19:27 <banana> It's raining in New Islington. It rains in Manchester even more than it did in London, and more heavily. The upcoming winter doesn't help, but locals tell Aaron Aster that you're lucky to get one day in two dry, all year round. 19:28 <Crion> Aster's always liked the fall. Not the rain, though. 19:28 <Crion> Well. It's aesthetically pleasing. It just makes the job harder. 19:31 <banana> They say it washes away a multitude of sins. 19:31 <banana> The woman who thrusts open the door from Oldham Road into the Aster Biologics reception looks like she's at risk of being washed away, too; she can't be much over five feet tall. Buried in a greatcoat and wearing a thick facemask, it's hard to make much else of her. 19:31 <banana> What does she see? 19:31 <Crion> Well, what time of day is it? Door's unlocked, meaning it's business hours, but close to the end of them. 19:32 <banana> Who knows? The sun hasn't been out once. 19:32 <banana> (A clock would claim 4:13.) 19:36 <Crion> Simon Kingfisher, 19, is likely on Twitter. Aaron Aster, his boss, has been generally fine with this. Simon is the new receptionist at Aster Biologics! He's a student, taking classes at Manchester Met (not "reading," that's not the sort of school for teenagers who are "reading" subjects) at night-ish or early morning-ish and earning on 28 hours a week here behind a desk. He doesn't pay rent 19:36 <Crion> at his parents so the money is very good. Aaron the American is...well, he pays weekly and the cheque felt very good. 19:37 <Crion> A lot of what's going on in Simon's life right now feels very good. 19:37 <Crion> He's fully vaccinated! 19:39 <Crion> And he has quite good hair. 19:39 <Crion> He'll reach for the phone to page Aaron when someone walks in. 19:39 <banana> Blue eyes stare dubiously at this kid as the visitor removes her coat, preparing to make his day a little worse. If there's no obvious rack for it, she'll dump the thing, folded but soggy, on the counter. 19:41 <Crion> There is in fact a coatrack. It's made from a polymer. So sopping wet coats are fine for it. 19:41 <banana> She removes her mask too. Light brown hair cut short and the general mien of someone who isn't certain they're likely to get the important, specialised thing they need. 19:42 <banana> But Simon's here, so... "DS Walker. Detective Sergeant." 19:42 <banana> "GMP." 19:42 <Crion> How would a straight 19-year-old boy (man! he insists, from his childhood room) react to-- 19:42 <Crion> Ah so it's like that. 19:42 <Crion> Simon: "Y-yes mum. Mam. I'll announce you." 19:43 <banana> "Thanks." DS Walker waits, examining the reception carefully. She turns back to the coatrack and takes a paper-wrapped parcel outside of an inside pocket. 19:44 <Crion> He will page the back. It's answered quickly. Here's one side of the conversation: "Mr. Aster, there's a DS here to see--yes, Detective Sergeant. Yes. Detective Sergeant Walker GMP. I haven't asked, she's--yes. Yes. Yes." 19:44 <Crion> Simon stands. Earnestly: "Mr. Aster will be right up." 19:45 <banana> "Thanks again." She's patient, and completely uninterested in Simon Kingfisher. 19:46 <Crion> Three and a half minutes later, the door to the back opens, and an aging American with no sympathy on his face steps out, staring at the woman in his reception. 19:46 <Crion> After nine seconds, if she's counting: "Simon. When are you here until?" 19:47 <Crion> Simon: "Five, Mr. Aster." 19:47 <Crion> Aster: "Then you should file your card, and I'll see you tomorrow." At most, he glances at the receptionist. 19:48 <Crion> Another eight or nine seconds pass as Simon busies himself. Then: "Detective Sergeant." 19:48 <banana> Walker: "Mr. Aaron Aster?" 19:49 <Crion> Aster steps forward, dressed in a crisp white lab coat, buttoned-up burberry beneath it, crisp slacks, perfect shoes, glasses and a hairline retreat. 19:49 <banana> She pronounces it correctly, but strongly-accented. Sounds, at least to Simon, like a voice from somewhere south and west of here, almost Welsh. 19:50 <Crion> Aaron Aster: "Yes. Correct. Would you like to step back into the workspace?" 19:50 <banana> In Aster's estimation, the detective is in her thirties. The parcel is wrapped in enough layers that he can't see inside. 19:50 <Crion> Simon is currently trying to be as small as possible behind the reception computer. 19:50 <Crion> Inauspicious, that the first visitor on the job is a copper. 19:50 <Crion> ...But exciting. 19:52 <banana> Walker: "Sure, let's go." 19:52 <banana> "Mr. Aster, I'm told that you have the facilities to analyse.. odd things. Puzzles which GMP labs might see as a pattern but be unable to reassemble." 19:52 <Crion> Did she wait until they were actually in the workspace before saying that second bit? 19:52 <banana> Yep. She's talking to him, slowly, but casting a critical eye on everything around. *Very* interested in the lab space. 19:53 <Crion> If so, she'll probably have waited until he hit the actual fluorescents, turning the lab from a shadowed, strange wide space into a completely empty and harshly angled modern model of efficiency. 19:53 <Crion> Well, empty except for all the very expensive equipment. 19:53 <Crion> Aster: "Whom by?" 19:54 <Crion> She is free to examine the whole of the realm. 19:54 <Crion> The tour is not guided, but there are no rails. 19:55 <Crion> Aster himself walks back to a workstation near the break in the two great islands of lab table gear in the middle of the room, bringing up something he was previously working on. 19:55 <banana> Walker turns in a circle before answering, boots making a series of taps on the hard floor. "How interesting. I got your name from the coroner, Dr-" she names a scientist. He was on Aster's contact list. 19:58 <Crion> Aster: "Sofia is a colleague, and a respected one. This space can provide morgue services if necessary -- the slide freezers, slab, and attendant organ cages are through the push-doors into the cold room there on your left -- but I do not aim to compete with the state coronor." 19:59 <banana> For the first time, DS Walker grins. "We haven't got states here, but I'm sure H.M. Coroner's Court appreciates it." 19:59 <banana> "Have you got somewhere cleanable I can set down an item? There are organic remains." 19:59 <Crion> Aster nods. "But of course." 20:00 <Crion> "Over here." 20:01 <Crion> The far side of the second island has a setting space that is serviced by a big roll of parchment paper, such that Aster can tear off the length sitting over the analysis area and pull a brand new one over it. There are already installed two great hinged lighting arrays that he can manipulate by hand, one providing studio lighting and the other very focused beams. 20:02 <Crion> He does that, affixes the lights, and passes on the antiseptic -- organic remains. Best not to introduce chemicals. 20:03 <banana> Walker places her parcel neatly in the center of the covered workspace, then undoes its wrapping a little more clumsily. She's still wearing the gloves that went with the coat. 20:04 <banana> "Mr. Aster, I know your credentials, but I'd better make it clear that this is a police matter, involving an active investigation." 20:04 <Crion> Affixing the second light: "Do you require signatures?" 20:04 <VoxPVoxD> Is there a bell or something when the door opens? Or is it just the noise of the street and the rain that follows Willie in? 20:05 <banana> What there should be is a receptionist, but he's gone early. 20:05 <banana> Willie can hear voices from a little further inside. 20:05 <Crion> No, Simon's still cleaning up. 20:06 <Crion> So it's the street, the rain, and a 19-year-old going, "Oh." 20:07 <VoxPVoxD> Whoever that is sees Willie Wellesley carefully tap-dry her umbrella in the doorway as she unwinds her scarf and, finding no coat-rack, folds it over her arm. "How do you do? I have an appointment with Mr. Aster." 20:07 <Crion> The young man: "Oh. Ah. Yes?" 20:07 <Crion> He picks up the phone and pages the back. "There's -- I thought she was here already but -- now she's here." 20:07 <Crion> "Yes. Right." 20:08 <VoxPVoxD> She's briefly worried she's misremembered the time. Been losing details like that lately. "If he's busy, I can wait here." 20:09 <banana> Walker, regarding signatures: "Not at this time." She's going to listen with interest. Aster gets the sense that she wants to learn about the lab and its operations as much as she wants.. whatever the job is. 20:09 <Crion> In the back, Aster covers the receiver: "A friend and member of Her Majesty's Government is here to see me. Can I invite her back? She is relevant, to these matters." 20:10 <banana> Strange expression on the detective's face, but she just says: "O.K. I'll hold the story until you're both here to hear it." 20:10 <Crion> He nods. Into the phone: "Send her back and go home." 20:11 <Crion> Up front, Simon nods and hangs up. To Willie: "Just through the door, miss." 20:11 <Crion> With all the flourescents on, the lights are obvious beyond it. 20:12 <VoxPVoxD> Willie smiles warmly at him. "Thank you very much." Then she walks past the young man and finds Aster and Walker in what seems to be a very impressive laboratory. 20:12 <Crion> As Willie walks through: "Willie Wellesley, this is Detective Sergeant Walker GMP. I don't believe I've gotten a first name. My apologies; work has interceded." 20:13 <Crion> As Willie walks through: "Willie Wellesley, this is Detective Sergeant Walker GMP. I don't believe I've gotten a first name. My apologies; work has interceded." 20:13 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "How do you do, Detective Sergeant?" 20:13 <VoxPVoxD> That's not the sort of person she expected to see in here. 20:14 <VoxPVoxD> Does the GMP even have the discretionary for this kind of work? 20:14 <Crion> He places two boxes on the table: latex gloves and surgical masks. "We have a sample here. Everyone please protect yourselves." 20:14 <banana> She hears the voice, she sees the face, eyebrows raise - Sarah-Jane Walker extends a hand to shake. "Nice to meet you, Lady Wellesley." 20:15 <Crion> Aster is wearing a coat, but: "There are paper coats in the dispenser behind you, Detective Sergeant, if either of you wish to wear them. I cannot give orders, but this lab is accredited and we follow strict PPE rules." 20:16 <VoxPVoxD> Willie looks a bit chagrined near the end of Walker's introduction, but recovers with the grace her forebears would expect. She takes the Detective's hand firmly. "A pleasure," she agrees. 20:16 <banana> Walker: "You're the expert. I've been carrying this thing around next to my gut, but suddenly that seems like a bad idea." 20:16 <banana> The handshake Willie gets is also firm. 20:16 <banana> "Alright." 20:16 <Crion> Aster: "I can't give an analysis until examination. But. Yes." 20:17 <Crion> He withdraws a tray of examination tools from under the island, then pulls up what looks like repurposed dentistry devices: dipping stations with water and alcohol, which cycle out pathogens. He reaches beneath the island and powers their cycling motors on. 20:18 <VoxPVoxD> Willie takes a coat to put on over her coat and whatever other PPE is expected. She looks around as she does — this is all right by Health & Safety's lights, right? Or as roughly as Willie can surmise. Eye washes, clear signage, so forth. 20:18 <banana> Once paper-coated, Walker starts undoing the package; she's not going to question Willie's presence at this point. "There's a man on the operating table over at Royal Infirmary. Name of Hourann." 20:18 <Crion> If anything, it is farther beyond code than just trying to satisfy. 20:18 <Crion> Aster has had the capital to do this correctly. 20:18 <banana> "He was shot by Greater Manchester Police while attempting to tear down a public building, stone by stone. Extraordinary strength, total single-mindedness." 20:19 <banana> Walker: "Bullets to the leg didn't stop him, but then one stray casing got him in the stomach." 20:19 <Crion> Aster: "Mm. Is 'stone by stone' metaphor?" 20:19 <Crion> "Nevermind. Psychological profile can wait until secondary examination." 20:20 <banana> She reveals two large pieces of white rock, once connected but cracked down the middle. There's blood and mess; not much, but the stones haven't actually been washed. 20:20 <Crion> When the package is unwrapped, what does Aster see? 20:20 <Crion> Aha. 20:20 <VoxPVoxD> Blimey. 20:20 <Crion> Aster: "The provenance of the blood?" 20:21 <banana> Walker: "It belongs to Mr. Hourann, or his estate. The surgeon's fantastic, but he had this in his stomach." 20:21 <banana> "As far as we can tell, the moment it cracked.. his invincibility ended." 20:22 <Crion> Aster: "Well then. I don't need to tell you this is substantially less blood and organic weathering in terms of coating and degradation than you'd expect from the--was it the literal stomach, or simply the belly or thorax?" 20:23 <Crion> "Did this replace and supersede digestive process, is what I am asking." 20:23 <banana> Walker steps back from the table and takes out a phone. "Let me check my notes on that." 20:23 <Crion> Aster nods. 20:23 <banana> The stone chunk, when it was whole, would have been impossibly large to swallow. It could fit in a man's stomach, but how would it get there without tearing apart his throat? 20:24 <Crion> At this point, Aster isn't worried about that. He wants to know if it had contact with bile. 20:27 <banana> Walker glances up from her phone, assessing Aster and Willie in their disposable labcoats. An interesting image. "Yes, the stone was in Hourann's stomach. Apparently, his cardiac orifice and pyloric sphincter were... atrophied, almost sealed up." 20:28 <Crion> The examination begins with what looks like spatulas, actually. He moves it around with plastics, not wanting anything with a point that could cause impact damage. Then the differentiated lights come in, the various scanner settings, the features hooked up to the local server and the laptops. Then comes the rumination. 20:29 <VoxPVoxD> Willie's looking at the stone, but her mind is wandering. Predominantly she's thinking about what she's going to say to the detective if she asks why Willie has a meeting with this very serious American scientist. But she's also very conscious of the weight of her phone in her pocket, and imagining it buzz to life with a message that she has to either walk out for or let burn a hole in her 20:29 <VoxPVoxD> pocket until she can check it responsibly. 20:30 <Crion> Aster: "Willie, there's a very expensive camera on the shelf behind you. The button to turn it on is on the plastic frame on the side; the button to take pictures is the very obvious thumb trigger. You shouldn't have to set it up. Could I bother you to take seven pictures of this sample, as I pose it?" 20:30 <VoxPVoxD> She looks up with only a fraction of a second's delay. "Yes, of course." 20:30 <Crion> By 'shouldn't have to set it up,' he means, 'point, shoot, it goes to the server.' 20:30 <VoxPVoxD> That all sounds simple enough. 20:31 <Crion> Six 'sides' (four normal sides, then top and bottom) and then detail on the trauma to the center of the artifact, is what Aster will pose. 20:31 <Crion> He's blinking more rapidly now. 20:31 <Crion> Much more rapidly. 20:32 <Crion> To Walker, somewhat belatedly, but not ignoring her: "Very interesting. Thank you. Has a doctor conducted a physical examination of the subject?" 20:33 <banana> Walker: "Dr. Meadows is on it, but right now they're trying to save his life." 20:37 <Crion> Aster nods: "Noted. Please make Dr. Meadows a priority on all communications going forth on this." He leans in on the sample. "Saving his life is in all likelihood related to understanding this breached stone." 20:38 <Crion> Aster touches the smooth side with a plastic probe. "Do we have any understanding of how this was oriented in the body? Why one side of this is smooth, while the rest is not?" 20:39 <banana> Walker pages through her notes again. "He was shot in the front. So the smooth part would've been facing outward, same as the man." 20:40 <banana> The detective's face scrunches up - you can see she wants to ask questions. But she also doesn't want to get in the way, and is holding off. 20:43 <Crion> Aster: "Interesting. So. The lack of consistent weathering or biological pressure on the stone indicates we're looking at a purely paraphenomenal internal organ arrangement. That's fine. It means that Dr. Meadows should consider more radical treatments than her training will suggest to her. I am not medically licensed to officially dispense that advice; nevertheless, it is correct." 20:44 <banana> DS Walker: "..I can't text someone in surgery, but I'm passing on a message to the hospital. God knows what they'll make of it." She takes off one glove and her thumbs fly on the phone. 20:45 <Crion> Aster: "Willie, next to where you found that procedural camera, you'll find a second, stranger camera. Please handle it with care; it is very old. However all we need is for you to take a single shot of this sample while I hold it up." 20:45 <Crion> He will do so. 20:45 <VoxPVoxD> Click. 20:46 <banana> Walker: "You sound like you know what you're talking about, and this gear is too expensive to be stage magic." 20:47 <Crion> Aster places it back down gingerly. "So. We are golem adjacent. We have ritually carved symbols, we have an embedded ritual object, and we have, most strangely, an alleged ballistic impact forming a word of power in this previously-attested to arrangement." 20:48 <banana> "The allegation's credible," says the detective dryly. 20:48 <Crion> To the Detective Sergeant: "Who is responsible for this ballistic impact? Do you know which gun?" 20:49 <banana> "An ordinary constable currently undergoing a use-of-force evaluation. His identity is confidental at least until that process is complete, but the service weapon has been checked back in." 20:50 <Crion> Aster: "Consider them a person of interest. Do not disclose anything to me unless Aster Biologics is being brought in on official consulting retainer with the legal constraints inherent thereof." 20:54 <Crion> Leaning in, examining under scope. "Cannot say for sure what denominated script or alphabet. But we appear to have capital M, lower case i, unclear -- close to exclamation point --, and capital W as our ritual markings." The M and the W: are they mirrors, or differently-serifed script? 20:54 <Crion> Because an i and a not-quite-! are very close. 20:56 <banana> In the stylised script they've used it does look like !W... but Aster knows the Sefirot. The pattern of cracks formed by the alleged bullet is oriented the other way around, so it should be Mi. Or M and i. 20:56 <banana> Walker: "Uh-huh. Retainer or otherwise, I appreciate this." 20:58 <banana> Willie can see the photo she's taken on another screen. The rock is inert, apart from the glowing coronal edges around Aster's fingers. Whatever power it possessed may have drained away. 21:00 <Crion> Aster: "Mmm. Okay. 'M' and 'i.'" 21:01 <VoxPVoxD> Willie doesn't want to admit she knows what Kirlianografia is, so she just lets Aster know the photo's finished processing. 21:02 <Crion> He'll take a look. 21:02 <Crion> Hmmmm. 21:03 <Crion> To the Detective Sergeant: "This sample is quickly losing power. Vitality. Whatever you wish to cause it. Its sigil has been severed." 21:04 <banana> Walker: "And what kind of sigil was that?" 21:04 <banana> Willie's phone vibrates. 21:04 <VoxPVoxD> ... 21:06 <VoxPVoxD> ...no. It can wait. 21:06 <Crion> Aster is engrossed in the sample. 21:07 <banana> Walker watches Willie while waiting on Aster's opinion. "Playing Watson, huh?" 21:09 <VoxPVoxD> Willie smiles wanly: "Mr. Aster prizes efficiency. He's keen to put people to work. I'm just doing a spot of consulting work. Regulatory compliance. Health and Safety, National Insurance, the pension scheme, and so forth. This is all well above my head. As far as I know this is just a large eggshell." 21:09 <Crion> Aster: "Watson is a doctor who carries a gun. By rights, I am closer to him. The sigil would be: Hod, 'Glory,' the eighth Sefirot. It was created and destroyed in this moment. By the ballistic impact. You have on your hands a case of occult Judaism. This is reinforced by the concept of an invincible man attempting to tear down a great work." 21:10 <Crion> Clinically, to the Detective Sergeant: "Do you have a Kabbalic or related specialist to consult?" 21:11 <banana> The expression on Walker's face is clear: fuck, I can't put that in a report. 21:13 <banana> DS Walker: "No. No, this is not.. we don't know any experts on magic rituals. I don't." 21:13 <Crion> Aster sighs, takes off his glasses, looks to Willie. 21:13 <VoxPVoxD> Willie looks back. 21:13 <Crion> Aster: "I've told you what I know, Detective Sergeant. Now tell me what you need." 21:14 <banana> If Aster's done with the evidence, Walker's going to start wrapping it up, stopping and starting as she talks. 21:14 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "I know one or two scholars of comparative religion from my university days I could put you in touch with, if you'd like." 21:14 <Crion> Once the photographs and scans are performed, he has no further prodding to do. 21:15 <banana> "Well... I need to give you a claim schedule for a consultation fee." She listens to Willie like she's thrown a conversational lifeline. 21:16 <banana> "Yeah, I'd appreciate it, and I'll give you both my number. If anything else comes to mind, or you encounter anything that seems related to this situation..." 21:16 <Crion> Aster nods. "Let me give you my final analysis then." 21:16 <VoxPVoxD> Willie smiles and nods. 21:17 <banana> Walker thumbs her phone again - it makes the beep that signifies recording. 21:17 <VoxPVoxD> Willie is silent as the grave. 21:17 <banana> Aster's familiar enough with evidence law to know this would just be background. 21:18 <Crion> "This entire situation was created and resolved by the interaction, via handgun ammunition, of one of your officers and the suspect. The suspect is dying. He likely cannot be saved. I cite the fading power of that artifact for such a claim. Before he dies, if at all possible, if you desire to push this investigation towards a fullness -- an incomplete one, likely; you will never satisfactorily 21:18 <Crion> close it -- you will attempt to reckon with the relationship between the man who broke the stone and the man who was it." 21:19 <Crion> He pulls off the parchment, tearing it away, and bins it. 21:19 <banana> "In short, an ordinary constable firing an ordinary weapon ought not to have ended whatever was happening?" 21:19 <Crion> Then he turns off the examination lights. 21:20 <Crion> Aster: "As a matter of probability, no. It split the rock and created a word." 21:20 <Crion> "This does not make it an accomplishment of marksmanship. It makes it an invocation of greater structures." 21:21 <Crion> Aster, locking up the cameras: "And it's possible your officer knows nothing of this." 21:21 <Crion> "But I won't speculate without investigation." 21:22 <VoxPVoxD> Fishing for a good time starts with throwing in your line. 21:22 <banana> The detective ends the recording. "Investigation we can do." 21:22 <banana> "Thanks to you both. Maybe we'll speak again, maybe you'll see something in the paper about a bizarre terrorist attack that turned out to be completely explicable." 21:23 <banana> She seems like a fairly optimistic person, under normal circumstances. 21:23 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Between you and Mr. Aster, I rest easy knowing that it will not go unresolved for lack of ability." 21:24 <Crion> Aster nods. "I'm from Philadelphia. The papers will be what they are. They won't affect my fee." 21:24 <banana> You exchange numbers and forms. DS Walker heads out into the afternoon rain with answers that raise questions and leads down rabbit holes. 21:24 <Crion> After she goes, he looks over at Willie ruefully. "So." 21:24 <Crion> "That's the tour." 21:25 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Quite a well-trained guide." 21:25 <VoxPVoxD> "Kabbalah in Manchester? How odd." 21:26 <Crion> "Mmm. There's an ersatz morgue through here, to our right. Is it?" 21:26 <Crion> "Madonna dated Guy Ritchie for quite some time." 21:26 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Guy Ritchie is from the Home Counties. We're made of stranger stuff." 21:27 <VoxPVoxD> "Was that your first proper custom?" 21:28 <Crion> Aster: "It was. I put out feelers, what. Two days ago?" 21:28 <Crion> "If she'd walked in yesterday I wouldn't have had power to the back station's lights." 21:29 <Crion> "Always good to get in close with the police. I suppose. I forgot to get her full name." 21:30 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "I wonder how much revenue they can afford to throw at specialist consultants like this. The government is increasing funding for the police, but it's all in manpower — bobbies in the street." 21:31 <VoxPVoxD> "Who do you think your primary competition is?" 21:31 <Crion> A thin smile. "By the phonebook, AlphaBiologics." 21:32 <Crion> "But they do drug and paternity testings, and have pivoted mostly to low-hanging COVID fruit. I can eat them for lunch." 21:32 <banana> You've got the cop's full name - it was on the vCard! Sarah-Jane Walker, Detective Sergeant with Greater Manchester Police, phone/email/encrypted Signal account attached. 21:33 <VoxPVoxD> Poor Sarah-Jane. This is not the kind of work you want to see as a detective. 21:33 <Crion> Aster: "In full, I think my primary competition is whoever doesn't want questions conveniently answered without motive discrimination. Or mages." 21:33 <Crion> "Maybe they're the same." 21:35 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "There really isn't anyone up here who can do what you do, is there? That must be a source of great encouragement. If you're thoughtful, discreet, and a bit lucky... there's money to be made no one else can even see, much less take." 21:35 <VoxPVoxD> "Is this the sort of work you did in America?" 21:35 <Crion> He pauses for a moment. 21:35 <Crion> "No." 21:35 <Crion> "No, in America it was dead bodies." 21:36 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "...ah." 21:36 <VoxPVoxD> "My apologies." 21:36 <Crion> Aster reasserts the glasses. "Thank you, but unnecessary. This was a dead body too." 21:36 <Crion> "It was simply representational." 21:37 <Crion> "The actual man, or golem, is dying in a hospital bed." 21:37 <Crion> "I built in the adjunct morgue for a reason," he says with a grim and slight smile. "It wasn't because I was thinking of replacing the coronor." 21:38 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "There is something of escape about it, isn't there? The, I don't know, the vibe of it, for want of a better word. Perhaps whatever's becoming of Mr. Houran is, in part, what he wanted." 21:39 <Crion> Aster blinks and points a finger at her. "Thank you. Right. Good lord. The name. Run it by Haldane." 21:39 <Crion> "We need to run it by Haldane." 21:40 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "I'll leave a note in the group channel." 21:40 <Crion> "I was so engrossed with the particulars I forgot the basic parallel investigation." 21:40 <VoxPVoxD> "You're very well fixed up here." 21:40 <Crion> Aster: "Well, with six figures liquid capital, you'd hope so." 21:41 <Crion> He pauses. "You can look around, if you'd like. But we can also just lock up and leave." 21:41 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "I like your Kirlianographer." 21:41 <VoxPVoxD> "Did you bring that with you or did you source it here?" 21:42 <Crion> Aster: "Sourced it here. It was extremely expensive...but with three or four converters, you can get it to take a USB." 21:42 <Crion> "Which is why that great monstrosity of plugs is hanging off of its side." 21:43 <Crion> He'll pivot a monitor. "Take a look." 21:44 <VoxPVoxD> Willie leans in. 21:44 <Crion> The picture Willie took with the Kirlian camera has been uploaded in a high-resolution file, with multiple filters through a proprietary piece of reader software whose license he's, ah, borrowing. From VASCU. 21:46 <Crion> Aster: "This isn't even the fullness of the file. If I wanted to really commit the processor power, and I put a bit more money into the main tower here, I could create a full 3D model." 21:46 <Crion> "It's all in the particle interactions." 21:47 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "This tech is ace. American, I assume?" 21:52 <VoxPVoxD> Then, after a moment: "...it's a bit risky to be putting out a shingle for the police and for the night-city. Suppose the Detective Sergeant comes in next time with an exsanguinated body." 21:52 <Crion> Aster: "Registered there, yes." 21:53 <Crion> To that: "Properly speaking, that's mainly risky for her." 21:53 <VoxPVoxD> "Yes." 21:53 <VoxPVoxD> "Just... not through any particular fault of her own." 21:55 <Crion> Aster: "If this lab enters into a financial relationship with GMP, then the Detective Sergeant will get a precis on what to not bring through that door, or the service entrance. Which is past the morgue." 21:55 <Crion> "Beyond that, we all have to live here." 21:55 <Crion> "Or not." 21:56 <VoxPVoxD> Willie sighs. "You're right, of course. I apologise for not following up on any of Jack's leads, yet. Work's become quite hectic. Has there been any movement?" 21:57 <Crion> Aster: "Bob and I met some vampires at 1 PM at the art gallery." 21:57 <Crion> "So they've confirmed they can walk around during the day." 21:58 <VoxPVoxD> Willie blinks. "I did not know what. Huh. Did the meeting go well?" 21:58 <Crion> "They were not, in fact, expecting us to know about the work on offer." 21:58 <Crion> Aster: "We live. So yes." 21:58 <Crion> "They did offer to enslave us." 21:58 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "I'm sorry?" 21:59 <Crion> "You know. Drink a little blood; have a little fun." 21:59 <VoxPVoxD> "Vampires can enslave you by drinking your blood?" 21:59 <Crion> Aster's face is scornful. "You know. No consequences." 21:59 <Crion> "Hmm? No. Other way about." 22:00 <VoxPVoxD> Willie relaxes a bit. "Oh. Well... that's ghastly." 22:00 <Crion> Aster: "Ghoul-y, I think is the technical term." 22:01 <banana> Willie's phone buzzed several times earlier. Thankfully it stopped before now. 22:01 <Crion> He doesn't tell her about Bob and the duffel bag. He left it out of the report, after all. 22:01 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "How did you and Mr. Goreman get along?" 22:02 <Crion> A thin smile. "As you'll note in the e-mail posted to our server, the tiny lady vampire referred to him affectionately as the 'large idiot.' 22:02 <Crion> "So he'll be grinning about that for a few days." 22:03 <Crion> Aster: "He put them on the backfoot just by being Goreman. But I do worry about the externalities involved in his personality." 22:03 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Externalities?" 22:04 <Crion> "Arrests, provocations, general chaos." 22:04 <Crion> "The man walks around in body armor." 22:04 <Crion> "In downtown Manchester." 22:04 <Crion> "Being white won't save him forever." 22:05 <Crion> Aster sighs. "He wants to be on vampires' radar but I'm unsure he understands what that means." 22:05 <VoxPVoxD> Willie half-smiles, half-winces. "Oh, dear." 22:05 <Crion> "Or unsure what that means for the rest of us." 22:06 <Crion> Aster: "Still..." 22:07 <Crion> "The Task Force has its reputation for a reason." 22:07 <VoxPVoxD> Willie nods. "...but still, I have found him very amenable to explanations. His instincts are very different, but... he does take this work very seriously." 22:07 <VoxPVoxD> "He just needs to understand that the nature of that work is not quite what he's used to." 22:07 <VoxPVoxD> "Or that he is responsible for a greater part of the whole project than he was in a platoon." 22:07 <Crion> Aster nods. "He's not a literal man. But he is a very serious one." 22:08 <Crion> "Or maybe it's the opposite." 22:08 <Crion> "Either way he's got a pipe gun that can fire five times without reloading." 22:08 <VoxPVoxD> Willie blinks. 22:09 <VoxPVoxD> "...well, I have to defer to his expertise on that. I will say that the gun he made me is very high-quality." 22:09 <VoxPVoxD> "I'm almost entirely sure he knows what he's doing." 22:10 <Crion> Aster, conversationally: "A pipe gun is a shotgun that you slam-fire by driving the firing pin into the shotgun round you intend to project, lethally. It's like if every time you saw Arnold Schwarzenegger doing the chk-chk motion with a shotgun in a movie, it also fired the gun. It's hilariously illegal to create, maintain, possess, and effect on target." 22:11 <Crion> Aster: "Your weapon is much higher quality. His weapon is designed for maximum, well." 22:11 <Crion> "Externalities." 22:13 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "A man of Missouri and of La Mancha." 22:14 <Crion> Aster: "Being a literary fool doesn't make him less of a fool." 22:14 <Crion> "But he's a very capable fool." 22:15 <Crion> "We've told him to stop making explosives in the Greybox, however." 22:15 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Mr. Haldane will appreciate that." 22:15 <Crion> "He said he has an island for it or the like?" 22:17 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "I know he's done some target shooting on Blackley's grounds up near Crumpsall. Hardly an island, but," 22:17 <Crion> Aster blinks and shakes his head. "Crumpsall. The names around this place." 22:18 <VoxPVoxD> Willie observes that Aster pronounced it correctly, and so does not point out that American place names are even more ridiculous. "They can't all be Hod." 22:19 <VoxPVoxD> "Thank you for showing me around. I feel good about this." 22:19 <Crion> Aster: "Well. Take my advice. Don't be Bob around vampires, especially if he drags you with him to see them for whatever reason. They're people, sometimes decent people, and they're better people the more of them they have to think about...but they have to eat to live. And the ones in this city aren't predisposed to like young professionals with blue bl--" 22:20 <Crion> "Christ, now I'm doing the puns too." 22:20 <VoxPVoxD> Willie, dryly: "Don't worry. I don't even own body armor." 22:21 <Crion> He'll walk her to the door. 22:21 <VoxPVoxD> On goes the scarf, up goes the umbrella. She's got her phone in her hand, un-unlocked. "Good evening, Mr. Aster." 22:21 <Crion> "Good night, Willie." 22:22 <Crion> It'll be a few steps, at least, before she hears the lock click behind her. 22:22 <VoxPVoxD> She checks her phone immediately upon getting in the car. 22:22 <banana> Sergio: <I had this idea that we could go to the theatre. There's Hamilton or some Savoy Operas. We could still do that if you're keen!> 22:22 <banana> Sergio: <But then.> 22:22 <banana> Sergio: <Perhaps this is too soon, too full-on, perhaps it isn't, anyway - I learned that a friend of mine had to drop out of midnight bocce... which means we need a sixth for Tuesday night.> 22:22 <banana> Sergio: <At Piccadilly Gardens, well lubricated.> 22:22 <banana> Sergio: <What do you think, Willie?> 22:24 <VoxPVoxD> The phone shakes in her hand a bit, but she manages to type: <i'm eager to see you again, but i'm feeling a bit Under The Weather. could we perhaps do something more sedate? i could make you dinner> 22:25 <VoxPVoxD> She's got a gas range. 22:26 <VoxPVoxD> Then she puts the phone on the passenger seat and drives home.