13:41 <VoxPVoxD> So the message is in Huntr, the morning after their night in Liverpool. <Demon Summoning at Crime Farm commences at 7:34pm. Doors close at 7. do RSVP so I know how much food to bring!> 13:41 <VoxPVoxD> Any takers? 13:42 <Crion> Aster, already awake and returning from his morning job, responds within fifteen minutes: <I will be present.> 13:42 <tom> BG: <i wanna see more crazy magic> 13:42 <tom> Typing: <why specifically 7:34> 13:43 <VoxPVoxD> Willie only responds an hour later. She’s working! <it’s a star chart thing. Circumstances. specific entities are easier to propitiate w/in very precise astronomical windows> 13:43 <tom> <oh so astrologys real too now> 13:43 <Crion> Aster: <Debateable.> 13:44 <VoxPVoxD> <if Reveille asks you what time you were born: run> 13:44 <tom> BG: <👍> 13:44 <VoxPVoxD> <not into her arms!!!> 13:45 <tom> <youre not my mom> 13:45 <Crion> Aster: <Other advisements? Dress code/emergency tooling?> 13:45 <VoxPVoxD> <dress how you like. you may come armed if you wish; it will pose no Problems but it will not be necessary> 13:45 <Crion> Directly threaded to the previous banter: <Please take extracurriculars to private chat.> 13:46 <Crion> <Understood.> 13:46 <VoxPVoxD> Willie wants to argue with Bob’s point, but she resists the temptation. 13:47 <tom> Bob will be there at seven. 13:47 <Crion> Aster arrives at 6:45 PM. 13:48 <Crion> Does Bob want a ride? 13:48 <Crion> Has he bought a car yet? 13:48 <Crion> Or is Aster going to pass him on the road to Crime Farm, trudging up from the bus stop? 13:49 <Crion> Crime Road. 13:49 <tom> No, and, No; he's still renting, at least until Soyjack's check clears. 13:49 <tom> Please. He has a truck. 13:49 <Crion> Well, there's more than enough room in the carpark. 13:50 <tom> Bob's the last to arrive then, jogging up the walk in a heavy winter jacket and, strangely, no visor. 13:51 <tom> He looks... older? I guess? Diminished, maybe? 13:52 <Crion> Aster's in a bomber-style jacket, jeans, and boots, which isn't a combination Bob has seen before, probably. He's clearly trying to make himself as casually fireproof as possible, so no visible cottons. Leather gloves, too. 13:52 <Crion> Willie's seen most of this on his first visit, except the jacket. And the gloves. 13:52 <tom> Aster will note he's unarmed. Shit, not even the kevlar underarmor. 13:52 <Crion> Aster frowns at that. 13:53 <VoxPVoxD> Bob hasn’t been out here before, so the setup of Crime Farm, on Crime Lake, accessible via Crime Lane, is new to him, as is the stretch of land butting up against the water and the worn-down farmhouse near the road. Willie’s Volvo is parked, and there’s firelight inside. 13:54 <Crion> Bob surely isn't now an avowed pacifist. Is this about that snitty little mage? 13:54 <Crion> Sigh. Poor timing. 13:55 <Crion> Before they go inside, by way of greeting: "I'm not going to ask you to go back to the truck and grab your gun, partially because I suspect you're traveling without one, but the explicit defense of Willie's person against the extraplanar monsters of Hell is not the time to go standing on principle." 13:56 <tom> "If our demon expert can't control her demon, I really don't think there's much we can do about it." 13:57 <Crion> Aster's eyes narrow and nostrils flare. "Then will you just stand there?" 13:57 <tom> He flashes a smile, but it's just too damn sad to carry the signal. "I'm gonna kick it in the balls." 13:57 <VoxPVoxD> The door creaks open. Music filters into the yard from within: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWxiH_8kHnk 13:58 <tom> "Hey." 13:58 <VoxPVoxD> Willie’s in a white tank and grey sweats, with a red jumper tied around her waist. Sweat shimmers on her skin in the firelight. ”Gentlemen! So good to see you. Welcome to Hell.” 13:58 <Crion> Aster, as preparation would have it, has his Glock on a belt holster. "I will respect your decision as far as it goes, as I believe I understand where it comes from. But if things go wrong I am handing you my Glock, and if you refuse to take it with both her life and your own life on the line, I will think less of you." 13:59 <Crion> Willie probably catches some part of that, as Aster turns. "Good evening, Willie." 13:59 <VoxPVoxD> “Aaron. Bob. Do come in!” 14:00 <tom> "Yeah man it's chill don't bust my balls c'm- " He takes one look at Willie and instantly goes visibly red in the face, only stopping himself from stammering out something incredibly stupid because his mind has gone entirely blank. 14:00 <Crion> Aster nods and holds the door. 14:00 <tom> "Yeah hey," he looks away, heads indoors. 14:05 <VoxPVoxD> Inside, all the lawn furniture has been cleared out to the sunroom, which is where the food is - braised shortribs, a huge bowl of buttery mash, and roasted sprouts. The reason the furniture was moved is because the parlour is now dominated by candles arranged at what seem to be strategic points in an enormous chalk diagram that covers most of the floor. The fireplace itself spits merrily 14:05 <VoxPVoxD> at the back of the room. It’s hot in here! 14:05 <VoxPVoxD> “That’s a new jacket, Aaron. New to me, at least. Feeling flammable?” 14:06 <Crion> "Yes. Though I think in the interests of comfort and social presentability, I will save it for the ceremony." Aster will get rid of the bomber jacket, take off his heavy button-up flannel, and pull the jacket, open now, back on over his undershirt. 14:07 <tom> Bob's hands are kinda cold, he doesn't think to take off the jacket. Doesn't bother him either way. 14:07 <Crion> The food smells excellent. He'll skip the mash, opting for the ribs and the sprouts. 14:07 <tom> He waits his turn. 14:08 <VoxPVoxD> “And Bob left the ODIN at home. Are they terribly heat-sensitive?” 14:08 <tom> "It's in the shop for maintenance. Rolf's people know their stuff." 14:08 <Crion> Aster remains silent on that front. If Bob wants to explain the misguided act of penance he's embarking upon, that's his business. 14:09 <tom> He rests his elbow on the counter and turns to Aster: "They make you send your brain back to the nerds in Philly to tinker with between missions?" 14:09 <Crion> Aster: "Sometimes." 14:10 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: ”Right, so, we’ve got about 20 minutes before I need to start, I’ve got some final setup to do. So help yourselves to the food and let me know if you have any questions. One thing I want to stress is that I am not in any danger. It may at times appear as if I am, but I assure you that is not the case. However, if you feel compelled to intervene, you may disrupt the ritual... 14:10 <VoxPVoxD> and that would be dangerous.” 14:10 <tom> "Right. Riiight." 14:11 <Crion> "So far I've used Wintergreen Process modules six times in seven weeks. That's well within use tolerances, and I don't have to file disclosures with VASCU anymore unless there's an associated police report." 14:11 <Crion> Aster: "Understood." 14:11 <tom> Bob smiles: "Do you have like... a phrase... or like, a word you say if you actually want it to stop, or..." 14:11 <Crion> Aster: "Yes, you should define a safe word." 14:12 <VoxPVoxD> Willie, immediately: ”Gumdrop.” 14:12 <Crion> "Unless of course part of the process here is that we will hallucinate a demonic 'you' saying things to tempt us to disrupt the ritual." 14:12 <Crion> "But I suppose in that case best practices is to define one anyway and trust instinct." 14:12 <Crion> "Noted." 14:12 <VoxPVoxD> “A valid concern for some summonings! But not this one.” 14:18 <tom> Bob hobbles over to the bathroom and disappears for just a moment to radically destroy and rebuild his entire personality from scratch; he mostly just stares into his eyes in the mirror and shakes his head. 14:19 <tom> He's back, fresh-faced and ready for more suffering. 14:19 <Crion> Aster watches him go and return with a blank face. "How large are you expecting the heat dome from this summoning to be? Obviously it's already hotter than it should be in here." 14:20 <tom> That gets him a shitty look. 14:20 <Crion> "You have also said you're not in danger. This can be technically true while not meaning the rest of us are safe. To wit: should I get the fire extinguishers from the back of the Range Rover?" 14:20 <Crion> Aster doesn't respond because he literally meant that this farmhouse with its HVAC turned off if installed at all should not be over 75 degrees F in winter. 14:21 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: ”I’ve got one! Under the table. But more can’t hurt.” 14:21 <Crion> Aster nods. "I will return." 14:22 <tom> Bob, recovering: "Is hellfire like a grease fire, orrr...?" 14:22 <tom> "Can you just... throw water on it?" 14:22 <Crion> He heads out to grab them from the Range Rover. He'll take a moment to light up a cigarette, too. 14:22 <Crion> Seems aesthetic. 14:24 <VoxPVoxD> Willie takes the opportunity to do the final bit of preparation: mounting 3 iPads on music stands at the back of the circle. She calls each of them out by voice command: ”Siri, ouvrez la Torchia, page soixante-six, s’il vous plait.” The left iPad flickers and opens to a bunch of text opposite a medieval print. ”Siri, apri Abramelin, pagina centotredici.” The right one 14:24 <VoxPVoxD> flips on. 14:25 <VoxPVoxD> “สิริ กรุณาเปิด A-Hazard ไปที่หน้าเก้า.” 14:25 <tom> He watches the man smoke through the window, then turns: "...Ah." 14:25 <VoxPVoxD> The centre tablet flips on. 14:25 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: ”You have to smother them. The fires, I mean.” 14:25 <VoxPVoxD> “How are you doing?” 14:26 <tom> "Right. Good." 14:26 <tom> "I don't think I like wizards very much." 14:26 <tom> "You?" 14:26 <Crion> He'll also check to see if he has any texts from Samantha Blackfin; there will probably be something trivial and consultancy-related for him to reply to, since he hasn't been on his phone today. 14:26 <VoxPVoxD> “I don’t like people who don’t respect other people’s privacy. Not the sole province of the dragon-wizards... but they are frightfully good at it.” 14:27 <VoxPVoxD> “I’m... great! Doing great. Feeling very liberated.” She *sounds* sincere. 14:27 <tom> "I mean." Bob summons some resolve: "I don't blame the dude for wanting to know who to watch out for." 14:27 <tom> "It's a two-way street, you know." 14:28 <VoxPVoxD> “Looking is one thing. Rubbing it in someone’s face is quite another. There’s no reason to do that but to hurt someone, and there’s no reason to hurt a stranger but sadism or coercion.” 14:28 <VoxPVoxD> “He didn’t try to force you to do anything... so he’s just an arsehole.” 14:28 <tom> "I think he was just upset." 14:28 <tom> "People just say stuff sometimes." 14:29 <VoxPVoxD> That gets a smile. ”Some people do it more charmingly than others.” 14:29 <tom> "Does it... like, is there a place you cut for the blood that doesn't hurt so bad?" 14:29 <tom> He's wincing a bit now. 14:29 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: ”Yeah, if you cut your forehead you can barely feel it. It looks so horrible though.” 14:30 <VoxPVoxD> “That’s an old pro wrestling trick, apparently.” 14:30 <VoxPVoxD> “I find the bit of pain clarifying. It helps with focus.” 14:31 <VoxPVoxD> “You know? It’s not real unless it hurts a bit.” 14:31 <Crion> Aster finishes his cigarette, puts the butt in the ashtray in the Ranger Rover's center console, and grabs two somewhat larger extinguishers from the back: one is class A (normal flammables), and the other is class B (grease and oil fires). He could have gotten C (electrical fires) and D (flammable metals) but they don't fit the aesthetic. 14:31 <tom> "I wouldn't know what it not being real feels like then." 14:31 <tom> "Let's get this show on the road." 14:32 <Crion> Aster nudges the door open again with his booted foot and walks into the main room. "This one's for normal fires; this one's for flammable liquid fires, which is a dubious but theoretically possible use case, chemically, given what could come out of a hell gate." 14:33 <VoxPVoxD> Willie gives Bob a long look, which is only interrupted by Aster’s return. 14:33 <VoxPVoxD> “Ah! Eminently practical. That’s the Aaron Aster guarantee.” 14:33 <Crion> He sets the class B extinguisher farther back so neither he nor Bob grabs it by mistake in any confusion. 14:33 <tom> "Oh yeah, this prick got any banes we should know about?" 14:34 <tom> Bob's back online. 14:36 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: ”Kagemenauch the Flayed is burned by holy water - which I don’t carry because I am too - and must always divert his full attention to the sound of a silver bell. There’s one on the table if things go gumdrop.” 14:38 <Crion> Aster: "Wintergreen Process modules should work on the creature once it fully instantiates itself in our plane of existence. I don't particularly want to find out if they work before then." 14:38 <tom> "Oh, cool, the night pervert whisperer." 14:39 <tom> "Looking forward to meeting that dude, yeah." 14:39 <VoxPVoxD> Willie’s got a knife. It’s not the orange-handled utility knife she normally has; this one is a proper dagger, an inlaid ivory handle and a polished, delicately-layered double-edged blade of Damascus steel. ”You’ll have to let me know how good my sketches were.” 14:39 <tom> Now Bob wishes he'd had a chance to smoke. Too late now. 14:39 <Crion> Aster checks his watch. Almost time. 14:39 <Crion> "Let's get in position." 14:39 <tom> Bob puts his hands in his pockets and takes up a spot by the table with the bell. 14:41 <tom> "Maybe after we're done we can get Sergio to give it a go."' 14:41 <VoxPVoxD> Around 7:32 Willie’s in position, eyes closed, alternating between deep breaths and muttering beneath them. 14:45 <VoxPVoxD> When the clock strikes, there’s a gentle chime from the sunroom, where Willie’s phone rests on the table. 14:47 <VoxPVoxD> Willie begins to speak. Almost none of it is intelligible, but there’s clearly a few different languages in there. Bob probably knows what Arabic *sounds* like, even if he can’t speak it. And Aaron’s done enough with kabbalistic mysticism that he can make out a few words: <...a thousand mothers, and one Father...> 14:47 <VoxPVoxD> The candles burn higher. The flames redden. 14:49 <VoxPVoxD> Someone is harmonising with Willie’s chanting now. Multiple voices, male and female. Childlike, aged, distorted. 14:49 <Crion> He crosses his arms. Three or four distinct languages in there. One sounds like Arabic. The other...something continental...? 14:50 <VoxPVoxD> The candle-flames stretch higher, the dips and whorls in their colours giving the impression of pained, Munchian faces. 14:50 <Crion> The one he can get brief snatches of is, of course, Biblical Hebrew. He and Willie just worked a case slightly involving it a few weeks back. 14:51 <VoxPVoxD> She steps over the chalk threshold of the summoning circle and the flames flare blue. They’re singing now, a tuneless, wordless choir. 14:52 <VoxPVoxD> Occasionally she breaks her chanting to say something in an identifiably modern language, and one of the iPads switches to a new page or book. 14:53 <tom> Bob squints in the candlelight, his eyes sunken, shadowed. 14:53 <VoxPVoxD> <...where the worms of the earth are too fearful to dig, where the sharks of the deep don’t dare to hunt, where the cranes of the mire break their wings to fly...> 14:55 <VoxPVoxD> She extends her arm over the centre of the circle, and the dagger-wielding hand moves. Willie’s right arm opens like an envelope. She grimaces. The blood pools in her palm and she lets it drop a bit at a time. 14:56 <tom> Bob can't help but place his hand over the same spot on his own arm and knead it a bit with his thumb. 14:58 <VoxPVoxD> The blood melts through the floor. The floor melts through the floor. It seems to be sucked through a drain at the centre of the circle. 14:58 <VoxPVoxD> Whatever’s at the bottom of that drain is burning very hot. The room floods with the scent of burning sulphur. 14:58 <Crion> Mmmm. 14:59 <tom> Better get used to this, he thinks. There's gonna be a whole lot of this in your future. 15:00 <VoxPVoxD> The candles’ scream-singing reaches a crescendo, and then they all go out. Only the brick-red light of the pit illuminates them. Willie is panting, sweating, grinning. ”COME!” 15:00 <VoxPVoxD> Her body seizes up, back arching as she’s lifted a few inches off the ground. 15:05 <tom> Bob's got his hands on his hips. Expressionless, but his pupils are going bugfuck. 15:05 <VoxPVoxD> The sound that comes from the pit is metallic, animalistic, piercing... and so is the thing that crawls out. It’s almost like a crocodile, but it’s too tall at the shoulder. It’s almost like a wolf, but it’s too long and scaly. It’s almost alive, but the flesh is flayed from the creature’s face revealing a skull of blood-scored bone and brass, more teeth in more sizes than can 15:05 <VoxPVoxD> be counted or reasoned with, and three pairs of wildly rolling yellow eyes. 15:05 <tom> Oh no, her drawing was good. 15:06 <tom> It just actually is like that. 15:06 <VoxPVoxD> It thrashes around, screaming incoherently, for what feels like minutes before all six of its eyes focus on Willie. 15:06 <Crion> Interesting, taxonomically. Hopefully Willie is correct that it can't get free. Those appear to be velocirpator claws. Movie velociraptor claws. 15:06 <tom> Bob tenses. 15:07 <VoxPVoxD> Willie falls to her hands and knees, blood smearing the wooden floor. 15:10 <VoxPVoxD> There *is* a strange sensory effect. Time seems to blur. Are they watching this or recalling the dream of watching it? Are they a hundred miles away or are they right on top of her? It’s like they’ve been dosed with some sort of psychedelic, but there were none of the telltale physical signs. No come-up, or gentle onboarding of auras and distortions. 15:10 <Crion> Aggravating. 15:11 <tom> Bob's caught in the flailing shadows in the evil red glow. He's like a statue. His eyes move over to see how Aster's taking all this. 15:11 <Crion> He looks annoyed. 15:11 <Crion> He's no longer leaning against the wall. 15:12 <Crion> To Bob: "Stay strong. Stay at your post." 15:12 <Crion> "If it breaks through, give it the bell." 15:12 <tom> "I'm not afraid." 15:13 <Crion> This is said the same way as 'give it hell.' But it already has that, of course. 15:13 <VoxPVoxD> The demon seems to take Willie up in its jaws. She screams. But when it tries to barrel out of the circle, blood-red chains appear around its limbs and throat. 15:13 <VoxPVoxD> It drops Willie, who seems no more harmed than she was a (minute? hour? Sothic turn?) ago. 15:15 <VoxPVoxD> Willie’s chanting a language that might not be a language at all, but some inchoate glossolalia. The demon’s roars condense into words of the same “language”. It swipes its tail at her and she lets it knock her against the circle; the appearance of chains at her neck and arms reveal she’s trapped inside too. 15:16 <tom> Bob can taste the roof of his mouth. He takes a sip of water from his glass at some point; when did he get one? 15:17 <VoxPVoxD> But she’s back on her feet, and she goes right for the demon. Her head goes almost fully into its open, snapping maw, but instead her hands seize both of its jaws and force it closed. The demon thrashes. Flails. 15:17 <VoxPVoxD> Willie’s face is against the monster’s face. Her eyes glow brighter than the creature’s. She’s not making any sounds now. Just staring into its eyes. 15:18 <VoxPVoxD> The demon’s thrashing slows down. 15:18 <VoxPVoxD> The growls become whimpers. It seems to slump, to diminish. 15:18 <tom> Bob exhales for the first time in a long while. 15:19 <Crion> Aster continues staring at the ritual until it becomes clear it's actually resolved. 15:19 <Crion> Hopefully the demon isn't tracking fire in the house. 15:20 <VoxPVoxD> The pit closed up (when?) so when master and servant hit the floor there’s nowhere for them to fall but earth. She’s sort of... wrestling an alligator now? But it’s smaller than an alligator, and darker. It looks like she’s... ah. Where’d the leather come from? It must’ve been in her sweatpants pocket. 15:21 <VoxPVoxD> Willie fixes a collar to what is, by now, a huge, droopy, slobbery, old black mastiff. 15:21 <Crion> Aster stares at it clinically. 15:21 <Crion> Sufficiently disguised. 15:22 <VoxPVoxD> The dog sits back on his haunches, whimpering. 15:22 <Crion> Aster: "Are we clear?" 15:22 <VoxPVoxD> Willie’s on her back, panting. ”Holy shit.” 15:22 <VoxPVoxD> “Hoo! I am out of practise.” 15:23 <VoxPVoxD> “We’re clear.” 15:23 <Crion> Aster checks his watch. A hair after 10 PM. 15:23 <tom> Bob is fiddling with a little plastic medical kit, picks out some bandages. Hands Willie a fresh glass of water. 15:23 <Crion> "Apparently that took quite some time." 15:23 <VoxPVoxD> The dog looks up at Aster when he speaks, and Aster can see the rolling, omnidirectional reptilian eyes of the demon embedded in that large and wrinkly dog face. 15:23 <Crion> He gestures at the 'dog.' "Can the demon be safely addressed?" 15:24 <tom> "Oh man you must have strong opinions on bandaid brands, huh." 15:25 <tom> He'll want to take a look at the cut to make sure it's still clean after three hours of demon wrasslin'. 15:25 <VoxPVoxD> Willie gets up on her feet, and takes the water and the bandages gratefully. ”Yes, he should be reasonably sociable. Isn’t that right, Kaga?” 15:25 <VoxPVoxD> Kaga, the dog, chuffs. Sniffs deeply. Looks from Willie to Aaron to Bob. 15:26 <tom> He returns its stare in silence, unreadable. 15:26 <Crion> Staring the demon in the eye: "I am Aster. For purposes of clarity, our relationship will not be one where I treat you like a dog. How do you communicate?" 15:26 <VoxPVoxD> With a rolling, bassy voice, the dog pronounces, very slowly: ”I reject this imposition. Send me home at once. You brought me to England?” 15:27 <tom> "Oh man if you think this is shitty just wait until she puts you in a reindeer costume for Christmas." 15:27 <VoxPVoxD> “For the purposes of clarity, I do intend to treat you like a dog.” 15:28 <Crion> Aster: "Amusing. I'm going to reheat the short ribs. You should figure out what, if any, dietary requirements you have in this form and let your master know them. She's the one that has to deal with your editorializing, not me." 15:29 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: ”What about it, Kaga? What do you want to eat?” 15:29 <VoxPVoxD> Kaga: ”Your living heart.” 15:29 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: ”You may have one rib.” 15:29 <tom> Same, I guess? 15:30 <VoxPVoxD> Kaga: ”Like the parasite Eve.” 15:31 <tom> "You been keeping up on the classics, dog? Any good new poetry in Hell we shouldn't sleep on?" 15:32 <tom> Bob seems vaguely amused. 15:32 <VoxPVoxD> Kaga pads up to Bob and sits politely, looking up at him. He cocks his head. 15:32 <VoxPVoxD> "With the passing of this age of the world you will become dust, and less than dust." 15:33 <tom> "Don't threaten me with a good time." He grins. 15:33 <tom> He pets the dog. 15:33 <VoxPVoxD> The dog looks back at Willie: "May I please kill him?" 15:33 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "You would both enjoy it too much." 15:33 <tom> "Please can he?" 15:33 <tom> He laughs. 15:34 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Now! I need a fucking cigarette." 15:34 <tom> He leans down real close to the dog and scritches his head: "You hurt her and you're gonna find out what I think is poetic." 15:35 <Crion> Aster is already smoking, though not while fiddling with the ranges, which at some point he came out here and helped Willie hook up to standalone refillable cannisters if she didn't already do it herself. 15:35 <VoxPVoxD> Kaga: "I've heard that before. From less haggard men." 15:36 <tom> "And I've killed piles of shit stacked four times taller." 15:36 <Crion> If Willie walks into the kitchen in search of cigarettes: "We should lay down some ground rules on interacting with it. I perceive Bob is already making the usual threat catalogue, and getting the same back in kind." 15:36 <VoxPVoxD> Willie was grateful for the help! She doesn't hear the conversation Bob and Kaga are having while she and Aaron are in the kitchen. "The first time I summoned him, I got him in fifteen minutes. I'm off my game." 15:37 <VoxPVoxD> "Yeah. For one, I have no intention of letting him get anywhere near the Greybox." 15:37 <Crion> Aster: "It could also mean that he has gotten stronger." 15:37 <VoxPVoxD> "Well, that's to our benefit, then." 15:37 <tom> Bob rejoins them, smiling to himself. "I think we're gonna get along just fine." 15:37 <tom> "...Are you smoking in her house, dude?" 15:37 <Crion> He hands her a cigarette -- Aster smokes Marlboro Lights and refuses to change simply because he's in Manchester now -- and his lighter. 15:38 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "It's fine. It's not a house yet." 15:38 <VoxPVoxD> She lights up herself. "Want one?" 15:38 <tom> "Well shit, yeah." 15:38 <Crion> Aster hands out another. 15:39 <tom> "Your drawing as accurate. Really got the whole, uh, vibe." 15:40 <VoxPVoxD> Willie beams. "You're too kind." 15:40 <VoxPVoxD> From the doorway: "For now." 15:40 <tom> "I didn't ask last time but uh." 15:40 <tom> "The night whispering's just more of this, huh?" 15:41 <tom> "You gonna be okay with that?" 15:41 <Crion> Aster: "We still need ground rules. Send it away for this part or don't." 15:42 <VoxPVoxD> "Yeah, it doesn't really get worse than this," she lies. "Off you go, Kaga. I'll bring you some food." 15:43 <VoxPVoxD> The dog pads off. 15:43 <Crion> When it's gone: "The most important question is what violence it can do against us, and what violence we can do against it in return if that becomes necessary without breaking your leash." 15:44 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "It can't hurt you as long as I'm still alive." 15:44 <Crion> "It's not permitted to hurt us. Demons are canny and will stress-test the liturgies that bind them." 15:44 <tom> "I think I'm gonna buy some silver bells." 15:46 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Kaga will complain - at length - but he follows orders in good faith. I can't speak for other summoners or infernalists, but if you call forth the Pit... it works. It just works. This isn't a perversion of the natural order. It's an invocation of divine right." 15:47 <VoxPVoxD> "Maybe Satan could pull rank on me. But otherwise..." 15:47 <tom> "What about another Lucifuge?" 15:49 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "It is still a demon, and it has to obey other Lucifuge. If we give contradictory orders, I imagine the stronger will would win. But not even the Lady in Red *outranks* us, at least by my understanding." 15:50 <VoxPVoxD> "And while it can be ordered, it cannot be bound again until it is first freed." 15:50 <VoxPVoxD> "He. He cannot be bound again." 15:50 <VoxPVoxD> "Sorry, Milan is a bit regressive about pronouns." 15:50 <Crion> Aster: "So I would summarize our ground rules as: while we can treat it with as little respect as it treats us, we are not to physically harm it; we are also unable to give it orders without express remit such as you saying 'treat so and so's orders as my own for some duration.' Is that level of control ceding even possible?" 15:51 <Crion> Aster and Milan appear to agree. 15:51 <tom> "I am not gonna try to give your demon orders."' 15:51 <tom> "That feels like a bad idea." 15:51 <VoxPVoxD> "Yes, I've told demons to listen to friends and colleagues before and they've had to obey." 15:52 <Crion> Aster shakes his head. "Far from a paucity of edge cases here." 15:52 <VoxPVoxD> "I've never tried to transfer or impose lasting control, effectively expanding the remit of the binding, but like, 'Aaron's in charge until I get back' is perfectly legal, I assure you." 15:53 <tom> "Soooo's he got, like, you know, fire?" 15:54 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "He's got teeth." 15:54 <Crion> Aster: "Yes, what are the extent of his capabilities. I suppose my most pressing question from both a security and an academic perspective is: Is he capable of shredding the hound skin and becoming the six-eyed, raptor taloned beast?" 15:54 <tom> "I'm gonna roast his ass if he can't even breathe fire." 15:56 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "He is capable of breaking character, yes. He's terribly strong, and virtually impossible to kill. But you saw? He's slow, and awkward." 15:57 <tom> "Can fire hurt him, at all?" 15:57 <tom> "...Might have to come up with some creative countermeasures." 15:57 <tom> "Counter-countermeasures I guess. Team blue demon. Huh." 15:58 <VoxPVoxD> Willie, flatly: "No, he doesn't burn. I've tried." 15:59 <Crion> Aster: "How do you plan to use..." Slight sigh. "'Him?'" 16:00 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Well, you know how Bob's got that big video game lightning rifle? For when witnesses are not a priority but stopping power is?" 16:00 <VoxPVoxD> "This is that." 16:01 <tom> "It's called the Mjolnir," he protests. 16:01 <VoxPVoxD> "I thought it was called 'HOPE ERADICATED'." 16:01 <tom> "That was just... I never got around to cleaning it up after I dipped." 16:01 <Crion> Aster: "Mmm. Admittedly, the demon does solve a number of marginal and edge-case scenarios with regards to security around here." 16:02 <VoxPVoxD> "Precisely!" 16:02 <VoxPVoxD> "And he's lovely conversation, once you make allowances for his prickliness." 16:02 <Crion> "So long as he doesn't burn the house down, of course. I'd probably get that order embedded in there quickly: not allowed to 'accidentally' burn the house down by using fire on intruders in doors." 16:02 <VoxPVoxD> "He can't breathe fire." 16:03 <Crion> Aster: "Helpful. I take it he can still ruin a couch?" 16:03 <VoxPVoxD> "In dire extremity I have seen him spit a sort of digestive fluid." 16:03 <Crion> "Ah." 16:03 <tom> "Nice." 16:03 <VoxPVoxD> "An acquired taste. But I love acquiring the taste for things. Speaking of which, who wants a drink?" 16:03 <Crion> "Well, the guise of a dog was well-chosen." 16:03 <VoxPVoxD> "I've brought a bottle of Ardbeg..." 16:03 <Crion> Aster: "I could." 16:04 <tom> "You good? You lost some blood..." Some of it you lost tonight, even. 16:04 <tom> "As long as you've got it under control, there's only upsides. Let someone in the Triple C fuck around and find out." 16:05 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "I felt a bit out of sorts earlier today, I won't lie... but I've felt much better since you arrived. You have an energising presence." 16:05 <VoxPVoxD> "Triple C?" 16:06 <Crion> "Please." 16:07 <tom> Instant regret washes across his face: "Oh yeah you know... it's a club... for cold people..." That's two C's. 16:08 <VoxPVoxD> Willie's led them into the sunroom by now, and is pouring expensive neat whisky ( https://i.imgur.com/IfWfRML.jpg ) into glencairn glasses. 16:08 <VoxPVoxD> "Is this a Winter Hill thing?" 16:09 <Crion> Ardbeg 10 isn't the absolute first thing Aster reaches for in a sipping scotch, but it's very high up there. 16:10 <tom> Holy shit, that worked? "Yyyyeah." 16:11 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Okay, now I know you're lying." 16:11 <VoxPVoxD> "Come on. You just saw me look like a complete idiot getting bodied by a dog." 16:11 <VoxPVoxD> "How bad can it be?" 16:11 <tom> "Look, I'm just saying, there's nothing wrong with cuddling someone with ambient temperature. It's like having a second cool pillow." 16:11 <tom> He drinks to that. 16:12 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "..." 16:12 <VoxPVoxD> "'Cold Cuddles Club'." 16:13 <VoxPVoxD> Kaga is sitting at the doorway of the sunroom, watching silently. 16:13 <Crion> Aster stands and removes the short ribs from the oven where he was reheating them. 16:14 <tom> ...And another shot, why not? 16:14 <Crion> He will not feed the demon; that is Willie's jurisdiction. He will set down a plate of ribs to snack on. He feels like he spent the last three hours exercising; surely Willie feels it more acutely. 16:14 <VoxPVoxD> "Did I get it right?" 16:15 <tom> He nods between shots. 16:15 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Mmhmm." 16:16 <VoxPVoxD> "Is there a term for the people who really want to cuddle a vampire but haven't worked up the nerve?" 16:16 <VoxPVoxD> "The Lifeless Limerence League, perhaps?" 16:16 <VoxPVoxD> "Or is the CCC a broad church?" 16:17 <tom> "Yes; Cowards." 16:17 <tom> "Descusting. Hate em." 16:18 <VoxPVoxD> Willie waves her bandaged arm at him dismissively. "You're the bravest man on this entire island." 16:18 <VoxPVoxD> "You just can't hold dual membership from within the Amorous Arachnid Association." 16:18 <tom> He coughs up some of the burning fluid. 16:18 <VoxPVoxD> "Robert Web." 16:19 <Crion> Islays are a sometimes-scotch. You have to be judicious. But right after a demonic summoning, with the fires of hell still warm and residually heating the English country farmhouse? Appropriate. 16:19 <tom> "Wow," he rasps. "And I thought the stuff Russians grease their tank treads with was bad." 16:19 <VoxPVoxD> She's grinning as she fills a bowl with mashed potatoes and then layers a couple of ribs on top. Another plate gets the meat of a few more picked up off the bones and sets it down before the not-a-dog. 16:20 <VoxPVoxD> Then she looks to Aaron. "How about you, Aaron? How are you doing?" 16:20 <VoxPVoxD> "How do you feel about our vampire situation?" 16:22 <Crion> He realizes, perhaps belatedly, that he hadn't eaten all day before the ribs and sprouts and he's already working on his third scotch. 16:22 <Crion> "How do I feel?" Another sip. "How do I feel." 16:22 <Crion> "Surprisingly fucking angry, I suppose." 16:23 <Crion> "Bizarrely it was at Rolf and Badawi first." 16:23 <VoxPVoxD> "That is surprising." 16:24 <Crion> "Well. Not so bizarrely at Rolf. No matter what happens that shithead is ready with an 'I fahkin told you!' no matter what he was actually saying." 16:24 <Crion> "But of course bringing Badawi into it -- it was that they were correct, about the wages, actual and proverbial, of working for vampires." 16:25 <Crion> "And I realized, over the course of thinking about it, that I was not actually mad at them per se for being correct. I wasn't even mad at the consequences. I was mad about the wages. That we hadn't maximalized them." 16:25 <Crion> "It was the smart thing to do to leave two million on the table. But it was not the optimial business outcome." 16:26 <Crion> Aster sips the scotch again. "And then, of course, you know what I realized." 16:26 <VoxPVoxD> Willie nods along. A lot of this resonates with her. 16:26 <tom> Bob cocks his head with a 'well, as long as I'm dying', kind of wistfulness and goes for a third shot. 16:27 <Crion> "At no point in this calculus at all did I bother to work in that we were taking a dangerous vampire off the street, where it was dropping multiple bodies a week with no regard. It simply...wasn't part of the arithmatic." 16:28 <Crion> Aster: "And at this point I'm unsure if what's changed is that my priorities have been changed by working for vampires, or simply have changed enough that working for them doesn't bother me." 16:28 <Crion> "But I am sure about one thing: vampires don't change." 16:28 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "But we can." 16:29 <Crion> Aster: "Yes. We can. That's what bothers me." 16:30 <Crion> He finishes the drink. "Anyhow. Looking forward to not dealing with them for a time." 16:31 <VoxPVoxD> Willie reaches out and squeezes Aaron's shoulder a bit. "As a group, we need never take their work again. And as for the rest of it... I think you've earned some time off hanging off the Council's every email." 16:31 <tom> Bob loosens up a bit at that. "...I still think we should ask around the WASC to see what the damage is. I doubt anyone's telling the truth when it comes to casualties. Maybe after the heat's cleared a bit." 16:31 <VoxPVoxD> "They won't know what the damage is yet." 16:31 <Crion> Aster waves a hand, but doesn't move away from her's on his shoulder. "E-mail's the easy bit. I can send e-mails all day." 16:32 <VoxPVoxD> "It'll be reckoned in blood lost to innocents as enslaved vampires work double-time to pay off their tithe." 16:32 <tom> "This is gonna sound real stupid, yeah, but like... Letitia's basically in with Winter. I do not want to see her back in... whatever they had her in before eighty-four." 16:33 <VoxPVoxD> "I won't let that happen," says Willie into her glass. "I won't permit it." 16:35 <tom> "I really hope we don't end up as a load-bearing structure in this city." 16:35 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "You would prefer to be useless?" 16:35 <VoxPVoxD> "If we demonstrate any capacity to make a difference at all, people will come to count on us." 16:36 <tom> "I'd prefer Mari not to get hurt." He's taking up a few foil-wrapped paper plates like he's intending to bring some home. 16:36 <VoxPVoxD> "And if we cannot demonstrate that capacity... what the hell are we doing here?" 16:36 <Crion> Aster: "Extracting value." 16:36 <VoxPVoxD> "To extract value we must first demonstrate it. Otherwise we could just sit at home and day trade." 16:37 <tom> Oh fuck, right, Bob's crypto is cratering too. 16:37 <tom> Well, shit, won't matter after the next check comes through. 16:37 <VoxPVoxD> "I should call my brother. Get some investment advice."