Skulduggery and Snow Forts

[Atlas Mason] Ahhhh snow, liquid precipitate solidified due to the increased density of the liquid due to a direct translation of heat to mass. To most people it was fluffy white stuff that was either awesome, or your worst nightmare but to Atlas it was a great many things, one of those primary things being an excellent building material.

The Etherite had arrived at the chantry many, many hours ago and had been rather busy with himself. The activity had started out as a random snowman, simple in shape and form, but when it comes to construction...well Etherites rarely know when to call it quits. One side of the house now had a brand new addition, a two level...well for lack of a better, fortification. Buttresses and portal's archway's and step's Atlas had indeed built himself a fine snow fort, it was lucky more snow was falling, or the lawn might have been devoid of snow.

The man himself could be seen moving within, his form moving back and forth as if he were either pacing...or well...who knows with Atlas.

[Molly Quincannon] Molly loves the snow.

Sure, she was born in Washington State, inland, and didn't actually see snow until her nineteenth birthday, but she fell in love with it when she first saw it falling on her in New York, and so she loves it now. It appeals to the tomboy she was scorned for wanting to be. So the snow is something that Molly, damp hair notwithstanding, is happily tromping through in her stompy boots and duffel coat and Kermit-the-Frog hat and bag of fairy lights and Christmas decorations.

And then she sees the snow fort at the Chantry. The squeaking sound of sheer glee that she makes can probably be heard, if faintly, inside the House. A few moments after that squeaking-glee noise (after Molly's had time to examine at least the lower level of the snow fortress, she bursts into the house proper, squeaking, "Snow fort! Snow fort! Oh-em-gee, who built the completely freakin' awesome snow fort?"

[Atlas Mason] The inside of the lower level is simple and open, with a pit dug into the snow for storing the snowballs and other such things, its obvious that the fort isn't done yet. Oh it would be done by other's standards, but by an Etherite's it was barely formed. She could see the beginning of hinges at the door frame, as if Atlas had actually planned on attaching a door of some sort.

Molly's stupendous entry into the chantry itself made the man who was pacing, cup of coffee in hand stop dead in his tracks and gave the overly excited and thoroughly bombastic woman a startled blink, he stopped so abruptly that some of that black liquid within his cup had fallen upon the floor.

"Molly the established pseudo fortification that is currently amalgamated to the eastern most structural plan of the conglomerative nexus point within which we currently reside was initially established, founded, and erected by myself." He said casually as he set his coffee down on the dining room table and took a napkin to dab at the coffee which had hit the floor.

"What particulars establish the desire to inquire as to is existence or to the nature of its founder?" He inquires as he kneels there on the ground, his eyes coming up to look at her, a slight smile on his lips. "Am I correct in my hypothesis that you appreciate such time allocations?"

[Molly Quincannon] "Yes!" It's to Molly's credit that she gets Atlas-speak, perhaps, and more so that she can respond to it without breaking stride! I ask because it is awesome and I had to tell the person who created the awesome about how awesome I thought it was, and here you are, and so I say ... unbe-frikkin'-lievable! I mean, buttresses and ... hinges, seriously?" That's not precisely disbelief in her tone; just awe and delight. "Just ... damn, that's awesome on whole new levels!"

Then she grins a bit, slightly sheepish. "Don't mind me. I'm going on adrenaline, triumph, overclocked headmeat, holiday spirit, excitement over putting up decorations and ... actually, not enough caffeine. It's been a pretty busy and intense twenty-four hours and it's awesome that I caught up with you because there is news. Capital-N, 'I worked my butt off for it' news. Biiiiiig news. But I had to squee about the snow fort first and I really should have known that anything that structurally awesome was of your doing, thinking about it, but never mind; I was blown away by the awesome. But I will start with asking how you are."

Closely followed, all this yammering, by "...Oooh, is that coffee?"

[Atlas Mason] Atlas listened to Molly speak, to him she sounded something like a machine gun, continual and without pause and so very very fast. Some might find it annoying or just really weird but Atlas chuckles lightly and gave Molly that amiable smile of his before gesturing up to the cup that sat on the counter.

"That is indeed a liquid solution of H20 combined with the derivative of the coffee bean produced by the coffee plant, with thermal agitation bringing its temperature to a desirable level and adequate for consumption, please." He say's gesturing to it as he finishes dabbing up the coffee on the ground before he raised his lanky form back up onto his feet and put the napkin on the table.

"Your positive appraisal of my endeavor this time frame is noted and appreciated Molly, however the structure is not yet complete having obtained only eight five percent completion. I have not had the adequate time to assemble the frozen liquid plates to stand in for an appropriate aperature for the main archway."

He then comes back to her mention of new's she seemed far to excited for it to be anything bad, far to happy for it to be something that would ruin his very enjoyable afternoon. So he gestured to the seat next to him, the one with the coffee infront of it and took a seat in the next one over.

"I have acceptable time units for proper data transmission and social discourse between our two distinct personages, please, take a seat."

[Molly Quincannon] Molly pours coffee, laughing in delight at Atlas' talk of plans and doors and everything. "Oh, Atlas, I so admire your dedication to this kind of stuff. That's just great."

Then she sits, sliding the coffee Atlas had back to him (after all, she would deprive no thinking being its coffee) and stretches before shrugging out of her duffel coat, scarf and hat. Up close, it should be noted that Molly looks a bit tired, perhaps in relation to her 'I worked my butt off for it' comment. No less cheerful for it, though, for all she says, "Well, it's srs bznss kind of news, really, and probably shouldn't be a thing about which I do the bouncy-glee but man, I scried the future. Well, possible futures. You know how it is. Specifically, possible futures in a location that throws off chaotic dynamism like fires throw off heat and I managed it without going entirely out of my gourd or anything!" She sighs and swigs her coffee. "Seven and a half hours, man. With Ashley reading my head. But at least she's given me a good clear idea about how to mask my resonance now that I've got the aptitude for that level of Mind magic. It's a thing."

Another swig of coffee. "So. You remember how I said Technocracy was in town? Well, I was scrying the site where they were first spotted. Trying to see what the most likely futures were to see what their interest in the place is."

[Atlas Mason] Atlas retrieved his coffee cup as it had not been claimed by the slightly manic Molly for her own purposes and sipped slowly from it as he listened to her speak. He was calm in comparison to her bubbling energy, but then he had been out and about piling snow high into the air, defying gravity was hard work. But then it seemed that Molly had been hard at work in her own way. A way that was...infinitely more important then what Atlas had been doing for the last several hours.

She comes to her conclusion, speaking of what she had chosen to look into in the near future, what Atlas knew would be one of many possible futures if general theory was to be believed. "And what temporal stream fractal convergence did you actualize during your dynamic manipulation of the temporal field?"

[Molly Quincannon] "Well. Okay." More coffee goes down the hatch, and Molly takes a breath before launching in on the explanation. This is perhaps a trait of hers developed for the mental well-being of others. It gives them a minute to brace themselves before she goes on one of those long rapid-fire info-dumps.

"The asylum that Nathan and Thomas and Israel first saw these guys at was on a developing node. It's new, and from what I saw, it's going to be a phenomenon; if it's left alone, the things it develops are just astonishing - I mean, the plantlife and the animals and the pixies; it had pixies, oh-em-gee, and there was singing and it was gorgeous. It looks like it's going to develop to be something seriously noteworthy, this thing, so of course the Technocracy wants it and they'd end up doing all manner of weird experiments and keeping all the beings this thing produces in quarantine for study and then probably get eaten by it, if I'm reading that right - or maybe we were the Sector Four breach, I don't even know, but anyway, point is that I saw three variations on a theme - phenomenal node, left to itself, with a spirit to guide its creative urges into absolute beauty; phenomenal node with the Technocracy glommed onto it and us trying to take it off them, with some pretty heavy carnage if it goes as I saw it going ... or..."

Another big swallow of coffee (her tongue's probably scalded by now; she hasn't bothered to let it cool). "...Or it gets ... sterilised. All that potential, snuffed out because of ... I don't even know; I was trying to track down things on the warring-timeline and couldn't get to the others before I all but passed out. I need to work on my stamina, ritual-wise. I can't hack more than seven and a half hours of high-octane scrying? Please. That's just embarrassing."

[Atlas Mason] Atlas nodded solemly at the mention of the third likelihood his eyes giving weight to that particular outcome. "Percentages and projections as well as previously documented incidences and convergences would indicate to the teritary outcome to be the most probable. It is standard operating procedure that that which cannot be contained, controlled and converted, to be thoroughly sanitized."

He looked back down to his coffee cup and chuckled. "However the primary occurance would be preferable, It would be quite pleasurable to be able to ascertain and observe such activity and growth with my own senses." He looked up again and gave her an amused look as if her going seven and a half hours at anything at is generally considered to be rather impressive before shaking his head.

"Your acquisition of this pertinent data is already exceptional, additional data can be extrapolated upon based upon your original findings, such excessive lengths of temporal manipulation should not be necessary in future attempts."

[Molly Quincannon] Molly nods. "The impression I get is that we're not just going to let them have it, if we can avoid it ... though that may end up leading to the sanitisation for all I know. I'm just hoping it doesn't have to come to the kinds of skirmishes I saw. There was ... I mean, I didn't see specifics, but I get the impression that at least one person either died or came damn close. And yes, I use the past tense for something that hasn't happened yet because ... well, Truths foreseen are not always Truths, and maybe I'm just kind of kidding myself because given the pronoun use and Israel's reaction to that particular casualty going down, there are pretty good odds it was me."

Then she sighs, with a grateful little smile at the compliment. "Thanks. I dunno if I'm going to be doing that again, much as I want to. There was a bit of countermagic thrown at us towards the end, so someone - maybe the Techs, maybe the node itself - noticed us. But we were warded five ways to Sunday and my resonance was all the way masked and if they'd actually identified us, Ashley would have known, so that's okay but it's not worth the risk. I got what we needed; I know what they want that place for. We're going to try to get someone to talk to the node - the spirit that resides there or guides it or ... I don't even know, but it's going to be Solomon or Gregor, anyway. And beyond that ... there's going to be a chantry meeting. So!" She gives Atlas a grin. "I have to go and present the views of the cabal at said chantry meeting, so I tell you this and ask your opinion. For the representing, y'know?"

[Atlas Mason] A meeting, now that, that had Atlas looking up at the woman who sat next to him more thoroughly then the mention of the technocracy, pixies, or the future all rolled into one. There was something flickering behind his eyes when he met her gaze, something important and something driven, maybe it was a bit of that madness that still lingered within him.

He looked away though, and sipped at his coffee as a contemplative look fell over his features. He took a few long moments of silence to think things through, it wasn't very long all things considering and it was likely he wasn't anywhere near finished thinking it through but it was polite to speak before the silence became to overlong.

"If the technocratic union is already in possession and control of this locality then an immediate response is not appropriate at this juncture, if however it is currently unoccupied then fortification and acquisition of this locality must be completed immediately. If technocratic control is confirmed then communication with the node or its controlling entity will be necessary to ascertain various strengths and weaknesses that could be exploited to appropriately free this locality. However it cannot be understated that if such a liberation is to be attempted, it must be done so in a manner that guarantee's the elimination of all hostile forces and the certainty of permanent control."

[Molly Quincannon] That gets another nod. "I don't know exactly what's going on over there now. I was a little busy looking at the maybes, and the possibility I looked at closest has them having established at least a ... bivouac, I guess? Within the next couple of weeks. I can screen myself in all kinds of ways now and plan to check the place out before we send anyone to talk to that node, so we know we're not walking into a trap. But I'll bring that whole idea of heavy, single-stroke strike when we meet up, though it may be moot if we set up there first. Then it'll be a matter of defensive manoeuvring. I think I know who we'd have to hit to break their chain of command, at least. The faces I was seeing didn't change much, for all the chaos." Then she shrugs. "Then again, this kind of scrying is pretty tricky to read, given the future's inherent mutability. Maybe I should've thrown some monkey-wrenches into the gears while I was ahead."

[Atlas Mason] "Such particulars are no longer of consequence and should not hinder any current or future neurological functioning Molly. Primary concern should revolve around the continued acquisition of data pertinent to our current plans and plans in processing."

He finishes his coffee and pushes the cup further onto the table as if to ensure he wouldn't knock it over, or simply to verify that he was done with it before he turned and put a hand on her shoulder.

"If it is a possibility I would request and infer that I be present during this convergence of personages."

[Molly Quincannon] Molly blinks at that, then shakes her head. "At the meeting? Ashley specifically requested that the first meeting about this whole thing only be the Emissaries, Dean and Sentinel. There will be more meetings later when we're actually discussing strategy, but the first we're apparently trying to keep small because it'll be more sane that way. Which I guess is a fair point, because I remember that meeting before we hit the charity and that got a little convoluted very fast. Me? I wouldn't have a problem with it. Ashley, on the other hand, has pretty much nixed the whole idea of more than the usual spokesbods. Sorry." She is sorry to have to be so firm about it, clearly, but it is what it is. She'd originally thought that Ashley was jumping the gun a lot, telling her that only the Emissaries and Dean and Sentinel would be at the first meeting. She now felt she owed Ashley an apology, and a thanks for setting that straight. Sort of.

[Atlas Mason] Molly might agree with Ashley in regards to this, Atlas however, obviously did not, not in the way his face turned not in the way his brow knitted together. It was a look that said 'I knew this would happen' as he shook his head.

"I find this circumstance unacceptable, I joined an amalgamated unit with the understanding of gaining access to the appropriate channels via which I may vocalize and affect the social-political landscape within this urban center. I am now informed otherwise in regards to something that unlike many individuals present within this urban center, I am fully capable of providing concurrent and effective data upon." He let it trail off then, but he is obviously unimpressed.

He stands then, and picks up his coffee mug, and starts moving towards the kitchen.

[Molly Quincannon] Molly sighs. She doesn't exactly agree with Ashley, as it happens, but she'd agreed to it, not knowing what trouble would come of that agreement. So she gets up and follows him into the kitchen, saying, "You do have a way to vocalise and affect the socio-political landscape within this urban centre. Just in this particular instance the initial stages of that have to go through a representative. That's the whole point of having a representative; you tell me these things, we work them out as a unit - or as much as a unit as we can have when Henri's still telling me to fuck myself as soon as the word 'chantry' gets mentioned - and then I go and I put forward our views - not just mine; ours - for consideration. I'll bring up your current displeasure with being left out of the initial meeting when we have it; it's about all I can do right now, and you will have a chance to make your voice heard directly after the preliminary talking is done."

She sighs and runs her hands through her now-mostly-dry hair. "I want you to have a voice, Atlas. The whole point is that I'm your spokesperson when it's locked out to all but quote-unquote 'official spokespeople'. I'm ambivalent about that whole way of doing things, to be honest, but all I can do is bring it up as a thing that needs looking at in the future. But right now, with the Technocrats looking to set up shop here - and on what's going to be a pretty powerful node to boot - I don't know if it's the time to start infighting about questions of politics. All I can do is promise to make your views heard and make sure that you're in on the meetings that follow this one. The last thing we want to do is destabilise an already wobbly political system when we're looking at a possible war."

[Atlas Mason] Atlas put his cup into the kitchen sink as Molly spoke and didn't turn to look at her as he filled the cup with water and began to clean it. He did so quite thoroughly, especially for a cup that had just been used, the way he was scrubbing it you'd swear it had been sitting for days with something foul inside of it.

When Molly finished talking the man continued to wash the cup for several moments before turning off the water and putting it up to dry on the rack before he put his hands on the counter and stayed that way as he began to speak in a slow, controlled manner, one that tried to keep the anger from his voice, as if to indicate it was not directed at Molly.

"One would assume that individuals of official capacity would wish to acquire and utilize the expertise of individuals versed and frequently at direct confrontational odds with the current aberrant factors arrayed against them, in particular individuals with decades of compiled experience." He says before turning towards her, his face carefully neutral, even if his eyes seemed hard around the edges.

"Your personal efforts are appreciated Molly, and I believe that you will fully verify and vocalize the direct inherent displeasure in the operational procedures undertaken by certain personages within this....political system. In addendum if a desire to maintain this political system is indeed in existence, then the individuals who are forcing this particular behavior upon the other individuals within it may wish to reconsider their stance, do you not concur?"

[Molly Quincannon] "They do want your expertise," is Molly's response to that. "What they don't want is an overfull meeting with everyone talking at once before they've got some sense of what kind of help to expect. The whole point - or at least, the point I'm going to make that damnable meeting reach whether they like it or not - is basically to say, 'Okay, here we are. Here is the situation. We can't let the Mirrorshades have that node. Agreed? Good. Here are our resources. Let them be heard. Next!' If I can help it," she adds with a sigh, "this isn't going to be one of those long drawn-out things that ends up roaming around in circles with little to no point. I haven't seen any of these things yet but I get the impression that's how they end up. No more. I'm going to find out their reasoning for why it happens this way, and then I'm going to discuss it with you and them and we will come to a compromise or agreement or something, but I can't take sides on this without finding out why they're doing it this way and right now, there are more important things. It'll be brought up. That I can promise you. Right now, though, I've got to make do with what I've got, and that's a closed meeting. There'll be an open one, that much I know for sure. Great Google," she groans, "I wish they'd let me go to the last one. Maybe I could have sorted out some of this shit before we got to this point."

[Atlas Mason] Atlas nods at that as he looks down at the his cabal mate and representative, was she his friend? He liked to think so, but then there were many he had thought of the same way before politics had come into play. For now though...he was stuc.

"Very well, I acknowledge and verify these particular data points as they are given to me. I believe you will engage your action plan as you have determined and layed out before me."

He looked at her for a moment with tired eyes, tired in the way that someone alive should not be able to manage before shaking it off and smiling. "Come, we shall combine efforts and attempt to facilitate the completion of the pseudo fortification."

[Molly Quincannon] Friendship and politics are, to Molly, two different things. She can be his friend and his representative, she hopes. She'll certainly work like hell to make his voice heard, the way she always does. He may not know it - few enough do - but that's what she does in her online life. She makes sure those that have, for some reason, not been allowed to be heard get heard, voices the things that other people want silenced for their own convenience. Something is going to give, and damnit, she's going to make sure it happens on principle.

His comment about the acknowledgement and verification gets a weary sort of smile - not on a par with his, of course, but of a different flavour. Hers is the weary smile of an idealist getting smacked in the head with the political stick and trying to make sure that the idealism survives. "Cool. I won't let you down. And working on the fort sounds awesome. So how were you going to make the doors? I mean, you made ice hinges. That's just awesome!"

So it goes that the two of them head outside in their winterwear, fortified by coffee. Whoever throws the first snowball (it might well be Molly; she's got that mischievous streak), it devolves into a bit of a free-for-all, and a generally fun afternoon. After which, if Atlas has time, Molly might even ask him for help with the decorations she's brought in.

Political skulduggery and Technocratic incursions aside ... you've got to love winter.