21:05 <banana> Dealing with vampires really keeps you up late. Aaron Aster and Willie Wellesley both have broken sleep schedules at this point, but they're here; past midnight, in a fish and chip shop on the corner of Four Yards and John Dalton, sheltering from the raging wind and clubgoers outside. 21:07 <Crion> Aster: "God, all the actual British food is horrible for you. Beans. Lard. They even fry the fish. No offense." 21:08 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "That's why they mash the peas in butter. For your 'ealth." 21:09 <Crion> He makes an unsettled face at the Rolf accent coming out of her health. Or her version of it, anyway. He's American. Just be glad he can tell English from Scots from Irish. 21:10 <VoxPVoxD> Willie's in a peacoat, eating chips sprinkled with malt vinegar, which does feel a bit after-clubbish to her. Luckily the anti-fun radius Aster projects keeps the homesickness at bay as well. "Have you heard from Bob in the last day or two?" 21:10 <banana> On the other side of John Dalton - Manchester's extremely truncated equivalent of Harley Street - is a radiological and serum testing lab with attached consulting offices. Malmin Bloodwork, possibly a front for the vampiric naturalists known as Order of Dracula. 21:11 <banana> Technically it's something like a competitor of Aster Biologics, but there's little overlap. The lights are all out; A.B.'s owner has been told that one of them will come on, some time soon, when the elders of the Order are ready to meet him. And his exhibit. 21:13 <Crion> Aster waves a hand. "He's off doing his silly elf ritual. We met his 'hunter' last night. Should be wrapping up right about now; I expect we'll be hearing from him in the next few hours." 21:14 <VoxPVoxD> Casually: "Oh. Well, good luck to him. Did I detect sarcasm quotes around 'hunter' or is that the wind?" 21:16 <Crion> Aster: "Literally a giant puppy dog. Bob will likely lose because the rules are...not in his wheelhouse -- all the thing has to do is knock him down, really, to win on points -- but my chief concern is that he will barely even engage in the rules of the game because he's Bob, and wants to pet the giant puppy dog." 21:16 <banana> Wrights Fish & Chip Shop only has a few tables, and you've got the only semi-private one. Increasingly drunken Mancunians stagger in to collect takeout from time to time, some of them carrying car keys. 21:16 <Crion> "Who is also a man, but not a man. I suppose I have concerns about the ethics but he's never been mortal, at least." 21:17 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "I assume Bob's plan is to lay a series of treats over a path layered with hidden IEDs." 21:18 <VoxPVoxD> "Hopefully he comes up with something that doesn't hurt the hunter too badly." That... doesn't sound so bad. It doesn't sound like he's in danger. Willie shifts to worrying about the dog. 21:19 <VoxPVoxD> "So what can you tell me about the man at Malmin? Does he have a title? Doctor? Professor?" 21:20 <Crion> Aster: "It has the advantage of not actually being a giant puppy in any sense but narratively, which should hopefully allow it to prove resilient enough that our next conversation with Bob doesn't start, 'So I killed the King of the Manchester Winter's dog...'" 21:20 <banana> Vados said: we can meet you at the witching hour, when the time is ripe - apologies, I mean right. So it won't just be him. 21:22 <Crion> Aster: "His formal title within his order is 'Illuminus.' I'm uncertain what that order is specifically up to other than the research of the blood and its rather impressive name." 21:22 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Paging Dr. Acula." 21:24 <Crion> Aster: "That word sounds ridiculous coming out of my mouth so I generally stick to 'sir,' which feels old world and collegial in this case rather than Full Metal Jacket. But as the one member of his kind that has been 'any use at all for anything' in this city outside of getting their hands on my property tax, I'm fine flattering his ego a bit." 21:25 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Anything you'd particularly advise avoiding? Anything that annoys him or sets him off?" 21:26 <Crion> Aster: "He does not like the business of the Wise and Something Council, especially not when you mention that business as if he's a part of it. I suspect the same is true for...whoever else you might have met." 21:27 <Crion> Aster: "He gives the strong impression of a department head who likes to remind everyone at every opportunity that he and his are funded by outside donations and as stipulation are not subject to the provost, the dean, or the regents." 21:28 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Right." She cleans her hands with a napkin, looking scornfully at the wet wipes in a metal box on the counter. "Right. Good to know. Ready when you are." 21:29 <Crion> Aster: "There may also be a Scotswoman hanging about with rats. Especially if this proceeds to the part where you assent to have blood taken. So fair warning on that. If Vados is talking to a rat, that's not an aesthetic put-on." 21:29 <banana> The draculas are also ready. There's a single office window burning on the upper floors of the Malmin building, revealing nothing but an empty cubicle. 21:30 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Ah! Clan Ventrue." 21:31 <Crion> Aster: "Quite possibly so. She dresses to the full nines. What American liberals would call 'ethnic garb' if Scots weren't white. Perhaps the English aristocracy has a rejoinder to that." 21:33 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "The English love to act Scottish too. The number of people you meet who pretend at clan tartans and invite you to traditional dances... ugh." 21:33 <Crion> Aster: "Well, who knows. Maybe she's one of those. Lord knows I can't spot a forgery." 21:34 <Crion> Aster pays for his bottled water. "But yes, let's go." 21:34 <VoxPVoxD> Onward! 21:35 <banana> You cross the road, avoiding a spray of water from the fitful wind whipping up gutters, and pass through sliding doors into a barely-lit commercial lobby. The cafeteria Aster met in last time is shut down, but one of the elevators has its doors open. Gentle crappy music drifts from inside. 21:36 <banana> There's a 'beep' from the front doors as they shut behind you. It is very late at night. 21:36 <Crion> Aster: "This would be more ominous if I hadn't been here before." 21:36 <Crion> "But let's see where this elevator goes." 21:37 <banana> Most of it's keycard-locked. Only the [G] and [2] buttons are lit up, as well as a red LED on the emergency phone. 21:38 <VoxPVoxD> No elevator version of Toccata and Fugue? Alas. 21:38 <VoxPVoxD> Still! Up to 2. 21:39 <Crion> Aster, whose basic faculties are working quite well, will press the 2 button. 21:39 <banana> Having silently agreed, he depresses the button; the doors shut. The elevator begins to drop precipitously. 21:39 <VoxPVoxD> Willie glances at Aster. 21:40 <banana> It accelerates downward at an alarming rate for about ten seconds before juddering to a halt. [G] goes dark and the [<>] button lights up. 21:40 <Crion> Conversationally: "Reprogramable elevators. Not usual fare at NHS facilities I take it." 21:41 <VoxPVoxD> "A bit more Porton Down." 21:41 <VoxPVoxD> Willie presses the open button. 21:41 <Crion> "Time to figure out if Vados wants to keep up the good, forward-thinking scientist schtick or unveil the terrible secrets of history's most powerful Slav." He's outmanuevered to the button by his speech. 21:42 <banana> The music fades away as the doors open into a cave, or a complex of caves. Bare grey stone, unworked, is offset by rich multicoloured rugs on the ground. There's furniture around, all of it medieval in aesthetic - red-brown woods banded with iron or held together with thick hand-tooled nails. There is the drip of water somewhere in the distance, and the faint noise of a radio. 21:43 <Crion> Aster: "Definitely trending towards the latter." 21:43 <banana> Standing a few metres away from the elevator, at an intersection of glorious rugs, is a brown-robed figure. It's much like a monk's habit; you can see eyes gleaming beneath the hood and a corded rope belt. He or she is dimly lit by gaslamps that have been screwed into the walls, leaving chips of stone precariously about. 21:45 <Crion> Aster will give the monk a polite seven seconds to say something before introducing the two of them. 21:45 <VoxPVoxD> Willie's briefly stunned, but she is really vibing on this Brother Badfael aesthetic. 21:45 <banana> The robed vampire bows, and Aster recognises the voice of the apprentice he called a couple of weeks ago. "Esteemed guests." He holds one arm out, grey-skinned and clawed fingers protruding from the flared sleeve of the robe, to point down one of the cave-paths. He also just.. keeps holding the bow. 21:47 <Crion> Aster nods. "Thank you, Apprentice." He knows the guy's name is Casaubon but doesn't want to startle him out of his ritual pose or otherwise seem too familiar. 21:47 <VoxPVoxD> Some kind of... mole-man? 21:47 <Crion> Aster will lead the way this way, whichever way this way is. 21:47 <banana> There's a small dip of the hood. You can no longer see Casaubon's face at all, since he's effectively looking at the ground. 21:48 <VoxPVoxD> Willie inclines her head in the Apprentice's direction, but he can't see now. Perfect time to point her phone at him discreetly. 21:48 <VoxPVoxD> Then they're off. 21:48 <Crion> Aster gives her look. It's disapproving, but not in a 'you fool! what are you doing!' sense. 21:49 <VoxPVoxD> Willie looks like she's been caught out by a teacher and puts the phone away sheepishly, but not really chastisedly. 21:50 <Crion> If the path they're taking is sufficient to get them out of the monk's earshot before reaching their destination, Aster will say: "That's Apprentice Casaubon. He does administrative tasks around here, I gather, though with much more severe aesthetics than your usual AA." 21:52 <banana> Willie loses signal as you head through the cave anyway. The tracklist comes through just before she does - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRk7es3YRB0 21:52 <banana> "Inspiration without focus -- heritage without acknowledgement. Instrumental." 21:53 <banana> This particular passage only goes one way, though it's kind of long, held up by metal beams wrapped in lacquered wood. There's an ordinary door at the end of it, and beyond that a conference room. 21:53 <VoxPVoxD> Oh, Willie loves classic old movies. 21:54 <banana> The interior is ripped straight out of Malmin Bloodwork aesthetically, and somehow shoved underground into this cave system. Several comfortable chairs surround a pair of circular tables, with large-screen monitors on the walls displaying dashboards and charts. There are other doors, but the three people in the room catch your attention and they, of course, have seen you. 21:55 <VoxPVoxD> If Willie ends up accumulating enough money to build a house it's going to have abrupt genre transitions like this. 21:57 <VoxPVoxD> If the pause is longer than a few seconds Willie will introduce herself. Is it? 21:57 <banana> Ultim Vados is tall, bearded and narrow. He's in the centre of three occupied chairs, leaning back with one knee up and his fingers steepled. There's also a photogenic black-haired man, perhaps close to Aster's age, and a woman in unsexy but genuinely medieval leather armour. 21:57 <banana> As you open the door, she's saying: "...numaraları tekrar çalıştır." Run the numbers again. 21:57 <banana> This is followed by a pause longer than a few seconds. 21:57 <Crion> Aster will open his mouth first but see Willie also open her mouth and allow her to take this act of temerity off of his hands. He almost caught the last one, after all. 21:59 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Forgive me if we're interrupting; your apprentice ushered us through. We have an appointment with the Illuminus? Aster and Wellesley." 22:00 <Crion> If Vados looks to Aster first before responding to Willie, he will shrug. 'What can you do?' the shrug says. 'Youth. I certainly would have waited at least two more seconds.' 22:01 <banana> Ultim Vados, who is wearing a labcoat, stands and gestures grandly at some of the empty chairs. "Aster, Wellesley. I acknowledge your willingness to cede the advantage of turf. This is Paranewton, Master of Hunger." The woman with armour and daggers. 22:01 <banana> "And Sarhos Sari, Master of Pain." The guy has sideburns as well as a strong jaw, and a pair of goggles slung around his neck. 22:01 <VoxPVoxD> Ahhh this is so cool. 22:01 <Crion> Aster will nod to both professionally. 22:02 <VoxPVoxD> Willie's nod is just pronounced enough to blend into a slight bow. "How do you do?" 22:02 <banana> Paranewton speaks English, but with a strong accent. "I guess we have a little while free. Given the time of year." 22:02 <Crion> He's now years past the 'This is who I take meetings with, I guess. This is my life now.' phase of having hedge fund guys introduced as Somostachles, the Divine Blood Torment. 22:04 <banana> Vados: "We do." To Willie: "I understand you're Aaron's experimental subject, as well of course as a thinking being." 22:04 <Crion> Ah, manners. 22:04 <Crion> Aster: "Slight confusion of terms, I think. No experiments have yet been performed on my premises or under my authority." 22:05 <banana> Sari will kick out a couple of chairs without getting out of his own, if they haven't sat down yet. He hasn't said anything, but he's listening. 22:05 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "I prefer the team 'colleague'." 22:05 <VoxPVoxD> She sits when the chair is somewhat rudely offered. 22:05 <Crion> Aster does as well. 22:05 <banana> Ultim Vados: "Around here, the two bleed into each other a little." 22:05 <Crion> How do they all stand each other constantly doing that? 22:05 <Crion> Do they only do it when the mortals are around? 22:06 <Crion> That would make a lot more sense, come to think of it. 22:06 <banana> Sarhos mutters something very quietly, which makes Paranewton laugh. You think he said 'phrasing'. 22:06 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "I'm pleased to hear that. That is the spirit in which I have come to prevail upon your expertise." 22:06 <VoxPVoxD> Vampires say things with bite. That was how Mari put it, yeah? 22:07 <Crion> Bart Simpson, vampire elder. 22:07 <banana> Vados: "We trade in it. Would you like to describe your situation, M. Wellesley?" 22:07 <banana> To Aster: "And any insights you might have, of course." 22:09 <Crion> Aster nods. If he liked Willie less, he wouldn't have corrected Vados on the 'experiment' phrasing -- always let them think you're working, unless it's by dehumanizing a colleague. They're vampires so they just do that constantly, however. 22:09 <banana> Sari Sarhos pulls a laptop from a drawer beneath the table, unfolding it and waiting expectantly. Paranewton looks over the hunters hungrily; you think she's a little distracted by the bits of skin you have exposed, spending particular time on necks. 22:12 <Crion> The Master of Hunger, hungry? What will they think of next. 22:12 <Crion> The Master of Hunger, hungry? What will they think of next. 22:13 <banana> Maybe the titles aren't literal. Or they could be poorly-translated. 22:14 <VoxPVoxD> Willie is businesslike, as if she were meeting an actual doctor. "Symptoms, first: dreams, reveries, intrusive thoughts of particular theme and character - temptation, subversion, rebellion; a physical stimulus response in the presence of certain paraphenomena with an infernal character - the scent of sulphur; certain overt supernatural abilities, accreting around these same themes; and 22:14 <VoxPVoxD> a nutritional deficiency in my blood, as experienced by..." 22:15 <VoxPVoxD> "...vampires." 22:15 <Crion> The economics of modern specialization mean that 'master' is no longer understood as 'perspicacious controller of' but 'person who does this thing all the time and very well.' Perhaps this is just a very terminologically modern vampire in medieval boiled leather pauldrons. 22:16 <banana> Sari types rapidly while Vados makes little mm-hm, go-on noises. They'll wait until Willie's precis is clearly complete. 22:16 <VoxPVoxD> And now it is. 22:16 <VoxPVoxD> Wait, no: 22:17 <VoxPVoxD> "These began presenting at the age of 13, and they've proven receptive to active cultivation." 22:17 <banana> Paranewton: "How does one cultivate a symptom." 22:18 <banana> Her 'h's is a heavy 'ch' noise. 22:18 <Crion> Aster is interested to know this as well; Willie is now past the point of his knowledge. 22:20 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "I've had some training. There are people with experience in this matters, with a specific socio-religious interpretation of the phenomena. A mixture of academic... occultism, for want of a better word, meditative practice, transcendental self-examination with... I believe the term is 'entheogens'. And, er, exposure therapy." 22:22 <banana> Ultim Vados: "What you're describing is classically Miltonian. A recently invented version of Satan, combined with scientifically-racist blood purity obsession. Your peers in this thing - do they believe their ancestors to have been raped by literal demons? Or is it supposed to be a metaphor?" 22:25 <VoxPVoxD> Willie flinches, and takes a moment to collect herself. "The question of consent is rather muddy. But it is not interpreted metaphorically." 22:26 <banana> Sarhos Sari: "You cannot impose sin. There must be an equivalent exchange." 22:26 <banana> Vados: "But the power is real. Is a demonstration... opportune?" 22:26 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Do you have a nonflammable space?" 22:27 <banana> Paranewton: "There is the corridor outside." 22:27 <banana> Vados: "No! The carpets!" 22:28 <banana> Paranewton: "We will move the carpets, rather than have the hellspawn conjure hellfire in the meeting room." 22:28 <VoxPVoxD> This is like being back in Milan. 22:29 <banana> Sari: "Palatable." Both of them get up; Vados does not. While part of the cave is being cleared, he asks: "Have any of your symptoms been quantified?" 22:29 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "By what metrics?" 22:29 <banana> Vados: "Anything you can enter into a calculator." 22:30 <banana> Speaking of metrics... Aster's had time to study the screens and dashboards. 22:31 <banana> They're tracking some weird things down here. Average tidal times out in the Irish Sea; two sets of 'population', with dips and jumps; there are also a set of charts allocating 'draconic' inputs and outputs on a 'ley network' map. 22:32 <banana> One of the screens looks exactly like the 'five minutes to midnight', except that the second hand is moving ever so slowly. 22:33 <Crion> Ah, mad science trivia. His favorite genre. Good to know the popular fiction has roots in truth. 22:35 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "They encourage a certain healthy competition in our fraternity. So for instance I know that I can produce fire in standard conditions that tops out around 1600°C, which put me in the second quintile of my class. My fastest summoning is fifteen minutes, which was, at the time at least, a record." 22:35 <banana> There's another monitor which seems to record an experiment in progress. If Aster's interpreting it correctly, they've got little cylinders representing, probably, people in rooms of a building, with dialogue bubbles linked by lines and little icons representing discussion topics. 22:35 <banana> Beside on a smaller screen is a series of yes/no checkmarks and crosses, and the interesting thing about that is the propositions they've put into text: 22:35 <VoxPVoxD> 'Second quintile' sounds better when you don't know it was just five people." 22:36 <Crion> Ah, Willie's been studying only the finest quack scientist COVID papers. 22:37 <banana> ❎ "I heard she was working for VI4." 22:37 <banana> ✅ "I heard Jane was working for VI4." 22:37 <banana> ✅ "My childer are interested in Khemut-Re." 22:37 <banana> ✅ "My childer are interested in the topic." 22:37 <banana> ❎ "Those I spoke of are interested in the topic." 22:38 <banana> Ultim Vados: "My dear lady, there's nothing standard about a sixteen-hundred-degree temperature." 22:39 <banana> Paranewton's the first one back into the room, followed by Sari. "Here is a space to produce one." There's now a large area of bare rock with a bow-backed wooden chair sitting, afraid, in the middle of it. Carpets are rolled up quite far back down the tunnel. 22:39 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Right." 22:40 <banana> The vampires move their chairs back to the far side of the meeting room to watch, across the room and through the door. 22:42 <banana> Is Aster going to join them, or does he feel like a tan? 22:42 <VoxPVoxD> Willie takes her peacoat off to reveal a heavy wool pullover - https://i.imgur.com/mZJ0fVj.png - and hangs it on the back of her chair. Sleeve rolled up, that orange-handled folding knife unfolds in her left hand. 22:43 <Crion> No, he gets enough Willie Phospherous or whatever Bob's calling it just by working with her. He'll stand back. 22:43 <banana> Sari's got the laptop up on his knees now. Vados claps Aster on the shoulder when he joins them in the safe zone and says "Fascinating, this. Surely we'll be able to do something with and for you." 22:44 <Crion> Aster smiles. "It's a very interesting permutation, to be sure." 14Polite of him to leave out the 'to.' 22:44 <Crion> Aster smiles. "It's a very interesting permutation, to be sure." Polite of him to leave out the 'to.' 22:44 <banana> Paranewton: "Those fragments of us that remain intact." 22:44 <banana> Vados: "Personal reconstitution is largely a solved problem." 22:45 <VoxPVoxD> Willie takes a deep breath and drags the blade along the side of her right arm - not near the vein, but blood wells up all the same. It smells, she's told, delicious. 22:46 <VoxPVoxD> She doesn't need to throw it. She just needs to light it up. 22:47 <banana> Paranewton twitches, and Vados watches her closely. He doesn't turn his head away from the doorway, but Aster sees his eyes move quickly back and forth. 22:48 <Crion> Like dropping cash in a consulting meeting. 22:51 <VoxPVoxD> The blood runs in a steady trickle down her forearm, staining her hand red. There's a gentle shimmer of heat; the first drop ignites before it hits the stone, and then liquid fire is pouring from her, pooling at her feet, licking up her legs, engulfing her... but she doesn't burn. Every blood vessel pulses and glows brick-red beneath her skin, her eyes featureless fire from lid to lid. Her 22:51 <VoxPVoxD> voice reverberates, filling with weight and smoke. In flawless Turkish: <We are not here to seek the brokerage of the pious, Ultim Vados. We are here because I understand you do your accounts differently.> 22:51 <VoxPVoxD> <We are not here to seek the brokerage of the pious, Ultim Vados. We are here because I understand you do your accounts differently.> 22:52 <Crion> The hell is that? 22:53 <Crion> Turkish? Probably Turkish. It's all Greek to him, but it would make sense. 22:53 <banana> The wash of heat through the doorway is intense. It may upset Aster's understanding that the vampires don't flinch from it; Vados leans forward eagerly, though all of them seem to understand. 22:54 <Crion> Hmm. Perhaps so. 22:54 <banana> He calls out, in English. "Do I still have the pleasure of addressing Wellesley? Or Another?" 22:55 <VoxPVoxD> Willie responds, in her normal chipper and incredibly upper-class accent: "Oh yes, sir! It's just me in here. It's always just me." 22:56 <banana> It is now, anyway; the chair was gone in seconds. It's ash and the ash is a puddle. 22:57 <banana> Paranewton remarks, to the others, <Tread carefully, boys.> 22:58 <VoxPVoxD> Her pullover is smoking a bit, but it's really hard to get wool to properly catch fire. It'll need a good dry clean. 22:58 <banana> Sari takes everything down, or at least does something on the computer. He doesn't look up very often, squinting against the dying flames. 22:59 <VoxPVoxD> Once she's well and truly Out, she'll approach once again. She's still glowing red, and heat's still radiating off her, but the fire itself is gone. 23:00 <banana> Vados approaches a little closer, stepping away from Aster and Paranewton to lean on one of the conference tables. "In that case, we must discuss what we can do for one other. You're both real and, of course, valuable." 23:01 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "I'm glad you think so, Illuminus." 23:01 <banana> He chuckles a little. "Hate to ask this when you've already given of yourself, but we will need to start with the blood. An uncauterised wound - may I bring you a pipette?" 23:02 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "I wouldn't have come all this way and gone to all this trouble to deny you the fruit of the vein. Thank you for offering me a pipette and not a fang." 23:03 <banana> Vados: "We don't study the differences between kindred and kine because we think we're better than you. Paranewton, fetch the woman a pipette." 23:03 <banana> Paranewton: "Ultim?" 23:03 <banana> Vados: "Are your studies at a point where this... temptation is excessive?" 23:04 <Crion> Vados treating her more like a person now that she's demonstrated occult capability is good. Usually it goes one of two ways: that, or these guys decide you're fully The Experiment. And those types were the ones they'd run into in VASCU. Thankfully none of them had the resources these guys do. 23:04 <banana> The armoured woman hesitates, then hesitates some more. She nods. 23:04 <banana> Vados: "Then the development is unlikely to succeed. You may recuse yourself." 23:04 <banana> Sarhos Sari, watching this exchange, has already gone to a cabinet and opened it. The thing's full of lab equipment, including beakers and test tubes. 23:05 <banana> He brings Willie the promised pipette, commenting only, "That was hot." 23:06 <banana> Paranewton: "Nice to meet you, Mr. Aster. Another time. Ultim, it will work eventually." 23:06 <VoxPVoxD> Willie acknowledges that with a gentle smile. Luckily she's still bleeding a bit so she doesn't need to open herself up again. She just needs to press. 23:06 <Crion> Aster nods professionally again. He can broadly surmise what that conversation was obviously about. 23:07 <banana> The 'Master of Hunger' leaves through one of the unmarked doors as Vados smiles faintly at her. They do have... time. 23:08 <banana> Once everyone's back in the meeting room and an apprentice has been summoned to clean up the soot and unroll the rug, you resume. 23:09 <VoxPVoxD> Tch. "One thing of particular interest to me would be a way to make my blood more - ah! - or less digestible. There's some trait that interferes with its suitability as aqua vitae for your kindred. Not necessarily disadvantageous, but it poses certain risks. It'd be nice to figure out how to let someone feed more gently, or punish them more harshly for the effort." 23:09 <banana> Sari takes the drawn blood and extracts most of into a test tube, which he seals with a cap; there are just a couple of drops left in the syringe, which he uses to dab one onto his finger and another onto Vados' outstretched palm. The latter winces a little. "Wellesley, Aster, this procedure may not seem to be... in good taste." 23:10 <banana> Vados: "I was about to ask that. What it is that you want." He examines his palm and, of course, licks it. 23:10 <Crion> Aster: "I already told her about the method you and Sebastian used to take blood from me." 23:10 <Crion> 'In good taste' just before he eats! He fucking keeps doing it! 23:11 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "I want to know the potential of my blood. The true potential. Not just what comports with the idiom." 23:11 <banana> Sarhos Sari: "As you say, it's weak. Or... there's vitae here, but also something else." 23:11 <banana> "A dilution?" 23:12 <banana> Vados: "I'm not sure this technically is blood. Have you ever had a transplant or dialysis?" 23:12 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "No, I've never been injured or ill enough to require any kind of foreign tissue or filtration." 23:13 <VoxPVoxD> "What else would it be?" 23:13 <banana> Sari: "Notes of brimstone as expected, but there's a sort of.. meshing. Like the gears in the Chamber doors." 23:13 <banana> Vados: "Piquant." 23:14 <VoxPVoxD> See, this is what she wanted from Sergio. Tasting notes. 23:14 <banana> To Willie: "Do I detect a hint of... it's actually rather like the stuff they put in the vaccines?" 23:14 <banana> Sari: "Surely not." 23:14 <VoxPVoxD> I guess even when you're rich, if you die at 30 you don't get to be that much of a wine snob. 23:14 <VoxPVoxD> Unless you're really rich. 23:15 <banana> Vados: "Ah, sorry. You're looking for practical information." 23:15 <VoxPVoxD> "What do they put in the vaccines?" 23:15 <banana> "Just basic signal receivers. Purely passive stuff- it's like RFID, not any form of mind control. Worst you could do is track someone and monitor their health." 23:16 <banana> Sari: "Could be the same tech, but it's not the same taste. And Ms. Wellesley was born with this." 23:16 <Crion> Aster mentally silos that aside or they'll be here all night. 23:17 <banana> Ultim Vados presses his hand to his coat for a moment sits back again. "Right, let me speak very broadly." 23:18 <banana> "If you want to increase or reduce this dilation factor, I'm sure we could do it. There will be fundamental causes... alloys of marrow. We can adjust even unusual organs." 23:18 <banana> "Would we do it? Yes, for the opportunity to study you. There's a lot to learn here and I don't even know what might delimit the scope." 23:19 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Would it be possible to adjust on the fly? Like if there was one vampire I wanted to allow to feed to effect, and another I did not." 23:19 <banana> Sari: "No, but perhaps you could target a clan." 23:19 <banana> Vados: "Let's not be so hasty. Who do you have in mind?" 23:20 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Do you know Simpson Kirkpatrick's descendant? The court artist at Inchcape?" 23:20 <VoxPVoxD> "Of Clan Ventrue, I believe." 23:22 <banana> It's dark in here, but you're both paying close attention. Sarhos Sari made such a sudden movement that he nearly knocked over the test tube. 23:23 <banana> Vados: "What are you implying, Wellesley?" 23:23 <Crion> Aster is doing a good job of placidly watching everything in the room very closely, and he doesn't react here either. 23:25 <VoxPVoxD> Willie leans in. Her entire body throbs in pain and merriment. Drawing up the power of the pit always feels good, but as she sits in this environment cultivated for contemplation of the blood, she can feel herself winding through their... guts? veins? She licks her lips involuntarily. "He's a film editor by trade, I think. At Inchcape Productions. Documentaries and shorts, I understand." 23:26 <VoxPVoxD> "Bonasera is the name." 23:26 <banana> Ultim Vados tugs at his beard and watches Willie for a while. 23:27 <banana> "No, I don't know a Bonasera. Frankly, I should give you a bit of a heads up here... for the sake of science." 23:28 <VoxPVoxD> Uggggh. This is the part of aristocracy and public service both that she hates. The part where everyone has to pretend not to know the thing they all obviously know. She looks pre-rueful. 23:28 <banana> "I came to this city fifteen years ago with my senior staff... we were seeking refuge from a political environment where the name of Dracula had become toxic. Associated with ancient religious politics." 23:29 <banana> Vados: "We were taken in most graciously; Seele Shaw, the Prince of this city, levied only minimal conditions. One of which was that no aid or comfort be given to the scofflaw denizens of Inchcape. More politics." 23:30 <VoxPVoxD> Willie nods. 23:31 <banana> "I found it more congenial to participate in the shunning of the despised minority than to be among them, and so we agreed to the Court's terms. Consequently, I do not know and have not met Simpson Kirkpatrick." 23:31 <banana> "Apologies." 23:32 <VoxPVoxD> Willie nods again, not without sympathy. "Then allow me to retract my specifics. A hypothetical member of Clan Ventrue, young as the Blood reckons age." 23:32 <banana> Sari: "You've got to hustle for those grants, or so human academics tell me." 23:32 <VoxPVoxD> "Part of the principle of 'publish or perish'." 23:33 <banana> Vados: "To twist your blood, making it affine to a particular regnant... it might be possible! I'd say it's an entirely different experiment, but plausible. Could be." 23:33 <banana> "Actually, less likely to produce side-effects than the dilution adjustment business." 23:33 <VoxPVoxD> "Is 'regnant' a term of art?" 23:35 <Crion> And not one geared for actually using around humans, at that. 23:35 <Crion> Possibly too honest. 23:35 <banana> Vados: "One of many. In this case, it refers to a kindred with whom you've shared blood, a two-way relationship. There's a lot of scientific power in a bond like that, and it can be manipulated... the mystery of the Voivod." 23:35 <banana> "Mystery, I'm afraid, is also a term of art." 23:36 <banana> Sari: "Our jargon predates... modern conventions." 23:36 <VoxPVoxD> Willie, briskly: "Let's focus, for now at least, on the potentialities that that might arise without me having to taste vampire blood." 23:36 <banana> "I mean, precedes." 23:36 <banana> Vados: "Ha!" 23:38 <banana> "We can work on you, Wellesley, learn from you with the aim of bringing the mortal qualities of your blood to dominate it. Or vice versa. I believe the chances of success are high." 23:39 <VoxPVoxD> "God, it just... thins out inside you, doesn't it? Not dissipating in circulatory terms. Like feathers or smoke." 23:42 <banana> Vados: "An unfortunate analogy. There is blood, you know, a liquid, which doesn't drain away in total proportion to the exercise of our 'curse'." 23:42 <banana> "But what is within the blood, what it means - that does dissipate. It might be more orthodox to say that it is repaid." 23:43 <VoxPVoxD> Willie nods. "'There must be an equivalent exchange'." 23:44 <banana> Vados: "So, look at it this way. And I'm not going to give away too many of our secrets here, because if we do this work the price will be the knowledge we gain from that, but you've given us a down payment." 23:45 <banana> "There's power in your blood - the kind of power I can dine upon like a chemically-energetic meal, which comes from life and the paraphysical qualities of life. There is also a power which turns blood to fire. Which resonates with 5g." 23:46 <VoxPVoxD> Is that exchange equivalent? One supposes it depends on whether you look at it from the perspective of Peter, the robber, or Paul. 23:46 <banana> Sari turns the laptop around to show off the screen. He's got Notepad up, as well as some sort of... radar application? 23:46 <VoxPVoxD> "5G?" 23:46 <VoxPVoxD> "Is that the vaccine thing again?" 23:47 <banana> As he moves the device back and forth, turning its body to position the antenna, the sweep-and-ping of the map moves with it; it seems to be fixed at Willie's location. 23:47 <banana> Vados: "Analogous, apparently." 23:47 <banana> "This may also be your heritage. Heredity is not an unchangeable thing." 23:48 <banana> "It would, of course, change who you are." 23:48 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "I did not come to the dragons' den to stay the same, Illuminus." 23:49 <Crion> Aster wonders if he'd be able to guess she was dating a vampire simply by her being able to talk like one now. 23:49 <VoxPVoxD> That's just a private school education. 23:50 <banana> Ultim Vados: "Good!" Because stasis was never an option. 23:50 <VoxPVoxD> Too right. 23:51 <banana> They're going to have to exchange contacts in detail and start planning a programme. Initial studies, experimental hypotheses... "We'll have to have your consent at various stages, repeatedly. It will be annoying, but please do listen to the fine print as it varies." 23:51 <banana> Sari: "These are also conditions of the grant. Local rules." 23:51 <VoxPVoxD> Willie nods. She is a thorough study. "Like how you need to write on any application of Domination." 23:53 <banana> Vados: "You mean anything other than never reveal I did this." There's a power in his voice...! that does nothing. He looks at the ceiling, whistles airily. The sense of impending weight vanishes before he makes eye contact again, defused. 23:54 <banana> "You've been very quiet today, Aster." 23:55 <VoxPVoxD> Honestly when you know to listen for it, it's kind of hhhhh let's not go there. Ah, fucking hell. How many more days until she and Sergio can spend some time? More, now. The first tickle of a headache starts to roll back the edges of her buzz. 23:55 <Crion> Aster: "I find that when watching and listening it's good behavior. That was my role here: to facilitate. I am not running a competing study." 23:56 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Mr. Aster has a keen and ongoing interest in his colleagues' expertise." 23:56 <banana> Vados: "What do you think of our outer chambers? There's a reason for it, you know. Not just costuming." 23:56 <Crion> Aster shrugs. "Being well-informed is part of becoming well-informed." 23:57 <Crion> "I suspected so. I surmise that it has something to do with what just happened here -- some ritual formation whose exact specifications are deeply tied to aesthetics." 23:57 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "I enjoy them very much, though I can only perceive the costuming." 23:57 <Crion> Aster is referring to the blocked Dominate. 23:59 <banana> Vados: "Right, it's a matter of frustration to some of my younger colleagues, but you have to accept that the principles of sympathy and tradition have a measurable effect. That is also science." He shrugs. 00:00 <banana> The Illuminus did mention something about home turf earlier. 00:00 <banana> Even if Willie's going to be returning here.. it doesn't feel wise to overstay your welcome. 00:00 <Crion> Then it's best we'd be on our way. 00:00 <VoxPVoxD> "Thank you for your time, Illuminus, Master. Good evening." 00:00 <Crion> After farewells and contact exchanging, they can see themselves out with mysterious assistance. 00:01 <banana> At least the ground floor button works the same no matter which way the elevator is going. 00:01 <Crion> Elevators opening on their own, track lighting on the floor, etcetera. 00:01 <banana> There is something outside when you pass (negative) [1], though- strangely coloured light visible for a moment through the crack in the doors. Then you're back in a darkened but conventional office building. 00:01 <banana> Now it's really late at night. 00:02 <VoxPVoxD> The weather's still shit when they get outside, Willie shivers in her coat, the smell of smoke mostly banished by the wind and the rain for the moment. "That went well, I thought!" 00:02 <Crion> Aster: "We're alive after doing business with vampires, which is usually a win, and I don't recognize any of the usual telltale signs of mind-control -- lost time, conflicting memories, we were never split up, and so on." 00:03 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "He made a show of not doing it at the end. I guess just as a flex. Against us or Shaw, I couldn't say." 00:05 <Crion> Aster: "He likely realizes the principle behind its use, which is to do it well or not at all. Sloppy, thoughtless use as a toy causes problems for more than just the people caught up in it. One suspects there might be a truth in there the victims of the '84 revolt learned too late to help." 00:05 <Crion> "Well, help them, anyway. It seems to have been a considerable improvement otherwise." 00:06 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Yes, one gets the impression that for all that they're still, you know, to us, things are considerably nicer for them." 00:06 <VoxPVoxD> "The survivors, anyway." 00:06 <Crion> Aster: "Well, things have improved for the 'us' of this town too. It's no longer the Eighties in Manchester." 00:07 <Crion> "Are you going to be comfortable taking those appointments alone from now on?" 00:07 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "I am. Will you?" 00:08 <Crion> He snorts. "If you said no I was going to suggest you recruit Bob." 00:08 <Crion> Aster: "I trust you'll smuggle out a precis of their findings, of course." 00:09 <VoxPVoxD> "I believe we agreed a no-solo-meetings policy at the last all-hands," Willie says. "I don't know if I want to lead Bob into this... he'd do it, obviously, but he volunteers for enough danger as it is. I don't enjoy feeling responsible for it." 00:10 <Crion> Aster, annoyed: "Oh right. We did do that." 00:10 <Crion> "Then yes, I suppose so." 00:10 <Crion> "It will be easier to justify me to Vados than Bob anyway." 00:13 <VoxPVoxD> "And for Bob's sake, keeping him away from the woman in leather armor who can't control her bloodlust... just good sense, I think." She looks back at Aster here, and then again. Her brow knits a bit in concentration. "Have I made you uncomfortable?" 00:15 <Crion> Aster: "Hm? No. Just realizing that since this is after sunset, I won't have to allocate any more hours to what's his name, Kingfisher, to watch the lab. Which I suppose was the main concern." 00:17 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "No, I mean... working privately with me. Being out alone at night with a young woman. Even a young woman who smells like creosote. I could ask Badawi if you prefer." 00:20 <Crion> Aster presses his lips together thinly. "Only insofar as you do. If this were Philadelphia I'd have to be worried about what people would say, so on and etcetera, especially given VASCU's proclivity for Internal Affairs to resemble a gossip magazine. But it's not, so the issue of reputation and town gossips is one for you to navigate, being seen at all hours with American men in kevalr 00:20 <Crion> or...whatever this ridiculous coat I'm wearing is." 00:21 <Crion> Willie can tell this is mostly, but not entirely, honest. The place were it's not honest is probably an omission, rather than a stated lie. 00:21 <Crion> Willie can tell this is mostly, but not entirely, honest. The place were it's not honest is probably an omission, rather than a stated lie. 00:22 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "I like that coat! You look a bit like Hunter S. Thompson. But no, I've never felt uncomfortable. Everyone's been very professional. Even Bob. In some ways particularly Bob." 00:24 <Crion> Aster: "All I can say on that mark is it's a different sort of professionalism than characterized his former unit the few times I had the displeasure of interacting with them. I'm weirdly unsurprised Rolf Hughes hasn't been an issue, or more of an issue, there and elsewhere. Maybe it's one of those reverse-lock situations." 00:24 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Rolf eyefucked me the moment we met. Made a good long show of it. But he respects the accent. It's a hindbrain thing." 00:26 <Crion> Aster shakes his head. "Will never understand the accent thing." 00:26 <Crion> "Americans can understand ostracizing and making fun of someone for their accent, but respecting them for it? Completely alien." 00:27 <Crion> "Well, except British accents of course." 00:27 <Crion> "But not people from New England or what have you." 00:28 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "It's going away, bit by bit. Television, I think, flattens it a lot. Probably why it never caught on in America. You do have upper-class accents. Your Midatlantics, your Boston Brahmins, and so forth. Your sun-bleached, uniquely Californian radiation of wealth. But insofar as an American is trained to obey, they are trained to resent." 00:28 <VoxPVoxD> "It's like you made the whole country out of Liverpool." 00:29 <Crion> Aster: "I believe this is the part where I take that as a compliment." 00:30 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "It's a quality I appreciate." 00:33 <Crion> Aster: "Oh, additionally: As your resident guiding occult medical professional, I have about as much enthusiasm for you making your blood more palatable to a specific vampire as I do for vampire boyfriend in general, but when you get them down to brass tacks on whether it's a procedure that can be reversed, make sure they're couching it in terms of mortal physiologically, trauma thresholds, 00:33 <Crion> longevity and etcetera. I do generally trust Vados in this very narrow and specific space, but honestly they just sometimes...forget. 00:34 <Crion> "I'll make sure to remember too, of course, but I might be out sick that day with a lethal case of 'trying to play cute legal games with clear red lines.'" 00:34 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "I don't love it either... but the alternative is that to spend time with me he has to bite someone else." 00:36 <Crion> Aster: "I hesitate to point out the obvious, but he's going to do that anyway. Especially if you become some sort of political pawn within court intrigue. Or just a clear and easy way to fuck with him. I suppose I repeat myself." 00:37 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "I know, I know, but... there is a sense of exchange, right? The life-force he spends on me should come from me, even if I can't sustain him on my own." 00:38 <Crion> Aster is obviously dubious. "Well, I hope that works out for you." In the incredibly narrow and unlikely band of acceptable outcomes that describes. 00:39 <VoxPVoxD> "As far as being a vector for harm, well... that's just life in the night-city, I think. The sort of thing prudent people seek to avoid by never getting involved in the first place. Once we've bitten the bullet, we can't act surprised that we taste lead." 00:40 <Crion> Aster: "But we should endeavor, after the operation, to spit it out." 00:43 <VoxPVoxD> Willie doesn't make the rejoinder her brain immediately produces, but she does purse her lips and shake her head a bit. Then after a moment's pause she says, "I think that - up to a point - these entanglements are a virtue for our work. Insofar as we keep doing this, these connections are inevitable and natural. I think social interaction is good for business. I think being known and valued 00:43 <VoxPVoxD> and yes, desired is good for business." 00:44 <VoxPVoxD> "Reasonable people may disagree on what that point is." 00:48 <Crion> To be honest, he had been intending to keep to what he said about not offering personal judgments about vampire boyfriend, but completing that metaphor was just too good an opportunity to pass up. There's no good metaphor games to be played here, so he doesn't say that she's abstracting what her 'social interaction' with vampire boyfriend medically and psychologically entails on, let's 00:48 <Crion> arbitrarily say, a weekly basis into anodyne generalizations to make it sound more palatable. Instead: "Well, the highest priority is to catch ourselves before we become unreasonable people. I think mental manipulation and mind control in general should be a side priority of ours -- specifically ways to block or break it." 00:48 <Crion> To be honest, he had been intending to keep to what he said about not offering personal judgments about vampire boyfriend, but completing that metaphor was just too good an opportunity to pass up. There's no good metaphor games to be played here, so he doesn't say that she's abstracting what her 'social interaction' with vampire boyfriend medically and psychologically entails on, let's 00:48 <Crion> arbitrarily say, a weekly basis into anodyne generalizations to make it sound more palatable. Instead: "Well, the highest priority is to catch ourselves before we become unreasonable people. I think mental manipulation and mind control in general should be a side priority of ours -- specifically ways to block or break it." 00:49 <VoxPVoxD> Ugh, don't say weekly. That's practically being married. "Yes, I agree. I know such techniques exist, and we can likely innovate, with collaboration." 00:51 <VoxPVoxD> "But I find your presence encouraging. I find your support encouraging." 00:51 <VoxPVoxD> "Thank you." 00:52 <Crion> Aster blinks. The straightforwardness causes him to forgo his template reaction here, which would be: I'd rather you find it effective. "You're welcome. And this is where I turn off for parking." 00:52 <Crion> "Good night, Willie." 00:52 <VoxPVoxD> "Good night, Aaron." 00:53 <VoxPVoxD> See? Encouragement is effective.