crab cake eggs benedict. 00[21:48] <@Crion> Kingsley nods in approval, and the waitress takes it down. When she's gone: "This is about the loyalists." [21:52] 10Stewart resists the urge to pluck at his own sleeve rather than look at the men across the table. "Alright. Are the - are Gemma and Peter okay?" 00[21:53] <@Crion> Gerald: "To the extent that they can be, and that we trust them. Spring's handling the triage. We're looking into..." 00[21:53] <@Crion> He pauses. "We're checking up on things." 00[21:53] <@Crion> "Same as we did for you lot." 00[21:53] <@Crion> "Trust, but verify." 00[21:53] <@Crion> Kingsley nods. [21:53] 10Stewart eats fitfully, not for lack of hunger or because the food is bad (it's amazing), but because he's afraid of being in a spot where he has to talk with his mouth full or where he has to chew while these two are staring at him expectantly. "Sure, yeah, that makes sense." 00[21:55] <@Crion> Kingsley: "With your motley, the concern was that you all appeared in the same cluster. That's suspicious. These two were chased by a bunch of loyalist running dogs but not hurt until you could save them. That's a tactic that's been used to insert spies or Trojan horses before." He frowns. "One time, literally a horseman. Neither here nor there." 00[21:57] <@Crion> He waves a fork as he spears another egg. "We don't expect to come back with concerns on them, but Santander and Ravens are handling the inquiry. And Santander's team. You'll meet them in time. What I want, here and now, are your impressions of the loyalists themselves." 00[21:58] <@Crion> Gerald pops an egg with crab lump on it full in his mouth and chews politely while watching the street. Has Stewart filed a formal report already? He hasn't been asked to, but, perhaps he's that sort of go-getter. 00[21:59] <@Crion> Beyond his correspondence with Lauren, of course. [21:59] 10Nothing beyond what he and Gerald talked about the day Gerald came to pick the refugees up. "Impressions?" 00[22:03] <@Crion> Kingsley: "Impressions. It has been decided -- mainly by fate, but also, to be brutally honest, to minimize Freehold exposure in the case this is a tremendous honey pot -- that your motley will be handling the...response...to these fools. That decision was made in conference of all four seasonal monarchs, but I will be plain: I am King, and the decision redounded to me. Given both your motley's 00[22:03] <@Crion> disposition and the beneficient outcome of your first interaction with them, I think this is well within your safe capability." 00[22:04] <@Crion> "I mean, of course, not just 'you,'" Kingsley points both hands with palms opened upward at Stewart, "but 'you.'" He widens his arms to encompass a theoretical group. [22:05] 10Stewart: "So by 'response', you mean... what, exactly?" 00[22:06] <@Crion> Kingsley smiles. "My question gets answered first. Impressions?" [22:07] 10Stewart drums his fingers on the table. Mimosas here yet? 00[22:07] <@Crion> Oh, yes. 00[22:07] <@Crion> Have been. Came with the eggs. [22:09] 10Stewart takes a slow drink while he gathers his thoughts. God, that's good. "They're, uh... I've never really seen people like that in real life. Just... hunting people. There was an older guy, or he looked older, and he seemed to be in charge. He didn't jump in, and he gave the order to retreat." 00[22:10] <@Crion> Kingsley nods. "That'll be Proctor. How did he strike you as a leader?" 00[22:10] <@Crion> Gerald: "I think he already gave the answer, there." [22:13] 10Stewart: "He didn't seem to rule by love. Tony laid this one guy out with, like, a football tackle, almost... the old guy - Proctor? - grabbed him by the hair, called him stupid. Melanie took out this big Zarya-looking lady who had a chainsaw, and then a fourth guy, kind of looked like a young Mr. Peanut, sounded like the baby from Family Guy, he said he was called 'the Cambridge Son'." [22:15] "Then in the back there was someone who looked like she didn't want to be there. Like she was a captive too, almost." [22:18] "Proctor had a pistol, like an army- like an M1911, I think? Cambridge Son had like a military dress saber. Chainsaw's name was like, Kale? Or Kayael? I don't know, it was hard to hear. The guy Tony took out, Proctor called him Kid Kid Kid. "Not like, 'Kid, kid, kid' like you're clucking your tongue but all at once like spray of bullets. Kid-kid-kid." 00[22:22] <@Crion> Kingsley nods. "What's a Zarya?" 00[22:22] <@Crion> Gerald looks like he's about to say something, but doesn't. 00[22:22] <@Crion> Stewart's show, after all. [22:22] 10Stewart: "Oh, it's a- it's a character from a game. She was big, buff, broad-shouldered, short pink hair." 00[22:23] <@Crion> Kingsley nods. "Okay. The last one. The one in the back. She's the one I think we're concerned with. Any further thoughts on her?" [22:26] 10Stewart: "She was- I was off in an alley, trying to get the- to get Gemma and Peter to run over there. My plan was to Hidden Reality a tunnel with a straight shot to the Hollow. It was kind of a dumb plan, in retrospect, to try and be visible and hidden at the same time. But the girl in the back saw me and she didn't rat me out. I don't know if the others ever even knew I was there." 00[22:27] <@Crion> Kingsley's eyes narrow, and he glances over at Gerald, who shrugs. 00[22:27] <@Crion> Kingsley: "So we have...something of a--" 00[22:28] <@Crion> Food's here! [22:28] 10Oh hell yes. 00[22:28] <@Crion> How are the eggs? [22:28] 10Cracking the poached egg so the yolk runs with the Hollandaise all over the crab cake... fuuuuuuuuuuck. 00[22:31] <@Crion> Once they've all eaten a little bit, and the waitress has refilled the mimosas and absconded, Kingsley: "We have something of a conflict of interest." 00[22:31] <@Crion> "It's the position of this court that we do not take in loyalists. We do not jail loyalists, obviously. And Proctor cannot -- for the fourth time since Reagan's inauguration, apparently -- be permitted to maraud in our near Hedge." 00[22:32] <@Crion> "However, it is also the position of this court that Loser -- that woman who didn't turn your run-in with the loyalists into a bloodbath pre-emptively -- is a valuable asset." 00[22:32] <@Crion> "We've...run across her before. When she was a younger teenager." 00[22:33] <@Crion> Gerald: "It was my impression she was dead." [22:33] "I'm sorry. An asset to..." 00[22:33] <@Crion> Kingsley: "This freehold." 00[22:33] <@Crion> "And this court." [22:34] 10Stewart nods. "Okay." 00[22:35] <@Crion> Gerald: "It also wasn't the intention for the maiden voyage here to be a kill list." He takes another big bite of his sandwich. 00[22:35] <@Crion> Kingsley: "That's also true." 00[22:37] <@Crion> The king of the Freehold of Baltimore: "Other courts will give other instructions. That's the...variable, that comes into play, with these multi-court motleys. We all knew this going in. The court will understand however you wish to take this." 00[22:37] <@Crion> "The motley, I mean." 00[22:37] <@Crion> "However the motley wishes to take this." [22:38] 10Stewart: "You're saying you want us to..." 00[22:38] <@Crion> He finishes a waffle, with chicken speared on with it. "However, I want you to know what resources you have access to. As I currently run this freehold, I am in possession of the power to direct the full punishment that our laws allow against those who serve the enemy." 00[22:39] <@Crion> "If you can find where Proctor and his pack lay their heads, I can...have it dealt with. It is, indeed, my job to have it dealt with. What I would ask in return is you conspire for Loser not to be there, for that." 00[22:40] <@Crion> "Or," he says, "you can handle it yourselves." 00[22:40] <@Crion> "But they cannot go home, and under no circumstances can they stay here." [22:40] 10Stewart's voice is very faint. "...right." 00[22:41] <@Crion> Spearing the next bit of waffle. "It would, perhaps, feel better if we could just...throw them in a cell. Throw away the key." 00[22:41] <@Crion> "But then, we know how that can feel." [22:42] 10Stewart flexes his wrists unconsciously. 00[22:43] <@Crion> Kingsley puts down his fork and sips his mimosa. "And that is one place we align with the Court of Summer. This freehold does not take prisoners. We will not become our keepers. Sometimes that means we cannot defer a hideous act. Sometimes that is how it has to be." 00[22:44] <@Crion> "...Should it come to it, Gerald will run the freehold fire team. You should put together a method of contact with Lauren for passing on word." [22:44] 10Stewart opens his mouth, finds no words, and takes solace in another bite of egg and another long sip of mimosa. Then he speaks. "I guess... I guess we'll need to work out our response as a group. I don't- I have no idea how the others will react to this kind of-- order." [22:44] "It's not secret, right? That Loser isn't... a target?" [22:45] "I can tell them." 00[22:47] <@Crion> Kingsley nods. "You should be aware, however, that when I say Loser is not a target, I speak for Autumn. Not for the freehold. Other Courts have already expressed other opinions." 00[22:47] <@Crion> He smiles faintly again. "But then, what use is being in season if you can't get your way?" [22:47] 10Stewart: "...oh." 00[22:48] <@Crion> "If you bring Loser in, you will have explicit cover and protection from the King of Baltimore." 00[22:50] <@Crion> He sips his mimosa again. "But it's up to you to sell that. And make it happen." [22:51] 10Stewart: "I'll report the will of the group. And then whether it's us or not us we'll. We'll make it happen." 00[22:56] <@Crion> Gerald nods, this time. "And when I say that I'd appreciate not getting that call, the one to put together a team, I want you to understand that what I mean is you find some way to trick or oathbind them to changing their ways or going to California or something." 00[22:56] <@Crion> Kingsley gives Gerald a look. 00[22:56] <@Crion> The fetch sighs. "But I'd prefer to take that call than have you lot do it yourself." [22:59] 10Stewart: "I don't know what the others will think. But we'll figure it out." [22:59] 10A beat later: "So I guess this is the thing? That we were preparing for?" 00[23:00] <@Crion> Kingsley almost cackles. 00[23:00] <@Crion> "Ah, Stewart. Stewart, Stewart, Stewart." 00[23:00] <@Crion> "Finish your eggs." [23:02] 10Stewart: "...why are you laughing at me?" 00[23:07] <@Crion> Kingsley looks up from his food and for a second his eyes are dead flat, his mouth a thin line. Then he leans back and grimaces. "That's not the right question. First, I'm not laughing at you. Second, if I was, the answer would clearly be that I'm an asshole who is hiding something. Which is something that you already knew. So. The question you should ask -- and that I won't answer -- is:" 00[23:07] <@Crion> "'What are you so afraid of?'" 00[23:07] <@Crion> He smiles a nasty smile. "And I guarantee you this: it's not the Proctor." [23:08] "Oh." [23:08] "Well, great." 00[23:08] <@Crion> Gerald ever-so-slightly shakes his head. 00[23:09] <@Crion> Kingsley: "Isn't it just so." 00[23:09] <@Crion> He takes another drink. "Well, this got more tense than I'd hoped. Less so than I'd, mmm, feared." 00[23:10] <@Crion> "But then. This is what making partner looks like. Sometimes it's fun. Sometimes it's ambush lunches with the boss." 00[23:11] <@Crion> Gerald: "You wouldn't be here if we didn't have every faith in you. Which you should keep in mind, should you run into some of the other Autumn courtiers and they're unaccountably assholes to you." 00[23:12] <@Crion> Kingsley's turn to shrug. "Some people rise to their level of competency early." [23:15] 10This isn't normal. The synchronicity, five Lost emerging at the same time, coalescing so easily. This is pregnant with significance, one they clearly don't understand themselves. Fear rises from impotence, and from fear the desperate urge for control. Violence, too, rises from fear, like smoke from a fire. He's not to blame. There's no need to take it personally. A bolt loosens, one notch [23:15] 10at a time. [23:15] "Are you thinking of anyone in particular when you say that?" 00[23:17] <@Crion> Kingsley: "Oh, absolutely. But not Lauren, if that's what you're assuming." 00[23:18] <@Crion> Gerald: "There are a number of courtiers who...don't come by the office much. You'll be introduced. When they return their e-mails and stop claiming they have the flu." 00[23:18] <@Crion> Kingsley: "Christ, it's flu season again, isn't it." [23:18] "Oh, no, Lauren's always been super nice. I just, you know, I don't know everybody yet." 00[23:21] <@Crion> Kingsley: "How to put this diplomatically. Autumn is a court of specialists, with special remits. You're one of the closest things to a generalist that we have. Which might have put an undue amount of pressure on you. But no matter how poorly you think you're doing, or how badly you think you're comporting yourself, we aggressively scouted you for very good reasons. One of which is that you'll 00[23:21] <@Crion> ask the Autumn King why he's laughing at you at brunch, yes, but another being that you'll show up for brunch to begin with." [23:23] 10Stewart: "You must not always lead with the deviled eggs." 00[23:23] <@Crion> "Usually we just get coffee." Gerald says, then finishes his sandwich. 00[23:23] <@Crion> Kingsley: "Don't let it go to your head." 00[23:24] <@Crion> Has Stewart ate and drank his fill? 00[23:24] <@Crion> He can also ask some more questions, but, the boundaries of the answering have been fairly well laid out. [23:26] 10He hasn't drank his fill, but Stewart's what you call an anti-social drinker. "Okay. One more question. What's the, ah, clearance level here? Who's it okay to talk to this about. The others, obviously, but..." 10It's obvious to at least two people at the table he's asking if he can loop Lauren in. 00[23:28] <@Crion> "Lauren and Santander are cleared, if not fully briefed on Lauren's part. Santander is going to know the goings-on whether we tell him or not -- and we do -- but our position...after some discussion..." Kingsley glances at Gerald. "...is that motley business isn't ours to divulge. So you control that particular spigot. Ravens, of course, knows everything." [23:29] 10Stewart: "Alright. Cool. Thanks." 00[23:30] <@Crion> Kingsley raises his glass. "Keep us in the loop." 00[23:30] <@Crion> Gerald: "And good hun--" 00[23:30] <@Crion> "...Good luck." [23:33] 10Stewart gets two bottles of champagne and a jug of Sunny D on the way home. He thinks about telling Lauren about his day. He thinks about it a lot. But between work that evening and the eternal brunch that carries him to quiet oblivion he just never finds an opening. Funny how that works out. 00[23:34] <@Crion> --Fin. Session Time: Sat Oct 05 00:00:00 2019 03[00:03] * dammitwhoa (dammitwhoa@sorcery-5fkv5e.or.frontiernet.net) has joined #gofetch 03[01:30] * banana|peels is now known as banana 02[03:33] * CBN (CBN@sorcery-9b5gr1.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) Quit (Connection closed) 02[04:41] * dammitwhoa (dammitwhoa@sorcery-5fkv5e.or.frontiernet.net) Quit (Quit: ) 03[10:40] * CBN (CBN@sorcery-mp5t2b.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) has joined #gofetch 03[11:12] * banana is now known as banana|peels 03[13:50] * GreatClownVoxPVoxD (VoxPVoxD@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) has joined #gofetch 02[13:51] * VoxPVoxD (VoxPVoxD@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 02[14:29] * GreatClownVoxPVoxD (VoxPVoxD@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) Quit (Quit: dammitwho sucks) 03[14:29] * VoxPVoxD (VoxPVoxD@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) has joined #gofetch 03[20:57] * banana|peels is now known as banana 00[21:11] <@Crion> 00[21:11] <@Crion> 00[21:11] <@Crion> 00[21:11] <@Crion> 00[21:11] <@Crion> 00[21:11] <@Crion> 00[21:11] <@Crion> 00[21:11] <@Crion> 00[21:11] <@Crion> 00[21:14] <@Crion> It's still early October; some time has passed since your encounter in the Hedge with the Proctor and his pack. The two rescued changelings are in the care of the Spring Court at the moment -- it's seeming likely that Spring and Winter are getting new courtiers out of this moment, bringing the number of new changelings in the Freehold of Baltimore to an odd seven in the past six months. This 00[21:14] <@Crion> is quite unusual, and there are intimations that perhaps it's straining the resources of the freehold to deal with it all at once -- at least, if the amount of complaining Banthem is doing to Kingsley upstairs at The Sidereal over the past few days is any indication. 00[21:15] <@Crion> Of course, who knows if anyone in your motley is aware of any of that! You could have spent the intervening time bunkered down in your Hollow, or rooting around the Hedge, or gaming. Or all of the above. What have you been up to? [21:17] 13One thing Melanie's been up to - insofar as she's "up to" tasks involving positive action at all - is a direct followon from the rescue situation. At some point when most of the incipient team are around she's going to try and get everyone's attention: "Um, could I tell you all something? Not me exactly. I need to pass something on. If nobody's busy." [21:18] 7Maggie is sitting in the warehouse's common area - carpet has laid down to make the bare concrete less unpleasant upon the feet, and comfortable (if old) chairs placed around the large tv connected to the media server. From it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRo7tMnM60I [21:18] 10Stewart's been throwing himself into his work. He started a new Youtube series which is doing decent numbers, he's been puttering around the Hollow making sure everyone's TVs and computers are in working order, and he's been doing tech support for the freehold. For fun he digs around online for resources on vampires, using the occult lore he does know to separate the wheat from the chaff [21:18] 10in far-flung discords, unlisted wikis, and dark web redditlikes. [21:18] "Hey, MELANIE! Come out here, there's a show I think you should s-- oh, there you are!" [21:19] 5Tony's spent the time falling behind on his movie-watching. Most of his free time has been going towards some combination of keeping the Hollow and the immediate surroundings relatively tidy, hauling a futon into his hovel, and getting some old lawn furniture to set up a makeshift overflow-seating space for the ground floor. When pressed, he'll admit it's because he doesn't want to make anyone have to stand if they find any more [21:19] stragglers out there, but so far it's mostly given Steve the opportunity to sit in like half a dozen different chairs. [21:19] 13Melanie: "What's this." [21:19] 10His only real social contact, except for when Maggie pins him down long enough to make him eat something, is with Lauren, and only because Lauren's always online. He hasn't hung out with her in person since they got the Superfetch set up. He keeps floating and discarding ideas for asking her to do stuff. [21:20] 7Maggie: "It's a mystery program! This little bald fella solves crimes, but he uses ze psychology and ze little gray cells, I bet you'd get a kick out of it! Hold up though, what was it you wanted to pass on?" [21:21] "Oh, it's a period drama? That's an amazing hat- yes! Sorry. Okay." [21:22] 13The Elemental straightens, rustling gently over the 'bip' noise of a remote hitting pause. "I have information from the summer court." [21:24] 13Once she's presenting, Melanie's diffidence vanishes, replaced by smooth articulation. It's very much like an actor taking on a stage persona; a transformation that takes place when there's no back and forth of actual reactions to deal with or when she gets overly excited. [21:24] 5Tony's also been converting a corner of the first floor into a kitchenette. So far there's enough of an oven there that he's been baking. Currently, he's cleaning a spot of dirt off of the doorhandle while he waits for tonight's experiment to finish: Chocolate chip banana bread. [21:24] "The Keeper loyalists we drove off last week are known to the freehold, in concept. Their principal is the shitty old man, who has form." [21:25] "He calls himself the Proctor, in keeping with their apparent tradition of using the dumbest possible monikers - it's a defense against hostile magic as well as resocialisation." [21:26] "Proctor has friends on the Other Side. He's repeatedly formed teams to capture, harass and convert the Lost here and in other places, perhaps other countries. They don't last, but he's a notorious coward with a habit of making it out alive." [21:27] 10Stewart's taking a break from hooking the fridge up. Looks like Melanie got pulled aside too. [21:27] "Consequently: K.I.L.L., Kid Kid.. Kid Kid, some number of kids, the sword guy, they're younger. Inexperienced. The woman they called 'Loser' is a different story, another repeat offender." [21:29] "Summer is, we will note, in occlusion. The modus operandi of Proctor's asshole squads is that they stick to a region, and in this case it's our region of the Hedge. We have the power and opportunity to confront them, and I'm told it's our responsibility to do so." [21:29] 10Stewart: "I'm hearing the same thing from the King." [21:29] "Except I'm being told that we have to make sure Loser's okay." [21:29] "Everyone else needs to go, though." [21:30] 7Maggie raises her eyebrows. "They're asking us to... you know, do away with them?" [21:30] 5Tony hollers over from the kitchen. "Yeah but what's their fuckin'...deal?" [21:30] 13Melanie clasps her limbs behind her back. It doesn't really work as a rhetorical stance, since her trun- her torso is barely thicker than her arms. "We're to kill them. They've come back too many times." [21:30] "Not necessarily," 10Stewart says hastily. [21:30] "We can... we have the option of calling in a team." [21:30] "If we don't want to do it ourselves." [21:30] 13Melanie: "Ehh." [21:31] "I mean ultimately you're right. We'd have support if we really need it. But I think it's.. needed that we don't need it.." [21:31] 10Stewart: "I was told that if we can locate them we can just call in a... a hit squad." [21:32] 13To Tony: "Like Stockholm Syndrome for faeries. They're cowards and recidivists who want everyone else to suffer worse pain so they can forget theirs." [21:32] 7Maggie: "Uff. Her Gardenership's said we're to handle them in whatever way we're comfortable with, so long as they're, y'know, handled. Though we can't exactly resettle the little shits. 'scuse me." [21:33] 13Melanie slumps slightly. "Have we all been given slightly conflicting instructions." [21:33] 10Stewart: "Seems so. I got the impression that the decision to protect Loser was not... unanimous." [21:35] 7She shrugs. "Maybe difference of emphasis. We all know we can't let them hurt anybody else, and s'long as that's done I can't imagine Their Nibs getting too upset about the how. Though," 7She adds sadly, "I don't see much way of doing it other than-- gkkkk!" 7She draws a finger across her throat. [21:35] 5Tony shrugs. "Doesn't sound that conflicting to me, though? For what it's worth, my play is that the old guy and the real stuffy one have to go, everybody else, whatever. Not sure the chainsaw one or the ner---the Kid one---are gonna want to talk after we bury their friends though." [21:37] "That little girl at the back? We should try and get her out... I mean maybe that's a trap, like a dove pretending to have a broke wing so it can trick and eat a wolf-" 7Possible Arcadia-based misunderstanding of how doves work here. "But if it is, it's a trap that works on us not wanting to hurt people we don't have to, so I guess we gotta run into it anyway." 00[21:37] <@Crion> Steve's by every now and again, always when Tony's around, and occasionally amuses himself by helping or harming the clean-up effort, or sometimes both at once, but never in any catastrophic way. He won't have reported any sign of the loyalists in the near Hedge recently, but then, it's unclear the degree to which he remembers or cares to look. [21:37] "Kid Kid Kid shot Nels in the chest." [21:37] 13Melanie: "We don't have to become people who do this regularly. There was a.. promise about that." [21:38] "What do you know about Loser?" 13It's not a name you choose for yourself. [21:38] 10Stewart: "I know it's not her first time. I know the Autumn Court considers her an asset, or a potential asset. And I know that she had a chance to blow my cover out there and she didn't do it." [21:39] "I don't know why she was out there in the first place, I don't know what she's after, and I don't know why the King cares." [21:39] 5Tony gestures to Stewart with an oven mitt. "Also there's shooting Nels yeah. Fuckin' A." [21:40] 13Melanie: "It seems okay to err on the side of care." [21:41] 10Stewart: "No matter what we do, we have to find them. That means, probably, a lot of time in the Hedge." [21:43] "Let's practice learning this place when we have pieces of time and at least a pair of people. You're right, but none of us should be going out there alone!" [21:44] 7She nods. "That's just good wilderness sense." [21:47] 13Smokeless heat shimmers around Melanie, an echo of record-breaking weather earlier in the year. The fridge Tony's wrangling shudders for a moment before gurgling back to life. "There's another reason I wouldn't want to encounter any of the loyalists alone, even if that wasn't super dangerous." [21:48] "They, um, repel me. Something about what they do, who they've chosen to be.. it's an unfair reaction. Choice might not be the right term. But I want to.. I made a promise to something about fights to the death. It feels like it's not worth living as long as monsters like Proctor go on. I know that's wrong, so." [21:49] 10Stewart: "Like a supra-ethical compulsion? A geas?" [21:49] 10That's kind of cool... [21:50] 5Tony: "That sounds bad? But good to know." [21:51] 6Nels was studying, and practicing some of the songs she heard, and distinctly not going on adventures into the hedge (though she has been checking out the area around the Wherehouse). So when she wanders into the place from the elevator it's almost a surprise. "Um, hi? Did I miss an alarm...?" [21:51] 5The timer goes off. Tony retrieves the banana bread, and sets it to cool on the range. Now the waiting game begins. [21:51] 13Melanie: "All I mean is, if we get the chance to really permanently end them, that's what I want to do. So if it's not the right thing to do at the time, please.. speak up. Haha." [21:52] 10Oh. She just wants to- oh. [21:52] 13Oh it's Nels. Rippling heat fades. Melanie subsides into embarassment and physically takes a couple of steps back. [21:53] 6Nels: "You're talking about the creeps? Yeah, we should get 'em." [21:53] "Nels! Heya! Naw, we just got started talking about some stuff. Like, a minute ago, so you've got good timing." [22:00] 10Stewart: "So... the plan is to do it ourselves?" [22:01] 7Maggie: "No better way." [22:01] 13Melanie: "If we don't do it, someone else has to." [22:02] 10Stewart: "...alright." [22:03] 7Maggie: "Can't see that Proctor fella letting this go, and I sure wouldn't want him creeping up on my back in the Thorns." [22:03] "What's the actual-- we call go out together, like a, a posse?" [22:06] "Figure we should at least see the lay of the land and whatnot. We shoulda done that anyway, I guess..." [22:06] 13Is Stewart really okay with this... "Maybe it's a long term thing. We don't have to dedicate ourselves to prowling the hedge like it's hunting season. We should explore over time and look for signs, trails." [22:07] 5Tony: "Steve hasn't mentioned anything from them lately, do we have anything else to go on?" [22:10] 6Nels: "They shot me. Fair is fair. So." [22:12] 13Melanie: "Steve and his horrible friends might come up with something. Until then, shall we just explore the local Hedge from time to time and, tell each other what we find?" [22:13] 6Also, delighted: "And how is Steve? I haven't seen him in a while." [22:13] 6Frowning: "Their friends are probably fine. Steve is just - incorrigible. They're a goose." [22:14] 5Tony: "Oh he's been around." 5 Tony brushes a stray feather from the common area furniture.  "Probably good, hard to tell with them." 00[22:15] <@Crion> Steve's actually been around more often the last couple days, and somewhat nicer -- perhaps suspiciously so...but he seems to want to spend more time in here with Tony than he does out there. [22:16] 6Good goose. [22:17] 13To be fair it's a lot nicer in here than out. "Do hobgoblins actually like being hobgoblins?" [22:17] 6Nels: "They would rather be alive than not, I can tell you that." [22:18] 13Melanie: "Well I guess that's easier inside." [22:18] 5Tony: "They like beer and messing around with our stuff, from there it's just philosophy." [22:18] "That's a peculiar question. What's the alternative?" [22:18] 6Nels gestures to herself. [22:19] 13An example of a human? She does pass muster better than most of us. [22:19] 7That was to Melanie, about whether hobgoblins like being hobgoblins. [22:20] 6That's true. Still valid. [22:21] 5Tony swaps the side of his own head with an oven mitt. "Oh stupid, how'd I not mention this? Do any of you know what pigs are? Or not pigs, like..."5He clears his throat, "Steve said, The Pigs." 5You can feel the emphasis caps. [22:22] 6Nels: "Seen a few." 6She doesn't elaborate, but does pat her purse to ensure the revolver is there. (It is.) [22:22] 7She sits up. "The police are sniffin' around here? The hobgoblin police? Oh, I don't like that at all." [22:23] 5Tony shrugs and touches the banana bread with a finger. Cool enough for a knife, so he starts slicing. Over his shoulder: "They didn't sound like regular or, regular for hobgoblins maybe? Police. Steve didn't elaborate and you try getting more out of that one than he wants." [22:23] 13Melanie: "Oh." [22:23] "Gonna have to shoo them off, then." [22:24] "Mr. List told me about those guys. They're kind of created from the Jungian collective unconscious Baltimore view of cops. Like.. directly and exactly from." [22:24] "So imagine if BPD was, just as bad?" [22:25] 6Nels: "I was just told to dodge 'em and pretend they weren't there." [22:26] 13Melanie: "Maybe we could leave the hollow for a while and go do something in the world until they stop sniffing around." [22:26] 5Tony: "No wonder Steve's been hanging out so much. Anyway, banana bread. Hands for plates kids!" 5 Tony starts carving off slices for anyone who wants to swing by the kitchen. [22:27] 13Omg nevermind "..wait no I'm staying here. Yum." [22:27] 10Oh hell yes. [22:28] 6Augh. Augh yes. "Slice for me, please." [22:29] 5Tony distributes the banana bread. It has chocolate chips all nicely melted throughout, so there's a pretty high floor for how bad it can possibly be. C+ in Home Ec, easy. [22:29] 13Melanie: "I never had any trouble with the cops when I moved to the city but I had a lot of teammates who did. They tell stories which are like wow, is the hate really that bad, and then you just.. see that exact stuff being real on TV and in the paper." [22:29] 6Nels: "They used to be even worse." [22:32] 13Melanie: "I think it goes back to, like, what the police are really for. Have you ever read Settlers by J Sakai?" [22:32] 5Tony gives Melanie the look of you-should-know-that's-no, as he usually does when she asks questions about books. [22:34] 13Melanie considers the look, and the audience generally. [22:34] 10Stewart: "What's it called?" [22:34] 6Nels: "Who?" [22:34] "It's basically about the early history of America and other countries that were colonised and.. the short version is, that can lead to problems." [22:35] "Amyagway, mgno."5 Tony finishes chewing and swallows the piece of banana bread he was on. "They get worse and they get better, The Pigs, I think? But right now they're especially bad, which is why Steve's been around so much, but they're never going to really go away, and I'm going to run out of flour sometime here, so we should probably go do...something?" [22:35] 13To Stewart: "I'll send you a PDF." [22:35] "We could go shopping.. or we could watch that show about the hatted monsieur." [22:36] 5Tony puts another pan over this one to help keep it warm, and neatly sets aside the oven mitts. "Besides, I don't want Steve being scared, or eating and drinking all my stuff." [22:36] "Shopping for flour I meant." [22:36] 5Tony: "So, better to go out there to get the hours in, even if we don't get too much out of it." [22:37] 5He sighs a little. "Hiding from other people's problems just makes them ours." [22:37] 6Nels: "We get them out of the hedge." [22:37] "That's something." [22:37] 5Tony: "Or at least out of our corner of it for awhile." [22:38] 10Stewart: "So like, flush out the Pigs like they're prairie dogs?" [22:38] 7Maggie: "Aw, I don't mind. Going to work feels good, so long as it's work that you can see the use of it." [22:38] 5Getting into the idea more, but more to himself than anyone else. "Hell yeah, let's go pick a fight with some cops." [22:39] 6Nels: "No, no. Let's go pick off some cops so's that they don't know there was a fight at all." [22:39] 5Tony simmers slightly. "Yeah that's probably smarter. But let's go before I sober up too much." [22:40] 5You thought Tony was baking sober? Folly. [22:41] 10Stewart still faintly can't believe this is happening, but he goes along. [22:41] 6If he hasn't learned that all cops are bastards by now, Nels can tell stories. [22:42] 13Tony's nongourmet snacks are delicious. Like a sort of diner food version of desserts. Digestion's.. difficult, though, and Melanie is exhausted by this much socialisation. She likes her new friends(? does she have the right to that word) so much and wants to keep up with being normal. She kind of doesn't want to go out right now. But she never really wants to go out, and it wouldn't [22:42] 13be ok to give into that. [22:43] 7Maggie: "Cheer up, Mel!" 7She slaps Melanie on the back heartily. "We can watch Monsieur Poirot when we get back." [22:45] "Yes, okay." 13Melanie sways a little, though it feels about as unyielding as slapping a wall. [22:47] 5Tony's thinking out loud, pacing in the kitchen, sipping from a previously hidden surprise beer. "So we need to get rid of the Loyalists, and chase off the Pigs. Or get rid of some of the Loyalists, and The Pigs are out there. Hm. Hm." [22:48] "Let's not try and find the loyalists today. The hedgepolice would, like, take their side." [22:49] 6Nels: "And we really just want them to go away. Like, all of them. So." [22:49] 6She pauses. "That is what we want, right?" [22:52] 5Tony swigs. "You can't really make The Pigs go away forever, Steve was saying. It's the weather." 5Slug. "Not that that means we can't go punch the rain in the stupid head while we're doing other stuff." [22:53] 6Nels: "Does fighting them make them go away or just sniff around more?" [22:53] "That wasn't explained to me, when I learned about the pigs." [22:55] 10Stewart: "Yeah we're not going to end up calling down the Hob National Guard, or something, are we?" [22:56] 5Tony shrugs. "Not really sure, but you gotta figure it makes THOSE Pigs not able to sniff for awhile. Anyway that's just a thing Steve was explaining earlier, so things to think about.5 Slowly, inevitably, he is sobering up just enough to rethink the worst of this. "Besides, we've got the Loyalists to definitely take care of right now, don't we?" [22:57] 6Nels: "They shot me." [22:58] 6She nods, self-assured. [22:58] 13Melanie: "No, not right now! I mean that would be totally okay if we somehow accomplished it? But nobody was expecting us to immediately go and hunt them down, without planning or training or information." [22:59] 6She deflates. That's a good point. "...maybe we can do that later." [22:59] 5Tony: "I dunno about you Melanie but when Coach C and Spring tell me to do something it's usually pretty immediate. We can be smart about it though yeah." [22:59] 5Tony: "And they said, Proctor's out, bogue snob guy's out, everyone else they don't care, we can rock-paper-scissors on that if we gotta." [23:00] 6Suddenly: "The one who - she looked miserable. We should help." [23:00] "That was Loser." [23:01] 13'Coach', lol. "I mean I totally agree with the goal. Get rid of Proctor and.. maybe see if Loser isn't ike the others. But maybe we could-" 13she makes a knob-turning motion in the air. "Start with looking for their trail. We shouldn't go out there aiming to actually find and fight them on the spot, not knowing what they're up to or whether they're in a position of power." [23:01] 13'Coach', lol. "I mean I totally agree with the goal. Get rid of Proctor and.. maybe see if Loser isn't ike the others. But maybe we could-" 13she makes a knob-turning motion in the air. "Start with looking for their trail. We shouldn't go out there aiming to actually find and fight them on the spot, not knowing what they're up to or whether they're in a position of power." [23:05] 7Maggie, slowly: "Hitting the loyalists immediately sounds like a good way to get a chainsaw in the snoot." [23:05] 5Tony: "We should figure out how to avoid the Pigs while we're getting at the Loyalists, can we all agree on that?" [23:05] "Sure." [23:05] 5T: "Just to keep this a one-front war today, anyway." [23:06] 6Grumbling: "They shot me." [23:07] 13Melanie: "But we don't want them to shoot you again." [23:07] 6Nels: "I know! I know." [23:08] 6She's both younger and older than Melanie. That's weird. Best not to think about it. [23:28] 6It's surprisingly easy to slide into the position of a distressed person lost in the hedge and direct the pigs away from the Wherehouse. (It doesn't have an official name. She's calling it that anyway.) There's just so many of them, though - hopefully the rest have figured out how to stop the onslaught. [23:33] 5Tony, meanwhile, does one of the things Tony does best: Finding stuff to follow and silently, eerily watching it as it does its business. In this case, Pigs doing Pig Business. [23:39] 13Melanie follows the others outside - the wrong outside, into the Hedge. She's not sure how to help; it doesn't respond well to science or to force. She tries to clear and change paths, to help the others make their way around while impeding the weird cop-imitating monsters.. physically positioning garbage bins and 'street closed' signs and so on isn't having much effect. Time to reconsider. [23:41] 6She's so distressed. It takes multiple pigs to comfort her, as her cohort handles the rest - they are handling them, right? Please. Please this is humiliating [23:41] 7Well, that was a bust. Maggie has absolutely no idea what would consitute a sign of changeling habitation. "Pfoo. I don't know what I'm doing, here." 7She resolves to talk to Stewart as soon as he's free. [23:41] 10Stewart, bravely, stays inside. The wiki has plenty of relevant information, which Stewart can relay without going into the Hedge. Every part of a team matters! [23:41] 10Stewart's free whenever Maggie catches him next. [23:48] 7Maggie leans on the wall near to where Stewart is no doubt doing something incredibly important on the computer. "Stewart, I'm gonna level with you. I need your help. Well, really, I need the Autumn Court's help but that's more or less you right now." [23:49] 5Tony's not known to ALL the hobs, that would be impossible. But Steve's got a loose enough beak that some of them definitely know that the dirt man is a generous baker and leaves a full sixer out round side of the wherehouse unattended for just long enough, pretty often. So when he starts asking things like 'Hey, have you seen around here lately, and where? I'd hate to spend all night looking for them [23:49] and not have any time to bake or buy beer or not swing around to check and see if any of y'all haven't gotten got by shit bigger than you yet,' hobs listen. [23:51] "I was out there trying to help give the Wherehouse-" 7Nels was right, that's a good name! "-the once over, see if I could make it harder for varmints and such to spot that we're living here, when it struck me that I didn't have the faintest idea what would count as 'signs of habitation' out here." 7She sighs. "I'm Spring, and I know it. A song in my heart and all that. But it would be [23:51] nice to have witchy tomes and such to look at." 7She taps her temple. "A gal's gotta have more than old leaves in her noggin." [23:52] 10Stewart tabs away from the passive-aggressive argument about trading mechanics he was reading. "Oh, sure! Of course. How can I help?" [23:54] 5And that's how Tony made a giant clam with an extremely catty pink pearl with a human face, almost cry. It didn't point the way, but a flock of hiveminded, fish-like crustaceans going by Bill did. Bill said they saw the Loyalists thataway, and to please bake more apple pies soon, thank you. [23:57] 13Melanie's not helping, and she hates it, but she doesn't know what to do about it. She trails the pigs back and forth, managing at least to stay out of sight - easy when they aren't really looking. She'll keep the others updated on where they're going, though it isn't particularly useful to know. Session Time: Sun Oct 06 00:00:00 2019 [00:00] 7Maggie: "Golly, hmm. Well, to start, is there any 'A Beginner's Guide To Hiding In The Hedge' or something of that nature?" 00[00:03] <@Crion> To be fair to Melanie, their patrol routes don't seem to be fixed or even sensible; at one point she spent an arbitrary amount of time watching a pair of pigs walk up and down the same hedgerow 'block,' knocking on obviously fake painted-on doors, shouting something incoherent but with the cadence of 'POLICE!' before moving on. But there do appear to be some places they won't patrol -- it's 00[00:03] <@Crion> hard to tell if that's intent or just, weird randomness on the part of the Pigs. Maybe compare notes...? Assuming the Hedge doesn't shift. [00:03] 10Stewart: "Nothing in the fak..." 10(that's what he says, the 'fak') "Let me see who's online..." 00[00:04] <@Crion> QUOTH is online -- Stewart knows this is the landing like, chat bot for Ravens, which then logs on with a personalized account for whoever...they?...are speaking for. [00:07] 10Stewart floats a query to the bot.  00[00:08] <@Crion> QUOTH: <'STEWART READER,' KNOWN OTHERWISE AS 'CRITICALMASS:'> 00[00:08] <@Crion> 00[00:08] <@Crion> The typing dot dot dots appear again. 00[00:08] <@Crion> 00[00:08] <@Crion> 00[00:09] <@Crion> QUOTH|THE|BITTER|WIND has logged on. [00:09] 10Stewart: "Oh shit! The Lord Sage of the Unknown Reaches just logged on." 00[00:09] <@Crion> QUOTH|THE|BITTER|WIND: <'STEWART READER,' KNOWN OTHERWISE AS 'CRITICALMASS:'> 00[00:09] <@Crion> 00[00:09] <@Crion> 00[00:10] <@Crion> [00:10] 7Maggie nods. "Now that's a good wizardly name. Solid." 00[00:13] <@Crion> In a few moments, Santander pastes three pdf links into the chat, each of which is a scan of a monogram that Santander himself has written, discoursing on the subject of Hollows. Much of the text is irrelevant -- though very interesting -- theoretical musings on the magickal (yes, with a k) and contractual roots, so to speak, that undergird the Hollow system. But he has also provided bookmarks 00[00:13] <@Crion> to relevant parts of the text. Most importantly, every real door or portal in the Hedge has a tell. A real manhole cover will have a hole with which to insert a prybar to remove it, rather than being solid metal, even if it does not budge. A real doorknob will turn but hold fast to its lock, rather than just be a lump of metal sticking from the wall. And so on. [00:13] 10Stewart: "He's so cool." [00:19] 6She's still pressing the pigs - aren't you going to find the person who put her here? Can't you lead her out? NO she will not leave, not until justice is done -- but they're doing a better job of organizing. Fuck. [00:19] 5Tony's good at finding his way through the Hedge, now he has a semi-detailed and very-current napkin map of where the Pigs patrol, and a direction to go in to find the Loyalists. So, like an idiot, he goes to do that. [00:22] 10This time Stewart's tagging along, hanging close, checking for signs and wonders, and just trying to... put good energy out there. 00[00:22] <@Crion> There are some locations where the Pigs avoid that overlap with where the hobs said they'd seen Loser wandering. Seems like a good place to start. [00:23] 5It's very good energy. Tony values the 13th man, even if it's literally just one man. 00[00:26] <@Crion> The Pigs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4LYZC97hmM Beat all the white trash; beat whoever you see. Don't need a reason: L A P D 00[00:26] <@Crion> (Warning: slurs) 00[00:27] <@Crion> Stewart can't actually make out most of the lyrics, though. It's weird. [00:35] 13The fake cops might not actually do anything dangerous if you don't go near them, but they're so impervious to distraction. It's frustrating. Melanie tags Nels out and prepares to call upon a fae contract - *forcing* the Hedge to shape itself against them and keep them away. She rips pot plants from porches and replants them in a string across the road ahead of a cop 'car', trading promises [00:35] 13with her own memories of the parts of the Hedge she fell threw. [00:35] through [00:35] 13A hedge within the Hedge begins to grow... too slowly. Melanie retreats. [00:35] 13Maybe enough the damn plants will survive the thing's tyres to put up a wall next go-ground of their patrol route. 00[00:44] <@Crion> Eventually, they find it. It looks like just about any other one of these fake, incoherent buildings on the outside, but you can see -- just barely see, if you get the good vantage point Tony took with the help of Melanie's Hedgespinning, while Nels kept the local Pigs who weren't waylaid by the new walls in the Hedge they weren't expecting distracted with her concerned-citizen act. The 00[00:44] <@Crion> building looks normal...but there's a big old covered wagon sitting atop its roof, massive, with a great, sealed door. Should have been impossible for it to ever get up there. Would have been impossible to see just looking up from the street. 00[00:44] <@Crion> It's Stewart and Maggie who eventually confirm this is where they need to be: each building on the block has a stoop, and each has a cage storm door and a front door with a knob beyond it. All the others are clear fakes. The storm cage doesn't budge. The knob doesn't rattle. Not so on this building. This is real. 00[00:47] <@Crion> They've found someone's Hollow. And all signs says it's the Proctor's and his pack. [00:47] 6Fuck. 00[00:48] <@Crion> ...Sirens in the distance... 00[00:48] <@Crion> They don't sound close. [00:50] 6Well. [00:50] 7Hmm. 00[00:53] <@Crion> When you get back to your own Hollow, there are Pigs patrolling outside. They're trivial to avoid, since you know what they do and what they are. 00[00:53] <@Crion> But they weren't here before. 00[00:53] <@Crion> And Steve is bunkering down tonight, with a beer. [00:54] 5Tony: "Hey Steve, what's up." 5Trying not to be as brusque as it definitely will be, after trudging all over the Hedge for the night. [00:55] "Ufffff da." 02[10:00] * dammitwho (joanofarcta@sorcery-j9socb.dynamic.onlinenw.com) Quit (Quit: ) 00[23:51] <@Crion> 00[23:51] <@Crion> 00[23:51] <@Crion> 00[23:51] <@Crion> 00[23:51] <@Crion> 00[23:51] <@Crion> 00[23:51] <@Crion> 00[23:51] <@Crion> 00[23:51] <@Crion> 00[23:51] <@Crion> 00[23:53] <@Crion> Things are still...normal...in Baltimore. For certain definitions thereof. 00[23:54] <@Crion> Sure, there are a bunch of Pigs roaming the near Hedge, but they can't hope to get into the motley's Hollow and don't seem aware of where it really is. Tony's got a bunch of weird rude buddies/pets going in and out, ringled by the honking Steve, but that's usual. And things on the real-world side of the city are as they've always been. 00[23:54] <@Crion> Where's Stewart on his next day off after locating the Loyalist Hollow? Session Time: Mon Oct 07 00:00:00 2019 [00:00] 10Stewart is at his apartment, which needs to be kept clean, and where geese and cops and cackling kill-orders mostly stop at the door. He's reading on his iPad, this 'Settlers' pdf Melanie linked him. Woof. He's got an ear out for any notifiications that might come from his computer. 00[00:01] <@Crion> What's he set the notification sound to on the hex box Autumn chat app? It can be any normal system sound...along with a bunch of onboard, seemingly-default spooky sounds besides...? [00:05] 10He's got it set up differently for different people. Santander gets the MIDI of a lightning strike. Kingsley gets an ominous wind chime, where Gerald has the same chime in a major key. Lauren's got a creepy theremin tone. 00[00:07] <@Crion> It'll be that creepy theremin tone he hears, then, twice. 00[00:07] <@Crion> 00[00:07] <@Crion> 00[00:09] <@Crion> Username dolor_sit_amet 00[00:09] <@Crion> of course. 00[00:12] <@Crion> 00[00:12] <@Crion> 00[00:12] <@Crion> [00:13] 10Stewart hears those weird notes and he's in the chair. He doesn't scramble, he'll insist.  00[00:14] <@Crion> 00[00:14] <@Crion> [00:16] 10Oh hell yes. <100%> 00[00:16] <@Crion> [00:17] [00:18] 10Stewart's only got 30 minutes to... the apartment's already immaculate. Sometimes being a tightly bundled ball of neuroses works in your favor. 00[00:19] <@Crion> If he hasn't already, how long does it take Stewart to register that a girl just asked him to meet her at a bar? 00[00:19] <@Crion> If it helps, pictures of the location indicate he's looking for jeans, decent shoes, and a gingham shirt. [00:26] 10Stewart's registered and dismissed that four times before he's out the door. The oscillating quantum potentiality finds Stewart at ease, meeting a friend for an exciting new venture and bewildered, overwhelmed, mired in the rules of a game no one ever fully taught him. For now, he's comfortable (as comfortable as Stewart gets without a keyboard under his hands) and, arguably, he looks [00:26] 10nice. 00[00:27] <@Crion> Nice. Does he drive? 03[00:28] * dammitwho (joanofarcta@sorcery-j9socb.dynamic.onlinenw.com) has joined #gofetch [00:30] 10Yeah, he's gotten used to having his own car, and between Uber's pricing and the stuff Melanie keeps sending him to read it's getting harder and harder to justify booking a ride. He could always walk, but, these are his nice shoes, which he wears so infrequently that they aren't broken in yet. 00[00:33] <@Crion> Hard to find parking up there! Hard... 00[00:33] <@Crion> ...But not so hard tonight! [00:33] 10What luck! 00[00:35] <@Crion> He finds a spot on the Belvedere's block, just in front of but not blocking the fire hydrant -- the curb's colored here to let him know. 00[00:37] <@Crion> As he parks and steps out, his eye catches on a man cater-corner from where he parked, a wiry, handsome man with slicked back hair and subdued -- but still red -- suit. He winks, turns, and walks up the block. [00:41] 10Stewart makes eye contact with him for just a moment before he turns away. 00[00:42] <@Crion> The Red-Suited Man: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfXupu60v-Q No we can't slow down; we can't hold back; though you know we wish we could. [00:44] 10Nice. So there's a nonzero chance that was the actual Devil. Cool. Cool cool cool. Well, we're parked. 00[00:46] <@Crion> The Belvedere Hotel has a nice, spacious walk up, a man to open the door -- he does, Stewart is precisely the sort of young man who they expect to be walking into this hotel -- and a semi-busy lobby with a...yes, there it is. A great wooden, hardcarved sign over a pair of open double-doors off to the left, before the reception desk: THE OWL BAR 00[00:46] <@Crion> Below that: EST. 1903. [00:47] 10Stewart idly wonders how much of the national register of historic buildings is infested with the supernatural. Is it all of it? It might be all of it. He also looks around. Any sign of Lauren? 00[00:48] <@Crion> https://i.imgur.com/pbQInHT.png 00[00:48] <@Crion> The eyes are more imposing than perhaps they should be, for symbolic owl eyes. 00[00:48] <@Crion> How on time is he? 00[00:49] <@Crion> Early, on-time, late...? 00[00:49] <@Crion> Well. He's not late. [00:50] 10Since parking was a lot easier than he expected, he's about five minutes early. 00[00:52] <@Crion> Then he's just in time to see Lauren in...a yellow sundress...having a heated conversation with a tall African-American man at the front door of the Owl Bar. He seems very long-suffering. [00:56] 10Whaaahowowowowookay. Stewart approaches the confrontation. 00[00:56] <@Crion> Lauren: "You've seen my ID. I can drink wherever I want. This is BULLSHIT!" 00[00:56] <@Crion> The big guy: "This is for your ow..." 00[00:56] <@Crion> He sees Stewart. And it's clear that he sees Stewart. 00[00:56] <@Crion> "Oh." 00[00:57] <@Crion> "Well, if it's like that." 00[00:59] <@Crion> Lauren: "Yes, Fireman, it IS li--" 00[01:00] <@Crion> She stiffens and turns to follow his eyes, and by the time she faces Stewart, she's...almost smiling? No, that's still a grimace. "Hi," [01:02] 10Stewart: "Hey. Is-- is something up?" 00[01:03] <@Crion> "No!" she says. "No. We were just...going inside?" 00[01:03] <@Crion> It's a very aggressive half-question. 00[01:05] <@Crion> 'Fireman' closes his eyes. "The Owl Bar expects the best behavior from its guests." He opens them again to glare at Lauren. "Children's menu is available until 10 PM." He looks at Stewart again. Then: "Good evening, Mr. Reader. Ms. Ipsum." [01:06] 10Stewart: "Thank you so much." 00[01:07] <@Crion> As you walk in, he'll motion to another bouncer and walk off. Seems he's not actually the usual doorman. 00[01:08] <@Crion> Fireman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eJbxI-jZbA Don't you ever tame your demons, but always keep them on a leash. 00[01:09] <@Crion> The hostess chipperly asks you if you want a table or the bar. Lauren's going to volunteer table almost immediately unless contradicted. [01:09] 10Table sounds good to Stewart. So does this song. 00[01:11] <@Crion> Once the hostess has seated them -- Lauren makes sure they're as far from everyone as possible, though this place will eventually be filling up -- Lauren sips the ice water and says, "Sorry about Fireman. That's his name. He's a wizard." 00[01:11] <@Crion> "Sometimes he's an asshole about letting us drink here." [01:12] 10Stewart: "Only sometimes?" 00[01:12] <@Crion> It's weird...sound seems to carry less than it should in here. Hard to tell why, whether it's acoustics or something else. But there's no live music and the piano stuff being piped in from the PA is very soft. So is the argument between two soon-to-be-ex partners three tables down. 00[01:14] <@Crion> She shrugs. "Kingsley and Santander are close with these dudes. For certain definitions of close. And it's not like we're going up to the thirteenth floor!" [01:19] 10Stewart: "This is my first time here. How often do you come down?" 00[01:20] <@Crion> She grins at some private joke. "I don't go anywhere often." 00[01:20] <@Crion> "But when I go out, it's here." 00[01:25] <@Crion> A waitress will come by with menus. Lauren orders a house pilsner. This place's specialty is high-end personal pizzas from a big brick-oven pizza they keep sort of backed up to the bar area so you can see them putting the things in and out. 00[01:25] <@Crion> *big brick pizza oven 00[01:26] <@Crion> One of the specialty toppings is, yes, lump crab. They let you choose whether the crab meat is cooked with the pizza, added after, or sauteed alongside. 00[01:27] <@Crion> There's also pineapple and ham and all that nonsense. [01:28] 10Stewart orders a stout for now. "This place must be special if it can get Lauren Ipsum out of her fortress time and again." 00[01:30] <@Crion> She looks intentionally unimpressed about it. "It's got wizards." 00[01:30] <@Crion> "I mean, they don't like. HANG AROUND down here." 00[01:30] <@Crion> "Not all the time." [01:31] "But if you come here to people-watch often enough you'll catch..." 00[01:32] <@Crion> Chipperly: "A stake, a bullet, a car, a rifle grenade--" [01:33] 10Stewart: "Yeah, I see the appeal." 00[01:34] <@Crion> She laughs. "But seriously, this place is under their protection. It makes it a good place to talk. And yeah, they're listening, so we can't talk real secret shit, but. Well." 00[01:34] <@Crion> "NORMAL secret shit they already know." 00[01:34] <@Crion> "Wizards." 00[01:34] <@Crion> "And we have agreements. Oaths." 00[01:35] <@Crion> "Not you and me, but the people above us." 00[01:35] <@Crion> She sips her beer again. "So basically we can treat this like The Sidereal, except we have to pay for food." [01:35] 10Stewart: "Seems fair enough. Are you hungry?" 00[01:36] <@Crion> "Oh yes, I'll be ordering a pizza when the waitress comes back. Do you want to split nachos?" [01:36] 10Stewart: "Well I do now." 00[01:37] <@Crion> She grins. When the waitress returns, it'll be a plate of nachos to split, one personal pepperoni and four cheese pizza for Lauren, and...anything for Stewart? [01:44] 10Stewart'll get a personal margherita. Between that, the stout and the nachos, he doesn't want to have to roll out of here. "So, okay, no trade secrets, obviously." 00[01:45] <@Crion> She nods firmly. "Current events are fine, though." 00[01:46] <@Crion> "For the most part. If you've stumbled on a way to murder every vampire, keep to yourself. Just so we can sell it back to the vampires." [01:48] 10Stewart: "Good looking out. But that's not the way the murder winds are blowing." [01:48] 10Stewart: "Good looking out. But that's not the way the murder winds are blowing." 00[01:49] <@Crion> Lauren hides her grimace with another sip of beer. 00[01:52] <@Crion> Nachos! That was quick. 00[01:52] <@Crion> After a particular cheesy one: "That bad, huh?" [01:53] 10Stewart: "When I had the thing with Kingsley and Gerald, I was expecting a lot more pushback. Like, keep watch, defend your base, I expected that kind of thing. But these" 10his voice drops to a whisper for a moment as the nachos arrive "these out-of-towners and their combat specs are just, like *here* and everyone's totally like 'Yeah, no, it's cool, let's go square off' nevermind [01:53] the fact that Nels got fucking shot in the chest." 00[01:54] <@Crion> She blinks. "Is she alright?" [01:58] 10Stewart: "She was wearing a vest. I think Maggie did something, some clause or-- she's fine. But it's insane! One of them, she's this big jacked like, Zarya with a chainsaw. And everyone's just, fine with it? I feel like I got backdoored into the Walking Dead here." 00[02:02] <@Crion> She sighs and finishes a nacho. "I don't think everyone's fine with it. And from what I've heard about The Walking Dead, it went a lot better than that. No one died, right?" 00[02:02] <@Crion> "So it's more like...you got backdoored into a horror movie, where everyone sucks." [02:03] 10Stewart: "Which sounds a lot more like reality." 00[02:04] <@Crion> She sips her beer again. "Is everyone REALLY like, 'let's go square off?'" 00[02:05] <@Crion> "Like, that's 1v1, right?" 00[02:05] <@Crion> "Squares have the same sides all the way around." [02:08] 10Three bites of nachos and this stout and Stewart can already feel his gut sloshing around. It's so good though. "No, we're like... basically we had to find them, and we think we did, right. But Gerald gave us the option to hand off, uh, step two to another team. The Wherehouse didn't want any of that. Everyone was into us doing it ourselves." 00[02:11] <@Crion> Lauren: "The...wait. You named it??" 00[02:11] <@Crion> "You named you???" 00[02:12] <@Crion> She slams the counter. "You have to lead with this stuff!!!" 00[02:12] <@Crion> "That's so cool!!" 00[02:12] <@Crion> "Sorry. Sorry." [02:14] 10Stewart looks startled and delighted. "Nels came up with it. Maggie started using it. Now it's kind of stuck." 00[02:15] <@Crion> Primly and firmly: "Names you give yourself are very important. And also impossible to use in magic. I approve." 00[02:18] <@Crion> "Anyway. I'm jealous." 00[02:18] <@Crion> Hastily: "Not enough to want to, like, join you." [02:19] 10Stewart: "Hey, we're only trying to catch up. There are some devastatingly good self-given names floating around." 00[02:19] <@Crion> "But this doesn't sound like The Walking Dead at all. If uh. What I've heard about The Walking Dead is true." 00[02:19] <@Crion> "None of those people like each other at all." [02:24] 10Stewart: "Maybe it's me that's the weird one. Like I'm not saying those guys don't deserve it, or whatever. But like... I don't know. I keep thinking about how Gerald and I, sort of, cleaned one of those up." 00[02:28] <@Crion> Lauren's pizza is here. She devours a slice. With her mouth still slightly full: "Well, you're not going to be cleaning anything up, right?" *gulp* "And you don't have to kill them unless you have to. You can, like, put them on a hobwagon down Route 666 after making them swear not to get off until somewhere around the Ozarks and never come back. Maybe you have to hurt them, but you don't have 00[02:28] <@Crion> to KILL them. So are you guys committed to killing them?" [02:31] 10Man that looks good. "Like, would we offer and accept other terms as long as they fucked off? I don't know. Probably. But the way Kingsley and Melanie were talking it seems like we're at least *expected* to kill them." 00[02:32] <@Crion> She rolls her eyes. "Were you asked to kill them?" [02:35] 10Stewart: "Not... directly..." 00[02:36] <@Crion> "Then I'd have a little faith in the forbearance of the man who not only forgave his fetch, but calls him brother, when it comes to accepting creative non-violent solutions." She pushes forward the pizza dish. "Have a slice. You're staring." [02:38] 10Stewart takes a slice. "You're right." 10He takes a bite. Chews it thoughtfully. "I just, I hear gunshots and chainsaws revving and my mind locks on to the worst case scenario and then suddenly that's the center of the universe now." 00[02:38] <@Crion> She pauses. "I'm not saying it won't suck. You know, when you walked in the door that day at the office, I asked why they got you. With 'The Wherehouse,' I understand now. We don't actually, uh." She has another bit of pizza. "Have the same skillset." [02:39] 10Stewart: "You and me, you mean?" 00[02:39] <@Crion> "Yeah." 00[02:39] <@Crion> "I mean we have like." 00[02:39] <@Crion> "70% of the same skillset." [02:40] 10Stewart watches Lauren elaborate. 00[02:44] <@Crion> "But you're able to have the problems you have with this stuff, this field stuff -- real problems!! -- without having also either ordered Kingsley to stop putting this shit on you, or stopped going outside. You're here in your nice shirt and clean jeans drinking...okay, you're drinking a stout, and who does that, but you're able to maintain, assess, and proceed. That's what Gerald calls it. 00[02:44] <@Crion> MAPing. And you also realize how fucked up it is." 00[02:44] <@Crion> "It's a hard balancing act, being scared in the court of fear. I know." 00[02:47] <@Crion> She seems to realize she's been giving a speech now, and goes bright red. 00[02:47] <@Crion> "Anyway, Kingsley's the king of the freehold. Fuck the rest of 'em. That's what I say." 00[02:47] <@Crion> She hurriedly sips more beer. [02:50] 10Stewart, of course, is rapt. 00[02:51] <@Crion> "Have another slice!!" [02:51] "So you're saying, what, you're saying that it's my job to be running back and forth freaking out all the time?" [02:51] "That this constitutes a skillset?" 00[02:53] <@Crion> "Stewart. You're going to be freaking out all the time no matter what." She sips her beer again. "I was putting that in the 70%." 00[02:53] <@Crion> "And yes, caring about why you do things is a learned skill." 00[02:54] <@Crion> "Look at those Loyalists if you disagree." [02:58] 10Stewart: "Okay, you're right. So what would you do if you were in my situation? How would you apply your skillset?" 00[03:01] <@Crion> "I've got two answers to that," she says. "The first is what I'd love for myself to do, in an ideal world." 00[03:01] <@Crion> "The second is what I think I'd actually do." 00[03:02] <@Crion> "I can give you either, or both." [03:03] 10Stewart: "Both, please. I want to hear from present Lauren and all hypothetical future Laurens." 00[03:10] <@Crion> She doesn't seem to find that funny. "So. Route 666. That's a huge trod, one of the biggest we know of. It runs vaguely from around the Interstate 70 sign outside Baltimore -- which is actually on I-695 -- to Cove Fort, Utah, where it hits I-15. Long stretch of road. You know where their Hollow is; you know how you get internet in a Hollow. That means Kid Kid Kid, unless he has access to our 00[03:10] <@Crion> magic and a spoofed server, is using a goblin switchboard. That means you can jump his signal and send him some kind of meet request out near the Route 666 trod. These guys are go-getters, right? They're also bullies. Tailor it to that, and no matter how suspicious it is, they'll show. You neutralize them, you get the Travelling Hobs to agree to take them on board, you oathbind them never to 00[03:10] <@Crion> see the Atlantic Ocean again. That's the ideal." 00[03:12] <@Crion> She leans forward. "What I'd actually do is tell Loser, the chainsaw girl, and the fake brit to fuck off, and tell your Summer and your Winter Court that no one ever needs to see Kid Kid Kid or the Proctor ever again." [03:13] 10Stewart's stunned. 00[03:13] <@Crion> "I wasn't around last time Proctor was through." 00[03:13] <@Crion> "I was around for the fallout." [03:14] "What happened?" 00[03:15] <@Crion> Her brow knits. "People...couldn't go on living." 00[03:15] <@Crion> "With themselves." 00[03:15] <@Crion> "So they didn't." 00[03:16] <@Crion> She opens her mouth, closes it, and opens it again. "He tricked a courtier into giving two other freeholders up. The courtier thought he was helping." 00[03:16] <@Crion> "Proctor made sure, when it was done, that he knew that he wasn't." [03:17] "Oh." 00[03:18] <@Crion> Lauren takes a bite of another slice. "As for Kid Kid Kid, he's an alt-right fuck who just needs to die. Why do you think it's three Kids?" 00[03:20] <@Crion> She pauses. "This got a lot more serious than I meant for it to get." [03:21] 10Stewart: "It's fine, I'm just as- wait, how serious did you mean for it to get?" 00[03:22] <@Crion> Lauren: "I was hoping to see if you played Destiny 2, since it's F2P and you seem like that kind of MMO pi---person, might be that kind of MMO person, and I've gotten addicted to shooting weird aliens in the head." 00[03:22] <@Crion> "Also, I wanted pizza and my internet was out and I wanted to see you." 00[03:22] <@Crion> "And YOU wanted to see the Owl Bar." 00[03:22] <@Crion> "So, you know, good all around." [03:25] 10Stewart: "That's still in my backlog. I completely missed Destiny 1, but I'm hearing that's not a problem?" 00[03:26] <@Crion> She laughs. "Fuck no! They got free of Activision, which means all the dumb gating bullshit is done too. The new expansion is great!" 00[03:27] <@Crion> Her phone buzzes. "Oh! Power's back." 00[03:28] <@Crion> "You ready to head out?" [03:29] 10Stewart: "Yeah, let's go." 00[03:32] <@Crion> Lauren throws down the law office business card...and takes Stewart by the hand as they walk out of the bar, through the lobby, to the street outside. A car rolls up for her that Stewart will recognize -- Gerald, of course. Lauren lets go of his hand as the window rolls down, but the very slight smirk on his face shows through. "Thanks for coming out," Lauren says. [03:33] 10Stewart: "Thanks for inviting. I had a great time." 00[03:34] <@Crion> "So did I." She takes his hand again, squeezes it, then jumps into the backseat. 00[03:34] <@Crion> Gerald looks studiously forward. "Good evening, Mr. Reader." 00[03:34] <@Crion> This is both a greeting and a farewell. [03:35] 10Stewart's just flustered enough to only manage a "Yeahthanksbye-" 10before the window rolls up and they're gone. 00[03:35] <@Crion> Back to his car, then? [03:36] 10Yeah. Stewart's still flexing his hand when he goes to open the car door with the other one. 00[03:37] <@Crion> He's got his seat belt on and is about ready to put in the key when...there's a knock on the window. 00[03:37] <@Crion> It's a smiling African-American man, in plainclothes, and he's got a police badge 00[03:37] <@Crion> . 00[03:38] <@Crion> He makes the "roll it down" motion. [03:38] 10Stewart lowers the window. "Is there a problem?" 00[03:39] <@Crion> His mouth was open to say something before Stewart said something first. "No. No, player. Nothing's wrong. Sorry to bother you. Sorry to get in your way." 00[03:39] <@Crion> "Did you know you're parked illegally?" 00[03:39] <@Crion> Stewart is not parked illegally. [03:40] 10Stewart: "No, I did not know that. I'm sorry." 00[03:40] <@Crion> The man's smile widens and his stare deepens. "You're sorry." 00[03:40] <@Crion> He straightens up, speaking to someone over on the other side of the car. "He says he's sorry." 00[03:41] <@Crion> "Well then, we have no choice but to believe him," says the woman leaning against Stewart's passenger side door, grinning. [03:43] 10Stewart's white enough that he's only very nervous. 00[03:43] <@Crion> "Yeah, he is sorry," the 'cop' says, then leans down. "You're Stewart. I'm Singular. Both upper and lower case. I've got a Permit -- that's my partner over there -- and you don't. You're here without authority. Do you understand how that goes for boys like you, in towns like this?" 00[03:45] <@Crion> Singular: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udmTfK6_aM8 The whole world loves it when you sing the blues; the whole world loves it when you're in the news. 00[03:46] <@Crion> Permit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnO-MflYxCw You better run, better run -- outrun my gun. [03:46] 10Okay now he's freaking out. But his keel stays steady. Heart thudding in his chest he focuses on the music in his ears, and says clearly and slowly: "How does it go?" 00[03:47] <@Crion> Singular cackles. "Well, young man, I'm glad you asked. It goes a little bit like--" 00[03:50] <@Crion> The badge in Singular's hand hisses, glows, and ignites his hand and coat. 00[03:50] <@Crion> "AHHHH!!!! AHHH!!!!!!!!" 00[03:50] <@Crion> "FUCK!!!" [03:51] 10Holy shit. Stewart starts his car. 00[03:51] <@Crion> In his rear view mirror, he sees Fireman walking down the street. 00[03:51] <@Crion> And taking off his suit jacket. 00[03:51] <@Crion> He nods to Stewart. The message is clear: drive. [03:52] 10Holy shit holy shit holy shit-- the car squeals out of there. 00[03:53] <@Crion> The sirens won't even start for twenty minutes or so. And on the news, it'll be an engine fire. 00[03:53] <@Crion> Weird. 00[03:53] <@Crion> Just another day in Baltimore. 00[03:53] <@Crion> --Fin. 03[14:15] * CBN2 (CBN@sorcery-0jbuqb.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) has joined #gofetch 02[14:19] * CBN (CBN@sorcery-mp5t2b.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[15:20] * CBN2 is now known as CBN Session Time: Tue Oct 08 00:00:00 2019 03[17:29] * CBN2 (CBN@sorcery-ailkhr.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) has joined #gofetch 02[17:33] * CBN (CBN@sorcery-0jbuqb.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[17:45] * CBN3 (CBN@sorcery-po0tib.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) has joined #gofetch 02[17:46] * CBN3 (CBN@sorcery-po0tib.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) Quit (Connection closed) 02[17:49] * CBN2 (CBN@sorcery-ailkhr.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[17:56] * CBN (CBN@sorcery-po0tib.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) has joined #gofetch Session Time: Wed Oct 09 00:00:00 2019 03[02:13] * CBN2 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(CBN@sorcery-ph889n.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) has joined #gofetch 03[19:07] * GreatClownVoxPVoxD (VoxPVoxD@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) has joined #gofetch 02[19:07] * VoxPVoxD (VoxPVoxD@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 02[19:08] * GreatClownVoxPVoxD (VoxPVoxD@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) Quit (Quit: dammitwho sucks) 03[19:08] * VoxPVoxD (VoxPVoxD@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) has joined #gofetch 00[21:00] <@Crion> 00[21:00] <@Crion> 00[21:00] <@Crion> 00[21:00] <@Crion> 00[21:00] <@Crion> 00[21:00] <@Crion> 00[21:00] <@Crion> 00[21:00] <@Crion> 00[21:00] <@Crion> 00[21:00] <@Crion> 00[21:02] <@Crion> It hasn't been that long in the Wherehouse since the motley found the secret, improbably-located caravan-hollow of the Proctor and his pack atop a "building" just of the main trod cutting through this section of Baltimore. Perhaps just enough time for a certain gamer to go on a dinner date at a hotel downtown, and perhaps meet a wizard or two, in variously scary ways. The Pigs still seem to 00[21:02] <@Crion> be tromping around outside -- it's not that they know where the Wherehouse is, precisely (or at least they don't seem to), but they do seem to be able to tell something's up here, and that it's making fools out of them, and that this should make them angry. 00[21:03] <@Crion> So, given their nature, they're angry. 00[21:04] <@Crion> This mostly manifests as snorting and bellowing and slapping each other about and terrorizing any hobs smaller than them who cross their sightline. Which is something like half of Tony's little buddies on this side of the hedgewall, come to think of it. [21:05] 13To Melanie Lucas, it seems like a reason to spend some time in the real world. She's thought about it, and she's worried about becoming *disconnected*, hiding away in this Hedge-hole like a voluntary return-to-the-womb. But she's thought about that too, and she's worried it's an excuse, a mental tic to delay confrontation. Best not to express an opinion at all, then. [21:07] 7Maggie is quietly retching into the toilet they've managed to install. [21:09] 6Nels Foulke will likely be spending time away from the Wherehouse, unless called - she's aware of the incursions, but given she was specifically instructed to be wary of the pigs, and they want to drive the attention away from themselves... (they do, right? They should. Golly. Maybe they don't.) If called, though, she'll be first on the scene. [21:09] 10Stewart's been... not avoiding the Wherehouse exactly, but minimizing the voluntary time he spends there. Which means spending a lot of time in his apartment. Every now and then he rereads the article about the engine fire outside the Belvedere on the WBAL website. [21:10] 10He is there, doing server maintenance, to hear Maggie being unwell. "Is everything okay?" 10he calls experimentally from a possibly too safe distance away. [21:10] 13Is anyone else hanging around the place today? This isn't.. good.. it's not like they have that much alcohol around. [21:10] 13And who would you catch a flu from? Melanie is going to kind of skulk near Maggie, looking like someone who you could in theory ask for help if you really needed it, if you noticed them. [21:11] 7Before this moment, she'd been bringing scavenged engine parts to a bit of the Wherehouse with a jury-rigged table and some newspapers on the floor, to repair and then sell on these websites she found called 'craig's list' and 'e-bay'. Bring in a little extra cash so poor Stewart isn't paying for everything. [21:12] 5Tony's mad about The Pigs being exactly the way they are, but he knows enough from Steve to know it's like getting mad at the rain. Bring an umbrella and stay under overhangs where possible. Which he'll probably need to do pretty soon. [21:12] 10What is Stewart gonna spend his streaming money on? A series of progressively more expensive office chairs? [21:13] "S'alright!" 7She calls out in between sick noises. "Thought about coming in the Hedge way, see how bad the pigs were on that side... never got close. Guess I found some abhorse." [21:13] 10Stewart: "What's abhorse?" [21:13] 13Melanie: "Do you mean like the book?" [21:14] 14"Hey Stewart." [21:14] 10Stewart looks over at Melanie. [21:14] 7An Autumn courtier, or anyone with an interest in the bestiaries of the Hedge, will probably have heard of the abhorse. No one draws or takes pictures of them, but not for any particularly supernatural reason: they're just really gross. Here's what a scholar might know: [21:14] 7 - You'll know them when you see them [21:14] 7 - More hooves than you'd like, fewer bones than you want [21:15] 7 - "moist" [21:15] 13For some reason Melanie's skulking particularly far away from Stewart, as if avoiding giving offence. Her indoor skulk is more like a loom, though. [21:15] 7 - Actually more closely related to fae slime molds than horses, despite the physical resemblance 00[21:15] <@Crion> They...bounce...when they run. [21:16] 7 - Larval abhorse 'burst' into existence at around hand-size, and grow until killed or they collapse under their own weight into organ failure [21:16] 10Stewart was hoping for a 'not much, what's abhorse with you?'. This is so much worse. [21:16] 7 - If a small one gets into your Hollow, they *will* fall asleep on your face at night. This will not suffocate you but you'll wish it had [21:16] https://bloodborne.wiki.fextralife.com/file/Bloodborne/ludwig.jpg 13? [21:17] 7If Stewart has read anything on the Autumn wiki about them, he might see an annotation by Lauren comparing them to The Thing, if the Thing weren't scary or threatening and had put those character points into being gross instead. 00[21:19] <@Crion> Luckily, your Hollow is such that it should be impossible for all but the largest, scariest, most gelatinous abhorses to force entry. [21:19] 10If Maggie's fine, Stewart goes to say hi to Melanie. "Hey! I see you got your TV moved over." [21:19] 6Nels pauses while carrying a guitar case into her room. It's somehow more beat up than her regular one. "I - okay. What do we do about them?" [21:20] 13Melanie: "Ah! Yes, hi. I did, yes." 00[21:20] <@Crion> As for Tony, Steve's been getting more and more demonstrative, but not to the case of being a bad houseguest. He's just, waggling his wings more now. In fact over the last day he's taken to just walking around with them out the entire time. [21:20] 10Stewart: "...is everything okay?" [21:21] 13She should really catch Stewart before he leaves this time. She meant to ask the other day, but you have to work up to these things and people are so busy with, for example, servers and nausea and [21:22] 7Maggie: "Uwwaaa. Okay. Okay. I think I'm done." 7The sink runs briefly, and she finally exits the bathroom. "Well, hey, y'all! I hope you're having a better day than I had!" [21:22] 13Whatever, now if she doesn't say anything he'll start doing his thing and they'll enter a mutual nervous loop. Give Melanie credit, in her opinion, for pattern recognition.  "Yeah, but there was something I wanted to check with you actually." [21:22] "What's going on?" [21:22] 5Tony: "Hey Steve you uh...you ok there buddy?" 5 He says this like he's trying to talk over a loud fan, even though Steve's wings aren't making noise, it just...seems appropriate. [21:22] 6Nels: "So... they're fine? The abhorse?" 00[21:22] <@Crion> honk 00[21:22] <@Crion> Steve hasn't seen the Watermelon Bros in a couple days. 00[21:22] <@Crion> He's suspicious. [21:23] 6Steve is honking. That is... alarming. Tony will let them know if it really is or if he just really wants more beers. [21:23] 7Maggie: "I don't think they're... a threat. It's just... lordy." [21:23] 5Tony: "The Watermelon...run that one by me again Steve good buddy." [21:24] 6Nels: "I'll take a look next time I run around. Um. I haven't really - done, work, here..." [21:24] 10Stewart's relieved his awkwardly direct question isn't being deflected. "What's up?" 00[21:24] <@Crion> honk honk [21:24] 13The others are turning up.. still, it's not like this conversation can't take place in a corner with other people around. "Stewart, I thought about the discussion we had before going out last week and it's like.. you had this look on your face, like the one you put on on stream when something comically absurd happens. Like 'is this really happening'." [21:24] "So like I feel like maybe you had some concerns? About what we've agreed to do?" 00[21:25] <@Crion> The Watermelon Bros are, of course, three comically-large but not like, people-sized watermelon. One walks on two legs, one walks on two hands, one trundles about on eight tiny spindle...things. The limbs also seem to be made out of watermelon...? Very odd. Anyhow, they don't move very quickly, and they're the right size for a Pig to wind up and kick. 00[21:26] <@Crion> And Steve hasn't seem them in a few days (he's been cautiously poking his head about). [21:26] 5Tony: "You want we should go look for them for you? I can probably get the team together and do it as a favor, to you." [21:27] 10Stewart: "Oh." 10Silence, punctuated by distant, plaintive honking. Then: "I guess? It's not a huge deal." [21:28] 13Melanie: "Mmm. I mean maybe not, but. Sorry, I'm being incoherent. Let me set out the thesis here:" 00[21:28] <@Crion> Steve walks around in a circle with his wings spread, honking, then walks out of the room, wings still spread, honking. 00[21:28] <@Crion> That's a yes. 00[21:28] <@Crion> From the other room: the sound of a fridge opening. [21:29] 5Tony finishes his current thinking-about-punching-a-cop-anyway beer and hollers loud enough to carry through the Wherehouse, "HEY ANYBODY BUSY TONIGHT" [21:29] "The starting point is that most of us-" 13she gestures at Nels learning from Maggie about horrid things. Hello Nels! "- have very little reference for what is okay. For what is acceptable human behaviour anymore." [21:30] "We're maximally displaced, temporally or physically or mentally. Two of us have amnesia" 13Sort Of "before you even get into the social norm issues. So if you spotted something that nobody else did, something that's not okay about this process we've got going to deal with the loyalists.. what is it, please?" [21:30] 6Nels waves back, not listening to the conversation. [21:32] 7Maggie, to Nels: "Aw, you don't have to worry about that. Though, if you've got an idea...?" [21:32] 10Stewart sucks in a breath. "I think we might be being a little cavalier about violence, is all." [21:33] 6Nels: "Um. Have a chat with some hobs, figure out if they'd be willing to - I gave one a second chance at life, yeah? Maybe we could have some kind of - garden, they help with." [21:33] "And I go on patrols. Sometimes. Because somebody should." [21:35] 13Loudly: "Tony, I'm not doing anything." [21:35] 10Stewart: "Yeah, do you need help?" [21:35] 5Tony: "Steve does!" [21:36] 10To Melanie: "We should go help Steve." [21:36] 7Maggie: "Ooh, that sounds nice! We've got an ordinary sort of garden already, so if you could get some hobs in to-- Eh? What's that, Steve?" [21:36] 13Melanie: "Okay. But your concern is one I have. Desensitisation or an aborted resensitisation which becomes.. friction, between us or us and others. Um, I got a promise from the summer court." [21:37] 5Tony: "It's the...Watermelon Boys? And The Pigs! This will make sense soon I promise!" [21:37] 10Stewart: "A promise?" 00[21:37] <@Crion> Don't wanna go saying stuff like that, Tone. [21:37] 5Tony "...or more sense than so far!" 00[21:38] <@Crion> honk [21:38] 13This is quiet, just to Stewart: "Langford List swore an oath that he wouldn't try and turn you four into any kind of 'kill team', no routine tasking with this sort of thing. They hunt us down, they have to be hunted, but it can't be for everyone or we've lost the peace." 00[21:38] <@Crion> Steve has finished his beer. He is now wearing...a Sherlock Holmes hat? Where did he get this? Did one of you have this lying around? [21:38] 6Nels: "...I know what most of those words are, Melanie? Could you use smaller ones." [21:39] 10Stewart: "I don't think it would be somebody else doing it to us." [21:39] "By command or anything. It's a reaction, right? It's our reaction, collectively." [21:40] "Our reaction to being shot at." [21:40] 5Tony's only hats are trucker hats, and someday he hopes to get one of those football helmets with the can holders on the side. This is all on Steve. [21:41] 13Melanie: "Nels, desensitisation is a concept in psychology where major trauma or repeated exposure to something which should naturally repel you becomes normal, so that you can't tell it's a problem. Like a mental callus." [21:41] 6Nels: "...We should talk more later?" 6Oh my God she missed so much. [21:42] "Yeah, this stuff is important to learn about because of The Circumstances." [21:42] 6She can hear the capital letters. [21:43] 10Stewart can feel the capital letters. "We should talk about this when there's no time pressure." [21:43] "Let's ask Tony what we're about to do. And take a moment to think about whether it's the right thing to do, even if we get honked." [21:44] 13Melanie doesn't trust "Steve"'s sense of urgency, anyway. [21:44] 7Maggie: "Now, what are 'Watermelon Boys'?" [21:44] 6Nels: "Honk," 6she agrees blandly. [21:45] 10Melanie's right, it mainly is that that honk is anxiety-inducing. [21:46] 5Tony clears his throat. "Okay, so. The Watermelon Boys are friends of Steve's, or whatever's close to friends, for hobs, it's weird. But, he hasn't seen them around in a few days and he's worried The Pigs are bullying them. They are large watermelons and they sound nice, and could be useful to helping us get better oriented with the area without having to go looking for stuff ourselves so much." [21:46] 7Maggie: "And he wants us to go look for the Boys?" [21:46] 6She stiffens at the pigs. Carefully: "I was told not to mess with the pigs, my first time here." [21:47] 5Tony: "So, we go find some Pigs, shoo them off with brooms or get them to chase something else, or find a safer place for the Watermelon Boys, or something." [21:47] "I get the impression they get shooed off with, um. Bullets." [21:47] 5Tony: "Still working out the details, but we can't just leave them to get rolled around on their sides while they little limbs flail around." [21:48] 13Melanie's forgotten what watermelon tastes like... "So do hobgoblins around here adopt cutesy disguises as a kind of camoflague?" [21:49] 5Tony: "I think that's just what they are?" [21:50] 7Maggie: "I figure people mainly spread stories about the dangerous ones, for pretty obvious reasons." [21:51] 13Melanie: "They're all dangerous. We didn't even have a hat in that size." 00[21:51] <@Crion> honk [21:51] 5Tony: "All the more reason for us to get as many of them on our side as possible, right?" [21:51] 10Stewart: "Do the pigs eat normal food? We could try bribing them with donuts." [21:52] 13lol [21:52] 5Tony claps his hands together and double-hand-points at Stewart, grinning. "This guy gets it! I love where your head's at on this one man." [21:52] 7Maggie: "I like that plan. Sneak up on 'em, leave out some donuts, rescue the Watermelon Boys while all the piggies have their snouts in the trough." [21:53] 10Most of them will have their two front trotters in as well. [21:55] 6Nels: "I'm still in favor of bullets." [21:55] 5Tony: "Now...where do we get a bunch of donuts? I can probably buy a bunch if someone doesn't mind fronting me meals for a couple days too." [21:55] 13Melanie: "I think bribing them would be safer. We shouldn't go near them ourselves, like we shouldn't provoke them when they're already circling." 13She's watching Nels. Collective reactions.. is Stewart both right and wrong? Expecting to need to defend yourself isn't the same as being cavalier about it. [21:55] 5To Nels: "Call that a Plan B?" [21:56] 6Nels: "...is there any place we can get here from a donut shop?" [21:56] 10Stewart: "There's gonna be a Dunkin Donuts within a block or two out elevatorside." 00[21:56] <@Crion> You may assume there is one. [21:56] 6Nels: "No, I mean - away from here. They're looking for us. We should make them look somewhere else." [21:57] 13Melanie: "You mean like we could tell them 'there's more where this came from, corner of Fifth and Elsewhere?" [21:57] 5Tony: "Cool. So who's kicking in on this?5 Tony pulls out the spare cash from his pockets and puts it on the large wooden spool currently serving as a coffee table in the main area. 00[21:57] <@Crion> honk [21:58] 7Maggie has some money, and will put in her share. 00[21:58] <@Crion> Steve produces, from somewhere, a pair of 4 dollar bills featuring one E. Stonefarthing (??) on the front and the Nixon Monument on the back (????) and one actual piece of legal American tender in the form of a single one. [21:58] 13Melanie's got a debit card, or we could use one of those apps where you do social payment and Google keeps track of it all. She's been reading about that. [21:58] 10Stewart's got plenty of cash. [21:59] 5Tony waves a hand at Steve. "No way man, this one's on us. You can pick up the next time, we know you're good for it." [21:59] 6...thank you, Steve. 00[21:59] <@Crion> honk 00[21:59] <@Crion> He takes back the two, uh, fake bills, but doesn't seem to even notice the one. [22:00] 5Tony will accept the gracious addition, in that event. "Ok, so we should be able to get...wait before I go do this, Steve, The Pigs eat donuts, right? Like, regular donuts, shaped like donuts, made of dough?" [22:01] 6Oh! Oh, bills. Because Steve is a goose. 00[22:01] <@Crion> honk honk honk, and more waving of wings. Steve doesn't talk to Pigs, Steve doesn't ask what Pigs like, and Steve sure as hell doesn't FEED Pigs. [22:02] 6Good Steve. [22:02] 5Tony: " Also, I like where Nels's head is at on this Melanie---I feel like Pigs would beat us for trying to bribe them, after taking the bribe." [22:02] 13Melanie: "But they're stereotypes. 'Hey, Officer, you look like you've been working hard. Surely you deserve a break.'" [22:03] 5Tony: "I can see that working...yeah, yeah this is good. And hopefully no gunplay today!" [22:03] 5To Nels: "Unless you really want to...? But if it's like anything else we do around here it'll come up anyway." [22:04] 6Nels: "I really don't. But - I was told to keep my gun on me, and to avoid them. So." [22:04] "I worry." [22:05] 13Melanie: "The backup plan is being able to defeat them if they go for us." [22:05] 5Tony nods. "Fair, all things considered. But I don't want anybody getting shot...again..." [22:06] 6She rubs her shoulder. "You're telling me." [22:07] "Maybe it's the backup backup plan? Let's go get the stuff and think of other ways to shoo off a pest without making it bite." [22:07] 5Tony gathers up the cash they've got. "Ok, someone wanna go with me? Probably just need one other set of hands for carrying boxes and getting the door. Then, we can go distract Pigs to save the Watermelon Boys! Sounds easy." [22:08] 6Nels: "That's me, I suspect." [22:08] 13Melanie: "I'd like to-" 13She's late again. [22:08] 5Tony: "Hey, many hands make light work." 00[22:08] <@Crion> Steve will actually try to follow Tony and whoever out to the elevator until he realizes where they're going and then without a single honk, change in expression, or breaking of stride, wheel around and trundle back into the Hollow to get himself another beer. [22:09] 6...good Steve. [22:10] 5Tony: "Stewart, can you and Maggie make sure Steve doesn't borrow any more hats? We'll be right back." 5 He nods to Melanie. "You can come too! Get the door for us, we'll carry. More donuts, more bribery, more success." [22:10] "Yes, okay." 13 :) [22:11] 6Nels is checking her revolver, but she nods to Melanie. Mels. Can she call her that? Not yet probably. [22:11] 7Maggie nods affably. "Sure, sure." 7To Stewart: "I think he brought that one in with him anyhow." [22:11] 5And with that, Tony and Team Donut head back to the real world, where there are donuts, and you can simply exchange cash for goods and services. [22:14] 13Melanie's really happy to be included. And to have an example to learn from, although- she'd better check. "So who here has bought takeout in the last hundred years?" 00[22:14] <@Crion> Steve, meanwhile, disappears for a little bit out into the Hedge, but returns in some six or seven minutes. He now holds a magnifying glass in his beak, on a chain around his torso so it just hangs off him when he drops it. Instead of getting another beer, he simply plops down somewhere mildly inconvenient and stares at various things, sometimes through the magnifying glass, sometimes not. [22:15] 5Tony smiles broadly. "I do it literally every day." [22:15] 13Melanie: "Wow! How does it usually.. go? Like what do you say when you go into the shop." [22:15] 7Maggie: "So, what's new in Stewart world?" [22:16] 6Nels: "Um. Technically yes?" [22:16] 10Stewart: "I went to a wizard bar and saw one of them light a cop on fire." [22:16] 5Tony: "Usually, I say the number of the thing I want on the menu, but now I've done that enough that they just say, 'Usual again Mr. Tony?' and I say yup, and it's ready already." [22:16] "Me and Lauren had dinner. The Owl Bar at the Belvedere Hotel." [22:17] 7Maggie: "Yow! Like, a regular ordinary cop?" [22:17] 13Melanie: "That's pretty much how they do it in sitcoms, but I have to get to the point of having a usual. Like.. nobody writes a book on how to interact in a basic commercial transaction, or if they do, it's for people learning English?" [22:17] 5Tony: "It helps if you eat the same thing at the same place basically every day." [22:18] 6Nels: "I usually cook. It's - not great. Cheap, though. But when I was on the road I would buy from restaurants." [22:18] 10Stewart shakes his head. "I think he was some kind of wizard cop. Wizards all have superhero names, like Fireman and Permit. Singular was the cop, his partner was Permit. They were trying to intimidate me for being on wizard turf or something." [22:18] 10After a pause. "No, that's not fair, they definitely were intimidating me." [22:18] 13Melanie: "That's cool. I'm sure this isn't really a big deal, like it's a perfectly normal thing for people to be doing and nobody will really get mad if you don't know the right form of words." [22:18] "Lauren didn't see them, she'd already left." [22:19] 5Tony: "You can also point at the menu if you need to, I've seen people do that a couple times. They have picture ones and big numbers too." [22:19] "Golly. Glad you got away alright." 7She thinks for a bit. "So... wizards are real, huh? I guess that partly answers something I'd been thinking about." [22:19] "What's that?" [22:19] "It's just-" 13She's glad for the shield of the market crowds all around them, anonymity of the masses. "When talking one-on-one to someone normal I can't shake the feeling that they can tell. That they can see me." [22:20] 5Tony: "I'll grab a menu from my usual place the next time I swing by and leave it on the fridge. I get the feeling you do better with something you can read and study." [22:20] 6Nels: "It's - mostly they can't. If you can fake it." 6She looks very uncomfortable. "If they can tell, you will know." [22:20] 7Maggie: "Just if, you know, the Lords and Ladies are real, what else goes bump in the night? Draculas? Werewolfs? Frankensteins?" [22:21] 13Melanie: "Thank you!" 13To Nels: "Did someone.." [22:21] 6Nels: "It got handled. Um. Apparently some people peek into the hedge and don't like what they see, but it sticks." [22:21] "Well, I'm with them on that." [22:21] 10Stewart: "Oh man. One of the jobs the Autumn Court is having me do is populate our wiki. I have to find information about vampires and the local vampire population." [22:22] "You seem to like it ok out there, Tony?" [22:22] 7Her eyebrows shoot up. "Vampires too?!" [22:22] "A wiki is like an online group-edited encyclopedia." [22:22] 10Stewart: "For sure vampires. I met one. He exploded into a cloud of bats and everything." [22:22] 7Loftily: "Stewart, I am well-versed in the Wikipedia." [22:22] "Asked me for a five, 'cause it didn't mean as much as it used to. But they kept him away from me, and he probably wasn't part of a bigger thing..." [22:22] "Yeah? You ever fall down a wiki hole?" [22:23] 13Melanie: "Everything's connected. Not literally, in the sense that not everything is organised forces conspiring against us.. some of the winter people at the mixers, they had that idea, but it's not that bad. It's just that everything affects everything else." [22:24] 6Nels, firmly: "He wasn't one of Them. That was all I was worried about." [22:24] "Is that where you go to look something up, but you 'click' on a 'link' to something else, and that takes you to something else, and so on...?" [22:24] 10Stewart: "That's exactly it." [22:25] 5Tony: "Less that I like it, and more, it's what's out there. You go to work, you go home, you go to sleep, you wake up, do it again, it's stable, it's easy. And if you do it right you aren't seeing anyone die every day for forty years." [22:25] 7Maggie: "Oh, sure then." [22:26] 5Tony: "My job, jobs, are trash, but like my dad used to say, you're supposed to hate your job, that's how you know it's working." [22:27] 13Melanie: "Got it. I want to apologise in advance though, because I can't do.. stable. Like it scares me, I have to learn or change or make new connections. I'm going to try not to do that in a way that destabilises anyone else, it's just.. wait and watch, let the days go by. That's easy and natural and it's the worst, I can't do it anymore." [22:27] 6Nels: "Tony. Are you okay?" 6She seems genuinely concerned and also not exactly sure how to handle this. [22:27] 10Stewart's mind wanders back to the night he met the Count of St. Sebastian, and helped Gerald dispose of three bodies. His face darkens ever so slightly. "One time I started at Japanese swordsmiths and ended up at mathematical representations of quantum mechanics." [22:30] 5He nods at Melanie "No that's cool, if every team was just quarterbacks nothing would get done." 5And to Nels. "Are any of us? Heh. But yeah." 5 He takes a deep, sucking breath that he holds just a hitch too long. "Just don't make me bury anybody and I'll be better." [22:31] 6She nods, incredibly sure. "No burials. Got it." [22:32] 13Melanie: "We promise." 13She *wasn't* concerned for Tony and maybe she should have been. But his attitude seems perfectly reasonable to her, it would kill her to do that again but isn't it normal, to withdraw and endure? That's why these perspectives are important. Nels, a century out of time, is in some ways the least desensitised of them all. [22:32] 5He clears his throat. "Anyway! Donuts! Should be this way and we can get onto the better business of saving lil melon guys from Pigs." [22:33] 7Maggie: "Not sure how serious to take most of it, but I guess between all the people involved it evens out." 7Cheerfully: "At least if I'm wrong I'll be wrong with a bunch of other folks." [22:34] 5Tony leads the pair out of the elevator, locates the nearest Krispy Kreme, and, hopefully, they're well on their way to securing their cargo in short order. [22:34] 13Melanie: "Let's get some extra. Nels needs the tough-girl introduction to corn sugar." [22:35] 5Tony grins. "Stewart gave us two twenties. Who does that? Anyway Nels is getting a bear claw for sure." [22:36] 6Nels: "They did what with sugar?" [22:37] 5Tony: "They made corn into syrup and then made that for sugar. You'll see. Oh, you'll see." 5Sinister. [22:37] "It used to taste perfectly normal, like when I was growing up. Then I came out of Faerie and everything was like, revolting for a week. Now it's fine again!" 00[22:37] <@Crion> Nothing untoward will happen during your donut adventure, except perhaps a bit of a delay if you order a side of hashbrowns or something, because they're swamped this time of morning but have the donuts already baked. Lexington Market has a fun, easy swing of things, and they're becoming quick fixtures -- everyone just assumes they work there in some capacity, since they have access to the 00[22:37] <@Crion> elevator, and there's lump crabcake and hot food for days. As well as straight-up bulk seafood sales. [22:39] 5And that's how the group ends up with Tony carrying two boxes of original glazed, Melanie ends up with a box of mixed jellies and whatever else she points at, and Nels has her own bag of between 3 and 6 thousand calories of get-up-and-go. [22:39] 5Tony: The consummate professional at ordering food with a quickness. 00[22:41] <@Crion> When they get back, Steve is fully sober, hopefully? Well, he's strutting around investigating things at close range with the magnifying glass, instead of like, staring at a light from across the room with it. So that's progress. [22:41] 6What are these. They are sort of recognizable but - augh. Maybe she can feed them to Steve? [22:43] 5Tony announces , "HEY EVERYONE WE'RE BACK hey Steve." [22:43] "Heyo!" [22:44] 5Tony: "Steve, can you point us in the general direction of---no Steve that's my knee there aren't clues in my knee---general direction of, where you last saw the Watermelon Boys?" 00[22:44] <@Crion> honk 00[22:45] <@Crion> He will begin to strut to their door out into the fake sewer exit into the Hedge. [22:45] 6Oh dear. She'll pass one of the doughnuts off to Steve in exchange. [22:46] 5Tony: "Ok, everybody! Let's go save some Watermelon Boys! And hopefully not shoot or get shot at!" 5 Tony's feeling pretty good. Sobering up a little on the trip helped. [22:48] 6Nels pats her revolver. Just in case. 00[22:48] <@Crion> The Wherehouse heads out amongst the Pigs. 00[22:51] <@Crion> They're not all, actually, 'pigs' per se of course. That is the most common manifestation: a humanoid with a piggy head in a cop's blues with a gun on his belt who grunts and oinks quite a bit. But there's great variety within the genus. For instance, there are the Pigs who look like hideous, meaty helicopters with rotors that don't spin and a great big eye where their spotlight should be, 00[22:51] <@Crion> hovering too low over the Hedge because flying is something of a fraught concept on this side of the world. There are the Detector Inspectors, who look like the Spy vs. Spy guys from Mad Magazine but with badges, always walking around with their hands in their pockets and with angry eyes, fading into any wall they can if challenged. There are the patrol cars, whose headlights are eyes and 00[22:51] <@Crion> grills are mouths. 00[22:52] <@Crion> And there are the Regulators, the less said about, the better. [22:55] 13It's like the opening of bad movies in various genres. A fit blonde co-ed in a sweater approaches groups of lounging cop-monsters, smiling brightly from the sheer pleasure at meeting such upstanding officers of the law. [22:57] 5Tony's getting good at navigating the local Hedge, and to his credit, Steve gives passable directions. So it is he led the motley and their precious cargo towards the officer-involvement of Pigs (that's the plural for them you see). [22:57] 13To several of the less dangerous groups Melanie proffers donuts on paper plates ('from the store down the road, we're so thankful you boys are keeping us safe'). For the actively threatening ones she'll let Tony take over, planting the boxes like landmines in their paths. [22:57] 6Hard pass. Gun out. Any of them see the group, that's a bullet between the eyes. [22:58] 5And indeed he does, leaving them like the most obvious and appetizing roadside IEDs you ever did see. Box lids up, scents wafting out, and Tony retreats back to the group. [22:59] 5After doing so, he gestures to the group to follow along---he's picked up what looks to be a trail, and he follows it, leading them along, to a cul-de-sac in the near Hedge. The watermelon-roll-rut-prints they follow are actually...super-obvious once you're looking for them. No wonder these guys get hassled so much. 00[23:00] <@Crion> Steve spends much of his time examining the tracks with his magnifying glass, even after it's become clear they know what they're looking for. However, he doesn't slow the group down, and he doesn't honk. Steve is being very serious. [23:01] "No, thank you. For your service." 00[23:01] <@Crion> The tracks lead down...a blind alley, into a cul-de-sac. [23:01] 6She is going to make Steve a Chattanooga Dew when this is over. And... that is definitely a trap. [23:02] 7Hmm. [23:02] 10Oh, this is the path leading to the boss arena. 00[23:02] <@Crion> For the first time in awhile, Steve honks and strides forward, convinced he's found something. [23:02] 5Tony, hushed, to the group, "Eyes up, this is maybe a trap, pss Steve get back lil guy" 00[23:03] <@Crion> Steve...is investigating. [23:03] 6Nels, whisper-shouting: "Steven!" 00[23:03] <@Crion> The tracks are so clear! [23:03] 13Melanie: "If it- he- wants to go in first, let's not argue." [23:05] 13She takes a step back, actually - and rips off all the bark off one of her boughs. The exposed wood is jagged, hard-edged; papery white flakes drift in the air around it. 00[23:07] <@Crion> The "buildings" loom large around them...and from down the cul-de-sac, past an oddly-balanced dumpster, you hear an angry honk. [23:07] 10Stewart seems to blur at the edges, like he's smudged or vibrating. [23:08] 7Maggie discreetly eats a spider from her pocket spider container. [23:09] 6Nels draws a gun. [23:11] 13The tearing bark continues all over Melanie's body, strips coming loose in a pattern like war-paint. The exposed spiked wood shines, reflecting unnatural hedgelight, and even her gumnuts take on a threatening cast. Perhaps you could choke on them. [23:12] 5Tony quietly does a little 3-stone juggle with rocks no bigger than a fingernail, culminating in his hands taking on a distinctly granite cast. He also eats a little bit of dirt he had in a jeans pocket (he'll wash them later, promise) and his mien's soil simultaneously thickens and roils with angry-looking spines. [23:14] 7Let's do this. For Steve! [23:14] 13For practice when it doesn't matter whether we fail! 00[23:15] <@Crion> When the motley steps into the cul-de-sac, that dumpster sort of lazily rolls into place. ...It's, uh, not actually blocking you from leaving in any real way, though. The cul-de-sac is ringed with townhomes shoved together at odd angles, intersecting in ways that would make the buildings dangerously unstable and uninhabitable, were they real. And in the center of the asphalt, Steve is waving 00[23:15] <@Crion> his wings, hat askew, magnifying glass cast aside, as the Watermelon Boys tug on the pant leg of a bigger, scarier Pig than you've seen before and point their little...watermelon hands...at you. 00[23:15] <@Crion> Snitches! 00[23:15] <@Crion> Betrayers! 00[23:15] <@Crion> Roll initiative! [23:16] 7What the FUCK [23:16] 6I hate this [23:17] 13Are Melanie's friends actually legitimately surprised by this. Guess she'd better stick around because they clearly need the help! [23:17] 5Tony scowls, "Man c'mon!" [23:18] 10Fuck! 00[23:22] <@Crion> The Big Pig steps forward and says a bunch of gobbledygook into his lapel mic. It sounds like he's requesting backup. It sounds like he's not getting the answer he wants to hear. Around him, three patrol Pigs pull their sidearms, and one hefts a big submachine gun. Stewart, who has played Counterstrike, recognizes the former as weird off-brand Glock pistols, and the latter as a bizarre 00[23:22] <@Crion> UMP-45-alike. [23:22] "Those are real guns," 10Stewart warns. 00[23:22] <@Crion> "11-99. 11-99. 11-99," they all are grunting. [23:23] 6Nels: "This is why I said not to fuck with the pigs," 6she moans. 00[23:24] <@Crion> Steve ignores all of this and, screeching and honking, dives at the Watermelon Boys in a fury. They scream and run, but it won't save them. 00[23:26] <@Crion> He's already ripped off one of their little tiny watermelon feet and is beating them with it. [23:26] 13Melanie: "Stay behind us Nels." 13She advances, as slowly as she does everything else, but with increasing elemental fury; razor-edged leaves are falling from her hair and roots are springing from every crack in the pavement, grasping and lashing. [23:33] 5Tony bristles with jagged nails and sharp, craggy outcroppings from his loamy form. The SMG Pig doesn't blink. Tony charges and takes a beheading-the-passer level swing at him. The SMG Pig should blink, then. 00[23:35] <@Crion> Hell, it squeals. [23:36] 5Tony barks at the SMG Pig, "Down! We didn't come looking for a fight but we'll HAPPILY finish one." [23:39] 6Nels: "Okay." 6She steps back, and behind, and then uses Melanie's shoulder to steady her aim at the biggest pig. Blam! [23:39] "Did what you said. Sorry about the ears." [23:40] 13Melanie: "It's fine, they're just a Mask." [23:41] 6Still apologetic: "And the shoulder. It was rude to not ask." [23:42] 13Leaning on Melanie is like leaning on a piece of furniture, actually - she's totally solid, like something rooted to the ground. She flashes Nels a smile - this is fun. Should it be fun? Sorry, Stewart. 00[23:42] <@Crion> One of the pigs with a pistol raises up, grunts, and shoots at Stewart with one hand while fumbling with what looks like a vestigial, fake body camera-- [23:43] 10Stewart's bouncing lightly on his feet, eyes jumping from pig to pig. One shoots at him. Direct hit! Stewart goes up in a shower of orange sparks! And then the hazy smoke clears, the pig Tony socked has a fresh hole in its skull. It hits the dirt. [23:44] 10Stewart's a few inches to the right of where he was, still hopping. "C'monnnn. C'MON!" [23:44] 5Tony glances at the downed Pig and looks at the Sergeant. "Walk away!" 00[23:44] <@Crion> Gerald's a good teacher. Stewart's a quick learner. 00[23:45] <@Crion> The sergeant bleats, still yelling "10-96" into his lapel mic. [23:52] "C'mere you little varmint!" 7You know what they say about wrestling a pig - it's fun, and everyone should do it. Maggie charges into battle, shoving one of the pistol-toting pigs in an effort to wrench away its gun. 00[23:52] <@Crion> It fires once or twice, but the muzzle's forced up. So all it really does is oink. [23:58] 13Melanie comes up behind Maggie as she swings the pig around - and swings herself. She lashes with heavy boughs and razor leaves, inflicting cuts on both the held pig and its partner, before slamming into the target with a heavy snap. [23:59] 5As Melanie rips through the Pigs, Tony repeats himself, louder, at the sergeant. "Walk away!" Session Time: Sun Oct 13 00:00:00 2019 00[00:00] <@Crion> "HRRGH HRRRRRGH HRRRRRRGHHHH!!" Is the response now. [00:01] 6Not much of a response. [00:01] 6Lacks eloquence - oh fuck. 00[00:01] <@Crion> The second Pig -- the one whose partner just got half-eviscerated by Melanie -- squeals and fires at her in a panic. 00[00:06] <@Crion> The third Pig with a pistol fires wildly at Tony. It hits him...but it bounces off his kevlar and skips off into the Hedge. [00:06] 13The bullet embeds itself half an inch deep in her flank. Scorched wood cracks and creaks. "You could kill me by doing that enough," 13says Melanie; "I don't want to die. But I don't feel pain anymore." [00:07] 5Tony rolls his shoulder. He felt that, a little bit. "Guh." [00:11] 10Stewart's trick doesn't work as well the second time. The bullet bruises a rib underneath the vest. He just got shot in the chest with a fucking Glock. Fuck. He's... not scared at all. He's totally calm, as if dispassionately watching himself get shot in a dream. 00[00:12] <@Crion> The big Pig grins. Then he...starts heading for the trunk of the burned out cop car behind him...? 00[00:15] <@Crion> Meanwhile, Steve has murdered one of the Watermelon Bros outright. He is shriek-honking as he stomps over its delicious-looking innards, swinging the magnifying glass like a mace at the second. [00:16] 5Tony whirls around and takes another run at another pig, this time attempting to put a solid block out on Pig 3. Knock 'em down and keep moving, that's all you gotta do. No refs. 02[00:23] * trenchfoot (dani@sorcery-pks4b7.in.comcast.net) Quit (Connection closed) 03[00:23] * trenchfoot (dani@sorcery-pks4b7.in.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch [00:25] 7Maggie makes a noise like she's about to hock a loogie, then spits a big wet *splat* of spiderwebbing onto the pig cop! Lifting it bodily off the ground, she spins it around and around in her arms, one finger hooked around a glob of the webbing that stretches and stretches and streeeetches but doesn't break, wrapping that pig up in a sticky blanket. [00:26] 7It's out of the fight! And probably fairly dizzy. [00:29] 10Haha that's gross. [00:29] 10Stewart is fucking WIRED. [00:29] 13This gives Melanie pause for a second. [00:30] 13She's not going to, like, throw stones about things being weird and gross. But grabbing these guys.. it's effective! They can't use their guns, which they're otherwise quite prone to do. She squares off against the next pig (lines off, really) and shoves forward, wrapping wooden limbs around it and raking it with razor sharp leaves. 00[00:31] <@Crion> The last pig standing with a pistol panics, oinks, and begins to quail. The sergeant harrumphs and shakes his head and kicks open the trunk of the burned-out car -- and he pulls out what looks like a damn squad assault weapon. Stewart knows what those look like. He's played Call of Duty. 00[00:32] <@Crion> The big Pig levels it at you, the other Pigs, Steve, anyone nearby, and braces to fire-- 00[00:32] <@Crion> Then there's the sound of a gunshot. 00[00:32] <@Crion> And the sergeant's entire upper body explodes. [00:32] 7Yow. [00:33] 10Pressing F on the world's smallest keyboard. [00:33] 5Tony winces. You hate to see it 00[00:34] <@Crion> A ten-foot-tall man who looks to be literally chiselled out of stone strides out from the Thorns like they were his home, and maybe they are. He's wearing a cowboy hat on his head; on his feet are spurs. He's tastefully unshaven and incredibly attractive. He's frowning. "What did I say about the next time we had to have this conversation, Sergeant?" he asks the corpse. 00[00:34] <@Crion> He glances over at what Maggie's done with her Pig. "Hog-tied. Nice." 00[00:35] <@Crion> "So." 00[00:35] <@Crion> honk 00[00:35] <@Crion> The big stone man smiles and tips his hat. "Steve." [00:36] 5Tony briefly unclenches. "Oh shit! Hey this guy knows Steve everybody!" 5 back to the group. [00:36] 13Melanie blinks, little panels of wood sliding down and up over her eyesockets. She'll quickly and embarassedly strangle her pig into unconsciousness, dropping it like a sack of garbage you were caught carrying in front of, well, a cool tall rock guy. 00[00:36] <@Crion> On his chest, there's a big, shining Sheriff's star. "I'm the law around here." 00[00:37] <@Crion> The Walking Man: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oi3QmAmrG6M How can we win, when fools can be kings? [00:37] 7Well now. Look at him. For the first time, Maggie wishes she were a bit more like Melanie. [00:37] "Hi there." [00:37] 13What, 'unable to quickly react to new situations'? [00:38] 10This is one of Stewart's favorite songs. [00:38] 5Tony nods. "Hello sir. We were just trying to help some of Steve's...friends?" 5Hard to call them that when Steve's caked in their entrails. 00[00:38] <@Crion> honk 00[00:38] <@Crion> He's finished off the last one. [00:38] 13..the smell.. that's what watermelon was like. Pretty nice, actually. 00[00:39] <@Crion> To Melanie: "Thank you for not killing him, though he earned it. Makes my job easier." [00:40] "Um, that's okay." [00:41] "Job?" 00[00:41] <@Crion> The Walking Man: "Is it?" 00[00:42] <@Crion> To Stewart: "I walk the hedgerows. I go here and there. I'm a judge and a jury. And the other thing." 00[00:42] <@Crion> He laughs. "And you know, I just can't...abide...an imposter." [00:43] 10Stewart decides to offer the hob a name. "My name's Stewart Reader." 00[00:43] <@Crion> "Well met, Stewart Reader. I am the Walking Man." [00:43] "Hiya, Walking Man. I'm Maggie Bakehead." [00:44] 13Melanie: "Melanie Lucas. You've.. helped us out. Is there something we can do for you before we leave?" 00[00:44] <@Crion> He pulls out what looks like a tree-branch of a cigarette and lights it up. "You should stop telling me your names." 00[00:44] <@Crion> "Have you never talked to cops before." [00:44] 5Tony's about to, and catches himself, then laughs. [00:44] 13Melanie: "Thank you, but we've earned the right to them." [00:44] 5To Steve, quiet enough to not cut anyone off: "Hey Steve, how're you doing over there, you doing alright?" 00[00:45] <@Crion> The Walking Man: "Then you should keep them safe." 00[00:46] <@Crion> "If I don't know your names, then I can't tell someone who files a lost property report that I've seen you. Because I don't know who you are." [00:46] 7Maggie's not worried. 'Maggie' isn't her real name. It's not even her real fake name. [00:47] 13Melanie's getting angry, which is incredibly unwise. "There's no property here. Thanks again, but we'd better go." [00:47] 5Tony nods.  [00:47] "Cheers." 00[00:47] <@Crion> He nods. "That you should." [00:47] 5Tony: "Steve, you coming with?" 00[00:48] <@Crion> honk 00[00:48] <@Crion> Steve has finished vandalizing the Watermelon Boys' corpses. 00[00:48] <@Crion> Then he honks at the Walking Man. 00[00:48] <@Crion> The Walking Man sighs. [00:48] 5Tony's going to try to drink that memory away ASAP. 00[00:49] <@Crion> "Steve wants me to give you a badge." 00[00:49] <@Crion> The Walking Man pauses. "Steve is very selfish." 00[00:49] <@Crion> "I don't come through here very often." 00[00:49] <@Crion> "I take it you live here now." He waves his great cigarette. "Do not tell me where." [00:50] 13Melanie's gathering up some dropped leaves nervously, checking that nobody else got shot, and sort of ostentatiously trying to make ready to leave. There's far more danger than benefit to prolonging this. [00:51] 5Tony catches himself start to laugh at the Steve-assessment, and bites it down. "If you aren't here often, Steve is probably right to think he'll see us more than see you. Even if I don't think we'll want to come to this neighborhood again." 00[00:51] <@Crion> The Walking Man laughs again. "I wish you wouldn't. But that's not how this whole thing works, is it." [00:52] "Tony." [00:52] 5Nod. "No lies there." 00[00:53] <@Crion> He snaps his fingers and spreads his hand, and there's a deputy's badge in it. "The deal that Steve has impressed that I should impress upon you is this. You take this badge. I get to come to you and ask you to answer any single informational question. In a neutral space, we're not talking hollows here. You're my one-question CI. In return, if someone over whom the law of this Hedge has 00[00:53] <@Crion> dominion bullies or threatens or attacks you -- you produce this badge. And you produce me." 00[00:53] <@Crion> "One question. One badge." 00[00:54] <@Crion> "A this for a that." 00[00:54] <@Crion> His smile fades into a slightly-sad look. "I'll tell you straight. It will not work on your Keepers. Or any of them." 00[00:54] <@Crion> "The law is the law." [00:55] "If no one else is volunteering..."5 Tony looks around, then considers his words carefully. "I will hold onto a badge, under those conditions, and I will answer your question to the best of my ability." 00[00:55] <@Crion> The big man nods soberly. "Signed, sealed, delivered. Deputy No-Name." He flips it to Tony like a coin. [00:56] 5Tony catches it and just kinda...holds it where he'd pin it for a second, then settles on just holding it. "Sir." [00:56] 13What the fuck are you doing Tony. 00[00:56] <@Crion> Then he looks around. "Now I've got to clean up this shit--Steve! Stop stepping in them." 00[00:56] <@Crion> "Jesus Christ, Steve." 00[00:56] <@Crion> honk [00:57] 5Tony sighs at Steve. "C'mon buddy let's get you washed off, I think we've got a hose out back." 5To the Walking Man. "Hopefully not being seeing you soon, sir. Walk safe out there." 00[00:57] <@Crion> "Y'all should get out of here. It was nice to meet you. I hope, outside of the terms of our agreement where I'm helping you, that we never see each other again." [00:57] 5Tony. "Very same." 00[00:57] <@Crion> He tips his hat to Tony, whose name he actually knows now. 00[00:57] <@Crion> Thanks to Melanie. [00:58] 13Who looks furious. But she's not going to get in anyone's way. 00[00:59] <@Crion> The walk back to the Wherehouse is easy and clean. Steve is strutting. The Pigs haven't fully retreated -- there's still an Inspector Detector here or there in the shadows -- but they're cowed. And eating what's left of their donuts. [00:59] 7Once they're safely inside: "Hoo. Well, that was something." 00[00:59] <@Crion> All in all, a good day's work. 00[00:59] <@Crion> honk [00:59] 5Tony's visibly a mix of "profoundly uncomfortable" and "kinda satisfied." "The donuts were a great idea." [01:00] "That thing is not a friend or an ally." [01:00] 5T: "The other stuff." 5He hefts the badge. "Well, when it bites me in the ass, remember me fondly." 00[01:00] <@Crion> Steve is going to go find something full of water to splash in for awhile. It might just be that toilet Maggie was vomiting in, unless something bigger is on offer. [01:00] "The big hot guy, I mean. Steve is.." 13reluctantly "friend..ly." [01:00] 7She flushed after! [01:01] 5He looks around. "Everyone okay though? I didn't catch if anyone took fire this time, I don't think anyone got gutshot badly again at least." [01:02] 5He's got a discolored patch of earth on his upper arm that'll welt up in his Mask tomorrow, but nothing a good day off won't cure. [01:02] 7Maggie: "Never even touched me." [01:03] 13Melanie's standing in the kitchen picking a bullet out of her upper body, but at least she'd got her sweater off by the time it happened. [01:03] "Big lawman... Melanie's right that he's not on our side, but he seems honest enough and he owes us a favor, which I'm to understand is pretty important around here. That went well... but it could've gone worse. Those were real guns... we might need someone like him to hide behind, someday." [01:03] "Aw, geez! Melanie, you okay?!" [01:05] 13Melanie: "Ah, yeah. There's um.. I get a pain-replacement sensation, but it's just awareness. Probably doesn't have the right deterrent effect." 02[01:05] * trenchfoot (dani@sorcery-pks4b7.in.comcast.net) Quit (Connection closed) [01:05] "But it's not like I actually miss pain, you know?" 13She supposes there's the option of psychological anguish. [01:05] 7Maggie: "Nobody else? Stewart? Nels?" [01:06] 10Stewart: "I got shot right in the vest. I think I'm okay." [01:07] "Oh shit, I thought you were dodging them. We should've followed Maggie's example earlier, sorry.." [01:07] "I dodged most of them." [01:07] "Getting up on them and taking the guns away was definitely the right thing to do!" [01:08] 7She taps her temple. "That's what I figured." [01:09] 13Melanie:  "It was a good day's work though. We've learned more about how to work together and we know how dangerous they are now." [01:10] 10Man. Should he tell Lauren he got shot? [01:10] "Which is to say.. dangerous enough that we should keep avoiding trouble, but not as dangerous as us. Husserl's temporality trumps satiation." [01:10] "What's that, now?" [01:11] 13Melanie comes back over to the sofa holding a dripping bullet. It's just water - she washed off the sap. "Satiation is what Heidegger would call the greatest danger of our age of needlessness - the pigs represent the concept of power maintaining itself, a status quo of sheer greed." [01:12] "Real cops are all about keeping the powerful powerful, but these things are parodies, existing as power-maintenance without any power to maintain. Dystopia masquerading as utopia, which incidentally is what Heidegger thought of America." [01:13] "The way you beat self-satisfied satiety is, of course, to need something. Temporality is the matching of point-in-time need to satisfaction. It's the quality of- the qualia of being in the wrong place at the right time." 00[01:14] <@Crion> Lauren is indeed up at this hour. But Stewart still has a goose honking in his toilet. [01:15] 10What does the goose want? Is he sick? 00[01:15] <@Crion> It might be the perfect hour to invite her over, actually -- they could get food from the Market...Steve might go away... 00[01:15] <@Crion> The goose is very angry at himself. [01:15] 7Maggie hrms like a clanking boiler. A metal Ent talking to a real one. [01:16] "I'm a bit worried about you all telling him your names, though... The lawman was right, we should have some of that there 'operational security'." [01:16] 13Melanie: "If this makes no sense, feel free to say so! It's up to a philosopher to convey what the hell she means in terms that, by successful articulation, are an actual coherent thought." [01:17] "Most of us use fake names, right? I'm not gonna google people, but apart from Nels..." [01:17] 13And apart from herself, which she's skipping over. [01:17] 10Stewart will sit on the edge of the - is there a tub? If not he'll sit on whatever's handy. "Steve, man. We're all okay. No one's mad at you." 00[01:18] <@Crion> honk honk!!!! [01:19] "Is Melanie a whatsit, pseudonym? I mean, good if it is..." 00[01:19] <@Crion> Steve is, of course, mad at himself. Less because he put you in danger -- he seems only like, contingently aware that he did so -- but more because he asked you to do something for him, and it turned out to be stupid and shitty and frankly, something he could have done by himself without making your put in the effort. 00[01:20] <@Crion> Which is...arguable. [01:20] 13Melanie: "No." [01:20] 13Melanie: "Maybe." [01:21] "If it is, it's not intentional." [01:23] 10Stewart: "I think, even though we got tricked, what we did was still important. We're supposed to- this is our part of the Hedge, right? We're supposed to keep it... orderly. That means making sure it's safe for benign hobs and keeping the shitty hobs under control." 00[01:24] <@Crion> Steve waves his wings, splashes, and honks. Stewart's correct, but that doesn't make Steve feel better. [01:24] 13Please don't splash the toilet water. 00[01:24] <@Crion> honk [01:24] "Stewart, is he splashing the toilet water?" [01:25] "I'm trying to get him to come dry off. There's some beers in the fridge..." 00[01:25] <@Crion> honk 00[01:25] <@Crion> Now...beers. 00[01:25] <@Crion> That WOULD make him feel better. 00[01:25] <@Crion> As if nothing had happened at all, the hob hops out of the toilet and trundles towards the fridge. [01:25] 10Stewart immediately understands. "Yeah. Yeah come have a drink and forget about it." [01:26] 7Hum hmmm whoosh crackle "That's what I'm worried about. 'Maggie' isn't my real name, Samaritan gave me that when I first come out the Hedge. It's not even my real fake name. I'll be alright. You and Stewart though, and I guess Tony... eh. Nothing for it but to see what comes when it comes." 03[01:26] * trenchfoot_ (dani@sorcery-pks4b7.in.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 03[01:26] * trenchfoot (dani@sorcery-pks4b7.in.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch [01:27] 7She makes a few more mechanical thinking noises. "That business you were talking about before, about temporality. Is what you're saying that we won because we wanted it more? Sounds a bit like Tony, there." 7She sounds pleased by that. [01:27] 13Melanie: "I'm not giving up my name. Like, I get it, there's power, the Wyrd is a notary public. But seven billion people live that way, you know?" [01:27] 10Stewart, at the fridge door: "My real name's different." [01:28] "It's your choice." 00[01:28] <@Crion> Steve nods severely at Stewart's revelation. 00[01:28] <@Crion> honk 00[01:28] <@Crion> 'So is mine' [01:28] "Cheers." [01:29] "I had to hold onto something, though. Like." [01:29] 7Maggie: "Well, good on you then, Melanie. You know we'll back you up if it comes to that." [01:30] 13Melanie looks at Maggie and Stewart. She doesn't trust Steve but whatever. "I haven't told you how old I am, really." 00[01:32] <@Crion> Steve marches up to Maggie with...a beer. [01:33] 10Stewart texts Lauren. He's listening to Melanie out of one ear.  02[01:33] * trenchfoot_ (dani@sorcery-pks4b7.in.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: Leaving) [01:33] "I'm like.. really really old, haha. I don't see the rest of you as kids because I didn't experience it socially? There was no outliving my friends and family because it was barely living. I just.. forgot. I forgot almost everything, because who I was wasn't anyone worth remembering. But I remembered my name." 00[01:33] <@Crion> Lauren: 00[01:33] <@Crion> 00[01:33] <@Crion> It's about 45 seconds later. Who knows when it was actually sent. 00[01:34] <@Crion> Stewart did just text through the Hedge. [01:35] "And then after, I lost track but it had to be at least hundreds of years, I came back and people don't think it was my name. My replacement is literally called Belanie. So either it's my actual self that I get to keep, or something I *thought* was me and held onto, and either way.. I'm not going to go around calling myself Paperbark. Or Jane Smith." [01:35] "Aw, you're a sweetie, Steve." 7She will take that beer........ and drink it! 00[01:35] <@Crion> When Maggie grabs the bottle's barrel, Steve switches his grip to the bottlecap, twists, and pops it off. Then he trundles back to the fridge. [01:35] 10Oh no! Stewart can't step outside the elevator, though, Melanie is saying something poignant.  00[01:36] <@Crion> Lauren: [01:36] 13Wow, this was not meant to be poignant. Probably time to retreat to the library. [01:38] 10Stewart:  00[01:38] <@Crion> Lauren: [01:39] 7Maggie: "Sure, I get that." 7She makes a lip-popping noise. "Huh. Maybe our times in were pretty similar, though I guess we reacted differently. I don't think I was in as long as you, though. Subjectively. Time gets weird and, uh, it was kind of hard to tell." 00[01:39] <@Crion> Steve returns...with another beer. This one's for Stewart. [01:39] 10Stewart's smile is maybe inappropriate to what Melanie's been saying. He'll take the beer, though with some hesitation, and grab a mop. 00[01:40] <@Crion> Steve does the same thing, popping the cap, and retreats once more to the fridge. [01:41] "Time does. I also didn't have a lot of senses, like.. those deprivation chambers they use for tests?" 00[01:41] <@Crion> He returns...with a third beer. And he stands in the doorway, near the frame, staring at Melanie. [01:42] 13To Steve: "No." 00[01:43] <@Crion> Without breaking eye contact, Steve...steps wide to the side. Behind the door frame. You can still see the bottom of the beer hanging from his beak but, technically, he's...hidden? [01:44] "Better." 13If the hobgoblin doesn't bother her, Melanie won't throw things at it. [01:45] 13Is it ok to ask Maggie this question... [01:45] "Is it okay to ask this? If it's not okay just do or say whatever, okay?" 00[01:45] <@Crion> Two minutes later, Steve walks back through the door, sticking to the wall, sort of trying to approach Melanie from the side. [01:47] 7Maggie shrugs. "Never heard of deprivation chambers, but you can ask me whatever you feel like." [01:48] 10Stewart comes back with and stows the mop. "I invited Lauren to come over in a little while, but we can hang out in the market if you guys don't want company." [01:49] 13Melanie: "Okay. They didn't take my memories, it was my fault - I didn't have enough to think about, I just couldn't hold on to it all. Like, the reason I look like this is nothing any faerie did, I just fell over the Hedge and I could feel it rewriting me from my own memories but there weren't enough. I didn't - don't - remember what skin was like. So. Is that what happened to [01:49] you, or did your past go.. somewhere else?" [01:50] 13Aah! Stewart's quiet. [01:51] 10Stewart tenses. Did he just walk in on something heavy...? [01:55] 7Buuuraruuuum. "Good question. Tell the truth, I'm not sure - not whether it was stolen or I just forgot or... or what. That part's gone too. I-- maybe this would be easier if I told the story start to finish? It's not so painful, not a raw wound. More like an amputee." [01:55] 7She'll head to one of the comfy TV chairs and sit down, waiting for Melanie or Stewart to signal if they'd prefer not to deal with this just now. [01:56] 13Melanie: "If you want to, please tell us. Let me just-" 13Stewart's arrival drew her attention to that damn goose sneaking up. She throws a bullet at it. [01:56] 10Stewart doesn't signal any such thing. He does open a second beer. 00[01:57] <@Crion> Steve blocks the bullet with the bottle...and scurries back to the door. [01:57] "C'mon now." 7She says gently. "Go easy on the poor lil' guy. Steve, you can listen if you Promise not to blab." 7There's a clear emphasis on 'promise'. [01:57] 13While everyone's rearranging: "Of course it's fine if Lauren comes over. I haven't really met her, because work? But I could easily be doing more work if you want privacy." [01:57] 13While everyone's rearranging: "Of course it's fine if Lauren comes over. I haven't really met her, because work? But I could easily be doing more work if you want privacy." [01:58] 10Too quickly: "Why would we want privacy?" [01:58] 13Comfy chairs aren't, for Melanie, but she's perfectly relaxed standing *by* them. [01:58] "If." 00[02:00] <@Crion> Steve...vanishes for a little bit. 00[02:02] <@Crion> Then, coming the other way into the room, is a form cloaked in...a small towel? It's about the same color as the carpet. Or the floor, if there's not carpeting yet. Just out from underneath the fabric, the bottom of a beer bottle pokes. The little lump moves closer. Closer. Hides behind the comfy chair. Waits... 00[02:02] <@Crion> Waits... 00[02:03] <@Crion> Then when Melanie leans down for some reason or another, Steve throws off the ghille suit and proudly stretches upright with an open beer, right near her hand. 00[02:11] <@Crion> Maggie will get an affirmative honk, which can seal if she likes. [02:11] 7She will do that, settle back in her seat, and clear her throat. [02:14] "I don't know what kind of people tell stories about the Long Black Train anymore. Maybe street kids do. Anyhow, as long as there've been rails to ride there've been ragged men and women telling each other about the engine that comes to carry a soul to its final account." [02:14] 7Maggie: "And, like all stories humans tell each other, one of the Good Cousins heard it and decided to plagiarize." [02:16] 10Good Cousins. That's a new one. [02:16] 13Just the total opposite of the truth. That's how you do euphemisms! 00[02:17] <@Crion> Sneaky Steve... [02:17] "So! The Promised Land line, express to Arcadia, picking up unwary drifters and hoboes along the way. Managed by the Conductor, on whose qualities I have no desire to reminisce." [02:18] 7Maggie: "Now, I was not one of them. At least, I don't think I was. He picked me up for a different purpose. Iron, right? The guts of a train, a real train, are made from it. Obviously he couldn't work with that. But a train still needs a furnace, a firebox." [02:18] "Hence, yours truly." [02:20] "I couldn't tell you how many trips we made, nor how many poor souls got traded away to their durance at the End of the Line. I remember that to the hobs who were porters and stokers and engineers on the Promised Land, I had a name. They called me-" 7Here she makes a noise difficult for a human to reproduce, a sound of slowly cooling metal: Kek'Tungsssha. 00[02:22] <@Crion> Sneaking... [02:23] "Anyhow, the rambling-men in the carriages behind me would tell each other stories of their travels, and the Conductor would snatch up each one and bite down, draining them dry as the juice ran down his chin, 'til there was nothing left but the crackling husk that he would toss in my mouth to stoke my fires." [02:25] "Until one morning - heh! - one morning an older fella was telling of the best breakfast he'd ever had. Eggs, bacon, sausage, hashbrowns, strong black coffee." [02:25] 13Sounds tasty- wait. How did this thing get here! [02:26] "Just like that... I felt hungry for more than dried-up ol' tall tales. And once I remembered hungry, I remembered mouth and throat and arms and legs and hands and fingers and a voice, and the will to move on my own!" [02:26] 13Melanie will take the bottle, and she will put it on the arm of the chair beside her. 00[02:26] <@Crion> Steve doesn't honk, but he doesn't hide as he purposefully strides from the room. 00[02:28] <@Crion> Stewart's phone buzzes. It's Lauren: [02:28] 7Maggie: "How I got out... all those stories he fed me had burned down to ash, and at the bottom of the embers was a secret. There's a real Long Black Train, and while the Promised Land only goes one direction, there's no place the other one doesn't reach." 03[02:29] * CBN2 (CBN@sorcery-nmqr29.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) has joined #gofetch [02:29] "So when the Conductor turned his head just right, I jumped from the side of the Promised Land Line, and grabbed onto the Long Black Train which was headed the other way!" [02:29] 7She sighs. "Of course, I was clinging to the side, and the iron burned my hands and the Thorns cut my back up something fierce." 03[02:30] * CBN3 (CBN@sorcery-788818.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) has joined #gofetch [02:30] "So soon enough I fell off, back in the real world. I wandered about not knowing up from down for a little while until, thank goodness, Samaritan found me." [02:30] 7She drinks contemplatively. "That's it, I guess." 02[02:32] * CBN (CBN@sorcery-ph889n.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [02:33] 10Stewart: "That's Lauren. I'll see you guys later maybe. Hey, uh. Thank you for telling us your story." 02[02:33] * CBN2 (CBN@sorcery-nmqr29.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [02:34] "Cheers. You two aren't gonna hang around?" [02:35] 10Stewart: "We're probably gonna get food, but we might come back? I dunno." [02:36] 10He'll head out to meet Lauren at the Market, feeling a little drifty on his feet because of the two beers. 00[02:37] <@Crion> Somewhere from deeper in the Wherehouse comes a honk. Steve isn't declaring victory, prescisely, but he is sitting in Tony's favorite chair. 00[02:37] <@Crion> When Stewart gets out of the elevator, he can see Lauren just down the way in jeans, a blouse and a cute jacket, ordering two big crabcake sandwiches. [02:39] 10Ohh hell yes. "Hey! Hi." 00[02:40] <@Crion> "Yo." These things are basically a big kaiser roll, toasted, then you take a crab cake, cook it up, put it on the bottom bun, Old Bay, raw onion, a bit more Old Bay, and horseradish if that's what you're into. Lauren's into the horseradish. [02:42] 10Two beers deep, Stewart is also into the horseradish. "I like that jacket." 00[02:44] <@Crion> She grins and tosses him a foil-wrapped sandwich. "Nice jeans." 00[02:44] <@Crion> Airily: "It's on the firm's card." [02:44] 10Stewart snatches it from the air deftly. "What've you been up to?" [02:44] "Nice." 00[02:45] <@Crion> She rolls her eyes. "Santander is getting really interested in werewolves. So I'm researching...werewolves. I'm hoping it's just a phase." 00[02:45] <@Crion> Where are they headed? [02:50] 10Stewart'll lead her back to the Wherehouse, the crowd in the Market is a little much for him right now. "Melanie ducked out but I think Maggie's still around." 00[02:51] <@Crion> "The Minnesotan mom, right?" [02:51] 10Stewart: "I dunno where she's from exactly, but yeah, that's her." 00[02:51] <@Crion> "She's cool." 00[02:51] <@Crion> "I mean." 00[02:51] <@Crion> "Not cool." 00[02:51] <@Crion> "But none of us are cool." [02:53] 7Mags will hit 'pause' on Poirot when they come back in. "Oh, heya there Lauren! I think we've still got some beers left if you want one." 00[02:53] <@Crion> While Stewart does the elevator thing, she just looks smug. 00[02:53] <@Crion> "Hey! I could--" 00[02:54] <@Crion> A beady-eyed head extends itself around the moulding of the doorframe, and in its beak, it clutches a brew. 00[02:54] <@Crion> honk [02:54] 10Stewart: "That's Tony's friend. We call him Steve. Say hi to Lauren, Steve." 00[02:56] <@Crion> Lauren blinks twice, but says, "Hey." 00[02:56] <@Crion> Steve waddles forward, delivers the beer, and pops the cap. Then he waddles away, and just as he's leaving the room, honks again: 'Beers is hello' [02:57] "In time we may come to regret giving him fridge privileges." 00[02:58] <@Crion> Lauren: "Maybe. Or maybe Steve owns." 00[02:58] <@Crion> She takes deep sip and will drop down onto a couch, very pointedly leaving just enough room for Stewart. [02:59] 10Stewart will sit without visible hesitation. [02:59] "Stewart tells me you got into a kerfuffle with some wizards!" [03:01] 10Stewart definitely told Lauren what happened with Singular and Permit and Fireman as soon as he got home. 00[03:02] <@Crion> Lauren: "Well, I wasn't there for that." 00[03:02] <@Crion> "But yeah, Fireman had to do his thing I guess." [03:03] 7Maggie: "What do wizards do when they're at home? Wiz?" 00[03:03] <@Crion> "Depends on what kinda wizard they are, I guess." 00[03:03] <@Crion> "Union's the biggest weed dealer in the city." [03:05] 10Stewart: "I met him. He was with... I think her name was Everafter?" 00[03:05] <@Crion> "Blonde? Uptight? Accent's hard to place?" [03:09] 10Stewart doesn't know about uptight, but: "Yeah, that was it. They were talking to Canterbury outside my apartment building." 00[03:09] <@Crion> "Yeah, that's Everafter." 00[03:10] <@Crion> "Dunno what she does when she's home. Gives speeches about how us Hedge wizards need to be more careful, probably." 00[03:10] <@Crion> She swigs the beer. "You know, into the mirror." [03:11] 10Stewart: "...does she actually call us that?" 00[03:11] <@Crion> Lauren shrugs. "Not like she's precisely wrong." [03:13] 10Stewart: "Yeah I guess. We just got back from getting ambushed by a squad of Pigs. The Walking Man busted it up." 00[03:13] <@Crion> She almost spits her beer up. "The fucking what the what happened?" 00[03:13] <@Crion> honk 00[03:13] <@Crion> From the other room. 00[03:14] <@Crion> He only promised not to listen to Maggie's story, after all. 00[03:14] <@Crion> Now he's settled in and is watching some of Tony's TV stuff. [03:16] 10Stewart: "We were trying to clear them out of our neighborhood a bit. We got a bad tip from some snitch watermelons. They start shooting at us. Tony, Maggie, and Melanie get in close and disarm them. Maggie like, full on spidermans one. I think Melanie got winged. I got shot but in the vest." 00[03:16] <@Crion> Lauren: "YOU GOT SHOT?!" [03:17] "Then the Walking Man just gibs the sergeant out of nowhere, deputizes Tony, and-- yeah?" 00[03:17] <@Crion> "You are NOT allowed to get shot!!" 00[03:17] <@Crion> Slightly flustered: "That's not what we do. That's like. Gerald's job." 00[03:17] <@Crion> "He's very good at it!" [03:18] 10It's dawning on Stewart that he's not on quite the right emotional wavelength here. Too many drinks or too few. "Yeah! He showed me, the thing. One of the common Shields. I dodged all but one of the bullets." 00[03:19] <@Crion> Lauren kills the rest of her beer. "One bullet is still too many!!! But, also, that's cool." [03:19] 7Maggie: "Sweetie, don't worry. He's fine." 00[03:19] <@Crion> "STEVE! ANOTHER BEER!" 00[03:19] <@Crion> honk 00[03:20] <@Crion> He waddles out with it and this time hucks it across the room. Lauren catches it out of the air then pops the cap off, and Steve wanders back to his stories. 00[03:21] <@Crion> "...So the Walking Man. Was he cool?" [03:22] 10Stewart: "Yeah! He was like a Paul Bunyan sized version of... did you ever see Deadwood?" [03:22] "He was quite a fella." 7Maggie chuckles to herself. 00[03:22] <@Crion> Lauren: "Yup." [03:23] "Like the main guy in that. The sheriff guy. Not EXACTLY obviously but the same energy." 00[03:24] <@Crion> From the other room, it sounds like Steve is watching 1-3 minute sitcom clips that always end in the same song, all in a row. The song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ag1o3koTLWM 00[03:25] <@Crion> Lauren: "Ah, Timmy Elephant." [03:26] "Whom?" [03:27] 7Maggie could feel like a third wheel and retire to let the kids engage in some heavy petting, but she's been drinking and they could've gone to Stewart's actual apartment if they wanted to do that. 00[03:28] <@Crion> Lauren: "His name's something like that. The actor. I guess if The Walking Man really is that tall then the name fits him better." [03:32] 10Stewart: "Maggie was telling me before we went out that she'd gotten to wondering, you know, if there's magic, what else is real. We know there's vampires and wizards." [03:33] "Yeah, and learning that just brings up more questions!" 7She takes a swig. "What makes a wizard a wizard? Is it just a normal person reading the right books? Do Autumn folk count as the same sort of thing? Do they make Contracts and such?" 7She winces. "Ah, sorry. Peppering you like that's bad manners, with you a guest and all." 00[03:34] <@Crion> Lauren grimaces. "The wizards don't like to talk about themselves, and talking about the wizards out of turn can be...a problem. All I know is their magic comes from somewhere else and you can't learn it like a degree." 00[03:34] <@Crion> "Werewolves are real as shit, though. Vampires too." 00[03:35] <@Crion> She sips her beer and takes a big bite of her sandwich. 00[03:35] <@Crion> Damn, that's good. [03:36] 10These are real good sandwiches. Stewart feels self-conscious about eating in front of MAggie but he's so hungry... 00[03:37] <@Crion> Lauren: "What do you think the most elite special forces branch of the United States military is?" 00[03:37] <@Crion> She says this after finishing a bite of sandwich. [03:37] 7Her stomach's still a bit unsettled from the abhorse earlier. You eat up, Stewart. Growing boys need crab, because crab's very nutritious. Crab is the most nutritious of the sea creatures. [03:39] "Weren't there fellas in double-you double-you two roaming around Europe blowing up castles and such? Bet those guys are pretty good." [03:40] 10Stewart: "The SEALs? I dunno." 00[03:41] <@Crion> To Maggie: "That was the OSS. Or some video game dudes. I dunno." To Stewart: "The SEALs are a good guess. For better reasons than all the Osama stuff." 00[03:41] <@Crion> "But no." 00[03:41] <@Crion> "It's the United States Forest Service." 00[03:41] <@Crion> "Not the Army Rangers." 00[03:41] <@Crion> "The Park Rangers." [03:42] 7Maggie: "Ah! Werewolves." [03:42] 10Stewart's taken aback. But what Maggie says makes it make sense. 00[03:42] <@Crion> "Yup." [03:42] "14There. There wolves." 7She chuckles to herself. 00[03:43] <@Crion> "That's half of what I've learned about werewolves. The other half is that a lot of them are just like, straight-up Nazis?" 00[03:43] <@Crion> She shakes her head and takes another bite. [03:45] 10Stewart: "You know that was the worst thing, about coming back." [03:45] "It seems like there are WAY more Nazis now." [03:45] "Hrmph! I don't much care for that, no thank you." 00[03:47] <@Crion> She finishes another bite. "They're also basically impossible to kill. Because, werewolves. So. It's not a good time all around." [03:47] "Invincible Nazis." 00[03:48] <@Crion> "The good news is we've never like, actually run into them." [03:49] 13On the other side of the common area, a door opens; Melanie steps out clutching a sheaf of printed papers, but: "Invincible nazis?!" 00[03:49] <@Crion> Lauren starts. [03:49] "Um, sorry, it's just without context that sounds... bad?" [03:50] 7Maggie raises her bottle: "Hey, Melanie. You've met Lauren? Lauren Ipsum, Melanie. Melanie, Lauren." 00[03:50] <@Crion> Lauren: "Would it sound better if I gave you the context that they're werewolves?" 00[03:50] <@Crion> "And hi. Your hair owns." [03:50] 13Maggie's here, so it probably isn't that kind of private. Lauren seems fine. She looks cool, like robo-cool, and compliments are always nice. Ah fuck, got to say something. [03:51] 13Belatedly: "Hello. You got us the cable setup, right? That's been really great." [03:52] "I just need to trash these.." 13She's shuffling to the kitchen and waste disposal with a ream of paper. 00[03:53] <@Crion> Lauren: "I helped. Stewart helped more." [03:53] 10Stewart: "For instance, I helpfully stole the idea from Lauren." [03:54] "He's good, isn't he? We'd be running on last-century tech here otherwise, might be good for Nels but she wouldn't get to learn." 13Talking up Stewart seems like the thing to do, and also it's true. [03:54] 10Ugh. 00[03:54] <@Crion> Lauren's eyes flash red a little bit, in the way they do when she's blushing. [03:55] 13There's a noise of scrunching, tearing papers. It really isn't a good idea to use the disposal like this, but they deserve it. "...why are werewolves nazis? Don't tell me it's like, the alt-moonlight." [03:56] 7Maggie: "Weren't the Nazis really into werewolves? Like, as a concept? Maybe it works the other way." 00[03:57] <@Crion> Lauren: "The Nazis were into everything except anything that sounded like kindness." 00[03:57] <@Crion> "You dig deep enough, not even we're untouched by that shadow." 00[03:57] <@Crion> "But the wizards, werewolves, and vampires. Shit." 00[03:58] <@Crion> "You spend three months digging on any of them and eventually something is going to lead you back to 1940s Germany." [03:58] 13Melanie: "I've noticed that people who are wrong in that way tend to be wrong about everything. Someone starts arguing online about Austrian economics, it always turns out that they're into lowering the age of consent, they play board games wrong and they think Australia has a border with Chile." [03:59] 7Maggie: "I expect that's true of most regular things, if you think about it." 00[03:59] <@Crion> Lauren shrugs. "They might not be wrong on that last part. Given certain parameters." [03:59] 10Stewart: "Is Austrian economics a Nazi thing?" [03:59] 13Wizards, werewolves and vampires: all real apparently. It's kind of.. too hard to fit this into a worldview right now; Melanie will think about it later. [04:00] "In effect, yes. It's eugenics for class." [04:03] 10Stewart... almost understands what that means. [04:04] 13Ah, that really kidnapped the conversation and dragged it to Arcadia. Probably better finish this up quickly and leave them alone. [04:06] 7Politely: "What does that mean?" 00[04:06] <@Crion> Lauren, pointedly, to Stewart: "Hey. Let's go hang out in your room." [04:07] 7Oh my. [04:07] 10A bluh "Yeah, sure. It's this way." [04:08] 13Maggie is always curious, what a good trait. "Oh, I just mean that it's like, this attempt to strangle the weak and boost the strong. Like the idea is that a company - or a person! - deserves to go bankrupt if they weren't competing in the market, real fundamentalist stuff." 00[04:08] <@Crion> Pleasantly, to both of them: "It was nice meeting you, Melanie, and seeing you again, Maggie." [04:08] "It was! See you guys later!" [04:08] "Cheers, you two!" 00[04:09] <@Crion> From the other room: 00[04:09] <@Crion> honk [04:09] 13Melanie: "The most prominent Austrian economist wrote a book advocating that America should - it's not an Austrian thing, they're mostly from Chicago. Anyway he thinks we should make it legal to buy and sell children." [04:10] 13The last of the offending papers has been macerated. Melanie runs the tap for a while, might as well until they get some music on in the other room. [04:12] 7Maggie makes a derisive Bronx cheer at that. [04:13] "Right?" [04:13] "There's a lot of drawn-out argumentation about why it's morally and ethically efficient. But then all you've proved is that you can argue for something." [04:13] "...which is kind of the problem with this crap." 13Melanie gestures at the sink. [04:20] "Down the drain with it, then!" [04:22] "It's not my first dead draft and it won't be my last." 13Melanie drifts back to her rooms without giving further thought to the bad arguments she's murdered, but she stops just inside the door and tilts, looking out at Maggie for a moment - someone with a neck that bends might poke their head around the corner, but Melanie leans, a whole-body thing. [04:22] "Thank you for the story! Let's make that breakfast some time." [04:24] "Sounds good." 00[04:26] <@Crion> As everyone drifts off into comity -- or whatever's going on in Stewart's room -- the only sound across the main hall is the goose watching television. 00[04:26] <@Crion> --Fin. 03[10:47] * CBN3 is now known as CBN 02[13:25] * trenchfoot (dani@sorcery-pks4b7.in.comcast.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[14:00] * trenchfoot (dani@sorcery-ms3qqj.iplsin.sbcglobal.net) has joined #gofetch 02[17:00] * trenchfoot (dani@sorcery-ms3qqj.iplsin.sbcglobal.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[17:16] * banana is now known as banana|peels 03[17:30] * trenchfoot (dani@sorcery-pks4b7.in.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 02[22:11] * VoxPVoxD (VoxPVoxD@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) Quit (Quit: dammitwho sucks) 03[22:18] * VoxPVoxD (VoxPVoxD@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) has joined #gofetch Session Time: Mon Oct 14 00:00:00 2019 03[10:48] * banana|peels is now known as banana 03[14:18] * GreatClownVoxPVoxD (VoxPVoxD@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) has joined #gofetch 02[14:19] * VoxPVoxD (VoxPVoxD@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 02[15:40] * GreatClownVoxPVoxD (VoxPVoxD@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) Quit (Quit: dammitwho sucks) 03[15:40] * VoxPVoxD (VoxPVoxD@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) has joined #gofetch 00[20:48] <@Crion> 00[20:48] <@Crion> 00[20:48] <@Crion> 00[20:48] <@Crion> 00[20:48] <@Crion> 00[20:48] <@Crion> 00[20:48] <@Crion> 00[20:48] <@Crion> 00[20:50] <@Crion> The third week of October, technically, but this year October will stretch lazily over five full weeks. The month isn't half-done yet, but it's close. The Wherehouse are cop-killers, but they've befriended a police. The Hedge is strange like that. Also he's probably not really their friend, per se, as everything's very transactional, but he doesn't seem to like your enemies all that much. 00[20:50] <@Crion> Anyway! How thoroughly did Stewart update the Walking Man's wiki page? There was a stub, with a little bit about him being a Hedge manifestation of significant potency and a 'needs further research.' [20:55] 10Stewart didn't hold anything back, since it wouldn't occur to him to and he wasn't told to. The Walking Man is a powerful hobgoblin in the form of a giant 19th century lawman, who professes to enforce 'the laws of the Hedge' and seems to be largely benign or even benevolent if you don't violate them, whatever they are. He has the power to 'deputize' people by bestowing on them Tokens that [20:55] 10will bring him calling in an emergency. The Walking Man makes a specific proviso that he will not go against the Keepers. 00[20:56] <@Crion> Five minutes after updating, he will get an IM from QUOTH|THE|BITTER|WIND: 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍 00[20:56] <@Crion> The account will then log off. [20:57] 10Nice. 00[20:57] <@Crion> How's Stewart's Monday night going? [21:00] 10Stewart's... feeling pretty good! He doesn't stream Monday nights, but this afternoon he's recording a podcast to talk about leaked patch notes and listen to the hum from the Fortnite black hole. That leaves basically his whole evening and beyond free. He's thinking about Lauren, vampires, and fluctuations in the price of Exalted Orbs. 00[21:03] <@Crion> The Autumn Court would be very interested in that last one until they realized whence it came. Lauren's off-line tonight, for whatever reason -- she does that sometimes. Well, not off-line, but Do Not Disturb. And the DND are rare enough that they seem like they might be worth respecting. [21:05] 10He keeps getting distracted, forgetting about it, but remembering just in time not to send anything. He's not sure if that sends Lauren a Typing... notification. If she's not around, and he's not busy... hmm. It's early enough to pop down to the Wherehouse. He has an idea. It's a shame Maggie's not online constantly, so he has to visit her in person. 00[21:06] <@Crion> Chilly night in Baltimore! Well. Relatively so. It's 66 degrees out, but that's down from the 85 earlier this week. 00[21:06] <@Crion> So actually kind of perfect weather. You don't get that smoky fall smell this far into the city, though. Not yet at least. [21:08] 10The smell of smoke reminds him of Maggie too. No train to Guysborough, and ain't that a shame... It's a nice enough night that he considers walking, but that consigns Maggie to walking if she takes him up on his idea. So he takes the car down to the Inner Harbor before he enters the elevator at Lexington Market. 00[21:10] <@Crion> It's a quiet night in the Wherehouse. Steve parades by, wearing a newspaper hat and riding a rabbit the size of a dog. He nods to Stewart as he heads out towards the Hedge. 00[21:10] <@Crion> honk [21:11] 10Cool. Cool. Alright. Cool. Is Maggie up? [21:18] 7She is! The Great British Bake-off has managed to trickle its way into the Wherehouse's media server, and, well. "Heya, Stewart! How's things?" [21:21] 10Stewart sits in one of the armchairs. "Hey! Things are good. I've got the night off from work so I'm doing some stuff for the Court. Remember that wiki I told you about? I'm supposed to populate it with information on vampires, so I was thinking of doing some research, maybe exploring the city a bit. You wanna come?" 03[21:22] * banana is now known as banana|split [21:23] "Vampires, eh?" 7Hmm. She doesn't hold much with vampires, on account of they kill people and drain their blood for sustenance. But the alternative is letting Stewart go on his own, and that's just not on, as the Brits apparently say. "Sure thing, just lemme get my coat on. It's getting chilly out there. Autumn at last." [21:24] "Yeah!" 10He's not sure how often Maggie gets out and about on the mortal side of the Hedge nowadays, but this feels nice. It's like when you surprise visit your grandma. 00[21:24] <@Crion> Wow. [21:27] 10In a good way!! [21:27] 7He meant mom. 00[21:28] <@Crion> There are a couple different avenues through which Stewart could begin his inquiry, from the obvious but cowardly (pester Santander) to the obvious but stupid (walk down as many blind alleys as it takes). Surely he has better ideas? [21:28] "So what's the plan?" 7She hollers from the coat rack. "Some sort of whistle that only vampires can hear? A box with a blood pack under it?" [21:36] 10Pestering Santander is out. Santander gave him the job! The point is to demonstrate his own ability to do research. "Well, going at vampires can be kind of dangerous, because of institutional problems and the threat of spontaneous violence. I was thinking we could bother some cops instead." [21:42] 7Maggie looks at him in the manner of a displeased Daffy Duck. [21:43] 10Stewart: "No, it's okay! These cops are already dead. I watched them die. Like for real." [21:43] "Helped hide the bodies. Are you ready to go?" [21:45] "Oh, good gravy. Yes, I'm ready." [21:57] 10Stewart: "Great. I was thinking we'd start by cross-referencing public records to try and put patterns together, see if we can get an idea of which other local cops might be under the influence of vampire blood." [22:00] 7Maggie: "Hoorm. Huurarum. Wouldn't the Smitten-and-Smote brothers be keeping an eye on the police and such?" [22:01] "Bet the two of us could ask Smitten, since he and I're in the same Court. Plus he seems more, uh, approachable than the other one." [22:01] 10Stewart: "Oh, good idea. Do you think he'd be at the Sidereal?" 00[22:02] <@Crion> Maggie knows it's either there or the North Avenue Community Center. And this time of night, probably the Sidereal. [22:05] "Probably, this time of night." [22:10] 10Stewart: "Cool. I'll drive." [22:10] 10And then he does. 00[22:11] <@Crion> The Sidereal is doing tidy business tonight -- students, mostly, since it's a Monday -- and there's free parking for them in the back; seems like policy to keep the spots they usually reserve for touring bands free for any changelings who pop in on nights when there isn't live music. [22:11] 7What's his car like? [22:13] 10Stewart drives a 2015 Hyundai Sonata that he got off want ads with only a few thousand miles on it. Being able to pay cash was a big selling point. https://i.imgur.com/xXPmhae.jpg 00[22:13] <@Crion> ...Red? [22:14] 10Orange. [22:14] 10It's his favorite color. [22:14] 10...shut up. 00[22:14] <@Crion> So it only goes slightly faster. [22:14] 10It's a city car, after all. [22:14] 7What's it got inside? GPS? Seat warmers? Touchscreen? [22:16] 10No to seat-warmers, yes to the others. His phone's plugged into the dash and seems to be overriding the radio somehow. [22:19] 7Delightful! Probably hard to repair, though. [22:19] 7What's he playing? [22:20] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnf7Weh7pRU&list=PLqoVwH1yoXtUaAPpwMN3eX6ralHeb0TEv 00[22:20] <@Crion> Mmmm. [22:22] Making idle conversation: "I wonder if I can play the harmonica." [22:22] 7Making idle conversation: "I wonder if I can play the harmonica." [22:22] 10He hopes whatever Lauren's doing is low-stress. "You ever tried?" [22:24] "Nope. Didn't know I could play the guitar either until Harlan gave me Topper. Funny old world." [22:25] 10Stewart: "It's weird how that happens. I quoted Kant at Melanie the other day. I've never read Kant." [22:25] 10Was there a movie maybe...? [22:27] 7Maggie: "Something worth noodling on. Maybe the Lord Mustard of the Unknown Wizards knows something about it? Anyway. Tonight is a night for vampires!" 7She says that last in a Bela Lugosi accent. 00[22:29] <@Crion> When they get to the front, the door's being worked by a guy looking hard in the Mask, but his entire Mien is like...a cute goat. Melanie probably knows this guy! You've probably seen him around before in passing...? 00[22:30] <@Crion> Capra: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WKN0XF8-3Q Elohim, Adonai, can you hear your people cry? 00[22:33] <@Crion> He narrows his eyes at Stewart as the chorus kicks in. "Hey." [22:33] Haha, neat! [22:33] 7Haha, neat! [22:34] "Evening!" 7She says, cheerfully. [22:34] 10Stewart looks slightly embarrassed. This is where Maggie helpfully jumps in and staves off awkwardness. "Hey." 00[22:35] <@Crion> "You here for--" 00[22:35] <@Crion> A loud twenty year old has lost his patience slightly to the goat guy's left. "Hey! They can't just cut in--" 00[22:35] <@Crion> Capra: "They can do whatever the fuck I say they can do." 00[22:37] <@Crion> He looks back at you two. "Here on business?" 00[22:37] <@Crion> He's got a summer Mantle that's fiercer than it looks like it should be. [22:38] 7Maggie nods. "Looking for Smitten." 00[22:40] <@Crion> Capra nods. "Check the upstairs lounge." Then he waves you through. The 20 year old looks like he's going to say something, but Capra immediately moves to him and says, "ID?" 00[22:43] <@Crion> Inside, there's a DJ spinning something...he's a changeling...and a mortal bouncer standing by the stairs. He gets the signal from Capra, though, waves you up the stairs. You remember him from your previous visits. 00[22:44] <@Crion> Bartender's a mortal woman, early twenties. The Kitchen pokes his head out of, well, the kitchen briefly to deliver food and complain about something. [22:45] 10Stewart's ears are ringing slightly. He heads up the stairs unless Maggie has another idea. [22:45] 7Maggie will order the most unusually-named beer they have that isn't an IPA. She learned that lesson early. 00[22:46] <@Crion> She gets a strawberry shandy. It's called STRAWS ARE KILLING US. [22:47] 7Good tip for the bartender, too. She didn't need to learn that lesson. [22:48] 10Stewart isn't drinking. 00[22:49] <@Crion> The Kitchen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UoJxBEQRLd0 Prepared in the classic technique: first you pound the fish flat with a mallet, then you slash through the skin; Give the the belly a slice, then you rub some salt in. 00[22:49] <@Crion> DJ Fuck You: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UWHFdEkOm4 [sounds of violence] [22:51] 10That chef always terrified Stewart as a kid. Love to chop up and serve little fish. 00[22:52] <@Crion> Upstairs, there's a private party. Mostly pretty humans of an assortment of genders, but in the center, David Smitten, holding some small semblance of court while trying to tell the bartender how to handle rounds for the rest of the night, and...off in the corner some kid from Winter? 00[22:52] <@Crion> That's his mantle anyway. [22:52] 10The DJ's music sounds like something you'd hear play on a scene video game crack or keygen. Good pump-up music. 00[22:53] <@Crion> The Mask is a sad boy; the Mien is a catboy. He seems to be being chatted up by a guy his age and only slightly less sad. 00[22:54] <@Crion> David Smitten: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaPrQa3oMy0 We are the murderous pair, that went to jail and we murdered the murderers there. 00[22:56] <@Crion> Jordan Kit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrQRS40OKNE I was following the pack, all swallowed in their coats, with scarves of red tied 'round their throat. 00[22:58] <@Crion> Smitten will see you coming from, well, something like 22 feet away. 00[22:58] <@Crion> "Maggie!" [22:59] 10Stewart will smile at Jordan before Smitten locks on. 00[22:59] <@Crion> Jordan smiles back. 00[22:59] <@Crion> "And--Stewart!" 00[22:59] <@Crion> He almost covers up not immediately recalling Stewart's name perfectly. 00[23:00] <@Crion> Then he frowns. "You didn't pay for that, did you?" To Maggie. 00[23:00] <@Crion> She did not. [23:00] 10Stewart's not bothered, he doesn't think they've met more than in passing. [23:00] "Heyoo! There's the man we came to see! Gave the bartender a little something, that's all." 00[23:01] <@Crion> He grins and nods. "What brings you out up here on a Monday night? Hey, excuse me," he says, waving both of you with him and shooing the rest of the crowd away as he leads you to the same booth where Banthem and Kingsley negotiated...whatever it was they negotiated, the last time you were up here. [23:09] 7Maggie: "Vampyres!" 7She says in the same spooky voice. "Stewart and I are fillin' out the encyclopedia page, as it were, and I thought maybe you could point us in the right direction." 00[23:10] <@Crion> He smiles, slaps the table like that's the funniest thing he's ever heard, leans forward and says still smiling: "Keep your fucking voice down." [23:11] 10Sharp intake of breath. 00[23:11] <@Crion> "TWO MORE OVER HERE!" he calls out to the bar, and a shandy and his drink, a gin and juice, will arrive forthwith. [23:11] 7Hey, she wasn't *that* loud. What the heck. 00[23:12] <@Crion> Sipping his: "So you're working on something." [23:14] 7Maggie'll let Stewart handle this, because she's disgruntled. There was no need to snap. 00[23:15] <@Crion> To Maggie: "I'm sorry for snapping. But...that group...takes all this secret shit real seriously." [23:16] "Sure, I can see that." 7That makes her feel better. This Smitten guy's all right. [23:16] 10Stewart: "I'm trying to build the knowledge base for the Court. The one thing I know first-hand is that the, uh, research subject has some connections in the police force. Maggie thought you'd be able to help with knowing who in the BPD we might be able to, try to talk to, or at least use as a lead." 00[23:19] <@Crion> Smitten nods. "Thought it might be that. So, I have some things to balance here. The first is that I know this is a test so I'm not going to cross Santander by making it easy. The second is that I think that's all, frankly, stupid, and if I'm sending you walking down that alley you need to be prepared. On that note, I'm glad Maggie's here and you're not doing this alone. No offense intended, 00[23:19] <@Crion> but having people you trust around you when dealing with the Baltimore Court is a good idea." [23:20] "Wish we didn't all have the same darn names for things." [23:20] 10Yeah, who would have guessed vampires and the True Fae would both love feudal aesthetics. 00[23:21] <@Crion> "With that in mind, here's the deal: police enforce their will best because they're stupid, they love trinkets, and they have no oversight. Those cops that...ended up in the river...they had stupid friends who love trinkets with no oversight. And while they weren't stupid enough to give quotes to the reporters writing the pieces directly ABOUT their buddies going swimming, they were stupid 00[23:21] <@Crion> enough to give quotes on the follow up. The crackdown." 00[23:22] <@Crion> "Look for public interest stories over the last two weeks. Guys at the bottom of the ladder giving quotes about how something needs to be done." 00[23:22] <@Crion> "These guys love talking because they're always talking about themselves." [23:25] 10Stewart: "Thank you, that's really helpful." 00[23:27] <@Crion> He sips his drink. "It's helpful, but maybe it isn't kind." [23:29] "Do you have any advice for interacting with them?" 00[23:29] <@Crion> Smitten: "Yeah. If they're stupid enough to bite you, let them. I'll hurt them more than it hurts you." 00[23:29] <@Crion> "Well, unless they're true psychos." 00[23:30] <@Crion> "Our blood's like LSD on speed for them." [23:30] 10Stewart: "...huh. Good to know." 00[23:30] <@Crion> He grimaces. "So either they're not expecting it, and you're good -- or they are, and you're fucked." 00[23:31] <@Crion> Smitten nods. "Take it you have other places to be tonight, so exit with my compliments. I'll tell Amelia you were by, Maggie." [23:31] 7She raises her glass. "Cheers." 00[23:31] <@Crion> "Yeah." He finishes his drink. [23:34] 10Stewart's on his phone almost immediately after they're out, digging through articles. "So many sites have terrible mobile interfaces..." [23:41] 10Stewart: "Three names pop up: Officer Jennifer Gonzalez, in both an article on the death of the two officers and the detective, then again on a follow-up, but still specifically about the three dead cops -- one specifically, Officer Carlos Urrutia. Then there's Officer Colm Barston and Sergeant Warner Lossum, both of whom appear three times in follow-up pieces, but are only referenced once [23:41] 10in pieces about the murders -- Lossum was the two officers' direct sergeant." [23:41] 10Stewart: "Three names pop up: Officer Jennifer Gonzalez, in both an article on the death of the two officers and the detective, then again on a follow-up, but still specifically about the three dead cops -- one specifically, Officer Carlos Urrutia. Then there's Officer Colm Barston and Sergeant Warner Lossum, both of whom appear three times in follow-up pieces, but are only referenced [23:41] once in pieces about the murders -- Lossum was the two officers' direct sergeant." [23:42] "Huuurm. Where do we go from that?" [23:44] 10Stewart: "The sergeant probably knows more, but it's also riskier to reach out to him. I think we should start with Gonzalez." [23:45] "She's maybe less likely to be in with the vampires, but it's also less likely the wizards have an eye on her." 00[23:46] <@Crion> Gonzalez works out of the Eastern District. Real question is whether she's renting or a homeowner. Renter will be harder to find. [23:53] 10Stewart: "So... how do you feel about stalking a grieving, armed woman?" [23:54] "Jeepers. Well, in for a penny, in for a pound." 7She adds, "I don't know how much use I'll be, though..." [23:55] 10Stewart: "I think running into a lone young man would bs scarier than running into a lone young man and a sweet... lady." [23:55] "Plus you have superpowers." [23:59] "So does she," 7Maggie points out. "But I'll help however ya need." Session Time: Tue Oct 15 00:00:00 2019 00[00:00] <@Crion> Jennifer Gonzalez, soon but never to be née Gonzalez, lives in one of the new apartment buildings in Middle East, Baltimore. The name's a bit on point. A prestige TV show made some jokes about it. It's being heavily gentrified, and she's a new arrival, or new-ish. Her income is different but Gonzalez, it appears, is one of the few BPD cops who is actually from and lives in the city. 00[00:00] <@Crion> She's on the third floor. You go two doors down from the stairs, she's there on the right. [00:03] 10Stewart: "I actually wonder what kind of superpowers someone who drinks vampire blood has. This is the sort of thing we're supposed to be learning, I guess." 10He raises his hand to knock at the door, thinks about whether that's a good idea, and then does it. 00[00:03] <@Crion> The building looks prefab shitty-nice. Like a hotel, but cheaper on the margins. The Johns Hopkins Medical Campus is right next door. 00[00:04] <@Crion> As they enter the building, however they please, what are Stewart and Maggie's moods? What are they afraid of, right now? What are their Vices? 00[00:05] <@Crion> Are they a supernatural cre--hahaha. [00:07] 10Stewart is slightly apprehensive but mainly he feels guilty. He watched this lady's fiance die, and then helped dispose of his body. And now he's got the nerve to prod her for information? He's still here, though. He has a job. [00:08] 7Maggie's feeling wary. For all that Stewart reassured her, she doesn't know how to grill a grieving woman for information about her supernatural patrons. Plus, vampires are scary. There, I said it. [00:09] 10He's not really concerned about physical or psychic danger - his fear is social recrimination. Being thought stupid by Santander. Lauren getting mad at him for putting himself in danger. Him acting in a way that disappoints Maggie. 00[00:18] <@Crion> Well, the door's right there. 00[00:19] <@Crion> And...five seconds later...a phleghmy voice from inside. "Who is it?" [00:22] 10Stewart: "Do you have a minute? We'd like to talk about Carlos." 00[00:27] <@Crion> Both Stewart and Maggie hear a gun action work somewhere like ten feet behind the door. At farthest. "Who is it?" Jen(?) asks again. [00:31] 10Stewart sucks in a breath. "My name's Stewart. My friend is Maggie. We're trying to find out more about the people who got Carlos into trouble. We're not here on behalf of anyone. We're not cops. We're not..." 10He hazards a guess. "...them." 00[00:32] <@Crion> There's a pause, then the door cracks open a little bit. You can see her left hand on the door itself; her right is just off behind the frame. 00[00:32] <@Crion> "Everyone's here on behalf of someone," she says. [00:33] 10Stewart: "You're right. I'm... I'm a researcher. I'm trying to collect information on... on them. To protect people." 00[00:34] <@Crion> "...The people who killed Carlos?" 00[00:34] <@Crion> She opens the door a little bit more, but it's still chained. [00:37] 10Stewart: "Yeah. Listen, I get if you don't want to talk. I can't imagine what you're going through. We don't want to make any more trouble for you. But the stuff Carlos was involved in... people get hurt." 00[00:38] <@Crion> "No shit." 00[00:38] <@Crion> "That's why he joined you. You were supposed to STOP this!" 00[00:39] <@Crion> "You know what," she snarls, "I think you should just--" 00[00:39] <@Crion> "Jen!" comes a new voice from just over Stewart's left shoulder. 00[00:39] <@Crion> "Jen. Jennifer." 00[00:40] <@Crion> There is now an incredibly handsome changeling standing between Stewart and Maggie, smiling, smelling like the mountains. Mid-fifties. Fairest, definitely. 00[00:42] <@Crion> The Mainer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ert77QOuPw4 Don't let your life pass you by; weep not for memories. [00:42] 7Huh. 00[00:43] <@Crion> The cop goes from suspicious to shocked and then back, and then back again. "Jeremiah...?" 00[00:43] <@Crion> "Hi Jennifer. I'm sorry, Stewart and Maggie here were just a bit too aggressive. We would like to talk. About what we can do for you." 00[00:44] <@Crion> Looking at Stewart. "They're with the law firm that will be handling Carlos's case." [00:44] 10Shit, that's good. Gotta remember that one. [00:44] 10Also oh fuck. [00:46] 7Crap. She doesn't know anything about the law. Should she have bought some fake glasses? 00[00:48] <@Crion> Officer Gonzalez steps back, holsters the gun that was in her right hand, and opens the door. She lives well enough, but frugally. There's little decoration. No art. Two pictures of someone Stewart saw stabbed through the brain after being executed. 00[00:49] <@Crion> "I don't have anything to drink. Please sit," she says. 00[00:50] <@Crion> She'll do so first. [00:51] 7Time like this, they should be around friends and family. Damned shame, even if she is a cop. Maggie'll find a seat. 00[00:52] <@Crion> "Do you have the shooter?" Jen will ask first. 00[00:53] <@Crion> "No," says 'Jeremiah.' "We might not ever. You know how it works. Catch and kill. Here today, gone tomorrow. We may never bury those bodies. We may never unbury them." 00[00:53] <@Crion> "What's important to us are the people who got Carlos killed." 00[00:54] <@Crion> "The people made the shooters, in someone's opinion, necessary." 00[00:54] <@Crion> She nods hollowly. [00:54] 10He's so good at this. Like an actual detective. 00[00:55] <@Crion> "We promised to do right by Carlos, and we're going to do right by you. He said we'd get in touch?" 00[00:55] <@Crion> She nods again and then hunches over so you can't see her face. "Don't say it like that." 00[00:55] <@Crion> "I'm not looking for a pay out." 00[00:56] <@Crion> "I'm sorry," 'Jeremiah' says. "No one was implying you were." 00[00:57] <@Crion> "But when Carlos entered into an understanding with us, it was clear that should something happen to him, you'd be taken care of." 00[00:57] <@Crion> Jennifer nods. She's started to cry. 00[00:58] <@Crion> The rest of the meeting will take only a few moments, with 'Jeremiah' smoothing things over and giving her advice as to how, specifically, the trust in Carlos Urrutia's name will be disbursed. Soon, it's time to go. Unless either Stewart or Maggie would like to interject. [00:58] 10Nnnnno. No, that's fine. [00:59] 7Maggie will just try to project good will. 00[00:59] <@Crion> Then, once the grieving almost-widow has thanked all three of your profusely and shown you out to the hall, closed the door, and locked and bolted it, 'Jeremiah' will say: "Stairwell." 00[01:00] <@Crion> And begin marching to the stairwell. [01:00] 10Stewart goes to the stairwell. 00[01:01] <@Crion> When all three of them are alone, the genteel mask falls away to angry confusion. "So would someone like to tell me what the fuck is going on? Because I thought we had an understanding here! And fucking with the widow was not part of my understanding!" 00[01:02] <@Crion> "Jesus CHRIST!" [01:03] 10Stewart's stunned into silence. [01:04] 7Calmly, because this guy isn't a vampire and so things are relatively less alarming: "Mister, you've got us wrong here. We're not from whoever you think we're from." 00[01:05] <@Crion> He barks a laugh. Pointing at Stewart: "Autumn." Pointing at Maggie: "Spring. I know precisely who you--" 00[01:05] <@Crion> He pauses. 00[01:05] <@Crion> "But you have no idea who the fuck I am." 00[01:05] <@Crion> "Oh my fucking god." 00[01:05] <@Crion> "Kingsley doesn't know you're out here, does he." [01:06] 10Stewart, finally: "No, we're doing research. We're not- we didn't know about any deal." 00[01:07] <@Crion> He leans back cooly against the stairwell rail and smiles. "Well, shit. That's...well, it's much better than the alternative." 00[01:07] <@Crion> Calling up the stairwell: "We're good." 00[01:08] <@Crion> Suddenly, there's a young woman perched on the rail right next to the handsome older man. And she's smiling. With fangs. [01:08] 7Gah! 00[01:09] <@Crion> The Girl: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MrRi-2nokM And then my eyes got used to the darkness, and everyone that I knew, was lost and so long forgotten after you. [01:09] 10Stewart can't control his gut emotional response, which is to hiss "14Aw, sick!" 00[01:10] <@Crion> "Lady," she says. "Gentleman."? 00[01:10] <@Crion> -? 00[01:11] <@Crion> "I'm the Mainer," he says. "She's a...well, you know. Let's take a walk." [01:11] "Hello," 7She manages to get out without having to clear her throat. [01:12] 10Stewart: "It's nice to meet you. I'm really sorry about this. This was- I made a mistake. About how to proceed." 00[01:13] <@Crion> The Mainer is already sauntering downstairs. "Let's have that conversation somewhere else." 00[01:13] <@Crion> The Girl shrugs and backflips off the rail, falling four stories and landing perfectly. 00[01:15] <@Crion> Once they're outside, the temperature is down around 60 degrees. Neither the Mainer nor the Girl seem to feel it. 00[01:19] <@Crion> Slightly smiling, the Girl says: "We don't hold a grudge." 00[01:19] <@Crion> The Mainer grimaces. "Yeah, Carlos was a piece of shit. So were the other two. Always liked Jenny, though." 00[01:19] <@Crion> "She'll move on from this better." 00[01:19] <@Crion> "Maybe find another job." [01:24] 10Stewart: "Yeah. I hope so. Like I said I'm - I completely fucked up here. I'm supposed to be researching..." 10To the Girl: "I don't know if there's a socially acceptable word I should be saying, or what. You know what I mean. I got asked by a man named Santander to do research on... you guys. To keep the Court informed." 00[01:24] <@Crion> The Girl cackles at that before politely covering her mouth. The Mainer: "Well, the good news on that is we'll keep the Court informed too." 00[01:25] <@Crion> "I am the ambassador for the Court of Baltimore." 00[01:26] <@Crion> "To the Freehold of Baltimore." 00[01:26] <@Crion> "I literally have an office in your building." 00[01:27] <@Crion> He shrugs. "Don't ever go there, though." [01:27] 7Maggie: "Oh, for the love of Pete." [01:27] 10Stewart: "They don't really... advertise that kind of thing, I don't think." [01:27] "Like I doubt half the Freehold even knows there is an Ambassador." 00[01:27] <@Crion> To Stewart: "They don't." To Maggie: "Peter was worse than Judas." 00[01:28] <@Crion> The Girl sort of waggles her hand. [01:32] 10Stewart: "So yeah, uh. In the absence of... harrassing a widow... do you have any advice on who I could tap to answer some questions? Would you be willing? I realize that's a ridiculous imposition." 00[01:34] <@Crion> The Mainer: "You lended warm bodies to my attempt to smooth things over with a grieving woman, which went off fantastically, and I have to have lunch with both of your bosses next week. So yeah. I can help." 00[01:34] <@Crion> The Girl's eye-roll is almost audible. 00[01:35] <@Crion> The Mainer: "Don't mind her. It's not that she dislikes you." 00[01:35] <@Crion> "It's just that she doesn't like you yet." [01:36] 10Stewart: "We could've made a better first impression." 00[01:36] <@Crion> The Girl: "Not you." 00[01:36] <@Crion> The Girl: "Her, perhaps." 00[01:36] <@Crion> The Mainer: "...She means your first impression was, ah, decided for you." [01:37] "Eh?" 00[01:37] <@Crion> "After all, the Court of Baltimore did consign those three men to death with knowing aforethought." 00[01:37] <@Crion> "Because they were shitheads and fuckups." 00[01:38] <@Crion> The Girl, to Maggie: "You could murdered an Englishman." 00[01:38] <@Crion> *could have [01:39] 10Stewart wonders if Maggie and Canterbury would get along. Maybe. Canterbury eats food, right? 00[01:39] <@Crion> He's a twenty-something who smokes weed, so. 00[01:39] <@Crion> Yes. [01:40] 7Maggie has no idea what they're talking about. She could've murdered an Englishman? [01:41] 10Stewart: "Murdered an Englishman?" 00[01:44] <@Crion> The Mainer: "What she means to say is if you wanted to put your best foot forward, you'd have brutally murdered one of the white men who partitioned the Middle East. It was a joke." He smiles. "But it wasn't really a joke. Now, Stewart. Santander has this game he likes to play." 00[01:44] <@Crion> "I think it's stupid, but I also think it's useful." 00[01:46] <@Crion> "Stop me if this sounds familiar: Three questions. I don't answer one, you get another." [01:46] 10Stewart: "Yeah, I know this one." 00[01:47] <@Crion> The Mainer: "It's a better getting-to-know-you schtick than everyone going around the circle and sharing one fact about themselves, I'll give the old bastard that." [01:48] 10Stewart: "What's the relationship between the Court of Baltimore and the Freehold of Baltimore?" 00[01:49] <@Crion> The Girl: "Too close." 00[01:52] <@Crion> The Mainer: "...Very good terms. We've been close for some fifteen years now. Since all that shit with Mere Jacoby. That sort of sealed things; it's not...common...to have full-time ambassadors like me. At least that's my understanding. And when things get too interesting, it takes up a lot of my time." 00[01:53] <@Crion> The Girl: "As I said, too close." [01:59] 7Need to bring back some useful information for an internet encyclopedia. Encyclopedia entry stuff... Well, if Santander didn't see fit to tell Stewart there was an ambassador he could talk to, he can't complain when he gets the basic headings. "How is the Court of Baltimore structured?" 00[02:03] <@Crion> The Mainer glances over at the Girl, who shrugs. Then he says: "We don't have a King. We have a Prince." 00[02:03] <@Crion> "...Well, a Princeling." 00[02:04] <@Crion> "And a Lord Regent." 00[02:04] <@Crion> The Girl: "Except the Princeling is over 300 years old, so perhaps he's just lazy." 00[02:04] <@Crion> The Mainer: "And perhaps you shouldn't be saying that in mixed company." 00[02:05] <@Crion> The Girl rolls her eyes again. "If he wishes to come kill his Sheriff, I'd welcome it. At least it wouldn't be gaming all the time." [02:06] 10Stewart: "What kind of games does he play?" [02:06] 10Oh fuck that was the third question. 00[02:07] <@Crion> The Girl: "Oh, I don't know. Some space shooter where you go to the moon. Fate? Desire?" [02:07] "Destiny." 00[02:07] <@Crion> "Yes, this." 00[02:07] <@Crion> She waves. "Your people enable this." [02:08] "Our people?" 00[02:08] <@Crion> With dripping digust: "Do you think vampires are stupid enough to game against their Prince? When he takes it seriously?" [02:09] 10Stewart: "Oh. Yeah, I see your point." 00[02:09] <@Crion> The Mainer: "I think we'll just put a pin in that for now. What's the third que--" 00[02:09] <@Crion> He frowns as his phone buzzes. 00[02:09] <@Crion> He checks it. 00[02:09] <@Crion> "Oh for fuck's sake--" 00[02:10] <@Crion> He calls a number. "What the fuck are-- shut the fuck up, what the fuck are-- no. NO!" 00[02:10] <@Crion> "God DAMMIT!" [02:10] 10Uh 00[02:11] <@Crion> He looks around the block; his eyes fall on an expensive SUV parked cat-corner from the Johns Hopkins Medical Center. He turns to Maggie and Stewart. "Are either of you any good at stealing cars?" 00[02:11] <@Crion> They've wandered maybe five blocks from where Stewart parked. [02:11] 10Stewart: "I think I can do it, yeah." [02:12] "Any particular car?" [02:12] 7Maggie: "Guess it depends. Can't get my head around these computerized things." 00[02:12] <@Crion> The Girl: "You know, I could just carry him back to his." 00[02:12] <@Crion> "Like I do you." 00[02:14] <@Crion> The Mainer irritably waves his hand -- someone's coming out of the center, might be the car owner -- and suddenly The Girl has snatched Stewart up in a damsel in distress carry, the world blurs around them, and she plops him down, seated, on the hood of his car. 00[02:14] <@Crion> Five blocks down. 00[02:15] <@Crion> Then she blinks and reappears in his passenger seat. [02:16] 10Holy shit-- "Hooly shit." 00[02:16] <@Crion> "You wanted research," she says smugly. [02:17] 10Stewart's a little flushed. "I... appreciate that. Would you mind if I asked you one more question?" 00[02:18] <@Crion> "As long as you drive as you ask." [02:18] 7? 00[02:19] <@Crion> To Mainer and Maggie, to pick them up. 00[02:19] <@Crion> Since they're both, of course, five blocks away. [02:20] 10The car's off seconds later. "What do you think is the most important thing a changeling can know about vampires?" 00[02:21] <@Crion> "Any vampire who wishes to feed off of a changeling is dangerously insane. Your blood is acid mixed with PCP. I am with S...The Mainer precisely because I will never be tempted to try." 00[02:22] <@Crion> She'll slide lithely into the backseat as Stewart pulls up on an irritated-looking Mainer and Maggie. [02:23] "Neat!" [02:25] 10Stewart: "Thank you both, I really appreciate your help." 00[02:26] <@Crion> "Thanks." The Mainer shows you his phone. "Drive." 00[02:26] <@Crion> It's got a Google maps thing on it. 00[02:26] <@Crion> You're headed to Canton. 00[02:27] <@Crion> It's probably late enough that there aren't too many drunks on the street, even, when you arrive. These are some of the jumped-up rowhomes, renovated then sold to white frat guys at twice the price, that sit on the edge of the neighborhood. [02:32] 10Man. He's not sure if it's getting older and noticing it more, or the stuff Melanie's been sending him to read, or the time away, or a real rot, but everything seems sadder than it did before he left. "What's here?" 00[02:33] <@Crion> "Two cops." The Mainer throws open the door before Stewart even stops. "And someone stupider than two cops." 00[02:34] <@Crion> Right on cue, from down an alley between two rowhouses: "FUCKKK, DUDE!!" [02:34] 10Stewart: "Do you want us to wait here, or?" 00[02:34] <@Crion> Then a loud, loud crash. 00[02:34] <@Crion> The Mainer: "No." [02:34] 10Shit-- 00[02:34] <@Crion> "We need witnesses." 00[02:34] <@Crion> ... 00[02:35] <@Crion> The Girl has disappeared. [02:35] 10Stewart looks at Maggie. 00[02:35] <@Crion> The Mainer is heading for the alley. [02:36] 10Stewart follows. [02:36] 10Stays behind to lock the car first. Common sense. [02:36] 7She shrugs, and follows The Mainer. [02:37] 7What a strange night. 00[02:37] <@Crion> SMASH! CRASH! "Augh -- *cough*" 00[02:39] <@Crion> When you make the alley, there's a guy with a lanyard with a badge on it around his neck taking a changeling's head and beating into the half-broken window of a Ford Fusion. Behind him, there's a police sergeant still in half his dress outfit with his service weapon drawn. Stewart will recognize them: Barston doing the assault, Lossum, the sergeant, covering him. 00[02:39] <@Crion> Neither of you have ever seen the changeling before. He looks like a little shithead. Winter Court. 00[02:40] <@Crion> "It's fine!! It's fine," the changeling coughs. "This is my job." 00[02:40] <@Crion> "SHUT THE FUCK UP!" screams the cop. 00[02:41] <@Crion> Cider Stitch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcLIye3EVpg Want you to take me to the H, take me to the O, want you to take me to the S, take me to the P, want you to take me to the I-T-A-L; want you to take me to the hospital. 00[02:42] <@Crion> Anything worth doing's worth getting hurt for. 00[02:42] <@Crion> The Mainer: "What the fuck are you doing." 00[02:42] <@Crion> Barston: "I SAID--" 00[02:43] <@Crion> The Mainer: "I wasn't fucking talking to you, son." 00[02:47] <@Crion> The cop in the undershirt snorts and throws the kid to the ground. He looks maybe 22. And like a little dirtbag fuck up. He's smiling around bloody teeth. 00[02:47] <@Crion> The Mainer: "Asked what you were doing, Cider." 00[02:48] <@Crion> Cider: "These guys don't just get to beat on Sarah and get away with it." 00[02:48] <@Crion> The Mainer: "The Court and the Freehold came to an agreement about who--" 00[02:49] <@Crion> Cider: "Fuck your agreement!" 00[02:50] <@Crion> Cider: "How many times have I got cut up over you! And now this shit, you just let go--" 00[02:50] <@Crion> Lossum levels his gun...at Stewart. "Hey there, Mainer." 00[02:50] <@Crion> The Mainer: "Hey there, Sergeant." 00[02:50] <@Crion> "You need to be careful where you point that." 00[02:50] <@Crion> Lossum: "I'm being very careful." 00[02:51] <@Crion> To Stewart and Maggie: "Who the fuck are you two?" 00[02:51] <@Crion> "More freaks?" [02:52] 7Quietly: "There is no need to be rude." 00[02:52] <@Crion> Lossum: "The fuck you just say to me?" 00[02:52] <@Crion> "I'm a COP!" 00[02:52] <@Crion> "I'M POLICE!" 00[02:52] <@Crion> "That used to MEAN SOMETHING!" 00[02:53] <@Crion> "And now--now allllllll of you--" 00[02:53] <@Crion> The Mainer: "Lossum, you need to calm down." [02:53] 10Stewart, slowly. "Sorry, Sergeant. I promised not to get shot." 00[02:54] <@Crion> He turns the gun on Stewart. "Oh, you promised? You promised? I hear a lot about promises. Well let's shit in one hand and promise in the other, and see what--" 00[02:54] <@Crion> The Mainer, clinically: "Do it." 00[02:55] <@Crion> The Girl turns Lossum's head backwards, then leaps on the screaming Barston and, quite literally, eats him alive. 00[02:55] <@Crion> The Mainer, to Stewart, without looking away: "This good enough? For your research?" [02:56] 10Stewart doesn't flinch. "...Yeah." 00[02:56] <@Crion> Cider Stitch crawls out from underneath the battered car. "I think I might need a ride somewhere they have doctors." [02:57] 7Most of Mags' emotions seem to physically locate themselves in her gut, a product of her reshaping, perhaps. Watching a cop slam some dumb kid into a car door, whether or not he had it coming (which, he probably did) reveals some hot coals down at the bottom of the furnace: mounting anger. They can't jSWEET MARY MOSES 00[02:57] <@Crion> The Mainer kicks him in the shoulder which, it should be noted, is one of the few places he hasn't been hurt. "You fucking asshole. The fuck did you have to go do this shit for. I should leave you." 00[02:57] <@Crion> Cider: "Told you why I did it." 00[02:57] <@Crion> The Mainer: "...Yeah." 00[02:58] <@Crion> "Johns Hopkins is just up the street." 00[02:58] <@Crion> "Should make you walk." 00[02:59] <@Crion> He looks over at Stewart and Maggie questioningly. [02:59] 10Stewart: "We can give you a ride." [02:59] "Might as well." 00[03:00] <@Crion> The Girl stands and wipes her mouth. "We'll have to explain this to the Primacy." 00[03:01] <@Crion> The Mainer pulls Cider to his please. "Yeah. We will." 00[03:01] <@Crion> "We'll say 'fuck the police.'" [03:01] "Whom?" 00[03:01] <@Crion> The Girl: "The Prince isn't the only power." 00[03:02] <@Crion> The Mainer: "They've used up their questions." 00[03:02] <@Crion> The Girl: "Ugh." 00[03:03] <@Crion> *pulls Cider to his feet 00[03:04] <@Crion> They get Cider to the hospital quickly. He's covered by Freehold plan. The Mainer and the Girl are gone when you turn your back once. 00[03:04] <@Crion> Just another night in Baltimore. [03:07] 10Stewart turns to Maggie on their way out. "Are you hungry? There's a diner nearby that's open until 5." [03:08] 7Reflexively: "I could eat." 7Could she? Yes, she decides. [03:11] 10The place is called Sip & Bite and it's a totally ordinary diner, not quite emptied of the late night crew before the true graveyard doomers roll in. Soon they're in a booth with menus. "I'm sorry, I didn't know it was going to get so... like that." [03:14] 7Maggie: "That was something else, wasn't it?" [03:14] "...do you know who Sarah is?" [03:15] 10Stewart shakes his head. "I don't think so." [03:17] 7She looks around the diner slowly, then back to Stewart, and whistles under her breath. "Well. Do you think you got enough for Santander?" [03:18] 10Stewart: "I don't know. I hope so. I think it's useful information. I don't know if he was hoping for, like... stats or whatever." [03:20] "I don't know if this beats the Bake-Off, but it was intense." [03:21] "What did you make of them? The Mainer and the Sheriff." [03:24] 7Maggie: "I don't really understand how one of us becomes their ambassador. Bet that's a story." [03:25] "He seemed to get along well with the Sheriff." [03:25] "No Mantle at all, though. That freaked me out. I thought maybe he was- you know." [03:25] "One of those guys." [03:26] "The Sheriff... hrrurm. I'd guess we've gotta take into account that anything she showed us, I mean her reactions and responses to questions and what have you, coulda been a runaround. Camouflage. You live long enough in that kind of company, maybe it's second nature." [03:28] "Putting that aside, though... They have a Prince who doesn't rule, but she technically works for him anyway, and she doesn't seem to like him much. Gal like that, I wouldn't think she'd have to stick with *anything* she didn't like. So that's interesting." [03:29] 7Maggie: "Maybe what we got out of this is that we have more interesting questions now." [03:29] 10Stewart: "I mean they've got to be even more dependent on each other than we are, right? We don't blow up in the sun." [03:29] "And they have to make sure not to bite too many people." [03:29] "Maybe? We don't compete for, uh, food." [03:30] "Yeah but they still need each other. Man that sounds miserable." [03:37] "Not great." 7She agrees. "So, figure their Prince is the strongest one. Physically, I mean. Other kinds of power, you've gotta sit up at night scheming and maintaining and stomping on peoples' fingers. Big strong guy, he can sit back and play video games because he knows it doesn't matter what anybody else does." [03:37] 10Stewart: "Maybe he's got some magic. Like he can't be killed or something." [03:38] "Then there's something called the Primacy. What makes someone a, uh, Primus? Not physical strength, or not just that, because otherwise one of 'em'd be the Prince instead." [03:38] 10Stewart: "I think you'd be a Primate, not a Primus." [03:39] "I thought that was gorillas and chimps and what have you." [03:40] 10Stewart: "It's also a religious office. You see it sometimes in Japanese RPGs." [03:41] "Could be." 7She nods. "Maybe put a lil' blue question mark next to that one. Vampire religion? What do vampires believe in?" [03:42] "Is clerical power the only other formal kind?" [03:43] 10Stewart: "I don't know why vampires couldn't just believe in whatever they already believed. It's not like people change their religious beliefs because they learn facts about the world." [03:44] 7Maggie: "Probably do if you become a dread creature of the night, though." [03:44] 10Stewart: "What about you?" [03:44] "Hard to say. I dunno what I believed in before." [03:45] "Does any of--" 10he gestures vaguely, attempting to encompass not just their own experience but the wider, stranger world they find themselves in. "--any of this make you change how you think about God?" [03:45] "What do you believe now?" [03:46] 7Maggie: "Well, now, Stewart, let me tell you something. There's two very important things I've learned, and you've helped me with both of them. You remember that song trick you showed me?" [03:46] 10Stewart: "The Hedge-Busker's Tip, yeah." [03:47] "And my song's the Guysborough Line. You know where Guysborough is? What that song's about?" [03:48] 10Stewart shakes his head. "The North, somewhere? The North Shore's begun, that North County rain, stuff like that." [03:51] 7She nods. "Up in Canada." 7She pronounces it almost 'Canadar'. "Northeast, in fact. Not quite as far east as you can go - that'd be Newfoundland, probably - but pretty close. There's just about nobody that lives there... the town of Guysborough has a population of about 1000. I looked it up on your Wikipedia." [03:52] "Now, the Guysborough Line... there was a time when a new government came in up north, and one thing they promised was to revitalize the area of Guysborough. They were going to build a train there, which was probably pretty exciting for the residents! New jobs, new people, a new life." [03:53] 7She sips some coffee that she ordered that we didn't narrate. "Never happened. Construction got a ways along, and then the project was shut down." 7She roots around in her purse, pulls out her phone. [03:53] 7After a few taps and swipes, she turns it around to show Stewart this: https://i.imgur.com/rST5Jsg.jpg [03:54] 10Stewart: "No train to Guysborugh, and ain't that a shame..." [03:54] "Half-built bridges, cut tracks... you can walk a long, long way along the Guysborough line." [03:55] "So the song's about broken promises. Isn't that funny? A gal comes out of the Hedge, and her song's about broken promises? The Wyrd has a sense of humor." [03:57] 7Her face turns serious. "But what does it mean? Did I break a promise b- before? Or did someone break one to me? I'm not sure, but I know that when I think about it I actually start to get angry. Not spitting fire angry, low burn angry. The kind of thing that lasts a long time." [03:57] 10Stewart: "Melanie was talking about something similar. She was thinking about, does the music come within us? That doesn't really make sense, right, because they're real songs. Did someone choose them for us? Did we take them for ourselves, and we've forgotten? She was worried that being assigned a song meant you were, you were boxed in. Defined against your will." [03:57] "Stuff like that really bugs her." [03:58] "Do you know what you're angry about? Where the anger, where it comes from?" [03:58] 7Maggie shrugs. "Life's the stuff that defines you against your will. Anyhow, let me get to the end here. The other important thing I learned less than half an hour ago." [04:01] "When that piece of shit - pardon my French - was pounding on that poor kid, I started to get real hot under the collar! That's important, because... well, I haven't been out very long, but I can count the times I've gotten properly mad on one hand. You know me, I'm a go-along-to-get-along sort, right?" [04:02] 10Stewart nods. [04:02] "So. The things I care about right now. Safety, friends, family... those are all important, but they're not really beliefs. They're just..." 7She waves a hand. "Living in a village." [04:04] "Right." [04:04] "I think if I'm going to find out what I believe, it's going to be around the shape of that anger. What I'm angry about, who made me angry. Getting back what I lost in the Hedge, the kind of thing that drives a person to stick a thumb in some other fella's eye." [04:05] 7Maggie: "What do I believe? Not sure yet. But I've got some bearings now, thanks to you." 7She raises her mug, takes another sip. [04:06] 10Stewart: "I guess you don't like bullies." [04:08] "Feh! Who does?" [04:11] 10Stewart: "Well like... it's the cops, right? A lot of people like the cops." [04:12] "My dad likes the cops. He was a- he worked in the State's Attorney's office. He was a prosecutor." [04:13] "Huurrm." [04:19] 7Maggie: "People who never have to see them, or people who they work for, maybe." [04:20] 10Stewart: "...yeah, I guess." [04:23] "It never seems like--" 10he's cutting up his 'chop steak', which seems to be a hamburger without a bun covered in onions and gravy. "--I dunno. Like... you, just now. You made this mean something for you. You tied it back to to the time before." [04:23] 7Poor Stewart. Actually having living family must be hard. [04:24] "Like, I know where my dad lives. I saw photos from his last cookout Labor Day weekend. What my mom looks like." [04:24] "I know what *I'm* supposed to look like. Who I'm supposed to be with." [04:24] "They're thinking about buying a house." [04:27] "And then on the other side of it, there's you, who's wise enough to turn watching a man getting his head twisted off showed you a piece of your truth self. You see Melanie, who's like, the smartest person I've ever met, killing trees to make sense of being one." [04:28] "And then Nels, she basically got beamed onto another planet, and what? Where's her story? What's the meaning of that?" [04:29] "Poor Nels. 1920 was so long ago." [04:32] "So, so what? What's the lesson? What is it supposed to mean?" [04:36] 7Maggie: "I wish I could pull something good or helpful out of that for you. It just..." [04:36] "It just sucks." [04:38] "S'why I always love to see you coming up to the Wherehouse, or spending time with that Lauren gal. I feel like when you're grieving you should be around people. Maybe that's just me." [04:40] 10Stewart: "You can't grieve if nobody dies." [04:40] "That's the joke. You lose your life but you don't die. A Zen master would eat that up." [04:40] "People don't have to die for you to lose them." [04:41] "They're right there--" [04:41] 10Stewart stops himself. [04:41] "...you're right. I'm sorry." [04:42] 7Maggie: "Nothing for you to apologize for." [04:45] 10Stewart's eyes are red. "You don't have to apologize to be sorry." [04:46] 7She squeezes his hand silently. [04:50] 7She sniffs, wipes her eyes. "...your chop steak alright?" [04:52] 10Stewart: "...yeah. How's your--" 10What did she get? [04:56] 7'Breakfast sampler'. Two eggs and cheese, sausage, pancakes, toast. [04:57] "S'alright for 3AM. If I were here at 8 I'd want to know what exactly they thought they were doing with this cheese. Guy didn't even melt it!" [04:59] 10Stewart: "I wonder what kind of stuff you could overhear in a diner if you knew to listen." [05:01] "Like, think about it. A bunch of people sit in a diner at 3 in the morning, in 2019, talking about vampires and hobgoblins... you're thinking, like, movies or video games or something." [05:01] "How do you mean?" [05:01] "But if you know..." [05:02] 7Maggie: "...you're still probably thinking movies or video games or something. Unless knowing makes you a weird paranoid, which now that I think about it seems pretty likely." [05:03] 10Stewart: "I'm still thinking video games... but I'm thinking a little longer about it, you know?" [05:03] "You just sort of... like there's a frequency there you didn't know people were broadcasting on." [05:05] 7She nods enthusiastically. "Oh, for sure. You ever listen to Deb of Night?" [05:05] 10Stewart shakes his head. "Is that a podcast?" [05:11] "Radio! Come on now, nobody listens to regular ol' radio anymore? 'Hello Baltimore, you're listening to: The Deb of Night. Broadcasting from Los Angeles and our sister stations in Chicago, New York, Miami, and Aqua Vitae, Texas.'" 7In a confidential tone: "I was just tickled pink when I learned they do some kind of internet streaming radio thing so I can get it in the Wherehouse." [05:11] 10Stewart: "What's the Deb of Night about? Is it like a call-in show?" [05:16] "Mostly. She reads news sometimes, music occasionally... it seems like a one-woman show, so she pretty much does as she pleases. Some of the people who call in are real looney tunes, you know? UFOes and shadow men and alternate dimensions and such. But you know what? Knowing some of 'em might be right makes it even better." [05:17] 10Stewart: "If there's a vampire Prince that games all day, then it stands to reason there are vampires who make crackpot calls into radio shows too." [05:17] "Not the guys that are on during the day, Rush Limbaugh or whatever. No, apparently that's Nazi werewolves." [05:19] "Eesh. I hope they're not all like that." [05:20] "It didn't sound like they were." [05:21] 7Maggie: "Hmm. What do you suppose werewolves do all day?" [05:23] 10Stewart: "I bet they've got day jobs. Werewolf electrician, werewolf nurse, stuff like that." [05:23] "And then, at night, the moon just messes them up." [05:24] 7Maggie: "When do they find time to sleep? No wonder werewolfs are so cranky." [05:26] 10Stewart: "How deep into the horror catalogue can we go, here? Are there lagoon monsters? Mummies? Frankensteins?" [05:26] "Aliens?" [05:27] "What if all those crackpot callers are right?" [05:33] "Makes you think." 02[07:30] * Disconnected Session Close: Tue Oct 15 07:30:02 2019 Session Start: Tue Oct 15 09:13:10 2019 Session Ident: #gofetch 03[09:13] * Now talking in #gofetch 03[09:13] * Topic is 'Who botches the Botchmen?' 03[09:13] * Set by Crion!Crion@sorcery-puhjpa.fios.verizon.net on Sun Sep 22 02:37:29 2019 03[09:13] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Crion 03[09:31] * banana|split is now known as banana 03[14:02] * banana is now known as banana|peels Session Time: Wed Oct 16 00:00:00 2019 03[03:20] * banana|peels is now known as banana 02[11:32] * trenchfoot (dani@sorcery-pks4b7.in.comcast.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[12:10] * trenchfoot (dani@sorcery-jcvlv4.in.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 03[12:14] * GreatClownVoxPVoxD (VoxPVoxD@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) has joined #gofetch 02[12:16] * VoxPVoxD (VoxPVoxD@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[15:15] * banana is now known as banana|peels 02[16:24] * GreatClownVoxPVoxD (VoxPVoxD@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) Quit (Quit: dammitwho sucks) 03[16:24] * VoxPVoxD (VoxPVoxD@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) has joined #gofetch 02[18:39] * Disconnected 02[18:40] * Attempting to rejoin channel #gofetch 03[18:40] * Rejoined channel #gofetch 03[18:40] * Topic is 'Who botches the Botchmen?' 03[18:40] * Set by Crion!Crion@sorcery-puhjpa.fios.verizon.net on Sun Sep 22 02:37:29 2019 02[18:41] * @Crion (Crion@sorcery-puhjpa.fios.verizon.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) Session Time: Thu Oct 17 00:00:00 2019 03[02:26] * banana|peels is now known as banana 03[03:48] * banana is now known as banana|split 03[11:20] * banana|split is now known as banana 03[16:06] * banana is now known as banana|peels 03[16:08] * Crion_ is now known as Crion 03[16:09] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Crion 00[23:07] <@Crion> 00[23:07] <@Crion> 00[23:07] <@Crion> 00[23:07] <@Crion> 00[23:07] <@Crion> 00[23:07] <@Crion> 00[23:07] <@Crion> 00[23:07] <@Crion> Well. That was quite a night. 00[23:08] <@Crion> But there were more changelings in it than vampires, really...how much information did Stewart actually get for the wiki? And when does he usually sign off for the night when he streams? Because unless it's absurd, the vampires should all still be up. [23:10] 10Stewart got some good stuff on the political situation, but not much on the nature or capabilities of vampires. The most interesting fact he learned was actually about his kind. Stewart wonders if there are vampire hippies who love tripping balls on changeling blood. Anyway, he usually stops streaming at about 2am unless it's the start of a fresh league, where he'll routinely pull 14, 16 [23:10] 10hour days. 00[23:20] <@Crion> Jesus. 00[23:21] <@Crion> Well, then he can start hunting again whenever he likes after 2 AM. There are a couple different ways to approach this -- try to get in touch with The Mainer again, who didn't leave a calling card but did inform you he maintains an office at the law firm, or try something else. 00[23:21] <@Crion> Though the Mainer might not take kindly for being asked to babysit on an undergrad project. [23:26] 10Yeah, Stewart would prefer not to trouble the Mainer with this. But to do that he also needs to avoid causing any inadvertent diplomatic mishaps, unlike he did last night. The question, then, what other angle to take... Stewart clicks around. Jumping rapidly from stimulus to stimulus probably isn't great for his concentration, but it's a reflex habit. He pokes into the chat channel - has [23:26] 10Lauren been dark for a second day in a row? 00[23:27] <@Crion> Nah, dolor_sit_amet is online, though beyond a greeting when he logged on she hasn't been very talktative. 00[23:27] <@Crion> *talkative. [23:31] 10Hmm. Stewart doesn't want to bother her this late (that's a lie, he super does. he won't though). What leads does he have... he knows the Prince of the city plays Destiny, maybe he can use that as a point of investigation. Though, if he's trying to avoid diplomatic complications, that's probably not the best angle. 00[23:43] <@Crion> Well, if you're not going to try to break into the Prince's private Destiny 2 clan -- probably a good idea? -- then there's limited stuff you can do. An idea that does occur to Stewart: EMT records. Figure out where the most calls are for people with "fatigue," or DOAs from being...well, torn apart or whatever. Plot them, find epicenters. 00[23:44] <@Crion> Difficult to do without filing an Maryland Public Information Act request, sadly, as he'll find out from the Baltimore City Fire Department's website... 00[23:44] <@Crion> ...but then, he works for a law firm, doesn't he? [23:47] 10That's true! He does, technically. He's spent very little time actually in the office but it's right there on his taxes. Kind of hard to set up this time of night, though... 00[23:47] <@Crion> QUOTH is online. QUOTH is always online. [23:50] 10Stewart always loved that poem as a kid.  00[23:51] <@Crion> QUOTH, immediately: <'STEWART READER,' KNOWN OTHERWISE AS 'CRITICALMASS:'> 00[23:51] <@Crion> 00[23:51] <@Crion> <FILE> [23:52] 00[23:52] <@Crion> [23:54] 00[23:55] <@Crion> [00:05] 10First, he isolates incidents caused or plausibly causable by significant but hidden blood loss. Then he gets Ravens to show him points on a map. Anything stand out? 00[00:09] <@Crion> Not much as the data begins to populate -- starting with the oldest points first. A fairly normal distribution across populated, more upscale areas. Then around midsummer, something starts to change. Around Union Memorial Hospital, up near the Johns Hopkins undergraduate campus, a three-by-three block zone begins to report...hmmm. 00[00:09] <@Crion> They're being admitted the same way as the others, but they're drained almost dry. Many die. 00[00:09] <@Crion> None of this is in the papers. [00:10] 10Jesus. 00[00:10] <@Crion> [00:14] 00[00:14] <@Crion> 00[00:14] <@Crion> 00[00:15] <@Crion> A graph pops up, isolating the attacks near Johns Hopkins and providing interval data: how long between attacks. The math isn't perfect -- there's a margin of error of around 24 hours here -- but it looks like...there's another attack due tonight. [00:16] 10Uhhh fuck. Does he like - does he call someone? It's not really Gerald's job to fuck with vampires. Does he go himself? No, that's insane- [00:21] 10This seems like something that girl should be doing, right? She's their "Sheriff". Maybe it's time to call the Mainer... but then, who's to say they don't know? After all, someone's suppressing it. [00:21] 10But he can't just-- you can't do *nothing*. You can't possibly do nothing. [00:24] 10Fuck it. He'll go up there himself. If someone's covering it up then there'll be someone he can talk to. And he has a sense, maybe irrational, of immunity. There's comity, here, between the freehold and the court. [00:24] 10This is... not one to tell other people about, though. 00[00:24] <@Crion> Hey, that's what he did last time. And it turned out fine. 00[00:25] <@Crion> People keep saying they respect a go-getter. 00[00:26] <@Crion> Parking up there is easy to find on the street; this is student housing, mostly, in these townhouses and comfy little two-family upstairs/downstairs affairs, and these are rich kids who have no reason to have cars. There will be somewhere to slide in. Pretty, too, in the early part of fall, and crisp. [00:27] 10Nice night. God, his mother would kill him if she knew he was wandering the streets of Baltimore at 2am looking for a violent crime. [00:27] 10Haha, wow. Thanks, brain. 00[00:27] <@Crion> JHU campus cops are patrolling about. Uselessly, obviously, given the trendline here. But they're around. [00:28] 10Stewart doesn't look super out of place here, so as long as he's not lurking like a huge obvious creep no one should give him trouble. 00[00:28] <@Crion> Which is kind of funny because this is, ah, well off-campus. But this is a 'normal' funny thing, not a weird one -- JHU's cops roaming into public land is an ongoing fight. [00:29] 10Time to go for a bit of a walk. 00[00:29] <@Crion> This is the neighborhood of Charle's Village. 00[00:29] <@Crion> It's nice and clean and, ah, young and white. [00:29] 10Epic, epic same. 00[00:31] <@Crion> It's bounded by JHU on the west, Guilford Avenue on the east, Union Memorial Hospital on the north, and 25th Street on the south. 00[00:32] <@Crion> He parks near a church around the middle of this. St. John's Methodist. 00[00:33] <@Crion> It's been chained up for the night... [00:36] 10Stewart doesn't know a ton about vampires, but surely they hate and fear the sun. He's going to look for structures that block the sun: shutters, uncharacteristically boarded-up windows, signs of buildings being modified, however cheaply or slightly, to let less sunlight in. 00[00:39] <@Crion> The good news is that there aren't a lot of boarded-up homes like there are elsewhere in the city -- that'd be a lot of work combing through. However, the way these blocks are set up is: you've got a row of houses facing the street running north-south on each side of the block, and then a north-south alley running behind and between both rows -- and on the end of each of those rows is a squat 00[00:39] <@Crion> garage structure, for maybe 1 or 2 cars, owned by someone on the block. 00[00:39] <@Crion> They could be in there... 00[00:40] <@Crion> But those seem like high-traffic areas. 00[00:40] <@Crion> Obviously, they're in use, right? 00[00:40] <@Crion> Same with the JHU campus. 00[00:40] <@Crion> Really, what it kind of comes back to is that church. 00[00:40] <@Crion> Right? [00:41] 10Ah, shit. [00:41] 10...Stewart wonders if there's an organ in there. 00[00:41] <@Crion> Methodists. 00[00:42] <@Crion> Now, if it was Lutherans, maybe. [00:43] 10There is no more culturally bankrupt institution than American protestantism. You say the church is chained up; is it totally inaccessible? 00[00:45] <@Crion> It's an old, old building. And it's got big chains across big gates. Thankfully, they seem to be wrought iron. 00[00:45] <@Crion> There is, however, a semi-open area sort of up the block from the main entrance. 00[00:45] <@Crion> Through some arches. 00[00:45] <@Crion> Into darkest shadow. 00[00:49] <@Crion> There's something on the wind as he approaches...Stewart's smelled this before... [00:49] 10Stewart pauses. 00[00:49] <@Crion> ...Is that a Grape Juul? 00[00:49] <@Crion> Two hard red points flash out of the darkness, meeting Stewart's own. 00[00:49] <@Crion> Eyes. [00:49] 10Oh fuck. [00:49] 10Stewart doesn't blink. 00[00:51] <@Crion> From the darkness: "4Come here." 00[00:53] <@Crion> There's a man in the shadows there, in jeans and a dirty black shirt with a Catholic priest collar, and hair that's unkempt, and a hilariously out-of-place vape that he takes another pull off of. It's not actually a grape Juul, but it's close. [00:54] 10Stewart drifts forward, almost sleepwalking into the darkness. 00[00:54] <@Crion> Father Jesse: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAHL9AfY4Yk Dear God -- I can't believe in, I don't believe in, I won't believe in heaven and hell; no saints, no sinners, no devil as well. 00[00:54] <@Crion> "4Stop." [00:55] 10He stops promptly. 00[00:55] <@Crion> "Let's get a look at--" 00[00:56] <@Crion> "Ahh!" The 'priest' jumps back a bit. 00[00:56] <@Crion> "Oh for fuck's sake." 00[00:56] <@Crion> He waves his hand, the compulsion is lifted. 00[00:57] <@Crion> "You know, I thought I had something here. I thought: maybe he's using runners. Not-quite-ghouls. Proxies." 00[00:57] <@Crion> "Fuckin' nope. It's one of you lot." [00:59] 10Stewart blinks. Does he have any kind of accent? "I'm sorry?" 00[01:00] <@Crion> He sounds vaguely southern. "You're sorry. I'm sorry. I can't even properly smoke anymore." 00[01:00] <@Crion> He looks down at his vape in disgust. "You know if the battery on this fucks up, it could just set me on fire at any time?" 00[01:01] <@Crion> "Walking down the street, and then hiss -- boom -- no more me." 00[01:01] <@Crion> "...You back with me yet?" [01:03] 10Stewart's a bit dazed, but he's coming around slowly. "...yeah, sorry, hi. I was- I was looking for something." 00[01:04] <@Crion> The priest(?) sighs. "Wasn't a church tour, I'm guessing." [01:05] 10Stewart, fully recovered, sizes the man up. "It's not you, is it." [01:05] 10Stewart, fully recovered, sizes the man up. "It's not you, is it." 00[01:05] <@Crion> He sucks on the vape again. "It is not me." 00[01:06] <@Crion> "But you know, I'm glad we had the same idea." 00[01:06] <@Crion> "This church is the right amount of spooky." [01:06] "Right? How long has this been going on?" 00[01:08] <@Crion> "June 15th." He steps forward and glances down the street. "You're Kingsley's fresh new face?" [01:10] 10Stewart's feeling pretty vindicated right now, getting hypnotized aside. "Yeah. Stewart Reader." 00[01:10] <@Crion> "Father Jesse." 00[01:11] <@Crion> "So. You've worked out the pattern. This is...you understand our territorial claims?" [01:12] 10Stewart: "Not really. I'm doing research, actually, so anything you can tell me--" 00[01:14] <@Crion> He waves a hand again and frowns. Steps out. Shakes his head and steps back in. "Alright. So. We divvy up the city. Places you're allowed to eat. You become responsible for them, too. Kind of like fishing, and the Court is the Fish and Wildlife service. They give you your license, and if you start fucking up -- if you don't throw enough fish back, let's say -- they come looking for you." 00[01:14] <@Crion> "Sounds brutal, maybe it is. Get the feeling you know from brutal already though. I usually don't have to do the morality lectures with you all." [01:15] 10Stewart: "So you work with the Sheriff?" 00[01:15] <@Crion> "I do. She thinks you all understand us better because of your trauma." He sucks on his Juul again. "I just think it's because you're used to listening to violent assholes justify themselves to themselves." 00[01:16] <@Crion> "Anyway." 00[01:16] <@Crion> "Charles Village. Two territories." [01:16] 10Kind of a lot to take in there, but okay. Stewart concentrates. 00[01:17] <@Crion> "JHU belongs to the Doctor of Sciences. All campuses in Baltimore do. We were worried for a bit because we though this was him and well, there's a lot of reasons that'd be real bad news. Might need the Prince. And he's too busy gaming with...what's her fuckin' name. Lauren." 00[01:17] <@Crion> "The rest belongs to Gabriel Menendez. And she's not fuckin' happy, man." [01:18] 10Wait what. 00[01:19] <@Crion> "Menendez is cuddly. No kills. Court doesn't even get complaints. So here we are, looking at a body every five nights from a teddy-bear bleeding-heart, or...well, the Doctor of Sciences." 00[01:19] <@Crion> He shrugs. "But it's not him." 00[01:19] <@Crion> "And we've gone through the Court very thoroughly -- it's not anyone else." 00[01:19] <@Crion> "So it's a freelancer." 00[01:21] <@Crion> He steps out into the street again, steps back, and sighs once more. "Fuck it, let's walk." 00[01:21] <@Crion> "We're not accomplishing anything standing around here." 00[01:22] <@Crion> "And I'd rather not get to another sophomore right as they're dying." [01:23] 10Stewart walks. "Does that happen a lot? Unaffiliated vampires? I sort of got the impression Baltimore was a, like a union shop." 00[01:24] <@Crion> Father Jesse grins. "Your impression's right. It is absolutely not supposed to happen. Even if this guy hadn't dropped almost two-dozen bodies, the penalty for what he's doing starts at exile from Maryland and ends at exile from this particular world." 00[01:29] <@Crion> You walk a couple blocks up St. Paul, heading towards the hospital. They watch their surroundings. The street corners. Eventually, Father Jesse takes another tug on the vape: "You're seeing that, right?" Stewart is: the JHU cops are only on the corners. They refuse to get out from under the lights, away from the intersections, or even pretend to patrol towards the middle of any block. They 00[01:29] <@Crion> don't...overtly look scared. But something's up. Which is odd: in this spate of murders, not a single officer has been attacked. [01:29] "They know." 00[01:30] <@Crion> "Mmmmmmm." 00[01:30] <@Crion> "Do they?" 00[01:31] <@Crion> Father Jesse immediately just, walks up to one of them. "Good evening officer! I am looking for directions to the Charles Village Pub. I'm Catholic, and Iiii need a drink--" [01:32] "Do you th--" 10Oh shit. 00[01:34] <@Crion> The cop...sort of stutters, and doesn't really respond, and when he does, he seems kind of confused...? 00[01:34] <@Crion> Eventually Father Jesse thanks him for his service and walks back over to Stewart, chuckling without much mirth. [01:34] "They have to stay in the light." [01:34] "They were told to." 00[01:34] <@Crion> "Yep." 00[01:34] <@Crion> "Yep, yep, yep." [01:35] "Can you all do that?" 00[01:36] <@Crion> Father Jesse: "I can, but I didn't. But I'm starting to perceive why I was chosen for this job." [01:38] "You think your bosses know who it is?" 00[01:39] <@Crion> "I try not to think about what they think. Let's head back to the church." [01:39] 10Stewart nods. 00[01:40] <@Crion> "If you're going to walk into a fire, you'll at least do it wearing a suit." 00[01:40] <@Crion> It turns out he's, ah, opened that side door he was standing near. 00[01:40] <@Crion> The church is silent and cold at night. 00[01:42] <@Crion> There's still some exposed brick, and a balcony overlooking the altar. Father Jesse pulls out an old-school metal, gas lighter and tosses it to Stewart. "Could you light some of these candles?" 00[01:43] <@Crion> He indicates an actual lamplighter's pole over in the corner. "I can't do the fire, but I love the light." [01:44] "Sure." 10Stewart will go around lighting the candles. 00[01:46] <@Crion> He pulls a bag out from under the altar, and from the bag, he pulls something that looks like a hideous corkscrew. 00[01:46] <@Crion> It's got a bracing mechanism on it. 00[01:52] <@Crion> "This is going to sound stupid and dangerous," he says, "but if anything even touches your head it means I failed, and we stop." He gestures with the giant corkscrew. "I need you to sit down here on the steps." [01:54] 10Stewart hesitates, but only briefly. 00[01:55] <@Crion> The father secures the brace on Stewart's head, lines up the corkscrew, and begins turning -- four inches out. And the screw never reaches Stewart's hair, let alone head. [01:56] 10Stewart's torn between thinking about how scary this is and how silly it must look from the outside. 00[01:56] <@Crion> Instead, when Father Jesse steps back, the brace falls away, and he's holding nothing but the corkscrew's handle. And Stewart feels clearer-headed than he has in awhile. 00[01:56] <@Crion> "Seems like I've still got it," he says, pulling out his vape and taking another pull. 00[01:56] <@Crion> "Ready to go hunting?" [01:58] 10Stewart stands. "...yeah." 00[01:59] <@Crion> He pauses. "Realized I forgot to ask. Are you comfortable killing a serial killer?" 00[02:00] <@Crion> "If it comes to that." [02:00] 10Stewart: "A serial killer's probably worse than a cop, right?" 00[02:01] <@Crion> Another mirthless smile. "Who says he isn't?" 00[02:01] <@Crion> "A cop, I mean." 00[02:01] <@Crion> "How would you mesmerize all those fools?" 00[02:02] <@Crion> Another pull on the vape. "No, I think we're hunting an officer who walks between the lampposts. Even if they're not actually an officer." [02:02] 10Stewart's kind of floating away from himself again, buoyed by the thought of violence. It doesn't really feel better than worrying about it, but worrying about it feels so *stupid*. "Huh." 00[02:06] <@Crion> Another patrol, and this time with the full, ah, clarity of the situation upon both of them. And this time, the results are different. 00[02:07] <@Crion> Specifically, now that both of you know where the cops are standing, you know where the cop cars are supposed to be -- nearby, parked illegally -- and so when you see one on St Paul and 30th near the middle of the block, under a completely blacked-out street light... 00[02:07] <@Crion> Well. 00[02:08] <@Crion> "Fuck," says Father Jesse. "Well. It's probably good. If it was too late, it wouldn't still be here. Right?" [02:09] "Makes sense." 00[02:10] <@Crion> It's parked right in front of an alley. "You want the car or...that dark place someone might be waiting to ambush us?" [02:12] 10When you put it like that... "...I'll take the car." 00[02:13] <@Crion> The priest nods. "Don't worry about opening the locks the way you all do. God absolves you for your sins. By not being real." 00[02:13] <@Crion> Then he steels himself and slowly begins walking down that alley. [02:14] 10Right on. 00[02:21] <@Crion> The cop car opens easily for Stewart, allowing him to rifle through everything in it quite quickly -- this is car 54-87, and it seems pretty well-kept. Except for the fact that it seems there was supposed to be a laptop computer mounted in here for the officers to use, and it's not here anymore. And some of the passenger's side seating underneath the seat -- down near the seat adjustment 00[02:21] <@Crion> handles -- is badly-shredded. [02:21] 10That's odd. 00[02:22] <@Crion> So Stewart pops the trunk and heads on back. And what he sees when he opens it is startling, certainly -- the bloody, torn remains of a police shirt, along with a badge numbered 1637 -- but he's seen dead bodies before. But just as he's trying to process that... 00[02:22] <@Crion> ...Something tugs on the leg of his jeans. [02:22] 10!! 00[02:23] <@Crion> What does he do? [02:24] 10Stewart hops away, or tries to, by reflex. 00[02:29] <@Crion> The grasping hideous arms from beneath the cop car try to grab both of Stewart's legs-- [02:30] 10Stewart's up and over them before he even looks down and realizes what just happened. [02:30] "Under the car!" 00[02:34] <@Crion> Father Jesse surges out of the darkness, a terrible and cruel expression on his face as the creature stands. It's human, and shirtless, and wearing a Los Angeles Dodgers cap. "4You will face me," the priest says, eyes flashing. 00[02:37] <@Crion> The Thirsty Man -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YkkWsLWUu8 Let's kill tonight. 00[02:39] <@Crion> The shirtless man screams and attempts to strike the priest, and he steps into it, slapping the blow aside and grabbing the creature's head. 00[02:41] <@Crion> "4And you--" 00[02:41] <@Crion> Father Jesse slams his head into the creature's, their eyes almost touching. 00[02:42] <@Crion> "4--will belong--" 00[02:42] <@Crion> Suddenly the priest collapses...and the killer straightens. From his mouth: "To me." 00[02:43] <@Crion> "Whoops, let's not let me hit my head," the shirtless, Dodger-cap wearing vampire says, hauling up Father Jesse's body. [02:43] 10Stewart: "God damn." 00[02:44] <@Crion> He looks over at Stewart. Still hard to see in the dark, but the creature's eyes have the same red glint Jesse's did. "Yeah. Can you open the passenger side door? We kind of need to take me with us." 00[02:44] <@Crion> "You drive, right?" 00[02:44] <@Crion> "I don't trust a new body." [02:44] 10Stewart: "Yeah." 00[02:45] <@Crion> "Cool, great. God, this sucks. I hate doing this. We need to get back to St. Johns." 00[02:45] <@Crion> 'The Thirsty Man' will put, uh, his body in the passenger's seat, then slide into the back. [02:46] 10Soon Stewart is... driving a police car back to the church where a vampire hypnotized him. 00[02:46] <@Crion> It's weird hearing his drawl come out of the mouth of a creature whose voicebox has been half-destroyed. "Not how I pictured this night ending. Good thinking on your feet." 00[02:46] <@Crion> "Heh." 00[02:48] <@Crion> When they're there, 'The Thirsty Man' will haul Jesse's limp body in through the side door, expecting Stewart to open it for him, then deposit him in a front pew. 00[02:48] <@Crion> "Okay. So what I need you to do right now is..." He places Jesse's bag on the altar in front of Stewart. "Take the manacles out of this, and chain me to the floor." 00[02:48] <@Crion> "..." [02:49] 10Stewart obliges. Starting to wonder if he fell asleep and has been dreaming this entire night. 00[02:49] <@Crion> "Chain this body to the floor." 00[02:49] <@Crion> "I'll be fine." 00[02:49] <@Crion> "Shape of a cross works best here. Yeah. Like that." [02:50] 10...it feels good to be helpful. 00[02:50] <@Crion> Once that's done: "Okay. So if you look behind the altar they've got three crosses. One's way too big for anything useful. The two flanking it, the ones for the thieves, they're juuuuust right. Get both of them down from there." 00[02:51] <@Crion> He's not lying; the big middle cross is like, four feet tall, but the ones on the sides are perfectly wieldable in multiple contexts. 00[02:52] <@Crion> "Okay, now take that first one, lever it against the ground, and stomp on it til it breaks. We need a sharp edge." 00[02:52] <@Crion> "A stake." [02:52] 10Never been hypnotized. Never witnessed a possession. Never stolen a police car. Never chained a man to the floor. Never desecrated a church... [02:53] 10Stewart's not strong, but he can jump pretty high and the momentum sees him through. 00[02:53] <@Crion> "Excellent. Put that next to my body and clear out." [02:54] "You're... all set?" 00[02:54] <@Crion> "I don't want to be in this body even one second longer." [02:55] 10Stewart lays the stake beside the priest. 00[02:55] <@Crion> There's a slight pause--and then the creature on the floor begins thrashing and screeching, as Father Jesse stands up from the pew, picking up the ersatz stake. [02:56] 10Stewart stands well away. 00[02:57] <@Crion> Father Jesse walks up and drives the pointy end of the cross into the creature's heart, then stands up and stomps down on the crossbeam, pushing it all the way through. 00[02:58] <@Crion> "You've got that other cross for me?" he asks without looking away from the corpse. 00[02:58] <@Crion> Well. It's a corpse either way. 00[02:58] <@Crion> But at least now it's quiet. [03:01] "Yeah." 00[03:01] <@Crion> He holds out a hand behind him for it. [03:02] 10Stewart hands it over. 00[03:02] <@Crion> He tosses the crucifix down on the vampire's body, and begins...chanting, in Latin? 00[03:02] <@Crion> This goes on for some time. 00[03:03] <@Crion> Then the crucifix...melts into the body... 00[03:03] <@Crion> ...the staked creature stirs... 00[03:03] <@Crion> ...and nothing happens. 00[03:03] <@Crion> Father Jesse stands. 00[03:03] <@Crion> "Really." 00[03:03] <@Crion> "Really???" 00[03:03] <@Crion> "Fine." 00[03:04] <@Crion> He turns to...the big cross. 00[03:04] <@Crion> "You're a son of a bitch, you know that?" 00[03:05] <@Crion> "I kept telling myself--" 00[03:05] <@Crion> He climbs up on the mantlepiece. 00[03:06] <@Crion> "For almost a hundred years, I kept telling myself, you have to wait it out." 00[03:06] <@Crion> "There's more to it." 00[03:06] <@Crion> "There is--" 00[03:06] <@Crion> He grabs the great cross. 00[03:06] <@Crion> "--in Him--" 00[03:06] <@Crion> He pulls. 00[03:06] <@Crion> "--a mystery." 00[03:08] <@Crion> Father Jesse bears it down from its station and walks it over to the chained vampire, pointedly refusing to carry it on his back. "I spent so much time listening. Waiting to hear You say something." 00[03:08] <@Crion> He drops the cross entirely over the vampire's body. 00[03:08] <@Crion> "But all You ever did is talk to Yourself. Es stultior asino--" 00[03:09] <@Crion> The great cross melts into the vampire's body, and blood explodes out from his hands and feet. And it keeps exploding. 00[03:10] <@Crion> Father Jesse watches with contempt, but it's not for the dead man who is dying again. 00[03:10] <@Crion> "I'll clean up here." 00[03:10] <@Crion> "But this isn't the end of it." [03:11] 10Fuck, man. "Is there anything else I can do to help?" 00[03:12] <@Crion> He nods. "You know when I went into his head tonight? This sorry motherfucker's." 00[03:13] <@Crion> "Something else went out." [03:14] "Where did it go?" 00[03:15] <@Crion> Father Jesse laughs. "That is the question, isn't it, Stewart Reader? If I knew, I'd be burning this church to the ground and heading over THERE right now. But I do know it wasn't panicking." 00[03:15] <@Crion> "It felt empty and large." 00[03:15] <@Crion> "Vampires, we're mostly creatures of passion." 00[03:16] <@Crion> He blows another vape plume into the blood. "So what you can do to help, I think, is make a full and accurate report." 00[03:16] <@Crion> "Just in case I'm right." [03:17] 10Stewart draws in a big breath. "I will." 00[03:18] <@Crion> He sits down on the altar, watching the last of the blood pour from the other vampire and its frame begin to wither. "My apologies for intruding in your head tonight. We're not good with boundaries, my people." 00[03:19] <@Crion> Father Jesse looks over and grins. "Then again, neither are yours." 00[03:19] <@Crion> "Now get the hell out of here." 00[03:19] <@Crion> "And goodnight." [03:19] 10Stewart: "...good night." [03:19] 10It's a slow walk back to the car. [03:24] 10It's almost 4 when he gets home. The thought of settling into his chair and falling asleep talking to Lauren appeals to him, but he decides to go straight to bed. He'll ask her if she's played Destiny 2 with the Prince of Baltimore tomorrow. 00[03:24] <@Crion> --Fin. 03[03:34] * banana|peels is now known as banana|split 03[09:24] * banana|split is now known as banana 02[13:53] * Disconnected Session Close: Fri Oct 18 13:54:17 2019 Session Start: Fri Oct 18 14:00:03 2019 Session Ident: #gofetch 03[14:00] * Now talking in #gofetch 03[14:00] * Topic is 'Who botches the Botchmen?' 03[14:00] * Set by Crion!Crion@sorcery-puhjpa.fios.verizon.net on Sun Sep 22 02:37:29 2019 03[14:00] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Crion 03[14:23] * banana is now known as banana|peels 02[18:16] * Disconnected 02[18:16] * Attempting to rejoin channel #gofetch 03[18:16] * Rejoined channel #gofetch 03[18:16] * Topic is 'Who botches the Botchmen?' 03[18:16] * Set by Crion!Crion@sorcery-puhjpa.fios.verizon.net on Sun Sep 22 02:37:29 2019 03[18:16] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Crion Session Time: Sat Oct 19 00:00:00 2019 03[00:43] * dammitwhoa (dammitwhoa@sorcery-5fkv5e.or.frontiernet.net) has joined #gofetch 02[01:03] * dammitwhoa (dammitwhoa@sorcery-5fkv5e.or.frontiernet.net) Quit (Quit: ) 03[01:25] * dammitwhoa (dammitwhoa@sorcery-5fkv5e.or.frontiernet.net) has joined #gofetch 02[03:31] * dammitwhoa (dammitwhoa@sorcery-5fkv5e.or.frontiernet.net) Quit (Quit: ) 03[04:30] * banana|peels is now known as banana 03[11:27] * banana is now known as banana|peels 03[21:01] * banana|peels is now known as banana 00[21:05] <@Crion> 00[21:05] <@Crion> 00[21:05] <@Crion> 00[21:05] <@Crion> 00[21:05] <@Crion> 00[21:05] <@Crion> 00[21:05] <@Crion> 00[21:05] <@Crion> 00[21:05] <@Crion> 00[21:08] <@Crion> With the unpleasantness in the cul-de-sac passed, things lighten up in the Wherehouse's local Hedge. Once or twice a pouting Inspector Detector will hide in some thorns hoping you can't see him, but as soon as he notices that YOU'VE noticed that he's spying on you, he'll cartoonishly yip and skeedadle away (occasionally with foley work). Other than that, the ecosystem seems to be returning 00[21:08] <@Crion> to normal, which is: an incredibly confusing lattice of streets and side-streets with dangerous walls, the colors of the season turning brambles brown and razorwire rusted. More normal, benign hobs begin to show themselves again, and even Steve has for the most part fucked off to honk elsewhere for a time. [21:11] 7Does Maggie have phone contacts for the Spring Court? 00[21:11] <@Crion> David Smitten, Samaritan, and probably the office phone for the Sidereal. 00[21:12] <@Crion> That last one is basically Amelia Banthem's office number. She keeps her cell private. [21:13] 7Followup: Is it likely that she would have heard of Icons? 00[21:19] <@Crion> Not likely, no...but she has anyway. 00[21:20] <@Crion> Samaritan, of all people, made a crack about them at the Sidereal a week or two back to The Kitchen. The old goat didn't seem amused. Something about how he just needed the perfect cast iron skillet to complete him. [21:21] 10Stewart's spent very little time at the Wherehouse since his night out with Maggie, and very little time out in the city since his night with Father Jesse. Even with Lauren he's been a bit unresponsive. He's fine, he insists to himself. He just needs some time to himself. Sitting alone in his room, listlessly unable to play games for recreation, flicking compulsively between dozens and [21:21] 10dozens of tabs until the hours spend themselves. [21:23] 7Hmm. She's gotten settled in at the Wherehouse as much she really can be, she should let some people know that she's still around, maybe learn a few things as well. Ah! She can practice 'texting'! [21:24] 7Maggie:  [21:24] 5Tony's made a lot of progress on turning his little bachelor hovel portion of the Wherehouse into a nice bachelor home-pad. Someone with a better grasp of their inner life would probably recognize this as avoidant behavior stemming from not wanting to deal with the weight of the badge and the consequences of further Hedge hob interactions, but Tony? He likes a clean and organized space. [21:25] 10Brother. 00[21:25] <@Crion> Samaritan: [21:27] 7Maggie:  7Sometimes people need to stew a mite, and its good to give them outs that still involve social contact. She learned this from her young friend, Stewart. [21:27] [21:27] 13Did several somebodies say avoidant behaviour? 00[21:28] <@Crion> Usually they don't get service here on this side of the Hedge, but it turns out you can run outgoing calls through a custom Google Phone mask, then output them back through the original number using dongles with clones of their SIM cards. Highly illegal. Lauren came up with it. [21:28] 13Melanie knows they should be doing something about the loyalist nest; she should be pushing for that. It's just.. whenever the group is actively trying to Get those guys, she's into it. No problem. Way too into it. It feels compulsive, like satisfying a hunger, and it's not helping any of them connect with the world again. [21:28] 7Maggie loves her crime phone. 00[21:29] <@Crion> Samaritan: 00[21:29] <@Crion> 02[21:29] * Disconnected 02[21:29] * Attempting to rejoin channel #gofetch 03[21:29] * Rejoined channel #gofetch 03[21:29] * Topic is 'Who botches the Botchmen?' 03[21:29] * Set by Crion!Crion@sorcery-puhjpa.fios.verizon.net on Sun Sep 22 02:37:29 2019 03[21:29] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Crion [21:30] 6Nels is slowly accumulating more things for her portion of the Wherehouse - it's even got some artwork now, just little things but still. A home away from home. She's also got emergency supplies, just in case they end up stuck here, alongside some clothing, a few books, and another guitar. Practically move-in ready. (She won't, but she could, and that feels important.) [21:30] 6...is it a bad idea to keep mirrors around here? It could come in handy if she ever wants to look somewhere else. 00[21:31] <@Crion> Samaritan: 00[21:33] <@Crion> [21:41] 13Melanie's Around the place all the time, occasionally making little noises like 'we should go shopping' or 'is fox sports working today'. She's writing a lot, none of which is usable thesis material, and waiting for club night. She wishes she knew more than just List. [21:41] 7Maggie:  [21:43] 6A window to the outside will do them well, then. So, she'll just have to bring a big wall mirror into her place, and then cover it up. Can't be too careful. 00[21:43] <@Crion> Samaritan: [21:44] 7Maggie: [21:44] 7Maggie:  00[21:47] <@Crion> Samaritan: 00[21:47] <@Crion> 00[21:47] <@Crion> 00[21:47] <@Crion> 00[21:47] <@Crion> 00[21:48] <@Crion> 00[21:48] <@Crion> 00[21:48] <@Crion> 00[21:50] <@Crion> Samaritan: 00[21:50] <@Crion> 00[21:50] <@Crion> [21:50] 7Maggie:  00[21:50] <@Crion> 00[21:51] <@Crion> 00[21:51] <@Crion> [21:55] "Hey Tony. Have you found any good shows for keeping up with NBA and NFL fixtures?" [21:55] 13Melanie: "I used to basically get this stuff by osmosis, from the team environment and.. family maybe. Now I'm not sure whether ESPN has the good stuff or if everyone reads websites. The websites themselves say nobody does.." [21:57] 7Maggie:  00[22:00] <@Crion> Samaritan: 00[22:00] <@Crion> [22:01] 5Tony: "Nothing I could recommend, I asked Stewart once what there was on the online and he said there were the Sports Websites 5(clearly pronounced as though Tony believes this to be a proper name/place)  but so far, I'm just seeing what's on if I'm adjusting the antenna at home." [22:02] 6Nels steps out of her room, satisfied with the mirror placement and that it's adequately covered. "If it's anything like the papers used to be, none of it is good. Just different kinds of less bad." [22:02] 13Melanie: "Maybe just flipping channels looking for good games is fine then. Wait, antenna?" [22:05] 5Tony: "Yeah, you know, the rabbit ears? Guy sold me some he said was digital, because I guess that matters now, but the important thing is they do, so maybe he was right?" [22:05] 13Melanie: "Rabbit??" 13To Nels: "Is this a history thing?" [22:05] 6Nels: "What do rabbits have to do with anything?" 00[22:05] <@Crion> Samaritan: <.........................you wanan find urs don't you> [22:05] 7Maggie:  00[22:05] <@Crion> Very difficult to figure out how Samaritan abbreviates. 00[22:06] <@Crion> [22:06] 7Maggie:  00[22:08] <@Crion> 00[22:09] <@Crion> [22:09] 13Melanie: "Digital is like.. computers. It means electrical signals, all the video is represented in an abstract way instead of using.. whatever they did before." 00[22:09] <@Crion> 00[22:12] <@Crion> 00[22:12] <@Crion> [22:12] 13Melanie: "Oh, but you can get HD that way!" [22:13] 6Nels: "What's HD?" [22:14] 13Melanie: "Culturally, it's a semiotic marker of being upgraded or re-released. They used to use '2000' in the same way, when the year 2000 was this big impressive approaching milestone." [22:14] "So you get like.. Spiderman, Spiderman HD, Spiderman 2019 is the new version.." [22:14] 6Nels: "I see." 6She doesn't. [22:15] "For sports the HD version is better.. picture quality, I guess would be the term. I'll just show you.." 13Melanie finds the TV remote, unless Steve has hidden it, and hopefully demonstrates the difference between an HD and an SD channel. The cable works most of the time now, though when it's down you do get shows that are a little off. [22:16] 5Tony: "...aren't those just for reading? The Spidermans I mean." 5Tony definitely pronounces it with the emphasis early in the word, as though it's a last name, a la Oldman. Spiderman. [22:16] 7Maggie:  [22:16] "Hey!" 7Maggie calls out from her comfortable chair to the rest of the Wherehouse. "Does anyone want to go shopping?" 00[22:17] <@Crion> 00[22:17] <@Crion> [22:17] 6Nels: "Um, sure. What for?" 00[22:17] <@Crion> [22:18] 13Melanie: "I mean I could be misremembering. But there's a new spiderman origin movie every few years, like there was one just before I left and then an ad for the remake was like, the first thing I saw back.." [22:18] 13Firmly: "I want to go shopping." [22:19] 7Maggie:  [22:19] 00[22:19] <@Crion> 00[22:19] <@Crion> [22:20] 7Maggie: "I wanna find a goblin market to buy fruit seeds for our little garden. Also, Nels, we should talk about building a brewery and a still for making booze out of 'em. Anyway, it would be handy to know where the nearest market is." [22:21] 13Melanie mutes the TV. "A goblin market?" [22:21] 6Nels: "Oh! This'd be the perfect space for that. Hmm..." 6She's mentally mapping out where to place it already. Now there's something she can work on... [22:22] "What would they sell, beak hats and pig accessories? [22:22] " [22:23] 7Maggie: "Nah, it's more like one of them storybook things. Trade the memory of your first kiss for an ale cup that never empties, sell your shadow for the name of the greatest enemy you haven't made yet, that kinda thing." [22:23] "I'm just hoping to get some magic beans, heh heh heh." [22:24] 7Maggie, to Samaritan:  00[22:24] <@Crion> [22:24] 5Tony: "You want me to come too? Hobs seem to like me a lot 5He looks around to confirm no Steve lurking in the shadows for some reason, I guess." 00[22:25] <@Crion> Steve has been very good at not being around recently. [22:25] "Ohhh." 13Magic beans.. it's been a while. "You should come, we should do something that isn't mutual generational incomprehension!" [22:25] 7Maggie, to Stewart:  [22:26] 7Maggie: "Sure! I'm sending Stewart a text message with my phone, and there's a gal named Samaritan from the Spring Court I've invited along. Better in numbers, right?" [22:28] 10Stewart's face has almost slid all the way off the hand propping it up when he gets Maggie's text.  [22:29] 13Melanie: "Don't bug Stewart too much if he isn't into shopping, though. You know guys." [22:29] 7Maggie:  [22:29] 13It's unclear whether this means Tony isn't 'guys'. [22:30] 7To Samaritan:  00[22:31] <@Crion> [22:31] 10Stewart:  [22:35] [22:35] 10Ughhhhh. Stewart doesn't feel like driving. Luckily the 94 bus will take him basically straight to Lexington Market, after a shower to wake up. [22:38] 13Melanie's excited, relatively speaking. She's moving faster than her near-immobility earlier in the week - to her rooms. "I'll get changed! Should we bring our own bags? Do they take US dollars?" [22:38] 7Maggie, to Samaritan:  00[22:38] <@Crion> <...............................................> 00[22:38] <@Crion> 00[22:38] <@Crion> [22:39] "They probably don't. I've never been to one but I'm guessing it's more along the line of 'jar of fingernails'." [22:39] 7Maggie: "Actually, it would be pretty lucky if a hob wanted to sell things for fingernail clippings. Not a lot of use for those usually." [22:41] 13Melanie: "I'll bring a bunch of weird garbage!" [22:41] 13Not a commodity in short supply on the wherehouse grounds. [22:43] 6Nels: "Hmm." 6...should she bring her guitar? Maybe they'll let something go for a song. [22:43] 7Maybe, but she'd have to carefully word it or else she'll end up not having that song anymore. 00[22:46] <@Crion> That's true even in the mortal world; probably even more fraught on this side. 00[22:46] <@Crion> Samaritan will be over in about an hour. [22:46] 10Stewart arrives about the same time - the bus was delayed. 00[22:48] <@Crion> Then he'll see the Darkling Nightsinger from the Spring Court in painted-on jeans, boots, and a pure white hoodie leaning against the wall outside the elevator with her tongue sticking out of her mouth, texting. She'll glance up and see her at almost the same time, and grin. [22:48] 5Tony's already in moderate hock to Steve for various things, so he tags along because hey: if your friends are going to the weird place where people sell memories and buy dreams, you go with. It's called being supportive. Also he has a (shitty) car. [22:49] 13Wait, can we drive in the Hedge 00[22:49] <@Crion> I wouldn't recommend it. [22:49] 10She looks vaguely familiar. Stewart must've seen here somewhere. [22:50] 5Well, his car's not in the Hedge, but if they need to go out for pizza after, and for not-Hedge-pizza, the option will be there. 00[22:50] <@Crion> Samaritan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53GIADHxVzM She is gone, but she used to be mine. [22:52] 10For some reason that song is making Stewart really sad right now. She gets a smile back that fades quickly. "Are you coming in?" 10he asks her. 00[22:53] <@Crion> She doesn't seem to notice, as she's quickly glancing back to her screen then back up to him. "You're Stewart! I think." 00[22:54] <@Crion> "So: yes!" [22:54] 10Stewart: "That's me. What's your name?" 10He'll summon the elevator and then the door into the Wherehouse. 00[22:54] <@Crion> Maggie hasn't gotten any texts from her since fifteen minutes ago. 00[22:54] <@Crion> She takes down her hood. "Samaritan. Good to meet ya." [22:55] "Likewise." [22:55] 10Once they're inside: "Hey! Whadda ya buying? Whadda ya selling?" 00[22:56] <@Crion> Samaritan is visibly startled at that, especially if he's doing the accent. [22:56] 10He is, of course. 00[22:57] <@Crion> "Wait, you've been to the market?" [22:57] 10He's speaking to all assembled and not her directly, if it helps. "Sorry?" 00[22:57] <@Crion> She blinks. "Sometimes there's a hob who says that at the market." 00[22:57] <@Crion> "Like that." 00[22:57] <@Crion> "You know, weird." [22:57] 10Stewart: "They got it from a video game. Or vice-versa, maybe." 00[22:58] <@Crion> "Huh. He wear a big coat?" [22:59] 13Melanie's all dressed-up, wearing the one blouse she has which hangs ok on a trunk and carrying a handbag full of (as promised) weird garbage. The Mien/Mask distinction's a little less jarring than usual. "Hello. You must be Samaritan.. was it Verge?" [22:59] 10Stewart: "And a bandanna over his mouth." [22:59] 6Nels resolves to look this up later. Asking "what's that" to everything is starting to get tiring. [23:00] "Heya, the gang's all here!" 00[23:00] <@Crion> Smiling politely: "It's just Samaritan." 00[23:01] <@Crion> That's not necessarily a no. 00[23:01] <@Crion> She looks around the digs as she walks in. What's Samaritan seeing? [23:01] "Right, sorry!" 13 :) There are a lot of weird names throughout the freehold! But memory stuff isn't going to ruin today. [23:04] 10The only weird garbage Stewart brought was himself. His area is quite far from the front door and he hasn't really been in it much since the last time he had Lauren over. He's got long orange curtains for a door instead of Tony's beads. [23:09] 5Tony didn't bring anything except a healthy sense of personal boundaries when it comes to interacting with Hedge denizens, after the last time got him whatever this badge situation is. Which he is absolutely not going to be showing to anyone anytime soon. [23:10] 7The central area, first visible when entering from the real-world side, is sort of a lounge/hangout zone with a bunch of comfy chairs and couches around a big entertainment system, atop a toe-curlingly deep carpet (concrete is cold and unpleasant to walk on!). 00[23:12] <@Crion> Samaritan: "This is nice! Since you haven't been here very long. It's very college!" [23:12] 7Cables are strung across the floor, carefully tucked into those rubber holder things, leading to the Wherehouse's IT setup. Makeshift walls have been put up to give the residents individual living space, with each 'living cubby' clearly representing its occupant's taste. [23:13] 6Nels: "It's a work in progress, but it's - well. Yeah," 6she fails to elaborate. [23:14] 13Through another of the bead curtains there's a densely packed library visible, unfortunately with a bunch of dirt tracked in and out. "We've managed to weave things a bit but it's, like, everything has its own opinions." [23:14] 13Melanie clarifies: "The Hedge here is basically okay with anything it can classify as 'industrial loft'? Like it seems to be going by socioeconomic aesthetic rather than function." [23:15] 5The only part of the main-ish area that will, without exception, remain bereft of dirt and garbage is the kitchenette in the corner, because that is a colonized Tony Space and he cares. 00[23:17] <@Crion> Samaritan nods firmly. "Everyone says it's better to let the space come to you." Pause. "I mean I wouldn't know, that's just what everyone says." 00[23:17] <@Crion> "...So, you want to hear something funny?" [23:19] 10Stewart nods, looking attentive. [23:19] "Yes!" [23:20] 13Having someone new come to visit like this is nice. Familiar; Samaritan's right about the college atmosphere, it reminds Melanie of living in a.. quad? Did she? And one roommate would have someone over, and they become everyone's friend.. she's lost in recollection for a moment. 00[23:20] <@Crion> "Baltimore's goblin market is like, two hundred steps away." [23:21] 6Nels: "...huh?" [23:21] "Lexington Market." [23:21] "Nice." [23:21] "That makes sense!" [23:21] "Makes carrying stuff home easy." 00[23:22] <@Crion> "Yep. Gotta take the stairs, not the elevator." 00[23:23] <@Crion> She looks around, beaming, which is weird from a Darkling. "We ready?" [23:23] 5Tony: "Is THAT why there's so many of them all over the place outside? That makes too much sense really." 00[23:24] <@Crion> "Yup." [23:24] "Hrrrrraarruuh." 7Maggie levers herself up from her armchair. "Ready to go!" [23:24] 13Melanie's a little worried. "It's a little worrying. We thought we were following back-alley trails.. did a bunch of racketeering monsters have the same idea?" [23:24] 13But yeah let's go! Melanie is of course already standing. [23:25] 10Stewart's all set. 00[23:25] <@Crion> Samaritan giggles. "You need to understand -- just because two portals in our world are right next to each other, their destinations aren't. Markets are big deals! They cast a wide net. It's more a neighborhood thing." 00[23:26] <@Crion> She sort of bounces on her feet. "But let's gooo!" 00[23:27] <@Crion> As they head back to the elevator: "You're gonna need a coin of the realm for entry, or one of you's gonna have to go into debt." 00[23:27] <@Crion> "You know. Goblin debt." 00[23:27] <@Crion> "Don't worry. Well. I mean, worry. But it buys you a season pass -- for everyone you're with." [23:27] 5Tony tenses up twice, for two different, related reasons. [23:28] "Coin of the realm?" [23:28] 7Maggie: "A coin of the what now?" [23:28] 13Melanie: "And whose realm?" 00[23:29] <@Crion> Samaritan nods. "So, our money doesn't work in the Notgnixel Market. You need some kinda...'medium of exchange,' I think the wizlords call it. It's on the 'oath standard?' Instead of gold? I dunno. Basically they're minted promises." 00[23:30] <@Crion> "Obviously, you can barter." 00[23:30] <@Crion> "With the merchants." 00[23:30] <@Crion> "But not with the door." [23:30] 10Stewart nods. That makes sense. [23:31] 13Melanie: "It sounds like something you get from the market. If we're going to live around here.. we'd better start out on good terms with them." [23:32] "I could make a promise. I haven't got any risk at the moment" 13and it's better than letting someone else do it. 00[23:32] <@Crion> Once they're out of the elevator, Samaritan leads them hard left through the market to the stairwell on the other side along the same wall. There's a big door there, but mass-manufactured. She taps on it once and it clicks open. [23:32] 5Tony siiiiiiiiiiiighs. "If no one's got coin, which I assume no one does, I guess I'll take the debt, since I already do anyway for every time we deal with the hobs, and we just worked some off dealing with the Watermelon Boys." 00[23:32] <@Crion> Samaritan holds it wide for you. [23:33] 13Thanks! "Tony.. we can't let you build up, like, a tab from Hell." [23:34] 5Tony: "This isn't Hell, but the whole thing runs on tabs, doesn't it? I can take the hit." [23:34] 7Maggie: "Don't be silly. Melanie or I will take it, you just relax." [23:35] 13Melanie: "We know you're going to want to adopt another cute asshole monster." 00[23:35] <@Crion> They head down the stairs. They hit an...iron...grate? No, it's worked steel. It opens easily. 00[23:36] <@Crion> Down again. And finally they reach...well, it looks like metal. It also looks massively out of place, larger and wider than a factory door should be. [23:36] 13Melanie's on board with Maggie's point there. Obviously they have to protect Nels and Stewart, that just makes emotional sense- [23:37] 5Tony: "Yeah I guess, there's Mean Pearl and Krills Bill and Steve and...fair enough." 00[23:37] <@Crion> Samaritan steps aside. "Someone's gonna wanna knock." 00[23:38] <@Crion> "You'll be uh." 00[23:38] <@Crion> "Buying the season pass." [23:38] 7Maggie will give Melanie a window to move first, out of respect for her lack of hastiness, before going to knock herself if she doesn't. [23:39] 6Nels hovers behind, quietly. [23:40] 13Melanie does take a moment to psych herself up, but- she should be doing this sort of thing, if she's not going to actually go after those loyalists yet.. someone's got to stand in the way of the dangers which are their collective existence. That's the summer credo, right? [23:40] 13Admittedly Maggie is a good candidate for standing in front of things, since she's made of heated metal. [23:41] 13She raps on the surely-not-iron door with ersatz knuckles. Knock on wood. 00[23:41] <@Crion> It echoes oddly. Then, suddenly, violently, the sliding peephole-thing opens up. Three blearly eyes look through. 00[23:42] <@Crion> "Hrrrrrm. Huuuuuuuurrrm. Haaaaah." 00[23:42] <@Crion> "Coin or tab?" [23:42] 13That's too many eyes! "I'd like a line of credit, please." 00[23:43] <@Crion> "State your recognized name, and the Market will extend it. This name will be your recognized name for all business done on Market grounds until your tab is clear. This name cannot be bought or sold in such a way that it voids Market terms. Do not use your real name." 00[23:44] <@Crion> The sentinel sounds bored. [23:45] "Paperbark." 13Bored is good. Routine is good. 00[23:45] <@Crion> "Paperbark, you are indebted. Your group is marked. Your pass lasts until December 22nd at 12:01 AM." 00[23:46] <@Crion> There's a rumble. "Welcome to Notgnixel Market." The peephole slams shut, and the door descends into the floor, clearly now a great stone contraption with a thin veneer of metal. 00[23:46] <@Crion> On the other side is a great statue of what looks like a bodybuilder with three eyestalks coming out of his neck instead of a head. 00[23:47] <@Crion> But he's just a statue... [23:48] 13Without an Enemy, Melanie's confidence fades again. She drops steps in line with the rest of the group and looks to Samaritan. 00[23:48] <@Crion> She hums a little bit and waves them in. Beyond the statue, there's life...activity... 00[23:49] <@Crion> Notgnixel Market looks a lot like the market above (???) except some four to five times larger, and much more aesthetically diverse. 00[23:49] <@Crion> There are, however, still stalls selling crabcake sandwiches. 00[23:49] <@Crion> Probably goblin fruit? [23:50] 7Is there some kind of order to the layout? A mall directory? 00[23:51] <@Crion> There is! 00[23:52] <@Crion> There's a big map, actually, separating it into four quadrants: GOODS | SERVICES | WEAL | WOE 00[23:52] <@Crion> ...Difficult maybe to tell what the breakdown is, there. [23:53] "If we split up a bit.. we can find more deals." [23:53] 7Maggie: "Hmm. Might as well start looking for gardening supplies in the 'Goods' section..." [23:53] "Deals are so important." [23:53] 13Melanie: "I mean in the sense of bargains, not.. pacts." [23:53] "Me too." [23:54] "And by bargains I mean low prices!" [23:54] 13But it's probably all the same thing around here. 00[23:54] <@Crion> As you walk into the main area, Paperbark's cry is met by joyous ones in return from the shopping and selling hobs: "Low prices!" "Low prices!" "Low prices, stranger!" 00[23:54] <@Crion> Seems like some sort of greeting, almost. [23:55] 6Nels: "They seem... enthusiastic." 00[23:55] <@Crion> Samaritan: "You can always say that about them." [23:55] 6She draws closer to Maggie. They're headed for the same things, after all, and... noise. 00[23:55] <@Crion> "Here's something cool," she says. "No Keepers here." 00[23:56] <@Crion> "Notgnixel Market has the juice to ban them." 00[23:57] <@Crion> "Which makes your season pass...probably kind of a lot cooler." [23:58] 5Tony: "That is cool." [23:58] 13Melanie: "I didn't even think. I guess these are kind.. free trade hobgoblins? The kind who don't take well to regulation." [23:58] 13*kind of Session Time: Sun Oct 20 00:00:00 2019 00[00:00] <@Crion> Samaritan: "In the end, everything's about regulation, yeah? Just depends who's doing it." [00:01] 7What looks good at the nearby stalls? 00[00:02] <@Crion> Nearby stalls in GOODS cover everything from every stage of hedge agriculture to like, weird sleep aids? Like hobgoblin ways to keep your head propped up when you sleep? Is this an issue for them? [00:07] 13It could be something to use against them, if they're vulnerable to it. Melanie: "Do you have have anti-sleep postures for use on others?" [00:07] 7That's excellent news. Not for the hobs, poor things, but Maggie's got plans for the future. [00:08] 10Stewart wanders around looking for booksellers. 00[00:08] <@Crion> The hob in question is sort of floating on a very, very tiny bed -- but in reality, you can sort of see more than two dozen silvery threads holding the...palinquin?...up. "You wanna hit em with the VyQuil, dear?" [00:09] 5As the current resident cook, Tony tags along with Maggie looking for Hob-Ag goods. [00:11] What is the demo bed suspended from? Have they got ceiling hooks..? "Good sleep is fine, but I'd like to hoard it... it'd be great if my enemies were fatigued and irritable." 00[00:11] <@Crion> Oh, they're coming up from the ground. Like little pseudopods. 00[00:12] <@Crion> Stewart, meanwhile, finds...a lot of booksellers. 00[00:12] <@Crion> Like, A LOT of booksellers. [00:12] 10He supposes that was to be expected. 00[00:13] <@Crion> Maggie, meanwhile, finds her wants extensively catered to. Maybe too much? Lexington Market is enthusiastically a food market, both wholesale and retail, so it makes sense that Notgnixel Market deals very heavily with goblin fruits. 00[00:13] <@Crion> She should put together a shopping list, and also a list of what she's willing to barter or oath-swear. 00[00:14] <@Crion> But yeah there's a huge throughway here just called The Farmer's Market. [00:14] 13Melanie is fascinated by the more weird and useless hob-products, and she's going to quiz vendors until they get sick of window shopping. 00[00:14] <@Crion> To Melanie, the reclining hob says: "You want a poison or a device?" 00[00:14] <@Crion> "Poisons, they're usually over in WOE." 00[00:15] <@Crion> "Devices, well." The hob grins. "We sell 'em." [00:15] 6Are there any alcoholic beverages? Nels hasn't really - used goblin fruits for anything, and she's not exactly sure what's possible, let alone possible for her. 00[00:15] <@Crion> Are there! Package goods are in, well, GOODS, but if you're just looking for a bar, that's in WEAL. 00[00:16] <@Crion> Tony doesn't see anything especially interesting while keeping an eye out...but there's that one stall called LOOT CLEARANCE. [00:18] 13Melanie: "Something you could place outside another person's home would be great.." 00[00:18] <@Crion> The hob frowns at Melanie. "Honey...where it is that you think people sleep?" [00:19] 13Melanie: "I think it varies a lot." [00:20] 5Tony heads over to LOOT CLEARANCE. [00:21] 6Gotta start with the packaged goods. Though some sort of still might be good to find around here... 00[00:21] <@Crion> The hob sighs. "I can sell you a bad pillow, or an evil mattress, or a white noise machine with a real bad attitude once you get into REM. But I don't got a sleep trap." 00[00:21] <@Crion> Stills are probably in GOODS, alongside all the homebrews. [00:23] 13Melanie: "That's cool. Sleep itself is a trap set by biology to steal away a third of our lives." 00[00:23] <@Crion> The hob nods indulgently: "For sure, babe." [00:24] 10Any of these book stalls look modern but not in that soulless sterile Apple Store way? 00[00:24] <@Crion> LOOT CLEARANCE is a weird...carnival booth? There's a shitty little hob in a shitty little suit grinning out in front of it and doing promo. "STEP RIGHT UP and BUY YOUR TICKET for a CHANCE at SOMETHING NO ONE ELSE WANTED TO BUY at ANYWHERE NEAR FULL PRICE!" [00:24] "I'll hit you up if I need to wake from a dream." 13Let's go check out WOE, as recommended... 00[00:25] <@Crion> In fact, Stewart, there's something that looks suspiciously like an Electronic Boutique. Well, an EB Games. It's called HOB GAMES. [00:26] 10Oh hell yes. 00[00:26] <@Crion> The hob at the counter is tall, goateed, and bored. [00:27] "Sup?" 10says Stewart. Does this look like actual video games or... 00[00:31] <@Crion> "Hey man," says the hob. Turns out his glasses are like, part of his face? 00[00:31] <@Crion> He glances up. "You're looking for something." 00[00:32] <@Crion> It's kind of hard to tell what the software is. There doesn't seem to be much hardware, though... [00:32] 10Stewart: "Yeah. Do you have anything in the way of lore?" 00[00:32] <@Crion> What kind of setup is Nels looking for? [00:33] 5Tony sizes up LOOT CLEARANCE and spends probably longer than's healthy thinking about how self-sabotaging he's feeling tonight. [00:34] 7Maggie: "Let's see here." 7She glances down at a small scrap of paper she's scribbled a list on for herself. "Anything in the Blushberry, Dream-a-Drupe, Ertwen, or Murmurleaf family... Chu Chu Culm, Cocorange, Coralscalp, Coupnettle... and maybe some Amaranthine." 7She doesn't expect to find any Amaranthine, though. That stuff's valuable. [00:35] 13Messing with sleep is not a serious plan; Melanie's mostly enjoying herself browsing all this weird shit, finding a part of Faerie that's at once more familiar than the rest and weirder-in-a-safe-way. But she's going to spend a bit of time looking around what they sell in WOE in the hope of finding something that will give the motley an advantage over, say, nearby loyalists who don't know [00:35] 13that their hideout has been discovered... [00:40] 5Tony shrugs and gestures for the attention of the shitty little hob in the shitty little suit. "I'll play." 00[00:41] <@Crion> Maggie surveys a number of retailers: Amaranthine is available, but at a -- Samaritan giggles here -- high price. You'll need to purchase separately, not in bulk, and it will incur specific debt. You can get Blushberries, Ertwn, or Murmurleaf from most of those dealers much more easily, though. Coralscalp's being sold alongside some other (sea) weed variants, which probably all do basically 00[00:41] <@Crion> the same thing; Coupnettle's in with the more usual groceries; Cocorange, Chu Chu Colm, and Dream-a-Droupe are over near where Nels is making inquiries. [00:42] 6She'll be looking for a pot still they can use for the Wherehouse, alongside... hmm, probably need something that can handle goblin fruits for mash, maybe a general guide to brewing new and unfamiliar things... 00[00:43] <@Crion> The hob in the shitty suit hops up, snaps his finger and pulls three coins of uncertain provenance out from behind Tony's ear. That's his wager. Then he bows and gestures Tony forward into the room behind him, and slams the curtains shut...on a chintzy-looking treasure chest. 00[00:43] <@Crion> Sadly, when Tony opens it, there are just those three same coins in there... [00:45] 7Hmm. Let's see how much the Chu Chu Culm and Dream-a-Drupe are going for. Plus, she'll be able to hang out with Nels. [00:45] "Howdy, Nels! Find anything?" [00:45] 5Tony shrugs. "Well, at least they'll get to dance with the one what brung 'em." 5And he pockets the coins. 00[00:47] <@Crion> One of those looks a bit different from the others. A bit less like a cheap trick. Tony has a coin of the realm. [00:47] 5He smiles to himself as he walks away and rejoins Maggie. Not worse than today started, not yet at least. 00[00:49] <@Crion> Meanwhile, over at HOB GAMES, the bored guy behind the counter says. "What kinda lore you looking for?" 00[00:52] <@Crion> Looking like Maggie can get three Chu Chu Culms or Dream-a-Drupes for a point on her tab apiece, or some seeds for a plot each for the same. 00[00:54] <@Crion> WOE is interesting, for Melanie, if she likes seedy dudes with crude tudes. Lots of like five foot two guys advertising their services as hitmen, intimating you should come into the backroom and See What They've Got In Stock -- WOE has to be like 40% back rooms by volume -- or selling fucked up, weird offbrand Juul pods. 00[00:55] <@Crion> There's also just a booth labeled: Seven Devils. [00:55] 13That's.. not something she specifically likes. Are the devils less seedy? [00:55] 6Nels: "Oh, hello Maggie. Yes, actually --" 6she gestures to the brewmaster's setup she's been eyeing. "Should have everything I need to get started, so long as I can get a little help with the fruits... or, I guess, more mundane ingredients." [00:56] 10Stewart: "Well, all of it." 00[00:57] <@Crion> A hob appears to be meditating in the lotus position in front of it. It is a cat person, naked from the waist up, with seven figureheads behind it. Everything here looks vaguely Egyptian. 00[00:57] <@Crion> The hob opens a lazy eye and stares at Melanie. [00:59] 13Melanie bows from the waist (which is the only way she can bow. it creaks). "Hi, good afternoon." [00:59] 7Hmm. Pretty spendy, but she expected that. Still, it should be thought of as an investment in the future. Maggie will buy seeds for the Clums and the Drupes at two points on her tab, under the name "Aunt Mags". [00:59] 13Her parents had cats once. [01:00] 7Do they get fun little nametags or anything like that? 00[01:00] <@Crion> In HOB GAMES, the guy nods boredly...but then leans forward, and his glasses both go opaque and flash...? Stewart will recognize this if he's seen the anime Evangelion, along with the grin that appears on the hob's face. "BTSW...Changeling edition. I've got it right--" 00[01:01] <@Crion> The hob places a hand on the counter, finger pointing down, and there's an unmarked CD in the display case below it. "Here." 00[01:01] <@Crion> The Egyptian cat hob: "If it were you would not be here." 00[01:02] <@Crion> No nametags, Maggie, but you do get receipts with your Market Name on them. [01:02] 7Aw. [01:02] 10Stewart looks down: "BTSW?" [01:02] 7Maggie, to Nels: "What market name did you choose?" [01:03] 13Melanie: "Well, I need to make sure it's a bad afternoon for the right people." 00[01:03] <@Crion> The gamer hob pushes his glasses up his nose. "It's an abbreviation." He realizes how obvious this is seconds later. "They made the Book of Things Strange and Wondrous digital. You've probably never heard of it. It was an..." 00[01:04] <@Crion> "...import." 00[01:04] <@Crion> The Egyptian cat hob: "The wrong people are dead." 03[01:04] * GreatClownVoxPVoxD (VoxPVoxD@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) has joined #gofetch 02[01:05] * VoxPVoxD (VoxPVoxD@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) Quit (NickServ (GHOST command used by GreatClownVoxPVoxD)) 03[01:05] * GreatClownVoxPVoxD is now known as VoxPVoxD [01:06] 10Stewart's eyes light up, though he's not wearing glasses. "That's exactly the kind of thing I'm looking for. Is it a program, a database?" 00[01:07] <@Crion> The gamer hob sighs and leans forward, steepling his fingers. His glasses are still doing that thing. "They're trying to turn it into an app. If you can imagine. BUT!!" [01:07] 13That's how we're doing this, is it? "Wrong isn't a populous enough race." [01:07] 6Nels: "Went for Traveller. I figured - what with the long way I've come, and all." 00[01:08] <@Crion> "This version is an encyclopedia build in WyrdSQL with a front-end. It installs on any modern system. Do not attempt to access it via command line...make no queries there." [01:10] 10Stewart: "What does it cover?" 00[01:11] <@Crion> The cat hob grins. "The gods rarely have agreed. But then, it is fated to be so. And only Ra and Osiris will remain." [01:11] "Nice name, there! I'm 'Aunt Mags', for future hobgobly dealings. I may not be Frederick H. Coca-Cola," 7She adds smugly, "but I think I know a thing or two about building a brand." 00[01:12] <@Crion> The cat hob: "Which I suppose means, then, that I could help you kill just about anyone except for Ra and Osiris, mmm?" 00[01:12] <@Crion> The gamer hob leans back. "Whatever the updates cover. Where do the updates come from? I can't tell you that. But you don't need wifi, man." [01:13] 10Stewart whistles. "What's the curse? What's the catch?" [01:14] 13Melanie: "I have no quarrel with the day or the night." [01:14] "There's someone I'm going to kill. I have help; we'll succeed; however, I want it to be... safe. I don't want my allies hurt or sacrificed." 00[01:19] <@Crion> The cat hob: "That is not what I do." 00[01:21] <@Crion> The cat hob: "But if you're willing to let them burn, well..." 00[01:21] <@Crion> His smile is wide. "The sun also rises." 00[01:22] <@Crion> The gamer hob: "The catch is they have to have you beat already. The curse is they know exactly what it is you wanted to know." [01:22] 13Melanie: "Which 'them', please?" 00[01:22] <@Crion> The cat hob, pleasantly: "Your friends." 00[01:23] <@Crion> "Not you, of course...Paperbark." 00[01:23] <@Crion> The gamer hob pushes up his glasses. "Can't erase your search history. So don't get hacked." [01:26] 10That's intense. "Oh wow." 10But compelling. "What's it cost?" [01:26] 13Melanie: "No. I'm willing to pay to hurt people who need it; I can offer an original idea, or a childhood pet, or a doorway opened. Sole survivor is not a deal I'll make." 00[01:36] <@Crion> The cat hob: "I didn't say sole survivor. But I also didn't offer to change my terms." 00[01:36] <@Crion> He closes his open eye, but keeps speaking. "So perhaps you're talking to yourself." 00[01:36] <@Crion> The gamer hob: "We've got a payment plan. Unless you have something to trade in...?" [01:39] 13Melanie: "You've got compelling branding, but a consumer-unfriendly funnel. It's ethically irresponsible to bargain on the basis of unclear terms, so I'll move on. Perhaps we'll meet later!" 00[01:40] <@Crion> Without opening his eyes, the cat hob grins. "We always do, in the end." 00[01:40] <@Crion> Beyond being obviously smug, however, he makes no further attempt at a deal. [01:41] 10Stewart doesn't think he has anything he'd barter away that this guy would want. "I'll pay." 00[01:42] <@Crion> "!!!" The gamer hob straightens, reaches behind his back, and slams a three-page contract down in front of Stewart. "Sign here, and here, and here..." The contract's language is clear. He's going into debt, but he's not actually being suborned into being required to DO things. That would be swearing an oath, which is quite different. [01:43] 10This all seems to be in order. There's that floaty feeling again. 00[01:44] <@Crion> Almost reverently, the gamer hob puts the CD -- now enclosed in a protective jewel case -- in a plastic bag and hands it to Stewart. "Thank you, for your purchase." It's almost a mantra. 00[01:44] <@Crion> Then he immediately snaps back to looking bored. [01:45] "Seeya," 10says Stewart, heading out to try and connect back up with the others. 00[01:46] <@Crion> Samaritan will be helping Maggie with her stuff. Nels and Tony seem to already have headed back. [01:48] 13Melanie turns up empty-handed, but looking vaguely pleased. "It's a hustle out there." [01:49] 7Maggie: "I guess Melanie came away with intellectual enlightenment for free, which is a pretty good deal?" [01:51] 10Stewart: "I paid for mine." [01:52] 13Melanie: "I learned that some things aren't for sale! These guys aren't really ever going to help us, but you can't blame them." [01:53] 10Stewart: "Them not helping us is fine as long as we're not helping them. Every relationship with a hob is transactional." [01:54] "Right, but there's another layer to it - those transactions are never the kind which would shift the balance of power. Neutrality is a political stance in favour of the status quo, you know?" [01:54] "I still like the.. the atmosphere. It feels like all these little guys are doing their evil best!" [01:56] 10Stewart: "I don't know if they've got enough volition to be evil. Bargaining might be a kind of atavism for hobs." 00[01:57] <@Crion> Samaritan: "In the Market, definitely." [01:58] 13Melanie: "Ah! Again we fall back on 'intent'. There's a consistent metaethical discourse there, but I don't know if you wanna accept its implications for the Court system.." 00[01:58] <@Crion> "And Mels, you DID go down into the WOE alley." [01:58] "Are the guys in Weal nicer, or do they just look nicer?" [01:59] 13'Mels'? Maybe Samaritan's got the two of them mixed up, but it'd be funny that way. No objection. 00[01:59] <@Crion> Samaritan: "Well, they're not less easier on you. But most of them don't ask you to cut off a pinkie or whatever for the transaction, and then refuse to tell ya why." 00[01:59] <@Crion> *not any [02:00] 3Melanie: "Ahh.. the lack of an explanation did bug me. Like, it feels like someone refusing to show you the fine print? Like a deal which might be fair but you can't actually know." [02:01] 10Stewart: "What were you looking for?" [02:01] "Have you got much out of this place?" 00[02:01] <@Crion> Samaritan shrugs around the seed packages. "Yeah, lies of omission sorta aren't counted like lies, a lot of the time." [02:01] 13Aside, to Stewart: "Weapons." 00[02:01] <@Crion> Forthrightly: "I stick to GOODS, and I stick to what I know." [02:01] 10Instead of looking leery or uncomfortable, Stewart nods soberly. 00[02:04] <@Crion> To Maggie as much as anyone: "Wanna head back?" [02:04] 10Stewart: "Yeah, I'm ready to go." [02:05] 13So she's on the right track, or Stewart's already a dead canary.. well, the die is cast. [02:05] 7Cheerfully: "I'm done!" [02:05] "Yeah, I'll come and look around some more later but we can totally go now. Thank you for introducing us!" 00[02:06] <@Crion> The door will slide open as they're walking out, and as they leave, they'll hear the great statue bellow behind them: "Hrrrrrm. Huuuuuuuurrrm. Haaaaah." 00[02:06] <@Crion> Samaritan giggles: "Not a problem! It was fun!" [02:10] 13Melanie: "It's really nice to see a product of this world that isn't.. actually bad. That wasn't just a simulacrum, right? Hob commerce. It implies a functioning civilisation that's not merely a superfice of dream thorns, not just an *excuse*." 00[02:12] <@Crion> Samaritan: "Yup. Think so, anyway. It happens when we're not there to see it, at least." [02:12] 10Stewart says his goodbyes and heads home first. Riding the bus home after going out and buying exactly one video game is powerfully nostalgic. He remmebers getting the PC version of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic this way. 00[02:12] <@Crion> Samaritan will exit quickly too; there's a hot band at the Sidereal tonight. [02:14] 7Maggie's happy to continue chatting with Melanie back at the Wherehouse, if she's of a mind - though Hercule Poirot will be busily solving mysteries in the background. The seeds will keep. 00[02:14] <@Crion> Has Maggie seen this show before? 00[02:15] <@Crion> I mean, it would be odd if she had, but one is required to ask. 00[02:15] <@Crion> Perhaps she marathoned through it already. [02:17] 13Melanie hadn't, and she's been enjoying the series - though she often interrupts with questions about the mundane details of Poirot's strange world. Just how much of this stuff is fake and how much is British? [02:17] 10Inside, mail on the table, keys in the bowl, rum and lemonade... Stewart's set up at his rig in ninety seconds. Time to install this book and give it a try. Is Lauren online? [02:17] 13There are so many rural mansions, top-down drives through cramped countrysides, genteel manservants.. it tests her sense of amnesia vs fiction. 00[02:17] <@Crion> dolor_sit_amet is indeed online. Is he putting it on his gaming PC or the hex box? [02:24] 10The hex box is Stewart's first choice, but he wants to run it by Lauren first.  00[02:24] <@Crion> The dot dot dot of typing appears, disappears, and reappears. Then: 00[02:25] <@Crion> [02:26] 7Maggie hasn't seen all of them, or even most, but she got hooked on Christie pretty early. "Y'know, I'm not too sure myself. I think all of that Baron this and Major that is real. Not the murders, obviously. There's a whole separate section for 'true crime'." [02:26] 10There's a slight delay in Stewart's response as he spins around in his chair in delight.  00[02:27] <@Crion> Then she probably finds it perfectly normal that there's a calico cat in the background of every scene in Poirot's house or office, grooming itself. Never seems to be acknowledged, though. [02:27] "And the war they don't talk about was real, I know that in my gut. Plus the Wikipedia." 00[02:27] <@Crion> Lauren: 00[02:28] <@Crion> [02:28] 13Melanie: "Oh yeah, that happened. But I don't think 'Belgium' can be a real place.. there's no actual consistent cutural difference Hercule has, he's just slightly foreign." [02:28] 7A man with moustaches that elegantly groomed probably doesn't want to get hair on his suit through cuddling a kitty. But he still has a cat, because that's just sensible. 00[02:28] <@Crion> [02:29] 7Maggie: "You got your phone on you? I always put mine on the charger dealie when I come home... pretty easy to get to the bottom of this." 03[02:29] * CBN2 (CBN@sorcery-4siqii.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) has joined #gofetch 00[02:30] <@Crion> Lauren will buzz Stewart's door some thirty minutes later. [02:31] 13Melanie: "Works outside, I couldn't figure out how to get it on the wireless network, but Stewart set up my laptop for that." 13She wanders a few metres away and back, bringing Maggie an Internet-connected device: https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/gkKH3lfRZzUgrWVIxwIGPv3QHsbmXP4Wm-gFmkBgFTJfWa0t3aATy6tcr9VaHBooYp-cz_X3tG9nY1gBqHPgR0WbWnp0k8taMlOIjA=s2048 [02:31] "Do you go online a lot?" [02:32] 10Stewart works quickly, and then cleans the apartment up a bit, then has another drink. Lauren's buzzed in immediately. 02[02:32] * CBN (CBN@sorcery-788818.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [02:33] 7Maggie will simply type into the Google website: IS BELGIUM REAL 00[02:33] <@Crion> Two minutes later, someone kicks Stewart's door. [02:33] 10Stewart's at the open door. "Hey. Let me help you with that." 00[02:34] <@Crion> When he checks the peephole, Lauren's outside with a rig under one arm and a cardboard box in the other containing--"Ah, yeah." 00[02:35] <@Crion> Containing odds and ends and tools. Lauren's in her usual work overalls...but she's put on makeup. On her Mask, at least. Maybe she didn't think this all the way through? [02:36] 13Melanie's got some tabs open - "Adobe PDF: Hegel-Dottore Concordances in th..."; "Debate & Discussion"; "Cmail"; "umbc-submissions". Nothing autocompletes in her google search history, though; she's not totally computer illiterate. [02:37] 13She peers over Maggie's shoulder; easy when one of you is standing beside the sofa. "But he never tells Hastings he's from Flanders or, um, Wallonia. Maybe it didn't used to be such a big deal?" 00[02:39] <@Crion> Lauren: "You keep this place pretty clean." 00[02:39] <@Crion> "Nerd." 00[02:39] <@Crion> It's a pretty affectionate 'nerd,' though. [02:40] 10It kind of works, frankly. "Hey! You look great. I had some time after getting back from the market to tidy up. You're out there rubbing shoulders with vampire lords now. I gotta keep up." 00[02:41] <@Crion> Her eyes flash at that first bit. 00[02:41] <@Crion> "Oh, right. Well, you should play Destiny 2." 00[02:41] <@Crion> She pauses. "I guess you really can't. I don't think Lister would like to be on stream." [02:42] 10Stewart: "Yeah, for sure not. Even if he didn't mind one of the other Primates would probably want to twist my head off." [02:42] "Lister's his tag?" [02:42] 7Maggie: "Maybe he didn't think the English would know Flanders was in Belgium, so then he'd have to answer 'Where's that?'." 00[02:43] <@Crion> "Don't ever go on a raid with a city's Prince, though. He's got blackout curtains and doesn't understand bed-times." 00[02:43] <@Crion> She snort-laughs at 'Primates.' [02:43] 7Belgium is confirmed real, right? [02:44] 13Melanie: "Yeah, I'd have said it was in Springfield." [02:45] "Did you beat the raid at least?" 00[02:45] <@Crion> "His tag is BaltAcadémieFrançaise. With all the little squiggles. I think he had to have someone register it for him over in Europe?" [02:45] "Um, this isn't a memory thing, I just never used to know about anywhere outside America in the first place. The world seems.. larger now, with everything further apart and thorns interspersed." 00[02:46] <@Crion> She nods. "Oh yes, he's quite good. It was the other guys in the team who kept fucking up." She sighs. "Werewolves are so unreliable." 00[02:46] <@Crion> "Anyway!" 00[02:48] <@Crion> She heads for the office where the other PCs are. "You have a place for this?" [02:50] 10Stewart: "Yeah, I have it here." 10He shows her a short, sturdy end-table with a broad heavy shelf. It's on wheels which are currently locked. "This was in the apartment when I moved in, I had it in the kitchen for a while." 10Lack of counter space is the one flaw with Stewart's apartment, in his opinion. [02:51] 7Maggie: "That's not so bad. It feels good to learn things." 7She thinks for a second. "Usually." 7She thinks a bit more. "Most of the things I've learned so far have been neat to learn." 00[02:51] <@Crion> "Nice." She sets the box down and motions for him to put the tool-box down next to her. He's going to have a third isolated system; a third keyboard and mouse. [02:51] "So wait. Is this like a - are you in a magic Destiny 2 clan?" [02:51] 13Melanie, heatedly: "It's essential. If you aren't learning you don't exist, you're just a- a fact." 00[02:52] <@Crion> Oh, she had a monitor with her when she came up, too. Of course. 00[02:52] <@Crion> As she gets stuff plugged in: "I mean. The clan itself isn't magic." 00[02:53] <@Crion> "But it's what they want to play." [02:53] 10Nice. The room is starting to resemble Lain's, a visual cue Stewart doesn't know. "Yeah I bet Steam would still come down on that really hard somehow." [02:56] 7Maggie: "Well, I don't know if I'd go that far, but it's good to have enthusiasm." [02:57] 7After a pause: "So what're you working on these days, Melanie?" 00[02:57] <@Crion> Conversationally: "Yeah no one fucks with Steam. No one." 00[02:57] <@Crion> "Okay..." 00[02:58] <@Crion> "What I've got for you here is a fresh install of Windows 10 that's on your network but in front of the Autumn firewall. Should let it update, and keep it isolated." 00[02:58] <@Crion> She pats the tower. "It's got an optical disc drive, too. So put that bad boy in and let's see what happens." [02:59] 10Stewart opens the jewel case and ejects the drive. "This is apparently a digitized version of something called the Book of Things Strange and Wondrous." [02:59] 13Melanie: "Argh." [03:00] "I'm trying to reconcile- do you know what a dissertation is?" 00[03:00] <@Crion> Lauren blinks. "Well." 00[03:00] <@Crion> "Okay, before we do this--" 00[03:00] <@Crion> "You paid for it, right?" [03:00] 10Stewart: "Yeah." 00[03:00] <@Crion> She glances at the disc. "Doesn't matter what you paid, but it matters that it's not pirated." 00[03:00] <@Crion> "Okay." 00[03:01] <@Crion> Lauren gestures at the tower. "Put it in and let's see what autoruns." [03:01] 7Maggie: "A book professors write." [03:01] 10He does. The drive tray slides in with a tiny whir. [03:02] 13Melanie: "Not exactly a book, though they're almost as wrong. It's an academic artefact, a piece of original research and writing. You set out a thesis and back it up with evidence and logic." [03:03] "A graduate thesis is how they examine you for an advanced qualification, basically, a graduate degree.." [03:03] "The thing is, I need a workable thesis topic. I have to pick something to write about, something new in philosophy which will consume.. several years of my life maybe. If I can do it at all." 00[03:03] <@Crion> A screen immediately pops up taking up the center of the desktop. It reads: WOULDST THOU LIKE TO KNOW THE FRONT AND BACK OF THINE PAGE? 00[03:03] <@Crion> Two buttons: AYE in green, NAY in red. 00[03:03] <@Crion> And immediately begins playing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gk3tXQzCeJA [03:04] 10Oh hell yes. 9AYE 00[03:05] <@Crion> A progress bar runs across the bottom of the box...then replicates, and replicates, and--has Stewart ever seen what happens when you win a game of Solitaire for a version of Windows from like 20 years ago? [03:05] 10The cards spray all over, leaving after-images. 00[03:05] <@Crion> Yeah, it's doing that with progress bars. 00[03:06] <@Crion> Lauren: "So this is why I wanted a fresh box." [03:06] 13*almost as long [03:06] 10Stewart: "That was very wise." 00[03:06] <@Crion> She grins and her eyes pulse. "Been doing this for awhile." 00[03:07] <@Crion> When the screen has been completely filled with progress bars, it goes black -- like the graphics driver crashed, the backing light goes out too -- and then refreshes to a clean desktop with a new icon. 00[03:07] <@Crion> It's of a book. 00[03:07] <@Crion> The label is "THE BOOK" 00[03:07] <@Crion> It's in the Start Menu too, if you prefer. [03:08] 10Stewart double-clicks the desktop icon. "I was warned not to try and run it from the command line." 00[03:08] <@Crion> Lauren grimaces. "Yes and no. Was the guy who sold it to you a nard?" [03:09] 10Stewart: "I don't want to be judgmental--" 00[03:10] <@Crion> She nods. "He was a nard. So, he assumed you didn't know how to use flags." 00[03:10] <@Crion> "You can definitely boot THE BOOK from the command line. You definitely don't want to fuck around with flags." 00[03:11] <@Crion> "Honestly, he was being kind. But, he also thought you were stupid. So." [03:13] 10How long does this take to boot up...? 00[03:14] <@Crion> A double-click, then a launcher with an update check. You've got...6.½GB of patches to download! 00[03:14] <@Crion> Yes, a decimal and a fraction. 00[03:15] <@Crion> The updater updates immediately. [03:16] 7Maggie: "And you've been trying things out, finding they don't work, and dumping 'em in the shredder?" 00[03:16] <@Crion> It looks like... 00[03:16] <@Crion> ... 00[03:17] <@Crion> Did Stewart ever use Microsoft Encarta? [03:17] 10Shit yes he did. Oh man does this have the trivia maze? If so Stewart will NEVER open it are you INSANE-- 00[03:18] <@Crion> Then he will recognize this layout, except instead of MICROSOFT ENCARTA across the top, it has BOOK OF THINGS STRANGE AND WONDROUS. 00[03:18] <@Crion> Lauren: "Hooooooo." 00[03:19] <@Crion> The option for the 'MindMaze' looks, uh, corrupted. 00[03:20] <@Crion> So probably a good idea. [03:21] 10So how is this laid out? Is it topical, is it just the search engine? What are his options? 00[03:22] <@Crion> There are topic breakdowns, but they all appear to be normal, mundane topics. The search engine, however, is limned in a strange green-gold effect. The quick search bar doesn't actually let you type anything into it, and the SEARCH button takes you to an advanced search screen. 00[03:23] <@Crion> Transactional, for your protection. [03:24] 7She clucks her tongue. "And it's not like you can use all this wizardly nonsense as a topic... or can't you? Are you planning to show this to regular people, or is this just for your own benefit?" [03:24] 10Stewart: "What should I search for first?" [03:25] 13Melanie: "Yeah. I have so many ideas, but most of them have been done before.. or my advisor doesn't like them.. or they're just wrong. I get distracted by concrete problems when the question is reasoning, or lost in abstraction when the problem has an exemplar. [03:25] "Oh, but including magic isn't a problem. Nobody reads this stuff expecting it to make sense." 00[03:26] <@Crion> Lauren: "Boy, it's your Glamour." 00[03:26] <@Crion> "I dunno. Let's think about this." [03:27] 7Maggie: "Hoorm. Huuuarum. I bet you could get away with writing about vampires, since those are in books anyhow. Oh! Did I tell you Stewart and I met one?" 00[03:28] <@Crion> After a minute: "You know anything about werewolves?" [03:28] 10Stewart shakes his head. 00[03:29] <@Crion> Lauren shrugs. "Seems as good as anything else." [03:29] 10Alright, what kind of search parameters can Stewart work with here? 00[03:30] <@Crion> The engine doesn't seem to be very forthcoming, but clicking through the mundane topics he's looking at general vs proper nouns. So for instance, 'werewolves' might return different, much more generalized results than 'Werewolves of Baltimore' 00[03:31] <@Crion> ...If that's what they call themselves. 00[03:31] <@Crion> It looks like he's on the hook for a Glamour per search... [03:32] 13Melanie: "Wow! Was it, um." [03:32] 10Thsi gives him another idea... let's see how the 10search goes first. [03:33] "What kind of vampires are the real ones..?" [03:34] 13Are we talking monster vampires or sexy vampires. [03:34] 7Maggie isn't really aware of the literary distinction. "How do you mean?" [03:36] 13Melanie: "Are they like... dark brooding men in opera jackets who sneak into womens' bedrooms, as a metaphor." [03:37] "I don't know if they're some wyrd-created manifestation of narrative, but the other kind of vampire is just.. dangerous monsters who drink human blood. Less wow." 00[03:40] <@Crion> The search returns a page on Maryland, and a page on werewolves -- mostly folklore? mainly? hard to tell? -- but also a MERGED ARTICLES section. 00[03:40] <@Crion> And that MERGED ARTICLES section...hoo. [03:42] 7Maggie: "Well now... I suppose one of 'em could be a dark brooding man in an opera jacket. The one we - Stewart and me - met was a girl in a hoodie. Pretty enough, I guess. Okay to chat with. She still had a bit of the 'dangerous monster' column though, on account of when we left she was busy turning a policeman's head all the way around backwards." [03:42] "Not fun to have that image in the old noodle, I'll tell you that for free." 00[03:42] <@Crion> Did you know about the Lodge of the Hook Hand? And that they've been slaughtering teenagers, ritually, sawing their...saws...up and down the Appalachian, ever since Dwight Eisenhower was president? Did you know they think this is a wise and venerable practice? And did you know that someone(s) calling themselves "Iron Masters" in Baltimore aren't particularly pleased about it? Well, if you 00[03:42] <@Crion> didn't, you do now. There's hyperlinks to click, on names and locations...they don't go anywhere. But they do stick in your mind. Just in case they come up again. [03:43] 13Melanie: "I also would leave. Unless I guess the cop needed to be- but it sounds like the vampire didn't need help. How the heck did you come across them?" [03:44] "'Iron Masters.' Do you think they're hedge-walkers?" 00[03:45] <@Crion> Lauren shakes her head. "Werewolves don't care about the Hedge, let alone the Iron Masters. Not from what I've seen." 00[03:45] <@Crion> "Like, assuming that the werewolves I've...met...are those guys." [03:46] 10Stewart: "These are the mugs in your Destiny 2 clan? What are they like?" 00[03:47] <@Crion> She grimaces. "How horrific can the term 'party animal' get in your mind?" [03:48] 7Maggie: "Stewart needed to learn about 'em, homework assignment for the Autumn Court I think. I guess he knew about some cops that got killed by vampires already, and we went to track down another cop, lady who was a dead one's fiancee or some such." [03:50] "Didn't get but a few words out before the heavy hand of authority came down on our shoulders, in this case being the actual ambassador for the Baltimore Vampire Court to the Baltimore Freehold. Another changeling, even! Courtless fella, calls himself The Mainer. And," 7She adds, "a real horse's patoot. Though that's just my opinion." [03:50] 10Stewart is about to relate this to the serial killer vampire he saw executed in Charles Village, but at the last second decides this is maybe too dark. "Oh no." [03:51] "Anyhoo, he was with the vampire gal I told you about. The Sheriff of the Court." 00[03:52] <@Crion> Lauren: "The ones this thing calls the Iron Masters, I think that's Kolsch Cameron and Cuth. The other ones, well. They sound even worse." [03:54] 10Stewart: "Are they just annoying or are they like... I dunno. They're not Nazi werewolves, right?" 00[03:54] <@Crion> She laughs. "No, they're not Nazi werewolves." 00[03:54] <@Crion> "...Though I think those exist." 00[03:55] <@Crion> "Anyway there are like three of these dudes in Baltimore and one's a kid." 00[03:55] <@Crion> "I'm kind of more worried about this like...formalized cult of Michaels Myer?" 00[03:56] <@Crion> She grimaces. "Guess I'm not ever going out to the county." [03:58] 10Stewart: "Could be anything from Michael Myers to Texas Chainsaw Massacre to The Hills Have Eyes. As long as it's not a Rob Zombie thing." [03:58] "But you get the impression those harmless guys are like, the city's line of defense against the slasher cult." 00[03:59] <@Crion> Lauren: "God, I hope not. I've met them. Over voice-chat, at least." 00[03:59] <@Crion> "Like...maybe they're real badasses." [04:01] "How did this clan come together, anyhow?" 00[04:02] <@Crion> She sighs and leans back against one of the desks. "Prom." [04:02] "Sorry?" 00[04:04] <@Crion> She laughs and her eyes flash with it. "Sorry. At the height of spring, every year, we hold Prom. Usually we'll rent out a neutral space down in the harbor. Everyone comes in for a huge party. All the courts, and our allied vampires, mages, werewolves...some other randos. It's even been attacked by hunters before, in the past. They stopped because they realized that everyone together at the 00[04:04] <@Crion> same time means like forty boss fights at once if you go in straight-up, and someone's always going to find that bomb you planted." 00[04:05] <@Crion> "But yeah we all got drunk or otherwise fucked up and exchanged Steam names." [04:07] 10Stewart: "Is it weird that I find the idea that, if vampires and werewolves exist, at least they game comforting?" 00[04:08] <@Crion> "Don't think so," Lauren says. "They're people too." [04:09] "Yeah, exactly. So what does Prince Lister sound like?" 00[04:10] <@Crion> Lauren: "Like a 13-year-old rich boy from Paris. English with a snooty accent, lapses into French a lot." 00[04:10] <@Crion> "...But he knows the lingo? Like, it's weird hearing him yell 'owned?'" [04:13] 10Stewart: "That makes me wonder. Vampires get really old, right? There was Father Jesse who said he was over 100, and the Sheriff made a joke about some thing that happened in the 1940s." [04:14] "So is there..." 10He types, 00[04:14] <@Crion> Has Stewart filed his report on Father Jesse yet? [04:14] 10Yeah, he did that immediately after waking up the next afternoon. 00[04:15] <@Crion> "Haha. I saw that you met him." Lauren shakes her head. "I think vampires go to sleep for awhile, sometimes? But Father Jesse's a weird one." [04:16] 13Melanie: "One of the things that's kind of nice about this whole-" 13she gestures at the both of them- "is what it does for feminism." [04:17] "Like- the 'sheriff' you mention, various Queens, it's- it's like if everyone was born with a gun." [04:17] 7Maggie: "Hoom?" [04:17] 10Stewart: "It's funny, cause the night before Maggie had asked me what I thought vampire religion was like. And I figured it would be basically the same as religion already was. But I didn't think about how weird you could get with it if you wanted to." [04:17] "Father Jesse gets pretty weird with it." [04:17] "It's not great that we're in a millieu full of powerful, violent man-monsters? But nobody cares about atavistic stuff like upper body muscle mass." 00[04:17] <@Crion> Lauren: "He started yelling at God, huh?" [04:18] 7She nods agreeably. "Sure, level playing field. Or at least one all tilted the same way." [04:19] 13Glumly: "Down." [04:19] 10Stewart: "While vaping and melting a guy." 00[04:19] <@Crion> The Book dutifully returns an entry. It's perhaps less decisive than you'd like. [04:20] 13Melanie: "Are there a bunch of nice myths that have secretly always been true? What about the space aliens from antarctica who're going to save us from nuclear war.. or brilliant detectives using little grey cells to destroy all crime." [04:22] 7Maggie: "I expect that depends on how the myths decide to act, innit? I'm referring to us, if that wasn't clear." [04:22] "Though I guess we haven't had a nuclear war, so the space aliens must be doing a pretty good job." 7She chuckles to herself. [04:24] 13Melanie: "Okay, I guess so. Each of these new things just adds paint to a grim picture though? Like can people really be their best selves when they're under constant pressure from the unavoidable reality of Faerie and also, like, marauding vampires. Not to mention the stuff all the normal humans are doing." 00[04:26] <@Crion> Lister was the son of a noble in the court of the Sun King, Louis XIV. It's hinted once or twice that he was actually Louis’s bastard son, which would have given him a claim -- however tenuous -- to the French crown. Usually, however, he claims to have been the child of one of the immortels of L'Académie Française, which Louis XIV brought under his patronage after taking the throne. He 00[04:26] <@Crion> was embraced as a child, obviously, but it's unclear under what circumstances. In fact, there is basically no information about the time between then and when Lister showed up in Baltimore in 1985 and carved a bloody crest through the city's vampire scene, establishing independence from the Court of Washington, breaking ties with the Court of Philadelphia, and systematically murdering everyone 00[04:26] <@Crion> sent Baltimore's way until they gave up their claims. 00[04:27] <@Crion> Then, five years later, the Super NES was released. And he was bored. 00[04:27] <@Crion> And the rest, as they say, is history. [04:28] 13Melanie: "I'm sorry about being worried all the time." [04:28] 10Stewart: "...huh." 00[04:28] <@Crion> Lauren: "I mean all things considered I think we'd rather he be gaming." [04:29] "That's even more true than it usually is." 00[04:30] <@Crion> Twirling a finger through her hair. "So. This seems like it's set up." 00[04:30] <@Crion> "You want to get some food?" [04:30] 7Maggie: "Aw, don't worry about that. It's good to be worried about being a good person! Doesn't save you from being a bad one all on its own, but it at least points you in the right direction, huh?" [04:30] "We live in a worrisome world." [04:32] 13Melanie's worried about being a person, period. "There's good stuff." [04:35] 7Maggie: "Yeah! Quite a bit, I'd say. But still." [04:36] 10Stewart's about to dive back in but the twirl catches the corner of his eye and he just looks at Lauren for a moment. "...yeah. There's pubs every which way and a Nepalese place down the street." 00[04:37] <@Crion> "Nepalese sounds good!" 00[04:38] <@Crion> Random question: has Lauren seen Stewart's bedroom yet? [04:38] 10The door's open but he hasn't given her a tour or anything. [04:38] 13Melanie: "I feel safe and comfortable here. Staying sane is higher up Maslow's hierarchy." 00[04:39] <@Crion> Well, maybe he will soon. Anyhow, he can lead the way...and we can leave them to it, for tonight. [04:39] 13And to keep the wherehouse safe.. Proctor has to die. [04:40] 7Maggie: "Mmm. Is that why you're going to school? To stay sane?" [04:43] 13Melanie: "Three hundred years of incompetent musing, you know? I need to integrate it or be.. kept apart by the gap. Like my life and hers are north poles of a magnet. Progress is enough." 13But it's like a high that fades, and it gets harder to keep making progress. [04:49] "Hoom. I don't know much about all that, but I'm glad you feel like you can tell me about 'er." [04:54] "I do feel a bit like a nerd at a party. You know, eyes lighting up pathetically when you ask them about their subject, only mine is like.. the world, or thoughts, or something." [04:54] "You're a bit of a chameleon Maggie." [04:56] "Taking an interest in everyone's interests. I want to see when you find what you want..." 02[04:58] * trenchfoot (dani@sorcery-jcvlv4.in.comcast.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [05:04] 7Maggie: "Here now! There's nothing pathetic about it!" 7She grumbles. "Anyhow, I figured talking on it might be useful to you. Did Stewart ever tell you about those video games he showed me?" 03[05:10] * trenchfoot (dani@sorcery-jcvlv4.in.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch [05:11] 13Melanie: "No, I think he wrote me off when I asked if his stream game really needed all the clicking. What were they like?" [05:17] 7Maggie: "Puzzles. Noodling out how some ancient civilization worked in order to fix a makeshift elevator, or getting a mess of pipes to all flow the right way in order to turn on some machine... You might like 'em. Anyhow, whenever I got stuck I found what made it easier was just talking about it, describing whatever had got me stymied out loud, you know? Of course it was just me in my [05:17] apartment, so I talked to ol' Topper over there and it seemed to work just as well." [05:18] 7Maggie: "Anyway! My point being that I figured it might work just as well for you - describing your problems out loud instead of just in your head - so I asked you about 'em." Session Time: Mon Oct 21 00:00:00 2019 03[10:00] * CBN2 is now known as CBN [12:18] 13From: paperbark@summer.ctl [12:18] 13To: [12:18] 13Subject: [12:18] 13 https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EHabcUdU8AAoTR1?format=jpg&name=large 03[12:20] * banana is now known as banana|peels 03[13:10] * GreatClownVoxPVoxD (VoxPVoxD@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) has joined #gofetch 02[13:11] * VoxPVoxD (VoxPVoxD@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 02[19:34] * GreatClownVoxPVoxD (VoxPVoxD@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) Quit (Quit: dammitwho sucks) 03[19:34] * VoxPVoxD (VoxPVoxD@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) has joined #gofetch 03[22:18] * trenchfoot_ (dani@sorcery-jcvlv4.in.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 02[22:21] * trenchfoot (dani@sorcery-jcvlv4.in.comcast.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[23:35] * banana|peels is now known as banana 03[23:38] * trenchfoot_ is now known as trenchfoot Session Time: Tue Oct 22 00:00:00 2019 02[03:04] * trenchfoot (dani@sorcery-jcvlv4.in.comcast.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[03:13] * trenchfoot (dani@sorcery-jcvlv4.in.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 03[05:20] * CBN2 (CBN@sorcery-f8a3lf.mn.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 03[05:20] * CBN3 (CBN@sorcery-g57343.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) has joined #gofetch 02[05:22] * CBN (CBN@sorcery-4siqii.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[05:22] * CBN (CBN@sorcery-iuuuni.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) has joined #gofetch 02[05:24] * CBN2 (CBN@sorcery-f8a3lf.mn.comcast.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 02[05:25] * CBN3 (CBN@sorcery-g57343.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 02[08:23] * trenchfoot (dani@sorcery-jcvlv4.in.comcast.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[09:07] * trenchfoot (dani@sorcery-jcvlv4.in.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 03[16:43] * banana is now known as banana|peels 00[23:18] <@Crion> 00[23:18] <@Crion> 00[23:18] <@Crion> 00[23:18] <@Crion> 00[23:18] <@Crion> 00[23:18] <@Crion> 00[23:18] <@Crion> 00[23:18] <@Crion> 00[23:18] <@Crion> 00[23:20] <@Crion> Well. That was quite a time at market. And quite a prize for it. The Ravens and even Santander seem impressed, though Santander's missive was delivered via e-mail. Seems something is consuming his and Kingsley's time right now. [23:20] 10Must be important. 00[23:20] <@Crion> How's Stewart's channel going? [23:22] 10It's going well! Tonight is an AMA. Mostly questions about specific game mechanics and build advice, but a smattering of personal stuff too. Stewart's had to plead ignorance on whatever's going on in Hong Kong, though the chat is mollified because he'll talk shit about Blizzard all day. One question - "Are you single?" - gets a flustered non-answer. [23:23] "There's kind of - I don't know, it's new - next question." [23:23] 10His cheeks are red. 00[23:24] <@Crion> Mmmmmm. 00[23:25] <@Crion> Has he been using his new library box for research? Presumably he's been looking into something. [23:27] 10Naturally! After that first day it's been less responsive. The software tends to crash after a search, and then the machine's got to do some lengthy recovery-from-backup... Stewart can't find anything actually wrong with the hardware, so he takes it as some magical interdiction manifesting electronically. Don't dig too greedily, it seems to say, or too deep. Well fine then. Stewart will [23:27] 10just dig another way. You can punch the dirt in Minecraft with your bare hands. 00[23:28] <@Crion> The narrator of this story is thankfully blissfully unaware of what happens when you dig too greedily and too deep in Minecraft, and so finds this acceptable. [23:29] 10He's got two recent searches under his belt - one on the Belvedere Hotel and one on Edgar Allan Poe. 00[23:38] <@Crion> The Belvedere is relatively simple...for the first 4/5th of the return. He gets mainly what he'd get out of any wiki; built on the estate of a former Revolutionary War hero back when Baltimore was much smaller, and is a big to-do in Baltimore's cultural public life. There's an entry for the Owl Bar, which is odd, but mostly mundane. Maybe a bit strange that it focuses on how good the pizzas 00[23:38] <@Crion> are? But they are good. ...There's also an entry for the 13th Floor Lounge. It is two grafs. The first reads, in full, HC SVNT DRACONES. The second reads: "Thirty pieces was ever so much a bargain." [23:40] 10So... dragons and Judas? 00[23:43] <@Crion> The search on Poe returns basically a biography, except...he's referred to as a weird dilettante who fucked his cousin, but also a prominent occultist. And instead of "Death," that section is labelled "Reported Death." And then there's this section on the end which describes a collection of short stories he put out in...1879. And another in...1945? And the entry concludes with: "Edgar Allan 00[23:43] <@Crion> Poe lives and works in Baltimore, Maryland." 00[23:43] <@Crion> The critical response to those new collections seems mixed, though the links to the reviews don't seem to go anywhere. [23:44] 10...ah. [23:44] 10This is seriously creepy. Hell yes. 00[23:44] <@Crion> There's a ping from his computer. dolor_sit_amet has logged on. [23:44] 10! 00[23:44] <@Crion> Sorry, clarification: his hex box. [23:45] 10Lauren gets a message almost immediately.  00[23:45] <@Crion> 00[23:45] <@Crion> 00[23:45] <@Crion> 00[23:46] <@Crion> [23:46] 00[23:46] <@Crion> [23:47] 00[23:48] <@Crion> <..........stewart> 00[23:48] <@Crion> 00[23:48] <@Crion> [23:48] 00[23:48] <@Crion> [23:48] 00[23:48] <@Crion> [23:49] 00[23:50] <@Crion> 00[23:50] <@Crion> 00[23:50] <@Crion> [23:51] 00[23:51] <@Crion> 00[23:52] <@Crion> What time has Stewart stopped streaming? Obviously it's before they stop seating guests at 10 PM. [23:53] 10AMA was an afternoon stream so his euro fans could get in on it. He's off the clock by six. 00[23:53] <@Crion> 8 PM it is then. Joe Squared doesn't have a dress code but it looks like most of the doofy white guys in these pictures are, again, in jeans and button-ups. [23:55] 10Well, Stewart is a doofy white guy, and he just got some new nice shirts. Not to look good for Lauren or anything. He just felt inclined to expand his wardrobe on a whim. This one is ruby red. 00[23:55] <@Crion> Parking's not plentiful, but it's a weeknight on North Avenue and Joe Squared has a dedicated parking lot. It's not quite full, and even if it was, its presence means Stewart could have parked on the street easily. Session Time: Wed Oct 23 00:00:00 2019 [00:00] 10Stewart doesn't mind a short walk, if it comes to that. It's a nice enough night, and there's only so many of those left before Stewart needs to shop for a winter jacket that looks good on him. Shopping for clothes was weirdly easier when he was fat. 00[00:01] <@Crion> Lauren is waiting for him outside the restaurant in jeans, cute boots, and a blouse under a thin jacket-hoodie thing. She lights up when she sees him; literally, in the eyes. 00[00:02] <@Crion> And when he's within five paces, she'll stride forward and hug him. [00:03] 10Stewart's able to keep his cool, though he's plainly happy to see her. He hugs her back, fiercely. "Hey." 00[00:03] <@Crion> "Hi." 00[00:04] <@Crion> Embarrassed, she'll pull back. "We've got a reservation for...now, basically. You're going to love this shit." [00:04] "I'm excited. You've got incredible taste in pizza." 00[00:04] <@Crion> There's a harried host at the front station, he glances up and puts on a smile for you, though he's clearly panicking. "Hello!" [00:05] Stewart smiles back. "Evening." 00[00:05] <@Crion> "I'm sorry, there's a forty-minute wait, and--" 00[00:05] <@Crion> Lauren: "We have a reservation?" 00[00:05] <@Crion> Sweating more. "Name?" 00[00:06] <@Crion> Her eyes narrow. "Ipsum." 00[00:06] <@Crion> The host's hands kind of curl. "So, I have to apologize, we--" 00[00:06] <@Crion> Suddenly, the point of sale system in front of him beeps. [00:06] 10Stewart's not sure he'll ever get over what a cool name Lauren Ipsum is. [00:06] 10...or what a cool person Lauren Ipsum is. 00[00:07] <@Crion> "Oh," he says. Then he smiles. "Oh! So. Sadly, your reservation was...booked, already, somehow, but! The manager has released some of our party rooms in the basement due to the overflow, and you'll get one to yourselves!" 00[00:08] <@Crion> Lauren: "I'm going to be honest, I didn't know this place had a basement. But..." She looks around the place. 00[00:08] <@Crion> It is, indeed, packed. [00:08] "Wow." 10Must be really good pizza. 00[00:09] <@Crion> The host plucks two menus from the retainer they're in. "Please, follow me." 00[00:11] <@Crion> He leads them through a comfortable and too-cozy main room -- there are five guys with three acoustic guitars, a string bass, and a drum kit setting up, good god -- and down a staircase that hitches back underneath the establishment. There's a turn-off for staffing and maintenance rooms, but right off the main hall on the landing are five doors: two on each side, and then one at the end of 00[00:11] <@Crion> the hall. 00[00:12] <@Crion> The host blinks twice, a bit oddly, as if startled... 00[00:12] <@Crion> ...but confidently leads them down the hall and opens the door to the back room, which is a perfectly well-appointed private dining area. [00:13] 10Does Lauren seem surprised or confused at all? 00[00:14] <@Crion> She seems to find this whole set-up a little strange, but she's more annoyed than anything. [00:14] 10That's our Lauren. 00[00:14] <@Crion> Doing a decent job hiding it, though. Not like it's THIS guy's fault. 00[00:16] <@Crion> He ushers them into the room, sets down the menus, and says a waiter will be with them shortly before exiting through the lone door. He's not wrong! A young lady dressed just like the host was hustles through and apologizes again for the arrangements, and asks if you need time to order. 00[00:16] <@Crion> "My name's Karen," she says. [00:18] 10Stewart looks at Lauren. "We'll take a minute. Can I get a Dark and Stormy?" 00[00:18] <@Crion> She smiles. "Of course. I'm sorry, though, I need to see your IDs." 00[00:19] <@Crion> "I'll get a Golden Monkey," Lauren says, handing hers over. Karen barely glances at it before nodding and handing it back. [00:19] 10Stewart Reader's ID declares he was born October 26th, 1996. Like his name, only the first part is true. 00[00:20] <@Crion> Karen smiles and nods through it, too. "I'll be right back!" She heads out very quickly, possibly because now one of the tables she has to work is fully down a flight of stairs and a hallway from the rest. 00[00:21] <@Crion> Lauren, when she's gone: "Well, this is weird." [00:21] "Being down in the basement you mean?" 00[00:22] <@Crion> "Yeah. Feels...open. Like, it's not the room itself, it's the feeling that I spent too much money on it." [00:23] 10Stewart: "Did you pay out of pocket?" [00:24] 10Stewart has no idea what Lauren makes, but she's indispensable to what seems to be a pretty rich law firm, so he assumes she does fine. 00[00:25] <@Crion> Lauren rolls her eyes, which is a fun experience in the Mien because it backlights the sockets. "I didn't write off any food expenses last year. I'm guessing I've got some leverage." 00[00:26] <@Crion> She opens up her menu. "We should split a pizza." [00:26] 10Stewart nods. "So what are you thinking. Quattro fromaggio?" [00:26] "These all look good to me." 00[00:27] <@Crion> She grins. "It's fantastic. I'm gonna order the biggest one, just for the leftovers." 00[00:28] <@Crion> Karen returns with your drinks, along with a pitcher of ice water. 00[00:28] <@Crion> "Are you ready to order?" she asks. [00:29] 10Stewart lets Lauren order, since she's "paying". 00[00:30] <@Crion> Lauren: "I am." She orders the largest version of the pizza -- the damn $25er -- and that'll be it for both of them. 00[00:30] <@Crion> Karen: "Okay! The kitchen's a bit backed up, should I check in with you on drinks in oh, ten minutes?" 00[00:30] <@Crion> Lauren smiles. "That'll be fine." [00:30] "Thank you so much." 00[00:31] <@Crion> When Karen's gone: "I feel bad about making her come all the way down here." [00:31] 10Stewart: "Yeah... we'll have to leave her a big tip." 00[00:33] <@Crion> What do you talk about for the next ten minutes? If Stewart doesn't lead the conversation, it's gonna be stream wheedling. [00:34] 10Stewart prefers to guide rather than lead conversations, so his instinct is to take whatever Lauren leads off with and play around with that. What kinda wheedling we talking? 00[00:35] <@Crion> Lauren starts with normal stuff. Stewart's streaming PoE still, right? What's his current build? [00:37] 10It's late in the league so he's getting pretty weird with it. Currently working on a build to see how many Siege Ballistas he can get on the ground at once. He's up to 16. 00[00:38] <@Crion> Lauren: "So when I pick up the stream it's a lot of stuff just...exploding? Is that how high level play always works? How much of it's automated." [00:39] 10He might be picking up Destiny 2 for the stream soon, and some other streamers are banging around trying to scare people up for an RPG live play show. "You can automate as much or as little as you like. My last build I had a lot of buttons to press, between Frostbolt and Vortex and my focus mods and keeping all my flasks up. Before that was Tornado Shot, which is mostly running around [00:39] and pressing one button and pianoing all the flasks." 00[00:40] <@Crion> Lauren: "Pianoing?" 00[00:40] <@Crion> "Oh, like--" [00:40] 10Wait, she's been watching the stream? Did she see-- Stewart's face is carefully bereft of concern. "You know, sort of pressing the buttons over and over again every few seconds. Yeah, you get it." 00[00:41] <@Crion> She nods seriously. "How well is it going to work in the endgame content? Are you there yet?" [00:42] 10Stewart: "I play a lot, so I've got enough currency stashed to make basically anything work in the endgame. Once you know the mechanics of the fights it's just about being able to meet certain DPS thresholds. It should work, though it won't be the prettiest, especially on Uber Elder." 00[00:43] <@Crion> "Haha. Uber." [00:44] 10Stewart: "The people who make PoE are huge nerds. Their lead guy was like, what if I put Diablo 2 on Magic the Gathering's business model? Which is the sort of question I'd be embarrassed to ask out loud, but now he's a millionaire, so." 00[00:44] <@Crion> Lauren: "Yeah that happens, like, a lot? I assume there's a lot of really nerdy exclamations that don't end in financing points." [00:48] 10Stewart: "Yeah. Anyway they got bought by Tencent and just launched a South Korean client, so between that and the Blizzard thing I had to appoint two more mods to keep the chat from going insane." [00:49] "What have you been working on?" 00[00:49] <@Crion> Lauren laughs. "Ohhhhhhh man. Yeah. Oh, you can write those guys' subs off and like, paypal them." 00[00:51] <@Crion> She gets more serious, and more smug. "Network security. We're trying to come up with a distributed security model that makes it so you can't take out any single redundancy and affect the overall impact. Not possible with currently existing technology, but damn if wizards don't help bridge the quantum gap." 00[00:51] <@Crion> "Vampires aren't too shabby either for the footpad stuff." 00[00:51] <@Crion> "Werewolves are kinda just himbos." 00[00:52] <@Crion> She pauses. "Well, one of them's 12, so that'd be fucked up to say about him. But the adults? Yeah." [00:54] 10Stewart snort-laughs. Himbos is a funny word. "They getting any better at Destiny?" 00[00:55] <@Crion> Lauren giggles. "They're fucking INCREDIBLE at Destiny! Cuth and Kolsch save our asses in raids on the regular." [00:56] "I want to get in on that so bad. But I've had like no off-hours gaming time lately. I haven't even started Disco El-" 10And then the door's opening. 00[00:56] <@Crion> ...And then it closes again. [00:57] 10...? 00[00:59] <@Crion> And out of the darkness walks a man in a red suit, smiling, and holding a pan with a gigantic pizza. Stewart's seen him before. 00[00:59] <@Crion> But there are two people who just entered the room. The other is sauntering off to a corner. 00[00:59] <@Crion> And she just erased the only door. [00:59] 10Stewart leans back slightly. 00[01:00] <@Crion> Smiling, the red-suited man steps up to the table. "I have good news and bad news." 00[01:00] <@Crion> Lauren looks terrified. [01:01] 10Stewart looks, uncharacteristically, angry. 00[01:01] <@Crion> He leans forward. "Which do you want first." [01:02] 10Stewart: "Couch's choice." [01:02] 10Can he get a bead on where that other lady is going? 00[01:02] <@Crion> He can. She's taken a seat in the corner of the room, over on the far end of the party tables. 00[01:03] <@Crion> The red-suited man's grin widens. "Bad news flares." 00[01:03] <@Crion> "So." 00[01:03] <@Crion> "Karen's dead." 00[01:03] <@Crion> "Well. Dying." 00[01:03] <@Crion> "It turns out she has stage four pancreatic cancer. Do you know how that works? Stewart?" 00[01:03] <@Crion> "Lauren?" [01:04] "Why would you do that?" 00[01:05] <@Crion> The Counselor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_V7voaiHJ0 All your followers are blind; too much Heaven on their minds. It was beautiful but now it's sour. 00[01:05] <@Crion> In the corner, the other one lounges. And stares. 00[01:06] <@Crion> The red-suited man: "Because I could. Because I can. Because frankly, you little shits, you're hard to even have a conversation with." 00[01:07] <@Crion> "And since you didn't answer the question, it involves vomiting blood. And crying. And screaming." 00[01:07] <@Crion> "Just things that...happen, some days." 00[01:08] <@Crion> He puts the big pizza down on the table between you. Lauren looks like she's going to be sick. 00[01:08] <@Crion> "The good news! Your pizza was at the front of the line." 00[01:08] <@Crion> "Eat." [01:08] 10And all the good you've done, will soon get swept away~ 00[01:08] <@Crion> Lauren sets her face and glares at the pizza. 00[01:08] <@Crion> What does Stewart do? [01:10] 10Stewart's voice is stony. "You didn't come to feed us. You didn't come to kill us. You didn't come to take us away." [01:10] "So what is it, mister valet? Have you come to bargain?" 00[01:11] <@Crion> The red-suited man looks to where the door used to be, then back to the pizza, then back to where the door used to be, and then: "I didn't. Heh. I didn't come to-- hehehee!" 00[01:11] <@Crion> "CLEARLY." 00[01:11] <@Crion> He turns and slams his hands down on the table. "Clearly." 00[01:11] <@Crion> "I did in fact come to feed you." 00[01:11] <@Crion> "That is why it was good news." 00[01:11] <@Crion> "Eat." [01:12] 10Stewart's narrow chest is heaving up and down. A more imposingly built man might give the impression he was about to come across the table. Stewart just sits there, staring at him. 00[01:13] <@Crion> He leans forward. "EAAAAAAATTTTTTTT" 00[01:16] <@Crion> Lauren whimpers, and grabs a slice. [01:16] 10Something deep and inarticulate in Stewart demands defiance, but seeing Lauren so scared breaks his resolve. He joins her almost immediately, averting his eyes. 00[01:17] <@Crion> The pizza is...heavenly. 00[01:17] <@Crion> And the red-suited man drags a chair over, sits down, and takes a slice himself. 00[01:17] <@Crion> "God. God. So good." [01:17] 10Stewart still struggles to get each bite down. 00[01:18] <@Crion> Waving a finger around. "Kids, you made...a fantastic choice." 00[01:18] <@Crion> "Never been here before. Never been! But what a slice. Even if it is square." 00[01:18] <@Crion> The red-suited man pauses. "Should have expected that...Joe Squared. Joe. Powerful man." 00[01:19] <@Crion> He finishes a slice, then another. Then another. Then another. He's gulping them down by the fifth, like a snake eating a rat whole. Like a grinning Satan sucking down a trout. 00[01:19] <@Crion> "So good." 00[01:20] <@Crion> Lauren stops after four slices, looking over at the red-suited man fretfully, but he seems fine with that degree of commitment. 00[01:20] <@Crion> She hasn't touched her beer since he walked in. [01:22] 10Stewart gets through two and a half at the same rate. He feels like his throat's closing up. Like he's having an allergic reaction. 00[01:22] <@Crion> The red-suited man leans back and sighs contentedly. Then he sees that Stewart...hasn't finished his slice. 00[01:23] <@Crion> "Do it." 00[01:23] <@Crion> "Commit to something, you little shit." [01:26] 10He's a surgeon, masked and scrubbed under hostile lights, holding a scalpel artlessly in ungloved hands. He looks down at the body he cut open, digging until he hits the soul. You died, don't you remember? He's batting sixth for the Orioles, two on two out, 2-2 is the count, top of the 9th. Here's the pitch. [01:26] 10Stewart just stares at the pizza. 00[01:27] <@Crion> "Okay. Okay." The red-suited man reaches over, takes the half-finished slice, and finishes it himself. Slurps it down. "Okay." 00[01:28] <@Crion> He turns to Lauren. "You know, I thought you had better taste." 00[01:28] <@Crion> Then he pulls out a taser, and a handgun. 00[01:28] <@Crion> He's not pointing them at anyone. 00[01:29] <@Crion> The red-suited man grins at Stewart, opens his mouth, and clenches its grip in his teeth, still smiling. Then he chambers a round in the gun, drops the magazine, and tosses it into the darkness behind him. 00[01:29] <@Crion> One shot. 00[01:30] <@Crion> He takes the taser and thumbs the charger. 00[01:31] <@Crion> The red-suited man: "We're going to play a game." 00[01:31] <@Crion> "If you run, Karen dies. If you don't, Karen lives." 00[01:32] <@Crion> "I think you're familiar with it," the red-suited man says to Stewart. "I'm going to ask you questions. And if you don't answer them, I'm going to hurt..." 00[01:32] <@Crion> He gestures to Lauren. "Her." [01:33] 10Stewart's face is expressionless. 00[01:34] <@Crion> The red-suited man assesses him. "Well. Surely you've got more of a reaction than that." [01:36] "Ask your questions." 00[01:37] <@Crion> The red-suited man: "What would it take to make you violent?" [01:41] 10Stewart: "Four parts methylone, two parts rarefied adrenaline, one part redantine. Inject epidurally, wait 25-40 minutes." [01:42] 10He sounds like he's reading off a homework assignment. 00[01:42] <@Crion> "That's unfortunate." The taser whines, even though it's nowhere near Lauren-- 00[01:43] <@Crion> Then it snarls and snaps, and she shrieks, falling sideways out of her chair. 00[01:44] <@Crion> He leans forward, grinning. "I never said what I'd do if I didn't like your answer." [01:46] 10Stewart, distantly: "What kind of answers are you looking for?" 00[01:50] <@Crion> Thump. Thump. Thump. THUMP. THUMP. 00[01:50] <@Crion> All around the room, doors. 00[01:50] <@Crion> There's a door where the door used to be. And there are doors everywhere else. 00[01:51] <@Crion> The red-suited man: "Oh, for fuck's sake.'; 00[01:51] <@Crion> "Counselor." 00[01:51] <@Crion> The woman at the other end of the room, now bracketed by doors to, ah, wherever...?: "I told you this was a bad idea." 00[01:52] <@Crion> "Prepare an exit," the red-suited man says. 00[01:52] <@Crion> Then...the door kicks open, and another man in a red suit dances into the room. 00[01:52] <@Crion> Hip thrusting. 00[01:52] <@Crion> But his face is painted white. [01:53] 10Ha. 00[01:54] <@Crion> "Society!" The white-painted man says. 00[01:55] <@Crion> "We...now me!...live in one." 00[01:55] <@Crion> The red-suited man: "Counselor..." 00[01:57] <@Crion> bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz 00[01:57] <@Crion> WHIRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR 00[01:57] <@Crion> thpthpthpthpthpthpthpthpthpthpthpthpthpthpthpthpthp 00[01:57] <@Crion> 00[01:57] <@Crion> 00[01:57] <@Crion> 00[01:57] <@Crion> 00[01:57] <@Crion> 00[01:57] <@Crion> 00[01:57] <@Crion> 00[01:58] <@Crion> The red-suited man: "What would it take to make you violent?" [01:58] 10Stewart: "An irreversible mistake." 00[02:08] <@Crion> The red-suited man: "There's no such thing." [02:09] 10Stewart: "I'd like to hope so." 00[02:10] <@Crion> He stands up, and Lauren stands up too, moving away. "My dear," he says, "You're not even a real person anymore. Karen, however, is." [02:10] "Don't talk to her like that." 00[02:11] <@Crion> The red-suited man turns. "Or you'll do what?" [02:11] 10Stewart: "Not a sermon. Just a thought." [02:13] "Or I'll take her, and we'll run, and whatever awful thing you do to Karen will be between you and your bosses." 00[02:13] <@Crion> He laughs. "My bosses?" 00[02:14] <@Crion> "My bosses love cancer." [02:14] "Then you'll get a bonus." [02:14] "But when we leave we're not taking that poison with us." 00[02:16] <@Crion> He smiles beatifically. "That's fantastic--" 00[02:16] <@Crion> He dives at Lauren with the taser and she shrieks and scrambles away. 00[02:16] <@Crion> "Hahahahahah!" He does it again. She does it again. 00[02:17] <@Crion> Then he snaps back towards Stewart. "But that's not an irreversible mistake." 00[02:17] <@Crion> "Since there's no gun in your hand." [02:19] 10Stewart: "Is that what you're trying to do? Get me to pick up the gun?" 00[02:20] <@Crion> He theatrically sighs. "Do you think I--no. Clever boy." 00[02:20] <@Crion> "I will phrase it in the form of a statement: I didn't unload a gun and place it in front of you just for fun." [02:23] 10Stewart: "You have to admit, from an outside perspective so far it kind of looks like that's exactly what you're doing." 00[02:24] <@Crion> His smile broadens. "I specified just for fun." 00[02:24] <@Crion> Then he spins to Lauren and raises the taser. "En garde!" 00[02:25] <@Crion> "Here is my question," he says over his shoulder. "How many people you love would have to die before you took iron to your smug little search engine yourself?" 00[02:25] <@Crion> "I'm just looking for a ballpark figure." 00[02:26] <@Crion> "And average Major League Baseball attendance is somewhere around 26,000." [02:27] 10Stewart: "You're looking at it the wrong way. The more people I love you take away from me, the less I have except my research. The more jealously I guard it. Why am I telling you this? You're a wizard." 00[02:28] <@Crion> Lauren: "MOTHERFUCKER!" [02:28] 10Is she... yelling at Stewart? 00[02:28] <@Crion> "Heh! Hah!" The red-suited man lunges at her. "ho!" 00[02:28] <@Crion> No. [02:28] 10Whew. 00[02:28] <@Crion> The red-suited man straightens. 00[02:29] <@Crion> "You know." He points at Lauren. "I thought you'd like pizza more than this." 00[02:29] <@Crion> From the corner of the room: "I would suggest we make our point and depart." 00[02:30] <@Crion> The red-suited man rolls his shoulders. "No, I want one more shot at this. Okay. Okay. Hooooo. Karen's vomiting blood. Pretty much dead. Gotta get myself in the mindset of not caring about that at all." 00[02:32] <@Crion> He charges the taser; it whines. "Stewart Reader! If that is in fact your name." 00[02:32] <@Crion> He points it at Lauren. "How do you intend to keep her safe?" 00[02:34] <@Crion> From the corner of the room: "We need to go." [02:35] 10Stewart: "She's giving you the run-around, and I'm faster than her. I can get in your face before you can close the gap. Maybe you'd kill her to get to me. Would you kill me to get to her?" 00[02:35] <@Crion> He cackles. "That's not an answer! And I'd kill you for freeeeeee" 00[02:38] <@Crion> Then he dives forward. [02:39] 10The red-suited man lunges for Lauren again, but there's a whirl of orange sparks and he's bumping chests with Stewart. Not a lot of meat on Reader's bones, but he's got an inch or two on the dark magician. At best, they'll go down together. 00[02:40] <@Crion> The red-suited man lands on top of Stewart...but the fangs of the taser land in the floor. "Huh," he says. 00[02:40] <@Crion> "Maybe I'd charge." 00[02:40] <@Crion> The taser begins to whine--- 00[02:41] <@Crion> The Counselor stands and walks out into the light. "We need to leave." 00[02:41] <@Crion> Atop Stewart, Society giggles angrily. "Why?" 00[02:42] <@Crion> "We've spent too long here, doing too much stupid shit," she says. 00[02:42] <@Crion> "Okay," says Society, standing up, brushing off Stewart's shirt, walking back past the table, taking another slice. "Okay. Stupid shit." 00[02:43] <@Crion> Counselor: "I've told you time and time again that--" [02:43] 10Stewart's shaking all over. With fear or rage? Hard to tell. 00[02:43] <@Crion> Society hits her across the face. [02:43] 10Could be both. 00[02:44] <@Crion> "Now," he says, a smile curling over him, "say what you mean." 00[02:44] <@Crion> Counselor straights and spits out blood. "You don't want these problems." 00[02:45] <@Crion> The man in the red suit surges forward and seizes her by the throat. "You cannot conceive of the problems I want." 00[02:45] <@Crion> Then he turns, and grins at Stewart. "We'll continue this conversation later. I look forward to meeting your pain." 00[02:47] <@Crion> Still being choked, the Counselor waves her hand, and both of them fall into the floor. 00[02:47] <@Crion> The door to the room...reappears. 00[02:47] <@Crion> And someone knocks three times. [02:53] 10Stewart gets up , dusts himself off. Where's Lauren? He'll go for the door and, with a deep breath, open it. 00[02:55] <@Crion> There are three people on the other side of the door. The first is Fireman, who will nod and sweep by Stewart into the room, examining it. The second is a grinning woman in jeans and a duster who gives Stewart an angry, apprising eye then shoves past him. The third is an incredibly handsome man greying at the temples, wearing white sweatpants, a white hoodie, and a priest's colar. 00[02:55] <@Crion> *collar 00[02:55] <@Crion> "Stewart Reader," he says. [02:57] 10Stewart: "They went through the floor." [02:57] 10Is the gun still on the table? 00[02:57] <@Crion> It is. 00[02:58] <@Crion> Pardon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKSu7RT2wN0 I want to be the very best, the best there ever is; the quickest draw, the toughest motherfucker in these lands. 03[03:00] * banana|peels is now known as banana 00[03:00] <@Crion> Jesuit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nak4OVJlhAU There will come a day my God will come, and put me in my place. 00[03:01] <@Crion> The man in all white smiles beatifically. "I don't give a shit where Society went. I know that man." 02[03:03] * trenchfoot (dani@sorcery-jcvlv4.in.comcast.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 00[03:05] <@Crion> Lauren is upright and getting calm. 00[03:06] <@Crion> Fireman is over near her, checking out the room and watching over her with no small amount of protectiveness. The woman with the guns is poking around where Counselor was. [03:07] 10Stewart's beside her in an instant. He holds her, arms around her waist from behind like they're slow dancing, unless she waves him off. 00[03:07] <@Crion> She does not. Lauren will, in fact, turn and kiss him. [03:07] 10He returns the kiss with interest. 00[03:08] <@Crion> Sardonically, from the table: "Well that's not very Catholic." 00[03:08] <@Crion> The man in all white is eating an untouched slice. [03:09] 10At some point they come up for air, and then Stewart remembers. "Karen, the server, he said she was--" 00[03:09] <@Crion> "She's fine." [03:09] 10Stewart practically melts into Lauren's arms with relief. [03:10] "Who are you?" 00[03:10] <@Crion> The man in all white finishes the slice. "I mean, we're going to have to a cancer scare and pretend she's had a miraculous recovery, and she'll have relatives worrying about her for the rest of her life." 00[03:10] <@Crion> "I'm Jesuit." 00[03:10] <@Crion> "You're Stewart. You're Lauren." 00[03:11] <@Crion> "Are you still hungry?" 00[03:11] <@Crion> "This place doesn't just serve pizza." [03:11] 10Stewart looks at Lauren. 00[03:11] <@Crion> Lauren manages to make it so only Stewart sees her hand motion that means "a little bit." [03:12] 10Stewart: "We could eat." 00[03:13] <@Crion> Jesuit nods. "Pardon!" 00[03:13] <@Crion> The woman investigating the corners sighs and walks over. 00[03:14] <@Crion> Jesuit: "Ask Steven upstairs to get us a Flag pizza, and grab a box for this while you're up there." 00[03:14] <@Crion> She rolls her eyes. 00[03:15] <@Crion> Jesuit: "And shoot anyone who looks like a Seer with a taser." 00[03:15] <@Crion> Pardon: "You're lucky I like you." 00[03:15] <@Crion> Jesuit: "Luck's fake." 00[03:15] <@Crion> Fireman takes the door as she walks out. 00[03:16] <@Crion> Jesuit to Stewart and Lauren: "If you want to keep eating, don't touch the pieces on this side. We might be able to do something with them." 00[03:16] <@Crion> He indicates the pieces that are around the slices that Society took. [03:17] 10Stewart: "I think I'm good on this one." 00[03:18] <@Crion> Then Jesuit will just pick up the tray and put it over on another table. 00[03:19] <@Crion> After doing so, he'll sit down again. To Lauren: "I was afraid, for you." 00[03:19] <@Crion> Lauren: "I'm good at dodging, running away, falling on the floor, so on." [03:20] 10Stewart snorts. 00[03:20] <@Crion> "Good enough, I guess." 00[03:22] <@Crion> Soon, a crab pizza returns...delivered by... 00[03:22] <@Crion> Karen! 00[03:22] <@Crion> She seems fine. [03:24] 10Stewart's hungrier than he realized. 00[03:24] <@Crion> "Drinks?" she asks, pulling up the pitcher. The ice is all melted. All their beers are warm. [03:25] 10Stewart's eyes flutter closed for a moment before he says, "Can I get a ginger beer?" 00[03:25] <@Crion> Karen beams. "Of course!" 00[03:27] <@Crion> Lauren: "I'll have another Golden Monkey. Thanks!" 00[03:27] <@Crion> Jesuit: "Water, with ice." 00[03:28] <@Crion> Karen nods and heads back upstairs. 00[03:28] <@Crion> Jesuit stares at the pitcher that's there. "Room temperature water." 00[03:28] <@Crion> "So it goes." 03[03:29] * trenchfoot (dani@sorcery-jcvlv4.in.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 00[03:29] <@Crion> He won't be the first to take a slice of the crab pizza. [03:30] 10Stewart's got one. Well he did. It's gone now. 00[03:30] <@Crion> Lauren digs in, too. 00[03:31] <@Crion> So Jesuit puts on a bib -- white on white on white -- and takes up a slice. [03:31] 10Stewart supposes you get to dress ridiculous when you're that good-looking. 00[03:32] <@Crion> He finishes the slice and smiles, then coughs slighty. 00[03:32] <@Crion> He looks over at Stewart. "So." 00[03:32] <@Crion> "This can't happen again." [03:33] 10Stewart nods in agreement. Rude to talk with your mouth full. 00[03:33] <@Crion> Lauren: "How do we stop that?" 00[03:33] <@Crion> She looks at Stewart here, not Jesuit. [03:35] 10Stewart: "We could take iron to the token after all. Though I don't know if that'd do it at this point. He seemed mad at the end there." 00[03:37] <@Crion> Jesuit nods. "You could do that. There might be a better option, but it hinges on how often you want to see guys in track suits ordering crab pizza." [03:37] 10Stewart: "You haven't taken a taser to my girlfriend yet, so I'm tentatively pro-you." 00[03:38] <@Crion> He chuckles and eats another slice. Normally. Not like, inhaling it. 00[03:38] <@Crion> "Here's my proposition." 00[03:39] <@Crion> "You move the book -- or whatever it is, a computer? -- to the 13th Floor Lounge at the Belvedere. We put it in a side room right next to the restrooms. I've got it perfectly in mind. Very maintenance." 00[03:39] <@Crion> "You or your designees have full access." 00[03:40] <@Crion> "And if this man wants you to live in a Society, well. He can take it up with us." [03:41] 10Stewart looks at Lauren. Her face doesn't show any literal or figurative warning signs, does it? 00[03:42] <@Crion> Nope, though she is sneaking looks at Stewart whenever she thinks he isn't--ah, now she's looking away. [03:45] 10Stewart chews the inside of his cheek gently to keep from smiling. He looks back at Jesuit. "I'm not opposed in principle. There are two things I need to know. One is, I need to run this by Kingsley and Santander. I'm sure they'll be okay with it when they hear what happened." 00[03:46] <@Crion> Jesuit chuckles. "No, I don't think so." 00[03:46] <@Crion> He pauses. "Not to the proposition." 00[03:46] <@Crion> "They just won't be happy to hear Lauren was chased by a madman with a taser." 00[03:47] <@Crion> Lauren: "Ugh." 00[03:50] <@Crion> Lauren's moved her chair next to Stewart's. [03:51] "Right, which is why I think they'll back a plan that stops that from happening again. The second is, I paid for it. Goblin debt is kind of abstract, but if it's passing into your hands there's some risk of the burden transferring, I think? My Goblin Law's not great yet." 00[03:52] <@Crion> Jesuit: "You bake it, you fake it, you slake it, you break it, or you Drake it, you buy it. Is what they say." 00[03:53] <@Crion> "That said: Goblins don't care about real estate on this side. If we put it in a room, it still belongs to you, unless we try to use it." 00[03:54] <@Crion> Jesuit gestures at the room, which is replete with singe scars. "And frankly we can ask our own dangerous oracles our own dangerous questions." [03:56] 10Stewart: "Okay. Then unless Santander and Kingsley throw up stop signs I'm provisionally in favor of moving it over." [03:56] "So... there's a wizard war on?" [03:56] "Sorry if that's a super ignorant question." 00[03:57] <@Crion> Jesuit laughs and eats another slice. "It is and it isn't." 00[03:58] <@Crion> "I've got this guy who shows me these pictures from the internet. You know. The tiny brain, bigger, bigger, bigger, BIGGER. And ideological or theological positions right next to them." [03:58] 10Stewart nods. "Galaxy brain memes." 00[03:59] <@Crion> Jesuit points. "Yes. Sure." 00[03:59] <@Crion> "So the first one is always 'wizard war.' But the last one?" 00[03:59] <@Crion> "It's also always 'wizard war.'" 00[04:00] <@Crion> Lauren focuses on her pizza. [04:00] 10Stewart: "So it's like how the Civil War was about slavery, except it wasn't, except it obviously was." 00[04:01] <@Crion> Jesuit sort of frowns and furrows his brow at Stewart three or four times before responding: "Yyyyyes." 00[04:01] <@Crion> "The Civil War was about slavery. Yes." [04:02] "What's your war about?" 00[04:02] <@Crion> Jesuit: "Reaching heaven through violence." He eats another slice. [04:04] 10Stewart: "Is that... good or bad to do?" 00[04:05] <@Crion> Jesuit pauses as he reaches for another crab slice, and smiles. "That's the war." [04:05] 10Stewart: "Yeah but, which side are you on?" [04:06] "Which side correlates with not trying to torture Lauren, I guess is what I'm asking." 00[04:06] <@Crion> "Heaven's," he says, picking up the pizza. "And violence's." [04:06] "Is that why they care so much about the token? Because it's a source of knowledge?" 00[04:07] <@Crion> Jesuit: "Yes and no. The main reason they care isn't the knowledge, because if they didn't think you could do anything with it, why should they? What they care about is agency." 00[04:07] <@Crion> "They care about what knowledge allows you to do." 00[04:08] <@Crion> "God loves," he says, downing the slice. 00[04:08] <@Crion> "Man kills." [04:09] 10Stewart: "So they're fascists." 00[04:11] <@Crion> Jesuit's laugh is more bitter this time. "They are, somehow, worse than fascists." 00[04:12] <@Crion> "But they're in that set, yes." 00[04:14] <@Crion> Lauren: "...How will we be safe?" 00[04:15] <@Crion> Jesuit: "You never will, and you always will." 00[04:16] <@Crion> He gestures around the room. "Deleting all the doors from a room and giving a woman ersatz cancer? That takes some doing. And then he still had to chase you around the room with a taser." [04:18] 10Stewart: "Yeah it was this weird spot where they seemed kind of hamstrung but also like overkill? Your magic seems real complicated." 00[04:19] <@Crion> Jesuit: "It's a lot like religion. You want a lot of people pretending to do something else, alongside each other, for purpose." 00[04:20] <@Crion> He waves a hand and downs another slice. When he's done: "Order whatever you want to take home from the kitchen. Your bill's on us. We should have seen this coming." [04:21] "Hey, can I ask you one more question?" 00[04:21] <@Crion> He puts five twenties folded over on the table. "This is for Karen, and the parking ticket she's just gotten because she was asked to stay late." 00[04:22] <@Crion> Jesuit nods. "Questions don't imply answers, so yes." [04:22] "...do you know Father Jesse?" 00[04:22] <@Crion> Jesuit just smiles. "Surely do." 00[04:23] <@Crion> "How's Jesse doing." 00[04:23] <@Crion> "These days." [04:24] 10Stewart nods, as if this knowledge itself satisfies him. "Surviving, I guess. Ranting at God. He likes the grape vape cartridges." 00[04:24] <@Crion> Jesuit nods again. "That sounds like him. I hope he finds peace. Or at least a better flavor." 00[04:24] <@Crion> Then he stands. "Lauren, Stewart. God be with you both." 00[04:25] <@Crion> "And to hell with the trappings of man." 00[04:26] <@Crion> As he walks out, Pardon and Fireman will join him. Fireman makes certain to nod at you both before leaving. [04:26] 10When they're alone: "Fuuuuuuuuuuck." [04:27] 10To Lauren: "How are you doing?" 00[04:27] <@Crion> She will answer by pulling Stewart into a kiss. Unless he's got pizza in his mouth. [04:27] 10He does not. [04:28] 10Man, if he'd known this was going to be the result he would've jumped in front of a taser-wielding superfascist wizard weeks ago. 00[04:28] <@Crion> Thirty-some seconds later, she'll lean back in her chair (she pulled her's next to his awhile back). "A waitress got pancreatic cancer because of us. Then she got cured, and a 100 dollar tip." [04:28] 10Stewart raises a finger. "Hold on." [04:29] "She got cancer because of them." 00[04:29] <@Crion> "I suppose," she says, reaching into her jeans. "I'm putting another twenty on here anyway." [04:29] 10Stewart watches her do it and then follows suit. [04:30] 10Stewart: "It's getting pretty late. I can take you home, or we could..." 10he trails off. 00[04:31] <@Crion> Karen returns. They've only finished half the crab pizza. The other pizza -- the quattro frommagio -- has been mysteriously removed. She either doesn't see the tip or is ignoring it on purpose. "I'm so sorry. It got busy upstairs. You've been paid for, so should I just box this up...?" 00[04:32] <@Crion> Lauren: "Please!" [04:32] 10Stewart: "Thanks!" 00[04:33] <@Crion> When she brings back the box and expertly puts the pizza away for the both of you, she then realizes there is $140 on the table in cash. She starts, smiles, and says, "Your bill has been paid." 00[04:34] <@Crion> Lauren: "That's for you." [04:35] 10Stewart: "You had to come all this way, and you never missed a beat." 00[04:35] <@Crion> "I...I..." 00[04:35] <@Crion> "Thank you so much." 00[04:35] <@Crion> When you hit the air outside, it's crisp and clean. [04:35] 10Feels good to get out of that basement. [04:36] 10Feels good to have an arm around Lauren. 00[04:36] <@Crion> Lauren breathes in, and breathes out, then leans into Stewart's shoulder. "Let's go back to your place." [04:37] 10Lauren's close enough that she can probably feel his pulse quicken. When he speaks, though, it's slow and deliberate. [04:38] "Next time we go out: tacos." 00[04:39] <@Crion> "Mmmm." She drags her nose from his neck, across his cheek, to his own. Her eyes are lively and burning. "Deal." 00[04:39] <@Crion> He's gotta carry the pizza, though. [04:39] 10Gladly. All else aside, she was right. Joe Squared is incredible. 00[04:39] <@Crion> --Fin. Session Time: Thu Oct 24 00:00:00 2019 03[01:15] * CBN2 (CBN@sorcery-8718vv.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) has joined #gofetch 02[01:16] * CBN (CBN@sorcery-iuuuni.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 02[01:34] * Disconnected 02[01:34] * Attempting to rejoin channel #gofetch 03[01:34] * Rejoined channel #gofetch 03[01:34] * Topic is 'Who botches the Botchmen?' 03[01:34] * Set by Crion!Crion@sorcery-puhjpa.fios.verizon.net on Sun Sep 22 02:37:29 2019 02[01:36] * @Crion (Crion@sorcery-puhjpa.fios.verizon.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[01:36] * Crion_ is now known as Crion 03[01:36] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Crion 03[03:47] * banana is now known as banana|peels 03[06:48] * banana|peels is now known as banana 03[08:25] * CBN2 is now known as CBN 02[10:01] * VoxPVoxD (VoxPVoxD@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) Quit (Quit: dammitwho sucks) 03[10:18] * VoxPVoxD (VoxPVoxD@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) has joined #gofetch 02[20:01] * VoxPVoxD (VoxPVoxD@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) Quit (Quit: dammitwho sucks) 03[20:08] * VoxPVoxD (VoxPVoxD@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) has joined #gofetch [23:58]  [23:58]  [23:58]  [23:58]  [23:58]  Session Time: Fri Oct 25 00:00:00 2019 [00:00] The elevator door slides open and Stewart walks in with two big bags from the grocery store full of meat and produce. The Wherehouse goes through food fast. He's... whistling? [00:00] 10The elevator door slides open and Stewart walks in with two big bags from the grocery store full of meat and produce. The Wherehouse goes through food fast. He's... whistling? [00:05] "Heyo!" 7Maggie is dragging a few twos by four over to a pile in a disused corner. Building proper ceilings for their individual rooms is an intermediate step towards having a functional second floor. [00:06] "Maggie! Hey! How are you doing? I made a grocery run." [00:06] 10He sets the bags down on the kitchenette's counters. "Need any help with the wood?" [00:08] 7Maggie: "Nope! Just finishing up. We're all gonna have to watch a lot more DIY Your Tube videos before I'll feel like we can put up a second floor that'll stay up." [00:09] 10Stewart: "You think Hedgespinning will respect our engineering skills?" [00:12] "Maybe not, but I'd just as soon know enough to make the letter of the law match the spirit." [00:15] 10Stewart's putting groceries away. Lot of ground beef, chicken thighs, pork chops... "That makes sense. Hey, Lauren showed me a really good pizza place in the city I want to take you guys to at some point. They're so good they don't even deliver." [00:16] "Their four cheese is so good even getting attacked by wizards didn't ruin the experience." [00:16] 7Maggie: "Oh? One of those places where they have pictures of not-really-famous Italian guys on the attacked by what now?" [00:18] 7Maggie's heartrate shoots up, but Stewart was whistling and casual when he came in. He's alright, Lauren's alright. Cripes, kid. [00:19] 10Stewart, brightly: "Yeah, it was fucked up! You remember that thing I bought at the market? The magical computer encyclopedia?" 10He opens the fridge again. "I'm getting one of these ginger beers I just got, you want one?" [00:21] 10Stewart sways lightly as he reaches into the fridge. [00:22] 7Maggie, delicately: "Sure. Why don't you let me pour while you have a sit down there, hoss?" [00:22] 7Before you fall down...? [00:24] "They're in cans!" 10says Stewart, who doesn't quite use his indoor voice. "It's. It's in cans." 10He'll collapse into the armchair nearest the kitchenette, which is next to the armchair Maggie favors. As if propelled upward by the force of his fall, his right leg bounces up to cross over the other knee. Kss. [00:30] 7In that case, Maggie will hand him an opened can and some folded up paper towels just in case, before retiring to her chair with her own beer. [00:33] 10Stewart folds up the paper towel three times and puts it between the can and the arm of the chair as an ersatz coaster. "Anyway, the evil wizards got mad that I had it. I dunno how they found out. Maybe they had some kind of trace or notification set up when I was researching the Belvedere. That's wizard territory. But, it's the nice wizard territory. Lauren took me there on our first [00:33] date." [00:34] "Or... maybe nice is the wrong word. Even the good ones are kind of too intense to be nice." [00:34] "Not like you guys are nice." [00:34] "You guys are so nice." [00:40] 7Maggie: "Thank you, Stewart. Now, you say they attacked you...?" 7Gonna have to get him some of that Gatorade drink. [00:42] 10Stewart: "So we go in, right, and the place is packed. Looks like there won't be room for us even though Lauren made a reservation. But the register dings, and as luck would have it, instead we get a private room to ourselves." 10Sip. "One of the party rooms in the basement, just the two of us. I'm thinking, kind of weird, but kind of cool. Privacy, right? To talk about whatever." [00:43] "Our server comes in - this really nice lady named Karen, who has to run like the whole length of the building just to get to us from upstairs - and we order. We start talking. A little while later the door opens, and it's not Karen. It's two wizards." [00:44] "One of them makes the door disappear. So it's just four walls, the four of us, and the table. The other one has our pizza." [00:45] "And right away he starts in on this patter. Good news bad news. And he's grinning so wide. Real movie Satan hours, you know?" [00:48] "Now I've seen this guy before. He was watching me park at the Belvedere, that first time. Shortish guy, handsome, slick hair, red suit. Like I said, movie devil." [00:48] "So he says do you want the good news or the bad news first. Like he had this whole call and response patter worked out but he was the only one who got the script. This is- this is gonna be a theme, we'll come back to that." [00:49] 7Maggie's breathing a little heavier than normal, and she takes a drink to cover. [00:51] "We're too freaked out to answer so he has to guide us along. He gives us the bad news first. Karen has cancer, he says. Stage IV Pancreatic. Your guts dissolving and turning inside out. You know to give us some stakes, I guess." 10He takes another sip. "I looked it up after. There is no Stage V." [00:52] "The good news is, apparently, our pizza was ready!" [00:53] 10Stewart unconsciously blinks back his tears. "So then he says, eat." [00:54] "Except he doesn't say it like that, he says," 10and Stewart produces a sound you wouldn't think his throat could make, something high and hard and husky and full of urgent, hungry menace. "EAT!!" [00:55] 10Another sip. "We don't, obviously, because what the fuck." [00:56] 7Stewart's doing a really good job of conveying this guy's... essence, or something. Are changelings naturally good actors? It would make sense. Maggie: "Go on." [00:56] "But he keeps at us, cause there's a way this goes, right? He blocked this out in his head and there's a rhythm. So he just bears down on us until we start eating. Lauren's almost crying, my throat isn't even opening all the way. But we eat." [00:58] "Then he takes out a gun. Puts it on the table." [00:59] Takes out a taser. Or a stun gun, I guess. It's not the kind that throws the little wires that stick onto someone. It's the size and shape of an electric razor. You gotta get in real close." [01:00] "Then he says, we're going to play a game." [01:00] "If you run, Karen dies. If you don't, Karen lives." [01:01] "The game is, he asks me questions. If I don't answer the questions, or I answer wrong," 10Long sip. "He hurts Lauren." [01:04] 7He was happy when he came in. She needs to remember that. [01:08] 10Stewart: "The first question he asks is, what would it take to make me violent? And I answer--" 10He furrows his brow, suddenly concentrating. Perhaps the day-drinking is clouding his memory. "--no, yeah, I said, 'an irreversible mistake'. Which is dumb, right? It's sort of abstract and disconnected and a little corny. It's a real I-Am thing to say." 10That's what he says. He says [01:08] 10I-Am. "The guy doesn't like the answer, so he goes to take the taser to Lauren." [01:08] "And...?" [01:09] "She practically falls out of the chair scrambling away - it's a big room, remember. They reserve these for parties, so there's some space to run around when it's just us. He goes for her and he can't connect and after a little bit he gives up. And he asks another question." [01:10] "Cause he said to Lauren, he said, you're not even a real person anymore. But Karen was. So hold still, was the implication." [01:11] "I said, don't talk to her like that. Which is also fucking corny. Like, step away from my girl, buster! What the fuck was I thinking." [01:12] "Anyway, then he asks me the next question, which was, you know, or else what?" [01:13] "So I say, I'll take her, and we'll run, and you know. I don't negotiate with terrorists, I guess. That was what I decided to say." [01:14] "So he goes for Lauren again." [01:15] "This time she dives under an empty table - banged her thigh real bad on one of the legs, she showed me later - and he still can't connect. And you know, I guess she held out long enough for the patter to keep going. This whole time the gun's still on the table. And I only just then figure out what it's for. He's trying to get me to pick it up. To take a shot at him. To find, I don't know, [01:15] the killer instinct." [01:16] "It's just got one in the chamber, he took the cl- the magazine out." [01:17] "Third question - and this is where I figure out what's got him so het up - is he asks me how many people I love have to die before I take iron to the book myself?" [01:19] "And I was thinking - I was thinking of Santander, one of the high-ups in the Autumn Court. The Lord Sage. He's really cool, but in a lonely way, right? Up in his tower by himself, doing everyone's taxes. Living for other people. So I thought about what it'd look like, if you know he killed Lauren. If he killed you guys. Would I give it up? And I realized: no, I wouldn't. Cause if all the [01:19] people I loved were gone, the magic would be all that was left." [01:19] 10He doesn't seem to realize he's crying now. [01:20] 7Maggie sniffles a little. [01:23] "He goes for Lauren again, but he just cannot fucking connect. She's not doing ninja flips or anything like that, she's not- you know, she's the brain, brains can't jump. So it's ugly and graceless and it's scary every second but he can't get her." [01:23] "The Judas lady in the corner is like, we gotta wrap this up. You know, like they're on a clock." [01:23] "Red suit man says one more question." [01:24] "And Judas lady doesn't like it, but obviously she's not the boss. She's just standing there watching." [01:25] "So then he asks me, what would I do to keep her safe? Keep Lauren safe." [01:25] 7Thinking about Stewart Reader conceiving himself as the brawn in a brains-and-brawn duo. Or perhaps beauty? Either way. [01:26] 10He meant of the Autumn Court!! sheesh [01:27] "And I say, well you can't catch her, and I'm faster than her, so I'd just run interference. And that answer's not good enough either. You know I fucking hate that? When someone asks you an open-ended question and they obviously have an answer in mind but they just get pissed at you for not guessing correctly on the first try?" [01:27] "I say, you're clearly willing to kill her to get to me. Are you willing to kill me to get to her?" [01:28] "He says he'd kill me for free, so I figure, fuck it. Let's give him the chance. I run up and sort of jump over Lauren as he's going for her, and we end up kind of body-checking each other." [01:28] We fall down. The taser scorches the floor a little." [01:29] "Judas lady says we really have to go. So now I guess he's frustrated enough to get mad at her." [01:29] "Just, fuckin, belts her across the face. She spits blood." [01:29] "Then he's got his hands around her throat." [01:29] "But something's happened, something's clearly happened, cause they leave. Before he goes he says, we'll continue this conversation later. I look forward to meeting your pain." [01:30] "And they just, melt through the floor, and they're gone." [01:30] "And then someone knocks on the door, which is back now." [01:31] "Lauren's sprawled out on the floor, she's bruised and crying and fucking terrified." [01:31] "But I, suavely, go for the door." [01:32] "And then three more wizards walk in. These are good wizards. I know cause I recognize one of them. Fireman, he works at the Belvedere. He helped me out when those fake wizard cops were messing with me that first night." [01:33] "The leader's this kind of bald-ish guy all in white, wearing a priest's collar. He says his name is Jesuit. He says the red suit man's name is Society." [01:35] "I let them in and tell them where Society and the Judas lady went, and he's like, I don't care. I know that man. And I'm like, whatever. His song's really intense so I just roll with it. Fireman's checking on Lauren, so I go over to her and make sure she's alright, and she basically is. Then I remember Karen." [01:35] "Jesuit says they're taking care of Karen, that when they're done she'll have had a bad scare but she'll be okay." [01:35] 7Maggie: "Did they fix Karen-- good..." [01:36] "So then what they do is... they ask if we're still hungry." [01:36] "And then they order another pizza. Crab pizza. ALSO very good, if you're curious." [01:37] "And we talk a little bit. He tells me about the wizards and their war. They're fighting over, I dunno, Heaven? Who gets to go to Heaven? It was very philosophical and I don't think I really understand it." [01:39] "And we work out a, a solution, so I don't have to destroy the book but Lauren's-- we're safe, you know? Put it in the Belvedere, where I can use it whenever. I say, you know, sure, as long as Kingsley and Santander sign off. They're friends with the good wizards, or, I don't know, I've never seen them interact. They're allies at least." [01:39] "And we eat some pizza and catch our breaths and leave a huge tip for Karen, who comes in to box up our pizza to take home." [01:39] "Probably wouldn't see them interact even if they were friends," 7she murmurs. [01:40] "You're probably right." [01:40] "And then Lauren and I go home. That was night before last." [01:41] "So how's your day going?" [01:41] 10Stewart belatedly dries his eyes. [01:43] 7Is his can empty at this point? [01:47] 10Yeah. [01:51] 7She stands, stretches, walks over to the refrigerator and takes out a small sports drink bottle. (It's just good sense to stock those now. Better than dealing with a hungover goose.) She returns to stand behind Stewart's chair, gently takes his empty beer can and replaces it with the plastic bottle, and pats his shoulder. "M'proud of you, Stewart. You did the right thing all along the line." [01:51] 10For some reason this makes him lose it again. Face in his hands, dry gasping sobs. [01:56] 7It's hard to hug someone from behind while they're sitting in a chair while leaning forward, so she has to kind of go around the side and crouch down and put her arm around his shoulders. [01:58] 10Stewart leans into it, and takes the sports drink when Maggie gets back up. "I don't think being a wizard makes you more like Them. But if you already had the inclination, being a wizard means you won't be able to help yourself." [01:59] 7She nods. "I did wonder whether the evil wizards chose the one of their number most like a Keeper to do the job, or if they were just all like that." [02:00] "They can't all be like him." [02:00] "No," 7She says, "I suppose not." [02:01] "Anyway, Lauren's okay, I'm okay. It's okay." [02:02] "Hooooo." [02:03] "It's funny cause most of the time I've been feeling really good. Work's going well, magic stuff is going well, I've got the 24 hour Halloween stream tomorrow. Lauren and I are - it feels like we're a couple now, you know? Instead of, kind of, courting." [02:04] "Heh. Courting." [02:04] "Heh." [02:05] 7Maggie: "Stewart? This may sound like changing the subject a little, but I know you make your living where people watch you play video games on your Tube there. I'm assuming that sort of thing is pretty popular, all told. Probably been going on for a while, lots of different games involved?" [02:05] "What, in your opinion, is the best, uh, matchup of the past? The Super Bowl of video gamesmanship." [02:05] "Youtube. Your tube sounds- nevermind." [02:05] "What do you mean?" [02:05] "Like a competitive matchup?" [02:06] 7She nods. "Could be. I mean like people go back and watch old football matches, yeah? The most thrilling championships." [02:07] "For streaming the games, what is the thing that people say 'Oh wow, remember when--?'" [02:08] 10Stewart: "Yeah there's a whole field of video game streaming where people play competitive games in tournaments for money. It's called, uh, eSports." [02:09] "It's not really my thing, nowadays, though there's a lot of games that are popular. League, Dota, Counterstrike... back in the day, though," 10back before "the main thing that was around to get into was professional Starcraft. Years and years before eSports got big anywhere else, people were playing Starcraft: Brood War in stadiums in front of huge screaming live audiences in South Korea." [02:10] 7Maggie: "Huge? Like...?" [02:10] "There were these huge teams, sponsored by big Korean tech companies. It got broadcast on for-real TV. You'd get people staying up until 4 in the morning to watch shitty bootleg streams with commentary they couldn't even understand." [02:11] "Like thousands." [02:12] "Golly." [02:12] 7Maggie: "Did you watch that?" [02:12] "The Pro League - that was what the team tournament was called, where whole teams would play against each other instead of individual players competing for prizes - was actually played outside, on a beach. Gwanganri." [02:12] "I did." [02:12] "They made a Starcraft 2 and that was really big for a while but I, I missed all that." [02:12] "So I only really know from Brood War." [02:13] "But Brood War had some great matchups. Boxer and Yellow, Bisu and Savior. The best, though, the absolute best, was Jaedong and Flash." [02:21] "Hoorm. Think you could get it to play on the TV in here?" [02:21] 10Stewart: "For sure, a lot of it's up on Youtube and even has English commentary now." [02:25] "Did you want to see it? It'll be kind of hard to follow..." [02:25] 7Maggie: "I'm not so green as I'm grass-colored, boy. I bet between you and the announcers I can get the gist." [02:26] 10Stewart: "Alright, let me set it up." [02:26] 10It takes a little bit to buffer the VODs with the through-Hedge internet, but it works. Lauren's so smart. He misses her so much. [02:27] 10But eventually it's up: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCghDY-pYl4 [02:28] 7It doesn't really matter if Maggie follows the game at all, anyhow. It'll give Stewart something to fall asleep to, and give Maggie something to keep her mind off the thought that's intruded into her head. It's in deep, thoroughly uncomfortable, but impossible to deny, like a thorn that's grown up under her tongue. Painful, but you can't stop poking it with your tongue to see if it's still [02:28] 7there. [02:28] 10Stewart, indeed, falls asleep pretty quick. [02:29] 7She sighs a little. Maybe she should write this 'Society's name and description down. It might make her feel better, having something on paper. Or maybe this will all be gone tomorrow. 03[05:43] * VoxPrime (VoxPrime@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) has joined #gofetch 02[10:07] * Disconnected 02[10:07] * Attempting to rejoin channel #gofetch 03[10:07] * Rejoined channel #gofetch 03[10:07] * Topic is 'Who botches the Botchmen?' 03[10:07] * Set by Crion!Crion@sorcery-puhjpa.fios.verizon.net on Sun Sep 22 02:37:29 2019 02[10:07] * @Crion (Crion@sorcery-puhjpa.fios.verizon.net) Quit (Connection closed) 03[12:51] * banana is now known as banana|peels 03[17:25] * Crion_ is now known as Crion 03[17:25] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Crion Session Time: Sat Oct 26 00:00:00 2019 03[01:07] * banana|peels is now known as banana 02[05:04] * CBN (CBN@sorcery-8718vv.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[09:49] * banana is now known as banana|peels 03[10:56] * CBN (CBN@sorcery-ekluki.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) has joined #gofetch 03[21:10] * banana|peels is now known as banana|s 00[21:12] <@Crion> 00[21:12] <@Crion> 00[21:12] <@Crion> 00[21:12] <@Crion> 00[21:12] <@Crion> 00[21:12] <@Crion> 00[21:12] <@Crion> 00[21:12] <@Crion> 00[21:12] <@Crion> 00[21:12] <@Crion> 03[21:13] * banana|s is now known as banana 00[21:14] <@Crion> Shopping was fun! And it's been an uneventful (generally speaking; Stewart might disagree) couple of days since then as you get all your goodies back to the Wherehouse and installed and so on. The Pigs seem to have fully retreated from the Hedge, so while it's not 'safe' -- the Hedge is never safe -- the hobs trundling about are fully back to normal. Steve has been about, though the main way 00[21:14] <@Crion> he's interacted with you all in the past few days is triumphally killing a final Watermelon Boy who slipped away in the confusion of the Walking Man's arrival, and leaving its delicious carcass in the Hedge-street outside. [21:15] 6Good Steve. [21:16] 10Hopefully Steve didn't swallow the seeds. The childhood myth about them growing in your stomach might literally be true in the Hedge. 00[21:16] <@Crion> As for the Loyalists, they've been strangely absent from this part of the Hedge recently, possibly still licking their wounds in their own Hollow...except for Loser, who apparently is spotted sneaking about between the Hollow and various Hedge portals on an infrequent basis. Whatever she's doing, she seems to be steering well clear of you -- or of exploration in general. 00[21:17] <@Crion> The conventional wisdom would state that eventually that'll change, though. Either because the Wherehouse acts on its orders, or because enough time passes that they feel confident poking their heads out again. Before this was your territory, after all, it was theirs. To the extent that this ever-changing maze has set territories. [21:24] 5Tony's been putting off interacting with his Court for as long as possible, because he's also been putting off committing actual murder for as long as possible. [21:24] 6...suddenly glad Nels is in Spring. [21:25] 10Stewart's doing a lot better since he talked with Maggie. He stops at the Wherehouse (often with Lauren) every day to drop stuff off or help out around the place or just to hang out. The presence of the loyalists continues to chew at the corner of his mind. "So like... what's the plan? With the guys." 00[21:26] <@Crion> The Winter Court has been...very hands-off, and pretty much always is as a rule. There are a lot of social events for Spring and Summer that the motley has standing invitations to -- usually shows at the Sidereal -- and if Nels and Maggie haven't been mingling with Samaritan, Smitten, and etcetera, it's not for a lack of trying on the Court's part. Stewart's aware of what Autumn's like. 00[21:26] <@Crion> Winter, however, has just been...silent. 00[21:27] <@Crion> Lauren's around fairly often, but not today -- actual work to do, something involving a house call (vault call?) for the Young Street. [21:28] 6Nels has been in and out of the Sidereal, though usually outside of regular hours. Still acclimating to crowds again. Maybe she'll play a set someday, but not yet. To Stewart: "I assume waiting for them to show up again and then shooting at them to free whoever they're stealing is a little too hands-off." [21:30] 10Stewart: "How would we know the next time we see them is the first time they've poked their head back out?" [21:35] 6Nels: "...shoot. Um. Give me a minute? I - mean, an actual minute. I'll need to see one of them for it." [21:39] "...we could go looking for them. And I could - make sure of it." [21:39] 10Stewart: "We gotta do something." [21:39] "We can't just keep sitting around waiting for them to make a move." [21:40] 6Nels: "Well. I can ensure we find them. And if we stay hidden see what they want to do next, or we could do something more drastic." [21:40] 13Melanie's typing in her library as usual, but she's got pretty good hearing. Apparently you don't need ears for that. Once the conversation's taken this turn, she'll be a vaguely looming presence in the doorway, surrounded by beads. [21:41] "I have a plan, but it's pretty simple. Two parts." [21:41] "One, wait until you guys feel ready. Two, we go and kill them." [21:42] 13Maybe it's time to move on to the next step? [21:43] 6Nels blanches, but recovers quickly. "Or something more drastic, I guess." [21:43] 5Tony: "Ready as I'll ever be, but if we can avoid another Watermelon Boys and The Big Pigs situation I'd like that. Less chance of us getting shot." [21:44] 10Stewart: "Lauren was talking about, we could probably safely oathbind at least a few of them. To leave and never come back. Proctor's-- we've got to deal with Proctor permanently, though." [21:44] 10More quietly: "One way or another." [21:44] 6Nels exhales. [21:45] 5Tony siiiiighs. "Yeah, but I gotta kill Proctor and the Cambridge guy, Winter said so." [21:45] 5Tony: "Also, they were the worst ones. Other than the other ones who were also bad." [21:45] 13Melanie: "What class of oaths are you thinking about?" [21:47] 6Nels: "Well, wonderful, okay. Glad we've established premeditation to our murders." 6Not often you get to re-use a word from a quiz so abruptly, but hey. [21:48] s5Tony shrugs. "I dunno, probably better than doing it by accident? It's all shitty and none of us want to do it, but that's how you know it's work." [21:49] 13Melanie looks worried. "This is what I mean about being ready. Are we in a place to get rid of this problem without being damaged by it? To treat them as pests and monsters, not as a gateway into dehumanisation?" [21:49] 10Stewart: "Kid Kid Kid is straight up alt right, too." [21:50] 10Quickly: "That's, uh, like, a Nazi who spends all day on the internet." [21:50] 6Nels: "What's a nazi?" 00[21:50] <@Crion> Hoo. [21:50] "Oh jeez." [21:50] 13Ah. [21:50] 7Maggie: "Ah, cripes. That's right, you missed a whole world war." [21:50] 5Tony: "How long do we have? Very bad." [21:51] 6Nels: "No, there was - they had another one. I haven't gotten there yet but I saw the chapter title." [21:51] "So bad that they became a synonym for 'bad'." [21:51] "Politics today is mostly like.. a rhetorical dispute about who gets to claim the other side are Nazis..." [21:52] 6Nels just looks blank. [21:54] 10Stewart: "Look, the specifics of what Nazis are isn't germane to our problem. We can cover it later. The point is, obviously, they're all really bad people." [21:55] 13Melanie: "Maybe it's relevant. We're, like, struggling with a question here, right? 'Are there circumstances under which it's ok to plan to go out and kill someone.'" [21:55] 10Stewart: "Well we were ordered to- fuck that's a Nazi thing too isn't it." [21:55] "Shit!" [21:55] "This is so much easier when they're trying to kill you and you don't have time to think about it." [21:56] 6Nels: "I'm gonna be really upset when I get to that chapter, aren't I." [21:56] "It was a really long time ago. Just remember that like.. nobody in Japan or Germany now was even born back then." [21:57] 13Changelings and vampires possibly excepted? [21:57] 6Dryly: "I will take your word for it." [21:57] 5Tony: "Listen. I'm going to feel bad about doing this, I'd feel bad about not doing this the next time I heard about some fresh escapees getting harassed over here, I'd feel bad if you all did it without me. There's no not-feeling-bad here, but at least one of them doesn't get me yelled at for awhile, and also does a little to keep our neighborhood a little safer, for awhile." [21:58] 5Tony: "Here's to feeling bad all the time." 5And with that he finishes the beer no one notices he even had, or had started. [21:58] 7Maggie: "Seems to me that if somebody's flitting about dragging people off to the Sunlit Lands, it's okay, y'know, morally, to use violence as needed to make 'em stop. Can't say that will make it any easier when we're staring 'em down, and maybe if they say 'Stop! We give up!' we have to rethink what we plan on doing." [21:59] "But that's an 'if and when' problem. Just how I feel." [21:59] 10Maggie's surprisingly down with violence for such a sweet old lady. [22:00] 13Melanie nods with a rattle. "Yeah, we've got to do this. They're monsters because their actions are monstrous - it's not about receiving an order. That's the Courts confirming what we should - from each of their perspectives - be thinking already." [22:01] 6Nels: "I don't want anyone else taken like those kids. And who knows what they're up to now. If there's only one way..." 6Another heavy exhale. [22:01] 5Tony: "Well plus they shot Nels and that's pretty shitty." [22:01] 6Nels: "I got better." [22:01] 13Melanie's looking at Stewart again. Not as worried as before though. [22:02] 10Stewart still wants to argue, and it shows, but he clearly doesn't have a better idea. [22:02] 5Tony: "This time. And sometimes people don't get better and then you have to dig a grave, and then I have to fill it up. So I want there to not be a next time." [22:02] "I tell you, though. Tony's right, there's no getting out of this feeling good." [22:04] 13Melanie: "Don't try and talk yourselves into false equivalency. Once we stop Proctor from kidnapping and torturing people, we've done a good thing. It's good for his victims and it's good for him, the twisted old bastard got turned into this too. It costs us, but it achieves something." [22:05] 6Nels: "It's good to stop him. It's - less good that it has to be this way." [22:06] 10Stewart: "...no, Melanie's right. So are Maggie and Tony. Doing good and feeling good aren't the same thing." [22:10] "Hoorm. Life'd be a lot easier if it were." [22:19] 13Melanie leaves the doorway to come and stand by the dining table. "Okay. Concretely, we know where they are. We know how to focus on stopping people with dangerous weapons from attacking first, and we've got enough small oaths to do this thing; the concession we should make to safety is that they have strong defenses on their home ground. So if we find significant traps or preparations [22:19] we should be in a position to withdraw." [22:31] 5Tony: "How much do we need to worry about their bosses, realistically? I feel like some of you know way more about how stuff works around here." [22:32] 10Stewart: "Realistically, we have no idea." [22:32] 13Firmly: "None at all." [22:33] "But I feel like if they had a Keeper on call, the Keeper wouldn't need the loyalists in the first place." [22:36] 5Tony: "That's a good point." [22:43] 6Nels: "How sure are we?" [22:45] 10Stewart: "We aren't. But I don't think there's any evidence to suggest there's anything scarier than Proctor and company at direct work this very moment." [22:45] 13Melanie's trying to keep momentum. The zeitgeist of the motley is for action, and she feels superstitiously like it shouldn't be wasted - a thought to interrogate. Later. "Let's head back to their place and find a way to conceal ourselves. We watch, we see them leave - without anyone like that in tow - and we intercept them before they actually go somewhere." [22:46] 10Stewart: "...sounds good. Don't forget your body armor, guys." [22:48] 6Nels: "Hang on. Let me - try something. I haven't done it before, but, well, I need ten minutes to guarantee I can see their future." 6Wow, her life is insane now. 00[22:48] <@Crion> The stuff the freehold lent via Jackie on your way in has been taken back, but you've had more than enough time to get whatever you want and can afford, and it is not difficult to get a gun or body armor in Baltimore even before the Winter Court's connections. 00[22:48] <@Crion> Let alone Summer's. [22:48] 10Stewart nods like this is the most natural thing in the world. [22:51] 7A nice jacket, a kevlar vest, and inside a few small bags of sand. [22:52] 7A small container with a living spider... hmm. She should start farming these things. It takes forever to find a new one each time. [22:52] 6Please keep it out of view. [22:53] 6A needle and a drop of blood later, plus some good old fashioned effort, and Nels is back in the main Wherehouse. "I'm going to need a minute when we see them. Just to - see what they're going to do. If we don't stop them." 00[22:55] <@Crion> So the plan is to lie in wait outside the Roof Cavass Wagon and variably ambush/follow/spy on those who come out? [22:56] "...anyone happen to have a picture? Just out of curiosity." 00[22:57] <@Crion> *Canvas [22:58] "A picture of... them?" [22:58] 6Nels: "Yeah. If not, I'll make do, but." [22:59] 10Stewart shakes his head. [23:00] 13Melanie hasn't worn armour before. It's hard to make it fit, and she's tougher than p- than ordinary people. But when Stewart's been meaningfully leaving kevlar vests in all sizes around the place.. she'll at least try it on. [23:01] 5Tony just pockets a couple pennies, some small pebbles. His usual. [23:01] 6Just do whatever common people do. [23:02] 10Stewart's got his vest, the lucky jacket (not actually magically lucky) that Gerald gave him, and the body armor, also from Gerald. That pewter wand is visible sticking out of the gap between his armor and his jacket. [23:03] 6Nels has a bulletproof vest and a gun drawn. She's still extremely nervous and definitely not upset. Can't prove otherwise. [23:07] 6Nels: "Making do." 6She pulls out a notepad from her pocket - god, they have pockets now, amazing - and starts drawing with the attached pencil. [23:08] "Picture. Doesn't say what kind. Gonna try it out," 6she says, before tucking her tongue to the side of her mouth as she concentrates. [23:09] 13Melanie: "Hey, that's a good caricature. You could do a political cartoon." [23:10] 6Nels: "If you see a Lena Colter in the papers, you'll know." 6It really is a pretty good likeness, though. [23:14] "We do actually still have papers. They were saying we wouldn't, but when I came back they were still going strong, just.. weirder. Like, there's fake news and tweeting." [23:15] 6Still drawing: "We had lying newspapers already. I don't think I'm ready to know what tweeting is." [23:17] 7Maggie: "Load of garbage, is what it is." 00[23:17] <@Crion> When the motley's ready, they head out, Tony in the lead... [23:18] 5While Nels draws, Tony eats a penny, does a little juggling trick with a pebble, and stands in some shadows. What emerges isn't really there, but if it were, it would have a rusted, metallic flaking to its dirt-surface, and particularly gnarly hooks on its knuckles. And he leads the way, while not necessarily projecting Leadership. [23:22] 13Melanie lurks where Tony leads. In the alleys across from Proctor's home, she takes root in some indefinable sense and also literally; the cracked pavement around her twists further as ominous and thorned fragments of white wood surface. The sun burns high overhead, watching. 00[23:25] <@Crion> It takes some time -- not a huge amount of time, but some -- and the motley settles into their positions. It's odd; the Hedge still moves around them, somewhat, so when you look back down the street after focusing on the building with the wagon atop it for too long, maybe there's a stoplight there that wasn't before. You know, normal Hedge things. The place seems deserted... 00[23:25] <@Crion> But then -- movement! 00[23:25] <@Crion> That's Loser, slipping down the fire escape, which also seems fully functional, then dropping down to the street. 00[23:25] <@Crion> She's alone, and looks furtively about... [23:26] 10Stewart feels like he should have something in his hands, but even holding the wand feels too aggressive. [23:27] 13Melanie whispers in her friends' ears from several different directions. There's a heat to it, a bloom of warmth on the eardrum. "Loser, alone. She's our way in." [23:33] 6Harsh whisper: "She's telling them about us--" 00[23:33] <@Crion> Loser appears to see nothing, and begins sneaking down the street.. 00[23:33] <@Crion> . [23:33] 5Tony:"Ffffff."5Under his breath. Not surprising but pretty bad, to hear that! [23:35] 6Nels: "Wait, no, shit -- sorry - she's. I don't know what she's doing." [23:36] "Sorry. I was supposed to." 6Fuck. Shit. [23:37] 7Maggie lets out a long breath. Let's hope that the only things that go wrong turn out to even out to neutral. [23:44] 10From his vantage point, Stewart studies Loser... and his eyes widen. Almost despite himself he hisses "Hey! Loser!" [23:44] 10Man that sounds mean out loud. 00[23:45] <@Crion> She swings around, eyes wide, mouth open...and then sees Stewart. Her eyes light up...just for a minute. Then she takes a step towards an alley mouth while nodding signficantly with her head, and sprints down it. [23:46] 13?! [23:46] 6...????? [23:46] 10Stewart gestures at everyone who can see him, and so on until the message percolates throughout the motley. "14Follow her. It's safe." [23:46] 10Well, not safe, but. [23:46] 6Nothing's safe for us. 00[23:47] <@Crion> The alley's short and terminates quickly -- these aren't actual buildings, so there's no actual reason for sidedoors. But still, when the motley arrives running full tilt, Loser is pacing back and forth at the end of the alley, waiting. [23:47] 10Putting his money where his mouth is, Stewart will head down the alley after her. [23:48] 7Maggie will follow. Stewart's a wizard's apprentice, so she trusts his sagely wisdom. [23:49] 5Tony's gotta follow, since if this gets messy, he'll probably be cleaning it up, one way or another. So he follows. [23:49] 13Melanie hesitates, she really does. They had a perfect position; they could grab this woman with the depressing name, get her keys, information.. maybe she doesn't like the rest of the loyalists, but she still helps them. She's still the enemy. [23:49] 13...what it comes down to is trusting Stewart. Not even as Stewart per se but as one of them, one of the group. When one of them has an idea, takes initiative.. the others should back them up. That's the way Melanie wants it to be. 00[23:50] <@Crion> Her greeting is angry, but her face is relieved: "Where the fuck have you people been?! I was promised extraction!" [23:50] 13She slips roots and limbs free of the pavement/earth, moves after the others as quickly as she's able. [23:50] 10Stewart: "We've been getting mixed signals and not a lot of guidance. We didn't know how to approach safely." 00[23:51] <@Crion> "FUCKING Autumn Court!" 00[23:51] <@Crion> Glancing at Stewart. "Sorry. It's not your fault. Probably." [23:51] 7Maggie makes a quiet Bronx cheer. Oh, for goodness' sake. [23:52] 10Stewart shrugs. He can't really disagree. "Sorry for leaving you hanging." [23:52] 6Nels: "I have no idea what's going on." 00[23:52] <@Crion> Looking around at the various armors and weapons. "Yeah, well. No big deal. Just have to continue pretending to be friends with a bunch of fucking psychopaths." 00[23:52] <@Crion> "Y'all came loaded for bear." [23:52] 6Deadpan: "Bears are way easier." [23:52] 13Melanie is so confused. She doesn't want to say anything because it will probably be the wrong thing. 00[23:53] <@Crion> To Stewart: "...Do any of you have a fucking clue what's going on?" 00[23:54] <@Crion> Closer up, you can tell that Loser's mien, while outwardly Courtless, flickers a little bit. It gets more intense when she speaks with clear, actual passion. [23:54] 10Stewart: "All we know is Proctor's in town and we've got to get him out." [23:55] 5Tony: "Uhh...why pretend? You can just stay out of the way until we're done with whatever we do here, then you should be good, right?" [23:55] "Like I said, we are not thoroughly briefed." 00[23:55] <@Crion> "Fucking AUTUMN Court!" 00[23:55] <@Crion> This time she doesn't apologize. [23:55] 7Maggie: "They did say 'get Loser out', though not why. If that helps." [23:55] 10Stewart shrugs again, more apologetically. [23:56] 6Nels: "I tried to see what was going to happen but got nothing. Sorry." [23:56] 6She genuinely sounds contrite. 00[23:57] <@Crion> "Yes, well, that's because I've been embedded with Proctor for 20 months now and it's time to pull the plug on this whole operation." She straightens. "Since you're the hitters, you deserve to know the providence of your intel. And frankly, I'm too angry to care anymore about opsec." [23:57] 6Nels: "Twenty m- they made you--" [23:57] 10So she's a for-real spy. Or at the very least acts like one, and talks like one, which now that Stewart follows the thought to its conclusion is what being a spy means. So. [23:58] 13Melanie: "They didn't- is she really a spy? L didn't say anything about it. He just said 'So Loser's back?' and that we should.. that there were no bunks for loyalists." 00[23:58] <@Crion> "I'm codename Loser, e eu sou um cavaleiro de Ordem dos Cavaleiros Matadors de Dragão. I am a Knight of the Dragonslayer." [23:59] 10Badass. [23:59] 6Nels: "If they left you there I am going to have words." [23:59] 10Stewart: "Let's get mad after we're done." [23:59] 5Tony: "I have no idea what any of that means." 00[23:59] <@Crion> To Nels: "It's my job. But my job was supposed to end with us rolling them up before they started getting serious about trafficking back through the Hedge again." Session Time: Sun Oct 27 00:00:00 2019 00[00:00] <@Crion> To Tony: "Portuguese. And it means I'm a deep-cover spy." 00[00:00] <@Crion> "Ugh, I'm going to have to change my whole look after this. That's fine." 00[00:00] <@Crion> She looks around: "I've got Hollow access. Are you ready to hit them?" [00:00] 10That's... kind of a shame, Stewart thinks but absolutely does not say. [00:00] 10What he does say is, "Ready as we'll ever be." 00[00:01] <@Crion> "Good. Because I'm not gonna be party to another fox-hunt." [00:01] 6Nels: "Stewart. I will get mad when I want to. Knight - I'm not going to call you Loser." 6She draws her gun. "Thanks for not shooting me that last time." [00:01] "Have they gone for anyone since the two we picked up a couple weeks ago?" 00[00:01] <@Crion> Loser shakes her head. [00:01] 10Stewart is visibly relieved. 00[00:01] <@Crion> "They're talking about it though. Let's get up there." 00[00:02] <@Crion> "They're all on-site, but I think K.I.L.L.'s asleep." [00:02] 13Melanie: "Do we believe this?" 13To Loser: "Look, I'm really sorry if you're for real, if you've been left verklempft in a den of vipers and then the only people sent to get you back weren't even given that truth. But you could be a spy from the Autumn Court, or you could just be intelligent." 00[00:02] <@Crion> Striding out of the alley. "Then shoot me in the back." [00:03] 6Nels: "Don't do that." [00:03] "Stop. You can't rush trust." [00:03] 10Stewart: "I saw her heart's desire. Common Spring, the Whitaker and Wexley standard name is Cupid's Arrow. Her desire for extraction is legit, and the only thing stopping us from extracting her was our own lack of knowledge." 00[00:03] <@Crion> Loser whirls. "I am not going back there." 00[00:03] <@Crion> "Not without guns." [00:03] 6Nels holds up her revolver. 00[00:04] <@Crion> Loser looks visibly offput by that from Stewart for a second, but hides it well enough. [00:04] 10To Melanie: "We haven't done a lot to earn each other's trust, but on this specific thing, I'm certain we're all on the same side." [00:04] 13Melanie: "Of course you're not. Either you're an agent who has no need to go back in or you're a prisoner." [00:04] 6Nels: "Tell the Autumn Court to tell us next time." [00:05] 10Stewart: "Man it's not the Court of Telling The Fucking Truth. What do you want from me?" [00:05] "I am going to have words." [00:06] "We could have shot her. Nobody told us!" 00[00:06] <@Crion> Three stories up -- from the roof -- there's a deafening thunderclap...followed by some happy trumpets...? 00[00:06] <@Crion> Loser starts. "What the fuck was that." [00:06] 6Exits. Where are they. We're getting the fuck out. [00:06] 13Melanie: "I want to do this in a way which doesn't put, um, Loser at our backs. And which doesn't ask more from her than she's been giving since most likely you're right, Stewart." 13To the maybe spy: "Can you give us a way in that doesn't need you there?" 00[00:08] <@Crion> Staring up at the roof, Loser says: "I don't think I need to." [00:08] 6Nels stiffens, then forcefully relaxes: "Back to base. Right now. Something just happened and I don't know what but I hate it." [00:09] 5Tony siiiiiighs. "God damn it." [00:09] "Alright, let's get out of here. There's too much power around, too much we don't know." 00[00:10] <@Crion> Loser's shoulders sag. "I can't do that." 00[00:10] <@Crion> "I swore an Oath." 00[00:10] <@Crion> "I can't extract until Proctor is confirmed resolved." [00:10] 10Stewart: "Is whatever just broke in up there on their side?" 00[00:10] <@Crion> "...So I'm going upstairs." [00:10] 6Nels: "I. Am going. To have words." [00:11] 10Stewart studies Loser for a moment. 00[00:11] <@Crion> She looks back at Stewart, and she looks terrified. "Proctor proofed that place like a vault. He wasn't the most powerful guy there is, but...well." 00[00:11] <@Crion> "What can crack that nut?" [00:11] 10Stewart: "Fuck." [00:12] 10Stewart looks at the others. "We've gotta follow her." [00:12] 13Melanie: "If we get you close enough to see what's going on, and if it.. resolves the situation- will that fulfil your oath?" 00[00:12] <@Crion> Loser: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRJdVTXkdGI Well go get your shovel, and we'll dig a deep hole to bury the castle; to bury the castle. [00:12] 7Maggie: "Aw, horsefeathers. Alright gang, looks like we're going in." 00[00:12] <@Crion> Loser nods. "I need eyes-on." [00:12] 5Tony: "We're already here and it's not getting any better today." [00:13] 13Sure it's bound up with being a knight of the whatever, but what a shitty freaking Oath. 00[00:13] <@Crion> Loser: "No one else needs to go up with me." She pulls out an ornate keyring. "But I'm going up." [00:14] 6Nels: "No one goes alone," 6she says, entirely sure. [00:14] 10Stewart: "We can't just assume whatever-that-is is going to deal with them." [00:14] "Nels is right." [00:15] 13Melanie: "Can you give us any kind of indication whatsoever that you're telling the truth. Stop rushing us. Any kind of token!" 00[00:15] <@Crion> Loser doesn't quite glare at Melanie. "I promise not to lie to you about this operation or my participation in it until I'm extracted. Fucking seal it." [00:16] 13The Wyrd lights up in triumph, adding to the occult atmosphere. A promise hangs in the air. Melanie: "Okay, thanks. Now: you're not a loyalist, you're set to deal with them, by the Autumn Court of Baltimore?" 00[00:18] <@Crion> "I am not a loyalist, I am tasked with infiltrating and reporting on them, and I serve the Autumn Court of Philadelphia. I'm on retainer here." [00:18] 6Nels: "Condolences. What are we doing." 00[00:18] <@Crion> "I'm going upstairs to stick my head into that Hollow. I expect that what we'll find will be a Huntsman, or something worse than a Huntsman." 00[00:19] <@Crion> Loser pulls open the door. "To the extent that there's good news, it's this: whatever's up there could have cut us down in the street." [00:19] 6Nels: "I hate that you're right." [00:19] "Lead the way, if your oath requires it." 00[00:20] <@Crion> Now she does glare. "If my oath requires--bitch, fuck you." 00[00:20] <@Crion> "Follow or don't." 00[00:20] <@Crion> Loser heads upstairs. [00:20] 6Nels follows. [00:20] 10Stewart makes the :I face at Melanie before following. [00:22] 13Loser must be under an immense amount of pressure, and Melanie's not good at communicating. She doesn't blame the woman for her attitude or her terrible hair. 00[00:22] <@Crion> At the top, the door of the wagon has been torn completely off. It's a wound in the Hedge, letting you see into the dank hallway that extends through it, going down much farther than the apparent length of the wagon. It ends in a great metal door...that's also been torn away. 00[00:22] <@Crion> Loser still has to touch the threshold to open it and let you in. 00[00:23] <@Crion> As she does, the sound of a man screaming rips down the hall, from further in. [00:23] "We can't be lucky enough for that to be Proctor." [00:24] 6Nels, gun drawn: "Not sure it matters." 00[00:25] <@Crion> Loser will lead you down the hall apprehensively. The door will open into a larger ante-chamber, with two exits -- one to a reinforced door ("That's to the outside, but it's in Mexico City," mumbles Loser. "Don't ask."), and one to a normal wooden door that seems to have just, exploded. 00[00:26] <@Crion> And through the ruins of that door... [00:26] 5Tony: "Lucky would be not being here." 00[00:26] <@Crion> There are...three trees. 00[00:26] <@Crion> Two contain corpses. [00:26] 13Melanie's still swathed in inexplicable shadow through which lance beams of sunlight that burn away patches of darkness, revealing writing white roots, so in effect she's also gun-drawn. [00:26] 7The corpses of...? 00[00:27] <@Crion> The trees look like they've grown up and THROUGH Cambridge Son and Kid Kid Kid. [00:27] 10Ah. 00[00:27] <@Crion> Between them, Proctor is still clinging to life as the branches rise, and rise, and dig through his flesh, into his mouth, and -- you'll want to look away. 00[00:27] <@Crion> Proctor dies gurgled. 00[00:27] <@Crion> Gurgling. 00[00:28] <@Crion> But, having gurgled. [00:28] "Horrific. Convenient. Let's run." [00:28] "Think we gots to be gone a skosh." 00[00:29] <@Crion> And before those three trees stands a woman, blonde and beautiful, and when she spins to face you her eyes flash with manic green fire and her smile eats the whole of her face and a hideous, beatific power exudes from every part of her. And then she claps her hands together in delight. 00[00:29] <@Crion> "You must be Peter's friends!" 00[00:30] <@Crion> Loser takes two or three steps back. "M-mistress." 00[00:31] <@Crion> The woman's baleful eye turns on Loser. "Well. Not you. But I suppose you're with Peter's friends." [00:31] 6It takes almost every fiber in her being to avoid asking Who's Peter? Still:"Um. Hi." 6What is happening. [00:31] 5Tony knows enough to not talk to them. He stopped trying to talk to his after the first few years, and it didn't make things easier, but it kept them from getting more difficult. So he's just standing here. 00[00:32] <@Crion> There's a ragged, angry, pained cry, and the sound of a chainsaw revving, and K.I.L.L. runs out from the side room -- 00[00:32] <@Crion> The woman waves a hand and branches ensconce the loyalist. 00[00:32] <@Crion> "I don't like chainsaws." [00:32] 13Any distraction will do. Melanie will grab the hands of whoever's nearest to her, Loser included, and at the very least try to get away. [00:33] 10Stewart is transfixed. [00:33] 6Nels isn't moving. [00:33] 7Maggie is taking steps backwards. [00:33] 5Tony's also standing there staring. Force of habit. 00[00:33] <@Crion> The Mistress of the High House: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kwf7P2GNAVw The whole school is rolling fake dice; you play stupid games, you win stupid prizes. 00[00:40] <@Crion> Her eyes snap and explode, and she's more beautiful than should be possible as her grin widens -- then it's back to a smile. "Please don't run," she says to you, who now cannot. "I'm not here to hurt anyone..." 00[00:40] <@Crion> "...who wasn't hunting..." 00[00:40] <@Crion> The branches crackle up K.I.L.L.'s thighs. 00[00:40] <@Crion> "...my Peter." [00:41] 6Terror awful bad fear [00:41] 13Melanie grabs Tony's hand, Nels' hand, spins and... drops to her knees with an awful creak. She won't/can't look back. 00[00:42] <@Crion> Loser chokes and sobs, even though she's smiling dazedly. 00[00:46] <@Crion> "In fact," the Mistress says pleasantly, "I want your help." 00[00:46] <@Crion> Then she blinks as if remembering something. "Oh! Yes! You're the heroes. You care about people." 00[00:46] <@Crion> She gestures to K.I.L.L. "What should be done with her?" [00:49] 13Melanie's totally shut down. With her mouth and eyes closed, her lower legs bent under her, her trunk/torso turned away - she's immobile, inanimate, vegetable. She wouldn't answer if she could. Maybe falling over the Hedge was just a dream. [00:49] 5Tony: "She was going to kill us with a chainsaw. You can put her in the ground." 00[00:52] <@Crion> Loser: "...Let her live. Please. Mistress." 00[00:54] <@Crion> "Mmmmmmm," the Mistress of the High House says. "Tied." [00:57] 6Nels: "...nobody dies." 6She's not very confident. The Devil of the Details' favor is hot in her hand. [00:57] 7Maggie: "I... she's a real piece of work," 7She says we're the heroes she says we care about people she says she says she says she says "But she doesn't deserve to die like that. Please let her live." 00[00:58] <@Crion> The Mistress nods, arching an eyebrow at Stewart and Melanie. "It's only possible to tie, now. But I suppose Loser's vote should count less." 00[00:58] <@Crion> "So a tie goes to the tree." [00:58] 6More forcefully: "Nobody dies." 00[00:59] <@Crion> The Mistress smiles. "That is the dream." [00:59] 10He's in an apron and a white hat. The air is hot and wet and dense. People are running every which way, shouting, screaming, giving orders. The sound of cleavers clacking in a steady, even rhythm against stone cutting-boards. Stewart reaches into the oven, arms shackled to the floor behinnd him, to pull out a beautiful roast, tender meat practically falling off a human thighbone. [01:00] 10He can't see, he can't hear -- Commit to something, you little shit. -- but he feels her eyes on him like the heat from the oven. "Let her go," 10he says limply. 00[01:01] <@Crion> The Mistress nods firmly, and gestures. The branches pull out from K.I.L.L.'s limbs, as they spirit away her chainsaw. She might have a broken ankle, but she's not bleeding out. 00[01:02] <@Crion> The Mistress, to K.I.L.L.: "You'll want to stay down, dear." 00[01:02] <@Crion> Then she blinks and surveys the room. "Oh, bother. I've done it again." 00[01:03] <@Crion> "I really do need to talk to you about Peter. Especially with these reprobates looking for him. I need you to tell him I forgive him, and I want him to come home. If that's what he wants." 00[01:03] <@Crion> Icily: "You are absolutely forbidden from coercing him." 00[01:04] <@Crion> She softens a bit. "I respect why he left. I just want him to know I miss him." 00[01:05] <@Crion> She shakes her head. "Ah! This is embarrassing. And I really do apologize for the mess, and the...well, I couldn't just let you leave without delivering the message." [01:05] 6Nels, definitely not shaking: "And?" 00[01:08] <@Crion> "And! I look forward to hearing from Peter." She pauses. "Oh, for the next time we meet...can we agree to no contracts? Would that make you...more comfortable?" [01:08] 6I don't think any restrictions could make Nels feel more comfortable with such a meeting. [01:09] 6She says nothing, waiting for the others. [01:09] 5Tony: "No contracts that affect one another, between us, and you?" [01:09] 10Stewart looks up wordlessly. His black eyes flare the orange of embers flying from a harvest bonfire. The pact is sealed. 00[01:11] <@Crion> She nods pleasantly. "Indeed." Her voice grows quiet, and her face drawn. "I don't like doing this, you know." 00[01:11] <@Crion> Then the smile returns. "But now I must go. Ta!" 00[01:11] <@Crion> And she strides out. There's a rush of wind, and she's gone. 00[01:11] <@Crion> K.I.L.L. moans. 00[01:12] <@Crion> Loser: "Fuck. Fuck me." [01:12] 6That is maybe worse than a fight. No, definitely worse. "No. But - SHIT." [01:12] 5Tony looks at the bodies. They still in trees, that're still there? [01:12] 13Melanie lets go of the hands she was grabbing, tries to curl up, can't. She stands instead, shakily. 00[01:13] <@Crion> They are. [01:13] 10Stewart falls immediately to his hands and knees, gasping for breath. 00[01:13] <@Crion> K.I.L.L.: "I don't wanna do this anymore. I don't wanna...I don't..." She begins crying. [01:14] 13Melanie will process the Mistress. Later. At length. She wobbles just a little as she wanders over to K.I.L.L. [01:14] "Okay. We won't let you, anyway." [01:15] "Do you want to die? Is there something we could do to keep you out of this thing, if you don't want to die?" [01:15] 6Nels: "Let's try and - we've all just been through a lot." [01:15] 7Maggie leans heavily on the wall and moans. "Cheese and rice..." 00[01:15] <@Crion> Numbly, the pink-haired woman says: "All of them that held my Oaths are dead now." [01:15] 5Tony: "Are you kidding with this Melanie?" 5Tony's holding it together about as well as can be expected but also, as his rust-patina fades he's getting a lil het up. "Seriously, are you fucking kidding?" [01:16] "We can't allow her into the Freehold of Baltimore." [01:16] 5Tony gestures emphatically, "The only reason she wouldn't have killed us with a chainsaw is because she was shit at it, and they were shit at it, and we just got a "get out of murdering them ourselves" free card in the form of some crazy ex girlfriend!" [01:16] 13Melanie: "Does Philadelphia feel differently?" 00[01:17] <@Crion> Loser: "It does." She stands and walks over to K.I.L.L. "There's somewhere I can take her." [01:17] 10It's so hot in here. It's so hot. Stewart's forehead pressed against the floor is the only comfortable part of his body. [01:17] 13It's actually unclear to Melanie whether Tony is demanding that KILL be put down, or be released, or what. She stares at him in lieu of actually forming the words to ask. [01:17] 5Tony scowls. "Leave her on the fucking field, these assholes all deserve each other. 5Said while gesturing to K.I.L.L. and the bodies. 00[01:17] <@Crion> "You won't have access to her, but it doesn't sound like that would be healthy for anyone. Or necessary." 00[01:17] <@Crion> Loser, tightly, to Tony: "Noted." [01:18] 6Nels: "No. No, we're all -- augh. Can you tell me if she comes out okay?" [01:18] 5Tony turns on Loser. "Hey your shit's done now right?" 00[01:18] <@Crion> To Nels: "No one's coming out of this 'okay.'" 00[01:18] <@Crion> To Tony: "Yeah." [01:18] "Don't I know it sister. Still." [01:18] 5Tony: "So, we can't trust a word you say, starting about five seconds ago?" [01:18] 13Melanie: "Hahaha!" 00[01:19] <@Crion> Loser: "Sure." [01:19] 6Nels: "Tony, no. Let her go." [01:19] 5Tony throws his hands up and turns to walk away. "Extract the shit from your ears, I'm getting drunk." 00[01:19] <@Crion> She picks K.I.L.L. up to lean on her shoulder. "Again. You want to shoot me, here's my back." She heads for the door. [01:20] "Hey, Loser. Um, sorry, that doesn't feel like a good name, but- hey." 00[01:20] <@Crion> "Yeah?" [01:20] 6Nels: "Two weeks 'till moonshine." 6Gun's still drawn. Don't shoot Loser. [01:21] 13Melanie: "These are terrible circumstances, but I'm glad you got out. You really can't ever allow her back here though." 00[01:22] <@Crion> Loser: "...She'll be gone in a day or two. My safehouse is Hedge-side, so don't worry about her going to Baltimore. Philadelphia has a program." She sighs. "Gonna be a long trip." [01:23] 6Nels: "I'm gonna have words with, whoever okayed that. Because it was awful." [01:23] 10Finally, slowly, Stewart pulls himself to his feet. 00[01:23] <@Crion> Other than that...it's just the three corpses in the trees. And whatever else is in this Hollow. [01:23] 13Melanie: "Good luck." 13She'll go looking for Tony. [01:23] 7Maggie: "...let's go home." [01:24] 6Nels, suddenly exhausted: "...yeah." [01:26] 10Belatedly, and very quietly: "...I've got to go make my report." [01:27] 6Tell them that they're jerks, Nels doesn't say. [01:28] 5Tony's heading back to the Wherehouse and getting drunk enough to sound like Steve. That'll be the rest of his night, with big clamshell headphones on and no music playing. [01:46] 10Stewart asks Loser a couple of filling-in-the-blanks questions on the way back, and barely stops in the Hollow on the way out to the city. He doesn't even stop to take his shoes off before he settles in front if the Autumn box to report. [01:46] [01:46] [01:46] [01:46] [01:46] [01:49] [01:53] <--End report.> 00[01:56] <@Crion> Five minutes after he sends the report, an IM window pops open: QUOTH|THE|STEWARD|KING. 00[01:57] <@Crion> QUOTH|THE|STEWARD|KING: <'STEWART READER,' KNOWN OTHERWISE AS 'CRITICALMASS:'> 00[01:57] <@Crion> 00[01:57] <@Crion> [01:57] 10Stewart:  00[01:57] <@Crion> [01:59] 00[02:00] <@Crion> 00[02:00] <@Crion> [02:00] 00[02:01] <@Crion> [02:01] [02:05] 10Stewart doesn't sleep that night. He's up until well past dawn cleaning: he bleaches the kitchen from sink to stove, filling the air with its harsh and caustic smell. He dusts every inch of both bedrooms and sweeps over, under, and around all the furniture in the living room. It's almost noon, as he's scouring the thin layer of mildew that's built up on the tiles in the shower, when he [02:05] 10finally passes out. [02:14] 13Melanie spends a lot of time in the wherehouse common areas, standing still in inconvenient places. Thinking. 00[02:22] <@Crion> When Stewart wakes up, he'll have a couple messages from Lauren waiting -- seems like she sent him two really quickly while he was cleaning, then a third, and then let him be. [02:24] 10What are they? 00[02:25] <@Crion> and and then [02:26] 10It's about 4:30 pm when Stewart gets off the bathroom floor. Fuck, he's got to stream tonight. Eating pre-sliced pepperoni right from the bag and working on his second Red Bull Lauren gets a response just shy of 5.  00[02:27] <@Crion> She responds within two minutes. Maybe 90 seconds. 00[02:27] <@Crion> 00[02:28] <@Crion> [02:28] 00[02:28] <@Crion> [02:29] [02:29] 10That gives Stewart time to shower, shave, and change, but he still looks run ragged when Lauren arrives. 00[02:29] <@Crion> 00[02:30] <@Crion> In the native font, that's a kiss emoji. Anyway, we'll leave those kids to it. 00[02:41] <@Crion> And for those departed: 00[02:42] <@Crion> The Proctor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jz8c17upEwM -- I dig my hole, you build a wall. One day that wall is gonna fall. 00[02:43] <@Crion> Cambridge Son: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WptRf287DdI -- Clean out the bank and bump off your daddy! You can come live with us among the has-beens and the addicts! 00[02:43] <@Crion> --fin 00[02:48] <@Crion> Oh and one more. 00[02:48] <@Crion> K.I.L.L.: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=an6iivcWZhE -- I know my soul's freezing; Hell's hot for good reason. 02[11:46] * dammitwho (joanofarcta@sorcery-j9socb.dynamic.onlinenw.com) Quit (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa)) 03[11:46] * dammitwhoaaa (joanofarcta@sorcery-j9socb.dynamic.onlinenw.com) has joined #gofetch 03[11:46] * dammitwhoaaa is now known as dammitwho 02[15:46] * trenchfoot (dani@sorcery-jcvlv4.in.comcast.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[16:09] * trenchfoot (dani@sorcery-ms3qqj.iplsin.sbcglobal.net) has joined #gofetch 02[18:14] * trenchfoot (dani@sorcery-ms3qqj.iplsin.sbcglobal.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[18:35] * trenchfoot (dani@sorcery-jcvlv4.in.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch Session Time: Mon Oct 28 00:00:00 2019 03[02:54] * banana is now known as banana|split 02[04:05] * CBN (CBN@sorcery-ekluki.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[04:07] * CBN (CBN@sorcery-a7dqks.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) has joined #gofetch 03[10:21] * banana|split is now known as banana Session Time: Tue Oct 29 00:00:00 2019 02[22:11] * dammitwho (joanofarcta@sorcery-j9socb.dynamic.onlinenw.com) Quit (Quit: ) 03[22:15] * dammitwho (joanofarcta@sorcery-j9socb.dynamic.onlinenw.com) has joined #gofetch Session Time: Wed Oct 30 00:00:00 2019 02[05:11] * trenchfoot (dani@sorcery-jcvlv4.in.comcast.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[07:03] * trenchfoot (dani@sorcery-jcvlv4.in.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 02[12:30] * dammitwho (joanofarcta@sorcery-j9socb.dynamic.onlinenw.com) Quit (Quit: ) Session Time: Thu Oct 31 00:00:00 2019 02[03:09] * banana (banana@sorcery-skam65.com) Quit (Quit: ZNC - http://znc.in) 03[03:36] * banana (banana@sorcery-skam65.com) has joined #gofetch 02[05:51] * Disconnected 02[05:52] * Attempting to rejoin channel #gofetch 03[05:52] * Rejoined channel #gofetch 03[05:52] * Topic is 'Who botches the Botchmen?' 03[05:52] * Set by Crion!Crion@sorcery-puhjpa.fios.verizon.net on Sun Sep 22 02:37:29 2019 02[05:53] * @Crion (Crion@sorcery-puhjpa.fios.verizon.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [11:46] 13It's been some time. Long enough to think. [11:47] 5And for Tony to drink enough of the edges off. [11:49] 13Melanie paces around the largely-empty wherehouse. This is progress; she used to shuffle. Eventually she makes up her mind and her way to Tony's den. There's no door as such to knock on, so she'll just.. holler, shrouded in beads. "Bowen, can I please come in." [11:50] 5Tony: "'preciate you thinking it's a real door, c'mon in." [11:51] 5Tony's sitting on a recliner that doesn't let the bottom section extend, so he's got his feet up on a milk crate with a carpet sample on top. "What's goin' on?" [11:53] 13The other elemental looks visibly determined. Her Mask is pouting slightly; her real face doesn't exactly have lips but same energy. "I just wanted to ask you about some stuff. A lot happened, you know? And some things didn't happen?" [11:53] 5Tony: "Yup." [11:54] 5He pops open the minifridge he's resting his elbow on. "Thirsty? I got beer and beer." [11:55] 13Melanie: "Yes." 13She's good with liquid. [11:55] 13Melanie: "I remember, before we disembarked yesterday.. we were talking about whether it was ok to like, aspire to murder. In so many words. You were worried then, I wasn't, maybe I should have been, maybe not." [11:56] 13Melanie: "Sorry, sorry- I'm being vague because it's hard to, um, phrase things. Or feel things. Give me a moment?" 13She pops a tab. [11:56] 5Tony tosses her a beer without looking and closes the door with the practiced motion of a former popular teen athlete. "Yup." [11:57] 13..and then just kind of sits there for a moment, drinking. [11:59] 5This is Tony's resting state. This is his kingdom. This exact kind of moment is a zen garden laid out grain by grain on a vast desert of drinking and not talking. It is peace. [12:02] 13It brings back long forgotten memories. Random bedrooms at other-people's-house parties, illicit drunken gatherings until someone's parents got home early. Mindless fun. not quiet like this but with the same liminal irresponsibility. [12:02] 13Melanie: "Yesterday we set out to put some monsters in the ground, thinking ourselves righteous. That didn't happen, and instead there was something worse, a greater monster preempting our complicity. She wanted to make us vote on who lives and who dies." [12:02] 5Tony: "Mm-hm." [12:02] "If it's okay, I want to talk to you about that because you might understand. I might too, but definitely not the others." [12:03] 5Tony: "Well it's fucked up is what it is." [12:04] 13Melanie: "Yeah, I know! What's bugging me is.. who exactly is fucked up here? Besides everyone." [12:05] "Did you hear them answering that thing? 'Let her live.' I couldn't believe it." [12:05] 5Tony: "It's all fucked up." [12:06] 13Melanie: "It's like.. I wasn't going to play along with the monster's game or, um, couldn't. Not sure which, but I was really glad she couldn't read my mind or, um, didn't." [12:07] 5Tony: "I dunno about you but I spent forty years watching one of those things kill people and cleaning up after it already." [12:07] 5Tony: "So if I say I'm ok with doing that again, kinda fucked up for everybody else to go the other way on it." [12:07] 5Tony: "Kinda like, I'm still not getting to make my choices, you know? 5Beer finished. Beer started. [12:08] 13Melanie: "Yeah, I mean no, I didn't have do do cleanup but I watched pointless crap. For years and years and years. And so often my.. guy.. would get frustrated with his own stupid scripts and take it out on the 'actors'. We couldn't do anything. Apparently we still can't." [12:09] 13Melanie: "And so I was thinking, course chainsaw lady has to die, that's why we're here, because she was chasing people down the street with a chainsaw, but I'm not going to say that, I'm not going to be the tool of 'The Mistress', airquote, or a part in her play.. but like." 13She's finished her beer, but the can is safer to gesture with now. [12:09] 5Tony: "Well but like, at least we walk away after, but that's worse in its way too?" [12:10] 13Melanie: "No, that bit is fine. I'd rather leave and all be alive." [12:10] "Let's not get crazy here." [12:11] 5Tony: "Yeah but now what?" [12:12] "Nothing's done, nothing's ended, nothing's resolved. And if it was it wasn't us to do it. Us, or, 5he gestures towards the rest of the Wherehouse,  'us', made a thing not happen, so now, more shit's gonna happen later, and then that's on us-us, too." [12:13] 13Melanie: "Well that's why I'm thinking, do we need to.. re-evaluate. When several people I really like and trust, as well as a paranoid who calls herself a dragonslayer, are freaking, traumatised into taking any opportunity to beg for mercy even though it's a pantomime, even though it's mercy for chainsaw lady, is it wrong to.. um. Were we wrong to even be in that situation?" [12:15] 5Tony: "Well we had to be there, didn't we? First, otherwise Proctor and his crew would've kept doing their shit, then second, because the Loser needed help with whatever, even though, can I just say wow fuck her and that, and then third, we couldn't leave once we got there." [12:16] 13Melanie: "You speak with the ring of truth. The problem is.. may I have another beer, please?" [12:19] "The problem is this reasoning demands catharsis." [12:21] "It is a problem-solving mindset. It is self-inflicted. If we look at Proctor and see a monster, we can stop him, danger to everyone, brings back the bad memories, do something. If we look at Loser and see, ally in trouble, evaluate risk and opportunity, follow the leader. We're making demands of the Wyrd." [12:23] "I want to see a way to be ok with when you pull the lever marked Issue Solution and instead of Solving Issues it Dispenses Dissolution? Like. That would sound better in German." [12:23] 5Tony beers her. "You get a problem and you solve the problem." [12:23] 5Tony: "And if you can't get a problem, well." 5Long drink. "That's your problem." [12:24] 13Melanie: "But, you're right. If you can't get, you're applying solve-the-problem to not-even-an-option." 13Something seems to have gone wrong with her promise to be clear. [12:28] 5Tony: "So you're saying, or are you saying...uhh...think of not having the problem you thought anymore, AS solving the problem?" [12:29] 13Melanie: "Maybe just.. try to not build things up as a big conflict resolution point, because it won't go the way I imagine in my head?" [12:30] 5Tony: "So I shouldn't think of K.I.L.L. as being, as the kids are saying, 'on-sight' if she ever shows up around here again in any way?" [12:30] "Since it's dissolved or whatever." [12:31] 13Melanie: "If she comes by when you're on the porch with a shotgun and you manage to wing her in the leg, I will clap." [12:31] "If you didn't want mixed messages, this was too much beer." [12:33] 5Tony: "Too much beer is a problem you solve with time and then more beer." [12:34] 13Melanie: "I propose an alternative catharsis." [12:34] "But no that seems pretty clear?" [12:34] 5Tony: "Go on." [12:34] "If it doesn't go the way we want, we sit around and bitch about it." [12:35] 5Tony laughs. [12:35] "Coach always said you can't play the game you just lost, but, he's probably dead now." [12:35] "So what's he know anyway?" [12:36] 13Melanie: "My old coach gets like two million bucks a year because college is a scam." [12:37] 5Tony. "Wouldn't know. What's college like?" [12:38] "Like, in general." [12:41] 13Melanie waves a can again, more splashily. "Two versions. The first time round it was great.. only go to the classes you like, parties all the time, lots of boys. I had a couple years of that, I think? The dates don't quite line up with what I remember." [12:44] "Now on the other hand I don't get to play anymore but I'm actually learning things? Like someone who isn't a thoughtless moron? And actually gets to have even a basic understanding of the world, which is so big that it's worth.. profusions." [12:45] 5Tony: "Yeah but is it fun?" [12:47] 13In a tone of wonder: "Yes? The research takes about thirty hours a week and I don't even have a topic yet. Half of my cohort are, like, fanatic libertarians and the rest are being ground under tuition and healthcare costs but, for some reason, yes." [12:48] "Do you want to go at some point?" [12:48] 5Tony: "Do I have to say anything or can I just sit?" [12:49] "Also I never got my ged, is that a problem?" [12:51] 13Melanie: "For undergrad it's a bit like a production line, they expect most students to sit quietly and take notes. You should totally hook up with Nels for studying, she's doing the same thing." [12:53] "You know.. I have a fake undergrad that someone else got, Stewart's the same. You got interrupted in school, Nels was born before schools existed or something? I wouldn't be surprised if they prey on students. People with too-open minds." [12:53] 5Tony: "Oh well fuck yeah then. School can probably be fun when you aren't trying to keep an average for eligibility." [12:53] "That's a theory, I think mine just took me because it saw the varsity jacket and had a type." [12:56] 13Melanie: "I keep wanting to say weird cliches like 'you get out of it what you put into it'. These days they have like, propaganda about college for seniors, it's big business and a class marker." [12:58] "Bet you could get the Winter Court to pay tuition though. Don't take loans." [12:58] 5Tony: "Oh that sucks, I was just gonna go because that's where you play more football. Then I didnt, and now I mow lawns sometimes. Less now that Winter's got me doing shit at least." [12:58] 13Melanie looks dubious, which is a lot easier after the drinks. "What kind of stuff. I mean shit. I mean stuff." [12:59] 5Tony: "Oh I haven't killed anybody yet but I carried a body." [13:01] "Nothing BAD-bad." 03[13:01] * dammitwho (dammitwho@sorcery-hg1.ghk.53.137.IP) has joined #gofetch [13:02] "And I was supposed to kill Proctor and the Cambridge guy but, that one was out of our hands." [13:02] 13Melanie: "That's what you said you didn't wanna be doing anymore..." [13:02] "What are they like in Winter." [13:04] 5Tony: "Real sulky and they glare a lot. Which I figured was what we all just do before you guys came around." [13:05] 13Melanie: "Well, summer court people glare. Sometimes it's sultry, which is nice, but mostly it's because you like.. dug them out of the hole they're hiding in because the season changed and that's a Big Deal. I don't know. I don't, um, regret the choice, we're just.. all weird." [13:07] 5Tony: "Yeah I haven't talked to much of the other courts yet, it's like...I already know what table I'm supposed to sit at during lunch, and who I see in my free time, so I don't need to go sit with other people, do I?" [13:10] 13Melanie waves her arms to make an important point. "This is going to sound reaallllly hypocritical." [13:12] "It's hypocritical, but you're like.. free now to do stuff, in the world. School's out. The Hedge is behind us... I mean it's not.. for some reason we're living here, but there's a door. We, you don't have to be assigned seating anymore or work just to work.. the freehold courts are power, a structural role. They aren't clans." [13:12] "We could go to a club. We could start a band." 02[13:14] * dammitwho (dammitwho@sorcery-hg1.ghk.53.137.IP) Quit (Quit: (quit)) [13:15] 5Tony, more to himself but at a conversational volume: "I could write poetry." [13:16] "Conceivably." [13:16] 13Melanie: "There's probably someone who reads poetry." [13:17] 5Tony: "Hell yeah." 03[13:17] * dammitwho (dammitwho@sorcery-hg1.ghk.53.137.IP) has joined #gofetch [13:19] 5Tony tosses another empty in the cardboard box that was somehow just out of sight until now. "Well, I feel less like shit now." [13:21] 13Melanie: "I'm kind of sleepy. Things are basically okay." [13:22] "It happened but it ended." [13:24] 5Tony: "Stuff ended. How about that." 5Revelatory. [13:28] 13Seems like a good time to sit down for a while and not do anything. [13:29] 13Melanie: "Thanks though." 02[13:31] * Disconnected 02[13:31] * Attempting to rejoin channel #gofetch 03[13:31] * Rejoined channel #gofetch 03[13:31] * Topic is 'Who botches the Botchmen?' 03[13:31] * Set by Crion!Crion@sorcery-puhjpa.fios.verizon.net on Sun Sep 22 02:37:29 2019 03[13:31] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Crion 02[13:33] * Crion_ (Crion@sorcery-puhjpa.fios.verizon.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[15:13] * banana is now known as banana|peels 02[16:37] * dammitwho (dammitwho@sorcery-hg1.ghk.53.137.IP) Quit (Quit: (quit)) 03[17:51] * dammitwho (dammitwho@sorcery-hg1.ghk.53.137.IP) has joined #gofetch 02[18:00] * dammitwho (dammitwho@sorcery-hg1.ghk.53.137.IP) Quit (Connection closed) 03[18:21] * dammitwho (dammitwho@sorcery-hg1.ghk.53.137.IP) has joined #gofetch 02[18:24] * dammitwho (dammitwho@sorcery-hg1.ghk.53.137.IP) Quit (Quit: (quit)) 03[19:50] * dammitwho (dammitwho@sorcery-hg1.ghk.53.137.IP) has joined #gofetch 02[19:58] * dammitwho (dammitwho@sorcery-hg1.ghk.53.137.IP) Quit (Quit: (quit)) 02[21:21] * Disconnected Session Close: Thu Oct 31 21:21:39 2019 Session Start: Thu Oct 31 21:23:22 2019 Session Ident: #gofetch 03[21:23] * Now talking in #gofetch 03[21:23] * Topic is 'Who botches the Botchmen?' 03[21:23] * Set by Crion!Crion@sorcery-puhjpa.fios.verizon.net on Sun Sep 22 02:37:29 2019 02[21:23] * @Crion (Crion@sorcery-puhjpa.fios.verizon.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 02[21:40] * Disconnected 02[21:42] * Attempting to rejoin channel #gofetch 03[21:42] * Rejoined channel #gofetch 03[21:42] * Topic is 'Who botches the Botchmen?' 03[21:42] * Set by Crion!Crion@sorcery-puhjpa.fios.verizon.net on Sun Sep 22 02:37:29 2019 03[21:42] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Crion 03[22:36] * dammitwho (joanofarcta@sorcery-j9socb.dynamic.onlinenw.com) has joined #gofetch 00[23:05] <@Crion> 00[23:05] <@Crion> 00[23:05] <@Crion> 00[23:05] <@Crion> 00[23:05] <@Crion> 00[23:05] <@Crion> 00[23:06] <@Crion> 00[23:06] <@Crion> 00[23:06] <@Crion> 00[23:06] <@Crion> Well, that was certainly...a lot. [23:07] 10Long night. 00[23:09] <@Crion> There are four days left to Halloween, the second-biggest night in the Baltimore freehold social calendar and the big to-do that Autumn and Spring have been jointly planning since, oh, July or so. It's not actually a costume party, or at least not a normal one. This is the one night of the year -- and the vampires in the Court of Baltimore are in on this too -- where some of the restrictions 00[23:09] <@Crion> of secrecy and skullduggery are lifted. It's the one night of the year where, as long as you're not ridiculous with it, you can spend some time being who you are now: Mien, not Mask. Of course, you have to be very careful, and not go too far. But the Sidereal on Halloween will represent the greatest collection of supernatural power in the entire city: the Freehold, the Court, the Consilium, 00[23:09] <@Crion> and a couple other friends in high esteem all coming together to form something like a community. 00[23:10] <@Crion> After all, a mutual defense pact is nothing if you only hang out when you're fighting. 00[23:10] <@Crion> But! That's a couple days away. Stewart presumably has time to stream, hang out with Lauren, etcetera. How many subscription tiers does his Twitch account have, again? [23:14] 10He's got 1/2/3, at 5/10/25. He doesn't do a ton of exclusive content; besides the chat emotes higher tiers mainly give you more influence on the main stream, the ability to vote on builds, and for top tier subscribers the chance to play games with him on stream around once every two weeks. 00[23:26] <@Crion> So how does it strike him when lybarene21250 hits him with a tier 3 subscription with the subscription comment, "cool content bro...........really digging this though video games arent my thing"? [23:28] 10First he notices the zip code. Then he notices the name. [23:29] 10His voice catches as he reads out the sub message on-stream. 00[23:30] <@Crion> Does he have face cam? [23:31] "...thanks, man. Glad you're enjoying the stream." 10Facecam shows him wide-eyed and tight-lipped. It's another four seconds before he gets his focus back, but once you're delving around 600 or so that's enough. RESURRECT IN TOWN / RESURRECT AT CHECKPOINT 00[23:32] <@Crion> The account has added Stewart as a friend, but hasn't sent any other message in private. [23:35] 10Stewart... doesn't actually pick the game back up. He's futzing around in his hideout, playing dressup with different microtransactions, and engaging with the chat. Keeping a very, very close eye on the chat. Long conversation about the difference between 'good RNG' and 'bad RNG', a topic of dispute in the PoE community second only to griping about its shitty-on-purpose trading system. 00[23:45] <@Crion> It'll go idle -- for long stretches, even -- but it doesn't log off. [23:47] 10Finally Stewart can't take it anymore and shoots the new tier 3 subscriber with a private message. He doesn't know what to say, or how to say it, so he just reaches back to a few weeks ago when he felt the same way as he and Lauren first started flirting a lot. <...hey> 00[23:48] <@Crion> The response isn't immediate -- the user remains idle for a minute or so -- but as soon as the account comes off idle it immediately shoots back 00[23:49] <@Crion> lybarene21250: [23:49] 10Awkwardly Stewart sends at the exact same moment:  00[23:49] <@Crion> [23:49] 10Then:  [23:49] 00[23:50] <@Crion> lybarene21250: [23:51] [23:51] 10Fucking what. He just wants to-- what?? [23:51] 10Absolutely not. Under no circumstances. 00[23:51] <@Crion> [23:51] 10Stewart's heart drops like a stone. [23:52] 10The person on the other end doesn't see a response for five full minutes. [23:52] 10Stewart needs to rub his eyes a lot to focus on the screen. 00[23:52] <@Crion> [23:52] 10Finally:  00[23:53] <@Crion> He gives an address, but instead of in 21250, it's in 21228 -- Thistle, MD. 00[23:53] <@Crion> 00[23:53] <@Crion> [23:54] 10Stewart Google Maps it. What is he looking at? 00[23:55] <@Crion> Street view has it as a very nice two-story, one-family house, with a big lawn and a driveway with a modest black coupe and a...Catonsville Fire Department SUV in the driveway. There's a guy mowing the lawn, but his face is turned away. 00[23:56] <@Crion> Certainly has the body of a firefighter. [23:57] 00[23:57] <@Crion> 00[23:58] <@Crion> [23:58] [23:58] 10Right? 00[23:58] <@Crion> [23:58] 00[23:59] <@Crion> [23:59] Session Time: Fri Nov 01 00:00:00 2019 [00:00] 10Okay. Okay, fuck. FUCK. Fuck! "Fuuuuuuuuuck." 00[00:01] <@Crion> He logs off. [00:01] 10He texts Lauren.  00[00:01] <@Crion> Lauren: [00:02] 00[00:02] <@Crion> 00[00:02] <@Crion> 00[00:02] <@Crion> 00[00:02] <@Crion> [00:02] [00:02] 10He sends the address. 00[00:02] <@Crion> <...ok> 00[00:02] <@Crion> [00:03] < <3 > 00[00:03] <@Crion> < <3 > [00:04] 10It's after dark at this point, but not SUPER late. Stewart opts for a sweatshirt instead of a shirt-and-jacket. Sweatshirt won't get caught on anything if he has to run. [00:04] 10He thinks about taking the wand. [00:05] 10...it'll fit in his pocket, he won't even know it's there. [00:05] 10He feels better having it on him. [00:06] 10White knuckles stud the wheel on the drive out of the city. How long is it? 00[00:06] <@Crion> Once you hit 695 coming out of the city on 95 it's not long at all. Maybe 20 minutes if there's a postseason baseball game letting ouahahahahah. 00[00:07] <@Crion> Call it 15 once you hit the Inner Harbor, heading north on 95. [00:08] 10Hey, 97 was only like ten years ago. 00[00:08] <@Crion> Mmmm. [00:11] 10He's got music going in the car. Fireman's singing to him as he moves onto well-lit but largely empty residential streets. "...but my peace has always depended, on all the ashes in my wake.> [00:14] 10Choke comes on as he's pulling up to the address and he almost throws his phone out the window. [00:20] 10What greets him out front? 00[00:22] <@Crion> Porch light's on. CFD SUV is in the driveway; the black coupe's missing. And there in the crisp dark of the October night sits a man with a firefighter's build in jeans, boots, an open flannel shirt and a white v-neck undershirt beneath it, a cooler sitting next to him. In one hand, a Miller High Life. The other scratches the belly of a panting yellow lab. 00[00:22] <@Crion> He has Stewart's face. 00[00:22] <@Crion> ...Maybe a little bit more jaw. [00:23] 10... 00[00:23] <@Crion> He'll raise the beer in greeting as Stewart parks, assuming Stewart parks, but won't make any sudden moves. [00:24] 10The car comes to a stop out in front, but the engine doesn't die. The two of them look at each other for a moment before he pulls into the driveway, blocking the SUV in. Hopefully the guy thinks it's an accident. [00:26] 10The man on the porch sees someone with his face. Maybe a little less body fat, dressed in a blank gray sweatshirt and jeans. He turns his keys over in his fingers a moment before pocketing them and meeting the homeowner's gaze once more. [00:26] "Hey, Stewart." 00[00:26] <@Crion> He leans back and takes a sip, watching, relaxed. The dog, on the other hand, will leap up and bound at Stewart with joyful dog enthusiasm as soon as he gets out of the car. "Dammit, Beau!" shouts Stu Mankiewicz. 00[00:26] <@Crion> "Get on back here." 00[00:26] <@Crion> Beau, however, wants pats. 00[00:27] <@Crion> "Hey, Stewart." He stands and pauses. "I go by Stu. At first it just felt better. When I realized why, it felt more..." 00[00:27] <@Crion> He searches for a word. 00[00:28] <@Crion> "Respectful, maybe." [00:29] "Beau's a good boy," 10Stewart says, kneeling down to give the dog pats. [00:31] "Stu, huh? Is that with a U or with an E-W?" 00[00:31] <@Crion> "He recognizes his master," Stu says, not bothering to elide or play down the implication of that statement. "I go with the u; the e-w's food." 00[00:32] <@Crion> He gives Stewart a once over. "Neither of us look like what we used to, huh." [00:32] 10Stewart gives Beau one last rub and stands up. "You got fuckin jacked, dude." 00[00:34] <@Crion> He nods. "Yeah. I needed to. In the days after I...well, in the first days, I needed the discipline, you know? A way to center this shit." He ambles back to the porch. "I got whisky, rum, and some cokes in the cooler. If you want to sit." 00[00:35] <@Crion> Stu Mankiewicz -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idnJnjV_8rg So when you look at me, you better look hard and look twice; is that me, baby? Or just a brilliant disguise? [00:36] 10Something makes Stewart smile. If Stu can feel Glamour stirring within him, he might be able to deduce what's going on. He relaxes several notches almost instantly. 00[00:37] <@Crion> Stu's eyebrow raises a bit, but he says nothing. [00:37] "Yeah let me just - I promised to text my girlfriend I was okay so she wouldn't call for help." 00[00:37] <@Crion> He nods. "Wise." 00[00:37] <@Crion> He also seems to relax several notches. [00:38] 10Lauren get's a  [00:39] 10And Stewart gets on the porch. Is Stu inviting him inside? 00[00:40] <@Crion> Lauren: 00[00:40] <@Crion> Stu hesitates. "I thought you'd be more comfortable out here, but we can go inside if you want. If you're up for it." [00:40] [00:41] 10Stewart: "I kinda want to see your place." [00:41] "Is that weird?" [00:41] "No idea what is and isn't weird here." 00[00:41] <@Crion> Stu: "No weirder than the rest of this shit." 00[00:41] <@Crion> He picks up the cooler and leads the way in. [00:42] 10Stewart will hold the door open for Beau unless Stu tells him not to. 00[00:43] <@Crion> It's comfy and well-appointed, with new-looking hardwood floors and a piano in the living room. There's a parlor room that's been converted to a home office -- not Stu's, surely -- and a big TV. Kitchen is very nice; there are some dishes in the sink. Stu made a dinner for one. Basement door and a door upstairs. Stu will whistle for Beau. 00[00:44] <@Crion> There aren't many pictures, but there is one: Stu and Maura Mankiewicz, on their wedding day, on the wall over the piano. Stu carries the cooler into the kitchen. [00:45] 10Stewart stands in the living room, staring at the picture over the piano. 00[00:46] <@Crion> "There's more in the--" Stu walks back out of the kitchen and follows Stewart's eyes. "Ah, shit." 00[00:46] <@Crion> "I don't like having pictures up much. That one's...the exception. But I should've warned you." [00:48] 10Stewart's choking. His eyes burn. He shuts them for a long moment but when he looks Stu in the eye, they're clear. "This is a really nice place." 00[00:48] <@Crion> He grimaces and nods. "She decorated it." 00[00:48] <@Crion> "Anyway. The kitchen's clean. The kitchen's just a kitchen." [00:49] 10Nothing's just a kitchen. Not even The Kitchen's just a kitchen. 00[00:49] <@Crion> Perhaps so. But he leads on nevertheless. [00:49] 10But what Stewart says as he follows Stu into the kitchen is, "You said you have whisky?" 00[00:50] <@Crion> Beau does this weird thing where he insists on walking between your legs, as you're walking, which probably nearly trips Stewart over the first time it happens. Dog just loves getting in the way (more pets). 00[00:50] <@Crion> "Yeah, I -- dammit Beau, stop that -- have Jack and Crown Royal. Coke or diet for mixing." [00:51] 10Stewart never had a dog growing up. Dad was never home enough to take care of one. Maura, though. Maura loved dogs. He chokes again. Loves. [00:52] "Jack's good. Straight." 00[00:52] <@Crion> Stu blinks and nods, pulling a chilled tumbler from the cooler, wiping it with a clean towel to get the condensation off and pouring a liberal single pour. [00:53] 10That'll do. Stewart's got to drive home. He can drink properly then. 00[00:53] <@Crion> He finishes the last of his High Life, meanwhile, and cracks open another using the countertop. Even though those twist. [00:54] 10That makes Stewart smile despite himself. Tony and this guy would really get along. He sits at the table and sips his drink. "So, uh. How'd you find me?" 00[00:55] <@Crion> He hops up to sit on the counter across from Stewart. "Wasn't really my idea. Like I said, first time I've ever dreamed about a guy for a week straight." 00[00:57] <@Crion> "You've been back for 137 days." 00[00:57] <@Crion> "136 nights." 00[00:58] <@Crion> "I've been getting sleep, but I haven't been getting much rest." [00:58] 10Stewart does some math in his head. "Shit." [00:58] "I didn't- I didn't know it was like that." [00:58] "For you." [00:59] "What happened in the dreams?" 00[01:00] <@Crion> "Nothing good." He pauses to sip again. "So that game you play. Path of..." [01:00] "Exile." 10Kind of a pregnant word in the circumstances. Stewart has to force it out. 00[01:02] <@Crion> "Yeah. So when the dreams started, you were playing the game, but YOU were the...you know, main character. Whatever. You were the one burning up zombies and soldiers. And eventually you'd start burning up people I knew. And then me. And after me..." Stu trails off, shaking his head. "At first I thought it was ME in the dream, but I knew it wasn't, somehow. I also knew I wasn't going insane. 00[01:02] <@Crion> There was this urgency that this shit was real and immediate. Bought myself a shotgun without telling Maura." 00[01:03] <@Crion> He chuckles. "Which, like. I have a dream about a guy killing 20 dudes just by waving a magic wand. What's a shotgun going to do?" 00[01:03] <@Crion> "But there was this little voice -- this little voice whispering, telling me, do you believe all that?" 00[01:04] <@Crion> "So I didn't keep the gun locked and loaded under the bed, but in a gun locker. And I didn't go looking for trouble. And after a couple weeks -- bad weeks, man, bad weeks -- the dreams began to change." [01:04] 10Stewart stares at his drink and listens. 00[01:05] <@Crion> "They pulled back. I could see you were at a computer, playing a game. And sometimes you'd be in the game, and sometimes you wouldn't be. But eventually my feelings about it changed. It went from alarm and danger to feeling that I was, like. I don't know. Invading your privacy." 00[01:05] <@Crion> "That red-headed girl with the laser eyes, that's your girlfriend, right?" 00[01:06] <@Crion> He grins. "Don't worry, chief. The dreams only show me what happens in your computer room." [01:06] 10Stewart's voice is even. "Yeah. Her name's Lauren." 00[01:07] <@Crion> He nods. "I got the feeling I liked her, in the dreams. I always figured that was actually coming from you." 00[01:07] <@Crion> "Anyway." 00[01:07] <@Crion> "I don't think we can sever this connection, but I'm hoping maybe this sitdown will at least stop the dreams." [01:09] 10Stewart: "There are... people I know. People who study this kind of thing. And my boss, and his... the word we use is 'fetch'." [01:10] "He and his fetch think of each other as brothers. So there's gonna be some way to, to settle that down. If this doesn't do it, we'll find it." 00[01:10] <@Crion> "Mmmmmm." He takes another sip. "Guess that explains why I trained Beau on 'go get it, boy.'" [01:10] 10Stewart snorts. 00[01:10] <@Crion> The dog perks up, and Stu grabs a Nylabone from the counter and tosses it into the living room. "Go get it, boy!" 00[01:11] <@Crion> "...Never much liked that word." [01:11] "It's kind of a funny historical note. Like... the word we use for ourselves is 'changelings', after these old stories of babies getting snatched from their cribs. But in the stories, the changeling is, you know, the one who *doesn't* get taken." [01:12] "I don't actually know the etymology of... of that word. None of this is interesting at all, sorry." 00[01:12] <@Crion> "Makes sense you'd get the cool word." He seems to be taking this remarkably well, but then, he's been haunted by dreams for four months and seems to know pretty precisely what he is by intuition. 00[01:12] <@Crion> "You're not the first...one of you...I've seen." 00[01:12] <@Crion> "First changeling, that is. You're the first Stewart." [01:13] "You can see us? Like, you can see that we're not-- you get what I mean." [01:13] 10Stewart plucks at his sleeves, which have ridden up to expose the manacle scars. 00[01:15] <@Crion> He nods, grimacing at the scars. "That I can. And it almost got me killed. Was responding to a building fire near the university; active shooter on location, too. We go in with a cop escort. It's one of the satellite research buildings on the campus. We go in, using the floor plan, and the fire seems limited to just one conference room and lab set on the second floor. No sign of the shooter." 00[01:16] <@Crion> "We prep for a breach when the door opens and out walks this black guy, buff as hell, shirtless, completely on fire from the waist up. My EMT training kicks in, I run towards the guy before realizing his eyes and teeth are glowing. My buddies scatter, the cops draw down." 00[01:17] <@Crion> "He throws me aside, almost puts me through the big window bank across the hall, and kills two of the cops. Breaks the third's leg." 00[01:18] <@Crion> "We clean up, get the cop to the ambulance outside, and I ask Bryan -- partner on the line -- about that dude being on fire. He looks at me like I'm crazy." [01:19] 10Stewart: "Middle of summer?" 00[01:19] <@Crion> He nods. "I remember it because it was during the All-Star Break." Stu pauses. "You know him?" [01:20] 10Stewart: "By reputation. He doesn't get out much in the offseason. I expect I'll meet him come June at the latest." 00[01:21] <@Crion> Stu grimaces. "Well, be careful. I'm sure he had his reasons for doing what he did, but...you know, I always thought the Human Torch was lame?" 00[01:21] <@Crion> "The superhero." 00[01:22] <@Crion> "Not so much now." [01:22] 10Stewart: "He's not great but like, there's a dude whose only power is being stretchy right there to make him look good by comparison." 00[01:22] <@Crion> Stu laughs into his beer. [01:23] "I can't tell at all, by the way." 00[01:23] <@Crion> Then a wolf howl floats through the open kitchen window, and he straightens and pauses. 00[01:23] <@Crion> A couple seconds pass, and he relaxes. [01:23] "Like with you. You just look like a regular guy. Like anybody." [01:23] 10Stewart looks out the window. "Oh, uh. Werewolves are real, by the way." [01:23] "Vampires, too. Heads up." 00[01:23] <@Crion> Stu nods. "Yeah I get the feeling that if your guy knew what I was, I'd have gone all the way through that window." 00[01:24] <@Crion> Stu's sigh is long and rattling. "Yeah. Yeah, I guessed." 00[01:24] <@Crion> "Lot more missing pet posters in the neighborhood this year, than last year." 00[01:24] <@Crion> "Lot more missing kid posters." 00[01:24] <@Crion> "Lot more Ranger Service jeeps rolling around." 00[01:25] <@Crion> Stu: "Once you realize the world isn't normal -- and you're part of why it isn't -- you start to see a lot of shit." [01:25] 10Stewart: "Those guys are legit by the way. Tougher than SEALs and shit. Because they've got to deal with werewolves." 00[01:25] <@Crion> "I don't see much that often. Sometimes a woman at the grocery store has doe horns. Sometimes a bum with weird patterns glowing on his face. But enough to know things were real." 00[01:26] <@Crion> Stu pulls out his phone. "I took this last time the Park Rangers were rolling through. Look at this shit." [01:26] 10Could this be the Lodge of the Hook Hand? Stewart will look more into it later. Stewart peers at Stu's phone. 00[01:27] <@Crion> He shows Stewart a picture of a Ranger jeep from the rear, with a tier-one operator Ranger carrying an AR-15 nudging a tarp down over a much larger rifle. It's very clear what it is, though: https://images.fineartamerica.com/images/artworkimages/mediumlarge/1/barrett-l82a1-anti-materiel-rifle-andrew-chittock.jpg 00[01:28] <@Crion> "They use that shit against armored vehicles." [01:29] 10Stewart nods. It was pretty good in Fallout 4. [01:29] "If it helps, all the werewolves I know are pretty chill guys." 00[01:29] <@Crion> "So yeah. I wasn't much inclined to like woods anyway, given...all of this. But I'm thinking about trying to convince Maura to move." [01:30] 10Stewart, too quickly: "What?" [01:30] "I mean, where to?" 00[01:31] <@Crion> Stu politely pretends he didn't notice. "The city. She's looking at a position at Hopkins. Better than these fucking jackal private hospital gig.s" 00[01:31] <@Crion> *gigs 00[01:32] <@Crion> "Until then, I'm glad you know some good werewolves. Tell 'em to do something about the bad ones." [01:32] 10The tension Stewart didn't realize he was feeling eases up. "In the city there'll be more vampires than werewolves. But vampires like... police themselves, at least. I met the Sheriff of Baltimore once. The vampire Sheriff I mean." 00[01:33] <@Crion> Stu: "You're a real man about town." There's actually no mockery in there. 00[01:33] <@Crion> Another sip of the beer. 00[01:34] <@Crion> "I can see why--" 00[01:34] <@Crion> He shakes his head. [01:34] 10Stewart: "I try to keep busy, you know. Lot of people need help and-- what?" 00[01:34] <@Crion> He smiles tightly and crosses his arms. "She knows." 00[01:34] <@Crion> "She doesn't know that she knows, but she knows." [01:34] 10Deep breath. [01:34] "Shit." [01:35] "How do you know she knows?" 00[01:36] <@Crion> "On our honeymoon, she tells me--" He smiles wider, tighter, looking down. "She's drunk, we're both drunk, it's the second or third happiest night of her life after the ones before it, and she looks at me and she tells me: she's loved two men in her life. Both were named Stewart Mankiewicz." 00[01:36] <@Crion> "I smiled back. And for a long time, I had no idea what to do with that shit." 00[01:37] <@Crion> "You wake up one morning for the first time and you memories but it's only like you read them in a fucking book--" 00[01:37] <@Crion> Stu stops and gathers himself. 00[01:38] <@Crion> *you have [01:38] 10Stewart stands up abruptly. He turns to look in the living room. At the piano. [01:38] 10His fingers drum on the table. [01:38] 10Deep, shuddering breath. Then he's okay. 00[01:39] <@Crion> "So when I woke up Stewart I pushed her away. Pushed everyone away. Until I came back as Stu." 00[01:39] <@Crion> "...Your father doesn't like me much anymore," he says, finishing the beer. "But Mom's fine." [01:39] "Dad was never gonna like me after I grew up." [01:39] 10His back's still to Stu. 00[01:40] <@Crion> Stu: "Yeah. But you've got ironclad proof it's him, not you." [01:41] 10Stewart: "So you don't know anything about... about before that, or about where I was, or about... who made it happen?" 00[01:42] <@Crion> He shakes his head. "It's weird, though. I kinda hate video games. And computers." 00[01:42] <@Crion> "No offense." 00[01:42] <@Crion> "But I get the feeling maybe that was a thing." 00[01:43] <@Crion> "...Do you know what made me?" [01:43] 10Quietly: "Yeah." 00[01:43] <@Crion> Another bottle pops open. "And do I want to know what made me?" 00[01:43] <@Crion> "That's a bullshit question." 00[01:44] <@Crion> "How about: how much is learning what made me gonna suck?" [01:44] "Put it like this." [01:44] "The questions you're going to want to ask me are questions I'd refuse to answer if anyone else asked." [01:45] "Even Lauren." 00[01:45] <@Crion> "Well, fuck." [01:45] 10Even Maura, he can't bring himself to say. 00[01:46] <@Crion> Stu: "Let's go with this, then: what's the exposure. What's the danger to Maura?" [01:46] 10Stewart gets himself another single pour, stares into the tumbler for a second, and makes it a double. [01:47] "I don't know." [01:47] "I don't know how it thinks." [01:48] "I've spent so long trying to understand how it thinks." 00[01:48] <@Crion> "It took you. It made me to replace you." [01:48] "Yeah." 00[01:48] <@Crion> He sips his beer. "So it thinks, but it doesn't feel. If it does feel, it doesn't fucking care." 00[01:48] <@Crion> "It's a Terminator, basically." [01:49] 10Stewart barks a laugh at that. Finally he sits back down. [01:49] "It's Skynet." 00[01:49] <@Crion> Stu grimaces. "Yeah. The Terminator is me." 00[01:49] <@Crion> "You know I can choose not to feel pain?" 00[01:50] <@Crion> "Found that out the hard way." [01:50] "That must be scary." [01:50] "Pain's how you know shit's still working." 00[01:50] <@Crion> "I thought I'd lost my arm." 00[01:50] <@Crion> "Maura had me stay overnight for tests." [01:51] "And tests don't show anything weird?" 00[01:51] <@Crion> "Everything was fine...except I can stab myself through the hand and feel nothing." 00[01:51] <@Crion> "But I'm still losing blood, still suffering tendon damage...and when I stop thinking about it, stop concentrating -- oh, I feel it." 00[01:52] <@Crion> Stu shakes his head. "Nope. But I'm pretty sure the tests lie." 00[01:52] <@Crion> "...Sometimes I see myself in those dreams, you know." 00[01:52] <@Crion> "And I look like this." 00[01:53] <@Crion> He takes a deep swig. "But I'm made of asbestos. Scrap metal. Nonflammable trash." [01:53] 10Stewart: "Asbestos?" [01:53] "You're not like... kicking fibers into the air or anything, right?" 00[01:54] <@Crion> He's quiet for a minute. "...You can buy asbestos testing kits." 00[01:54] <@Crion> "After the first dream I had when I saw...that." 00[01:54] <@Crion> "I lied to Maura, told her I was working an early shift." 00[01:54] <@Crion> "And after she left, checked the house." 00[01:54] <@Crion> "It's clean." 00[01:55] <@Crion> Another swig. "I'm not really sure what I'd have done if it wasn't." [01:55] 10Stewart looks down at the grain of the table. "Yeah." [01:55] "I can open any lock in the world, pretty much. Walk into any home like I own it. I can listen to someone's heart and hear the song their soul sings itself. I can listen deeper and hear their darkest desire." [01:55] "But the pain... the dial only goes up." 00[01:55] <@Crion> He grimaces. "So that's what you were doing." 00[01:56] <@Crion> "Was it a good song?" [01:56] "You like Springsteen?" 00[01:56] <@Crion> "Hell yeah." 00[01:56] <@Crion> Then his face falls. "Oh come on--" 00[01:56] <@Crion> "Really?" 00[01:56] <@Crion> "Brilliant Disguise?" [01:57] 10Stewart: "They're not all that. Gerald, he's- he's my boss's brother, has something completely different." [01:57] "I don't think it's about you being what you are. I think it's about, you feel like you're living someone else's life." [01:57] "You can be what you are and not feel like that." 00[01:57] <@Crion> "Your boss's--" He catches the meaning and nods gratefully. 00[01:58] <@Crion> "I thank you for saying that. I just don't think anyone ever imagines themselves being that...predictable." 00[01:58] <@Crion> Stu is quiet for a minute: "I tried to do a lot of work, to make it my life. As much as I could." [01:59] 10Stewart: "I have no idea what my song is." 00[01:59] <@Crion> Stu: "Might be a blessing." [01:59] "Lauren knows. We promised not to tell each other our songs." [01:59] "That was the first promise we ever made to each other." 00[02:00] <@Crion> He nods. "I can respect that." [02:00] "If it helps, pretty much everyone's songs are... not predictable, that's not the word I'd use. But they resonate." 00[02:01] <@Crion> Stu: "I guess that's the way it should be." 00[02:01] <@Crion> He finishes the beer and opens a fourth, because he's not going to have to drive. 00[02:01] <@Crion> "We should--" 00[02:01] <@Crion> Another wolf howl. Closer. 00[02:02] <@Crion> And two more answer. 00[02:02] <@Crion> Stu grabs Beau's collar. 00[02:03] <@Crion> He drops down off the counter and peers out the window. [02:03] "Listen, if you ever feel like you guys are in danger, from werewolves or, or whatever, there's a place I have that's safe. No one can get in unless we want them to." [02:03] "Me and, uh, my friends." 00[02:04] <@Crion> "Shut up and get down." 00[02:04] <@Crion> "There's something out there." [02:04] 10Stewart gets down. "You saw the shadow too?" 00[02:05] <@Crion> "Yup. And he's upright. That's new." 00[02:05] <@Crion> "Do me a favor. Get to the family room. Turn on the TV. Turn on the sound system. Turn on the lights. 00[02:05] <@Crion> " 00[02:06] <@Crion> Stu straights and lets go of Beau's collar, walking to the backdoor and making sure it's firmly shut. [02:06] 10Stewart does. Stu sees him walk into the living room with a fancy-looking long thin piece of dark metal in his hand. 00[02:08] <@Crion> Then he turns on the lights in the kitchen, walks into the living room, turns on the lights there...and sits down at the piano. 00[02:08] <@Crion> "You said Springsteen, right?" he calls out. [02:08] "Yup!" 00[02:09] <@Crion> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0u9zYJj4yk0 You can hide beneath the covers and study your pain; make crosses from your lovers and throw roses in the rain... 00[02:10] <@Crion> Stu doesn't have to say that this is cover. 00[02:10] <@Crion> Is Stewart watching the treeline? [02:10] 10This is like the only Springsteen song Stewart actually likes. Of course he's watching. 00[02:11] <@Crion> The shadow is joined by another, almost eight feet tall...and then both melt back into the darkness of the wood. 00[02:13] <@Crion> Whatever they are, they're at least not going to hit a house with the lights on. [02:13] 10Stewart, quieter than the piano but still audible: "They're gone. It worked." 00[02:15] <@Crion> Stu sighs, stands, and pets Beau, who is wagging his tail and has spent this entire tense affair bouncing back and forth searching for attention. "That just means they're going to kill someone else." 00[02:15] <@Crion> "...But I'll take it." 00[02:16] <@Crion> Then in the distance, automatic rifle fire...and the boom of something bigger. 00[02:16] <@Crion> It goes on for some time. [02:16] "Maybe not, after all." 00[02:16] <@Crion> Eventually it stops, but it isn't cut off. 00[02:16] <@Crion> And there is no more howling. 00[02:17] <@Crion> Stu: "Yeah. We'll see." 00[02:18] <@Crion> He's back in the kitchen, and has picked up his beer. "I expected to like you. I didn't expect to like you this much." [02:18] 10Stewart: "I know exactly what you mean." 00[02:18] <@Crion> "But it brings us to the big question. The big...issue, you know." 00[02:18] <@Crion> "Maura." [02:19] 10Stewart hasn't said her name since he crawled through the Thorns, and he's not about to start now. "Yeah." [02:19] "Listen." [02:19] "There are two things I want to say." 00[02:19] <@Crion> Stu nods. [02:20] 10He finishes his double in one long pull. Sets the tumbler on the table, taps it once, twice against the wood, a tiny ritual. [02:21] "As far as I'm concerned... as far as anyone I respect is concerned... this is your life. This is your house. This is your job, your dog, your family." 00[02:21] <@Crion> Beau barks happily. [02:22] "The stuff that happened to make that true doesn't matter. It wasn't your fault. It wasn't mine. It wasn't anyone who's anyone to either of us." [02:22] "You built this up, you took this places I never would have. And you're a good man. You have a good heart. You deserve a good life." [02:23] 10His voice comes out much firmer than it feels in his throat. "But I need to see her." [02:23] "I don't know when, or how." 00[02:23] <@Crion> "Yeah," Stu says. 00[02:24] <@Crion> He pours himself some whisky, now. "That's gonna be a hell of a conversation. Or it's not." 00[02:24] <@Crion> "She's pregnant." [02:25] 10Stewart manages to throttle his gut reaction until all that surfaces is a Scanlon Blink. [02:25] "How far along?" 00[02:27] <@Crion> "Not enough to show." He chuckles, barks a laugh, then grimaces. "It's a fucked up, fucked up world where you wonder if you're the father, not because you think she's cheating -- and I don't -- but because you don't think you're even a person. That you don't even have the means to do that." 00[02:27] <@Crion> "I just gotta believe." 00[02:28] <@Crion> "But that's the American dream, right?" he asks, finishing the whisky. "A pile of cancerous trash, making something better." [02:33] "You know, the first time I fully realized we were different people. It wasn't you typing like Dad, it wasn't that you're jacked, or have a dog. It was when you talked about what a gut punch it was to hear her say she'd loved two men in her life. Cause it meant she knew, even if just on like a pre-articulate level." 00[02:33] <@Crion> Stu blinks. [02:33] "But if it was me, that would make me feel... like I'd won. Like I'd earned it. Whatever happened before, I'd won her heart. Fair and square." [02:34] 10Stewart: "I bring this up because... you can't, usually, have kids. Guys in your position, I mean. But there are documented cases. A lot of this shit sounds fairytale, cause it fucking is, but the nagic that undergirds - that makes it possible, is true love." 00[02:34] <@Crion> He blinks again. Then he laughs. "You're fucking with me. Are you fucking with me?" [02:34] "I am not fucking with you." 00[02:35] <@Crion> He falls back against the countertop, laughing. "Christ I feel like such an asshole." [02:35] "Why?" 00[02:36] <@Crion> "Because I've wasted so much time in my life beating the shit out of myself." 00[02:36] <@Crion> "Literally and figuratively." [02:36] "Yeah." [02:36] "Yeah, I get that." 00[02:37] <@Crion> "And once you, get the house, and the car, and the dog, that doesn't just affect you. It doesn't just affect you." 00[02:37] <@Crion> "Thank you, Stewart. Thank you for coming by." 03[02:37] * banana|peels is now known as banana [02:37] "Thank you for inviting me." 00[02:38] <@Crion> He pours two glasses of water, and pushes one to Stewart. Taking one for himself: "We'll figure out the Maura thing. I won't make a move until you're ready." [02:38] 10Stewart takes the water gratefully. [02:38] "Hey, um. I could maybe put you in touch with a guy who could like... onboard you, into knowing more about yourself. What you can do, how you work, stuff like that." [02:38] "Is that something you'd be interested in?" 00[02:38] <@Crion> Stu nods. "Yeah. I mean, I'd say no, maybe, but there's fucking werewolves in the woods." [02:39] "Yeah." [02:39] "Do you have a number I can reach you at? A time when you could take a call like that safely? I'll see about setting this up." 00[02:39] <@Crion> He pulls a pad off its magnet on the fridge, and a pen from a drawer, and writes down three phone numbers. One's his cell, one's the house number, one's the fire station number. 00[02:41] <@Crion> "If you call the station, or here and I don't pick up, say you're Isaac, calling for Stu. And...don't call here unless you've got no other choice. The phone isn't the best way for that first contact." [02:43] 10Stewart: "Got it. The man who'll probably be getting in touch, his name is Gerald. Gerald Kingsley." 00[02:43] <@Crion> Stu nods. "I'll look out for it." 00[02:44] <@Crion> He'll walk Stewart back to his car. [02:44] "Man." 00[02:44] <@Crion> Better to move in groups. [02:44] "I was so fucking scared when I got that message on the stream." 00[02:44] <@Crion> Stu pauses. "Why? Skynet?" [02:45] 10Stewart: "No, I knew right away it was you. I just... I didn't know you at all. Didn't know anything about you, except where you came from." 00[02:46] <@Crion> Stu: "We can change that." [02:46] "I don't get dreams or anything. All I know is what I saw when I looked you guys up on Facebook, which you're barely even on. Smart, by the way." 00[02:46] <@Crion> "Yeah, fuck that thing." [02:46] "Yeah. Yeah, I'd like that." [02:46] "Getting to know you, I mean." 00[02:47] <@Crion> He nods, leaning back against the SUV. "I'll be in touch. Even if Maura knows already, actually...knowing...is gonna be some shit." [02:47] "Yeah." [02:47] "But she'll have us." [02:47] "And we both love her." 00[02:48] <@Crion> For the first time, Stu smiles without any reservation. "Yeah." 00[02:48] <@Crion> "Drive safe, bro." [02:48] "Thanks. Say bye to Beau for me." 00[02:48] <@Crion> "Will do." 00[02:48] <@Crion> He'll offer a hand to shake. [02:49] 10Stewart will shake. His grip's a lot weaker than Stu's but the look in his eye is just as firm and purposeful. 00[02:49] <@Crion> Stu's is the same, but at the end he pulls Stewart in close for a quick shoulder-bump half hug. Then he'll let go, step back, say goodnight, and head back inside. [02:51] 10Stewart finds himself gasping for breath as soon as he buckles in. The vertigo of the moment, of feeling like he's drifting in and out of a dream, makes the world spin around him. But he recovers. Starts the car and texts Lauren.  00[02:52] <@Crion> 00[02:52] <@Crion> [02:52] 00[02:53] <@Crion> [02:55] [02:55] 00[02:55] <@Crion> [02:55] 10He's driving now, so he can only respond at lights. [02:55] 00[02:57] <@Crion> [02:57] 00[02:57] <@Crion> 00[02:57] <@Crion> 00[02:58] <@Crion> < <3 > [02:58] 10He's got to tell Lauren about Maura. Some other time, though. [02:59] 10This is enough for one night. Enough for 136 nights. 00[02:59] <@Crion> Gerald calls precisely five minutes later. "Hello, Stewart." 00[03:00] <@Crion> He sounds pleasant but detached. So, Gerald. [03:00] 10Stewart's got him on speaker, with the phone in the cradle. "Evening, Gerald. Lauren told you what's up?" 00[03:01] <@Crion> "She has. The boy's a firefighter, then?" [03:03] 10Stewart: "Yeah, Catonsville FD. He saw the Young Street tearing shit up in a reseaech building at UMBC once. Street almost put him through a window without thinking." 00[03:03] <@Crion> "Haha, fuck. Thought the King was on fire, did he?" [03:03] "Human Torch comparisons were made." 00[03:04] <@Crion> Gerald snorts. "Human Torch is a moron. I'll let you in on a secret: The Young Street might come off as paranoid or venal off-season, and as a fucking barbarian king on-season, but Street never does anything without thinking." 00[03:04] <@Crion> "I know that incident." [03:05] "Yeah, I mean I don't know him, but if he was that kind of guy he wouldn't be Vigilant, right?" 00[03:06] <@Crion> "The cop he spared works for Summer. Present tense. And she wasn't even that hurt, that was a pure work. The other two though? Well. Our night on the docks isn't the first time something had to happen. Like you say, the Vigilant plays chess." 00[03:06] <@Crion> "Three birds, one stone. Anyway." 00[03:08] <@Crion> "How much does he know?" 00[03:08] <@Crion> "Other than the Street." [03:10] 10Stewart: "Not a lot. I told him some stuff. Some werewolves brushed up against the property but it sounded like Park Rangers got them. But he knows he can clock changelings and he knows he can inure himself to pain. He knows he's not a danger to anyone he loves. He knows he's gonna be father." [03:10] 10Stewart: "Not a lot. I told him some stuff. Some werewolves brushed up against the property but it sounded like Park Rangers got them. But he knows he can clock changelings and he knows he can inure himself to pain. He knows he's not a danger to anyone he loves. He knows he's gonna be father." 00[03:10] <@Crion> Gerald: "Good god damn." 00[03:10] <@Crion> "He own a gun?" [03:11] "Shotgun. Bought it when I came back." [03:11] "Bad dreams, apparently." 00[03:12] <@Crion> Gerald: "That'll happen. Shotgun's a good choice. Firefighter, so he's gonna be a tough one. Sounds like he's got the mindset. We can work with that. He knows Heart of Wax already, so this goes right to the important conversations." 00[03:12] <@Crion> "The ones about keeping people he cares about safe." [03:13] 10Stewart: "He's a good man." [03:13] "I like him." [03:13] "Never had a brother before." 00[03:14] <@Crion> Gerald chuckles. "It's not all roses. Especially not if you work together." 00[03:14] <@Crion> "...But I'm glad that worked out. I look forward to meeting him." 00[03:14] <@Crion> "What name is he using?" [03:15] 10Stewart: "He's Stu-with-a-you. Mankiewicz is our- is his last name. Stu Mankiewicz. Dog's name is Beau." 00[03:16] <@Crion> "Good dog. And Stu's a good way to play that." 00[03:16] <@Crion> "I'll call him tomorrow and let him set the schedule." [03:16] "Thanks." 00[03:17] <@Crion> "No, thank you," Gerald says. "It's always good when two of us reconcile." 00[03:17] <@Crion> "It means they don't win." [03:18] "I mean I couldn't live here with him just across the city line without... doing this. And it sounds like he couldn't either. And we're alike enough that we tried talking first." 00[03:19] <@Crion> Gerald: "Yeah. We're people, you know. With all that comes with it: people can be bad and fucked up. They often are. I'm glad Stu's one of the good guys." 00[03:19] <@Crion> "I'll let you go." [03:20] "Alright. Thanks again." 00[03:20] <@Crion> "Yep. I'll check in tomorrow. Good night, Stewart." [03:22] "Night." 10Stewart spends the ride home in silence. 03[04:04] * banana is now known as banana|split 03[09:23] * banana|split is now known as banana [10:32]  [10:41] 13From: paperbark@summer.ctl [10:41] 13To: manbat@losfoundation.org [10:41] 13Subject: The end of P [10:41]  [10:41] Greetings Mr. L, [10:41]  [10:41] It's done with complications. "Death is [..] far from having the kind of being of something not yet present" &c. I can give you the details when you're available. [10:41]  [10:41] M apparently 03[13:32] * banana is now known as banana|peels Session Time: Sat Nov 02 00:00:00 2019 00[00:45] <@Crion> 00[00:45] <@Crion> 00[00:45] <@Crion> 00[00:45] <@Crion> 00[00:45] <@Crion> 00[00:45] <@Crion> 00[00:45] <@Crion> 00[00:45] <@Crion> 00[00:45] <@Crion> 00[00:48] <@Crion> The night before Halloween. Mischief Night. Devil's Night. Devil's Eve. ...Cabbage Night? Most call it nothing at all, but it's a Wednesday this year, and that means Stewart's probably streaming, if only because he's probably cancelled his Thursday stream due to a social event over at The Sidereal. Lauren will IM him near the end of his usual schedule, however: after midnight> 00[00:48] <@Crion> [00:55] 10Stewart assumes that one day their relationship will settle down to the point where thr prospect of her coming over doesn't put a big goofy smile on his face. He hopes it isn't soon, though.  00[00:56] <@Crion> She knows he doesn't eat on stream. [00:58] 10People eating on stream is one of Stewart's biggest pet peeves. He gets the necessity, sometimes.  00[00:59] <@Crion> 00[00:59] <@Crion> [00:59] 00[01:01] <@Crion> She arrives in just under forty minutes in sweatpants, a gaming tee, and a hoodie. Starting to actually get cold at night. She got a double order of the crab rangoon to go with the soup, and will spend no longer than fifteen seconds kissing him at the door before putting the food down at the counter. [01:01] 10He gives the apartment a pass to tidy it up, and... can't find anything to do to it. He's been cleaning a lot, lately. [01:01] 10Mmm. 00[01:02] <@Crion> One assumes Stewart doesn't eat at the rig? 00[01:02] <@Crion> Streaming or not. [01:02] 10Oh god no. Think of the crumbs! He's got a little table in a corner of the kitchen. Only two chairs. 00[01:03] <@Crion> How's the ventilation in this building? How's the heat? Does he get rattling pipes, because they're turning the radiators back on for the winter now. 00[01:05] <@Crion> If the temperature in here is over 73 degrees, Lauren's going to want to crack a window. [01:06] 10The building's reasonably old, at least as Stewart, a child, reckons the age of things. The radiators are steam, so the pipes rattle from time to time. There's a nice through-breeze most days when windows at both ends of the apartment are open, though true ventilation requires opening the windows in the office, which is a no-go during work hours. He doesn't even have an AC in there because [01:06] 10of the noise. [01:06] 10Stewart'll let her crack a window. He's wearing a sweatshirt already. [01:07] 10Stewart: "How's work?" 00[01:07] <@Crion> She will do so, then curl up into her chair with one of the two packets of "fried cream cheese wontons." 00[01:07] <@Crion> "It sucks! I hate it. It's fine." 00[01:07] <@Crion> "I had to go down into the vault both yesterday and today." [01:09] "For the Street? What happened?" 00[01:10] <@Crion> She rolls her eyes while chomping on a rangoon. When she's finished her bite: "He keeps melting his CAT5s." 00[01:11] <@Crion> "So, Swordhome -- they call that place Swordhome -- has everything running through metal walls. A whole metal environment. If you want to cable something, unless you insulate it, it'll be touching metal. And even if you DO insulate it, sometimes it'll get too hot." 00[01:11] <@Crion> "It's INTOLERABLY hot down there, when the Street gets angry." [01:12] "How often does the Street get angry?" 00[01:12] <@Crion> She chomps down on a second. "60 times an hour." 00[01:12] <@Crion> "24 hours a day." 00[01:13] <@Crion> "So. The network is new. The server room is fucking sealed off and plugged. 00[01:13] <@Crion> "BUT!" [01:13] 10Swordhome is a sick name for a hideout, Stewart thinks. Sounds like something out of an old Ultima game. 00[01:14] <@Crion> "It has to be wired, at least out to a router, because of the requirements of the walls. And even then the way the place is built plays havoc on wireless signal." 00[01:14] <@Crion> "You know they ripped it out of the Hedge and brought it back, right?" 00[01:14] <@Crion> "Turned an overpass into a portal. 00[01:14] <@Crion> " 00[01:15] <@Crion> "Buried it beneath an empty lot and built a club over it." 00[01:15] <@Crion> She shakes her head. "That's one way to protest losing your Hollow." [01:15] "What'd he lose it to?" 00[01:16] <@Crion> "The Killer, The Crown, and The Case. Three hobs that aren't around anymore," she says. [01:17] 10Stewart nods, mouth full of the first third of his crab rangoon quota. Could be worse. 00[01:17] <@Crion> "Anyway you're not supposed to be able to yank two storey buildings out of the hedge, much less encased in a bank vault." [01:17] 10After finishing the bite. "Did they use, like, trucks, or did they just full-on Superman it?" 00[01:17] <@Crion> "And you can't Hedgespin anything on THIS side, of course, so everything has to be done by hand." 00[01:18] <@Crion> Lauren: "A combination of the two, I think. Kingsley or Marcus knows for sure, but it was before my time. I get the feeling they spent a LONG time planning and preparing." [01:20] "Have they ever given any thought to like, a water cooling system? Treat the whole building like a giant PC case." 00[01:21] <@Crion> Lauren: "Power costs are already absurd for the network room, which is water-cooled. The problem is that Summer guys tend to heat shit up, especially the Street. So the best thing is to keep that room locked down, cooled, and reflective. 00[01:22] <@Crion> "The cables coming out of it, though, were melting. So first we tried some gasket insulation, because the melting always seemed to be at the point of contact with the wall." 00[01:23] <@Crion> "That worked for a little bit. Enough for me to go home. But today I got called back in because of OTHER failures later down the chain." 00[01:23] <@Crion> "And it was always going TOWARDS the Street's office. Not away." 00[01:24] <@Crion> She sighs. "So what I ended up doing was putting his PC in a different room from his desk and making it a hotspot his phone auto-connects to." 00[01:24] <@Crion> "If he fucks up his phone, not on me." [01:24] "That's really smart." 00[01:25] <@Crion> Lauren rolls her eyes again, but they flash with pleasure. "If I was smart I would have done that in the first place instead of wasting a day padding pass-throughs." [01:26] "See that's like a, a PvE idea of intelligence." [01:26] "You gotta look at the leaderboards. The next-smartest person figures that out in a week. Stuff like that." 00[01:27] <@Crion> She snorts, but appreciatively. Then eats another rangoon. 00[01:27] <@Crion> "Sooooooooo. The Prince...doesn't want to play Destiny 2." [01:27] "Oh?" [01:28] 10That's a relief. Stewart's not even at like baseline-endgame yet. 00[01:29] <@Crion> "I'm trying to think of the polite way to say this." She pauses. "There's no polite way to say this. You know how sometimes French people will tell Americans trying to speak French to them, in broken English, to just speak their own language? Because they're such snots they rather disgrace your tongue than theirs?" 00[01:29] <@Crion> "He's kind of like that. He wants to play Path of Exile." [01:29] 10Stewart: "What, like, party up?" 00[01:30] <@Crion> "Yeah. He downloaded it earlier today. He wants to voice chat. Won't trust you unless I'm there." [01:30] 10Stewart: "So your reputation's on the line. Lot of pressure." [01:31] "Besmirching the name of Lauren Ipsum? Couldn't be me." 00[01:31] <@Crion> She laughs at that. "I carried his ass through the last two raids. What's he going to do, go pubbie?" [01:32] "Do you know how much he knows? PoE's got a pretty steep learning curve." 00[01:33] <@Crion> Lauren: "Oh, he knows what Diablo is, and he knows it's like that. And he knows it takes 'less skill' than Destiny 2 or Call of Duty, because he's a little shitlord. But he's quite adaptable and smart once you get past all that." [01:34] 10Stewart: "Alright, sounds like we'll be able to just get in the game then. Two things. One is, have you ever noticed him get real mad at something it wasn't obviously stupid to say or do? Like, I don't wanna - you know, cause a diplomatic crisis or something." 00[01:35] <@Crion> She waves a hand. "His attention span is 13 and his voice is 13, but he's not going to drop gamer words or start screaming if things don't go perfectly." [01:37] 10Stewart: "Okay, cool. I was a little more worried about him acting like a 400 year old than a 13 year old, but it sounds like that's not a big deal. Second is, what do I call him? Is it just Lister? Am I gonna be going 'that's a staff skill, your majesty, you can't use it with axes'?" 00[01:37] <@Crion> Lauren, munching on another wonton: "I call him Listy when I'm annoyed with him. He hates it." 00[01:37] <@Crion> "Lister's good." [01:38] "Langford Lister." 00[01:38] <@Crion> "Ugh, don't speak that into this world." [01:39] "Did I tell you that that first night back in September when we got motley'd up, List gave us a pep talk about like, the different roles in a WoW raid?" 00[01:40] <@Crion> Lauren cackles at that. "That's SO like him!" 00[01:40] <@Crion> "He games with his kid." [01:41] 10Stewart's face does not get weirdly tight at all, and he's not visibly thinking about how many children he might have had by now. [01:41] "That's cool." [01:42] "How old's his kid?" 00[01:43] <@Crion> "Man, Dante's gotta be...15, now?" Her smile fades a bit. "They don't get much time together. That's the impression I get, at least. So during summer vacation when school's out and he's not running the Summer Court, they sort of fall down a gaming hole." [01:45] 10That's a hell of a lot more than he ever got from his dad. No, no, no, hold up, this is a tailspin, you're tailspinning, Stewart. Briiiing it back. There's a slightly too long pause before he says: "So do you want the big chair or one of these?" 00[01:46] <@Crion> "Since the face cam's off, I could just sit on your lap..." Her eyes flash. "But this chair's fine." [01:47] 10All dark clouds are banished. Stewart grins. "Cool. Let's clean up and then I'll log on." 00[01:48] <@Crion> Turns out she left him all six of the second packet of crab rangoon. 00[01:49] <@Crion> Anyway, once you're all settled in, the account you'll need to friend is leprincedesjoueurs. [01:49] 10Stewart doesn't know a lot of French, but he knows 'gamer' in several languages. "God damn, that's a handle." 00[01:50] <@Crion> Lauren: "He bought it off someone." [01:51] 10Stewart sends a friend request. Let's see what's up. 00[01:51] <@Crion> She is not, actually, in Stewart's lap, but she is as close to him as her chair can get her, nominally so she can yell at the Prince through the mic. 00[01:51] <@Crion> The friend request is instantly accepted, and Stewart is whispered a Discord link. [01:51] 10This is nice. Wouldn't want to get too distracted. Let's hop into Discord. [01:52] 10Stewart plays with a table mic and no headset, so they'll both hear everything. 00[01:54] <@Crion> Nevertheless: as close to him as her chair can get her. The server is called Baltimore eElysium, with a couple different accounts logged on -- Lister, TheCount, Hailey5 and, uhhh, HerrDoktor -- and there's an audio channel called LE CHEMIN DE L'EXIL, with just Lister in it. 00[01:55] <@Crion> Looks like it's open to join. [01:55] "HerrDoktor, huh." 00[01:55] <@Crion> Lauren's voice is suddenly very serious. "Never talk to him." 00[01:55] <@Crion> "If he messages you, do not return it." 00[01:56] <@Crion> "No matter what it says, or what it promises." [01:56] 10Stewart nods. "Oh, that reminds me. The other day, the day we extracted Loser, we were talking about the Loyalists and I made some offhand comment about how Kid Kid Kid is like a nazi who spends all day on the Internet." [01:57] "Nels, without missing a beat, 'What's a Nazi?'" [01:57] "Total fucking silence. Five people in the room, you could hear a pin drop." 00[01:57] <@Crion> Lauren, grimly: "The Doctor of Sciences is a Nazi." [01:58] 10Stewart: "I had a hunch it was something like that. Father Jesse mentioned him offhand, that one night, and even the way he did that was bad news. It was like, 'oh jeez we better hope this string of murders isn't the Doctor of Sciences'." 00[01:58] <@Crion> "Yeah. He's kept in check by...a series of agreements." [01:59] 10Stewart: "If there's anything in any world more powerful than a series of agreements, I haven't seen it yet." 00[01:59] <@Crion> She shakes her head. "...Anyway! Join the channel." [02:00] 10Double-click. 00[02:00] <@Crion> A very young voice: "Hullo? Who is there. Is this some...Stew-aaart?" [02:01] 10'criticalmass': "Hi! Yeah, this is Stewart, I'm here with Lauren." 10He pauses so she can confirm her presence. 00[02:02] <@Crion> Lister: "Ah, est-ce vrai? Alors c'est ton homme, Lauren?" 00[02:02] <@Crion> Lauren: "Parlez anglais, imbécile." [02:02] 10How's her accent? 00[02:02] <@Crion> He tuts. "But that iss indeed Lauren. Hello, Stewaaart." 00[02:03] <@Crion> Pretty much perfect modern French. School-taught but flawless. [02:03] 10Oooh. Nope, nope, getting distracted. Gotta focus. "Hello, is this Lister?" 00[02:05] <@Crion> Lister: "No, my friend, this is a particularly gropey skunk, from the cartoons. I have determined how to operate a computer, and now have no object but to game." 00[02:05] <@Crion> "I hear that I shall be clicking upon things, until they die?" [02:06] 10Stewart: "Or in their general vicinity, yeah, that's the hope." 00[02:06] <@Crion> "Excellent. Then we shall log on!" [02:07] "But Path of Exile is first and foremost an incredibly customizable game, from a build perspective. It's possible to construct characters that chain precisely timed skills to maximize their damage, and characters that just, walk around, and monsters die around them." 00[02:08] <@Crion> Lister: "Mmmmm. Much like real life, no. I would prefer to play a class that does not rely on stealing life, or blood, or any of that. Big, strong man. Tough and sturdy. Or, sneaky fuck. But no, ah, lifelink." 00[02:08] <@Crion> "I am on this character creation screen. This Scion. I like her." [02:09] 10Stewart: "Scion is a really cool class. It your generalist, you can build it to do anything. It starts right in the middle of the skill tree and takes ability from all the other classes." 00[02:11] <@Crion> "I enjoy the sound of that! And she is very French murder-chic. Une belle femme de violence. My apologies, Lauren." 00[02:11] <@Crion> "I would ask about the Ranger but...arrows. They are too much like stakes." 00[02:11] <@Crion> Lister: "You think this would not be so bothersome after such a long time, but no." [02:12] 10Stewart: "You don't have to build Ranger as an archer... my last Ranger build was a Frost Blades Raider, but yeah I take your meaning." 00[02:12] <@Crion> "Mmmmmm. Which is better, for what you are playing?" 00[02:12] <@Crion> "You ARE starting a new character, of course...?" [02:12] "I thought we'd be starting characters-- yeah, absolutely." 00[02:12] <@Crion> "Excellent!" [02:13] "I'm thinking Templar. I haven't done Templar in a while. Mess around with Smite, that's a fun early-game skill." [02:14] "The Templar model doesn't wear pants for some reason, so, if the thighs of a tiny elderly Scottish man offend, speak up now." 00[02:15] <@Crion> Lister: "If the thighs of elderly Scottish men were completely insufferable, I should have had nothing to eat in the 1830s. I shall play Scion, with a complementary build." 00[02:15] <@Crion> Lauren, thumbing the mute: "That's a joke. I think?" [02:16] 10Stewart shrugs. "I'm just gonna roll with it. Whatever he says, I've heard worse." 00[02:17] <@Crion> He will load in with a character named VraieReinedeFrance 00[02:17] <@Crion> . [02:17] 10Before coming off mute: "What's that mean?" 00[02:18] <@Crion> Lauren: "The True Queen of France." [02:18] "How romantic." 00[02:19] <@Crion> Lauren, still muted: "He can be like that." [02:19] 10Off mute: "Alright, so this very first zone we'll be doing alone... there's tutorials if the interface is opaque but you can click them away if you get it." 00[02:19] <@Crion> "Ah!" Lister says, as his Scion wakes up on the shore and has to kill the other survivor. "Well. More biographical than I'd like." [02:20] 10Stewart: "Yeah, I know what you mean." 00[02:20] <@Crion> "Mmmm. Perhaps we'll talk about that sometime. Will you be at Halloween tomorrow, Lauren?" 00[02:21] <@Crion> Lauren: "You know I hate parties, Lister." [02:21] 10Stewart, by streamer's habit, runs past all the zombies in the Twilight Strand and just kills Hillock, who'll level you up to 2 from nothing. 00[02:21] <@Crion> Lister: "That's not an answer!" 00[02:21] <@Crion> Lauren sighs. "Yes." 00[02:21] <@Crion> "So I will surely meet you then, Stewart." [02:21] 10Stewart: "I'm looking forward to it." 00[02:21] <@Crion> "Ah, you've run away from me. One moment." 00[02:22] <@Crion> "Mmm. Hmmmmm. Let us see..." 00[02:22] <@Crion> Lister: "I play left-handed, so I must rebind...this entire keyboard. One moment." [02:23] "I'm left-handed too. I play right-handed, though, because that's how every other computer in the world is set up." 00[02:24] <@Crion> Lister: "I dislike change. Unfortunately, that seems to lead to having to change everything at least once." 00[02:24] <@Crion> A moment later: "Ah! I am set. This giant man is an ass." 00[02:24] <@Crion> Soon, however, he joins Stewart in Lioneye's Watch. 00[02:25] <@Crion> It's probably not necessary to narrate getting through the first couple areas. 00[02:25] <@Crion> What build does Stewart recommend, however? [02:27] 10Soemthing melee. Stewart's Smite will clear reasonably well, but the single target's not great. Combine it with someone on Viper Strike or Double Strike, though, and Merveil will die before she's had time to grieve her children. [02:27] 10Is not a thought Stewart vocalizes. 00[02:28] <@Crion> Lister plays it well and intuitively, though he still needs guidance through most of the steps. 00[02:29] <@Crion> When they finally defeat Merveil -- he plays his part perfectly -- he says, "Well then." [02:29] 10Yeah, there's a lot of, just, *stuff* you have to learn, and it's real easy to miss something or learn it and then mix it up with something else you learned eight steps later and then get frustrated having to unpick your entire gameplan to see what's not working. [02:29] "Nice! What do you think so far?" 00[02:29] <@Crion> "C'était déprimant comme merde." 00[02:30] <@Crion> Hastily: "Ah! I am enjoying the gameplay. I especially like the economy." 00[02:30] <@Crion> "You do not get this economy in Destiny 2." [02:30] 10Stewart hits the mute and glances at Lauren. 00[02:30] <@Crion> Lauren: "'This is depressing as shit.'" [02:30] 10Stewart sighs. "You know that is not one of the parts of Diablo 2 that I missed, necessarily." [02:32] 10Off mute, if or after Lauren responds: "The PoE economy is really robust. There's a lot of play space in just flipping items and spotting inefficiencies if you've got the inclination." 00[02:33] <@Crion> Lister: "Mmmmm. I might. You know, Lauren, we've lost our werewolves for the forseeable future. Kolsch and Cuth say they have business. So we might have to put Destiny 2 aside..." 00[02:33] <@Crion> "This would be an acceptable replacement, I think, for gaming night." 00[02:33] <@Crion> "If you agree, Stewart?" [02:34] "That sounds fun! Is it the shit out in the county that's pulled them away, you think?" 03[02:34] * banana|peels is now known as banana [02:34] "I was in Catonsville the other night, there were Park Rangers with anti-materiel rifles just sitting in plain sight on the back of their trucks." 00[02:35] <@Crion> Lister sighs. "Pourquoi sont-ils toujours aussi bien informés. Yes, I would say it is likely that." [02:36] 10Stewart clicks his tongue. "I hope they're alright. Lauren told me about them, they sound nice." 00[02:37] <@Crion> Lister chuckles darkly. "Oh, they can be. But one prefers the intervening medium, much of the time. They are, after all, still werewolves." [02:37] 10Stewart nods, then remembers he's not on cam. "That's fair. "So in act 2 there's a choice you have to make, about some bandits. The game will lay all your options out for you with like the story and mechanical implications, but if we end up taking different paths we might have to split up very briefly." 00[02:38] <@Crion> "That sounds excellent, I will--pardon." 00[02:38] <@Crion> His mic goes muted or dead. 00[02:38] <@Crion> Then: "My apologies, Stewart. I believe I have to go." [02:39] 10Stewart: "Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. I hope everything's alright." 00[02:39] <@Crion> "It is, or it will be soon." 00[02:40] <@Crion> Some incredibly indistinct shouting can be heard in the very far background, but no words can be made out, and it cuts in and out. [02:40] "Then I'm looking forward to meeting you tomorrow. Good night." 00[02:40] <@Crion> "Good night, Stewart. Lauren." 00[02:40] <@Crion> Lauren: "Good night." 00[02:40] <@Crion> Lister leaves the channel. [02:40] 10Stewart'll log out and do the same. 00[02:41] <@Crion> Is there a window in the computer room? [02:41] 10Yeah. It's normally blackout-curtained so the streetlight doesn't mess up the room lighting, but if Lauren was stuffy in the kitchen she'll likely have insisted on opening one in here too. 00[02:42] <@Crion> She did. She'll walk open to it and open it a bit further, though; it is a bit hot in the room with at least two big machines. 00[02:43] <@Crion> Then she'll turn back and lean against it, in her sweatpants and tee, grinning. "Cela s'est très bien passé." 00[02:43] <@Crion> "Picked up a couple languages on the other side." [02:44] "And more importantly, the accents." 00[02:45] <@Crion> "Mmmmm." She saunters over to Stewart, straddling him. "Now let's head one room over, et je vais vous montrer ce que j'ai appris de plus en France--" 00[02:45] <@Crion> Something slams against the window. [02:46] 10Stewart stands up abruptly and leaps to the window. [02:46] 10Lauren sort of slides off him. 00[02:47] <@Crion> Before he gets there, a grasping wing of metal and feathers reaches underneath the sill and opens it, and then something about the size of a vacuum cleaner falls into the room, squawking mechanically, caught up in the blackout sheet. 00[02:48] <@Crion> Lauren scrambles away, to the far wall. 00[02:49] <@Crion> Then it rises up, wearing the sheet like a cloak. "LAUREN IPSUM!" it bellows. 00[02:49] <@Crion> It seems like...an animatronic pelican? 00[02:50] <@Crion> She cowers in the corner of the room. [02:50] 10Stewart's voice is calm considering how fast he's moving, grabbing the kitchen chair and hefting it in one hand. "Any idea what we're looking at?" 00[02:51] <@Crion> In a quiet voice: "It doesn't matter if you kill it or not." 00[02:53] <@Crion> Drawing itself up to its full height, the pelican intones: "FACTORY RECALL." [02:53] 10The chair hurtles across the room. Both it and the bird shatter. [02:53] 10He goes to her and holds her. 00[02:54] <@Crion> The bird crumples and twitches, and its head slowly twists to consider the both of them as the light fades from its eyes. Its red, LED eyes. 00[02:54] <@Crion> --fin. 02[06:26] * dammitwho (joanofarcta@sorcery-j9socb.dynamic.onlinenw.com) Quit (Server shutdown) 02[06:26] * trenchfoot (dani@sorcery-jcvlv4.in.comcast.net) Quit (Server shutdown) 02[06:26] * CBN (CBN@sorcery-a7dqks.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) Quit (Server shutdown) 02[06:26] * VoxPVoxD (VoxPVoxD@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) Quit (Server shutdown) 03[06:27] * VoxPVoxD (VoxPVoxD@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) has joined #gofetch 03[06:27] * CBN (CBN@sorcery-bs7eog.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) has joined #gofetch 03[06:27] * dammitwho (joanofarcta@sorcery-j9socb.dynamic.onlinenw.com) has joined #gofetch 03[06:27] * trenchfoot (dani@sorcery-jcvlv4.in.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 03[13:08] * banana is now known as banana|peels 02[15:05] * CBN (CBN@sorcery-bs7eog.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) Quit (Connection closed) 03[15:05] * CBN (CBN@sorcery-bs7eog.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) has joined #gofetch 02[15:06] * VoxPVoxD (VoxPVoxD@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) Quit (Connection closed) 03[15:06] * VoxPVoxD (VoxPVoxD@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) has joined #gofetch 02[15:18] * CBN (CBN@sorcery-bs7eog.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) Quit (Quit: Leaving) 03[15:45] * CBN (CBN@sorcery-bs7eog.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) has joined #gofetch 02[19:10] * CBN (CBN@sorcery-bs7eog.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) Quit (Quit: Leaving) 03[19:11] * CBN (CBN@sorcery-bs7eog.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) has joined #gofetch 00[21:00] <@Crion> 00[21:00] <@Crion> 00[21:00] <@Crion> 00[21:00] <@Crion> 00[21:00] <@Crion> 00[21:01] <@Crion> 00[21:01] <@Crion> 00[21:09] <@Crion> It's Halloween. 03[21:10] * banana|peels is now known as bann 03[21:10] * bann is now known as banana 00[21:12] <@Crion> It's a shitty night in Baltimore, really. Rainy and dreary and cold, finally, down around 45 degrees. Should cut down on mortal revelers, which is either good or bad, depending on your appetites. The Sidereal is throwing a "modern monster" party, the crowning event of the Autumn calendar and something Kingsley has been negotiating and preparing for, for weeks. The previous night, he, the 00[21:12] <@Crion> Count of St. Sebastian, and Everafter did their traditional walk-through of the site to clear it and sanctify it in their various ways, and tonight they'll party until near-dawn. 00[21:15] <@Crion> The doors opened at 5 PM for Friends of the Club -- changelings, mages, werewolves, and technically vampires though they usually don't start rolling in until 8 PM or so at earliest -- and limited public seating is engaged around 9 PM. Even then, most of those tickets are taken up by various mortal or half-mortal lovers, flunkies, groupies, gadflies, and so on. Most everyone in the club knows 00[21:15] <@Crion> the score, and for the few peppy, completely unsuspecting mortals who do filter in, it's considered quite poor form indeed to take advantage of them past a scare or two (it is Halloween, after all). Morality aside, no one needs a body-count during one of the two yearly city-wide summits. 00[21:15] <@Crion> Amelia Banthem will be watching. [21:18] 6There are worse gatherings to attend. This one is at least -- safe. So Nels Foulke will be there, or be square. (She learned that recently; it's catchy.) [21:18] 10Stewart's got a lot on his mind during the day before the party. How's Lauren's mood, after what happened last night? 00[21:21] <@Crion> She is, understandably, terrified. Things moved quickly after that, with the phone calls. She's actually been at The Sidereal since the once-over, since it's arguably the safest place in the city right now; Gerald, Nissa of Fives, Canterbury, and the Liaison of Winter himself have been there overnight, joined by others throughout the day. 00[21:21] <@Crion> Stewart can have stayed as well, but at some point he'd be gently encouraged to go home, shower, and sleep; there's not much bunking in the club. [21:22] 10Stewart stayed with her until someone made the suggestion. Does Lauren need anything, though? Stewart can stop by her place and pick stuff up, or go shopping, or or or... [21:22] 10He feels so helpless. 00[21:23] <@Crion> Her specific instruction on that count was to go to her apartment, and then the law office, and take all of her computers physically offline -- powered down, unplugged, network cables disconnected -- just in case. 00[21:24] <@Crion> The Kitchen appears to actually live here himself, and has the food handled. 00[21:24] <@Crion> Other than that, she just wants him. [21:24] 10Then they'll have to drag him out of there. But the Gardener has a way of doing just that with words and looks alone. [21:24] 10He doesn't go straight home, however. 00[21:26] <@Crion> Melanie, meanwhile, has received an e-mail from Langford List in acknowledgment, tersely informing her that they'll talk at The Sidereal tonight with the rest of the Summer Court. [21:26] 6...how is the Kitchen, for that matter? That's likely Nels's first stop, unless accosted beforehand. [21:26] 13How long has it been since Melanie Lucas went to an actual party? 00[21:27] <@Crion> He's grumpy, but he's always grumpy. When does Nels arrive at The Sidereal? [21:28] 6Doors at 5, so... fashionably late but still before the rush at 6, 6:30. She'll be able to leave early while still having been Around if it gets to be too much. [21:28] 10Stewart arrives at the Belvedere - parking his own fucking car - to find Fireman coming out to meet him halfway between the door to the Owl Bar and the elevator. [21:28] 13A real proper get-together, people from different groups and cohorts, music and drinks and singles, the stuff of life.. it always felt like the attendees were magical creatures. 00[21:29] <@Crion> Fireman: "Stewart. Heard about last night from Everafter. Suspected you might be coming. The artifact?" [21:29] 10Stewart: "Yeah." [21:29] 6She walked, by the by. Unless she was offered a car to pick her up. Still: driving, not exactly something she can handle just yet. [21:30] 13Is she anxious about not knowing anyone or how to act anymore? Extremely. Was it traumatic to dress up nice in something that fits plausibly on her real jagged, wooden limbs? Mildly. But it's a party. 00[21:30] <@Crion> He nods. "This way." He buttons his coat and leads Stewart to the private elevator, swiping a hand over the security card pad; it dings in recognition and opens. He hits a button for the 13th floor. It's the only floor this elevator goes to. 00[21:31] <@Crion> In that case both the lunch and dinner menu is open for Nels (before the rush gets going and it becomes large orders or appetizers only, no custom entrees). The fare is mostly bar food, but if The Kitchen isn't doing anything at the moment he should be able to cook up just about anything he has the ingredients for. [21:33] 10Stewart's silent the whole ride up. [21:34] 6...has she been given a name other than The Kitchen? Titles-as-names are okay, but it feels rude still. Anyway: "Hey, hey. Hamburger for one, with an egg?" 6If he is busy, she's not gonna get in his way. 00[21:36] <@Crion> As the elevator ascends: "Everafter and Sommelier are very protective of their space; please don't touch anything but your computer." The elevator dings as it arrives, but the doors do not open. Instead, Fireman says, "Library." There's a SsshhhhTUMP, and an oddly weightless feeling, and then the elevator door opens on...a library. [21:38] 10Stewart doesn't respond, but he does keep his hands folded in plain sight in front of him until he gets to his machine. 00[21:38] <@Crion> The ceiling feels a bit too high; the windows are tall and beautiful but they're oddly frosted over, even though it's not quite cold enough for that, and it's hard to see what's outside. There are shelves and shelves of books, each one with a locking display case in front of it, and public tables for reading. On one side of the room, there are larger, odder objects, also in cases, though 00[21:38] <@Crion> these seem just as much to protect you from them as them from you: an old M1 Garand rifle, a strange puzzle box (no apparent similarities with anything in popular culture), a CD collection... [21:39] 10Stewart could see himself losing a lot of hours in a place like this. [21:39] 10He doesn't exactly mean that as a compliment. 00[21:39] <@Crion> The Kitchen is, in fact, his name now. He doesn't like giving out his real one (understandable) and finds inventing a new one frivilous and silly. "Comin' right up," he says gruffly. [21:41] 13The Freehold bar is close enough that Melanie considers walking - she can walk pretty much forever, but not quickly. She's impatient enough to ride, instead, the bus; the MTA's night rider program is pretty great when it's early enough that the crowds aren't drunk yet. 00[21:41] <@Crion> Along the back walls of the Library, a number of private rooms. Fireman walks over to the librarian's desk in the center and raps on the desk twice, then does something with his hands underneath it, and the door to the second open thunks open. [21:42] 10Stewart's second word since coming inside the building is "Thanks." [21:42] 13Bus service.. wasn't something that figured in Melanie's previous life, so when she relearned about them she'd forgotten the stigma. Now she doesn't give a heck. [21:42] 6Nels: "Thanks." 6Sweetheart, really, even if he is rough around the edges. "Anything I can do to distract your adoring fans? Keep 'em away from your workspace?" 00[21:42] <@Crion> Fireman will show him back to where The Book of Things Strange and Wonderful has been set up. The PC it's on, anyway. Fireman nods. "I'll wait here for you." [21:43] 13Last time she was at this place she went in from the carpark and it was mostly a blur of being shown past security cordons to the ~kings and queens~. Is there an actual street entrance? 00[21:43] <@Crion> The Kitchen grimaces, which is what happens when he tries to smile. "Not unless you can cook yerself. Dancing's gonna make them hungrier and thirstier." 00[21:44] <@Crion> There is, Melanie; a pair of fae-touched bouncers -- a man and a woman both of whom she's seen in previous visits to the place, employees of Banthem's -- nod at her when she walks up and will let her in without paying cover. Some rando in a sexy banana tries to follow in Melanie's wake and is sternly stopped. 00[21:44] <@Crion> Costume, that is. 00[21:44] <@Crion> An actual sexy banana with a person inside is far more likely to be on the list. [21:45] 6Nels: "I could. Not like you, but I could help." 6And it'd keep her away from the ruckus. 00[21:46] <@Crion> The Kitchen's brows shoot up. "Well come on back, and roll up yer sleeves." [21:47] 6She rolls up her sleeves first, then heads on in. Sweetheart indeed. [21:47] 10He put a lot of mental energy into formulating a search string that dives at terms he wants but isn't so elaborate it shaves off usable results. He doesn't know how many times the software will hold up before the box kicks itself again.  [21:49] 13Of course Melanie's allowed into the club. She's got the new kind of In, which is to be Out, which is currently In. "Keep it in your metaphor pants" 13she shoots back at banana guy... merrily? Doesn't know or care where that came from. [21:50] 13It's time to get drinks and be introduced to people she doesn't know more or less automatically by virtue of standing out.. which, she's starting to remember, can be a good thing. [21:51] 13Who's the first random monster she comes across that isn't mid-mingle? 00[21:53] <@Crion> There aren't many people here yet -- the guards on Lauren duty mentioned above aren't out on the main floor. There are a couple Winter courtiers here already though; Jordan Kit, the mousey little catboy, and Spring, Winter's trigger-woman. They're argue-gushing about a band called My Chemical Romance getting back together over by the bar. And the Davids, Smitten and Smote, are deep in 00[21:53] <@Crion> conversation by the stage with the mage Union, while Harlan Jape runs through some sound tests. 00[21:53] <@Crion> So that would mean it falls to...Gemma Franklin. 00[21:54] <@Crion> Recently of Arcadia, and now of the Winter Court, who has excused herself from the arguing MCR teens and is sort of wandering around aimlessly. 00[21:54] <@Crion> Her eyes light up, relatively speaking, when she sees the paperbark. "Melanie!" [21:56] 13She's alive! The one the Mistress.. didn't care about? "It's Gemma! Have one of these, if you drink these. And like, welcome to everything!" 00[21:57] <@Crion> Stewart gets a long, relatively meaty entry. Maybe 'meaty' isn't the best word, since it's all about robots. There is one True Fae who dispatches robotic huntsmen with pelican heralds -- pelican is a known form, but it can be any bird EXCEPT one of the standard, known witchy birds; so pigeons, perhaps, but not ravens or crows. The birds are usually all-white. That True Fae has the Title of 00[21:57] <@Crion> Sky Mother, and if "robots" and "sky" and "glowing red eyes" is beginning to set something off for Stewart, yes: 00[21:57] <@Crion> It appears this thing is...some form...of Skynet. From the Terminator movies. But not quite. 00[21:58] <@Crion> Instead of satellites, the Sky Mother manifests as a great robotic spider encircling the sky, crawling up over the horizon; its legs never step or crush, per se, but they're vast space-borne superstructures that support the great monster that is always watching. 00[21:58] <@Crion> And when it sends a Huntsman after a victim who has escaped via strange, science-magic portal back to "the past," it sends an unstoppable, unkillable bodybuilder. 00[21:59] <@Crion> Relatively speaking, of course. [21:59] 6Not Nels' first time working in a restaurant, though it is her first time working beside The Kitchen. Whatever he needs done, she'll assist without complaint. "This is - standard?" 6she says, at some point during downtime. He's a busy guy. 00[21:59] <@Crion> If it is based off the Terminator, well...the T-100s die all the time. 00[21:59] <@Crion> But they always come back. [21:59] 10The mouse cursor trembles on the screen in time with the shaking of Stewart's hand as he scrolls to the bottom. 00[22:00] <@Crion> The Kitchen: "This is the busy season. I get off three, sometimes four days a week during Summer and Winter. Spring and Autumn, though, we do a lot of work in here." 00[22:00] <@Crion> "I don't mind it. Like to keep busy. Feeding people, that's honest work." 00[22:01] <@Crion> Gemma will tentatively hug Melanie, if Melanie doesn't recoil. "It's so good to see you! Thank you again!" Then she takes the drink. "Oh, and thank you." [22:02] 10Okay. Okay. This isn't enough. It's not nearly enough. It won't bring the end of this. But it's a start. [22:02] 6Nels: "I wasn't one for honest work before, but -- "6 chopping up some vegetable -- "I can see how this is... fulfilling." [22:02] "You do this alone?" [22:02] 10Stewart's mental quest log filters down. Disconnect Lauren's hardware and research the Huntsman are both struck through. All that remains is, Unaccountably try to go to a party. [22:03] 10This time yesterday his biggest worry about the party was dressing up the wrong amount. 00[22:03] <@Crion> The Kitchen snorts. "No, I have a few assistants. They don't start today until a half hour before the doors open." [22:04] 13Melanie: "You're totally in the deep end here. There's going to be some really cool people around and also like.. things I don't even know the name of? Friendly things." [22:04] 6Nels: "Well, good. I'd feel awful if I just left you to this all the time." 00[22:05] <@Crion> Gemma: "Yeah." She lowers her voice. "Someone told me vampires are real?" [22:05] "...so who's better, them or me?" [22:05] 6She's not serious. Or is she? (No.) 00[22:05] <@Crion> The Kitchen laughs: "You beat them on skill, but two pairs of hands beats one." [22:11] 13Melanie: "Yeah, 'real' in the sense that they're actually out there, or in here pretty soon. In the Lacanian sense.. no. We're from a different algebra of signifiers, a complete metaphysical worldview - theirs doesn't account for us and vice versa." [22:12] 13She'll steer them across the room toward what was probably 'David Smote' and his... partner? Time to find out about that ellipsis. [22:12] "When're they showing up? I'd like to meet them." 6And avoid the main party. She might play a few songs anyway, but hiding out in the kitchen? Pretty solid. 00[22:12] <@Crion> Gemma blinks. "Whoa." 00[22:12] <@Crion> "So what happens when the uh algebrae come into conflict--oh, here we go." [22:13] 13Melanie: "It's good actually. You can treat someone from one of these cross-halloween disciplines as, like, just a person, because the weird things we care about don't matter at all to them." [22:13] 10...Stewart *is* a little bit dressed up, though, when he returns to the Sidereal after completing his errands, getting home, cleaning inside the oven, and napping for an hour and a half. Deep indigo shirt and black slacks that fit very well, and nice new leather shoes. 00[22:13] <@Crion> David Smote sees them first and raises his beer. "Ah, the new girls. Well. Two of them." 00[22:13] <@Crion> The bouncers will nod to him as they let him past. [22:15] 13Melanie: "This is Gemma! As you may know, you're David and... David?" [22:15] 10Does anyone try to grab his attention between when he walks in and when he gets up to Lauren? 00[22:16] <@Crion> Not particularly, though Nels and Melanie are probably in position to see him walk in. Gerald will be on the door, openly carrying his Canadian FAL, and he'll nod Stewart through. 00[22:17] <@Crion> Smitten laughs. "Smitten, and Smote. And before you ask, we're twins, not clones or fetches or anything like that." 00[22:17] <@Crion> Union: "So sadly, no threesomes." 00[22:17] <@Crion> Smote: "And the horny mage here is Union." [22:18] 10Stewart will make eye contact with Melanie or Nels if he sees them, and give a small but sincere smile. [22:19] 10But he doesn't change course for anything. 00[22:19] <@Crion> He grins. "More relevantly, I'm also the largest wholesale pot dealer in Baltimore. If you need a connect." 00[22:19] <@Crion> Smitten: "Always hustling, man." [22:19] 13On some level, Melanie is having effortless fun; she's also a bundle of nerves (not literally; twigs). She's riding revived instincts while trying to also be authentic to whoever the heck she is now. Liquor helps; hanging out with Tony's been instructive in that regard. [22:20] 13She bows slightly to Union. "Melanie Lucas. I'm pretty green, too!" 00[22:20] <@Crion> Gemma looks like she's a bit uncertain what, precisely, is a joke here and what is serious, among the gay/weed dealer/mage triumverate surrounding Union, and seems to settle on 'all three are true,' which is correct. 00[22:21] <@Crion> He nods reverently. "If I make reference to 'smoking trees,' please know it's entirely an expression." [22:22] 6Nels is still focused on the Kitchen, but she'll give a nod and a smile to Stewart when she sees him. He's probably been the most helpful person since she - came back. 00[22:22] <@Crion> Smote, to Melanie: "Heard you've been getting into some shit out in the Hedge. Getting your first blood. Loyalists and Pigs, huh?" [22:23] 13One which is more literally hurtful than he knows- but Melanie's managed to keep that secret from everyone, so far. She should probably warn List. "Does your stuff work at all for, um, alternative biologies?" 03[22:23] * CBN2 (CBN@sorcery-bs7eog.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) has joined #gofetch [22:24] 13To David: "Yeah man. It really didn't go according to plan at all, which has got to be like.. normal?" [22:24] "Do we have any kind of library on this stuff? Small group tactics in the context of hedgespun battlefields..." 00[22:25] <@Crion> Upstairs, Lauren is sitting a booth with the Liaison of Winter, currently still in his 'Colin' guise. Sitting propped up next to the booth is one of those drum-fed combat shotguns you usually only see in video games. 02[22:26] * CBN (CBN@sorcery-bs7eog.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [22:26] 10Stewart will slide in next to Lauren unless a guard or something waves him off. What's the mood in the booth? 00[22:27] <@Crion> Smote laughs and shakes his head. "Not really how Summer works, kid. There's the dojo, and you can train with the old-heads whenever they get some time, but you've met the Street." 00[22:27] <@Crion> "Man doesn't really...maintain a library." [22:28] 10Maybe he could start now that he's not melting his CAT5s anymore. [22:31] 13Melanie: "Well, we all lived." 13In different circumstances she'd like to talk about this.. but Gemma's right there. It'd be best to move things along. "Hey, I should be the one calling you kid.." 00[22:31] <@Crion> 'Colin' is in good spirits, not even forced, apparently, while Lauren seems to be enjoying herself despite herself; she's got a three-fourths eaten meal from the Kitchen in front of her and is drinking water. He's speaking: "--but yes, Mission: Impossible was a huge influence on what I guess we're calling my 'personal brand' these days -- ah, Stewart!" 00[22:32] <@Crion> Stewart is welcomed at the table. 00[22:32] <@Crion> Smote grins: "Not on this side of the Hedge wall. I got six years seniority on you." [22:32] 13Hopefully that's a hook which changes the subject and comes off as odd, interesting rather than aggressive? She doesn't knowwww. How do people react to things. They're endlessly fascinating, people, they're the point, but how do they work. Melanie can't believe she used to think this was obvious. [22:32] "Hey." 10He gives Lauren as big a kiss as he judges won't be awkward with the coming Winter king sitting two feet away. It's pretty big. 00[22:33] <@Crion> More seriously: "Nah, but that's good shit. It's not that like...we didn't trust you, or trust List's judgment, or anything. But everyone's gotta get their first kills, you know? Good to see you can carry it." [22:33] "Oh yeah, you've got lived experience and like, actually knowing how to do stuff.. muscles.. I'm just saying, technically I'm like the oldest person in this room." 00[22:34] <@Crion> Lauren will kiss Stewart back. 'Colin's Mask averts his eyes; his Mien, of course, doesn't have any. 00[22:35] <@Crion> Smitten: "That's true. How are you settling in, Gemma?" [22:37] 13Melanie shakes her head. "I haven't quite-" 13No, don't ruin it! She'll turn that into a mumble rather than interrupt Gemma. [22:37] 13Melanie shakes her head. "I haven't quite-" 13No, don't ruin it! She'll turn that into a mumble rather than interrupt Gemma. 00[22:40] <@Crion> Gemma: "It's been...you know. Shitty and scary. I'm actually from Cleveland. I kinda don't want to go back there now, though. Mostly I just want to crawl into bed and stay there until I need to eat." 00[22:40] <@Crion> Smitten smiles warmly. "You are Winter Court all the way. But that'll pass." [22:42] 13Melanie: "And nobody's going to mind if you actually stay there for a while. Come out at some point, we'll doorknock you to make sure of it, but like.. it's incredibly okay and normal to set things aside a bit. Depersonalise the noumenon until its shadow retreats from the coming ecliptic." 00[22:44] <@Crion> Nels has until around 8:30 for the other cooks to arrive. 00[22:44] <@Crion> Union, deadpan: "Oh, definitely." 00[22:45] <@Crion> 'Colin,' to Stewart: "How'd it go?" 00[22:46] <@Crion> It's up to Stewart whether he told the Liaison of Winter where he was going or why, but the man seems to know anyway. He is the Freehold spymaster, after all. [22:46] 6Nels: "I'll be back, but - mind if I fulfill some social obligations? Say hi to some people and prove that I was here before I swing back and work the kitchen some more." [22:46] 13Melanie's keeping an interested eye on Union. Stewart's mentioned the wizards of Baltimore.. users of a kind of magic that claims to be deeper than Wyrd, engaged in existential/cosmic struggles against some real fucking douchebags. She's not sure what their philosophical implications are; they kind of make a mockery of the whole discipline. [22:47] 6She very carefully does not waggle her eyebrows at The Kitchen. [22:47] 13There's one obvious question, though- "Do you guys manage to avoid being as changed?" 00[22:48] <@Crion> The Kitchen nods gruffly -- he seems to be able to do that a lot for an Elemental of steam and cookfire, instead of a Wizened -- and shoos her off with a ladle if she lingers. [22:49] 10Stewart just being here with Lauren in what feels like the safest part of the safest place in Baltimore tonight is doing more for his energy level than the nap did. It's so cozy he almost forgets to answer the question. "Pretty well. I think I got about as much as I could've expected." 10He didn't tell Colin, but he did tell Gerald and well, he's spent a lot of time being watched very [22:49] 10closely. It doesn't occur to him to feel intruded-upon. 00[22:50] <@Crion> 'Colin' nods. "You get a sense of what's coming? If it'll be power, or finesse?" 00[22:50] <@Crion> Union: "Huh?" 00[22:50] <@Crion> "Oh!" 00[22:50] <@Crion> The mage hesitates. "Yes and no." 00[22:50] <@Crion> "Mostly no." 00[22:51] <@Crion> Union: "We go through a lot less shit on the front end, for sure. We kinda pay for it on the back end." [22:51] 6Nels slides out then, and into the crowd. Let's try and have a conversation so it's not obvious what she's doing. [22:52] 6Who's available? Most of the people she knows are otherwise occupied... [22:53] 10Stewart: "I think we're looking at more of a sledgehammer than a butterfly knife." [22:53] 6Melanie and Stewart certainly are, at least. 00[22:54] <@Crion> 'Colin' nods. "Well then the current strategy is sound. If it was an infiltrator, we'd have to move her. Maybe to Swordhome. 00[22:54] <@Crion> " [22:54] 13Melanie: "What does that mean, though. Weird and interesting threats? Something claiming your, like, eternal soul?" 00[22:54] <@Crion> Gemma sees someone and waves across the bar. "Nels!! Over here!" [22:55] "It's the night for spooktales." [22:55] 10Stewart: "What's our, like, clearance, here? Should we be staying up here, can we move around the club? You know, like... stay away from windows obviously." [22:55] 6Oh, thank God. An excuse to not hover around the Kitchen like a weirdo. "Hey! Hi!" [22:55] 13Oh shit! Nels! Melanie is going to smile and gesture in a way which might or might not be possible to interpret as 'could you bring another round over with you'. 00[22:57] <@Crion> Union puzzles that one for a second. "So, it's like...you ever see that Disney movie, Aladdin? And at the end, Jafar wishes to become an all-powerful genie -- and he does! And then he gets sucked into the lamp. 'Phenomenal cosmic power...itttttty bitty living space.'" 00[22:57] <@Crion> "That's what it's like being a mage in the Fallen World." 00[22:57] <@Crion> Belatedly he waves a hand around. "Y'know. Here." [22:58] 13Melanie was holding a glass of Blue Rev, until recently. Glass isn't ideal, she worries about scratching the cup, but bars are used to wastage... 00[22:59] <@Crion> 'Colin': "Thanks to the wards and such we had laid down last night, we'll know immediately if someone breaches any door or wall with hostile intent -- or opens a portal into the Sidereal with the same. Lauren, it's probably best for you to have someone with you at all times, but there's no need to bunker down." [22:59] 13Melanie: "Yeah I know, normal people call it that too. The smash mouth timeline, etc." [23:00] 10Good thing girls only go to the bathroom in groups already anyway. 00[23:01] <@Crion> Union: "Our deal might seem a little better than yours because our Awakenings aren't, you know. Hell prison. But the world punishes us for existing, for even using our magic at all in any flashy or substantive way, you know? And we got shit chasing us, too." 00[23:01] <@Crion> "Little safer to bargain with than your True Fae, but not by much." [23:02] 6She swings over to the bar first to get herself another Chatanooga Dew and a refill for Melanie - she gave the sign. Only fair. "Melanie! And Gemma!" 6where does she know her from it's gotta be recent probably "Been a minute, hasn't it?" [23:02] 13'Fae', capital F is a term Melanie has heard precisely once before. A formal term for Keepers, faeries.. the way the wizard uses it sounds taxonomic. She nods. "The terms of another algebra." [23:03] "Nelssss" [23:03] 6it'd frankly be weird if it wasn't recent on account of oh no don't think about that "That's me!" 00[23:03] <@Crion> Gemma will give Nels a hug too, carefully though, given the drinks. 00[23:03] <@Crion> Smitten: "Nels!" Smote nods. Union says, "Yo." [23:04] 13Melanie: "We miss you Nels. Come around a bit more? Tony's going for the GED too, he calls it a Ged.." [23:04] "Anyway, I bet we could do like.. study sessions." [23:05] 6Nels: "Hello! And. We could, definitely, but -- Tony's going for a GED too? He didn't say anything to me!" 00[23:06] <@Crion> 'Colin:' "Only thing I ask is not to leave the premises without clearing it with someone. Also..." 00[23:06] <@Crion> "The Young Street might drop by tonight." 00[23:06] <@Crion> "Talk of a Huntsman has roused his pouty lordship." [23:06] 13Melanie: "Well, you didn't say anything to him. We're kind of like hermit crabs." [23:08] 10Stewart: "Damn. Well that's... good...?" [23:09] 6Nels: "I'm not a crab! I'm more like, an intensely private songbird." 00[23:09] <@Crion> 'Colin' shrugs. "It's not bad." [23:09] 10If only someone knew why the caged bird sings. [23:09] 13To Smitten-or-Smote: "Is it better to poke one claw out of the shell at a time or like, bust out? There's the problem of the wrong kind of attention." 00[23:10] <@Crion> 'Colin': "Anyway, you kids should go mingle. The werewolves should be showing up soon. Those guys are always a riot. Sometimes literally." [23:10] "Cuth and Kolsch back in from the county?" [23:10] 10He's looking at Lauren when he asks but it's an open question. He just likes looking at Lauren. 00[23:11] <@Crion> He sort of waggles his hand. "They're not REALLY county. But they're basically county. Anyway they don't murder college kids on the UMBC campus for sport, so they're fine by us. They might be bringing the kid, too." 00[23:12] <@Crion> 'Colin' shakes his head: "Weird enough for the vampires to have a boy-king, but at least he's 300 years old and just kind of lazy. But a tee--...a werewolf teen? I guess we're not one to talk with some of the kids we have hanging around." 00[23:13] <@Crion> "Not you guys." [23:13] 13Melanie's congratulating herself a little for ending up with a mixed group of guys and girls, although it isn't really... relevant. Habit. [23:13] 10Involuntarily Stewart's mind conjures images of a Sidereal kid's table with a teen werewolf and Lister stuck at it. 00[23:13] <@Crion> "But Jordan's completely not allowed to be here by law." [23:14] 10Stewart: "I'm sure technically a lot of us aren't. At the very least, like, the number of people in this room tonight who are undocumented." [23:14] "But yeah." [23:14] "Has he been in before?" 00[23:15] <@Crion> 'Colin' stands up. "Yeah. It's the safest place for him, sometimes. Jordan doesn't have the best survival instincts, from time to time." [23:15] "More teen than wolf, then." 00[23:17] <@Crion> "Oh, you mean Liam Two-Tone. No, this will be our first time hosting the once and future king of, I don't know. Disappeared campers. Cuth said he has an 'old soul,' which is hopefully code for 'not as much of a party animal as Kolsch Cameron.'" [23:17] 6Nels, sidling over to Melanie: "You think you could help me with the Kitchen? I want to kiss the cook." 6She waggles her eyebrows, if Melanie looks. [23:18] 13!!! "Omg. Who's that, there's a guy called that, right? Where is he? What's he like?" 00[23:18] <@Crion> Smitten, to Melanie: "Slow and steady is how we do it in Spring. Courses, job assistance, that kind of stuff. Community work, for our community." 00[23:19] <@Crion> Smote, to Melanie: "We're a bit more direct in Summer...but there's value in what they do over at the community center." [23:19] 6What is "oh em gee." Other people are speaking to Melanie, though... [23:20] 13Don't worry, she's ignoring them. This is more important. [23:20] 10Stewart: "Yeah... I'm looking forward to meeting them." [23:20] 10To Lauren: "Want to stretch your legs?" [23:21] 13Not totally ignoring, actually - Melanie's lit up in a way Nels won't have seen before, fizzing as much as her drink; she's hopping back and forth between conversations but is definitely extremely interested in Nels' request. [23:23] 6She thumbs over to the Kitchen, not as subtlely as she thinks she does. "He's sweet. Great cook, obviously. Kind of closed off but we were hanging out for a while -- I'm waiting for his assistants to get here so we can spend some more time!" 00[23:24] <@Crion> Lauren: "I'd love that." 00[23:24] <@Crion> She'll stick close to him, perhaps a bit uncharacteristically quiet. [23:25] 10Stewart's got his arm around her probably 90% of the time. [23:25] 10Hey, there's a big knot of people with Nels and Melanie in it! [23:26] "Hey guys!" [23:26] 6Nelanie. Melsanie. [23:26] 6Next one should be water. "Hi!" [23:26] 13Melanie: "Well, you don't need a wingman, what you need is.. has he like, Seen you?" [23:27] 13She's going to smile an apology at David Smitten, though. "I've got to get some info on your community services later!" [23:27] 6Nels: "We were cooking together and he accepted my help. I don't know what that means but I'm pretty sure I did a good job?" 00[23:28] <@Crion> Smitten raises his glass in acknowledgment and turns back to Union and his brother. [23:28] "Stewart, can you confirm that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach? My mom used to-" 13Melanie falls silent for a moment. [23:30] 10Stewart: "Well, I think of a man's heart as a Deus Ex level. There's a lot of different approaches. You know, room for some personality." 00[23:30] <@Crion> Lauren giggles at that. [23:30] 6Nels: "God from the level?" [23:31] 10Stewart: "It's a video game, named 'Deus Ex'. It imagines the future is bad in a comparable but more stylish way." [23:31] 6Nels: "This is plenty stylish..." [23:31] "Remind me to show you vaporwave." [23:34] 13Wouldn't it be God of Level? Melanie's heard of God of War at some point, but- this is irrelevant. "What do we know about Kitchen apart from his hobby? Obviously he didn't have a ring." [23:34] 6Nels: "...I guess I'll take your word for it." 6She's eyeing the Kitchen again. [23:35] 10Stewart follows Nels's gaze. "Why are - oh man. No way." [23:36] 6Nels: "Hmm?" [23:36] 10He seems surprised but not displeased. Lowered voice: "You have a thing for the Kitchen?" [23:37] 6Nels, suddenly alarmed: "Shhh!" [23:37] 6Quietly: "Yes! And I'm trying to find a good time to go back there again!" 00[23:38] <@Crion> The Kitchen is in his element right now, juggling two or three dishes at once -- sometimes literally. It's really quite something, especially the part where he lights a burner from across the room by snapping his fingers. Hard to tell if that's the Elemental in him, or the artist. [23:38] 10Stewart presses his lips together, which squishes his smile into a weird little smirk. [23:38] "I need some water. And also I need to know what his preferred drink is." [23:38] "Well he's gotta take breaks, right? At least for a couple minutes." [23:40] 13Melanie: "They bring out more dishes when a group comes in the door. We've had a brief lull, so when the next trick or treaters get here it'll be abundance. The Covey mindset." [23:42] "Maybe.. a good time to offer some help? The trouble is you gotta be Seen but without being in the way. Kitchens are busy." [23:43] 6Nels: "Oh, I was helping him earlier. I wanted to spend some time on the floor before the rush hits in earnest..." [23:43] 10Stewart's watching Melanie as he chats with Nels. She's nervous, energized. He sees a heart in motion and a mind at work. He likes her. He hopes she doesn't think he's a coward. "You could go up on the pretext of taking a group of people's orders up." [23:43] 13Melanie: "What kind of magical being... is the hungriest." [23:44] "Like it's not going to be vampires. But when the werewolves get here?" [23:44] 6Nels: "Do you think 'kiss the cook' is too awful. Because I'm thinking about it." [23:45] "Question:" [23:45] 10Stewart: "Anyway, like, I dunno. It's possible to overthink this. Something you can forget is that if you're a pretty girl and you walk up to a guy and are like 'I want to kiss you', that's going to work like, 75% of the time." [23:45] "How attached are you to your shirt?" [23:45] "It only took Lauren three, four tries." [23:45] 6Nels: "It... is... on my body?" [23:45] 13To Stewart: "Yes! You're right. He's right." [23:46] "Here's what could also be on your shirt, and therefore your body: an amusing slogan with a double meaning." 00[23:46] <@Crion> Lauren rolls her eyes. "Thanks, Stewart." 00[23:46] <@Crion> Lauren: "I'll point out that in this situation, HE'S the cook." [23:46] 10Stewart: "Absolutely." [23:46] 13Melanie: "Well, it would be a statement of intent." [23:48] "We could absolutely find someone with a marker, or some glitter - you go back there to help again, and last time you weren't wearing a KISS THE COOK shirt, and now you are. It's subtle." [23:48] 6Nels: "I don't think that's subtle, actually." 6She's smiling, though. 00[23:48] <@Crion> Lauren: "It's Halloween. Make it part of a costume or something." 00[23:49] <@Crion> "That's like, the only plausible deniability you have, girl." [23:52] 13Melanie: "And it's the absolute most you need." [23:53] "Seriously, let's go to the bathroom and fix this. I can do art direction, if it involves directing people to draw art." [23:53] 6Nels: "I'm going to go work the Kitchen." 00[23:54] <@Crion> Lauren rolls her eyes. "I'd better go too." 00[23:54] <@Crion> She seems to be enjoying herself, though. [23:56] 10So that leaves Stewart... standing by himself. [23:56] 10He looks around. Anyone else roving around looking for someone to talk to? 00[23:56] <@Crion> No...but someone is coming in the front door. 00[23:56] <@Crion> Don't worry. It's not a Terminator. [23:57] 6What's a - nope, more important things. Session Time: Sun Nov 03 00:00:00 2019 00[00:00] <@Crion> It appears to be a group of three: a punk-rock skateboarder looking dude with half his face painted like a skull, an older guy who looks both absolutely jacked but slightly-going-to-seed -- just a tank-like dad bod on him -- and a very handsome but very young man who does not look like he should have passed a card check. The skateboarder dude lets off a mocking wolf's howl and cackles. 00[00:00] <@Crion> The werewolves have arrived. [00:00] 10Oh shit. [00:01] 6Nels sashays - holy shit, she can literally sashay that's new - over to the Kitchen. Propelled by the power of a few drinks and a desire to not be around whatever is happening behind her right now, she says to the Kitchen: "Hey, handsome. Placing an order. You think I could kiss the cook?" [00:05] 10Stewart makes eye contact with each of the new entrants in turn, and each of them feels their Essence thrumming. [00:07] 13Melanie and Lauren watch in horror(?) as the decorated Foulke approaches her target. "We've abandoned Stewart. I feel guilt." [00:07] "But like, a skerrick or sub-skerrick. He didn't wanna see this." 00[00:07] <@Crion> Cameron Kolsch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7I34zOUZCXM -- Champagne, cocaine, gasoline, and most things in between; I roam the city in a shopping cart, a pack of Camels and a smoke alarm. 00[00:07] <@Crion> Cuth: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaD7Hk-C8XQ -- Why should I worry? Why should I care? I may not have a dime, but I got street savoir-faire. 00[00:07] <@Crion> Liam Two-Tone: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOz2cvHDDJc -- I'm gonna be the main event, like no king was before; I'm brushing up on looking down -- I'm working on my roar! 00[00:08] <@Crion> Lauren: "Yeah. Especially since I think it's working--" 00[00:09] <@Crion> The Kitchen takes one look at Nels, then takes another, much longer look -- his face going bright, bright red. "Ah. Ahhh. Sacre bleu. I. Ah." 00[00:09] <@Crion> "The Kitchen...is open?" [00:11] 13Melanie's looking Lauren up and down speculatively. Last time they met it was.. a much more comfortable setting, but paradoxically awkward as a result. The club is neutral territory. 00[00:13] <@Crion> The sleazy uncle grins at Stewart and winks in return, while the guy with the facepaint has literally lifted Union off of his feet and is playfully windmilling him around on his shoulders before putting him back down. 00[00:13] <@Crion> The kid looks...less overwhelmed than he should. [00:14] 6Nels: "I certainly hope so." 6She pulls him away from prying eyes. 00[00:14] <@Crion> And far more polite than the other two. 00[00:14] <@Crion> There are, in the time that the Kitchen and Nels aren't front of house, a few odd bursts of steam from the back. [00:14] 10Stewart'll go up and offer the older man a hand. "You must be Cuth. Lauren's told me about you guys. Stewart Reader." [00:15] 10To the kid: "Which makes you Liam." 00[00:15] <@Crion> The older man will instead fist bump him. "Hey man. Yeah, yeah. Lauren good? No one showed up yet?" [00:15] 10Stewart: "Yeah, no trouble so far. She just stepped away." [00:16] 10He returns the fist bump after the inevitable split-second awkward pause. 00[00:16] <@Crion> Liam smiles pleasantly. "That it does." Liam will fist bump too, but he seems just about as awkward at it as Stewart. [00:17] 10Liam's song does not sound right at all. Does Stewart remember the Lion King wrong? [00:17] 10No shadow crosses his face as he considers this. [00:18] 10To the both of them: "Which means that'll be Kolsch." [00:18] 13Melanie: "She did it. I don't know why she did it, but she deserves it." 00[00:18] <@Crion> Cuth grins and Liam sighs. In unison: "That'll be Kolsch." 00[00:19] <@Crion> Cuth: "Cam! Don't break the weed hookup! Without his consent!" 00[00:19] <@Crion> Union, while spinning: "Thanks, Cuth," 00[00:20] <@Crion> Lauren: "The Kitchen's been a workaholic since he came back anyway. I just hope it doesn't make things weird." [00:21] 10Kolsch is... a little much for Stewart, even now, about as outgoing as he's ever been. [00:22] 10To the three of them collectively: "So how are you guys doing tonight?" [00:22] 13Melanie gives Lauren an incredulous look. When she smiles, her face crinkles a bit, white bark flaking, but the expression tends to come through. "I mean.. did it?" [00:22] "You know about workaholics who end up finding someone, right?" 00[00:22] <@Crion> Lauren grins. "Between me and Stewart? Nah. But I also know I want to stay with him." 00[00:23] <@Crion> "And he wants to stay with me." 00[00:23] <@Crion> "Nels, well, just ambushed a guy in the laziest slutty cook outfit in the world." 00[00:23] <@Crion> "Hopefully the poor guy doesn't take it hard when she's not interested in something long term." 00[00:23] <@Crion> She pointedly ignores the "they become your job" crack. 00[00:24] <@Crion> Kolsch, meanwhile, like, almost punches Stewart during the fistbump, such that he has to raise his fist almost in self-defense. Stings a little, but only for a second or two. [00:26] 10Haha. Yeah. Okay. Stewart does not like this guy. It's a weird thing to observe about himself, from the remove he's put between his mind and his emotions. You never see that sort of impression forming in real time. It's also completely unfair, and unreasonable, Stewart reminds himself, probably not for the last time tonight. 00[00:26] <@Crion> "Hey man, what's up. So you're like, Lauren's boyfriend? That's chill." [00:27] 13Melanie: "Yeah, you'd better. Um, look, I know this is discourteous:" [00:27] "Stewart is my first friend. In about three hundred years. He's actually nice, which is more than most of us can say, and he gets things..." [00:27] "You.. are making him very happy. So you are very good. Provisionally." 00[00:27] <@Crion> That gets a pretty pointed blink from Lauren. "Oh?" 00[00:27] <@Crion> "Is that so." 00[00:27] <@Crion> When her eyes flare this time, it's not a blush. [00:28] 13Melanie: "It is! I wanted to note your contribution." 00[00:28] <@Crion> "Contribution noted, bitch," Lauren says, walking away. [00:29] 13wait hang on wait [00:30] 13Is this even not what Melanie wanted? She doesn't know. [00:30] 10Stewart: "Yeah! That's me. How, uh, how's... all the horrible shit in the woods." 00[00:30] <@Crion> Kolsch grins freezes on his face, then fades. Quieter: "It's horrible shit in the woods, man. I don't wanna think about it tonight." [00:31] 10Stewart's hands-up, concilatory. "My bad." [00:32] 13..sometimes moving slowly is a choice. Melanie doesn't freeze up; she follows, putting her empty glass on.. something or someone. "Lauren, please wait a sec." 00[00:32] <@Crion> He grimaces. "It's fine, man. Bad shit all over." His grin comes back while he's still looking at Stewart; seems meant to be reassuring, but it's slightly predatory, too. Werewolves. To the other two: "Whatcha want from the bar?" [00:33] 13Melanie: "I'm really bad at this. I'm really specifically bad at talking to people and I don't want to upset you or to be rude." 00[00:33] <@Crion> Cuth: "Natty Bo." 00[00:33] <@Crion> Liam: "Ginger ale, for now." 00[00:33] <@Crion> Lauren stops after a couple steps of Melanie's second line. "Well, you're not wrong." [00:34] "Could we please take it that I'm overconfident and drunk and said.. something wrong." [00:34] 10That reminds Stewart he has to decide if he's drinking tonight. Provisionally... [00:34] 10No. [00:34] 13This would be easier if Melanie knew what she said, though. 00[00:35] <@Crion> Lauren crosses her arms, but her eyes have stopped glowing anger-red. In a more mollified tone: "Okay. Yeah. Apology accepted, even though that wasn't...actually much of an apology. Whatever. We can work on that. For next time? Don't open something you mean as a compliment with 'yeah, you better.'" [00:36] 13Well, she knows what she said, but not why Lauren reacted. Or how she wanted her to react.. her speech patterns, habits, they come from a time that's not very far away but a totally different social status. This is excruciating! She can't even remember how to sweat. 00[00:36] <@Crion> Kolsch moves away to the bar. Samaritan is riding on his shoulders with her own beer in hand when he returns. "WOOOOO! Hey Stewart." [00:37] "I'm sorry Lauren. I intended to evoke.. the friend or family member who was jokingly giving their blessing to a relationship. Like, a speech pieced together out of movie cliches and memories where I.. probably was a bitch, who I used to bed." [00:37] *to be [00:37] 10Stewart: "Happy Halloween, Samaritan." 00[00:38] <@Crion> "Happy Halloweeeeeeeen!" she says as Kolsch passes out drinks. Then she tugs gently(??) on his hair and points at the stage. "This way!!!" [00:38] 13There's usually a bit of Summer around Melanie, a smoky ripple that's present but not particularly intense. It's faded into actual nothing. 00[00:38] <@Crion> Kolsch just grins and shrugs at Cuth and ambles over towards the stage, where Harlan has finished setting everything up. 00[00:39] <@Crion> Cuth: "Man I do not understand that boy's energy. And it ain't just because I'm getting old." [00:39] 10Oh hey! Stewart's just noticed the guy setting up. 00[00:40] <@Crion> Harlan Jape -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKL-BYhRJu8 And we've been burned by all our fears, just from growin' up around here; our father's factories marked our cards, While Eden burned against the stars 00[00:41] <@Crion> Lauren softens a bit. "That's fine. And I'm sorry, too. I probably overreacted. It's been...a long two days." [00:42] 13Melanie: "Okay. I really want you to do well, both you guys." 00[00:43] <@Crion> Lauren smiles. "So do I. Let's get another drink." 00[00:43] <@Crion> The Kitchen is still, ah, busy, but the goat boy from Summer, Capra, is behind the bar now. [00:45] 10Stewart'll join Melanie and Lauren at the bar. Whatever bad energy passed between them has dissipated so that Stewart can't notice it by the time he arrives. "Nels really got after it, huh?" 00[00:45] <@Crion> Lauren: "I didn't take her for the partying type." [00:45] 6It's been a minute. [00:46] 13Melanie was just about to retreat into the corner and watch things for a while; she's got a lot more to learn. [00:46] 10Stewart: "She's had a lot of re-orienting to do. I kind of expect her to, I don't know... change kind of a lot, as she gets a surer foot in the world she got dropped in." [00:46] 13She'll take Lauren's offer up instead, but... what if she says the wrong thing again? What if she means the wrong thing again? There was something in there earlier- the condescension of an assumed superior. Queen of the party granting praise and making threats. Is that who she used to be? Is it who she wants to be on some level? Most people aren't as understanding as Stewart and Maggie [00:46] 13but that's a problem too because they might understand more than she does, about herself. Damn it. Lacan had nothing to say about this reality. [00:46] 10Like Melanie, he thinks but doesn't say. [00:47] 6...Several minutes. Something like, uh, 50 million minutes. And change. [00:48] 13Well, Melanie might be looking a lot more familiar to Stewart right now... "Yeah, we encouraged her and I think it's good for her but I'm not sure that's who she is yet, just some kind of.. necessary step? To get connections back?" [00:48] "Lauren pointed out that it's a bit unfair to the Kitchen, but when the heck is he going to pull better than this?" 00[00:51] <@Crion> Lauren: "I wasn't THAT brutally honest." [00:52] 10Stewart: "It's hard to know what kind of place he's in just from the outside. Like I was definitely not, uh, 'on the market' when I met Lauren. We just... kinda clicked." [00:52] 13Melanie: "My editorialising. Sorry again!" [00:54] 10Wait, again? 00[00:55] <@Crion> It looks like things are getting started at the stage in the front. Some mortals and hangers-on -- all pre-cleared, all dressed for dancing -- are milling about the floor. David Smote is talking to Harlan Jape, who is laughing and shaking his head, but in a way that communicates "sure kid," not "no." [00:55] 10Oh, well. Melanie must have stepped in it somehow when they were alone together. By no means inevitable with Melanie but not... unheard of, either. [00:56] 13Melanie: "That particular market's got to be fraught for us. It's not just a matter of efficient preference expression.. people are going to come back anywhere from obsessed to pathologically disinterested, or the most common thing has to be that you just have some of yourself... dormant. Like indefinitely." [00:57] 10Stewart: "Yeah, I've been thinking about that, lately." [00:58] "Especially about like, problems that are sort of us-specific. Like, man, if Lauren was even in a different court my life would suck a lot more. Nevermind if one of us'd never been through the Thorns." [01:00] 13Melanie: "Are you not interested in spending a whole relationship lying about fundamental aspects of yourself?" [01:00] "It's a joke, but- some people would do that. Even prefer it." [01:01] 10Lauren might not have a lot of experience of Stewart speaking closely with other people, but by now she's probably observed his tendency to mirror whoever he's talking to. Conversations with Melanie are very abstract and cerebral and more shockingly frank than he'd ever be with Lauren. And then there was the way he acted around Society... [01:01] 10Stewart: "Yeah, no I couldn't. I actually had a conversation about this the other night with, uh, my fetch." 00[01:01] <@Crion> On stage, Smote does Outkast's best song serviceably well. This is a song that's really easy to fuck up, and he doesn't, but he's obviously not a pro. The crowd still gets into it, though. <+trenchfoot> I'll start proccing the loophole | https://www.youtube.co 00[01:01] <@Crion> lol [01:01] 13Melanie: "Oh, wow." 00[01:01] <@Crion> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kaFygeknae8 [01:03] 10But he quiets down when the music begins. 00[01:03] <@Crion> David Smote -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gJ3HzBbdxI Nobody speak, nobody get choked. [01:03] "It's in Maryland? Did you meet it?" [01:03] 10Stewart judges that both of these are good, but the soul-song is much better than the voice-song. 00[01:04] <@Crion> Lauren: "Yeah, how is that guy?" 00[01:04] <@Crion> Referring to the fetch. [01:07] 10Stewart: "He's a great guy. He goes by Stu. Married," 10little catch in his voice "real nice house out in the county. Beautiful yellow lab named Beau. He works as a firefighter. He works out." [01:08] "Lauren helped me hook him up with Gerald so he can get a better grip on stuff." 00[01:08] <@Crion> Lauren: "Damn." She pauses to drink, then looks over at Stewart. "Yeah, I can't see you as a firefighter." 00[01:08] <@Crion> "No offense." 00[01:08] <@Crion> She sort of squints teasingly. "Like maybe...five hours in the gym a day..." [01:09] 10Stewart: "Yeah, no, none taken. I didn't even like sliding down the pole as a kid." [01:09] 13Melanie listens intently. [01:09] "He's.. different to you?" [01:10] "On his own terms, rather than as a reflection?" [01:10] "It turns out that our, uh, return, is really psychically fraught for them. He was having nightmares of me, like, coming and destroying his life. He started having dreams where he could like, see me, sort of through my computer screen somehow? Bits of my life that you could only see if you were watching me through a machine." 10Another little catch. 00[01:10] <@Crion> Meanwhile, Amelia Bantham slips out from offices in the back and behind the bar, touching Capra on the shoulder to let him know she's there. Business is picking up, so she starts cleaning glasses while he takes orders. She hums while she does it... [01:11] 10Stewart: "Yeah. He put in a lot of work to make it his life and not somebody else's that he got dropped in. He's very chill, kinda... kind of a broey vibe, almost? But in a really sweet way. He reminds me of Tony a fair bit." [01:11] 10Oh shit, it's the Gardener. What's she rockin? 00[01:12] <@Crion> Amelia Banthem -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVws52PPvEA It gets all right to dream at night, believe in solid skies and slate blue earth below; but when you see him, you'll know. 00[01:12] <@Crion> The moment he hits her with the Hedge-busker's Tip, her eyes shoot up...and she returns the favor. 00[01:13] <@Crion> Smiles indulgantly and nods, then continues washing glasses. [01:13] "Through a machine. Is that.. how he'd get a warning?" [01:13] Stewart Reader -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adrjxbVOtXk That's the terror of knowing what this world's all about... [01:14] 10That's the first time someone's used it on him since Lauren. Feels nice. [01:14] 10Stewart: "I think we have a kind of sympathetic connection. Like between the two machines in the server setup that gives us our internet." [01:15] "He can sort of... feel my presence." [01:15] 13Melanie: "Yes." [01:15] 13It's a flat confirmation, not a 'tell me more'. [01:15] "But I get nothing from him. It seems to be totally one-way." [01:16] 10His face lights up at Amelia's song, though. That's Lauren's band! 00[01:17] <@Crion> Lauren: "Gerald and Kingsley are the same way. I think it's a defense mechanism?" [01:17] 10He instantly likes Amelia, who's never spoken to him, more. [01:17] 10Almost never, rather. He remembers she was the one who shooed him out earlier. 00[01:17] <@Crion> She doesn't see it because she's happily saying, "Hey, Amelia!" to Amelia. 00[01:17] <@Crion> The Gardener smiles. "Hello, dear." [01:17] "Is it?" 00[01:25] <@Crion> Up on stage, Smote is sort of like, baiting Nissa of Fives up, saying he'll sing along with her. She seems embarrassed. [01:26] 13Melanie: "Dinner with her girl and a friend, steak. Bitching about the coach. They're all pretty immersed in the world of the game; I would have been, too. Why think about anything else? She's.. it's a good restaurant, I see nice red leather seats. I don't know who's paying. This might not last but it's good right now." 00[01:26] <@Crion> She's also in slacks and a sleeveless vest showing off some powerful arms, instead of her suit from the last time. 00[01:26] <@Crion> Lauren: "...what the--" [01:27] "Allie's got a lot to say about the old coach too. She's like a mentor, I guess. I don't follow it well enough to understand who's right. That's not me anymore." [01:27] 10Stewart completely misses the powerful arms, looking at Melanie. Though Melanie's also got-- anyway. "...wow." [01:27] "Little bits of it never would have been but they're... little. Well, one's pretty.. tall." 00[01:28] <@Crion> Up on stage, they kick it off: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwWVC8kLqjg [01:28] 13Melanie hasn't noticed the Queen at all; she's nearly knocked over a glass, so it's pretty clear she's looking Elsewhere. 00[01:29] <@Crion> It takes awhile for Nissa to get into it -- Smote is singing lead -- but by the end the screaming is fantastic. [01:30] 10Booya. [01:30] 13Melanie blinks- "What's that noise? Niice." [01:31] 10Stewart: "I just read something about an MCR reunion show, actually." [01:31] "It's out in LA though..." 00[01:31] <@Crion> Nissa of Fives -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XKlRZ9Kq4w I'm not laughing, you're not joking; I'm not dead, I only dress that way. [01:31] 10A ha ha ha hell yes. [01:32] "That song can't possibly be My Chemical Romance." [01:33] 13Melanie: "Or.. they got good while we were away." [01:33] 10Stewart: "They were always good." [01:33] 13Melanie: "Lol." [01:33] "Unbelievable." [01:34] 13He's serious isn't he. This... is forgivable. 00[01:36] <@Crion> Amelia: "So how are you kids enjoying everything? Under the circumstances." [01:37] 10Stewart looks appreciative, but instead of answering verbally he gives Lauren a squeeze. 00[01:38] <@Crion> Lauren smiles. "It's the best it can be. Under the circumstances. Thanks." She squeezes back. [01:38] 13Oh! "Good evening, spring queen. This is.. a good party." 00[01:39] <@Crion> Amelia: "Hello dear, and thank you for saying so." She smiles, and her eyes catch the light. [01:39] 13Literally? 00[01:39] <@Crion> A little bit literally. [01:46] 13Melanie didn't want to be defined by the song, but after Stewart told her, she had to know. She's looked it up and if they get involved the Karaoke, it might even be what she sings. [01:46] 13Melanie Lucas -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MJh2jSkqqA Now I've got that slow, sinking feeling- like a bird without a wing... 00[01:47] <@Crion> Amelia's smile widens. "Feel free to sing, if the mood takes you." 00[01:47] <@Crion> "And if not--" 00[01:47] <@Crion> There's some commotion near the door. 00[01:47] <@Crion> Still not a Terminator. 00[01:47] <@Crion> Amelia straightens. "Well, look who it is." [01:48] 10Stewart doesn't chastise himself for looking up sharply. Cause then the one time he finally relaxes, BOOM. Terminator. [01:48] 13Melanie can't tell whether Amelia Bantham is judging her, but she wouldn't be able to do anything about it if she was. 00[01:48] <@Crion> The Vigilant of Summer has arrived, flanked by Langford List. Melanie does recall from Langford's email that he said "the rest of the Summer Court would be there." [01:50] 13Hell yeah. Who needs a Terminator? ..and why are we talking about those, anyway? 00[01:50] <@Crion> The Young Street is in timbs, jeans, and a white tank-top. He shoulder bumps and hugs a few people in the crowd, greets a few others, then jumps up on the stage and daps Harlan before embracing Smote and Nissa in succession. "That's right!" His voice carries. "That's right!" 00[01:51] <@Crion> Langford List -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPqK3DkAD6A And you packing your gun, but what you really gonna do when the motherfucking law wanna fuck around with you? 00[01:53] <@Crion> "Yeah, alright," says the Street. "We'll do something old school. Mobb Deep. Back in the day. Harlan, gimme the beat." 00[01:53] <@Crion> His song is the same as, well, his song. 00[01:54] <@Crion> The Young Street -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoYZf-lBF_U Son, they shook, cause ain't no such thing as halfway crooks. 00[01:55] <@Crion> His performance doesn't actually set the room on fire, but it comes close. [01:56] 10Damn. [01:56] 10Yeah, he can buy this guy putting Stu through a window. [01:57] 13he is so cool 00[01:57] <@Crion> When he's done, thunderously, he drops off the stage and straight-up chestbumps the werewolf Cuth at full strength for both men, before they embrace. [01:58] 10To Lauren: "So what are you going to sing?" 00[01:58] <@Crion> Lauren's eyes go red again, but she's back to blushing. "That--I--ah--" 00[01:58] <@Crion> "Surely that'd be...a security risk!!" [01:59] 10Stewart's eyes widen. Oh my god. 00[01:59] <@Crion> Langford List makes his way upstairs, but not before nodding at Melanie in acknowledgment. They can talk when she has a minute. [01:00] 10It illuminates his whole face - literally, his pearlescent skin catches ambient light like the surface of the moon. He's glowing gently, both literally and figuratively. "Why Lauren Ipsum." [01:00] "Is that nerves I detect?" 00[01:01] <@Crion> She like, half-punches his shoulder. "Yes!!" [01:01] 13Ahaha. Melanie is going to excuse herself, but- "It's a dignity risk if you don't do it." 00[01:01] <@Crion> The Young Street is, meanwhile, making his way slowly back their direction. He's also holding court, though, something he clearly enjoys doing and which is heightened by him so rarely appearing. 00[01:02] <@Crion> Lauren: "Not you too!!" [01:02] 13She's.. briefly terrified as she gets up. How did Lauren take that? But you can't just- whatever, whatever. [01:03] 13Oh, is the Street passing by here? Then before she goes upstairs, Melanie will execute something like an actual courtly bough. Bow. Whatever. [01:04] "This conversation isn't over," 10Stewart will murmur against Lauren's neck before he sits at attention as the entourage rolls up to check on her. 00[01:04] <@Crion> The Street will do that reverse chin-nod acknowledgment and stop to face her. "What up, girl. Heard you did us proud in the Hedge. Like to see it. I owe you an apology." [01:05] 13Melanie: "Street, I'll keep working." 00[01:06] <@Crion> He nods. "That's what I like to hear. Keep the focus. Langford's upstairs. I'm gonna see your boy and his girl, but I'll be up." [01:07] 13Melanie raises her eyeridges at Stewart and Melanie, then leaves. Good luck to them? 00[01:07] <@Crion> Leaves, does she? 00[01:08] <@Crion> One assumes she also walks away, [01:08] 13Upstairs, yes. [01:09] 13There probably are leaves left behind given how long and inattentively she was at the bar. She can't help it!! 00[01:14] <@Crion> The Street swaggers over, flanked by Smote and Nissa now...and someone new. Slightly older man, Latino, close-cropped hair, Wizened, wearing dark slacks, nice shoes, and a button-up shirt open two down. He's got black-out John Lennon glasses on, and he's idly whistling. Around his neck is...a Baltimore Police Department detective badge. His mantle is furious Summer, but his manner seems almost 00[01:14] <@Crion> mild. [01:15] 10Stewart's eyes widen slightly, not at the fire giant bearing down on him, but on the badge. 00[01:20] <@Crion> Detective Serrato Colt -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dy3pJZNJJ4 Just waiting to see some sun, never knowing if that day will ever come; left alone standing out on the street, 'til you become the hand that turns the key. 00[01:20] <@Crion> The detective notices him staring. "I'm Detective Colt. Don't worry." He leans forward, right by Stewart's ear. "I'm the one that gave those three up." [01:21] 10Stewart's shoulders relax, but his facial expression settles into a slightly harder position than it began in. He nods once. 00[01:21] <@Crion> He's got something holstered at his waist; it's a revolver, and it looks like an older gun. Non-standard. 00[01:22] <@Crion> The Street laughs. "Well, the vampires had something to do it with." [01:22] 10Immediately Stewart wonders if there's a huntsman out there with Big Iron as their song. 00[01:23] <@Crion> Colt, mildly: "The vampires hemmed and hawed and insisted they didn't know who they might have had on the force." 00[01:23] <@Crion> The Street shrugs. "It's good to have diverse friends." To Lauren: "How you doing, kid?" 00[01:23] <@Crion> Lauren: "I'm fine, sir. Thank you." [01:24] 10Sir, huh? 00[01:24] <@Crion> He snorts. "I'm only sir when I'm the king. That, or I'm getting old." 00[01:25] <@Crion> To Stewart: "So you're Kingsley's new prodigy? And Santander's." [01:25] 10Stewart: "Well, I'm the new guy anyway. Stewart Reader. It's nice to meet you. You were, King-in-Court when I came over but I wasn't really doing a lot of freehold stuff at the time." [01:28] 10Stewart doesn't offer a handshake if Street doesn't first. He seems more likely than most to dislike the ritual. 00[01:29] <@Crion> He laughs. "All good!" Instead of a handshake, he'll slap Stewart on the shoulder. "Heard you did good in that shit with the Pigs, and whatever happened with Proctor. That's good enough for me. Enjoy the party." 00[01:29] <@Crion> The Vigilant of Summer will then retreat to a private but prominent booth with his retinue, and oversee the party. [01:31] 10Now it's just Lauren and Stewart by themselves. "How are you doing?" 10he asks. 00[01:32] <@Crion> Lauren: "I'm..." 00[01:32] <@Crion> "This sucks, man. This isn't how I wanted to spend time together." [01:33] 10Stewart: "Yeah." [01:33] "It's almost like it was on purpose. You know, like... timed to fuck with you." 00[01:33] <@Crion> "It's even worse because now I've got like, the Street going out of his way to be here and the Liaison trying to cheer me up -- that dude! -- and it's like, I don't want to be this important." 00[01:34] <@Crion> She frowns. "What do you mean?" [01:36] 10Stewart: "I don't know, like... when the Herald showed up. Why not a week before? Why not two days later? I just... like if you had to pick a moment to drop that on someone where it would be most disruptive, and most, like... damaging to a hard-earned feeling of happiness and safety." [01:36] 10It doesn't occur to Stewart that he's thinking out loud from the perspective of a Keeper. 00[01:37] <@Crion> Lauren kinda shivers. "Yeah. Yeah." 00[01:37] <@Crion> "And it fucked up the party for everyone else too." 00[01:38] <@Crion> "Well, not the Street, I guess." [01:42] 10Stewart: "Yeah, it's bullshit. I guess it could be worse, though, on that front. Like the bosses are pretty much always worrying about something, right? I doubt this kills the buzz for them. And a lot of people just... don't know anything's up yet." 00[01:42] <@Crion> Lauren: "Yeah...but like. What if this is just my life now." 00[01:42] <@Crion> "AUGH!" [01:42] 10Stewart: "It won't come to that. We'll figure something out." 00[01:43] <@Crion> "I can't believe I kind of want this fucking thing to show up, to get it over with!!" 00[01:43] <@Crion> "Not, you know -- not like that." 00[01:43] <@Crion> "But they can take it, right? The Freehold?" [01:44] 10Stewart: "Yeah. I think we'll need to think sideways at it to deal with it on a longer-term basis though. But we will." [01:44] "And like... if it had to be that way. If we had to crush this thing once a month every month for the rest of our lives, we would do it. We'd do it gladly. Because we need you, and we love you." 00[01:44] <@Crion> She leans her head against his neck. 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(joanofarcta@sorcery-j9socb.dynamic.onlinenw.com) Quit (Connection closed) 03[15:27] * dammitwho (joanofarcta@sorcery-j9socb.dynamic.onlinenw.com) has joined #gofetch 03[15:27] * CBN (CBN@sorcery-v852kb.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) has joined #gofetch 03[15:27] * trenchfoot (dani@sorcery-jcvlv4.in.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 02[15:36] * CBN (CBN@sorcery-v852kb.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) Quit (Connection closed) 03[15:37] * CBN (CBN@sorcery-v852kb.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) has joined #gofetch 02[15:40] * Disconnected 02[15:40] * Attempting to rejoin channel #gofetch 03[15:40] * Rejoined channel #gofetch 03[15:40] * Topic is 'Who botches the Botchmen?' 03[15:40] * Set by Crion!Crion@sorcery-puhjpa.fios.verizon.net on Sun Sep 22 02:37:29 2019 02[15:40] * trenchfoot (dani@sorcery-jcvlv4.in.comcast.net) Quit (*.net *.split) 02[15:40] * @Crion (Crion@sorcery-puhjpa.fios.verizon.net) Quit (*.net *.split) 02[15:40] * banana|peels (banana@sorcery-skam65.com) Quit (*.net *.split) 03[15:43] * banana (banana@sorcery-skam65.com) has joined #gofetch 03[18:45] * trenchfoot_ is now known as trenchfoot 03[20:20] * Crion_ is now known as Crion 03[20:20] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Crion 00[21:06] <@Crion> 00[21:06] <@Crion> 00[21:06] <@Crion> 00[21:06] <@Crion> 00[21:06] <@Crion> 00[21:06] <@Crion> 00[21:06] <@Crion> 00[21:06] <@Crion> 00[21:06] <@Crion> The party this Halloween is just getting started. 00[21:07] <@Crion> Before we get too deeper into our drinks, however: What, precisely, have all of you told your courts about what went down with the Loyalists? Stewart submitted his report, of course, and Melanie's about to make hers in person -- but do the Winter and Spring Courts know that one of the gentry was personally involved? [21:13] 10Well, Stewart already made his report, so he can start drinking. And he has, with a double rye and a basket of french fries covered in Old Bay. [21:14] 5Tony called Spring from his apartment's landline until she answered, then matter-of-factly told her everything, down to "And I voted to kill K.I.L.L. and no on else did and then the True Fae swore not to use contracts the next time it saw us and then left" because: better to not have to answer questions by just saying it all up front, at once. 00[21:16] <@Crion> Well, that certainly makes things simpler. And it explains why at least one Winter courtier has been pretty much glued to Peter Montgomery all night. Perhaps the poor boy -- sporting a new Spring mantle -- actually thinks it's because he's that interesting, but more likely he knows something is up. [21:16] 6If Nels knows who to tell about it, she would have. Probably David Smitten? He's been the nicest so far, and has been helping her get acclimated, so. 00[21:17] <@Crion> Then he definitely knows, or should know, but unlike Lauren he seems completely unafraid. If anything, slightly embarrassed by the attention? [21:17] 10Has anyone actually explained what the Gentry are to him yet? [21:18] 10Or does he still think he just got out of a bad relationship with a weird rich lady. 00[21:18] <@Crion> One presumes so. It was basically the main subject of your first big meeting with the Freehold. [21:21] 13Melanie Lucas is possessed by a ghost. She climbs the stairs to the bar's upper level slowly, one hand on a wooden rail that welcomes the touch (grain runs the right way, and it feels like a promise fulfilled). [21:22] 13There was another Melanie, lifetimes ago, who was at home in this mess of acquaintanceship and karaoke and alcohol. That's another thing she'd forgotten. Alcohol! Thank Tony later. She knew all about it intellectually but that's not the same as experiencing dropped inhibitions - die anwesenheit, die anwesen anwesende. Inhibitions serve to protect. 00[21:22] <@Crion> Anyway, just about everyone who is anyone in the Freehold has shown up, though apparently some of the shyer or more anti-social changelings don't make the trek out to these events often. Things are just about falling into a groove when the mages and vampires arrive., [21:22] 7Did the Spring Court give her some specific contact other than Smitten? Otherwise, she'll have called him to check in, but probably later than Nels did. 00[21:24] <@Crion> The mages first: Jesuit, flanked by Everafter and Pardon; no new faces there. Sommolier was mentioned earlier in the evening by Fireman, but neither he nor any other new mage has shown. Jesuit is greeted warmly by Kingsley, who seems to melt out of the crowd, and the lot of them retreat to a private booth across from the Street's. [21:24] 13Now she's let the ghost out, the face she sees in dreams; Stewart makes sense of things and no sense at all. It's like watching herself through - metaphor fails her. This possession's tricks are painfully familiar - ignorance as social advantage. Naivety as forgiveness. Substance abuse is an easier way to be interesting than knowing fucking anything at all. 00[21:25] <@Crion> Melanie will find Langford List sitting alone at the upstairs bar, nursing a whiskey on the rocks. 00[21:26] <@Crion> When she's ready. [21:26] 13That could be a long time! She'd better go now instead. 00[21:27] <@Crion> Did she bring her drink up with her? [21:28] 7Where's the Gardener and the Vigilant? 00[21:29] <@Crion> The Vigilant is at a booth being feted by his courtiers and enteraining the werewolves; the Gardener is helping tend the bar. [21:29] 10What's Lauren drinking? Is Lauren drinking? "Do you want to wait for Lister?" 00[21:30] <@Crion> Lauren is having a White Claw. Apparently it's on tap? What a bizarre concept. 00[21:30] <@Crion> Lauren: "Yeah, but he should--" 00[21:30] <@Crion> Right on cue, the vampires stride in. [21:30] 10!! 00[21:30] <@Crion> Well, the vampires...and one changeling. [21:30] 10... 00[21:32] <@Crion> The Girl, the Mainer, Father Jesse, the prince, Lister, and a Hispanic woman with short-cropped black hair in a grey suit that Stewart hasn't seen before. 00[21:32] <@Crion> No sign of the Count of St. Sebastian. [21:32] 5Tony's shitty at parties nowadays. Having your last memory of a big party being the last thing that happened before your Durance will do that. So he sticks to the biggest, most crowded room he can, plasters his back to a wall, and keeps his hands full. With beers. [21:32] 10Stewart guesses that's Gabriel Menendez, the Nice Vampire Father Jesse mentioned. 00[21:33] <@Crion> That would make a certain degree of sense; the two seem to be conversing. [21:33] 13Melanie finished her latest drink. Not necessary to be the way she is with the Summer Court (what is this chameleonic bullcrap? the Talewright didn't teach her that, there's no script, it's just what you do when you don't have anyone better to be). [21:33] "Hello again, Mr. List." [21:33] 6An only slightly disheveled Nels is calmly sipping her drink at the bar, carefully watching the new arrivals. I don't believe she's met, well. Any of them. [21:34] 10Stewart wonders if the supernatural effect of Hedge-Busker's Tip extends to vampires and their... blood. Does their blood get thicker? Do they get more blood? 00[21:34] <@Crion> The vampires head towards the rear of the establishment with purpose, except the Girl pulls the Mainer off onto the dance floor before they clear it, and then while Father Jesse and the woman, Menendez, head to Kingsley's table -- the Father actually embraces (lower-case e) Jesuit before sitting down -- Lister spies Lauren and Stewart and heads over in your direction. 00[21:35] <@Crion> Gabriel Menendez -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_2gHmpZmzU [Gris, Part 1] 00[21:36] <@Crion> Lister, Prince of Baltimore -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPlK5HwFxcw [Hymn of the Cherubim] 00[21:37] <@Crion> List gestures at the bar. "Ms. Lucas. Would you like something to drink?" He takes a longer look at her. "Water?" [21:38] 10What does Lister actually look like? [21:38] 7In that case, Maggie will wind her way up to the bar first... well, second. After heading over to the Kitchen to get some sausage rolls. Once she reaches the bar: "Evening, ma'am! Got any Lake Dredge?" 7Lake Dredge, an imperial stout from the eponymous microbrewery. 00[21:39] <@Crion> Like a dead angel. Thin, slightly-chubby cheeked, golden-haired, dead-eyed. He looks dressed for church, though it's possible this is just the formality with which he's dressed for...the past 300 years or so, only changing his style with the times. [21:39] 13Melanie: "One water on the rocks, please." [21:39] "I should tell you right now, things didn't go to plan and we've got new problems. That's, um, I read a bit about military strategy and it seems normal?" 00[21:40] <@Crion> The Mainer has been dragged up on stage. 00[21:40] <@Crion> He takes some prodding from The Girl, but finally sings something that fits his vocal range: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aol6RMtEB8Y 00[21:41] <@Crion> List reaches over and pours her a highball glass of icewater, then pushes it over. "Indeed it is." 00[21:41] <@Crion> "You said Proctor was dead, however." [21:42] 10Stewart's face doesn't falter as he welcomes the dead child to his booth. "It's nice to meet you. I'm Stewart." [21:42] 13Melanie: "They're all dead or gone. I'll start at the end: we got into Proctor's sanctum and a Keeper was putting him down." 00[21:42] <@Crion> At the bar, Amelia frowns and says, "I don't believe we do. Is that local?" 00[21:43] <@Crion> List doesn't cough or sputter, but he does close his eyes and take a longer pull of the whiskey. "Killing him, you mean." 00[21:43] <@Crion> "Just trying to wrap my head around this." [21:43] 7Maggie: "Rats. Yeah, one of them tiny places around here. Pull me a Guinness, then." 00[21:44] <@Crion> The Gardener grins. "That I can do." Her pour is perfect. "I can see about getting Lake Dredge in, if I can find it." [21:44] 13Melanie: "Right.. I don't think it thought about it that way, though. Let me go back a few steps and summarise?" 00[21:45] <@Crion> Lister smiles. Yep, those are fangs. "Ah! Stewart! It is a pleasure to meet you, in the flesh." He lets that hang threateningly for a half-second--but before he can get a reaction Lauren grouses, "Don't tease him, Lister." 00[21:46] <@Crion> The prince of Baltimore chuckles -- it's more of a giggle, really. "Sorry, sorry. I cannot help it." The French accent is more subdued than one might have expected, but then, it has been awhile. 00[21:46] <@Crion> Langford List: "Please do." [21:47] 10Stewart: "That's a nice suit." 10Stewart actually just bought a suit. He was going to wear it tonight, but, kind of a weird look when Lauren's under bar arrest in case a Terminator shows up. 00[21:48] <@Crion> "Thank you!" 00[21:48] <@Crion> More seriously: "How are the two of you doing?" 00[21:48] <@Crion> "I heard about the...incident." [21:48] 7Maggie: "So, the other reason I came up here is, I wanted to run something by you for the next party. The Prom, I guess we call it?" [21:48] 10He'll let Lauren answer first. There's rye to get through. 00[21:49] <@Crion> Lauren: "Fine. But tired. Looking forward to going home. This is the longest I've spent not in front of a computer in years." 00[21:49] <@Crion> Amelia: "Yup." [21:50] 13Melanie counts off the points of the motley's tale, telling the ghost farewell. She's in a new world now and needs to be present. "We tracked the loyalists to their rathole, guarded by pigs. We killed some when they tried to ambush us, tricked the rest away and set up a cordon. All of this took a couple of weeks." [21:50] 10Stewart: "You know what would probably wake you up? A nice round of karaoke." 00[21:50] <@Crion> Langford List nods. 00[21:51] <@Crion> Lauren makes a face. Lister, however: "Ooh! I like the idea." [21:51] 13Melanie: "The idea was to get them coming out with the help of some stuff we found at Notgnixel. Things went wrong when Loser was the first one out the door and turned out to be an Autumn Court spy." 00[21:52] <@Crion> Langford List straightens up. "A fucking what now?" [21:52] 10He really wants her to sing... but he also doesn't want to push her too hard. This has been a rough couple of days. "We could go up together. Or I could go up first." [21:53] 13Melanie: "I know, right? They didn't even tell Stewart, but he knew enough to verify her. She swore oaths too, but she wasn't in great mental shape. Way too long undercover and she had like.. hatred and attachment to some of them." 00[21:53] <@Crion> Lauren: "...Together would be good. Aaaafter you go up first." [21:53] 7She takes a long drink, then puts her glass down on the bar emphatically. "Contests of skill! The clever and the strong demonstrating their prowess in friendly competition! To the winners, a prize of a laurel crown, the admiration of all the bright young things, bragging rights for the next year, and a celebratory bowl of the beverage of their choice!" 7She adds: "May have to rethink that [21:53] last one for the vampires. Still noodling it." 00[21:54] <@Crion> Langford, mostly to himself: "How the fuck does he expect us to run an operation when he's running a SIDE OPERATION that--" He waves a hand. "Sorry. Yes. This Loser. What happened to her?" [21:54] "I can't give you anything more on that because events moved too fast. We got rushed inside by the arrival of this thing , the one called the Mistress of the High House." 00[21:55] <@Crion> Amelia chuckles. "Not even a year in to your residency and you're already proposing games of skill. ...Still, I like the idea." [21:55] 13Melanie: "By the time we got to the bunk room, Proctor and Kid Kid Kid and Cambridge Son were dying, she turned them into - she put them on - she'd killed them pretty easily." 00[21:55] <@Crion> Langford List has pulled out a notebook and a pen. "Confirm that for me: 'Mistress of the High House?'" [21:56] 10Stewart: "Hmm... I don't know what to sing. Let me think about it." 10He goes to get another drink, sees Maggie at the bar. "Hey!" 10he says, giving her a side-hug. 00[21:56] <@Crion> Amelia: "What kind of competitions are you thinking about, Maggie? We don't have the most space in here." [21:56] 13Melanie: "That's the name Loser used; it's known in Philadelphia." 00[21:56] <@Crion> The Gardener will nod to Stewart. Meanwhile, Lister has slid into the booth and is attempting to cheer Lauren up by talking about some Destiny-related nonsense. [21:57] 13Melanie: "So the six of us try to run away or yell, I don't think anyone thought of taking out a weapon, but all of that was, you know. Irrelevant anyway. It made us stand there and watch in stupefaction." 00[21:57] <@Crion> "Keeper is Mistress of the High House; Loser is out of Philadelphia. Of course she is. You said Keeper, not just gentry -- did this thing say whose Keeper it was?" 00[21:58] <@Crion> "Was it Loser's?" [21:58] 7Maggie: "Heya, Stewart!" 7She will IMMEDIATELY look around for Lauren. [21:58] 13Melanie: "No, let me skip ahead, it's Peter Montgomery's captor. It wanted us to give him a message, made threats to anyone around him." [21:59] "That's why it went after the loyalists. It wants him back alive and what it thinks is voluntary." [21:59] 10Lauren's visible over Stewart's shoulder, engaged in conversation with what looks like a 13 year old boy dressed for church by his mother, a boarding school headmistress. 00[22:00] <@Crion> List pauses. "So there's no indication that it's coming here." 00[22:00] <@Crion> "The last thing we need is a Huntsman AND a Keeper crashing this party." [22:00] 13Melanie: "It claimed it was not. Obviously we're not idiots, so- huntsman?" 00[22:01] <@Crion> What're Nels and Tony up to? Still wallflowering? [22:01] 6Yeah. Sipping drinks, not looking at the Kitchen, trying to figure out what and when to sing. 00[22:01] <@Crion> Should be an opening coming up soon. 03[22:02] * mattbaby_ (mattbaby@sorcery-v7n841.dc.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch [22:02] 5Tony needs another pair of beers, which takes him back to the bar. And that's how he comes to politely elbow around Maggie and co. "Hey, hey." 5 Multi-tasking light socializing with heavy getting-more-beers over here. 00[22:05] <@Crion> List waves a hand. "The Autumn girl. The one your little nerd motley-mate is attached to at the hip. There's a Huntsman coming for her." [22:05] 13List might not care about the game it tried to play, though he needs to know K.I.L.L.'s fate. But Melanie's interrupting herself to ask.. she has a sick feeling. Surely not vodka. [22:06] 13She doesn't know what her face does instead of go pale anymore; there are cracking noises. "Lauren? And she knows, she must?" [22:06] 10Stewart, who's having a couple quick ones at the bar before going back, giving Lister and Lauren some time to catch up and Stewart somewhere to be that isn't eight inches from a 350 year old 13 year old: "Hey, Tony! This party's kind of a lot, huh?" 00[22:07] <@Crion> List nods. "That's why she's here. If it wants to get her -- and it sent the Herald last night, so it's close -- it's going to have to get through the Freehold and all our friends. We're quietly getting the mortals out of here early; by the time its late and it's tactically appropriate to strike, well." 00[22:08] <@Crion> "Hopefully it's one of the stupider ones, and just walks in the front door." [22:08] 5Tony turns, grabs a pair of fresh beers, and looks over his shoulder reflexively before leaning against the bar and nodding at Stewart. "Everybody's celebrating like they did something. Halloween wasn't this big a deal back in my day, or with my old crowd." [22:09] 7Must be one of them vampyres. Eternally youthful with ancient souls, things of that nature. Damnedest thing. To Amelia: "Well, now. That depends on what everyone here is good at, isn't it? And since we're such an eclectic bunch-" 7She's not nearly drunk enough to say 'motley crew' and think it funny, "Maybe we should do it by boasts? Somebody stands up and says 'I can jump the furthest, [22:09] I can clear these three tables at a bound, not one of you here can jump farther than me', someone else says 'the hell you can', and we're off!" [22:09] 10Stewart: "Honestly I think the day's just an excuse. Autumn's got ties to all the different, uh, communities, and I guess events like this are a way to build cross-community... community. There's one in the Spring too, called Prom. Which, honestly, concerns me more." 00[22:10] <@Crion> Amelia smiles wryly. "Do that around Summer and that's gonna lead to some fistfights." [22:11] "Like... imagine doing Prom again?" 10Imagine actually going to Prom? [22:11] 5Tony: "Jesus Christ. Well here's to a long winter and a short spring, huh?" [22:11] "I'll drink to that." 10And he does. [22:11] 7Maggie: "Might be okay, as long as nobody gets really hurt? ...I guess that could go wrong pretty quickly, huh. That's why I ruled out wrestling." [22:12] "Okay, I gotta go see my girlfriend and the vampire Prince of Baltimore. Don't be a stranger, Tony." [22:13] 13Melanie stands abruptly and then... remains in place at the bar, clutching her glass. "Okay, I guess this must be pretty safe... as safe as we can get really. Time-limited. Ah, that's awful." [22:13] 5Tony: "Well those're two new things. Have fun." 5Tip of the beer, drink of the beer. [22:14] 10Stewart slides back into the booth beside Lauren with a (fifth?) rye and a glass of water, alongside another "White Claw" for Lauren. 00[22:14] <@Crion> Stewart is quite immediately replaced by Spring, the Winter courtier. "Hey Tone. Tony. The Tonester. Gardener, a vodka cranberry, please." 00[22:14] <@Crion> Lauren takes the White Claw gladly, and though she seems a bit skeptical of quite how much Stewart is drinking and how quickly, she doesn't say anything. 00[22:14] <@Crion> "So," Lister says to Stewart, "you sing?" 00[22:15] <@Crion> Amelia purses her lips but serves one up perfectly. [22:15] 5Tony narrows his eyes at Spring-of-Winter's whole, everything. "You doin' okay?" [22:15] 10Stewart: "I mean... I've sang." [22:15] "I wouldn't call myself a singer." 00[22:15] <@Crion> Spring: "Haven't had to shoot anyone in a week or two, so I'm doing allllright." [22:16] "I actually played a couple of sets as a lounge act once. Like, Michael Buble stuff." [22:16] 10Long sip of water. "An evil god thought it'd be funny." [22:17] "You know what? It kind of was." 00[22:17] <@Crion> Langford List: "Wouldn't call it a good time myself. But Huntsmen usually hunt alone, and they're usually pretty direct. At least the first few times." [22:17] 6Finally decided, Nels checks the stage. Free at the moment? She could run for a bit, or just play one and scamper off, depending on how eager the crowd looks to get up there. 00[22:18] <@Crion> Harlan Jape makes eye contact and nods. The stage is Nels's if she wants it. [22:18] 5Tony: "Here's to doing allllright. So what...is all this?" 5He gestures around with the emptier of his beers. No slosh shall escape. "Like all the...those, and these over there." [22:18] 13She had such a brave face on, or brave.. lights.. having a good time rather than let them win. Melanie didn't know. But she can't just go down there and say that? It would be like unexpected condolences at a funeral, like an attempt to excuse herself. [22:19] 10The fourth drink settles over him like a blanket as he ponders the fifth, unattended. Maybe a little too fast there. [22:19] 10*untouched [22:19] 13First few... "So they start from scratch, but they learn?" 00[22:19] <@Crion> Spring turns to lean back against the bar. "You mean the vampires? And the mages? And the werewolves?" 00[22:19] <@Crion> "Yeah, that's fucked up." 00[22:20] <@Crion> "Like half of them are preppies?" 00[22:20] <@Crion> She sort of frowns in Peter Montgomery's general direction. "So are some of ours." [22:20] 6Let's go, then. She flounces up - flouncing, that's new too, alongside the sashaying - and checks the mic. Then: a song she didn't write, but Stewart showed her YouTube and this one stuck. [22:21] "Birds flying high, you know how I feel," 6she sings. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5Y11hwjMNs [22:21] 5Tony: "Yeah, all of those. Why do there need to be so many? Aren't we all fucked up enough in our own ways without other, etynom, taxo...anyway other kinds, of whatever, around? Half of them look like some real boat-shoes motherfuckers." 00[22:22] <@Crion> Spring shrugs. "We only gotta see them twice a year. And they're not allowed to start shit while they're here. But yeah, the boss isn't big on them either." [22:22] 5Tony: "What's the other time, so I can be sick?" 00[22:22] <@Crion> The crowd starts a bit uncertain about Nels's song -- they were expecting something with a bit more of a beat, maybe -- but once the backing instruments kick in, they really start grooving to it. 00[22:23] <@Crion> Spring: "Prom." [22:23] 6She's good, but she's done better. Feels wrong singing without a guitar in her hands. If they want more of a beat, though... hmm. [22:23] 5Tony: "Haven't been around for that one but is it as fuck-this as I'm thinking it'll be?" 00[22:23] <@Crion> "They sorta concentrate all our gotta-be-neighborly bullshit into two nights, and we just gotta suck it up and smile through it. Guess that's what extended family is for." 00[22:24] <@Crion> Spring shrugs. "I mean usually there's more sex, because it's a Spring court shindig, but apparently some chick was fucking the Kitchen in the kitchen earlier." 00[22:24] <@Crion> "So approximately on that level, yeah." [22:24] 6Anyone looking eager to hop on stage? Or can she just roll right into song 2? Not actually Song 2, that song sucks, but-- 00[22:24] <@Crion> Nels has the stage. [22:25] 10Nels gets a big, uncomplicated smile from Stewart down the way. 00[22:25] <@Crion> Langford nods to Melanie. "They do. And they keep coming until they're dealt with for good. Which is all its own bullshit." [22:25] 10Did the booth go quiet? [22:25] 13Nels' voice is so nice. Melanie's totally distracted at this point; she's lost any thread there was to her report. Things that happened a long time ago in the Hedge - if List wants anything else on that, he's going to have to ask for it. [22:25] 5Tony: "Gonna pass pretty hard on that one. So you got any thoughts about what I told you about earlier? There was a lot of you-still-there? and not a lot else on the phone." 00[22:25] <@Crion> "There is no other sort, really," Lister says in reply to the comment about evil gods. [22:26] 10Stewart: "So I've come to understand." [22:26] 13Melanie: "What a thing to just live with." 00[22:26] <@Crion> Spring: "Yeah I was writing it all down. People who needed to die, died, and that's what counts. The rest is...whew. Boss was NOT pleased to hear about that Loser chick being a spy. Spying's supposed to be our game." [22:27] 13To List: "Have they sent one after you before?" [22:27] 7Maggie: "So... what do you think? Good idea, bad idea, old idea everyone's tried before?" 00[22:27] <@Crion> Langford, to Melanie: "Yes. We took care of it fairly quickly. Only two or three intervals." [22:27] 10Stewart: "So, Lister, do you like single player games at all or is it mostly all social stuff?" [22:27] 6She beams at the crowd. "We come into this world unknown," 6she starts. They want a beat, this'll give them one. "But know that we are not alone." 6A few more lines, and there we go. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AV8lxGjdZ0 00[22:27] <@Crion> "Once you put it down, the Huntsman doesn't come back immediately. You have about a month to regroup. Plan. Prepare." [22:28] 6Whoever made the Internet out of magic and dreams is a genius. Whoever put the entire contents of every music library on there even more so. 00[22:28] <@Crion> Lister: "Oh, I mostly appreciate the online. Single-player games...not so replayable. And I have so much time. I do appreciate a good...what are they called? Open-world? I do appreciate those, so long as they're well done and not just endless busywork." [22:29] 13Melanie: "Okay. I'll think of it like an accident, a sudden hurt or setback that needs hard work to protect yourself and recover." [22:29] 6Here she is, a hundred years in the future, singing something that wasn't even written until after "she" died, and... there's a lot to unpack there, but honestly? This is good. [22:29] 10Stewart: "I clocked like, a thousand hours in Morrowind." [22:29] "What do we -" 13she gestures at herself and Langford, with heat burning around both of them "do now?" 00[22:29] <@Crion> Amelia to Maggie: "I think it's a fantastic idea. We'll just need to set some baseline rules to make sure it doesn't burn the place down, but I'm definitely intrigued. When we set up the planning committees for Prom, I'll let you know." [22:30] 10Stewart: "This song rules, holy shit." [22:30] 10To Lauren: "Do you dance?" 00[22:30] <@Crion> Langford: "Well, we finish our drinks and go downstairs. I don't tell the Street what you just told me until we get back to Swordhome tonight, because it won't help anything if he decides to cause a scene now. You should go enjoy yourself. Job well done." 00[22:31] <@Crion> "And we keep our eyes open for...some kind of killer robot." [22:31] 7Maggie: "Beauty! Now I, need to see a wizard, about that mysterious weed that's been corrupting the morals of all of our children." 7She's finished her drink. Is Union about? [22:31] 5Tony: "Speaking of, I got a weird question." 5And he just plows through with it. "Who can I ask, can I ask you? To look into something for me? It's sorta Hedge-y shit but if I'm over there, I've got geese and fish and shit all over my ass asking for stuff." [22:32] 13Melanie visibly wants to finish this and go downstairs. There's still a party and- she forgot something. "The only important thing I didn't get to is Kayeye Ellelle." 00[22:32] <@Crion> Lauren: "...After a couple drinks, maybe..." She's finishing drink three. 00[22:32] <@Crion> Langford frowns. "Oh, right. Did she escape?" 00[22:33] <@Crion> "We can tolerate one in the wind, since the ringleader's dead." [22:33] 6Once Nels finishes the song, she slides offstage with a slight bow. She can perform again later, if there's another gap. And she can figure out some more enjoyable songs to sing. She had a list, but some of them... not appopriate for company. 00[22:33] <@Crion> Spring: "Yeah, what's up?" [22:33] 10Stewart: "Okay, so the order of operations will be: I sing, then we sing, then we dance." 00[22:33] <@Crion> Union spent Nels's last song grinding really hard on Jordan Kit, who returned the attention. [22:34] 13Melanie: "She's alive. Loser took her away, claiming her oaths to the faeries were broken. I.. accepted it, because the Mistress had done some very demoralising things. My friends didn't want a needless fight." 00[22:34] <@Crion> The mage snickered something in the younger man's ear, then wandered towards the back door to vape. 00[22:34] <@Crion> Lauren nods firmly. "Then I will get another drink." [22:35] 5Tony: "Okay---5He pauses and hollers at the stage as Nels steps down "HELL YEAH NELS"5 Clears his throat. "Anyway yeah. Okay, so. Those Loyalists, where'd they come from, how'd they hang out over there just doing their shit for awhile? They seemed to have a space of their own all carved out. And related to that, what's going to happen to that space, once the, uh, the fucked up death trees are gone?" [22:35] 13She's choosing her words to List quite carefully there, but without the intent or really the capability to deceive per se. 00[22:35] <@Crion> Langford seems to barely restrain himself from slamming the empty tumbler down. "FUCKING Kingsley!" [22:35] 10That leaves Stewart alone in the booth with Lister. 00[22:36] <@Crion> He composes himself. "You made the right call. The team was more important than...and like I said, you're not a kill squad. We don't want you to be." [22:36] 13Melanie: "It's quite a thing that having someone unexpected our 'side' threw more of a wrench in things than the presence of an actual.. you know." 00[22:36] <@Crion> "But I don't like that two of the Baltimore Hedge's Loyalists ended up in Kingsley's pocket." [22:36] *on our 'side' [22:36] 6She smiles over to Tony, then looks around. Her friends are all otherwise occupied - maybe she should speak to one of those vampires? They're certainly in a similar place to her, in some ways... what are The Girl and The Mainer up to? They looked interesting, and besides, one of them sang. 00[22:37] <@Crion> Lister to Stewart, more seriously: "Requests for assistance from the Freehold to my Court, by rule, must go through the office of the Mainer, and be delivered by either Kingsley or Santander." 00[22:37] <@Crion> "That said." 00[22:38] <@Crion> "Lauren has my phone number." 00[22:38] <@Crion> "If it is necessary." [22:38] 10Stewart nods slowly, as if the physical effort required to process Lister's words made his head heavier. "We appreciate that. I'm glad you're her friend. She's great, isn't she?" 00[22:41] <@Crion> Lister beams. "She's marvellous." The smile lessens somewhat. "I don't...keep friends very long. Not by my reckoning, that is. Everyone grows up, and I stay the same age. I will not permit the time that I have left in her friendship to be interrupted by some James Cameron vehicle." [22:42] 7Hmm. She wouldn't want to interfere with a young man shooting his shot... that's probably a sin against Spring or something. 00[22:42] <@Crion> Oh, he left Kit on the dance floor. That young man is incorrigible. 00[22:42] <@Crion> He should be out back by himself. [22:43] 10Stewart: "By my reckoning, we'll have to kill it hard some time in the next couple of nights, and then we'll have about a month to make preparations to put it down for good. Even by mortal reckoning, that's fast work." 00[22:43] <@Crion> The Mainer and the Girl were slow-dancing before, but are now leaning against a wall off to the side. Mainer nods at Nels as she comes down off the stage. [22:43] 10Stewart's realizing that he repeats words a lot more the more he drinks. [22:44] 13Melanie tells Langford she's looking forward to the next round of this bullshit and walks to the stairs. She pauses by the edge of the mezzanine, looking out over the club - less normal humans now, more weird monsters. All allied, somehow, against the worse and wyrder things out there. She looks for friends, for poeople she'd like to be friends, for killer robots. 00[22:44] <@Crion> Spring, to Tony: "To answer your questions last in first out, the Hedge is gonna reclaim that Hollow unless someone goes in to stop it. Not sure why you'd want to, since it's ah, been compromised by one of Them, but if you did, you could put down alternate roots there. As for how the Loyalists were operating in the Hedge -- now that's interesting. 00[22:45] <@Crion> "See, usually those mopes get by, by having patrons. You know, gentry fucks that they serve, and are bound to by agreements. Silvery leashes, gilded cages. We thought that was what was happening here." [22:45] 13Probably works to just start at the bar again. 00[22:45] <@Crion> "But you said some bad bitch Keeper came in and annihilated them?" [22:45] 10Stewart, sitting with a pale, befanged Fancy Lad, smiles at Melanie as she shuffles by. [22:46] 5Tony:"About the shape of what we saw, it was about three-quarters done when we got there." 00[22:46] <@Crion> Lister nods. "It is, but I have you're up to it. You are already consulting with the willworkers, no?" [22:46] 7Goodness. Well, then. She'll take her *next* drink, nod to Amelia, and make her way downstairs. It's a big more difficult to keep people from bumping her and spilling her beer at this time of night, but she manages. "Hey there! 're you Union?" [22:46] 13A vampire?! Melanie: "Hellooo." 00[22:46] <@Crion> "These alliances can be tedious, but they can bear sweet fruit." [22:47] 10Stewart: "Oooh, that's a cool word. I'd never heard 'willworker' before. Yeah, they're helping us out. Keeping something of mine safe in the Belvedere." 00[22:47] <@Crion> Union: "Yo. Oh, hey! You're uhhhh. You're with Stewart, right?" [22:47] 10To Melanie: "Hey! Melanie, this is Lister. Lister, this is Melanie." [22:48] "Melanie's a friend of mine. Lister is mostly a friend of Lauren's." [22:48] 6Nels is still smiling as she approaches, hand out to shake. "Hi there, don't think we've met before. Nels," 6she introduces herself. Almost gave her last name too, but that's still something that's weird and uncomfortable to think about. 00[22:48] <@Crion> Lister looks up at the 'hello,' blinks, and giggle-chuckles again. "Hello, Melanie!" [22:48] "It is." 13A teen vampire?! "Oh, I was- just talking to, you know, my secret boss in the secret war thing.. he told me about Lauren. Sorry." This last isn't an apology to Stewart, it's to the teen vampire, for briefly ignoring him. 00[22:49] <@Crion> Spring: "So that Keeper was either the one hold their leashes and it got pissed, orrr...it decided YOLO and fuck you, I'm gonna do what I want. And it killed some Loyalists under the protection of another Keeper." [22:49] 10Stewart nods. "This is the safest place in the city tonight. She's gonna be okay." [22:49] 13Fascinating that they exist and kind of horrible that they have kids? But this was more important. [22:49] 13Very firmly: "Yes." [22:50] "How did he take the, uh, Loser situation?" [22:50] 5Tony: "That's win-win though, right? I guess we could just ask the two that walked away for more color, or someone else could. I'm not planning on it." 00[22:50] <@Crion> Spring: "Which generally wouldn't be a problem -- in fact it's kind of brilliantly lucky. In fact, it still isn't a problem, except for one thing. You all swore an oath with it. Small one, trivial one, helpful to you, yeah -- but that means you're oathbound to a Keeper. Doesn't make you a traitor or nothing, but it IS something the other Keepers might be able to sniff out." 00[22:50] <@Crion> "So, might wanna keep your heads down for a bit." 00[22:51] <@Crion> "Cause I really don't know how that stuff works." [22:51] 7Maggie: "Maggie! Pleased to meetcha! Now, Stewart's gal tells me you're the connection for the dreaded marihuana leaf, is that right?" [22:51] 10Heh heh. "Stewart's gal". Stewart has a gal. Hee. 00[22:51] <@Crion> Union sort of frown-smiles and glances about, like he's looking for a candid camera, or a cop. "Why ma'am, whatever could you yes." [22:51] 13It doesn't even occur to Melanie to think of Stewart as an agent of the Autumn Court, here. "Little bit wall-punchingly. He saw it as a coup, right, two of the five guys now in some way in the autumn king's pocket..." 13she shrugs. [22:51] 5Tony: "Oh, well fuck. Cool. Fuck." 5Tony's back to alternating between staring at his beer and drinking it. 00[22:52] <@Crion> The Mainer: "Evening, darling." [22:52] "Sorry about the shop talk, Lister! I know it's a party, we just don't all get together often enough due to, like, it involves going outside." [22:52] 10Stewart nods, kind of puffing his cheeks in a 'well what can you do' gesture. "I get the sense stuff like that happens a lot." 00[22:52] <@Crion> The Girl: "Hello. Beautiful song. Beautiful voice." [22:52] 10Stewart nods, kind of puffing his cheeks in a 'well what can you do' gesture. "I get the sense stuff like that happens a lot." [22:52] "Or at least, you know, relative to other kinds of discord." [22:53] 10To Lister: "The other kind of discord." 00[22:53] <@Crion> Spring: "It's better than the alternative, which is that you KNOW a Keeper is looking for you." 00[22:53] <@Crion> Lister archly: "I do understand the context." [22:53] 5Tony: "Fair enough." 00[22:53] <@Crion> Lauren's returned with her drink. "Hi Melanie," she says, sliding back in next to Stewart. [22:53] 10Stewart: "I'm gonna go up and sing in a minute." 00[22:54] <@Crion> Spring: "Anyway, I can have the boss do some digging." She grins. "So you're fuckin around with hobs?" [22:54] 6Nels: "Thanks! I've had practice." 6She nods to the Mainer: "You weren't half bad yourself." [22:54] 13Melanie: "I think it's petty but if it doesn't change any outcomes, who cares?" 13To Lister: "Do you guys get the same thing where you're.. suddenly plunged into a world of intrigue, tradecraft and maneuvering even if that was totally not your thing?" [22:54] 10Stewart: "Probably want to do something party friendly, kinda upbeat..." 00[22:54] <@Crion> The rangy, bushy man scoffs. "Aw, hell. That's all on old Harlan." 00[22:55] <@Crion> Lister's face clouds a bit. "Yes and no. For us it comes along with the terror and the violence and the abuse. It doesn't spring forth after an escape." [22:55] 5Tony: "They're little mascots for sports teams I never wanna meet. And other than the pigs, and those little watermelon shitters, they seem okay." 00[22:55] <@Crion> He shrugs. "I suppose there are upsides and downsides to it all." [22:55] "I've got a business proposition for you." 7She visibly holds back a smile like, what, is this guy really worried about getting arrested here? She's about to continue, asking him whether he'd like to get a booth in case one of the vampires or other wizards notices something strange going on and phones the police, but that might be too rude for a first meeting. Who knows what makes wizards [22:55] 7antsy. [22:56] "D'you sing?" 6she asks the Girl. Though I don't actually believe she knows either of their names, such as they are. [22:56] 13Whether it was really not Melanie's thing she prefers not to examine. She smiles weakly at Lauren, incredibly obviously glancing around for threats to her and suddenly terrified of saying the wrong thing and so on. 00[22:56] <@Crion> Spring grins. "Watermelon shitters? So are they watermelons that shit or do they shit watermelons or--" 00[22:57] <@Crion> Lauren releases what's happening but if anything she's slightly grateful. It has after all been almost 24 hours of this. [22:57] 13Melanie: "I'm interested in the similarities and differences between these experiences. Earlier I was talking to a weed wizard who had another perspective, similar ends by different means. The.. weird magic differences, who cares, but isn't it fascinating that we all end up in kind of the same place?" 00[22:57] <@Crion> Union quirks an eyebrow. "Shoot. Uh, rhetorically." [22:57] "Due perhaps to being in the same literal place. Material conditions!" [22:57] 5Tony: "They were little shitheads who tried to fuck us over, that were watermelons. Now they're a thin paste. Again, the Hedge: okay sometimes." [22:57] 10Stewart wonders what Stu, reluctantly supernatural, would make of a party like this. 00[22:58] <@Crion> Spring: "Niiiiiiice." 00[22:59] <@Crion> Lister smiles. "It's one hell of an afterlife." [22:59] 5Tony: "But yeah. Should I not be talking to them? Probably. But it never hurts to be a good neighbor when you're new in town." 00[22:59] <@Crion> The Girl chuckles. "No, I don't think so. I make him do it." She nudges the Mainer. [23:00] 7Maggie: "You ever tried coralscalp? Or coupnettle?" [23:01] 10Stewart kisses Lauren on the cheek and says, "Okay, wish me luck." 10Is the stage empty? [23:02] 6Nels: "Ha." 6How's he feel about that? she doesn't ask, but she does check him for a reaction. [23:02] 13Afterlife, lol. Is that really how they think of it, or is the kid just leaning in? "So like.. we're all othered, right? There's things out there that are different to us in here, meaning the Sidereal, and maybe the thing that allows for solidarity is.. perilous estrangement? Being made into something, parens perhaps by yourself end parens, which is threatened by the norm." [23:02] 10Stewart flinches as he looks up at Harlan, but luckily that last drink is there to steel his nerves. 00[23:03] <@Crion> It is; Cider Stitch -- you know, the Winter Court kid Mainer and Girl and Stewart murdered some more cops to help -- just finished: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQaC3o4Tmm8 [23:03] 10Hell yes. [23:03] 13Melanie expects that the vampire is probably not really thirteen years old. It- he must have another unique perspective on this stuff. [23:04] 10Stewart hops up onto the stage with surprising nimbleness and murmurs something to Harlan no one else'll be able to hear. 00[23:04] <@Crion> Lister nods. "Likely so. There are, of course, vampires and wizards and wolves and things that go bump in the dark which are not welcome here, however -- even changelings! -- so even if such a thing is necessary, it is hardly sufficient." 00[23:05] <@Crion> Harlan sort of shakes his head, but then he nods. [23:07] 10Stewart looks around, making eye contact with Lauren and drawing in another deep breath. The song announces itself with a clash of cymbals - once, twice. Then the guitar. Then: "I'm coming out of my cage, and I've been doing just fine..." 10https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGdGFtwCNBE [23:08] 13Melanie: "Yes. Even consciousness of your shared interests aren't going to make a bunch of.. humans cooperate all the time. My question is - I don't wanna interrogate you, let me know if this is boring, but what I'd like to know is whether the metaexperience we share acts by the same mechanism on what must be extraordinarily varied psyches. Whether the presence-of-self is altered [23:08] materially, by the darker world we now live in, or whether that being-in-world gives rise to experiential compatibilities..." 00[23:10] <@Crion> Lister, quietly: "It's not boring, but it is profoundly upsetting." [23:10] 10Mr. Brightside's still as corny as it ever was, but people remember it, and between Stewart's big-voiced ingenue-ity and the urgent energy he brings to the mic the song plays. [23:10] 13D: 00[23:10] <@Crion> Lauren has gone to watch Stewart, and is singing along by the first refrain. [23:11] "But it's just the price I pay! Destiny is calling me! Open up my eager eyes..." 00[23:11] <@Crion> Lister: "It's not your fault. I've -- we, vampires -- tend to have a very long time to think about this, in very...practical terms." 00[23:11] <@Crion> "We have to hurt people to stay alive, you see." 00[23:11] <@Crion> "'Alive.'" 00[23:12] <@Crion> "This is something we don't precisely share with the rest of you. Werewolves seem to enjoy hurting people, but I do not think they have to. Mages and changelings, even less so." [23:12] 10When the song is done, Stewart spares no thought for the crowd's reaction. He's reaching his hand out to Lauren. [23:13] 13Melanie: "I'm sorry, Lister. This attempt to understand isn't.. nice, just necessary. I can totally leave you alone or we could like, get shots and think of something to sing." 00[23:13] <@Crion> "So the metaexperience, as you call it, isn't quite shared. Not quite all the same data coming in for all participants, mmm?" [23:13] "Do you want to know something though? Something that might not be obvious." 00[23:13] <@Crion> Lister looks up. His eyes are a bit sunken. A hand half-raises but lands on the table; there's nothing to wipe. Vampires don't cry anymore, do they? Not when they're dead. "Yes?" 00[23:14] <@Crion> The Mainer seems to be taking this all in stride. He seems used to good natured ribbing. 00[23:15] <@Crion> Union, to Maggie: "I...have no idea what those are." 00[23:15] <@Crion> The Girl, to Nels: "You don't seem to be from around here." She tilts her head. "Or from around now." 00[23:15] <@Crion> "There is something...very much like us, in you." [23:17] 6Nels: "...you could say that. Thanks for not yelling at me about the value of a dollar like the last person to notice," 6she jokes. "Nels Foulke. Same-but-not-the-same as the one you might've listened to." 00[23:17] <@Crion> The Girl arches an eyebrow. "Ahhhhhhhhh." 00[23:17] <@Crion> The Mainer frowns. "Wait--" 00[23:17] <@Crion> Then he shakes his head. "You meet the damnedest folks, in this job." [23:17] "We're kind of.. changelings are made into people who really, really have to stick together. Self-defence. At the same time we're mostly so fucked up that this proximity tends to have us tormenting each other. Our psychologies are shaped like weapons. It's not the same thing - there are these built-in enemies, fetches that we get an incentive to kill, that's closer. Um.. I don't want to [23:17] make any unearned comparisons, I just want to say that I get that surviving has a cost , outsourced, and that you do it anyway. We survive, or we wouldn't be the ones talking about it." 00[23:20] <@Crion> Lister nods. "I think I understand. Thank you, Melanie." He leans back and says quietly to himself: "Water, water everywhere, and not a drop to drink." [23:20] 6Nels: "It's been something," 6she agrees. "Still haven't listened to her records, but I bet she's worse." [23:20] 7Maggie grins: "Faerie drugs. 'Goblin fruits', the technical name. Coralscalp is a very fine, thin sort of seaweed. You smoke it, and for a little bit, maybe an hour or so you notice things you might've overlooked, you're more mentally grounded, more aware of yourself, you know? And then you start to hallucinate when you come down, but even that's not so bad." 00[23:20] <@Crion> The Mainer: "She don't have your spark, but maybe they had some of that movie magic. But for, ah, radio." 00[23:21] <@Crion> Union has gone from sort of archly amused at the very idea of this upper midwestern woman accosting him about drugs to very, very interested. "You don't fuckin say. How's it keep over on this side? You gotta grow it in your Hedge, right?" [23:21] 13Melanie does understand having too freaking long to think about it. Would she trade a need to drink blood for human skin and hair? No. Not quite. 00[23:22] <@Crion> Lauren takes Stewart's hand, and climbs up on stage. Moving close to him: "Okay so what are we singing" [23:22] 6A grimace, quickly smoothed out. "So what brings you to Baltimore? You from around here, or just find a place to settle down?" [23:22] 7Maggie: "Coupnettle is this shrub with little bitter leaves that people usually make into a tea. Drink it, and it's like a good night's sleep... at least the first cup. Drink another in the same day, and it's like one of them... I dunno, those eight-hour energy things they advertise on the TV made out of discontinued Air Force drugs. Gotta be careful with it, I'd wager." 00[23:23] <@Crion> Anyone Tony particular want to talk to? If not, there's a bar upstairs that is completely empty, and stocked. If he wants some peace and quiet. As long as that lasts. [23:23] 10Stewart: "...shit, I didn't think that far ahead. Uh, duets, I want something we both sing, not something one of us sings and one of us-- do you know Under Pressure?" [23:24] 7Maggie nods. "S'right. Hard to find. But! If you've got a place in the Hedge, you can grow a few plants... and the markets sell seeds. Trouble is, from what I gather it's hard to carry them out of the Hedge whole." [23:24] 5That sounds like the exact place Tony needs to be. [23:24] 5Tony, to Spring: "Anyway, be in touch about that other stuff. I'm usually home." [23:25] "But... a small operation could process a select reserve on-site. If you follow." 00[23:25] <@Crion> Spring nods and gives a mock salute. "Go on with your bad self." She sort of laughs to herself like she's made a joke only she understands. [23:25] "And maybe, if we do it right, *that* stuff could be taken anywhere." 00[23:26] <@Crion> Union scratches his chin and nods. "I do...how bad does bringing equipment from over here, over there, fuck it up?" 00[23:26] <@Crion> "Like my big concern is if I put some of our magical bullshit on something, and we introduce it to YOUR magical bullshit, we might end up with bad, unintentional magical bullshit." [23:26] 5Tony goes, and does. It's not drinking alone if the building's occupied. [23:28] 13Melanie drinks with, or at least next to, the sad baby vampire. She could get back into the swing of the party, honestly; the ghost of Melanie past isn't buried very far down at all. ..wasn't that something from a story? Maybe one of the Talewright's derivative plays. She doesn't quite remember. [23:30] 13She watches Stewart and Lauren sing instead. Not as nice as Nels, or even the winter changeling who went before, but they've got the courage to stand up there and sing. She's glad. [23:30] 10Then comes the moment where Stewart and Lauren work out the most important thing about any couple: which one of them is the Bowie and which one of them is the Mercury. Once they decide, a look to Harlan and that bass line gets everyone's attention. "Pressure! Pushing down on me..." 10https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTMzHcs4mK0 00[23:30] <@Crion> Lauren was visibly startled by the choice at first, but she got over it quickly. And...she already seemed to know all the words...? 00[23:31] <@Crion> To both parts...? [23:31] 10That makes sense. It's a really good song. [23:31] 7Maggie: "Aw, poo. I was hoping you fellas and the Autumn folks had already worked together enough that you could tell me 'this is the worst idea' or 'this is fine, full steam ahead'. I can tell you for free that even ordinary machines get a lil' temperamental." 00[23:32] <@Crion> Union scoffs. "Oh, sure. The Mysterium has worked with Autumn." [23:32] "The whom?" 00[23:32] <@Crion> Union waves his vape. "Wizard librarians. Nerds." [23:33] 6Oh, wow, they are really good. She's gonna have to see if either of them would play with her if she records again. And also if either of them know how to record music nowadays. Well. That's new. Healing, right? 00[23:33] <@Crion> "Anyway, they guard secrets pretty jealously over there. Especially from those who they think don't deserve it. So fuck it, we'll do this live." [23:33] "Aren't all wizards more or less--" 7Pull up pull up! "--librarians? Magic tomes and such?" 00[23:34] <@Crion> Union: "Maggie...darling...dearest...do I look like I read over the tenth grade level?" 00[23:34] <@Crion> He does not. [23:34] 6Way to brag. [23:34] 10By the time the song winds up, they're singing in unison, and Stewart turns her to face him so they're looking in each other's eyes for the last few lines. "Cause love's such an old-fashioned word..." [23:35] 10When the song ends, he kisses her right there on stage. [23:35] 13:3 00[23:35] <@Crion> She almost beats him to it. [23:35] 6Nels whoops from near the Girl and the Mainer. 00[23:35] <@Crion> The Mainer: "You know, I wouldn't've expected that boy had it in him." [23:35] 13Is Lister or anyone else still at the bar? "Protect at all costs, imo." [23:36] 6Nels: "People have a way of surprising you." 00[23:36] <@Crion> Lister is, but he's standing up. "I agree." 00[23:36] <@Crion> "I think it's time to take my turn. Thank you for coming by, Melanie." [23:38] "Oh, good luck! No, wait- knock em dead." 00[23:38] <@Crion> He grins, showing full fang. "Thank you." [23:38] 10Stewart leads Lauren down past Lister as he gets up on stage, and they settle back in at their booth. [23:38] 7Sunnily: "Aw, there's nothing about working people that makes fancy book learning any harder, and anyway I'd hate to judge." [23:38] 13That would honestly be pretty scary if Melanie had veins. 00[23:39] <@Crion> When Stewart and Lauren are offstage, they almost run into Lister, whose eyes look a little red-rimmed, but not puffy. "It was beautiful," he says to both of them. 00[23:39] <@Crion> Then he steps up on stage -- to a couple "ahh fucks" and smattered, but good-natured, boos. [23:39] "Thank you." 10Stewart looks concerned at the sight of Lister. A questioning glance at Lauren after they've settled back down. 00[23:40] <@Crion> Lister raises his hands in mock protest. "I know! Usually I roll out the piano. I'm told that kills the mood." 00[23:40] <@Crion> "So tonight I decided to sing something more...modern." 00[23:40] <@Crion> He walks back to Harlan Jape and confers for a moment...then takes Harlan's electric guitar, as the man himself slides behind the drums. 00[23:41] <@Crion> "I believe this is a band boys my age are supposed to have liked, at one point in time. One, two, one two three--" 00[23:42] <@Crion> Kill All Your Friends -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQndQV9E8C8 00[23:43] <@Crion> In the end, some wished he'd stayed with the piano. [23:43] 10Ahahahahahahaha. [23:43] 13Another one? What is with this city. [23:43] 6This is... well performed. It is an excellent performance of. That. 00[23:44] <@Crion> It is perhaps incredibly odd to hear a 13 year old French boy bellow-scream "It's been ten fucking years since you've been showing your face -- round -- here" [23:45] 10This so song is so good, Stewart doesn't even care about the psychological implications. He was one of those 13 year old boys, god damn it! 00[23:45] <@Crion> Union nods...then frowns. "What the fuck was that?" [23:45] 6Frankly, Nels' life has been incredibly odd for months now. Well. Almost a hundred years. That's never going to get any easier to refer to. [23:47] 13'Do what it takes to survive cause I'm still here'. Sure. The probably-ancient kid knows. [23:47] 10For instance, Stewart doesn't reflect on 'I was killing before killing was cool' at all. [23:48] 13Melanie hums a bit despite herself. She's pretty sure her new thesis topic is going to work out at last. Maybe it's time to rejoin the party. There are some cool looking guys and girls.. what happened to Gemma earlier, she wonders? Did anyone tell Nels about protection? [23:51] 6Do you want to have that conversation and find out? [23:52] 7Maggie: "Dunno. Never heard the song before. Do you think it's an original?" 7'I was killing before killing was cool' sounds like a vampire thing to sing...? 00[23:53] <@Crion> Union: "No, down the street, I thought I saw--" 00[23:53] <@Crion> There's a crash from the front of the venue. 00[23:53] <@Crion> A bouncer has just gone through the front door. 00[23:53] <@Crion> The hard way. [23:53] 13Melanie's drawn to Nels, yeah. "Nelsss. That was q-" [23:53] 10Stewart's on his feet immediately. [23:54] 6Oh, shit. She didn't bring her gun. 00[23:55] <@Crion> There's a perfect frozen moment as the six and a half foot tall man built like a walking tank, wearing all black leathers and darkened aviator shades, carrying a shotgun steps through the door, just scanning the crowd. The second bouncer tackles him and is grabbed out of the air and carelessly tossed away. The bouncers are not the priority. The priority is-- 00[23:55] <@Crion> He sees Lauren and racks the shotgun, and now everyone is moving. [23:58] 13So they really are that stupid. Wrath boils from the crowd; a glamour harvest later? Things could go wrong here, but the odds are massively in their favour. Melanie moves to become part of those odds. [23:58] 5Tony hears the crash and doesn't drop his beer, but he DOES drop the solo-moping long enough to haul downstairs. Session Time: Sun Nov 10 00:00:00 2019 [00:04] 10Stewart's loose as hell, in exactly the right frame of mind and state of inebriation to be really stupid. He's hopping from well-heeled foot to well-heeled foot like a prizefighter, blocking the machine's line of sight with his body but standing far enough away from the booth that Lauren could either crawl away or be ushered out. 00[00:11] <@Crion> The balustrade and table where the Summer Court was holding forth bursts into splinters, and a great writhing MONSTER howls as everyone runs for cover. It hits the Huntsman full-on and shreds an arm and most of the thing's ribcage -- revealing not flesh and blood but gleaming, perfect machine. 00[00:12] <@Crion> That might have once been Cuth? [00:12] 10Rip him up rip him up-- [00:13] 6Nels flinches back, patting her side where she knows her gun isn't and she's never leaving without it again, God, who even knows if that would help, but she can't panic. Who knows what she can do, but panicking is off the table. Just, get ready to dodge if it looks at her. [00:14] 6Also, what the fuck. How is this her life. She didn't sign up for any of this. [00:18] 13What the fuck Stewart. Melanie scrambles, dropping her old face on the ground as she goes. [00:23] 13By the time she gets to the stage the visage of a young college student is gone, replaced with a crumbling gleaming-white tree-woman who scatters seeds all along the dais' edge; nothing happens yet, the Wyrd resisting her cajolings despite the offering. A promise broken. 00[00:28] <@Crion> "GET DOWN!" from the stairwell. Everyone does but Cuth, who roars, holding the thing in place. 00[00:29] <@Crion> Gerald and the Liaison of Winter advance on it, firing their FAL and combat shotgun respectively, until it stops moving. Then 'Colin' walks up to and empties the rest of the drum into the the thing's chest and head. 00[00:29] <@Crion> The red lights in its eyes quietly blink out. [00:29] 6Holy shit. 00[00:29] <@Crion> Gerald: "Clear." [00:29] 7Oh. Well. 00[00:30] <@Crion> There's now a naked, buff man lying in the middle of the floor next to the metal skeleton. "Whew." [00:31] 13Does that always happen to werewolves? Do they carry a change of pants? It's fine if they don't. [00:32] 13Melanie's shaking a bit near the others, shedding leaves, but.. as promised, it's safe. This is probably the safest place in the city, tonight. [00:32] 10Stewart just kind of stands there, transfixed, until his heart rate settles down. How's Lauren doing? [00:32] 13For some kinds of people. With shared experiences. [00:32] 6Nels shakes her head from somewhere behind the Girl. How on earth is this real. 00[00:32] <@Crion> Someone throws a jacket over him soon enough. 00[00:32] <@Crion> Laurens sort of huddled in the corner, staring warily at the corpse, which Kingsley is now prodding with his foot. [00:33] 5Tony mutters to himself on the stairs and finishes his beer. "The fuck is this party." [00:34] 10Stewart helps Lauren to a standing position and hugs her. Firmly: "We just bought ourselves a month to beat this thing." 00[00:35] <@Crion> The party's breaking up; no one's much in the mood to go any further now. The cops will need to be shooed off and someone's gonna have to clear the dance floor. [00:36] 6Not it. 00[00:37] <@Crion> The Autumn Court is already quite interestedly hauling it away. [00:40] 10Stewart will help with the cleanup until he's cleared to take Lauren home. 00[00:40] <@Crion> That clearance comes pretty quickly. [00:40] 13Melanie will help on the dancefloor, insofar as it involves picking up bits of herself. She'd like to inspect just what the hell that thing was. Lauren's.. former captor.. did everything as machines? Or everyone? She wonders what the Huntsman used to be. [00:41] 10Stewart's in no shape to drive, but he can still call a cab. It's chilly out, this late. He keeps Lauren close. 00[00:42] <@Crion> She'll go home with him. No one interferes with Melanie if she attempts to poke and prod the remains; they'll be taken to the back while transport arrives. [00:44] 13She'll follow the Autumn people, then. "It was fast. Is that a matter of mechanical augmentation? Can it be disrupted?" 00[00:45] <@Crion> Kingsley, mulling things over as Gerald and Jameson lug the body: "Aesthetically, yes. And generally speaking function follows form with these things. It's not a machine, but it conceives of itself as a machine, so usually it will behave as a machine." [00:45] "Nobody got hurt," 10says Stewart after they're inside. It's stuffy in here; he cracks a window for Lauren. 00[00:45] <@Crion> He glances over. "You're Lucas, from Summer." 00[00:45] <@Crion> "Good job back there." [00:46] 6Nels is out as soon as she can find an escort home. She is... extremely undefended right now, has nothing to add about the investigation, and also really wants to go home. [00:47] "Cuthbert the werewolf had the speed to match it. We can't rely on them, though I'm very grateful they were here." [00:47] "Um, maybe we could replicate what he did though, getting right up close to it.. it moved like an athlete, not a martial artist." [00:47] 10Stewart can get a cab for Nels, or hell, just bring her in his. They live in the same building. 00[00:47] <@Crion> "No, we can't," he murmurs. "Huntsmen learn when they're killed. And something based off a machine...likely iterative." 00[00:48] <@Crion> Kingsley nods at that. [00:49] 5Tony wanders down and over to Melanie, since at least she seems to be talking a lot. "Hey and what the fuck was that." [00:50] 6They do. Up to him if he wants to invite her along with himself and Lauren; she can wait, if he's concerned about getting Lauren home fast. 00[00:51] <@Crion> Kingsley will nod to Tony as he walks up, but it still mostly lost in his own thoughts. [00:52] "Tony..." [00:52] 13Melanie: "Let's sit down." 13Her face hasn't grown back yet. [00:53] "You know Lauren right?" [00:54] 5Tony: "Is that Stewart's girlfriend? Didn't introduce me but I gotta assume." [00:55] "Yeah, the hot shy one with laser eyes." [00:55] "Apparently she recently got a Herald, which is faery-speak for when they announce they're going to Get you." [00:56] "So everyone was on high alert tonight - I heard about it an hour ago from Langford List. The lone ranger idiot machine was the first try to Get." [00:58] 10She's not *shy*, she's selective. Stewart makes some tea - just Sleepytime, with the cozy bear on the box, nothing fancy. "So far things are still going about as well as possible." [00:59] 5Tony: "Oh. That's fucked up." [01:00] "Worse: it isn't really dead. This is sort of remote-controlled by its.. heart? In the Hedge." [01:00] "Basically Lauren gets a quest out of nowhere, and the stakes are the worst possible thing that could possibly happen. The reward is she gets to go back to her life. We have to help her." 13Melanie is vehement, but.. so's everyone on this. [01:00] 5Tony: "Well, even better. But it's safe for the rest of us to fuck off now for the night if we want, right?" 5He looks for a place to set down his last empty. [01:01] 5Tony: "And obviously, of course we help. But, not tonight." [01:02] 13Melanie: "It can't come back for a long time. Weeks." 00[01:03] <@Crion> Lauren is stretched out in either Stewart's bed or on his couch, depending on whether he permits liquids in the bedroom. It's good to be somewhere familiar again. [01:03] "That's the rule. I don't know why the fuck the faeries play by rules, but they do." 00[01:03] <@Crion> She smiles slightly. "Is that what you call it?" [01:05] 10Stewart usually has a glass of water in his room somewhere. What is hard to come by in his bedroom are electronics. Even his alarm clock is analog. He sits down at Lauren's feet. "Those bouncers are the only ones who got hurt, and they're gonna be okay. Property damage is property damage. Everyone's fine. You're still safe." [01:05] 5Tony: "Because they are stupid." 5He states this definitively. "And I am going home. Take care of yourself out there." 5And Tony sets out for his apartment, ready to sleep off the weird bullshit with some nice normal old Chinese food. 00[01:06] <@Crion> Lauren: "...It's still out there." [01:06] 10Stewart: "We were never going to deal with it permanently the first time it came at us. We just didn't have enough time to prepare." [01:06] "Next time -- if it even gets that far -- we'll be ready." [01:07] 13They are stupid. It's weird, but convenient. We can beat them, once we've learned enough. 00[01:07] <@Crion> She sips her tea, then puts it down. "You know what? I believe you." 00[01:07] <@Crion> "Now c'mere." 00[01:07] <@Crion> And we can probably shut the door here, and leave them to it. 02[01:51] * mattbaby_ (mattbaby@sorcery-v7n841.dc.comcast.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [12:48]  [12:48]  [12:48]  [12:48]  [12:48]  [12:52] 10The UMBC library is a big, modern building, the way university libraries tend to be, and Stewart comes out here at least once a week for the Climate Justice Reading Group, where he nods along and contributes little to the discussion, but walks away fat on these teens' fear of the future. It was coming out of the library that Stewart met Melanie in earnest for the first time, and he's found [12:52] 10her here again, reading something impenetrable in a quiet corner of the reading rooms alone. "Hey," 10he whispers, sitting down. [12:54] 13Ah, but it's not meant to be impenetrable today. Melanie smiles a lot more than she used to, including now. "Heyyy Ste-wart. Do you want to be, like, a guinea pig? For an argument?" [12:55] 13She's shuffling papers, most printed but with a few handwritten addenda from today. [12:56] 10It's nice seeing Melanie in a good mood. Stewart seems focused, more than he used to, including now. He sets down his laptop bag and folds his hands on the table. "Absolutely." [12:57] "Okay." 13She's definitely a bit nervous about this, since it's very hard to tell whether these things make sense without a reader - ha! "Okay, this isn't finished, it's an outline to be expanded. I have to give you a tiny bit of context but it mainly stands alone.." 13She shuffles papers more, pulling out one to go on top of the main pile. [13:00] 10Stewart waits patiently, his mind sliding off the ongoing problem of the huntsman to give Melanie his undivided attention. [13:00] 13Let's hope he doesn't regret it. [13:00] 13Melanie begins with that minimal context.. since Stewart knows nothing about her work it would be useless to launch into the actual new argument to start. Okay.. [13:01] "...having situated the alien in society, we understand that his distinguishing characteristic is not an inability to contribute. The alien's *presence* is illegitimate, an identity constructed collaboratively between the alien himself and the meme-masters of the society he invades; the classic examples are those alienated by societal changes or requirements, refusing to accept its premises, [13:01] as well as those aliens who try to enter into a closed society without a dominant integrative meme." [13:03] 13Melanie's voice changes, dropping the cadence of recitation as she puts the page down. "So that's just background, my view of the concept of the alien in the context of.. okay let's not preempt." [13:03] "Remember, this is an outline, the barest sketch. I'd really like you to know what you think, though." [13:03] 13She picks up the papers again and begins to read, voice steadying. [13:03] "The Alienee is different to the Alien. She is not disallowed from entering society, but forcibly removed from sociability while still physically present. Disabled people, felons and survivors of abuse are not alienated by a process of rejection; they have become inimical, dangerous to society by virtue of the statement they make about it. [13:03] What is the alienee's relationship to contribution? An alien's work may be socially necessary while paradoxically forbidden. An alienee is in a worse position, dependent on society but not aligned with its productive interests. [13:03] A liberal view of the alienee would see her as a victim with special needs - incapable of contributing but to be supported out of common humanity. [13:04] This is deceptive. To survive, an alienee must hide from or *change* the world. Society owes her nothing, for she is its enemy, but if she accepts its support - its framing - then she remains in stasis, incapable of success on the terms to which she has been forced." [13:04] 13Now she's looking at him expectantly. It's unclear, to Melanie also, what she's expecting. [13:07] 10Stewart... mostly follows this. He thinks. "So if I understand you right, you're saying that people who've fallen through the cracks of society are only cared for as long as they stay where they fell?" [13:09] "That's part of it." 13Melanie shuffles papers again nervously; she's responding now, not reading. "Actually what I'm trying to do is introduce this concept, I want to come up with a rigorous treatment of those.. crack-fallers, fit them into an expanded sociology that's more than just 'marginalised group'.." [13:09] "That's part of it." 13Melanie shuffles papers again nervously; she's responding now, not reading. "Actually what I'm trying to do is introduce this concept, I want to come up with a rigorous treatment of those.. crack-fallers, fit them into an expanded sociology that's more than just 'marginalised group'.." [13:09] 10Stewart: "Something that might include us." [13:11] "Yeah and like, take into account that we actually have power, not just exclusion. I want to explore that and see who's really in the most danger, hopefully nobody but I freaking doubt it, get to grips with.. how you theoretically fit normal people and us-people into the same mindset." [13:12] "But I wanna develop an ontological category here, not talk about concrete Evil Faeries. That would cause problems." [13:12] 10Stewart: "So like, to arrive at a notion of society that integrates kinds of power specific to victimhood, or, or survivorship, you need a model of victimhood that you can attach that power to without changing the underlying..." 10He gestures vaguely. [13:13] 13(Vague gesture) "is pretty much it. I'll have to work my way up to" 13(far more elaborate gesture). [13:14] "Some of this stuff is actually important? For mainstream social functioning? Think about how, like, the vampires deal with local authority. What effects does that have if they're everywhere?" [13:16] 10Stewart: "The question is, is a police officer who's corrupt becasuse of magic mind-controlling blood a different, uh, qualia than a police officer who's just taking bribes from a mobster or whatever." [13:17] "Like to what extent does a vampire subvert rather than reproduce conventional social relations." [13:18] 13Melanie writes that down. "That's right, that's right. If you look at it from the perspective of a society that can't perceive these things directly - they can't see survivors, don't listen to their voices. Also some of us are literally invisible, with invisiblity magic. Anyway- what kind of mistakes are being made?" [13:18] "Failures of understanding which might be hurting everyone needlessly. Or not. I don't know, yet." [13:20] 13Maybe it's only hurting the people whose blood a vampire takes or the bouncers a huntsman throws through a door? [13:21] 10Stewart: "I've actually been thinking about stuff like this recently. Like, you met Lister, right? At the party. Le petit prince." [13:23] 13Melanie: "Oh, yeah. He was 'profoundly sad', which is probably true but might also be like.. the camoflague you get on a poisonous frog. [13:25] 10Stewart winces. "I don't think he's faking it. I did some research on him. He goes back to the court of Louis XIV. That's like, late 17th early 18th century. He's been 13 for over 300 years." [13:27] 13Melanie: "And has, therefore, survived for 300 years?" [13:28] "There are at least two ways to do that but being really genuinely dangerous, like having your own sorrow be a weapon, that's got to be one." [13:28] 10Stewart nods. "300 years of full subjective life, too. Lauren told me vampires go to sleep sometimes - to pass the time, I guess - but she doesn't think Lister ever has." [13:28] "I'm not saying I want the guy to be sad." [13:28] "Came to Baltimore about 30 years ago, claimed power, cut all ties with the bigger regional courts, and just... killed every comer, for years, until the comers stopped coming." [13:28] "Now he plays video games all night." [13:30] 13It sure would be awful if that happened to you. Getting made into a monster and then having to live that way for about three hundred years. This is slightly worrying, though: "So 'prince' is a vampire term like the freehold courts use? Or he was an actual prince in France?" [13:31] "I assumed Lister was dangerous, but not.. kill other vampires for thirty years dangerous. I hope I wasn't tactless." [13:31] 10Stewart: "A matter of some historical dispute! He tends to deny it, but some sources say he has a claim to the French throne. But no he is, formally, Prince of the Court of Baltimore, as opposed to King-in-Court of the Freehold of Baltimore. It makes me feel better about the feudalism stuff to know other people do it too, so we're not just, you know, aping the Keepers." [13:33] "But Lister avoids all the actual work he can, so there's a Primacy and Regent under him who sort of, run the city, vampirically." [13:33] 13Melanie: "Do you know any vampires who're more happy to talk about themselves?" [13:34] "I'm really looking for like.. the kind of person who just finds themselves endlessly fascinating, specifically the tough times they've had and all the ways they've been hard done by. Alienees willing to express it." [13:35] 10Stewart: "I think they're like us, you know? They're unified by this... this thing that they have now, this thing they don't have anymore, but how it touches them and how they take it is so wildly variant... some of us love to talk about ourselves but will still have exposed nerves if you touch the wrong topic or speak the wrong way. Some of us don't like to talk about ourselves at all [13:35] until the moment comes when we can't help ourselves." [13:36] "I will say that I met a couple of vampires - one is the Sheriff of Baltimore, the other is some kind of protector or enforcer called Father Jesse - who are, if not *eager* to talk about themselves, much more sanguine about it." [13:36] "...so to speak." [13:40] 13Melanie: "Ha ha. All these titles seem like deflections to me, including ours.. what do they mean?" [13:41] 10Stewart: "They're, you know... pegs for holes. All the wizards have them. Willworkers, sorry. That's what Lister calls them. But their names are like, Jesuit and Pardon and Fireman and Union and Singular and Society." [13:41] "Regent is like, in charge obviously, Sheriff has to be a law-keeper, vampire law.. Father as in some kind of horrid brood-master?" [13:41] "Christ." [13:41] 10Stewart points. "Yeah, it's the second one." [13:42] 13Melanie: "I like 'Pardon' though. Ambiguous meaning and it's almost an actual name." [13:42] "Christ I mean. He's a Father father. With a collar and Latin chanting and cursing at God." [13:42] "Ohhhh!" [13:43] "That would be... interesting. I don't remember a lot about that stuff, but it's still there. Like as an ingrained part of culture rather than actual beliefs per se. Hard to maintain any beliefs." [13:44] "On some level I'd like to know what a vampire thinks of God." 13Melanie scribbles something meaningless. The fact that they even think about this stuff.. [13:45] "But you know, you see -- like with us and Loyalists. There's sad vampires, and avoidant vampires, and cranky vampires, like with us. But just like there's the Proctor or the Oxford Lad or whoever, they have the guy who just rides into town and starts eating people until he has to be put down like an animal. They have some kind of Nazi mad scientist who they just let *have* the Johns Hopkins [13:45] campuses. And the werewolves have their Hook Hand Lodge, murderers and cannibals out in the woods. And the wizards have Society." [13:45] "Who is worse than all of those." [13:47] 10Stewart: "Father Jesse doesn't believe in God, but in that way where it's obvious he really wants to and God is sort of the ultimate shitty disappointing dad. His song is Dear God, by XTC, which is exactly that energy." [13:48] "Jesuit seems to come at the whole God thing from a completely different angle. He sees himself as prosecuting a war for dominion of Heaven." [13:48] "Jesuit the wizrd." [13:48] "Willworker." [13:48] 13Melanie's taking notes in earnest. Stewart knows way more about these sects and beings than she expected, but.. something stood out. [13:48] 13She looks around; there's nobody near, and these chairs are comfy. They don't assume things about your bones. [13:48] "Do you want to tell me about Society?" [13:49] 10Stewart sucks in a breath. "No. But I don't want to keep him a secret either." [13:49] "So:" [13:49] 13On another level what stood out was 'nazi mad scientist' but, you know. Important stuff first. [13:51] "So like I said, Jesuit sees himself as fighting a war for Heaven, for, I don't know, the soul of humanity. On the side of, like, spiritual liberation. I don't know, their philosophy is way over my head. I'd love to hear what you made of Jesuit or one of the other true believers." [13:51] "Now of course, the inevitable corrollary is that there will be people who take... the opposite view. The view that Heaven must remain sealed, that people must remain, you know I'm sure they wouldn't say subjugated, but orderly." [13:51] "I would very much like to talk to one, maybe over the phone." [13:52] "Maybe radio transmission from Mars?" [13:52] 10Stewart: "I know where they work, I've got a pass to go up there whenever I want pretty much, and I could bring guests." [13:52] "Which is the exact opposite of everything you said. But it's an option." [13:53] 13Melanie: "I'll check whether my stipend does field trips with hazard pay. What's it worth to 'keep Heaven sealed'?" [13:53] "To them, I mean." [13:53] 10Stewart: "Worth enough to try and torture a couple of harmless changelings on a pizza date." [13:56] 13Melanie watches Stewart talk. He's like a prototype - he's her friend, but he's also an example of a human being experiencing emotions. Things worth caring about. She wants to understand. [13:57] "What's been happening to you two? Are you safe now? Can we.. what happened?" [13:58] 10Stewart: "It's fine now. So like, you remember back when we went to the Hob Market, and you came up empty looking for a weapon? I got this -- it's a digitized version of a magical tome. The Book of Things Strange and Wondrous, it's called." [13:59] "Basically a magical repository of knowledge, an inorganic oracle." [14:01] 13Melanie: "Isn't that also a weapon?" [14:01] 10Stewart: "Yeah. I'm coming to understand that now." [14:02] "Anyway, the bad willworkers, their equivalent of Loyalists - loyal to the world-as-it-is, to humanity-as-it-is, to... well, to society. Society was who they sent. He might be their leader." [14:03] "He traps us, starts gruesomely killing this random bystander to intimidate us - he gave her cancer. He does this to play a game with us. With me. The point of the game is to show me that he can hurt me in so many more ways than I can hurt him. That even hurting him hurts me. He had this sort of, malicious sphinx-like riddle game and he kept trying to take a taser to Lauren. Called her not [14:03] even a person anymore." [14:04] "Society is brutal, selfish, misogynistic, both actively cruel and indifferent to cruelty, and above all just, hugely wastefully inefficient." [14:05] 13That's fucking awful. "That's awful." 13Melanie does not write that line down, though she wants to. [14:05] "Cancer. Is there.. are the willworkers as powerful as they think they are? Are they really that kind of a threat?" [14:06] 10Stewart: "It was like a Keeper was in the room. It was that kind of feeling." [14:09] 13Just the idea is making Melanie panic. "But they're not. They're human, right? So that's worse, but- there must be ways to-" 13She could plan out ways to fight back, to defend yourself, ask for details of the man-monster's powers. What's the point? The problem is what's already happened. [14:09] "I'm so glad you came through it." [14:10] "Did you give up the book?" [14:10] 10Stewart: "Yeah. It's a shitty way for it to happen, but being there with Lauren, feeling the way I did, doing what I did to try to help her... it was kind of how I realized I loved her." [14:10] 10He looks down. "Anyway." [14:13] 13Melanie: "That's extra sappy. You're an extra sap." [14:15] 10Stewart: "Heh. Yeah. It's gross. I love it. Anyway... there's these sort of layered, overlapping experiences between different groups of the, uh, supernaturally estranged. And these penumbras of shared experience that say a vampire and a changeling might have, or a changeling and a willworker, or a vampire and a werewolf. And these layers sort of... jostle, right, like tectonic plates." [14:15] "Like, uh, what's that witch expression?" [14:16] "There are witches?" [14:16] "I mean regular witches. Mortal occultists, stuff historians publicly acknowledge. Crowley and so forth." [14:17] "The phrase I was thinking of was 'as above, so below'." [14:18] 13Melanie: "Only if what you get above is earthquakes." [14:19] 10Stewart: "I mean... there is a war on in Heaven, allegedly. Not out of the realm of possibility." [14:19] "Alienated as we alienees are, we're still within and subject to society. And so society reproduces itself in us, and we reflect society back at itself." 10Stewart doesn't know the word 'dialectic'. "So what I've been thinking is that we see our place in society represented in how we relate to each other." [14:20] 13Melanie: "It better not be that difficult to find one." [14:21] 13She makes an ehhhh noise. "You've been learning a lot, right? About all the powers and personages. That's going to be a thing?" [14:21] "A thing?" [14:21] "For you, a- a role or activity." [14:22] "Like, you're making friends everywhere and finding these common points. I wanna keep picking your brains about those, but more importantly it sounds like some sort of incipient liason..ing." [14:23] 10Stewart: "Yeah. It's sort of, I don't know. The Autumn Court has friends on all the other sides. Those are important relationships politically and materially, but they also contextualize *so much*. It really helps me think about like... our bullshit." [14:23] "The Autumn Court calls it becoming a Lord Sage of the Unknown Reaches." [14:24] 13Melanie leans back. She steeples her fingers, which is really gnarly. [14:24] "Why... do they call it that." [14:26] 10Stewart: "I don't know. I honestly don't. Maybe the Wyrd inflects our language, which colors our self-concepts inside and out. It permeates, too -- you know the Young Street almost put my fetch through a window without thinking twice, but he still hunkers down in a fortress called, literally, Swordhome. That's like the name a level 9 fighter picks for their stronghold." [14:27] 13Melanie: "Maybe. Maybe somebody just lost a bet." [14:27] 10Stewart: "I mean... we all lost a bet. That's why we're here." [14:27] "Maybe they're winning it? See if you can get away with calling yourself the Lord Reaching Sage. Make it fifty years without anyone objecting and I'll buy the next round." [14:28] "Oh, I certainly can't *yet*. Now, if I can introduce you to Santander, our current Lord Sage. That man *earns* it." [14:29] "Yeah, I'd like to meet him at some point. The occult is.. oddly inapplicable to philosophy, I'm finding, but it's definitely a perspective." [14:29] "Um, why did the Street try to kill your fetch?" [14:30] "Like obviously he didn't know, or it wouldn't be trying..." 13this may be impolite. [14:30] 10Stewart: "My fetch is a firefighter. Fetches can see through our Masks, so he thought the Street was on fire. In like a bad way." [14:30] "And yeah, fetches don't look like anything but regular people to us." [14:32] "Ahaha! Oh man, yeah, you can't fight that fire!" [14:33] 10Stewart: "You know he's a lot more charismatic than I was expecting. The Street, I mean. By reputation I was picturing a guy who just gets mad at everything and can't turn it off." [14:34] 13Melanie: "He gets mad at the right things. Injustice, faerie monsters. There's just.. a lot of both." [14:34] 10Stewart: "That's it! That's exactly the thing!" [14:34] "The, like. I don't know. The unified theory." [14:35] "Have you ever read Lovecraft?" [14:35] "It's an element. Wyrd-touched entities make themselves into metaphor deliberately.. I'm surprised I haven't found anyone writing about this stuff yet. There's an obscure screenplay floating around, but no nonfiction treatments." [14:35] "Not that I know!" [14:36] 13Sounds like a romance novelist, and Melanie thinks she read a few of those back in the day, but if so they weren't memorable. [14:36] 10Stewart: "Okay so, basically HP Lovecraft was a weird, prissy racist, who wrote a lot of really imaginative and enduring horror fiction. I wonder if he's still alive, like Poe is. Anyway, one of his most famous stories is called 'The Call of Cthulhu', and it opens like this." [14:37] 10Stewart recites from memory: [14:37] "'The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far. The sciences, each straining in its own direction, have hitherto harmed us little; but someday the piecing-together of dissociated knowledge will open [14:37] up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the deadly light into the peace and safety of a new dark age.'" [14:39] 10He's silent for a moment after finishing. Then: "And like, that's-- that's the thing." [14:39] 13Melanie: "That's well-written. It's evocative, but it's bullshit, right?" [14:39] "Yes and no. It's bullshit that it's good. But it's true that it's true." [14:40] "You have to understand mercy as an enforced, dominating peace. The conditional withdrawal of violence." [14:40] "A you-are-safe-unless." [14:40] "Nope. Ignorance isn't a mercy. It's a literary equivalent of the caveman meme about playing gods." [14:41] "Mercy isn't good, it's just a promise by the powerful not to hurt the vulnerable anymore." [14:41] "It says nothing about the value of who is powerful, or who is vulnerable." [14:41] 13Melanie: "The kind of fight that we avoid through lack of knowledge - whether it's inner struggle or a conflict you can't help but fight if you know it's there to be fought - those things fester somewhere. It only lets individuals shelter under a- a wound in society." [14:41] "Right! Exactly." [14:41] "Right?" [14:41] "That wound is what we inhabit. This is the relation we enforce and reflect." [14:42] "It's only a starting point." [14:42] "What society does to us... what society says about itself by doing this to us... is inhibit that correlation. As a means of keeping the peace. Of enforcing space and distance. And, yeah, in some quarters, it's absolutely seen as a mercy." [14:43] "But all it really does is deny us unity. It's a way to keep us from reckoning with -- to keep everyone from reckoning with -- the sheer, the fucking, the awful depth and diversity of the things that can be taken from us." [14:43] 10His voice has grown thick with emotion. Stewart hisses, tears in the corner of his eyes: "He was thirteen years old." [14:44] 13Melanie's sitting up and in fact waving her arms a bit. "I don't think we're disagreeing, it's just.. if you lose everything. If you fail utterly and it turns out every thing you did was totally worthless, misguided, harmful." [14:44] "You can go on from that." [14:45] "You can. But the inhibition is self-reinforcing. Self-perpetuating. And it peels some of its victims away to feed it directly." [14:45] "You don't have to but you can, and the sheer human will to continue can turn into.. anything. Wonderful things." [14:45] "So there's this need to perpetually go on." [14:45] "To begin again and again and again." [14:45] 10He hits the table with each "again". [14:45] "Yes. Sure." [14:45] "It sucks, I know. You can still do it though." [14:46] "You know, it's not impossible. You're right, we can do amazing things. We can help people. We can heal, we can find love." [14:46] "But that's... that's the force that we're pushing against to do it." [14:46] "That struggle, I think, is definitive." [14:46] "You mean definitional." [14:46] 10Stewart smiles. "You're right." [14:46] 10He dries his eyes. [14:46] "You're right." [14:49] 13Melanie isright. "Hey, um. The next time the peeled ones, the inhibited ones.. when you're in danger again we'll be there again. When Lauren's in trouble you'll be there." [14:49] 10Stewart reaches out to pat Melanie's hand. "I know." [14:49] "Sometimes the trouble is just going to be.. profound sorrow. I know. When there's something to fight though I am going to help with that, and I'm going to get really good at it." [14:51] "I know you will. You're already good at it." [14:51] "Nowhere to go but up." [14:51] "I'm really glad you're my friend." [14:51] "That's what I want to write about. The things we can do, since it's not like we're gonna stop." [14:52] 13Aghjb. [14:52] 13Melanie doesn't know what to say to that. 02[15:43] * trenchfoot (dani@sorcery-jcvlv4.in.comcast.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[15:54] * banana is now known as banana|peels 03[16:14] * trenchfoot (dani@sorcery-ms3qqj.iplsin.sbcglobal.net) has joined #gofetch 03[16:58] * mattbaby_ (mattbaby@sorcery-v7n841.dc.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 02[18:00] * mattbaby_ (mattbaby@sorcery-v7n841.dc.comcast.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[18:33] * mattbaby_ (mattbaby@sorcery-v7n841.dc.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 02[19:07] * mattbaby_ (mattbaby@sorcery-v7n841.dc.comcast.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 02[19:38] * trenchfoot (dani@sorcery-ms3qqj.iplsin.sbcglobal.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[19:54] * mattbaby_ (mattbaby@sorcery-v7n841.dc.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 03[20:01] * trenchfoot (dani@sorcery-jcvlv4.in.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 03[20:07] * mattbaby_ is now known as mattbaby 02[23:57] * mattbaby (mattbaby@sorcery-v7n841.dc.comcast.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) Session Time: Mon Nov 11 00:00:00 2019 03[00:08] * darkmage (l0de@sorcery-r5c.dn5.105.23.IP) has joined #gofetch 02[00:14] * darkmage (l0de@sorcery-r5c.dn5.105.23.IP) Quit (G-Lined) 03[03:14] * banana|peels is now known as banana 03[08:58] * mattbaby (mattbaby@sorcery-v7n841.dc.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 02[09:58] * mattbaby (mattbaby@sorcery-v7n841.dc.comcast.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 02[17:13] * Disconnected 02[17:13] * Attempting to rejoin channel #gofetch 03[17:13] * Rejoined channel #gofetch 03[17:13] * Topic is 'Who botches the Botchmen?' 03[17:13] * Set by Crion!Crion@sorcery-puhjpa.fios.verizon.net on Sun Sep 22 02:37:29 2019 02[17:14] * Disconnected 02[17:17] * Attempting to rejoin channel #gofetch 03[17:17] * Rejoined channel #gofetch 03[17:17] * Topic is 'Who botches the Botchmen?' 03[17:17] * Set by Crion!Crion@sorcery-puhjpa.fios.verizon.net on Sun Sep 22 02:37:29 2019 03[17:17] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Crion 02[17:18] * Crion_ (Crion@sorcery-puhjpa.fios.verizon.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[20:20] * mattbaby (mattbaby@sorcery-v7n841.dc.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 00[23:43] <@Crion> 00[23:43] <@Crion> 00[23:43] <@Crion> 00[23:43] <@Crion> 00[23:43] <@Crion> 00[23:43] <@Crion> 00[23:43] <@Crion> 00[23:43] <@Crion> 00[23:43] <@Crion> 00[23:43] <@Crion> Did Lauren spend the night? [23:44] 10Yeah. Stewart was probably up before her (he can never sleep much past dawn when he drinks). 00[23:46] <@Crion> Then depending whether he's in his bedroom or at his PC, Stewart will hear either her phone buzz on the nightstand (surely he has one; and a boxspring; and a bedframe) or hear the sound of his hex box receiving an IM. 00[23:46] <@Crion> If he's between, both. [23:47] 10Stewart hears both; he's sitting on the couch checking his phone. He doesn't like rolling out of bed and going right to the computer. Since only one of those devices is his, that's the one he checks. 00[23:48] <@Crion> QUOTH|THE|BITTER|WIND: <'STEWART READER,' KNOWN OTHERWISE AS 'CRITICALMASS:'> 00[23:48] <@Crion> From the bedroom, Lauren grumble-shouts. "Stewart. Check your computer." 00[23:48] <@Crion> [23:48] "On it," 10he calls. 00[23:49] <@Crion> 00[23:50] <@Crion> *QUOTH|THE|STEWARD|KING: <'STEWART READER,' KNOWN OTHERWISE AS 'CRITICALMASS:'> [23:51] 10Stewart: "Kingsley says hi." [23:52] 10Wait. How did he know she spent the night? ...this doesn't trouble Stewart much. Probably just a reasonable assumption. 00[23:52] <@Crion> She makes an irritated growling noise, and then there's sound suspiciously like her slamming her phone down on the bedside table. 00[23:53] <@Crion> 00[23:53] <@Crion> [23:53] 10...  00[23:55] <@Crion> [23:57] 00[23:57] <@Crion> [23:58] 00[23:59] <@Crion> [23:59] Session Time: Tue Nov 12 00:00:00 2019 [00:00] 10You know, say what you will about the professional conspirator and schemer Robert Kingsley; he's a damn good boss. 00[00:00] <@Crion> The account logs out. 00[00:01] <@Crion> When Stewart emerges, Lauren is in the kitchen wearing a t-shirt that's long, but not THAT long. [00:02] 10Stewart's face is flushed when he sees her, perhaps from residual alcohol. "Hey, Kingsley called me down to the office for a lunch meeting with him and Santander. He says you can take the week off, barring IT emergencies." 00[00:03] <@Crion> She's putting on tea, without asking. At that, she crosses her arms. "Him and Santander, huh?" [00:05] 10Stewart comes up behind her, holding her by the waist and swaying gently while they both look at the kettle. They never did get to dance last night. "Yeah. I've never actually seen them in the same room before. Think I should wear my suit?" 00[00:05] <@Crion> "Mmmmmmmmm." 00[00:07] <@Crion> "How well does it fit?" 00[00:07] <@Crion> "Theirs are gonna be tailored." [00:09] "So's mine. I figured, I'm making money, I've got a hot girlfriend... clothes gotta fit, right?" 00[00:09] <@Crion> She giggles and turns towards him in his arms. "Then wear the suit. In fact...let's go get dressed." 00[00:10] <@Crion> It's awhile before the kettle's off. 00[00:10] <@Crion> When does Stewart roll into the garage? [00:13] 10About 12:45. He was budgeting time for 12:30 but he underestimated the number of showers he was gonna have to take. The suit is navy-colored and makes him look very sharp. His dad would like him like this. As long as he kept his mouth shut. 00[00:14] <@Crion> Well, he's someone else's problem now. [00:14] 10...yeah. 00[00:15] <@Crion> The garage is dark, but this time the bellhop is upright and tips his cap. The elevator opens with a merry ding, door closing neatly, and ferries him up to the 27th floor as soon as his finger touches the button. [00:15] "Afternoon," 10says Stewart to the empty elevator. Just in case. 02[00:17] * mattbaby (mattbaby@sorcery-v7n841.dc.comcast.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 00[00:20] <@Crion> There's an old-school LED display -- the ones with the very simple red-bulb numbers -- above the door, with the room for two full characters, and when it passes floor 12, instead of floor 13, it displays :) 00[00:20] <@Crion> Then 14, then 15, and so on. 00[00:21] <@Crion> The doors open on...not an empty reception desk? [00:21] 10Aww. LEDs are cute. [00:21] 10What the? 00[00:23] <@Crion> There's a changeling sitting there, but she's not using the computers. Stewart's seen her before, but only once. Her face is drawn and pensive, pinched around the lips, eyes expressive but focused. A Beast, in the Mien of a bird; the Mask has her light, agile, and fragile, in a blouse and jeans. 00[00:24] <@Crion> She's mulling over...a note? Something. [00:25] 10Stewart's eyes narrow very briefly, but he's smiling and his voice is present as he walks up, offering her Glamour for a song. "Hi! Stewart Reader. I've got a 1 o'clock?" [00:25] 10*pleasant 00[00:26] <@Crion> Cormorant -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYsfFJT3cBc After this there's calm upon the sea; broken waves can't ever damage me. Broken seems a solemn bird, but when she sings she's always heard. 00[00:26] <@Crion> She looks up sharply. "Conference room. Take a right. Left afore the Mainer's office. Big glass thing." 00[00:26] <@Crion> "Have fun." 00[00:29] <@Crion> As he passes, she gets up to leave. [00:30] 10Wait, was she just there to send him that way? No, that can't-- whatever. Stewart follows directions to the conference room. 00[00:31] <@Crion> The law office is eerily empty as usual. It's actually quite difficult to imagine what this place looks like bustling, at this point. [00:32] 10Are all the desks empty? Does it look like people ever work here? 00[00:33] <@Crion> The conference room is a long rectangle against the far wall of the floor, and both of the long walls -- facing the hallway and facing the city -- are plate glass floor-to-ceiling windows. The short walls...are also full glass? But they're mirrors. You look in one, you see the room behind you...except for the other short wall, which is black. Then you turn around and look at the 'black' wall, 00[00:33] <@Crion> and IT'S a mirror...except the first wall that's now behind you is black. 00[00:34] <@Crion> The desks look used, but almost like...life-sized dollhouse furniture? 00[00:35] <@Crion> Like someone took some giant tweezers and put that box of Kleenex on the desk just so. 00[00:35] <@Crion> Maybe that's paranoia. 00[00:36] <@Crion> Kingsley and Santander are inside. Alone. 00[00:36] <@Crion> Together. [00:37] 10They've got each other, and that's a lot for love~ Stewart will open the door, slowly, without knocking. 00[00:39] <@Crion> Kingsley beckons him forward, eyeing him. Well, his suit. Kingsley is in his usual tie-less three-piece, while Santander is wearing what looks like a suit-jacket...trenchcoat? With a vest, chain-and-pocketwatch, and white shirt under it, with a simply incredibly vibrant violet tie. 00[00:40] <@Crion> "Stewart. Hello." 00[00:40] <@Crion> To Santander: "Next time I'm showing up in sweatpants. Write it down." 00[00:41] <@Crion> There is an assortment of incredible sandwiches on offer. [00:41] "King. Lord Sage. Sandwiches." 10Stewart greets each in turn. 00[00:42] <@Crion> It appears they ordered five; both men have selected their own, leaving three for Stewart's perusal. They all fit his specifications, but have varying amounts of mayonaisse/mustard. Next to them sit six strips of bacon, in case he wishes to add more to any of them. 00[00:43] <@Crion> The default seems to be two strips, broken in half. 00[00:43] <@Crion> There is also a pitcher of iced tea. [00:44] 10That's fine, a BLT is really more about the tomato than the bacon. Stewart takes the one which has a roughly even amount of mustard and mayo, which he thinks of as the Squirtle sandwich. Pours himself a glass of iced tea. Sits down. 00[00:46] <@Crion> Kingsley nods again and takes a big bite out of his own sandwich, which seems to be a Reuben. There's already a bite out of Santander's, which is a BLT, but heavy on the bacon. 00[00:47] <@Crion> Kingsley realizes that now he can't speak for a moment, frowns while chewing, and points at Santander, who says: "STEWA--" 00[00:47] <@Crion> "Stewart." 00[00:47] <@Crion> A cough. 00[00:47] <@Crion> "You have done...exemplary work." [00:47] 10Stewart sips his iced tea, waiting to eat until one of them starts an in-his-opinion-inevitable monologue. "Thank you." 00[00:49] <@Crion> "We have some questions, and, OF COURSE! Concerns. But not in the customer service sense." 00[00:49] <@Crion> Kingsley has finished his bite, and touches his mouth with a cloth napkin. Those are, of course, available for Stewart as well. "You've met a lot of shitkickers in the past two weeks." 00[00:50] <@Crion> "Jesuit had to pull you out of a bad bind. I don't like that. Not because of anything you did, but because of what I didn't do." 00[00:53] <@Crion> He waves the sandwich around. "I didn't hear about the thing with Sobriety--" 00[00:53] <@Crion> Santander: "Society." 00[00:53] <@Crion> Kingsley: "I'll say his name however I fuckin' want." 00[00:54] <@Crion> "I didn't hear about it until after it happened. It occurs to me that's probably because I wasn't checking in, and didn't know you'd gone to the goblin market and picked up...that fuckin' thing." [00:54] 10Stewart: "The Book of Things Strange and Wondrous, you mean?" 00[00:55] <@Crion> Kingsley: "Yep." 00[00:55] <@Crion> "Don't get me wrong, great purchase. Worth whatever you paid, unless it'll kill everyone you love." 00[00:55] <@Crion> "But, things like that, they tend to make psychotic wizards tetchy." [00:55] 10Stewart: "I'm sorry, I should've reported in that I'd taken in a token that powerful." 00[00:55] <@Crion> "Especially ones obsessed with Fate." 00[00:56] <@Crion> Santander: "DO NOT APOLOGIZE!" [00:56] 10Stewart blinks. 00[00:57] <@Crion> The lord sage's tie...flashes? "Gaining power for the freehold is virtuous! Humiliating the willworker Society is virtuous! Putting the willworkers we DO like in a position where you can access their librarium upon demand...is virtuous!" 00[00:58] <@Crion> Kingsley: "'Librarium' isn't even proper Latin. Okay, it IS, but not for--" 00[00:58] <@Crion> Santander: "I AM CORRECT." 00[00:58] <@Crion> Kingsley takes another bite of his sandwich. 00[00:59] <@Crion> Has Stewart touched his food? [00:59] 10Not really, yet. 00[01:04] <@Crion> Kingsley finishes his bite and puts his sandwich. "It's been a busy time, is the point. I wanted to sit down and sort through that business, see what we can do. Decompress." [01:04] 10He'll take a bite after saying, "Like, there are risks I'm prepared to undertake on my own behalf, for the sake of protecting the freehold and expanding the knowledge of the Court. But bystanders were in danger. Women were tortured." 00[01:04] <@Crion> Santander: "NO ONE IS JUDGING!" 00[01:04] <@Crion> Kingsley: "Christ, Santander." 00[01:05] <@Crion> Kingsley: "We have no problem with how you handled the situation. It's unfortunate you were put in it in the first place, and we'll be doing what we can to make sure it doesn't happen again." 00[01:05] <@Crion> He pauses. "But it will." 00[01:05] <@Crion> "That's just how this goes." 00[01:05] <@Crion> "Eventually, it will." [01:07] 10Stewart: "I guess that's a conversation I need to have with Lauren, then." 00[01:08] <@Crion> Santander, snatching an unattended piece of bacon from the plate instead of eating his sandwich: "Mmmmmhrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrmmm." [01:08] 10This is a good sandwich. 00[01:11] <@Crion> Kingsley meets Stewarts eyes, and the wind kicks up a bit, and there's leaves on the corners of his vision, and the King of Autumn's eyes seem to sink back into his skull. "Do right by her." 00[01:12] <@Crion> Then the room snaps back. "Or end it quickly." 00[01:12] <@Crion> "I'm not going to try to dictate courtiers' personal lives." [01:14] 10Stewart presses his lips together and wipes his hands over his plate. "Do you think it's possible?" [01:14] "To be in this line of work and do right by someone?" 00[01:15] <@Crion> Kingsley: "Absolutely." 00[01:15] <@Crion> "That doesn't mean it will end well. That's not in your control. Or hers, or mine, or anyone's." 00[01:15] <@Crion> "And nothing ever really ends well." 00[01:15] <@Crion> Santander chuckles. 00[01:16] <@Crion> Kinglsey avoids giving him a look. 00[01:16] <@Crion> "But yes, you can do it." [01:17] 10Stewart: "We've got a month before the Sky Mother's Huntsman reconstitutes." 00[01:18] <@Crion> Santander: "I have SUGGESTIONS about that. For afterwards!" 00[01:18] <@Crion> Now he takes another bite of the sandwich. 00[01:20] <@Crion> Kingsley: "We'll handle that. There are signs and signals; we can know with...some degree of certainty, when it comes back. And I'm sure you'll be on top of it. What I want to talk about here are two things, one of improbable but incredible importance, and one just downright important." 00[01:21] <@Crion> "The first: you had a night out with Father Jesse." 00[01:21] <@Crion> "He...disclosed...that he used his, ah. Word. On you." 00[01:21] <@Crion> Kingsley leans forward: "Did you experience time loss?" [01:21] 10Stewart: "Oh, yeah. That wasn't really a big deal, it was just like, stop and start. He didn't make me do anything messed up." [01:22] "No time loss to speak of." [01:22] "The whole thing was maybe thirty seconds." 00[01:22] <@Crion> Kingsley ignores the first bit, but leans back comfortably when Stewart answers the question. "Good, good. I like Father Jesse. But...one must be vigilant, when it comes to powers like his." [01:24] 10Stewart: "I understand. Is the power of compulsion common among vampires?" 00[01:24] <@Crion> "If you ever enter his company, or any vampire's company, and leave it unable to account for any length of time -- a blankness there, you'll know it when you feel it, when you focus on it -- come immediately to this building, call us, and then lock yourself in the Mainer's office." 00[01:24] <@Crion> Santander: "Too common!" 00[01:25] <@Crion> "They toy with minds in ways which degrade their own." 00[01:25] <@Crion> He snatches up another piece of bacon. [01:25] 10Stewart: "Is there a lot of precedent for that happening? That level of abuse. It seems like the Court and the Freehold are on really good terms, you know, considering." 00[01:26] <@Crion> Kingsley, curtly: "Yes." 00[01:26] <@Crion> "Next, and more important, order of business." [01:27] 10Nodding, eating, listening. 00[01:28] <@Crion> "The Mistress of the High House." [01:29] 10No longer nodding or eating. 00[01:29] <@Crion> Kingsleys takes another bite. Santander jumps in here. "The report, Stewart, was vague." 00[01:29] <@Crion> "On the specific matter of this creature. 00[01:29] <@Crion> "We should like to know what was discussed, and what, if anything, was promised." [01:29] 10Stewart: "I'm happy to provide clarity. I might've skipped some details in my haste to report." 00[01:29] <@Crion> "Even in prospective terms. Possibly unsealed." [01:32] "We'd just caught up with Loser outside the Loyalist Hollow. There was some friction over how long it took us to respond, tempers were running a little hot. Then we hear this sound. Something cracking, and trumpets. Come to find out the Mistress had breached the Hollow, and was growing trees *through* the Loyalists. Two of them were already dead when we got there. We watched Proctor die." [01:32] "The Mistress of the High House turns to us, and goes, 'You must be Peter's friends!'." 00[01:32] <@Crion> Santander narrows his eyes and scribbles something down on a napkin with a piece of thin charcoal he seems to have summoned from nowhere. 00[01:33] <@Crion> Kingsley pinches the bridge of his nose. "Montgomery, of course." [01:33] "Right." [01:34] "The fourth Loyalist runs in from a side room, with her chainsaw. The Mistress entangles her. She says she's not here to hurt anyone who wasn't hunting 'her Peter'." 00[01:34] <@Crion> Kingsley hisses, while Santander leans forward. [01:36] "The tree's spreading over - K.I.L.L. is the name she gave - and she's absolutely stuck in place. So are we, but not physically. It was like someone snapped the dial off of the Common Crown contract to freeze someone in place with fear. None of us could move. Some of us weren't taking it well." 00[01:36] <@Crion> Santander, more reserved than usual: "What was she like." [01:37] "Then the Mistress turns to us like, 'You're the heroes. So I want your help. What should I do with her?'. Her being K- the last Loyalist." 00[01:37] <@Crion> "The Keeper." [01:41] 10Stewart: "She presented as a tall woman, blonde hair, a little past shoulder-length. Stunningly beautiful. Eyes of green fire. She had kind of a high-society accent? Very upbeat - smiley, optimistic. Perky." 00[01:43] <@Crion> Santander: "And what were her stakes?" [01:43] 10Stewart: "She tips on a Taylor Swift track - Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince." [01:43] "Stakes?" 00[01:43] <@Crion> "That is to say: why was she there? Did she have any other involvement than this Montgomery boy? Did she mention anything else? Any other Keepers? Any other reasons she might have had to murder a sect of Loyalists?" [01:44] 10Stewart: "She seemed totally fixed on Peter, and on punishing people who hurt Peter. Like, you know... like she loved him. I got the impression their Durance took the shape of, of a romantic relationship." 00[01:46] <@Crion> Kingsley: "I was afraid of this. Wasn't I afraid of this, Santander?" 00[01:46] <@Crion> Santander, mildly, picking up another piece of bacon. "You were. I still don't think it's as dire as you do." [01:47] 10Stewart: "Anyway, like I reported, at this point she had us vote on whether or not to spare the last Loyalist. The vote went 4-1-1 in favor of saving her. I voted to save her because Loser did, and Loser was the only one of us who knew her at all." 00[01:49] <@Crion> Kingsley, frowning: "How kind of it." 00[01:49] <@Crion> Santander, between crunches: "Her." [01:49] "Then looks sort... bashful? Like she'd have looked if she realized she was talking too loud in a room that suddenly went quiet. Then she gives us the message she wants us to pass on, that she wants him to come home. Bt only if he wants. She was *very* pointed that we not coerce him in any way." 00[01:49] <@Crion> Kingsley: "Fine. Her." [01:49] "Then she's like, 'next time we meet, let's not use Contracts, okay?'." [01:50] "An actual, to-the-Wyrd promise. I sealed it myself." 00[01:50] <@Crion> Both men straighten up. Almost at the same time: "What?" [01:50] 10Stewart: "Totally unsolicited. We could still barely speak." 00[01:50] <@Crion> Santander looks amused bordering on delighted; Kingsley looks shocked bordering on horrified. 00[01:51] <@Crion> Kingsley swivels to Santander, and to his court wizard: "Why would she do that." [01:51] "So... what do you know about the Mistress? You seemed familiar with her already." 00[01:51] <@Crion> Santander: "I don't know." [01:51] "Does she have a history in the Freehold?" 00[01:51] <@Crion> Kingsley: "She swore an oath. Why would she swear an oath?" 00[01:51] <@Crion> Santander: "I don't know!" 00[01:52] <@Crion> The lord sage snatches up his sandwich. "But isn't it INTERESTING?" 00[01:52] <@Crion> Then he takes a big bite. [01:52] 10Stewart eats too. 00[01:52] <@Crion> Kingsley shakes his head. He turns back to Stewart. "We're...aware." 00[01:52] <@Crion> "Of this creature." 00[01:53] <@Crion> "And unfortunately, nothing you've said is out of line with what we've heard." [01:53] "What would have made it fortunate?" 00[01:53] <@Crion> "This is just the first time someone from this Freehold has encountered her personally." 00[01:53] <@Crion> Kingsley sighs. "Look." 00[01:54] <@Crion> "My concerns about the Mistress of the High House are two-fold. On the first level, my worry is that she is playing some long game and baiting you into a situation that will redound to her favor, will permit her to kidnap Peter Montgomery again, and will permit her to sell you back to your Keepers for money on the nail." 00[01:55] <@Crion> "My second, far graver worry, is that she is completely and totally sincere." [01:56] 10Stewart: "How do you tell the difference between a Keeper who's sincere and a Keeper who's lethally committed to their bit?" 00[01:57] <@Crion> "That she didn't abuse Peter Montgomery, in the traditional sense. That she didn't kidnap him. That he came with her of his own volition, that she let him leave of his own volition, and she has done the same so far all of her victims -- and that this is why there were Loyalists waiting to jump on him as soon as he left. They knew there was an easy mark coming, even if he was just fae-touched." 00[01:57] <@Crion> Kingsley raises two fingers. "That presents two problems, that theory. One is philosophical, one is existential. The philosophical one first. Santander?" 00[02:00] <@Crion> The wizard straightens and puts down the crust of his sandwich. "Ah. Yes. If Peter Montgomery went into Arcadia of his own free will, and LEFT Arcadia of his own free will, how then is he one of us? He should be, as noted, a fae-touched, as he did not have to claw his way through the Thorns. HOWEVER! Our model here is skewed, because by his own story, Peter Montgomery was immediately set upon 00[02:00] <@Crion> as he left the High House by Loyalists in wait, and had to run through the Thorns of the Hedge! So: he did undergo our rite of passage...but he did NOT do so escaping from his Keeper! This leaves us in an epistemic quandry, regarding what we truly know of the Thorns and their intent as coupled to a Keeper!" [02:02] 10'Fae-touched'. Heh heh. 00[02:04] <@Crion> Kingsley waves a hand. "And that's fascinated, but it's not what I care about." He leans forward. "Do you understand the damage that would be done to our society if someone even floated the idea of a Keeper that wasn't abusive? Do you understand how badly that would break everything we believe in? It's unacceptable. We cannot permit the idea to take even a whisper of a root. So much of 00[02:04] <@Crion> our abuse was based on lies and manipulation -- so much! -- and so much of our solidarity is based on the idea that Keepers are an absolute evil. That there is utterly no wiggle room, no conversation to be had. A changeling that came to this court telling use about his Keeper openly like this -- like you have -- would have been exiled or executed as a Loyalist. Montgomery, it appears, is 00[02:04] <@Crion> smarter. Or hopefully, the Mistress is lying." 00[02:04] <@Crion> "But." 00[02:04] <@Crion> "If she's not." 00[02:04] <@Crion> "She must die, and Montgomery must die." [02:05] 10Stewart finishes his sandwich quietly. [02:06] "Why tell me that? I'm no assassin." 00[02:08] <@Crion> Kingsley's face breaks into a smile and he leans back. "To see how you'd take it." [02:10] 10Stewart: "So did I pass?" 00[02:10] <@Crion> "Yes. You're uncomfortable with the idea of killing Montgomery. Good. It shouldn't be necessary. Of course, it will be, if he wants to defend his...woman...but that is a bridge we can cross when we've built it." His face straightens again. "I was not joking about the Keeper." 00[02:11] <@Crion> "The idea of a 'good Keeper' in our society is utterly unacceptable." [02:11] 10Stewart: "Even a totally benign Keeper is still an alien being with unfathomable power and no impulse control." 00[02:11] <@Crion> Santander: "That doesn't make them particularly special." [02:12] 10Stewart: "She could work parking at the Belvedere." 00[02:12] <@Crion> Santander laughs at that, and picks up another piece of bacon. [02:13] 10Stewart: "So obviously the biggest problem with killing the Mistress is killing her. Keepers are very strong. But if that was the only problem, you wouldn't need to float this balloon." [02:13] "Who do you expect opposition from?" 00[02:13] <@Crion> Kingsley steeples his fingers and frowns. "I do not endorse the notion that she is what she claims to be. I merely wish to underline: if that is so -- even if she is actually a genuinely kind and generous creature, somehow -- she must die." 00[02:14] <@Crion> Santander laughs again, around a mouth of bacon: "Whatever comes looking for her, of course!" [02:14] "Comes looking for her?" 00[02:14] <@Crion> Kingsley: "Those Loyalists weren't hers." [02:15] "Ah." [02:15] "Yeah, I hadn't... really considered that they must still have patronage." 00[02:15] <@Crion> Santander: "Now, you say to yourself: Ah! The Keepers, they will solve this problem for us themselves!" 00[02:15] <@Crion> The lord sage swallows the last of the bacon. "But it never really works that way. If she falls to them, they will...take up her markers." 00[02:16] <@Crion> "And now we have a traditional Keeper hunting Peter Montgomery, of the Spring Court." 00[02:16] <@Crion> "With all that entails." [02:16] 10Stewart, dryly: "Well, in that case it sounds like the simplest thing to do is just to kill every Keeper." 00[02:17] <@Crion> Santander, mildly: "The werewolves had an idea for something like that once. Spirit nukes..." 00[02:18] <@Crion> He picks up his sandwich again. "Bad idea. Not worth dwelling on." [02:18] 10Stewart: "Did Loser have anything for you on Proctor's real patron?" 00[02:19] <@Crion> Kingsley grimaces. "She did. We're still...processing. You'll know when we're sure." 00[02:20] <@Crion> He sips his own iced tea. "Oh, and you're going to be sworn to secrecy for the proceedings in this room today. This is an oath of acknowledgment, not one of intent. Meaning you can't talk about anything we discussed here, but you can act on it." 00[02:21] <@Crion> "Lauren will understand." 00[02:21] <@Crion> "She's been in this room eating sandwiches before." [02:22] 10Stewart draws in a breath: "Okay." [02:22] "I'm more worried about the Wherehouse than Lauren. Keeping this a secret from her is one thing, she's still Autumn. She still swore our oaths." [02:23] "None of the others did. Some of them don't even like you. If I'm acting on this information and meet opposition from them, what am I supposed to do?" 00[02:23] <@Crion> There's the smell of leaves and a gust. It's sealed between the three of them. 00[02:23] <@Crion> Kingsley: "You're supposed to lie." 00[02:23] <@Crion> "And live with it." 00[02:24] <@Crion> "Welcome to the Court of Secrets." [02:24] 10Stewart: "There are ways of outing lies, though. Cupid's Arrow, that one goblin contract, shit, just... I'm actually just not a good liar." [02:25] "I don't have any, what's the word. Tradecraft." 00[02:25] <@Crion> Kingsley: "You should get some. But in the most mercenary sense, getting caught in a lie doesn't violate your oath, does it?" 00[02:25] <@Crion> "It just makes me angry." 00[02:27] <@Crion> "And while sworn oaths are quite useful, I prefer social pressure to it, if we're being honest. It's easier to predict. It's easier to heal, but it can hurt more." [02:28] "Speaking of angry, I was told that Langford List reacted to the news about Loser with, uh. The word used was 'wall-punchingly'." 00[02:30] <@Crion> Kingsley leans back. "He'll get over it. Or he'll punch me and we'll have diplomatic incident." 00[02:30] <@Crion> "I'm not concerned either way." 00[02:30] <@Crion> "I like Langford, and I respect Langford, but Langford doesn't run this shop." [02:35] 10Stewart nods. "Okay. So is the plan just to wait? What should I be doing?" 00[02:36] <@Crion> Santander: "The plan, sadly, is always to wait." 00[02:37] <@Crion> The door to the conference room opens, and Gerald saunters in. 00[02:37] <@Crion> "Hey, Stewart." [02:37] "Hey, Gerald." 00[02:37] <@Crion> He picks up one of the other sandwiches and plops down a few chairs away. "Don't mind if I do." 00[02:39] <@Crion> Kingsley: "Hello, Gerald. Yes, Stewart. For now, wait. Develop contacts, develop yourself. Take advantage of that book. Get familiar with the Hedge and working in it. You have things on your plate besides a rogue Keeper, I believe." 00[02:39] <@Crion> Santander: "Yes! This Huntsman business." [02:43] 10Stewart: "I've got some leverage through the Book. I don't fully understand the nature of Huntsmen, though. Are they, like... minor Keepers?" 00[02:44] <@Crion> Santander: "No! And yes. A Keeper has stolen their heart, and fashioned them into a weapon, and replaced their desires with the Keeper's own. They are, in a way, victims. But in a much more significant way, they are violence." 00[02:44] <@Crion> "A fox-hunt." 00[02:44] <@Crion> "There is the fox, and there are the dogs, and there are the men in perfect clothes on horseback." 00[02:44] <@Crion> "The Huntsmen are the dogs." 00[02:45] <@Crion> Gerald: "That big guy in The Sidereal was...the third?" 00[02:45] <@Crion> Kingsley: "Yes, the third." 00[02:46] <@Crion> Gerald: "The third of these ones I've been around for. They iterate." 00[02:46] <@Crion> "They get worse." 00[02:46] <@Crion> "But it's possible they can get better." 00[02:46] <@Crion> "Not that I've seen that, mind." Gerald takes another big bite. [02:46] 10Stewart: "So the way you kill a Huntsman is by destroying their heart, right?" 00[02:46] <@Crion> Santander: "IT IS!" [02:47] "What if you just, like..." [02:47] "Give it back." [02:47] "It would overwrite the piece of the Title that's animating them, right?" 00[02:47] <@Crion> Gerald finishes chewing. "Like I said. Possible they can get better." 00[02:48] <@Crion> Santander: "Indeed...though they have to want it back. Perhaps all do! But handing a heart back to a killing machine -- literal or figurative -- can get complicated." 00[02:48] <@Crion> "IT INVOLVES--" 00[02:48] <@Crion> Gerald: "Dream shit." 00[02:48] <@Crion> Santander: "Damn it, man!" [02:48] 10Gerald is a really indispensable part of these guy's dynamic. 00[02:51] <@Crion> He finishes his sandwich and looks at Stewart, pointing at the last remaining one. Stewart want it, or...? [02:52] 10Stewart waves it off. All his. 00[02:52] <@Crion> Gerald chows down. He's actually still sweating; maybe he just came from the gym he has to spend 2 hours a day at to maintain that body 00[02:52] <@Crion> . [02:53] 10He thought Gerald being in vastly better shape than Kingsley was funny. Then he met Stu. 00[02:54] <@Crion> It's still kinda funny. [02:54] 10Yeah... [02:54] "What does dream shit entail?" 00[02:56] <@Crion> Robert and Gerald Kingsley at the same time: "Nothing good." 00[02:56] <@Crion> Santander: "An adventure!" [02:58] 10Stewart turns to Santander. "Tell me more." 00[03:00] <@Crion> The wizard grins, munching on another piece of bacon. Did he steal one from a sandwich? "What do you know about the Gates of Ivory and Horn?" [03:05] 10Stewart: "The Gate of Ivory is how you enter a dream as a dreamer. The Gate of Horn is a way to enter a dream bodily through the Hedge." 03[03:06] * banana is now known as banana|split 00[03:10] <@Crion> Santander nods sagely. "And neither of those will matter until you encounter the Huntsman in the Hedge, and cajole or convince it to permit you to return the heart. Or even find it! I have been told that this Huntsman did not murder the bouncers at your nightclub, with our friendly vampires and werewolves and etcetera?" [03:16] 10Stewart: "Nope. Just bumps and bruises." [03:16] "Big bumps and bruises, mind." [03:16] "But that thing was *strong*." [03:16] "It could have done more damage." 00[03:17] <@Crion> "Good!" says the lord sage, ignoring the qualifiers. "A Huntsman may act with some semblance of humanity -- say, only brushing aside bouncers rather than splattering them outright -- when in vague proximity to its heart. That means that it is possible that Lauren Ipsum's Keeper was either lazy or busy, and hid the heart in the dreams of a nearby mortal, rather than forcing you to dream-trek 00[03:17] <@Crion> across the planet." [03:19] 10Stewart: "Define 'proximity'. Do you mean, in Baltimore, in the club, in the Mid-Atlantic...?" 00[03:22] <@Crion> Grinning: "No idea!" 00[03:22] <@Crion> "Hopefully, the city." [03:23] 10Stewart: "So I'm looking for... I assume the presence of the heart affects their dreams?" [03:25] "So like, hope they have a therapist or something or else I just start, fuckin, hiking down a Dreaming Road until I see a cyber-post-apocalypse?" 00[03:27] <@Crion> Santander: "Mmmmmmm. Yes, perhaps. It's really too bad you haven't made any friends who know anything about dreams. Or magic." 00[03:27] <@Crion> "Of course, the Freehold DOES have a dreaming specialist..." 00[03:28] <@Crion> Gerald sighs. [03:28] 10Innocently: "Who is it?" 00[03:28] <@Crion> Kingsley: "John of the Falls." [03:29] "What's John's deal?" 00[03:29] <@Crion> "He is...technically...of this court." 00[03:29] <@Crion> Gerald: "He's a fucking psycho, is what his deal is." 00[03:29] <@Crion> Santander: "That's unfair, Gerald." [03:29] "'Psycho' is kind of a board word for our purposes." [03:29] *broad 00[03:30] <@Crion> "John of the Falls is chaste and pure, as a matter of his singular religion. He is, however, quite insane." 00[03:30] <@Crion> "One too many times through the gates." 00[03:30] <@Crion> Kingsley: "Or a dozen. Or two." [03:30] 10Stewart: "Can't distinguish dreams from reality?" 00[03:31] <@Crion> Gerald: "Something like that." 00[03:32] <@Crion> Kingsley: "Wait until a sunny day to contact him." 00[03:32] <@Crion> "And don't go alone." 00[03:32] <@Crion> "I'll make the arrangements, and forward the address when I get it." [03:33] "How not alone? Like, am I bringing witnesses or backup?" 00[03:33] <@Crion> Santander: "Yes." [03:33] "Ah." 00[03:33] <@Crion> Kingsley: "It's not John you'll need protection from. ...Probably." [03:34] "I can tell the Wherehouse about John, right?" 00[03:35] <@Crion> Kingsley nods. "The oath ended when Gerald walked in." 00[03:35] <@Crion> "Well, its remit." 00[03:35] <@Crion> Gerald groans. "You assholes." [03:35] 10Stewart: "Yeah, I just wasn't sure if there was another layer protecting John from the Freehold or vice-versa." 00[03:36] <@Crion> Gerald: "Oh no, we all know who he is. We just don't invite him to parties." [03:36] "Autumn is a Court of specialists, I've been told." [03:37] "And most of us specialize in not going outside." 00[03:37] <@Crion> The fetch grins around a quarter of a sandwich. Then: "Well, it's like the horror movies say. You'd best believe in specialists, because they believe in you." 00[03:38] <@Crion> Kingsley: "Actually, I think it would be, 'you'd best believe in specialist stories, because you're in one.'" 00[03:38] <@Crion> Gerald: "Whatever, Bob." [03:41] 10Stewart: "Okay. So I'm waiting for word on an address for John of the Falls." [03:41] 10More waiting. 00[03:41] <@Crion> Kingsley: "Ehhhh. The address isn't really the problem. It's the letting him know you're coming. It should only--" 00[03:41] <@Crion> Santander: "IT WILL ONLY BE A DAY OR TWO!" 00[03:42] <@Crion> Kingsley: "Yes. Thank you." 00[03:42] <@Crion> Gerald finishes the second sandwich and takes his feet down. [03:42] 10Stewart: "What should I be doing while I'm waiting?" [03:43] 10There's that old restless Stewart the other three men will remember, notable now mainly for highlighting his relative absence. "What else can I be doing?" 00[03:43] <@Crion> Kingsley: "Good lord, young man." [03:44] 10Stewart: "Well, fucking, YOU try just sitting around waiting for a phone call with shit like this hanging over the head of someone you love!" 00[03:44] <@Crion> Gerald: "Well, he's not satisfied helping hunt down a vampire serial killer, holding the fort against a Huntsman, bringing a deep cover asset in from the cold and doing it all while making our IT girl swoon--" 00[03:45] <@Crion> Kingsley, coldly: "I have." 00[03:45] <@Crion> Gerald grimaces. [03:45] "Was it fun?" 00[03:45] <@Crion> Kingsley: "Do you think it's meant to be?" 00[03:45] <@Crion> "One thing you need to understand very clearly, and I want to be quitespecific on this, is that fun is no longer a part of your professional dossier." [03:46] "No." 10Quieter: "No. I'm sorry. I just... having work to do helps me focus." 00[03:47] <@Crion> "If you worry about your woman, good. You should. That is healthy. Keep her close...without alienating her. But do not confuse activity for purpose." 00[03:49] <@Crion> Gerald: "I think he's had enough. I certainly have. Good sandwiches." [03:49] 10Stewart bristles a little at 'your woman', but no vocal objection surfaces. "You're right. I'm sorry." 00[03:52] <@Crion> Kingsley relaxes. "Speaking against me in this room doesn't require an apology. Never got one from this guy, so why should I from anyone else." Santander shrugs. 00[03:52] <@Crion> A pause. "Very little of what you do here, for Autumn, will require apology." 00[03:52] <@Crion> "But if you choose to give it, we won't stop you." 00[03:53] <@Crion> "Anyway." He stands. [03:53] 10Stewart stands too. 00[03:53] <@Crion> Santander has been standing the whole time, of course. Gerald hauls himself to his feet. 00[03:54] <@Crion> "Good work out there, Stewart," Kingsley says, shaking his hand if he takes the offer. "You're doing well. Very well." [03:55] 10Stewart shakes the King's hand. "Thank you." 10Stewart knows he's doing well. But the urge remains to do better. 00[03:56] <@Crion> Kingsley: "We'll be in touch with John of the Falls's address when we're sure he'll know you're coming. I'd offer you leftovers, but my brother ate them all. Gerald, see Stewart out?" 00[03:56] <@Crion> Gerald nods. 00[03:57] <@Crion> Kingsley nods to Stewart. "Good afternoon." 00[03:57] <@Crion> Santander: "FAREWELL!" [03:57] 10Stewart says goodbye and leaves with Gerald. "So how's Stu doing?" 00[03:58] <@Crion> Gerald grins and puts his hands in his jacket pockets. "He's good, he's good. He's...ah. This is gonna sound weird." 00[03:58] <@Crion> "He seems a lot more like me than you." [03:59] 10Stewart: "You mean cause he's jacked?" 00[03:59] <@Crion> The grin widens a bit. "That, and he really takes to guns." 00[04:00] <@Crion> "I've wondered if that's a fetch thing, right? If we just do better with machines because...well." [04:00] 10Stewart: "I don't think he's fond of machines, generally. Because of the Keeper. I figure if he likes guns it's just because he's a red-blooded American man. Which I am... not." 00[04:02] <@Crion> Gerald: "Maybe so. Nevertheless, he could explain to me pressure in a firehose and he's a good hand with a rifle. Which is some red-blooded American man shit too, I guess." [04:02] 10Stewart: "He could be in a truck commercial." [04:03] "I'm glad he's doing well. I was worried he wouldn't take to it. Sort of... this stuff." 00[04:03] <@Crion> "Indeed." Gerald pauses. "Here's the thing: he thinks he can contact you...mind-to-mind. He tried it once before but you were asleep, so he got your dream. Wouldn't discuss the contents, don't worry." [04:04] 10Stewart flinches. Man that is just inevitably setting up an awkward sex dream situation. 00[04:04] <@Crion> "He doesn't want to try it again without your consent. I told him to ask you when he was ready. I assume he hasn't yet. You ah, probably haven't been online much, the past couple days." [04:04] 10Stewart: "Yeah, no, I haven't. I'm off work tonight too." 00[04:05] <@Crion> Gerald nods. "Well, that kind of...psychic link, I guess, it's normal. Bob and I have it, both ways. You can have it with him if you want it, and he seems decent enough that if you don't want it you don't have to have it. But it is something you need to work at to keep." [04:06] 10Stewart: "What does working at it entail?" 00[04:10] <@Crion> Gerald: "Mutual understanding, feeling each other out, time spent together. Or brute-forcing your way into the other guy's head, but. That's not really good for comity." [04:13] 10Stewart: "Right. So, uh, speaking of Stu taking to guns. I feel like... I don't know. Like when the Huntsman kicked the door down, I couldn't really do anything but get in front of Lauren. That was fine, cause you guys were there, but if we're going *looking*, and also just if something happens again with Society or whatever... I don't want to be a liability." 00[04:14] <@Crion> Gerald: "I've seen you with a gun, remember. I know you're uncomfortable with them. You can become comfortable with them -- over time -- if you want to. But you also have contracts." [04:15] 10Stewart: "They're not great for fighting, though. Or at least, they're not great for using in a fight instead of fighting." [04:15] "I know Autumn's Fury but it's *so* messy and *so* high-collateral..." 00[04:16] <@Crion> Gerald mulls that over. "There's a range we could go out to. Both of you. Might have to pretend to be twins for a minute or two, but it's owned by an old half-blind dumbass who doesn't ask questions." 00[04:16] <@Crion> "So if we go at the right time, range to ourselves." [04:17] 10Stewart: "That sounds good. I don't know if I have the stomach for it, but, I gotta try something. I can't afford to be helpless." [04:17] "Also... what gym do you go to?" 00[04:19] <@Crion> "Locally-owned place called Cutty's. A boxing gym. Some hardcases there but you show up and you train and it's good. We could try it for you, but maybe I'd suggest the UMBC gym. We can get you enrolled on the books and a student ID, maybe the kids there are more your thing." [04:20] "Is Cutty's in the city?" 00[04:20] <@Crion> "Southeast precinct." [04:23] 10Stewart: "Yeah, that's a lot closer to my place." 10Closer to Lauren's. Further from Maura's. 00[04:23] <@Crion> He shrugs. "If you want, I can come down there the first few times with you. Or you can do it on your own." [04:23] "That'd be cool. I don't want to put you out though." 00[04:24] <@Crion> He grins. "I'm there just about every day." 00[04:24] <@Crion> Looks it, too. [04:24] "I believe you." 00[04:24] <@Crion> They've just about reached the elevator. Anything else? [04:25] 10No. Stewart's got a lot to think about. [04:25] 10And even, blissfully, things to do. 00[04:25] <@Crion> Gerald will call the elevator for him then, and leave him to it. 03[10:20] * banana|split is now known as banana 02[10:47] * trenchfoot (dani@sorcery-jcvlv4.in.comcast.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[10:48] * trenchfoot (dani@sorcery-jcvlv4.in.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 03[10:56] * trenchfoot_ (dani@sorcery-jcvlv4.in.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 02[10:59] * trenchfoot (dani@sorcery-jcvlv4.in.comcast.net) Quit (NickServ (GHOST command used by trenchfoot_)) 03[10:59] * trenchfoot_ is now known as trenchfoot 02[12:05] * Disconnected 02[12:05] * Attempting to rejoin channel #gofetch 03[12:05] * Rejoined channel #gofetch 03[12:05] * Topic is 'Who botches the Botchmen?' 03[12:05] * Set by Crion!Crion@sorcery-puhjpa.fios.verizon.net on Sun Sep 22 02:37:29 2019 02[12:06] * @Crion (Crion@sorcery-puhjpa.fios.verizon.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[13:14] * mattbaby (mattbaby@sorcery-v7n841.dc.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 03[13:38] * Crion_ is now known as Crion 03[13:38] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Crion 03[14:51] * banana is now known as banana|peels 02[17:06] * mattbaby (mattbaby@sorcery-v7n841.dc.comcast.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 02[18:16] * Disconnected 02[18:16] * Attempting to rejoin channel #gofetch 03[18:16] * Rejoined channel #gofetch 03[18:16] * Topic is 'Who botches the Botchmen?' 03[18:16] * Set by Crion!Crion@sorcery-puhjpa.fios.verizon.net on Sun Sep 22 02:37:29 2019 02[18:17] * @Crion (Crion@sorcery-puhjpa.fios.verizon.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[18:46] * mattbaby (mattbaby@sorcery-v7n841.dc.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 03[19:53] * Crion_ is now known as Crion 03[19:53] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Crion 02[20:01] * mattbaby (mattbaby@sorcery-v7n841.dc.comcast.net) Quit (Connection closed) 03[20:01] * mattbaby (mattbaby@sorcery-v7n841.dc.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch Session Time: Wed Nov 13 00:00:00 2019 02[01:40] * mattbaby (mattbaby@sorcery-v7n841.dc.comcast.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[01:54] * mattbaby (mattbaby@sorcery-v7n841.dc.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 03[02:16] * banana|peels is now known as banana 02[02:30] * mattbaby (mattbaby@sorcery-v7n841.dc.comcast.net) Quit (Connection closed) 03[03:10] * banana is now known as banana|split 03[06:01] * banana|split is now known as banana|work 03[09:34] * banana|work is now known as banana 03[12:21] * banana is now known as banana|peels 02[13:29] * dammitwho (joanofarcta@sorcery-j9socb.dynamic.onlinenw.com) Quit (Quit: ) 03[13:29] * dammitwho (joanofarcta@sorcery-j9socb.dynamic.onlinenw.com) has joined #gofetch 02[14:24] * trenchfoot (dani@sorcery-jcvlv4.in.comcast.net) Quit (Connection closed) 03[14:25] * trenchfoot (dani@sorcery-jcvlv4.in.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 03[23:14] * mattbaby (mattbaby@sorcery-v7n841.dc.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch Session Time: Thu Nov 14 00:00:00 2019 [00:13]  [00:13]  [00:13]  [00:13]  [00:13]  [00:16] It's pretty late, by normal standards, but the Hedge keeps its own time and so do the visitors and residents of the Wherehouse. Stewart and Lauren are currently showing Nels a movie called Battle Angel Alita. [00:17] 6She's requested they keep it on a low volume, but the effects are threatening to pop her eyes out of their sockets. HOW do you DO that. 00[00:18] <@Crion> Well, Alita: Battle Angel, unless they're watching the anime release from 1993. [00:18] 6Also, they put this out? Nobody goes to jail for things like this? [00:18] 10They aren't. [00:18] 10Stewart doesn't really know from anime. [00:18] 10Does Lauren...? 00[00:19] <@Crion> He might not even know From Software...Demon Souls would be about when he was taken, wouldn't it? [00:19] 10Yeah. Stewart missed a lot of good games. [00:19] 10Definitely the worst part about being kidnapped by a True Fae. 00[00:20] <@Crion> Lauren liked the anime, though the 1993 film was kind of abbreviated, and thought the recent live action movie was fun but unremarkable. [00:20] 6No, wait, go back, hang on, they just let women be the protagonists of things and be stronger and cooler than any of the men? A hundred years is a long time. [00:21] 6Nels, whose most prominent role would have been "maid," is entranced. [00:22] 10Wow... can't believe Stewart's dating a nerd. "Yeah there's been a big push for more movie leads who aren't white guys recently. Like it was sort of slowly getting better over time but since I got back it seems like they figured out how to make it marketable or something so they're doing it on purpose." 00[00:22] <@Crion> Lauren whispers to Stewart at some point that if Nels loves this, they should show her Kill Bill before the spell of female protagonism is completely broken. [00:22] 10Stewart nods quietly. 03[00:23] * banana|peels is now known as banana [00:26] 6Nels: "There's - so much happening, but - do you know one of the last movies I saw before was Birth of a Nation? And I come back to find out everyone thinks it's awful now." [00:26] 10Stewart: "Prooooobably not everyone." [00:26] "They're right, but nobody said it before!" [00:27] "But yeah a lot of early 20th century forms of entertainment have depreciated, unless you're an overt fascist or the Prime Minister of Canada." 00[00:27] <@Crion> Lauren sort of makes a face...has Stewart seen the Alonzo Mourning meme? He's online a lot more now. [00:28] 10He's probably seen it, but he definitely doesn't know who Alonzo Mourning is. 00[00:29] <@Crion> She goes from dazed confusion to understanding very quickly, then, is all he needs to know. https://media2.giphy.com/media/mGjv5hUEOlCPm/giphy.gif [00:29] 6Nels: "What's a fascist?" [00:30] 10Stewart: "Did you ever look up what a Nazi was?" [00:30] 6Nels: "Not yet. We've been busy." [00:30] "...also I got the impression I wouldn't like what I saw." 03[00:31] * banana is now known as banana|split 00[00:31] <@Crion> Lauren: "You won't." [00:32] 10Stewart: "Where did you leave off in your GED history stuff?" [00:33] 6Nels: "I had to go back through what they considered important, so I'm right around the aftermath of the Civil War. 1870 or something?" [00:36] "Also, they are very confused about Columbus. Like, depending on who you ask." 00[00:37] <@Crion> Lauren muffles a giggle. [00:37] 10Stewart: "Yyyyyeah." [00:38] 10Stewart: "Okay, so, skip to when you got taken. In the early 1920s a political party took over Italy called the National Fascist Party. Their thing was basically Italian ethnic nationalism and militarism. Marches, trumpets, cool uniforms, invading Ethiopia." 02[00:39] * mattbaby (mattbaby@sorcery-v7n841.dc.comcast.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [00:40] 6Nels: "Getting the sense this takes a turn." [00:40] "I mean, beyond the nationalism and the invading Ethiopia things." [00:41] 10Stewart: "Named after like, a bundle of sticks, or something. Anyway 'fascism' sort of became a catch-all word for ethnic nationalism and militarism that popped up all over the place after the first World War - or, uh, the Great War, as you probably remember it - and the Great Depression, which started in 29 and lasted through the 30s in most places." [00:42] "One place it got real big was Germany. Germany got its back broken by the treaties that ended the Great War, huge extractive war reparations, cause the war fucking sucked and they lost and deal with it, I guess." 00[00:42] <@Crion> Lauren, darkly: "They dealt with it." [00:44] 10Stewart nods. "In Germany the political party was called the National Socialist Workers' Party, or 'Nazis' for short. Not... not actual socialists, don't worry. They hated Communists, like in the Soviet Union that'd just formed in Russia." [00:45] 6Nels: "I remember them! People were kind of mad but also they were really concerned about the whole. Great War thing, that I've since learned wasn't the only one." [00:45] "They took power through a combination of winning elections in a shitty system and overt political violence, and were totally in control by the early 30s. They campaigned on restoring German cultural identity and national power by asserting themselves militarily and purging the influence of undesirable people." [00:46] "Undesirable meaning anyone who wasn't a blonde, blue-eyed ethnic German." [00:47] "They particularly hated Jewish people. Like, people in Europe have hated Jewish people for a thousand years, but the Nazis made it into a science, literally." [00:48] "It started with, Jewish people can't go out after dark. Jewish people can't own businesses. Jewish people have to move into these special 'ghettoes' all in one part of the city, where they'd get filthy and sick and be attacked daily by police." [00:48] 6Nels, haltingly: "So... I picked a good time to miss. Is what I'm hearing. Because that sounds awful." [00:49] "Around this time, Germany had started invading Europe again. It'd built its army back up, so it was time to push. They started with Poland, in 1939." [00:50] 6Check how the other Nels reacted. Anything less than complete horror and possibly calls for war to stop this are unacceptable to her good name. "No, I get it, you can - you can stop. I'll get there eventually. Um." 00[00:51] <@Crion> Lauren sort of exhales to herself, the way you do when you weren't aware you were holding your breath. [00:51] 10Stewart: "It gets a lot worse. Heads up." [00:51] 10He looks relieved not to have to keep going. [00:53] 6Nels: "...worse?" 6Small, pitched up. "Oh, Lord." 00[00:53] <@Crion> Lauren: "Let's...talk about something else!" [00:53] 10Stewart: "How's the still coming?" [00:55] 6Nels: "Got the setup, still need the materials and also I'm not even sure what we're going for. Probably whiskey, just 'cause that's what I know best, but we could make... pretty much anything." [00:56] "Also, gob fruit could be an addition, but I gotta talk to Maggie about that. Or Tony. Or both." [00:57] 6She's as relieved to switch subjects as they are. [00:57] 10Stewart: "You were around for the 18th amendment getting ratified, right?" 00[00:57] <@Crion> Lauren blinks at that. [00:58] 6Nels: "Yeah. Missed the fallout, and they still sell liquor, so I guess it didn't work out." [00:59] 10Stewart: "It sooort of did. Liquor consumption rates are way down from where they were before Prohibition. They just figured out that making it legal but licensed and taxed did more to reduce the rate of consumption than banning it outright did." [00:59] "But, yeah." 00[00:59] <@Crion> Lauren: "Ohh. Right. That." [01:01] 6Nels: "For the best, I guess." 6Battle Angel Alita is probably still playing, as they chat. Or it's over, and they'll have to find something new for the background. 00[01:01] <@Crion> Could always put on a Wick. [01:02] 6Why would we want to watch a candle burning? [01:02] 10Stewart fishes around for a change of subject that isn't history. "How was your Halloween, anyway? I didn't really catch up with you between when you, uh, went to the kitchen and when we went home." 00[01:02] <@Crion> So much to learn. [01:02] 10He takes the remote and starts clicking around. "What do you want me to put on?" 10Open question for Nels and Lauren. [01:03] 6Nels brightens. "Oh! I mean, after the kitchen, I started talking with a couple vampires - I don't think I got their names. Um. There was a girl and a guy, and I think only the girl was a vampire..." 00[01:03] <@Crion> Lauren: "There should be a Spotify or something with some music if we just wanna talk." [01:04] 10Stewart can put some music on. He has no idea what playlist the Wherehouse has, so whatever music is playing is up to Nels. 00[01:04] <@Crion> She spins on the couch next to Stewart, sort of leaning behind and over him to look at Nels. "Old guy? Hot?" [01:05] 10Stewart looks sideways at Lauren. 00[01:05] <@Crion> She shrugs. "It's true." [01:05] 10Stewart shrugs. Can't really argue. [01:06] "That was probably the Mainer and the Sheriff." [01:06] "The Mainer is the ambassador for Baltimore's vampire court to our freehold. He's a courtless Changeling." [01:06] 6Nels: "Yes, unless this is a way to make fun of me, in which case no." 03[01:07] * Quaker (textual@sorcery-ekoo3f.ca.charter.com) has joined #gofetch [01:07] "The Sheriff is the vampire court's enforcer of vampire law. When I met her she twisted a couple of cops' heads off and then picked me up and carried me back to my car." [01:07] 10She's also hot, but Stewart's not gonna SAY it. 00[01:07] <@Crion> Lauren: "She does that." 00[01:07] <@Crion> "She's also hot, by the way." 00[01:07] <@Crion> "Fair's fair." [01:08] 6Nels: "Oh, wow. For me she just. Implied I was, um, not of this time." [01:08] "And. Yes." [01:08] 10Stewart: "Yeah she's pretty old. Vampires can live forever, I think, as long as they don't get killed." [01:08] "I hid behind her when the scrum broke out. Figured it was safest." 00[01:08] <@Crion> Lauren: "Well, neither are vampires, really. Have you met Lister?" [01:09] 10Stewart: "Lister was the kid who got up at the end of the party and sang Kill All Your Friends." [01:09] "Vampire Prince of Baltimore. Dates back to the court of Louis XIV." [01:09] 6Nels: "That's it, then. He... made a choice." [01:09] "To- okay." [01:09] "I can't exactly go around complaining that people are older than me." [01:10] "He's cool. He and Lauren are friends. We play games sometimes." [01:10] 10Stewart: "You ever been 'ok boomer'ed by someone who's, conservatively, 350 years old?" [01:10] 6Nels: "I don't know what that means." 00[01:11] <@Crion> Lauren: "But yeah, Mainer's like. Half the Girl's age? Something like that." 00[01:11] <@Crion> "Sorrrrrrta like you and the Kitchen." [01:11] 6Nels, primly: "I do not know what you are referring to." [01:12] 10Stewart presses his lips together. [01:13] 6Then she laughs. "I know exactly what you're talking about. Fun once, going to make getting food weird for a while." [01:14] 10Stewart: "I can take your orders up for a while, it's fine. You guys are like... cool, though, right?" 00[01:14] <@Crion> Lauren: "Eh, he won't be a jerk. The Kitchen's good people." [01:14] 6Nels: "As far as I know. Um. Not that we spoke much. After." [01:15] 10Stewart: "He's a champ, then. Honestly, that would've messed me up." [01:15] 6Breezily: "Hey, though, about the Mainer and the Sheriff." [01:15] 10Stewart: "What about them?" [01:15] "Are they just, around? I don't think I'd seen them before the party..." [01:16] 10Stewart: "They're in the city. The Mainer's got an office in the Autumn King's firm. He's not around much. I assume he mostly spends his time with vampires." [01:17] 6Nels: "And the Sheriff? I guess we don't have much reason for social calls..." [01:17] 10Stewart, with a glance at Lauren. "I've got his number..." 00[01:18] <@Crion> Lauren shrugs. "Everytime I run into them, they honestly seem kinda bored." 00[01:18] <@Crion> "You're not breaching protocol or anything if you do." [01:18] 10Stewart: "They should play more video games." [01:19] 6Nels: "I barely know what those are." 00[01:19] <@Crion> Lauren: "Yeah that's why they like Nels more, I think." [01:19] 10Stewart: "Also Nels never tried to harrass a grieving widow for a research project." [01:19] "Probably a factor." [01:20] "Anyway!" 10Stewart will step out to make the call. [01:20] 6Nels: "Wait, what?" [01:20] "Can't explain on the phone byeeee" 10The elevator door closes. [01:20] 6She turns to Lauren. 00[01:20] <@Crion> Lauren: "Sup?" [01:21] 6Nels: "The thing Stewart just said. What?" 00[01:21] <@Crion> She grins. "Well, he was saying he couldn't explain, because he was on the phone." 00[01:21] <@Crion> "As for the widow, she was a cop." [01:22] 6Nels, slightly distressed: "Research project??" [01:22] "Grieving? Harass?????" 00[01:23] <@Crion> "Some cops got dead because they beat the shit out of a woman who carried things for us, and stole one of the things she was carrying for us." 00[01:23] <@Crion> "She's still in the hospital. Physical therapy starts next week? They were gonna kill her but fucked up." 00[01:24] <@Crion> "Anyway those guys worked for the vampires, so the vampires...helped us take care of it. Permanently." 00[01:24] <@Crion> She sighs. "Mainer and the Girl were going out there to congenially sew that wound shut, but Stewart and Maggie ah, got there first." [01:24] 10Man the worst thing the Mainer can do is yell at him but getting yelled at by the Mainer fucking sucks. Still, he's probably more chill about not work stuff. Stewart makes the call. [01:24] 6Nels: "Oh, golly, that's awful, and I'm not even sure who it's awful for. Other than the people who died." 00[01:25] <@Crion> Mainer answers just before the third ring. "I'm here." 00[01:25] <@Crion> Lauren: "Probably the cop left alive. I mean, she sucks too. I'm sure. But." [01:25] 6Nodding. "Cops." [01:26] 10Stewart: "Hey! This is Stewart, from Autumn. Purely a social call. I've got Nels Foulke here, she says you and her and the Sheriff hung out at Halloween and was wondering if you'd like to hang out." 00[01:26] <@Crion> "Anyway, then fucking Cider Stitch got run up by some other cops the PREVIOUS dead cops have been working with, because Cider Stitch is an idiot, and that's what Stewart meant when he talked about the Girl popping off some heads." [01:27] 6Nels: "She... didn't seem the type, when we talked," 6she says, cautiously. [01:27] "Are you sure it was her? And also... heads?" 00[01:28] <@Crion> The Mainer: "Mmmmmmmm. You know, this is generally a business--oof. Damn, darling. Watch the ribs. ...Uh huh. Bet you would. Sorry, Stewart, was just fucking with you. Yeah, we have some business for the next hour or two, but around midnight we'll have a space for the old jaw-jacking." [01:30] 10Stewart: "........cool! We're at Lexington Market, the elevator right off the main concourse." 00[01:32] <@Crion> The Mainer: "Be by in a bit." [01:32] 10Stewart comes back inside. "He'll be by around midnight." 00[01:32] <@Crion> Lauren: "That sounds like them." [01:33] 6Nels exhales. "Mostly she just seemed kinda loopy but supportive of the Mainer." [01:33] 10Stewart: "Who, the Sheriff?" 00[01:34] <@Crion> Lauren, chipper: "Oh yeah, she's a stone-cold killer." [01:34] 6Nels: "...wow." [01:34] 10Stewart nods. "Just an absolute murderer." [01:34] "Straight up." [01:34] "Wow." [01:34] "I... do you have whiskey?" [01:34] "I've only seen her kill crooked cops that were beating the shit out of one of us, though." [01:34] 10Stewart: "Yeah, I've got some." 00[01:35] <@Crion> Lauren: "Should a bottle of Jack somewhere back here, unless Stewart sprung for the good stuff." 00[01:35] <@Crion> "Midnight..." 00[01:35] <@Crion> "Just enough time to watch the first John Wick movie!" 00[01:36] <@Crion> Time passes... 00[01:36] <@Crion> Lauren, as the credits roll: "..." 00[01:36] <@Crion> "...You know, in the uh." 00[01:36] <@Crion> "Theatrical version of the movie." [01:36] 10Stewart keeps a bottle of Booker's Kentucky bourbon in his room in the Wherehouse. It's unopened. Lauren and Nels didn't know it was there. 00[01:36] <@Crion> "The bulldog doesn't say 'Hell yeah' at the end." [01:36] 10Stewart: "That's their loss." [01:37] 6Nels looks vaguely queasy. "Do all movies involve that much violence these days?" [01:37] "Next time we watch this, it'll be Jimothy Wick." [01:37] 10Stewart: "No, John Wick is at the upper bound." 00[01:37] <@Crion> Lauren: "Nah. I just like watching Gerald: The Movie." [01:38] 10Stewart: "Does Gerald have a dog??" 00[01:38] <@Crion> "I mean there's other action stars that look more like Gerald. But he basically acts like that guy." 00[01:38] <@Crion> Lauren: "He's a cat man." 00[01:38] <@Crion> "Weird!" [01:38] 10Stewart: "Nice." 00[01:38] <@Crion> Stewart's phone buzzes. 00[01:38] <@Crion> It's the Mainer. [01:38] 10Stewart is also a cat man. Well, cat guy. Feels weird thinking of himself as man. [01:39] 10He stands up and heads for the elevator as he checks his phone. [01:39] 6C-c-c-c-cat man do. 00[01:39] <@Crion> [01:39] [01:40] 10Stewart probably arrives before the text does. 00[01:41] <@Crion> Mainer is checking his phone as the door to the Market opens. The Mainer is in a black-on-black-on-black three-piece suit with a white bolo tie, and the Girl is in her usual cloak and hijab. [01:42] 10Stewart: "Mainer. Sheriff. Come on in." 00[01:42] <@Crion> The Girl: "Mmmmm. You know that's not technically necessary to say." 00[01:42] <@Crion> The Mainer: "Much obliged." [01:43] 10Stewart: "I remember the first time Lauren visited my apartment, she was like, I'm not a vampire when I invited her in." [01:43] "Even though she was clearly waiting for me to do that." [01:43] 10Lauren can hear this, they're walking in now. 00[01:44] <@Crion> Lauren: "IT WAS A JOKE!" [01:44] 6Nels files that away. Apparently you don't need to invite vampires in. [01:44] 10Stewart: "It didn't sound like a joke! We weren't really on joking terms." [01:44] "I didn't even have a crush on you yet until like ten, fifteen minutes in." 00[01:44] <@Crion> Lauren: "NERD!" [01:45] "Takes one to know one~" 00[01:45] <@Crion> She pivots immediately though: "Hi, Sheriff! Hey, Mainer." 00[01:45] <@Crion> The Girl: "Hello, Lauren. Hello, Nels." 00[01:45] <@Crion> Mainer, to Lauren: "Miss." 00[01:45] <@Crion> Mainer, to Nels: "Ma'am." [01:46] 10Stewart: "We've got some bourbon if you want a drink." 00[01:46] <@Crion> Mainer: "I think I might." 00[01:46] <@Crion> The Girl's cheeks flush. "I think I will as well." [01:46] 6Nels: "Hello! Glad to see you again under, ah, better circumstances." 00[01:47] <@Crion> "I'm not supposed to drink alcohol," she says, "but then, I'm not supposed to drink pig's blood. And I've had my fill of that. So what's the harm now." [01:48] 6Whispering to Lauren: "what is the harm in that" 00[01:48] <@Crion> Lauren, also whispering: "vampires can hear you whisper" 00[01:49] <@Crion> The Girl smirks. 00[01:49] <@Crion> Is there a recliner free in this room? Where are they in the Wherehouse, anyway? 00[01:49] <@Crion> How cozy has this place gotten? [01:50] 6She glances at the Girl, then back to Lauren. "shoot" [01:51] 10This is the main downstairs chamber, which has enough couches and recliners for the whole motley plus a couple of guests. There's a strong sense of being in construction - Mainer might be surprised to notice it looks like the motley's trying to put up a second floor by hand, with wooden frames and joists. 00[01:53] <@Crion> He is, in fact, evaluating the carpentry with a skilled eye. "Looking good around here, Stewart. Glad to see it." He'll splay out on an unclaimed loveseat, and the Girl will half-pounce, half...apprehend herself atop him, reclining but still seeming coiled and ready to move. 00[01:53] <@Crion> Both have their whiskey neat. [01:53] 6Nels will need to brew something if there's a next time. [01:53] 10So does Stewart. Mixers are for when you just need to get the poison in you as fast as possible. Social drinking is for slow sipping. [01:55] 10Stewart: "Thanks. Most of this is Maggie and Tony - they're the real handy ones. Though Nels is no slouch either. She's building a still." 00[01:55] <@Crion> Mainer nods. "Distillation. A good and honest craft." 00[01:56] <@Crion> The Sheriff of Baltimore chuckles. "You always should have been a brewer." [01:56] 6Nels, sipping on a mixed drink, for which she shan't be shamed by her friends: "It's built, courtesy of the hobs. Just got to figure out what we're making first." 00[01:56] <@Crion> He shrugs, but smiles. 00[01:56] <@Crion> The Girl: "Ah, yes. So: what are hobs?" 00[01:57] <@Crion> The Mainer very pointedly doesn't roll his eyes. [01:57] 6Is Steve around? 00[01:57] <@Crion> The Girl: "They have been explained to me before but I seek further clarity." [01:57] 10It's awfully late to be honking... 00[01:57] <@Crion> Nah, Steve's out and about. 00[01:57] <@Crion> Last time you saw him he was wearing a tricorn...? [01:58] 6How did he even get that. No, don't answer that. Nels: "The ones I've encountered have been either rude honking jerks or in immediate need of laying to rest. It's been a trying time." [01:59] 10Stewart: "Hobs, or hobgoblins, are the native fauna of the Hedge, which we're technically in right now." [01:59] "More accurate!" [01:59] 6She sips her drink. Ahh. Lemon. 00[02:00] <@Crion> The Girl waves an irritated hand. "Yes, they are animals of a sort, but -- okay. The honking. Why?" [02:00] "They come in all shapes and sizes. Tony's in with the hobs, he's got a friend who comes around sometimes we call 'Steve'. Looks like a goose. Loves to drink our beer. He's pretty chill." [02:00] "He's the honker." [02:00] 6Nels nods, as though it explains everything: "Steve." 00[02:01] <@Crion> She leans forward, arms on the loveseat's armrest. "Can you eat them." 00[02:01] <@Crion> The Mainer: "Darlin'..." [02:01] "Then there's the big anthropomorphic pigs in cop uniforms. They mostly hassle the other hobs. We had an infestation in our neighborhood we had to clear out recently." 00[02:01] <@Crion> Her eyes light up at that. [02:01] 6Nels: "Haven't tried. Though... the pig cops..." [02:02] 10Stewart: "I wouldn't recommend eating them." [02:02] "Not very nutritious, probably very toxic." 00[02:03] <@Crion> The Girl, declaratively: "Eventually, I will eat a hobgoblin." [02:03] "We saw some that were like, little snitch watermelon people." [02:03] 6Nels: "They're pigs. And cops. It might be the most moral type of ham." 00[02:03] <@Crion> The Mainer looks very long-suffering. [02:03] "Steve ate those." 00[02:03] <@Crion> The Girl: "!!!" 00[02:03] <@Crion> "Steve...the goose." [02:03] "Yes." 00[02:03] <@Crion> "Do geese normally eat watermelon?" [02:03] "Well, he presents as a goose. There aren't actually any geese out here." 00[02:03] <@Crion> The Mainer: "I do not believe so." [02:04] 6Nels: "I don't know what geese do or don't, because Steve is singular." [02:04] "Geese eat like, berries and bugs. Shoots and grass. Stuff like that." [02:04] "I guess watermelon's not out of the question..." 00[02:06] <@Crion> The Girl looks speculative. "I would try to eat Steve...but I sense you like him. So, I won't." 00[02:06] <@Crion> "Pigs, however..." 00[02:06] <@Crion> The Mainer coughs. "We're not going out in the Hedge." [02:06] 10Stewart: "Especially a bad idea after dark." [02:07] 6Nels: "Are you sure? It could get them to leave us alone..." [02:07] 10To Nels: "They're our guests, you asked me to invite them over!" [02:07] "No, the pig-cops!" [02:07] "They've already mostly cleared out, thanks to us and the Walking Man." [02:08] 6Nels: "Mostly, but not completely. I'm just saying it's an option." 00[02:08] <@Crion> The Girl sinks back into the cushions, easily convinced because she perhaps wasn't all that serious about it anyway. "If you say so. Still...Hedge pig..." [02:09] 6Nels wasn't saying so, but she's also not about to badger their guests into doing her work for them. "It's been strange to get used to." 00[02:09] <@Crion> The Mainer, deadpan: "Stick to long pig, darlin'." 00[02:10] <@Crion> She cackles at that. [02:10] 10Stewart takes a drink to hide his discomfort. [02:12] 10Then: "So how's the Court?" [02:12] 6That's clearly a reference to something. Should probably check her encyclopedias later. 00[02:12] <@Crion> The Mainer shrugs. "Prince is more active than he's been in awhile. That's good and bad." 00[02:13] <@Crion> The Girl: "What my lover means to say is that Prince Lister has taken a more active interest in the community as of late." 00[02:13] <@Crion> "And we welcome it." [02:13] 6Nels: "...is that bad?" [02:13] 10Stewart nods. "Kind of a lull between patches." 00[02:13] <@Crion> The Mainer, to Nels: "And good." 00[02:14] <@Crion> The Girl sort of slaps his chest lightly. [02:14] 6Nels: "Can I help?" [02:14] 10Stewart snorts. 00[02:15] <@Crion> Then she says: "Our Prince goes through phases. Sometimes he's engaged, sometimes he leaves things up to the Count. This is an engaged period. The reasons him being engaged is bad have nothing to do with him." 00[02:15] <@Crion> The Mainer: "Him being engaged means other vampires get engaged." 00[02:15] <@Crion> "So things get a lot more fun downtown." 00[02:15] <@Crion> The Girl: "Where we technically are." [02:16] 10Stewart: "Like who?" 00[02:16] <@Crion> The Mainer: "Technically, darlin', we're in the Hedge." 00[02:16] <@Crion> Stewart's question gets a sigh from the Mainer, and from the Girl: "The Doctor of Sciences, for one." [02:16] 10Stewart grimaces. [02:16] "Yikes." [02:16] 6That good, huh. [02:17] 10Stewart: "We haven't, uh." [02:17] "We haven't explained Nazis to Nels yet." [02:17] 6Nels: "I gather that they are bad." 00[02:17] <@Crion> The Mainer: "We make jokes, we all have fun here, we goof off about the long pig, but no one in the Court is tearing co-eds limb from limb except that motherfucker." [02:18] 6Nels: "...okay, I think I just got what long pig is, but he - and everyone just - ???" 6The last part is just a confused noise. 00[02:18] <@Crion> The Girl, to Nels: "They killed over 11 million Jews, Muslims, communists, Roma, gays, lesbians, and people who were just in the wrong place in the wrong time. In industrial slaughterhouses." 00[02:19] <@Crion> "That's what Nazis are." [02:19] 6She slumps in her seat. [02:19] 10Stewart: "Also did horrific scientific experiments on the people they were killing." [02:19] "Which is, uh. Relevant here." 00[02:19] <@Crion> The Mainer: "That it is." [02:19] 10Stewart: "He's kept in check by a series of agreements, as I understand it." [02:19] "But like... in check. Not under control." 00[02:20] <@Crion> The Girl: "Correct." [02:20] 6Nels: "I need another drink." 00[02:20] <@Crion> Casually: "We speak of this freely, of course, because we loathe him." [02:20] 10Stewart hands her the bottle, which he'd just poured himself another drink out of. [02:20] 10He huddles closer to Lauren. 00[02:20] <@Crion> She's there for the huddling. [02:23] 10Stewart: "So I gather he's too powerful to just... get rid of." 00[02:24] <@Crion> The Girl: "He has been a useful counterbalance against the vampires of Washington, D.C. And also the Kindred of Washington, D.C." [02:24] 10'Kindred' is a cool word. [02:25] 6Nels, sipping a whiskey straight: "I'm really not inclined to hear about them, given what I just heard about him." 00[02:25] <@Crion> The Mainer: "We're also not quite sure how a death match between him and Lister would play out. Lister would probably win -- he's got the Doctor beat in raw power -- but..." 00[02:26] <@Crion> The Girl: "And the consequences of losing that fight are...dire." 00[02:27] <@Crion> "Of course, there have been...irregularities...around his hunting grounds recently." She looks over at Stewart. "You know about this." [02:27] 10Stewart: "Yeah, although that was an out-of-towner." 02[02:27] * Quaker (textual@sorcery-ekoo3f.ca.charter.com) Quit (Quit: My MacBook Air has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 00[02:27] <@Crion> The Girl, flatly: "Was it?" 00[02:28] <@Crion> The Mainer coughs again. "Let's not get out over our skis." [02:28] 10Stewart: "Well, it was someone who wasn't recognized by the court. Father Jesse made it sound like that doesn't happen." [02:28] "I guess... I don't know vampires, uh, reproduce, but I guess the Doctor could have made him...?" 00[02:29] <@Crion> The Mainer: "If he did, he didn't do it the normal way. And since there's no proof or even no theory of crime here, probably best not to speculate." 00[02:29] <@Crion> The Girl: "Gabriel doesn't just miss something like this in her territory."{ 00[02:29] <@Crion> The Mainer nods. "I agree." 00[02:30] <@Crion> "I just think until we've done more forensics...any further statement might be premature." 00[02:31] <@Crion> The Girl makes a noise in her throat. "You're no fun." 00[02:31] <@Crion> The Mainer, charmingly: "Sure I am." 00[02:31] <@Crion> Then he sips his whiskey again. [02:31] 6Nels: "Should he go missing, forever. Who takes his place?" [02:31] 6She sips her whiskey. 00[02:31] <@Crion> The Mainer: "Worst case scenario?" 00[02:31] <@Crion> "He does." [02:31] 10Stewart glances at Nels. 00[02:32] <@Crion> The Girl: "The Doctor of Sciences has been working on things that perhaps he shouldn't be working on. He is trying to outwit Final Death." [02:32] 6She's not exactly in a position to do it. [02:33] 6She could assist, though. And. Someone who has been compared to a Nazi, which she has just learned of... 03[02:33] * Quaker (textual@sorcery-ekoo3f.ca.charter.com) has joined #gofetch 00[02:34] <@Crion> The Mainer, grimly: "That means more disappearances, but fewer bodies." 00[02:34] <@Crion> "The Court's estimation, that's easier to keep a lid on." 00[02:34] <@Crion> "Not that it's preferred." 00[02:34] <@Crion> "The Prince and the Count take a...catch and release view on feeding." [02:35] 6Nels: "I hate everything about what I've learned tonight." [02:35] 10To Nels: "The Count of St. Sebastian is the guy who runs the city when the Prince doesn't want to. His title is Regent. Looks like an older guy, English accent, dresses like he's going to the opera in 1840. Turns into a cloud of bats." 00[02:36] <@Crion> Mock hurt from the Girl: "You hate that we like whiskey?" [02:36] 6Nels, apologetically: "Almost everything." 00[02:37] <@Crion> The Mainer: "The Count is a character. But he's good people." 00[02:37] <@Crion> The Girl: "He's adorable. In his tuxedo. And his cape!" [02:37] "You gotta be a character to sincerely go by 'the Count' in the age of Sesame Street." [02:38] 6Nels: "I don't know what that is either." [02:38] 10Stewart: "It's an educational puppet show for kids. It's been on TV for like 50 years. One of the puppets is a vampire who teaches kids their numbers. Goes by 'the Count'." 00[02:39] <@Crion> The Mainer, straight-faced: "He pretends it's a compliment." [02:39] "Vun, two, three bats! Three! Ah ah ah ah!" [02:39] 6Nels: "They show that to children?" [02:39] 10Stewart: "Vampires aren't scary. Pop culture vampires aren't scary," 10he hastily clarifies. [02:39] "They're totally monetized." 00[02:40] <@Crion> "Got some neonate in up from College Park, down at the University of Maryland. Grad student. She made the Count crack. He spent the next fifteen minutes talking about how it was good representation for their people." 00[02:40] <@Crion> "Didn't break character." 00[02:40] <@Crion> The Girl: "Most neonates don't 'get' the Count for, oh, five or six years." [02:41] 10Stewart: "I respect that. We don't get a lot of us calling each other 'fairies'." [02:41] 10Ah shit now he's thinking about Dad again. Another drink! 00[02:42] <@Crion> The Mainer: "That one has thankfully gone out of style, for the most part." [02:42] 6Nels: "I, um. UMBC? That University of Maryland?" [02:43] "University of Maryland Baltimore County. Melanie goes to grad school there." [02:43] "I'm out that way once a week or so." 00[02:43] <@Crion> The Mainer: "Nah. One down south. University of Maryland College Park." [02:43] 6Nels: "I have a great grandkid there." [02:43] "The Baltimore County one. Not College Park." 00[02:43] <@Crion> The Mainer, measured: "Lotta woods around there." [02:44] 10Stewart's already finished that drink he just poured. 00[02:44] <@Crion> Lauren will slip away and return with waters for both of them. [02:44] 10Sets his glass down firmly. Does not pick it back up. [02:44] 10She gets a kiss on the cheek for her trouble. [02:47] 6Nels shrinks back in her seat, clutching her glass. "Sorry. Didn't mean to make it weird." 00[02:47] <@Crion> The Mainer: "It's fine. It wasn't me I was worried about. Keep an eye on that kid, if you can." 00[02:47] <@Crion> The Girl: "Bad shit happening in the woods." [02:48] 10Stewart: "The Lodge of the Hook Hand." [02:48] 6Sip. 00[02:48] <@Crion> Mainer cocks an eyebrow while the Girl grins. "Rightly so," he says. 00[02:49] <@Crion> He finishes his whiskey. "If there's one thing I trust the Rangers on, it's this kind of hunt. So I'd just stay out of their way." 00[02:49] <@Crion> He leans forward towards the bottle and looks to Stewart. "Mind?" [02:49] 10Stewart shakes his head. All his. [02:49] 10In the sense of 'all yours', not 'all mine'. [02:50] 10Stewart: "Yeah. My-- I've got a friend out in the county, up in Thistle. It got real nasty one night when I was up visiting but then we heard the Park Service and their fuckin, anti-materiel rifles. No more howling after that." 00[02:50] <@Crion> The Mainer nods and pours half his last offering. 00[02:51] <@Crion> He just grimaces at Stewart's story though. The Girl, still smiling: "They'll be back." 00[02:51] <@Crion> The Mainer: "I'm just glad they're not doing it during summer." [02:51] 10Stewart: "I guess you gotta expect that from people who identify themselves as slasher villains explicitly." 00[02:51] <@Crion> "They'll have the flamethrowers out by the end of this." [02:53] 6About to respond, but then: Sip. 00[02:54] <@Crion> The Girl: "One of the many things I prefer about cities: no werewolves." She pauses. "Or merely silly werewolves." 00[02:54] <@Crion> The Mainer opens his mouth, but then his phone buzzes again. He checks it. "Shit." [02:54] 6Nels: "Small miracles." 00[02:54] <@Crion> Finishes his drink in one gulp. 00[02:54] <@Crion> The Girl: "Work?" [02:55] 6It's hard to tell if she's being sarcastic or just very upset and dead inside. 00[02:55] <@Crion> The Mainer: "Body dropped on the UB campus. Not consistent with the Doctor." 00[02:55] <@Crion> The Girl: "Shit!" [02:56] 10Stewart winces. [02:56] 6Sip. [02:56] "Well, it was nice to see you guys." 00[02:56] <@Crion> The Mainer stands, and the Girl stands with him. "Thank you for your hospitality, Stewart and Nels. Lauren, darlin', good to see you again." [02:56] 10He'll untangle from Lauren and stand up - whoaaaa he's more drunk than he thought. "Don't be strangers." 10He offers his hand. 00[02:57] <@Crion> The Girl: "We can see ourselves out." They're already moving, after Mainer shakes his hand. The Girl just smirks at him as she disappears out of the room. [02:57] 10Stewart slumps back down. [02:57] 6Nels: "Yeah. Um. Good to see you. If I can help, I --" 6She checks her phone that the Court made her get. "You can find me." [02:58] 10When they're gone: "Cool people." 00[02:58] <@Crion> The Girl nods to Nels too before she's gone. [02:58] 6Once they're gone, to Stewart and Lauren: "I just learned some things I wish I didn't know. Do you have something relaxing?" [02:59] 10Stewart throws on Detective Pikachu. Nels can ask alllll the Pokemon questions she wants. 00[03:00] <@Crion> --Fin. 02[04:04] * Quaker (textual@sorcery-ekoo3f.ca.charter.com) Quit (Quit: My MacBook Air has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 02[06:47] * VoxPrime (VoxPrime@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) Quit (Quit: ) 03[07:06] * VoxPrime (VoxPrime@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) has joined #gofetch 03[08:24] * banana|split is now known as banana 03[08:53] * mattbaby (mattbaby@sorcery-v7n841.dc.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 03[10:39] * Quaker (textual@sorcery-ekoo3f.ca.charter.com) has joined #gofetch 03[10:45] * banana is now known as banana|peels 02[10:47] * Quaker (textual@sorcery-ekoo3f.ca.charter.com) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 02[13:04] * mattbaby (mattbaby@sorcery-v7n841.dc.comcast.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[13:24] * mattbaby (mattbaby@sorcery-v7n841.dc.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 02[14:40] * Disconnected 02[14:40] * Attempting to rejoin channel #gofetch 03[14:40] * Rejoined channel #gofetch 03[14:40] * Topic is 'Who botches the Botchmen?' 03[14:40] * Set by Crion!Crion@sorcery-puhjpa.fios.verizon.net on Sun Sep 22 02:37:29 2019 02[14:42] * @Crion (Crion@sorcery-puhjpa.fios.verizon.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 02[14:42] * VoxPVoxD (VoxPVoxD@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) Quit (Quit: dammitwho sucks) 03[14:43] * Crion_ is now known as Crion 03[14:54] * VoxPVoxD (VoxPVoxD@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) has joined #gofetch 02[16:28] * mattbaby (mattbaby@sorcery-v7n841.dc.comcast.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 02[17:02] * dammitwho (joanofarcta@sorcery-j9socb.dynamic.onlinenw.com) Quit (Quit: ) 03[17:04] * dammitwho (joanofarcta@sorcery-j9socb.dynamic.onlinenw.com) has joined #gofetch 03[18:53] * mattbaby (mattbaby@sorcery-v7n841.dc.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 02[19:26] * mattbaby (mattbaby@sorcery-v7n841.dc.comcast.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[20:01] * mattbaby (mattbaby@sorcery-v7n841.dc.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 02[20:35] * mattbaby (mattbaby@sorcery-v7n841.dc.comcast.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [20:38]  [20:38]  [20:38]  [20:38]  [20:38]  [20:41] 10Stewart's not great at waiting. But sometimes there's nothing you can do but pace around and think about how bad at waiting you are. So this evening he's at the Wherehouse, having given the afternoon to pacing, and the stream delayed until the following day for the live announcements at ExileCon. He's folded up in an unopened recliner, drinking a beer, watching... what did Maggie want to [20:41] 10watch again? 03[20:43] * mattbaby (mattbaby@sorcery-v7n841.dc.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch [20:45] 7The Star Wars! A lot of people seem to like it, and she's never seen it before. [20:46] 10Which one? [20:47] 7There's more than one? Does it track every individual Star War? What's the first one? [20:47] 10Oh jeez. [20:49] 10So then they're settled in watching Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope, which Stewart insists was the first one that came out. But Stewart just calls it Star Wars, because that's what it says on the title card (the mechanics of Lucas post-hoc edits and fan re-edits and de-edits of those edits is largely over Stewart's ehad. [20:49] 10He hasn't actually sat down and watched this movie since he was... maybe thirteen? [20:51] 10This copy predates the pre-Phantom Menace touchups which Stewart recalls annoying a lot of people, though he doesn't recall why. [20:53] "Hoo! That Dark Vader fella doesn't mess around." 7She seems to be enjoying it thus far! [20:55] 10Stewart: "You know, the guy doing his voice is different from the guy in the suit. They dubbed his lines in later." [20:56] "Huh. Now, is he supposed to be a robot, or what's his deal there?" [20:57] 10Stewart: "He's basically a guy, but he's had some parts replaced. He can't actually survive outside his armor, kind of like a Dalek." [20:57] 10Suddenly realizing: "A Dalek is a thing from a different story." [20:57] "Like a mean bug in a trash can." [21:02] 7She snorts with laughter. "Mean bug in a trash can..." [21:03] "So this'n's a real big deal, huh? It is pretty exciting. I liked that fella who went 'you're far too trusting'." [21:04] 10Stewart: "Grand Moff Tarkin! Lot of great bad guys in this." [21:06] "My favorites are the droids." [21:08] "Everyone's so mean to them though..." [21:16] "The little one, R2, he seems to get by okay." [21:17] 7Maggie: "I don't think there's really six million forms of communication, though. I think ol' 3PO there is padding his resume." [21:18] 10Stewart: "I guess it depends on whether you'd count every language machines are programmed in as a separate thing or if it's just one big 'talking to machines' language." [21:19] 10The answer is clearly the former, btw. [21:20] "C-3PO gets treated worse but R2 must be so much lonelier. So few people can talk to him..." [21:22] "Really? Everybody seems to understand him." [21:26] 10Stewart: "They understand the emotional inflection but 3PO needs to translate. There's bits in the other movies and in the books and games and stuff where it comes up more." [21:26] "Books and games?" [21:27] 10Stewart: "Oh yeah there's like, books, and comics, and tv shows, and so many video games. It's a really big, evocative setting so people have used it to tell a lot of different stories." [21:29] "Huh." 7She shifts in her seat and leans back. "Makes sense." [21:29] "Most of them are *really* stupid, but there's some cool stuff in there." [21:32] "Like what?" [21:32] 10Stewart: "The Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic games are pretty good. The second one's better but it didn't really get finished." [21:33] "Those are set hundreds of years before the movies." [21:33] 7Maggie: "That's the old republic the guy said the last remnants of had been swept away?" [21:36] 10Stewart: "Yeah it lasted a really long time. In the games you start out playing a Jedi no one likes anymore and you go around meeting new friends and trying to solve a big problem and over the course of each game you can make decisions that will either set you on the path of good, like Obi-Wan and Luke, or evil, like Vader." [21:37] "A different Jedi no one likes anymore in each game." [21:38] 7Maggie: "What sort of games are they?" [21:39] 10Stewart: "Role-playing games." [21:40] "Eh?" 02[21:41] * mattbaby (mattbaby@sorcery-v7n841.dc.comcast.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [21:43] 10Stewart: "Role-playing games are games where you guide a character or a group of characters through a defined story and take on their role. Usually they involve fighting bad guys, getting gradually stronger, often in customizable ways, and exploring detailed imaginary worlds." [21:44] "Good RPGs are some of the best video games there are, like Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross, Knights of the Old Republic 2, Morrowind, Planescape: Torment, The Squared Circle Saga..." [21:57] 7Oooh, this is clearly something Stewart's really into. "So... those are your favorites? Tell me about 'em." 03[21:58] * mattbaby (mattbaby@sorcery-v7n841.dc.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch [22:00] 10This is something Stewart's really into. "Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross are games where you sort of jump around -- in Trigger you're time travelling but in Cross there's like these alternate worlds. I like them because the stories are really good, and the music is INCREDIBLE, and you can see where all the monsters are instead of fights happening randomly as you walk around." [22:02] "Knights of the Old Republic 2 is the Star Wars game I mentioned earlier, you got exiled from the Jedi for doing war crimes and now you're going around trying to figure out why the other Jedi have all disappeared. My favorite thing about it is how you can influence the characters to follow your philosophy, whether it's selfish or noble, and even train some of them to become Jedi themselves [22:02] if they follow you far enough. Lot of really cool characters in that one. It's kind of a sad game, though. Bittersweet." [22:04] "Morrowind is a game that has a defined story, but its biggest feature is that it's *incredibly* open-ended. You come off this boat onto this island where everything sucks and everyone's miserable, and you make your character, and then you're giving directions to the next part of the main story, but then you're just... turned loose. You can do whatever you want. You can explore, you can rise [22:04] in the ranks of different organizations, you can find treasure and rob people, or if you're a complete psycho you can just stab pretty much everyone you meet." [22:04] "I spent hundreds and hundreds of hours on that game." [22:05] "Planescape: Torment is sort of the opposite. It's got levels and fights and stuff like other RPGs, but mostly it's like a giant... do you know what a choose-your-own-adventure book is?" [22:09] 7Maggie: "...no?" [22:11] 10Stewart: "Okay. Planescape: Torment has these sort of branching paths you can take based on stuff you do, and you get to react to every situation in your own personal way. The character's kind of a blank slate but with a defined history, so your task is to take this fully formed person, with a whole past and people who already know about him, and decide who he is and what he cares about. [22:11] There's a question that keeps getting asked over the course of the game: 'What can change the nature of a man?'. And that's what the game's sort of about. How to change. Whether you can change." [22:13] "The Squared Circle Saga is sort of in between. You take the role of the hero, Excessively Righteous Blossom, and fly the airship she builds all around this HUGE world going on adventures, and the world and all the characters sort of changes based on stuff you do. You can save a city-state from zombies and hand the power over to the workers, or you can dick around and go fight dinosaurs in [22:13] a huge arena, or you can take sides in a shadow war between the Stars and the Moon. You could even do all of those things, if you wanted to for some reason." [22:14] "You can also just spend hours and hours in the cooking minigame and playing dressup." [22:15] "That's pretty complicated stuff. It makes sense that people would pay to watch you play that!" [22:16] 10Stewart: "Oh, no, I've never played any of those for an audience. The kind of people who want to sit through story stuff is a veeeery different crowd from the one who watches my streams." [22:17] 7Maggie: "Hoorm. Are these the kind of games I would like?" [22:20] 10Stewart: "Well... some of them. A lot of them have a core gameplay loop that's about sort of doing the same stuff over and over again and watching numbers go up. But there's some in there you'd like, I bet." [22:21] "It's a really broad genre, there's something for almost anyone in it, assuming that person is willing to spend hours of their lives pretending to be a time traveling cartoon character or a laser Buddhist or a magic zombie or a really emotional superhero teenager." [22:23] "Sometimes they feel like books, sometimes they feel like movies." [22:23] "Or a vampire! Heh heh heh!" [22:23] 10Stewart: "Oh man, there was this one game I played, it was like, Chrono Trigger with vampires." [22:26] "Okay get this: there's a city way up in northern Norway, in the Arctic Circle, where the sun doesn't set during the summer and doesn't rise during the winter. And it's full of vampires. All these really weird and cool vampires like a time-traveling invincible nerd and a postmodern blood witch and a whole family of these blind yetis." [22:27] "It was a lot like Chrono Trigger actually. It had the weird slug monster and the girl named Luca..." [22:28] "But anyway the main characters were this kind of skeevy rich guy vampire from New York, this scary rich lady vampire from Germany, and this workaday vampire scientist who was slowly turning into a yeti." [22:29] "A *yeti*?" [22:30] 10Stewart: "An abominable snowman. His was like this huge eyeless bat thing. Eventually if you play as him enough you can take control of his mutation and get turned into this really messed up man-bat that has maxed stats all the time." [22:31] 7Maggie: "No, no, I know what a yeti is. But what do they have to do with vampires? This guy just get really unlucky?" [22:32] 10Stewart: "There was like this really complicated vampire mythology. Basically he was part of this one cursed bloodline, yeah." [22:32] "I can't remember the name. One second..." [22:35] 10Stewart's got his phone out and he's searching. He's searching... [22:35] "I can't find it." [22:36] "Eh?" [22:37] "The game! I can't find the game!" 10Stewart almost snaps. [22:37] "Maybe I'm using the wrong search terms..." [22:39] "Well, if it's pretty old..." 7She says mildly. [22:39] "It's not that old! It came out in... in..." [22:39] 10Increasingly frustrated typing. [22:43] 10Suddenly Stewart stands up, almost throwing his phone on the chair as he does, and goes to get another beer. [22:43] 7Hoo boy. Maggie doesn't know how to react here, because Stewart's the one who knows about search terms and the internet and such. It feels like something's wrong, but like... is it? [22:43] "You okay, there?" [22:45] 10Stewart looks back at her, furious, then he holds a finger up while drinking angrily, like he's Jamie Lee Curtis. [22:47] 10Finally he's rolling the now-empty beer bottle between his fingers, slightly stooped, face darkened with ugly thoughts, more Morlock than Eloi for the first time in a while. "What else?" 10he mutters to himself. [22:50] 10Belatedly he realizes Maggie is looking at him. "It's not real." [22:52] "Wh-- ahhh... jeez. I'm sorry..." 7A long pause. "You want me to make you a nice sandwich or something? Ham and cheese?" [22:53] 10Stewart: "You've been-- sorry. You've been asking me all these questions for weeks now. And Nels? Hoo boy. So like... what. What else isn't real?" [22:53] 10He turns to face her fully. "What else have I confidently described to people that never fucking happened?" [22:57] 7Maggie: "Do you want to see about the others?" [22:59] "I know the Others!" 10Stewart hisses. "I know them just as well as you!" [23:02] 7Maggie's eyebrows go up a little. Carefully, she replies. "I meant the other games you talked about. Nail down which ones are real and which, um, aren't. I don't know how much it'll help, but maybe it'll get you your bearings? For this conversation, anyway?" [23:09] 10Stewart opens another beer - against the counter, like Stu - and takes a sip without meeting Maggie's eyes. [23:10] 10Looked up how to do that on Youtube. At least, he thinks he did. 02[23:12] * CBN (CBN@sorcery-v852kb.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) Quit (Connection closed) [23:13] "...no," 10he says finally. "No, I don't want to look those up right now. I'll do it later. At home. Double check with Lauren." [23:14] "Okay. You wanna finish the movie?" 7She has it on pause. [23:16] "...yeah, okay." 10Where were they? [23:17] 7Kenobi just became more powerful than you could possibly imagine. [23:18] "Let me ask you this. Do the higher-ups in Autumn talk like that? Becoming more powerful than you could possibly imagine?" [23:18] "Because I'd bet money the wizards do." [23:18] 10Stewart, red-eyed, thinks about his friends used to say that line to each other before shooting nerf guns. "Santander absolutely does." [23:19] "Kingsley's got way more of a white collar, I-am-the-senior-partner-at-this-firm-and-I-am-constantly-judging-you vibe." [23:20] 10Was his Dad like that too? Is he even remembering that right? [23:20] 10Is that really Maura's face he sees in his mind? [23:33] 10They pass the rest of the movie in silence. Then: "As I understand it, that is now the fourth of what will, this time next month, be nine movies." [23:34] 7She nods. "You want to invite Lauren over? Maybe get Nels or Melanie in too, make a night of it?" [23:35] 10Stewart: "Lauren's waiting on showing me 7 and 8 until closer to 9. I don't think she likes the first three but I remember them being pretty good." 10His voice breaks at the end there. Session Time: Fri Nov 15 00:00:00 2019 02[00:54] * mattbaby (mattbaby@sorcery-v7n841.dc.comcast.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[02:36] * banana|peels is now known as banana 03[08:02] * mattbaby (mattbaby@sorcery-v7n841.dc.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 03[08:22] * CBN (CBN@sorcery-4r61na.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) has joined #gofetch 02[09:47] * mattbaby (mattbaby@sorcery-v7n841.dc.comcast.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[10:30] * VoxSpace (voxspace@sorcery-glvfll.mycingular.net) has joined #gofetch 02[10:31] * VoxSpace (voxspace@sorcery-glvfll.mycingular.net) Quit (Quit: Colloquy for iPhone - http://colloquy.mobi) 03[19:36] * mattbaby (mattbaby@sorcery-v7n841.dc.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 02[20:10] * mattbaby (mattbaby@sorcery-v7n841.dc.comcast.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[20:31] * mattbaby (mattbaby@sorcery-v7n841.dc.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 02[21:52] * mattbaby (mattbaby@sorcery-v7n841.dc.comcast.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[22:32] * mattbaby (mattbaby@sorcery-v7n841.dc.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch Session Time: Sat Nov 16 00:00:00 2019 03[00:17] * dammitwhoa (dammitwhoa@sorcery-5fkv5e.or.frontiernet.net) has joined #gofetch 02[00:41] * mattbaby (mattbaby@sorcery-v7n841.dc.comcast.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 02[03:16] * dammitwhoa (dammitwhoa@sorcery-5fkv5e.or.frontiernet.net) Quit (Connection closed) 02[03:19] * trenchfoot (dani@sorcery-jcvlv4.in.comcast.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[08:18] * trenchfoot (dani@sorcery-jcvlv4.in.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch [09:44] i just did some birth-date calculations [09:45] melanie was born in 1997 and, since generation is surely based on when you grew up rather than biological age, is technically a zoomer [09:45] but, ths is the wrong channel 03[14:56] * banana is now known as banana|peels 02[16:00] * trenchfoot (dani@sorcery-jcvlv4.in.comcast.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[17:26] * trenchfoot (dani@sorcery-jcvlv4.in.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 03[21:02] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Crion 00[21:02] <@Crion> 00[21:02] <@Crion> 00[21:02] <@Crion> 00[21:02] <@Crion> 00[21:02] <@Crion> 00[21:02] <@Crion> 00[21:02] <@Crion> 00[21:02] <@Crion> 00[21:02] <@Crion> 00[21:03] <@Crion> It's been...one week since Halloween. 00[21:03] <@Crion> Give or take a few days, of course. 03[21:03] * banana|peels is now known as banana 00[21:04] <@Crion> Things have more or less gone back to normal; your courts are a bit more into your business now that there's a Huntsman on the loose targeting a girlfriend of a motley-mate, and also that you've run into a True Fae who has made her intention known to, ah, continue to make her intentions known. But mainly you're being left to devices as the temperature continues to drop. [21:06] 10That's too LONG! 25% of the month is gone and Stewart STILL hasn't heard about this John of the Falls guy, who the motley is probably sick of hearing about by now. Here's Stewart again today: "But yeah when I get word he's ready for visitors I was told it was best to bring friends. He's the Autumn Court's oneiromancy expert. I don't know which Falls he's the John of." 00[21:08] <@Crion> Stewart's been getting the runaround for a day or two now, first from Kingsley and then, when Kingsley was tired of dealing with him, from a very apologetic Gerald. [21:09] 10God DAMN it Kingsley! 00[21:10] <@Crion> Kingsley's been very clear that he doesn't really control access to John of the Falls. John of the Falls controls access to John of the Falls. And for whatever reason, he's being...recalcitrant. [21:10] 5Tony: "Oni-what now?" 5The Wherehouse kitchen's stove periodically gets char from meals you didn't cook inside it, and Tony is scrubbing that off before it probably gains sentience or something. Which means any conversation is with him shoulder-deep in the oven. [21:11] 10Stewart: "Onieromancy is dream-magic. The Huntsman's heart - the key to getting rid of it permanently - is hidden in the dreaming mind of a random normie. Signs are they're reasonably local." [21:11] "So we'll need to enter someone's dreams to get it out." [21:12] "You need help with the oven?" [21:12] 6Nels: "...why would someone dream about that? Nevermind that, how do we stop them from doing it?" [21:12] "I guess finding them first, but." [21:12] "I don't know!!" 10Stewart's practically hopping. "That's why I need to get face time with the oneiromancer." [21:13] 5Tony: "Yeah if you can just nudge the soap bucket a little closer that'd be---there's a lot of people local now though, isn't there?" 00[21:13] <@Crion> Steve has been back. Currently he's wearing a newspaper boat as a hat, and is "supervising" Tony's work. He does not move to help with the soap bucket. [21:13] 13Melanie sympathises from by the kitchen island. Like any surface where Melanie hangs out, it's starting to get covered in books, crowding out some of the cutlery and dishware. "Do we have to find them locally? The collective unconscious is a freaking weird way to travel but it might be easier to navigate when you're loking for metaphors made flesh made dream." [21:14] 10Stewart: "Presumably there's some kind of, I don't know, some kind of magic to--" 10He slides the soap bucket over slowly so it doesn't slop over onto the floor. "--to narrow it down. Refine the search. I don't really know what the process is because I'm not an onieromancer." [21:15] "I don't know how we have to find them. I know there are, broadly, two kinds of ways to enter someone's dreams - while asleep, through your own dreams, or bodily, through special gates in the Hedge." [21:15] "I only know that, by our best inferences, this dreamer *is* local. The Huntsman's behavior suggests some, uh, proximity, of their own personal desires." [21:15] "We can wander about through people's dreams?" 7says Maggie, surprised. [21:16] 6Nels has her study guides spread out over the coffee table, where she's looking from the couch. It'd be easy to shuffle them back into a neat stack, should someone else require the space, she's not rude. Just. Messy. "That's, um, more than a little upsetting to consider." [21:16] "'Can'. It's not always voluntary," 13says Melanie. Stewart won't have any problem with the bringing friends part, that goes without saying. [21:16] 10Stewart: "Yeah. I mean, like. We can do a lot of stuff that's upsetting to consider. So can regular people, honestly." [21:18] 5Tony: "What, you mean like appearing as the villain of the absolute classic and wildly optimistic Terminator movie?" 5Tony's movies over years have him in the sweet spot between Terminator and T2. No one's broken his heart about the current state of the franchise. [21:18] 6Nels: "I meant the personal desires thing, actually." [21:18] 5Tony: "Maybe the person whose dream it's in, likes good movies?" [21:18] 13Melanie: "It's statistically likely." [21:19] 5Tony: "Or large Austrians. Whatever happened to the guy who played the robot man anyway?" [21:19] 10Stewart: "I'm going to be so pissed if we can't set this thing free before it-- Tony have you seen Terminator 2 yet?" [21:19] 5Tony: "Have I seen what." [21:19] "Oh dude." [21:19] "The guy who played the robot man was Governor." [21:19] "Of California." [21:20] 5Tony: "In the sequel? Weird direction to take it in but okay." [21:20] "He'd have been President by now if he was eligible." [21:20] "No, in real life." [21:20] "Arnold Schwarzenegger." [21:20] "Married a Kennedy, Governor of California." [21:20] 5Tony just looks around to see if anyone else is going to give up the game by bursting out laughing at this obvious joke-lie-jape at his expense. [21:20] 13Melanie: "What, like Ronald Reagan? Why do they keep electing actors?" [21:20] 6These names are meaningless. [21:21] 10Stewart: "I mean. It's like how they keep electing bankers in New York, isn't it?" [21:21] "Statistics again." [21:21] 5Tony: "I hate all of this." [21:22] 5He withdraws a blackened rag that you could swear tries to bite him before he drowns it in the soap bucket. "So much." 00[21:22] <@Crion> honk [21:22] 10Stewart: "Argh! If I just knew, like, how they were going to wake John up..." [21:22] "I could go and do it myself." [21:23] "That'd be dumb. I shouldn't do that. He'd freak. But I could." [21:23] "I can't even do the stupid fucking thing!" [21:24] 13We've got to do something to take Stewart's mind off this stuff. Melanie considers saying that, but she hasn't got anything concrete in mind.. he's bouncing around like a small frustrated animal. [21:24] 10Stewart: "But they do wake him up, or have some way to contact him inside the coma he's been in for the last 55 years..." [21:25] 5Tony, somewhat distracted while clearing another layer. "I can do some dream stuff if it helps." 00[21:25] <@Crion> Is there an easy way to contact Stewart inside the Wherehouse? He's got a laptop or something, right? [21:26] 10He's got his phone. There's probably a laptop around here somewhere but Stewart mostly doesn't come to the Wherehouse to go online. He can do that at home. [21:26] 6Nels adjusts her papers on the table and sets them in order. Maybe enough studying for today. [21:27] 10To Tony: "Wait, what?" [21:27] 13Hang on. Coma? There's no way that this one eccentric nonaligned expert is the bottleneck for the freehold dealing with Huntsmen 'at all'. Melanie's thinking Stewart's being fobbed off somewhat here, given a time consuming task to keep him away from.. things that the powerful elders of the court are doing, probably. It makes her a little angry on his behalf, but that's the danger of thinking [21:27] 13about stuff. [21:28] 13Typical autumn court though. The first thing to do when there's a crisis is start keeping secrets from each other. 00[21:28] <@Crion> Then he will receive the following text from sender QUOTH -- it's already in his Contacts, even if it's not actually in his Contacts -- reading: <'STEWART READER,' KNOWN OTHERWISE AS 'CRITICALMASS:'> 00[21:28] <@Crion> 00[21:29] <@Crion> [21:29] 5Tony: "Yeah isn't that just a thing we can do? Like, you touch somebody while they're asleep, you walk into their brain and find something weird and you eat it, and you feel recharged?" 5He looks around. "Isn't that how the rest of you top off between our weird adventures? With like, magic crap?" 00[21:29] <@Crion> 00[21:29] <@Crion> 00[21:29] <@Crion> [21:30] 13Melanie: "I start fights. Mostly political arguments." [21:31] 10Stewart's stopped listening to Tony to look at his phone. "You guys you guys I got something. Under the 83 overpass, West 29th, next to the park. A portal. A Gate of Horn." [21:31] 10He looks around at the others. "You guys... wanna come? I'm not supposed to go alone." [21:31] 6Nels: "I'll get my gun." [21:32] 5Tony: "I mean I can't bring guests with mine, or at least I've never tried, but this sounds like another weird adventures. So I'm game." 5To Steve: "Please don't eat or drink anything in this bucket while I'm gone." [21:32] 13Melanie: "Why do you think we're all hanging around waiting for them to let you off the leash?" [21:34] 10Stewart: "I don't know, this looks basically the same as what we're usually doing!" [21:34] "Whatever!! Thank you!! I'll get my coat." [21:35] "Huuuuagh." 7Maggie levers herself out of her chair. "Alright, let's get to it, then." [21:36] 10Stewart: "The Gate of Horn is the way to enter dreams bodily through the Hedge I mentioned. The other way is called the Gate of Ivory, which is what it sounds like you're using, Tony." [21:36] "So we're cutting through the Hedge here." [21:37] 10To Nels: "You should bring your gun." [21:37] 6She's already got her papers back in her quarters and her revolver at her side. [21:37] 5Tony: "Cool beans. We do enough Hedge shit already, what's one more thing." [21:38] 10Stewart: "Yeah! Team Wherehouse!" 00[21:38] <@Crion> A concerned: honk [21:38] 13Melanie scoops up books to dump in her rooms - Imitation and Gender Insubordination , The Signal and the Noise, a german-english dictionary. She doesn't need tools or rituals of preparation. If they're lucky, contacting John Of The might be a vital but irritating task, the sort of thing you hand to plucky subordinates rather than an actual waste of time. 00[21:38] <@Crion> Steve cocks his head to the side. He seems to have understood the discussion. [21:40] 5Tony: "Steve is this going to get more fucked up than I think it will?" [21:40] "Steve. We're going out, so if you don't want us to do up the catflap you better act responsibly." 00[21:40] <@Crion> honk honk. honk [21:40] 6That's a concerning number of incomprehensible honks. [21:43] 5Tony: "Steve says to be careful, I guess this gate is maybe a dude? Named The Fall? Who...5 He's parsing some honks here. "Oh good, fucks around and taunts you until finally letting you in. Real Hedge shit." 00[21:43] <@Crion> honk [21:43] "Nice. Great. Welcome to fucking Autumn. I'll be outside.": 00[21:44] <@Crion> To Melanie, Steve cocks his hat and salutes with a wing. 00[21:44] <@Crion> The hat is still a newspaper boat. [21:44] 6Wonderful. [21:44] 13If we come back to find a teen goose party, he knows what'll happen. [21:44] 5Tony: "Yes thank you Steve. The usual sixer is yours, and you may read up to three of my magazines." 00[21:45] <@Crion> A decisive nod, then a beer from the fridge. [21:46] 5Tony: "Well, lead on Stewart, let's go have some adventure." [21:48] 13With all of the motley starting from their cool secret base, the most time-consuming part of the journey is getting from Lexington Market to wherever they were able to park a couple of cars. Melanie's only got one question, in case today goes better than expected: [21:48] "Destroying a huntsman's heart. Does that end the creature totally? Does it matter whether it's currently manifest?" [21:49] 10Stewart: "I don't want to destroy it, I want to give it back." [21:49] 10The five of them should all fit in Stewart's car on the way up to Druid Hill Park. [21:49] 10Melanie's probably gonna want shotgun, for the legroom. [21:49] 5Tony: "Is that how this works?" [21:51] 10Stewart: "A Huntsman is a victim of the Fae, like us. Their hearts are stolen and replaced with a fragment of a Keeper's title. If we can negotiate and seal an oath with the Huntsman they should just... go home." 00[21:52] <@Crion> There's public parking nearby. The good news is that it's not very public. In fact, the underpass itself doesn't even appear to have a...hmm. https://i.imgur.com/nS8kM34.png [21:52] 6Nels: "Oh. Then, yes." 00[21:52] <@Crion> Actually wait. [21:53] 13Melanie: "Negotiate? Why would we need a deal if we took the risk of letting it get close to us already?" [21:53] 10Oh right. Jones Falls. 00[21:53] <@Crion> Way up that concrete embankment, there's a door laying on the ground. [21:53] 5Tony: "What happens to the fragment of the title afterwards?" [21:53] "It returns to the Keeper, same as it would if we destroyed the Huntsman." [21:53] 5Tony: "Hm." [21:54] "Yeah, like..." 10he gets quieter. "Stopping one Huntsman, no matter how, doesn't do anything about the one after that." [21:54] "We're here." 00[21:55] <@Crion> Should be easy enough to clambor down there. ...No one's carrying longarms, right? [21:55] 10Stewart hugs his black peacoat tighter around himself against the wind cutting through the underpass. 00[21:55] <@Crion> Might be harder to get to the underpass from your parking space open-carrying a shotgun. [21:55] 10Stewart's still unarmed. Apologetic Gerald and Wants-to-Talk Stu weren't any more helpful with that than Kingsley was with John. [21:56] 13Melanie: "At that point we rely on carrying on, on the fact that the whole thing is rare. Inevitable but not constant." [21:56] "It's like... cancer you can cure." [21:56] 10Stewart: "Right." [21:57] 5Tony: "Do we at least know what Keeper this one's a part of, or in service to, or whatever? Feeling like it'll probably come looking for whatever undid its weird heart-title-swap-thing." [21:57] 10Stewart: "Yeah. It's Lauren's Keeper." [21:57] "Titled 'Sky Mother'." [21:58] "It's like if Skynet was designed by the bad guy from Wild Wild West." [21:58] 10Fuck, god damn it "It's a big fuckoff robot spider in the sky." [21:58] 5Tony: "That show's still on? I watched that when I was a kid!" [21:58] 10Stewart: "There was a movie." [21:58] "Don't remember any spiders though." [21:59] "Oh." [21:59] "The forensics team said that the huntsman-robot was weaved together, molten metal strands formed into an exoskeleton. It looks mass-produced on purpose but it's not." [22:00] 10Anything stop Stewart from opening the door? [22:00] 6Nels hides her confusion well. What on Earth is a robot? 00[22:01] <@Crion> Nope. It'll just open onto concrete...unless he gives it that kick. [22:03] 10Stewart literally kicks the door. "Hell is coming, and we're already behind schedule. Yield." 00[22:03] <@Crion> The door swings through the other way...down into the concrete...and there's a misaligned world on the other side. 00[22:04] <@Crion> The Hedge. [22:05] 5Tony: "Me first, or?" [22:06] 10Stewart looks back. "What?" [22:06] 10He blinks. [22:07] "Oh. Yeah, sure. Thanks." [22:07] 10He hesitates again before stepping back and letting Tony through. [22:08] 5Tony sizes it up, and hop...scoot...passes through, in whatever way at the moment feels the least awkward. Stupid physics. [22:08] 10Stewart's in second. [22:09] 6Nels is in next. [22:10] 7Maggie will trundle in behind. 00[22:12] <@Crion> It's a weird feeling -- you're stepping into the Hedge, but also up, half-throwing off your internal balance. But across from you, when you arrive, is a giant basalt...slab? It looks like it might be a door, but there's no seam for it to part. There's just a horn, dirty and yellow, looking as if it was cut off...a VERY large rhino, fashioned by a strange black metal chain into a knocker. 00[22:12] <@Crion> The Hedgerow here is wide; instead of a street, it's a highway -- but it's just aesthetic. This is no Trod. 00[22:13] <@Crion> Still, you have to cross four lanes of "traffic" to get there instead of two. [22:13] 5Tony looks both ways before attempting to cross. Never a bad idea. [22:27] 13Melanie's been quiet today. Stewart's not ok, but it's due to like.. actual bad things that have really happened. That's what they're addressing. Still- once they make it to the other side, she asks: "Are we expecting to meet John in here? Let's decide who does the talking." [22:29] 10Stewart: "It should be me, right. He's an Autumn courtier, I'm the one they'll have told him to expect." [22:29] 13Melanie: "Maybe. If the guy responds to pressure 'taunts and fucking around'.. you don't need that right now." [22:30] "How about Nels? Literally everyone likes her and she's got the last half-century in common." [22:30] "Um, sorry Nels." [22:30] 10Stewart: "And Nels does need to be taunted and fucked with?" [22:31] 10Stewart narrows his eyes. Is this some kind of sacrifice-the-pretty-girl-to-the-slasher kick Melanie's on? He doesn't understand. [22:31] 13Melanie won't push that further unless Helen herself has something to say about it. [22:32] 5Tony: "I can get yelled at, I don't really give a shit. Especially if it's just part of some stupid game face Hedge rule stuff." [22:33] 10Stewart: "I mean, if he's that kind of asshole there's no reason to assume he won't fuck with all of us." [22:33] 6Nels: "I..." 6She's considering. "I'd be happy to help, but yes, that's what I was expecting more generally." [22:34] "Bring your friends so he doesn't simply focus on you the whole time." [22:35] 13Nels is the pretty girl; that's why an asshole might be nice to her. That's how the world works. "The key is to avoid antagonising a man who sounds likely to take offence to things and use it as an excuse to be unhelpful. I feel like.. I've got a nasty feeling he'll take advantage of desperation, if that's what he sees." [22:36] 5Tony: "Worse comes to worse, if the guy is a door, we can always kick him down, right?" [22:37] 10Desperate? What the hell's she-- whatever. You know what? Whatever. "Whatever, fine, Nels can take point. Let's just go before we stand here too long and turn into Froggers." [22:39] "We can kick pretty good." 00[22:39] <@Crion> Well, you're all here. There's no wind on this version of the Jones Falls Expressway -- if you look over the side, the perspective is all weird too, it's like you're not even off the ground -- but that great basalt door stands opposite you...and, oddly, real Hedge. 00[22:39] <@Crion> Not fake buildings or barbed wire: thorny hedgerow. 00[22:40] <@Crion> The street seems clear, if you want to approach. [22:40] 10Stewart starts across the street. [22:40] 5Tony approaches at Stewart's shoulder. [22:40] 13Melanie wonders whether the wild growth under the underpass makes this entrance different, closer to the.. quasi-nature that the Hedge likes to pretend at. [22:41] 6Nels: "If you're sure." 6She'll be just a touch behind Stewart, who seems to be both stressed and in a hurry. ...not sure how to help, there. [22:43] 10Assuming he doesn't get run over or trip a snare trap or something on the way, Stewart takes the knocker in both hands and thuds it firmly against the door three times. [22:43] 13If it doesn't open, we'll have to Spin it. 00[22:46] <@Crion> The door is silent. Nothing happens. Then...a laugh? Then a growl? Then a sigh? 00[22:46] <@Crion> And BAM!-BAM!-BAM! BAM!-BAM!-BAM! BAM!-BAM!-BAM! 00[22:46] <@Crion> With each resounding slam, a louder, deeper version of Stewart's, the great basalt door flies backwards into the Hedge, creating a perfectly great-basalt-door-shaped passageway with every regression, thorns sprouting and growing to curl over the new walls. After the first six retreats, the door suddenly takes a right, and disappears from view -- though you can still hear the last three 00[22:46] <@Crion> "knocks." [22:47] 7Maggie: "Suppose it was too much to hope we'd avoid a Hedge maze." [22:47] 13Melanie: "A dark mirror of Jackie's guidance." [22:48] 13To Tony: "Do we follow the door?" [22:49] 5Tony: "Feels like, though I don't know what happens if it doubles back on us?" [22:51] "We can try some of those tricks from the pig siege." [22:54] 13Now that there's no imminent prospect of a tricky conversation, this becomes a collective problem-solving exercise. Let's head into the maze and try to twist it back to something like a path... [22:54] 5Tony: "If the description was accurate, I gotta assume the more stuff we do, the more stuff it's gonna do back." 00[22:54] <@Crion> In front of them...spikes drive out of the ground and wall, and spikes drive out of THOSE spikes, and so on, creating what appears to be a twenty-foot deep not-quite-really-barrier that you'd need to very carefully maneuver through. [22:54] 6Rude. [22:55] 5Tony: "So what if we just try to focus our efforts on doing one big thing? Can we do that? Is that making sense?" [22:58] "Crossing that is certainly big." [23:01] 5Tony begins making his way forward, very slowly and not-that-surely grabbing spikes from the side and attempting to break them off as he goes. Doesn't make much progress. [23:09] 13Melanie: "Okay, please get back. I'll try something." [23:10] "Like.. a long way back. You need to get back out the door entirely, maybe cross the road." [23:11] 13Melanie's standing in front of the hedge-spikes, sinking into the ground a little. She quivers and flakes. [23:12] 10Stewart: "What are you trying?" [23:12] 13Melanie: "Destruction." The false-sun is very bright overhead. [23:13] "Are you... gonna be okay?" [23:14] 6Nels is hanging back with the same question. Well. Hanging forwards, because she hasn't yet run away. [23:14] 13Melanie smiles. "I am, thank you for checking! But seriously get away please. Out to the highway." 13The Elemental's Mask looks happy, but her Mien.. does not. Her true mouth twists into an artificial snarl. Something far away in the hedge walls moves with a judder. [23:15] 10Stewart trusts Melanie. He heads back out front. [23:15] 6Okay! Away it is. 00[23:15] <@Crion> A rumble across the asphalt...even if the bass isn't quite satisfying enough. [23:17] 13Just after the others are out of sight, there's a tearing noise of earth which escalates to a roar. The hedgerow begins to shake and collapse. They can hear crashes and the screech of wood-turned-metal. [23:17] 13One of the inner hedge-walls, visible through the gap where the basalt door was, collapses entirely with a huge motion. Then it all comes to an end and the noise begins to abate. [23:19] 13Barely audible: "It's okay now!" 13At the maze junction, Melanie's standing exactly where she was, blinking happily in the bright daylight. Around her the field of spikes has been smashed apart as if by a giant's fist; the ground is rent with hairline cracks, each seemingly a chasm of great depth. The little island of earth where she stands is the only part of the ground that isn't torn [23:19] 13up and churned apart. [23:20] 10Stewart: "Jesus." [23:20] "Nice." [23:20] 6Nels: "...wow." 00[23:22] <@Crion> As soon as the rumbling stops, the Hedge reasserts itself. The ground returns, sort of queasily bouncing back like a bad computer game bug or particularly twisty loam -- but the thorns^3 are still reduced to splinters, and the way ahead, such as it is, is clear. [23:23] 5Tony gives Melanie a thumbs-up and brushes some splinters off his hands. "Hey nice." 00[23:24] <@Crion> This is real, old-school, HEDGE Hedge. Close-cropped grass and deadly vines on the walls. And -- oh. There's a...swamp ahead? 00[23:25] <@Crion> It's not a large swamp. The walls don't even widen. It's just this little strip of Hedge, here, between you and that turn where the door is...and now it's all soupy. [23:25] "Does anyone have a boat." [23:25] 5Tony: "Probably gators in that." [23:26] "Or leeches." 00[23:26] <@Crion> A great splash!!!! And a massive...thing! Rises up to greet you! With huge teeth! https://i.imgur.com/RjGbbbB.jpg 00[23:27] <@Crion> "Hrrrooooooooooommmmm," it says. Then it blinks. [23:27] 5Tony: "Well hey buddy." [23:27] 7Maggie: "Gah!" [23:27] 6Nels blinks. "Hello." 00[23:27] <@Crion> It nods, sagely. "Hroooooooooom." [23:27] 10Stewart starts. What the fuck? [23:27] 13Melanie has no immediate reaction to that. Her briefly delayed reaction is also what the fuck? [23:28] 5Tony: "We're trying to get to that door. Could you help us?" [23:30] 13Quietly: "Why do they make hobgoblins that large? Who did this?" [23:32] 5Tony, to the group: "He wants tribute of some kind. No idea what." 5To the hob: "What do you usually get for tribute? More importantly, what do you want for tribute?" 00[23:33] <@Crion> "Hroooooooooooooooooooooom." [23:33] 5Tony, to the group: "It seeks, 'amusement' " 5Quote-fingers. [23:33] 6Nels blinks again. "Well, that's my cue." [23:34] 13You know what, this could be worse. Incredibly large snakes asking for bribes is no more dangerous than if a smaller snake did the same thing. [23:39] 5Tony nods to Nels and starts clapping. "One? And'a two? And'a..." 5And negotiates the beat from her cue. [23:41] 6Let's go. She's even got a beat, which is good - didn't much care for the original she heard. "I am sitting in the morning at the diner on the corner,"6 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-26hsZqwveA 00[23:44] <@Crion> The big wormy hob is positively dancing about thirty seconds into the song, and as it goes on, its dance gets even more beautiful and more strange. It bends in ways it shouldn't, but those ways are more beautiful than they are terrible (though they're a little bit terrible). When the song ends, the hob bows deeply with a "Hrooooooooooooooom," and suddenly slides back into the Hedge-floor 00[23:44] <@Crion> almost like a flushed toilet, the swamp going with it. 00[23:44] <@Crion> The Hedge is clear up to the right turn ahead. [23:45] 5Tony: "Nice." 00[23:45] <@Crion> Around that turn is...the door. 00[23:45] <@Crion> And three growls that sound almost like chuckles. [23:45] 6Nels: "Thank you again, Stewart." [23:45] 10Stewart: "Don't thank me, thank Suzanne Vega." [23:46] "I wouldn't know who she was without you." 6Still, she nods. "I'll thank her if I ever see her, too." 00[23:46] <@Crion> They slip out of the hedge, these Briarwolves. Three of them. There are needles and knives caught in their fur. Their faces almost look like people. Hideous, rictus-grinning people. With bad noses. They snap their teeth and howl and pounce! [23:46] 13Melanie: "That was great, whoever's it was. We got a break as well as fucking off the big snake." 13Well, the rest of us did. [23:48] 10Stewart: "Oh shit! It's the Korn Word Up video!" [23:49] 5Tony: "I don't know what that is!" [23:50] 10Stewart: "I'll explain later!" [23:50] The what. Melanie snaps a twig off the hedge walls and eats it. [23:50] Tastes like.. a twig, but it gives her magic powers. [23:50] 6The best kind of twig. [23:50] 13*colour [23:55] 5Tony gestures for the earth itself to take a swing at the wolf that just tried to pounce him. Nothing worth writing home about happens. 00[23:57] <@Crion> The wolves leap. One goes for Tony and gets nothing. Two go for Maggie; the first misses her...but the second finds purchase. Session Time: Sun Nov 17 00:00:00 2019 [00:00] 6Nels draws, breathes, aims, exhales, fires. Just the way mom taught. Hits one of the wolves, first one to act - all she could've asked for. 00[00:00] <@Crion> The wolf snarls, but a huge chunk of its shoulder falls away. There's no blood, just soil and trash. [00:00] 10Stewart just gets up in the middle of the wolves, shouting "Go on! Git!" 10while orange sparks trail behind him. [00:08] 13Melanie snaps off more twigs cruelly - and the Hedge is bestirred to action. Vines and thorns lash out from the side-walls, seizing one of the wolves that's assaulted Maggie and dragging it over to her. [00:08] 13She leans back into the thorns (lowercase) listening to their whispers. This place can't attack us without giving up its secrets. [00:09] 13To nobody in particular: "I knew it." [00:21] "Aaaagh!" 7Maggie howls as one of the briarwolves manages to race in and take a bit out of her arm. "C'mere you little s--t!" 7She bears down on the wolf that Nels has already taken some potshots at, bringing one arm way back... as she swings forward, gauges embedded in her rusty skin suddenly bury themselves in the DANGER red, the hot metal of her flesh pings, and a thin pipe running [00:21] 7along her underarm suddenly vents hot steam, the pressure shooting her clenched fist forward with incredible force! [00:22] 7The briarwolf bursts into pieces, wooden shards of bramble bouncing about the landscape! 00[00:23] <@Crion> The Hedge responds. As Stewart wades in, vines snap up from the ground to grab his left leg... [00:24] "Fuck!" 00[00:24] <@Crion> The wolf that failed to strike Maggie pounces! [00:25] 10Stewart lets the vines work *for* him, taking the support their hold offers as a way to put extra weight on that leg as he leans waaaay back, letting the wolf leap right over him and onto the one in Melanie's arms. [00:26] 13Melanie: "Thanks, I'm starting a collection." [00:36] 13Alright, let's get rid of the first one here... as the new wolf stumbles forward blindly, Melanie obligingly holds out its ally to take the blows; then she leans forward and the hedge comes with her. [00:36] Paperbark limbs and the thorned vines of the wall all tangle together, seemingly grown out of the same organism; the briarwolf shreds, coming to thankfully bloodless pieces. [00:36] 13Paperbark limbs and the thorned vines of the wall all tangle together, seemingly grown out of the same organism; the briarwolf shreds, coming to thankfully bloodless pieces. 00[00:37] <@Crion> What used to be a hideous trashwolf crumples up and blows away down a windless hedgerow. [00:37] 6Well. Change targets, exhale, aim, inhale, fire. If she's going to keep doing this, she's going to need better training, but - BLAM - that one was on target. Two for two tonight. 00[00:47] <@Crion> As Maggie swings at the last remaining wolf...rumbling...rumbling...rumbling...the walls burst! 00[00:47] <@Crion> Water begins pouring in! The Hedge is flooding! [00:48] 13Oh for heck's sake. Melanie shakes off bits of dissolving wolf to point at the door just ahead. "John of the Falls is behind the door. He's doing this, presumably as a joke." [00:49] "Can't say as his sense of humor appeals!" 00[00:50] <@Crion> The wolf thrashes around, trying to bite Maggie and failing. [00:52] 6Keep the aim steady, fire again. Remember you need to reload soon. Keep your feet steady despite the water rushing in. There has to be a better way. [00:56] 13There is. Melanie leans back into the lowercase-hedge once again and lowercase-thorns burst forth through the lowercase-trod. Ropy wood rises around the 'wolf' - and pulls it down, bones cracking, drowning the hobgoblin in one foot of water. 00[00:57] <@Crion> It thrashes...thrashes...then goes still, doesn't shudder, just falls apart, a wave of trash drifting away. 00[00:57] <@Crion> The water stops pouring from the walls. 00[00:57] <@Crion> The sea level lowers. [00:57] "Ugh." 00[00:58] <@Crion> Now everything's just...damp. [00:58] 10Stewart staggers free of the withdrawing vines. Where's Maggie? 00[00:58] <@Crion> And squishy. [00:58] 5Tony, who has mostly been gesturing at the ground and is now shaking a leg to keep his jeans from being so damn soggy at the ankle. "Everyone alive?" [00:59] 7Maggie's tipping water out of her shoes irritably. "More or less. Stupid critters." [00:59] 6Nels: "I should have worn wading boots. Not a scratch otherwise." [00:59] 10Stewart: "Maggie, you got bit. Let me see that." [01:01] "Aw, you're a sweetie, Stewart, but don't worry about it. I heal real quick. Watch!" 7She rolls up a sleeve, and next to the gash down her arm are several large dents in the shape of briarwolf teeth marks. A few seconds pass, there's a screeee, and one of the dents pounds itself out from the inside! [01:02] 13Melanie crosses the squelchy earth to the basalt door. She stands contemplating it, arms folded, and doesn't yet knock thrice. [01:02] 10Stewart: "We could get attacked like, immediately. Come on, it'll just take a second." [01:02] 13The Hedge doesn't care for John any more than it does for the motley, and it's informed on him.. but it's really up to their contact whether this is over yet. [01:02] 7She shrugs and holds out her arm. 00[01:05] <@Crion> Ahead of them, the door beckons. It doesn't seem to be going anywhere this time. [01:05] 10Stewart runs a finger down the split seam and there's a flare of green light and the wound fills in with brass-colored pixels that increase rapidly in resolution until they're contiguous with the rest of Maggie's arm. "It's a relief to see some proper warriors come through Lut Gholein." [01:06] "Eh?" [01:06] 10Stewart blinks and looks up. "Huh?" [01:06] 7Maggie: "You said something about 'loot golain'." [01:07] 10Stewart: "Oh. That's a town in Diablo 2. I don't know, I must've been thinking of what the town healer says." [01:07] 5Tony: "Oh thank god so this isn't something I'm not getting." [01:07] "Anyway, you're right as rain now." [01:07] "Who's in Diablo 1 and 2? That Arnold guy again?" [01:07] "Those are video games." [01:08] 6Nels: "I think this talk can wait until we get back. I still only barely understand what those are." [01:08] 10Stewart: "If you want more Schwarzenegger you're a couple years away from his other best movie, which is called Predator." 00[01:10] <@Crion> They stand outside the Gate of Horn as the tide rolls back, and will see what's behind it...soon. 00[01:10] <@Crion> --Fin 02[07:37] * Disconnected Session Close: Sun Nov 17 07:37:01 2019 Session Start: Sun Nov 17 14:22:09 2019 Session Ident: #gofetch 03[14:22] * Now talking in #gofetch 03[14:22] * Topic is 'Who botches the Botchmen?' 03[14:22] * Set by Crion!Crion@sorcery-puhjpa.fios.verizon.net on Sun Sep 22 02:37:29 2019 03[14:22] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Crion Session Time: Mon Nov 18 00:00:00 2019 03[00:21] * banana is now known as banana|split 03[05:27] * banana|split is now known as banana 02[15:08] * Disconnected 02[15:08] * Attempting to rejoin channel #gofetch 03[15:08] * Rejoined channel #gofetch 03[15:08] * Topic is 'Who botches the Botchmen?' 03[15:08] * Set by Crion!Crion@sorcery-puhjpa.fios.verizon.net on Sun Sep 22 02:37:29 2019 02[15:08] * trenchfoot (dani@sorcery-jcvlv4.in.comcast.net) Quit (NickServ (GHOST command used by trenchfoot_)) 03[15:08] * trenchfoot_ is now known as trenchfoot 02[15:10] * @Crion (Crion@sorcery-puhjpa.fios.verizon.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 02[15:39] * Disconnected 02[15:39] * Attempting to rejoin channel #gofetch 03[15:39] * Rejoined channel #gofetch 03[15:39] * Topic is 'Who botches the Botchmen?' 03[15:39] * Set by Crion!Crion@sorcery-puhjpa.fios.verizon.net on Sun Sep 22 02:37:29 2019 03[15:39] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Crion 02[15:40] * Crion_ (Crion@sorcery-puhjpa.fios.verizon.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 02[18:26] * Disconnected 02[18:29] * Attempting to rejoin channel #gofetch 03[18:29] * Rejoined channel #gofetch 03[18:29] * Topic is 'Who botches the Botchmen?' 03[18:29] * Set by Crion!Crion@sorcery-puhjpa.fios.verizon.net on Sun Sep 22 02:37:29 2019 03[18:29] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Crion Session Time: Tue Nov 19 00:00:00 2019 03[02:39] * gulbanana (banana@sorcery-53cd6u.iinet.net.au) has joined #gofetch 02[02:57] * gulbanana (banana@sorcery-53cd6u.iinet.net.au) Quit (Quit: ) 03[17:10] * CBN2 (CBN@sorcery-8df6hg.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) has joined #gofetch 02[17:14] * CBN (CBN@sorcery-4r61na.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[17:35] * CBN2 is now known as CBN 02[18:26] * trenchfoot (dani@sorcery-jcvlv4.in.comcast.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[18:45] * trenchfoot (dani@sorcery-jcvlv4.in.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch Session Time: Wed Nov 20 00:00:00 2019 [11:33] 13It's a big-screen day. Melanie's not exactly catching up on the games she missed - that would be flat infeasible for NBA, let alone NFL. She often has 2016-2019 highlights on while working though, the kind of recommendation you dig up from weird blogs or any game with the Ravens (masochism). [11:34] 13What this means in a largely empty Wherehouse is that she's leaning on the sofa, half-watching yet another punt but with a little more attention focused on her Chromebook. The crowd's jeers are louder than her lackadaisical typing. [11:36] 10There's the sound of an elevator door dinging and the Wherehouse's portal admits Stewart, dressed for the weather and carrying a heavy-looking bag of apples. But he's got a way of making whatever he's carrying look heavy. "Hey, Melanie," he says over the jeering and the typing before he sets the apples down in the kitchenette. [11:37] Melanie closes the laptop and smiles. "That's like two whole crumbles." [11:41] 13(Gerry Sandusky - the other one - is calling the play. The Ravens have possession but it's 4th & way-too-many.) [11:42] 10Stewart hangs up his coat, buffs an apple on his shirt, and settles down on the sofa opposite the end Melanie's leaning on. "There was a deal on honeycrisps at the market. They're really good for eating raw but I bet Tony or Maggie could bake something amazing." [11:42] 10He looks at the screen. "Football, huh?" [11:44] 13Melanie briefly entertains weird feelings about eating an apple raw. Would that be cannibalism? "Last season, just before the playoffs. Do you, um." [11:44] "Okay, I'll try to think of a nicer way to say this." [11:44] "Stewart, do you know what football is?" [11:44] 10Stewart blinks. [11:44] 13It sounds like a joke. [11:44] "What was the mean way to say that?" [11:45] "Ah, crap. There has to be a way to do like.. a thing with your voice where people can tell that you're laughing with them instead of at them." [11:46] 10Stewart waves a hand. "It's fine, I'm not offended. I'm really curious about your heuristics, though, for stuff like that. Yes, I know what football is." [11:47] 13Melanie: "I feel like I used to know a trick like that.. or maybe I always was laughing at people. I was just, you know, with the videogames. Instead of ballgames. That's how it goes sometimes!" [11:49] 10Stewart: "Yeah, I get it. I'm not, like a big sports guy. I followed them more before- when I was younger. Football a little bit but mainly baseball. My dad's a big Orioles fan." [11:51] 13Melanie: "I don't know a ton about baseball, though it's obviously the most American. It's a cool game... I wonder." [11:51] 13She makes a little grumbling noise. "The thing is, you can play pickup anywhere, and every school's got their football, sometimes hockey and wrestling. Baseball feels more.. remote? Like an elite thing, if you're not from a big city." [11:53] 10Stewart: "It's got a higher infrastructure floor, I guess you'd call it. Like the minimum amount of space and equipment you need is more. But I dunno, I think it's partly just that kids do pickup games less than they used to. My dad used to talk about just taking a bat and a ball to an empty lot, marking off bases with chalk on the ground..." [11:57] "Football's very American too. Different concepts of America." [11:59] 13Melanie: "That's cool. We didn't have anything like that in Westminster, just school fields and one big park the county rented out. There wasn't a lot of, um.. I can't imagine Westminster kids taking the initiative to set up a game like that?" [11:59] "Like you said it might be a modern thing. We mostly had Whatsapp, church, dances and football the adults organised." [12:00] 10Stewart: "It's probably a generational thing. People take as much initiative as they have to, and there's a lot more stuff being pushed on kids than there used to be, even when you or I were kids, nevermind in The Past." [12:03] 13These are not memories Melanie was aware she retained. It's turning out to be a lot easier to pull things from the flow of conversation, particularly when relaxed or drunk, than it is to stand alone and strain to recall. "In the city you'd also have stranger danger, parents not wanting kids outside in case they like, join gangs or go to rainbow parties or whatever the news says this year." [12:03] "Of course both of us have as a matter of reality joined gangs." [12:05] 10Stewart: "Yeah, that sunk in for me around the third or fourth police officer I was an accessory to the murder of." [12:06] "Now I'm engaging in criminal conspiracies, buying a gun... I've turned to a life of crime. No two ways about it." [12:07] 13Melanie: "Do you really need a gun? That's, like, the most salient reliance there is. You'd be telling the Wyrd something new about who you want to be..." [12:11] 10Stewart: "...I dunno. Like, my job takes me a lot of weird places alone, where you guys aren't around to protect me, and there've been times I was in for-real danger. I don't know if a gun would've made me safer, but it's easier to think of times I'd regret not having a weapon than times I'd regret having one. Maybe it's just nerves talking. This Huntsman stuff is really fucking with me." [12:13] 13Melane in 2014 would have been horrified by the idea of attacking a police officer. By 2016, not so much; she made a lot of new friends at college and she was starting to get an inkling about the way the world really is; it's still never something she'd have done herself. [12:13] 13In 2019, those first shut-in months after coming out the other side of centuries' forgetting and dissociation.. by the time she'd reacquired any sort of sense of common humanity she'd read enough to realise cops don't share it. [12:13] "That's what they do I think. Okay. Advice.. a gun might be useful, but you're really fast, do you have a reliable way to escape stuff?" [12:14] 10Stewart: "You mean besides what we all do?" [12:17] 13Melanie: "Yeah, like a way to get away from things that are swinging a weapon instead of trying to tie you up." [12:17] 10Stewart: "Not... yet. I'm working on something, actually. Maybe I can--" [12:17] 10Stewart makes a small but complicated gesture and his skin gets all fucked up. Like he breaks out in a dense yellow-brown rash, ridges like gills or scars flaking all over his face and hands. He strains, and every atom of his body quivers... and then he returns to normal, slumping against the sofa. [12:17] "Not yet." [12:17] 13Melanie gestures at Joe Flacco on the television. "He's got an arm, but if he could run it wouldn't matter so much that all the receivers are garbage." [12:17] "Who'd you make a deal with for five-second leprosy?" [12:18] 10Stewart: "It's Royal Autumn. I'm supposed to turn into a bunch of leaves and fly away." [12:18] "OH that would be so cool." [12:19] "Right??" [12:19] "I can't quite stick the landing, though." [12:19] "More practice." [12:19] 13Melanie looks excited, but guilty. "I'm.. sorry though. Leprosy. That's a bad joke, I don't know how to be funny without being mean. Forgive me?" [12:19] "Again." [12:20] 10Stewart: "Melanie, I spend all day on the internet professionally. Nobody knows how to be funny without being mean." [12:21] "Anyway, like, running only saves *me*. What if there's something I need to stand and fight for? What if there's someone I need to protect?" [12:21] "So the autumn wizards teach you real.. stage magic stuff. Are there illusions which can deceive an attacker more generally?" [12:22] "Like, to protect, airquotes," 13Melanie makes the airquotes with stick-fingers that bend impressively, "someone." [12:23] 10Stewart: "Yeah, you know, a completely hypothetical, random person." [12:23] 13Melanie: "She'd be prettty lucky, if she was real." [12:24] 10Stewart snorts. "I wonder." [12:24] "Like, I told you about the Lord Sage, right? The guy with the ridiculous title. I'm sort of... apprenticed to him." [12:24] "We're all going to help, all the courts, that's what we're for, but you've got motivation and you're good at pretty much everything." [12:25] 13Melanie: "It's a serious tactical-romantic advantage." [12:25] 10Stewart raises a finger. "You know the flip side of not fully appreciating when you come off as mean is that you can be really disarmingly sweet sometimes." [12:26] "Eh?" [12:26] "Nothing, it was just... that's really nice of you to say." [12:26] "Well, it's true. What does a Lord-Apprentice do?" [12:28] "Mostly whatever the Lord Sage says. Basically in addition to the King I have another boss, which is a little unusual. Like we're a court of specialists, is how it was described to me, and everyone's sort of an expert in their competence. Lauren's a tech genius and Gerald's like a tier one operator security guy. But outside of their competencies no one really pulls rank on anyone else. It's [12:28] not that kind of org." [12:29] "I worry, though. Like Santander, the Lord Sage, is really cool. He's smart and charismatic and unflappable and funny, but he's not so funny you can't take him seriously, which is a real accomplishment considering his whole deal." [12:30] "He doesn't wear a wedding ring, though. Like that's none of my business, obviously, and there's a billion different explanations." [12:30] 13Or it says it isn't that kind of org. Summer put Melanie in some kind of weird power-philosophy struggle from day one... [12:30] "Well, yes." [12:30] "But?" [12:31] "But with Lauren and me, we're... like I don't want to jump the gun or anything, but we're not goofing off. We're actually doing this, uh, relationship-wise. And I look at the higher-ups in the Court, I look at the guys whose, whose career track I'm on, and I wonder... am I in the wrong line of work to be in a relationship? Is it impractical? Is it unwise? Is it cruel?" [12:34] 13Melanie finds a remote and mutes the TV. It's not like the Ravens are going to make back fourteen points with five minutes on the clock. "Okay. With the caveat that my ~romantic experience~ is.. very complicated, and I haven't exactly had a real relationship, probably, come on, what the heck?" [12:34] "Can I be blunt here? The number one danger to you or Lauren comes from faerie monsters sending robot assassins! They don't give a shit whether we're happy!" [12:35] "If you can delve into occult secrets and wield magycks beyond the ken of man then all that's gonna do is give you both an edge!" [12:36] 10Stewart: "I mean you're right, but like, you're also kind of not. One of the first things Santander ever said to me, was, I asked him what it takes to be a great magician, and he said, 'you must become intimate with folly, failure, and death, without becoming a fool, a failure, or dead'." [12:37] "And part of what that means, that I've noticed so far, is that no matter what I learn, no matter what I see, no matter what I do, I always, *always* sit in the shallow end of the pool." [12:37] 13Melanie: "So you're worried about taking the risk we already live with and making it riskier?" [12:38] "That's not impractical, because the risk has rewards but.. I get what you mean about cruelty." [12:38] "Yeah! Like it's one thing to say that the world is full of wonders and terrors, it's another to deliberately, repeatedly expose yourself to them on a professional basis. We didn't invite the Huntsman. I kind of did invite Society." [12:39] "You really can't blame yourself for that guy, he's out there. It's not like you're wrong, but.. can I ask why?" [12:39] "I didn't *realize* that was what I was doing, and I'm taking zero responsibility for the fucked up shit he does and did." [12:39] "Why what?" [12:39] 13Melanie: "Sorry, give me a second to phrase this." [12:39] 10Stewart listens. He's got an apple to finish. [12:41] 13It's important to get this one right. She's really not sure Stewart is wrong, but... "Why do you expose yourself to these things, leaving Lauren aside? If she's a reason to lower your risk or a weight that holds you back... what about yourself? Why would it be okay for you to lose yourself otherwise?" [12:42] 10Stewart thinks about this for some time. [12:45] "I mean... it isn't, right? That's kind of-- like it is stupid and selfish for me, on some level, to do that work. I've got a great job, a great girlfriend, great friends, and I'm part of a community that works tirelessly, despite all its differences and all the little pains and stressors that arise, to take care of each other. By any objective standard I have a really great life. And shit, [12:45] if I want trouble, like you say, trouble finds us whether we want it or not." [12:45] "But..." [12:47] 13What if Lauren is a millstone around Stewart's neck, a tie to the world who keeps him from an alien greatness and from the dangers that would grant true power? On some level, Melanie wants to shake her hand for it. But that's just one construction of the facts and it might not be the ideal narrative for a Reader. [12:48] "But it's out there, you know? All that stuff is out there whether we correlate our contents or not. So how do I not do that work? How do I turn away from that? It's dangerous and it forces you to constantly re-schematize and see yourself as a smaller and smaller piece of a greater and more awesome whole... but it's so irresistibly compelling and fascinating that I don't understand how [12:48] anyone who knows this stuff is out there doesn't dive into this work full time." [12:48] "I play video games for a living. Do you have any idea how many bricks 15 year old me would've shit if I could go back and tell him I play video games for a living?" [12:49] "And it's just... it's just the thing I do so I can sustain the other thing." [12:49] 13Melanie: "..you know, you should probably check if that's something she loves about you." [12:49] "It's not okay for me to lose myself. I don't want to lose myself. But if that's the bet I have to put on the table to do this work, then I'll do it." [12:50] "Like if it wasn't for Lauren, if you'd told me in advance that getting that token would've put me on Society's radar... I still would've done it." [12:50] "Like, I am not really in Lauren's mindset here for a variety of reasons, but it strikes me that she wants you, and you are describing an essential part of who you are, that someone, who is she, would want." [12:51] 10Stewart makes a face. "I can't talk to her about this stuff when there's a gun to our heads. 'Hey babe, just want to take a quick time out from worrying about the creature that got enslaved and possessed by the monster that stole you away to hell to double-check that you're cool with how weird I am'." [12:51] 13Not that anyone would specifically be attracted to assaults by a metaphor that causes cancer. [12:51] "Like you're right, that's a conversation we need to have. But this is so not the time." [12:52] 13Melanie: "So we'll deal with the terminator first." [12:52] 10Stewart: "Yeah, as soon as I find out what John of the Falls's fucking problem is." [12:53] "There's a bunch of cliches out there which are like, actually you should always talk about things! It's healthy! But that's Hollywood movies and advice columns? I'm really not... sure." [12:53] 10Stewart: "I don't want to keep secrets from her." [12:54] "Sometimes I have to, right? That's inevitable between any two people, even people who love each other." [12:54] "There are probably things in, um, relationships like everything else where there's something you can't deal with yet but can put off, and that can't always be the wrong decision." [12:54] "But I really hate keeping secrets from Lauren." [12:54] "Well, good." [12:55] 13Keeping secrets from yourself is much easier anyway. [12:58] 10Looking at the screen: "Oh, the Ravens lost." [12:59] 13Melanie: "Oh, I know. It's a 2018 game." [13:00] "They lose in such a calming way, like it's pretty hopeless from the start instead of struggling like a pathetic fly in the web. And.. they're the hometown boys. It's our loss." [13:05] 10Stewart: "Yeah." [13:05] "Oh hey speaking of ravens, did you know Poe is still alive?" [13:05] "Like, Edgar Allan." [13:06] "Edgar Allen who?" 13Knowledge gap or memory gap? It's still hard to be certain sometimes. [13:08] 10Stewart: "Edgar Allan Poe! He wrote the Cask of Amontillado, Murders in the Rue Morgue, Fall of the House of Usher. The Ravens, the Bells, Annabel Lee... he was one of the best American writers of the 19th century. A master of short horror fiction, basically invented the detective story, wrote a lot of poems that are super fun to read out loud... also kind of a creep." [13:09] 13Not ringing a bell, though detective stories are great. "If he's survived this long.. another vampire?" [13:10] "Pity it's not Mark Twain!" [13:10] 10Stewart: "I'm not sure. It might be some other kind of occultism." [13:12] "I could look up Twain sometime... maybe he's still alive. I looked up Poe cause he's local. His 'grave' is right around the corner from Lexington Market, outside." [13:12] 13We've left confidences territory, but that's fine. Stewart's also a good source of information, as long as you like your information weird. "There seem to be arbitrarily many, right? You could drive yourself nuts with systematisation- I mean feel free to, maybe that's Lord-Sagacious. But like, the way I see it it's, um, suspicious." [13:14] 10Stewart: "What do you mean?" [13:15] 13Melanie: "All these overlapping spirit realms and ancient deities and magical energies. Chi, willwork, sekhem, blood magic.. what it means, the relevant meaning to human beings, is that beyond the world which we've mastered and over which we squabble is.. darkness, something requiring inhuman illumination." [13:16] "We live in Plato's cave and the shadow puppets are HD, 3D, VR. It's still a cave, a prison cell. The darkness is freedom- freedom isn't safe." [13:18] "I don't want to go out into the darkness and contend with the weirder-than-wyrd, though I admire you doing it- I'd like to- to turn around. To stand between the fire and the puppetmasters, make sure their shadow play is PG-rated. Keep people from being burned or blinded." [13:19] "There's no sense complaining that the real world outside the cave is bigger and stranger than we could believe, but we really seem to be able to, um, limit encroachment. Straddling that line gives us power over it." [13:22] 10Stewart: "Where do you draw the line, though? Like the darkness isn't where the cave opens up. It's just where the light stops. But if there are people out in the dark, who see by their own lights, who tell their own stories, who can be kin to us... shouldn't we want to reach out?" [13:22] "I'm thinking of the vampires again." [13:24] 13Melanie: "Hmm. I think those guys pretty much choose whether they want to live inside the cave." [13:25] "So, not our responsibility either way, you're saying?" [13:25] "No I mean, in or out is fine, but you can't stand behind us and occasionally snatch someone away into the dark." [13:26] 10Stewart: "Yeah... it's interesting. There's a sense that a lot of them are like us... but some of them are like Them." [13:26] "If they're going to make accomodations with this, Nels called it the 'Doctor of Sciences'.. that's not a functioning society. There's holes in it." [13:35] 10Stewart: "Yeah... though to be fair to them it sounds like a matter of necessity than desire. Like from what I heard they're not sure they *can* kill him, and if that bet goes wrong things get much, much worse." [13:36] "As excuses go, it's one." [13:36] 10Stewart: "What do you think we'd do if like... a Keeper moved in." [13:37] "Like just, moved into town, and was... around." [13:38] 13Melanie frowns. "Die." [13:39] "It would be very very unpleasant! And it's unlikely or impossible." [13:39] 10Stewart: "But if it did happen, you have to think, the paramount poliitcal concern would be trying to tie it down in as many oaths as possible, and making sure as many people as possible stay as far away as possible." [13:41] "Maybe.. I don't know. I think a lot of people would just fight to the death." [13:41] 10Stewart nods. "Yeah... it's not a perfect analogy." [13:42] 13Melanie: "A society formed around something like that.. I don't think there would be a Summer Court." [13:42] 10Stewart: "Vampires wouldn't need one of those anyway." [13:42] "Like, all else aside, the... ecosystem is different." [13:43] "Forming a Summer Court is a prey response." [13:43] "Vampires are super not prey." [13:43] "Are there more vampires than the other kinds of dudes, or are they just really.. prominent? Harder to ignore?" [13:43] 13Melanie: "You know, if we're talking kinds of dudes." [13:45] 10Stewart: "Some of it's geographically contingent. Like I gather that vampires tend to favor urban areas because they can blend in easier and hunt easier, and the high population density also makes organizing and self-policing easier. Vampires also have a unique impact on the community. If you added a hundred willworkers to the city of Baltimore tomorrow, there might be more suspicious [13:45] explosions? If you added a hundred vampires, you're talking about blood in the streets." [13:45] "Out in the rural areas, that's more commonly werewolf territory." [13:47] 13Melanie: "My question would be whether this is cross-cultural. With the arbitrariness... do they have werewolves as we know them in India? The werewolf legends seem like they're pretty accurate, but they're also local. Central European imports." [13:47] "Ah, see, now you're thinking like a Lord Sage." [13:48] "This has got to be comprehension bias, but the Wyrd makes more sense than the rest in that context because it is arbitrary, contingent, born of the unconscious..." [13:49] 10Stewart: "You could build a whole discipline out of studying the way culture shapes and is shaped by the supernatural. A sort of, cryptoanthropology." [13:50] 13Melanie: "Augh. It is fascinating, but also exhausting. Like.. this conversation makes me tired, like hard work." [13:50] 13Melanie: "Augh. It is fascinating, but also exhausting. Like.. this conversation makes me tired, like hard work." [13:50] "I don't mean that I'm not having a good time, please don't take it like that!" [13:52] "It's just weird, because like.. I could talk forever basically? About football or about your girlfriend or about Nickel and Heidegger, whatever. But there's something in the sagely stuff which feels too.. something." [13:52] 13Does Stewart know what she means, because Melanie doesn't. [13:52] 10Stewart: "It makes you try to operate at both your speeds." [13:55] 13Melanie would have been pretty upset by that idea a month ago. Today, she still is. But she's still here, and she's not about to send Stewart into a cycle of failure-to-manage. "Yeah." [13:55] "Like it's a problem to deal with, a battle." [13:56] "Supernatural intrusions, I mean. They happen, that's fine, but I want to.. deal with them. Put it aside. Become real again." [13:57] "How the heck do you do it?" [13:58] "How do you study-per-se this stuff without becoming detached and unpersonal?" [13:59] 10Stewart: "I don't. Like I don't deal with it. I don't put it aside. What I want is to *integrate* it. Like... you're Melanie Lucas, right. You were born Melanie Lucas. What happened in between... that was something that was done to you. Your life was interrupted. Massively, brutally so... but because of the way time bent around when you were taken and when you escaped, it *was* an [13:59] interruption." [13:59] "You have the ability to... to reconcile the before-and-after." [13:59] "Jesus, that's news to me." [14:00] "I don't. My... I can't have my old life back. It's someone else's life now. I don't want hardly any of it. I wouldn't know what to do with it if I had it." [14:00] 13Melanie shakes her head with a slight rattle. "Like I thought I was doing pretty okay with having them both.. happened, actually reconciling? I appreciate the idea, lol." [14:00] "That is reconciliation." [14:01] "There was, um. This is going to be the kind of story that makes someone half-jokingly ask if I know what football is." [14:01] "I want to hear." [14:02] "But Lauren and I watched the most recent Star Wars movie the other night. There's a new one coming out. And it's, you know, it's fine, whatever. It's watchable in the way big movies nowadays are basically all watchable. But there was a bit in this one that really stuck with me." [14:03] 13Oh yeah, that might be worth watching at some point. Lasers whoosh etc [14:03] "There's the bad guy, and the hero, and they're sort of into each other. The bad guy is trying to get the hero to join him but she's resisting, because it goes against everything she thinks and wants to think about herself. She thinks that the key to moving forward is to connect with the past. The history of the Jedi, her own family, stuff like that." [14:04] "Oh, so it's that thing where like a fifth of all media seems like it's about us, if you're feeling down enough." [14:05] "But the bad guy sees it completely differently. He like, rejected his family, rejected his teachers, rejected his own name. He says to her, 'Let the past die. Kill it, if you have to. It's the only way to become who you were meant to be.'." [14:08] 10Stewart: "My old life is over. The person I was died eleven years ago. The man who picked up that torch is someone I barely know. And I'm unrecognizably different from both of them." [14:09] "But everything I see, everything I learn, everyone I meet... it all casts a little more light on where I am now. It lights the path forward." [14:09] "This is how I learn who I am. How could that be impersonal?" [14:11] 13Melanie: "Well, that's not the word I used. But I'm certain you're gonna learn that you are a person, beats me which one." [14:12] 10Stewart wipes his eyes. "Yeah. Like if you'd asked me a month ago what I'd be doing now, I would... not have guessed basically any of this." [14:13] "Two months ago I wouldn't believe you if you'd told me I'd made this many new friends, nevermind everything else." [14:13] "I don't really know who I am, I guess. I'm finding out as I go." [14:14] 13Melanie: "Same. But I would probably have believed you if you'd said I was some kind of temporary ghost." [14:15] 10Stewart: "But one of those really badass ghosts that can throw beds around and tear the furniture up. A real haunted burial ground kind of ghost." [14:16] "Sure, at least the kind which would argue with you while haunting you. I'm not arguing now, because there's no reason this stuff should make the same sense between people, but I wouldn't... characterise the difference between lives as you have." [14:17] 10Stewart: "What's it like for you?" [14:19] "I'm not interrupted, I'm changed. I know who I was meant to be. She's right there, which is kind of amazing, and occasionally really weird. I'm glad someone's there to be almost-Melanie, but *I* can't do it. I don't want to. I was trash mostly, she's.. done things right." 13Melanie sits on the sofa arm, eyes closed in contemplation. "I have to be someone else, nothing's meant anymore, [14:19] I get to pick which is.. actually really hard, but." [14:20] 13There is apparently no conclusion to this. [14:21] 10Stewart: "Is there nothing from your old life you miss at all?" [14:22] "There was." [14:22] "I mourned those things and let them go about a hundred years ago. Some things maybe I shouldn't have moved on from but, you know, mental self-defence." [14:23] 13Melanie: "I don't know if that's true. What I just said." [14:23] 10Stewart shrugs. "Is it useful to you?" [14:26] 13Melanie: "I used to be worried all the time and now I'm often confused instead." [14:27] 10That makes Stewart laugh. [14:27] "That's... that's a pretty good deal, from where I'm sitting." [14:28] 13And Melanie in turn. "I function better confused. I'm not indecisive, I can do things and not know whether they were right instead of, like, not doing things at all." [14:29] 10Stewart: "Gerald calls that MAPing. It's an acronym. Maintain, Assess, Proceed." [14:30] "I've seen that, along with OODA loop. I've got a book about squad tactics on here somewhere." 13She gestures to the laptop. [14:32] "Emotionally the thing I miss is being good at basketball- you'd think it might be family or something but that's one of the ways she's influenced me I think, an estrangement or something- anyway I don't miss playing it because I wouldn't be any good anymore." [14:33] "Intellectually- skin, I think, was probably good. I genuinely do not recall, but it must have been pretty good and I do sometimes think about that." [14:33] "Maybe not, though? Maggie's fine." [14:34] 13Melanie opens her eyes again. [14:34] 13Well, honestly, in the context of the conversation: eye-shaped wooden sockets. But by convention, [14:36] 10Stewart: "In a lot of ways, if you take it as a point-to-point comparison of objective traits, I came out way ahead. I lost a ton of weight, I don't seem to have asthma anymore, it takes a lot less work to keep my skin clear. I picked up-- I kind of, learned a little bit about a lot of different things." [14:39] "There are a lot of random upsides. I know how to think now, which is honestly a blessing. I'm stronger than I ever was, even though I used to work out every day. Probably never have to burn carbs again." [14:40] "I miss... something I do whenever I get the chance to is, I ask people who've been back for a while if, after everything they've seen, everything they've done, everything they've been through... if they had the chance, if they could... undo it all. If they could go back to the moment they were taken and just live their old lives forward, to wherever that led, would they do it?" [14:40] 13Melanie: "Are you asking me?" [14:40] "It's ok if you are, and ok if you aren't." [14:40] 13It wouldn't be ok if someone else did. [14:41] 13Maybe a couple of people. [14:41] 10Stewart shakes his head. "No. No, not you. I mean like... I asked the King. I asked Santander." [14:41] "I wouldn't ask Lauren, even." [14:42] "But no one I've asked has ever said 'yes'." [14:42] "Well, now I don't want to volunteer it and break your streak!" [14:44] 10Stewart: "If you want to tell me I'd be happy to listen! It's just, you know, I think of us as within the same cohort, even if we were gone for way longer. It's about how long we've been back." [14:44] "What preoccupies me is what kind of peace we make with this shit as time goes on." [14:44] *even if you were gone for [14:46] 13Melanie: "I want to move forward from where we are, no matter what it takes. I want to make sure other people can move forward. It's one of the few simple things." [14:47] 10Stewart nods. "Yeah." [14:47] "Yeah." 03[15:43] * banana is now known as banana|peels 02[18:26] * Disconnected 02[18:26] * Attempting to rejoin channel #gofetch 03[18:26] * Rejoined channel #gofetch 03[18:26] * Topic is 'Who botches the Botchmen?' 03[18:26] * Set by Crion!Crion@sorcery-puhjpa.fios.verizon.net on Sun Sep 22 02:37:29 2019 02[18:27] * @Crion (Crion@sorcery-puhjpa.fios.verizon.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[18:28] * Crion_ is now known as Crion 03[18:28] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Crion Session Time: Thu Nov 21 00:00:00 2019 03[02:47] * banana|peels is now known as banana 03[03:25] * banana is now known as banana|split 03[05:31] * banana|split is now known as banana 03[09:39] * GreatClownVoxPVoxD (VoxPVoxD@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) has joined #gofetch 03[09:39] * VoxPrimey (VoxPrime@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) has joined #gofetch 02[09:39] * VoxPVoxD (VoxPVoxD@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 02[09:41] * VoxPrime (VoxPrime@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 02[12:17] * trenchfoot (dani@sorcery-jcvlv4.in.comcast.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 02[12:46] * VoxPrimey (VoxPrime@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) Quit (Quit: ) 03[12:46] * VoxPrime (VoxPrime@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) has joined #gofetch 02[13:31] * GreatClownVoxPVoxD (VoxPVoxD@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) Quit (Quit: dammitwho sucks) 03[13:31] * VoxPVoxD (VoxPVoxD@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) has joined #gofetch 03[14:41] * trenchfoot (dani@sorcery-jcvlv4.in.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch Session Time: Fri Nov 22 00:00:00 2019 03[01:43] * CBN2 (CBN@sorcery-02u3n7.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) has joined #gofetch 03[01:44] * CBN3 (CBN@sorcery-kb1h3g.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) has joined #gofetch 02[01:47] * CBN (CBN@sorcery-8df6hg.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[01:48] * CBN (CBN@sorcery-mv02e9.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) has joined #gofetch 02[01:48] * CBN2 (CBN@sorcery-02u3n7.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 02[01:49] * CBN3 (CBN@sorcery-kb1h3g.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[02:14] * banana is now known as banana|split 02[04:03] * trenchfoot (dani@sorcery-jcvlv4.in.comcast.net) Quit (Connection closed) 03[04:03] * trenchfoot (dani@sorcery-jcvlv4.in.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 03[09:42] * banana|split is now known as banana 03[21:03] * CBN2 (CBN@sorcery-mjuesh.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) has joined #gofetch 02[21:07] * CBN (CBN@sorcery-mv02e9.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) Session Time: Sat Nov 23 00:00:00 2019 03[09:04] * CBN3 (CBN@sorcery-hnk7qk.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) has joined #gofetch 02[09:07] * CBN2 (CBN@sorcery-mjuesh.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 02[12:38] * VoxPVoxD (VoxPVoxD@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) Quit (*.net *.split) 02[12:38] * banana (banana@sorcery-skam65.com) Quit (*.net *.split) 02[12:38] * CBN3 (CBN@sorcery-hnk7qk.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) Quit (*.net *.split) 02[12:38] * VoxPrime (VoxPrime@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) Quit (*.net *.split) 03[12:46] * VoxPVoxD (VoxPVoxD@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) has joined #gofetch 03[12:46] * CBN3 (CBN@sorcery-hnk7qk.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) has joined #gofetch 03[12:46] * banana (banana@sorcery-skam65.com) has joined #gofetch 03[12:46] * VoxPrime (VoxPrime@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) has joined #gofetch 03[13:48] * banana is now known as banana|peels 03[20:22] * CBN3 is now known as CBN 03[20:53] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 03[20:57] * banana|peels is now known as banana 00[20:59] <@Crion> 00[20:59] <@Crion> 00[20:59] <@Crion> 00[20:59] <@Crion> 00[20:59] <@Crion> 00[20:59] <@Crion> 00[20:59] <@Crion> 00[20:59] <@Crion> 00[21:01] <@Crion> Stone brambles broken, toothy dragons burbled, and trash wolves banished behind them, the motley stands triumphant outside the Gate of Horn into...the Falls. 00[21:02] <@Crion> As you well know, you will be passing physically into the dreaming-place of John of the Falls when you step through this Gate. As you also well know, you will be doing so physically, not as dreamers, with all that entails. The horn-knocker awaits...but you have time to prepare, if you so desire. [21:08] 10Stewart takes the knocker and gives it one, two, three-- [21:14] 6Nels has nothing to prepare but reloading her revolver. Guns are nice like that. 00[21:16] <@Crion> The knocks redound upon the hedgewalls, somehow, and echo even though the acoustics should kill them -- and then the great basalt door cracks, open, just, a bit...and a massive black claw reaches out and pushes the door open further. Two coal-red burning eyes peer out from the depths, and a voice booms: "THOSE WHO WISH TO PASS MUST SWEAR AS ONE. SAY 'AYE' AND THEN REPEAT...OR WITHDRAW." [21:16] 13Melanie stands by the fallen, sodden hedgewalls with her arms folded as far as they go. She's beginning to shed thorns, little stubby white things with the strength of steel which were unkind to the briarwolves. She's less concerned than earlier with being polite to Mr. of the Falls; he's been testing her friends, presumably for fun, in a genuinely dangerous way. [21:17] 5Tony looks around, quietly popping a bit of dirt into his mouth and swallowing. "Swearing sight unseen seems like a bad idea, but we kinda have to here, right?" [21:17] 10Stewart: "It's his house." [21:17] 5Tony shrugs. "Fair enough yeah." [21:17] 10To the thing behind the gate: "What are your terms?" 00[21:17] <@Crion> It simply stares back. [21:18] 6Nels: "Guess it's 'aye' and then terms." [21:18] 13Melanie: "We won't be bound by a promise we haven't heard yet." [21:18] "On three?" [21:19] 10Whatever. "We've got to 'Aye' to hear the terms. Then we swear." [21:19] "Aye." [21:20] 13That's not on three! 00[21:20] <@Crion> The boiling eyes focus on Nels, then Stewart. It awaits the other three. [21:21] 13Melanie: "Aye. Then do you have to like knock again?" 00[21:21] <@Crion> Two. [21:21] "The door's already open, he's not going to be that persnickety." [21:22] 13Melanie: "I'm just wondering what it is you have to repeat." [21:22] 5Tony waits for the three, and Ayes with the rest if it seems like they're getting it together. ".... ...Aye?" [21:23] 6Nels: "The oath, I guess? I'd make a joke but, um, not in earshot." [21:24] 7Maggie shrugs at the others. "Aye?" 00[21:24] <@Crion> As Maggie's word fades, the voice booms out, "'I SWEAR TO TREASURE DREAMS, AND RESPECT NIGHTMARES.'" [21:25] 6...That doesn't sound so bad, which makes it concerning. Nels looks to the rest of the motley for confirmation. This is what they wanted, right? [21:26] 13Seems fine. Melanie relaxes a bit, actually. [21:27] 10Stewart swears in unison with the others. [21:28] 5Sounds good to Tony. [21:29] "I swear to treasure dreams and respect nightmares. ...it's uncommon sense." [21:29] 6As soon as Stewart starts, Nels joins in. Together. 00[21:30] <@Crion> When the pact is sealed by all five, another great claw reaches out and pulls the two doors open wide enough to walk in, single file or two abreast (except for Tony, the large lad). The eyes retreat into the darkness... [21:31] 10Stewart looks back at the others and then walks in first unless someone grabs or stops him. [21:31] 7Maggie will say it with the others, though frankly this seems a little silly. It is a nice sentiment though? Sort of? [21:31] 7She'll follow behind Stewart. 02[21:34] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) [21:35] 13Melanie's there, quietly. There's no point resisting these games; the dreamer's eccentric and aged but he's still one of Us. [21:35] 13What's it like in someone else's head? 00[21:35] <@Crion> The motley walks into a great, wide, sumptuous hall. It's unlit, but that somehow doesn't make it any harder to see -- it just puts a sort of haze over everything, a fuzziness. And when you stop looking at things, they move. Chairs become tables. Tables become portraits on the wall. Portraits on the wall disappear. Walls become doors, leading deeper inside. There are two things that remain 00[21:35] <@Crion> constant: the first is the massive, wide stone embankment of stairs some fifty yards ahead, spanning the full width of this hall, leading up; the vaulted ceiling climbs with it, its indecipherable murals shifting and changing. 00[21:36] <@Crion> The second is the hulking black creature with massive claws and coal eyes, hunched off to one side, watching. The Concierge of the Falls. 00[21:37] <@Crion> John of the Falls -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0tuzxC4Ynk Sweet dreams are made of this; who am I to disagree? [21:40] 7Golly. [21:40] 6Nels stiffens as she enters and spots the creature, instinctively moving behind Melanie or Tony. This - well. The rest of the space is unsettling, but... 00[21:41] <@Crion> It bows and extends an arm towards the space beyond the top of the stair. [21:41] 10Stewart's eyes flare orange and give off motes of light that the darkened room drinks greedily. He looks at Nels and then starts up the stairs. [21:42] 5Tony nods, offering a reflexively polite, "How're ya?" 5 to the Concierge as he goes. 00[21:43] <@Crion> It chuckles, which isn't quite as evil a sound as one might expect. [21:43] Melanie will stay between Nels and the coal creature, all the same. 03[21:44] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch [21:44] 6She's got to follow Stewart, though Melanie's defense is extremely welcome. She'll hurry past the creature and follow him up the stairs. 00[21:47] <@Crion> At the top of the stairs, the space opens up, and there's a man with milky-white eyes and face obscuring...mask? Paint? It bleeds together. He's sitting in the lotus position atop a great circular table, instead of the throne at the rear of the room. Beneath him is a...map? It's pinnned to the table with seventeen large ties; their mien changes from stillettos to railroad spikes to sharpened 00[21:47] <@Crion> spurs of bone and back when you look away from them. 00[21:47] <@Crion> He is smiling, and has too many teeth. [21:48]  00[21:49] <@Crion> "'Good evening,' said the innskeeper to the travelers. 'I have so many beds, and so little food. But I'm anticipating a change.'" [21:49] 5Tony waves as respectfully as one can, since that seems like it'd jive best with the oath. "Thanks for having us." [21:52] 13It's creepy, of course, unreal, but there's something empowering about this whole scene. This is an old(?) man who's mastered his own mind, becoming something godlike in the dream realm but born of humanity instead of inimical to it. #goals? [21:52] 13His aesthetic is not Melanie's but she respects his ability to enforce it. And isn't about to get in some kind of duel of wits and quotations. She just bows. [21:57] 10Stewart's hiding it well, but he's terrified, and it makes him impatient and short-tempered. But it's a terror that urges him forward rather than one that stops him in his tracks. The terror of one pursued. Only one thing Stewart can get from this room could ease that fear, and it's not painting the walls or burning on candle-wicks. [21:59] 6Nels is uncomfortable, and if she wasn't surrounded by people much stronger than her she would be fully terrified. As is, she would place her level of terror at "frightened," and she doesn't feel like she's putting on a brave front. [22:01] 5Tony's Tony. He's just standing here since that's his job. 00[22:04] <@Crion> John of the Falls looks about and nods to himself, then snaps his fingers. Braziers that weren't there before light up every six feet apart on all three of the walls; the throne recoils into a chair, which shoots forward under where the table used to be, as it rises up and turns perpendicular to the floor, facing the motley, revealing that is both a map and an esoteric drawing of some kind. 00[22:04] <@Crion> John hops down, now wearing a suit (and still wearing the facepaint/mask), stopping the chair with his heel and then sinking down into it. The oppressive atmosphere lifts and the room becomes far more cozy, though the aesthetic remains the same. Couches and deep-cushioned seats slide out from the walls. 00[22:04] <@Crion> "So. What can I do for you, in the dreaming?" [22:06] 5Tony: "Stewart can cover it better but, we need help finding a heart." [22:07] 10Stewart doesn't hesitate. "We came looking for knowledge on how to find a huntsman's heart. Another sworn of Autumn is in danger. We have reason to believe the dreamer's relatively near us in the waking world, but no way of knowing how or where to look." 00[22:07] <@Crion> John nods soberly to Tony. It's a respectful nod -- he seems aware of who the Winter Court changeling is. [22:07] 13...has he been in our dreams? 00[22:10] <@Crion> None of the motley have ever seen John of the Falls in either of his appearances or the Concierge in their dreams. Whether they've dreamt of dark, occasionally non-Euclidian gothic hallways is up to them. [22:10] 6Stewart has this for now. Should they require more... charm, Nels is ready to jump in, but right now she's just hovering behind him, looking concerned. 00[22:12] <@Crion> John of the Falls steeples his fingers. "Lauren Ipsum, yes...you have faced the Huntsman? So you have some time before it returns." [22:13] 10Stewart: "About three weeks left." 02[22:16] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 00[22:16] <@Crion> He nods. "So. A Huntsman's heart is hidden in the Bastion of a mortal." He waves an arm. "You are in my Bastion now. You may enter such a place by making a pledge. Mortals do not control such things in the dreaming; the pledge requested by those unaware of this world is basal and instinctive -- it normally covers little more than to not harm the dreamer." 00[22:18] <@Crion> "Bastions are made by the dreaming and unmade by waking." John smiles. "This Bastion is quite old. Your mortal's Bastion will not be. And yes, there will be literally hundreds of thousands of Bastions accessible across the Hedge through the Gate of Horn." [22:20] 6Nels: "Does - reclaiming the heart count as harm to a dreamer? They don't get possessive? It's not theirs, the dreamer's, I know that, but..." 00[22:21] <@Crion> John shakes his head. "No. In fact, you are doing the dreamer a kindness." 00[22:21] <@Crion> "It is no easy thing, to hold a stolen monster's heart." [22:22] 7Maggie: "And we'd be doing the monster a kindness by giving it back?" 00[22:23] <@Crion> John: "And Lauren Ipsum, and yourselves, and the whole of the Freehold. Yes. Everyone but the Keeper." 00[22:24] <@Crion> To Stewart: "You seem unsettled by the time it has taken for me to come to you on this. I can understand if that is so. But I have...news that won't comfort you, but might steel you." [22:24] 10Immediately: "What is it?" 00[22:25] <@Crion> "You can't do any of this, save find the mortal whose Bastion you need to enter, until the Huntsman returns." [22:25] 10Stewart blinks. "You mean the heart's only accessible while she's being hunted?" [22:26] 13Melanie: "Is the fairy.. using it, to reform their creature?" [22:26] 6Nels: "But we can find where it ought to be before then. Right?" 00[22:28] <@Crion> John: "Worse. Or at least more final. A mortal's Bastion is only accessible with a Key. And the only Key to the Bastion of a mortal concealing the heart of a Huntsman is...that Huntsman." 00[22:28] <@Crion> "You must convince it to come with you. Into the mortal's Bastion. To recover its heart." [22:29] 6Oh. That is much worse. [22:29] 10Stewart: "We have to convince it to come for it's heart while the Fae's Title still hollows it out? Is that even possible?" [22:29] 7Maggie: "Oh dear." 00[22:30] <@Crion> John: "Yes. Flatly so: it is always possible to convince a Huntsman to seek its own heart. There is...literature in this area. It yearns to be whole more than it can ever hate you. Like the Lost, the Huntsmen had no choice in their creation." [22:30] 13Maybe it helps to kill it a few times first. [22:31] 6Let's not test that out. 00[22:31] <@Crion> John: "There are complicating factors." [22:31] 5Tony: "Beyond all that? Woof." [22:32] 6Nels, faintly: "Oh, dear." 00[22:32] <@Crion> He raises one finger. "First: you must make your pitch to the Huntsman in the Hedge. This means either finding it there, or luring it back there. Second: It would be...quite helpful...to have Lauren Ipsum present. Helpful to the point of necessity. It's theoretically possible to induce the Huntsman's cooperation without its target's genuine plea..." 00[22:32] <@Crion> He shrugs. "But functionally, I've never heard of it being done." 00[22:32] <@Crion> "And I've walked some very strange roads." [22:33] 10Stewart: "Meaning if we fail at any point she's in immediate mortal danger." 00[22:34] <@Crion> John: "No." 00[22:34] <@Crion> "If you fail at any point, YOU are in immediate mortal danger. She is in danger of something arguably worse." He lifts a cup of tea to his lips that wasn't there before. "Huntsmen do not kill their quarry. They drag them back." [22:35] 6Nels: "Well, we aren't going to fail, so there's that." 6She sounds very certain. 00[22:35] <@Crion> John smiles. "A good philosophy." 00[22:36] <@Crion> "I do have some good news, however. It's not all doom and gloom." [22:36] 10Stewart paces around, rubbing the back of his neck, thoroughly doomed and gloomed. 00[22:37] <@Crion> "I've found the mortal." [22:37] 10Stewart stops pacing. 00[22:38] <@Crion> John of the Falls stands, and that map/esoterica diagram swings closer. [22:40] 13Melanie peers at the glyphs, glad she's not being asked to interpret them. That'd be a whole new course of study. "That's a major advantage. Thank you." [22:41] 10Stewart's suddenly fiercely grateful he picked AP Psych as an elective junior year. 00[22:42] <@Crion> A blood-red line traces from the great circle at the center to a smaller orbiting circle, then to another, then to the labyrinth contained within that subcircle, then into another circle interior to THAT. John of the Falls taps it. "It was helpful once I saw the motif. And managed to internalize the movies. Your mortal is a young girl named Rebecca Connor, age 8. Perfectly normal, perfectly 00[22:42] <@Crion> healthy. Unfortunately for her, her middle name is Sarah." [22:42] 10Ah, shit. [22:43] 6Why does that matter? 00[22:43] <@Crion> He clasps his hands behind his back. "She is mostly unharmed by this unwelcome intrusion into her Bastion. Scary dreams about shiny skeletons from time to time. Her parents are likely worried about a downturn in her mood, but neither her life nor her sanity is in danger by having to wait some three weeks." [22:43] 13To Tony: "You caught up with Arnie just in time." [22:43] 7Maggie looks at Nels and raises her hands like, yeah, I dunno either. [22:44] 5Tony nods to Melanie: "Feeling like the Keeper probably watched the same movie, or the kid did." [22:44] "They don't create, only copy." [22:45] 6She'll ask later. Enough people seem to understand what's going on that she can't disrupt the flow. "So we're helping her too, when we do this." 00[22:45] <@Crion> John: "You are." [22:46] 10Stewart: "How do we prepare for this?" [22:46] 5Tony: "Well depending on how we're going into her dreams, we either try to find her Horn Gate in the Hedge, or we plan on breaking into a child's room with a huge monster along for the ride on a very easily-broken leash." [22:47] 13We should have brought Lauren here. Maybe she already understands this stuff. [22:47] 5Tony: "So however we do the first one probably." [22:48] 13Melanie: "That would be.. better. The huntsman isn't going to hurt the girl with its heart-chip, but there are so so many things which could go wrong." 00[22:48] <@Crion> John: "You will have to enter her Bastion through the Gate of Horn with the Huntsman, as only in the Hedge can the Huntsman be swayed. So preparing yourself physically is paramount. Learning as much as you can about the Huntsman is also paramount -- but you may only be able to do this directly when you encounter him. Interviewing Lauren Ipsum may help a bit; involving Lauren Ipsum, moreso. 00[22:48] <@Crion> She will need to take some ownership in this struggle." [22:48] 10Fuck. 00[22:49] <@Crion> "Additionally: there seems to be a very clear narrative being cited, here. A very popular one. I would not fight that narrative." [22:49] "That makes sense. You're teaching us a lot of things we.. probably should have known, though maybe the Courts kind of wanted to delegate." 00[22:49] <@Crion> John smiles. "I do so rarely get visitors from this side." [22:51] 5Tony: "Is there anything you want from us for all this? I could pick you up a movie or something?" 00[22:53] <@Crion> John blinks in surprise, then recovers into a shrug. "The Gate of Horn is open to you now. Feel free to drop on by anytime. It can get a bit...lonely." 00[22:53] <@Crion> The Concierge grumbles behind them in agreement. [22:54] 5Tony: "10-4!" [22:54] 6Nels: "I don't - um. The narrative." 6Inhale, exhale. "I've gathered this is all some reference I'm missing," 6she tries. [22:55] 10Stewart almost snaps, "It's a movie." 00[22:55] <@Crion> John: "When you have the Huntsman in agreement to seek its heart, and you need to reach Rebecca Sarah Connor's Bastion, bring it to my Gate and knock. I will lead you there." He grimaces. "But I cannot enter her dreams alongside you. It will be you, the Huntsman, and Lauren Ipsum." [22:55] 13Melanie looks at Stewart for a moment. "Let's talk about it when we get back, Nels. There's actually a copy at the Wherehouse, or what used to be one." [22:56] 10Three more weeks of waiting. No peace, no meaningful work, just the mandate to make Lauren dig into her memories the worst thing anyone can experience. [22:56] 6To Melanie: "Got it." 6She doesn't look at Stewart. 03[23:00] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch [23:02] 13Melanie remembers a slight problem. "We'll return with Lauren... she doesn't fight. Is the Hedge outside your gates likely to be pacific?" 00[23:02] <@Crion> John watches Stewart's face. "...I note Lauren herself is not here." 00[23:03] <@Crion> To Melanie: "Everyone fights. But yes, your invitation is standing." [23:03] "Great. And like, to, you know, get out at all, to keep standing, that's fighting, but I mean in a mundane sense: wolves." 00[23:04] <@Crion> Miffed: "Briarwolves are not mundane." [23:04] 10Stewart: "I wasn't told it was necessary to involve her." [23:05] 13Melanie: "The trash bits making them up are, in the end-" 13she gives way to Stewart. [23:06] 5Tony: "Stewart. Man, it's going to be okay. We know what we need to do, she's got you, you've got us, some-math-word-I-forget-but-I-know-Melanie-loves-saying, she's got us too. In this thing together." [23:07] 10Curtly: "I'll make sure she's brought up to speed on what we need to do." [23:08] 6This is some stress response. [23:09] "It's not your sole responsibility Stewart." [23:09] 10Stewart: "Is this really the time for an intervention?" [23:09] "Mr. Falls, stop us if we're overstaying our welcome." 13Melanie grins with her own version of John's mask. 00[23:11] <@Crion> John sighs. "Lauren being brought up to speed is not my point." He grimaces, opens his mouth, closes it again. "You have three peaceful weeks with her before HER Huntsman returns for HER to confront, with YOUR help. Being afraid of what lies at the end of those days is normal and healthy. But you're not afraid, are you?" 00[23:12] <@Crion> "You're angry. And the only experience I have with anger is ruination." 00[23:12] <@Crion> To Melanie: "No offense meant to our friends in the Summer Court." [23:14] "Impulses do have to be checked." [23:14] 10Stewart: "So, so, what? What should I be doing" [23:14] "I can't just--" 10Stops himself, sighs. "Thank you for your help." 00[23:15] <@Crion> John inclines his head. "You know where to find me, when the time comes. I will be ready." [23:15] 6Nels: "We'll figure it out." 6She can't stop herself from trying to be reassuring. 00[23:16] <@Crion> "The Concierge will see you out." [23:16] 5Tony: "Thank you again!" 5Tony nods politely. [23:16] 13Melanie: "What is it, anyway? The butler-thing." 00[23:17] <@Crion> John smiles...and the lights in the room all go black at once, replaced by light down the stairs at the end of the hall as the Gate of Horn rumbles open. The great coal-eyed creature rumbles mournfully and leads them to the exit. 00[23:17] <@Crion> The Gate of Horn will let them out right near the door back to the underpass beneath i-83. 00[23:18] <@Crion> *I-83 [23:18] 13It's not quiet here, but it's peaceful. [23:18] 13Melanie: "Okay, I will say it's a particularly autumn kind of bullshit to tell you that it's unhealthy to do things, and you should instead be more afraid." [23:18] 5Tony shrugs. "Hard to argue with though." [23:20] 10Stewart doesn't say anything. It takes him more tries than it should to get the car key in the lock. [23:20] 6Nels: "Stifling, is what it is." [23:21] 13Melanie: "Yes. But he's being helpful, and it was genuine advice." [23:22] 10Once they're all in the car: "I'm sorry for being short in there. Everyone just wants to help and I'm not making it any easier." [23:23] 7Maggie: "It's a pretty upsetting situation!" [23:23] "Nobody likes to 'hurry up and wait'." [23:24] 6Nels: "I understand. Stress." 6Not 'it's fine,' but we've all been there. [23:24] 13Melanie: "You were kind of quiet in the Hall of the Mountain Goth, Maggie." [23:27] 7She rubs the back of her neck. "Oh, I dunno... it's just..." [23:27] "It was a little spooky..." [23:27] "Good, isn't he? Remember that it's spook-on-our-side." [23:27] 5Tony: "We were JUST at a Halloween party where a Huntsman showed up, and that guy was friendly." [23:28] 10Stewart: "I wonder if John actually looks like that or if you're just allowed to look as pretty as you want in your own dreamworld." [23:28] "That was scary. It's different." [23:28] 5Tony: "Anyway Stewart we're here for you, and understand that you can handle your stress in your own way. If you want to get blackout drunk with Steve I know he'll be in favor of the excuse." 00[23:28] <@Crion> honk 00[23:28] <@Crion> He's not here. It's a spiritual honk. [23:28] 13Hmmmmm. Melanie's never seen a horror movie on Maggie's expanding playlist, either.. [23:28] 10Stewart honks the horn at someone who cuts him off. [23:28] 13This could be fun. [23:29] 7Maggie: "Plus it buoys you up a little to know you can ask a fella's shotgun to empty itself in his head if you've a mind. Evens the playing field a bit, even if he is tossing bouncers about." [23:29] 10Stewart: "Anyway, I've got stuff I need to do. I'll drop you guys off at the Market." [23:30] 6Nels: "I still want to know about the - why was her middle name so important? I guess it's a movie?" [23:30] 10Stewart: "It'll make sense when you see the movie." [23:31] "I know it's on the media server, Tony just watched it a few days ago." [23:31] "It's actually a really good sign." [23:31] 7Maggie: "What movie is it?" [23:31] 13Melanie: "Like, I think the keeper fucked up. It's given us a narrative that goes the right way." [23:32] "You've got Terminator, from decades back, a classic sci-fi film where a machine-man from the future comes back in time to kill [23:32] 10Stewart: "I mean." [23:32] a woman named Sarah Connor." 13Melanie doesn't really get the 'spoilers' thing. [23:32] "But then for the rest of the series, that robot is actually the hero.." [23:32] "Even though the Terminator gets defeated, Skynet still like... rules the future." [23:33] "The future is a different country. The films are upbeat because you never actually travel there, it's always put off and set back." [23:33] 6Nels understood some of that. "That reminds me. What's a robot?" [23:33] "This isn't the first time I've heard it, but I still have no context." [23:34] 13...what is a robot? Melanie's briefly paralysed. Like, are they people or beings-in-time? Does the artificial nature matter or is it about their role as workers of last resort? [23:34] 10Stewart: "Colloquially it's a machine with human characteristics. How many human characteristics varies wildly." [23:35] 6Nels: "So... metal people. Kind of, but not always." 6She sounds vaguely lost. [23:35] 10Stewart: "Yeah." [23:35] 5Tony: "Wait the robot's the good guy? God damn it why." [23:36] "Sort of. I mean, I'm a metal people, but I'm not a robit." 7She thumps her chest with a hollow booming noise. [23:36] 13Melanie: "A robot is created in imitation of a human, or to replace them. The opposite, a human with mechanical bits, is a cyborg." [23:36] "Cyborgs... are incredibly cool." [23:36] 5Tony, having only seen the original: "Man seriously. Thanks for saving me a couple hours at least. I guess." [23:36] 10Stewart: "Tony I'm going to tell you something nobody agrees with: every Terminator movie after the first one sucks." [23:36] 5Tony: "Well based on that, I agree with you already." [23:36] "They're just dumb cartoons! Terminator 1 is gritty and real. Terminator 1 could fucking happen." [23:37] 5Tony: "The good? News is I think that makes you Kyle Reese." [23:37] "I thought you watched cartoons allatime?" [23:37] 10Stewart, to Tony: "Ha." [23:37] 10Stewart, to Maggie: "No!" [23:38] 5Tony: "AND there's way more of us, which is way better odds. And in that case the woman being pursued still survived, so you've got that going for you." [23:38] "Sure! Those foreign cartoons with the subtitles!" [23:38] 5Tony: "Oh I know this one! Steve told me!" [23:38] 10Stewart: "That does not count, those are Lauren's idea--" [23:38] 6Nels: "I'm going to need to - watch, this... The Terminator. Melanie, you said we had it at the Wherehouse?" [23:39] 13Melanie: "Oh come on. I don't remember most of them but Terminator 2 is great! The liquid stuff is like.. a robot vampire, you get to actually see John Connor, there are some great corny lines." [23:39] 5Tony: "They're called henties and---yeah Nels, I left the tape out by the big TV." [23:39] "'Unable to self-terminate'.. that voice is amazing." [23:39] 10Sharply to Tony: "Do not trust Steve on this." [23:40] 5Tony: "I'll have to ask him...but you've stolen way less of my beer than he has..." [23:41] 6Nels: "Wait, also, lots of information coming at me all at once. Cartoons took off? Is Felix the Cat still around?" 00[23:41] <@Crion> "honk" (仲間?) is a Japanese word that directly translates to friend, comrades, and under some context, such as in the manga 'One Piece', crewmates. 00[23:41] <@Crion> Most fans of the series believes the word means "people who are considered closer than family", though that is not a part of the official dictionary definition of the word. [23:41] ah, naruhodo, [23:43] 5Tony claps his hands together, dusting them off. "Well! We've got a couple weeks to do the thing, the night is young, and we just met a guy who looked like a vampire but was inside a dream." [23:43] 10They're back downtown now. Stewart lets everyone out of the car so they can return to the Wherehouse and go about their business. He's got work to do. 00[23:44] <@Crion> Where's he headed? [23:45] 13Melanie, marginally reminiscent: "I don't remember a Felix film.. it's got to be Disney though? There was like.. the Princess and the Frog.. and I remember everyone seeing Frozen, though that was kind of for little kids." [23:47] 5Tony: "Thanks again for the ride!" 5Tony looks around at the rest of the group: "I think I'm quitting my job so I can make this a late one. Who's got something interesting for me before I go get blind with Steve?" [23:48] 7Maggie: "Hoorm. Do you know what Icons are?" [23:48] "Oh there was something I meant to ask- you go, Maggie." [23:48] 6Nels: "I don't know a Disney. These were... Paramount, I think?" [23:48] 10Stewart texts Lauren while driving.  [23:48] 5Tony: "Doesn't ring a bell..." 00[23:50] <@Crion> is the immediate reply. [23:50] "Disney movies are all animated," 13Melanie tells Nels inaccurately. "They're great, children's stories with musical pieces." [23:50] 6Nels: "I'll try them out once I figure out what this Terminator thing is." [23:51] "...and maybe see what Felix the Cat cartoons I missed." [23:51] 7Maggie: "They're like... okay, we all come out through the Thorns, right? And the Thorns rip off bits of us as we go... Icons are the bits that got torn off. Physical doodads lying around in the Hedge that used to be a piece of a changeling's soul, and if that changeling gets one she can, uh, put it back again." [23:52] 10It's Saturday, right, so Lauren should be at home...? Or is she in the office? Stewart could ask, but, instead he's wondering if he knows as if an invisible narrator will insert the answer in his mind. [23:54] 5Tony: "Oh! Like if you get your mouthguard knocked clear out of your head, it's still out on the field somewhere." [23:54] 13Melanie to Nels: "Well, let's google it. Do you have that yet?" [23:55] 6Nels: "Stewart showed me. That and YouTube. Though, mostly for music. Apparently you can just listen to anything at any time and don't even have to pay for it?" 00[23:56] <@Crion> Lauren's at home, yes, though she is able and willing to come over. [23:56] "If you don't mind ads." 13Melanie gets her laptop out of her room and brings it over to Nels to look up cartoon cats. [23:56] 10No, let's do this at her place.  00[23:56] <@Crion> [23:57] 7Maggie: "I, yeah?" [23:57] 7Maggie: "Anywho, I was thinking about tracking one down." [23:57] 5Tony: "I'm game, if it's stupid Hedge crap I'm probably as good as anyone at finding it." [23:59] 10What's Lauren's place like? Stewart's only been over like... once, to disconnect all her computers on Halloween. Session Time: Sun Nov 24 00:00:00 2019 00[00:00] <@Crion> The main question, of course, is whether Maggie knows where to look. How well does she remember her flight from Arcadia, the run through the Thorns, and her recovery? What starting information can she give a Hedge tracker? [00:00] 7The problem, of course, is that she was hanging off the side of a train and literally facing away from the scenery. Problematic. 00[00:01] <@Crion> Means you're looking for a railroad, at least. [00:02] 5Tony: "Is this one of those things I should ask around about, or is this one of those things where that's the last thing I should be doing?" [00:03] 7Maggie: "Well... the hobs know how important these things are to us. So if a goblin merchant has one, it'll be really expensive." [00:03] 6Nels points to Melanie's screen when she spots Feline Follies - technically not Felix the Cat, but it's clearly the same cat despite the name 'Master Tom.' [00:03] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5zXjQuUi_M [00:03] 7Maggie: "About the only landmark I could give you is 'railroad tracks'." [00:03] 6Then, a few minutes later: "I think I had fonder memories of the cartoon before I watched it again." [00:04] 13Melanie: "Okay, storytelling in animation has advanced a bit. And I don't think cats get that suicidal about fatherhood?" 00[00:04] <@Crion> Lauren's place down around Baltimore's Penn Station, and the doorman buzzes him in as soon as he arrives and says who he's here to see -- Lauren already called down to let him know that Stewart was on his way. A quick ride up to the fifth floor and he's knocking on the door to a well-appointed studio apartment with very severe blackout curtains. 00[00:04] <@Crion> *place is [00:04] "Like, men were like that in 1919.. and 2019.. but it's pretty blunt." 03[00:05] * CBN2 (CBN@sorcery-8jq3a1.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) has joined #gofetch [00:05] 6Nels: "Maybe it's best Felix didn't survive the century." 00[00:05] <@Crion> Before his second knock she'll throw the door open and pull Stewart inside. [00:05] 13Melanie: "Did you ever have a cat?" 00[00:05] <@Crion> And push him against the wall, and kiss, and etc. [00:05] 10Stewart suddenly feels a lot better. [00:05] 6Nels: "I was on the move too much. Keeping a pet through that seemed cruel." 00[00:06] <@Crion> When finished: "So. Hi." [00:06] 5Tony: "Railroad tracks, huh? That's something." [00:06] 5Tony: "Do you remember, in general, where you came out after? Retrace your steps, like if you can't find your keys and they end up in the fridge." [00:07] "Always wanted one, though. Steve... sort of counts. Not really." 02[00:08] * CBN (CBN@sorcery-hnk7qk.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [00:08] 13Melanie: "If you aren't settled I can see that. I expected to be on the road too, but- my parents had cats. They weren't as active as this guy." [00:09] 13https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TgK0xxq2oE "Or as racist. There's something I like about the old animation though, the way each image moves around... did they not have a way to fix them in place?" [00:10] 10Stewart: "Hi." 10Clears his throat a little. He wishes more of his days could be this. Maybe when this is over. "What are you up to?" [00:11] 6Nels: "I - this is a new one." 6She watches quietly. "Did they make a way to ensure people drawing were starting from the same place?" 00[00:12] <@Crion> She stretches and heads back over to her chair. "Closing tickets. Getting stuff done. The usual." [00:13] 13Melanie: "It's all created on computers now. I don't know that much about them, too much to learn, but for cartoons there's like.. it's a sequence of digital images that are generated modifications of the same thing. The animators specify how the characters should move, rather than drawing each image separately." 00[00:13] <@Crion> A fat black-on-white cat mrowls and rolls over on the dresser while staring at Stewart. Then it does it again with its eyes closed, and begins grooming itself. 00[00:13] <@Crion> That's Chup, and Stewart's run into him before. 00[00:14] <@Crion> He just sort of glared at him last time he was in here. 00[00:14] <@Crion> He seems a bit more magnanimous this time...? [00:15] "Let me find something.. I don't know why we watched this. Maybe I had a little- anyway. Here's a sequence I remember, and you can see that they're sort of moving around an existing image, not adding new ones." 13Melanie brings up another video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moSFlvxnbgk [00:15] 6Nels: "The 4 as a chair was good, at least." [00:16] 10Lauren's so confident and competent... "Hey, Chup." 10Stewart grabs a thing to sit on and sits close to Lauren but not close enough to crowd her. "So we just got back from seeing John of the Falls. He came through in a big way." [00:16] "When it doesn't have to be realistic it's more.. clever." [00:16] 6Oh. 00[00:17] <@Crion> Lauren doesn't quite stiffen. Well, she stiffens, but it's not in fear. It's more resolve. "He always does. Even if he's kind of a weirdo." 00[00:17] <@Crion> Chup: "murr." [00:18] 13Melanie hasn't seen the song since she got back. Or since she was 13, probably. It's still pretty good. An Elemental, right? 00[00:18] <@Crion> Elemental Fairest, to be precise. [00:19] 6Nels turns to Melanie: "You say that Disney cartoons have these kind of songs regularly?" 00[00:19] <@Crion> *Elemental Bright One, to be precise. [00:19] 10Stewart: "I respect his aesthetic. It's good to know there's room to carve out our own weird niches. Anyway, he found us the Bastion where the heart's going to pop. Rebecca Sarah Connor, age 8." [00:20] "Show me more." [00:20] 13Melanie: "They're meant to be for kids, but.. I don't think anyone cares about that. There's a Lion King remake out this year." 00[00:20] <@Crion> Lauren's face tightens. "Fuck." [00:20] 10Stewart: "Yeah." [00:21] "How much do you know about how this works? The mechanics of it." 00[00:21] <@Crion> Lauren: "I know we have to go into the Hedge and...talk to it." 00[00:21] <@Crion> "Well. I do." [00:22] 10Stewart: "Yeah." [00:22] 13Melanie finds more cartoon songs on the laptop. "I definitely remember that when I was growing up I thought I had to stop watching these. Like, to be a real adult woman who was sexy and mature." [00:22] "You're not going to be going alone, obviously." [00:22] 6Nels: "...that doesn't sound like it's being sung by a child." [00:23] 5Tony, to Maggie: "So my thought is, we start near that, do the door...portal...whatever, thing, back into the Hedge, then I can try to find some tracks. Make sense?" [00:23] 13Melanie: "Well, culture tells you some weird crap." [00:25] 6Nels: "Do you have a favorite?" 00[00:25] <@Crion> Lauren: "Thanks. I don't think I say thanks to you enough? Maybe I do. I don't wanna be weird." 00[00:26] <@Crion> "I mean, weirder than having deadman switches on all my power strips." [00:26] 10Stewart: "I haven't been counting but surely every time you grab me and kiss me counts for at least a couple." [00:27] 13Melanie: "Yeah, if I can find it! I need to remember the lyrics.." 13She types. "What was it like, the kind of messages you got growing up?" [00:27] "You've got the same thing. Perspective, the ability to look back on it from a new world." [00:28] 6Nels, wryly: "The main message I got growing up was not to do what I was doing." [00:29] 13Melanie: "I guess you were less gullible!" 02[00:29] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: Textual IRC Client: www.textualapp.com) [00:30] 6Nels: "Let's go with that." 6She doesn't elaborate. [00:31] "Okay, here. My- Not everyone liked this as much but I thought it was GREAT at the age of too-little-to-have-an-opinion." 13https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdvfH2xBAy0 00[00:32] <@Crion> Lauren: "Please. A couple is where it stops. This is not an open relationship." [00:32] 10Stewart snorts. [00:32] 10Firmly: "Understood." [00:33] "Anyway, we can't really do anything else until the Huntsman returns. We've got to meet it out in the Hedge and convince it to go into the kid's dream with us to get the heart. It's hard to prepare for that, you know? We can make sure we're as safe as possible but at the end of the day what it comes down to is... how do we make a connection with the Huntsman?" 00[00:33] <@Crion> She's now sitting Riker-style in her computer chair. Or "hey there, kids" style. Whichever referent Stewart gets. "Well..." 00[00:33] <@Crion> "You don't, right?" 03[00:33] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 00[00:33] <@Crion> "It's MY Huntsman." [00:34] 10Stewart's face gets tight. [00:34] "Yeah." 00[00:34] <@Crion> "I am, of course, accepting suggestions." [00:34] 7Maggie: "Sure. I come out near Port Dundalk, I think. Strange name." [00:36] 5Tony: "Oh nice, I think I had a cousin who worked there for a summer back in the day. So, let's see what we can do thataway." [00:37] 6Nels: "...I would've liked working on stuff like this. When is this even from?" [00:38] 13Melanie: "Ten years ago. You still can, right?" [00:40] "Like, there's plenty of stuff from animation to musical theatre or just soundtracks for movies and games.. art is everywhere, music is everywhere. Too commodified, it's hard for people to make a living on the lower rungs of creative professions." [00:40] 6Nels: "I can play. Obviously." 6She's not smug or anything, it's just a fact. "But getting my name out there... I don't know how well that would go." [00:40] "Even as Lena Colter, people would want to look." [00:41] "Um, that's the name on my lease, and probably what I get my GED under." [00:41] 10Stewart gets both of those references, but the one he's actually thinking of is Michelle Pfeiffer in the Gangsta's Paradise video. "The way I see it, there's two parts to the Huntsman, right. There's the narrative it's been molded after, and there's the title hijacking it. So intuitively the strategy is to flow *with* the narrative and *against* the title." [00:41] "And that's really your part in the plan. Cause no one else knows the Sky Mother like you do." [00:44] 5Tony does his thing, which looks like he's sniffing the dirt? God is he tasting it? Can you even really tell? Dirt man on dirt looking at more dirt. But in any event, he seems to be doing it in a solid, set direction, and after the first few glances back to make sure Maggie's following, he just lumbers forward at his good ol' inexorable pace. 00[00:44] <@Crion> Lauren nods. "I can't say I know what the title is, definitively...but I can make some educated guesses. It wants to find me, of course -- that's most important, that's what makes the most sense both from an Arcadian perspective and from the, like, the story -- but it wants to learn. The Sky Mother always wanted to learn. That wasn't really a Skynet thing, was it? Skynet sort of just happened, 00[00:44] <@Crion> and made 'rational decisions.' But Sky Mother, she's a great big eye in the sky, on spiderlegs..." [00:45] 13Melanie: "So let them look. With your face, they'd look no matter whether you reminded them of someone else. If the attention isn't something you enjoy anymore that's one thing, but you don't have to be a hermit or anonymous. If- if you can make it, that'd be you. Making it." [00:46] 13Is this too far? Melanie doesn't know; it's terrifying. But it isn't about her. [00:47] 10Stewart: "So then the question is, what does she think you can teach her? What's the gap in her knowledge? What's missing from her that needs to be repaired or replaced?" 00[00:47] <@Crion> Tony leads Maggie through the Hedge right quick and twice as well; the Thorns harden against them, but they're looking for a railroad ending in a port, or its most likely adjacent Hedge companion, and so wandering out into the Thorns isn't the way it needs to go. Soon they end up on a bleak, long plane of what seems to be concrete beneath their feet, and the Hedgerows are shipping containers 00[00:47] <@Crion> instead of buildings. [00:47] "Santander says that every Keeper is broken somehow." [00:47] 7Eating good healthy dirt isn't the strangest thing she's seen someone eat, and it's not really immoral. Do what you need to, Tony. 00[00:48] <@Crion> Lauren puts her chin down on her crossed arms. "What do you learn from a bug you've trapped underneath a cup?" 00[00:48] <@Crion> "It's probably something like that." 00[00:48] <@Crion> "That's her perspective." 02[00:48] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) [00:49] 6They're back in the Wherehouse, right? So Nels has every right to pick up her guitar and start playing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tr3kWE4TP5o Call it a nervous tic. "You're right. I think. I don't know. I've gotta make sure whatever I give holds up, before I start playing for the public again." [00:50] 13Melanie listens enraptly. [00:50] 13More people should hear this, but at least she gets to. [00:52] "That's sound ontology." [00:53] 6Absently, as she finishes the song: "It'd be nice. To play again, and not just busking or in apartments for friends or laying hobs to rest." 00[00:54] <@Crion> Tony spends some time nosing around, carefully...and comes across the dockworkers. "HEAVE...HO! HEAVE...HO!" [00:54] 5Tony approaches, waving. "Hey there fellas!" 5Tony's ready to duck out of the way of anything heaved. Sounds like it might come up. 00[00:55] <@Crion> Squat little creatures, with multicolored vests instead of flourescent safety jackets and toadstool caps instead of hard hats. Very serious. Moving giant shipping crates off of ornate trains and onto dock space with earnest abandon...then moving those same crates around into the stacks, moving them back, and sometimes putting them right back aboard the 'trains' they came in on. [00:56] 13Stewart was wrong. It's Nels who's been interrupted, not broken, genius intact. "Local clubs? Youtube and some recording equipment?" 00[00:56] <@Crion> One seems slightly bigger than the rest, and is smoking a big ol' stogie. [00:57] 13Melanie gestures at the laptop, then actually picks it up and types a few search queries. "A lot of artists get their start online now." 00[01:01] <@Crion> They're not threatening; indeed, they sort of brusquely ignore Tony and Maggie as they go about their work, and if asked, refer them to 'Foreman Chone.' 00[01:01] <@Crion> It's pronounced 'Shawn.' [01:01] 5Tony: "Well hey buddy!" 5Tony offers a big, friendly smile to the stogie-smoking hob. "My friend and I are looking for something. Would you mind pointing us in the right direction, so we can get out of your way?" [01:02] 10Stewart reaches out to brush a stray lock of hair from her forehead. "I keep thinking about... if one of us is hungry, they get fed. If one of us is cold, they get a bed. If one of us is ignorant, they get taught. If one of us is threatened, they get protected. We take care of each other. That's all we do. That's the whole point of the freehold." [01:02] "And it's all because of this one thing we can't do for each other. This one hurt we can't take away." 00[01:03] <@Crion> "Hey. Hey hey!" Foreman Chone takes out the stogie, puts it back in, and smokes it speculatively. "Hey. Yeah. Yeah, sure. Where ya coming from, where ya going, right? All freight carried, all questions answered. Cost ya union rate though." [01:03] 6Nels: "I - I could just..." 6She gestures vaguely at Melanie's laptop. "People do this all the time?" 6She's moved on to a second song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ez4DNb5K3Ls [01:04] 7The unions...! [01:04] 5Tony: "Coming from back thataway, heading towards some railroad tracks. What's the rate?" [01:04] 6No vocals, regrettably, but she's got to do something with her hands. 00[01:04] <@Crion> Instead of saying anything, Lauren takes his hand and kisses it, then presses it to her cheek. [01:05] 6Correction: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZuW6BH_Vak 00[01:05] <@Crion> Foreman Chone nods decisively. "Work a shift, earn a wage. Work two shifts, earn more wage. So on. Clean and honest, no bullshit, no oaths, no pledges beside you gotta work your shift." [01:06] 5Tony: "Well that is refreshing straightforward. Maggie, you in?" [01:06] 13Melanie: "I wish I could record this. I don't have the right gear- Harlan Jape would know how or, maybe, a professional Twitch streamer." [01:06] 6Absently again: "Stewart lives in my building. Could ask him." [01:07] "Ah, that reminds me." 13She looks embarassed - a sudden flush of sap. [01:08] "?" [01:08] "Thinking of, you know, spring, some of the timing, you might know this stuff already but there's no guarantee. I don't think- GED exams won't cover it." 13Melanie's being more circuitous than usual; she's frequently esoteric, but not obscure. [01:09] 7Maggie cracks her knuckles. "I can lift 'n shift with the best of them, just you watch me." [01:09] 6Nels: "Okay..." 6Her song's over, and she doesn't start a new one just yet. 00[01:09] <@Crion> The squat foreman grins broadly. "Then lets get you hard hats and union cards..." [01:09] 13Melanie: "Okay so you know the Kitchen. Better than some." [01:10] "I mean you go, that was a great pull but. Do you, um!" [01:10] 6No response. Nels plucks a few strings. [01:10] "Has anyone taught you about modern birth control methods." [01:12] 6One of her strings snaps. "Wh- th- I- y- I am like a hundred years older than you," 6she finally says. [01:12] 13Melanie: "I mean technically you're not." [01:13] 6Nels: "Granddaughter of mine. I am aware of condoms." [01:14] 13Melanie: "Yeah, and they suck ass. 2% failure rate IF everything goes right. If you're into boys, which you are, you want to be on the pill. I mean if they're into you." 13This is embarassing.. but also kind of familiar. [01:14] 10After a while, Stewart says: "I almost don't know what to do with my time now. I was expecting to have more stuff to do besides waiting." [01:14] "I need something else to work on..." 00[01:16] <@Crion> Lauren chuckles, still pressing his hand close. "I bet your friends have a bunch of stuff you could throw yourself into. And be really good at, because you're you. If they don't...I bet we could find something." [01:18] 6Nels, stiffly: "I will look it up." 6Now she's fiddling again, until she just starts playing another song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQjwkXrcUrs She's not even doing it consciously. "...though it'll be a while." [01:22] 13Melanie's still embarassed but this is an important public service. And it's starting to get funny. "It's hormone-based medicine! A freaking revolution in like, controlling our own lives, since it's something you take ahead of time - there's no relying on a guy to get it right or to avoid... accidents." [01:23] "You've got to see a doctor since there can be side effects, but I went on the pill at like, fifteen and it was fine? Works for almost everyone. There are also IUDs, which.." 13no, she can't go any further. Let Nels look that one up. [01:23] 6Nels looks down at her guitar and continues playing. [01:25] 13Melanie: "Maybe it's embarassing to end up in a world where every billboard is covered in boobs and PG-13 means no full frontals? I'm sorry Nels." [01:27] 10Stewart: "Yeah.. I'll see what the Wherehouse is up to. Maybe send Santander an email. More immediately, though... how caught up are you on work?" 10His fingertips run down Lauren's cheek to trace the length of her neck. [01:27] 6Nels: "I got it, thank you." 6She's back to staring down at her guitar. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wl-3RTyFMrQ [01:28] "Were you aware of.." 13Melanie doesn't want to ask this one. "Like did you have any.. opinion on people who were." [01:28] 13In fact, maybe she won't. "Nooo problem." [01:28] 13Jesus those are some chords. [01:32] 6Still playing, not meeting Melanie's eyes: "One of the better parts of being here now. I, um." 6She noodles for a bit. "Yeah." 6Back to the song proper. 00[01:32] <@Crion> Lauren grins. "Caught up enough." [01:34] 10Then Stewart doesn't say anything else, and simply takes her by the hand and leads her away. [01:34] 13It's not one hundred percent clear they're talking about the same thing here but, great! Melanie's going to read for a while, and listen. 00[01:34] <@Crion> It's a short trip. 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ZZZzzz…) 00[21:07] <@Crion> 00[21:07] <@Crion> 00[21:07] <@Crion> 00[21:07] <@Crion> 00[21:07] <@Crion> 00[21:07] <@Crion> 00[21:07] <@Crion> 00[21:07] <@Crion> 00[21:07] <@Crion> 00[21:07] <@Crion> 00[21:09] <@Crion> November lumbers on. It's the third week now -- but don't worry, Stewart, this November is five months and backloaded. There's still time. It's only been two weeks since Halloween. 00[21:11] <@Crion> The motley has no official responsibilities at the moment, though they do have a number of individual goals and directives. There seems to be something of an organizational hangover after one of the big parties; the King of Autumn hasn't sent out any Freehold-wide directives since the morning of the first of the month, when he tersely assured everyone everything was fine, in the vaguest 00[21:11] <@Crion> possible terms. 00[21:12] <@Crion> So, anyone can be up to anything, really, in the bounds of good sense or promise. 03[21:14] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch [21:16] 10Stewart's spending as much time with Lauren as he can... which isn't nearly enough to fill the gaps in his time and attention. Even streaming's basically dead this late in a league. He's playing random games and every one makes him think about something he could be doing or feels he should be doing instead... it's not great. Too many chances to be alone, and when he's alone there's so [21:16] 10little reason not to drink. [21:19] 6Nels is trying to look through online records of Foulkes to track down relatives; she hasn't asked anyone else, yet, because. Well. It's family. And not the Motley family, her-not-her family, which is upsetting to consider and confront. [21:19] 10The politically correct spelling these days is Foulx. [21:19] 6>:I [21:20] 13Melanie Lucas has many concerns, some justified. 00[21:20] <@Crion> Lauren has been as much of a presence in Stewart's life as he's willing to allow, given the circumstances. She hasn't framed it as moving in...but if he allows it, she'll basically have moved in. And the Canterbury/Jameson rotation will be back outside when they're at Stewart's place, though this time not because of Nels. [21:21] 6Their presence is appreciated anyway. The initial panic is gone, but. Well. Guardians are nice to have, even if they aren't your guardians. [21:21] 10He'd be ecstatic to have her around that much and the broader implications for their relationship wouldn't really register against everything else on his mind.............. but what about Chup? [21:21] 13For example, she needs to get better at dealing with retail or find a way to order printer paper online. Also: to work out everyone's exact schedules for being away or awake so that they aren't bothered by the noise of printing reams of thesis crap. 00[21:22] <@Crion> Chup will join, if Stewart is amenable. Though he'll stay at Stewart's place, not come with them into the Wherehouse. 00[21:22] <@Crion> Probably not wise. [21:23] 10It'll be a good trial run for Stewart getting a cat of his own, which is one of those things he wants to do but feels like he's in too much danger to justify. [21:23] 13Something else that worries Melanie: what happened to Gemma Franklin? She was being plunged head-first into freehold society and looked to be dealing with it by Not Going Out; Melanie's been there, and took much longer to recover, and.. it's not just Peter's keeper. [21:24] 7Maggie is hefting blocks with question marks on them into and out of a train, at the best of little mushroom men! 00[21:24] <@Crion> Langford List actually runs an office supply business on the side as part of the foundation's diverse small business portfolio, so he can probably help Melanie on the first bit. [21:25] 13Summer's not great at keeping up with people either, but Melanie thinks the Winter Court's even worse at it. So at some point after meeting John-a-dreams, she'll get some contact details out of Tony and see what's up. 00[21:25] <@Crion> As for Gemma...Melanie can probably set something up, but she'll have to reach out to Winter. [21:27] 7At some point, she's doing that. For the rest of the time she's... what? Who's around the Wherehouse and looks like they could use a hand? 00[21:30] <@Crion> Sadly for Nels...computers suck. The internet sucks. This is all a trash morass. Even when she tries to move off of it to solid brick-and-mortar libraries, the volumes she's looking for are misfiled or nonexistant or she just can't find them. Public works are in a sad, sad state in the city of Baltimore. 00[21:31] <@Crion> Tony's given Melanie a contact in Winter: Spring. Yes, that's her name. She's Winter's shooter. It's just a phone number. [21:31] 6How come whoever magicked up the internet didn't make it so that it knew what you were looking for and just gave it? Someone should do that. [21:32] 6Somewhere, a monkey's paw curls. [21:34] 6A few hours and some extremely uncouth language later, Nels is marching down the hallway to knock on Stewart's door. She did the old inhale-count-exhale-count trick to not sound angry and everything. [21:34] 10Stewart does spend a lot of time at the Belvedere, though he spends more time trying to coax the machine to be more stable than actually using the program. [21:34] "Melanie!" 7Maggie booms cheerfully. "What's up?" [21:38] 10He wants to try to find out what Proctor's answered to before the Mistress got him. [21:38] 10He's also home, though, when Nels comes knocking. "Hey! What's up?" 10He steps back to let her in. [21:39] "Are you hungry? I just reheated some pizza." [21:40] 6Nels is - well, she's not the judge, but she feels more nervous than usual as she steps inside. "No, no, I'm - on a mission? Kind of? And when I was searching I couldn't find anything." 6Then she plops herself down on the nearest convenient couch or chair or what have you. [21:40] "I'm looking for my family." [21:41] 10Stewart closes the door and stands at it for a moment, looking at her. [21:41] "How can I help?" 00[21:42] <@Crion> The entry is...scant. In fact, the first entry is fully unreadable -- the words, including the article title, are either unintelligible, blurred (it's not the monitor), or occasionally, Wingdings. But there's a link to click to the Proctor's page directly, which straightforwardly lays out his history as a slaver and abuser, in the past tense, and notes his death. It notes he was born in 00[21:42] <@Crion> Scotland, lived in Baton Rouge a time -- killed most of the Freehold there, apparently -- and then was driven east to Florida then north up the coast. There is, however, a link to related topics at the bottom... 00[21:43] <@Crion> To the Sign of the Pig and Ram. 00[21:43] <@Crion> Well. 00[21:43] <@Crion> "The Sign of the Pig and Ram." 00[21:43] <@Crion> Clicking through brings Stewart back to that first article, but now the blurred out parts are legible. [21:46] 6Nels: "They go to UMBC. But I - they put so much garbage online...!" 6She looks, really looks at Stewart. "I can't find them. Her. She's a Foulke, still, probably, but..." 6A frustrated grunt. "I want to, I don't know! Talk to her, find out more about the family, maybe stare awkwardly from across the room." 00[21:46] <@Crion> In Eygyptian mythology, Set took the form of a pig and blinded Horus before disappearing. A thief. Set is a god of chaos, and the pig a symbol of sacrifice. The god Khnum created men on his pottery wheel. He is a god of strength and birth, with the ram as his sigil. Together they are...quite clearly not actually Egyptian. Whatever is going on here is aesthetic. It's like a British reading 00[21:46] <@Crion> of hieroglyphics. These gods don't go together like this, most likely. 00[21:46] <@Crion> Perfect for one of the Keepers, especially in America. [21:46] "Probably not that last one." 00[21:46] <@Crion> There's another link at the bottom of the page, to another related topic: The Son of Bastet. 00[21:46] <@Crion> But that link's red. [21:46] 10Shit! 00[21:47] <@Crion> No further information there. The article hasn't been built...yet. [21:47] 10This will have to do. [21:49] 10In the present: "...okay. So you don't have her name, right?" [21:49] 6Miserably: "No." [21:49] "Just some articles about how the great-granddaughter of Nels Foulke is going there. Here. Whatever." [21:52] 10Stewart: "That's okay. We can come at it from another angle. How comfortable are you with like, researching your fetch?" [21:52] 6Nels: "...Comfortable enough to do it." [21:55] 10Stewart: "Then we'll just find her Sunpaper obituary. That will name her children and any grandchildren born at the time. And then we can look *them* up... we'll just work our way down." [21:56] "It's only a two generation hop so unless your fetch's entire family is afraid of computers they'll be on there. It's honestly terrifying how much information there is about people online and how easy it is to get at." [21:56] 6Nels: "Okay! Okay." 6They're just names. Except for the one in college. Oh god. "I'd expect they're only afraid of four-way stops." [21:56] 13Melanie looks up without otherwise moving, turning her head slowly toward Maggie like she was the sun or something. She's leaning on a wall, clutching a phone, and looking only mildly miserable. [21:56] "Well I was just.. phone calls. That's the only way Winter communicates, and it's hard enough when you can actually see people." [21:57] 10Stewart asks Nels a couple more questions while he quickly eats his pizza, then washes his hands and leads her into his office. There's a second office chair in there now. [21:57] 7Maggie: "Oh? Anything worrying?" 00[21:58] <@Crion> Lauren can be out of the apartment if Stewart wishes, but Chup is probably ambling about, staring Nels down. [21:58] 6She plops herself down in the second chair, crossing her legs immediately and tapping her foot nervously. [21:58] 13Melanie: "I've got to talk to this woman Spring - Spring of Winter - all Tony said is that she's a killer, literally. Like she's really good at killing people." [21:59] 10Stewart has no wish to get rid of Lauren. Whether she's here or not, he leaves the office door open for Chup. 00[21:59] <@Crion> Then the next question is, ah, where can she set up her rig? 00[22:00] <@Crion> The main room has the right power outlets if some furniture gets moved around. 00[22:00] <@Crion> Otherwise it's the bedroom. [22:00] 6( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) 00[22:00] <@Crion> You don't want both in the office because that puts them on the same circuit, and that's two high-end machines with add-ons. [22:00] 10Anywhere she wants. The office's plenty big enough to support a second desk. Stewart would prefer, but not insist, she not bring a lot of electronics into the bedroom. So the living room's fine. [22:01] 7Maggie: "That is... pretty worrying, yeah. How come?" [22:01] 10If she's still in the process of setting stuff up the couch might be askew or have a bunch of stuff on it. 00[22:01] <@Crion> Living room it is. She only spends time on it for work right now; the clan has agreed to stop gaming until the Huntsman is dealt with because the werewolves' unsecure connections could be used by the Sky Mother. [22:02] 13Melanie sets the phone down on a countertop and pokes at it. "She's their public contact basically. I want to check in on Gemma and these guys have decided that what she needs is social isolation to start.." [22:02] "Hey. Maggie." 00[22:02] <@Crion> Lauren will greet Nels when she arrives and then swivel back to her work, which is fucking around with router settings half a city away. Occasionally she has to call over to get Smitten to reset it. [22:02] "Would you mind.. helping? Like if I put this on speakerphone." 00[22:02] <@Crion> She is also containing Chup, for the moment. [22:03] 7Maggie: "Sure, I guess. I don't know that I'll be any better at talking to those Winter fellas, but I'll give you the ol' moral support." [22:03] 10Chup cannot be contained. Chup is boundless. [22:04] 6Nels smiles apologetically for borrowing her boyfriend and infringing upon their space, but... there aren't many other places she could go for this. 00[22:04] <@Crion> He flumps in agreement. [22:05] 13Melanie: "Yes please. I just don't want to fuck up and have someone be all, You are a security threat. Winter begins today." [22:06] 13She'll dial, or tap, or scratch. 00[22:06] <@Crion> The line will ring three times, then pick up. To silence. [22:07] 13Melanie: "..." 00[22:08] <@Crion> Unless Maggie says something, the line goes dead after seven seconds. [22:09] 7Maggie: "Hello! Is this Spring?" [22:09] 10What's Lauren's tolerance for background noise? Stewart'd probably have music going if he was here with Nels alone, but, Lauren is also working and on the phone. 00[22:10] <@Crion> There's a soft click as a handset is set down aside the reciever, instead of on it. Sounds like you're on speaker. "Yeah. You don't sound like the wood, or the nerd, or the gee-tar. So you're the fire." 00[22:10] <@Crion> "Maggie?" [22:11] 13Melanie: "Oh, you've traced our number or something. That's cool." 00[22:11] <@Crion> If Stewart closes the office door it'll be fine. 00[22:11] <@Crion> She won't even give a dirty look at him doing that with another young woman, [22:12] 10...nah, he'd rather be able to hear Lauren. Plus it gets real stuffy in here with the door shut. 00[22:12] <@Crion> Well then don't like, start playing music. [22:12] 10He won't. 00[22:12] <@Crion> Other than that, all good. [22:12] 7Pleasantly: "Yes, that's right. Also that was Melanie just now." [22:12] 10So it's in comparative silence that Stewart begins a genealogical survey starting with the late, fake Helen "Nels" Foulke. 00[22:12] <@Crion> Spring: "No, Melanie, I just keep careful track of who has this number." 00[22:13] <@Crion> "But for the record you can't trace calls from where you are." 00[22:13] <@Crion> Spring: "Well. So. What's up." [22:13] 13..well, it would've been cool, if they could do that. "Oh, I- I see. Hello." 00[22:13] <@Crion> "Hi." [22:14] 7Winter folk, or at least this one, probably get straight to the point, and probably appreciate their interlocutors doing the same. "Well, we were hoping to get in contact with young Gemma, or at the least learn how she's doing." [22:14] 6Nels watches the screen with interest and next-to-no commentary. Does humming count as commentary? Maybe it's actually none. [22:14] "Concerned freeholders, and all." 00[22:14] <@Crion> "She's doing fine." 00[22:14] <@Crion> "...You want a meet, don't you." [22:14] 10Stewart: "The library's been working to get all this stuff searchable online, so-- ah, here we go." [22:14] 13Melanie: "Yes please, if that's okay." 00[22:15] <@Crion> Spring: "I'm gonna put you on hold. There won't be music. Don't hang up." 00[22:15] <@Crion> The line is muted, but is still open. [22:15] 7To Melanie: "I think this is going well!" [22:15] 13Melanie mutes it on their end, too. "Yeah. If it's not okay, I'll ask why." [22:16] 10Stewart: "So like... what are you going to tell her?" [22:16] "Do you want to meet up with her too?" [22:17] 7Maggie nods. "Might as well." 00[22:18] <@Crion> The other end comes off of mute. "Why?" It's not Spring's voice; it's Gemma's. [22:18] 6Nels: "I - oh, gosh. Ohhhhhh gosh. I um. The plan was to, I guess, try and study? With her?" 6This is the least sure she's ever sounded. "And then maybe ask about the family?" [22:19] "I don't. It feels like I shouldn't go around telling people I barely know what happened to me. And showing up and saying, 'hi, it's me, your great-grandma' sounds like a bad idea." [22:19] 7Maggie will raise her eyebrows at Melanie. Does she have an answer ready? [22:21] "Hey! Gemma. I-" 13Hmm. Having some sort of four-way conversation is actually incredibly embarassing. "It was good to run into you on the weekend so I wanted to.. check in. And see if you're, like, how things are going so far." [22:22] 10Stewart: "But getting so close without really being able to connect is like watching them through glass. Not to mention the, like, the ethics of it." [22:22] "You wonder if they'll ever be ready for the truth. You wonder if you'll ever be ready for the truth." [22:22] "Sometimes you wonder whether you really want to know." 00[22:22] <@Crion> "Oh." She's almost audibly blinking on the other end. To someone else, likely Spring: "Is it okay if...? Okay." Back to Melanie: "Yeah. Yeah, okay. You want to grab coffee or something? I dunno if you like. Drink coffee." [22:25] 6Nels slumps. "I just. I want to know what the other Nels was like. And I want to know that my family's okay. And I-- I know I want to know, but..." [22:25] 6"My" family. Nels wasn't even dating when she vanished. [22:25] 13:) "I would like to do that! Coffee yes, but honestly I don't know how." 00[22:26] <@Crion> From off-phone: "She's a tree, Gemma." 00[22:26] <@Crion> Gemma, away from the phone: "She is not a tree." 00[22:27] <@Crion> Back on phone. "Yeah, that's good. There's a place in Charles Village..." She gives an address. [22:27] 10Stewart: "Yeah, no, I get it. I totally get it." [22:27] "You can't help but think about the life you didn't get to have." [22:28] 6Nels: "And I can't even talk about it to people I knew, because they're all dead. It's just me and what we left behind." [22:28] 10Stewart envies that. [22:29] 7Maggie, approvingly: "That sounds nice." [22:29] 6Again with the 'we'. [22:29] 10He doesn't say so out loud, obviously. 02[22:29] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 00[22:30] <@Crion> Gemma sets a time, and then Spring cuts in. "Cool. Just so you know, there will be Winter presence on the ground. Just so you're not surprised. See ya there." 00[22:30] <@Crion> Line goes dead. [22:30] 13Melanie: "Yeah you too Maggie right?"13She's about to go on confusedly, but Spring interjects. [22:30] 10The website's gotten kind of laggy, so there's long loading screens between searches that let Stewart lean back in his chair and look around at the ceiling, the other monitors, and Nels. "How's your studying coming, anyway? Do you... do you like need a study partner, or is it more that you want one?" [22:31] "Ahh. I guess it's probably good that they're doing this kind of.. chaperoning" [22:32] 6Nels: "More the latter, I think I'm doing well... but it might go faster with a partner. I've been putting it off, I guess." [22:33] "Took a backseat to all of our nutso stuff... and then, well. Why not try and find a relative." [22:38] 10Stewart: "Yeah. It's good. It's a good project, lets you flex different skills, learn stuff you'd never learn otherwise. It's just, you know, the most complicated thing imaginable." 03[22:42] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch [22:42] 10Man this site is taking f o r e v e r. "So, listen to any good music lately?" [22:45] "Welp. Better get my coat!" [22:47] 13Melanie: "Do you think having winter bodyguards around will make everyone in the coffee shop chilly?" 00[22:49] <@Crion> The coffee shop is a little local affair near the Johns Hopkins campus. There's a Ledo's Pizza nearby, if you want Maryland-style pizza. Such as it is. 00[22:53] <@Crion> Standing on the door is the Winter Court also-ran Cider Stitch, who Maggie will recognize from murdering some cops. He'll grin when you approach. [22:53] 7Maggie: "Be chilly anyhow, won't it?" [22:56] 13Melanie will chatter happily on the way - we can take one car, right? Might as well slow down global warming. "It's nice that she's doing okay, right? Like for herself and also it means we've done something good, mostly just by being around. There was something at the club.. like she was taking well to all the weirdos around here, such as you and me, but also had a qualia of risk, like [22:56] I wanted to 'protect' her or something." [22:58] 7Maggie nods agreeably, letting Melanie talk. [23:00] 13She doesn't know Cider Stitch, though... 00[23:02] <@Crion> Cider Stitch: "Hey, Mags. I can call you Mags, right? Gem and Spring are in the last booth." He nods at Melanie. [23:03] 13Okay no there's a protocol for this. An etiquette. Someone who's a literal nodding acquaintance, allied but unknown, friendly but not a friend... she can do this. Melanie says: "Sup." 00[23:04] <@Crion> He grins. "Not much. You?" [23:04] 10After he's sent Nels on his way, he'll head out. "I'm going down by Lexington and the goblin market, want anything?" 10he asks Lauren as he gets his coat on. 00[23:05] <@Crion> "Yeah," she says. "To come with. Lemme get into jeans." 00[23:05] <@Crion> She has been in the apartment all day, and did just get off the phone. 00[23:05] <@Crion> After hours on the phone. [23:05] "Hiya, Cider! Good to see ya. Ope, let me squeeze by here," 7Maggie will give him a nod in passing. [23:05] 10Stewart's a little relieved he's not the only one feeling stir crazy. [23:07] 13Ah fuck. People can respond to that? "Staying alive basically." 13She'll escape through the gap Maggie's created. Guess we're meeting 'Spring' today as well... 00[23:08] <@Crion> Cider Stitch's face gets serious for a sec and he nods, holding the door open for both of them. 00[23:09] <@Crion> The shop is semi-full, but Gemma and Spring are mostly alone in the back corner. 00[23:09] <@Crion> Gemma's in a smart black jacket and black jeans, while Spring is in baggy pants and a hoodie. 00[23:09] <@Crion> One's easier to conceal a gun under than the other. 00[23:11] <@Crion> Gemma will wave the two of them over, while Spring will just stare. 00[23:12] <@Crion> Meanwhile, Cider Stich moves inside the coffee shop behind them and takes up a position to cover all the sightlines that Spring can't, from a chair near the register. 00[23:13] <@Crion> Meanwhile, Stewart and Lauren will reach Notgnixel Market without incident. [23:13] 13Hey, that's a good look. In theory Melanie would like to get back into fashion some time, but there's the issue of materials and shapes.. anyway. What she's thinking is: Winter is keenly aware that the Mistress is taking an interest in the world, which is good. Or there's been some other threat to Gemma, which is bad. Or they're completely paranoid, which is in line with the propaganda [23:13] 13she's been fed from her own people. [23:14] 10It's only a ten minute drive from the apartment to the market. Now, as Stewart recalls, there's some trick to getting in? [23:14] "Hiii. This is Maggie, you must be.. Spring.." 00[23:14] <@Crion> You need a Coin of the Realm...or outstanding debt. 00[23:14] <@Crion> Stewart is covered. [23:15] 10...nice. 00[23:16] <@Crion> Or a season pass, which Lauren has. 00[23:16] <@Crion> But the guard opens the door and lets the two of you through with neither muss nor fuss. [23:17] 10Stewart: "So, as I recall, Melanie went to the WOE section... I'm looking for a mean cat." 00[23:17] <@Crion> Lauren: "Meaner than Chup?" 00[23:17] <@Crion> Spring: "Yyyyyeah." 00[23:17] <@Crion> Gemma: "Hey Melanie! Hi Maggie!" [23:18] 10Stewart: "Chup's not mean. He's just... imperious." 00[23:19] <@Crion> Lauren: "No, that's still mean. It's only cute because he can't do anything about you picking him up and cuddling him." 00[23:19] <@Crion> "Like. Think if he was 300 pounds." [23:19] 13Melanie: "Have you been out to cafes like this yet? I've basically got to the point where it's like, a comforting affordance instead of an alien negotiation ritual." [23:20] 10Stewart: "Now I'm thinking about it. I'm going to be thinking about it all day, at least." 00[23:20] <@Crion> Gemma laughs. "I didn't spend too much time over there, thankfully. I actually WORKED at one of these places before I got grabbed." 00[23:20] <@Crion> Lauren nods firmly. 00[23:21] <@Crion> So Stewart's looking for the Son of Bastet? [23:21] 10That's the plan. If something bizarre happens to sidetrack it, well, Stewart's not that hard to sidetrack. [23:24] 13Melanie: "Retail.. that's a good preview of fairy hell, yeah. I think I worked part time at.. an American Apparel once? It's a bit mixed up with other memories." 13Specifically: shoplifting. 00[23:25] <@Crion> He's...harder to find than he was when Melanie found him. That's odd. Instead of being on the main thoroughfare, he's well off the beaten track, down a vendor alley and then two or three more turns. He's still sitting in a booth labeled Seven Devils, though, with seven statues behind him, just like Melanie would have told Stewart to look for. 02[23:25] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) [23:25] 7Maggie: "How do, Gemma?" [23:25] 7Maggie: "How do, Gemma?" 00[23:25] <@Crion> He has a guest too, though. [23:25] 10Seven statues of what? 00[23:26] <@Crion> A tall cat in a sharp suit. Like, a literal cat. Well, mostly a man, but a cat head. [23:26] 13The way Melanie put it was actually 'here's what to stay away from'. Figureheads of egyptian gods, a sign of someone you don't want to deal with. But Stewart knows what he's doing. [23:26] 13Right? 00[23:27] <@Crion> Hard to tell, but they look like Eygptian...gods, maybe? The whole booth seems themed that way. [23:27] 10Is the business cat a customer or a coworker. Or rather, is Stewart interrupting anything if he gets close? 00[23:28] <@Crion> Gemma, smiling slightly, cupping a medium hot chocolate: "I'm good. How've you been? Both of you." 00[23:28] <@Crion> The two cats -- the proprietor seated in the lotus position on a pillow, the business cat leaning against a fake stone pillar -- seem engaged in a low, mrowling conversation. [23:29] "Uff. I tell ya, I don't know how you Winter sorts manage. I'm freezing my behindus off and it's still November." 00[23:29] <@Crion> Two-Step: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZjAantupsA No romance, no romance, no romance for me, mama -- come on baby, tell me what's the word. 03[23:30] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 00[23:30] <@Crion> The Son of Bastet: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHDE_P4mAzA I'll deliver Hell to your doorstep, dressed in rich façade. Then I'll burn you to the ground, like an angry god. [23:32] 10Okay, yeah, Stewart gets Melanie's aversion now. [23:32] 13Melanie: "We're keeping busy though actually. Like jogging through the hedge helps keep warm even it's throwing wolves at you.." 00[23:32] <@Crion> The tall, be-suited cat notices the pair of them first, looking from Lauren to Stewart then back to Lauren, winking at her, flipping a coin to the Son of Bastet and withdrawing. [23:33] 13She clarifies. "Doing some work to help track down the, you know, robot monster who turned up last week." 00[23:33] <@Crion> Spring, listlessly, to Maggie: "I wear layers." 00[23:33] <@Crion> Gemma's eyes widen. "Wolves?" 00[23:34] <@Crion> She of course got to see the robot monster live. 00[23:34] <@Crion> Son of Bastet looks up and grins as the two Lost approach. [23:34] 10Stewart sucks in a breath and steps forward. [23:35] 13Melanie: "Oh, they're actually piles of garbage and nettle. It's like.. the edges of Arcadia know they ought to be an enchanted forest, but what it's got to work with is city and crappy underbrush." [23:36] "At some point if you need to know about that stuff Jackie Ordinary is the expert. From.. Spring I think?" 13She can't help glancing at the other one. Looks like she needs the coffee more than anyone. 00[23:36] <@Crion> Gemma nods, while Spring says: "This is why the fact there's no gun control in this country owns." [23:36] 10Stewart: "Are you Son of Bastet?" 00[23:37] <@Crion> "Roll in there with a jungle-clipoed AR knockoff, three deep. God bless." 00[23:37] <@Crion> Son of Bastet: "I'm." [23:38] 10Stewart: "You deal in weapons." 00[23:38] <@Crion> Son of Bastet's smile widens. "No." 00[23:38] <@Crion> "I deal in promises." 00[23:39] <@Crion> "...Promises of weapons." [23:40] 10Stewart inclines his head, an acknowledgement of the correction. "I've come to bargain. The weapon I seek is the truth." [23:40] 13Somehow it makes sense that this is Tony's contact. "Yeah, if that's what you have to do. Um, I should point out that most of us don't end up having to combat wolves, or anthing else.. they're just out there is all!" 00[23:41] <@Crion> Son of Bastet slumps. "Is that all? Does the truth have to come in the form of your target's dead lover, or...?" 00[23:42] <@Crion> That last question is kind of hopeful. 00[23:43] <@Crion> Spring: "Everything's just out there when you head into the Hedge." 00[23:43] <@Crion> Spring: "I try not to do it, personally." 00[23:43] <@Crion> Gemma: "So...what's up?" [23:43] 10Stewart: "Something is coming. Not soon, but, maybe not long. The Sign of the Pig and Ram." 00[23:44] <@Crion> The Son of Bastet straightens all the way up. 00[23:44] <@Crion> "...You've seen the Sign?" [23:45] "Diegetically speaking? In the real world, I'm writing stuff, grad school work. Maggie you were looking for something right, a memory token?" 00[23:46] <@Crion> Gemma blinks at that. Spring sort of looks away. [23:47] 10Stewart: "I've seen signs of the Sign. Its slavers. Their corpses. New-made enemies, still living, drawing it here." 00[23:47] <@Crion> "A token? Wait, I know what that is. Something you leave in the Hedge for awhile. Right Spring? It gets magic." 00[23:47] <@Crion> Spring, bored: "Yup. It gets magic." 00[23:47] <@Crion> Son of Bastet stands: "Who." [23:48] 7Maggie: "Not a token, an Icon. S'different." [23:48] 13It looks like Gemma wasn't taken too deep. Social reintegration might be easy for her, with her problems being more practical ones, dangers of the fae (hence Winter's protection?). Melanie thought she'd be jealous of that, but encountering someone with shallower scars.. she's just grateful to whatever fate stayed its hand. [23:49] "Tokens are the thing you said, Icons are, uh..." 7Maggie scratches the back of her neck. "Bits of people's memory that came off." 00[23:49] <@Crion> Spring frowns and leans forward. "You're on after Icons?" 00[23:50] <@Crion> This is the first time she's seemed interested in the conversation, really. [23:50] 10Stewart: "Who who?" [23:51] 7Maggie nods. 00[23:52] <@Crion> Son of Bastet: "Which slavers. They take names. They are roles. The Haruspix. The Parson. The Proctor--" [23:52] 10Stewart: "The Proctor." 00[23:52] <@Crion> "And he is dead?" [23:52] "Badly so." 00[23:53] <@Crion> Spring: "My boss got his Icon back awhile ago. You'll want to be careful, and load for bear. The Hedge likes to make you work for it." 00[23:53] <@Crion> "We had to shoot our way out." She leans back. "Like I said: jungle clips." [23:54] 10How's Lauren taking this? Is she still there or did she break off to browse? [23:54] "Yeah, I expected it'd be a bit of a slog. Anything valuable has a freakin'... dragon or whatever guarding it. Story logic." 00[23:55] <@Crion> Lauren's still there with her arms crossed and her lips pressed together. 00[23:55] <@Crion> Spring nods. "Here's the good and the bad thing, though, at least from when we went in." [23:55] 13Memories lost to the Thorns.. it's an intriguing idea but not, Melanie thinks, personally applicable. Wasn't much left to lose at that point. 00[23:55] <@Crion> "Trap doesn't spring until after you get it." 00[23:55] <@Crion> She shrugs. "Maybe it'll be different for you." 00[23:57] <@Crion> Gemma, to Melanie: "What have you guys been up to since...you know." 00[23:57] <@Crion> "Besides killing Terminators or whatever." [23:58] 7Maggie: "Setting up a still. Gonna try and make Hedge booze." 00[23:58] <@Crion> Spring: "Oh fuck yes." 00[23:58] <@Crion> Gemma: "Nice." Session Time: Sun Dec 01 00:00:00 2019 [00:00] 13Melanie: "Well, you met Nels again back at the club. She's learning stuff to catch up with the world, she's got years and years to cover but makes it through on grit and cute.. Tony, the guy in dirt, he's been teaching hobgoblins to dance. And fetch beers. They only drink most of them so it works out well." 00[00:01] <@Crion> Son of Bastet: "Good. That means two more are out there. And they will be coming here." 00[00:01] <@Crion> His sphinx grin widens. "That's excellent." [00:01] "And if you remember Stewart, he's kind of our leader, he's apprenticed to a wizard. It's not a good idea but that's fine." [00:01] 10Stewart: "Excellent for who?" 00[00:02] <@Crion> Slightly mocking: "Those who seek the truth, of course. Or weapons." [00:02] 10Stewart: "What can you offer me?" 00[00:03] <@Crion> "The power of seven fake gods. Seven sins. Seven devils." He points up. "It's on the sign." 02[00:03] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) [00:05] 10Stewart: "And what do you seek in return? Coin of the Realm?" 00[00:07] <@Crion> Son of Bastet: "I am forced, by the laws of the market, to charge a price. So yes. That or debt. But if you hunt the Sign, you will have my imprimatur." 00[00:07] <@Crion> He pauses. "Your kind aren't the only ones who they hurt." 00[00:07] <@Crion> Gemma: "Nels, she's--" 00[00:07] <@Crion> Spring: "The one who fucked the cook, yeah?" 00[00:07] <@Crion> Gemma: "SPRING!" [00:08] 10Stewart: "Then I think we can do business." 00[00:08] <@Crion> She shrugs. "I'm not judging. He's good for an older guy. Just maybe don't do The Kitchen in the kitchen." [00:08] 13Melanie: "Ehh. I'm sure they had a really nice time but please don't use that as your point of reference." 00[00:09] <@Crion> Spring: "Sure." 00[00:09] <@Crion> Spring: "How's your shitty goose." [00:10] "Nels is a coper, a student, a decent shot, a great person and like... the best singer in the world basically. [00:10] 13Also she doesn't know things in a vaguely adorable way. [00:10] 7Maggie: "Sleeping it off." 00[00:11] <@Crion> Spring: "Yeah. Everyone's special. I'm gonna use the shitter." She stands and signals to Cider Stitch, who moves up as she heads back. 00[00:11] <@Crion> Gemma: "...So, that's Spring, I guess." [00:13] 13Melanie: "I mean, she's right." 00[00:13] <@Crion> Son of Bastet gestures for Stewart and Lauren to sit. Lauren will follow Stewart's lead. "We can. I sell steel forged by Wyrd and transmuted into deed, and I sell it specifically. For the Parson. For the Haruspix. For the Sign. For the Proctor, but there is no Proctor anymore. At least for the time being." [00:13] "Everyone is, and that's also just normal, so..." 00[00:14] <@Crion> Son of Bastet: "Buyer beware: my weapons target one at a time. You cannot use what you buy for the Parson on the Haruspix, for the Haruspix on the Parson, or for either on the Sign." [00:14] 10Stewart will sit. This creature's lost most of its edge for Stewart, terrifying song aside. There's something unavoidably humanizing about seeing someone afraid. "Who do you think will come first?" 00[00:14] <@Crion> Gemma sighs. "Yeah. It's been...weird. Being back. Being part of a secret society now." 00[00:15] <@Crion> Son of Bastet: "The Parson works Europe. The Haruspix, Asia and Africa. Trods say the Parson. But that is merely conjecture." 00[00:16] <@Crion> Gemma: "How have you guys been dealing with your bosses? The Spring lady seems...scarier than I thought." 03[00:17] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch [00:18] 13Melanie rests her chin on her hands - without elbows per se this is a slightly creaky maneuver. "It's super weird. The thing is, you seem to be handling it really well." [00:18] "I wanted to check because like, at the point you're at I was spending ten hours a day sleeping and most of the rest arguing with university faculty." 00[00:18] <@Crion> Gemma's smile falters. "I was gone three days." 00[00:18] <@Crion> "I mean." 00[00:18] <@Crion> "I wasn't." 00[00:18] <@Crion> "I was in there months." 00[00:18] <@Crion> "But..." [00:19] 13Melanie: "It's not a competition." 00[00:19] <@Crion> She stops suddenly. [00:21] 10Stewart: "I don't have the talent or the temperament of a killer. I need something that will work in my hands, that I won't flinch to use. If you can give me a way to stop the Parson, or render him helpless for the judgment of others, that would be most effective." [00:21] "We are what we will not become," 10he adds helpfully. 00[00:22] <@Crion> Son of Bastet sort of stares at Stewart stupefied, then leans back. "Something that won't kill them." 00[00:22] <@Crion> "That's...a taller order." 00[00:23] <@Crion> He steeples his fingers. "So what do you normally do, when you fight?" [00:23] 13Melanie saw the cider guy's signal. Not something to talk about right now. "My bosses in the secret society are a bat-man and a walking nuclear reactor. They're cool as hell and really conventionally attractive. They don't know what to do with me, but it's the kind of secret society where you can mostly just live a normal life and keep up a basic level of contact." 00[00:24] <@Crion> Gemma smiles. "Yeah, the boss is cool. Though, you know, it's weird being able to see his new face. My mom's kinda concerned I'm out of the house so much now but I just told her and dad I got a new job." [00:26] "Do you want to actually do that, get back to mostly the real world? Epicurean rather than Platonic piety?" 00[00:26] <@Crion> "I mean yeah, I--the what?" [00:26] 7Maggie shakes her head and raises her hands a little, like 'yeah, I don't know what she means either'. [00:27] 10Stewart: "I can leave and send back someone more fitting. There are heroes among us. I'm just not one of them. I don't fight. When a fight happens around me, my heuristic runs as follows: One, keep people I love from getting hurt. Two, avoid getting hurt. Three, get whatever's trying to hurt me to try to hurt itself or each other." 00[00:27] <@Crion> Son of Bastet sighs. "Is one of them the tree woman?" [00:28] 13Melanie: "It's the good life question. Whether it's best to live for normal, safe pleasures - hedonism in the original sense, not the way we take it now where the nuance is excess." [00:28] 10Stewart blinks. "One of who?" 00[00:28] <@Crion> Son of Bastet: "The heroes among you." [00:28] 10Stewart relaxes. [00:28] "Yes." [00:28] "Or, Plato's view through his mouthpiece Socrates, who said that the ideal is 'virtue' in a supernatural sense, essentially unreachable but that the best way to be was to be as.. much as possible. As involved, as deed-doing." 00[00:29] <@Crion> He nods. "I thought it was odd two of you wandered across me in such short shrift. She sought a weapon, but had no real target. You seek targets, but wish for no weapon. I assume you work together fantastically." 00[00:29] <@Crion> The Son does not sound sarcastic. [00:29] 10Stewart smiles faintly. "I'd like to think so." 00[00:29] <@Crion> Gemma: "Oh. Yeah." [00:30] 13Melanie sips the pumpkin spice latte she ordered. Again, no idea how this works biologically, but she can definitely feel the impact of caffeine on her pace of speech. 00[00:30] <@Crion> "I mean I'm just at the community college." 00[00:31] <@Crion> Son of Bastet: "You may return with her if you desire. But I think it might fulfill your ambitions better to wield this...justice...yourself." 00[00:31] <@Crion> "You seek a trap." 00[00:31] <@Crion> "Preferably one the Parson springs by his own words and deeds." 00[00:31] <@Crion> "Not a mere tripwire." [00:32] "I'm sorry, that wasn't meant to be weird elitist stuff. I don't.." 13does Gemma seem trustworthy? Doesn't matter. She's nice, and Maggie knows all this stuff, and there's no point hiding how weird you are if it isolates you further. [00:32] "I don't know all the social cues yet. I've been learning everything but I started with books, and it turns out this is not how people work." 00[00:32] <@Crion> Spring returns from the bathroom. Cider Spring grimaces and nods, and will wait a minute or two before taking a different seat with better coverage. 00[00:33] <@Crion> Gemma: "Oh, you're fine. I just, barely know what Plato is." 00[00:33] <@Crion> Spring, deadpan: "Don't eat it." [00:33] 10Stewart: "That makes sense." 10Trap builds are exceptional boss killers. [00:33] 13Melanie sighs, or at least rustles. "I bet there's a much better way to express this stuff than intellectualising modes of virtue, I just don't know what it is." 00[00:34] <@Crion> Son of Bastet: "Here is your main problem, then: You have faced the Proctor, yes?" 00[00:34] <@Crion> "You know these creatures travel in packs." [00:34] 10Stewart nods. 00[00:34] <@Crion> "Whatever trap we devise will work on the Parson. And only the Parson." 00[00:34] <@Crion> "No matter how effective." [00:34] 10Stewart: "I travel in packs too." 00[00:35] <@Crion> Spring: "Most people just smoke weed. Maybe not something you're into anymore." [00:36] 13Actually she's been planning to try some of the stuff Maggie's growing. "No idea." 00[00:36] <@Crion> Son of Bastet nods. "That's good. So. Your trap. No lethality, I assume. Immobilization? Entombment? Full-spectrum sensory deprivation? What are your themes? Your outcomes?" 00[00:36] <@Crion> Spring: "Fair enough." [00:37] 13Melanie deliberately waited until Spring was back before asking Gemma this; she's not quite sure if.. "Have you got your own phone?" 00[00:37] <@Crion> Gemma sort of glances over at Spring. "Not right now." 00[00:37] <@Crion> Spring, laconically: "We're getting something with the right firmware set up." 00[00:37] <@Crion> "Give it a few days." [00:38] 13To Maggie: "Let's write down our numbers. I've got a pen here somewhere." [00:38] 13To Spring: "So you guys do tech stuff as well?" 00[00:38] <@Crion> Gemma brightens up. "Sure!" 00[00:39] <@Crion> Spring grins. "If you're asking if we rely on your sweet Autumn child's girlfriend for our opsec, the answer is no. We keep that in house." [00:40] 10Stewart doesn't look at Lauren or the Son. His eyes rest on the impassive, ever-watching gods in the back. 02[00:40] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) [00:43] Seriously: “It would be a problem if there was only one specialist. From what Lauren says there are networked dangers, ghosts in the machine.” She specifically used that phrase, for some reason. [00:44] “Though the Street says it doesn’t matter and computers are fake?” 00[00:44] <@Crion> Spring: "Well. That's good to hear." 00[00:44] <@Crion> Spring's grin widens. "Well. I'd never say anything bad about another court's monarch." 00[00:45] <@Crion> "But Langford's cool." [00:46] 10If Stewart had all the power of the Wyrd... he imagines. His eyes drift closed as he speaks. His affect is flat. "Let them think their oaths have sloughed off. Let them see themselves for just a moment as an oathbreaker, a traitor to traitors and a monster among monsters. Deny them the safety of their master, the comfort of their allies. Let it all wash away. Let that fear paralyze him." [00:46] "Break their will by setting them free." 00[00:46] <@Crion> Lauren blinks. 00[00:46] <@Crion> The Son of Bastet's smile grows so wide his teeth part. 00[00:47] <@Crion> "Yes. Yes. I think we can work with that." 00[00:49] <@Crion> The negotiation goes on for a bit, then the Son hands Stewart a marker and bids him return in a week and a day. Leaving the market is a simple affair, and though Lauren was a bit muted upon leaving the stall, she's back to her normal self by the time they hit the street. Back to the apartment or out to dinner in the Inner Harbor? [00:50] 7Maggie will scribble her own number down as well. [00:50] 13Spring's opinion on the lords of Summer.. isn't really something Melanie cares about. "Oh hey, if you're at community college do you have a major? Are you still studying the same stuff as before?" 00[00:50] <@Crion> Gemma writes hers down too, but promises to text her from her new phone when she gets it, in case it changes. 00[00:51] <@Crion> Gemma: "Yeah! I'm trying to get the credits to transfer over to UMBC's engineering program." [00:53] 10Stewart stays subdued for longer. He's not really dressed to eat out at any place he'd want to take Lauren so his idea is to grab crab cake sandwiches or something from the real Lexington Market on the way home. What does Lauren think? [00:53] 13Something that hadn't occurred to Melanie before occurs to her now. Gemma was gone for only days, on Earth; she's living with her parents, maintaining her education... and yet, the faeries are set in their ways. She must have had a fetch. 00[00:53] <@Crion> Sounds good to her. She'll get an extra bit of crabcake on the side for Chup. [00:54] 10Once they're home: "I get why Melanie doesn't like that guy." 00[00:54] <@Crion> Lauren: "Why's that?" [00:55] "Th- that's cool, if you end up there I'll show you around. Although, like, the engineering department is a strange and foreign place - they came to parties but mostly to drink." 00[00:56] <@Crion> Gemma, eagerly: "That'd be great!" 00[00:56] <@Crion> Spring, checking her phone. "Think it's time to go." [00:57] 10Unwrapping the food on the table. "He's dangerous. Full of hate, and he trades in it. If I hadn't gotten to see him afraid I'd probably have walked." 00[00:57] <@Crion> Spring: "We've all exchanged numbers like true best pals. Gemma will be back online in a couple days." [00:57] 13Honestly, it's the unattainable ideal Stewart described. Stepping back into your old life.. as if it wasn't occupied. 00[00:57] <@Crion> "Cider, prep the door." 00[00:58] <@Crion> The redheaded dude heads to the register, pays for his coffee, and slips back out front. [00:58] 13Melanie leans back and looks at Spring speculatively. "It's a good thing you guys are around. I can tell you're used to protecting people." 00[00:58] <@Crion> Lauren: "Being dangerous is what keeps him alive, I guess." 00[00:58] <@Crion> Spring stares back. Flatly: "No I'm not." 00[00:59] <@Crion> She steps out of the booth. "Let's go, Gemma." [00:59] 10Stewart: "Sorry you didn't get to do much more than stretch your legs." 00[00:59] <@Crion> The neophyte says some quick goodbyes and follows. 03[01:00] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 00[01:00] <@Crion> Lauren: "It's fine. I got to see two really weird cats." To Chup in her lap: "Weirder than you." [01:00] 13Hmm. To Maggie: "Hmmmm." [01:02] "Golly." 00[01:02] <@Crion> Lauren: "...I wouldn't be so hard on that cat guy, though. The stuff he was thinking about doing...well..." [01:02] 10Stewart: "What do you mean?" [01:02] 13Melanie: "There's always weird stuff in the background." [01:03] "Or in the foreground!" 00[01:04] <@Crion> She sighs. "It was quick, at least. It was probably clean. And yeah, it came from hate." Lauren looks him straight in the eye. "Is that better than breaking them with fear?" [01:04] 13Melanie: "Gemma's so young." [01:06] 7Maggie: "Hard to gauge, really..." [01:06] 10Stewart meets Lauren's eyes in silence for a moment. [01:06] 13Melanie: "Yeah. What do you hope to remember?" [01:08] 10Stewart: "...I don't know. I don't know what's better." [01:08] 7Mildly: "If I could remember that, I wouldn't need the Icon!" [01:08] "Seriously though, I came out with nothing. Not a name, family, home..." 7She looks down at her hands clasped on the table. [01:08] 10Stewart: "He asked me what my themes were." 00[01:09] <@Crion> Lauren nods and scritches Chup. "Yeah. And I don't have a problem with you indulging him on that. He respected it." [01:09] 13Melanie: "There could be people waiting. I get why it's important." 00[01:09] <@Crion> "And I don't have a problem with you using his fear." [01:10] 10Stewart sits and rubs his eyes tiredly. "Ah, shit. I don't even know if I was telling him the truth." [01:10] "Like... what are my themes? That's not something someone just, decides. It's something that gets read into them." [01:10] 7Maggie: "I have to guess at when I was born based on stuff like 'do I know what phones are'. I don't know what I cared about at all..." 00[01:10] <@Crion> "I just...worry, when you do that, and then say something like: you'd have walked away from him, except he was afraid." 00[01:10] <@Crion> "Those things together." 00[01:10] <@Crion> "I've seen Scarecrows." [01:11] 10Stewart: "I meant that seeing him vulnerable made it easier to trust him." [01:11] "I have to keep moving, pushing forward, finding things to do like that business distilling goblin fruits, because there's nothing else otherwise." 00[01:11] <@Crion> Lauren: "I know." [01:11] 10He folds his arms, looking at the food he's suddenly less interested in. [01:11] 7Maggie: "I bet there's more'n a few old ladies in this country that just sit alone, day in and day out, because everything that mattered to them vanished or died." 00[01:12] <@Crion> "I just...I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said anything. You dealt with him well." [01:12] 13Melanie: "But most of them aren't incredibly tough and curious and cool." [01:14] 10Stewart looks like he wants to say something himself, but is resisting. His tongue pushes out against his lower lip from within. He doesn't look upset, exactly. But deeply preoccupied and pensive. 00[01:15] <@Crion> Chup will mrowl and hop up, and Lauren will box the remainder of her sandwich and head to bed. [01:15] 10Stewart stays up a while longer, thinking, before he joins her. 02[01:16] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 00[01:16] <@Crion> When he does, she curls into him and sighs. Chup snurts, and waddles from the room. [01:18] 13Melanie: "Have you tried one of these? They only have them from November to whenever, it's like.. eggnog without the egg or the nog. But coffee." [01:18] 7Maggie: "Ooh, one of them pumpkin things? Yeah, I had some. They're pretty good, huh?!" [01:19] 13Melanie: "I don't know if there's actual pumpkin in it. What does that taste like?" 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ZZZzzz…) 03[18:52] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 03[19:23] * CBN2 is now known as CBN 00[20:40] <@Crion> 00[20:40] <@Crion> 00[20:40] <@Crion> 00[20:40] <@Crion> 00[20:40] <@Crion> 00[20:40] <@Crion> 00[20:40] <@Crion> 00[20:44] <@Crion> The weather's unseasonably warm for the middle of November. Or maybe it's becoming seasonable. Either way, high fifties/low sixties without much wind or rain as Thanksgiving approaches, still a few weeks away. The biggest thing Stewart has had on his plate since meeting John of the Falls from the court itself has been Santander nagging him to get over to a DMV location with his birth certificate, 00[20:44] <@Crion> social security card, and two pieces of mail establishing residence to satisfy the federal REAL ID program -- and of course getting that documentation means going through some hoops on Santander's end, so social security card is just arriving now. (His old number is currently in the care of Stu.) [20:45] 10A fun way to fill yourself with grief over nothing is to suddenly be made to realize you have to build your credit rating from scratch again. 00[20:46] <@Crion> Santander will tell him not to worry about that too much. He seems pretty certain that industry's going to completely collapse real soon, though he's extremely vague on why. 00[20:47] <@Crion> Lauren's moved in extremely lightly, with only her rig, a small suitcase, and an overnight bag full of Chup's stuff. [20:48] 10Since Stewart had to start caring about paperwork all at once, he's actually stayed on top of it. One of his first purchases after moving in to this place, even before his computer was built, was a little filing cabinet. 00[20:49] <@Crion> She's doing a good job of hiding that she's very carefully making sure not to spend all day in the same room as Stewart, to leave him alone for large portions of the day except around meals and bedtime, and so on, without also seeming weird and freezing him out. It's hard to tell what she's worried about, precisely: being perceived as clingy, or being perceived as too into this temporary 00[20:49] <@Crion> arrangement. 00[20:50] <@Crion> Or maybe those are the same thing. 00[20:50] <@Crion> So that means a lot of hours sitting crosslegged in the chair at her desk, working through IT tickets. [20:55] 10Stewart initially took this as her being unused-to or uncomfortable with sharing a living space with someone, since he knows she deeply values privacy and not being bothered. But as her anxiety, whatever its cause, reveals itself in bits and pieces over the first several days together he feels more comfortable popping in on her while she's working from time to time. Just to ask her what [20:55] 10she's up to, make joint trips to the fridge or out for groceries, and make some physical contact like a kiss on the cheek or a brief shoulder rub. [20:56] 10It's not not meant as a subtle signal that he's happy to have her around... but it's a signal he wants to send because he is. 00[21:06] <@Crion> She appreciates those. And more often than not, and more often as time goes on, she's sabotaged anyway by Chup warming up to Stewart and showing it in the way cats know how: by being incredibly annoying, especially when he's streaming. So far she's avoided being more than glimpsed in the background of a stream as she tries to get him back into the main living space, and her face hasn't gone 00[21:06] <@Crion> out over the stream at all, but it's going to be pretty clear to the regular viewers that the living situation has changed a little bit. 00[21:07] <@Crion> Lauren has given him permission to lie or tell the truth about it as he sees fit...perhaps knowing his general inclination will be towards mentioning it as little as possible either way. [21:07] 10So far Stewart's completely no-sold the reaction of the chat to these moments. [21:08] 10It's more comfortable and also, somewhere, there's someone writing LOTS OF SPECULATION??? on a whiteboard in Stewart's mind and circling it several times. 00[21:10] <@Crion> So does Stewart have a gun in the house? [21:11] 10But Stewart's stream has changed subtly in tone over the last several weeks. Part of it's Lauren, part of it's the work, but he's also slowly and subtly burdened by all the things on his mind that he's loath to talk about, for good and bad reasons. The Twitch reaction clips are a little more actually-angry than wacky-angry than they were in September. [21:11] 10He brought it home the day after Lauren moved in. 00[21:12] <@Crion> Good. Generally Lauren would be neutral trending towards apprehensive on having firearms around...but circumstances are a bit different at the moment than they are for most. [21:14] 10This is a Glock 17 - the gun Gerald handed him that night he was broken into the Court - with its attendant accessories. 00[21:15] <@Crion> What's his next day off streaming? That Thursday, right? [21:15] 10Stewart's schedule has been a little erratic lately between the wind-down of the current PoE league and all the shit that's happening in real life, but yeah, he's taking Thursday off. 00[21:16] <@Crion> Gerald will call Tuesday night, then. Unlike the rest of the court, he doesn't seem to communicate via Ravens and the message client. [21:19] 10Stewart's grateful for that. Now that it's not his main way of talking to Lauren he's starting to associate pings from the autumn box with stress, bad news, and fear. [21:19] "Hi." 00[21:19] <@Crion> "Stewart!" Gerald's voice is his usual jaunty growl, which is an odd combination you don't usually hear outside of action movie guys trying to do lighthearteded scenes in character. "How's things? How's the new roommate?" [21:21] "Hey Gerald. Things are pretty good. Lauren's fine." 00[21:22] <@Crion> "Good. Good, good." There's the sound of a couple gunshots in the background; they sound practiced, not chaotic. Gerald's probably-- "I'm at the range with Stu, and a thought occured to me. You've got...what, three weeks before our friend comes on back, yeah?" [21:24] 10Sixteen days makes a full lunar month. "Give or take." 00[21:25] <@Crion> "Was thinking it -- if you wanted to -- it might be good to have you come down here a few times with me and shoot a bit. Just you and me, Stu doesn't have to be with us. Unless you'd prefer it. Make my schedule easier." 00[21:26] <@Crion> "Get you a gun of your own, just in case." [21:27] 10Stewart: "I just got one, actually. I was meaning to call you myself." 10Not a lie, but 'meaning to' is such a wonderfully vague phrase. signifying intention but totally concealing the amount of force behind it. "Are you free Thursday?" 00[21:28] <@Crion> Gerald makes a surprised little noise but recovers quickly. "Thursday? Yeah, all afternoon. What'd you get? So I can bring ammunition, figure out a lesson plan, so on." [21:28] 10Stewart: "I got a 9 millimeter. Glock 17." 00[21:28] <@Crion> "...Well, that solves a lot of those problems." [21:29] "Feels good when the number of problems goes down instead of up." 00[21:29] <@Crion> Gerald noted Stewart's lack of response to the Stu situation; unless Stewart actively asks, he'll slate the two for different days. [21:30] 10That's fine. Stewart likes Stu quite a bit, but it's still hard to be around him. Or look at him. Or think about him. 03[21:30] * CBN2 (CBN@sorcery-g5ikhk.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) has joined #gofetch 00[21:33] <@Crion> He'll give Stewart an address -- Associated Gun Clubs of Baltimore, out on Marriottsville Road -- and tell him to drive up around 1 PM. [21:33] 10How does Lauren react when Stewart tells her Gerald's taking him to the range? 02[21:33] * CBN (CBN@sorcery-faihsr.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 00[21:35] <@Crion> Suspiciously like she might have already known that was why Gerald called. Or perhaps she's just good at guessing, and Gerald doesn't do much else for fun. She tells him to be safe and try to have fun, and that Canterbury will make sure someone's outside the front door while he's out, just in case. [21:37] "Good. Chup needs protecting," 10is what Stewart says before kissing her goodbye. 00[21:37] <@Crion> She appreciates that joke. 00[21:37] <@Crion> Does he want Gerald to drive them out, or to meet him there? [21:39] 10Stewart'll drive. With Lauren working from home and on tech support calls a lot, he doesn't get much chance to listen to music. And he's not comfortable running his car playlist unless he's driving alone. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MrRi-2nokM&list=PLqoVwH1yoXtUaAPpwMN3eX6ralHeb0TEv&index=25 [21:40] 10Now would you break before you twist the knife~ 00[21:47] <@Crion> The gun club is in a sort of desolate, forest-y exurb of the city -- lots of woods full of tall spindly trees, lots of brown-green fields, lots of old post-war construction starting to fall apart, lots of stuff that used to be farms but is now stalled-out housing developments. The facility itself is a big parking lot full of the expected pickup trucks, a main hall -- Memorial Hall -- that 00[21:47] <@Crion> looks like it was built sometime in the 70s, and then a bunch of outdoor ranges. Most of them look like rifle ranges, but there's an archery range in there too. [21:47] 10Yeah. Yeah, this feels right. 00[21:48] <@Crion> The lot's mostly empty at 1 PM on a Thursday except for some old retirees playing with their toys; cops have their own range just up the road, so they don't come down around here except to shoot the shit with the weekend warriors, and few of those guys are here during the work week. For better or worse. Gerald's leaning against his Escalade, waiting. 00[21:48] <@Crion> He'll waive once when he recognizes Stewart's car. [21:52] 10Stewart waves back when he gets out. He's wearing a sweatshirt with the Path of Exile logo (part of a gift basket the developers sent out to big streamers) and jeans. He's holding the case the gun came in like a lunch box. 00[21:53] <@Crion> One of the old-timers gives him a dirty look, then looks away and hurries on to his brand-new truck when he sees the look he's getting back from Gerald. [21:54] 10Stewart idly wonders how that guy'd react if a pack of briarwolves was bearing down on him. [21:55] "Hey," 10he says to Gerald when he gets close enough not to have to raise his voice. 00[21:56] <@Crion> "Hey, kid." He cracks a slight smile at the case. "You even taken that thing out yet?" [21:57] 10Stewart: "I opened it to make sure nothing was missing from the box, but other than that, no. How should I be carrying it?" [22:00] 10Stewart only knows about guns from video games and movies, so he's coming at this as if he knows nothing about guns. 00[22:03] <@Crion> "The box is fine, though you'll get looks for having the factory box and not some custom thing with, I don't know, the Confederate flag on it or something." There was one of those on that brand-new truck, which is where Gerald's eyes are now as it pulls out. "There's actually fewer of those around now than there were five years ago. Go figure." 00[22:05] <@Crion> "But you'll want a small carry bag or something to put ammo with or something. Especially because Maryland's only an open-carry state with a license, and while legally you're fine with it locked in the case, the fewer opportunities you give cops to be shitheads, the better." 00[22:05] <@Crion> "Just a generic tote bag, nothing special." [22:05] 10Stewart nods. "What about if I'm carrying it... not to the range." 00[22:08] <@Crion> "The expensive way are the three-clip safety holsters that cops wear to prevent anyone from being able to just, go for your gun. But those take some practice to draw smooth from -- they're best for security people who are going to at least be practicing their drawing a decent amount. Shoulder holster doesn't seem necessary. So I'd go with a standard belt clip-holster -- it clicks in there, 00[22:08] <@Crion> and then comes out when you pull it but doesn't jostle around. Easier to grab off you, but...that's not really the kind of situation you'll be using it in." [22:11] 10Stewart nods, and takes the gun out. It doesn't feel as heavy as he remembers. [22:11] 10Oh right, it's not loaded yet. 00[22:12] <@Crion> "Put that back in for now. These guys kind of fetishize the gun safety thing." 00[22:12] <@Crion> He frowns. "Less for the safety, more for the gatekeeping." [22:12] 10Stewart obeys. "Right." 00[22:12] <@Crion> "Come on, let's head over to the high power range. It's the best one for pistols." 00[22:13] <@Crion> The guys who are here are all on the longer, more expansive rifle ranges, firing all manner of souped-up hunting rifles and straight-up military weaponry. [22:14] 10It puts Stewart in mind of invaders from another world. [22:14] 10But of course, here, that's him. Here as in the range and, arguably, now, Earth. 00[22:15] <@Crion> Gerald briefly introduces Stewart to the range safety guy, Pete, who is friendly but professional to Stewart but downright enthusiastic when it comes to Gerald. He just nods and tells y'all to have fun when Gerald says he's taking his nephew shooting for the first time and wants to show him around a Glock, so they'll be using close targets, would he mind making sure to announce anyone else 00[22:15] <@Crion> coming in just in case he's down range? And that's the last you see of Pete, really, as he ambles back to his rounds. [22:16] 10He seems nice. 00[22:17] <@Crion> For his part, Gerald does do the basic range safety stuff -- barrel downrange at all times no matter if it's loaded or not, always ask the range observer if the range is clear before firing, so on. 00[22:18] <@Crion> In his own tote bag, which is an outright rifle bag, Gerald's got a pump shotgun and that FAL from both Halloween and the night on the dock -- but also the Glock 17 he gave Stewart that night, which he'll be shooting. [22:18] 10Commonsense stuff people will yell at you about if you fuck up or haven't intuited? Brother, let me tell you about a little something called passive tree pathing. 00[22:22] <@Crion> First he goes out and sets up some paper targets at about 35 meters. Then he shows Stewart how to load the magazines properly -- it's intuitive, but it does require a bit of force the first time you do it on a new magazine with a stiff follower spring -- hands Stewart ear protection, and steps back. He'll motion to Stewart to keep an earmuff off so he can talk until the shooting starts. "So 00[22:22] <@Crion> first, I want you to take your time, aim the gun, and empty the magazine at the target down there, one at a time. We're not looking for accuracy here, or good form, really, though I'll help you with that -- I just want you to get used to what firing a gun feels like." 02[22:23] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) [22:26] 10Stewart squares up, legs slightly apart, and holds the gun with both hands up at face-level and arms fully extended, and pulls the trigger once. [22:26] 10Fucking OW-- 00[22:27] <@Crion> Gerald doesn't laugh or smile at his misfortune; as long as Stewart doesn't physically drop the gun, he won't intervene until Stewart's either emptied the magazine or decided he wants to stop. [22:28] 10Stewart doesn't drop the gun, but he takes a few seconds before his next shot. And then again. And again. By the time he's done, his arms are sore from the shoulders to the wrists, but he gets the last three shots off without a pause in between. [22:29] 10Ear protection off: "People do this for fun??" 00[22:29] <@Crion> Has he re-engaged the safety? [22:29] 10Yes! That's the one gun thing he was already taught. [22:29] 10By Gerald. 03[22:29] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 00[22:31] <@Crion> Then Gerald is casual, and smiles for the first time since the shooting started. "Believe it or not, yes. We could have started you off with a .22SR pistol, but since you already have your own I figure you might as well get used to it on its own terms. While training with low recoil guns can feel better, it can give you some bad habits in terms of grip and posture that lead to bad aim or 00[22:31] <@Crion> joint soreness down the line. Speaking of which..." 00[22:37] <@Crion> He spends the next five to ten minutes adjusting Stewart's stance, demonstrating with his own gun the proper way to hold and look down the sights of the pistol; whereas Stewart was kind of doing the cop stance from all the movies -- it's called the Weaver stance, apparently -- Gerald has him turn a bit more, lock his firing arm instead of leaving it bent, use his firing arm sort of like a 00[22:37] <@Crion> rifle stock by pressing his cheek to it to aim, and having a more exaggerated bend in his non-dominant arm since the gun's now off to a side rather than in the middle of his body. This should make the recoil easier to handle and control, and locking the joint should actually help disperse the force of the shot, leading to less soreness. 00[22:37] <@Crion> Or so Gerald says. It's still a handgun. 00[22:38] <@Crion> He'll have Stewart reload the gun for the first time, then go through the second magazine with his new stance, from memory. [22:41] 10It's hard to tell if this is helping, but that might just be because his arms are already a little sore. They don't feel much more sore after this clip is empty, which also takes significantly less time. Safety on, ear protection off, left cheek slightly reddened from being pressed into his left arm: "How was that?" 00[22:44] <@Crion> Gerald nods. "Good form." He's still not concerned about accuracy. When the range is safe again, he crosses his arms. "You're going to be sore a bit the first few times, but you'll get used to it quickly enough. My main question now is, really, one you need to ask for yourself: how much do you want to commit to this? Is this a last-ditch defensive weapon that only comes out in a home invasion? 00[22:44] <@Crion> If so, I might advise you get rid of the handgun and we train you on a shotgun with a stock. Less accuracy needed, less bullet penetration so people the next apartment over don't get through-shots, much more stopping power. Or is this going to become part of your standard Hedge kit?" [22:49] 10Stewart: "I've been walking around as if summoning a thunderstorm that will indiscriminately try to kill everyone but me was a workable plan. And it's just not, for the situations I end up in. Either I'm in the Hedge with the others or I'm in the city with bystanders, or Lauren. I'm not trying to become a backup Gerald but Fae Cunning only protects *me*, and if someone's hunting me and [22:49] of a mind to hurt me... or hurt someone else... then it's just a matter of time until I'm slow or late." 00[22:51] <@Crion> Gerald nods. "Right. Sensible." Then, wryly: "...I think Stu's already got the backup Gerald position locked down anyway." [22:51] 10Stewart: "Yeah? So he's really taking to it, then." 00[22:52] <@Crion> He nods. "Still doesn't want to have anything in the house other than the shotgun, and he's still a bit leery about that. But he's had range time on some of the longer rifles, and he's a natural for it. Not sure if that's...you know. A thing we have. I somewhat doubt it." [22:54] 10Stewart: "I don't know. I mean sample sizes and all, but of the three of you guys I know anything about, one's a firefighter, one's a tier one operator, and one's a professional athlete. Maybe it is a thing." 00[22:57] <@Crion> Gerald: "You know, Bob made a joke about that once. Fetches are jocks, changelings are nerds, it's why we're predisposed not to get along. Even so I think the other reasons are more convincing." [22:58] 10Stewart: "...yeah." 00[23:00] <@Crion> "Alright. So, we're sticking with the Glock, and we're going for everyday carry and use. No trick shots, no long-distance pinpoint target shooting, no special hunting nonsense. Bullets in center mass on human beings." He pauses. "Maybe we'll do some hunting stuff after all. They do like to look like wolves from time to time. But that's later." [23:00] 10Stewart nods. 00[23:03] <@Crion> "For now, we're going to keep that target right where it is, and we're going to move to focusing on accuracy." 00[23:03] <@Crion> "Let's go through your two magazines one more time with some fresh paper out there, look at the results, talk about them, then call it a day." [23:03] "Okay." 02[23:05] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 00[23:05] <@Crion> When the range is clear, Gerald goes out and switches the papers, nodding to himself. "Good. Now do it again." [23:07] 10It's loud and heavy and it still stings, but Stewart takes to this pretty quickly himself. 00[23:09] <@Crion> He brings the second paper back. The results look pretty similar on the hits...decent but not tight groupings. "These are the same," he says, touching them. "But these...these are different." He taps some of the misses. On the first one, they're a lot more scattered; his second not only has the ones on the sheet closer, but it has fewer complete misses. 00[23:09] <@Crion> "This is good work. Maybe it's not just Stu." [23:10] 10Stewart: "Can I ask you a question?" 00[23:10] <@Crion> Gerald. "Sh--" 00[23:10] <@Crion> "Go ahead." [23:11] 10Stewart: "When, uh, when the King got back. How long did it take for you guys to..." [23:11] "Feel... normal around each other." 00[23:16] <@Crion> Gerald: "...Not until I was all the way out of the service, and not until after our parents died." He pauses. "They never knew. He still got to see them, you know -- he only had to change his Mask a little bit, to look like me. So I'd get some holidays, and he'd get others. You see the movie The Prestige?" [23:17] 10Stewart: "About the magicians?" 00[23:18] <@Crion> "Yeah." 00[23:19] <@Crion> "If you have, you know where I'm going with this. The bit where twin brothers are pretending to be one guy, married to one woman. And they look exactly the same, and she doesn't believe they're different people on a conscious level, but she can tell -- some days her husband loves her, and some days he's just pretending." 00[23:20] <@Crion> Gerald grimaces. "Thankfully I never got married. So it never went that far. But while they never knew, in a way, they could tell." [23:20] 10Stewart: "Yeah." [23:21] 10Stewart: "Like... I don't really... want that stuff back. I'm fine, honestly, not seeing my parents anymore, and Stu's got an entire job and set of friends and life that I couldn't handle and wouldn't like." [23:21] "But it's still-- and he's felt like shit for so long, just for being the one who lived. I can't put that on him. I can't put it on him." 00[23:23] <@Crion> "You didn't put it on him, and you can't take if off him, either." He pauses. "You can help make it fit easier, then. Not easy. Easier. After they passed, we didn't have to trade off an identity anymore. We could be each other, not just to each other but to everyone else. That helped. And he took over as King from old Ten-Pound Crowley, which brought me sort of, into the freehold. Which was 00[23:23] <@Crion> good socially." [23:24] "Ten-Pound Crowley." [23:24] "Man every day I spend in this freehold I get madder at myself for not working harder on my new name." 00[23:24] <@Crion> Gerald chuckles. "Apparently it's in reference to the currency, not the weight measure." 00[23:25] <@Crion> "And it was originally an insult." 00[23:25] <@Crion> "You know. Cheap knock off wizard." [23:25] 10Stewart: "Right." 00[23:26] <@Crion> "Well." He stands. "Good work today. I'll get you set up with a range pass if you want to come out here yourself, or you can find a range of your own and expense it. But you should shoot once every couple weeks, if you don't get active service in." [23:27] 10Stewart: "Thanks for your help." 00[23:28] <@Crion> "Not a problem. You ever want me to come out and teach you longer distance shooting or move up to rifles, let me know." 00[23:28] <@Crion> He'll pack up and head out now unless Stewart's got other questions. [23:28] 10Well... [23:28] 10...nah. Nah, that's enough for Gerald tonight. And for Stewart. Session Time: Tue Dec 03 00:00:00 2019 03[00:05] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 02[00:20] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. 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ZZZzzz…) 03[00:23] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 02[01:10] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 02[07:44] * Disconnected Session Close: Sat Dec 07 07:44:01 2019 Session Start: Sat Dec 07 13:08:14 2019 Session Ident: #gofetch 03[13:08] * Now talking in #gofetch 03[13:08] * Topic is 'Who botches the Botchmen?' 03[13:08] * Set by Crion!Crion@sorcery-puhjpa.fios.verizon.net on Sun Sep 22 02:37:29 2019 03[13:08] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Crion 03[20:57] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-g6v45u.qt38.76lf.0044.2601.IP) has joined #gofetch 00[21:01] <@Crion> 00[21:01] <@Crion> 00[21:01] <@Crion> 00[21:01] <@Crion> 00[21:01] <@Crion> 00[21:01] <@Crion> 00[21:01] <@Crion> 00[21:03] <@Crion> The month of November wanes; Thanksgiving slouches ever closer. That holiday is not officially celebrated in the Freehold; it's out of character for Autumn and the Spring courtiers have little patience or use for it either. Some freeholds do a big extended-family style meal for all the city's changelings on the day, but Baltimore's a bit too big for that, and already has Halloween and Christmas 00[21:03] <@Crion> to wind down from and prepare for respectively, and honestly, lots of Baltimore's changelings just have really shitty Thanksgiving memories. 00[21:04] <@Crion> That's still a bit off, yet. The Wherehouse remains cozy and warm, but the weather outside has turned shitty, rainy, and cold; gone is the late summer-y Autumn, here is the leadup to Winter. 00[21:05] <@Crion> For Tony and Maggie, work at the docks has paid off -- as wages, they can each remove a point of Goblin Debt from their sheet, if they have it. If they do not, they get a Coin of the Realm, which can be spent at Notgnixel Market. 00[21:06] <@Crion> They're also getting closer to Maggie's actual goal, which is to find one of her Icons...or at least, getting chummier with the Dockworkers, who know much of the Baltimore Hedge very well. 00[21:07] <@Crion> What's everyone up to, early in the fourth week of November, still somehow almost two weeks off from Thanksgiving and Black Friday? [21:11] 13In the absence of urgent events or Lost socials, Melanie Lucas is working. She's got a lot to learn and write, and thinking in the abstractions of academia is a great way to not contemplate various other things. She stands at her usual desk in an annex of the Hollow, stacks of paper lifting themselves into the air for her inspection while she types. Other papers set themselves apart in [21:11] 13neat piles or insert themselves as bookmarks in hovering textbooks. [21:13] 10Stewart is also working. He's not as antsy as he was when he was waiting for access to John of the Falls, but it's because deepening worry has forced him to find constant outlets for his nervous energy. So he's been doing longer streams (partly to get back in shape for the long days he'll be pulling around the league start in a few weeks) and making videos. He can lose hours and hours of [21:13] 10time to editing footage, and that feels strangely good. He's stopped drinking almost entirely now that Lauren's around pretty much all the time. [21:15] 5Tony's gone through two separate pairs of jeans and four different shirts, along with more quarters than he'd care to remember, getting the dock smell out at the laundromat down the street from his old place. So he's been extra frugal lately, which as one would imagine, means less beer, and unfortunately less Steve. And yet somehow, more Tony in the kitchen. [21:16] 5None of the motley know he's been trying to make the perfect pumpkin pie as a surprise for the crew on Thanksgiving---his attempts to date have ended up secreted out and left in the Hedge for anyone else who cares to eat them. Someday it will be perfect. But right now he's sitting on a folder chair watching another cook through the dingy window of the stove. 00[21:17] <@Crion> Steve has found time to wander by a bit more recently, though the lack of beer means he usually doesn't stay as long. He's currently in the Wherehouse now, actually, to get out of the...rain?... It's weird, you can HEAR the rain beating against the side of the Wherehouse when you're in it, and if you've worked windows into it, see the rain splashing and dripping down the walls (the windows 00[21:17] <@Crion> are almost always fogged up no matter the weather in the Hedge or in Baltimore). 00[21:17] <@Crion> But if you go outside, it's like you've just missed the storm breaking. 00[21:17] <@Crion> Still hideously wet and cold, though. [21:19] 5To Steve: "Are you suuuuure you don't want a raincoat? I could probably pop over and get one in a child's---excuse me, in your size, which is not a child's---pretty easily. 00[21:19] <@Crion> honk 00[21:19] <@Crion> Steve is intrigued. [21:22] 13The hobgoblins' honks don't bother Melanie anymore. She never minded the noise per se - she can pretend basically anything isn't happening - but used to worry that the goose-creature was, basically, a dangerous monster? That they'd let into their home? [21:22] 13However, this place was the hobs' home first and they aren't inherently malign. Familiarity has bred acceptance for once. [21:23] 13*hobgoblin's 00[21:24] <@Crion> Then presumably she won't mind in a bit when Steve is parading by in a bright yellow raincoat, matching hat, and tiny goose galoshes. Unless Tony has other ideas, [21:26] "...okay, that's cute. I hope this doesn't mean the roof is leaking." 00[21:26] <@Crion> honk honk 00[21:27] <@Crion> It is not; he is, however, about to heroically head outside. 00[21:27] <@Crion> He made sure "heroically" was in there. [21:28] 5Tony does not, because that's a great idea. [21:29] 5Tony: "Does that just usually happen?" 5Tony gestures generally to the outdoors, roof, etc. "With the rain but not really that much?" 5Posed to the room. [21:30] 13Melanie leans enough toward her door to look out at the windows and frowns. "Not on planet Earth. Do you think it's a metaphor?" [21:30] "Like.. winter is coming, but not yet." [21:31] 5Tony: "Does it do that here? I guess I haven't spent enough seasons on this side where I was paying attention to it." [21:32] 7Maggie: "Maybe things just got disjoint. Different places arguing over whether its raining now or not." 00[21:33] <@Crion> A big issue with rain, specifically, is it means clouds, and a functional ecosystem based on rules, and it's unclear the degree to which the Hedge agrees to have all of that stuff rather than sort of emulate it at the margins. 00[21:33] <@Crion> There's a lot of deals that have to be signed to come up with a water table! [21:33] 10Stewart's on his way to the Wherehouse for their weekly catchup dinner; it was Melanie's idea, and Stewart's gotten used to scheduled socializing since integrating into the freehold in a way he never was before. He stopped at the store and picked up a case of beer for Maggie and Tony, a case of those new hard seltzers for Melanie. [21:34] 10...does Lauren have any interest in coming? [21:34] 10Stewart makes sure to emphasize there's no pressure, and it's fine if she'd rather stay at home or just, be somewhere else. [21:35] 13Melanie closes her laptop. The papers hovering about her begin to sort themselves away, though there's one messy to-shred pile as usual. "I remember.. season after season in Arcadia, but they were stylised. Abstract impressions of a spring." 00[21:35] <@Crion> Lauren is interested. And interest aside, it's probably the safest place for her to be. 00[21:35] <@Crion> That or Swordhome. [21:35] 7Is Tony cooking? Does he want help cooking? [21:36] 5Tony's got a pie in the oven that should be ready to go in a few minutes, but what's on the range is up to everyone---he's got a pot of potatoes boiling that should be ready to get mashed soon, but that leaves three burners up for grabs. [21:40] "You'd have birds fly down and sing ostentatiously, thrusting out their chests, flowers burst from the earth... I guess that really happens, but not as fast." 13She's very happy to leave the cooking to less-flammable friends. [21:40] 10Well then! Stewart and Lauren show up about an hour before dinner's supposed to be done to hang out. They get some weird looks lugging a bunch of drinks into the elevator at Lexington Market. 00[21:40] <@Crion> Eh. Weirder stuff goes through this market all the time. [21:41] "Hey guys! What's for dinner?" 00[21:41] <@Crion> The door to Notgnixel is just down the stairs on the other end of the building, after all. 00[21:41] <@Crion> Lauren: "Hi, Maggie! Melanie!" [21:43] 10Stewart forgets if they've been formally introduced, so he does it either again or for the first time. "Tony, this is Lauren Ipsum. Lauren Ipsum, this is Tony." 00[21:43] <@Crion> When Tony pops his head out of the kitchen, she'll say hi to him too. [21:44] 13 :) "Heyyy. We've got stuff that smells good and the sound of rain.. actual rain not provided." [21:44] "Who wants to get liminal?" [21:45] 5Tony, having stepped out to circulate and wave and such briefly. "Hey!" 5And as if seized by a powerful force, stops suddenly and dashes back into the kitchen, just seconds before an old egg timer goes off and he's there to get out the pie. "Everything's fine, no one come in, everything's normal here!" [21:45] 7Maggie: "Howdy, Lauren!" 7She's got some just finished pan-fried chicken sitting on a little warmer near the stove, and is currently sitting in her habitual common room armchair, drawing in a little sketchbook. [21:46] 13Work time is definitely over. Although the thinking part of it never really stops. What's Maggie drawing there? 00[21:47] <@Crion> Lauren goes from amused to grinning at Tony's antics, and will settle in on a love seat or couch or wherever Stewart's settling down. [21:47] 10Stewart's on the couch after he's handed the drinks off and hung up his coat and gun. [21:49] 7Maggie looks at Stewart thoughtfully, then begins drawing again. [21:50] 13Okay, Melanie's actually going to sidle behind her if that's what it takes to get a look. [21:52] 13She's six and a half feet without nuts so it's more like looming but the action is, technically, a sidle. 00[21:53] <@Crion> Lauren watches this while trying to keep a straight face and sipping one of whatever Stewart's having. [21:53] 7It's... the motley! In a cartoonish style. Mostly just practice drawings, it appears - a few of Melanie standing studiously amidst stack upon stack of books, Nels playing the guitar on a stool, Steve wearing an admiral's hat, and so on. [21:53] 10Stewart's got one of the seltzers. He likes the grapefruit ones the best. [21:53] "Omg." [21:54] 7Of note is a drawing of Stewart with little tufted cat ears poking up through his hair, with a note beside it reading 'cat people? cute!'. Likewise, there are a few attempts at Maggie's own face, one of which has a cartoon witch's hat on. That one has been underlined for some reason. [21:56] "Hurm?" [21:57] 13Melanie: "Is Stewart a cat because of the going in and out thing? Or because he's always on the keyboard?" [21:57] 10From across the room: "What?" 00[21:57] <@Crion> Lauren blinks at that. [21:58] 5Tony's got the pie. The pie is good. It's also immediately going under a cloth to stay warm while also gently cooling on a small table off to the side, which also has a little folded paper standee with NOT FOR STEVE 5written on it in Sharpee in big block caps. [21:59] 7Maggie: "Oh, no. That's good, though! It was one of them... I saw it t'other week, dunno if it was what he calls an 'animé' or a computer game or what it was, but there were these cat people. Little ears and such." [21:59] 13Melanie, confidently: "There's no real difference between anime and videogames." [22:00] 13To the others: "Look at this!" 00[22:00] <@Crion> A catboy shouldn't be that new to much of the freehold; Jordan Kit of Winter is one. [22:00] 7Maggie blushes. [22:00] 10Stewart gets up and, with some hesitance, walks over to see. 00[22:01] <@Crion> Lauren leans forward. "Is that Jordan? Oooooh. Stewart as a cat Beast." 00[22:01] <@Crion> She smiles. "I don't think Chup would approve." [22:02] 10Stewart presses his lips together as he peers over Maggie's shoulder. [22:02] "...I like the witch hat!" [22:03] 7Maggie: "Good, isn't it?" [22:03] 10Stewart nods. Never too early to start thinking about Christmas presents... [22:05] 10Stewart: "Is this for something or are you just drawing for fun?" [22:05] 10Stewart: "Is this for something or are you just drawing for fun?" 00[22:05] <@Crion> Meanwhile, Steve has returned. He marches in, still in full get-up, spies the sign, honks offendedly, then turns and marches back to the door...to properly take off his coat and galoshes. 00[22:06] <@Crion> Then he marches back up to the pie, opens his mouth, and dives forward, eating... 00[22:06] <@Crion> ...the sign? [22:06] 7Maggie: "Oh, you know. Just doodling about." [22:07] 5Tony responds to the honk by---after first taking the potatoes off the heat---getting out a sixer and putting a smaller sign that says FOR STEVE5 on it, atop the sixer. He does this while Steve is eating the sign, offering only a faint "Steve please not again" in response. [22:07] 13Melanie: "Do you want to talk about the thing?" [22:07] 10Who is she talking to? 00[22:08] <@Crion> He will then begin flapping his wings -- though not flying -- and running about the first floor honking about justice in an unjust world (? have any of you been watching westerns or samurai films while he's been about?), until he sees the second sign and abruptly freezes in place, cartoon-like. [22:08] 13Melanie's addressing Maggie there. [22:09] 7Maggie: "Which thing?" 00[22:09] <@Crion> Then he will magnanimously stride over to the potatoes, honk a thank you/not quite apology, and drag a beer into the main room to plop down and drink. 00[22:09] <@Crion> *the beers 00[22:10] <@Crion> Lauren processes all this with wide eyes. This is far from the first time she's seen Steve, but this is the most she's seen of his Antics. [22:10] 10Stewart pays Steve no mind if he's not being addressed directly. [22:11] 5Tony nods appreciately at Steve calming right the fuck down, and sets about the other steps of the process on the potatoes. "Anyone know if we've got a collander around here?" 5He hollers into the other room. [22:11] 13Melanie: "The icon thing.. you said you found a clue at the old port. We want to help out." [22:12] 10Stewart: "Icon?" [22:13] 7Maggie: "Ohhhh... well, not a clue exactly. Tony and I are getting in good with some little mushroom men who seem to know where things are around here." [22:13] 7To Stewart: "You know, when you go running through the Thorns on your way out... Icons are the bits that got torn off." [22:14] 10Stewart: "...really?" [22:14] "I'd never heard of that before." [22:14] 10That's... huh. [22:15] 13Collander, collander.. "Tony I have a collater but that's for, like, binding pages. Not taters." [22:16] 5Tony, to Melanie: "A strainer. You know, tip water and stuff into it, end up with only the stuff in it and the water goes through?" [22:16] 10Stewart: "Check the stack of mixing bowls under the sink!" [22:16] "It's a joke!" 00[22:17] <@Crion> Here is what Tony and Maggie have learned so far in their week's worth of shifts with the Dockworkers: First, even though there's new ships in port every day, they're never seen coming or going. It's probably as much of an aesthetic mockup of the real thing as the 'rain' hitting their windows is right now. The Hedge is the Hedge, and there is very little in it that is not of it. [22:18] 10Stewart: "So you find an Icon and it does what, exactly?" 00[22:19] <@Crion> Second, they're playing a shell game, more or less. They're moving shipping crates on and off the ships, and moving them around in the stacks and onto flatbeds for trucks or traincars, but the shipping containers never leave the docks. Usually what happens is they get unloaded from a 'ship,' sit on the docks for a shift or two, get put on a truck, sit there for a shift or two, then get pulled 00[22:19] <@Crion> off the truck like they're brand new containers, loaded onto the 'ships...' The cycle continues. 00[22:20] <@Crion> But Tony can see that's not what's really going on here -- this isn't actually all makework. 00[22:21] <@Crion> The trucks are real -- well, they're not trucks, but they're something -- and sometimes at the end of a shift the bosses will log the containers out and the trucks will leave, usually under guard from some hobs or others. But not often, and it's hard to tell where they're going. Probably the market? [22:21] 7Maggie: "Well, you do... something. I dunno, maybe you eat it. Anyway, you can stick the missing bit back on again." [22:22] 5Tony checks under the sink. Moderate enough success. He takes the collander (cheap piece of crap, gonna Secret Santa himself a new one, these people) and the potatoes, and ends up with some soggy, mushy potatoes, in a mixing bowl. And that's how he comes to sit in the main area with a big wooden spoon and a bowl full of potatoes, that he is mashing by hand now, slow-like. "Almost ready with the potatoes here, so if anyone's got other [22:22] stuff to make, now's the time to make it, and also please don't look under the sheet on the corner table." [22:22] "Memories and skills and emotions and such." 00[22:22] <@Crion> Anyway, Tony's figured out what's happening: those shipping containers are actually seedbeds/gardens of sorts, and they're literally "growing" the consumer products inside of them like goblin fruit. The work they're putting in is what's fueling that growth, rather than sunlight or rain or soil. It takes a long time for even one container to ripen, but when it does, it's very valuable. [22:23] 10Stewart: "...huh." [22:23] 13Melanie: "We should help track down your icon. It's not... fair to not remember. Things." [22:23] 10Stewart: "Do you need help?" [22:24] "Nelanie's right. We can help." 00[22:24] <@Crion> Finally: the dockworkers know how to find or 'lose' basically anything in the near Hedge, and have a keen nose for things that have, so to speak, fallen off the back of a traincar or truck. [22:29] 7Maggie: "If you all wanna lend a hand, I won't say no. We're mostly just heaving crates back and forth right now, though." [22:29] "Heaving crates?" [22:31] 7Maggie: "Yeah, that's what the mushroom people do." [22:31] 13Melanie wants to look under the sheet on the corner table, but she will not. [22:32] 10Stewart: "And the mushroom people have your Icon?" [22:32] 5Tony "Yeah it's not bad. Just a couple hours of heavy labor every day, you know. The good stuff. 5Tony says this while mashing potatoes with a spoon like a complete psychopath, which probably tinges it a little. [22:34] 13Melanie: "Sounds a lot more appealing than it would've. Have you managed to get out of them where to go next?" [22:35] 5Tony: "Maaaybe back to the market? That seems like where most things end up." 00[22:36] <@Crion> Foreman Chone actually asked Tony and Maggie to stop by after working their next shift. Intimated he might have something for them. 00[22:36] <@Crion> Seemed very...well, Tony probably doesn't have the mafia movie/TV references yet. [22:37] 10Tony could've seen Godfather 1 in theaters... [22:37] 13Melanie: "I'm going to lay the table- is there anything I should put out for.. foods that might not be obvious? Concealed-culinary cutlery?" 00[22:37] <@Crion> It's a BIT less melodramatic than the old Italian masters. [22:42] 10Stewart will also help bring food out. 00[22:43] <@Crion> Lauren will help as she's asked, and generally try to stay busy when Stewart's busy. [22:45] 10Once they're all seated and the chicken and potatoes etc are going around, Stewart presses on the Icon again. "So like, you have no idea what the Icon will actually give you back, or what it looks like?" [22:48] 7Maggie raises her hands in a more emphatic shrug. [22:49] 10Stewart: "...kind of a big risk, isn't it?" [22:50] 13Melanie: "They don't sound that dangerous. Little mushroom guys, even if the meeting's a trap what can they do?" [22:50] "How so? I mean, more than just existing Hedgewise?" [22:51] "We can definitely come along though. Mitigate whatever risk does eventuate." [22:51] 10Stewart: "What if it's something you'd rather not know? What if it changes you in a way you'd rather it didn't?" [22:55] 7Maggie: "Seems like there's a risk of that just by going about alive in the world." [22:55] 10Stewart: "Yeah!" [22:56] 10After pause: "Oh. Oh I see what you're saying." [22:56] 13Melanie laughs. [22:56] "Also, you can be changed by not knowing crucial things." [22:59] "That's also true..." [22:59] 10What does Lauren make of all this? [22:59] "It's like.. a universal theme. Look at how much literature and cinema revolves around a misunderstanding, a missing piece of information." 00[23:00] <@Crion> She's listening attentively while eating, which means not much talking, but when she makes noises in support of something she seems to be really interested in icons and what Maggie's learning about them. [23:01] 13Melanie: "Learning isn't the only thing that matters but to not know enough is really.. 13She stabs a potato. "Really crippling. Information separates triumph from despair." [23:01] "I think the guy who lost a kingdom must have had a hammer." 00[23:02] <@Crion> Lauren, after finishing some potatoes: "I think I'd want to know." 00[23:02] <@Crion> "...But I haven't, like. Gone looking for my own icon or anything." 00[23:02] <@Crion> "If there is one out there, even." [23:04] 10Now it's Stewart's turn to eat quietly, lost in thought. [23:04] 7Maggie: "Anyhoo, there's no guarantee the little fungal fellas are even pointing me at my Icon. Could be somebody else's, in which case I'll just give it back to 'em." [23:05] 13Melanie: "That would be a pretty amazing Christmas present. Does everyone have these knocked-off bits floating around undigested? Where did you hear about it?" [23:06] 5Tony, around a mouthful of chicken. "Guh, just realized, what if it's someone's Icon who sucks?" 00[23:08] <@Crion> Lauren: "Then you've got power over them, right?" [23:09] 5Tony: "Myeah but what if we just don't want to talk to them ever, at all?" [23:09] "And the ability to help them suck less. Unless you mean like.. someone who used to be awful, and they've lost some of the awful bits.." 00[23:10] <@Crion> She grins. "Well then you talk to 'em just that once, and make them swear an oath to never do it again." [23:10] 10Stewart: "How bad a person do you have to be before you don't deserve the chance to heal?" 00[23:10] <@Crion> "Cambridge Kid bad, maybe." [23:11] 13Melanie sounds unsure about this: "I don't think that's a question of history. I think it's a question of what you're doing now, whether you're trying." [23:11] 7Maggie: "Yeah, the only changelings I know of where I wouldn't want to give 'em anything are all dead." [23:11] 10Stewart: "Can't wait to meet the Parson." [23:12] 13Melanie: "Oh, pass me some? I didn't see we had salad." 00[23:12] <@Crion> Lauren will oblige. 00[23:12] <@Crion> Steve stands up and honks. Tony will know he's asking if anyone wants anything from the kitchen while he's up. 00[23:14] <@Crion> Well, she'll try, anyway. I guess she'll end up with the potatoes before realizing it's a joke. [23:14] 13It's much funnier than asking 'who is that', right? 00[23:15] <@Crion> Ehhhh. [23:16] 10Stewart looks at Melanie. "So Proctor was the head of one of three privateer crews all working for the same keeper. The Proctor, the Parson, and the Haruspex. We can probably expect the other two to filter into our area hunting... us? Peter? The Mistress of the High House?" [23:16] "I've been doing some preliminary research." [23:16] 13Well, that's not funny at all. "Wow. What kind of faery employs multiple mercenary teams?" [23:17] 10Stewart: "The Sign of the Pig and Ram. Goes all the way back to ancient Egypt or earlier. Do you remember that spooky stall you visited in the Market, with the cat hob selling esoteric weapons?" [23:18] 7Maggie: "They had English pubs in ancient Egypt?" [23:19] 10Stewart: "Maybe the title evolved. I don't know." [23:19] 13Melanie: "That thing was evil. It didn't sell weapons, it sold.. promises. Of violence." [23:19] 10Stewart: "Contracts, yeah." [23:20] "They're like... bespoke curses, sort of. Hunter-killer oaths." [23:20] "Sold me one for the Parson. Son of Bastet is his name. He's got history with the Sign." [23:21] "What- um, what did it make you pay?" [23:22] 10Stewart: "Just regular hob debt." [23:22] 13Bargaining with dark forces for mystic power may be Stewart's thing, but Melanie doesn't like it. She was much happier to see the gun. [23:23] "That's odd.. maybe it really hates the SPR. I got the impression that it wouldn't take coin of the realm alone, it wanted to.. compromise people." [23:24] 10Stewart: "I think he expects you to come up to him with someone to hurt already in mind, and you sort of... didn't. You had people to protect in mind. A vengeance-merchant doesn't really... work... in that space." [23:25] 10Stewart doesn't think Melanie would take 'he said we must make a great team' in the spirit it was intended, so he doesn't bring it up. [23:26] 13Melanie: "It sounds kind of like you've decided to protect people by taking preemptive vengeance." 00[23:26] <@Crion> The entry in Stewart's Book on the Parson was rather sparse, mainly repeating much of what was learned from the Proctor's page except for noting that he mostly roams the trods of Germany, Austria, Hungary, the Czech Republic and northern Italy (when he's not itinerant on business for his paymaster), that he is the oldest of the three servants of the Sign, and that he works with the smallest 00[23:26] <@Crion> band of followers. 00[23:27] <@Crion> ...There was also this picture, captioned: "At the Prague Freehold (artist's rendition)" https://i.imgur.com/U7cD4ZX.jpg [23:27] "I can imagine it would be.. effective, but there are real costs. Imagine the scene:" [23:27] 10Aw jeez. [23:28] "A wizard high in their tower, walls hung with trophies and curses. Everyone who *might* hurt them or their loved ones, they've got a spell. A bullet with the potential-enemy's name on it." [23:28] 13Melanie: "You'd be sitting there surrounded by pick-and-choose death. Waiting to see who you want to kill..." [23:29] 5Tony: "That's just a dude sitting in a tower with a rifle and waiting to pull the trigger with less aim needed, isn't it. That sucks." [23:29] 10Stewart: "Yeah but every way of doing the same thing is just a variation on that. Power is a moral hazard, especially the power to hurt people." [23:29] 10To Tony: "Right." [23:32] 13Melanie: "I think the qualia vary. Once you make-discriminate that intent, you've set up a relationship - enemy, victim, villain. There's preparation, and there's the psychic burden of nemesis." [23:33] 10Stewart: "You're saying it's better to kill impersonally?" [23:34] 13Melanie: "Sounds shitty, right? But I do think so. There's a reason we dehumanise our enemies, it's to avoid overlapping the category of human with the category target." [23:35] "Hey, I'm sorry if this is really awful dinner conversation." 00[23:35] <@Crion> Lauren: "Well, that's progress!" [23:36] 10Stewart: "Ah, shit, yeah. Sorry." [23:36] "Melanie and I get kind of carried away sometimes." [23:36] 13If it was just Stewart she'd be happy to talk about this stuff. For Melanie it's somewhere between an academic hypothetical and a practical question of future importance. But Lauren's reaction.. while kind of irritating.. she saw it coming, and she's happy about that. [23:37] 7Maggie cracks her knuckles. "I'll show you bad dinner conversation!" 7She clears her throat. "What's a qualia?" [23:37] "A thing." [23:38] "An experiential thing!" [23:38] 5Tony: "I just thought you guys were talking about birds and pronouncing it funny." [23:39] 13Melanie: "The taste of this potato is a quale. The sight of Steve.. many separate qualia, several unique." [23:39] 5Tony: "Never had quail, they seem good but not worth the pain in the ass of cooking a lil bird like that, you don't get a lot out of it." 00[23:39] <@Crion> A semi-aggrieved honk. [23:39] 10Stewart: "Quail are easier to keep than chickens for eggs." [23:40] 13To Steve: "Uncomfortable? Don't worry, you're no turkey." 00[23:40] <@Crion> Now, a self-satisfied honk. [23:40] 10Stewart, his mouth full: "Not even actually a goose." 00[23:40] <@Crion> That gets pointedly ignored. 00[23:40] <@Crion> By more beer. [23:42] 13Melanie: "Qualia are a really useful concept because it lets you talk about stuff like whether experience-instances are universal, communicable, that sort of thing. Lots of food for thought. There's a much longer german word that's slightly more precise but only to, like, functional criterialists in cog-sci, so nobody can remember it..." [23:42] 5Tony: "You ever had a duck egg, Stewart? Better than chicken, and if you can get around being orange, they scramby up super nice." [23:43] 10Stewart: "I have not. I've only ever had duck in Thai food." [23:43] "It's really good though." [23:43] 5Tony: "Oh man. We'll go to the farmer's market once it warms up out there. So worth it." [23:44] 13Scrambled eggs look kind of orange anyway.. another quale. 00[23:45] <@Crion> Lauren: "The Farmers' Market on 32nd Street is really good. So is the one downtown, but. You know. Pricey." [23:46] 13Melanie: "Shopping is starting to be a fun thing again. Once you can like.. trust that people don't see through the mask." 00[23:46] <@Crion> "Jackie Ordinary swears by the Druid Hill Farmers' Market but they're over there more than I am." [23:47] 10Stewart: "I wonder what Jackie thinks of the goblin farmers' market that must exist in Notgnixel." 10He pronounces it with a silent G, obviously. [23:48] 7Maggie: "I caught part of it. Little German sounding hob that sold sausages." [23:48] 13Melanie: "Made of meat?" 00[23:49] <@Crion> Lauren: "They're something of a connoisseur of Hedge fruit and stuff. They like to grow or pick their own. Not so much over here though, weirdly." [23:50] 7Maggie: "Definitely made of some kind of meat. I wouldn't wanna guess what." [23:50] "Elephant?" [23:50] "Oh, that's guessing. Shoot." [23:51] 13Melanie met Jackie with the others some time back but she was still pretty.. disoriented. She asks Lauren: "Just to check.. nonbinary?" [23:51] 10Stewart: "I could be they just grow naturally like that somewhere in the Hedge. A sausagetree, links growing from the branches and hanging like garlands... like something out of Baum." 00[23:52] <@Crion> Lauren: "Jackie? Yeah." [23:52] "Okay." [23:53] 10Stewart, in his reverie, misses this part of the conversation entirely. [23:54] 7Maggie is likewise stunned by the prospect of sausagetrees. Incredible! Just imagine... [23:56] 5Tony: "Feels like rule of thumb around here should be, if it doesn't grow on a tree, don't eat stuff that looks like it that grows on trees." [23:57] 13It's less amazing when meat doesn't really make sense to your digestive system. It goes in there, but tends to leave Melanie as hungry as if she hadn't eaten. [23:57] 5Tony: "Just like I wouldn't eat Watermelon Boy meat, no offense Steve." [23:58] "The essence of sausage is in the processing anyway. Hedge-made sausage has to be some kind of artificial, even if it's just representative." [23:59] 10Stewart: "It's like they always say, no one ever wants to see how the sausages are grown." 02[23:59] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-g6v45u.qt38.76lf.0044.2601.IP) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) Session Time: Sun Dec 08 00:00:00 2019 00[00:00] <@Crion> Steve honks. It's only slightly defensive, and what it's defending is the taste, not the morality. [00:02] 13Melanie: "Have you noticed that our ability to interpret Steve is.. wyrd? It's narrative, not communicative. There isn't enough noise-variation in those honks, you're just aware of the information he's trying to convey. [00:02] "There's definitely a skill to it, since only Tony can really get the complex ones, but it's not like learning a language." [00:02] 10Stewart: "It's like 75% context, I think." [00:04] 13Melanie: "Right, he riffs off the circumstances as characterised by human minds. Maybe to another goblin it would work differently." [00:04] 7Maggie: "It's like the little robit fellas in that Star War Stewart showed me. One of 'em just did little bleeps and bloops but everybody knew what he was saying." 00[00:05] <@Crion> Lauren: "It's weird you say that, because I'm getting him a lot more than I did when I first met him, and I haven't been trying to like learn it or anything." [00:05] 10Stewart: "He could just be growing steadily more powerful..." 00[00:05] <@Crion> A smug honk. Steve's taking responsibility for being such a good communicator. [00:08] 13Melanie: "Sure, by framing us in a story or something.. the essential-harmlessness thing is like, self-characterisation." [00:09] 5Tony: "If Steve's gaining power, I can only hope he remembers us fondly when he is lord of the Baltimore Hedge. Isn't that right lil' buddy?" 00[00:09] <@Crion> honk 00[00:09] <@Crion> Steve refuses all thrones. 00[00:09] <@Crion> Then he toddles back into the kitchen for beer four. [00:10] 13While he's gone: "It's fine 'cause it works.. that kind of promise about yourself is basically unbreakable here. But they really do live by being, rather than by deciding." [00:11] 10Aside from that one drink when he first got in, Stewart's been drinking water all night. "Wow. He wouldn't even take up the mantle if called to serve. No Hob Cincinnatus, he." [00:12] 13Melanie: "Who'd be a king?" [00:12] 5Tony: "He's good people, that's why we put in the catdoor." [00:13] 13Good maybe, people no. [00:14] "The Chone meet. You want us there? Nels would come, I bet." [00:15] 10Stewart: "Assuming she gets over her cold..." 00[00:24] <@Crion> The dinner will wrap up shortly thereafter. Steve will get through all six of his beers and sleep slumpily on the couch, making cartoonish ZZZzzzz noises. He was good enough to at least collect his cans in a corner near the trash before doing so. [00:27] 10Stewart and Lauren stick around to help clean up. On the way home: "You know, you're basically in the motley now." 00[00:28] <@Crion> She laughs. "I guess. Though I still haven't sworn any oaths yet. Are you guys an oath motley?" [00:29] 5Tony manages to not make it seem like a big deal that he made a pie, and the pie was out, and people ate the pie, and seemed to like the pie. Inside he is delirious. It is done. 00[00:29] <@Crion> Sneaky to wait until Steve was snoozing. [00:29] 5The thought of working on the turkey, however, turns his blood to icewater. [00:31] 10Stewart: "No, nothing like that. Not yet, at least." [00:33] "...cat ears." 00[00:33] <@Crion> Lauren: "Usually it's the other way around, you know. The oaths come when you don't know each other so well, and then when you're close, then they're not necessary. You guys have something special." 00[00:33] <@Crion> She grins. "Like I said." [00:37] 10Stewart, smiling: "You can't 'you guys' us, you're there too! You even got through to Melanie when she was going at full speed. ...sorry again, by the way. Usually when we have conversations like that we aren't forcing quite so many people to put up with it." 00[00:37] <@Crion> Lauren waves a hand. "Oh, Melanie's fine. We're fine. We've already had our little tiff." 00[00:38] <@Crion> Has that actually come up yet? [00:38] 10No. "You know, I noticed after Halloween she started apologizing for offending people more." 00[00:41] <@Crion> "Yeeeeeah. So while you were otherwise occupied and Nels was, uh, in the kitchen, Melanie and I got to have a little girl-to-girl time...she wanted to make sure I was serious about the relatioship and I wasn't going to hurt you. And she said that in a very Melanie way, after I'd had a couple drinks and was ridiculously stressed, so I might have called her a bitch and stormed off." 00[00:42] <@Crion> "But it's cool, we're cool, she went after me, we cleared everything up." [00:42] 10Stewart: "Ah jeez. I mean I'm touched, but, ah jeez." 00[00:44] <@Crion> Lauren: "That was kind of an 'ah jeez' night all around." [00:45] 10Stewart: "Melanie really got to Lister too, that night. When you and I were up on stage it was just her and him in the booth and you could see the dark clouds forming over his head from across the room." 00[00:46] <@Crion> Lauren: "You ever think they put her in Summer Court to contain her?" 00[00:46] <@Crion> "That she'd be too powerful in Autumn and Winter?" [00:50] 10Stewart grins. "She cannot be contained. I can't really picture Winter Melanie... imagine her and Spring working together? Seriously, though, I'm really happy to see her sort of... adapting. That kind of stuff bothers her a lot. Plus it's nice to have a best friend and a girlfriend who get along for- you know, for how much time we spend together." [00:50] 10Stewart's hands tighten on the wheel just a bit. 00[00:51] <@Crion> Lauren notices that, but lets it go. "Well, I do still feel stupid whenever I talk to her. But then if I ever cornered her into a netcode discussion I guess that would change." [00:52] 10Stewart: "Oh man, I know. Like when I talk to you, I can tell you're a genius because I know enough about the stuff you do to understand how much you know. But Melanie gives me stuff to read sometimes and it's just... like completely beyond me sometimes." 00[00:53] <@Crion> Lauren: "She had a long headstart on us. Not really in a great way..." [00:55] 10Stewart: "...yeah." 00[01:00] <@Crion> Lauren cracks the window on the drive back, and the November night seeps in as they head...to next week. 03[12:06] * GreatClownVoxPVoxD (VoxPVoxD@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) has joined #gofetch 03[12:06] * VoxPrimey (VoxPrime@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) has joined #gofetch 02[12:07] * VoxPrime (VoxPrime@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 02[12:07] * VoxPVoxD (VoxPVoxD@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 02[17:24] * VoxPrimey (VoxPrime@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) Quit (Quit: ) 03[17:24] * VoxPrime (VoxPrime@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) has joined #gofetch 03[17:35] * CBN2 (CBN@sorcery-4v1rpq.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) has joined #gofetch 02[17:39] * CBN (CBN@sorcery-bupjj5.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[17:43] * CBN2 is now known as CBN 02[17:49] * GreatClownVoxPVoxD (VoxPVoxD@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) Quit (Quit: dammitwho sucks) 03[17:49] * VoxPVoxD (VoxPVoxD@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) has joined #gofetch 03[18:41] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 02[18:58] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. 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ZZZzzz…) 03[17:12] * Crion_ is now known as Crion 03[17:12] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Crion 03[17:58] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 02[18:33] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 03[19:53] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 03[20:49] * dammitwhoa (dammitwhoa@sorcery-5fkv5e.or.frontiernet.net) has joined #gofetch 03[20:57] * banana|peels is now known as banana 00[20:59] <@Crion> 00[20:59] <@Crion> 00[20:59] <@Crion> 00[20:59] <@Crion> 00[20:59] <@Crion> 00[20:59] <@Crion> 00[20:59] <@Crion> So. Y'all are going to work, huh? [21:00] 10Always. [21:00] 7Who? What? Work?! 00[21:01] <@Crion> The mushroom men on the dock respect that, and you can get your union cards after just one shift worked -- the version of dockwork on this side of the Hedge is a fantasy in a lot of ways. But you'll all have to do a shift before Foreman Chone will let you roam the docks at will or sit in on a meeting with a duespaying union man or woman. Of course, those of you who aren't Maggie or Tony -- 00[21:01] <@Crion> who have proven they know the value of a good day's work -- could always just skulk around. [21:02] 7Oh, right. Fifteen tons, and what do you get? Hopefully some useful information, or at least a block with a question mark on it full of gold coins. [21:02] 10It's sixteen- you know what, not the time. [21:03] 6Sixteen tons. Come on, Nels has played it at least once. [21:03] 7Sixteen tons? Nah, nah, pal. Tops out at fifteen. Union policy. [21:03] 5It's good, honest-until-you-think-about-the-consequences-of-how-this-actually-works, work. Tony's good at it, great even. It involves no talking, lots of heads-down hauling of shit, few distractions. In many ways it is the perfect job. [21:05] 10Stewart's not great at hauling, but he'll give it a good old go unless someone takes as much as a single look at him and hands him a clipboard or something. 00[21:09] <@Crion> Work starts at 9 in the morning...no matter when you arrive. And the work is hard: moving crates off the "boats," into the stacks, out of the stacks, onto the "trucks," off the "trucks," into the stacks, out of the stacks, onto the "boats." Your diminutive, foulmouthed coworkers are helpful and resolute, but they're not here to train newbies -- you're fending for yourselves. They're not gonna 00[21:09] <@Crion> let a shipping container drop on you, but they are going to look at you dirty if you don't know how to work the crane. [21:10] 10Stewart spent a lot of time driving forklifts in Shenmue. Relevant work experience! 00[21:11] <@Crion> Then he'll love how the "steering wheel" on these things works. Especially the useless D pad. [21:12] 7Hup, hup, ho! Hup, hup, ho! Not only is this pretty easy now, it's actually pleasant. Constant, mindless, cycling effort speaks to her. [21:14] 6Nels joined a band to avoid manual labor! But, well, practice with loading instruments into and out of vehicles... she can make this happen. She's got to. 00[21:15] <@Crion> The Dockworkers -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmeHUSD2rEY Heigh-ho, heigh-ho, la casa vuelvo yo [21:16] 10Hah. 00[21:21] <@Crion> The work procedes a pace, even if it seems on first glance quite useless. Almost a hustle. But eventually Foreman Chone waddles down from the union office with a fat stogie in his mouth, saying the boys downtown called and want them to inspect a shipment. So they have you all pull a container out of the stacks, set it down on the...concrete?...of the docks, and open it up. 00[21:23] <@Crion> And when you pull it open, instead of the flat, fake boxes that you'd seen in these containers before, obviously just one big wall with slight seams in it to simulate packaged goods, there's a trove of boutique chests, handcrafted boxes, and metal-framed cartons of all shapes and sizes. The union cheers, picks two boxes from the lot for itself -- this is part of the deal, the foreman assures 00[21:23] <@Crion> you -- and seals the rest back up. 00[21:23] <@Crion> Then it goes on an actual truck, guarded by actual hobs, somewhere into the deeper Baltimore Hedge. [21:24] 6...was that a Bonus Box? Are we being baited? If we join the union we'll only see those when newcomers show up. They used to do that with, ah, other things. 02[21:26] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 00[21:26] <@Crion> It'll be quitting time soon after that. Most of the dockworkers have been happy to have you, though some have been a little apprehensive. They don't want such a huge influx of cheap labor to become a regular thing. What about THEIR shifts? 00[21:26] <@Crion> So maybe this isn't entirely a fantasy. [21:27] 13Melanie arrives late for the shift. She still underestimates how slow she can be at times, how easy it is to get distracted - always more to read, always more to write - but these are excuses. She isn't busy; the things that keep her occupied aren't important, not compared to helping Maggie. [21:27] 13Fortunately, it's 9 in the morning. 00[21:28] <@Crion> Foreman Chone will call you into his office before you punch out. Union time, after all. [21:29] 5Tony will be clear to any dockworker that hey, he's no scab---he's just here to punch in, get what he and Maggie bargained for, and get out of their way. 00[21:30] <@Crion> Oh, there are absolutely no accusations of scabbing. Good god, no. Just...lot more junior workers getting shifts now. Maybe that makes it harder for the senior workers. Anyway unless you start showing up here literally every day it probably won't be a problem. [21:30] 13Melanie probably acts like a scab. She lifts and shifts - she had muscle before and she's really strong now - but she's not used to this kind of work at all and can barely keep up with the pace. Also it's a bit hard to take it seriously since the whole thing is a goblin drama. But she'll catch up with the others at the office, not saying much. [21:31] 5And as soon as the shift's over, this'll hopefully be the end of it. Though Tony will have, of course, attempted to foster at least enough good will that if he sees any of these dockworkers off-shift (if they even exist off-shift), they'll at least be amiable, if not chatty. [21:32] 13Do they even get paid? [21:32] 6What is 'pay' in this land of shifting sands and decay? 00[21:34] <@Crion> Foreman Chone (purple vest, blue mushroom cap) is sitting on his chair behind a normal-sized desk, which means he has jacked that chair up quite high given his stature. He's smoking like a chimney. A slightly larger, more musclar dockworker, guy name of Jawn (red vest, red cap) leans against a filing cabinet, crossing his arms. This guy was a leader out on the docks, giving the right orders 00[21:34] <@Crion> and keeping the knuckleheads in line. 00[21:35] <@Crion> Tony and Maggie got paid for the week in a Coin of the Realm. The three of you could come back and finish your shifts, or cash out now with a ticket to Notgnixel Market for a goblin fruit. [21:36] 13Fruit please. Maybe it'll be one we can plant. [21:36] 6Fruit please. Maybe it'll be one we can brew. [21:36] 10Stewart's sore all over. He's got a debt, but not enough to do this all week. 00[21:37] <@Crion> Chone: "So. Heyy. Siddown, siddown. Maggie. Tony. Good work out there. The rest of ya. Love to see some-a the bigger folks put in the damn work. Appreciate it." [21:37] e5Tony: "Thanks for having us." [21:38] 13Melanie: "Just happy to be here." [21:39] 10Stewart just smiles weakly. [21:39] 6Nels nods, flustered. Do bosses call people into meetings? Does that happen? Where's her guitar. Augh 00[21:40] <@Crion> Foreman Chone might object to being characterized as a 'boss.' Nevertheless: 00[21:40] <@Crion> "Maggie. Told ya I'd have some news for you end of the week about yer thing. Got two pieces. Good news and bad news. Which ya want first?" [21:42] 5Tony looks to Maggie on this one. [21:48] Guitar's sounding pret-ty good right now... [21:48] 6Guitar's sounding pret-ty good right now... [21:49] 10When Maggie doesn't response immediately, Stewart's impatience kicks in. "Give us the good news first." 00[21:50] <@Crion> Chone blinks, but nods. "Good news is, what yer lookin for was here. We got a line on that." 00[21:50] <@Crion> "Ya can probably guess what the bad news is, right?" [21:51] "We're not going to like where it went, are we?" [21:51] 13Melanie: "It's been shipped away?" [21:51] 6Nels opens, and subsequently closes her mouth. Yep. Those were her concerns! 00[21:51] <@Crion> He nods to both. "Company policy is clear, and the union agreed to it. That stuff's too hot to stay on these docks. Ya get...a lotta sorts poking around. So whadda we do, Jawn?" 00[21:51] <@Crion> Jawn: "We lose 'em in the stacks." 00[21:52] <@Crion> "And we don't ask no questions 'bout where they go." [21:52] 6Nels: "So they're just. Gone." 00[21:52] <@Crion> Both Chone and Jawn shake their heads. [21:52] 10Stewart, who like Nels has not seen The Wire, is also irritated rather than scared. 00[21:53] <@Crion> Chone: "Ya can't get rid of something like that. Ya only can stop being responsible for it." [21:53] 7Maggie: "Tsk. So... what do we do now?" 00[21:54] <@Crion> Jawn: "All transfers gotta be logged into the main books up at the loader's perch. Shame though. Tough to get in there." [21:54] "Tough how?" 00[21:55] <@Crion> Chone nods. "Yer right. Back in the day, maybe someone hid the key under the mailflap just in case they showed up drunk." Theatrical sigh. "But surely they've changed the procedure by now, huh?" [21:55] 6Nels: "We're tough people when we have to be." 6She less-subtly-than-she-thinks eyes Melanie and Tony. 00[21:56] <@Crion> The foreman shrugs. "Nothing nobody coulda done different, right? Anyway, we'll be here for awhile. All of ya just run along. To wherever ya want." 00[21:57] <@Crion> Jawn holds out his hand to Tony. "Pleasure working with ya." [21:57] 7Is this 'asking for a bribe' nonchalance, or 'we're gonna sit here while you beat the tar out of someone' nonchalance? [21:58] 13Sounds like we should take a look at the perch and its mailflap just in case. Might as well. 00[21:58] <@Crion> Lot closer to the latter than the former. 00[21:58] <@Crion> Though, to be clear, these guys probably LOVE bribes. [21:58] 5Tony gives Jawn a hearty shake. "And you. You folks ever need my help with something, just say so." [21:58] 10Respect the hustle. 00[21:59] <@Crion> When Tony pulls away, there's a piece of paper in the palm of his hand. Jawn winks. 00[22:00] <@Crion> Jawn will shake with the rest of you if you'll have it, but no more secret messages. 00[22:00] <@Crion> He has to reach up for each one but that doesn't seem to bother him. [22:01] 6Nels will definitely shake hands and curtsy. [22:01] "Well, cheers, fellas. Don't work too hard." 00[22:01] <@Crion> Chone chortles at that from Maggie; Jawn merely guffaws. [22:02] 5Tony's at least observant enough of norms to not look at the paper until AFTER they leave. So for now it'll stay folded, and he'll politely wait for everyone else to make their goodbyes. [22:03] "Um, bye." [22:03] 10Stewart offers them a wave and a "Seeya around." 10before heading outside. [22:04] 13Melanie: "What's a loader's perch?" [22:04] 6Um, is there an etiquette for leaving last? She's going to go with a wave and a twirl of a skirt. [22:04] 5Tony turns and heads out. To Stewart: "Good hustle out there." [22:05] 10Stewart hesitates a little before saying: "Thanks! You made it look a lot easier than it was." [22:07] 5Tony: "Practice, man. I'm sure if we ever have to set up a VCR or get whatever 'Input 3' is to work for somebody, I will be helpless without you." 00[22:07] <@Crion> Outside, when Tony unfolds it, he'll find that there's a strange marking on it, with the accompanying scrawl: "SEPTEMBER BOOKS" [22:08] 6Nels: "Soooooo. Y'all want to go find that key? 'Cuz it sounds like we need it. Because. It - you get it." [22:08] 5Tony gestures for Stewart to come closer so he can show him the note, pointing to the marking. "Like whatever this is." [22:08] 13Melanie: "Is the loader, like, the equivalent of a harbourmaster but for cargo? There are little cabin things around but I'm not sure which one constitutes 'perch'. [22:09] 10...Not really knowing what to say to that, Stewart peers at the note. [22:12] 7Maggie: "It's an office, controls all the big cranes and such." [22:13] 13Melanie: "Okay. Do you know which one? It sounded like the key is probably where it's always been, just deniably." [22:13] 10Stewart: "We're looking for this mark, I think, in the shipping records for september. In the office up there." [22:14] 5Tony laughs and claps Stewart on the back. "See what I mean? My ass from a hole in the ground, but here you are buddy." [22:14] 10With an air of confidence meant to mask how awkward he feels right now, he says, "Let's go." [22:15] 6What in the Hell. Where's that symbol--? [22:15] 6Ah. 00[22:15] <@Crion> There's only the one office, of course. And the dockworkers are suddenly giving you a wide berth as you head over. 00[22:15] <@Crion> No cameras, either. [22:17] "Ominous!" 00[22:17] <@Crion> The key's where Chone said it would be, and the door will open to it. 00[22:18] <@Crion> And hey, if no one sees you, no one can report you, right? Better not to think about who they'd report you to. [22:18] 13Melanie: "Do you think 'the company' is part of their fiction, or is there really some goblin organisation that pays them?" [22:19] 10Stewart shrugs. 00[22:20] <@Crion> The office is entirely up two flights of stairs, but is quiet and still. 00[22:20] <@Crion> There are three large banks of controls in front of the huge glass windows looking out over the docks, and floor-to-ceiling cabinets and shelves on every other wall. [22:21] 7Maggie: "Maybe 'the company' is a sort of thing that just kind of grows whenever they do this." [22:21] 13Melanie: "Well, that's how work works on Earth." [22:22] 7Maggie: "Like a particularly slimy parasite." [22:22] 6Nels also shrugs. Though... "Is - no, we can cover this another time." [22:22] "One cabinet each and look for September?" [22:23] 6Do you remember? No, actually, and it's kind of a sore spot, thank you for asking, [22:27] 5Tony busies himself with just kinda...pushing his finger against the doorjamb and watching the others flip the place over. Probably not a lot of room for him in there. 00[22:28] <@Crion> Melanie and Stewart find the September Books fairly quickly. They're in three ring binders along massive sets of other binders like them, for all the months of the year...but no year demarcations? 00[22:28] <@Crion> Ah. It becomes clear: they keep rolling five year records, by month. Great. [22:29] 10Maybe they throw out the old books every year. Maggie only just got back anyway, so the most recent September is what we'd want. [22:29] "Start from the back, then.." [22:29] 10Christ, that was only two months ago. [22:29] 13Melanie: "Maggie, what are we actually looking for?" [22:30] 7Maggie: "Not sure... I get the feeling we'll know it when we see it. Or I will?" 00[22:31] <@Crion> Yep. The way these things are marked, there's a container number, an arrival date, a parcel zone, and a shipping history. The shipping history is filled mainly with jargon marks: slashes, checks, boxes, filled-in boxes, and so on. But the null-umlaut is very distinct, and there are only two in the most recent month of September: Y14432 on Sept 13, and Y14479 on Sept 29. [22:31] 10If someone else got to it first, they'll know for sure what they have, which will make it that much harder to get. [22:32] 10Stewart: "Maggie, do you remember what day you got back?" 00[22:32] <@Crion> The way this is broken down, X Y and Z are yards, 1-18 in the first two digits are stock divisions, and the last three digits are individual crates. [22:32] 13Melanie: "Oh my god. We need an accountant." [22:33] 6Nels: "Not it." 6Didn't even pass high school. [22:38] 10Stewart: "I ask because we've narrowed it down to one of two containers. One that was 'lost' on September 29th, and one that was 'lost' on September 13th. So if you only got back after the 13th, we'd only need to check the one." [22:38] 5Tony: "And they're clear on the opposite side of the yard from each other, right?" [22:39] 10Stewart: "Pretty close, it looks like. Same yard, same stock division." [22:39] 7Maggie: "Oh, heck no. I'm lucky I can remember what month! I was mainly running around downtown freaking out." [22:39] 13Melanie: "It says here Yard Y is the 'stacks', so it's probably impenetrably poorly organised for no reason." [22:39] 5Tony: "Oh! Then why don't we just go over there, should be quick enough right?" [22:40] 7Maggie: "Late July-ish. Early August. Around that area." [22:40] 10Stewart: "We've got what we came for." 10Stewart memorizes the can numbers." 00[22:42] <@Crion> When you get outside, you're facing the X, Y, and Z stacks directly, with an "ocean" at your back. They kind of...stretch to the horizon. [22:42] 10Ah, shit. [22:43] "Aw, fluffernutters." [22:44] 13Melanie contemplates the Hedge, the enemy. Bet it doesn't look like that when the goblins want to get around. "Let's weave." [22:44] 6Nels: "Ah, dagnabbit." [22:50] 5Tony's spent enough time around the hobs that when he says, "Hey, which one's Y?"5 to a passing hob, he gets at least a grunt and a nod in the right general direction. They don't have much in the way of necks, so it's not much of a nod, or much of a direction. 00[22:55] <@Crion> The Hedge's nature changes as you walk deeper in. You don't recall passing through a door, but you look up and look back down, and suddenly you're in a warehouse, with bulkier cargo containers. Good news: This means you're probably on the right track. [22:55] 5Tony: "Well, that's something." [22:58] 7Maggie: "One of them, narrative things, eh?" 00[22:58] <@Crion> So which is first: Y14432, or Y14479? [22:58] 5Tony: "Maggie, high or low?" [23:00] 7Maggie flips a coin. "High." [23:00] 6High hopes. [23:00] 13Melanie doesn't like it. Hedge 'interiors' are worse than when it's admitting the wilderness it really is.. she concentrates as she walks, slowing a little. Hints of thorn and shadow begin to creep in, the faraway warehouse walls looking a little more like brambles, the paths between containers like game trails.. [23:00] 5Tony: "...anyone bring a crowbar?"5 Tony eyes the crates. [23:00] 7She looks a little stunned. "Good gravy, what am I doing? Lucky the quarter didn't come down as a lizard or something." 7Chagrined, she puts the coin back in her pocket. [23:03] 13Do these containers have doors we can open? [23:03] 10Stewart: "Don't look at them too closely yet." [23:05] 10When he says this, he gets ahead of the group to check out the container. What awaits them at Lot Y14479? 00[23:08] <@Crion> The container in question is blue, with a bright orange tag on the bolt which says it hasn't been opened. It's on the bottom of a stack, ground level, and there are 8 other cans around it. A 3x3, with your target bottom center. The aisles of the stacks are quiet... 00[23:14] <@Crion> ...and your path is clear. [23:15] 7Aw, jeez. The suspense...! [23:15] 10Stewart rounds the corner and after a moment and a brisk, gentle breeze he calls, "Oh hey, good news, this bolt's tamper tag is still on but the bolt itself is weak. This will just pop open if I kick the bolt." [23:16] 10Kick. Pop. Groan. [23:17] 5Tony: "Give it hell!" [23:17] 6She really should've brought her guitar. 03[23:18] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch [23:19] "Oh, that's convenient." 13Melanie rounds the corner with the others a moment later; the alterations to the Hedge come with her, bits of container-warehouse scenery being replaced with dirt and plants, but they're fading. All of it concentrates for a moment in a patch of genuinely grassy soil, where a strange plant springs up, flowers and withers in seconds; it leaves behind a little wooden [23:19] 13construct like a magnifying glass with a bit of filmy organic substance as a lens. [23:19] "Here." 13She passes it to Stewart, in case he wants such a thing. [23:20] 10Stewart takes the magnifying glass and combs over the container. He climbs in and out - getting sore again - and returns to say, "It's not here." [23:21] "We gotta try the other box. Uh, heads up, September 13th was a Friday." 00[23:21] <@Crion> A drawl from behind them: "I surely do expect you're disappointed." 00[23:21] <@Crion> A creaking swing. "Let me open mine." [23:21] 10Stewart's hand strays to his hip. [23:21] 6Nels grabs for her gun. 00[23:22] <@Crion> There's a grinning, hideous man with wild hair leaning against the stacks across from them, and he's just opened the door of the container opposite...and a giant woman, with a larger grin, burned out eyes, and a terrible whip steps through. [23:22] 7Yep, here it is. 00[23:23] <@Crion> The man: "Sadly, I think we've had a close encounter. And I don't think it has redounded in your favor. Oh no." What's that accent? Kentucky? And why are there stitches down his face? 00[23:23] <@Crion> He's...at least half of a Changeling. [23:24] 13Which half? [23:24] 7What does that mean? 00[23:24] <@Crion> Samuel Unbecoming -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oECK1dNbuho -I'll live inside you forever! -No! -With Satan himself by my side! -NO! -I know that now and forever: they'll NEVER be able to separate Jekyll from Hyde! [23:24] 10Ah, jeez. 00[23:24] <@Crion> Grinning Lash -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eyNMMM1CDQ Taste the whip, in love not given lightly; taste the whip and bleed on me. [23:25] 10Ah jeez. 00[23:26] <@Crion> "My name is...Samuel." 00[23:27] <@Crion> Unbecoming: "I just want to talk." [23:27] 10Mantles? [23:27] 6Nels: "...hello, Samuel." 6Her hand is still hovering over her gun. [23:27] 5Tony: "Well hi Samuel, I'm Tony. What's up?" [23:27] 7Maggie: "Well, sure. What about?" [23:27] 13Are these- Icon hunters? Or laying a trap for Maggie specifically? Or- there are too many possibilities. Melanie's frozen for a moment, backed into a corner between two containers. 00[23:27] <@Crion> None. The 'woman' is probably a hob. 'Samuel' here looks...half changeling? Half of him has a Mien, half doesn't. What exists is Ogre. [23:28] 6Nels: "Talking's fine. It's good." 00[23:29] <@Crion> Unbecoming: "I run a business." 00[23:30] <@Crion> "It's a new business. And a fine one. And I've got...many...employees." 00[23:30] <@Crion> You can hear some snuffling beyond the dark of that shipping container door. [23:30] 6She waves her hand in a 'go on' motion that doesn't stray far from her gun. 00[23:30] <@Crion> "Completely legal, of course. Isn't that right, Grin?" 00[23:30] <@Crion> The giant woman nods. 00[23:31] <@Crion> "We've taken care of all the regulations." [23:31] 6Should she have used her other hand? Yes. Did she? Absolutely the fuck not. [23:31] 13Melanie: "Law's whatever the Wyrd says it is. Nobody voted." 00[23:31] <@Crion> Unbecoming's smile widens. "Ain't it beautiful?" [23:31] 10Stewart: "What's on your mind, Samuel?" 00[23:32] <@Crion> "I'm glad you asked!" 00[23:33] <@Crion> "I've come into possession of some contraband, you see." An exaggerated calming gesture from Unbecoming. "Not on purpose, not on purpose. But it's contraband nonetheless." 00[23:33] <@Crion> "And you're interested in that." [23:35] 7Maggie: "And because you're a businessman..." 00[23:35] <@Crion> Unbecoming, chuckling: "Oh, but am I ever. And all it will cost you is..." 00[23:36] <@Crion> "Is--" 00[23:36] <@Crion> Unbecoming clutches his head. "Oh, you MOTHERF--" 00[23:36] <@Crion> The man curls over...then straightens. [23:36] 10Ah. 00[23:36] <@Crion> Samuel: "We have your Icon, Maggie." [23:37] 7Maggie: "Kinda figured." [23:37] 6Nels, flatly: "What." 00[23:37] <@Crion> The giant woman stirs, and Samuel turns. "You swore an oath to both of us." 02[23:37] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 00[23:38] <@Crion> Samuel: "He wants you to break the union on the docks. He's an idiot, of course. That's not only murderous but short term thinking, you see." 00[23:38] <@Crion> "We can come to an alternate arrangement." [23:39] 6... 00[23:39] <@Crion> "That doesn't involve hurting anyone. Theoretically." [23:39] 6Alarming! 00[23:39] <@Crion> Samuel kicks that door closed. [23:39] 7Flatly: "What." [23:39] 13This is Maggie's show, but these guys' whole thing irks Melanie. They're squatting on a piece of her friend. They've got or he's got issues; who hasn't? She just wants to know the ransom price so they can decide whether to pay it or to make this guy and his monster fuck off. 00[23:40] <@Crion> "We're in the security business. Our employers aren't convinced of the need for security. My...better half is convinced we should just squeeze people like you on the side. I think broader." 00[23:41] <@Crion> Samuel: "I want you to rob the Notgnixel Yards and not get caught." [23:41] 13Melanie: "Who are your employers?" [23:41] 5Tony: "...and what do you want from the Yards?" [23:42] 7Maggie: "Rob it of what?" 00[23:42] <@Crion> To Melanie: "The Board of Notgnixel." 00[23:42] <@Crion> To Tony: "I want it robbed." 00[23:42] <@Crion> To Maggie: "I don't care. Something expensive-looking." 00[23:43] <@Crion> Samuel: "You need to realize that at this point, Maggie's Icon and the other one are property of the Yards." [23:44] 10The other one? [23:44] 13Melanie: "Let's clarify this. You work security for the Market, who aren't convinced they need you. You want us to create an incident to get you job security, by stealing something or damaging their operation at the docks?" 00[23:45] <@Crion> Samuel: "Yes! That is what I want. And he wants the same thing, except by crushing the Dockworkers. Like Pinkertons." [23:46] 7Maggie chews her lip. "I'll think about it. How can I get in touch with you again?" 00[23:46] <@Crion> Samuel: "You can--oh no." 00[23:47] <@Crion> His face twists, twists, he curls, and-- [23:47] 10This is going to be really inconvenient. 00[23:47] <@Crion> Unbecoming: "You can make a decision now." 00[23:47] <@Crion> The giant woman with the whip relaxes. [23:47] 13Melanie: "It's not out of the question, except that we have no reason to help you. You want to extort us. We can just get rid of you instead. We'd try not to kill you, but the way to guarantee that is to go away, now." [23:47] 5Tony: "I think she's deciding to think about it." 00[23:48] <@Crion> Unbecoming: "Can you." [23:48] 13Melanie: "It's five against one-half." 00[23:48] <@Crion> He grins. "Is it." [23:48] 7Hrrrh. Maggie's only real concern here is whether stealing from the Yard will hurt the union there. Will it? [23:49] 6We might need that gun sooner than later. [23:53] 7Maggie: "Fine. The Yard boys are on strike, no skin off their backs." 00[23:53] <@Crion> Unbecoming straightens. "Well. Not as fun." [23:53] 7Maggie: "We've got different ideas of fun, pal." 00[23:53] <@Crion> "But I will honor the deal struck by my better half." 00[23:54] <@Crion> "Oh, indeed." [23:54] 13Melanie: "You don't want us to just beat the shit out of this guy? We'd risk being blackballed by the Market." [23:54] "Heck, we could report his scam to the Board instead." [23:55] 10Stewart doesn't know what the right call here is, so he stays silent. 00[23:55] <@Crion> That gets a deep laugh out of Unbecoming. "Oh. Please! Please do! Look them up in the phonebook! Go see them on your lunch break!" 00[23:55] <@Crion> He kicks the door open again and puts a glamour into it. "We'll be seeing you." 00[23:56] <@Crion> The tall woman hob will slip through and shut the door. [23:56] 5Tony, to the group, after S-U and the tall hob leave: "Argument could be made that if the union wasn't having to strike for better conditions, the theft wouldn't happen anyway. So maybe we're the good guys here?" [23:56] Melanie jabs a twig-finger toward Unbecoming Samuel. "Your ontology is bimodal. Fuck off with the pretence that you can outcontact us." [23:59] 7Maggie: "Eesh. Can't imagine either of those guys are very happy." Session Time: Sun Dec 15 00:00:00 2019 [00:03] 13Melanie doesn't look happy either. "Do you really want us to go up against the Market? They're neutral and they're our neighbours. This guy is an idiot or idiots who's trying to rope us into scamming them." [00:03] 5Tony: "Besides, if we have to throw down with that idiot in the future, we can at least take his muscle off the board, remember?" 5Tony pats the star he keeps in his pocket. [00:05] 5Tony: "Also, if he's got Maggie's Icon, I'm worried if we go in guns blazing it'll get that fucked up somehow, and then we're even worse off than we started, and we just spent some shifts sweating for the privilege." [00:06] 7Maggie: "Mmm. 'Neutral' isn't the same thing as harmless. Anyway, we don't need to *steal* anything, no matter what that big palooka says. All we need do is convince 'em they need more security." [00:06] "And who doesn't need more security, these days?" [00:06] "They need more security than this guys, who are trying to get them robbed!" [00:09] 7Maggie clicks her tongue against her teeth. "Well now. Wellllllll now." [00:09] 5Tony rubs his temples. "I guess the nice thing about making violence our last resort is that we can always fall back on it if we don't have better ideas, later?" [00:09] "I recall saying the Yard boys are on strike. Could be a while before they get what they want. Can't imagine Hob nobs are big on caving to labor demands." [00:09] 13Unhappily: "We'll do this however you want Maggie." [00:10] 7Maggie: "Maybe the union needs to push a little harder, cause a bit of a ruckus. Maybe we can help them out with that." [00:11] 13What, to get them to hire unionbusters and crack down? [00:13] 5Tony: "There's nothing saying we have to do what they want and then let them enjoy it." [00:14] 5Tony: "Two seconds after Maggie's got her Icon in hand, we could just as easily tell the union or anyone else who listens exactly who this guy is and what he's trying to do and for who he's trying to do it and just walk out." [00:15] 10Stewart: "We don't even have any reason to think anyone would care." [00:15] 7Maggie: "Heck, we may not even need to do that. If the security they hire is already crooked... Every working fella understands a little honest graft. Deals made, palms greased, other such phrases, and everybody wins." [00:16] "Well... the Board gets their status quo back, which is sort of like winning. For them anyway." [00:16] 5Tony: "I guess to me the job was carrying shit, to get Chone to tell us where to look, for Melanie, and now the job is getting the Icon for Melanie, and we figure out whatever after that." [00:16] *Maggie on both agh [00:17] 5Tony: "So we run that play, or we run another, but either way we're still playing football here." 03[00:17] * mattbaby (mattbaby@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch [00:18] 10Jocks...! [00:19] 7Maggie: "Now, uh, all that said, I don't want any of you to feel any more tangled up in this than you want to be. I know Melanie's lookin' a little uncomfortable..." [00:19] "I admit it is a little, uh, greasy." [00:20] 10Stewart: "I'll help however I can." [00:20] 13Melanie: "I don't like Samuel or Unbecoming. The hobs' economic maneuverings are.. they aren't real, but it's real to them.. it doesn't matter. We need to get you back." [00:20] "The idiots mentioned another Icon, too. I don't know whether that was meant as bait or just.. a slipup due to being idiots." [00:22] 5Tony: "Hobs are important, but friends are always more important than not. And I don't know these guys here anyway. They aren't even the dockworkers." 00[00:22] <@Crion> You can check the other shipping container if you want, but we can cut to the chase: there's nothing there either. [00:24] 5Tony takes an exploratory look-and-nudge at the others nearby while folks are talking. Nothing says this has to take a long time. [00:28] 7Maggie smiles- it does feel good to have friends to support you, and helping the little mushroom fellas (she assumes that all Notgnixel union men are mushrooms) agitate really sits right with her. [00:29] "There should be several ways to find out where the Yards are. We could ask the dockworkers, contact someone like Jackie or Samaritan.. follow a truck.." [00:30] "I wouldn't mind chatting with Sammie anyhow." 00[00:33] <@Crion> Finding your way back should be pretty easy. [00:34] 5Tony: "Yeah in the meantime, let's probably scoot out of here before this warehouse turns into a giant vault or a big piggy bank or something." [00:34] 13Melanie: "Scrooge McDuck coin pool." [00:34] 5Tony: "Which here would probably drown us." [00:36] 13Melanie: "And they wouldn't be valuable coins, like it would be Iraq dinars." [00:36] 7Maggie: "A Who McWhat?" [00:36] "Have you heard about those? It's a big scam online.. pro-government conspiracy people believe in the coming Revaluation like it's going to make them all rich." [00:37] "The idea is like.. before the wars, a dinar was worth a few dollars or something. Now it's less than one cent, tenths of a cent." [00:38] "But! If you're economically illiterate, and who isn't since economics is also a conspiracy theory, you believe that America is going to make it all right, propping up the new regime right.. this was a bigger thing years ago but they still think Trump is going to do it." [00:38] 5Tony gestures for the group to follow him, and through a combination of sniffing the air for the faintly myconian smell of workers, looking for footprints in the warehouse-ground-dust-alike that maybe looks like their own, but backwards, and just faking it, he manages to get the group out of the mazelike warehouse. Hopefully. [00:39] 13Melanie rambles: "So there are these people selling buckets full of thousand-dinar notes on ebay and craigslist, illicit dinar trading at gun shows.." [00:39] 10Stewart: "Like buying futures in the Rapture." [00:40] 5A bright, hissing neon 'Entrance back thisaway' sign on more than a few corners (is it the same sign? And is that hiss sibilant more than chemical?) helps too. 00[00:40] <@Crion> Steve will join you once you get close. He's wearing a saucepan on his head...? He seems very proud. [00:40] "The really funny thing is social media. People are constantly tweeting at Iraq officials and at Donald Trump, or making instagrams demanding to know when the Revaluation is coming. Please mister President we need the RV, I invested my sons' and grandsons' savings in these fridge coolers full of banknotes with Saddam on them..." [00:41] 7Does it really say 'Entrance Back Thissaway'? [00:41] 7Maggie: "That's a rough chuckle, Melanie." [00:42] 5It really does. [00:42] 5Tony: "Hey, look at this guy! What's happening Steve?" 00[00:42] <@Crion> honk [00:42] 13Melanie: "Well, it's not a good thing. But it's part of the like.. epistemological spectrum. There are forms of knowledge which if we look at them in a scientific sense, parens or the quasiscience of economics, close parents, are just.. wrong. But it doesn't mean they aren't known." [00:42] *close parens 00[00:43] <@Crion> Some real cool shit involving little hobs. Lots of opportunities! Everything's in flux. 00[00:43] <@Crion> Steve's not a CEO of Business, though. [00:43] 5Tony: "Guys! Cool shit is happening, with the hobs!" [00:43] 5Tony: "Chin up buddy, I believe in you and your acu...acumen's a word right Melanie?" [00:43] "Yeah." [00:44] 5Tony: "Cool beans." 00[00:44] <@Crion> honk honkkk [00:44] 7Maggie: "What's this? Business Steve?" [00:44] 13Melanie: "It's the melty substance you get when the road surface heats up too much, derived from like albumen+bitumen." [00:45] 5Tony: "Oh. I thought it was a thing for business." [00:45] 13Melanie: "You're probably thinking of bankumen." 00[00:45] <@Crion> So much opportunity! So many out of work. Think of the crowdfunding campaigns! Steve has been promised apps that have been foretold. [00:45] 10Stewart: "Acumen means good judgment." [00:46] 13Melanie giggles for quite a while. [00:46] 5Tony: "Oh nice! Anyway Steve says there will be appetizers soon? Somewhere?" [00:46] 10Pretty sneaky...! [00:47] 7Maggie: "People out of work?" 00[00:47] <@Crion> honk! 00[00:47] <@Crion> There's a strike on, right? [00:47] Melanie's glad they're close to home. "This could be related to the 'unions' they've been doing. Basically the goblins put on a shadowplay of a society for our benefit/detriment. It's kind of cute." [00:49] 5Tony: "Well yeah, for now..." 00[00:49] <@Crion> The goose stops. 00[00:49] <@Crion> honk? 00[00:49] <@Crion> Well, is that bad or good? [00:51] 5Tony: "So, my understanding of strikes is, you stop working, so that you get more stuff when you start working again. By showing that if you aren't working, no one gets anything, and that you have the power. It's like stepping aside to let your QB get sacked so he knows what the line's for." [00:51] "Wait, where's it leading us?" [00:51] 5Tony: "Very powerful but don't do it too much." 00[00:51] <@Crion> Steve met you like two blocks from the Wherehouse and is walking back there. [00:51] 13Oh, it's leading us to a basic understanding of collective action. Carry on. 00[00:52] <@Crion> The goose pauses. honk honk. honk! [00:53] "Are you on strike now Steve." 00[00:53] <@Crion> Steve doesn't like opportunities that fuck over other hobs. That's not good. So yes, he is. 00[00:53] <@Crion> Also he doesn't know what a QB is. [00:53] 7Maggie: "We were thinking about helping out those striking fellas ourselves." [00:54] 5Tony: "Goods news guys! Steve's on strike too! From...his...job...?" 5Tony's losing the thread. [00:54] 10Stewart: "So like, are we crossing a picket line just by going outside...?" 00[00:54] <@Crion> Steve spreads his wings and runs around a little bit. honk!! 00[00:54] <@Crion> He's willing to...help? 00[00:54] <@Crion> But he wants beer. [00:54] 5Tony: "We need to get Steve more beer." [00:54] 5Tony: "Probably the rest of us too. It's been a full shift, we're good, right?" [00:55] 13Melanie: "I could use a drink." [00:56] 13Dealing with the Hedge is kind of exhausting. We have the tools to do it, but it's so.. it puts on a cutesy facade but menace is always there, and you never know what forces will be roaming, looking out for opportunities on the edge of everything. [00:56] 10It really makes you think, about society. 00[00:58] <@Crion> Steve isn't arguing. [00:59] 13Once they're home, Melanie will head to the fridge; for once, she'll be the one to pass out bottles even to Steve. It was thirsty work; if only there were a point. [01:02] 10Stewart, exhausted and stressed, goes home. He's still got to stream for eight hours. 00[01:03] <@Crion> Lauren and Chup are there to help. She's even got tea on. 02[01:12] * mattbaby (mattbaby@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: Leaving) 02[01:53] * dammitwhoa (dammitwhoa@sorcery-5fkv5e.or.frontiernet.net) Quit (Quit: ) [02:50] 00[02:55] <@Crion> 00[02:55] <@Crion> 00[02:55] <@Crion> 00[02:55] <@Crion> 00[02:55] <@Crion> 03[04:42] * CBN2 (CBN@sorcery-k45s1j.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) has joined #gofetch 02[04:45] * CBN (CBN@sorcery-j2ej8k.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[05:39] * banana is now known as banana|split 03[08:15] * banana|split is now known as banana 03[12:15] * CBN2 is now known as CBN 02[17:14] * Disconnected 02[17:14] * Attempting to rejoin channel #gofetch 03[17:14] * Rejoined channel #gofetch 03[17:14] * Topic is 'Who botches the Botchmen?' 03[17:14] * Set by Crion!Crion@sorcery-puhjpa.fios.verizon.net on Sun Sep 22 02:37:29 2019 02[17:15] * @Crion (Crion@sorcery-puhjpa.fios.verizon.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[19:45] * mattbaby (mattbaby@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 03[23:56] * Crion_ is now known as Crion 03[23:56] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Crion Session Time: Mon Dec 16 00:00:00 2019 02[00:26] * mattbaby (mattbaby@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[08:28] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 02[10:02] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. 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ZZZzzz…) 03[20:51] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 02[23:44] * CBN (CBN@sorcery-nponi3.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) Session Time: Sat Dec 21 00:00:00 2019 02[00:02] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 02[06:22] * trenchfoot (dani@sorcery-jcvlv4.in.comcast.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[07:02] * trenchfoot (dani@sorcery-jcvlv4.in.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 03[10:05] * CBN (CBN@sorcery-07l10h.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) has joined #gofetch 03[20:22] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 03[20:28] * banana|peels is now known as banana 00[20:59] <@Crion> 00[20:59] <@Crion> 00[20:59] <@Crion> 00[20:59] <@Crion> 00[20:59] <@Crion> 00[20:59] <@Crion> 00[21:02] <@Crion> So, the Wherehouse has its choice of things to do. You've still two weeks before you have to start worrying about the return of the Huntsman, and Samuel Unbecoming doesn't seem to be holding you to a clock or anything on the business at the Yard. One presumes the strike is ongoing; if one wishes to check, one will indeed find tiny cousins of the Dockworkers -- grouchy half-pint turtlemen, by 00[21:02] <@Crion> the look of it -- running a picket line. They seem a bit confused about how this works -- they're stopping the trucks from driving in, yes, but seem to have no problem with the trucks stopping outside the Yard's walls, then being offloaded into storage containers out there. 00[21:03] <@Crion> The Dockworkers don't seem to see any inherent issue with this, either; they unload the trucks cheerfully, and then...fullthroatedly join the Yardworkers on the picket line? 00[21:03] <@Crion> Hobs. 00[21:05] <@Crion> Either way, Unbecoming wants you to smash the union so he can take credit for it and wheedle the Board for a bonus; Samuel wants you to rob the place so he can tell the Board they need to stop being skinflints about security funding. What they both have confirmed to you is that they either have possession of Maggie's Icon, or have stashed it somewhere safe. You can either play either one of 00[21:05] <@Crion> their games, or do something else entirely. [21:06] 10Argh time is moving so slowly. The Icon thing is more immediate, but, he's not having nightmares about the Icon. Still, helping Maggie takes his mind off it a little. "What're you thinking?" 10he asks her one late November morning while he helps people clean up after breakfast. [21:07] "A good place to start would be to find out what the lil' turtle's grievances are." [21:08] *turtles' [21:12] 7She makes a popping noise with her lips. "Do you think there are this many huggable hobs about in other places or is the Baltimore hedge unique? Cute little fellas." [21:12] 10Stewart: "I think we scared off the mean ones locally." [21:12] 6Nels: "Good. This is much better." [21:12] "Not so many pigs lately." [21:13] 10Stewart wonders if there's some terrible knock-on effect to the Hedge ecosystem coming from their insistence on making it play nice, like how hunting predators leads to mass starvation in the prey species. He guesses they'll find out eventually. [21:16] 5Tony's finishing off the last of the bacon. "Oh no there's some real shitty ones out there, Steve's told me as much. Seems like a later problem though." [21:16] "It shouldn't be hard to find whoever's in charge at the picket line. We maybe want to bring some kind of offering, I don't know, coffee or blankets or something." [21:16] 13Melanie doesn't look up from her reading. "You have to bear in mind that 'huggable' is an adaptation. They see us as predators and opportunities." [21:18] 7Maggie: "You could say that for regular animals, though." [21:18] 6Nels: "That's better than seeing us as prey, surely?" [21:19] "Well, predation is one of the opportunities. But it's not like they care whether we follow the internal logic of their drama.. it's just a signal about our intentions." [21:20] "Also, coffee, blankets... something to eat, soap, tents? I don't know how many of these things they'll need." [21:22] 7Maggie nods. "That's also worth asking about." [21:22] 13They don't need any of them! "Soap might give them the right impression." [21:24] 10Stewart: "Do you guys wanna head out today?" [21:24] 13Melanie: "You want something to do, right?" [21:24] 10Stewart: "Always." [21:24] 7Maggie's heading for the coat hooks. "Yeah, no time like the present. Who all's coming with?" [21:25] 5Tony: "Me! Gonna be a good day I think." [21:25] "I'll help." 13Melanie gestures the book off to the side; it floats into the air to close itself and then joins a stack of discards. [21:25] 10Stewart blinks. [21:26] "Whoa! How'd you do that?" [21:27] "Eh?" 13Melanie's done this stuff before, hasn't she? Maybe not as often, she's been a bit.. not wanting to stand out. Not as comfortable with the powers thrust on her, but she's getting better at that. [21:27] "Oh I mean like. I just have power over elements basically." [21:28] "We've fought things.." 13No need to talk about this! She'll disappear into her room to get some armour on and get ready. [21:29] 5Tony: "Oh! I guess you can do with...what, wood? What I do with dirt. And paper's wood...dirt's dirt..." 5Kinda trails off there. [21:30] 13Melanie's back after a minute. She doesn't say anything to Tony, but offers a high five. [21:30] 5Tony high fives, of course. [21:30] 10Stewart's got his coat and his gun, not commenting on any of this. [21:31] 7Maggie: "Stewart, why doesn't Autumn teach you how to float tomes?" [21:31] 10Stewart: "Our stuff's mostly digitized." [21:32] 6Nels returns with her pistol, her armor, and her guitar, slung across her back. [21:32] 13Melanie: "eGrimoires." [21:34] 5Tony disappears into his bachelor hovel for a moment and returns with a shotgun he fished out from behind the futon. "So where're we headed today?" [21:36] 5Tony: "Because I can try to get us there, same as usual." [21:38] 13Melanie: "Where'd you pick up this navigation stuff, anyway? Do you have some kind of 5earth sense?" [21:39] 5Tony: "Um. I dunno? It's just, I guess you spend a couple decades navigating miles of rows of vast and unknowable death-corn and everything else, even if it's weird and Hedge-y, isn't that tough to get through." [21:40] 6Ah. Well. [21:41] "Right, I picked up the manipulation stuff for similar reasons. There's a contract he had me learn because it was, um, special effects. Cheaper than ILM." 00[21:42] <@Crion> The trip is legible enough -- that's not the issue -- and you never get lost. But you do come across something very strange, before the Hedge transitions from city streets to the dock and yard: 00[21:42] <@Crion> A busy intersection? [21:42] 7Busy with what? [21:42] 10Hah. [21:42] 5Tony: "Look both ways here, folks. Including up, and down." [21:43] 6Nels: "Might as well check forward and back, too." 00[21:43] <@Crion> "Cars" screech around the corner, whiz past at high speed -- occasionally a bus, going the wrong way -- and then careen around the corner opposite. Presumably they just, vanish? You've seen no other vehicles on the street on the way here. 00[21:43] <@Crion> Somehow, none of them crash into each other. [21:43] 10Is there a crosswalk? [21:43] 13Melanie will drop back to behind Nels, then, so there's someone watching the back. [21:44] 5Tony: "Have any of you seen The French Connection? This is like the best part of that movie but fighting itself. No clue what to do about it though." [21:47] 13Melanie: "Maybe we could jam it up, throw something in there..." [21:48] "They're pretty fast." 00[21:49] <@Crion> There is a crosswalk, but no one seems to be respecting it. They have the light, after all...and seem to be keeping it no matter how long you wait. [21:49] 10This is probably still safer than riding a bicycle on actual city streets, Stewart reassures himself. [21:50] 5Tony: "Okay then...just look around and run really fast. Like this." 5Tony goes ahead and tries just that. 00[21:51] <@Crion> The cars, thankfully, perversely, don't slow down or change first or pile up, meaning they're scary and dangerous...but predictable. 00[21:51] <@Crion> Seems pretty clear they're not hobs at least! [21:52] 6Nels looks to the racing cars, and to Melanie and Maggie. She tries waving down a cab, before trying to cross. [21:55] 13Melanie's looking for a loose brick to throw. It's that or shoot out some tyres... not until the others are across, of course! [21:57] 6One zips to a stop in front of her with a cartoonishly sudden stop that kicks the rear of the car into the air, then the door opens. She gets inside and is about to wave for Melanie and Maggie to join her when it suddenly shoots off. A quick point to the opposite side and some grumbled Italian-ish (probably) curse words later, and she's practically spinning where she stands, safe on the other side. [21:57] 6The cab is long gone. 02[21:59] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) [22:00] 7Maggie stretches her legs and jogs in place. Little puffs of steam spray from seams and joints, and when she appears to have built up some sort of critical mass, she races directly into the street! Veering neither left nor right, her straight-line charge miraculously avoids every single car, letting her skid to a stop on the other side. 00[22:01] <@Crion> Melanie tries hucking stuff in the road and so on to see what happens, but the cars don't seem to care. They sort of bump over the bricks here and there, but they're not knocked off course. [22:01] 13Ehh. There's a good one, a whole chunk of bitumen that can be ripped off this crumbling facade of the already poorly-maintained streets. Can they ignore this..? 00[22:02] <@Crion> ...Ah. No. That one's got that big wide-finned throwback car swerving... 00[22:02] <@Crion> Right at Melanie. 00[22:03] <@Crion> She can easily move aside though as it sort of tumbles across the curb, twists, and rolls right back into the street--causing a pile up. 00[22:03] <@Crion> Now's her chance! [22:03] 13Crap! She makes a break for it, straight ahead - she isn't fast enough but a couple of light bumps will just knock some bark off her. [22:05] "We need better traffic light patterns. They only care about catching people on speedcam." 00[22:06] <@Crion> The air is filled with honking horns and unintelligible, angry shouts -- but no one gets out of those cars. And you're free to carry on. The shipping containers are ahead and, Tony knows, it's just a hop skip and a turn here here here here and here, and then you'll be at the Yard. 00[22:06] <@Crion> When you arrive, things are mostly as you left them last time you checked up on things, except for a couple new faces -- Pigs. 00[22:06] <@Crion> Wait, not Pigs. 00[22:06] <@Crion> Well. Kind of? 03[22:06] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 00[22:06] <@Crion> They're in...rent-a-cop outfits. 00[22:07] <@Crion> They seem bored, and don't react to you at all unless you do something stupid like open fire on them. [22:07] 10Do they look like Kevin James? 00[22:07] <@Crion> No, but two of them are large porkers on segways. 00[22:07] <@Crion> So...yes? In the ways that count? 00[22:08] <@Crion> Anyway, the labor "action" looks civil and orderly, and these guys only have batons. [22:08] 10Stewart: "Do you ever feel like the Hedge is one overactive label-maker away from being a political cartoon?" [22:09] "Haha. At least their twisted reflection has the qualia of reality-as-it-is, not reality-as-rendered, so it's like.. a more honest parody than you get from the news." [22:09] 10Stewart: "Wyld-as-Satirist." [22:09] "Satyrist?" [22:09] *Wyrd 00[22:10] <@Crion> The Yardworkers -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4OzdyxbOuU They let you dream just to watch 'em shatter; you're just a step on the boss-man's ladder. [22:10] 10While talking, Stewart's head is cocked slightly. Niiiiiice. [22:11] 13Melanie: "No, they've all got pants." [22:11] "Maggie, remind us, what's the plan?" [22:11] 10Stewart's sort of dancing in place a little. [22:14] 6Nels glances to Stewart, but says nothing. [22:14] 7Maggie: "Get these little guys to do some real agitation, force their bosses to the negotiating table. If they're pinching pennies on security, that can't be good for the workers, right?" [22:15] 5Tony: "Hell yeah." 00[22:15] <@Crion> Time to figure out who's in charge of this action, then./ [22:16] 13How to achieve a militant union Melanie does not know. Handing out newspapers isn't likely to do it. [22:17] 10Stewart gives Maggie a significant look at 'real agitation', but doesn't say anything. [22:21] 6Nels: "You mind if I play 'em a little song? See if we can get them to fetch someone who'd want to greet the newcomers." [22:23] 7Maggie: "That sounds nice." [22:24] 13It does! Melanie looks for somewhere to stand unobtrusively and listen (having forgotten for a moment that they're here to obtrude). [22:33] 6She finds a place to sit nearby, plucks at a few strings. Then: "Come all you, good workers! Good news to you I'll tell, of how the good ol' union has come in here to dwell..." 6It's a little after her time, but it just feels right. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hGRcScbmqg [22:36] 10Damn. 00[22:36] <@Crion> The song is good and rings true, and the Yardworkers will trundle over to sit down and listen to it...almost breaking their lines. It takes the intercession of two bigger -- but still not, you know, big -- Yardworkers to push them back to their lines, while even they listen in appreciation. Both have spines on their shells, unlike the other, though they're muted. One is yellow with a green 00[22:36] <@Crion> shell and red hair, and a temper; the other is brown with a black shell, and grinning with bushy eyebrows. [22:37] 10Haha holy shit. 00[22:37] <@Crion> Red hair: "HEY! Who're YOU guys." 00[22:38] <@Crion> Black shell: "Aw, they don't look so bad, Huey." 00[22:38] <@Crion> Huey: "Shaddap, Long. They could be THE FUZZ." [22:39] 5Tony: "We're no pigs!" [22:39] 7Maggie: "Aren't the fuzz a lot shorter? And more piggy?" 00[22:40] <@Crion> The guys hanging out at the door are man-sized, though they're definitely more piggy. 00[22:40] <@Crion> Huey: "Mayyyyyybe." 00[22:41] <@Crion> One of the Dockworkers from the crowd pipes up. "Oh, they's with the Dockworker's Local. The big ones, that is. Seen the other three abouts." 00[22:41] <@Crion> Long: "See?" [22:41] 6Not wrong to be suspicious, though. Especially with an organization as lax as this one... 02[22:42] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) [22:43] 7Maggie: "We came to see what your grievances were, try and help you out." 00[22:44] <@Crion> Huey, suspicious: "You na-go-t'yating? Or are you just hear to sing songs and mess up our lines??" 00[22:44] <@Crion> Long: "Huey...you gotta coool it." [22:44] 6Nels: "Actually, I just figured that'd be our best way of getting your attention. We want to see what you need, how we can help." [22:45] 10Stewart just hangs quietly at the back, trying not to let on how much he's enjoying himself. 00[22:46] <@Crion> Huey glares at the rest of yas, then softens a little bit. "So...you wanna hold some signs...or...?" 00[22:46] <@Crion> It's clear the hapless little hob has, at best, a very limited idea of how to conduct a worker's action. [22:47] 13Melanie: "We've got to bring the bosses to the table. These guys have got away with ignoring your concerns too long." [22:47] "In this place it probably involves some kind of literal table.." [22:48] 5Tony: "So we wanna help you get too loud for them to ignore." 00[22:49] <@Crion> Long strokes his very cleft chin. "What're ya thinking?" [22:49] 13Melanie: "Megaphones?" [22:50] 10What's Maggie thinking? [22:51] 7Maggie: "Well, I've noticed the Dockworkers are with you in spirit, but they keep on loading things just outside the Yard, maybe because it hasn't occurred to them not to. Why don't we talk them into a sympathy strike?" 00[22:52] <@Crion> Huey blinks. "You think that'd work?" [22:52] 6Nels: "It certainly has in the past. Solidarity." [22:53] 7Maggie: "Why not? You guys have the same interests. They show up for you, you show up for them." [22:53] 5Tony: "Also, it'd help if we know what you guys want. What're you striking to get, anyway?" 00[22:54] <@Crion> Long turns to that Dockworker from before. "Hey, get Jawn and Chone down here." 00[22:55] <@Crion> The Dockworker: "Really its more kinda east and up, truck grades down on the way over--" 00[22:56] <@Crion> Huey: "The heck you say? You say we're beneath you, that what you say to me? Is that what you're saying? We're some kinda bugs? Is that--" 00[22:56] <@Crion> Long puts a hand on his chest. 00[22:56] <@Crion> "Huey. Be coool. It's about solidarity." 00[22:56] <@Crion> Huey takes a deep breath. "Yeah. Yeah. Solidarity. Sorry." 00[22:56] <@Crion> The Dockworker: "...It's fine! I'll go get 'em." [22:57] 6Nels begins strumming the first few bars of Solidarity Forever, but doesn't launch into the full song. Nervous tic, maybe. [22:58] 7That guy's really irritable. Well, maybe life's just hard out here for a little turtle. [22:58] 10Stewart: "Were you in a union, Maggie?" [22:59] 7She opens her mouth. Closes it again. Opens it: "Mmmmmaybe?" [23:01] 6Nels: "Respect. Never got a chance myself." 6To Huey and Long: "D'you mind if I play another? While we wait. They keep the spirits up." 00[23:06] <@Crion> Long: "Please do, ma'am." Huey grumps but doesn't object. [23:08] 13While they wait and listen - the music doesn't have the right effect on Melanie, she just thinks of it as beautiful instead of a call to action - she's going to follow up on Tony's question. "What do you guys need from the Notgnixel bosses? What lead you to go on strike?" [23:08] 13Half-expecting there's no real answer to this. Is it all simulacrum..? [23:08] 6If they don't object, she'll move closer - to avoid interrupting their lines, and attempt to teach them a song. Though she realises, probably the guitar can sit this one out. "When the union's inspiration through the worker's blood shall run, there can be no power greater anywhere beneath the sun..." 6She keeps going, encouraging any chorus that mimics her. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsPOgCPEeKs&t=25s 00[23:09] <@Crion> Huey: "All's we want is a little respect from those guards and that Sammy guy!" 00[23:09] <@Crion> Long: "Aaaand, we'd like to get paid. Remember that, Huey." 00[23:09] <@Crion> Huey: "Right! They gotta pay us!" 00[23:09] <@Crion> "This place takes in all kinda goblin fruits and trinkets and whadda we see? Nothin'!" [23:10] 6Nels shoots a glance over, but she's still halfway through Solidarity Forever. [23:10] 5Tony: "So do you guys not get paid...ever?" [23:10] 5Tony: "Why even work here?" 00[23:10] <@Crion> The line falters a little bit more to listen, but not enough that Huey starts pushing them around again. [23:10] 7Maggie: "Okay, you guys definitely do need to get paid. Who's Sammy?" [23:11] 10Stewart: "Unbecoming?" 00[23:11] <@Crion> Huey shrugs. "We live here, yeah? So they turn it into the Yards, what're we supposed ta do? Leave?" [23:11] "Split in half, kind of a drawl?" 00[23:11] <@Crion> Long: "Stitcher man." 00[23:11] <@Crion> He nods to Stewart. [23:12] "Huuuuuruum." [23:12] 5Tony: "Uhhhhh." 00[23:12] <@Crion> Chone and Jawn arrive now, Chone still chomping on his stoagie. "What's all this about then!!" he says, jabbing it at Maggie then Huey then back at Maggie. "I got work to do!! On the clock here!" [23:12] 5Tony turns to Maggie. Low: "Okay, so there's a way we can get your Icon and also just completely murder their bosses right?" [23:12] "We've met that guy. He definitely does not understand the meaning of respect." 00[23:12] <@Crion> Huey to Chone: "I ain't askin for ya unless I wanted ya to be here!" 00[23:13] <@Crion> Chone, roaring back: "Well I wasn't COMIN HERE unless I wanted to see ya!" 00[23:13] <@Crion> Huey: "Yeah??" [23:13] 6Kiss already. 00[23:13] <@Crion> Chone: "Yeah!!" [23:13] 5Tony, louder again: "Ayy, Chone! We want to get everybody paid!" 00[23:13] <@Crion> Then they kinda chest bump hug it out. 00[23:13] <@Crion> Chone, to Tony: "Eyyy! How ya doing, kid. Good to see you at an action." [23:13] 10Just guys bein dudes. 00[23:13] <@Crion> "You too, Mags." [23:13] 7Maggie: "Hey there, Chone." 00[23:14] <@Crion> Chone: "So why are we up here?" [23:14] "We were hopin' to get you guys in the Yard and the Docks to work together on this thing." 00[23:14] <@Crion> Chone, genuinely confused. "I mean that's what we're doing, right? We don't take the trucks inside no more." 00[23:14] <@Crion> Jawn: "See, I was telling you about this." 00[23:15] <@Crion> Jawn: "You gotta think bigger." [23:15] 6Nels nods, having finished her impromptu session. Hopefully at least some of the hobs took to it - it wasn't her best or close to it. "Solidarity." [23:16] 5Tony: "No one does anything, until everyone, gets everything." 00[23:16] <@Crion> Jawn, double finger guns on tiny hands. "Bingo." [23:18] 13Melanie to Stewart in an aside: "So they're really just the indigenous, um, characters. It looks like the market/product metaphor imposed itself on the preexisting metaphor, structuring them because it has an actual interaction with the real world, so they need to get concrete things done.." [23:18] 7Maggie nods. "S'right. The bosses don't care if the trucks go inside, as long as their cargo does. Gotta hit 'em in the wallet if you want 'em to listen." [23:19] 5Tony looks to Maggie, setting the ball nicely on the verbal tee: "But Maggie, are you saying we should make the cargo not go inside either? Where would it go, then?" [23:19] 10Stewart: "I wonder how it looked before." [23:20] "Like an old videogame, right? I recognised these guys too but I have no idea from where." [23:22] 10Stewart: "Yeah but then before that... like the market's been here longer than the union has, right?" [23:22] 7Maggie: "Nowhere! Nothing moves unless the people doing the moving say it should. That's power, baby." [23:23] 13Melanie: "That's an interesting question. I suggest that the Market would say it has, and the Yards-peoples would say otherwise." [23:26] 10Stewart: "I wonder how far back the freehold's historical record goes on things like that." [23:27] "We could ask the uh." [23:27] "Your guy, the.. lord sage." [23:32] 10Stewart: "Yeah..." [23:33] 6Nels: "Look, it's like this. We're all in this together, right?" 6Strum. A hum. "In the gloom of mighty cities, 'midst the roar of whirling wheels..." 6She keeps playing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVcWEtFXwnc [23:33] 13Melanie: "Does he do consultation? Sagaciousness doesn't sound like a public resource." [23:34] "Hang on though." [23:34] 6Nels: "We've all got to be in this. Otherwise they separate us, and break us." 00[23:34] <@Crion> Chone and Jawn and all the Dockworkers are nodding and singing along by the end, alongside the Yardworkers. Huey hugs Chone again in the last chorus and steals a pull from his stoagie. Chone only pretends to be unamused. [23:35] 10Shall we only hope for Heaven when we're dead? [23:36] 13Melanie's going to step up and help Nels with a brief rousing speech on the virtue of labour solidarity. It's pulled from impeccable sources with a couple of pithy examples about longshoremen in particular getting their dues from greedy shipping companies. [23:36] 13She doesn't believe a word of it in this context. The goblins may be people, probably, but they're not human, and they aren't workers. They don't know what work is. It's an ecosystem for them, an expression of instinct which is driven by narratives bled through from Earth. Mostly the cynicism doesn't come through in her voice. 00[23:41] <@Crion> When the song's done, Chone and Huey and the Dockworkers and the Yardworkers are on the same side, and Chone turns to his number two and tells Jawn to send the word: 00[23:41] <@Crion> "General strike." [23:42] 6Oh my gosh. [23:42] 5Tony: "Hell yeah!" 03[23:44] * banana is now known as banana|split 00[23:44] <@Crion> And as that news goes out, Stewart, Melanie, Maggie and Tony notice: nothing's really changed in the rent-a-pigs' demeanors...but the two on segways suddenly have longarms instead of batons. [23:45] 6That is going to be a problem. 00[23:45] <@Crion> Stewart will recognize them as pump action shotguns, though, and the new ammo on their belt as beanbag rounds. Yay...? [23:45] 10Less than lethal! [23:45] 6Oh, wait. No, everything is fine, and she can keep teaching songs to the strikers. 00[23:47] <@Crion> Huey: "Huh. Maybe now we got the leverage to try asking THEM if THEY want to na-go-t'yate." [23:48] 7Maggie nods. "Worth a shot. Nothing ventured, nothing gained." [23:48] 5Tony: "I think now you have the leverage to tell them that they can come find you when they want to negotiate." [23:48] 10Stewart: "No sense waiting, probably. The economics out here don't really seem to care about attrition." 00[23:49] <@Crion> Huey rumbles and bumbles up to the front of the line, flanked by Chone and...is Maggie coming? 00[23:49] <@Crion> If not, Jawn and Long are gonna gently sort of push her forward. [23:49] 10Stewart's got Maggie's back, no matter where she is in line. 00[23:49] <@Crion> Gently, of course, because they're like less than half her size and weight 00[23:49] <@Crion> . 00[23:51] <@Crion> Well, either way, Huey will yell: "THE UNIONS WANNA TALK, SAMMY!" 00[23:53] <@Crion> A minute later, the door will open and Samuel Unbecoming will stride out, yelling at his aide (another Piggerton on a segway) that "you bring me out here for another working lunch and maybe I have my turtle soup with pork on the side--" 00[23:53] <@Crion> And then he sees all of you. 00[23:54] <@Crion> His face goes flat, replaced immediately with a bright smile. "Well. This is not how I expected to spend my morning." 00[23:54] <@Crion> Unbecoming, because it's definitely Unbecoming: "I see that all of you have organized." [23:54] 7Yep, Maggie's heading forward. [23:54] 6Mmm. 00[23:59] <@Crion> To Maggie: "So this is how you're playing it." 00[23:59] <@Crion> He ignores the hobs. 00[23:59] <@Crion> Huey: "We gotta list of demands, Sammy!" Session Time: Sun Dec 22 00:00:00 2019 [00:00] 6There is power, there is power in a band of working folk... [00:01] 7Maggie: "Sure. Might be you come out ahead here too." 00[00:01] <@Crion> Unbecoming: "Would that be so fine." 00[00:01] <@Crion> "In fact." 00[00:01] <@Crion> "I gotta make a call." 00[00:01] <@Crion> "Because I am not officially authorized to negotiate on the behalf of the Notgnixel Yards." [00:02] 6Nels raises an eyebrow. 00[00:02] <@Crion> "So I'll -- I'll...Okay fine. You can have this one." [00:02] 6Nels lowers her eyebrow. [00:03] 10Money speaks for money, the devil for his own~ who'll come to speak for the skin and the bone? 00[00:03] <@Crion> Unbecoming winces and clasps the bridge of his nose. Samuel straightens. "By mutual agreement, I think it's better if I do this." 00[00:03] <@Crion> To the riding segway piggy that accompanied him out. "Phone, please." 00[00:03] <@Crion> The pig hands him a nineties corded handset, holding the receiver, connected to nothing. "Thank you," says Samuel. 00[00:04] <@Crion> He holds it to his ear. After enough time for three rings someone picks up. "Uh huh. Uh huh. Yes, well, things have changed. And you have not paid for that service. Sir." 00[00:04] <@Crion> "Uh huh. Yes. Of course." 00[00:05] <@Crion> "We will get you the best deal, and if they renege, we'll run them back up in them Hollows." 00[00:05] <@Crion> "Of course." 00[00:05] <@Crion> "I understand." 00[00:05] <@Crion> "You take care now." 00[00:05] <@Crion> Samuel replaces the handset. "I now negotiate on behalf of the interests of the Notgnixel Yard." 00[00:06] <@Crion> "So let's have us a summit! Someone find me a table." [00:06] 6Nels can draw popular support, but negotiations are... not in her wheelhouse. 00[00:06] <@Crion> One is soon located, and all the principal characters are there: Huey, Maggie, and Chone on labor's side, and Samuel and Unbecoming on management's. [00:11] 10Stewart paces away, pulls a little notebook out of his pocket, muttering to himself, "They never knew, and she doesn't remember... if Maggie fails and loses herself, with the right and the good, what hope is there for any of us? I need... we need... here." 10He sidles up to the table, ripping a page out of the notebook and handing it to Maggie folded. "List of demands," 10he murmurs [00:11] 10in her ear. 00[00:16] <@Crion> Samuel: "So what's the framework we're looking at here?" His smile is wide and, honestly, fairly genuine. [00:17] 6Nels just sort of nervously looks to Stewart and Maggie. She can handle the workers - but directing them is... [00:18] 7What is the framework we're looking for here? 00[00:19] <@Crion> Well, Huey and Chone didn't quite present you with one, outside of telling you Huey's people weren't being paid a thing. Chone's people get a generous cut of the fruit off the productive containers and Coin of the Realm when containers aren't producing. 00[00:19] <@Crion> A month's work, roughly, is 4 Coins and a fruit. [00:22] 7Maggie: "Pay for the Yardworkers in parity with what the Dockworkers get, security to keep briarwolves and such from interfering with loads, and..." 7She looks at Huey and Chone. "You guys get breaks?" 00[00:23] <@Crion> Hury snorts. "Only in my legs." 00[00:23] <@Crion> Chone: "She means rests, idiot." 00[00:23] <@Crion> Huey: "Oh. I mean yeah, when we're done workin." 00[00:23] <@Crion> Chone shakes his head. "Everything's backwards up here." [00:23] 6Nels: "You don't get lunch?" 00[00:25] <@Crion> Meanwhile that second rider makes Samuel's eyes light up. "Security on the docks, huh. I think we can do that. If the Foreman agrees. Obviously his union's prior arrangements are respected. We would just be...additional support. Paid for by the Board." 00[00:25] <@Crion> "If that's acceptable." 00[00:25] <@Crion> Chone raises a dubious eyebrow and looks to Maggie. [00:27] "Sounds good. So, the pay package plus added security and, say, a half hour daily for lunch plus two ten-minute breaks for the turlet." 00[00:29] <@Crion> Samuel grins and stands. "Sounds good to me. We'll draw up the paperwork but, based on the agreed-upon terms previously stated, a handshake oath properly sealed should be sufficient to end this strike. Foreman and First Yarder, if you would." He extends his hand. 00[00:29] <@Crion> Chone and Huey will both glance to Maggie first before shaking, but they're less tenative this time and will do it unless she stops them. [00:31] 7Maggie will shake, then. This would probably be a lot harder if the fella negotiating with the bosses didn't understand honest graft. They got lucky. 00[00:32] <@Crion> There's no such thing as half-way cops. 00[00:34] <@Crion> When the leaders are returning to their lines to celebrate and the segway pigs are removing the table, Samuel Unbecoming grins and steps forward. "I'd like to say I didn't know that that would work. I'm sad to say I didn't think to even try it. You are a revelation, Margaret." He'll reach forward to shake again, but this time he's not sealing an oath. This time he's pressing something into 00[00:34] <@Crion> her palm. "If there are any problems with the resolution of our agreement, and I don't expect there will be, you know where to find me. But I expect it's a straight shot." [00:35] "Jim dandy. You have a good day there, Samuel." [00:35] 7What's she got? 00[00:35] <@Crion> He grins and pulls away. "Ma'am." 00[00:36] <@Crion> A key to a shipping container, with a label. X4009. [00:37] 7She's not even irritated that he called her Margaret. [00:39] 5As soon as they're all done, the table's...wherever it came from, and everyone's all circled up: "So! Where are we headed?" [00:40] 7She opens a hand, showing the container key dangling from one finger. "Think you can get us there, Tone?" [00:42] 5He looks at the key, thinks for a minute. "Yeah. Should be a little ways down and over from the last set we looked at, and I think if we go the right way, the signs won't notice we're looking at them, and so the whole place won't change." 5Hedge logic. 00[00:43] <@Crion> Tony's good at that stuff now. Soon he has them before the container in question... [00:43] 7She'll start to whistle as Tony navigates them through the Hedge, which in time turns to singing: "I remember my old grandpa, and his little old house in the hills... he'd been all alone, since grandma passed on, from too much hard liquor and pills... grandpap set me down on his knee, said 'girl, I've just dropped LSD, it's kickin' in now, and I'm certain somehow, that the hills are screamin' [00:43] at me!'" [00:45] "Banshees're shriekin', neck veins're leakin', from the bite of the freakin' vampars..." [00:46] 5Tony: "That reminds me. Vampires are real. What the hell." [00:46] 5He's mostly looking at Stewart when he says this. Autumn stuff, man. [00:46] "It's a hell of a thing." 7She fumbles with the container's lock and inserts the key, twists it with a snap. [00:46] 10Stewart: "Some of them are pretty cool." [00:47] "I play video games with the head vampire of the city sometimes." [00:47] 5Tony: "But they...eat people? Or is that werewolves." 00[00:47] <@Crion> As she does, Grinning Lash slips away, happy that no one noticed her. Thank you, three people who noticed her, for your kindness. 00[00:47] <@Crion> Inside, there are a bunch of generic crates and three bespoke boxes. [00:47] 10Stewart: "They drink blood. They're pretty careful not to kill people." [00:47] 10Mostly. [00:48] 7She hums to herself. "And one ol' neck muncher gets a spike for his luncher... Frankenstein versus the vampars..." [00:48] 5Tony: "Pretty...?" 5He shakes his head. "Man. World got weird." [00:48] 10Stewart: "Yeah..." [00:49] 5Tony: "Are Frankensteins real too? And...man what was the other one. Fishmen. Those?" 03[00:50] * banana|split is now known as banana [00:50] 5Tony: "I gotta assume the bandage guys, mummies I think? Those are fake, what would those even do? Drink dust?" [00:50] 13Melanie: "We're using the word 'real' casually here." [00:51] 5Tony: "Okay, not-in-the-Hedge real. Can-be-at-a-bar-real." [00:53] 13It was a shame to see Unbecoming get what (t)he(y) want(s), but it's not like a fight would have been better. Ultimately, those guys were just an opportunitist stumbling on a treasure in the Hedge and offering to sell.. Melanie doesn't like him but she's not sure why she was as mad last week as she was. Something to think about. [00:54] 13Melanie: "Yeah, it's just- I'm not convinced. That we're real, really." [00:55] 5Tony: "I'm real enough to get takeout when I'm hungry and beer when I'm thirsty, that's real enough for me." [00:55] 13Melanie: "You think of having needs as an anchor? I guess, but that just.. well, whatever." [00:57] 10Stewart: "Yeah, actually! Frankensteins - the Created, is the right term - were all manufactured in the hopes of creating new human life. You don't hear about them a lot because they like to move around so there's not really a Baltimore Frankenstein freehold or anything." [00:58] "I've heard of *a* fishman, but I think they hang out down by the Carolinas. And we're too far south to be in the Jersey Devil's territory..." [00:58] "Huuuuup!" 7She grunts as she pulls the creaking metal doors open. [00:59] 5Tony: "So, real, but not realistically at the bar. Good enough for me!" [00:59] "On the dark web there's this video that's supposed to be some college kids looking into a local legend out in Burkittsville... but it didn't end well for them and I'm pretty sure it's some kind of deepfake creepypasta." [00:59] "Really well done, though." 00[01:00] <@Crion> Three boxes for Maggie. One looks like an old ammo box; the other two look like they're hardboxes for holding jewelry. No locks, though. [01:00] 5Tony: "I don't know what half those words are but I'll stay away from Burkittsville, gotcha." [01:00] 7Huh. What's in 'em? 00[01:01] <@Crion> Ammo box has...four Coins of the Realm, along with a bunch of--Stewart? [01:03] 10Stewart: "Handmade bullets?" [01:03] "Nine millimeter, looks like." 00[01:03] <@Crion> Handmade bullets! 00[01:03] <@Crion> In the other two...Maggie opens the first, and finds... 00[01:03] <@Crion> A black feather. 00[01:03] <@Crion> Lustrous and long. Touching it makes her head buzz lightly -- it's powerful, but not for her. 00[01:04] <@Crion> In the last box... 00[01:04] <@Crion> It's a union card. 00[01:04] <@Crion> Old and wrinkled and blotted. It's for Mary G... 00[01:04] <@Crion> Just Mary G. Can't make out the rest. From Local 423. 00[01:05] <@Crion> There's no picture on it. The union was wary of picture ID. 00[01:05] <@Crion> Who wants that anyway? 00[01:05] <@Crion> And when Maggie touches it, it does not buzz. [01:08] 7This is it. This is hers. And, unfortunately, she knows exactly what she needs to do with it. [01:08] 7Carefully folding the fragile paper, she puts it in her mouth and, wincing, swallows it whole. [01:08] 10?! 00[01:08] <@Crion> And so it was that Maggie remembered. 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ZZZzzz…) Session Time: Sat Dec 28 00:00:00 2019 03[00:05] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 02[00:38] * trenchfoot (dani@sorcery-jcvlv4.in.comcast.net) Quit (Connection closed) 03[00:39] * trenchfoot (dani@sorcery-jcvlv4.in.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 02[01:36] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 03[20:59] * gulbanana (banana@sorcery-jdh6j2.optusnet.com.au) has joined #gofetch 00[21:03] <@Crion> 00[21:03] <@Crion> 00[21:03] <@Crion> 00[21:03] <@Crion> 00[21:03] <@Crion> 00[21:03] <@Crion> 00[21:03] <@Crion> 00[21:03] <@Crion> 00[21:09] <@Crion> Time goes on. Thanksgiving comes, and you enjoy it together or apart as you wish. Thanksgiving goes. December arrives. On the 21st, Autumn hands the regency over to Winter. 00[21:09] <@Crion> Meanwhile, the Wherehouse...prepares? 00[21:10] <@Crion> Only two weeks between when we last saw them and when Something Worse returns. [21:16] 6Preparing is certainly a word for 'fretting over what's going to happen and what's been happening', yes. Nels has been spending her time throwing herself into her studies, alongside some extremely ineffectual searches online when she's back at her apartment. [21:17] 13Learning to bing is an important part of modern life. Just make sure your search history doesn't get shown to any movie buffs who are also conspiracy theorists. [21:17] 10Hey-- [21:17] 10Stewart's got a lot on his mind, but he's getting pretty good at finding new things to distract himself with as old ones fall away and persistent ones distressingly fail to resolve. For instance, as Maggie's Icon has settled, the question now comes what to make of this black feather. Stewart takes it in his hands one day and studies it. [21:18] 7Maggie's sitting in her customary chair, scowling at the wall, grunting occasionally. [21:19] 6What's bing? Stewart only showed Nels something called "duckduckgo." It seems okay? 00[21:21] <@Crion> Stewart sees, in this vision of the black pinion, a swimmer and a paper girl too tall and with shoulders too big to really fit in. She excels underwater; she isn't so great above it. Her delivery route is an excellent escape on weekend mornings from...everything going on at home. Eventually she gets a call too late at night on Saturday from her boss, asking her to do a special delivery. His 00[21:21] <@Crion> voice sounds weird, but she'll earn more than she would in two months. She's naive enough to bike out to Baltimore County, really not that far, to the last house on the last street...and then outside the streetlights beyond... [21:22] 10Does he recognize her? 00[21:23] <@Crion> The frame is different -- more fluted, more birdlike -- but the eyes and jaw are precisely the same as the Mask of Cormorant, of the Autumn Court. [21:24] 10Stewart, abruptly: "I know whose this is." 10He's plainly holding the feather. [21:25] 13Melanie's been hanging around trying to figure out how and whether to try and learn what Maggie found out. Is that the right thing to do, as a friend, or is it just her curiosity? She does a lot of lurking normally so it isn't necessarily suspicious behaviour, but she's generally About, reading or writing, and specifically not asking questions. When Stewart comes over one day, it's a [21:25] 13great segue! [21:26] 7Maggie: "Hot damn! Anyone, y'know, close at hand?" [21:26] 6Nels looks up from her English homework, expectantly. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is slow going anyway. [21:26] 13Melanie: "You went into a trance. So Icon visions are a real thing..." [21:28] 10Stewart: "Yeah! This belongs to Cormorant, from Autumn. She's the Messenger, so she's out of town a lot. I can see if she's around." [21:28] "We've got to give it back to her." [21:28] 7Maggie: "Oofah. For sure." [21:29] 10Somewhat skeptically, to Maggie: "It's good, right? Like we're not going to be fucking her up against her will if we offer her this back." [21:31] "It's hers, and it was stolen from her." 7Maggie points out. "Once you give it back, she can decide whether she wants to eat it or fix it into her wings or what have you." 7She sticks her tongue out. "Hope she doesn't have to eat it, that was gross." [21:31] "Either way, it's her decision, doncha think?" [21:32] 7She adds: "Jury's still out, but I think getting mine was for the best." [21:32] 10Stewart: "Sure, yeah. Alright. I'll step out and make a call." [21:32] 10That's a lie; he steps out and texts Lauren.  00[21:33] <@Crion> 00[21:33] <@Crion> A second later: [21:33] 13Who wouldn't want a missing piece of themself? Don't answer that. [21:33] [21:34] 00[21:34] <@Crion> [21:34] 13Melanie: "Is the jury.. split?" 00[21:34] <@Crion> [21:34] 00[21:34] <@Crion> [21:35] "Like are you okay. With the new stuff. Or old stuff, you know what I mean." 00[21:35] <@Crion> 00[21:35] <@Crion> Lauren does. [21:35] 10Be nice...? Is Stewart not-- he guesses not. Huh. Well... now Stewart makes a call. [21:35] 7Maggie: "Well, you know. It's hard to take an inventory of your own insides. Like going into a dark room in your house after you've just rearranged all the furniture." [21:36] 13Melanie: "Yes. It takes time." [21:36] "And maybe you bump into things." [21:36] "I tell you, though - learning I never had kids? It was like a knot in my neck loosened that I didn't know was tight." 00[21:36] <@Crion> Answer on the third ring. Stewart knows the voice from that meeting at Lauren's desk in the law office: brusque and distant. "Hey." [21:37] 7Maggie: "I worried about that, sometimes. I know They would have left behind a fetch, but..." [21:37] 13Melanie tries not to glance at Nels but of course she fails. [21:38] 10Stewart: "Hey, this is Stewart. Uh, Stewart Reader. My friends and I were working in the Hedge recently and we found a feather. I'm pretty sure it's an Icon of yours." [21:38] 6Nels: "It's not the same. I mean." 6She ignores the look. "You'd want to be there. Not just something that looks like you. If you could." 00[21:38] <@Crion> Fully eight seconds of silence. "Is this an op? Who's on this line?'[ [21:39] "So," 13she hurries on; "There's nobody you have to get in touch with? At least not urgently?" [21:39] 10Stewart: "No! It's not an op. I got your number from Lauren. We really-- like I just held it in my hands. It's yours." 00[21:39] <@Crion> This time it's immediate: "Then I will come to you." And the line goes dead. [21:39] 10... [21:40] 10Well, if she knows where she's going already... [21:40] 10Stewart comes back inside. "Cormorant's on her way." 00[21:40] <@Crion> About 45 seconds later Stewart's phone buzzes. Gerald. [21:40] "Whoops sorry another call." [21:40] 10Back outside. "Yeah." [21:40] 13Melanie: "Great, it's nice to get a double-header out of this stuff." [21:40] "-oh" 00[21:41] <@Crion> Gerald: "Hey kid. Just got off the phone with Cormorant. Is it for real?" [21:41] 10Stewart: "Yeah." [21:41] "We were looking for one of Maggie's and I guess there was another one in the same, uh, box." [21:41] "Maggie's was legit, it looks like." 00[21:41] <@Crion> "Alright. She wants me coming in with the whole getup just in case, so I will, because she's earned that. Buzz us in and don't flip." [21:42] "Sure." 00[21:42] <@Crion> "Seeya then. Good work." 00[21:42] <@Crion> Gerald hangs up. [21:42] 10Back inside again: "Okay, so, Cormorant's on her way, and she's bringing Tactical Gerald in case this is a setup and we're secret Loyalists." [21:42] 7Maggie: "Nnno, probably not. My time was before the war. I think." [21:42] "So, try not to take it personally if someone comes in armed." [21:43] 6Nels: "Why would we...? Oh. Paranoia, right." [21:43] 7She sits up suddenly. "Oh! Uh, tell Cormorant to bring like a paper clip or some old pencils or something." 00[21:43] <@Crion> Steve honks, honks again, and waddles out his goose door. 00[21:43] <@Crion> Oh yeah Steve was robbing the fridge. 00[21:43] <@Crion> As he does. [21:43] 13Melanie looks around. Sofas which were pretty nice before flowers started growing out of them; a kitchen annex much-used; overflowing bookshelves, the tv, two guitar racks.. and that thing. [21:44] 10Stewart: "We've got that stuff here if she needs it. Does it need to be hers?" [21:44] 6To Maggie: "Um. Which war?" [21:44] "We should be pretty reassuring to anyone who isn't a neat-freak." [21:44] 10Stewart, who has been called a neat-freak 30 or 40 times in his life, doesn't acknowledge that. [21:44] 6You live through one war that everyone called The Great War and find out it got renamed one time, 02[21:44] * gulbanana (banana@sorcery-jdh6j2.optusnet.com.au) Quit (Quit: ) [21:45] 7To Nels: "The second one. I think I was out late enough that we're not, you know, contemporary." 7She chuckles a little. "Wouldn't that be a heck of a thing, though?" [21:45] 7To Stewart: "Yeah, just something she doesn't mind giving away." [21:45] 6Nels snorts. It's very undignified. [21:46] 10Stewart blinks, but then he gets it. "Ah yeah, okay." 03[21:46] * gulbanana (banana@sorcery-jdh6j2.optusnet.com.au) has joined #gofetch [21:47] 13Melanie: "Oh, wow." 00[21:47] <@Crion> It'll be maybe twenty minutes before Gerald calls Stewart again. Anything else to take care of before then? [21:48] 10Stewart will spend that time tidying up. [21:48] 13Do you mean apart from interrogating Maggie but in a friendly, no-pressure way? [21:48] 7Maggie: "'Mary' was not my real name, but I was part of the steelworkers' union - whazzat, Melanie?" 7She has to restrain herself from calling her 'Mels', now. Odd. [21:49] "That! That's wow, it's a long time ago. But it's so great that you've got a place." 13Or had. Argh [21:51] 7She nods. "It is nice not to be flapping in the breeze of a whole dang century." [21:52] 10But then he says, "They're here." and goes to let them in. [21:52] "No wonder so much is new. Why is the whole thing so arbitrary?" [21:52] 6Nels: "I kind of like it, actually--" [21:57] 7Maggie: "Sorry, I meant 'knowing which part of the last hundred years I'm from'." [21:58] 7She doesn't mention that, as she was saying that, she remembered hearing a Nels Foulke song on the radio. Tactless. [21:59] 6Nels still hasn't actually listened to any of 'her' music. Maybe she should, eventually. [21:59] 13Melanie: "It's fascinating, like someone arranged a case study in how much that stuff actually matters. Pluck people from almost-evenly separated eras. Are universal themes real? It's like something they'd-" 00[21:59] <@Crion> Cormorant and Gerald leave the elevator with the enforcer in front, some kind of rifle slung across his body on a sling, wearing a vest. Cormorant hides in his wake, her eyes narrowed. Gerald is grimacing. 00[21:59] <@Crion> "Hey there." 00[21:59] <@Crion> Cormorant: "What am I expected to surrender?" [22:00] 10Stewart: "Do you have like, a pen or something?" [22:00] "Just, whatever's in your pocket." 00[22:00] <@Crion> Her eyes narrow. "Why." [22:00] 13Melanie: "Hi Gerald. It's nice to meet you Cormorant, this is Nels.. Maggie.. you know Stewart right?" [22:01] 7Maggie: "Because the Wyrd sets its own obligations! Oh, but first, hi Cormorant." [22:01] 10Stewart: "You know, it's like... symbolic transaction. Like buying your family's estate back for a dollar or something." [22:01] 6Nels waves upon being introduced. "Hello! Welcome to the Wherehouse." 00[22:02] <@Crion> Cormorant: "Wyrd would want it to be symbolically important. Not a pen." She pulls a cheap bronze metal out of her pocket, running her fingers over it. "I've met Stewart and Melanie. You must be Maggie. Hi." 00[22:03] <@Crion> At this point Gerald steps away and leans against the wall, rifle laying over his chest. "You guys got anything to eat? She's starving." 00[22:03] <@Crion> Cormorant: "I'm not--" 00[22:03] <@Crion> Gerald looks over at her and crosses his arms. 00[22:03] <@Crion> "Fine." 00[22:04] <@Crion> Gerald: "I could use something too." [22:04] 10Stewart would've given the feather to Maggie when he went out to make the call, so it's up to her where it is now. "There's plenty of stuff in the fridge. Leftovers, uh, sandwich stuff, some fruit..." [22:04] 13Melanie: "Oh, sorry. I was- I don't remember much from the early days." 13She should have remembered; Cormorant looks familiar in a pre-literal way, like a former athlete. 00[22:05] <@Crion> Gerald looks almost hurt. "Well. I'm not going to go poking around in the group fridge." [22:06] 10Stewart: "It's fine! Our home is your home." [22:06] 7Maggie: "Aw, cripes, I'm sure I can make something." [22:06] "It's fine, it's fine. Half of us don't eat. Tony usually cooks, but he's out!" [22:06] 6Nels: "I mean, if we don't go through it who knows what'll happen to it. Uh, literally." [22:06] "You guys want sandwiches?" 00[22:07] <@Crion> Cormorant looks at Gerald; Gerald looks across all of them, ending on Stewart. "Yeah, that'd be nice. Thank you." [22:10] 7Maggie will whistle over to the fridge and start the oven. She's not making anything fancy, just some baked ham and cheese plus lettuce and tomato... "Hey! Either of y'all have any of those, uh, dietary requirements?" 00[22:10] <@Crion> Gerald, smiling: "Nah." 00[22:11] <@Crion> Cormorant: "I ran earlier, so I can eat whatever..." [22:14] 13Melanie: "Hey, the pen or coin or whatever- whatever you thing is something important to you and the Wyrd, that's fine, because we're not trying it on here. We're just.. naive and secure and by total chance we came across this thing, and it's the right thing to give it back. That's really it." 03[22:14] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch [22:19] 6Nels: "We don't bite. Um, some of our friends do, I guess, but not - you know how it is, right?" 00[22:19] <@Crion> Cormorant, clipped: "Yeah. I know how it is." 00[22:20] <@Crion> When Gerald sits down on the empty love seat, Cormorant will sit down next to him. Very close. [22:20] 6Well. Usually that joke goes over better. [22:21] 7Maggie's working on the food, which will hopefully make a pleasant atmosphere while Stewart negotiates the Icon return. [22:21] 13A telepathy contract would be nice here. Melanie wants to tell Stewart, put the thing on the table, hand it over while they eat rather than making the woman wait.. but if she could read minds, it would cause as many problems as it would solve. [22:21] 10Where did Maggie leave the feather when Stewart gave it to her? [22:25] 7On a little coffee table or ottoman or something in the common area. [22:26] 10Stewart: "So, uh... here it is," 10he says, gesturing to it as he sits down across from Cormorant and Gerald. 00[22:26] <@Crion> She stares at it and sighs. Then she places the medal beside it. 00[22:27] <@Crion> Cormorant: "Do you accept this--" 00[22:27] <@Crion> "Jesus fuck." 00[22:27] <@Crion> "Let's wait for the food I guess." [22:27] 13Melanie's going to retreat to a corner for now. [22:30] 6Nels sort of wants to fetch her guitar to break up the awkwardness. People love it when someone starts singing, right? [22:31] 6Wait, no, she saw a clip when she was looking for music on the YouTube. They specifically don't like that. [22:34] 6Her fingers twitch anyway. [22:35] 10Stewart's just about to say 'yes' and complete the transaction when Cormorant demurs, so now he's just sitting there with his hands on his knees, face like :I 00[22:36] <@Crion> Gerald: "...So how are things, Stewart?" He gently nudges the rifle aside to slide even closer to Cormorant. [22:36] "Hey, so. Did anyone else see the Bulls against Portland last week?" 00[22:36] <@Crion> She sort of fades into him. 00[22:37] <@Crion> Gerald: "I mean...I'm not watching the Bulls in 2019." [22:37] 13Melanie: "They couldn't quite get there, I feel like Anthony isn't getting the support he needs." 00[22:37] <@Crion> "Jim Boylen needs to get his ass fired last year." [22:38] 10oh no, sports [22:38] 13Melanie's pleasantly surprised. Maybe she shouldn't be. "Yeah I hate to jump to 'fire the coach' but it really does come down to the placement decisions in this case. He's executed, like, the anti-turnaround." [22:39] 6Nels: "I'm -- I'm really sorry. This is a sports thing, right? There weren't just bulls rampaging throughout the streets of Portland?" 00[22:39] <@Crion> Gerald: "He's one of those weird old school assholes whose old school never existed." [22:39] 7Maggie works a lil' bit of tuna into Cormorant's sandwich. They're fisher birds, right? Just a little bit of fish, as a treat. [22:39] "Hahaha. It's the Chicago men's team Nels - basketball - on paper they have everything going for them but Jesus, the on-court decisions are as bad as the trades Boylen's been pushing for." [22:40] 7But she's done soon enough! "All right, come get 'em! Cormorant, Gerald, here's yours..." 7She carries two plates over. "You guys want some beers?" 00[22:40] <@Crion> "The East is kind of shit this year anyway, you're looking at Giannis on the Bucks and a Sixers team that isn't even--oh!" [22:41] 6Nels: "Oh, okay! That's... better? I think I've only watched a few basketball games. Colleges, I think." [22:42] "Yeah, I wouldn't have watched the game but it was on after the Storm and like, it's nice to have close games but you want that to be because both sides are contenders.." 13Aha. Thanks, Maggie! 00[22:42] <@Crion> Cormorant's eyes go wide and she takes the plate from Maggie gladly. She hovers over it a moment. 00[22:43] <@Crion> Gerald digs into his sandwich. After swallowing: "Oh yeah, definitely. They're doing a good job promoting the woman's game but they have to do better. The league makes enough, and the WNBA is popular. Beyond the sexism, what they're scared of is the offseason, and competing with the D-League. Which isn't even supposed to be competitive!" [22:44] 6Nels nods like she knows what he's talking about. [22:44] 13Sadly, that's something familiar to Melanie. Training all the time but not wanting to eat.. could be several things but the worst would be ana. She's going to keep an eye on Cormorant, thankfully not an unpleasant task. 00[22:44] <@Crion> Cormorant has eaten half her sandwich already. 00[22:46] <@Crion> Gerald: "I'll take a beer." 00[22:46] <@Crion> Cormorant: "...Same." [22:47] 13You know what though, it rules that an attempt to cover the silence has turned into something interesting. Gerald knows from things. "Do you think they really care about competition for revenue from the lower leagues? There are so many preseason games that most of them don't even get writeups." [22:47] "Obviously the owners aren't in this for the love of the game but I always thought it was like, a far-sighted maintenance of cultural dominance. Stop the whole thing going the way of baseball." [22:49] 6That's still bizarre to Nels - baseball was everywhere. And then they put it on the radio! How did it get less popular? A question for another time. [22:52] 7Maggie'll bring beers for everyone, then. 00[22:52] <@Crion> Gerald shrugs. "The thing about the NBA is that it's really beholden to the players. There's a lot fewer of them, right? That means they have more influence. And though Lebron toes the line on China, he'll still fuck you up if you decide to say women can't coach, or the developmental league should be underfunded. Now, the D-League is organizing -- they might join the NBPA. And if they get 00[22:52] <@Crion> into the player's association, the women's teams, which are actually more valuable on revenue terms because they're also playing in NBA cities on NBA courts but just in the offseason, could easily get in on that too." 00[22:53] <@Crion> To Maggie: "Thank you." 00[22:53] <@Crion> Cormorant, more mutedly: "Thanks." 00[22:53] <@Crion> She chugs more than half the beer. [22:54] 10Hoo boy. [22:55] 13Melanie appreciates the perspective on this stuff from someone who doesn't have.. insider-nostalgia-tinted glasses. "It's always been great that half the team actually get to play, and you get real.. bonding. I love football but the trade culture is just a fucking tragedy, guys who don't even know each other don't care that they're moving all over the country." [22:55] 6She doesn't comment on Cormorant's desire for fish. Seems rude. Her head is still spinning from all of this basketball talk, anyway. "They have unions and they still agree to - get shipped wherever?" [22:55] "Keeping women from getting actual influence on how things run is of course par for the course." 00[22:56] <@Crion> Gerald nods to Melanie. To Nels: "The important thing is that no matter where they get shipped, their pay and working conditions are guaranteed." 00[22:56] <@Crion> Cormorant slams the bottle down on the table. [22:56] 13To Nels: "And being traded is generally good for your actual salary. The unions exist to make sure the players get enough of the take, which is pretty enormous." 00[22:56] <@Crion> Gerald: "Oh." 00[22:57] <@Crion> Cormorant, to Maggie: "So you have my Icon. I've just got to...trust that." 00[22:57] <@Crion> "Because if I touch it, I take it. And then I'm in your debt. Whatever you want." 00[22:57] <@Crion> "We have to make the deal before." [22:58] 6Nels ponders being wealthy enough to go anywhere in the country and not caring where you end up. Good for the players, one assumes, but... this is really, really weird. [22:59] 10What if you end up somewhere awful, like Wisconsin? [22:59] 6Terrible. [22:59] 13Melanie smiles at Gerald and mimes setting the conversation aside. Just place that invisible thing between your hands to one side of the plate. 00[22:59] <@Crion> She pushes the medal forward. "I got this from the Baltimore Running Festival. Placed third in the 5K. I'll ante in on this." [23:01] 7Maggie nods. 00[23:01] <@Crion> Cormorant reaches for the feather...she looks to Maggie. It almost looks likes she's hoping someone will stop her. [23:02] "We can find a place for it." 13In fact, shouldn't they have a trophy wall? 00[23:02] <@Crion> Gerald glares at Melanie. [23:02] 13What? [23:03] 7Maggie: "On behalf of the Wherehouse, I accept in good faith this third place medal from the Baltimore Running Festival, in exchange for a black feather believed by us to be the Thorns-stolen Icon of Cormorant." [23:03] 10:I 02[23:04] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 00[23:05] <@Crion> When Cormorant clasps the feather it ripples, then burns into her palm. She stands, straightens, and heaves; her eyes unfocus and she stumbles away. She heaves again and again...almost like she's drowning. Then, against the far wall she pushes up and leans, opening her hands. No more feather. It's gone inside her. "I was a swimmer," she says. 03[23:05] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 00[23:05] <@Crion> "Fish. Swimmer. Of course." 00[23:06] <@Crion> She sags a bit, but looks to Maggie; right in the eye. "Thank you." [23:07] 6Closure? Or just one piece of a larger puzzle? [23:09] 13Good. [23:09] 10Stewart exhales, dizzy from holding his breath so long. 00[23:09] <@Crion> Then she slumps down next to Gerald, unless Maggie has something to do. [23:12] 7Maggie will give her a thumbs up in return. "Cheers." 00[23:12] <@Crion> She'll smile slightly more than slightly in return. [23:15] 13This doesn't seem like the right moment to forcibly start up the conversation again. Let's try drinking beer in a vaguely benevolent manner. [23:16] 6If there's enough beers for everyone, Nels will sip hers while not thinking about reclaiming lost parts of onesself. There's still family members - not thinking about it. 00[23:16] <@Crion> Cormorant will defer the rest of her beer to Gerald, which is a bit of a problem because he has to drive. He'll finish his and then stop drinking. [23:17] 10Stewart finishes his sandwich quickly but doesn't touch his beer. He'll put it back in the fridge when he gets up to clear plates. 00[23:18] <@Crion> Soon after, the both of them will excuse themselves. Gerald will be generous in his thanks; Cormorant will be shy, except towards Maggie, who she'll hug. 00[23:18] <@Crion> Then they'll withdraw. [23:21] 13Melanie relaxes, probably visibly. "Sometimes you get lucky. That was really nice.: [23:21] 10Stewart: "Whew." 00[23:21] <@Crion> honk 00[23:21] <@Crion> Steve's back. [23:21] 10To Maggie: "So how did you know where to start looking?" [23:22] 6Nels: "That was - hey, Steve - weird. Good, but still..." 00[23:22] <@Crion> He's...brought his own six pack? Examine that immediately. [23:23] "Honk all you like, you can't invalidate this." 13:) 00[23:23] <@Crion> honk! 00[23:23] <@Crion> He sets it down and wanders off. [23:23] 6It's. Actual beer, right? And it's a real brand and not some sort of weird Hedge brew? [23:23] 6We haven't even gotten the still really up and running yet!! 00[23:23] <@Crion> No, it's definitely not a real brand. [23:26] 13Melanie: "..that's new. What's the saying about looking a gift goose in the mouth?" [23:26] 6Nels: "It's 'don't touch it just yet.'" [23:27] "I thought it was something about greeks, but yeah." [23:28] 13Melanie's up and circling slowly around the goblin beer like it might blow up. Which it might. [23:29] 6Nels: "Oh my goodness. He - I didn't even know you could brew -- Vines of Bacchus!" 00[23:30] <@Crion> honk 00[23:30] <@Crion> That's from near the stove, where Steve has nested. It's warm there. 02[23:31] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) [23:31] 10Stewart: "Thanks, Steve." [23:31] 6Nels: "Honk yourself, you little blessed weirdo. I'll write you something, Christmas is coming." 00[23:31] <@Crion> Steve dips his head in acknowledgment to the Wherehouse, then immediately falls asleep. 03[23:31] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch [23:33] 7Maggie: "That was Tony, really. He knew those little mushroom fellas, who knew the lay of the land..." [23:34] 13Melanie: "Just a few weeks away. Was Christmas basically a religious thing a hundred years ago, or is that more like five hundred?" [23:34] 10Stewart folds his arms and hmms. "Hmm." [23:34] 6Nels: "So, we have six prophetic beers and also if you drink one and they taste awful we know that you're intent on doing harm to people nearby. I don't know how he got these." [23:35] 10Stewart: "Maybe they just sell them at Hedge corner stores." [23:35] "Eleven-Over-Seven." [23:36] "Or seven-foot-eleven. They're all run by that big stone cop and the death cat." [23:37] "Christmas was pretty much the same. When I was a kid it was just a religious thing but, well, capitalism knows a way to sell things when it spots one." [23:37] 7Maggie: "Stone Cop and the Death Cat would be a pretty good name for a band." [23:37] 10Stewart: 'He's more of a vengeance cat..." [23:38] 13Melanie: "Stone Cop and the Cat's Revenge" [23:39] "The stone cop was pretty handsome... what about Death Cat For Cuties?" [23:39] 7Maggie: "Wasn't Vengeance Cat one of those Japanese cartoons?" [23:40] 10Stewart: "I don't know. I don't know a lot about those." [23:41] 6Nels: "Maybe we should watch some? I like modern movies a lot more than the old ones..." [23:42] 10Stewart: "You'd... really want someone who knows about them to give you recommendations." [23:42] "Which, again, is not me." [23:42] 13Melanie: "Well, that's what online is for. You see people with anime pictures all the time, mostly conservatives but it's clearly a 'thing'." [23:43] "Let's look some stuff up, it might be relaxing to see a foreign film. I can't keep up with the pace of most of our stuff." [23:45] 6Nels almost asks him for advice, but he clearly doesn't want to talk about it. So. "Wait, why would conservatives - aren't they racist? Why would they like Japanese cartoons?" [23:45] "I agree, let's watch some, but -- this is. Augh." [23:46] 13Melanie: "I mean, they don't think they're racist." 00[23:46] <@Crion> Some of them probably do. [23:46] 7Maggie: "Wait, so Melanie, do you know enough about them to give us recommendations?" [23:46] "You and Stewart are the youngest..." [23:46] 13Melanie: "Nope. But like.. as I understand it Japan had a huge economic and cultural boom a couple of generations ago and they're still, like, important globally. Not on par with America or Europe but there's a big subculture that's into japanese stuff/" [23:47] "When I was at college there were clubs for watching anime, though we.. didn't hang out." 02[23:47] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) [23:47] 10Stewart snorts. [23:48] "Yes, it's a stereotype. But we've all dealt with stereotypes." [23:48] 10Typical jock. [23:49] 6Nels: "Wait, what's the stereotype? I haven't - the last cartoon I saw in theaters was Felix the Cat. And that was pretty much for everybody." [23:49] 13Melanie: "Um." [23:49] 10Stewart: "Anime is for friendless losers who don't go outside or play sports." [23:50] 6Nels: "Oh! Oh." [23:51] "...is it because it's from Japan, or...?" [23:51] 13Melanie: "That's what people used to say, but I don't remember why. There might not have been any real reason. Things 'everyone knew' were largely shit." [23:52] 10Stewart: "It's a stereotype that you find with a lot of niche hobbies, particularly ones that don't require you to be, you know, athletic or good-looking or sociable." [23:52] 10He looks around the room and doesn't say, 'choose any two I guess'. 00[23:53] <@Crion> Steve honks in his sleep, then rolls over and returns to long breaths. [23:54] 6Now that she can recognize. "Oh. So. Um. - bless you - We can still watch some, right?" [23:55] 10Stewart: "Yeah, sure. That movie we watched a while ago, Alita, was based on an anime." [23:55] "I don't know what to recommend, though..." [23:55] 6Nels: "Is that why her eyes were sort of weird?" [23:56] "'Cause she was a cartoon?" [23:56] 10Stewart: "Yeah, it was a deliberate reference to the style those shows and comics are drawn in." [23:57] "Lauren was talking about the differences between the movie and the cartoon-- actually maybe I should just call her." [23:58] 13Melanie mumbles: "There's so much social pressure. Supposedly we have liberalism now and everyone celebrates individuality but then there are like, material forces, which are actually real, and you have to be normal if you can. 'Nerd' is just a new kind of normal, it means you go to silicon valley and you're a stereotype on top instead of in a locker or whatever, but it's still.. it's [23:58] even worse if you're in, like, china. I don't know." [23:59] 10Outside:  Session Time: Sun Dec 29 00:00:00 2019 00[00:00] <@Crion> Lauren: [00:00] 7Maggie looks at Nels like 'Silicon Valley'? 00[00:00] <@Crion> [00:00] 10He loves her so much.  [00:00] 6Nels doesn't even know what Silicon is. She's as lost as Maggie. 00[00:00] <@Crion> 00[00:00] <@Crion> [00:00] 00[00:01] <@Crion> [00:01] < <3 > [00:01] 10Back inside: "Lauren's coming over, she's gonna bring some stuff to watch." 03[00:01] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch [00:01] 10He sees Nels and Maggie's confused looks. "What's up?" [00:02] 13Melanie: "Sorry." 13She'll start collecting the plates and so on. Can't have the place messy when Lauren's coming over. [00:03] 6Nels: "Um. Melanie said something about silicon valley? I don't think either of us know what that is." [00:03] 10Stewart: "Oh. Ohhhh okay." [00:03] "Or what silicon is, in my case." [00:03] "So like. You guys remember how back in the day there were like, railroad barons, oil tycoons, Andrew Carnegie, stuff like that?" [00:04] "Regrettably, yes." [00:04] 13Melanie: "Now they're silicon dukes. It's a place, another stereotype, an alchemy. Where you spin nerds into gold." [00:04] 6Alarmed: "We have to stop them. This is accepted?" [00:04] 10Stewart: "Nowadays those guys all wear hoodies and have phones attached to their ears and figure out new ways to use computers to charge rent for things and underpay people." [00:05] 6Nels: "People into gold-- we have to go there!" [00:05] 10To Nels: "Figurative spinning. Not a Rumplestiltskin thing." [00:05] 10Did Nels ever read-- whatever. [00:06] 6She deflates. "Oh. That's. Better. It's still awful but for different reasons." [00:06] "But yeah 'Silicon Valley' is an area near San Francisco Bay where a lot of the major tech companies are headquartered. Silicon because that's what computer chips are made of." [00:06] "I always knew that place was cursed." [00:07] "So it's become a metonym not just for the tech industry but for tech-inflected stuff generally." [00:07] 13Melanie: "Silicon Valley, metonymically, is seven percent of the economy, but it's more like a quarter of the salaried workforce. America's only remaining competitive advantage." [00:07] 6Not-quite-joking: "That earthquake was trying to right a wrong." [00:08] 10Stewart: "Guess the average rent in San Francisco." [00:08] "Actually, don't, you'll freak out." [00:08] 6Nels: "Um, well, with inflation, ummmm.... $500?" [00:09] "Thirty-five hundred." [00:09] "It's just, not fit for human life." [00:09] "They're not all bad people but it's a case of.. the stereotype shifts social status sans shedding stigma." 13Melanie giggles briefly at her alliteration. [00:09] 6Nels: "I need to sit down." 6She is already sitting down. [00:09] 10Stewart's phone buzzes. "Oh, that's Lauren." [00:10] 10He goes to let her in, kissing her in the doorway. [00:10] "So 'nerd' these days is like.. a semi-positive thing but there's a right way to be a nerd. A rich way. Still a box to put people in." 00[00:12] <@Crion> She doesn't just lean to the kiss, she sort of pushes him. When she pulls back she's grinning. "So icon's down and you guys just all want to watch some anime?" [00:12] 10Stewart, a little flushed: "That's the plan." [00:13] 6Nels: "I haven't watched any, and, Maggie made a reference? But I don't know if she's seen any either." 00[00:14] <@Crion> She'll accompany him as close as he wants. "What're you looking for, then?" 00[00:14] <@Crion> "When it comes to anime." [00:15] 13Melanie's putting a towel over the rack of dirty dishes. "I've never seen one but I'd like to. Is there stuff that's slow-paced? Reflective?" [00:15] 6Nels: "Music if possible? But I don't know what these things are like." [00:18] 7Maggie: "Yeah, I dunno what the deal is with it." 00[00:19] <@Crion> Lauren: "It's just like normal movies and TV. What do you wanna see? Musicals exist." [00:21] 6Nels: "Um, I'm good with whatever. There weren't - the most popular movie when I disappeared was Birth of a Nation. You literally cannot do worse." [00:21] 10Quickly: "Not that Nels is throwing down the gauntlet or anything." [00:21] 6She blanches. "Apparently you can do worse?" [00:24] 10Stewart: "The point is it's not a competition." 00[00:25] <@Crion> Lauren: "But I do not actually have anything worse than Birth of the actual fucking Nation on this HDD. Just to be clear." [00:25] 13Melanie: "We're also not judging anything though. Like there's no need to present the perfect anime, it's just a friendwhim." [00:26] 6She relaxes, slightly. "Still, though. Nothing on that level, please?" 00[00:27] <@Crion> Lauren: "It's kind of fucked up that 'no Nazi shit' is an actual genuine concern here instead of something you just laugh off...but yeah, Nels." [00:28] 6Nels: "I'm kind of glad I missed them but it makes reading their chapters in the books worse." [00:28] 10Stewart: "What do you have that's like, weird, but not nightmarish?" 02[00:35] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 03[00:38] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 00[00:43] <@Crion> Lauren: "...The Evangelion...movies." 00[00:44] <@Crion> "1.11 You Are (Not) Alone and 2.22 You Can (Not) Advance." [00:44] 10Stewart doesn't know Evangelion, but he knows of Evangelion. His eyes widen slightly. [00:45] "Sounds good to me." 00[00:45] <@Crion> She glances over at Stewart. "They're more refined than the show." 00[00:45] <@Crion> Lauren nods gratefully. [00:45] 10Stewart nods. He doesn't fully understand what that means, but he trusts Lauren. [00:46] 6Nels begins plucking away at the guitar she's kept by her side. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oS_yNsDsbaQ [00:46] 6Something about it is just familiar. [00:52] 10This tune is catchy. He wonders if Nels wrote it. [00:52] "Is there anything people are going to need to know in advance to make sense of this?" 00[01:02] <@Crion> Lauren: "The world ended badly, angels are evil, and you should hate your father?" [01:02] 10Stewart: "So just obvious stuff then, cool." 00[01:03] <@Crion> She grins. 00[01:04] <@Crion> "Then I'll get it set up for when you're ready." 00[01:07] <@Crion> The notes in Stewart's room: I A M is a structure. Many things have been built upon it. This makes it dangerous; it has redundancies -- multiple Titles. Maybe they're Iam, I Am, and I'm. Maybe they're something else. But whatever they are, they serve and adore a greater structural purpose. Where is I A M located? Many places; everywhere. Not the biggest in Arcadia, thought not the smallest 00[01:07] <@Crion> -- but it extends like bedbugs and malware into the real world. It's vicious mojo. It's poor practice. It's binary violence. 00[01:08] <@Crion> If there's good news, it's this: you can stop seeing it coming by turning off your monitor. 02[01:10] * gulbanana (banana@sorcery-jdh6j2.optusnet.com.au) Quit (Connection closed) 03[01:10] * gulbanana (banana@sorcery-3gn.6pa.149.120.IP) has joined #gofetch 02[01:18] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. 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ZZZzzz…) 03[23:04] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch Session Time: Sat Jan 04 00:00:00 2020 02[00:20] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 03[00:27] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 02[00:51] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 03[08:56] * banana is now known as banana|peels 03[15:13] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 02[16:16] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 03[16:17] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 02[17:59] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 03[18:15] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 02[18:31] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 03[21:14] * banana|peels is now known as banana 00[21:15] <@Crion> 00[21:15] <@Crion> 00[21:15] <@Crion> 00[21:15] <@Crion> 00[21:15] <@Crion> 00[21:15] <@Crion> 00[21:15] <@Crion> 00[21:15] <@Crion> 00[21:15] <@Crion> 00[21:16] <@Crion> Movie night at The Wherehouse! Unless Stewart wants to host at his place? [21:16] 6Do we know what happens to movies in the Hedge? This might not be the one to try it out with. [21:17] 10He'd be happy to, if Melanie wanted to make the trip. She hasn't ever been to Stewart's apartment, to his knowledge. But the Wherehouse is fine too. 00[21:17] <@Crion> Judging by previous exposure, it doesn't do anything immediately. You have to leave them in the Hedge awhile, and even then, it took a year or so for Jameson's Seinfeld collection to get truly strange. [21:18] 10Jimothy... 00[21:18] <@Crion> Really the biggest issue is whether or not you want to expose Steve to Evangelion, though he might just, not be around. 00[21:18] <@Crion> Who can tell with that guy. [21:18] 10Steve's seen weirder stuff. [21:18] 10...right? Stewart knows Evangelion has a reputation but how weird can it get? [21:19] 6I mean, they drew so many cartoons that it looks like it's moving! [21:19] 13Melanie hasn't been to anyone's home since she came back to Baltimore. She's barely been to a few public buildings and the university. It's not that she doesn't want to, she's just afraid and feels like she'd be intruding and doesn't know how to act and you know, the usual. 00[21:19] <@Crion> Lauren's response to that sentiment would be "yeah...probably," but with slight hesitation. [21:20] 10Wherever they are, Stewart says: "This movie's going to be in Japanese with subtitles - words on the screen - so if you've got reading glasses or something you're going to want them." [21:21] 6Nels: "It's neat that they finally found a way to put the words people were saying on the screen at the same time, instead of weird interstitials." 00[21:21] <@Crion> Lauren would probably prefer the Wherehouse proper, both because it's safer and she spends a lot of time cooped up in the apartment anyway right now. [21:21] 10Yeah, let's do the Wherehouse. [21:22] 10Stewart wants to have people over at some point though... maybe for Christmas, or a housewarming type thing if Lauren moves in fully. oh god 00[21:23] <@Crion> She'll make some snacks as everyone settles in and make sure the fridge is stocked. This was her idea, after all. [21:23] 10Stewart squints at the file name. "Evangelion-" 10he pronounces the g in Evangelion like the g in 'gif' "-one point eleven you are parentheses not alone." 00[21:24] <@Crion> The Hedge sees what you did there. [21:24] 13Melanie's excited. "I'm excited. I've only seen American films before, and there's-" gesturing at The World "so much stuff out there. It's just too much to learn about all at once, what with all the local things.. and faerie realms.." [21:25] 6Nels: "Tell me about it." [21:25] 13She's made a little perch with a platform thing off to the side of the sofas and a couple of pot plants. It's vaguely comfortable, like being in a forest or something. [21:25] 10A couple of- oh plants in pots. 00[21:26] <@Crion> They could be potted pot plants. [21:26] 6It's... it's potted plants. In America. [21:26] 13Melanie: "How was world history teaching back then? We had like.. I don't remember much, but world wars - we won - and Britain colonising America. That was basically it." [21:27] 6Nels: "Mostly they didn't talk about it to me. Had to go digging myself." [21:28] 13Melanie: "Lauren, is there anything we should know first? Like about Japanese society." [21:30] 6Nels: "I don't think that's how you spell works." 00[21:30] <@Crion> Lauren: "Hmmm. I don't think so...? We'll find out." 00[21:30] <@Crion> "Oh. Japanese society is really obsessed with high school." 00[21:31] <@Crion> "Which is why high schoolers are protagonists in a lot of its mass media." [21:31] 13Melanie: "That's all pretty ruined." [21:31] 10Stewart winces. [21:32] 13o_o [21:32] "He... came to this weird town where everything is bloody and destroyed because a pretty lady gave him a picture?" [21:33] "Seems like it was a bad idea." [21:34] "Is that one of those nuclear weapons I read about?" 00[21:34] <@Crion> Apropos of nothing: "Oh this movie is incredibly horny, by the way." [21:34] 10Stewart: "Wow that is overt atomic bomb imagery." 00[21:34] <@Crion> Lauren: "Yep." [21:34] 13Melanie: "I'm amazed the girl actually showed up." [21:35] "Gills??" [21:35] 6Nels: "Okay, they should have seen that one coming. If you say 'it's over' it never actually is." 00[21:35] <@Crion> "Misato is like...24? In this movie? So basically ancient. Unspeakably old." [21:35] "I like her car." [21:36] 6Nels: "That's the wrong side of the car, isn't it?" [21:36] "Outside the US most cars are like that." [21:36] "I don't like that guy." [21:36] 13Melanie: "I like the doomsaying calm guy." [21:36] "Wait, is that the guy you don't like?" 00[21:36] <@Crion> Lauren: "Good instincts and bad instincts, respectively." [21:37] "God's in his Heaven and all's right with the world." [21:37] 6Nels nods, but she's still focused on the subtitles. [21:37] "They're both Ikari. Must be the dad." 00[21:37] <@Crion> Lauren: "It's a quote from...Yeats?" 00[21:37] <@Crion> "Some poet." [21:38] 10Stewart, who knows virtually nothing of poetry, nods. 00[21:38] <@Crion> Lauren: "This is so much more expensively animated than the TV show, it's unreal." [21:38] "Amazing imagery. Largely incomprehensible." [21:39] "I assume this was made after the TV show got really big and popular?" [21:39] 6Nels: "It's really - um, 'pretty' isn't quite right..." 00[21:39] <@Crion> Lauren: "Yeah, like...twenty years later? Once he was hugely successful and could demand a massive budget." [21:40] "Ahahaha!" [21:40] "God I wish I could do that. Just fall out of sigh ton a glowing elevator when I'm done." [21:40] 6Nels: "Some reunion." [21:41] "He doesn't care about his son at all." [21:41] 6Nels: "He does, as a tool." 00[21:41] <@Crion> Lauren: "Which is honestly kind of worse." [21:41] 13Melanie: "Unfortunately that's the most normal thing going on here." [21:42] "...angels, cross-shaped explosions..." [21:42] "So wait he walks in the door and he has to go right back out to fight some kind of laser cancer monster?" [21:42] "And his dad is like 'yeah, that's the only reason I contacted you in the first place.'" 00[21:42] <@Crion> Lauren: "Yep." [21:43] 6Nels: "The spare???" [21:43] "The spare." [21:43] "Haha.. ha." [21:43] "At least she knows what's going on, maybe." [21:43] "She does not... look... fit for duty." [21:44] "I don't think arms should bend like that." 00[21:44] <@Crion> Lauren: "Fucking Gendo." [21:44] 6That is a lot of blood. [21:44] "Psychological contamination." [21:45] 6Nels: "Um." [21:45] "That isn't real, is it?" 00[21:45] <@Crion> Lauren: "There's a lot of uh, literalization of emotional and mental trauma in this particular anime." [21:45] "You don't drown people to make them control, tanks or whatever the real equivalent?" 00[21:45] <@Crion> Lauren: "You do not." [21:46] "No, when you get submerged in a liquid you can breathe you feel like you're drowning for a lot longer than a couple seconds." [21:46] 13Melanie's focused on all the mechanical movements and human-body references. It's absurd but dramatic. [21:47] "This wouldn't work as a film without the family bit, it's like Godzilla-but-fast." [21:47] 6Nels: "Family is maybe generous. What a shithead father." 00[21:47] <@Crion> Lauren: "Funny you say that. The guy who did these interrupted doing them to make a Godzilla movie. Was really good, too." [21:48] "A lot of families are like this." [21:48] "Not with the robots, but the other thing." [21:48] "While he's figuring out how to walk would be a great time to use its laser explosion." [21:48] 6Nels: "I know." [21:48] "What the fuck!" [21:48] "Oh but I see sheer brutality takes precedence." [21:49] "Um." [21:49] "Was he even trained to use that thing??" [21:49] "He just heard of it for the first time fifteen minutes ago!" 00[21:49] <@Crion> Lauren: "He was not! It's unclear what Gendo expected to happen here. At least, it is right now." 03[21:49] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch [21:49] "Why does - um. Ritsuko? Why does she care more than his actual father." [21:50] "Wait, no, Misato." 00[21:50] <@Crion> "I think you're talking about Misato, but honestly, they both do." [21:50] "Who cares right now, wow" [21:50] "Ritsuko is the blonde one. I'm going to get that wrong again." [21:50] "Look at this thing, it's fighting on its own! A 'synthetic human'!" [21:50] 10No wedding ring. 00[21:50] <@Crion> Lauren snort-laughs. [21:51] 6Still a lot of cross imagery. 00[21:51] <@Crion> Stewart's pretty sure she's thinking the same thing, independently. [21:51] 10Good. [21:51] "Okay, what the fuck." [21:52] "So my understanding is that in the genre of stuff this is built on, these psychic tumor demons are typically robots instead." [21:52] "Nice, dry robots." [21:52] 13Melanie: "Now the walking out of the explosion is on the other foot." [21:53] 10Clones?? [21:53] 6The previous "what the fuck" still stands. [21:53] "'Seele' is German for 'soul'." 00[21:53] <@Crion> Lauren: "Anno -- guy who gave himself a breakdown making the original show -- has said the Catholicism and Christian mystery stuff in here isn't used because of a coherent allegory about religion, but rather because over in Japan, that stuff kind of evokes a vast, alien sort of violence. The Japanese experience of Christianity is uh. Different than America's." 00[21:53] <@Crion> "Well." 00[21:53] <@Crion> "I guess not really." 00[21:53] <@Crion> "You just have to go back farther." [21:54] "Meaningless, incredibly violent imagery. It's not that different." [21:54] "Oh- is it the obelisks talking?" 00[21:54] <@Crion> "They're Mysterious World Leaders. Illuminati types." [21:54] "I thought Gendo was saying everything because the voices are similar.." [21:54] "They're like Skype calls with the camera off." [21:54] 6Nels: "Wait, is the Illuminati real?" [21:55] "Nnnnnnnnnnnyes." [21:55] 13Melanie: "Yes, but they're vampires." [21:55] 6Nels stands up to go get another drink without a word. [21:55] "Shinji is very upset." [21:55] "So the two organizations are 'brain' and 'soul'." 00[21:55] <@Crion> Lauren: "Normal." [21:56] 10This is gonna be brutal if Misato's the only one with any energy. 00[21:57] <@Crion> Lauren: "God I envy her metabolism." [21:57] 10Hopefully they add more lively characters... [21:57] 6Nels sits back down. "So it sounded like, despite making a journey to a dangerous place to meet his dad, he's going to be living with a relative stranger instead. Did I mishear?" 00[21:58] <@Crion> Lauren: "You did not." [21:58] "Eh." [21:58] "Oh!" [21:58] "The city they destroyed was fake?" 00[21:58] <@Crion> "You maybe missed his dad and him having a staredown and him refusing to get on the elevator with him." [21:58] "Gendo thinks he failed to pilot the robot." [21:58] "Honestly that's fair. Also what happened to Tokyos 1 and 2." 00[21:59] <@Crion> To Melanie: "It's...realish. Basically the stuff on the surface gets evacuated/rebuilt all the time. I love all the macroconstruction stuff in this series." [21:59] "It's all so empty..." [21:59] "Misato rules." [21:59] "It's amazing, but sits really weirdly with all this.. normal life stuff. The whole film is huge technology things with tiny little human spaces in corners of them." 00[22:00] <@Crion> "Like I said..." 00[22:00] <@Crion> "What a metabolism." [22:00] "Shinji's thinking something similar." [22:01] "She even uses Linux." [22:01] "That beer is extremely conveniently located." 00[22:01] <@Crion> "Hello to Misato's Steve." [22:01] 13IT'S A HOBGOBLIN [22:01] 10Stewart cackles. [22:01] 6Nels snorts after the beer gets pulled away. [22:02] 13Melanie: "Yesss." [22:02] "I wonder if there's any other boys his age left in the whole world." 00[22:03] <@Crion> Lauren: "Man I forgot about the tape player. Those were contemporary when the show came out!" [22:03] 6Nels: "Are they not anymore?" [22:03] "'Oh, that's why.'" [22:04] 6That was a hell of a cut. [22:04] "What a dick!" [22:04] "Oh, so there are other boys, but they're shitheads." [22:04] "Maybe he's an angel." 00[22:04] <@Crion> Lauren: "Yeah, it's realistic like that." [22:05] "Pretty cool that he saved the world and one person told him he did a good job, and one other person punched him in the face for it." 00[22:05] <@Crion> Lauren: "Well that's nightmarish. Forgot about that." [22:05] "Ender's Game shit." [22:06] "That's a really disturbing chant." [22:06] 6Nels makes a mental note to read Ender's Game later. [22:06] 10No!! [22:06] 6What? You're the one who brought it up. [22:07] "I don't think humans and hedgehogs are actually similar in that way." [22:07] "Okay so like." 00[22:07] <@Crion> Lauren: "I mean, grading on a curve, it's still a pretty deep metaphor for a military officer." [22:07] "I mean, sort of? But that's a weird metaphor to use." [22:07] "Why are they making either of them go to school? Is this meant to be helpful psychologically?" 00[22:07] <@Crion> Lauren: "Like I said...they love high school over there. It's a genre trope." [22:08] "I like how there's just... no blue water anywhere." [22:08] "Is that like. The sea?" [22:08] "And it's just red now." 00[22:08] <@Crion> Luaren: "Yeah. It's a real good and affecting garbling of turning the Nile to blood." [22:09] "I loved high school." 13Sort of. "But it's time-consuming, and so is fighting huge monsters in an upside-down city." [22:09] 6Absently: "Never went." 02[22:10] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) [22:10] "Oh that's what the Emerald Weapon attack in Final Fantasy 7 was referencing." 00[22:11] <@Crion> Lauren, to Stewart: "So that's weird, right? Using adjacent urinals?" [22:11] "Yes." 00[22:11] <@Crion> "Isn't not doing that like...a guy code thing?" [22:11] "That kid is going to die." [22:11] "It's very weird." [22:11] "Okay, that's different." [22:11] "What the fuck." [22:12] "This feels almost routine now, so I bet it goes poorly." [22:12] "Fuckin car-sized shell casings." [22:12] "Update: it went poorly." 00[22:12] <@Crion> "Skyscraper-sized rifle." [22:13] "Did that say umbilical?" [22:13] "That's two for two seize-up-in-trauma. What did they expect." 00[22:13] <@Crion> "It did say that." [22:13] "Oh jeez and with the fluid... it's like a birth thing. Metaphorically that robot is his mom." [22:14] 6Nels: "That's weird. This is weird." [22:14] 6Why is that idiot teen's first thought about his camera. [22:14] 10Those are expensive! [22:14] 6So's his life. [22:15] 6Speaking of lives. "That's... one way of reacting here..." [22:16] "Fuckin... same." [22:17] "I think she realises there's literally no good way to react here." [22:19] 13Melanie: "Jesus." [22:19] 6Nels: "I don't think he's around, what with." 6She waves vaguely. [22:19] "Look sometimes you just gotta... become homeless out of alienation and spite." 00[22:19] <@Crion> Lauren: "This show is kind of a pointed critique of all the giant robot shows in Japanese animation history, where 15 year olds pilot giant robots and win the day like superheroes." [22:19] 6He's* [22:20] "Yeah I was going to ask questions like.. why did they make it." [22:21] "Why does anyone make anything?" [22:21] "That's, um. Worrying. Also." [22:21] "'But if you do leave, the city will be destroyed'." [22:22] 10Stewart makes a face. "It is so not his decision." 00[22:22] <@Crion> Lauren: "Misato is...in a tough spot. But she doesn't exactly cover herself in glory." [22:22] "It really isn't. Like, pick for yourself, but also if you choose to walk away - oh wow that is a late title card - everybody dies." 00[22:22] <@Crion> Lauren: "...Boys." [22:22] "I think he actually felt empowered by that." 00[22:24] <@Crion> Lauren: "No one seems to like this guy." [22:24] "Gendo is so calm." [22:24] "It's probably bad that its first reaction is to try and kill Gendo." [22:24] "Well no, it's good, but." [22:25] "I've had days like that." [22:25] 6The spicy robot... 00[22:25] <@Crion> Lauren: "I think Misato meant the part where Gendo showed emotion, Ritsuko." [22:25] 6Nels: "Do you think he's ever spoken to his son like that." 6The answer is no, but it it's phrased like a question. 00[22:26] <@Crion> "Mmmmm." [22:27] 6Nels: "That's gross." [22:27] "One word of praise isn't in the script." [22:28] "I liked the thing she did with her eyes earlier. Um. Sort of - blank, tired." [22:28] "The animators did it obviously but you know what I mean." [22:28] 13Eyes... [22:29] 6Nels: "He has a thing about thresholds." [22:29] "About boundaries." [22:29] "He's permanently anxious." 00[22:29] <@Crion> Lauren: "Hooo." [22:30] "Oh! Oh, I saw a thing about this!" 6She pulls out her phone to double check, missing the entire scene. "'Big mood'?" [22:30] "Oh come on." [22:30] "If you rely on a pair of siblings to save the world it's important to treat them like- oh come on." 00[22:30] <@Crion> Lauren: "Warned you about the horniness." [22:30] 6She looks up, then, and -- "Phrasing." 00[22:30] <@Crion> "That's a good pun though." [22:31] "'They specifically told me to deliver it while you were in the shower.'" [22:31] 6Nels: "You heard Gendo planning earlier. He might've." 00[22:32] <@Crion> "Shinji's much less of a creepy shithead in these versions of the story. If you can imagine." [22:32] "Now see, that's an appropriate amount of distance between active urinals." [22:32] "Less...? Oh no." 00[22:32] <@Crion> "I think in these new movies that's his worst moment." [22:33] "He was worse...?" Also he earned that." 00[22:33] <@Crion> Lauren: "Point of order. He earned it, but not for shit-talking his dad." [22:33] 10Stewart tenses. 00[22:33] <@Crion> "Which is why it was delivered." 00[22:34] <@Crion> "This Angel design owns." [22:34] 10Stewart shuts his eyes. [22:34] 6Nels doesn't respond, just looks fascinated by the animation. [22:34] 6Because wow. Wow. [22:35] "I hope that's the decoy city again..." [22:35] 6"Let me out, Dad," and "No" - someone needs to kill him. Or at the very least jail him. 00[22:36] <@Crion> Lauren's sort of fallen off looking at the movie. Instead she's squeezing Stewart's hand. [22:36] 13Melanie: "Okay, I'm convinced." [22:36] "Kids shouldn't pilot giant robots. They've made the case." [22:36] 6Nels: "What absolute maniac is letting them do this to teenagers." [22:36] 10Stewart squeezes back. His opens his eyes and rubs his free hand across them. [22:37] "The brain is subservient to the soul." [22:37] "Only in the film." [22:38] "If underwear drawers can go flying like that, dualism can be true." 00[22:39] <@Crion> Lauren: "The damn UN...every right-wing militia fuck's wildest nightmare fantasy in this." [22:40] 6Nels: "Am I supposed to know what a positron cannon is? There's a lot of fake things in this but a lot of science sounds fake to me." 00[22:40] <@Crion> Lauren: "It's just a big gun." [22:40] "Positrons are real. Positron cannons aren't." [22:40] "Cool! Those are definitely real." 00[22:40] <@Crion> "Might use a lot of energy." [22:40] "Positrons probably won't be on the Chem GED though, so don't worry." [22:40] "Big guns. Jury is out on positrons." [22:40] 13Melanie: "What I want to know at this point is like.. will they win, but also, is it worth it." [22:41] "I suspect they're asking that already." [22:41] "Depends on what Human Instrumentality is." [22:41] "Maybe they're trying to kill God and force their way into Heaven." [22:41] "They've established that angels are real but I dunno about God." [22:41] "Aren't they already brainwashing him???" [22:42] "You can always brainwash harder." [22:42] 6We're in the best place to know. [22:42] "Yeah. Sorry." [22:42] 10Mood. [22:43] 6Dreams. [22:43] 6Shit, shit. Fuck. Nels gets up for another drink. [22:44] "At least the sheet didn't drop away or something." [22:45] "Is flat-affected women a thing in anime or is this an on-purpose reversal of the gender stereotype?" 00[22:46] <@Crion> Lauren: "More the latter than the former, but there are more characters coming." [22:46] 6Nels: "I really need to catch up on a lot of, um, theory? I think I saw the word 'theory' attached to most of these kinds of things..." [22:46] "Misato's shrug has a lot of weight on it there." [22:47] "Okay, look, I asked this about Tokyo-3. What was the first Impact." 00[22:47] <@Crion> Lauren: "It'll sort of explain it." [22:47] "The arrival of the angels maybe?" [22:47] "The obelisks mentioned it but they weren't making themselves very clear." [22:48] "Wwwwwow." [22:48] 13What [22:48] "What." 00[22:48] <@Crion> Lauren: "Very normal." [22:49] 13In a neutral tone: "Misato is good at her job." [22:49] 6Is there a word for two pyramids stacked on top of one another? [22:49] 6Because it seems like there should be. 00[22:49] <@Crion> Lauren: "Maybe too good." 00[22:49] <@Crion> "Well, I guess the rest of the people still alive don't think so." 00[22:50] <@Crion> "God these trains!!" [22:51] 6Nels: "That's. Not exactly what he was talking about." [22:51] "'Both' dying means the two of you. But she didn't care...?" [22:52] "She's just as brainwashed but to a different end." 00[22:52] <@Crion> Lauren: "No, she's definitely more brainwashed." [22:52] "All of the adults in this movie should be in jail." 00[22:52] <@Crion> "She LIKES Gendo Ikari!" [22:52] "She's also the only one he's shown any affection to." [22:52] "So if anyone's going to like him..." [22:53] 13Melanie: "My assumption is that they're siblings and she looks like his dead wife or something. There was that hospital scene and it's the kind of thing they're.. deconstructing? Or reproducing?" [22:53] "Oh, here we go!" [22:53] 6Nels: "Speaking of - Misato is the only one to show affection for Shinji." [22:54] "Everyone else just ignores him or punches him in the face or whatever." [22:54] "Yeah, although them doing that drives him away, which is probably better for him." [22:55] "Still rude, but yeah." [22:55] "That's a low percent." 00[22:56] <@Crion> "Chambering a damn two story tall circuit. SO inefficient! But very cool." [22:56] "Are any of them going to deal with the fact that he's having a panic attack again?" [22:57] "Completely sexless there." [22:57] "Very weird." [22:57] 6WHAT THE FUCK [22:58] 13:( [22:58] "You can't kill it." 00[22:59] <@Crion> "SUCH a shithead." [22:59] "Do you think the whole thing is a plot by Gendo to psychologically destroy his own son for some imagined crime? Like maybe he summoned the Angels somehow." [22:59] 6Leaning forward: "Absolutely the worst father. Also I think I wrote this." [22:59] "You can psychologically destroy a teenage boy way easier than this." 00[22:59] <@Crion> Lauren to Nels: "Wha?" [23:00] "She means the song." [23:00] 6She gestures to her guitar without looking away. 00[23:00] <@Crion> "Damn. Nice." [23:00] "Wow." [23:01] 13Melanie doesn't want to look at the screen. This film is WEIRD and there's no guarantee he's going to manage it... [23:02] 6Nels winces at the scream, but -- oh. Oh, wow. [23:02] "Ahahahahaha" [23:02] 6So much blood. [23:02] 6...suppose that explains the ocean. [23:02] "It's probably bad to shower the last bastion of humanity in angel's blood, right?" [23:03] "No I bet they're used to it" 03[23:03] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch [23:03] "...do they still have days out at the beach, because yeah. That'd do it." [23:05] 13Oh what the fuck. [23:05] 6This person seems important??? Who are they. What's going on. 00[23:05] <@Crion> "Oh hey there, Kawaru." 00[23:05] <@Crion> "And that's the first film!" [23:05] 6Nels: "What do you mean 'to be continued...'???" [23:07] 13Melanie: "That was crazy. I could- there were a lot of references I could tell i was missing, or maybe they were just.. fake things that looked like references." [23:08] 6Nels: "The thing about Japan and Christianity was like. Yeah it makes total sense that they'd associate it with bombs. Hence all the explosions being crosses." [23:09] "Ah, you've been reading about Hiroshima." [23:10] 6Slight frown: "My textbook didn't really go into depth about it beyond the fact that it happened. I want a Japanese perspective on the whole event, because I bet 'bomb dropped, war ended' is extremely not how they view it." [23:11] 13Melanie: "Maybe we just got one." [23:12] 13She shakes herself a little, having basically not moved for an hour and a half. "Wow. They aren't all like that, right?" [23:12] 6Nels looks over to Lauren and Stewart, because they would know. [23:13] 10Stewart's getting himself a drink. "The one anime I watched was just a bunch of dudes screaming and shooting energy beams at each other." [23:13] "Evangelion has a reputation for being sort of, uh, offbeat." [23:14] 13Melanie: "If we are being 'trolled', it's only what we deserve." [23:14] 6Nels: "Is that what they call cartoons now? They're all animay? Like animation but shorter, I guess." [23:15] "Still, it was good. A lot of it felt like.. totally insane and well-animated situations but with people reacting in really normal, sensical ways to this unexplained premise." [23:15] "Anime is used to refer specifically to cartoons from Japan, done in this sort of art style." [23:15] "My understanding is that there's entire anime series that are just about high school eating toast and stuff. It's a medium, more than a genre." [23:15] "Oh, yes, also, it was absolutely gorgeous. They've come a long way." 00[23:16] <@Crion> Lauren gets some more snacks and busies herself setting up 2.22. 02[23:23] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 03[23:23] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch [23:25] 6Nels: "Okay, okay, this is a sequel, but - they let him - wait. They didn't let him back in the robot." 00[23:26] <@Crion> Lauren: "This is...someone else, yeah." [23:26] "Maybe Gendo got replaced with a good father." [23:27] 6Okay, this one isn't her fault. [23:27] "I'm suspicious of anyone who has fun doing this." [23:28] 6Gross. [23:28] 6Nels: "Why does she think this is fun." [23:29] 6Oh, there's the horrible blood fountain. [23:30] "First and only person to think that it's bad to make teens fight in wars." 00[23:30] <@Crion> Lauren: "Because she's incredibly healthy and normal, obviously." [23:30] 6Cross again. [23:30] "Holy shit that's a lot of graves." 00[23:30] <@Crion> "That's Mari! She's kind of like the Jimothy of this remake. Wasn't in the show." 00[23:30] <@Crion> "...Jameson told you about Jimothy, right?" [23:31] "...no...?" 6Nels looks away from the screen to look at Lauren. 00[23:31] <@Crion> "Shinji..." [23:31] "Christ, what an asshole." [23:32] "Misato is trying so hard." [23:32] "Be honest with yourself, and agree with me!" 00[23:33] <@Crion> Lauren, doing a Ron Howard voice: "Narrator: He was not." [23:33] 6Nels: "The blood-dimmed tides that everyone just casually - okay, was this considered subtle at the time? With the cross imagery." [23:34] 10Stewart smiles at that. The reference, not the grisly destruction. [23:34] "No." [23:34] "The subtlety is all in the opaque storytelling. The imagery is just straight up violence." [23:35] "Haha this riff." 00[23:35] <@Crion> "Boom." [23:35] 6Nels: "The blood explosions are. They're a thing." [23:35] "So this is the best and coolest one." 00[23:35] <@Crion> Lauren: "She's okay." [23:36] 10Stewart snorts. [23:36] 6Nels: "Langley?" [23:36] "She's... CIA?" [23:36] "'First Girl' and 'Second Girl' seem to have more significance than just being- wow." 00[23:37] <@Crion> Lauren: "She's a lot of things." [23:37] "What a dick!" [23:37] "Wait, why is he talking with these guys. His first and only interaction was getting punched in the face." 00[23:37] <@Crion> Lauren: "Nah, they were with him in the tube." 00[23:37] <@Crion> "They became friends." [23:37] "He punched that guy back. This is how male bonding works." [23:37] "Ohhhh, right. Men." [23:38] "I don't trust this guy either." [23:38] "Facial hair: a sign of evil?" 00[23:38] <@Crion> Lauren: "Ponytail and stubble basically means dirtbag, yeah." 00[23:39] <@Crion> "As seen." [23:39] 6Nels: "Misato should have fought him." [23:40] "What a jerk!" 00[23:41] <@Crion> Lauren: "Not wrong." [23:41] "It's kind of weird getting what I assume is a regular anime comedy beat in the middle of this Christological nightmare." [23:41] "Is Christological a word I'll need to know in the future?" [23:41] "No." [23:41] "Good, because I already forgot it." 00[23:41] <@Crion> Lauren: "Back to what you were saying before, Asuka here is much more...normal anime gender role beats." 00[23:42] <@Crion> "See?" [23:42] 10Stewart nods. "...really?" [23:42] "She's like... an archetype? The cranky jerk?" 00[23:42] <@Crion> "Yep." [23:42] 6Nels: "The future is weird." [23:43] "Awful father." [23:43] "That's normal, at least." [23:45] 6Nels: "Should I know what the Dead Sea Scrolls are or is that another made up thing?" 00[23:45] <@Crion> Lauren: "Hello!" 00[23:46] <@Crion> "They're both real and made up, Nels." [23:46] 10The creepy dude is cool. 00[23:46] <@Crion> "That is to say, something called the Dead Sea Scrolls exist, but the version here have fictional powers." [23:46] "...have we checked the real ones out to see if they have powers?" 00[23:46] <@Crion> "Poor penguin." [23:46] "I mean. We haven't." [23:47] "Also, is this the first time we've seen like. Real water?" 00[23:47] <@Crion> "Hahahah." 00[23:47] <@Crion> "Yeah." [23:47] "Okay so implicitly First Impact is like the origin of humanity, Second Impact is the apocalypse that turns our world into Evangelion world. And Third Impact is...? The Rapture?" [23:48] "???" 00[23:48] <@Crion> "Rei...you're so obvious." [23:48] 10Stewart missed that entirely, speculating on the lore. [23:49] "She's rude. And he's an idiot." 00[23:49] <@Crion> "Yeah, kind of her thing." [23:50] "Also the one non-Japanese character? Maybe that's just what we're like." [23:50] "I'm not that big of a jerk!" 00[23:51] <@Crion> "They don't have the best cultural experience with us. Though she's German-Japanese, I think, not American." [23:51] "It's early yet, we haven't seen how specifically she's as weird and sad as the rest of them. She's got time to come back down to earth." 00[23:52] <@Crion> "That GUITAR!" [23:53] 6Nels: "They just fire off - I'm assuming the N is for 'nuclear'? Just, all the time." 00[23:54] <@Crion> "Nuclear 2!" [23:54] "The sequel." [23:55] "I don't know who to support, here." [23:55] "Is it really possible to have a vendetta against alien beings attempting to destroy all of humanity?" 00[23:56] <@Crion> "If you're the only survivor of ground zero for second impact, well, maybe?" [23:56] 6Pointed silence. 00[23:57] <@Crion> "That kid's hopeless." 00[23:57] <@Crion> "Good sprinter's stance, though." [23:59] 6Nels: "Oh, wow - did they ever make cars safe enough to do that? Because that was cool as hell." 00[23:59] <@Crion> "Not...really." [23:59] "Sprinting along the walls of the thing I mean." 00[23:59] <@Crion> "Oh yeah, driving on inclines in races happens." Session Time: Sun Jan 05 00:00:00 2020 00[00:00] <@Crion> "Got yerself a bad case of stigmata, there." [00:00] "In the past - oh, Christ - but they were like, trying to race long distances and fighting their calls falling apart." [00:00] cars* [00:01] 6Holy shit. [00:01] 6Uh, pretty easy to see why the ocean is red now. 00[00:02] <@Crion> "Whew." [00:02] "Oh fuck you, dude." 00[00:02] <@Crion> "The bare minimum, folks!" 00[00:04] <@Crion> Lauren, deadpan: "She's so considerate." [00:05] 10Stewart's frown is deep. [00:05] 6Nels: "He is. But also she's still a rude jerk." [00:06] "They have these characters regularly??" 00[00:06] <@Crion> "Who, Asukas? Yeah. Rei's a different trope. Both are kind of subversions of it. Rei more than Asuka." [00:07] 6Nels: "And people... like them??" 00[00:07] <@Crion> "They're mainly in anime for boys." 00[00:07] <@Crion> "Anime for girls have similarly uh. Broad. Stereotypes for the guys." [00:08] "Is this like the thing I got told not to read but did anyway? It had a whip involved which seemed weird." [00:08] "The what?" 00[00:08] <@Crion> "Though that silver-haired guy is very similar to one you'd see in--" 00[00:08] <@Crion> Lauren manages not to choke on her drink. "Well I wouldn't know about that." [00:09] "Jesus." [00:10] 6Nels, blandly: "David Smitten, I'm pretty sure. I forget the name of the book, but it wasn't any good." 00[00:10] <@Crion> Lauren: "All in all, in the end, it's probably a good thing Shinji didn't grow up with his dad." 00[00:11] <@Crion> "Sigh." 00[00:12] <@Crion> "Hi, Mari." [00:12] "Shinji has the worst luck." [00:12] "I feel like you shouldn't say 'enter the country covertly' in front of a civillian?" 00[00:12] <@Crion> "Doesn't he just." [00:12] "What the fuck." [00:13] "What the fuck." [00:13] "Man this poor kid. Puberty's hard enough as it is." 00[00:13] <@Crion> "Yeah so Mari's a big part of the later movies but she just wasn't in the original show. So her literally parachuting into the--Kaji." [00:13] "He's right but also that's still fucking creepy." [00:14] "That is the wrong question to ask Shinji." [00:14] "Because no, he doesn't, but also it isn't healthy." [00:15] "So far like the one character he hasn't been in a sexually compromised position with is his dad." [00:15] "And the scientist I guess." 00[00:15] <@Crion> Lauren: "Probably don't go on dates with dirtbags in their thirties, Shinji. Usually they end a lot worse than doing farm work!" [00:16] 6Nels: "The teen daughter couldn't possibly fall in love with someone." 00[00:17] <@Crion> Lauren: "Nice save." [00:17] "Is this -- you said tropes? Is this one of those again?" [00:17] "This is worrying because if she made him soup then by the logic of every other scene she's going to spill it on his pants or something." 00[00:18] <@Crion> "Horny Anno!" [00:18] 6Nels: "They sure find a bunch of excuses to show naked ladies." [00:18] "Says a lot about who they think their audience is." [00:19] "Kind of a one-two punch. You draw the teenage boys in with the cheesecake, and then you get 'em with the sustained psychic trauma." 00[00:19] <@Crion> "It's actually considered kind of daring how much naked Shinji and Kawaru there is." 00[00:19] <@Crion> "That's the silver-haired guy." [00:20] "The moon man? Yeah, I can see it." [00:20] "Those birds are probably right, by the by. They're fleeing the city." [00:21] 10To Lauren: "What's that Seele motto there?" 00[00:21] <@Crion> "Let's see if I can get the pronunciation right." 00[00:21] <@Crion> "Überm sternenzelt richtet Gott, wie wir gerichtet." 00[00:22] <@Crion> "God judges Heaven as we have, is the rough translation." [00:22] 6One of those fancy European languages. 00[00:23] <@Crion> Lauren: "Awkward!" [00:23] 10Lauren's so smart. "Probably the one thing crueler than training child soldiers is like... firing child soldiers." [00:23] 6Nels: "I feel like putting them in an elevator together is mean." [00:24] "Though --" 6There's the slap. "To who, I don't know." [00:24] "Getting down to what really matters." 00[00:25] <@Crion> Lauren: "His room is getting better, at least." [00:25] "Do you think he's ever going to realize his father doesn't care about him?" [00:25] "Well yeah, if girls are going to show up spontaneously you have to decorate." 00[00:26] <@Crion> That gets a chuckle. [00:27] 6Nels, curiously: "Wait, why?" [00:27] "The number of shots where Misato's ass or legs are just hanging out in the frame for no reason." 00[00:27] <@Crion> Lauren: "I mean. There's a reason." [00:27] "Right." 00[00:28] <@Crion> Intoning: "Horny Anno." [00:29] "Is she - she isn't saying anything?" 00[00:29] <@Crion> "That fuckin' moonwalk." [00:30] "That kid sucks." 00[00:30] <@Crion> "Horny teen congrats moonwalk." 00[00:30] <@Crion> "Eh, he's fine." 00[00:30] <@Crion> "He hasn't done anything actively shitty besides teening." [00:30] 6Also, holy shit, he's - at most - 5 years younger than she is. [00:30] 6Like, in terms of years lived through. [00:31] "Asuka..." [00:31] 6Nels: "This all seems extremely insincere." 00[00:32] <@Crion> "Sigh." [00:32] "I feel like having a cartoon character complain about perverts designing their costume doesn't actually count." [00:33] "What the fuck??" [00:33] "What in the name of --" 00[00:33] <@Crion> "The angels are getting smarter." [00:34] "Why is Gendo Ikari still allowed to run this" [00:34] "He gets results." [00:34] "Does he???" 00[00:34] <@Crion> Lauren: "He's batting 1.000." [00:34] "Seele seems happy with him." [00:36] 6Nels: "He should still be fired for making children fight wars." 00[00:36] <@Crion> "Mmmmmm." [00:37] "There was - it ended badly. You would think they'd have learned, even in fiction." [00:37] "JUST FUCKING LIE TO HIM!" [00:37] "Jesus." [00:38] "What the fuck." 00[00:38] <@Crion> "'Won't kill your friend? Well, you'll get a front row seat while your body does it while you scream. Love, Dad.'" [00:39] "Weird time for a fuckin, Simon and Garfunkel song or whatever." [00:39] "This one isn't my fault." [00:39] "Oh, Christ." [00:40] "Oh, Christ." [00:41] "What the FUCK!" [00:41] 6Nels gets up without a word to get a drink. 00[00:43] <@Crion> "That feeling when you choke out your own son for making him kill his friend." [00:46] 10Stewart exhales. "She lived?" 00[00:46] <@Crion> "After a fashion." [00:46] 6Nels: "Wait, they're court-martialing him for--" [00:46] "Dreams again?" [00:47] "I know I've said it multiple times but his dad sucks." [00:49] 6Nels: "First time he didn't hesitate stepping over a boundary." 00[00:49] <@Crion> "Horny Annnooo!!!" [00:50] 6Nels nods solemnly. 00[00:52] <@Crion> "What a cut." [00:52] 10Stewart: "Ah jeez." [00:52] 6Nels is back to leaning forward and just - watching. [00:54] 10Uh oh. [00:54] "Wait, the song." [00:54] "The - oh no." [00:55] "Oh no." 02[00:57] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) [00:57] 6Nels: "Oh no." 00[00:57] <@Crion> "Whew." [00:58] "She crawled over to him again." [00:59] "What the fuck." [01:01] 6NOT THE QUESTION HE SHOULD ASK 00[01:02] <@Crion> "Hi." [01:03] 6Nels: "Oh my God." 00[01:03] <@Crion> "This is where it breaks with the show." 00[01:03] <@Crion> "In the show, he loses this fight." [01:04] "Why would they change it?" 00[01:04] <@Crion> "Well. In a different way. You'll see." [01:04] "What the fuck is going on?" [01:04] 10To Nels: "The brain is subservient to the soul." 00[01:04] <@Crion> "Couple of reasons. First is that Anno was having a breakdown when he scripted the end of the show. Like, went in-patient afterwards. Second is that there's a good argument this is a SEQUEL to the show." 00[01:05] <@Crion> "Kid's got the left arm of God." [01:05] "The halo is - maybe - on the nose --" [01:06] "Yeah that's the one thing that's too much." [01:06] 6Pouting: "That's not what what I said!" 00[01:06] <@Crion> Lauren: "Nah. The EVAs were always repurposed angels." [01:08] 6Nels, weakly: "Are they all like this?" [01:09] "All what?" [01:10] 6Nels: "Cartoons. Movies. All of these." [01:10] "Nnnnno." [01:10] "No they very much are not." [01:11] 6Nels: "God dman it. I wrote this too." 00[01:11] <@Crion> Lauren, into the silence as the credits roll: "...And the story is half over." [01:11] "The end of the world is the midpoint?!" 00[01:11] <@Crion> "Which is weird! Because that's where the show ends." 00[01:12] <@Crion> "In the show, he loses but they backdoor the Human Instrumentality Project into action and the...world still ends? Like I said, he was having a breakdown." [01:13] "It makes sense as an end point, but... also... most things end on a positive note? And this is the opposite." [01:13] 13Melanie stirs. This time she was even stiller, barely human-appearing at all. There's a lot to process, but having decided it's impossible, she can just not do that. 00[01:13] <@Crion> "Shinji actually 'saving' Rei is kind of a positive note, given how the other two previous endings are. [01:13] "Maybe it's revenge." 00[01:14] <@Crion> " [01:14] "On the viewers. Give us all the breakdown this time." 00[01:14] <@Crion> Lauren: "Anyway, 3.33 has pirates and a musical number. Please look forward to it!" [01:14] 10Stewart blinks. [01:15] 6Nels: "There are more?" [01:15] "Wait, no, you said that, but also... what???" [01:15] "If the story's half-over, then logically there are two more movies." [01:15] 6Nels: "That is actually, literally, insane. [01:15] " [01:16] 6FUCK she forgot about moon man. [01:16] 13Melanie: "It does seem weird that someone would put so much human time and effort into- what" 00[01:16] <@Crion> "So there's a theory which is that the movies are the sequel to the show. Groundhog Day style. And that line -- "this time I will make you happy" -- is one of the linchpins."{ [01:16] "Well, the last preview was totally misleading so this one probably doesn't mean anything." 00[01:17] <@Crion> "'Now then, more fan service coming next time!'" [01:17] "If that's fan service, what does fan spite look like?" [01:18] "I think I've come around to 'what the hell'. The first one was insane but pretty amazing and it felt like an almost-complete story with some loose ends... now there's just so many new characters and half of it's pointless because everything is ending?" 00[01:18] <@Crion> "So the next movie is Evangelion 3.33: You Can (Not) Redo, and the last movie is Evangelion 3.0+1.0, set to come out middle of next year." [01:18] "At least Gendo seems to have everything under control, but he's not sharing the plan with us." [01:18] "There's no way Gendo actually has everything under control." 00[01:19] <@Crion> To Stewart: "Fan spite looks like End of Evangelion, where Anno got so angry at his fans that he had Shinji, as a self-insert for them, jerk off over Rei's hospital bed in the first thirty minutes and end the movie getting choked out by Asuka on a beach as the world ended." [01:19] 13Melanie disagrees. "The end of the world and the ascension of a new form of life is clearly something you can script. After all, this Anno guy did it." [01:20] 10Stewart: "..." [01:21] "And then the fans got one over on him in the end and decided that being choked by Asuka was fan service too?" [01:21] "I mean, would." 00[01:21] <@Crion> Lauren shrugs. "In the end, he is the same as them, just more talented." [01:22] 10Stewart: "That's so much work to put into something you don't respect." [01:23] "It was weird, but also, like, he got to distill and weaponize his anxiety." [01:23] 10Stewart: "He could've just had a son." [01:23] "I think Gendo demonstrates that he absolutely should not have." [01:24] "But he could have." [01:24] "What a weird filmchild though. The central contradiction is like.. as you say, Stewart, it's the commitment. This was really good animation? And exciting big monster fights, all the military tech, et cetera, it does the stuff you'd unironically want from an action.. anime." [01:25] "While also sort of telling you in every frame to fuck off and never watch those?" 00[01:25] <@Crion> Lauren: "There's a wider, larger tradition of that, sorta. 'Anti-war' movies that are fundamentally big-budget action films." [01:25] 13Melanie: "Or like.. 'fine, is this what you want, you animals'. And then Mari's tits fall out again or something." [01:27] 6Nels fetches her guitar. It's - it feels like a standard song to play while Evangelion is happening but it wasn't in any of the movies... but really... Her fingers play without her thinking. [01:27] 10Stewart: "I guess that's the problem with satire, isn't it. You try to take something to an absurd extreme, it's just gonna sail over people's heads." [01:27] 6https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oS_yNsDsbaQ [01:27] "And they go 'wow, cool robot!'" [01:28] "There's so much stuff that's actually interesting and like, food for thought.." 00[01:28] <@Crion> Lauren: "...!" 00[01:29] <@Crion> "That's the show's theme song, Nels!" [01:29] "But what kind of master plan involves having your son eat his only friend and then have his other only friend tear his arm off in front of you so that you get covered in a wave of blood?" [01:29] 10Stewart: "I guess if you're trying to create some kind of transcendent human messiah out of dead gods and alien biomass then they need to get fucked up." [01:30] "So in the TV show version.. were powerful looking things introduced more than ten minutes before they got blown to shit?" [01:31] 6Nels doesn't falter. "Wrote it." 6This part is tricky- she has to stop talking for a bit, but eventually: "Does the - it has words, right? I didn't write any, but..." 00[01:32] <@Crion> Lauren: "Yeah, the full show was like...13 hours? Angels would usually get a full episode, and there were a bunch of episodes just about school stuff without any angels in them." [01:32] 10Stewart plays on his phone for Nels: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6r79HxmKw8 [01:33] 13Melanie listens to Nels for a while. "Eva pilots considered as an alienee.. no. They're present in society, more so than they want to be. Every part of the world holds onto them." [01:33] "Being human is like.. the point, both for them and their robots? In order to not be human anymore? Because you can't become without being." [01:34] 6Nels: "I didn't speak that language or - why are there horns. It'd be like, 'like an angel with cruel and merciless intent, go forth young boy and you'll become a legend!'" [01:35] 13Melanie: "He doesn't want to be one. He just wants one person to see him, ideally his dad." [01:35] 10To Melanie: "They serve an explicit societal role, even. You can't be an alienee and also be like, a publicly famous soldier." [01:36] "It's not a very Lost apocalypse, is it?" [01:36] 10Stewart: "I wonder what the willworkers make of it." [01:36] 13Melanie: "Hashtag relationship goals." [01:37] "Jesuit talked about reaching Heaven through violence. Is that 'human instrumentality'?" [01:37] "In that they think the birthright of humanity is to no longer be human, like our entire experience of being is a meat puppet to shuck." 00[01:38] <@Crion> Lauren: "The mages probably see a lot more Seer in that movie than Pentacle, if I had to guess." [01:40] "Slightly weird request." [01:40] 6Nels: "The ones we talk to, anyway." [01:41] 13Melanie: "Do you know somewhere I could argue about this show on the Internet?" 00[01:41] <@Crion> Lauren cackles. "Absolutely." [01:41] "...I'd like to see what people think about it but more importantly how they put things, the reaction." [01:42] 10Stewart: "One time Lauren showed me this thing where a guy was talking about the Star Wars prequels and everyone was melting down at him for saying things like they were mean to the robots." [01:43] "This all reminds me. Speaking of movies involving, well, us... Could we do another movie night? Labyrinth." 00[01:43] <@Crion> She cackles louder. "He rules. He rules!!!" [01:43] "Sure, what's that one?" [01:43] "With David Bowie?" [01:44] "..is it quieter?" [01:44] "A musician becomes a goblin king and everyone has to pretend they don't realize it's David Bowie." 00[01:45] <@Crion> Lauren: "I don't think I've seen it, so. Yeah, sure. 00[01:45] <@Crion> " [01:47] 13Over the course of the conversation Melanie's resumed her nearly-human shape, more like a dryad than a standing hardwood. The pace of the animes was in some ways easier to follow than a Hollywood film with snappy dialogue - much of it was spectacle and the emotional strokes were very broad - but taking in that much sensory input didn't leave her with a lot of energy. Hopefully Nels's [01:47] 13taste will be less mechanised-catastrophic. [01:48] 6She... mostly liked it? It was A Lot. Like, a lot a lot. [01:51] 13This is something even Melanie would never say out loud, but she wonders: does Lauren Ipsum see anything of her worldspider in the war-factory vision of Japan and its assault by vast living robots? 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ZZZzzz…) 03[20:40] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 00[21:00] <@Crion> 00[21:00] <@Crion> 00[21:00] <@Crion> 00[21:00] <@Crion> 00[21:00] <@Crion> 00[21:00] <@Crion> 00[21:00] <@Crion> 00[21:05] <@Crion> The first week of December is here. Sooner or later...probably sooner...it'll be time. 00[21:07] <@Crion> Lauren's more or less put her security into Stewart's hands at this point, but she's been suggesting she spend more and more time at the Wherehouse as the calendar turns over. After all, it's not only safer, but much easier to fix if something barrels in looking like an 80s movie star with massive guns. 00[21:07] <@Crion> What's everyone been up to since Thanksgiving, though? There's other stuff going on in Baltimore on both sides of the Hedge than a rogue Huntsman. [21:08] 10Stewart resists at first - the 'real world' feels more secure and safer to him... but Lauren's right, and it's not long before they're spending more time than not in the Wherehouse. [21:10] 10When he's not doing this, he's working... while thinking about this. The new Path of Exile league is just around the corner - hopefully the Huntsman hits before the 9th or so - and that'll mean 16, 20 hour league start streams. A lot of the preparation for this is just being as healthy as possible in the run-up so it doesn't destroy him too badly. [21:10] 7It's also nice to be around friends! :) [21:11] 10When Stewart's stressed, he's deeply ambivalent about being around people. And he's stressed more or less all the time now. But the others do make it easier. [21:13] 7Maggie: "So yeah, you can pretty much put sausage in any kind of pastry or bread-based dish." [21:14] 6Nels has been idly working away at her schoolwork, mostly, though she's also been hanging around the Wherehouse more. Her apartment's starting to feel lonely without the others' voices, or Steve's honking. More often than not, the others can hear her humming away or plucking at the guitar or finding some bit of culture she missed out on to watch or listen to. [21:14] 5Tony's spent a chunk of his post-Thanksgiving slowly but surely replacing bits and pieces of the Wherehouse's furnishings with castoff parts and so-great-as-to-be-better-not-asking-questions Black Friday deals. That's how the fridge has a working lightbulb. That's how the burners on the stove look like they've ever been clean. And most importantly, that's how Tony's bachelor hovel has a framework of wooden studs where there will [21:14] eventually be walls. [21:14] 5For now, there's enough wall-stud there to hang a calendar. Did you know how cheap calendars are when it's already late November? They practically give that year away. [21:16] 5And that's why right now, he's re-hanging the rug-walls, over clotheslines that've been anchored into the studs. It sure is "an aesthetic." 02[21:18] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) [21:22] 13How's Melanie been? To whoever's around: "Hey, watch this." [21:23] 10Stewart's curled up on a couch with his earbuds in, but he takes them out when Melanie looks demonstrative out of the corner of his eye. "Yeah?" [21:23] 7Hmm. Melanie gonna start juggling things it is unwise to juggle? [21:24] 13She's wearing a pair of slightly knobbly gloves and, now just taking them out of a pocket, oval orange-shaded glasses. [21:24] 13Standing behind a kitchen countertop, Melanie.. slumps, lacing her fingertwigs together and resting her face on her hands, looking over the decorative glasses. Hopefully they catch the light. "Inadequate." [21:25] 7??? [21:26] "Every one of you is a disappointment." [21:26] 5Tony observes this exchange, completely lacking any context for the reference. But he politely stops hammering into his almost-wall for a moment. [21:26] 10... 03[21:26] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch [21:26] 5Tony clears his throat. "Is this a movie? I haven't seen it." [21:26] "That's really good. You're really good at that." 00[21:26] <@Crion> Lauren is watching, semi-baffled. [21:27] 6Nels snickers. Also, for once she isn't the one out of the loop about pop culture. Weird feeling. [21:27] 13Not working? Well, Stewart gets it. Melanie pushes the nonfunctional shades up her nose with one hand, glares a moment longer, then gives up and smiles. [21:27] "I found these at a Dollar Tree!" [21:28] "Nels got it, right?" [21:28] 5Tony: "Do they do a second Halloween after Christmas now?" [21:29] 6She plucks a few bars from the song she played at the end of the movie, last time. [21:29] 10To Tony: "Yeah, it's a movie. Melanie's doing an impression of the main character's evil dad." [21:29] 13To Tony: "We watched this crazy movie, or series of movies. Really I should have gathered deepening shadow behind me and worn a uniform jacket." [21:29] "That dad is the main character. He's the only guy who knows what's going on." [21:30] 6Nels: "He's also the worst. Just. The worst." [21:30] 10Stewart: "Knowing what's going on is hardly a prereq for protagonism." 00[21:30] <@Crion> To recap for both Stewart's and this narrator's benefit: he (and Lauren, and the Wherehouse at large) have a standing agreement with John of the Falls to bring the Huntsman to his door, his Gate of Horn, in the Hedge -- and John of the Falls will then somehow provide them and the Huntsman access to the dreams of Rebecca Sarah Connor, an eight-year-old who has never seen the movie Terminator 00[21:30] <@Crion> but never the less dreams of metal skeleton men crushing human skulls every night. [21:30] 5Tony: "Oh! Like the Shining? Weird movie to franchise but I guess everyone's out of ideas." 00[21:31] <@Crion> The hard part, of course, will be convincing the Huntsman. [21:31] 7Do the dreams frighten Rebecca, or has she gotten used to it? Huuurm. [21:32] 6Nels: "No, this was one of those Japanese cartoons. Anime? It was called Evangelion, but they had weird names beyond that." [21:32] 10Stewart: "It's sort of like the Shining, if the main character was Danny, who was puberty age and every interaction with a ghost was like the lady in the bathtub." [21:32] 6Nels can (not) remember. [21:32] "It depends on whether you're trying to effect effective change though." 13Odd to see the whole world in an orange light. It's like there's a blaze somewhere in the background. "Narratively yeah you're absolutely right, people bumble through and like, deal with stuff. The heroism of instinct." 00[21:33] <@Crion> Lauren snort laughs. "Sorry, I just imagined Smitten and Smote as the twins." [21:33] "'Come play with us'." 00[21:33] <@Crion> "But with a backbeat." [21:34] "If someone reacts with compassion and skill we're like wow, good protagonist! But isn't that only for stories? If you want to get something done in the real world and you don't have vital context, the chances are..." 13Well, whatever. [21:34] "I dunno, Mel. What if that's just a just-so story told to us by the people who have power by accident to justify their being assholes?" [21:35] "It's not working if so. Like sure maybe I'm convinced that only if you have power can you do stuff, but the stuff they do.. it's not good stuff. Some of the worst stuff." [21:35] 5Tony clears his throat but says this while busying himself with the wall, "I'd think if anyone would know that just because the story's about you, doesn't mean you should have stories about you, it'd be us." [21:35] 13Ooh. [21:36] "Everybody's story is about them. It's just... who can make other people listen to their stories?" [21:36] "Well.. that does situate protagonism as totally distinct from success. Oh dear." [21:40] 5Tony dusts off his hands and turns back to the room. "So, anyone doing anything interesting tonight? Place is too clean now, I gotta get out of here for a bit." 00[21:40] <@Crion> One thing John wasn't able to help you with was any sort of early warning system for the Huntsman's return. Did Stewart look into anything like that over the last few weeks? [21:42] 10Yeah. He knows about the Herald, obviously, but that only goes so far. But he's got plenty of people in the Freehold he can bother with questions, and he's got the Book... did he learn anything new? [21:42] 13Melanie: "We could go for a walk. It's pig weather, but there's always Baltimore?" 00[21:42] <@Crion> Probably. What was he looking for? [21:43] 10Probably the main thing was some kind of way of predicting where a Huntsman will re-form, and then some kind of way of monitoring that place. [21:43] 6Nels: "That depends on our long-term plan, here. If we're okay there, then I've got nothing pressing." [21:46] 13It would be nice to regularly have something on, somewhere to go... sort of. Melanie's not sure about that, actually. Parties and people are great, what she wants on some level, always has.. but she can easily fill any number of hours with work, there are dangers and stresses that didn't previously exist, and also, Tony's right: trading agency away for safety or victory is entirely [21:46] 13worthwhile. [21:47] 13She looks inquisitively at Lauren and Stewart (from behind orange glasses) to see whether they've got input. On the 'long-term plan'. [21:47] "Long-term plan for what?" 02[21:47] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) [21:49] 6Nels glances over to Lauren, before looking back to Stewart. "The Huntsman." [21:50] 10Stewart: "I mean... there's not really a long-term plan for a Huntsman. We had a month to prepare, now the month is up... now we're waiting for a sign. Then we settle it." 00[21:51] <@Crion> The Book is actually extremely helpful in this regard, conversationally laying out both the way that the Huntsman 'reforms' in the Hedge (they're said to step out of the thorn-walls themselves, having become tangled there through expulsion from some sort of special portal from Arcadia itself which only goes in the one direction) and various means of telling if it is about. The Herald may or 00[21:51] <@Crion> may not return, but if it does return is usually much less confrontational than it was on initial meeting; Huntsmen generally take no notice, good or ill, of hobs and hobs have no particular aversion to them, as the Huntsmen are never any real danger to the Hedge's native denizens, so hobs make excellent informants; and there is a certain goblin fruit, The Pursuer's Mandrake, that can be 00[21:51] <@Crion> planted in Hedge soil -- and will scream when approached by a Huntsman at his work. 00[21:55] <@Crion> Lauren's face gets a bit pinched at the word, but she's been very encouraging of them speaking freely about this in front of her, instead of treating it like she's got cancer. [21:56] 10Stewart goes on: "We've got, you know - Tony's friends in the Hedge are keeping an eye out for us, there's that Goblin Fruit we were able to plant outside... but we just gotta wait." [21:56] "There's no way to make this part of it faster." [21:56] 10Or easier. [21:59] 6Well then. "Then I've got nothing planned. Movie night again?" 6Or trying to track down family members? That's maybe a solo mission. [22:02] 5Tony: "Anything you all can think of that'll make the um...the Huntsman-part? A little easier on us? Like if the guys in JAWS didn't just hop on the boat and hope they could blow its head up." [22:03] 5Tony: "Since I've been blasted chunks out of targets with a shotgun outside in my spare time, but I dunno how well that trick's gonna work after the other time. Hopefully at all, but like someone once said, hope is not a strategy." [22:04] 10Stewart: "Hard to say for sure. Some of it'll depend on what form they take next." [22:07] 6Nels: "Do they - sorry, I suppose I never thought to ask. It won't be that same metal skeleton thing?" [22:09] "And the main thing is still to hold it off or hold it down so you guys can talk to it?" [22:09] "It'll be an iteration on that. Yeah." 00[22:10] <@Crion> There's a flurry of wings and honks as Steve almost tumbles into the Wherehouse. You don't need Tony to tell you that he's agitated and has news for Stewart, though Tony does have the familiarity to know immediately that it's about Lauren's Huntsman. [22:11] 10Stewart's on his feet as soon as he sees the hob. 03[22:11] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 00[22:11] <@Crion> Oddly, he's also been proudly calling himself "Business Steve" ever since sealing the deal with Stewart last week. [22:12] 13Wait, how much did Stewart pay? [22:12] 13What deal? [22:13] 6Does Steve have a little bow tie? Perhaps a top hat? 00[22:13] <@Crion> Not at the moment. He's been working. [22:14] 10Stewart: "What do you got?" 00[22:15] <@Crion> Anyway, the news: Lauren's Huntsman is back, and has been for a couple hours at least...but he doesn't seem to be actively hunting. Or at least not hunting Lauren. Instead he's been wandering the local Hedge, investigating doors, and even went to Notgnixel Market to examine a wide array of hedgespun objects that might approximate guns (he bought nothing, and is still apparently well-armed). 00[22:15] <@Crion> None of the Mandrakes have started shrieking, so you know he hasn't been in this area yet -- but surely he'll make his way over eventually. [22:16] 5Tony disappears into the kitchen, reappearing moments later to toss Business Steve a beer. "Steve!" 00[22:19] <@Crion> Business Steve will indulge himself with a well-earned beer. [22:20] 13Melanie strips off the white gloves absent-mindedly. "Reconnaisance, or curiosity. Last time it didn't bother to find out what it was walking into..." [22:21] 10Stewart: "If it's taking the time to prepare, we should go meet it now." [22:21] 7Maggie: "Maybe it's stuck doing the movie stuff? The robit didn't get blown up in the nightclub in the movie, so now it has no idea what to do?" [22:21] "Since we're ready and they aren't." [22:22] "Maggie, have you got more of that webstuff?" [22:22] "For prisoner transport... it's the Hedge, we can arrange something if it weighs too much to carry." [22:23] 6Nels has retreated to go fetch her kevlar vest and revolver. [22:24] 7Maggie: "Sure. I have to leave the Wherehouse at night to catch more spiders, but I've got some." [22:25] 5Tony: "So we aren't stepping all over each other...what's our plan for talking it into doing the...the thing. That whole thing." [22:26] 10Stewart looks at Lauren. 00[22:27] <@Crion> She's staring at a point at the wall. "So I guess I have to go talk to it. Him." [22:28] 13Melanie briefly considers offering to support an indoor spider farm. No. "If you offer it the heart quest, we can test sincerity with oaths or the Beers of Bacchus." [22:28] "Will it be difficult? The creature in and of itself, Lauren, is it something you could communicate with if it wasn't hunting you down?" 00[22:29] <@Crion> Lauren: "I mean...if he's looking for something, and it's not me, there's only one other thing it can really be, right?" She looks over at Stewart. "Right?" [22:29] 10Stewart: "Right." [22:30] "They've got two competing impulses. One is the Title, and the Title wants Lauren. The other is its own desire, which is to get his heart back." [22:31] "In such close proximity to the heart... we've got a good chance of doing this without anyone getting hurt." 00[22:31] <@Crion> Lauren: "...What happens to him when he gets his heart back?" [22:34] "Then the Title will be purged, and they'll be themselves again. The oath we'll make will still stand, but he'll just... go back, probably. Unless it doesn't want to." [22:34] 6Nels: "What do we do if they don't? Want to, that is." [22:34] 13Also, go back to where? [22:35] "Well, as long as it keeps to the oath... that's not really any of our business, is it?" 00[22:35] <@Crion> Lauren's sigh isn't one of resignation, but resolve. "I should probably get the vest Gerald gave me, then." 00[22:38] <@Crion> She'll return wearing police bulletproof vest with the BPD logo taken off of it. To Stewart: "I'm ready when you are, babe." She glances uncertainly around the rest of the room. She's not about to directly ask you all to come, but... [22:39] 7Maggie's getting her own vest. Safety first! [22:41] 13It's a room full of Lost visibly making Grim Preparations. Come on, Ipsum. [22:42] 5Tony's ready to go as soon as he pulls on a heavier coat, grabs his gun, and slugs a beer. 00[22:42] <@Crion> She's from the Midwest, the Doesn't Want To Be a Bother (While Being a Bother) energy is very strong with her. [22:43] 6We don't abandon friends. [22:43] 13Melanie: "I want to thank the kings for what they did, this plan to forcibly create a new motley." [22:44] "Not only has it been... personally helpful... I've noticed that so many changelings are loners. I get it, really, we have cracked shells and soft underbellies. But together.. we're strong. Really strong." 02[22:44] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 00[22:44] <@Crion> Ah, speech, ah, she's blushing. 00[22:44] <@Crion> "...I just wanna say thanks to everyone." [22:45] 13Melanie just grins hugely at that. [22:46] 5Tony: "What're friends for?" 00[22:47] <@Crion> Lauren won't be going armed. Her decision. She doubts it'll make a difference and this is, after all, something of a peace offering. [22:49] 10Stewart's got his gun, but in his mind actually drawing it, much less firing it, would be a catastrophic failure and sign of impending doom. [22:50] 6Nels only has her piece for comfort and a general sense of protection on their journey. If she does have to draw it... 00[22:52] <@Crion> When you're all ready, Business Steve will lead you out into the Hedge and see you on your way with a honk. 00[22:52] <@Crion> From thereon, it's Tony's show. [22:53] 6She briefly considers honking in reply, but Nels decides that maybe she would accidentally say something rude in goose or just generally mean, and settles for patting him on the head instead. [22:55] 5Tony gives Steve the equivalent of a high-five, without the awkward hand-to-wing contact, and sets out at the lead. The Hedge is weird (Wyrd) but even then, he's been around the not-really-city-blocks enough times to know how to find Something Worse, and (at least this time), do it without the Hedge itself paying much mind. Which, hey, small favors. 00[22:56] <@Crion> You're looking for a stretch of neighborhood (Hedgehood?) way up Charles Street, then over into Hampden. The Hedge is a bit more twee here...and a bit less. Hampden was a steel town once, before Baltimore grew and took it inside city limits, and for each fake winery-and-dinery there are some abandoned, boarded up "homes" lining the Hedge wall. Still, nothing as gauche as like, empty broken 00[22:56] <@Crion> heroin vials crunching underfoot. So that's something. [22:56] 10Putting the Gentry in gentrification. [23:01] 13Melanie's concession to armour is a jacket that's thicker than the sweaters she used to wear. She's not going to have the time to really get back into fashion, but it's possible to look more like.. like she's willing to be looked at, at least by those who see the Mask. Today she pulls the coat tighter against the cold. 00[23:02] <@Crion> Finding it isn't difficult. 00[23:03] <@Crion> The Huntsman is standing in front of a storefront window on the corner as you turn onto a wider, main drag, completely empty. The storefront is fake, of course; there's no store behind it. The lovingly-stencilled old-timey shop logo is gibberish. But since the storefront is fake, the window has a reflective sheen. 00[23:03] <@Crion> So it stands there, staring at itself. [23:04] 7Hoorm? [23:05] 6Um. 00[23:05] <@Crion> It doesn't seem to have noticed you. Yet. [23:06] 5Tony pauses and looks at the others. Probably not best to open with gunfire if we're trying to win this thing over, so he won't open with gunfire. [23:07] 10After a few seconds of intensely uncomfortable waiting, Stewart squeezes Lauren and then... whistles for the Huntsman's attention. [23:07] 7Probably too late to hide behind a mailbox. Hopefully Stewart's got a good line for this guy. [23:07] 6Nels' hand hasn't left her side where her revolver is, but she won't fire if it won't. 00[23:08] <@Crion> The Huntsman starts, straightens, and then slowly...slowwwwly...its head turns to consider the motley. 00[23:08] <@Crion> Lauren steps forward. "Hi...?" [23:10] 13How is a bodyguard meant to look? Does a dryad in Gendo Ikari glasses look like one? It'll have to do. 00[23:12] <@Crion> The Huntsman has burning red LED eyes, like Lauren's in her Mien but more piercing. It -- he -- cooly takes heavy blackout shades from a jacket pocket and covers them up. There's a huge handgun in his right hand, but he hasn't raised it yet. 03[23:13] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 02[23:13] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 03[23:14] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 00[23:21] <@Crion> Lauren: "I don't...think we've met. Not really. Last time there were...werewolves. I..." She steps back and gestures around. "I brought people with me. My people. Because of what you're here. What you've been...made to come here to do? But I don't want to fight." 00[23:21] <@Crion> "And I'm not going back." 00[23:22] <@Crion> The Huntsmen: "Your people." The voice is metallic, and yes, there's a heavy Austrian accent beneath it. Not quite Arnold though, just like he's not really Arnold in the face. [23:23] 6Nels waves with the hand that isn't by her gun. 00[23:23] <@Crion> "Your people...are not targets." [23:24] 13Melanie: "You'd have to go through us, though." [23:24] 6Nels: "That's not really why we're here, though. Not to fight." [23:25] 5Tony clarifies: "Specifically to NOT fight. To help." [23:25] 10Stewart: "We know where your heart is." 00[23:25] <@Crion> The Huntsman: "If you are not targets. What are you." 00[23:26] <@Crion> At Stewart's revelation, the Huntsman makes a growling exhalation that sounds almost like a metal plate being twisted. 00[23:29] <@Crion> His fingers roll around the grip of the handgun, but still he doesn't raise it. 00[23:29] <@Crion> To Stewart: "I could kill you. Easily. You know this. You protect her anyway." 00[23:29] <@Crion> "Why." [23:30] 10Without thinking: "Because I love her." 00[23:31] <@Crion> The Huntsman, in pure Arnold voice: "Hrrh. Nice." 00[23:31] <@Crion> "That is...nice." [23:31] 10Stewart: "We want to help you." [23:32] 6Nels: "We can restore to you what you've lost." 6She doesn't miss a beat about the declaration of love. [23:32] "We came here to help you." [23:36] "And we need your help, too." 00[23:36] <@Crion> He tilts his head. [23:37] "Your heart isn't where it should be, you know that. And where it is... it's making a little girl's dreams worse. Foreign dreams. Machine dreams of metal and power and a sky where all the stars are dim." [23:38] "If we work together, you can save yourself, and you can save Sarah Connor." 00[23:39] <@Crion> He inhales deeply at that name. Perhaps, in retrospect, it was a mistake for Sky Mother to fashion a Huntsman out of a character who is a hero in all but one of those movies. 00[23:39] <@Crion> Finally: "Then I will go with you." 00[23:39] <@Crion> "I want to live." [23:39] "Then you're one of us." [23:39] "We have a friend who can show us the way. Let's go." 00[23:39] <@Crion> A bit more smoothly than before, he holsters that giant handgun, and nods. 00[23:40] <@Crion> Lauren exhales and deflates a little bit, leaning against Stewart briefly before straightening up. To the big man: "Do you have a name?" [23:40] 6Nels: "You have a preferred name?" 6Conversationally, like she wasn't just expecting that to break out into a gunfight. [23:40] 6Good to see they're on the same page. 00[23:40] <@Crion> The Huntsman: "I am a model--" 00[23:41] <@Crion> He frowns. "My predecessor was Something Awful. I am Something Worse." [23:41] 13It works. It really works, they're trapped by stories.. Melanie tamps down the shock and follows. [23:42] 10That this worked doesn't shock Stewart at all. To him, we're all trapped by stories. [23:43] 5Tony: "Alright then. Good? To have you with us, SW. Let's go." 5Tony heads out. [23:43] 6Nels: "Well, Something Worse. Yeah. Good to have you with us." 00[23:44] <@Crion> Something Worse nods. He'll be constantly actively scanning the Hedge as they walk, but otherwise will not speak unless spoken to. 00[23:44] <@Crion> Lead on. 00[23:48] <@Crion> Soon you come upon the Gate of Horn belonging to John of the Falls, more or less where you left it, but without any of the onerous proving challenges that were here last time. And in fairness, even if they had been, you do have someone with you who could kind of just walk through them. [23:49] 5Tony: "And that's how we get here. Nice. Anything we should brief SW on before we continue?" 00[23:51] <@Crion> The Huntsman arches an eyebrow over his heavy shades. [23:53] 6Nels is just glad she doesn't have to sing to the weird snake again. I mean, it seemed to enjoy the experience, but that was concerning. "I think we're good? No enemies here, just... the future." [23:53] 13Melanie: "Through the Gate is our ally, John. He has an in to Sarah Connor's head." 00[23:53] <@Crion> If you're ready, all that's left is to knock. [23:53] 5Tony: "Also, spooky house, John's cool. Should be good to go, right everyone?" [23:53] 5Tony knocks. [23:54] 6Nels is going to have to figure out why they keep calling Rebecca Connor "Sarah." Middle name, sure, but... 00[23:54] <@Crion> Boom boom boom. The knocker ripples...then recedes into the door. 00[23:54] <@Crion> But it doesn't open. [23:55] 13Not this again! 00[23:55] <@Crion> Instead a face presses through the great basalt slabs like it's a thin film of skin, skeletal and grinning, eye sockets empty. [23:56] "Hey." 00[23:56] <@Crion> It swings left and right, seeming somehow to take you all in, and then: 00[23:56] <@Crion> "So you've done it," booms the voice of John of the Falls, from somewhere and nowhere at once. [23:56] "Hi there." [23:57] 5Tony: "This part anyway." [23:57] 6Nels just arches an eyebrow. 00[23:57] <@Crion> "Greetings, Huntsman. Greetings, motley. When this door opens, it will be Rebecca Sarah Connor's Gate of Horn. I expect you to remember you are in the mind of a child, and conduct yourselves accordingly. You have the power to save her...or hurt her quite badly. And remember: nothing in there is real. Everything in there is a metaphor. You are solving a puzzle, not winning a war." [23:58] 6Hand away from the gun. Got it. 00[23:58] <@Crion> "Are you prepared?" [23:59] 10Stewart feels so much more comfortable doing this than waiting and thinking about doing this. "We're ready." [23:59] 5Tony: "Yes." Session Time: Sun Jan 12 00:00:00 2020 02[00:00] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) [00:00] 13Melanie: "A title of the sky mother invaded this girl's head and left the heart of something worse behind. We have to help her and we have to be gentle about it. That's the precis." 00[00:01] <@Crion> The skeletal head nods. "Good luck." 00[00:02] <@Crion> A great, searing light runs down the seam in the basalt door, the head, bisected, recedes, and the doors throw themselves open to a blinding white light. [00:02] 5Tony nods to Stewart. "Lead on, chief." 00[00:03] <@Crion> It's Lauren who goes first. [00:03] 10Stewart's close behind. 00[00:03] <@Crion> So how many of y'all have seen Terminator (1984) and Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)? [00:04] 6What are those? [00:04] 10Stewart has. 00[00:05] <@Crion> Those who have recognize this as the future setting of those movies, where Skynet has won and humanity is being hunted down and exterminated. The rest of you just see a nightmarish fever dream of improbable smoke, odd war machines, burned out, ruined buildings, and skeletal silver monster-robots grinning as they hunt down and murder screaming, fleeing civilians. [00:06] 13Melanie's seen both but she doesn't remember them well, as it was Before. She wouldn't remember at all except that they're really good movies and she's refreshed her memory with wiki synopses. 00[00:06] <@Crion> The people don't seem to see you, and there's something...insubstantial about them? They seem like they're recorded on film. When they push past you, you feel no pressure on your arm or chest. [00:07] 13Muttering: "If the girl dreams this world, she's going to be very confused someday." [00:07] "This is - she's a kid?" 6Utter cruelty. 00[00:07] <@Crion> The skeletons though...the skeletons CAN see you. They raise their weapons... 00[00:07] <@Crion> And Something Worse, ignoring everything that John of the Falls just said, leaps forward -- a literal 20-foot leap -- and begins removing heads from bodies. [00:08] 7Well, we'll just have to-- whoa! Look at that! [00:08] 6Suddenly really glad he's on our side. Or at least not against our side. 00[00:09] <@Crion> Robot skeleton heads, of course. [00:13] 5Tony just watches. This is probably ok for now. [00:13] 10Stewart calls to SW: "We need to keep moving forward." 00[00:13] <@Crion> Punching a skeleton's head off without looking: "Understood." [00:14] 13Melanie freezes, unsure - is this okay? Does hurting dream-creatures hurt the dreamer? [00:14] 6It would be difficult to stop him, and they do seem angry at us. 00[00:18] <@Crion> Lauren, to Stewart: "Okay. Okay. What are we doing? Are we looking for Linda Hamilton?" [00:21] 10Stewart: "We're actors in a story. We have to help this play out to keep going." [00:21] 10Stewart looks around for a cop car they can steal. 00[00:21] <@Crion> Lauren: "Okay so...is this 1 or 2?" 00[00:22] <@Crion> Well, you're in the hideous far future. All the cop cars are burnt out. You need to get sent to the past for that.. [00:22] 6Nels: "One or two whats?" 6Maybe not the time. [00:22] 5Tony: "I gotta hope it's two, for the sake of us and SW getting along. That's the one where he's good right?" [00:22] 13Melanie: "We need to find something hidden, right. Is there a.. safe or bunker, some totemic place in the story that you need to get to?" 00[00:23] <@Crion> Something Worse is currently covering your advanced with twin longslide 1911s. [00:23] "..nice moves.." 00[00:23] <@Crion> *advance [00:23] 7Maggie: "Do the robit skeletons have a controller of some kind? I never saw the movies." 00[00:24] <@Crion> Lauren: "I don't see Sky Mother. And they only meet Skynet in the movies in Salvation and Genisys..." [00:24] 6Nice guns. And nice firearms, too. [00:25] 10Stewart: "A Cyberdyne building maybe?" 00[00:25] <@Crion> "We're looking for Sarah Conner, right? This is her dream, she's gotta be here somewhere, even if it's not the right part of the timeline...?" [00:26] 6Nels: "Her home? It'd be kinda straightforward, but she is pretty young..." [00:26] "That seems like a good start, find the dreamer. Things will be happening around her." 00[00:27] <@Crion> Lauren: "Wait! Shit! No! JOHN Connor, right?? Like, this is the future! We're looking for John Connor!" 00[00:27] <@Crion> Something Worse's eyes flare. "I recognize that name." [00:28] "So he can send us back to protect her. Right, yeah, that makes sense." [00:28] 13Melanie: "Either way.. John, the other John, he said we can shape this place the same as the hedge. We can warp it to locate someone, though we mustn't break.. important dream bits." [00:29] "By dream-logic, in this scene of massacre.. should we head to where they're all running from?" [00:30] 5Tony: "Or where they're running TO, if that's where the Human Resistance is, in this?" 00[00:31] <@Crion> It's worth noting some of the human survivor props are firing back -- they're just getting slaughtered over and over again on repeat. But you might be able to divine what they're defending from where they are. To the extent spatial position matters in a dream world. [00:39] 6Hmm. Same as the hedge. A song Nels doesn't immediately recognize comes to mind, and she begins whistling, ignoring any of the dreamer's nightmares taking notice. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpMg1upld0w Then, to punctuate - she begins knocking on the nearest wall. Ba-dum bum ba bum. Ba-dum bum ba - holy shit, is that a door? 00[00:40] <@Crion> Something Worse perks up as she whistles. His eyes glow through his shades. 00[00:40] <@Crion> The door pops open. A trooper yells, "Are you with the resistance?!" [00:42] 10Holy shit what. [00:42] 10Did she just- [00:42] 10Stewart's agog. [00:42] 13....... ".........Yes." 00[00:42] <@Crion> The Huntsman is laying down covering fire like you've rarely seen, even in a movie. Just one-shotting everyone. 00[00:42] <@Crion> The trooper waves them all forward. "This way, ma'am! He's waiting for you!" 00[00:43] <@Crion> Something Worse finishes clearing the field, then when the door closes behind them, he jams the lock. 00[00:44] <@Crion> They're now in a hazy, sewer-like bunker. The trooper is leading them forward through halls filled with huddling civilians. [00:44] 6It is the practice of one hundred years in Arcadia that stops Nels from immediately fainting. Oh my god, she just did that. [00:45] 5Tony is grinning ear to ear. Never thought this would be anywhere near this enjoyable or entertaining. 00[00:45] <@Crion> "He'll be so glad to see you all ma'am -- we didn't think you'd made it -- left here --" 00[00:46] <@Crion> You arrive at a big metal door, and the trooper bangs three times. [00:46] 13Who do they think we are?! What did Nels do? The whole Wyrd pivoted. 00[00:46] <@Crion> Door opens. Another trooper, basically the same as the first: "My god! They're here! TELL GENERAL CONNOR AND COMMANDER REESE THEY'RE HERE!" 00[00:47] <@Crion> So, again, if you've seen a Terminator movie, you probably know who the two guys standing in the center of the room are. Weirdly, it's the Terminator Salvation John Connor -- Christian Bale. 00[00:48] <@Crion> Flat American accent and all. [00:48] 10It's Batman! [00:49] 6She might know the secret passage to their secret base, but none of these people look familiar. The song is still pounding through her head. 00[00:49] <@Crion> "Thank God," says John Connor. "We thought you were lost. And you brought the hero machine?" 00[00:49] <@Crion> He's looking at Something Worse. [00:49] 10Stewart nods. 00[00:49] <@Crion> Kyle Reese's eyes narrow. "Are you sure you're up for this mission, soldier?" he asks the Huntsman. [00:49] 7Hey, it's some guy! 00[00:50] <@Crion> In his hands, he holds a shining, pulsing red orb. 00[00:50] <@Crion> "This will take you to the past. Put you on mission. Are you ready for that?" 00[00:51] <@Crion> Something Worse steps forward, guns holstered...and for the first time, seeing his heart like that, he hesitates. "...I am willing." 00[00:51] <@Crion> Dream-Reese: "Not the question, soldier. You're going back to a world you know nothing about, to find someone you were supposed to kill, and protect her. I asked you: are you ready for that?" 00[00:52] <@Crion> The hesitation is gone. "I am ready." [00:52] 13Melanie drops back to murmur to Lauren: "Is this an okay metaphor? Think about the implications." 00[00:52] <@Crion> Reese holds up the orb. The bunker rattles around you as the Terminators penetrate the outer walls. A klaxon blares: two minutes until full annihilation. 00[00:53] <@Crion> Lauren, to Melanie: "Yes." 00[00:53] <@Crion> The hero machine takes the orb, and the whole world goes white. 00[00:53] <@Crion> Somewhere in Baltimore County, a little girl stops shivering in her sleep. 00[00:54] <@Crion> Somewhere in the Hedge, you appear outside a great basalt door. [00:55] 7Maggie looks around, stunned. Then she puts her arm around Nels' shoulders and guffaws. "HAW!" [00:56] 5Tony: "Nels! The absolute coolest beans!" [00:58] 6Nels: "Oh my goodness." [00:59] 10Stewart sweeps Nels up in a giant hug as soon as they're out. 00[01:00] <@Crion> There's a strange stretching sound as John of the Falls pokes his face out of the door again. "Exceptionally well done. You honor the freehold. The child is safe now, if you were wondering." [01:00] 5Tony: "We were, and that's even better!" 00[01:00] <@Crion> Lauren meanwhile puts her hand on Something Worse's shoulder...and he takes off the shades, tossing them aside. Then the jacket. Then the grenades beneath the jacket. Then carbine somehow stored on his back beneath the jacket. 00[01:01] <@Crion> Soon he's there in a black tee, bootcut jeans, and only two pistols. "Better," he says. [01:01] 13Melanie: "You're the big damn hero now." 13She's either speaking to Something or to Nels. 00[01:03] <@Crion> Lauren and Something Worse speak quietly for a moment, and then he turns to the rest of you. "I want to thank you all. For freeing me. Now I must leave." [01:03] 6Nels: "You keeping the name?" 6She might collapse soon. 00[01:03] <@Crion> "I..." He looks at Lauren, who nods encouragingly. "'Need time.'" [01:03] "Sure thing. Hope you like independent life, big fella!" 00[01:04] <@Crion> To Nels: "Yes. I am informed there is always something worse. Therefore, it is suitable." [01:04] 10After a moment Stewart moves to stand beside Lauren. "Thank you so much," 10he says to the former huntsman. 00[01:04] <@Crion> "You are welcome, Stewart." 00[01:04] <@Crion> "Thank you all again." [01:04] 5Tony: "Take care of yourself out there." [01:04] "See you when we see you." 6She's going to be leaning on Stewart's shoulder, if he's still close. "See you later, Something Worse." 00[01:04] <@Crion> He turns to leave, but pauses after three steps. To Lauren: "Find me if I am needed." 00[01:05] <@Crion> Then he turns, and goes. 00[01:05] <@Crion> A few moments after he's gone, Lauren half-swoons against Stewart. "Holy shit." 00[01:05] <@Crion> "Holy shit, Nels!!" 00[01:05] <@Crion> Since Nels is basically right there, Lauren will bear hug her too. [01:06] 6Faintly: "I don't even know why that worked. It just - felt right." [01:06] 13Melanie applauds, since nobody did during the actual performance. [01:06] 6She accepts the hug with grace, and will return it. [01:06] 5Tony looks at Lauren and Stewart, then glances at the rest of the group. "There's gotta be a 24-hour diner or something open for us. Stewart, if you two just wanna...leave a sock on the Wherehouse door until whenever, I think we would all understand." 00[01:06] <@Crion> Lauren: "Oh for fuck's sake, let's all get something to eat." [01:07] 5Tony laughs. "Works for me." [01:07] 10Stewart, very quickly: "Yeah I'm hungry, are you guys hungry? Let's get some food." [01:07] 7Maggie: "I could eat." [01:08] 6Nels: "I need to go lay down. Oh my God. That -- happened." [01:08] "You might wanna talk to John about it later. Maybe you've got a talent for dreams." [01:12] 5Tony: "Gary Wright's got a song about that even! You guys know---of course you don't." [01:13] 13Absolutely no idea. [01:13] 13Let's find a diner with the long seats so Nels can collapse on one as we eat over her victorious corpse. [01:16] 6Anything with eggs. [01:16] 10Stewart will stop at home to drop off his gun and also to make a full report through Ravens on the total victory achieved. 00[01:17] <@Crion> He gets congratulations back through the Ravens in their inimicable style, and a similarly congratulatory text from Gerald some 30 minutes later (he was over at his brother's place). [01:22] 10Stewart's almost delirious with relief. The feeling lingers for at least a couple of days. How's Lauren doing over that time? 00[01:25] <@Crion> Spending more and more time back at her place...but not yet truly moving out. 00[01:25] <@Crion> Chup seems to like it there. 00[01:26] <@Crion> I mean, he doesn't like Stewart, of course. But he does like florping all over Stewart's furniture and possessions and so on, while making faces. [01:28] 10One day while Stewart is putting groceries away, he says with no preamble: "So I've been thinking." 00[01:28] <@Crion> Lauren, at her computer, turns in the chair. "Yeah?" [01:29] "Are you on a lease?" 00[01:29] <@Crion> Her eyes literally flare. Bad Mien for concealing emotion. "It's up in a month or two," she says casually. [01:31] 10Stewart: "Cause like... I know the circumstances are very weird, and I don't know if this is... I don't want to pressure you or, or move faster than you're comfortable with." 00[01:32] <@Crion> Lauren: "You're not doing that." [01:33] "Okay. Okay. Do you want to stay?" [01:33] "Cause I... want you to stay." 00[01:33] <@Crion> "Yes!!" 00[01:33] <@Crion> "Chup, do you want to stay?" 00[01:34] <@Crion> Chup: "mao." 00[01:34] <@Crion> "I think that's a yes." [01:36] 10Stewart: "Great! Cool. Cool cool cool. I think we're gonna want to mess with the furniture some more, make your setup feel like a more organic part of the apartment. And you gotta help decorate, obviously. There's a closet here that's just full of stuff from sponsors, we've got plenty of storage..." 10Breezing past the emotional weight of the decision and plunging directly into tasks [01:36] 10that can be done feels a lot more manageable than the red-hot giddiness in his chest. 00[01:37] <@Crion> A bit hesitantly: "So do you want me to keep my computer here, or should I move it...?" 00[01:37] <@Crion> "Just, you know, for a permanent home. For the computer." 00[01:38] <@Crion> "And yeah, we're -- we can change a bunch of stuff." [01:38] 10Stewart: "I was thinking maybe we could figure out a way to split the office." 00[01:38] <@Crion> "About this whole...thing." [01:38] "You know I don't want you to have to be on camera constantly, but." 00[01:38] <@Crion> "Hmmmm. I'd like that...but I worry about the heat output. We need to figure out good venting..." 00[01:38] <@Crion> She waves a hand. "I don't care about that. The camera stuff. I'm fine with that." 00[01:39] <@Crion> "It's just going to get really fucking hot in there in July." [01:40] "The heat we can fix, but the noise from the heat solutions might be an issue..." 00[01:41] <@Crion> "I mean...it's a temporary problem, right? With both our incomes, once your lease is up..." 00[01:41] <@Crion> Her eyes flush. "Sorry. That's getting ahead of things." [01:41] 10Stewart: "Which is July, by the way." [01:41] "Not that I'm counting." 00[01:42] <@Crion> She smiles at that. 00[01:42] <@Crion> Chup, as always, is unimpressed. [02:26] 13From: paperbark@summer.ctl [02:26] 13To: listl@losf.org [02:26] 13Subject: Thank you [02:26]  [02:26] Hi, Mr. List. I wanted to catch you up on how things are going with the 'Wherehouse' motley. [02:26]  [02:26] I believe the seasonal leaders made a great decision, even regardless of whatever danger's been foreseen. Now that I've got my feet and met more Baltimore changelings, I've seen that most of us are loners, cooperating through the court structure and specialisation but eschewing human-style reflexive trust. [02:26]  [02:26] Taking the leap of faith to rely on others of your kind isn't just a relief. 'Managing' the local Hedge operations gives us a kind of task-expertise where synergies are readily obvious. Is there an analogy with the way most members of the courts have a particular role, a task to benefit the Lost that in the tasking renders them found? I'd like to do more for Summer if you've any needs. [02:26]  [02:26] We saved Lauren's Huntsman from their Keeper today. Nels captured the whole Heart-dream in a song and simply wove us straight to the end, or to the beginning. 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ZZZzzz…) 03[14:33] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 02[15:53] * Disconnected 02[15:54] * Attempting to rejoin channel #gofetch 03[15:54] * Rejoined channel #gofetch 03[15:54] * Topic is 'Who botches the Botchmen?' 03[15:54] * Set by Crion!Crion@sorcery-puhjpa.fios.verizon.net on Sun Sep 22 02:37:29 2019 02[15:55] * @Crion (Crion@sorcery-puhjpa.fios.verizon.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 02[18:49] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 03[18:51] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 02[19:58] * Disconnected Session Close: Sat Jan 18 19:58:06 2020 Session Start: Sat Jan 18 19:58:10 2020 Session Ident: #gofetch 03[19:58] * Now talking in #gofetch 03[19:58] * Topic is 'Who botches the Botchmen?' 03[19:58] * Set by Crion!Crion@sorcery-puhjpa.fios.verizon.net on Sun Sep 22 02:37:29 2019 03[19:58] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Crion 03[20:59] * banana|peels is now known as BANANA 00[21:03] <@Crion> 00[21:03] <@Crion> 00[21:03] <@Crion> 00[21:03] <@Crion> 00[21:03] <@Crion> 00[21:03] <@Crion> 00[21:03] <@Crion> 00[21:03] <@Crion> 00[21:03] <@Crion> 00[21:06] <@Crion> December's a lot calmer once Something Worse has dun-dun-dun-dun dun'd his way out of your collective lives. 00[21:09] <@Crion> The weather in Baltimore is mild; no snow to speak of, occasional shorts weather, and it'll probably be a warm Christmas. Speaking of -- Christmas is the next item on the Freehold social calendar, coming a few days after the winter solstice when Autumn turns power over to Winter in a private ceremony. That this will conflict with the more family-oriented lives of a number of the Freehold's 00[21:09] <@Crion> changelings is by design; Winter prefers smaller, more intimate affairs, and for their one to-do during their three months in power, they want something that caters towards courtiers who don't like the big crowds and loud noise of Halloween and Prom. 00[21:13] <@Crion> When Stewart's had an acceptable amount of time to deal with the fallout from the Huntsman -- namely, the new, more permanent living conditions, with Lauren fully moving in -- he'll get another message from Ravens in their inimicable style, inviting him to drop by and see Santander at the office. 00[21:14] <@Crion> *inimitable 03[21:16] * BANANA is now known as banana [21:17] 10Stewart's life owns. Lauren moved in, the new league's started and fucked EVERYTHING up, no one's being threatened with death or kidnapping. Everything's going great, and he shows it by turning in 12, 14, 16 hour days on the stream. Not as heinous as the teams of people who put together schedules where they're on for 30 hours and off for 6... but the Wherehouse doesn't see much of him for [21:17] 10a while. In fact the meeting with Santander's his first non-Lauren-enforced venture outside the apartment in almost a week. [21:19] 10So he heads downtown to see Santander - shirt and slacks, no suit - looking sunken and frazzled in a way that belies his emotional state. [21:24] 6Nels, for her part, has been spending more time at the Wherehouse, rather than less. She still returns to her apartment, and she'll still be keeping it, but it's nice having a communal space to just be around other people while she reads, or plays, or watches some old movie. (Not as old as her, but you don't want to watch those.) Still, she's been putting it off - unless someone needs backup for something, Nels will finally be looking [21:24] into UMBC. They've got to have studying help, even setting aside the relative she knows is there and hasn't met. 00[21:26] <@Crion> Melanie will have new mail: 00[21:26] <@Crion> From: listl@losf.org 00[21:26] <@Crion> To: paperbark@summer.ctl 00[21:26] <@Crion> Subject: Re: Thank You 00[21:26] <@Crion> Hello Melanie, 00[21:26] <@Crion> That is excellent to hear about the Huntsman. Resolving that issue increases Freehold security, and resolving it in that fashion increases Freehold integrity. Some have complained about leaving 'loose threads' before, but a Huntsman who has regained his heart has been compromised to a permanent end. Without directly involving Arcadia. 00[21:26] <@Crion> Furthermore it is good to hear about the growth of your motley. While a proponent of this plan I was skeptical perhaps of some of the other stakeholders involved. It is good to see my trust in them, through my trust in you, was well-placed. 00[21:26] <@Crion> Summer operations are drawn down again that Street has returned to Swordhome. However if you want continuing education in weapons training or simply a sparring partner, a number of bored courtiers stand ready. Speak with Smote and Nissa. 00[21:26] <@Crion> Looking forward to seeing you at the next gathering. 00[21:26] <@Crion> -- L. [21:28] 13Melanie works... but she tries not to only work. On some level it's just trading one kind of isolation for another, isn't it? The Wherehouse is more comfortable than her campus apartment of two months and has people in it, real friends who she can be around and not just become a mess of thoughts behind hardening bark; that's not the same as engaging with the real world, particularly as it [21:28] 13isn't in the real world. [21:30] 13There's an absurdity to re-engaging by training to fight fairy-tale monsters. But her latest thesis chapter is Absurdity and the Alienee, so- she'll call up David Smote. [21:31] 7Maggie's going to work on tending and caring for the various plants she's brought in to grow in the Wherehouse's small garden. Also, she's going to send an 'e-mail' to Smitten about the Huntsman events, which is a little nervous-making. She checks the address six times before hitting send. 00[21:33] <@Crion> Smote picks up on the third ring. There's a low hum of bass in the background, though no melody is coming through; he must be upstairs at Oberon's. "What's good, paper?" [21:34] 5Tony's been spending his Wherehouse time puttering about, and gosh. There has been a lot of Wherehouse time. His hovel has drywall now! Maybe it'll get painted someday! Goals for 2020 include: a door. [21:34] her a professor. Everything else is going well. Best regards, Maggie Bakehead> [21:36] 13Melanie: "Hello David or Davids. I'd like to put my name down for some sparring and training stuff if you're keeping a list?" 00[21:37] <@Crion> Smote laughs. "You're on top of it. Most of our crew gets a little bit lazy in Autumn and Winter. Wax boy's team handling the muscle, and all. Nissa mentioned wanting a shot at you if wanna come on down to Swordhome, though." [21:41] 13Melanie: "I don't really know Nissa so that would be good. Can I ask you about the seasonal activity thing? Does that arise from lessened inclination or delegated responsibility?" 00[21:41] <@Crion> Smitten texts back: 00[21:42] <@Crion> Smote: "Well most directly, it arises from, we get the shit kicked out of us in High Summer. Colt just got a cast off his arm, for real. So, Autumn, well, maybe we take a little time off, rest up, do some self-improvement in Winter, come back to Prom with a whole new fit." 00[21:43] <@Crion> "But I guess to be truthful the answer is both, and each feeds into the other. It's good to have a structure." [21:44] 7Oh! A text message. Well, that's easier than e-mail anyway.  00[21:45] <@Crion> Smitten: [21:46] 10How's the activity at the office when Stewart arrives? Is it just Lauren at the front desk again? [21:47] 13Melanie: "Okay, that makes sense, it does. ..I saw some goblins offering healing contracts at Notgnixel, is that a good idea?" [21:50] 13Melanie: "I mean it is. As in, it is good to have- ehh." [21:54] 7Maggie's started smoking cigs since her Icon was returned, or perhaps resumed smoking them after an Arcadian hiatus. Is anyone bothered by it? [21:55] 6There are worse habits. Nels hasn't smoked in a hundred years, but she's not going to stop anyone who does. 00[21:59] <@Crion> Lauren is chatting with Cormorant when Stewart arrives. This is actually the busiest he's ever seen the place -- it looks almost...fully staffed? Kingsley and Gerald are in animated conversation about something in the middle of the room, that big open workspace with all the weird gadgets and gizmos and charts, apparently disagreeing about when the first computer was secretly made or manifested 00[21:59] <@Crion> in this world. Cider Stitch from Winter is spinning around in an office chair, half-listening to them. 00[22:00] <@Crion> And in the back corner of that room, at the far desk, a gaunt woman in all black with short black hair sits with her back to the conversation and to the elevator, playing what appears to be some strange form of speed solitaire under a UV light. She clears the cards, expertly reshuffles, and begins dealing again as Lauren sees Stewart and smiles. "Hey!" [22:01] 10Stewart's gaze lingers on the woman in the back for just a moment before he smiles at Lauren and Cormorant. "Hey! Santander in?" [22:02] 13There are weirder smelling drugs around the hollow than tobacco, but one thing that does worry Melanie a bit is the actual process of lighting up. A spark or flare and then a puff of smoke.. it worries her on some elemental level, so she'll tend to avoid watching. 00[22:02] <@Crion> Gaunt Rose -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSasQyFDznQ Did you see him out there running, when the angels swooped down so sudden? 00[22:06] <@Crion> As they do, she stiffens and looks over her shoulder, eyes narrowed. They narrow further when she sees Stewart. She's a Darkling Bright One in her Mien, less of a contradiction in terms than you might expect, and a white pinprick of light burns in the center of her jet black eyes. Then she turns away again, and finishes the deal. [22:07] 10Stewart smiles weakly back when he feels her eyes on him. 00[22:08] <@Crion> Lauren: "Yeah! He's in the back." 00[22:08] <@Crion> "In his office." 00[22:09] <@Crion> As for Nels, is she gonna straight-up enroll in UMBC? Registration deadlines have passed for classes over Winter break...but the Freehold's got friends, who also have friends. [22:09] "Cool." 10Stewart doesn't think he's ever been in Santander's office, unless his office is still that archmage tower that pokes into the Hedge. Either way, he heads back. 00[22:12] <@Crion> Business Steve will keep Tony erstwhile company, but he's constantly leaving and returning, honking about making moves and then having had made moves, respectively. [22:14] 5Tony, without any formal training, still falls into the natural rhythm of builder and businessman: Work is done while Business Steve is out of the room, because nothing's getting done while a Business Entity is about. He'll still be soliciting Steve's opinions on wall-hangings when the time is right, however. 00[22:16] <@Crion> Smote: "I mean, you always gotta pay, right? But as far as we know they're not long-term dangerous or anything. Not anymore so than normal goblin contracts. Still, some of us stay cautious on that. Nissa won't touch 'em." [22:16] 6She still doesn't have her GED, but UMBC might have people who can help her get through the last few bits. History's still sketchy, but she's reasonably confident about the rest - reading, writing, the sciences, and math. So if they have any kind of program for aspiring education majors to tutor people like her - uh, not exactly like her, that would be overly specific - but sort of like her, she'd be taking advantage of such a program. [22:16] If not, well, call in a few favors and use their library. Try and get acclimated around groups that aren't the motley. [22:16] 6After she passes... maybe. Nels never would've had the chance before. 00[22:18] <@Crion> Santander's office is, indeed, Always Like That. You activate Kingsley's office door as a portal to his Hollow, and he lets you in or he doesn't. Kingsley and Santander have gotten in shouting matches about this before, with Santander telling Kingsley if he doesn't like having to share a door they can change buildings, because Santander's not about to let the door to the janitor's closet or 00[22:18] <@Crion> men's restroom serve instead. [22:19] 13Melanie: "Noted. I totally get the impulse to stay away from the master's tools, it's just.. gonna be hard to dismantle the master's house otherwise." [22:19] 6Shit, she could go to college. She could actually do that. [22:20] "I'll visit Swordhome soon, it's something I haven't been doing enough anyway." 00[22:20] <@Crion> Spring's got people who can help with the GED; the North Avenue Community Center can easily help take care of that, and indeed could have been in the process of doing so for quite awhile already. And Amelia Bantham is a very persuasive guidance counselor. [22:21] 10Well, Santander's expecting him, so hopefully the invocation isn't rejected... 00[22:23] <@Crion> It is not! Santander's office is radiant in the afternoon sun coming in from...everywhere...but it's still kind of hard to see down into the Hedge below through the fog outside and the steamed-up windows. Apparently the Hedge is shy about anyone getting this much of a bird's-eye view of it. Also, like the moon before it, the sun is here (or a facsimile of it?) and it's too damn close. 00[22:25] <@Crion> The Leering Christ is slightly less...like that...in the daylight. 00[22:25] <@Crion> But only slightly. [22:26] "Good--" 10Stewart's suddenly forgotten what time of day it is in the glaring light. "--hello, Lord Sage." 00[22:26] <@Crion> Santander, from behind his desk: "STEWART READER! ''CRITICALMASS!!'' WELCOME TO MY---" [22:27] 6...who all works at the NACC? Anyone Nels recognizes, past Amelia Bantham? She does still want a study partner before scheduling her actual test... 00[22:27] <@Crion> He turns away from the window and frowns. "...Quite dirty office. Furniture! Attend!" [22:27] 13Melanie's going to emerge from her rooms and ask whoever's around, "Should I go and fight Nissa of Fives for training? She's got at least five ways to cut people." 00[22:28] <@Crion> The chair from before lopes up, this time accompanied by a taller, thinner end table, and Santander quickly loads some books from his desk onto each before sending them off to other parts of the room. 00[22:29] <@Crion> David Smitten basically runs the NACC as the general manager, and both Harlan Jape and, a bit surprisingly, DJ Fuck You also spend a lot of time there. The latter just goes by DJ; he does art instruction and helps Harlan with his music classes. There are also a bunch of mortals and a couple fae-touched on staff. [22:30] 6...I don't believe that Nels has met "DJ Fuck You." 00[22:32] <@Crion> He's the house DJ at The Sidereal, and also one of Spring's chief (and only) enforcers. Stewart and Maggie met him the night they met The Mainer and The Girl, in the sense that they went there while he was DJing, but he's Jape's assistant on any night when Jape's in the club. 00[22:33] <@Crion> Business Steve responds to Melanie: "honk" 03[22:33] * Retrieving #gofetch modes... [22:34] 10Stewart reflexively moves to help the magically animated furniture tidy itself up. 00[22:34] <@Crion> Santander: "LEEEEEEEEAVE IT!!!" 00[22:34] <@Crion> "The furniture becomes upset when not permitted to do its work!" [22:34] 13Melanie: "I'm not going to cut anything- what do you mean, no margin in that? [22:35] 10Stewart puts his hands up like Santander drew down. 00[22:36] <@Crion> The chair actually somehow communicates a nod with the bending chair-back as it trundles over to a shelf and semi-barfs the books at it. Decorative wooden hands in-laid into the shelf become non-decoratively entirely, catching the tomes and sorting them properly. [22:36] 6Well. She never did manage to sit in on one of their music classes. Maybe a night off from trying to figure out the particulars of World War II will do Nels some good? And, as a bonus, it puts off making a decision. 00[22:36] <@Crion> "So!" says Santander, rummaging around in his desk and finally locating a pipe. "The Knight-Errant Stewart returns, victorious in the field of DREAM WAR!" 00[22:37] <@Crion> *on the field [22:38] 10Stewart: "Everyone really stepped up. Nels opened a direct route to the heart with a song. Lauren didn't even flinch when she was making her case to the Huntsman. We'd never have gotten that far without Tony's navigation, or Maggie and Melanie protecting us." 00[22:39] <@Crion> Nels can if she likes. When she does she'll find the classes are geared for...beginning students. Specifically, DJ's doing after-school piano lessons for elementary and middle school public students. He's actually got like 12 Casios in here from somewhere; it's kind of a cacophony, but he's preternaturally able to tune out everything but the specific student's dissonant key-clonking and 00[22:39] <@Crion> correct their form. 00[22:40] <@Crion> Business Steve waggles a wing mischeviously. Honk honk! Then he waddles off. 00[22:41] <@Crion> The philosophy of Business Steve, explicated: https://i.imgur.com/KU9tg78.jpg [22:42] 13Melanie: "You forgot to budget for getting too fucked up and falling down the open manhole." 13Goblins. Sometimes they're too human. [22:42] 13Time to head out? But what should she wear... [22:44] 6He need a hand? She used to be one of these students, after all. Uh, not piano, but still. If he doesn't want Nels helping, she'll stick around for a few minutes, make a polite excuse, and head off to find someone who can help her keep the various wars straight. But. Maybe she could do this. Not at this level, not regularly, but. 00[22:44] <@Crion> Santander taps the desk with the pipe and some...weed?...trundles over on little weed legs like some strain of tiny Pillsbury Doughboy and leaps into the pipe. "Hoo hoo!" it chirps as he lights it up. "A TRUE TEAM EFFORT!" he exclaims after a meditative puff. 00[22:44] <@Crion> He's got another class coming right after when the high school lets out, so yeah, if she's willing to put up with maybe some gangly 17 year old asking her what she's doing later. [22:46] 7Maggie: "Is that why they call her Nissa of Fives?" [22:48] 13Ah! How do people move so fast. Appearing out of nowhere when you're standing in the middle of the room thinking. "Yeah, it actually is. Like... Summer, you know? We're meant to bristle." [22:48] 6Lovely. She'll figure something out, if that happens - Nels hasn't survived this long to get stopped by awkward teens. 02[22:51] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 03[22:51] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch [22:52] 7Maggie: "Hooorm. Are you going to get a fightin' name like that?" [22:54] 13Melanie: "Everyone's got cool aliases so they don't have to deal with being human, right? I've made one up too but I don't really use it." [22:54] 13Cool names. "Do you want to visit Swordhome?" 00[22:54] <@Crion> DJ, between classes: "I've only seen you on guitar before. Show me something on piano? Just so I know which students to put you with and which to put with me?" 00[22:55] <@Crion> Santander: "You have been quite impressive, I must admit. You saw Rose outside." 00[22:55] <@Crion> "She was the one dressed nothing like a rose, or any sort of flower." [22:56] 10Stewart: "Playing solitaire?" 00[22:57] <@Crion> "Hearts in Atlantis." [22:57] 7Maggie: "Oh, sure. If you don't mind me watching you spar and such." 00[22:58] <@Crion> "A special kind of tarot, played against oneself, with the pauper's, or trickster's, deck. That's what we call the 52 out from Vegas." 00[22:58] <@Crion> He puffs again. "She is my other student, and your rival!" [22:58] 10Eyebrows up. "Rival?" [22:59] 6Nels: "I'm, um, still pretty good, but..." 6Exhale. "I prefer the guitar. Still. Okay. The kids like this stuff, right?" 6And then she starts playing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egZXmG4eyiQ [22:59] 13Melanie: "I don't, but they'll wanna challenge you anyway, you look like a miniboss. Let me just get changed and I can drive us?" 00[23:00] <@Crion> He waves the pipe. "The Lord Sages are insistent only one apprentice be chosen. I have no interest in this. I would prefer to see the wages of healthy competition! But the work is vast and deep! If two pass, then two new Sages shall there be. If none, THEN NONE!" 00[23:02] <@Crion> DJ is impressed. "Billie Eilish. I mean, probably a LITTLE whiter than the crowd we'll have in here, but not by much. She slaps with the zoomers." [23:02] 7Maggie: "Now what the Hell, Michigan is a miniboss?" [23:03] 13Melanie's putting on.. she should wear jeans for this but it's not like she can really kick. Something short-sleeved and a jacket that's easy to take off because it is cold, flesh or no flesh. [23:04] 6Nels: "Any suggestions? I mostly play by ear so I can try and pick something up before the kids come in." [23:04] "Have you seen Stewart streaming some other games before the new, um, season? Fights against guys who are like, bigger and tougher than normal enemies with a more flashy look, but which aren't some kind of ultimate battle." [23:04] 10Stewart: "So then we aren't rivals." [23:04] "That's a 'mini' boss, 'boss' obviously being the term for someone you have to defeat." 00[23:05] <@Crion> Santander laughs. "You should ask Rose if she sees it that way." 02[23:06] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 03[23:08] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch [23:08] 10Stewart: "I'm looking forward to meeting her. Is that why I'm here?" 00[23:09] <@Crion> DJ: "Eilish is good, white pop girls are good. We can get into John Legend and Alicia Keys, but a lot of that stuff doesn't bang as hard. Don't be afraid to work in non-contemporary stuff, though. These kids have an appreciation for old masters stuff, even if it is stuffy and dead -- it's good to learn on. And they'll notice if you only give them modern stuff because you think they won't 00[23:09] <@Crion> appreciate old classical work. Like, they're not here to learn to do covers, or just fuck around like the younger kids are. These students are invested." 00[23:10] <@Crion> The wizard puffs again. "Not...particularly. Though it was inevitable. No, I think what I would like to know is what project you are most interested in right now. The projects you have been given, you've completed admirably. It's time for independent study of a sort. Where do your interests lie?" [23:13] 6Nels plays the first few bars of Crossroads without looking up, but she's thinking. [23:14] 13In the car on the way to North Avenue: "It's been a while since I've been to Oberon's. The last time there I was.. kind of a mess. Sorry if it seems I'm using you like armor - that's not consciously the case." [23:15] 6Nels: "...classical as in, classical? Give me a sample, I'll try and make it work. But I can do more modern." 6Classical wasn't exactly part of her 'what if you just started playing and we all sang along' education. [23:17] 7Maggie, agreeably: "Not at all. I've never seen the Summer Court anyhow. Is it rude if I cheer? Like if you get a good hit in?" [23:18] 13Melanie: "..................More like nostalgic." [23:19] "Eh?" [23:19] "I might not get any though. Who knows how good they all are, but we can be darn dangerous." [23:20] "Um, I just mean - I was used to it. Cheer routines and the crowd..." 00[23:20] <@Crion> DJ Fuck You: "Well, there's obviously, like Für Elise or Moonlight Sonata or Blue Danube, but also--" He plays a bit of Piano Concerto in A Minor by Grieg. "But that's only if they're really looking for something. Most of these kids are at the point where they're coming in with music they know they want to play, that I've gotten them sheet music for, and they have enough of a foundation that 00[23:20] <@Crion> the basic stuff is done and we're looking to correct bad habits and help technique. Provide guidance." [23:22] 10Stewart folds his arms. He'd never really considered this in such a direct way. He's got the best working relationship with the Belvedere, but their struggles are abstruse and their enemies brutal. The Court fights a more political battle, of resources more than ideology, and it holds its enemies as close as it can bear. 02[23:23] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) [23:24] 6Nels: "Okay, piano is gonna be a weak point there. But I can help with timing. And maybe hand placement. Shoot, I dunno if I'd even be good at teaching guitar." 00[23:25] <@Crion> Santander: "Another way to phrase this question...to what degree to you, Stewart Reader, value insitutional power? To what degree to you value building strong bonds with the vampire, the willworker, the werewolf -- over learning their secrets? To what degree is the opposite true?" [23:25] 10Stewart: "Is building bonds in tension with learning their secrets?" [23:25] "Self taught. But. I'll try not to make anyone cry and we'll see how this goes?" 6She's nervous. 00[23:25] <@Crion> Santander: "Oh, indeed." 00[23:26] <@Crion> DJ grins. "That's fine. It's not like with last class where you could have instilled bad habits. Here, all these kids have been playing for a long time -- except a couple, I'll handle them. You should focus maybe on helping them work from technical proficiency into the emotion of it." [23:27] 6Nels: "Y'know, you're real nice for a guy named 'DJ Fuck You. [23:27] '" 00[23:30] <@Crion> The Oberon is actually closed right now between the lunch and dinner rushes, so they're not harassed by anyone when they step in. Nigh, a.k.a. Capra, a.k.a. the goatman who was Melanie's driver for a little bit when she was new to town and occasional bartender up at The Sidereal, lets Melanie and Maggie in. 00[23:30] <@Crion> *Oberon's. [23:31] 13Being closed for 'business' is an upside. There are reasons Melanie doesn't come here very often. "Hello again. We're heading down if that's ok?" 00[23:32] <@Crion> Nigh: "Yup. SMOTE!" 00[23:34] <@Crion> David Smote wanders down from above, wearing a tanktop, basketball shorts, and Jordans. "What's up, girl." He nods at Maggie. "Don't know that we've met. Maggie from Spring?" 00[23:34] <@Crion> DJ Fuck You: "It's just the marketing." [23:35] 6She shakes her head. "Never wouuld've played. I mean, even aside from the cuss." 00[23:35] <@Crion> DJ: "...And I helped kill Mere Jacoby." [23:36] 10Stewart, finally: "I guess up to now I've valued... bonding, collaboration, whatever. But that's sort of... my skillset, I guess, more than what I want. I didn't come here to make enemies, but I did come here to solve mysteries." 00[23:36] <@Crion> "Let's call him something of an inspiration." 00[23:36] <@Crion> DJ's face goes sour a moment. [23:37] 13Melanie smiles at this particular David. (She knows they're different people, but like.. they lean into the aesthetic themselves. They know what they're doing.) "This is Maggie Bakehead yeah. She's unimpeachable." [23:37] 7Maggie nods back. "Heya." 00[23:38] <@Crion> David Smote: "Oh. We don't do impeachment here. We just fight." 00[23:38] <@Crion> He grins at Maggie. "You look like you fight." [23:39] 10Stewart has relationships he values more than secrets. But... does he value all relationships more than secrets? The question'd never been posed to him before, but now that he thinks about it... no. [23:39] 6Nels is briefly silent. Then: "Only sensible." [23:39] 10The realization is startling. [23:40] 7She rolls her shoulders, making a metallic creaking noise. "Now and again." 00[23:41] <@Crion> He rubs his hands together. "Good, good. Nissa's already getting warmed up downstairs." 00[23:41] <@Crion> "Let's go." [23:42] 13Melanie's a little worried by the degree of anticipation here. She leads the way so as not to show it. 00[23:44] <@Crion> They step sideways through that X-offed room before the entry to Swordhome -- Melanie remembers it from her first visit, presumably -- and into the dojo in the Hedge. It's clearly a kind of Hollow, on further and more well-acquainted observation, but it's not quite clear WHOSE, or why it's permitted to be here so close to Swordhome. 00[23:44] <@Crion> DJ: "Nothing about that time was sensible, but--" 00[23:44] <@Crion> A couple kids walk in, chatting. [23:45] 13For Maggie, this involves a trip out behind the strip club's bar, through its kitchens, down a basement stair to an improbably huge iron vault - but not in. That door is shut against the Winter. 00[23:45] <@Crion> DJ: "Brandy. Laquan. What's up?" 00[23:46] <@Crion> He greets them, catches up briefly, then tells them to get their folders from the bins and find a piano. He'll do this to all the kids who come in, introducing Nels as well. The kids are enthusiastic, but serious about why they're here, and more interested in each other than the new teacher. 00[23:48] <@Crion> The same kid from before is there, and he waves to Melanie when she enters, but he's watching from the corner, well off the fight floor. In the middle of the training space, Nissa is stretching in karate pants and her own tanktop, all white. [23:49] 6Probably for the best. She'll keep an eye on the doorway while plucking away at her guitar waiting for the class to gather. Nervous tick. She'll nod to the kids entering here but she's never felt older. 00[23:50] <@Crion> The muscular woman pops to her feet, shaking out her bob, grinning. "Two of ya." 00[23:50] <@Crion> To Melanie: "What's up, paperweight?" 00[23:51] <@Crion> Smote grimaces at that. 00[23:51] <@Crion> Fades quick though as he turns to Maggie. "We'll pair off. Bro's said you're pretty impressive. Wanna see what you've got." [23:53] 13Melanie nods to Bartholomew, then Nissa. "Hello. I haven't been coming around here enough and there's way more I need to learn. You're good, right? You don't just look it?" [23:54] 10Stewart: "But I think that building relationships builds knowledge too. It's not the *same* knowledge, obviously - the things people are willing to teach us are not the things they keep hidden - but like, there's still enormous value in close ties even from a purely academic perspective." 00[23:57] <@Crion> Nissa's eyes flash, but her grin widens. She doesn't look away from Melanie, but she's mostly speaking to Smote: "Contracts?" 00[23:57] <@Crion> Smote looks to both Melanie and Maggie. "Do you want to make contracts legal? Be warned, you're still expected to control them." [23:58] 7Maggie: "Pfah. Let's just go fist to fist." [23:58] 13Without Smote's veto, Melanie will bend down laboriously and place her palms on the mats. Rice straw rises in strands without actually reducing the volume of material, wrapping itself as new matting around her limbs. 00[23:59] <@Crion> Smote nods to her. [23:59] 13Let's see what magics Nissa wields. 00[23:59] <@Crion> Nissa, to Melanie: "But you're not scared." 00[23:59] <@Crion> "Should be." 00[23:59] <@Crion> Smote shakes his head. "We'll go second, then. Just in case this gets stupid." Session Time: Sun Jan 19 00:00:00 2020 [00:01] 13Melanie: "That's one of the things I need to learn, right? Calibrating risks and the things we can get away with. My instinct is against.. compromise. Maybe that's wrong, sometimes." 13Maybe not this time. [00:02] 6After a bit: "Okay, class. I'm Ms. Foulke." 6Man, that feels weird. "DJ's mentioned that you have the technical skills, but turning that into a song that means something is the difference between -- "6She gives off a basic descending set of notes, "And something like..." 6She plays the first few bars: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BJOoexyNco She's still on her guitar, but she'll be switching over soon. [00:02] 6Nels: "Since this is my first time I'll be wandering, trying to figure out where y'all are at. 'Cause it's one thing to be able to play something, but you want to be able to feel it, right?" 6She doesn't wait for a response. Anyone specifically sticks out as sloppy or incapable, she'll head to them first. [00:02] 13She takes off her jacket. Entire strips of bark peel off her arms with it, turn razor-sharp, hover. "I can control it though, so.. please do show me if I'm fucking this up." 00[00:04] <@Crion> Nissa explodes in fire as she brings up her hands. "Hope this doesn't hurt too much." 00[00:05] <@Crion> "I hear you burn easy." 00[00:05] <@Crion> "Ahahahah!" 00[00:05] <@Crion> Smote: "NISSA!" [00:06] 13Melanie: "It's okay." 13The floating strips of bark.. also burst into flame. Considerably less flame. [00:10] 13Melanie sets her stance - not a learned fighting technique, she's just bracing herself against the ground. Her legs thicken a little, seem to merge with the mats. If possible she'll try to keep Nissa away, but the other woman is fast as well as strong.. 00[00:19] <@Crion> Nissa leaps in with a squall of flame around her and slaps a hand on Melanie's shoulder before shoving her. "First burn, if I wasn't being nice." 00[00:21] <@Crion> Santander: "AGREED! And the question is, does the wise Lord Sage know when to privilege one, and when to privilege the other? Well! Presumably he does, or he would not hold office. But you and Rose both have to learn." 00[00:22] <@Crion> "There is a team being put together. A task force. A committee, by the various occult constituencies. To address something (No, not the vampire in the baseball cap)." He leans forward. "My question to you is, do you join the task force to build relationships...or do you spy on it, to gain secrets?" 00[00:22] <@Crion> "Whichever one you do not choose...Rose will do." 00[00:22] <@Crion> "She deferred this choice to you." [00:25] 13Melanie can't keep Nissa off- she hunches a little and takes the hit - but burning papercraft sigils are slapping themselves onto Nissa's own flesh, and Melanie takes advantage of that to *hold* her for a moment. It's an awkward seizing motion but the sheer strength behind it is difficult to resist and she's got a matted arm into Nissa's side, quivering spikes of wood pressing uncomfortably [00:25] 13through the restraining mats. [00:26] 7Maggie: "Ha! That's the way, Melanie! Give her another!" [00:26] 13She's behind, but what she doesn't do is catch fire. The floating papers just burn brighter. [00:26] 10Stewart: "Do I get to know what it's addressing first?" [00:28] 13Melanie: "Keeping this up.. will cost you.." 00[00:31] <@Crion> Nissa grins. "Yeah. That's how fighting should be!" She smacks Melanie across the gut again, moving in close once more. [00:35] "Ug." 13Melanie gathers herself and backsteps rapidly, opening some distance as she flings out her limbs to the side - and branches rise from the matted floor, seizing and clawing at Nissa, holding her in place. [00:37] 7Maggie: "Aw... next time, next time! You'll get 'er!" 00[00:37] <@Crion> Nissa jumps in place doing a gymnast piroutte and lands, launching herself from a crouch into Melanie's midsection with a shoulder-- 00[00:37] <@Crion> Then immediately rolling off and scooting away. "Ow! Fuck!" 00[00:37] <@Crion> Nissa actually has more than a few burns of her own on her arms and chest. [00:38] 13Flames lash out ironically again, but Melanie can count. She drops into something like a crouch and hugs her stomach as the floating strips flare up and crisp to ashes. 00[00:38] <@Crion> "I THOUGHT WE WERE PULLING OUR PUNCHES!" 00[00:38] <@Crion> Smote, annoyed: "You were. YOUR dumb ass leapt into elemental danger without properly protecting your shit." 00[00:39] <@Crion> "Melanie didn't have that problem. Even though she lost, you ended up more hurt. What the fuck does that say, Nissa?" 00[00:39] <@Crion> Nissa, grumbling: "Says I still won." [00:39] 13Melanie: "Sorry. The only trick I've got to keep myself from going up there is a shield of the same element." [00:40] "You did. You would've killed me, although maybe getting crippled in the process. I'm glad we're on the same side." 00[00:40] <@Crion> Smote shakes his head. To Melanie: "Nah, it's a good trick. But it's clear you've been fighting something other than changelings out there. That grappling, lock-up stuff? Doesn't work for us. Not a good play. And you need to work on your defenses. Like, REALLY need to." 03[00:40] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 00[00:40] <@Crion> Nissa: "Yeah, yeah. Ow!!!" [00:41] 13Melanie nods, not looking up. She's pretty sure she was actually stronger than Nissa there, could've hit her really hard.. and has absolutley no way to avoid getting taken down in return. Not in return, to start, because she's not fast enough. 00[00:41] <@Crion> Smote, to Melanie: "That said, paper...coming out with fire, that's a ballsy play. I like it." 00[00:41] <@Crion> "Turning weaknesses into strengths is how we stay alive." [00:41] 6Nels sets the guitar aside. This is a piano class. "First: technical skill. This is, somewhat unbelievably, the boring part. I mean, it's really hard, but you can find people who play really well that just have no sense of imagination." 6The entire time, she's playing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M93qXQWaBdE which... difficult. Also incredibly dull. [00:41] 6Then, she sighs. Nels: "You need passion for your songs. This isn't nearly as difficult, but I expect it means more to you than Flight of the Bumblebee." 6And here it is again: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egZXmG4eyiQ 6She continues, over the song: "What matters is what you put into it." 00[00:42] <@Crion> To Maggie: "...You still wanna go? I'm not doing any contracts." [00:43] 13Melanie: "Nissa. I have a healing contract. I heard you might not be okay with that? But if you want to make an exception we'd both feel better." [00:43] 7Maggie slaps a fist into her palm in response. 00[00:43] <@Crion> Not only are the students in DJ's class rapt at attention, DJ himself is. 00[00:44] <@Crion> There's an actual standing ovation when she's done. DJ Fuck You even joins in. 00[00:46] <@Crion> Santander, to Stewart: "Something powerful and unprecedented has come to the City of Baltimore, and it is doing the one thing that we cannot countenance in the open without provoking a horrific backlash from the worst creatures in this world." 00[00:47] <@Crion> "It's saving lives with magical powers. Like some sort of hero." [00:47] 10Stewart: "Huh." [00:47] 6She takes a basic bow. Then: "I'll be back next week, if DJ will have me?" 00[00:47] <@Crion> DJ: "Uh. Fyyyyeah. Yeah. Yeah, definitely." [00:47] "So the goal of the task force is to stop that?" 00[00:48] <@Crion> Santander nods. If there was a tone of judgment built into that question, he ignores it. "At the very least, make it go save lives somewhere else." [00:48] 7There's no style to the battle, or at least none on Maggie's end - just trading heavy blows in a contest of raw strength. Smote's fists clang off Maggie's skin and hers thud back, but it isn't long before she winds up and thumps him a good one upside the head! [00:48] "Ha!" 00[00:49] <@Crion> Smote actually bounces off the mat and lays there a second before sitting up. Blinking: "And that's you PULLING your punches?"? [00:49] 10Stewart: "Alright. I'll spy, then." [00:50] 6Nels nods, bows, and finds her way to the bathroom to contemplate exactly what just happened. Oh my god. [00:51] 7Maggie: "Hey, you gave it back pretty good yourself." 00[00:51] <@Crion> The wizard stands. "Excellent. I will inform the task force that you've been assigned to Hedge study, and send Rose. And you will be expected to report weekly." [00:51] 10Stewart: "Sounds good." 00[00:52] <@Crion> Smote: "Yeah? Didn't feel like it." He stands. Nissa mutters something under her breath. Smote, to her: "You should go get all that looked at." [00:52] 13Melanie should be cheering for Maggie, but she's busy. Unless Nissa rejects it entirely, she removes *another* strip of bark; this one is long and leaves a small wound, oozing sap. The sap is a promise and the promise is respite, a burden shared. With the impromptu bandage's application, Nissa's burns dull and fade to clean (if tender) skin. 00[00:53] <@Crion> Nissa does not reject it, but she is very stiff and angry the entire time. She WON dammit! Right? 00[00:53] <@Crion> Nissa glares at Melanie once more, bites out a "Thank you for the bark," and storms off. Bartholomew, the resident punching bag child, laughs from the corner. [00:54] 13For what it's worth, Melanie agrees. She was there to train, not to protect herself only by hurting others. That isn't some kind of ersatz victory. [00:54] 10Stewart feels good about this. He's not really sure *how* he's going to do this, but learning is the goal. [00:55] "Maggie, that looked like being hit by a truck. For the other guy." 00[00:56] <@Crion> Santander waves a hand. "NOW! YOU ARE DISMISSED! Triumph in stealing the legacy of knowledge. Become a Lord Sage. Reach for the Unknown." [00:56] 7Embarassed, she rubs the back of her neck. [00:58] 10Stewart returns to the lobby. Is Rose still there? [00:58] "It's all good, being hit by a truck is a real risk. Right?" 13She includes Smote in the conversation. "There's some kind of Crown contract for it." 00[01:07] <@Crion> Smote groans as he stretches. "I'm sure there is. Bart, clean all this up, will you? You got your payment already." 00[01:07] <@Crion> The "child" titters again and nods. 00[01:12] <@Crion> Rose is gone. On her desk, though, she's left three cards: Queen of Hearts, Ace of Spades...and the Joker. [01:13] 10Stewart should probably learn some divination. 00[01:14] <@Crion> Good news, though, is that when he's ready to leave, Lauren's just about done for the day. 02[01:15] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. 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ZZZzzz…) Session Time: Sat Jan 25 00:00:00 2020 03[04:18] * CBN2 (CBN@sorcery-hoa10h.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) has joined #gofetch 02[04:20] * CBN (CBN@sorcery-f8a3lf.mn.comcast.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[04:20] * CBN (CBN@sorcery-br5slv.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) has joined #gofetch 02[04:23] * CBN2 (CBN@sorcery-hoa10h.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 02[05:18] * trenchfoot_ (dani@sorcery-jcvlv4.in.comcast.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[05:42] * trenchfoot_ (dani@sorcery-jcvlv4.in.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 03[09:40] * trenchfoot_ is now known as trenchfoot 00[20:34] <@Crion> 00[20:34] <@Crion> 00[20:34] <@Crion> 00[20:34] <@Crion> 00[20:34] <@Crion> 00[20:34] <@Crion> 00[20:34] <@Crion> 00[20:34] <@Crion> 00[20:34] <@Crion> 00[20:37] <@Crion> Business Steve has been scheming. You've seen him out in the Hedgerows, here and there, speaking with this hob, wheedling that hob. He has not disclosed much. Real players move in silence. Occasionally he is in one of his outfits -- galoshes, or a tiny sailor's tunic, or tweed. One time, a very improbable goose-fitted tracksuit. It is unclear whether he thinks these are disguises. Recently, 00[20:37] <@Crion> the husk of an old Volkswagon van has been seen in the alleyways nearby. It is unclear why. Steve refuses to comment on it. It looks like it was green, once. 00[20:37] <@Crion> Other than that, it's been an uneventful week in the Wherehouse! 00[20:37] <@Crion> What's everyone up to? [20:39] 10Christmas shopping. Stewart thinks he's got everyone nailed down but Tony... and work, obviously. The league's at peak activity, and this new job has come down from Santander, but it's hard to know where to start... 00[20:42] <@Crion> Obviously since he's not on the joint task force to do...whatever...he's not going to be invited to their first meeting. But someone has forwarded him one of Gaunt Rose's e-mails negotiating the time and place of the first summit. Ravens did it -- that's the e-mail sender mask, anyway -- but its unclear whether it was done by them on their own initiative, or on someone higher authority's 00[20:42] <@Crion> behalf. Santander is the obvious suspect, of course. [20:43] 10When and where? [20:43] 6Shoot, Nels needs to get on that. And maybe see about volunteering for more music lessons, and oh dear that van might be an issue, and actually take her GED test, start using that still... 00[20:43] <@Crion> As to the e-mail's contents, it's a suggestion of meeting in the basement of The Brewer's Art on North Charles -- the Mt. Vernon neighborhood, specifically. It's one of those monk bars. [20:46] 7Maggie's making chili, because who doesn't like chili? "Ohhhh, let the grasses grow and the waters flow, in a free and easy way!" 00[20:48] <@Crion> The time suggested is...Wednesday night into Thursday of this week. Midnight, specifically. [20:58] 6Nels is still sticking around the Wherehouse for the time being, humming along to Maggie's song as she reads over her papers. She's almost caught up on history! Now, whether she'll retain it is another question, but now she understandsthe punchline to "Ronald Reagan? The actor?" [21:01] "Now learned men, as use the pen, have written your praises high..." 7She takes a swig from a jar and stirs a little. "How's the studying going, Nels?" 00[21:02] <@Crion> Lauren, who is hanging around the Wherehouse more and more, is sort of watching Maggie tenatively. 00[21:02] <@Crion> She doesn't cook much. [21:02] 10Stewart's just sitting on the couch reading some reddit meltdown or other on his phone. 00[21:03] <@Crion> After all, when you've got basically an unlimited takeout budget (Lauren realized awhile ago that she could expense Doordash and Santander would just, let her) why would you eat anything else? [21:03] 10Sometimes it's raining and you feel bad making a delivery person go out in that... [21:04] 6Nels: "Hm? Oh, it's duck soup at this point. Just finishing up the last few decades 'til I get caught up, and they stopped writing so much about wars. Not that there were less of 'em, just they stopped writing so much." 00[21:05] <@Crion> Lauren tips 25% even when it's her own money. Such are the wages of...uh, wages. [21:05] "How's the chili-ing going?" 6That's not a word. [21:05] 10Stewart looks up. "Duck soup?" [21:05] "Wasn't that a Marx brothers movie?" [21:06] 10Stewart: "Who?" [21:06] 6Nels: "I don't know about that. It used to mean 'easy,' but, like, you were cool." [21:08] 7Maggie: "Should be done pretty soon. Hope you guys don't mind storebought cornbread mix." [21:08] 10Is Maggie smoking? [21:09] 10To Nels: "Nowadays you might hear someone say something is 'a piece of cake' to mean the same thing." [21:10] 6Nels: "Oh! Like a cakewalk, kinda." [21:11] 10Stewart: "Yeah! Exactly." 00[21:11] <@Crion> To Maggie: "Not at all!" [21:12] 10Stewart: "Honestly I'm not sure I could tell the difference between storebought and homemade cornbread." 00[21:12] <@Crion> Lauren: "Homemade has more actual corn. Like, kernals." 00[21:13] <@Crion> "Most mix doesn't bother to get that right. Which is fine, because biting into bread and finding a kernal of corn in it is kinda weird." [21:14] 10Stewart: "But not rising to the level of kernel panic." 00[21:14] <@Crion> She sticks out her tongue at him. [21:14] 10Stewart grins in response. [21:15] 6Nels: "You can make a smoother homemade cornbread but I never learned how. Maybe that goes on the list..." 00[21:15] <@Crion> Lauren walks over and flops down on the couch. "Ugh! I cannot WAIT for winter." [21:15] "How come?" [21:17] 7Yes, she is. 00[21:20] <@Crion> Lauren: "Because then Angelfire will have to do something other than 'backend maintenance and support,' browsing Reddit, and shitposting on Github all day." 00[21:20] <@Crion> "Three months where I'm not on-call. Looking forward to it." 00[21:20] <@Crion> Presumably so is Stewart, given the number of times he's now been woken up in the middle of the night by Lauren's phone. It's not weekly...but it's close. [21:21] 6Nels understood precisely none of that, unless this 'Angelfire' character introduced themselves at one of the parties, but that's not really ringing any bells. [21:24] 7Is Stewart bringing it up? [21:24] 10Stewart: "Three whole months to stare down your Steam backlog." [21:24] 10The smoking? No. Just noticing it. 00[21:24] <@Crion> Angelfire has not been at any parties so far, no. [21:24] 7Maggie: "I rarely know what you guys are talking about." [21:28] 10Stewart: "Angelfire is Winter's tech expert, he's going to take over handling computer emergencies for the freehold after Christmas. Right now he mostly just does nebulous maintenance work and goofs off. Soon it'll be Lauren's time to goof off, so she can play some video games she's bought but not got around to yet." 00[21:29] <@Crion> "He'll still probably escalate some stuff to me. Because he's a jerk." [21:30] 6Nels: "And he can just... do that? Seems rude." [21:31] 10Stewart: "It's hard being so smart and cool that everyone counts on you. Lauren makes it look easy but it's not." 00[21:32] <@Crion> To Nels: "It could be worse." [21:33] 6It can always be worse. That's not exactly reassuring, though. [21:36] "Right! Chili's up!" 7She moves the pot off the burner and takes a tray of cornbread that has been kept warm in the oven out. "Spoon yourself up some when you're ready, Lauren, no standing on ceremony here." 00[21:36] <@Crion> "!!" Lauren's probably first in line. 03[21:38] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch [21:40] 6Nels still has a few paragraphs to go before she'll serve herself some. Not gonna barge in or anything, but she is pretty hungry, and she also really doesn't want to read any more about Iran-Contra right now. [21:40] 10Stewart's not far behind Lauren. "So what have you been working on, Maggie?" 02[21:42] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) Quit (Connection closed) [21:44] "Oh, this 'n that. I bought some books on metalworking to help learn how to put together the still there." 7She points to a small pile of scrap metal and rubber tubing in the far corner of the Wherehouse. "Yeah, yeah, I know I could just hedgespin the whole thing together, but I guess you know how I feel about that. I like doing it with my hands, you know?" 7She flexes her fingers for [21:44] 7emphasis. 03[21:45] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 00[21:46] <@Crion> Casually to Stewart, a bite or two into the chili: "Angelfire's going to have to come by soon to drop off my downtime project. Just wanted to let you know. It's just a server; I'll keep it unpowered while I'm not working on it just so no circuits blow or anything." [21:47] 10Stewart nods. "Sounds good. What's the project?" [21:47] 6Nels dabs at the corner of her mouth with a napkin before nodding at Maggie. "I know what you mean. Hedgespinning still feels strange to me, I'd rather do it the regular way. Most of the time." 00[21:49] <@Crion> "We're trying our successful staging project for the Wherehouse on a bigger network level. Multiple servers, multiple Hollows. For now we need to figure out tolerances and vulnerabilities. If a server like that got compromised..." Lauren shrugs. "So, very theoretical. Lot of testing. But if we get it to a place where it's safe, we can bring the entire Freehold on the network." 00[21:49] <@Crion> Lauren: "Of course I'm not sure it'll ever be safe. But Angelfire likes to keep busy with his toys." [21:50] 10Stewart nods emphatically, as his mouth is full, indicating his approval. [21:59] 10A few moments later he gives Lauren a brief second look, but when he speaks it's to the table: "So do any of you guys know anything about being a spy?" [22:01] 7Cheerfully: "Nope!" [22:01] "Hope that helps!" [22:02] 6Nels: "Not... exactly...?" [22:02] 10Stewart: "Or is that just what you guys want me to think?" [22:04] 10After a slightly too long pause: "But no I have to spy on the cross-organizational task force all the city's magicians are putting together to figure out how to deal with some kind of, I don't know, dangerously brazen superhero." 00[22:05] <@Crion> Lauren sort of sputters on her drink. "The kid who wrecked Power Plant Live?!" [22:05] 6Nels: "Wait, that's a thing?" [22:05] 7Maggie: "Eh?" 02[22:05] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 03[22:06] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch [22:06] 10Stewart: "Yeah, I think so. I haven't had time to do a lot of digging yet. What do you know?" 00[22:10] <@Crion> "Last week there was a 'fire' there. It shutdown for a few days after. Some vampires were running a scheme at Power Plant, apparently. I dunno if they had approval or not from their people, but there were bodies. There were discussions on how to handle it...then they picked the wrong dude. And there was viral footage of him pulling a sword out of thin air and doing something about it." 00[22:10] <@Crion> "Suppressed quickly, of course." 00[22:11] <@Crion> "But." [22:11] 10Eyebrows go up. "Like a regular broadsword or..." 00[22:12] <@Crion> Lauren: "I can get you the footage. It...sort of varied." [22:12] "Wizards have swords?!" 00[22:12] <@Crion> Lauren shakes her head. "Willworkers said he's not one of theirs." 00[22:13] <@Crion> "Could be lying, I guess." [22:13] 10Stewart: "That'd be helpful, thank you. Santander also put someone actually *on* the task force, so I guess we're playing both sides. Someone named Gaunt Rose, who apparently thinks we're competing for a job even though Santander said he would take us both on." [22:13] "Do we know whose they are?" 6She's frowning, now. "Normal people don't just pull swords out of thin air." [22:14] 6Actually in this day and age normal people don't really pull swords out of anywhere. [22:15] 10Gonna have to show Nels cosplay sometime. 00[22:16] <@Crion> Lauren sighs. "Yeah, that's Rose." 00[22:16] <@Crion> "She's...just, try to be nice. I know you always do, but. She's difficult for a reason." [22:17] 10Stewart: "How difficult are we talking?" 00[22:21] <@Crion> "...She's a bitch, but she won't compromise the mission to be one." [22:22] "Right." 10It is now Stewart's personal mission to befriend Gaunt Rose. [22:22] 6Nels: "That's... wait, she's done this before, or...?" [22:24] 6"This" being spywork, not being a bitch. [22:29] 10Stewart shrugs. "I don't really have a dossier or anything. I only kind of saw her once and she didn't really seem like she wanted to be approached." 00[22:29] <@Crion> "Can confirm." 00[22:30] <@Crion> To Stewart: "She's probably mad at you already. Like above and beyond the whole Santander student thing." [22:30] 10Stewart: "What'd I do?" 00[22:30] <@Crion> "Rose isn't really a...meetings person." [22:30] "Oh no." [22:31] "But she made me choose which of the two assignments to take! Why would she do that if she only actually wanted one of them?" [22:32] 6Nels: "If you pick the one she wants, she gets to be rude because you took her spot. If you pick the one she didn't, she gets to be rude because you think she can't do it." [22:33] 7Maggie: "That's extremely stupid." [22:34] 10Stewart: "You don't need permission to be rude! That's practically the definition of being rude." [22:34] 6She shrugs. "Some people gotta justify it to themselves." 00[22:35] <@Crion> Lauren: "You'd have to ask her. But my suspicion was she was telling you she was good enough to do either." [22:36] 10Stewart hasn't actually had to befriend anyone who was legitimately mean as opposed to sort of awkward. Technically Lauren, but she was just standoffish because she had a lot of preconceived notions about what Stewart would be like and was sort of worried she was going to have to start defending her job security. [22:36] 10This is a completely different situation. 00[22:36] <@Crion> "People do things they don't like to do all the time." [22:36] 6Meanwhile, Nels met a perfectly nice man named DJ Fuck You. People can surprise you! [22:41] 10Stewart: "But yeah I took the job because I figured I'd have to learn more to do it. Now I just need to figure out how to... learn..." 00[22:41] <@Crion> Lauren: "Usually by fucking up. Which uh. Doesn't really seem like an option here..." [22:43] 6Nels: "...is there anyone you can ask who's done this before? I realize that probably sort of doesn't work 'cause of the secrecy thing..." [22:44] 10Stewart: "I mean I could ask Santander, but it always seems wrong somehow to ask the person who gave me the assignment for advice on how to do it." 00[22:44] <@Crion> Lauren: "Winter's the sneaking court." [22:44] 10Stewart: "Maybe I could ask Angelfire!" 00[22:45] <@Crion> Lauren kind of blinks a couple times. "You...could do that!" [22:50] 10Stewart: "Might have to move my streaming hours earlier in the day if I'm gonna be shadowing vampires all night every night." 00[22:52] <@Crion> "You've got the blackout curtains for it." [22:53] 10Stewart: "Yeah... different audience, though. Hard to maintain subscribers if your hours jump around a lot." 00[22:54] <@Crion> "Mmmm." She sips some tea that was on kettle while the chili was being made. [22:55] 6Nels: "Won't people just watch the shows they like anyway?" [22:55] "What do you mean?" [22:56] 6She gestures over to the TV they've got. "Apparently you can record stuff for later... doesn't that work? Or is it not the same for video games?" [22:58] 10Stewart: "Oh, no, yeah you can. Twitch - the website I stream through - archives everything and I have Youtube for highlights and guides and specific structured things. But in terms of like, the broad current of money everyone's trying to dip their hands into, a lot of people watch what's on when they're around, and they make time for things with consistent schedules." [22:59] "One of the biggest streamers in my game lives in Australia, and he wakes up about 4am his time to catch peak US viewing hours. I originally set up my stream to go up after his went offline for the night." [23:00] 7Maggie: "So they invented all this stuff for recording and streaming so you don't have to care about the TV schedule... and then everybody just went back to TV hours? I don't get it." [23:01] 10Stewart: "It's more like, to a certain extent TV hours are what they are because of people's pre-existing schedules, right? A lot of people are at work or school during the day, a lot of people are asleep in the middle of the night. And having lots of people around watching what you're watching is nice." [23:01] "Assuming the people are nice." [23:01] "Which is a big assumption." [23:02] 6The modern world is nuts. "That's... I kinda get it. So you can talk to the other people while you watch stuff? That makes sense." [23:02] 10Stewart: "And talk to me while I'm streaming, yeah." [23:03] 7Maggie: "Oooooh, that's what you meant by 'Twitch chat'." [23:04] 10Stewart: "Yeah! My chat's really cool. People are nice and they like to goof off a lot. Since Lauren's in the background a lot now, someone drew fanart of her as one of the characters in the game." [23:04] "I thought it was sweet." 00[23:06] <@Crion> Lauren will do the dishes once the chili's done. Only fair. [23:06] 10Stewart'll sweep up crumbs and stuff. 00[23:07] <@Crion> When they're heading out the door, and are in fact back on the side of the Hedge where she can receives texts, Lauren will check her phone and half-grimace, half-smile. "A...ngelfire wants to bring the server over tonight. Are you okay with that?" 00[23:08] <@Crion> She and Stewart are alone, in either the elevator or his car. [23:08] 10Stewart: "Yeah, sure. Is there anything I should know?" 00[23:08] <@Crion> Meanwhile: What procedure has Maggie given Union to contact her? 00[23:08] <@Crion> She has his phone number, and her procedure is 'call.' 00[23:11] <@Crion> Lauren hesitates. "....Yyyyes." 00[23:11] <@Crion> "He and I used to date." [23:12] 10Stewart: "Aaaaaaaah." [23:12] "Did it... end well?" 00[23:12] <@Crion> "Nothing ever ends well. But we're fine now." [23:13] 10Stewart: "You worried he's not gonna like me?" 00[23:13] <@Crion> "He should be fine. It should be fine." [23:13] "I could peace out for a while." 00[23:13] <@Crion> Lauren, perhaps a bit forcefully: "That's his business." 00[23:14] <@Crion> "And should be well-socialized enough not to make it ours." 00[23:14] <@Crion> *he should [23:14] 10Stewart: "Understood." [23:15] 10Stewart will still spend some time tidying the apartment when they get home, because that's what you do when there's guests. [23:15] 10It doesn't seem like there should be anything to tidy, since Stewart is constantly cleaning the apartment. But he always manages to keep busy. 00[23:15] <@Crion> Lauren will help a little, but after prepping a space for the new server, mostly she'll hang out with Chup and look distracted. [23:17] 10Stewart feels like this would be easier if he wasn't here, but he's gonna respect Lauren's decision to make everyone deal. Past that there's not much to do but not deliberately add to anyone's stress. 00[23:18] <@Crion> Eventually her phone chirps. "Angelfire's downstairs." 00[23:18] <@Crion> "...Aaaaand Canterbury is helping him bring the server in. Guess we've still got a security detail." [23:19] 10Stewart: "This is a pretty big-deal project, anyway." [23:19] 7Maggie has likewise given Union her number. 00[23:20] <@Crion> Then she'll get a call on her phone from a restricted number. 00[23:20] <@Crion> In the Hedge. 00[23:22] <@Crion> Lauren: "Yeah." She pulls on a hoodie and zips it up; she's still in her jeans, which is a bit weird because she usually changes into pajama pants immediately when you get home. [23:22] 10Stewart observes but does not comment on the oddity. [23:23] 6That's - we are expecting company, right? Because a blocked number in the Hedge is... a concern. 00[23:23] <@Crion> Soon there's a knock on the door. One, pause, two more. Canterbury's current code. 02[23:24] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) [23:24] 10Stewart waits a beat to see if Lauren jumps for the door. If she doesn't, he opens it. 00[23:28] <@Crion> Lauren will walk towards it, but wait at the end of the kitchen counter. She's not yet in the headspace where she's about to open Stewart's apartment door. Especially not for her ex. [23:29] 10Stewart gives her a supportive nudge as he passes. It's her apartment too, but now's not really the time to be didactic. Stewart opens the door and immediately steps backward to accomodate someone carrying something heavy inside. 00[23:29] <@Crion> When Stewart does open it, there's Canterbury in front making sure he's visible through the peephole (opsec), and an Asian guy, more wide than merely heavyset, standing behind a single-stack server rack on wheels. 00[23:29] <@Crion> He peers around the server and his eyes, behind glasses, narrow slightly as he sees Stewart. [23:29] 7Is that an 'okay to answer' thing or a 'do not ever answer' thing? Maggie can't recall. 00[23:30] <@Crion> Honestly? It's not like you can trust any information the Hedge gives you anyway. YOLO. [23:30] 10Stewart: "Hey, Canterbury." [23:31] 10After they're both inside, he shuts and locks the door behind them. "You're Angelfire, right? Stewart Reader." 10He offers his hand. 00[23:31] <@Crion> Canterbury: "Evening, mate. Got a delivery." 00[23:32] <@Crion> His face is impassive and his voice neutral as he shakes. "Yeah." 00[23:33] <@Crion> Angelfire -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkgR0SxmMKo We're of flesh, circuit and bone; The only world we've known, these empty streets we walk alone! 00[23:33] <@Crion> *We're made of [23:34] 7She shrugs and answers the call. "Y'ello?" 00[23:34] <@Crion> Chup mrowls from the counter. Angelfire: "Yes, hello Chup--" [23:34] 10Stewart's smile widens a half inch. 00[23:35] <@Crion> The cat immediately leaps on his shoulders and begins like, trying to step on his head. Which is no mean feat, given that Chup is a very lazy creature by nature. "Cat. Cat! Ah shit. Ah fuck." Angelfire doesn't actually seem very concerned. [23:36] 10Nice. 00[23:36] <@Crion> Lauren: "Hi." 00[23:36] <@Crion> Angelfire: "Hi. Excuse me. Cat." 00[23:36] <@Crion> Canterbury, to Stewart: "You good on weed?" [23:37] 10Stepping into the apartment, Stewart says, "Yeah we're alright. Thanks for asking. You guys want anything to drink?" 00[23:37] <@Crion> On the other end of Maggie's line: "BIG M!!! Maggie Mags. The Magster. The sledge from the Hedge. What is UP?" 00[23:38] <@Crion> The sound of someone hitting a bong REALLY hard on the other end. "This is Union. I'm incredibly high by the way." [23:38] 7Maggie: "Hey, I guessed!" 00[23:39] <@Crion> Canterbury: "Could use some tea." 00[23:39] <@Crion> Angelfire: "Cat! Cat. Yeah that sounds good. Thanks. Cat." [23:39] 10Stewart: "I'll go fill the kettle." 00[23:40] <@Crion> Lauren goes to retrieve Chup from off Angelfire. Both are physically uncomfortable, being that close. 00[23:40] <@Crion> Angelfire: "Where am I putting this?" 00[23:43] <@Crion> In his mien he's Wizened; wrinkled and somehow smaller. But his wrinkles are circuitry, and his eyes have power on symbols blazing in them, not pupils. [23:43] 10Very cyber. [23:43] 10While he watches the pot, waiting for it to boil, Stewart thinks about how happy Beau was to see him. 00[23:44] <@Crion> Union: "So how...are you." 00[23:44] <@Crion> "How are you. I got something up and running here and I thought, that was a good deal. And then I thought of another good deal: ours." 00[23:45] <@Crion> Lauren: "Just leave it outside the study. Yeah, there. We can install." [23:46] 7Maggie: "Pretty decent. Just finished making chili for everyone, putting together the still and what have you. What can I do you for?" 00[23:46] <@Crion> Angelfire: "Ah. The study. Moving on up~" He sings that last line. 00[23:47] <@Crion> And pushes the server tower over. [23:47] 10...is that a reference to The Jeffersons? 00[23:47] <@Crion> If Stewart knows the reference, he gets the reference. 00[23:47] <@Crion> Yes. [23:47] 10Interesting. 00[23:47] <@Crion> Union: "Chili." 00[23:47] <@Crion> "Christ." 00[23:48] <@Crion> "I could house some fucking chili." 00[23:49] <@Crion> "But yeah! No. Wanted to get our shit together. Start the link. Something changed recently, due to cops, and I've got a bunch of uh. Infrastructure. I can relocate to your place. Lamps, feeders, integrated irrigation. We're talk one or two greenhouses here, but we could go smaller." 00[23:49] <@Crion> *talking 00[23:50] <@Crion> "Generators too. Do emissions in the Hedge add to global warming? Fuck I never thought about that before. They're gas-run." [23:51] 7Maggie: "Nice. Bring 'em, we can figure it out later." 00[23:51] <@Crion> "Niiiice. So uh. How?" 00[23:53] <@Crion> Lauren glances over at Stewart. How's he doing? 00[23:53] <@Crion> Canterbury is playing with Chup, who is magnanimously tolerating him. [23:58] "Oh. Uh, shit. Right. Hold on." [23:59] 7She covers the phone's receiver with her hand. "Stewart! What's the Freehold's, uh... policy on bringing other sorts of critter into Hollows? Thinking about Union here." Session Time: Sun Jan 26 00:00:00 2020 [00:00] 10Lauren's seen Stewart like this before. Pensive and far-away, with just enough of his conscious mind surfaced to accomplish tasks and be aware of his surroundings. He's like this when he cleans. He's like this, sometimes, when he streams. She knows him well enough to see a little deeper: his preoccupation is one of deep melancholy. 00[00:01] <@Crion> She'll walk over and help with the tea. Which will involve some innocuous physical contact. Just enough. [00:02] 6Nels: "He's off with Lauren on that server project thingy, but it's... probably fine??" 6She thinks back. "Maybe don't make a habit of dropping in, just in case." [00:04] 10Her presence snaps him back to reality. He carries the tray of mugs over and sets it on the coffee table. [00:05] 7Maggie back to the phone: "Okay this is secret, so don't go spreading it around, right? You know the Lexington Market?" 00[00:06] <@Crion> Angelfire wheels the server stack over to the door to their streaming room/office, gently takes it off the handcart, and makes sure its stable before moving the handcart away. If Stewart has carpet and tile or hard flooring in his main space, Angelfire moves the cart back to the hard flooring before joining them. 00[00:06] <@Crion> Union: "THEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE" 00[00:06] <@Crion> "Lexington Market." 00[00:06] <@Crion> "Yeah." 00[00:07] <@Crion> "Also of course it's secret. Lady I try to talk to people as little as possible." [00:08] 7Maggie: "Okay, there's a freight elevator around back. Take it up to--" 7She explains the rigamarole by which he can knock on the door of the Wherehouse. [00:08] 10The living room's carpeted, but the kitchen/ette is tiled and there's barely a wall between it and the living room. Stewart settles in on the couch with his tea. "So a network of server fetches, huh?" 00[00:08] <@Crion> Union: "Alright! Should I be wearing a uniform or just fast talk this shit?" 00[00:09] <@Crion> Angelfire will settle down wherever allows him to not be sitting next to anyone except possibly Canterbury, even if it means bringing in a chair from the kitchen. [00:10] 10Stewart: "I can get one of the office chairs from the study if that's more comfortable." [00:10] 7Maggie: "The thing about life is that as long as you look like you know what you're doing you can do whatever you want." 00[00:10] <@Crion> Angelfire: "Please." [00:11] 10Stewart ducks into the office and comes out with his high-backed, matte black gamer chair. 00[00:11] <@Crion> Union: "Hahahaha. And the thing about Matter is, you can just make real money! See ya soon!" [00:11] 10To Lauren: "You want yours while I'm up?" 00[00:11] <@Crion> Lauren: "I'm fine on the couch." 00[00:12] <@Crion> Angelfire cleans his glasses. [00:12] "Cool." 10Stewart sits back down with his e-reader so he doesn't feel compelled to ask them bothersome questions. 00[00:13] <@Crion> He's not lying: Maggie gets another call some 45 minutes later. [00:13] 6Nels clears all her work back to her room; continued reading about history is best done in small chunks. Hoo. 00[00:14] <@Crion> Angelfire sips his tea. To Stewart: "...What is this?" 00[00:14] <@Crion> "What sort." [00:14] 7Wizard jokes! Or possibly weed ideas! It is very difficult to tell them apart! [00:14] 7She answers again. "Heyyyup?" 00[00:15] <@Crion> Union, sounding more sober: "Hey boss, we're out back with the machinery. All you gotta do is come up and sign some paperwork and we're good to go." [00:15] 10Stewart: "That's called, uh, Irish Breakfast." 00[00:16] <@Crion> Speaking to someone else off phone: "Look, buddy, she'll be up. What if you took a walk? No, I'm just saying. ...Do you know what a per diem is?" 00[00:16] <@Crion> A vague conversation. Then, thirty to forty seconds later: "Christ, you guys need to organize." 00[00:16] <@Crion> Then Union's back on. [00:17] 7She rolls her eyes. "On my way." 7She grabs her jacket, and says to the Wherehouse at large: "Headin' out, I'll be back in a bit." 00[00:17] <@Crion> "Hey, all good." 00[00:17] <@Crion> "Cool. Waiting." Union hangs up. [00:17] 7Maggie will leave by the Market door and take the elevator down. 00[00:17] <@Crion> Angelfire nods. "This is good shit." [00:18] 10Stewart: "Kind of a funny name, since the teas used in the blend are all grown in India." 00[00:20] <@Crion> He shifts in the gamer chair. "...Anyway. So. Things you both need to know. Lauren knows them already but my job is to say annoying shit when it's important. Never put that thing on a network. Never hook a monitor with integrated speakers into it. Speakers can also be microphones, and therefore passive receivers of data. Wired keyboards and mouses only. Never plug a camera into it. Only test 00[00:20] <@Crion> it in prod environments. Other than that, it's basic IT security stuff." 00[00:20] <@Crion> "Which I assume you're up to, Stewart." [00:20] 10Stewart nods. "I got the whole spiel when the freehold brought me online." [00:20] 10Lauren will of course note the deliberate omission of who came to do that. 00[00:21] <@Crion> Angelfire nods. "Lauren does good work." 00[00:21] <@Crion> He stands. "I should probably get out of your -- cat -- hair." 00[00:22] <@Crion> Chup is trying to climb his leg. [00:22] 10Stewart: "Chuuuuuup." [00:22] 10He'll try to free Angelfire from the cat. 00[00:22] <@Crion> Angelfire: "Whatever else you can say about him: that's his name." [00:22] 10Stewart: "Written in stone in the Cathenaeum." 00[00:23] <@Crion> Angelfire, deadpan: "Yeah, I definitely get that reference." [00:24] 10Stewart: "I think it's originally a school in ancient Rome. But it's what the Belvedere calls their, uh, archive." 00[00:24] <@Crion> When Maggie arrives at the loading bay, she finds Union in a blue jumpsuit absolutely holding court with the workers while vaping. [00:24] "Athenaeum is, I mean. Cathenaeum is a regrettable pun." 00[00:25] <@Crion> Angelfire: "Huh." 00[00:25] <@Crion> "Be careful with the mages." 00[00:25] <@Crion> He adjusts his glasses. "Not you in specific. I don't know anything about you. Just in general." [00:26] 10Stewart: "They don't fuck around. Except when they do, which is so much worse." [00:26] "Christ. Don't work too hard, huh fellas?" 7She ambles up, hands in her coat pockets. "Everything here?" 00[00:26] <@Crion> Angelfire: "They believe in a better world than this." 00[00:27] <@Crion> Lauren: "Angelfire..." [00:27] "A lot of them do," 10Stewart agrees. 00[00:27] <@Crion> Angelfire: "And that's only dangerous when you realize it's zero sum. They make their better world, and we don't get this one--" 00[00:28] <@Crion> Lauren: "ADRIAN!" [00:28] 10Stewart blinks. 00[00:28] <@Crion> Angelfire: "Time I was going. Thanks for the whatever." [00:28] 10Slightly subdued: "Yeah, take it easy." 00[00:29] <@Crion> "Weird advice from a gamer." He pets Chup and leaves. [00:29] 10Is Canterbury still there? 00[00:29] <@Crion> Yep! 00[00:30] <@Crion> Canterbury: "So. I'll uh. Use the bathroom, and go." [00:30] 10Stewart: "Thanks for helping lug this in." 00[00:30] <@Crion> Canterbury: "Least I could do. Kind of literally." [00:31] 10He busies himself with cleaning up the remnants of the tea until Canterbury sees himself out, unless he's got more to say. 00[00:31] <@Crion> On the loading dock, the workers nod and don't seem to question Maggie's presence. One even says: "Yes, ma'am, if you say so," before laughing and helping pull another rack of equipment off of Union's truck. 00[00:32] <@Crion> Union walks up to shake Maggie's hand, and when he does will pull her close and say in an exaggerated whisper, "This Cost Three Thooouuusand Dollars" 00[00:32] <@Crion> "In Bribes!" 00[00:32] <@Crion> Canterbury uses the loo, as he'd say, then says his farewells and departs. [00:33] 10What's Lauren doing after he leaves? 00[00:33] <@Crion> Moving the server into the room where they're going to put it and wrapping the cables. [00:34] 10He hunkers down and helps her without asking. "What was going on at the end there?" [00:35] 7Maggie will nod, and supervise. Which mainly involves taking a smoke break and watching the other guys carry all the heavy stuff. [00:35] 6Classic. 00[00:36] <@Crion> Lauren: "He started having an old fight of ours with you, and I should have controlled myself better." 00[00:36] <@Crion> Union helps with the hauling, and the backslapping, and the vaping. Especially with the vaping. [00:36] 10Stewart: "You guys used to argue about wizards a lot?" 00[00:37] <@Crion> Lauren: "We argue about a lot of things." 00[00:37] <@Crion> "Argued." [00:39] 10Stewart: "Sorry. If I'd known I would've just dropped it." 00[00:40] <@Crion> Lauren: "I know you would have. ...It's an argument worth having. Just, not around me." 00[00:41] <@Crion> "...He ended the relationship. If you were wondering. Which you were." 00[00:42] <@Crion> "It's very much over. Hopefully the next time we see him he's hauling this thing out of here." 00[00:42] <@Crion> "Wrap this power cord, would you?"| 00[00:43] <@Crion> Eventually, Union, Maggie, and Nels get all of this junk at least into the Wherehouse atrium. Where are we taking it? 00[00:43] <@Crion> In fact Union asks precisely that: "Wherrrrrre are we taking it?" 00[00:44] <@Crion> He slaps a folded up light stand. "You can fit half a city's GDP in these bad boys." [00:44] 10Stewart wraps the cord. "I didn't know Chup could be that exuberant." [00:44] 6We have any spare quarters we haven't already made use of? As I recall the Wherehouse is pretty large and we've got rooms for each of us, the common room, and the kitchen, so there's probably room to expand... 00[00:45] <@Crion> Lauren: "Chup loves people who make him work for it." 00[00:45] <@Crion> "Because cats are weird and stupid." [00:45] 10Stewart: "A lot of people are like that too." 00[00:46] <@Crion> You essentially have whatever narrative space you'd like within reason, especially because you could hedgespin a second floor in the Wherehouse at any time. 00[00:46] <@Crion> Very high ceiling. [00:46] 7Maggie points: "Way down at the end there, next to the pile o' junk. HEY FELLAS! Say hi to Union!" 00[00:46] <@Crion> Business Steve, be-tracksuited: "Honk" 00[00:47] <@Crion> Then he cracks a beer. 00[00:47] <@Crion> Union: "This fuckin' bangs." 00[00:47] <@Crion> "You've got a fuckin. A Lithuanian duck." [00:49] 6Nels: "That's Steve. He mostly does business." 6She's never been quite clear on what kind of business. 00[00:50] <@Crion> Union: "Such power..." 00[00:50] <@Crion> Slav Steve: "honk" 00[00:51] <@Crion> He is eying the new material. [00:51] 6Is that something he would honk around Tony? 00[00:51] <@Crion> Business Steve might have some ideas... 00[00:51] <@Crion> About business. 00[00:52] <@Crion> Anyway Union starts moving the racks to where Maggie wants them. 00[00:52] <@Crion> Union: "Damn. So we're basically outside of time and space here." 00[00:52] <@Crion> "Maybe not time." [00:53] 6Nels will help with anything small enough for her to carry. She freezes slightly at 'outside of time,' but keeps walking without a comment. [00:53] 7Maggie: "We've never had any trouble with the ol' four dimensions before. Outside, maybe." [00:54] "Seriously, though. You're welcome to hang about, but when you leave, only go out the way you came in." [00:54] 6Nels: "There can be... problems. The other ways." 00[00:55] <@Crion> Union: "Ride that spaaace elevator..." 00[00:55] <@Crion> "..." 00[00:55] <@Crion> "So where do you want the generators?" [00:56] 10Stewart: "I gotta say, wizards aside I was really impressed with Angelfire. Well-socialized or not that's a really uncomfortable situation to be in." 00[00:57] <@Crion> Lauren: "Being magnanimous to your ex is a bit easier when you've had to work with her for a couple years already. And you were the one who ended it." [01:00] "Yeah..." [01:00] 10Some other time. 03[02:04] * CBN2 (CBN@sorcery-smagpq.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) has joined #gofetch 02[02:06] * CBN (CBN@sorcery-br5slv.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[11:19] * CBN2 is now known as CBN 03[20:01] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 02[22:27] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 03[22:29] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 02[23:14] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) Session Time: Mon Jan 27 00:00:00 2020 03[08:03] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 02[09:24] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. 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ZZZzzz…) 03[16:31] * VoxSpace (voxspace@sorcery-7f6kqf.mycingular.net) has joined #gofetch 02[16:36] * VoxSpace (voxspace@sorcery-7f6kqf.mycingular.net) Quit (Quit: Colloquy for iPhone - http://colloquy.mobi) 02[17:51] * Disconnected 02[17:51] * Attempting to rejoin channel #gofetch 03[17:51] * Rejoined channel #gofetch 03[17:51] * Topic is 'Who botches the Botchmen?' 03[17:51] * Set by Crion!Crion@sorcery-puhjpa.fios.verizon.net on Sun Sep 22 02:37:29 2019 03[17:51] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Crion 02[17:51] * CBN (CBN@sorcery-58i6gl.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) Quit (Connection closed) 03[17:51] * CBN (CBN@sorcery-58i6gl.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) has joined #gofetch 02[18:11] * CBN (CBN@sorcery-58i6gl.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) Quit (Connection closed) 03[18:11] * CBN (CBN@sorcery-58i6gl.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) has joined #gofetch 02[18:24] * CBN (CBN@sorcery-58i6gl.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) Quit (*.net *.split) 03[18:24] * CBN (CBN@sorcery-58i6gl.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) has joined #gofetch 02[18:25] * CBN (CBN@sorcery-58i6gl.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) Quit (Quit: Leaving) 03[19:02] * CBN (CBN@sorcery-58i6gl.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) has joined #gofetch 03[19:13] * VoxPrime (VoxPrime@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) has joined #gofetch 03[19:21] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 02[19:21] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 03[19:24] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 02[19:38] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 03[19:39] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 03[19:44] * VoxPVoxD (VoxPVoxD@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) has joined #gofetch 00[20:18] <@Crion> 00[20:18] <@Crion> 00[20:18] <@Crion> 00[20:18] <@Crion> 00[20:18] <@Crion> 00[20:18] <@Crion> 00[20:18] <@Crion> 00[20:18] <@Crion> 00[20:18] <@Crion> 00[20:18] <@Crion> So. It's time to get up to some shit. [20:22] 10It feels so good to have a job where no one he love's life or livelihood is on the line. 00[20:23] <@Crion> That's dark shit. You gotta love yourself. 00[20:23] <@Crion> Anyway, there's a video file waiting for Stewart on a secured FTP when he's ready. [20:24] 10Look it's on his to-do list,but you know how it is when higher-priority tickets are always coming in. Stewart pulls the video to the Autumn box. What's he looking at? 00[20:26] <@Crion> A multi-cut. A pretty confusing one, too, in totality. This was made internally from sourced viral video, which was then stitched together -- you've got four quadrants, which black out and return when the feed in question is either interrupted or replaced. They describe an incident on a dance floor at Power Plant Live, one of the more upscale 21+ theme parks in the Baltimore night life 00[20:26] <@Crion> landscape. 00[20:31] <@Crion> So you're looking at some pretty standard white people shit at first; it starts with a couple selfies followed by a bunch of laughing and a...conversation top right with someone who's not there. Seems taller, the way everyone in feed is reacting, and by the phone-holder's laughing you can tell that whatever the vampires have going on that wipes them from a live feed, it doesn't work on the 00[20:31] <@Crion> human eye in real time. Best of both worlds for them, especially in the streaming future. 00[20:31] <@Crion> Context clues indicate a man, laughing and smiling and very interested in a young woman. 00[20:32] <@Crion> Then he hits the dance floor. [20:32] 10Stewart watches intently. The box has Lauren's hack of VLC on it so he can easily pause and move around frame by frame when shit gets weird. 00[20:33] <@Crion> That is a white boy with silver hair pretending to be Michael Jackson. 00[20:34] <@Crion> And he ends it by pointing with both fingers...at the absense. [20:34] 10Damn. He's not Michael Jackson but he's good. 00[20:38] <@Crion> There's a laughing exchange of...not quite jokes. A big dude kind of steps to the dancer, but the guy laughs him off -- big guy isn't a vampire, and looks like he was more mad about the dancer taking eyes off him during his own smooth moves than anything else. But the absence and the dancer close to within feet, and while Stewart can only hear the dancer's side of the conversation, it goes 00[20:38] <@Crion> like: "Sorry to blow up your spot." "I've seen you around here before." "Oh, hell yeah." "Because I know what you are." "We should get..." 00[20:39] <@Crion> Only two of the feeds catch this: a great silver sword bubbling up out of thin air like mercury behind where the vampire should be, the blade facing his back and the dancer's chest. 00[20:39] <@Crion> "...Closer." 00[20:39] <@Crion> It impales them both. [20:39] "Holy shit." 00[20:41] <@Crion> Then, still impaled in the dancer, cuts up in a reverse L, decapitating the vampire. There's a flurry of dust as he laughs and everyone starts to run -- the feeds get choppy here, because everyone just saw a guy get murdered and vanish in front of them -- but the dancer laughs, pulling the sword out with a flourish of blood, and dashing into the crowd-- 00[20:41] <@Crion> There's only a few more seconds, then nothing. 00[20:41] <@Crion> But what Stewart can divine is that, given an analysis of where people WEREN'T, while they were looking at "empty space," there were at least two more vampires on that dance floor. [20:41] 10Who, understandably, did not intervene. 00[20:42] <@Crion> Perhaps. But the dancer was also charged towards one when everyone started running away. 00[20:42] <@Crion> *charging 00[20:42] <@Crion> So that's the video. 00[20:43] <@Crion> Lauren, over Stewart's shoulder, with some tea for him: "Wild shit." [20:44] 10Stewart takes the tea gratefully. "Thanks. Yeah that was nuts. You've gotta read it as a deliberate provocation, right? Like he got on the floor intending to do that." 00[20:44] <@Crion> Lauren: "He was hunting. No one dances like that otherwise." 00[20:44] <@Crion> "So I get why everyone's so worried." 00[20:45] <@Crion> "Still. Killing vampires preying on drunk college girls..." [20:46] "Quite a distinctive-looking guy. If he's been there before, someone must recognize him." 00[20:54] <@Crion> Lauren: "Facial recognition got nothing, but. That tech actually just sucks." 00[20:54] <@Crion> "And maybe it didn't WANT to return anything." 00[20:54] <@Crion> "I'd guess the vampires have more?" [20:56] 10Stewart: "Should stop by the Belvedere too, see if the Book has anything on him. I know the task force is meeting at a bar across the street in a couple nights. Have you ever been to 'the Brewer's Art'?" 00[20:57] <@Crion> Lauren: "Yeah! They lean into that monk shit. Try the Resurrection Ale." 00[20:57] <@Crion> "Well. When you're off work." [21:00] 10Stewart nods, but his attention's drifting back to the video. He watches it again - slowed-down this time. Pausing, rewinding, going painstakingly over the moment of conjury and impalement. It's probably a little weird to observe from over his shoulder, the way he goes back and forth frame by frame creating the impression of the phantom sword sawing into and out of the vampire's body. 00[21:00] <@Crion> It doesn't seem to be stopped by anything. Stewart can tell this isn't some artifact of the vampire behind edited out of the video. It just effortlessly moves through its victim. 00[21:01] <@Crion> Lauren will leave him to it. 00[21:01] <@Crion> Chup will flop down on the keyboard. 00[21:01] <@Crion> He waits for her to get back to the kitchen, of course. [21:02] 10Another canny hunter with a masterful sense of timing. 00[21:02] <@Crion> Chup: "mmmrrr." [21:03] 10Stewart's a bit comforted by the knowledge that death by a sword so sharp is likely to be painless. When you get stabbed that badly, usually the shock will numb you, and then you're gone before your brain can recalibrate. [21:03] 10Not always, though. Sometimes you die screaming. [21:04] 10Lot of variables. 00[21:04] <@Crion> Didn't seem to hurt the silver-haired boy. Though the blood did seem to be his? 00[21:05] <@Crion> No blood seems to explode out of nowhere. 00[21:05] <@Crion> It's his. 00[21:05] <@Crion> And he's just laughing. [21:06] 10The last few runs through the video, Stewart's smiling along. That kind of enthusiasm is infectious. 00[21:07] <@Crion> He's probably learned all he'll learn from it at this point. Meeting's in a couple hours. 00[21:09] <@Crion> Detour by The Belvedere won't take too long. [21:13] 10Stewart's next stop is the Belvedere, which he needs to get to ASAP. The meeting's in a couple hours, but like he said the Belvedere and the meeting-place are so close he wants to be in and out with enough time to have visibly left and returned unseen. The Book is helpful, to a point - it confirms that the boy (The Boy, as the encyclopedia informs him) is known to it, but besides a 'name' [21:13] 10and a picture any information is occluded behind a series of middle finger emojis that really do not look like they should be rendering in the Book's mid-90s interface. [21:15] 10Then he drives home, and instead of re-entering the building, loiters for a bit in one of the spots Canterbury likes to stand when he's on guard duty. This time of night, the shadows are all but impenetrable. The urge bubbles up to sink into them like a warm bath, and soon Stewart Reader is lost to the world. [21:15] 10The bus takes him right back - getting on behind someone, the driver doesn't even glance up when he doesn't pay a fare. 00[21:19] <@Crion> The Brewer's Art. One-story storefront bar with a main dining area with a big bar on the wall across from the door in, then a supplementary dining area to the left of that facing the bar. Between the two on your left heading into the supplementary dining area is a staircase down to the basement, which has a second landing. For those keeping track at home: to reach the basement, you take the 00[21:19] <@Crion> left-hand path three times. [21:19] 10No wonder they like it here. 00[21:20] <@Crion> Large basement dining and bar area; bar is in the middle, and is a four-corners island. It's the only well-lit part of the basement. Arched ceilings, low-hanging. Two doors at the back that aren't the restroom. One is the downstairs kitchen; one is something else. Something else has a mook on it most nights; the nights it doesn't, it has a padlock. 00[21:21] <@Crion> Alleyway to the left gives street access to the first-floor kitchen. It's directly above the basement kitchen. 00[21:21] <@Crion> Has higher foot traffic than the main entrance before opening, lower afterwards. 00[21:24] <@Crion> Other that than: Bouncer on the front door, bouncer at the bar, both civilians. Nice waitstaff that's incredibly busy all the time, and aren't paying that much attention. Stock uniform is the stock uniform of all modern places-to-be: black slacks, black shoes, black top. 00[21:24] <@Crion> The mook on the door in the basement is not one of the bouncers. [21:25] 10That's also how Stewart is dressed, coincidentally. It can't possibly matter, since anyone who sees him will be able to *see* him. Is the basement doorman mortal? [21:29] 10Is he early enough that people have finished arriving, is the question... there's no one he knows in the outer basement area already, is there? 00[21:30] <@Crion> The basement doorman appears to be, yes. 00[21:30] <@Crion> There is not. 00[21:31] <@Crion> The meeting's for midnight, so the normal foot traffic is in full swing. Everyone ignores him, but still subtly moves out of his way. [21:37] 10The guard's eyes are going to be on the room rather than the door, so it shouldn't be too hard to just, smoothly walk on by and through the door. It takes Stewart a few minutes to work up the nerve, but then he's just gently pushing the door open and sneaking inside, unless something goes horribly wrong. [21:37] 10Just gotta make sure the door doesn't hit him or something. 00[21:47] <@Crion> Stewart gets through without issue. Door closes behind him quite softly. There's a hallway, and a fourth left-hand turn up ahead with light coming from beyond it...and Gaunt Rose standing in the corner of the turn, face lit by her phone, examining something. 00[21:47] <@Crion> She looks up, eyes narrowed...then walks on by. 00[21:47] <@Crion> There's a door to the left before the turn, and another to the right. 00[21:48] <@Crion> ...Someone's in the right-hand room. [21:49] 10It's a few seconds after Rose looks up and walks by before Stewart can breathe again. He checks the right-hand room. 00[21:51] <@Crion> Man standing over a woman. She's collapsed and dressed in the black outfit of the Art's staff. He's straightening and wiping off his chin. [21:51] 10Tall? 00[21:51] <@Crion> This looks like a storeroom of some sort. 00[21:52] <@Crion> Not the one from the video. Call it 6'1" against 6'3" 00[21:52] <@Crion> . [21:54] 10Is she still breathing? 00[21:58] <@Crion> She is, for now. Wounds on her neck have been sealed by the Kiss, and she's been left with enough blood to live, usually, but she's still convulsing...she's got a condition of some kind. [22:02] 10Shit. Shit. How long until midnight? 00[22:03] <@Crion> Twenty minutes. If you can get her out, to an ambulance, and back, you'll be fine. 00[22:04] <@Crion> She's unconscious, but cough-retching, and when she's breathing, it's shallow and short. 00[22:04] <@Crion> Maybe something with her lungs? [22:11] 10Stewart looks around, and sees a first aid kid hidden behind a dumb standing cardboard display. Bandages, epipen... wait, if she's got an allergic reaction or something this would be perfect! But if she doesn't it might be insanely stupid. Fuck fuck fuck! As soon as he's sure the vampire is out of the room he'll pop the kit open, bind her neck, and follow the instructions on the pen, [22:11] 10jamming it into her thigh. 00[22:13] <@Crion> She convulses, coughs...and responds well. She's waking up, but she needs medical attention beyond this... [22:16] 10Stewart crouches down to help her to her feet - she's awfully heavy, to his unStulike frame, but he's got the focus and willingness to strain his body to make up for it. Twenty seconds later she's stumbling through the door into the main dining area, which swings open and back enough to reveal... an empty hallway. 00[22:18] <@Crion> She more or less collapses into the arms of the mook, who asks her to say something twice, then starts yelling for help. He hesitates slightly, then visibly says 'fuck it' and hoists her up, heading upstairs. An ambulance is already being called. 00[22:18] <@Crion> Which draws the attention of the vampire. 00[22:19] <@Crion> Tallish, oldish, looks like an aging rocker. Long hair in a ponytail. He checks the storeroom, his eyes widen, and he storms out front. Stewart can hear his questions; they focus first on whether she's alive. 00[22:19] <@Crion> He's relieved to hear she is. When the mook returns, he thanks him. 00[22:19] <@Crion> Then he heads back. [22:19] 10Stewart holds his breath. 00[22:20] <@Crion> There's no indication the vampire notices Stewart in the space behind the door. [22:20] 10Does he go into the left-hand door or down the hall? 00[22:21] <@Crion> Down the hall, and to the left. [22:21] 10Stewart checks the nearer room first. [22:22] 10Maybe there's a vantage point in there. 00[22:22] <@Crion> Would you believe there's a vent? 00[22:22] <@Crion> It's not like, a videogame vent. 00[22:23] <@Crion> But it's a listenable one. [22:23] 10This is probably a lot smarter than trying to walk directly into the room and hope no one has magic that trumps his. 00[22:23] <@Crion> ...There's also a door, but that's a lot more dangerous. [22:23] 10Let's start here. 00[22:24] <@Crion> This is a lounge, by the way. This looks like the VIP area in general, and this is where all the couches are, while the conference room is next door. [22:24] 10Empty? 00[22:24] <@Crion> Yep. 00[22:24] <@Crion> There are refreshments on the center table, though. [22:24] 10When you say "refreshments", 00[22:25] <@Crion> Normal. 00[22:25] <@Crion> Two drained jack and cokes and a tater tots bowl that's empty. [22:25] 10Okay. Stewart's still not going to take any, but at least he doesn't have the smell of virgin blood in his nostrils while he's listening. 00[22:26] <@Crion> His choice here is to listen through the vent or try to keyhole this shit. The good news is the fit on the lounge door isn't great. [22:28] 10Stewart's going to listen, for now at least. 00[22:30] <@Crion> A MAN'S VOICE, CULTURED: "How is she?" 00[22:30] <@Crion> A MAN'S VOICE, MIDWESTERN: "On her way to the hospital. She'll be fine." 00[22:30] <@Crion> A MAN'S VOICE, AGGRESSIVE: "Yeah?" 00[22:31] <@Crion> GAUNT ROSE: "You guys ever learn not to shit where you eat?" 00[22:31] <@Crion> CULTURED: "They don't shit." 00[22:31] <@Crion> GAUNT ROSE: "No, they don't defecate." 00[22:32] <@Crion> AGGRESSIVE: "Hah." 00[22:32] <@Crion> MIDWESTERN: "She's going to be fine, so we should get started." 00[22:33] <@Crion> The aggressive voice is Cuth. 00[22:33] <@Crion> CUTH: "Sounds fine to me." 00[22:33] <@Crion> "You said you need us for something?" 00[22:34] <@Crion> From this Stewart can divine that Midwestern is the vampire, and Cultured is the willworker, given it's a meeting of the big four. 00[22:34] <@Crion> He hasn't heard either of those latter two voices before. 00[22:35] <@Crion> VAMPIRE: "I'll keep it brief. You've seen the video?" [22:35] 10Stewart's one anxiety was coming in here and hearing a German accent. So far so good. 00[22:35] <@Crion> ROSE: "It's circulated." 00[22:35] <@Crion> MAGE: "Quite the show." 00[22:35] <@Crion> CUTH: "Yup." 00[22:37] <@Crion> VAMPIRE: "I'm not an idiot; I don't expect you to care that we lost three Kindred there. And yes, they were rather brazen. But we can't have this happening on the dance floor at Power Plant Live." 00[22:37] <@Crion> ROSE: "Were they taking the girls off the dance floor before the killed them?" 00[22:37] <@Crion> VAMPIRE: "Yes." 00[22:37] <@Crion> ROSE: "To where." 00[22:37] <@Crion> VAMPIRE: "The facilities." 00[22:38] <@Crion> MAGE: "But they were leaving the bodies there. And making the papers." 00[22:38] <@Crion> VAMPIRE: "No one outside Baltimore cares about that. A couple homicide detectives are fine, we can handle that, we can clamp down on the offenders, handle it inside the Court. None of you are bloodless, so I don't want to hear about it." 00[22:39] <@Crion> ROSE: "Oh yeah, we're killing kids all the time." 00[22:39] <@Crion> VAMPIRE: "Lecture me again in July, Gaunt." 00[22:40] <@Crion> MAGE: "...The point is well made. Not the bit about the body factory in the rear rooms of Power Plant Live; that's obviously stupid. But we can't permit the conspiratorial powers to take notice." 00[22:41] <@Crion> ROSE: "The Freehold's objection is not to what he's done, but him doing it virally." 00[22:42] <@Crion> CUTH: "Seems like a badass. Are we gonna kill him?" 00[22:42] <@Crion> VAMPIRE: "That's on the table." 00[22:42] <@Crion> MAGE: "We're looking into what, precisely, he is. That sword...well, he's quite the specimen." 00[22:43] <@Crion> ROSE: "The Freehold's position is we want him out, not dead. Dead requires a lot more fireworks." 00[22:43] <@Crion> CUTH: "So you don't want me here." 00[22:43] <@Crion> ROSE: "Please, Cuth. You know I always love to see you." 00[22:43] <@Crion> ROSE: "But fuck no." 00[22:43] <@Crion> Cuth laughs heartily. 00[22:44] <@Crion> MAGE: "The Consilium will delve into this. We'll have a report. I presume the Freehold will do so as well, if I know the Lord Sage." 00[22:44] <@Crion> ROSE: "It's on his docket." 00[22:45] <@Crion> VAMPIRE: "He's going to strike again." 00[22:45] <@Crion> CUTH: "Yeah?" 00[22:47] <@Crion> ROSE: "So far he's killed a Frankenstein who suicided against a housing project, then four flex squad cops trying to kill some drug dealers, and now a college kill crew. Is my brief right?" 00[22:47] <@Crion> MAGE: "It is." 00[22:47] <@Crion> ROSE: "So if you all stop fucking killing people, you should be fine, and we can turn our minds to the fallout." 00[22:48] <@Crion> VAMPIRE: "My people cannot, actually stop fucking killing people." [22:48] 10Hard not to side with Rose here. 00[22:48] <@Crion> VAMPIRE: "And you have a responsibility under our agreements." 00[22:48] <@Crion> ROSE: "It's always good to see you, Sobriquet. I've got a curfew." 00[22:49] <@Crion> Rose gets up and leaves. 00[22:49] <@Crion> Not through the lounge, into the hall. [22:49] 10A person whose sobriquet is Sobriquet? [22:49] 10Sure, why not. 00[22:49] <@Crion> MAGE: "...She makes good points." [22:49] 10Stewart keeps listening. The point is to learn things they *won't* tell her. 00[22:50] <@Crion> SOBRIQUET: "Of course she does. It's easy to judge when all you do is run away from people." 00[22:50] <@Crion> CUTH: "Heh." 00[22:51] <@Crion> CUTH: "So she doesn't want to kill this kid. And hell, I respect his gumption. But I'm guessing that since the Consilium and the Court sent senior members and the Freehold sent a goth scene chick, we're now having the real discussion." 00[22:52] <@Crion> SOBRIQUET: "...We would prefer a final death here. Politically." 00[22:52] <@Crion> CUTH: "But not in front of cameras." 00[22:52] <@Crion> SOBRIQUET: "No." 00[22:53] <@Crion> MAGE: "Gaunt Rose's proposal made sense. Send him a way. Find him a better target." 00[22:54] <@Crion> SOBRIQUET: "Then, Sommelier, you should find one." 00[22:54] <@Crion> SOMMELIER: "All the mess and no cleaning." 00[22:54] <@Crion> SOBRIQUET: "What?" 00[22:54] <@Crion> SOMMELIER: "I enunciated quite well." 00[22:55] <@Crion> SOMMELIER: "If you want to murder this boy, we won't do it in public, and the Consilium will not sign off on it without the Freehold. And if you want him gone, we will support that, but we refuse to do the heavy lifting." 00[22:56] <@Crion> CUTH: "Should note here that the Pack has no desire to get involved. Just, if we do, it'd be fun." 00[22:57] <@Crion> SOBRIQUET: "I feel like the Court has earned a bit more trust than this." 00[22:57] <@Crion> SOMMELIER: "You sent a girl to the hospital before you walked in here." 00[22:58] <@Crion> SOBRIQUET: "...I'll pass tonight along to St. Sebastian and the Prince." 00[23:00] <@Crion> SOBRIQUET: "Goodnight and good luck." 00[23:00] <@Crion> CUTH: "Uh huh." [23:00] 10Does everyone get up here or just Sobriquet? 00[23:00] <@Crion> SOMMELIER: "Farewell and good roads." 00[23:01] <@Crion> Everyone gets up, but only Sobriquet leaves, at least immediately. 00[23:01] <@Crion> CUTH: "How you been, man?" 00[23:01] <@Crion> SOMMELIER: "Stuck indoors." 00[23:03] <@Crion> CUTH: "Right. ...I respect the Court, but, like. An abomination, a bunch of cops, and rape-killers. We'll do the fight if we gotta, we need the support. ...Especially if they're listening, right now. But the Pack would like maybe for this kid to just go to Denver and fuck up evil people there." 00[23:04] <@Crion> SOMMELIER: "Noted. And I've made sure they're not." 00[23:04] <@Crion> SOMMELIER: "Good night, Cuthbert." 00[23:04] <@Crion> CUTH: "Night, Som." 00[23:04] <@Crion> None of them return to the lounge. [23:04] 10Soon Stewart is creeping out behind them. [23:05] 10Or, wait. [23:05] 10Maybe he should poke in on the conferenc room first... [23:05] 10Eh, there's probably not like briefing books on the table or anything. [23:05] 10Let's get out of here. 00[23:05] <@Crion> The room is indeed empty. 00[23:06] <@Crion> Well, except for chairs and tables. [23:06] 10Anything strange happen on the way out? 00[23:08] <@Crion> Nope. [23:13] 10Stewart lets the magic slough off him as he steps outside, getting a surprisingly good look at the man who must be Sommelier. What happens next is reflex. 00[23:13] <@Crion> As Stewart comes out of The Brewer's Art, Sommelier sees him and stiffens. Then flags him down. "Young man! Young man." [23:14] 10Stewart looks briefly shocked but recovers quickly and jogs forward. "Sir?" 00[23:14] <@Crion> "You work here, yes?" 00[23:15] <@Crion> He shakes his head. "Of course you do." [23:15] 10So reflexively it doesn't feel like a lie: "Yes, sir." 00[23:15] <@Crion> "There was a waitress, taken out of here, earlier tonight. How is she? Will she live?" [23:16] 10Sommelier looks kindlier than Stewart would've guessed. "Oh, Marissa! Yeah, she just had a really nasty allergic reaction to something. She's gonna be okay." 00[23:17] <@Crion> He nods and smiles. "Thank you. Good. I--...Good. Good night." He'll step into his cab. 00[23:18] <@Crion> Sommelier -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHDVZ64cxFs What I really want to know is, do you feel that you... [23:19] 10Do you feel that you have more freedom now? [23:19] 10Something about that eats at Stewart as he walks home. 00[23:19] <@Crion> As the door closes, Sommelier leans back into his seat and collapses. [23:19] 10Collapses in like a tired way, or like a got-knocked-out way? 00[23:19] <@Crion> The former, leading to the latter. A deep and endless sigh. [23:20] 10Long night. 00[23:24] <@Crion> There's someone waiting for him after the first turn and the second block after that. She's smoking a Marlboro 100 and texting someone. "Stewart," she says, "Reader." And she puts away the phone. 00[23:24] <@Crion> Gaunt Rose. 00[23:25] <@Crion> She indicates an alley. "Step into our office." [23:25] 10Stewart looks up, startled out of his thoughts. But he goes where she points. 00[23:26] <@Crion> "Don't care if you trust me. Do you trust the Lord Sage?" She's walking up to metal door. [23:27] 10Stewart: "Sure." 00[23:27] <@Crion> She touches the door with all five fingers of her right hand, then raps on it. It becomes a star field, which she opens, and steps through. Before she's gone: "Close it behind you." 00[23:28] <@Crion> This is going somewhere into the Hedge. [23:28] 10He does. 00[23:28] <@Crion> Into a Hollow, as it turns out. [23:28] 10'Our' office? Interesting... 00[23:28] <@Crion> A Hollow that is 20 feet by 20 feet, with two bunk beds, a refridgerator, and a closet. And a small table with three chairs. A safe house. [23:30] 10Cool. Stewart'd hate to think about what kind of situation makes a Hollow that isn't any of their regular Hollows necessary, so he doesn't. "It's nice to meet you," 10he says when they're alone. 00[23:30] <@Crion> Rose throws her bag on one of the beds, and sits down in a chair. "We met when you started trying to take my job." 00[23:31] <@Crion> "And you're doing better than I expected." 00[23:31] <@Crion> "That was you with the waitress?" 02[23:31] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) [23:32] 10Stewart sits down too. "...yeah." 10That'd harder to say that you'd maybe think it should be. "She was having some kind of allergic reaction. I don't think Sobriquet realized." 00[23:33] <@Crion> Rose: "Vampires kill people all the time. Sometimes they don't even mean to." 00[23:33] <@Crion> "...Good you were on it." 00[23:34] <@Crion> "Not just because she's still alive. But mainly." 00[23:35] <@Crion> "How much did you overhear?" 00[23:35] <@Crion> "Guessing you used the lounge." [23:35] 10Stewart: "Yeah. I got everything from when Sobriquet walked back in to when everybody left." 00[23:36] <@Crion> She takes a drag. "They say anything interesting?" 00[23:37] <@Crion> "After I left." [23:38] 10Stewart: "The Court is pushing for an assassination. The Consilium wants a diplomatic solution. Cuth's down to clown if that's what it comes to, but he'd just as soon The Boy shipped off to Denver." [23:38] "They took the view that the Freehold didn't really care, since they sent someone relatively junior to sit in." 00[23:39] <@Crion> Rose chuckles. "Thaaaaaat's me. The junior girl scout." 00[23:39] <@Crion> "Great." 00[23:39] <@Crion> "How hard did Sobriquet push? Did he demand a decision?" [23:40] 10Stewart: "Not hard. He's taking it back to Lister and the Regent." 00[23:41] <@Crion> Rose: "Could work in our favor; could not. Either way they won't take action before bringing back in front of the Gang of Four." 00[23:42] <@Crion> "Unless Sebastian has truly lost his mind." [23:42] 10Stewart: "Is that what the task force is called?" 00[23:42] <@Crion> Rose: "But here I am, giving you intel." 00[23:42] <@Crion> Rose: "We're not about to call it Task Force: Beta or something." 00[23:43] <@Crion> "Might as well be named after something as stupid and useless as a congressional committee." [23:44] 10Stewart: "Alright. Thanks." 00[23:45] <@Crion> "Uh huh." 00[23:45] <@Crion> "So you're a spy now." 00[23:46] <@Crion> "You spend however the fuck many weeks as a questing superhero and now you just...walk on in." [23:46] 10Stewart blinks. "What do you mean?" 00[23:46] <@Crion> She takes a drag. "And you save a life too, so I can't even actually give this speech for real." 00[23:47] <@Crion> "I mean that you're just effortlessly taking my job away from me and as a bonus you're so good at it I get to feel bad for being angry." 00[23:47] <@Crion> "I got to be a patsy tonight. You did the real work." 00[23:48] <@Crion> "Cracked the door to the lounge you know. Saw you in there." 00[23:48] <@Crion> "There was something supernatural around." [23:48] 10Stewart: "I missed that completely. If you hadn't been you I'd be fucked." 00[23:50] <@Crion> "If I hadn't been me I wouldn't have seen you." [23:51] 10Stewart: "You could've been someone who wasn't on my side. Like imagine if this was happening in High Summer." 00[23:52] <@Crion> She laughs. "And now you're just pumping me for information." 00[23:52] <@Crion> "Fuck you, Reader." It's at least slightly good natured. 00[23:53] <@Crion> More than a little bit rueful, though. [23:55] 10Stewart: "Listen. I know this might not mean much, given the circumstances, but Santander offered me the apprenticeship a few weeks ago, never mentioned that he already had an apprentice. Then I meet you on the way up to see him and he tells me he'll take us both as far as we can go. So I don't want to-- I'm not here to fuck you over. I really don't want to do that." 00[23:56] <@Crion> Rose, sighing out the smoke: "You already did. And I've gotta be the better person and accept the apology." 00[23:57] <@Crion> "Feels good, man." [23:58] 10Stewart: "How did I? If there can be two Lord Sages, how does my being here hurt you?" 00[23:59] <@Crion> Rose: "You think the Lord Sages will actually allow that? Or do you think that one of us will just get to be Assistant to the Lord Sage as far as the Order is concerned? Because the order is a contract." 00[23:59] <@Crion> "You can't just decide to appoint two." 00[23:59] <@Crion> "Maybe Santander thinks he can, but you've seen that man's office." Session Time: Sat Feb 01 00:00:00 2020 00[00:00] <@Crion> "Fantasia." 00[00:00] <@Crion> She stands. "When you leave, the portal collapses. Don't leave anything in here you want. File early if you want to beat my report." 00[00:01] <@Crion> Rose walks out unless she's stopped. [00:02] 10Stewart stands when she does. He starts to say something to her back... but thinks better of it. [00:02] 10He leaves quietly, after cleaning out the ashtray. 00[00:03] <@Crion> When he exits, he's a block away from his apartment. 00[00:03] <@Crion> Rose is nowhere to be seen, of course. [00:06] 10Stewart sighs and heads upstairs. Lauren's probably still awake, right? It can't be later than 1. 00[00:07] <@Crion> Lauren and Chup are both still up. The latter is in a loaf on the kitchen counter, staring at the door. 00[00:07] <@Crion> "Mwwow." [00:08] 10Stewart croaks "Chuuuuuuuup." 10like a talking bullfrog. 00[00:09] <@Crion> Chup deigns to stand, in order to be lifted, as he is accustomed to. From the gamer room and her own PC, Lauren: "How'd it go, babe?" [00:11] 10Stewart cradles Chup like a baby. "Okay on balance. One near-death experience, one conspiracy to form a conspiracy to commit murder, one relationship in permanent zugzwang." [00:11] 10He rubs Chup's belly. "Everyone's okay." 00[00:11] <@Crion> Lauren: "I know chess shit well enough to know it can't be that bad." 00[00:11] <@Crion> "Rose?" [00:13] 10Stewart: "Yeah. She's really convinced I fuck her over just by existing, but she's too ethical to actually get mad at me for it, so she gets mad at me for forcing her to judge herself for getting mad at me for it. And everything I say just pulls the finger trap tighter." 00[00:14] <@Crion> Lauren: "...Yeah. That's Rose." [00:14] 10Stewart: "You know I was this close to just offering to let her have the job?" 00[00:14] <@Crion> "She wouldn't take it." 00[00:15] <@Crion> "I mean, she would. But. All that stuff would just get worse." 00[00:15] <@Crion> "Santander had an apprentice before her. And he died." [00:15] "Like I don't give a shit if I'm the Squire Sage or whatever. Let Santander bequeath her his wizard hat without cutting it in half. But... yeah. It's almost disrespectful." [00:16] "I like the work, not the title. Frankly I don't think I'll ever be able to pull off the title." [00:16] "You really gotta be like an old wizard or a goth babe to call yourself Lord Sage of the Unknown Reaches and get away with it." 00[00:16] <@Crion> Lauren: "It's the work she likes. She was already doing it for him anyway." [00:18] "There's so obviously enough work for two people though. Like this city is fucked. Suicide Frankensteins and vampire schemes and the regular fucking cops." 00[00:19] <@Crion> "There is, babe, but you're not listening to me." Lauren turns in the chair as Chup takes the opportunity to flop onto her. "Kingsley actually laughed at Rose, when she asked to take Null's work over. To her face. She changed Courts." [00:19] "She's not Autumn?" 00[00:19] <@Crion> "She is now." 00[00:19] <@Crion> "She was Winter." [00:19] "Oh." [00:20] "Well, respect for getting mad enough at Kingsley to change your whole career." 00[00:21] <@Crion> "She made her decision before that." 00[00:21] <@Crion> "Kingsley learned that laughing didn't work on her." [00:22] 10He sinks into his own chair. "What would you do, if you were me?" 00[00:23] <@Crion> Lauren, plopping Chup on her lap: "Make sure that you can both actually be Lord Sages." 00[00:24] <@Crion> "Santander's not a liar and he's not a fool, but promising two titles is a lot." [00:24] 10Stewart: "She made it sound like there's more to it than just, political recognition. Like it's a Contract in itself." 00[00:24] <@Crion> Lauren: "Then she's probably right." 00[00:25] <@Crion> "...And Contracts have Loopholes." [00:26] 10Stewart: "So if we can learn and invoke the Loophole..." 00[00:26] <@Crion> Lauren: "Yeah. If the Loophole doesn't incredibly suck." [00:27] 10Stewart: "So we gotta hope it's not a Goblin Contract then." 00[00:28] <@Crion> Lauren: "Maybe you should hope it is. You can pay those off pretty easy." 00[00:28] <@Crion> Chup: "rrrrRaow." 00[00:29] <@Crion> Lauren: "Ugh, fine, idiot." 00[00:29] <@Crion> She cradles him again. 00[00:29] <@Crion> He stares at Stewart smugly. 00[00:29] <@Crion> Maintaining eye contact. [00:30] 10Stewart, to the cat: "That's fair." 00[00:31] <@Crion> He rolls over in her arms and just sort of, extends his legs, one hitting her in the chin. Lauren: "Okay, great." 00[00:31] <@Crion> He retracts them and goes into stupid baby mode. 00[00:32] <@Crion> Lauren: "I'm going to placate this idiot then head to bed. ...You're not going to stream this late, right?" [00:34] "No, I'm just gonna write this up and then I'll join you." 10Stewart turns around to make his report, leaving nothing out except Marissa's name and his meeting with Rose. The report ends with conjecture on future leads - the possibility that the Court will feel compelled to solve this in-house, overtures made by the Court to the Pack outside the remit of the Task Force, surveillance techniques [00:34] 10employed by the Consilium, and of course the dynamite option of attempting to predict where The Boy will strike next. 00[00:39] <@Crion> When he gets to bed, Lauren is already asleep, and Chup is dug in on his pillow. He'll move, but only to Stewart's chest. Then he'll slump over between you two, as Lauren curls into you. 03[01:24] * banana|peels is now known as banana 03[12:08] * GreatClownVoxPVoxD (VoxPVoxD@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) has joined #gofetch 02[12:11] * VoxPVoxD (VoxPVoxD@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 02[14:55] * GreatClownVoxPVoxD (VoxPVoxD@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) Quit (Quit: dammitwho sucks) 03[14:55] * VoxPVoxD (VoxPVoxD@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) has joined #gofetch 02[18:22] * VoxPVoxD (VoxPVoxD@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) Quit (Connection closed) 03[18:22] * VoxPVoxD (VoxPVoxD@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) has joined #gofetch 00[20:59] <@Crion> 00[20:59] <@Crion> 00[20:59] <@Crion> 00[20:59] <@Crion> 00[20:59] <@Crion> 00[20:59] <@Crion> 00[20:59] <@Crion> 00[20:59] <@Crion> 00[20:59] <@Crion> 00[20:59] <@Crion> 00[21:01] <@Crion> It's the night before Christmas, and all through the Wherehouse, there's a goose playing with his beer, like a cat with a mouse. Thankfully it's unopened, but who knows how that's going to fizz up when he finally -- ah there it goes. Well damn. He got pretty much all of it in his mouth. [21:02] 13Okay, we're not going to let beer stains become a norm. Melanie will interrupt her mournful contemplation to grab a towel, wet it, spend a minute futilely trying to convince Steve to clean up his own mess.. [21:07] 5Tony's in his bachelor hovel. He disappeared about an hour ago with some tape and some wrapping paper if anyone was paying attention, because being sneaky is an outdoors activity. Nevertheless, his door (A DOOR!) is shut and a tinny radio playing classic rock can be faintly heard behind. 00[21:08] <@Crion> The handover of power from Autumn to Winter went off a few days ago without muss or fuss in a private ceremony at the law offices, and the Winter King once again swore the proper oaths and made the proper signs, so on and so forth. There will be a Christmas dinner at The Sidereal, but it's mostly a quiet affair for Freehold changelings with nowhere else to go; attendence is neither officially 00[21:08] <@Crion> expected nor even informally encouraged. 00[21:08] <@Crion> What does the Wherehouse have planned for the holidays? [21:09] "If you can open beer bottles you can manipulate a cloth rag. This is a different kind of business, the business we make immigrants do." 00[21:09] <@Crion> honk 00[21:09] <@Crion> Steve is arguing he didn't even spill any. Well. Much. 00[21:13] <@Crion> Business Steve is taking a vacation, for his part. Steve is currently wearing a tiny Santa hat. [21:15] 5After Steve emphatically veto'd Tony's plans to hang up Christmas lights and an inflatable Santa on the roof, he's kept the Christmas'ing relatively low-key, current activities notwithstanding. Nevertheless, he emerges from his bachelor hovel, shuts the door behind him quietly, and pops into the kitchen to check on the stove, where he's had some cider coming to a low simmer in a pot on a burner. [21:15] 7Maggie is making a honey baked ham, mashed potatoes, green beans, stuffing, and some nice rolls. The ham was a substitution for avian meat, out of respect for Business Steve. [21:15] 5He of course has to jockey around Maggie and her items for burner space and kitchen room, but this is a ballet known well by now. [21:15] 7She's chewing gum, also? [21:17] 10How does Lauren feel about spending Christmas with the motley? Despite wrapping all these presents Stewart is ambivalent. 00[21:18] <@Crion> Lauren would be delighted to. [21:19] 13Melanie enjoys living with two people who cook. Apart from that she's got no plans, which is a first.. and also very much isn't. [21:20] 13Having kept the floor from going fully bachelor apartment, she returns to ham observation. "This hasn't changed much, has it? Not across however many generations." 00[21:22] <@Crion> For the time being, Steve is avoiding the kitchen except when he wants a beer, and even then he sneaks in, grabs one, and runs away. Perhaps he Googled "Christmas goose" or something. [21:24] 7Maggie: "Pigs are mostly the same, I guess? Pigwise?" [21:25] 5Tony retrieves some cinnamon sticks in a bundle he got from the (regular) market, and begins rummaging around for mugs in the cabinetry of the kitchen. Everyone's gotta have at least one, one assumes. "I remember newspaper circulars used to have a big piece of pineapple on the ham. I never did that, and I don't know if I want to." [21:26] 5 Success. Mugs. "I do know, ham and pineapple on pizza is awful, so I have to assume it's not good if you just have more ham." [21:28] 13Melanie: "A lot of familes in Westminster had ham as well as turkey because it was like.. I guess it was a sort of prototypical meme." [21:29] 5Tony: "Aren't those pronounced 'may-may'? Stewart said....anyway, ham and turkey seems like a waste. So much meat." [21:29] "There's a general sense upcounty that ham is, basically, patriotic. Because of stuff like Smithfield and how liberals object to it... the pigs themselves haven't changed, but there's context." [21:29] 13Melanie: "So I used to know a bunch of people who would like.. eat too much ham smugly, in the hope that it would piss off people in the city. Or ideally people in a city in California." [21:31] 10Stewart and Lauren arrive late in the morning, possibly having picked up Nels. They're all lugging presents, a legion of patterned snowmen staring out at the motley with placid expressions. [21:31] 5Tony: "It tastes good and the only pigs I've seen in the flesh were the ones that tried to shoot us, so put me down for ham. Here, hold this." 5Tony offers Melanie a mug with a cinnamon stick poking up past the lip, and freshly-ladled hot cider steaming in it. [21:31] "It does taste good." 13Melanie holds this. [21:32] 5Tony nods to the mug. "Taste that quick. I'm trying something." 00[21:33] <@Crion> By the by, the weather has turned a bit in the Hedge. While it's still an unusually warm winter on the other side -- kind of grimey rain today, and it's supposed to be even warmer tomorrow -- you're getting a white Christmas in the Hedge. Probably don't go out in it, though. Could be things hiding in the snow. And you didn't see who built those snowmen. And they seem to be moving around when 00[21:33] <@Crion> you're not looking at them. [21:34] 13A couple of sips. "Also good. You've got enough aldehyde in there to really bring out the camphor." [21:34] "Hey, good's good enough for me." 5Tony hollers from the kitchen. "STEVE you want some cider with that beer, get it while it's hot!" [21:35] 5And dutifully, Tony will ladle out cider into a mug with a cinnamon stick to anyone who comes around, but only once they're there. It's best that way. [21:35] 10Setting them down on something waist-high, Stewart's face is obscured when he says "Merry Christmas," 10to the room. 00[21:36] <@Crion> honk 00[21:36] <@Crion> That's a Merry Christmas in return. Steve will cautiously toddle into the kitchen after the cider, wary of a trap. [21:36] 13Melanie's still leaning on the kitchen island and sipping the same mug when the others arrive. "Yeah." [21:37] 5Tony: "MERRY CHRISTMAS!" 5From the kitchen. It smells amazing in the Wherehouse right now. And not even faintly bird-y, for once. [21:38] 5Acknowledging Steve's care, Tony gives him a...lord in heaven is that a ceramic sippy cup with a (plastic, one assumes) straw? It is. "Here ya go buddy, Merry Christmas." [21:38] 5It of course has The Cider. 00[21:38] <@Crion> HONK!!! [21:38] 10Stewart: "Man, it smells good in here." [21:38] "Need any help, Maggie?" 10he calls. [21:38] 7Maggie: "Howdy, Stewart, Lauren! Shouldn't be but a few minutes." 00[21:39] <@Crion> Lauren: "Merry Christmas!" [21:39] "If you could set up those TV trays and put the ceramic bowls and such on 'em so we have kind of a serving area that'd be grand." 00[21:39] <@Crion> Lauren: "On it!" [21:39] 10Stewart bustles to help as well. [21:43] 5Tony sets a few spare mugs with cinnamon sticks in them down in a corner of the kitchen, returns the cider pot to the range on Low, and disappears into his hovel again for a minute. [21:43] 13Melanie gets out of the way of the helpers; there are plenty of corners in this place. "How's it going? Did you guys manage to get a holiday break from the internet-hours jobs?" 00[21:45] <@Crion> Lauren: "Angelfire is officially on call." 00[21:45] <@Crion> "Thank God for that." [21:45] 7Maggie, being wise and smart, has timed her cooking such that everything finishes at once. "Alllllright, pulling 'em out! Be careful, folks, it's hot!" 7She transfers everything but the ham to the serving trays, then pulls the ham out to start slicing it." 00[21:46] <@Crion> Lauren's gotten more and better sleep in the last few nights than Stewart's ever seen out of her...with the caveat that they stared routinely sharing a bed in the midst of her being stalked by a movie monster. [21:46] 10It's nice. Makes everything feel orderly. [21:51] 13Melanie: "Speaking of, should we.. does anyone say grace?" [21:51] 5Tony is at the table with a mug of cider and looking real chill . "Only bad thing about ham I can think of is, no wishbone. Looks real nice though, great work here Maggie." [21:51] "Thank you kindly." 00[21:52] <@Crion> Lauren giggles at that. [21:52] 7??? [21:52] 10With the new league morphing into the new job, Stewart's own sleep schedule is still bad. "Yeah, this is amazing." 10All he has for Melanie is a slightly sheepish look. 00[21:53] <@Crion> Seeing Maggie's look. "It's nothing. Just reminded me of a videogame I played once." [21:53] 13It's fine. It's not like she wanted that per se, it's just.. how things used to go. [21:54] 10Stewart's family said grace... [21:54] 10...but Stewart always hated it. [21:55] 5Tony looks around and claps his hands together. But just once, not like church-y or anything. "This all looks great. You all are great. Here's to many more of these." 00[21:55] <@Crion> Steve honks an "amen." [21:56] "Hear, hear." [21:56] 5Tony clears his throat. "And I know it's a little late to mention this to you all now, being that it's already Christmas and all. But I think...we should get a boat." [21:56] 13Melanie holds out her mug and taps it on anyone's who wants to toast. [21:57] 7Maggie: "Cheers!" She'll mash her mug against Melanie's. [21:57] 10...is it "hear, hear" or "here, here"? Stewart doesn't actually know, and after toasting begins eating with a slightly furrowed brow. [21:57] 7Maggie: "Cheers!" 7She'll mash her mug against Melanie's. [21:57] 5Tony tinks mugs with Melanie and Maggie in turn. 00[21:57] <@Crion> Lauren will toast too. [21:57] "What kinda boat?" [21:57] 13Melanie's going to take a seat and wait for a moment before pointing out the no-waterfront thing. Maybe someone else will do it. [21:57] "A boat?" [21:58] 5Tony: "I was thinking a houseboat. Something with at least a couple doors in it, because of that cool door thing we can do. Maybe figure out if we can hook it up to this place on a side-entrance or something." [21:59] 7Maggie: "There isn't any water, though?" [21:59] 5Tony: "Just think about it. All the fun of sea travel, and being able to come back here to grab food, or use the bathroom with privacy, and sleep without getting seasick, which is probably a thing I've never been on a boat before." [21:59] 13Melanie: "There's a drinking fountain just outside the elevator on the Market side." [22:00] 5Tony: "There's no water here, but like...the door thing. We don't really have an elevator here either, but we know how that...works? Sort of? It's still in the early stages." [22:00] 5Tony: "But I think it could be fun and after the fall and winter we've already had, it might be nice to spend part of spring and summer getting sun somewhere that doesn't smell like pee outside so much." 00[22:01] <@Crion> Riverways exist in the Hedge -- they're just another form of Hedgerow, really -- so there's utility to it. Unless you mean a boat out in the real world. That's probably even easier to swing. [22:01] 5He waves the thought away. "Something to ask Santa for maybe. Putting it out there now though, in case anyone wants to get captain's hats and boat shoes, which I'm told are what you wear on boats, early." [22:02] 10Stewart: "So like, renting a slip in a marina, docking a boat in it, joining it to the Hollow with a portal... you mean a boat in the normal world, right, like the real Patapsco?" [22:02] "...I wonder about swimming actually. Do you float? I don't think I do, but I haven't tried.. we could go to a pool or find some kind of naiad glade outside." [22:04] 5Tony: "Yeah exactly! Real boat, all that. And probably safer to do real-world-water-stuff than Hedge-water-stuff, since. Hedge." [22:04] 5Tony: "I'm wearing a life vest before finding out, Melanie." 00[22:04] <@Crion> Lauren: "Something to be aware of: Any arched bridge tunnel can be turned into a portal by covering it with a tarp." 00[22:05] <@Crion> "Summer's done some rather daring raids involving that." [22:06] 5Tony: "That sounds...I'm using this correctly sick as hell?" [22:06] 5He looks to Stewart mostly for confirmation on the hip lingos of today. [22:06] 10Stewart nods. [22:07] 5Tony beams. 00[22:08] <@Crion> Lauren: "I can confirm." [22:09] 6Nels is playing in the background - she's on a Mariah Carey original at the moment. [22:10] 13Has everyone got some of Maggie's ham? Melanie's going to try hers silently if so. It's comforting stuff, all the carbon you'd expect and a fructose glaze on every mouthful. [22:10] 5Tony already got seconds. It's hungry work doing [absolutely nothing to see here], and he is jazzed at the prospect of a boat. 00[22:14] <@Crion> Lauren has eaten perhaps a bit more than she should, and has asked if she can take some home for Chup, as a treat. Chup can have a little Hedge ham. [22:15] 10Stewart, comparatively, has eaten a lot less (though he did make sure to clean his plate!) and is drinking the special cider. [22:16] 6Is that wise? Nels isn't exactly an expert, but, introducing things to the Hedge goes poorly in her experience. 00[22:16] <@Crion> Lauren will have offered to DD, if Stewart's willing to trust her with the car (she's licensed). 00[22:16] <@Crion> Or they could stay over... [22:16] 10Stewart wouldn't mind staying. [22:16] 10Put all that work into his room, and it hasn't seen much use since Halloween. 00[22:17] <@Crion> In that case, she'll partake as well. Santander can make any parking tickets go away anyhow. [22:17] 10Man. Life is pretty good, objectively speaking. [22:18] 13As everyone eats, there are plenty of gaps in conversation. Melanie keeps wanting to fill them and stopping herself; she doesn't want to bring people down tonight. None of the topics buzzing in her head are appropriate. She imagines what it would be like to hear actual buzzing in there, a hive of the kind that produced this glazing.. little parasite organisms with their own extended family [22:18] 13and bee holidays. 00[22:19] <@Crion> It never stays like this forever. But maybe, this time, it could. [22:19] 10I always told myself tomorrow would be light, free and easy~ I don't know, I still could be right~ [22:21] 5Tony, fatly sated, would unbuckle a belt but he's wearing track pants. God, 2019 is a beautiful time to be alive. [22:21] 6It really is. [22:21] 7Maggie: "Uuuuuuuuwaaaaahhhh." 00[22:21] <@Crion> Lauren: "That was all delicious." [22:21] 10Stewart: "For real. Thank you so much." [22:22] 6Nels: "Amazing." [22:23] 7Maggie who has gone in on the cider, slumping back with a handkerchief over her face: "So be EASY and FREE when ya DRINKIN' wi'me, I'm a MAN you don't MEET everyday..." [22:25] 13Melanie: "Ehehe. Ham radio." [22:25] 10Stewart snorts. [22:25] 6Nels will immediately begin accompanying Maggie on guitar. Abandoning what's left of her meal to do so, too. 00[22:26] <@Crion> Lauren will begin clearing places for those who are finished. Is there dessert to be served, and thus new plates required? [22:27] 5Tony: "Sounds like it's time for presents!" 5Tony looks meaningfully at the corner, where there's apparently been a large wooden coat rack with a piece of paper taped to the mid-section reading 'SYBOLOLICALY a tree not really one though 4 melanie - tony' 5 in the middle. On the top there is what must've been...a 4th-of-july star pinwheel? It's red white and blue, and spinning faintly. The important thing is at the bottom, where, [22:27] arranged on a few carpet samples, are nicely-wrapped presents of all shapes and sizes, each addressed to a different member of the motley. [22:28] 5Tony, in mock-surprise, or maybe feigned-and-he's-bad-at-this: "And it looks like Santa came! For everyone!" [22:29] 10Oh, wow, Stewart somehow missed that completely. He stops helping Lauren to go get the presents he set down near the entrance. "Yeah! Everybody gather around." [22:29] 6! [22:29] 13Melanie: "Oh.." [22:30] 5Tony goes over and starts handing out the wrapped gifts to the motley as they approach. [22:31] 13She didn't think. All those memories and associations but it didn't occur to her to get presents. That's.. something to remember next time. Tony's so nice. [22:32] 10Stewart's got packages for Lauren, Maggie, Melanie, Nels, and Tony. [22:33] 5Stewart's gift is rectangular and roughly the length of a forearm and hand, and about a third as wide. Maggie's is loosely wrapped, and feels like some article of clothing in there maybe, or a blanket. Melanie's is...well it's obvious it's a book, c'mon. But its wrapped. Nels gets a box about the size of a hand, that jangles faintly on being shaken. Steve's is slightly larger than his head, and kinda lumpy. [22:34] 6Nels has gifts for Stewart, Maggie, Melanie, Tony, and Steve. [22:34] 13Melanie's pale-faced and very smiley accepting hers. Technically her Mien is always pale since it's white and flaky, but her Mask is wan too. "Thank you to Santa. We'll have to get a letter to him, there's got to be a contract out there." 03[22:35] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch [22:35] 5Tony trades Stewart and Nels for their gifts, and looks expectantly at everyone else before opening his. "Of course, Melanie. We have an extra day this next year to track him down, too!" [22:36] 6Nels cracks her knuckles meaningfully. [22:37] 10Stewart unwraps his gifts as he looks around to see what other people got. [22:38] 5From 'Santa,' Stewart got a keyboard. It's a mechanical one, and it's missing an Escape key. Tony holds his hands up. "Now, I tried to get all the dirt off, and I don't know what it does yet, but, I have to assume something cool." [22:39] 6Nels' gifts are almost all joke-gifts; she was never good at giving gifts, and being thrown 100 years into the future didn't improve that. So Stewart's gift of a CD copy of Zork - don't ask how she got that - is well within her wheelhouse. [22:39] 5He looks around at everyone: "This shouldn't spoil it, but, they're all, whaddya call them, tokens! Fresh-brewed out in the Hedge! I spent like fifty bucks on compressed air cans!" [22:40] 5Tony unwraps his gifts now that he's let the cat out of the bag for everyone else's. [22:41] 5His own gifts, crucially. What'd Stewart and Nels get him? [22:41] 6Nels' gift for Tony is a boxset of horror movies... that have no horror. The kids just go home. It's fine. [22:41] "Oh that's clever. We can have Wyrd-selected surprises and you get to find out too." 13:) [22:42] 5Tony clutches them to his chest. "Thank you." 5Almost a whisper. [22:43] 13After kind of hugging her gifts to her trunk for a few moments, Melanie will open them. Thank God at least she's not the only one receiving presents, that would be too familiar. [22:44] 7Maggie's not very good at giving gifts either, so she made a real tapping-temple decision and got everyone candy. Those huge chocolate bars you hope you get trick-or-treating? Yup. Those big tins of butter cookies that never have cookies in them, only sewing stuff, except THIS TIME IT HAS BUTTER COOKIES? You got it. [22:45] 5Melanie's token says on the cover that it's Kant's Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals, and half the pages are pretty heavily dog-eared. [22:46] 5Tony: "Maggie, where do you even GET these, with the cookies still in them?" [22:46] 13Melanie: "..but whose morals? Wow, this is really going to be something." [22:47] 5Tony: "Melanie I ....I don't know if it's still that book. Or what that book even is. But it looked like it would be your kind of thing, hopefully it still is." [22:47] "Yes absolutely. Thank you. Like.. even experimenting to find out what this is will.. thank you." 00[22:47] <@Crion> "Oh wow," Lauren says three or four times. [22:47] 7The exception here is Chup, who got a little kitty hideaway shaped like a big slice of pizza, where the cat climbs in and lurks between the cheese and the bread. 00[22:47] <@Crion> Lauren: "!!!" 00[22:48] <@Crion> "Omigosh thank you Maggie! He'll love it, though pretend not to!" [22:48] 6Her gift for Melanie is a bonsai tree: make it as good as you are. Maggie gets a more purposeful gift; moonshine with cherry flavoring, for the perfect mix of promise and menace. [22:48] 6Steve gets the nicest hat a goose has ever had. [22:49] 7Maggie: "You have to order 'em from Denmark. All the ones here just came over with granny from the Old Country." [22:50] 7What, if anything, did the others get her? [22:51] 5Steve also gets the second-nicest hat a goose has ever had: it's a helmet with space for 4 beers on it. "They adjust! I gotta admit, I tried yours out first Steve---when I say they adjust, I mean, you can put anything you can drink on them and they adjust to fit. A pony keg if your neck will support it, even." [22:51] 5Maggie's Tony-Santa gift is...bless his heart, it's a smock, with some paint smudges on it. Unprompted: "Gardening apron!" [22:52] 10Stewart: "Ahhh!! This is so cool!" [22:52] 10From Stewart: [22:52] 10Lauren got 1,1a new mechanical keyboard and a silver necklace. [22:52] 10Maggie got 1,1a blocky, bronze-colored vaporizer and a box of cartridges. [22:52] 10Melanie got 1,1a sturdy tray of ridged and polished wood, and a bookstore gift card. [22:52] 10Nels got 1,1a new computer! The box says it's a 'Chromebook'. [22:52] 10Steve got 1,1a toddler-sized velvet cape, black on the outside red on the inside, with a brass clasp that juts out a bit and looks like a trout and a bottle opener. [22:52] 10Tony got 1,1a set of heavy orange pots and a big Dutch oven with delicately handled lids. [22:53] 13The little tree will get a planting spot in Melanie's bedroom. She's got plenty of water to spare for a guest. "This is called Arbor Initiis Novae." 00[22:53] <@Crion> She loves the keyboard almost as much -- maybe more -- than the necklace, but it's not the keyboard she asks Stewart to put around her neck for her. [22:53] 6Nels' version says FATAL CUTIE on it, has holders for drinks, and is perfectly sized for a goose. If one were to concentrate very hard, it could become any other type of hat... 00[22:53] <@Crion> That'd be weird. [22:54] 7Maggie: "Well now, what is this here Stewart?" [22:54] 10This is the part that just feels good. 00[22:54] <@Crion> Steve has a wealth of drinking headwear to choose from now. He'll be spending the rest of the night going back and forth. [22:55] 10Stewart: "That's called a vape. I noticed you started smoking again, and I wanted to see if you'd like this instead. The cartridges have nicotine in them but they come in all different flavors and you're not, you know, sucking in smoke." [22:55] 5Tony: "COOL beans Stewart, hell yeah. I'm gonna make so many burgers in this bad boy." 5 He pats the top of the dutch oven. "You got no idea." [22:56] 10To Tony: "It was super hard to find good cookware that's not cast iron. But I found those online, they're from Denmark in the 70s. Steel and ceramic." [22:56] 5Tony: "Denmark! Wow! Thank you!" [22:56] 5Quietly, to Steve, in awe: "That's from Europe, you know." [22:56] 6Nels: "They - books made from chrome???" [22:57] 10To Nels: "That should be a lot faster and easier to use than your old iMac for schoolwork and the internet and listening to music." [22:57] 7Maggie: "Oh lord, that's just what I needed. I was worried I'd have to start going outside or something, because I'd read about the smoke gumming up the works of the alphabet piano." 7She gestures vaguely towards her room and, presumably, her computer. [22:57] "Thank you very much, Stewart." [22:57] "Hey that's a really good idea." 13Also to Nels: "It's the same kind of laptop I was showing you stuff on." [22:58] 5Nels's gift from Tony-Santa is...christ, what is this? Is it a keyring? It's like 3 key rings kinda jumbled together, with different...guitar picks on them? Okay? [22:58] 6Quietly: "Oh my gosh." [22:58] 10To Melanie: "Speaking of which, I noticed you moving books around with your mind and realized that that's a lot harder to do with a computer because it's all plastic and silicon. But pretty much any laptop you use will lock onto that tray, and then you can move the tray around." [22:58] "It doesn't block any vents or ports or anything." [22:59] "Oh!! That's wizard thinking for you!" [23:00] 13Melanie experiments with the tray - she can 'lift' quite heavy things, floating them around on the wooden tool-surface. "This is so much better than picking up, like, an end table." [23:01] 5Tony is eating cookies while eyeing the pans and oven, and just thinking of all the stuff he's going to make. [23:01] 13ugh this is all too toughtful and the candy bars she'll have to put off because too much sugar at once isn't good for the roots but like.. the elephant is not leaving this room. "Can I say something everyone?" [23:02] 5Tony looks up at Melanie (he's seated on the floor, hugging the pans). [23:02] 6Nels is simply beaming while surrounded by her gifts. [23:02] 6It is faster! [23:02] 7Maggie: "Oyez, oyez!" [23:02] 10Stewart, who was studying the Zork CD (did it even ever come out on CD??), looks up. [23:03] 13Melanie: "I don't have presents to give out, I didn't think of it. Giving gifts. Wasn't something I mentally associated with Christmas, at least not anymore. I want to change that.. I want us to keep doing this, I want to participate properly. I.. love you all." [23:04] 5No shut up you're crying. [23:04] 7Maggie levers herself out of her chair and will hug Melanie unless it looks like Melanie really isn't into it. [23:04] 10Stewart reflexively swallows the lump in his throat before he says, "I love you too! All of you." [23:05] 13No, they can definitely hug. Maybe with a few clanging and thumping noises but who gives a shit. 00[23:05] <@Crion> honk! [23:05] 6Nels will immediately hurl herself into a hug. Fuck to all the rest. [23:06] 6Even you, you shithead goose. [23:06] 5Tony hauls Steve into the group hug too. 00[23:06] <@Crion> Steve's not quite sure what's going on, but he's enjoying himself. [23:06] 10Group hug! [23:08] 5Tony: "Next year we should go caroling. This is not the cider talking." 5It was. [23:08] 6Nels: "Go what now?" [23:08] 10Stewart: "I'll jingle the bells while Nels sings." [23:08] 5Tony: "Singing Christmas songs door-to-door to people. Probably real world doors." [23:08] 13Melanie: "From- from the deck of the boat. Sing our way down the Patapsco." [23:09] 5Tony: "People on TV shows wear big pom-pom hats and scarves and it looks really fun." [23:09] 6Nels: "Oh my gosh." 6She gets a gleam in her eye. "Do you think they know caroling in the hedge?" [23:09] 5Tony looks to Steve. [23:10] 7Maggie: "Sounds like it would be... dangerous." [23:10] 10Stewart's about to say, 'Shit, we could probably find a bus to take us to Whoville' before he realizes what he's actually saying. 00[23:10] <@Crion> honk Honk honk!! Yes, there are the Singing Swarms, and they're uncommonly gentle on the Dead God's Eve. [23:13] 6That revelation sends Nels back to her guitar. She immediately sets into All I Want For Christmas Is You. [23:16] 10Stewart leans against Lauren on the love seat and listens. 00[23:16] <@Crion> She'll nuzzle into him. [23:18] 10He wonders what the Kingsley brothers are doing tonight. And Santander. And Gaunt Rose. And Lister, Cuth and Kolsch. Are Stu and Maura traveling or hosting? [23:18] 5Tony quietly excuses himself to go clean up the table, house some more cookies, chug some more cider, while soundtracked by pleasant live music. Next year, there will be Christmas lights, though. [23:18] 10There's that lump again. But it's nestled in the heart of something very warm and at peace. [23:20] 6Santa won't you bring me the one I really need Won't you please bring my baby to me quickly~ [23:23] 6https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tH4Tw3_uFas 00[23:26] <@Crion> It won't be too much longer until Lauren excuses herself to get ready for bed -- she had a biiit too much cider. [23:27] 6No such thing. Or, well, there is, but. Coward. [23:27] 10Stewart joins her, once he makes sure there's no cleaning left to be done. 02[23:27] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 03[23:29] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch [23:29] 5As long as no one's looking, Tony handles the cleanup far faster than anyone else would with help. He's good for that. 00[23:31] <@Crion> You'll have a couple days of peace and quiet to yourselves...until word reaches you that your presence is requested, as a motley, formally, at The Sidereal. By the Winter King himself. 00[23:31] <@Crion> This time it doesn't come through your courts, either -- Spring informs Tony, Canterbury the rest. [23:32] 10! Interesting. What does Lauren make of this? [23:32] 6Hi, I hate this? [23:32] 10In the absence of further context, Stewart's inclined to assume it's just a difference in how Winter operates. 00[23:32] <@Crion> Lauren is apprehensive. She doesn't think it's bad news for you -- but if the Winter King is worried about something... [23:32] 10Hmm. 02[23:33] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [23:33] 6Tell him to fuck off. I mean, make someone else do that, because that sounds rude... [23:33] 10Strangely, the prospect of real tension makes Stewart calmer. Having work to do is better than being called in to be silently judged, or rewarded. 03[23:33] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch [23:34] 7Gosh. Well, it's only polite to go and see what the Winter King wants. [23:34] 5Tony's feeling some real optimism, after the last couple of days. He'll put on a solid game face (because he assumes the Winter Court requires you to look at least professionally sullen to some extent), but he's ready to go when everyone else is. [23:36] 6Nels just looks sullen. What are they gonna do, ban her from the mission? Good. [23:36] 10Stewart's not gonna dress up *that* much, but this is one of the shirts he always remembers to iron, which therefore classifies as one of his 'good shirts'. [23:37] 10(not literally iron) [23:38] 7They don't make them out of iron anymore! [23:39] 10Who's working security at the Sidereal now? Is it Spring? 00[23:40] <@Crion> The mood at The Sidereal when you arrive is subdued, but that kind of feels like it's probably Winter's thing. Canterbury and Spring are on the doors, yeah. 00[23:40] <@Crion> Jameson's inside, muttering something with Cider Stitch. [23:42] 10Everyone who makes eye contact with Stewart gets a very gentle nod. [23:42] 6Nels tries to hide her distaste at the mood. She succeeds admirably. Honestly, they just... display this sort of thing? 00[23:42] <@Crion> Spring -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYUtXkmHeG8 The only one who's willing to play the game today, is the same as the one who ran away. [23:44] 5Tony catches himself about to smile politely at Spring on the way in and settles for a game-face-chin-nod, before hustling inside. 00[23:44] <@Crion> Jameson will nod towards the stairs. "He's in the upstairs bar. Hey, Tone. How you doing, man?" [23:45] 5Tony: "Hey! Ah-oh you know. Cold out. Pretty good. Still alive. You?" 5Respectful handshake. 00[23:46] <@Crion> Jameson: "Can't complain, can't complain." 00[23:47] <@Crion> Jameson -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrE4cVTIdpE I watched the flood run in and take your hand from mine; I watched you save your own life. [23:48] 10Stewart makes his way upstairs - what's the situation up here? 00[23:50] <@Crion> Gemma's here too, chatting with Jordan Kit. ...Other than Angelfire, this is the entire Winter Court. 00[23:50] <@Crion> That you know of, at least. [23:50] 7I mean, they're supposed to be good at hiding. [23:51] 10Gemma and Jordan get full-sized smiles. [23:51] 6Nels has no idea who these people are. Big smiles all around. 00[23:51] <@Crion> They're returned, to the extent those two ever really go for big smiles. 00[23:52] <@Crion> Upstairs, the Winter King sits alone...brooding? [23:52] 7Very good. 00[23:52] <@Crion> He certainly seems troubled by something. His Mask is a new face now, still quite handsome but older, more lined. The Mien remains the same waxless face. He'll greet each of you as you arrive. [23:53] 13Melanie trails behind the others, keeping an eye out and trying to memorise faces. She greets Gemma excitedly, but most of them.. it's not like they're enemies or anything, seasonal alignments aren't literal, and yet: these people are cold. No fire can be allowed to blaze, not out of fear of the flame but because there simply isn't fuel for passion. [23:53] Hiding, though- she understands that. They're still her people. 00[23:55] <@Crion> No Name/Face -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ftuaEV-3Ao Why trade old habits for newfound devotions when you can shed your skin, and slither in with some new friends? [23:55] 5Tony nods to his King. It helps thinking of him as the head coach, makes this slightly less weird. "Sir." [23:56] 6Does it? Make this less weird? [23:56] 10This isn't weird at all. [23:56] 10Stewart stands behind Tony, attentive, but not exactly at attention. [23:56] 6If you say so. [23:56] 13The Court structure is weird. It's useful enough to not raise any objections; the seasons are real, and strong, and our friends. 00[23:57] <@Crion> "Lock the door behind you." [23:58] 13Since she's at the back, Melanie twigs the lock. 00[23:59] <@Crion> "This is all going to seem kind of strange. And anxiety-inducing. But I'm doing this this way for a reason. I need you to understand that," the Winter King says. Session Time: Sun Feb 02 00:00:01 2020 00[00:00] <@Crion> "And that's why I need your words that nothing we discuss here leaves this room." He pauses. "Not even to close friends in the freehold. Or lovers." [00:00] 6Oh no. 00[00:01] <@Crion> "I'm invoking an emergency power vested in me. The authority of the crown itself. I wouldn't do so if it wasn't urgent." [00:01] 6Oh no. [00:01] 10Stewart folds his arms, but he doesn't raise any objections. [00:01] 5Tony nods. [00:01] 7Maggie: "Golly. Alright then?" [00:02] 13Melanie glances at Tony, then steps forward when he nods. "You deal with things that dangerous. We'll promise." 00[00:02] <@Crion> He'll seal it with glamour. [00:02] 10Stewart swears with no real hesitation. 00[00:02] <@Crion> Atop the brow of his Mien, a crown flashes. [00:03] 6Nels says and does nothing. Give her the awful visions of her past. It's - she should know. [00:06] 13Is this going to be something we can handle? Melanie suspects.. it is. Working together with a purpose.. her friends are luckier than most and better than many. 00[00:07] <@Crion> The King leans forward across the pool table and splays out his fingers. "Things have been...happening recently. First, Lauren's Herald found her without tripping the, ah, early warning system we had in place. Unfortunate, but no big deal. Two Fae-touched security workers are snatched up and dragged into the Hedge last week through suspiciously open portals. Upsetting, and Summer is angry, 00[00:07] <@Crion> but not unheard of. And then, last night, Samaritan was nearly snatched from her home. Unclear by who or what, or how it got on this side of the Hedge and stayed here, but it wasn't a Keeper. She was hurt, but she escaped, and she'll be fine. But." 00[00:07] <@Crion> "Four events in two month's time. Three events in the last two weeks. There is something going on. And Jackie Ordinary has been...curiously absent." [00:08] "She's okay?!" 7Maggie gasps, putting her hand on her chest. [00:08] "Would they - Jackie - normally patrol the hedge against just this sort of incursion?" 00[00:08] <@Crion> The King: "Not missing. They still check in from time to time, when expected. But distant. Unreliable. And unaccounted for during every one of these incidents." 00[00:08] <@Crion> "They would." 00[00:09] <@Crion> "Which makes their professed lack of knowledge even more concerning." [00:09] 10Stewart: "What state is the early warning system in? Like I don't know if it's a guard or a charm or some standing divination, but is there any sign if it was tampered with or simply bypassed?" [00:09] 6Nels is - uselessly - prepared to throw something at an unknown attacker. 00[00:10] <@Crion> The King: "Its nature is classified. You understand. But no, it was not tampered with. It simply didn't go off. There can be a number of reasons for this...the most likely and effective one being, someone instructed the Herald on how to beat it." [00:11] 10Stewart: "You're talking about a loyalist." [00:12] 6Nels: "Awful. Hate them." 00[00:12] <@Crion> The King: "I am." [00:12] 6still right. [00:13] 13What's the most obvious question here... "What are the strongest reasons Jackie would or wouldn't be involved with this? Roots of trust, susceptibility to influence.." [00:14] 10Stewart: "How long has Jackie been with the Freehold?" 00[00:15] <@Crion> "I want you to go into the Hedge, find Jackie Ordinary, and bring them back here. I'm tasking your motley for this and not my own Court because, to be quite frank, if worst comes to worst I don't want just my people implicated, and I have the privilege to make this so." 00[00:15] <@Crion> "This is not arrest or imprisonment." 00[00:16] <@Crion> "You all know what the penalty is for loyalism." [00:16] 6Well, holy shit. "Well, holy shit." [00:18] 13Melanie: "Winter King, if you want us to kill Jackie Ordinary we definitely need to know more about them and under what circumstances it would or wouldn't be necessary." [00:18] 10Stewart: "Do you have any concrete evidence of loyalism? Obviously we can't hunt the Magus on coincidence alone." [00:19] 7Maggie scratches her neck. "He wasn't asking us to kill Jackie Ordinary." 00[00:19] <@Crion> The Winter King: "You are expressly forbidden from rendering judgment yourselves." [00:19] 10Stewart relaxes a little. 00[00:19] <@Crion> The wax-faced man sighs through a mouth he doesn't have. "Should worst come to worst, well. Heavy is the head." [00:19] 6That isn't actually... [00:20] "Okay, I don't get the thing about it not being arrest. What do you want us to do that doesn't constitute arrest?" 00[00:20] <@Crion> "State a charge." 00[00:20] <@Crion> "Rather, don't state a charge. You are merely invoking her oath of loyalty to this freehold." 00[00:20] <@Crion> *their 00[00:21] <@Crion> "They are bound to return and face me." [00:21] 6Nels: "I don't care for that." [00:21] "I'm - my parents - no." [00:21] 10Ah jeez. 00[00:22] <@Crion> The Winter King: "Presumably you care much less for letting someone running around letting your courtmates get attacked in their sleep." [00:22] "Give me a reason." [00:22] 13Melanie turns to watch Nels, concerned. "Is it.. the idea of being police?" [00:22] 5Tony: "Any idea where they were last, or where to start our search?" 5This whole thing's an inevitability, so any delays are just us stewing in it. [00:23] 6Nels, to Melanie: "It isn't. They were slaves." 00[00:23] <@Crion> The Winter King: "They were last seen in the Hedge around the Inner Harbor. Near...Camden Yards." [00:24] "I don't get it. If this isn't something you can do, we won't ask you to come with us, but I don't understand. Ordering Jackie back to answer what's going on.. it doesn't seem that wrong." [00:25] 10Stewart: "Does Jackie have any known associations with vampires?" 00[00:25] <@Crion> The Winter King: "None of which we're aware." [00:25] "Suppose we invoke their oath and they say no." 00[00:26] <@Crion> The Winter King: "That is an admission of guilt, and they will know it as such. Return, report...and we will take care of the rest." [00:27] 6Nels will quietly back out of any report. They don't need her. [00:30] "And 'back here' means to the Sidereal? Will we need to contact you once we're back out of the Hedge with Jackie to arrange a handoff?" [00:33] 13Melanie follows Nels into the corner. She's worried! "Hey. If we're doing the wrong thing I want to know, so that we can not do it." [00:33] "What do you see that I don't?" 00[00:34] <@Crion> The Winter King: "Yes, to The Sidereal. We'll meet you when you leave the Hedge. Hopefully with Jackie in tow, but they can come back separately if they like, so long as they honor their oath." [00:34] 5Tony: "Well. Camden Yards, then?" 5He looks over his shoulder to the rest of the group. [00:34] 7Maggie puffs thoughtfully on her vape. [00:35] 10Stewart: "What are you worried about that makes you want to send a full motley? Tony's our best navigator, we'd basically just be slowing him down if all that's needed is to deliver a message." [00:35] 6Nels: "They want to go. Let them." 6She's seeking out exits now. Not necessary! And yet. "It's - freedom?" [00:36] "Less bad than the whole slave thing. But." 00[00:36] <@Crion> The Winter King: "I'm worried about accomplices. Wild cards." [00:36] 5Tony: "Honestly Stewart, I'd probably ask you all to get my back if I was supposed to do this anyway. If we DO stumble into something, it's going to be bigger than just me anyway, and if we don't, hey, it's a quick evening." [00:36] 5He nods. 00[00:36] <@Crion> And, as the King already said, he wants political cover. [00:36] 13Melanie: "Tracking Jackie down.. that would feel like taking away their freedom?" [00:37] 6She nods. [00:37] "Alright. Do you want us to go, like, right now, or..." 00[00:38] <@Crion> The Winter King: "As soon as possible, please. I will not bundle you into a car and drive you over there, but I would prefer alacrity." He pauses. "As for Nels...her oath only covers divulging what was said in this room, not the act itself. If she's unable to participate, I will understand." [00:38] 13Melanie frets, which to Nels's eyes means: shedding extra fast. "I don't think it's- yeah, of course you don't have to do that. But I don't want to be saying I think you're wrong or overreacting or." [00:38] 10Stewart: "Sure thing." [00:39] 6Nels: "I get it. It's weird and upsetting. But. I don''t want to do it." [00:39] 5Tony: "Well alright then. Hopefully, back soon." 5He turns to go. [00:40] 7Maggie looks like she's come to a conclusion. "Yeah. I think I get what you're saying. C'mon, gang." [00:40] 10Stewart nods one more time to the Winter King, brow knit in thought, as he walks away. 00[00:40] <@Crion> The King clasps his hands behind his back as they leave, and turns to look out the window. [00:40] 13Melanie: "Okay. And you really don't mind if we do?" [00:41] 5On the way out: "Probably smartest if we head over to the Yards first, then hop over from there, right?" [00:41] 6Nels: "That's not up to me. It's all you, babes." [00:42] 10Stewart, to Nels and Melanie: "Everything alright?" [00:42] 13Melanie: "I'm sorry to be so thorough about this since it's, like, pressing on uncomfortable stuff, I just want to be sure that we aren't getting things wrong. For you or for the rest of us." [00:42] 7Maggie: "Mmm. Lads and lasses, we should find someplace quiet to huddle up before we start working on this. Nels, you okay?" 00[00:42] <@Crion> The rest of Winter will watch you go with interest, but they're professional enough not to ask. [00:42] "..anyway if you're not coming the only babe is, arguably, Stewart." 00[00:42] <@Crion> The safest place away from prying ears is the obvious one. [00:42] 10Did Stewart hear Melanie say that? 00[00:42] <@Crion> Lauren is back at Stewart's place and Steve can be easily enticed into a wild goose chase. [00:42] 13Probably best to get out of here, yeah. 00[00:43] <@Crion> Involving just the goose. [00:43] 6Nels has a song for this, actually. [00:43] 6https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3Ytu2feXng [00:44] 5To the Wherehouse! "Yeah, regrouping back at home before we head out in earnest is probably a good idea, right? Get suited up for something other than talking to a Winter King, stuff like that. Maybe we ask Steve if he's heard anything while we're there." [00:45] 10With no direct acknowledgment, Stewart can simply pretend he didn't hear Melanie say that. "I'll meet you guys there, I gotta grab some stuff." [00:46] 10First, Stewart is going up to the Belvedere to make a search, then, down to the apartment to get his gun. He can drop Nels off, too, if she wants out. [00:47] 6At the moment? No, she's happy being around the rest of the crew. [00:47] 7When we're all, including Stewart, hanging out back at the Wherehouse, Maggie will sit back down, but lean forward. "Now, I'm no cloak-and-dagger gal, but I like to think my brain works okay, and I know the Winter King is supposed to by law be the most paranoid sumbitch around." [00:48] "I don't think 'just find Jackie and tell her to come in from the cold' was the job. I don't think he thinks he can tell us the job. Not out loud." [00:49] 13On the way back Melanie's lost in thought. There are things she wouldn't do - but are there things she wouldn't do herself and yet wouldn't think less of others for doing? ............yes. Yes actually. [00:49] 5Tony: "Do you think Jackie has the real job for us, then? A fake punt?" [00:50] 7She rubs her hands. "Sort of. So, say you're a Magus of the Gilded Thorn or whatchacallit, out roaming the Hedge, and you come across information - good information - that someone, you don't know who, back in the Freehold is giving away the keys to the kingdom. And you're in the Winter Court. You don't dare tell anyone, because anyone you tell might be the loyalist, or might let something [00:50] slip that gets back to the loyalist. How would you act?" [00:50] 13She returns to reality after arriving home. "More likely it's true that Jackie's been distant but ______ expects us to, by following this lead, discover somethng else." [00:50] "Well, you might be distant. Apparently unreliable..." [00:51] "Oh, so you think Winter doesn't know Jackie knows something, but guesses, and Jackie knows he'd guess?" [00:51] 7Maggie: "But that's the same as how you'd act if you were the loyalist. Hence his Majesty's problem. He doesn't know if Jackie's the loyalist or not, and he doesn't know what tricks the loyalist has. Is the throne room bugged? Is anywhere safe?" [00:52] 7Maggie: "If he sends us out saying, 'Jackie's got the goods, get them back here safe', what if that gets them killed?" [00:53] 5Tony: "So our biggest risk here, then, is that someone else figured out what you're thinking, right?" [00:53] 5T: "So we should probably run the play, assuming the coverage has a read on it and we're going to need to take some hits." [00:53] 13Melanie: "It was until you said that. Now the risk's that we figure out what they've figured out about what we're thinking." [00:54] "...joke." 13>:-D 00[00:55] <@Crion> Stewart learns from the book that Peter is...mostly who he says he is, as far as the Book is concerned. Born in Montgomery County, went to St. Joe's, was enrolled in Georgetown when he was "taken." He wasn't particularly reticent about the fact that he went willingly with the Mistress of the High House into the Hedge, and that as far as he's concerned he left willingly, too. It does note, 00[00:55] <@Crion> however, that he hasn't had any contact with her since...and narrates that as pretty cut-and-dry fact. Now, the Book could be cleverly employing a technicalism here -- "ah, he's only had contact with his Mistress's servants, or with another one of his Mistress's Titles" -- but the Book doesn't traffic in those. It seems pretty clear that, as far as the book is concerned, he is abiding by his 00[00:55] <@Crion> oath to the Freehold, and the Mistress herself is abiding by her agreement with you not to try to coerce him back herself. [00:55] 7Maggie: "Don't know what that means, but maybe! What I figure is, the job is to untangle as much of this as we can without anybody in official channels knowing about it, because official channels are - as of now - suspect." 00[00:56] <@Crion> ...There's an odd link, though. See also: Paul Montgomery. 00[00:56] <@Crion> But it doesn't seem to go anywhere... [00:56] 10Hmm. Probably nothing yet. [00:57] 10Back at the Wherehouse: "No matter what level of awareness we're operating on, our actual job is the same, and very simple." [00:57] 5Tony: "Until it isn't! But let's be ready for either, right?" [00:57] "If it gets complicated later it gets complicated later. We shouldn't try to complicate it *ourselves*." [00:58] 13Melanie: "I think ordinary activities just take on a more Wintry cast for now. We're still who we are." [00:58] 6Weird guy. Also, totally understandable why he wouldn't reveal his origin. [00:58] 7Maggie nods. "I'm just saying. Jackie probably has what they think is a very good reason for not coming in, and we have to remember that it's on us to noodle it out before we act. Can't just follow instructions." [00:59] 10Stewart: "Why can't we?" [01:00] 5Tony: "Well, speaking for myself here, if whatever's going on is going after Winter folks, eventually, that's me, for one thing." [01:00] 5T: "And also, probably Jameson and Spring, who against all appearances are actually pretty okay too, along the way." [01:01] 10Stewart: "It's not going after Winter folks. At least not exclusively. The events are like, Lauren, who's Autumn, and Samaritan, who's Spring." [01:01] "If these events do all correlate it's a freehold-wide problem." [01:01] 13Melanie: "Spring is a douchebag, but that's irrelevant of course." [01:02] 10Stewart: "What? What happened?" [01:02] 5Tony: "Well if it's freehold-wide then that's all of us, at least." [01:04] 13Melanie: "Ah, she's not like.. evil.. but she does personal guardianship for Winter and she decided Maggie and I were both physical and moral threats to Gemma Franklin. Also talking shit about-" 13she specifically doesn't look at Nels. [01:04] "Anyway, we could work with her but she isn't, by default, to strangers, nice." [01:04] 6Nels pointedly sips her water. [01:05] 10Stewart: "...huh. Okay. Let's go." [01:05] "On Maggie's idea- shall we basically say that we find Jackie, investigate what situation they're in, ask for them to return and be prepared to listen to the answer?" [01:06] 10Stewart: "That's basically exactly what the Winter King told us to do, so, yeah, sounds good." [01:07] 7Maggie nods. [01:07] 6Nels: "Is that - should we listen to them?" [01:07] "In case of 'the goods'." [01:08] 13Melanie: "The only thing I'll note is that ______ specifically enjoined us not to use our own judgment." [01:08] 10Stewart: "Of course we'll listen. We just can't make any decisions." [01:09] 13Melanie: "You mean, have been instructed not to make any decisions." [01:09] 10Stewart: "Right, we may not make any decisions." [01:09] 6Nels: "I ducked that bit. It's all fine." [01:10] "Ah no I'm not quibbling about grammar, it's solipsism-sophistry. Like, in plain language, we have our orders and perhaps we will follow them, you know?" [01:10] 10Stewart: "I mean, so we're clear... I'm not intending to defy the King-in-Court." [01:10] 6Exaggerated voice: "Ohhhhhhh nooooooo everything is bad now" [01:10] "I just want to do what I was told." [01:10] "Frankly," 13Melanie declares, "It would be ideal if we did choose to follow instruction to the letter. That would absolutely be the most convenient and I'll take it into account at every opportunity." 02[01:18] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 02[05:06] * CBN (CBN@sorcery-58i6gl.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) Quit (Connection closed) 03[05:07] * CBN (CBN@sorcery-2hsq47.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) has joined #gofetch 02[14:12] * trenchfoot (dani@sorcery-jcvlv4.in.comcast.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[14:38] * trenchfoot (dani@sorcery-pks4b7.in.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 03[22:28] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch Session Time: Mon Feb 03 00:00:00 2020 02[00:24] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. 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ZZZzzz…) 03[22:54] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 02[23:36] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) Session Time: Fri Feb 07 00:00:00 2020 03[05:48] * GreatClownVoxPVoxD (VoxPVoxD@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) has joined #gofetch 02[05:49] * VoxPVoxD (VoxPVoxD@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[08:30] * trenchfoot_ is now known as trenchfoot 03[08:44] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 02[10:38] * GreatClownVoxPVoxD (VoxPVoxD@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) Quit (Quit: dammitwho sucks) 03[10:38] * VoxPVoxD (VoxPVoxD@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) has joined #gofetch 02[12:29] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 03[13:55] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-0jioq0.68kj.ofot.3003.2603.IP) has joined #gofetch 02[14:28] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-0jioq0.68kj.ofot.3003.2603.IP) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[16:31] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 02[19:50] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 03[19:58] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 02[20:02] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[20:37] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch [21:16]  [21:16]  [21:16]  [21:16]  [21:16]  [21:18] "So what was it like?" 10Stewart asks this of Maggie out of the blue, at this point weeks after the fact. He's working through a ham and cheese sandwich she insisted on making him when he came in to the Wherehouse admitting he hadn't had lunch. "Taking in the Icon, I mean." [21:22] 7Maggie leans back in one of the comfortable chairs surrounding the TV (turned off). "Hoorm. It didn't really feel like anything, going down. Like a sugar sculpture under a waterfall, it just sort of dissipates into nothing in your throat. Remembering... it's not like a big slideshow of everything you forgot. Or at least it wasn't for me. It's just you'll think of something you couldn't [21:22] remember before, and now you can. Or a memory you don't remember having will pop into your head at the strangest time, and you'll go 'Oh, right! That happened to me!'." [21:23] "I'm sure I still don't know everything I know, if you know what I mean." [21:24] 10Stewart: "Do you feel any different?" [21:26] 7Maggie: "A bit. A little less cotton-y. Huurm, that's no help. Uhh... like I've got a better grip on things." [21:27] 10Stewart: "Huh." [21:30] "Have you tried any exercises? Memory exercises. Some people recommend that for, uh, lost time." [21:33] 7Maggie: "Huh. Nope!" [21:34] 10Stewart: "I've been trying some of that lately. Cause of the... cotton, I guess? I've been noticing it more." [21:38] "That's no good. You okay?" [21:40] 10Stewart: "Yeah, I'm fine. Everything's going great! You know, there's... I've got no complaints. It's just, you know, when I'm not working on something sometimes I get kind of... foggy." [21:43] 7Maggie: "Well, that's no good. What kinda memory exercises are they?" [21:57] 10Stewart: "I've been trying to flesh out things I do remember. Grab onto a memory, put down as many details as I can. Stuff from- from when I was a kid is hard, basically impossible. Just fragments, like dreams. So a lot of what I've been working on is from when I was gone." [22:00] "Did you-- was it all stuff from before you remembered?" [22:01] 7Maggie: "I think so. It would be hard to tell, though... it was pretty monotonous when I was away." [22:06] 10Stewart looks down at his plate, which he rotates gently until the bite marks in the sandwich face away from him. "Yeah. That makes sense." [22:13] "Your sandwich alright? You want some mustard? I think we mostly have Tony's dipping mustards..." [22:15] "No, it's fine." 10He picks it up and bites it from the other side. "...so what have you been working on? I saw the greenhouses outside." [22:16] 7Maggie: "Sleeping potion." [22:17] 10Stewart: "Really? Like to sell or?" [22:19] "Maybe," 7Maggie admits. "If there's enough that I can have a decent stock for Freeholders as ask for it, I might try Notgnixel and sell off the rest. I'm not gonna charge other changelings for a good night's sleep, though!" [22:19] 10Stewart: "Have you been having trouble sleeping?" [22:21] 7Maggie: "Now and again, if something I et disagrees with me or I have a headache or something." [22:30] 10Stewart's taken to eating his sandwich in a spiral, nibbling around the edges and leaving the center intact. There's a nearly perfect circle of fluffy bread staring at him from the center of the plate when he finally says, a few minutes later, "Do you remember, a while ago, I was telling you about some games I played and I forgot they weren't real?" [22:31] 7Maggie: "I figure everyone has that now and again, if not harder troubl-- hmm? Oh, sure. The one about vampires in the arctic, and the other one with the teenagers in the flying ship." [22:39] 10Stewart: "Right, yeah. I've been trying to focus on those, because video games have a lot of details packed into a small, like, experience window." [22:40] 7She raises her eyebrows. "Oh yeah? Anything good?" [22:43] 10Stewart: "They were really good! As far as I can remember, anyway. Sometimes with games you liked you forget the stuff that was boring or didn't work right. The arctic vampire one, you could like- there was this game in the real world called Dragon Age: Origins, and it had a bunch of different ways and places you could start the game depending on your character's background. Or like, this [22:43] game called Pathologic, which I haven't played but saw a long video about, where you pick one character and play through the same sequence of events from a wildly different perspective." [22:44] 7Maggie: "And the vampire story had something like that?" [22:45] 10Stewart: "Yeah! There were three paths you could pick to start, and if you followed them along, new characters would appear and you'd get a little popup that said you could start the game over from *their* perspective." [22:46] "And they'd start in wildly different contexts at different points in the, bigger story. And they didn't all make it to the end." [22:50] "And basically this is what the game had instead of letting you make your own character, which is what games like that tend to do." [22:52] 7Maggie: "Huh. So what kind of origins were there?" [22:56] 10Stewart: "So like, at the start of the game before you've played at all you have three options: you can play as 'The Magnate', 'The Monster', or 'The Mastermind'. The Magnate is a vampire with a lot of money and skills but no real political connections who had to ship out of his home to go to the Arctic. So his story is about sort of building an empire from the ground up. You get henchmen [22:56] and do deals and schemes. Someone throws you down an elevator shaft, you pull a platinum-plated assault rifle out of your sports car, stuff like that." [23:02] 10Stewart: "But as you go along, you'd get to do stuff like-- so your first henchman, a big mean German guy who carries an invisible axe on his back, he gets a path. Then later on this like, British college professor lady comes in and asks you to do this insane construction project for her, and that unlocks *her* path. Then you get this sort of Charlie's Angels team of sidekicks and one of [23:02] *them* gets a path." [23:03] "And these all interweave with the other paths. Like the Magnate has a rivalry with the Mastermind, who is also rich but more connected... except she's like, a slave to her, uh, mom-boss." [23:04] 7Maggie: "Mom boss?" [23:04] 10Stewart: "Like, her direct superior in the vampire Mafia, but who also made her a vampire. It's very weird." [23:05] 7Maggie huuurms thoughtfully. "Do you mind if I write this stuff down? This is interesting." [23:05] 10Stewart: "What? Oh, yeah. Don't... if you're gonna show it to people don't tell them where it's from." [23:08] 7Maggie: "Oh, lord no." 7She bustles into her room and comes back with a sketchbook. [23:08] "So tell me more about these opening origins." [23:15] 10Stewart: "Well, like I said, the Magnate's story is about building an empire from the ground up, and how the scale of your rivals changes. You start out with suspicious falls down elevator shafts and end up having this fucked up, like, stocks duel where you try to move money around to impoverish this other insanely rich vampire who's doing the same thing to you. And you're both standing [23:15] in the room, typing on your Blackberries or whatever, but all the 'fighting' is happening in computer banks in Switzerland and New York." [23:20] 7Maggie nods, scribbling in her book. [23:23] "The Mastermind's story arc is more psychological - in terms of like job and money she's in pretty much the same place at the end of the game as in the beginning. Her story's more about control: losing it, getting it back, surrendering it... early on she has this really graphically violent meltdown where she gnaws a guy's head off. Then she gets her own German henchman but hers is like the [23:23] Babadook, and he runs around doing stupid shit she has to deal with. Then she ends up making a friend, and turning her friend into a vampire too... but she's still got the mom-boss problem." [23:25] 7Maggie: "The babawhat?" [23:25] 10Stewart: "Like a storybook monster. It's from a movie, I haven't seen it, but like-- think 'boogeyman', I guess." [23:29] 10Stewart: "Anyway, The Mastermind twigs onto the mystery plot that the Monster's deep into, and ends up spinning it off into her own thing where she goes into her own mind and fights Vampire Lavos, and it's like, this big symbolic vision quest of self-mastery. If you finish it, toward the end of the game you find out your friend got a posse together to go kill your mom-boss, and there's [23:29] this huge insane boss fight in like a castle carved out of a glacier. When you win it just starts falling into the sea." [23:30] "Then she like... becomes master of time? I don't know, her ending was kind of abstract." [23:32] 7Maggie's writing frantically. "Vampire... Lavos?" [23:33] 10Stewart: "Right, okay, sorry, there was this game called Chrono Trigger that the vampire Arctic game makes a lot of references to, I guess it's an homage kind of. In Chrono Trigger the main thing you do is save the world by time travel from this multidimensional slug monster called Lavos, and you can fight it at a lot of different points on the timeline and the ending changes based on [23:33] when you do." [23:34] "The Mastermind has a name for the Lavos but I don't remember it. It was from a movie, maybe, or a poem? I don't know. But I just remember it as Vampire Lavos." [23:38] "Hooorm. Do all the origins have names? Or do people just refer to each other by appellations like, uh, the Weary Customs Agent or the Seedy Explorer?" [23:40] 10Stewart: "The paths have titles, but the characters all have names like regular characters. So besides the starting three you have like, 'The Knight', 'The Nightmare', 'The Penitent', 'The Semiotician', stuff like that. But their names are just regular people's names, I can't remember them all." [23:45] 7Maggie nods, still working. "So... the rich guy gets a big fella with some axes... and the rich lady gets the boogeyman... kind of like this here?" https://i.imgur.com/6iIB4XE.jpg [23:47] 10Stewart: "Hey, that's really good! How'd you guess she was blonde?" [23:48] "Though the boogeyman was built different. He was real short and sort of... like you remember the bad guy from Popeye?" [23:48] "All chest and arms and no legs?" [23:48] 7It's a black and white drawing... [23:49] 10Her hair's not colored in! The universal symbol for blondeness." [23:49] "A real barrel-shaped guy? Gotcha." [23:49] "Yeah." 02[23:50] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) [23:51] "What about the Monster?" 03[23:54] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch [23:55] 10Stewart: "The Monster is weird because it's like, the weirdest playthrough of all but also you get the impression it's sort of like the 'default' one? You play one of the few characters that's actually native to the place the game is set, and he's a vampire scientist. Except, it's vampires, so it's vampire mad science with blood and terrible experiments and weird occultism. He's part [23:55] of a college of vampire scientists which was founded by literal, did-the-Holocaust Nazis. And, basically, he's got a weird shitty job, and his bosses suck, and he's always doing favors for people." [23:56] "You have sort of the least control over your character because you have to take every order someone gives you. It's not until like halfway into the game where you even get the *option* to say no to a quest hook. But at the same time that means you're the one who sort of... sees the whole picture. You cross over with the most other stories and you build connections with the most other [23:56] characters." [23:56] "Also, you're the strongest? Like you have the best stats, you get discounts on your stats, you free XP that no one else gets for some reason..." [23:57] "Anyway, the Monster just wants to be left alone. But there's this woman he kind of loves and they're both laboring under this even-worse-than-being-a-vampire curse, and the only way he can see to get out from under the curse is to master weird vampire scientist, so he goes to work for the, again I stress this, literal Nazis." [23:59] "His arc is about him sort of unpicking each of his obligations and weaknesses one at a time, super methodically, turning into this horrible alien big bat dragon thing in the process... but one without any of the weaknesses of his curse, or any real obligation to vampire society. Even his shitty bosses start to see him as a shitty peer." Session Time: Sat Feb 08 00:00:00 2020 [00:06] "So at the end of it all he's finally free to do whatever he wants, whenever he wants... but he doesn't really want to do anything in particular, because he's got no real friends or goals anymore. So he just sits around, surviving, gradually getting stronger." [00:06] "And that's it, that's the end of his story." [00:08] 7Maggie: "That sounds like a real vampire thing to be." [00:09] 10Stewart thinks about Lister. "I guess it is, yeah. Being so strong and scary no one can tell you what to do is like... the dream." [00:09] 7Maggie: "But also the part of spending all your time on being strong and scary, so you don't have anything else." [00:10] "Hoorm. I've got some ideas but none of these seem quite right." https://i.imgur.com/UmcgcsO.jpg [00:11] 10Stewart: "Hmm. That top-left one is the closest, but it was more batlike. Legs and wings and so on." 02[00:11] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) [00:12] 7She bites her tongue, leaving a bit sticking out of her mouth, and scribbles frantically for a few minutes. "Like this?" https://i.imgur.com/60Qnpcg.jpg [00:14] 10Stewart: "Yeah, that looks a lot like how he looked in the middle of the game. Later on it was a lot sleeker and all the extraneous stuff sort of folded away. It reminded me of the - do you remember the turrets, in Portal?" 03[00:14] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch [00:15] 7Maggie: "So, like a bat... dragon... iPhone?" [00:17] 10Stewart: "...yeah. Yeah, okay, that works." [00:17] "I'm gonna have to noodle on that one a bit. Go on." [00:21] 10Stewart: "And these are all just the playable characters. There's a ton of- of side characters, too, like a whole vampire Mafia for the Magnate and the Mastermind, and all the mad scientists for the Monster. There's a head vampire, who was a French Nazi collaborator, who dreams of using his geek girlfriend to control time itself. There's Big Sister, who is the only nice vampire. There's [00:21] a guy who gets really into using vampire yams to solve hunger, there's all these side events like the Mastermind goes to her stuffy all-girls boarding school for a reunion with her friend. One of them starts beating her at tennis so she starts using superpowers to save her pride." [00:23] 7Maggie: "Yeah, I can see that." [00:24] 7Maggie: "So when you say vampire Mafia, do you mean, like... eyyy! Youse mugs! I'm drinkin' blood ova heah!" [00:25] 10Stewart: "No, I just mean like a feudal crime syndicate. Hardly any of them are Italian, and the Italian ones aren't really Mafia Italian. They're more like, 'I fixed the election of the last six Popes' Italian." [00:26] 7Maggie: "And the, uh, Mom Boss is one of those?" [00:26] 10Stewart: "How'd you guess?" [00:42] 7Maggie: "Didn't you say? One of the vampire mafia?" [00:42] 10Stewart: "Oh, no, I mean, she was Italian." [00:43] 7Maggie: "Oh! Right. So the Mastermind was too?" [00:45] 10Stewart: "No, she was German. Vampires aren't usually like... genetically related." [00:46] 7Maggie: "Sure, but I wouldn't think vampires did a lot of traveling. Heck, maybe they do." [00:49] 10Stewart: "Well like I said, in the Arctic pretty much everyone was an immigrant from somewhere. Some moved after World War 2, some moved later than that. The Nightmare actually just hid in a cave for a hundred years in what he thought was the middle of nowhere but then woke up and there was this whole thing around him." [00:52] 7Maggie: "Yeah, where is this anyway? Oslo?" 7That is the only city in Scandinavia she could confidently name. [00:55] 10Stewart: "North of that. Waaaay north. Like at the tippy top of Norway. It was called... Sørøya." [00:55] "You'd write those vowels as like, o's with slashes through them." [00:56] 7Maggie: "øøø! Very atmospheric." [00:57] 7Maggie: "So... what's your favorite part?" 02[00:58] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) [00:58] 10Stewart: "Hmm..." 03[00:59] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch [01:00] "So my favorite part of the game is in the Mastermind run when you get your, like, vampire ward, who's this weird nerd with no friends who was getting abused by the Nightmare. You have to like... take her in, and civilize her - but not too much, you lose sanity if you do it too much because of your repressed hatred for being civilized - and also protect her from all your enemies, who are her [01:00] enemies now, and even more importantly, protect her from your mom-boss." [01:01] "But that's not the *best* part of the game. The *best* part of the game is when a bunch of American vampire hunters invade and attack, and they get completely wrecked, and the one survivor gets taken in front of the leaders for questioning and is like 'we're going to pay you back for turning all our corporations into bloodsucking engines of profit and corruption!'" [01:01] "And the boss of the vampire Mafia is like, 'uhhhhhhh'." [01:02] "Heh." [01:17] "Weird nerd vampire ward... kind of like this'er?" https://i.imgur.com/liFNpP7.png 03[01:18] * Retrieving #gofetch modes... [01:19] 10Stewart: "Yeah, that's exactly the right energy." [01:20] 7Maggie: "What story would you play, if you had the chance right now?" [01:21] 10Stewart: "Maybe a run of The Ward, I never actually did her story. I didn't like her much at the time." [01:23] "But then the Semiotician run is cool, and very different from the others. It only touches the main story at a couple of points, but they're really important." [01:24] 7Maggie: "That would be a heck of a video game. I mean, would you even really be able to do anything at the beginning, until you get to be a vampire?" [01:25] 10Stewart: "As the Ward, you mean?" [01:29] "Right." [01:32] 10Stewart: "Well she starts out as the ward of the Nightmare, and you have all these jobs to do - in video games we call them 'fetch quests', like gofer stuff - and if you do them wrong he'll berate you or hit you. There are bits where you have to teach him things about the 20th century, which he missed entirely, like an evil Nels. And he says these really vicious things to her, but you [01:32] get the option to say really vicious things back. Beneath the nerd shell she's got this terrible mean streak and the more time she spends with vampires the more she lets it out." [01:32] "I think this is why the Mastermind befriends her. Not because she's mean exactly but because the hidden nature reads to you as like, a spark of potential." [01:34] "Anyway I stopped my playthrough of that because there's a bit where you have to explain the Nazis to this 500 year old incredibly racist German nationalist serial killer." [01:34] "And I just... didn't want to." [01:39] "What about you?" 02[01:40] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) [01:42] 7Maggie: "Hoorm. I'd want to try the Monster my first time, since I wouldn't wanna turn down quests anyway." [01:42] 10Stewart: "Yeah I think the Monster is the best first playthrough, it's the most like a standard RPG." [01:45] "Say, I just realized!" [01:45] "If Sørøya's that far north, why... a quarter of the year the sun wouldn't come up at all!" [01:45] "And another quarter, it wouldn't go down..." [01:46] 10Stewart: "Yeah, I think that was the... like nothing is original in there. It couldn't-- it didn't have original ideas. It just absorbed things and remixed them. There's a story called 30 Days of Night which is about vampires going to Alaska to take advantage of a sunless winter, and I think that was part of the formula." [01:48] "Huh. So where does Dracula come in, then?" [01:49] 10Stewart: "The vampire mad scientists are nominally disciples of Dracula, and Dracula himself shows up briefly at the veeeery end of the game. He's a huge dick and doesn't really help anyone or do anything." [01:50] 7Maggie nods firmly. "That sounds like Dracula." [01:51] 10Stewart: "I wonder if Dracula's real in real life." [01:53] 7Maggie: "You could ask a vampire. I wonder if they'd tell the truth, or make up a shaggy dog story." [01:53] 7Maggie: "Hm. Don't tell me if he's real, though." [01:53] 10Stewart: "Yeah, maybe I'll -- why not? [01:54] " [01:57] 7Maggie taps her sketchbook with her pencil. "Welllll... I wanna turn this into something. A story, maybe. If you're okay with that." [01:57] 10Stewart's silent for a moment. [01:58] "Yeah, sure, that's fine." [01:58] "Worried about, like, copyright?" [01:58] 7Maggie: "No, I don't want to accidentally put any real facts about vampires in." [01:59] "For, y'know. Pretty clear reasons." [01:59] 10Stewart: "That makes sense." [01:59] "Might want to run a draft by a vampire at some point then." [02:15] 7Maggie: "Sure. You know a guy?" [02:16] 10Stewart: "...kinda. I don't really know him well enough to ask him to sensitivity read someone's story. I'll run it by him maybe." [02:28] LATER IN THE EVENING: [02:29] 7Maggie stares at the blinking cursor of the word processing program, chewing her gum thoughtfully. She puts her hands on the keyboard, takes them off again, and hums to herself. [02:29] 7Again she takes to the keyboard, and this time begins to type: [02:30] DEAD SNOW [02:30] Ch. 1 [02:30] Late December of 2009 - the coldest time of year for the northern hemisphere. There's no place more northerly than Sørøya - or not as far as the creatures of the night are concerned. [02:30] It's a special, dark time. The city's glimmering lights and vague political problems all take a back seat to the moon and the stars, perpetually visible in the month-long polar night, and things come out to play. [02:30] Most Sørøyans wouldn't believe it if you told them, but their city is infested, with hundreds upon hundreds of immortal, superhuman cursed predators. These vile creatures lurk beneath every den of vice and hide in every dark alley, and they even form their own social groupings like ants or bees. [02:30] Some of them even think they're human. 02[16:40] * Disconnected 02[16:40] * Attempting to rejoin channel #gofetch 03[16:40] * Rejoined channel #gofetch 03[16:40] * Topic is 'Who botches the Botchmen?' 03[16:40] * Set by Crion!Crion@sorcery-puhjpa.fios.verizon.net on Sun Sep 22 02:37:29 2019 02[16:41] * @Crion (Crion@sorcery-puhjpa.fios.verizon.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[17:32] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 02[17:37] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 03[19:02] * Crion_ is now known as Crion 02[19:02] * Disconnected 02[19:02] * Attempting to rejoin channel #gofetch 03[19:02] * Rejoined channel #gofetch 03[19:02] * Topic is 'Who botches the Botchmen?' 03[19:02] * Set by Crion!Crion@sorcery-puhjpa.fios.verizon.net on Sun Sep 22 02:37:29 2019 03[19:02] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Crion 00[20:57] <@Crion> 00[20:57] <@Crion> 00[20:57] <@Crion> 00[20:57] <@Crion> 00[20:57] <@Crion> 00[20:57] <@Crion> 00[20:57] <@Crion> 00[20:57] <@Crion> So when's the last time any of you went to a baseball game? [20:59] 6Oh, wow. 1917, 1918? Somewhere around then. 00[20:59] <@Crion> Ah. So Nels has never had crab fries. [21:00] 6Crab what nows? [21:00] 13Technically, never. There's nothing wrong with the game but... there are alternatives. [21:00] 13If pressed, Melanie prefers it to hockey. 00[21:00] <@Crion> Put something else on Stewart's list of things to introduce her to. [21:01] 10Stewart doesn't remember when it was. Steve Trachsel was pitching, which seems less memorable than the date. Got in an argument with dad on the way home. [21:03] 7What the jiminy is crab fries? French fries made out of molded crab meat? [21:04] 10They're fries seasoned like crab. Oh man does Maggie not know about Old Bay?? [21:04] 5Tony was a football-all-year kind of guy. A sport where you don't hit each other? Not much of a sport. 00[21:04] <@Crion> In fairness, sometimes they're fries with Old Bay-seasoned crab dip on them. [21:05] 7Hmm. There must be a way to keep crab meat together in french fry shape, though. Cheese? Maybe deep fry 'em? [21:06] 10You can definitely do it. Lot of places sell crab sticks. Those are mostly fake crab meat but that's for cost, not engineering reasons. 00[21:07] <@Crion> This will be everyone but Stewart's first time visiting Oriole Park at Camden Yards, then. Temporarily, at least. 00[21:12] <@Crion> It's December, so there shouldn't be too many people around, but the big warehouse across from the field is where the Orioles' front office is. And that's going to have at least some people coming or going -- maybe more than usual, as some of you might know. [21:12] 10Stewart passes the warning to the rest of the motley. [21:13] 13That's good. Let's see if we can plan this thing better than we planned the abortive raid on Proctor's crew of malefactors. "So.. were we looking for the Hedge around the ballpark? Are we going there through the Hedge?" 00[21:13] <@Crion> Obviously, it'll be easier to get around the Inner Harbor if you're not strapped up with bulletproof vests and handguns, but you still might want those things. What's the approach? [21:13] 7Maggie: "Hoom. I'm not all that stealthy..." [21:17] 5Tony: "I am but...if we've got a way that keeps us from having to even risk being around people we don't want to deal with, that's probably a safer way to round out the day." [21:18] 13Melanie makes the case for avoiding reality: "We probably don't need to touch down on Earth at all. Jackie's going to be deep in the Hedge and we can just dodge walls and guards the sme way they have." [21:20] 7Maggie: "Suits me." [21:21] "Finding the corresponding quasiplace isn't easy, but.. Tony can get us there." [21:21] 5Tony: "I hope they don't have...what's his name from the TV, from New York, the Mister Met. I hope there aren't those in the Hedge here." [21:23] 7Maggie: "I can't think of a baseball mascot I would want to meet." [21:23] 10Stewart: "We could go through the Hedge, but the Inner Harbor Hedge is gnarly. It'd take much longer even if nothing goes wrong." [21:24] "What if we just... solved our problem with magic?" [21:24] 13Melanie: "I knew that stuff had to be good for something." [21:26] 10Stewart: "Do any of you have a needle or a pin?" [21:30] 13Melanie looks at.. Nels? Has Nels bowed out yet? If so, Tony or maybe Maggie.. [21:31] 5Tony's leaning against a low fence and stretching, since Hedge shit usually resolves with some sort of painful exertion. [21:31] 6Nels likely wished them well back at the Wherehouse and began fretting. [21:32] 7Maggie: "Yeah, sure! Hang on." 7She'll scuttle to her room and come back with a sewing needle, if nobody else has anything. [21:32] 13Phew. [21:34] 10Stewart thanks Maggie for the sewing needle, and immediately jabs it into his right index finger. Slight wince. He applies pressure until a round droplet of blood bubbles up from the wound, and then blows on it, causing it to vanish in a whirl of orange sparks. "...yeah. Yeah okay we should be good. Let's go." [21:36] 13Melanie levers herself upright and plucks a coat off the corner of a nearby bookcase. "Now, obviously as creatures of the Wyrd - attuned, um, against our wills to the currents of destiny - we can all tell that something just happened." [21:37] 13What was it though. What was the thing. [21:38] 10Stewart: "I've destined myself to find an unattended Hedge portal at Camden Yards. So stick close; the hand of Fate is on my shoulder." [21:38] 7Maggie: "Is that... good?" [21:39] 10Stewart: "No, to the contrary." [21:39] "Oh." [21:41] 5Tony: "Siiiick." 5Tony's geared up with some heavy clothing with a few key reinforced points, and grabbed his trusty shotgun, which in his head is named 'Slayer of Empties' but he would never tell anyone except maybe Stewart. [21:42] 10The motley, minus Nels, gears up and moves out, for good or ill. It's a fifteen minute walk at most from the Market to Camden, but no one gives the changelings a second look - a cop car hit a fire hydrant on Eutaw Street and everyone's rubbernecking that. They cut down into the concourse, and find... an open door? 00[21:43] <@Crion> It heads into one of the memorabilia shops. Well, a memorabilia shop combined with a Remember Some Orioles Guys shrine (which then sells all their jerseys and associated knick-knacks). Or it did, at least -- until someone turned it into a portal. 00[21:44] <@Crion> You think you can actually feel wind coming through. Not a common trick of the glamour...but not unheard of. [21:44] 10Does it smell weird? 00[21:45] <@Crion> Down the concourse there's a custodial worker sweeping with their back to you, backing your way. Still a ways off, but could turn around any time. You fulfilled the deal, after all. 00[21:45] <@Crion> Smells like fresh-cut grass. [21:45] 10Stewart: "Suspicious, but in-bounds. Let's go." [21:46] 13Riding the currents of fate like this is an interesting experience. Melanie feels vague, swaddled away from the world despite passing through it. There's an illusion of safety, but it would be a lonely way to perceive things - props and scenery to be arranged into a narrative. She won't be looking into that contract. [21:46] 10Stewart will enter the portal unless halted. [21:46] 7Maggie will hustle after him. [21:46] 5Tony will as well. [21:46] 6Once they've left, Nels begins... well. Where to begin. There's family in the city. At UMBC, even. Maybe if she starts simple, and types NELS FOULKE RELATives into her new Chromebook. (She noticed the caps lock was on partway through.) [21:48] "This is the kind of portal people stumble through and get caught." [21:48] 10Flatly: "Yes." [21:48] 13Melanie's following too, she's just.. keeping an eye out on the other side. Worst case, there could be an actual abduction in progress. 00[21:49] <@Crion> Inside the sky is starkly overcast, and strange pillars of...Hedge itself...rise up into roiling clouds. It's got just as much visibility as Stewart remembers from his time in Santander's office above it all, but a lot more violence. The wind whips through the Hedgerows in staggered gusts, not constant or even semi-constant like a real weather system would, and the Hedge itself is padded 00[21:49] <@Crion> outfield walls overgrown with thorny ivy. [21:49] "It actually reminds me.. um, there was a locker room. Inside the showers, a note.." 13Well, that's a long way in the past. [21:51] 5Tony looks around. "Wow, this is even shittier than usual. Keep an eye out for Mister Mets I guess." [21:52] 10Stewart: "I wonder if you can still find feral Youppis in the Montreal Hedge." [21:52] 13Melanie: "If a big orange bird comes out of those walls, don't feed it." [21:53] "Let's follow the wind- might be affected by Jackie?" [21:53] 5Tony: "How big we talking? Oh, good idea." [21:58] 6Well, these results are useless. A husband whose name she skips over, her long-dead parents (John Edward and Susan Foulke), and three children, all of whom are also likely dead by now: Vernon, Susan, and Sarah. Grandchildren and great-grandchildren aren't mentioned. [21:58] 6She's going to have to talk to someone. 00[22:03] <@Crion> What you can tell about the immediate area you've landed in beyond its foreboding weather is...there are tracks, big ones, bipedal but birdlike, leading to the portal...and then away from it. [22:03] 6Fifteen minutes later, there's a knock at Stewart's apartment door, to see if Lauren Ipsum is in. She's got her laptop with her, but not much else. 00[22:05] <@Crion> There's the scrape of a chair inside the apartment, then a darkness in front of the door as someone checks the keyhole...then the bolt is thrown and Lauren opens the door wide. "Nels!" [22:05] 5Tony squats to take a closer look at the tracks. "Well, neither of these look good really." [22:05] 5Tony: "I forget---does Jackie have bird feet? Does anyone we know?" [22:05] 6Nels: "Hi! Um, are you busy? I need some help with..." 6She gestures vaguely. "A project?" [22:06] 10Stewart: "You know, I have no idea. I don't really notice people's shoes and stuff." 00[22:06] <@Crion> "Sure! Come in!" [22:06] 7Maggie: "I don't think they do." 00[22:06] <@Crion> "Mrrow." says Chup. 00[22:07] <@Crion> Jackie's a Beast, but they're not birdlike. [22:07] 6She steps inside and makes sure to pet Chup as she sits down. "So. The project. I'm not really sure where to start with... looking someone up? But I've been meaning to start on this for ages, and, well." 6She absently pets Chup some more. "I've got to have relatives living, right? And I want to see if I can meet one." [22:08] 5Tony: "Well, shit. Our options are tracking where the birdperson came from before hitting the portal, or where it went. Any preference before I do my thing?" 00[22:08] <@Crion> Actually, Tony, those seem to be the same thing. You get that for free. 00[22:09] <@Crion> The tracks come up to the portal, then retreat back the same way. [22:09] 5Tony clears his throat. "Well, good news is, this should be easy." [22:09] 13Melanie: "..but what's at the end of the trail? Probably something as silly as it is menacing." [22:10] "Well, it's that or we start spinning and take whatever they throw at us. That's a last resort." [22:10] 7Maggie: "I feel like we don't want anything to do with a baltimore oriole." [22:10] 5Tony: "Well, whatever it is, follow me and I guess we'll see!" 5Tony pauses a moment to do his thing, which to everyone else looks like just sort of staring blankly ahead and wiggling his...well his feet are dirt over here, so it's just dirt wiggling in dirt, but, there's something going on. And off he goes. 00[22:11] <@Crion> Lauren closes the door and hesitates, leaning back against it. "...Are you sure you want to do that?" [22:12] 5Tony grips his shotgun tighter. 00[22:12] <@Crion> "I mean if so, I'll help. But..." [22:12] 6She exhales. "I - yeah. At least to know. Maybe to meet them." 00[22:13] <@Crion> Lauren: "...Alright. So what've you done so far?" 00[22:16] <@Crion> The trail leads deeper into the Hedge, and the walls turn from padded-outfield into faux-brickwork, like the warehouse's. The one across from Camden Yards, that is. The creature, whatever it is, seems big, and seems to be more in a hurry going than it was coming -- it seems like it ambled up to the portal, then fled back the way it came. That, or the way its weight distribution works is 00[22:16] <@Crion> completely alien to Tony. [22:17] 10Stewart doesn't really know Jackie, but they've been with the Freehold for a lot longer than this spate of attacks has been happening. So if they're involved - which Stewart doesn't really believe - something has to have changed. But what...? He's mostly in his own head as he follows behind Tony. [22:17] 13Melanie: "It's like something tried a breakout but was turned back... which is Jackie's job, incidentally." [22:17] "If we're really lucky, they're chasing it." [22:17] 6Nels: "Not much. I wasn't really sure where to start, so..." 6She opens her laptop and turns it around - there's an official Rock N' Roll Hall Of Fame biography page, listing the names of her parents, husband, and children. "I wasn't sure what all would be public after that and I didn't want to go breaking anything..." [22:18] 5Tony: "But how often are we lucky?" 5He asks rhetorically, while assuming that even saying that is daring the Hedge to start fucking with them. 00[22:18] <@Crion> Eventually the path ends at...a door, or really a banged-on crude add-on, to a ruined storefront much like the one you walked in through. None of the words on it make sense, and the jerseys hanging in the window have unreadable script on them and random characters from the bottom of an ASCII character map instead of numbers. But the tracks go inside. 00[22:19] <@Crion> Inside, faintly, you can hear something wheezing softly but quickly -- hyperventilating, but trying to be quiet. [22:19] 13Melanie: "Luck.. is another philosophical question. It manifestly exists! Stewart manipulated fortune to even bring us here. But the idea of getting lucky, both colloquial and literal, makes more assumptions: it's a claim that the subject has received an unexpected or unfair benefit." 00[22:20] <@Crion> Lauren bites her lip and thinks for a minute. "Okay...so you had kids before you were taken?" 00[22:20] <@Crion> "Fetches...usually aren't fertile..." [22:20] 10Stewart wonders what you would sell in a Hedge gift shop, as opposed to a gift shop in the Hedge. Little plush Oscars, maybe. Candles with Steve dressed like the Virgin Mary. Lot of options. [22:20] 5Tony holds up a hand to get the group to stop, then holds a finger to his mouth in the universal 'hush.' And then, waits a moment. 00[22:20] <@Crion> "Sometimes the kids only exist on paper." [22:21] 13Melanie hushes. [22:22] 6She shakes her head. "I... no. I didn't." 00[22:22] <@Crion> Lauren: "Well...maybe yours was the exception!" 00[22:23] <@Crion> She's trying to put on a happy face. [22:23] 5Tony clears his throat. "Hey in there. Could you help us? We need help finding someone. We don't want to cause any trouble." [22:23] 6Nels: "...any way for us to tell?" 00[22:24] <@Crion> A whimper, but no movement. You might have to go in. 00[22:24] <@Crion> Lauren: "Do you have any pictures?" 00[22:24] <@Crion> "Of the kids. I don't see any here." 00[22:25] <@Crion> "Images are powerful magic, especially photographs. If it turns out we need them." [22:25] 5Tony lowers his gun to alongside one leg with his off-hand and steps forward, slowly. "We're coming in, okay? Four of us, just want some help looking for somebody to tell them something." 00[22:25] <@Crion> Still no movement. [22:25] 13Melanie: "..maybe send just one of us in first if we don't want to scare it. I could go.." [22:26] 6Nels: "No, um." 6She turns her Chromebook back around and tries searching "vernon FOUlke photographs." [22:27] 10Stewart doesn't have his gun out. It's not for diplomatic reasons, it just doesn't naturally occur to him to draw it. [22:27] 5Tony continues advancing. "We're looking for...their name is Jackie? If you know them? We want to talk to them just quick here and we'll leave." [22:30] 6...nothing doing. "Nothing for Vernon. There's mentions of him but mostly regarding my fetch..." 6Oh dear. 00[22:30] <@Crion> Past the door and inside the lair beyond is a workshop with a large, warmly lit table, sitting on it a number of bobbleheads and small replica stadiums and, hanging on a hook in the corner, a straw hat with a strange version of the Orioles logo and what's not quite Miller Lite emblazoned on it. In the back, instead of a wall, it opens into a vast warehouse with rows and rows of stadium 00[22:30] <@Crion> giveaways stacked floor to ceiling in an almost impermeable barrier. Someone has been unboxing them, one by one, and lovingly touching them up on the workbench, then setting them aside and continuing the work. 00[22:31] <@Crion> That someone is probably the creature huddled at the back of the room, one of the ugliest single things Tony has likely ever seen in his life, a hideous combination of bird and man with a ridiculous tiny hat atop its head -- and giant, terrified, sad eyes. "No hurt," it says. "No hurt." [22:32] 13Melanie: "Oh my god, it's worse than I expected." 00[22:33] <@Crion> It cringes at the insult. [22:33] 10Stewart's heart breaks at the sight of the creature. [22:34] 7Maggie puts a hand on Melanie's shoulder. "Hey... hey now." [22:34] 5Tony smiles cheerfully: "Hey buddy! No hurt here, no." [22:34] 7To the critter: "Don't worry, fella. We're not going to hurt you." [22:35] 13Aside: "Well, I don't mean it like that. I was expecting one of the mascots with razor feathers or beak or something.." 00[22:36] <@Crion> It relaxes slightly, seeing the four of you for the first time. Lowering its wing-arms: "...Fans...?" [22:36] 5Tony: "We're just looking for somebody. We don't want to hurt you, and we won't hurt you. No hurt." [22:36] "Are fans good?" 5He gives a thumbs up and smiles. "Fans?" 00[22:36] <@Crion> The creature looks positively delighted. "Fans!" [22:36] 5Tony, happy to have made a breakthrough: "Fans! Go team!" [22:37] 13Jesus, this thing has the wrong impression. Let's just.. look elsewhere. The memorabilia's not bad. [22:37] 5Tony extends a hand, slowly. "I'm Tony. Big fan." 00[22:37] <@Crion> It sweeps over to the table in a rush of feathers and limbs, and you can see that honestly, it could be quite terrifyingly powerful if it wanted to be. But instead it's smiling and burbling, "First 20000 fans get bobblehead...first 15000 fans get model stadium..." [22:39] 5Tony: "Is...is it bobblehead day?" 00[22:39] <@Crion> Lauren: "Alright, one photo's good. If we run out of EVERYTHING else, divination magic might help. But first...okay, so, we're either checking adoption records, or records of live birth -- birth certificates. Not going to lie, I think it's the adoption records we want, but the birth certificates are going to be more accessible in public-facing databases...so let's at least see. Do you have 00[22:39] <@Crion> any idea where your fetch was living when she was born?" 00[22:39] <@Crion> "Er, when the kids were born." 00[22:39] <@Crion> "Though I guess the first phrasing might...be appropriate." [22:40] 13Oh! An idea: "Wow. Are we the first to win these prizes, or was there anyone else recently?" 00[22:40] <@Crion> The Oriole of Baltimore, happily: "Stadium day! Stadium day!" 00[22:40] <@Crion> It pauses. "Something else." 00[22:40] <@Crion> "Something out there." [22:40] 5Tony: "Is it what hurt? What did it look like?" [22:42] 6Nels: "When she was born would've been... somewhere in Nebraska, maybe Iowa? I was lugging our instruments to, well. Here. The kids, probably here." 00[22:42] <@Crion> Before your eyes, it pulls a slapdash, frankly shitty looking "Camden Yards" looking replica and goes to work with an exacto knife and pallete of paints and brushes. Almost immediately it turns from a mass-manufactured piece of trash into a true work of art...even if this "Camden Yards" has a Warehouse that's a couple stories too tall and an infield with four bases instead of three. 00[22:43] <@Crion> It hesitates and puts its creation down. "Do not know. Secret. Hidden." [22:43] 13That might be a more interesting game. Make them sweat. 00[22:43] <@Crion> "Dangerous." 00[22:44] <@Crion> Lauren blinks. "Nebraska and Iowa. Shit. Well, you don't make this easy." 00[22:44] <@Crion> "Republican states aren't big on digitizing." 00[22:44] <@Crion> "That doesn't mean Ravens can't do it...but it does mean it's more dangerous." 00[22:44] <@Crion> "And that you're likely to owe Autumn a favor." [22:45] 7Maggie: "Hey, that stadium's pretty good." 00[22:45] <@Crion> The creature happily shoves the knick-knack into Tony's hands in lieu of a handshake. "First fan!" [22:45] 5Tony, sincerely, to the Oriole: "It's a great stadium there big guy." [22:46] 5Tony beams. "Thank you!" 00[22:47] <@Crion> The huge, ugly creature beams...and gets to work on another one. "Second fan, second fan," it burbles in sing-song to itself. [22:47] 6Nels: "If she's got the same records I do, it'd be Nebraska. Sorry, I thought you were asking -- well." 6She shakes her head. "The digitizing thing, though...?" 00[22:48] <@Crion> The Orioles of Baltimore -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9n5laVhlwKU You make the magic happen...the magic of Orioles baseball! [22:48] 5Tony waits politely for the creature to finish what it's working on, before asking: "Have you seen the person we're looking for, in here or out there? They look like..."5Tony looks to the rest of the motley: "Uh, anyone know?" [22:49] 10Stewart can describe Jackie Ordinary very vaguely. [22:49] 7Unfortunately, Jackie is kind of proverbially hard to describe. [22:50] 10Stewart's only met them once is all. Being outside the gender binary isn't Lovecraftian ineffability. [22:50] 7It's more due to being a Mirrormask. 00[22:50] <@Crion> Finishing the second stadium -- which looks different than the first -- the Orioles happily repeats, "Jackie, Jackie. Know Jackie." [22:51] 7Maggie: "Hey, that's great! Do you know where they are?" [22:51] 5Tony: "That IS great!" [22:52] 13Oh, so it wasn't Jackie threatening the.. number one fan over here. 00[22:53] <@Crion> "Jackie fine," the bird says dismissively, then seems to put two and two together and turns, eyes wide. "Jackie hurt? Jackie in trouble?" 00[22:53] <@Crion> It's already started work on the third, for Stewart. [22:54] 10Stewart knows exactly where in the apartment he's gonna put his. [22:54] 7Maggie: "We don't know. That's why we're looking for them." 00[22:55] <@Crion> Lauren: "Well, Ravens doesn't actually need it digitized. That just makes it easiest. But if they need to go on a trip, well...Shouldn't be a problem, but I'll check in with them." [22:56] 10Stewart: "Jackie's been away from home for a long time. We just want to see them." 00[22:57] <@Crion> Bird nods, finishing up the third one and pressing it into Stewart's hands. In this, the warehouse is a wide, tan brick tower, almost a wizard's tower but squat, and the grass and dirt of the infield and outfield have been reversed. "They here. Near!" 00[22:57] <@Crion> It begins the fourth and final, for Melanie. [22:57] 10Siiiiick. [22:59] 13Despite herself, Melanie inches closer, rustling. "Hey, thanks. Do you want us to take one of these to Jackie as well? If you know where they are?" 00[23:00] <@Crion> Proudly: "Jackie has many!" It shoves the trinket into Melanie's hands. Hers, oddly but very clearly, has polished basketball hardwood flooring instead of infield dirt. "Jackie big fan. Take you to them." [23:01] 6Nels: "Sorry, I think I got confused - um. Though I guess it might be neat to have my original paperwork and all, but, not necessary. The kids'd be from, well. Here." 00[23:02] <@Crion> Lauren: "Well! That's much easier. Can you write down their full names and ranges for DOB, just for reference? I'm gonna get logged in to Ravens." [23:02] 13You could dribble on that, but you shouldn't. [23:02] 5Tony: "Thank you!" 5Tony looks back at the motley with a happy little 'when in Rome?' shrug. 00[23:06] <@Crion> The bird will tidy everything up super-quickly and then make an awkward waving motion to follow. [23:06] 10Hooray! [23:06] 5Tony will of course follow. [23:07] 7Naturally. [23:07] 13Does this thing fit in a pocket? It's actually pretty well made. Maybe worth using as a bookstop. 00[23:08] <@Crion> It's neither stealthy nor graceful, but it seems to know exactly where it's going, obviously delighted, humming to itself as it goes, tucking its arm-wings to its side like a bird even though it stomps around like a man. [23:08] 10Stewart's kitchen table needs a centerpiece. 00[23:08] <@Crion> It's about paperweight sized, yes. 00[23:08] <@Crion> Well, a large paperweight. 00[23:09] <@Crion> Out of the box they were about four inches in diameter, but the bird's craftsmanship seems to have made them a bit bigger. 00[23:09] <@Crion> ...Wind's picking up. [23:10] 6Vernon Thomas Foulke, 1921-1935ish? Susan Josephine Foulke, 1923-1935ish? And Sarah Helen Foulke, 1925-1935ish. Her fetch probably didn't immediately stop touring to have a family, so they'd likely be from the later 20s, but she really isn't sure. [23:11] 13As they move through the stadium corridor/thorns/memorabilia-wall-maze, Melanie breaks off thorns and wooden struts with gestures. She grafts them to her forearms, bright with.. defensive potential 00[23:13] <@Crion> It takes Lauren awhile to get some leads, and she has more than a little bit of trouble getting into the city databases. She even has to consult with Ravens at a point -- not for anything on her end, but because of a completely broken web portal. Eventually: "Do you want me to order some food? Or go back to your room? It might be awhile." 00[23:14] <@Crion> Chup, meanwhile, has spent much of the time just staring at Nels. Only now has he deigned to approach...and flop. [23:15] 10Stewart's mind is again elsewhere, picturing having people over for dinner, table pulled out into the middle of the room. He and Lauren would learn to cook something together, everything would be warm and happy and *his*... [23:17] 5Tony's wishing his heavy clothing protected against the ill wind that's chilling him to the bones here. It is shittier in this part. [23:17] 6Well, she was going to get up, but now there's a cat. "I'm all right for now. I'll just browse the internet - and Chup seems to want me to stay, so." 00[23:19] <@Crion> Lauren: "Chup, don't bother Nels." She doesn't sound like she means it, though. Or more likely, she just doesn't expect him to listen. [23:19] 6Cats are well known for listening to instructions. 00[23:22] <@Crion> The bird leads them eventually to... 00[23:22] <@Crion> [the Hedge shifts] 00[23:22] <@Crion> ...a baseball diamond. 00[23:22] <@Crion> The storm up above has gotten worse. [23:22] 10But it's just windy, right? Not raining? No chance of calling the game then. 00[23:23] <@Crion> None. 00[23:23] <@Crion> The bird wanders to the mound, then turns back towards you, confusion in its great eyes. "Jackie...here?" [23:24] 5Tony looks around. "Helloooo?" 00[23:24] <@Crion> From behind you: "I'm here." The Hedgewall ripples and Jackie steps out of right-center, leveling a hunting rifle. "You got the bird involved? Really?" 00[23:24] <@Crion> Their eyes narrow. "Where's Nels." 00[23:25] <@Crion> Above, thunder. You've never heard thunder in the Hedge before. [23:25] 10Stewart: "Nels didn't feel right about coming." [23:25] 13Melanie: "Jackie Ordinary, it's good to see you again. You really helped us out, months back. I'm sorry to say we're here with a command from the reigning, nameless King." [23:25] "Is this place safe?" 00[23:26] <@Crion> Jackie: "It is absolutely not safe. Nels didn't feel right about coming. Huh." 00[23:26] <@Crion> They lower the rifle. "Well, this is a shitshow. I--" [23:26] 13Melanie sets herself against/into the ground. What with the unsafety. 00[23:26] <@Crion> Lightning stikes home plate. 00[23:27] <@Crion> Jackie's eyes go wide. "Bird! Run!" [23:28] 5Tony prepares to cover the bird's exit if necessary, for some reason he couldn't articulate if pressed. 00[23:28] <@Crion> Jackie Ordinary -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4zluA60hjs Rise with me forever, across the silent sand; and the stars will be your eyes, and the wind will be my hands. [23:29] 7Maggie will also try to help the bird escape, because it's a sweet little critter who just wants to give out souvenirs to the fans. 00[23:29] <@Crion> Eyes wide, the Oriole flees. It seems quite able to do that on its own, thankfully. [23:30] 7Whew. 00[23:30] <@Crion> Jackie: "You were followed." 00[23:30] <@Crion> "So I'll ask you again about Nels." 00[23:30] <@Crion> Her voice is rising as the wind picks up. 00[23:30] <@Crion> Lightning strikes first base. [23:31] 10Stewart: "She's not here!" [23:31] 13Melanie: "If we've brought danger here we'll help to see it off, but I don't know what you're implying." [23:32] 5Tony: "Nels was safe at home last we saw!" [23:32] 6Elsewhere, Nels pets Chup. 00[23:32] <@Crion> Jackie snarls. "Not my--" 00[23:32] <@Crion> Lightning strikes second base. 00[23:33] <@Crion> Jackie: "Okay I don't know what the fuck this is, but when it touches home plate again, we need to be ready to kill it." [23:33] 5Tony: "Yeah okay." 5First Hedge rule: Roll with this shit. [23:34] 10Stewart pulls his gun. Safety off. [23:34] 13Sure, it's not the time for argument. Melanie will trudge toward home plate, gathering the air about her as she goes; miniature gusts take over from the storm form blossoms and strip away bark. 00[23:34] <@Crion> Lightning strikes third. "Safeties off!" [23:35] 5Tony levels his shotgun at home plate. Never was one for games of reflex, but hey. Rolling with it. [23:35] 7Maggie cracks her knuckles. 00[23:36] <@Crion> Lauren, after almost of three hours of work. "...Holy shit. Nels!" [23:37] 6She snaps out of her vague Wikipedia diving and light doze: "Hnn? What's up?" 00[23:38] <@Crion> "I've...come look at this. Make sure this is Sarah's certifice." She loads up a chunky but clear digital scan of a certificate of live birth with all of Sarah's information. "I couldn't find Vernon or Susan, but..." 00[23:38] <@Crion> Lightning strikes home. [23:39] 10And the crowd goes wild. 00[23:40] <@Crion> The roiling clouds in the sky shiver, then curl and shudder into a single, coursing, incredibly dense orb -- which pours down onto home plate like black molton metal, filling an invisible mold of some impossible, insane form, geometric and imperfect, too many limbs, too many angles, too many -- 00[23:41] <@Crion> The lightning cracks again and suddenly the orb is pierced with a beam of sunlight, spot-sunlight, blowing the orb away and burning this thing's impossible shadow into the dirt behind home plate. There's a hideous laugh-scream-cry from all around as the mold and its shape are burned away, and the beam of light fades... 00[23:41] <@Crion> ...but the shadow doesn't. And it gets up. 00[23:48] <@Crion> Gur Fha Va Funqbj -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kR0gOEyK6Tg Angels deserve to die. [23:49] 10Oh fuck. [23:52] 13Melanie doesn't feel guilt about having led this thing to Jackie. If it's the villain of the piece, or an agent of the real danger attacking the Courts, it was worthwhile to draw it out. She does, of course, feel fear. [23:53] 13Ignoring that, she pushes past the wind and bears down on the living shadow. "The sun may be in hiding but there's still no place for you in an open field." 13She strikes, lashing out with a testing limb. 00[23:53] <@Crion> Mist -- black fog, black wind -- boils off the thing 'standing' on home plate. It keeps changing shape, but there is a core there, a Form. 00[23:54] <@Crion> And it's something she can hit, and it's something she can hurt. Session Time: Sun Feb 09 00:00:00 2020 [00:02] 7Maggie also feels fear, but the thing that soothes fear, the sanctioned action, is to MOVE. She charges toward home plate, building up steam/speed, and when she reaches the coiling black mist clasps her hands together and swings a double-fisted uppercut that knocks the eldritch monster off its feet! 00[00:03] <@Crion> To the extent it has feet, it leaves them badly, and starts screeching and shuddering. Then -- boompf 00[00:03] <@Crion> It's gone. A dark fog settles over the field... [00:19] "Holy gosh, Maggie! You hit it so hard it turned into a bad special effect." [00:22] 5Tony, seeing it dissipate into fog, tries something he saw in an old movie, speaking of bad effects: He swings an arm underhand, dragging up the infield dirt with it, and scatters it forward in a wide arc. Maybe the thing's invisible and this'll show it? Maybe this'll just piss it off? Who will know until we try? [00:22] 13Good idea, but let's juice it. 00[00:22] <@Crion> The dirt doesn't do anything...at first. But then the fog vibrates strangely. It doesn't drop the dirt; it seems like the dirt is sticking to it, and the fog hates that. Unclean. Unclean. 00[00:23] <@Crion> The fog shudders and moves away from Tony. [00:24] 5Tony hollers: "HELL yeah" [00:24] 13As the cloud gathers itself back toward the unTony group, Melanie ambles to the pitcher's mound. She flings her arms to the fake sky and cries: "Sorry if this is bad for your skin, everyone!" [00:25] 13The winds that have gathered about her disperse outward and merge with the lightning storm. All the air in the ballpark becomes a rage, the howling winds of the upper atmosphere brought to earth. The storm of air batters at the ground and the fog alike - but there are perfect still eyes of the storm around the motley, around Jackie and around the Oriole if it's still here. [00:26] 13Any Hedge-birds that have the misfortune to be nearby are knocked out of the air, and the noise makes it impossible to hear ordinary speech. 00[00:29] <@Crion> The black fog is buffeted by the wind, swirled by it, visibly annoyed by it -- then it quivers into spears and dives towards home plate all as one, becoming corporeal again, cutting through you all as it does. All except...Tony. 00[00:29] <@Crion> The dirt worked...? 00[00:30] <@Crion> Jackie Ordinary grunts as a spear carves through their side. They're fine though. [00:30] 7Maggie hisses steam through her teeth as oil leaks from her shoulder. [00:30] 10They can't touch Stewart, whatever they are. [00:30] 5Seeing his friends (and Jackie) get jabbed up nicely, Tony adjusts his grip on his shotgun. That's about enough fucking around. [00:32] 13Over the howling windstorm: "--- - --- (inaudible) ---!" [00:32] 5Tony takes aim, fires, and blows a nice chunk out of...something? 00[00:33] <@Crion> There's something there in the heart of the shadow, and it doesn't like being shot. [00:34] 7Well, who would. [00:38] 13Maggie and Tony drive the cloud back into its shadow form and it's made the mistake of going for Melanie. Yes, it ripped out huge chunks of wood and yes, the sap-bleed is disturbingly mammalian, but now it's here- the wind all comes to a point and she enfolds her branches about the shadow - gusts press it against the thorns - leaving ragged fragments of darkness. 00[00:39] <@Crion> There's an aggrieved shriek-scream, and the fog catches fire as it streams up into the sky, and vanishes. [00:39] 13Melanie: "(inaudible)!!" [00:40] 7Maggie, words blown away by the wind: "Ha! 14ow." 00[00:40] <@Crion> Jackie, when the weather is right again (presumably Melanie has ended the blizzard): "Ya know, I expected something to be following you. That was a bit bigger than I was counting on." [00:40] 5Tony takes a few seconds to react. "Oh uh. Huh." 00[00:41] <@Crion> Lauren, to Nels: "...It looks like your fetch had a kid." [00:41] 13Uprooted bases and stands clatter to the dirt as the wind, instantaneously, ends. "It still dies to shotguns." [00:41] "Um, Jackie, it sounds like you might know something about what's going on." [00:41] 6Nels: "She - she did?" 00[00:42] <@Crion> Lauren: "Right race, right date, right names for the parents...I'm gonna guess they adopted the first two kids, and thought it wasn't ever going to happen...and then..." [00:44] 6Nels: "Oh my god." 6Chromebook's now set aside, and she walks over to peer over Lauren's shoulder. "Can you - is there more about her?" 00[00:44] <@Crion> Jackie: "Only just." They open their knapsack and pull out a pocket mirror, open it, and tap the mirror twice. The second time it ripples. 00[00:44] <@Crion> The Winter King's voice floats through. "I'm here, report." 00[00:44] <@Crion> Jackie: "They came as you said, sir. Everyone but Nels, that is..." 00[00:44] <@Crion> The Winter King: "She's accounted for." 00[00:45] <@Crion> The Winter King: "What happened?" He pauses. "Let me hear it from them. Are you there?" [00:45] 5Tony, to himself, mostly. "Aha! FAKE PUNT I knew it." [00:45] 10Stewart: "All here, all alive." [00:45] 7Maggie: "Hi there!" [00:46] 13Melanie: "Urghh." 13This is not directed at the mirror. She's starting to feel it. This is- three hundred years ago she would've gone to the ER for this. [00:46] 10Stewart rushes over to Melanie. 00[00:46] <@Crion> The Winter King: "Excellent. What happened?" Jackie looks to you all to let you do the reporting. 00[00:46] <@Crion> Jackie: "One sec, boss. Melanie's hurt." [00:47] 13To Stewart: "Hey." 13To everyone: "I'm OK for now." [00:47] 5Tony: "We met a giant bird that isn't, he's cool. And then we found Jackie here on the diamond, and then we got attacked by a spiky fog orb and threw dirt on it and shot it and stabbed it until it flew away." 00[00:48] <@Crion> The Winter King: "...How spiky? How fog? How orb?" 00[00:48] <@Crion> Jackie will give him the unvarnished and true factual rundown of what happened so you don't have to. It's completely correct, no lies or omissions. [00:49] 5Tony would otherwise, but it's eminently clear he is more the action than the after-action type. [00:49] 13Melanie listens, though she smiles at Stewart occasionally as he does whatever he's doing that helps. It feels like a painkiller at least. "So we were the ones being tested?" 00[00:49] <@Crion> The Winter King sighs. "...No." [00:50] 10Stewart touches one of the gouges in Melanie's flesh and it becomes overlaid with brown-white squares that shrink and multiply until there's an extremely high-res patch over the damage that is soon indistinguishable from the intact wood, and then, the wood itself. 00[00:50] <@Crion> "Jackie, tell them. I have things to attend to. Immediately. I'd thank you all, but..." 00[00:50] <@Crion> The mirror ripples again, then goes still. 00[00:50] <@Crion> Jackie: "This was a mole hunt." [00:50] 10Hey, Maggie was right. 00[00:50] <@Crion> "But we didn't suspect you." 00[00:51] <@Crion> They grimace. "Did it seem strange, at all, that every member of the Winter Court was present at The Sidereal for that meeting with the King?" [00:51] 7Maggie: "I dunno, this is my first Winter." [00:51] 10Stewart: "Angelfire wasn't there." 00[00:52] <@Crion> Jackie chuckles. "He was, actually." 00[00:52] <@Crion> "Security system." [00:52] 10Stewart: "Well, okay, but if people are hidden you can't really be surprised if we don't know they're there." [00:52] "Haha." [00:52] 5Tony: "I totally called the fake punt. We're lining up block the return, but really, it was about seeing where the coverage was all along. So obvious really..."5He trails off. [00:53] "Well, we didn't need to know, Tony. It'd be okay if they didn't trust us. We're new.. we've accumulated things of power quickly.. but it's nice that wasn't it." 00[00:53] <@Crion> "Hey, the cameras aren't hidden. Anyway. We were able to eliminate courtiers in twos and threes, and that was fine, but the King had a suspicion. And we acted on it. And..." 00[00:53] <@Crion> Jackie shrugs. "Winter Court's got a rat." [00:54] 13Melanie: "A mole rat. Haha." [00:54] 10Stewart: "Okay. How do we eliminate the King as a suspect?" 00[00:54] <@Crion> Jackie: "Here's the thing. The mole probably thought they were acting to preserve my cover. So. No loose talk about this. Don't like, call me a loyalist or anything, but act like you didn't find me." [00:55] 5Tony: "I'm shit for lying but sure, I'll try." 00[00:55] <@Crion> Jackie blinks, and pauses. "...Well if it's the King then we're fucked." 00[00:55] <@Crion> "And either way, I can't know about it." 00[00:55] <@Crion> "Because then he can find out through me." 00[00:56] <@Crion> They look back at Stewart. "So let's consider that part of the conversation over until I'm away." [00:56] 10Stewart: "...sure." 00[00:57] <@Crion> "The King will have orders on how to proceed coming down. There's an...obvious culprit, jumping to conclusions never helped." 00[00:57] <@Crion> They gesture at the diamond. "And I've got no idea what the fuck that was." 00[00:57] <@Crion> *culprit, but [00:59] 10Stewart: "Mmm. Alright. Is there anything we can do to help keep you safe in the meantime?" [00:59] 13Melanie: "So there really is a loyalist, probably. That's.. no good." 13If it was Gemma, that would be devastating. She tries to run through the timing in her head. Were the first attacks before the High House breakout? [00:59] 10They weren't. 00[00:59] <@Crion> Lauren, to Nels: "...There's probably a death record. If you want me to look for that." [01:00] 7Maggie: "Hoom. It's bad, but there's worse things." [01:00] 6Nels closes her eyes. Exhales. "Yeah. Holler when you find something. Or - I can come back another day?" [01:00] 5Tony: "Well, we are alive after fighting a weird storm orb stab thing, and we made a new bird friend. Could be much worse." 00[01:01] <@Crion> Lauren: "Yeah! Come over any time. At least, when I'm not working. Then you can only come over half the time. I'm sure Stewart won't mind. ...Actually, I should check with him." [01:01] 6Nels: "No prob, Bob. Thank you so much for looking into this for me -- I know I didn't exactly give you much to go on..." 00[01:01] <@Crion> Jackie stands. "Alright, let's get you back to the real world, and then I'm gonna fuck off for awhile. Don't worry about me." [01:02] 13Melanie gazes around the devastated, fake ballpark. "We might worry a little bit." [01:02] 10Stewart: "Can I take care of your injuries before you go, or do you have that under control?" 00[01:03] <@Crion> Jackie: "I'll be fine. I've shit for it at my Hollow." [01:03] 10Stewart: "Okay." [01:04] 6Nels will collect her Chromebook, pat Chup one last time, and say her goodbyes. [01:04] 5Tony: "Before you go, good to hear you're not a mole at least! Under the circumstances." 00[01:04] <@Crion> They'll get to you a Hedge portal that leaves you out on the Camden Yards parking lot. For the last stretch, the bird slips out of the Hedgerows to join you. "Jackie! Jackie! Fans!" [01:05] 10Stewart: "Hey!" 00[01:05] <@Crion> It shoves a fifth little stadium into Tony's hands. "You had fan. Couldn't come. Rain delay..." 00[01:05] <@Crion> This one is for Nels. It even, somehow, has a concert stage built over second base and center, like she's playing the stadium. [01:06] 6!!! [01:06] 10Stewart: "..." [01:06] 7Maggie: "Aw, you're a sweetie." [01:06] 5Tony smiles. "Thank you! If you ever need our help, come find me." 00[01:06] <@Crion> Jackie grins when they see it. "Oh he will, won't you, big bird?" [01:06] 10Stewart: "Tell the goose you're a friend of Tony's." [01:06] 13why are you inviting that thing into our home well there's one bird already but [01:07] 10The oriole is all of their friends, of course, but Steve obviously respects Tony the most. 00[01:07] <@Crion> The bird, while nodding, and while Jackie opens the portal out: "Fans! Fans!" [01:07] 5Tony waves at the bird as they go. "Go team!" [01:08] 13When they're safely on the other side, Melanie says: "They never expect a group of us all working together." [01:08] 10Stewart, to Melanie: "Do you want me to finish patching that up?" [01:09] "Everything in Arcadia is calibrated - to prey on the Lost alone. Which we're not, because of the Courts. That's why these attacks are so dangerous..." [01:09] 5Tony unclenches once they're back safe and can speak freely: "That went so much better than expected you guys wow." [01:10] "What? Oh, no thanks- I don't understand the contract you're using so I don't know the price you're paying." [01:10] 10Stewart: "There's no Contract, but okay." [01:10] 10Maggie was the same way. [01:10] 13Melanie: "Like, I've dealt into a healing contract too? And it's a straightforward trade, blood for blood. That's how the Wyrd works. You can fiddle the numbers but not the principle." [01:11] 10Stewart: "No I know what you mean, but it's not a Contract. I can just do it. I bleed some Glamour but that's it." [01:11] "So you don't understand it either." [01:12] 10Stewart shrugs. "I'm not sure I'd say I understand Contracts, even." [01:12] 13Melanie's still a bit giggly from the adrenalin rush. "Yes, good point. Is that within the purview of a Lord Sage even?" [01:13] 10Stewart: "Lord Sage is as much a political designation as it is a mystical one. We make friends in sideways places." [01:13] "Speaking of which, I'm gonna check in with the Belvedere about the thing we just killed." [01:14] 13To Tony: "I'm curious. What were you expecting?" [01:15] 5Tony: "Honestly? To feel really bad about having to call Jackie home and have her get us jumped by some loyalists and accidentally have to probably seriously injure a bunch of people, then lie to Nels about what happened later, and then come clean and feel even worse." [01:15] 5Tony: "But here we are, with gifts, and none of that!" [01:15] 10Stewart: "Cognitive Behavior Therapy calls that 'catastrophic thinking'." [01:17] 5Tony: "Hey, I went into the woods to take a piss and spent 40 years burying bodies in an eternal night. It's better to be pleasantly surprised." [01:17] 10Stewart: "I'm pretty sure therapy is a psyop anyway." [01:17] 5Tony: "What's a psyop?" [01:18] 10Stewart: "You know like, spy stuff? But just to fuck with people's heads." [01:18] 5Tony: "Oh so like, lying? A lot?" [01:18] 13Melanie: "Catastrophes happen, but they're not the only thing that happens. The problem of good, if you will." [01:18] 10Stewart: "Yeah, but with production values, propaganda, drugs, misinformation... societal gaslighting." [01:19] "Do you mean like the CIA?" [01:19] 10Stewart: "Yeah." [01:21] 13Melanie: "I've read about stuff like MKULTRA but it striles me as like... what you do if you don't have access to the real deal. Ordinary people fumbling for the tools of mind control which they know from dreams must exist." [01:21] 5Tony: "Hey speaking of the CIA, can one of you help me one of these days? I went to the library to try and catch up on the world, but whenever I used the googler machine for 'politics AND the 1970s AND america' I got a lot of links that it wouldn't let me open." [01:22] 10Stewart: "Maybe, but also like... if vampires and wizards have infiltrated the regular police... you really don't think they've got guys in the CIA?" [01:22] 10To Tony: "Yeah, sure. Those are probably paywalls." [01:22] 13Melanie: "You can use my computer, I installed duck duck go." 00[01:23] <@Crion> It is so insanely obvious Melanie is not from around here. 00[01:23] <@Crion> But maybe she's just trying not to activate Steve. [01:24] 5Tony: "Cool beans, thanks guys!" [01:30] 10Stewart arrives home not much later, imploring Lauren to come look what a friendly hob made him in the shadow of Camden Yards. 00[01:31] <@Crion> Lauren she will, and her eyes will light up before getting suspicious. "It's safe, right? It didn't make you...swear an oath or anything?" [01:32] 10Stewart: "Completely voluntary, completely unprompted." 00[01:32] <@Crion> She peers down at it. "Beautiful. And that's totally not what OPACY looks like." 00[01:32] <@Crion> "Which I'm guessing is part of the charm." [01:33] 10Stewart: "Though if someone did want to put a wizard's tower behind the center field fence, that'd be cool." 00[01:33] <@Crion> "Better than the fuckin' Hilton that's there now." [01:34] "How was your day?" 00[01:34] <@Crion> Chup looks at it mistrustfully, mrows, and saunters off to find a bed. 00[01:34] <@Crion> Lauren: "Good! Worked on the server for a bit. Just getting stuff connected without letting it get networked. Then Nels came over." [01:35] 10Stewart turns to look directly at Lauren. "What'd Nels want?" 00[01:35] <@Crion> She sort of inhales sharply and then falters into a smile. "I think that's a conversation you want to have with her." 00[01:36] <@Crion> "It was personal." [01:36] 10Stewart: "Nothing we need to worry about, right?" [01:36] "Or, be worried about, I should say." 00[01:37] <@Crion> She shakes her head. "Probably not. I don't know. Whatever it is, it's not coming back on us. But again. Talk to her about it. I'd feel weird." [01:37] "Alright." 10Stewart kisses her. "I gotta get ready to stream." 00[01:38] <@Crion> "Good luck. 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ZZZzzz…) 03[23:21] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch Session Time: Sat Feb 15 00:00:00 2020 02[00:02] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 02[03:15] * CBN (CBN@sorcery-t3e2te.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) Quit (Connection closed) 03[06:29] * banana|peels is now known as banana 03[07:05] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 03[09:57] * CBN (CBN@sorcery-n8fsij.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) has joined #gofetch 02[10:16] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 03[11:32] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 02[11:38] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 03[13:03] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 03[13:05] * mattbaby_ (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 02[13:07] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 02[18:09] * mattbaby_ (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: Textual IRC Client: www.textualapp.com) 03[19:27] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 00[20:55] <@Crion> 00[20:55] <@Crion> 00[20:55] <@Crion> 00[20:55] <@Crion> 00[20:55] <@Crion> 00[20:55] <@Crion> 00[20:55] <@Crion> 00[20:55] <@Crion> 00[20:55] <@Crion> 00[20:55] <@Crion> Well, it's not what you want. 00[20:56] <@Crion> There's a mole in the Winter Court, and they managed to get...something...to attack you in the nearside Hedge outside of Camden Yards. That's bold. It also has been met with frosty silence from the King of Winter past your last communication with him via short-wave makeup mirror, and a general standdown order from Jackie Ordinary -- they don't want you to spook whoever this is. 00[20:57] <@Crion> Obviously something's going to happen, eventually -- that's definitionally true -- but whatever it is, the regent doesn't want you kicking it off. At least, not just yet. 00[20:57] <@Crion> Which means that, uneasily, you're back to having time to yourselves. [20:58] 10There's always work to be done. 00[20:59] <@Crion> Stewart definitely has some of his own he could check in on with Gaunt Rose, though there are a couple leads on the Winter Court...thing...to explore. 00[20:59] <@Crion> Maybe just the one. [21:00] 10What's good for the gander is good for the goose. What does the Book say about Gemma? 00[21:06] <@Crion> The Book is...not unhelpful, but a bit threadbare, at least on the most important information. It's odd, you have to reload the page multiple times to even get it to display. Nevermind. Gemma Franklin was born in Maine to a broken home with two siblings, both brothers; she went to high school in Portland and then college in Boston. She was taken from there, it seems. It's unclear how she 00[21:06] <@Crion> ended up down here in Baltimore, but to Stewart's recollection, she's never spoken about Maine or Boston, nor does she have a particularly memorable accent. There's almost nothing about her durance or her Keeper...except this. When The Bleakest House is mentioned, there's a hyperlink. This time it refuses to load altogether, but Stewart can still see the URL, or the conniving duplicate thereof. 00[21:06] <@Crion> /The_High_House. [21:06] 10Mmm. That explains why Peter and Gemma fled together... [21:09] 6Time to herself, hmm. Nels has her fetch's daughter to look into, she has a group of kids to teach music to, and she's got an exam that she's probably prepared to take. Decisions, decisions - okay, her preferences are basically in that order, but she's not going to rush Lauren Ipsum on that first one and she hasn't exactly set a schedule for the second, and the third one... maybe someone else needs something?? Nerves. [21:09] 5Tony's spent some time at the public library of late. Good thing it's winter, and the public library, where a guy spending 3 hours on-and-off, taking notes and watching youtube videos about the pros, cons, hows, and whys of rock salt in a shotgun, is just another library thing. But it wasn't all that helpful. And that's how he's back at the Wherehouse, again, sitting in the living room scowling at a broken-open shotgun and shells with [21:09] the powder poured out. 00[21:11] <@Crion> Thank god it's America, and an aging white guy researching gun shit is about the same as breathing. [21:12] 5He showers regularly, is the most out-of-place part about what he was doing and where. And only mumbled to himself at a respectful, low volume. [21:18] 13Melanie doesn't find it uneasy to have time to herself. Dangerous, maybe, but easy. She likes doing work for the Court - has to help protect the people who've given her a new life - but spending all day reading and writing? That's easy. Dealing with people wouldn't be. [21:18] 13She does want to explore the Market outside a bit more, now that she's got used to the interactions and formulae involved in shopping. Both Lexington and Notgnixel. [21:19] 13Maybe the Earth-side ones have some good people-watching spots? 00[21:19] <@Crion> As for Nels, Lauren isn't going to push the thing about her fetch's kids until she's ready...someone else might, though. Lauren was pretty clear that a fetch having viable offspring who then themselves reproduced -- that's what's necessary for a kid at UMBC right now -- was a pretty big deal. And the search was run through the Autumn Court. 00[21:21] <@Crion> It occurs to Tony during his studies that it might be of more utility to examine the weapon itself than the ammunition -- specifically, see if he can't modify the barrel with some kind of token or magic. Normal ammunition goes in... 00[21:21] <@Crion> ...that's probably a big investment, though. [21:23] 5Hey, when all you've got is time. [21:25] 10Not really enough to go on. Stewart could keep trying to stalk Gemma, although it feels a bit weird... he hasn't heard from Rose lately, has he? [21:28] 6Well, she was morbidly curious if her fetch's daughter had a record of her death... if the Autumn Court wants to investigate, that's sort of on them, but they're likely to know more than she does at this point. Which is a weird thought, but so is being 100 years in the future, so what are you gonna do. 00[21:28] <@Crion> He has not, though in fairness, she didn't say she was going to. [21:32] 13Eventually, Melanie steps in from the exterior entrance in a burst of elevator music and completely ignores the shotgun. "Tony!" 00[21:32] <@Crion> What is Nels expecting from Lauren, if she does want to move forward? A name and an address? A meet-up? [21:32] "Tony I figured out what's in the book." [21:37] 5Tony's staring down the barrel and scowling. He brightens upon receiving a distraction. "Oh sick! What's up?" 5Happily sets the shotgun aside. [21:37] 6For the kid? Name and maybe some kind of social media. Just to make sure they're doing okay. She's had time to think on it, and... probably meeting them wouldn't do anyone any good. Actually, one other thing: if she can, maybe a heads up if the court plans on doing anything? Because it's her fault this kid is even on their radar. [21:38] 13Melanie: "I don't think that's safe. Actually, that's a good leadin... listen to this:" [21:38] 13She turns to a particular page in the battered tome, glancing back down at Tony, and reads: 00[21:39] <@Crion> Lauren can do that. 02[21:40] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) [21:40] Public execution is a matter of public safety. While the power of the State to kill must be reserved for the most serious cases, the deterrence which is at the heart of jurisprudence cannot be achieved by imprisonment alone. There exist criminals to whom prison is a familiar if not welcome home, recidivists who if given the lighter penalties which are necessary in a fair system will abuse [21:40] their clemency again and again. The death penalty is 'unusual punishment', but not 'cruel'; it's the only escape for those felons who've opted out of meaningful participation in society and the only escape we have from their acts. [21:41] 13While reading, Melanie's carved brows shoot up - the text clearly isn't what she expected. [21:42] 5Tony scratches his head. "So that's ah. Huh?" [21:42] 10What is the protocol for asking the willworkers for information, anyway? [21:42] 13Melanie: "It's a bit unclear, wouldn't you say? Two sides to the argument?" 00[21:44] <@Crion> Poke your head out of the cubby where they've got the Book set up for you and ask, probably. Sommelier is the guy on duty in the Library right now. [21:45] 10Oh, whew, that's a relief. Stewart flags the man down. Maybe Sommelier will recognize him, maybe not, but trying to hide is doomed to fail and make things worse. [21:47] 5Tony: "...did I give you a book that lets you argue with yourself about stuff?" [21:48] 5Tony: "You're...wel...come?" 00[21:48] <@Crion> Well, he does recognize Stewart -- Sommelier has been around sometimes when Stewart has come in, and has always been unfailingly polite, even if they haven't exactly spoken before. But if he knows Stewart was at The Brewer's Art that night, he hasn't let on. [21:48] 13Melanie: "No, not with myself. I think the death penalty is obviously necessary, though not for the reasons given here." [21:49] 10Good enough! "Excuse me, Sommelier, sir? I have a research problem and I was wondering if you could maybe point me in a better direction." 03[21:49] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch [21:50] "The book explains how you feel about it, look-" She shows Tony a page with the chapter heading, Tony of the Winter Court: on Executions [21:50] 5Tony: "I mean, there's a lot to think about. Like just think about who we've---oh what the fuck dude." [21:50] "I mean, it's not just you. Everyone's in there." 00[21:52] <@Crion> The man looks up from a book written in...tally marks? He shuts it. He examines Stewart for a moment, pausing, then smiles and says, "Why certainly, Stewart. What can I do for you?" [21:53] 10Stewart explains that he encounted a creature in the Hedge which he'd never seen before and can find no reference to in the literature. He mentions its protean, shadowy nature... and the way it presented some kind of terrifying mashup to Hedge Busker's Tip. [21:53] 13Melanie: "Think about who we've what, put to death? Pretty much the same sort of people who get other criminal penalties, right.. the system's biased of course." [21:54] 5Tony: "Dang. Well I'm happy you...like...it?" 00[21:55] <@Crion> Sommelier frowns. "Can you draw it for me?" [21:55] 5Tony: "Oh I know! Try another one! Ask it what I think about Terminator 2!" 5He is assuming it works like that. [21:56] 13Melanie: "I wonder if that works. Let me just find the index." [21:57] "There's nothing here.. no wait, it says see: five-star ratings.. then there's a kind of impenetrable passage in kant-ese. Transcendental ideals." [21:57] "I think this means you support it wholeheartedly and won't hear a word otherwise?" 00[21:57] <@Crion> So what's Nels up to? Does she want to bother Lauren, see what DJ Fuck You is up to? Is she at the Wherehouse instead? [21:57] "..or that it's out of scope of the tome. Hard to tell!" [21:57] 5Tony: "Okay well, it ruled. Super cool beans, really glad I watched it even though the first one was already a perfect movie." [21:58] 5Tony:"Wait can you...can you ask it what IT thinks about stuff? I don't want to break your book though so maybe you shouldn't." [21:58] "Sequels are nice and safe, right." 13Melanie sets the book down- very carefully - and finds a table to lean against. "I appreciate knowing what you're going to get..." [21:59] "I wish I could but the Wyrd is damn cagey. It's clearly got opinions but does NOT make them clear. That would make it easier for people to follow the rules." 00[22:00] <@Crion> He provides charcoal and paper for Stewart. [22:01] 13Melanie: "It's not crazy to feel like there's a mystical force controlling and directing our lives for its own sinister ends, right?" [22:01] 6She did say to Lauren last time that she should holler when she's got something, so if she hasn't been hollered at, it'd be rude to pester her. DJ Fuck You was surprisingly nice, and teaching was interesting -- she'd like to keep doing that, so figuring out the best way for her to keep that going is now top priority. Nels will grab her guitar and set out towards the NACC. And, hey, while she's there she can maybe, potentially, think [22:01] about setting a date for her GED. [22:01] 5Tony: "Well, I'm glad you like it! I figured if I started with something you liked, then let marinate for awhile, it would be something you still liked, so, cool beans." [22:01] 10Stewart makes a dark, heavy circle, frowns, and turns the page and draws on the other side. The combination of the obverse side's circular stain and the weird geometry he draws on this side give... not an *accurate* picture, but an accurate *impression*. [22:01] 5Tony: "You don't know how to make a shotgun magical, do you?" [22:02] 13Melanie: "Yeah, this is fascinating. I don't know if I like knowing this stuff exactly, but... it will be useful. Though I feel like reading from it tends to give you away too." [22:02] "I can, but it wears off. Do you want it to shoot fireballs?" 00[22:02] <@Crion> ...And while Stewart draws, Sommelier removes a bottle of red Chilean wine from beneath the desk, a heavy malbec, and pours some into a small open flask. Atop that he attaches a tapered lid. Then he sips the wine to check that it is still good -- it is -- corks it, and removes a quill from the same compartment. 00[22:03] <@Crion> He puts Stewart's drawing next to another blank sheet of paper, and dips his quill in his 'ink.' [22:04] 5Tony thinks about that for a long second. "I think...I mean first I was just looking for a way to pack some dirt into shotgun shells so if we face that weird wind-lightning-thing again I have something more reliable than 'throwing dirt at it' as a way to uh, throw dirt on it. Cuz it hated that." [22:05] 5Tony: "But all the guys with the Southern accents on the Youtube video site seem to think making rock salt shells makes them useless outside of arm's length, and they made some pretty convincing arguments with cardboard cutouts and demonstration shots..." [22:06] 5Tony: "So I'm thinking, it's not how you throw the ball, it's how you plant your feet, right? The gun not the ammo." [22:07] 13Melanie: "You could probably swear an oath to the gun, get it to promise you earth and thunder. The only thing I'd be worried about is what a gun wants in return?" 00[22:07] <@Crion> Sommelier stares at the thing Stewart has drawn with eyes open and staring, fingers dancing along it, while his other hand uses the wine-dipped quill to write: "GUR - FHA - VA - FUNQBJ" 00[22:08] <@Crion> David Smitten's on the desk at the NACC, like he always is. There's a cop hanging around, but he's not being an aggressive shithead. At least not at the moment. When he sees Nels: "Yo!" 00[22:08] <@Crion> That's Smitten, not the cop. [22:08] 13Melanie: "Maybe frame it in a flattering way. You could use the idea about.. you know the saying 'if you outlaw guns, only outlaws have guns'?" 00[22:09] <@Crion> Sommelier opens his eyes, looks down, and frowns. "Oh." [22:09] "Could you.. make a deal a shotgun to flaunt its righteousness?" [22:09] 5Tony: "Yeah I asked Steve about that, and I thought I misheard him at first, because he said it's like, fifteen or twenty oaths to get a weapon to do what it wants. I can't even think of 15 things to promise everyone I know, in my life." [22:11] 10Stewart: "What is it?" [22:11] 6Nels: "Hi, David." 6She gives a little wave. How careful does she have to be around this cop, namedropping wise? I'm not sure she got the name DJ Fuck You was using for the class. [22:11] 13Melanie: "How about taking a different tack. Instead of modifying a gun to fire 5earth, could you 'find' one that does what you want? In a directed dream, maybe?" 00[22:12] <@Crion> Sommelier: "I expected...I don't know what I expected. I used Prime to divine a Name. Perhaps not a true Name, but a name. I expected, based on this picture, some sort of ancient magickal tongue." [22:12] "It'd be a project to set something like that up, curate the narrative, but it might be a different kind of price." 00[22:12] <@Crion> "Not...ROT13." 00[22:12] <@Crion> "'The Sun In Shadow.'" [22:13] 10Now Stewart frowns. [22:13] "Ever heard of that?" [22:13] "Either names being encrypted that way or that specific name." 00[22:13] <@Crion> Sommelier: "Neither the normal nor the inverted. That might be important, of course: that it's ROT13, not ROT10 or what have you, with 26 characters. A perfect inversion." 00[22:14] <@Crion> "But this feels...I don't know. Describe to me how it appeared before you again?" [22:14] 10Stewart explains the building storm, and the bolts of lightning circling the basepaths, and the way it seemed to pour into an impossible mold as a solid black orb. [22:15] 5Tony: "Hmm. Yeah that could do it..." 5Now the wheels are turning. [22:16] 13Melanie: "If you expect something like this to exist, it probably does. It makes.. aesthetic sense, right? A blobby shadow thing spitting energy at us, a big gun that would blow a raggedy hole in it.. stop me if the imagery is at cross-purposes." 00[22:18] <@Crion> Sommelier: "See...impossible geometry, thematic elements of the supernal, like the sun -- ESPECIALLY in the Hedge, overriding whatever normative and narrative barriers exist to prevent its manifestation there; forming as a symbol first and foremost, being powerful in symbolic form and powerless outside of it but most dangerous when going from unsymbolic to symbolic : all of this would say 00[22:18] <@Crion> to me that you encountered an Ochemata, specifically of Prime, the will of that dread Exarch made manifest..." 00[22:18] <@Crion> "...except that it was small, and weak, and cheap, and easily vanquished." 00[22:18] <@Crion> "No offense to you and yours." [22:18] 10Stewart: "So like the fetch of an ochema?" 00[22:19] <@Crion> Sommelier: "Perhaps. But I've known some quite capable fetches from your side." [22:19] 10Stewart: "Yeah, although they're capable compared to *us*, not to *that*." 00[22:19] <@Crion> Sommelier: "This is true." 00[22:20] <@Crion> "Of course, this still substantially worries me." 00[22:20] <@Crion> "The Sun in Shadow is one thing. What about Gur Fha Va Fha?" 00[22:21] <@Crion> Nels is fine. The cop stays at his post at the door and though he gives her a second look, it's not a suspicious one. And he doesn't say anything. 00[22:22] <@Crion> David nods back and leans over the counter. "So what's up?" [22:23] 6Then: "Is DJ in? I came by last week and helped out in one of his classes, and I was wondering if I could make that more of a regular thing." 6She politely omits the cuss word. [22:24] 10Stewart: "Something very unusual is going on..." [22:24] "I need to know more." 00[22:24] <@Crion> Sommelier smiles at that. "Well, here is a place to start: this could not likely have been done without the help of one who serves the Throne." 00[22:25] <@Crion> The smile who grimaces. "One who lives in a Society." [22:25] 10Stewart: "Like the Counselor?" 00[22:25] <@Crion> *becomes 00[22:26] <@Crion> "Counselor would be my first guess, yes." 00[22:26] <@Crion> "At this point I need to inform Jesuit and get permission to further intervene." [22:26] 10Stewart: "Okay, yeah, that makes sense. Thank you." 00[22:27] <@Crion> He nods. "I will be in touch, through your...regent? I suppose the date of kingship has recently passed for this year." [22:27] 10Stewart: "Out of season, I think he takes the title Steward. Thank you so much, you've been very helpful." 00[22:27] <@Crion> David: "Yeah, he's in office hours right now, actually. Down the hall there, third door on the right. One right before Amelia's." 00[22:28] <@Crion> Sommelier's smile fades even more. "Thank me when it is over. If it is, ever, over." 00[22:28] <@Crion> Then, assuming Stewart makes to leave, he returns to the tally book. 00[22:28] <@Crion> He reads them like braille. [22:28] 10Yeah, Stewart's done here. 00[22:29] <@Crion> Fireman nods to him on his way out; other than that, it's a clear shot to the street and his car. [22:29] 10Stewart looks around for cops before getting in. 00[22:30] <@Crion> He's clear. [22:31] 6Nels: "Thank you!" 6She starts to head off, before thinking -- "Um. Also, where do I go to apply to take the GED test? I'm just about ready, but..." [22:32] 10Home again, home again. Stewart makes a report to the Steward and Lord Sage through Ravens, ending on the note that he expects the Consilium to contact the Steward. 00[22:35] <@Crion> Smitten smiles. "We can handle that here. They test per module four times a year or so, and if you fail you can't retest until January 1 of the next year, but I think you'll be good..." He'll get out some paperwork for her to fill out. "Don't fill in anything but the name you want on the results. We'll handle the rest." Which is to say, Santander and Ravens will launder it properly and 00[22:35] <@Crion> securely. 00[22:35] <@Crion> Back home, Lauren wants to know if he'll be around for dinner and Chup bothers him throughout the report writing process, due to Chup. [22:36] "As far as I know," 10says Stewart. [22:37] 7Did you know you can draw whatever you want, and some fella in China will make a sticker out of it for you? The future is amazing. Maggie is carefully affixing a large sticker depicting a small cartoon version of her smiling head (with witch hat) atop the words AUNT MAGS' SLEEPYTIME JUICE to a mason jar filled with a dark purple liquid. A small speech bubble off to the side has her logo-self [22:37] 7saying 'Just a shot will do ya!'. [22:37] 6Into the guitar case the paperwork goes. "I'll bring it back... soon. Thanks again!" 6Then it's off to see DJ Fuck You. [22:38] 6She'll knock at the door if it's closed, or the frame if it's open. Only polite. 00[22:40] <@Crion> In that case, Lauren produces, at great effort, some tasty and very filling chicken and rice, and only spends like...half of the time in the kitchen screaming at it. [22:40] 10!!! [22:41] 10Stewart's delighted. 00[22:42] <@Crion> So is she, once she's tasted it. Chup can have little a chicken. 00[22:43] <@Crion> The door is slightly open...because the Gardiner of Spring is in DJ Fuck You's office, chatting with him about teaching schedules. "Nels!" She waves her into the room with a smile. 00[22:44] <@Crion> How long has it been since Maggie touched base with Union? Presumably things have been going well? [22:45] 6Nels steps inside. "Hi! I'm not interrupting, am I?" [22:45] 7It's been a little bit. The goblin fruits aren't quite ripe yet, so her contact with him has been mainly cheerful social calls. (Not actual calls, the young people seem to dislike that.) [22:46] 7Hmm. Who would know what people in the Freehold have trouble sleeping? The Spring Queen, currently Gardener? Worth a try. 00[22:47] <@Crion> Amelia: "You are not!" 00[22:47] <@Crion> DJ: "Hi, Nels." 00[22:48] <@Crion> DJ: "I wouldn't say we were talking about you, but...we were getting around to talking about you." 00[22:48] <@Crion> Is Maggie also descending on the NACC? [22:48] 6Nels: "Only good things, I hope." 00[22:50] <@Crion> Amelia: "Fuck was telling me about how well your session with the kids went." 00[22:50] <@Crion> DJ raises a finger and opens his mouth and then shrugs. [22:51] 10While Stewart does the dishes, he asks: "Have you ever heard anything about wizards getting into the Hedge?" [22:51] 7Yep. [22:51] 6She beams, completely ignoring how weird it is that Amelia calls him that. "That's actually why I'm here! I was wondering if there was a way to make that more of a regular thing?" 00[22:51] <@Crion> Lauren: "Well, there's hedge-wizards, but I don't think that's the same thing?" 00[22:51] <@Crion> DJ: "Yeah!" [22:52] 10Stewart: "Yeah I mean like... so you remember the thing I told you about in the Camden Yards Hedge? Big weird shadow monster?" 00[22:53] <@Crion> Amelia, with a bit of an indulgent smirk: "...DJ has gotten some offers on his professional side that might lead to him having to cut back once a week. Tuesdays -- can you do Tuesdays after school?" [22:53] 7What's happening down there? 00[22:53] <@Crion> Meanwhile, David Smitten looks up as Maggie walks in and smiles, and the cop actually steps away. 00[22:53] <@Crion> "Heyy there, girl." 00[22:53] <@Crion> Again, that's Smitten. 00[22:53] <@Crion> Lauren: "Yeah?" 00[22:54] <@Crion> Chup is trying to get more chicken, but Lauren has already sealed it away, then put it in the refridgerator (ancient tomb; impossible to open). [22:54] "Oof-" 7She hefts the wooden box she carries in front of her. "Heya, Smitten! Is her nibs in?" 00[22:55] <@Crion> Smitten: "Yeah, should be in her office. Nels just walked in literally three minutes ago; sent her the same way." [22:55] "Oh, nice. Cheers." 00[22:55] <@Crion> "Have a good one." [22:56] 6Nels: "Sure can! What kinda students are we talking here - I think you had me with the beginners that first time..." [22:56] 10Stewart: "I talked to Sommelier about it and we came up with a name. 'The Sun in Shadow', but run through a ROT13 cipher. Gur Vha Ha Fun-Q-BJ. Anyway his best idea for what it was is a kind of, like, higher being that the cop willworkers commune with, but like a limited or fragile reflection of it." [22:57] 7Maggie'll proceed through the NACC then. Is the door closed when she arrives at Amelia's office? [22:58] 6The door to DJ Fuck You's office is before Amelia's and has the door open! Nels didn't close it behind her. 00[22:58] <@Crion> It is, but she'll pass the office right before it first, and see Nels, Amelia, and the DJ from the Sidereal in there already. 00[22:59] <@Crion> Lauren laughs. "Fun Q Beejay? Sounds like a good time." [22:59] 7Maggie: "Oop! Hey, Nels! I can wait if you all're busy...?" [22:59] 10Stewart snorts. 00[23:00] <@Crion> She pauses. "Was he worried?" 00[23:00] <@Crion> Amelia: "Eh. It's a small office, but get the hell in here." [23:00] 6Nels will step aside to make room. "Hi, Maggie!" [23:01] 10Stewart: "Yeah, it seems like ochemata - that's what the beings are called - are like... high tier scary stuff." 00[23:01] <@Crion> Meanwhile, how's Tony going about planning this shotgun of his? It'll need to be left in the Hedge for some time at least, even if it's not some time. 00[23:01] <@Crion> Lauren: "You guys took care of it pretty easily, though. Even for a shadow or fetch Ochemata. Which says to me...he thinks it'll come back?" [23:02] 10Stewart: "We didn't actually see it die, it just sort of vanished..." [23:03] 7Maggie will edge her way in, then, and carefully set the box down on the desk before sitting down. [23:04] 5For Tony, the most important thing isn't exactly where he's going to leave it, but what's under that. Because that's the idea: Open a hole as deep as he can with his affinity for the soil, drop the thing in (unloaded, of course---he's not going to hand the Hedge a loaded gun, not literally at least), fill it up, and come back later to unearth it. [23:04] 5So, finding somewhere that doesn't have some weird bullshit myconiculture society underneath it, or giant truffle-hunting landsharkpigs, is paramount. 00[23:05] <@Crion> Sounds like a good thing to consult the Hobs about. Is Melanie going with him or is this a solo venture? 00[23:05] <@Crion> DJ: "...Okay, so what's that?" [23:05] 13Melanie's happy to help if it's helpful. Actually, she's curious: [23:06] 5Melanie's welcome to come. Probably won't even need to get her hands dirty! And maybe she can test the book on Steve (or very, very not do that). [23:06] "So why a talisman against the baseball shadow specifically? It just seemed like one of those things." 13She gestures vaguely. Hedge monster things. 00[23:07] <@Crion> Does Tony want to wait until Steve's around again, or go out looking? [23:07] 5Tony: "I mean, the hope isn't only for that baseball shadow thing, but honestly, I feel a lot more comfortable taking a shot at stuff over here, than stuff over in the, Steve says it's rude to call it the 'real world,' but, the one with normal humans in it and not briarhounds and Pigs." 00[23:07] <@Crion> Not specifically for Steve necessarily, of course. [23:07] 5He'll go out looking (not for trouble, but). [23:08] 5Tony: "But I feel like I got lucky throwing dirt in that thing's face before, and I don't want to trust luck when planning will do." [23:08] 13Melanie: "I call it Earth, but that's a bit confusing with your 5earth." [23:09] "Yeah, maybe we have been lucky. It can't hurt to be ready for the next fight. I just.. don't like to spend a lot of mental space on this stuff, right? Because it feels like that's giving it power. Centering the unreal." [23:09] 5Tony: "Go with soil for that one, I'm not out here hucking boulders." [23:10] 7She pries open the lid, revealing a set of filled mason jars kept from breaking with wooden dividers and paper packing. "Well, I wanted to ask you all if you knew of anyone in the Freehold that was having trouble getting to sleep of late. Because..." She takes a jar out and places it on the desk, facing the logo towards the others. "Ta-daa! Aunt Mags' Sleepytime Juice!" [23:10] 13Melanie: "It's an element though! We're clearly doing elemental magic in the greco-roman fictional tradition." [23:10] "I say 'fictional' the same way as 'unreal' because like.. obviously it isn't magic magic, it's a story Arcadia tells. A ripoff." [23:11] "Also, are we lost." [23:14] 5Tony looks around. He doesn't find shit on his own. But that's why he has friends! And, entirely separately, he knows hobs! 02[23:14] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 00[23:14] <@Crion> Amelia: "...Maggie." 00[23:14] <@Crion> "Are you trying to get us robotripping?" [23:14] 7Agreeably: "I don't know what that is!" 00[23:14] <@Crion> Amelia nods. "Fair enough." 00[23:14] <@Crion> DJ nods. "Fuck yeah!" 00[23:15] <@Crion> Amelia, to DJ: "You still have to drive. You can't have any now." 00[23:15] <@Crion> To Maggie: "How's it work?" 00[23:15] <@Crion> DJ: "What's it taste like?" 00[23:17] <@Crion> Tony's search for some place to really dig down and take roots in the soil...doesn't really bear fruit. Mostly because this is the Baltimore Hedge. Digging's going to be hard, not just because this entire space mostly works laterally, not vertically -- there is no real 'underground' here in the same way there's no 'sky,' it's all liminal narrative space -- but because a lot of this shit is 00[23:17] <@Crion> asphalt. [23:17] 6Words learned today: "robotripping." Not what it means just yet, but it's something to look up for later. [23:20] 7Maggie: "It's a tincture of valerian root, chamomile and hops, plus liquid magnesium supplement, lavender oil (mostly for aroma), and a wee bit of melatonin. It uses the hops for flavor also, so it tastes kinda like one of those beers the kids seem to like." 00[23:20] <@Crion> But he does run into a broom sweeping itself that, when asked, will stop and rustle that yes, it knows that there might be someone 'round these parts who will help him put down roots. Look for Widefeathers. That leads Tony to an owl sitting crosslegged atop a trashcan, unblinking; when Tony inquires as to the someone, the owl nods and turns its great eyes down the 'street,' where a squid in 00[23:20] <@Crion> a cowboy hat is overseeing a craps game. [23:20] 7Maggie: "It's an alcohol tincture, though, so a fair amount of it is Everclear." [23:21] "That's why the lil' me on the logo says to just drink a little at a time." 00[23:21] <@Crion> Ink Sink burbles a bit, but finally directs Tony to a bit of rolling green off the Druid Hill Hedge, where a large tree with an expansive face and a smile holds court. 00[23:22] <@Crion> DJ: "...What's a fair amount here? Got a proof?" [23:22] 13Melanie trails after the hob.. trail, incredulously. He could've just said yes, we're lost. 00[23:22] <@Crion> The tree's leaves are all red, but not like, blood red; bright and colorful. 00[23:23] <@Crion> The bark is blood red! [23:23] 5Tony greets everyone happily, even if a lesser man would've gotten frustrated at this run-around. But it's hobs; why would we walk two steps straight forward, when ten in a circle would do? [23:26] 7Maggie does some quick math. "'bout 80 proof, I'd say." 00[23:27] <@Crion> Amelia blinks. 00[23:27] <@Crion> DJ: "Well fuck yeah." 00[23:27] <@Crion> Amelia: "So...does it have a hangover?" [23:27] 6...A fair amount of it is everclear and it's 80 proof? 00[23:28] <@Crion> "Because that sounds like it has a hangover." [23:28] 7Maggie: "Well, sure, if you drink the whole thing. Just a shot thirty minutes before bed, or a glass diluted with water." 00[23:29] <@Crion> Lauren: "I'm sure you'll figure it out. And if not you have willworkers and Santander to help. And if that doesn't work, well, shit. I'll get Ahnold on the case." 00[23:29] <@Crion> Once everything's cleaned up, she'll get back to tinkering, if there's somewhere else Stewart wants to be before bedtime. [23:30] 7She frowns. "This is good feedback, though. Maybe I should put an instruction label on the back." 00[23:30] <@Crion> Amelia's mouth is doing its best to stay serious, while DJ is openly cracking up. 00[23:30] <@Crion> Amelia: "But seriously, I run a bar. You know what it mixes well with?" [23:31] 5Tony offers a happy, wide wave to the big happy blood tree there. "Hello!" 5As he approaches. [23:31] 10What Stewart really wants is to hang out... but there's still so much work to do. [23:31] "Eh?" 00[23:32] <@Crion> Amelia: "As a cocktail." [23:32] 6They did stop prescribing alcohol before Nels' time... mostly. [23:35] 7Maggie: "I feel like you think this is not a serious benefit to the community here." 00[23:35] <@Crion> Big Red -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNBTwPA7R4Q There's something special 'bout people like us. 00[23:36] <@Crion> The big red tree: "Howdy!" 00[23:36] <@Crion> "Heard tell you were wandering bout these parts." [23:36] 5Tony: "Yes sir! How's your day going?" 00[23:37] <@Crion> Big Red: "Well! That's mighty polite of you to ask." His eyes swivel to Melanie. They're a bit too...wet? "Ma'am." 00[23:37] <@Crion> "My day's going just fine, stranger. But tell me what I should call you, and let's become less so." [23:38] 5Tony: "Tony's fine, sir. And you?" 00[23:39] <@Crion> "Well, they call me Big Red. On account of the...well." He chuckles. [23:41] 5Tony chuckles along with him, genuinely. "No reason I'm Tony, other than that's what people called me. That's Melanie." 5He thumbs back towards her. [23:41] 5Tony clears his throat. "And to your point, we've been wandering around, because I'm trying to find a good place with some good dirt that goes deep, with nothing under it but more of the same." 00[23:42] <@Crion> Trees shouldn't be able to nod, but this one does. It's weird. It's more like the face moves than the trunk. "Good place and good dirt, that's what we got here. Eventually it hits stone, and after that, it hits Hell. But we don't go down there." [23:43] 13Melanie: "......" [23:44] 5Tony laughs a little at that. "Imagine we wouldn't, no sir." [23:44] "Not voluntarily." [23:44] 13Melanie: "Have you always been.. grown.. around here?" 00[23:44] <@Crion> Amelia puts a hand on DJ's shoulder, and he stops laughing. "I'm sorry. I thank you for what you've done. But...when it comes to medicine, a lot of people have alcohol sensitivities. It's not an absolute good...or even a contingent one, medically. But we shouldn't have laughed." 00[23:45] <@Crion> Cheerfully, to Melanie: "Have done, ma'am. Of course, that gate over there has sometimes led down other roads." [23:46] 13Melanie: "Okay." 13She turns away. It's too much like one of the scripts and she can't watch Tony playing along. 00[23:47] <@Crion> Meanwhile, in Stewart's inbox -- on the hex box -- Santander has filed a notice that he's reviewed both your report and Gaunt Rose's. He thinks it'd be constructive for you to meet about the next step. In a conference room, or wherever you prefer. Gaunt is CC'd. She hasn't responded. 00[23:47] <@Crion> Big Red watches her turn and purses his...lips?...before looking back at Tony. "So what can I do ya for?" [23:48] 7She sighs. "Well... alright. Sorry to have taken up your time." [23:48] 10Does meeting here mean between the two of them or the three of them? And Stewart doesn't have a number or anything for Rose, right? Does she hang out in the chat channel? [23:48] 5Tony: "Your permission for me to dig a hole, leave something here for awhile, then come collect it when it's ready to be collected, sir." 00[23:50] <@Crion> Amelia: "Christ, Maggie! You don't need to apologize to us. I'm sure it's delicious. It's just...not a world where you can drink yourself to sleep on 40% alcohol anymore, that's all. Stick around!" [23:50] 6Nels: "It was weird to get used to. Probably for the best, though." 6About the alcohol thing, anyways. 00[23:51] <@Crion> Big Red 'nods' again. "That can be done, with guarantees. But! Round here service requires a fee. We can negotiate..." [23:51] 7Maggie: "The alcohol's just to get the active ingredients into the bloodstream!" 00[23:51] <@Crion> He lays out his terms: debt or gilt, paid in the Coin of the Realm, commensurate to the power you desire. These are natural laws, not his, he protests. [23:52] 5Tony: "I've got, where is it now..." 5He rummages around in his pockets, and produces a Coin of the Realm. "One of these, and my word as my bond." [23:52] 13Hearing the thing negotiate helps. It's one of *them*, a creature of promises and bindings. Not the same thing at all really. 00[23:52] <@Crion> Gaunt Rose is not in chat. If he follows up with Santander, Santander will make it clear that he wants the two of you to meet constructively, and try to gently prod Rose into responding. 00[23:52] <@Crion> She won't, of course. [23:53] 13Melanie turns back, 'casually', leaning on the gate with her arms outstretched. Does Tony need any extra Coin chipped in or is he good..? [23:54] 5Tony seems...surprisingly okay with shouldering this burden. Like not even resigned to it. It's just another hit to take for the team and he's good at those. 00[23:54] <@Crion> When Tony tosses it to him, one of Big Red's branches whips down and smacks it up in the air so that it lands in his mouth -- not to swallow it, but to bite the coin and test the metal. Satisfied, Big Red spits it out again and smacks it straight up in the air, up somewhere into his branches. It doesn't come back down. [23:57] 5Tony nods. "Appreciate it. And if you can think of any favors you might want our help with, let me know." [23:58] 10What time is it when Stewart gets the email? 00[23:59] <@Crion> Probably around 9:00 PM. Santander will e-mail outside of business hours, but he's an old guy. Likes to go to bed around 10. 00[23:59] <@Crion> Big Red: "Ayup. Fair roads." Session Time: Sun Feb 16 00:00:00 2020 00[00:00] <@Crion> DJ: "I don't...think that's how science works?" 00[00:00] <@Crion> Amelia: "Hush." 00[00:01] <@Crion> To Nels: "Job's yours if you want it. Tuesdays after school?" [00:01] 6Nels: "How advanced are the kids? All levels, or am I taking one specific group?" [00:02] 13Melanie: "I'm interested to see how you're pla- how you're burying it. Is surrounded-by-earth going to create the narrative you need?" [00:03] "It might work, or we could get a skeleton gun..." 00[00:03] <@Crion> DJ: "Tuesday classes are almost like what you were at before, but flipped: first session is high school kids right after school, then grade school kids when they let out. Two one-hour sessions." 02[00:05] * dammitwho (joanofarcta@sorcery-j9socb.dynamic.onlinenw.com) Quit (NickServ (GHOST command used by dammitwhoaaa)) 03[00:05] * dammitwho (joanofarcta@sorcery-j9socb.dynamic.onlinenw.com) has joined #gofetch [00:06] 5Tony: "I was honestly just going to make space the way you move trees, dump the one I've got on me in there, and see what happens to it in the end." [00:07] 5Tony: "Feels like overthinking Hedge stuff is just wasting time on something where logic's out to lunch already." 00[00:07] <@Crion> Out to lunch, and getting paid. [00:08] 6Nels nods. "I can work with that." 6She's already making plans. "Do we know how many are signed up for each? Or is this easy come, easy go." [00:08] 13Melanie: "You're the one with the knack, so go for it.. I'm not looking for a scientific explanation, I just wish it made some sort of.. philosophical sense. A narrative throughline." 00[00:08] <@Crion> DJ: "Class size is usually around 25 but we keep accomodations up to 40. Kids...kind of drift in and out. You know how family situations can get." [00:09] 10Stewart scratches his head... no, no it doesn't make sense to bother her now. Tomorrow. He'll leave his speakers on in case an e-mail notification comes through and spend the evening with Lauren. [00:09] "I guess it bugs me that these guys-" 13she's not gesturing at all this time. Can't quite face waving at a branch with another one. "go on about their sacrosanct rules and slavishly enacted scripts, but then they're totally inconsistent. It's all a sham." [00:09] 6She does. "Got it. When do I start?" [00:09] 5Tony: "Oh! See that's perfect though. We already did the narrative part, the quest whatever, with finding a good spot to dump the thing first, right? Journey not the destination, or whatever? I skimmed some book about it at the library once, Golden whatever." [00:10] 5Tony: "You know all rules and laws are fake, right? The only reason you don't just run out of bounds, past the bleachers, and come into the end zone and claim a dozen points is because everyone says so." [00:10] 13Melanie: "Path? Globe? State warriors?" [00:11] 5Tony: "Bough?" 5He pronounces it "bow-guh" "Or maybe it was the Man With All The Faces..." 00[00:12] <@Crion> At 10:15 PM, Stewart will receive an e-mail that is not from Santander, and is not CC'd. It reads: "conference room, midnight." It's from Gaunt Rose's e-mail address. 00[00:13] <@Crion> DJ: "Two weeks would be good. Uh. Week after next." [00:13] 13Melanie: "Oh shit, Frazer. We're like.. devolving back into magic." [00:14] 10Stewart untangles from Lauren on the couch to check and reports back, "Gotta go in to the office at midnight." 10Then he settles back down. "So one more episode and then I gotta go. Are the video games this show is based on any good?" [00:14] 6She nods. "I'll be ready." 6Just enough time to psyche herself up, out, and back up again. [00:15] 5While they're discussing the finer points of books Tony read like 5 pages of while waiting for a computer to open up, he quietly nudges open a deep, narrow hole in the soil, really a knife-stab in the dirt the dimensions of a shotgun on its side, and drops it in. Then scuffs a foot and it closes up with a quiet grumble of the shifting earth. "Yeah I didn't get to the good parts, if there were good parts. But it was on the 'read while [00:15] you wait' cart by the computers." 5He is of course referring to the recirculation and shelving cart, but, who knows that kind of thing? 00[00:16] <@Crion> Lauren, mumbling: "I like 3. 1 and 2 kinda...well, you can just play three." 00[00:17] <@Crion> "Geralt's got cat eyes in it though. Shoulda kept them for the show..." 00[00:17] <@Crion> Chup sits on the side of her head and turns to stare at Stewart. "Augh." [00:17] "Chup's got cat eyes, don't you, Chup?" 10he says as he levers him off of her. [00:17] 6That was a lot easier than she thought it would be. And she even got to run into Maggie while she was there! "So, um, thanks for giving me a shot at this, and for the GED thing... that's pretty much all I came here for, so I'll leave you to it?" 00[00:18] <@Crion> "Hopefully the only thing he shares with Geralt." [00:18] 13Melanie: "Oh. I've read it for the religious anthropology.. the author's thesis is that wizards evolved into priests and then scientists. 'Pagan' traditions that became 'Christian' and so on. It seems.. obviously true on one level but also maybe missing the point.." [00:18] "It was famous, like The Origin of Species. Big drama because people, in the past, were dumb." 00[00:18] <@Crion> Amelia: "Yeah, we'll get you signed up. You have e-mail that you actually check, or should I just have all that routed to the Court and have Smitten call you?" [00:20] 5Tony, while patting the dirt with a hand, then standing and waving to Big Red as he and Melanie begin to walk away. "You wanna know the big secret, Melanie?" [00:20] 6Nels: "...I should probably get an e-mail address. Until then, the phone will have to do." [00:20] 10Now Stewart's basically buried under warm sleepy things. He doesn't want to go out... but he can't resist the urge to do so. So it's about an hour later that he dresses and makes his way to the office. 00[00:21] <@Crion> The elevator is as cheerful as it usually is for him now -- which is to say, actually so -- and takes him up to a darkened 27th floor with only one set of lights on, way across the office. 00[00:21] <@Crion> Gaunt Rose is slouched in what's usually Kingsley's chair, kicking her legs up. [00:21] 5Tony, smiling, stating the most obvious thing in the world: "We're all dumb as heck! The important thing is that we try to act smarter." 00[00:21] <@Crion> Black jeans and boots. [00:23] "Evening, Rose," 10says he, in a hoodie and sweatpants, like he jogged here (he absolutely did not). "How are you?" 00[00:23] <@Crion> Rose: "Peachy." 00[00:25] <@Crion> "So now that we've been ordered to make nice and plan together, I'd like to know how your little conversation with Sommellier went today!" [00:25] 10Stewart sits in Santander's usual chair. Weird angle on the room, but it's close enough to Rose that they can have an actual conversation. [00:26] 10At this, he blinks. "That wasn't related to this." 00[00:26] <@Crion> Rose stares at him for a moment. Then: "And you're not going to tell me what it's about." [00:27] 6If there's nothing else, Nels will say her goodbyes and make her way back to the Wherehouse. Is Maggie coming with? Because Nels is interested in the medicine she was offering. [00:27] 10Stewart: "I saw a thing in the Hedge that I couldn't schematize, so I asked him for help. How'd you know I talked to Sommelier?" [00:28] 7Maggie's recovered, and will bid Amelia and DJ a cheery goodbye and head out with Nels unless they've got something more they wanna talk about. 00[00:28] <@Crion> Rose: "I make sure to keep up my contacts. Fireman thinks we're all on the same team." [00:29] 10Stewart: "Mostly we are." [00:29] "Do you know what an ochema is?" 00[00:29] <@Crion> She smiles nastily. "God's in the gaps, and the devil's in the details." 00[00:30] <@Crion> Rose: "No." [00:32] 6Back at the Wherehouse with Maggie: "So what all's in it again? I know they sorta fixated on the alcohol part, but..." [00:33] 10Stewart: "Ochema is a Greek word meaning 'vehicle' or 'conveyance'. It's a word the willworkers use to describe avatars of their wizard gods, which he called 'Exarchs'. The thing we saw in the Hedge behaved, to him, like a weakened or contingent reflection of an ochema of 'Prime', which seems to be a kind of magic that governs, like, language and truth." 00[00:33] <@Crion> Rose: "And did it just want to talk?" [00:34] 10Stewart: "No it tried pretty hard to kill us." [00:34] "It wasn't nearly as strong as you'd expect an avatar of the malign god of truth to be, though." 00[00:34] <@Crion> Rose: "Sounds about right." [00:36] "I don't know what it *actually* is, and to some extent you'd expect a wizard to analogize it to a wizard thing, like a magic Rorschach or whatever, but that's what we were talking about. Its name was encrypted, but like... in ROT13, like it got its name on Usenet in 1991." [00:37] "Oh! Well, like I said, essence of valerian, chamomile, and hops. Plus some magnesium to help even out the ol' melatonin production, some lavender oil, and a teensy bit of melatonin." [00:37] 10Stewart frowns at an errant thought, too subtle to crystallize into part of his internal monologue. [00:41] 6Nels: "So what's each part for? I know chamomile and hops... though mostly for tea and beer, respectively." [00:41] "They all just for relaxing?" 00[00:43] <@Crion> Rose frowns. Well, it's more a sneer. "ROT13? Damn." [00:44] 10Stewart: "Yeah, like it was bypassing a word filter." 00[00:44] <@Crion> "Anyway, didn't ask you here to talk about how cool you are. Gotta deal with this guy." [00:45] 10Stewart rolls his eyes before he can catch himself. "Yeah. Have you learned anything new?" 00[00:47] <@Crion> If anything, her grin widens at that. "He's somewhere in Canton right now. I'm not moving until we know more. And I'm not under any obligation to bring this to the Gang until we meet again on Sunday night. 00[00:47] <@Crion> " [00:48] 10Stewart: "Do we have any leads on the kind of place he might be thinking to hit next? Like we don't even know if he's planning these hits, or operating on some kind of intuition, or receiving orders..." [00:49] "Canton's not exactly Inner Harbor so it's not likely he just happened on Power Plant Live by accident." 00[00:50] <@Crion> She shrugs. "You're not wrong. Might've just caught a party bus. I don't have whys or wherefores right now." [00:50] 7Maggie: "The big three are all natural sedatives and calming agents. Magnesium helps with sleep-related brain chemistry, lavender is one of those whatsits... anxiolytics. And of course melatonin is your brain's sleepy-feeling chemical." [00:50] 10Stewart: "Digging into his motivations could be useful both for predicting him and getting him to leave." [00:51] "What do you think the next move should be?" 00[00:51] <@Crion> Rose: "That sounds like it requires a stakeout or an in-person contact." 00[00:51] <@Crion> "Either of which would be my call here, though the Gang will get mad if we do the latter without consulting them." 00[00:52] <@Crion> Rose: "Not sure either of us have time for a stakeout, though." 00[00:52] <@Crion> "We do have lives." [00:52] 6Nels: "Have you tried it yourself?" 6That does all make sense... [00:52] 10Stewart: "I could spin one of us into him." [00:53] "Less waiting, but also less control over scenario." 00[00:53] <@Crion> She raises an eyebrow. "I could gambit one of us into him." 00[00:54] <@Crion> "...Wheel's probably more certain." [00:54] 10Stewart nods. "Also doesn't waste paper." 00[00:55] <@Crion> She waves a hand. "Speech-to-text works just fine for the contract." [00:55] 10Stewart: "Even the loophole?" 00[00:56] <@Crion> "No. Instead, I just go scare a motherfucker afterwards." 00[00:57] <@Crion> She stands. "So, we're going in on this? Making contact?" [00:59] 10Stewart stands. "Yeah, I think that's the next logical step. Do you want to go alone, together, or send me? You're the one who's exposed politically so the risk is more yours than mine." 00[01:00] <@Crion> Brusquely: "Together. Both because fuck if I'm letting you take all the credit...and because Lauren would kill me if some jumped up twink with a soul-sword cut you in half." [01:00] 10Stewart: "This'll be fun!" 00[01:01] <@Crion> Rose: "Yeah. Fun! I'll e-mail you tomorrow." [01:01] "Cool. 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ZZZzzz…) 03[18:59] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 03[19:00] * Crion_ is now known as Crion 02[19:01] * Disconnected 02[19:01] * Attempting to rejoin channel #gofetch 03[19:01] * Rejoined channel #gofetch 03[19:01] * Topic is 'Who botches the Botchmen?' 03[19:01] * Set by Crion!Crion@sorcery-puhjpa.fios.verizon.net on Sun Sep 22 02:37:29 2019 03[19:01] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Crion 03[20:57] * CBN2 is now known as CBN 00[21:05] <@Crion> 00[21:05] <@Crion> 00[21:05] <@Crion> 00[21:05] <@Crion> 00[21:05] <@Crion> 00[21:05] <@Crion> 00[21:05] <@Crion> 00[21:05] <@Crion> 00[21:05] <@Crion> 00[21:06] <@Crion> It's almost New Year's Eve, now. Tomorrow, actually. 2020 is right around the corner. Does anyone in the Wherehouse have plans? 00[21:06] <@Crion> There's a party at the Sidereal, but it's a normie NYE celebration for mortals. Even in, ah, better seasons Winter wouldn't be holding two social events within ten days. One's bad enough. [21:09] 10Not on his own initiative. New Years isn't really Stewart's kind of holiday. Unless something comes up or Lauren wants to go out je 00[21:09] <@Crion> Now, though...Winter's been a bit hard to find. The King hasn't been in Court -- at the Sidereal, Camden Yards, or anywhere else -- since your meeting with him. Canterbury's the only other Winter guy who is occasionally hanging around, doing security at the bar, and unless Tony decides to try to get in touch with someone, everyone else in the court has kind of gone ghost. [21:09] 10he'll probably be working. 00[21:09] <@Crion> Of course, this is Winter's trademark, right? Right? [21:10] 7Maggie is responding to Nels' question about Aunt Mag's Sleepytime Juice, specifically whether Maggie has used it before: "Oh, for sure! I wouldn't give something like that to people otherwise. Knocks you right the heck out, lemme tell ya." [21:10] 10Stewart doesn't know, he only showed up last summer. [21:10] 13Oh yeah, the passage of time matters again. Melanie wonders whether to suggest to a couple of people that they go to one of the big public midnight things, stay anonymous on the edge of a crowd.. it might be nice to see people celebrating. Free glamour for Maggie and Nels. 00[21:11] <@Crion> Are they still at the NACC, or have they reconvened at the Wherehouse? [21:12] 6They'd gone back to the Wherehouse, after wrapping up business there. For New Year's Eve, Nels has no specific plans - but trying Maggie's medicine early that evening is maybe a little too anti-social. [21:12] 7Maggie's at the Wherehouse. [21:13] 6To Maggie: "I'll have to try it sometime, then. Next time I spend the night at my apartment, maybe." [21:16] 5Tony's at the Wherehouse, on account of the passage of time being a big bummer, and NYE being a great way of being reminded of said bummer. He stress-baked a hot apple pie that he's already tucking into, regardless of time of day. [21:19] 13Melanie's probably nearby rather than inside. Recently she's taken up people-watching from some of the gantries and back passages you can get to in Lexington Market, and this is a good occasion for it with the complex open all night. (She always lets people know how far out she's going and for how long, though. Habits alleviate fears.) 00[21:20] <@Crion> So: what's the closest reflective surface to each of you who is not in the Wherehouse, an hour and a minute after midnight? [21:20] 13There's something pleasantly liminal about the two sides of the elevator being so different. Not the interiors so much - the Warehouse's actual architecture comports with the packed brick and iron ribs on the other side of the elevator - but the crowds and sales compared to the sort of urban-rural Hedge exterior with its gardens and stupid fake animals. [21:21] 13The closest reflective surface? Probably a shop window. Some brand outlet. [21:21] 10For Stewart it's likely the screen of his inactive phone. 00[21:27] <@Crion> For each of them that surfaces flashes, like light has caught it -- even if that's impossible -- and a featureless face appears on the other side, where there's should be. The Winter King's voice says: "Capra is dead. Summer is coming. Get out. Get safe. If you are caught, invoke me." 00[21:27] <@Crion> "You have less than...thirty minutes." 00[21:27] <@Crion> The mirrors go dead. 00[21:27] <@Crion> Does Melanie carry a cellphone? 00[21:28] <@Crion> Well, is she currently carrying her cellphone. [21:29] 13Yes - and she's got one hand in a jacket pocket fumbling for it, caught between paralytic terror and the need to call in, to volunteer. 00[21:29] <@Crion> Before she can get the address book up, Langford List is already calling. [21:30] 10People watching Stewart's stream will see him glance down and to the side on his facecam, play normally for another 20 seconds, and then the stream blacks out. Did Lauren hear that or does he need to get her along with his coat and gun? [21:30] 13Walk and talk.. she should be getting back inside, but would the call drop? And it's hard to manage too many things at once. She's only a couple of minutes away from the elevator, so Melanie focuses on the call- "Mr. List. I've just seen the message. What do we need to do?" 00[21:30] <@Crion> She did not hear it. She's playing with Chup in the living room. 00[21:30] <@Crion> Langford: "Melanie. It's Langford List. I--" 00[21:30] <@Crion> "...What?" 00[21:31] <@Crion> His voice went from distant to suddenly quite guarded. 00[21:32] <@Crion> The three of you inside the Wherehouse get...no message at all. [21:32] 13Melanie: "Um." 13Maybe he hasn't seen it. "From the nameless guy. An emergency, 'get out, get safe'.. I don't know what's okay to say on here." [21:32] 10Stewart's arrival is abrupt, then. "Get dressed. Just got a message from the King-in-Court. He said, 'Capra's dead, Summer is coming, get to safety'." 00[21:32] <@Crion> List: "Nameless..." His voice goes flat. "Yeah, Melanie, I'm gonna need you to come in." 00[21:33] <@Crion> "There's something we need to sort out." [21:33] 10Before waiting for a reply he pops out into the hall to bang on Nels's door, calling her simultaneously. 00[21:33] <@Crion> Lauren: "Wha--" 00[21:33] <@Crion> She automatically springs into action, though. 00[21:33] <@Crion> Survivor's reflexes. [21:33] 5Tony's just eating some of that pie. It's pretty good. Could've gone heavier on the cinnamon though. [21:34] 6No answer. She's back at the Wherehouse. [21:34] 10Stewart calls Melanie next. [21:35] 13Melanie: "Yeah. My car's just a minute away, at where do you need me?" 00[21:35] <@Crion> List: "Come on down to the Oberon, and we'll get this sorted out." [21:36] 7Maggie should try cooking with beef marrow. That's supposed to be good for you. 00[21:37] <@Crion> For reference, does Maggie have a phone with her? [21:37] 6She's got her guitar out, actually. Plucking away at nothing, really, just some scales. She's never taught music but once before, so... 00[21:37] <@Crion> Or Nels? 00[21:37] <@Crion> Tony's landline only, I suspect. [21:37] 6Nels has hers on her. She got a lecture about not doing so, once. [21:37] 7Yeah, she's got a cell phone. [21:38] 13Melanie: "I will." 13She's walking now, trying to keep mostly to these back passages behind the shops until she can get out to the carpark.. not a good time to navigate crowds. "Is it ok if I go off the line to check on my friends?" 00[21:38] <@Crion> List: "...Yeah. Yeah. But we need you down here immediately." [21:38] 5Tony's got a personal cellular mobile device with prepaid minutes, but it's in his room. [21:40] "I'm heading there directly." 13Laws about using a mobile in your car? Probably unamerican anyway. [21:40] "I'm not getting through to Melanie," 10says Stewart, as he checks to make sure the gun is still loaded before attaching the holster. "Nels either. Hopefully they're already at the Wherehouse." 00[21:40] <@Crion> List: "...See you soon." [21:41] 13It's conceivable that Stewart calling Melanie and Melanie calling Stewart both get crossed lines, or that she reaches him shortly after he tries and fails. [21:41] 10Stewart answers immediately if so. "Melanie, did you get the thing?" 00[21:41] <@Crion> It sounds like there's other people in the room with him as he hangs up, but it's impossible to make out words or legible sounds. [21:42] 13Melanie: "Yes I did. I just got through to you after talking to the Summer Court, I'm going in to help." [21:42] "You're okay, Lauren is okay? I think you should go to the Hollow." [21:42] 10Stewart: "Yeah we're on our way. Keep in touch, okay? Something seems weird." 00[21:43] <@Crion> Lauren's quick enough that they can get out of the apartment in five minutes. She's got Chup in a carrier. [21:44] 10On the ride downtown: "Has this ever happened before?" 00[21:44] <@Crion> Lauren laughs nervously. "Which part?" [21:44] 10Stewart: "Surprise lockdown." 00[21:45] <@Crion> "Winter King showing up in a mirror unexpectedly? Yeah. A Summer Court...I don't want to say it." 00[21:45] <@Crion> "I'm sure they're just...coming to talk." 00[21:45] <@Crion> Lauren: "But King's orders." [21:45] 10Stewart: "Okay. They called Melanie in, apparently. Summer did, I mean." [21:46] 13Not being able to text rapidly is really inconvenient for Melanie right now. A group message to the others would be great, but she can't do that and drive.. you know what would be great? One of those hands-free devices. Anyway she's going to call Tony- no, Nels. Nels might be back at her apartment." [21:46] 6Can calls get through to the Wherehouse? Otherwise, no dice. 00[21:47] <@Crion> Lauren shifts uncomfortably in her seat. 00[21:47] <@Crion> They can go through, though they always sound weird. They're routed through a Google Voice clone in the server. [21:47] 10Stewart doesn't know what to say, so he just reaches for her hand and squeezes it. [21:48] 6Then Nels will pick up on the second ring. "Hey, Melanie!" 6She sounds chipper through the line. [21:49] "Hi! Nels! Are you okay? Have you seen a warning in a magic mirror?" [21:49] 7Maggie, in the background: "HI MELANIE!" [21:49] "Oh thank God." 13She's in the Wherehouse. [21:49] 6Nels: "Um? Yes, I'm okay, so are Maggie and Tony, and no, we didn't see any warnings in a magic mirror. Do you need help?" [21:50] 5Tony, around pie, and from across the room, "Flel thlem gI skk g'hi!" [21:51] 6Absently: "Also, Tony says hi." 00[21:51] <@Crion> Stewart and Lauren reach Lexington Market without incident... [21:52] 13Melanie: "No, ehh, I hope to be part of the help. I'm just on my way to the Oberon.. there was a message from the King, Stewart will tell you more if you're all there and safe?" [21:52] 13Melanie: "No, ehh, I hope to be part of the help. I'm just on my way to the Oberon.. there was a message from the King, Stewart will tell you more if you're all there and safe?" [21:53] 6Nels: "If you're sure. Call if anything changes, okay?" 00[21:53] <@Crion> ...but as you walk in, a car you might recognize from the Sidereal's lot shows up. One of those black Escalades that Summer loves. [21:53] 10Capra's not driving, presumably. 00[21:53] <@Crion> You should be able to duck inside before anyone gets out, but that means not seeing who it is. Might just be someone who owns an Escalade. 00[21:53] <@Crion> Windows are tinted. [21:53] 10Stewart sends Lauren in and waits at the elevator. [21:54] 13Melanie: "Sure. I have a couple of minutes but.. I don't know what we can say on the phone. It's frustrating!" 00[21:54] <@Crion> It parks illegally. Out get Nissa of Fives, David Smote, and Detective Serrato Colt. Last guy's got his badge on a chain around his neck. [21:54] "Surely it's okay to- someone's been killed, there's danger in the Freehold. Just don't go outside, I'm sure that much is fine." [21:55] 10Stewart sticks around to greet them at the door. [21:55] 6Nels exhales. "Okay. I'll tell the others. Stay safe, please?" 00[21:56] <@Crion> A private security guard walks up and Colt just waves the badge in his face. Guy backs down. Smote and Nissa have carefully neutral features as they walk over. Smote: "Stewart Reader." [21:56] 13There's the noise of Melanie parking, which involves a few unnecessary thumps. "'Stay'? Haha. Yeah no bad joke, you too." [21:57] 10Stewart: "Hey." [21:58] 6Nels: "See you soon." 6She hangs up and turns to Maggie and Tony. "Okay. Something's going down up there, and we're supposed to stay here and stay safe. Someone's dead - she didn't say who - but Stewart, Lauren, and Melanie are all okay." [21:58] 7Maggie immediately turns to get her kevlar vest. 00[21:59] <@Crion> Smote: "Young Street requests your presence at the Oberon." [21:59] 10Stewart blinks. [21:59] 6Nels: "She said she didn't want help, and I told her to call us if she needs any..." [21:59] "Winter King told us to bunker down." 00[21:59] <@Crion> Smote: "Thing is...he wants to see Nels and Maggie too. And that guy Tony." 00[22:00] <@Crion> Nissa visibly reacts to that; Smote doesn't. [22:00] 5Tony puts some foil over the rest of the pie, then goes and tosses on his 'getting stabbed at' clothes. "Good they're okay, but, what should we do?" 00[22:00] <@Crion> Smote: "Well, that's interesting. We can talk about that." 00[22:01] <@Crion> Meanwhile, at the Oberon, List is waiting outside with a couple of bouncers. These are fae-touched guys that Summer uses as muscle. Mostly former gang members. Perhaps current gang members, depending on your perspective. [22:01] 13It occurs to Melanie that she didn't tell Nels which king, but Stewart will sort that out. He's the communicator. She's.. taking a few seconds too long to get out of a car. This is it, right? The moment we're called to defend against something, probably an attack the Winter mole has brought on? She doesn't know whether this is a rose-coloured hero complex view of things. [22:01] 13Capra's dead already, she never spoke more than a few words to him, and presumably what can defeat one Lost of the Summer Court can defeat more. Melanie walks up to Langford with no idea what's showing on her face. [22:01] 6Nels: "Get our stuff all ready just in case? She was heading to the Oberon..." 6Is that very far from where the Wherehouse is? [22:02] 10Stewart: "...I'll go get them." [22:03] 5Tony: "Hoping we don't have to do anything too rough, I'm a little unarmed for the near future. Other than my, well, arms." [22:03] 10Stewart's got a *very* bad feeling about this, but he's not sure what options they have besides going along with it. It's like when the cops show up. Come to think of it, they literally did just do that. 00[22:03] <@Crion> There's a brief pause. Then Smote smiles. "Yeah. Yeah, you do that." 00[22:05] <@Crion> As Stewart gets in the elevator, Nissa turns and nods to Serrano. And as the doors close, he can just catch a glimpse of Serrano reaching into the front seat and pulling out...a car boot. A wheel clamp. 00[22:05] <@Crion> Doors shut. [22:05] 10Inside the Wherehouse: "Three Summer courtiers outside. They want us down at their place, the Oberon. Me and Nels and Maggie and Tony. Melanie already got called in." 00[22:06] <@Crion> Now it's Maggie's turn to have her phone light up. 00[22:06] <@Crion> It's Amelia Bantham. [22:06] "Whoop! Gotta call." 7She picks up. "Ma'am?" 00[22:06] <@Crion> Brusque: "Where are you?" 00[22:06] <@Crion> "Are you somewhere safe?" [22:07] 6Nels has her gun with her and is about to follow Stewart out before... phone call. [22:07] 5Tony stretches his arms and rolls his neck. "Stewart, how...not-okay are things looking so far? Totally in the dark over here." 00[22:08] <@Crion> List: "Melanie. Are you armed? Other than your natural weapons." [22:08] 10Stewart: "I don't know, Tony. Report we got from the Winter King was that Capra's dead, Summer's coming." [22:08] "But, given the thing... I don't know. I got a bad feeling." 00[22:08] <@Crion> Amelia: "Actually--fuck. Don't tell me where you are." [22:08] 5Tony: "But it's...it's December, January? Winter out?" [22:09] 3Melanie: "That's all I've got. Contracts and what they did to me." 13She likes it that way, focuses on training to work with that, because it means she can't be disarmed or helpless. [22:09] 10Stewart: "No idea if this is an official thing or not. They could just be coming." [22:09] "Well, tney *did* come. They're outside." [22:09] "Not like we can lawyer up, though." 00[22:09] <@Crion> The Gardener: "Summer is saying you and Tony killed Capra." [22:09] "Are we going somewhere? Winter's message said only that Capra is dead, not who or what killed him." 00[22:10] <@Crion> List: "Yes. We're going inside." The bouncers have discreetly encircled the two of them, and are now between Melanie and her car. [22:10] 7Maggie: "Yeah, I'm-- in a place. What's going on? The others are all het up about-- what?!" 00[22:11] <@Crion> Amelia: "It sounds fucking ridiculous. ...It's fucking ridiculous, right?" [22:12] 13Melanie pauses, visibly. Every part of her stops moving for a few seconds. "..Okay let's go inside. However, you're escorting me like I'm a captive or a VIP. I'm not a VIP." 00[22:12] <@Crion> Langford: "That's not true. The Young Street thinks you're very important." 00[22:12] <@Crion> "And you came in on your own. He'll remember that. It counts for something." 00[22:13] <@Crion> He steps aside and gestures to the door. "After you." [22:13] 13Melanie walks. She tries to stay calm.. it's surprisingly easy. Whatever's happening there's been worse. [22:13] "Thank you," 13she tells List, "but you're burying the lede." [22:14] 7Maggie: "I don't think I've even seen that guy in ages." [22:14] "This is the first I think any of us have heard he's dead... if he really is." 00[22:16] <@Crion> The Young Street, from inside the empty bar: "No. We're burying Capra." 00[22:21] <@Crion> Well, not quite empty. Splayed out on the bar is the dead boy, limp, badly burned and broken -- someone, or someones, took their time with him. There's enough of his face left to make a positive identification in the mask, though you'd still know his mien anywhere. He's naked, but they've covered the lower half of the body, either out of decorum or because it gets worse. 00[22:21] <@Crion> Street is sitting on a table, staring. He turns his baleful gaze to Melanie. "I am quite angry." 00[22:21] <@Crion> "I'm real fuckin quite angry." [22:22] 13That gives Melanie pause again, but less literally. She's been interpreting things wrong, right? "I'm sorry, Street. I assumed this was a call-to-action, some mission of protection or vengeance.. I forgot a man is dead." 00[22:22] <@Crion> Street: "Oh, it's a call to action. But not for you. You're compromised." 00[22:23] <@Crion> List, a bit forcefully, with the force directed towards Street but the words to Melanie: "We don't think you had anything to do with this." 00[22:23] <@Crion> Street: "At least we fuckin hope you didn't." [22:23] 13What happened to him? Something monstrous and magical, as expected, but expectation doesn't help. She tries to think about the meaning of- ????? [22:23] "I didn't! What the fuck?" 00[22:24] <@Crion> Amelia: "Honey, I'm not hearing you tell me it's fucking ridiculous. Because they say they have you on camera." [22:24] 10Stewart: "Maggie? Everything okay?" [22:25] 7Maggie: "It is ridiculous. We haven't see him, we don't know who did it, we are not involved." [22:25] 13Melanie: "I'm sorry I'm sure you have reasons but- what? I don't, I didn't know him. I don't have any reason to- I joined up to fight the monsters, not as some kind of game- what is this? I'm not going to beg for answers!" [22:25] *seen [22:25] 6This sounds like it's going well, from what Nels can hear. She looks to Stewart -- does he seem to know any more than she does? 00[22:26] <@Crion> Street picks up a remote and aims it at one of the blank TVs that usually shows music videos or sports. "Let's watch one of my stories. I like to call it Alley Camera 2, 4:34 PM." He hits a button, and the blue screen turns into a grainy, black and white security feed of just that from out behind the Oberon. 02[22:26] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) [22:26] 13Melanie's rooted in place. 00[22:28] <@Crion> There's nothing for about thirty seconds, then a slight flash, and the door to the alley from the Oberon opens...and out steps Tony, Maggie, and a weird smudged character that the camera never seems to catch right. It's Tony and Maggie their masks, of course; no miens. It's just a normal camera. They heave Capra's body onto the pavement, and then Tony looks up into the camera and smiles...then 00[22:28] <@Crion> all three step back 'inside.' 00[22:28] <@Crion> Street: "Of course they weren't actually coming from here. At least not this side of here." [22:29] 13Melanie: "......" 00[22:30] <@Crion> Amelia: "Okay. Okay. Look -- we don't do arrests, honey. We don't do jail. So it's either, you and the motley come in and answer for it...or you stay in hiding. For now, I want to try to get a handle on this. And find the fucking Winter King." 00[22:31] <@Crion> Street: "So you understand my concern." [22:31] 13What a time to rediscover how to think fast. 00[22:31] <@Crion> "Because I still don't know who that third one is, yeah? And 4:30 PM, even on New Year's, is a bit too early for a fuckin' vampire." [22:32] 10Stewart doesn't seem visibly confused at all. [22:32] 13Melanie: "Yes, I'm compromised. You're right. Because I, I don't believe what I'm seeing." [22:32] 10Face is kind of hard to read, actually... [22:33] "The plain evidence of our eyes for whatever that freaking counts, it's.. something I'm setting against other pieces of evidence to which I have access and you do not. Um. Listen:" [22:33] 13Melanie: "You don't know me very well yet and so it'd be fine to not put a lot of faith in this. But you should listen, please:" [22:33] "You and the others set me to get to know these four people.. to become friends with them, to work together and learn who they are. And I've learned. And they did not do that." [22:35] 7Maggie: "Okay. While you're getting a handle on this, do we go in and defend ourselves? Uh, verbally? Or do we stay put?" [22:39] 10Stewart: "Tell whoever you're talking to that they're literally outside." [22:39] 13Melanie: "Tony can't kill someone with a smile on his face. He can't.. fail to hide a fucking body. They beat it out of him, both of those things." [22:40] "Maggie spent most of the last few months learning who she used to be and sure, in theory she could've learned she was a killer but not that she's a loyalist. That's not how it works. She wants nothing more in life than to make drugs and comic books." [22:41] "The incredibly suspicious squiggle in the air, the one concealing itself? With magic? It's faking the whole thing. I don't know who those people really are or if there even were three of them. I don't trust this video and that means you can't trust me to, to take action on the basis of it. I won't." 03[22:42] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 00[22:43] <@Crion> Street pauses, considering Melanie closely for a moment. Then he nods. "Alright. Okay." 00[22:43] <@Crion> "We'll do this by the book. Or whatever the fuck there is around here that passes for that." 00[22:44] <@Crion> To List: "Call Smote, Niss, and Colt back. I'm gonna get on the line with Am and Kingsley. They need to be here for this." [22:44] 13Melanie mumbles: "I guess the book of the Lost says Winter's in charge and the book of Winter says hide and wait it out." 00[22:45] <@Crion> To Melanie: "Still need to talk to the rest of your motley. There are ways -- invasive ways, but not painful ways; fortune-teller shit ways -- to make it clear your people weren't involved. If you're willing to vouch they haven't gone feral, then I'm willing to let them in the front door to prove it." [22:45] 13She's not relieved; she hates that the Summer Court can't trust her on this. She knows they believe she believes but what does that count for? She turns to look at what remains of Capra again. Monstrous. 00[22:47] <@Crion> Street: "Yeah...about the smooth King. You said you heard from him." 00[22:47] <@Crion> "That's weird." 00[22:47] <@Crion> "We haven't heard from him in almost a week now." [22:47] 13Melanie: "My motley will not be a threat. They will be scared, some self-righteous and others shut down.. you know how we all work. They.. will stick together more than they trust the Freehold, in some ways that's not great, but there's absolutely no chance they try to harm anyone here." [22:48] "What, really? They held the Christmas party at the Sidereal more recently than that.. um, tonight's message:" [22:49] "It showed up in mirrors, only outside of the Hedge.. Stewart got the same thing. The King said, Capra is dead and Summer is coming. He told everyone to hide." [22:49] 13Melanie: "I thought it was everyone in the Freehold." [22:50] 7Maggie, to the others in the Wherehouse: "I guess they like us enough not to start immediately beating down our door, but really! The very idea!" 00[22:51] <@Crion> Street: "Apparently he was a no-show at Christmas." 00[22:51] <@Crion> List: "We didn't get anything." [22:51] 10Stewart, to Maggie: "What was that about?" [22:51] 10They only got half the conversation. [22:52] 5Tony scratches his head. "So...what's up?" [22:52] "Summer thinks Tony and I killed Capra!" [22:52] 13Melanie's thinking again. She talks slowly. "I don't understand. Two days later.. Winter was convened at the Sidereal again. The whole Court. I know because we, the motley, got invited.. we spoke to a few people including the King." 00[22:52] <@Crion> Amelia will hurry off the phone, since now she's got to call some other people. [22:52] 7Maggie: "The Gardener's working on it." [22:52] "He gave us a mission and, this is going to sound really suspicious, oathbound us to secrecy about it!" [22:52] 10Stewart: "Oh. Okay. Well, there's three Summer courtiers outside who want to take us in for questioning." [22:53] "So..." [22:53] 5Tony: "I what who?! No!" 5Tony is more confused than angry than sad than hurt at the moment. [22:53] 10Stewart seems unfazed by this revelation. 00[22:53] <@Crion> List's eyes narrow. "Huh." 00[22:53] <@Crion> Street: "FUCKING Winter Court." [22:54] 7Maggie: "I know!" [22:54] 13Melanie: "Um, I swear on my name and the true world that I've sworn NOT to talk about events following from the meeting on 27th. There's a metapromise, if you will, a categorical derivative." 00[22:54] <@Crion> He stands up from the table. "I'm going to get Capra somewhere respectful. Sorry for the way we...I...had you treated. But you see a video like this and a body like this..." [22:54] "It's awful." 00[22:54] <@Crion> "...And it's one of your boys..." 00[22:54] <@Crion> List purses his lips. [22:55] 5Tony: "So we what, go clear my name, our names, whatever now? Or do we hang out here because we're going to die if we leave?" [22:55] 10Stewart: "I do not think it's a good idea to bunker up. They want to question us, it's not a hit squad." 00[22:55] <@Crion> List: "If you are willing to make such a promise, we will respect you by holding you to it." [22:56] 13Melanie: "Yes, thanks. Um.. there's something I can do to help I think. I could send a message to the others, saying it's safe and correct to come here and answer questions." [22:56] "Because it is, I trust that!" 00[22:56] <@Crion> Street: "Anyway. I'm sorry. You're free to make whatever calls you need to make." [22:56] 5Tony: "Well, okay then. I guess stay behind me if it gets shitty anyway." 5He moves to head out. [22:57] 10Stewart opens the elevator door to find... 00[22:57] <@Crion> List nods. "Yes. The other regents will be present to represent Spring and Autumn." [22:57] 10He steps outside too in case being back in actual cell coverage lights up his phone. 00[22:58] <@Crion> Lexington Market is bustling as usual; the Escalade is nowhere to be seen. That security guard from earlier is looking around, annoyed. He sees you and nods in recognition. You walk past that guy a lot, after all. He assumes you work here. [22:58] 13With that permission, Melanie will go stand behind the bar and take her phone back out. What a disaster. She's pretty sure they'll get through this - they being the motley, and the Summer Court - but a guy is still dead, and there's still the actual person or people behind the frame-up. Someone who can create realistic illusions for a camera... [22:58] 10Stewart holds Tony at bay. "Looks like they... left...?" [22:58] 13Tony's getting a call from Melanie this time. [22:59] 6Nels is still trying to process Tony and Maggie being accused of murder. Credibly enough that they sent goons. 00[23:01] <@Crion> Smote and Nissa would be a bit put out to be described as "goons." 00[23:01] <@Crion> Even if it is accurate. [23:01] 10Could be worse, coulda been 'thugs'. [23:01] 6Yeah, well, they can get nicer descriptions when they don't show up to beat up my friends. [23:01] 5Tony left his phone in his room. He's not used to bringing it places! And he's walking with Stewart anyway. [23:02] 10Stewart's going to call Melanie again. [23:02] 13No answer?! What happened- ah, it's Stewart. [23:02] "I'm calling Melanie, she went in to the Oberon already." [23:02] 13Melanie: "Stewart! I can't get through to Tony, is he with you? Is Maggie?" [23:02] 6That'll get you a lecture someday, Tony. Apparently it's upsetting when you go out to buy things and no one can contact you for hours, now. Weird, I know. [23:03] 10Stewart: "Melanie! Colt Fives and Smote were just here to take us in but they're gone now. Yeah, everybody's here. The Gardener just told Maggie about the charges." [23:03] "What should we be doing?" [23:04] 13Okayyyyyy. "Okay. Yeah, I was wrong, it's not a monster, it's a stitch-up. They've got a fake video.. Street and the Summer Court are going to insist on questioning everyone but they can tell we didn't do it once they do some, what was the word, 'fortune-telling'." [23:04] 10Stewart: "Okay. Are we headed for the Oberon?" [23:05] 10The Oberon's on GPS maps, right? Stewart's never actually been. [23:05] "Um, yes please. It's safe but it won't be comfortable. We have to accept momentary suspicion because whoever fucking did this did it in a really ugly way." [23:05] 10Stewart: "So Capra is for-real dead, then?" [23:05] "Ah, also.. I was going to tell Tony, the whole Winter Court has vanished. All of them! Nobody but us has seen the King for a week!" 00[23:06] <@Crion> Yeah, it's actually on the same street as the NACC, just a couple blocks west. [23:06] 10Stewart: "That makes sense." [23:08] "Could I talk to the others? You've got everything under control I'm sure, I'd just.. like to hear more voices." [23:08] 10Melanie may or may not pick up on or be put off by Stewart's apparent total calm. She can hear him say: "We're going in voluntarily. Sounds like Melanie's been making your case already." [23:09] 6Nels: "That's good, right?" 6She's still worried, but like hell she's going to let them go into this without her. [23:09] 10Stewart: "It's still really bad. Just not for us as much." [23:10] 5Tony: "It's gotta be good, she's good at arguing, I think?" [23:10] 10Stewart: "Also, she's right, which always helps." [23:11] "Stewarrrrtttt. I can hear Nels and Tony there. Guys!!" [23:11] 10Back on the phone. "Yeah, hi, we're coming in." [23:12] "Anything we should know?" [23:12] 13She doesn't want to yell into the phone, there are people here conducting a kind of funeral! [23:13] 10Putting the phone on speaker and holding it out: "Melanie wants to know everyone's okay." [23:13] 13Melanie: "Just that when you get here, everyone needs to be.. mindful. Whoever's behind this is trying to set us against each other, our motley and the Court. And I think everyone's aware of that but we need to make every effort not to be on 'sides'." [23:13] 6Nels: "Alarmed but unharmed." [23:13] 5Tony: "Hi Melanie! Yes thank you! I'm confused but I appreciate you making our case for us, Stewart said!" [23:14] 13Melanie: "Ahhh." [23:14] "Okay, I'm glad everyone is okay. Maggie too?" [23:14] 10Stewart: "Maggie's getting ready. We're all fine." [23:14] 7Maggie: "Hey! Hello! What?!" 7Which is a hell of a way to answer the phone, which shows you what kind of state she's in. [23:15] 10Stewart: "We'll be there in a few minutes, okay?" [23:15] "There's a fake video.. it was from like, just a couple of hours ago. So try to make sure you remember where you were. I don't know how all of this blew up so fast, the mirror message makes no sense." 13This would be prejudicing a trial, if there was to be a trial. But that's not what this is, and Melanie's standing right there at the bar near whoever else from the Court is moving around, [23:15] 13she's not trying to hide anything. 02[23:16] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) [23:16] 10Stewart: "Yeah. Make sure to drink some water or something, okay?" [23:17] "Thank you. There's, like, everything but water here.. maybe some ice.." [23:18] "See you soon." 10Stewart hangs up and brings the car around. [23:18] 13Melanie: "..anyway, I'll let you get moving. Please be careful. Someone is trying to attack us and maybe it's just to sow suspicion but maybe they'll actually attack next." [23:18] 13With the call ended, she's definitely going to drink something. 00[23:20] <@Crion> Street covers Capra's body and takes him to the back. Soon after Amelia and Kingsley arrive, with David Smitten, Gerald, and Santander with them. [23:20] 5Tony follows Stewart's lead from here. [23:21] 13Melanie nods at each arrival from behind the bar, looking glum as fuck. [23:21] 10Once they're in the car: "Apparently no one's heard from the King besides us since before Christmas, and besides you all of Winter seems to have gone to ground." 00[23:22] <@Crion> Amelia to List as they enter: "Langford. We checked the Sidereal. Canterbury slipped out before dinner service started." 00[23:22] <@Crion> List: "Mmmmm. So besides Tony...they're all gone." [23:22] 5Tony: "So since we went to look into the mole thing some. Huh." [23:22] 6Nels: "...Are we sure it was the King we spoke to?" [23:22] 10Stewart: "How could we be?" [23:22] 5Tony: "And Jackie?" [23:22] 6You* Because Nels wasn't there. [23:23] 5Tony: "The bird at least liked them, so maybe that's a safe place to start from." 00[23:24] <@Crion> Kingsley: "Left him holding the bag." He nods at Melanie in greeting. "Hardly sporting." [23:25] 13Melanie: "It wouldn't be a very good frame-up if you didn't." [23:26] "I mean- I'm not saying Winter knows more than 'bad shit, run', but- is this what they'd usually do? If the bad shit was one of them being accused of something, to totally abandon that person?" [23:26] 7Maggie enters the Oberon scowling and frightened. 00[23:26] <@Crion> Gerald: "It's not unheard of for them to go ground, not even all at once..." 00[23:27] <@Crion> Santander, in his wizard voice: "IT IS, IN FUCKING WINTER!" [23:27] 13Melanie comes out from behind the bar. She has for Maggie a whiskey and a hug. [23:28] 6Nels is close behind Maggie. They can all figure this out, surely. [23:28] 7She will accept both gratefully. [23:28] 10Stewart's brisk and undeferent. "Where's Jackie Ordinary? Have any of you seen them recently?" [23:28] 5Tony enters the Oberon on guard, mostly ready to dive in front of his friends as needed. Trying to stay optimistic though. Alive so far. 00[23:29] <@Crion> Smote, Nissa, and Colt beat the rest of the motley there by a couple minutes, exchange friendly nods with Melanie -- Smote will even smile and make small talk unless he's rebuffed, and pour himself a whiskey -- but they'll retire upstairs before Maggie and Tony arrive. If Melanie presses why, Smote will shrug and say, We were just doing our jobs. Don't want any bad blood. 00[23:29] <@Crion> Amelia: "...I saw Jackie this morning. They're where they want to be." 00[23:29] <@Crion> "They seem to think it's safest if I don't know where that is." [23:29] 10Stewart: "Yeah, that's fair." [23:30] 13Wouldn't it be nice if we hadn't sworn an oath keeping us from disclosing, though, why Jackie might have some things to say? 00[23:30] <@Crion> Street looks like he is making a monumental effort not to glare at Maggie and Tony. Not actively ostentatiously; he just seems really awkward and isn't making eye contact. 00[23:31] <@Crion> Langford elbows him. 00[23:31] <@Crion> Street: "I want to...thank you all for coming. I know things got a little hot. I reacted emotionally." 00[23:31] <@Crion> "I got a dead kid on the couch upstairs." 00[23:31] <@Crion> "He took a long time to die." 00[23:31] <@Crion> "So that's what that is." [23:32] 10Stewart: "We understand." [23:32] 5Tony's matching the awkwardness with trying to affect whatever his best 'I'm not guilty, I'm here to respect the process' which is as difficult to actually enact as it is to articulate. Rounds out to 'awkward.' [23:32] 5He nods. [23:32] "Thank you for trusting Melanie." [23:32] 13Melanie's actually going to step in here and help move things along. She has no authority to do this except that: she really really wants to. "We should do two things. We should demonstrate that these guys had nothing to do with it and we should figure out who can create this kind of tape to frame them." 00[23:32] <@Crion> Street: "Yeah. She's good for it. It's good you have her. Good we have her." [23:33] 13She looks at the Street with something almost like horror, but it'll moderate to neutral-happy. [23:33] 13Who is this guy? What has he done with the boss? [23:33] 10Dead bodies can make you sentimental. [23:33] 10Can. 00[23:34] <@Crion> List gives her a look for interrupting her regent -- especially in the middle of him complimenting her -- but Street just nods. "Yeah, that makes sense. I have ideas on both. First, I just want to note for the record, if we have one of those, that Tony is the only one from Winter who bothered to show up. On December fucking 30th. And he's the accused." 00[23:34] <@Crion> "Rest of you have representatives here." 00[23:34] <@Crion> "From your Courts. Not him. Just want to note my disgust about that in front of witnesses." He glances over at the other regents. 00[23:35] <@Crion> He looks at the non-Melanie motley. "Hear you've sworn an oath?" [23:35] 10Stewart: "Yeah." [23:35] 6Nels nods. That's about the limit of what she can say about it, anyway. [23:36] 5Tony nods as well. [23:36] 5Tony clears his throat. "Ahuh. Um. I'm sorry about what happened to your friend. I'll help you find who did it if I'm able, but to start, it wasn't me." 5He recedes into the background to the extent he can. [23:36] 10Stewart gives Autumn's triad a tight :| kind of smile. [23:36] 7Maggie: "Yeah..." 00[23:36] <@Crion> He only gets back a magisterially smug smile from Santander; Gerald looks worried, Kingsley impassive. 00[23:37] <@Crion> Street: "Thanks. Okay. Uh...Kingsley, you want to...?" [23:40] 7Maggie: "Should I go too or are we doing this separately?" 00[23:41] <@Crion> Kingsley steps forward. "Yes. Absent the King-in-Court and with the quorum of the other seasons, we have the joint authority to invoke an official Inquest. This is not an interrogation or a jailing; you submit to it voluntarily and may leave at any time. You must, however, swear to tell the truth -- this will be enforced by a powerful oath with severe consequences, and by the divination of 00[23:41] <@Crion> our Iudex, W. Marcus Santander. Do you understand this, Maggie Bakehead and Tony Fewhands?" 00[23:42] <@Crion> Kingsley: "No, this is an open session." [23:43] 5Tony: "I understand, and swear to tell the truth here." [23:44] 7Maggie: "Yes, I understand and agree." 00[23:47] <@Crion> Kingsley nods, then nods to the Young Street. Both Maggie and Tony feel the glamour seal the oath. Kingsley: "With the invocation of the ancient dictum I bring this Inquest into session: 'Let your words not come back to bite you.'" 00[23:47] <@Crion> Santander sits down and clears his throat. "Hrrm. Rrrrrrm. Water, please." [23:48] 13Melanie remembers some suggestion, back when, that she might have wanted to look into the Autumn Court instead of Summer. For the most part, she's sure she made the right choice. But the way they literally cannot stop making puns? She gets it. [23:48] 10This is the first time Stewart's seen the Autumn bosses do anything that even slightly resembles lawyering. Man Stewart hates the law. 03[23:49] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 00[23:49] <@Crion> Gerald brings him a glass from the bar. 00[23:50] <@Crion> Santander: "Ah. Yes. Rrrm." 00[23:51] <@Crion> "FIRRRRRST QUESTIONNN! Where were you between 4:30 and 4:40 post meridiem today, December 30th, 2019? Tony Fewhands, answer first. Maggie Bakehead, after him." [23:51] 10Stewart sits well away from the hot seat, next to Melanie and presumably Nels. [23:52] 6Yes, she's not eager to be up close and personal. Instead, she will nervously twist her skirt from a distance. [23:52] 7Was that when she was talking to Amelia? [23:54] 5Tony thinks for a second: "I was at The Wherehouse. I think I was awake at that time, but I might have been still napping." 00[23:54] <@Crion> Amelia called around 5:25 or so. Based on previous narration, she would have been chatting with Nels, it looks like. 00[23:54] <@Crion> Or puttering about. [23:55] 7Maggie: "I was also at the Wherehouse, talking with Nels." 00[23:56] <@Crion> Santander pauses then nods at both. No death rains down from on high. 00[23:57] <@Crion> "SECOND QUESTIONNNNNN!!! Did you kill Terrell Capra?" [23:58] 13Thinking about it.. they were both there when Melanie left in the early evening. There isn't even time for them to have got across town and done telemurder. She wonders: was this ruse designed to succeed? Was it relying on the assumption that Summer is stupid? 00[23:58] <@Crion> Street glances at Santander with a bit of annoyance when he does the shouting thing a second time. [23:58] 6I mean, they seemed pretty gung-ho to do some vigilantism before cooler heads prevailed... [23:59] 5Tony: "No." Session Time: Sun Feb 23 00:00:00 2020 [00:00] 7Maggie: "No." 00[00:01] <@Crion> He pauses and nods again. "THIIIIIRDDDDD--" 00[00:01] <@Crion> Street: "Man, just ask the fucking questions." 00[00:01] <@Crion> Kingsley, mildly. "Street. He's the Iudex." 00[00:01] <@Crion> Street sighs. [00:01] 10Stewart texts Lauren.  [00:02] 10Added all up, that's one and a half truths. 00[00:02] <@Crion> "Ahem. THIIIRRRRDDDD QUESTIONNN!" He pauses. "Is there anyone in the Winter Court, present company excluded, whom you trust? 'Yes' or 'no' will suffice." 00[00:03] <@Crion> Santander's voice gets an edge to it there. [00:04] 5Tony has to think for a minute. "Yes." [00:04] 13Okay, what? Melanie wants to say something. She doesn't know what she wants to say except that she shouldn't say it. [00:04] 7Maggie: "Yes." 00[00:07] <@Crion> Santander, without looking up from the papers in front of him, which appear to be procedural notations -- he's not writing anything down. "Iudex motions the Inquest to receive witness testimony -- Stewart Reader, Melanie Lucas, and Nels Foulke are summoned. Since this is not a subpoena, they may decline, but answers will be subject to the powers of the Inquest. The oath is not required." 00[00:07] <@Crion> "They are posed the Third Question, each in turn." [00:08] 13:-( [00:08] 6Nels blinks in surprise, but after a moment: "Yes." [00:08] 10Stewart opens his mouth and then closes it. His brow furrows. Finally: "...Yes." [00:09] 13Melanie: "I wish I could agree. I really wish- no." 00[00:09] <@Crion> Santander nods after each response. [00:09] 10Stewart gives Melanie a supportive nudge. 00[00:10] <@Crion> Santander: "FOURRRTHHH QUESTION!!! Do you know the location of the Winter King? Witnesses may choose to participate." [00:10] 13Melanie: "Nope." [00:11] 10Stewart: "No." [00:11] 5Tony thinks again for a second. "No sir." [00:11] 6Nels: "Also no." [00:12] 7Maggie: "Nope." 00[00:13] <@Crion> Santander does his pausing and nodding as the Sight trusts, but verifies. 00[00:13] <@Crion> Amelia stirs. "Well that seals it, doesn't it? Sorry. Bad wording. But they're innocent, they--" 00[00:13] <@Crion> Santander: "FINAL QUESTION!!!!!" 00[00:14] <@Crion> The Gardener wheels on the Lord Sage. She is not used to being interrupted. 00[00:14] <@Crion> Kingsley, again, mildly: "The Iudex presides, Amelia." [00:14] 13You can't help but like Santander. That's probably part of his job. [00:14] 10Santander is so great. 00[00:15] <@Crion> For his part, Santander ignores her glare. He's more interested in all of you. "The witnesses are called again. This time, they are compelled." 00[00:15] <@Crion> Looking at each in turn: "Do you believe the Freehold of Baltimore has been compromised?" [00:15] 10Stewart: "Yes." [00:15] 5Tony doesn't even have to think about that one: "Yes." [00:16] 6Nels: "Yeah." [00:16] 13Melanie: "I'm not certain. There's some evidence for it." [00:18] 7Maggie pauses for a long time, her mouth pursed as she considers her wording. "I'm not certain either way. Of the two theories I have to explain this that I think are most likely, one of them is that the Freehold is compromised from inside. I don't know enough right now to favor either one over the other." 00[00:20] <@Crion> Santander pauses and nods again. "Then this Inquest has found its Truth and served its Purpose. Its findings are binding and self-evident. I record them here--" He pulls up a sheet of parchment with fresh, wet ink on it, despite not having done any writing himself. "--and remand both the accused and the witnesses to the judgment of their own consciences. The Inquest finds cause for no other." 00[00:21] <@Crion> He nods to the Street, who closes his eyes...Tony and Maggie feel the sealing fade, fulfilled. 00[00:21] <@Crion> Then everyone's phones start going nuts. [00:21] 13As a process, it's pretty reasonable- what's this? [00:21] 10How everyone is everyone? 00[00:21] <@Crion> Gerald: "We've got...alarms at the office have been tripped. Someone's inside--" 00[00:22] <@Crion> David Smitten answers his phone. "What?" Outside, you can hear fire trucks passing. He blanches. 00[00:22] <@Crion> Kingsley to Santander: "Go!" [00:22] 13Melanie: "It was a distraction. They knew we wouldn't believe it, only for long enough-" [00:22] 10Ah. 02[00:22] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) [00:22] 6Shit. [00:22] 7Maggie: "Huuuuurrrm." 00[00:22] <@Crion> The wizard leaps up, shooting towards the mirror behind the bar--and disappears through it. [00:23] 10...Did Lauren get Stewart's text? 00[00:23] <@Crion> She did; she's still in the Wherehouse. [00:23] 10Okay. 00[00:23] <@Crion> Smitten: "They're burning the Sidereal." [00:23] 13:C [00:23] 5Tony: "Man what the FUCK" [00:24] 10Stewart: "Where do you need us?" [00:24] 7Wait, does that mean our phones are going nuts too? Are we getting texts about the Sidereal? 00[00:24] <@Crion> Everyone is moving at once. Summer is splitting between Spring and Autumn to go back to their respective seats of power. Gerald, to the motley: "Santander's already headed to the offices! Go to the Sidereal!" [00:24] 10Stewart's on his way out the door. 00[00:24] <@Crion> Samaritan will have texted you, yeah. [00:25] 6Nels was about to ask the same thing, so with that she'll hurry outside before finally checking her phone. [00:25] 13We're going, we're going, but what can we do? 00[00:26] <@Crion> Summer's got SUVs and, better, SUVs driven by a police detective with a suction cup siren. [00:26] 5Tony's a step behind Stewart. [00:26] "Oh, jiminy..." 7Maggie mutters as she'll follow whoever looks like they have a car. She'll start texting noted weed wizard Union:  00[00:26] <@Crion> Amelia, to Maggie and Nels: "Get to the Sidereal! David, come with me, we need to check on the NACC!" 00[00:28] <@Crion> Detective Colt can get you all up to the Sidereal in under six minutes with his sirens going. When you arrive, the place is on fire, alright -- but there's something weird about it. Probably want to analyze that after you put it out? [00:28] 13To whichever of List or Street is closest, Melanie will say this on the way out: "Thanks for keeping this to the minimum it deserved." 00[00:28] <@Crion> Union hits back: [00:29] 7Maggie:  00[00:30] <@Crion> Union ...s for a minute, then pauses, then again. [00:31] 10As they drive towards the Sidereal, Stewart turns his windshield wipers on. They scrape awkwardly against the glass three times before the first drop of rain hits them. [00:32] 13The building has lots of wooden fixtures, right? If Melanie was in the middle of that she could call another blizzard.. but getting into the middle of it would fry her in under a minute. She hesitates a moment before telling the others: "I can't get close. Smoke burns me.. fire doesn't, smoke does." [00:32] 7Maggie:  00[00:32] <@Crion> It does, sadly. [00:32] 10Stewart: "Stay in the car." [00:32] 10Outside the wind howls. [00:32] 13Oh, nice. [00:32] 6Nels was about to hop out, but she listens when someone says things like that. 00[00:33] <@Crion> Union: 00[00:33] <@Crion> [00:33] 10Stewart parks and stands outside. Hard comes the rain, but not a drop touches him. [00:33] 5Tony will stay in the car, Stewart seems like he'd only tell you that if it was important. [00:33] 10How big's the fire? [00:35] 10Doesn't matter. Stewart takes the bottle opener attached to his car keys and rakes it across his palm, offering fresh blood to the storm. [00:35] 13Unnecessarily: "I think he's doing magic." [00:36] 6Nels: "Sure looks like it. Wish I could help..." [00:36] 7Maggie:  00[00:36] <@Crion> Union: [00:36] 10Something vast shifts in the darkness, rain splattering off of thin air as if something lurked invisibly behind him. But the rain just hangs there, more and more of it, until an eight-legged protozoan thing the size of a horse has coalesced from the downpour, charging into the flames. [00:38] 10He walks directly into the burning building, following the creature close behind. 00[00:39] <@Crion> Whole building is on fire...but it seems like they started it outside working in, using accelerants. The accelerants are all over the inside, true -- but the fire was started on the outside, intended to spread in along vectors-- 00[00:39] <@Crion> Except in the kitchen, where there's The Kitchen, holding the fire at bay with two staffers huddling behind him. 00[00:39] <@Crion> Might want to get the water there first. [00:40] 7Maggie:  [00:40] 10Then that's where Stewart and his monster go. 00[00:40] <@Crion> Stewart can tell immediately that it wasn't the Kitchen who started this; the vector's all wrong. It did almost immediately trap him, though. [00:40] 6That guy. 00[00:41] <@Crion> Union: [00:41] 13Melanie: "Now, see, if I was setting the fire it wouldn't be a problem. Most of these faerie tricks let you exclude yourself from any harm, it's a semantic rule rather than a laws-of-physics thing." [00:41] 10Shouting over the storm and the flames: "What did you see?!" 00[00:41] <@Crion> Kitchen: "Is that you, Stewart?!" [00:41] "Yes." 00[00:41] <@Crion> As the flames die, he breathes easier. "Nothing. Just the fire coming in the front and back doors at the same time." 00[00:42] <@Crion> "If I wasn't Elemental..." [00:43] 10Stewart heads for whichever of the entrances he didn't come in through. "Make sure the Gardener knows you're okay." 00[00:43] <@Crion> He waves weakly, looking around his workspace. "Ruined. Bah." [00:43] 10He's not hurt, is he? 00[00:44] <@Crion> Nope. He's seeing to his assistants as well; they might have breathed in some smoke. [00:44] 10Alright. Anything new or unusual at the backdoor? 00[00:45] <@Crion> It's closed and locked, and yet the fire seems to have come in through it -- under it. [00:45] 6Nels: "Who's capable of something like this?" 6A coordinated strike on multiple Changeling locales, plus a framing of two of the Wherehouse Motley, all at once. 00[00:45] <@Crion> The firefighters start to arrive outside and find the place sodden. [00:45] 10It might think it's locked, but Stewart has a deal with every doorknob in the world. [00:45] 10What's out back? 00[00:45] <@Crion> They're probably gonna start clomping around in here soon. [00:46] 10They won't see Stewart. [00:46] 13Melanie: "It couldn't be like.. an individual mole in the Winter Court. But if there's a mole working for someone, it could be the someone." [00:47] 6She furrows her brow. "But why?" [00:47] 7Does anyone need Maggie to like, physically move things? 00[00:47] <@Crion> The back of the Sidereal leads out into the parking space. He's got accelerant scorch tracks leading from the back door to a point in the back of the parking lot -- eyeballing it, it's almost certainly a camera deadzone -- and at that point of ignition, there are three separate trails leading in the back door, front door, and improbably, the second floor fire escape where the offices are. It 00[00:47] <@Crion> climbed metal? [00:48] 10... [00:49] 13Is the smoke no longer billowing, quenched by the rain and moved by the wind? Melanie gets out of the car, even if there's no specific call for it. 00[00:49] <@Crion> Stewart's hard rain has been quite effective. 00[00:49] <@Crion> The firefighters, soaked, are baffled. [00:50] 10You pray for the storm of your life~ it's over and nothing survived~ 00[00:53] <@Crion> As the Sidereal smolders and the Freehold scrambles, it's very clear you're all at war. Now you just have to find out...with whom? 02[06:06] * VoxPrime (VoxPrime@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[06:09] * VoxPrime (VoxPrime@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) has joined #gofetch 02[10:33] * Disconnected Session Close: Sun Feb 23 10:33:49 2020 Session Start: Sun Feb 23 10:39:17 2020 Session Ident: #gofetch 03[10:39] * Now talking in #gofetch 03[10:39] * Topic is 'Who botches the Botchmen?' 03[10:39] * Set by Crion!Crion@sorcery-puhjpa.fios.verizon.net on Sun Sep 22 02:37:29 2019 03[10:39] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Crion 03[12:11] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 02[13:53] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. 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ZZZzzz…) 02[02:29] * VoxPrime (VoxPrime@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[02:46] * VoxPrime (VoxPrime@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) has joined #gofetch 02[03:04] * VoxPrime (VoxPrime@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[10:09] * VoxPrime (VoxPrime@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) has joined #gofetch [11:21]  [11:21]  [11:21]  [11:21]  [11:21]  [11:23] "...so because of the bug in the console's hardware, it's possible to program a continuous stream of inputs that the game just can't handle, and you can end up directly at the end of the game less than a second after you turn it on." [11:28] 10They're at the Wherehouse, it's probably a bit after lunchtime. Stewart's hanging around because he doesn't want to go home and record. What's Melanie up to, besides listening to Stewart natter about making computers play video games superhumanly fast? [11:30] 13Melanie's lying on one of the hollow's moderately shitty sofas - something she doesn't usually do, but she's laid down a bunch of sheets first to catch all the scraps and scrapes. [11:30] 13She's got some paper floating above her head and in theory she's working - thesis deadlines don't include a christmas break - but in practice she's staring at the scribbled pages and enjoying a personalised stream session while she muses about where to take these ideas next. [11:31] "You could probably get a vampire to do that with a real console. They could press the buttons at hyperspeed." [11:36] 10Stewart: "Two vampires, since it uses both controllers. Or I guess one really, really fast vampire. Or a four-armed vampire... anyway, it led to this really involved debate over what constitutes 'gameplay', with different schools of thought ranging from, like, any input counts to it doesn't count if you can't see your character on screen... there was a question of whether it 'obsoleted', [11:36] and consigned to archive, a similar project that also corrupts memory and executed arbitrary code, but requires you to actually play the game for a couple of minutes first." [11:36] 10He's about to keep going but the subconscious realization of how much he's monopolizing the conversation pushes him to ask, "What are you working on?" [11:37] 13Melanie: "You know, you're pretty good at verbal footnoting. Explained, conveyed the meaning of." [11:37] "I'm not really.. doing anything? Just assembling endnotes. Like footnotes but nobody reads them unless they're a dickhead." [11:38] 10Stewart: "Normative dickheads or dickheads within the cohort of people who read theses?" [11:40] 13She waves and most of the papers fall in a heap on the covered couch. One flies over to Stewart instead - it's covered in carefully formatted references with a lot of placeholders. [11:40] 13Collison, D.C. (2016). Exploring the power differential within and between intramarginality dynamics: The birth of the subsubaltern (ArXiv). University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, California. [11:41] "Within and between intramarginality.... subsubaltern... sounds like philosophy you need an electron microscope for." [11:42] "I need like.. exact page citations for the references I end up using, god knows which ones those will be. I don't want to keep everything on the computer but it's getting hard to keep track." [11:43] 13Melanie lifts her head at the mention of actual philosophy, though. "Intramarginality, it's a dialectic between groups who are alternately, meaning in different senses, othered by the same in-group." [11:43] "Augh. I don't give a shit about any of this." [11:46] 10Stewart: "Well if you ever need a break, you can always come vampire hunter hunting with me and Gaunt Rose." [11:49] "Actually... I could probably help with that." 13Melanie's thinking about contracts taught by Summer, pacts with the sun itself. But, wait- "Did you say vampire hunter hunter? Like the opposite of subsubaltern?" [11:51] 10Stewart: "Hunting a vampire hunter on behalf of-slash-in coordination with the vampires. There's a task force set up, it's called the Gang of Four, which may or may not be a deliberate reference." [11:52] 13She tries to sit up, ends up mostly standing. "I hope there's um.. more to it than that. The vampires can be friendly.. they're sad in a really hot way.. but if ordinary people want to.. how do I put this." [11:53] "The Freehold wouldn't usually stop people from fighting back." [11:53] 10Stewart: "The vampires who got murdered absolutely deserved it, insofar as anyone deserves to get bisected by a giant sword on a public dancefloor." [11:55] "It's like a... it's politics, you know. We've got these alliances, and mutual defense arrangements... Gaunt Rose I think sees it basically like you do, like, there's clearly one faction here responsible for a disproportionate amount of disruptive violence. The vampire rep didn't like that much. At the same time, the vampire rep almost killed someone feeding off them in the stockroom across [11:55] the hall from the meeting." [11:55] 13Melanie's having trouble calibrating that one. Just what does and does not justify, she mumbles something about 'disco-centric vertical elision'. [11:56] "Someone had to give her epinephrine to make sure she'd make it to the ambulance." [11:56] "Well. If the public executions are a problem, and it sounds like a problem, then maybe we could hunt down the hunter and tell them to do it quietly." [11:57] 10Stewart: "Right now I think the plan is to ask them to leave and go do it somewhere else." [11:57] "Vampires obviously want to kill him, but no one else really wants to." [12:00] Melanie: "Right. There's a lot you could debate here but.. we've got other problems and maybe it's best to just follow instructions. What kind of, um, leads have you guys got? Do you need someone to do research, or-" 13airquotes here- "engage in a confrontation?" [12:02] 10Stewart: "Right now Rose and I are thinking about forcing a meeting. We can use magic to make that happen - you remember the Contract I invoked to get us to Camden - and then learning more from the hunter - the Book just calls him 'The Boy' - and maybe convincing him to leave ourselves." [12:03] "I'll ask her if she thinks having backup would help - I don't wanna just show up with extra people without consulting her, it might not fit what she's got in mind and she's low-grade mad at me all the time as it is." 03[12:04] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch [12:04] Melanie: "I'll join you if it's okay and make sure he doesn't just run away. Also, I don't know if I've forgotten someone again and I hate to ask but. Who is Gaunt Rose?" [12:06] 10Stewart... can't remember if Melanie was around or visibly paying attention the last time he talked about this. "We're partners, basically. She was apprentice to the Lord Sage before Santander took me on. She feels like I'm muscling her out, like there can only be one Lord Sage and I'm gonna cost her the job." [12:08] 13Melanie: "Ohhh. Oh, I know that type. It doesn't really matter, but is she right?" [12:10] 10Stewart: "I don't know. Santander doesn't seem to think so, but Santander could be adopting a rhetorical position to get the best results out of his candidates or just, like, fooling himself. I think the Wyrd has an opinion, but the Wyrd's opinion is full of catches and loopholes. I need to research it more." [12:13] "I just... like I don't see it as a competition. There's more than enough work for two people even if there's only a title for one. But I feel like everything I say to her about it is wrong somehow." [12:13] 13Melanie: "Okay.. here's what you do. Don't say 'I have a friend-', although you do, btw. Please tell her, the Summer Court's Melanie Lucas can provide extra muscle to back us up. Extra vegetable fibre. Feel free to be like 'I know her, we're in the same cohort' if she asks but just present me as a.. facet of the situation. A problem/opportunity." [12:15] 10Stewart thinks about this for a bit before saying, "I don't know, like... I don't want her to think I'm trying to trick her, that's just going to poison the working relationship even more." [12:21] 13Melanie: "I'm not talking about a trick. I wouldn't be able to pull that off. What I mean- I've met a lot of girls like that, in candidate mode, often having to compete with someone unexpected- I don't know this woman but I don't think she's accept something that comes across as you bringing extra resources, trying to take credit for a better approach..." [12:21] *she'd [12:21] 10Stewart frowns. "Maybe you're right." [12:23] "The main thing is to make things, ideas, people available, something to be selected as an option. So that it's part of the rules.." [12:24] 13Melanie: "Maybe I'm overfitting to this situation, it just really.. reminds me of some team dynamics." [12:24] 10Stewart: "How so?" [12:29] 13Melanie: "There was a girl on the 2015 squad when I got into college basketball, Riley.. she wasn't the point guard but maybe she should have been. I was gonna be point guard or center because, Riley would tell you, I was tall and on a scholarship and one of two white girls on the team. I also mostly played lacrosse at the time. Like, before college I'd been on a court less than a dozen [12:29] times." [12:30] 13She starts packing up the sofa-covering sheet, bundling together bark and notepaper indiscriminately. "I get that same feeling I guess." [12:30] "What you think of as a 'working relationship' might not be the context she's even operating in?" [12:32] 10Stewart: "Man, that sucks." [12:37] 13Quietly: "We never became friends. But I remember her, I don't remember most of their names..." [12:39] 10Stewart gets up and stretches - a habit engrained from streaming time - before sitting back down. "It just seems like, if there's a pre-existing disposition or commitment to view your presence as intrusive, then anything you do can reinforce that. It's like, you ever get the thing where you're mad at someone for some unrelated reason and then suddenly all of their personal tics and [12:39] mannerisms are the worst way to be?" [12:40] "And then like... what if my presence *is* intrusive?" [12:41] "In the strictest sense it is. Like I got replaced when I got taken, and now that I'm back the world needs to make room for this whole entire additional thing." [12:42] 13Melanie: "Nervensage." [12:42] "I don't know what word." [12:43] "Nervenßage? No, um.. nervensäge. It means nervesaw." [12:43] "You haven't done anything wrong, though! A sawblade doesn't." [12:47] 10Stewart: "The person moving a sawblade can do something wrong, though. Is the implication then that I'm being forced to do this?" [12:49] 13Melanie: "No, it was just a bad analogy. That's a phrase I came across in like, disciples of Nietzche.. ich bin eine nervensäge. They were reclaiming the slur of being an incredibly annoying person, you see." [12:50] 13She smiles. "I have no useful advice! You probably are inconvenient to her, a genuine obstacle to what she wants. But, like, you're doing useful things that are good for everyone? Including Gaunt Rose pretty soon I bet? So that just.. won't last." [12:50] "Wait, I do have advice!" [12:51] 10Stewart looks over. [12:52] 13Melanie: "It's quite possible that one of you will 'lose' here, like.. not get the cool title. If it's Rose, she'll have to get over it or not. You probably wouldn't care? But don't try being, like, actually you should have this. I am condescending to grant you the prize for which I do not care. Ho, my steed, away!" [12:52] "Um, I'm not saying you would do that!" [12:53] 10Stewart: "I actually did consider that, but I worked out on my own that it'd just make everything worse." [12:53] "So. Not bad advice." [12:54] "It sounds so petty but it just... I guess it just bugs me that she doesn't like me." [12:55] 13Melanie sets her filthy sheet-bundle by a door to take out later, then drifts back over to stewart and rests her elbows on a countertop. "Well.. what percentage are you going for?" [12:56] 10Stewart blinks. "I don't know, I don't really think of it that way. I guess, in practice, a hundred." [12:57] "Which sounds silly, but also like... why would you deliberately aim for a lower percentage?" [12:57] 13Melanie: "Of people liking you? Because it's really really hard?" [12:59] 10Stewart: "Well sure, I can understand not wanting to worry about it at all. But caring halfway doesn't make sense to me." [13:01] "What's your percentage?" [13:03] 13Melanie frowns, fully engaged now. "It should. Care is.. should be reciprocal to some extent. If everyone likes you on some level, they're all the same to you, right? People don't work that way, there are actual meaningful relationships, l- love- why would you want to put time into getting on at neutral with every single person out there even if.. due to circumstances that neither of [13:03] you control, it's a burden?" [13:06] 10Stewart: "Well, like I said, I don't really think about trying to befriend groups of people. In practice it's like, oh I've met this person, I'm going to try to be nice to them. Oh, it's this new person, I should pay attention and figure out how they want to be treated. You know? And here it's... speaking of German words, do you know zugzwang?" [13:08] 13Melanie: "I know just enough German to ask where the bathroom is in Renaissance Austria. Zugzwang is.. chess?" [13:10] 10Stewart nods. "It means the obligation to act. In chess, the turn order is locked and taking your turns is mandatory. So often, especially in endgame positions, you see situations where the correct thing to do would be nothing, you know, pass your turn. But that's against the rules! So you are compelled to move, to take a position, knowing it will weaken you. That's being 'in zugzwang' [13:10] - it's when no matter what you do, it makes things worse." [13:11] 13Melanie: "Oh so in English - that sucks ass?" [13:12] 10Stewart snorts. "More or less." [13:13] "So I guess the play there is just, get weakened. Which sucks. Then keep going." [13:15] 10Stewart: "...yeah. I don't think there's a trick to it, or anything. I'm not doing anything *wrong*, which means there isn't anything *right* I could be doing instead." [13:16] "It sucks, though! It sucks so bad." [13:19] "Making people comfortable is important to you." [13:20] 10Stewart kind of shrugs and says, "...yeah." [13:20] "What would you do?" [13:21] 13Melanie: "I don't know if it will help but feel to.. pay less attention around me and the others. We know you and we're gonna interpret stuff charitably." 13Like when Stewart was going nuts over not being able to do anything about the Terminator. [13:21] "I'd..." 13She thinks. Tries to remember. [13:25] "The old Melanie would.. assume I was in the right, so no offering up the title out of misplaced charity. Get smug about being the team star like it was some natural outgrowth of being popular at parties. Have a year and a half of one-sided rivalry that cooled into sort of.. weird flirting. Start running into each other at weird times even though you're now taking different paths and not [13:25] competing anymore. Have some of that weird nervensage hanging about but with a new focus, make some tentative.. ehh." [13:25] "I mean if you had me work with someone who doesn't want to be there now I'd hide or fight them. Depends on how important the job is." [13:26] *doesn't want me to be there [13:26] 13She looks around nervously like Maggie or Tony might jump out of a cupboard and quibble with the advice. [13:30] 10Stewart: "I like the idea that meanness is conserved somehow, like you can budget it." [13:37] 13Melanie: "If it really doesn't take you energy to befriend and coddle all human beings, that's great. I'm merely saying." 02[16:40] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 03[16:51] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-53n.bj9.251.69.IP) has joined #gofetch 02[21:02] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-53n.bj9.251.69.IP) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 03[21:55] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch Session Time: Mon Mar 02 00:00:00 2020 02[00:40] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. 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ZZZzzz…) 03[19:56] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch Session Time: Sat Mar 07 00:00:00 2020 02[01:01] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: Textual IRC Client: www.textualapp.com) 03[01:32] * CBN2 (CBN@sorcery-cnj1tc.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) has joined #gofetch 02[01:35] * CBN (CBN@sorcery-nl5cgq.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[05:05] * CBN (CBN@sorcery-91adv2.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) has joined #gofetch 02[05:07] * CBN2 (CBN@sorcery-cnj1tc.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[10:42] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 02[15:46] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: Textual IRC Client: www.textualapp.com) 03[19:24] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 03[21:13] * Crion_ is now known as Crion 02[21:13] * Disconnected 02[21:13] * Attempting to rejoin channel #gofetch 03[21:13] * Rejoined channel #gofetch 03[21:13] * Topic is 'Who botches the Botchmen?' 03[21:13] * Set by Crion!Crion@sorcery-puhjpa.fios.verizon.net on Sun Sep 22 02:37:29 2019 03[21:13] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Crion 00[21:19] <@Crion> 00[21:19] <@Crion> 00[21:19] <@Crion> 00[21:19] <@Crion> 00[21:19] <@Crion> 00[21:19] <@Crion> 00[21:19] <@Crion> 00[21:19] <@Crion> 00[21:19] <@Crion> 00[21:19] <@Crion> 00[21:19] <@Crion> 00[21:19] <@Crion> 00[21:20] <@Crion> So, it's January 30th, and everything is on fire in the Freehold of Baltimore. Metaphorically, if no longer literally. 00[21:20] <@Crion> Let's try that again. 00[21:21] <@Crion> So, it's December 30th, and everything is on fire in the Freehold of Baltimore. Metaphorically, if no longer literally. 00[21:22] <@Crion> The Sidereal has thankfully been soaked before the firefighters even arrived by a localized downpour, mystifying the soggy civil servants. The Spring Court and its Gardener are securing the North Avenue Community Center, while Summer and Autumn have rushed to the Law Offices of Kingsley, Santander & Ravens. The wizard Union is on his way. 00[21:23] <@Crion> Everything still is just a little bit chaotic, as an understatement, and the Court of Winter is nowhere to be found. But hey, at least you have each other? 00[21:24] <@Crion> Where is the Wherehouse motley, right now? Are they sticking around the nightclub, or heading elsewhere, or...? [21:27] 10Once the smoke is blowing away, Stewart rejoins the others and tells them what he saw, the ignition trails leading from a camera dead zone to every entrance simultaneously, including climbing the metal fire escape. [21:30] 7Maggie: "Do you know of any Contract, or combination of Contracts, that could do that?" [21:30] 6Nels' eyebrows shoot up. "That's- how does that...?" [21:30] 7He's the party wizard, might as well ask him first. [21:30] 7Before the *other* definition of 'party wizard' gets here. [21:31] 6Nels wouldn't even be sure where to go from here, other than 'home' or 'her apartment,' neither of which seem like appropriate suggestions. The community center is a close third, but apparently it's being handled... [21:35] 10Stewart: "Any Elemental could've done it. Far as we can tell the fire's just fire." [21:41] "...did the doors at the Sidereal always hang so far above the floor?" [21:41] 5Once the bulk of the weirdness has died down, Tony takes a minute to breathe, and think. [21:42] 6Nels just shrugs. 00[21:43] <@Crion> The only person around right now who might be able to answer that is The Kitchen, who is currently hovering around his assistants as they get treated for smoke inhalation at one of the ambulances. Some EMTs will come up to you too, asking if you need help. Cops might start showing up soon... [21:43] 5Tony scratches his head: "Have we been around here with the doors shut before, ever? I don't think we have..." [21:44] "Yeah, I don't know... if we stick around we're going to start getting asked questions." 00[21:44] <@Crion> It's then that Union arrives. 00[21:44] <@Crion> And stepping out of the car with him...is Fireman. [21:45] 10NICE. [21:46] 10Stewart doesn't wave, but he does point out their arrival to the others. [21:47] 5Tony, quietly: "So who's that now?" 00[21:47] <@Crion> The BFD lieutenant in charge of the situation walks over in his galoshes to tell the two they need to clear out and then stops when he sees who the big man is; Fireman gives him a nod as he produces a badge, like it's a formality. "Evening, Dawson. Patrolmen will be arriving shortly; tell them to cordon the area and send them to me if they're too big to take orders from a firefighter. This 00[21:47] <@Crion> is the Arson Unit's scene." [21:48] 10Stewart: "That's Union, and with him is Fireman. Fireman helped me when the wizard cops were trying to hassle me." 00[21:48] <@Crion> Union looks like he's trying mightily to surpress his shiteating grin. He's even taken off his jacket and is wearing a badge on a chain around his neck, too. [21:49] 6Nels, quietly: "Seems like a good friend to have." 00[21:49] <@Crion> As the BFD lieutenant scurries off, the two wizards walk over. "Never trust a cop," Fireman remarks. 00[21:49] <@Crion> He looks around. "You all good? Didn't lose anyone in there?" [21:49] 5Tony files it away for later to ask about wizard cops, which sound like the worst thing twice. [21:49] 10Stewart shakes his head. "Everybody's accounted for." 00[21:50] <@Crion> Fireman nods. "Alright. Let's start our canvass now. Get this done before too many real cops arrive." 00[21:50] <@Crion> "What do you know so far?" [21:52] 10Stewart: "Fire started in a camera dead zone around back, and it hit every entrance simultaneously, including the second floor fire escape. Seemed to have slid under the doors without any trouble. It's possible the gap's been widened somehow, but I can't tell offhand." 00[21:52] <@Crion> Union winks. "I'm a sergeant for at least the next fifteen minutes. Gotta respect our troops." 00[21:53] <@Crion> Strange thing about their badges -- they seem subtly...different, somehow, every time you look at them. Like they're changing to more completely fill the cover story as Union and Fireman get into character. Union's badge, for instance, now has him in Arson out of the Southeastern, with sergeant's bars. [21:53] 10Hah. Nice. [21:53] 6Neat trick! That probably comes in handy a lot. 00[21:53] <@Crion> Fireman nods. "Show me the flashpoint. Ah, where the fire started." [21:54] 10Stewart leads Fireman and whoever else around back. [21:54] 7Maggie grins at Union. This is a neat trick. 00[21:56] <@Crion> When they arrive, Fireman circles the scorch spot a couple times, kneels down, and stares at it intensely. "Huh. The fire qua the fire seems normal to me. Scorching like you'd expect; no supernal trace or paradox...seems like it moved quick, though. That could be the accelerant, or it could be particularly skillful Ruling Forces, or...your magic doesn't leave traces we can see easily. A very 00[21:56] <@Crion> natural collaboration. Elemental is the term?" [21:57] 10Stewart: "Yeah." 00[21:58] <@Crion> He nods. "Let's follow the trail inside. The path seems very...clean." 00[21:58] <@Crion> Fireman heads for the backdoor. "Got any idea on suspects?" This is to everyone, not just Stewart. "That you can tell me about." 00[21:58] <@Crion> "I'm guessing you called in the Consilium for a reason." [22:01] 7Maggie: "Somebody was faking security camera footage with magic to draw the Freehold away from here, and they were walking through doors without being on the other side first. Could've been one of us, but it could've been someone else, too, and the vampires and werewolfs don't really seem like the type." [22:01] "We're just trying to rule things out. Or in, or what have you." [22:02] 5Tony: "And if it means anything, they were faking footage of me and Maggie here-" 5he thumbs to Maggie "- and then this whole thing happened." [22:04] 13Melanie trudges into the room, boots covered with sodden ash from the alley outside. "I've called all this in." 13To Summer, naturally. She looks at the wizards. "Um." 00[22:05] <@Crion> Union: "Werewolves don't fake video footage. Vampires do, though. But if it was earlier today...yeah, I can see why you ruled them out." 00[22:05] <@Crion> "Still...there are edge cases with those guys." 00[22:05] <@Crion> "Some wake up early." [22:05] 10Stewart: "Do they fake security footage *and* start fires, though?" 00[22:06] <@Crion> Union: "That's...a fair point. But sure! If they're dangerously insane." 00[22:06] <@Crion> "They don't make it a point of avoiding the security camera, though." 00[22:06] <@Crion> "So yeah, let's rule them out." [22:06] 5Tony: "Can they do one and then hire someone to do the other? They've probably got like, what, the bug eating guy. From the movie." [22:06] 5Tony: "For day stuff." 00[22:07] <@Crion> Union: "Yeah, they've got people for that." 00[22:07] <@Crion> Fireman ignores the door for now, staring at the accelerant track. He waves a few uniforms off with his badge raised, and Union will saunter over with his own badge to get them to leave the motley and Fireman alone. [22:07] 6Nels: "I don't see why they would, though..." [22:07] 7Maggie: "Hey, Melanie. I called these guys in, don't worry." [22:08] 13Melanie: "Oh yeah, hi. I wasn't worried." [22:08] 7But Melanie's always worried! 00[22:08] <@Crion> He looks over the room once or twice, frowning at the walls. It's hard to tell by the bare eye alone what's going on in all those scorch marks, but Fireman clearly isn't just eyeballing it. To Stewart: "You said it came in through the fire escape, too?" 00[22:08] <@Crion> "The fire." [22:08] 10Stewart nods. "Straight up the metal." [22:08] 13Following up on what Nels said: "Um.. the motive thing applies to everyone. Even They don't have an obvious reason to do this." 00[22:08] <@Crion> "And no one inside saw anything?" [22:09] "So there's an inobvious reason, obviously." [22:09] "Only people inside were in the kitchen." [22:09] 6Nels: "We should talk to him -- I was going to earlier, about the doors thing, but he had other people around." 00[22:10] <@Crion> Fireman's hands are in his pockets as he stares at the ceiling now. "So we don't have any eyewitnesses giving us any explanation of how this petrol-gasoline mixture ran up  the walls and across the ceiling. Same with the fire escape outside." 00[22:10] <@Crion> "You're looking for magic, you've found it there." 00[22:10] <@Crion> Fireman turns away. "Now, for us, that's Ruling Matter. Basic stuff, but not entry-level. That still Elementalist for you?" [22:11] 5Tony: "If they're anything like me, they can only control the element that's them, or close enough." [22:12] 10Stewart: "Yeah I don't know of any gasoline Elementals in the freehold." [22:12] 5Tony: "So, if it's a fire guy, he could move fire, water moves water and ice and snow, but...I don't even know what'd be near enough to gas or oil or whatever." [22:13] 13Melanie: "The range is too long. Without a.. special deal, you can't naturally move something along a ceiling to the far side of a room while standing outside." [22:14] "We can manipulate things on a larger scale, of course, but only with a consistent narrative. Like." [22:14] 13She thinks better of what she was going to say: 'If I was going to set the bar on fire, it wouldn't involve gasoline.' [22:15] "I mean, the details are beyond our kind of work and also unnecessary." 00[22:16] <@Crion> Fireman nods. "Alright, let's look at the seals on the doorjamb." 00[22:17] <@Crion> He kneels down and examines it for a few moments. "...So are any of you aware of a changeling who has made a dread arcane pact with the concept of doors?" [22:17] 10Stewart: "In... what sense?" 00[22:18] <@Crion> "The jambs have been raised, evenly but artificially. You can tell by the wealing of the metal as it contracted and increased its density. Well. I can. Are you aware of any changeling who might have the arcane ability to do that?" [22:19] 6Nels: "That's not really how they work..." [22:19] 10Stewart: "Not here. We could all do that in our Hollows." 00[22:19] <@Crion> Fireman: "Then you're looking at Weaving Matter. And you were right to give us a call." 00[22:19] <@Crion> "You've got a willworker problem." [22:20] 13Melanie: "Was this done to spread the fire, or just to get through the doors? Again, we wouldn't need that to pass them." [22:20] 10Stewart: "One of Society's people?" 00[22:20] <@Crion> "Fire needed air to complete the passthrough and rush up the accelerant path, into the beams. Honestly I'm shocked this place is still standing. The placement was professional." [22:20] 10Stewart: "It rained pretty hard." 00[22:21] <@Crion> Fireman nods again. "Well done." 00[22:21] <@Crion> "There are a couple...freelancers in the area. But none with this particular skillset. Well. There's one, but she...wouldn't be interested." 00[22:21] <@Crion> "I can check in on her. But my assumption would be Society's people." [22:22] 13That's the only wizard's name Melanie knows. She'd blanch if she could. 00[22:22] <@Crion> Union bounds back up. "One Jenna Kilpatrick is here. From Arson. She's very interested to speak with the Arson Unit detective already on site." 00[22:22] <@Crion> Fireman straightens up. "Time for us to go." [22:23] 10Ah jeez. [22:23] 6Don't have to tell us twice. 00[22:25] <@Crion> He's...a bit flushed, for the first time. Odd for a guy so completely in control about fire. [22:25] 10...ah, jeez. 00[22:26] <@Crion> He is already out the back door, Union grinning and pulling off his badge as he follows. [22:27] 6Interesting. Nels follows close behind. [22:27] 13Melanie: "Okay but- let's go but, what do they actually want? The cancer wizards. How could we.. as a group.. have drawn their ire? We don't have group-enemies, that's the trick. It's mutual defense not.. active operation." [22:27] 10Stewart: "...we should go too, unless we want to talk to the actual cops." [22:27] 6She pauses at the chatter before nodding back to Stewart. "Yeah, we should... escalate, somewhere else." [22:28] 5Tony heads on out, nodding. [22:29] 10Stewart'll take everyone back to the Wherehouse. [22:29] 7Time to skedaddle. [22:30] 13Do we trust these guys enough to take them there? Actually, Maggie's mentioned having Union over before, it should be fine. [22:31] 10If there's some other place they want to meet, then have at. 00[22:31] <@Crion> The wizards aren't heading back to their car immediately when they get out; they seem to be waiting for their moment. If you want to invite them, there's your moment. [22:32] 6The Wherehouse is probably safest... 00[22:33] <@Crion> The reason, of course, is bound up in the fact that Serrato, your driver, is chatting with some uniforms and trying to placate an irate blonde with impeccable hair and a badge on her waist. He'd tried to remain inconspicuous mostly, but he IS actually a cop, and Arson Unit Detective Jenna Kilpatrick knows him professionally. [22:34] 7Maggie: "You fellas got a safe place to chat? We can regroup at our place if there's'nt." 00[22:35] <@Crion> Eventually, Serrato gets her to walk off, gets into the Escalade, and backs it into the Sidereal parking lot. There's room for everyone, especially since if this narration recalls correctly, Stewart drove himself. [22:35] 10Yep. [22:35] 10Should be plenty of seats for a ride to Lexington Market. 00[22:36] <@Crion> If the motley makes the invitation, Union will agree for both of them, with an annoyed look from Fireman but a nod. 00[22:36] <@Crion> Their car is on the far side of the cordon anyway. 00[22:36] <@Crion> Illegally parked, but what is that to a wizard? [22:37] 7Such power...! [22:37] 13Melanie: "We really need to ask you some questions please. Sorry if it's a burden but this is beyond what we usually.. I mean 'we' here should read the Freehold, but, we're here." [22:37] 10In that case the two wizards join the motley back in the Wherehouse. How far along is it, now? Is Maggie still working on the second floor? [22:38] 7Yeah. At the moment the second floor is more of a loft, but that means its a good place to store crap you don't want underfoot. [22:38] 7On an unrelated note, Steve has a lil' nest up there. [22:38] 10Where are Lauren and Chup? 00[22:38] <@Crion> honk 00[22:39] <@Crion> Given the scramble order, they're back at the Wherehouse. 00[22:39] <@Crion> Safest place to be right now. [22:39] 10Okay, good. [22:39] 10Stewart: "Which of Society's people do you think could do this kind of magic?" [22:40] 5As soon as they're in the door, assuming the place hasn't burnt down or been raided, Tony's going to head to the fridge and grab some beers. Assuming that, also, has not been raided (by Steve). 00[22:41] <@Crion> Fireman grimaces. "Society himself could have done it, but this isn't his style." 00[22:41] <@Crion> Union: "Yeah, he likes to walk out of the burning building laughing and shit." [22:41] 6Nels visibly relaxes once they're back inside. She does do a quick look around to see if anything's out of place, but that's just habit at this point. [22:41] 10Stewart: "Yeah." [22:41] "Charming," 6she says. [22:42] 5From the kitchen, head in the fridge: "Hey! Wizards drink beer right?" 00[22:42] <@Crion> Fireman: "Permit and Singular are bruisers; you met them--" 00[22:42] <@Crion> He blinks. "Yeah." 00[22:42] <@Crion> Union: "Hell yeah." [22:42] 13To Tony: "Skip the ones with a grape wrapper, those are Vines of Bacchus." [22:43] 7Maggie: "I hope you don't mind if we assume that this is now a both of us problem. I can't speak for the others, but from what I've heard I feel like if the evil wizards are pissing on our back stoop it's because they expect you to come step in it somewhere down the line." [22:43] 7She thinks a second. "Oh! Not that I'm complaining or tossing blame. These guys seem like real b-holes and threats to good wizardry are *also* everyone's problem. Sorry. Might shoulda led with that." [22:43] 5Tony returns with three of his colder MGDs, tossing one a piece to Union and Fireman, and starting in on the first one for himself. "Welcome welcome." 00[22:44] <@Crion> As you talk, there's loud, approaching, sequential HONKS. Eventually Chup trundles into the room, Steve strutting behind him in an Army drill sergeant's cap, honking in time. Somehow, some way, Steve has found a way to make the cat exercise. Chup looks annoyed but resigned. 00[22:44] <@Crion> Their rounds take them past you, and out of the room. [22:45] 10God damn. 00[22:45] <@Crion> Lauren is in the kitchen already, and has greeted Tony and popped her head out to say hi to both the motley and the wizards. Everyone seems to know each other, at least enough that introductions aren't in order. [22:45] 7Incredible. Simply incredible. [22:45] 5Tony: "Hey Steve! Give 'em hell!" 5He offers as they pass. [22:45] 13Melanie completely ignores les parade des goblins. "Could we please start by all getting on the same page. Oh.. Mr. Fireman, I'm Melanie Lucas. This is Maggie, Tony, Nels, and if it's not a wizard secret... who are Society's people? What do they want, what can they do, why are they a force?" 00[22:46] <@Crion> Lauren slaps Tony lightly on the arm. "Do NOT shame Chup. I just don't want him getting cat diabetes." 00[22:47] <@Crion> Union, to Maggie, about wizards: "Yeah. But like...it's still weird?" [22:48] 5Tony, quietly to Lauren: "And this keeps Steve out of my beer, see." 00[22:48] <@Crion> "I'd never accuse Society of being direct, but, this is REALLY indirect." [22:48] 6Nels gawks a little at Steve and Chup, but, well. All right. 00[22:48] <@Crion> "Usually there's just the one level of trolling remove, like at the pizza place." 00[22:48] <@Crion> "Or the parking ticket thing." [22:49] 7Maggie shrugs. "I mean, nothing says it was him personally. He's just the guy we've heard of." 00[22:49] <@Crion> "Stewart's bascially gotten the Society Experience, is what I'm saying." [22:50] 13Melanie: "Everyone knows little pieces of information and has a vague idea of individuals but there's more to it than that, isn't there? Who are they and what would lead them to change their behaviour patterns?" 00[22:50] <@Crion> Fireman, with a beer now. "So yeah. Permit and Singular are brusiers. Singular probably has the know-how but this would be a step up in what we'd expect from him. Counselor isn't this hands-on." [22:50] 13Melanie: "Excuse me!" [22:51] 13She's standing behind a sofa with both hands clutching the top of it in a kind of death grip. Maybe these guys will refuse to tell us the things they know but she's going to make them say it. 00[22:51] <@Crion> He of course introduces himself first. 00[22:51] <@Crion> As does Union. 00[22:56] <@Crion> Fireman turns to Melanie and stares at her, and takes another sip of beer. "If I recall correctly it was you who called us for help." 00[22:56] <@Crion> "Singular. Permit. Counselor. Society. Anathema. Gary. The Pylon of Baltimore." 00[22:57] <@Crion> "They serve the Throne. They See it." 00[22:57] <@Crion> Union: "Fuckin assholes too." 00[22:58] <@Crion> honk honk HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK honk honk 00[22:58] <@Crion> Another lap completed. [22:58] 13Melanie: "I'm very grateful that you're helping out. Is.. the Throne.. an entity with goals and enemies? Someone or something that wouldn't previously be concerned with us here?" 00[22:58] <@Crion> Union and Fireman look at each other. A beat passes. Smiles quiver on their faces. Another beat passes. 00[22:58] <@Crion> They crack up laughing. 00[22:59] <@Crion> Fireman: "Goals--" 00[22:59] <@Crion> Union: "--yeah, yeah, they have goals--" [23:00] 5Tony: "This feels like bad-laughing, like, 'hey we just asked you if Keepers are nice' laughing." [23:00] 6Nels purses her lips. 00[23:01] <@Crion> Union: "hahaha...Yeah, that's about right. That's a good compromise." [23:01] 5Tony: "So, how bad are the goals, and how bad is it that, if they're the ones messing with all of us, that any messing has to do with those goals?" 00[23:01] <@Crion> Fireman: "So. You guys know the old saw about how it's better to rule in Hell than serve in Heaven? That shit?" 00[23:01] <@Crion> "These guys are ruling in Hell because one day they dream of serving in Heaven." 00[23:02] <@Crion> Union: "Ten Exarchs on their ten thrones, each like, fuckin' president of their Arcanum. Ruling the Supernal. Making life shit for the rest of us down here." [23:03] 6Nels: "That sounds awful." [23:03] "And they just, do this? On purpose?" [23:03] 5Tony: "OH so like Keepers except they can be in the rest of the world, okay, so that is very bad. Now do we need to invade someone's dreams in order to kill the people serving them? If it comes to that." [23:04] 5Tony: "Or do they die regular-like." [23:04] 13Melanie: "It's hard to tie such a grandiose malignity to any specific life-shitmaking. I guess that's a problem normally, that you don't have a specific idea of what they'll be after?" [23:05] 5Tony: "If they burned down a bar we like that's pretty specifically shitty, and also, framing me and Maggie for a murder! OH maybe that's it. Yeah why would they want the changeling courts going to war? If this is them. Just for fun?" [23:06] 10Stewart: "It wouldn't make us go to war with each other. Everyone got hit simultaneously." 00[23:06] <@Crion> Union: "Doing bad shit for fun does sound like Society. But if they're taking such measures to--" 00[23:06] <@Crion> "What?" 00[23:06] <@Crion> Fireman: "What?" [23:06] 10Stewart: "There was a break-in at KS&R too." 00[23:06] <@Crion> Lauren has joined the group, with a beer for Stewart if he wants one. [23:06] 10Stewart waves it off. [23:06] 6Nels: "And the Community Center." 00[23:06] <@Crion> She'll hand it to Steve next time he passes by. [23:06] 13Melanie: "A Summer Court member was also killed- just outside our stronghold." [23:07] "It did initially look like an attempt to pit us against each other. But then it started to look like a distraction for something greater." 00[23:07] <@Crion> Union: "So this was an operation." [23:07] "..the attack on the bar? Or is that a distraction too.." [23:07] 10Stewart: "Collaborating with someone, maybe?" [23:08] "We fought something like a scrambled ochema in the Hedge the other day, too/ [23:08] ." 00[23:08] <@Crion> Union: "That...or they know all your secrets and the ways to manipulate you just, on their own." 00[23:08] <@Crion> Fireman: "That didn't seem like the case with the pizza place though, right? He didn't hit you where you--" 00[23:09] <@Crion> Union grimaces at that word; Fireman almost snarls. Clearly, Sommelier didn't fill them in. [23:09] 5Tony looks at Stewart: "Is THAT what the orb was? A scrambled oaky ma?"5Under his breath: "what's a...nevermind." [23:09] 10Stewart: "Oh, jeez. Yeah, an ochema is like an avatar of one of their evil wizard gods. The 'Exarchs', I guess they're called." 00[23:10] <@Crion> Union, weakly: "Yeah. Yep." [23:10] 13Does the Oath to Winter bar us from telling them why and how we fought the shadow orb? [23:10] "I was looking into it and Sommelier helped me dig some information up about it." [23:10] 13Melanie: "What!" [23:10] "Why would something like that be attacking us? And how could we- no, it was pretty weak after all. Not unstoppable." [23:10] "Its name, specifically. 'The Sun in Shadow', but run through a ROT13 cipher. Gur Vha Ha Fun-Q-BJ." 00[23:11] <@Crion> The oath bars you from saying the reason that you were acting on the orders of the King of Winter to achieve a specific outcome, but not describing the steps you took to achieve the outcome. [23:11] 5Tony: "Okay so wait, Melanie, maybe it's like....think about it. That whole thing was kind of us walking into the middle of something else, and we didn't lose. So maybe all of this, or at least, some parts of it, are trying to double down on making us lose now?" [23:11] "ROT13 is just rotating the alphabet a half-cycle forward, basically. It's not really used to encrypt things but to bypass filters and make images non-obvious." 00[23:11] <@Crion> It also does not bar you from saying the reason you can't answer a question is that you swore an oath to the King of Winter. [23:11] 7Maggie frowns. "I can't say I have a lotta respect for these evil wizard gods if I was able to wallop one of their avatars." 00[23:12] <@Crion> Union: "Well, that's kinda pedestrian shit." [23:12] "Sommelier was very clear that we should not have been able to do that." 00[23:12] <@Crion> "I mean, for wizards. We used it when moving weed all the time." [23:12] "Make of that what you will." [23:12] 5Tony: "And that would also explain why they EXTRA wanted to fuck with me and Maggie, because we extra fucked with the yolky egg." [23:12] 5Tony: "Just as a super-petty side to something they were already planning to do." [23:12] 13To Tony: "So this whole thing could be retaliation against Baltimore becoming accidentally involved in something that actually matters." [23:13] 5Tony ponders: "Hey, wizards can look places where they aren't, right? That's a magic spell you can do?" 5Sort-of-addressed to Union and Fireman. [23:14] 6Well, being in the wrong place at the wrong time is sort of a habit for... [23:14] 10Stewart: "The question is, what? Where did that false ochema come from? Did Counselor summon a real one first? Or what?" 00[23:14] <@Crion> Union nods. "There's ways to do that." 00[23:14] <@Crion> That's to Tony. 00[23:14] <@Crion> Fireman: "Ochema shit is above our paygrade. We'll need to loop Jesuit and Everafter in." 00[23:14] <@Crion> Union sort of grimaces at Everafter's name. [23:14] 5To the rest of the group: "So what if, the thing we were looking into in the first place when we fought the angry egg. What if there wasn't the thing we were looking for in the first place, what if it was a wizard getting the information people assumed was getting out there another way?" [23:15] 13The accidental interference theory makes more sense to Melanie than the Freehold being targeted. Stewart said Society was engaged in 'a war to keep Heaven sealed'. How can that even relate to anything changelings do? But what does a "pylon" do, and why would they divert from doing it to perform a coordinated attack? [23:15] 5He shrugs: "But maybe I'm putting too many wizards into this." 00[23:15] <@Crion> Union hums something. [23:15] 10Stewart: "There's no way this is all escalation over the Book, right?" [23:17] 10Stewart looks at Union: "Uhhhhhh." [23:17] 5Tony taps his foot along [23:18] 5Tony: "Are all these uhh...Pylon? That was the word? Are all those guys local? Is Baltimore a big center for wizard shit?" 00[23:18] <@Crion> Fireman chuckles. [23:19] 5Tony: "Wait is uh. Is everywhere a big center for wizard shit because of, you know. Sorry first time dealing with any of you much." 00[23:19] <@Crion> Union winks at Stewart. 00[23:19] <@Crion> Fireman, to Stewart: "I don't think so." [23:19] 10Okay, so, no interdimensional serial killer subtext there, then...? [23:19] 13Melanie: "Maybe it's another 'revitalisation project'." [23:19] 10He doesn't relax much. "Okay." 00[23:20] <@Crion> I mean. Who knows at this point? But Union's a weird stoner and was probably just making a joke about a meme video. 00[23:20] <@Crion> Probably! 00[23:20] <@Crion> Union, to Tony: "It's weird. Baltimore is like...a Seer backwater, despite DC being huge for them." 00[23:20] <@Crion> Fireman: "We've done a lot of work." 00[23:21] <@Crion> Union: "And like...Society's the kind of psycho you don't actually trust anywhere but enemy territory." [23:21] 6Nels: "Would they be trying to get it back -- oh." 00[23:21] <@Crion> Fireman laughs. "Can you imagine him pulling this shit in Denver." [23:21] 10Stewart: "It's the same in the Court, the vampire government here fought a bloody war to separate from DC and now they're basically independent." 00[23:22] <@Crion> honk honk HONK HONK HONK [23:22] 10Stewart: "Steve? What's up?" 00[23:22] <@Crion> The final lap complete, Steve flourishes and then salutes Chup, who stares back with lidded, annoyed eyes, and then the goose wanders over to a little cushion he's put in and flops down with his beer. 00[23:23] <@Crion> Chup walks over and flops down on top of his lower body. But Steve, who still has access to his beer, doesn't care. 00[23:23] <@Crion> Fireman: "I'm sorry, but what the fuck?" [23:23] 10Stewart: "Oh, he's just-- okay." [23:24] 6Nels: "That's Steve." [23:24] "I thought he had an announcement but he was just finishing the parade." 00[23:24] <@Crion> Lauren: "It's fine." 00[23:24] <@Crion> Union: "We're in their house, bro." 00[23:24] <@Crion> Fireman shakes his head. "Right. I'm sorry. Did I miss any questions?" [23:24] 5Tony: "It's ok Steve, these guys are cool. Nice hustle out there." [23:25] 13Changelings.. don't engage in a nationwide struggle for territorial control. We're just trying to reclaim bits of lives. The Baltimore Freehold feels quite small at times. "We shouldn't keep you if you need to report stuff. But can I ask one question. If your- if these guys go after some group like ours, a collateral thing to the main battle, what do they usually expect to happen? A [23:25] mundane organisation would just.. no chance. People like us.. is there anything we can realistically do?" [23:25] 13Apart from trying to make nice with the other kind of wizard. 00[23:25] <@Crion> Chup extends a paw towards the beer, and Steve looks questioningly up at Lauren. She says, with no room for argument: "Absolutely not." [23:25] 5Tony considers what they've just said, and rubs the bridge of his nose: "I don't wanna know but I do...how many wizards and vampires are there? Baltimore or in general, if you have a number or a guess." 00[23:25] <@Crion> Chup: "Mrow." 00[23:26] <@Crion> Fireman, to Melanie: "So...yes. A lot, actually. There's a huge difference between our magic and yours. You're actually much more powerful than you realize." 00[23:26] <@Crion> Union: "Ah, the fuckin, paradox talk." [23:27] 13Melanie: "Your powers are really flexible, subtle. But they can't just attack us directly?" [23:27] "Or rather, we can fight back if they do?" 00[23:27] <@Crion> Union, to Tony: "Can't give you an exact count, but it's probably somewhere around fifty combined? Something like that." 00[23:28] <@Crion> Fireman: "Oh, we can attack you directly. It's just that your magic works with the fallen wor--" [23:28] 5Tony mutters a Nixonian "Jesus Christ." 00[23:28] <@Crion> "Shouldn't use that phrase. Your magic works with this world." 00[23:28] <@Crion> "Our magic is denied by it." [23:28] "Because of the Exarchs." 00[23:28] <@Crion> "We might have a higher ceiling, and more flexibility, but we have to be far more careful." 00[23:28] <@Crion> Fireman nods to Stewart. [23:29] 13Melanie: "We tell stories and make unwise promises. Earth is lulled into complacency." 00[23:29] <@Crion> "And more specifically, the Abyss." 00[23:29] <@Crion> Union, on his third beer. "Ahhh, the Abyss. The space between here and the hereafter." 00[23:29] <@Crion> When Fireman frowns at him: "What? Jesuit likes to say that." [23:29] 13'The Abyss' is a bad thing. Evidence: it's called the Abyss. [23:30] 6Nels: "Iiiiiii don't like the sound of that." [23:31] 10Stewart: "So what are our options?" [23:32] 7Maggie: "Well, they don't call good places 'the Abyss'." [23:32] 13Melanie: "If we can fight them, but they can attack asymmetrically.. it's not systematically different. We bunker down and stick together. We hide and wait." 00[23:32] <@Crion> Union: "Easiest way to say it is that we need to make our magic look as much like the rules of this world as possible. You all can step through mirrors, conjure fire from nothing, turn invisible, change your appearance -- we're a lot more flexible, but we need to make all our shit look like science, or else something big and bad and dedicated to extraplanar violence takes notice." 00[23:33] <@Crion> Fireman: "Seems to me you need to talk to your people about that first, Stewart. But. It's either proactive or reactive, right? You either ride forth to hit them, or wait to counterpunch." 00[23:34] <@Crion> "At the very least we need to know who it is that's liaising with your burn squad. Seems to me it might be Gary." 00[23:34] <@Crion> "Or, it could be a ringer." 00[23:34] <@Crion> "Or, it could be Society himself." 00[23:34] <@Crion> Union: "That's on our side of the equation, though. See, even if it was a willworker what did all of that stuff, ran the accelerant and avoided the cameras and set the fire -- they needed on-site intel." [23:34] 10Stewart: "Yeah... I gotta see what's up with the office." 10To Lauren: "No calls from Santander or Gerald or anything, right?" 00[23:35] <@Crion> Lauren: "Not yet." [23:35] 5Tony: "They burnt down our bar and framed me for a murder, and pretty lazily. Is there somewhere we can burn down, or something, to lure them out?" 5He's on his second beer but who's counting. [23:35] 13Melanie: "The intelligence part is why Tony's theory was-" 13She pauses. "Ah. Can't talk about that. Oath." [23:35] 7If Santander is like he was at the trial all the time, Maggie badly wants to see him interacting with regular wizards. 00[23:35] <@Crion> Fireman looks over at Union. Then to Tony: "Sorry, man." 00[23:36] <@Crion> "We can't point you at the Pylon and say weapons-free without a sign-off from the boss." 00[23:36] <@Crion> "There are repurcussions for that." [23:36] "That in and of itself is reassuring." 00[23:37] <@Crion> Fireman nods. "But it's under consideration. There are agreements here that bind the Consilium and the Freehold. And it's fucked up they set all your shit on fire." 00[23:37] <@Crion> Union: "Yep." [23:37] 13Melanie: "This is all reassuring actually, so thank you. We can be small enough to hide, or.. big enough to be part of repurcussions." 00[23:37] <@Crion> Both willworkers glance at Melanie when she says 'oath,' but neither press. 00[23:38] <@Crion> Then Lauren and Stewart's cellphones light up at the same time. 00[23:38] <@Crion> RAVENS on the call ID 00[23:38] <@Crion> . [23:38] 10Stewart answers immediately. [23:38] 6Nels: "I feel a little bit less in the d-" 00[23:40] <@Crion> A text-to-speech voice that still somehow sounds like a bird: "INCOMING. CALL. FROM. THE STEWARD KING." 00[23:40] <@Crion> "PLEASE ACCEPT CHARGES AND/OR FINES." [23:40] "I accept the charges." 00[23:40] <@Crion> Lauren says the same thing almost in unison. [23:41] 10That makes Stewart smile a little, despite himself. 00[23:42] <@Crion> "Kids, this is Kingsbury. The fireworks are over. We're secure here. Without the King-in-Court we're flying blind so I want you both over here now. Bring the motley; bring the mages, if you can. Smitten's already been by The Sidereal." [23:42] 10Stewart: "Got it." [23:42] "Anything else?" 00[23:43] <@Crion> "Be careful. It's a whole new world out there. Ending call; accepting charges." 00[23:43] <@Crion> Lauren kills the line on her phone, then starts calling someone else. After two beats: "Angelfire?" 00[23:43] <@Crion> "You're...yeah. Yeah. Stay there." 00[23:44] <@Crion> "Right. Bye." 00[23:44] <@Crion> To Stewart: "He wasn't picking up before." [23:45] 13The reception here can be spotty. Sometimes it's striped, or tie-dye. 00[23:45] <@Crion> Nels, Melanie, and Maggie are hit on their phones moments later. [23:45] 6Nels flips open her phone immediately. [23:46] 10Stewart: "You got ahold of a Winter courtier? Have you told anyone?" 00[23:46] <@Crion> For the two Spring courtiers, it's Amelia; for Melanie, it's Langford List. Same message: gather at the Law Offices of Kingsley, Santander & Ravens. [23:46] 13Melanie was just in the process of agreeing with Nels. "It really helps to put names to deeds, to know that there are conceivably specific.. foes and methods-" 13Then she's cut off just as Nels was. 00[23:47] <@Crion> Lauren: "...No." 00[23:47] <@Crion> "I'm telling you." [23:47] 7Maggie answers hers. [23:47] 7Wait, Amelia's calling two people at the same time?! What kind of Contract is this? [23:48] 6Must be pretty powerful... [23:48] "Hey, wizards. We're supposed to try and take you to another meeting. Do you need to slip out quickly, or would it be for the best?" 00[23:48] <@Crion> Lauren is loyal to her Freehold, loyal to her Court, and loyal to Stewart...but she hates the idea of running Angelfire into the same kind of Inquest that Melanie just sat through. [23:49] 10Stewart: "...the whole Court's gone missing, babe. We can't keep it a secret." 00[23:49] <@Crion> Amelia has you both on speaker from the NACC office. 00[23:49] <@Crion> Lauren: "Yeah." She doesn't like it, though. [23:49] 10Not much to like. 00[23:50] <@Crion> Fireman: "Meeting where?"| [23:51] 10Stewart: "Law firm, Inner Harbor. The garage is at" 10he tells them. 00[23:51] <@Crion> Fireman grimaces. "The Lords of the Fall. When we get outside I have to make a call, but yeah, I think that'll be okay." [23:51] 6Well, at least everyone seems to be on the same page with messaging. Consistency's nice. [23:52] 13Melanie: "It's the other kind of fall I think. Haha." [23:53] 10Stewart: "At least it's still freakishly warm." 00[23:53] <@Crion> Union: "You can thank the Seers for that." 00[23:53] <@Crion> "Global warming is one of their things." [23:54] 5Tony: "They've been busy then, back in my day you got a good winter, good summer, nice and even." 00[23:55] <@Crion> Steve has finished his beer; he and Chup are now both asleep. 00[23:56] <@Crion> Lauren doesn't look as concerned about leaving the two of them here together as she previously did. 00[23:56] <@Crion> Is it time to roll out? [23:56] 10While people are getting ready to go back out, Stewart asks Lauren if she wants to handle telling them about Angelfire. [23:56] 13That kind of sounds conspiracist. The wizards think the evil wizards are responsible for everything, war in heaven, etc.. heck it might be entirely factually true. But Melanie prefers to focus on the idea that you can fight them and win. 00[23:59] <@Crion> Lauren: "It should be me." [23:59] 10Stewart nods. 00[23:59] <@Crion> Said reluctantly, and defeated. Session Time: Sun Mar 08 00:00:00 2020 [00:00] 10Stewart: "It's good to know he's safe, at least." 00[00:00] <@Crion> Once outside, Fireman will step away to make a phonecall. It lasts all of forty seconds. When he returns he's not shaken, precisely, but... "Jesuit's already at the offices." 00[00:00] <@Crion> "Let's go." [00:00] 10Oh boy. [00:01] 5When Fireman returns, or when they set out, to one or both of them: "Hey what do wizard fights look like?" 00[00:01] <@Crion> Union laughs. "Like LARPing." 00[00:01] <@Crion> "You know what that is?" [00:01] 6Nels: "Nope." [00:01] 10Stewart draws in a breath, preparing to have to explain. [00:02] 5Tony stares blankly. 00[00:02] <@Crion> Union: "Okay so like. Imagine a bunch of nerds, dressed up as a bunch of nerds. And then we're making all these hand signs at each other, REALLY seriously. Deadly seriously." 00[00:02] <@Crion> "Now, if we fail at the magic, nothing happens. So we look like nerds." 00[00:03] <@Crion> "But if we succeed really well at the magic, something only happens incidentally. Like, Wizard Who Casts Fireball, that guy doesn't live very long in our world!" 00[00:03] <@Crion> "The Abyss takes notice, right?" [00:03] 6Nels: "That seems... bad? Something to be avoided, at least." 00[00:03] <@Crion> "Oh it's real bad." [00:03] 5Tony: "That seems way safer than how we fight, even with Abyss stuff. We mostly just have guns." 00[00:04] <@Crion> "But so you see this nerd do a hand motion, and then maybe a water main bursts or something." [00:04] 10Stewart: "LARPing doesn't usually end that way. It usually ends because someone's costume broke or people got too hot." 00[00:04] <@Crion> Union: "Oh god, guns are so good." 00[00:04] <@Crion> "See, people will usually accept whatever they see from guns, because of action movies. So you get a lot of leeway in enchanting them--" 00[00:04] <@Crion> To Stewart: "In a way, isn't getting too hot what this is all about?" 00[00:05] <@Crion> Fireman, pocketing his phone: "No." [00:05] 10Stewart: "I hope so. I'd hate to think this was coldly logical." [00:06] 5To Union: "Oh you guys enchant stuff too? Cool. What hole do you drop yours in?" 00[00:07] <@Crion> Union: "Anyway I used to know a guy who did the Kamehameha as his mudra for fireball." 00[00:07] <@Crion> Fireman: "Used to." 00[00:07] <@Crion> "Can we get going?" [00:07] 6Nels: "Stewart, what's that?" [00:08] 10Stewart's leading everyone out. "What's what?" [00:09] 6Nels: "The k-thing. Nevermind, I'll look later." [00:09] 6He didn't say it, but he seems like he'd know. [00:10] 10Stewart, whose mind was elsewhere, missed the Kamehameha thing entirely. [00:11] 10Stewart says "Good evening." 10to the elevator on the ride up from the parking garage. 00[00:11] <@Crion> Serrato has already departed for wherever the Young Street wants him, so you'll have to drive over to the offices on your own. Any other thoughts/complaints before-- 00[00:11] <@Crion> Well, they don't get that far before the damage is apparent. [00:11] 10Oh dear. [00:11] 6Uh oh. 00[00:12] <@Crion> Someone has blown open the roller door to the basement garage. Serrato is actually here now, with his badge out, standing chatting with two cops who have cordoned off the scene. He waves their convoy through. [00:13] 7Blown open from the inside? 00[00:13] <@Crion> Peeled open like a can lid. 02[00:13] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) [00:13] 10Ah. 00[00:14] <@Crion> There are some cars inside; you'll recognize them mainly from the Sidereal and the Oberon and the street parking outside the Belvedere. 00[00:15] <@Crion> And there's Gerald, in a maintenance jumpsuit, hosing down the elevator. "Look," he says to it, "the sooner you're washed, the sooner you're dry." 00[00:15] <@Crion> Blood is running out from it, into a drain in the garage floor. [00:15] 10...ah. 00[00:16] <@Crion> He'll turn to nod as you pile out, then go back to pressure-washing the lift. [00:16] 6...oh. [00:16] 10So do we- are we taking the stairs then...? 00[00:17] <@Crion> Gerald: "Okay. There we go. There we are. Are you good?" 00[00:17] <@Crion> "For now, at least." 00[00:17] <@Crion> The elevator dings sulkily. [00:17] 5Tony's slow-blinking at a lot of this, just taking it in. 00[00:18] <@Crion> Gerald turns again, and sees the mages. "Fireman. Union. Welcome to the party." [00:18] 7Maggie, at least, takes it in stride. Things are also people! 00[00:18] <@Crion> To the motley: "How's the Sidereal?" [00:18] "It survived." [00:18] "No one got hurt." 00[00:18] <@Crion> Gerald: "Good. Good. Can't say the same here." 00[00:19] <@Crion> He grimaces. "They tried to take the elevator first." 00[00:19] <@Crion> "The rest were convinced to take the stairs." [00:19] 10Stewart winces. 00[00:19] <@Crion> Now the elevator dings happily. [00:19] "Elevator's okay, right?" 00[00:20] <@Crion> Gerald pats the controls. "Yeah, all it needs is a scrub down." To the floor readout: "Take them up to the 27th but come right back down. If I don't use the steam dryer, there will be mold. You don't want mold." 00[00:20] <@Crion> More begrudging dings. [00:21] 13Melanie: "...who is they, this time?" 00[00:21] <@Crion> Gerald's FAL leans against the concrete wall of the garage, just within reach. 00[00:21] <@Crion> Gerald: "Hard to tell. Tactical, but mortal. Almost well-briefed." 00[00:22] <@Crion> "Bob will have more for you upstairs." [00:22] 13But not well-enough briefed that we're unsure of their mortality. [00:23] 6Well! That's. New. 00[00:23] <@Crion> Elevator will fit you all, and merrily ascend. 00[00:24] <@Crion> Most of the blood is gone, too! What remains sort of runs down from the ceiling, onto the walls. [00:24] 10Stewart is breathing very deliberately. [00:24] 6Nels does not look at the blood, if that is possible without closing her eyes. [00:24] 5Tony's not really bothered by this, other than the thought that the elevator's a Thing and he's riding inside of something that can think, and that's weird. [00:25] 10It's like being in the belly of a whale. 00[00:25] <@Crion> Ding! You've reached the Law Offices of Kingsley, Santander, and--oh my, that's a large pile of...something...with a tarp over it. [00:25] "Jesus." [00:25] 13Sometimes Melanie wonders, on a purely intellectual level: what is she doing? Fighting monsters with magic. Allying with carnivorous architecture. From studying humans, she can tell: this isn't normal and it would upset normal people. [00:25] 13Presumably her former self would have been appalled, but it's just a presumption. Nothing's been normal since she stepped back into the world and had legs again to step. The blood? Weird, unpleasant, but no weirder or more unpleasant than social etiquette. Or advertising. 00[00:26] <@Crion> "Yep," says Nissa of Fives, hanging out near the reception desk where Cormorant or Lauren usually sit. [00:26] "No, that's Nissa." [00:26] "Where's Kingsley?" 00[00:27] <@Crion> There's blood everywhere. A couple of the Fae-touched heavies from the Oberon are scrubbing it out. 00[00:27] <@Crion> Nissa: "Conference room. You know the way?" [00:27] "Yeah. Come on, guys." 00[00:27] <@Crion> Lauren: "Fuck." 00[00:27] <@Crion> Union whistles. 00[00:28] <@Crion> Smote is in the main room, and so is... 00[00:28] <@Crion> ...Loser? 00[00:28] <@Crion> She gives you a wave. 00[00:29] <@Crion> In the conference room, there's shouting. [00:29] 13Melanie's looking around quickly for K.I.L.L.... [00:29] 6There's a small wave back before Nels can think better of it. [00:29] "Hey." 10Stewart's still beelining for the conference room. [00:29] 13No? Good! [00:29] 10That was to Loser, though, as he passed. [00:30] "Nice work David." [00:30] 7Maggie'll wave hi. 00[00:30] <@Crion> "--you're DAMN RIGHT I kept an asset in place where I needed an asset and you're DAMN GLAD that I did!" Kingsley is rather forcefully saying while pressing a finger into the Young Street's chest as they enter. 00[00:30] <@Crion> Smote: "You too, Mel." [00:31] 5Tony's head and eyes forward as they walk, and quiet and hanging back the closer they get to shouting. [00:31] 10Ah, yes. 00[00:31] <@Crion> The Young Street: "Tell me again what the fuck I'm glad about and I'll show you, king." [00:31] 10Well, no one can say he wasn't warned. [00:31] 13Melanie didn't do anything but insist some wizards give out some names. But she likes to think she's insurance. 00[00:32] <@Crion> Amelia: "Both of you shut the fuck up." 00[00:32] <@Crion> "We have company." 00[00:32] <@Crion> Jesuit lounges, fingers steepled, at the end of the table. [00:32] 7Maggie: "Hiya...?" 00[00:33] <@Crion> Fireman and Union nod to Jesuit, and he acknowledges them back. 00[00:34] <@Crion> Kingsley separates from the Young Street. Langford List is oddly absent, despite having made the call to Melanie. [00:34] "We're back. Stewart and a Thing put out the fire. Wiz- willworkers were involved in setting it." 00[00:35] <@Crion> Jesuit: "Yup." [00:35] 10Stewart: "The Sidereal's intact, all our people are okay." 00[00:36] <@Crion> Amelia sighs. "Smitten's there now. 'Intact' is...well, it's correct. And the Kitchen called earlier. Thank you, Stewart." [00:37] 10Stewart nods. "What happened here?" 00[00:37] <@Crion> The Young Street: "Did you look under the tarp?" [00:38] 10Stewart: "No." [00:39] "It seemed... impolite?" 00[00:39] <@Crion> Kingsley: "Tactical operators. Not government, since no agency is trying to storm the place in retaliation. They arrived by bus, if you can believe it. They had a device for the roller door." 00[00:40] <@Crion> "The elevator got six of them." 00[00:40] <@Crion> "Santander got the rest." [00:40] 6Nels grimaces. "We saw the elevator." 00[00:41] <@Crion> Jesuit, mildly: "With help." 00[00:41] <@Crion> Kingsley: "Yes, with help." [00:42] 10Stewart: "What about the community center?" 00[00:43] <@Crion> Amelia: "It's fine. Whoever tried to attack it half-assed it; gasoline and rags in the dumpster, pushed halfway through the loading dock in the back. Made a lot of smoke but not a lot of fire." [00:44] 6Nels exhales a breath she didn't realize she was holding. "That's good. No one hurt?" [00:44] 13You mean, no one who's not under the tarp. [00:44] 6At the Community Center. [00:45] 7Maggie: "That's weird, considering how good they were at burning down the Sidereal." [00:45] 6And I guess that should really be phrased 'Was anyone hurt?' 00[00:45] <@Crion> Amelia: "...It is weird." [00:45] 5Tony: "Or would've been, if not for Stewart." 5Shoots him a lil' thumbs-up. 00[00:45] <@Crion> To Nels: "No one hurt." [00:47] "The whole thing has the air of a distraction or a warning. If the people behind it are among us, or Throne willworkers.. they could have done things more easily that go to what we care about. Capra is the exception, the direct victim." 00[00:47] <@Crion> Jesuit: "Perhaps." [00:47] 10Stewart: "Three attacks - four if you count the frame-job - all with completely different methodologies and levels of investment and effort. This feels like different people working together." 00[00:47] <@Crion> Kingsley: "I think Stewart is right." 00[00:48] <@Crion> The Young Street: "Well, you got a dead SWAT team here and some wizard shit on my cameras, so that seems pretty obvious." 00[00:49] <@Crion> Kingsley: "They're not just some SWAT team--" [00:50] "Multiple groups? I don't get it."13Melanie is distressed. "When did we qua we get so many enemies? We don't act as a unified front. We aren't a threat." 00[00:50] <@Crion> Jesuit: "Yes we do." 00[00:51] <@Crion> "The 'we' is important, my dear." 00[00:51] <@Crion> "An alliance of willworkers, changelings, vampires, and werewolves..." [00:51] 13...leaves us as the odd ones out, the weakest link. Maybe Winter has the right idea. 00[00:51] <@Crion> "Where would you press first?" [00:53] 7Maggie raises her eyebrows. "Not just some SWAT team? It sounds like you've heard of this kinda guy." [00:54] 10Stewart: "So are we bait for the rest of them now? Are they out attacking the Belvedere right now? Has anyone been in touch with the Court?" 00[00:54] <@Crion> Kingsley: "The Mainer is on his way over. The Night Court of Baltimore is just getting up, but so far they've reported nothing." 00[00:55] <@Crion> Jesuit: "The Belvedere is fine. That's why Fireman was free to see to the Sidereal." 00[00:55] <@Crion> "I don't want to call this a probing attack because you have people dead over this." The priest shrugs. "But that is what it was." [00:56] 5Tony: "Who has the resources to just...throw mercenaries or whatever those are, at people like this? On top of all the magic and stuff." [00:57] 10Stewart: "But by who? Are we looking at some kind of parallel alliance between the Seers and Loyalists and the Hook Hand Lodge and, I don't know who vampires' enemies are, like, regular people?" [00:57] "Ha." [00:58] 7Maggie: "What are the natural enemies of bats? Owls?" 00[00:58] <@Crion> Jesuit: "People." 00[00:58] <@Crion> "The natural enemy of every animal on the planet is people." [00:59] "Well, by that logic the top of the food chain is yersinia pestis." 00[00:59] <@Crion> "But if you mean vampires, their natural enemies are God, themselves, and time. In that order." 00[01:01] <@Crion> Fireman: "Also, fire." 00[01:01] <@Crion> Jesuit nods. "Also fire." 00[01:02] <@Crion> Kingsley looks like he wants to say something... 00[01:02] <@Crion> ...and he will, next week. 03[10:11] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 02[10:27] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. 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ZZZzzz…) 02[10:11] * Disconnected Session Close: Sat Mar 14 10:11:02 2020 Session Start: Sat Mar 14 15:49:19 2020 Session Ident: #gofetch 03[15:49] * Now talking in #gofetch 03[15:49] * Topic is 'Who botches the Botchmen?' 03[15:49] * Set by Crion!Crion@sorcery-puhjpa.fios.verizon.net on Sun Sep 22 02:37:29 2019 03[15:49] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Crion 02[17:32] * VoxPrimey (VoxPrime@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) Quit (Quit: ) 03[18:00] * Quaker (textual@sorcery-2jh55q.oc.cox.net) has joined #gofetch 02[18:53] * Quaker (textual@sorcery-2jh55q.oc.cox.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook Air has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 03[19:43] * Quaker (textual@sorcery-2jh55q.oc.cox.net) has joined #gofetch 02[20:31] * Quaker (textual@sorcery-2jh55q.oc.cox.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook Air has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 03[20:50] * Quaker (textual@sorcery-2jh55q.oc.cox.net) has joined #gofetch 03[21:32] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 00[22:14] <@Crion> 00[22:14] <@Crion> 00[22:14] <@Crion> 00[22:14] <@Crion> 00[22:14] <@Crion> 00[22:14] <@Crion> 00[22:14] <@Crion> 00[22:16] <@Crion> There's a pile of dead bodies in a corner of the law office; uptown, they're waiting for what's left of The Sidereal to dry out. In midtown a boy's been tortured and murdered, and someone went through a lot of effort to make it look like your motley was to blame -- for all of an hour or so. 00[22:17] <@Crion> Bob Kingsley, the Steward of Autumn, has been presiding over this emergency gathering of the concerned with an erstwhile gavel; it seems he did not do what he said he was going to do, when he said he was sending a deep-cover intelligence asset of his back to Philadelphia. The Young Street is irate over that and the loss of his young courtier; Amelia Banthem of Spring is growing visibly tired 00[22:17] <@Crion> of having to play peacemaker between the two. It was her club that almost got burned down. 00[22:19] <@Crion> At the other end of the table sits Jesuit, the head of the city's Consilium, flanked by Union and Fireman. They've been helpful -- almost, but not quite, unusually so. See, there's traces of magic -- their kind of magic -- all over these attacks. Frankly, it stinks of the supernal. And there are a couple different reasons that means they'll want to be in the room and on the team when whatever 00[22:19] <@Crion> the Freehold decides will happen, happens. 00[22:20] <@Crion> ...There's some commotion from the front of the office. Someone else has arrived. The motley, Stewart especially, know him...well, they know him. The Mainer strides in, scowling. 00[22:20] <@Crion> "Sorry I'm late." 00[22:20] <@Crion> Kingsley: "Mainer." 00[22:20] <@Crion> Mainer: "Bob." 00[22:20] <@Crion> "...They hit my office?" 00[22:21] <@Crion> Kingsley tilts his head. "The door was ajar, yes." 00[22:23] <@Crion> Mainer makes an angry grunting noise, and sits down. 00[22:23] <@Crion> Then he seems to see you all for the first time. 02[22:24] * Quaker (textual@sorcery-2jh55q.oc.cox.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook Air has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 00[22:24] <@Crion> "How the hell did you kids get involved in all this?" This is mostly to Stewart, but his eyes linger on Tony a bit. [22:25] 7Kids? [22:26] 10Stewart, who is used to being called or visibly thought of as a child: "We got framed for an insane, brutal murder as, I guess, a distraction. To pull the other Regents away." 00[22:26] <@Crion> To Maggie: "And you, ma'am." [22:26] 5Tony: "Not one hundred percent clear on that one, it kind of happened at us." 00[22:27] <@Crion> Mainer: "That'll do it. Huh." [22:27] 7Maggie: "Heck of a thing to do for an hour's worth of a distraction." [22:27] "As for why they chose to frame the people they chose to frame... that's less clear." 00[22:27] <@Crion> Mainer: "How many bodies? Not counting the gentlemen out front." 00[22:29] <@Crion> Street: "Just the one. One of my boys." [22:29] 6Well, that number's a lot lower than it could have been. 00[22:31] <@Crion> Amelia: "What's the word out of the Night Court?" 00[22:32] <@Crion> "Right. Well." Mainer leans back. "As you can imagine, everyone is still waking up, and vampires don't like...courtly intrusion on their personal havens. So in a sense the Seneschal is only really able to say that as of yet no one's reported getting hit today." 00[22:37] <@Crion> Kingsley: "Then I'm guessing they're gonna stay out of it." 00[22:38] <@Crion> Mainer shrugs. "Seems so. Unless you want to start talking favors owed..." 00[22:38] <@Crion> Amelia: "Not at this time." 00[22:39] <@Crion> Kingsley glances at the motley. "Let's keep the idea in our back pocket. Bringing Lister and his people in on this could be worth it." 00[22:41] <@Crion> Street: "Not to put too fine a point on this, but y'all are doing a lot of talking when we should be doing a lot of something more kinetic." 00[22:42] <@Crion> Amelia: "I agree on that. Assuming you mean cleaning The Sidereal up." 00[22:42] <@Crion> Kingsley: "Seems to me there are two things, broadly, that need to be done." 00[22:42] <@Crion> "First: we need to find the Winter Court. Second: we need to find who killed Capra." [22:43] 10Is Lauren in the room? 00[22:43] <@Crion> "Those two things might be intertwined. Seems very likely. But they're still two separate approaches." 00[22:43] <@Crion> Yep. She hasn't said anything yet, though she did wave to Mainer when he came in, as one of the 'kids.' [22:46] 7Maggie: "The whole Court or just the King?" 00[22:47] <@Crion> Amelia: "Every last one of them." [22:47] 10Stewart folds his arms. "Has anyone been by their places?" 00[22:49] <@Crion> "Not yet. Since it means in some respects low-key storming Camden Yards." Kingsley: "It was my thinking we, the Regents, take lead on that -- considering that the King-in-Court is among the missing -- and that Stewart, Maggie, Melanie, Tony, and Nels look for our murder suspect, seeing as you're already well-acquainted with the Consilium." [22:50] 7Makes sense to her. 00[22:50] <@Crion> Street: "That, and I assume it's personal." [22:51] "Personal how?" 00[22:51] <@Crion> Meeting Stewart's gaze: "Any man willing to wear my face while dumping the body of a friend of mine is a dead man." 00[22:52] <@Crion> "Maybe it's different for you all." [22:52] 10Stewart shrugs, glancing in Maggie and Tony's direction. [22:53] 5Tony thinks for a long minute, then nods. "Hard to add much more than that." [22:54] 6That was, admittedly, an extremely messed up thing to do. [22:57] 10Stewart: "Where do you want us?" 00[22:59] <@Crion> Kingsley nods. "Start with the body, is my advice. Our magic might have limited uses on...those who have passed on, but your motley's been good at making friends. I've asked Jesuit to either send over a liaison or provide other help. Street will let you back into the Oberon." 00[23:01] <@Crion> The Steward of Autumn pauses. "Also Stewart, as for that...other matter. Consider your responsibilities there suspended, until we're out of crisis mode. Rose can hold down the 'Gang' or whatever it is they're calling themselves for a couple days." [23:01] 10Stewart: "Sure." 00[23:02] <@Crion> "Alright. That's enough. Everyone keep in touch through Ravens or your Court contact. Mainer, a word?" 00[23:02] <@Crion> The lanky ambassador stands. "Yup." 00[23:02] <@Crion> Kingsley, passing him towards the door. "In your office." [23:04] 10Stewart glances at Jesuit: "Uh, can we talk to you?" 00[23:04] <@Crion> Unless the motley has other questions, the rest of the regents will leave. Union will step out as well to make a call, probably back to the Belvedere. Lauren will whisper to Stewart that she should go make sure the computers in the office are okay. [23:04] 10Stewart nods to Lauren. 00[23:04] <@Crion> Jesuit leans forward, a smile spreading across his face. "That's precisely what I'm here for." [23:05] 10Stewart: "Do you know why there'd be an ochema, or something like an ochema, in the Hedge?" 00[23:08] <@Crion> Jesuit: "Because someone put it there, of course." He pauses. "I promise that's not as much of a non-answer as it seems." 00[23:08] <@Crion> "The ochemata are creations of pure intentionality. Sheer will and power." 00[23:08] <@Crion> "They do not occur naturally. They are...envoys, in a sense. Angels, really, of a very dire Biblical Old Testament sort." 00[23:09] <@Crion> "One assumes the same would remain true of a Hedgespun shadow, or 'fetch,' or what have you." 00[23:09] <@Crion> "Therefore, if you were ambushed by one, someone intended you to be ambushed by one. It was not an automatic defense or something conjured out of your subconscious or so on." 00[23:10] <@Crion> Jesuit: "Which is why I'm here instead of relaxing with a book somewhere in midtown." [23:11] 10Stewart: "That seems like it would take a very different amount of magic than faking crime scene evidence or doing arson." 00[23:11] <@Crion> Jesuit: "And a difference in kind, rather than degree. Whoever has done this has friends in high -- or low -- places." 00[23:12] <@Crion> Jesuit: "Before we proceed further, refresh my memory--" [23:13] 5Tony raises his hand. "Hey question. Can wizards put those...the yolk-egg-mas, places where they aren't?" [23:14] 5Tony: "Or would they have had to be in the Hedge and near where we were at the time, to drop that thing in?" 00[23:15] <@Crion> Jesuit takes a half-beat to process that pronunciation, then: "Oh, wizards -- and by wizards here we specifically mean the Seers of the Throne -- aren't trusted with those sorts of decisions. When one of the Exarchs wants an Ochema in the Fallen World, they get to choose where they engrave their bloody crest, so to speak. A bargain-bin discount Ochema...well, it probably works on different 00[23:15] <@Crion> principles." 00[23:15] <@Crion> "The Ochemata are what the Exarchs call in when the Seers fail." 00[23:16] <@Crion> He pauses. "But you do raise an interesting point, Tony." 02[23:16] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 00[23:17] <@Crion> "This sort of shadow Ochema -- this false symbol -- it would be to its caster as a real Ochema was to an Exarch. I suppose, therefore, it would have to be able to be tasked remotely. I also suppose the Exarchs might look very harshly on one of their underlings mocking their works in such a way." 00[23:18] <@Crion> "I wasn't kidding about the angel corollary. In a very real sense these are creatures embodying a religion. A religion of overpowering hubris, solipsy, and narcissism, but a religion." [23:18] 5Tony: "And would they have to know where they were sending it, or..."5He pauses, thinking for a second. "...or could it just say, hey go after those guys, wherever they are?" [23:18] 5Tony: "Basically, is this a case where it was sent to play man-to-man coverage on us, or zone defense?" 00[23:19] <@Crion> Jesuit: "To say for certain, we would have to know more about the caster. Hmmmm...I could task Sommelier to search the archives. We have a set of volumes, the Acts of Hubris, which detail willworkers who got too...carried away...with their craft. Perhaps there's something similar in there?" 03[23:19] * tom (tom@sorcery-rnbr45.wavecable.com) has joined #gofetch 00[23:19] <@Crion> Sadly, the Hierophant of Baltimore doesn't seem to quite parse the football analogy. [23:20] 10Stewart: "Meaning, can we guess if it was sent *for* us, or if we just happened to cross its path?" [23:21] 6Nels: "If it was sent for us, it didn't quite get all of us." 6She wasn't there, after all. [23:21] 5Tony scratches his head. "Or, if we assume it was going after us, which is what it sounds like...was it just sent for us and we happened to be there. Or was it sent where it was, because we were going to be there?" 00[23:21] <@Crion> Jesuit: "Ahh! Hmmm. To do that we'd need powerful Prime, and perhaps Fate or Time magic...and we'd also need to examine where it fell in the Hedge, if you can get one of us back there." 00[23:21] <@Crion> "Even then, I can make no promises as to whether such evidence would remain after any length of time in such an environment." [23:22] 5Tony: "Idea being, did the person sending it know about where we were, and where we were going to be, or did it just know us, and we ended up there anyway." [23:22] 5Tony: "Like, did the yolky get sent to cover us at the end of our route, or was the coverage designed to cover us whenever it could? Since that could mean different things for how much whoever sent it, knows about us, and other things." 00[23:23] <@Crion> Jesuit: "Yes, I think I understand now. You're asking the degree of sympathy it had with you, specifically -- either the caster or the 'Ochema' itself." [23:23] 5Tony: "Yeah! I think! Exactly?" 00[23:29] <@Crion> Jesuit: "Then yes, we can -- hopefully -- get that from its remains. What remain of its remains. But I am not sending a member of my Consilium into the Hedge unprepared. We'll need time to assemble and apply the appropriate rotes, wards, protective spells, perhaps runes...it will be an undertaking." 00[23:29] <@Crion> "Everafter, I think, will handle such a task with aplomb." [23:31] 7Runes! [23:31] 10Stewart: "That'd be a big help, thank you." [23:35] "I think we have to go... look at a dead body now." 00[23:36] <@Crion> Jesuit: "Mmmmmm. Yes. About that." 00[23:36] <@Crion> "The Consilium doesn't actually have a strong...necromantic tradition. We do, however, have an outside consultant." 00[23:37] <@Crion> "Whom we employ in situations like these." [23:38] "Yeah?" 00[23:38] <@Crion> Jesuit: "He's...not a willworker. And I can't order him to help you." 00[23:38] <@Crion> "The best I can do is give you the introduction." [23:38] 10Stewart looks at the others. Is anyone visibly opposed to this? [23:39] 5Tony: "Anything beats nothing, we'd appreciate the intro." [23:39] 6Nels is mildly concerned at the sound of this guy, whoever he is, but, well. Yeah. [23:41] 7Maggie shrugs. What does she know from necromancy? [23:41] 10Stewart nods. 00[23:42] <@Crion> Jesuit: "You're looking for a man named Benjamin Best. He's a veterinarian in his mundane life. His other talents are better explained by him directly. The deceased...he was a young man?" [23:43] 10Stewart: "Yeah. Not even 20, I don't think." 00[23:44] <@Crion> Jesuit nods. "Make sure to mention that to him. The youth, I mean. It'll help." [23:44] 10...okay. [23:45] 10Stewart just nods again. 00[23:46] <@Crion> Jesuit: "Best's office number is listed, I believe; I have a private number but if he wants that shared, he can share it. Let me know if for some reason he's unavailable, and I can think of options of last resort." [23:47] 7Maggie: "Is there some kind of, like... code phrase we should use? Or do we tell his receptionist we're calling about necromancy?" 00[23:47] <@Crion> Jesuit: "Tell him Jesuit recommended you, and you have a special case." [23:49] "Gotcha." 00[23:51] <@Crion> He'll stand. "Oh." 00[23:51] <@Crion> "One last thing." 00[23:52] <@Crion> "Have any of you had any contact with the Seer of the Throne 'Society' that we -- the Consilium -- are unaware of? I know about both of Stewart's unfortunate interactions." [23:52] 5Tony shakes his head. [23:52] 7Maggie: "Nothing for me, although if he can impersonate people like on that dang video tape who knows?" 00[23:53] <@Crion> Jesuit laughs without mirth. "Oh, Society doesn't go in for impersonations. He likes you to know it's him." [23:53] 6Nels: "Nothing over here either, but -- oh, that's actually more concerning." 00[23:53] <@Crion> Jesuit: "Quite." 00[23:54] <@Crion> "If I had to guess, he's involved in this somehow. But he's hiding his hand...and I don't like that." [23:56] 10Stewart rubs the back of his neck. "I guess we'll find out as we go. In the meantime I should call this guy. Excuse me." 00[23:56] <@Crion> Jesuit nods. "Of course. Fireman, let's depart." 00[23:56] <@Crion> Fireman nods his farewell and follows his boss out. [23:57] 5Tony turns to Stewart after the mages leave. "Decent guys, wizards." [23:57] 10A quick search and then Stewart's on the line at Benjamin Best Veterinary Clinic. Phone in hand while the line rings. "A lot of them, yeah." 00[23:58] <@Crion> A tired-sounding man picks up on the second ring. ...Which is impressive, since it's after 7 PM. "Best Practices. Ben speaking." 00[23:59] <@Crion> Here's something else the Google search reveals: this guy's a horse vet. 00[23:59] <@Crion> Like, racehorses. Session Time: Sun Mar 15 00:00:00 2020 [00:00] 10Sounds like good money. "Good evening. We have a special case, and Jesuit told us you were the man to call." 00[00:00] <@Crion> "Special--" He pauses, then sighs. "Taking it this isn't about horses." [00:01] 10Stewart: "No, sir." 00[00:01] <@Crion> "Jesuit, huh. ...Alright. You got a name?" [00:02] 10Stewart: "Reader. Stewart Reader." 00[00:03] <@Crion> "Shockingly...normal. Okay, Stewart Reader, let's do this. You meet me at the southern turn of Pimlico Race Track at midnight. We'll talk then, not over the phone." [00:04] 10Stewart: "Okay. There are going to be a few people with me, just to let you know." 00[00:05] <@Crion> "...Alright. Good of you to say so. Doors will be locked but alarms will be turned off. I figure a couple of locks won't stop your...won't stop you." 00[00:05] <@Crion> "See you then, Stewart Reader." [00:05] "See you then." [00:06] 10Once he's off the phone: "Pimlico Race Track at midnight. We're going to discuss it in person." [00:07] 7Maggie: "Spooky. Guess we'll have to step around all the guys getting worked over widda lead pipe while we're there." [00:08] 6Nels: "Dramatic." 6She huffs. 00[00:09] <@Crion> You've got some time to kill before then -- Pimlico's within city limits, shouldn't take more than 30 minutes to get there even with bad lights. [00:10] 10Stewart: "We've got a few hours until then, so you guys should like... get something to eat, drink some water, stuff like that. I'm gonna go see how Lauren's doing." 00[00:13] <@Crion> Lauren isn't at the front desk, but when Stewart turns to go look for her elsewhere, the door behind the front desk opens and she steps out, shutting it and tapping the doorknob twice. There's a loud THUNK somewhere in the door. 00[00:15] <@Crion> Stewart might have assumed it was a washroom or a breakroom, but this time he'll notice the stylized raven engraved on the rather heavyduty knob. 00[00:15] <@Crion> Lauren: "Oh! Hey." [00:15] 10Stewart: "Hey! How's the network." 00[00:16] <@Crion> "Ravens is snitty, but fine. Guys with guns getting this close to the server room is...kinda unsettling." 00[00:16] <@Crion> The bodies, thankfully, have all been moved, and all the blood has been cleaned away. [00:19] "Yeah... how about you?" 00[00:20] <@Crion> Lauren: "...It's kind of fucked up -- actually it's really fucked up -- but after the fear and uncertainty there's just like...this relief? That it's not me that's the problem this time." [00:26] 10Stewart: "Every day the Freehold has a main character, and the goal is to make sure it's not you." 10After a pause: "So, uh... have you heard anything about what the Regents are planning to do to track down the Winter Court?" 00[00:27] <@Crion> Lauren grimaces. "Santander's working on something. It sounds...I think they're going to try to break into Winter's Hollow." 00[00:27] <@Crion> "That's. Like, that's insane, but." 00[00:27] <@Crion> "What are we supposed to do with the Freehold under attack and the King-in-Court just fuckin', gone?" [00:29] 10Stewart: "Yeah. Have you talked to them yet?" 00[00:31] <@Crion> Lauren: "I'm keeping my head down and keeping busy until I'm told otherwise. It's like you said about main characters. The good news is, we know where Angelfire is and they're heading over to pick him up right now. I'm sure he'll help." [00:32] 10Stewart looks relieved. "Okay. We're gonna go meet this mysterious horse doctor Jesuit recommended at Pimlico at midnight. For... forensics stuff." 00[00:33] <@Crion> Her eyebrows shoot up. "I don't think I've heard 00[00:33] <@Crion> of this guy." [00:34] "Ben Best, is his name, apparently." 00[00:34] <@Crion> She snorts. "Well, he's certainly got our whole naming thing down." 00[00:34] <@Crion> "I'll be here through the night, so...drop by when you're done? 00[00:35] <@Crion> " [00:35] "Yeah, of course." 10Stewart kisses her goodbye and returns to the others. 00[00:36] <@Crion> The drive over is pretty trivial. The big question is uh, how heavy are you going in? Guns, armor...? [00:36] 10Stewart's going with what he was already wearing, which is just street clothes. [00:37] 6Nels will keep her pistol on her, but that's it. [00:38] 7Maggie's just in street clothes as well. 02[00:38] * tom (tom@sorcery-rnbr45.wavecable.com) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 00[00:39] <@Crion> Pimlico is dark when you arrive. It's New Year's Eve now -- or will be in five minutes or so -- approaching midnight, so that's no real surprise. Easiest way in, if you're not concerned about locks, is the gates on the south end of the track. Best told you he turned off the alarms; there's no reason not to trust him on that one. [00:40] 10Stewart's fine with going in through the gates. [00:41] 7Pretty much any of us should be able to handle the locks. [00:42] 5Tony's hoping this is mellow enough to not require anything more than a few layers of clothes and maybe scowling at somebody. Letting someone else take the lead on locks, though. 00[00:42] <@Crion> There's a padlock and an integrated lock...but the padlock's just for show, really. When you pop the integrated lock, the give on the chains is enough that you can open the door to slip through single-file. [00:42] 10Stewart pops the lock, and holds the door for everyone. 00[00:44] <@Crion> Once you're inside, there's a man standing alone near the infield under the clear and empty night. He's wearing a white doctor's coat that hasn't been washed in a week or two, and slacks; he's got his back to you and is smoking a cigarette. 00[00:44] <@Crion> As you approach: "So let's get one thing clear, first. I am not food, I am not drink..." [00:46] 10Stewart's got both his hands up. "Not our style. I'm Stewart, this is Melanie, Maggie, Nels, and Tony. We're here about a friend of ours." [00:46] 7Maggie: "If you're under the impression we're Draculas, you've got your wires crossed." 03[00:46] * tom (tom@sorcery-rnbr45.wavecable.com) has joined #gofetch [00:47] 6Nels: "I don't think that's what they call themselves, Maggie." 00[00:47] <@Crion> He turns towards you, eyes limned in silver, and two ghostly arms reach up over his shoulders and wrap around the top of his torso. Over his left shoulder climbs up a woman, a young woman -- girl really -- pretty and possibly blonde and in a debutante ballgown -- but she's not a girl and when she twists her head the massive, violent tear up neck and face becomes obvious, as her smile turns 00[00:47] <@Crion> hideous. "...and I am not defenseless." [00:48] 10Oh shit! This OWNS [00:48] 5Tony holds up his hands and takes a step back. "Yeah whoa man, we come in peace. Only doing this at night because it was already evening by the time we got rolling on this bullshit day." 00[00:48] <@Crion> Benjamin, Best Beloved -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDAC2kL01d0 Your presence still lingers here; and it won't leave me alone. [00:49] 10Stewart makes an effort to cover his mouth, because the huge grin that crosses his face by reflex is not the appropriate response here. 00[00:49] <@Crion> The Oracle at Pimlico -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aw8W6hYGZ0E Who would have thought forever could be severed by, the sharp knife of a short life? 00[00:50] <@Crion> "Oh." 00[00:50] <@Crion> "You're...uh." 00[00:50] <@Crion> "Well. You're clearly not vampires." 00[00:51] <@Crion> The ghostly figure rubs her 'cheek' on his, then vanishes back behind him. [00:51] 6Nels coughs. "I suppose that would've been my first guess at this time of night, too." [00:51] 5Tony: "No sir. You're a different kind of wizard, but Stewart's friend said you might be able to help us?" 00[00:52] <@Crion> He blinks. "...Ah shit. I'm gonna have to delete some security footage, aren't I." 00[00:52] <@Crion> "Whatever, that's fine." [00:52] 10Stewart: "No, I'm sorry." [00:53] "A friend of ours was killed at least five or six times. We need to know by who." 00[00:54] <@Crion> "Mmmmm. Violent death, sounds like. Torture?" [00:54] 10Stewart nods. 00[00:55] <@Crion> "This is going to sound like a shitty question, but how old's the deceased?" 00[00:55] <@Crion> "At time of death." [00:56] 7Maggie looks at the others. "About twenty?" [00:56] "Little younger, I think." 00[00:56] <@Crion> He nods. "Good." 00[00:56] <@Crion> "Not...good, but." 00[00:57] <@Crion> "The Oracle finds itself drawn in vengeance to slain children." [00:57] 10Stewart: "That must keep you two busy." 00[00:59] <@Crion> He gets a strange look on his face at that. "Yeah." 00[00:59] <@Crion> "Yeah." 00[00:59] <@Crion> "Uh. So. You still have the body?" [00:59] 10Stewart nods. 00[01:02] <@Crion> He grimaces. "Alright, keep it, you know. Safe, in a freezer preferably. I'll want to look at it, along with where you found it and the scene of the crime too, if that's possible -- I'm sorry, something's bothering me." 00[01:03] <@Crion> "You're not vampires, you're not mages...but you're not normal people." 00[01:03] <@Crion> "Right? There's something...off here." 00[01:03] <@Crion> "What am I getting myself into?" [01:03] 10Stewart: "We changelings. We don't really know what we're getting into yet either. We just know that someone's coming for us." [01:04] *We're changelings. 00[01:04] <@Crion> "Changelings. Changelings." He pauses, eyes focusing on something that's not there, like he's listening to something. "Uh huh. Ah, okay." 00[01:04] <@Crion> "And I guess we're trying to figure out if it's found you, huh?" [01:05] 5Tony: "We all got thrown in the same deep end here man. Maggie and me got framed for murdering a kid, with something that had our faces, on camera, maybe it's related to some weird storm egg spirit thing, but the kid that died, that's where we're trying to start, so we can get to the people who killed him while pretending to be us, so we can go from there." 00[01:06] <@Crion> He nods at Tony, not even perturbed by the 'storm-egg' comment. "Yeah. Cameras are bullshit. I think I can figure out how to help." 00[01:06] <@Crion> "One thing...my methods can get uh...just a little bit weird." 00[01:06] <@Crion> "Just giving the heads up on that." [01:06] 6Nels: "That's okay. We're used to weird at this point." 00[01:07] <@Crion> "Good! Good, good. Do you guys have like, a card?" [01:08] 5Tony looks at the rest of the motley: "One of you's got a phone on you or something right?" 5He makes a show of patting his pockets. [01:09] "Like a business card? No, I don't..." 10He looks at the others. "I don't think we do. I do have my phone, yeah." 00[01:10] <@Crion> Ben will take down his own and get a couple numbers, then. [01:10] 7Business cards! She should get some business cards! 00[01:10] <@Crion> "Alright, I'll touch base tomorrow. I've got some appointments early in the day but a free afternoon." [01:10] 5Tony nods: "We appreciate the help, especially on short notice." 00[01:10] <@Crion> "Thank god you're not vampires and I can just double dip on my billing." 00[01:11] <@Crion> He looks up. "I mentioned my rate, right? $250/hour." [01:11] 7Ah, geez. [01:13] 10Stewart: "Yeah, that's fine. I'll give the firm a heads-up and tell you where to send the invoices." 00[01:13] <@Crion> Ben nods as if this is all normal. He is used to dealing with vampires, after all. 00[01:14] <@Crion> "Alright, then. See you tomorrow. Head back out the way you came; I've gotta see an office about a strange, spooky burst of unexplained electromagentic energy near where they keep the tapes." [01:15] "Thank you. Good night." [01:15] 5Tony is registered dumbstruck at this exchange for a number of reasons, not the least of which is what $250 could buy back in his day. An hour! 00[01:16] <@Crion> This simple horse veterinarian will further initiate you into the secrets of death and Twilight...next week! [01:18] 7Maggie lets out a whoooooo. "We are so lucky we have someone to invoice." 03[02:54] * Quaker (textual@sorcery-2jh55q.oc.cox.net) has joined #gofetch 02[02:54] * Quaker (textual@sorcery-2jh55q.oc.cox.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook Air has gone to sleep. 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ZZZzzz…) 03[22:44] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 02[23:29] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 03[23:29] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 02[23:44] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 03[23:45] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch Session Time: Sat Mar 21 00:00:00 2020 02[02:04] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 02[02:43] * tom (tom@sorcery-rnbr45.wavecable.com) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[02:58] * banana|peels is now known as banana 02[03:28] * CBN (CBN@sorcery-ghndlk.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) Quit (Connection closed) 03[07:00] * tom (tom@sorcery-rnbr45.wavecable.com) has joined #gofetch 03[11:35] * CBN (CBN@sorcery-94q4p7.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) has joined #gofetch 02[11:39] * tom (tom@sorcery-rnbr45.wavecable.com) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[11:49] * banana is now known as banana|peels 03[17:45] * tom (tom@sorcery-rnbr45.wavecable.com) has joined #gofetch 03[20:11] * Crion_ is now known as Crion 02[20:11] * Disconnected 02[20:11] * Attempting to rejoin channel #gofetch 03[20:11] * Rejoined channel #gofetch 03[20:11] * Topic is 'Who botches the Botchmen?' 03[20:11] * Set by Crion!Crion@sorcery-puhjpa.fios.verizon.net on Sun Sep 22 02:37:29 2019 03[20:11] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Crion 03[20:58] * banana|peels is now known as bananugh 00[21:19] <@Crion> 00[21:19] <@Crion> 00[21:19] <@Crion> 00[21:19] <@Crion> 00[21:19] <@Crion> 00[21:19] <@Crion> 00[21:19] <@Crion> 00[21:19] <@Crion> 00[21:21] <@Crion> Things are...well, they're nowhere near back to normal. The Ravens have been providing secure text updates from each regent to all the remain courtiers through hexboxes and safe phones, since who knows who's up on their normal lines. Summer is in the streets, Spring is working the city government about the attacks on the Freeholds' properties (it's moving slow, and not just because it's 00[21:21] <@Crion> holiday season), and Autumn is in the business of finding Winter. 00[21:21] <@Crion> Which isn't to say you don't have time to at least go home, get some sleep, and reset before having to go look at Capra's body again. Provided that "home" is "the Wherehouse." [21:23] 6It isn't normally, but it sure is now. 00[21:23] <@Crion> Lauren has relocated there full-time, for now; Chup seems to be getting used to Steve, and vice versa. [21:23] 10Stewart can't actually bunker down at the Wherehouse indefinitely; he's got to work. [21:33] 10Before even that, though, he's got to swing by the Belvedere. 00[21:35] <@Crion> There's an uncomfortable energy around the Consilium's headquarters these days. When he goes upstairs to see the book, he can see Everafter waving Sommelier, who is carrying a huge stack of books, over to her reading room. Though Sommelier clearly sees Stewart, for the first time he doesn't bother stopping him or asking him what he's here for. Either Stewart's gained something akin to a guest 00[21:35] <@Crion> pass here, or things are more serious than maybe they seemed at first glance. Or maybe both. [21:36] 10It's always nice to see people snapping into action. Shame about what it takes to make it happen. 00[21:37] <@Crion> Anyway. Searching "The Winter King" doesn't return anything, but searching "Liaison of Winter Baltimore" brings up what he's looking for (which is itself odd, because the Book is usually very good at anticipating what Stewart actually means when he's making a search). That link redirects him to a page called '[No Name/Face].' [21:37] 10Ha. 00[21:42] <@Crion> The good news, if there's good news, is that this page is...somewhat robust. The King's real name has been scrubbed from it, of course, and the only current, immediate information you can glean from it about the man is '[No Name/Face] lives and works in Baltimore, Maryland,' but it's written in the present tense -- always a good sign from the Book that the subject is, indeed, alive -- and 00[21:42] <@Crion> gives you the run down of his backstory. He was an actor of minor reknown in the 70s, the son of communist labor movement organizers in the farming fields of California who split home early for the big lights, and who got involved with the CIA (because it sounded sexy, because he wanted to impress a girl who turned out to be his handler, and because he thought it'd make his dad angry, to 00[21:42] <@Crion> various ends). It was not sexy, and mostly involved spying on "reds" in various Hollywood social sets... 00[21:42] <@Crion> ...Until the night he was 'recruited' by Operation Blackbriar, and got all the sexy espionage action he could handle. And then some. [21:43] 6Ah. 00[21:44] <@Crion> His Durance lasted some thirty years, and spit him out in Prague. He managed to get a flight into BWI Thurgood Marshall and bummed a ride into the city, his appetite for heroics and globetrotting completely gone. He walked into the very end of the Freehold's civil war. 00[21:44] <@Crion> His talents were in high demand...and most of Winter was dead or fled. 00[21:44] <@Crion> And he never has to see a movie again, if he doesn't want to. 00[21:46] <@Crion> Steve, meanwhile...has heard about Maggie's plan for Brews. 00[21:46] <@Crion> Steve loves Brews. 00[21:46] <@Crion> And Steve loves Business. 00[21:46] <@Crion> This might not be the time to work out a Hedge-side distro deal, however. [21:47] 10Well... not a lot of immediately useful information, but at least it gives Stewart some idea of his disposition and skillset. [21:47] 7Oh, man. Putting a third cartoon in their logo? Of a cute lil' goose in a business hat? Incredible. [21:48] 6The hat has a little placard tucked into its band. The placard says "BUSINESS" 03[21:48] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch [21:50] 13It's not exactly sleep but it's similar. Eventually, Melanie lowers her arms against the waning false-light from the Hedge sun above the skylights; she shivers for a moment before going looking for clothes and body armour. This is going to be tricky. [21:50] 10After that, Stewart returns to his apartment to shower and stream. His plan, if nothing interrupts him, is to log off about midnight and bring some changes of clothes back to the Wherehouse by half-past. [21:50] 5Tony's mostly gone back to the Wherehouse for a heavy reset. Getting framed for murder and trying to fit an entire wizarding world of bullshit into your head at once (or at least, wrap your head around it) is pretty dang heavy. He slept like shit, but then, he always sleeps like shit. [21:51] 13Maybe Stewart found something with magic, maybe they can learn to talk to broken security cameras. It's not actually clear to her how to investigate a murder? 03[21:51] * bananugh is now known as banana [21:52] 6This is a first for Nels, too, who spent her last several hours either plucking nervously at her guitar or sleeping fitfully. [21:53] 6She can catch up on sleep when her friends aren't being framed. 00[21:54] <@Crion> 'Sleep is important,' says the strangely-compelling cartoon character called The Sandman, who steals away little children who stay up too late. [21:54] 13To whoever's in the Wherehouse living room: "It would be different if the victim was Society. I mean society. You can diagnose various ethical and material causes and move on from there to power interests, conspiracies, historical figures..." [21:56] 6Nels: "But it isn't. It's us, and our friends." [21:57] 13Melanie: "It's Nels!" [21:57] "I don't mean that you're the killer." [21:57] "I should hope not! Jeepers." [21:58] 13Jeepers. "But like.. aren't we out of our depth. I'm really out of practical ideas. Unless we can sort of go around to the hideout of every known 'bad guy' and threaten them..." [21:59] 6Thoughtfully: "I've read stories where that works." [22:00] 13Melanie: "Speaking of detective stories, maybe there will be some sort of visible 'clue' on the alley walls. Otherwise.. this is kind of like being asked to solve the whole problem. Who dun all of it." [22:01] 10Stewart, packing away supplies: "After we know who killed Capra, we'll have more options. We might follow up on that, or help track down the Winter courtiers, or we might get told to bunker down and wait for the grownups to fix it." [22:01] "But this isn't a huge Freehold. 'The grownups' is like... five people. And rapidly coming to include us." 00[22:02] <@Crion> Steve IS trying to, at the very least, wheedle Maggie into letting him taste some of the wares, though. He needs to know all the details before making an investment, in stocks. Capitalized financialization. Markets. Business. 02[22:02] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 03[22:02] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch [22:02] 7Oh, well, of course. Beers for Steve is an understood Wherehouse tradition at this point. [22:03] "I know I'm feelin' a bit at loose ends, here. I'm no coroner, nor detective." 00[22:03] <@Crion> Excellent. He'll expense this forthwith! [22:03] 6Nels: "I'm a musician, not... either of those things." [22:03] 13Melanie: "No, fixing it is fine, we should be participating in that.. it's the 'after we know'. Um. We're also not CSI..." [22:04] 10Stewart: "That's what we got Ben for." [22:04] 6Nels: "Is that a real thing? I saw it on TV and it looked awful, and fake." [22:04] 10Stewart: "The stuff they do on TV is basically magic, which is a real thing." [22:05] 6Nels: "Shoot, you're right." [22:05] "Yeah, forensic ghosts should help." 13This isn't sarcasm. [22:05] 10Stewart: "I'm not worried about running out of leads. There's way more ways to get information than there are to know what to do with it." [22:05] "That's going to be the hard part." [22:06] 5Regardless of time of day, Tony's wandering into the living room with a bowl of cereal and bleary, sleep-sodden eyes. "So do all wizards got ghosts too, what was going on with that? Also did anyone know ghosts were real?" [22:06] 6Helpfully: "I didn't." [22:06] 10Stewart: "I don't think Ben's a wizard. I think he's got a different thing going on. I knew about ghosts, though, yeah. It's on the wiki." [22:07] "The what?" [22:07] 10Stewart: "Autumn court keeps a sort of crowd-sourced encyclopedia together of magical stuff." [22:08] 7Maggie, helpfully: "The Wikipedia. It's this internet encyclopedia-- oh! There's more than one?" [22:08] 13Melanie, dubious: "If action is the hard part... let's sketch it out then. Imagine this 'oracle' just tells us straight up, Wizard X did this.. we'd either start heading to their location or a safe one depending on relative urgency, while calling in the information. We'd want to kill them, capture them, or follow alternate instructions. It might not be easy but if you're attacked - and [22:08] we have been attacked - isn't it straightforward what to do?" [22:08] 10Stewart: "Assuming it's a wizard." [22:08] "Or just a wizard." [22:08] 5Tony: "If we know it's a wizard, we tell those other wizards first, right?" [22:09] "We still don't know who the mole is, after all, or if that's connected to this." [22:09] 5Tony: "Feels like if it was one of ours people'd drag us in, think it'd be only fair to do the same if we get the chance." [22:10] "There's still a limited palette with which to paint. We can't afford to be indirect... the Freehold will confirm but if we're cornered we have to be, um, not worth the price attacking." [22:10] 5Tony: "See, I'm wondering if the mole's a mole at all. 5He sets his bowl down to rub his eyes. "Like, yesterday, I was thinking, if wizards can spy on you, how do we know someone even NEEDS a person telling them, to get information on someone else? Couldn't they just ask a magic mirror or something?" [22:11] 13Melanie: "So there won't be any political maneuvering. If it's something we can fight we'll fight it and otherwise.. Winter will be a template maybe." [22:11] 6Still reeling from the idea of collective knowledge, and multiple resources of such, Nels is slightly subdued: "The mole was one of, um, not us-us, but, one of us? So telling wizards about things should be fine?" [22:12] 10Stewart: "If it was an obviously bad idea to tell the Consilium about stuff, we'd have been warned not to." [22:12] "If it's a *secretly* bad idea, then, like... uh oh." [22:12] 5Tony: "The other question, and I wanna throw this at the group before it gets thrown at me, is, how long until I'm just King of Winter, right?" [22:12] "And if they can just see and hear things regardless, it doesn't matter what we do because wizards." 6She tries not to sound put out and mostly succeeds. [22:12] 5Tony: "Not that I want it. But, default." [22:13] 10Stewart: "You know, that's an interesting question." [22:13] 13Do you get the crown for being the most fearsome, or the most afraid? [22:13] "If the Winter King just books it - that violates his oath to the Freehold, right? To the Season?" 00[22:13] <@Crion> From the kitchen: "Angelfire's got seniority..." [22:13] 13Melanie writes that down, but doesn't say it. 00[22:13] <@Crion> "...but he's no leader." [22:13] "So is his crown just revoked now? And if it's not, isn't that proof something else is going on?" 00[22:13] <@Crion> That's an interesting gray area that...no one has provided guidance on, come to think of it. [22:14] 6Nels: "King Tony." 6She bows slightly. [22:14] 10Something to ask Santander next time they see him. [22:16] 5Tony: "Wish they did it like team captains, where you don't have to be the leader to be the guy at the coin toss. That could be cool." [22:16] "Maybe they'll change things after this whole," 6she gestures vaguely. 02[22:17] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) [22:19] 5Tony sighs wistfully into his cereal bowl. "Bet if we had a boat we wouldn't have to deal with this kinda stuff..." [22:19] 10Stewart: "What if there's a Freehold of International Waters?" [22:19] 6Nels: "Always wanted to get back to New Orleans..." [22:19] "The Pirate King of Winter." [22:20] 13Melanie's making toast, which is within her cooking capabilities. If anyone wants toast, this is a good time for it. "These ritual trappings are um.. they have meaning, right, but there's also a lot of bullshit. The immutable law of the seasons. Obviously it isn't, it's all fairly new and stuff changes all the time like with what happened to the old Spring guy." [22:20] "Deliberate mystery is part of it.. there's meaning in obscurity too! But the exact details of Winter's Oath probably don't matter, or can't be known, or both." [22:20] 5Tony: "Stewart, if there are people to answer to in international waters then there's no point in even having them." [22:21] 5Tony: "Man. I don't even wanna think about that. What a fuckin bummer that would be." [22:21] 13Melanie: "Werewhales." [22:22] 5Tony: "Probably no vampires. The dream." [22:22] 6Nels: "The one I met was nice!" [22:23] 10Stewart: "Ocean vampires are probably much less nice." [22:23] "Ocean anything is probably much less nice." [22:24] 5Tony spends a really long minute debating whether or not to ask if fish have blood. "... ......ok so wizards are real, ghosts are real, vampires are real, we're real and all our other shit's real, hey Steve, werewolves are real, what else?" [22:25] 6Nels: "Devils?" [22:25] "I mean, I don't want 'em to be, but everything else..." [22:25] 10Stewart: "There's a lot of things *called* demons and devils, like you'd expect in a world that contains both magic and Southern Baptists." [22:26] "I dunno if Hell is for-real real, though." [22:26] 10He hopes not. [22:26] 13Melanie: "You've got to define 'being real. Epistemologically, we consider these guys facts due to a combination of recent close encounters and reliable reports... but now we've got ways of knowing that include, like, dreaming-into-existence. If something's a story then that is specifically real." [22:26] 5Tony: "Like not just, horns, tail, pitchfork -LOOKING, like the one guy with the two faces had with him, but full on, afterlife, and. Wait a second if ghosts are real does that mean we turn into ghosts when we die?" 5He looks very unhappy at this prospect. [22:27] 10Stewart: "I think if everybody turned into a ghost when they died there'd be a lot more ghosts around." [22:27] 13Melanie: "Someone might perceive or imagine you to do so. Whether it 'happens' to you is another question." 00[22:27] <@Crion> Steve honks. Angels are apparently real as well. He doesn't know much about them? [22:27] 6Nels: "I'm. Going to need to sit down." 6She's already sitting on the couch. [22:28] 6Ghosts of old friends, though? [22:28] 5Tony looks at Steve. "Fuuuuck." [22:28] 10Stewart shrugs and goes back to moving stuff around. Once the Gentry are real, does it really matter if there's also demons and angels? [22:29] "Huuuurm." [22:30] 13Melanie: "When is the horse guy expecting us?" 00[22:30] <@Crion> Ben Best did specifically say he was looking forward to working day time hours again. 03[22:30] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch [22:30] "AFternoon, sometime." 00[22:31] <@Crion> He awaits your call, presumably. [22:31] 5Tony: "Oh thank---I dunno, whatever else's real---it was too spooky meeting him after midnight with his, man that other thing. No." [22:32] "..horses being real was kind of a shock actually.." 13Melanie forgot about them. [22:32] 10Stewart: "Yeah remember he was like 'Sick, I'll get to double bill'? He said he'd be in touch and to expect him after noon." [22:33] 10Sometimes it feels everyone's short-term memory is shot, like conversations they had an hour ago were a week ago or more. 00[22:33] <@Crion> It sounds like it's morning now, by the cooking; who besides Stewart gave him their number? [22:33] 6Nels: "Horses not being around was one of the weirdest things," 6she sort-of not-really consoles Melanie. [22:34] "Don't get me wrong, they seem nice. Friendly and strong. But they're so big. How did you guys cope?" [22:34] "Mostly by not thinking about it and staying away from their hind legs. 'Cause of the kicking." 00[22:37] <@Crion> Anyway, around noon Ben adds everyone whose number he got to a group chat. 00[22:37] <@Crion> [22:37] 5Tony: "Horses are just big little guys, nothing to worry about there." 00[22:37] <@Crion> 00[22:38] <@Crion> [22:40] 10Stewart: "Mellie, do we need to call the Oberon ahead to get in?" [22:40] 13Does Melanie know whether it's ok to bring this guy to North Avenue? 00[22:40] <@Crion> Yeah, it's cool. 00[22:40] <@Crion> Street's given Melanie wartime discretion here. [22:41] "No, it doesn't close." [22:41] "Alright, call it like 2 then?" [22:42] "There's no reason we can't meet straight at the scene as long as Ben gets the appropriate threats." [22:42] "I want to swing by the Belvedere first." [22:44] "That's a wizard base, right?" [22:45] 7Maggie nods agreeably. "Neat." [22:45] 10Stewart: "Yeah, it's where I keep the Book." [22:45] 6Nels: "Not here?" 02[22:45] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) [22:46] 10Stewart: "No, absolutely not." [22:46] "That's fair." [22:49] 10Anyway, Stewart swings by the Belvedere, as promised, before meeting the others or going back to bring them to the Oberon. 00[22:55] <@Crion> Capra was born Mulualem Nigh to an Ethiopian mother and a gentile father who emigrated from Israel to America in the Nineties. He was born after they settled in Baltimore, attended Jewish Day School and went to temple as his mother wished, and was taken in his teens by the Great Builder. 00[22:55] <@Crion> The Builder was incoherent: some days wishing for Jenga towers, others for skyscrapers, others for lower income housing, fewer still for strange, impossible symbols built up against the landscape. Nigh, forced to be a beast of burden, found his faith tested...and then lost. When he finally escaped, he took on the name Capra. He still goes to temple, from time to time, but he doubts. His 00[22:55] <@Crion> parents moved to Florida after he was taken for his mother's health; he never contacted them again. He wanted to deal with his anger, first. 00[22:55] <@Crion> Capra's entry is written in the past tense. All the Book says of his death is that he was murdered by unknown assailants and dumped at The Oberon. [22:56] 10Well, fair enough. [22:56] 10Time to meet Ben and the others, then. [22:57] 13It didn't say he was murdered at the Oberon, though. 00[22:57] <@Crion> Indeed, it takes care to distinguish between the murder and the dumping. [22:58] 10It'd be pretty hard to torture and murder someone directly on top of Swordhome, probably. [22:59] 6It'd be worse if it wasn't. [23:00] 13Well, depends who's doing it. 00[23:00] <@Crion> Around two in the afternoon, pretty punctual but not stopwatch-perfect, a beaten-up old Ford pickup will pull into the Oberon's parking lot. It's got a hitch on the back for a horse trailer, and the only thing in the bed is a battered old steamer trunk...strapped down multiple times. 00[23:01] <@Crion> Benjamin Best hops out from behind the wheel, having parked across a couple spots with the lot empty, wearing a long black coat, black Henley shirt, black jeans, black boots, and a white scarf. [23:01] 13Melanie enjoys introducing the others to one of Summer's hideouts without the pressure of their framing... sort of. "I don't know why it had to be a strip club. There's some... legacy thinking still working its way through the system." [23:01] 10Stewart blinks. Oh, that's what the poles are for. [23:02] 5Tony: "HELL yeah that truck, man." 5Tony says with genuine respect. 00[23:02] <@Crion> Nissa of Fives is watching the door, and isn't impressed. But she's been told this guy is clear. 00[23:02] <@Crion> Ben: "Heyy...Tony. It's Tony, right?" [23:03] 6Nels waves politely from somewhere behind Tony. 00[23:03] <@Crion> "Hey," he'll say to Nels. 00[23:03] <@Crion> "Hi," to Nissa. She sighs. [23:05] 5Tony: "Yep! How ya doin'?" [23:06] 13Melanie: "Don't be like that Nissa." 13She's trying hard for a friendly tone here, it's a bonding-joke, she needs to practice this stuff.. and doesn't need to get beaten up by Nissa again, though that will probably still happen.. 00[23:07] <@Crion> Nissa glances at Melanie, and then: "...Hello. Horse guy." 00[23:07] <@Crion> Ben laughs. "Please don't call me that when I'm not billing." 00[23:08] <@Crion> Nissa: "Oh, you're billing." 00[23:08] <@Crion> Ben: "I meant...okay, fair enough." 00[23:08] <@Crion> "Tony, help me with this trunk?" 00[23:08] <@Crion> "Don't, uh. Don't touch the clasps." [23:09] 5Tony: "Yeah man. Gotcha." 5He approaches the opposite end from Ben and does not touch the clasps. 00[23:09] <@Crion> Ben starts unstrapping the big steamer trunk from the back of the truck. You...could probably hide a body in there. [23:09] "What do you need to see Mr. Best, the scene or the body?" 00[23:09] <@Crion> Ben: "Both, but let's start with the scene. Body's not going anywhere!" 00[23:10] <@Crion> Nissa: "...Melanie, you know what. I never got lunch. I'm going to go get lunch." 00[23:10] <@Crion> "Can you handle everything here." [23:10] "Yes, we'll watch the door too." 00[23:11] <@Crion> Nissa: "Thanks. Back in, I don't know. However long it takes him to leave." 02[23:11] * dammitwho (joanofarcta@sorcery-j9socb.dynamic.onlinenw.com) Quit (Quit: ) [23:11] 6Man, that's a good trick. Getting lunch to avoid contact. [23:11] 13That's an actual commitment, so Melanie will basically take up Nissa's position unless someone else wants to do it. [23:12] 6Nnnnnnnnnnope. 03[23:12] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 00[23:18] <@Crion> Ben: "Cool, cool. Stewart, hi! Melanie, hello. Maggie, what's up. Tony let's just set this down on the bar." [23:18] 10Stewart nods in greeting. [23:18] 5Tony: "Whuf. Uh-huh." [23:19] 6Rude. 03[23:19] * dammitwho (joanofarcta@sorcery-j9socb.dynamic.onlinenw.com) has joined #gofetch [23:19] 13Maybe she's upset by the need for outsiders to help, maybe she's still upset about Capra, or maybe Best is just very annoying... [23:20] 6Got to update: not rude, I'm just forgetful. Thanks, Ben. 00[23:21] <@Crion> Ben, smiling: "Okay. Alright. So...who wants to show me the video? And walk me through the narrative." [23:21] 10Do Maggie or Tony want to take this, since it's their faces up there? [23:22] 10If they don't jump on it, Stewart will. [23:22] 5Tony dusts his hands off. "Stewart, you've got the tape, right?" [23:22] 7Yeah, Maggie will just show him the video if they've got it. [23:22] 10Stewart: "Should still be in the TV." [23:25] 5Tony: "Someone else go ahead." 5He takes a step back. 00[23:25] <@Crion> After looking at the video, he turns to Tony. "Smile for me, would you?" [23:25] 5Tony offers a polite, family-photo-or-driver's-license-photo-on-a-good-day smile. 00[23:26] <@Crion> "Nah, big. Like the guy on the video." 00[23:26] <@Crion> "Like your team just won the big game." [23:29] 13Melanie, from over by the door: "That was someone else." 00[23:30] <@Crion> "Need to see the teeth." [23:33] 5Tony provides that kind of smile. It wavers between a grimace and an actual smile, but he holds it best he can. "Cheeeeese?" [23:34] 6Terrifying. 00[23:34] <@Crion> "Nice. Yeah, so the first mistake they made -- you said this cover wasn't supposed to hold? -- first mistake is they didn't get the teeth right. That guy's got near-perfect chompers. Important? I dunno. Says to me whatever sort of magic you've got going on here is only skin-deep, though." 00[23:35] <@Crion> Ben sits down on a stool, still smiling. "Secondly: I'm guessing you all know about the insane nexus of mortal violence in the subbasement that I can feel from here, and it's not part of our remit today." [23:36] 10Big breath. "Yeah that's a separate thing." 00[23:36] <@Crion> "Good. Cause it feels almost like a hospital. And there's a reason I take care of horses instead of people." [23:36] 13Melanie: "Totally normal." 13And we know he didn't do it. [23:37] 6Nels just exhales. [23:37] 5Tony relaxes slightly, taking this to mean that horse ghosts aren't a thing. Small favors. [23:37] "If it helps, there's nobody being hurt down there. There's just.. violence. A story of pain telling itself to itself." [23:38] 10Stewart winces. [23:38] 5Tony frowns a little, just the same. 00[23:38] <@Crion> Ben sort of winces too and half-shrugs. "Yeeeeah...I'm not sure it works like that. Not for them, anyway." 00[23:38] <@Crion> "Third, most important thing:" 00[23:39] <@Crion> "What's your deal?" 00[23:39] <@Crion> "As a group, as a people. However you refer to yourselves." [23:39] 6Nels: "A motley crew?" [23:39] 7Maggie: "Is that, uh, important?" [23:39] 10Stewart: "What do you mean by 'deal', exactly?" 00[23:39] <@Crion> His smile turns gentler, and more serious. "It is. I need to know more about...changelings, and specifically, how you deal with death, grieving, and everything after." 00[23:40] <@Crion> "Since this is really the first time I'm sitting down to talk to any of you." [23:40] 10Stewart... doesn't really know how to answer that. [23:41] 6Nels: "Mostly I didn't," 6she offers. [23:42] 13Melanie: "Around here, you'll find the changelings who deal in.. deal via anger. Vengeance; wrath; raging at the unfairness of the world and doing something about it, fighting back. We're people, Mr. Best, but compared to other people we're more tied to stories and the emotion invoked by stories. Others-" 13she glances into the darkened bar, not sure whether to describe the stereotypical [23:42] 13coping mechanisms of Autumn Winter and Spring... 00[23:44] <@Crion> Ben, quietly: "Anger is something I understand, yeah." [23:46] 5Tony thinks for a long minute. "Well I spent 40 years watching people get murdered nightly and burying the bodies, then came back and someone else lived my entire life for me so I'm both alive and very dead. So I'm mostly sad all the time I guess. Not gonna let that stop me from doin' stuff though." 00[23:46] <@Crion> Ben smiles. "I can relate to that, in a way." [23:47] 6Nels: "Yeah." [23:47] "It was a couple weeks for me, but, you know." [23:48] 10Stewart folds his arms. 00[23:49] <@Crion> Ben: "So it's a live for the moment sort of thing, then. Okay." 00[23:50] <@Crion> "Next question, also kind of personal: let's look at that back door." [23:50] 13Melanie: "Some other groups of changelings process trauma with proportionate fear, or by countering it with joy. Other than those specific things we've got the reactions you'd expect." 00[23:50] <@Crion> He's back to his wider smile and is making for Alley Door 2. [23:50] 5Tony follows. 00[23:51] <@Crion> As they walk, to Melanie: "So it's strong emotions with your lot, then? That's...well, that's good and that's bad. Actually it's probably value-neutral, but it matters." 00[23:51] <@Crion> "Strong emotions make for strong ghosts." [23:52] 6Nels, walking behind: "Strong and angry, or strong... helpful?" [23:53] 7Maggie: "There's not really enough of us around to make for an agreed-upon, uh... whatever you want to call it. I'd guess a lot of us are sort of optimists? In a 'Well, they didn't get him' kind of way." 00[23:54] <@Crion> Ben: "Just strong. Anything other than that is...hard to promise." [23:55] 6I see. [23:55] 6Nels: "Oh." 6She doesn't elaborate. [23:57] 13Melanie's staying back at the main door if we're the only ones around. 00[23:57] <@Crion> The alley door is pretty typical: reinforced steel, hinges on the inside, reinforced slide-slat instead of a peephole so no-one can easily shoot you in the eye with a .38 when you see who's knocking, three bolts. 00[23:57] <@Crion> You know, the usual. 00[23:58] <@Crion> Around now, Serrato Colt will show up, looking for his lunch (paper bag, in the kitchen fridge). Given what's going on, he'll cover the door. [23:59] "Thank you. Nissa will be here at some point, probably based on feelings." 00[23:59] <@Crion> Serrato laughs. If Melanie tells him the whole story: "Yeah. I'll call Street and have her reassigned." Session Time: Sun Mar 22 00:00:00 2020 [00:00] 13She doesn't, though. 00[00:00] <@Crion> Then he'll just say "Yeah," and settle in on a seat at the door. 00[00:01] <@Crion> Meanwhile, at the door: "So, we know they came out through here. But they didn't come out through here." 00[00:01] <@Crion> That's Ben. 02[00:02] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 00[00:02] <@Crion> "Is your guys' magic on this?" [00:06] 6Nels: "...kind of? It's. Something about it." 6She looks to the rest of the motley. "It's weird, right?" [00:10] 10Stewart: "It's like it's degraded somehow." 00[00:11] <@Crion> Ben grimaces. "Alright. One sec." 00[00:12] <@Crion> Benjamin Best's eyes roll back in his head, his arms spread wide, and he's coated in a strange sheen that gleams in the light... 03[00:13] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 00[00:13] <@Crion> He stays like that for...a couple beats too long. Around the time you're starting to get concerned -- well, that the average person would start to get concerned -- he snaps back like nothing ever happened. 00[00:14] <@Crion> "Yeah," Ben says. "That's fucked up." [00:14] 6Nels: "We seem to get that a lot." 00[00:14] <@Crion> "That degradation you're feeling, Stewart, it isn't the touch of the Underworld, and I don't think it's your stuff. That feels, to me, like the Death Arcanum." 00[00:14] <@Crion> "Something I've had to become acquainted with in my work." [00:15] 10Stewart: "We sort of suspected willworkers were involved. Good to know for sure I guess." 00[00:15] <@Crion> Speaking to himself, almost: "And what's really fucked up about that is it should be like, Spirit, or Fate, or Time..." [00:16] 6What's actually fucked up is talking to onesself. [00:16] 6Making comments in narration doesn't count. [00:16] 10It's normal to do that. [00:17] 6Wouldn't know. [00:17] "What does it mean that it's the, what was it, the Death Arcanum?" 00[00:18] <@Crion> To Stewart: "So this door doesn't go down, because it's not an Avernian Gate. It don't think it goes to werewolf land either, because they've got...you know, a smell about them. Not judging. Don't have it here." [00:18] 6Nels: "Werewolf l-- you know, just keep explaining." 00[00:18] <@Crion> "Far as I'm aware, the mages don't really...go anywhere special. Twilight's sort of always here, contraposed." 00[00:19] <@Crion> There's only one place mages want to go, and it's disgusting. 00[00:19] <@Crion> "So I'm guessing your magic is the base, and the Death Arcanum is the modifier." 00[00:20] <@Crion> "Where's this door lead, when you juice it?" [00:20] 10Stewart: "We have a place. Well, like, I say 'we' have. There's another place doors can go." [00:20] "We call it the Hedge." 00[00:20] <@Crion> Ben: "What's it like?" [00:21] "It's like a dream you're trying to remember enough of to make a story out of it." [00:21] 7Maggie: "It's extremely dangerous." [00:21] 6Nels: "Some of it's solid enough. Whether that's a good or a bad thing is... mixed." [00:22] "Exaggerations, thematic and structure pastiches... foreign beings, benign and hostile. It's a bordermarch between our world and, and someone else's." 00[00:22] <@Crion> Ben: "...Both of those things sound like they syngergize extremely well with ghosts." 00[00:22] <@Crion> "All of those things." [00:22] "There are things we call Hedge ghosts." [00:22] "I don't think they're like, the ghosts of people, though." [00:23] 10Are they? 00[00:23] <@Crion> Ben grins at the door. "Looks like we're gonna find out. At some point at least." [00:23] "Not all of them, anyway." 00[00:23] <@Crion> "Okay, let's see the body. 00[00:23] <@Crion> " 00[00:24] <@Crion> Unless someone stops him, Ben will head back to the bar, a positive skip in his step. He's heading for the trunk. [00:25] 10No reason to stop him Stewart can see. [00:25] 6Nels certainly isn't going to stop him. [00:25] 5Tony will head along with that too. This is a whole lot to digest already, so he's pretty quiet. 00[00:27] <@Crion> While someone -- this can be Serrato, if needed -- retrieves the body, Ben will start unlocking the five or six individual padlocks on the trunk. [00:27] 10Stewart watches with a furrowed brow. 00[00:28] <@Crion> On the last lock, Benjamin Best pauses...and then: "You know what, let's try this the normal way first. So, what I'm gonna do is -- I'm gonna try to manifest Capra's ghost, so he can answer questions. This is assuming kind of a lot; that his ghost is here, that it's intelligible at all, so on and so forth. But it's worth a try." 00[00:29] <@Crion> "If it doesn't work, I've got methods." [00:29] 7Maggie: "Is there something we should be doing?" 00[00:30] <@Crion> "I wouldn't presume to go into your freezer myself. Other than that...we can keep the body covered, if you like. Unless that makes the ghost mad for some reason." [00:34] 10Stewart will help Colt or whoever lay Capra out where Ben can see him if no one else does. [00:35] 5Tony: "Should Maggie and I not be here for this part? If he thinks we killed him he might not want to do anything with us around. Or, worse, he might want to do something." 00[00:35] <@Crion> Ben leaps up on the table, sits crosslegged, inhales... 00[00:35] <@Crion> ... 00[00:35] <@Crion> "...No, you're fine." 00[00:35] <@Crion> "Half the ghost isn't here." [00:35] "That sounds unusual." 10And bad. 00[00:35] <@Crion> "Which is an insane thing to say, really. Time to get the noose!" [00:36] "The what now?" [00:36] 10'Time to get the noose' is also an insane thing to say, Stewart thinks but doesn't say. [00:36] 7Maggie imagines a spectral pair of legs walking around doing a spooky jig. 00[00:37] <@Crion> Ben heads over to the trunk, and sure enough, withdraws a length of rope that ends in a noose. "Alright, I...let's see here. There's a crossbeam up there, so, like so..." He tosses the length over the crossbeam, then puts the noose around his neck. 00[00:37] <@Crion> He tests it a couple times. "Okay yeah. That's good." [00:37] 10Ah jeez. 00[00:37] <@Crion> He hops back up on the table. "Okay. So I need someone to man the noose." 00[00:38] <@Crion> "Don't worry, I'm a professional." [00:38] 5Tony sighs and raises his hand. "In for a penny I guess." 00[00:38] <@Crion> "Nice, nice." 00[00:38] <@Crion> "Okay, Tony. What I need you to do is, on my mark -- I'm gonna raise and arm, and when I'm ready, put it down -- I need you to strangle me with this noose until I die." [00:39] 6Ah jeez. 00[00:39] <@Crion> "Now: I'm gonna die pretty quick. Don't worry about that. It's fine." 00[00:39] <@Crion> "What I need you NOT to do, is break my neck." 00[00:39] <@Crion> "That'll be a real problem." [00:40] 7Maggie looks slightly ill. 00[00:40] <@Crion> "Me dying is gonna be pretty obvious; I go limp, tongue turns blue, all that stuff. Thankfully I've mastered the art of not soiling myself, so there's that. I die, you let me loose, maybe stop me from faceplanting." 00[00:40] <@Crion> "Then:" 00[00:40] <@Crion> "You ask my corpse questions." 00[00:41] <@Crion> "Because the Oracle will be communing directly with Capra's ghost." [00:41] 6Nels: "Hey. That sucks, man.: 00[00:41] <@Crion> Ben: "Did you think talking to the dead was fun?" [00:41] 6That ; is a ". [00:42] 5Tony: "Ah, fuck. Someone else wanna ask the questions while I focus on the not-killing-him-for-really part?" 00[00:42] <@Crion> He smiles. "I'll be fine. I've died once already." 00[00:42] <@Crion> "This is just what we do." [00:42] 10Stewart: "Yeah, alright. We've got it covered, Tony." [00:42] 10He's rubbing his eyes as he says this. 00[00:43] <@Crion> Ben puts the noose around his neck and raises his arm. "On my mark." [00:43] 5Tony nods. [00:44] 13Melanie: :{ [00:44] 13She's thinking, of course, but trying NOT to think about what's actually happening here. Thinking about what they saw in the alley. Moles and modified magic... can one of the Lost be a wizard? 00[00:45] <@Crion> Ben lowers his arm. [00:47] 5Tony carries out his task. He'd look away but it's more important to get it right than feel right about it. 00[00:48] <@Crion> Tony jerks the rope tight over the crossbeam and the arm shudders; Ben gargles, seizes...and goes limp. Tony releases here, presumably, even though only a second or two has passed. [00:48] 6Nels keeps her eyes closed and ears shut for all of this. 00[00:48] <@Crion> Benjamin Best's body freezes in midair, then straightens, still dead, into the lotus position, eyes milky white. Slowly, slowly, the corpse inclines its chin. [00:49] 10Oh, okay, this is a lot less gross than it could've been. 00[00:50] <@Crion> "A half-thing, suffering a half-death. Time moves on, and stops. Many things remain true. Whither go the thorn-blossoms, young things?" [00:51] "Where's the other half of the ghost?" 00[00:51] <@Crion> "It does not know. Nowhere good." [00:51] "Where did Capra die?" [00:52] 13Melanie wants to ask, but does not want to waste time by asking: Are you the 'Oracle'? What's it like down there? What do you mean 'things'? 00[00:53] <@Crion> "...There is the sensation of bondage, and high ceilings. Steel beams. No thorns when it came time for the blood, but brought through thorns to that time. There is a chair. Folding. There are stains on the floor." 00[00:53] <@Crion> "Concrete things." [00:53] "A Hollow?" 10murmurs Stewart. 00[00:55] <@Crion> The Oracle doesn't respond to that question. [00:56] 13Melanie: "Who else is there?" 00[00:57] <@Crion> "1Two killers, cheaply bought and made. One betrayer, forced to look. Two schemers, ascendant. One accountant. And...something...far beyond..." 00[00:57] <@Crion> "Two killers, cheaply bought and made. One betrayer, forced to look. Two schemers, ascendant. One accountant. And...something...far beyond..." 00[00:58] <@Crion> "Everything is shadow but narrative position. The names and faces...have been stolen." [01:00] 10Stewart: "Are they saying anything?" 02[01:01] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 00[01:02] <@Crion> "Semantic meaning is lost. Only emotion remains. The betrayer sobs and screams. The schemers laugh. The accountant feels the pleasure of jobs well done. The killers feel nothing." [01:04] 13Melanie: "14Maybe it doesn't work this way, but-14 What you see, is there any concerete evidence of location or identity? What if anything are you experiencing that can be recounted without cryptic utterances?" 00[01:07] <@Crion> The Oracle looks directly at her. "In the room freight comes and goes, talking of PITT OHIO." [01:10] 10Stewart, who just googled that: "That's a truck company, they have a terminal in Glen Burnie." [01:10] 13Melanie: "Thank you." 00[01:11] <@Crion> The corpse's face doesn't move, but maybe a milky eye twinkles. 00[01:11] <@Crion> Then Benjamin Best falls to the floor taking a huge breath of air. 00[01:11] <@Crion> "Fuck!" [01:11] "Do you need some water?" 00[01:11] <@Crion> "Please." 00[01:11] <@Crion> "How'd it go?" [01:11] 10Stewart gets a glass from the bar and gives it to him filled. [01:12] "It went alright, considering the ghost is sundered." 00[01:12] <@Crion> Ben: "Thanks." 00[01:12] <@Crion> After drinking: "Yeah, that's fucked up." [01:12] "Does that happen naturally or would someone have to do that on purpose?" [01:13] 13Melanie: "There were a whole cast of dubious fuckers behind this thing, likely including one of ours. Some absurdly powerful entity involved, maybe not even the kind we assume. We have a location where they committed the actual murder." 00[01:13] <@Crion> Another gulp. "No, that'd be...real special circumstances. But I honestly don't know how your souls work. Can you think of any reason someone or something would have claim on a portion of your soul, on death?" [01:14] "Yes." [01:14] 10Stewart sucks in a deep breath. 00[01:14] <@Crion> Ben: "...Well, that's usually a pro-forma question." 00[01:14] <@Crion> "That said. There's still something fishy going on here, so maybe it's not proving a rule?" 00[01:15] <@Crion> "I dunno." 00[01:15] <@Crion> "But I do know I want to find out." 00[01:15] <@Crion> He finishes his water. "At my normal billable rate." [01:15] 10Man, 2020 is starting off weird. [01:16] 7Maggie: "Gosh, it's a good thing it's not our money we're spending here." 03[03:04] * tom2 (tom@sorcery-rnbr45.wavecable.com) has joined #gofetch 02[03:06] * tom (tom@sorcery-rnbr45.wavecable.com) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[03:07] * tom (tom@sorcery-rnbr45.wavecable.com) has joined #gofetch 02[03:08] * tom2 (tom@sorcery-rnbr45.wavecable.com) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 02[05:25] * VoxPrime (VoxPrime@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) Quit (Quit: ) 03[05:27] * VoxPrime (VoxPrime@sorcery-d3d.949.71.74.IP) has joined #gofetch 02[07:57] * dammitwho (joanofarcta@sorcery-j9socb.dynamic.onlinenw.com) Quit (Quit: ) 03[08:02] * dammitwho (joanofarcta@sorcery-j9socb.dynamic.onlinenw.com) has joined #gofetch 03[14:13] * banana is now known as banana|peels 02[14:51] * tom (tom@sorcery-rnbr45.wavecable.com) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[18:41] * tom (tom@sorcery-rnbr45.wavecable.com) has joined #gofetch 03[22:39] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch Session Time: Mon Mar 23 00:00:00 2020 02[01:37] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. 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ZZZzzz…) 02[11:16] * dammitwho (joanofarcta@sorcery-j9socb.dynamic.onlinenw.com) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[11:18] * dammitwhoaaa (joanofarcta@sorcery-eg8.kac.212.206.IP) has joined #gofetch 03[13:36] * banana is now known as banana|peels 02[13:53] * CBN (CBN@sorcery-rn4pu7.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) Quit (Connection closed) 03[13:54] * CBN (CBN@sorcery-5e90hq.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) has joined #gofetch 02[21:01] * dammitwhoaaa (joanofarcta@sorcery-eg8.kac.212.206.IP) Quit (Quit: ) 03[21:01] * dammitwho (joanofarcta@sorcery-j9socb.dynamic.onlinenw.com) has joined #gofetch 03[21:06] * banana|peels is now known as banana 00[21:10] <@Crion> 00[21:10] <@Crion> 00[21:10] <@Crion> 00[21:10] <@Crion> 00[21:10] <@Crion> 00[21:10] <@Crion> 00[21:10] <@Crion> 00[21:10] <@Crion> 00[21:10] <@Crion> 00[21:13] <@Crion> It's late in the afternoon on January 1st, 2020, and an auto-asphyxiating (or, well, close to it; he's clearly done this without helpers before) speaker for the dead has just clarified for you where the murder of Mulualem "Capra" Nigh took place -- a warehouse at Pitt Ohio's Baltimore truck terminal in Glen Burnie, MD, just south of the city limits -- along with perhaps introducing an 00[21:13] <@Crion> uncomfortable insinuation or two about what happens to changelings after they die BUT NO TIME TO THINK ABOUT THAT! There's a mystery in the offing! 00[21:14] <@Crion> For his part, Benjamin Best is packing his trunk back up. He seems in chipper spirits for a man who quite literally just died. But then, it seems like he does that fairly often? 03[21:16] * tom (tom@sorcery-rnbr45.wavecable.com) has joined #gofetch [21:16] 13Somewhere the ghost horse man can't hear, Melanie mutters: "At least he didn't get off on it." [21:16] 7Maybe you get used to it? [21:17] 6Gross. [21:17] 5Tony's not ecstatic about having to half-kill-somebody, but hey! At least it was the half he came back from. And Ben seems like a decent dude so far, for a ghost wizard. [21:17] 10Is he still around? If not, did he tell us under what circumstances we should contact him again? He mentioned continuing to help us out. 00[21:18] <@Crion> He's still around. He's acting like he kind of expects to mount up and head on over right now, but like he said, this is all billable. 00[21:18] <@Crion> In fact, here he comes back in from his truck right now -- "We're gonna need the body. So we should figure out how to move it." 00[21:19] <@Crion> "Respectful-like and such." [21:19] 13Melanie: "No." [21:19] "Well, wait- need for what?" 00[21:19] <@Crion> Ben Best: "Excuse me?" 00[21:20] <@Crion> "We need the portion of his ghost that remains anchored, to hopefully reunite it with his other half -- that's the best case scenario -- or to help us make sense of the residue left over at the scene of his death -- that's the expected case scenario." [21:20] "We can't just take his body away... probably. Please explain further." [21:20] "Yeah, that's going to have to go past the boss." 00[21:20] <@Crion> Ben Best: "Fine by me." 00[21:21] <@Crion> He looks around. "You want me to stick around, or...?" [21:21] 13Melanie resists the urge to apologise for the delay and walks back into the Oberon, looking for List or Street. There isn't a 'respectful' way to do what Best wants, she thinks? 00[21:22] <@Crion> List and Street are both off doing the more aggressive Freehold business, but you can probably reach List by phone pretty easily at least. [21:22] 10Stewart just stands there, rubbing the back of his neck, trying not to think about the bisected ghost. [21:23] 13Ah fuck, phone calls. It's been a relief to Melanie to learn that everyone else hates them too, these days... "Mr. List? Um, hello." 00[21:24] <@Crion> List: "Melanie. What's going on. How's the expert." 00[21:24] <@Crion> Ben looks at Stewart for a moment, then: "You know. Something I've learned over the course of doing...this...for far too long." 00[21:25] <@Crion> Ben: "And it's just, good science. Good life practice, really, if weird." [21:25] 13Melanie: "Yeah, the veterinary medium's here, he's helped us learn where Capra was murdered. There's a warehouse just outside of town. But." [21:26] 10Stewart looks up at Ben. "Yeah?" 00[21:26] <@Crion> Ben: "Don't start imagining a general rule out of just one case. There's any number of weird reasons that k--...that Capra's ghost isn't whole right now. The vast majority of them are incidental. And I've never examined one of you guys's ghosts before, so I can't make any judgment whatsoever." [21:26] "Now he expects us to- the body, his body, apparently taking it to the scene would do something. Maybe even something to help Capra's ghost, but..." 00[21:27] <@Crion> "I apologize if the way I asked that question was a...'so, this is normal for you guys, huh?' thing." 00[21:27] <@Crion> List: "But?" [21:28] 10Stewart shrugs. "It's fine. Not really something I'd ever... thought about." [21:28] "We mostly try not to think about it. I think." [21:28] 13Melanie: "Are we really going to haul what's left of him out of the freezer into the back of a truck and drive out of the city to do more magic on the body?" [21:28] 7Maggie: "You'd think, with vampires and whatnot, I'd be a little less frazzled about the existence of ghosts and an afterlife." [21:28] 6Nels: "I hope you don't mind me saying we'd rather you not get a chance to examine another ghost like ours' anytime soon." 00[21:29] <@Crion> Ben nods. "Kind of fucked up in a way, but it's maybe a question I--" 00[21:29] <@Crion> "Yeah." [21:29] "Nothing personal. Just. Yeah." [21:29] 13Now she's second-guessing herself. Maybe List would say 'obviously yes', there are things to be learned, maybe she's been picking up the wrong lessons. 00[21:30] <@Crion> List: "...I don't know, are you? In your judgment, would that be effective and necessary, or is this guy just fucking around and being spooky?" 00[21:31] <@Crion> "Are you asking me for advice, or asking me to sign off on a decision you have made, as our rep on-site?" [21:34] 13Melanie in chaos. "I think... his magic works, but he's too used to it. He doesn't see people the way we do, not that we're necessarily the sanest about it- what irked me, I think it's that he just assumed, that there's no reason not to grab the body and go on an adventure. I think maybe I'm being overprotective and sort of.. displacing guilt from not having known a guy very well and [21:34] now he's dead. I'm sorry, it's advice I want. There is something to be gained." 00[21:37] <@Crion> "Okay. Yeah, this is why I don't necessarily like working with these guys all that much. They can be fun at a party, but...they move in different spaces. Physical spaces, metaphysical spaces; headspaces. My normal advice, during peacetime, would be 'fuck no.' Right now, however, I think given the context of our situation -- with leadership missing and the Freehold on a war footing -- my advice 00[21:37] <@Crion> is to let him do what he needs, within reason and respect, under a careful, watchful eye. I'll back that play to Street, and if you're covered in Summer, Spring and Autumn will fall in line. It's our fallen soldier." [21:39] 13Melanie grips the phone, fingers creaking a little bit. "Okay. That's what we'll do." 00[21:39] <@Crion> "Sounds good to me. One more thing." [21:39] 13Unless Langford has more to say, she's going to find Colt and- he does! "Yes?" 00[21:41] <@Crion> "Advice, a sign-off -- calling for either's fine. Really is. That wasn't a test. But you might reconsider the approach of calling someone up, presenting a new situation that you're the lead on, then hitting them with the 'Are we really gonna do X' construction. They're already on the back foot, they don't need to also hear 'and this is on you' in the same package." 00[21:41] <@Crion> "What's that wizard say? 'Not a sermon, just a thought.'" 00[21:44] <@Crion> Ben, to Maggie: "Yeah, mages can get really prickly about that too for some reason? It's weird, but the way they deal with Death is very...dynamic and impermanent. Rooted in the present. And they sure as hell don't make regular trips to the Underworld." [21:46] 13uuuuuuuugh "Yes, I will definitely not.. present things that way again." [21:46] 13She bites off 'and I'm sorry I did'. How much of this is entirely inadequate understanding, how much of it is excessive haste, how much of it is piecing together vocabulary from social media which List wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole... there's no time to think about that. [21:47] 7Maggie's eyebrows shoot up. "The what now?" 00[21:47] <@Crion> List: "Alright. And call if you need anything, this isn't a freeze out. I'm serious. Talk to you later." [21:47] 10Stewart: "Guessing that's where Avernian Gates go?" 00[21:47] <@Crion> Ben nods. "Right in one, Stewart." [21:48] 13Melanie: "Later." 13She finds Colt or Nissa, whoever's back, tells them about the arrangements to be made, and heads to the carpark for the next apology. 00[21:48] <@Crion> "I'm getting the idea that your Hedge is sideways, yeah? Like you're stepping into reality's weird alleys and forgotten by-ways?" [21:48] 6Nels: "More or less, yes." 00[21:48] <@Crion> Colt's easily briefed and on his second Cuban sandwich of the day. [21:49] 10God that sounds so good right now. Stewart's got an almost Pavlovian association of grisly violence and food. [21:50] 7Maggie: "I mean, the parts we go to. Not smart to get on the broad highways." 00[21:50] <@Crion> Ben: "So the Underworld, obviously, is down. I don't really think the two interact. Certainly didn't feel any of it on that door out back, but again, never make generalizations off a single case." 00[21:53] <@Crion> Ben: "Lot of baby mages think the place intersects with whatever the Moros have going on, but they soon learn you can't simply walk to the Watchtower of the Leaden Coin." [21:53] 13Melanie bustles out of the club's entrance at what is for her an extremely hasty pace, but there's no need to interrupt this conversation. The time-consuming stuff will be happening inside. [21:54] 10A whole new world of proper nouns is unfolding before Stewart. [21:54] 5Tony is processing. "So wait, does that mean you can just dig far enough down and you get to the Underworld, or is it a special thing, like how any door can get into the Hedge for us, you just need a special door to get to the Underworld, instead of it just being vaguely, you know?" 5He points down. [21:54] 5Tony: "Also can uhh. Can stuff come back up." 00[21:55] <@Crion> Ben: "Special thing. But can stuff come back up? Oh yeah. Ohhhhh yeeeeah." 00[21:55] <@Crion> "That's, thankfully, a smaller part of my job than it could be." [21:55] 6Nels blinks. "Well that's... good?" 00[21:55] <@Crion> Ben: "You know all those ghost hunter shows on the basic cable networks?" [21:56] 6Nels: "No." [21:56] "If you're going to say that every one is a documentary, that's amazing." 00[21:56] <@Crion> "Oh." [21:56] 6Apologetically: "I - television is still kind of new." [21:56] 13Melanie wants to live in that world. Also ideally not the one where everyone's been waiting around because she held things up, et cetera. [21:57] 5Tony: "Hey wait, kinda big one, is there a good afterlife? Is it all ghosts or bad ones, what's up with that." 00[21:57] <@Crion> Ben, to Melanie: "Not quite! But like, we can sort of tell, watching it, which ones are flim-flam guys and which ones are people who know what they're doing and making a buck on the side while dealing with real shit while trying to keep the public entertained -- and therefore, like, less afraid." 00[21:57] <@Crion> "And it's around a 50/50 split now." 00[21:57] <@Crion> "Which is frankly wild." [21:58] "That's at least fifty percent of amazing." [21:58] 10Stewart: "You ever thought about being on TV?" [21:59] 13To Best: "I overreacted, before. In the circumstances, with Capra's ghost harmed and an urgent threat, we're getting his body ready to bring out here." 00[21:59] <@Crion> To Tony: "The Underworld isn't an afterlife. It's like...sort of the Catholic conception of Limbo, but there's elements from the Greek, Hindu, and Buddhist conceptions in there; especially the idea of stalled rebirth, you know? It's a liminal space." [21:59] 5Tony, more to the group: "Is that anything close to the numbers on what happens to stuff that dies in the Hedge? I know something bad happens there but I don't know if that's just a me-thing or a general-thing." 00[21:59] <@Crion> "So I guess there's still room out there, in the gaps, for Christian happily-ever-after-every-day-is-a-church-luncheon Heaven." 00[22:00] <@Crion> To Melanie: "Not a problem. There's...a reason I work with horses, right? Not just because they lead to fewer ghosts, because I can deal with ghosts in a hospital. But this job has a way of fucking with your bedside manner." [22:01] 5Tony winces a little at the idea of Catholic afterlives being the real ones. [22:01] 7Maggie, her voice going higher: "Fewer horse ghosts? As in there's a certain amount?" 00[22:02] <@Crion> Ben: "You know how the conventional wisdom is that strong emotions lead to more active and powerful manifestations of ghosts? That wisdom is, after a fashion, correct." [22:03] 5Tony: "Also, Ben, follow-up, ghost hunting...is that like, put them to rest, like the movie with the Roadhouse guy? Kill the right drug dealer or corrupt cop, let them make pottery, they go away?" 00[22:03] <@Crion> "Animals don't often manifest ghosts, and horses even more rarely than, say, dogs or cats, but when they do, its usually because that horse was phenomenally rude or stupid." [22:03] 6Nels: "Like, impressively rude or stupid for a horse? Because that's... wow." [22:03] 10Stewart snorts. [22:03] "Nice impression." [22:04] 10Stewart snorts again, more ruefully. 00[22:04] <@Crion> To Tony: "Yes and no. It's not as much about the mechanism as it is about the ghost's wants or needs; sometimes you're righting a wrong, but sometimes you're just telling a story. On the whole, though, I think pop culture's done more right by us than it has by vampires. Maybe because they do disinfo and I'm fine just talking about this shit at a bar." 00[22:05] <@Crion> "Like what are they gonna do, kill me?" A hearty chuckle. [22:06] 5Tony: "Ok so like, let's say a bunch of people got killed in the Hedge, a lot, in the same place, by the same thing, usually while young and hopeful with their whole lives ahead of them, dying in terror after being hunted. Probably ghosts from that right? And also, what could or would you even do for that?" [22:07] 10If a guy sidles up to you at a bar and starts telling you how he fights ghosts when he's not a successful racehorse veterinarian, you're probably not taking what he says at face value anyway. 00[22:07] <@Crion> Ben: "Man, like I said, I'm not even willing to speculate how stuff works in the Hedge right now. I just learned it existed an hour or two ago. What I will say is that there's usually not a timer on this. Time is something generally reserved for the living. It's difficult to fail the dead forever. 00[22:07] <@Crion> " [22:08] 5Tony looks...happy? About that. "Oh." [22:08] 5Tony: "Thank you." 00[22:08] <@Crion> Anyway Ben's gonna let you handle preparing Capra's body for movement. The bed of his truck is big enough to fit it with a tarp over it, or you can get a freezer truck or something. Up to you. 00[22:09] <@Crion> Ben: "No problem, man." 03[22:10] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch [22:11] 13Melanie: "It's astounding that there exist, to any extent, definitive answers about life after death. With that hurdle vaulted, the limbo-situation you describe appears.. like a copout, from reality? Like, it's like the kind of writing where the characters are going to confront some kind of really big thing, a challenge to the moral bones of their society, and then everything's left [22:11] ambiguous but they overcome personal conflicts, for personal growth." [22:11] 5Tony's all over getting the truck bed taken care of, in light of this wonderful news. [22:11] 6Could we get, I don't know. A cushion or something? Because just a tarp feels... lacking. [22:12] 10Stewart's helping with the body. 00[22:13] <@Crion> Ben, to Melanie: "It's a moving target, really. Every time you think you know something, the paradigm changes. You learn enough, you become convinced that the structures are reality are something you impose through observation alone -- that if five of you guys saw a phenomenon, and five mages saw the same phenomenon, you'd both be seeing different things as a group...and you'd both be right." 00[22:13] <@Crion> "Like...there are apparently mummies out there or some shit." 00[22:13] <@Crion> "Death remains wild." [22:14] "That's - as you say - one way to put it." [22:14] 5Tony looks up from securing a tarp corner with a bungie cord. "After the last couple weeks, it's feeling like it's a shorter list for what's not out there." [22:14] 5Tony: "Which so far, is...Godzillas? King Kongs? At least that anyone's told us about." 00[22:14] <@Crion> Ben didn't mean just wrap the body in a tarp and toss it in the trunk, by the way. If you want to scrounge up a coffin or whatever, go right ahead. [22:15] 6Nels: "They never found anything out in space, did they?" 00[22:15] <@Crion> Though he would be fine with just wrapping the body in a tarp and tossing it in the truck bed. To be clear. [22:15] 5Tony: "Not gonna lie Nels, I never really bought the whole moon landing thing. I was a kid when it was on, and it just looked so cheap on TV." 00[22:16] <@Crion> To Tony: "And thank god for that. Fighting stuff at the city-sized level seems downright difficult to coordinate." [22:16] 10At this, Stewart actually laughs. [22:16] 10Not the best look when you're wrapping a body in plastic. [22:16] 6She shrugs. "It sounded real enough in the textbooks, but I guess it'd have to." [22:17] 5Tony: "Yeah, the biggest thing we've met was, what'd you all clock the Walking Man at, maybe a dozen feet, something?" 00[22:17] <@Crion> Ben: "The who now?" [22:17] 10Stewart: "Hob law. Keeps the peace in the Hedge." 00[22:18] <@Crion> "Maybe it's different in your neck of the woods but anyone named 'The blank Man' is bad, bad news." 00[22:18] <@Crion> Ben: "Oh. Nice." [22:18] 5Tony briefly flashes the badge he keeps on a string under his shirt: "Got deputized and everything." [22:18] "Not good but you know... not actively evil." [22:18] "Upper echelon of cops probably." [22:19] "Not like the Pigs." [22:19] 5Tony: "Who are actual pig men on two legs with guns and riot gear, to be clear." [22:19] 5Tony: "And are pieces of shit." [22:19] 13Melanie: "There was that orb, briefly stadium-sized. Ehhh, it's not really native to the Hedge though." [22:20] 6Nels: "Bunch of bastards," 6she agrees. 00[22:21] <@Crion> Ben: "...You know, I've run into some fucked up ghosts, but this sounds like a slightly different...oeuvre." 00[22:21] <@Crion> Ben: "You guys are hammering out the fairytale niche hard, aren't you?" [22:22] 5Tony: "Hey, you've got a handle on dead stuff, we've got weirder-than-wizard-stuff-stuff. Oh, like when we got that Terminator his heart back." [22:22] 5Tony thinks for a second. "Man it's been a fucked up couple months." 00[22:22] <@Crion> Ben: "What now?" [22:22] 6Nels: "It hammered us, really." [22:22] 10Stewart: "We dare not go a-hunting, for fear of little men." [22:23] "Oh. Yeah, that happened. I still need to watch that movie? Those movies? Nice guy when he stopped trying to kill us. And getting the heart back was... surprisingly easy." [22:23] 13Melanie: "No, we can take them. We helped unionise the little men." 00[22:24] <@Crion> Meanwhile, Stewart finds two things that might help with moving the body: a low portable freezer that's usually used for ice cream or temporary storage, which currently has so few frozen hamburger patties in it that they can be moved to the big stand-up freezer without much effort at all -- and a portable generator that could run the thing. [22:26] 10Stewart: "Tony, what do you think about this freezer?" 00[22:26] <@Crion> The only problem is the connection between the two; the generator doesn't have outputs that take the power cord from the freezer. With a little rummaging in the supply closets and an almost preturnatural sense of where maintenance guys might keep things, however, Tony promptly finds a converter -- and a weird cushion thing that it turns out is a custom muffler device for the generator, which 00[22:26] <@Crion> fits over it quite nicely and almost silences the hum of operations. 00[22:26] <@Crion> Apparently if you're on a backup generator in the club, you don't want to hear a BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR during the dance. [22:27] 5Tony: "I think it'll be pretty great with this hooked up to the genny! 5He holds up the prized converter and muffler. [22:27] 5Tony: "Nice 'n quiet." [22:27] 13Melanie: "That's something." 00[22:27] <@Crion> Ben: "Damn." 00[22:27] <@Crion> "Need to think about getting me a rig like this." [22:28] "Nice." [22:28] 5Tony: "I mean....you can have it when we're done? Unless one of us wants it? I think you'll have more use for it than us after tonight." [22:28] 13Okay, let's get going, we're wasting Mr. Best's time. Or the Freehold's money, once it's overtime. [22:29] "They might want it back for the club, it's probably a couple grand of equipment there." [22:29] "Then again they might want a different freezer for their burgers after this." [22:29] 5Tony: "Feeling like a lot of stuff's gonna be a write-off for them right now." 00[22:29] <@Crion> Ben: "I'll take trade in lieu of the billing. Or at least some of it. Depending how long this goes. You want me to follow you there in the truck?" [22:30] 10Stewart shrugs. None of this is his problem and he loves Melanie so much for that. [22:30] 5Tony gets A hooked up to B, the necessary C fit in A, and so forth. [22:31] 13Melanie: "We've all got the address, but following would be good, thanks. If there's security at the site we'll take care of getting you inside." 00[22:32] <@Crion> Ben: "Alright. Whose car am I following?" He looks around the lot. [22:32] 10Stewart: "Mine. The orange one." 00[22:33] <@Crion> "Nice. Alright." He heads up to the cab of the truck. [22:33] 10He's got the warehouse on his phone GPS already. Stewart waits for his car to fill up before pulling out. [22:34] "So, uh. Jeepers." 7Maggie's vaping pensively. [22:34] "Ghosts, huh?" [22:36] 6Nels: "Ghosts," 6she agrees. [22:37] 13Melanie opens a window quietly. Not woodsmoke, but it's still alarming. "And the plural is accurate because of the thing where oh point five isn't one." [22:38] 10Stewart: "I'm not sure if I hope the other half is waiting for us at the scene of the murder or not." [22:38] 5Tony: "Ghosts. The Underworld." [22:39] "I keep wondering what kind of scary shit you find in the Underworld. Beetlejuices? Grim Reapers? Cerberus?" [22:40] 6Nels: "I just hope whatever kind of things there are, they stay there." 6She shudders. [22:40] 5Tony: "Probably good to keep Ben's number just in case." [22:41] 13Melanie: "Having an 'expert' like this is really helpful, a factor which I don't think the.. attackers.. can have fully taken into account. If they're going after an alliance of alienees then there's SO many possibilities, unpredictable ways to fight back." [22:42] 10Stewart: "Yeah! The things we can do working together are so much bigger and more diverse than the things we can do alone." [22:42] "Making magisteria overlap." [22:42] "He's not wrong about his bedside manner but I should not have made the autoerotic asphyxiation joke. I'm sure his relationship with the.. oracle spirit woman is.. of a nature that's.. fine to not contemplate." [22:43] 10Stewart smiles a little. [22:43] "Innocuously incontemplable." 02[22:46] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 03[22:46] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch [22:54] 13What's the exterior of the Glen Burnie truck terminal look like? As well as whatever routine measures Pitt Ohio takes, we need to watch for less-mundane security - using the place once might mean the attackers use it habitually. [22:55] 10Stewart: "How close do you guys think it's safe to get?" 00[22:57] <@Crion> It's exurban Baltimore, which means a well-paved road up to the gates, easy access to the Beltway, and trees all around the property for privacy and noise cancelling. Usually there'd be cars parked everywhere, but it's both afterhours and a holiday. [22:57] 5Tony: "See how close we can get, worst-case scenario you just keep driving." [22:57] "Yeah." 00[22:57] <@Crion> The terminal itself has a couple containers in it on long-term storage, but mostly empty; the warehouses in the back seem quiet. There's not much on-site storage here, but there is some for just-in-case reasons. [22:58] "We could get all the way up to the back lot as long as we have a ready excuse in case of some ordinary security guard." [22:58] 6Nels: "The map thingy directed us this way, honest." 00[22:58] <@Crion> The Home Depot nearby is closed, too, which is probably a good thing for sneaking. [22:58] 10Stewart pulls up as close as possible, then. 00[22:59] <@Crion> Sadly, so is Carolina BrewTech. Ah well. [22:59] 6G-Pass? Something like that. 02[23:09] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) [23:15] 10Stewart reports back. "Two guards, one rent-a-cop, one dude who looks like he cares about his job. The second one's got a carbine." [23:16] 13Minutes later, Melanie steps out of a stand of trees at the edge of the lot where the Motley and Best parked. At first it just looks like one of them casting a long shadow. "Nobody patrols as far as the back warehouses. The area is empty, at least of actual people." 00[23:19] <@Crion> Ben's vaping too. He's spent the downtime talking with Maggie about flavors. [23:19] 6Nels: "If we need to bail in a hurry, if Ben's truck leads we've got our exit. Or an entrance if we need to go through any fences." [23:19] 5Tony: "We could go 'round back, there's a chunk of fence out even, if we don't mind hiking through the woods carrying that for a bit. Or we could go in the front, if we've got a cover story anyone can come up with." [23:20] 5Tony: "The fridge'll be quiet enough we can just...ignore that part, if we can talk our way in. Up to you." [23:21] 13Melanie: "Putting it together, let's be safe and just go around the back. We'll deal with locks and whatever's inside and let the security officers nap." 00[23:22] <@Crion> Ben: "...I'm gonna suggest that, for this, we transfer the c...Apra to a respectful tarp. Instead of trying to carry a freezer." [23:23] 5Tony: "Oh, well then. Anyone object to a quick hike? You all wore good shoes, right?" 00[23:23] <@Crion> There is a reason Ben always shows up to a job in boots. [23:24] 10Stewart, who doesn't own any shoes it'd be uncomfortable to walk in, because he's a nerd, simply nods. [23:24] 13To human eyes, Melanie is indeed wearing shoes. Strapless basically-sneakers. [23:24] 7Maggie's old enough that she can always wear flats. [23:25] 6Nels has on some boots with a slight heel to them, but she can make it work. [23:26] 5Tony claps once, softly. "Well, hike it is." 00[23:30] <@Crion> Ben: "I mean, a freezer's...really not more respectful than a tarp anyway, right." 00[23:31] <@Crion> "Hey. Maybe I'm the crazy one. But still." [23:31] "It's not like we're leaving him out for a day to rot, this shouldn't take more than an hour." [23:31] 5Tony: "True. And it shouldn't be too long...I mean I'll carry whatever." [23:32] 13Melanie reaches into the back of the truck without comment. She lifts with limbs that don't move like human arms could - let Best's eyes explain it to his brain how they like - and has the whole assemblage held, somehow, overhead. Obvious how in the Mien, it's just the same way she looks when sleeping. [23:33] 13It's clearly effort, though. She's not going to be dodging bullets from the alert cop. 00[23:33] <@Crion> Ben: "Nice!" 00[23:33] <@Crion> "I mean. Nice." 00[23:35] <@Crion> Ben reaches into his trunk and removes a pair of bloodstained fuzzy dashboard dice, and a strange wooden whistle that looks like a dodo bird. He pockets both. "Ready to roll." [23:36] 5Tony: "Oh shit, thanks Melanie." 5Tony files this away for later under 'wait why am I the one people always ask to rearrange the furniture.' [23:36] 10Stewart: "I kind of appreciate how many magic items that exist in the real world look goofy as hell." [23:37] 13It's because Tony's a) the guy and b) the football player, and because he doesn't even mind. No need to overthink it. 00[23:37] <@Crion> Ben: "Yeah, it's really fucked up, because these both have a preturnatural relationship with death." 00[23:39] <@Crion> "And, frankly, a supernatural relationship with death." [23:41] 5Tony takes the lead, and gestures for everyone to follow. They stick to the trees, then stick to the shadows clinging heavily to the back of the complex like the dirt on partially-melted snow. When they get to the fence, it's barely there at all, where they are. Sometimes things get shittier for the better. Like now. [23:43] 6Nels only stumbles once, and catches herself before she can make a sound. Tony's an excellent guide, anyway. 00[23:47] <@Crion> Everyone notices as they approach that the back frieght door facing the woods -- so a truck can pull out and turn off to the right and back onto the main throughfare without having to back up -- is both slightly ajar and slightly...dented. And even in the dark, there's a scorch mark on the beige concrete tarmac of the loading zone, right where the door should be closing. [23:48] 5Tony, low: "That's probably bad?" [23:48] 7Maggie: "Hoorm." 00[23:48] <@Crion> There's no one around at least -- the warehouse is completely silent. As opposed to dead, which would be a loaded term. [23:48] 6Nels, whispering: "It's definitely not good." [23:50] 6She glances to the rest of the group. "You all see that, right?" [23:51] 10Stewart: "Yeah." [23:51] 5 Tony nods. 00[23:51] <@Crion> Ben: "...See what?" [23:51] "Now we know for sure. Changelings involved, and possibly scouring." [23:51] 5Tony, quietly, to Ben: "Someone used that dented door, as one of our kind of doors, recently." 00[23:52] <@Crion> "Ah." 00[23:52] <@Crion> "Well, at least we're in the right place." 00[23:55] <@Crion> Ben: "...Not feeling that there's anyone inside. Should we go in, or...?" [23:56] 5Tony: "They used the door to leave last, from inside there, so it's at least not the other direction. Let's go?" 5To the rest. [23:56] 6A quick nod. [23:56] 10Stewart nods too. 00[23:57] <@Crion> Ben will step inside. There's a brief pause, then a grinding sound -- the broken truck door begins rolling up. The freezer isn't fitting through one of the side doors, after all. 00[23:58] <@Crion> He opens it just enough for Melanie to walk Capra in, and holds it. Session Time: Sun Mar 29 00:00:00 2020 [00:01] 13If anyone jumps out at us now, well, they'll deserve what happens next. 00[00:03] <@Crion> Ben, once they're inside: "Some light would help...but not too much." [00:04] 7When one of the others is able to light her way enough to see the circuit box, Maggie will take out a small dry-erase marker and write "Ronaldinho" on its side. Then she whispers: "Ronaldinho, could you be a pal and turn on *just* the emergency lighting for us?" 00[00:06] <@Crion> thuh-THUNK. The floor lighting and four low wall flourescents come on; none of the outdoor or high-powered ceiling lighting. As long as none of the rent-a-cops wander away from the brights up front and let their eyes readjust to the dark, you should be fine. [00:06] "Thanks, buddy." 00[00:06] <@Crion> ...In a manner of speaking. 00[00:06] <@Crion> The warehouse is empty except for a folding chair in the middle, knocked over, and below where it once stood, a pool of dried blood. [00:07] 6Oh. 00[00:07] <@Crion> Possibly more concerning is the fact that a firefight quite obviously happened here. The FRONT cargo door of this warehouse is riddled with bullets, and so are the corrugated metal walls. 00[00:07] <@Crion> More rounds clearly came from the back of the warehouse, where you entered, than the front. [00:07] 10Well. Makes it easy to guess where we start. [00:08] 10A hit *from* the Hedge? 00[00:08] <@Crion> Ben: "Well, fuck." [00:08] 7Maggie: "Aw, jeez." 00[00:08] <@Crion> "Melanie, please put down the freezer? I need to consult the ghost." [00:08] 13Melanie sets the freezer down as gently as she can, which isn't quite perfect because she can't bend that far. But it's packed pretty tightly inside. [00:09] "Your friend didn't describe gunshots or bullet holes, so this may have been after." [00:09] "Colleague? Familiar?" [00:09] 5Tony: "Hey Stewart, can you get pictures of all the gunfire and stuff with your phone? Phones can do that right? In case it comes up." [00:09] 10Stewart: "...yeah." [00:09] 10He'll go around and take, crime scene photos. 00[00:10] <@Crion> Ben opens the freezer lid, leans over, and his eyes roll back. "Yyyyes. You're quite -- quite right. Okay." He steps back, eyes rolling forward again, and he walks over to that folding chair. [00:10] 5Tony: "Thank you!" 5He steps back from the action and keeps an eye on the door. 00[00:10] <@Crion> He sets it up again, so that the front legs and lip of it are half into the pooled blood. 00[00:10] <@Crion> Ben: "Could you please set Capra down in the chair, where he died. Then we can begin." [00:11] 13This is an unpleasant task. Maybe that's good, maybe it wouldn't have registered as other than object-manipulation when she first came out. 00[00:14] <@Crion> With his hands in his pockets, Ben addresses the room. "I am about to invoke the Haunting of the Memoria. 'Dénouement.' The past will come rushing back, in a real, substantial form." He pauses, lips moving, then nods. "We will see the moment of death." 00[00:14] <@Crion> "It can't hurt you directly, but it can hurt." 00[00:14] <@Crion> "Fair warning. If you want to step outside, you should do so now." [00:15] 6Inhale. Exhale. She doesn't leave. [00:16] 5Tony steps back and leans against a wall, but does not leave. [00:17] 10Stewart doesn't even budge. [00:19] 13Melanie wants to leave, is unwilling to do so, and does not. 00[00:21] <@Crion> Benjamin Best steps up to the body sitting in the chair and places both hands to Capra's head. He mutters something that might be "I'm sorry," and then shudders, back twisting, mouth screaming silently up to the ceiling of the warehouse as ghostly Plasm spews forth and covers the whole of the room. There's a great, blinding ghostly light -- and then suddenly you're back in mid-afternoon, and 00[00:21] <@Crion> Capra, bound to that chair with nose broken, is sweating in the middle of the warehouse floor, staring in terror at a cold, unfamiliar woman... 00[00:21] <@Crion> ...As Jordan Kit and Jameson stand nearby, looking on, motionless. Expressionless. [00:22] 10Hh. 00[00:22] <@Crion> And so does Peter Montgomery. And so does Gemma Frankl--wait a moment. 00[00:22] <@Crion> There are two Gemmas. One is grinning, and holds the other by the hair, with a knee in her back, forcing her to watch. [00:22] 13! [00:22] 6Oh. [00:23] 7Maggie's not leaving. Pfui. 00[00:24] <@Crion> Anathema -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEm5jgupei8 You'll see. You'll see. You'll see. You'll see. 00[00:24] <@Crion> The Stand-Ins -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bf7NbRFyg3Y zzzzhhhhhhhhhhhhhh 00[00:28] <@Crion> Paul, the Apostle -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YU4hhNKsPog Reaching for that golden ring we'd never let go; who would ever let us put our filthy hands upon it? 00[00:29] <@Crion> Gemma Athena -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWLcKQLz_7g Perfect murder, take your aim; I don't belong to anyone, but everybody knows my name. 00[00:30] <@Crion> And you already know poor Gemma Franklin's song. [00:30] 10We're inheriting the balance of a poor birthright... 00[00:31] <@Crion> At the moment, she's screaming, "Stop it! Mommy, stop -- stop --" 00[00:31] <@Crion> The other Gemma slams her into the floor. "That's enough, sis." 00[00:32] <@Crion> --Ben closes his fist and the scene pauses. "Do you know these people?" [00:32] 10Stewart: "One of them." [00:32] 6Nels croaks out: "Yeah." [00:33] 5Tony: "It looks like them, no way it's them." [00:33] 13Melanie's too angry to speak, and has too many questions for a properly pedantic answer. 00[00:34] <@Crion> Ben: "Capra -- his ghost -- knows the girl with the knee in her back, and he thinks he knows the two guys in stupor over there on the side. He feels betrayed, but confused." [00:34] "Yeah, those are simulacra of people we know." 00[00:34] <@Crion> "...Alright. Resuming." [00:35] "I can't tell which Peter. Parts of this don't make sense. How could Winter and Autumn make the same mistake." 13Why didn't we check in more often? Two calls and occasional happy greetings? [00:35] "That's not Peter, that's Paul." 00[00:35] <@Crion> Mother: "I would tell you to consider this an object lesson, Gemma, but frankly I'm considering just rebooting you." [00:36] "Okay, but then I have the same question- two courts and they know what to do about- what." 00[00:36] <@Crion> "...But perhaps even subconsciously it'll take." Still facing the two Gemmas, she drives her hand backwards and Capra explodes with bloody weals, eyes, nose and mouth spurting and screaming. [00:36] 6Nels shuts her eyes. [00:37] 6It doesn't help. 00[00:38] <@Crion> Mother: "There is a necessary--" She thrusts her hand again "--level of pain--" again "--that makes the mind malleable to passive effects, not just active ones." Again; you hear Capra's shoulders break. "Simply put, dear, I'm not breaking him. I'm breaking you." [00:38] 10Stewart can't look away. 00[00:38] <@Crion> "This is all transferable." 00[00:38] <@Crion> "Call it the conservation of trauma." 00[00:39] <@Crion> She raises her hand. "And I--" 00[00:39] <@Crion> There's a hideous screeching sound and a dead zone appears in the diarama, like a hole burned into film, but in three directions. It's in the middle-back of the warehouse, nowhere near any of the doors. 00[00:40] <@Crion> A great orb of nothing, with edges of static. The mother turns to it with annoyance. 00[00:40] <@Crion> "What is it, Gary?" [00:41] 10Nice. 00[00:41] <@Crion> Weird screeching and screaming, distorted. 00[00:41] <@Crion> Ben closes his fist again. "What the FUCK is that?" [00:42] 5Tony: "I swear we know a Gary." [00:42] 7Maggie raises her hands, bewildered. [00:43] 13We know a screeching orb, at least. [00:44] 10Stewart: "He's a Seer, in the Baltimore Pylon." [00:44] 6Nels: "Fuck." [00:44] 13Melanie: "It's the least surprising thing here but close to the worst." 00[00:45] <@Crion> Ben, straightening back up. He's sweating now. "Good to continue?" [00:45] 10Stewart nods. He's still looking at Capra. 00[00:46] <@Crion> Capra's face is a rictus of fear...but that's new. He looked angry before. He's looking at the empty sphere in the memory. [00:47] 5Tony looks at Maggie: "And you know who we're not seeing here yet." [00:47] 7Maggie: "Mmm-hmm." 00[00:47] <@Crion> Time restarts. The mother: "Fine! Fine. If those are our orders." She turns towards 'Jordan Kit' and 'Jameson,' and this time raises a scalpel -- and both lifeless bodies twist and shudder and curl up, their flesh and bones rippling, and when they stand back up fully upright...the blank stares of Maggie and Tony greet you. [00:48] 13Right, okay. That actually solves a lot of problems. 00[00:48] <@Crion> But while she does...while her back is turned...that searing memory-hole orb descends on Capra. The entire memory shudders and flickers, and Capra screams wordlessly-- 00[00:50] <@Crion> The dead zone recedes as she turns back, but Capra no longer seems to see anything. The memory is collapsing. The dead zone is growing larger. The mother and the void seem to exchange more words as 'Peter' and 'Gemma' look at each other, and then suddenly the two doors flanking the cargo door in the back of the warehouse bang open and dark shapes storm in. Gunfire. The evil Gemma drags the 00[00:50] <@Crion> crying Gemma out the front while the evil Peter covers her escape, raising a rifle with a grenade launcher under it and firing it before he follows. 00[00:52] <@Crion> The mother screams something incoherent; 'Maggie' and 'Tony' run for Capra's body as he shudders, and the mother rips the last of the life from his corpse as she runs for the void-- 00[00:52] <@Crion> The last impression before the scene goes dark is a man with no face reaching out for Capra, and then a burst of light as everyone disappears. 00[00:53] <@Crion> Ben is thrown to the floor as the vision fades. 00[00:53] <@Crion> The warehouse returns to emergency lighting. [00:53] 6The only noise from Nels is a shaky exhale. [00:53] 13Melanie slumps forward. "Are you okay, Mr. Best?" [00:54] 13Melanie slumps forward. "Are you okay, Mr. Best?" [00:54] 10Stewart stays still. 00[00:54] <@Crion> Ben: "...No. No, I don't think so." 00[00:54] <@Crion> "Also I hit my head but I think that's fine." [00:55] "Okay, if you're going to die again let us know, if you need anything let us know, we'll let you process. Sorry about the necessity of all this." [00:55] 13Melanie stands upright, moves toward the others aimlessly. "It's not clear.. the Mistress might not be involved at all. She could even be behind the gunfire." [00:56] 10Stewart: "It really seems like Gemma and her mom are the fulcrum here." [00:57] "Gemma, her mom, and her fetch." 00[00:57] <@Crion> "Yeah." Ben sits up and starts wordlessly speaking to himself. [00:57] 13Melanie: "We need to tell you something.. I do, that is, Maggie might have picked it up too, I don't know." [00:57] 5Tony: "The ending gives us an idea where the rest of Winter went, at least." [00:59] "That might not be a fetch. Fetch is the obvious answer, but something is.. weird.. about Gemma's family. When we met her she, or the Winter Court, or both, lied to us; they had inconsistent stories, about a family right here in Baltimore or one up in.. Philly?" [00:59] "And there was other stuff.. I'm trying to remember, but we were told she's in community college here, or alternately that she moved here, for an associate degree. I thought it was just a coverup." [01:00] 10Stewart: "Boston." [01:00] "Is what the Book says about her." [01:00] 6Nels: "Boston," 6weakly. "And Portland Maine." [01:00] "She told you a third story?" [01:00] This is [01:00] 13This is to Nels, very sadly. [01:00] "Peter's entry in the Book is totally normal, I wrote him off immediately. But there was a dead link to a Paul Montgomery, who I'm guessing we just saw." [01:01] 7Maggie: "There might even be multiple stories in her head." [01:01] "Is Paul a fetch? What's going ON." [01:03] 10Stewart: "We don't know. Where is Paul? He's not missing, right?" [01:03] *Where is Peter? [01:03] "Let's start making the calls, speculating at this point wastes time. I won't, I doubt any of us can just stop thinking about it but let's try to act as well." 00[01:04] <@Crion> The Spring courtiers among you will know that Peter Montgomery was affirmatively accounted for within the last 48 hours as part of Spring doing a head-check. [01:04] 13Melanie's first call, with very little hope of success, will be to the number she got from Spring for Gemma's new phone. She was just supposed to be allowed one, independence as of days or weeks ago. [01:05] 6Scratch the part about Portland; Nels didn't have access to that information. "He was fine pretty recently. But we gotta - check. I think." 00[01:05] <@Crion> Ben, still staring at Capra's body. "Stewart. You were wondering about ghost bifurcation." 00[01:05] <@Crion> "I don't think it was natural." [01:05] 10Stewart, flatly: "Well good." [01:05] 7Maggie: "We should definitely let the wizards know." 7Is Stewart gonna call 'em? The only contact info Maggie has is for Union. 00[01:05] <@Crion> "And I don't like whatever 'Gary' is. I don't like it one bit." [01:05] 6Nels: "That makes all of us." [01:06] 13Melanie: "He's, um.. one of the bad guys. I mean there's more than one definition, all these things overlap in odd ways or not at all, but on some level-" [01:07] "From what we hear, God is real and evil and these guys are his angels, basically?" [01:07] "THE bad guys." [01:07] "These guys are his priests." [01:07] "His angels are much, much worse." [01:07] "Right, the orb." [01:10] "I take it- Capra's other half, it's not here is it." 00[01:10] <@Crion> Ben: "It is not." 00[01:10] <@Crion> "It was taken." 03[01:21] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 02[01:48] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. 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ZZZzzz…) 02[11:12] * Disconnected 02[11:12] * Attempting to rejoin channel #gofetch 03[11:12] * Rejoined channel #gofetch 03[11:12] * Topic is 'Who botches the Botchmen?' 03[11:12] * Set by Crion!Crion@sorcery-puhjpa.fios.verizon.net on Sun Sep 22 02:37:29 2019 03[11:12] * trenchfoot_ (dani@sorcery-jcvlv4.in.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 03[11:13] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 02[11:13] * @Crion (Crion@sorcery-puhjpa.fios.verizon.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 02[11:15] * trenchfoot (dani@sorcery-jcvlv4.in.comcast.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 02[12:07] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 02[12:10] * tom2 (tom@sorcery-rnbr45.wavecable.com) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[12:14] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 02[12:30] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. 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ZZZzzz…) 02[18:40] * Disconnected 02[18:40] * Attempting to rejoin channel #gofetch 03[18:40] * Rejoined channel #gofetch 03[18:40] * Topic is 'Who botches the Botchmen?' 03[18:40] * Set by Crion!Crion@sorcery-puhjpa.fios.verizon.net on Sun Sep 22 02:37:29 2019 03[18:40] * ChanServ sets mode: +o Crion 03[20:44] * tom (tom@sorcery-rnbr45.wavecable.com) has joined #gofetch 02[21:50] * tom (tom@sorcery-rnbr45.wavecable.com) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[22:06] * tom (tom@sorcery-r1s.n7i.113.24.IP) has joined #gofetch 03[23:28] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch Session Time: Tue Mar 31 00:00:00 2020 02[00:24] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. 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ZZZzzz…) 03[23:04] * Quaker (textual@sorcery-2jh55q.oc.cox.net) has joined #gofetch 00[23:32] <@Crion> 00[23:32] <@Crion> 00[23:32] <@Crion> 00[23:32] <@Crion> 00[23:32] <@Crion> 00[23:32] <@Crion> 00[23:32] <@Crion> 00[23:32] <@Crion> 00[23:32] <@Crion> 00[23:32] <@Crion> 00[23:32] <@Crion> CHRISTMAS EVE, 2019, 11:00 PM 00[23:32] <@Crion> ATOP THE BALTIMORE BASILICA 00[23:33] <@Crion> Father Jesse steps out of the roof access into late December air that's still not crisp enough. Sometimes that's being dead; more often, though, and almost every night this winter...Maryland's getting too damn warm. Used to be swamp summers and blizzard winters. The summers are getting worse; the winters... 00[23:33] <@Crion> Should be all the same to him, though, right? He doesn't have a flock anymore. 00[23:33] <@Crion> He's carrying a cooler. 00[23:35] <@Crion> One of the men he's here to meet is already sitting in a lawn chair, looking out over the intersection. The Basilica sits in the very heart of downtown, where Orleans Street breaks into Mulberry and Franklin; as they stand on the roof looking looking east down Orleans, they've got St. Ignatious Church to their left -- to the north -- along with Baltimore's version of the Washington Monument; 00[23:35] <@Crion> another ivory tower, but more modest and less of an obelisk. Old and powerful rituals were used to design Washington, D.C. That's why all the roads have 45 degree angles. 00[23:38] <@Crion> To the south, on their right: Mercy Medical Center and the city courthouse. Behind them -- south by west -- is Lexington Market, which has become...interesting, lately, for a number of reasons neither of them expected. Past that is the "grave" of Edgar Allen Poe. Ha! Fitting proximity though, maybe. 00[23:38] <@Crion> The other man's chair is facing north up Calvert and Light Street, and he's sipping a glass of white wine. "Good evening, Father Jesse," says the willworker known as Jesuit. 00[23:42] <@Crion> Father Jesse grins and his face flushes -- not from embarrassment or arousal or any human emotion; just from getting the blood pumping again. There are two other lawn chairs sitting folded up next to the willworker; he takes one and flicks his wrist to shake it out. Slumping down next to him, the vampire pulls a custom-made Bloody Mary from his cooler, and pokes a straw in through the plastic 00[23:42] <@Crion> wrap he rubberbanded over the glass. 00[23:42] <@Crion> "We could meet at St. Ignatius instead, if you want," says Father Jesse. "Breaking into the Basilica every year seems...I don't know." 00[23:42] <@Crion> Jesuit: "Overwrought?" 00[23:42] <@Crion> Father Jesse: "Predictable." 00[23:50] <@Crion> Jesuit: "It creates sympathy. I care less about the Basilica than I do St. Ignatius; I certainly care less about the people inside the Basilica than I do the people inside St. Ignatius. And so I am content to watch that church from this one." He sips his wine. "How have you been?" 00[23:50] <@Crion> Father Jesse sighs. "Busy. We had another itinerant slip in from Flagstaff or Phoenix or wherever that fucker is setting up these days." 00[23:50] <@Crion> Jesuit: "Up in Colorado, last I heard. They're running him like a dog." 00[23:50] <@Crion> Father Jesse: "Yeah, well. The Prince got involved personally this time." 00[23:59] <@Crion> Jesuit: "Oh? How is the little tyke?" 00[23:59] <@Crion> Father Jesse: "He hasn't lost a step. Pastor Bleaker is Final Dead." 00[23:59] <@Crion> Jesuit sips. "Apologies; that was too flippant. Obviously the prosperity heretic is dead; I was actually asking about the Prince. How is Lister doing? He still has to put up a front around me, but...I'm concerned." Session Time: Sun Apr 05 00:00:00 2020 00[00:06] <@Crion> The vampire priest sighs and leans back. "He's still depressed. He's still basically a child who can't stop being...well, you know. The video games are helping. The contact with the rowdy boys and the Hedge kids is helping. He needs to be around that level of youth, I think." He takes another sip through his straw. "We just get so old." 00[00:06] <@Crion> Jesuit: "Indeed." 00[00:06] <@Crion> Father Jesse: "I was including you in that." 00[00:06] <@Crion> Jesuit: "I wasn't objecting." 02[00:07] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 03[00:09] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 00[00:13] <@Crion> Father Jesse: "...Other than that, more or less the usual. Some activity on the Hopkins campus, some activity around it, but nothing big since we took care of that shirtless idiot loser with the Dodger cap. Me and the kid the from the Freehold, that is." 00[00:13] <@Crion> Jesuit: "Stewart." 00[00:13] <@Crion> Father Jesse: "Yeah, I thought you might know him." 00[00:13] <@Crion> Jesuit: "He has a room reserved in our library. Interesting boy. Interesting...what do they call them. 'Motley.' Interesting motley." 00[00:18] <@Crion> Father Jesse: "Just interesting?" 00[00:18] <@Crion> Jesuit: "It's the word you use when you either don't know or don't want to say something more descriptive and more accurate." He sips again. "Do you think the Doctor of Sciences is involved? Up at Hopkins." 00[00:18] <@Crion> Father Jesse: "Given that I'm not a fucking idiot, yes. But he's kept his hands clean ever since that thing with Best. Which isn't like him. Speaking of, where is--" 00[00:18] <@Crion> The roof access door bangs open and Benjamin Best steps out onto the rooftop with a twelve pack of Natty Bo. "Hey." 00[00:18] <@Crion> Father Jesse: "Hey!" 00[00:18] <@Crion> Jesuit: "Benjamin." 00[00:20] <@Crion> He's wearing khakis and an adorably ugly Christmas sweater, his normal winter coat already discarded in the car. "Took me awhile to get away from Tara's family but I said I'd be here, so." He sets up his chair and sits down next to Father Jesse as the vampire finishes his Bloody Mary. 00[00:20] <@Crion> Benjamin rips open the twelve pack. "Ey, make some space in there." A Natty Bo goes into Father Jesse's cooler where that Bloody Mary used to be. Ben looks up at the vampire. "So are you, ah, doing that whole..." He sorts of gestures to his face. "Yeah, you gotta be. Have a damn beer." 00[00:20] <@Crion> Father Jesse: "The Blush of Life is--" 00[00:20] <@Crion> Ben: "Have a damn beer! You're already gonna be pissing ash from the vegetable juice or whatever." 00[00:20] <@Crion> Father Jesse sighs and cracks a cold one. 00[00:25] <@Crion> The sin-eater leans over. "You're welcome to one too, Jesuit, but I see you've got your wine." 00[00:25] <@Crion> Jesuit: "I do." 00[00:25] <@Crion> Ben: "What'd I miss?" 00[00:25] <@Crion> Father Jesse: "We were actually just talking about the incident up at Johns Hopkins over the summer." 02[00:32] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 00[00:33] <@Crion> Ben: "Yeah? You're still not doing anything about that Doctor guy, are you?" 00[00:33] <@Crion> Father Jesse grimaces. 00[00:33] <@Crion> Jesuit: "The belief is that containment is preferable to another incident." 00[00:33] <@Crion> Ben, after a chug of beer: "Well I'd say one day he'll go too far but in my professional opinion, that guy already went too far. And you agree with me, Jess, because otherwise you wouldn't have called me in." 00[00:33] <@Crion> Father Jesse, after a liberal sip of Natty Bo: "It was Jesuit who called you in, technically, and it was to deal with a willworker problem." 00[00:33] <@Crion> Ben: "Yeah. The problem was your insane Nazi vampire made friends with an insane Nazi willworker." 00[00:40] <@Crion> Jesuit: "I don't think Unilateralis had so much ideology." 00[00:40] <@Crion> Ben: "Maybe if his name was Steve." 00[00:40] <@Crion> Jesuit: "We don't name ourselves things like St--" 00[00:40] <@Crion> Ben: "But instead he named himself after the ant parasite Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, more commonly known as zombie fungus. Which is a very evocative name. So clearly he had some ideas about what was going on there, with his whole..." 00[00:40] <@Crion> Father Jesse: "His whole thing." 00[00:46] <@Crion> p 00[00:46] <@Crion> Jesuit: "That's fair. Still...there is a certain kind of willworker who will just choose some Latin formulation for the hell of it. You can usually tell what kind of people they are from that." 00[00:46] <@Crion> Father Jesse: "Assholes?" 00[00:46] <@Crion> Jesuit: "I did not say that." 00[00:46] <@Crion> Ben: "You implied it." 00[00:46] <@Crion> Father Jesse: "Evil assholes?" 00[00:46] <@Crion> Jesuit: "You're talking to someone who has given Mass in Latin. Careful with the moral valence." 00[00:46] <@Crion> Father Jesse: "Fuckin' Catholics." 00[00:46] <@Crion> Jesuit: "Do you want to have another conversation about Evangelical Christianity? Really? After we just got done with Pastor Bleaker?" 00[00:46] <@Crion> Ben: "Pastor Bleaker?" 00[00:46] <@Crion> Father Jesse: "Another TV preacher rolled into town, don't worry about." 00[00:46] <@Crion> Ben: "Now 'Pastor Bleaker' is an incredibly evil name." 00[00:46] <@Crion> Jesuit: "This is true." 00[00:51] <@Crion> Father Jesse: "Okay fine. Unilateralis. It just meant he was a dork. A really scary dork." 00[00:51] <@Crion> Ben crushes his first beer can and sets it aside. "He talked too much. But that seems to be, like, the thing with this line of work." 00[00:51] <@Crion> Jesuit: "The good news is, we confirmed he wasn't working with the Baltimore Pylon." 00[00:51] <@Crion> Father Jesse finishes his beer as well, and then grabs his second packed Bloody Mary. Ben takes the opportunity to shove another Natty Bo into the ice. "'He' being Unilateralis, or the Doctor?" 00[00:51] <@Crion> Jesuit: "The former, but I think that implies the latter too. At the very least we've found no other evidence of collaboration, and there was no link between this...thing...and the local Seers." 00[00:55] <@Crion> Ben, already halfway into his next beer: "You promised me an explanation of what the fuck that was all about, Jes." 00[00:55] <@Crion> Father Jesse: "No I didn't." 00[00:55] <@Crion> Ben: "No, Jes. Jesuit." 00[00:55] <@Crion> Father Jesse: "You can't call us both Jess." 00[00:55] <@Crion> Ben: "I didn't--" 00[00:55] <@Crion> Father Jesse: "You did!" 00[00:55] <@Crion> Ben: "There was clearly more of a Z sound on Jes, and more of a second-syllable emphasis on Jess!" 00[00:55] <@Crion> Father Jesse: "Those sound the same." 00[00:55] <@Crion> Ben: "No!" 00[00:55] <@Crion> Father Jesse: "They sound the same!" 00[00:55] <@Crion> Behind Father Jesse's back, Jesuit sort of half-shrugs at Ben. Just let him have it. 00[00:55] <@Crion> Ben: "Okay, fine. Jesuit. Who understands me. I'm calling in my mark on that." 00[00:58] <@Crion> Jesuit: "Yes. So. We...don't quite know what Unilateralis was. Yet." 00[00:58] <@Crion> Ben snorts and takes another chug, while Father Jesse sips his Bloody Mary. 00[00:58] <@Crion> Jesuit: "That is actually somewhat scary in and of itself. Gives off notes of...Abyssal tannins, and the fruits of forbidden lore. I need more wine." He pours himself another glass. 00[00:58] <@Crion> Father Jesse: "You know, there's this great Malbec I could set you up with, it's--" 00[00:58] <@Crion> Jesuit doesn't quite whirl on him, but his voice is very firm: "You know I do not drink red wine, Jesse." Then he sees the grin on the vampire's face. "Right. You're fucking with me. What was the joke? It was the Enrique Iglesias joke, wasn't it." 00[00:58] <@Crion> Father Jesse: "I was going to go with Julio Iglesias this time." 00[00:58] <@Crion> Jesuit, sipping his white wine decisively: "You cannot build an entire genre of joke around Spanish men who love wine whose last name HAPPENS to translate to 'church.'" 00[00:58] <@Crion> Father Jesse: "I mean..." He spreads his arms and almost hits Ben in the face with a Bloody Mary. "Whoops, sorry." 00[01:02] <@Crion> Jesuit: "But yes, Benjamin. You called him a--" 00[01:02] <@Crion> Ben: "A soul vampire." 00[01:02] <@Crion> Jesuit: "Yes. I don't think that's technically accurate." 00[01:02] <@Crion> Father Jesse: "And we aaaaare off the hook." 00[01:02] <@Crion> "What?" Jesuit frowns at the vampire. "No you're not. How are you -- your man hosted him!" 00[01:02] <@Crion> Father Jesse: "Off the hook for Unilateralis, I mean. If he's not a vampire--" 00[01:02] <@Crion> Jesuit: "Again: he invited him to the city!" 00[01:02] <@Crion> A theatrical sigh from the vampire. "And now, once again, we vampires get to hear all this regressive stuff about invitations." 00[01:02] <@Crion> Jesuit: "Oh fuck you." While Father Jesse cackles: "So. There is literature about Leeches -- left-hand legacies which try to merge the Curse with the Awakening to incredibly mixed results. There's a level of debasement put forth in the literature that this Unilateralis didn't seem to have; an accentuation of the Curse. This man appeared repeatedly in daylight and, indeed, we killed him in 00[01:02] <@Crion> his hotel room just after noon. Perhaps -- PERHAPS -- he was stealing souls, yes, but the mechanism by which he kept them would have had to be purely Supernal. And the mechanisms for that are extremely difficult; soul jars are no easily-summoned, easily-maintained thing." 00[01:06] <@Crion> Ben: "Nah, he was stealing souls." 00[01:06] <@Crion> Jesuit: "You've said that before, but I don't see how--" 00[01:06] <@Crion> Ben, on his third beer: "He tried to steal mine. You know, in that hotel suite, while you were holding him down. Thought he'd take me because I was just some dude, then use my power to take you and Everclear." 00[01:06] <@Crion> Jesuit: "Everafter." 00[01:06] <@Crion> Ben: "Right, that's what I said. 'Servant, you will serve me,' were literally the words that came out of his...Twilight mouth, I guess. Not his actual mouth." 00[01:06] <@Crion> Jesuit: "...No, they came out of his actual mouth too." 00[01:06] <@Crion> Ben: "And then he tried to take my soul. I could feel him reach in with his ghostly hand and pull at where it used to be..." He stops to take a sip of beer, then starts chuckling, then outright laughing. "But it wasn't fuckin' there, boys! My soul had already left the building!" 00[01:06] <@Crion> Crushing his third beer can: "And all our boy Uni found was a lady who gets real, real fucking mad when you kill co-eds." 00[01:06] <@Crion> Father Jesse: "Kind of sad I missed it." 00[01:06] <@Crion> Ben: "Don't be. You know how ghost fights are. I look like I'm pretending to be a Jedi on Youtube." 00[01:06] <@Crion> Jesuit: "It was quite amusing." 00[01:14] <@Crion> Ben: "But you still owe me more, Jesuit. I already knew he was a weird mage." 00[01:14] <@Crion> Jesuit: "Yes, yes. We'll continue to look into it. ...How is Tara?" 00[01:14] <@Crion> Ben smiles. "You know, she's doing alright." 00[01:14] <@Crion> For another half-hour, the three men discuss personal matters, drink, crack jokes, and even watch a video on Ben's phone. Then the bells ring midnight. 00[01:14] <@Crion> Ben: "Merry Christmas, boys." 00[01:14] <@Crion> Father Jesse: "Merry Christmas." 00[01:14] <@Crion> Jesuit: "Merry Christmas." 00[01:14] <@Crion> Below, three cop cars tear by, sirens blazing. Ben takes the beer he had chilling in Father Jesse's cooler and puts it back into his twelve pack; it's about time to go. 00[01:14] <@Crion> Jesuit: "...One more thing." 00[01:16] <@Crion> Ben's already stood up. Father Jesse: "Yeah?" 00[01:16] <@Crion> Jesuit: "There's something wrong in this city. Something coming, or something already here. We don't know what it is yet. We probably won't know what it is until it's too late. But it's been building. Steeping in the crucible at the center of our joint franchise, ever since..." 00[01:16] <@Crion> Father Jesse's face has gone dark: "Halloween." 00[01:16] <@Crion> "No," says Jesuit. "No. Not quite." 00[01:16] <@Crion> Into the silence across the roof: "But only just." 00[01:16] <@Crion> After a moment, Ben: "Am I...supposed to do something with this information?" 00[01:16] <@Crion> Jesuit: "Wait." 00[01:16] <@Crion> Ben: "For what?" 00[01:16] <@Crion> Jesuit: "You'll know." 00[01:16] <@Crion> Ben: "Christ, I hate--" 00[01:16] <@Crion> Father Jesse and Jesuit: "Hey!" 00[01:16] <@Crion> Ben: "...Jeez, I hate mages. Is that fine? Is Jeez still fine, Jess and Jez?" 00[01:16] <@Crion> Father Jesse throws an empty beer can at him. Jesuit follows suit. Ben, as he retreats: "Hah! Okay! Nice seeing you too! Make sure to pick those up!" 00[01:16] <@Crion> Father Jesse: "See you when I see you." 00[01:16] <@Crion> Jesuit: "Good night, Benjamin." 00[01:16] <@Crion> When the sin-eater is gone, Father Jesse says, "You know, he's been a lot more reliable than we were led to believe about those guys." 00[01:16] <@Crion> Jesuit: "That's because he's a good man." He kills the last of the wine. "We've been blessed with more than the usual number." 00[01:16] <@Crion> Father Jesse: "How many is that?" 00[01:16] <@Crion> Jesuit: "More than a dozen, city-wide." 00[01:16] <@Crion> They share one last laugh at that. Then, the Hierophant of Baltimore grimaces. "I wasn't kidding with Benjamin. You need to brace for impact. Something's coming, and it's probably coming out of my shop, and it fucks me up that I don't know what it is yet." 00[01:16] <@Crion> Father Jesse picks up his cooler. "I know the feeling. Good luck." 00[01:16] <@Crion> Jesuit stares out over the Baltimore skyline. "Good luck. And Merry Christmas." 00[01:16] <@Crion> "Merry Christmas." The vampire heads for the door. 00[01:16] <@Crion> The wind picks up a bit, and Jesuit stares north, up Calvert Street at St. Ignatius. It has been quite some time. "Some day, I will return," he murmurs. "Some day we will all return." 00[01:16] <@Crion> When the wind picks up again, the roof of the Baltimore Basilica is empty. 00[01:16] <@Crion> --fin 02[01:52] * Quaker (textual@sorcery-2jh55q.oc.cox.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook Air has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 03[02:21] * banana|peels is now known as banana 03[02:23] * banana is now known as banana|ugh 02[02:47] * GreatClownVoxPVoxD (VoxPVoxD@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) Quit (Quit: dammitwho sucks) 03[02:47] * VoxPVoxD (VoxPVoxD@sorcery-ri51la.res.rr.com) has joined #gofetch 02[03:58] * CBN (CBN@sorcery-bu9bch.44si.pavh.0446.2601.IP) Quit (Connection closed) 03[05:07] * Quaker (textual@sorcery-2jh55q.oc.cox.net) has joined #gofetch 02[05:42] * Quaker (textual@sorcery-2jh55q.oc.cox.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook Air has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 03[05:42] * Quaker (textual@sorcery-2jh55q.oc.cox.net) has joined #gofetch 02[05:43] * Quaker (textual@sorcery-2jh55q.oc.cox.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook Air has gone to sleep. 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ZZZzzz…) 03[21:21] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 03[22:19] * mattbaby_ (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 02[22:20] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) Session Time: Sat Apr 11 00:00:00 2020 02[01:29] * mattbaby_ (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…) 03[02:59] * banana|peels is now known as banana 02[05:43] * trenchfoot (dani@sorcery-jcvlv4.in.comcast.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) 03[06:18] * trenchfoot (dani@sorcery-jcvlv4.in.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 03[20:52] * banana is now known as banana|s 03[21:06] * banana|s is now known as banana 00[21:06] <@Crion> 00[21:06] <@Crion> 00[21:06] <@Crion> 00[21:06] <@Crion> 00[21:06] <@Crion> 00[21:06] <@Crion> 00[21:06] <@Crion> 00[21:06] <@Crion> 00[21:06] <@Crion> 00[21:08] <@Crion> The ectoplasm recedes in the warehouse out in Glen Burnie, MD, and the emergency lighting kicks back in over the ruins of Capra's death and, apparently, some sort of gunfight. 00[21:08] <@Crion> Ben, muttering to himself: "Well. That's fucking weird." [21:14] 10Stewart's fully collided with the spot where Capra fell before he realizes it's not there anymore. "They're literally-- robbing Peter to pay Paul." 00[21:14] <@Crion> He kicks the chair over, stands it back up, waits, shakes his head and kicks it over again. "Fucking weird!" 00[21:15] <@Crion> "Not only don't we get the other half of the ghost--not your fault, fella," he says to the air next to him. "But we don't even get the whole story." [21:15] 10Stewart: "So we've got to let the Freehold know that Winter's still active and coherent, that they're running an insurgency against a Loyalist and some Seers, one of whom sits inside their own personal memory hole." 00[21:16] <@Crion> Ben: "Might be worse than just memory hole." [21:16] 5Tony: "How's worse?" [21:16] "Like a burning negation, you mean? Rips a hole right in the film?" 00[21:17] <@Crion> "Like I said, what we just did was called Dénouement. If you remember your high school English, that's the part of the story that happens after the climax -- the wrapping up of things, the putting in order of affairs. Point being, we're not supposed to just get cut off at the moment of death. We get to see both sides. Or should get to." [21:18] 10Stewart: "No room for cliffhangers?" 00[21:18] <@Crion> "Not to completely shift metaphors from lit over to aviation safety, but memory-hole man is strong enough to fuck with the black box of Death." 00[21:18] <@Crion> Ben: "We're not big on sequels. Maybe on Springsteen, though." [21:19] 10Stewart snorts. "So that was 'Gary', which is a name we know from the Baltimore Pylon - those are the bad willworkers, or at least the worse ones. We don't know much more *than* a name, though..." 00[21:20] <@Crion> Best closes the lid of the freezer gently. "Your people can do whatever rites they find appropriate for the body, now. Capra's ghost -- what we have -- can't be sent on or made to find peace, not like this. But proper funereal rites will be a solace." [21:21] "Alright." 10Stewart wonders if he was as religion as his song was. [21:22] 10*as religious 00[21:22] <@Crion> Ben: "...So whoever had the shootout at the O.K. Corral here, both sides, has a two-day start on you. Three if you wait until tomorrow morning, I guess." [21:25] 10Stewart: "We should probably get a move on, then." 00[21:26] <@Crion> Ben: "If you've need of my services..." 00[21:26] <@Crion> "Well." 00[21:26] <@Crion> "I've taken a professional interest in this case, I can't deny that." [21:26] 6Nels, faintly: "Yes." 00[21:27] <@Crion> He shrugs. "But if you're good at something, never do it for free." [21:27] 10Stewart: "I think, given the, uh, circumstances, that Accounts Payable will understand." 00[21:27] <@Crion> "Sounds good to me." 00[21:27] <@Crion> He looks around. "...We're going back through the woods, aren't we." [21:29] 10Stewart: "Probably not safe to back the truck up to the door." [21:29] 5Tony: "Probably fewer questions than walking out the front, and the car's on the other side of the woods anyway." 00[21:29] <@Crion> Ben sighs. "Yeah..." 03[21:31] * tom (tom@sorcery-rnbr45.wavecable.com) has joined #gofetch [21:31] 5Tony: "Good news is, then you've got the rest of your night back, while we go do more with what we've got? Glass half full?" 00[21:33] <@Crion> He frowns. "So the PITT OHIO guys have to know there was a shootout here. I don't see any shell casings, and a guy out front toting a wingnut carbine isn't usual business for a truck depot, right?" 00[21:33] <@Crion> "But no police tape?" 00[21:33] <@Crion> "I bet no 9-1-1 call, either." [21:33] 7Maggie: "Hoorm. Who really owns this place?" [21:34] 13Melanie puts away her phone; nobody's going to pick up. "Someone vulnerable to one of several kinds of concealment and control magic from, um, entirely different paradigms. Doesn't really matter." [21:35] 10Stewart: "Yeah I doubt you get the name of anyone who matters on a piece of paper anywhere." [21:35] "But as far as people you want to squeeze, you don't want the trucking company, you want the landlord." [21:38] 10Stewart, thumbs blazing: "I'll get a list of landlords and sublettors from Ravens." [21:41] 13Melanie: "The things we most need to trace - the current status of these motherfuckers is as important as their identities, right? If all we knew is where they are, it wouldn't necessarily be useful to simply visit. They're a bit too far above the curve." [21:42] 13Melanie says 'motherfuckers' like she's picked it up from being Around, which she has, but it flows more smoothly into the sentence than interpersonal attempts. [21:43] 6Nels: "They can't be that... okay, no, they very much can. Sorry." 6Sometimes you need to re-think something partway through saying it. [21:44] 10Stewart just grunts in assent while typing. [21:44] 5Tony, encouragingly, offered to the group at large given the mood: "Well, at least we have wizards of our own?" [21:44] 5Tony: "Or at least wizards who already don't like the other wizards?" 00[21:45] <@Crion> Ben chuckles. "Well, Jesuit's group are more the they-call-you type." 00[21:45] <@Crion> "...At least, they are with me." [21:46] 6That's something Nels had previously not considered. What are wizards' feelings on candlelit dinners? Something to ponder for less... urgent days. [21:47] 13Melanie: "We'll assume this is a special case. Ehh. The portal inward, the one we hope was Winter.. shall we reopen it? Go where they went Hedgeward?" [21:47] "We'd need to leave a sentry or protections. Ripping a portal back open like that wouldn't be one-way." [21:48] 10Stewart: "Yeah, letting the guards walk in past us is bad both ways." [21:49] "How would we do it?" [21:49] 13Melanie: "Scour." [21:50] 13Her eyes, as they are temporarily perceivable, open wide. "If you have subtler means I'm ALL for it!" 00[21:51] <@Crion> Ben: "Sorry. What are we discussing doing, here?" [21:51] 5Tony: "Would they want us following them though? Even if the trail's a day or two cold, they're probably going to ground and staying there to avoid drawing too much attention." [21:51] 13To Best: "We can probably follow the attackers, or the fleeing killers, into the.. it's another otherworld. Less dead, more malign." [21:51] "I don't. Not anything mortal-proof, anyway." 10To Ben: "You know how people jumped in from offscreen at the end there? We're talking about following them offscreen. Into the 'Hedge'." [21:52] 5Tony: "Oh! Opening up the portal to the Hedge that was opened through that door back there before, and seeing what's there. Reopening the same door always usually goes to the same place, so." 00[21:54] <@Crion> Ben nods like he understands. "Okay. That sounds mostly nuts for me to have any part in." [21:54] 6Nels: "A lot of things we do sounds like that." [21:54] 5Tony: "Yeah no offense but if there's a lot of dead stuff on the other side we're fucked with or without you, and it's probably better for you not to have to deal with it." 00[21:54] <@Crion> "I assume the Oracle would protect me if I had to step over, but." [21:54] 13Maybe. [21:55] "Best not to chance it." 00[21:55] <@Crion> He raises his hands up. "Ah! Okay, 'assume' was a bad word!" 00[21:55] <@Crion> Presumably the Oracle didn't like the phrasing. [21:55] 5Tony: "Plus, and I think everyone else can agree with me on this, Hedge stuff gets weird in a way that anyone who isn't us, is probably going to get weirded out by. Even by your standards." [21:55] 6Nels: "It gets weird for us. I wouldn't wish it on anyone else." [21:56] 10Stewart: "We shouldn't oversell it, most of the time it's *just* weird. It's just that it's existentially terrifying at random and there's no way to reliably prevent it, which is the fact that forces us all together." [21:56] "But like, if you're a gambling man," [21:57] "I don't know if that's unethical for a horse doctor." [21:57] 10Yammering, he's yammering. 00[21:57] <@Crion> Ben: "I mean, I'm not gonna let you leave me here just to take the body back to the truck." [21:58] 13Right now, time is passing. We're running on less information than we could have and there's no specific reason for delay... "We might have to split up, depends what's on the other side. I'll just step outside, um.. Mr. Best, please look away from the door?" 00[21:58] <@Crion> "Sure." He turns around. "I could have a ghost spying on you the entire time, you know." 00[21:58] <@Crion> "You'd never see it." 00[21:58] <@Crion> "Spooky!" [21:59] 10Stewart: "Are we gonna... leave the body here when we go?" [21:59] "Cause we might not be leaving the same place we come back." 00[21:59] <@Crion> Ben: "Then we'd better have a plan for our cars, too." [21:59] "Cars don't decompose, at least." [21:59] 13Melanie pauses at the garage entrance. "No, I mean splitting up like only some of us will go in!" [21:59] "Maybe we should sort that out first though. Sorry." [22:00] 6Nels: "No I'm pretty sure they do. Decompose. Time is not kind to - not your point." [22:01] 5Tony: "It's probably not the ideal use of our time or effort but what if one of us just...pops their head in to look around on the other side, then we take the body back, go to our cars, figure it out from there?" [22:01] 7Maggie: "I can haul anything that needs hauling, if we're clearing things out of here." [22:02] 5Tony: "Beats doing nothing altogether and it minimizes the amount of time we spend sitting in a warehouse we broke into next to a dead body in a fridge." 00[22:02] <@Crion> Ben: "Sounds good to me." [22:04] 13Melanie: "Okay." 13She resumes her journey, and if there's a ghost watching... perversions are unpredictable. [22:06] 13Hopefully-nobody in the woods outside sees the young woman raise her arms straight vertical and her flesh and clothes peel off in great strips, like bark, all one thing. Nobody should see the discarded human flesh go protean and shadowy, cling to the ground as if hiding from the sun, frittered away from exposed leaves. [22:06] 10Why not, it's cool as hell. [22:07] 13Because they'd gain the Spooked condition, and because it's embarassing! 00[22:13] <@Crion> Ben will turn around after the flourish is complete and blink. "Wow, so that's...the tree thing wasn't a metaphor? That's literal?" 00[22:13] <@Crion> "Or was it a metaphor made literal now?" 00[22:13] <@Crion> "Huh." 00[22:13] <@Crion> "Cool." [22:14] 10Stewart's face is carefully blank. [22:15] 13Melanie's just kind of standing on the edge of the woods, blending into them, beside a subtle tear in reality, a door to places-doors-go. She doesn't want to answer Best's question, but she says: "Thanks." 00[22:16] <@Crion> It's fine, he was mostly talking to himself anyway. Probably to the Oracle, actually. Speaking to people that aren't there might be a habit these guys develop. [22:17] 6There are... worse things. [22:17] 10Be rude not to, honestly. [22:18] 13Without the veneer of the Mask, Melanie typically looks less restive. She stands still a lot of the time anyway, but now she looks like someone who's okay with that. [22:18] 13What are we seeing Gatewise? 03[22:20] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 02[22:21] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-7qeudj.md.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: Textual IRC Client: www.textualapp.com) 00[22:22] <@Crion> There are in fact two gateways leading out(?) of this building. One is on the interior side, opening into the Hedge as you "leave" the building from inside the warehouse, while the other is the Gateway on the exterior of the building, opening out into the exterior warehouse lot as if the Hedge were "inside" the warehouse. This is a bit of a formalist's distinction, but it lines up with what 00[22:22] <@Crion> you know happened; the Winter Courtiers exited the Hedge from the latter Gateway to the exterior of the warehouse, then set up in wait before storming the building, while someone else -- likely the Kit? and Jameson?/Tony? and Maggie? -- opened a gateway inside the warehouse to flee it, into the Hedge. 03[22:23] * mattbaby (textual@sorcery-3btd0v.va.comcast.net) has joined #gofetch 00[22:23] <@Crion> Ben can see them both too -- if there were mortals here, they'd like be able to as well, if they weren't freaking out about the whole tree-lady-sheds-her-bark thing -- and he's walking over to the latter. 00[22:23] <@Crion> "Same stink on this one as at your strip club." 00[22:24] <@Crion> "Sorry. Dance...establishment." [22:24] "Murder scene." [22:24] 6Nels makes a face. [22:25] "Naming a strip club run by faeries the 'Oberon' seems like a concerted effort to get out in front of the nicknames." 00[22:25] <@Crion> Ben: "Mmmm...no, technically, this was the murder scene. It was a crime scene but -- but you're not interested, right. Okay!" [22:26] 10Stewart smiles at that. [22:26] 13Melanie doesn't actually dislike Best, nor does she particularly like the way she's been acting herself through this whole thing. But: he thinks he's funny. You've got to be right about that. 00[22:27] <@Crion> You have no idea how many ghosts are laughing, just off of kirlian camera. [22:28] 7That's true. Maybe ghosts have a weird sense of humor. [22:28] "So this whole place has been a corridor.. let's check the outward gate first. We don't want to inadvertently leave some connection from a Winter sanctuary to Trap Hell." [22:29] 6Being 'away' for a while has that effect. [22:36] 10Stewart: "So the Denouement needs you to be where the death actually happened? How exact does it need to be?" 00[22:39] <@Crion> Ben: "Less accuracy, more...so it's like, filling a container. It's quite literally filling a container, I called up a hell of a lot of ectoplasm to fill this room and basically act as our oracular medium. To figure out if you're in the right 'container,' you need to ask the ghost, which was a bit difficult with poor Capra, but there was a lot of will there. He was probably a real good kid. 00[22:39] <@Crion> I'm kind of a bit angry at what's been done to his ghost. Maybe more than a little bit." [22:40] 10Stewart: "He is, too." 00[22:41] <@Crion> "...Anyway, so, the reason for all of this is that place is the primary association ghosts make with the circumstances of their death. This is why this being the murder scene matters. No offense, but Capra's ghost doesn't much care what happens Capra's body so long as you don't engage in specific ritual taboos to hurt his ghost. The ghost doesn't think of it like that. This is the place 00[22:41] <@Crion> that's important." 00[22:41] <@Crion> "And so sometimes it's one room you're filling up, sometimes it's a cafeteria, and sometimes..." He sighs. "Sometimes it's the wing of a hospital, but you try not to do that too much." [22:42] 6Nels: "I. That's a lot to take in." [22:44] "How long have... you guys been working together?" 00[22:45] <@Crion> Ben: "I was killed by a drunk driver in 1998. So it's been a bit over 20 years now." [22:45] 13Melanie listens to the description of ghosts' preferences, face thankfully unreadable. [22:46] 6The concept of the year 1998 is still baffling. [22:46] 6She says nothing. 00[22:46] <@Crion> "I was drunk too, but, you know. I was on the sidewalk walking to a bus stop. So." [22:46] 5Tony: "Doesn't count when you're walking." [22:47] "Death as forcible alienation..." 00[22:48] <@Crion> "The Oracle told me, when we were...remade together...that she was looking for an innocent man without a love for violence. And that she was willing instead to settle for me." 00[22:49] <@Crion> "She sees the future of children killed before their time. She said she needed...tempering." 00[22:49] <@Crion> "'Said.'" He makes a gesture at his head. "Communicated. You know. It's weird." [22:50] 6Nels: "Um. If you don't mind me saying? There are several things that are weird." [22:50] "I really don't mean to pry." [22:51] 13nels wtf [22:51] 13No, cancel that wtf. This is better than awkwardly nodding, right? 00[22:51] <@Crion> Ben: "I thought the hardest thing would be not turning into a comic book vigilante, you know? Going out and killing evildoers who threaten kids by night. That doesn't work; it doesn't respect the dead. And I suppose that is difficult, but I've never really had a problem with not hurting people. The hardest thing is, you know. Not just giving in and doing nothing." 00[22:51] <@Crion> To Nels: "Yeah?" [22:54] 10Most of Melanie's alienees are too different and too deeply-themselves to lend themselves to the sort of agnostic etiquette a Lord Sage ought to have, but if there *are* rules for this, the first one has to be: everyone gets a chance to tell you their backstory. [22:56] 6Nels: "The children before their time thing, I. 6She exhales. "When I disappeared there was still prescriptions for heroin. So. A lot of things are weird for me." [22:56] 6Nels: "I didn't mean to interrupt. It was rude. But wow this sucks, dude." 00[22:58] <@Crion> Ben: "Thankfully we don't get the drug overdoses, not unless they're drugged by someone else. But lots of neglect. Lots of murder. Lots of the bad stuff that happens before a murder. Anger can only sustain you for so long. Eventually you just have to become a steward to the hereafter." [22:58] 10Stewart: "To be clear, there are still prescriptions for heroin. It's just, you know, lab-made super-heroin." 00[22:59] <@Crion> Ben: "...That said. This man Gary ripping ghosts in half ups the ante significantly. We've graduated from vigilantism to a possible threat to the metafabric of reality. And I very much do not like how these guys keep mixing and matching flavors of supernatural." [23:00] "Have you ever seen that before?" [23:00] 13Melanie: "Well, that's- it doesn't have to be limited to a league of villians. You may be helping us for appropriate compensation but being even willing to reveal your existence is generous. Jesuit's people - we can call them, if we have to, and some others. Not sure they'd want to call us but they can. We can work together weird and, hopefully, do something about this." 00[23:01] <@Crion> "No. I've seen mages that fucked with souls -- which are taxonomically distinct, but very similar to, ghosts -- but I've never seen anything split one like that and end up with half a ghost." 00[23:01] <@Crion> Ben: "I agree, Melanie. About that, though." 00[23:02] <@Crion> "Barring new information or context, this thing he's doing...this is a situation that requires a permanent resolution." 00[23:02] <@Crion> "I intend, with the full power and weight of my office, for us to drag that man to hell." 00[23:03] <@Crion> Ben looks around. "I need to know the degree to which that'll be a problem." [23:04] 5Tony shrugs: "You say it's a serious death-stuff crime, I'm not gonna argue with you. And you're not gonna get any argument from me about people who framed me for a murder, getting what's theirs." [23:04] 7Maggie almost had a hold on this, but then it turned out that souls and ghosts aren't the same thing. [23:04] 13Melanie: "To no degree." [23:04] 6Nels: "Actual Hell? Because that is worryingly close to being a real thing, and..." [23:04] 10Stewart: "I mean, if we were gonna balk at killing the guy, the time to back out was like... barely three months ago? Jesus." 00[23:05] <@Crion> Ben: "No. Not actual Hell. Just an expression based on a movie title. Best I can do is the Underworld and frankly, if Hell was real, I wouldn't drag anyone there on principle." [23:07] 6Nels lets out a sigh she wasn't aware she was holding. [23:15] 7Maggie turns to Stewart, gloomily. "Souls and ghosts are different...?" [23:15] 10Stewart: "Sure, you know, like, the electrical charge that runs the computer and the data pressed into a drive." [23:15] "Toward some Hell, then." 13Melanie steps back *into* the building, opens the side door Outwards and holds a bough protectively in front of her trunk as she steps through. [23:16] 6Nels does not know that. Something to look up later. [23:16] "Hoom. So a wizard - I mean, not a real wizard, you know what I mean - they could get three dread servants from one person?" [23:17] 5Tony looks at Maggie: "Three?" [23:17] 7Maggie: "A soul-ghost, a ghost-ghost, and a zombie." 00[23:19] <@Crion> Ben's over checking out the gate during this conversation. [23:19] 10Stewart: "I dunno if the soul is usable like that, you get the sense that 'souls' are sort of... for the living." [23:20] 7Maggie will amble over to the gate, then. Will she be carrying anything? [23:20] 5Tony: "There's also Hedge ghosts but those are probably overlapping with one of the first two. If you don't know what they are, pretend I didn't say anything." [23:25] 6Nels: "I know what they are but I'm still going to pretend." 00[23:29] <@Crion> Stewart's phone bings or beeps or what have you. Ravens returns the search results he was looking for: PITT OHIO rents space on this property from one T&T Ltd Holdings LLC; the rental listings, however, seem to exclude a warehouse at the back of the property from PITT OHIO's lease. Ravens is somewhat frustrated -- this information was difficult to turn up, even from paper records. Something 00[23:29] <@Crion> was obviously impeding them. They advise, uh, breaking into the County Register's office. Located in the Circuit Court for Baltimore County. [23:30] 10Stewart: "Do you guys want to break in to the County Register's office? It's after hours on a holiday, our odds will never be better." 00[23:30] <@Crion> That's if you want a listing of T&T's other holdings in the county, of course. [23:30] "That's what we have to do to get the other properties linked to the people who own this warehouse." [23:30] 5Tony: "It's probably gonna be easier than this one was, right?" [23:31] 5Tony: "And we already did this, so..." [23:31] 6Nels: "I mean. I can't say no." [23:31] 10Stewart: "Unless their idea of a public-private partnership includes the wizard mafia, yeah, it'll be easier." 00[23:32] <@Crion> If you can get your phone on-site, Stewart, Ravens can assist through the secure court app. [23:33] 10Stewart: "We'll have backup from Ravens, too, so yeah, it's a plan. What'd we learn from the Hedge?" [23:34] 5Tony: "So do we want to poke around a little here, head out, do some minor---they aren't felonies right, it's the other one still?---and get rolling with the night?" 00[23:35] <@Crion> Ben: "Breaking into a courthouse will probably get bumped up to a felony, yeah." 00[23:35] <@Crion> "But hey." 00[23:35] <@Crion> "You're only in trouble if you get caught." [23:35] 5Tony: "That's the spirit." [23:36] 6Nels: "So don't get caught. We can manage that, right?" [23:36] 6She is looking at the rest of the group. [23:39] 5Tony starts poking around, looking askance at the at the currently-visible gates, seeing what he can see, and very much hoping nothing sees him back. [23:40] 7Maggie: "We're pretty good at not getting caught, at this point." 7It would be rude to knock on Melanie. [23:42] 10Melanie is unparalleled at getting caught, which is also a valuable skill. [23:43] 5Tony paces a little bit then comes back to where the group is milling about, looking a little shaken. [23:43] 5Tony: "Hey so uhh, good news and, I think bad? Maybe? Bad news?" [23:44] 5Tony: "On the one hand, only one of the Winter Court folks got hit in the firefight, that I could tell, at least bad enough they needed help. And I have a decent idea of where they were headed. So that's the good news." [23:45] 10Stewart frowns. "What's the bad news?" [23:45] 5Tony: "The other news, no fucking clue at all what the other folks did. Nothing that makes sense anyway. They just...didn't show up in the Hedge when they went through the gate. Or they didn't leave any trace." [23:46] 5Tony: "Which means, maybe two things. Either---this is the good one, let's hope for this one---they can 'just' connect doorways directly without setting foot in the Hedge, which is a terrible thing for security but hey, at least understandable." [23:46] 5Tony: "Not that I have any idea how you would even do that." [23:47] 5Tony:"And the other one, which I'm just throwing out here for a worst-case-scenario we can ask the wizards about later, is, what if they made a Hedge door that can go somewhere else and just looks like it went to the Hedge? So I'm not gonna fuck with that one or think about it too hard." [23:48] 10Stewart: "Well it's very bad even if all they could do is undetectably follow Winter's tracks back to their hideout, and gets worse from there." [23:48] 5Tony: "So!"5He claps his hands together. "There's not a whole lot we can do about either one from here. For the Winter folks, we head back towards the city, they were headed towards a trod there." [23:49] 5Tony: "And for the other one, sorry but fuck if I know, get some guns, let's get out before things get weirder or worse." [23:51] 5Tony: "And it's all, very spooky woods over there, no offense Melanie. So let's uh. Let's not dwell on the Hedge around here too much, what with having to hike back through the regular woods, at night, now." 00[23:54] <@Crion> The Hedgerows this far out into the County are overbearing and spooky (classical sense; old aesthetic). Very Germanic; very Black Forest-y. Hansel and Gretel and the like. The walls are enforced by heavy treeline, and while in Spring and Summer the Thorns seem to make themselves known via razor-sharp poison ivy and oak -- at least judging by some of these fronds -- in Winter they're forced 00[23:54] <@Crion> to resort to boring old brambles. A lot more pines in these woods than you'd likely see in those months, too. 00[23:54] <@Crion> Everything enforces isolation and the idea of some great, neverending forest in every direction. 00[23:54] <@Crion> Glen Burnie clearly doesn't rate an urban biome map. 00[23:56] <@Crion> Stepping out of the Winter gateway brings you upon a clearing where some sliding about and splinting has clearly taken place; the other door...just a run of Hedgerow off into the dark. [23:58] 13Melanie returns after a few moments. Lingering after scouring isn't a good idea. "As Tony says - no sign anyone was there at all." [23:58] "I don't like that." [23:59] 6Nels: "That's. Um. Bad? I think that's bad." Session Time: Sun Apr 12 00:00:00 2020 [00:00] 5Tony: "Yes! Thank you." [00:04] 10Stewart: "Yeah. We gotta get back to the city." 00[00:07] <@Crion> Ben: "Lead the way. Hopefully no one's out here ticket." 00[00:07] <@Crion> ticketing [00:08] 5Tony: "Melanie, do you have the fridge again, or do you want me and Maggie to take it up this time?" [00:09] 7Maggie cracks her knuckles. [00:15] 13Melanie: "You look like you're looking forward to it, Maggie." 02[00:15] * tom (tom@sorcery-rnbr45.wavecable.com) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds) [00:16] 13She doesn't mind not carrying Capra's remains, and in this form it's a bit.. too obvious. Too rock-a-bye baby. [00:16] 7Maggie: "Well... I haven't been so useful for this part." 00[00:16] <@Crion> The hike back is uneventful. If you check on the guards, they're still paranoid at the front gates. [00:18] 10Good. That's a relief. 00[00:23] <@Crion> The ride back into Baltimore is through a mild January night -- meaning high 40s -- with good music on your radios (unless you like bad music). The Oberon will steward Capra's body moving forward. And the Baltimore County Courthouse awaits...next week.