<> <> * Ian hmms. "Do we want to see the Council, or try to get an audience with the Egg directly?" Oh god, the Egg directly. He's bad, but the council will cost us DAYS. * Ian hmms. "What to ask of the guards, then..." * Katherine shrugs. "Aren't you the one with the 'Sleythin' in your head?" Kat, how much do you know about the Egg? (Very sorry.) (I went to take a nap because I've come down with something today.) (Are you up for playing?) (Yeah.) (Just overslept my alarm.) (TC Daytrippers, into #atc2too) * Ian shrugs. "Here goes nothing, then." He walks over to find a guard! * Katherine looks over at Roy, then rubs her temples. "Not much. He's like Ronnie. But older. And more of a dick. He's not really a secret or anything. They've got all sorts of AI." ([SHUFFLEBOARD].) (<_< >_>) ([HUGBEES].) (Yes. [HUGBEES].) * Katherine lets go of her temples and mutters, "A few hundreds... or thousands... of years gives you a superiority complex, I bet. I don't look forward to seeing him." <> [Uh.... hello, visitor. Are you uh... wanting to experience the glamour of uh... a Council proceeding?" <> (In english?) (Sleythin.) (You mixed metaphors, there. We weren't sure.) * Ian bows politely. [Hello. My name is Ian Savolino, and my group has just arrived from Mars to provide some updates on the current situation there. Is there someone with whom we could arrange a meeting, by any chance?] (I fuck up often. Fair enough to check.) (Yeah. Why would the Sleythin be worried about gettin ghis sleythin right?) (Because it's a prepared speech that he had to memorize?) (... poor dumb guard. We should replace him with a Pragmatic.) (Because nobody ever breaks protocol on Sleythin and he's never had to remember.) * Fitzroy says to Kat, "Maybe we can find him directly, then." He points to his TSM machine. * Katherine points at the building and moves towards Ian, saying quietly, "Unless he moved, he's in there." * Fitzroy follows and nods, "Hopefully he's still there then." (...*smacks Kat with a newspaper*) (Yeah, the Egg MOVED.) (She was being sarcastic.) * Ian moves in that direction. [I believe we're to report to this building. Is that all right?] (He's, like, a thousand tons of metal.) (He's not going anywhere.) ("[What is that rolling around in the background?]" "[Earth needs pantyhose and we are responding to their crisis.]") (... ha ha ha ha ha ha.) <> [We can arrange a Council procedure viewing for you later tonight.] * Katherine gets a good ol' Katherine frown and looks between the two guards. * Ian smiles politely. [My thanks, but we're here on a diplomatic mission. May we enter?] <> [You're here ... to talk with the Council? Not to watch?] [Yes, that's correct.] (Who's got the supersized tasers?) (All I've got is .50 caliber bullets.) (... power flicker.) (hmm, could work.. but messy) [... and you don't have an appointment?] Roy, do we have an appointment? ("No?" "You suck, Fitzroy.") * Katherine looks at Ian funny. "The Egg is out of contact, you basketcase. How would we have an appointment?" ...elven magic? [Not at the moment, I'm afraid. Communication from Mars is more or less blocked, so we were unable to make one in advance.] * Katherine gives Ian The Eye. * Fitzroy just shrugs. ( Elven magic! XD ) (He's lucky I swore off senseless killing.) [... hang on.] <> [Hyner'carl, come over here a minute.] <> [These guys want an audience, but they don't have an appointment.] [They don't have an appointment?] [Nope. No appointment.] [What happens if they want an audience, but don't have an appointment?] [I dunno, that's not in the new book.] [Do you wanna radio it in?] [And get in trouble? Heck no.] * Ian looks at Kat. "We seem to be stuck on issues of...procedure." [Well, we have to do something.] [Well, why do they want an audience?] <> [Why do you want an audience?] * Katherine frowns and says to the group not too loudly, "Very tempted to do the muscle thing." [We've come to report what we've found about the current situation on Mars, and to see if the Sleythin government can provide some background information which would help us.] [Why? What's happening on Mars?] [Don't know anything happening on Mars.] [We're currently in a state of crisis. A large number of citizens suddenly began to behave erratically, to the point where order is breaking down.] * Ian bows politely once again. [Thank you very much for your help.] ("Nothing ever happens on Mars o/~") * Fitzroy smiles politely, though he really doesn't know what's going on in the conversation with the guards. [... huh. Well, the council'd know about that, wouldn't they?] [They sure would.] <> [You'd want to talk to the Council about that.] (...) * Ian turns aside to Kat and Roy, and says, "I'm just going to go ahead and mention the Egg, and hope that there's some entry in the index of their three-ring binders that says 'go ahead and \call the manager.'" * Katherine eyes her pointy nails for a second. "Sounds good to me." * Ian turns back to the guards, and nods. [We were instructed to speak to the Egg, although a meeting with the Council would be fine.] ("[Who's the Egg?]" "[No clue.]") <> [That means something, right?] [Sure does.] [That means we're supposed to send them to the Council right way, right?] [Sure does.] <> [Now you've got to go see the Council.] (Good help is hard to find on any planet.) (Including Mars, apparently. "[Oh, the Egg? Well that's a horse of a different color!]") * Fitzroy says to Kat, "They're sure discussing this a lot." * Ian nods, and starts into the building. [Thank you again.] <> [Follow the guidebot.] Okay, we're to follow the guidebot. Apparently anything involving the Egg means we get to talk to the Council right away. * Katherine shrugs. "They're Sleythin, Roy." She looks at the guidebot. "Well, let's hurry, then." * Fitzroy nods, "This sounds promising at least." and gets to following. * Ian follows the guidebot! * Katherine does too. <> [SHUFFLEBOARD. DIRECTION.] <> <> (Is that like Disney imagineering? Only with gravity and lizards?) (The Sleythin Tiki Room is NIGHTMARE FUEL.) (.... YES.) (>_____>) (OH GOD.) (*hulas*) (Oh god, that would be SO BAD.) * Katherine looks around with a vaguely odd smile on her face. * Ian rubs his temples. "It's been far too long since I had to be diplomatic." * Katherine looks over at Ian and says, "Too busy being crazy?" * Ian grins. "Sorry. It's my way of coping, for the most part." Coping with what? Air? Air, stress, lobsters... ("Eels." "Eels...") <> * Ian looks around at the decor, amused. * Katherine rubs her temples. "Ay." A small pause. "Okay, so any thoughts on why the Egg is incommunicado... if the Sleythin are all sane?" Grumpy? I don't know.. Did Ronnie do something to tick him off? How would I know? She keeps divorcing me. * Katherine smirks slightly. "Tough to keep track." That, or something really bad happened and they cut the Egg off... * Katherine looks at Ian oddly. "They... CAN'T cut the Egg off. Not that I... know that much about ITT, but..." * Katherine shakes her head. "They'd have to have shut him down." * Ian shrugs. "Neither do I, but there's always brute force." That's what I'm wondering. Of course, it could all be a communication failure with the guards. <> * Katherine chuckles and says in half amusement, "Only took 'em 25 more years, huh." Do you guys know when the Egg stopped talking to others? * Katherine shakes her head. <> [COMPLETION. ACQUIESCENCE, ENTRANCE.] ... Yeah. Sure. Good job, floaty. We are to enter and play shuffleboard, apparently. (Ian's programming has some gaps, it would appear.) * Ian opens the door! * Katherine cracks her neck. "Always prefered more active sports." <> * Fitzroy glances around the room, "Shall we?" <> * Katherine blinks at the single Sleythin and then shakes her head as if clearing it. [May your water always be clear. Or hello, as we are supposed to use now.] * Ian politely returns the gesture. "Or perhaps I should use Marsal." "Greetings, and welcome to a rather hastily-convened Council Session. On your behalf, I might add." (Uhoh. Chancellor Bulbasaur is angry!) * Katherine says, trying to make sure it carried, "We noticed." (*clicks "Feed Pet", and then goes into his inventory looking for "Appletato") * Fitzroy nods "Thank you." * Ian bows. "Thank you very much. Our apologies for the lack of notice; it's impossible for us to communicate from Mars at the moment." "Yes, well. We are trying to learn how to deal with your rather constant haste." <> "So. You wish to talk to the Egg?" That's the idea, yeah. <> "Then, based on the changes we unanimously supported, your request is granted..." "... provided you defeat a Sleythin in hand-to-hand combat." (...) * Katherine EYES him. .. huh? * Ian blinks, and audibly says "..." "Well, we can't just have any human trotting up and asking to talk to the Egg, you know. It's just unproper." * Katherine throws up her hands. "Oh, christ. Like I really need to get my ass kicked by ANOTHER Sleythin. Taluun was bad enough." "Well, to be fair, the champion will be in his natural gravity." * Ian raises an eyebrow. "If it's any help, we were sent by ATC." ("Oh, sorry. I've just been told that it's not 'hand-to-hand combat', but 'cooking battle'.) * Katherine walks towards the guy and says in annoyance, "So, what, you only let crazy people in fluorescent combat suits see the Egg? God." <> "Well, then. If you lose, then we'll consider you getting the audience anyway." (For the record, Isis' suit was black on grey. Only the logo was ATC color.) (I know.) * Katherine walks right up to the Sleythin guy and crooks her finger. "Bend down and listen for a second." <> "Yes?" (Ah, spam. First line: "Dear %EMAIL") * Katherine says quietly, still with an angry tone, "You gave my mother a fifth of the Fighters of the Enemy title. A bunch of aliens worse than the bugs are tearing Mars apart. If you make me have to beat one of you up to get in there, so be it, but it'd be a fuck of a lot easier for all of us if you just let us the hell through." ("%GREETING% %EMAIL%, Get FREE %PRODUCT%. Click %MALWARELINK%.") (*snicker*) (%SHUFFLEBOARD%, %HUGBEES%) (I wish I'd never read Tacky Yellow No-Name, because "Mal Ware" has a really different image for me.) <> "I'd thought you looked familiar..." <> "Look, we really do need this. We can't just have people trotting in anytime they want. We can rig the fight, but we really need you to go through with it." (*snerk!*) * Katherine frowns, then says back simply, "Fine." She turns away and says louder, "Fine! Combat it is! I'm the champion: those two couldn't hit their way out of a wet paper bag." (...I know Wak-Fu.) <> "So be it! Combat tomorrow, at the sacred rock of Nelra'sahr'sahr. For tonight, rest. Tomorrow you will be tested!" <> (..."For Great Rock"?) (Great Peace, actually.) * Katherine takes a deep breath, then turns back to the guy and says, "Tomorrow? Sure you can't speed it up?" She grins ferally and shows her claws, curling her hand slightly. "No reason to wait too long." "We must clean the rock. No sense in rushing into this." * Katherine glares at him for a second, then says harshly, "Fine. Tomorrow." ("Clean it?" "It hasn't been used since the last visitors, Sid and Ethel Rosenberg. They really wanted to see the Egg.") (*cracks up*) (Heh.) ("Old lady had a mean right hook, too!") <> [VACATE.] (... I have been doing way too much fucking XML.) (<> [Talk] and then comes this incredible need to do <>.) (Ha ha.) * Katherine looks back at the two guys and shrugs. "Beating up giant lizards. It'll be more fun than anyone should be allowed to have." That was a quick meeting. What do we do until tomorrow? * Ian follows Kat and the guidebot out, and sighs. "I'm sorry about that. I vote food, for now." * Katherine shrugs. "Not your fault. They're Sleythin..." she pauses, then says, "They're... adjusting, I guess." Maladjusting? * Katherine glances at Ian with a frown, then says, "I need to figure out if we're allowed to use weapons. Or if there's somewhere I can bench press giant rocks." Every little bit'll help. God. I'd assume not, since they said hand-to-hand... Yeah, well. <> <> * Threnody is now known as Todd * Ian sighs and looks out over the city, trying to figure out where there might be a nontouristy restaurant. * Katherine looks up at the ceiling waaaaay above and sighs. "A day in the City. Wonderful." (.... man, that would be funny. The Rat In The Walls would be an excellent Sleythin gourmand restaurant name.) (Ew.) (And only maybe Todd will get that joke.) <>