18:56 <banana> It's a nice, normal morning and nobody is hunter or hunted. The BBC says it'll rain in the afternoon, but now? Now it's merely not very warm. There's a gentle breeze coming from the Grove to the south, and Sumi will be arriving from that direction as the inevitability of lunch draws nearer. 18:56 <banana> Mari says: "There's something I've been meaning to show you out in the courtyard." 19:01 <tom> "Oh?" Bob's putting on something warmer if he's going outside. No ODIN, either- that's back at the shop for troubleshooting- so his eyes are going to have to take the hit of direct sunlight unaided. Not a winning move. 19:02 <tom> He sidles up to her and takes her hand, letting her lead him. 19:04 <tom> "...I'm getting it, yeah," he grins, working his chin while he considers the dumbest thing he can possibly say. "You're burying the bodies in the garden. I'm the Final Victim, before Samhain." 19:04 <banana> Mari swings their arms together happily for a second, but then drops his and scurries outside. "Do you see a garden anywhere here?" 19:05 <banana> The courtyard isn't very large. Maybe there's one under the dumpster. 19:05 <banana> Mari: "Okay, we might not be in this place forever... but I did find one cool thing about the building. Do you see the nacho shop back wall there, with the air conditioners and boarded window?" 19:05 <tom> "I think these used to be flowers," he gestures at the damp, brown patch of foliage in the small bed about the garden gnome. 19:06 <tom> "That's gotta count." 19:06 <tom> He looks up, and catches the sun in his eyes. "Yeah?" He mumbles, before finally seeing it. 19:08 <banana> Mari: "Okay, if this place was up to safety standards there would be a fire escape back here. Which there isn't. But." 19:09 <banana> She strides over to Empanading's back wall, above their basement home. "With so many missing bricks and all this crap they've got bolted on.. it's like, easy compared to even a free climbing wall in a gym." 19:09 <banana> Bob's girlfriend rolls her shoulders a bit and then scrabbles more or less straight up the wall, arms going everywhere. In seconds, she's disappeared over the top, and then her head pokes back out, ponytail falling over her face. 19:09 <banana> "Want a hand up?" 19:10 <tom> He reaches for her with both hands. "Upsies." 19:12 <tom> He's a lot less elegant. 19:12 <banana> You both haul, or Bob pushes and Mari guides. "You're so much stronger than your weight." 19:13 <tom> He almost eats shit once or twice on the slick metal piping between the brickwork, but he makes it, huffing and puffing to the top. God, he has just got to start lifting again. Any day now... 19:13 <tom> "Can't spiders lift like hundreds of times their weight." 19:13 <tom> "Or is that ants?" 19:14 <tom> How's the view? 19:14 <banana> Once they're secure, Mari grips Bob's arms a moment longer then lets go. The rooftop is just.. plant; nobody was meant to come up here. There are multiple chimneys, vent piping and an inverted water tank. Bits of white-plastered brick stick out everywhere. 19:14 <banana> Standing, you can see the suburbs to the west and the shops to the east, heart of Eccles fairly busy from this height. Cars and people both crawl around through the old village-center complex which has become something like a mall. Further south are trees and a hint of the canal. 19:15 <banana> It's better than you have in the basement, at least. 19:15 <tom> "...Next summer, yeah? I could get some lawn chairs up here, a cooler." 19:15 <tom> "...Maybe one of those baby grills campers use." 19:15 <banana> Mari pops her knuckles and elbows, turning around and back. "If we're still here, let's do it. It's not so bad..." 19:16 <banana> "What was it like? The Horned Hound's Hunt?" 19:16 <tom> "I kinda like a place that looks a little shitty. You've never lived anywhere that just seemed too perfect?" 19:17 <tom> He claps her on the shoulder. "I took a nap through a rainstorm and aced his ass in two minutes. The pack lunches were delish." 19:17 <tom> "...He's okay, I think." 19:19 <banana> Mari hikes up the end of her skirt to brushes away the dirt on a rooftop protrusion, somewhat uselessly, before she sits. This stuff is all going in the wash anyway. "The magic of Faerie is useless against modern military might, huh?" 19:19 <banana> Has Bob shown her the video? 19:20 <tom> ...No. He gives her an uncomfortable look. "I feel like I cheated a bit." 19:21 <tom> "Guy was just happy to be here, and I dropped him with a three-million-dollar prototype D.E.W." 19:22 <banana> Mari: "What makes you say that's cheating? Is it cause you had resources other people wouldn't?" 19:25 <tom> Bob joins her at her side, dangling his legs off the roof over the courtyard below. "I really feel like I shoulda hit him with a cartoon mallet." 19:25 <tom> "Anything else just feels real unsporting." 19:26 <banana> Mari: "Those teeth weren't blunt. They weren't clean, either. Did you see when he yawned on his way back through the door?" 19:26 <tom> "Like exterminating Bugs Bunny with mustard gas." 19:28 <tom> He puts his arm around her waist and compresses her, just so. "Sure, yeah. But you went through the challenge, yeah? Did you just-" He gestures with the pointer finger on each hand, miming two characters racing around one another. "-Until the clock ran out?" 19:29 <banana> Mari: "Yeah, I ran away. They sent someone who could go through wires like I can mirrors, but the trail was too long, and she didn't catch me in time. It was really exhausting, like... I basically kept moving for two days." 19:30 <tom> "Shit." 19:30 <tom> "What exactly have I got myself into?" 19:30 <banana> "But there's was a time limit, so. It's a trial, not a game. Figure out what it takes to win, do that... using a really big gun is in the ethos, I'd say." 19:31 <banana> Mari: "Ah, there's a question." 19:31 <banana> "How long an answer do you want?" 19:31 <tom> "Even FORT bootcamp doesn't involve getting the shit kicked out of you." Officially. 19:33 <banana> Mari: "Oh, I see what you mean. It's not a hazing though." 19:33 <tom> "I like hearing you talk." 19:33 <banana> "Why thank you, Mr. Goreman." 19:34 <tom> He doffs a nonexistant cap. 19:34 <banana> "The reason that being tracked down like that is a perfectly reasonable trial, like... it's because it's going to happen to us anyway. We have to be ready, regardless of whether we feel like it." 19:34 <tom> "The huntsmen." 19:35 <banana> Mari: "Yeah. With the protections we've got, the unseelie Keepers - the true Fae - they can only take one person a year. It's not enough for them, and when someone escapes they get really mad. They don't stop trying to get you back. Ever." 19:36 <tom> We'll see about that, he doesn't say. What he does: "Over my dead body, babe." 19:40 <banana> Mari: "Thanks." 19:40 <banana> "I mean, not thanks, that wouldn't be any better!" 19:40 <banana> "Willie worries about you, you know." 19:42 <tom> "Ha! She's a worrier." 19:43 <tom> "I think everyone's got enough trouble worrying after their own shit. I'm doing great, besides..." He leans in close, conspiratorial: "Her guy has a meaner bite than you." 19:44 <tom> "She should focus on drinking water and getting electrolytes." 19:44 <tom> "That's what I'd do." 19:44 <banana> Mari: "You're telling me. That chick rates her personal safety after basically every other consideration... and then she has a finely tuned sense of danger anyway. Jump in with both feet even though you know how cold the water is." 19:45 <tom> "That's just the job, ma'am." 19:46 <tom> "People who think ahead raise their hand during the orientation and get led out to sign a waiver and get their Muninn shot." 19:46 <banana> "And I guess she's hot enough to get away with it." 19:47 <tom> "Sixteen hundred degrees, last I heard." 19:47 <tom> "...That'd be celcius, wouldn't it." 19:47 <banana> Mari: "Some of my old textbooks still say Centigrade." 19:47 <banana> There's a noise from somewhere down below you. "Oi!" 19:48 <tom> Bob looks down between his dangling legs and backs off from Mari just a bit. 19:48 <tom> "Sumi, hey!" 19:49 <banana> You can't actually see over the edge of the roof, but Sumiya has a tendency to notice things people didn't expect to be seen. Her voice is amused. "How the heck do I get up there?" 19:50 <tom> "Is this the end of Sumiya? Thwarted by a high shelf?" 19:52 <tom> "For real I can help you up if you need it." 19:53 <banana> Sumi: "..." 19:53 <banana> Mari approaches the edge. "She's gone inside the shop." 19:54 <tom> "...She's not about to bust through the roof, right?" 19:54 <banana> Mari: "Is there a door up here somewhere?" 19:54 <tom> I don't know, is there? 19:55 <banana> Bob hunts around a bit. There is- a slanted trapdoor type of thing between the chimneys. There's a chain on this side, a bolt on the other side and the whole thing is covered in rust. 19:55 <tom> Bob rubs his eyes and casts his gaze over the pipework and rooftop vents. 19:56 <tom> Well, if it's a simple matter, Bob will unlink the chain. 19:56 <tom> He's not shooting off any locks on his own building. In broad daylight. In view of a crowded street. 19:57 <banana> He almost makes it in time. The links begin to slide against themselves as the bolt slides back, and then the whole thing falls into segments with a rattle of steel on wood. 19:57 <banana> He almost makes it in time. The links begin to slide against themselves as the bolt slides back, and then the whole thing falls into segments with a rattle of steel on wood. 19:57 <tom> "Damn, that never stops being cool." 19:57 <banana> Sumi pops her head out, climbing some sort of cramped stairs. "You're right, but my pronouns are she/her, not 'that'." 19:58 <tom> The first thing she'll see is Bob leaning forward to offer her a hand to grab for more leverage. If she takes it, he'll hoist her up. If not, he'll look dumb. 19:58 <tom> Dumber. 19:58 <banana> Sumi will accept the offered hand. "Why are we up here?" 19:59 <banana> Mari: "Where else would we be?" 19:59 <banana> Sumi: "Cowering in a dark place with a single exit, as is our right. We're all Winter now." 20:00 <tom> Bob: "I figured you guys were just planning to distract me and then throw me off the roof." 20:01 <tom> He marches around the perimeter and surveys the ground below. "Rrriight here. There's a big metal fence I could get all fucked up on." 20:02 <banana> Mari: "See, that's why Willie worries." 20:02 <banana> "She thinks you're... too sad." 20:02 <tom> "Threat analysis, ma'am." 20:02 <tom> "I'm just joshin'." 20:02 <tom> "It's a bit." Really. 20:03 <banana> "I know that. I know you've got no actual expectation of falling or being thrown from the roof." 20:03 <tom> Phew. 20:03 <tom> "...Which is why now's the time to strike." 20:03 <banana> Mari: "I think where she goes off the rails a little is this threat-identification stuff. She sees danger in... the rear view mirror I think? Something regularly avoided with charm and skill. Not something you think about in advance, or it'd paralyse you." 20:04 <banana> Sumiya is not sitting down on any of the metal or plaster up here. She'll stand about and peer into the horizons. "Our Willie's protective, is she?" 20:04 <tom> "I try not to think too much about what other people are thinking. Makes me crazy." 20:04 <tom> "Just wait 'till you meet Miss Badawi." 20:05 <banana> Sumi, gleefully: "They're all coming." 20:05 <banana> Mari: "Huh." 20:05 <tom> "Yeah," he'll gulp. "Look you should know in advance that if you just avoid eye contact Rolf is perfectly fine." 20:05 <tom> "If he starts talking about anything just come get me." 20:06 <banana> Sumi: "The trick was to not offer money. It's insulting, right. You get the big bucks for doing cool secret missions for wizards and skeletons, so if you take our petty cash, it turns a party into work." 20:06 <banana> Mari: "Please expound upon the pathology of this... Rolf." 20:06 <tom> "Haven't got any wizard gold yet. It's on the bucket list." 20:07 <banana> Sumi: "Not something you'd name a kid now, is it?" 20:07 <banana> Mari: "Australian?" 20:08 <tom> "I'm pretty sure he's been talking to a few of my uncles on Facebook," Bob explains. 20:08 <tom> "Ohhhhhhh shit yeah, I still need to deal with the Liam thing." 20:08 <banana> Both women make groaning noises. Uncles are a universal language. 20:08 <banana> Mari: "Please expound upon the pathology of this... Liam." 20:09 <banana> "Sit down Sumi, we're not gonna get lunch before 11." 20:09 <tom> "...I can grab a chair from the apartment and drag it up here. I will do it." 20:09 <banana> Sumi: "I have the bone structure to remain on my feet for almost retail periods of time. Superhuman." 20:10 <tom> Bob sits back down with Mari. Man, that is just... really fucked up and sad, Sumi. He tries not to let it show. 20:11 <tom> "Yeah so I guess Rolf did something to piss him off or something, I dunno I didn't get a good idea of what went down," he lies. "But the dude was looking for his twin I guess and decided to annoy the worst possible person." 20:11 <tom> "But I think he's one of you guys?" 20:11 <tom> "He fucked off through a door to toontown." 20:15 <banana> Mari: "I don't know a Liam, which means he's not one of us." 20:15 <banana> Sumi: "No, actually, there's this guy." 20:15 <banana> Mari: "Huh???" She sounds way too surprised. 20:15 <banana> Sumi: "He's from London... but back up a sec." 20:16 <banana> Mari's mouth makes a little :o of understanding as Sumiya carries on. "What did you mean with the chair? I really don't mind standing." 20:16 <tom> Oh no. Sumi please don't own me, he's saying with his pleading expression. 20:16 <banana> Sumi: "Also, no cringe. I'm not going to be mad." 20:17 <tom> "Okay so, Rolf is kind of awful and he probably like, called the guy a f- something really shitty." 20:17 <tom> "He is not a nice dude, wow. This isn't a field with a lot of cool dudes in it." 20:18 <tom> "Just, like, let me reach out the guy and try and work something out before this gets outta hand." 20:18 <tom> "Normally they don't let people like Rolf 'n me out of the box at socials. Right. We're the killteam." 20:19 <tom> "Turns out there's a learning curve. He called Aster a nonce." 20:19 <tom> "I don't know what that even means but it sounds bad." 20:24 <tom> "So I guess, yeah," He says, after a long silence. "I'm kinda worried that maybe I should leave a few walls up between them and you guys." 20:28 <tom> Having nothing more illuminating to add on the topic of guys who get in fights over pictures of the Queen or whatever, Bob will pretend to shudder in the cold breeze and snuggle Mari for warmth. It's not clear what the smaller woman can do about the cold. 20:33 <banana> They listen carefully to the story about Rolf and Liam; Mari shakes her head a couple of times. 20:34 <banana> Sumi: "That doesn't answer my question at all.. but I'll let you have it, ok?" She paces back and forth a bit. "This thing could be a problem, yeah. I've only met Liam once... he's a hothead... not my type of dude more than Rolf is... anyone's?" 20:35 <banana> "I'll get you a number to talk to the guy. And we should talk about secrets, and Winter." 20:35 <tom> "Oh, what? The chair? Oh I can just get you one so you can sit down. You shouldn't have to stand." 20:35 <tom> "Sorry, I guess I just started talking." 20:36 <tom> "Oh, for sure." 20:36 <tom> "I'm gonna try and pay him off before things get real stupid." 20:38 <banana> Mari: "Which of them?" 20:40 <tom> Bob squints. "Oh, fuck. You're right." 20:40 <tom> "Oh geez, d'ya think he's gonna murk his copycat?" 20:41 <tom> "For the record, that's still legally murder. I checked the handbook and it leaves no exceptions for people made'a sticks n' crap." 20:42 <banana> Sumi: "Mmm. That's going on the list of things to talk about. Maybe at the top?" 20:43 <banana> Mari: "Sumi..." 20:43 <banana> Sumi: "I'm not going to be a dick, but let's start with this. Is it legal to be in this country without a valid birth certificate?" 20:43 <tom> "I am an illegal alien." 20:43 <banana> Sumi: "Same. How about without a valid birth?" 20:44 <tom> "I don't really- whatt'r you getting at?" 20:44 <banana> Sumi: "If you get a drivers license, then you're kidnapped by monsters for ten years, and someone who looks exactly like you renews your license, then you come back, is it legal to drive?" 20:46 <tom> "Let me uh, clarify, my problem isn't really that its legally murder, just that it's murder." 20:47 <tom> "I mean if they come at you with a knife, like, okay, fair enough." 20:47 <tom> Wrong answer, huh. 20:48 <banana> Sumi: "How about if they come at you with a life? Specifically, yours." 20:48 <tom> It actually feels kind of hot up here, doesn't it? "That is a tough one." 20:48 <banana> Mari pulls away a little and slumps. She doesn't seem to feel the need to add anything here. 20:49 <tom> He taps his thumbs together. 20:49 <banana> Sumi: "Now, not all of the fetches they replace us with are bad at fakin' it." 20:50 <banana> "Some of them are though. 'My' fetch couldn't hold together a job or a relationship. It was homeless by the time I found it. Had a shopping bag with that drivers license, bank stuff, basically an identity that was the only valuable thing it managed to hang on to." 20:50 <tom> "She." 20:51 <tom> Bob straightens his back a bit. 20:51 <banana> Sumi: "I don't mind 'she'. It was an imitation of a human woman, formerly me, so that's valid." 20:51 <banana> "But I've gotta ask if you have a hardline stance on this stuff." 20:51 <tom> "No." 20:51 <tom> "I don't have a hardline stance on really anything anymore." 20:52 <banana> Mari puts an arm around Bob's shoulders at that. 20:52 <tom> He reaches up and takes her hand, kneads it with a palm he can only hope isn't too sweaty. "I just, you know. I'm tired of it." 20:53 <banana> Sumi: "So if a monster shapechanges to look like you and moves into your life and pretends to be the real Bob, gets into Mari's bed and your hunting lodge and takes over your friendships..." 20:53 <banana> "You could go either way?" 20:53 <tom> "Do they know?" 20:53 <tom> "That they're fake, I mean." 20:53 <banana> Sumi: "Some people can tell. If you're lucky, it can be a good way to tell who really knows you. Sometimes nobody does, or they don't want to admit they know." 20:54 <tom> "I mean do they know." 20:54 <banana> Mari: "I don't think my mum and dad knew but... that doesn't make it better. How could they not?" 20:54 <banana> Sumi: "Oh. You mean, does the fetch know it's a fetch?" 20:54 <tom> "Yes'm." 20:54 <banana> Sumi: "It didn't even occur to me to care about that." 20:55 <tom> Weakly: "Woof." 20:55 <tom> "Hey, I'm really sorry to bring all this." 20:56 <banana> Sumi: "Ehhh. We bring it on ourselves sometimes." 20:56 <banana> "Maybe it's not a good conversation. Most of the seasonal secrets are much cooler." 20:56 <tom> "It's okay, I get it. We're Winter, aren't we?" He'll give her the best smile he can muster. 20:57 <banana> Mari shivers, then shakes it off. "Hey, at one point you asked whether that was a metaphor." 20:58 <banana> "I think I fobbed you off with something or took my shirt off or..." 20:59 <tom> "Shit, I should ask more uncomfortable questions, then." 21:00 <banana> Mari: "No, this one is fine, it's just a magic secret. Until now." She clears her throat dramatically. 21:01 <tom> Bob lights up. 21:04 <banana> She actually gets up to stand beside Sumi and declaim from (on) the rooftop. "We, the Lost of the Winter Tor, have made a pact with the season. We gift our sorrows to the snow, and in turn we have received a Crown." 21:05 <banana> The wind picks up around both of them, and Bob can see clouds out of the corner of his eye. When he looks directly at the sky, it's still clear. In his mind, a kind of overlay forms, something that he is explicitly being shown even though he knows it isn't real. 21:06 <banana> Icicles hang from Mari's outstretched arms, and Sumi is mostly covered in snow. It pours from the ends of her pant legs to puddle on the ground, puffs of frost rising from the roof pipes where it makes contact. 21:07 <banana> Mari: "You can join us Bob. It's still your choice and it won't involve as many binding promises as it would for a changeling. But the season will embrace you, chill your enemies, still your heart against pain and remorse." 21:07 <tom> He's already pulling up alongside her. 21:08 <tom> "I gave up on being happy a while back. I'll settle for comfortably cold." 21:08 <tom> He takes her hand. 21:09 <banana> Mari: "I believe happiness is possible. It might be far, it might be close." 21:09 <banana> Sumi looks at them holding hands and laughs. "You think?" 21:10 <banana> The vision-ice shattered when she moved, but the light around Mari is now strange, excessively clear. It picks out all the little details of roof-dust on her clothing and the damp parts of her recently washed hair.