21:28 <banana> There's a moment of respite. 21:29 <banana> Work's starting to come in for the lab, but Aaron Aster isn't busy yet. Nor is the hunter cell leading to a work-life unbalance. He has pending tasks, weird new acquaintances, and there's a briefing session scheduled up at the Greybox.. but not quite yet. 21:30 <banana> What came after the hotel on the Irwell? 21:32 <Crion> You always have two homes. You have the front home, and the real home. The safehouse. The Greybox isn't a safehouse. Well, not Aster's, at least. And while already quite liquid, Aster just received an infusion of more cash. So: there's the front home, which is an apartment literally above and to the side of the lab, directly above the garage where he parks his car, keeping his commute 21:32 <Crion> incredibly correct. 21:32 <Crion> And then there's the safehouse. 21:41 <Crion> Melvin, Broker and Sons killed cattle and sheep for the good people of Manchester for some 120 years, before financialized capital and various economic conditions came for them. The new owners of the property are holding out for the sort of commercial rents that only international banks are willing to pay, and unfortunately, there's an HSBC ATM farm right down the street. Too bad for them, 21:41 <Crion> but the new landlords are rich enough to let the location sit fallow. 21:41 <Crion> That offered Aster an opportunity. Did you know that MB&S had a sub-basement? No one else will, now that he's properly walled it off. 21:43 <Crion> There's a bathroom down here, thank god, and he can grab power from the same lines as the datacenter next door, which means if he's careful no one will even notice the expenditure. Run phone lines through spoofed sat or VOIP networked through the lab; put in a good-sized refridgerator; stack the closet with staples. 21:43 <Crion> There's a sewer exit too. Aster's first task is to try to ward that from Suzies Cutworth. 21:44 <banana> Doing it all yourself is a lot of work... but it means he isn't beholden to anybody. When the worst comes to the worst, Aster will have a good chance. 21:44 <banana> But is this place home, or just an emergency self-storage mechanism? Where does he call Samantha from? 21:44 <Crion> Rugged individualism is mostly a lie...but only mostly. 21:45 <Crion> He will call her from the lab, of course. If there's a home to be had for Aaron Aster, it's work. 21:48 <Crion> It's probably around 7 PM in the evening. No, it's at 7 PM sharp. They made an agreement on time; Aster isn't late. 21:50 <banana> Samantha's not late to the phone... but the location of the phone varies. Aster knows this because a little pause in the dialtone, and because of how she answers: 21:51 <banana> "Yard, S.C.U., Blackfin." 21:51 <Crion> Aster: "Sadly I'm not comfortable enough in my Manchester accent yet to do a bit here." 21:51 <Crion> "Good evening, Dr. Blackfin." 21:54 <banana> Samantha: "Good evening, Agent. Or that's how it feels... they still ask after you. Wanna hear any of it?" 21:54 <Crion> Aster chuckles. "Indubitably." 21:55 <Crion> Aster: "But not until you tell me how you've been." 21:55 <Crion> "We had to skip last week for professional reasons." 21:59 <banana> Samantha: "Bus...y? Actually, it doesn't feel like two weeks worth of 'busy'." 21:59 <banana> "Everything's finally getting back to normal around here. Now that Patel's out the reorg is canned, and they're opening up visas again for the exchange program. I might get an assistant who's actually qualified." 21:59 <banana> "The fish and chip place hasn't reopened yet but there's a sign on the door. I have faith." 22:00 <banana> There's a little movement in the background, and you hear noises: the office door locking, the shutters and H.H. engaging. It should be safe to talk. 22:01 <Crion> Aster: "Well, I wouldn't count her out permanently. But it would be nice." 22:01 <Crion> "Personally, I've resorted to getting into curries." 22:02 <banana> Samantha: "British curry?" 22:03 <Crion> Aster: "No, I'm not fucking crazy. There are some good Indian places around here." 22:03 <Crion> "That cuisine doesn't hit the same spot as good Mexican food does -- not worse, just different. But fewer carbohydrates." 22:04 <banana> Samantha: "Well thank Christ. I wasn't sure whether Manchester gets immigration at all... they make it sound like a kind of gammon paradise." 22:05 <Crion> Aster: "Well, they're not completely wrong on that account, I suppose." 22:06 <banana> Part of the joke here is that Aaron himself is in the demographic to be considered 'gammon', but doesn't resemble them - the culture seems to be so different that it actually warps peoples' faces and bodies. 22:07 <Crion> Aster has been accused of being a literalist before, and it's applicable enough that he doesn't actually get the implied joke until a few beats afterward, when it's no longer polite to launch a rejoinder to it. 22:08 <banana> "It's not busy, but I haven't had a lot of actual downtime." 22:08 <Crion> Aster: "Same, but different." 22:08 <Crion> Aster: "Though it refreshing to be your own taskmaster for once." 22:09 <Crion> He knows enough not to ask stupid questions, like 'what are you working on.' There are rules to these things. 22:13 <banana> Samantha: "I'll be recommending Aster Biologics to anyone working north of Birmingham. It's kind of funny, though." 22:13 <Crion> Aster: "Mmmm?" 22:16 <banana> "All the profiling work here-" her special kind of profiling, that is- "It's very geofenced. Not federal at all. Even though Scotland Yard operates across the country, special considerations is pretty much City-only. There are other teams operating in Oxford, Exeter.. even Greenwich, which is about ten miles away." 22:17 <Crion> Aster: "Interesting. Frankly, I thought it was because they only really cared about London." 22:18 <Crion> He worked there too for awhile, of course, but he's not the sort of person to pay attention to even the concept of other potential work when someone's handed him a task right up front. Never wonder about rice until they stop throwing you steaks. 22:18 <Crion> Possibly something a gammon would say. 22:22 <banana> "No, I think everyone's pretty friendly, they just don't share work beyond a certain physical distance." 22:22 <Crion> Aster: "I have theories on why." 22:22 <banana> Samantha: "Relatively friendly. You know, quietly standing three feet apart in queues and Mister Whoever and never talking to anyone you didn't go to school with." 22:23 <Crion> Aster: "Christ, they have you calling them 'queues' now instead of lines? You'll be ready for citizenship soon." 22:24 <banana> Samantha: "Ohhh. I am SO sorry. Sourry." 22:25 <Crion> Aster: "Anyhow, it's clearly because of the vampires." 22:26 <banana> "They don't travel. You think it's influenced people?" 22:29 <Crion> Aster: "I think the confines of England being so much more, well, confined, has led to a heightened sense of geography. Of course that comes after a meeting with the heads of the night court in this city telling me it was fine to go off and kill vampires in London, they didn't care a whit, like it was somewhere across the mountains and over the seas." 22:31 <banana> Samantha: "Ohh boy. You had a meeting - or I guess they took a meeting, with you? Postmortem?" 22:31 <Crion> Aster: "No, I assure you, I'm alive." 22:31 <banana> "Don't even." 22:33 <Crion> Aster: "They brought me into some old ampitheater buried beneath a Radisson Hotel. My point of contact looked like that Joker girl from the comic book movies. Maybe a bit more like a stripper. The woman who runs the city looks disturbingly like Alien-era Sigourney Weaver. I think it's an intentional aesthetic choice." 22:33 <banana> Samantha: "You sure that wasn't telepathic influence?" 22:34 <Crion> Aster: "Oh, I'm certain it was. But I don't have any other referant anchors for her." 22:34 <Crion> "And then we went and fought ghosts for mages because all the werewolves were gone. It's been a busy two weeks." 22:36 <banana> "Christ on a crutch." 22:36 <banana> Samantha: "You're getting right into it. Further in than we've collectively managed, in years." She's impressed as well as concerned. 22:37 <Crion> Aster: "The private sector has its advantages. Don't worry, no sales pitch to follow." 22:37 <Crion> "We are getting a million pounds per case resolved though." 22:37 <Crion> "It's a seven way split, but." 22:37 <banana> "That's not a sales pitch?" It's not, for her, which he knows, but a lot of people would see the appeal. 22:38 <Crion> Aster: "As I recall, you were the one who teasingly worried there was no one up here to pay for 'special considerations.'" 22:39 <Crion> "Also someone from the Greater Manchester Police came by with a golemic, Kabbalic ritual stone which one of their officers split in twain with a perfectly-placed bullet creating a counter-sigil." 22:39 <Crion> "So the trade has been quite healthy." 22:40 <Crion> It's so liberating that none of this is under NDA. 22:44 <banana> Samantha: "I knew you'd be ok when you weren't buried in paperwork and 'priorities'. It does sound a bit..." 22:44 <banana> "Who is 'we'?" 22:44 <banana> There's not really enough audio information in a phone call to deduce which bit it sounds. 22:48 <Crion> Aster: "Well, I mentioned a seven-way split. One is for the house, and we don't know much about him except that he's perfectly capable of monitoring phonecalls like this, so, hello Jack. Call me if you have a problem here, and I'll invite you to agree to an additional payment framework to stop me from routine phonecalls. The second reserved portion is for our facilitator slash administrator 22:48 <Crion> slash IT guy, who is named Richard, and does his job well, if not so far entirely for our benefit." 22:48 <Crion> "We'll get to that." 22:49 <Crion> "That leaves the five of us. Strivers all." 22:49 <banana> Samantha: "I didn't think you were going to join a team. I'm glad you changed your mind." 22:51 <Crion> "As you know, neither did I. But some 144 thousand pounds sterling an outing has a way of rearranging your priorities. I take a portion, of course. So does another American. Born William but, due to some confusion, calls himself Bob. Former special forces; fled to England recently. Has a strange girlfriend. Obsessed with guns. So very normal, on the grade." 22:54 <banana> Dr. Blackfin is perfectly aware she shouldn't take notes. Fortunately, she doesn't need to. 22:57 <Crion> "Then there's an actual, factual marquess. Of something or another. Incredible go-getter, has all the connections, was banished up here from London for God knows what reasons. I don't claim to understand the English. She's our social in. She has some sort of complicating bloodline thing going on which presents her with supernatural power. The power is fire, and that's useful against vampires, 22:57 <Crion> so I'm fine with that...but I do have concerns." 22:59 <banana> Samantha: "Mmm. I still want to get a IR camera into the House of Lords." 22:59 <Crion> Aster: "Oh, they're probably all human. Just blood slaves." 23:00 <Crion> "An outcome we're trying to avoid up here. But she's come to work looking very drained recently, and combined with some other information, I'm beginning to think that's literal rather than figurative." 23:01 <Crion> "But then, it's difficult to judge too harshly after my own adventures. It's a question about the rubric of carefulness." 23:01 <banana> The test for vampires' ghoul servants is fairly accurate.. as long as you get them within a week of a feeding. Three-quarters of the month there's no chemical remnant of the procedure. 23:02 <Crion> That makes it essentially useless, sadly. Flushes out of the system almost as quickly as coke. 23:06 <Crion> "Then there's Badawi, the sniper. Competent, careful, obviously an operator outside of this system. Already chafing under the rules of being in one place for a significant amount of time. Somehow got a Chinese-made Dragunov into the country, which made Bob unspeakably horny." 23:08 <banana> Samantha: "Ah, the Chesnokov maneuever." 23:09 <banana> "Some of this could be against local bylaws." 23:09 <Crion> Aster: "How does everyone know about 'Ivan Chesnokov' but me?" 23:10 <Crion> "Well, I suppose that question is self-defeating." 23:11 <banana> "Because Mark Zuckerberg hasn't stolen your soul under Admiralty law, Aaron. It's a good thing." 23:11 <Crion> Aster: "Mmmm. Oh, and then we have Rolf, the cartoon racist." 23:12 <Crion> "I think he is also, somehow, a landlord." 23:13 <Crion> "But he was also a Human Office partisan in Ireland -- believe me, I've avoided asking for specifics -- and he's the sort of man who needs to be punched, and only hasn't been because of how good he himself is at punching." 23:15 <banana> Samantha: "How on Earth did you meet these people?" 23:16 <banana> Wasn't there a scandal about a guy named Rolf around the time the exchange program began? Samantha remembers something about a singer. Can't be the same guy, which means there are two Rolves. 23:17 <Crion> Aster: "Remember the Jack I mentioned, who I said was probably listening in on this call?" 23:17 <Crion> "He's quite connected." 23:18 <banana> "Are you working with Kevin Bacon?" 23:18 <Crion> Aster: "Anyway. I'm going to repeat my pitch. You don't have to meet any of these people...but while Aster Biologics sounds fine, Aster & Blackfin sounds much better. Hints of evil lawyers that always win." 23:20 <banana> Blackfin: "Yeah, it does. But even with the weird territorial limits, this work is still... it's pretty amazing on both ends. The things that go on at the British Museum..." 23:21 <banana> "And we aren't totally cut off. Did you know they have a new module in testing? Remote proprioception." 23:22 <Crion> Well, he was prepared for a no. "I think it would be quite improprietous of me to know what modules are and are not in testing, at this point." 23:23 <banana> "You have a point!" Samantha is silent for a moment. 23:23 <banana> "Are you making any friends up there?" 23:23 <Crion> Aster: "Should I be?" 23:24 <banana> "Value-neutral." 23:24 <Crion> Aster: "The work is the work. When you're cozying up to vampires, civilians who don't know the parameters are liabilities." 23:24 <Crion> "I am, at the very least, friendly to my co-workers." 23:25 <Crion> "I also hired a college kid to work the front desk. We'll see how it goes. I'm concerned even being here is putting him in danger." 23:26 <banana> "Golems the worst of it so far?" 23:29 <Crion> Aster: "So far. Also the best. I haven't exactly opened the lab up to paternity tests and COVID processing so business is what it is." 23:34 <banana> Samantha: "We had something like a bit like that here a couple of years ago. It was when you were on the Two Cops thing. Carved stone, placed in the glenoid fossa, it gave the subject the 'divine hand', although that's a bit of a misnomer." 23:35 <banana> "Is this LEO-adjacent enough for a records search?" 23:38 <Crion> Aster: "It is. And the Detective Sergeant from the Greater Manchester Police didn't sign anything, so." 23:38 <banana> "That's helpful. I'll get back to you, or him, if he finds the right channels to go through." 23:41 <Crion> "Her. To be more helpful." 23:43 <banana> Samantha: "Even better." She sighs, but it's not exasperation - Aster recognises simple weariness. 23:43 <Crion> Aster: "But seriously. You're doing okay?" 23:44 <Crion> "No low men from Philadelphia creeping about?" 23:49 <banana> Samantha: "You don't get rat-men unless the star psychics are involved. HQ.. just send us memos and trainings. Post-Brexit FCPA compliance." 23:49 <banana> "I'm doing a great job here. They're not going to take it away from me." 23:50 <banana> "Erm. If you need help, though, or anything... you don't have to wait for a Friday." 23:50 <Crion> Aster: "That's true." The first part is, anyway. 23:50 <Crion> "I know." 23:50 <Crion> "I haven't needed help yet." 23:50 <Crion> "And you're busy." 23:52 <banana> Samantha: "For now, I guess." 23:52 <Crion> Aster: "Mmm. We should get lunch soon. Or dinner. When things calm down here, I could come to London for a weekend." 23:53 <Crion> "It'd probably still be a working vacation. But..." 23:53 <banana> Samantha: "Let's do it." 23:55 <Crion> With a bit more verve: "I'll find a time to put on our Google calendar." 23:56 <banana> "Until then... trust the Process, right?" 23:56 <Crion> Aster chuckles. "Yes. I suppose so. Good night, doctor." 23:59 <banana> As usual, Aster hears a few seconds of after-effects. Conversations with his former colleagues, people who've shared that connection, run on multiple levels, with a string of unheard ur-language underying the actual English words you speak. Tuning it out is second nature. 00:00 <Crion> All good here.