Political Games

[Molly Quincannon] Bribery in the form of hot chocolate doesn't generally work as well with Molly as it might with some. Bribery with coffee is much better, but that goes well with hot chocolate (mocha, anyone?) so there's some incentive for Molly to leave the confines of her own place to go and visit Wren at hers. Shiny VDept toys to poke around with are a definite plus. So Molly throws on something that could laughingly be called 'street clothes' - "Newton is my Homeboy" sweatshirt and jeans under duffel coat with Kermit hat and phoenix scarf - and trudges Wren's-place-ward.

Molly, it must be noted when Wren answers the door, looks somewhere to the order of 'wiped'. This is a woman who has been working (or perhaps Working) overtime. Still, there's a smile - weary though it be - as she lifts a mid-sized Tupperware container for inspection. "I iced gingerbread to look like memory sticks and graphics cards. Because I am a collosal nerd. Hi."

[Wren Jacobs] She hears a yell of 'INAMINUTE' before there's the sound of music being turned down....a couple of thumps and then a fleshy smack sound followed by the sounds of swearing once more...then someone hopping to the door rather than walking. Wren peeks through the crack before giving a smile and opening it.

"Yo Moll...welcome to me casa."

She moves aside to let her in...once more the hopping sound as she favors her right foot. Wren herself is definitely not dressed to go out...wearing a pair of thin gray sweatpants and a jersey tank top. Her hair was free of dreadfalls once more, just the soft raven feather black pulled back with a white bandanna. Glasses even adorned her face. Noticeably, a chrome little socket port can be seen behind her left ear as she shuts the door and hobbles back to the main area. The apartment itself is more just a giant studio with false walls to give the idea of other rooms, even a small kitchenette. The building had other occupants but given the cost of the place...likely it was insulated from sound.

For good reason as well when they move past the kitchen towards the main area. Toys indeed. Wren has an assortment of guitars lying around ranging from acoustic to electric...both bass and lead. An electronic drum set sits to the side, tucked near the equipment. Cables and extensions run criss-cross on the ground...connecting to two different towers. The last two pieces of musical repertoire was a synthesizer wtih double row of keys and an electronic keyboard next to it. A small laptop sat on a stool next to the synthesizer.

To the left of the room, another computer sat with an odd assortment of cushions and throw pillows. A premature VR rig set up laid there with sensory deprivation goggles as well as gloves. Wren made a sweeping gesture.

"Have a seat...there are some folding chairs lying around. I don't really keep much in the way of furniture that you can't flop onto. Just let me finish this up and I'll make some hot chocolate."

She beamed a small smile before she winced again, moving back to the synthesizer. She massaged her small toe fora moment before straightening and pulling up a small keyboard-like device....a cord ran from it to a single jack point as she pulled it up. She breathed in for a moment before sliding the male to the female...the jack sliding into the open socket behind her ear.

The music started up once more, Wren holding up her hands for a moment as her eyes started to shift beneath the eyelids....fluttering back and forth like one would associate with REM. Soon though, her fingers would twitch and melodies would begin to switch...the accompanient had a very Daft Punk rift to it but overlaid with guitars and drum percussion. It was like Wren was doing music editing and the studio was her brain.

[Molly Quincannon] "Flopping's fine, thanks; I don't stand on ceremony. Or ... y'know, sit on ceremony. What I mean is half my furniture at home is beanbag." That's Molly's brief comment about the seating arrangements, anyway, and she flops on a convenient bit of cushion to take a good appraising look at Wren's rig while Wren herself is occupied with her music editing. This also provokes some interest, but it's not as new-pin sharp as her curiosity generally is. Which is probably telling.

In any case, she eyes the set-up and makes what appraisal she can without actually cracking the case or otherwise touching anything, and when Wren indicates that she's done, Molly's first question is, "...What'd you do to your foot, woman?"

[Wren Jacobs] "Hit my toe when I went to answer the door."

She points at the steel rod of the synthesizer stand.

"Metal will not give way before my fleshy appendages it seems."

She rolled her neck, sliding the cord from the under-ear socket....the cord having a memory wire that allows it to curl up now that it was no longer in use. She winced as she walked a little, moving towards the kitchenette area...yelling but not quite as she starts up some milk in a pan, letting it boil.

"So...what's up?"

[Molly Quincannon] "Ah," is the only response the stubbed-toe thing gets, though it's a sympathetic enough sort of noise. Then, in response to the question posed, she looks up and says, "Ceiling. Light fixtures. Y'know." After a short chuff of laughter at her own joke, she goes on to say, "Seriously, though, enough to be heavy. Oh, you remember how I was saying the other week how we had this bunch of Mirrorshades sitting on an unstable node? Well, we haven't got that anymore. I don't know exactly how many Mirrorshades we have left on the actual site, but they don't have a node anymore, that I know about, unstable or otherwise. Also? Mirrorshades are assholes, as a group at least, and they cheat like bastards."

Short pause, possibly for effect, and then she asks, "So what's up with you?"

[Wren Jacobs] "Agent hounding my ass that I haven't sent in any thing for them to go over and try to market. Also bitching that I didn't take the South tour he offered....I would have been going with some old band named Trust Company but honestly....fuck the cold and fuck the South."

She smirked, watching as the milk continued to simmer.

"You want hot chocolate or hot 'oh my fucking god you'll love me forever and have my adopted babies' chocolate?"

She then peaked out the doorway of the kitchen, leaning against it slightly.

"Yeah..they don't play nice....here or the net. I've not been online fully to find out how bad...but I get the impression from the paranoid rumblings of a guy I met....its enough to warrant being wary of other people with the 'juju' vibe."

[Molly Quincannon] After a moment of actively considering the question, Molly responds with, "Well, I'll leave it to your discretion, but will also remind you that you're drinking it too. And it sounds like you could use the oh-em-eff-gee chocolate, given that your agent is made of epic fail."

She raises an eyebrow at the bit about 'paranoid rumblings' and the rest. "Yeah, they really don't. They spiked the fuckin' node. And their comms, once they found out what I was up to. Electricity to the headmeats, man; I am so lucky to be alive. And can I ask what 'guy' you met? I can think of a whole list of 'em who are big on the paranoid rumblings, and can probably clue you in to what's actually justifiable paranoia and what's ... well, what I'd call the result of not getting laid enough if I didn't know for good and damn sure that they were getting plenty."

[Wren Jacobs] "He looks like he slept in his suit, has a five o'clock shadow, and would fit perfect in being in the Quartered when I was there."

She arched a brow, nodding a little.

"You are lucky. Where you jacked in or just talking on the phone? It sounds like biofeedback. Its something both sides use actually...at least V Depts and Techs. Hell, we're the ones who designed the rote back when we were still rooting for the wrong team. Basically, a lot of us rely off putting ourselves into the Digital Web. Which means you can target biofeedback programs that induce pain to the brain...your meat body isn't there but your mind and icon are...so we design rotes to punt out those interfering. Some are just a nudge...others are nasty enough to send pain signals to the brain that your body translates to injury....what the mind believes is real and all. Others are just direct attacks using electric signals like the one you likely got zapped with."

She glanced back, taking the milk off the stove as she starts to pour a couple of cups, using mint cocoa mix. She keeps talking as she fixes the cups.

"...there are defenses for it though. I take it you were riding blind?"

[Molly Quincannon] "I couldn't tell you off the top of my head, but paranoid plus rumpled would generally lead me to the assumption of Nathan. Nervous-tic habit of either shuffling cards or tapping out beats on any available surface when thinking?" It's clear as anything that Molly's more than fond of the guy to whom she refers. "Anyway, yeah, his paranoia sometimes goes beyond but he's not psychotic about it. Not comparatively, anyway."

The nicer parts of the conversation out of the way, Molly moves on to info-dump explanation. "Neither. Closer to the latter, though. Look, the deal was that we had no hope in hell of taking the node off the 'Shades for our own use, so vote went to take it down. I saw the results of us trying to keep it, so I can't really bitch about going that route, no matter how much it sucks. Anyway, my part in the whole mess was to screw their comms, make sure they couldn't call for backup. But I had to go about it in a really stupid way due to a combo pack of 'Shade ingenuity and Badass Chorister Leader-Guy being a dick. Point is, I couldn't see what they were doing, exactly - big-ass ward negating all Correspondence magic within the building - and had to settle for basically firewalling their comms from outside the reach of that stupid ward. Thing is, though, I tweaked that firewall so I could hear outgoing comms. Didn't want to lose out on the opportunity to get a few things like ... oh, cellphone numbers, names, useful intel. But it meant that when they figured out I was listening ... spike. Right to the brain. I held up under the first one - I think at least partly 'cos Chorister-guy was piggybacking my damn wards without permission; the man has no etiquette about some things, I swear. He could have asked. Anyway, the second one knocked me cold. It was a thing. People turned up with healing charms later. If they hadn't, I'd probably still be bedridden. So praise Kibo for small mercies?"

[Wren Jacobs] "Praise kibo indeed."

She called back, adding the finishing touches to the drink....a little bit of honey stirred in then rummaging through a drawer before finding the bottle of Butterscotch Schnapps, dropping a small drot into both before stirring it. Then her hands were full as she walked, almost limped back to the room, handing one to her before gently sitting down on a throwpillow leaned against a wall.

"Likely his piggyback let them figure out what was going on though...so small blessings as well. Either case, I would have insulated myself....but that's me. Or I would have hit them first myself....maybe used one of my sound rotes. I have one that can actually induce pain through the sound...a wave signal through music that's too hard to normally hear through human senses but listen to it longer than a minute and it begins to induce pain as it stimulates the ear drum beyond what it can take. Bleeding ears, chaos, etc."

She glanced over as she sipped the cocoa with a small smile.

"I didn't just sit in a room writing music...I was one of the main burners for the Depts back in Seattle. I think its the main reason why I'm afforded the title I have amongst my 'tradition'."

[Molly Quincannon] "Yeah, see, I wanted to hit them first but there was that fucking ward in the way." She accepts the hot chocolate and takes an appreciative sniff. "Mmm. Anyway, thing is I couldn't get anything through it. There was a hole opened in it later but I got the distinct impression that a lack of sticking to the scare-quotes 'accepted battle plan' would have got me a royal ass-reaming or just hung out to dry if the shit hit the fan. One or two of us can be real assholes when things don't go their way. Anyway, by the time I was actually getting spiked, I was too busy trying to make sure I couldn't be traced and keeping my damn comms-baffle up through some serious headmeat-searing pain to actually switch tacks ... which would have got me, again, verbally ass-reamed even if I'd tried, 'cos what I got when the first bolt hit was 'Can you hold it for another minute?' So I did. Much as I'd have loved to cause ear-bleedy chaos in retribution, there just wasn't opportunity overall. I didn't really have longer than a minute."

The bit about being one of the main burners gets a nod. "Hey, not discounting your abilities or anything, seriously. You've hinted at stuff like that before." She kind of loses the thread at that point - not sure what else to say, which is in and of itself a novelty, and falls silent, regarding her cocoa without actually drinking it.

[Wren Jacobs] Wren sipped it, quietly, mulling it around and sighing.

"Only bad thing about this cup of cocoa is that it makes me drowsy sometimes. You think with all the sugars in it, it wouldn't but the alcohol makes me lulled...that and the hot milk."

She reached up, rubbing at her face a bit.

"I understand being firewalled from sending things in...but still should have had some defense utilities going. But that's how I would handle it. Everyone flies differently when they do this. Though it sounds like you were 'solo' on this part of it...which is also bad as well. If you know you are handling Level 6 shit, you should try and have backup doing it with you or at least knowing ways to help out."

She rolled her neck.

"I avoided direct confrontations if I could...best tricks of the trade involve loops. My usual tactic is to let someone try and track me then put them through a mirror maze of locations. Most get trapped in the cycle long enough for me to erase location or block the trace. Any case...my main question would be this....why didn't you have someone with you?"

[Molly Quincannon] Molly looks at her cocoa with a wry smirk. "Aw, man, I was fragged enough already. If I fall asleep on your floor, it's now officially your fault."

Then she listens to the rest and gives a painfully honest answer. "Back-up options were limited, I don't like dragging anyone else into shit with me and on top of all that, I was getting treated like a noob in open Chantry meeting and that kind of shit always gets me into bulldozer mode. I apparently have a lot to prove if the PTBs are going to stop seeing me as anything more than 'that stupid kid who got herself kidnapped by Nephandi'. I figured that was a start." She shrugs and adds, "Besides, another part of it's a Trad thing. I push my boundaries. It is what I do. And since I held the damn ward together for as long as they needed me to, I think I at least made a start on unlocking the 'They Actually Treat Me Like I Know What The Fuck I'm Doing' achievement."

[Wren Jacobs] Wren reaches over and flicks Molly's forehead.

"Fuck the PTB. The only person you ever have to prove anything to you is you. So they treat you like a child? Whose the adult then? The ones that expect respect or the ones that only look at a title for it? You do stunts like trying to prove yourself and the only thing you'll get is an early grave, Moll. I've seen plenty of 'noobs' who wanted to earn their bragging rights by doing some shit to prove themselves. And it all went wrong. All sorts of ways. I saw a kid who learned some chops from me eat a utility program that turned him from a mathematical wonder to making zombie noises because his brain was mayo now. Now...say it with me..."

"Fuck....the.....PTB. Fuck 'em. Fuck ranks, fuck titles, fuck the whole lot if that's all they care about."

[Molly Quincannon] "Hey! With the flicking, what the hell?" She's mostly amused, but it's a little exasperated as well, though mostly at herself. "Seriously, it's not a matter of proving myself to them, not where it counts. This isn't about bragging rights or status where it really matters. It's reminding myself that I am awesome and anyone who says otherwise can eat my dust. Of course, being taken seriously helps," she adds, after a sip of cocoa and a roll of the eyes, "when you're trying to get in so you can unfuck the royal cluster that Chantry politics have apparently turned into under the current ... I don't want to say 'regime', but..." She thinks about it, then makes a face. "Actually, yes, I do want to say 'regime'. There's the Old Guard, and everyone else is expected to fall in line. We both know you gotta hack the system to change anything, and that's what I'm doing. There's got to be a way that I can make them get the fact that it's not all about titles and how much reality you can bend, if I can just get them to listen once in awhile. But we're all given to hubris, all things considered, so it's a long game and a royal pain in the ass."

[Wren Jacobs] "There is another option...you can fuck their game with their own rules. I mean...they're mostly what....Disciples? If the want to try and ignore what they regard the lower peons, they'll keep playing that way. But, you do have the option to upgrade..."

She mused for a moment.

"I'm likely equal in rank to everyone in the city...they call me a Disciple, the Adepts call me Adept cause well...we mean it a different way than the trads...but either way...if you want I can use my clout to get things done to change it up. I just gotta...well...get on the Council and have that interview with McGowen and shit."

[Molly Quincannon] Ah, many things to ponder. "Oh, I'm working on the upgrade, but my Avatar's a cagey bitch. As to getting on the Council ... you need a cabal first. Seriously. When I got here, they'd established a new rule that was, 'If you've met Ashley, and she's okayed you, you get basic access to the House - no Library or Node unless supervised, but otherwise you can use it as a safehouse or whatever. You only get full access and a voice in Chantry Council shit if you're in a cabal'. They've got no use for lone wolves here; think they're untrustworthy. And to be fair, two people in the last six months have proven them right. And I notice," she adds, fairly grumpy, "that for all their talk about security and shit, they didn't notice two major breaches in Chantry security until I managed to dig them up and drop them on the doorstep like a cat brings a disembowelled mouse home. And I still don't get taken seriously."

She shrugs, sips more cocoa and finishes with, "So yeah, talk to Ashley all you want, but if you haven't teamed up with someone else, don't expect a seat on the Emissary Council."

[Wren Jacobs] She rolls her eyes and nudges her.

"I meant being in your group you idjit. You can use me as a tool to get things done for your cabal."

She chuckled some, leaning back as she mulled the delicious chocolate around in her mouth.

"...mmm...I keep telling myself this is bad for my throat and singing but oh my god, so good..."

[Molly Quincannon] That gets a blink from Molly, and a lot of pondering over the hot chocolate. "Well, first of all ... I really kind of hate that term. I don't use people, even if they are actually volunteering themselves for it. And yeah, you could probably get things changed easier than I could, but that's playing into the system way more than I wanted to. The whole point is that the Emissary Council is mostly Disciples - hell, me and Nathan are I think the only Initiates on the Council now the House of Leaves disbanded. Stepping down from my own seat on the Emissary Council and putting a Disciple in my place? I'm not really sure I'm liking the message that sends. It's not that I don't think you'd do a good job; it's that ... it's actually admitting, 'yeah, Disciples are the only ones who can and should be listened to and I acknowledge that so I'll hand the seat over to my better'. That just sticks in my craw."

Then she gives a disgusted snort and says, "Not that the Emissary Council is particularly fair anyway. I mean, it's Emissaries and Chantry 'staff', who are in and of themselves members of cabals, and they all get a vote. So there's two votes from one cabal - the Administrative Dean and the cabal's Emissary - and three votes from another because they've got Sentinel, Librarian and cabal Emissary. The whole thing's FUBAR."

[Wren Jacobs] "...sounds like it. So, how do you think you can change the system if the votes are already stacked against you? Countered also with the fact that you get ignored..."

She pursed her lips a little.

"...you need a backer in the Council...someone who either is sympathetic to your ideas or someone who you can at least persuade with reason. Its not a great start but its something better than nothing. And I understand not wanting to play by the game...but sometimes its the only way in. You have to use a key to get into the system...after that, you make your own backdoors."

[Molly Quincannon] "By example, that's how I think I can change the system. Also, with any luck, by getting some new blood into the damn Emissary Council. We don't need one more Disciple in place of an Initiate on the Council; we need another voice. So it's not just Solomon, Israel and Ashley making all the decisions all the time." She grins a bit. "I'm not saying you shouldn't have a voice at Council. I'm saying you should be an addition, not a replacement. If you started a cabal, even if it's just one other person, there'd be one more voice, one more vote, and a bigger possibility for change than if it's just swapping one name and face for another, which sends a bad message anyway, considering."

[Wren Jacobs] "Problem is finding someone to join me." She smirks a little.

"I'm not exactly well known and for the most part...don't know any V Depts that I don't already want to punch in the face. Then there's the issue of the interview I still have to do as well."

She stretched, giving a light yawn as she set her empty mug aside.

[Molly Quincannon] After a bit of a think, Molly gives the VDept list. "Well, there's Chuck, but he's the ex I keep bitching about and he doesn't like meatspace. He was in a cabal, but it disbanded because nobody trusted him very well. There's Lord Bedlam, but I haven't seen him lately. I've heard rumours about a guy named Jonathan, but he seems to have been eaten by something. Possibly literally, for all I know. But who says it has to be a VDept you band up with? Hell, my cabal is me, two Etherites and a Dreamspeaker."

[Wren Jacobs] "Because I don't know all the players in the game and I need someone I can trust or at least is slightly tech savvy so they don't induce a headache in me."

She smirked a little, curling her knees up to her chest as she rests her head on them, arms wrapping around her shins.

"Any suggestions? And yes, Chuck is the one I meant I would punch in the face."

[Molly Quincannon] "Well, you could try to get in with Emily," is the first thought. "She's a Chorister, recently went Initiate, and she was in the cabal with Chuck before I flagged up that he's a lying dick. She doesn't use it for Working but she is tech-savvy, particularly on the mundane side. There's a guy named Nico, also from the broken-up-due-to-lying-dick cabal; don't know how tech-savvy he is but if he ran with a crew full of VDept, I'm thinking he can at least maintain in the face of technobabble. I'd recommend Kage or Thomas if they both weren't so adamant about not setting up cabals because the system makes them want to vomit and Thomas wouldn't go near the House on a bet anyway. Kage ... might be more amenable. Maybe. She's good people, and she hangs out with an Akashic by the name of Alex who might be cool to cabal up with. Jarod ... I don't think he has a cabal, but I don't think he wants one either - he's Verbena and very much feline-loner-type. And way too attractive to be allowed. Then there's Lara, but I'm not sure about how far to trust her most days. She's the other security breach - I managed to find out that she's only Awake because she got the soul-shard of a Euthie Master who really screwed up and broke her soul and Avatar into bits. So said Euthie Master - more or less Lara's evil twin - is chasing Lara around so she can kill Lara and get that last bit of her Avatar back. And Lara decided that a crazed, determined Euthie on her ass wasn't worth mentioning to the rest of us while she was living over the damn node. I love these people, seriously. But Lara's dating my cabalmate, who insists that Lara's trying to change, so I'm trying the benefit-of-the-doubt thing. Still don't entirely trust her, though."

That list gone over, she shrugs. "So ... I can give you contact details, or get them to contact you, if you like the sound of any of them."

[Wren Jacobs] "...names and numbers always work. I might just leave it up to chance....print out a spread sheet and whichever my laser pointer falls on..."

She chuckled some, listening to her go on and on about the others....lying dick people...overly attractive Twilight-sounding Euthanatos...fucked up girl with crazy llama drama...evil twins...

"...sounds like quite a city though."

[Molly Quincannon] Molly pulls out her iPhone and starts bashing out a text to Wren. "Just give me a day or so to make sure everyone knows you might be in touch, hmm? Remember the paranoia of this city. And yeah, it's a remarkable place to be if you don't mind constant acts of random 'Days of our Lives on the brown acid' and similar shenanigans. We like our shenanigans here. Except when we don't, but then they happen anyway. Generally at the least convenient times. There might be people I'm missing but on the whole, that's pretty much Chicago's crewless." She frowns a little and adds, "We had more, but some of them just vanished off into the sunset, possibly riding drama llamas, never to be seen again. It's a shame you never met Riley. You'd have liked her."

[Wren Jacobs] "Maybe so....but who knows...we'll get new blood I'm sure down the road."

She stretched a little, standing to take the empty cup to the sink before coming back for Molly's if she was done with it.

"I'm sorry to hear you got zapped though. Anything else been going on beyond that debacle?"

[Molly Quincannon] After a moment's consideration (and handing over the mug), Molly sighs. "Maybe. Probably. The Rogue Council's on the move, tell you that much. I've heard from them twice in the last two months. Research is ongoing, so bookmark this site. And I'm still waiting for backlash from the 'Shades about this whole 'we screwed up your node, nyah-nyah' thing."

[Wren Jacobs] She nods, taking the mug and squinting at Molly.

"...you can take a nap if you want...you look like you could use it. I'm going to finish a little more on this last piece...I can use headphones while I work."

[Molly Quincannon] Molly contrives to look miffed. "I would take great exception to that if you weren't so damnably right. But I think I'll head home for the nap. Roomie's getting worried with me vanishing all unaccountable while she's at college. But let me return the hospitality sometime soon, hmm? There might even be dinner."

She hauls herself upright, says, "And thanks, by the way. For the listening ear and everything", and bundles herself back up for the trip home. Yes, she leaves the cookies behind. Everyone needs snackfood while geeking out. It is known.