21:52 <Crion> He returns home from a long day of things he cannot talk about to almost anyone in the world; nods to the doorman; takes the stairs instead of the elevator up to the second -- fucking Britain. Up to the first floor. He's already stowed his guns; his true weapon is his mind. As he opens the door he reaches out into the apartment with it, terrible and pure, like he always does, just in case 21:52 <Crion> someone's waiting...but he walks in like nothing can stop him. 21:52 <Crion> Once again, an empty, quiet apartment greets him. 21:52 <Crion> Still and cold. 21:56 <banana> It was cold outside, too. Only now does he become aware that winter's chill was not present in the Hedge - everything in the swamp-playground was an even warmth, the kind of temperature they serve bottled water in a mediocre restaurant. 21:56 <Crion> Well. One benefit. Against the rest of it. 21:57 <Crion> He strips, sorts, showers, and changes. 21:57 <Crion> Laundry tomorrow. 21:57 <banana> Aster's got a call scheduled for this time tomorrow. Nevertheless, his screen lights up with a message. 21:57 <Crion> Then it's three miles on the bike. 21:57 <Crion> Or not. 21:58 <banana> Blackfin: <How about Skype today? I haven't seen a lot of friendly faces recently.> 21:58 <Crion> Aster: <YEs. Logging on.> 21:58 <Crion> Typos. Whatever. 21:59 <Crion> So it's sweats, a Temple University hoodie, and glasses, then. 21:59 <Crion> He does these wearing headphones, because if someone's shotgun mic'ing the window six feet to his left, they'll only get one side of the conversation. 21:59 <banana> The encryption plugin kicks in, a little bar at the top of the window before it will let you see or hear anything. 22:00 <banana> Samantha's coming to him live from a hotel room, about the same evening light outside. She looks blank-faced until his own webcam turns on, then suddenly grins. "Aha." 22:01 <Crion> Aster: "This is a pleasant surprise. I'm dressed in chaff." 22:01 <banana> She's dressed for the office, but not actually in it. 22:01 <Crion> "Was about to hop on the bike." 22:01 <banana> Blackfin: "We have a lot of cast-offs by now. They never seem to go far." 22:01 <Crion> "You know people have died on Pelotons recently? Makes me feel good about just getting a regular one." 22:02 <banana> "What the hell? Is heart disease that prevalent?" 22:02 <Crion> "Well, one of them was a fictional character on the Sex in the City relaunch. Which people my age are so wedded to that the stock price of the damn bikes took a hit over it." 22:03 <Crion> "How are you?" 22:03 <banana> Blackfin: "Ahhh.. I'm good, I think. I guess I've got a bit of a kick in the pants... it's not all bad." 22:04 <banana> "There's some stuff we should talk about. But we should do it circuitously, for emotional comfort." 22:04 <Crion> Aster: "That's a British expression. For getting blindsided by a car, professionally." 22:04 <Crion> "You're adapting well." 22:04 <Crion> "It's not this Home Office thing, is it?" 22:04 <banana> Samantha: "Well, I haven't been fired or anything, but I'm going to have to quit. It wasn't in my annual plan." 22:05 <Crion> Aster grimaces: "So it is." 22:05 <banana> "The Home Office.. is not the problem. That case went well, actually." 22:05 <Crion> "It's the other one." 22:05 <Crion> "These fucking people." 22:05 <banana> "It was a psychic copycat thing, although the victim was the one recreating stuff rather than the killer... anyway, ah. You know the guys, ministry of Defence, not exactly our counterparts.. they are, or were, the special circumstances special ops." 22:06 <banana> Blackfin: "What they are now is a shambles. One step from scandal in every direction, and Cabinet's desperate to bury the whole thing." 22:06 <Crion> "An entire nation premise on Mr. Magoo always walking off the I-beam onto a fucking inflatable fall cushion, then yelling at the workers who set it up, wandering back into the construction site, and heading back to their favorite fucking I-beam." 22:06 <banana> "And SCU... SCU falls under the Human Office Enabling Acts." 22:06 <Crion> *premised 22:07 <Crion> Aster: "The Human Office is dogshit anyway, and it's time we said so. Do you have your papers to stay?" 22:08 <banana> She laughs, a little confused and a little wry. "Yes, I've got landing pads... um.. do you know anyone in Oxford? 'Dons', perhaps." 22:09 <Crion> Aster: "Those people hate me." 22:09 <banana> Blackfin: "As a class, or due to their crimes against you?" 22:10 <Crion> Aster: "They can smell working-class Philadelphia striver, even if it is an exotic scent, and I'm a vicious asshole about it." 22:11 <banana> Blackfin: "Aw crap, that's something I haven't thought enough about. The atmosphere would be... storybook in a bad way. Hmmm." 22:11 <banana> "I'd appreciate your opinions, Aaron. Always, but on a few specific ideas." 22:11 <banana> "Wait, though. How are you doing?" 22:12 <banana> That was very last-minute. Samantha pulls a face at how preoccupied she's been. 22:13 <Crion> Aster: "Have you heard about aliens invading Tintwistle?" 22:13 <Crion> "If not, then we did our job." 22:14 <banana> Blackfin: "I haven't even heard about Tintwistle." 22:14 <Crion> "Then we're golden." 22:14 <Crion> "You remember Willie and Bob from the event? The event. The winter handover." 22:15 <banana> "I did read something about alien invasions, sadly in the papers of a colleague who died by suicide..." 22:15 <banana> "Yep. Marscapone girl from the upper pastry crust." 22:15 <banana> "And Bob was.. right, the guy who wanted to go after the likes of Cheiron. Or he already had, at some of their U.S. labs." 22:17 <Crion> "Well, they finally realized they wanted to fuck each other, and dealt with it. While keeping their actual partners. So the biggest annoyance after the black and tan landlord goon has been put to bed for the moment." 22:17 <Crion> "So to speak." 22:17 <banana> "Quiet sigh. No, make it quite a loud sigh." 22:18 <Crion> Aster: "You're correct to do so, because to commemorate the occasion Rolf fucking gangland executed a fetch to make an obscure point and fulfill a suicide by cop." 22:18 <Crion> "Bob didn't take it very well." 22:18 <Crion> "I worry about him." 22:18 <banana> "Do you need help up there? What if it came with extremely weird caveats?" 22:19 <Crion> Aster: "Samantha, my entire life is extremely weird caveats and I have an entire floor of unused office space you can move into within 48 hours." 22:19 <Crion> "Not to sound needy or desirous, but if you want to stay in the country and you want to stay with me, Manchester is here for you." 22:19 <banana> Blackfin: "I'm- thank you. To be honest, I'm considering it." 22:20 <banana> "Does that surprise you?" 22:20 <Crion> Aster: "Only when I dislike myself." 22:22 <banana> Blackfin: "Well, cut that out. You're holding together a bunch of weirdos doing good work. I, on the other hand, am effectively unemployed. But with options." 22:22 <banana> "Do you want the sob story?" 22:22 <Crion> Aster: "Certainly. Modulate the sobbing to your personal preference, of course, but my shoulder is digitally available." 22:29 <banana> Samantha peers at Aaron Aster through the screen, or tries to. Has he changed, free of their strictures and Process? Would that be so bad? 22:29 <banana> "You asked for it. Begin rant." 22:30 <Crion> Aster steeples his fingers and leans forward. The light in the room refracts off his glasses. He is prepared for it. 22:30 <banana> "This job was good, you know? Profiling for the real cops instead of fake ones, fieldwork's individual so you don't rely on someone else to not screw up. You aren't expected to carry a gun. And our work - my team, at least, are detectives. We're supposed to solve crimes, or perhaps mysteries." 22:31 <Crion> A nod. 22:31 <banana> "Lord knows some of them need solving. English magicians are less violent than American ones, but weirder. They do stuff which, if you don't get on top of it, changes peoples' lives." 22:32 <Crion> "It is their wont." 22:32 <Crion> She knows how much he hates them. 22:32 <banana> "Honestly I liked it better here than any of the offices we've been stationed at under V.A.S.C.U. However! You may recall that certain.. suspicious interests... messed all that up." 22:33 <Crion> Aster: "I do." 22:35 <banana> Blackfin: "Well. S.C.U. of Scotland Yard is not being shut down, but it's going to be completely neutered. The Black Acts are being repealed by the end of the current sitting, which means no more independent decision making; the unit will still look into Special Crimes, and then they'll report it up the hierarchy, and decisions will be made." 22:35 <banana> She quotes: "'At the appropriate level. In the fullness of time. In consultation with... the stakeholders.'" 22:36 <Crion> Aster: "I really hope they kill him. I'll accept if it's for being a Catholic." 22:36 <Crion> "Dirt hair piece of shit wide grin motherfucker." 22:36 <Crion> "Was the ellipsis in the document?" 22:37 <banana> Samantha: "All Boris did was give in, to get his way elsewhere. Another couple of years' political invulnerability. Guess who's been tearing apart the 'H.O.' for almost as long as it's existed?" 22:37 <banana> "Yes, yes it was." 22:39 <Crion> Aster: "Well. The good news about the H.O....I'm not going to memorialize over an unsecured app communication, regarding the field of play. The good news regarding your immigration status is that the young woman making bad decisions over and over again across now both of our lives has a father in the House of Lords and a leveraged position in the Home Office. And while I'm angry in principle 22:39 <Crion> about the kneecapping of the SCU, you're absolutely right we both saw this coming. That's why I left." 22:40 <banana> Blackfin: "I'm not going to stay on as a data input into their new responsive-government process." 22:40 <Crion> Aster: "Then don't." 22:41 <banana> Blackfin: "Yeah." 22:41 <banana> "...not a lot of people agree with me." 22:41 <Crion> "In the end, they'll hire us on at two point five times the hourly rate." 22:42 <Crion> Aster: "Sure they do. They're just all up here in Manchester, instead of pretending Scotland Yard is anything but a passthrough." 22:42 <Crion> "And you can keep an apartment in London." 22:43 <banana> Blackfin: "I thought I loved London, but I never actually see it. I see the inside of an office, and I see scenes from the city - body, body, missing diamond, broken fence." 22:43 <Crion> Aster nods to that. 22:44 <banana> "I've got at least three options, but... you're actually asking me to come. That's new, and it's.. good. So maaaaybe the others don't matter." 22:44 <Crion> Aster: "It's your decision. But yes. I am." 22:44 <banana> Samantha: "Hmm!" 22:44 <banana> "Let me tell you about options," she says. 22:45 <Crion> He leans forward again, steepling fingers. "Proceed." 22:45 <banana> "Number one." She holds up a finger. "There's a Chair of Criminology open at Balliol. This.. is offered too-conveniently, to get me out of the way, because of what I know. But it doesn't mean it isn't a thing. It would be different, alright." 22:48 <banana> "Number two. You'll recall we used to get headhunted by the smarter cadres on a regular basis..." 22:49 <Crion> Aster: "Yes. There was always a problem baked into it. Waiting for the beat to drop, as it were." 22:49 <Crion> "I'm not sure anything's changed, really." 22:49 <Crion> "Except that I have the freedom of engagement to dance." 22:49 <banana> Samantha: "There's a band of, ummm... confusingly disparate.. cyborgs? Made men. Last year, I found out they weren't to blame for a crime. They're looking for an agent, someone to deal with the world in ways which they can't, because they hurt it. That would take me all over the country, but I'm not sure it's really in my wheelhouse." 22:51 <Crion> Aster: "I think it's worth pursuing. You do want to travel, of course. I can stay here for 11 months a year with the last four weeks spent in various suburbs and countrysides but you'd go insane and shouldn't have to attempt to stomach it for effect. It's an angle; it's worth determining the vector off it." 22:52 <banana> Blackfin: "They're interesting people. At the very least I should put you in contact." 22:52 <banana> "I don't think I'd go nuts, necessarily. Not with interesting work." 22:52 <Crion> "If you both want that, certainly." 22:52 <banana> "I did meet.. some very interesting people recently. In prison." 22:53 <Crion> "Well, Aster Biologics can provide. But I don't want you to feel like you're an auxiliary to--oh?" 22:55 <banana> "I've received a pretty firm offer of employment from a zealous and secretive cult. Conspiratorial types, heaven-obsessed. They have many mysteries to solve." She's watching for a reaction, he thinks. 22:58 <Crion> Aster: "Mages?" 22:59 <banana> Blackfin: "Yeah... those guys. They make a pretty good pitch when you get down to it, blah blah lies and sleepers, crazy but it's the truth, and our work is worth it." 22:59 <banana> "I haven't got the kind of soul they consider elect, but we've been, you know, initiated into lesser mysteries. Apparently they can work with that, study and enhance... it's desirable, and so is the way I think about problems. And about people. They were really buttering me up back there." 23:00 <banana> "In Pennsylvania, I wouldn't have even considered it." 23:00 <Crion> Aster: "Well. You know how I feel about mages. That said, I've now been working with some of them closely for more than four months." 23:00 <banana> Blackfin: "Which ones?" 23:01 <Crion> "Diamonds; Councilors. We've met the Throners but our current position is that outside of spirit-world related emergency collaboration, we don't like them very much." 23:02 <Crion> "Your bunch...talking about the Lie and the 'elect?' Probably Diamond." 23:02 <Crion> "I don't hate them like I do Scoreboard and the Gang of Nine, Nine, and Nine, but I would be sour if you got yourself into a cult with them." 23:03 <banana> "Me neither, probably. Even high-pressure recruitment only gives me hints of these 'truths'.. that's the draw, learn what's really behind it all - but if half of it is true the Throne is in fact very, very bad. Not an organisation I could countenance any more than whatever 'peers' have got their fangs into Whitehall." 23:04 <banana> "Sorry, let's be clear - the Atlantis diamond guys would sour you, you say? Or do you mean the Throne there again?" 23:05 <Crion> "I would be sour if you joined the cult of the sneering shitheads who worship a dead city beneath the sea that only exists in metaphor due to the degree of their defeat, yes." 23:05 <Crion> "I think it's a low-return decision." 23:06 <Crion> "I have stronger and worse feelings about the Throne." 23:07 <banana> Blackfin: "Hmmmm. I can't say I didn't ask for an opinion... I wonder. Is a little disagreement healthy? But I don't want to cast myself as partisans of these guys just to take the opposite stance, at least not yet." 23:07 <banana> "Let's talk about that return bit actually?" 23:07 <banana> "The mages' secrets... do they interest you in and of themselves? Or do you think it's a hollow thing, another false pearl to coil a cult around?" 23:07 <Crion> Aster: "If I didn't want a healthy discourse I would have just asked for the short version of this conversation." 23:09 <Crion> "The mages' secrets are functions that return a solution about the world. Some of those solutions are useful and some are not. The annoying thing about the mages, to me, is that all of those solutions are correct. Which is to say that the equation is solved in the proper fashion. But correct and useful are two wildly different things." 23:09 <Crion> "But all you need to build a cult, psychologically, is to sell. And keep selling. And nothing helps you sell better and more easily than always being correct, regardless of whether you're ever useful." 23:11 <Crion> Aster: "So I suppose I answer yes to both 'do they interest me' and 'are they hollow.'" 23:11 <banana> Blackfin: "Is knowledge an end in and of itself? No. No more than power is- people who think they want that are coming from a dark place and can't talk about what they really need." 23:12 <Crion> "I don't think every mage would answer 'no' to your rhetorical question. In fact I think they hold a substantial minority politcal interest in the Diamond." 23:13 <banana> Blackfin: "Understood. I do want to learn things, as a mode of work.. things about people that are beyond the experience you can find in a library. But that wouldn't be enough reason to serve the Diamond, not just for money." 23:14 <banana> "I think.. I wouldn't do it unless their cause really is just. Is that a possible thing to evaluate?" 23:14 <Crion> Aster: "My position on serving the Diamond for money, of course, is that it should be fully transactional in every sense." 23:14 <Crion> Aster: "Yes." 23:15 <Crion> "I don't know if it's possible to evaluate from our position, inherently, but with enough data it should be." 23:15 <Crion> "We simply apply our morals to the spreadsheet." 23:15 <banana> Samantha: "I've never felt the same way about money, but... I liked the way you explained it, actually. The beach-dream." 23:15 <Crion> Aster: "It's a good dream." 23:15 <Crion> He's never wanted to do it alone. 23:16 <banana> "I'll pay rent one way or another, so it's not moving the numbers in the wrong direction. I wonder..." 23:16 <Crion> But it's unmeet to just say that. 23:16 <Crion> Aster: "I own the building." 23:16 <Crion> "I'd prefer a constructive partnership with a business plan over being a rentier." 23:16 <banana> "Currently what I'm thinking is that I tell the mages, I'm only going to work for you if it's possible to leave again. If I don't end up convinced that the Cause is what matters, that you aren't hoarders or autoconspiracists." 23:17 <Crion> Aster nods. 23:19 <banana> With a little more decisiveness: "I'm also going to keep in contact with Blake's Seven. Working for them, with a home base... it could work. Manchester's a lot more central than you'd think from socioeconomic structures." 23:20 <Crion> Aster: "Blake's Seven being the cyborgs? Obviously I don't have veto power over any of this. But I've no objections to what I'm hearing, nor any to possible collaboration." 23:21 <banana> Blackfin: "We are collaborating. More than we used to. You've got used to it, and I... have been removed from another nest." 23:22 <Crion> Aster: "It wasn't a nest. It was a birdcage." 23:23 <Crion> "Speaking of, if you're formally leaving VASCU...they'll be in touch with you soon. About the monitoring." 23:23 <Crion> "If somehow they're keeping you on, well, you're a better talker than I am." 23:24 <Crion> Aster: "Let me know if you want me present. They'll probably be assigning you my monitoring team anyhow, if you're moving up here." 23:25 <banana> "I don't think the Unit would approve a per-diem to moonlight for created beings or self-proclaimed shapers of reality. I suspect I'm the last end of a dangling thread, the snapping of which will be a relief." 23:25 <banana> "So many years and cases, but we're not done yet, are we?" 23:25 <Crion> Aster: "Absolutely not." 23:25 <Crion> "And we won't be until it's on our terms." 23:27 <banana> Samantha: "It will take more more than forty-eight hours to get moving. They loooove processes here, more than even the Bureau did." 23:27 <Crion> If Sam's moving up here, he's going to have to show her the safehouse. Which means not only giving her the key and teaching her the rites, but making the place a bit more inhabitable. 23:27 <banana> "In fact, they claim to have invented them. The 'Mother of Arguments'." 23:28 <Crion> Aster: "I have to hire cleaners for the second floor anyhow, so you don't get a dust allergy walking in there. And then we'll have to discuss where you want the walls and so on. What level of discoverability do you prefer with my workgroup?" 23:28 <Crion> "Meaning Willie and Bob, mostly." 23:28 <Crion> "Badawi's a private person and Rolf's a piece of shit." 23:29 <banana> Samantha: "Do you ever have them over? I could use office space, but I don't want to move to your city and live in two different homes." 23:29 <banana> "Whatever that means for getting to know people is fine." 23:30 <Crion> Aster: "Ha. They come into the office sometimes but we have our own treehouse, so to speak, for official business. There's no reason for them ever to step foot in your practice if you don't want them there." 23:31 <banana> Blackfin: "That probably depends on the clients." She's smiling, for whatever reason. 23:32 <Crion> He realizes belatedly he's been smiling back. 23:32 <Crion> This time, he doesn't stop. 23:32 <banana> "We'll have a lot to work out. Might as well get started."