21:06 <banana> The Civil Service was all remote when DWP moved to the North, and most of Willie's team have never seen their office. It's somewhere up in Heaton Park, in a building that used to belong to property managers. (They levelled up and right out of the industry.) 21:08 <banana> From the feedback she's got, Willie knows that most of them like it that way. Probably the only guy who'd rather be in the office is Olly Bhojani, who considers it a useful way to get out of the house for a while. 21:09 <banana> For now, they've got Microsoft Sharepoint, Microsoft Teams and Microsoft Office 365. Home offices started out professional and have slowly filled up with dogs, children and knick-knacks. What's Willie's look like on her post-prandial standup? 21:15 <VoxPVoxD> It's not bad, as all these not-particularly-old-or-new office blocks go. 2004, or something? Willie had this at her fingertips before she started learning about shotgun gauges and the power of the mind. And she's only in two days a week right now anyway. Willie works out of her living room, and the place is meticulously arranged; windowsill herb garden, landscape and wildlife art in dark 21:15 <VoxPVoxD> frames hanging in a balanced and orderly arrangement. Hanging behind and above her desk is a giant, glittering print of Westminster at night, taken from the Thames. 21:16 <VoxPVoxD> But Willie does not have a director's eye for scene-setting. That's not what the camera sees. The delicacy, rigor, and order she imposes on her space is visible only incidentally, and at oblique angles. The thing that pops in the camera's view is her. 21:19 <VoxPVoxD> She dresses exactly the same on remote days as she does on in-office days: a stylish suit (this one a burnished and autumnal orange) over a crinkly-leaf-colored brown silk top. She's got earrings in, which is slightly unusual. She looks like she just got back from the stylist. She always looks like she just got back from the stylist. 21:22 <banana> Most of the rest of the management team are also in newish living spaces, although some of them are cheaper. Roger's den is spotless as always; Curly's place is the opposite with visible makeup kits and freshly killed boxes from Pizza Juan Domingo. 21:22 <banana> June's office *looks* organised, but there are noises from just behind the door - kids screaming in glee/terror/whatever kids scream about these days. Olly, as usual, has his laptop on the sofa and hand-knitted typing gloves. 21:23 <banana> All of them are trapped in this hellish meeting until someone can work out how they're supposed to allocate 19 headcount of social carers among 24 social care employees for the next month. 21:26 <banana> Curly's best at the numbers, and she's got a spreadsheet up for everyone to view the options - hours cuts, furlough, redundancy, secondments to some other department or the local council (not that they have the budget for it). It's all standard stuff and nobody actually has to be fired.. but it isn't what the carers were promised. 21:26 <banana> Olly: "Nor our clients, I suppose." 21:31 <VoxPVoxD> Foisting them off on someone else is not an option. Everyone's underfunded. Everyone is hurting. Why, it'd be like they never actually left the frying pan. "So a 22% cut in hours across the board gets us there, and we can bring that down to 17 or 18 with a targeted furlough scheme. It's a pinch no matter what. We need to look beyond the personnel issue to deliverables: what scheme retains 21:31 <VoxPVoxD> the most robust access to care?" 21:33 <VoxPVoxD> A smaller hours cut and a couple of redundancies might produce a better product... but Willie's never had to fire someone before. Even if it's not going to be a come-to-my-office kind of social murder-suicide. 21:35 <banana> Roger's microphone is very good. He sounds like he's right there, saying: "We've never met the clinical guideline, so it's a matter of statistics. Most of our client-pensioners say they'd rather a familiar face, even if she was around a little less. The numbers don't bear that out. We see the largest increase in alerting and quality-of-life decreases when our weekly coverage dips below contact 21:35 <banana> threshholds." 21:36 <banana> There's a gentle rain outside. The clouded sunlight can't compete with Willie's ceiling lights. 21:45 <banana> The discussion goes quickly, then slowly. Willie's able to gain consensus around the best and worst outcomes, but the team are pretty unhappy with the slow, constant reduction in services. There must, they reason, be some way to cut the gordian knot; there isn't, but it wastes time. 21:46 <VoxPVoxD> Willie and the team go round and round a bit more, pushing and pulling at this variable or that. Thinking about how every person that gets shoved off her books is just going to end up on Alan's or Claire's. It's like a shell game, this. Her musing causes her to lose the whip hand in the meeting. But when she feels the reins slipping she's able to reimpose discipline, in her gentle but direct 21:46 <VoxPVoxD> way. The team has a workable solution within the hour. 21:46 <VoxPVoxD> But Willie Wellesley isn't satisfied with workable. We can do better. 21:47 <banana> Curly: "It does balance. Like the feather and the soul." 21:50 <VoxPVoxD> She starts to lose the plot a bit herself; she's really wearing herself out trying to wring some blood from this stone. But she's got a great team. 21:53 <banana> The meeting takes twice as long again. There are bathroom breaks, wrinkled brows, and people have to get back to their own work.. but Willie's pushed them to put the pieces back together in a way which makes sense. Nobody's going to perceive a service reduction this month, although in some notional numeric sense it's merely been delayed. 21:54 <banana> The call breaks up at last. Curly recommends the pizza chain to anyone who hasn't tried it since moving up here. Olly stays on the Zoom a little longer, though: "How and why do you do it, Wills?" 21:55 <VoxPVoxD> That's the job. That's every job worth doing. You're always fighting entropy, and you're always on the back foot. 21:56 <VoxPVoxD> Willie's just come back from her own break with a 4 o'clock double espresso, pulled in her kitchen. Caffeine after lunch is a sign the day has beaten you. "Well, mostly I get very faint and wait for you all to very chivalrously pick me up." 22:00 <banana> Olly: "Fiddlesticks. It works because we can see how much you want it. That kind of drive.. it's a bit like a motor you can attach to any kind of situation and" The metaphor has escaped him. "Actuate it. Impart kinetic energy." 22:06 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Everyone on the team wants it. That's why we're here. I think..." She looks down into her empty little cup. She looks very tired. "What's the alternative?" 22:07 <VoxPVoxD> "I had a conversation the other day. On a walk with some tea. With a woman who told me a very personal, painful story, with no apparent moral." 22:07 <banana> Olly: "Oh, nobody's legislated one yet." 22:07 <banana> Bhojani nods, waiting to see what the moral of the no apparent moral is. 22:09 <VoxPVoxD> "Moral or not, it certainly had an ethic. It said, look out for yourself, because no one else will. Tend to your pain, because no one else can feel it. Don't lose yourself in the fantasy of... I don't know. Heroism, I suppose." 22:10 <VoxPVoxD> "What do you make of that?" 22:12 <banana> Olly: "Well, I think it's obviously wrong. Did I tell you what happened with the idiots on the train?" 22:12 <VoxPVoxD> "No! Do tell." 22:14 <banana> Olly's referring to the teenagers who racially abused him on the way up to Manchester. Irish mother, Gujarati father, he was born in England and has never been overseas in his life; he still gets people telling him he 'isn't English' and that his kids (who pass for white) should be taken away. 22:15 <banana> "Well, the police rounded them up after about five minutes asking; community service, ten thousand pounds fine and an apology to the Mrs. I asked for that last bit and they seemed happy to give it." 22:16 <banana> Olly: "Throughout the whole process the authorities had my back, both up here and back h- back in London. I honestly felt nothing but supported." 22:21 <VoxPVoxD> Willie's silent for a while. It might cross Olly's mind that she's completely zoned out, or not listening. But then the light refills her eyes and her voice gets animated and fierce. "That's right. You're absolutely right! The fantasy isn't heroism or saviourism. It's faith in cynicism, in, in the objectivity of nihilism." 22:22 <banana> Olly: "Sounds about right. It's silly to say you can't help people - we do it every day." 22:23 <banana> "Wish I had your energy, though. Only one around here with that kind of fervour is my oldest when he's playing Fortnite." 22:24 <VoxPVoxD> "What we have to do —" What I have to do. "—is take sides. The system takes sides. The people take sides. And we have an obligation, not just to each other but to ourselves to favor the good and resist the evil." 22:25 <VoxPVoxD> "I want to be a leader, a facilitator, an advocate, sure. A lot of people want that. But people stop short when they realize that to be for something, you have to be against something else." 22:25 <VoxPVoxD> "Real leadership is the domain of the adversary." 22:26 <banana> Olly watches the screen in amusement. Is it the millenarianism that motivates her, or the presence of a fight? 22:27 <banana> "The adversary in my oldest's case is 'The Alpha Strike'. Apparently they're really tearing up the place." 22:27 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Why do gamers so love their military jargon?" 22:28 <banana> Olly: "I remember enjoying plastic machineguns very much when I was a little boy. You can imagine any kind of enemy and put yourself in the place of the relevant heroes." 22:29 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "I think I've seen something about them, these Alpha Strikes. Something in the Manc, maybe, or on a sign around town. They're local, yeah?" 22:30 <banana> Olly has no idea. "This is all in the videogame. As far as I can tell it's set in Narnia." 22:30 <VoxPVoxD> Good. That's a relief. 22:31 <VoxPVoxD> "How are you doing?" 22:32 <banana> Mmm. "I'm a bit tired, to be honest. After a meeting like that.. it feels good to set it aside at the end of the day and go home. Now we are home. I'll probably go for a walk at five." 22:32 <banana> Olly: "Might see if I can find a Juan Domingo's that does takeaway." 22:34 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "I can't say this in front of anyone else, because they'll take it as a shot across the bow, but I want us in-office so badly. It's just easier to collaborate without chat channels and push-to-talk." 22:35 <VoxPVoxD> A sigh. "But I won't keep you any longer. Start you walk at 4:30, why don't you? I've worked you lot hard enough as it is." 22:36 <VoxPVoxD> She doesn't intend to give anyone else specific permission to knock off — Willie Wellesley has her favourites, as a habitual side-taker inevitably must — but she does intend to log off, which is tantamount to the same thing. 22:37 <VoxPVoxD> She has another 30 minutes of heads-down, at least. Maybe close to an hour. 22:37 <banana> Olly doesn't mind that idea at all. As for the office... he points out that Treasury will eventually demand value out of their rent on Rico House. 22:42 <VoxPVoxD> She only looks up when she remembers she hasn't eaten since lunch, at which she had 'some fruit' after also skipping breakfast. That's the other thing about remote work: she eats a lot better when there's people around her to feed. 22:42 <VoxPVoxD> Maybe the Alpha Strikes are hungry. 22:42 <banana> It sounds like they've been hard at work(?). 22:45 <VoxPVoxD> Willie's got this idea for a sort of shepherd's pie using kheema mutter as the lamb base. Bit of cardamom and cumin with the Irish cheddar in the mash... Two pans will reasonably feed eight gamers. She lets the lamb defrost under running water while she preps her vegetables. It's probably just getting dark when she's got them wrapped in foil and in her thermal bag. 22:47 <VoxPVoxD> Her car's so old it only has a tape deck, but its cigarette lighter takes an iPhone cable fine with an adapter. So she's got music for the ride. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQq8jzROdEk 22:47 <VoxPVoxD> Times played since the meeting: 109. 22:47 <banana> What did they do with the TrackCheck, anyway? Nobody seemed to want to take responsibility for it. 22:48 <VoxPVoxD> Willie took it home with her assuming Richard was okay with it and Aster had already left. 22:48 <VoxPVoxD> If so, she's got it in her purse. Or on the backseat if it doesn't fit in her (quite large) bag. 22:49 <banana> The thing folds up! like a tripod. It can be bundled into three connected fluorescent green rods. Like a chainless mutant nunchuck. 22:49 <banana> Actually, it's kind of immune to analogies. But it fits in a purse. 22:49 <VoxPVoxD> How... convenient. 22:50 <banana> Alpha Strike Gamer House is on the edge of the Gay Village. It's close enough to Willie's that she could walk if she wasn't bringing food, and if it wasn't as late as it is.. either way, it doesn't take long. From the outside, the only unusual thing is the lintel sign. 22:50 <VoxPVoxD> She's going to be so embarrassed if they've already eaten. 22:51 <VoxPVoxD> She did at least change into something less imposing than her work clothes, a jumper and a scarf. Still very autumnal. 22:51 <VoxPVoxD> Do you knock? Is there a buzzer? A lidless mechanical eye that refuses to open any pod bay doors? 22:52 <banana> Eaten... is a strong word for it. There's Irn Bru everywhere, snack food, and Hambo's actually in the middle of taking orders for a McDonalds' run. 22:53 <banana> Wait, how did Willie get in the door? Well, she's here now. 22:53 <VoxPVoxD> Huh. Are there windows? 22:53 <VoxPVoxD> Can she see the street from inside? 22:53 <banana> Here and something of a saviour. A couple of guys set up a cheer, though they fail to perform a Mexican Wave around the living room. 22:54 <VoxPVoxD> They'll have more opportunities to coordinate later. 22:54 <banana> There are windows, some boarded up and some just covered in thick curtains. You can pull them aside if the light's not enough (it definitely isn't). 22:54 <VoxPVoxD> She will if no one stops her. 22:57 <banana> Demons - they look like nerds but they're so hellish that she's constantly surprised by the lack of horns - cluster about and offer to unfold a table for shepherd's pie. Drawn by the commotion, Jan strides into the room to greet her. 22:58 <VoxPVoxD> Willie greets him back. She won't initiate a hug. Maybe in a few more visits. "How goes the training?" 22:58 <banana> Nige and Jan are both very tall, one dark and one pale; they look sinfully good together and move similarly as well. But they do have different turns of phrasing. Jan is the one who talked about 'virtuous trials' and wasn't entirely familiar with British slang. 22:59 <banana> "We've attended triumphs today, O emissary of the outside world." 22:59 <banana> "What news do you bring us of the daystar? Of the chokingly fresh air? My clan is immune to these privations." 23:01 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Well, it rained today, so you didn't miss much." 23:01 <banana> Hambo translates. "We won today, so we don't have to go outside. They were going to make me get everyone burgers, so.. thank Eris you're here." 23:01 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Is Eris your Discord moderator?" 23:05 <banana> Another gamer - this one's a shorter guy with unwashed hair and a shirt which reads I FRAGGED YOUR MOTHER in an ancient language related to Basque - says: "No, we still need burgers. Pie looks great, but like.. they had that event in the game.. we've got an appetite.." 23:05 <banana> Jan: "Eris is the Queen of Chaos." 23:05 <banana> T3rt!arY: "Ex-squeeze me." 23:06 <banana> Hambo will herd people toward the table, perhaps to avoid being sent to McDonalds. About six of the gamers will be eating. Does Willie want a seat herself? 23:06 <VoxPVoxD> It does smell good... she can stand if there's no room. 23:06 <VoxPVoxD> But she will take a seat if there is. 23:08 <banana> They've got a very old table, which would have been quite expensive sixty years ago; it has segments which slide out and let you extend the thing so that a whole bunch of people can sit down at once. Last time you saw this it was covered in computers, but most of those seem to have been taken back upstairs (a mysterious demon realm which Willie has not visited). 23:09 <banana> Jan and Nige sit together up one end, and the others crowd around Willie, as if this gives them permission to take extra slices. They eye her curiously - T3rt!arY glares, and the guy in the impossible shirt watches her instead - but as usual it's Hambo who speaks. 23:10 <banana> "So you didn't give us away or anything, right? No articles in the Daily Planet about how those guys in the top clan are so good... it's supernatural." 23:12 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "No! Not at all. It would violate your trust, and what's more it would diminish my reputation. The calls you saw me getting the first time I was here, from a sort of omni-Jack, have led to me forming a clan of my own with other people in similar circumstances to mine." 23:13 <VoxPVoxD> "Do you all know the name? Sourjack, Greyjack, Jack of the Edges, Jacques de Gris?" 23:14 <banana> Hambo: "Yeah, those were a bit weird. We looked into it." 23:14 <banana> Nige, amiably: "I looked into it." 23:14 <banana> Everyone but the Top Laners get quiet. They eat. 23:17 <banana> Nigel - you have to assume that's his name - gazes at Willie with eyes that seem to recess, a vision that starts far away and crosses aeons to pluck at her reflected light. "This edged jack-name is interesting. It's floating around.. just a name. Making itself known." 23:17 <VoxPVoxD> "In what capacity?" 23:18 <banana> "Jack makes inquiries, Jack accepts bids. He comes detached from a past but familiar with the talk of town. He's either constructed or very, very limited." 23:18 <VoxPVoxD> "Perhaps both." 23:18 <banana> Nigel: "Have you heard of angels?" 23:20 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "My training was rather more Abrahamic and pessimistic than that." 23:22 <banana> "I suppose an angel's not bad luck." Nige is no longer paying attention to his portion of the meal, but Jan has simply swapped their plates and continued eating. "They are very deliberate. Deterministic." 23:23 <banana> "Your jacker, or hacker.. he has some of the same feel. Smaller version of the same concept? There's a way you could learn more, and it'd help us out." 23:23 <VoxPVoxD> Willie listens attentively. 23:24 <banana> Frag shirt guy: "Any of us could do it, Nige. You're really committed to this not going outside thing." 23:25 <banana> Nigel: "IT IS THROUGH THE LIMITATION OF OUR SELVES THAT WE FOCUS THE ABILITY TO ACT." 23:26 <banana> That roars down the table with a smell like burning brass. Shirt guy, T3rt!arY, Claat - they all bow their heads and stare into closed eyelids. Not praying. Hambo resists it a little and just looks away. 23:27 <VoxPVoxD> Oh my. 23:28 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "I am happy to be your emissary, your facilitator, your advocate." 23:28 <VoxPVoxD> "If I can." 23:31 <banana> Nigel smiles at her. Jan eats. Nigel turns back to the others, cowering- "What is this world we find?" 23:31 <banana> Hambo: "A parody." 23:31 <banana> The others: "A parody." 23:31 <banana> Nigel: "What is the world we build? 23:31 <banana> Hambo and others: "A satire." 23:31 <banana> Nigel: "While we deny ourselves Hell, our will is expressed- where?" 23:31 <banana> All the demons chant together: "In Minecraft." 23:32 <banana> Jan murmurs to Willie, "Sorry about that." 23:32 <banana> Nigel: "Sorry, yeah. Interrupted your very kind offer." 23:34 <banana> "There are angels in Manchester, regardless of what people say about knife crime. Would you like a way to deal with them?" 23:35 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "What do you mean by 'deal with'? What do they do? Are they following orders?" 23:35 <banana> "First things first, aye?" 23:35 <banana> Hambo: "Where else would you put the first things?" 23:36 <banana> T3rt!arY mutters something about where he can put them. 23:36 <banana> Nige: "So, what they do.. they go about the tasks they've been given. Just those tasks. An angel does not deviate from its mission." 23:37 <banana> "They are sent to put something into the world, or to reorder it. Move things about. Keep them in place. They act, generally, to keep things on track. YouGov polls say 65% of respondents think Britain is 'going in the wrong direction'." 23:40 <banana> Does it seem like Willie's got any questions so far? Claat is going to make an excuse and leave the table. Itching to get back to an RPG, apparently. 23:40 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Sent by whom?" 23:41 <VoxPVoxD> "Do they belong to the night-city?" 23:42 <banana> Nigel hesitates for long moments there, takes stock of how people look around the table. They look like they really enjoyed the pie. 23:42 <banana> Jan nudges him fondly, and he continues. "Angels.. well, they're sent by God." 23:42 <banana> "There are various takes on the details." 23:43 <VoxPVoxD> The expression on Willie's face says, I feel foolish for not guessing that. 23:43 <banana> "The important thing about about angels is that they will try to manipulate you, to control you, or to remove you if you are in the way of their mission. They have extraordinary power when on-task." 23:45 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Like a motor that gets attached to a situation to impart kinetic energy." 23:46 <banana> Nige: "Like that engine, they have too much power for their own good. If it's not carefully directed, they can tear themselves apart." 23:47 <banana> Jan: "That's how you go after an angel, see. You get it to act in ways that weren't anticipated." 23:47 <banana> Nigel: "By God." 23:47 <banana> Jan: "Anything dynamic, novel acts and thoughts. Most particularly, you persuade them to do something... independent." 23:48 <VoxPVoxD> "To rebel." 23:48 <banana> Shirt guy: "This persuasion can take the form of words, but bombs work better." 23:49 <banana> Jan: "We are experts in this. Even the basic idea you've got now might do the trick, but if you need help taking down an angel - you have the clan's axes. Everyone wins." 23:49 <banana> Nigel: "Except God." 23:50 <banana> Hambo: "What was it you said about people in 'similar circumstances'.. you're gunna go round investigating the night-city?" 23:51 <VoxPVoxD> Willie leans forward. "Have you had much experience with hunters?" 23:51 <banana> Hambo: "Well, I've played Dead by Daylight." 23:52 <banana> T3rt!arY: "Good fucking game. It takes forever to get a queue as killer, but when you do.. it's like a waltz, man! You become the puppetmaster!" 23:53 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "I'm thinking... Frenchmen with corporate credit cards. Blokes from the Human Office. The odd pub owner with nails through his cricket bat. The people vampires worry about." 23:54 <banana> Somewhere, a vampire is deeply insulted. 23:54 <VoxPVoxD> Not for the last time, probably. 23:56 <banana> Nigel: "Unless they've got serious three-letter-agency connections, that sort of caper sounds pretty unserious. In your position.. what are you, Willie?" 23:56 <banana> "I'm sorry, is that really rude?" 23:57 <banana> Hambo's going to bring out some box wine to help this bit of the conversation along. They have fridges in most of the ground-floor rooms, and alcohol in most of the fridges. 23:59 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "I'm a Grade 6. I'm a Marchioness. I'm a Size 10." A vague, playful smile. She really is knackered. "Have you ever heard of the Lucifuge?" 00:02 <banana> Nigel looks around the dwindling table again and gets shaking heads. "No." Experimentally: "Yes." 00:02 <VoxPVoxD> "It's Latin. It means 'that which divides light from darkness'." 00:02 <banana> You're certain he's telling the truth, both times. 00:03 <banana> Nigel: "Another grey edge? We don't know about the Lucifuge. But I'm going to have to find out, now." 00:04 <banana> "The thing is that you- you're not like us. But there's waste heat in your blood, and you have a bit of Infrastructure in your purse." 00:04 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "What I was told — and what my experience does not contradict — is that I share blood with... Satan, essentially." 00:05 <banana> Jan: "This is a bit like if I went into an office full of humans and said 'my powers derive from my descent from Adam, the First Man'." 00:05 <VoxPVoxD> "The Infrastructure is not mine. It came to me by way of Jack. There are places, too. Pocket spaces full of connections, beating machine-hearts that pump every genre of light and substance from one conduit to the next." 00:06 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "That would make you Christian." 00:06 <VoxPVoxD> "There is something of the missionary's work in what we do." 00:06 <VoxPVoxD> "What I do." 00:06 <VoxPVoxD> What I used to do. 00:08 <banana> Nigel: "Well, it doesn't make a lot of sense to me." Again, you're certain he's being sincere. "Without intent to impugn your reality." 00:09 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "I have often felt the same way. Sometimes I feel as if the world only makes sense if you hold still and let it wash over you. Sometimes I feel as if the world only makes sense if you force it to." 00:09 <VoxPVoxD> "But the fact remains. Jack put a team together to do hunters' work on behalf of the night-city, rather than against it." 00:10 <banana> Hambo: "There's a deep truth to that, forcing sense into the world. Everything has a level designer, everything's moddable if you get low-level." 00:12 <banana> Nigel: "As the lion said to the lamb - we might not be part of this game you're playing. But you may encounter angels as you move around the board." 00:12 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "How will I know I've crossed an angel's path?" 00:12 <VoxPVoxD> "Also, d'you want to help me make sense of this gadget? You called it 'infrastructure'." 00:15 <banana> Nigel: "Some look obviously angelic. The others have been made in the image of man, but they're not loving it. Just sanctimonious drips in a skinsuit. They'll give themselves away with halon farts or positronic nostrils. Sometimes they forget to breathe." 00:16 <banana> Jan: "Ahh. I'm not sure we should go near whatever that is.. there's a chance of.. reactions." 00:16 <banana> Nigel: "Disclosures." 00:17 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "It does get quite personal." 00:17 <banana> T3rt!arY: "It's like going out without pants and yelling about how they've fucked you on tax." 00:18 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "What it seems to do is, when you point it at someone, begin playing a song, and reading off... stage directions. Like you're looking at a soundtrack cue in a script." 00:19 <banana> Most of them seem disinterested or superstitious about the thing. But Hambo says: "Maybe it is." 00:20 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "But whose? Who picks these songs? Whose snide little opinions does it reproduce?" 00:21 <banana> "I'd guess there's a server somewhere, digital or conceptual.. or a room with with infinite monkeys on typewriters. Critical perspective backpropagated into a neural net." 00:21 <VoxPVoxD> "I won't impose on your privacy. But anything you can tell me about how to find out would make any effort to keep abreast of angels easier." 00:22 <banana> Nigel: "This has been fun, I do want to know more about your weird bloodology, and we'll look into it. But honestly, the whole world is a stage on which everything from from human souls to the stuff of physical law dances for the amusement of callous and inscrutable creators, so.. that kind of thing is basically normal." 00:23 <banana> Jan: "My partner speaks opinion here." 00:23 <banana> Nigel: "Correct opinion, yeah." 00:23 <banana> Jan: "Oh, sure!" 00:24 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "I don't accept that. Callous, perhaps. I don't know enough to render judgment. But inscrutable? No. Anything that acts upon the world can be acted upon in turn. And if you can act on something, you can come to know it." 00:24 <VoxPVoxD> "And these angels walk among us." 00:25 <VoxPVoxD> "Their instruments, their monuments, their temples." 00:25 <VoxPVoxD> "I have seen them. I have held them in my hand. They have purpose." 00:25 <banana> Nigel: "If you can't know it, you can at least kill it." 00:25 <VoxPVoxD> Coolly: "That will do in a pinch." 00:26 <banana> Hambo: "MAX_HP only grows so large." 00:26 <VoxPVoxD> "We must speak again soon." 00:26 <VoxPVoxD> "Should I bring burgers next time?" 00:26 <banana> Shirt guy: "yyyyyno. Not if you can cook like this."