11:01 <banana> It's been good to take time off from one job... because there are all these other jobs to do. 11:01 <Crion> This is the bare principle of the professional life. 11:02 <banana> Aaron Aster and Agostina Badawi are people who relax very actively. Forensic reporting, enforcement for another house- there's been time to actually rest, if they wanted it, but it's not like the people around them encourage it either. 11:03 <banana> So when they meet again in February, they've got notes to compare - and it's ostensibly for work. Even though the real work, the true Vigil, is yet to resume. 11:04 <banana> Aster Biologics is getting busy, now, particularly with the analysts' office above it generating extra work, and so Dr. Kim is scheduled to start today. With Badawi coming around to help out a bit, Aster can clear enough work out of the way to make room for that. 11:05 <banana> How do the two of them look after a couple of months otherwise occupied? Does the glare of the lab lighting reveal anything interesting? 11:06 <Crion> Aster looks ruthlessly the same. His routine hasn't been affected in the slightest -- sometimes to Dr. Blackfin's amusement, and other times to her chagrin -- and he continues his daily runs, diet regimen, and work schedule. 11:07 <Crion> It's significantly more regular now that he's not being asked to run around at all hours of the night. 11:07 <Quaker> Badawi is sitting on a lab stool, slowly spinning around. She tans very dark indeed. 11:08 <banana> One of Rolf's pages keeps changing its name. They have to avoid the censors - it's a problem these days, being unable to speak your mind. 11:09 <Crion> "Stop doing that and help me prepare these samples. You're not twelve." What case are these samples from? 11:09 <Quaker> The trip abroad seems to have left her in an improved mood. She seems looser, less uptight and guarded. 11:10 <banana> Even online, where you're meant to have freedom of speech! The group has been 'LEAVE WITH OUR BOOTS ON', 'British True Believers' and more recently a series of dates, going backwards to fool the authorities. They started at 'Union/Pandemic Events Chat 2021' and are now back to 'Events Chat 2019'. 11:10 <Quaker> She’s wearing black sneakers, navy blue baggy pants, a black button-up tucked in behind a gold belt buckle, about a half-dozen gold chains around her neck, a black leather jacket, black saint laurent sunglasses, and a Kangol-brand beret. 11:11 <Crion> Quite a look. 11:11 <banana> Simon Kingfisher boggled a little at the front desk - you'd think he'd be used to it, but he seems more uniformed officers than anything these days. 11:14 <Quaker> She’s friendly to Simon - “What’s up, cracker” - but seems a bit lost in the lab surrounded by cutting edge (?) medical analysis (?) technology. “Damn, is this the stuff that made you bald?” She will help out to the best of her ability, though. 11:14 <banana> Sometimes Aster sees the full scope of a case, sometimes he doesn't. The thing with the gangrel is going to come to a head soon, but the one with the golem petered out, from his point of view - he heard something about a raid on a warehouse, but that was all GMP. The fragments of bone and metal he's now got for analysis are something new. 11:14 <Crion> Aster: "Are you sure you aren't Agostina Badawi's fetch." 11:15 <hrolf> Rolf finishes typing up a post: <the quen dont hve covid, covid got the queen!! 😂😂😂 good luck to the virus!!!> One of his best. 11:15 <banana> It's mostly just routine stuff, overflow police work - but the reason they gave him this particular bit of evidence from a smugger who got shot by other smugglers is that the man's bones carbon-date as impossibly old. 11:15 <Crion> "I should banish you to the front for Kingfisher to ask 'are you a rapper' and 'when's Lady Wellesley coming by again' over and over." 11:15 <banana> (We're not talking 'I'm Henry the First of England' old - millions or billions of years. There weren't any human bones back then.) 11:16 <Crion> Very interesting. 11:16 <banana> The town of Randazzo is at the base of Mount Etna, and it's very very old. 11:17 <Crion> "A man's bones carbon-dating to billions of years old...finally, some evidence of intelligent design," he says, lightly mocking the idea, though it's hard to say from which direction. 11:19 <Quaker> “Some of us don’t mind actually spending a little money once we’re all guap’d up. What’s that you’re looking at?” In the moments between helpfully following simple directions, she’ll try to peer through various scopes and slots, and at things in jars. 11:19 <Quaker> “Maybe the carbon’s wrong.” 11:19 <banana> This place had an army when London was just receiving a charter from Henry I's father. It hasn't been independent since the thirteenth century, but the homes and square and dense public buildings are truly ancient stone. Sergio's barely-there accent has grown exaggerated by proximity to the people. 11:19 <Quaker> “Or maybe he caught the wrong end of some wizard spell.” 11:19 <banana> Randazzo at night is also very.. dark. No lights at night, yet people are out- murmuring, doing local and decidedly non-touristy things. It would be incredibly menacing, if Willie wasn't who she is, wasn't with who she's with, and wasn't here to meet who she's here to meet. 11:21 <VoxPVoxD> Yesssssss. Today, the night-city... tomorrow, the night-world! 11:21 <Crion> Aster: "The carbon's almost never wrong, except in the case of common forgeries. No, it's usually something far more infuriating: the carbon is right...but blatantly inconsistent." 11:21 <Crion> "And so you get things such as occult conspiracy, thaumatism, the young earth creationists. Etcetera." 11:25 <Quaker> “Odd to think that the occult conspiracy theorists were right about so much. Maybe not in the specifics, but…well, the vampires are a bit like the Illuminati.” 11:26 <Crion> Aster: "Well, occult conspiracies at this point make claim to literally every thing about the world. At some point sunlight has to hit the broad side of the barn." 11:26 <Quaker> “Are we waiting for someone, by the way?” 11:27 <Crion> "None of this explains why Adam Kadmon, the First Man, or whoever this is, was engaged in petty smuggling." 11:27 <banana> Rolf's jokes are well assumed, he assumes - this is more of a group for getting your thoughts out there, not reading what other people have to say. Whatever it is, it's their right to say it. But there is one post that catches his eye... 11:27 <Crion> "Yes, my new assistant and office manager is starting today. Apparently fed up with the Greater Manchester Constabulatory. Or Police. Or whatever they're called." 11:28 <banana> 'Matthew Random' is very well known to the netizens of Events Chat 2019 - he's an insider! No mere interpreter of Q drops, this guy works at Number 10, and his rare posts provide exclusive insights into what's REALLY going on in the nation's heart of government. 11:28 <banana> *are well received 11:30 <Quaker> “Anyone I know?” 11:31 <banana> In the more touristy parts of Sicily, by day, the locals have been lovely - but out here, in this entirely unmarked restaurant (no street signs ANYWHERE) Willie had the feeling of walking into a saloon only to see all conversation cease and mens' hands drop to their holsters. 11:31 <Crion> Aster: "If you make it a habit of hanging out with forensic contractors to Her Majesty's Such and Such. Dr. Kim Yun Ha." 11:32 <VoxPVoxD> eeeeeee! That's so cool. It makes Willie wish she was wearing the sort of frilly, corseted dress you'd lean suggestively over a balcony in. 11:33 <banana> It's not literal - people weren't talking anyway, they were eating, and the food is worth the attention. But it amuses Sergio, who's mentioned both that he loves this place and that he's glad his parents left it. Once you're done with the meal, you've heard that Rosario can be found at the 'bar' - a little side room where Sicilians drink, and only drink, from small cups of strong stuff. 11:34 <banana> Bob hunts alone. Just a man and his dog. 11:34 <hrolf> Rolf always looks forward to Matt's posts. Finally some signal to all the noise. Not that he minds the memes and bantz, but having well written and sourced intel is a welcome break sometimes. 11:35 <Crion> "Also a...material witness in the Gardiner case. Not sure how much of that she remembers." 11:35 <banana> Technically it's not true... he has friends and allies. Some of the Nameless House are still in town; he's met ordinary English people who'd be happy to help track down this thing, and a larger number of English monsters who'd be quite capable of it. The star-children owe him, the free council want to talk to him, the vampires are starting to trust him, and the Lost... 11:35 <VoxPVoxD> The mystery! The tension! The sense of a thread of connection to something old and dark and strange... and not English or Satanic. This is the dream. Who is Rosario, exactly? 11:36 <Quaker> “She doesn’t remember being dragged away by an elder vampire?” Hmm. “Is she clued in, otherwise?” 11:37 <banana> ...well, it's difficult to talk to some of the changelings right now. They've tried to avoid hurting each other, but it wasn't salvageable. Love - maybe like like all love everywhere? - is revealed as self-deception. 11:37 <tom> Gorton Reservoir is squarely between the Tintwistle farmstead and the city, so it's not that far of a drive. It's better to handle this at night, when there will be fewer people out. How many day's it been since we blew up the Caleban? 11:37 <banana> So although it doesn't have to be this way, he's out on this golf course alone. Apart from the golfers. And the dog. 11:37 <Crion> Aster: "Nameless House business remains nameless. I'm still feeling out her comfort level with the supernatural, and then her knowledge level from that, but it's not nothing. You don't have to pretend ghosts don't exist or what have you." 11:39 <banana> Bob's been busy, but It didn't take him too long to track down the reports and bits of evidence to where he believes the 'vorloth' alien is hiding. January has not yet given up the ghost. 11:39 <tom> Bob kneels and pets the dog. 11:40 <tom> "If you're good I won't humiliate you with the ball while we're out here." 11:40 <tom> Let's just hope the dog doesn't call his bluff. 11:40 <Quaker> “What about…vampires?” 11:40 <banana> Sergio: "The first thing I'm going to ask is how they knew we were in town. A ragged bit of paper slipped under the door is very dramatic, and if we didn't want demands to meet at midnight we wouldn't be out here... but do they even know who we are? Is it just a tourist shakedown?" 11:41 <VoxPVoxD> Kaga looks up at Bob, soulless eyes set deep in a soulful expression. "I am always good." 11:41 <Crion> What has Aster sussed out regarding Kim's knowledge of vampires? 11:41 <banana> He doesn't say 'Cosa Nostra' - nobody says the name around here - but they're always a possibility. Decades of prosecutions and Tuscan control haven't entirely been able to eradicate the island's darkness. 11:42 <tom> "Yes you are," Bob affirms. "You are a good boy." He checks his visor for the feed from the drone. 11:43 <tom> Now let's see... he's mostly getting a panoramic of the golf course, but the feed's bound to hit water soon enough, and then we're looking down from on high onto the other side of the reservoir to begin the sweep. 11:43 <banana> Dr. Kim - who should be walking through the door any moment - agreed to work for Aster partly, he thinks, to find out more. She's accepted that the police aren't going to do their jobs, but in that case someone else has to do it. He recognises the signs of someone drawn to the hunt quite well, now, and expects her to be inconveniently curious. 11:43 <banana> But she's a fully qualified surgeon who wants - for her own partially specified reasons - to work for probably less than she's ever been paid. It'd be reckless not to accept. 11:44 <VoxPVoxD> Willie wonders if Italy's vampires have a relationship with the various mafiae at all similar to what the Invictus of Britain do with the nobility. She regrets not asking Weaste about that; she forgot to. "Are you worried?" 11:44 <tom> He didn't bother putting a leash on Kaga this time around. "C'mon, let's go." 11:45 <Crion> Aster may not pay as well as the crown government but he's hardly about to stop her from freelancing as she pleases. After all, that's what he's doing. 11:45 <tom> "We're here to accept the alien's honorable surrender under the Generva convention, so no jugular-ripping." 11:46 <banana> Sergio makes an expressive gesture; he's not worried. "There's not much we couldn't deal with, or- dealing with it would be an adventure." He speaks quietly, due to the locals' unending gaze, but he sounds happy. "Everything feels new out here, although evidently it is not. New to me, to us, only opportunities and no costs." 11:46 <VoxPVoxD> How long have Bob and Kaga been together at this point? Has Kaga already worked through the obvious rude and awkward questions? Either way, as he keeps his eyes on the trails, he says, "Do you golf, William?" 11:47 <tom> Bob swallows. "That's the most hurtful thing you could accuse a man of." 11:47 <VoxPVoxD> Kaga: "You have an accountant's face. It's not inconceivable." 11:47 <Quaker> “Well, I won’t reveal anything particularly sensitive, but I won’t lie to her, either.” 11:48 <Quaker> “Things were bound to change after they dissolved the Human Office, anyway.” 11:48 <banana> Matthew Random's message is actually a reply to someone else's post about the parties. "The fake news tabloids and remainer media have been forced to back down!", it exults. "Nobody cares anymore, the country backs Boris." But Random isn't so phlegmatic. 11:49 <tom> Their course follows the drone on a generally northward course around the side of the reservoir. "Heads up, looks like we're going into the Botanical Garden. You promise not to tear up any plants, okay boy?" 11:50 <tom> "No acid shits on the saplings either." 11:50 <banana> Rolf reads: 'We're all fantastically relieved that the press didn't get away with it, but that doesn't mean things are o.k. The PM hasn't been himself.. it started when Carrie took over but recently he's been an entirely different man. Literally. As we feared. Haven't you noticed it? Boris lost his touch... yeah right. He's been replaced.' 11:51 <banana> Random: 'I have solid circumstantial evidence - which has been provided to Dame Cressida Dick - that the PM has been replaced with a clone." 11:51 <VoxPVoxD> Kaga: "I didn't realise that terrestrial and alien plants were signatories to the Geneva Convention... I will defer to your expertise." 11:52 <banana> The rest of the post describes various incidents at Downing Street, cases where the formerly virile PM has become a pallid shadow, confidence replaced with bluster and intelligence with confidence tricks. 11:52 <hrolf> Rolf's brow furrows. There's no such thing as a clone, that's barking. But people disappear to be replaced by identicial fascimilies all the time - could it be...? Is it possible? 11:52 <banana> Simon calls through from the front of the labs. Dr. Kim's here - is this a final interview with Badawi sitting in? Or is it a done deal and this is onboarding? 11:53 <hrolf> If he still has his contact, Rolf will be putting in a call to the summer court, via Penberthy. 11:53 <VoxPVoxD> It'd be hard to convince Willie that Boris Johnson had been replaced by a clone... but the news that Cressida Dick received evidence of it which she refused to act on does lend the air of authenticity. 11:53 <Crion> Onboarding. Aster likes Badawi but he's not about to intimate that she has power on the org chart over Kim. 11:54 <banana> Bob's drone has spotted something. Well, it isn't intelligent like the dog - its cameras convey, to him, a vision in which he spots what he's looking for. There's a hidein the little wood at the north end of the golf course - what looks from the ground like ordinary shrubbery is, to a low-flying drone, constructed. It's constructed out of organic material, though. Those things really are 11:54 <banana> plants and trees, grown or pruned into a little hideout. 11:55 <VoxPVoxD> Willie admits: "It is terribly difficult to feel unsafe with you beside me." 11:56 <tom> "No, it's just nice. They put a lotta effort into their gardens for having places to privately fuck ki-" The feed beeps, and Bob focuses. He flips the feed over to infrared. Did we ever get a readout on how a Vorloth's biosignatures would appear? They're carbon-based life- are they cold-blooded? Damn, really should have listened to Aster's autopsy tapes. 11:56 <banana> Sergio: "Hang on, don't give me a swelled head. Ego works differently in this place. I'd have to challenge someone to a duel." 11:56 <tom> "God he's doing fucking minecraft over there." 11:57 <tom> "We need to help this guy out." 11:58 <VoxPVoxD> That would be extremely hot. "Then let's be the very picture of tact and discretion." 11:58 <banana> Rosario, the man in the sinister note, was to be wearing grey with a red sash - and in the poorly lit side bar, there he is. A short and tough looking... man? Willie doesn't smell that whiff of brimstone or blood. But there's still something off. 11:59 <banana> On the infrared camera there is heat in the shelter, but not mammal body heat. It's a lower temperature and too spread-out. 11:59 <tom> The drone settles into a lazy circuit to keep the camera centered in the stream occupying the right half of Bob's vision. He clucks his tongue and points toward the rough. "Let's go." 12:01 <banana> Willie spots it after a moment. Rosario's smoking, a thin cigarette with the end pulsing a little, but it's not doing it in tune with his breaths. 12:01 <banana> There are only a couple of others in the side bar, all men. Each is drinking alone, but they don't seem particularly unhappy about it. 12:01 <Quaker> Badawi isn’t about to tell Aster who he can or cannot hire. She might suggest that they all start looking at this from a slightly different perspective, though. 12:02 <Crion> Yes, yes. This is mostly about Kim's expectations. She's already going to be started by Badawi's presence. 12:02 <banana> Kim Yun Ha is dressed more like it's an interview than surgery. She's got a suit, pumps, snow-glare glasses which she's removing as she steps into the lab, peering around with darting interest. 12:03 <VoxPVoxD> That's peculiar. Does Sergio want to lead here? She's happy to let him. But it's never a problem to get Willie Wellesley to put her own foot forward. 12:03 <Crion> Aster: "Ah. Doctor Kim." 12:03 <banana> Aster can still see the slight limp which will probably never go away on its own, but he might not have spotted it if he didn't know. The surgeon's face is composed, despite all the weird shit about. 12:04 <Quaker> Badawi doesn’t get up. “Hello!” 12:04 <Crion> "This is Agostina Badawi, an associate of mine on the activities side of my operation. You may humor her as you please. She doesn't actually work here." 12:04 <banana> "Hello again, Mr. Aster. And hello- Yun Ha is my name." 12:04 <banana> "Speaking of activities, you talked about piecework... do we have active contracts, or is today more of an introduction?" 12:05 <banana> Dr. Kim is about 5'9" (at least in shoes), with straight black hair. She never shows much of an expression, but her body language is more expressive, full of questions. 12:06 <Crion> Aster: "We do, indeed, have casework. A smuggler got into a lethal disagreement with his confederates on the docks, in what very quickly turned into a GMP crime scene. His bones are over a million years old." He glances up. "I do not engage in hyberpole on the job." 12:07 <Crion> Aster: "However, before we begun, I thought it best to address any last questions you might have about the arrangement here, if you had any. If necessary we can have this conversation in private." 12:07 <banana> The Summer Hill owe Rolf, or he thinks they do, and they seem to agree. It's easy enough to set up a meeting - there's an event coming up soon, and the kind of principals he needs to speak to will be on the sidelines. 12:08 <Quaker> Badawi takes off her sunglasses. “Sometimes there are temporal anomalies in our field of work.” 12:08 <hrolf> Rolf has shown up in military fatigues to underscore the seriousness of what's at hand. A nation's future is at stake. His paunch sticking out from under a very poorly fitting camo shirt doesn't deflate the effect in the slightest. 12:08 <hrolf> Rolf has shown up in military fatigues to underscore the seriousness of what's at hand. A nation's future is at stake. His paunch sticking out from under a very poorly fitting camo shirt doesn't deflate the effect in the slightest. 12:10 <banana> Dr. Kim: "Yes, let's get things sorted. I'm eager to begin the work but we're both used to high tension communications, with the errors that misunderstandings can introduce." 12:12 <banana> She looks at Badawi. "I particularly want to drill into the word 'anomaly' here... nevertheless. What do you need me to know, before I let you know what you need to know?" 12:14 <banana> Sergio watches the man from the threatening note with interest, but doesn't seem inclined to act first. When Willie walks over to the side room, every eye in the restaurant is on her - they don't stop eating, polishing glasses or in one case playing the violin, but they do watch. 12:15 <Crion> Aster, still sorting through work material casually: "What is your resting familiarity with the supernatural anthropology of the greater Manchester region? Generally or specifically." 12:15 <Crion> "Anything you can say out loud without feeling ridiculous in front of me, you can say in front of Badawi. Possibly more." 12:16 <banana> Rosario looks up, cigarette dangling. He's very short, even compared to most of the people here. In heavy dialect, he says: <Wife of the beast. Do you know what danger you've brought on these humble souls? Are you a drugged victim, or a pervert accomplice?> 12:17 <banana> The language makes perfect sense to her, but anyone educated north of Naples would struggle. 12:18 <banana> Sergio, who's followed, can pick most of it up, and his expression begins to shift. 12:19 <VoxPVoxD> Is there a place to sit open by Rosario? If so, Willie walks confidently towards it to sit as if this were a totally ordinary place to meet and a totally normal way to do it. Her dialect is flawless. Her tone is clipped. <I am on holiday, sir. And so is my love. Do call me Willie. As opposed to victim, accomplice, or beastwife.> 12:20 <banana> Candlemas is a interesting affair, or it might be so to Rolf (and any other Nameless House hunters who've chosen to attend). 12:22 <banana> Superficially, it seems to be a very Christian ceremony - some of the senior changelings of the Mancunium Freehold are meeting for another crown transfer, but the trappings are all around casting out pagan spirits and accepting Church authority. Quite different to what you've seen from them three months ago. 12:24 <tom> Bob looks a little disappointed. He was hoping for more weird elf shit. I guess we did win in the War against Christmas... but at what cost? 12:25 <hrolf> Who's around? Liam? Rose? 12:25 <tom> So he's there in his best formal attire, which I guess now is just the pressed slacks and a button-up. Not carrying, because, come on. 12:26 <banana> Courtiers place candle after candle as the principles - Starling and Lensburg - pray together beneath the Tatterdam. There's an actual altar, although no cross. Rolf finds the Summer Hill delegation, four changelings in white-gold uniform colours, standing in a group well away from the rite and observing it glumly. 12:26 <VoxPVoxD> Willie's very excited to see another turn of the seasons. She's got her serious nerd glasses on. One of her New Year's Resolutions is building a stronger personal relationship with the seelie courts. 12:26 <banana> *the principals 12:27 <banana> Rose's Thorn, the Regent of Summer, is there, along with Penberthy and two changelings Rolf doesn't know. Liam nods to him with, he thinks, a little trepidation. 12:28 <hrolf> Rolf returns the nod. "How's fings mate?" 12:29 <banana> Kim: "In precis... I've learned that vampires are real, and have influence over both local and national government. When I asked too many questions there I received quite comprehensible threats. Unfortunately, this thing seems to go beyond just living dead. Two other cases:" 12:30 <banana> "My.. ex-girlfriend is a GMP officer. They've got a special unit now working on a truly absurd case.. if I told you the thing they've found you wouldn't believe me. It brings stone to life, and that isn't even the stupid part." 12:32 <Crion> Aster merely makes a note at that. "The second?" 12:32 <banana> "Finally, another friend's boyfriend has consulted me about private medical issues. When examining him, I became aware that he is.. physically abnormal in a supernatural sense." 12:32 <Crion> Aster: "Hmm. Interesting. We have examination facilities here if you require them, though I have been a bit lacking on getting equipment for patients installed as opposed to specimen tables and dissection stations." 12:33 <Crion> To Badawi: "Do you think it's best if you or I explain the vampires? I am, I have to say with some level of irritation, too close to the situation." 12:33 <banana> Kim: "I would appreciate the use of your facility. I can't disclose my patient's situation - you've met - but helping him has been difficult for me without access to the hospital." 12:33 <Quaker> Agostina: “If you don’t mind me bringing it up, how exactly were you threatened?” 12:35 <VoxPVoxD> Willie observes that Rolf'd appreciate the sentiment here. Faeries are sort of the ur-immigrant, aren't they? The original Ones Who Are Comin Over 'Ere. 12:37 <banana> Rosario, still in Sicilian: "The spawn of Cain do not travel. Why come to Etna?" He addresses the question to both of them now. 12:37 <banana> Sergio: "It's a very well known mountain. Striking." 12:38 <banana> Rosario: "Your accent is much less atrocious, bea- gi- woman." 12:38 <banana> Kim: "Accreditation review. The national care quality framework is being abused." She speaks quietly, and looks calm, but Badawi gets it: this woman is extremely angry. 12:40 <Quaker> Agostina: “You’ll have to excuse me. My knowledge of British bureaucracy is not very good. Do you mean that they said your professional medical license would be taken away?” 12:40 <banana> When Bob and Kaga reach the hide in the woods, there's a rustling noise and then sudden quiet inside. The creature inside is playing possum.. playing peony? What's the appropriate metaphor here? 12:41 <banana> He feels a bit of an itch on his scalp, as if his hair is rapidly growing. 12:41 <Crion> Aster: "That sounds like the Wise & Solemn Court, yes." 12:41 <Crion> As always when discussing vampires, his voice conveys mild to moderate irritation. 12:41 <banana> Kim: "Yes, that's correct. It seems that the vampires have infiltrated licensing boards, and they seized upon my situation at the Royal Infirmary - where I was already the subject of a disciplinary complaint." 12:42 <banana> "I have avoided the suspension of my license and stopped asking questions." 12:42 <VoxPVoxD> Willie, Sicilianly: <We intend no harm, sir. Whatever beasts reside within us must share space with the men and women we are, and it's thoroughly human to want to see new things, to want a reprieve from current troubles, to touch our own connections to the past.> 12:42 <VoxPVoxD> Kaga: "How nyctinastic." 12:43 <Quaker> Agostina: “Sorry that you’ve been unfairly abused. As Aster says, it is how they operate.” 12:43 <Crion> Aster: "It would be best that, outside of the context of your employment here, you continued not to ask those questions. You have, you see, been in contact -- knowingly or not -- with both sides of the vampire civil war in Manchester, and have grudges with both in turn." 12:44 <Quaker> “Your educated guess is mostly accurate. There is a national conspiracy of vampires in Britain, and it does exert subtle but powerful control over social institutions. “ 12:44 <banana> Kim Yun Ha: "Civil society, civil war, civil duty... it's all vulnerable to the same things. We've been conditioned to reject conspiracy theories like secret political influences... and the undead." 12:45 <Quaker> “If you want to vent about it…I suggest you do it to us, and not your friends or family. 12:45 <banana> Kim nods. "Where do they live in our social anatomy?" 12:45 <Quaker> “Sounds kind of cult-like, haha!” 12:46 <tom> Bob halts Kaga wih his hand and turns to shout into the lean-to. "Hey man, we're not here to beat the shit out of you for looking like a McDonalds Mascot, you can come out." 12:47 <banana> Liam, unconvincingly: "Same old, same old." 12:47 <banana> Rose's Thorn looks as aged as ever, but she walks without a stick - over at the altar, the former King of Winter has taken to his, nearly collapsing with the crown's weight gone. Her twinkle with hold highlights as she looks Rolf up and down. "You need a favour from the sun, mate?" 12:47 <VoxPVoxD> The demon dog stops and sits, head cocked attentively. 12:47 <Crion> Aster: "The vampires I work with as a component and baseline of doing business in this city fancy themselves nightclub owners, bureaucrats, mayors. Democrats, of a fashion, but human beings are food and food doesn't get to vote, you see. The other ones -- the ones who broke your leg -- they're firmly worse." 12:47 <Crion> "Sadists, rapists, torturers; aristocrats. The old blood." 12:47 <banana> Another changeling says, "Who's this geezer, Rose? Looks 'uman." 12:48 <Quaker> Badawi shrugs. “In either case, they go as high and discreet as they can. Contacts in the police, government, finance, entertainment, the press, the civil service, military intelligence…” 12:48 <banana> Kim: "I need to ask what work we do." 12:49 <hrolf> Rolf: "Aye, it's a matter of national importance. It's an emergency." 12:50 <tom> Bob spots Willie in the gathering and waves. Are there drinks here? Are these people teetotalers? 12:50 <banana> On Harry's Hill, flowers are spreading all across the grass. The wetlands to the southwest bloom, as a warm spreads through the air. There's a song on the tips of the tongue of everyone present; Saul Lensburg takes a candle in one waxy hand, its flame leaping toward the sky as he speaks ritual words of praise. 12:50 <banana> There is wine! 12:51 <Quaker> Badawi: “As in…what work Aster wants you to do at the lab?” 12:51 <Crion> Aster: "Directly, we're consultants. We provide information and context to ongoing investigations by the powers that be. In actuality, we're mitigators. We give the monsters an excuse not to take the most monstrous route possible, either by exporting the exercise of humanity onto us or just shoving the whole mess in our laps entirely." 12:51 <banana> Rose: "Hughes, I'm a hunnerd fifty years old. Emergencies are as emergencies do, and most things can wait. But let's say it can't. What's the damage?" 12:52 <Crion> "Of the two cases you mentioned, both are within our purview. I'm fairly certain I worked previously on the first." 12:52 <tom> Bob accepts an offered wineglass and heads over to greet Willie: "This doesn't count as a church, y'think?" He mutters, looking around with a slightly worried expression. 12:52 <Crion> "In this role, in this lab, you are not expected to have any direct contact with the supernatural elements of Manchester in their person...but then, these are extremely powerful paraphenomena. Sometimes they do indeed just, show up." 12:52 <hrolf> Rolf: "I 'ave reliable intel that the PM's been got. It's from a civvie - not exposed to night stuff of course - so they fink it's a clone. I believe 'e's been snatched by Faerie." 12:53 <banana> Changeling in a stovepipe hat: "Boris Johnson, taken? Security's that bad down there?" 12:54 <banana> Rose's Wasp: "...How reliable?" 12:54 <VoxPVoxD> Willie shakes her head. "It's not irreligious, but it's not precisely heavenly, either. Because Faerie isn't Hell." 12:54 <banana> *Rose's Thorn 12:55 <hrolf> Rolf hesitates. "Well. I believe it at least. Me sourcce 'asn't let me down before. But I don't 'ave 'ard proof, per se. But it bears investigation." 12:56 <Quaker> Badawi: “Hey, have you spoken about this to anyone else? Or has anyone approached you about it? To talk about vampires and such?” 12:56 <banana> Kim: "My.. this is embarassing. Look, you know I'm gay, and you aren't that kind of American, but our drama..." She sighs. 12:57 <banana> "Okay. My ex's ex... worked with you on that case, I know. I've spoken to her, although not recently." 12:57 <banana> "I've talked to the police about vampires, and to my father. I thought about going to the news and realised that was a bad idea." 12:58 <tom> Bob nods. "It must have been weird finding out you go on fire if you go into a chapel." 12:59 <Crion> Aster nods. He is delicate enough not to just go, 'Oh! DS Walker!' of course. "I can make arrangements to handle that case myself, then, if it comes back to us; you can make arrangements to be working from home or some such during consulting hours on it. Though, again, much like vampires, the police tend to drop by whenever they please." 13:00 <banana> Kim: "That won't be necessary. If anything, I have all the background." 13:00 <Quaker> Badawi: “Anybody in the police that you talked to seem more interested than the rest in what you knew? Interested in learning more about the vampires?” 13:00 <banana> "Did they tell you what they found??" There's a little more emotion in her voice than usual, like she simply cannot believe this shit. 13:00 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "It starts as an itch. I was convinced I had eczema or something. The one time Papa made me sit in the pew until I started burning, everyone just thought I'd snuck a cigarette into chapel. I had done, but that wasn't the point, obviously." 13:00 <tom> Bob peers into the primitive lean-to for movement and whispers to Kaga: "What does that word mean." Anything from inside the shelter? Oh man, I'm gonna feel so shitty if it's just a homeless guy. 13:00 <VoxPVoxD> "But that was as a girl. The reaction's rather stronger now." 13:01 <tom> I mean it can't be, right? That infrared trace didn't look human. 13:01 <Crion> Aster: "I don't believe so. I performed the initial consultation on the 'heart,' got my fee, and the investigation moved in a separate direction. But I might have missed an e-mail; it has been hectic around here." 13:01 <banana> Willie's phone beeps. 13:01 <VoxPVoxD> Kaga: "Plants that keep a day-night cycle. Plants that, for instance, cower from the light and open up into darkness." 13:02 <VoxPVoxD> Oooh! 13:03 <banana> * The Queen of the Rose, who is not the Prince of Roses 13:03 <banana> * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWcASV2sey0 13:03 <banana> * "You think things change? They do. But they change back, and you change with them. -- She sees no need to ever stop." 13:04 <VoxPVoxD> Ahahahaha fuck yes. 13:04 <tom> Bob squints and, briefly forgetting the hostile (?) Extra-Normal Entity meters away: "Why would a plant hide from light. That's the whole point of being a plant." 13:05 <tom> He turns and cups his hand around his mouth to shout into the hut. "Come on dude it's fucking cold out here, we wanna get back inside, you comin' or what?" 13:06 <VoxPVoxD> Kaga: "A plant my open its leaves to the dark so that any herbivore who wants a piece has to stick its neck out that much further for the night's predators." 13:06 <VoxPVoxD> "I wonder what Wilhelmine is doing right now." 13:06 <banana> Rose's Thorn (in Spring): "...that it does, that it does. We up here get looked over in national affairs, of course. But some things we're best placed to look into." 13:07 <tom> "You ever see the end of Shrek Two?" 13:07 <banana> "Alright, Hughes. How close to your vest are these sources? You got enough information to identify what we're looking for if we go on a little trip?" 13:07 <VoxPVoxD> Kaga: "I never saw the original, but they filmed the sequels in Hell, so I felt some national pride." 13:07 <tom> Bob, wincing at Willie; "This was after you figured out how to do the Mother of Dragons shit right?" 13:08 <VoxPVoxD> Willie shakes her head. "It's fine, it wasn't a deep burn." 13:09 <banana> At Fairfield Golf Club, a pair of green eyes in green plantflesh becomes visible. There's something like a face pressing out of the hide, peering at Bob and Kagamenauch. "You.", says the alien in an ordinary english accent. 13:09 <hrolf> Rolf: "I believe 'e's placed in number 10. Essentially what we're lookin for 'ere is changes in behaviour - 'e didn't used to cater to the wokes before, 'e was going to do 'erd immunity. Then 'e did this lockdown crap. Doesn't make sense to me that the man 'o got brexit done would do that, simple as." 13:09 <banana> "You're the one who jacked my ride." 13:10 <VoxPVoxD> Willie does nudge Bob when Rose's TrackCheck goes through. Like 'eh? eh??? she rules, right??' 13:10 <banana> Liam: "Makes sense to me, mate. Leaving Europe was exactly as dumb as lockdown is. Ye can't move these islands further out into the ocean, and ye can't hide from a virus." 13:11 <banana> Rose's Thorn: "Piss off with that, Liam. It may come to nothing, but it won't cost us a tonne to check." 13:11 <banana> "Do you dream much, Hughes?" 13:11 <hrolf> Rolf: "Yeah I fink so? Don't remember nuffink on waking up though." 13:13 <tom> "Look I'm just a contractor, man, take it up with Mary," Bob reflexively hands Kaga a bone-shaped pressed treat to keep him occupied. "Job's over. If you can get enough delta-vee to break Earth orbit with what you can find by this Golf Course, then I'm happy for ya man, but I can order a bunch of sun lamps off the internet and have them by tomorrow. Your call." 13:13 <banana> "There was one inspector," Yun Ha tells Agostina, "who asked me a lot of questions. Didn't seem at all interested in helping with my problem, but he wanted to know everything I knew. I believe the man's name was Gurges." 13:14 <banana> To Aster: "They tracked the golem-making materials to this old prop shop and found the, errr. Bits of it are broken off, but apparently it's the real deal..." 13:15 <banana> "Look, this is what Sarah told Meg, and personally I find it hard to square with the vicious conspiratorial undead, but they found the Ed Stone." 13:17 <tom> Bob whistles as he pulls up the fresh track on his reticle. "Summer's the Ass-kicking Hill. Did you read the dossiers?" 13:17 <banana> Vorloth alien: "I don't mean the telepath girl. You're the human who found my peoples' last intact shuttlemech and removed the power supply. Are you using it to run sun lamps?" 13:17 <banana> "...are they a nice temperature?" 13:17 <banana> Its bulk shifts within the hide. Bob sees tentacles (many), a central mass, things like pistils... 13:17 <Quaker> Badawi writes the name down. 13:18 <VoxPVoxD> Willie, to Bob: "That's when the mummy lord is due also. So that'll be fun." 13:20 <tom> Bob's eyes follow the alien: "Dude, aren't pistils like- are you showing me your plant junk?" He shakes his head: "We can calibrate them to your specifics needs. How about humidity?" Bob taps his visor and turns to center the Vorloth in the frame as the red dot blinks on and off. 13:20 <Quaker> Agostina: “Oh, not just vampires, either. Ghosts, fairies, elves, spirits, sorcerors, mummies, etcetera…” 13:20 <tom> Aster's gonna love this. 13:21 <Quaker> “But, better to just keep everything comparmentalized. Unless you’re looking into how to defend yourself, or something.” 13:21 <banana> The Seelie Count of Summer nods. "So long as you're not an oneirophobe. Let's set up a session wiv one of my best dreamers... he can take us to the Prime Minister's head and see if anything's gone wrong there, like." 13:22 <hrolf> Rolf would totally be an oneirophobe if he knew what it was. He loves being a -phobe. 13:22 <banana> "Could be dangerous though. You'd expect these toffs to have some serious dung at the back of their minds. Any of your people good at invading the subconscious, or are we going to have to supply a therapist?" 13:22 <Crion> Aster: "Excuse me, the what? The Ed Stone?" 13:22 <tom> "D'ya think they're gonna be cool or are we going to see elves fight mummies? That's not a matchup I've planned out." Bob finishes the wine. 13:23 <banana> Kim: "Yeah... may I sit down?" 13:23 <hrolf> Rolf: "Yeah, we got a good mentalist. Wot 'appens if you invade the mind of one of em - what'd you call it, a fetch?" 13:24 <Crion> 14Aster: "Please." 13:24 <Crion> Aster: "Please." 13:24 <banana> Kim: "Evidently, the world is a stranger place than people admit. There are a lot of... serious problems. And apparently one of those problems is that an old political joke is being used by person or persons unknown to animate statues, or transform people into living statues. Maybe the persons are known to GMP by now, I don't know." 13:24 <banana> "My knowledge is out of date. All of it, I think, including the stuff you learn in kindy." 13:27 <banana> Rose's Thorn: "Well, that's dangerous. The things are basically people, and they do dream, but some of em.. it could be alien, chaos. Or it could come to absolutely noffink." 13:29 <hrolf> Rolf: "So what's the plan then? 'ose dreams would we be going into?" 13:30 <Crion> Aster sighs. "Well, if politics are now involved, that'll change things considerably." 13:31 <banana> "You've got to move between 'em, cross from one to another or pass through the 'Edge. It's a lot quicker than walking. You got an afternoon to set aside soon? We could reach Bojo in that long, question'll be what kind of obstacles are on the way." 13:31 <banana> Rose's Thorn: "I mean, this is the PM. I wouldn't be surprised if he's a troll or summat." 13:31 <banana> Summer changeling in a stovepipe hat: "Could be a psychic, a goblin or a ghoul. Anything, really." 13:32 <hrolf> Rolf: "Yeah I got some time. We're on break. Wotever 'e is now - 'e's not wot 'e used to be." 13:33 <banana> Vorloth: "What are you offering me, a habitat? Man, you know our intelligence vastly exceeds that of talking apes, right?" It's beginning to shake off the hide, dismantling it from the inside. Parts of it shrink and wither away - you have a feeling they could be put back up fairly quickly. 13:34 <banana> "I admit to having been found. But that doesn't mean I'm going into a zoo." 13:34 <VoxPVoxD> The dog behind the talking ape watches silently. 13:35 <banana> Kim: "..I don't think this one will get too political, Mr. Aster. But that does seem to be the way things go." 13:35 <banana> "I want to do this work so that I'm not... being left out of what's really going on. I don't think I'm going to like it though." 13:35 <Crion> Aster: "Well, there's national politics, there's local politics and then there's local politics." 13:36 <Crion> "Perhaps not. But ignoring it won't make it go away. It'll just leave a nagging grudge. You're safer knowing." 13:36 <banana> At Harry's Hill, the ceremony is over. Many Spring changelings have gathered beneath the Tatterdam; it looks like they're starting to climb it. Hatch is being wheeled away by Our Premson... but Bob and Willie have been spotted; Sumiya is bearing down on them. 13:36 <tom> Bob, taken somewhat aback by the Vorloth: "Dude, You really just wanna vibe out here on this shitty golf course in January? For another night?" 13:37 <VoxPVoxD> Back in Sicily, after the uneasy silence settles back over the darkened room: <We really do mean no harm. Do you watch over the village? The mountain?> 13:37 <VoxPVoxD> Bring her on. Willie grins and waves. 13:37 <Quaker> Badawi: “And you’re really safer working with other people who know what they’re doing.” 13:37 <banana> Vorloth: "No. I want my spaceship back, and I want to figure out what in the stars you did to the Great One. The will of all things is going to be fucked off, you know? That was a real blow to cosmic unity." 13:38 <banana> The creature, now visible, is incongruous. Its mode speech is very colloquial as it casually talks about cosmic destiny and ultratech, and it looks like... an enormous mangelwurzel, shambling rather than walking. 13:39 <tom> "Cosmic Unity should've had a better pitch. I can meet you halfway on the pod, and I can tell you what happened to hte Great One for free: Her shit is bust." 13:41 <banana> Vorloth: "Okay, sure, it was fully busted. But these guys are like, the ineffable demiurges under whose yoke we strain, you know? They speak with the voice of stars and wield, et cetera, there's a lot of wielding." 13:41 <banana> "If I could get back to my home planet... I'd happily pay you to know how you beat her." 13:41 <tom> "Bro what do you think is happening here." 13:41 <tom> "You a P.O.W, son." 13:42 <tom> Bob unholsters the over-under shotgun from behind his jacket. "We can get you a plant light and a mister and whatever weird shit you eat." 13:42 <tom> "Then we talk about going home." 13:44 <banana> Vorloth: "Ha ha ha. Your literal explosive projectiles - the kind of weapon a tiny sapling would use - would pass through me like a very painful knife through butter. I wouldn't like it, but what do you think I have, organs?" 13:44 <tom> "Friend, these are white phosphorus shells." 13:44 <banana> It waves a whole mass of tentacles in the air. "We may in some sense be peer sentients, equipped with the ability to act. An ape and a dog don't overpower me." 13:45 <banana> It pauses. 13:45 <tom> Bob sighs: "Alright Kaga I know you been dying to show off." 13:45 <banana> "That's illegal. You have a Geneva on this planet." 13:45 <tom> "I am no longer employed by the Federal Government." 13:46 <VoxPVoxD> Kagemenauch: "You aren't a civilian." 13:46 <banana> Plant Alien: "What the fuck. A talking dog?" 13:48 <banana> Rosario of Etna: <I am charged to protect these people. No harm, is it? How are you sustaining yourself, Cainspawn?> 13:48 <banana> Sergio: <With minimal harm. Short-lasting, and mostly to Willie. What costs do you pay for whatever you are, Rosario?> 13:48 <tom> "The dog is right, bro. I can smoke a combatant easy peasy." 13:49 <banana> Rosario laughs, a short bark. <The occasional human sacrifice. No more than a few hundred over the years.> 13:49 <VoxPVoxD> Talking dog: "We have come - against my better judgment - in peace. If you wish to resist what I am certain will be your last and best path to safety, then I hope you have reconciled to Leaf Christ.> 13:51 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "I haven't seen anyone be cool so far besides the seelie folk. I'll be happy if it's peaceful but... I'm glad it's the Rose that will be wearing the crown if-and-when." 13:53 <banana> Sumi sidles aggressively into the conversation. "Willie. Bobert." 13:53 <VoxPVoxD> Willie, Sicilianly: <Not unlike the lifespan of a particularly reckless Kindred.> She's not going to say 'Cainspawn'. That's Abelist. 13:54 <tom> Bob looks a little nervous: "Oh hey Sumi, how goes it?" 13:55 <VoxPVoxD> Willie grins. "Sumi, darling." 13:56 <banana> Kim tells Badawi: "Yeah. What about all the people who aren't safe from these things? Are they- well. Perhaps I could take a look at your bone samples and see how our methods match up." 13:56 <banana> Sumi: "Yes I am. Now, Bob.. if it is still Bob.. the first thing I want to ask you is whether you're okay." 13:56 <banana> "Do you need help finding a place, and do you need someone to talk to?" 13:57 <VoxPVoxD> ? 13:57 <Quaker> Badawi: “Well, you could always figure out the vampires’ schedule and build a bomb and blow them up.” 13:58 <banana> Yun Ha: "This does seem like a setting to develop or test WMDs. However, I'd like to stick to the scheduled work to start with." 13:59 <tom> Bob's smile tints a little sad now: "Aw nah, I got a place, I- you know. It'll sink in later. I'll let you know." 14:00 <banana> The Vorloth protests eloquently as it's hounded toward Bob's truck. Incendiary rounds.. well, it understands the threat. Maybe it has dangerous mindpowers, but if so, it's keeping them in reserve for now, and allowing something akin to capture. 14:00 <banana> Sumi: "Okay.. remember to reach out if you need it. You're still one of us, that doesn't just go away. Actually, I'm going to send you Misaki's number." 14:01 <banana> She takes a deep breath, looking down at him regally. 14:01 <VoxPVoxD> Oh. Oh wow. 14:01 <VoxPVoxD> ...shit. 14:01 <tom> Bob throws a tarp over the irregular green creature in the back of his truck. He addresses him (her? It?) before going for the cab: "So, two things. One, what's your name? And two, is it cannibalism for you to smoke weed?" 14:04 <tom> To Sumi: "I can call Misaki if I gotta turn on the waterworks." 14:04 <banana> Sumi: "Yeah, you be the judge but don't neglect yourself." 14:04 <banana> "The second thing was, don't fucking do it again." 14:05 <tom> "Yes ma'am." 14:05 <banana> "We are here for you, okay? Because of the serious fucking mistake you made. To which Mari also contributed, by making mistakes, maybe serious, but it is you I'm telling not to repeat them? Jesus Christ." 14:06 <VoxPVoxD> Okay now it's unmistakably weird. Willie focuses on keeping her chipper face on. 14:07 <tom> Bob's completely frozen. 14:07 <banana> Sumi: "I can only guess, because she won't tell me every little detail and says I shouldn't dismember you, that the basic issue here was thinking that commitment solves all problems, like... people who have a baby to stay together or something... but at least you didn't do that. So. We're going to get through it, yeah?" 14:07 <banana> You're getting mixed messages here. Or at least one enthusiastic message from someone with pretty mixed feelings. 14:08 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "I'm just going to go see if Rolf needs anything." 14:09 <tom> Bob makes a face and turns away: "Yeah, Sumi. Yeah." 14:10 <banana> Sumi: "You don't have to fuck off. I'll fuck off, for now. Just, you know, remember all that, which I don't think will be very hard." 14:10 <tom> "No ma'am, it will not be." He finally exhales. 14:12 <banana> Rhetorically, she asks: "But shouldn't we move past our traumas, not letting them shape who we are as people in the future? Shouldn't we be free of our pasts, not determined by them? So says the King, and it is Spring." 14:12 <banana> Sumiya spits on the ground - in the direction of the Tree, not Bob - then gives him an awkward handshake, and one to Willie if she didn't sidle off, and strides away. 14:16 <tom> Back at the farmhouse, Bob is setting up growlights for the Vorloth currently soaking in the steaming bathtub as he works. The playlist on his phone is running through to the end for the first time in a while, and the trumpets take him by surprise: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AREppyQf5uw 14:16 <tom> And that's when it sinks in. 14:17 <tom> He turns and shoots Kaga a dirty look before getting back to work.