12:24 <banana> Stepping into the greybox on a rainy day is weird. Warehouses loom over the empty lots, but they squat on the other side of wide roads, so there’s no shield against the clouds’ fury. The interior of the ruined building is thoroughly soaked. 12:25 <banana> Willie can see the water coming down behind the door she’s opening - but within is no water, only Wires. 12:25 <VoxPVoxD> You don't want water running through your exposed wiring anyhow. 12:26 <banana> That’s right! It’s not even specialist knowledge, that. 12:26 <banana> Willie’s not sure whether it will be just her today - or rather, she only knows one hunter that’s definitely going to be present. 12:27 <VoxPVoxD> That ought to be enough. She hopes. 12:27 <dammitwho> While Richard is pleased to be considered part of the group, is he really a 'hunter' as such? 12:28 <VoxPVoxD> Willie ran a blog and that counted, so. 12:29 <VoxPVoxD> Her voice is a bit tremulous as she steps into the office. "...Richard?" She sounds worried. Is he there? Is anyone else? 12:31 <dammitwho> "Frame shift drive charging... four. Three. Two. One. Engaged." A synthesized woman's voice emanates softly from the small apartment Richard has built for himself. "Ah, Willie! Glad you're here, won't be a moment!" 12:34 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Yes, of course. How are you?" 12:37 <dammitwho> "Well enough, all things considered. I just need to run some errands, and the old girl can't be left alone, you see. Or else we'd all have a terrible time getting back in. Weather still awful?" If for some reason Willie were to strain her hearing or like actually look in his room, he's doing the expected things one does before going out - getting his wallet, glasses, coat, etc. 12:38 <VoxPVoxD> She does look in his room. How's it decorated? "Still raining, yeah." 12:43 <dammitwho> Very carefully. Everything put together with an eye for taking up minimum space - the desk with the gaming PC (no LEDs) just a few steps from the bed, a cunning scandinavian closet, a few small prints hanging on the walls (rather spooky landscapes, Andrew Wyeth). It looks like a very pleasant and significantly cleaner and better-smelling student dormitory. 12:46 <VoxPVoxD> That's cute. So, alright. Nothing too demanding of space. Ideally something practical and aesthetically spare or spooky in a cool way... "Do you think you'll be long? I can stay for ages, just." A small fretful noise. "I feel terribly guilty for dropping that on you. I wasn't sure it was worth mentioning, but then I felt like an ass withholding it." 12:50 <dammitwho> "No, no, I appreciate the notice. Better to be aware than to have that kind of nasty surprise sneak up on you. Certainly my moderate treason would be upgraded to significant treason if they thought I was some kind of hidden foreigner!" He sighs. "I don't want to put you out, but I might be all day. I'll be making phone calls and standing in queues asking to look at paperwork from the relevant 12:50 <dammitwho> state organs, and we both know what that entails." 12:54 <Quaker> Across the street, Agostina orders a chai latte and keeps an eye on the door of the Greybox. 12:54 <Quaker> Her coat is big enough that the automatic pistol in her pocket doesn’t make a discernable shape. 12:55 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Of course. Let me know if you need a database access or someone to make a phone call on your behalf." 12:55 <banana> If one of the others surprised her at random... what would she say she was watching for? 13:01 <Quaker> That she was tailing Richard…? 13:01 <Quaker> Why would she lie? She’s not the one under suspicion here. 13:03 <dammitwho> "I might do. Damned nuisance. Again, thanks for holding things down here. Everything alright with you and the rest?" He looks about ready to walk out the door now. 13:04 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Yeah! Turns out we don't need a venue after all. The kids took umbrage to the thought that some posh lady would come and tell them where they could hang out in their own stomping grounds. I'm just going to give them cash to do projects with." 13:04 <VoxPVoxD> "Good luck..." 13:05 <banana> Freedom, then. Richard knew what he was signing up for, but it does feel a little bit like going back into lockdown after a while. 13:06 <banana> The street outside is car-clogged, with only a couple of lonely cafes relieving the vista of warehouses. The nice thing about this central location is not the traffic; the nice thing is that it’s only a short walk to Manchester Piccadilly. 13:07 <dammitwho> "Grand! I'll be off, then. Cheers." He smiles, briefly, as much to communicate to Willie that he is pleased that she and the others are doing well as a natural reflection of that fact. Get into lockdown too long, even a self-imposed one, and you have to sort of remember how to talk to people. 13:08 <VoxPVoxD> Willie seems quite relieved by Richard's demanour, which one supposes, through one or two levels less of calculation than Willie might have made, is the intention. 13:09 <banana> It looks like Willie’s going to be left alone for a while here. She’s never been in the safehouse alone before. 13:10 <banana> It’s cut off, and yet not; the Wires in the Walls bring in any kind of signal you might want, which translates to good wifi inside the building, but you can’t signal to the actual phone network. 13:10 <dammitwho> Richard will put one hand in his coat pocket out of the rain, then, and start walking through the grey drizzle towards the train station. The other will have his cell phone up to his ear. "Hello, mum?" If the conversation lasts until he gets on the train, he's going to have to remember not to take the quiet car. 13:11 <Quaker> Badawi slips out after him, trailing half a block behind. 13:11 <banana> As well as Richard’s apartment, there’s a whole bunch of working space available now. The workshop room and the briefing room have been joined by storage (including emergency cots), a server cabinet, bathrooms and a small loading dock with some unfinished stairs inside. 13:14 <banana> Richard’s Mum: “Hey, love. You’re up early.” This constitutes gentle ribbing. It’s certainly morning, but perfectly ordinary for Richard to be awake at this time of day... now that he doesn’t live at home. 13:14 <VoxPVoxD> The phone goes on wi-fi. She'll prepare a report of their findings to date for Baron Weaste, from the hats to Hattersley. She seeks clarification on what VI4 (the term she uses in the message) considers to be the fulfillment of the job - do they just want locations or personages? She doesn't mention any details about the actual paying Carthian contract, but she does mention the ascertainment 13:14 <VoxPVoxD> of some underground structure beneath Gorton Cemetery. She also suggests that if we can interview some of the Salfords' Descendants, that would be beneficial. 13:14 <Quaker> What the FUCK is this guy’s deal… 13:15 <VoxPVoxD> Then she pokes around a bit. She's seen inside Richard's room, so now she has a good nosing through Aster's office, without touching anything. She's not worried about him finding out - she's sure he will, if he cares to - but she doesn't want to disturb or break anything. 13:15 <banana> Agostina follows the administrator quietly, her shawl dampening in the rain. It’s not hard to keep up with him, but she’s going to come across a problem pretty quickly. Richard goes here: https://limits.thomascastiglione.com/media/mpstation.jpg 13:16 <VoxPVoxD> Bob's stuff, she does touch. 13:16 <banana> Looks like he’s headed for platform 3, trains to Glasgow. 13:16 <Quaker> Then she’ll follow. 13:17 <dammitwho> "Well, I've the day off, don't I?" He chuckles. "How're you and dad?" 13:21 <Quaker> As she steps onto the platform, she comes across a fresh-faced teen on a phone of his own. “No, mum, I’ll be fine. It’s just a train ride? Yes, I’ve got my ticket right here…”, he’s saying. 13:21 <banana> Mum: “Oh, we’re on holiday early! Ah, but your dad’s still working. Seems he gets time off with pay and the hours as well.” 13:21 <banana> “Are you getting a decent rate now at the new place? You know you’ve got to build a nest egg, even if you’re not looking to buy a place in this market.” 13:22 <Quaker> “Oh, excuse me. Sorry about that,” Badawi mutters as she bumps into him, her hand dipping into his coat and coming out with a ticket, which disappears into her pocket. 13:22 <VoxPVoxD> She can work here, and she does, though her camera's off for meetings (she pleads vanity, which anyone who's met her can readily believe). When she's not live-mic she spends time gingerly messing with Bob's stuff, taking as much care as she can not to break anything. Ah, fuck. We've only got that shit automatic percolator in here for coffee. Willie looks balefully down at her travel mug, 13:22 <VoxPVoxD> as if she could will it to balloon into a thermos of proper coffee from here. 13:24 <dammitwho> "Oh yes, much better than I got from Her Majesty. Still a bit hush-hush, though. I do feel a bit guilty, but honestly with the way things are going I'd probably have been a redundancy by now. Budget cuts every quarter." This is partially a lie. He doesn't feel guilty about leaving the Human Office at all, he feels guilty about staying for as long as he did. 13:25 <Quaker> She’ll disappear to the side of a vending machine, out of Richard’s sight. 13:25 <banana> Simpson Kirkpatrick (not that he’s got a name assigned; his Signal account is just a phone number): <You’ve made rapid progress. We’re pleased here, although I can only speak for the presently awake.> 13:25 <VoxPVoxD> ?! 13:29 <banana> Richard’s mum has plenty to say about his career - and hers. Now that the library is open again, there’s a whole new cast of characters for her colleague stories. That’ll go on for as long as he likes to listen to it, and she may or may not notice the noise of the train starting up. 13:30 <banana> Badawi can follow her quarry into a moderately uncrowded carriage... which poses its own problems. How close is she going to try and get? He’s still on the phone... could be some vital intelligence. 13:30 <dammitwho> Worse, he's going to be speaking quieter to avoid bothering other people on the train. When there's a pause in the library patron stories: "Mum, uh, this is a bit of an odd question, but... I was born at Princess Royal, right?" 13:31 <Quaker> Hm. Badawi is going to wait until the train is actually moving, and they’re both on it before she determines how close to get. 13:32 <banana> When she checks her ticket, she’s in for a long ride. Manchester isn’t that close to Scotland. 13:33 <VoxPVoxD> It's true. In the same way that in real terms, Jupiter and Saturn are quite far apart. 13:36 <banana> Simpson: <There’s a childer of the bloodline willing to speak to you. More than one, but only Teddy is old enough to have known Alex and Ruth.> 13:38 <Quaker> iTs nOt thAt ClOSe to sCoT- hey, try going from Comodora Rivadavia to Bogota on trains. 13:38 <banana> Simpson: <Leaving aside the question of fulfilment for a moment- do you understand yet what this discovered structure implies? Is it the vault?> 13:39 <VoxPVoxD> Willie is, in a ghastly irony, on an interdepartmental conference call about hospital blood supplies as donations plummet and staff to run blood drives and take the donors that do come in as she's getting messages from this vampire lord. <we're still working on what precisely lies beneath gorton. all we have are the dates earthmovers were contracted to dig it up. what is the Vault?> 13:40 <banana> The train’s moving over English moors. It’s a safe modern vehicle, but not exactly high-speed rail; the landscape whizzes past at a gentle pace, and the clacking of wheels drowns out Badawi’s thoughts and Richard’s mother alike. 13:40 <banana> Mum: “I should think so. Certainly someone was, and I don’t think they had time to switch you for a changeling.” 13:40 <Quaker> Then as soon as they’re out of the station, Badawi will appear next to Richard and sit down across from him. 13:41 <Quaker> Is he sitting near a window? 13:45 <banana> Simpson: <I don’t ask to test you - I’m interested in how tight the lid is on Court information. The vault is a hypothesis.> 13:46 <VoxPVoxD> <Expropriated wealth from the rebellion?> 13:46 <dammitwho> Richard snorts to cover making a mental note: find out if changelings have documentation problems! "Yeah, that's what I thought! Thanks, mum." 13:46 <VoxPVoxD> Willie's inwardly glad she stopped herself from typing 'Night of the Long Fangs' there. 13:46 <VoxPVoxD> But she definitely considered it, here at Bob's stool. 13:47 <banana> Simpson: <No.> 13:47 <banana> <Compost of a generation. Two in three to four in five of our kindred, buried away and their brains left to rot. This was the Carthian council’s ‘humane option’ when our feedstock locked themselves away by the millions and months.> 13:48 <VoxPVoxD> Christ. 13:48 <VoxPVoxD> ...does long hibernation affect vampires mentally? 13:48 <VoxPVoxD> What if, hypothetically, you'd hibernated for 40 years? 13:49 <banana> <If my calculations are correct, you may have stumbled on the temporary resting place of> 13:49 <banana> <scores. Many scores. It would be safest for you never to write this down.> 13:49 <VoxPVoxD> <understood> 13:50 <banana> Mum: “You’re welcome, for now and for back then. I suppose your day off would be a good time for a visit, wouldn’t it?” 13:51 <banana> “And I suppose I can hear whistles and rails...” 13:52 <Quaker> Wh- 13:52 <Quaker> She takes off her scarf and shawl. And puts her feet up across the aisle, so that he can’t get out without going over her legs. 13:53 <Quaker> “Keep talking,” she mouths, nodding. She’ll offer him some gum after taking a stick for herself. 13:53 <dammitwho> Hmm. He's already told Willie he might be out all day... "Ah! I did want it to be a surprise! Only it'll probably be late, I've got some errands to run in Glasgow first. Say dinnertime?" 13:54 <banana> That’s Badawi. The one who threw the mug. 13:55 <VoxPVoxD> Not really a fair One Thing to remember her for... but I guess when you make such an effort to be low-key the rest of the time this sort of definition is inevitable. 13:56 <dammitwho> He has the kind of Scottish accent that only someone from Britain would notice, but he still says 'glasgie'. Also, he stumbles a bit over 'dinnertime', because he's shocked to see Badawi sitting across from him all of a sudden. 13:57 <banana> Mum: “That would be lovely. I’ll make sure Dad’s home, alright? And I’ll see who else I can round up.” 13:57 <banana> Richard can picture her as a sheepdog pretty easily, given the way the family used to be herded 13:57 <banana> . 14:03 <dammitwho> He'll wave off the gum. "Great, mum, great. Will Vi and Fi be about, d'you think?" 14:04 <banana> Mum: “Hmm. You know I think there’s a good chance of it, if I start now.” 14:04 <Quaker> Badawi bets a mental $20 on Violet and Fiona. 14:05 <banana> Such stereotypical names would be an indicator of the kind of sinister behaviour she’s looking for. 14:05 <banana> Willie’s work continues, and it likely always will, whether or not she’s there to do it. 14:05 <VoxPVoxD> At least as long as society does. 14:06 <dammitwho> "Oh, I'd better ring off then. See you tonight!" 14:07 <banana> “See you soon, lovie.” 14:08 <banana> There’s a bit more than an hour to Glasgow. This compartment has six other people in it, each carefully unaware of the others. 14:08 <Quaker> “How’s the family?” 14:09 <dammitwho> Richard hangs up, and immediately has a terrible problem. He'd like to say hello to Badawi, fancy seeing you here, why are you on the train to Glasgow, but that would involve talking to another person currently on the train, which-- oh my god. Oh my god. 14:10 <dammitwho> "Lucky so far. Nobody's got COVID or I'd have heard about it. Heading up to Glasgow?" Which is a stupid question, because that's where the train is going, but that's how much Badawi's thrown him off here. 14:11 <Quaker> “At the moment.” 14:12 <dammitwho> He nods. "I've asked Willie to cover for me back at work, I needed a day off." 14:14 <Quaker> Badawi moves to a seat *directly* across from him. As in, in the same row. 14:15 <Quaker> “So how long did you know about Wellesley being influenced by a vampire before you decided to inform me and the others?” 14:15 <dammitwho> "Christ, Badawi, we're on a train." 14:16 <VoxPVoxD> Work is what she thinks about as she reads the labels on Bob's precursors between staring at spreadsheets. If she's taking down, let's say, one or two of these 140k jobs a month, even for a few months... at a certain point she's just taking the piss, isn't she? Some would say she's already doing so. But they can get roundly fucked. 14:17 <VoxPVoxD> Doing a 40-50 hour a week civil service job while pulling down a million in a quarter, tax-free, from nights-and-weekends monster hunting? Why? She knows why, of course, but... 14:17 <Quaker> “Would you like to be not on this train, quite abruptly?” 14:17 <Quaker> “Answer the question.” 14:19 <dammitwho> "The night before she told the rest of you." 14:20 <banana> What exactly is the difference between propan-2-one and 2-propanone? They’re both colourless liquids. 14:20 <Quaker> “And what happened between you finding out and us finding out?” 14:20 <Quaker> “Anything important? Or dangerous? Risky?” 14:22 <dammitwho> "Nothing that they didn't tell you about. I went back to sleep. It was three in the fucking morning." 14:23 <banana> A passenger on the 8:15 to Glasgow focuses intensely on her e-reader. A little way over is a man equally engrossed in a crossword. 14:24 <banana> Willie has a lunch break, though she can’t go outside. Once she’s back, Olly has the latest numbers for her, which will take a little bit of concentration to go over alone. 14:24 <banana> The black and white phone begins to ring. 14:24 <VoxPVoxD> Tap water and vodka are both colourless liquids, but one of them will poison you if you drink too much. That's why Willie filters her tap. 14:24 <VoxPVoxD> ... 14:25 <VoxPVoxD> Well. 14:25 <banana> Brrt, brrt. It’s much less insistent than anyjack’s usual methods. 14:25 <VoxPVoxD> Once more into the breach, dear friends. Actually, no, she's here alone. "Once more into the breach, dear friends..." 14:25 <Quaker> She leans close. “Don’t mouth off to me, Richard. Who do you think was going to go into a vampire’s nest if they didn’t come back? You? Or me?” 14:25 <VoxPVoxD> Click. "This is the Greybox." 14:26 <Quaker> “Huh? Who’s going to end up with a bullet in her head if you don’t do your fucking job?” 14:27 <banana> Sourjack: “That’s true, but it isn’t Mr. Haldane. A pleasure to speak to you again Lady Douro.” 14:27 <VoxPVoxD> "Do call me Willie, Mr. de Grise." 14:27 <VoxPVoxD> "What can I do for you?" 14:28 <banana> Sourjack: “Does that create the right effect, the correct impression? You’ve no need to do anything for me but if you aren’t occupied, and there isn’t a pair of hands at hand to hand the phone, please take a little dictation.” 14:29 <dammitwho> "No one!" 14:29 <Quaker> “Yeah? How do you figure, Richard.” 14:31 <VoxPVoxD> Willie's got her notepad out and opens it to the red-tabbed page, which is almost completely empty. Waste not, etc. "It creates the impression *I* intend. Reasonable people may disagree on the correctness of it. Still, as a courtesy, it's what I'd prefer. I've got pen and paper at the ready." 14:33 <dammitwho> "She was going out with Bob and everything he could physically carry. If it was possible for them to come out safe, that's what they needed to do it. And they did!" 14:33 <banana> Sourjack: “Thanks, Willie. Two things to Richard, taken in turn. First off, I need him to take delivery of some refrigerated compounds-” he gives you details of time and volume, the cover the couriers will be using. 14:33 <VoxPVoxD> Does he say what the compounds are? 14:33 <banana> Not if you don’t ask. 14:34 <VoxPVoxD> "What are the compounds?" 14:35 <banana> Sourjack: “Variations upon the theme of eye of newt. Variolated organs and newts of variegated species.” 14:36 <VoxPVoxD> "Variolated with what?" 14:36 <Quaker> “Oh really, Richard? Are you an expert on vampires now? You did a full stakeout on the estate? Dossiers on all the targets? Blueprints? Surveillance? And then you made an expert decision that they’d be absolutely safe and that you *didn’t* need to inform *your employers* *immediately*?” 14:37 <Quaker> “Remember that it’s *our* asses on the line, Haldane. You understand? That means, you hear anything, you fucking *tell* us. There are no exceptions.” 14:38 <Quaker> “Who did you work for before this?” 14:38 <dammitwho> "Alright, alright. Jesus." He looks away, runs his hands through his hair. 14:43 <dammitwho> "Human Office. Then I left, and our employer contacted me the same way as the rest of you." 14:44 <Quaker> “What did you do? In the Human Office.” 14:44 <Quaker> She leans back. “That’s not rhetorical.” 14:45 <banana> Sourjack: “Nothing the newts didn’t consent to.” 14:46 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "...I'll make a note. Item two?" 14:46 <banana> Sourjack: “The second thing I need you to pass on to Richard - please - is a string of letters and numbers. Are you ready to take down a long sequence? We can practice the pacing a little, or you could confirm them back to me.” 14:46 <dammitwho> Richard: "Technical infrastructure. Making sure the computers did what the field teams needed them to. Research, sometimes." 14:47 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "I'll read it back. On your mark." 14:47 <banana> Sourjack: “Mark.” 14:47 <banana> “Nine. F. One. F. Zero. Eight. Two. F. E. Nine. Zero. Four. Four. Nine. Zero. Nine. Zero. Two. Five. Seven. Three. Nine. Five. E. E. Nine. A. Four. F. F. Three. Six. One. One. C. Two. One. A. Nine. One. Two. Nine. D. Six. C. Zero. Seven. Two. Zero. Five. Four. Six. A. D. Eight. B. Nine. Four. Zero. C. Eight. Five. Nine. Two.” 14:47 <Quaker> Badawi flags down the snack cart as it passes. “Why did you leave?” 14:50 <dammitwho> Richard's calming down, although not enough to not use profanity. "The long answer is a lot of personal reasons that I will be happy to get into when we're not on a fucking train. The short answer is that there isn't a Human Office anymore, it's all been farmed out to people Rolf wouldn't be caught dead with." 14:51 <Quaker> “Calm down.” 14:52 <Quaker> “Tell me how Sourjack contacted you. And why you took the job despite your previous employment.” 14:56 <dammitwho> "He set up a job ad that followed me around. Always the first one in the paper, showed up on my news ticker despite having adblock. There's a little breakfast cafe outside the Glasgow station where I will, if I must, tell you the whole sad story about the Human Office." 14:56 <VoxPVoxD> Willie reads it off in byte-sized chunks. "9F 1F 08 2F E9 04 49 09 02 57 39 5E E9 A4 FF 36 11 C2 1A 91 29 D6 C0 72 05 46 AD 8B 94 0C 85 92." 14:57 <Quaker> “Alright. Then we go our separate ways.” 14:58 <banana> There’s a brief pause on the phone. Sourjack: “All present and correct. My time here is limited, so I appreciate that.” 14:58 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Naturally." 14:58 <VoxPVoxD> Does Richard have a phone? 14:59 <dammitwho> Haldane is relieved she didn't demand to show up at his family dinner for some reason. 14:59 <dammitwho> Do you mean, like, a landline? Or the cell phone he was just talking on? 14:59 <VoxPVoxD> The latter. Willie didn't notice his phone at any point. 15:00 <dammitwho> Then: yes. Its number has been written on the whiteboard under the wi-fi password, with "WILLIE: EMERGENCY CONTACT" next to it. 15:01 <banana> Sourjack: “Good work to date. I have the beginnings of new leads once we need them... which we don’t. All clear on your end?” 15:01 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "So far, so good. You have notes on my negotiating strategy?" 15:03 <banana> Glasgow Central is a lot larger and more populated than Manchester Piccadilly Station. Badawi and Haldane in their uneasy truce can find a cafe which is anonymous by virtue of crowdedness. 15:03 <banana> Tannoy announcements and people with suitcases everywhere. Kids scoot past on their weird three-wheeled skateboard-toy-bike things they have these days. 15:04 <VoxPVoxD> While seeing what she can wring out of Jack, Willie sends Richard a text with <hello! hope things are going well, or at least adequately. got a call from Our Jack. gave me a string of what looks like hexadecimal code to my uneducated eyes. not sure if it's an Emergency or what I'm meant to do with it. also one other item, clearly, non-Emergent, will save for when you return> 15:06 <banana> There’s even a Starbucks, but they have actual cafes as well. The Sitting Stone does breakfast until late in the afternoon. 15:06 <banana> Despite having half the population in theory, this place immediately feels more like a city than Badawi’s seen in quite some time. 15:07 <Quaker> Badawi has bought an enormous egg-and-cheese croissant. 15:07 <Quaker> ….does Richard want anything? 15:08 <dammitwho> They can squeeze into a booth, then, and Richard at least can get a coffee, but no food. He's already eaten. He'll hear the incoming text but not check his phone. 15:10 <Quaker> “What do you think Jack is?” 15:10 <banana> Sourjack: “I can’t really complain at this juncture. You’ve reached a rapport with some blood-mad bastards and I’m crossing my fingers for its continuation. All clear?” 15:10 <VoxPVoxD> Glasgow's not bad, if you're up that far. Nor is the bit of Edinburgh they don't try and keep hidden behind that rock. 15:10 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "All clear. Anything else, sir?" 15:10 <dammitwho> "Haven't the damndest. He seems oddly limited in some ways, though. I think he really does need us - me and you lot." 15:11 <VoxPVoxD> The reverse does not hold true. 15:11 <dammitwho> "I haven't heard of anything that reminds me of him, anyway." 15:11 <banana> There is nothing else, or he wouldn’t have hung up just now. 15:11 <VoxPVoxD> Willie hangs up. "Prick." 15:11 <Quaker> “How often do you talk to him? On the phone, I mean.” 15:12 <dammitwho> "About every two or three days." 15:12 <Quaker> “How would you describe his limitations?” 15:13 <banana> Since Badawi’s paying, Richard didn’t need to use his card. It occurs to him that it was issued in 2018. But surely he’d have noticed before now if anything was wrong. 15:14 <VoxPVoxD> Willie will make a nicer, neater note on some office paper and fold it up for Richard when he returns. Do we have mailboxes in here? Maybe excessive for such a small office, but... 15:15 <dammitwho> "Hmm." Richard frowns and taps the mug clasped between his hands with a finger. "He has some sort of time limit for any particular instance of communication. It might take him some effort, or consume some kind of resource. He's much more restricted in what he can do physically. I wonder if he even has a physical presence as we understand it." 15:15 <Quaker> “You’ve never witnessed him appear anywhere in person? Or met anyone who has claimed to have met him in person?” 15:19 <VoxPVoxD> Ahhh Christ. Willie's pacing around now. How does Richard do this all day every day? Even at the height of real-life lockdown Willie got to take her legally permissible outdoor exercise. Even now, in full-remote purgatorio she can go shopping or something. How has Richard not gone mad? 15:21 <dammitwho> He shakes his head. "No, but that's every job I've had since I entered uni. Local managers for getting in your face, the important fellows sit in heaven." 15:24 <Quaker> Badawi pulls at a flaky pastry crust. “Then why did you take this job, and not another? Going from the Human Office to working for the people they monitored is…not usual, I think.” 15:25 <dammitwho> "Guilt, I suppose." 15:25 <Quaker> “Over personal matters? Or professional ones?” 15:26 <dammitwho> He leans back, makes a soft *pff* noise with his lips. "Professional. The Human Office headhunted me. The job wasn't that bad, at first, and I told myself I was doing good in the world. Helping our boys fight actual monsters preying on the weak. That was the logic, right? Who do serial killers go after? Answer: The sort of people that police don't care if they get killed. I figured it was the 15:26 <dammitwho> same principle with vampires and goblins and such. We were doing what the police, politically, refused to." 15:26 <VoxPVoxD> ...she could call Bob. Text Bob, whatever. He'd come out. He's always got work to do. Work he'd be willing to do. And then she'd have wonderful company. She gets as far as opening the text chain and hesitates. No... no, that's weird. Too weird. She pockets the phone again. 15:26 <dammitwho> "It was curiosity that got me. I started reading things I was supposed to file and forget. ...Have you ever heard someone from the Home Counties talk about 'normal'?" 15:27 <Quaker> “No. What is it like?” 15:30 <dammitwho> "It's a political thing, though they'd get angry if you said that. Means you're not too far left or poor or rich or middle-class, you don't have a mental illness or the wrong sort of car or the wrong sort of hobbies, you're not queer or young, you're not disabled and you don't need accomodations, you don't take attention away from the sort of person who was talking about the English 'normal' 15:30 <dammitwho> in the first place." 15:30 <VoxPVoxD> She's thinking about all the time she had to start spending inside when the animals started rebelling. She's thinking about wandering the halls of the house Stratfield Saye - the ones that weren't open to customers, anyway - in and out of her brothers' rooms. Alfie's decanter of brandy. Wulfie's ineptly hidden pornography. Freddie's antique guns. Eddie's butterflies under glass. 15:32 <Quaker> “Alright.” She leans back in her chair, looking around. 15:33 <banana> Badawi sees plenty of of people, more Scottish than anything but it’s by a train station, so you get all types. Some of them may even be normal. 15:33 <dammitwho> "The Human Office... maybe it was different in Atlee's day. By mine it was already cut so far they had consultants in looking for where they could cut next. You know what consultants like, right? Numbers. It was like-- it was like everyone was deciding whether to blow an Afghan truck off the map. Nobody ever got made redundant for saying 'go ahead', as long as there was something in the target's 15:33 <dammitwho> background that wasn't Normal. The more I looked, the more I realized we were political enforcers." 15:35 <dammitwho> "I decided to leave when I read an Action-Response Report and realized I was damn sure that the men in Ops had sent out a pair of thugs to send some poor kid with an ASBO to hospital. They said he was a ghoul, which was crap." 15:35 <Quaker> Satisfied, Badawi turns back. “And what about you now, Richard? Anything in this job making you uncomfortable? Besides me. Anything you’re realizing after you start reading things? Jack isn’t…Normal, either.” 15:36 <VoxPVoxD> Charlie and Klaus were the wargamers. They had the models, the big table spread out with gorgeous maps. Willie would take a handful of the miniatures and put them in the dollhouse. She didn't play with them; she was firmly too old for dollhouses by that point. But when she moves little bits and bobs around on Bob's workbench - bolts, screws, little clamps or widgets or scraps of metal - 15:36 <VoxPVoxD> she sees gleaming little soldiers. She sees artillery. The mind wanders. 15:36 <VoxPVoxD> "Brrrrrrk. Pwww. Pwwwar." 15:36 <dammitwho> "I swiped everything I could get my hands on without getting caught immediately and tendered my resignation. I had some vague idea of going to the press, but what with the Guardian--" He says 'the Guardian' the same way someone else might say "Adolf Hitler's Syphilitic Penis". "I'm glad I didn't. I'd only have gotten killed anyway." 15:38 <dammitwho> "A little bit," He admits. "One of our shares goes to Greyjack, and whatever he is, he isn't human. What does he need money for? But I'm only just curious, not outraged. The rest of you are just fine, even if some of you have bad ideas about train etiquette." 15:39 <VoxPVoxD> "It is not bad. Let them play." 15:39 <VoxPVoxD> Distantly, in lieu of the pantomime of gunfire: "Let the guns bark and the bombing-plane speak his prodigous blasphemies." 15:40 <VoxPVoxD> "It is not bad, it is high time: stark violence is still the sire of all the world's values." 15:41 <VoxPVoxD> Her chin's down on her folded arm. She's slumped like a teenager in Bob's seat. Or, well, like Bob. 15:41 <VoxPVoxD> "What but the world's tooth whittled so fine the fleet limbs of the antelope? What but fear winged the birds, and hunger jewelled with such eyes the great goshawk's head? Violence has been the sire of all the world's values." 15:42 <Quaker> “No occult matters eating you up inside, then?” 15:44 <dammitwho> "I hope not." 15:45 <Quaker> “How did you know I was lying to you when I talked about alchemy the other day?” 15:45 <Quaker> “I’m a pretty good liar.” 15:46 <VoxPVoxD> She thinks about waking up the other morning, wrapped around a corpse. She was warned, explicitly. God knows what that terror and shame would've felt like if she hadn't been. "Who would remember Helen's face lacking the terrible halo of spears. Who formed Christ but Herod and Caesar - the cruel and bloody victories of Caesar? Violence: the bloody sire of all the world's values." 15:46 <dammitwho> He blinks at her. "It looked like you were lying. Maybe you were having an off day?" 15:47 <VoxPVoxD> She pushes one widged into another, sliding them across the table until one falls off. Firmly: "Never weep. Let them play; old violence is not too old to beget new values." 15:47 <Quaker> “Yeah. That must have been it.” 15:48 <VoxPVoxD> Then: "If you can hear this, take it as read: I would be utter shit at surviving solitary confinement. If they lock me up, assume I broke immediately." 15:48 <VoxPVoxD> "'Assume'." 15:49 <Quaker> “Richard, would you disapprove of a few more hands around the office? A driver for all of us, for instance. Or another researcher.” 15:49 <VoxPVoxD> How wise it is, living its rich red life. It cares not where, nor if who watches, nor if no one watches. 15:50 <dammitwho> In lieu of filling the silence, Richard will check his phone. Oh, Willie texted. Then: "If you think you need one. It would mean dividing things more ways." 15:54 <Quaker> Badawi: “Then I’ll look into it.” She stands up. 15:55 <dammitwho> "You going out, then?" 15:56 <Quaker> “Yeah. I’ll see you back in Manchester. I’ve got a ride.” 15:57 <Quaker> “Remember what I said. If you see something, you’re to say something. Immediately.” 15:57 <dammitwho> He nods. "Right." 15:57 <dammitwho> He, at least, is not going to leave immediately. He texts Willie back: <how much hex code?> 15:58 <Quaker> Then she’s disappeared into the moving crowds. 15:58 <Quaker> A few blocks away, Badawi picks up a payphone and dials a number with an unusual amount of extensions. 15:59 <Quaker> Ring ring. 16:00 <VoxPVoxD> Willie's heart leaps when she gets a text. Is it Richard? Weaste? Sergio? Bob? Satan? Who cares? She reads it and scrambles for the note to count off pairs. <32 bytes, I think. 32 pairs of digits at any rate> 16:01 <Quaker> When someone picks up, she doesn’t wait for a greeting. “Paryszewski waiting in Glasgow. I need to go south again. See you at the Waterloo.” She hangs up and leaves for the bar. 16:04 <dammitwho> Richard: <sounds like a SHA256 hash. did he give you a file to download or something?> 16:06 <VoxPVoxD> Willie's suddenly unsure. He didn't, did he? 16:06 <banana> While they text back and forth, Richard can resume his journey. It takes a bit of talking, but he has every right to this information. The administrators at Glasgow Schools didn't want him in the district archives, but only because it involves work. 16:07 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: <no file. just that code and something about refrigerated pickups> 16:12 <dammitwho> Richard: <hm. just keep it safe then. the control panel for the loading dock is next to the water cooler, i've taped instructions to it. you can also get food delivery or w/e that way> 16:12 <banana> The woman on the computer has apologised a couple of times already. "They're telling me it was a system intrusion, sir. Vienna, Fiona and Richard Haldane.. all of your grades look normal, but the audit trail is broken. Uncertifiable." 16:12 <banana> "If you want to file a police report, well, we could start getting the information together. Is it really necessary, sir? Having the wrong primary school grades, if they are wrong - it's not going to matter, aye?" 16:13 <VoxPVoxD> !!! <thank you richard. how are you?> 16:14 <dammitwho> Richard, irritated, shakes his head. "No, no, it doesn't matter. Always something, isn't it?" 16:14 <dammitwho> Later, so that he's not rudely texting while talking to this woman: <fine! badawi came along for a bit. she had words for me> 16:17 <VoxPVoxD> In between when she texts and Richard replies, Willie's ordered 30 quid of samosas. She's going to eat at the conference table, though. Doesn't want to get crumbs in among Bob's stuff, which she'll tidy up. Then she realises that it being tidy is even more suspicious than it being all over the place. But, well. Maybe he should have kept it tidy in the first place. <...encouraging words?> 16:19 <dammitwho> Richard's going to call Imperial College, London next. <i think she was a sgt. maj. in a past life. brace for incoming> 16:20 <VoxPVoxD> <inchcape still?> 16:21 <dammitwho> Surely they won't have any problem finding his degree. <yes.> 16:21 <banana> “Welcome to ICL, where tradition meets innovation. Press 1 for admissions, 2 for student information, 3 for...” 16:23 <VoxPVoxD> <I'm so sorry> 16:24 <banana> “...to the Dean’s office. You’re number four in line.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0RJPFOpBlg 16:24 <tom> BZZZzzz 16:25 <VoxPVoxD> Is that the samosas?! Wait, no, she just got the samosas. She checks the feed and her heat leaps. Bob's gotta wait a minute to get buzzed in because Willie needs to spot check her hair to make sure she doesn't look quite as insane as she feels. But then he is admitted. 16:26 <banana> Imperial College: “...well, not under that name, Mr. Haldane. Are you sure you don’t have an active student ID? Or I could do a thesis search, if you conducted a defense at some point.” 16:26 <VoxPVoxD> "Hello, Bob. It's me, Richard Haldane." 16:27 <tom> Bob's got a new bag of stuff. He sweeps into the Greybox. "Wow Haldane, you've really upgraded." 16:27 <VoxPVoxD> "Do you want to talk about video games in measured tones, or perhaps work quietly in close proximity?" 16:27 <VoxPVoxD> More seriously: "I got takeaway. I got... too many samosas." 16:28 <VoxPVoxD> "Online delivery is so dangerous when you're not watching your budget. You get really hungry and you just click everything you think you might like." 16:30 <tom> Haha. He unslings the bag off his shoulder onto his workstation, sparing a moment to glance over in Willie's direction and offer her an amushed- at least it looks amused- look. 16:30 <VoxPVoxD> "What?" 16:30 <VoxPVoxD> "What's so funny?" 16:31 <tom> "How did you ever survive quarantine?" 16:31 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "I slept with my flatmate." 16:31 <tom> "Haha, same. Slay." 16:32 <VoxPVoxD> Smiling as she unpacks the food: "What's in the bag?" 16:34 <tom> He throws up a proud fist, turns back to his workstation, where he's unloading a menacing-looking pelican case with a glowing LED keypad lock. This is the shit he lives for. "Exam day's comin' up." 16:34 <tom> "So we're pulling out all the stops." 16:34 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Oh yes. Mari and I got to talking about that after you'd fallen asleep." 16:35 <tom> Huh. "She scared?" 16:35 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Not for your safety." 16:36 <dammitwho> "Oh, for God's sake. It was MEng, I've got an I-Explore number, will that do?" He rattles it off from memory. 16:36 <VoxPVoxD> "In her mind the worst-case scenario is you get a failing grade for going too Predator on your adversary." 16:36 <tom> "That so." He keys in, squinting, and the locks disengage. 16:36 <dammitwho> Texting: <dont worry abt it. i think shes feeling a bit le carre rn though> 16:37 <tom> "Yeah, I thought about that. Like how far is too far?" 16:37 <tom> "They don't want me, fucking, dabbing on their friend's smoldering corpse." 16:38 <tom> "But, I mean, how could they get it, right? They're not even allowed to carry bear spray." 16:38 <banana> Imperial College: “Uh, hang on a sec.. haaang on.. well, there’s a record of a project presentation in room 1101. Professor Dr. Lopez, Professor Manderly and Associate Professor Gilchrist (as he then was).” 16:38 <tom> "T.F.V.'s got two modes, Off, and..." 16:38 <banana> “Doesn’t say who the student was, though. It shouldn’t even have been possible to save a record in the system like this.” 16:38 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "The impression I got is that the point is not to triumph, but to survive. Winter, right? You're meant to ride it out. So like... I don't know, do you think you'd feel like you got your money's worth if they ended up in a cage or a snare pit rather than a fine mist spread over your AO?" 16:39 <dammitwho> Gloomily: "Nothing other than that?" 16:40 <tom> There's a sleek molded plastic shape in the cut-out foam. A massive battery pack sits slung under it, its cable looping around the perimeter of the case's interior. There's stenciled text on the side, professionally stamped- and then another, a decal, hand-sprayed. The first bit reads: 16:40 <banana> Imperial College: “Oh, no, we can do better. We have elasticsearch.” 16:40 <tom> GENERAL DYNAMICS LINEAR MOTOR "MJOLNIR" MARK II 16:40 <tom> The second bit, lazier: HOPE ERADICATED 16:41 <VoxPVoxD> "Oh come on. You're taking the piss." 16:41 <banana> Imperial College: “There’s one more requested record here, a records request record actually - we had a referral from the Civil Service, asking for confirmation of degree status and level. Looks like all the checks passed.” 16:41 <VoxPVoxD> "That's a cosplay thing, right? From Halo or something?" 16:41 <banana> “..although there’s no attached information.. but we did pass you. Or somebody.” 16:41 <tom> Oh god damn it. 16:42 <tom> "That's my secret, Captain." 16:42 <VoxPVoxD> Willie snorts and snickers before he finishes the reference. "Very droll, Corporal." 16:43 <tom> He hits a button on the side of the machine and the capacitors arrayed along the weapon's side articulate into position in sequence, and a deep hum fills the Greybox. "I'm always- fuck, you just- you ruined it." 16:43 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "You gotta learn to keep rolling with it. If I ruin it, the joke's about that now. Like Stewart Lee." 16:44 <tom> He's laughing, still, but it's a kind of painful, now nervous-tinged laughter. He rubs the back of his neck. 16:44 <dammitwho> Richard: "Humm. Does that sort of thing happen often?" 16:44 <VoxPVoxD> "What's wrong?" 16:44 <tom> "Oh man, you're right though, it does seem kind of insane now that you say it." 16:45 <tom> "I really hope I don't have to waste anybody." 16:45 <tom> He shuts the thing off. 16:45 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "You won't. For the test, at least." 16:45 <VoxPVoxD> "I can't... speak to the future." 16:45 <tom> "It has a stun mode," he quickly adds. 16:45 <VoxPVoxD> "Like Star Wars." 16:45 <tom> "If I have to stand in a moor all day zapping that guy and taking adderall, I'll call it a win." 16:46 <tom> "I hope I don't have to though, I only ever used it once before, and the batteries ARE volatile." 16:46 <banana> Imperial College: “I shouldn’t say yes, but we’ve really given you the runaround, huh? Yeah, the record keeping isn’t perfect. There are just too many edge cases in higher education, too many special circumstances. Much of our older stuff is, well, good enough.” 16:46 <banana> “Of, course, by the time you say you graduated, Mr. Haldane, things were different. It’s pretty rare to see that kind of validation failure in modern data entry. But you know, that’s why we have data science... it happens.” 16:47 <VoxPVoxD> Willie picks open a samosa with her fingertips and then goes at the contents with a plastic fork and a little cup of chutney. "What'd you use it on? Is it a sort of... giant taser?" 16:47 <banana> The city around Richard is familiar and it’s a surprisingly warm afternoon. So why does he feel a chill that’s hard to shake? 16:47 <tom> "On low power, yes." 16:48 <dammitwho> Richard: "Is there any way to get it corrected?" 16:48 <dammitwho> "Without taking the four years over, ha ha." 16:49 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "On high power...?" 16:49 <banana> Imperial College: “Sure, here’s my address. No need to go through first line again. We can reconstruct your student record from external documentation and standard government or bank stuff. It.. might take a bit of back and forth.” 16:50 <tom> He sweeps his hand across the array of batteries, now swiveling away from one another with a staticky crack and a tiny arc as the circuits break. "Each battery feeds into the next, adding their own power to the charge. At low power you get, basically, something with about... fifteen percent? -the power of your average lightning strike." 16:50 <VoxPVoxD> ... 16:50 <tom> "Did you know that lightning is a type of plasma?" He answers. 16:50 <tom> "It's just ionized gas." 16:51 <tom> "On high power, the linear motor can punch through tank armor." 16:51 <banana> Artificial brimstone. 16:51 <tom> "Sorry, I don't remember if you guys are still using Chobham." 16:52 <VoxPVoxD> Willie stops chewing. "Holy Hell." Her mouth is full. Her mother would seethe. 16:53 <tom> "What are you eating?" Unasked: Did you bring more? 16:53 <tom> Unasked: Did you bring more? 16:53 <VoxPVoxD> "Samosas." She gestures to the bag. It's big. 16:53 <VoxPVoxD> "Help yourself." 16:53 <tom> "Right, right." 16:53 <VoxPVoxD> "How much does that thing cost?" 16:54 <dammitwho> External documentation. Fucking perfect. "Thanks much. I'll get in touch, then." He's just going to go eat with his parents, and then figure out who he needs to hire to make himself officially exist again. 16:54 <tom> "I'm not an accountant," he snickers. "Probably a few thousand times more expensive than an RPG-7 which would do basically the same job." 16:55 <VoxPVoxD> "So, what, General Dynamics just asks and your government pays out on command?" 16:55 <tom> "Oh honey...." 16:55 <tom> "Oh nooo. You don't know?" 16:57 <tom> "Okay, well," He scratches his chin, suddenly somber. "The United States Navy has eleven Nimitz-Class Nuclear Aircraft Carriers." 16:58 <VoxPVoxD> Willie gives him a look that says 'did he just call me honey'? It's not... as sharp as the 'is he still calling me kid' look from a couple weeks ago. Progress? "Right." 16:58 <tom> "The Russian Federation has one. The People's Republic of China is building one." 16:58 <tom> "None of this has anything to do with anything but making General Dynamics money." 16:59 <banana> The Haldanes are home when he gets there, and they’re real. Richard’s old part of town is all there, even including a couple of friends who never made it out. He’s real, he just can’t prove it. 16:59 <banana> The only possible conclusion here is that someone’s carefully gone through every piece of documentation his life generated up until late 2020 and individually deleted or ruined each one. 16:59 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Oh, that reminds me. I told Mari about the shotgun." 16:59 <VoxPVoxD> "She suggested I could get into findom." 17:00 <tom> "I have no idea what that is." 17:00 <VoxPVoxD> "You are so full of shit, Goreman." 17:00 <VoxPVoxD> "How many times have you used the word 'simp' in the last 48 hours?" 17:00 <tom> "I cannot confirm or deny that I am full of shit." 17:01 <tom> He squints behind his sunglasses, counts to two on his fingers. "Alright, fine, you got me. Honestly I don't get why the vampires are having problems, if Suzie can just get people to give her blood." 17:02 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "I learned something, today." 17:02 <VoxPVoxD> "About... the vault." 17:02 <VoxPVoxD> That's not quite the right inflection.