09:58 <banana> Blackfriars Bridge is an old structure, closed to cars for maintenance. The balustrades are high cast-iron - an odd shimmering warning to Bob's vision - built so that people wouldn't have to see the Irwell at its worst. 09:59 <tom> Huh. That's new. 10:00 <banana> The deal is simple: a trophy returned, and no obligations remain between you. The hunters of the Nameless House live scattered about, but their lair is east of the bridge - and Baron Eccles, of course, will be at its west end. 10:00 <Crion> Aster won't be bringing his gun, just his mind. But he will be dressed impeccably. 10:00 <banana> Rolf and Badawi haven't met these vampires before. The even worse ones. 10:01 <hrolf> All vampires are bad, but Rolf's heard these ones eat the others, sort of like cobras. 10:02 <Quaker> She won’t be meeting them now, really - Badawi has gotten through the locks of the Blackfriars House near the bridge and is resting the body of her rifle on a windowsill, pointing the muzzle towards the western bank. She keys her mic: “Ready up here.” 10:02 <VoxPVoxD> Willie's in her nice cherry red suit, the one she wears when she has to face-to-face with ministers. The one she wore to hire Aaron. She's in the van until the last moment with the sword, earbuds in, trying to calm her heart. 10:02 <VoxPVoxD> The music helps. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EX1LnLb6mbw 10:03 <tom> Bob checks and rechecks his shotgun. The visor boxes the barrel- finally!- and puts up the relevent counters on his HUD. He slips the halves apart and back into his heavy coat, rubs the stubble on his chin, and sets his jaw. 10:03 <banana> As far as you can tell, you're the first on the scene. The now-unpolluted river runs quietly in the dark, and the urban construction site means you have to pick your way past piles of building material. 10:04 <banana> In the Manchester of 1984, these planks and beams would've been stolen by the morning. 10:04 <Quaker> Badawi clicks her radio’s dial until it’s on Bob’s channel. “Hey Bob…I had an idea for Christmas.” 10:05 <tom> The drone hovers distantly overhead. Bob glances upward at flashes a smile. "Feed should be up now-" He flicks the dial on the side of his visor. "Yeah?" 10:05 <hrolf> Rolf's almost on the bridge, pacing near the entry in his ill fitting brown trenchcoat. "Where's this fahcking bloodsucker?" 10:07 <Quaker> Badawi checks her night-vision scope, and sees the figures on the bridge flicker as little white shapes. “The kids are dying to put on a show for somebody who’d appreciate it. Show off their talents. How about your friends over at the old folks’ home? Some christmas carols for Kylie and the other residents.” 10:07 <tom> "Oh wow, they'd probably enjoy that a lot." 10:07 <banana> It's not a particularly cold night, for the season. Multiple degrees above freezing. Willie's got a message from Sergio: <It's all going to be fine, but what do I know. I'll be waiting at your place.> 10:08 <tom> Bob switches his visor to thermals and back just to make sure the setup's working. "That's a really nice idea..." 10:08 <VoxPVoxD> Knowing Sergio's on this side of the river makes her feel a lot better. 10:08 <tom> Bob clicks onto the main channel: "Heads up." 10:09 <Quaker> “Well, ask your people and I’ll ask the kids. They might need some prodding to visit, but I’m sure they’ll have a great time once they get for. Think the home can spring for hot cocoa, decorations, all that?” 10:09 <Quaker> once they get there* 10:10 <banana> The drone feed shows it, and Badawi's already spotted them through her scope. Six figures striding down Blackfriars Road, no attempt to hide. The only light beyond the west end of the bridge is coming from an Indian takeaway; the vampires pass it without stopping. 10:10 <banana> They're about two minutes out at walking pace. 10:11 <tom> They're missing out. That place is great. 10:11 <banana> Carl is unmistakeable; the others could be anybody, except anybody alive. 10:11 <VoxPVoxD> Better enough that she texts back: <I had better, I've already scheduled getting destroyed by a different vampire later in the evening and I don't like missing appointments> before getting out of the van. 10:11 <tom> "Y-yeah, that sounds great. Oh it's not a big deal or nothin' but there's six ENE-S'V's headed our way." 10:12 <Crion> Aster adjusts his glasses. 10:12 <Quaker> Badawi switches to the main channel. “I see six figures heading towards you, you should see them in a few seconds. Eccles is with them.” 10:13 <hrolf> Rolf mutters and grips the shotgun under his coat. "'ope I'm not going to die over some fahcking sword tonight. Not sure what the 'ell 'appened when you 'ad a tangle wif that man anyway..." 10:13 <tom> Bob rolls his shoulders and posts up off to the side of the bridge, taking up the left flank of the cell as they wait at their end of the bridge. 10:13 <tom> "We won, is what happened." 10:14 <Crion> Aster makes a noncommital noise in his throat. "It was a managed withdrawal for both sides." 10:14 <VoxPVoxD> Then the earbuds come out and it's time to take the sword down from its pegs (Bob made pegs so it was easier to mount it in the Greybox for a photo op) and, with it on her shoulder, comes slowly and steadily out of the van. 10:14 <banana> Bob had a good luck message too, much earlier in the evening; nobody else has friends and family knowing they've come to meet Victus Indomitus at midnight. It's the sort of thing friends and family talk you out of doing. 10:14 <Quaker> Badawi puts the crosshairs on Eccles’s head. 10:16 <banana> The big man has only been described to her and Rolf before, but he's very obvious. More than eight feet tall, at a glance, with a correctly proportioned and therefore massive head. Easy target. 10:16 <tom> Bob reaches into his coat and places a blinking plastic cylinder on the ground at his feet. After a second, the V.D.S.B. chirps the affirmative and the lights on its end do a little dance. 10:16 <VoxPVoxD> Kagamenauch is sitting beside Bob, and acknowledges Willie with a simple, gentle whine before looking up at the soldier. <Try not to catch fire, William.> 10:17 <tom> That gets a hearty laugh. "Do we taste better raw?" 10:17 <banana> With him are five others, not all of whom you know. Willie may recognise, if she squints, Patience Errol-Chyves; she and two others take up a lookout at the western end of the bridge, and stay there. 10:17 <VoxPVoxD> Lmao. 10:18 <VoxPVoxD> What, is she there as like emergency rations for Carl? 10:18 <banana> The other three come straight on out of the night, stepping onto the 19th century stonework, which bears their weight creditably. 10:18 <tom> Bob gives them a friendly little wave. 10:19 <Crion> Aster is smoking. 10:19 <Crion> Good source of fire for Willie in case it's needed. 10:20 <banana> Baron Eccles stops dead-center of the middle arch, and so does an anonymous-looking man in an archaic frock coat. His face is just craggy enough for Willie and Bob to recognise Baron Weaste. 10:20 <banana> The sixth vampire keeps on walking, apparently heading all the way for your end, and everyone knows what Ruth Gardener looks like. 10:20 <tom> Bob exhales a long stream of vapor. 10:21 <Crion> Aster isn't particularly surprised. 10:22 <VoxPVoxD> With the sword on her shoulder, Willie looking at her phone might seem a bit nonchalant in the circumstances. 10:23 <banana> She hasn't got her hat anymore; the face is unchanged by centuries. The rest of the Mekhet's skin is sallow to the point of being stretched over her bones. She's wearing a thin but extremely expensive-looking blouse, and would be freezing in other biological circumstances. 10:23 <banana> She moves like an animal, furtive, eyes darting about for threats. Who's waiting at the east end of the bridge? 10:23 <tom> "Ma'am," he nods, politely. 10:23 <Crion> Aster, certainly. 10:24 <tom> He'll step out just in front of the tripwire to make sure he can cross it in a moment's notice if needed, but there's no reason to set this thing off in her face. 10:24 <tom> Not yet anyway. 10:25 <VoxPVoxD> Willie's just a bit behind the men, at least until someone speaks. 10:26 <VoxPVoxD> Once she's sure the TrackCheck is processing, she'll pocket the phone. 10:26 <banana> Gardener stops abruptly. Her voice is completely flat and a little raspy. She's really short by modern standards, but gives the impression of being hunched, ready to spring into motion. 10:26 <tom> That's our Ruthie. 10:26 <banana> "My name is Ruth. Countess of nothing. I believe you are the men and women who found me, when I was lost." 10:27 <Crion> Aster: "I am Aaron Aster. That is broadly correct." 10:27 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Good evening, Ruth. Willie Wellesley." 10:27 <VoxPVoxD> "Lord Eccles. Lord Weaste." 10:27 <tom> Bob: "Yes'm. I'm- I'm sorry about the circumstances." 10:28 <banana> Ruth: "I am sure I too will feel sorry in time. I- right now I- I have survived. Thank you." 10:29 <Crion> Aster glances over at the man with a flash of annoyance, but bites his tongue. Opening with an apology? To this creature? 10:29 <VoxPVoxD> Willie wouldn't expect sorriness to come if it hasn't come naturally by now. 10:29 <VoxPVoxD> But that's neither here nor there. 10:30 <tom> He doesn't notice. Inhales, exhales a long "Hmmmm..." 10:31 <banana> The frozen moment stretches on, awkward- although the monster in front of you doesn't seem to perceive it. "Alex could not have been saved, and if I'd spent much longer trying- there would be nobody to remember him. I owe you." 10:32 <VoxPVoxD> Willie forces her way past that. "On behalf of my House, I'd like to thank you for agreeing to a peaceable transfer. Are you taking the sword, ma'am, or are their Lordships queuing up a more dramatic entrance?" 10:33 <banana> Ruth: "That thing? Carl and Simpson are waiting for it. Men with their toys and honour." 10:33 <Crion> Aster: "It's dangerous for our kind to be owed favors by yours. Especially on this side of the bridge. But that is a clarification, not a rejection." 10:33 <banana> Ruth: "Yes. Simpson says you don't want entanglements, outside the web of blood and death, an option that exists thesenights when once it did not. So whether you consider yourselves owed is.. up to you. You know where to find me." 10:33 <banana> She turns around abruptly and just starts walking back down the bridge. 10:33 <Crion> Aster had nothing further to say. 10:34 <VoxPVoxD> In other circumstances, Willie can imagine herself liking Ruth. 10:34 <VoxPVoxD> Fringe benefit if the Victus Indomitus do eventually Get Her. 10:34 <tom> Bob: "Ugh, wait." 10:34 <tom> "If this counts as the favor... what happened to the people.." 10:35 <banana> The once-woman turns around, looks at Bob, and waits. 10:35 <Crion> What. 10:35 <tom> "That's all I wanna know." 10:35 <VoxPVoxD> Willie is tomb-silent. 10:35 <Crion> By the time Aster seriously begins to consider Talon-ing the man, the damage is already done. 10:36 <banana> Ruth Gardener, emotionless: "I'd ruined them, trying to save Alex from a fate he'd already met. The Court has put them down and passed sentence on me." 10:36 <Crion> Now he focuses on her, and how she takes the question. 10:36 <VoxPVoxD> Moments like this are what made her fall in love with Bob. 10:36 <tom> Bob takes up a rigid posture. "Thank you. That's all." 10:36 <banana> Ruth.. bows, very elegant, then just turns and leaves. Again. 10:36 <tom> He nods. 10:37 <VoxPVoxD> Could be worse. Could be on IV fluids in the basement. 10:37 <banana> It's not clear whether you were talking to a person. There was something fundamental.. missing, or barely-there. 10:37 <Quaker> Badawi turns the dial to Rolf’s channel. “Come in Rolfus.” 10:37 <VoxPVoxD> That's just like talking to Mama. 10:37 <Crion> Quietly, strained: "Did we just waste our once-in-a-lifetime vampire elder favor on something Willie could have asked Weaste over the fucking phone?" 10:38 <hrolf> Rolf mutters into his earpiece. "Fink Goreman nearly landed us in the cacky. Wotsup." 10:38 <tom> Bob looks at his feet, rubs his neck. 10:38 <VoxPVoxD> Willie, aside to Aaron: "Once in whose lifetime?" 10:39 <Quaker> “You and your mates ever work construction? I’ve got need for some demo and reno work.” 10:39 <Crion> He stubs the cigarette. "We'll pay to find out." 10:39 <Crion> "Let's finish this." 10:39 <banana> Minutes pass in silence. Ruth nods to Carl and Simpson on her way past, but keeps going; the two men in the middle of the bridge look out toward your end, shading their eyes against an imagined light. 10:39 <Crion> Lights another. 10:39 <hrolf> Rolf: "Yeah I can elp, plus send some lads your way." 10:39 <banana> Willie has a moment to check Huntr now, or anyone can, really: 10:40 <banana> Ruth Henning Gardener -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLxJzinN6yo -- “Couple theme — a partial romance in otherwise harmless lives.” 10:41 <Quaker> “Proper sound of you. It’s for a community charity. I’ll see if you can take it off your taxes or something. Send you the details when I’ve got the dates lined up.” 10:42 <VoxPVoxD> Willie wonders what Councillor Cutsworth would make of this editorialising. 10:43 <banana> So: Are you going to make them come to you? 10:43 <tom> Bob: "They're just standing there.... menacingly." 10:43 <VoxPVoxD> Willie will meet them halfway, assuming Aaron and Bob back her up. 10:44 <Crion> Of course. 10:44 <tom> Bob steps away from the protective talisman of the V.D.S.B. to follow her. 10:44 <banana> Well, Carl's leaning on the balustrade. It could be more menacing. 10:44 <VoxPVoxD> Meeting them halfway is the point. 10:44 <banana> It was, last time. 10:45 <tom> Bob saunters over, his hands at his sides. Not like it fucking matters if things go wrong. "Barons." 10:45 <banana> Weaste: "Mr. Goreman, it's been a cold minute." 10:46 <tom> He flashes a confident smile under those reflective lenses. "Good to see you're doing well, sir." 10:46 <banana> "Wellesley... and Aster, I think. We've only spoken on the telephone." 10:47 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Sir." 10:47 <Crion> Aster: "Have we. Well. I am Aster." 10:47 <banana> Carl turns around so that his back is to the bridge wall rather than looking out over the river. The iron creaks. "Thanks for this. She's a good sword, and hard replace." 10:48 <banana> "Impressed you can bear her up." It's not easy; the weapon is three feet taller than Willie. 10:48 <banana> *hard to replace 10:48 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Yes, I find underestimating me comes naturally to people. Once or twice." 10:48 <banana> Carl: "Ha!" 10:49 <banana> Simpson: "Who's underestimating? Still, this concludes our business, perhaps for a good long while. If anyone feels otherwise, I'd be damn interested to hear it." 10:49 <banana> *damned 10:50 <Crion> Aster: "I do not." 10:50 <tom> Bob puts his hands in his pockets. 10:50 <tom> "Glad we understand each other." 10:51 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "We want peace, or something like it. But I can only aspire, and not predict. Between both our Houses, only Lord Fortunato has attempted prophecy, with ill success." 10:51 <banana> Carl has quite.. meaty hands, when you look at them empty 10:51 <banana> Simpson: "He used to be much better at it." 10:52 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "A shame what one bad day can do to someone." 10:53 <Crion> Fortunato. Good he didn't show up. Aster turns and flicks the cigarette over the side of the bridge, making sure to turn quite far around so as not to be flicking it in the vampires' direction even slightly. 10:53 <tom> Bob taps his visor to check on the drone feed. Satisfied that there isn't a kill team coming up the sides of the bridge to pincer them, he'll remain silent at Willie's side. 10:54 <VoxPVoxD> Willie is delicate as she moves the sword into a flat, two-handed blade-and-hilt grip. The sword *is* extremely large and heavy. She offers it in something like the manner of a knight pledging his sword... but she does not kneel. Arguably the difference in heights alone suffices. 10:55 <banana> Simpson: "Having your childe nail your wrists to the gallows like some sort of attempt at blasphemy will do that... not to say she didn't have her reasons, but declaiming them before an audience in excruciating detail was more than he could bear to remember. He'd have been up on that thing until sunup - we all would - if they hadn't decided on one last cruelty." 10:56 <VoxPVoxD> "May I ask you a question, sir?" 10:56 <banana> Carl takes the weapon in one hand, then two, and steps back to swish it experimentally back and forth. Looks like no real harm done. He's happy. 10:56 <banana> Simpson: "Yes, but the answer might sound like an excuse." 10:57 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Do you believe that the personal is the political?" 10:58 <banana> Simpson: "If I ever recognised an impersonal politics it's been burned out of me. You can't ask someone to act against their interests and the interests of everyone like them." 10:59 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "In government work, I've often found the same thing. The best I've ever managed is convincing people their interests overlapped more than was apparent." 11:00 <banana> Kirkpatrick: "Sometimes true; sometimes they simply don't, and you can't ask." 11:01 <VoxPVoxD> Willie acknowledges this not with words but with an empty-handed, pantsuited curtsey. "Good evening, sir." 11:01 <Crion> Aster has nothing further to add. 11:01 <tom> Bob nods politely. "See you guys later." 11:03 <banana> Eccles: "Perhaps so." He salutes; Weaste doesn't, and you leave in opposite directions. 11:03 <tom> Bob heads back over the bridge and picks the device off the ground, pulling on a tab at the cylinder's head. It beeps twice, the lights go red, then off. He puts the V.D.S.B. into his jacket and coughs. "That went well, I think?" 11:04 <VoxPVoxD> Willie turns her back on the bridge and pulls out a cigarette. She offers to Bob. 11:04 <Crion> Aster: "We're all alive, and that's what matters." He's smoking again. 11:04 <hrolf> Rolf: "As long as its done and we cut all ties wif em fangfuckers." 11:04 <banana> Moreover, you're the only ones who came out of it alive. Scoreboard. 11:05 <Crion> Aster declines to get into another argument about ongoing ties with vampires. 11:05 <VoxPVoxD> Willie, lips pressed around her own unlit cigarette: "Rolf, I don't care for that word." 11:06 <hrolf> Rolf, blithely: "Ties?" 11:06 <VoxPVoxD> Maybe if she just set him on fire a tiny bit-- 11:07 <tom> He takes the offered cigarette and smiles. The cherry at the end of the paper cone flares in the reflection of the visor. 11:07 <VoxPVoxD> Instead she sighs, and lights her cigarette -- and Bob's, if he takes one -- with her fingertip. 11:07 <tom> "You're getting good at that." 11:07 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "It's not entirely wasted effort, with the Draculas." 11:08 <VoxPVoxD> To the team: "Are we good?" 11:08 <VoxPVoxD> "VI4.7 has quit the field." 11:08 <Crion> Aster: "Let's get out of here." 11:08 <tom> Bob checks the drone, rapidly tapping on the side of his visor. "We're clear. Badawi, they didn't drag you off while we were talking, yeah? Say something." 11:08 <Crion> "Miserable little bridge." 11:09 <Quaker> Badawi: “Smoking is bad for your health.” 11:09 <tom> Bob laughs. "I'll see you guys at the greybox. I live on that side of the bridge, so..." he walks off in the same direction the vampires went. 11:10 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "I'll worry more about my health as soon as I meet one person who doesn't tell me to my face I'm fated to die young." 11:10 <Crion> Aster: "It is. My life expectancy in this line of work is a rolling three weeks, and I'll not be lectured to about it by a woman who brews potions in her garage." 11:11 <tom> "You're not gonna die young!" Bob shouts back across the bridge, laughing as he vanishes from view. 11:11 <VoxPVoxD> The way Americans say garage is so weird. 11:11 <VoxPVoxD> Very clever of Bob not to do that to Willie's face. 11:20 <banana> Willie's home before one in the morning. 11:21 <banana> Not always the case, thesen- these days. And there are even people waiting for her - Sergio, and the cat he's borrowed from his neighbour. What does Kagemenauch think of Mr. Blimp? 11:21 <Quaker> Badawi lets Rolf know she’s ready to back him up on the Benni thing before she goes home for the night. 11:22 <banana> It's probably a good thing to have Badawi's support. She's dealt with Benni before, and he didn't sound... happy. Rolf knows the guy could, if you do him wrong, be dangerous. 11:22 <VoxPVoxD> It depends: does Sergio's control over the cat protect it from the instinctive fear reaction animals have against Kagemenauch as well as it does Willie? If so, Kaga will be contemptuously respectful. 11:22 <VoxPVoxD> If not, https://i.imgur.com/05omUIw.jpg 11:23 <banana> His summons was peremptory - a message passed on from Chex, to Hughes; you haven't checked in in a while; we've more work, but I need to know what you've been up to. This Night Watch thing is getting too many eyes on it. 11:25 <banana> Sergio: "Oh noo-" He does have to control the cat; his eyes flash and the blood in the air smells quite different, to Willie, than when they were just talking. Eventually, the situation's calmed. 11:26 <banana> Bonasera is apologetic: "I forgot your familiar is also dog-shaped. I hope he was at least of use to you tonight." 11:26 <hrolf> Rolf, Badawi in tow, abruptly slams on the Range Rover's brakes and turns sharply to bring it to a parking spot. He nearly crashes into another parked car, and it takes a few turns and maneuvering before he gives up and leaves it at an awkward, completely non-parallel angle to the road. He steps out and walks up to Benni's villa's door, knocking twice. 11:27 <VoxPVoxD> Willie comes in smelling like the river and cigarettes. "Aaaaah." she groans pleasurably as if stepping into the flat were like sinking into a bath. She gives Kaga a not-quite-kick, not-quite-push with her shin as she twirls around among the hanging Christmas lights after taking off her jacket and rolling into Sergio's arms. "Ah, you brought a friend." 11:27 <VoxPVoxD> "Hello, Mr. Blimp." 11:28 <VoxPVoxD> She drags Sergio a pace towards the kitchen doorway, where there's mistletoe hanging. Trap sprung. 11:28 <Quaker> Badawi kicks at the door. “Open up, Atletico! Night Watch business.” 11:29 <banana> The now-calmed cat doesn't say anything, but sticks his tongue out into the air repeatedly, trying to figure out the scent of the ersatz animal. Sergio and Willie probably don't notice. 11:29 <hrolf> Rolf gives Badawi a look. "Simmer down. Not the best tone to take when 'e's in a bad mood. Let me do the talking, aye?" 11:29 <banana> There's footsteps inside Benni's villa. Not heavy enough to be Athletic himself. 11:29 <VoxPVoxD> The lights and the tinsel play off each other and the stainless steel appliances nicely; some would consider the fat-faced angel placards hung between the photographs on the walls curiously judgmental. 11:30 <banana> Willie, for example? 11:30 <VoxPVoxD> No comment. 11:30 <banana> Sergio: "You know what, I'll save my questions." 11:30 <VoxPVoxD> There's nothing Father Christmas in here, it's all agnostic glitter and Marks & Spencer Christianity. 11:30 <Quaker> Badawi: “That’s fine. But best not forget we’re the ones doing him a favor by talking to him, not the other way around. Got to keep the pecking order straight, yeah?” 11:31 <hrolf> Rolf: "The pecking order's we end up wif cement shoes in the river if you don't keep yer gob shut. Let me do the talking." 11:32 <banana> Leon, scrubby and narrow, opens the door. You're starting to understand these brainpowers a little better, and he's the same 'type' of starchild as Lindsey the drummer - Rolf once saw him stop a man's heart with a touch. Well, a rat-man. 11:32 <banana> "Hughes. It's- oh! Mrs. Badawi. Welcome as always." 11:33 <hrolf> Rolf nods. "Alright mate? Got a call to check in, fought I'd drop by." 11:33 <VoxPVoxD> Willie's making some hot chocolate. "No need, my love, as long as you keep your arms around me while you ask them. 11:33 <banana> Leon: "Yeah, good call. Let's get you in to the boss while he's pre-ropeable." 11:34 <hrolf> Rolf follows, motioning Badawi to come in behind. He holds a finger to his mouth in a shushing gesture. 11:34 <VoxPVoxD> Would it be cheeky to tuck some amaretto into the chocolate? Maybe, but it was cheeky to take Carl's sword. And it's Christmas. 11:34 <Quaker> Badawi nods at Leon from behind her sunglasses, and follows Rolf. 11:35 <banana> The hallway's clean and so is the central room you're led to, but side passags and the rest of the villa are looking a little unkempt. 11:35 <banana> Benni Athletic's extremely large television has the cricket on and the sound off. He's watching it, also in silence, two fingers curled beneath his chin. Leon takes up a guard pose by the door 11:37 <hrolf> Rolf enters, throwing a quick and casual two finger salute as he does so. "Alright, boss?" He jerks a thumb at the television. "Looks like we're gettin stuffed by the Aussies again?" 11:37 <banana> Sergio: "Hmmmm. Happy to have you in my arms and dry. Nobody threw you in the river... any other casualties?" 11:37 <banana> Athletic: "FUCKING Root. The man doesn't know what he's doing. Three hundred down on the first fucking innings." 11:38 <hrolf> Rolf: "Cricket was never my fing, like. Might be if I was Aussie. Their lads know 'ow to sledge, got killer instincts. Our lads 'ave gone all woke, like. Let all kinds of rubbish into the team these days." 11:39 <banana> Benni doesn't turn around. "He goes on first, off again just as quickly, and keeps giving number two to this washed up 'superhero'. Mental health my arse." 11:39 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "It was totally peaceful. Carl seemed happy his girl was unharmed. Simpson was his cordial best. Ruth expressed her gratitude." 11:39 <banana> Sergio: "Jesus, you met Ruth?" 11:39 <VoxPVoxD> "Chives was there, presumably as a combat ration in case one of the elders got hungry." 11:39 <VoxPVoxD> "We did." 11:39 <hrolf> "I don't remember no Hameed's or Panesar's in the Ashes when I was a lad." 11:39 <banana> Muttering about Patience: "I bet she tastes like soap." 11:40 <VoxPVoxD> By now they've settled onto the sofa. "It broke my heart a bit to see her." 11:40 <VoxPVoxD> "Ruth, I mean." 11:40 <banana> Sergio: "It's sad, but I can't get over the, er, terror." 11:41 <banana> "Her Beast is right at the surface, snarling. She has so much power and no desires." 11:41 <VoxPVoxD> "What's she like in-house?" 11:41 <VoxPVoxD> "Mmmm." 11:41 <banana> When Aster and Bob return to the Peak District farmhouse, they've got a visitor waiting. 11:42 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Perhaps that's what pricks my sense of pity. There's something missing in her. A void where want should be. Power without purpose... meaningless. Subject without object. A grammatical nonsense." 11:42 <banana> A brown-haired young guy sitting in the back of a pickup truck - he's got some sofa cushions there to make an improvised deckchair, and he's reading a novel. There's something familiar about him, but neither hunter knows his face. 11:42 <VoxPVoxD> "Is she terribly cruel?" 11:43 <banana> The purple alien croissaint-mech is still sticking out the top of the farmhouse, and he can't have failed to notice it. 11:43 <banana> *croissant 11:43 <banana> Sergio: "Not specifically cruel, no. I don't think she sees any more point in that than in kindness." 11:43 <Crion> Not Aster's property. He'll let Bob do the talking. 11:43 <tom> Bob gulps. 11:43 <banana> "Sounds like they took everything from her, but whether 'they' were some centuries-old Kindred or the more recent ones..." 11:44 <Crion> Hopefully the plumbing still works to pull water... 11:45 <tom> Bob unpacks from Aster's van- they'll need the clean space for the autopsy and shares a look with the detective before grimacing and making his way over to the newcomer. "Hey, this is, uh, private property..." 11:46 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Conveniently, I blame Count Salford, who is dead and can't defend himself. She was bound to him, surely, until the moment of his death. And then freed from that bond, returned to the loveless arms of a cadre that outsourced finding her... a world where her other loves are dead and gone..." 11:47 <banana> Benni: "Come round here, you two. And why is it two of you, when I asked for one?" 11:48 <hrolf> Rolf: "'ad to drop off some fings with Badawi 'ere. Figure she could come as well, since she's been working the job too." 11:48 <banana> Benni: "Yes, well, it is that job I want to talk about." 11:48 <hrolf> Rolf nods. 11:48 <banana> If the others arent moving, he'll squirm around on the white leather sofa to face them. 11:49 <Quaker> Badawi doesn’t move. 11:49 <banana> "What the hell happened to my generous offer? You're working for Mary, who isn't in touch with our heritage enough to give you reasonable directions?" 11:50 <tom> Bob comes over to clap his hand on the rim of the man's truckbed and whistle. "I can tell you're not from the government, because I haven't been shot yet. And you aren't from the media because Aster would be whipping my ass but good by now." 11:51 <banana> The man in the truck sets his book down. THE EPSILON AUTHORITY by Rock Quatermass. 11:51 <hrolf> Rolf: "I'm not followin', boss. We're doing the work of keep 'er alive innit? Our funds are sufficient for now." 11:51 <banana> "Daniel Trajan. Formerly of CMAS, not a journalist." 11:52 <banana> "I'm here because this is the last place my husband was seen alive." 11:52 <banana> "Well," he laughs. "He's alive... but there's still a problem with the seeing." 11:53 <tom> "Oh, oh fuck." 11:53 <tom> "I just assumed he did that on purpose- has he really, like, not... checked back in?" 11:54 <banana> Daniel: "No, we're in contact. But Zebek is a little... lost. I'm hoping you have some clues for me... or that thing does." 11:55 <tom> Bob rubs the back of his neck and glances over at Aster. "Uhhhh yeah I guess? We've still got power and heating in the parts of the house that didn't get tore up... coffee?" 11:55 <Crion> Aster: "I'm trying to remember which one you are, in the politest way possible, given you're a married man. I remember you from the party." 11:56 <Crion> Aster's not of the generation of American men who can just tell another man 'I recognized you by your body' straight-up. 11:56 <tom> "I will be as real as I can be, sir, the last time I saw Zebeck he was uh, just, fucking standing outside my foxhole while we were getting tore up by machine-gun fire. The rest is sorta a blur, you can imagine." 11:56 <banana> Daniel: "Coffee would be great, as long there's no sugar in. I'm not Mychael, and in fact have been ejected from his organisation." 11:56 <banana> "We have a difference of opinion with respect to crocodiles." 11:57 <Crion> "I see." 11:57 <banana> There's humour in this guy's voice most of the time, as well as a little bit of a strain - maybe he's not too blase about Zebek being missing after all. 11:57 <tom> Bob shoulders his duffel bag and heads up onto the porch, carefully unlocking the front door- a bit pointless, as multiple man-sized holes have been carved in the facade leading into various ground-floor spaces. 11:58 <tom> The kitchen-living room's sealed off, at least, if you shut the doors to the bathroom hallway with an alien mech leering at the end. 11:58 <tom> He starts a pot of coffee and turns on the heating. 11:59 <banana> Sergio strokes Willie's shoulder as she speculates about Ruth Gardener. "It sounds like the beginning of a romance, or the end of a tragedy." 11:59 <banana> "Apparently what you do at that point is simply... go on." 12:00 <banana> Daniel: "This place looks good, considering." 12:01 <banana> "If that's Aster, you must be Goreman.. you're certainly not Rolf Hughes, and I've met your other friends. Just how big was the thing this is part of?" 12:02 <Crion> Aster: "We have Zebek's friend to thank for that. Of course, repairing the house around the thing is going to make it harder to remove." 12:02 <tom> Bob blinks. "Oh, right, yeah... sorry. I'm Bob Goreman, pleased to meet you. It's been a bit of a week," he offers as an excuse for his rudeness. 12:02 <Crion> Aster does not excuse his own; he's already begun his assay of the material. 12:03 <tom> He shakes the man's hand and gestures around the cluttered living room. "Just clear some shit off a couch, I'll grab you a mug just over here-" he does so. 12:03 <banana> Daniel: "Yeah, Egret gave me your address. Thanks." 12:04 <tom> "Sorry, it's weird- if this were OPFORT they'd'a give you just a tap of the muninn serum and we'd be off to the races." He mock-gestures pricking himself in the neck with an invisible needle. 12:04 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "I found myself feeling curiously protective of her. Which is a strange emotion for the circumstances. When I think about bad ends... when I think about what I fear most... I picture becoming something like Ruth. Something cold and lonely and broken, someone who has outlived life itself and carries on by will and hunger alone..." 12:04 <VoxPVoxD> "A monster's pain doesn't justify the pain they inflict on others... but I don't believe the reverse is true either." 12:04 <VoxPVoxD> Oh hey, Mr. Blimp is here. Lap cat :) 12:04 <Crion> The man's presence will complicate things, being underfoot. Is there actually any way to locate his husband such that we can send the pair on their way, or at least send him off in the right direction? 12:05 <banana> Benni's eyes are hooded. He leans back to survey Rolf from under them. "And how am I supposed to know you're keeping her safe when you've cut me out of the deal?" 12:05 <banana> "Your people have been seen at the brainiacs' club." 12:05 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Ahh, I'm being pointlessly expansive. Bottom line is, it went fine." 12:05 <VoxPVoxD> "Everyone's as okay as they were at sundown. No less, if not much more either." 12:06 <tom> He returns with two mugs of coffee- one for Aster and one for Daniel. "So uh, let's see..." 12:07 <hrolf> Rolf holds up his hands defensively. "Nothin sinister about that, boss - we were followin every lead we could to track down the root of this...calling fing. I think the brainiacs wanted us to fuck with you or somefing like that? And we told em to fuck off!" 12:07 <hrolf> Rolf holds up his hands defensively. "Nothin sinister about that, boss - we were followin every lead we could to track down the root of this...calling fing. I think the brainiacs wanted us to fuck with you or somefing like that? And we told em to fuck off!" 12:07 <tom> He just shoves a pile of keyboards and miscellaneous computer crap off the couch onto the floor and sits, elbows on his knees, fingers steepled. "Ah, so, the leg was part of a larger construction- like a full-on War of the Worlds war machine kinda deal... we last saw Zebeck..." he works his face thoughtfully. "The black hole weapon, right, Aster?" 12:07 <banana> Athletic: "And I sit on my fucking ass in here, unable to get out from under the restraining order. You think that's loyalty?" 12:08 <banana> *arse 12:08 <tom> "Some sort of exotic weapon, anyway. It's destroyed, anyway." He seems heavily disappointed. 12:09 <hrolf> Rolf: "As for keeping you informed...so far its just been bodyguard work. Been fighting off aliens and tripods and suchlike. We 'aven't gotten to the root of the matter yet. Waitin on some intel - as soon as we get it, I can let you know. 'ow's that sound?" 12:10 <banana> Daniel: "So, maybe one of you had a better view, but Egret described the thing as a moving mass inversion. It either sent Zeb to another dimension or turned him inside-out. What I'd like to do is look at this thing with you in the hope of.. information. Just what kind of places could it connect to?" 12:10 <hrolf> Rolf: "Matter o fact, I fink I ran into one of em Starparents in this...weird place. We're looking into that." 12:11 <tom> He shifts uncomfortably on the couch as Daniel speaks. "I mean, I've done some research-" -read it on reddit while high- "black holes, right? Hawking radiation. Wormholes." 12:11 <tom> "It's within the standard model. Of course, by the standard model, when that black hole disappated the entire northen hemisphere woulda been blown out." 12:12 <tom> He shrugs. "You can pick around if you wanna take a look at stuff. But it's dangerous." 12:12 <tom> "We came here to start the cleanup, see if there's anything useful we can use, that sorta shit." 12:12 <banana> Benni settles, a little. "It's good to know that your other team can do protection. Certainly you've been useful beyond your apparent means on our work. Where's the place? When you say starparent, are you referring to.. lightbringers?" 12:14 <Quaker> Badawi: “No offense, but the place is proprietary.” 12:15 <hrolf> Rolf: "The place is...uh-" he trails off as Badawi interrupts and shrugs. "As for the creature - dunno what this fing was really. She said she 'ad a duty to 'er children, to bring them to their calling." 12:15 <tom> *dissipated 12:15 <banana> Benni: "Is it. Let's stick a knife in that one for a moent." 12:15 <banana> *moment 12:15 <banana> "What's the duty imposed on Mary, then?" 12:16 <hrolf> Rolf: "A covert diplomat or somefing, of all fings. Like 'enry Kissinger meets James Bond." 12:17 <banana> Daniel: "Don't let me get in your way. I'll fetch and carry if that's helpful, but the main thing I can do here is provide interdimensional esoterica." 12:18 <hrolf> Rolf: "Dangerous job really. All those types are gettin' 'avana Syndrome these days." 12:18 <VoxPVoxD> Willie sets the empty mug down and rests her head against Sergio's still chest. How's he doing? 12:21 <Quaker> Badawi: “It was enough that she didn’t want to do it, whatever it was.” 12:22 <banana> Sergio hums a little to make his lungs vibrate. He wasn't surprised to see her come home safely, but he's happier now that it's actually happened. "Right now it's hard to imagine outliving life. There's so much ." 12:22 <tom> Bob hands out a pair of respirators and gets up to start the salvage. He doesn't really feel like explaining. 12:22 <tom> The first part's easy enough; the machine's sticking halfway into his fucking home. 12:23 <banana> Benni: "Anyone can stamp their feet and say 'I don't wanna'. Spying... I could see that. Yeah, she'd be good at it.. but I don't like the thought of the people she'd have to mix with. CIA idiots are one thing. Do you know how many conspiracies are out there competing for the same goal?" 12:24 <banana> To Badawi: "Your people, for one." 12:24 <banana> "Perhaps it's good you came here. If they're moving in on this city, let them know to stay out of my business." 12:24 <Quaker> “Who would that be?” 12:25 <banana> Benni: "You going to play coy after using the name 'Sunset House' to browbeat my boys the other day?" 12:26 <Quaker> Badawi: “Are you going to keep acting like I’m some sort of lackey you can order around, after you’ve heard that name?” 12:27 <hrolf> Rolf goes stock still and stays silent. 12:27 <Crion> Aster works effectively and quietly as a secondary partner to Bob on this affair, both because it's his farmhouse and his show. He spent many years not being the chief technician in the room, and remembers facilitation well. 12:27 <banana> Benni: "I have more power than you do in this place. Where's the agent Mary won't meet with?" 12:27 <VoxPVoxD> "Mmmm." Wille looks up at him. "Tell me some things you want to do." 12:28 <tom> Bob wheels over a rolling table covered in pipes and tubing. Aster recognizes one of the air pumps from the tripod balloon trap- here repurposed to siphon the cockpit's chlorine atmosphere into a pressurized cylinder. 12:28 <Quaker> Badawi: “You know, the Tetrach of Merseyside knows well enough to stay out of my affairs after hearing that name. Do you have more juice than him? You’d better, if you’re thinking of compelling me to tell you something.” 12:28 <tom> He flips the toggle on the pump and puts in his earplugs. "Safety first!" He shouts over the din, tapping on his visor. 12:29 <banana> Sergio: "Apart from kissing? I want to see what Sicily is like now with the shadow of Cosa Nostra receding. I'd like to draw many kinds of birds. I'd like to go hiking up in the Dales, where they have many kinds of birds." 12:30 <tom> Still shouting over the sucking pump (BrrrBrrrBrrr): "This species lives in a chlorine-based atmosphere which means it should have an ammonia-based chemistry!" 12:30 <tom> "Very delicate! We'll have to be careful with extraction and storage." 12:31 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "The dales in springtime... Sicily in the summer..." 12:32 <banana> Benni Athletic: "I'm not so easy to bluff as a pansy mage. Tell me where the agent is. I'll give you a hundred thousand pounds or seal your face against oxygen until you talk; choose which." 12:33 <banana> To Rolf: "You get to breathe either way, mate, but no bonus cash unless you're coughing up what I need to know." 12:33 <hrolf> Rolf holds up his hands placatingly. "Let's all calm down, like. We all want the same fing 'ere - to keep Mary alive, yeah?" 12:34 <Quaker> Badawi laughs lightly. “Why don’t you just ask her?” 12:34 <banana> Benni: "I want that as much as anyone, but it's not the only thing I want." 12:35 <hrolf> Rolf: "Badawi 'ere was crucial in our last engagement mate. She took down one of those alien fings that was making a beelin right for your girl. Wouldn't be alive right now if it wasn't for 'er sniping skills." 12:35 <banana> "So you do 'ave loyalty to someone." 12:36 <hrolf> Rolf: "Ain't never been disloyal to no one that I can fink of - queen, country, and me mates." 12:37 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "We can do those things, you know. They don't have to be idle fancies. We could do them in the new year." 12:37 <banana> Benni: "We're not enemies, me and the two of you. But you're not leaving this house without dealing me in on Mary Athletic's Calling. I need to know what she's missing and what the price is. And I? Think the way to do that is to have a discussion with her agent." 12:38 <hrolf> Rolf: "Yeah mate, that's what we're trying to track down right now, like. What do you mean by the price and what's missing?" 12:38 <banana> Sergio: "Then we shall. A couple of weeks away? Compatible with your obligations?" 12:39 <tom> Bob works carefully with a skillsaw to carve out the remaining chunks of structure around the alien machinery, waiting with a look of clear anxiety as the thing settles and shifts as its load shifts. Before too long enough space has been freed to allow them to open the cockpit. He dons his respirator and gives Aster the all-clear. 12:39 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "The Reveille job will be wrapped up by the holiday, and I'll be flush with a couple weeks of leave to spare..." 12:39 <banana> Gas drains from behind the iris in the unipod, revealing a blubbery triangular mass. 12:40 <VoxPVoxD> "The only hard will be coming back." A smile that one would, over Willie's strenuous objection, be described as impish. 12:40 <tom> He paws around the edges of the glass panel of the iris, pointing out the regularly-spaced divots. "Magnetic screws! Very sci-fi!" 12:40 <banana> As the three men work to shore up the house and take apart the machine from the top down, they're already learning a lot. The pieces are machined, for one thing; slotted and riveted together, its superstructure within the realm of what human ingenuity could build. 12:41 <Crion> Thankfully they have masks and heavy gloves, this time. 12:41 <banana> Aster comes across the power delivery system, which isn't. 12:41 <tom> He reaches for the rolling table and produces a pair of magnets, held inches apart in a pair of vicegrips. He rotates the magnets over the screws until they pop out, one by one. 12:41 <hrolf> Rolf: "'ows this - when we find this agent, we're prob'ly going to need 'elp wif it anyway. 'owever that goes. We could reach out when we have more intel?" 12:42 <banana> Running like veins under the plates and gun-mounts are what look like vines - clearly plant-like fibrous material, even showing the cut-off stems of leaves; it's plugged in everywhere like comms or electric cabling. Looks fragile, doesn't feel it. 12:42 <banana> As you unspool more of the vine-cables, pump the gas, reveal the corpse, everything gets greener and greener. Daniel: "Gross palette." 12:42 <VoxPVoxD> She could take a leave of absence - or hell, resign, if it came to that - and just take Sergio around the world for a year. Two years. However long it takes. The trust will vest before the hunter money runs out. 12:42 <tom> Bob flips off the pump. "Alright. Let's do analysis. Point in favor of extraterrestrial origin: these things breathe a methane-chlorine mix. It's what you'd expect from an ammonia-based biochemistry." 12:43 <banana> Benni: "Yeah, you could. No need for us to take it on trust, though." 12:43 <tom> His voice is muffled by the respirator but he sounds excited. 12:43 <banana> "How about you tell me everything now, and if there's more later, you can tell me more then." 12:43 <banana> There's a single loud click from somewhere else in the villa - a different room. 12:45 <hrolf> Rolf takes a deep breath. "All we 'ave is a name. Epsilon Eridani." 12:47 <banana> Benni stands up from the sofa. "Hughes... it'd be more believable if you hadn't already told me about the 'proprietary place'." 12:47 <banana> "I do like a man who can't dissemble. But I will 'ave my rights." 12:48 <Quaker> Badawi: “Hey, Benni. Before you do anything else.” 12:48 <banana> Like a good comic-book villain, he pauses and says, "Yeah?" 12:49 <hrolf> Rolf: "That's all we really 'ave. The fing didn't say much - just that it would make sure its children answered its calling." 12:50 <tom> It takes a solid effort- Daniel and Aster will have to each grab crowbars and help Bob lever the glass iris off the alien machine and down onto the floor. There's a satisfying hiss and a pop as it comes free, but, thankfully, no deadly gas. 12:51 <banana> Sergio nuzzles Willie, or the cat if he gets in the way of it. "As a first draft... Sicily?" 12:51 <tom> "Okay we've probably got like ten seconds before this sucker starts to melt into goop so let's just, easy now, easy now-" The corpse has been just sitting in there for a couple days now, so most of its liquid has pooled in the lower portion of its slippery body. It takes some time to extract the body without rupturing its various horrible sacs. 12:52 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "I bet Palermo is gorgeous at night." 12:53 <Quaker> “You know who I’m with. Not even counting the other people in the Nameless House. I mean the other house. I know a lot of people hear about that and think it might be a story. Or they think that if they fuck up with them they’ll hold their own, it can’t be that bad. Or they’ll escape, or get forgotten, or whatever. They think it won’t happen to them. But it does. Every time. I think it’s in both of our interests right now if we just kee 12:53 <Quaker> on being friendly. Or you’re not going to believe what happens to you next even while it’s happening. Your choice to get what you already wanted, Mary safe, or not get what you want just because you had to be in control of this one thing. And the second choice ends real quick. Doesn’t matter who you are.” 12:53 <tom> Bob unzips a sealed bodybag and throws it atop the rolling table to receive the corpse before going to hook up the tubes from the chlorine tank. "That should be enough to keep it from dissolving on us." 12:55 <VoxPVoxD> She traces his jawline with warm fingers. "But maybe I just look at you and can't imagine a night anywhere short of beautiful." 13:05 <banana> The alien body's three massive tentacles flop about. It's not shaped at all like a human, so the fit is awkward, but you can jam much of it in there. 13:06 <banana> Daniel has a hand in his pocket, curled about something. "This thing had power in life. Sekhem conduits... unsurprisingly, three of them." 13:06 <banana> Daniel has a hand in his pocket, curled about something. "This thing had power in life. Sekhem conduits... unsurprisingly, three of them." 13:06 <banana> Daniel has a hand in his pocket, curled about something. "This thing had power in life. Sekhem conduits... unsurprisingly, three of them." 13:07 <Quaker> Badawi, to Rolf. “Client comes first, Rolfie boy. Let’s get out of here.” 13:07 <tom> Bob pokes the alien carcass and watches it jiggle unpleasantly. "That so." 13:09 <tom> Bob turns the valve on the gas cannister very slightly, filling the tray around the body with a thin layer of chlorine. "Make sure you got a snug fit on that mask." 13:10 <tom> canister* 13:10 <banana> Leon's looking more and more alarmed as Benni listens impassively to Badawi, or whatever name he knows her by. "You're right. I do need to be in control." He raises a chubby hand, and the floor tiles begin to shift and clatter. 13:12 <banana> The sofa falls over behind him. Both hunters feel the air begin to press up against them like a straitjacket, slowly becoming solid. 13:14 <tom> Bob hands Aster a scalpel. 13:15 <banana> Daniel: "Anything that tells me where this creature is from would be useful. What kind of environment it survives in." 13:15 <Quaker> Rolf will see Badawi blur. She doesn’t move superhumanly fast, but the effect of someone moving as fast as she does, as decisively as she does, is still uncanny. 13:15 <Crion> Aster: "Just some preliminary cuts here. See what we're dealing with..." 13:16 <Quaker> She somersaults over an end table that’s lifted up from the ground, and lands next to the lit fireplace, and the pokers. 13:16 <Quaker> Then heavy metal rods start flying. 13:16 <Quaker> One smacks into the wall near Leon, right through his shirt at the waist, pinning him. The little shovel goes through the television. 13:18 <Quaker> The metal butt-end goes through the parlor window like a bullet, smashing it into ten dozen glittering pieces. 13:18 <banana> The alien's head is basically a blob with three 'eyes' spaced around a single central orifice. They don't have eyeballs, but rather are sensory pits with a different colour of flesh. 13:18 <Quaker> The last set of grasping tongs goes straight at the hook of the gaudy chandelier right above Benni. 13:18 <hrolf> Rolf takes advantage of Benni's shock to race towards Leon, grabbing him and shoving him towards the gangboss. 13:19 <Quaker> She jumps headfirst through the parlor window as the chandelier gives way and falls down. 13:19 <banana> It doesn't resemble anything from Earth... but the parts it's made up of do; bones and veins and muscle and nerves. Three green kidneys. Aster wouldn't be surprised to find it has actual DNA. 13:20 <hrolf> And then he's running for the exit, shotgun extracted from the coat. He blasts a few shots into the ceiling and yells: "Lads! We're under attack! Check the back!" He leaves through the front, and hops into the Range rover. 13:20 <Crion> Aster: "It's heavily modified...it's not human per se...but I don't think it's extraterrestrial." 13:21 <banana> There are a couple of men with guns in the front room; of course; they drop the cards they're holding and race for the way Rolf came from. Back there, Benni's roaring with anger, batting at the air - you see a glimpse of the falling chandelier, halting and then hurtling off toward a wall. 13:21 <Quaker> Badawi is waiting for him in the passenger seat. “Too bad for Benni.” 13:21 <hrolf> Turning the key in the ignition, he rams into a car parked in front of him in a panic. Cursing, he reverses out, and then slowly starts driving up the street. Can Badawi make a running jump into the car? 13:22 <hrolf> Rolf slams on the accelerator and they peel off, the wrong way down a one way street. 13:22 <banana> There's a lot of yelling in the house behind you. Gunfire before the door's even flung open; the bullets pass through it, but of course go wild, and by the time they're outside and can aim, you're gone. 13:22 <tom> "Aliens could still have DNA. It's a good molecule." 13:22 <banana> Sergio tells Willie: "Y'know, you really know how to make me feel good." 13:23 <banana> "I'd like to try it too, if you're not falling asleep yet." 13:23 <hrolf> Rolf is red. Extremely, very red. "That's that then! I told you to shut yer fahckin gob!" 13:23 <VoxPVoxD> With a grin even Willie would concede is devilish: "Fair's fair." 13:23 <Crion> Aster: "These are kidneys. I have my doubts that the kidney is such a perfect universal design that evolution would come up with it in other conditions." 13:23 <tom> "Hm." 13:24 <tom> Bob looks queasy in his mask: "Do you think it was a person?" 13:24 <hrolf> Rolf: "Nothing to be done for it now...best let the others know - do you 'ave your phone? Let 'oo'ever's on guard duty know, the client too. Sever all contacts wif the athies..." He slams a hand on the horn in frustration. "What a fahckin mess!" 13:25 <Crion> Aster: "Possibly more than one. But just as possibly created through vat-grown organs or the like. It doesn't HAVE to be a horrifying act of mad transmutational science." 13:25 <Crion> "Well." 13:25 <Crion> "It doesn't have to be horrifying, at least." 13:26 <Quaker> Badawi: “You ever give up a client before? That’s what he wanted from you the second you stepped in there. Didn’t matter if I was there or not. Nothing to be done about it.” 13:26 <tom> Bob reaches into the incision with his gloves and produces another pair of organs. Are all the organs analogous to terrestrial organisms? 13:27 <hrolf> Rolf: "I was talking 'im down! Threatening 'im wasn't going to 'elp, unless you 'ad somefink to back it up with. Christ! An I thought you were the only one wif any professionalism in this fahckin team!" 13:28 <banana> Daniel: "If they're from here, where is he? Is it even symbolically connected to a place?" 13:29 <Quaker> Badawi: “Rules are rules. I’m not going to take threats from anybody while I’ve got a name to look after.” 13:30 <banana> If it helps, Reveille is going to love this. 13:30 <Quaker> “He was trying to cuck you, man. Turn you into a little boy who gave up all his secrets to daddy when he cracked the leash.” 13:30 <hrolf> Rolf just shakes his head. "Oh fahck off with your name. Just hope Benni doesn't go after me mates in the city...'ave to warn Baz to lay low for a bit." 13:32 <Crion> The autopsy is slow going. It is, after all, the first time Aster's autopsied an alien. 13:32 <Crion> But they have all afternoon, presumably. 13:32 <banana> You're in no rush. Daniel's antsy, suggests taking a look in the mech for more evidence of origins. 13:33 <banana> He's not saying things like 'you got my husband blown into another dimension'. 13:33 <hrolf> Rolf: "Next time we meet your wizards 'ow'd you like if I blast off at em, hey? Ruin a fahckin professional relationship over fahckin nuffink...goddamn bloodsuckers attacked us! And we still met with em, one of us is still fahchkin shagging em!" 13:33 <tom> There's no rush. Bob has a fright a few times- the three tentacles don't seem quite dead yet, occasionally flailing in response to some unknown stimuli. One of them grabs him around the wrist: "Eeek!" 13:33 <tom> Coughing, clearing his throat: "Just muscle movement. Normal. Nooormal." 13:35 <Quaker> Badawi: “What the hell do you think I should have done, eh? Either rolled over on the client or get tortured for it? If any of the mages start telling me that it’s either I tell them where the glowing rocks are or old Rolfie’s going on the rack, you’ve got my permission to start swinging!” 13:35 <tom> By the end of it, the man's got goo up to his elbows. The nitrile gloves are starting to brittle from the chlorine. 13:35 <banana> Trajan: "I've seen less-normal, although not on this planet." 13:35 <Quaker> “Now hold on, I’ve got to call the cell.” 13:36 <hrolf> Rolf: "Man's gone mad about his bird an I was talking him down until you escalated it. You walked in there wif an attitude and a fight to pick even at the door, don't fahckin pretend otherwise!" 13:36 <Quaker> She dials Aster. 13:36 <Crion> He's got his bluetooth in. "Aster." 13:37 <Quaker> “I wasn’t put on earth to be nice to Benni Athletic. I didn’t say shit until he started asking after our client. Then the only choices he gave us were squeal on those ladies or get the kosh!” w 13:38 <Quaker> To Aster: “We’ve just got out of Benni Athletic’s place. Turns out the update he wanted from Rolf was more of the not-asking-nicely kind about Reveille and our job. Gave us the choice of telling him the details or getting bags over our heads. We’re out now, no harm to either of us.” 13:38 <hrolf> Rolf: "All I asked was for you to let me do the fahckin talking and you couldn't control yourself for five fahckin minutes." Rolf mutters something incomprehensible under his breath. 13:38 <Quaker> To Willie* 13:40 <Quaker> Holding the phone away from her face, to Rolf: “Yeah, he strike you as in a talking mood?” 13:40 <Crion> Aster puts down the scalpel and steps away. "Yes, I can hear that Hughes is fine. He did what now? He tried to detain you?" 13:40 <VoxPVoxD> Willie whistles on the phone. It's mid-afternoon, so it's not too raucous wherever Reveille's got her, presumably. "Should we expect retaliation?" 13:41 <tom> Bob watches from the opposite side of the gurney. He takes a moment to dip his gloves in a tub of solvent to clean off the alien goop and tabs through his visor modes. 13:42 <banana> The increasingly-dissected alien is starting to feel like something that was put together to look as alien as possible but with a toolbox drawn from existing life. Apart from the chemistry Bob hasn't found anything fundamentally weird... except in the thing's head. 13:42 <Crion> Aster: "That's my immediate concern -- that he'll come after Reveille." 13:42 <hrolf> Rolf: "Yeah mate, 'e was until you started blasting off." He takes a few deep breaths, trying to calm himself. " Anyway - done's done.. Me GP said I should try to control me blood pressure." 13:42 <banana> Aster pointed it out, just before he had to take the call - it's not a human brain in there. 13:42 <VoxPVoxD> "Just how territorial is Mr. Athletic? How wounded is his pride?" 13:42 <banana> It's not even a brain at all, properly speaking - there's a pyramidal liquid cavity, full of white lacy strands. They form a dense but disconnected mass. 13:43 <Crion> "My less-immediate concern is that it is unacceptable to have jumped-up fuckups like Benni Athletic thiking they can put their hands -- or brains -- on members of this House. Just as a matter of practicality, we can't always be traveling as a full team." 13:43 <VoxPVoxD> Possibly Reveille overhears some of this at some point. 13:43 <Crion> *thinking 13:43 <Quaker> Badawi tells them exactly what happened. 13:44 <banana> Reveille was on the phone too, when Willie picked up - talking to Miracle about some game they're going to play. But she does tend to hear speech about her, from a long way away, and she's hung up her own call. 13:44 <tom> The shutter on the micro-camera in his visor clicks once, twice, thrice. He holds the alien's 'head' at different angles for each shot. 13:44 <Crion> "Jesus fucking Christ. ...If the workgroup would like I can phone Athletic and have a firm conversation about this. It won't be long and it won't be nice. I assume Rolf's driving and is obeying the laws about not being on the phone while doing so, but I'm guessing he'd prefer a conciliatory stance?" 13:44 <tom> "No human brain. Some kind of.... remote control, maybe? A receiver, or a proxy?" 13:44 <Crion> "Mending fences and all that." 13:44 <banana> Daniel: "It's organic stuff. Maybe it works like a brain?" 13:45 <banana> He gestures at Aster over in the corner. "Your job seems very complicated." 13:45 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Oh, what a prick. Urgh. I'm glad you got out of that. How's Rolf taking it?" 13:45 <hrolf> Rolf, now connected to the call via the car's speakerphone: "That jumped up fuckup is jumped up for a fahckin reason. He's got a well disciplined criminal fahckin enterprise wif far more people than we do. Bein diplo-fahckin-matic might 'elp ere, yeah! In point of fahckin fact, it might've 'elped when we was over there in eprson, no fingers fahckin pointed!" 13:46 <banana> Reveille's come up right beside Willie and, if not stopped, will actually put her ear on the other side of the phone. 13:46 <tom> "It gets that way sometimes," Bob answers. He turns away from the autopsy and tosses away the now crumbling gloves- the chlorine exposure has reduced them almost to tatters on his hands. He takes up the magnetic tool from earlier and paces over to the alien pod, climbing inside with a grunt. 13:46 <VoxPVoxD> Ah, so that's how Rolf is. "How burned is the bridge, do you think?" Willie glances in Reveille's direction but does not stop her. 13:46 <banana> There's nobody else about though - Lindsay the manager called most of them away to deal with some visa thing, which apparently Mary already has sorted out. 13:46 <VoxPVoxD> "It sounds like you really humiliated him, and from my small exposure to the man he doesn't sound like the type to take an ego hit gracefully." 13:46 <tom> Bob, from inside: "Now let's see... what've we got in the way of a control console..." 13:47 <Crion> Aster: "Oh, and I assume you were the picture of diplomacy yourself. It's not synonymous with being nice. It sounds like he doesn't know about the Reservoir, and that means his capacity to fuck up the job directly is limited at this point." 13:47 <Quaker> “You can mend fences with him as much as you like, for as long as he has left. I’ve got another call to make after this one.” 13:47 <banana> Daniel zips up the bodybag and stands by the ladder, arms folded except when he's holding things up. "One built for tentacles, I suppose." 13:47 <Crion> "Noted." 13:47 <Quaker> “He doesn’t know about the reservoir, though.” 13:47 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "So... are we at war?" 13:47 <hrolf> Rolf: "I don't bloody know! Probably not too good - if we finish the job and get his bird out of it safe, maybe 'e'll come down? Till then we need to lockdown and watch for his lads comin after us. Or the client, even" 13:47 <banana> Reveille: "Benni can't do a thing to me." 13:47 <VoxPVoxD> Primly: "She's not his bird." 13:47 <banana> "Not anymore." 13:48 <Quaker> Badawi: “You are not at war, as far as I’m concerned.” 13:48 <Quaker> Badawi: “You are not at war, as far as I’m concerned.” 13:48 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "That sounds plausibly deniable. You're certain of your own safety?" 13:48 <banana> Bob finds the drained orb slippery, alright - it's designed for suspension, not standing. 13:48 <hrolf> Rolf: "Ex bird, wotever - " he shoots a glare at Badawi as she speaks. "Fank you, your 'ighness!" 13:49 <Crion> "He's not going to like what happens if he comes after members of this House without you there to appeal to our better natures, Rolf, and if you somehow have the opportunity to have a side conversation with him between now and the next time we meet, you should remind him of that." 13:49 <banana> There are indeed many control... holes in the walls. Displays and lights, too, all of them powered down. It seems pretty intuitively designed, though - these plugs or press-buttons would be for activating and testing subsystems, there's a little map... over here is a thing like an aircraft control wheel, for aiming, so presumably the plugs there are used to shoot. 13:51 <banana> Reveille's picked up much of what's happened by now. You can all hear her voice, cheery but muffled: "The destiny Cosmos gave him was 'leader of men'. Good thing you had a woman with you!" 13:51 <tom> Bob cracks his knuckles and splays his fingers across the metal surface. "Jesus. The guns are still on." 13:51 <banana> Yeah, if you do the wrong things in the wrong sequence, this machine is intact enough to power up. 13:52 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "So to sum up: no danger to Mary; no bodily harm done to anyone; no compromise of the Agent of Cosmos's position. There's Rolf's damaged business interest, which we should work to right, and then Athletic's wounded pride, which remains dangerous." 13:52 <banana> That power is the most mysterious bit of it.. vines surround the pod, but they all merge into a huge mass that's very warm to the touch. Something inside it apart from organic cable. 13:52 <tom> Bob: "Okay, I'm going to try to re-engage its safeties and decouple the power supply." 13:53 <tom> It's cramped- this thing wasn't meant to accomodate a human. He's taller and thinner than the intended pilot, but he kinda curls into a fetal position, like a tall man in a smartcar. 13:53 <Crion> Aster: "Bob's in the middle of our grand science project and having quite a lot of fun; I won't bother him with this until he's through, since it sounds like it's no longer an emergency." 13:54 <tom> Muffled (on the conference call): "Hey Aster they ever make you read Death of the Ball Turret Gunner in school?" 13:54 <VoxPVoxD> Reveille can see Willie grin. 13:54 <tom> Bob crawls around inside the cramped space: "No reason." 13:55 <banana> Reveille: "Hey can, I talk to them for a moment? Can I talk to, Rolf Hughes is it?" 13:55 <tom> "Hey Dan, ya got a pen?" 13:55 <Quaker> Badawi feels a bit guilty, now that the adrenaline’s worn off. “Look, my only condition was that we not give him any information about the client.” 13:55 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "I'm going to put Reveille on, she has a message." 13:55 <banana> Daniel: "Of course. You never know when you'll encounter a crossword." He hands up a Biro. 13:55 <VoxPVoxD> The client gets the phone. 13:55 <Quaker> “The threats of torturing me were a personal insult, and they’ll be dealt with personally. Nothing to do with you all.” 13:56 <hrolf> Rolf waves a hand to quieten Badawi. "Can't 'ear em, 'ang on a mo- " Rolf waits. "Yeah go ahead." 13:56 <banana> Reveille: "Okay, first of all, Benni means it when he says he'll hurt people. I think you should not take that as just your problem. Aaaanyway..." 13:56 <tom> Bob takes the pen and pokes it through the narrow aperture he's pretty sure is meant to disengage the ammunition feed to the pod's armaments, if the multiple angular notches are any indication. 13:56 <banana> "No judgement here, I just want to check- what kind of work have you been doing with the Outfit, Rolf? Where do your interests align?" 13:57 <banana> "You haven't struck me as a dope peddler at all." 13:58 <banana> The unipod makes an enormous clunking noise behind Aster. Turning, he can see parts of it retracting and sliding into cavities - which would conceal them, if you hadn't already ripped those panels off. 13:59 <hrolf> Rolf: "Yeah I know 'e urts people, 's why I called ahead and told Baz and the lads to lie low if Benni comes after em." He listens to the next question and makes a face. "Dope peddler? Didn't you 'and me some drugs the other day? I just did standard muscle work for im, 'elped with some of me expertise in Norn Ireland for some fings. Standard rates." 13:59 <tom> "Phew, okay." Bob wipes his brow. 13:59 <banana> Daniel's on the ladder, watching Bob. "You're sticking your hand into a wet tube to make its gun-boner go down." 13:59 <tom> "Don't be gross," he cackles. 13:59 <tom> "Okay so let's see. This is all very analog... there should be some sort of interface for the other modules... maybe we can pull up the black-hole generator schema?" 14:00 <tom> "You've been handling this pretty well. I'd be going apeshit." 14:01 <tom> He disappears back inside the pod, mumbling to himself: "No big deal, she's just lost in the nth dimension, normal week." 14:01 <banana> Reveille: "Yeah, but you're not a kid paying me for the pills to escape life.. and also life. Anyway. This sounds bitchy, but Benicio won't blame you here. He doesn't see the guy who holds the gun as a threat. I'm pretty sure you can get less crazy work, I know why people get into that life, and they'd let you back in. Long as you can still hold the gun. That's all they care about." 14:01 <tom> "Not the first time Zebeck's done a bit of an oopsie, yeah?" 14:02 <banana> Daniel: "It's not. First time I haven't been there, or first time since we met.. but we explore places, places like wherever he is. It's... relatively normal." 14:02 <VoxPVoxD> Willie chimes in: "Since this was a conflict between House business and personal business, if you need any help squaring things or agreeing a new arrangement I'd be happy to help, Rolf." 14:03 <banana> "Zeb has really good judgement, like brilliant intuitiion augmented by his magic. When he does things on a whim, it works, and things turn out okay for him. I even get to share in that, just... things aren't okay yet. They will be." 14:03 <tom> He's ensnared in the various cables inside the pod. "I know how you feel, man." 14:04 <tom> "Let's see..." He tugs on a tendon, and the whole pod tenses up like a muscle. "No, not here.." 14:05 <hrolf> Rolf keeps driving, both hands tightly gripped on the wheel, knuckles turning white. Curtly: "Alright, sounds good. Fanks. Coming into the greybox to drop this nutter off and then i'm going to move all me gear out of the flat Benni knows about. Hughes out." 14:06 <banana> Mary shrugs, which nobody but Willie can see. "Well, here's your phone." 14:06 <VoxPVoxD> Willie's cheeks puff as the phone goes dead. "So how dangerous is he?" 14:07 <tom> Bob fucks around with the console while Aster hangs up: "What happened?" 14:08 <banana> Daniel's actually helpful for this bit. Apparently, he's studied some anthropology - he points out some more ideas to Bob about how the controls might be designed, for a fake alien with real mad science. 14:08 <banana> Mary: "To me, not at all. We settled that. You guys, um.. hmm." 14:08 <banana> "Hmm! I've seen you fight, and you're amazing." 14:08 <VoxPVoxD> "But..." 14:08 <banana> "I doubt he could kill more than two of you at a time, maybe three." 14:08 <VoxPVoxD> "Ah." 14:08 <Quaker> When Rolf drops her off, Badawi stands outside the graybox and calls Tom Luna on her phone. 14:09 <VoxPVoxD> "Does he have any weaknesses, besides spikey women?" 14:10 <banana> Mary: "Being a fat cunt. Bad plans - he's ok on the fly, but if he made a bad plan he sticks to it. Pink zeolites.. that's his deathstone." 14:10 <banana> "I know that because he wasn't always as bad as he is now. Not when he was an actual little boy." 14:11 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Sounds like one of my brothers." 14:11 <banana> "How many have you got?" 14:11 <tom> "Alright Dan, if I trigger some sort of self-destruct... run." Bob exhales until his lungs are empty and pops the pen into the pinhole. 14:12 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "I'm the youngest of seven, and the only girl. There's Alfie, Wulfie, Freddie, Eddie, Charlie, and Klaus." 14:12 <banana> "Oh my God. You're Catholic." 14:12 <banana> Lights - lights everywhere, running through the partly-assembled leg. All the vines light up and bestir themselves, rustling uncomfortably. 14:12 <Crion> To Bob: "Benni Athletic attacked Badawi and Hughes." 14:13 <Crion> "They're fine." 14:13 <Crion> "But we're going to have to reset some boundaries with that man and his organization." 14:13 <tom> "Ha!" He claps as the panels light up. 14:13 <Crion> "So stay on your toes and watchout for any schlubs in tracksuits outside your place in the city." 14:13 <VoxPVoxD> Willie grins. "Some in my family would take real offence to that! The Wellesleys are old Protestant Ascendancy, even before the Dukedom." 14:14 <tom> "Oh, way ahead of you. Got my head on a swivel out in Eccles, yeah." 14:14 <banana> There's a loud hum in the pod cockpit - Daniel scrambles inside to allow Aster up. The power-core vinemass beneath it becomes too hot to touch, and a couple of curved screens in the walls fill with information and diagrams. All of the writing is in Japanese. 14:14 <tom> "Now, let's see..." 14:14 <banana> Maps of the solar system, though, you can make out. 14:14 <banana> There's a clearly marked flight trajectory, the route the tripod took to reach the Dark Peak - all the way from Mars. 14:14 <tom> "I fuckin' knew it." 14:15 <banana> Daniel: "Eh. But... Zeb said there are canals." 14:16 <banana> Vincenzo's 2IC picks up the phone after a while. He always does eventually. 14:16 <banana> What Badawi has to say on the independence and ambitions of this local big-brained gang, he'll hear, and take into account.