[Some Time Later!] [You arrive in the Brixton area in the Lambeth borough of London. Ashley gets to describe his place, 'cause I'm lazy.] * Lukas let Alys wear his helmet. It's probably a bit big for her. And black. * Ten rides in the luggage compartment! * Alys gets to wear an oversized black helmet! It is obviously the coolest headgear ever. [The place you arrive at is a 5-story walkup, remarkable only in its unremarkable-ness. It is painted taupe, has two shrubs on either side of the door, and a row of mailboxes.] [An incredibly battered car sits outside next to several other cars in slightly better shape.] * Lukas pulls up and parks it, running his hand over now windblown hair. His examination of the building leads to him saying, "Stunningly generic." * Lukas dismounts and goes back to pull Ten out. * Alys gets off the pretty bike. "Maybe it's genius! I mean, who would think to look for him in a place like this since Ashley's all about the shininess? " * Ten gets removed from the bike. "Wow, Ashley's place is totaly boring. It'd better be better on the inside!" If he was hiding out, I'd buy that. * Lukas pauses, then points down in the box Ten was in. "Helmet in there. And maybe he's hiding out anyway." He starts to walk for a bit then pauses, "And c'mon." * Alys puts the helmet away and follows happily while looking around. * Lukas goes to the door! If it's openable, he probably does that and heads in to the unnamed apartment he knows of! [The door is open, leading into a stairwell which is as nondescript as the outside. It does have hardwood floors but that's hardly a rarity. There are doors here on the ground floor but the stairs also go up.] * Lukas starts clomping up to the third floor. "You, uh, doing okay with what's happened? I mean, besides the crappiness of it all." The whole thing, with the brother kidnapping and all, or just my new and not-so-fashionable snakey weaponry? * Ten is just a doll o/~ [The third floor has three doors, all alike except for a letter.] ( It's like a console rpg! ) * Lukas replies, "Was mainly thinking the last part. I may be the antisocial hacker stereotype brought to life from the mud, but the first thing's universal." He looks over the doors, then goes to 3A. [It's a door.] (CLEARLY IT IS A TRAP.) ( Isn't it? If not I could add some kind of puzzle. Like the door is jammed, and you have to push a ceramic panda over a pressure plate to unlock it ) (YEA, ALLELUJIAH, IT IS THE FUCKING DOOR) (It can't be a TRAP! We don't know if Ashley has a penis or not!) * Alys shrugs. "It sucks. I tried some other weapons that I'm not so good with, and they got snakey too. But it could be worse, right? I can still kick people, my wards should still work, and I'm not an adorable stuffed doll." * Lukas chuckles. "Maybe that last wouldn't be so bad. You and Ten could share clothing." He hits the door with the back of his knuckles. "Ashley. You dead in there?" * Ten sputtes madly... somewhere else that nobody can see. Oh, that'd be neat! Ten has great clothing! * Ashley does not respond, if he's in there. * Lukas knocks again. "Look, Ashley, I'm just going to have to pick the lock anyway, so save me some time and answer." * Ashley makes rustling noises. Then comes a muffled ".... go away." Ashley, let us in! We miss you! * Lukas chuckles and reaches back to his bag and picks. "And just think, it's only been a day. Who knows what she might say tomorrow." Go away! * Alys eyes the door. "If I think of the door as weaponry, d'you think I can turn it into a snake?" * Lukas pauses a moment, then says, "No idea. Can you prove you're not a bitter and angry tape recorder in there, Ashley?" If I say no, will you go away? * Lukas is silent a moment, then says, "Now that's just silly." If it -is- a bitter and angry tape recorder, can I have it? Why won't you go away? We like you too much, obviously. Either that or we're extremely annoying. It's a toss-up. * Lukas sighs slightly. "Because we really don't have anything else to fucking do. Herman's in hiding and nobody's gotten their mojos back." * Ashley is silent. You're sorta important, and shit. * Ashley is still silent. * Lukas looks back to Alys, then towards the door again. "Look, Ashley. You don't want to deal with this shit today, fine. It's not like anyone else is fucking in either. But I need you to be in sometime. One way or the fucking other. So whatever it takes to pry you out of the fucking box so I can get my sister out of random torture or enslavement land, I'm listening." * Ashley opens the door a crack. He's cloaked entirely in an oversized comforter, his head under a makeshift hood. "If my illusions were working, I wouldn't even be in this hemisphere." Why do you think I'd come back? * Ten stage whispers. " 'Cause we gotta get Mikaela back!" * Lukas looks to him with a frown, but Ten hit the button so he can wait for a response! * Ashley sticks his hood out of the door and looks both ways. Then he stands back, no longer blocking the room. Beyond him is description! (GASP!) (Be careful, it might eat us!) (Oh noes! It's been hours since I last saved! Quick! Lukas! Turn around and go back to the save point before it's too late!) [There's no save point outside Ashley's apartment, so there's probably no boss up ahead either.] [It's a studio apartment. The room is unfurnished, excepting a single futon and a folding table, on top of which is a rather large flatscreen HDTV and cable box. The rest of the room is taken up by piles, either of CD and DVD cases or by various pop-culture detritus. Like 1980's A-Team lunchboxes, etc. The kitchen area has layers of dust on it that actually make the harvest gold appear to be grey, and the bathroom area is deliniated by ( cut off at "is deliniated by ") [delinated by a shower curtain around a floor area of tile instead of shortpile carpet.] [Posters of pop culture stars line the walls.] [The futon is without a comforter, as it is wrapped around Ashley.] (er, done) * Ten looks around. "Wow, this is just like Lukas's place used to be. Only, you know, with fewer elctronics and more trivia." Sure, come on in. It's not like you don't have enough reasons to mock or hate me. Er. We have reasons to mock or hate you? Like what? * Lukas chuckles slightly and glances around a moment and then re-affixes on Ashley. "I also had electronics in the kitchen," he idly comments back to Ten. Yeah, now it's all newsletters in the kitchen... and you'd better keep them neat! Jus' cause I can't pick 'em up anymore doesn't mean it's gonna turn into a mess again! Kay? * Ashley waves a comforted limb around. "This is not exactly the bloody Ritz." * Lukas rolls his eyes, then, "So we realize. I can think of mocking things, sure. Do it all day. But that's not really fucking important, now, is it?" * Alys rolls her eyes and starts looking through one of the piles of cases. It is to me! Nobody EVER gets to see me like that! * Lukas replies, "Like what?" * Ashley pokes Lukas in the chest with a padded finger. "Like that! Like that damn pyramid made me!" * Lukas is silent a mini-moment, then, "You mean... shit, I just thought you tired out or something. Of course it's part of what happened to most of us." * Lukas rubs his forehead. Nobody EVER gets to see that. And EVERYONE saw it. * Alys holds up a case. "Hey, can I borrow this one? Oh, going along with the thread of conversation, I turn weapons into snakes! Shiny ability or terrible annoyance? You decide!" [The CDs and DVDs, btw, are pop-culture tripe ... but since they're pop-culture tripe going back decades, there are several classics in there.] Actualy, like, you were totaly out of focus. It was like one of those old pictures of big foot! * Alys is holding up something that can, in no way, be considered classic. * Lukas sideglances at Alys, then back at Ashley with a snarkey, "Besides, nobody gets to see my powers either. Life's full of fucking surprises." No, people see your powers, then you pretend they didn't happen. * Lukas smirks and comments idly, "Just moonlight in your eyes, ma'am." Still lookig at Ashley, though. (Oh god, I can't think. Hamster music is liquefying my brain.) * Ashley waves his hands. "No, you don't understand. NOBODY EVER gets to see that. Not fae, not human, not nobody, not no-how! Never! Not since I happened!" O...kay. * Ashley sighs. "Why didn't Herman come? Herman would know. He'd understand." I dunno, maybe he's getting drunk? You could call him up and totally go pubcrawling! * Lukas shrugs. "He's probably home getting spoonfed soup by Sarah or something." Beat. "Look, I seriously don't know what's at stake here for YOU in all this, but I'm damn sure what's at stake here for me." You were writing letters for some damn reason. Didn't you read up? No old stories? Fae have Glamour. We're ALL creatures of illusion - we don't LOOK like that. It's IMPORTANT. ... and I've never seen a woman without makeup on. And? Ashley. You are more than what you look like. Really. And if you want to fix this, you might want to, you know, come with us and find a way to fix it? Hey, I don't wear makeup! ( Are you sure you're not just pissed off and luring me back to your village where you'll try to wrap me in cold iron chains and burn me? I've had terrible luck with that. I'm pretty sure we arn't gonna do that, but I could call Togo and double check if you want! (She's turning twenty in half a month.) I don't think we even have chains. That's bordering on more kinky than we actually tend to do, I think. (*blinks* Oh? Damn, I thought she was six years younger than that for some reason) Or, those kind of chains, with the manacles and all. (Nope, she'll probably be sixty-five and still acting that young!) (She looks younger, though.) (Nah, the Alys/Khalil OTP relies on herbeing legal.) (Ha, and Ten will be acting like this at 107 if she doesn't get rewritten at some point) * Lukas sighs noisily. "Look, Ashley, I don't care what you look like, or are supposed to look like, or whatever. My sister's hopes at any sort of real life are relying on you not pussing the fuck out. Screwing you over, not really going to help that goal. Think of it as enlightened professional fucking self interest." ... are you sure? I've never had to ... deal with this before. I usually just skip the country on illusory money and wait until the people who know what I am are dead. Like, can they just pretend they didn't look? * Lukas chuckles. "I like your style. Maybe we can skip the country together when the nukes are falling." Beat. "But christ, not even Herman's beaten your skull in, and I'm pretty sure he's had you figured from T-minus-0." I think we can safely say that Togo can't look, if that helps. * Ashley pauses. "... that's a good point." * Lukas snickers. "That's funny. I get another going to hell notch on my belt, but that is funny." * Alys grins happily. "So? It's all good now. We can go back be a group again, or a group minus Pipe Guy, but I'm pretty sure he'll probably come back on his own." * Ashley sighs. "I don't know how well this is going to work without my powers." Hell, Togo can't even apparently shoot a fucking gun. We're dead in the water right now. You still know lotsa stuff the rest of us don't! Just have to hope Mab doesn't ask for a light show. * Ashley reaches up and pulls down his hood. He's plain old Ashley under it, and his hair looks nice for being under a comforter. (s/plain old/normal/) * Lukas shrugs and waves his hand. "I'll borrow some flash-bangs from Togo or something." That'll be lightlike. * Ten blinks and then nodnods! * Lukas chuckles to himself. "Hopefully Herman's taking one for the team and sexing the secrets out of Sarah as we speak." I hope not. I mean, I am available. But, you arn't gonna get married to him too, right? I mean that's supposed to be an advantage or something. * Alys starts giggling and almost falls over. "Herman... and... women!" * Lukas laughs faintly before responding, "Well, maybe she likes her relationships open." A pause, then, "Now we're down to collecting him, though." (This... may be about where we want to break to next week.) (On our side, at least.) * Ashley swirls off the comforter, revealing a pair of black leather pants and a black leather jacket over a red shirt. "Lay on, MacDuff." (Let's get the band back together!) (Togo and Khalil have plety of time to talk.) (We can't collect Herman without trying to call him, ostensably.) * Alys wipes away a tear. "Oh, goodness. But seriously, if you two get married and don't kill each other, I want pictures of the prettiness of you two in tuxes." * Lukas snorts. "Oh, see, now that's a match made in... uh... somewhere not here." I don't know if that would work. Somehow I doubt he'd want to move the pipe from the nightstand, and it would make it hard to perform. * Ten head tilts. "We could so make Herman a tux made out of studded leather!" Not much of a tux. More like a leather vest, then, innit? Design tuxes later. Propose and engagement night sex now. * Ten shake her head. "Nope! We make matching pants and shoes and everything!" [End!]