10:12 <banana> November's really hitting now. Most of the trees in town are bare - entire groves and street-planting lines of sad twiggy things. The daylight is short and valuable. 10:13 <Crion> Philadelphia weather. 10:13 <banana> It was a bit more than a month ago that you last got a split of a million pounds. This one comes announced over Hunter.apk. 10:14 <hrolf> Shite weather, shite people and shite politics - three things Rolf hates about being oop norf. 10:14 <banana> <RH> Our employer informs me that the payment from Vie has been distributed. Congratulations, everybody. 10:15 <banana> <RH> More than one of you has expressed a desire for a brief break. How about we hold off on formally accepting new work for at least a few days? 10:15 <Crion> Aster appreciates the lack of direct contact recently. That's what he wants from a shadowy, possibly nefarious leadership cabal -- freedom to do the work and paychecks that clear. 10:15 <Crion> Aster: <Noted. I will be available when the cell is.> 10:16 <Quaker> <AB> I Have a phone now….😈😈😈😈 10:16 <tom> BG: <welcome to 2004 agostina> 10:16 <tom> BG is typing... 10:16 <tom> BG: <you have to warn them> 10:17 <Quaker> <AB> I am still on Vacation…..😈🥳😎 10:17 <hrolf> <RH> cheers mate accy cecked dosh is in mch apreiated break sounsd good thx - rolf 10:17 <VoxPVoxD> <WW> <sounds good, richard! I think we've all earned a bit of Decompression. my brain is filling with hundreds of tiny bubbles as we speak> 10:17 <Quaker> <AB> Hello Bob 10:20 <banana> <RH> Please make sure to surface at a responsible rate. 10:21 <VoxPVoxD> <WW> <🥺> 10:21 <hrolf> <RH> a 10:21 <tom> BG: <enjoy your vacation 'stina> 10:21 <Quaker> <AB> Did you all read that article in outdoors magazine about the diver who drowned in a hole in south africa. and then another one died trying to bring his body up 10:21 <hrolf> <RH> oop wrng btn ignore - rolf 10:22 <Quaker> <AB> Outside magazine 10:22 <Quaker> <AB> I always ignore you Rolf 😈😈😈 10:22 <hrolf> <RH> hw do u enter the faces on ths program thx - rolf 10:23 <VoxPVoxD> <WW> <i'll show you when i pick you up for our Virtual Reality Gaming Experience> 10:23 <VoxPVoxD> <anyone else want to play violent video games with Friendly Demons> 10:24 <tom> BG is typing... 10:24 <tom> BG: <friendly than kaga> 10:24 <Crion> Aster has put his phone down by now. There's work to do at Aster Biologics, presumably; he hasn't been neglecting his work here, per se, but it has not had the full brunt of his attention. Simon Kingfisher will likely be experiencing the brunt of this, as the boss is going to be in the office again more now. Poor child. Now his no-work job doesn't entirely entail goofing off; just mostly. 10:24 <tom> BG: <Friendlier than kaga> 10:25 <hrolf> <RH> is tht like oculus ? me mate baz cousin little bazs neighbour lad got one of them - rolf 10:25 <VoxPVoxD> <WW> <very much so! although to your credit - Kaga hasn't spoken two words to me since you took him for a walk. whatever you said to him Worked. you seem to have dropped this 👑> 10:28 <tom> BG: <I think he likes me> 10:28 <hrolf> <RH> some mtes ncked a crate of the oculuses off lorry at dover, sellin for lotta dosh wth the shippgn troubles. can get spares from mate if we need extra - rolf 10:29 <VoxPVoxD> <WW> <you know rolfie they might be into that. we'll broach the issue on site> 10:31 <banana> Aster's work takes priority, as it always has. Samantha's left for Brighton - still a little shaken and excited, although most people wouldn't be able to tell. The changeling party and whatever she's learned at Strangeways are outside routine, even for S.C.U. 10:32 <banana> He's got the police work to carry out, or in some cases merely check in on, and other civilian bizdev. There's also this question of how to work more... productively with the vampires' Court. Provide services to them that aren't the Nameless House's service. Did he have any plans in that direction? 10:34 <banana> 'On site' for Willie, today, is the sharehouse on the edge of the gay village, near some godawful northern university's campus. It's been a while since she visited clan Alpha Strike, the secretive and confusing young men who she believes to be, in some sense, demons. 10:34 <banana> They've asked for help, for her to bring some friends who can accomplish tasks involving the measured exercise of muscle and training toward violent ends- still online, but not using a keyboard. 10:35 <VoxPVoxD> She texted ahead to tell Hambo she was bringing two soldiers, one of them a True Patriot. She also wanted to know if the gang was hungry! 10:36 <banana> The friendliest of the gamers informed her that as long as they live, they will hunger. 10:36 <VoxPVoxD> God, she knows the feeling. 10:36 <hrolf> Rolf looks around with some distaste. Does the place smell of nerd? How shabbily are they dressed? Do they look like the computer geeks that always seem to get annoyed when he asks perfectly normal questions about cup holders at the computer store? 10:37 <Crion> He has made it quite clear he's not operating a blood bank, at least not yet; there might be productive conversations to have in that direction later with whoever's territory this is. Which reminds him -- Aster should get on speaking terms with whichever WASC luminary claims this precise city block as their own. Anyway. His services remain psycometric and psychic in nature -- resonance 10:37 <Crion> analysis, helping figure out crime scenes, so on -- but in a pinch he can, for instance, provide technically-unlicensed medical advice for ghouls and other blood addicts dealing with physical effects of taking or leaving the blood. VASCU saw more than enough such cases. 10:40 <VoxPVoxD> She spends the morning in between work calls doing shibari on a leg of lamb so she can slice it thinly and make some big sandwiches with the sliced roast lamb, cheddar, quick-pickled onions, and a mint-garlic chutney. Then she can ride over on her lunch hour, letting the mp3 player pound the lack of sleep from her brain. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4QQQXSH-g4 10:40 <tom> Bob's still fine taking the Free (!) bus to get where he needs inside the city. Honestly, driving is fucking terrifying. What the fuck is a roundabout? What is it? 10:40 <tom> So he's stepping off the bus in his jacket and visor, hands in his pockets, unarmed. 10:41 <Crion> Christ, Bob. We have traffic circles in America. 10:42 <VoxPVoxD> Willie can have picked Bob up if he likes! 10:42 <banana> Agostina Badawi isn't working. She's got more money, more than she really needs... but it's always possible to find a way to spend money. 10:43 <banana> So she has her quiet time, her music, her waiting, and her forms of family. 10:44 <banana> Today (not 'tonight' as it has been recently) is when she'd planned to visit some of the misfit teen-agers in their new glee-club hangout. The one Willie paid for, little goodwill though it earned her. 10:44 <Quaker> She starts by cutting a 60,000 pound check to a Palestinian children’s medical charity. She’d send more, but she has to pay Amjad and invest in the hot dog stands. 10:45 <tom> Bob kind of likes being alone on the bus. Time to think, time to put things together. 10:45 <Crion> If he's alone on the bus, public transportation isn't doing its job. 10:46 <tom> Alone surrounded by the English, he means. 10:46 <VoxPVoxD> That's his right. Willie meets Bob and Rolf outside with that big insulated takeout bag, in full winter clothes - scarf, earmuffs, peacoat. "Hello, boys. Ready to game?" 10:46 <Quaker> But before she goes, she sends a text. 10:47 <Quaker> <AB> Hello…….Octocat 😈😈😁😁 10:47 <hrolf> Rolf: "Sure fing. As long as its like that squid game they 'ad on the netflix. Saw it on the telly with some of the lads. Japan is an effed up place, pardon me French." 10:47 <Quaker> <AB> Are you on vacation Too 😋 10:48 <tom> Bob exhales a charged stream of vapor. "They pay you to show off the winter catalogue?" 10:48 <tom> "I'm ready to rip. Are we like... ringers for a League tournament..." 10:49 <banana> It's unclear whether it's an apology or a threat when one of the bearded wolverines turns up at Aster Biologics. 10:49 <banana> Simon finds the man intimidating in a way Aaron didn't, since he's nearly six feet and wearing a leather jacket. The claws aren't out, of course. 10:49 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "That was Korea, Rolfie. You're very kind, Robert, as always." 10:49 <Crion> Yes, they're typically like that. Aster is swiftly in the front of house. 10:49 <banana> Gangrel Ghoul: "Lad, I'm looking for- ah." 10:49 <VoxPVoxD> "As to the gaming parameters... let's find out together, shall we?" She knocks or rings the bell or however the Gamer House is set up. 10:50 <tom> What does this place look like from the outside? 10:50 <Crion> Aster: "Simon, find something to do in the back. Use the computer near the eyewash station." 10:51 <banana> Gangrel Ghoul: "Mister, um, Aster. Name's Dylan, after the singer - mum was a hippy." 10:51 <Crion> He's comfortable enough with the boy to clean up after whatever prodding he gets up to back there, or at least prefer it to letting this man one foot further into his place of business until he knows what he wants. 10:51 <Crion> He just stares back at that. This isn't the same exact one he Taloned, presumably. 10:51 <hrolf> Rolf adjust his coat, shivering a little. It's a bit colder than it is down in London and he didn't bother buying a proper winter one. "Yeah one of them asian places. Good show though. We could use some of that squid game 'ere - clean up some of the scum and riffraf." 10:51 <banana> Nope. You've never heard this guy speak before; he hung back looming the whole time. 10:52 <banana> Rolf and Bob - and Willie - find themselves outside a large but only partially detached house between two shops in a mixed-use street. It's largely wooden, unusually for the area, and poorly maintained. 10:53 <banana> There's a 3d-printed plaque above the door reading ALPHA STRIKE GAMING HOUSE and all the windows are slatted or boarded up. No natural light inside. 10:53 <tom> "We're not gonna get jumped, right?" 10:53 <VoxPVoxD> "They're not vampires," Willie reassures them. "They're just nerds." 10:53 <tom> "Good to know." 10:54 <banana> Willie... doesn't actually remember how she's entered in the past? There's no bell and no knocker, but that's not particularly sinister - just cheap. 10:54 <banana> Anyway, they're on the inside now. 10:54 <hrolf> Rolf looks around with some distaste. Does the place smell of nerd? How shabbily are they dressed? Do they look like the computer geeks that always seem to get annoyed when he asks perfectly normal questions about cup holders at the computer store? 10:54 <VoxPVoxD> Ahh yeah, that's right. Willie can't tell if it smells bad in here, because all she gets is brimstone. 10:55 <banana> The front door opened directly onto a living room, filled with sofas in brown and pink leather, all of them stolen from curbsides or otherwise acquired at mates' rates. They do smell a bit like nerd, and so do the actual nerds sitting on a couple of them playing Nintendos. 10:55 <Crion> Then: "Well. You know who I am, Dylan. So what are we looking at here." 10:56 <Crion> "You've either come alone or sent men around the back. And the cameras around back haven't gone off yet." 10:56 <tom> Bob: "Huhhn." 10:56 <Crion> "So your techniques have improved, or you're here to talk." 10:57 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Oh, yeah, that happens. It's fine." 10:57 <tom> Bob chews his nicotine gum and looks around the room. This looks... normal? 10:57 <tom> Unless there's a pinhead looking motherfucker leering over a console he's going to be a little disappointed. 10:58 <tom> Anyway, literally every single Demon in sight is about to get hit face-first by the proton stream out of the Trackcheck in about five seconds. 10:58 <banana> Rolf doesn't see any actual computers yet, but the two guys in here look like they use computers.. a lot. Instead of moving around or eating healthy. One of them doesn't even look up; the other, who Willie will recognise as Claat, stands, dropping the Switch unceremoniously at his side. 10:59 <banana> Gamer: "Get that tricorder shit out of here." 10:59 <VoxPVoxD> Willie gives Bob a warning look. 10:59 <VoxPVoxD> A little shake of the head. 10:59 <banana> (Somewhere, the device whirs into action. You've got them, they just didn't like it.) 10:59 <tom> Nobody complained before! 11:00 <tom> "Sorry folks. Force of habit." 11:00 <VoxPVoxD> "Sorry! Sorry. I forgot to mention that. Claat, this is Rolfie Hughes, late of the Human Office. And this is Bob Goreman, late of America. Gentlemen, this is Claat, one of the Alpha Strikes." 11:00 <VoxPVoxD> "Is Hambo in?" 11:01 <banana> Claat has dark shaggy hair and looks unwashed. He's a bit older than you might expect, closer to 30 than 20, and apparently a human being... but he can tell when he's being recorded by a distant and mysterious machine. 11:01 <tom> Weird that Kagamenauch the Flayed didn't seem to clock it, but he did. Probably not important. 11:01 <banana> "Uh, yeah... he's in his room, so I'll send a message. Do you want to wait down here?" He eyes Bob and Rolf. Who did not bring food, presumably. 11:02 <tom> Bob shows the dude his palms, smiling apologetically. 11:02 <tom> "So you guys like... win Dota tournies...?" 11:03 <tom> "....1.6?" He asks, hopefully. 11:03 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "That's fine. Where should I deposit these sandwiches?" 11:03 <hrolf> Rolf eyes him back, face set in stone and exuding an air of menace. These are nerds and the instinctive reaction to bully them in addition to the years of resentment from exasperated treatments from tech support and computer store repairmen doesn't dispose him kindly towards their kind. 11:04 <banana> Badawi doesn't get a response immediately - maybe the wizard Octocat is on holiday - but he gets back to her before she's left for Hattersley Estate. 11:04 <banana> <Good morning Ms. B. Vacations are too much like hard work for me...> 11:05 <banana> Claat, begrudgingly: "Let's go through to the kitchen then. Got a new fridge in recently." He's picked his Switch back up and is tapping away, presumably contacting Hambo through the gaming machine. 11:06 <banana> The other clan member springs out of his chair. "Shit, man, 1.6? What was it - Bob? Do you mean Allstars or Classic?" 11:06 <tom> "Am I already a boomer? Good god." 11:06 <tom> He seems genuinely diminished. 11:07 <banana> Demon: "Have you still got the binaries? You weren't hit by Reforged?" 11:07 <tom> "I will never forgive Blizzard for what they took from me." 11:07 <banana> At A.B.: Dylan the ghoul says, "Yeah, I'd like to talk. A uh consult. Got cursed." 11:08 <tom> Bob's turning to look at the new demon. 11:08 <Crion> Aster frowns. Pauses. Then uncrosses his arms. "Am I sending the bill to Savoy?" 11:08 <Quaker> <AB>: Are you free 😁😋 I’m going to visit some friends and thought you might want to go with me 🧙 11:08 <hrolf> Rolf, trying to fit in: "One of the pubs near upton park 'ad street fighter back in the day and I used to play it wif some of the lads." 11:09 <Quaker> <AB>: Can you play an instrument 11:09 <tom> "...I thought that shit was gone for good? Like wiped off the net entirely." 11:10 <banana> Claat takes Willie and the others a couple of rooms into the sprawling but dusty building. There's a huge central one where a bunch of tables have been shoved together; they're covered in powerboards, network switches and other infrastructure. A couple of desktop computers and monitors are set up down here, with room for many more. 11:10 <Quaker> <AB>: 💅🏽 🎷 11:11 <banana> The guy who's trailing after them sits down at one of the PCs. "Wiped? Not if you had... Warcraft 3 Communist Edition." 11:11 <banana> "Which we did. You need a network share?" 11:11 <VoxPVoxD> Willie grins. Yes! Yes!! Be nice to each other!!! 11:12 <banana> Dylan: "Yeah, the clan will pay. Uh, wait, how much is it?" 11:12 <tom> He shrugs. "Doesn't matter anyway. My gaming rig's probably in an evidence locker in Boise." Bob winces, scratches his chin. "The closest I've gotten to Game in six months is watching a dude stream Expedition League. I don't even play P.O.E., dude!" 11:12 <VoxPVoxD> The smile is reflexive; she doesn't actually feel good. She doesn't really feel anything. But some pre-articulate switchboard operator is pushing the emotional expressions that her superego recognises she should be making naturally right now. 11:13 <tom> "If I give you my Steam I.D. will you use it to steal my soul?" 11:13 <banana> Octocat: <This is too many emoji. All the imagery I cannot handle it.> 11:13 <banana> Octocat: <By friends you mean normal people right not House stuff? That sounds nice. I can't really play anything though> 11:14 <Crion> Aster: "Initial consult is free. Consider it a peace offering. If I'm able to remove it, I'll bill by the hour, minimum four hours, usual rate 135 pounds/hour." 11:14 <Crion> "Hazard pay is more expensive. So are rituals involving special reagents." 11:14 <banana> Dylan: "Yeah, that will be okay. This thing's... it sucks, mate." 11:15 <banana> He's not very articulate. 11:15 <Crion> That's fine. Aster's used to working with that. 11:16 <Crion> He'll head to the back; Simon will look up, worried, but Aster will give him an all-clear brusque nod and wave him back to the front of house. When the boy is gone: "I don't have a patient examination room, other than the morgue. So there's a stool. What are we looking at?" 11:16 <Quaker> <AB>: Are you relaxed and patient with children 🌚 11:17 <banana> Willie deposits food in the fridge and Bob exchanges steam ids. The presumed demon, Samuel, is [α] PotassiumDieodide. 11:18 <banana> Rolf's kind of being left alone. He can tell these guys don't really have a lot of social graces. 11:18 <banana> So while they're being rude to him, a visitor, they'd probably be like this with anyone who doesn't bring their own icebreakers. 11:18 <VoxPVoxD> Fridge is good, these sandwiches'll be better once the chutney's soaked into the crusty bread a bit. 11:19 <tom> Bob attempts the impossible. Turning to Rolf: "I think you'd like Soul Caliber. Like street fighter but hornier." 11:19 <hrolf> Suits Rolf fine. He scopes the room for anything that might be of interest. 11:19 <tom> "You know. Jiggle Physics." 11:19 <hrolf> Rolf: "Can I play it on me mobile?" 11:19 <banana> Samuel: "We've got a PS5 if you want to try. Had to pay for it in terrible dark bargains." 11:20 <tom> "You guys are already cooler than the wizards." 11:20 <banana> Claat: "Willie, Hambo isn't answering me, which means he's probably in a diabetic coma or jerking off. You're.. okay, so if you want to hang down here for a bit that's okay. I can find Nige and Jan." 11:21 <banana> "Just don't go upstairs." 11:21 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "That's fine! I can also yell up the stairs, if you think that'd help." 11:21 <tom> Willie's been gone for a little while... Bob's not tense, really, but he's not letting his guard down. Not that it fucking matters. How the fuck do you kill a demon anyway? 11:21 <VoxPVoxD> Willie's a demon and Bob could easily kill her. 11:21 <VoxPVoxD> It would be so easy to do that. 11:21 <banana> Octocat: <I'm a cool uncle several times over> 11:23 <banana> Octocat: <Tghis involves going somewhere right? Is the afternoon okay?> 11:23 <Quaker> <AB> Awww ☺️☺️☺️ Come with me I’m visiting some musical children!! 11:23 <Quaker> She texts him the address. 11:24 <banana> Samuel's setting up an app on his computer which is some sort of remote access to a videogame console. "Mr. Hughes, dual shock or x-pad?" 11:25 <banana> Claat heads up to the second floor, leaving Willie and the others in the common areas with Samuel. 11:25 <hrolf> Rolf: "Is this for the fing you wanted done? I thought it would be oculus." 11:26 <banana> As well as the LAN room, they have a large semi-industrial kitchen - it actually seems to see regular use, although there are also a lot of pizza boxes and plastic cartons - two toilet blocks (one largely disused) and a complex of former-library, former-parlour and former-laundry which have all been turned into more lounge rooms. 11:26 <VoxPVoxD> To Samuel: "How've you all been? I'm sorry I haven't been around much lately, I got swamped at work and I've just been knackered day and night." 11:26 <banana> Samuel kind of cringes. "One at a time please." 11:26 <tom> POGchamp (Bob) leaves PotassiumDieodide (Samuel) to his business for a moment and goes to raid the fridge for a refreshing red plastic cup of Mountain Dew GAMER FUEL®. 11:27 <tom> Please let there not be a decapitated head in it this time. 11:27 <banana> Dylan the ghoul takes a stool. He's scowling a bit, but it's reflexive, Aster thinks, rather than indicative of specific displeasure. 11:28 <banana> "So. What's.. what do you need to know. Best place to start and all that." 11:29 <banana> How will Badawi be travelling to Hattersley in the afternoon? Her Nice Van would draw a lot of attention. 11:29 <Crion> Aster: "Provenance, then symptoms. Where did you get it, then what does it do." 11:29 <banana> Dylan: "Ok. So I was raiding this tomb." 11:30 <Quaker> It’s a nice day out. Badawi will take her bicycle. 11:30 <Quaker> And on her back, while she pedals, is a guitar case. 11:31 <tom> Bob's coming back with a cup of bubbling yellow liquid. "Next time I'm here I'll get you guys some proper Code Red." 11:31 <banana> Dylan: "It was two of the bosses and two of us. Down on the moor in Berkshire. We were hunting for the secret grave of Henry Beauclerc, standard kind of job yknow." 11:31 <Crion> Aster has a pad out and a pen. He writes down 'tomb.' He resists the urge to be annoyed by the video game adjacency. 11:32 <tom> He turns to Willie: "You were right. They are nicer." 11:32 <tom> "...What gives?" 11:32 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "What do you mean? Lots of people are nice." 11:32 <VoxPVoxD> "Especially compared to Kaga." 11:32 <tom> "Aren't they also from hell?" 11:33 <banana> Dylan: "Anyway, we didn't find the tomb but there was this old abbey.. Redding,Rredwall, I dunno. And it was... weird. Like, Christian, but cyclopean at the same time. That means huge blocks of unfinished stone." 11:34 <Crion> Aster: "Mmmm." Clearly one of the vampires knew, broadly speaking, what they were poking at. 11:35 <banana> "We got past the distillery guards and under the ruin, into the crypts, which had all these sealed-off passages. Just this one little section of catacomb that seemed to connect to much larger tunnels, all out in the middle of Nowhere, Berkshire. Couldn't get into any of them. But one of the blockages, among all the rock and weeds... I saw this fing." 11:35 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Nobody's from Hell. It's a nation of immigrants." 11:35 <banana> Dylan: "Glinting in the torchlight." 11:35 <Crion> Aster: "Inlaid with metal?" 11:36 <banana> The man reaches inside his jacket. 11:36 <Crion> Aster pulls on cloth gloves. 11:37 <banana> With Willie distracted Samuel tells Rolf, "Ohhh. You're here for the Quest." 11:37 <banana> This guy seems to have trouble when there are a lot of people around (or maybe just when one of them's a girl). 11:37 <tom> Bob: "Are they going to Tron us, Willie? Is that's what's happening here?" 11:38 <banana> He still boots up the fighting game (and passes out controllers to anyone who wants them), but goes on: "Are you guys... bad enough dudes to rescue the Prime Minister? Because we've been having real trouble finding such dudes." 11:38 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "I can't rule it out." 11:39 <VoxPVoxD> To Samuel: "Do we have to save him? Can't we let a shark or something get him?" 11:40 <hrolf> Rolf eyes Samuel beadily. "I was told you 'ad somefing for us to do yeah. What's this about Boris? Is 'e in one your games?" 11:40 <tom> Bob, without hesitating: "I absolutely am a bad enough dude." 11:41 <banana> It's a long ride for Badawi, first through the heart of the city and then out into increasingly deprived areas. She can see the cemetery in the distance for a while, then she's down into the valley and the only landmark around is Hattersley's public library, the one with a tower she considered using as a sniper point. 11:42 <tom> He shuffles a bit. "I still have no idea what the fuck is going on, by the way. Are we like, in a tournament or something?" 11:42 <banana> Where she's heading specifically is a partially disused community centre just outside the estate, to the north, on streets which are older and were never public housing. 11:43 <banana> Samuel: "The Alphas will explain! But I can give you the spoilers." 11:44 <Quaker> How do Hattersley people take to bicyclists? Any weird stares? 11:44 <banana> Samuel: "In the Metaverse... Britain's in trouble. Our netlinks are growing fewer and more congested, and bandwidth is clogged. This is coming from eyerel events, but it's all been exaggerated, right? By God, to stop us." 11:44 <hrolf> "...what?" 11:44 <banana> The spotty young man reconsiders how to put this. 11:45 <banana> Samuel: "Okay, there's this game which is based on real life and which affects real life." 11:45 <banana> "In some ways it's more real actually." 11:45 <banana> "We're being.. held hostage, in the game, I guess, to stop us from having too much influence. The enemies of Global Britain, you might say." 11:46 <hrolf> This irks Rolf. "Fuck em. Britannia rules the waves." 11:46 <VoxPVoxD> Willie, helpfully: "Heaven is like Brussels." 11:47 <banana> There are voices from the back stairway, people coming down to the ground floor at last. 11:47 <hrolf> Rolf: "One of the younger lads in the ICF told me about 'ow the wokes are taking over the games. There was a big scandal, somefing called gamergate. Is it those people?" 11:48 <tom> "Oh shit dog are we doing Styxit?" 11:48 <banana> Aster's new client removes a handkerchief from his jacket and unwraps it to reveal a torc. 11:48 <banana> The material looks like silver, only slightly tarnished with patches of green. It's not large enough for an adult human neck. The ends are both twisted and carved into an elaborate pattern that looks like rope. 11:52 <banana> Badawi... is definitely getting looks. 11:52 <tom> "You know... I'm really more of a shooter guy..." 11:52 <tom> Bob tugs his collar. "It's been a while since I uh, stooped to the level of using... a console.." 11:53 <banana> Her own physical appearance, the way she dresses, they're more remarkable than the bike. Hers isn't the only one around, although the others are all either extremely cheap or extremely padlocked. 11:53 <Crion> Aster will take it, if it's offered, and gently handle it. 11:53 <Crion> After making sure there's no obvious spookiness about -- that it's not far too light or too heavy for its size, that it's not vibrating, that it's not unusually warm or cold to touch, etc. -- he'll put it on a sheet of examination paper. 11:54 <VoxPVoxD> Willie just nods along when Rolf says the G word. It's like someone switched the lights off behind her eyes. 11:54 <banana> There's a small three-wheeled car parked outside the community center... and Octocat is hiding inside. He's kind of crouched down, spectacles at dashboard-level. 11:55 <banana> The torc is unusually warm to the touch. About as warm as his own skin. 11:55 <Quaker> The way she…dresses? She’s just wearing a tracksuit and a shawl, and sunglasses. Should she be wearing a barrel and suspenders to fit in? 11:56 <Quaker> What…is this… 11:56 <banana> Dylan: "So this fing looks nice, and it would probably sell for a bit, but.. nobody else wanted it. The others said it was probably cursed or summat, and Craig - boss Craig - he looked at me like I was a total idiot." 11:57 <banana> Octocat sits up: "Ah, Badawi. You've made it through, of course." 11:58 <Quaker> Badawi’s bike is a cheap piece of shit, so she doesn’t bother with anymore security than a bike lock around a post box outside the community center. “You talk like this place is being blockaded. What is this thing?” 11:59 <Crion> Aster: "Well, I don't need to kick you while you're down on that account, surely. What's it done to you?" 12:00 <banana> Octocat gets out, though he's looking around cautiously. "The Reliant Robin. It's a classic.. local manufacture, 65 years, 30 on the same basic chassis." 12:00 <banana> "Difficult to get parts now, but I have some advantages there." 12:01 <tom> Bob sips the chilled carbonated citrus drink with a kind of sagely serenity. 12:01 <banana> At the gamer house, three men make their way down the stairs - but one of them's Claat, and he doesn't come to join you in the LAN room, just pisses off somewhere else. 12:02 <Quaker> “Nice car. I like it. No shame in liking local products. How’s the mileage?” 12:02 <banana> Jan and Nige (as Willie knows them) are both tall and well-proportioned, but otherwise opposites; one black with sharp cheekbones, the other blond and round-chinned, norwegian-looking. Very dark and very blue eyes, and they're wearing shirts in complementary colours. 12:05 <banana> Octocat: "Very good, actually. You get close to a hundred miles per gallon... eventually I'm going to have to go electric though." 12:05 <banana> "Who are these friends of yours? And why do they live here?" 12:06 <Quaker> Badawi: “One day I’d like to get ahold of a 1955 IAME Justicialista. Museum piece now, but I think it looks cool.” 12:07 <Quaker> “Some kids we bribed to stay away from vampire activity in the nearby graveyard. They live here because…” She shrugs. “Their families are poor?” 12:08 <banana> Octocat googles that on a phone. Like his car, it's comically small - one of those special edition smartphones that nobody buys but some niche claims to love because they fit in a palm. 12:09 <banana> "Nice. They've all got this colour scheme which reminds me of Pizza Juan." 12:09 <VoxPVoxD> :3 "Good afternoon, gentlemen. Bob, Rolf - this is Jan and Nige, the leaders of the Alpha Strikes. Jan, Nige - these are Bob and Rolf, the men I would want to rescue me if I needed rescuing." 12:09 <tom> Bob's eyes twinkle. It's clear the heavies are here. 12:09 <Quaker> Badawi holds the door open for him. Who’s inside? What’s it like? 12:09 <banana> Octocat: "The headlamps are legitimately gorgeous." 12:09 <Quaker> “They are. Don’t know what Pizza Juan is.” 12:10 <hrolf> Rolf nods briefly. "Alright, then?" 12:10 <banana> How has Badawi not heard of Pizza Juan Domingo? It's the one fast food chain they have in this place which is global but not American. 12:10 <tom> Bob: "Sirs. I have always wanted to join the Burning Legion." 12:10 <banana> Nigel: "It's good to meet you both. This war of ours chews up good men and spits them out again. That's why we choose to fight it with savepoints." 12:11 <tom> "Yeah I don't... We don't... we don't get those." 12:11 <banana> Grimly: "The Enemy does." 12:13 <banana> Jan lets go of Nige's hand and steps into the room, walking up to the mess of cables on the table, which he begins to disentangle and collect. "Let's be clearer about this, since we're asking you guys to do some work for us." 12:14 <Quaker> ‘ 12:14 <Quaker> ‘;/' 12:15 <banana> Jan: "In a normal videogame, if you die, you can just respawn - load from a checkpoint. With our pirate feet into Zuckerberg's metaverse, if you die in the game, you die in real life. And then you load from a checkpoint." 12:15 <tom> "I like having Clarity." 12:15 <tom> Bob, abruptly: "Can you reload me like." 12:16 <banana> "This quest is important.. and dangerous. You could experience injury. It would not be permanent... but you'd still experience it." 12:16 <tom> Bob: "Nine months back." 12:16 <banana> Nigel: "Why?" 12:16 <VoxPVoxD> Willie looks at Bob, expressionless. 12:16 <tom> "Forget it." 12:18 <banana> Dylan squints at the torc on (what he assumes to be) the butchers paper. "Weeeelll. Ever since I picked up the bracelet I've been... having ideas." 12:18 <hrolf> Rolf: "Wossat mean? I fought this would be like street fighter or somefing, not risking real 'arm to meself. Are we getting compensation?" 12:18 <banana> "Political, like. I find meself believing in things, making arguments for positions which.. they tell me I didn't hold before." 12:19 <Crion> Aster frowns. "What?" 12:19 <Crion> "Give me an example." 12:19 <banana> Dylan: "They say we have a Queen in this country but she's a fake, right? Just a German family. Changed their name in the great war. And before that you had the French." 12:20 <banana> "Obviously the true queen is disinherited, like. But that's unsustainable." 12:20 <banana> "Or take all these taxes." 12:20 <VoxPVoxD> Willie looks away from Bob to say, "Hambo mentioned something about payment in cash or crypto." 12:21 <banana> Dylan: "VAT up to 20%? A so-called broad based consumption tax, but with pass-through refunds for business transactions? What that is is a tax on the poorest, those who spend the largest share of their income on essentials. It achieves legitimisation of the revenue system by sheer regressive bent." 12:22 <Crion> Aster: "It sounds like its made you a socialist." 12:23 <Crion> Aster: "Obviously not something I hold with, but as far as ancient curses go, it seems you've gotten off quite light." 12:24 <Crion> "No other, larger problems? No health problems, strange dreams, changes in circadian rhythm -- sleep cycle -- or other odd interruptions of routine?" 12:24 <banana> Dylan: "I don't feel like I've been made into anyfink, but.. I guess I didn't used to care about politics. Now I know the true path to broad-based and therefore stable public sector revenue is a tithe of the self, with every man contributing a portion of his soul great or small, for the powers of the soul are a claim on future incomes as well. Like stocks, like." 12:24 <Crion> Aster: "Mmmm. Well, perhaps not socialism, then." 12:25 <banana> "What was that about dreams, Mister Aster?" 12:25 <Crion> "This does sound more appropriate for a questionable torc found in...you know what. Let's look up this Henry Beauclerc." 12:25 <Crion> Aster: "Hmm? Oh. Has the content, intensity, or length of your dreams changed?" 12:26 <Crion> Oh, he thinks as he Googles. Well, you could have just said Henry I. 12:26 <banana> Half of the old community center north of Hattersley used to be a swimming pool, which is now closed. There are also a few event rooms with basic catering infrastructure, which the local council still rents out, a Sunday school and a former basketball court. 12:27 <banana> It's the latter, with its audience seating intact but the baskets and scoring ripped out and sold off, which is being used as a makeshift theatre by the Nightingale Society. 12:27 <Crion> So, some attachment to the Normans? But it doesn't sound like whatever's animating Dylan here has much respect for the 'French' line of monarchs either. 12:27 <tom> Bob finishes off the last of the drink and overhands the cup into a trash can. 12:27 <tom> Fist pump. 12:27 <Quaker> How’s their setup? What kind of instruments do they have? Speakers? 12:28 <tom> Bob: "I'm ready coach. Put me in." 12:28 <Crion> Maybe it was the post-Norman French claimants that this torc so strongly disapproves of. 12:28 <Crion> Of course this case is going to turn on English history. 12:29 <banana> Badawi can hear singing voices before she opens the door. Inside, there are eight kids here today; two of them are chatting in the stands while the rest, arranged in a sort of loose formation on the half-court they're using as a stage, are doing vocal exercises. 12:30 <banana> Cameron Kingfisher is harassing the rest of them to put more effort into it. "'Mi-mi-me', not 'me me me'. I'll play the tone again and we can actually keep the pitch this time." 12:30 <Quaker> Hopefully Octocat is actually a cool uncle, and not an uncomfortable nerd around poor kids. “Hey kids.” 12:31 <banana> Jan opens a locked cupboard to reveal some expensive-lo 12:31 <banana> whoops 12:32 <banana> Jan opens a locked cupboard to reveal some more-expensive lookin gear while Nigel describes the mission. (Samuel is quite happy to avoid further Conversation and play his fighting game, possibly with Bob). 12:33 <banana> Nige: "Compensation indeed. Our activities leave us with a bunch of ethereum we can't safely sell, but we can use it to pay you. There's also another currency here." 12:33 <tom> Bob will absolutely game with Samuel while they speak. Samuel will find that Bob has already searched the character roster on his visor and has immediately gone for the rushiest of the rushdown fighters he can get his cursor over. 12:33 <hrolf> Rolf: "I don't truck wif any of that bitcoin stuff. What's the other currency?" 12:35 <banana> Nige: "What happens in the game happens in real life... if we want it to. This is a quest to free Britain from the conspiracy that's stifling our trade, lowering our influence on the rest of the world. If you can achieve rewards and recognition in the metaverse, we can translate that one way or another eyerel." 12:36 <hrolf> Rolf's eyes widen. "You're saying we're fighting antifa?" 12:39 <banana> Nigel pauses for just a moment to think about that, then clarifies: "Not the real ones - this is a virtual reality gamespace. But reality is also virtual, and we will translate the victories you achieve to victories against the real statue-topplers." 12:40 <hrolf> Rolf scratches his chin. "A finger in the eye to wokesters, eh? I'm game." 12:40 <tom> No shockers here. Samuel finds himself immediately rushed the second the timer hits zero. He's listening of course. 12:41 <tom> Bob only had time to memorize a few combos, so he just spams those while trying to bully Samuel into a corner of the arena. "Opposition?" 12:44 <tom> He lets himself just collapse into the support of the couch like an astronaut undergoing a gravity turn. 12:44 <banana> Samuel's good at Soul Calibur, as you expect. Mechanically he's not that much better than Bob, but there's something odd.. it's like he's playing a slightly different game in parallel. He's playing Yoshimitsu, but with the Tekken moveset, circling around Bob's character at times like he's got access to an extra plane of existence. 12:46 <banana> Jan: "Today we'd just like to see whether you can use the system at all. Some people get sick from VR, or they can't handle using a controller at the same time as moving your body. So it'd just be bots." 12:47 <tom> "The fuck?" Bob is, of course, playing Taki. 12:48 <banana> As well as their own voices and a boombox, the Nightingales have got an old laptop hooked up to what used to be the court's PA. One of them must be into AV - there are cables and a wireless receiver thing, although only a couple of them actually have lapel mics. 12:48 <hrolf> Rolf: "A practice run eh? Good thinking. 'ow do we get started, like?" 12:48 <tom> He taps the controller furiously as he tries to keep up. Is this shit modded? 12:49 <banana> Most of them look a little nervous or bashful when Badawi enters with the (quiet, interested) trailing bespectacled mage. As well as Bertie and Cameron, she knows Jock, a big kid who alternates between confidence and being closed-off. The latter two approach. 12:50 <banana> Cameron: "Afternoon, Miss Badawi. Like I said we haven't got any troupe pieces ready, but there are a few people gunna do solos today. Can you play that thing?" 12:51 <Quaker> Badawi: “You want to find out?” 12:52 <Quaker> She looks around the community center. Willie bought this place out, but…it could definitely use some further investment. “Have you got any instruments you play?” 12:52 <Quaker> “Oh, and this is my friend. Mr. Cat.” 12:53 <banana> Jan: "Come with me, help me get the sofas out of the way and we'll put up the receivers. You need these things stuck around the room in order to detect your position for a truly immersive experience." 12:53 <VoxPVoxD> Willie helps them set up. 12:54 <Quaker> Wait…didn’t she see Bertie at the changeling party? Hm. 12:54 <banana> Nige: "Willie, are you interested in acting as a handler on the quest? We can't calibrate the thing for FPS and hell mode at the same time, but there are asymmetric-multi slots." 12:55 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Oh, yes, I've had my time in the Diana Burnwood mines." 12:56 <hrolf> With a few grunts and other pained dad noises, Rolf grabs one end of a sofa and coordinates with one of the Alphas to shift it out of the way. The gamer, naturally, can’t lift for shite which makes Rolf have to apply more force to compensate. Fucking nerds. 12:56 <banana> Octocat: "Call me Eight. Hope you don't mind the intrusion; I'll sing if that's the price of entry." 12:57 <tom> Bob accepts his loss (I_II_II_L) graciously and offers Samuel a handshake afterward."GG. Despite you cheating like a motherfucker." 12:57 <banana> Samuel: "I mean, you've got to win, right? You've got to play to win." 12:58 <tom> "Against a normie? Shit, dude, if Sergio goes this hard at bocce I'm gonna get smashed." 12:58 <banana> Nigel is actually pretty tough.. unlike the rest of them. Even Jan, although fit enough to be handsome, has no upper body strength. 12:58 <banana> The Actual Professional Soldiers make great couch-movers. 12:58 <tom> Bob's happy to help move shit around. 12:58 <VoxPVoxD> That's my boys. 12:59 <tom> ...Bob will not be carrying any printers. 12:59 <Crion> It's bocce. You cannot 'go hard' at bocce. He should take up a reputable sport, like squash. 13:00 <Crion> There's not even any quality 'racquetball' on this benighted isle. 13:00 <VoxPVoxD> There is... in London. 13:00 <banana> Dylan describes dreams. "You can never remember these things, right? It's just fragments. I know I had a dream last night, which is normal since I joined the crew, but they used to be good dreams. Running, things to bite, steak dinners." 13:00 <Crion> Aster's already carved his way through the London scene. 13:01 <banana> "Now it's like... mist. Fragments of mechanical movement.. an old forest. Trees I don't recognise. Everything is cold and precise." 13:01 <VoxPVoxD> Perhaps he needs to make more friends with superhuman strength and speed if he wants a challenge. Like my dear Sergio. 13:02 <banana> Dylan: "And I wake up with ideas for tactical voting. Do you realise FPTP means the two 'big' parties are the only ones with a shot even though 55% of the country would support the old ways, the true ways, which keep the the bathtubs that are worlds from spillin' into each other?" 13:04 <Crion> Aster: "Christ. That's awful." 13:04 <Crion> "Like if Merlin was a liberal." 13:04 <Crion> Aster: "Basic triage things: have you tried returning the torc from whence it came?" 13:04 <banana> "Boss Stella says I'm getting annoyin'." 13:05 <banana> Dylan: "Yeah. If I get more than a few metres away it starts to hurt. My wrists." 13:05 <banana> "Feels like me hand's going to come right off." 13:05 <Crion> Aster: "Which wrist? Both?" 13:05 <banana> He frowns: "Left, I think, or left more than the other." 13:06 <Crion> If it's not large enough for a neck, and it's stylized as rope, and his left wrist is hurting, then the conclusion is incredibly obvious as to where it's meant to be worn. Warm as flesh, as well. 13:07 <banana> Cameron: "We like singing-" 13:07 <banana> Jock: "Dancing. It's ok to enjoy dancing too." 13:07 <Quaker> Well, if they don’t have instruments… “What were you going to sing?” 13:07 <banana> Cameron: "Of course it'd be great to hear an instrument too. I don't think anyone else is into them, but why not?" 13:07 <banana> One of the other kids clears her throat - this one's really young, possibly pre-teen. "I can go, if we're done with warmup." 13:08 <Quaker> “I’d love to hear it. What’s your name?” 13:08 <Quaker> Badawi will drag a chair up to face the stage and put her things down. 13:08 <Crion> There are two general ways to solve curses like this: one is to banish the magic entirely, which ranges from trivial to very difficult to impossible on a case-by-case basis, and the other is to transfer the curse to another. While there are certainly those in British politics who agree with these prescriptions, it's doubtful any of them want magical compulsions forcing them to advocate for 13:08 <Crion> them. 13:09 <banana> Attention shifts to the girl. Octocat murmurs to Badawi: "Most of these kids are eager for their own turn. Cute little egotists." 13:09 <Crion> Aster: "Who else has handled this? Touched it, that is? The other ghouls?" 13:11 <Quaker> “Uh huh. Aren’t all kids?” 13:12 <banana> Dylan: "Boss Craig wouldn't touch it, so just you and me wife. Heather. She likes it, but she said it wouldn't go with any of her earrings." 13:13 <Crion> Aster: "Heather is a normal mortal? Doesn't partake in blood, and etcetera?" 13:14 <banana> The girl whose turn it is introduces herself to the adults as Allie and takes some props out of a duffelbag by the seating - she's got a long ribbon and a couple of colourful mats. 13:15 <banana> Octocat: "Are your routines for some kinda competition?" 13:15 <banana> Cameron: "Sort of." 13:15 <Quaker> She’ll carefully withdraw her guitar. It’s an old, beautiful hand-made instrument, painted black on the sides and a dark grey face, with a red and white circle-and-starburst painted around the soundhole and roses painted on the edges. 13:15 <banana> Dylan: "Actually, I share the ration with her sometimes, so as she can... keep up." 13:16 <banana> He looks away. 13:17 <Crion> Out of politeness, Aster forgoes the perfunctory 'noted.' "Has she been experiencing any of the symptoms? Obviously not the pain in the hands or she'd be here with you, but the dreams?" 13:17 <banana> The VR setup looks tedious, but it all goes quickly. They've got points pre-taped on the walls where the devices are to be placed, and Jan's direction of several people doing labour is very effective - good team-management, Willie can note. 13:17 <VoxPVoxD> Nice. 13:18 <banana> She, Bob and Rolf are each given a wrap-around headset, black plastic and metal, kind of heavy. Rolf and Bob get a thing to carry in one hand, a squeeze controller with buttons and a grip. 13:18 <banana> Jan: "You can use your other hand freely, and legs do what legs do." 13:19 <hrolf> Rolf: "So to run and the like, i jog up and down in place? Bit naff innit, make me look like a real berk." 13:19 <banana> Nige: "Well... if you like, we could enable pro mode." 13:19 <tom> "Yes." 13:19 <tom> Bob is limbering up for this. 13:19 <hrolf> Rolf: "Wossat?" 13:19 <VoxPVoxD> Willie takes her earrings off and sets them on a nearby flat surface before taking the headset. 13:20 <tom> Bob replaces his stupid visor with, arguably, a stupider one. 13:20 <banana> "Total immersion. You won't be able to tell- ok, it'll still look like a videogame, but you won't feel the incongruity between your bodyspaces. No berk-sense." 13:20 <tom> Please just... say it doesn't have a smell. 13:20 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Like the Matrix?" 13:20 <VoxPVoxD> Willie's finally seen that recently. Pretty good for such an old movie. 13:20 <hrolf> Rolf: "Yeah that's the stuff. I'll take the red pill." 13:21 <tom> "I get it. You're testing to see if this works on normies or if it just fries my brainstem." 13:21 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "The red pill takes you out of the Matrix." 13:21 <tom> "Let's roll the dice." He flips on the power. 13:21 <hrolf> Rolf: "Not 'ow I remember it. 'e went to the place wif the machines and stuff innit?" 13:21 <VoxPVoxD> "That was the real world." 13:21 <banana> Nigel: "That's where we're sending you." 13:22 <hrolf> "Didn't look like any real world i've seen." 13:22 <banana> Jan flips the switch on Rolf's headset for him, and Willie's if she doesn't object. 13:22 <VoxPVoxD> Willie assents. 13:22 <Crion> If Dylan's answer is that his wife is fully clear of symptoms, Aster will attempt to handle the object skin to skin, and begin a resonance analysis. 13:24 <banana> Allie gets her backing track set up with Cameron's aid. Most of the kids join you on the bench; they generally aren't sitting up next to the observing adults, but they're all interested in the guitar. Octocat contrives to fade into the background a litle- Badawi notices that as they pay more attention to her, they're basically forgetting he's here. 13:29 <Quaker> While they’re staring at her guitar, she slips a brown capsule from her Altoids tin and swallows it. 13:30 <banana> As the VR headsets come to life, the three hunters wearing them go from seeing nothing to stereoscopic vision and then a convincing simulacrum of visual presence. They see a flat-top mesa, barely textured, with the ghosts of boulders and cactus, and sky wide all around. 13:30 <banana> Bob and Rolf have a viewpoint standing on the rocky tower; Willie as if she's in the sky above it. Bob and Rolf are also visible to her and to each other as stylised 3d figures, lacking clothes and sexes. 13:30 <banana> From the headphones in their ears is a chapparal soundtrack - winds and quiet birdsong. 13:30 <tom> Cool; Bob immediately swan dives off the side. 13:30 <VoxPVoxD> lol 13:30 <tom> You have to understand the limits of your prison. 13:31 <VoxPVoxD> "This was inevitable the moment you told him he'd die in real life and then come back." 13:31 <hrolf> Rolf looks down and tries to do an Italian gesture - but it appears he lacks the equipment to do so in this world. 13:31 <banana> Bob bolts for the edge of the mesa. For a moment he feels there, free - and then he trips and ends up sprawled on/over a sofa. 13:31 <banana> It's incongruous, almost nauseating; in the gameworld he's fallen over nothing. 13:31 <VoxPVoxD> lol 13:31 <tom> "I thought you said it'd hurt?" 13:32 <banana> Nigel's disembodied voice: "I'm not sure whether I should really give you Pro Mode." 13:32 <tom> "Fine I'll be good." 13:32 <tom> Bob's wireframe re-articulates. 13:33 <hrolf> Rolf: "Do we 'ave an AO? Plan of entry? What's the mission scope?" 13:33 <tom> Bob: "Weapons would help? Would they help?" 13:34 <tom> Anyway this time he just ambles over to the cliff edge and plops himself down with his 1-pixel wide wire legs dangling off the side, looking off into the hazy skybox. 13:34 <Crion> Before performing psychometry itself, he'll subject it to a number of scans, light-beam bombardments (different overhead lamps, swinging in and out on arms repurposed from dental supply), and eventually cross-referenced readings from the incongruous bookshelf of occult texts that Aster keeps locked in what appears to be a gun cage, of the sort gun shops use to secure their wares. Much 13:34 <Crion> 'hrm'ing and 'ahhh'ing ensues. 13:35 <Quaker> How does Allie do? Or what does she do? 13:35 <banana> Jan's voice: "I'm going to spawn a coyote and give you guns. See if it's obvious what happens next, let us calibrate your instinct." 13:36 <banana> As promised, the world stutters - Willie sees the creature first, appearing in the middle of the mesa. By moving around in real life or just leaning back and forth, she can move her viewpoint, flying around and even passing through scenery. 13:37 <VoxPVoxD> Willie doesn't take any steps. She's content to explore the range of motion she has by leaning and swaying. 13:37 <VoxPVoxD> Supposed to be above it all, yeah? 13:37 <banana> The animal is cartoonish but basically correctly shaped. It yaps, then starts prowling toward where Bob's sitting. 13:37 <hrolf> Rolf: "Any gun? Always wanted to try an FNC. 'ate those Euro cunts but they make some good gear." 13:37 <VoxPVoxD> They look so small down there. And hairless. 13:37 <tom> Bob waves at the coyote. 13:37 <tom> "Can you spawn me a steak instead of a gun for this one?" 13:37 <banana> Jan: "Let me see... yeah, it's not like we've left Nato. That's on the menu." 13:38 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Can either of you see me? Try looking up." 13:38 <banana> Despite Bob's request, Rolf and he each suddenly find themselves, in the game, carrying an assault rifle. They can look down and see it in their arms, although the actual feeling of weight in their hands is still just the grip-controller. 13:38 <banana> The coyote snarls, drooling, as it pads toward Bob's avatar. 13:39 <hrolf> Rolf raises his gun, releases the safety and shoots. 13:39 <banana> The noise is loud in his ears, and quite realistic- captured from a real weapon, perhaps, although it doesn't have the cooling pinging noises that should follow. 13:39 <tom> One of the wireframes stands stiffly, its head angling back unnaturally far as Bob scans the heavens for signs of Willie. 13:40 <tom> He hears a sound like a button being pressed, overlaid with the sound of items dropping into a satchel. 13:40 <tom> He switches to the knife for the added movespeed. 13:40 <banana> Bob sees.. well, he sees a coyote gather itself to leap toward him and then get riddled with bullets, but he knows it's just a fake. As the animal collapses, yelping in mock pain, he sees a pale red orb of light dancing back and forth in the sky. It's got horns. 13:41 <banana> ..and, as it twists about, a spaded tail. 13:41 <tom> Bob snorts. 13:41 <tom> The wireframe waves a skeleton hand at Willie. 13:41 <banana> Another disembodied voice says: "Oh, wow. Today's the day. Are you going to go pro?" Willie will recognise this as Hambo. 13:42 <VoxPVoxD> Willie wobbles back at Bob. "Hambo! Good to hear from you. I believe Jan is weighing the prospect as we voice-chat." 13:42 <banana> Nightingale Allie's got a song-and-dance routine set to an ancient classic her parents used to like. She's copied the old MTV-style video to an extent, albeit less risque: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqXUpe3jlkA 13:42 <hrolf> Rolf reloads. It's not quite like reloading a real gun - there's a clicking sound and a counter that goes up in his HUD without him having to go through the full motions. Quite handy. 13:43 <banana> Jan: "Pro mode is a job for Nige. This isn't a builtin feature of the software, more of a.. mod." 13:43 <banana> Hambo: "An exploit." 13:44 <banana> Nige says: "It's your call. Heights and animals are trivial when you know it's a game. Can you have the right impact on international trade with that detachment? 13:44 <banana> " 13:45 <tom> Bob is rapidly cycling through his loadout slots while they speak. He drops a weapon and spams the pickup button. The animation replays rapidly, cancelling itself, but the sound effect clips over itself. 13:45 <hrolf> "Set me pro mate." 13:45 <VoxPVoxD> "I think, with an appropriate understanding of the stakes, these gentlemen are more than capable." 13:45 <VoxPVoxD> "Mad fer it, you might say." 13:47 <banana> Nigel: "Yberz vcfhz qbybe fvg nzrg, pbafrpgrghe nqvcvfpvat ryvg, frq qb rvhfzbq grzcbe vapvqvqhag hg ynober rg qbyber zntan nyvdhn. " 13:49 <banana> As the raid leader speaks, your senses shift. Everything but sound and vision fades away, giving the world a dreamlike quality. 13:49 <banana> Your perception of the gameworld no longer seems to come from screens in front of your eyes or a headset around your ears- none of you can feel the headsets. Or anything. 13:50 <banana> Willie sees Bob and Rolf now, their real bodies, wearing only thin jumpsuits and each carrying an assault rifle. Your hearing has become more three-dimensional, grounding you. This fake world feels - or at least looks and sounds - real. 13:51 <tom> Fully sick. Bob's wireframe lifts its polygonal rifle- with just the thin skeleton of a frame, he looks a bit like a Terminator. 13:51 <VoxPVoxD> Willie's voice is mild. "Impressive." 13:51 <banana> In fact, it's the only world you can perceive at all. No sense of a controller, but you can still move about by... moving. 13:51 <tom> Bob pops in. 13:51 <banana> Bob no longer sees the wireframe, but his own arms. 13:51 <hrolf> Rolf attempts to make the italian gesture - and succeeds this time. "Ace." 13:51 <VoxPVoxD> Is Willie still a floating 😈? 13:51 <tom> Is willie still an adorably bouncy impball? 13:52 <banana> Yep. Though she has a feeling she can somehow control or transform her own presence. Maybe become invisible? 13:52 <VoxPVoxD> That sounds nice. She tries it. 13:52 <Quaker> Badawi claps for the little girl. “Yeah! Go Allie!” 13:52 <banana> Only Willie can hear Jan's voice: "Perhaps a pack this time." 13:53 <tom> Bob grins. 13:53 <banana> It doesn't come from her 'real ears' anymore, as she can no longer hear those; instead it feels more the idea of noise that's arrived in her mind without going through any ears. 13:53 <banana> Aster goes over the cursed torc with everything but a fine-toothed comb. 13:53 <VoxPVoxD> Willie vibrates invisibly. "Could do." 13:54 <banana> Scans, plans and the man's own eyes. He recites and peruses. 13:55 <banana> First and most obviously, this thing is old. Old enough, by the kind of dating techniques he can apply on the spot, to predate the Norman Conquest. 13:57 <Quaker> Badawi tunes her guitar while the kids mill around. 13:57 <Crion> Interesting, if not particularly dispositive. Dylan doesn't sound like the sort to have first past the post opinions easily to-hand in his mind for the magic to repurpose, though one supposes it's possible, hanging around the political vampires. But if not, that means the torc's politics are adaptive, from some external intelligence. The age does explain the snittiness about House Windsor. 13:57 <tom> Bob has already begun hopping circuits around the mesa to see if diagonal movement gets him a net gain of speed. 13:58 <Quaker> “Any requests?” 13:59 <banana> It responds to one of his formulas, which is unusual. Usually you just read the things out and get nothing, embarassingly. This time, a 'spell' once promulgated by the Freemasons in Washington, D.C. near the start of the 19th century, intended by them to reveal the extent of Illuminati influence on a building's foundation stones construction site, causes it to react. 14:02 <banana> An astonishingly detailed set of masonic-style engravings appear as cuts in the paper all around it - as soon as he moves the thing an inch, the many separate pieces of paper will be disarranged and ruin the drawings. 14:02 <banana> There's a series of images which will take some interpretation, but one of them jumps out at him: a panel with a stone temple 'drawn' or cut in the background; in front of it is what any student of pop culture would recognise as a 'grey' alien. 14:02 <tom> A little orange loudspeaker icon pops up over Bob's head. "Are they big about air-gapping? I'd... next time we do this I wanna bring my music." 14:02 <tom> "Helps me get in the zone." 14:02 <banana> The Nightingales applaud or disdain Allie according to their incomprehensible social dynamics. She seems to be part of some clique which is at war with another, and possibly also in an unrelated but overlapping love triangle. 14:03 <banana> Badawi's going to have to overcome some skepticism with her performance, since she doesn't have these established relationships and she's taking up stage time... 14:03 <banana> Octocat says: "If nobody else has one, Metallica?" 14:04 <banana> Cameron: "On an acoustic guitar?" 14:04 <banana> Octocat: "I have faith, or at least hope." 14:04 <banana> Bertie the non-werewolf: "I liked the thing you sung at Gorton, except for the lyrics. That kind of meaningful is good. What do you like to sing, Miss?" 14:05 <Quaker> Badawi: “I think Metallica will have to wait until we have some backing drums.” 14:06 <banana> While Bob jogs around and tries to bunny-hop - he does to move faster and jump higher here than in reality, it's almost like moon-physics, but no gaining speed from corners - Willie sees the coyotes spawn. 14:06 <Quaker> “Let’s see. You want something in Spanish? Or English?” 14:06 <banana> One after another they snarl into existence, constructed rapidly from points of light in the air, forming wireframes and then fur and teeth that's much more realistic than the last time. Four of them. 14:06 <tom> Bob flips the rifle over in his hands, ejects the magazine into the air, packs its replacement in, catches the rifle, opens fire. 14:06 <Crion> Excellent. This is why we do the work, and why one of the many swinging dentist-office arms over the examination table is a professional-grade camera. He gets video and still imaging of the reaction on the paper from all angles, including close-ups and cut-ins, before examining the content. 14:07 <Crion> Disapprovingly: "Aliens." 14:07 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Viscon 120, 60 and closing." 14:07 <Crion> "These little shits." 14:07 <Crion> "The court jesters of the occult. The infinite teases. Not sure where they come from, but it's probably not from space." 14:08 <VoxPVoxD> A fat little winged monkey in a fez pops into existence well above Bob and Rolf. 14:08 <tom> He catches the magazine out of the air; the blocky weapon jerks in his arms. Polygonal shell cases fly in all directions. 14:08 <Crion> This is mostly to himself, but hey, Dylan's probably seen the greys in pop culture before. He'll appreciate it. 14:09 <Crion> This is directly to Dylan, now: "Tell me, have you had any interaction with or loyalty to the Freemasons?" 14:09 <tom> He leaps backward across the mesa, picking up speed and generally sticking to the high points of squat rocks to frustrate his pursuers. 14:10 <VoxPVoxD> Look at him go. 14:10 <tom> "Is that you, Willie?" 14:10 <VoxPVoxD> The monkey waves, but says, "Focus." 14:11 <banana> Unfortunately, Rolf's avatar had some trouble loading and the coyotes glitch off his target; Bob has to deal with all four of them. 14:12 <banana> He's able to target three of them before they can reach him, mostly shredding two and stopping the third (literally) dead; each collapses with the exact same animation. 14:12 <tom> Bob doesn't bother reloading, flipping his spent rifle over his shoulder and drawing the shitty sidearm. 14:12 <tom> He unloads it right into their open maw. 14:12 <VoxPVoxD> Willie seems vocally unfazed by the dogs attacking her friend. "Careful." 14:13 <banana> The last canine reaches Bob as he's drawing the pistol and twists - he gets it in the body, not the head, and its jaw rips open his arm. He feels that, feels the blood and the burning, like it was happening in real life. 14:13 <tom> Finally! Fuck! 14:14 <tom> He plants his boot on its belly and dispatches the creature with a bullet delivered directly to the forehead. 14:14 <banana> Hambo's voice in Willie's head: "Jesus. I'm not going to Utah any time soon." 14:15 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Real coyotes are rather less monomaniacal." 14:15 <VoxPVoxD> "Robert, though - Robert's like this all the time." 14:15 <tom> Bob twirls the sidearm back into its holster in one motion. "C'mon guys, I'm not in the ATF, give me something to shoot other than dogs.” 14:15 <banana> "English," Bertie tells Badawi. All the Nightingales seem to agree, although Octocat doesn't care. 14:15 <Quaker> Badawi: “Or instrumental? Been a while since I played.” 14:15 <Quaker> “Alright. Let me think…” 14:15 <Quaker> “You kids ever listen to country music?” 14:16 <tom> Bob inspects his mangled arm. Did he spawn-in with any health pickups? 14:16 <banana> Jan: "Could you get him to unhelm for a moment please?" 14:16 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Bob? Log off for a tick." 14:17 <tom> Bob pulls the plug. 14:17 <banana> Some older kid: "Sure. People who say 'everything but rap and country' are basically boomers." 14:17 <VoxPVoxD> Willie does the same. 14:18 <banana> Bob reaches up.. he thinks, he can't actually feel it.. and removes the helmet with one gouged and bleeding arm. It's running down his sleeve and dripping onto the stained floor of ASGH. Three of the clan are standing in a little arc by the big doorway to the LAN room, watching, although Hambo (neat, chubby) looks incongrous compared to the others. 14:18 <tom> “Oh, sick.” 14:19 <tom> “WOOOowww that hurts.” 14:19 <Quaker> “Alright. I know one. Bit old, but I think you’ll like it. I don’t keep up with the new stuff, anyway.” 14:19 <VoxPVoxD> Willie takes her helmet off and sees Bob bleeding onto the demons' floor. 14:19 <banana> Willie sees all this. She doesn't really have time to react. Nigel and Jan look at each other, something passes between them, and they make a gesture in unison - each reaching out with their right hand, curled up and index finger pointed down, stabbing into the air. 14:19 <banana> There is 14:19 <banana> isn't 14:19 <banana> wasn't 14:20 <banana> anything happening - you're.. floating in the air/sitting on the edge of the mesa. It's all just become real. Pro mode. 14:20 <banana> Bob turns to see Rolf riddle the single coyote behind him and make a purse gesture with his hand. 14:20 <VoxPVoxD> Willie seems unmoved. "Huh. DLSS really is good, isn't it?" 14:23 <banana> Dylan opens his mouth at 'aliens', looking totally baffled. 14:23 <tom> “Did you guys just turn my man Rolfie into an NPC?” 14:23 <banana> Then he closes it again real quick when Aster mentions the Masons. 14:23 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Demographics did that." 14:24 <Crion> Aster: "Tell me now or tell me later." 14:24 <Quaker> Badawi strums her guitar, letting her fingers pick up the feeling of the strings again. 14:25 <Quaker> She hums, letting her voice warm up her throat. 14:25 <Quaker> Let’s see…she’s using a guitar, on an arrangement that usually has a piano…so it’ll go like this… 14:26 <banana> Dylan the ghoul: "I mean, it's all a bit of a laugh. Just tradition, old secret societies. The clan kind of took over these structures which used to be guilds, lodges, sort of a precusor to labour unions.. now the unions are professional and we're, I mean, technically. I am a Mason. But it doesn't mean anything." 14:27 <Quaker> When her voice is ready, she starts to play. 14:27 <Crion> Aster: "Does to me. Specifically, it makes it annoyingly unclear the degree to which this magical device is pulling its signifiers from your mind directly, rather than having intent and embodiment of its own. Do the vmapires talk politics around you often? Specifically electoral politics and system reform? Do they complain about first past the post, for instance?" 14:27 <Quaker> The quick, falling notes of the guitar sound like someone water falling from a fountain. 14:28 <Crion> Aster: "Follow-up: are you into aliens? Roswell, New Mexico? The greys? UFOs?" 14:28 <Quaker> And then the first words are like a beautiful, reverberating howl, filling the space, resolving into a heartbreaking plunge. 14:29 <Quaker> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imafHIq2210 14:29 <Quaker> “Sweet dreams….of you…” 14:29 <banana> Dylan's become deeply confused. It takes some focused interviewing for Aster to get out of him that the answers are Yes and No respectively - the political concepts could easily be from the Carthian Movement milleu of his 'bosses'. Aliens and alien-related conspiracies he knows nothing about whatsoever. 14:30 <Quaker> Every night I go through / Why can’t I forget you and start my life anew/ Instead of having sweet dreams about you 14:31 <Quaker> You don’t love me, it’s plain / I should know, I’ll never wear your ring / I should hate you the whole night through/ Instead of having sweet dreams, about you 14:31 <banana> Badawi's made a good choice in going back to the 60s, because to the Nightingales this registers as Classics instead of Parent Music. 14:31 <Quaker> Sweet dreams, of you/ Things I know can’t come true/ Why can’t I forget the past, start loving someone new/ Instead of having sweet dreams, about you 14:32 <Crion> Is it just the one little grey man in the masonic vignettes? 14:32 <Crion> Could be brain static. He saw them on a television program, etcetera. But Aster isn't convinced. 14:32 <banana> Sadly, no. This imagery is weird and dense, and it will take analysis.. but it's crawling with ancient-aliens stuff. 14:33 <Crion> Then here we have the first instance of something our subject claims could not have been pulled from his head, yet which infests the body of the curse's expression. 14:33 <Crion> Aster: "Curious. Has the curse tried to compel you to do anything with your newfound politics?" 14:34 <Crion> "Run for office, or become the advisor to someone running for office?" 14:35 <banana> Dylan: "Maybe if I could make a difference, like. But I'm just... I didn't do O-levels, mate. I'm a good rider and I know how to protect my friends, and I can use the ration. Who'd 'ave me on a campaign?" 14:35 <banana> "...you think I could do a bodyguard job for one of those MPs that gets death threats?" 14:37 <banana> The kids are mostly enthralled. Her attention's occupied, but Badawi notices Jock, the oldest, talking about something to Octocat. The others... really love music. She's going to be deluged with questions, teenly-begrudged compliments and requests for advice shortly. 14:38 <Crion> Aster: "I think that would get you closer to conventional mortal political power...and I think that's what this torc wants."