[Day: Friday, October 26th. Time: 11:30 p.m., Eastern European Standard.] [You land in a heap in an alley somewhere. Luckily for you, Lazar's on the bottom.] (Unfortunately, Lukas is on top. He's heavy too.) [Rau-Yei and Jacqueline are there, too! Hopefully, you're in the right place.] [Session Start!] I could get to like this. Oh, for fuck's sake, shut up. * Ashley wiggles under Lukas. "Okay! Less talk, more nookie." * Lukas groans and rolls off to stand on the ground. "Fuck no. You've already got your sex deal going. I'm not in it." * Herman shoves Ashley off of him. "Christ, what the fuck to fae *eat*?" * Alys pulls herself out of the pile. "Oh, we can't keep doing this. Ow. I will never trust machine teleports ever again." * Lazar stands, lifting a few people up with him, and setting them down on the ground. "Again, good thing I land on bottom. Could be very no fun if I land on top. Last I check, I 900 pounds." The more IS truly the merri-OOF. * Griff_Khalil nudges anyone on top of him aside with his wing. * Ashley stands up, looking affronted. "Ramen, mostly." * Herman stands, Ashley-free and with a pipe. "Figures." * Togo gets up, checks his shades, and brushes himself off before !looking around. [Jacqueline pulls herself out from under the pile. "Owwww. Are we in the right place?"] Pipe Guy, you are now my official mode of transportation. Congrats. * Griff_Khalil then looks at Alys. "Since when have you ever had call to trust machine teleports?" It's the principle of the thing! [Rau-Yei gets up, also. "I didn't sign up for this sort of thing."] * Herman rubs at his face. "Since when *wasn't* I official?" * Lukas pats himself down gingerly, checking himself. "Got me." Beat. "Reality check, here?" Since I needed to fly you there. * Griff_Khalil stretches and flexes his wings hesitantly. ( If this were Terminator you'd all be naked. You should be grateful. Or upset, in Ashley's case. ) ( Lazar wears a loincloth, when his illusion's down. =P ) (I dunno. Lukas naked might be kinda nice. Or Togo. He works out.) ( And he has no eyes. ) (Hey, now, I'm more than a piece of meat.) (Eh, I can look at other body parts.) (Khalil's shirtless right now. He's also feathery.) (Dude, I'm not a furry.) * Togo pulls out his GPS thingee, and checks their current location. [Jacqueline frowns. "Ensof didn't make it."] * Ashley casts his eyes askance at Khalil. (Ashley's omnisexual.) (Men, women, animals, potted plants..) Yeah. * Herman looks back. "I noticed." [If you care to look out the alleyway, you'll notice that the buildings all seem to be made out of white stone. It looks very ancient Rome-ish. But without the ancient-ness: it's all modernized.] * Griff_Khalil looks at Jacqueline and takes in a breath. "We cannot let that stop us. Otherwise there was no reason for him to stay behind." [Jacqueline nods. "I know.... What do we do now?"] Is it too much to hope for alcohol to be involved? * Lukas fluffs out his coat, slightly. "Yes." Damn. * Lazar blinks, and looks around. "... dammit, Ensof. I told you to no be stupid..." ( Brett? Togo's checking his GPS to figure out where they are. ) ( Damn, now I have to make stuff up. ) Funny thing about that. They ignore it half the time. * Herman lets out a breath and goes to look out of the alleyway. [Well, the good news is you appear to be where you were going! Togo's GPS informs him that the street out front is... we'll call it Imperium street.] * Griff_Khalil looks at Herman. "Perhaps they do not think they are being stupid?" Maybe yeah. Where do we need to go from here? * Ashley hasn't yet averted his gaze from Khalil. * Lazar almost punches a wall, but holds back. "He know better than that. Should have left golem behind. No like they can kill me." * Griff_Khalil hasn't noticed, which is probably a good thing. [Jacqueline steps out. "Claire said they'd most likely be in the Hagia Sophia, but that's heavily guarded."] Which is across the river from where we are. * Togo points in the approximate direction where they hafta go. Onward? [Down the road, across the river you see a large trapezoid shape. Well, kinda trapezoid - - it's still under construction.] * Lukas nods slightly and says, "Any chance in hell we're gonna fit in here?" He glances to Ashley, "Otherwise..." * Ashley looks up from where he's grabbing his outstretched wrist with his other hand. "Otherwise what?" [Jacqueline peers at it. "Are we going to contact them first?"] Dunno. "Hey, we just happened to be in Byzantine and thought we'd stop in and say hi!" sounds a bit fishy. [Jacqueline nods. She looks from person to person.] I dunno, I'd totally do something like that. * Lukas shakes his head and mutters, "Mitsuji will call it the second we meet him." Then he manages a laugh. "You would." * Lazar turns to Rau'Yei. "What they going to do to Ensof?" [Jacqueline nods. "I guess you're right."] [Rau'Yei looks down. "Probably...." She doesn't finish the statement.] * Lazar curses vigorously in Hungarian, Hebrew and Japanese. * Lukas walks towards Herman. "If they're really a problem, you..." he trails off for a moment after Ran'Yei, then finishes, "We gotta get close." Beat. "And if not, life's a hell of a lot better." * Herman eyes Lukas. "I what?" Standard approach plan, then? Ashley makes us disappear, Volt handles any electronic security in the way, we sneak until we can't anymore, then start blasting? * Lukas gestures back at the mob. "General you, not specific you." Then he looks back at Togo. "I thought we were gonna give peace a chance." Peace and love. ... right. Sorry. Went into soldier mode for a second. * Griff_Khalil folds his arms over his chest and just waits for the conversation to settle. * Ashley swings his eyes skyward, then fixes them slightly south of Khalil's back. * Herman doesn't say Incorporated, for he is not his player. ( :O ) (Jump, Khalil, Jump!) So sneak, disable security, more sneak, talk, hopefully laugh and beer, if not then blasting. Sounds good! You know, from a not wanting to fight people point of view. Otherwise I'd probably be all for kicking ass. I'm feeling hyper. Laugh, beer, and sex. You forgot a step. If we do all this, and it turn out that they no trying to summon Lucifer... I going find whoever gave info to Interpol and do many unpleasant things to them. Sounds fair. So, this way then? * Herman walks out and heads for the river. * Alys turns to Ashley. "There were two giant piles of people. You totally missed your chances for an orgy. Try again another day." Dammit, I tried my best! [Jacqueline looks down. "I wish we had more intel." She follows Herman.] * Alys follows! * Ashley follows. * Lukas chuckles and says sarcastically, in a low tone, "Don't we all, kid." Never enough intel. * Griff_Khalil follows as well. [You head towards the building, but unfortunately it's blocked off by the river.] [Luckily there's a bridge over it. Woo.] Ashley, if you'd be so kind as to hide us from prying eyes/ears/noses/etc? * Shadur is now known as Shad-Asleep * Ashley sighs. "'Hide us all, Ashley.' 'Fix the drains, Ashley.' 'Table seven needs more gimlets, Ashley love.' When the hell is it about MY needs? I haven't had a drink in HOURS and I haven't been laid in AGES." He waves his hands. [Jacqueline adds, "Cameras, too. And infrared, if you can."] As you are very pretty, the last part is probably entirely your own fault. What's ages? Three, four days? Wouldn't think that'd be an age for you. Cameras are covered, and I can't do your bloody modern wavelengths. As for getting laid, I've been too busy bollocksing around with ... with... with y'all! * Herman snickers. * Lukas frowns a little, but doesn't respond. I am sure that this does not take up all of your time. After all, it could not take you more than what? Fifteen minutes? I'll have you know it is like running the Boston Marathon hind end first. Or so I've heard them say afterwards. [Crossing the bridge, you get to the trapezoid building. Actually, it turns out it's walled. It looks kind of like a prison, honestly. There's lights set at the top of the wall, keeping the place well lit, and even guards patroling them. A sign declares that the Hagia Sophia is inside, and public hours are 11 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. Wed.-Fri., 12:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. Sat. and Sun.] 2d8-2 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Lukas (2d8-2) and gets a natural 4 for a result of 2. * Lukas glances to the gate a moment, then nods slightly to himself. Hopefully it's all well lighted around here. [It sure is! Oh yeah, and the gate's closed, too.] (... okay, you say 'gate', and I think 'very large and barred'. Is that the kind of gate we're talking?) ( I was thinking big steel doors, meself ) (Unlocking mechanism...?) (That's not so much "gate" as "HUEG METAL DORO") ( We'll say it's an electronic lock. ) ( And gimme hearing checks at +4 ) 2d8+4 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Ashley (2d8+4) and gets a natural 6 for a result of 10. 2d8+2 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Lukas (2d8+2) and gets a natural 3 for a result of 5. * Lukas just smacks his hand up near the electronic lock component of the door. Screw it. 2d8-2 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Lazar (2d8-2) and gets a natural 7 for a result of 5. 2d8 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Griff_Khalil (2d8) and gets a natural 13 for a result of 13. 2d8+4 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Herman (2d8+4) and gets a natural 4 for a result of 8. [Those of you who made it hear talking on the other side of the gate! Sounds like three people, but the only voice you've heard before belongs to Justinius.] 2d8+4 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Alys (2d8+4) and gets a natural 8 for a result of 12. [You can't tell what they're saying though.] ... I think Justinius is in there. On the other side of the door. 2 others. Can't make them out. Oh, excellent. Do we toss a bottle of wine over? * Herman decides now's a good time to comment: "You do know that Sarah can see magic too, right?" * Lukas lets his hand rest on the door, then. "Fuckin' a." Oh, hello, then! Is she there? [Jacqueline listens. "Justinius. He must be out front to order the guards."] ( "Hello, Guards 'R Us? I need 3 goons, 6 mooks, and one Extra Large with Flamethrower. ) (40 minutes or less!) (Or your brass knuckles are free.) (FAPPO) [Jacqueline glances at you lot. "What do we do? If he finds us, it's all over."] * Griff_Khalil glances at Jacqueline. "We do not...let him find us?" We wait for him to ditch, or we try another way in. Not like we can just fly over. * Griff_Khalil looks at Lukas oddly. We can't? [Jacqueline glances at Khalil! "Well, we could talk to him... but if he doesn't listen, we'll have the entire army to deal with."] [She taps her chin. "Maybe we could make him leave?"] How? An illusion. If Sarah isn't there, there's no way he'd know. And if she is, we would have completely blown any cover....I could try to scout her out first. * Ashley shrugs. "You point, I project." * Griff_Khalil glances at Ashley. "I thought you did not wish to be ordered around?" Ordered, no. A please or thank you, or perhaps a quick snog would be helpful. Well, we do appreciate it, Ashley. * Griff_Khalil looks at Togo. "Shall I scout?" Damn. No snog, then? I do not know what a snog is. And I probably do not wish to know. You're welcome to snog me whenever. * Griff_Khalil glances at Alys. Excellent! * Lukas just waits, hand on the door. * Herman facepalms. * Ashley steps over to Alys, dips her back over his arm, and plants one on her. Not NOW, Ashley. * Togo shakes his head at Khalil. "Let's stick together for now. Ashley, please cover any visuals, sounds, or such from Volt opening the door so we can go in and find the others." *pauses* "After you finish playing tonsil hockey." * Ashley looks up. "Oh." He pauses. "Damn." No! Hey! He said after! * Alys is blushing fairly badly, but she's grinning. * Griff_Khalil shifts his position. He seems unhappy, but nods ascent. "Very well." * Ashley looks thoughtful. "It'll be one more minute, Togo." He gets back to business. [Jacqueline and Rau'Yei exchange glances.] * Lazar facepalms. "Oy." * Lukas reaches his hand over, with the necessary short steps, and goes to grab Ashley by the neck and pull him off. "Fucksakes." Mmmph-ack! Hey! * Griff_Khalil notices Ashley and snorts, affronted, muttering something in Arabic. It sounds unpleasant. The word "fae" is in there somewhere too. * Ashley disengages Alys so she doesn't fall and crack her skill open. Sheesh, all right. Bloody A-types. * Alys stumbles a bit but doesn't fall. "Meanie." * Ashley wiggles his fingers, and winks at Alys. "Door's all fixed." Play spin the ten-direction pointing thing some other time. * Lukas lets go and walks back to the door. Only if you're sitting directly to my right, Lukas. o/` [It looms.] * Lukas swallows a moment, and then goes to unlock the door. Invisibly moving door! Spooky. * Alys laughs and spins around once. This very odd group. Tell me about it. Ditto. 2d8-4 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Lukas (2d8-4) and gets a natural 10 for a result of 6. * Griff_Khalil sideglances at Alys, half an eye on Lazar. "Not all of us." [The door opens, and behind it you see Justinius, talking casually with two guards about girls.] * Ashley eyes his nails, then rubs him on his coat. * Lukas licks his lips and says sorta quietly, "... time to snenak past?" * Griff_Khalil looks and smells around for Sarah, just in case, so they can find her before she finds them. 2d8+2 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Griff_Khalil (2d8+2) and gets a natural 11 for a result of 13. [Past Justinius is a long corridor that leads into the trapezoid.] ( Smells like... fake breasts. Hey!) ( "How do you know how Sarah smells?" "Well, I had one moment of weakness..." "..." "... and let her drag me along as her sherpa as she went shopping. I noticed the perfume she bought." "Ah." "And then we got freaky." "..." ) (I am the only one in this group with a Gettin' Freaky License, I'll have you know.) * Lukas goes with the sneaking past thing. Yiz. It is good to walk. * Herman goes in! With Lukas! They're going to have sex without you. (!!!!!!) * Ashley follows. * Lazar lumbers past, a bit unnerved. He's not used to this whole 'walking by and people not noticing' thing. * Alys follows. Sneakily, even. (Khalil so does not have a "getting freaky" license. I don't even think he knows how to get the application form.) (Well, first you have to have a Class C "Gettin' Busy" licence.) * Griff_Khalil follows Alys. Closely. And watches Ashley. [You head into the corridor! It goes on for a bit before opening up into an incredibly huge room, a very well lit room containing the Hagia Sophia ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hagia_Sophia ).] [Though not finished yet, it looks like construction plans for building a roof over the entire thing.] (shiny.) (Jesus.) (Yeah, really.) ( Gimme sight checks! +3 ) 2d8+3 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Herman (2d8+3) and gets 5, a CRITICAL SUCCESS!!! "I wish I got to hand out more of these, really." 2d8+3 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Alys (2d8+3) and gets a natural 12 for a result of 15. 2d8-3 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Griff_Khalil (2d8-3) and gets a natural 8 for a result of 5. 2d8+1 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Lukas (2d8+1) and gets a natural 8 for a result of 9. 2d8-3 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Togo (2d8-3) and gets a natural 14 for a result of 11. 2d8-3 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Lazar (2d8-3) and gets a natural 11 for a result of 8. 2d8+3 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Ashley (2d8+3) and gets a natural 14 for a result of 17. [Those of you who made it spot Dante and Liadan at a small gazebo outside the church.] (Is it moving?) ( Nope. ) (Good. I sneak-attack the gazebo!) (it is prone and helpless!) ( It explodes. You take eleventybillion damages. ) (*burns Calc. With holy fire.*) * Griff_Khalil glances over there. "Looks like more of them have shown." * Lukas sighs slightly. "Too bad we can't collect 'em all." [Jacqueline looks. "Liadan and Dante. But they're not in our way, at least."] * Herman peers up. "She's worried about something. ... *Really* worried." * Lukas chuckles a little. "Can't blame her." Not to put a damper on the whole thing? But they hardly look ready to summon a dark lord. [Jacqueline stares. "You don't think she could be the mole, do you?"] * Lukas looks over at the Hague. "Who knows." It is highly possible. Anything is highly possible. So who're we looking for to talk to? Sarah? Mariah? Xuan! Let's talk to her! Anyone... hopefully someone alone, but I don't know if we'd get that. I'd like to talk to Sarah, but... I believe we are trying to find evidence of this ritual. I agree with Ashley, I fail to see any as of yet. * Herman shrugs. "We've been in each other's heads. It's not like we don't know them." Yeah. * Lukas says, "Well, until we gotta, we can keep going. Worst case, we hit Sarah, right?" Basically. Right. Excellent. Onward! We've got to hurry and fuck this up. * Lukas gestures to the Hague. "Pounds to pints, it'd be in there." A short derisive snort at Ashley. * Herman watches Liadan and Dante. "Could eavesdrop a bit." [Jacqueline looks back and forth between everyone. Rau'Yei just kind of hangs back.] * Lukas chuckles a little. "Then lead on, audio voyeur." * Griff_Khalil ruffles his feathers a little then shakes his head. "I suppose that would work. But it could also be wasted time." Onward and forward! * Lukas says a bit darkly, "Hey, it's not like they're not all gonna be there when the ritual comes down. What time are we wastin' anyway?" * Herman leads on. For some eavesdropping. "Sure, it could be." You cannot be sure of that. * Griff_Khalil goes with Herman, trying his best to hear as well. * Herman says, annoyed, "You can't be sure of any-bloody-thing." Death and taxes, me boyo. [You approach the two! Gimme hearing checks!] 2d8-6 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Togo (2d8-6) and gets 10, a CRITICAL FAILURE!!! "My momma always said, you gotta take the good with the bad. Have a little bad." 2d8-6 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Griff_Khalil (2d8-6) and gets a natural 14 for a result of 8. 2d8 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Lazar (2d8) and gets a natural 7 for a result of 7. 2d8 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Alys (2d8) and gets a natural 7 for a result of 7. 2d8-2 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Lukas (2d8-2) and gets a natural 10 for a result of 8. 2d8 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Ashley (2d8) and gets a natural 12 for a result of 12. [Those of you who made it hear the conversation!] 2d8 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Herman (2d8) and gets a natural 13 for a result of 13. [Liadan: "I don't know what to do. This isn't right. It doesn't feel right, and I hate it."] * Griff_Khalil stops once he can hear the conversation, turning his ear toward them. [Dante: "We all made the promise together. Are you going to back out now?"] [Liadan: "I know that! But still... What if something goes wrong?"] [Dante: "Mitsuji has confidence that it won't."] [Liadan: "But what if he's wrong?"] [Dante: "... That's not what you're really worried about, is it?"] [Liadan blinks. "What do you mean?"] ... shit, they know we're here. *draws his shotgun; chambers a round with a *KA-CHAK* * Little early, isn't it? [Dante: "We all miss Hiyoko. What happened to her was horrible. But the fact is, she's dead. We both know that you can't bring someone back from the dead without paying a heavy price."] (WTF, Togo?) (Do you have a tumor?) [Liadan: "Yeah, but... I thought the idea was we were supposed to be able to pay that price for her sake."] (In the brains?) (FAPPO) * Griff_Khalil stares at Togo. * Lukas looks over at Togo and hisses, "What the hell?" [Dante: "I can see you don't really believe that."] [Liadan looks down. Dante continues: "Just the act of doing what we are in the first place is what's wrong. That's why you have doubts."] [She looks back up. "How do you know so much?"] * Togo turns to Volt. "They just said they know we're here. Didn't you hear it?" * Griff_Khalil shakes his head and curses, turning back to the couple. "This is not sounding good..." ... no? They did not, Togo. No, I just think you are a very twitchy person. [Dante closes his eyes. "Because I feel the same way." They snap open again. "I haven't been for this idea from the beginning. Lucifer will never accept any deals we make without twisting things. We're playing right into his hands."] [Liadan blinks. "You...? From the start...?"] ... they didn't? * Herman watches, nodding slightly to himself. "I think we should talk to them." (... good. Asanjya would teleport back from wherever the fuck she is currently and smack him upside the fucking head if he was.) [Dante nods. "I tell you because I know I can trust you."] ("WTF U THINKIN'?") [Jacqueline stares. "So Dante's the mole."] I'd be bloody shocked if Sarah's all for this idea, too. Possible. * Lukas smiles a little. "Sounds it. Well, I can think of worse allies." Beat. "God, Mitsuji is at the middle." He looks away slightly and whispers, "Fuck." * Togo shakes his head, and listens harder. "... what the hell? How'd I mess that up? Ashley, can you let them see us without making us visible to anyone else, and make it look like they're still talking normally to each other and not to invisible people?" [Jacqueline frowns. "I don't know for sure... But at least Dante is on our side. And Liadan too, maybe?"] * Griff_Khalil looks around for any possible onlookers. Perhaps just one should talk. All of us together would be easily spotted. He better be. If he mom found out he summoning Lucifer, she do thing to him what make even golem flesh crawl. And golem no have flesh. [Liadan continues after a bit of a pause. "But still... This is almost like a betrayal... And after all Mitsuji's lost, I don't know if I can do this to him."] You want just one, or the group rate? Group rate's easier, natch. * Herman lets out a breath. "I'll do it, in any case." [Dante frowns. "It's a betrayal, all right. Think about what we've done since. Think about Hong Kong, Naomi, Britain. We've betrayed everything we're supposed to stand for."] Just the one? * Lukas tenses up. "Don't be stupid, Herman. They can't think you'll show alone, out of thin air." * Herman grins at Lukas. "The hell not? I know how to bloody teleport." Unless you wish to concentrate on just them seeing through the illusions and double an illusion of them not talking to anyone. And he...exactly. [Jacqueline speaks, "I'll go. They'll think I brought him."] And how did you sneak past Justinius? * Lukas shakes his head and crosses his arms. "Christ, whatever. You magic people can do anything." Ninja powers. Look, just drop it for me and Jackie, and if you have to, the rest of you. Let's just do this already. * Griff_Khalil looks at Lukas. "Either way, we will be having to explain how we got here. At least this way saves a little tedium." Oh, ninja! There's a good future career! Yeah, I hear it pays pretty good. The wardrobe is sort of bland, though. You could make your own throwing stars. Out of paper clips. * Ashley snaps his fingers. "It is done." Yes! Wow, I'm well on my way. * Herman appears! As does Jackie. And he walks for them, pipe in hand (but given he's not about to swing it at anyone's head, it's probably okay). [Boy, is it ever. The illusion goes down, And at once Dante and Liadan jump with a start. Jacqueline looks between the two. "Dante. Liadan."] * Herman waves. [Liadan reactively falls into a fighting stance. "Jackie, and... Herman?" She lowers her guard. Meanwhile, Dante has his hands over his swordcane, but doesn't draw yet. "What are you two doing here, together?"] * Herman nods to Jackie, then looks to the other two. "I heard some sort of rumor about summoning Lucifer." Some people are really bloody upset and won't give you guys the benefit of a doubt... I figured, if anyone came to talk to you guys about it, it shouldn't be someone who'd jump to conclusions and just try to kill you or something. [Dante frowns at Jacqueline. "I never thought you'd try to involve civilians."] [Jacqueline responds. "You've already involved them."] * Lukas smirks a little. "Yeah, like we're civilians anymore." ( You are. Which is unfortunate since Dante has a swordcane +2/ +12 vs. civilians. ) * Griff_Khalil shrugs his shoulders slightly. "Do not look at me. I am just a college student." This show needs a concessions bar. ( I'm not! And for the record, are we all visible now, or just Herman/Jackie? ) (Just Herman and Jackie, it seems.) (But it's not like YOU can tell, outside of their reactions. ;P) [Dante frowns. "I see. I suppose you've told them everything, too."] [Liadan blinks. "Hey wait, where's Claire? You two are always together!"] * Togo looks down at his hands, and stows his shotgun. "Almost forgot I still had that out..." * Lazar tilts his head, and turns to Ashley. "You only make Jackie and Herman visible?" We beat her here. She decided she was going to try to stop you guys by herself. [Jacqueline glances at Herman. "She's on her way. She's..." Jacqueline lets Herman explain!] * Alys bounces a bit. [Dante frowns.] * Herman looks from Liadan to Dante. "Assuming there's anything to stop, right? The girl's really convinced you're out to do this 'Summon Lucifer Bring Good Friend From The Dead' thing." [Dante: "What if I said it was a complete lie?"] I might believe you. It is a pretty stupid plan. [Rau'Yei stares, behind the invisible barrier. "Just what did I get dragged into?"] Dunno about Jackie. * Griff_Khalil answers simply. "This." I told you. What I've been asking myself every day for the past month. Concessions. With gin. We think they want summon Lucifer to bring back dead friend. [Liadan sighs. "I don't know what you've been told... but it's true. It's all true." She stares at Herman. "But you don't know Hiyoko. She's worth fighting for."] * Herman looks back at Liadan. I really have nothing better to do. [Jacqueline takes a step forward. "Enough to put my mother in the hospital?" Liadan bites her lip and looks away at that.] If she's *really* worth fighting for, don't you think she'd be in Heaven now? You want to take that away? ( Jacky's been taking lessons from the Togo School of Interpersonal Dialogue, obviously. ) ["No!" Liadan's head snaps towards Herman. "Hiyoko was a part of a demon clan. There's no way she'd ever be allowed into Heaven."] * Griff_Khalil looks at Alys. "Drama class." * Lukas groans. ( Geez. Just do what everyone else does. Go down into hell and drag her ass back up. ) (Seriously. How many times has MC done that now? 18?) (It's easier to call in the middle man.) Nah, visiting Xuan is more important than taking a drama class. I still think you would be good at it. * Herman blinks at that. "So much for eternal forgiveness." * Alys smiles. "Thanks. I am planning on looking into it." (Fortunately, Hiyoko's plight spawned the Disney classic "All Demons Go to Heaven.") [Liadan turns to Jacqueline, "And I'm sorry about your mother. She was close to me, you know that. I never wanted to... Never wanted to hurt her." * Ashley yawns. [Jacqueline shakes her head. "Claire would have ripped you in half by now, but we didn't come here to fight."] No, we didn't. That's the bloody point. * Herman looks at Dante. "*You* know this won't work. I don't know about everyone else, but you and Sarah know enough about magic and bargains to know that any deal with Lucifer's just going to make the world go to shit." [Dante nods.] * Herman nods, too. "Going to go along with it?" [Dante shakes his head. "I never intended to." He glances at Jacqueline. "But you already know about that, don't you?"] [Liadan blinks. "What's that supposed to mean?"] [Dante turns to Liadan. "I'm sorry I've kept it a secret for so long. I haven't just been against the plan from the start, I've actively been trying to stop it."] (Hooray, the best NPC evar.) * Herman smiles a little. Sense is awesome. ( Hmmm, I wonder. :O ) [He turns to Herman. "And that's where I owe you an apology, as well."] * Herman looks confused. "What for?" ["I knew I wouldn't be able to stop Mitsuji alone. But when I knew we'd need to go to England for the Rosetta stone, I put together a group with the hope of preparing them to help me."] [Liadan just stares. "What are you saying, Dante?"] ... oh, he must be bloody kidding. If he is, it is a very sick joke. Wow. I feel like I'm in a comic book. * Lukas mutters, "He's just lucky I don't kill people. On principle." (The word you are looking for is "console RPG".) * Herman snorts, and then he starts laughing. "Christ. You know you pay for *shit*? You should be glad I was so desperate to cast something that I joined your demon hunting squad." (no, the word you are looking for is .hack//wtf) I'm going to bloody well ask for a raise. Seconded. ["My apologizes. It wasn't easy to fund you with my meager pay."] I feel like I'm back in the Army. Used, manipulated without knowing why... ah, memories. * Lazar eyes Togo. "You meshuggah." [Jacqueline frowns. "And you've been leaking information to Interpol, too, to help us track you, right?"] [Dante nods.] * Griff_Khalil looks at Lazar oddly. * Alys tilts her head to the side. "I'm not sure whether I want to kick him in the shin or not." I bet. I think we're gonna ask for raises anyway, if we live through this. Any idea if the others are set on this whole Lucifer thing? [Liadan takes a step back. "But... but how could you? How could you keep something like this a secret? You were planning to fight Mitsuji from the start!"] Maybe later. * Ashley looks to Alys. We ask for raises, THEN kick him in the shin. I would aim a bit higher than the shins. * Herman taps his pipe against his shin a bit, watching Liadan for any stupid moves. ( What, you're going to unionize? ) * Alys grins at Khalil. And I believe you mean we wait for him to APPROVE the raises. [Dante looks to Liadan. Then back to Herman. "I don't know. Hiyoko was close to all of us. I decided instead to err on the side of caution."] [Liadan has backed as far away from Dante as the gazebo will let her.] Actually I was suggesting we kick him UNTIL he approves them. Uh, Herman? You might want to stop her. [Dante turns towards Liadan. "What about you, Liadan? What are you going to do now that you know the truth?"] * Lukas eyes Liadan. "Yeah, she's wigging." That could possibly work as well. [Liadan glances from Dante, to Herman, to Jacqueline, and back to Dante. She doesn't answer just yet.] ( "No pay, no peace!" "Since when did you guys bring peace?" "... No pay, no shooty stabbity burny!" "... not quite a Shakespearian sonnet, but it gets the point across." ) * Griff_Khalil eyes that. "Perhaps I could edge over that way. Would the illusion keep me from catching her?" * Herman doesn't do anything to set Liadan off further. Something about her looking at him every second and knowing his chanting means a spell probably has something to do with it. [Liadan says, after a long moment of silence, "I don't like this."] * Lukas pulls out his stun-gun and starts to bring it up to Liadan. Invisibly. Hold off, guys. For now. We want her on our side if at all possible. I would not harm her. You know that. * Lukas mutters, "I wasn't planning on it, but if it comes down to her sleeping or me dying, it's not a hard choice." I know. But if we attack, even just to incapacitate, we lose her. You think we do? But look... Sarah's my friend. If she's going to summon Lucifer, I've got to stop her. Nobody wants to live with something that fucking stupid. Dante's friends with all of you, and look at what he did. * Togo nods at Lukas. "There's that, though." If she runs, she comes back with other people. [She looks down. "Mitsuji... Mitsuji is wrong... I know that. But..." She glances up sharply, glaring at Dante, "But what you've done is downright despicable! How could you plan to betray your friend so easily?!"] I didn't come in here screaming and trying to take your head off, all right? Like I said. For now... *winces* ... now is getting a bit shorter... [Dante shuts his eyes. "It was never 'easy'."] Exactly. *gets ready to edge that way* [Liadan wipes her eyes. "I don't know what to do. Who's really right?! Unlike you, Dante, I can't just give up on my friends."] * Lazar moves over to get in what he thinks would be Liadan's path should she try to walk off, as well. "If she tries leave, Ashley, can please make her no able to make sound, so can grab her without needing to cover mouth?" Easily done, but I'm tapped out after that. * Lazar nods. "If come to that, it worth it." * Herman sighs. He sets his iron pipe on the ground and walks towards Liadan. "One of the reasons he did this is because he's your friend." I was already planning that. You'd get what you want but at a price you and the world can't take. Friends stop each other from doing stupid world destroying shit. You have to know that. [Liadan gazes at Herman through tear-filled eyes. "He had to have decided to betray Mitsuji soon after we made the promise."] [Liadan: "It would take that long just to gather you together. And aren't you furious?! He used you all!"] I wish I could display my indifference. No. My pop's worse, and I'm here because I want to be. It would be truly stellar. I would, in fact, do an interpretive dance,. * Lukas smirks a little. "We can tag-team him later anyway." * Herman looks at Dante. "*Purely* because I want to be." He looks at Liadan. "Because I'm Sarah's friend, and I kinda like the lot of you. It'd suck if you did something this fucking stupid. So I came here." [Liadan shakes her head, crying. "I don't... I don't want to fight Mitsuji."] * Griff_Khalil sighs and looks away. Then don't fight him. All we have to do is stop them from performing the ritual, I'm pretty sure. [Jacqueline nods. "We don't want to hurt Mitsuji, either."] (We don't?) (Ssh.) (Don't tell HER that.) [Liadan cries. Dante goes to put a hand on her shoulder, but she screams, "Don't touch me!"] [Rau'Yei watches. "This is... pretty frightening."] ( "Is Mitsuji an Ueda? Related to Ueda? Married or dating one? Maybe share cab with one once?" "Nope." "Okay, then no want to fight Mitsuji." ) * Herman lets out a small sigh and refrains from asking Dante just how much time they have left. (Ha.) ( Mitsuji is an Ueda :P ) (If his grandpa heard about this, he'd kick him inside the head.) [Jacqueline offers, "Just let us talk to him, okay? You don't have to help us."] ( Hey, his dad was crazy, too :O ) ( ... he is? Screw silly crying Chinese girl! We need hit him repeatedly about head and shoulders! ) (Shiggy? Crazy, absolutely. But in a different way.) [Jacqueline looks to Herman. "Is that alright?"] * Herman nods to Jackie. ( And, Liadan's not Chinese >.> ) (Xuan's the Chinese one.) (Xuan's not even particularly Chinese. She just has a Chinese name; she's also an Ueda, far as I can tell.) [Liadan sniffs. "Alright... Alright. I won't try to stop you. But if you hurt him..." She glares at Dante. "Especially you."] ( She and Mitsuji are both half Chinese :P ) [Dante: "That's the last thing I want."] ( She is? Even better! Get her! ) ( *holds up his new 12 CP Uedabane sword* ^_^ ) [Jacqueline looks to Herman. "We have to go."] ( ~I'm watching, Lazar!~) Yeah. We do. (Unfortunately, Rei has acquired a +4 golembane sledge hammer) ( Pfft. Like she could hit with it :P ) * Herman goes back to his pipe and scoops it up. [Dante steps out of the gazebo. Liadan doesn't. She sits down on a bench, trying not to cry too much and failing.] * Ashley extends the inner shell to cover Herman and Jackie again. Yes! Moving again! ( And Dante? :P ) (Dante's coming with too, methinks) * Lukas eyes her. "You sure she's not gonna flake?" (Sure, why not.) (Dante can see us all now.) Hopefully no one finds her like that. It would be suspicious even if she did not say anything. [Dante blinks suddenly, staring at all of you. "You've all been here the whole time?"] We are sneaky like ninjas. Yup. * Herman snerks. "Surprise." ["...... Well, shit."] [Session End!]