18:23 <tom> It’s innocuous enough. Just a little flashing box on the taskbar. A friend request from a steam user named ‘5eptigon’, accompanied by a helpful little thumbnail of their user portrait: https://i.imgur.com/RrZUmQh.jpg 18:24 <tom> This user has 1 friend in common. 18:26 <VoxPVoxD> Willie gets the notification while she's working... is this one of the Alpha Strikes? She thought the ones that cared to had already added her. Who's the friend in common? 18:26 <tom> drennan120 18:27 <VoxPVoxD> Well, any friend of Richard's... she accepts the request. 18:28 <tom> After a fashion: <hey let me kno wwhen you wanna try out the 20> 18:28 <tom> <there’s like> 18:29 <tom> <its like a shooting range for prince william lookin gguys> 18:30 <VoxPVoxD> <As targets?> 18:30 <tom> <i got watermelons> 18:30 <tom> <its out past the free bus tho so uh> 18:30 <tom> He lets her put it together. 18:30 <VoxPVoxD> ... <Where should I pick yu up?> 18:31 <VoxPVoxD> <***you> 18:31 <tom> <ill be at the greybox> 18:35 <tom> So he is, with a folding table and a pair of duffel bags slung over his shoulder, gingerly balancing a long plastic case in his arms. 18:37 <VoxPVoxD> Willie's there about half an hour later, in her car ( https://i.imgur.com/4tUhu2T.png ). It's in very good shape for a car that must be at least Bob's age. She's dressed for warmth, in wool, looking like a movie starlet trying to remain anonymous in her floral scarf-shawl and big dark sunglasses. 18:38 <tom> If it weren’t for Rolf, Bob might just assume everything was classier here. 18:39 <VoxPVoxD> Everything is classier here, in the sense of 'saturated with class, the abstract concept of social hierarchy'. 18:39 <tom> Bob will kind of gesture that he needs her help getting the ‘boot’ open with his hands full. 18:39 <tom> That’s what that’s called here, yeah? 18:40 <VoxPVoxD> "Mr. Goreman. You're looking hale." She's wearing brown leather gloves, which hides the not-fully-healed wound on her right palm. 18:40 <VoxPVoxD> Boot pops open. "How far are we going?" 18:41 <tom> “It’s out by a place called, I shit you not, Crumpsall.” 18:41 <tom> “So a bit north I guess?” 18:43 <tom> He’ll start shoveling stuff into the back of the car. Satisfied, he dumps himself into the front passenger seat which is, freakily, on the wrong side of the car. 18:43 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Ah, just the suburbs, then. It's Crumpsall, by the way. Not Crumpsall." 18:43 <tom> He sets himself down with only a little groaning. His whole left hip still aches with each step. 18:44 <tom> “My mistake.” 18:44 <VoxPVoxD> "How's the hip? You know there's no need to rush..." 18:44 <tom> “Apparently ‘peers’ can still just let you shoot on their land even as owning bear spray is illegal. I can’t complain, I’m from a dry county.” 18:45 <tom> “Oh, fine fine. I went hospital and they gooped it up.” 18:46 <tom> “Got one of those nice cortisone injections, just shouldn’t be kneeling on that leg.” 18:46 <VoxPVoxD> "Willie: "Rolf will appreciate that." 18:47 <tom> “What he appreciates & doesn’t is very inconsistent.” 18:49 <tom> Bob will immediately recline his seat as far back as there’s space to give his leg a place to rest without any tension on his knee. 18:49 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "That's a matter of perspective. So, peer's grounds, up in Crumpsall... must be the edge of Blackley's land." 18:51 <tom> “You know ‘em?” 18:51 <VoxPVoxD> "He's north of 80, I think." Even older than Papa. 18:51 <VoxPVoxD> She's about to put the music on, by reflex, but her finger stops just short. Instead she sits in the idling car. "I owe you an apology. I made you feel foolish and small for doing precisely what I asked of you. You deserve better. I am sorry." 18:52 <tom> Bob, who has had multiple panic attacks hence: ”Huh?” 18:52 <tom> “Ohhhno, s’fine.” 18:53 <tom> Bob rubs his chin. Shit, he needs to shave. Inhales, lets the oxygen circulate to his brain before responding for once: “Alien tech is always like that. Don’t let it get to you.” 18:53 <tom> “Sometimes it messes with your head.” 18:53 <tom> “I’m guessing you weren’t a fan.” 18:54 <VoxPVoxD> "No it isn't. Because I don't want you to be afraid of me. I don't want you to handle me with kid gloves. I was very grateful for your willingness to indulge me, and my behaviour indicated quite the opposite." 18:55 <tom> “Aw it doesn’t have to be a thing. Sometimes things get heated, it’s better to just get it out there. Let people do what they wanna do. Like Aaron, yeah?” 18:56 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "No. Not like Aaron. I don't want to hurt you just to prove a point." 18:56 <tom> “Don’t tell me he hasn’t been dying to squish my brain like a stress ball.” 18:57 <tom> “Now it’s over with. Easy in, easy out.” 18:57 <VoxPVoxD> Willie just sort of marvels at Bob a bit. 18:58 <VoxPVoxD> "...very well. Thank you for your understanding." 18:58 <tom> “Uhhuh.” 18:58 <VoxPVoxD> Now she puts the music on and they drive. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sMcLOpTtPA 18:58 <tom> Hell yes. 18:59 <VoxPVoxD> Willie sings along in English, somehow perfectly matching the meter and sounding exactly like the song despite that. 18:59 <tom> It's cold and wet out. Bob is emptying duffel bags full of watermelons onto an empty field. Anything left over when they're done here will go to the birds and squirrels. 18:59 <tom> He's got a shitty folding table set up by the car, loaded up with boxes of shells (rifled slugs, buckshot, flares, some weird shit he's made custom) and the one large plastic carrying case with Willie's shotgun. 19:00 <tom> He's in a long black raincoat. The thin polymer ones that keep you mostly dry but don't offer any warmth. Same aviators as always. He'll finish dumping out the fruits and spit out the stub of his cigarette to die on the rain-slick grass. 19:01 <tom> Finished with that, there’s now a field strewn with striped melons and Bob is motioning for her to come over to the table while he cracks open the case. 19:02 <tom> He just got the chrome finish and the final polishing on the stock done today. She’s a real beaut. 19:03 <tom> “When we say ‘ears on’, we mean earplugs.” 19:03 <VoxPVoxD> Willie's kind of vibing on being properly outside for the first time since, what, literally Easter? This isn't the country house by a long shot, but compared to the crush of London and the drear of settled Lancashire, it's heaven. "Rain, mud, manure... I hate that I don't have an excuse to come out to the country more often." 19:03 <tom> He’s got an unopened package of orange plugs as a gesture of good faith. No pocket earplugs for Willhelmine. 19:03 <tom> “Oh yeah, mud. We’ll get to that.” 19:03 <tom> “You’re not a lefty, right?” 19:04 <tom> He picks up the shotgun and snaps open the action. 19:04 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "I am, but only for writing and drawing." 19:05 <tom> “Thumb safety.” He flicks a metal tab on the stock, exposing a streak of red paint. 19:05 <tom> “You see that, it’s live.” 19:05 <VoxPVoxD> Willie nods. "How stiff is it?" 19:06 <tom> “Not very. It’s not under a lot of spring pressure.” 19:06 <tom> He’ll hand her the gun. 19:06 <tom> There's a small latch where the barrel meet the action. Bob depresses the button and allows the weight of the falling barrel pivot the breech up and open. Two vertically-stacked slots sized for twenty gauge shells. 19:07 <tom> "Only nostalgics and the irony-poisoned use side-by-side anymore. The barrels are off-axis, see, so you get a little bit of left and right drift on each barrel. Over-under is the superior style, and you can tell because every shooting competition had to create a special category for SBSers so they could keep shooting their stupid gun without getting smoked." 19:07 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Side-by-side looks like a cartoon gun." 19:08 <VoxPVoxD> "This, meanwhile? Pure elegance." 19:08 <tom> “Precisely.” 19:08 <tom> "It's single-action, so you need to lock the hammer back each time you fire." He demonstrates. 19:08 <tom> "Try not to dry-fire it. If you need to put the hammer back down you tension it against your thumb." He does so. 19:09 <tom> “Ready to give it a shot?” 19:09 <VoxPVoxD> "Dry-fire?" 19:09 <tom> “Without a shell in the chamber. It can damage the firing pin.” 19:09 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Right. You know that's not intuitive terminology, since I imagine it's very hard to fire a wet bullet." 19:10 <tom> “It can be a challenge.” 19:10 <VoxPVoxD> Willie nods. "So what do I do?" 19:11 <tom> He ambles over to the table, still nursing his leg, comes back with a pair of shells held between his fingers like a claw, both pointing roughly the same direction. If she lets him, he slots them into the barrels and locks the breech closed. Safety’s still on. 19:11 <tom> He takes her elbow in his hand and lifts the shotgun. ”You ever do those dumb challenges in school where they have you make a bridge or whatever out of toothpicks n’ glue?” 19:12 <tom> “The number one rule is triangle invictus.” 19:12 <tom> “So you’re going to make a triangle with your stance. One foot back, to redirect the force going into your same-side shoulder down into the ground.” 19:12 <tom> “Instead of back, flat on your ass on the damp dirt.” 19:13 <tom> Does she have her ears on? 19:14 <VoxPVoxD> She's not gonna push him away or anything. She's got her ears in. "Ah! The isoceles stance." 19:14 <tom> “That’s the ticket.” 19:14 <VoxPVoxD> "Like in-- you probably didn't see." 19:15 <tom> “?” 19:15 <VoxPVoxD> She crooks the gun in her elbow to, still with her feet planted, hold her right hand palm out, like at the farm. 19:15 <tom> Alright. 19:16 <VoxPVoxD> So she just... shoots it? 19:16 <tom> There’s a melon on the ground about ten yards off. Bob steps back. ”Toggle and fire.” 19:16 <VoxPVoxD> It seems weird that you can just shoot a gun. Feels like there should be a EULA you have to sign. That's what drawing forth the blood amounts to, in a way. 19:16 <VoxPVoxD> But here she goes. Safety off and— 19:17 <banana> A gun brings the power of hellfire to the masses. It's a miracle. 19:18 <VoxPVoxD> It kicks like a horse, but not a particularly big or strong one. Her teeth still vibrate with the force of it and crows depart the nearby elms in a grumpy choir. 19:19 <VoxPVoxD> The melon is mush! 19:20 <tom> Reviewing the dismembered watermelon: ”You’ll always want the stock to be directly locked into your shoulder, tight as you can. People try to hold the gun away from them, like, ehhhh don’t hurt me, but that just gives it more time to accelerate into your joint & go viral on youtube getting thrown on your butt.” 19:20 <tom> He’ll limp back over to take it off her, if she lets him. 19:20 <VoxPVoxD> What's she gonna do, slap his hand away? 19:21 <banana> These things just aren't as addictive. 19:21 <tom> “You want a straight transfer of force.” He takes the shotgun, flips the latch where the barrels meet the action, empties the shells over his shoulder in one quick motion. One’s still live, but he can pick it up later. 19:22 <tom> He slaps another pair of shells in. "Lotsa guys like to carry their over-unders open, see-" He levers open the action, slots in a pair of gleaming brass shells. "Totally safe, 'till you lock it and take a snap shot." 19:23 <tom> The barrel snaps up. He squeezes the trigger and a pair of watermelons explode. The crack is still echoing across the fields when he speaks. "That's all there is to it." 19:23 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "How did you learn to shoot?" 19:23 <tom> “I got my first twenty-two when I was ten.” 19:24 <tom> He kicks out the smoking shells. 19:24 <VoxPVoxD> Willie, who got her first 10 when she was 22: "Shooting animals? Cans? Fruit?" 19:25 <tom> “Shooting animals is for aspiring serial killers. I didn’t hit anything with a heartbeat until I was 19, when I learned vampires were real. No, just bottles.” 19:25 <tom> Do vampires have heartbeats? They have hearts. 19:25 <tom> Not really the topic, though: 19:25 <tom> "There's really only the one way Bubbas have ever figured out how to accidentally kill themselves with this thing." 19:25 <tom> “But you should know it.” 19:26 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "You don't rate hunting, then? My whole family hunts. Loves it." 19:26 <VoxPVoxD> "Go on." 19:26 <tom> “It’s not for me. I prefer to go to the deli.” 19:26 <tom> “So, mud.” 19:26 <tom> Bob grimaces. "Remember what I said about the shell's casing? It's supposed to channel the blast forward?" 19:26 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "The gun-within-a-gun." 19:27 <tom> “Yeah. Works great, as long as the pressure can vent forward.” 19:27 <tom> “We already went over the basic safety stuff. Treat like it’s always loaded, don’t point it at anything, muzzle to the floor at all times when not shooting, and so on.” 19:27 <tom> “For the sake of the argument, let’s assume, a man was stupid.” 19:28 <VoxPVoxD> Willie seems able to entertain the possibility. 19:28 <tom> “Let’s say he’s a real dumb piece of shit in the woods chasing a deer he only wounded because he’s only here to prove his manhood.” 19:28 <tom> “And it’s dark, and he’s tripping in the mud, and he gets the whole weight of his body down on the gun down into the muck.” 19:28 <tom> “Gets up, grabs his gun, runs off ‘cause he just got sight of it.” 19:28 <tom> “Doesn’t see there’s a two... two n’ a half inch? plug of mud in the end of the barrels.” 19:29 <tom> “At that point, he isn’t carrying a gun.” 19:29 <VoxPVoxD> "But a bomb." 19:29 <tom> He shows her the open action. ”So every time you’re reloading, you’re making sure you can see daylight down the bore.” 19:30 <tom> “If you ever drop it, you reload and check.” 19:30 <VoxPVoxD> Willie nods. Obviously Bob doesn't mean daylight literally, given when we'd be shooting at things. But his meaning is well-taken. 19:31 <VoxPVoxD> "Do you like them?" 19:31 <tom> “That’s it. Treat her well and you’ll have a friend for life. The real joy of shotgun shells is you can just go into the plastic with a knife and load it with whatever you want. There’s commercial flares, which will be nice if we go hard against bloodsuckers. There’s rifled slugs, buckshot, birdshot, some weird war crimey shit from South Africa made of wire-” 19:31 <tom> “Like what?” 19:31 <VoxPVoxD> "Guns." 19:31 <tom> “I just think they’re neat.” 19:32 <VoxPVoxD> Willie laughs. 19:32 <tom> “It would be nice to spend all day arguing about calibers instead of having to use them.” 19:32 <tom> “I like shooting watermelons. They don’t complain.” 19:32 <tom> He hands her the gun back and gestures over to the box of shells. 19:32 <tom> “Take as much time as you want. Try it close and further out. There’s slugs if you want to try precision shooting.” 19:35 <tom> “Your shoulder will hurt by the third time you fire it, but you’ll get accustomed quick.” 19:37 <VoxPVoxD> Willie's loading up. "You know, I have six brothers. Alfie, Wulfie, Freddie, Eddie, Charlie and Klaus. When I was old enough to go outside on my own they were already old enough to shoot. Clay pigeons, mostly. The odd real pigeon." 19:37 <VoxPVoxD> "The noise, the smell, the endless whooping and hooting... it was like a nightmare. I much preferred the stables." 19:37 <tom> “I can see that would not impress.” 19:38 <tom> Bob would now be able to connect Willie to Horse Girl energy, having not considered that before. It scans. 19:39 <tom> “Still taking trips down to brush your pony, or did you phase out?” 19:41 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "I would love nothing more." Another shot, well wide. Some dirt explodes upward, caking nearby melons in mud. "I got thrown from my first horse on my thirteenth birthday. That summer the kennel had to be moved across the property, upwind, because the dogs would howl if they could even smell me." 19:42 <tom> “Jeez-” He’s already walked into that cul-de-sac once. 19:42 <tom> “Mhm. That happen to everyone with that pedigree?” 19:42 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "I don't know. They don't usually have my pedigree." 19:43 <tom> “I’m sorry. That must have really sucked.” 19:43 <VoxPVoxD> "Have you Googled me yet? I'm sure Mr. Aster has." 19:43 <tom> “Women usually get mad at me if I tell them I googled them.” 19:43 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Well, stipulating that you haven't quite worked out how not to make women mad at you... have you?" 19:43 <tom> He’s got his aviators on so he’ll just do it now. Willie can see him tap some buttons on the frames of his visor. 19:44 <tom> “Oh you are actually a princess.” 19:44 <tom> “That’s cool?” 19:44 <tom> He’s starting to get a little uncomfortable. 19:46 <tom> “You’ve got extractors in the barrels, not ejectors. So you can carry the action open without losing your shells. It makes reloading a little slower but the trade-off is being able to carry it safe like that. Only people who want to larp as doomguy have ejectors.” 19:46 <tom> He’ll hand her another pair of shells. These are flares. 19:46 <tom> Bright orange, covered in stamped warning text in a blocky font. ”It’s wet out, so you should be safe.” 19:46 <tom> “God knows the pumpkins are mostly water.” 19:48 <VoxPVoxD> Bob sees the Wikipedia article - "Lady Wilhelmine Wellesley, Marchioness Douro" - and the old Mirror article - "Anti-Social Socialites: The Terrible Teens of the Idle Rich" - and the url for an article from the Sun called "Reformed? Duke's Daughter Sizzles in Ibiza Frolics - GALLERY" but that url is dead. 19:48 <VoxPVoxD> BLAM BLAM BLAM. Her shoulder does hurt now. 19:49 <tom> “What’s ‘Douro’?” 19:49 <VoxPVoxD> "A river in Portugal, where Arthur Wellesley and some stalwart allies thwarted Napoleon." 19:50 <VoxPVoxD> "That was how Jack called me. Greetings, Lady Douro." 19:50 <tom> The flares are possibly a disappointment. One sticks right in the face of a watermelon, sputtering. Another doesn’t have enough time to prime before smacking off another and fizzling out on the soaked grass. 19:50 <VoxPVoxD> "660 messages he left on my phone." 19:50 <tom> Bob will assure her that vampires go up like paper. 19:51 <tom> “That’s how I want to make a good impression with a woman, treat her like she’s already my hated ex.” 19:51 <tom> “Because I’m dumb as hell.” 19:51 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Sometimes you don't want to make a good impression. Just a strong one." 19:52 <tom> “Do you think he just couldn’t bring himself to do the last six? Too on the nose even for Soyjak?” 19:53 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "I bet if I'd waited just a bit longer he'd have kept going." 19:53 <VoxPVoxD> "For a man called Jack of the Edges he has a very hazy notion of boundaries." 19:53 <tom> “Maybe it’s like, he lives on the edge. The edge of what is acceptable even if you pay us two hundred dollars American.” 19:54 <tom> “I know exactly one good thing about the guy, which is the only reason I haven’t bailed.” 19:54 <tom> “A wizard told me he wasn’t unseelie. That’s it.” 19:55 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "And you trusted him? That's a clear 'he said, sidhe said' situation." 19:55 <VoxPVoxD> Willie realises belatedly that that joke won't make any sense unless you can somehow read a transcript of what they're saying. 19:56 <VoxPVoxD> "But still, I suppose you did make 'Jack burns us' your centre square on that bingo card." 19:56 <tom> “Two hundred thousand dollars American,” He frowns, correcting himself. 19:56 <tom> “I mean it’s obvious, isn’t it?” 19:56 <tom> “Come on. I’ve seen enough movies.” 19:56 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "It's an interesting game. Shades of Tarot, almost. A sort of folk divination." 19:56 <VoxPVoxD> "Snake Valley magic." 19:56 <tom> “He’s probably gonna get cold feet five minutes after we burn out a vampire tomb and leave us twisting in the wind.” 19:57 <tom> “Pardon?” 19:57 <VoxPVoxD> "The Bingo card. Making predictions about what's going to happen, drawing meaning from the order in which they do." 19:57 <VoxPVoxD> "All magic is basically just deciding something and then being very insistent." 19:57 <tom> “I never really thought about it like that.. but I guess it’s true.” 19:58 <tom> “It’s just a rite of passage the tacteam guys started up.” 19:58 <VoxPVoxD> "Snake Valley is where you trained?" 19:58 <tom> “You probably don’t know what goofy shit horny idiot teenagers get up to when the government gives them guns.” 19:58 <tom> “Snake River, Ma’am.” 19:58 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "I only know what they do when they're born with guns." 19:58 <VoxPVoxD> "Ah. My mistake." 19:59 <tom> “The Snake River Annex, out of American Falls, Idaho.” 20:00 <tom> “Subsidiary of Operation FORT, Task Force: Valkyrie.” 20:00 <VoxPVoxD> "FORT?" 20:00 <tom> “You ever see Aliens?” 20:01 <tom> “That’s the aspiration, anyway.” 20:01 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Aliens are real?" 20:02 <tom> Bob, who thought he was sleeping with one for almost a week: ”Yes ma’am.” 20:02 <VoxPVoxD> "Have you ever met any?" 20:02 <tom> “But I mean the movie.” 20:02 <VoxPVoxD> "Oh. Yes, of course." 20:02 <tom> “You know, honestly, it’s hard to tell sometimes.” 20:02 <tom> “I’ve definitely killed one.” 20:03 <tom> “But yeah. FORT is a subsidiary of Valkyrie. We handle EN.. Extranormal entities of ED/ET origin.” 20:03 <tom> “Extra-dimensional, Extra-terrestrial.” 20:03 <tom> “Usually keter as fuck.” 20:04 <VoxPVoxD> Willie's not stringing hits together, but Bob can tell her form is improving. "Keter? Like the shed company?" 20:04 <tom> “Hostile.” 20:05 <VoxPVoxD> "More operator lingo." 20:05 <tom> “Sorry, after a while you just.. I mean, you ever hang out with guys- I mean, friends, on voice chat and after a while you’re just completing their stupid in-jokes?” 20:06 <tom> “It’s just a way of showing you’re in the tribe.” 20:07 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Yes, we do that on purpose, here. It's called private education." 20:08 <tom> “Where I’m from that usually means your parents didn’t want you to learn about Darwin.” 20:08 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Oh, but Australia's lovely. Beautiful country. Best coffee I've ever had outside of Italy. Full of red-faced men in khaki, squinting at things." 20:09 <tom> “Right. Right.” He does not get it. 20:10 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "How are you taking to England? How's Mari?" 20:10 <tom> The remaining watermelons are further out, harder to reach. He’s handing her a pair of rifled slugs when she speaks and he kinda freezes up for a second. 20:11 <tom> “It’s... different.” 20:11 <tom> “People are a lot less friendly, but ambulances are free. It doesn’t really mesh.” 20:11 <tom> “I mean, I was thinking about it right.” 20:11 <tom> “I’m here in this restaurant and the waitress is treating me like absolute trash.” 20:12 <tom> “And I’m getting mad, right?” 20:12 <tom> “And then it’s like, oh, she doesn’t have to give a shit about tips.” 20:12 <tom> “Good for her! Step on me. Who cares what I think.” 20:12 <tom> He walks that back a bit: ”I just mean it’s completely flipped on its head.” 20:13 <tom> “It’s like everything but the people is nicer.” 20:14 <tom> She can tell he’s trying to wiggle out of talking about Mari, but it’s up to her if she lets him get away with it. 20:15 <VoxPVoxD> Willie adopts a theatrically old, creaky soprano voice, an accent dripping with jewels and ivy. "There is a difference, Minnie, between nicety and kindness. The former is wisdom; the latter, indulgence." 20:15 <tom> “’Minnie’?” 20:16 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "That's what my family calls me. I went by Mina as a girl." 20:16 <tom> “That’s nice. Why’d you change it?” 20:16 <tom> “If you don’t mind.” 20:18 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "I got an internship at Watchtower, in New York. Very competitive. I don't know if anyone even bothered to read my application. I dashed it off at the last minute, knowing no one would care. Because of my name, basically." 20:19 <tom> “You’re lucky it wasn’t Boston, then.” 20:20 <VoxPVoxD> "When you grow up with a name like that... do you know when you're a child and you see all these fantastical jobs, like astronaut or ballerina or fashion model." 20:20 <tom> “But that still sucks ass.” 20:20 <tom> “Yeah?” 20:22 <VoxPVoxD> "Well, when you're a Wellesley, one of the Wellesleys, or if you have one of a handful of other names of the correct caliber... you just can. That just happens. You want to be a general? An artist? An actor? An athlete? Not a problem. Every door opens. Every barrier yields." 20:22 <VoxPVoxD> "As Mr. Hughes would say, 'simple as'." 20:22 <tom> “That must really suck all the joy out of it.” 20:23 <VoxPVoxD> "It is so hard to find any opportunity to make something of yourself. Rather than to be what was made of you." 20:23 <tom> “What’d you do at Watchtower?” 20:23 <VoxPVoxD> "I can't change my name. My blood is my blood. But I get to choose how to carry it, and where." 20:24 <VoxPVoxD> "Research, administration, minuting. Some PA stuff, but not a lot. Millie Rhodes works you hard." 20:24 <tom> He’s starting to put the pieces together. Somewhere deep within, a single fold appears on the plain of his cortex: ”That’s why the track ticked you off.” 20:24 <tom> “Am I right?” 20:26 <VoxPVoxD> Willie grins and pats Bob approvingly on the cheek with her gloved, scarred hand. Then she squares up for one more shot and completely vaporizes the farthest melon. 20:26 <VoxPVoxD> "Bang on." 20:26 <tom> You could knock him over with a feather.