14:29 <Crion> When Bob steps out of the shrubbery, covered in whatever odds and ends, there will be a table nearby with a few seats, and in one of them will be a mildly sweaty Aster, sleeves rolled up and top three buttons open so you can see the v-neck undershirt just barely. On the table, there's a scotch on the rocks -- his -- and a crispy beer and an ice cold water -- Bob's. 14:30 <Crion> Aster doesn't say anything -- too busy smoking -- but he will wave Bob over. 14:30 <tom> "....Hey man." 14:30 <tom> Bob heads over to the table like he expects there to be a hidden snare. 14:30 <Crion> Gesturing to the beer and the water: "Two routes on the table. You can choose either, or both." 14:30 <Crion> "Sobering up a little bit before initiation might not be the worst idea." 14:31 <Crion> "But alternatively, it might." 14:31 <tom> ...He takes the water. "I think I'm past the hard part. Now I just have to not make an ass outta myself." 14:31 <tom> "...More than I already did. Sorry about your email inbox." 14:32 <Crion> Aster: "They'll live. Figuratively speaking." 14:32 <tom> The folding chair squishes down into the mushy turf as he fills it. He has to adjust his gun so it doesn't ride uncomfortably. 14:33 <Crion> Aster: "So. What does being a member of the Winter Court entail?" 14:34 <tom> Setting down the bottle after a long gulp: "They don't have a slogan, if that's what you're asking. As far as I've seen there's ten of us." 14:34 <tom> "I know I play it pretty loose but basically I'm sworn to keep their secrets, and those I take seriously. I was told I'd explode if I didn't." 14:34 <Crion> Aster: "Slogans don't bother me. Oaths do." 14:35 <Crion> "Well, I don't need to tell you that you should believe that with deadly seriousness." 14:35 <Crion> "Penalties are penalties, however -- honestly, they're a bit of a blessing. You get a red line, you don't cross it. As they say over here: simple as." 14:35 <Crion> "Responsibilities, however." 14:35 <Crion> "Those get pernicious." 14:36 <tom> "...There's things that come through, from time to time." 14:36 <tom> "They call them, hilariously, huntsmen." 14:36 <tom> "As far as I can tell the seasons aren't just like, vibes. They're tactics." 14:36 <Crion> Aster: "Things like the big cuddly dog that wanted to fuck you, and you gave the taser treatment. Except meaner." 14:37 <tom> "Try everything once, I say." 14:37 <tom> "Anyway..." Bob raps his fingers on the table. "Summer's the heavies. You can guess their deal." 14:38 <tom> "I don't know what Spring or Fall do. Winter doesn't fight unless it has to." 14:38 <Crion> Aster: "I don't really have to guess their deal. When Philadelphia had a changeling killer, he did his thing from July to September." 14:38 <tom> "...Who'd he go after?" 14:39 <Crion> "No real patterns." 14:39 <Crion> "If I had to guess? People they thought were fetches, or otherwise collaborators." 14:39 <Crion> "But we had no hard proof on that." 14:40 <Crion> "No matter what the changelings swear up and down, all those bodies were real bodies. Medically examined." 14:40 <tom> "Hm," murmurs Bob. 14:40 <tom> "Hm," murmurs Bob. 14:41 <tom> "I'm not planning on offing anyone who isn't a direct threat." 14:41 <Crion> Aster: "Of course, we didn't have any team blue changelings to collaborate with at VASCU." 14:41 <Crion> Aster: "That's fine. No one ever does, at least not out loud." 14:42 <Crion> "Not even Rolf. He just thinks being Irish is like pulling a handgun." 14:42 <tom> "Oh man. You should've met my old Lieutenant." 14:42 <tom> "Some of those guys back from Afghanistan are real freaks, whoo boy." 14:42 <Crion> "I met men like him. Their definition of threat...very expansive." 14:43 <tom> "So what do you want to know? I can tell you what I know. It isn't much. I can say I have not been asked to participate in or conceal any murders." 14:43 <Crion> Aster: "As is customary to ask when anyone is enrolled in any social service: are there work requirements?" 14:44 <tom> "It's much more informal. I don't think anyone would say it's a requirement. There's so few of us that it's more like a big extended family rather than anything near as well-oiled as Letitia's Court." 14:45 <tom> "If things go bad, they'll expect each of us to contribute our skills. And I really just have the one skill." 14:45 <Crion> Aster: "Well. As long as they only expect you to work for free, not the rest of us." 14:45 <Crion> "Can't say I much like work that calls itself a family." 14:46 <Crion> "When VASCU came back after Obama, the new HR people loved that little trick. Deranged." 14:46 <tom> "I'm not gonna drag you guys into it. I already coulda, didn't." 14:46 <tom> "Didn't even scratch me." 14:47 <Crion> Aster: "You already have." 14:47 <tom> He flinches a bit at that. 14:47 <Crion> It's not delivered with reproach, just factual simplicity. 14:47 <tom> He has another sip of water. 14:48 <Crion> "I'm not here, drinking scotch and recovering from my second dance-off of the night because of anyone else's decisions." 14:48 <Crion> "Actually, amended: some of those decisions were Samantha's." 14:49 <tom> "She havin' a good time?" He's all smiles again. "I always like seeing people when they run into this world face-first and it's just like, bwoosh-" He takes up his hands and mimics an explosion just off his left temple. 14:50 <tom> He coughs. Attempting to hide his concern: "Does she also carry the Talon Module." 14:51 <Crion> Aster: "Dr. Blackfin has been doing this since she was twenty years old and a summer intern as she finished her medical degree, and I won't reveal how long ago that was but she is a veteran. And yes. She does." 14:51 <tom> He whistles. 14:52 <tom> "You uh don't mind if I ask her about some stuff later? Work related, I swear to God." 14:52 <Crion> Aster: "I am not her husband nor am I her father. I will only mind if I get comments afterward." 14:53 <tom> "You won't." The wolfman scratches his chin. "Or only good ones. I'm getting more professional by the second as my ABV drops." 14:55 <tom> "...I think they're gonna drop me in the Hedge." 14:55 <tom> "Not totally sure. They're playing it close to their chests. I don't think I'll be in any danger, though." 14:57 <tom> "I've been there before, sorta. Halfway. The island from Myst. I had to annihilate some Boggarts. You know about it." 14:57 <Crion> Aster: "That sounds dangerous and slightly insane." 14:57 <Crion> "Dropping you in the Hedge after four hours of partying, that is." 14:57 <tom> "It's all insane." 14:58 <tom> "No better time. That's when the shame starts to kick in and I get real dangerous." 14:58 <Crion> "I mean procedurally insane, not divergent from expected aesthetics." 14:58 <tom> "I was told it- the Hedge- that it'd hate me because I'm normal, or something. Not sure what that means. Can a place hate?" 14:59 <Crion> "I may have to speak to someone about this. It's not just your life on the line here. If you get eaten by a jabberwock, we're down a team member on Monday." 14:59 <Crion> "...Yes, a place can hate." 14:59 <tom> Bob grins. "What, not eager to sign on any more Rolves?" 15:00 <Crion> Aster: "One is two too many." 15:00 <tom> "...Did Badawi say what happened to her, with the wizard?" 15:02 <Crion> Aster: "Not to me." 15:02 <Crion> "You might have to be more specific." 15:02 <Crion> "Badawi is in with a lot of wizards." 15:03 <tom> "She was talking about filing a formal complaint. I don't wanna make a fuss." 15:04 <Crion> Aster: "Oh, Janissary -- hello, Janissary, yes, you namesearch, fantastic -- the Seer of the Throne. Yes, she annoyed him and he made it so in some way she couldn't see him anymore. He's a mage; they're like that." 15:05 <tom> "Oh yeah. Honestly I wouldn't bother, that's pretty harmless. Did you see Letitia going Bug Mode? Pretty sick." 15:05 <tom> "That poor woman. She has no idea what she's doing trying to scare me." 15:07 <Crion> Aster: "I did not, thankfully. For everyone involved. I don't take kindly to mental intrusion." 15:09 <tom> "I don't really mind it. It's like, if you wanna come on into this head, go ahead. They check in but they don't check out, haha." 15:10 <Crion> Aster sips his scotch. "Have you considered therapy?" 15:10 <Crion> This isn't delivered jokingly. 15:10 <tom> "Oh yeah, sure, after I just got chewed out for oversharing to a vampire." 15:11 <Crion> Just as seriously: "Willie Wellesley is not a therapist and it's unfair to both of you for both of you to treat her like one." 15:11 <tom> Mockingly: "Doctor, I just don't know what's got me in a slump. My girlfriend's a spider and my best friend's a demon. Things are very normal in the House Goreman." 15:12 <tom> He seems almost insulted: "Buddy, I have been trying." 15:12 <tom> "She just keeps following me around." 15:12 <Crion> Aster: "Oh, is that what it is." 15:12 <Crion> "Her fault, then." 15:12 <tom> "Kgh." 15:12 <Crion> "Willie just can't get enough of the great Bob Goreman." 15:12 <tom> "Oh no, dude, do not-" 15:13 <Crion> "Twist your words? I'm barely even tugging." 15:13 <tom> "Do not try to get all button-pushy on me about this, oh wow, that's not where we wanna be." 15:13 <tom> He's almost laughing. Almost: "Yeah I'm a real piece of shit, I know." 15:13 <tom> "What do you want me to say to a therapist? There's nothing I can say that wouldn't put them in danger, even if they believed me." 15:14 <Crion> Aster: "I'm sure there's therapists for this community." 15:15 <tom> "Well if you find one hit me up. Until then I'll just handle it the healthy FORT way." 15:15 <tom> "Do you have any idea what the team would've done to me if I filed a hurt feelings report?" 15:15 <Crion> Aster: "I am neither your therapist nor your health insurance provider."? 15:15 <Crion> -? 15:16 <Crion> Aster: "Yes." 15:16 <Crion> Aster: "We had to work closely with TF:V kill teams, remember." 15:17 <Crion> Aster: "Sometimes team members would just disappear." 15:18 <tom> "Sometimes they even deserved to." 15:18 <Crion> Aster: "The thing is, I don't care what FORT does or doesn't or did or didn't do, because those things don't define Bob Goreman in 2021." 15:18 <tom> "Yeah I know, I'm just..." his shoulders sag. "I'm just saying." 15:18 <Crion> "And if your CO does come walking through that door demanding a return to active service, we will kill him." 15:18 <Crion> "His body will not be found." 15:18 <tom> He sniggers. "He'll have a hard time doing that with no legs." 15:19 <tom> "Oh man. I am truly the scum of the earth." 15:19 <Crion> Aster takes another swig. "Half the man means half the work." 15:20 <tom> "...How'd you get into this, anyhow?" 15:21 <tom> "You didn't get the 'Save the World for Uncle Sam' pitch, I'm guessing." 15:21 <Crion> Aster: "Police paid high six figures, benefits, and overtime." 15:21 <Crion> "VASCU paid even better." 15:21 <tom> "That's it?" 15:21 <Crion> "And I wasn't scared of anything." 15:21 <tom> "That sounds like Rolf thinking." 15:22 <tom> "No offense. Rolfbrain is basic, but it is exceptionally good at survival." 15:22 <Crion> Aster shrugs. "If you're good at something, you don't do it for free. And if that something is being the medical examiner and top lab manager for the eastern seabord's premier monster shop, well." 15:22 <Crion> "I was making six figures five years out of college, and that's 1999 dollars." 15:23 <tom> "Premier government shop, anyway. Cheiron's got a few." Snickering: "One less now." 15:23 <Crion> Aster: "And don't compare me to Hughes again unless you're accusing me of killing children." 15:23 <tom> "Yessir, sorry sir." 15:23 <tom> He gets a lazy salute. 15:23 <Crion> Aster: "I'm not military." 15:23 <Crion> "Never aspired to be. Good choice on my part." 15:24 <Crion> "Anyway. Go join the Winter Circle. We'll be here if you need us." 15:24 <tom> Bob gets up, and goes.