[Day: Wednesday, Oct. 18th. Time: 9:30 p.m.] [You're all at the office again! Having raided the sekrit base at Coventry, you've rescued one Francine Jameson IV. God forbid there be any others. Alys's dad, Alan, has taken Alys's brother, Alex, to a hotel before heading back to work with the bad guys, and Mikaela's been taken by the Unseelie Court. Answers? Maybe Francine has some.] [Session Start!] [Oh, and Khalil's not there. He needs to repent for forty days and nights for having seen so many boobs recently. Or something like that.] * Ten is cute! And wearing leather! And plugged into the wall. * Lukas is not cute, is wearing leather, and looks a lot like he wants a cigarette. Despite not being a smoker. Since Khalil had enough time to leave, he had enough time to get a cup of coffee, which he's drinking. [And if it isn't obvious, Francine is there with you, wearing a shirt that's quite a few sizes to big for her. Make sense, since it's Herman's shirt. She looks like a punk rocker now.] * Ashley is redressed in something approximating 1600's fare. Ruffles. That's all that REALLY needs to be said. He's holding an unbelievably large flagon which looks to be filled with a cosmopolitan or a mai-tai - take your pick. * Alys is trying to (quietly) convince the wall to help her in doing a handstand. She's been trying to do one using the wall as support, but she keeps falling. [Mariah could do it. :o] * Herman is there, too, and he *is* a punk rocker. It all comes together. He's sitting/slumping on a backwards chair, looking fairly tired. "Christ, Ashley, do you need so many bloody frills?" * Togo is sitting behind the desk as he finishes typing something on his PDA. "Okay, Hank's being held at Scotland Yard until some friends of mine can have him brought back to the states for interrogation." Yep! You're lucky I didn't go Victorian. Would you prefer a lace collar? (Mariah cheats!) Not gonna get me to screw you any sooner. * Ashley blinks and is wearing a powdered wig and a ridiculous amount of lace. "Are you certain? Do you just need a drink?" * Lukas doesn't even bother smirking. It's how you can tell he's serious. His very cold blue eyes are all for Misses Exposition. * Ten flails. "No, not the blue! You've totally got to go with the orange!" * Herman holds up a finger and opens his mouth, then says, "You're missing the felt mole thing." But orange wasn't in fashion except for the more radical of the court... oh, blast it all. I never DID like the mole. * Togo clears his throat. "I believe the lady we rescued had some info we really want to hear?" * Ashley poofs back into his original ruffles. But, like, that's the whole point! * Alys sticks her tongue out at the wall before turning around and actually paying attention. * Herman rolls his eyes and looks over at Francine-in-his-clothes. * Ashley takes a large swig of his drink. "What, not liking the mole? Bloody ugly fashion trend." [Francine seemed distracted by Ashley and Herman's keyrazy antics, 'til Togo called her name. "Huh? Oh, yes."] (What's more distracting? Ashley poofing clothes or he and Herman casually talking about the potential of having sex?) (Depends if she's a yaoi fangirl.) * Lukas says in a dull voice, "Yeah. That little thing about the place where people get turned into people soup on a whim." [She clears her throat. "So, like you've heard already, if you were paying attention, I'm Francine Jameson IV, the Summer Knight. That means I've got a lot of power, courtesy of King Auberon and Queen Titania."] Bloody hell. We can't get off the topic, can we? * Ashley takes a rather large hit off his drink. He does not look pleased. ( Y'mean the mole? ) ( 'Cause not all Victorians had one, you know ) Auberon... that's the guy you're theoretically affiliated with, right Ashley? No? I mean it's kinda important. * Ashley takes an even larger hit from his drink. It doesn't seem to decrease in size, and he doesn't respond to Togo. ... right. *turns back to Francine* I dunno the politics of that place, but Auberon's the white hat or something? * Herman glances at Ashley. [She taps her chin. "Hmm, well, kinda. Auberon and Titania rule the Seelie, or the Summer, court. Auberon's twin brother Madoc and Queen Mab rule the Unseelie, or Winter, court. They're similar in a lot of ways."] * Lukas finishes his coffee. Then he pulls around his backpack, opens it, and pulls out his computer, open. (Anyhow, I'll get IC down here now.) ["Both like the fool around, it's just that the Unseelie's way of doing it is more likely to end up with you dead, or worse."] (It's the same night, and we're back at the office. Khalil went home. He can come back!) * Herman nods. Okay. And both sides have things going with Asahara? [She shakes her head. "Not exactly. You see..."] * Ashley takes another huge drink of his alcohol. ["You might already know this, but Asahara was all but destroyed twenty years ago when they lost their leader. In the following decades, most of the remnants were either absorbed into other, similar corporations or destroyed entirely. Except for the head of the American branch."] ["He came to Europe to try to get a new start, and found that by partnering up with a new group called Covenant."] * Togo scowls. "Familiar with him." * Khalil walks back into the office, rubbing his fingers through his hair. "Sorry about the delay." No prob. We're just starting. * Herman looks over at Khalil. "Lost the wings, huh? Have a seat." [She nods. "Well," she pauses when Khalil enters, then continues, "Covenant needed more power, and got it by making a deal with Auberon. But what they didn't know was that Asahara, in need of more power of their own since being crippled, had also made a deal with the Unseelie court."] * Khalil plunks down on the comfiest seating apparatus of choice, adjusting himself a little, and takes in a deep breath to listen. So, like, he's playing both sides? ["The two courts just... don't work well together."] Bloody fucking MORONS! Leave for a couple hundred years and everyone develops cobwebs for brains. * Lukas barely starts at Ashley yelling because he's just started typing and clicking. * Khalil starts and looks up at Ashley suddenly, then rubs his ears. "Please do not shout." I'd assume that the two courts wouldn't be too pleased that they essentially ended up allied with the same group. [She shrugs. "Neither side wanted to work together, but... well, you know fey," she looks pointedly at Ashley.] * Ashley flips the vee at her and takes another drink. [She nods to Togo. "Covenant and Asahara broke off their partnership and are enemies now, last I'd heard. But neither Auberon nor Mab were pleased that each other had the idea to deal with mortal corporations."] Covenant's been outsourcing work and equipment to Covenant. So they're not enemies, as far as we can tell. * Herman folds his arms on the back (front?) of his chair. "So they're upset. So what?" * Alys sits down and starts shuffling her cards repeatedly. And we are on *both* of their bad sides, correct? (Poor Alys. Alys wantsmashy.) We're on everybody's bad side. * Herman drums his fingers on the back of that chair. Wonderful. We just know how to make friends, yesno? * Ten moves walks across the table to Lukas's laptop. Sorry, but when do we get to the part where we learn how to make sure our insides stay in their proper order? * Ashley takes another drink. The drink refuses to drop in level. Yes. I am rather attached to my insides. And their vicinity. * Herman looks at Ashley, vaguely fascinated. Does illusionary mead even *work*? [She nods. "Like I said, they were working together. I don't think they are anymore. But I don't know the goals of either." She frowns. "Actually, I know very little about Covenant, which worries me." She's silent for a bit, then continues. "Anyway, the Seelie and Unseelie tried to settle this with a duel between the Knights. That's yours truly, and some African American. Zebediah, I think his name was."] It's a mai=tai. And the glass is bigger than it looks. * Herman nods and turns his attention to Francine. "You won?" 2d8-4 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Lukas (2d8-4) and gets 12, a CRITICAL FAILURE!!! "I hope you invested in some good armor." We've captured a couple of Covenant members, but they keep getting mindwiped before we can talk to them. Something called the Athena system. 2d8-1 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Lukas (2d8-1) and gets a natural 9 for a result of 8. (Artemis, I believe.) Artemis I believe. (Whoops. Hehe.) We even know where their English base is, but we haven't had the time to take it dow- *pauses* ... Atermis. Right. Thanks. * Lukas frowns slightly at his computer. Mythology is one of the few things I did study. With good reason. [She nods. "The Artemis system, you mean. I'm not sure what that is, either, but I think they use it to observe their agents' actions from afar."] What, Artemis was the goddess that blanked out your brains? * Khalil grimaces and sits himself up again. * Ashley eyes his drink critically. "Does anyone have her number? I think the bartender skimped on the rum." * Alys looks up at Francine for a moment, sighs, then concentrates on Francine while flipping the top three cards of her deck. ["Anyway, it was all supposed to end with the duel... except I won. Zebediah was over two-hundred years old. He was a slave back when the Americans did that sort of thing. As for me, I'm relatively new at this. So they didn't expect me to win at all."] 2d8-2 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Alys (2d8-2) and gets a natural 3 for a result of 1. She was a huntress I believe, actually. ["But since I did, Mab got even angrier."] (Man, he'd be like three hundred years old.) (Actually, just over 200 is workable.) (Ish.) So in other words, the agreement only works if their side gets their way. (Well, if he wasn't in slavery for very long.) * Ashley looks up and scowls. "Of course she did. Upstart like you taking down a Knight? She's got her knickers in a wad 24/7 as it stands. I can't imagine the earwigs you deposited in them with that stunt." 2d8-5 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Lukas (2d8-5) and gets a natural 5 for a result of 0. 2d8+3 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Ten (2d8+3) and gets a natural 11 for a result of 14. ["Not exactly. It...." She nods at Ashley. "Yeah. If I'd just lost, Auberon would have attributed it to my age, Mab would have gloated, Auberon would have took it, but eventually everything would go back to normal."] [She cups her chin for a minute. ".... Probably."] Rather typical. Charming of you to go and louse it up. Hey, she probably hadn't the foggiest. Like she said, she's knew at this. She wasn't supposed to have the foggiest, Herman. * Ashley looks back at his drink forlornly and takes another swig. * Herman rolls his eyes. [She shrugs. "Well, if I knew I was just supposed to let him beat on me until I was dead...."] You want to mess around with fae, you take your chances. If you blasted humans hadn't forgotten... It is a pity how they forget to tell you that. * Lukas is still typing. Wow. All concentratey. Would you rather we published a "For Dummies" book? Titania'd bloody love that. ["Hey, it so happens Auberon and Titania were pleased by my ability."] It would be one page. "How to deal with fae? Chapter one. Stop doing it." Bloody right. * Ashley rolls his eyes. "Of course they were pleased. They have the mental focus of a Furby." [She frowns, scratching her cheek. "Not that it helps the present situation much." She shrugs. "Anyway, whether I should've just given up and died or not is in the past. Right now, the Unseelie are supporting Asahara in hopes of beating Seelie-backed Covenant."] Good luck with that, I say. * Togo frowns. "Except that Asahara and Covenant aren't exactly fighting each other." [She nods. "More like competing."] ["They're not using violence, but they are 'fighting' the way corporations do."] ["Except for the part where Asahara kidnapped and tortured me, I mean."] Yeah, but the Covenant group we've been fighting, unless my memory's going, has been doing work for Asahara. And getting supplies in return. It is possible they are supplying themselves for a double-cross. Whatever they're doing, they're both bloody annoying. Herman speaks sense. [She shakes her hands helplessly, "I told you, they were working together for a while."] This was really recently. Did the split happen since? * Ashley lifts his drink to his lips, starts drinking, and doesn't take it down. ["Well, I can't be sure since I spent the past several days in a state of extreme agony, but I think so, yeah."] * Alys sighs again and puts the three cards back in her deck, then pockets them before walking over to Lukas and sitting down next to him. * Ten doesn't react to Alys walking over! Recovered pretty quick, then. * Ashley finally lowers the glass, and takes a deep breath. The drink is a great deal more empty. ["I do that. It's part of my powers."] Yes, you do sound surprisingly sane. * Lukas chuckles darkly to himself. We, however, are not. [She rubs her head. "Anyway. That's the story. At least, what I know of it."] Great. Then why'd they drag Lukas' sister to the Faerie Realm? ["At first I thought it was because she had Winter court heritage," She looks at Lukas, "but that's not the case, is it?"] * Lukas 's eyes flick up to the woman. "Fuckall if I know. Never had a problem with cold iron or... whatever the hell that'd mean." [She nods. "I didn't think so. Then the only explanation I can think of is that somehow Mab discovered her and took a liking to her."] What is this "Winter court"? You said back at the lab she had some kinda powers? Ice or something? *looks over at Volt* * Ashley rolls his eyes. ( Winter Court's the Unseelie ) ( It was explained, but you missed it! :o ) Seelie court rules the summer, Unseelie court rules the winter. Or did, back in the days when either of them bothered to stick to the rules. * Lukas looks back down. "Did I? Can't remember. Sorta crazy you know." (Well if he missed it, the question is still valid!) [Francine tilts her head. "Did she?"] * Ten nods. "Lotsa stuff! We gotta get her back!" I guess when they did that, they didn't bother with playing behind the scenes in Wal-Mart or whatever the hell. ... Volt, now is *not* the time to be pulling the cryptic bullshit. Especially since you were tossing lightning bolts in there. Regardless, Ten is right. I presume she has no part in this. The glory days of riding through a crossroads in June... waving to the Three Sisters... * Khalil looks at Ten for confirmation. Since Lukas is probably sealed tight. * Ashley takes another drink. * Alys asks Lukas quietly, "Do you not like people knowing you and your sister can do neato stuff? But, um, we're all friends here, right? And I think we can trust Francine. Sort of. I'm not very good with my cards." * Ten flails. "We've gotta get her back or ... uhm... she might not come back for hundreds of years! That happens right?" If the Unseelie have a winter fetish going, ice powers might be enough to catch their fancy. * Lukas glances over to Alys, then looks back up to Togo, still cold eyed. "Fine. She has ice powers. Touch her and you'll freeze to death." Beat. "I don't know a damn thing about this that'll help you. Mom fed us some bullshit that didn't make any sense, and since HESO doesn't want to fucking share, I don't know a goddamn fucking thing. Alright?" Don't now, haven't ever. * Ten nodnodnods. So you both have powers without knowing of how you obtained them? That one's easy! From their parents! Doesn't have to be. And it doesn't matter, really. I don't think his sister went there willingly. * Lukas glances to Ten and snorts. Anyway, we know who has her, and we maybe know why, so can we -please- figure out how to not be vivisected or whatever the word is, and then go save her? * Togo looks over at Francine. "Would the Unseelie have any actual use for someone with ice powers like that?" * Khalil glances at Ten and shakes his head. Then turns to Alys. "I believe it is the first that is giving us the trouble." * Ten walks to the edge of the table and sits down. If I am interpreting your meaning of vivi--that word correctly. [Francine gazes at Togo. "Zebediah's dead. Right now, the Winter Court is without a Knight. They'd have great use for her."] It doesn't matter! A friend's sister is in trouble, and we need to help her like we helped Alex! I don't see why this is such a big deal. * Ashley sighs, and puts down his drink. * Khalil winces and shifts his weight. "Yes. About that..." ... well shit. * Lukas snorts. "Oh, come on. Mikaela as a knight? On ASAHARA's side? They've got to be nuts or enjoy brainwashing." Perhaps we could consider some way to protect ourselves from fire and lightning in the future. Correction. Perhaps there is some way to protect *me* from it. I'm out. And I would presume ice as well would be beneficial. * Ten looks like she's about to suggest something and then doesn't. * Togo glances over at Ashley. "... it's the guy's sister." [Francine shakes her head. "Not necessarily. If Winter gets a new Knight, they should be satisfied. If that happens, both courts can leave mortal affairs to the mortals."] * Herman sighs and rubs at his face. "I can try to look up another spell, Khalil." * Alys turns to Khalil. "I'm sorry my dad's such a evil bastard, by the way. He wasn't like that when he left, if that helps. And I kind of thought he and mum were dead." Oh, I do not blame you. I just *hurt* is all. Look, we can't just sacrifice his sister to the fey. * Ashley looks at Togo and adopts a rather stilted Irish brogue. "I cannae interfere. 'Oot ye gang and oot ye be.'"' If she *wants* to do it, then whatever. Her business. Auberon's made my status quite clear. Francine, could we just ask to talk to Mikaela? Would the Unseelie be up for that? I mean, if they want her to be a knight or whatever, then she'd have some kind of status, right? [Francine blinks at Ashley, then nods. "Ah, now I get it."] [Francine nods. "You could... in theory."] * Togo reaches into his trenchcoat and pulls out his nano-medpack. "Khalil, use this." *tosses it to Khalil* * Khalil catches it with ease and then turns it over and over, inspecting it curiously. * Ashley looks up at Francine with narrowed eyes. ["But it's harder than that. You can't just go to them and say 'Hey, I want an audience.'"] Sure. How do we do it, then? You need to offer them something beneficial, yesno? * Lukas smirks slightly at Alys' commentary. [Francine nods to Khalil.] Put it up against your skin, push the button, hold it there for two minutes. It'll fix some of the injury. (Negate my last pose) * Togo looks back at Francine. "Would the location of the Covenant's main England base be something beneficial?" [She shakes her head. "I don't know."] * Ashley looks up at Francine. "What, you think I wandered into Russia for my health?" * Lukas says, a bit sharply, "So where do you get to the actual 'how' part, again?" * Khalil takes the pack and slips it under the back of the shirt awkwardly, pressing down the button and holding it. I mean, do we just yell at the sky for a while? The mirror! [Francine pouts. "I thought you were sent by Auberon to rescue me. I didn't realize -" She turns to Lukas. "You could do that, yes. In certain locations, mind. Or you could use the mirror. But you've got to be prepared to deal with the fae. I think your friend," she nods at Ashley, "could tell you about that."] He said they'd rearrange all their insi... Ooops. I wasn't supposed to be helping. I didn't say anything! I do not believe that IS helping, Ten. [Francine muses. "You know, maybe you could get something from Covenant. Something Asahara doesn't have and can't get. That might work."] * Lukas snorts. "Now that makes no fucking sense." Asahara clearly can't do a damn thing to influence the fey. Like what? [She turns her head to Lukas. "Fine. What are you going to offer?"] * Lukas points at her. "No, seriously. If they could, then your 'everyone having a knight again' thing wouldn't matter." ["Who's the fae expert here, you or me?"] Ashley. * Lukas rolls his eyes. "So what, when Asahara says, 'Give up your future knight,' the internals-rearranging fey say 'And may we suck you off while we're at it?'" ["Why would Asahara ask Mab to give her up? They got her for her in the first place."] * Khalil blinks and stares at Lukas. He totally does not get the reference. Because that's the whole damn point? You're trying to set up a trade. But Asahara doesn't HAVE her. The Fey do. ["And?"] * Ten doesn't help! Volt, you're misunderstanding here. Is not her point to offer the court something better than their mortal allies? * Ashley has his eyes closed. Happy place, la la. We'd be raiding Covenant to give them something Covenant has that the Unseelie want, that Asahara, for whatever reason, can't provide. Even at that, it is...far fetched at best. How can we be certain that Covenant even has such an item? Secret of the Atermis system. Cookie recipe. Whatever. * Khalil then stares at Togo. "What do cookies have to do with anything?" How do we even know what this thing is? [Francine nods to Khalil. "Yes. Thank you." She turns back to Lukas. "Anyhow, I was just trying to help you out. But if you'd rather give up ten years off your life or your soul, I'm sure they'll accept that instead."] None of us have connections to the Unseelie. Ten years of nothing isn't a problem. Too bad we don't have that orb anymore. [Francine says, "One of you does."] * Togo looks over at Ashley. * Ten blurts out with. "We do?" * Ashley has eyes closed. Yup. * Khalil peers at Ashley. * Herman looks at Ashley, then groans. "Oh, Christ." That's awesome! We can trade it for Mikaela! (Sadly, it's really Ten. It's all lies and trickery!) ( Ashley has connections to them, RDM. Not something they want. ) (Who cares!) (Togo: Ten's thoughts are not necessarily RDM's thoughts. I wouldn't confuse the two. ^_^;) (Do they have electrical outlets in the land of they Fey? I know it's a universal adaptor but that's an exaggeration!) ( Point. ) (Yeeees.) Is there something specific you know about that we could get and offer? Ashley, if you don't wanna go, fine. Would putting out some feelers and figuring out what we could get to trade get you in deep shit? ["Nothing you'd want to give up. But I know that Covenant is backed by the Seelie court. If you could get something desirable from them, Mab would almost certainly listen."] * Ashley opens his eyes. "... it could." He glances at Francine. "I'd have to get in touch to be sure." And possibly make this Seelie court against us. * Khalil lets out a deep sigh. "Wonderful." [Francine looks to Ashley. "If you could figure out a way to solve this delicate mess, Auberon would have to forgive you."] Soo... we did give the orb back then? Then get in touch and be sure. I don't want to force you to do something that'd get some kind of poofily-dressed fey death squad after you, but if you can do this without pissing off too many people... * Alys mumbles, "Vivisection is sounding better and better." ( It's exciting!!! ) No offense, Knight, but your word and Auberon's are not even close to the same thing. It certainly is an interesting word. Tell me again why my college loan payments are worth this? [She nods. "You're right about that.."] * Herman stretches and rubs at the back of his head. "Could just take the mirror and demand an audience, if it comes to that. But then we're looking at vivisection." I'd need to come up with another spell to stop it. I need to know. We saved your life, and that's worth at least a letter. Yes! Thank you, a plan against moving various parts of my body! [Francine looks to Herman. "If you demanded an audience, they'd probably give it. Afterwards, they'd demand you do something for them, and you'd have no choice but to do it."] * Herman grunts, faintly. "So like a trade, only sooner." Later, rather. Audience first and trade second. Sounds like everything else involved in my life. [Francine nods to Ashley. "I can deliver a letter. I'll put in a word for you, too."] * Ten swings her feet off the edge of the desk. I'll have it in your hands before the close of day. * Ashley looks to Togo. "No promises. I'll do what I can." [She nods. "And I should have a reply soon after."] All I can ask. I'm not gonna ask you to do something that'll get the aforementioned wig-wearing hitmen after you. * Ashley smirks. "You remember Tyr, don't you, Togo? Pleasant folk like him get to be the Arm of the Court." ... yeah. Like I said. Do what you can do without getting killed. * Togo gets up, and walks over to Volt. "In the meantime, I need you to get anything you can get about that castle Covenant's using. Schematics, access tunnels, whether they've been ordering porn on their TVs... everything." * Lukas says dismissively, "Yeah, sure. We were working on that yesterday." You wouldn't think they'd order porn though, right? I mean, wouldn't that be distracting for any security? Ordering what? Security does lotsa weird things when it's three in the morning. ( Poor Khalil. ) * Ashley stands. "If you'll excuse me. I have a letter to write." [Francine nods. "I'll wait here for you."] I mean there was this one guy? And he spent the entire night singing... and he was HORRIBLE at it! Don't ask questions you don't want the answers to, Khalil. * Alys opens her mouth to explain to Khalil, then thinks better of it. * Lukas looks up to Francine and stands up. "You want to tell me about any of those places I can yell at the sky? Just in case I decide a few years off my life is a decent trade?" * Herman looks at Khalil like he just crash landed from the moon. Oh, I can chip in! I'm young still, I've got extra years. * Khalil just shakes his head. ["Stonehenge is one. There's Domremy la Pucelle in France, just about anywhere in the country of Andora, at the base of the Rhine in Germany, or in the middle of the Black Forest..."] (The guys in the dorm probably had the same reaction.) * Lukas looks down at Alys for a moment like SHE just crash landed from the moon. Heeey, yeah! Can we all just give a couple of years? * Alys shrugs at Lukas. "Well, she's my long-lost aunt, right? I've gotta help out." Long-lost...wait. What? You two are related? ... What? * Lukas runs his hand back through his hair. "You're fucking crazy, Alys." You never know! ... we'll hold off giving years off our life as a last resort. Oh, don't say that when I'm trying to help. Say it when I'm talking to inanimate objects or something. * Togo turns back to Khalil. "Medpak helping?" That's sorta the default response to suicide hotlines and such, kiddo. * Lukas looks over to Herman. "You up for taking me to my bike while we wait? It's a bit far out to walk." * Alys looks confused. "I'm offering a few years, not slitting my wrist." * Khalil closes his eyes. "A bit. Thank you." [Session End!]