<> <> << You recieved a rather florid invitation from Rondure to join her for a meal and a small "chat" - all expenses paid.>> ( What family? ) <> <> (We've also seen Roy's apartment.) (Ha, point) (Ronnie is not in the meeting room yet, my bad.) * Rochelle is - shock - there. She's seated on a chair and looking out the window. Well, half facing the window, anyway, and picking at a nail. They're a dark green, by the way. * Vera comes in, finds a nice chair and sits down, leaning back and putting her feet up on the table. * Fitzroy has found a seat and is staring at the wall. He appears to be in TSM land. * Katherine decided to attend as well. She is wearing black denim and a casual green shirt. She also has the TSM-suit backpack on, for some godforsaken reason. * Rochelle turns her attention from her nails to glance over everyone with her cat-slitted eyes, then goes to looking out the window. <> "Drink up. God knows I wish I could." * Katherine chuckles slightly to herself and comments dryly, "Art of kings again, Ronnie." A pause, then, "How'd everyone's families and... such fare?" She side-looks at Roch. "No need to explain again." (Who was that directed at?) (... Everyone?) * Rochelle looks up at Ronnie for a moment before grabbing herself a bag of pretzels. She nods at Kat's comment, not looking at her, as she tears it open. * Vera pours herself a glass of wine. "Same as ever." * Katherine looks right at Vera. "Yeah, if they've all got the regeneration of the insane, I can't imagine they're too bad off." * Vera sips the wine. "If they do, I wouldn't know. Never knew my family." * Rochelle eats a pretzel. It crunches in her mouth! <> "We did find something out about that, if you were curious." * Vera leans forward. "Yeah?" * Katherine murmurs, "Probably for the best." Then she puts a hand to her head. * Fitzroy grabs some pretzels and just sits back to listen. * Rochelle looks up at that. And eats more pretzels. * Vera side glances at Katherine. "Bite me." She turns her attention back to Ronnie. "So what's the deal?" "Genetics we ran off skin flakes tagged you as the daughter of Illyana Aliyeva, deceased member of the Europa Team. Or current god of Death, if you're into that whole Church of Europa thing." <> "POST-infection with AllDrug. We don't know by whom - I personally don't want to know." * Katherine shudders. "Space JEsus, Ronnie, I wanted to sleep tonight." "Hey, I brought the alcohol for a reason." Uh... Didn't she kinda die? (Operative word being 'kinda'.) Kinda's a good way to put it. * Rochelle blinks at Vera, then crunches on another pretzel. She reaches over and takes the open bottle of wine, pouring herself a glass, too. "Let's ... I'll put this in the way least likely to make people lose their lunch. All-Drug can boost regenerative capabilities such that a person can regenerate from almost any amount of genetic material. So, if a person happens to currently be in two equal parts of genetic material... you tend to get two people. Or so we think. I cut off experiments on it after the Hamster Incident that Vernon unleashed." * Katherine goes over and grabs a plastic cup, god knows there's got to be one, and pours herself a small bit of the scotch. * Vera stares at Ronnie. ".... Come again?" * Katherine snaps out, "Alldrug makes clones. Crazy goddamn clones. Infinitely regenerating crazy clones. That's why we took it out in that one... universe? Do you have a technical name for that shit now, Ronnie?" "When Illyana got cut in half, she became two people. Except that happened like a hundred or so times, so she was about a hundred people. 'My Hundred Mothers'." "Boys in the lab are calling them 'probability splays' now. Don't ask, don't tell." So what? I'm a clone? "Nope. Point is, there could have been one or more of the Illyana clones around for a while after we thought they were all dead. Not much going on upstairs, but plenty to, uh..." <> "Let's just say you're the daughter of a clone, but for all intents and purposes the daughter of Illyana, including legally. Which is great, because her estate defaulted over to me, and now I can get the hell rid of it." Estate? She had an estate? "Legal estate. She was a scientist, and not a crappy one. We picked her for the Europa mission for a reason. She had a house, and a chunk of funds stuck away." I'm liking the sound of that. * Katherine looks away from the table for a moment, glass still in hand. Over at Roch, actually. Then back forward. "Pay just keeps getting better and better." "Good. I don't want it." Just two questions. Who's my dad? * Rochelle ignores Kat, taking a gulp of wine before setting it down and picking at her nails a bit more. "Don't know. Trust me, you probably don't want to." Great. And why don't I remember any of this stuff? "Without running tests, the best guess is lingering effects of All-Drug in your system. It fucks with human cognition hardcore. Thank you, Sleythin." <> Great. Well... * Vera lifts her glass in a mock toast. "Here's to hoping I can remember I'm rich beyond my wildest dreams." She drinks it straight down. * Rochelle shrugs, raises her glass a touch, and has another gulp before putting it down again. * Katherine raises her glass slightly, but doesn't drink. A look over at Roy provokes a smirk. "Guy saved the world and he's playing TSM Games." She shakes her head. * Fitzroy grabs himself a beer and sits forward more. (Snicker. Perfect timing, Roy.) I'm paying attention.. sorta. *smile* "Speaking of, Roy. Thanks for bringing INU to my attention. A full quarter of the membership was out of SIG-ASP - there's been some cuts to the alcohol allowances." <> Hah, really. Most people never said where they were from. * Katherine snorts to herself. "Well, you know. 'Ve haff vays of knowink who you is.'" <> "I dunno that you'd fit in down there, really, but if you want a job in one of the sane R&D labs, the spot's open." * Rochelle speaks! "I didn't know there was something like that." ( brb ) <> "You think I'd ever let Vernon design a product for an accountant to use?" Maybe if you hated the accountant. "It would be an excellent way to wind up with dead or insane accountants." Might be good to have a real job for once... I'll have to think about that. Say. How did Earth fare through this whole attack? * Katherine swirls her glass idly. "Not too badly. Not many people left to go crazy, you know? They took some damage, especially in the culture preserves. But they'll be fine. Thanks to the Europa Team!" <> "Or that's basically how we're spinning it. Intergalactic brain virus! People against the terraforming of Mars! All averted before people really started dying! Huge bold font, front pages. It's not like we can't push anything through the media." ( Back ) * Fitzroy nods. * Katherine grabs it and pushes a claw into the top to open it, and then she pushes it back to Ronnie. "I'm familiar with the concept, my darling wife." She still manages a smirk at that last part. <> "Yeah, well. We're gonna keep you all in the clear, if you don't mind too much." * Fitzroy smirks at that as well. Fine with me. * Katherine chuckles a bit sarcastically. "And Threnody Tsukitomi-Renard just happens to die as one of the infected. Wonderfully convenient." * Rochelle chomps a pretzel. "Barely anyone knows he and his brother are dead. Speaking of THAT, the funeral's in a few days. If anybody wants to catch a ride with me to Earth, the offer's open." "You're all, as far as I know, invited." * Rochelle chews, swallows, and puts her chin on her hand, looking up and past the rest of the table. I'll go. * Katherine doesn't respond immediately. She glances at Vera, then back to her glass. "This is all unreal." <> * Rochelle snaps out of it. She glances at Katherine, then turns to Ronnie and says, "I'll go, too." * Katherine glances to Rochelle, a tightening in her face for a moment before she shakes her head clear. "So, that's it, Ronnie? Everything disappears, again. Like always." "No, Kat, we can't give people back the six months they've lost." "Would you rather I shout the truth from the rooftops, and we can have a jolly old Dark Ages? It's not like I have much of a choice in what I can do anyhow. It's best for humanity to move on, so that's what I get to do." * Katherine exhales noisily. "Yeah. Sure. Protect us from ourselves, Aunt Ronnie. We didn't want that freedom anyway." <> "Oh, for fuck's sake. Call your mother and bitch her out already, so you can get over yourself. After that, you can call up Vernon and yell at him. I'm not the one who lodged the 0th Law inside my computational matrix." * Katherine snorts. "For once, it's not about my mother, Rondure. Even I'm allowed to get a little tired of the universe dancing on AI strings, and the fucking lousy compromises everyone's had to make." A beat, then, "Still not much of a celebration for helping save the world, is it?" "Look, I'm working on it, alright? I've had this job for years now, no sleeping, no sex, and no drinking. I'm a little on edge. And call your mother, really. She worries. They both do." * Katherine 's silent a moment, then says to herself, "Yeah, I know. After the funeral, maybe." <> "What else. Oh, Roch. I'm thinking I'm gonna try to get your brother and some of his friends into some kind of governance committee for Twilight." * Rochelle is checking for more pretzels. She's turning the bag over the table, and one clatters out. "You're a little crazy, but he'd do it. Or something like that." Selling drugs, running a city, can't be that different. * Rochelle shrugs. She picks up the pretzel and eats it. (Snicker.) * Rochelle looks at Ronnie. Why them? Yeah, why not send in your own people? "They've got some cred behind them, for one. It's been near impossible to keep the word down that they helped ATC stomp out the 'virus'." <> "I figure, he's got a good head on his shoulders, so why not capitalize on it? He's a street kid made good, and that's got a lot of punch behind it." He's crazy and an idiot. I'll tell him, if you want. <> "That'd be nice." * Rochelle nods and starts folding her pretzel bag. "Figured it'd happen." * Katherine says, a bit sarcastically, "Well, that's what you do, huh?" * Rochelle actually stops mid-crease, the tips of her fingers holding it in place, and turns her gaze to Kat. She looks at her very evenly. "Yeah. It's what I do." * Ian (jrenken@tofu.sandwich.net) has joined #ATC2 * Katherine 's face tenses up for a long moment, then she says in a clipped tone, "We're gonna have a talk, Roch." Her ears twitch, then she looks over at the robot. "So what else is on the docket?" * Rochelle shrugs and goes back to folding the little foil bag. (And IAn busts in, drunk and dressed up like a sorority girl.) (Damn right. *lipsynchs to Britney*) "That's it, really. Roch, we could use you, but you probably already knew the answer. I kinda wanted Ian to be here. I hate to do it, but I kinda have to suppress his book before he writes it." ( Ouch. Burned ) Just shack him up with Vernon. They'll get along great. * Katherine smirks slightly. "Won't even remember in a week." * Ian walks in! He is, in all actuality, wearing a baseball cap and carrying a half-empty bottle of Red Moscow's Best dunnovodka. ... or maybe he doesn't remember already. Heyyyy guys! * Rochelle pushes the now folded bag away, where it starts to undo her handiwork. "Hi Ian." * Vera waves to Ian <> "Fantaaastic. Ian, we've got a new plot for your book." * Fitzroy gives a nod to Ian. * Ian takes off the cap. "Not actually drunk. I was going to be, but this stuff is better for cleaning floors. Er? Plot?" "The one that conforms to the new history!" <> "I'll cover it with you later. Guarantee it'll set you for life, though." * Ian looks at Ronnie. "You do realize that, a month ago, I would have actually gotten angry and ranted sarcastically about integrity." A month ago you were a Sleythin. "And after you stopped being that, you had a fun time with a group of extra-dimensional aliens hell-bent on possessing and destroying humanity. Journalistic credibility is a little out the window." Right. So, instead, I'm going to happily take the money and spend my retirement trying to distill [tea] so that humans can drink it. "That ... won't take long." * Katherine looks away, out the window. * Ian nods. "I've earned it, although not as much as most of you, and...you are right, it wouldn't be credible anyway. And as long as there is a record, in case this happens again, I don't see a problem." More time left to spend drinking it then, I suppose. Roy's got it! That sounds like a plan right there. <> "I think think that's it. I'll send out the date for the funerals when I know them. No family, if you don't mind." * Rochelle blinks. "Okay." * Ian nods. "Thank you." * Vera nods. <> "Right. Anyone want to take Demetria and Edward for a week or so while I figure out what to do with them?" * Rochelle shakes her head. Sure. They can hang out at my new place * Katherine smiles a little, self-amused. "They probably wouldn't get along with Neko well." "Alright. I'll send them out that way for a bit." * Vera nods. "Awesome." * Ian smiles. "If you get sick of them, Vera, I'm sure some part of my family wouldn't mind." * Rochelle digs in her pocket and pulls out a smooth, white rock. She holds it up to the light and looks at it. Heh. We'll see. * Katherine sees Roch's rock and smiles a little to herself. "I almost can't believe you still have that." Beat. "Except that mine's in my purse." Yeah. When you hold it up to the light, you can see a number. Huh? * Vera blinks. "Hm?" She gets out her green rock and holds it up. Huh? What are these? Rocks. * Katherine reaches into her purse. "The stones Hettie gave us, remember? Crazy Hettie, the Sleythin." Beat. "Second best Sleythin I ever met." <<... for the life of me I don't remember the numbers.>> I like her. (Has to do with numerology, Cham.) * Ian nods. "She's great." (I know, I meant the specific.) "Hettie's gone back to Sleythin, actually. The Egg was glad to have them back." (I'm trying to find it, but it's *really* hard to sort through the way the logs are presented here.) (Sorry, I know Kat's a 5, but beyond that.) ( This is the first I've heard of it, so I don't know what Vera's is. ) (I didn't realize the numbers were in it either.) "Anything else, before I turn you loose with my bar tab?" * Vera shakes her head. "I'm done." Not...really. I'll probably think of all kinds of things later. * Katherine looks at it in the light for a moment, then shakes her head and glances to Roch before looking back to Ronnie. "Go ahead." "Yeah, well. I'll give you my private line and email. The real prize for having saved the solar system." Yay or something. Great. * Katherine shrugs slightly, looks down at the scotch glass for a moment, and finally drinks it down. Thanks! * Rochelle closes her hand on her stone and tucks it away. <> "I've got to hit the recharger. Board meetings are insane." <> "Thanks, guys, really. I know it doesn't seem like much, but I really appreciate it." * Katherine is quiet, then, "Yeah, Ronnie. See you at the funeral." It'll be Kataki's funeral too, won't it? * Ian nods. "Thank you, Ronnie. We couldn't have done it without your support." Meh, don't care about that guy. "Yeah, it will." (Found it, by the way. Roch's number is three, and Thren's was nine.) (Uh. Other way around.)\ (I'm the one with a nine!) (5, I tell you!) (LELLOW) (Cham: We have decided in #impro that Karl Rove is your evil twin.) "Alright. See you guys later." <> * Rochelle waves. * Katherine watches her go, then puts her finger to her right temple. (Act as you will, then teh game ends.) Yeah, so... Wish I could say it's been fun. * Katherine smirks. "Can say it's been interesting, at least." She looks over at her. "Good luck trying to find something to do with that money." * Ian nods. "Not so much. But...we did it." I can think of a few things * Fitzroy stands up and takes another beer. "See you guys around. I'll be there for Thren, whenever that will be." Few days. * Fitzroy waves and heads out the door. * Rochelle nods to the leaving Roy. Later, Roy. (I'm so tired. Must sleep. G'night.) ( Night. ) (Heh.) (Did a workout with a trainer today. My legs are going to kill me tomorrow, I bet. ^^;) (Unmoo!) (Ow. Night.) * Ian nods. "Bye, Roy! All of us need to keep in touch. Very much." * Fitzroy (blu_J_bird@ip68-13-94-25.om.om.cox.net) Quit (Quit: ) * Rochelle shrugs. She works on finishing off her wine. * Katherine nods at him too, then looks at Ian funny. * Ian grabs a scotch. Finally, decent alcohol. * Vera pours more wine. * Katherine shakes her head and says, "Roch, I've got some of your stuff if you want it now." Beat. "Sorta needed every bit of the space." * Rochelle puts the glass down, now empty. "Okay." * Katherine stands slightly and nods to Vera. "Be careful with being able to regenerate like that, Vera. The kind of shit you can do to your kids like that..." she trails off, then rubs her back. "Yeah." Oh? Ok, I'll just not do it anymore. * Rochelle stands up, too, turning to look out the window again. * Katherine chuckles and says, "Not quite what I meant. Ah well." She starts walking out and taps Ian on the baseball cap. "Try not to gloat too much at falling into the story of a lifetime." (Yeah, wrap up. I got to Z.) Ha. Seriously, I'm exhausted. Well, you've got years to get unexhausted, old man. Later. * Katherine looks to Roch for a mo, then steps out. * Rochelle looks at the others. She seems like she wants to say something, then stops herself before instead saying, "Things ended up okay. See you guys at the funeral." * Ian nods, and waves to Roch. * Vera stands up. "Yeah, I gotta jet, too. Got an estate to find." * Ian heads out, too. "Try Red Williamsburg! It's a great up-and-coming neighborhood, good investment." * Rochelle waves and leaves before the pair of them. Ha! <>